"Hey, little shit, you aren’t as fast as me, so quit it!" Lapace said with a joyful expression, his body flickering through the battlefield as though he were nothing more than a streak of light.
"EKEKEKEKE! EKEKEKEKE!" The winged goblin answered with an unpleasant laugh, swinging her double light lance through the air and sending two brilliant arcs of light toward the arrogant Constellation.
Lapace tilted his head slightly before twisting his body, allowing the two attacks to pass beside him.
A trail of lightning followed his movements, illuminating the ruined ground beneath his feet as he appeared several meters away, completely unharmed.
"Quit it! Quit it!" he shouted, raising Mjolnir above his head with an exaggerated expression of annoyance.
The sky gradually darkened, and countless clouds gathered overhead, their blackened surfaces flashing with the light of countless bolts of lightning.
"This is far too easy."
A deafening explosion swallowed the battlefield as several bolts of lightning struck the winged goblin simultaneously. The force of the impact sent her crashing toward the ground, but she twisted her body at the last moment and used her wings to stabilize herself, barely managing to avoid being buried beneath the shattered earth.
"EKEKEKEKE!"
She immediately rushed toward Lapace again, her double light lance glowing brighter than before. Golden energy gathered around its blades, forming a pair of enormous wings made entirely of light, and she swung the weapon with enough force to split the clouds above them.
For the first time, Lapace stopped moving forward and raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?"
The attack swept across the battlefield, tearing through the remaining trees and carving a deep trench into the earth.
Lapace simply leaned backward, allowing the enormous blade of light to pass over his face, before grabbing the weapon’s shaft with one hand and smiling at the goblin standing before him.
"Not bad. Not bad at all!" he exclaimed, releasing the lance before kicking the goblin directly in the stomach.
The winged goblin flew backward like a stone thrown from a mountain, smashing through several enormous boulders before finally managing to stop herself.
She had never encountered an opponent like this before.
Every attack she launched was either avoided or blocked, and whenever she attempted to create distance, Lapace would immediately appear beside her. Even worse, the lightning surrounding him seemed almost alive, constantly changing direction to prevent her from escaping.
Despite her predicament, the winged goblin refused to surrender.
Her body shot forward, leaving behind a golden trail that stretched across the sky. The double light lance split into countless smaller weapons, each one surrounded by brilliant energy, before they rained down upon Lapace from every possible direction.
For a moment, the entire battlefield was engulfed by golden light.
Then, a cheerful laugh emerged from within the explosion.
"HAHAHAHA! That’s more like it!"
Lapace burst through the light with Mjolnir resting on his shoulder, his clothes barely disturbed by the attack. He swung the hammer once, and a wave of lightning spread outward, destroying the remaining weapons before they could reach him.
The winged goblin’s expression finally changed.
She had used nearly every technique she knew, yet her opponent continued to smile as if they were playing a harmless game. There was no fear in his eyes, no urgency in his movements, and not even the slightest indication that he considered her a genuine threat.
Meanwhile, Lapace looked as though he were enjoying himself more with every passing moment.
"Come on, little shit! You can do better than that, can’t you?"
The goblin answered by charging again, but this time, Lapace moved before she could even raise her weapon. He appeared behind her, tapped the back of her head with the handle of Mjolnir, and immediately retreated several meters away while laughing at her bewildered expression.
"Too slow!"
"EKEKEKEKEKE!"
She turned around furiously, her wings beating so violently that the air itself seemed to tremble. Her double light lance shone with an increasingly unstable radiance, and the surrounding light began converging toward its tip, creating a sphere of energy that threatened to explode at any moment.
However, before she could release it, three familiar figures finally arrived at the battlefield.
The Magic Swordswoman, the Onyx Elf, and Thousand Petal approached from the distance, their attention immediately drawn toward the enormous storm gathering above the ruined landscape. Lightning illuminated their faces as they watched Lapace casually toy with the winged goblin.
The Magic Swordswoman folded her arms and observed the fight for a few seconds before speaking.
"Lapace, is that the enemy?"
"Why is it so ugly?" Thousand Petal asked, tilting his head as she examined the goblin’s unusual appearance.
The Onyx Elf remained silent for a moment, watching the golden wings and the strange weapon in the goblin’s hands. "Anyways, can you defeat it?"
Lapace glanced toward his companions before turning his attention back to the winged goblin, who was preparing another attack.
"It’s easy. Let me have fun for a little while."
"Okay, sure. Just don’t get too overconfident," the Magic Swordswoman replied with a faint smile. "After all, you aren’t invincible, since you already lost to me once."
Lapace’s expression immediately twisted into irritation.
"Oh, shut up! Want me to fight you next?"
While speaking, he casually tilted his head to avoid the winged goblin’s lance, which passed close enough to disturb a few strands of his hair. He then raised Mjolnir and struck the weapon’s side, sending the goblin spinning through the air before she managed to regain her balance.
"Pay attention to your opponent, Lapace," the Onyx Elf remarked.
"I am paying attention!"
"Doesn’t look like it," Thousand Petal replied.
Lapace clicked his tongue, but he did not bother answering them again. Instead, he accelerated toward the winged goblin, forcing her to defend against a relentless series of attacks that left her with fewer and fewer opportunities to retaliate.
The struggle had become painfully one-sided.
The goblin’s movements grew increasingly sluggish, and the light surrounding her lance began to flicker as her strength dwindled. Every time she attempted to create an opening, Lapace would exploit it immediately, striking her weapon, knocking her away, or forcing her to waste even more energy defending herself.
Eventually, she realized that continuing like this would only result in her defeat.
The winged goblin retreated several dozen meters, breathing heavily as she stared at Lapace. Her eyes shifted toward the three other Constellations standing nearby, and she understood that even if she somehow escaped the man in front of her, three equally terrifying enemies were waiting behind him.
There was no chance of winning.
Yet she could not simply abandon Father’s orders.
"FATHER... I WILL NOT LET THEM PASS!"
Her wings suddenly spread to their fullest extent, and the remaining light in the surrounding area gathered around her body. A gigantic magic circle appeared beneath her feet, followed by countless symbols that formed a massive barrier between her and the four Constellations.
The wall of light continued expanding until it stretched across the entire battlefield, its surface covered in complicated patterns that pulsed with an overwhelming magical aura.
Lapace stared at it for several seconds before bursting into laughter.
"HAHAHAHA! You think that wall can stop me, you know?"
He raised Mjolnir and prepared to smash the barrier apart, but before he could swing his hammer, something unusual happened.
The winged goblin was gone.
Lapace froze, his hammer still raised above his shoulder, before looking around with an expression of genuine confusion. He examined the ground, the sky, and even the other side of the enormous barrier, yet there was no sign of the goblin anywhere on the battlefield.
"What? She disappeared?"
The Magic Swordswoman sighed.
"She probably used that wall to cover her retreat. You were too busy laughing to notice."
"Who said I didn’t notice? I was just letting her escape!"
"Of course you were," Thousand Petal replied.