"Whoosh—!"
The wind once again swept over this patch of grassland.
Though calling it grassland was no longer appropriate in the slightest.
This place, which had been overgrown with weeds until not long ago, no longer had even a single blade of grass left.
All that remained was charred black earth from the blazing flames, and ground riddled with countless holes.
Crater after crater from the bombardment covered the scorched earth, as though it had been struck directly by countless meteors—a shocking sight.
Yet what was truly shocking was not those craters, but a blade mark that seemed to have split the land entirely apart, stretching across a two-kilometer diameter like an abyss.
That blade mark was the truly horrifying sight, enough to send chills down one's spine.
Looking closely, a tall girl stood at the end of that blade mark.
The girl lowered her head, one hand resting on the hilt of the Commanding Sword at her waist. Her delicate face was obscured by her bangs, making her expression impossible to see.
Yet that terrifyingly enormous blade mark had landed less than a meter away from her.
So, here was the question.
What would have happened if that blade mark had not landed there, but directly on the girl herself?
The girl knew the answer perfectly well.
That was why the overwhelming aura surging from her body like a raging flood had long since faded away, leaving not a trace behind.
Then, an incomparably bitter voice came from her lips.
"Did I lose?"
The girl recalled what had happened only a second ago.
It had been the scene of two incomparably astonishing flashes of blade light tearing through heaven and earth, violently colliding in an interval too brief to even be called an instant.
One of those flashes had