Chapter 170

As the Nine Streams General, I, Nana, was irritated.

Not a single thing was going right.

I was no longer in a maid's uniform.

Over the uniform permitted only to Cordis generals, I wore a long, sea-colored coat.

The golden tassels on my shoulders indicated my rank.

Before my eyes, the sea was vast.

The elites of the 9th Legion had also anchored their ships, and tens of thousands of fishmen moved at my beck and call and yet, I couldn't break through that coastline, so it was bound to be frustrating.

“I was planning to seize a village or two and establish a base before Commander Niko arrived……”

The defenses of the Bururade Peninsula were more solid than I thought.

The Guidone family had once been an imperial house.

That meant they had experienced many wars.

Once they set up their defenses in earnest, even the Cordis 9th Legion could not easily break them down.

I swept my hair back with a displeased look.

Niko had said it would be ten days before he arrived.

I had wanted to build a base before then to save my pride.

A clicking of my tongue came out on its own.

“The resistance is fiercer than I thought.”

“It is likely because the number of our fishmen has decreased significantly……”

“Right. There were supposed to be over seventy thousand. What could have happened to turn seventy thousand into twenty-two thousand? Nearly fifty thousand are gone.”

“…I apologize for failing to manage the hatchery properly.”

The adjutant bowed his head repeatedly.

It was because he knew my impatient nature.

I considered reprimanding the adjutant but decided against it.

Hearing that the one who destroyed the hatchery was the jade-eyed swordsman, I couldn't bring myself to scold him.

I, more than anyone, knew well of Amethus's strength.

“I heard Oholius died?”

“…Yes.”

“Couldn't find the body, right?”

“…Yes.”

“He was a Commander of a Thousand, so he deserves a proper burial. When we return, make sure to give his bereaved family sufficient compensation.”

I grumbled.

“More importantly, the intelligence agency needs a complete overhaul. How are they even managing information?”

I had risen to the position of a Ten Great General, a rare case for someone from the Cordis intelligence agency.

Having once been an agent myself, I found the current situation even harder to accept.

“Especially that bastard.”

Just thinking about him was so nauseating that my head shook on its own.

My three-braided hair fluttered.

“Shion of Merion. Why wasn't he caught in our intelligence network? If even this was his intention… he's no ordinary danger.”

After clashing with Shion, I had returned and urgently looked up information.

I almost fainted.

He had brought down the Del Contis, weeded out intelligence agents, and even seized the businesses the Empire had established in the West!

That bastard was involved in every single anomaly that had occurred on the Bururade Peninsula and yet, the intelligence agency hadn't noticed a thing, a truly deplorable situation.

“That Kentil bastard, I need to report about that guy to His Majesty directly……”

Normally, I would have sent the information about Shion in writing, but he was so dangerous and suspicious that I couldn't do that.

Tsk, tsk, tsk.

I couldn't stop clicking my tongue.

“Anyway, Shion, the next time we meet, with my own hands, I will definitely……”

“The next time we meet, what?”

“I’ll have to tear him to pieces with my own hands. That’s the only way His Majesty will be at ease.”

“Looks like you haven't told Ferbias my story yet?”

“Right. I haven't… Who is that bastard who dares to use His Majesty's venerable name so carelessly… Huh.”

I, Nana Nereyades, rubbed my eyes.

“……?”

I saw the man standing beside me.

A small frame, blond hair fluttering in the sea breeze, that detestable smile.

It was impossible not to recognize him.

“Shion of Merion……?”

“That's me.”

I just blinked my eyes.

He was so composed that I didn't even think to ask a question.

Shion pointed behind himself with a finger. The jade-eyed man was there.

“Amethus is with me too.”

“…Do you know where you are?”

“The heart of the enemy camp, isn't it? I asked Cornelius to drop us from the sky.”

“……”

I raised my hand as if to ask him to wait a moment.

Shion waited.

Since Shion waited, Amethus also waited.

I looked to the side.

The sea was still filled with the garrison ships of the 9th Legion and the fishmen.

If they sent their strongest men into the heart of the enemy, there could only be one reason.

Being accustomed to war, I quickly came to a conclusion.

“…Are you here to take the enemy commander's head?”

“Exactly.”

“Hoo, hoo hoo hoo……”

I, Nana Nereyades, let out a low laugh.

“…Hoo hoo, you crazy bastard. How long has it been since I’ve seen someone this truly insane……”

The waves began to grow rough. It was because a menacing aura began to radiate from my body.

I lowered my head and covered my face. It seemed I could hear the sound of teeth grinding.

“…Isn't it strange? When I get too angry, all I can do is laugh.”

I, Nana Nereyades, slowly raised my head. My gaze was ferocious.

It was to the point that even my adjutant hastily moved away.

I took a step forward, and a cracking sound came from the deck.

The Nine Streams General looked back and forth between Shion and Amethus.

“Is it just the two of you? The ones who have come to take this Nana's head?”

“Actually, there are over a hundred thousand elite assassins hiding. There are about a hundred Six-Star Mages too.”

“…Ah, I will definitely rip that snout of yours.”

“How scary.”

Shion chuckled while spouting nonsense.

I laughed along with him.

But neither of our eyes were smiling.

Shion decided not to hide his hatred for Cordis.

I, too, had no intention of hiding my anger.

“Two. Just two……”

It felt as if the air was crumpling.

When I clenched my fist tight, very tight, everything around us burst into tears.

The deck cracked and the atmosphere vibrated.

“I’ll have to tear you both to shreds.”

“Just offer up your neck, Nine Streams General.”

***

It began with the ‘Heated Iron Bloodline’.

Just as a thick vein bulged on Shion's neck, a disgustingly heavy and disgustingly hot cord shot out and tried to strike Nana.

