Chapter 607: Lily vs. Blade Master (3)

A glimpse into the future just a few seconds ahead.

To a mere ordinary person, such foresight might not be of much use. But for a swordsman living in a world of combat where milliseconds decide life and death—or rather, in his case, perhaps he should be called a gladiator—there could hardly be a more advantageous ability.

He could read his opponent’s attacks with absolute certainty. In that realm, techniques like feints and psychological mind games ceased to exist entirely; he simply knew the outcome before it happened.

And if one possessed a body capable of reacting based on that outcome—it made sense why a man like Falchius was not called Spada’s number one for nothing. He paired a rare, exceptional talent for swordsmanship with a body rigorously and meticulously trained, all crowned by the divine protection of foresight. He possessed abilities truly fitting for the self-proclaimed strongest gladiator.

However, when exposed to an absolute firepower that could neither be blocked nor evaded—

“Hmm, as expected, she still doesn’t quite match up to Fiona.”

Muttering with a touch of haste, Lily winced slightly at the heat as she dismissed her glowing, red-hot staff, Heinz Bloom, into her dimension magic. She then surveyed the path of destruction unfolding before her eyes.

The resulting crater had a radius of roughly seventy meters. In both breadth and depth, it fell far short of the original version.

Even so, despite being incomplete, the *All Soleil*—which unleashed power far surpassing *Meteor Strike*—seemed to provide just the right amount of heat to silence Spada’s strongest gladiator.

“…”

No voice came. Only a faint, tiny breath leaked out, so frail it seemed ready to vanish at any moment. Falchius lay at the center of the scorched crater.

Sunk to his knees while holding up his shield, his entire body was charred black.

“Oh my, how dreadful. That beautiful face of yours is completely ruined.”

Her words carried no sarcasm; they were a blunt, literal observation of the scene.

His golden gladiator armor had likely blown apart without a trace. Not a single piece of that sturdy plating or brilliant ornamentation remained on his body, leaving him practically naked. Only a single loincloth, functioning as underwear, had somehow managed to avoid turning entirely to ash.

His once white, smooth skin—resembling that of a noble, beautiful woman rather than a man who made his living through combat—was now horribly blistered and burned a reddish-black, making him look like nothing short of a charred corpse. Naturally, this applied to his face as well. Falchius, who like Lily naturally possessed the *Charm* trait, had his beauty entirely stripped away. His beautifully waving blonde hair had been reduced to cinders, and his face was scorched so black it was barely recognizable as human.

If anyone were to look at him now, there probably wasn’t a single person who could immediately identify him as Falchius. It was a miracle he was even alive in such a state.

No, the fact that he still clung to life after taking a direct hit from *All Soleil* was solely because of the body he had trained without a single compromise, the armor that boasted the ultimate defensive power, and the defensive martial arts he had mastered as a first-rate gladiator.

His figure, brought to his knees as an ugly, charred mass, should not be mocked as a pathetic loser, but rather praised as a miraculous survivor who preserved his life through unceasing effort.

Of course, Lily’s reason for not delivering the finishing blow to Falchius wasn’t born from such moving sentiments; it was simply because doing so would be an unnecessary waste of effort. He had no strength left to fight. There was absolutely no need to go out of her way to kill him, nor did she feel like burdening herself with his life.

“Now then, that leaves only one more—”

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”

From behind Lily as she lightly turned on her heel, a single shadow deflected the rubble of a building collapsed by the aftermath of *All Soleil*, lunging forward with a tremendous battle aura and a roaring battle cry.

She didn’t even need to look back. There was only one person who possessed such a burning, stifling presence.

“Just because you are protected by a divine blessing doesn’t mean you should push yourself. You’ve already damaged an internal organ somewhere.”

Leaping at her from behind was Kai, his blue aura burning like fire. Having only taken a single hit from *First Form: Penetrate*, he was in the best condition compared to Rudra and Falchius. It was only natural he still had the strength to swing his greatsword.

