Watching Zenon who had completely transformed into a devil, Charles's eyes showed a trace of caution.
In the final battle, Charles's advantages besides knowing that Lucius was the mastermind behind everything were the various abilities he had learned in other worlds that Lucius didn't understand.
So whether in the previous battle with Conrad or this battle with Zenon, Charles hadn't used too many of his abilities.
Of course Charles wouldn't be stupid enough to hold a winning hand but let it rot in his hand, but the current situation wasn't enough to make Charles expose more of his trump cards.
But having said that, facing the demonized Zenon, Charles also had to be doubly careful.
Exhaling a puff of white breath, Charles assumed his stance.
Zenon naturally wouldn't be careless either, after all, he had been the one being suppressed from the start of the battle until now.
A bone sword appeared in his hand again, but this time the bone sword had not only become a two-handed sword, but the blade had also changed appearance.
"Bone × Spatial Magic - Magic Sword Dainsleif!"
Zenon swung down the magic sword in his hand, the blade composed of spatial magic extending a fractured space.
Charles instinctively dodged away. That fractured space extended all the way out, cutting through the ground as well as a section of Golden Dawn buildings.
In legend, Dainsleif was a magic sword whose wounds could never heal. Whether Zenon's current magic had the same power was still unclear. But the attack power of the blade composed of spatial magic was obvious at a glance.
Charles bent his arm, Dragon Slayer and Evil Dragon covering his arm, then directly reached out to grab another slash that Zenon had struck.
Although Noble Phantasms were theoretically indestructible equipment, such settings were meant to be broken. Charles had witnessed Noble Phantasms being shattered more than once.
So Charles input considerable magic power into his gauntlets before blocking the spatial fracture.
But this made Zenon even more cautious as he gripped his sword and directly approached Charles.
Tilting his head back, shifting his body... Charles didn't forcibly receive Zenon's extremely dangerous blade, but adopted evasive methods instead.
But soon Charles found an opportunity to counterattack. After crouching to avoid one of Zenon's horizontal slashes, he used the momentum of rising to throw an uppercut.
Whether magic power or devil power could greatly increase a person's various qualities. Now Zenon's reactions could keep up with Charles's movements, so he raised his bone sword horizontally to block Charles's punch.
But he still underestimated the power of Charles's punch, his blocking stance was directly disrupted.
And Charles's second punch was already coming at this moment. Fortunately Zenon's bone tail from behind stabbed over in time.
Charles never lacked the resolve to trade injuries for injuries in battle, so his fist struck Zenon's face without slowing down at all, bringing his head to smash directly into the ground.
Spider web-like cracks first spread from where Zenon's head hit the ground as the center, then shattered with a thunderous sound.
Two of the four horns on Zenon's head broke off against the ground, while two were crushed by the impact of Charles's fist. Not just the horns - all the bones in Zenon's entire head were shattered, making his head now look like a mass.
And for Charles, the price of this strike was having his shoulder pierced by the sharp bone tail, with blood like magma flowing down the bone tail.
The bone tail pierced through Charles's surface magic defense and skin, but didn't manage to injure bone and was instead clamped by muscle, not causing too serious an injury.
But Zenon had already become a devil. Aside from his heart, there were no vital points. Having his head hammered like that only required some magic power to recover. It was hard to say which side suffered more.
Charles reached out to snap the bone tail still drilling into his body, lifting his leg to stomp down and deliver a fatal blow.
Zenon also swung back with his magic sword, just colliding with Charles's flame-wrapped foot.
Flames instantly erupted. After several spatial division cracks flashed inside, two figures flew out from within.
Zenon's head that had become like dough had already returned to normal, even the horns on his head had regrown.
But his body was covered with burns that hadn't completely healed even now. Obviously, the flames of Saint Stage power were still effective against him.
Charles wiped away the blood flowing from a wound on his face with his thumb, the flames in his eyes becoming even more blazing.
Zenon was definitely the most qualified warrior among the Dark Triad. Using only spirit assimilation, Charles surprisingly couldn't steadily suppress him.
Only such a person could be called an opponent. Regardless of whether the path chosen was right or wrong, at least no one could deny the will with which he carried it through to the end.
