Immortal Body and Two-Hit Kill!!

"Crack, crack—" A string of crisp sounds rang out continuously from all around the ice pillar. Huge, glaring cracks began spreading across its surface. Then, with a loud bang, the upper half of the ice pillar suddenly snapped cleanly in two!

"Boom—" The broken section of the ice pillar crashed heavily onto the ground, shattering into countless tiny fragments and kicking up dust everywhere.

At this moment, the gigantic ice pillar that had once towered into the clouds was only half its original size, yet it still stood where it was! Even so, chunks of ice continued to crack off and fall. At this rate, the entire pillar would likely turn into a field of fragments within minutes!

"Come out already. Although I used ice to seal your movements, I did not suppress your ability to speak..." Achill gazed indifferently at Ultear within the ice pillar and said coldly, "And you had better not think you can fool my eyes with something as lowly as playing dead. With your abilities, even if I froze you completely, you should not have died so easily! Now, come out. Otherwise, when this entire ice pillar turns to fragments, your life will end along with it. You do not have much time left..."

At those words, Ultear's eyes trembled slightly. With great difficulty, she shifted her gaze and stared fixedly at the black-haired young man before her, Achill. Her eyes were filled with boundless hatred. Her lips quivered as she stiffly said, "Y-you bastard—"

"I suggest you avoid any excessive emotional fluctuations..." As if he had not seen the deep hatred in her eyes, Achill continued calmly, "Otherwise, I cannot guarantee that this ice pillar will not collapse ahead of time because your body temperature rises from getting agitated..."

"You—" Ultear's hatred grew even stronger, but she forcibly suppressed her emotions! She did not dare let her feelings fluctuate too intensely, afraid that her temperature would rise and cause the ice pillar to shatter and collapse prematurely!

"Now, where exactly is the Tower of Paradise?!" At this point, an intense light that outshone the moon and stars burst from Achill's eyes. He enunciated every word. "Do not try to deceive me. Before me, you—have—no—chance—of—escaping!!! And one last piece of advice—"

"You had better not cling to any unnecessary fantasies! No one can help you here! Nor can anyone hope to save you from my hands! So you had better behave yourself!!!"

Having finished his warning, Achill simply stared into Ultear's eyes and waited for her answer.

"..." Ultear fell silent. The faint glimmers of light that had still flickered in her eyes dimmed in an instant. Clearly, she had acknowledged Achill's words from the bottom of her heart. Under these circumstances, she truly had no chance of escaping!

Too strong! This man was simply too strong!! Whether in terms of power or the intelligence he had displayed just now, he was unimaginably formidable!!!

Just who was this man?! Ultear was filled with horror, her eyes brimming with wariness and fear. Could this terrifying person really be that ordinary little brat from eight years ago?! The one she could easily defeat with a sneak attack?!!!

Could she really defeat such a terrifying man?! Was it really possible?!!

She kept asking herself these questions. Her eyes were full of disbelief and profound shock! It could be said that Ultear's resolve had never wavered as violently as it did now! It was the kind of violent wavering born from utterly denying herself from the bottom of her heart!!!

"The Tower of Paradise is..." Her lips parted. With her resolve collapsing, Ultear instinctively prepared to reveal the Tower of Paradise's exact location. But just then—

"Rumble—" A deafening explosion suddenly erupted nearby!

The ground shook violently again and again! It felt as though an earthquake were about to strike!!

"Roar—" At the same time, an incomparably piercing, miserable howl came violently rolling over from afar!

A perfect opportunity!! Startled awake from her daze by that sudden sound, Ultear's previously shattered resolve immediately snapped back to awareness! Seeing that the terrifying man before her seemed to have been distracted by the noise in the distance, she was overjoyed! Seizing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity before it vanished, she shouted inwardly, Arc of Time!!!!!!

In an instant, the half of the ice pillar imprisoning her was accelerated by time magic and turned into a vast cloud of hazy vapor!

Without hesitation, the moment the ice pillar completely transformed into thick vapor, Ultear shot into the distance like an agile cheetah!

"What?!" Achill's expression changed sharply! His cold eyes pierced straight through the dense white mist formed by the vapor like two sharp swords! He stamped violently against the ground and flashed forward, intending to pursue Ultear in the direction she had fled!

"Ice Make: Rose Garden!!!"

A vast expanse of dazzling purple ice roses suddenly spread rapidly before him! The ice roses covered the heavens and earth, instantly spreading over a thousand meters ahead from both sides of the ground and blocking even the sky up to a hundred meters high!! They cut off Achill's pursuit route!

Before fleeing, Ultear had not forgotten to cast an ice-make spell behind her to block Achill's pursuit!

"Sing, Benihime!!!" His flight speed was indeed fast, but trying to go around it or fly over it would waste too much time! Even if it was not much time—perhaps even very little—in Achill's eyes, any amount of delay would give his opponent an opportunity to escape!

Thus, without the slightest hesitation, he slashed out amid a flash of red light, carving a massive opening through Ultear's Ice Make: Rose Garden! As he flew forward at top speed and kept Ultear's magical presence firmly locked with his perception, Achill coldly pronounced, "Give up!! You cannot escape!!!"

Achill was furious as well! His original plan had been to utterly suppress her with superior strength and establish his dominance, then completely break down her psychological defenses! Once he had accomplished those two steps, he could naturally and easily pry the Tower of Paradise's location from her mouth!

Yet this flawless plan, which had accounted for everything and was on the verge of succeeding, had suddenly been ruined by that strange cry from afar!! It left Achill exceptionally irritated—

Still, it was not really his fault. With such a sudden howl, violent tremors, and powerful magical fluctuations, anyone would have had their attention drawn toward it, right?! So he had instinctively glanced in that direction! Who could have imagined that the masked woman would seize that moment to flee?! It was truly frustrating...

