Chapter 364
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 364
Chapter Title: Because I Can't Give It Up.
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"……!"
Like cradling even a candle flame.
Hasneti, with her hands cupped together.
Rose's face hardened as she beheld the orb of light floating between them.
Of course, it was natural for the Red Dragon Princess to wield fire, and compared to the myriad flames she had commanded until now, this orb of light seemed so small it bordered on feeble.
Yet Rose tensed all the same, for she could sense the immense power contained within it.
Rose didn't know.
That the power Hasneti had drawn forth was the fruit of the Red Dragon Clan's research into nuclear fusion.
But she understood it instinctively.
No matter how small it appeared, this was undoubtedly a sun.
And she intuited.
That this sun was merely 'preparation,' and the moment Hasneti unleashed her true attack, this battle would be decided.
'How......?'
There was one thing she couldn't comprehend.
The state of Hasneti, who wielded that power.
Just as the Flame Dragon Corps had self-destructed from the aftereffects of repeatedly aiding dragonization, Hasneti surely hadn't recovered from her own battered body.
Yet in that condition, she had dragonized again.
Hasneti should have reached her limit long ago.
That was precisely why Rose had been confident she could subdue her without killing her.
Even if it meant fighting dirty, she didn't care.
For Rose, she would do anything to offer victory to Rimon.
Yet not only had Hasneti matched her evenly, but even as her resonance with the Flame Dragon Corps began to waver, she was wielding psionics of that magnitude.
It defied all predictions.
But there was no time to probe the reason.
Once that power fully formed, all her previous advantages would be overturned in an instant.
'Half-hearted attacks...... won't work.'
It was already too late to block.
Rushing recklessly at Hasneti, who had conjured an artificial sun, would only expose her own openings and invite a counterattack.
There was only one option left.
A head-on clash!
Decision made, Rose gripped her sword tightly and drew up her psionics.
Thump.
With every pounding of her heart, the psionics circulating through her body condensed and swelled repeatedly, surging rapidly.
More, more, more.
The overwhelming flow of psionics made even her dragonized flesh creak, her heart growing stifled.
But she didn't stop.
This wasn't enough.
She absolutely could not lose.
Even amid the agony of her veins threatening to burst, Rose compressed her psionics with all her might.
And Hasneti was doing the exact same, concentrating to her utmost limits.
"Hoo......"
Humm, huuumm.
With every breath, vast psionics leaked out, and the orb of light between her palms pulsed.
It was clearly the power of the sun.
Yet its radiance felt unstable and precarious, like a candle flame flickering in the wind.
It couldn't be helped.
To manifest an artificial sun—something that normally required extensive facilities and time—using only psionics was an feat only she could achieve.
Just maintaining and controlling this nuclear fusion had already pushed Hasneti to her limits.
Nevertheless, she continued pouring psionics into it, expanding the artificial sun's brilliance.
Her obsession with victory.
The warmth surging from her chest.
Above all, the feelings she had nurtured over ten long years.
These gave her the strength to focus her psionics even as her body burned like fire.
Rrrumble!
Huuuumm!
Perhaps due to the immense power concentrating.
Space warped around Rose, the air vibrating.
The air around Hasneti heated up, temperatures soaring by hundreds of degrees.
Yet neither Rose nor Hasneti.
Not even the Azure Dragon Corps or Flame Dragon Corps cared if their clothes burned or their skin tore.
They halted their fighting, focusing solely on resonating more deeply with their princess and psionics.
For they all knew.
Now, their individual victories or defeats meant nothing. This battle's outcome hinged on the two princesses' decisive moves.
And so everyone froze.
Even heaven and earth holding their breath.
The world, which had raged wildly moments before, suddenly fell into utter silence.
"Seventy-Two Martial Flows, Ten Absolute Techniques"
"七十二種武流 十絶技"
"Solar Nuclear Explosion"
"太陽核爆發"
⟨ Solar Nuclear Explosion ⟩
Fwosh!
The orb of light hovering between Hasneti's palms launched forth.
Its speed was so blinding it transcended leaving a trail, becoming a streak of pure flash hurtling toward Rose at near-lightspeed.
Rose didn't dodge.
Not because there was no time.
The orb's surface began roiling.
Its glow ignited in crimson and azure.
Above all, the colossal psionics erupting like an explosion alongside the light.
These told her it was impossible to evade or block.
Swish.
Gazing at the orb of light.
Rose swung her sword.
The blade tip traced a perfect circle.
Following its path flowed condensed psionics.
This ability, which intervened in space, twisted it with tremendous pressure, and the warped space generated its own pressure in response.
End becomes beginning, beginning becomes end—an endless paradox.
Within it, the pressure turned infinite.
Space lost itself.
Thus, when Rose's sword completed its flawless circle and the psionic compression peaked.
"Seventy-Two Martial Flows, Ten Absolute Techniques"
"七十二種武流 十絶技"
"Void Erosion Realm"
"空虛侵蝕界"
⟨ Void Erosion Realm ⟩
Crackle.
The orb of light flying toward Rose suddenly slowed.
Or so it seemed.
But the orb hadn't slowed. It simply couldn't reach Rose, no matter its speed.
As if the mere dozens of meters between them had stretched to hundreds of kilometers.
And with time, that distance widened further, until the orb seemed frozen in place.
That was Void Erosion.
Just as crushing pressure in the deep sea pulverizes all.
Compress space itself.
Erode the void into the vacancy.
A vortex of nothingness that ultimately devours everything inside—from matter to light—into infinite emptiness.
She was certain even the mightiest power would melt away within.
But the moment Hasneti clenched her fist.
And the orb shattered.
Kaboooom!
"......!"
Rose shuddered.
The orb had been trapped in a void spanning hundreds of kilometers.
