"...I appreciate the wait, Your Highness."
"Everyone here is going to die anyway. I figured I could at least allow you a final farewell. Besides, I intend to savor this chance to fight you in earnest to the absolute limit!"
A faint glimmer of light pierced through Felix’s clouded eyes.
"Come to think of it, you said something like that back in Regrif, didn't you? You really do love to fight, just like the rumors say. Some things never change. Well then, I suppose I should meet those expectations—I’ll play with you for a bit."
Shion shifted into a combat stance.
A complex geometric pattern manifested in her right eye.
"We’ll see how long that composure lasts!"
Felix roared, swinging his sword.
He unleashed an invisible slash—a manifestation of his Attraction and Repulsion Manipulation ability that combined lethal force with a wall of raw repulsion.
However, Shion, possessing the Seirei Eyes, could see the trajectory of the slash perfectly.
"You ask how long? Well—"
Shion activated Shift even as she spoke.
Her figure vanished into thin air.
"—I’d say until the very end."
Felix’s head snapped up at the sound of Shion’s voice coming from above.
In the sky, countless hailstones had appeared alongside her.
"—Strafe."
As Shion triggered her magic, the hailstones hovering around her were fired in a simultaneous volley toward Felix.
Felix watched the blocks of ice rain down at near-subsonic speeds and immediately exercised his ability. By cloaking his surroundings in a field of repulsive force, he brought the hailstones to a dead stop in mid-air before they could touch him.
Shion didn't bat an eye at her attack being neutralized; she simply transitioned to her next move.
"—Diffusion."
As if responding to her command, the hailstones suspended in the air burst apart. The resulting shower of razor-thin ice shards pierced right through the wall of repulsive force.
"Guh...!"
Felix hastily deployed a magic barrier to shield his vitals. By narrowing his defense to his most vulnerable points, he managed to avoid a fatal blow, but dozens of shallow cuts opened across his body.
Shion gave him no room to breathe.
As she touched down on the ground, she leveled her staff at him.
"—Stillness."
As though she were sweeping a paintbrush across a canvas, everything within Shion’s field of vision was swallowed by a gargantuan mass of ice. The trajectory of her staff dictated the path of the frost as it encased Felix, along with the Royal Castle and a portion of the surrounding castle town.
This version of Stillness was a wide-area spell—an improved, high-output evolution of Shion’s original magic.
Due to the nature of Shion’s special ability, time effectively ceased for anything trapped within the ice. It functioned as a form of cold sleep; even if a person were caught inside, they would not die.
"Restraint complete."
The moment Shion allowed her guard to drop, thinking the fight was over—
"...To think it would end so easily. If this is all it takes to beat the 'World's Strongest,' then the title is quite the disappointment."
Another man was standing right next to the ice-encased Felix.
"—!?"
Shion gasped in shock, struggling to pull herself back into a fighting stance.
However, her body refused to move, as if she were under the effects of a paralysis spell.
"I didn't expect you to be in the capital as well, White Demon."
The man spoke to the immobilized Shion. He was a youth who had lost his left arm and wore an eyepatch over his right eye.
"Beria Sans...!"
Shion directed a gaze saturated with bloodlust at him.
"...Heh. You recognized me at a single glance? It seems you think of me more often than I expected."
"Don't say such disgusting things! You make me sick! I’m going to drag you down to hell myself—right here, right now!"
Shion shouted, her emotions finally boiling over.
In response to her outcry, several spears made of ice erupted from the ground, lunging toward Beria.
Beria simply swung his sword at the approaching frost. The sheer pressure of his blade shattered the spears instantly, leaving him untouched.
"An attack of this magnitude while under the dominion of my ability? Moreover... was that magic?"
Currently, the entire area surrounding Beria was being subjected to Eternal Immutability. Except for Beria himself, everything was forced into a state of absolute stillness. In such a space, magic should have been impossible to cast.
Beria believed he had completely neutralized Shion by virtue of her being a mage, but he had miscalculated.
"To think you’ve already reached the level of a Transcendent. ...Was it during your fight with the Water Majin Due at the Farm? ...Change of plans. I’ll kill you before I deal with Lucila N. Edelweiss."
Once Beria identified Shion as a legitimate threat, he began to close the distance, sword in hand.
"That's my line! —Frost Storm Boreas!"
A silver storm far below the freezing point swept toward Beria, transforming everything in its path into a world of white.
"An ice storm that freezes even the core of the body? A troublesome attack, indeed. In that case—"
Beria sheathed his sword. Then, he spoke.
"—Laevateinn."
In his hand, a sword of hellfire appeared—a blade so hot it threatened to incinerate space itself.
Beria swung the hellfire sword into the heart of the approaching silver storm. The collision between the ultra-low temperature wind and the ultra-high temperature blade triggered a violent thermal reaction.
"—!?"
While Shion watched with bated breath, a massive explosion tore through the area. A deafening roar followed as a giant plume of white smoke swallowed the battlefield.
"............What is this?"
Beria, who remained unscathed despite the direct hit thanks to Eternal Immutability, looked around and let out a bewildered mumble.
The explosion just now should have been powerful enough to annihilate everything within its radius. It would have been perfectly natural for the Royal Castle to crumble and the castle town to suffer catastrophic damage. Countless citizens within the capital should have been killed.
Yet, that wasn't the case.
Despite the force of the blast, the Royal Capital was entirely intact. The only difference from moments ago was that the entire city was now encased within a massive block of ice.
"Haa... haa... haa... That's right... You people... don't care at all... if the city is destroyed. ...Good. Not a single thing... was broken."
Shion, the architect of this frozen landscape, was breathing heavily. She had protected herself with a mana barrier, but the strain was visible.
Shion had used Stillness to engulf the entire capital. Then, the moment the surface of the ice began to crack from the explosion, she used Time Rewind to maintain the integrity of the frozen mass, successfully shielding the city. Because of the properties of Stillness, none of the people trapped inside the ice had been harmed.
"To think you would protect the entire capital... It was an unexpected move. Still, if it’s exhausted you this much, I’ll call it a success."
Beria was surprised by the world of ice Shion had created, but he quickly regained his composure and resumed his approach.
"Consider this my final tribute to a Transcendent. I’ll make it quick."
"Ahaha..."
Shion let out a weak laugh at Beria’s words.
"What's so funny?"
"I'm sorry... but I have a promise to keep...! I can't afford... to die in a place like this...!"
Though gasping for air, Shion wore a defiant, fearless smile.
"Do you think you won't die because you have Time Rewind? You might be the Atavism of the Witch, but if you aren't given the time to activate your ability, you’ll die just like anyone else."
"To be honest... I wanted to be the one to kick you into hell... It’s a real shame I can't do it."
Shion could just barely manage to speak or move her facial muscles; the rest of her body remained pinned by Beria’s ability.
"A shame, indeed. You can die full of regret!"
Beria raised his sword and brought the blade down toward her without a shred of hesitation.
As the lethal blade closed in on Shion—
"—Just how many precious things do you have to steal from me before you're satisfied?"
In that frozen space where only Beria should have been allowed to move—the black sword Schwarzhase, held firmly by Orun, intercepted Beria’s murderous blade.