Chapter 73: The War Finale

"Time's up."

Everyone looked up to the sky as the portal finally opened.

"Get ready, Everyone!" shouted Izumi.

Everyone picked up their weapons and glared at the sky as they didn't even have time to process the fact that two of their classmates had betrayed them and been killed right in front of them since the first wave of Apostles began to appear. Izumi knew that, unlike Kyouko, Hajime's party, and him, none of the other students could contend with them including Kouki who was supposed to be the Hero.

Using a drone, he assessed the situation outside and saw that most of the monsters had already been killed and the number of demons was dwindling rapidly. Therefore, he had to do something about the approaching apostles. Since Ehit's orders were most likely to destroy the world, it meant that the Apostles would start killing the innocents.

He had to prevent that.

He materialized his wings and jumped into the sky. With a beat of his wings, he started flying at high speed. He had also applied a small gravity spell on himself to make his weight lighter in order to go faster. The Apostles of Ehit tried to stop him, but he destroyed their cores by materializing dark Matter in their bodies. They couldn't even let out a word before dropping like flies due to the lack of cores.

He soon arrived in front of the portal. It honestly looked bigger than it is. With his esper-enhanced mind, he calculated the dimensions of the portal and spread his arms.

He had to protect the civilians caught in the invasion.

First, he cast (Memory Partition) to divide his mind into eight partitions. He then cast the same technique he had used when conquering the Haltina Labyrinth. seven orbs of Dark Matter appeared in front of him. However, these orbs were not normal as they were infused with elemental properties and were controlled by the other seven partitions of his mind. The first orb was a fire orb, the second one was a water orb, the third one was an earth orb, the fourth one was a wind orb, the fifth one was a lightning orb, the sixth one was a disintegration magic infused orb and the last one was infused with the properties of gravity magic.

"Go."

Suddenly, the orbs went to word as they started rotating in front of him. As the first Apostle came toward him, the first orb suddenly launched a fireball at the Apostle taking her by surprise. Using the confusion, the partition controlling the disintegration orb shot a beam at the Apostle and destroyed her.

Izumi first came up with the spell inside the Haltina Labyrinth after taking inspiration from a certain ninja. He then refined the technique during the grace period before the invasion. The technique would use a combination of (Dark Matter) and Magic to recreate the Thuth-Seeking balls with added elemental properties that can be controlled with partitions in his mind made using (Memory Partitions.) However, it used a lot of mental strength and mana in order to keep up the spell since there were a lot of calculations and control needed.

Izumi glanced down at his comrades and saw them preparing some spells to shoot at the Apostles. Hajime had brought out a large shield which was used by the other students as cover while he shot at the Apostles. Yue and Tio were working together by casting spells while Shea brought out her hammer and shot out slugs at the Apostles. Kyouko had her wings out and shot different spells at the Apostles. Apart from him, Kyouko was the one who had the knowledge of all the Ancient Magic making her a veritable disaster on the battlefield even with her weaker physique. Unfortunately, she didn't have his immense mana reservoir and the Ancient Magic spells' immense mana consumption didn't help.

But it wasn't enough. Apostles were too strong and they were outnumbered. They also used Disintegration magic which can even disintegrate magic spells. It was like shooting a fish in a barrel at this point.

Izumi spread his arms and Dark Matter began to appear behind him. More and more of the dark matter was produced while his orbs were protecting him. It was like a floating tsunami of black dark matter was being materialized.

"Come on! Come on!" Izumi kept on whispering.

Producing that much Dark Matter would take some time due to the size of the portal. Apostles tried to say something to him, but he couldn't hear them as he was too preoccupied as well as the fact that they were being attacked by his orbs.

The fluctuations of the space also didn't help. He couldn't even cast a spatial magic spell since it would be disrupted by the large portal.

Finally, after what seemed like a long time, he had produced enough Dark Matter. He then guided the Dark Matter creating a huge cylinder connecting the portal to the arena all the while blocking off the route of the Apostles to the kingdom outside. He had made the Dark Matter transparent in order to not make the inside of the cylinder too obscure which would stop his comrades from seeing anything.

"What!?" One of the Apostles let out at the sight.

They tried to stop the process, but Izumi wouldn't let them. With the combination of Dark Matter and Magic, he was too strong for them to be stopped.

