"Boom!"

With a loud muffled explosion, the girl with jet-black wings, jet-black hands, and jet-black hooves, wielding a pair of black spears, crashed into a mountain like a cannonball, causing it to shake violently, even showing signs of collapse.

Countless falling rocks tumbled down the mountain, dragging billowing dust and sand, pouring down like a mountain flood, almost completely burying the dragon girl who had crashed into it.

"Boom——"

Melusina had to flap her wings, transforming into a supersonic jet fighter, smashing countless falling rocks along the way, breaking through the thick dust and sand, carrying white air waves and sonic booms, soaring into the sky, finally leaving the collapsing mountain flood behind.

"Swoosh!"

Reiger, however, reappeared in front of Melusina without a sound, seemingly teleporting, slashing ferociously with a blade.

"Clang!"

Melusina seemed to have been prepared, raised her spear to block the slash, and using the incoming force, glided backward, further distancing herself from Reiger.

"Oh?" Reiger finally paused his fierce assault, raising an eyebrow slightly, and said with a light chuckle, "Have you already gotten used to my attack rhythm?"

"As expected of you."

"Although you once said that human sword skills are nothing but constraints, and as a naturally powerful dragon kind, you don’t need human techniques, looking at your performance now, your intuition and adaptability in battle don’t fall short compared to that so-called strongest Round Table Knight."

Reiger’s words were pure praise, but to Melusina’s ears, it was far from pleasant.

"Facing me in this state, do you still have the leisure to say such things?"

Melusina wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, glaring at Reiger, as the Dragon Furnace Heart in her chest continuously transmitted magic power throughout her body, enveloping her entirely in a dazzling light.

Although she was being suppressed one-sidedly by Reiger, even struck solidly by a [Black Flash], when it came to vitality, Melusina, as the strongest kind, would not lose to anyone.

So, despite her current sorry state, her injuries weren’t severe enough to affect her combat capability.

"Boom——"

Thus, Melusina silently launched an attack, dashing forward with white waves and sonic booms, her twin spears transforming into two sharp greatswords, or rather, resembling two fierce dragon claws, slashing mercilessly at Reiger.

The power on the spears intensified, and Melusina wielded it more skillfully, rendering the inviolable barrier around Reiger mere decoration, easily breached in an instant.

Despite this, Reiger’s expression remained unchanged, as he raised his empty left hand to meet the oncoming spear, rather than his black blade.

"[Dragon Scale]——[Rebound]——[Twin Comet]."

Reiger finished the specific incantation at an astonishing speed.

Seeing it, any Curse Mage from the Sorcery World would be wide-eyed in disbelief at the speed of his chanting.

Chanting incantations, although a necessary measure to enhance sorcerous effects and even a condition for casting some powerful spells, takes precious time during fierce battles, causing considerable delay.

Even entities like Gojo Satoru and Ryomensukuna dare not suddenly chant incantations in intense melee, but would instead seize battle gaps, considering distance, situation, occasion, and timing among other factors, achieving the aim to chant incantations at opportune moments.

Regular Curse Mages wouldn’t dare play like this in desperate combat.

Reiger, however, never worried about this.

Because, in the Earth Mistake World, he already mastered the technique of high-speed chanting, able to compress the time needed for chanting, even performing parallel chanting in heated battles, achieving the goal of fighting while chanting magic.

Also, high-speed and parallel chanting techniques could equally apply to chanting incantations in sorcery.

Therefore, Reiger never worried that chanting during combat would affect him, exposing vulnerabilities.

Just like now, a short incantation took Reiger less than a tenth of a second to complete.

"[Release]."

In an instant, a terrifying amount of cursed energy erupted from Reiger’s hand.

A strike over a hundred meters long, as massive as if swung by a giant blotting out the sun, was unleashed by Reiger.

"Boom!!!"

Amid earth-shattering roars, the terrifying strike hit Melusina’s slashing spear, not only suppressing it instantly but also advancing relentlessly toward her.

"What...?!"

Melusina’s pupils contracted sharply, a powerful sense of impending doom surged explosively in her heart.

"Rumble——"

The colossal strike cleaved through the sky, slicing through the atmosphere, even the ground below with ease, lifting endless sand and stones, advancing relentlessly into the distance.

"Boom——Boom——Boom——Boom——"

Where the slash passed, mountains were halved cleanly, falling with earth-shattering rumbles, causing dust to engulf the sky and surroundings.

