The Realm of Separation

"Unfortunately, it's still too late."

The instant the words fell, Saliba's body twisted beyond his control. It began stretching from every orifice, like a three-dimensional shape unfolding topologically, until it lay evenly spread across the ground for several meters in every direction.

Not a sound.

"Tsk. He ran fast."

Veronica looked up in displeasure. Amid the clouds, a form surged like a whale, opening its maw and swallowing lightning as it trembled, growing larger still.

The crimson clouds, nearly covering the entire sky, began to writhe. Countless threads fell like a downpour, reaching out to every Blood-Thirst Syndrome sufferer below. Like diligent old farmers, they had arrived at harvest time.

Pain took root in the flesh and bloomed into exotic flowers.

Through the [Mark] of [Beelzebub], Saliba had gained dominion over "plagues spread through blood." Wide-ranging spiritual interference was his specialty. Now, the souls tormented by hunger and greed found the release they had longed for. They were torn from their mutated bodies, only to fall into new suffering.

The pleasure born of temptation rotted and festered. What remained was endless torment, endless agony, endless...

Hell!

Pain, hunger, weariness, frenzy, despair.

The sick, having tasted health, yearned to recover. The vagrants, having tasted food, yearned to be full. The elderly, having tasted youth, yearned to be young again...

First came generous gifts, then their merciless withdrawal. Saliba greedily drank down the bitter brew fermented from all the negative emotions born of [Grail], storing it as fuel in his belly to keep that heart beating.

Almost there. Almost there. Just a little more, a little more, and he could truly become self-sustaining, shed the derisive title of "Lord of the Flies," reclaim a trace of the glory he had once held as a chief god in ancient Canaan, wield the authority of thunder and storm, and ascend to a higher heaven.

The clouds expanded, swelled, and reached outward, as if the apocalypse had come. In their arrogance, they sought to drag everything within reach into this blood-watered fertile land.

Then, all things came to an abrupt halt!

The boundary of [Blood Field] first slowed its expansion, then stopped, and finally let out a groan under the strain as it collapsed inward.

Under the gaze of those eyes.

Veronica raised a hand and removed the sunglasses concealing her sharpness. Her pupils, like a cat's and an owl's, split open like doors. Golden-violet light shimmered as she looked down upon the entire boundary from on high.

The girl parted her lips. A language older than any living thing coiled like a serpent.

"An ancient God of Stone Source still remains—she guards every gate. One gate will open briefly, right now. Soon, another separation will take place."

[Secret Tradition: Threshold Invocation]!

Then, beneath the gaze of those eyes, the crimson boundary was divided cleanly in two. The crimson clouds were pushed to one side, and half the sky suddenly cleared. The horizon was smooth and sharp as an Edge, every angle cast by the shadows crisp and distinct.

On the horizon, the rising glow of dawn tinged the purple dusk with gold and crimson. The scent of hawthorn blossoms spread inexplicably, carrying an air of slaughter.

Heaven and earth turned upside down.

Veronica had casually cast a grand esoteric ritual meant to seal off and isolate. She had crudely pried open a gap in the [Blood Field] that belonged wholly to Saliba. An irresistible force had forced its way in, seized half of its control, and warped and reshaped the crimson world into its present form.

So splendid, so cruel. Just looking at it made tears fall unbidden, as one sank into the sorrow of parting.

"[Realm of Separation]?!"

Witnessing the scene, which was like a divine miracle, Saliba felt a strange sense of familiarity.

He had thought the [Executioner] sent by the Prevention and Suppression Bureau was responsible. But even a madman who had buried countless monsters couldn't possess such an excessively sharp power of [Key].

A refined principle meant to open and dismantle was being used to crudely cut through everything. It was practically stepping into the domain of [Edge].

Since when did the Prevention and Suppression Bureau have a genius who practiced the principles backward?

Had he still underestimated her?

No, that wasn't it...

The moment he saw her uncovered face, Saliba had already arrived at the answer he had expected.

"[Gate Legion], the beast of the border, the symbol of the [Double-Horned Axe]. You are..."

Defying the pull of gravity, Veronica's figure had appeared within the boundary, right at the line where the two sharply divided domains met. Her golden hair streamed in the storm. Her lovely face held neither sorrow nor joy, yet it bore the solemnity of Thanatos and the savagery of a beast.

"—the [Key Holder]!"

"Unfortunately, I'm a former [Key Holder]. Unless they've already chosen someone to take my place."

Veronica reached toward her waist, her tone tinged with nostalgia.

"Not many people have called me that since I left the [Gate Legion]."

Hiss—

Saliba's true form, swimming through the clouds like a whale, suddenly faltered. A huge chunk of flesh fell from the sky, hitting the road like a ripe orange and splashing rotten juice.

A buzzing purple glare danced in Veronica's hand, constrained into the shape of a sword. It followed the arc of her swing, stretching into a beam of light that spanned the sky.

A grievous wound!

With just one strike, Saliba's transforming body was nearly torn in two. Pale bones and densely packed organs, clustered like grapes, showed at the torn edges. Vast amounts of spirit gushed out with his viscous blood.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough.

"No, no, you're not. You're too weak, too weak! If you were really the [Key Holder], why would the [Gate Legion] allow you to leave? And why would the [Prevention and Suppression Bureau] let you come here?"

Twisted flesh grew rapidly across his vast body. Countless crimson threads reshaped Saliba's face, and on his newly youthful features, a mocking smile appeared.

How fortunate.

Among the Eight Great Principles and their many offshoots, the [Grail] Principle had always been known for tenacious vitality and rapid healing. And the Path of Devouring Saliba followed was even more notable for being impossible to kill or chop apart. A couple of swallows of blood could get him back on his feet, fresh as ever. It was the very picture of a cockroach of a path.

What's more, even if the ritual anchors he had set up were removed one by one, as long as he had the vitality continuously supplied by [Restless Blood], he could reassemble his body and keep bouncing around, even if he was beaten into a puddle of mush.

What delighted him most was that the woman before him wasn't as strong as he had imagined!

Every [Key Holder] of the Gate Legion inherited the Heavenly Mandate of being the "Key of the Sealed Gate." Whoever could bear this mandate could build their achievements upon it and immediately ascend to become an [Immortal], until they were worn down, along with their great achievements, by the long years of duty.

Though the girl's technique for cutting apart the boundary had been astonishingly exquisite, if she were an Immortal, why go through such convoluted steps?

Wouldn't it be better to just drag him out and kill him?

So when the girl paused after delivering that mighty strike, remaining in place for a brief moment to catch her breath, Saliba smiled from the bottom of his heart.

Would he win?

He would!