'Oi! Izumi. This is too much! There are too many of them! Do you have a plan!?' asked Hajime through the Telepathy bud.

Izumi was about to reply when suddenly, the Apostles stopped attacking.

"What?" let out Izumi.

"What's going on!?" shouted Kouki with his sword glowing from the Holy Power.

"I don't know," replied Shizuku.

Izumi looked around in confusion as the Apostles suddenly stopped whatever they were doing and lined by the portal.

'Izumi. do you know what they are doing?' Kyouko asked through the Telepathy bud.

'I don't know.'

The battlefield was in silence. Everyone was on guard for any surprise. Suddenly, something shot out of the portal at a really high speed.

"Wha-Guk!" Izumi was about to say something when a beam of light shot out of the portal and slammed into his guts.

'So fast!'

It was fast. Way too fast. His Observation Haki couldn't even keep up with the speed of the attack and the beam of light slammed him back to the ground.

*BOOOOM*

"IZUMIII!" shouted Kyouko.

The dust cleared and everyone could see the boy in a crater with his clothes in tatters.

"Izumi!" shouted Kyouko as she ran up to his in panic. "Izumi, are you okay!? Please tell me you're okay!?" she shouted.

The boy in question groaned.

"Urgh. What the fuck was that? I couldn't even keep up with it." he said.

Thankfully, his Dark Matter armour saved him, the boy could see that it was cracked in multiple places.

'What kind of attack could even crack my Dark Matter armour?' the boy thought, as the cracks soon disappeared after he repaired it. Unfortunately, although, his armour saved him, the blunt trauma cracked his ribs and damaged his organs.

*Cough*

Izumi coughed and some blood spewed out of him.

Kyouko immediately held her glowing green up to his body.

"What happened? What was that light?" she asked.

For the first time in a long time, Izumi didn't have an answer.

"I don't know, but it was dangerous. Really dangerous. If I wasn't prepared enough, I would've been gone."

Kyouko's pupils turned into pinpricks at the revelation and she quickly healed the boy.

"Izumi!"

The boy turned to the voice and saw Hajime looking at him,

"You alright?"

"Yeah."

"Good. What are they doing?" he asked while pointing at the Apostles who were now lined up as if waiting for someone.

"I don't know, but something is coming."

Suddenly, they all sensed a large amount of mana being gathered from the Apostles. The amount of mana was too much and Izumi knew something bad was going to happen.

"Stop them! Stop whatever they're doing!" He shouted.

But the students were too weak and everything went to shit. Hajime shot his bullets which were repelled by the Apostles and his girls' spells were disintegrated.

Izumi also moved and started killing Apostles one by one, but he was too rattled by the attack that almost took him out. Unfortunately, whatever they were doing had been completed as a huge golden beam of magic suddenly shot down from the portal and headed for them.

"Watch out!" Shea shouted!

Students began scrambling out of the way or tried to block it. The beam ignored them and headed somewhere unexpected.

"Yue!" shouted Hajime when they saw the beam had split into barriers that were now surrounding the vampire who was stupefied by the development. The shock was apparent on her face. She tried to break out of the compartment, but it was too strong for her. The barrier's height reached up to the portal in the sky and everyone knew nothing good would come out of this.

"Hajime!"

Her friends shouted for her and tried to attack the barrier. Hajime was now in a rage. His girlfriend was now trapped by some unknown attack. He brought out the big guns and shot at the barrier, but no bullets could scratch it.

"Which son of a bitch did this!? I'm going to get you out of here Yue!"

Izumi didn't know what was happening, but he wouldn't let it go on. He cast (Structural Analysis) on the spell.

That's when sweat began to roll down his forehead when the information appeared in his mind. This was too much.

"We have to get her out of here now! Before it's too late" Izumi shouted.

"What's going to happen?" asked Kaori.

"it's Ehit! He's coming! He's trying to possess Yue!" Izumi shouted.

A chill spread throughout the group when they heard the spell's effect. Hajime barreled toward the barrier, but the Apostles wouldn't let him. One tried to kill him with a disintegration spell, but Izumi killed her first. The older boy held out his artificial arms and shot out a beam of magic at the barrier, but it was repelled. He tried to use all kinds of skills, but it was useless.

