Batanel's creation—the Thunder Net Cage, a web of lightning—was a truly inescapable killing spell.

  Who on earth had devised such a vicious magic? Mina felt revulsion toward Batanel from the very depths of her soul.

  "How dare you trick me, Batanel!"

  "Hahaha! Say hello to your parents in the afterlife!"

  Those words sent the blood rushing to Mina's head.

  "You—! You just said something you should never have said!"

  Mina raised her right hand, turning the back of it toward Batanel, and clenched her fist.

  "Storm Crystal Armlet! Break through that lightning spell!"

  In that instant, the armlet wrapped around Mina's right wrist blazed with light! Batanel's net of lightning began to spiral and was drawn into the armlet like water down a drain.

  Batanel stared at Mina in shock.

  "What the hell is that artifact?!"

  Standing before the stunned Batanel, Mina's hair stood on end. Her eyes were sharp with fury.

  "Now it's my turn! I hope you have the power to block this!"

  She extended all her fingers toward Batanel. Lines of light stretched from the fully charged Storm Crystal Armlet to the glowing Thunderbrand Rings on her fingers.

  "What are you planning, Mina?! I won't allow you to add more sins to your list!"

  That was the last straw for Mina.

  "You're the one saying that?! You?!"

  Her spell fired.

  "Divine Judgment!"

  From nowhere—tearing through the ceiling—countless bolts of lightning rained down upon Batanel's head. Not ten. Not twenty. A relentless barrage of lightning struck him one after another.

  "GAAAAAH!"

  The Storm Crystal Armlet had accumulated an enormous reserve of energy over time, making the intensity and volume of lightning incomparably greater than when she had used it against the Balrog in the labyrinth.

  An ear-splitting roar shook the air as divine retribution in the form of lightning hammered Batanel. The onslaught did not let up for some time.

  When the furious rain of lightning finally ceased, Batanel dropped to one knee. But he raised his head and glared at Mina. Her eyes went wide with disbelief.

  "No way... you survived that?"

  As Mina gaped, Batanel spoke through ragged breaths.

  "I could say the same to you, Mina... no one has ever survived the Thunder Net Cage. Not a single person."

  Batanel staggered to his feet.

  "What kind of body do you have? You're absurdly tough."

  Batanel glared at Mina, still panting heavily. Then he reached his hand toward the angel's halo floating above his head.

  Seeing this, Mina gasped and touched the ornament in her own hair. A halo materialized above her head. Batanel's eyes went wide with shock.

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  "How does a demon child have an angel's halo?!"

  Mina let out a smug huff.

  "Did you forget whose daughter I am?"

  "Lucariel's halo! Damn it! What a nuisance!"

  Batanel ground his teeth and glared at Mina.

  "But you haven't mastered that halo... because the angel's halo is extremely difficult to control..."

  Batanel gently brought his fingertips close to his own halo.

  But his words didn't reach Mina's ears. All she could hear was her own ragged breathing and the violent pounding of her heart.

  Silence fell over the black room.

  Cold sweat ran in streams down her face, stinging as it seeped into her eyes.

  Then Batanel shouted.

  "What's wrong, Mina? Go ahead and throw it! Will it come from the right? Or will you curve it to the left? No matter what feint you try, I can counter it instantly!"

  Mina's breathing grew even more ragged. She was staring at nothing but Batanel's chest. She was tense. Her heartbeat thundered louder and louder, hammering against her ribs.

  "What's the matter, Mina?! Is that halo just for show?!"

  Then Mina took her hand off the halo and leveled the Shadow Reaver at Batanel. But seeing the muzzle angled downward, Batanel puffed out his chest and laughed.

  "Hahaha! What kind of aim is that? You realized your halo was a fake, so you switched to a pistol—but you won't hit anything like that."

  "Oh, shut up! You won't know until I pull the trigger!"

  Batanel heaved a great sigh.

  "Mina... I'm sick of your bluffs. Now—face my ring. Or die!"

  That was when Mina moved.

  The instant Batanel's fingers reached for his halo, Mina pulled the Shadow Reaver's trigger and shot at his feet.

  "Shadow Bind!"

  A bullet of shadow coiled around Batanel's legs. In that instant, his fingers seized up. But the binding would last only two seconds.

  "What the—?!"

  Right before the panicking Batanel's eyes, Mina touched her halo. It rocketed toward him at blinding speed.

  Batanel, a beat too late, launched his halo straight at Mina. With Mina's ring already bearing down on him, and his footing disrupted by the binding, he had no room for feints—a straight shot was all he could manage.

  The two halos hurtling at high speed collided at the midpoint. In that instant, Batanel's halo shattered.

  "What—?!"

  Before Batanel could react, Mina's halo had buried itself in his chest. It sliced through his ribs and pierced his heart. Batanel stared at Mina with eyes wide in disbelief.

  "Ah... guh... urgh!"

  Blood erupted from Batanel's mouth, and he collapsed to the floor.

  Mina stared down at Batanel's fallen body.

  Relief at having won mingled in her chest with a nagging unease—the question of whether she truly had to kill him.

  "But if I hadn't done anything, I'd be the one who was dead. He never intended to let me live from the very start."

  Mina pulled a mana collection device from her bag. It was a square piece of metal.

  "This is the real one... as if I'd ever hand the genuine article over to the likes of you."

  She activated the device and began absorbing Batanel's magical energy. As expected of an Archangel, his reserves were staggering.

  As Mina watched with admiration, the Shadow Reaver in her hand was also reacting to something.

  "Oh, right—maybe I can get a new spell for this too."

  Excited, she aimed the gun at Batanel. A white orb-like substance rose from his body and was drawn into the Shadow Reaver.

  "I wonder what spell got registered?"

  Mina spun the gun's chamber to check. One new spell had been added. It was that terrifying magic—the Thunder Net Cage.

  "Haha... Nox is going to be so overpowered."

  In a confined space like this black room, it would be a guaranteed kill—but outdoors, it would probably work more like a casting net to snare an opponent.

  Mina rotated the chamber and loaded the new spell.

  "Bang!"

  When she fired, the net of lightning flew across the room and scarred the far wall.

  At that moment, the black walls began to tremble violently. Mina looked up at the ceiling in alarm.

  "What? What's happening? An earthquake?"

  As she stumbled about in confusion, the room began to shrink rapidly.

  "Wha—?! What's going on?!"

  The room compressed into something like a narrow pipe, and Mina was sucked into the opening and vanished.

  ◆

  Meanwhile, Nox waited in the forest, crying. She believed with all her heart that Mina would come back.

  But if it wasn't Mina who emerged—if it was Batanel instead...

  "Then Nox will take him down, even if it kills her!"

  That was the resolve she held.

  But at last, the moment came for her tension to end.

  A black hole reappeared in the spot where Mina had vanished. Nox stood before it, waiting for Mina to emerge.

  "Mina... please be safe..."

  Nox stared at the hole with eyes as wide as saucers.

  Then a girl came tumbling out. Tears spilled from Nox's eyes before she could stop them.

  "Mina!"

  Released from her anguish, Nox sprinted toward Mina.

  Mina had landed on the ground on her backside after falling from the hole. Nox leaped at her and threw her arms around her.

  "Nox!"

  Mina hugged her back.

  "Waaaaah... Mina! I was so worried!"

  Nox sobbed against Mina's chest. Mina's clothes grew damp with Nox's hot tears.

  The two looked at each other and smiled.

  "Come on—Arc and Grandma are waiting! The device, what happened with Verglies, and Auerios... there's so much I need to tell them. And more than anything..."

  Mina gazed at Nox and smiled.

  "I could really use a bath."

  They both laughed at that.