In the cedar forest.
The towering trees that blocked out the sky gradually fell.
Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands… countless Demon Beasts continuously poured out from a Greek-style temple deep within the cedar forest. They were like an ocean, flooding the vast forest.
Flying above the Demon Beast horde, Naoki looked down at the army, large enough to completely destroy Uruk.
"With this number and speed, they'll reach the Northern Wall in ten minutes. And with the Northern Wall's combat strength, can they hold out for an hour?"
Only after arriving at the cedar forest did Naoki sense the true scale of the Demon Beast horde.
Exactly one hundred thousand.
If most of them weren't eliminated here, the Northern Wall and Uruk would have no chance of holding out. One hundred thousand Demon Beasts could flatten the Northern Wall just by moving forward.
(Just like before, hit them with a storm!)
The flames in his hands dimmed. A ferocious storm gathered around Naoki. But just as he prepared to summon several tornadoes to suck up and tear apart the Demon Beast army below—
*BANG!*
A loud noise suddenly rang out from the direction of the temple, and a sound of breaking through the air struck. A green shadow shot into Naoki's view. A hand blade formed from magical energy lunged straight for his eyes!
Kingû!
"Don't try to hinder the Demon Beasts' advance, Holy Sword Bearer."
*CLANG!*
An arm enveloped in a storm deflected the sudden attack. Naoki stepped back slightly, activated his Mystic Killer Eye, and stared at Kingû in front of him: "You're really impatient. Going straight for my eyes. Are you that afraid of them, Kingû?"
"Shut up!"
Roaring in anger, Kingû circled Naoki at lightning speed and appeared behind him. Several golden ripples appeared, and Heaven's Chains, like silver snakes, surged forward!
*SWISH!* *SWISH!* *SWISH!*
The storm on Naoki's arm spread to envelop his entire body. A rapidly spinning wind wall deflected all the Heaven's Chains. Then, through a gap in the wind wall, Naoki's figure suddenly loomed large in Kingû's eyes!
(Damn it! Our eyes met!)
Kingû's face paled instantly. He immediately shot into the sky at full speed, conjuring hundreds of Heaven's Chains in front of Naoki to completely block his view!
After flying nearly a thousand meters into the air, Kingû finally calmed himself and began panting heavily.
"Haa… haa… Ugh… Uwa…"
Over the past ten days, Kingû had grown somewhat accustomed to the pain originating from his soul. But now, just from a momentary glance, the intensity of that pain surged several levels!
It hurt so much… It felt like he wanted to tear his own chest apart…
No, if it were just that, it wouldn't matter. After all, this body didn't need to worry about injury. If tearing his chest open could ease this pain, Kingû wouldn't hesitate.
But worse than that…
[Kingû, are you okay?]
In his mind, Naoki's face suddenly appeared, saying those words, as if forcibly inserting a new memory into the depths of his mind. The face of that man, which had been vague a few days ago, was now crystal clear!
"Get out of my mind…"
Clutching his head tightly, Kingû let out a low, beast-like growl.
And at that moment—
"You really fled to quite a height."
Naoki's voice sounded from behind Kingû.
Without thinking, Kingû immediately used countless Heaven's Chains to cover his back, then gathered a vast number of them, forming a half-sphere to encage Naoki!
[This won't work, Kingû.]
"Uhh—!"
Naoki's face flashed again, and a buzzing electric sound rang in his ears. The Heaven's Chain prison, nearly formed, instantly dissolved into countless specks of light in the air.
The sky-blue Mystic Eyes pierced through Kingû's soul completely once more.
"About seventy percent?"
Observing the changes in Kingû's soul, Naoki flew toward him: "Though your body is a perfect divine weapon, your soul isn't as strong as your body. On the contrary, it's very fragile… Well, since you were born only about half a year ago, your soul's strength is comparable to a baby's."
If it were the soul of the original Enkidu, the erosion speed might have been only half of what it was now. After all, to some extent, a soul grows stronger with time. Enkidu, who spent decades on Earth, had a fairly resilient soul.
But Kingû was different.
Born just half a year ago, though his body was immensely strong, his soul was still fragile.
That's why, as it was now, just a few glances had eroded most of his soul.
"Ugh…"
Kingû groaned in pain. He knew full well he had to escape this man's gaze immediately. He had things he needed to do. He absolutely couldn't lose his soul here!
But…
"Ninety percent."
Naoki reached out toward Kingû: "The soul erosion progress has reached ninety percent. Your soul is almost mine, Kingû. Though it sounds like something a villain would say, it's time you stopped resisting and accepted your fate, obediently becoming mine."
The pale palm grew larger in Kingû's eyes, as if it sought to dominate his entire being.
The small remnant of Kingû's soul urged his mind to desperately move his body. But compared to the one percent of self-awareness left, the ninety percent fully eroded by the Mystic Eyes clearly held greater dominance over his body and mind.
"I… ah… I… I…"
"Alright, one hundred percent~"
Naoki's hand landed on Kingû's head.
At this moment, the soul erosion was complete. Like many spiritual entities Naoki had controlled before, the Heaven's Chains, unique in heaven and earth, from soul to mind and even body, fell entirely under his dominion.
Looking at Kingû floating before him, eyes devoid of light, as if frozen, Naoki sighed softly: "That's enough. Sacrificing your life to keep me from stopping the Demon Beasts' advance… You really know your win condition, Kingû."
The current situation wasn't about winning by defeating Kingû or the Magical Beast Goddess. Victory was about protecting the Northern Wall and Uruk from the onslaught of one hundred thousand Demon Beasts. Kingû had appeared to hinder him for this reason. If Naoki focused on stopping the Demon Beasts, it would be fortunate if only twenty thousand of the hundred thousand reached the Northern Wall.
Of course, Kingû likely hadn't intended to sacrifice his life at first. As the child of Goddess Tiamat, surpassing old humans as a NEWTYPE, he had no intention of dying here so easily.
He probably planned to engage in guerrilla warfare with Naoki, disrupting him as much as possible to keep him from interfering with the Demon Beasts. But in the end, he was thoroughly defeated by Naoki's Mystic Eyes.
"Alright, let's end this. I'll take your heart, Kingû."
"Pffft!"
Naoki thrust his hand directly into Kingû's chest.