Volume 9, Chapter 5 - Ice Emperor, Part 4
“Are you still going to do it?”
Stobel asked, sounding truly dismayed.
Ahead of his gaze was the figure of Skaaha, who continued to stand despite being wounded to the bone.
Her left arm was broken and stretched out toward the ground. Her hair, which had been tied back, was untied and disheveled, and her beautiful blue-green hair color was stained with blood and mud.
Still, Skaaha’s eyes were not dead. On the contrary, they continued to burn with the fire of vengeance.
“……I won’t die until I kill you.”
While dragging her right leg, which had stopped moving, Skaaha closed the distance between her and Stobel.
Breathing heavily through his nose, Stobel clicked his tongue in frustration.
“You are a woman who never grows up. How can you not see the futility of this?”
Stobel stammered out a sigh of relief, indicating that he has had enough of this.
“Whether it’s futile or not――”
Skaaha leaped on the ground.
“I won’t know unless I try!”
Stobel followed Skaaha’s figure floating high in the sky with his eyes.
“I will put everything I have into this. Take this!”
Skaaha held the Ice Emperor with her back to the sky. High energy swelled up, and the air made a piercing sound.
The Ice Emperor’s Heavenly Blessing―Certain Attack!
As soon as the Ice Emperor disappeared from Skaaha’s hand, the surrounding water froze, and a large number of ice spears appeared. At the sight of this, Stobel’s face turned joyful.
“Oh, you’re still going to entertain me?”
Although the Ice Emperor’s blessing had been removed, she still used the Heavenly Blessing.
Normally, she would have fainted from the intense pain, but Skaaha kept her spirits up with only her desire for vengeance.
A large number of ice spears produced in the sky rained down on the ground. They were intercepted by thunderbolts and wind blades.
Both forces collided, and the sheer force of the collision caused the ground to explode, raising a large amount of dust.
The tremendous sound of destruction, like a bomb blast, propagated through the air.
After landing on the ground, Skaaha continued to stare at the dust cloud with clinging eyes.
“Damn it…”
The dust was blown away by a gust of wind.
Skaaha bites her lip in frustration and gazes at the scene with a look of disgust on her face.
“You did your best, but that’s all you can do, huh…? That’s boring.”
Stobel’s figure disappears in the blink of an eye as he steps onto the ground.
In a daze of consciousness, Skaaha silently gazed at Stobel, who appeared before her.
“You have taken away my precious time. Don’t think you can die easily.”
A huge fist thrust into Skaha’s abdomen. Skaaha caught it without defending himself and was naturally blown away. Exhausted both physically and mentally, Skaaha could not even react and continued to roll.
Stobel went around ahead of Skaaha, who was bouncing on the ground and kicked her as hard as he could.
An eerie sound echoed from Skaaha’s body, and she floated in the air, spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood.
Without resistance―being played with like a toy. It was not clear whether she was alive or dead now.
Stobel continued to violate her unilaterally. A sound like a stone cracking was heard from Skaaha’s jaw as she was punched in the cheek. Several bloodied teeth burst out of her half-opened mouth and bounced around on the ground. Next, Skaaha’s body bent over. The sound of bones cracking from her side―the sound of bones breaking like a scream as she was struck all over her body was the only sound that continues to echo in the void.
She did not cry. Nor did she scream. Seeing her lack of resistance, Stobel began to lose interest.
“…Are you dead?”
Skaaha has become so horribly disfigured that it would make people want to cover their eyes, Stobel threw her down on the ground, where she laid in a pool of blood and did not move an inch.
Even when he kicks with his toes, Skaaha rolls over onto her back without even grunting.
Stobel grabbed her by her reddened hair and lifted her up.
Her limbs felt no strength, her swollen face was lifeless, and she hung like a string puppet. But she was still miraculously alive. Her mouth was moving in little wiggles. Stobel listened with interest but was unable to understand what she was saying.
“I… finally…”
“What?”
When he brought his ear even closer, Skaaha grabbed Stobel’s arm with her right hand.
“You have a lot of strength for someone on the verge of death, don’t you?”
Stobel noticed a sword clutched in Skaaha’s left hand.
“You can’t pierce my flesh with that!”
He sneered and noticed that Skaaha’s mouth was agape.
Just as Stobel’s brow furrowed in suspicion, Skaaha flashed the sword in her hand.
It was not at Stobel.
It was to herself―just above her head, a large amount of Skaaha’s hair flew up in the air.
Stobel could not comprehend the action of cutting her own hair, and his thoughts were temporarily paralyzed.
“I said I finally got you.”
Skaaha leaned over to Stobel and put her hand on his chest, a victorious smile on her mouth. She had already exerted all her strength. There was no strength left. Every bone in her body was screaming. And yet, there was still one thing left: her life.
“My dearest friend will… pierce everything.”
Devoting her soul to the final blow. She entrusted everything to her longtime partner.
Skaaha’s palms were rapidly freezing as she sacrificed herself in a desperate attempt to win.
“Good-bye… Ice Emperor.”
――Divine Penetration.
A single point of concentration―Skaaha’s all-out high spirits exploded.
An ice spear like a bolt of lightning, shot at close range, was sucked into Stobel’s chest.
“What―?”
