The Absolute Beings' Clash
I couldn't tear my eyes away for even a second. The cataclysmic collision unfolding between two absolute beings was on a scale that could reshape heaven and earth. The concept of Death wielded by the Death King and the Freezing commanded by the Ice Queen clashed with ferocious intensity, ultimately shattering even parts of the very framework that composed this world.
If he had been caught between them, could he have endured even a single blow? Even if he wrapped himself in the concept he'd awakened upon becoming a transcendent using every ounce of his power, Campbell couldn't easily guarantee his survival. What was even more astonishing was that this clash wasn't even at full strength—it was nothing more than a simple tasting round, a preliminary skirmish.
The attack the Ice Queen had unleashed was merely the residual force of power she couldn't fully suppress despite endlessly restraining her Ebon. And the Death King blocking it showed not the slightest hint of difficulty or hardship on his face. A battle conducted while both sides deliberately held back their full strength.
Campbell swallowed dryly as he watched their fight from behind, newly realizing just how lucky he'd been when he'd approached the princess in the past.
"Are we doing more?"
The castle, half-collapsed with blood-red spears embedded throughout its structure. Paradoxically, these very spears that had destroyed the castle were now serving as the pillars keeping what remained of it standing. If the Death King were to withdraw these blood spears, wouldn't this frozen castle lose all ability to function as a building?
At the very top of that castle, at the spot where they stood, the man who had finally descended after planting his feet looked at them with ominously flickering purple eyes and asked the question. No, more precisely, he completely ignored Campbell's very existence and stared solely at the Ice Queen, Rion Tyrfing, before him.
"I'm sorry. This isn't something I can choose of my own will."
"Bullshit. Looking at the guy standing quietly behind you, it seems like you can control it just fine."
"That's not something I can do of my own will either."
"This is ridiculous. Seriously."
To think an absolute being would be helplessly swayed by her own power. As he'd felt earlier, it was utterly absurd.
"How the hell did someone like you end up awakening such power?"
"Right? I don't understand why I was born with this cursed Ebon either."
If only she hadn't awakened her Ebon at all. Or if she'd awakened it even a little weaker. Then she would have lived an ordinary life like everyone else, instead of being trapped in this frozen prison.
Kain nodded with an indifferent expression as he watched her make a bitter face at that fact.
"Well, fine. If that's what you want, let's see this through to the end."
There were two main ways to escape the influence of the Ice Queen Rion Tyrfing's random Ebon rampage. The first was to be acknowledged deep in her heart as an existence completely harmless to her, like Campbell. The second was to be deeply convinced that she had no choice but to allow approach no matter what means were used.
Of course, what Kain chose was the latter.
Clang!
The moment Kain finished speaking, an ice bullet flew toward him. Causality reversed—the result occurring before the cause. The bullet that skipped all processes struck him squarely at point-blank range before it had even been created. An ice bullet flying at a speed converging on zero seconds. The kinetic energy contained within it approached the speed of light, and thus its physical destructive power was so immense it surpassed most concepts.
"Tsk."
The clear increase in magical output compared to before. Kain, who had turned his blood into gas and wrapped the King of Blood around his body like a whip to block the ice bullet, frowned. To convince the opponent that he was an existence beyond their control. Unlike the method of making them understand he was harmless, this approach pushed the opponent's trauma to its limit. It was a method of forcibly triggering stress beyond the threshold and flaunting his presence.
That's why he'd expected that the closer he got, the more fiercely she would resist no matter how much the Ice Queen suppressed her Ebon's output. But this was a pathetically poor display of control, far beyond what he'd anticipated. Or had she let go of the reins on her Ebon that she'd been suppressing to the maximum after seeing his skill and letting her guard down?
Crack.
Freezing spread from the ice bullet as its starting point. In the blink of an eye, the space froze solid, completely halting the functions of the King of Blood at that spot. It began with one shot. Then two. Before he knew it, ten, a hundred, a thousand. The endlessly multiplying ice bullets continued to strike the spot where Kain stood. He knocked them away one by one with the King of Blood, but there were simply too many.
Kwaaaaaang!
So before the King of Blood could be breached, he launched a counterattack first. The blood spears that had pierced through the entire frozen castle. Thorn-like spikes of blood extended from their pillars, piercing through the frozen castle's interior like a spiderweb. The King of Blood shattered the frozen castle into pieces as if refusing to tolerate its remaining form. The spread of those spikes flew toward where the Ice Queen stood without exception.
"......"
The collapsing ceiling. The ice crystals scattered like dust around Rion twisted the trajectories of the approaching blood spikes by force. The red blood twisted wildly around her and slammed into the walls and floor everywhere. But it didn't stop there—more blood spikes bursting from the sides of the original ones. What had started as dots had already spread into lines and surfaces, completely covering Rion's field of vision in crimson.
Watching this, Rion realized it too late. That this attack was simply meant to block her sight.
'This way, that annoying little trick won't work anymore.'
The reason the Ice Queen's ice bullets could produce such rapid results was because the information her eyes captured was directly converted into outcomes. Blocking her vision wouldn't prevent her from detecting an opponent's position, but the important thing was that in the process, the Ice Queen would become aware of the opponent's location. The moment an unconscious attack turned into a conscious one, the Ice Queen would be given time to interfere with her own Ebon.