Izumi quickly made a barrier of Dark Matter and Magic around the arena in order the stop spells' process, but before he could even do anything, the barrier pulsed and the inside of the barrier glowed.

"HAJIME!" Yue shouted.

"YUE!" the boy shouted before Yue was suddenly engulfed in golden light blinding everyone.

***

Izumi blinked as he tried to get rid of the blindness. He looked around and saw that the rest of the group was doing the same.

"What happened?"

His eyes widened and he looked toward Yue, but then he stumbled upon an odd sight. The girl was standing perfectly still in place. The barrier around her had disappeared leaving her alone. She was looking down as the Apostles were floating in the sky. The entire situation was too strange and made little sense. But something felt wrong.

Very wrong.

"YUE!" Hajime shouted.

he was about to run up to her when a hand clasped his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" the boy snarled at the offending limb.

Izumi simply glared back,

"Wait a moment. Something's not right. Stay calm and look."

No one made a noise. Izumi could feel more and more Apostles coming through the portal. At this point, more than a hundred had made it through.

Suddenly, they all heard laughter echo through the arena.

"Hehehehe."

They all turned to the source only to see Yue let out a laugh uncharacteristic of her.

"Y-Yue? Are you okay?" Izumi could hear Hajime's voice tremble.

Yue looked up at them and everyone felt chills in their spine when they saw Yue's eyes.

"Yes, dear Hajime. In fact, I feel better than ever."

The voice was Yue's, and the body was Yue's, but it was not Yue's.

Hajime's face contorted into a rage-filled expression.

"Who the fuck are you?"

The being inside Yue smiled and spread their arms,

"You know who I am Irregulars."

Izumi spoke,

"Ehit. You're Ehit"

Yue's face split into a horrifying grin,

"Give the man a prize! It's been so many eons I've had a body of flesh and blood. O how I missed it!"

Izumi activated (Spirit Vision) and his perspective changed. Inside Yue's body, there was a massive glowing blob occupying the girl's body. Unlike Alva's, this glow was pure white as if untainted by anything. It was horrifying to look at.

"You bastard!" Hajime snarled.

He cocked his gun and was about to move when Ehit spoke,

"In the name of Ehit, I order you to stop."

Hajime froze for a moment, but then he shot the bullet.

The bullet zoomed through the air and stopped right in front of Ehit who observed it with intrigue.

"How interesting. You've overcome my Divine Edict. I suppose I should have expected from Irregulars like you."

He tilted his head as he looked at Hajime,

"Unless... you had help."

Ehit's eyes settled on the bracelet Hajime was wearing.

"But no matter. Thunderlords Judgement!"

Suddenly, twenty-four orbs of lightning appeared around Hajime.

"Hajime!" Kaori, Tio, and Shea shouted.

"Izumi!"

The orbs flashed bright and, a split second later, a loud thunderous roar could be heard. A shockwave spread out throwing everyone away. Once the dust settled, they could all see a black cocoon standing still in a crater caused by the spell. The cocoon opened up revealing Hajime unharmed, but a little disoriented. Although the cocoon protected him from the damage, the noise of the spell had affected him slightly.

"Ah yes. There is also you the Anomaly. I don't remember ever summoning you." Ehit turned to Izumi who had his arms outstretched toward Hajime.

"'Cause, you didn't you bastard. I came here on my own." Izumi snarled at him.

"Is that so?" Ehit replied, "How interesting. I knew your world was not normal, but for a human to come by himself, I wonder what other secrets your world holds."

Ehit then grinned,

"Perhaps, I shall go there myself."

"You will go nowhere," Izumi replied.

Suddenly, a dagger appeared in Izumi's palm. It was the Godslayer.

"Oh. What an interesting artifact. But you won't have the chance to use it. Void fissure!"

Suddenly, as if space had contracted, Izumi could feel himself being squeezed.

"AArgh!" the boy let out.

The spell then expanded rapidly causing an explosion,

*BOOOM*

"Izumi!" Kyouko shouted.

Ehit turned to Kyouko who had a distraught expression,

"And you," Ehit spoke,

"Such an interesting species you are. It was a shame when the brainwashing didn't work. How pathetic of the Church. In the name of Ehit, come here."

Kyouko's body jerked forward, but she resisted the command with difficulty. Seeing, it didn't work, Ehit had a disgusted expression,

"Annoying."

