"Ekterina… You're still alive."
Their last confrontation was during the Demon-Human War when she, along with Arsnoria and the other demon lords, fought Promethius until he exhausted himself. Prior to that, they fought each other many times over the past thousand years.
"And you… you're wearing Promethius' helmet."
"…" Guinevere touched the helmet for a moment, "Though it's a painful memory, I want to remember his face as he made me the person I am today. My beliefs are stronger and nothing can shake my resolve, not like in the past."
"Hah, you want to reminisce about the man who murdered your children?" Ekterina laughed, her laughter booming across the ruined land.
"So? Why are you here? I thought you rebelled against the heavens when you didn't kill Her Majesty. These humans worship the very Gods that allowed Promethius to waltz into the divine realm and take you as his wife."
"…I didn't kill Arsnoria because I naively thought it would heal a wound on my heart. I thought I could get revenge for what they did to me back then. But… I look to my past self in regret now."
She chooses not to remember her past so she forgot many faces by now. All she remembered were names of the ones that were present in that hall when Promethius proclaimed she will be his wife in the mortal realm.
Even her mother didn't protect her.
Like a teenager throwing a tantrum, Guinevere wanted them to regret it by robbing them of the opportunity to kill Arsnoria, who was on her knees after she and her demon lords fought Promethius. Had he not died from the power he awakened, the entire demon race would've been eradicated.
That being said, Guinevere could've ended it all too.
Looking back, she was quite childish despite being thousands of years old.
"A pity. She's quite thankful to you for sparing her life and wants to spare your family's lives as well, as thanks for that kindness."
"If I have to accept the kindness caused by the mistake I've had regrets over for almost three centuries, I've failed as a protector." She unsheathed her sword.
"Your contempt for us hasn't gone away… That means you still serve the divine realm."
"I don't. I simply wish to protect. If the gods intend to hurt mortals, I'll fight them too." she charged, connecting her blade with Ekterina's greatsword.
"Ugh!" feeling the heavy strike, even Ekterina's wrist went numb for a moment. As her ams were forced back, Guinevere launched a punch towards her stomach. Instead of connecting with her belly, her fist struck a type of barrier, absorbing the impact of her fist right into the ground like water splashing onto a flat surface, making the ground collapse.
Ekterina kicked, aiming for her head but she blocked with her arms.
Guinevere's feet were dragged across the ground due to the force behind that kick.
"Still as sturdy as ever. I used to think I could never beat you but I'm not the same person from back then."
"…" instead of answering, she glanced at the succubus beauty watching from nearby.
Lilith is a student of the Watcher and possesses incredible magic potential. Naturally she's a competent magician that only the Archmage can take down. A duo consisting of a top-tier mage and one of the strongest warriors in existence, is going to be a difficult battle.
Plus, Guinevere felt uneasy about Ekterina's confidence.
"…Something is different about this woman." She said under her breath.
'She shows no fear despite knowing my prowess and techniques.'
Guinevere is their natural enemy when it comes to full-scale war as she can cause mass genocides with her divine skills and magic. Only Oriel would be a match for her.
She's almost as strong as even Prime Zephyros so the demon lords wouldn't show such composure in front of her.
That being said, the visible sweat on Ekterina's cheek was a sign she still wasn't confident she could win. The fact that she's not calling for backup means something changed after all these hundreds of years.
"Miss! Can you distract her while I go for the artifact?" Arthur ran up to Guinevere and asked.
"Artifact? What artifact?"
"Freya said it's the reason the atmosphere looks like this!"
"It can't be… the Perdition Core? They completed it…?"
It's the artifact that used to be the divine realm's greatest threat. It can terraform any world, even the nine realms. the divine realm isn't exempt from this.
It can basically make every region it influences the demons' playground. Portals can form anywhere, demons can use their full power and have a higher resistance to divine energy, and magic will be greatly impacted if a mage's magic control isn't above average.
Ekterina is not only fighting at her peak, her confidence seems to suggest she has something up her sleeve.
Trying to test a theory, Guinevere cast a mass healing spell that conjured a massive yellow magic circle across the land, appearing below Ekterina as well.
Lilith avoided it but Ekterina stayed inside it even as the spell was activated, healing Arthur.
"…As I suspected, you found a way to increase your divine energy resistance."
But the succubus didn't seem to have the same enhanced resistance since she avoided the healing spell.
"Hahahaha! You catch on quick!" she spread her arms, holding her greatswords to the side like sticks with her powerful arms, "Now that I know how useful this drug is, I can go all out!"
