You're Strong, Sir, but My Style Is Above Yours! Chapter 45

Even Esdeath was intimidated by this imposing aura, but the surging power within her quickly helped her break free of her confusion. The flames of battle lust ignited in her eyes.

"Now this is interesting enough!"

Crack crack crack crack crack—

The entire iceberg collapsed in an instant. Each fragment transformed into armored knights of varying sizes, raising swords and spears from every direction and leaving him no room to dodge.

These Ice Knights were stronger than ordinary soldiers individually, though inferior to Imperial Arms users. However, their numbers were nearly endless—they were practically an undead army!

Esdeath did not expect this to secure her victory. She merely intended to exhaust Iori's stamina. Having noticed that Iori possessed techniques capable of releasing energy outward but rarely used them, she concluded that his reserves were far less abundant than hers!

Her judgment was extremely accurate. Although Iori's spiritual pressure ranked highly even among Vice-Captains, and its quality was condensed and refined, when it came to sheer energy volume... he truly could not compare to Esdeath, who could freely manipulate the weather. At the very least, he could not squander it as casually as she did.

But!

If she thought she could drown Iori in a sea of enemies, then she was gravely mistaken!

Weapons came at him from above, below, and every direction. Seemingly left with no choice but to take them head-on, Iori calmly spoke a single word:

"Storm~"

Hiss—bang!

The weapons passed through Iori's body, yet not a drop of blood spilled. There was only the sound of air being torn apart, followed by Ice Knights crashing into one another under the force of their momentum!

Like an illusion, like drifting clouds and mist, Iori calmly walked out from the countless shards of ice.

"What was that? An illusion?"

Esdeath instinctively assumed it was some sort of trick, but the fierce wind rushing at her from the front and the danger rising in her heart shattered that assumption the next instant.

Clang!

Her saber collided with the Heavenly Cloud Sword once more. The freezing air surrounding Esdeath was cut apart by some invisible blade, and a stinging sensation brushed across her cheek, making the Ice Queen's heart tremble.

With just one exchange, she deeply felt the change in Iori.

Not only that—this man's fundamental abilities had also improved enormously!

"Did you release energy you had stored beforehand? Looks like your ability is the same type as mine!"

This discovery delighted Esdeath even more. She silently memorized Iori's ability to become intangible and evade the Ice Knights, but her hands did not slow in the slightest. More bold and open than most men, she continuously attacked Iori with sweeping swordsmanship.

Iori refused to give even an inch. The two stood in place and clashed repeatedly at speeds beyond the naked eye. In only a few breaths, they had exchanged dozens of moves. The bursting wind pressure easily sliced through the sturdy ice walls, producing shrill howls like the cries of ghosts.

Clang—boom!

The collision of their full-power strikes sent them both flying back, while the intersecting sword pressure directly cleaved an ice peak in two.

The enormous iceberg toppled over. The separated pair met each other's eyes, only for the iceberg to block their sight the next instant—

Iori remained as calm as ever, but Esdeath was swallowed by shadow.

"Why... no, I'm the strongest!"

During that seemingly even battle, Esdeath had vaguely sensed something. Yet she was unwilling to admit it. As though trying to encourage herself, she shouted, then flung back her ice-blue hair and struck the side of the iceberg with a spinning kick.

That blow was like the first domino tile. Countless cracks instantly spread across the entire iceberg, which shattered with a thunderous boom into innumerable sharp spikes. Like an impenetrable torrential downpour, they completely covered the space around Iori!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The dense ice spikes "passed through" him without even a second's pause. Iori stood still the entire time, as though he were merely an illusion. Every inch of his body continuously shifted between spirit particles and spirit form, and he suffered no harm whatsoever.

But he also knew that this was far from Esdeath's final trump card.

Sure enough, the ground beneath their feet began to tremble the next moment. Massive Ice Walls rose from the earth one after another, towering like mountain peaks. An icy dome like the heavens even formed overhead, obscuring the sky.

Centered on Iori and Esdeath, a radius of three hundred meters had been transformed into a completely sealed Ice Fortress!

