The Elden Beast was furious... but rage without strength is nothing more than impotent fury. Despite being the manifestation of the Greater Will in the Lands Between and the guardian of the Elden Ring itself, combat was never its forte.
In contrast, Radahn, the strongest demigod in the Lands Between, had honed his combat prowess for years through his mastery of gravity magic—a power that touches on the very truths of the cosmos. His title, Starscourge, plainly indicates his role as a specialist in dealing with beings that come from the far reaches of the stars.
Though the Elden Beast had been in the Lands Between for many years, its essence was not so different from those alien invaders. Against Radahn's gravity magic, powerful enough to even distort time and space, it naturally found itself at a disadvantage.
However, Radahn wouldn't have been able to face this chosen beast of the Greater Will on his own. The success of the ambush was largely due to exploiting the Beast's post-attack vulnerability, and the help of the god Miquella was crucial. At this moment, General Starscourge was undoubtedly at the peak of his power—his strongest form in history.
Aoko couldn't allow this guy to finish off the Elden Beast. If the old beast died, the Elden Ring would fall under Miquella's control. That would render all her previous efforts meaningless, forcing her to flee with Touko.
Having realized this, Aoko no longer cared whether using high-output Fifth Magic would provoke the Greater Will's displeasure in this world.
She raised the Scarlet Staff, and the mana generated by immense entropy surged like a black sun rising in this chaotic alternate space.
Next, the small cosmos at the staff's tip detached from the two fingers that held it, expanding mid-air into a sphere dozens of meters in diameter, then suddenly compressed and fired all the accumulated energy in one burst.
But this attack didn't follow a ballistic path—it instantly appeared beside Radahn and Miquella. Even the supercharged Radahn couldn't react in time to this carefully planned sneak attack. Forced to abandon his strike at the Elden Beast, he barely managed to cross his twin blades to defend, only to be blasted away by Aoko's enhanced Phantasmal Microcosm.
The explosion was massive, comparable to the Elden Beast's earlier display of the Elden Ring's power. The sphere of magic started the size of an apple, rapidly expanded to the small cosmos size in Aoko's hand (about dozens of meters in diameter), then quickly compressed again before a second detonation.
This blast sent the steel-boned Radahn flying, his body covered in burn wounds. One of his arms, being closer to the epicenter, was drenched in blood, the wound so deep the bone was visible. Even Miquella, whom he shielded, was left covered in ash and dust.
Aoko's successful strike was a huge morale boost to her side. Had this spell been cast outside this special space, it undoubtedly could have destroyed at least half a royal city. In the Type-Moon universe, it would be considered a city-breaking level spell.
But the essence of the Phantasmal Microcosm is to concentrate destructive power in a small area. The reason super Radahn could be injured in a single hit was due to the high Mystery Level of the spell, derived from the Mother of Fingers. It was a case of high-mystery power suppressing the lower, akin to chaotic damage piercing through divine armor.
Seeing her brother gravely wounded, Malenia, who was in a fierce fight with Messmer, forced both Messmer and Rellana to retreat with a single strike, then rushed back to Miquella, who was using divine power to heal both herself and Radahn.
Up to this point, everything had gone just as Aoko predicted. What she didn't expect, however, was that the second explosion of her Phantasmal Microcosm also injured the Elden Beast. It seemed that this magic, derived from the Mother of Fingers, was not something even the Elden Beast—on equal footing—could resist or nullify.
...The crisis for her allies was temporarily averted, but now Aoko herself had drawn the attention of the Elden Beast. The old beast was furious at this foreigner wielding a Staff. All the wings on its back suddenly spread wide as hundreds, thousands of golden meteors shot toward Aoko.
Landing on the water's surface, Aoko knelt and plunged the staff downward. A sigil of Finger Magic flashed briefly, and five enormous fingers formed a cage around her, shielding her from harm. Ranni widened her eyes in shock—she never expected this graceful woman to summon such disgusting things. Was it because of that staff?
Aoko's summoning of the five fingers wasn't without reason. The spell Guardian Fingers, invented by Ymir, was designed precisely to protect the caster.
Thousands of golden meteors streaked toward Aoko, bathed in golden light, but just before they struck, they all twisted away bizarrely, avoiding her entirely.
This effect was very similar to the Thops Field, with the main difference being that Thops required precise timing, while Guardian Fingers could last a long time until dismissed.
This similarity suggested that Thops, through years of painstaking research, had truly touched on one of the fundamental principles of this world—allowing a mere human to wield the powers of the Greater Will's daughter.
Messmer, battered from his fight with the super Malenia, stood up, breathing heavily. His eyes darted between the Elden Beast and Miquella, hesitating for a moment. Then he reached up to his remaining right eye.
"Mother, please forgive me..." Messmer whispered. "The mission you gave me is complete..."
He then thrust his slender fingers into his eye socket and, with a groan of pain, plucked out his golden eyeball.
Rellana looked on with worry, but she understood his nature—once Messmer made a decision, he would never turn back.
Aoko's eyes widened in shock. The eyeball he had removed... was a Mark of Marika's Blessing!
As Aoko was trying to figure out what the mark meant, and why Messmer would willingly blind himself, he crushed the blessed eyeball in his hand with force.
His body ignited in roaring flames. Everyone present could feel it—after the eyeball shattered, an alien essence surged from within Messmer—an essence born from the bottomless Abyss, a God-Devouring Serpent, stirring in the darkness.