"Is that you? Auren, king of Armament?" Scarlett asked, her voice steady despite the turmoil in her heart.
Auren didn't say anything at first. He casually stood up from his seated position on the boulder, his movements fluid and unhurried, then nodded with a slight smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"You are right. Auren, the absolute," he said, his voice calm and measured, as if introducing himself at a formal gathering rather than facing a potential battle to the death.
"You won't be for long," Scarlett sighs, her expression hardening as she looked around for a second before turning back to Auren, her eyes scanning the empty landscape with growing suspicion.
"I can't see any army or subordinates. Did you prepare nothing to prevent your death?" Scarlett asked with a light scoff, unable to hide her disappointment at the lack of challenge before her.
"I already said that I sent all my troops to Mystveil. Besides, there was a man who came here some time ago. None of my technical attacks worked on him. Since I know you're stronger than him, there's no point in preparing all that," he replied, despite the odds being clearly against him, he looked surprisingly confident, his posture relaxed and his demeanor composed.
"As you wish, let's fight," Scarlett adds, taking out her sword out of thin air, the blade materializing in her hand with a dark red energy that pulsed with deadly intent.
At the same time, the ground trembled for a second, and then something broke through the surface with a sudden burst of dirt and rocks.
But it only turned out to be a white suitcase, which opened up immediately upon reaching the surface, showcasing a white futuristic suit that gleamed under the light.
Auren just put his hand on it, and the suit immediately grabbed his hand, slowly wrapping itself around his body with a series of soft whirs and clicks as it sealed around him piece by piece.
The suit felt quite futuristic, but they couldn't help but feel that it was strikingly similar to a space suit of astronauts, with its bulky appearance and rounded helmet.
That was the reason it didn't make them feel like it was something particularly threatening, despite its advanced appearance.
"Even early version of iron man's suit is better," Scarlett couldn't help but sigh in disappointment.
"Before our duel, don't you want to know why I actually shook hands with them? Other than my personal goal, there was one more reason," he said, his voice slightly turned hoarse and muffled because of the suit, making him sound somewhat robotic.
"No way," Aoto shouts, pointing his finger accusingly at Auren. "Are you one of those villains who yaps too much before and during the fight? If so, then it'll lead you to fall even earlier," he added, clearly frustrated as he had enough of yapping villains in fictions he read who talked more than they fought.
"Yeah, we clearly know you're trying to waste our time. That was a lame trick. Just give up, I'll give you a peaceful death," Scarlett sighs, being even more disappointed in Auren as she realized he was just another pretender trying to stall them with empty words.
By his name and the mystery surrounding him, she had expected some unfathomable powerhouse hiding behind the shadows, but meeting him in person didn't meet her expectations at all.
"Well then, don't mind me if DreadHaven gets obliterated a few minutes later," Auren replies, casually dropping the bombshell as if he were talking about the weather rather than the destruction of an entire kingdom.
THUMP!...
The atmosphere felt sudden changes—quite serious to be exact, as the weight of his words settled heavily upon them.
"What are you trying to say?" Scarlett asks, her brows narrowing dangerously as she took a step forward.
"Up there," Auren continued, pointing in the sky with a gloved finger. "Far... far... away, I made a plant that harvests vast amounts of energy from two supernovas who are about to collide into one and release the energy of a kilonova," he exclaims calmly, as if discussing a simple scientific experiment rather than a cosmic event of unimaginable power.
"I had made all the preparations to harvest its energy last year, but—" he continued, pacing around as he put both his hands behind his back, like a teacher explaining a complex subject to his students.
And then he stopped, pointing his finger directly at Scarlett. "But because of you... because of an attack that came from you," he shouted, feeling a little angry as he thought back to that time, his composure finally cracking as he remembered how close she had come to ruining his lifetime of work.
Somehow, she was just so close to destroying everything he had worked for with a single careless attack.
"It took about a year more to rebuild the damages and functions. Did you even realize what you did at that time? There was a high chance that both of those supernovas would have collided just then, and it would surely have obliterated the entirety of this planet," he scolded, his voice filled with frustration and barely suppressed anger at her recklessness.
But he immediately composed himself and coughed lightly, his professional demeanor returning as if nothing had happened. "Fear not. But once it finally collides, I'll harvest all its energy into my specially designed cube. Mystveil got access to it as well. They'll make sure to use its energy to obliterate DreadHaven in one go. The rest will be mine, which I'll use to defeat both of you,"
"You're lying!" Aoto shouted, stepping forward, but Scarlett's hand shot out to stop him.
"No, he's right," she said, her voice quiet.
Somehow, memories from a while ago came rushing back into her mind. She remembered fighting with lunatic, When she had just became the succubus queen.
One punch from that fight had sent Scarlett flying so high she reached the planet's atmosphere. For just a moment, she had seen it: a huge, circular construct built around two large spheres of energy, Harvesting it's energy.
But she only saw it for a moment before she plunged back down to continue her fight with lunatic. During that battle, she even used her sword to release a devastating attack that split lunatic in half, and the attack didn't stop there. Who knows how far it traveled.
After the fight was over, she had completely forgotten about it. Nothing happened that made her remember it, at least not until now.
"Heh, finally remembered? You can stop it, though. Only if you can reach it before the cube destroys your precious little kingdom," Auren answered in a mocking tone.
"I'm going. Take care of him," Scarlett said hastily, her six magnificent wings bursting from her back. She immediately leaped into the air.
A shockwave rippled through the air as she took off. Her figure vanished in an instant, disappearing from sight, Showcasing her incredible speed.
"Oh..k?.." Aoto felt slightly awkward, being left behind like that.
But he immediately shook his head and unsheathed his swords, pointing them directly at Auren with a piercing gaze.
But then—"Hahaha... Hahahaha!" Auren burst into a huge, booming laugh. If it weren't for his heavy-looking armor, he surely would have rolled on the ground.
"Idiots, just as I expected. You fell for it," he said.
"What?" Aoto took a step back, completely confused.
"You can't just believe anything someone says, especially not your enemy's words," he added, clapping his palms together.
"Yes, a part of what I said was true. But it's not a weapon. It's just an energy source for this suit. I've been harvesting its energy for a while now. Although I wanted to harvest all of its energy at once for my goal, forcefully turning off the cube or doing anything fishy to it will release all of its energy in one go." He couldn't help but scoff as he explained.
"No matter how strong she is, no one is going to survive the energy of a kilonova," he added.
"Scarlett... I need to tell her!," Fear gripped Aoto. He felt his throat turn sour and his stomach twist into a knot. But somehow, he managed to think clearly for a moment.
"B-but wouldn't that be a waste? All our hard work for nothing?" Aoto questioned, his lips twitching.
"Maybe. But once Mystveil finishes the ritual, all of our wishes will be granted. So it doesn't matter," he said.
The next second, the atmosphere in the surroundings changed again. Somehow, everything felt brighter, shinier, and more illusory.
It was as if the very reality around him was bending and twisting.
"Now then, Mr. Aoto, I'll show you what it means to kill the stars."