episode_0071

71. The Three Heroes’ War – Reina

The weapons of the two warriors clashed in midair.

The metallic spear shafts trembled violently against each other, locked in a fierce contest of brute strength.

An archaic battle of raw power—each pressing against the other’s weapon to seize dominance.

But with no decisive outcome, they disengaged before clashing again multiple times in the void.

A battle so evenly matched it could be described as dragons and tigers locked in combat.

Yet Taishi, who had been holding her own against the peerless warrior, gritted her teeth and shouted at Reina.

“You… aren’t even using both hands?!”

Reina, true to her vaunted title of “Peerless Under Heaven,” was as arrogant as she was mighty.

She wielded her halberd with just one hand while facing Taishi.

Resting the halberd on her shoulder, she shrugged nonchalantly.

“Do you use your full strength when stepping on ants?”

An unmistakable taunt.

Taishi’s eyes flared as she swung her spear.

Despite the heat rising in her chest, her mind remained icy—she unleashed the techniques she had honed.

With a spear spanning four meters, she held the advantage in reach.

Taishi exploited her strength, launching attacks at Reina.

“Too slow.”

A flurry of rapid thrusts.

The twisting spearhead lunged for Reina’s skin.

An overwhelming four-meter reach that the halberd could never match.

A technique not reliant on brute force but on deceptive angles and feints.

The speed was such that it would appear as eight spears to an onlooker.

Against most generals, this terrifying technique would leave them shredded rags before they could react…

But Reina, true to her title, deflected with casual sweeps of her halberd—still wielded in one hand.

To her, this speed was still manageable without effort.

But…

‘She’s getting faster…’

The twisting spearhead, once appearing as eight, multiplied to nine.

Then ten… then eleven—steadily increasing.

And these were no light thrusts meant to chip away.

Even for Reina, each strike carried enough force to rend flesh and armor alike.

Taishi’s attacks were powerful.

Powerful, swift, and executed with a beauty befitting masterful spearmanship.

Like dozens of snakes lunging in for the kill, one after another.

“What an annoying brat.”

Reina was certain now.

Taishi wasn’t yet matured, but one day, she would undoubtedly become a threat.

Which meant she had to cut her down here and now, without hesitation.

“Tch… you pest—!”

Snorting, she tightened her grip on the halberd.

She didn’t just block Taishi’s spear—she twisted her wrist, redirecting its trajectory like flowing water.

Taishi’s thrust, aimed straight ahead, slid uselessly along the halberd’s shaft.

“Wh—?!” “Die.”

Taishi’s body lurched forward from the recoil of her missed strike.

Reina didn’t let the opening pass—she yanked the halberd back and swung with her full might, still one-handed.

More of a brutal smash than a swing—like cleaving wood.

Was her intent to bisect vertically?

She brought it down like an executioner’s axe.

—KRACK!

Taishi squeezed her eyes shut.

With her sharp instincts, she *knew* her body would be split in two…

Yet she felt no pain.

Opening her eyes in disbelief, she saw—

“What the hell are *you* now?”

Just before the halberd struck Taishi…

Elara, who had followed Taishi into battle, intervened.

With a massive glaive horizontally raised, she halted Reina’s attack midair.

Elara—Taishi’s savior in this moment.

But perhaps due to youth… or sheer pride, Taishi pouted in protest.

“Tch… I could’ve won myself…!” “Oh, *brother*…”

Elara grimaced.

Behind them, the massive boulder split cleanly down the middle where the glaive had blocked the strike.

Unable to sustain its own weight, the colossal rock collapsed into two crashing halves.

—BOOM…

The impact sent smaller debris flying as if startled by the sheer force.

The pressure wave from Reina’s halberd alone had sundered the boulder.

And yet Elara endured it—both arms straining against her glaive, barely holding back Reina’s weight.

But even Elara was buckling—her arms trembling violently.

“…Sis.” “Hurry…!”

Reina, observing Elara’s struggle, maintained a facade of leisure—but inside, shock piled upon shock.

Reina was stunned that anyone had stopped her attack, even with one hand.

Elara was stunned that such destructive force came from just *one arm*.

She, too, had never once been overpowered—never.

“Ganging up now?”

Swallowing her pride, Reina finally gripped the halberd with both hands.

Taishi had grown stronger fighting her.

Elara was already strong enough to block her strikes.

And now these two deadly warriors were… sisters?

It sent chills down her spine.

She pulled back her halberd and raised it again—this time intending to slice through both weapons and flesh alike.

Reina’s beast-like crimson eyes gleamed as she spoke.

“Both of you—*die*.”

None could block this.

Even dodging would launch them airborne with the shockwave.

And midair, they’d be skewered before they could recover.

That was Reina’s way.

Elara, still shaken from blocking earlier, barely lifted her trembling arms to defend—

When a spear suddenly shot toward Reina’s face.

—WHOOSH!

A perfect ambush—but Reina’s reflexes, befitting the “Peerless,” let her twist her head aside effortlessly.

Her gaze flicked to the attacker: Taishi, now gripping her long spear, having seized the moment to strike.

“You *bitch*—!” “Good move, Taishi!”

With Reina momentarily distracted, Elara tightened her grip on the glaive and swung—aiming to sever Reina’s slender neck.

“Cowards…!!”

Reina instantly deemed this no casual blow to block.

She stepped back, narrowly evading the glaive by a hair’s breadth.

But Taishi’s lightning-fast thrust shot toward the opening.

