You are very strong, but my painting style is better than yours!

"Long time no see, Nadezhda."

Esdeath greeted her old friend, "The last time was when you defected, right? I heard that you joined the Revolutionary Army. I didn't expect you to be so important and be able to mobilize so many imperial weapon users.

What? You think you can keep me here just by relying on these people? Although you always like to use wisdom to make up for the lack of combat power, this plan... is a bit naive, Nadezhda. "

"You are wrong then."

Nadezhda was nervous in front of Esdeath, but after calming down, she was not afraid at all. She turned her head and looked at Iori calmly: "This operation was not planned by me, and everyone including me is just the 'audience'. The real protagonist is this——

He is your opponent!"

"really!"

Esdeath was not surprised, and Iori's appearance was reflected in her slightly narrowed eyes.

She is a war maniac, but also a very good hunter, with a sharp mind and calm judgment, not just a general. Otherwise, she would not be able to train and command such an elite army and make them loyal.

She had originally set out to rush back to the inland after receiving a letter from the minister. She had to solve the minister's problem as soon as possible during the window period before the northern ethnic groups launched an attack, and then continue to command the battle in the north.

So she quickly connected Iori's highly recognizable appearance with the goal mentioned in the minister's letter, and the smile on her face became more joyful and dangerous.

"You became my hunting target but you didn't run away. Instead, you took the initiative to attack and kill me? You have guts!"

Esdeath swung her sword, and the fierce wind pressure swept away the loose dust around her, causing the already cold air temperature to drop sharply.

"It's been a long time since I met such an arrogant opponent. He's worth ravaging!"

call--

The cold wind blew up Iori's cloak, and under the mask were a pair of clear and calm eyes. Since Esdeath landed on the ground, he said nothing, just examining his next enemy. For some reason, he suddenly sighed.

"Ok?"

Esdeath quickly noticed Iori's mood changes, and Akahime and others beside him looked at him strangely.

Sighing? Do you have no confidence in yourself?

This is not the right emotion to have before a big war - Akahima couldn't help but feel worried.

Although Iori made it clear that no one else would interfere, when the moment came, Akame would not stand idly by.

As for a warrior's reserve and dignity... come on, she's a killer!

"Have you realized the gap in strength and foreseen your own death?" Esdeath sneered.

A master can judge the approximate difference between the two sides just by their aura, and Esdeath believes that she will not lose to anyone in this regard.

"No, the sigh is just because of some disappointment..."

However, Iori's next words made Esdeath's pupils shrink suddenly -

"You don't seem as strong as I thought."

Volume 64: The White Moonlight of the Seireitei: Chapter : A mere shaving of ice is not half as good as mine

As soon as the words fell, extreme cold enveloped the earth!

Along with the violent vibration, what comes towards you are sharp ice spikes that are reminiscent of towering mountains!

Layer upon layer, it was like a huge frost flower blooming on the ground, crushing everything with its huge mass! Penetrating everything!

Huge rocks fell into it, like grains falling into a millstone, and disappeared in the blink of an eye!

Both those who belonged to the [Night Raid] and the three beast warriors were struck by the direct and pure power, and they fled in all directions like small animals when a wildfire came. Even so, some people were still affected, and if their companions had not acted in time, they would have turned into a blurred mass of flesh and blood.

Nadezhda was held in the hands of Brad, who was wearing [Haunted], and the two of them jumped high to avoid the first wave of attack. Brad, who was agile, shattered the ice spikes chasing from behind, and used the force to escape again before truly leaving the attack range.

The short-haired female general watched with her own eyes as the camp was crushed as easily as a building block. The imperial weapon users hiding in the dark were forced to expose themselves, use their magical powers to resist the ice spikes and quickly evacuate.

When everything calmed down temporarily, a huge ice flower appeared on the spot, which was more than 200 meters long and wide and nearly 100 meters high. Many imperial tool users, such as Akame and Leone, looked at the scene with lingering fear.

It’s not that they have lost their will to fight, but it has completely shattered their previous confidence.

Because even Nadezhda has always believed that the lineup gathered this time is very strong, and as long as nothing goes wrong, they can defeat Esdeath.

But now it seems... Even if they can win, it will only be a miserable victory. It is estimated that most of the imperial weapon users will be killed or injured before they can leave this monster behind!

"No! Iori, where is Iori?"

