"The Raging Armor… so you've decided to go all out, huh?"
Eleanor clenched her fist inside the ice armor.
Carmen did the same.
Their fists collided.
One unleashed a surge of frost aura, the other the flames of a star, each one trying to overpower the other.
Carmen then launched a lightning-fast kick toward Eleanor's head, aiming to obliterate it.
But once again, the ice circle spun—
And for a brief moment, time seemed to freeze.
It gave Eleanor just enough time to evade and counterattack.
Carmen frowned.
"That damned circle…"
Time hadn't actually stopped—the circle had simply unleashed a wave of cold that slowed Carmen down significantly.
"I'll destroy it!"
A surge of aura formed around Carmen's fist as she punched from afar, unleashing a devastating blue beam toward Eleanor.
The attack struck with a deafening explosion, shaking the battlefield—
But it did little damage.
As the blast faded, a massive ice shield emerged in front of Eleanor.
More than half of it had been burned away—
But it had blocked the attack.
"A weak strike like that won't save you, Carmen."
Eleanor dashed forward, and once again, the two warriors clashed in close combat.
She wasn't just matching Carmen—she was pressuring her.
Carmen's attacks were faster, but every time she was about to land a decisive blow, the ice circle intervened, stopping her at the last second.
On the other hand, while Carmen blocked most of Eleanor's strikes, a few managed to slip through, dealing damage.
Realizing she was in a bad position, Carmen leaped into the air, avoiding Eleanor.
Her body ignited—
A radiant white flame engulfed her, illuminating the battlefield.
"Stardust: The Ruler's Hand."
A colossal hand of pure white fire erupted from Carmen's body, crashing down toward Eleanor, ready to crush everything in its path.
It was a terrifying attack—so overwhelming that the circle behind Eleanor spun violently, forming a gigantic ice dome in the shape of a bell to shield her.
Instead of trying to clash head-on, Eleanor focused everything on defense.
The moment the giant hand struck the ice barrier, it felt as if reality itself had fractured.
The ground trembled under the sheer pressure—struggling to hold itself together.
The Ruler's Hand crashed mercilessly against the massive ice barrier, shattering it at an alarming rate.
But it couldn't break through completely.
The circle behind Eleanor never stopped spinning—constantly restoring the ice.
No matter how much was destroyed, it regenerated instantly, as if it had never been broken.
And just like that—Eleanor's defense held firm.
She gazed up at the hand frozen above her with a calm expression—
Until her eyes widened.
A blazing star was already racing toward her.
"Can't you stop for even a damn second?!"
The circle spun once more—
This time, dozens of frost flowers bloomed around Eleanor.
Their thorned vines lashed out like enraged serpents, lunging to devour everything in their path.
But Carmen tore through them—as if they were nothing but ordinary flowers.
The circle behind Eleanor stopped spinning.
She had focused all her power on close combat.
And in that moment, they clashed once more.
Hundreds—thousands—of attacks exchanged in mere seconds, all within a tight, closed space.
Punches and kicks rained from every direction.
Eleanor had armor—
But Carmen was armor itself.
"Let me remind you, Eleanor…"
Carmen pressed forward, her white flames roaring with even greater intensity.
"What the hell are you mumbling about in the middle of a fight?!"
Eleanor snapped in frustration.
Cracks had begun to spread visibly across her ice armor—
Yet the circle restored it every time.
She was still fighting, still landing blows on Carmen.
But in return—
Carmen had started to break through her defenses.
And that was a warning.
"All these years... your superiority has made you forget something important."
Carmen smiled seductively, blood trickling down her face.
Despite the constant damage she had taken—
She was enjoying this fight.
Her punches rained down on her opponent so relentlessly that, from a distance, all one could see were streaks of white light.
"Let me remind you why the Starlight family was once considered the strongest."
Carmen's skin burned as the eight stars around her heart released waves of pure aura.
She was about to unleash everything.
"In the past, I would have lost to you because you outranked me."
Slowly, Carmen began to gain the upper hand, shattering Eleanor's ice armor bit by bit.
"But that was the only reason!"
"In an equal battle—no Starlight has ever lost to anyone!"
"Tch—!"
Eleanor's expression darkened as she watched—
This time, the cracks weren't just appearing on her armor—
They were forming on the circle behind her as well.
Long ago, Kazis Valerion was revered as the strongest among his squad—a hero who had saved the world.
Later, alongside his companions, he founded what would become known as the Four Great Families.
That legendary squad was filled with SSS-rank Awakeners.
And yet, a question had always lingered throughout history—
Among Kazis Valerion companions, who was the strongest?
Was it Semiramis Moonlight?
Or Inver Sunlight?
Perhaps it was the fifth member, the one who vanished so long ago that history had forgotten them?
No.
It was the only person Kazis Valerion couldn't defeat—until he reached his peak.
Nova Starlight.
Without a doubt—
The tenth and final stage of Stardust was the strongest.
And now, that power was finally beginning to show its dominance.
Eleanor watched her defenses crumble completely—
At this rate, she was going to lose.
"She only recently broke through… yet she's already reached this level?"
"No!"
Eleanor clenched her teeth—
Then, she unleashed everything.
The ice around her began to expand at a terrifying rate, like a ticking bomb waiting to detonate.
"I'm sorry, Frost…"
"If I release this attack, they might all die..."
Her aura surged—burning away to the last drop.
This was her strongest attack.
A wide-scale technique—
Its sole purpose: to completely consume Carmen.
The others around them would only be partially affected, but—
Frost was strong enough to survive.
Seris and the others?
They wouldn't.
But Eleanor didn't care.
She only cared about her son's survival.
"Frost Bomb."
She raised both hands—
And let loose the full power within her.
The ice detonated, expanding into a massive spherical explosion—
Like a nuclear bomb going off in an enclosed space.
Lady Moonlight closed her eyes—
Waiting for her frost to consume everything.
But—
What she expected… didn't happen.
Suddenly, she felt her ice stop.
No—
It was being suppressed.
Eleanor's eyes snapped open—
And what she saw made her gasp.
Eight towering white pillars surrounded the icy sphere, sealing it in place.
In front of her—
Carmen stood tall, resisting the pressure, her left hand outstretched to hold it back.
"Why the rush? Don't be a child…
Did you really think that just because you were losing for a moment, you'd blow everything up?"
The skin on Carmen's left arm peeled away, blood seeping from her pores.
And yet—
The eight pillars suppressed the explosion completely.
"Carmen…!"
Eleanor's strongest attack—stopped.
And Carmen?
She barely flinched.
Her left arm was in ruins, but her right—
Her right hand was clenched into a fist, gathering every last ounce of power.
"This… is the true strength of the Starlight family."
The white flames around her fist shifted—
Turning into a brilliant azure blue.
This—
This was Carmen's strongest attack.
"Stellar Impact."
With a single punch, she released a devastating wave of aura—
An attack that erased everything in its path.
Eleanor's armor shattered.
Her ice circle collapsed.
The impact was so overwhelming that it carved out a massive crater, piercing through the earth—
And the devastation didn't stop there.
The attack kept going—expanding—until it broke through the battlefield itself, destroying everything beyond it.
Drenched in her own scorching blood, Carmen laughed, lifting her exhausted body.
"Don't underestimate… a Starlight."