Death. In that instant, everyone felt an incomparably terrifying aura of death. It was as if their hearts had been seized in the crushing grip of death’s claws. As if their very souls were being cruelly hooked halfway out of their bodies. As if they would perish utterly in the next heartbeat.

It felt as though their very lives were being crushed in another’s grasp, leaving them in agony, suffocation, and helpless fear.

At that moment, whether warrior, transcendent, or ordinary person, all appeared no greater than ants, insignificant, pitiful, and powerless.

At the very heart of that aura stood Lucky, frozen in place like a fool. His complexion turned deathly pale, his features contorted, his eyes stretched wide, and his pupils contracted to pinpoints. Unlike those at a distance, he alone endured the full weight of this suffocating aura of death, and he felt its despair with terrifying clarity. It was as though his very heart had been encased in ice.

Lucky could scarcely believe what he was experiencing. It was like watching a Chihuahua suddenly morph into a Tyrannosaurus Rex before his very eyes.

Grotesque, horrifying beyond words. And now, that Tyrannosaurus was reaching out toward him. A hand as pale as jade, smooth and impossibly alluring.

In this strange realm where time itself seemed to have stopped, Yae-hime thrust out her palm.

Lucky stared at that palm without blinking. It was slow, unbearably, agonizingly slow. Like an ant crawling forward.

Against such an attack, he had ten thousand ways to deflect it, and fifteen thousand ways to counterattack. Yet the instant he tried to move, he realized his body could not budge at all. It was as if he had been bound by a paralyzing spell, unable even to twitch a finger.

That beautiful hand still pressed forward at its maddeningly slow pace. The slender, delicate fingers, the rosy whiteness of the palm, every detail was something one could not help but admire. But to Lucky, this palm was unspeakably horrifying, like the claw of a demon.

‘Move… move, damn it!’ He summoned every ounce of strength, but his body still refused to respond.

Something was terribly wrong.

Then, from the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the distant spectators. They too were frozen in place, as if time had halted for them as well. Which meant, in this suspended world, only the girl before him was still moving!

That flawless palm drew closer, bringing with it a faint, fresh fragrance.

‘Don’t—don’t come any closer!’ Lucky screamed inwardly, his mind already drowned in terror. How he wished this was only a nightmare. If only he could open his eyes and wake, the nightmare would end, and everything would return to normal.

But unfortunately, this was reality.

At last, that jade-white hand pressed against Lucky’s chest. Whether he wanted it or not, that palm descended like an undeniable truth, flawless and unstoppable.

Immediately, the stagnant flow of time resumed. No, it was not time that had stopped. It was Lucky’s perception returning to normal. The strangeness he had just felt was not a true suspension of time, but the sheer speed of Yae-hime’s strike, which warped his senses into the illusion of slowness.

To the spectators, the moment Yae-hime released her aura, she had already launched a phantom-like counterattack. So fast that it was nearly invisible to the naked eye. Only a handful of the stronger ones in the crowd managed to glimpse the trajectory of her strike.

**Crack!**

A sharp sound rang out from Lucky’s chest. The sound of ribs shattering. The next instant, he felt as though he had been rammed by a runaway dump truck at full speed. Every ounce of air in his body was forced out, and an excruciating, heart-piercing pain erupted.

Then his body shot backward like a cannonball, the violent impact gouging a deep trench into the ground. In an instant, dirt and debris exploded into the air, scattering in every direction.

The scene fell into utter silence. People had only just shaken off the shadow of death, yet now they were witnessing such a ferocious assault that their hearts were caught between shock and fear.

This was especially true for the grandmasters and S-rank transcendents. When they looked at Lucky, who had been blasted away like a cannonball, it felt as though they were looking at themselves.

No, if it had been them dueling that humanoid monster, they would likely have fallen fifteen seconds earlier.

Mylene and Pixie both revealed expressions of astonishment. It was clear that Yae-hime’s strength had already surpassed anything they could have imagined.

“Big Sister is incredible!” Mylene cried out in excitement.

“Yes… but where did Princess go?” Pixie was about to nod in agreement when she suddenly realized that Yae-hime had vanished from sight.

“There!” Mylene’s eyes shifted, widening in surprise as she saw Yae-hime materialize behind Lucky like a phantom.

Everyone who witnessed this scene was dumbfounded, their hearts shaken to the core.

At that moment, Lucky spat out a mouthful of blood. Just as he tried to steady himself, he sensed an extremely dangerous aura right behind him. His heart trembled with dread as he attempted to twist his body and evade.

Unfortunately, it was already too late. Yae-hime’s right foot stepped forward, her body sliding to the left, as she suddenly unleashed an Iron Mountain Slam.1

With a thunderous bang, Lucky took the blow head-on, his entire body convulsing as a tidal wave of force erupted outward. In that instant, he felt his bones shatter, his organs rupture, and his body churn as if it had been thrown into a blender. The agony was enough to make him feel both like dying and transcending.

The plaza, already broken and damaged, had yet another layer of stone peeled away by the impact of that shockwave. If even the aftermath was that terrifying, then for Lucky, who had taken the strike directly, the result could only be imagined.

Just like before, the burly grandmaster’s body shot through the air once again. A wretched scream tore from his throat, so shrill and piercing that it made everyone’s scalp prickle and their hearts quiver.

The man who only moments ago exuded invincible arrogance was now being battered without mercy, reduced to the state of a dead dog.

Terrifying…this Princess was terrifying beyond measure.

And it was not only Lucky’s body being hurled away that stunned the crowd. Yae-hime had already reappeared before him in a blur. She crouched low, one hand pressing firmly against the ground, then flickered into motion as her right leg shot upward in a rising kick that slammed squarely into Lucky’s chin.

In that instant, an illusion of his head being torn from his body filled his mind. His body shot upward like a skyrocketing firework.

But Yae-hime’s assault did not end there. She pivoted into a half-spin to regain her stance, stomped against the ground, and seemed to teleport into the air above him. If not for the sight of the ground beneath her cracking apart, many would have believed she had truly teleported.

High in the air. Yae-hime twisted her body mid-flight and unleashed a fierce inverted scissor kick, slamming it against Lucky’s undefended frame.

The pitiful man, who had only just been kicked skyward, had not even processed the pain before he was struck again and sent plummeting down. The momentum that carried him up now drove him down with equal ferocity.

**Boom!**

Lucky’s body fell from above like a five-ton air conditioner, crashing into the ground with an earth-shattering impact.

Above, Yae-hime hung suspended in mid-air, her aura erupting into violet lightning that crackled and hissed. Her gaze sharpened, and her body whirled like a spinning top before she plunged downward, transforming into a storm of violet thunder that crashed upon the earth with devastating force.