Reversal

"Huff! Huff! Huff!"

Sonia pumped her legs and gasped for breath, now diving forward, now dodging back, jumping, bending backward... Again and again, she narrowly evaded the thorny roots and man-eating flowers pursuing her, trying to lure them as far from the hive core as possible.

Despite Sonia's best efforts, she could hardly avoid injury under such a dense barrage of attacks. Fine thorns tore through her dress, leaving bloody scratches across her body.

Even with the Blood Devil's power, excessive blood loss could slow the production of blood and the stanching of bleeding. An ordinary person whose wrist arteries had been severed twice would probably have been a corpse by now.

Even Sonia saw stars and found herself short of breath... She could clearly feel her strength draining away.

Aside from sheer willpower, a large part of the reason she had held out this long was that the thorny roots and man-eating flowers pursuing her weren't working together.

They were like high school students racing to the cafeteria after the morning's classes. Though they shared the same goal, they were also competing with one another, each eager to devour the delicious "hunk of meat" before them. Their thick roots and stems tangled and got in one another's way; otherwise, Sonia would have been eaten long ago.

Even so, the minions coveting her blood were closing in step by step.

Sonia was about to use the reflection in her dagger to see the attack coming from behind when sudden darkness swept across her vision.

A loud ringing drowned out the roars behind her, and her dazed mind was unable to think. Her legs gave way, and she fell to the ground.

Only one thought remained in her mind: Am I going to die... Perhaps... this is for the best...

"Buzzz—"

After the brief buzzing and darkness, a silvery-white figure entered Sonia's vision.

Four silvery-white wings spread from her back, and her long scarlet hair streamed freely behind her. Her magnificent battle dress lent her an air of natural authority, and she wore a headband with small wings extending from it.

"Is that an angel?" Sonia murmured.

"It's me, Erza."

The heavenly voice reached Sonia's mind through the ringing, and the familiar sensation and name brought her fully back to her senses.

The trembling images before her eyes settled, and Sonia finally saw the state of the battlefield.

The thorny roots and man-eating flower clones that had been pursuing her were firmly pinned to the floor and walls by longswords. They struggled, but couldn't move.

Erza turned back and gave her a reassuring smile. "Leave the rest to me."

"Okay..." Sonia responded with a feeble smile, then lay down completely.

Seeing this, Erza turned back to face the furious Qliphoth in midair.

She had gained the inspiration for this move earlier in the battle, when she pinned the "left" man-eating flower to the floor.

Erza had discovered that if she merely restrained Qliphoth's "limbs" without destroying them, he couldn't regenerate.

After all, regeneration required him to reclaim his roots and stems. If he couldn't pull them back, he naturally couldn't regenerate.

If another man-eating flower hadn't pulled out the "nail" for him earlier, he might still have been pinned to the floor.

For that very reason, Erza had been unable to find an opportunity to use the Heaven's Wheel Armor.

After all, pinning down all the thorny roots and man-eating flowers at once required an exceptionally good opportunity.

And having suffered for it once, Qliphoth would never give her such an opportunity.

If Sonia hadn't risked her life to force an opening, Erza might have continued to be worn down until her magic power ran out.

But Erza hadn't let her sacrifice go to waste. This was the best chance to destroy Qliphoth.

Erza soared into the air with a sword in each hand, a wheel-like formation of swords circling behind her. She looked like a valiant valkyrie descending upon the world, or an angel of unearthly beauty arriving from above.

With a sweep of her swords, the sword lights swirling around her became a surging torrent, rushing toward Qliphoth and the core behind him.

"Little pest... I'll chop you... to pieces!!!"

Qliphoth roared in a hoarse voice, twisting his body into a deep-sea turbine spinning at the speed of a raging hurricane. He tried to block the onslaught of blades while grinding Erza to pieces.

Torrent of blades VS hurricane turbine

The sharp cracks of metal breaking echoed through the church, and broken, bloodstained blades poured down like torrential rain...

While the two sides were locked in a stalemate, unable to spare attention for anything else, a faint azure glow flowed into the hive along the roots and stem of the "lower" man-eating flower, at some unknown point.

"?!?!?!"

The rapidly spinning meat grinder suddenly faltered. Qliphoth's entire body then began turning red at a speed visible to the naked eye, and blood gushed incessantly from the wounds Erza's blades had cut into him.

Qliphoth clutched his head in pain, his teeth bared on his otherwise featureless face. It was as though countless blades were slicing him apart from within, an excruciating torture beyond any other in the world.

Erza didn't understand what had suddenly happened to him, but having missed an opportunity once, she wasn't about to let this heaven-sent chance slip by. She immediately unleashed her strongest move.

"Heaven's Wheel: Circle Sword!"

Countless blades became streaks of sword light once more, all charging toward Qliphoth.

Sensing danger, Qliphoth frantically swung the rapiers on his arms in an attempt to parry, but was swallowed by the myriad swords in an instant. They pierced through him and the hive core behind him.

Qliphoth was pinned to the core by the longswords, just like his "minions." Even the enormous hive was riddled with holes by the torrent of blades and collapsed completely.

Erza panted as she looked at Qliphoth, who was nearby and no longer had the strength to fight. She let out a long sigh of relief.

Though he still clung to life, the core had been destroyed, and Qliphoth, cut off from his supply of magic power, would soon wither away, just like the thorny roots and man-eating flower clones around them, which had already lost all signs of life.

Even so, Erza had no intention of giving him any chance to turn things around. She took a longsword and prepared to step forward and finish Qliphoth off for good.

Just then, a voice called out to stop her from behind.

"Miss Erza..." Sonia, covered in wounds, walked over unsteadily and pleaded, "Please... could you let me do it...? I want to use my own hands... to personally end Caro Town's three-hundred-year fate..."

Erza said nothing more. She simply nodded and silently handed Sonia the longsword.

To an outsider, such behavior might have been no different from stealing a kill.

But having experienced everything firsthand, Erza understood Sonia's feelings all too well.

Given the chance, she too would have wanted to end her own fate with her own hands...

Sonia dragged her weakened body over to Qliphoth, who was barely alive. Her blood-red eyes gleamed with hatred. "Do you remember me... you beast?!"

"You're... the insect Cain left behind..."

Sonia removed the pendant hanging against her chest and opened it to reveal the photograph inside. "My name is Sonia Gate," she said sharply. "Seven years ago, you murdered my mother... Now, I'll avenge her with my own hands! Die, you bastard!!!"

Sonia gripped the longsword with both hands, her ten fingers white. The necklace was wrapped around her fingertips, and blood seeping from her wrists ran down the chain to the pendant.

Immediately afterward, a scarlet magic circle spread beneath Sonia, Qliphoth, and the hive core.

Erza keenly sensed that something was wrong and was about to step forward... but Sonia had already driven the longsword through Qliphoth and the hive core.

Blood gushed out in an instant, splattering onto the unremarkable pendant as well.

"Boom!!!"

At once, blood-red light filled the entire church. A pillar of energy erupted from the scarlet magic circle, smashing unhindered through the church's dome and shooting straight into the sky.

The terrifying magic power within it instantly sent the unsteady Erza flying. The church shook, then collapsed completely, reduced to rubble.

Erza stared blankly at the scene before her, unable to understand what had happened... until the pillar of light gradually faded a short while later, and a figure both familiar and unfamiliar emerged from it.

"I'm sorry, Miss Erza, but your mission ends here."