The ice spear was released at point-blank range and was sucked into Stobel’s chest like a bolt of lightning.
“You can never be too careless…”
Obviously, Stobel was caught off guard.
He had been dealing with Skaaha as if he were tormenting a small animal. But it was not that she was without resistance because she had given up. She was constantly on the lookout for an opening to get back at Stobel.
Skaaha was waiting vigilantly for the opportunity when the moment of victory would come.
“Now I―…”
While looking at Stobel, who was struggling, Skaaha smiled with satisfaction. And then, falling to the ground as it was, without moving a single fingertip, blood puddles spread out, caressed by the blowing winds of war, and lulled into a deep, deep, deep sleep.
“…Ooooo!”
Stobel scratched at his own frozen chest as strength drained from his chest.
“What is a weakling like you doing to me――!”
With a look of indignation on his face, he approaches the fallen Skaaha. Stobel raises the Thunder Emperor above his head, not wanting to leave a speck of dust behind.
Then…
“Stobel, you’re not looking good.”
A red-haired woman appeared. The red blade caught the axe violently.
“Liz… why are you here?”
Despite Stobel’s surprise, behind Liz, thousands of horsemen were overrunning the soldiers of Urpeth. Stobel didn’t recognize them… but clearly, the newcomers were not Grantz soldiers.
“Who the hell are those people…?”
They were dressed in light armor like bandits, and they were skillfully maneuvering their horses and shooting their bows from horseback while shouting heroically. The Urpeth soldiers fighting on the ground are being slaughtered one after another.
Most prominent among them is a female warrior who cut down soldiers while laughing. She was clearly enjoying the battlefield. Her mouth was hanging open in an unusual display of glee.
“Princess! Leave the rest to us!”
She was slaughtering the Urpeth soldiers with overwhelming military might while radiating terrifying high energy.
They kicked, clawed at their faces, and pounced on their next prey like tigers.
“We’ll take all the delicious parts!”
There was no one to stop her. One after another, the corpses piled up in front of her.
Those who stood in front of her were completely stunned. It was only natural that an ordinary person would not be able to properly deal with a person who can cut through people like paper while laughing loudly.
“……Steichen, huh?”
“Yes, I asked them to help me out.”
“I see…”
Stobel staggered his huge frozen body―although his body was still trying to regenerate itself. But it was clear to anyone watching that it was slowing down.
“You lost. You lost to Skaaha. You misjudged her power.”
Liz smiled and readied the Flame Emperor.
“You―Do you believe in fate?”
With that single phrase, the sun was revealed on the ground, and a gentle breeze blew through the air.
A vast torrent of power rushed through the sky and over the ground.
“Cry for optimism, weep for a favor, sublimate happiness.”
Grass and flowers begin to overflow on the ground. A sweet fragrance dominated the space.
Spring came to the world.
There was no conflict, nothing to fight about, just harmonious nature sprouting from the ground. Everything was painted over with light, and a new world was rebuilt.
“Shall I end this?”
A solemn voice emanated from Liz’s throat.
Waves of vibrations pressurized the air, and majesty danced wildly in the interesting sound. The voice was pure and beautiful, but the demonic atmosphere was infused with immense divine majesty.
“Full Bloom―Flame Emperor!”
The Flame Emperor disappeared from Liz’s hand, and the world was enveloped in red and blue.
The surrounding landscape was consumed by flames.
There was no trace of the gentleness that existed until a moment ago. A tyrannical heat wave spreads throughout the world.
――Hundreds of flowers bloomed!
The world was transformed―no, there was only one woman who was allowed to reign over the world.
All living things around her were blinded by the sun.
All living things were uniformly envious of the sun, friend and foe alike, horses, insects, and even the grass.
“Now―Stobel, I’ll make it easier for you.”
Flames coiled around Liz’s entire body as if to protect her.
Suddenly, Stobel, who had been watching in amazement, began to run toward Liz.
“Damn youuuu!”
Stobel shouted in the constructed alternate world. He was unable to resist the flames and could not even regenerate in time.
His physical body was perishing; his immortal body, which incorporated the power of the gods, was rotting away.
“Liz, you, youuuuu!”
“Shut up!”
She slammed her fist into the ground. Just like that, Stobel was engulfed in flames.
The flames undulated and formed a serpent-like shape, and a lion with a majestic atmosphere appeared.
The lion, with its huge jaws wide open, pounced on Stobel, biting him and shaking its head in an attempt to tear him to pieces.
Stobel clenched his teeth to endure the intense pain and slammed his fist into the fangs that were digging into his body. But the futile resistance was soon over, and Stobel glared at Liz with tears of blood.
“We will definitely have our revenge!”
It was abrupt. A black mass swung down from the sky and enveloped Stobel along with the lion.
“You think this is the end――?”
With a shout, the lion of flame exploded.
The black chunks of fire and the lions are enveloped by the wind.
The only thing left behind were two spirit weapons and the figure of Skaaha, who had fallen nearby.
As Liz tries to approach Skaaha, something unusual happens.
The Thunder and Wind Emperors left behind by Stobel disappeared, as did the Ice Emperor.
Liz was not surprised and looked far away.
“……See you again.”
With a somewhat satisfied look on her face, Liz approached Skaaha.
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