Ch.105Moon and Purgatory

A few drops of liquid stained the fingertips of the black gloves.

The faint but distinct scent of blood asserting its presence.

The pain felt beneath the cheekbone on her plump cheek.

What these three pieces of evidence pointed to was obvious. Slowly, very slowly, the faint smile that had lingered on Charlotte’s lips disappeared.

Charlotte’s crimson eyes widened as she confirmed the damp, unpleasant feeling of blood on the tips of her fingers that had brushed against her cheek.

Although the amount was small, the quantity of the trace was not the important fact.

Blood had been drawn. And the culprit who made that blood flow was that dog-like woman who always forgot her place and lusted after her man.

That was enough.

A torrent of emotions surged through Charlotte’s heart. She could barely remember the last time someone else had made her bleed.

Her hand trembled slightly. She recalled what had just happened to her. Allowed an attack? Me?

“What have you done.”

Charlotte, who had emitted a green light from her hand to completely erase the wound on her cheek and the bloodstains on her glove, muttered in a terribly low voice.

There was no answer. From the dozens of meters deep pit where Serena had fallen, only the continuous sound of digging into the ground could be heard.

That was fine. It wasn’t as if she expected an answer anyway.

Charlotte’s hair began to flutter due to the mana overflowing from her inability to contain her intense emotions.

“I asked what you have done to me.”

With those words, the digging sound from the pit stopped abruptly without even an echo.

There was no way to know whether the effect of the magic Charlotte had cast on Serena had worn off, or if Serena had somehow resisted Charlotte’s magic on her own.

However, any rationality that might have pondered such things had long since disappeared from Charlotte’s mind.

Only the fact that her skin had been wounded, and that the person who inflicted that wound was Serena, remained, tearing apart what had once been iron-like rationality.

Hundreds of magic circles appeared in the air. Now it didn’t matter if the aftermath of the battle affected the city.

Even if it meant annihilating this entire city, she felt she could only somewhat quell the emotion she was feeling by half-killing Serena.

No. Charlotte changed her mind. She could just kill her outright and brazenly claim she had misjudged her strength. Yes, that would be better.

She could say that a woman who couldn’t withstand Charlotte’s magic and died could never have broken his immortality, that he should forget about such a worthless woman.

He would surely understand.

Definitely.

Having finished her self-justification, Charlotte flicked her finger. The hundreds of magic circles floating in the air simultaneously emitted light.

Bringing her thumb and middle finger together, she snapped them with a click. In sync with this, the space around the pit where Serena was trapped began to gradually fall silent.

The ground twisted. The wind, unable to penetrate the silenced space, curved around it. The air distorted, splitting one form into two.

The entire field of vision appeared warped. Twisting in all directions, stretching like taffy, as if the vast sky were being compressed into a single point.

However, the word “appeared” was strictly incorrect.

It wasn’t just appearing distorted; Charlotte was actually folding the very space containing Serena.

It wasn’t just an appearance but what was actually happening, hence the incorrect expression. The forcibly twisted and contorted space creaked with a silent scream.

Soon after, the hundreds of magic circles emitting blue light disappeared as if scattering. Exactly one second later, the earth shook within the isolated space.

It meant Charlotte was pouring magic into it.

Where the magic circles had disappeared, new ones immediately appeared. The appearance of new magic circles signified the use of new magic.

Now dozens of magic circles were appearing and disappearing every second. Their distinctive blue light flickered incessantly from all directions.

It wasn’t particularly that Charlotte was trying to protect this city, or that she had confined Serena in an isolated space out of consideration for the lord who would have to deal with the aftermath.

Charlotte was far from being a person merciful or patient enough to consider the lord of such a city.

In this world, there was only one person who could evoke positive emotions like mercy, patience, joy, or morality from Charlotte.

Nevertheless, the reason she went so far as to use magic to isolate the surrounding space was simply because this way she could concentrate her attacks on Serena without giving her room to escape.

By cutting off Serena’s surroundings, she blocked her movement and poured all kinds of attack magic into that space—an eccentricity only Charlotte could accomplish in the entire continent.

Of course, as it was a method devised by Charlotte herself, its effectiveness was certain.

Most living beings had no way to break through this isolated space on their own. Even against those black-blooded demons, this strategy had proven effective.

She simply hadn’t felt the need to use it since she could finish off such black-blooded demons with a mere gesture.

But Serena was different.

There were only two beings in this world whom Charlotte could not confidently claim victory against.

One was the Royal First Knight Commander, Serena Elizabeth. The other was Christine Hildegard, who was simultaneously a pope, saint, priestess, and nun of a religion all by herself.

Excluding Christine, who could completely block the use of magic due to her absurd ability of mana nullification, Serena was essentially the only being Charlotte needed to exert her full power against.

So she unleashed her attacks with the intention of killing her outright. To shred even her corpse so that it would never be found in this world again.