Nana did not confront it but dodged. Having experienced it once, she knew the power of the ‘Heated Iron Bloodline’.

“It was frustrating.”

Shion said.

He swung the ‘Heated Iron Bloodline’ around carelessly.

He couldn't do that at the wedding hall.

If he had brandished this terrifying third Ars indiscriminately, dozens of seats in the Dawn Brotherhood would have become vacant.

The ‘Heated Iron Bloodline’ was not an Ars that could distinguish between friend and foe.

“Truth is, it’s tricky for me to handle too. It’s not a power to be used among allies.”

The ship split in two.

It was because the iron bloodline that missed Nana split the ship they were on in half with a tremendous sound.

Even though it was swung lightly, it was so disgustingly heavy that the deck shattered like paper.

It was also disgustingly hot, so fire ignited where the iron bloodline had passed.

The heat struck their faces.

The sea boiled.

Whenever the heated iron bloodline touched the sea, a tremendous amount of steam billowed up.

A circle of heat spread wide around Shion.

Dozens of fishmen caught in it died.

The smell of burning was terrible.

The iron bloodline flew.

Nana dodged.

‘Fantasy Finger’ pulled the iron bloodline, altering its trajectory.

The iron bloodline zipped through the air in a zigzag pattern like lightning, chasing Nana.

Though annoyed, she nimbly managed to evade the iron bloodline to the end.

The ship, split in half, naturally began to sink.

The sailors screamed and jumped into the sea.

However, none of the three—Shion, Amethus, and Nana—paid any mind.

They only looked at each other.

“That iron chain, its power is good, but……”

Nana charged in.

As small as she was, she was very nimble.

She bounced between the wreckage of the ship and in an instant, thrust her fist before Shion.

“The opening is large.”

“What does something like that matter?”

The double-edged sword flashed.

“I have Amethus.”

“…Tsk!”

Swinging the iron bloodline with Fantasy Finger made it difficult for even its master, Shion, to read its full trajectory and yet, Amethus moved through it as if it were his own home.

Nana threw sixteen punches in a brief moment, but Amethus blocked them all with the side of his sword.

Nana bared her teeth and growled.

“Senior Amethus……”

“……”

“Your swordsmanship has improved, hasn't it?”

Amethus did not answer.

Even if his opponent was a junior with whom he had spent his school days, no, precisely because of that, he had no intention of exchanging words.

There was hatred in the jade-eyed man's heart.

An endless rage towards Ferbias and the Empire, who had hidden the truth of his family and deceived him.

Musing on it anew, suspicion was added.

Could Nana have been an accomplice?

Could she have known the truth of Aretion and deceived him as well?

The double-edged sword swung fiercely.

Wounds quickly appeared on Nana's body.

It was a strange thing.

Even though his hatred was so endless, he longed for the time that had passed.

The joy and fun he had with them made him hate them more, yet there was a feeling that he couldn't let go.

Was this thing called affection?

He didn't want to call it love-hate, but it was a feeling that endlessly resembled love-hate.

“Answer me, you traitor!”

“……”

With his complicated heart, Amethus instead honed his killing intent.

His swordsmanship was not so crude as to be swayed by his state of mind.

The tip of the sword was fearsomely sharp, making Nana bite her lip hard.

“…Alright. It’s worth it for the two of you to come for Nana's neck.”

Several ships had already been destroyed.

With Shion checking her with the iron bloodline and Fantasy Finger and Amethus charging in, even a Ten Great General had no way to endure.

They had prepared to bring down the Empire for the past seven years, and it was very effective.

“What’s the point in saving my strength?”

Nana spread her arms.

As if she were about to swim through the empty air.

“Let’s go all out from the start.”

***

She wanted to swim.

She wanted to live her life just swimming, forever.

She always dreamed of an eternal swim.

The sea is good, the river is good, even a babbling brook is good.

But the sea, the vast Great Sea, is the best.

It is because she is of the great sea’s bloodline.

But it was not to be,

life pushed her onto land, again and again.

In the midst of cruelty and misery, she began to forget how to swim.

Ripping through skin became more familiar than cutting through the water, the smell of blood more familiar than the scent of the sea.

It might have been sad at first, but she forgot it at some point.

Only after forgetting everything about what swimming even was, did she get to swim again.

Because she had forgotten everything, her swim did not take the form of a swim and yet, it was a swim.

The contradiction of traversing a place where one could not swim finally gave her freedom.

She knows not where she came from, nor where she will reach.

She simply swims.

Nana Nereyades's Ars.

‘Freestyle’.

***

Nana swam.

She swam through the air.

Thanks to having swum for a long time, her body shot forward with just a flick of her toes.

She swam through the atmosphere and dodged the iron bloodline.

There was no place she could not swim.

Be it a wrecked ship, that hot steam, or even the empty void.

Nothing could bind her.

True to the name ‘Freestyle’, Nana just freely roamed in all directions.

The sight was like a dance.

“Swimming always feels good.”

Nana dodged Amethus's blade.

In her hand, the Ancient Weapon ‘Sinew of the Great Sea’ had appeared at some point.

“But this won't be enough, will it?”

Without hesitation, she bit down on the ‘Sinew of the Great Sea’.

It was as if she were putting reins on herself.

It was to fill her body with the power of an Ancient God.

Scales sprouted and her aura swelled.

Shion and Amethus tried to stop her but failed.

The ‘Sinew of the Great Sea’ tightened around her mouth.

It became reins and seized her soul.

In its place, the power of the dead Ancient God flowed in.

The scent of the great sea was overwhelming.

A wave flowing from the deepest sea pulled Nana Nereyades to a higher plane of the soul.

Of course, a price had to be paid, but not now.

She transforms into something that is not her.

But it was still her.

Ancient Transformation, Charybdis.