The massive sphere, formed from the dense condensation of hundreds of millions of Senbonzakura's blades, directly leveled absolutely everything within a one-kilometer radius.
The devastating winds generated by the rotating storm of blades alone left countless jagged scars torn deep into the stone ground.
The entire street was completely shredded to pieces by this catastrophic attack.
'Pant, pant.'
Unleashing such a massive, wide-area offensive through his Bankai rapidly consumed a tremendous amount of Reiatsu.
Rayleigh, who had only just recently leveled up to Level 3, still had his core Magic stat hovering at I0, and his total Reiatsu capacity was still sorely lacking for a fight of this magnitude.
"Truly... beautiful."
A woman's cold voice rang out softly amidst the roaring devastation of the Gokei.
An invisible, rippling barrier securely surrounded her, effortlessly warding off the hundreds of millions of sharp blades while actively protecting Erebus as well.
The expression frozen on the evil God's face was truly a sight to behold.
To be perfectly honest, he was almost deeply flattered to be on the receiving end of such a grand apocalyptic attack.
To be able to level an entire area several kilometers wide in a single, fluid move—that was a terrifying level of destructive power that not even a high-tier Mage could reliably achieve.
At the very least, it would be incredibly difficult for any Level 3 Mage.
Judging solely by its destructive scale, this attack was easily capable of annihilating monsters with the potential of a Level 5 on a massive scale.
'Seriously. Is this boy a monster?'
Unfortunately, if his assigned bodyguard wasn't Alfia, this God might have truly been in danger just now.
After taking a moment to silently admire the beautiful, deadly sea of glowing flowers, Alfia finally made her move.
She casually reached out, plucked a single high-speed petal from the swirling air, and then simply threw it back.
Clang.
The moment the tiny petal struck the surrounding sea of flowers, it didn't smoothly merge back with the swarm.
Instead, it produced the sharp distinct sound of a heavy physical collision.
In the very next second, a terrifying sonic boom erupted outward, instantly triggering a dense chain of explosive collisions!
BZZZZZZ!
The highly condensed noise bomb detonated in that exact instant.
Tens of thousands of volatile aftersounds exploded all at once, and the resulting massive sonic boom created a towering mushroom cloud over Orario.
Rayleigh watched this scene unfold in sheer horror as his body was instantly engulfed by the terrifying aftershock of the blast.
All of Orario was violently rocked by the sudden tremors.
Even the two strongest battlefields raging across the city paused briefly as everyone, from Adventurers to Evilus cultists, turned to look in the exact direction of the massive explosion.
Zald was somewhat astonished by the display.
'What kind of formidable opponent could possibly force Alfia to use firepower on this ridiculous scale?'
Even the mighty Ottar standing before him wasn't worthy of such an immense effort.
Finn's usually calm expression changed drastically as he looked toward the rising smoke of the explosion.
"That's...?"
It was the exact direction Tenseiga had flown earlier.
'Was Rayleigh in serious trouble?' He immediately called for Raul, quickly sent an urgent message to Gareth and Riveria, and then, fully armed, rushed to the scene himself.
'It seemed Ottar's side could hold on for the time being.'
That meant they desperately needed to rush to the other location where another monster was clearly present.
'A Level 7 enemy, and more than one at that!'
The quick-witted Finn immediately came to this grim conclusion.
...
Back on the ruined battlefield that had just been violently cleansed by Gospel, Alfia's single devastating strike had instantly destroyed a full quarter of the entire West Side.
The raw destruction far exceeded the damage originally caused by Rayleigh's Gokei.
In a smaller, lesser country, this one specific attack could have easily flattened the nation's entire capital city.
The remaining cherry blossoms scattered into the air, slowly and gently drifting down like pink snow.
"How beautiful~" Alfia's eyes opened slightly, her somewhat lonely gaze fixed quietly on the falling cherry blossoms.
Even Erebus couldn't help but sigh aloud in deep admiration.
As expected of the monster of talent.
If she weren't bound by her incurable rotting disease, she might have actually been able to defeat the One-Eyed Black Dragon all by herself.
Unfortunately, because of her illness, she couldn't level up to Level 8, and her precious time was rapidly running out.
Alfia didn't actively dislike these flowers, but she didn't want to grow too fond of them either.
She simply didn't want to have too many lingering attachments left in this world.
"Cough!"
"You may not have heard this before, but the exact speed at which cherry blossoms fall... is said to be five centimeters per second."
"What?"
Alfia looked in genuine surprise at the young man who had stubbornly crawled out from the smoking ground and was currently standing back up on his feet.
'He can still stand?' Erebus also wore a look of absolute shock.
After enduring a direct attack of that magnitude, it would have been a genuine miracle if his fragile body was even left intact.
'And yet this boy... Incredible.'
Reciting the famous line from his past life, Rayleigh used the empty scabbard of his sword to heavily support his battered body as he forced himself to stand up.
