"Holy attribute?"
Artoria glanced at the restraints on her body, finding it amusing.
She wasn't some evil monster like an undead or a demon.
Or rather, could Artoria truly be considered a monster?
A Star Spirit, symbolizing the will of the planet, an embodiment of the world itself.
Defining someone like her in terms of good or evil was utterly ridiculous.
Because of that, spells targeting alignments had virtually no effect on Artoria.
'Whatever...'
However, Artoria didn't choose to break free from the shackles.
She lifted her head, gazing at the terrifying magicules gathering relentlessly.
"Is this your strongest move?"
Artoria looked toward Hinata standing ahead, who didn't understand her intent and explained, "Disintegration, an ultimate technique that strikes the opponent at the microscopic level of magicules, erasing them completely!"
Even a powerful Awakened Demon Lord would suffer severe damage if they took such an attack head-on!
Of course, Hinata couldn't use this move casually.
But the current situation was different.
Hinata wasn't alone.
Behind her stood the elite of the Temple Knights, 3,000 Crusaders in total!
Pooling everyone's power.
Let alone one Disintegration, even a second or third wouldn't leave Hinata fatigued.
'Let me see your limits...'
To test Artoria's depths, Hinata unleashed her trump card right away.
In Hinata's view, no matter how strong Artoria was, facing an attack of this caliber would inevitably reveal some information.
At the very least, it wouldn't...
"What?"
However, as Hinata began pondering how to force out Artoria's hidden cards and how to gather more intelligence next,
Artoria did something that left Hinata... and all the knights of the Crusader Order... stunned.
The girl sheathed her sword and stuck it, sheath and all, into the ground beside her.
In the next moment, Artoria slightly spread her arms.
That gesture was as if she intended to face Disintegration with her body alone!
"Hey, hey, is she serious?"
Garde swallowed hard, his voice trembling. "She... is she for real?"
"Insane! She's actually going to take the Captain's Disintegration with her body!"
"This guy's way too arrogant!"
"She has no idea what the Captain's killer move really means!"
"..."
Setting aside the reactions of the Crusader Order, Hinata stared at Artoria and demanded, "What exactly are you trying to do?"
"What am I trying to do..."
Artoria thought of Damien.
That man seemed to love doing things like this.
She dared to take Disintegration head-on not because she was arrogantly overconfident.
She did it simply because Artoria had absolute certainty.
She had no fear of this so-called Disintegration!
"Have you ever seen despair?"
Artoria smiled. "Next, you'll witness what true despair really is."
As the golden-haired knight's words fell,
The Disintegration spell formed by over a hundred magic circles overhead cascaded down like a waterfall, instantly engulfing Artoria!
"Boom!"
A massive roar, like the wrath of the gods, shook the Crusaders' eardrums until they ached.
The intense light made it impossible to open their eyes, leaving only endless heat and the aura of death.
Seven-colored flames bloomed slowly, like an exquisitely beautiful flower.
And at the flower's center, a massive black vortex gradually formed, as if the gates of hell were opening wide.
Black currents surged wildly, whipping up countless dust and debris.
The power within the vortex grew stronger, finally erupting in a destructive energy that reduced everything around it to ashes.
When the explosion ended, what appeared before everyone was a world shrouded in deathly silence.
The grassland was gone; as far as the eye could see, there was only a massive crater thousands of meters in diameter, surrounded by even vaster scorched wasteland!
This was the terrifying destructive power of Hinata's ultimate technique, Disintegration!
After all, Disintegration could even kill a Demon Lord.
As for Artoria...
"!!!"
The smoke cleared, revealing the center of the crater and the figure still pristine, without a single injury or stain.
In that moment, even with Hinata's composure, only one thought remained in her mind... this is impossible!
"N-No way."
"She... she actually..."
"What kind of joke is this? How can such a monster exist!"
"That's the Captain's Disintegration!"
"..."
Hinata was the spiritual pillar of the Crusader Order, the idol of everyone.
They admired her.
Her personality, strength, will, ideals... everything captivated the knights.
However, Sakaguchi Hinata, the myth of humanity's strongest fighter, was shattered by Artoria in this moment!
The once-invincible Disintegration.
Didn't even qualify to breach Artoria's defenses!
"She really did it."
Hinata possessed two Unique Skills: Usurper and Mathematician.
The former had been mentioned before.
As for Mathematician, it granted Hinata computational power far beyond ordinary people, along with information-gathering abilities, similar to the Great Sage.
In Hinata's perception, Artoria hadn't used any clever tricks.
Just as she said, to make Hinata feel despair.
Facing Disintegration directly, without employing Unique Skills or Ultimate Skills.
She had purely relied on her body's strength and vast magicules to nullify Hinata's lethal strike!
The bodily enhancement from solidifying 8 million magicules was downright monstrous!
Not to mention, Artoria also had things like the Eternal Shield, Avalon's Protection, and the Demon Lord's Protective Field.
Of course, Artoria hadn't used something like Avalon.
That move was too overpowered, and Artoria didn't like it.
"Do you understand now?"
Artoria flashed forward, appearing right in front of Hinata. "This is the vast gap between you and me."
"You can't win against me."
"Even if we keep fighting, the result won't change."
Ever since cooperating with Snow Empress and challenging Velzard together, Artoria had lost her former arrogance.
She had realized what true power was and understood how far she still was from the Frost Dragon God's realm.
***
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