I am a female swordsman.

Those were days of being tormented by those research fanatics from Shinra.

It has always been the darkest memory that the Snow Woman monster least wants to recall. She suffered all kinds of terrible torture at the hands of that group of people, which greatly enhanced her power as a result.

however……

Genesis bluntly stated that she was nothing more than a beast, and had never been able to obtain the mental power representing one of the natural phenomena—the power of extreme cold—as Shinra Research Department had hoped for. Genesis's words struck the Snow Woman like a bolt of lightning.

She seemed to understand something, yet she also seemed to understand nothing at all.

"The warm-up is over. Now, I hope you two can give me a little more enjoyment." Closing the poetry book in his hand, Genesis stared at the snake and the puppet with murderous intent.

One is its supposed immortality, and the other is its enormous size.

For anyone else, they would be an exceptionally formidable opponent.

But in Genesis's eyes, he was nothing more than a tough punching bag and a large one!

The crimson figure swooped down from the sky like lightning! Its speed was so great that it seemed to ignite even the thin air in its path! Scorching, frenzied, and invincible! The puppet monster and the gluttonous snake monster simultaneously felt an even more terrifying furnace of heat rushing towards them!

Chapter Thirty-Three: Overwhelming Power

Just like a scene recorded in a mythological epic!

The crimson divine messenger descended from the sky, wielding a flaming divine sword that cleansed away evil, and subdued the giant serpent that ravaged the earth! Faced with this gluttonous snake monster, which was nearly five meters in diameter and of an extremely exaggerated length, Genesis finally decided to draw the sword hanging at his waist!

The alloy is processed using Mako energy as raw material, and then forged using Shinra's advanced technology and a force beyond human capabilities.

Mako Crimson Sword

This deadly weapon with immense potential can be infused with magical energy and mental power, causing the sword to glow with a red light powerful enough to burn everything.

Because it often accompanied its master in the Taira region, the Crimson Sword gradually acquired a trace of spiritual power. Even without activating its demonic energy, it possessed a terrifying heat that could burn anything it touched to pieces.

Genesis had never seen a monster dare to resist his blade with its bare flesh. In a mere instant, countless sparks burst forth from the gluttonous snake monster's writhing, slender body! Dazzling crimson figures, like lightning, slashed and cut around it relentlessly!

The sounds of clanging and banging rose and fell.

Each sword strike sent up large chunks of dark gray scales and scorching sparks. Although snakes are generally quite resistant to high temperatures, the constant shattering of scales and the penetrating heat of the attacks still caused it to hiss in pain. While its scales wouldn't be completely shattered in the short term, giving the gluttonous snake a fighting chance, it still managed to retaliate.

But would the battle-hardened Genesis give the flesh beneath his sword a chance to fight back?

Amidst the flying sparks and shards of scales, Genesis revealed a cruel smile, thrusting his sword towards the lunging snake's mouth! This strike contained an intense, scorching killing intent, capable of incinerating everything. Even the scenes within his mental world were distorted by this highly concentrated mental power, transforming into a chaotic state of thermal destruction under extreme heat! This sword strike, twisting everything, was like pouring a pot of molten iron directly into the mouth of the gluttonous snake!

There was no way to avoid it; Genesis's sword struck successfully!

"hold head high!!!!"

The ravenous snake, screaming hysterically, writhed its massive body as if possessed, causing the earth to tremble. If it were truly a pot of boiling molten iron, the ravenous snake monster could use its innate ability to devour energy to forcibly digest the heat, then expel the unabsorbable iron by absorbing energy.

The problem is that this is a mental attack. Faced with mental power that has no effect on one's own abilities, no matter how much the gluttonous snake monster can eat, it's like a tiger trying to eat the sky—it has nowhere to bite.

"Genesis!!"

The puppet monster, who had been ignored from beginning to end, let out a scream that was hard to tell whether it was anger or panic. It crushed the snow woman and beat up the gluttonous snake. Genesis was showing its full power at this moment.

This was a devastating blow to the doll-like monster who had been brimming with confidence and eager for victory before the ambush. She no longer knew what she could do in this situation. Her so-called secret of immortality was the doll's last trump card; if even that failed, she was truly finished.

Please be quiet while I'm working!

The puppet monster, which had just let out a howl, was immediately bombarded by more than a dozen fireballs casually thrown by Genesis. This was not a simple mental attack, but a fireball bombardment formed by Mako energy. Caught off guard, the puppet monster was covered in fireballs.

