With all seventy-one Demon Pillars below completely silent, Steve did not rush to give an attack order.
Instead, he cleared his throat like a lecturer beginning class. In a clear, steady voice, he revealed the true identity of this familiar to the ancient apexes before him:
"It seems you're very curious about her background."
"Fine, as a reward for your perseverance, I'll let you know exactly what you're up against before you meet defeat."
Steve's gaze fell on the lively "angelic girl" at his side, a smile growing on his lips.
"What you see seems like a human-shaped girl, but that's only her mentally suppressed form. Her true nature... is far, far greater than you can imagine..."
He paused, savoring the swelling confusion and terror in the Pillar's collective mind.
And then, carefully, he pronounced the name even gods would fear to speak:
"Her name is—TYPE-Venus."
The words themselves seemed to hold magical power. With the echo of that name, visible tremors ran through each Pillar's spiritual core. Their magical bodies flickered with static, as if their existence's "system" was about to crash from receiving information beyond its capacity.
Disregarding their malfunctions, Steve used his words to construct a living image of despair:
"Her birth is rooted precisely in this scenery—the Land of Steel. In a parallel world roughly a thousand years hence, the overdeveloped Proper Human History completely killed the will of the planet and boxed in human reason, dooming fate itself."
"But before that dying planetary will disappeared, it sent a last, desperate plea for help—broadcast to the solar system from humankind's cradle."
"And the ultimate beings of all eight planets answered. They descended to earth to exterminate humanity. She—TYPE-Venus—is one of them. The Aristoteles of Venus, the ultimate life-form, the final emissary programmed for planetary ruin."
The Pillars' network was thrown into chaos.
They, who stood atop the Age of God's magical hierarchy, understood all too well the significance of "Aristoteles." It was the strongest living singularity a planet could produce—a true, star-class biosphere-killer.
And the man before them had actually used such a being... as his familiar?
As if reading their thoughts, Steve shifted focus to explain his connection with the "angel."
But this explanation hurt them more than even the real name had:
"I know what you're thinking. But don't be shocked."
"During the past ten years while awaiting this Holy Grail War, I briefly traveled to other planets via cosmic magecraft, attempting communication with 'Ultimate Ones.' In the civilization I once lived in—one that spanned over a billion years, its activities ranging beyond even the observable universe—forming temporary bonds with planetary UOs (Ultimate Ones) and using them as familiars in combat was as typical as children playing Pokémon during this era. It was nothing strange at all."
For the Demon Pillars, this comparison to capturing Pokémon was the last straw.
Their worldview shattered completely. To think that the planet's very apex, the Aristoteles, could be regarded as... "catchable" monsters—what unfathomable arrogance and sense of entitlement!
Steve, perhaps sensing their broken spirits, sighed with slight regret.
"But ultimately, I'm no more than a Servant here, subject to this civilization's meager power sources. It's like buying a drone online in modern times, only to end up in the Stone Age and worry about how to charge it."
"So I can't contract with multiple UOs at once. That's why, for this journey, I've only called upon TYPE-Venus—among the Solar system's UOs, she is the one most friendly to humanity."
Before he could finish, something unexpected happened.
The eternal crimson sky of the Land of Steel was blotted out by massive, peerless shadow.
The Pillars, by instinct, raised their countless eyes—and saw the most awe-inspiring, most despair-inducing sight of their existence.
A gigantic object, over a kilometer long and utterly defying any terrestrial biological classification, slowly descended from behind the scarlet clouds. Its main body resembled an immense, inverted green plant—a reversal of the Kabbalah's tree—its endless tendrils each tipped with budding lotus-flowers.
Attached to either side were "wings" fashioned from vast metallic layers—not meant for flight, but to serve as heat sinks that absorb and emit energy. At its core was a dim, terrifyingly luminous stellar nucleus.
This was the true form of the Heaven's Corpse [TYPE-Venus].
These entities would land, root themselves in the planet's crust, spread spores (clones), and devour the world—living natural disasters incarnate.
When this vast form began to descend, space itself groaned from the impossible strain. The overwhelming mass bent reality, scattering even the paths of the toxic cosmic dust (SIN).
An unfathomable pressure, like a tangible ocean, slammed down from the roots of life—nailing the seventy-one Demon Pillars, rendering them completely immobile.
The Pillars' collective consciousness imploded. Where once were terrified screams, now there was only blankness—total system crash. Their mental faculties destroyed, they finally realized:
What they faced here was no "battle."
It was a one-sided execution.