He was about to cast another spell when he felt a spike erupt from his arm.

*Schlick* *Schlick* *Schlick*

"You won't do anything to her, you fake."

Ehit paused and his expression changed. He turned around and saw Izumi stumbling forward. He had survived the explosion after bringing out all the protective spells he could muster such as (Diamond Skin), (Reinforcement), and more. He even reinforced his Dark Matter armour, by changing its properties to Azantium. He had tanked the spell, but even then he was injured. Blood could be seen pouring out of him from multiple places. Hell, some could see his arm was bent in a weird way. But, he was now covered in a green glow slowly healing himself using Restoration Magic.

"What did you call me?"

Izumi let out a grin,

"A fake. You're nothing, but a fraud. I saw it in Alva's memories. You're no god."

'I guess it's time to unleash it.'

[I am the Fool with dreams]

"A fake you say?" Ehit's expression was neutral.

Izumi nodded,

"Yeah. You were human just like us."

[From the Beginning]

Gasps could be heard around them as they looked at Ehit,

"Boy, you have no idea what you are talking about."

[Until the End]

Izumi looked at him,

"I know what I'm talking about. I come from a world where they exist after all."

[There is only the never-ending potential]

Ehit's expression contorted into a hateful expression.

"I... am... a... GOD YOU INSECT!" Ehit exploded, " BE CRUCIFIED!"

[So long as I march, I shall never stop]

The space above Izumi twisted and formed an invisible cross.

"RUN IZUMI" shouted the others.

However, Izumi looked at the attack and raised his arms,

"Illusion Cage!"

The space around Izumi's body seemed to solidify and formed a barrier. It was as if the people looking around were watching him through a transparent glass. The cross collided with the barrier resulting in a shockwave caused by a fluctuation of space.

Izumi brought out another vial from his inventory and drank it in order to replenish his mana reservoir. (Illusion Cage) is a spell that locked space in a certain area. It can be used as a barrier, but it can also be used to trap someone.

[Touched by the Void and brought forth by dreams]

Ehit snarled,

"I am a god. The one and only god! And this world is my gameboard. That is was a god is! And you insects shall not stand in my way! Perish!"

The earth rumbled and more the twenty spikes shot up from Izumi's direction. But he jumped into the air where the Apostles were waiting for him.

[My mind is my world and my world is my mind]

Izumi glared at them they all had their cores pierced by spikes killing them instantly.

*BANG*

A bullet shot forward and pierced Ehit while he was too preoccupied with Izumi.

"Give Yue back you son of a bitch!"

Ehit turned to Hajime before letting out another sinister grin,

"Yes, Yue. That's the name of my vessel, huh? I should thank you for taking such good care of it since I have been searching for it for centuries. Alas, there is no reward for such a feat. But I can grant you your death."

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

Hajime brought out his machine gun and started shooting at Ehit who was stopping the bullets.

"Oi Ehit!"

The "god" turned to Izumi who had a grin on his face as he landed on the ground.

"Why don't we take this elsewhere?"

"Huh?"

It was at that moment, Ehit sensed something. He could feel the massive amount of mana Izumi was emitting. the very air seemed to vibrate and the ground seemed to crack as an earthquake seemed to ensue.

"You insect! What are you trying to do?"

The others also sensed something was going on. Izumi's grin widened as he chanted the last lines of his aria,

"Then let me show you my Wonderland! Come forth my Dreams of the Fool!"

At that moment, circuits of flames appeared beneath their feet a bright flash swallowed them all.

***

"Hmm."

Kyouko groaned as she rubbed her eyes in order to wipe the blindness away. The last thing she remembered was seeing Izumi injured and Ehit attacking Hajime when there was a flash of light that blinded her.

Once she opened her eyes, she forgot how to breathe.

She looked at the sky, but it was not a sky. It was more like a solar system. The sun in the middle was surrounded by multiple balls of different forms. One was simply a ball of fire while another was a ball of pure lightning. One looked like a black hole while another was simply a ball of water. The rest of the sky looked like outer space filled with multiple stars.

'Th-That's impossible! What even is going on? Where are we?'

She could say with certainty that they weren't even in the arena anymore. The portal in the sky wasn't even there anymore as it was replaced by a godamn solar system. She looked down and the sight changed.

