<h4>Chapter 51: Prior Life’s End</h4>


    The children were protected by the thread. It’s connected to the wall andid in an stic braided pattern so a half-hearted attack wouldn’t be able to break through. The only thing left is the deathmatch between me and the Devil.


    “Gwooooargh!”


    The Devil yelled and raised his sword to sh at me. I slipped under the sword andunched a counterattack with my threads. Luckily the ceiling was low, leaving little room for the Devil to swing downwards. That means the Devil’s range of attacks is limited. That means defense would be easier for me.


    A veritable storm of shes came at me, I jumped over and parried them with my threads. Despite being thrown about like a leaf, I avoided taking any direct hits, but I was only able tond superficial hits with my counterattacks. I’ve already got one hand’s worth of threads dedicated to the defense of the children.


    The remaining thread is only enough for one hand. The Devil’s attacks are easy to read since he can onlyunch his attacks sideways, so one hand should be enough. The Devil howled shortly after I came to that decision.


    “Wuuuooooooo!”


    Along with the Devil’s roar, an unseen force mmed into me. Pushed by the invisible power I got mmed into the wall, at that point the Devil came thrusting at me with his sword.


    I, who had expected a sidelong sh, had to eat the unexpected thrust. I tried moving out of the way of the attack, but the timing was off.


    The strike gouged out a chunk of my chest and broke some of my ribs, I barely avoided a direct hit but it’s now a struggle to even breathe.


    “G, Gahack!?” I coughed up blood while kneeling. The pain was so sharp, but if I lose consciousness I can’t save the kids.


    I can’t win? That moment of indecision created a gap. For the sake of buying time, I gave in to the desire to defeat the Devil, through my blurry consciousness. It begins to take shape then. It’s aplete defeat, but I can’t afford to just give in. I won’t make it too long, but for the children’s sake, I have to buy time. My stamina was shaved off by a good bit, so even that would be a struggle.


    “…Well, I’ll just have to crush you.”


    I can’t buy any more time, probably no more than a dozen of seconds with this injury. There’s no chance Cortina will make it back in time.


    If I die, the children will die. If the Devil makes it out of here, the vigers will die. And if the Devil with that kind of power were let loose. I don’t know how many will die in that kinda situation.


    The Devil ignored my hesitation and started attacking again. I scolded my trembling legs and lunged sideways. I then tried to seal the Devil’s movements with some thread around the sword which it forcefully ripped off.


    “Waaaaaaargh!”


    The Devil sent out shockwaves to counter. I already took it once, so I was able to avoid it without much difficulty this time. The timing was difficult to grasp because the flow of magic was so different, but I could still tell where it was going to hit by its line of sight. Then I wrapped some threads around its neck but not enough to actually strangle it.


    But with this, my preparations are done.


    “It’s all up to my preparations…”


    Once I gathered my nerve, I nted my feet. The Devil was quick to not overlook that. He threw his favored sideways sh at my feet. If I avoid it, it’ll go back to being a test of endurance, but I don’t have that kind of time anymore. For the sake of victory… I won’t dodge. Arge thread is pulled as it swings at my leg.


    Thread snagged around the sword, threads snagged around the neck. And all of that connected to the thread protecting the children.


    The sword swung forward, connected to the Devil’s neck. The mythril thread was pulled by the Devil’s own force, like someone pulling up a bucket from a well. The result was the Devil severing its head by its own power.


    But that didn’t mean the sword had lost its momentum. Since I connected the threads at thest possible second I couldn’t dodge the iing strike. The sword shakily crashed against the ceiling before crushing my left arm. Then I crashed near the children.


    The Devil was no longer keeping them in check. But that doesn’t mean they could immediately start moving again. The children were still trembling in fear, leaking on the floor.


    But a single girl came running up to me and started putting pressure on the open wound.


    From all my past experiences, I knew, there was no saving me. Even so, I tried tofort her in a raspy voice.