As the Saint Sword in Lian’s hand shattered, the darkness shrouding Vera’s right eye receded, returning to its human appearance — but only the right eye.
Her left pupil still retained the characteristics of the Demon Race.
“Vera…? Do you recognize me?” Lian asked, her voice trembling.
“Get away…!”
Vera shouted urgently… yet her hand swung down in another uncontrolled strike.
Having lost her means of parrying with the broken Saint Sword, Lian was struck directly by a surging wave of Magic Power and sent flying backward.
“Lian En!”
Vera wanted to throw down the Demon Sword… but it felt as though the blade was welded to her fingers.
No matter how hard she tried, she could not let go.
“Don’t be afraid… this level of force can’t hurt me.”
Lian slowly stood up from within a cloud of snow… as she rose, her entire body was clad in the Heavenly Silver Armor.
That strike should have cut her in half, but the full-body armor she had summoned through Imitation in her desperation had absorbed most of the blow’s power.
Lian looked down at the armor… she saw that it was already covered in the pale-blue cracks of the Chillblade.
As she lowered her head, the entire suit of armor shattered into pieces along those very fractures.
“…It seems I really should consider taking a trip to the Kingdom of Salvation to retrieve the genuine article.”
She gave a bitter smile as she wrapped herself in a Mana Barrier… this was her only remaining defense besides the maid uniform she wore.
She could, of course, repeatedly summon the same armor… but before Vera’s Chillblade, they would only meet the same end over and over again.
Furthermore, armor on just her arms wouldn’t be enough to block the power of those slashes — it had to be a full-body set.
Such consumption was not small… even with Lian’s Magic Power reserves, she could probably only manage it a few dozen more times.
“…I can’t control this thing… It’s going to, it’s going to again!”
The tears streaming from Vera’s right eye could not stop the Demon Sword from continuing its dance.
She finally understood what the voice that had been speaking to her was… it was the sword in her hand!
‘Why are you stopping me? Haven’t you always wanted to kill this heartless bastard? From the moment he failed Diana, you’ve wanted this…!’
“Lian En… tell me. Where did you go?”
When she came to her senses, she heard her own voice, filled with resentment and rage — even though she did not want to speak those words.
“I didn’t go anywhere! I’ve been by your side this whole time!”
Lian shouted at her while dodging the attacks.
“You vanished for 16 years! 16 years! You heartless bastard who abandoned her!”
“I’m being framed! On the night of the wedding, I just got out of bed to find something to eat… and it turned out like this! To me, it felt like less than 1 week had passed!”
“Nonsense!”
The Demon Sword slashed horizontally like a flash of lightning.
An entire pine forest was cleaved in half, with broken wood and ice shards flying everywhere… Lian leaped into the air to dodge the lethal strike.
“I’m telling the truth! Look at me now, aren’t I only 19? If I were lying to you… I should be as old as you are!”
“You’re calling me old?!”
This time, the sword technique was even faster than the last… even a bit of Lian’s long braid was sliced off.
“…Can you really not control yourself?”
“Get away!”
Lian failed to dodge this strike. She was forced to summon the full Heavenly Silver Armor again, only to be swept into the sky by a wave of sword energy before falling to the ground like a withered leaf.
“…Just kill me. Quickly. Before I end up hacking you to death.”
Seeing Lian struggle to climb back up from the ground, Vera spoke in despair. The Demon Sword in her hand was still rising against her will.
“You’re saying stupid things again…”
“Hurry. If this continues, I will definitely slaughter you. And after that, I might even run into the city and hurt others. You still have a trump card you haven’t used, right? Use that move you used to defeat the Demon King —”
“I told you to stop talking nonsense! How could I ever use that kind of move on you? Besides, didn’t you deliberately avoid people and run out here to the wilderness alone just so you wouldn’t hurt anyone?”
“That’s not it. You remember this place, don’t you? I chose this spot specifically to hurt you. Look, that child is right here watching us, watching us kill each other like two idiots.”
Vera’s right eye turned toward a grave, but her demonized left eye remained locked onto Lian.
“It’s all in the past! I am the Hero… how could a little thing like this ever hurt me? Besides, this isn’t us killing each other… it’s just playing around like we used to!”
Lian tried to approach Vera, but the Demon Sword swung, creating a storm of frost and snow that blocked her path.
Thus, she donned the Heavenly Silver Armor and forced her way into the storm of icy blades.
“Stop it!”
The frost made of Magic Power eroded Lian’s barrier, and the armor on her body shattered repeatedly under the sword’s long-range strikes.
She was summoning the armor fast enough… but the Demon Sword still found a split second of an opening to leave the pale-blue scars of the Chillblade upon her.
Even as a Hero, these scars could take her life!
“Please stop… I’m begging you! I’ve never begged you for anything!”
Vera tried desperately to regain control of her body… but the only things she could move were her right eye, her throat, and her mouth.
“Is this the piece of junk that turned you into this?”
The scars on Lian’s body grew more numerous. Her clothes were torn to rags, and thick white frost had condensed on her eyelashes and hair.
The speed at which she could replenish her armor was also declining; she was heavily injured.
She had diverted a large portion of her Magic Power to suppress the eruption of the sword scars within her body.
The rest of her strength had to be saved until she was close enough to Vera — close enough to grab that sword!
Both the Demon Sword and Lian acted contrary to Vera’s will. Amidst Vera’s cries, Lian finally stood before her and smiled.
“I’ve wanted to do this for a long time… I’m going to destroy this damn sword of yours.”
Lian reached out to grab the Demon Sword, but the frost covering her body caused her movements to lag for a fraction of a second.
The Demon Sword in Vera’s hand pierced through the armor and into her abdomen.
“No!”
Vera let out a heart-wrenching scream.
“Guh… I was still a bit too slow. But this is fine too.”
Lian spat out a mouthful of blood. Instead of falling, she opened her arms and hugged Vera tightly.
She released her entire reserve of Magic Power without reservation. The blood pouring from her wound became incredibly hot, splashing onto the blade that had skewered her.
And so, the blade of the Demon Sword began to melt slowly under the heat of her blood.
Seeing the melting speed was too slow, Lian spat another mouthful of blood that had surged up her throat onto the crystal-like blade.
The hissing sound of the Demon Sword melting sounded like a scream of agony.
It controlled Vera’s hand, trying to pull itself out of Lian’s abdomen, but Lian held Vera tightly, thwarting its plan.
“I’m sorry… for making you wait so long. This time, I can finally…”
Feeling the coldness and the sensation of the foreign object in her belly gradually vanish, Lian’s legs grew weak.
Her vision went black, and she collapsed to her knees.