Erebus asked, his curiosity burning, "The Boarman's massive weapon, the weapons of those lovely girls from the Astraea Familia, and the ones currently in your hands... what exactly are they?"
It was simply impossible for him not to be interested.
He just hadn't had the free time to pay proper attention before, as his mind had been fully preoccupied with advancing his grand plan.
But now, the sheer significance of the young man standing before him was gradually overshadowing the meticulous plan in his mind.
He was beginning to care much more about the boy in front of him.
Rayleigh didn't answer the God immediately, instead murmuring his command.
"Senkei: Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."
As he chanted, all the scattered, drifting petals seemed to violently reawaken, springing rapidly back into motion.
The countless petals quickly formed into hundreds of individual, glowing Senbonzakura swords, seamlessly arranging themselves around the three of them in a massive, inescapable circular barrier.
He raised his hand, and one of the glowing Senbonzakura floating nearby in mid-air automatically flew securely into his grasp.
Only after holding the familiar sword did he slowly explain, "They are called Zanpakuto."
"Zanpakuto...?" Erebus wracked his divine brain, trying to recall the strange name, then said in surprise.
"I've never heard of them."
"Of course," Rayleigh said confidently, a small smirk on his face.
"Because their creator is me."
Before he came to this world, Zanpakuto simply did not exist here.
He was the one who had brought this incredible swords to this world.
And because it was a Skill officially discovered through a God's Falna, the Zanpakuto had integrated perfectly into this reality, officially becoming one of the things born of it.
"Amazing!" Erebus exclaimed brightly. "You will surely become a grand figure recorded in the humanity history."
Rayleigh pursed his lips. "I have absolutely no desire to become a character in a history book," he said with clear disdain.
"The only thing I want to do right now... is right in front of me."
He stared intensely at Alfia, his tone completely resolute, while thinking quietly to himself, 'May the day come when I can officially call you Mommy.'
'So then. What should I do next? Kidō is entirely useless against Alfia.'
'Her unique Magic, "Silentium Eden," can effortlessly nullify all incoming attacks, in fact, all offensive Magic simply dissipates into nothingness as it approaches her body.'
This Magic has an ultra-short chant—all she needs to say is "Soul's Serenity" to successfully cast a defensive shield that is practically invincible.
And the fundamental reason for the very existence of such a cheat-like Magic is merely to forcefully suppress Alfia's own overly powerful Magic...
Therefore, his usual tactic of using Bakudō for crowd control, feinting, and then attacking was completely sealed from the start.
'I'll have to take a gamble.'
Rayleigh drew his second sword from his waist.
"Collapse, Sakanade."
Using a second sword's Shikai while simultaneously maintaining a Bankai... this is incredibly tough.
Rayleigh acutely felt the deep emptiness of his Reiatsu reserves and the immense strain on his mind as he fought to maintain the output and complex distribution of his spiritual power.
Cold sweat beaded heavily on his forehead, and his lips began to turn a sickly pale.
With Sakanade's Shikai fully released, both Alfia and Erebus smelled a peculiar, sweet fragrance.
Then, they both instinctively clutched their heads as a strong, nauseating sense of disorientation washed entirely over them.
Sensing something was terribly wrong with her perception, Alfia proactively used Silentium Eden.
But Sakanade was a unique sword that directly controlled its target's nervous system with one hundred percent certainty through its scent alone, which had immediate nerve-controlling effects.
Therefore, not even the invincible shield of Silentium Eden could successfully negate its optical effect!
The next second, Rayleigh charged directly toward Alfia at full speed.
Against an Alfia whose absolute sense of direction was completely in disarray, all he needed to do was to get Tenseiga into her body and pour all of his remaining healing power right into it.
"Gospel—"
Suddenly, Alfia chanted her ultra-short aria once again, swiftly activating "Satanas Verion."
This time, she had once again masterfully altered the specific use of her Magic.
The dense sound waves spreading out from her actually left their lingering aftersound inside a person's body upon entry.
Rayleigh's eyes widened in horror.
He understood exactly what that meant in an instant.
The next sonic boom would detonate directly inside his own body!
His internal organs would be blasted completely to dust in a flash!
His entire body would be blown to bloody smithereens, completely impossible to piece back together.
Looking at the expressionless Alfia standing before him, Rayleigh gritted his teeth and directly infused his remaining spiritual power into his blood vessels, forcefully activating his defensive technique.
Blut Vene.
An imperfect Blut Vene... and both times he'd been forced to use it were entirely because of this terrifying woman standing in front of him.
Rayleigh gripped Tenseiga's hilt tightly with both hands and thrust the glowing blade directly toward Alfia.
Tenseiga's smooth blade finally touched Alfia's skin, sinking deep into her flesh.
Fresh blood dripped heavily onto the glowing blade.
It was Alfia's blood.
'But how? Tenseiga is the blade of mercy... What is this?'
Rayleigh suddenly realized the truth.
He looked up at the woman's face.
Alfia's face had turned incredibly pale, and her stoic expression had melted into one of immense, agonizing pain!
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