Only with flaws could something suffer an accident. Buildings typically crumbled because there were cracks in its foundation, and weapons broke because there were minute fractures that the naked eye couldn’t see.

“If it’s perfect, can there be a coincidence to overcome it?” Dia muttered to herself. “Perfection is the enemy of possibility.”

As those words echoed out, a sphere erupted outwards from Dia, transforming the world around her. Blue and red skies struggled with each other for influence, and the ground beneath her turned into lush greeneries. Thousands and thousands of swords — a total of thirty-three thousand — rippled into existence, and she looked up at the skies.

The blue sky cracked and shattered, but the red hue that had coloured the sky, by the Red God’s bidding, was now far fainter. The red lightning bolt had fractured into small pieces, and Dia looked up.

“Now, am I still foolish?” Dia asked.

“You cannot win.” The divine voice of the Red God rumbled throughout the firmament.

“You can’t know that. And I can delay you until aid comes,” Dia replied. “The Black God, the Dark and the Moons will stand against you soon enough.”

The fractured lightning flared up against her insolence, before morphing into a gigantic red palm. A palpable anger filled the air, and the green grass that had been formed by her Perfect Domain of Swords withered away. Their house and the barriers that surrounded it warped and twisted, morphing into a desolate landscape.

Slow, steady sounds of striking metal filled her ears, and innumerable pendulums hung in the sky.

“What is this?” Dia whispered.

“His Divine Kingdom,” Nero forced out, before coughing out some fleshy bits. The Holy Son of the Black God crumpled over a moment later, and Dia clenched her fist.

“Kemata, your Absolute Skill might be needed here too,” Dia warned.

“Requires timing.” The scythe twitched once, but even the Thirteenth Bearer of Destiny was clearly oppressed by the red sky. Dia didn’t know why her movement was less restricted, but this was something she had observed even during the Trial of Aeons.

“So you need an opportunity…” Dia had no idea what her Absolute skill was, but if she needed an opening, Dia was more than welcome to give one to her.

The fist high above began to fall, as if that thought had triggered something. With a shout, Dia sent the thirty-three thousand swords — each of them now bearing strength equal to her current mana circuits — hurtling towards the fist, resisting its movement.

Metal shrieked as innumerable swords threw themselves against the grinding force emitted by the fist, whose descent was immediately slowed down by so many all-out attacks of a penta-folder. While they meant nothing individually, together, they formed a force that the Red God’s fist had to grind down, slowing its approach and buying some time for everyone’s helpers to arrive. Thankfully, the Red God had been dramatically weakened after his descent, since the power behind that fist of his wasn’t earth-shattering.

Either that, or he was holding back.

Lightning sundered the red sky, a black bolt of lightning, and the world shook. The fist continued to grind downwards, heedless of the sudden battle that had erupted high up, shattering the swords that rammed themselves to stop its approach. Fragments of metal fell all around Dia, vanishing a moment later, and her vision began to turn red. The world turned silent a moment later, with the only thing Dia could hear being her breathing.

Blood welled up from her throat and her nose a breath later, and Dia felt her breathing weaken. Her legs, however, were as steady as ever, and the mounting pain that was pressing down on her head only served to whip up even greater resistance from her mind.

All that, however, didn’t stop the fact that the fist had powered through more than nine-tenths of the swords her skill had generated. The whole ordeal had felt like an infinity to Dia, but she knew that in actual fact, only twenty-seven seconds had passed.

The remaining three thousand swords decreased rapidly as the fist closed in on Dia, and her legs gave way. The last sword shot upwards, only to crumble away entirely. Power flared up from Kemata in that instant, and an overwhelming barrage of white arcs slammed against the falling fist, holding it off and pushing the fist back.

For a moment, Dia thought that the fist would break, as damaged as it was, but it still held. Seconds ticked by in extreme agony, and as the tenth breath left her lungs, the barrage of white slashes faded away.

“No!”

In that instant, without anything to hold it back whatsoever, the fist closed the distance to Dia and the others immediately, and the ground underneath everyone cracked and fractured. The sense of fatal danger ballooned in that singular heartbeat, and Dia hadn’t even closed her eyes when the sky itself was nearly blotted out entirely.

Tri-coloured lights dispersed the red sky, and the fist stopped immediately, barely a palm away from crushing her head. A second later, innumerable black cubes appeared in the morning sky, emitting a black pulse that turned the red fist into fog.

