Chapter 154 – Twilight

Swish! A leg blurred past Hermilla’s face, followed by a fist aimed at her head.

Just before Aaron’s arm fully extended, Hermilla’s left hand slammed into his elbow, her right aimed at his gut.

But Aaron reacted instantly, retracting his arm and delivering a counter punch.

Boom! Destruction and Anti-Magic clashed, creating a shockwave that threw them both back.

“Haa… cough… Tch.”

Hermilla spat out blood, circulating her remaining elixir.

Her right hand was crushed, ribs broken, shinbone fractured, liver ruptured. She wouldn’t be standing if not for her bandages.

Aaron, in contrast, seemed almost unharmed. Just a scratch on his cheek, a scorch mark on his fist.

Calm and composed, he watched her.

“Holding back?”

No response.

“Sigh…”

She looked at her charred forearm, untouched by the elixir. Anti-Magic, meant to destroy demons, now sought to destroy her.

The irony was bitter.

“So, I’m a villain now, Master?”

“I don’t judge such things.”

“Then Lilith does?”

Again, no answer. Just the clenching of his fists, the flaring of his aura.

“Yet those experiments burned quite readily.”

Unlike her wild Destruction, his Anti-Magic was calm, almost serene.

“Who decides good and evil?”

She remembered Aaron’s words from a century ago: “Good and evil are not absolute. No one can define them.”

That was why his Anti-Magic had only targeted monsters then.

“You were so righteous, refusing to claim absolute good. Unwavering…”

Her wounds healed. She looked at Aaron, the man who hadn’t fought for justice, but for his people.

“I thought you were just an old fool. But now… I think you were right. No one can define it.”

But he’d lost everything, surrendered. A pathetic man.

A dangerous glint entered her eyes.

“Then I’ll stop defining it, too.”

Destruction erupted.

“We are absolute justice.”

A fiercer fire, consuming even herself.

“And those who oppose us—”

“—are absolute evil.”

Thunk. Hermilla vanished, reappearing before Aaron, the ground cracking beneath her.

Aaron, momentarily surprised, steadied his breath and expanded his senses.

Crunch!

Too late. Hermilla’s Mistilteinn-clad fist slammed into his temple, bypassing his aura and defenses. Agony, down to his very cells, seized him.

Hermilla’s relentless assault continued. Temple, forehead, philtrum, jaw, ribs, solar plexus, liver—each strike precise and lethal.

Aaron deflected some blows, then—*creak!*—disrupted her flow with Anti-Magic, creating an opening. His fist shot forward, wreathed in white-hot flames, warping space itself.

Hermilla saw her death in a flash of foresight and twisted her waist, narrowly avoiding the blow.

Boom! The attack grazed her ear, obliterating everything behind her.

Blood flowed, hot and thick. She straightened, driving her fist into Aaron’s abdomen.

Crack! Ribs shattered.

Another premonition: her neck snapping. She expanded her senses. A rising knee.

“—Hmph!”

She slammed her elbow down, crushing his knee. Crunch! Agony, like fire, engulfed her.

She countered with Destruction, erasing Aaron’s energy, mending her shattered bones with elixir. Her assault continued relentlessly.

A spinning backfist aimed at his shoulder. Aaron blocked, catching her arm and twisting.

Hermilla followed the motion, launching herself into the air, her leg whipping towards his neck.

Aaron released her arm and raised his guard.

Boom! The force of the impact sent their hair flying. Hermilla landed hard, then vanished, reappearing before Aaron.

Aaron sensed her through his web of Anti-Magic and swung. Crack! Her leg stopped, caught by his forearm. He grabbed her shin.

Hermilla twisted, sacrificing her shinbone to deliver a kick to his temple.

Crunch! Bone shattered beneath her heel. Agony flared in her leg. She landed, stabilizing her leg with wires of mana.

“Still fighting like a brute.”

Aaron wiped the blood from his face, his expression unchanged. His ribs and skull, moments ago shattered, were completely healed.

“Haa…”

Her heart pounded. Blood rushed. Heat surged. Her body deteriorated. Destruction consumed her life force. Her soul burned.

Exhilarated, she unleashed another wave of Destruction.

“You said you’d take me alive, yet you keep trying to kill me.”

Aaron intensified his aura. His calm Anti-Magic roared to life, his hair turning white, the flames burning bright.

“As long as your soul is intact, I can save you.”

Crackle! White flames ignited the air.

Thousands of deaths flashed through Hermilla’s mind. Time stretched as she sought a path to survival.

Head explodes. Neck snaps. Heart stops. Limbs ripped. Crushed. Erased. Burned. Gouged. Split. Torn. Burst. Pierced. Twisted.

Death. Death. Death. Death. Death. Death. Death. Death.

And then—

—she found it.

She channeled Destruction into Mistilteinn. Aaron vanished.

A white-hot fist aimed at her gut. She intercepted it with her knee. Crunch! She reinforced her shattered knee with magic.

An elbow aimed at her head. She twisted, ducking, kicking back. Her leg, deflected by Anti-Magic, slammed into the ground.

She blocked a rising knee, then barely parried a blow to her heart with her shattered leg.

Agony wracked her body, but she focused everything on Mistilteinn. The prosthetic, infused with power that should have destroyed her, twisted and groaned, obeying her will.

Aaron’s calm facade cracked. Emotion flickered in his eyes. His attacks intensified, Anti-Magic burning like a white-hot inferno.

Hermilla dodged, deflected, blocked, sacrificing flesh to fuel Mistilteinn.

The violet flames turned black.

Mistilteinn, consuming everything, unleashed the pure, destructive force within.

A simple punch. The first technique Aaron had taught her.

But this punch held the concept of destruction, shattering a thousand futures.

It surged towards Aaron—

—and then, a different future flashed before her eyes.

Mistilteinn stopped.

Aaron froze.

Her gaze shifted skyward.

Aaron’s face twisted in horror.

Screech!

Dozens of spears pierced her body.