Instead of venting his anxiety, he ended up getting hurt.

Having struggled to his death, the puppet monster calmed down a bit.

But after calming down, a deeper despair and helplessness emerged. How could they possibly defeat Genesis? Despite being outmaneuvered and subjected to restraint and control, Shinra's strongest warrior still managed a comeback, showing no signs of strain. If this is the case, just how powerful must Shinra's ultimate will be—that woman who even the Earth Mother found difficult to describe?

'No, I can't be trapped here! I have to go back! There are so many brothers and sisters in the cult; they'll surely figure out a way to get rid of these wicked and rebellious bastards!'

Whether she truly wanted to retrieve crucial intelligence, or was merely using it as an excuse driven by an overwhelming fear, even the puppet monster itself couldn't tell. In any case, at this moment, it no longer wanted to remain passively beating it within Genesis's mental world. It still had a way to escape the confinement of mental power, only the price would be much higher…

the other side.

The gluttonous snake monster, subjected to violence, showed signs of its orange-yellow vertical pupils beginning to dissipate. The crimson figure that had been relentlessly beating it was unbelievably strong.

The Mako that was originally consumed can be vomited out along with the interest!

Perhaps having just escaped that exaggerated ice-killing attack, and with his body not yet fully recovered, Genesis didn't claim he could cleanly and swiftly take the life of the Gluttonous Snake Monster with a few sword strikes. Instead, he unleashed wave after wave of relentless attacks, rapidly pounding the snake's body like a pile driver.

This slow, insidious suppression makes the enemy truly understand what despair is.

Just as Genesis was recovering and effortlessly battling the snake, he suddenly sensed that the mental fluctuations belonging to the puppet monster within the area enveloped by his mental world had abruptly turned into deathly silence! And then vanished without a trace!

This means that the puppet monster is dead.

No, they escaped!

There was no doubt that the puppet monster, enveloped in mental power, was indeed dead. This death was thorough, extinguishing even its mental power. However, the puppet's extremely troublesome immortality made Genesis instinctively realize that the puppet, which had suddenly died without any apparent reason, must have had a backup plan.

I was originally planning to keep this girl around to interrogate her and get some information, but I didn't expect her to get away.

In that case, we can't just let the remaining two die. After all, the task that Shinra Chairman Yomi gave Genesis was to find out who is opposing Shinra. Simply knowing about the hidden cult of the Earth Mother is far from enough.

For the sake of that long list of compensation amounts, he has to work hard.

While Genesis was slightly distracted by his thoughts, the gluttonous snake monster, realizing his predicament, seized the opportunity and sprang up like a black whirlwind, opening its huge mouth and swallowing Genesis whole without learning its lesson.

'Never learns from their mistakes.'

The next moment, a pillar of blazing fire, mixed with countless fragments of scales, shot into the sky! It directly detonated all the mental power that Genesis had injected into the Gluttonous Snake Monster's body. Genesis's casual strike completely shattered the struggle of this terrifying monster.

Next up is the Muzan time with the two monsters.

Chapter Thirty-Four: Aftermath

The propellers churned the air, emitting sharp whistles and low rumbles. The formation of armed direct-fire aircraft bearing the Shinra Corporation logo swiftly pierced the night sky, speeding towards the crimson horizon!

The dark, six-barreled guns, powered by electromagnetic storms, could easily tear apart mountaintops. The honeycomb-like magazines, filled with special rockets resembling large pencils, possessed undeniable power. All of this proved that this aerial cavalry was not just for show, but a genuine aerial killing machine.

Shinra's air attack helicopter formation swept past like an iron cavalry.

Because of the low-altitude, high-speed flight, the powerful winds churned up by the propellers created waves of dust on the ground. This squadron, supported by information, departed from the nearest cooperative military base to the town less than ten minutes after Genesis was ambushed.

We're now almost at the point of battle.

"Genesis..."

Sitting in the helicopter, Angel's tough and solemn face occasionally showed unease. He had provided support the moment he learned that his friend Genesis had been ambushed.

Don't misunderstand, he wasn't afraid that Genesis would be ambushed and killed.

As fellow First Class Warriors of Shinra, Angel also possessed some forbidden powers. While perhaps not as many as Genesis, the terrifying calamity they wielded was enough to make Angel extremely wary. If his friend were to recklessly use those forbidden powers, the resulting harm would be unpredictable!

If things really get out of control...

