WHAT THE FUCK is going on now?
Seriously. What the hell is this capital doing?
I was watching the old geezers frantically try to hold back the tear — I'd even stepped in to help for a bit — and it clearly wasn't working because the tear was cracking wider and spawning more miasma by the second. Like trying to patch a dam with bubble gum. They were already at their limit, I'd completely lost track of what I was actually supposed to be doing here, and somehow this entire mess had started with a mask.
A mask. And now I was in the middle of a grandiose world-ending quest. How.
I activated [Flight] and pulled back, hovering above the horizon to get a better view of the disaster. In my hand was the staff those geezers had handed me before running off to hold the line. They'd called it the Archangel's Staff. Very dramatic. A little too angelic for my taste.
[Appraise]
[Item: Archangel's Staff] Type: Magical Staff Class: Legendary Artifact
Forged in the heavens by the Archangel Seraphiel as a beacon of divine power and light.
+100% to all light magic damage and healing. Grants the Holy element to the wielder regardless of natural affinity.+50% to all base stats. Can summon a high-ranking angel once per day. Grants access to all elemental affinities without drawback. Durability: Indestructible.
Why the hell do these geezers have this?
This was supposed to be Angelica's trump card. Part 4 of How to Live as the Black Swan of the Cursed Ducal Family — Angelica, the final boss of that arc, a completely unhinged mage from the magic tower who was head over heels for Marcus. Her entire character arc was a dumpster fire of jealousy when Adele swept in and took him. The poor girl was left seething.
But this staff was why she was such a nightmare to deal with. Maxed out her light magic, gave her the holy element — something that's supposed to be exclusive to those with divine blessing — amplified her base stats to obscene levels, and let her summon high-ranking angels at will. She was an unholy menace right up until Marcus tricked her into dropping it.
Brutal move. Effective though.
And now it was sitting in my hands.
What the actual—
"Hurry up, Almodey!" Angelus's voice cut through my spiral. "Is it ready yet?!"
Stolen story; please report.
"I'm TRYING!" Almodey shot back, barely holding himself together. "Maybe YOU could try chanting nonstop for hours!"
Mechanus was grunting through gritted teeth, pouring mana into constructs that were starting to buckle under the spawn count. "My mechanical army is falling back!"
"My runes are about to collapse!" Amarok snarled, reinforcing the barrier — her beastly face drenched in sweat, muscles straining with the effort.
I looked at all four of them getting stretched to their absolute limit.
Sighed.
"Alright," I muttered. "Let's throw them a bone."
[Mana Channeling.]
The moment it activated, all four of them snapped to attention like someone had hit a switch.
[Your mana is now being shared with selected targets!]
"This is—!" Angelus stared at his hands, life flooding back into his expression.
"Full capacity!" Amarok threw back her head, her beastly form surging with renewed energy, fur bristling.
"Performance stabilizing at 101 percent — initiating full offense!" Mechanus looked genuinely gleeful as his constructs lurched back into motion with twice the force.
I wasn't done.
I lifted the staff and pulled everything the Akashic Records had on support magic. [Haste]. [Bless]. [Heroism]. [Protection]. [Overrun]. [Draconic Boost]. Each one pulsed outward in sequence, stacking on my allies until they were glowing with the kind of over-buffed stats that would make any RPG player cry.
"What is this...?" Angelus flexed his hands, golden aura blazing bright enough to push the miasma back just by existing.
Amarok exploded into full beast form. Mechanus sent his constructs screaming into the horde. Almodey's magic circle overflowed with energy he clearly hadn't expected to have.
"You're welcome," I said, to no one in particular.
Still had leftover magic, so I went wider. Widen Magic— I laid debuffs across the entire capital like a second floor — [Gravity Field], [Temporal Distortion], [Corruption Ward], [Cleansing Flames] — a massive shimmering circle pressing down on every dark spawn in range simultaneously. They thrashed. Slowed. Started dissolving where the cleansing flames touched them.
Below me the capital turned into a full beatdown.
Mechanus's constructs tore through the horde with their boosted strength, his airborne golems dropping scatter grenades in holy fire patterns. Colossus Prime stomped through the thickest clusters, each step sending tremors that wiped entire waves. Amarok shredded through dark creatures with her claws, holy aura incinerating anything that got within reach. Angelus held the barrier, golden staff blazing, stitching the glowstone wall back together every time the spawns found a crack.
The dark spawns had completely lost coordination.
"GUYS! I've finished it!"
Almodey's shout cut through everything. The magic circle he'd been chanting over for the past god-knows-how-long flared white — and a massive beam shot straight toward the palace, slicing through the miasma's thickest clouds like they weren't there. A direct path, punched clean through the chaos, leading straight into the heart of the capital.
"O blessed one—" Almodey began.
"Don't," I said flatly. "My name is Josephine. Jo-se-phine."
Almodey looked personally offended. "I could never — besides, you're a maiden—"
"This fucking guy—"
Something hit me in the back. Hard.
Amarok. A solid kick, square between the shoulder blades, launching me forward like a magic cannonball directly into the beam path. The world blurred. I was already moving, sucked into the swirling column of light before I could get a word out.
"HEY—!"
Amarok's voice reached me as I shot through, calm despite everything. Almost regretful.
"Blame me later. Kill me if you want." A pause. "But please — save this world. Correct our mistake."
The light swallowed me whole.