Therefore, if the Ice Queen truly wanted to converse with him, blocking her vision now would ensure that the enemy's bullets would no longer fly toward him.
Just as Kain had predicted, the moment her vision was obscured, the ice bullets died down as if it had all been a lie.
Tadat!
At the same time, Kain's body shot forward. Using the power of the King of Blood, he rapidly accelerated the blood existing within his own body. He moderately adjusted the black magic that would originally have been a form of curse, drawing out performance similar to an extreme form of reinforcement magic.
"......"
Had she heard him approaching? Though she couldn't aim with bullet-like precision, she seemed to think she could at least prevent him from getting close. An ice wall rose between them, once again severing the space.
A divided hierarchy. Kain stared directly at the phenomenon and reached his hand toward a certain spot.
Crunch.
When he manipulated death, the ice that the Ice Queen had piled up was easily crushed as if it were soft, melted clay. Dark-dimensional mana penetrated through the gap. A passage formed between the two spaces the Ice Queen had isolated, and as if to prove its contamination level, the sky of the space where the Ice Queen stood turned pitch black like Kain's Inner World.
"Ugh."
Before the Ice Queen could do anything else, something penetrated into her mind. The curse of the Underworld that Charon the Boatman had learned while guarding the river of the dead. It eroded the Ice Queen's mind. The result was a very brief moment of rigidity in her. At the same time, the ground she stood on shattered, and the frozen corpses that had sunk into the abyss along with the appearance of the King of Blood all sprang up at once, grabbing her ankles.
It looked like the desperate screams of the dead trying to drag the one who had killed them down to the bottom of hell. Her pupils shook violently at the horrifying behavior of them grabbing her ankles and climbing up.
"You really are kind yet cruel, Death King."
The domination of vision through the King of Blood. And the brain rigidity caused by curse magic. The Death King's current movements were purely focused on subduing the Ice Queen. Yet even so, he was pushing her trauma to its limit. He deliberately exploited her guilt by using the citizens of the metropolis she had killed. Even though there was no need to bring them into this fight.
Whoosh!
Under the black sky, a vision stained red with blood. Kain, who had broken through it, looked at Rion as his purple eyes flickered.
"Can you really handle this?"
"That's not something for you to worry about."
What was this rookie who couldn't even properly control her own power worrying about? How arrogant.
"......"
His eyes hadn't changed even slightly from the start of the fight until now. As if this level posed not even the slightest risk. As if he just wanted to quickly end this annoying clown act. The emotion underlying those seemingly indifferent eyes was nothing but profound annoyance and irritation.
Rather, that gaze gave Rion a sense of relief. It seemed like her opponent truly didn't think anything of her.
'It'll be fine.'
She recalled once more the all-purpose phrase Campbell had used. And with clear eyes, she stared directly at Kain's ominously flickering purple gaze. As the Death King's hand reached out while the frozen corpses bound her, a gentle smile formed on her lips.
And the world the Ice Queen had created began to collapse.
Her Ebon, which built worlds with her own power and opened the act of creation, declared the end of the world she had made. All data of everything that had entered the interior was forcibly erased according to the creator's will. A miracle that directly interfered with the fragments of the world and transcended providence. The power that intentionally caused such a thing was truly worthy of the title of absolute being.
Rumble.
But even that didn't work on her opponent. What surged from beyond the thickly spread blood was pure white bone. The King of Bones, compiled from all manner of things—reality and fiction, legends and myths—rushed toward the collapsing world with an unpleasant clattering sound.
The most basic and fundamental function of bones is to construct form. The sharply forged bones dug into the collapsing world. They created a new framework for a world that had lost its core. The King of Bones that existed alone, supporting a single world like the Atlas of myth. And from within that pile of bones, a hand shot out and roughly grabbed the Ice Queen's face.
"Stop being so annoying and just die already."
He paid no attention to the fingertips freezing upon contact. Amidst the countless pile of bones and the thickly spread blood, he appeared as the king who literally wore death. The death sentence handed down under the black sky became a powerful curse that drove into her heart like a stake.
It was, so to speak, a verbal command. An absolute order that caused all things to occur through words alone.
Crunch.
And something in her mind shattered into pieces like paper burned by fire. Her head felt refreshingly clear. Like waking up from a deep sleep.
"And this is the price for annoying me."
But before she could even fully register that pleasant sensation, a voice rang out and her head was shoved backward with tremendous force. The acceleration increasing due to inertia. Before she could stop the Death King's action despite feeling the ominous intent, something hard collided first with the back of her head.
Kwaang!
The back of her head slammed into the wall of bone that had been erected behind her like a barrier, producing a rather refreshing sound that echoed loudly in all directions. An incredibly satisfying sound. At the same time, the stinging pain caused tears to well up beneath the Ice Queen's transparent eyes.
"Hmph."
The tears of a beauty that would soften any man's heart. But whether he wasn't a man or simply had no heart, Kain snorted and casually ignored those tears.
He might forget favors, but he would never forget grudges no matter how trivial. Kain's first principle of action. Even an Ice Queen who reigned as an absolute being in this world could never be an exception to it.