Anticipation? Surprise?

In the mountains, two groups of people faced each other.

One side looked down from above, glaring ferociously at the army below as if they were lambs being led to slaughter.

On the other side, almost everyone had fallen into a panic.

They hadn't expected to be ambushed, and by none other than General Esdeath!

As a general, Nacita should have maintained her composure at all times. In fact, few things could make her lose her cool and control her emotions.

But the moment she saw Esdeath, she panicked.

She didn't even know what to do!

"Who knows, maybe we just happened to run into each other?"

Esdeath's casual words sent Nacita's heart plummeting to the abyss.

It seemed Esdeath already knew about her actions today and had come specifically to intercept her.

Once Nacita realized this, she knew there was no escaping.

However...

"At a time like this, I am at my strongest!"

The Imperial Arms held by Nacita had the ability to materialize and attack with mental power.

Because it attacked using mental power, its power grew stronger the more intense the mental fluctuations.

The more critical the moment, the more unimaginable power could be unleashed!

This was undoubtedly the moment Nacita had come closest to death in her life. Facing the crisis of death, the power her Imperial Arms, Pumpkin, could unleash was something no one could ignore.

"Not even you, Esdeath!"

A barrage of projectiles flew towards Esdeath. Even Esdeath, upon seeing the volley from Pumpkin, realized it was too late to dodge. Her speed couldn't possibly match Pumpkin's attack!

However, Esdeath's reaction speed was beyond Nacita's imagination.

The moment Nacita raised Pumpkin, Esdeath had already prepared her defense.

Pumpkin's attack shattered rocks and kicked up dust, obscuring Nacita's vision and preventing her from seeing the outcome.

She could only hope the attack had hit.

Facing so many ambushing soldiers, the only way to lead her subordinates to escape was to defeat Esdeath.

Nacita didn't expect to kill Esdeath so easily, but even injuring her, even a slight injury, would be enough.

When Esdeath emerged from the dust-filled smoke, Nacita's pupils contracted.

"She's... completely unharmed!"

Nacita was incredibly shocked. What shocked her even more was that not only was Esdeath unharmed, but even the Three Beasts she commanded were unscathed!

At this moment, the Three Beasts had already charged out of the smoke and were slaughtering her subordinates.

Helplessly, the two Imperial Arms users under her command could only step forward to engage.

Two Imperial Arms users fighting three Imperial Arms users was a battle with no apparent advantage, but they had to fight. They couldn't just let the Three Beasts continue their massacre of the soldiers.

While Nacita's subordinates were in dire straits, her own situation wasn't much better.

Boom~

A massive ice block, several meters in diameter, plummeted from the sky, heading straight for Nacita.

Nacita used Pumpkin to shatter the ice block and moved from her original position.

The next second, a cold glint sliced through the space where she had been.

Esdeath, holding her rapier, looked at Nacita. "Oh, you care a lot about your subordinates. Too bad, they're about to die."

Nacita had been surrounded by her own subordinates. If that giant ice block had been allowed to fall, she might have been able to dodge it, but her surrounding subordinates might not have been so lucky.

But now, Esdeath was standing amidst her own subordinates.

Surrounded by over a dozen elite soldiers, an ordinary person would have been pierced through by spears long ago.

But at this moment, Nacita realized something and raised Pumpkin to aim at Esdeath.

As if responding to Nacita, Esdeath's rapier glided through the air.

Nacita's surrounding subordinates were cut into pieces before they could even resist.

Seeing this, Nacita's eyes widened in fury.

"Esdeath!"

She roared and launched an attack at Esdeath.

Fueled by immense rage, Nacita unleashed an attack even more powerful than before.

The muzzle of the Pumpkin in Nacita's hand had changed at some point. The attack it fired was no longer a scatter shot, but a concentrated laser, or rather, a cannon.

A laser beam nearly twenty centimeters in diameter shot out from Pumpkin's muzzle, heading towards Esdeath.

Esdeath's keen senses had already detected the danger the moment Pumpkin was aimed at her, and she had evaded it in advance.

Nacita moved Pumpkin, continuing to fire at Esdeath. However, Esdeath's movements were incredibly agile, and Nacita found herself unable to hit her for the moment.

At this time, Nacita noticed her subordinates were being slaughtered.

Thus, while still fighting Esdeath, Nacita adjusted her position and used Pumpkin to attack the troops Esdeath had brought.

Furthermore, due to Pumpkin's immense power, it even altered the surrounding terrain, causing significant collapses and burying many of Esdeath's subordinates.

"You dare get distracted while fighting me? You're the first."

Esdeath's low voice echoed in Nacita's ears.

In an instant, an unprecedented fear surged into Nacita's heart.

Worry had clouded her judgment. Because she was too concerned about her subordinates, Esdeath had found an opportunity to get close.

A glint of cold light flashed in the corner of Nacita's right eye. This was the last sight her right eye would ever see.

"Ah!!!"

Intense pain flooded Nacita's brain from her right eye socket and right shoulder.

Her right arm and right eye were destroyed!

Nacita clutched the bleeding wound on her right shoulder with her left hand, but the gushing blood was not easily stopped.

The pain contorted Nacita's face into a grimace. "Why... why didn't you kill me?"

Esdeath could have killed her with that last strike, but she hadn't. She had merely taken her arm and eye.

Esdeath looked at Nacita, a hint of anticipation in her eyes.

"Nacita, you are a rare opponent. It would be a shame to let you die like this. That's why I won't kill you. I look forward to what surprises you'll bring me the next time we meet."

Anticipation? Surprises?

For reasons like that?

"You lunatic!" Nacita spat out those five words, one by one.