The land was full of the most beautiful green grass she had ever seen filled with weapons of all sorts. For some reason, she could even see some red glowing chess pieces scattered in the grass. However, what was strange were the glowing pathways in the earth. It was a mix of blue, red, and gold.

'Mana.'

All those pathways were filled with mana. An immense amount of it. She could recognize the golden Holy power. But this one felt pure, unlike hers. It was like it hadn't been tainted with anything. The red one felt repulsive. Almost like mud. Finally, she settled on the blue mana. This one she recognized. She felt it almost every day.

"Izumi," she whispered.

"Yes, Kyouko-chan."

The voice startled her and she almost screamed when her eyes landed on her boyfriend who was sitting on some sort of throne. In fact, they were on some sort of floating dais, in the air, where the throne rested. She was sitting on the armchair of her boyfriend's throne.

"Izumi?"

"Izumi, here." the boy replied with a grin.

"Izumi!" the girl hugged her boyfriend seeing that he was okay.

Once they were separated, she asked,

"What's going on, Izumi? Where are we?"

Izumi gave a wry smile,

"Sorry, Kyouko. I can't explain much right now, but let's just say that we are in my personal pocket dimension."

Kyouko looked around,

"This is yours?"

"Yeah. I'll explain later since the others are waking up."

She looked down and saw her senpais getting up and disoriented. She could hear them asking questions, but then her eyes landed on Yue who was standing and looking around with a frown.

'No. That's Ehit."

When looking at Yue, she felt herself tremble. Even with the large amount of power she had, she couldn't even do anything. She was basically powerless.

"Where did you take me?" Ehit snarled at Izumi.

The latter stood up from his throne and looked down at Ehit,

"Welcome to the Dreams of the Fool, Ehit. I would be happy to explain it to you, but, alas, it will be the last place you will see before dying therefore there isn't much use in explaining it. Besides, in here, I'm pretty much a god," Izumi replied with a mocking grin.

Incensed, Ehit gritted his teeth,

"A mere insect mocking ME!"

Ehit raised an arm and a huge lance of fire formed above him,

"DIE!"

"Izumi!" shouted Kyouko.

She was about to create a barrier when she felt the boy's hand on her head,

"Don't worry Kyouko-chan. Nothing's going to happen."

Before she could let out another word,

A beam of silver appeared out of nowhere and annihilated the lance. The rest of the students were in awe while Hajime and his party watched the battle with a worried expressions. They didn't know what was going on, but they didn't care since their friend was being possessed by some fucking god.

The boy looked at his gun,

'If only I was a little stronger.'

Seeing that his lance did nothing, Ehit formed ten more lances and Izumi shot ten more beams accurately stopping the so-called god's spells.

"You can't do anything here. This is literally my home-field advantage, you son of a bitch." Izumi replied with a massive grin.

"You!"

Ehit then flew to the sky and pointed a finger at Izumi. A golden beam burst forth at an extremely high speed. The first time, Izumi was caught off guard, but now, he was waiting for it. Izumi made a mana barrier, but this was not a normal one. The very world seemed to help him as the beam collided with the barrier. At the collision, the beam dissipated leaving the barrier with a single crack which soon disappeared.

Ehit then shot out a disintegration beam at Izumi which the latter responded with the same attack. Usually, they would cancel out each other, but Izumi had the help of the Dreams of the Fool which amplified his spell and destroyed Ehit's beam.

Ehit was about to curse some more when the earth burst out and a hand made of earth grabbed him.

"Release me, mongrel!"

He was about to cast another spell when his body twitched.

"She's still not dead? Your role is finished, vampire princess! Do not defy me anymore and flee to the afterlife!" he shouted as his body twitched some more.

Hearing Ehit shout, Hajime looked up in hope.

"Yue?"

Izumi had enough. It was time for Ehit to be gone and for good.

Suddenly, behind the throne, more than fifty balls of mana appeared. They all coalesced into a familiar dagger.

"That's the Godslaying dagger!" shouted Shea.

Ehit looked at the new apparition and for the first time in millennia, he felt something.

His heart seemed to beat at an unusually fast pace, sweat seemed to pour down his forehead, his body seemed to tremble and he had trouble breathing. He can feel the power of all the daggers combined.

'Am I... scared?'

"no no no NONONONONONO! You will not end me you filthy cur!" Ehit shouted.

