"Of course I understand. Holding nothing back is your form of respect. Otherwise, you wouldn't bear the Signet of Ouroboros." Mei continued to provoke him.
If she had sought out any other Flame-Chaser, her plan would have had a ninety-nine percent chance of failing.
But if she sought out Chakravartin, it would succeed one hundred percent of the time.
"Fine. As you wish. It's been far too long since I personally killed a Herrscher. Go on, I'll give you plenty of time. Think of a hundred ways to save your own life!"
"Then die without regrets!!!"
It had gone even more smoothly than she had imagined. Mei could already feel Chakravartin's killing intent nearly taking physical form.
"The location? Here?"
"Here? It's too fragile. Perhaps it suits you, but it isn't worthy of me!"
His fury was difficult to suppress. Chakravartin's voice began to roar, ready to erupt at any moment.
"Herrscher, do everything you can to reach the deepest part of Elysian Realm. Even if you have to crawl, crawl your way there. Otherwise, you won't even be qualified to die by my hand!"
Pardofelis: "He's mad, he's mad. Brother Jie is really mad this time. Sister Mei, you'd better go a little deeper. Don't let him burn all the way over here."
The last time Pardo had seen Chakravartin this angry, she remembered, had been when he faced Apponia.
That expression of his—wanting to kill her but being unable to kill Apponia, then getting so enraged by her attempts to counsel him—was exactly the same as it was now.
Theresa: "Pardo, aren't you being a little disloyal?"
Pardofelis: "Loyalty only matters if you stay alive! Sister Mei, with this little body of mine, I can't afford to provoke anyone!"
Himeko Murata: "I'm curious. When Chakravartin watches this from a third-person perspective, will he still lose control like he did in the footage?"
Elysia: "Then let's invite our warm and hospitable Chakravartin to speak."
Chakravartin: "Boring. But if you need a place to bury your bones, if you want a swift release from your miserable lives, I'd be happy to..."
Elysia: "All right, that concludes Chakravartin's remarks. It seems he won't be getting angry."
Theresa: "What? You call that not angry?"
The Headmistress nearly thought she had misheard. Chakravartin's tone just now had been like dry kindling, ready to ignite at any moment.
And they were saying he wasn't angry?
Kiana: "If that's not anger, I'll eat the two chili peppers in my hand."
Bronya: "Kiana, just say you want a snack!"
Elysia: "You've really misunderstood him. I've said it before: Chakravartin is very warm and hospitable... Well, only the warm part is true, but he really is a very kind person."
Kiana: "I don't believe it, unless..."
Boom!!!
Before the airhead could finish speaking, a blaze suddenly erupted in the kitchen, nearly scorching her ahoge.
Then came the sounds of pots, pans, and dishes being knocked over, followed by appliances shorting out.
By the time the violent explosion rang out, the kitchen was a complete mess, with only a pressure cooker blown onto the ceiling remaining.
The extent of the Kaslana girl's devastation of kitchens was plain to see.
Raiden Mei: "Ki-a-na!! I told you not to get distracted while cooking! Now the kitchen has to be renovated again."
Kiana: "Mei, I was worried Chakravartin would bully you, so I kept watching!"
Theresa: "Niece, do you think saying that will get you off the hook? The repair costs are coming out of your allowance."
Kiana: "No, Auntie!"
Only now did Kiana understand just how vicious the system's punishment this time was.
Skipping dinner was one thing, but docking her allowance too? It was simply inhumane!
In the footage, Raiden Mei arrived at The Deep, the place where Chakravartin had once served as the final trial.
And Chakravartin had long been waiting for her there.
"Too slow, Herrscher."
"I thought you would need more time to warm up. After all, you've never fought a Herrscher from the next era before. Perhaps they're different from what you imagined."
"Oh? Easier, you mean?"
Chakravartin sneered, and his furious tone suddenly returned to normal.
"How much longer are you going to keep acting, Herrscher? Everyone thinks I'm insane, but no one thinks I'm stupid. I don't care what your goal is."
Slaughter, battle, burn everything to ashes!
No matter what Mei's purpose was, the enraged Chakravartin had no interest in it. All he wanted was an enjoyable slaughter.
"Now, The Deep you were so desperate to reach is right here. You got what you wanted. It's time to pay the price!"
"I know. You've been waiting for this moment too." Raiden Mei took up her stance, wary that Chakravartin might launch another sudden attack like last time.
Yet the attack she expected never came. Instead, crazed laughter rang in Mei's ears.
"Ha ha ha ha! My rage has missed its mark for far too long, far too long!"
"Since you want him to appear here again, then try to bear the burden with every ounce of your strength! Enough nonsense, come!"
"Step forward. Walk toward death. Walk toward—me!!!"
Inward or outward, whoever he encountered, he killed!
Scorching flames surged and burned, falling like meteors to sear the earth.
Chakravartin stood where he was. Before he even made a move, the temperature in The Deep shot upward. The blazing heat melted the ground, as though they stood inside a volcano on the verge of erupting.
Raiden Mei refused to be outdone. She drew the katana at her waist, and thunder echoed through the sky.
For a time, the two fought on equal footing.
Ouroboros's Hunt
Kiana: "Wow, wow, wow! Amazing, amazing! This is practically a battle between immortals!"
Bronya: "After Sister Mei went to World Serpent, she became so much stronger. She was nowhere near this strong when she fought that idiot Kiana on the rooftop last time."
There was no need to question Chakravartin's strength. He was the sixth Flame-Chaser, and the one most fond of battle.
