World Keeper-Chapter 1211: War and Peace

The Origin of War calmly accepted the attacks of the trio. She did not bother to block the rain that hammered down against her as countless blades, nor did she dodge Tsubaki’s light blades. Her armor constantly seemed to repair itself just as quickly as it was being damaged, leaving no room to break through to her main body.

Aurivy grit her teeth, trying to figure out how they could defeat this opponent. Despite her setting up a law to reduce the enemy’s power, she didn’t seem to be taking this seriously at all. Aside from when she brought them to this battlefield, she had not swung her sword a single time.

Aurivy knew that the enemy was likely storing her energy within her blade, building it up for a single strike. Since she didn’t need to worry about her own defense, there was no reason for her to rush into attacking with strikes that wouldn’t be able to finish the opponent off in one hit. Of course, that only put more pressure on Tsubaki and Bihena, because it was clear that one of them were likely to die the moment the Origin of War finished charging her first strike.

The biggest problem is her armor. How can it so easily repair itself even after taking hundreds of strikes from Bihena and Tsubaki? Aurivy asked herself, narrowing her eyes. She tried to put herself in the enemy’s position, looking for the method behind the armor’s function. If she knew that, she would be able to figure out how to bypass it.

The Origin of War looked over at Aurivy, noticing her intent gaze. “Don’t bother. So long as we exist within this battlefield, my armor has no weakness. The lives of all of those under my command serve as my shield. The trillions of warriors who have devoted themselves to me will not be overcome by three foolish gods.”

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Aurivy’s eyes widened when the enemy revealed her secret so easily. Part of her thought that it might be a misdirection, but… It adds up. Her first move was to bring us here after confirming our numbers. She took us away from her troops, and brought us to a territory where we couldn’t escape. If the passive regeneration of everyone under her command is added together to repair the armor’s durability, it would make sense why it can instantly recover from any attacks.

Aurivy bit her lip, doing her best to look desperate. She doesn’t know that Lifre was left behind. Or, maybe she doesn’t care. It would be strange to think that one fighter could eliminate her entire army… but Lifre isn’t exactly your ordinary girl.

“Eh?” Lifre blinked, holding up her staff, which was charged with arcane energy. She looked at the empty room before her, where the enemy had just disappeared with three of her allies. “They left me behind… that is so not fair!”

She had been using her Wordsmith profile to charge up her strongest strike, planning to come out of stealth just before attacking to prevent the Origin of War from being able to negate the strike. However, just as she was preparing to launch her attack, the four vanished from the room.

“Well… maybe they’ll come back soon?” She asked herself, holding the charged spell. Seconds passed… and then minutes… Lifre began tapping her foot anxiously, worried that something had happened. “Now what?!” She huffed, finally dismissing her spell. Her Wordsmith persona vanished, and she crossed her arms with a pout on her face.

“Leaving me behind while they go and have their boss battle… they think they can take the spotlight that easily?” The slime girl grumbled as she moved to sit in the Origin’s throne, her body glowing with golden light. Her robotic exoskeleton appeared again, her eyes narrowing with determination. “Let’s see how they like it! I’ll have everything cleaned up before they even get back!”

Lifre’s arms began to glow blue, lines of binary wrapping around her body. Her eyes began to glow brightly, streams of data flashing through her vision. “There are only five worlds that make up the battery of this weapon, but they have a huge energy storage. It looks like it might even be enough to fire their weapon a second time, but that would leave them defenseless… Don’t care, I’m doing it!”

“Target the Thousand Eyes Guild, uhm… that world!” She said, randomly choosing one of the many universes floating within the void that belonged to the other enemy guild. “Override safety controls, and redirect all energy to the Star of Destruction!”

As Lifre spoke, the lights in the room seemed to flicker. Lifre was pulling power from all systems, and even extracting what little energy remained from the five universes that had been built into the weapon. There were warning flashing in her vision, alerting her of the instability for both the guild universes as well as the weapon itself, but Lifre ignored them. “I’mma firin’ my laser!” She shouted, pointing a finger towards the screen.

The structure around her shook, alarms blaring. The walls cracked, and sparks began shooting out. Lifre grinned happily, until she saw a notification saying that the power core had been overloaded, and a critical failure was imminent. “Well! Time to go!” She said, jumping to her feet and switching to her Wanderer persona. She waved a hand, opening a portal and jumping through as explosions rang out throughout the facility.

Tsubaki and Bihena were desperately striking the black armor of the Origin of War, trying to overwhelm it with the sheer speed of their attacks. Tsubaki had gone far beyond light speed with her strikes, and had even tried to inject her power through the briefest gap in the enemy’s armor between attacks. However, every attack was healed instantly. Worse, it seemed that the Origin of War had little experience with battles beyond the speed of light, as her senses were unable to keep up with Tsubaki.