Reina barely parried with her halberd.

A nearby general muttered under his breath.

“…Monsters.”

Who exactly was the monster here?

Elara and Taishi, standing toe-to-toe with the Peerless Under Heaven?

Or Reina herself, countering both while besieged?

One thing was certain—against Reina, the sisters were slowly gaining ground.

Reina—a calamity who had already slain two generals and a noble, along with over 600 soldiers.

To the allied forces, she wasn’t a warrior—she was a natural disaster.

But now, two unknown sisters were fighting her.

As the allies clasped their hands in prayer…

A bowstring’s twang rang across the battlefield—igniting a spark of hope.

—FWWIP!

“And *who* the hell is this now?!”

Of course, Reina dodged with ease.

Those beastlike eyes locked onto the assailant: a woman with snow-white hair and blood-red irises.

A general whose ample chest dwarfed even her younger sisters.

“Liriana Pendleton. The eldest of three sisters.”

Now, all three had gathered.

Liriana holstered her bow and drew the twin swords sheathed at her hips.

Reina scowled at the sight.

“Central bastards… always preaching honor, but the moment things get rough, they shut their traps.”

Her words stirred unrest among the allies.

Officially, generals fighting each other counted as honorable duels.

But now?

Two top-tier S-class generals and an A-class ganging up on one?

Even a stray mutt would call this cowardly.

Especially since the allied forces claimed to act in the emperor’s name—for *honor*.

Liriana, unfazed, smiled and retorted.

“Is it dishonorable for many to face a beast?”

A simple, razor-sharp rebuttal.

Logically flawed, full of holes—but music to the nobles’ ears.

They didn’t seek truth—they sought sweet justification.

Reina narrowed her eyes at Liriana’s cunning.

“You’re one *slimy* bitch.”

Her instincts screamed it—Liriana knew her words were hollow yet chose them to sway the nobles.

Why?

To eventually leave the empire—independent.

A calculated move to ingratiate herself now for future connections.

Reina couldn’t articulate it, but she *felt* it.

Beneath that kind smile lurked something untrustworthy.

“Quit gawking, bitch!” “Lord Gongja may be watching. Mind your manners—score some points, Taishi!” “The three of us move as one—wait for the opening!”

Thus began the trio’s assault.

Elara’s glaive—predictable but devastatingly heavy.

Taishi’s spear—lacking finishing power but erratic and relentless.

Liriana’s twin swords—frailest of the three but carving into Reina’s weakest points with precision.

‘I could crush any one of them alone…!’

Reina clenched her teeth, fury consuming her.

She swore to obliterate them the moment an opening appeared.

Her predatory instincts scoured for gaps in their coordination.

But gradually…

Very gradually… something foreign surfaced beneath her rage.

A word she had never once entertained.

‘…Defeat?’

Her overwhelming strength had always rendered the concept alien.

Yet now, the sisters moved as one—fluid, flawless.

Her body and mind were tiring.

Like clothes soaked in drizzle…

Like sinking into an inescapable mire…

Reina’s end crept closer.

‘Am I…?’

Reina—the Peerless Under Heaven.

They said the strongest could sense victory or defeat before crossing blades.

Now, her mind echoed only one word:

‘Defeat? Defeat? Defeat? Defeat? Defeat? Defeat? Defeat?’

So Reina blocked, evaded, redirected—

Dancing through the sisters’ strikes while her thoughts screamed.

Her own instincts announcing the inevitable.

“SHUT UP—!!”

With a roaring cry, she swung her halberd down.

—KABOOM!!

Liriana barely dodged as the halberd split the arid earth.

The impact shook the ground, trembling as if afraid.

Seizing the momentary distraction, Reina threw her halberd—straight at Liriana.

“Tch—!!”

Liriana twisted aside, the weapon grazing past by a paper-thin margin.

“She threw her weapon in rage?! Now’s our chance—!”

But Reina was already charging—empty-handed, one arm outstretched.

Liriana raised her swords—until Elara’s desperate cry cut through.

“MOVE!!” “Huh?”

Before Liriana could react, Elara tackled her, abandoning her glaive.

They tumbled across the dirt—just as the thrown halberd boomeranged back into Reina’s grasp.

Had Liriana stood her ground, she would’ve been cleaved in half.

“Tch… lucky bitch.”

Reina had feigned blind rage—shattering the ground to draw attention, then baiting her with the thrown weapon.

A reckless, unpredictable maneuver—one that sent shivers down Liriana’s spine.

“That was close…!”

Yet as Liriana and Elara regrouped…

Reina was already atop a crimson steed, fleeing toward the Dragon’s Nest.

The sight of the Peerless Under Heaven in retreat made Liriana’s knees shake.

She couldn’t believe it…

“We… won against the Peerless.”

A noble’s murmur.

Then—cheers erupted from soldiers, generals, nobles alike.

A chorus of relief and exhilaration.

Like sound itself was beating against her body.

The joy of triumph—the thrill of victory—consumed Liriana.

Her beloved sisters embraced her in celebration.

“Sis, we did it.” “Hahaha! No one will underestimate us now!”

Elara, calm yet proud.

Taishi, cackling like a child, flashing a V-sign to the troops.

Liriana laughed softly.

“Let’s go back. Erica Grace and Cecilia Luxuria must’ve stalled Reina ahead of us.”

Thus ended their life-or-death performance.

A show that impressed the nobles.

The three sisters turned toward Reina’s retreating path—nodding in unison.