The World After the Bad Ending

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]

Chapter 276

9th Floor, Heaven’s Domain.

This was originally the place where apostles and humans were meant to clash.

But here, Isabel was now facing off against a human who had consumed a mystery.

The cat from the other side, Adora.

She moved freely through space using spatial paths.

The last time Isabel fought Adora, Vikamon had cleverly blocked those paths.

That had forced Adora to fight Isabel relying solely on her physical abilities.

Thanks to that, Isabel had managed to fight on equal footing with Adora.

But now, the situation was completely different.

Adora’s true strength only revealed itself when she had access to spatial paths.

Isabel was now experiencing firsthand just what that meant.

Right in front of her—

Adora’s sword came flying.

Moments ago, Isabel had countered one of Adora’s spatial attacks.

But just before she did—

The sword of Adora’s spatial attack vanished.

Where had the disappearing sword gone?

It had slipped into a space that had opened right in front of Isabel.

From the gap in that space—

A sword shot straight toward the center of Isabel’s forehead.

The instant she jerked her head back—

The sword vanished again, reappearing just in front of her throat.

Slish!

A piece of flesh from her neck was sliced off.

The bleeding wasn’t severe.

With the wings of the goddess, such a wound could be healed quickly.

But at that moment, Isabel felt a chill like never before.

She’d already allowed far too many of these attacks.

Her body was covered in freshly healed wounds from just moments earlier.

Adora’s fighting style with spatial paths was completely different from before.

A combat style that leapt through layers of space.

Adora could appear anywhere and attack from any point.

Once again, Adora swung her sword through space.

Isabel’s eyes quivered.

The moment she blocked the spatial path, the sword would reappear and attack from another direction.

So, was blocking really the right choice?

Or would it be better to retreat now?

But even if she moved back, the spatial path would still place the attack right in front of her.

A close-range strike that was nearly impossible to dodge.

Just the fact that it could cross space—

That alone forced Isabel to calculate countless scenarios in her mind.

Adora had far too many cards to play.

Adora was a natural-born killing machine.

Her combat style was perfectly optimized for killing humans.

That strange and unpredictable way of fighting left Isabel in disarray.

All Isabel had learned until now was how to fight apostles, not humans.

Meanwhile, the Adora before her had lived solely to fight humans.

Eventually, Isabel chose to dodge widely using her divine wings instead of blocking the sword.

Adora’s sword clashed with her wings a few times but failed to pierce them.

From the rift in space, Adora peeked through with a grin between the strands of her falling hair.

That grin brimmed with glee at the thought of toying with her opponent.

Isabel bit her lip.

BOOOOM!

Another explosion echoed from below.

It was the chimera apostle of starlight struggling to get back up.

The blessing of the goddess’s wings significantly enhanced everyone’s abilities.

As such, Isabel’s absence from the battlefield had a massive impact.

If she remained away like this, it would take much longer to subdue the chimera apostle.

And with the next foe being the Archfiend—

They couldn’t afford to expend too much strength up front.

Isabel’s eyes gleamed sharply.

Time to admit it.

With her current skill, she couldn’t keep up with Adora’s fighting style.

No matter what kind of defense she tried, Adora’s spatial magic would penetrate it and land effective hits.

So far, she’d narrowly avoided critical damage, but Adora’s movements were only becoming more precise.

There was no guarantee she could keep dodging forever.

Even though she had managed to defend herself with the goddess’s wings, defense alone would not win this fight.

Worse yet, the wings were now so large they were hindering her movement.

That left only one option.

With her sword pointed forward, Isabel began to shrink her goddess’s wings.

Soon, the wings were just big enough to let her barely fly.

Adora looked at her with a meaningful gaze.

“Are you insane?”

The goddess’s wings were her only means of defense.

To shrink them like that—no sane person would do it.

But Isabel didn’t answer.

She merely aimed her sword forward.

Like a warrior preparing for a head-on duel.

Adora stared at her for a moment, then let out a long breath.

“I’m not stupid. I got wrecked by you once before. Do you think I’d just rush in again?”

Her eyes were clearly braced for death.

Having been seriously wounded by Isabel in the past, Adora wasn’t about to blindly charge in again.

But Isabel didn’t answer that either.

Adora had chased her all the way here with the remaining spatial paths.

Isabel had known from the start that Adora wouldn’t back down.

“…Hah.”

Adora let out a breath.

“You really are a damn annoying bitch.”

With that, Adora vanished.

BOOM! BOOOOM!

The battlefield below roared with explosions.

Isabel felt an eerie stillness.

It had become a battle of nerves between her and Adora.

Adora could appear from anywhere.

That wasn’t something Isabel could control.

So she waited.

Concentrating all her senses, showing extreme patience.

