The Power of Two Blades!

"D-Dead?" Natsu stared blankly at the billowing dust, utterly dazed as he muttered to himself.

"Hmph, stop putting on an act!" Holding a blade in each hand and floating in midair, Achill fixed a cold gaze on the dust-filled area. His eyes were like unsheathed swords, radiating chilling light as though they could pierce through the dust itself. With a cold snort, he said slowly, "You shouldn't be capable of only this much. What, still unwilling to come out? Fine! Since you're so unwilling to show yourself, then—"

"Die in there!!!" With that, Achill viciously thrust Sode no Shirayuki in his right hand at the empty space ahead. Smiling coldly, he growled, "Some no Mai, Hakuren—"

"Whoosh—" In an instant, a biting white torrent of cold surged from Sode no Shirayuki's tip! In the blink of an eye, it froze everything within twenty meters ahead!

"Crack—" With a sharp explosion, a frost-covered figure broke free from the ice in a sorry state! It was Ultear—

"Damn it! I underestimated this guy!!!" Ultear swiftly used magic power to dispel the freezing aura clinging to her body. Even so, some of that chill had already penetrated deep into her body! Suppressing and erasing the cold invading her body with her own ice magic, Ultear swept a grim gaze over Achill floating not far away, her eyes flashing with wariness!

This guy clearly wasn't ordinary!! Who would have thought that in just eight years, his strength had improved this much?!!

It seemed she could not afford to be careless any longer! In the battle ahead, she had to go all out!! Otherwise, even she might very well perish here!!!

At that thought, Ultear's expression immediately became incomparably serious.

"Oh? Finally planning to get serious? Heh, good! That's more like it!!" Seeing her look as though she faced a formidable enemy, Achill's lips curled into a cold arc. "But do you think that with your little bit of ability, even if you get completely serious, you'll have the slightest chance of defeating me? Huh?!! Don't take yourself too seriously!!!"

"Man in the shadows!!!!!!"

As soon as he spoke, he stomped fiercely through the air. His entire body shot toward Ultear like an arrow loosed from a bow, carrying a violent gale with it!!!

"I will never leave you even the slightest chance to turn this around! So you'd better—" Raising Benihime high in his left hand, Achill cruelly spat, "Die obediently!!!!!!"

"Shriek—" With a piercing cry, a blood-red blade of rosy light broke free from the sword and dove fiercely toward Ultear!!

"Boom—" The earth shook and the mountains trembled! The towering building Ultear had restored with magic was instantly cleaved cleanly in two!!!

"What's going on?!" Gray and Leo, who had been fighting fiercely atop the structure, were caught off guard and staggered to the ground! Grabbing hold of a stone statue as he felt the violently shaking building, Gray cried in horror, "An earthquake?! No!! It's collapsing!!!"

As soon as he finished speaking, another tremendous boom rang out. Amid another violent tremor, the entire building completely collapsed!!!

"Damn it! Don't look down on me!!!" Ultear no longer had any time to care about Deliora's resurrection ritual! Even if the building serving as the altar had collapsed, she could not spare it another thought! Her enemy was unimaginably powerful!! Her top priority now was to resolve the crisis on her side!

Ultear tossed out the crystal ball in her hand once more and shouted in a low voice, "Arc of Time—"

"Time Rain!!!"

As soon as she spoke, the crystal ball rapidly split apart and scattered! They all flew high into the sky, completely covering the air above Achill's head! Then, like a torrential downpour, they suddenly came crashing down!!!

"Hmph! A cheap trick! Crimson Haze Shield—" With one hand raised overhead, a round crimson shield instantly unfolded above Achill, blocking the rain of spheres falling from the sky! Achill mocked disdainfully, "Is this all you can do? What a disappointment—"

"Damn it!!! I told you—" Hearing the extreme contempt and mockery in his voice, Ultear's face darkened as though water might drip from it! Finally unable to endure it any longer, she screamed madly, "Don't look down on me! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!!!"

"Iced Make—" She extended her left hand and clenched her right into a fist, then smashed her hands together! Ultear's expression twisted as she roared, "Rose Garden!!!" The instant she spoke, a garden of ice roses formed entirely from dusky violet crystals spread across the entire battlefield! The blooming ice roses even stretched dozens of meters into the sky!!