However, a clean hit from Nell’s ultimate martial art couldn’t possibly leave someone completely unscathed.

“That’s why your sword trajectory is dull—*Second Form: Return*.”

Gently shifting her weight like a slow, flowing dance, Lily’s hands were already clad in the claws of the White Dragon.

With a lightness that mirrored catching a mop sliding down a wall, Lily stopped the descending blade of the greatsword using her left hand—specifically, *Souten*, which possessed the absorption drain. At the same time, she shoved Kai, who boasted a trunk as unyielding as a massive tree, with the reflection of *Koya*.

But such defense was, after all, a mere bonus utilizing the capabilities of the Heavenly Dragon Palm. The *Second Form: Return* unleashed by Nell within the dream ruthlessly hammered its true power into the living, real-world Kai.

“Ghoo—”

To an onlooker, it appeared as though she had grabbed his arm and violently slammed him into the ground. That alone would cause substantial damage as a throwing technique, but Nell’s technical principles were far more malicious and cruel.

Lily faithfully reflected her real-time combat data into Nell’s dream. Because of this, the dream-Nell knew that the antagonist, Kai, had already taken a *First Form: Penetrate* to the abdomen and suffered internal organ damage.

Consequently, Nell deliberately concentrated the destructive magical power unleashed by *Second Form: Return* into those already ruptured organs.

“Gofah!?”

Dark red blood erupted from Kai’s mouth.

The destructive force exploding inside his body must have brought a searing agony so intense it made him completely forget the impact of his back hitting the ground.

“Gah, ah, aah…”

Given Kai’s combat history, injuries were countless and severe wounds were hardly rare. He had nearly had his stomach torn out by a dragon, and his head had been pummeled by the iron fist of an Ancient Golem. He had been stabbed in the abdomen with a blade, experiencing internal organ damage at that time as well. Though admittedly, Sariel was the first to ever pierce his heart.

Despite experiencing various critical injuries, this was the first time his internal organs had ruptured without being stabbed or crushed from the outside.

It went far beyond mere pain. Damage to internal organs was entirely different from injuring muscles or bones; the level of trauma was on a completely different scale.

As his consciousness blurred from the intense pain, a bizarre thought crossed Kai’s mind: had his stomach, liver, or intestines been turned into a mangled mess of flesh inside his belly? He recalled hearing somewhere that people had two kidneys, so he idly hoped that was what took the hit instead.

“With that, something inside you has completely collapsed. Oh, what a terrifying technique. If I ever took a hit like that, I wouldn’t be able to stand up at all.”

Kai forced his fading consciousness to hold on through sheer willpower and grit. He deliberately focused on the pain. He told himself not to forget it, for this agony was proof he was still alive.

If he was alive, he could still fight.

Kai’s right hand had not let go of his sword.

“But since you were chosen by the immortal gladiator, I’m sure you’ll keep standing back up.”

He knew the next attack was coming.

Gritting his teeth, Kai forced his body to spring up, swinging his blade at Lily who stood at point-blank range. Despite his profound injuries, his sword flash remained sharp.

“In that case, I just need to make it so you can’t swing a sword anymore.”

Nell’s teachings guided her fluid movements.

Avoiding the trajectory of the slash Kai unleashed as he rose, Lily lunged under the blade and grabbed his hand. She gripped it, then twisted.

From Kai’s perspective, it must have felt as though the moment he stood up, he was instantly forced to kiss the ground again. In fact, that was exactly what happened.

Through Nell’s brilliant martial arts, Kai was pinned face down. Both his right and left hands were seized, pinned, and wrenched backward behind him, while Lily’s small foot stomped down firmly on his back.

“Stay quiet now. It will hurt if you struggle—*Star Sword*.”

Two luminous blades of force edge plunged down toward Kai’s shoulders.

The magical swords could be swung without being held. Generated from the surface of her Oracle Field, the massive, greatsword-class blades struck with mechanical precision and absolute ruthlessness.