The earth bindings cracked under his strength, but since he wasn't in his Sanctuary and the fact, he recently possessed Yue's body, he couldn't muster all of his strength.

"Die, you delusional bastard," Izumi told him and the wave of daggers shot toward him,

"NOOOOOO!"

The first dagger pierced him. Then the second. And the third. The students had to turn away at the gruesome sight, but Hajime and his party kept on looking.

After six daggers, Izumi stopped the attack. The throne then floated toward Yue's body still in the earth bindings. She was unconscious, therefore Izumi activated his (Spirit Vision), and saw the concept of the dagger destroying the remains of Ehit until nothing remained. For what seemed like forever, the place was quiet.

Izumi then grinned and turned to Hajime who looked at him with a hopeful expression.

"He's gone."

As if they were magic words, Hajime, Shea, Tio, and Kaori rushed to them as Izumi lowered Yue to the ground.

"YUE!"

They all ran up to the girl and Hajime cradled her body,

"What's wrong with her?" he asked.

"She's just unconscious. However, she should be awake right now." Izumi replied.

As if on cue, the vampire princess's eyes opened and the first thing she saw was Hajime's face.

"Yu-"

Before Hajime could even let out a word, the girl grabbed his face and slammed his lips into hers.

"Oh." let out Kaori.

One could see her face blush.

Suddenly, everyone let out a cry of surprise when the surroundings blurred and they returned to the real world.

"What the hell was that!" shouted one of them.

Izumi ignored them and looked at the sky. The portal had disappeared, but there were still some of the Apostles left.

"Alright. Time to take out the trash."

Izumi grabbed another vial of mana-replenishing potion.

'I have to be careful not to drink too many otherwise I might overdose.'

The Apostles were in a panic since they'd lost their lord. They were trying to destroy the Dark Matter barrier in order to fulfill their lord's last order, but, too bad for them, the barrier was made of the same properties as Anzatium. He also infused a spatial disrupting spell in them in order to make them super resistant to spells.

Izumi then raised his hand and mana began to gather in front of him. It's been a while since he had used this spell. The last time he had used it was during the invasion of New York in the MCU.

'Man, it's been a while, huh?'

At that time, the mana bomb was simply a bomb made of mana. This time, he was going to infuse the disintegration magic of the Apostles.

Everyone watched him gather the mana for almost 15 seconds. In the meantime, the Apostles noticed it and tried to attack him, but the rest of the students protected Izumi.

Soon the fifteen seconds were up and Izumi aimed it at the ceiling of the barrier.

"Goodbye."

*VOOOOOOM*

The mana ball exploded and a huge beam, almost the same size as the cylinder, exploded out of it and shot toward the sky. It engulfed the Apostles before they could do anything and slammed into the ceiling. The spell was so strong, it even destroyed it and continued toward the sky before dissipating.

A stunned silence ensued as the barrier was lowered leaving only the students in the arena.

"Did we win?"

Kyouko asked.

Izumi turned to her and grinned,

"Yeah."

At that moment, cheers and cries were heard from everyone.

They won! They won against an army!

Kyouko hugged Izumi before kissing him right on the lips,

"You were amazing," she said,

"I know," Izumi replied and kissed her once more.

"Does that mean we get to go home now?"

"Yeah."

Izumi could see tears began to brim Kyouko's eyes,

"You okay?"

The girl wiped her eyes,

"Yeah, I just miss home."

Izumi smiled in response,

"Me too."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(Author's note)

So this chapter wraps the Arifureta arc. It's been a long one, but we finally made it. The next chapter is going to be the aftermath and Izumi and company will finally go back to their world.

On the other hand, I have a new fic called Marvelous Forge. It is a Marvel x Celestial Forge fanfic. For those who don't know, the Celestial Forge document where all sorts of perks related to crafting and inventing from different jumpchain have been gathered into one document. You can also search for it on Google if you need more explanation or read the fanfic called Brockton's Celestial Forge by LordRoustabout. However, this author used the Celestial Forge V1 while I'm using the Celestial Forge V2 which I also modified a little.

Finally, I also have another fic called Mutant Sorcerer in Marvel which is a Marvel fanfic with an OC MC who stumbled upon the Root.

Thanks and don't forget to leave comments.

Peace!