Holy Warrior

“E-everyone, get back!”

The moment the two groups collided in the air, some of them crashed toward the ground with violent force.

The terrified Elven Empire forces retreated.

They instinctively realized that this was not a battle they could interfere in.

“Retreat to the back.”

The Great Devourers did the same.

At Celia's command, the Great Devourers immediately backed away, leaving the two leaders to engage in a one-on-one duel without interference.

Instead, the Great Devourers and the Elven Empire soldiers clashed in a chaotic melee in the air and the surrounding area.

The airspace above the Prism Cannon became a battlefield, with flying species tangling with the Winged Squad and anti-air fire, while on the ground, landing soldiers clashed with the charging guard units.

“Stop them! Kill them all!”

Virgil seemed fully prepared to commit all his pre-positioned forces.

From the very beginning, when they prepared the Prism Cannon, the Great Devourers' best option would be to send forces to intercept, so it would have been stranger if they hadn't prepared for this.

Because of this, time was running out for Celia and the Great Devourers.

They had to destroy the Prism Cannon as quickly as possible amidst the endless waves of enemies and retreat.

“Where do you think you're going?!”

And Celia's greatest obstacle was none other than Lisette.

Moving at high speed after crashing to the ground, Lisette gritted her teeth and swung her gold-infused sword, slicing through the incoming magic in a single strike, causing Celia's eyes to widen.

The shared experience through the hive mind sounded an alarm.

The elven paladin rushing toward her now possessed strength that could rival the beastkin hero, Grimgor—the very warrior who had once defeated Kerrigan.

Of course, Lisette had not been an elite expert like Grimgor from the beginning.

This power was merely the price she paid for willingly offering her life, enduring a painful and brutal modification to become an expendable tool.

The shockwave from Lisette's sword swing actually cracked a portion of the mask on Celia's face.

“It seems the rumors are true!”

Even though Celia had cast defensive magic, it failed to fully neutralize the impact. Seeing this, Lisette's eyes widened.

Celia sighed and removed the damaged mask herself.

Lisette could not help but ask, “What on earth did those demons give you to make you surrender even your body and soul?”

She herself had been betrayed by those she trusted, forcibly modified, and then driven onto the battlefield.

Yet Celia had willingly become a part of the monsters to fight, which was completely incomprehensible to her.

“Willingly surrendering my body and soul?”

However, Celia became emotional upon hearing this.

She currently simply trusted Lin Miao as a god and had assimilated with the Great Devourers to achieve her own goals.

Celia remembered all too clearly what Elise, who hated her, had done to her terrified body when she first joined the colony.

“Ultimately, this war sweeping across the land is inevitable, and this inevitable war will have no true end. Elves, even if you win, the inhabitants of this land will never gain their freedom.”

Celia spoke in a cold voice directed at Lisette, while a massive magic circle emerged behind her.

Lisette was shocked by the scale of the magic Celia was casting.

The sheer amount of power consumed was not something a single individual should be able to cast.

This was a grand magic that normally required numerous mages to exhaust all their strength and computational capacity to complete.

Normally, such grand magic had a slow casting speed and many ways to be countered, but Celia had activated it entirely on her own, eliminating most of its weaknesses.

This was a magical realm that only Celia could reach, thanks to her additionally equipped magic heart and her ability to draw upon the computational power of the hive mind.

“Get out of the way!”

Lisette cried out, warning her allies.

Almost at the same moment, with Celia at the center, a massive circular wave of flame erupted, sweeping across the entire area.

Lisette exerted all her strength to channel the golden magic power surging from her body, barely managing to withstand the heatwave, but most of those nearby could not endure it.

Right at that moment, a command began to execute forcefully within Lisette's body.

The command was to protect the Prism Cannon at all costs.

“Aaaaah!”

Lisette was forced to abandon her own defense and instead pour her strength into protecting the Prism Cannon.

Thanks to her power, the Prism Cannon was barely preserved amidst the searing heat of the flames. However, with her own defenses weakened, Lisette felt a burning pain consume her entire body and screamed.

“It seems you are the one who willingly surrendered your body and soul.”

Before Lisette, Celia emerged through the flames.

As the caster, Celia was unaffected by her own magic. Instead, she looked at Lisette, who was screaming in agony amidst the purgatory fire, with a look of pity.

“No...”

Centering around the spell formulas engraved into her body, her charred skin rapidly regenerated, and Lisette whispered weakly.

Holy warriors did not even have the freedom to die. They would continuously repeat the cycle of recovery and injury, fighting on until their power was completely depleted.

“I... I don't want to fight.”

Hearing Lisette's faltering words, Celia's eyes widened.

However, Celia could no longer remain where she was.

Celia herself found it difficult to continue fighting after using such a powerful spell.

Waiting to recover her strength in the heart of the enemy lines was impossible, so she ultimately spread her wings, took to the sky, and left the area.

As a result, out of the Great Devourer forces that had charged in to destroy the Prism Cannon, only a very small number of units, including Celia, returned alive.

With Lisette sacrificing herself to protect it, the objective to destroy the Prism Cannon had failed.

【Elise expresses dissatisfaction with the failed operation】

“...I'm sorry.”

Although she had returned alive, Celia could not escape responsibility.

In the end, the Prism Cannon spat fire, and the nests occupied by the Great Devourers began to be destroyed one after another.

Elise knew Lin Miao was watching, so she did not inflict any actual harm on Celia, but Celia felt a deep sense of guilt in her heart.

Lisette's voice saying she did not want to fight still echoed in Celia's ears.

In truth, Celia did not want to fight either, but she had already come to realize one thing.

If one chose to flee from battle, they would lose things that were far more important.