Chapter 264

“This is a bit rough…? Suddenly stabbing two down there. Not bad for a virgin, huh?”

Isabella blushes and laughs.

Her mouth, torn to the ears, was filled with joy.

Even though the Ice Blade’s nails were deeply embedded in the center of her groin and the longsword’s blade pierced beside it, she didn’t seem to feel any pain.

Well, I guess wounds like this are nothing to a witch like her.

Isabella, resurrected through the underworld’s farewell, returns to her “complete state,” with all wounds disappearing as if washed away.

And that complete state is registered as a new resurrection point.

That’s why even after being completely destroyed and resurrected, her combat readiness is maintained.

If it weren’t for that, she would have been just a naked body right after resurrection.

Even the consumed magic and stamina are restored, leaving only a slight mental fatigue.

Although it couldn’t eliminate the pain of death, Isabella’s worn-out mind found pleasure in that pain.

Unless it was an excruciating pain, she would rather enjoy it.

“Ah… my body is heating up…! I want to hug you so much!”

The four blades aiming for my legs and shoulders.

If I hesitate even a little, I’ll end up like Claire.

[I refuse!]

The crimson tentacles bursting from my back block the blades and tear them apart.

Two seconds until the mantis’s forelegs reach me.

That’s enough time to achieve my goal.

【Heroic Epic – Reverse Heaven】

A sword that flows faster than the world’s time, cutting off the enemy’s life.

Not bad for a name, Hersela.

Following the compressed flow of time, Jin’s sword moves at lightning speed.

The blue arc cleanly cuts through the targeted flesh.

“Ugh…!”

Feeling the sword’s touch tearing through her lower abdomen, Isabella lets out a sweet moan.

…That’s as far as her liking goes. From now on, she won’t be so relaxed.

The blade is now close enough to touch her hair.

I slip through Isabella’s legs, escaping the witch’s embrace.

Grasping the severed organ with my left hand.

The cut flesh follows me, pulled out completely.

Blood pours down like a waterfall.

A strike that cuts out a span and a half from the groin.

It was as if only the reproductive organs were roughly extracted.

“Huh…? No. Why…?”

Isabella, still bleeding between her legs, mutters in disbelief.

Well, it’s understandable to be bewildered.

If I had just pushed Durandal a bit deeper and twisted, I could have shredded her insides and killed her instantly, but instead, I only pulled out her lower body.

But that would just be repeating the same old pattern.

My goal from the start was to cut out this organ while keeping the witch alive.

Seeing the blood flowing between her legs, it was clear she would bleed to death soon…

“Now, Lacey!”

“Elpinel, please forgive this blasphemy!”

A hurried prayer with both hands clasped together.

A brilliant holy light explodes like a star.

A light so bright it’s hard to keep my eyes open.

A pure white torrent rushes towards Isabella like a tidal wave.

“Hmm…?”

Isabella doesn’t defend or evade, just stares at the wave of holy light with a doubtful expression.

An obvious judgment. Whatever the attack is, at that scale, it would kill her instantly. She must be thinking of resurrecting immediately to counterattack.

Typical of a devotee of Lilith, the evil god of lust and arrogance.

Did she ever imagine what that arrogance would lead to?

The Up-hwa in my left hand burns the organ I’m holding to ashes without a trace-

Then, the tidal wave of light engulfs Isabella’s body.

Silently, very quietly.

—-

The flood of light that filled my vision slowly subsides.

Without causing any destruction.

“…What was that…?”

Isabella tilts her head.

The holy light that hit her body, despite its ferocity, didn’t tear a single piece of flesh.

Of course, because the miracle Lacey unleashed this time wasn’t an attack.

Rather, the opposite.

The bleeding stops.

The pure white light gathers at the witch’s lower body, filling the hollowed-out lower abdomen with flesh.

The healing miracle Lacey unleashed with all her might was rapidly restoring the witch’s injuries.

“Healing? No, why? Did you mess up the arrangement of the holy power?”

