Chapter 58: One Shocker after Another

(A few minutes backwards)

Rinne and Mayuri were quite injured, but they were still able to fight. Ren was in a similar condition, so they were equal in this aspect.

However, when Ren summoned Anaph of [Ain Soph] and pointed the branch swords toward them, they realized that this wasn't a fair fight at all.

Rinne may have taken over half of the control of her mom's angel, but as mentioned earlier, her reiryoku wasn't invasive in this atmosphere, therefore, she wasn't able to control the Giant Tree behind Ren.

Feeling the dangers of those branch swords, Mayuri wanted to carry Rinne and fly away, but her body was too heavy; after all, the gravity of this barrier was 100 folds heavier! She could try to negotiate with Ren and hope for a change, but she knew the outcome before even thinking.

Quickly, Mayuri wanted to summon her [Kerubiel] once again, hoping to block the assault of the deadly angel. This was her only method of defense, for her expertise in speed was greatly limited.

But, a huge purplish pink magical ring appeared under Rinne's feet, before shining significantly and making everyone squint their eyes.

"I told you that I got it under control, Mayuri."

She spoke softly.

In the next moment, 10 cloaked humanoid figures with six wings slowly began to emerge from the magical rings. All of them looked identical with the only difference being the colors of their cloaks; white, gray, black, blue, red, golden, green, orange, indigo, and purple. If Shido was here, he would recognize that these figures were from his time in Eden, and somehow, the colors were coordinating with each node of the Kabbalah Tree of Life.

"What, those are your Guardians?"

Ren asked with an unpleasant tone.

Giving her no response, Rinne raised her hand with a cold gaze, and gave her minions orders.

At this time, the Indigo Guardian put its two hands together, and a lovely melody echoed throughout the barrier. In the next moment, all the other Guardians had lights engulfing their bodies.

"No way…" Mayuri covered her mouth in surprise. "They are powering everyone up?"

As if proving their strengths, the rest of the Guardians raised their hands and summoned their respective color of reiryoku in their palms, seemingly stronger than earlier.

The Golden Guardian turned around and shot several golden beams at its peers, and with a flash on their bodies, they seemed to be strengthened even more like their potentials were unlocked.

"This could be trouble…"

Ren clicked her tongue, deciding to finish them off before they could become a bigger threat. Therefore, she commanded the Giant Tree behind her to initiate the attack.

"Anaph!"

With her clear voice, hundreds of sharpened blades began sprouting. Its range covered every Guardian, blocking their every possible route of escape.

However…

To Ren's surprise, dozens of black holes emerged out of nowhere and surrounded her. What's more surprising was that all her blades were pointing out from the sphereric holes, directly targeting her body in the center!

"Using my Angel against me? Not a bad strategy."

Ren praised at the sudden surprise, but her expression remained calm. With a snap of her hand, all the sharpened blades lost their edges and thrusted in the other directions.

"But, my Angels won't hurt me at my command."

"Humph…"

Rinne snorted, but she wasn't agonized either. She had ordered the golden angel to open portals around the blades before they could pierce their bodies, and with a twist of manipulation, the attacks were redirected toward Ren. And without surprise, Ren was prepared for it.

At this time, the White Guardian and Orange Guardian suddenly charged at Ren, dumping their heavy energy attacks at her. In addition, the Purple Guardian summoned a huge sword and added a fierce slash to the target.

With this, Ren quickly flew backwards and hid inside the trunks of the Giant Tree!

"Look who's running away with her tail between her legs now."

Mayuri taunted, but she didn't let down her guard the slightest. Usually, such attacks shouldn't be able to damage Ren's defense, so she must be plotting something.

And she was right.

"[Ain Soph Aur]!"

The Giant Tree suddenly shrunk in sizes, the branches dissolving in the air and dust flowing all around. With a flash around its body, it was reborn as a huge flower. To Mayuri's shock, there was a statue of herself at the center of the petals!

"Isn't that….?"

Mayuri stared at it with disbelief.

"Henet!"

Without giving her sisters time to think, Ren activated the trump card from her hand. With this, the Giant Flower summoned a small palm size flower bud in the center. As much as the look might be deceiving, it contained the deathly energy beam that could kill any target in contact, regardless of any defense.

Rinne wouldn't just stand there and let her enemy succeed, as she quickly ordered the Red Guardian and the Blue Guardian to attack. Their energy beams shooting forward, but before they could touch Ren, they collided with each other and vanished!

Before Ren could mock them for making a rookie mistake, her laughter froze in its place.

As it turned out, the two Guardians released fire and ice energy beams, and upon collison, they turned into water vapor around her, blocking her vision perfectly! And to make matters worse, her bud cannon was already charged and couldn't wait for another second to launch!

"Tsk…"

Clicking her tongue, she fired the cannon attack, and it shot into the fog. Without even thinking, she could tell that it was a shot in the dark.

But to her surprise, a grunt sounded off from a distance.

She quickly activated her flower bud to release millions of pores to clear the water vapor, so that the visibility was turned back to normal. Before long, she saw her enemies plain and clear.

But to her surprise, Rinne was gone. Not just her, the Golden Guardian was nowhere to be seen either.

There were two possibilities: One, Rinne and the Golden Guardian were both penetrated in one shot. As delightful as it may sound, she knew that it would be nothing but a miracle.

The other possible outcome would be that they were hiding.

As if clarifying her hypothesis, the Red Guardian and Blue Guardian launched another energy beam attack, and with a hissing sound, water vapor was created again and blurring the atmosphere.

With visibility at its lowest, two Guardians suddenly charged toward Ren, a bizarre aura emitting off their figures.