Yet the instant it exploded, the colossal light and heat pierced that vast distance, searing her flesh.
More horrifying still: that was merely the beginning.
Boom, kaboom! Kaaaaboom!
As if the initial blast were just the trigger.
Explosions chained endlessly.
Hasneti's horns flickered.
The scarlet inferno, raging like a sun within the void, grew ever larger.
The shockwaves and heat from the blaze intensified, eventually pushing back the compressing space itself.
'W-What......!'
The pressure from infinite void could crumple mountains like paper.
Yet raw explosive force was repelling it.
Doubtful even tens of millions of tons of TNT detonated at once could mimic such power.
Thus Rose intuited.
If this continued, the void would shatter, and she would be engulfed in that inferno.
'......Was it a mistake?'
Rose murmured inwardly.
There had been a chance for victory.
Before dodging Naida's spear, at the end of their fierce close-quarters clash, when she had thrust her sword into Hasneti.
If she'd aimed for the heart instead of the shoulder.
Or the throat or solar plexus—any vital spot.
She could have killed her outright or inflicted a mortal wound.
Even at the last moment, using Void Erosion Realm on Hasneti instead of the orb could have dragged them both down.
'No, it wasn't a mistake.'
Rose smiled faintly.
Even then, Rimon wouldn't have blamed her.
Instead, as always, he would have smiled bitterly and shouldered the responsibility.
For her, who had sworn to support Rimon with all her strength, that had never been an option.
Just as she couldn't afford to lose now.
She was already his.
And she had vowed victory.
'Above all, it's too early for regrets.'
Steeling her resolve.
Rose sensed something she hadn't noticed before.
Each explosion within the void caused Hasneti's psionics to waver violently.
And each time, a strange flow from her chest steadied those psionics.
'Perhaps......'
Rose drew up her psionics to the max.
Of course, with all her power devoted to containing the explosions, she had nothing left.
Yet she wouldn't give up.
If it was her limit, she would surpass it.
With resolve to squeeze out even her life, she exerted every ounce.
Humm.
As if her determination reached it.
The moment she felt an inexplicable warmth seep from her body's depths, soothing her parched form, and a trickle of psionics flow forth.
Rose swung her sword without hesitation, channeling that psionics.
"Such petty tricks......!"
Already on guard.
Hasneti barely dodged the sword strike crossing space.
Slash!
But right after.
Her eyes widened.
The strike she'd thought she'd evaded grazed her chest by a hair's breadth, and something tumbled from her torn top.
At once, her psionics destabilized.
The steady flow until now shattered like a lie; psionics slipped control, halting the artificial sun's explosion.
Even amid chaos, Hasneti reached out, shoving all else aside.
To grab the fallen item from her bosom.
Rose didn't miss the opening Hasneti exposed.
Thwack!
"Kuh......!"
Seizing the lull in explosions, she hurled the entire void vortex skyward.
And as her fist struck Hasneti's solar plexus across space, she released the pressure on the void.
The moment the sun's power churning within the void was freed into the unseen heavens.
Ruuuumble!
Clouds melted away.
The Stone Soldier Eight Gates Golden Chain Formation shattered.
The entire sky dyed in sunset hues.
After the explosion—that could have redrawn the world map if unleashed on the ground—faded.
As majestic flames, visible from anywhere on the African continent, slowly died down.
Amid the ruined earth.
Rose let out a sigh.
Not just because a blade was already at her throat.
Not solely due to Hasneti's fierce glare.
What Hasneti clutched tightly in one hand even now twisted Rose's expression into complexity.
"Honestly, it was unexpected."
If it had been some legendary treasure aiding psionic control, she might have accepted it easily.
Yet the reason for Rose's turmoil was singular.
"That you possessed such a thing, and that you couldn't even abandon it for the sake of battle."
"......I never abandoned the fight. I simply couldn't give this up."
Hasneti replied softly.
She gazed down at the wooden falcon figurine she had instinctively grabbed.
And continued in a subdued voice.
"This is the first thing he ever gave me."
The carving Rimon had made for her at the banquet hall.
Not a legendary treasure.
Not some priceless jewel.
But for her, who could only collect scraps of his traces her whole life, it was the first gift directly from him.
Seeing Hasneti, who had always carried it because she couldn't bear to let it go, Rose found herself speaking unbidden.
"Hasneti, you truly would do anything for him."
"Mock me if you wish."
"I have no such intention. Merely......"
Ready to burn the world for one man.
Yet unable to part with even a small carving from him, exposing a fatal flaw in a desperate duel.
Rose had no idea what to say to such a woman, and could only muster a wry smile.
But only for a moment.
Erasing her smile, Rose spoke gravely.
"In any case, this settles the duel."
"......"
"Shall we continue?"
Staring silently at Rose for a moment.
Hasneti closed her eyes.
Having expended psionics to her limits against the sun's power, Rose's dragonization had already faded—but so had Hasneti's.
Her guards lay fallen.
Most of the Flame Dragon Corps incapacitated.
Her own body covered in blood and wounds.
Above all, with her trump card failed, she had no way to defeat Rose.
"No."
Acknowledging that, Hasneti shook her head.
And as a warrior before a princess, she spoke softly.
"This duel is mine......"
Ruuuumble!
But before she could finish.
Hasneti fell silent.
Rose's face hardened as well.
The battle was over, yet the ground shook as if in an earthquake—not the only reason.
She felt something amid the vibrations.
"Everyone, fall back!"
"All personnel, evade!"
The two princesses shouted almost in unison.
Even exhausted from the brutal fight, they sensed it first and issued orders swiftly—a prompt response.
But not enough.
Before the Azure or Flame Dragon Corps could move.
Ruuuumble!
The earth collapsed into a massive crater, swallowing the two and everything else whole.