'Something else is strange. Ekterina was never so vocal or expressive.'
Guinevere fought Ekterina many times up until she stepped down as the High Valkyrie. This woman has always been a calculative warrior who handled any situation with composure and knew when to give up since she knew her weaknesses.
'She said something about a drug. It must've caused some kind of psychosis… I can use this as her perception must be skewed.'
It seems cowardly but in a battle with demons, such concerns will simply lead to your downfall. Pride isn't what's most important in this battle. She'd throw her dignity away if she must.
Guinevere whispered to Arthur, "I will create an opening and pull both their attention. You go for the artifact once both of them are preoccupied."
"Alright…"
"And after this…" Guinevere looked at the capital, towering and flying demons being blasted by all kinds of magic and skills, "We need to talk about your priorities."
Honestly, it angered her. After Arnold's clone came to visit her, she was told of what was happening so she figured she could leave the capital up to the heroes, where the least danger lies. Whereas she can handle the demon lords or great demons.
Arnold never mentioned anything about a terraformer so he probably didn't know. Or he just didn't know where it was even if he knew.
"Done plotting? I thought it would be more fun to crush your plans so I waited obediently." Ekterina let go of her greatswords, making them vanish, and took out a halberd.
Guinevere took out a talisman and threw it into the air.
"Oh? This is new. You've never used these before. I guess travelling around teaches you some things on the road. Isn't that right, Vagabond Valkyrie?"
The heavy halberd in Ekterina's grip spun with terrifying momentum. As the blade cut through the air, it shrieked, displacing the atmospheric pressure and kicking up gale-force winds that shattered the loose stone debris around them into fine powder.
She didn't wait for Guinevere to answer. Ekterina launched herself forward, the ground beneath her heavy boots cratering from the sheer explosive force of her leap.
The talisman she had tossed into the sky dissolved into a web of shimmering golden runes, expanding rapidly to form a geometric grid that hovered just above the battlefield. With a subtle, practiced flick of her wrist, gravitational anchors shot downward from the grid, pinning the immediate perimeter to contain the shockwaves of what was about to come.
At the same time, Guinevere summoned an angel to fight Lilith. She made sure to summon a warrior type angel since Lilith is a mage who wouldn't have the reflexes to block or dodge everything.
This should present Arthur an opportunity.
The ensuing clash of the two demigods shook the very foundations of the earth. Sparks blasted like falling stars as Ekterina's steel met Guinevere's radiance.
Guinevere parried a sweeping horizontal strike aimed at her neck, her wrists absorbing the immense shock. The ground beneath the Valkyrie cracked, spiderweb fissures racing outward for dozens of meters.
'Her physical output has tripled,' Guinevere analyzed internally, her eyes tracking the microscopic twitches in Ekterina's muscles. 'But her precision is degrading. She's swinging to obliterate, not to cut.'
While the two titans clashed, a blur of motion darted through the shadows. Arthur, keeping his head down beneath the shockwaves, slipped away from the epicenter of the duel and the confrontation Lilith was having with the Valhalla Angel.
Guinevere subtly shifted her positioning, intentionally angling her parries to force Ekterina's back toward Arthur's escape route, entirely shielding the boy from the demon's line of sight. He needed to reach the Perdition Core, and she needed to buy him every agonizing second she could.
And besides, Guinevere isn't someone Ekterina could turn her back on. Even Demon Lords Vezraya and Malzorath would have trouble fighting her and they are the strongest and second strongest respectively.
For the next twenty minutes, the battlefield became a tempest of light and dark. Ekterina was a relentless storm, her halberd carving trenches into the earth with every missed swing. She chained her attacks flawlessly at first—a thrust transitioning into a sweeping arc, followed by a heavy, devastating overhead crash.
Yet, Guinevere danced through the onslaught. The Valkyrie moved with grace.
She didn't meet Ekterina's monstrous strength head-on; instead, she deflected, redirected, and let the demon's own momentum carry her strikes wide and exhaust her.
But as the minutes bled into an hour, a subtle, disturbing shift began to take place.
What started as explosive, heaven-shattering aggression slowly began to fray into something chaotic. Ekterina's face, previously flushed with euphoria, deepened into a feverish crimson.
Her breathing turned ragged, coming in sharp, shallow gasps that hissed through her clenched teeth. The pristine precision of her footwork—a hallmark of her centuries of martial mastery—began to stutter. A half-step delayed here; an awkward, heavy-footed recovery there.
Even through the chaotic clashes of their weapons, Guinevere could feel a strange, rising temperature rolling off Ekterina's body, along with her sweaty scent. The demon's skin was slick with a heavy, unnatural sweat that shimmered under the bloody-red light coming from above.