The Moons and the great Dark had arrived.

Dia felt the remainder of her strength ebb away as that realisation flickered through her mind. The pressure that had been crushing them earlier had dissipated, and the others supported her as she fell backwards.

“…Heh.” Dia looked up. Her limbs had grown numb, and blood seemed to be flowing from all over her body, but she had done something that no other mortal had managed.

She’d stopped a Coloured God.

An angered howl filled the world as the three new arrivals suppressed the red sphere. Their presences, however, were muted, as if they didn’t want to harm anyone right now, and Dia watched on as the red sphere was covered by a multitude of energies.

Without her Perfect Domain of Swords, she wouldn’t have managed to last for thirty seconds, the time needed for the other divinities to rush over.

The others carried her over to a makeshift bed of barriers, before Risti popped up in her vision. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, and then Dia frowned.

She couldn’t hear anything.

Pointing at her ears, Dia said, “I can’t hear you guys. Something seems to be wrong with my ears.”

Schwarz skittled over to her sides, and then took out a skillstick. Her vision cleared up, and the sounds of the world returned.

The wind was howling.

“I’m fine now.” Dia turned to Schwarz. “Thanks.”

“You saved our asses,” Schwarz replied. “A healing skillstick, however rare it may be, is absolutely nothing compared to that.”

“Thank you.” Kemata held her hand. “My Absolute Severance only lasts thirty seconds…and the Red God clearly did something to it. If you didn’t use that skill, I would only have been able to stop that thing from descending for ten seconds.”

“You’re speaking normally,” Dia noted, before looking at her with a grin.

“Most efficient.”

Dia tilted her head, but she was too tired to press for an explanation. Her body felt like it had been mangled through and through, before her mind shuddered. The Red God’s power was definitely incredibly limited to begin with — otherwise, there was no way she could have delayed that thing for a full thirty seconds. Of course, Kemata had also followed up, but the other divinities had taken a full forty seconds to provide backup.

The Black God had intervened the quickest, but even then, the Red God had held him off. If the Moons and the Dark hadn’t arrived…

The skies flashed with a myriad of colours as the divinities vanished entirely, including the red sphere that was the descended Red God.

“We’re alive.” Farah flopped onto her back. “Heh. Heh. Wow. We’re still here. Not dead, nor captured. Dia, you lovely little treasure. We’re still here…”

Dia shook her head. “It’s nothing.”

“No, it’s really important.” Nero got up slowly, his mouth dribbling blood. “If you hadn’t intervened, Kemata would definitely have been captured. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

He tried to get up, but flopped over weakly.

“Your body…” Dia stared at him. “What happened?”

“I offered my body as a medium,” Nero replied, his breathing ragged. “Divinity Descent. It’s an extra skill…my Lord was blocked by the Divine Kingdom, but he ran interference. Otherwise, even your Perfect Domain of Swords wouldn’t have lasted that long.”

“But your body…”

“It was injured, as a result.” Nero shivered. “Someone move me to a bed, thanks.”

Kemata carried him gently. “Thank you.”

Schwarz pulled out four bottles from a nearby backpack, and then handled one to Dia and Farah in silence. Fear was still written all over his face, and Farah looked like she was doubting life…

Dia, on her part, just felt extremely good for some reason.

“We’re alive. We’re kicking. And we faced off against the Red God.” Dia let out a long sigh. “I think you guys should loosen up a little.”

“I was nearly useless, though.” Schwarz uncorked his bottle. “And if it wasn’t for you, Kemata and Nero, there was no way we could have stopped that. How can the Red God exert this much power? And if he’s already constrained to begin with…”

“Yeah.” Farah shivered. “I’ll be honest. I’m starting to understand Claud now.”

“Right?”

“Me too.” Dia let out a sigh. “But we won, at least. It’s fortunate that my Perfect Domain of Swords countered his entire coincidence schtick…did you see how my sword broke when I tried to use Sword Roar?”

“That was cheating.” Risti brushed her hair back. “But it’s good that you had all of the princess’ skills, or else we would have been screwed. We should offer thanks to her…”

“Since we are on that topic, are we still going to Lustre?” Schwarz asked.

“I don’t see why not.” Dia let out a sigh. “Tomorrow, maybe?”

“That’s probably for the best…” Schwarz sighed heavily. “I’m going to sleep this out first. Everything still feels like a dream.”

Dia looked up at the sky, and then nodded. “We can think about the repercussions later.”