Lava, extreme heat, burning down landmarks—he brought them up at the drop of a hat.
After witnessing Kevin shatter a Divine Key with a single slap, no one was particularly shocked by the strength Chakravartin displayed.
Raiden Mei was the real surprise. No one had expected her to grow so quickly that she could already trade blows with Chakravartin.
Raiden Mei: "I was actually that amazing?"
Mei was equally stunned—if anything, she was the most stunned of all.
Back at St. Freya Academy, she had just been an ordinary housewife who cooked. How had she become so powerful the moment she went to World Serpent?
Elysia: "Look, Mei and Chakravartin are evenly matched in the footage, and they've started saying some cringey lines again."
Theresa: "Roar, Jigokurou!"
Kiana: "Do you think the rumbling of the heavens alone is enough?!"
Pardofelis: "Let me teach you the real reason thunder makes people fear it!"
Raiden Mei: "Ahem. Keep it down, all of you."
She had been so powerful that she had even summoned Jigokurou and fought Chakravartin to a standstill, all while shouting cringey lines.
Mei felt a little embarrassed herself.
Sometimes, being too powerful was a burden too!
Kiana: "Amazing, amazing! Mei really is the best!"
Pardofelis: "After all, Elysian Realm is where World Serpent executives undergo their trials. If Sister Mei didn't have some skill, Boss Kevin definitely wouldn't have let her in."
Theresa: "I get it. After all, not everyone who goes in comes back alive, especially the unlucky ones who encounter Chakravartin as their final trial."
Chakravartin: "The weak have no right to beg to leave alive by my hand."
Kiana: "You there, sixth Flame-Chaser, I advise you not to get cocky. Mei can already fight you evenly. In a few days, she'll definitely pin you to the ground and pound you."
Pardofelis: "?!!"
Elysia: "Uh... are you serious?"
Pardo and Elysia both turned to look at the airhead, wearing expressions that said this child did not seem particularly bright.
Chakravartin: "Strength? Ha ha ha ha! You actually think this is my strength? Ha ha ha! Those who can't even survive the warm-up have no chance to witness my true rage, much less earn the right to be hunted by me!!!"
Theresa: "Holy shit, Chakravartin, are you saying you haven't even seriously fought yet?"
Elysia: "That's right. Chakravartin is a Flame-Chaser, after all. How could the destruction caused by his battles amount to only this?"
Pardofelis: "No, no. If Brother Jie goes all out and unleashes his final strike, people will die, they'll die... Sister Mei, you'll definitely die!"
Raiden Mei: "This was only a warm-up?!"
The tiny bit of confidence Raiden Mei had just built up instantly deflated.
She had thought she was finally rising to prominence, capable of casually bullying a few weak Herrschers. She never expected the gap between herself and the Flame-Chasers to be this vast.
Wait, she had seemed a little too arrogant when she was saying those cringey lines just now. Would Chakravartin kill her outright in a fit of rage?
And in the footage, as the battle continued, Chakravartin acknowledged that Mei was worthy of being personally killed by him. At last, he began to unleash his power.
"Come, Herrscher. Throw yourself into the crimson flames with me. Let me see who will be the first to be... burned away without a trace!!"
"Run! Burn every place you could possibly flee to until nothing remains!"
"I am the approaching ruin. I am the end!!!"
The blazing flames churned. Chakravartin's rage reduced everything it touched to ash, and Raiden Mei, who had still been able to resist, was instantly routed.
Pardofelis: "She can't win. Sister Mei really can't win. Brother Jie is serious now!"
Raiden Mei: "Wait, isn't this way too exaggerated? Are the trials for World Serpent executives really this suicidal?"
Mei finally understood. What trial did she need? What World Serpent executive did she need to become?
If someone ran into the hotheaded Chakravartin as their final trial, there was not much difference between that and being cremated on the spot.
At least the latter would leave a prettier corpse.
Kiana: "Are these trials meant to clear out spies or something? Whoever meets Chakravartin dies."
Pardofelis: "Uh, normally, as long as your luck isn't especially bad, you won't meet Brother Jie. And even if you do meet him, the situation won't be this extreme. Sister Mei's strength would definitely be enough to pass."
Elysia: "But if someone deliberately provokes Chakravartin, then that may not be the case."
Like Raiden Mei right now. She was dancing in a minefield—and had even danced straight into a reactor.
In the footage, Chakravartin went all out. Raiden Mei was quickly defeated and collapsed onto the ground. There was still a vast gap between them.
"That is all you are. You remind me of the first Herrscher I tore apart. She died too quickly. She failed to entertain me, and she never had time to despair."
Flames covered Chakravartin's entire body, making him look like a demon.
"I'll give you a chance. Leave your last words."
"So you don't intend to stop here?" Mei asked.
"Too late. If you wanted to reach that place, you should not have come looking for me. As far as I'm concerned, everything must come to an end, and there is only one way for that to happen."
"My last words... one day, I will speak them. But not now."
Raiden Mei lay on the ground, afraid of missing even the smallest detail.
Apponia had predicted that she would die ten days later. How would this certain death be resolved? Would her prophecy come true?
The truth lay in Chakravartin's next reaction.
"Ha ha ha, good. After today, this place will cease to exist along with you. Who will be buried with whom? Let's prove it!"
The air became scorching once more, and Chakravartin had already raised his hand.
If she was hit, then no matter how one looked at it, Mei would be [annihilated] without any suspense.
Before you continue