Chapter 167: Gender-swap on the spot?
(Note: I checked Medea Lily's voice line on the wiki, she calls Jason "Lord Jason" not "Master Jason," so I'll correct that in this chapter.)
"Urgent, detected magical energy reaction of Demon God Pillar, extremely similar to the two previous Demon God Pillars!!!"
Inside Chaldea, Doctor Romani stared in astonishment at the screen, simultaneously warning Mash and Ethan.
"Doctor, we can already observe it with the naked eye now."
Mash immediately responded to the doctor.
"Sorry, it seems earlier we failed to detect the magical energy reaction of the Demon God Pillar, so we were a bit negligent."
Doctor Romani instantly focused on the girl flying in the air next to the Demon God Pillar.
"Detected enemy Caster along with residual summoning rituals on the Argo ship — surely she's the one who summoned the Demon God Pillar!"
"She possesses extremely strong magical power, estimated as magus from the Age of the Gods — don't tell me you're also Medea?"
Romani continuously supplied information, his expression slightly surprised.
"Though I don't know who's calling my name, you people are from the enemy side. I am Medea, the Medea who has never married Lord Jason."
Medea Lily, floating in midair, frankly admitted her identity.
"I'm sorry, everyone."
She continued in an apologetic tone.
"This world will collapse anyway, so I can only let everyone die a painless death. I'm truly very sorry!!!"
Before she could finish speaking, behind Medea Lily, from the Demon God Pillar, countless gigantic eyes emitted countless beams of light!!!
"——————————?!"
Mash sensed the danger, immediately raised her shield to the front, while Johanna also quickly began setting up a defensive magic array around the allies.
"Zzzzzzz——————!!!"
A piercing, screeching sound rang out as the beams packed with massive magical energy surged straight into the scene.
Moments later, everyone looked ahead again.
They realized the Servants who had been with Jason were all struck by those beams.
"Ahhhhh!!!"
Blackbeard stared in disbelief at the massive hole in his belly, rolling on the ground.
"I thought you were reinforcements on our side — why did you do this, Medea-chan!!!"
Blackbeard looked out despairingly at the vast, endless sea ahead, collapsed flat on the ground.
"If only I had two more transformations left, maybe I could have hung on a bit longer… oh well, at least this time I kept my head… Blackbeard, out!!!"
Letting out such a lament, Blackbeard's figure gradually faded away.
Right next to him was Hector, his entire body pierced through by the beams of light.
He planted his long spear into the ground to keep his balance, barely managing not to collapse.
"So this really… is my end, huh…"
Hector lifted his head, speaking in a voice full of regret, then also vanished into the air.
"Mary…"
Anne, heavily injured, reached out toward Mary who lay in a pool of blood, but the tiny girl lying on the sand could no longer say anything.
Her body was no different from a severely damaged doll, her life force completely gone.
"Thank you… for letting me feel the freedom of a pirate…"
After finishing those words, the bodies of both of them gradually transformed into glowing lights rising into the sky.
"The Demon God Pillar even attacks its own allies?!"
Mash watched the unfolding scene in utter disbelief.
"What the Demon God Pillar seeks is the total destruction of this singularity, so in its eyes, there probably never was such a thing as 'allies.'"
Da Vinci's voice transmitted through the communicator.
"You kids don't have time to worry about others now — quickly destroy the Demon God Pillar and repair the anomaly!"
"Yes, ma'am!!!"
Mash immediately responded.
Ethan looked up at Medea Lily in the air.
He had long known something like this would happen, just didn't expect Medea Lily to be so impatient, summoning the Demon God Pillar too soon, sending all her own people back to the Throne.
It was exactly as Medea Milf had once said — on the surface, she looked like an innocent, cute little girl, but in reality, she was a dangerous one.
Anyway, sooner or later they'd have to fight — might as well charge in now.
Luckily, this time their team was pretty "stacked."
They had a tanker, a support, and damage dealers.
More than half the team had fought against a Demon God Pillar before, packed with experience in smashing pillars.
On top of that, they had Heracles providing backup, who could both tank and dish out damage at close or long range.
This pillar — who knew if it could even survive a single round?
With Heracles boosting their rank like this, it was hard to imagine how they could even lose!
"Everyone, charge!!!"
At Ethan's shout, Mordred was the first to rush to the front lines.