Though he was furious, Achill was not worried at all. At his current flying speed, he estimated that he would catch up to her soon enough!

Just as he thought that, Achill's expression changed once more! He sensed that Ultear was actually heading toward the direction where the disturbance had come from?!!

Without time to think further, Achill accelerated again and raced ahead in pursuit!

Less than a minute after Achill left, Erza and Lucy finally came rushing over in a panic.

"What happened, Natsu?! What happened here just now?!" Erza asked anxiously. She had sensed an extremely powerful magical fluctuation from this area earlier! As she spoke, she scanned the battlefield. Judging from the environment, which had been utterly transformed beyond recognition, an earthshaking battle had clearly taken place here!

Lucy also looked at Natsu questioningly, though she kept glancing around at the surroundings. She was clearly stunned by how completely the area had changed!

"Huh? Ah! Lucy! Erza! I remember now!!" Natsu first froze instinctively, then suddenly seemed to recall something. He waved his arms around and shouted excitedly, "That guy's scent—I remember who that guy is now!!!"

"What do you mean, you remember who he is? What are you babbling about, Natsu?" Lucy asked with a puzzled expression.

"Natsu means the masked man in white who defeated the masked man in gray just now!" Happy explained, then looked expectantly at the excited Natsu and urged, "Natsu! Who exactly was that guy?! Have you really seen him before? Aye!"

"What do you mean, a masked man in gray and a masked man in white?!" Lucy was completely lost, countless question marks filling her eyes. Happy's thoroughly confusing explanation had utterly baffled her.

"That's right! We saw that person not long ago, Happy!" Seeing everyone looking at him, Natsu said smugly, "There's no mistake! That masked man in white was the one who killed Erigor with a single slash and took Lullaby away!!!"

"What?!! Y-you're sure it was him?!" Before the others could even process it, Erza was the first to rush forward. She grabbed Natsu by the neck and asked excitedly, "You didn't lie to me, did you? You didn't get the scent wrong?! Was it really the person who killed Erigor?! Answer me, Natsu!!!" As she spoke, her hands around Natsu's neck began shaking him vigorously.

"Hey, Erza..." Happy wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said calmly, "If you keep choking him, he'll die, aye..."

Beside them, Lucy nodded frantically.

"Uh—" Hearing that, Erza lowered her head and saw that Natsu was already foaming at the mouth from her grip and was nearly unconscious...

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

Gray had been fighting his senior disciple Leo with great enthusiasm when Deliora's seal was suddenly released!

Having broken free of its seal and revived once more, Deliora's strength truly far exceeded everyone's imagination! Neither Gray nor his senior disciple Leo was a match for the demon giant Deliora!

Just as Leo was preparing to imitate his master and use the forbidden magic Absolute Zero to seal Deliora again, a figure suddenly flashed over from afar! Judging by her utterly disheveled appearance, she seemed to be fleeing?!

"Hyper-Time Perception!!" This person was Ultear! The moment she saw the enormous rampaging demon Deliora in the distance, her face lit up with delight. Without time to consider anything else, she immediately launched a powerful spell at the rampaging Deliora!

That was right! She wanted to use Deliora to ensure her own safe escape!

Deliora was said to possess an immortal body! No matter how strong that man was, he presumably would not be able to break free from it anytime soon, Ultear thought.

Sure enough, just as she had expected, Deliora became even more berserk after being struck by the spell! It howled and attacked wildly in every direction! Achill, who had just caught up from behind, immediately became its primary target!

"Roar—" Swinging its massive fist, Deliora howled and charged fiercely at Achill!

"Get lost!!!" A vicious gleam flashed through Achill's eyes! He had absolutely no favorable feelings toward this thing that had obstructed him twice already! A flash of white light flickered in his hand as he returned Sode no Shirayuki to his Requip space. At the same time, a brand-new Zanpakutō appeared in his right hand! "Sting All Enemies to Death—"

"Suzumebachi!!!"

As soon as the words fell, a flash of light passed. The Zanpakutō in his right hand transformed into a sharp, lightweight golden finger guard marked with strange black patterns, which fitted over his right middle finger!

"Two-Hit Kill!!"

A cold, ruthless gleam flashed in his eyes. His figure vanished from where he stood, and when he reappeared, he was already behind Deliora. Without even looking at the unknown monster behind him, Achill continued chasing Ultear at full speed.

The instant Achill's figure disappeared into the distance, a large, bizarre black butterfly pattern suddenly appeared on Deliora's chest!

Just as Leo and Gray were both staring in confusion, Deliora suddenly let out an incomparably miserable howl!

"Roar—" Blackish-purple light abruptly flashed across the bee pattern on its chest, and Deliora exploded into endless nothingness! Only a gorgeous yet bizarre butterfly pattern remained in the air, glowing with faint purple light.

"Gasp—" Gray and Leo both could not help drawing sharp breaths! They stared in utter horror toward the direction where Achill had disappeared, then exchanged glances and saw disbelief in each other's eyes! They had clearly been terrified by the sight before them!

"Brother Nameless—" At the same time, Erza came running over from afar, shouting, with Lucy and Natsu following behind her.

"Brother Nameless..." But realizing that she had evidently arrived too late, Erza could only stare blankly in the direction Achill had vanished. She murmured, "Why? Why doesn't Brother Nameless want to see me? Why is that...?" A look of sorrow could not help appearing in her eyes.

"??" Natsu, Lucy, and Gray were all utterly confused. Looking at Erza, who had suddenly become despondent on her own, they clearly had no idea what was going on...