Chapter 160

When Wave first came along, she thought Wave wasn't as straightforward as he seemed, and that he was adaptable. But now it seems he only understood half of it.

"Don't worry, the minister won't say anything."

Esdeath casually tossed out a sentence and headed towards the Earl's mansion.

Even if she really disobeyed orders, what could the ministers do? Besides, she wasn't disobeying orders, she was just acting on her own. At worst, she could just complete the formalities later. Did the ministers really turn against her over something like that?

Wave was unaware of Esdeath's thoughts, but seeing that the two women beside him were already taking action on their own, he had no choice but to risk his life to accompany them.

If the empire tries to cause trouble, they'd better find a way to shoulder more responsibility themselves...

Fields, who was sorting through his belongings, was completely stunned when he heard that Esdeath wanted to see him. Not only him, but also the guards and butlers in the mansion were stunned.

So Count Earl wasn't just making things up; General Esdeath really is here.

Although bewildered, I was immediately overjoyed.

They don't have a single Imperial Arms User on their side, let alone a powerful one like Imperial Arms User. They even only have about a thousand soldiers, and even with a full-scale conscription, they can't possibly have more than three thousand. Under these circumstances, if they were to clash with that Dragon Woman, they would be shattered at the slightest touch.

But now that Esdeath is in charge, things are different.

He fawned over Esdeath, treating her as an honored guest, and eagerly brought out the treasure he had just prepared to take and run away with as a gesture of goodwill.

Esdeath wasn't very interested in these things. She had originally intended to give them to Wave and Kurome, but Wave and Kurome weren't very interested either.

So she simply had Fields send these to the capital and let Lan manage them, and then went to the place where the soldiers were stationed.

Well... despite not having high expectations, Esdeath was still extremely displeased with the quality of this army.

Fortunately, she didn't necessarily have to save this place.

Three days later, time flew by.

Standing on the city wall, looking at the blue-purple flames thousands of meters away that were already radiating heat, Esdeath could hardly hide the joy and fighting spirit in her eyes.

Necrass also noticed Esdeath on the city wall. The two looked at each other across the distance. The aura of the powerful made the people around them so cold that they were drenched in cold sweat and unable to move. Frost spread from the city wall and Death Fire burned on the ground.

Before the battle even began, many soldiers had already fainted.

"Far exceeding expectations..."

Esdeath couldn't suppress the corners of her mouth.

Chapter Fourteen: If You Survive

On one side was solid ice, on the other flames; one side possessed a passionate and abundant fighting spirit, while the other seemed to lack any enthusiasm for battle.

To be honest, judging from their current state, they should probably exchange their Imperial Arms.

"That's..."

Unlike Esdeath, who was full of fighting spirit, Wave was almost unable to move at this moment.

Just being swept by those chilling green eyes made him feel numb all over; he had never seen such a sense of oppression and aura before.

Kurome was in slightly better condition Wave, but his complexion was still noticeably poor.

Esdeath was not surprised by their situation, because she knew very well that their strength was definitely no less than her own, and it was already quite remarkable that they could maintain their fighting spirit in the face of such an enemy.

As you can see, two of the Three Beasts could barely move their bodies in front of Necrass.

Esdeath's eyes flickered as she looked at the three familiar figures following Necrass, but she showed no further emotion. After all, they could no longer be called human, and were certainly not her subordinates.

In this increasingly tense atmosphere, the Dublinn troops finally arrived not far from the city gate.

"I didn't expect General Esdeath to have time to come here."

Necrass wore a fake smile that Esdeath disliked, "I thought you would be waiting for me in the capital."

That's a bit harsh, but it's not that Esdeath is afraid. Both of them know that Esdeath would never be afraid of fighting. Even in a battle where she has a very high chance of losing and dying, she would still charge forward resolutely.

From a rational perspective, Esdeath staying in the capital to wait was indeed the best course of action, and the one the ministers would certainly choose.

Necrass meant that she treated Esdeath like a watchdog with a collar and braces, who would obey her master's commands no matter how fierce she was.

"They've already become traitorous rats, and their short-sightedness is unacceptable."

Esdeath laughed.

To reiterate, her dislike of politics doesn't mean she's not intelligent or eloquent.

However, even if she wasn't bad, she wasn't the type to talk a lot and was too lazy to say anything more. She was already eager for the upcoming battle.

With a crisp snap of her fingers, a massive ice cone, hundreds of meters long and two to three hundred meters wide, instantly formed above the Dublinn troops. The soldiers, who had already been somewhat shaken by Esdeath's appearance, swallowed hard but showed no sign of panic.

