Aozaki Aoko [583-585] (Patreon)

Chapter 583: The Brittle Maiden

Just like a miniature sun rising from the ground, the massive sunburst fireball—now elevated to a 9th-level spell—struck Auril solidly, erupting in a violent explosion.

The blast was so intense that even Aoko's teammates, who weren't far away, were blown backward. Fortunately, none were injured.

Despite the clean hit, Aoko didn't relax at all. She didn't believe that such an attack could destroy a divine body.

She stared intently at the center of the explosion. This spell, opposite in style to Auril's own, had certainly inflicted some damage, but just how much was uncertain.

If it were only powered by Aoko's own mana, she figured the damage would be similar to what the Disaster Black Blade had done before.

But this sunburst drew its power directly from the depths of the Weave via the Mythallar Core. In a way, it was a spell that nearly surpassed the 9th level.

Suddenly, Aoko gained a new insight into spells beyond the 9th level. As she pondered this valuable realization, she remained alert to Auril's movements.

As the smoke cleared, Auril's avatar was, in a word, "miserable."

The horns atop her head were blown off, her beautiful white feathers charred black, and even one of her arms was blasted away.

But oddly, there was no blood flowing from these wounds.

Auril's avatar was like an ice sculpture slowly melting, glaring at Aoko with her one remaining sharp eye, leaving Aoko with no sense of victory.

And as she anticipated, although Auril's body was melting and cracking, the divine aura and pressure emanating from her only grew stronger.

This was a special trait unique to divine beings: as long as their divinity wasn't depleted, they could regenerate endlessly. This ability is known as Divine Rejuvenation.

Amid violent tremors, a humanoid form made of ice slowly rose from the freezing mist, even taller than the Frost Giant skeleton summoned earlier.

But aside from its imposing size, Aoko was surprised to sense a non-human beauty in this form.

This giant, composed entirely of ice, displayed distinctively feminine curves—terrifying yet dignified and graceful.

The air temperature dropped again. The mist, formed from the clash of heat and cold, was gathered by Auril's power into a magnificent cloak for the ice giant. On her shoulders, arms, and thighs,

numerous icy blades grew.

Aoko had no doubt that these blades could be used as deadly weapons against them at any moment.

From the mythological knowledge given by Mystra, Aoko recognized this form of Auril as her second avatar: the Brittle Maiden, the closest to her true aspect as the Frost Maiden.

Auril now stared down at Aoko, completely ignoring her teammates. In the goddess's eyes, the others were mere annoying insects; only Aoko—the cleric of the Goddess of Magic, the mage attuned to the Mythallar Core—was a threat to her ideals.

Auril extended her right hand and lightly clenched it. A massive ice axe materialized, which she then swung down at Aoko with the intent to annihilate her.

Having practiced several rounds already, Aoko was now completely familiar with channeling the Mythallar Core to enhance her spells. As Auril attacked, Aoko used the Mythallar Core to cast a force spell, modeling it after the Mordenkainen's Sword, creating a force greatsword equal in size to Auril's axe.

Ice and force—two giant weapons clashed fiercely in midair, the resulting shockwaves creating a brief vacuum around them before they separated and struck again.

Even with the Mythallar Core as a backup, maintaining this spell was extremely taxing for Aoko. Besides the focus required, she also had to consider each of Auril's moves.

Though Aoko had studied martial arts, her knowledge of melee weapons was basic, while Auril, as a goddess of the Gods of Fury, was a master of weapon combat.

But this didn't mean Aoko had no chance. Even though Auril kept her ice axe durable with divine power, Aoko's weapon was made of noble force energy, inflicting the most real harm. After only a few exchanges, Auril's axe was already chipped in several places.

Auril noticed this too. Seizing the moment when Aoko's weapon was knocked aside, she suddenly conjured a gem-shaped ice crystal in her other hand, radiating a chilling light.

As Aoko shifted her stance, trying to guess the crystal's function, she suddenly found herself paralyzed—her blood felt frozen, her body unable to move at all.

Before losing all sensation, Aoko felt pain like needles all over her body,

but soon even that faded, replaced by numbness.

Yet she remained calm. It wasn't because her state was cold, but because she still had simulated neural organs—magic circuits—within her.

This was a structure unique to her, neither fully physical nor purely spiritual. Even though Auril's Ice Stasis spell had frozen her, Aoko could forcibly activate her circuits to repel the outside influence.

She focused all her attention inward, betting that Auril, after freezing her, wouldn't do anything else—her obsession was to preserve everything in ice.

Aoko's circuits had never run so far beyond their limits. In the Type-Moon universe, she'd never encountered an enemy requiring her to go all out like this.

But under the suppression of the Overgod Ao, she felt like she was climbing a mountain with an impossible weight on her back, struggling bit by bit to break free.

While Aoko was frozen, countless ice mephits emerged from the mist and attacked her teammates, leaving them battered and wounded, even as Simon quickly countered with spells like Wall of Fire.

