Chapter 101
Even in the darkness, Ruler could sense the swirling magical energy, mana pouring into the room from an unknown source. The ragged bunny ears twitched, then one half of the right ear fell off. Or more precisely, was ripped off.
Twisting her neck stiffly, Ruler turned to look at the crow that had ripped it off, the white cloth secured in its beak. It squawked, dropping the cloth as it dodged the card thrown at it, flapping its wings in panic. The second card didn't miss, cutting through its neck with precision, severing the spine, throat and meat. The body and head rolled off in two separate directions on the ground, red blood dripping from the carcass.
As if on queue, hundreds, thousand of black eyes appeared in the darkness, reflecting the light from the lions pacing at Ruler's side. On an unseen signal, they all hurled themselves at Ruler, surrounding her on every side. It was an omnidirectional attack, the crows going from the top, the left, the right, the front, the back, covering every conceivable angle. The light was extinguished under the wave of black feathers, the lions disappearing under the masses of feathers, flesh and talons as the sharp beaks pecked and tore at them. Ruler became completely covered in the animals as she curled up in a ball, unable to defend at all from the corvian surge.
The multitude of birds roosted around her body, using their beaks to nip and tear away her flesh, the hard keratin easily cutting through flesh as the sharp point talons pierced skin and fat, reaching into the redness beneath. Scratching, clawing, biting and kicking, individuality the birds didn't do much, but together they gradually ripped up Ruler's body, shredding her outer layer of skin and slowly digging their way to grind her flesh down to the bone.
More and more crows appeared in the darkness, dogpiling into the massive murder of crows that were already weighing on Ruler and her lions. It was like a massive dome of feathers, with an ever changing surface as the crows shifted and moved.
Slowly, a red glow lit up within the dome of birds, crimson light leaking through the gaps between the dark wings. Within seconds, an explosion shook the room, the crows burned to a crisp as they disappeared in the massive fireball that swallowed up all the crows pressing down on Ruler, burning away the vines and grass nearby, razing the dirt itself and turning it black.
The branches from the tree automatically grew in front of Ayaka, shielding her from the blast as the thick roots absorbed the brunt of the blow, keeping her physical body safe as her mind sought higher realms.
Chasing back the shadows for a brief moment, the explosion revealed the great tree in the middle, now shrouded in black mist the light was unable to penetrate, and the ground around it swallowed up in some kind of liquid, black and murky.
Then the fire dissipated into the air, the shadows scurrying back to take its place as the light receded. In the center of the explosion, where the birds had gathered, only Ruler's body was left.
At this point, it was generous to even call her human. Her body was in tatters, the crows having ravaged it in the short amount of time they were able to act before she blew them up with her red cards. Blood seeped out from countless wounds all over her body, the talons and beaks having done a number on her. The chest area was left mostly intact, since she was kneeling on the ground in a fetal position, but the back was completely gone, only a few shreds of cloth left near the bottom that barely covered her modesty. Her back was literally skinless, the raw flesh exposed to the air after it was torn to pieces, then burnt by the explosion, black patches of skin and oozing liquids dripping down, with numerous severely inflamed sections that spanned her entire back.
The muscle fibers were visible on her arms, the once luxurious golden hair now burnt to a crisp, with only a few stray strands left on the equally severe burnt skin that used to be her scalp. Her shiny blue tights had completely lost their luster, the sides gone along with the skin, her feet bare on the charred dirt.
Somehow, she was still able to stand up despite the sorry state her body was in.
Her face was untouched, if you ignored the sides that were burned as well. It looked a bit like she was wearing a mask on her face, the skin being the mask itself.
The skin started healing, the burnt patches fading away as Zouken and the Grail's mana filled her, revitalizing her body and granting it the strength to move forward to reach Ayaka.
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Without taking a single step, she fell down on her face. Her face remained unchanged, her eyes still open, but it was as if a doll had her strings cut. Slowly, motes of golden light floated into the air, the darkness surrounding the entire room lifted, the oppressive aura covering it fading away.
An attack upon the soul, bypassing all physical and magical defenses save those that directly affected the soul. In a way similar to the Hassan's Cursed Arm technique, one simply needed to build a connection to the target, in Cursed Arm's case a fake heart after touching the target with the arm, and then attack. Without any resistance, the target would be crushed, dying instantly to a fatal attack. The witchcraft that Ayaka practiced allowed her to strike down her enemies from anywhere across the world regardless of how strong they were, provided she had the right materials. In this case, she required something from Ruler with a deep connection to her, and what better than her blood. Luring her into the room, cutting her body and letting it water the dirt, she was able to obtain the material, the entire room itself specifically designed for her to perform the ritual.
Of course, she wasn't able to provide the energy to fuel such a powerful ritual, so she was forced to use formalcraft to contract with an entity that would support the ritual. She had tried using Mana Cores and gems that Luvia had provided before, but the ritual refused to work, so she was forced into this method, the nature of the energy supplied also determining the success of the ritual.
Just like that, Ruler was conquered, her Saint Graph hammered through with a nail that shattered the bonds binding it to the physical plane.
Ayaka watched as Ruler dissolved into golden light, her body returning to the Throne, free of the bondage from an old man. Letting out a deep sigh, she rested her head against the tree, closing her eyes.
Then she fainted.