"Though I don't know what sort of magical trick you used, since our weapons can clash, you must possess a physical form. You are merely difficult to touch, like mist."

Esdeath was certain of victory. "In that case, I'll have to build you a cage you cannot escape from!

"I will freeze the very atmosphere. Whether you are a ghost or a phantom, you will sleep forever in this enormous tomb!"

"...Your luck is bad."

Iori sighed softly. "Your compatibility with me is truly terrible."

"Isn't it a little late for regrets?" Esdeath revealed a sadistic smile. "Trying to provoke me with such nonsense? You should have prepared yourself for this long ago!"

"No, I mean your luck is bad, and..."

Iori lifted his eyelids. Beneath his disheveled bangs, his black eyes were revealed as he gave her a calm glance.

"When did you develop the illusion that you would win?"

—Calm

The sword tip, gleaming with a mercury-like sheen, touched the ice. Like a breeze rippling across a lake, faint waves rapidly spread outward, sweeping across the ground and the surrounding Ice Walls in the blink of an eye before finally converging at a single point on the dome—

Drip~

Esdeath's thoughts blurred. It was as though every idea in her mind had been wiped away. A momentary look of confusion flashed across her face, but the instinct for slaughter embedded deep in her subconscious immediately brought her back to her senses.

In her shock, the scenery around her had already changed drastically. The smooth ice reflected her and Iori's figures, while countless reflections overlapped in every direction, as though she had stepped into a kaleidoscope. It was dazzling and disorienting.

Naturally, she would not be deceived by mere visual effects. What truly unsettled her was this:

The solid ice that should have been completely under her control now seemed to be covered by something, making her perception of it vague and hazy.

For someone as domineering as her, this sensation of being turned from master into guest was profoundly unsettling!

"What are you looking at?"

A calm voice sounded very close by!

Esdeath suddenly raised her head and saw Iori standing only three meters in front of her!

Whoosh!

With a flash, the Huntress leaped backward ten meters. Her right hand tightly gripped her saber, and her eyes fixed on Iori, refusing to miss even the slightest movement.

Yet unexpectedly, Iori did not attack while she was distracted. He let her escape his attack range without making any move to stop her from beginning to end.

He merely asked calmly, "Why did you retreat?"

"—!"

"If you want to kill me for certain, then you should approach and bring down your blade, instead of fleeing without thinking like a rabbit."

Esdeath's eyes widened, her pupils trembling slightly. Her lovely face remained expressionless, yet it was as though something deep inside her had been profoundly shaken.

"I... fled?"

"Feeling fear at the approach of a powerful enemy and allowing your body to act upon the instinct to survive—that is what is called 'running away.'

"There is no need to feel ashamed of it. Humans fear powerful enemies and thus drive themselves forward. That is the most primitive force of progress.

"Rather, you should be happy about it. As the 'strongest,' it has been a long time since you felt fear, and a long time since you sought a higher realm under the stimulation of instinct, hasn't it?"

"...What utter nonsense!"

The Ice Queen clenched her teeth and revealed a savage smile like a beast's. "I—I could never be ruled by fear! On the contrary, I am the one who has conquered everyone's fear!

"A temporary retreat is for a better advance. Only by widening the distance can I shoot you down!"

She spread her hands, and pale-white spears appeared between them. The Ice Queen threw them with all her strength, instantly piercing ring after ring of transparent ripples through the atmosphere!

"Distance only has meaning in an evenly matched fight. Between you and me, distance has no meaning.

"Look, if I do this—"

Allowing the spear to "pass" through his head, Iori used Flash Step to appear before Esdeath, extending the joined fingers of his left hand toward her chest like a blade.

"My hand would almost immediately reach your heart."

Clang!

A cold glint flashed. The saber had barely been raised before it was suppressed by the Heavenly Cloud Sword.

Bang!

His left hand swept through the air, a strand of white light wrapped around his blade fingers and tracing a crescent-like arc, knocking away every sharp ice spike attacking from her blind spot.