When they approached her and the Giant Flower, their energies suddenly heated up, and with a flash.

KABOOM!

Beautiful, devastating explosions sounded off!

"Argh!"

Ren let out a welp, she could feel her Astral Dress shaking, despite being on the inside of the Giant Flower. Speaking of which, it started showing fractures on its holy surface!

"No way….self-destruction?"

Indeed, the Guardians charged at her Giant Flower with self explosions, hoping to blow past her iron defense.

To her fear, she couldn't see anything, so she couldn't tell which direction the next one would be coming.

It didn't make her wait long, as two other Guardians quickly hugged the giant body of her Angel from left and right, before committing suicidal explosions again!

"Argh!"

She grunted as she struggled to maintain her balance, the fractures on her Giant Flower enlarged. At this rate, she would be taken out for sure!

"SCREW YOU!"

Ren howled and pumped her chest, her breasts jiggling in response. In the next second, the Giant Flower gave off a dangerous aura of scarlet crimson, and it kept on increasing in size during the process.

After a few seconds, it opened its humongous mouth, several buds blossoming into beautiful yet tenacious flowers.

"Henetsu!"

With a clear voice, the several buds shot deadly beams, which divided into smaller ones in all directions, leaving no possible way for the enemies to dodge.

At this moment, the entire barrier was filled with light.

With the holy light engulfing every corner of darkness, only time could flow in this deadly silent atmosphere.

One hour, or maybe one second.

The attack was so catastrophic that even the water vapor was eliminated, and thus, the atmosphere of the barriers was completely cleared, nobody was to be seen except for Ren and her Giant Flower.

"I won…"

She murmured softly.

Earlier, she broadened the attack range of Henet, making it possible to enclose all directions. But in exchange, she consumed almost all of her reiryoku. Despite this, it was totally worth it.

She had finally done it! She had eliminated the enemies, aka her sisters, and she was one step closer to her eternal vengeance upon her undutiful mother!

"..."

Although she had killed Rinne and Mayuri, she did not feel any joy in her heart.

Without much strength left in her, she deactivated the Giant Flower and returned to her original form. At this moment, the sense of triumphant faded, and what replaced it was….

Emptiness and Regret!

After killing them, all of their reiryoku and Angels were turned into nothingness as well. In other words, she wouldn't be able to absorb their powers and utilize them to fight Mio Takamiya!

It was the stupidest decision she had ever made!

"What have I….been doing….Ah!"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, she felt a cold object pressing against her throat.

"A blade? What is going on?"

She lowered her head in astonishment, only to realize that her target wasn't eliminated.

"Could it be…." She turned her head around with difficulty, and she saw Rinne, holding a blade from one of the branches of her Giant Tree, "you ... .how…?"

"Surrender…" Rinne spoke with a stern gaze, "or I will cut your throat."

"?"

Earlier, Rinne kept the Green Guardian by her side and ordered it to make her transparent. In addition, it made the Golden Guardian transparent as well.

Then, she ordered the White Guardian and Gray Guardian to sacrifice themselves. After that, she made the Orange Guardian and Purple Guardian to follow in their footsteps. Such a method was set to drive Ren desperate.

As she planned, Ren decided to launch an all-direction assault. But luckily, she had a plan to avoid getting hit by her trump card: By using the powers of the Golden Guardian!

When Ren fired the annihilating shot, the Golden Guardian teleported Rinne, Mayuri, and the remaining Guardians away just in time to avoid getting hit by the blast. And in the next moment, they appeared behind the shockwaves. Of course, they were still transparent, meaning that Ren wouldn't see them.

And when Ren lowered her guard, that was where Rinne came in to put a blade over her neck.

Overall, the plan was a success. Now all that was left was to capture her alive.

Ren was still thrilled by the sudden turn of events, for she couldn't say a word.

"I say it again…" Rinne said with fierce eyes, "surrender now."

"..."

"Be quick about it! We will take your life if you waste any more time!"

Mayuri shouted as well.

"Even at this time, you are…." Ren looked at Rinne with a clouded expression, but suddenly, she laughed with a distorted expression. "FOOLS!"

In the next second, she summoned a blade in her hand.

Swoosh!

Rinne was stabbed in the stomach!

"Rinne!" X2

Mayuri cried aloud, along with Shido, who had just arrived.

"Oya, what a pleasant surprise~" Ren smirked as she withdrew the blade from Rinne, making her blood leak from her wound. "It's about time to take your powers." With this being said, she grabbed the injured girl by the neck.

"You!"

Shido watched in horror, wanting to jump toward her, but was grabbed in the wrist by Mayuri.

"Why…?"

He tried to break free, but when he looked at the girl, he saw a reassuring face.

Turning his head around, only to see that "Rinne" turned into a cloaked humanoid figure in Green!

"What?"

Ren couldn't believe her eyes, this wasn't Rinne at all! It was transformed by one of her Guardians!

Before she could react, the Green Guardian, despite being stabbed in the stomach, wrapped its arms around Ren and hugged her tightly. Then, its body turned red rapidly.

"NO!"

Ren shouted in despair. She knew exactly what it was planning to do. And since her reiryoku was running low, she couldn't negate it like earlier.

"I gave you a choice, and you chose wrong."

Rinne, now appearing right beside Mayuri and Shido, shook her head in disappointment.

With a snap of her fingers, the Green Guardian was at its limit, and with a final flash—

— "Please refrain from killing, my daughters."

A sullen voice sounded off, and the Guardian stopped its self-destruction.

"!?" X 4

Everyone looked above their heads in search of the sudden intruder.

A/N:

I'm setting my mind free now.