Chapter 363
----------------------------------------------------------------- Translator: 8uhl Chapter: 363 Chapter Title: Did You Forget? -----------------------------------------------------------------
Boom! Kwang! Rumble!
A roar that swallowed even thunder reverberated through the sky, shaking the earth as if an earthquake had struck.
Blazing infernos surged skyward, only for massive waves like tsunamis to sweep them away. Space twisted and screamed, pierced by lightning that shattered sound itself.
It was hell itself.
A battlefield that would leave even battle-hardened veterans speechless.
The terrifying truth was that this chaos stemmed from a clash of fewer than a hundred fighters.
And even more horrifying: over 99% of this natural disaster was mere fallout from two women battling high above.
Ching!
One of those women.
Rose slashed through incoming flames with her sword, leaping through space.
The moment she vanished, Hasneti retreated like lightning and unleashed a torrent of fire on where she'd stood.
Rose, who'd crossed space to strike Hasneti, got caught in the fiery vortex instead.
Whoosh!
Flames hot enough to melt iron.
Yet Rose emerged unscathed.
She'd wrapped herself in a hazy aura that blocked the heat, then pursued Hasneti relentlessly.
Pop, pop, pop!
Her slender form blinked in and out of existence, her afterimages sharpening as she accelerated.
Each burst warped space, flipping truth and illusion to grant her mirage-like speed.
Tat!
But Hasneti slipped away.
Every wing flap summoned thunder and flames, her jagged, staccato movements.
Each beat faster than lightning; her abruptly shifting trajectory impossible to predict.
And even while widening the gap, Hasneti never stopped attacking Rose.
Kwang!
After her hand swept out.
Flames formed walls; fierce explosions ruptured clouds.
Dodge one, and a flash melted everything; an inverted bolt pierced the heavens.
Mountains crumbled in a single blow.
A power to incinerate armies in an instant.
Moving at terrifying speeds, unleashing two or three such attacks without delay—Hasneti was a living catastrophe.
The incarnation of destruction, reducing all to ash.
Bang! Boom!
Yet Rose endured the onslaught steadfastly.
Slipping through space to evade.
Erecting barriers to block.
Whipping her tail to deflect.
She pierced the firewall with every trick, closing in on Hasneti.
Her approach seemed unremarkable at first glance.
But it carried the inexorable weight of a tsunami grinding forward, sweeping all before it.
And Rose wasn't just taking it lying down.
『Seventy-Two Streams Martial Flow Sea Dragon Thirty-Two Forms』
Kwaaang!
The instant Rose thrust her sword.
Her form melted away.
And thirty-two colossal sea dragons erupted forth.
Though formed of water, each held power to topple buildings. Twisting into a helix, they formed a vortex.
Flames, lightning, infernos.
All devoured by immense hydraulic pressure. The dragon's dance inspired despair.
But Hasneti didn't even twitch.
She halted her evasion, clapping her palms before her chest.
『Seventy-Two Streams Martial Flow Violent Flame Eighteen Wheels』
Roar!
Right then.
Flame rings burst from behind Hasneti's wings, meshing like gears and spinning furiously.
The faster they spun.
The larger they swelled.
The heat skyrocketed.
After dozens of rotations.
The massive rings, now big enough to engulf a castle, blazed white and shot forward.
This was dragonization's terror.
Not only could she unleash an ultimate technique effortlessly—normally taxing even for princesses—but amplify its power outrageously.
A dragon wave surging like a tsunami over the land.
A fiery ring plummeting like the sun, scorching the sky.
Ultimate against ultimate.
The two colossal forces, capable of annihilating ten legions in one strike, collided.
Kwarung!
Kilimanjaro's peak formation crumbled entirely. A colossal storm birthed thick fog blanketing the heavens.
Vast waters clashing with superheated flames triggered a steam explosion.
When the clash ended.
Rose was hurled back.
Even as her thirty-two dragons vaporized, six surviving flame wheels engulfed her.
"Did you forget you can't beat me in firepower, Rose?"
A gap too vast for equal ultimates.
Hasneti took it as natural.
She was the Red Dragon Clan's princess—the pinnacle of destruction and annihilation among the Seven Dragon Society's clans.
"Did you forget, Hasneti?"
But then.
Hasneti's face hardened.
The moment Rose, reeling from the six wheels, seemed to melt away.
A calm voice and intense psionic burst from behind her.
"Who’s the strongest in a one-on-one in the Seven Dragon Society."
Her response was swift.
She shot forward, detonating behind her.
But Rose, fused with her sword, pierced even that inferno, slashing at Hasneti.
『Seventy-Two Streams Martial Flow Heavenly Escape Sword Art』
Pabababam!
"Kuh…!"
Hasneti countered Rose's sword momentum with hands wreathed in sun-like flames.
Sometimes slashing like a blade.
Sometimes blocking like a shield.
Sometimes shooting like arrows.
Wielding flames as weapons, her myriad techniques were fierce and flashy, leaving no openings.
But even her exquisite arts couldn't fully block Rose's flowing sword.
Slash!
Arm, flank, calf.
Deep wounds bloomed one after another, red droplets raining down.
Inevitable.