"Another boring thing like this? Watch me slice it apart!!!"
"Did you forget who handled that ugly bastard in France last time, huh?"
Jeanne Alter immediately dashed after her.
"I'm not the type to be obsessed with the past all day — gotta focus on the present!"
Mordred leaned aside to dodge the beam fired from the Demon God Pillar's eye, simultaneously closing the distance to it in a flash.
"Crimson Lightning!!!"
Fiery red lightning began to wrap around the Clarent sword in her hand.
"Let's see who takes this thing down first!!!"
Jeanne Alter swung her sword toward the Demon God Pillar.
"Flames, burn everything away!!!"
"BOOOOOOOOOOM————————!!!"
"BANG————————!!!"
Two torrents of magical energy slammed into the Demon God Pillar, exploding violently — the sudden attack left it no time to react.
"Ahhh… it hurts… it hurts so much…!!!"
Within that bone-chilling scream, Jason's weeping voice rang out.
"Don't worry, Lord Jason, let me heal you!!!"
As she spoke, Medea Lily began chanting a healing spell.
"This is the blueprint of the soul. Through my life, I command restoration, recurrence, and reversion."
"All Wounds Must Be Repaired! Pain Breaker!!!"
At the same time, the light from her staff fell upon it, and the parts of the Demon God Pillar that had just been damaged were immediately restored completely.
"There, all better, Lord Jason."
Before she could finish her sentence, suddenly an extremely strong gust came rushing in from afar!!!
Medea Lily immediately raised a defensive magic array to block the blow.
"CRACK——————!!!"
An arrow made of feathers shot straight at the magic array.
"WHOOSH——————————!!!"
Another shrill whistling sound tore through the air.
Just as the two arrows were about to pierce through Medea Lily's defense, several beams of light shot out from the eyes of the Demon God Pillar, blasting down all the incoming arrows!!!
"Thank you, Lord Jason!"
"Medea… you damn witch… you tricked me… I'll kill them all… and then slowly torture you…"
The lower body of the Demon God Pillar began to convulse, its flesh twitching in lumps.
"I didn't deceive you, Lord Jason — isn't this the power you craved? Even if you can only fight in this form, you've gained the strength to face them."
"Shut up… aah… aaah… who… stop… stop taking over my body… I can't hold on much longer…"
Suddenly, the eyes of the Demon God Pillar began trembling violently, as if its magical energy was spiraling out of control, wildly firing destructive beams in every direction!!!
For the moment, no one could get close.
Mash and Johanna poured all their strength into defending, shielding their teammates from the chaotic, indiscriminate rays of light.
"Draco!!!"
Ethan shouted to the blonde girl who had been standing on the sidelines watching all this time.
"Please, think of something."
"Are you begging me now?"
A mocking smile appeared on Draco's face.
"I already told you — I'll only step in when you're in real danger. Are you seriously planning to rely on the power of a 'Beast' to save the Human Order? Don't blame me if you get rejected by the Human Order again~~~"
"We'll worry about that later…"
Anyway, things had already come this far — trying to act like they were cutting ties now would just be even more foolish.
"Fine then. If you crave me that much, I'll just have to grant you a little blessing."
Dragon-like features began appearing on Draco's body, and in her left hand, the Holy Grail emerged, shrouded in black mist.
With a flick of her hand, the Holy Grail shot straight toward the Demon God Pillar.
Then, from the area surrounding the Holy Grail, a burst of seven-colored light exploded, not only destroying countless eyes on the Demon God Pillar's body but even punching clean through one entire side of its massive form!!!
"Is that good enough?"
Draco retrieved the Holy Grail, smiling as she looked over at Ethan.
"Umu, thanks."
Thanks to Draco's assistance, the Demon God Pillar had temporarily halted its indiscriminate area attacks.
"This is just the underling of a 'Beast,' after all. Not to boast, but my familiars are dozens of times stronger than that ugly thing before you."
Draco proudly puffed out her nonexistent chest.
It seemed that even though they were both Beasts, Draco — Beast VI/S — was rather harsh toward Goetia's minions…
Seeing the chance had arrived, Mordred immediately charged forward without hesitation, channeling all her magical energy into Clarent.
"Boil over, Wrath of the Planet!"
"Clarent… Blood Arthur!!!"
At the same time, on the other side, Jeanne Alter also unleashed her Noble Phantasm!