Nadezhda reacted, her eyes flickered, and she looked anxiously for Iori's figure. Suddenly, her expression froze, and she saw Iori, who was alone on the tip of a towering ice peak, with his cloak fluttering behind him.

"he……"

The female general's mood immediately calmed down. She thought she was good at judging people. Even though Esdeath's strength was beyond her expectations, after seeing Iori's reaction, she inexplicably felt that there was still hope.

"Go, Iori, defeat Esdeath...!"

Iori ignored Nadezhda's words. He was in a strange mood, relieved and excited at the same time. It was indeed the feeling of fighting a strong enemy, but -

It is definitely not a trial of life and death!

Whoosh!Whoosh!Whoosh!

The long and thick ice spears, which were powerful enough to hunt large and dangerous species, made sharp explosions. The huge impact force blasted the ice peak where Iori was standing into countless pieces. The mist-like broken ice was colorful in the dusk.

But the next moment, Iori appeared on another ice peak and raised his sword leisurely.

Clang!

The specially made saber and the Murasaki sword made a crisp collision sound. The force transmitted from the sword made Iori's hands tighten, and all the muscles in his body automatically tensed up.

At the moment when the swords intersected, the two faced each other. The queen's eyes seemed to be shrouded in shadow, and even through the mask one could feel the cold and pure murderous intent.

But Iori remained calm throughout the entire process - even though no one else could see his expression.

She tiptoed slightly and dodged Esdeath's additional sharp slash, but the queen kept pressing forward, stabbing at Iori like a diving hawk, her long ice-blue hair pulled straight by the wind pressure.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

In the short moment of falling, the two had already clashed three times.

When Iori landed steadily, Esdeath suddenly stepped on the side of the tilted ice peak, like an invisible gust of wind wielding a sharp blade that could cut through steel and iron.

Ka!

The ice spike, which was unknown how thick it was, was cut off by her with just one strike!

However, this attack still fell into the air. Iori fell from the sky, and the sword of Ame Kusanagi in his hand glowed slightly and slashed towards Esdeath.

At this moment, thin and long ice spikes suddenly protruded from both sides, crossing in front of Iori. When his blade fell and cut them off, the Ice Queen also re-adjusted her stance, and placed her index fingers and thumbs together to form a ring on her chest, just circling the dark mark that symbolized the power of the devil.

呲!

A spear of ice thrust out, hitting Iori in a flash—

clang!

The solid sword body blocked the ice spear, but the power of this attack was far greater than before. The ice spear continued to extend and knocked Iori far away.

Call ~

A flash of icy blue appeared, and Esdeath's feet were blocked by an equally elongated ice pillar. She soon caught up with Iori, and swung the cold saber at Iori's neck!

Clang!

Iori blocked with his sword and escaped from Esdeath's pursuit.

Unexpectedly, the Queen waved her hand, and the huge ice peaks around her instantly rose up, blocking all the sunlight and making Iori's vision quickly dim.

If someone looked down from a high altitude at this time, they would see a huge ice flower closing rapidly. The collision of solid ice made a terrifying muffled sound, just like polar glaciers crushing each other. It was a great power that only nature could create!

"Zhan Hua Lun!"

Just before the ice flower completely closed, a sharp blade of light broke through the ice and rushed out from the top, along with Esdeath and Iori who were wrestling with each other.

"To be able to compete with me to this extent, he is definitely not an ordinary person!"

The female hunter was extremely excited. Her ability was to control ice and snow, but both her personality and her fighting style were extremely aggressive. She was like an avalanche or a hungry wolf, and she would eagerly tear all prey into pieces and devour them!

"Your swordsmanship, your weapons, and your strange body movements are all things I have never seen before. This is a rare experience. After I kill you, my strength will be further improved!"

"...That's really a pity."

Iori said without any context: "It seems I am here too early."

"What?" The Queen's eyes were sharp. "Are you trying to delay time by talking nonsense?"

"I'll just praise you for now, Esdeath."

Iori looked at the frozen surroundings, shook his head and said, "You are indeed very strong. This is not a compliment or ridicule, but a description from an objective perspective.

Agility, strength, burst, skill, reaction speed, possessing powerful supernatural powers but not overly dependent on them, but combining physical skills and imperial tools in a reasonable way... it is simply a perfect killing weapon."

"…I don't like the way you talk."