However, Necrass couldn't just let the ice spikes fall like that, otherwise even if the soldiers weren't panicked, the warhorses would be.

There was no need to even look up at the ice spikes; a towering blue-purple flame suddenly ignited in front of them, and the astonishing temperature caused Esdeath's pupils to shrink sharply. Then, an ice wall hundreds of meters long was unfurled in front of the city wall.

Before it even had time to melt into water, the ice spikes vaporized the moment they came into contact with the blue-purple flames. Esdeath's greeting gift was easily neutralized, and the walls that were not protected by the ice walls showed signs of melting.

"What kind of high temperature is this?!"

Wave's expression turned completely serious as he came to his senses.

"It seems our compatibility is ridiculously bad."

Necrass's smile remained unchanged; it was impossible for her to show any signs of fatigue. "The highest temperature that fire can reach and the lowest temperature that ice can reach are completely unequal."

Although physically the temperatures of the two are not comparable, it doesn't stop her from making some trash talk.

Esdeath's smile remained unchanged, "Battles aren't decided solely by ability."

In fact, she knew that her Imperial Arms was not powerful.

If Nadjeshda, who believes that Mortal Seduction is the strongest Teigu, were to hear this, she would definitely exclaim that it is impossible. But the truth is that Mortal Seduction is not a powerful Teigu. Before her, no one had ever been able to maintain their rationality when using its power, and even when they lost their rationality, they never showed any amazing performance.

One of the reasons why the Mortal Seduction is so powerful now is that, unlike those who only drank a few sips before, Esdeath drank it all completely.

And the second reason is that Esdeath is powerful enough.

Using Imperial Arms can be a burden. For others, Mortal Seduction is just an Imperial Arm with a 100% lethality. Even if you survive it and manage to swing a few ice spikes, you'll still feel tired afterward.

While it's not exactly weak or useless, it's certainly not outstanding compared to those Imperial Arms that can amplify their power several times over.

Therefore, she never felt that the Imperial Arm made her who she was, but rather that she made the Imperial Arm the strongest Imperial Arm.

Moreover...

In terms of the strength of the Imperial Arms, Esdeath felt that Necrass was about the same as herself. Based on her understanding of that Dragon Blood Imperial Arm, it was something that couldn't bring much enhancement to its master.

Distributing one's power to soldiers diminishes one's own power the more one distributes. What can a weak person do with it? The decline of the Draco family is evident in the history of the Empire.

Yes, the same situation I was in also applies to this Dragon Woman.

It wasn't the Imperial Arms that made them who they were; rather, it was their innate strength that allowed them to control the Imperial Arms, ignore all their negative effects, and maximize their strengths.

"I'm not giving you time."

Before Necrass could respond, Esdeath, enveloped in icy aura, drew her rapier from her waist and launched herself from the city wall at explosive speed in front of Necrass.

If facing other opponents, Esdeath would wait for them to withdraw their power before engaging in battle, in order to pique her interest and draw them out at their full strength. But...

Before her stood an opponent whose adrenaline surged like never before. Facing such the strongest person in the world, she had no reason to be arrogant.

The clash of spears and rapiers rang out in the next moment. Not even a second could be held back. The horse beneath Necrass had its internal organs shattered by the immense force, and its limp body collapsed to the ground.

"I quite like this horse."

Necrass's voice remained gentle, and this ease made Esdeath's smile even more beautiful, "Don't be sad. After you become my pet, I will find you any kind of magnificent horse, provided that you can survive."

This statement is not meant to be dismissive, but rather because Esdeath lacks confidence that she can hold back and capture him alive in a contest of this caliber.

"Ah, so you believe in the principle of the strong being supreme."

Necrass responded to Esdeath's high regard with interest, "Then, in return, I will take good care of you."

"Of course, that's assuming you survive."

Chapter Fifteen: Overcoming the Strong with the Weak?

Icebergs melt in flames, and flames burn on solid ice.

The constantly alternating hot and cold air made the troops on and off the city walls suffer inhuman torment. Fortunately, neither Esdeath nor Necrass had any interest in causing suffering to mortals, and they both gradually shifted the battlefield to other places.

Wave and Kurome naturally wanted to follow, but the Three Beasts were no pushovers either.

To reiterate, the fact that Esdeath has kept them by her side for so long without ever considering replacing them shows that the strength of the Three Beasts is not weak even among the Imperial Arms User. Niu was instantly killed because he was indeed not good at head-on combat, and Daidas is even simpler. Before Susanoo arrived, Brand was the strongest force in the Night Raid's head-on combat.