As Auril watched the mortals' futile struggle and their approach to defeat, a faint cracking sound drew her attention.

Chapter 584: Crushing Fist of Spite

In that instant, the ice statue was covered in countless hairline cracks. With a crisp shattering sound, Aoko broke free from the Ice Stasis.

She collapsed to her knees, coughing up blood. The divine blow had taken a toll on her, but her gaze held no fear.

Aoko's whole body ached, blood stained her lips, but she smiled—the sign that she was certain of victory.

Leaning on her Midnight staff, she struggled to her feet, chanting a prayer-like spell and casting the highest-level divine magic she could—Heal Critical Wounds.

This spell was a power forcibly granted by Mystra, bypassing Auril's block, letting her body recover rapidly—but that was the limit.

Mystra would not descend an avatar for Aoko's sake—not because she didn't care, but because, to the goddess, whether Aoko lived or died made little difference.

Even if Aoko lost to the divine opponent today, her soul would be welcomed into Mystra's divine realm and reincarnated somewhere in the multiverse where the Weave existed.

But for Aoko, it was different. Every part of her soul and body mattered. To lose any piece would mean that the resurrected Aoko would no longer be her true self.

So she could not die or fail. Having suffered Auril's divine strike, she had, on some level, understood the mechanism of her divine power.

Aoko looked at her teammates, beset by ice mephits, and summoned a burning cloud—Cloud of Incineration.

The cloud precisely avoided her teammates, engulfing only the ice mephits, burning them all to ash in an instant.

Seeing Aoko break free, Auril grew serious for the first time, narrowing her eyes at the young mortal and quickly noticing the difference between her and the other mortals—

She sensed the sliver of divinity within Aoko's soul—a fragment of Mystra's Weave.

Auril, realizing this, grew flustered for the first time. As a lesser deity, even in physical form, most of her power had been spent maintaining the Everlasting Rime.

Though she appeared fully divine, she was actually running on empty.

Forget contending with the Overgod—the powerful goddess of magic—even a stronger demigod might defeat her now.

But as a member of the Gods of Fury, Auril would never retreat before an enemy, no matter how strong.

The Brittle Maiden discarded the battered ice axe and conjured a spiked one-handed mace—the Frost Maiden's favored weapon, the Frost Morningstar.

Until now, Auril had maintained some divine dignity as a female deity before mortals, but after confirming that Aoko could hurt and even resist her divine power, she revealed her true nature.

Aoko had nothing left to hide—she was at her limit, unable to use the Fifth Magic or most of her spells; this was her all-out state.

The Brittle Maiden gripped the mace in both hands, stomped forward, and struck at Aoko, who, in response, used the Mythallar Core to cast the highest-level spell from the Bigby's Hand series—the Bigby's Crushing Hand.

The spiked mace and giant hand clashed fiercely, the sound of metal ringing through the vast core chamber. Aoko's teammates watched her fight the deity with awe—this level of combat was beyond mortals, or at least beyond what mortals of their rank could influence.

Though the Mythallar Core fought against the freezing cold, Auril's increased divine power meant that everyone present—including Aoko—suffered from varying degrees of frostbite.

But Aoko had no time to worry. Unlike the previous axe, Auril's Frost Morningstar, infused with divine power, quickly cracked Aoko's Crushing Hand.

Even at 9th level, the Bigby's Hand series was functional, not purely destructive, so its raw power was still lacking.

Was there an even more destructive spell, beyond even Bigby's Crushing Hand or the Disaster Black Blade?

Actually—there was.

As the core technology of the Netherese Empire, the Mythallar Core provided energy and other functions, allowing the attuned mage to access extra spells or store magical knowledge.

Inside Aoko's Mythallar Core was an evocation spell called the Crushing Fist of Spite—clearly a legacy of that evoker who put an axe atop his tower.

Though Aoko hadn't cared for his taste before, she'd already benefited from his legacy in this battle, and if possible, she'd consider building him a monument.

With the Mythallar Core's help, Aoko quickly gained access to the spell. She couldn't cast it independently yet, but it worked for now—and as a metamagic specialist, she could apply her metamagic talents to it.

Aoko found another opening, clashing once more with Auril's Frost Morningstar. This time, her Bigby's Crushing Hand was shattered, but Auril, too, was pushed back by the resulting magical turbulence. Aoko seized the gap to cast the Crushing Fist of Spite.

A massive, pitch-black fist about fifteen feet across appeared in midair before her, composed of some utterly non-reflective material, but its outline was distinct.

Unlike Bigby's Hand, the Crushing Fist of Spite, though also a physical attack, radiated an evil aura. Both Aoko and Auril could sense that this magic was anything but benign.

In normal casting, the spell required the severed hand of a good-aligned cleric afflicted with a terrible disease called Fester of Spite—a truly evil spell.

But casting it via the Mythallar Core, Aoko could bypass such material requirements.