"The time of retribution has come!!!"
Black flames surged beneath her feet as the Evil Dragon flag in her hand was raised high into the sky.
"This is the howl of a soul filled with hatred!!"
"Roar, Rage of Mine! La Grondement Du Haine!!!"
Under the destructive force of the two Noble Phantasms, the body of the Demon God Pillar began to disintegrate and crack apart before their eyes, then was consumed by the black flames and reduced to ash.
"It hurts… it hurts… think of something…"
The Demon God Pillar's massive body writhed madly, accompanied by Jason's faint, weak whisper.
"Something… is about to crawl out… hurry… save me… Medea…!!!"
Medea Lily tried to continue healing the Demon God Pillar, but she was already surrounded by countless Stymphalian birds.
"Shua shua shua ——————————!!!"
Countless blades made from feathers rushed in to attack her, and one after another, the automatic defensive barriers around her were pierced and shattered under the fierce assault!
Even so, Medea Lily stubbornly held on, enduring the onslaught as she continued chanting her healing incantations.
Suddenly, a white bird dashed straight into her line of sight.
"Chiu Chiu ——————————!!!"
Behind Tonbi, several silver moons trailed as it charged directly at Medea Lily, who was hovering midair!
"BOOM ——————————!!!"
In the blink of an eye, that small figure fell from the sky.
"Lord Jason…"
After landing, Medea Lily dragged her heavily wounded body, crawling toward the Demon God Pillar still writhing in agony.
"Aaah… Medea… it hurts so much… I'm in so much pain…"
From within the Demon God Pillar's body echoed Jason's continuous screams of pain.
"It's almost over… Lord Jason…"
Medea Lily, covered in wounds, sat down, leaning her back against the torn body of the Demon God Pillar, her expression strangely calm.
"You were granted the power of the gods, yet still strangely innocent, like a child excited by a crude toy."
"Ruthless beyond measure, yet so pure it makes one unable to hate you."
"Weak to the point of pity, yet irresistibly captivating."
"That is Jason."
"That was my first love…"
Medea Lily let go of her staff, the light gradually fading.
"Why… can't we ever reach a happy future… could it be that our fate… was decided by the gods all along…"
"BOOM ——————————!!!"
Along with Medea Lily's body gradually dissolving, the Demon God Pillar's form began collapsing piece by piece.
"No… I haven't built my ideal nation yet… how can I just…"
The Demon God Pillar and the Argo shipwreck on the shore slowly dissipated.
"Demon God Pillar Sea Demon Forneus, Saint Graph has collapsed, defeated!!!"
From Ethan's wrist device came the relieved voice of Doctor Romani.
"Can't believe you defeated the Demon God Pillar so quickly, Ethan. You've really grown a lot."
Facing Romani's praise, Ethan calmly replied:
"It's nothing, it's thanks to everyone's effort."
After all, once the team got stronger, something like the Demon God Pillar wasn't that difficult.
Level up, don't get HP locked, and isn't it just a 1T burst to blow the pillar away?
Besides, this Demon God Pillar was only summoned by Medea Lily through Jason's weak Saint Graph, so its power was already far below normal.
"All right, next is just to reclaim the Holy Grail, right?"
As Ethan spoke, a strange feeling stirred inside him.
It felt like he had forgotten something…?
But the Demon God Pillar was destroyed, so maybe this era could finally be fixed?
Thinking so, Ethan looked ahead — at that moment, Doctor Romani's astonished voice sounded in his ear.
"There's no reaction of the Holy Grail inside the Demon God Pillar's body… could it be that the Demon God Pillar isn't the root of the distortion in this era?!"
"Doctor, are you sure?"
Ethan reflexively shouted into the communication device.
"Haha… please allow me to thank you all first."
From behind the rocky cliff on the sandy shore, a man clad in Templar Knight armor stepped out.
Jacques de Molay?!
A frightening smile appeared on his face, completely different from the person before.
Ethan's suspicion grew stronger.
Could it be…?!
"First, congratulations on defeating the Demon God Pillar. Otherwise, I could not have been released."
As he spoke, Jacques de Molay's voice gradually shifted from male to female.
His body slowly became slender, and beside 'him', a faint figure of a small creature resembling a floating black sheep appeared.
"No way! The Saber's Saint Graph is transforming… and is turning into a Foreigner!!!"