Chapter 151 (Patreon)

“Ryu Ishigori and Takako Uro have been pushed into a difficult battle.”

Through All the World’s Evil, Ragnar Kagenou could sense everything unfolding in Iwate.

“So this is one of the Four Great Cursed Spirits Kenjaku released.”

A trace of disappointment entered his voice.

“It’s a shame Shuten-dōji was killed by an instant-death ability before we could have a proper fight.”

With that, Ragnar boarded Vimana and departed Sendai. It took him only moments to reach the skies above Iwate.

“A rain of fire?”

As he drew closer, he saw flames continuously pouring from the heavens.

“Interesting. A cursed spirit capable of wielding several different elements... This is a first.”

Before entering the area covered by Ōtakemaru’s rain of fire, Ragnar invoked Rho Aias—the Seven Rings that Cover the Fiery Heavens—and shielded himself within its protection.

“Haaah!”

Dark-red cursed energy erupted from Ryu Ishigori’s palm, blasting Ōtakemaru back dozens of meters.

“I understand your cursed technique now.”

Ōtakemaru steadied himself.

“You merely control the output of the cursed energy you discharge. Nothing more...”

The nodachi in his hand gradually became wreathed in fire and lightning.

“Tch... He refuses to go down.” Ryu exhaled heavily. “Uro, one more time...”

Ryu and Takako Uro had already been fighting Ōtakemaru for dozens of hours. Even after all that time, neither side had managed to overcome the other.

“There appears to be a core inside each of you,” Ōtakemaru said. “If I destroy it, will you still be able to come back to life?”

The expressions on Ryu and Uro’s faces immediately changed.

He had sensed the secret behind their resurrection.

Ōtakemaru shattered the ground beneath his feet and launched himself forward like a cannonball, his nodachi streaking toward them.

Uro seized the surface of the sky and pulled it aside like a sheet. The space before her twisted, forcibly dragging Ōtakemaru’s attack away from its original course.

“All you did was distort the trajectory,” Ōtakemaru declared. “My blade’s destination hasn’t changed. It’s still you!”

“What?!”

Dark-red cursed energy surged from Ryu’s hands.

At the same moment, the Chains of Heaven shot across the battlefield and wound around Ōtakemaru’s weapon, stopping the nodachi before it could reach Uro.

“My King!”

The moment Uro saw Ragnar, she immediately lowered her head.

“My King, this cursed spirit is extremely powerful,” Ryu reported. “Even with Uro and me fighting together, we couldn’t exorcise it in a short time.”

Ragnar casually raised one hand.

“No matter. I’ll face him myself.”

Ōtakemaru stared at the glittering golden ripples forming behind Ragnar.

“So you’re Ragnar Kagenou?”

“Correct, cursed spirit. However...”

“However?”

Ragnar looked down at him with cold contempt.

“A mongrel like you has no right to utter my name.”

“You human...!”

Ōtakemaru’s expression changed instantly. Rage surged from him like a volcano on the verge of erupting.

“In the end, a cursed spirit remains a cursed spirit,” Ragnar said. “You’re far too naive if you believe you can replace humanity.”

There was no reason to exchange any more words with a cursed spirit.

All that mattered was exorcising it.

Without warning, hundreds of golden ripples opened behind Ragnar.

Noble Phantasms erupted from them like a storm.

The radiant treasures tore through Ōtakemaru’s flames and rained across the battlefield.

“Are those truly made of gold?” Ōtakemaru stared in disbelief. “How can they remain untouched by flames this hot?”

The Noble Phantasms ignored his fire completely.

One after another, they tore through his body.

“Impossible!”

Only then did Ōtakemaru understand the true strength of the sorcerer standing before him—the man whom even the King of Curses had been unable to defeat.

Boom!

Lightning enveloped Ōtakemaru’s body.

He attacked from every possible direction, yet none of his assaults could break through Ragnar’s barrage of Noble Phantasms.

Ōtakemaru kicked off the ground with both legs.

His enormous body shot forward as the nodachi in his hands trembled violently. Flames coiled around its blade before dozens of burning slashes erupted toward Ragnar.

The Gate of Babylon spread across the sky, filling every possible route with weapons.

