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The vortex of flames collapsed inward. As it contracted, the storm it generated grew even more violent.
In the end, every last strand of energy gathered around the young saint and was completely absorbed into Jeanne's body.
Her silver-white armor was now covered in brilliant crimson patterns. Golden hair danced wildly in the wind, every strand seeming to glow with its own radiance.
The aura surrounding her continued to rise.
Just the resulting shockwave of energy instantly shredded the three giant serpents. The countless arrows raining from the sky disintegrated into dust.
Herpo's expression changed.
He felt genuine danger.
A little girl... Was making him feel threatened?
In the past, Herpo would never have believed such a thing possible.
So what was the truth? Had he become too weak? Or was this girl simply too strong?
Either way, he could no longer afford to take her lightly.
What had begun as the effortless crushing of an insignificant insect had suddenly become the handling of a venomous snake.
Yet Herpo had no intention of retreating. On the contrary, his desire to capture Jeanne only grew stronger. He wanted to pry the secret from her.
Whatever could produce such a dramatic leap in power was something he had to possess.
BOOM!
Without warning, a crimson lotus of karmic fire appeared directly in front of him.
Herpo's cloudy eyes widened. His pupils contracted sharply.
The lotus exploded.
An instant later, the place where he stood was swallowed by scarlet flames of destruction.
Jeanne did not pause. She moved almost entirely on instinct.
Her gaze shifted to the right. Her arm swept outward.
The air twisted violently. A miniature cyclone tore through the battlefield, revealing Herpo's figure before he had fully emerged.
Dozens of blazing spears were already hurtling toward him.
The assault never stopped. One attack followed another in a relentless torrent.
Her reactions were so fast that even Herpo could do little more than struggle to keep up.
Forget counterattacking. Simply defending himself was becoming difficult.
The suffocating pressure pushed his concentration to its absolute limit. Not a single shred of his decayed, sinister magic was wasted as he layered protective spells around himself.
Is this really the reaction speed a human should possess?
Question after question surfaced in Herpo's mind.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
The Jeanne before him no longer felt like a normal opponent.
It was as though... she had become a battle-specialized puppet.
In that respect, Herpo's judgment was surprisingly accurate.
The skill Jeanne was using, Divine Grace Manifestation, had originally been a reward Tom received when Jeanne's approval rating reached one hundred.
After experimenting with it several times, Tom had come to a conclusion.
The ability wasn't suited for him.
It strengthened magic. It strengthened the soul. It strengthened the will.
But at the same time, his own thought processes seemed to slow to a halt.
The feeling was difficult to describe.
It was almost as if... someone else had logged into his account and taken over the controls.
The "Divine Grace" portion of the name was important. But the "Manifestation" part was equally significant.
Tom disliked any power that wasn't entirely under his control.
That was why, despite the fact that this forbidden magic could drastically enhance his combat instincts and unleash unimaginable destructive force, he remained deeply resistant to using it.
And over time, the ability had simply been pushed aside and forgotten.
For Jeanne, however, it was the perfect fit.
What devout believer would object to receiving a blessing from their god? A blessing that could even fight alongside them?
Not only would she not resist it, she would willingly embrace it.
At this moment, both Jeanne and Jalter's consciousnesses were being guided by the mysterious will of the "god" behind the skill.
Every action they took was pure instinct.
And instinct didn't even play by the rules.
That was what made it so terrifying.
There were no patterns. No openings. No weaknesses to exploit.
"..."
Herpo felt his scalp go numb.
Every scheme he devised, every spell he prepared, seemed to be seen through before it even took shape.
It was almost like facing a prophet.
The invisible curses and dark magic he attempted to cast were burned away by those strange crimson lotus flames before they could even form.
If not for the difference in the quality of their magic, and the fact that he was borrowing power from the surrounding world itself, he would have been crushed long ago.
"This farce ends now!"
Several more minutes passed before Herpo finally found an opportunity.
Jeanne's magic reserves were vast, but not infinite. Maintaining such an intense assault against a legendary wizard, especially one as powerful as Herpo, had pushed Jeanne's body to its limits.
As her magical energy dwindled, her attacks began to lose their edge.
Dozens of emerald-green spheres spun rapidly around Herpo's hand, orbiting along fixed trajectories.
A cold smile spread across his face.
"Once I've captured you, I'll pry every one of your secrets out of you."
He raised his arm. His eyes gleamed with malice.
A stomp of his foot caused a wall of earth to erupt from the ground, blocking a flaming tiger Jeanne had conjured.
Just as he was about to release the spell in his hand, a dragon's roar echoed from the heavens.
No. Something arrived even faster than the roar.
A pillar of light descended from the sky.
Herpo didn't even have time to react.
The beam swallowed him whole.
BOOOOOOM!
The resulting shockwave unleashed hurricane-force winds powerful enough to flatten forests.
Acting on instinct, Jeanne almost launched a counterattack.
But far away, Tom merely had a thought. Instantly, Jeanne was pulled out of the Divine Grace Manifestation state.
The exhaustion hit her like a tidal wave.
Her body felt drained. Her mind felt even worse.
The moment she recognized the source of the energy, she stopped resisting and let the lingering shockwave carry her away from the blast zone.
...
..
When everything settled, Herpo was gone.
No trace of him remained. Only a bottomless crater marked the place where he had stood.
ROOOAR!
Another dragon's cry echoed across the sky.
The Rayquaza Usaki descended from the clouds. Staring into the crater it had blasted into existence, it searched for signs of its target.
There was no Herpo. Only the battered golden belt remained.
Usaki began gathering energy once more, preparing to erase the belt completely.
Then the unexpected happened. The belt, lying quietly in the depths of the crater, suddenly shot upward.
It transformed into a streak of golden light and fled into the distance.
Its speed instantly shattered the sound barrier. In the blink of an eye, it vanished beyond the horizon.
Usaki glanced in the direction of the escaping belt. Then looked down at Jeanne, who was sitting on the ground, gasping for breath as she struggled to recover.
After a brief moment of consideration, Usaki chose not to pursue.
Its massive body rapidly shrank. A moment later, the tiny dragon landed on Jeanne's shoulder and settled there quietly.
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