It was indeed time to end it.
Setting aside the battles on the other fronts for the moment, the situation on Riezel’s side had already become obvious at a glance.
After activating Ariel, Riezel had completely suppressed Revis in a one-sided battle, remaining entirely unscathed himself, while she was covered in wounds, her entire body drenched in blood.
Even though Revis’s regenerative ability was already at work, causing smoke to rise from wounds all over her body as they slowly repaired themselves, anyone with eyes could tell that Riezel would claim the final victory, while she was heading toward a crushing defeat.
"D-Dammit!"
Revis’s eyes were bloodshot as she tried to charge at Riezel, but just as she took a step forward, she involuntarily dropped to one knee, barely supporting her body with her jet-black longsword stabbed into the earth as blood continued to pour from her wounds.
"Why? Why did it turn out like this...?"
Revis seemed unable to accept the outcome, and even the hand gripping her longsword was trembling.
"I hunted for so long, ate so many magic stones, even Olivas’s magic stone was devoured by me."
"At this point, I should already be the strongest... I shouldn’t be losing to anyone anymore..."
"So why? WHY AM I STILL LOSING TO A MERE LEVEL 6?!"
Revis refused to accept any of it.
"Heh, the strongest? Won’t lose to anyone?"
Hearing these words, Riezel could not help but let out a mocking laugh.
"If you really think that way, then all I can say is you’re honestly kinda pitiful, drifting this far out of sync with the outside world to the point where you don’t even understand what position you’re supposed to be standing in."
Admittedly, Revis was very strong now, and in terms of basic abilities alone, she even surpassed Ottar, so calling her the strongest in all of Orario, or even the world’s strongest, was not an exaggeration.
However, if she were to fight Ottar, the one who would lose in the end would definitely be her.
Why?
Simply because high basic abilities were her only advantage.
Yes, Revis’s basic abilities were indeed higher than Ottar’s, but Ottar also possessed magic and, even more importantly, skills, and once those powers were brought into play, he would certainly overwhelm her.
Furthermore, even without using magic or skills, Ottar still possessed a body honed by superhuman martial prowess, and his absolute defense was something Revis could never break through, meaning she would be unable to do anything to that warrior and would only end up being beaten to death.
In other words, compared to Ottar, Revis was still lacking by quite a margin.
Such a Revis could hardly be called the strongest, let alone claim that she would not lose to anyone.
As for Riezel, he had already been able to fight Ottar to a draw back when he was Level 5, even though that was an Ottar who did not use magic or skills, and after employing Ariel in combination with Wind Breathing, along with various blessing magic spells, Riezel had still been able to contend with a peak Level 7 while still holding something back.
Now that Riezel had already adjusted his level to Level 6, even if he only fought with Ariel and Wind Breathing active and did not use any other magic, his combat power was already more than enough to easily crush an ordinary Level 7.
Riezel had never been an ordinary Level 6 to begin with, and even in his normal state, his combat power was not inferior when compared to that of Level 7s.
At the very least, Finn and the others who had just been promoted to Level 7 would absolutely not dare claim that they could reliably defeat Riezel in his normal state unless they used a trump card such as Finn’s Hell Finegas.
Under these circumstances, Riezel had even activated the overpowered enchant-type magic Ariel and used it together with Wind Breathing, causing his strength to already exceed the scope of Level 7.
Consequently, even if he did not use any other magic, Riezel, in his current state, could still easily crush the former Ottar, let alone Revis, who was somewhat inferior compared to Ottar.
Needless to say, this outcome could only be described as inevitable.
"Gotta admit, you Creatures are extremely threatening, getting this strong in such a short time just by devouring magic stones. If it were Ais, even after mastering Wind Breathing, she definitely wouldn’t be a match for you the way you are now."
"Unfortunately for you, Ais’s side has me, the Loki Familia has me, so things naturally won’t turn out the way you want."
"You picked the wrong opponent."
"As long as I’m here, you won’t even touch a single hair on Ais."
Riezel’s overly calm words carried a persuasive force that made others unable to doubt them.
"...Haven’t I already said this many times?"
Revis, whose injuries had more or less finished regenerating, shakily stood back up and glared at Riezel with eyes about to split apart.
"DON’T! LOOK! DOWN! ON ME!"
Her pride provoked, Revis erupted with a sky-piercing murderous aura, stomped heavily on the ground once more, kicking up dust and whipping up violent winds, transforming into a ferocious beast as she shot toward Riezel like a cannonball.
Unfortunately...
"Open Wounds."
Quietly watching the extremely vicious Revis charge straight at him, Riezel did not swing his sword again, but instead finally activated magic that did not belong to this world.
In the next instant, something astonishing happened.
*Splurt!*
On Revis’s body, the wounds that had nearly finished regenerating suddenly burst open.
Under the effect of the Tier Magic, which expanded the wounds on the enemy’s body and worsened their injuries, Revis was once again covered from head to toe in gaping wounds, drenched in blood.
*Cough!*
Revis’s charging figure could not help but halt as she spat out a large mouthful of blood.
"It’s... not... over... YEEEEEETTT—!!!"