The Red Dragon Clan's prowess in wide-scale annihilation faltered in one-on-many compared to Green Dragon Clan.
Their ignition powers were too destructive for self-defense.
Unrivaled in offense.
Vulnerable in defense.
The Red Dragon Clan's weakness—the reason they weren't supreme.
A vivid gash on her sturdiest scaled tail proved it.
Against another princess.
Even against the Society's strongest, Charlotte, she wouldn't be this cornered.
The issue was her foe: Rose.
Black Dragons for group battles.
Green for one-vs-many.
Red for annihilation.
But for all-out frontal clashes, the Seven Dragon Society's best: Blue Dragon Clan.
Especially as princess, turning any scenario frontal via space movement—the strongest in one-on-one.
That was Rose.
Unless space movement was sealed.
No princess could guarantee victory over Rose in fair one-on-one.
Bam!
Yet Rose held no overwhelming edge.
Defensive frailty aside.
Even at favorable range.
A dragonized princess, battle-hardened like Hasneti, wasn't easily subdued.
Her attack power was the Society's apex.
Let distance reopen, get overwhelmed by firepower—even Rose could die in one hit.
Singed marks still stark on her proved it.
'The fight...'
'...will turn in an instant.'
Thus Rose sought to solidify her advantage.
Hasneti, bloodied, desperately parried to reopen distance for counter.
A fleeting moment.
When the foe showed an opening.
Seize victory without hesitation.
The crimson and azure princesses tangled midair, exchanging hundreds of blows in seconds.
Each clash vibrating space, fiery shards raining like meteors—the battle peaked.
Puk!
—An opening appeared.
A cold blade pierced hot flesh.
Boom, rumble!
While the two princesses waged earth-shaking war above.
On the ground, Spear Dragon Corps clashed fiercely with Flame Dragon Corps.
Even as each clan's elite, maintaining resonance with their princesses while fighting was no easy feat.
Yet they fought with all they had.
Their revered princess was in a deathmatch—they couldn't hold back.
But after the grueling battle.
The scales tipped.
"Guhk!"
"Cough!"
One by one.
As the fight dragged, Flame Dragon Corps began vomiting blood.
They weren't weaker than Spear Dragon Corps.
The issue was exhaustion.
After aiding Hasneti's dragonization during the Utopia raid, the entire corps collapsed, missing the victory feast.
They'd focused on recovery since.
But thrown back into war before full rest, aiding dragonization again—they hit their limit.
And signs of defeat weren't just theirs.
"I once heard a princess took a half-breed from another clan as her retainer."
"..."
"Thought it a whim... but seeing this skill at your age, I get it."
The knight in ornate armor.
Lukas, bloodied everywhere, sighed at his unkempt state.
Then spoke softly to his even more ragged, gasping foe.
"But this ends here."
"What'd you say?"
"Surrender. It's best for your princess too."
"Shut up...!"
The blonde beauty with beast ears and tail, Nadia, bellowed.
A feral howl.
But her body held no strength.
The Beast King's Physique—Hundred Beasts' ultimate secret art, modeled after princess dragonization—was powerful but burdensome.
Having drained vast stamina and psionics, she could fight no more.
Failure to fell Lukas early sealed her defeat.
She wasn't unskilled.
Lukas's masterful attrition defense shone.
With Flame Corps at limit too, his words rang true—the outcome was set.
Hasneti's movements had slowed sharply, plain to see.
The Seven Dragon Corps enabling princess dragonization were also their weakness.
Princesses keeping vassal elites was precisely to protect the Corps then.
'No...!'
Nadia gritted her teeth.
'I can't burden Her Highness!'
Hybrids meant nothing in Seven Dragons.
They inherited only the dominant clan's traits.
Yet Nadia, sole daughter of a Red Dragon noble house, took more Gold Dragon blood—branded a disgrace.
Only Hasneti saw her talent, making her retainer.
Some might call it tyrant-like power obsession.
To Nadia, she was savior and revered princess.
She couldn't let her lose because of her.
Not even at cost of life!
"Kyaaaaah!!!"
"Fool!"
Slash!
As if squeezing her last strength.
Nadia charged bodily.
To block her suicidal rush, Lukas had to strike her down.
The gash from shoulder across chest to gut was too deep—even for a vassal elite, fatal.
But Lukas cursed inwardly.
Just before felling Nadia.
He'd glimpsed a spear rocketing skyward like lightning.
Psionics heavily depleted from battle.
All space-movement power spent on that strike.
He couldn't block the sonic spear.
So he shouted.
"Your Highness, evade!"
Bang!
His earring comms still worked.
Rose, who'd just stabbed Hasneti's exposed shoulder, heard the warning and dodged the spear.
Because Rose was focused on Hasneti.
And it was a vassal elite's desperate, life-risking thrust.
The miraculous ambush failed.
But Nadia's resolve wasn't wasted.
It let Hasneti widen distance from Rose and seize a golden reversal chance.
Then her four horns glowed.
Hasneti unleashed the vast psionics she'd condensed ceaselessly since dragonizing.
『Seventy-Two Streams Martial Flow Solar Core Fusion』
Kugugugu!
Another sun.
Rose into the sky.