The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool “Asley”

Chapter 376: A Moment for Justice

Chapter 376: A Moment for Justice

T’oued, the capital of Eddo, was without Holy Warriors and Heavenly Beasts to defend it.

All hell had broken loose to the south of the city, and by now, cracks were finally starting to form in the ranks of those in the engagement.

“Wah–!? AAAAAAHHHHHH!!”

One of the mages was engulfed by the wave of Alphas.

“Ngh–! HAAA!”

Irene quickly launched an attack at that location, successfully stopping the enemy’s encroachment but failing to save the mage.

“Big sis! The enemy is concentrating on our right flank!”

Irene’s sparrow Familiar, Hawk, was by no means a strong fighter, but he could stay high in the sky undetected and report on the situation.

Despite being undetected, though, it was still extremely dangerous due to all the magic and breath attacks flying around, but Hawk had volunteered for this role himself.

“…! Got it!”

The battlefield was so chaotic that she could not spare even a moment to complain about it.

Irene made sure that the situation on this side was stable enough, then headed toward the right flank that Hawk had pointed out earlier, casting some spells on the way.

“Rise, A-rise, A-rise! All Up: Count 10 & Remote Control!”

First, she focused on casting support spells for those on the front lines. The formula of All Up was so complicated that only Irene was the only one casting it for now. Trace and Hornel could invoke the spell just fine as well, of course, but today, they were needed more for the defense against the Betas’ breath attacks.

If too many of the powerful mages were relegated to support roles, the rear guard would quickly be breached — that was the conclusion Irene was currently operating on.

“…! Miss Irene!”

With her widened field of view, Viola detected an Alpha approaching Irene in the latter’s blind spot, its fierce eyes and sharp fangs aiming for her neck.

“You little–!”

Irene did a flip in mid-air and swiped at the Alpha with her staff.

What she had now was a Damascus Rod, the same as what Gaston used to use. It was one of the best staves in the market, containing five slots for Swift Magic. Attack magic was useless against the Alphas’ Arcane Drain ability, however.

Irene, Melchi, Hornel, and Trace were all having difficulties fighting the creatures.

Viola and Jeanne, despite having more effective tools in their arsenals, were not having a good time, either. The Alphas were their bitter enemies from a previous battle, and once again, they were forced to witness a situation they had not been able to take countermeasures against.

“–! There they are! Took them long enough!”

Melchi shouted as a powerful mass of arcane energy — so powerful that the Alphas and Betas turned their attention toward it — approached the battlefield.

“You really kept us waiting, Argent!”

“Don’t rush your elders, girl! Now, everyone! Send those things back right where they came!”

As it turned out, Melchi and Irene’s complaints about being slow hit quite a bad spot for Argent.

“”OOOHHHHHH!!””

“Team Silver General is here! Mel, go help them out!”

“Already on it! Rise, A-rise, A-rise! All Up: Count 10 & Remote Control!”

Now that the powerful warriors were here, Melchi stepped back to the rear, shifting to a support role like Irene.

“Midors, you get back here and take on a support role, too!”

“Huh!? Me, on support!?”

“And don’t say you can’t do it! You went to school, for crying out loud!”

“Y-yes, ma’am!”

Team Silver General’s arrival caused the invading force to lose momentum.

But then Cleath, standing at the far end of the enemy line, cracked a grin.

“Hehehe… Maelstrom formation! Swallow them all!”

Cleath shouted out, his voice vengeful. The Alphas and Betas avoided clashing head-on with the new arrivals, instead spreading out to attack from the left and right flanks, limiting the Silver General’s power output on the front.

Gradually, the two divisions took the form of vortexes, chipping away at the warriors on the flanks and limiting their ranges of movement.

“–!? Not good!”

Argent, in the center of his forces, was the first to realize what Cleath was going for.

The vortexes of Alphas and Betas headed for the defending force’s front lines.

“Whoa!? What the hell!?”

Bruce was almost engulfed by one of the vortexes, managing to get himself out of the way at the last second.

“Blazer!!”

Argent roared out the name of his grandson — and Blazer correctly interpreted that it was meant to be a warning message.

“Everyone! Get away!”

