No one had any idea what had just happened.
All they saw was a surge of black-and-white rift-like energy bursting through the air above the ruined battlefield. And then, Rod sheathing his sword, even though he'd never unsheathed it.
What just happened?
No one knew.
Except Satanael.
Right before space was torn asunder, a deafening screech rang in his ears. He'd already closed the distance, the tip of his light-forged sword mere inches from the human's skull.
But it was too late.
Satanael's world began to fracture, shattering into countless segments like the compound vision of an insect. His eyes wept vitreous fluid from ruptured sockets, and his entire body collapsed like a toppled Lego set, scattered, fragmented and unrecognizable.
Rod glanced at the pile of remains, letting out a quiet sigh of relief.
"Guess that's finally it. No way he's getting up from that."
If he had gotten up, Rod would've triggered a teleport and fled without hesitation.
Thankfully, even fallen angels couldn't cheat death.
Rod recalled something Griselda had once told him: those who believed in God, humans and angels alike, would, upon death, either ascend to heaven or descend into purgatory, depending on their sins.
But a fallen angel, having betrayed their own faith, would have no resting place. Their souls simply ceased to exist.
So Satanael was gone. Truly gone.
Then, a familiar chime echoed in Rod's mind.
[Mission Complete: Stop the Abyssal Fallen.]
[Calculating rewards... Church Reputation +20, Skill Acquired – Solar Flare Punch x100]
[Skill: Solar Flare Punch x100 – Converts internal energy into blinding light capable of stunning enemies.]
[Note: Sunglasses won't help!]
Rod skimmed the description. Cool skill, but he didn't have time to study it now.
Because he still had one more mission to finish.
He looked toward Suzaku, who seemed to have awakened from the shock of the last attack.
She was staring at him, dazed.
Rod gave her a cheeky wink, then promptly exited the Inner Sanctuary of the Oku-no-In.
At that moment, all eyes were on him.
After all, he was the one who had just taken down a high-ranking Fallen Angel.
And even now, no one knew what that final technique was.
Neither the Five Great Clans nor the Ozian witches had ever seen such a move.
Now that Satanael had been slain, the remaining factions, witches, the Cicada organization, and the scattered remnants of the Abyssal Fallen, began to panic.
Just moments ago, they'd had the upper hand. How had the situation flipped so suddenly?
"What a stroke of bad luck," Walburga muttered, eyes lingering on Rod. A flood of curiosity swelled inside her, but the terrifying aura radiating from him sent a cold shiver down her spine.
If even Satanael couldn't withstand him, what hope did she have?
Not even her master, Augusta, with a God-slaying Sacred Gear, would stand much of a chance.
"How disgraceful! Fallen angels, so useless!" snarled the great youkai Inugami Gyōbu, utterly disappointed.
If Satanael had just held out a little longer...!
But no use now. Things had gone far beyond salvageable.
If they stayed, they'd die.
Gyōbu turned to the Sacred Beast users blocking his way. His massive body swelled, then spewed a concentrated blast of demonic energy.
Boom!
The compressed sphere detonated on impact, blasting a chunk of exorcists into the air.
Then, with surprising speed for something so huge, Gyōbu launched himself skyward.
Seeing this, Onra tried to escape underground.
But someone wasn't going to let them.
Free loot was on the line.
Rod, still in super-acceleration, caught up to both youkai instantly. He didn't even need to use dimensional slash. A few clean swings of Excalibur reduced them to chunks.
"Huh. They're that squishy?"
Rod blinked in surprise.
Compared to Satanael, these two were glass cannons.
Both heads went flying, bouncing heavily across the ground.
Ding!
[You have defeated Inugami Gyōbu and Onra.]
[Damage assessment complete. Reward received: Momotaro Rice Balls x5.]
[Item: Momotaro Rice Ball – Feeding it to a beast will tame them for 30 minutes. Does not work on humans.]
Not... bad? But not great either.
Then again, he hadn't done that much damage to them. The exorcists had softened them up quite a bit.
Still, better than nothing.
He glanced at his now-empty mission panel.
Standing beside the youkai corpses, Rod turned back toward the Oku-no-In forces.
Whether they saw him as friend or foe was unclear, but having just taken out Satanael and two major youkai, the exorcists were clearly leaning toward "ally."
Still, some were understandably cautious.
Just one look told them this guy wasn't one of theirs. And showing up at a time like this?
"Thank you, honored guest," said a familiar but weak voice.
Suzaku stood from afar and bowed deeply.
With her taking the lead, the rest of the exorcists followed suit.
One by one, voices of gratitude filled the air.
Rod didn't respond.
No new missions. No reason to stick around.
He slipped away from the battlefield.
Once he was gone, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.
The pressure that had gripped their hearts vanished with him.
He'd defeated legendary monsters with ease. Slain a high-ranking Fallen Angel like swatting a fly.
If he had been their enemy...
It didn't bear thinking about.
Beneath the smoke-filled sky, Suzaku stared in the direction Rod had vanished, lost in thought.
She didn't know who he was.
But she swore she'd seen him somewhere before.
Only she couldn't remember when.
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