Chapter 76: Settling

The fight against the battered Divine Revolte rages on. Genau calls down a storm of conjured feathers with Digardnacht and strikes from behind while Stark presses the front. The demon's speed and endurance make it seem more beast than swordsman, and Genau edges toward resignation until Stark notices the magic blades have grown brittle. Blow after blow from wing and axe snaps the weapons one by one until the general stands disarmed. As the two move in to finish him, Revolte drives his bare arms through both their bodies, mocking the assumption that a swordless demon is a beaten one. Genau counters that humans are just as easily misjudged, especially their stubbornness, and in that instant Stark shears off an arm and lands a rising Lightning Strike while Genau cleaves the demon across the middle.

By morning Methode is mending Genau's wounds, and he mutters that death has slipped past him once more. Stark, he learns, was near the edge but pulled through, since Methode treated the warrior first; Genau takes no offense and credits the boy's fighting. Frieren's group settles into the Rufen Region village, and a quiet stretch passes with everyone living side by side while Stark heals.

Soon Stark is grinding out push-ups, unnerving Frieren and Fern, who half suspects he is some kind of monster. Methode offers to join as the party's priest, warning that the Northern Plateau is no place to travel without one, but Frieren declines; she can manage a little clerical magic and is content to flee danger as always, and she means to hold the slot for someone she trusts will return. She also notices Fern's sourness whenever Methode is near, which only makes Methode find the girl more endearing.

Word arrives that the Chivalric Order of Norm has come, and Genau and Methode prepare to escort it southward. Genau acknowledges his debt to the party and vows to repay it someday, offering thanks only after Methode prods him, and the two take their leave. Stark wonders aloud whether refusing Methode was wise, guessing Sein would hate losing a beautiful, mature woman, and Frieren shrugs that it hardly matters, since she already is one.

Stark and Genau shatter the Divine Revolte's weapons and kill the demon together, surviving its final impaling counterattack. Methode heals both men, prioritizing the gravely wounded Stark. Frieren's party recuperates in the village, then parts with Genau and Methode, who depart to escort the Chivalric Order of Norm. Frieren turns down Methode's offer to serve as the party's priest, reserving the role for Sein.

Stark's finishing technique is the Lightning Strike, first shown in Chapter 20 as a downward blow under the name Sentengeki; here it appears as an upward swing called Kotenzan. The two share a single localized name despite their differing execution and Japanese readings.