CHAPTER 164: SHE KILLED HIM!

"I told you not to make a scene."

The platinum-haired woman’s voice cut through the ruined street, her tone cold enough to freeze blood.

She walked along the broken asphalt road with measured steps, each metallic strike of her boots scraping sparks into the air. Red particles flickered and danced along her body, like dying embers refusing to fade.

Leo blankly stared at the woman.

Not only him, but every pair of eyes was fixed on her.

That gaze of hers, sharp and unyielding, locked first upon Camazotz. The bat’s skin still smoked from Valra’s flames, and under the weight of that stare, he felt as though he might crumble completely.

Camazotz swallowed hard, his throat dry, his head lowering in shame and fear, "I... I didn’t mean to. I-It’s them who got in our way!"

The woman’s eyes, cold as winter stone, did not soften. Instead, her stare deepened.

She shifted her gaze to Nergal, who lay sprawled motionless, and then to Dracula... only half his body remained intact, his once-proud form reduced to something pitiful.

Yet even he found his throat tight as he too gulped under her eyes.

This woman... she had grown stronger. Far stronger than before.

Essa flinched, her whole body trembling... She knew this was not the same woman she had seen before. No... this was something entirely different.

’Just how many humans did she hunt to gain this strength?... No, that doesn’t matter right now!’ Essa clenched her fists tight.

Raphael and her friend also felt it — the sudden, crushing shift in the air. The atmosphere thickened, oppressive, as though a final boss had arrived, stepping onto the stage for the last battle.

But as Raphael’s eyes adjusted, she noticed something... A faint familiarity.

Similar to...

"Cael?" Raphael whispered.

Her friend flinched at the name, glancing at Raphael in disbelief, ’How the hell does she know every single fucking person we meet?’

The woman stepped forward again... Then again!

Each step dragged the tension tighter, a string pulled toward snapping. The air itself seemed to tremble, and suffocating for everyone — everyone except Leo.

He stood there, unable to feel the mana rippling violently around her body.

Then she stopped.

Her eyes scanned every trembling, broken figure before her until they settled on him.... Leo.

For a single heartbeat, time froze. Their eyes locked, and in that instant, it felt as if they were speaking without sound, their stares alone exchanging truths.

Then, in the very next breath... she was in front of him, impossibly fast. Her hand drove forward, her fist slamming into his gut with the weight of a falling star.

Leo’s body bent around the blow, pain exploding through his chest. He didn’t even have time to draw breath, let alone react.

Essa moved, but she was already too late. The way that woman moved... it was beyond her reach, beyond anything Essa could ever hope to match.

As if this woman had climbed to the pinnacle of strength itself.

BOOM!!

Leo’s body was hurled backwards like a rag doll, slamming into a building. If not for his desperate strengthening of his body, there would already be a gaping hole through his stomach.

His back crashed into concrete, cracking it apart, shattering it to dust as he plummeted deeper into the building, breaking the pillars.

"NO!!!" Raphael screamed. She wanted to run to him, to move, but her legs froze as if shackled to the ground.

No matter how she struggled!!

Her friend stood beside her, pale as death, eyes wide and unblinking.

Valra raised her hand, "YOU!!" Flames roared from her palms, surging toward the woman.

But the woman didn’t flinch; she simply waved her hand as if swatting a fly.

Essa flew toward the woman with her curved sword raised high. Just as she was about to slice at the woman’s neck when,

Catch!

The woman caught the weapon with her bare hand... no! with only her fingertip.

Halting its deadly momentum as though it weighed nothing.

Twisting her wrist, she delivered a ruthless kick. Essa’s body shot into the sky, launched upward like a star ripped from the earth.

Ophis moved toward her, her figure zooming toward the woman in a blur. Yet through the woman’s eyes, it was all... slow.

Painfully slow!

Like a turtle!!

With a swift swirl of motion, she seized Ophis by the head and slammed her skull into the ground.