"Ugh... aaaaaaahhhhhhh...!"

Melusina held up her twin spears, blocking the immensely powerful colossal slash, pushed back with every effort, every ounce of strength failing to repel it as she let out blood-stained cries.

"Puchi!" "Puchi!" "Puchi!"...

In an instant, the sharp onslaught from the colossal slash sliced through every part of Melusina’s body, leaving her skin torn and flesh cut across her entire being.

At this rate, even regaining her current form, Melusina would undoubtedly be cleaved into halves, meeting her demise.

(Is this my fate?)

Facing the colossal slash, realizing her ultimate end, such thoughts surfaced in Melusina’s mind.

She would die... Although imminent, Melusina found herself feeling little fear, even a sense of release.

Though somewhat unwilling, her resentment wasn’t directed at the fate about to unfold, but at her inability to defeat Reiger, being crushed by him one-sidedly.

For Melucina, who considered herself a strong one and the strongest existence, this outcome was undoubtedly a denial of her identity as the strongest species.

Feeling unwilling about it was certainly natural.

Yet, Melucina found that she might have been anticipating this conclusion.

(In this way, I’ve done my utmost, to my fullest extent.)

Perhaps, I wasn’t supposed to be born in this world.

Maybe everything I did was wrong all along.

Even if the starting point was out of love for "her", I should pay the price for those actions and accept the punishment I deserve.

With these thoughts, Melucina unexpectedly peacefully accepted her impending death.

"Ah ah..."

"Goodbye, my love..."

Melucina, enduring the slashing, tightly gripped the twin guns. Her hands, which had started to crack and bleed, slowly lost strength.

The gigantic slash pierced through Melucina’s twin guns and slashed straight at her body.

"Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh..."

Just as Melucina was about to be engulfed by the gigantic slash, a roar that shook the entire scene echoed forth.

"Hmm?"

Up in the air, Reiger, who had been watching Melucina’s direction all along, was dumbfounded.

"This voice..."

Melucina, who was ready to die, was also stunned and then seemed to recall something, turned her head sharply towards the direction of the voice.

The next moment, Melucina saw a long-lost, familiar figure.

"Pasival!"

Melucina cried out.

The newcomer was none other than Pasival.

Pasival was running towards them at an astonishing speed, raising the Holy Spear in his hand high.

"Zheng——"

The brilliance shone and converged at the tip of the Holy Spear.

The brilliance was not dazzling or resplendent, but pure white and flawless, as if gathered from the heavens and the earth, slowly gathering at the tip of Pasival’s raised Holy Spear.

"Chosen Spear! Grant me the power of protection!"

Pasival shouted.

"Holy Spear! Open court!"

With the voice falling, Pasival swung the Holy Spear towards Melucina’s direction.

"Boom!"

The white light gathered at the spear tip immediately transformed into a dazzling beam, rushing out from the Holy Spear.

The speed of the light was fast, piercing through several hundred to a thousand meters in the blink of an eye, arriving in front of Melucina.

But its target wasn’t Melucina, but the mountain-cleaving, sea-cutting gigantic slash aiming at Melucina.

"Boom!!!"

Accompanied by a loud bang, the light from the Inner Sea of the Star hit the gigantic slash, engaging in a fierce conflict. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

The explosive force from that instant blew Melucina away.

The earth cracked, sand and stones rose, as slash and light fiercely clashed, trying to crush each other and claim victory.

But eventually, both sides exhausted their strength, as if mutually cancelling each other out, slowly disappearing with the passage of time.

"Ha... ha... ha..."

Maintaining the posture of having swung the spear, Pasival was covered in sweat, his breathing became extremely rapid.

"...Did I make it in time?"

He revealed a very reluctant smile, then knelt on one knee, seemingly having also exhausted all his strength alongside that spear swing.

Of course, if it’s just that, it’s not unacceptable.

But with the full force burst of the Holy Spear, Pasival’s vitality was also rapidly draining, causing his hair to turn half white, half black.

"Fool...!"

Melucina, struggling to get up from the ground, saw this scene and couldn’t help but contort her face.

Then...

"Indeed, a fool."

Reiger, who had somehow landed in front of Pasival, also spoke quietly.

"To save an enemy, actually willing to expend life to use the Chosen Spear..."

"If you aren’t a fool, who is?"