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Persiella, who had begun using the power of Karma that should have been impossible to use, demonstrated her increasingly powerful martial prowess by wielding both Mana and Karma simultaneously.

Falling Star Sword.

Her sword techniques, infused with extreme cold and the power of Karma.

“You blocked the Army Breaker…!”

Falling Star Sword – Army Breaker.

The whirlwind of cold that had been extending forward, grinding everything like a drill, was blocked by the sword barrier I deployed while manifesting the power of severance, causing it to explode outward.

“Did you think I couldn’t block it?”

Amidst the cold spreading around us, I proudly declared while raising my flames higher to suppress the chill:

“That technique is nothing if it doesn’t reach me!”

It was certainly a powerful technique, but how could it possibly reach me when I had completely blown away the space in front of me?

The consumption of Karma was quite substantial, but the sword barrier of severance boasted a defensive power that was practically invincible.

“Doesn’t reach you…? I see. I thought I was mistaken, but I wasn’t. That sword is tearing and ripping through space itself!”

“Like your parents’ hearts?”

I snickered and kicked off the ground, launching myself like a comet toward Persiella.

“Kuk, what did you just say…!”

When Persiella stomped the ground with her left foot, countless ice spikes suddenly shot up, blocking my path.

“Isn’t that right!”

I intensified my firepower to melt all the surrounding ice, and shouted as I destroyed the remaining massive ice chunks that hadn’t fully melted with the rune of collapse:

“First you kill your parents after just seeing their faces, and now you’re going around calling yourself a devil’s spawn. Your parents’ hearts must be completely rotten!”

The distance between us was rapidly closing. Persiella’s face contorted as she spread her two wings wide.

Frost Scale Dragon Feather? Cold Night?

Or is she just planning to take flight?

I increased my charging speed even more while continuing to provoke her endlessly with my words.

“Amazing, truly amazing. My sword can only tear through space, but our self-proclaimed Heavenly Demon has torn and shredded her parents’ hearts too. We might as well call it the Heart-Piercing Sword, the Heart-Piercer.”

[Would you shut up and fight!]

“Shut that mouth!”

Both Hersella and Persiella shouted simultaneously, demanding that I please shut up.

I was dumbfounded.

‘Wait, you’re supposed to be on my side! This is all provocation, provocation!’

Why was she taking the enemy’s side? Did she feel some kind of kinship with her as a fellow self-proclaimed Heavenly Demon and orphan?

[Choose your provocations more carefully! What’s wrong with the name Heavenly Demon that you keep bringing up innocent parents!]

Hersella was the one getting angry instead.

Judging by the way she spoke, it seemed my Heavenly Demon jokes had properly scratched not just Persiella’s nerves but our self-proclaimed Heavenly Demon’s as well.

Well, who told her to go around calling herself by such an outlandish title as Heavenly Demon?

“Why don’t you show me too? Your ultimate sword technique that stabbed a blade into your perverted father’s chest, the Heavenly Demon Heart-Piercing Sword!”

I ignored her complaints and continued my sharp provocations as I charged forward.

[…Well, that’s somewhat better.]

Surprisingly, Hersella expressed satisfaction. Just because I had limited my provocation target from parents to father.

It was such a typical attitude from her that I had nothing to say.

“I’ll kill you. I’ll definitely kill you!”

Meanwhile, Persiella was going berserk with rage in her eyes.

Seeing her already in a frenzy before I’d even started proper provocation made me think she was truly befitting of an evil sect woman.

Or perhaps fitting for the leader of a group filled with beasts who suffer from anger management issues.

“Kill? Don’t use such strong words.”

I reached her vicinity, swung my sword, and smirked.

“It sounds funny, like a weak dog barking.”

“Kyaaaaargh!”

Persiella truly howled like a ferocious dog, then beat her wings powerfully and soared high into the sky.

‘Ah, she ended up flying away after all.’

I looked up at the sky and let out a light sigh.

I had been pouring out provocations to keep her from flying away since it would be awkward to chase after her if she took to the skies.

I could fly up too, but that would be too conspicuous a method.

“Falling Star Sword…!”

Fortunately, Persiella, who had flown up into the air, clearly showed signs of coming back down.

Seeing her pointing her sword at me with her head facing downward.

“Clear Flame Meteor!”

As Persiella shouted the name of her new technique, she breathed out blue flames from her widely opened mouth.

– Whooooosh!

The Dragonborn’s breath enveloped her longsword. A breath that emitted cold instead of flame-like shapes or heat.

Like that, she fell toward me like a meteor, wrapped in cold flames, with enough force to blow away the entire area around me.