Normally, this would have been something to celebrate, as it would create countless openings for her to exploit. Now, however, it only resulted in the enemy’s black shield manifesting to defend any strike that moved beyond the speed of her perception. As someone who prided herself on her stealth and speed, that shield felt as if it were the bane of her existence.

Tsubaki forced herself to slow down, until she had reached the limits of what the enemy could perceive. However, throughout all of this, the Origin of War never once lifted her blade. Thus, when Bihena and Tsubaki saw her hand moving, their eyes widened, and they began to prepare their defenses.

The Origin of War casually lifted her sword to the sky, and it radiated a black energy. “I apologize for the wait. It is my sincere belief that you should always strike with your full power, even when killing a lesser foe. This is my respect for those that have the courage to challenge me. Thanks to the law that your short friend created, it took me quite some time to build this much power, but now it is over.”

From the way that the Origin of War spoke, Tsubaki and the others had the impression that this strike wasn’t merely meant to target one of them, but would be capable of wiping them all out at once. As the energy within the sword grew, something changed rather abruptly. One of the raindrop swords pierced through the enemy’s armor, leaving a clean cut. And then another… soon, countless holes began to appear in the black armor, which showed no signs of mending.

“Now!” Aurivy shouted, waving her hands. Golden mist surged, and the two fighters were immediately flanking the enemy. Tsubaki was the first to strike, lashing out with a claw that severed the hand holding up the ominous weapon. Without anything to focus the energy, the sword erupted with black light, engulfing the battlefield.

Bihena, meanwhile, waved a hand, summoning a flag that she planted in the ground. Golden light began to shine from the flag, wrapping around the stunned body of the Origin of War and holding her still. “What have you--”

“Sorry, but there were actually four of us.” Aurivy said with a grin. “And our friend likes to push all the buttons when she gets bored.”

Aurivy wasn’t sure exactly what Lifre had done, but it was clear that she had wiped out the Origin’s forces, neutralizing the armor that had been troubling them for so long. “Tsubaki, please tell me that you have something to finish this fight before she breaks free?” Aurivy shouted, knowing that Bihena would probably not have a second spear like the one that had been broken.

Tsubaki didn’t answer, lunging for the Origin of War and wrapping her legs around the woman’s waist. Both of her hands grabbed the black-haired woman’s head, crushing her helmet staring into her eyes fiercely. “Die.” She hissed, channeling her power as Irena’s apostle, pouring the Death domain into her gaze. She didn’t want to offer any potential way for the enemy to escape her attack, and so she stared into her eyes as they began to fade.

Only when the Origin of War finally collapsed to the ground, and her body began to dissolve, did Tsubaki brush herself off and stand. The space around them began to crack, the darkness of the void visible through each growing gap. “Looks like we’re being sent back.” Bihena said as she wiped her brow.

Aurivy nodded her head, and the group soon found themselves amidst the shattered ruins of a giant, silver structure. Without waiting for an explanation, Aurivy teleported the group back to Olympus, where Lifre could be seen waiting for them with a smug expression. “Hmph! Think you can just go and leave me out of the big fight?” She asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Aurivy blinked, but then laughed, running up and hugging Lifre. “Thanks. You really saved us there.”

Lifre froze at that, her eyes wide. “Wait, I did? I-I mean, of course I did! All according to plan!” She said, laughing as she glanced off to the side. The slime girl couldn’t help but wonder what had been happening before she sent off that strike. “Anyways, you got that Origin lady dealt with, right?”

“That’s right.” Tsubaki answered, walking up and offering Lifre a nod of thanks. “All that is left now are the Thousand Eyes and the Hermit.”

Lifre grinned, planting her hands on her hips. “Well, I destroyed one of the Thousand Eyes’ universes while you guys were off on your own!” She announced proudly, causing the others to blink in surprise.

“You did?” Aurivy asked, looking into Lifre’s eyes. The scene of the ruined structure flashed into her mind, and she let out a long sigh. “Of course you did… So that's what happened. You really poked the hornet’s nest this time…”

“I did?” Lifre blinked, tilting her head innocently. “Didn’t we need to take them all out anyways?”

“That’s true.” Bihena began, before shaking her head. “However, now the Thousand Eyes Guild will be furious, and with their old rival gone, they will have nobody to vent their anger against. Especially since they are trying to keep our worlds intact to add to their collections.”

Lifre blinked again, before her eyes widened. “Oh. Oh, I might have done a bad, didn’t I?”

Aurivy sighed, gesturing for the others to follow her inside. “What’s done is done. We need to prepare our next move.” She had the feeling that the Thousand Eyes Guild, with no other viable target for their rage, would likely lash out at the World Tree Guild. They were the only available target that wouldn’t directly cut into their profits. However, if they were to reinforce that guild, it would make their newfound alliance obvious, creating true animosity between the World Tree Guild and the remaining enemies.

In the worst case scenario, the Hermit would personally attack the World Tree Guild. Given his ability to rise to the third position in that world’s rankings, he surely had the power to wipe out an entire guild himself, if he put his mind to it.