*Clang—!*
A clanking sound resounded—it was the second time the sound of metal colliding echoed like the ringing of a bell.
Riezel, now engulfed in the flickering fire of the sun, swung his sword from behind, aiming at what looked like the fragile neck of Woodwose. But just like before, it only unleashed a gust of wind and forced Woodwose to retreat a few steps.
"Tch..."
Feeling the recoil through his sword, Riezel clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Hmph, that’s not going to work!"
Saying this, Woodwose had already reacted—he turned around and flashed a vicious grin at Riezel.
"A mere human weapon could never harm my A-Rei body!"
As Woodwose spoke, he unleashed the magical energy that had been gathering in his hand.
His glowing magical energy, flickering like a deadly light, had unknowingly transformed into a beam of dim brilliance in his palm, and the moment he fired it, it shot out like lightning straight at Riezel.
Through the Transparent World, Riezel could see how intensely dense the light beam was. Sensing its power, he didn’t even need to think—he instantly judged that if it hit him, he would be in serious trouble.
For this reason—
"Time Accelerator."
Riezel cast a time magic spell that only affected himself.
He didn’t try using time magic on Woodwose because his instincts told him it probably wouldn’t work. He could see that Woodwose’s defenses weren’t just effective against physical attacks but worked against magic as well.
As a Returned A-Rei born with Mystery and divine protection, unless Riezel could somehow break through that barrier, no magic—whether it was space magic like Reality Slash or time-based magic like Time Stop or Temporal Stasis—would likely do much to him.
Because of this, rather than wasting magical energy trying to affect Woodwose, it made more sense to channel that energy into boosting his own power.
With that in mind, Riezel stepped into his accelerated world—his figure vanished without a sound, dodging the light beam that came flying at him.
*BOOM!*
Woodwose’s beam struck the ground, exploding like a bolt of thunder and shattering the earth into pieces.
At the same time, Riezel reappeared behind Woodwose and launched a fierce counterattack.
"Sun Breathing - Seventh Form - Sunflower Thrust!"
Wreathed in swirling flames, Riezel’s black sword blasted into Woodwose’s body at supersonic speed.
*BANG!*
A burst of flame exploded from Woodwose’s back, releasing a powerful shockwave that shattered the ground beneath both Riezel and Woodwose, even crushing the flying debris midair.
"I told you that won’t work!"
Woodwose was still completely unharmed as if the explosion of fire on his back hadn’t even happened.
Not wasting any time, Woodwose quickly spun around and sent a huge barrage of claw-like slashes flying at Riezel.
Riezel, having seen this coming, had already predicted his attack wouldn’t do anything and quickly sidestepped, dodging the storm of claw slashes.
"Sun Breathing - First Form - Dance!"
Surrounded by flames, a slash tracing a perfectly circular arc slammed into Woodwose, forcing him to stagger back a step amidst the fiery explosion.
"Sun Breathing - Second Form - Clear Blue Sky!"
Before Woodwose could fight back, Riezel leaped high into the air like a falling sun—his flame-covered sword spun in a circle and came slashing down on the back of Woodwose’s neck, making him stumble again.
"Sun Breathing - Third Form - Raging Sun!"
Riezel’s blazing sword suddenly drew a path in the shape of an infinity symbol, forming two sharp, symmetrical slashes that struck Woodwose from both sides, making his just-steady posture falter again.
"Damn you!"
Now Woodwose was pissed.
Even though his posture was totally off-balance, he could still swing a huge wave of claw light toward Riezel, trying to shred the swordsman in front of him.
"Fake Rainbow!"
Unfortunately for Woodwose, the flame-wrapped Riezel was already behind him again, slashing down with another blazing strike.
Just like that, Riezel began unleashing the sword forms of Sun Breathing on Woodwose, one after another.
"Fire Wheel!"
"Burning Bones, Summer Sun!"
"Sunflower Thrust!"
"Solar Heat Haze!"
"Setting Sun Transformation!"
"Beneficent Radiance!"
"Sun Halo Dragon Head Dance!"
"Flame Dance!"
As Riezel unleashed each of the sword forms, the fire of the sun burst over Woodwose again and again, driving him further back with every strike.
And once he finished casting the twelfth form of Sun Breathing, Flame Dance, Riezel’s sword naturally returned to the starting position of the first form, Dance, allowing him to immediately restart the entire sequence of Sun Breathing’s sword forms without missing a beat, hammering every strike into Woodwose’s body all over again.
By continuously cycling through the twelve sword forms of Sun Breathing, Riezel created an unending loop of attacks.
Needless to say, this was the original thirteenth form of Sun Breathing—a sword form temporarily realized by its founder, Tsugikuni Yoriichi, during his battle against Kibutsuji Muzan.
And in this battle, Riezel pulled off that very thirteenth form, launching a relentless offensive against Woodwose like the sun rising in the east, crossing the sky, setting in the west, only to rise again—one cycle after another, never giving Woodwose a chance to even catch his breath.
