Facing Jaeger — who was already stepping in for another punch and was within striking distance — Esdeath felt the flow of time itself slow to a crawl.
For the first time in her life, death stood right in front of her.
And it thrilled her to her core.
"This is it! This is the real battlefield! Not those pathetic skirmishes I had with the revolutionary army!"
A chilling aura erupted from her body, freezing even the air. Solid ice — denser, sharper, harder than any she had ever created — surged outward, forming layer upon layer of shimmering armor across her arms and torso.
She crossed her arms in front of her abdomen, conjuring at least a dozen thick ice shields.
Bang!
Jaeger's mountain-shattering punch slammed into her guard.
Crack!
Even through all those layers, the sound of bones breaking was unmistakable.
Esdeath gritted her teeth, forcing more ice to condense with the last scraps of her strength.
But it did nothing.
Crack! Crack! Crack—!!
One after another, the "indestructible" shields shattered against Jaeger's unstoppable force.
BOOM!!
At last, the punch broke through everything, slamming directly into Esdeath's abdomen again.
"Gahh—!!"
Blood burst from her lips in a gruesome spray.
Her ribs snapped, fragments stabbing into flesh and organs. Her entire body bent inwards grotesquely from the impact, trembling uncontrollably.
Bang!
Powerless, she fell — but before she could hit the ground, Jaeger caught her effortlessly.
This time, unlike his fight with Luo Hao in the Naruto world, he didn't continue attacking.
Not because of pity.
But because one more hit would have killed her instantly.
"…I lost," Esdeath whispered, smiling softly in his arms.
"Now you can do whatever you want with me."
Jaeger rolled his eyes so hard they nearly fell out.
"Are you stupid? In this condition, if I touch you, you'll probably die. You think I'm into corpses or something?"
"Hmph… who knows?" Esdeath muttered, leaning into him with shameless affection.
Looking down at the Sadistic General acting like a spoiled kitten, Jaeger couldn't help but mutter internally:
Why do women always act like this after getting beaten senseless?
Is 'beating is love' really a thing?
No. I'm not thinking about this.
He pulled out a Senzu bean Jibril had given him, bent down, and gently fed it to her.
Esdeath's eyes widened — at the closeness, at the tenderness — but she didn't resist. Jaeger wasn't her ideal type… yet somehow, she didn't hate any of this.
Not even a little.
The Senzu bean worked instantly. Wounds closed. Bones snapped back into position. Organs repaired in seconds.
But Esdeath didn't move away.
Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck and bit him lightly — claiming him like a wild animal marking her mate.
For Esdeath, even love was a battlefield.
"Damn it… what is this weird atmosphere?"
Jaeger thought grimly, touching his neck.
One minute she looked like she was about to die.
Now she was clinging to him like a lovestruck idiot.
Not far away, Yamamoto Mei stood guard over a trembling Erina Nakiri — deadpan, speechless.
"You two… done yet?" she asked, face dark.
Erina couldn't speak. Her mind had shut down.
Is this what power in another world looks like?
Grandfather… I want to go home…
Meanwhile, in the group chat:
Uchiha Miyuki: "Waaah! I knew it! Proud Esdeath would fall like this… it shouldn't be like this!"
Sakura Tohsaka: "…Sakura is kinda jealous…"
Yamamoto Mei: "Man or woman, they're all just stepping stones on my path to strength."
Jibril: "Freezing time-space with ice? Impressive-looking, but actually pretty easy."
Jibril: "Jaeger, if that's all, I'd kill you in one move."
Luo Hao: "He's barely using any strength. Esdeath was too weak to force out his true Noble Phantasm."
Esdeath: "…True. I have a long way to go."
Jibril: "Fufu~ Good. Otherwise it'd be boring if I one-shot him."
Esdeath: "Also I didn't fall! It was strategic!Totally part of the plan!"
Uchiha Miyuki: "Yes yes! Esdeath-sama hasn't accepted Jaeger's 'affections' yet!"
The truth?
Jaeger hadn't even shown a fraction of his actual power.
Even the enhanced Eight Gates were just a toy to him.
If he had drawn God Avoid, the fight would've ended instantly — defense ignored, existence deleted.
Ten minutes later…
Jaeger and Esdeath were still clinging to each other, flirting and biting like they were alone on the ship.
"Oi. Have you two had enough?" Yamamoto Mei asked, her face shadowed darkly.
"Hm…? Are you jealous?" Esdeath teased.
"As an old Shinigami, you must've been single for hundreds of years~?"
"I'm forever eighteen, you damn woman," Yamamoto Mei hissed back, spiritual pressure rising.
Jaeger chuckled, gently pushing Esdeath away.
"Why are you two arguing again? Didn't even have a grudge five minutes ago."
He turned to Mei, smiling easily.
"Want to go for round two?"
"Of course," she answered, unsheathing her sword.
"Our fight will end instantly. And don't worry about the crew Esdeath froze — they'll die soon anyway."
"…Doesn't matter to me if they live or die," Jaeger said casually.
A gorgeous golden blade materialized in his hand.
God Avoid.
"The sword you got from killing Gol D. Roger, huh?" Mei said, eyes narrowing, spiritual pressure exploding around her. "Bring it on!"
"Shikai — The Blade of the Flowing Light: Soten no Shigure!"
The entire ship was engulfed in blinding light.
Mei's form dissolved into countless beams — each moving at light-speed, invisible to the naked eye.
A technique of pure speed, pure destruction… and instant death upon contact.
She knew she couldn't win.
But against a wall too high to climb, a warrior only charges forward.
"Come," she thought.
"Let me experience the divine sword that makes even legends tremble."
Jaeger lifted his blade — calm, bored, almost lazy.
"God Avoid."
A single slash tore through space, time, defenses, and logic itself…
Meeting the storm of lights head-on.
•••
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