The vortexes were solid clusters of murderous intent, far more threatening than the tidal wave the army of creatures once were. At Blazer’s order, everyone broke away from their formation and avoided getting caught by the enemies.

However, no many how hard they tried to dodge them, the enemies never stopped coming. The threat was practically unstoppable by now.

Team Silver’s members, Barun, Ricky, and Dallas were eventually driven into the small empty spaces in the centers of the vortexes.

Then the vortexes grew thicker and heavier, and even started extending up into the sky.

“Hey, that can’t be good!”

Reid said what everyone else already knew.

But by saying that out loud, he was able to keep himself calm.

Everyone leaned their backs against one another’s, forming a small but solid circle.

All of them, no matter their positioning, could do nothing but watch. The only help they were getting now was support and healing magic spells. If they were to be swallowed by the waves of creatures, however, they were sure to be obliterated.

It was only a matter of time before Team Silver was annihilated — That was what everyone thought.

But then…

“A superhero arrives at the most critical moment!”

[“Shut up, chicken! Just admit that you’re late!”]

[“And there’s not much time! You’ll have to come up with a way to save everyone, somehow!”]

There was an anomaly high up in the sky — too far away to be visible to the naked eye.

The only ones aware of it were Billy and Cleath.

“Tch–! That thing again!?”

“The Violet Phoenix! Why is it here!?”

Billy and Cleath could not hide their surprise at the appearance of the Heavenly Beast whom they considered a troublesome foe.

“CHAPPIEEEEEEEEE MA–“

[–CHICKEN! What part of ‘not much time’ did you not understand!?]

[GOD DAMN IT, CHAPPIE!]

“A-all right, fine! Woof… woof… woof… AWOOOOOOOOO!! Chappie Cannon, FIRE!!”

Billy and Cleath, tracking Chappie’s movements, put their guards up against the incoming threat.

“”OH NO–!!””

They panicked, as they were in no position to stop Chappie’s attack.

“KAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

The blast descended from the heavens like a wrathful light of God.

The Chappie Cannon cut through both of the vortexes formed by the Alphas and Betas.

“Tch–! It’s too powerful for the Alphas’ Arcane Drain!”

The maximum-sized breath attack streaked through between Teams Silver and Silver General, leaving an extremely long fissure in the earth.

Blazer was unable to comprehend what had just happened, but he was certain that the lethal threat was no more… for the time being.

“N-now! Join up with the rear guard!”

“”YEAH!!””

“Don’t let them get away!”

As the Alphas and Betas started moving again under Billy’s direction, Team Silver’s members ran frantically away from them.

It was clear that, even if they were to lessen their forces on the front lines, the result would be at least better than total annihilation.

The grotesque creatures drew near behind the warriors, repeatedly unleashing their breath attacks at them.

“Support!!”

“”Magic Shield!””

At Irene’s command, Trace and the others piled on layers upon layers of defensive magic spells.

“Charge!”

Argent proceeded to issue his order. The rear guard’s core shifted a slight distance to the front, moving closer to the location where they would join up with Team Silver.

“We’re going forward, too! Make sure your Remote Controls reach the warriors as quickly as possible!”

“”Yes, ma’am!””

With each step Team Silver General took, Irene and the rear guard also took one.

“Slide in!”

Argent gave out his order when Team Silver’s members were right in front of his group.

Members of Team Silver proceeded to slide under the Silver General warriors, moving past them to join up with the rear guard. Then they immediately turned around, ready to launch a counterattack.

“”OOOOOOHHHHHH!!””

From this point, it was a clash of brute force and nothing else. The warriors of the two teams worked as one to hold back the enemies in front of them.

Everyone was wounded both on the outside and at least a little on the inside. Their facial expressions were distorted, yet they were showing not even a shred of hesitation.

While the battlefield reverted to housing a clash of pure power, questions remained unanswered.

Billy and Cleath stared at the sky, unable to find the Violet Phoenix.

That threat to them had appeared so suddenly, robbed them of their advantage, and disappeared just as quickly.

[Why is it gone? Surely it could have struck us down, too… So why did it not do that!?]

Billy questioned as he kept on looking at the sky, but in the end, could not arrive at an answer.