"Damn! Damn! Damn!"
Woodwose kept getting blasted back, unable to even adjust his stance, let alone fight back. He was furious, but there was nothing he could do except keep taking Riezel’s attacks.
Even though Riezel’s attacks had never broken through Woodwose’s defenses or caused him any real damage, just being in a position where he couldn’t even fight back and was getting beaten one-sidedly was a huge humiliation for someone like Woodwose, who saw himself as the strongest fairy warrior.
What made it worse was that the one beating him back like this wasn’t one of those annoying Fairy Knights, or even Lancelot, whom he absolutely couldn’t stand, but a human—someone he saw as lower than livestock.
’I’m Woodwose! Head of the Fang Clan! The one who inherited the Archduke of Exhaust Heat’s title—a Returned A-Rei!’
’How could I not handle a human?!’
’How?!’
As the rage in his chest boiled over, Woodwose couldn’t hold it in anymore and roared.
"Get out of my way!"
A wave of violent magical energy suddenly exploded from him, turning into blazing heat that radiated in all directions.
Unfortunately, the blazing heat, hot enough to melt the earth and turn it crimson like molten lava, couldn’t even make the swordsman wrapped in flames take a single step back.
Riezel ignored the terrifying heat completely and dashed straight into it, continuing to unleash Sun Breathing’s sword forms, swinging down on Woodwose over and over again.
"Impossible! You’re not human!"
Woodwose let out an enraged howl.
How could a human just charge into terrifying heat, hot enough to feel like magma, and be completely fine?
Impossible!
"You’re the Child of Prophecy! You must be!"
Meanwhile, off to the side, the actual Child of Prophecy watched in shock, feeling incredibly conflicted.
’Now I really look like a fake...’
Artoria couldn’t even describe how she felt at that moment.
Of course, Riezel’s overwhelming power was also something that left Artoria in disbelief.
’He’s up against a Returned A-Rei, the head of the Fang Clan, the hero who once defeated the King of the Moss, and he’s actually holding his own?’
In this kind of situation, it wasn’t just Woodwose—even Artoria couldn’t help but start to doubt whether Riezel was actually human.
’Maybe he really is the Child of Prophecy?’
Artoria even started to question herself, which just went to show how absurd Riezel’s performance felt to her.
As far as she knew, in all of Faerie Britain, there probably wasn’t anyone who could overpower Woodwose like this in a one-on-one fight. Maybe the Queen could do it, or that strongest Fairy Knight might be able to, but neither of them had ever fought him directly.
For this reason, Woodwose was pretty much considered the strongest by most fairies.
And yet, Riezel was pushing back someone who was practically seen as the strongest in the Fairy Kingdom, which alone said a lot about how powerful he was.
’If it’s him... maybe he really could defeat the Queen and save this country...’
Such a thought suddenly crossed Artoria’s mind.
Meanwhile, the fairies of the Fang Clan were in total shock as they saw Woodwose get completely overwhelmed by Riezel.
One after another, they all reacted with disbelief and anger.
"Lord Woodwose is getting pushed back?!"
"Th-This can’t be happening!"
"There’s no way a human can be this strong!"
"He’s absolutely not human!"
"Child of Prophecy! He must be the Child of Prophecy!"
"The Mirror Clan’s prophecy was real!"
Exclaiming one after another, the Fang Clan’s fairies started to waver, and just like Woodwose, they began to believe that Riezel was the legendary Child of Prophecy.
If he were the savior who could defeat the Queen, then it made sense that he could also overpower a Returned A-Rei, right?
With this logic in mind, every single Fang Clan fairy became convinced that Riezel was the Child of Prophecy.
"No! We need to help Lord Woodwose!"
"But that kind of fight is on a whole other level. We can’t even step into it!"
"We still need to think of something! Are you just going to stand there and watch Lord Woodwose go down?!"
"Figure something out! Hurry up and think!"
As the Fang Clan’s fairies fell into chaos, they suddenly noticed Artoria.
They turned to the girl holding a mysterious staff, standing off to the side and trembling, and finally remembered who she was.
"Wait, she’s that fairy who came with the Child of Prophecy, right?"
"Is she the Child of Prophecy’s companion?"
"Good, that makes her an accomplice, doesn’t it?"
Looking at Artoria, the Fang Clan’s fairies exchanged glances with each other before a nasty gleam appeared in their eyes.
Needless to say, their intentions were clear.
"Kill that girl!"
"If she dies, the Child of Prophecy is definitely going to lose it!"
"We must make an opening for Lord Woodwose!"
"Let’s go!"
In just an instant, the Fang Clan’s fairies all came to an agreement.
They didn’t think there was anything wrong with it either, since fairies thought differently from humans to begin with. They were extremely self-centered and selfish, and very few of them ever cared about others or acted selflessly.
As a result, they did whatever came to mind, and if something felt right to do, they just did it—right or wrong didn’t matter.