"Wh—" Esdeath's mind shook again and again.

Why... this man was not so powerful that she could only look up at him, but why... from the beginning until now, had she never truly been able to touch him? It was as though she was not fighting someone real, but an imagined reflection in water!

"Useless~"

Iori's eyes were as still as an ancient well, as though nothing could possibly surprise him.

"Within this domain, none of your actions are secret. Your breathing, the flow of your blood, the contraction and relaxation of your muscles... no change can escape my eyes.

"For example, your hand is trembling."

Trembling? Me?

Esdeath blankly looked at the right hand gripping her saber. Sure enough, she discovered a tiny, almost imperceptible tremor. It was so absurd that she nearly wanted to laugh.

Since childhood, she had lived in a cruel environment where the strong devoured the weak. To her, this world was a massive hunting ground—either hunt others, or become prey!

She had brushed past Bleach countless times, yet now she was trembling before an enemy!

Ha...

"...Hahaha... Hahahaha!!!"

Her heart pounded, her blood seemed to flow backward, and powerful energy erupted from the woman's body, engulfing everything around her with tangible force. Even the invisible air seemed to freeze solid.

And this was only the prelude. An even more violent wave of energy suddenly erupted—

"Too slow."

Iori remained utterly composed. Just as he had said, nothing within the domain could escape his eyes, including the path of that icy energy flowing through Esdeath's body.

No matter how fast a technique was, as long as it required the steps of flowing, gathering, and releasing, the time it took could never be zero!

Not to mention... Esdeath's preparation process was far too lengthy~

—Clear

Crack!

The ice mirrors shattered. The towering walls were cut in half, countless cracks appeared in the frozen atmosphere, and then the air began to flow again.

The Queen awoke as though from a dream. In a daze, she fell to her knees upon the freezing ice, her long hair slipping down and spreading out like beautiful tassels...

Chapter 66: He Beat Esdeath to Her Knees—

Drip... drip... drip...

Blood flowed from a shallow wound on her slender, fair neck. It soaked along her arm into her military uniform, then gathered at her fingertips before finally falling, landing on the ice and instantly solidifying into rolling little beads.

Esdeath's expression was blank. She seemed unwilling to accept what was before her, but helplessly, she could not escape the weight of reality and gradually realized the fact that she was still alive.

"I... didn't die?"

She reached out and touched the wound on her neck. Though the location was dangerous, it was not cut deeply enough to sever her windpipe or artery.

Did he miss?

No. That sword strike had been strange and precise. It possessed enough overwhelming force to cut through the entire ice wall, yet it had only grazed her neck... calling that a coincidence would be far too forced. It could only have been intentional, controlled by Iori to spare her life.

As for why Iori had done so... Esdeath did not yet know.

When the Ice Queen came back to her senses, the cold energy within her body automatically circulated, instantly covering the wound with a layer of frost and stopping the blood loss in a rather crude manner.

But when she touched her neck, she felt that something was wrong. She instinctively reached behind her, only to grab empty air. Upon turning around, she discovered that her beautiful ice-blue hair had all been cut off and scattered across the ice. What remained was only somewhere between shoulder-length and ear-length.

Of course, Esdeath was no ordinary woman and did not care that much about her hairstyle. She was more concerned with another question, and her train of thought was somewhat unusual:

"You didn't kill me... Are you looking down on me?!"

"..." Iori's brow twitched, and he revealed a half-smiling expression, unsure how to answer for a moment.

In Esdeath's eyes, it was only natural for the strong to trample the weak, and equally natural to kill one's opponent in battle. As for herself, if she defeated an opponent and spared their life, she would definitely interrogate and torture them physically and mentally, completely shattering their will until they became dogs capable only of wagging their tails and begging for mercy.

Judging others by herself, she did not consider surviving to be any kind of good fortune.

When she thought of the criminals whose personalities had collapsed under her tortures, and considered the possibility that she might become like them—

Hiss!

Even though Esdeath had great confidence in her willpower and believed she would never be defeated by physical torture, the mere thought of that possibility sent a chill through her.