The earth split, shattered by the sheer force of impact.

"Arrhh!!" Ophis groaned, blood spilling violently from her lips.

PUFFF!!

Valra unleashed a barrage of fire, each bolt flaring yellow as it screamed across the field. The flames struck the woman, forcing her to flinch at last.

Her gaze snapped to Valra, and without hesitation, she began advancing, step by step, into the inferno.

Valra did not retreat. She marched forward, teeth clenched, her arms raised as torrents of fire poured from her like a living flamethrower.

PPUFFFF!!!

The woman merely raised her hand and pressed against the torrent, blocking the inferno as if holding back water with her palm. She continued forward, her boots pounding closer and closer until she stood in front of Valra.

Her hand tilted.

From her hip, the sword sheathed at her side was drawn in a single blur, pulled free with such precision it whistled through the air.

Slash~

The flames were cut apart as though they were solid, severed down the middle by the strike. Before Valra could react, the woman lunged inward, her blade thrusting mercilessly toward Valra’s chest.

Valra’s eyes widened.... At the very last instant, she twisted her body aside, shifting just enough to avoid the strike from piercing her heart.

Chucckkk!!

The sword impaled her lower right side instead, blood bursting forth as searing pain ripped through her body. The woman’s wrist twisted, twisting deeper, threatening to cleave Valra in half.

"ARRRHH!!"

A scream ripped from Valra’s throat. Her flames faltered, flickering weakly in her palm, her hand shot upward, flames erupting directly toward the woman’s unguarded face.

For the first time, the woman flinched, jerking back as heat licked across her cheek. She slid away with cold grace, her boot slamming into Valra’s ribs with crushing force.

Crack...

Valra’s ribs snapped under the strike as her body was hurled across the street. She rolled, skidding and tumbling through stone and debris before coming to a halt.... her body didn’t move an inch!

And... everyone else had been dealt with in a matter of seconds.

Camazotz blinked. His eyes followed her, caught between awe and terror. "I... I couldn’t believe... how did you grow this much in such a short time?"

The woman turned her gaze on him.

Camazotz shuddered under that look. He forced a nervous laugh, his words stammering as he bowed his head. "W-Well, forgive me." Slowly, painfully, he pushed himself upright, his body still scorched, cracks splitting his burned flesh as smoke curled off him.

She raised her hand, and from nothing, something materialised.

Ssshhh~

A purplish-white stone, etched with glowing runes, appeared in her palm.

Camazotz’s eyes widened as he gasped, "M-Mana Stone? H-How did you get that?"

A mana stone was the condensed essence of mana itself. On rare occasions, the atmosphere gathered so much raw energy that it fused into a liquid form... dense enough to hold nearly half of the mana present in the surrounding air. When that liquid hardened, it crystallised into a stone, becoming the purest solid form of mana known to exist.

This mana stone was born naturally from the world, but such occurrences were impossibly rare. Only much later did people... more like mages learn how to imitate it, forging their own lesser variants... healing stones, restoration stones, etc.

So when Camazotz laid eyes on what she held, he was stunned. To see her casually wielding something so rare, something he had never even thought to search for.

"Where did you find it?" Camazotz asked, his scorched hand trembling as it slowly extended toward the stone.

But the woman pulled back, her eyes narrowing as she fixed him with a stare that froze his movements.

Camazotz’s lips twitched. ’This bitch,’ he cursed inwardly. Still, he forced himself to kneel, even in his broken state.

Even now, she showed no mercy at all.

"My lady," he whispered, raising his hand in supplication, "Please."

The woman regarded him with the same indifference one might spare a starving beggar. Then, as though tossing a coin to the dirt, she dropped the stone into his hand.

"Three of you share this," she said flatly and turned back.

Camazotz frowned, his brows twitching. ’Share? Tsk.’ He clicked his tongue inwardly. Of course, he knew she would never truly favour him... that much had always been clear.