Thinking of this, Angel couldn't help but touch the greatsword leaning against him. Shinra had never had a warrior go out of control so far, but they did have contingency plans. The most extreme plan, of course, was to unleash Shinra's full power to completely destroy the warrior's mind and body in the event of a loss of control.

To deal with first-class soldiers, one would naturally need to deploy an overwhelming number of first-class soldiers.

"Angel, are you alright?"

From the other side of the cabin, a lively voice brought Angel back to his senses. A boy with long, flowing black hair and a youthful innocence was curiously looking around.

"Zack, concentrate!" Seeing the black-haired boy looking around excitedly, the composed Angel couldn't help but whisper a warning, telling him not to cause any accidents because of his lively nature.

"Understood~~" Zack waved his finger slightly near his head, grinning at Angel, seemingly not taking his senior's words to heart at all. It wasn't that he hadn't listened; rather, this energetic young man was just like that. Whether making someone like him a Shinra warrior was a blessing or a curse remained to be seen.

Zack, Shinra Third Class Warrior.

While there isn't a formal master-apprentice system in Shinra, instructors are practically equivalent to mentors. Zack's instructor during his Shinra training was Angeal, and although he consistently passed tests with relatively excellent results, he always seemed to make some kind of mistake.

"I really want to cause a ruckus right now!" Zack couldn't contain himself any longer. The lack of real combat during his training had been a kind of torturous confinement for him.

“Zack…!” Angel’s voice suddenly became much louder.

"Ok?"

"Grasp your dreams." Perhaps out of unease about some terrible premonition, Angel looked at the warrior he had trained, trying to make him understand as early as possible what it means to be a warrior. "To become a hero, you must have dreams, and never forget that glory in your heart."

Young and inexperienced, Zack's eyes were blank; he didn't understand Angel's words. He simply nodded, seemingly understanding, and memorized Instructor Angel's words. Remembering them first was definitely the right thing to do; understanding them later was something he could figure out.

Besides, this was the first time his instructor had taken him out on a mission, and he didn't want to ruin his good mood!

"Lord Angel, the finalized image data from the front has been transmitted back."

A report came through the headset from the Shinra warriors, and Angel immediately opened the information support system to find out what had happened at the destination and what the situation was.

………………

The serpent's body, as large as a small mountain, lay sprawled on the ground, its scales cracked open, revealing charred flesh beneath. The scorched wounds, combined with the surrounding scene of a heavy snowfall, created an indescribably eerie sight. Despite suffering burns to over ninety percent of its body, the gluttonous snake-man's tenacious will to live kept it afloat, preventing it from dying immediately.

In the heart of the town, the Snow Woman, almost reduced to a pool of viscous blue liquid, writhed unconsciously on the ground. Having been roasted alive by her mental power to the brink of death, she had entered a state entirely protected by instinct.

They were able to suppress the two monsters to the point where they had no power to resist.

[The Ashbringer] Genesis sat on a block of transparent ice, leisurely reading a book of poems. He seemed completely absorbed, as if the poems held some inexhaustible mystery.

This collection of poems...

It was the book the old woman held, the one she had given him while he was in his hospital bed to help him pass the time and overcome his fear. He had been reading it for so many years; Genesis himself had almost forgotten how he felt when he first received the book.

Because he often carried a book of poetry and had a somewhat eccentric personality, many Shinra warriors thought Genesis must be a rather melancholic and artistic young man.

The noise of air vibrations comes from afar and approaches.

Before long, the arriving air support forces, guided by the original Shinra warriors, swiftly but cautiously approached the town.

Searchlights rained down from the sky, illuminating the two dying monsters as they moved back and forth, eventually converging on Genesis's location! The intense light turned the three-meter radius around Genesis into blinding spots of light, even making his brown hair appear deathly pale.

Bang! !

With a heavy thud, Angel, carrying a giant sword, leaped from the open cabin door and landed not far from Genesis.

"hiss!"

The feeling of looking down at the giant serpent's body from above was completely different from how it appeared after landing. Just looking at it instilled immense pressure, let alone how terrifying it would be if this monster were to rampage. Angel looked at his friend, who seemed no different from usual, and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"Genesis, that's too reckless."

"Hmph, I'm working to pay off that old woman's debts." Being in debt feels awful, and Genesis doesn't want to live with an astronomical sum of money in the future.

Show some respect.

Angel had just breathed a sigh of relief when the tension rose again. Although everyone knew that Genesis and the Speaker had a relationship, it was extremely disrespectful to openly call the Speaker an "old woman"!