Chapter 585: Winter's Womb

The giant black iron fist and the divinely empowered Frost Morningstar clashed violently. Though Auril didn't retreat, her weapon was gradually corroded by Aoko's magic with each impact.

If anyone present had sharp enough eyes, they would see parts of the ice mace tainted by the black power,

its formerly pristine ice-blue surface now mottled and stained.

Visually and emotionally, Aoko—wielding the Crushing Fist of Spite—looked every bit the evil villain.

Not because she was wicked or ugly, but because the spell itself radiated a sinister aura, the black fist trailing dark smoke.

The spell's elements involved sacrifice and malice; even the materials required necromantic disease.

Any normal creature struck by the fist and not killed would likely be infected with Fester of Spite.

Auril, on the other hand, was the picture of ice-pure and jade-clean—pure divine power, holy weapon, a graceful figure, an almost perfect appearance.

But reality was often the opposite of appearance. Here, the evil mage Aoko was the hero, and the holy goddess of winter the source of all evil.

The contrast made this unknown battle both dramatic and absurd—even Edgin and the others watching didn't know how to comment.

Of course, they all hoped for Aoko's victory. If she lost, Auril would not spare them—being ice sculptures here in the next life was no pleasant fate.

After a fierce exchange of fist and mace, Aoko started to recover her old martial instincts. Catching Auril at a moment of overextension, she had the black fist land a right hook on the mace's handle, shattering Auril's favorite weapon.

Auril, weaponless, tried to conjure another crystal to cast Ice Stasis, but after being frozen once, Aoko would not give her a second chance.

Aoko landed an uppercut to Auril's chin, the dark fist arcing beautifully through the air and slamming into Auril's jaw,

interrupting her spell.

This blow left Auril's avatar's head full of cracks. She tried to block with her hands, but Aoko, avoiding the fragile head, smashed her knee next, breaking Auril's right leg.

The Brittle Maiden's huge form collapsed, and Aoko relentlessly pounded her head.

She knew that a body made of ice and divine power had no real head weak point, but at this point, it was just more satisfying to pummel the head.

After a brutal barrage, Aoko finally paused, gasping for breath. Even the summoned black fist had now vanished. 

"Did we win?!" Simon asked, "Can we leave—?"

Did they win?

No!

Aoko narrowed her eyes, watching Auril's corpse. Intense divinity and divine power gathered inside, making the entire cavernous core tremble, with chunks of ice falling from above.

A blue-white light shot from Auril's broken body, piercing her chest. A three-foot-wide ice diamond rose from the light.

Aoko felt an immense temptation from the diamond, but quickly realized that this must be Auril's true core—the Winter's Womb described in the cult texts.

The diamond's allure (stronger for the more powerful) came from the divine spark of the Frost Maiden within—the foundation of her godhood.

The moment it appeared, the temperature, previously kept tolerable by the Mythallar Core, plummeted. The Winter's Womb seemed to emit an eternal freezing radiance—no ordinary magic could counter it.

Aoko conjured another protective bubble, but this time the thin barrier was being compressed and consumed by some force in the air, shrinking rapidly.

As Aoko struggled to protect her party, the Winter's Womb floated up. A polar ray shot from its core at her, forcing her to abandon the protective bubble and, with a desperate 9th-level spell reversal, barely reflected the attack.

But the Winter's Womb, struck by its own ray, was unaffected—a clear sign it was totally immune to cold, even its own attacks.

Biting cold wind and unintelligible whispers grew stronger. Aoko tried to control the weather with the Mythallar Core, but her teammates were already frozen stiff—Edgin even passed out, forcing Simon to burn his mana to create fire for warmth.

This couldn't go on—she had to fight back.

Gritting her teeth, Aoko once again forced her suppressed magic circuits to operate, the world's suppressive force and her own burgeoning power clashing within her, causing blood to trickle from her eyes.

This was harming her body, but she used a trick she'd learned from Kiritsugu Emiya—creating a temporary Reality Marble inside herself to resist Auril's freezing radiance, giving her full mobility for a short time.

Why only a short time? Because this method—using the body to resist the world's correction—was why Kiritsugu couldn't use his Reality Marble for long.

But endurance was running out—not just for Aoko, but for the Mythallar Core as well.

The Core's output was enough to match Auril, as the Weave itself far exceeded the Frost Maiden, but the Core's materials couldn't withstand this strain.

Though the Core looked like a yellow mini-sun, that was just magical energy leaking out. The real Mythallar Core was a precision device of mithril and rare magical metals—never meant for direct divine combat.

Having decided on her strategy, Aoko took a deep breath—the freezing air burning her lungs but clearing her mind.

Delayed, Quickened, Silent, Triple Metamagic: Time Stop!

With a spell almost beyond 9th-level, time froze for everything around her—including Auril—but Aoko's casting never ceased. She would use this precious time to gather enough power to shatter the ice diamond in one blow!