Suffering injuries even more severe than when she had knelt on one knee earlier, Revis still had no intention of stopping or retreating, as if she intended to burn away her very life and throw everything she had into this, growling as she struggled forward step by step toward Riezel.
"Firebolt."
What greeted Revis was only Riezel’s still-calm magic chant.
*BOOM!*
A thick bolt of flaming lightning tore through space and slammed into Revis’s body, scorching her flesh until it split open.
"!!!"
Revis let out a soundless scream as her entire body was nearly burned away and almost blown flying, yet relying on sheer stubbornness and unwillingness to yield, she forcibly endured it, ignoring the clothes that were nearly burned off and the skin charred black by the flames, gritting her teeth as she continued to step forward toward Riezel.
"Firebolt."
Following this chant, the flaming lightning continued to shoot out mercilessly, striking Revis and setting her ablaze.
"AAAHHHHHHH—!!!"
Revis let out a hoarse wail as her body was blasted several meters away, yet she still managed to endure it, forcing her trembling legs to keep moving forward.
"Firebolt."
"Firebolt."
"Firebolt."
Riezel showed not the slightest sign of being moved by Revis’s astonishing perseverance—instead, his gaze grew colder and colder as he continuously chanted magic, releasing fast, flaming lightning again and again, bombarding Revis without pause.
Revis endured the flames, suppressing the pain, dragging her violently shaking legs and her body riddled with wounds as she stubbornly advanced toward Riezel, roaring and howling like a demon from time to time.
At this point, even Riezel was close to admiring this female Creature.
Such astonishing perseverance—no, it would be more accurate to call it obsession—was indeed extremely rare.
Yet this was not driven by any belief, nor by some reason she could not compromise on that forced her to keep breaking past her limits, but rather by the pride and unwillingness of a Creature who sought to slaughter others, harm others, and offer tributes to a filthy spirit.
In order not to lose to a mere human, and to prove that she herself was the strong one, Revis burned away her own life as she stepped toward the towering peak blocking her path.
At last, braving the continuous barrage of thick, flaming lightning, with most of her flesh burned away, Revis reached the peak before her.
"Egh... AAAHHHHHHH—!!!"
Revis screamed hysterically, her charred hand gripping the jet-black longsword without letting go as she swung a final strike at the adventurer before her, squeezing out every last ounce of strength in her body.
Surprisingly, the power of this blow was in no way inferior to the full-force slash she could unleash while completely uninjured, and it even miraculously erupted with greater power.
As a result, the slash turned into a flash of light, the sonic boom into a pressure blast, and wherever the longsword passed, space itself showed faint distortions, as if black flames were flickering, creating an illusion like a mirage.
Faced with this final strike that embodied the opponent’s pride and unyielding will, Riezel’s calm demeanor was finally broken.
"Impressive."
Riezel first let out a soft note of admiration, then...
"For that resolve alone, I’ll take this strike."
Riezel chanted calmly.
"Body of Effulgent Heliodor."
Crimson-gold magical energy instantly blossomed over Riezel’s body.
*BOOM!*
In the next second, the black slash came crashing down.
*Swish!*
It swept across Riezel’s body, cutting from his left shoulder all the way to his right abdomen, forming a perfect cut.
If spectators had seen this, they would have seen that the damage from this strike was astonishing. Under normal circumstances, it would have been enough to cut the enemy cleanly in two, allowing the upper body to slide smoothly off along the cut of the lower body, with blood spraying everywhere.
However, despite being struck by such a slash, not only did Riezel’s body show no blade wound at all, but he did not even stagger a single step, and his expression never changed from start to finish.
A defensive magic capable of nullifying the damage of a single slashing-type attack turned Revis’s final struggle into nothing but a bubble.
Immediately after, a thin crystal sword enveloped in wind replaced the jet-black longsword, turning into a flash of light as it slashed out violently.
*Splurt!*
Blood truly splattered this time, and it splattered in great, overwhelming quantities.
Just now, the wind-enhanced slash effortlessly tore through Revis’s tough skin and cut open her body, as if repaying blow for blow, likewise slashing down from her left shoulder and cutting out through her rear abdomen, leaving behind the trace of a blade cut.
"..."
Time seemed to freeze at that instant as Riezel and Revis stood facing each other.
Riezel stood on the left, maintaining the posture of a full follow-through slash, as the crimson-gold radiance on his body slowly faded.
Revis stood on the right, likewise holding the posture of a downward slash with her longsword, while an enormous amount of blood sprayed from her body.
Within the severed cross-section of her body, a multicolored magic stone that had been cut apart, split cleanly into two, and was beginning to gradually crumble could faintly be seen.
"Riezel... BRYNHAAAAAAARRRTTT—!!!!"
At the very end, the sound that Revis let out was still a cry filled with unwillingness and hatred.
*PENG!*
In that instant, the multicolored magic stone shattered completely, and Revis gradually turned into flying ash and vanished, and the hand she had extended with all her strength also dissipated just before it could touch Riezel.
*Clang!*
At the same moment, the jet-black longsword fell to the ground, striking the floor and producing a crisp sound that rang out with particular clarity.
===
[A bonus Chapter for every 300 Power Stones.]
[Support me and read next Chapters early at: /VALRRR]