No matter how many times Ōtakemaru swung his nodachi, each flaming slash was shattered almost as soon as it formed.

“Is that all you can do, cursed spirit?”

Ragnar watched Ōtakemaru suspended in the air and gave a cold scoff.

Above him, the Cleaving Mountain Sword, Ig-Alima, descended.

Ōtakemaru activated his storm-based cursed technique, compressing the wind into a transparent barrier before him.

Cracks spread across the barrier almost immediately.

Ōtakemaru desperately poured more power into it. Flames wrapped around his nodachi while lightning surged across his body.

Boom!

Ig-Alima broke through the storm barrier and smashed Ōtakemaru into the mountains below.

Several peaks collapsed beneath the descending sword. The earth trembled as though it could no longer bear the weapon’s immense weight.

Clang!

A sharp metallic sound rang beside Ōtakemaru’s ears.

The Chains of Heaven were already closing around him.

Just before they could make contact, Ōtakemaru released an explosive burst of cursed energy and threw himself out of their path.

In the next instant, he appeared directly before Ragnar.

His enormous nodachi came crashing down.

“You closed the distance because you thought you could defeat me in close combat?”

Ragnar remained perfectly composed.

“How laughable.”

He reached into one of the golden ripples and drew out an axe resembling the divine axe of Marduk.

The nodachi was forced aside.

Ōtakemaru immediately followed with his fist, but Ragnar met it head-on with the axe.

The impact sent Ōtakemaru flying hundreds of meters.

His enormous body tore through several buildings before finally crashing to the ground. Blood ran from the wound across his chest.

Ōtakemaru’s eyes turned crimson.

The last trace of reason disappeared from them, leaving behind nothing but a primal desire to kill. He charged again, swinging his nodachi in a frenzy.

Amid the barrage, Ragnar caught a gap in his guard.

One swing of the axe knocked Ōtakemaru away.

Dozens of golden portals opened in the empty air, and the Noble Phantasms fired from them pierced his body in an instant.

Ragnar gave him no opportunity to recover.

He reached into another golden ripple and drew out Brahmastra, the Immortal Blade.

At the same time, the Chains of Heaven wrapped themselves around Ōtakemaru’s arm.

With a deafening crash, Brahmastra shattered his nodachi.

A flash of gold filled Ōtakemaru’s vision.

A wet crack split the air.

Ōtakemaru was hurled backward as fractures spread across his body. Blood seeped from every crack and streamed down his enormous frame.

“If you intend to kill me...” Ōtakemaru snarled, “then I’ll make certain you don’t escape unharmed!”

The fire, lightning, and storms surrounding him lost their forms and collapsed into raw black cursed energy.

Every cursed spirit in Iwate caught within the spreading wave was forcibly broken down into pure cursed energy.

In an instant, a deathly presence flooded the entire area.

Ōtakemaru absorbed the surrounding cursed energy, his body expanding until he towered fifty meters above the ground.

“You’ve abandoned speed and agility to rely on sheer size?”

Ragnar reached into the Gate of Babylon and drew out a black-and-crimson knight’s lance.

Red thorns covered its shaft.

“Holy Lance—release restraints.”

The moment Ōtakemaru saw the black lance, an inexplicable fear rose from the depths of his being.

“Fear...? I’m afraid of that black lance?”

His eyes widened.

“Impossible...!”

Ōtakemaru cast aside every other thought.

Even if absorbing all that cursed energy caused his death, he no longer cared. The only thing remaining in his mind was the desire to kill Ragnar Kagenou.

“Come!”

His roar shook the air.

“Let’s see which one of us dies first!”

The raging cursed energy surrounding Ōtakemaru abruptly contracted into his body.

A moment later, it erupted outward in every direction.

A dark-violet storm coiled around the Holy Lance.

One after another, the red thorns covering its shaft began to shatter.

Ragnar drove the lance forward.

“Thirteen Fangs!”

A black storm erupted into existence.

The surrounding buildings disintegrated beneath the violent winds. Even the clouds and lightning filling the sky were torn apart and scattered.

At the center of the storm, Ōtakemaru endured an unimaginable pressure.

Against that raging darkness, even his fifty-meter body appeared as small and helpless as a lone boat lost upon a violent sea.