Charles was sorry he couldn't use full power to express his respect for this "opponent," but he would give Zenon a worthy battle.
As if sensing Charles's emotions, Zenon also became surprisingly calm.
The obsession with reviving the Spade Kingdom and the impatience from being suppressed seemed to disappear at this moment, as if he could see his dear friend's figure again.
That was a friend he had known since childhood, a competitor who wanted to become captain of the Magic Defense Force just like him.
But to slay devils, Zenon had personally pierced his dear friend's chest with magic. This also made him understand that only power could change everything.
He wasn't interested in what his elder brother called "destroying everything and rebuilding a new world." He only wanted the Spade Kingdom to exist forever.
Everything he did was for this goal... in his way.
Unfortunately, he only saw his dear friend's back. Perhaps like everyone else, he wouldn't approve of his actions either!
That didn't mean he became dejected. Instead, his fighting will became more pure, and even his magic power seemed strengthened.
Charles showed a smile, saying softly, "Isn't this... also burning up!"
The next instant both disappeared simultaneously, reappearing already colliding together.
Scale-like armor plates under magic power enhancement rubbed against the blade formed by spatial magic, the overflowing magic power forming a shockwave that pushed out all objects in view.
Then the deadlocked arm and blade disappeared simultaneously, replaced by a large net composed of spatial fractures and gushing flames.
"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"
Charles swung his arms, the extending flames directly tearing through the sword net to lash toward Zenon.
But Zenon didn't retreat. Instead, he raised his magic sword horizontally and launched a direct thrust toward Charles. The flames Charles shot out were directly pierced through, the sword tip pointing straight at Charles's heart.
Charles's vertical pupils contracted to a straight line as he stomped and shattered the ground, his entire body jumping up.
Zenon's sword thrust missed, and he instinctively looked up toward Charles in midair.
At this moment, Charles's flames from both hands had already fused, Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame pressing down close to his face.
"Void Severance!"
Charles dodged to one side, avoiding the spatial crack that had slashed through the fireball and flown over, then passed through the cut-apart fireball to reach Zenon's front.
"Flame Dragon King's Crushing Fist!"
Zenon finally understood what irresistible power meant. The magic sword in his hand was actually shattered to pieces by this punch, the collapsing spatial magic power and bone fragments flying out.
And that punch, carrying domineering flames, struck heavily on his chest, directly punching out a bowl-sized cavity.
Zenon rolled and flew out. While his body rapidly repaired itself, he summoned a bone forest trying to block Charles's pursuit.
When he righted his body, he saw Charles tilting his head back to inhale air, with what seemed like the figure of a roaring crimson beast appearing behind him.
"Flame Dragon King's Roar!"
All he could see were blazing flames. The bone forest collapsed at first touch, turning to ash almost instantly, and finally he himself was swallowed up.
His body was destroyed by flames, his hands and feet didn't last long before turning to charcoal.
Zenon mobilized all his strength trying to repair them, but Charles had already crossed the sea of fire to reach his front.
The gauntleted arm pierced through his chest. When it was pulled out, there was already an additional rapidly beating black heart in the palm.
"Although you might not want this, just be purified in flames like this!"
Saying this, Charles's hand surged with flames, burning that heart to ash.
Zenon, his entire body burning with flames, fell backward looking up at the sky. As his heart was destroyed, his body also began to disintegrate.
Zenon's vision began to blur, but one figure in the firelight became clearer.
His dear friend, no longer with his back turned, extended his fist toward him just like before.
Zenon also instinctively extended his fist, but discovered his hand was now a devil's claw. Did such a hand really still have the right to bump fists with his dear friend?
But to his surprise, his dear friend actively extended his fist over. The moment their fists touched, he seemed to return to his former self, back to how he was before becoming devil-possessed.
His mouth curved up as Zenon followed his departing dear friend toward that patch of light.
After reading the manga again, I found that this battle between Zenon and Yuno clearly had many things that weren't expressed.
You can see that Zenon and his friend clearly parallel Yuno and Asta - the two pairs are ridiculously similar in many ways.
That feeling between Zenon and Yuno of making one wrong choice and then walking different paths means this battle actually had more things it could express. I don't know why it wasn't really shown in the end.
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