One is a powerful Imperial Arms User, and the other is the strongest among the elite Imperial Arms User.

If Brand hadn't been constantly expending energy while in stealth and hadn't stabbed his thigh to resist the hypnosis, the outcome of that battle would have been very different.

Looking at the towering waterspout not far away, Esdeath was both surprised and delighted. She looked at Necrass, who was unharmed, and laughed, "So that's how it is. You didn't completely vaporize my ice like before, so that was for this purpose."

"Liver is an excellent and powerful Imperial Arms User. Under your tutelage, he is exceptionally good at both using Teigu and physical combat."

Necrass nodded decisively, then pointed the tip of her gun at Esdeath, who had several small wounds on her body. "It seems that you are at a disadvantage in terms of physical fitness, combat skills, and even compatibility with the Imperial Arms."

"Ah, you're right."

Esdeath naturally wouldn't deny it. Both were blood-based Imperial Arms, both enhanced physical abilities and possessed elemental powers, but Necrass's physical abilities were stronger than hers, and her flames could greatly limit Abrahim's ice.

But...

"If victory and defeat could be determined in this way, then there would be no need for wars and battles."

Esdeath still didn't believe she had no chance of winning. In fact, her will to survive and her fighting spirit had reached their peak. With her blood boiling, she poured all her energy and inspiration into the development of the Imperial Arm in order to find the way to win that she so desperately wanted.

"Our Imperial Arms are very similar; they are both made of blood and possess the power to create elements out of thin air, but they have one strange point."

Necrass did not respond immediately to Esdeath's words, but listened attentively.

"You can use that flame to revive the dead and turn them into servants who fight for you. This seems to be an extra ability that the Mortal Seduction does not have at all. That's what I thought."

Esdeath's smile grew increasingly maniacal, "But that's not the case! Compared to your Imperial Arm, which already had users hundreds of years ago and developed its abilities to a greater extent, the Mortal Seduction has never had a master, which means it still has potential!"

"It seems you already have your own answer."

Necrass was not surprised.

However, seeing Necrass's serious expression, Esdeath's smile faded, and she became calm and rational again. "That's right, in order to defeat you, in order to have the power to contend with your army, I have brought my development of Imperial Arms to a whole new level, but... these still cannot defeat you, at least not for now."

Esdeath's use of Imperial Arms was not without improvement; in the original work, she developed Maha-Bodhisattva, as well as Ice Cavalry and General of Ice Storm.

These three abilities are:

Freeze time and space.

Ice Cavalry were created out of thin air, capable of fighting autonomously, automatically recovering after being destroyed, and possessing combat power far exceeding that of ordinary soldiers.

He gathered all the energy stored by the Ice Cavalry together and then released it all at once, its impact covering the entire empire—yes, not just the capital, but the entire empire.

In fact, Esdeath has developed these three abilities, and only now does she feel like a supermodel of the Mortal Seduction. However, this supermodel is not due to the Mortal Seduction's Essence, but rather Mortal Seduction is able to adapt to such a powerful master as herself.

But...

Even with the Dragon Woman's flames, she couldn't be frozen by using the Maha-Bodhisattva, and the Ice Cavalry would only be wasting their energy on each other's servants, playing no role in their battle.

As for General of Ice Storm, he did not have enough Ice Cavalry at the moment, so the effect of this move would not be significant.

In this situation, one's current situation cannot be effectively changed.

Thinking of this, Esdeath suppressed her desire to continue fighting. It wasn't that she hadn't faced Danger Beast stronger than herself before; her experience as a hunter taught her how to overcome powerful prey with the weak.

"Then, join my team."

Necrass reached out her hand.

"Unfortunately, our battle is not over yet; it is only temporarily suspended."

Esdeath refused.

"I never expected that General Esdeath would go back on her word."

"Heh, I certainly can't defeat you right now, but unless you can stop me, our battle will continue until we meet again."

Esdeath knew she was being a bit stubborn, but...

She was so excited. To win against all odds? This sense of anticipation, which she hadn't experienced in years, and the exhilarating feeling of success, made her almost unable to suppress her desire to quickly accumulate strength.

"Alright."

Necrass lowered her arm. "The next time we meet in the capital, you will have nowhere to retreat. Unlike ministers, when I raise wild beasts, I prefer to smooth out their teeth and claws rather than indulge their wildness, so that they first learn to obey."