No, she thought she was attacking with the intention to kill.

A crack suddenly appeared in the isolated space where all kinds of destructive magic were raging. It was as thin as a single thread, but extremely distinct.

Charlotte knew very well what this crack meant, and she also knew it was the worst possibility she could think of.

What it meant was simple: Serena was about to break through the magic by force, shattering the isolated space.

And that she was still alive, her tenacious life still squirming.

Just as Charlotte clicked her tongue and disappeared using teleportation magic, the magic that had confined Serena shattered with a thunderous roar.

The shockwave that spread in a circular pattern destroyed all surrounding buildings, turning the wood and bricks that composed them into mere garbage.

It was completely different from the concept of simply breaking or collapsing.

All objects directly exposed to the shockwave were destroyed beyond recognition, without even a semblance of their original form.

Even buildings that barely escaped the range of the shockwave didn’t fare well.

Wooden structures, unable to withstand the incoming shock, collapsed in the opposite direction of the shockwave’s origin. Though they at least retained some debris, it was no consolation.

Stone buildings didn’t collapse all at once like the wooden houses, but the outer walls where the shockwave brushed past cracked like spider webs.

One way or another, they all needed to be rebuilt. In fact, demolishing cracked buildings required more manpower and money, making the situation even worse.

One of the two culprits responsible for this catastrophe jumped out of the pit.

“It’s useless!”

Serena gritted her teeth and shouted.

But contrary to her defiant words, soot covered various parts of Serena’s body. It was evidence that even Serena couldn’t neutralize all the attacks Charlotte had unleashed.

It was only natural. Those were attacks unleashed by Charlotte with the resolve to kill Serena. Such magic couldn’t be blocked without any damage.

Serena raised World Eater above her head. Hundreds of magic spells shot by Charlotte swirled around its blade, each spinning in their own way.

It was the size of several buildings put together. Serena, holding World Eater, looked absurdly small.

Polarity Reversal.

One of the techniques Serena had created.

Some might wonder how she made the opponent’s magic wrap around her sword, but Serena would find it difficult to explain.

Well, it was a technique possible by slightly striking down the magic as if deflecting it while simultaneously rotating the sword to alter its trajectory.

Of course, it was normal not to understand. It was normal to be unable to replicate it even after hearing the explanation.

Charlotte, who had reappeared not far from where she had used teleportation, sneered at the sight of her own magic wrapped around Serena’s sword.

“Not content with baring your fangs at your master, now you resort to theft? I thought you were just a beast with a foul mouth, but it seems your hands are just as wicked.”

“Shut your trap. Why blame me for your lack of ability?”

Lack of ability. Charlotte mulled over Serena’s words and smirked.

It wasn’t wrong. It was due to her lack of ability that she couldn’t prevent women like that from getting close to her husband.

But that didn’t mean Charlotte had to hear such words from Serena.

“I won’t stoop to denying those words. Go ahead, experience it firsthand with that pathetic body of yours.”

A magic circle slightly larger than a head appeared in Charlotte’s palm. Unlike ordinary magic circles, this one emitted an ominous red light.

A small voice reciting a magical incantation came from between her enchanting pink lips. Even for Charlotte, it was impossible to use such a large-scale magic instantly without an incantation.

If it was magic of a rank that required even Charlotte to recite an incantation, there weren’t many possibilities. Add to that the red color of the magic circle, and the result was obvious.

Serena knew this magic.

Purgatory.

The reason Serena knew this magic was simple. When she had fought Charlotte before, nearly collapsing part of the continent, she had almost died after being hit by it.

She had barely survived by making it miss her; had it hit her directly, even Serena would have died from its power.

“I won’t fall for it twice.”

Serena concentrated her power into World Eater. The magic that had boasted the size of several buildings began to compress until it felt almost one with the blade.

Additionally, Serena infused more mana. World Eater, reaching its limit of mana capacity, randomly discharged fragments of overflowing power.

The discharged mana wrapped around Serena’s body. And soon, it blazed up as a blue flame.

Just as Serena knew the Purgatory magic, Charlotte knew this technique.

Moon Breaker.

If Purgatory was the magic that had almost killed Serena, Moon Breaker was the magic that had almost killed Charlotte in return.

Had she not escaped to another dimension momentarily, Charlotte would have certainly died that day.

Seeing the blue flames wrapping around Serena’s body, Charlotte closed her outstretched hand into a fist. It meant the magical incantation was complete.

The moment Purgatory and Moon Breaker collided, it was certain that at least the entire city would be obliterated.

But to the two who were filled with the determination to kill the opponent before them, what happened to a mere city didn’t matter.

Even if asked to weigh the entire world against a single life, they would choose the single life without hesitation, so what significance did this city hold?

Just as a small crimson fireball was forming in front of Charlotte, and Serena, wrapped in blue flames, was about to strike down with all her might—

“Both of you, STOOOOOP!”

A resounding shout interrupted them.