The so-called Reality Marble is the replacement of the real world with the landscape of the caster's inner mind.
It can be described as an independent domain belonging solely to its creator—a miracle that countless magicians chase throughout their entire lives, yet almost none ever achieve.
There was once such a man.
He was powerful beyond measure, yet lonely to the end.
He longed for immortality.
Feared aging.
Feared death.
And still… he could not grasp eternity.
"I Am the Lord of Life and Death—!!"
This Reality Marble was the perfect manifestation of the tragic, desolate inner world of "Aloof Red" Patrick Redfield.
Fwoooosh
The scenery warped.
The world shifted.
The real world disappeared, replaced by a desolate and barren wasteland painted in loneliness and death.
Because this Reality Marble could only drag in one opponent, only Jaeger and Luo Hao stepped inside.
Outside, however, Kasumigaoka Utaha, Uchiha Miyuki, and the others could still see everything through the chat group's live broadcast.
Miyuki Uchiha: "Is this… the Noble Phantasm His Highness Jaeger claimed after killing Redfield? Even in the Type-Moon World, Reality Marbles are legendary."
Yamamoto Mei: "Luo Hao is in trouble. Her injuries were already severe… and now Jaeger has pulled her into his home field. This is… bad."
Esdeath: "Hmph. A Godslayer's defeat often becomes their death. How fitting."
Sakura Tohsaka: "G-Guys… look at Luo Hao-san's face!"
Kasumigaoka Utaha: "Her appearance… is she aging?"
Everyone in the chat group froze.
Even though Luo Hao still stood tall, unbowed even with her clothes dyed red in blood—
Her skin, once flawless like a woman in her late twenties, was now covered in wrinkles like an eighty-year-old elder.
Her long, silky black hair had turned entirely silver.
And that was only what they could see.
Kasumigaoka Utaha and the others couldn't sense it…
But the stronger fighters—Yamamoto Mei and the others—immediately noticed the drastic change in her life force.
Before entering this Reality Marble, even while gravely wounded by God Avoid, Luo Hao's life force still blazed like a scorching sun.
Now?
Even though her physical injuries had slightly improved…
Her life force flickered like a dying candle.
A single breeze could snuff it out.
Miyuki Uchiha: "What a terrifying Noble Phantasm…"
Miyuki Uchiha: "Luo Hao-sama has lived more than 200 years as a Godslayer. Time never touched her… but now she's—she's—"
Miyuki Uchiha: "@Nerona Jaeger PLEASE, Your Highness Jaeger—no matter how much you bully me, don't EVER use this Noble Phantasm on me!"
Kasumigaoka Utaha: "Y-Yeah. Hard pass for me too."
Yamamoto Mei: "I… also agree."
Esdeath: "…Fine. Me as well."
Even the sadistic Esdeath instinctively feared aging.
At this point, Jaeger's Noble Phantasm was basically a "super-effective attack against every woman alive."
Inside the Reality Marble—
"Is this 'I Am the Lord Who Controls Life and Death'…? I can't dodge… I can't resist… it's as if more than ninety percent of my life force has been ripped away. What an unreasonable Noble Phantasm… cough… cough!"
The elderly Luo Hao let out a thin breath, her voice trembling.
Moments ago, she radiated divine arrogance.
Now even speaking strained her.
Strangely, Jaeger didn't find her ugly in this aged state.
Instead, she carried a different kind of beauty—one shaped by time, dignity, and strength.
…Is this the so-called "beauty untouched by time"?
Swallowing the intrusive thought before it awakened a questionable preference, Jaeger lifted his left hand—black-gold divine lines blazing across the skin.
"It's not over, Luo Hao."
Jaeger called out sharply:
"If you can't endure any longer—beg for mercy while you still have a tongue!"
Luo Hao laughed—even now, blood dripping from her lips.
"A king does not beg."
Despite the agony gnawing at her brittle, weakened body, Luo Hao revealed a familiar, defiant smile..
"It is precisely because mortals challenge the impossible that a Godslayer can slay gods. Tell me, Nerona Jaeger—can that frail body of yours withstand another Noble Phantasm liberation?"
The moment her words fell
Luo Hao vanished.
Shukuchi — Divine Foot Pass!
Even in a decrepit body, Luo Hao's martial mastery had reached the absolute pinnacle.
Her technique was flawless.
But Jaeger's Noble Phantasm power was beyond absurd.
Even when Luo Hao was at her peak, she could barely trade blows with strategy and timing.
She had never overpowered him.
Now?
Feeling her scorching mana behind him, Jaeger turned faster than Luo Hao could strike—thanks to Hercules' Belt—and unleashed a punch.
BANG!
Fist met flesh.
Jaeger's blow slammed into Luo Hao's soft abdomen.
"Gah—!"
Her body folded like a shrimp in midair, blood spraying from her mouth as her half-healed internal wound tore open again.
"It's not over yet, Luo Hao!"
Blessed by superhuman speed, Jaeger grabbed Luo Hao's wrist midair—
—and with his other hand, now like the Hand of Hermes, unleashed a barrage.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang—!!
Blood spattered.
Bones shattered.
Luo Hao's body twisted under each devastating blow.
Her arm twisted unnaturally.
Her ribs cracked.
Her body nearly turned into a mangled heap of flesh.
Finally—
Jaeger swung his arm and slammed Luo Hao into the ground.
BOOOOOOM—!!
The entire earth of the Reality Marble trembled.
Luo Hao lay motionless at the bottom of the crater, unconscious.
Even with her monstrous willpower, the damage she took far exceeded her limit.
Only now did the chat group fully react.
Sakura Tohsaka: "L-Luo Hao-san isn't dead… right?"
Miyuki Uchiha: "She shouldn't be… My eyes are good. I can still see her breathing. Barely, though."
Miyuki Uchiha: "But—WOW—Your Highness Jaeger, weren't you kinda TOO ruthless!? Luo Hao-san is my favorite kimono waifu!"
Yamamoto Mei: "It was brutal… but you can't blame him. If Jaeger had fallen, Luo Hao would've shown him zero mercy."
Miyuki Uchiha: "…True. In her original story, even her disciples got beaten into trauma."
Esdeath: "This is the natural result of two warriors fighting seriously. Jaeger held nothing back. Good."
Esdeath: "And from what everyone described… that Godslayer values a brutal, decisive defeat far more than any insult or mercy. This is exactly how she'd want to lose, rather be defeated mercilessly than be insulted with pity."
•••
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