“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”

A spray of blood accompanied his scream. The radiant blades, laden with scorching heat, emitted a high-pitched ring as they sheared through the blue aura of Svardias, biting deep into Kai’s shoulders.

“Ngh, you’re sturdy. As expected of Svardias’s protection, what splendid defensive power.”

She had intended to sever them in a single stroke, but the blades ground to a halt about halfway through the bone.

Lily realized for the first time that the divine blessing didn’t just manifest as an aura enveloping the body; it physically reinforced the skin, muscles, and bones as well. Because Svardias was the god of gladiators, the blessing granted the flesh itself the durability of steel.

At any rate, realizing *Star Sword* alone wouldn’t cut all the way through, Lily decided to borrow Kurono’s power.

“*Overdrive*”

If it wouldn’t cut, she would simply tear them off by brute force.

His shoulders were already hacked more than halfway through. With immense strength—specifically, a physical might capable of tearing through a divine blessing with bare hands—ripping Kai’s arms off would be trivial.

Two wet, visceral tearing sounds echoed in tandem.

“Guuuuh! K-Kuh, ugaaa…”

“There. Now that you can’t hold a sword anymore, please stay quiet.”

Lily carelessly tossed the severed arms aside, smiling gently as she looked down at Kai, whose face contorted in agony as he spat bloody froth.

With his internal organs ruptured and both arms gone, Kai was so utterly battered it was doubtful he could even stay alive, let alone mount a counterattack. He would never stand again. Even if he did, he had no arms left to swing a sword.

Therefore, Lily felt there was no need to exert any further effort—an opinion she instantly reversed.

Because Kai glared at her.

He was doing everything he could just to endure the agony and cling to life. His face looked as though it would sink into a pool of blood at any second, yet a distinct, fierce fighting spirit blazed within his blue eyes.

“Good grief, stubborn men are so unpleasant, you know?”

At this rate, he might try to lung at her with a sword clamped in his teeth.

This was the man who had resurrected even after Sariel pierced his heart. If that was the case, delivering one more solid blow with the explicit intent of finishing him off was only proper.

With that understanding, Lily kicked Kai square in the abdomen, executing the exact same move Fiona had used against her just the other day. She channeled Kurono’s power and Nell’s technique into the tip of her small foot.

“Gah—”

The moment it connected, Kai’s eyes rolled back as he lost consciousness. Simultaneously, the abdomen where her toes struck split wide open, spilling fresh blood, fragments of ruptured organs, and severed intestines.

Lily watched as Kai was sent flying at a tremendous speed, scattering blood and flesh in a gruesome display.

He flew toward a half-collapsed amusement facility. Hitting it with that momentum would completely bring down the compromised structure, burying him alive under the rubble, which might genuinely kill him for good—

“Even if you mean to kill him, that is excessively cruel.”

She thought she caught those words carrying over the wind.

“Oh, you were still alive? Hmm, is it strange to say an undead is ‘alive’?”

With a weary expression—like someone who thought they had finished cleaning only to spot another patch of dirt—Lily looked over at Rudra, who had caught the flying Kai.

“I was a pureblood True Vampire by birth, but hah, at this point, I no longer possess enough pride to care whether I am lumped together with zombies and skeletons.”

Rudra, uttering those hollow words, looked the very definition of a walking corpse. Much like Falchius, he was practically naked, with barely a few scorched rags remaining around his lower body. His entire frame was charred black from Lily’s intense light magic.

The only reason he hadn’t turned entirely to ash and vanished was because the black-iron woven coat he had used for decades had acted as a shield, protecting him to the very end.

However, that only meant he had narrowly cheated death. His body was burned all over, he had lost his dominant arm for holding a katana, and it was entirely obvious that not a shred of his full fighting strength remained.

Even so, he had pushed his agonizing body to catch Kai after he was brutally kicked away just to save a comrade. That devotion was certainly worthy of praise.

Of course, there was no third party present to offer sincere praise for Rudra’s actions; before him stood what was undoubtedly the strongest enemy of his life.