Still, he forced himself to ask, voice thin with forced respect, "My Lady... what about you?"

"I already took one,"

Camazotz smiled gently, bowing his head, but inside, ’So you take the whole damn stone for yourself, but we... we’re left to share scraps? The fuck, bitch!!’ he screamed inwardly.

On the outside, though, he smiled as though blessed, wearing the expression of a man who had just received divine favour.

"Oh, thank you for your mercy, My Lady... I will never forget this kindness," he said, his voice trembling as though he might weep, ’Bitch.’

Clutching the stone, he moved slowly toward Nergal and Dracula.

Meanwhile, the woman walked toward the broken building.

Her attention slid past Raphael and her friend. They still hadn’t moved — frozen statues with fear etched into their faces.

She did not care.

Cackk...

Debris shifted and fell. From the wreckage, a silhouette emerged.

Leo.

His body bled heavily. From his forehead, thick streams of blood dripped down to his lips, staining his tongue with a metallic taste. His hands were shattered. His stomach looked caved in, dented by the strike. His legs trembled uncontrollably, wobbling like weak noodles. And yet, he walked.

He leaned heavily on his katana, like a cane.

"C-Caelindra..." Leo muttered in a hoarse voice.

He stumbled closer. "Cael... I... I am sorry... P-Please... come to me." His tone cracked, his broken body forcing itself forward, step after step.

He reached out, closing the distance.

The woman didn’t move. When he came near, her hand snapped forward. She caught his throat, raising him into the air like a toy.

"N-No! Please stop!!" Raphael cried, her voice breaking as she watched her nephew’s body dangle helplessly in the woman’s grasp. She tried to move, tried to force her legs forward, but they were trembling violently, and she stumbled to the ground, collapsing with a choked sob.

The woman stared at Leo with a blank expression. For a long moment, her crimson eyes took in his battered face, and then her lips parted.

"Pathetic," she muttered, the word dripping with disgust, as if even looking at him was beneath her.

Leo flinched. His vision swam with blood, dripping into his eyes, but through the blur, he saw her — his pride, the woman he had reached for.

"C-Caelindra..."

His broken voice cracked as he muttered her name.

He raised a trembling hand, fingers brushing against her cheek. His blood smeared across her pure white skin. His other hand still clutched the katana, though his grip was weak and faltering.

Then, she hurled him into the air. His body spun helplessly, flung like a doll. His head dipped downward as gravity pulled him, and through the blur of spinning rubble and crimson haze, he saw her.

She stood below, her sword raised, the blade flickering with a murderous crimson light.

And she swung.

He didn’t resist.... Yet in that instant, the hand holding the katana moved... not by his will, but on its own. The blade interposed itself between his throat and her strike.

Crack...

The katana shattered.

Her crimson sword pushed through. It streaked toward his neck, when suddenly—

A green light flickered at the very tip of her sword.

The woman’s smirk widened, cruel and knowing. Her eyes glowed furiously, deep crimson burning brighter, hungering for the kill.

Cluccckkk~

BOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!

The sword exploded with red light, unleashing a beam that tore through everything in its path. Buildings split apart, concrete collapsing in molten halves. The battlefield itself was sliced open in an instant.

And Leo’s head... severed in a clean slice.

....

..

"LLLEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOO—!!"

"NNNNNOOOOOOOOO—!!"

Raphael and her friend screamed. But then—

Their cries froze in their throats. Their mouths remained open mid-scream, their tears suspended.

Not only them.

Even the woman herself was halted mid-breath, her entire body frozen as if she were trapped.

The world itself stood still.

The clouds above ceased their drifting. The collapsing buildings stopped in mid-fall.

The rocks, the debris... everything stopped in mid-movement.

Time itself had stopped.

Except...

From Leo’s severed neck, a reddish-black mist began to seep. It slithered outward, thick and suffocating, curling like smoke that shouldn’t exist.

"Hehe~"