And when the fairies happened to be from the notoriously brainless Fang Clan, that tendency became even more obvious.
*Swish!* *Swish!* *Swish!*
*Swish!* *Swish!* *Swish!*
One by one, the Fang Clan’s fairies rushed out, turning into streaks of afterimages as they tore through the air with sky-splitting sounds, charging at Artoria.
"...Eh?"
Sensing something in the air, Artoria turned her head to the side.
What met her eyes were the twisted faces and savage gazes of the Fang Clan’s fairies, launching a surprise attack on her.
"DIE!"
"DIE!"
"DIE!"
Shouting in unison, the Fang Clan’s fairies slashed their claws without mercy, aiming straight for Artoria’s head, heart, stomach—every vital spot on her body.
It was violence without reason.
It was killing intent without disguise.
With her ’Fairy Eyes’ that could see into people’s hearts, Artoria saw the malice pouring out of every one of those Fang Clan fairies, forming a storm that swallowed her whole, making her feel like throwing up.
At this moment, she understood that even after leaving the village, the world was still filled with a storm of pure malice.
She had long been familiar with this feeling and knew the world was always filled with storms of malice from every direction.
Everyone said one thing and meant another.
Everyone hid who they really were.
Talking one way and thinking another—that was just how things were.
But to someone like her, who could see through lies and glimpse the truth in others’ hearts, it was torture.
Being abused in the village?
It was nothing.
Losing two toes to the cold?
Who cared?
Compared to this storm of malice, that pain was like a drizzle.
Caught in this storm of malice, she had only ever had one thought.
It was terrifying and disgusting.
Now, a storm of murderous intent and malice had risen around her, stronger than anything before, and while it made her want to vomit, it also stirred a strange thought inside her.
’Maybe... this isn’t so bad...?’
Her journey being over before it even began maybe wasn’t the worst outcome.
Having such a thought, her heart fell strangely calm, and she didn’t feel the slightest bit afraid. She simply accepted the fairies’ vicious claws as they came for her—until the world froze.
"...Eh?"
Artoria let out another soft gasp of confusion.
Right in front of her, all the Fang Clan’s fairies had suddenly frozen mid-move—some turned into statues, completely still, while others were stuck mid-leap, hanging in the air like puppets caught on invisible strings.
Their outstretched claws hovered just a few centimeters from Artoria’s body, but even that small distance, they couldn’t close—not a single Fang Clan fairy managed to break through and run her through.
"W-What happened...?"
Artoria stood frozen, completely lost.
And she wasn’t the only one, because the moment she finished her confused mutter, another voice rang out in shock.
"What did you do?!"
Woodwose was glowing all over, shouting in Artoria’s direction.
No, it wasn’t Artoria he was shouting at—he was shouting at the figure walking toward her.
"Looks like time magic doesn’t work on a Returned A-Rei and a Fairy of Paradise, huh..."
Saying this calmly, the figure walked up to Artoria.
"Ri-Riezel?"
Artoria stared blankly at the young man in front of her and asked in bewilderment.
Riezel didn’t answer or even look at her, simply standing there facing the Fang Clan’s fairies, shielding her with his back.
*BOOM!*
A surge of blazing flames suddenly erupted from Riezel’s body, and at that same moment, the frozen world snapped back to life.
In that instant, the Fang Clan’s fairies moved again—their twisted faces and brutal eyes unchanged, but in Artoria’s eyes, the storm of pure murderous intent and malice had been pierced by a shining sun.
A sun bright enough to drive away all darkness, purify all evil, and make the world in her eyes feel light again.
And at the heart of that sun stood a swordsman wreathed in the fire of the sun.
"Sun Breathing - Eleventh Form..."
Speaking calmly, the swordsman raised his black sword.
"Sun Halo Dragon Head Dance!"
A flame dragon immediately burst out of the sun, flying like a serpent through the air and sweeping through the Fang Clan’s fairies while roaring.
*Pu-chi!* *Pu-chi!* *Pu-chi!*
*Pu-chi!* *Pu-chi!* *Pu-chi!*
With terrifying speed, the flame dragon cut through one fairy after another, slicing through their flesh, piercing their hearts, and burning them from the inside out.
""AAAAAAARGHHH—!!!""
Amid screams of unbearable agony, every Fang Clan fairy who had attacked Artoria was torn apart—some were even sliced clean in half, spraying blood everywhere before flames erupted from their bodies, burning them until not a single piece remained.
"NOOO—!!!"
Woodwose completely lost it at the sight, but before he could charge forward, Riezel was already back at Artoria’s side.
"We got interrupted this time, huh? Oh well, guess we’ll settle this some other day."
Riezel gave Woodwose a calm smile, then scooped Artoria into his arms before using teleportation magic, vanishing on the spot.
Half a second later, a deafening roar resounded, causing the entire area to collapse.
Woodwose’s furious roar echoed long and loud over the ruins, unwilling to die down.