The arrival of Ellen instantly put the previously calm Princess on high alert. She shot up from her throne, adopting a defensive stance.
But her reaction meant nothing in Ellen's eyes.
To her, Spirits were merely existences to be casually defeated. It was only because her organization's current objectives didn't require further capture of Spirits that she had refrained from taking action against them.
In her view, only Durandal here was worthy of being her opponent. And defeating Durandal would be a perfect blow to Schicksal's soaring, seemingly invincible reputation.
That would be excellent prestige for DEM.
"Rita shouldn't have been defeated so easily," Amber remarked.
"A shame, really. Her combat skills are indeed not weak. So young, yet she already fights like a seasoned veteran," Ellen didn't mind praising her opponent—after all, it only made her, the victor, seem all the more powerful.
"But her techniques haven't transcended the level of mortals. Her application of the Territory is crude and clumsy. To me, she was full of openings, like a child."
Amber didn't reply immediately, instead glancing toward Shiori nearby.
Shiori's expression was grave as she gave a slight nod. From Ellen's words, it was clear this person meant trouble.
Without hesitation, she took the Princess's hand and pulled her away, leading her into the distance.
The Princess frowned at being manhandled like this—turning her back on an enemy wasn't her style. But Shiori's protective gesture stirred a faint, inexplicable sense of pleasure within her.
So she allowed herself to be led away, all the while keeping a watchful eye on Ellen's movements over her shoulder.
"It seems the nuisances have taken their leave," Ellen made no move to stop them.
Westcott's task for her was to figure out what Schicksal was up to, and she had already accomplished that much.
Schicksal and Ratatoskr had reached some kind of cooperation, the specifics unknown. At this point, she had no means to investigate further. What was she supposed to do, ask them?
Since Westcott's task was complete, the rest was her free time. And she intended to spend that time dealing with Durandal.
Defeating Durandal here offered many benefits. Boosting DEM's prestige and tarnishing Schicksal's golden image was one thing.
She could also try to pry the details of their cooperation from Durandal. Even failing that, simply proving herself the strongest was satisfaction enough.
You're the one who's the nuisance here, Amber thought, feeling little goodwill toward this love-struck fool.
In fact, she had no fondness for any of the three fools led by their hearts.
Westcott, Ellen, and Elliot—these three were the ones who had summoned Mio.
Then, both Westcott and Elliot had fallen head over heels for Mio's beauty at first sight, becoming complete love-struck fools.
Ellen, who had originally loved Elliot, had her love curdle into hatred after he left.
Elliot was at least subjectively without ill intent, but he was still one of the chief culprits behind the Eurasian Sky Disaster.
A cyan-colored surfboard materialized beside Amber.
Without a moment's hesitation, she stepped onto it, her figure shooting up into the sky.
Although post-disaster reconstruction using the Territory was swift, property damage was still property damage. It was better to avoid causing excessive destruction if possible.
Ellen, however, couldn't care less. In fact, aerial combat suited her just fine—it actually boosted her confidence.
Ground combat was ultimately two-dimensional; only three-dimensional aerial battles could truly maximize her abilities.
The two soared straight into the heavens. Amber was incredibly fast, forcing Ellen to increase her magical energy output just to keep up.
When she finally managed to pull ahead, a smile touched her lips.
"It seems you're just as eager as I am to determine who truly stands as the strongest of our time."
Where did you get that idea? Amber was baffled. Weren't you the one who suddenly and inexplicably sped up to me?
But she had no intention of engaging with someone she disliked. She directly summoned two lances, then accelerated instantly to slam them down toward Ellen.
This wasn't the conventional way to use a lance, but exceptions existed—like when she wasn't aiming to kill.
After all, the other party hadn't killed her squad members either. Their respective organizations were competitors, not outright enemies.
But the most important reason was… the gap between them was simply too vast. There was no need for technique.
Facing Amber's attack, Ellen used her greatsword as a shield to block the blow.
She had never underestimated Durandal.
As the reigning strongest of this era—even hailed as the greatest Wizard in history due to her mastery of the Territory through her connection to the Adjacent Realms—Ellen had immense pride in her own strength.
And in truth, she had the power to back that pride up.
In this world, the only person who had ever wounded her in battle was Elliot. And that was merely a case of someone who usually operated at 95% suddenly bursting forth with 100% of their power, managing to defeat someone who normally stood at 99%.
As one of the true powerhouses of this world, she was acutely aware of how high the heavens were.
She understood that her strength was beyond the normal specifications of this world; only the Spirit of Origin could reliably overpower her.
Even though Durandal had also displayed power beyond the norm, Ellen had logically categorized her as an opponent on par with herself—an assessment that already spoke volumes about how seriously she took her.
However… the current situation completely shattered her understanding of the world.
"How… is this possible!?"
Sounds sufficient to shatter the sound barrier continuously erupted between them.
The computations of her Territory were pushed to their absolute limit, constantly warping physical laws to steer the battlefield in her favor.
Yet the only result she achieved was… not being instantly defeated?
The wind pressure generated by the clash of their weapons scattered the surrounding clouds and even brushed the ground kilometers below as a gentle breeze.
Had any ordinary person been near this place, they would have been torn to shreds by the dispersed wind pressure.
Even a powerful Wizard would be forcibly expelled from the area by this overwhelming 'repulsive force.'
Under Ellen's disbelieving gaze, her CR-Unit's computations completely overloaded.
The excessive strain made her head spin, her mind reeling. But to maintain her flight, she had no choice but to rely on her own mind to replace the machine's computations, manually sustaining the Territory.
A Territory of this level, however, could barely keep her airborne. It was incapable of altering physical laws enough to counter the girl's attacks.
With her magical power significantly reduced, Ellen could only raise her sword again to block the twin lances bearing down on her.
One hit, two hits, three hits. With each collision, Ellen could feel the greatsword in her hands cracking apart.
She found no opening to counterattack. Only by maintaining a purely defensive posture could she snatch a moment's respite.
"Damn it…! Durandal…!"
Ellen couldn't believe she was in such a sorry state. Beneath her fierce pride lay a deep-seated inferiority, difficult to detect.
This state of being utterly powerless to fight back reminded her of her weak and helpless childhood self.
"I have more important matters to attend to. You are truly strong, but let's end this here."
Amber watched the other woman struggling to hold on, and her desire to teach Ellen a lesson on Rita's behalf, to settle the score, faded considerably.
Then, she put more force into her strike than any previous blow, easily severing the greatsword in Ellen's grasp and leaving a bloody gash across her body.
Finally out of strength, Ellen plummeted powerlessly from the great height, still lost in the disbelief of having been so effortlessly defeated.
Amber wasn't overly concerned about her condition. With Ellen's mastery of the Territory, she was unlikely to die from the fall. Compared to Ellen, she was far more worried about how Rita was faring.
With that thought, the girl turned and flew straight toward where the Immortal Blades were stationed.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.