The look Lily directed at Rudra—who was cradling Kai, a man so broken it was impossible to tell which of them was the corpse—was profoundly cold.

“—However, now that things have come to this, I suppose I shall cling once more to the ‘pride’ I cast away, even if it means breaking my vow.”

Rudra heavily laid Kai’s body onto the ground and pulled a gleaming vial from his vest. It was a standard recovery potion well-known to adventurers.

The healing item, which had absolutely no effect on the undead, was something he had gone out of his way to carry solely for his comrades’ sake. It was an act of consideration entirely uncharacteristic of a vampire rumored to be cold, calculating, and disdainful of all other races.

“I owe Kurono for saving my life. And I cannot bear to let Kai die. Repaying a debt and protecting a comrade are reasons enough to break a vow, but… my greatest reason, Fairy Lily, is that you are simply too strong.”

Tossing aside the potion vial he had given to Kai, Rudra pulled out another, different small vial.

It possessed a dark, eerie reddish color, the complete antithesis of a beautifully clear potion. It looked exactly like blood…

“…Kurono’s blood.”

Because it was Lily, she recognized at a single glance exactly whose blood filled that vial.

“Offer up my heart. Black rain. Red droplets. Let the kingdom sink into a sea of blood—*Fresh Blood Archduke: Loa*.”

Rudra invoked the name of his god and consumed Kurono’s blood.

“—Full Burst!”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Lily fired. She aimed both *Meteor Striker* and *Star Destroyer*, unleashing a cataclysmic polar light from the twin barrels.

Impact. Detonation. A massive explosion.

A pure white flash erupted, and in the next instant, a thick cloud of dust billowed into the air. The shockwave from the blast completely leveled the surrounding, already half-destroyed buildings.

The twin beams carried enough thermal energy to erase a normal human without leaving a single speck of dust behind. Furthermore, taking a direct hit as a vampire weak to light magic meant… but Lily realized instantly that her attack had been a step too late.

“…Delicious.”

A voice echoed.

“Ah, it is delicious.”

Whose voice was it? There was no need to think; it had to be Rudra’s.

“What a sweet taste. No manner of pleasure technique or drug could ever match this single sip.”

Yet, it was a voice she had never heard before.

Rudra’s voice had always been dark, heavy, and bone-dry like someone dying in a desert, matching his sickly appearance.

“I remember now, it has been a full forty years… Yes, this is the taste of blood.”

Despite that, what was this voice? It was high and clear like a ringing bell, possessing a beautiful tone. It was as sultry as an actress standing on a grand stage, and as pure as a shrine maiden offering prayers at a temple.

Who was it? Who on earth was standing there?

As if answering her question, the smoke enveloping Rudra’s figure began to clear. The drifting haze was instantly blown away by a sinister, crimson aura radiating from him.

“Thank you, Kurono. It was the finest taste of my life.”

Rudra’s appearance had completely transformed into a different person.

His golden hair fluttering in the wind possessed a smoothness and luster that rivaled Lily’s own. His skin was as white and fresh as a young maiden’s. His body, which had been morbidly emaciated, changed into that of a youthful, somewhat delicate, and slender boy.

There was no longer a single gloomy shadow on his pale, gaunt face; it held only a beauty loved by the gods. Yes, much like Lily and Falchius, Rudra’s face had undergone a miraculous transformation, acquiring a beauty imbued with *Charm*.

Nay, this was his true appearance.

To abstain from drinking blood as a pureblood vampire was the ultimate act of self-weakening. For that very reason, it served as a fitting vow. It sealed his divine protection, weakened his power, and stripped away this very beauty. Only by doing so did Rudra stand at the starting line as a samurai swordsman. After forty years of walking that path—he had finally broken his vow, returning to the true form he was always meant to possess.

“Rudra… what are you?” Lily asked, looking at the figure overflowing with youth and beauty, resembling a beautiful blonde teenager in his mid-tevens.

“My name is Zeldras van Belmont. First Prince of the Kingdom of the Night, Neverland.”