"Hah… hah…" Ekterina stumbled back after overextending a vicious thrust, her boots skidding across the cracked flagstones. Her eyes, bloodshot and wide with a haze, glared at her opponent.
She slammed the butt of her halberd into the ground to keep herself upright. Her thick thighs trembled visibly, and she pressed them tightly together for a brief second, shifting her weight awkwardly. Glistening liquid rolled down her inner thighs.
"Why… why won't you fall?" Ekterina hissed, her voice cracking with pure frustration. Saliva flecked her lips as her face twisted into an ugly mask of rage. "You're just dodging! Block me! Fight me head-on like you used to! Why do you keep dragging this out?!"
Guinevere maintained her unshakeable composure.
"You rely too much on brute force," Guinevere replied evenly, her voice a steady anchor against the howling winds. "Your mind and body are desynchronizing, Ekterina so you can't fight me properly. You might feel stronger than our last battle but you're nowhere as skilled anymore with your current condition."
"Shut up! Shut up!" Ekterina shrieked.
The demon gripped her halberd with both hands, the veins in her neck bulging against her flushed skin. "If you have the power to end this… if you're still the strongest of the demigods… why don't you just finish it in one move?! What kind of twisted game are you playing, dragging out this farce while the world burns around us?! Can't you see your precious ants are in danger!?"
Guinevere looked at the raging demon lord. There was no triumph in her gaze—only a grim, heavy fatigue. She lowered her blade slightly, letting out a slow breath.
"I would rather fight days without sleep than destroy the land with one move as that would cost less lives."
Ekterina stared at her, momentarily stunned by the sheer absurdity—and the terrifying self-restraint—of the statement.
"You… you're holding back? Even now? Even against me?" Ekterina laughed, a wet, choking sound that morphed into a heavy pant. "You're letting this… this fire in my blood exhaust you just so you don't risk collateral damage? Have you gone completely soft, Guinevere? You're a warrior, not a saint!"
"I prioritize the lives of the innocent over satisfying your ego as a warrior," Guinevere said coldly. "A single strike from me would wipe out leagues of innocent souls caught in the crossfire. If tiring you out means keeping this world from shattering beneath our feet, I will spend a thousand days dancing with you."
"You're insane…" Ekterina whispered, her chest heaving violently. Her bra was a bit loose on one side so one areola peeked out.
Ekterina let out a sudden, ragged gasp, her knees buckling slightly. She caught herself, but her grip on the halberd was slipping. Her ash-colored skin was practically radiating heat now, a dark, bruised flush spreading down her neck and across her collarbones.
With a guttural, furious scream, Ekterina forced herself forward again. She abandoned all technique, swinging her weapon with wild, undisciplined abandon.
This was the opening Guinevere had been waiting for.
As the halberd swept downward like a falling guillotine, Guinevere didn't retreat. Instead, she stepped inside the demon's guard. The heavy blade crashed into the earth mere inches behind Guinevere, burying itself deep into the bedrock.
Ekterina's eyes widened in shock, but before she could let go of the weapon to defend herself, Guinevere moved.
Guinevere dropped her sword.
Pulling her right arm back, she channeled a concentrated vortex of divine energy into her fist.
However, as her fist launched forward, a dark violet hexagon flared into existence inches from Ekterina's torso. It was Lilith's barrier—a high-tier ward placed on Ekterina beforehand to protect her vital organs from lethal blows.
Guinevere didn't pull her punch.
With a terrifying shout of exertion, Guinevere pushed her divine power to its absolute breaking point. Her knuckles collided with the violet ward. For a fraction of a second, the two conflicting energies grinded against each other, emitting a high-pitched screech. Then, with a sound like shattering glass, Guinevere's kinetic and magical force tore right through the succubus's protection.
Her fist sank deep into the soft, unprotected flesh of Ekterina's stomach, just below her diaphragm.
The shockwave of the blow blasted out from Ekterina's back, clearing a cone of debris for fifty meters behind her. It was a strike designed to shatter ribs, rupture mana pathways, and render the target instantly unconscious from the pain.
But what followed was not a scream of agony, nor the lifeless slump of an unconscious foe.
As the breath was violently forced from Ekterina's lungs, her head threw back, and from her lips escaped a sound that made Guinevere's blood run cold with sudden confusion.
"Ahn…!"
It was a moan. A deep, utterly inappropriate sound of unadulterated pleasure.
At the same time, liquid shot out from between her legs with the force of a pressure hose.