Looking down at her rapidly healing groin, Isabella tilts her head repeatedly, unable to understand.

“Anyway, thanks for healing me!”

Thinking she can fight properly now, the blades sprouting from her back pour towards me.

Along with dozens of attack spells in the air.

The explosions echo like a downpour.

I deflect the blades with the Ice Blade and cut through the spells with Durandal as I retreat.

Drenched in the white holy light…

Staring at the glowing pink witch’s crotch.

So far, so good.

Cleanly cutting out the witch’s lower abdomen and then casting a healing blessing on it.

Whether Elpinel’s miracle would take effect on the witch’s body, even Lacey and I were unsure… but surprisingly, the recovery speed was incredibly fast.

It was as if Elpinel, sensing our intentions, happily cooperated.

So, what would the result be?

Would this bug-like method work in reality?

We’d know as soon as the healing was done.

“Hmm… Elpinel’s grace lingering between my legs, isn’t this like rubbing bodies with Elpinel? Lilith would surely approve.”

“You, you blasphemous harlot!”

Lacey, furious at Isabella’s taunts.

Her eyes, twisted in rage, seemed to burn with white flames.

The shadow blade and holy spear clashed, shattering upon impact.

Ophelia, awakened as a high mage, stepped back to gather mana.

Perhaps because she had just awakened, she seemed to have expended quite a bit of mana with her earlier high-level magic.

Isabella, gleefully flicking her tongue, shot spells forward while swinging her insect-like arms wrapped in dark energy, taking us all on.

As planned.

Lacey was trembling with rage, but…

She seemed to remember my instructions, neutralizing Isabella’s magic instead of attacking her directly.

Ophelia, who hadn’t fully heard the plan, also paused her magic for a moment.

And I, too, only deflected her insect arms without pressing further.

The healing miracle, uninterrupted, finally fully restored Isabella’s lower abdomen.

…No, not restored. It shouldn’t have been a restoration.

—

Perhaps even the priests didn’t know, but the healing miracle, unlike a recovery potion, isn’t fundamentally a “power to regenerate wounds.”

If it were just that, it’d be embarrassing to call it divine grace. If it were on par with alchemical potions, how could it be called divine power?

Recovery potions, which accelerate cell regeneration to heal injuries, have clear limits.

Organs completely lost, like eyes gouged out or arms obliterated, are hard to restore to their original state.

A severed arm can be reattached, but otherwise, only the wound heals quickly.

But divine miracles, with enough time and vast holy power, can even restore such injuries as if they never happened.

Precisely, not restoring, but creating anew!

Yes. The power of creation, using holy power to generate organic matter. That is the true essence of the healing miracle.

Reading the memories and information remaining in the injured body, identifying the most ideal form of the wounded area, and materializing it to attach.

That is the mechanism of the healing miracle.

That’s why long-standing injuries aren’t easily healed.

The memories to be read are too old, requiring immense holy power to restore already degraded memories.

The reason I described the brain regeneration interrogation method I heard from Ludwig as the “Brain of Theseus” is also due to this mechanism.

Repeatedly regenerating the brain with healing miracles essentially replaces the entire brain with a new one made of holy power.

So then,

What is the most ideal form of Isabella’s injury?

The answer was right before my eyes.

A pristine, transparent pink.

The flesh recreated by Elpinel’s power was tightly sealed without a single gap.

“…Wait, what…! What, what have you done!!”

The moment the miracle’s light finished its work, Isabella finally noticed something was wrong.

Her laughing expression instantly turned to horror.

Her flushed face paled, her darkened pupils shaking like waves.

Just looking at her face, I was certain.

We succeeded.

The source of Isabella’s immortality.

The power that gave her absolute confidence.

**The Netherworld’s Banishment has been nullified!**

“How does it feel to be a virgin again?”

Baring my fangs, I unleashed the suppressed laughter.

A strike filled with ecstasy flew towards the witch, who had fallen from immortality to mere humanity.