"Why are you here when you're so weak?!"

Damien grasped his chest in shock. He never expected that today, in a battle against an enemy so powerful, he would catch a stray.

"Don't be so rude to your savior. If I want to be here, who can stop me?" He pompously declared.

Rilia glared at him suspiciously. She didn't care about his strange personality, but his entire existence in this moment was confusing her.

"Who are you and why have you come here?" She asked.

Damien sighed and introduced himself. "Well, you can just call me Damien. As for my reason for coming here, just call it simple curiosity. Looking at this baby, I think it was worth it."

Damien glanced over at the strange barrier as he spoke the last sentence. The power fueling the barrier was magnificent, and the breath of space emitted from it was so sophisticated that even Damien felt like he could learn something from it.

'I never expected there to be a spatial expert among the Nox Demigods'

"This barrier is strange, but it's definitely not something you or I can touch. Since it's been conjured with the power of a Demigod, at least its defensive capabilities will mirror this fact properly." Damien said without waiting for Rilia to speak.

"However, it isn't all bad. A barrier of this level definitely can't be maintained for long by a lower existence. The longer it stays up, the more damage the caster will take."

"And you know this because?"

"I'm something of a spatial expert of myself."

"I see"

Rilia nodded her head without questioning him. The only way for someone weaker than her to evade her perception was indeed to utilize space to a terrifying degree, so she didn't have any mind to question him.

"Then, man named Damien, what do you propose we do now?" She asked as if testing him.

Damien's brows furrowed. He looked off into the horizon as he spoke.

"We should prepare."

"Prepare?"

Damien nodded. "Right, it looks like something big is going to happen soon"

It was invisible to other people. Damien could only smile wryly at their blissful ignorance.

If they could see the same scene as him

They surely would have fled as far as possible already.

'Well, that's not to say that I'm not interested in what's happening. Let's sit back and watch for now.'

He'd already taken care of the traitors on the battlefield, so unless there were extraneous circumstances, his help on the main battlefield wasn't necessarily needed anymore.

'It'd be great if I could see inside the barrier'

Damien glanced back over at it. He felt like he could just barely perceive the fluctuations of battle taking place within, but it wasn't enough for him to understand the situation.

But if there was one thing he did know, it was that the current situation of the two trapped guild branch managers couldn't be good.

***

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

"JEAN, DODGE!"

Geralt's booming voice sounded within the explosions. Jean immediately moved backward, narrowly avoiding a strange formless intent that tried to tear through him.

Geralt appeared before him in the next instant, great axe in tow.

HAAAAA!

Geralt roared with all his strength and spun the great axe on its one axis, turning it into a rotating saw with terrifying cutting power.

SCREEEEEEECH!

As the spinning axe came in contact with the formless intent, the sound of metal clashing against metal rang out strongly. Sparks flew in every direction, and if one looked closely enough, one would be able to clearly see the axe being slowly ground to nothingness.

"Khhh!"

Geralt swallowed back the blood pooling in his mouth, refusing to move.

"Jean, it's up to you! I'll do my best to block him until then!" He roared.

Jean gritted his teeth in frustration, glaring at the corrupted form of the Nox Commander before him. It had already been half an hour since the barrier was erected, and the situation wasn't optimistic at all.

Both Jean and Geralt had sustained heavy injuries from the space around them. Now, they'd finally acclimated enough to deal with the invisible attacks, but that didn't mean they were safe.

Aarish no longer looked humanoid, no, he'd completely embraced the monster within him. He had eight sharp legs like a spider and the upper body of an ape. The massive black holes acting as his eyes were constantly wide open, and the roars coming from his mouth were enough to pierce one's eardrums.

'So this is the true nature of Demonic Providence' Jean thought as he winced in pain.

He stood up off his knee, clutching his bloodied left shoulder.

'I can't move this arm anymore, but it shouldn't inhibit my mobility too much. I must find an opening.'

Jean's eyes focused on Aarish's form with utmost precision. He burned his mental power trying to find a gap in the monster's defenses.

But no matter how he looked, it seemed impossible. The spider legs gave Aarish extreme mobility and flexibility, while his abdomen was mammalian and scaled, offering him armor-like protection.

'We must make the opening ourselves.'

At this moment, Geralt finally made his move.

HA!

His muscles bulged like they would explode as Geralt slammed his axe to the side, redirecting the force of Aarish's formless attacks.

BOOM!

His body shot forward like a meteor, the golden aura around his axe coalescing and compounding on itself.

"Die, monster!"

Along with a spirited shout, Geralt made his attack. He wielded his axe like it weighed nothing at all, swinging it through the air and even forcing it to twirl to match his attack pattern.

"Kekekeke! Stupid human, you cannot defeat me!" Aarish exclaimed zealously. He whipped his legs through the air, causing dozens of formless spatial attacks to charge towards both Geralt and Jean.

Geralt's eyes narrowed.

He didn't stop moving.

CLASH!

The axe made heavy contact with the spider monster's carapace. After the first time, tens and even hundreds of strikes followed.

A golden light began to form on Aarish's body.

At the same time, the formless intent reached Geralt.

Piu! Piu! Piu!

It sounded like silenced bullets. The strange intent entered through one side of Geralt's body and exited through the other, littering the man's body with coin-sized holes.

And one of those holes

was only mere centimeters away from his heart.

"AGH!"

Geralt let out a sound of pain, but didn't halt his movements. The axe moved and moved and moved, and seeing Geralt's refusal to move, Aarish began targeting him more seriously too,

A slash that severed the chaotic void. This was the next attack aiming for Geralt's head.

Rather than formless like its predecessors, this slash was glittering as if it was filled with countless stars.

But despite its beauty, Geralt knew that this slash would spell his death.

His eyes hardened. "Jean, do not mourn for me! Complete the task in front of you!"

He grinned madly. "I, Geralt, have always been a warrior. Today, I shall die a death worthy of my stature!"

The light on his axe concentrated on its blade.

The golden line on Aarish's body shone with splendor.

And finally, the two forces met.