To win this battle, Ultear had no choice but to grit her teeth and use even the ice-make magic she hated most! It could be said that she was truly giving this battle everything she had!!!

"Oh? Ice magic..." Watching the purple ice roses rapidly coil toward him, Achill's lips curved slightly into an exceptionally sinister smile. Just as Ultear's heart skipped a beat, Achill first rose higher to evade the ice roses' assault, then immediately lowered the Crimson Haze Shield from above his head and slammed it hard toward the ground below! He murmured eerily, "Bloom and shatter—"

"Benihime!!!"

"Creak, creak, creak, creak, creak, creak, creak!" A series of cracking sounds, like branches snapping, suddenly erupted from the Crimson Haze Shield in his hand! Dozens of crimson arrows split off from the shield and shot forth, taking all kinds of bizarre paths as they closed in on Ultear from every direction!

"Arc of Time!!!" With a fierce sweep of her hand, divine light flashing in her eyes, Ultear shouted, "Hyper-Time Perception!!!!" Hundreds of crystal balls immediately appeared around her, then crashed toward the blood-red arrows ripping through the air!

"Boom boom boom boom boom—" The crystal balls collided with the blood arrows, erupting in a series of deafening explosions! Shattered crystal balls and blood arrows scattered everywhere, making for a dazzling sight!

"S-So spectacular—" Natsu stared blankly at everything before him, deeply shaken by the battle between the two! Elsewhere, after defeating her opponent, Erza sensed the earth-shaking fight here and immediately rushed in this direction! As for Gray and Lucy, they were still locked in battle with Gray's senior apprentice and their opponent, unable to break away for the moment.

At the same time, while the crystal balls blocked the blood arrows, Ultear's hands moved rapidly as well!

"Iced Make—" Raising both hands toward the sky as though lifting something, Ultear cried out, "Lethal Rose!!!"

Suddenly, brilliant violet ice roses burst from the ground, wildly waving their countless sharp ice thorns as they surrounded Achill in the air from all directions!

"I told you it was a cheap trick!!!" A crimson blade of light instantly shredded all the ice roses lunging at him. Slowly raising the Zanpakutō in his right hand—Sode no Shirayuki—Achill said indifferently, "I may have forgotten to tell you: playing with ice in front of me—"

His figure flashed! Appearing at Ultear's side, Achill murmured impassively, "You're still too inexperienced!!!"

"Some no Mai, Tsukishiro—" With that, he lightly swung Sode no Shirayuki in his hand.

"Crash—" At her side, an enormous pillar of ice suddenly shot into the sky!!!

"Bastard!!!" Ultear only had time to curse once before her body was completely swallowed by the massive ice pillar!

"You lost..." Gazing at the figure within the ice pillar, Achill pronounced calmly. His tone was tranquil and indifferent, as if he had already known the outcome and was not surprised in the slightest.

In truth, that was indeed the case. After all, this time he had fought using two Zanpakutō at once! He had never even imagined doing something like this before, much less actually done it!! In the past, whenever he fought others, he would at most Requip a single Zanpakutō and end the battle. Perhaps he had occasionally encountered particularly powerful opponents, but even then, he had only used one Zanpakutō! At most, because the enemy was stronger, he would Requip a stronger Zanpakutō!

But this time, he had successively Requipped both Sode no Shirayuki and Benihime! On one hand, he wanted to test whether he could truly Requip two Zanpakutō at the same time for battle. On the other, it also proved just how powerful the masked person before him was!!

But so what if she was powerful? Facing Achill wielding two Zanpakutō, she still had no choice but to surrender! That was the gap! An absolute gap in strength!!

He had to admit, the feeling of using two Zanpakutō together—and that power—was truly astonishing!!!

"I advise you to give up all those pointless struggles..." Looking at the eyes within the ice pillar, filled with shock and unwillingness, and seeing that she still seemed to want to struggle, Achill said indifferently, "I'll give you a chance to repent sincerely. Tell me the exact location of the Tower of Paradise, and I'll allow your soul to remain in this world a little longer..."

"Gulp—" Natsu swallowed hard, staring wide-eyed at the scene before him as he unconsciously muttered, "S-So strong—"

Just who the hell was this guy?!! Natsu screamed inwardly. Why did he always feel like he had smelled this guy somewhere before?? Ah!!! He couldn't remember!!!

Natsu desperately scratched at his head.