Adora and Isabel had different goals.

Isabel had come here today to save the person she loved most.

Meanwhile, all Adora had was bloodlust.

When a silence that seemed to stretch on for eternity filled the space—

The difference between them finally surfaced.

ZZZZZTT!

It was Adora who broke first.

A sword appeared right in front of Isabel’s eyes.

With extreme focus, Isabel barely turned her head, just as the sword nearly grazed her ear.

And then—

The spatial path vanished.

Isabel turned her head.

From that direction, in the exact stance as when she had slashed with the sword, Adora appeared.

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]

What she was aiming for was Isabel’s neck.

Her body was already leaning toward Adora.

At this rate, her neck would be pierced by Adora’s strike.

At that moment, one of Isabel’s wings flared out violently, bursting forth with a gust of wind.

The wind didn’t slow her—it accelerated her even more.

Adora hadn’t anticipated this sudden boost.

As a result, the slash intended for Isabel’s neck instead sliced across her chest.

Amid the spray of blood,

Isabel’s sword, shining with starlight, extended toward Adora.

Accelerated by her wing, the sword moved even faster now, aiming to slice Adora clean in half at the waist.

Whoosh!

But just then, Adora’s waist slipped down into the void—vanishing.

Isabel’s sword cut nothing but empty air.

Still, without hesitation, Isabel let go of her sword mid-swing.

Instead of being dragged by its weight, she thrust her shoulder forward.

Crack!

“Gah!”

Isabel’s shoulder slammed into Adora’s chest with crushing force.

And she’d been accelerating.

The blow felt to Adora like a spike driven into her lungs.

Forced by Isabel’s push, her torso bent severely, still halfway into the void.

Like this, she couldn’t find the timing to cross dimensions.

Then came Isabel’s fist, smashing into Adora’s head.

Adora’s nose broke with a loud crack as her head snapped back.

Abandoning her sword and engaging in hand-to-hand combat—unthinkable.

Even Adora hadn’t anticipated such madness.

But having thrown away her sword, Isabel had no weapon left.

While still recoiling, Adora swung her arm through the air.

Right in front of Isabel’s heart,

Adora’s spatial sword once again tore through space in a surprise attack.

Isabel’s wings had shrunk significantly.

She had even thrown away her weapon.

There was no way for her to block the sword.

Would she give up her heart?

Or lose an arm?

Either would be a fatal blow.

And a fatal blow would turn the tide.

Adora was sure of victory.

Until she saw it—a kitchen knife-like sword launched fiercely from Isabel’s wing.

Clang!

It was a spatial sword.

Specifically, one of the other swords Isabel had carried.

Adora had miscalculated.

Isabel wasn’t unarmed.

She still had a spatial sword that she had taken back directly from Adora.

Adora’s eyes widened in shock.

To dare wield a spatial sword as her own?

Unforgivable.

“You wretch!”

As Adora shouted at Isabel,

She saw the tightly clenched fist of Isabel, followed by a deadly straight line of energy from her icy eyes.

Adora’s spatial sword was in mid-transition through space.

To retrieve it, Adora would have to pull back her arm.

And with the sword halfway through the void, Adora couldn’t cross over either.

Isabel had learned this truth clearly through many battles.

At this moment,

Adora’s body was defenseless.

The light of the goddess gathered in Isabel’s fist.

She knew a man who fought barehanded, even without a sword.

His image was forever etched in her mind.

And so, she knew exactly how to throw a punch.

“W-Wait!”

Adora cried out in panic.

But Isabel twisted her waist with no mercy and thrust her fist forward.

Just like Vikamon used to crush his enemies.

She mimicked him and threw her full power into that punch.

Victory.

The goddess’s declaration.

The fist, launched with condensed divine light, smashed into Adora’s face with full force.

Adora’s face caved in, her neck snapped, and she flew through the air.

So far she became a speck, crashing into the wall of the 9th floor before plummeting to the ground.

Of course, she could not have remained conscious.

“Haah… Haah.”

Isabel, still in the posture of her punch, breathed heavily.

Two bouts.

At last, she had defeated Adora alone.

Splash—

Blood ran down the middle of Isabel’s chest.

But she stood tall without a hint of pain.

The victor does not bow.

Isabel had come here for one reason: to win.

To reclaim that person.

She was determined to win, no matter what.

Boom! Boom!

The starlight chimera apostle thrashed harder than ever.

It, too, had sensed danger and was raging.

Isabel spread her wings, her weary body trembling.

The goddess’s wings rained blessings upon those on the ground.

Not yet.

She could still go much further.

A sun-like smile spread across Isabel’s tired face.

She would not rest until she saw Vikamon again.

The main heroine, Isabel Luna.

That was her vow.

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]