Esdeath raised her face slightly and said coldly: "As if you are qualified to judge me!"

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

A sky full of icy arrows condensed out of thin air, and millions of flashes fell from the sky, leaving no possibility of dodging!

“That’s why I feel pity.”

Iori held his sword horizontally, and a beautiful light was emitted from the gem, making the jade sword body look like emerald glass. Then, as the sword was swung, a dragon-shaped energy was released, which blew away the rain of arrows with a majestic roar, and then he turned around and swooped down towards Esdeath.

It was the first time that the female general saw such a strange attack. She couldn't help but smile slightly. Without any movement, a thick and tall ice wall rose in front of her.

Bang!

The energy broke through several layers of ice walls but failed to touch the queen herself.

Then, an ice-blue figure crossed the high wall and fought with Iori again.

"You are just pretending. Do you think you can fool me with this little skill?"

"I'm afraid I'm here at the wrong time!"

Iori did not argue with Esdeath, but said to himself: "You are still growing now, and you have not reached the peak in theory... For me, this is a pity."

His words were not false; this was truly what he thought in his heart.

Esdeath is a typical practical warrior. The training and education she received in the tribe since childhood, as well as her later military experience, destined her growth path to be accompanied by battles at all times, and she would also draw nourishment from them.

In a sense, she is like a passionate protagonist. The more intense and dangerous the battle, the more it will stimulate her growth, allowing her to surpass her peers at an astonishing speed and even gain the title of "the strongest".

But the fundamental difference from a passionate protagonist is that people without the protagonist’s halo can easily die halfway…after all, not everyone has the privilege of “sit-ups”.

Esdeath is undoubtedly a BOSS-level character who enjoys half the treatment of a protagonist, so she has such a powerful expressiveness in the original work.

But the "regret" that Iori mentioned is also here:

Compared to the future, Esdeath today has missed two important battles and has not been able to absorb the key "nutrients".

One was to defeat and kill hundreds of thousands of foreign troops in the north, completely ravage the enemy's leaders, and completely crush their dignity and will.

One was the battle with the humanoid imperial weapon Susanoo. She was forced into a desperate situation by the cheating Susanoo. Although she succeeded in counterattacking with a powerful trump card, she was still deeply touched.

In addition, the situation was chaotic at the time. Esdeath had to endure the continuous casualties of her subordinates while fighting wits and courage with the [Night Raid] led by Nadezhda, which made her rarely taste the feeling of defeat and powerlessness.

These undoubtedly deeply stimulated Esdeath, and prompted her to go one step further on the basis that was already close to perfection!

Now, although Esdeath is also very powerful, she is still a little short of the domineering spirit in the original novel's ending... I'm afraid she hasn't developed the trick of "freezing time and space".

Originally, Iori had been fully prepared to face the complete Ice Queen, but now... one can only say that he is losing interest.

Even though he was wearing a mask, Esdeath could still sense his emotions. Strong people who have reached a certain level can communicate with each other through their minds when fighting. Esdeath was disappointed with Iori.

The Queen is angry!

"In that case, I will grant your wish! Come and experience the real hell!"

As Esdeath became angry, the sky was suddenly covered with dark clouds. The temperature of the entire atmosphere dropped rapidly, and the moisture in the air condensed into frost that covered the entire earth. In an area of ​​a thousand meters or even wider, pieces of ice as sharp as knives appeared out of thin air and spun wildly like knife wheels in the strong wind.

"Rush, Binglan!"

The bone-chilling wind mixed with icy spikes enveloped Iori, and before Esdeath could launch an attack, his clothes began to frost and freeze, as if they were going to swallow him up completely.

This is to release the power that is accumulated and stored in daily life in one go, so as to obtain destructive power beyond the limit.

[The Demon God Appears]'s already extremely exaggerated coverage will be further enhanced at this time, and it can easily cover the entire northern border and even the wider world!

Of course, it would be a huge waste to waste the power like that when dealing with Iori, so Esdeath chose to bless herself with it, elevating her already powerful self to a new level!

Akagi and others who were watching the battle from afar felt tremendous pressure. They struggled to resist the invasion of the severe cold and stared nervously at the battlefield in the center of the strong wind.

call!

Ice blades, ice spikes, icicles, ice arrows...all kinds of attacks fell from the sky, filling the entire atmosphere in an instant, as if everything in the world had become Iori's enemy!