“Do you think you’re the only warrior who can do something like that?”

I pulled my left hand back behind my shoulder, filling my muscles and bones with Karma power, and ignited Karma flames by adding runic mana to the Murder Karma power covering the surface of my forearm.

– Gooooooo!

My left arm wrapped in crimson burning Karma flames.

The tattered gauntlet evaporated in the sun-like heat. The surrounding air twisted and distorted, creating heat haze.

“Kaaaaaaah!”

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

Persiella flew toward me like a meteor with a fierce roar.

I roared back just as fiercely and thrust my left fist, containing Karma flames, like a siege hammer.

A single punch conceived on the spot without a name.

If I had to give it a name, it would be Fire Punch… no, Fire Punch?

“Fire Punch” sounds a bit weak.

Yeah, that’s good.

『Fire Punch.』

――――!

Karma flames and cold air, sword power and fist power violently collided, causing a massive explosion.

—-

The clash of Clear Flame Meteor and Fire Punch.

What followed was a chain of close combat with merciless killing techniques crossing each other.

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

“Kyaooooooo!”

At close range where we could almost touch each other’s hearts.

In the fog of steam created by the cancellation of fire and cold, Persiella and I roared ear-splittingly while frantically swinging our limbs in fierce combat.

【Defying Fate】

In compressed time, a barrage of strikes several times the normal amount was unleashed,

【Extreme Ice】

And all those attacks froze and stopped along with space itself.

Persiella’s heroic tale, Extreme Ice.

It was a powerful heroic tale that stopped everything in a certain area with extreme cold that could freeze even space itself.

Since the technique was fundamentally based on cold, it could only stop me for a very brief moment, but that was enough to counter the time compression of Defying Fate.

“Unnecessarily… tenacious…!”

“You inhuman woman…!”

Both of us were warriors who had reached the realm of superhumans. Powers and speeds difficult for even Heroes to handle, let alone Masters, collided and canceled each other out, devastating the surroundings.

– Crack!

Dragonborn blood spurted with torn scales,

– Crunch!

Wolf’s divine blood shot up with shattered armor fragments.

It was an intense battle. I somewhat regretted not bringing Frosting and my winter armor.

After another twenty minutes like that.

“Haa… haa…! Well, I can see why you’d call yourself a Heavenly Demon…!”

Persiella and I clutched our bloodied bodies and breathed heavily.

“Your father must have begged for his life too…?”

“Kyaak…! Kuh, hnnnngh…! You monster, woman. Even now, only your mouth is alive…!”

The battle that had started in the evening and continued until sunset.

The sun that had been setting had already disappeared beyond the horizon, and countless stars twinkled in the darkened sky.

“Well… isn’t it your mouth that’s still alive?”

I glanced up at the star-filled night sky, then tiredly smiled as I threw away the helmet fragment that was broken with only the tip remaining.

The training ground, now empty with all the righteous and evil sect members having fled.

The starlit night sky. Magic that could no longer be used because all the mana in the atmosphere had been consumed.

“But that too will end now.”

A certainty arose within me.

The certainty that it was time to end this.

I firmly gripped Durandal with both hands and pulled it back behind me, taking a stance to swing it widely.

Preparing to simultaneously unleash my two greatest sword techniques by drawing out all the remaining Good Karma power in my body.

– Gooooooooo…!

Vast power concentrated in the blade, agitating the surroundings. The air groaned and trembled.

“Kuh, hnnnng…. Which one of us will end, we’ll have to see…!”

Persiella also lowered her stance slightly, holding her sword sideways in a position to swing horizontally.

– Wooooooong…!

All her remaining strength dwelled in her longsword with its broken tip. With all her mana depleted, only Karma power remained.

“Falling Star Sword Ultimate…”

【Defying Fate】

The heroic tale activated first.

All colors around disappeared, and a silent stillness enveloped the world.

I poured all my remaining Good Karma power onto the blade pulled back behind my shoulder, overlaying it with the power of spatial severance.

– Kigik. Kigik. Kigigigigigigik!

The stillness shattered. The power of severance tore through the world of compressed time, screaming like a wail. An immense feeling of exhaustion choked my breath.

“――!”

I strengthened my grip and took a step forward, swinging widely. The sword imbued with the power of spatial severance, compressed and compressed along with time.

【Sky Slash】

The colorless world shattered at once. The compressed power burst out all at once, becoming a giant claw that tore apart the world itself as it swung.

And at that moment, Persiella also swung her sword.

“…Star Splitter.”

Like me, she imbued it with destructive power that broke and shattered space itself.

Our greatest sword techniques collided like disasters.