The air beside the Great Holy Spring seemed to be sucked dry in that instant, leaving only a heavy magical pressure that made it hard to breathe.
Wiz's ice pillars were still pinning Hans's massive body in place, while Hans screamed like a slaughtered pig, desperately trying to break free from that freezing curse.
At that moment, Megumin stood atop the highest rock, and her red left eye suddenly flared with a crimson light unlike anything before.
Her small frame looked strikingly out of place amid the raging magical turbulence, her pitch-black cloak snapping like a banner in the wind.
After learning of the innocent farmer's tragic death, the Crimson Demon Clan girl, who usually cared only about looking cool, now had real killing intent and fury written across her face.
"A crimson shadow darker than black, deeper than the abyss of darkness..." Megumin's voice was no longer clear and bright. Instead, it carried a low echo, as if it had come from some ancient wilderness. "The hour of awakening has come. Fall into the realm of absurd reason, and manifest as a formless distortion!"
"Hey, Kōichi..." Kazuma swallowed and instinctively shrank behind Kōichi. "Isn't this chant... way too long? And why are the rocks around us floating into the sky? Is this really the Megumin we know, the one who just sets off fireworks every day?"
Kōichi also felt a chill run down his spine. He stared fixedly at the space above Megumin's head, which was collapsing in on itself.
"Stop talking! Megumin poured all the frustration and anger she's been holding in these past few days into this shot! Magic on this scale... If it goes off course, we and Arcanletia might get wiped off the map together!"
"Raging all creation, shattered void!" Megumin's long hair flew in the red light. She suddenly aimed her staff at Hans's frozen core, and her speech grew faster. "With this blazing crimson, burn away the body of sin! At this final moment, witness the true meaning of destruction!"
Hans felt that terrifying heat, hot enough to vaporize even his soul, and his enormous compound eyes filled with despair.
"No! Wait! I'm a Demon King's General! I can tell you the Demon King's weakness! I can give you money! Wiz, save me! That red-eyed brat has gone insane! She really is going to kill me!"
Wiz only looked at him coldly, then clenched her right hand. The ice pillars thickened again.
"Hans-san, please repent to that farmer in the ashes."
"Crimson that pierces all things, the end of Explosion!" Megumin let out one final roar, and in that instant, the entire sky was dyed blood-red. "Explosion!!!"
A massive dark-red pillar of light, a full ten meters across, fell from the heavens with a roar powerful enough to tear space apart, piercing straight through Hans's core.
Before the smoke and dust had even cleared, the place where the Great Holy Spring had once been was now only a charred crater several dozen meters wide. At the bottom of the pit, faint remnants of purple gel could still be seen, hissing as they melted under the intense heat.
After releasing that [Explosion] filled with all her strength and fury, Megumin collapsed at the edge of the crater like a dried-out rag, sprawled flat on her back as she murmured unconsciously.
"Hah... hah... My name... is Megumin... the strongest... of... hah..."
"Hey, Kōichi, look down there!" Kazuma brushed dust from his clothes while pointing toward the dense, wriggling lights on the distant mountain path, a chill in his voice. "That blast just now was way too loud. These Axis Order cultists react faster than flies smelling shit!"
Just as Kazuma said, the residents of Arcanletia, the lunatics who stopped at nothing during the day to drag people into their religion, were now charging up the mountain with torches and kitchen knives in hand. Some had even rushed out in their pajamas.
The one leading them was a middle-aged receptionist. His face twisted with rage as he pointed at the charred spring source and let out a heartbroken howl.
"Blasphemy! This is blatant blasphemy! Who was it?! Who set off such a huge firecracker in Aqua-sama's bathtub?!"
In the blink of an eye, over a hundred believers had surrounded the edge of the crater.
They looked at Kōichi and his battered group, then at the destroyed sacred spring. What showed in their eyes was not fear, but fanatical anger.
"It was them! I recognize that black-haired brat! He was sneaking around the city cleaning up during the day!"
"And that Crimson Demon Clan brat! She must have planted the bomb! Nobody but those Crimson Demon Clan people with nothing but explosions in their heads could cause this much damage!"
"Compensation! They have to pay for repairing the Holy Spring, and they have to compensate us for the emotional damage of not being able to take a hot bath tonight! At least one million Eris each!"
Kōichi stared at this completely unreasonable crowd, his eye twitching violently.
He pointed at the puddle of Slime residue at the bottom of the crater that still had not fully melted away and shouted in defense.
"Everyone! Calm down! We just destroyed Hans, a Demon King's General who was hiding in the city! That guy was a Poison Slime. If not for us, tomorrow's hot spring water would have turned into a deadly poison that kills on contact!"
However, the thought process of these Axis Order cultists was clearly nothing like that of normal people.
An old woman jumped out and jabbed a finger at Kōichi's nose.
"A Demon King's General? Who cares about something that small! Even if the Demon King himself came to poison the water, Aqua-sama would purify it with Holy Water! But you blew up the spring source! Where are we supposed to recruit people tomorrow?! Without hot springs, who would still come to Arcanletia for tourism?!"
"That's right! The Demon King's Army only wants to kill people, but you're trying to cut off our income! You're even more evil than the Demon King's Army!"
"Hey! You ungrateful bunch!" Aqua finally snapped. She jumped out from behind Kōichi, planted her hands on her hips, and trembled with anger. "I am Aqua, the very Goddess you worship! To protect you, I was chased halfway across the mountain by that disgusting Slime! How dare you talk to me like that?!"
The entire crowd fell into instant silence.
The believers looked at one another, then burst into laughter even louder than before.
"Huh? You're the Goddess? Then I'm Eris!"
"Scammers these days really have no standards anymore. She's trying to impersonate Aqua-sama just to avoid paying compensation?"
"Don't listen to her, everyone! This blue-haired crazy woman was putting on a show in the fountain during the day, spitting water and calling it purification! She must be some fame-hungry heretic! Grab them and lock them in the city's confessional for three days and three nights!"
"Kōichi..." Kazuma silently placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, his eyes dead. "I've had enough. This city can't be saved. It really can't be saved. Why don't we just blow these people up too? Hans is dead anyway. Let's run straight back to Axel."
Kōichi watched the believers closing in, then looked at Aqua, who was already getting so wronged she was about to start crying again, and Megumin, who still had not regained consciousness. He took a deep breath.
Just as Kōichi's hand reached for his staff and he prepared to use a weak [Breath of Wind] to create a smoke screen so everyone could escape, Darkness, who had kept her head lowered while her shoulders shook violently, suddenly took a huge step forward.
Her golden Crusader armor gleamed with overwhelming righteousness under the torchlight. But with one closer look, it was clear that the young lady's cheeks were so red they looked ready to bleed, and her eyes even carried a fanatical resolve, as if she were ready to die, meaning, to satisfy her desires.