Elsa Granhiert was blasted away like a rag doll, crashing into a coffee table several meters away, sending splinters of wood and glass shards flying.
But Rem showed no signs of letting up; she felt no real sense of victory.
Indeed, the next second.
Elsa Granhiert, wielding her kukri, attacked again.
"I must win..."
Rem gritted her teeth and met the charge.
After all, Frederica Baumann had lost her fighting capability, and now only Rem herself could confront Elsa Granhiert, the Gut Hunter.
Defeat meant death.
—Clang!
The meteor flail and kukri clashed fiercely, sending sparks flying.
As an Oni, Rem possessed monstrous strength from birth, and could absorb Mana from the atmosphere through the Oni horn on her forehead.
At this moment, she poured all her strength into her weapon, each strike carrying the resolve of burning bridges.
Whoosh!
Rem's meteor flail tore through the air, smashing towards Elsa Granhiert with a piercing whistle.
"——Oh, you're quite courageous."
Elsa Granhiert's lips curved slightly, her figure shifting sideways like a phantom, her black blade precisely parrying in front of the flail head.
Clang!
Sparks flew, and the tremor of metal clashing made Rem's hand web numb.
But she didn't stop; with a flick of her wrist, the chain coiled like a viper, attempting to lock Elsa Granhiert's kukri.
"Oh?"
Elsa Granhiert raised an eyebrow, spinning her blade, which slid along the chain towards Rem's fingers.
"......"
Rem's pupils constricted abruptly. She yanked back the chain, simultaneously using the momentum to spin, her meteor flail arcing in a wide sweep, horizontally striking Elsa Granhiert's waist and abdomen from the side.
Thump!
The blow came incredibly fast; Elsa Granhiert was forced to leap back, but was still grazed by the gale, her dress hem tearing.
She narrowed her eyes, her smile deepening: "Good reaction speed, but still not enough."
"Don't underestimate Rem!"
Rem gave Elsa Granhiert no chance to breathe; with a step, she swung her meteor flail again.
This time, she deliberately slowed her tempo by half a beat, and the moment Elsa Granhiert raised her blade to parry—
"Hm!"
Rem abruptly changed her move, the flail head suddenly dropping, aiming directly for Elsa Granhiert's knee.
"Hmph, you are quite persistent."
Elsa Granhiert let out a soft huff, tapping her foot, and flipped airborne, her kukri in her right hand slashing downwards with the motion.
However, Rem had already anticipated this; with a flick of her chain, the meteor flail coiled back like a living thing, attacking Elsa Granhiert from behind.
Clang!
Elsa Granhiert, without looking back, parried the hammer blow with a precise backhand swing, using the momentum to flip backward and land, her face alight with excitement:
"This is truly wonderful! I'm growing to like you more and more; your intestines must be beautiful too!"
"......"
Rem didn't reply, her breathing already somewhat ragged.
Elsa Granhiert's reaction speed was simply too fast... Rem had to press her attack more aggressively!
"Take this!"
Immediately, Rem charged forward, her meteor flail no longer swinging, but instead aimed directly at Elsa Granhiert's face.
Elsa Granhiert dodged by tilting her head, but saw Rem pressing close, an elbow strike aimed directly at her throat.
"Heh, caught you."
Elsa Granhiert sneered, her left hand forming a claw, precisely grasping Rem's wrist, while her kukri in her right hand stabbed towards Rem's abdomen like a viper.
"......"
Rem forcibly twisted her body, the blade tip grazing her waist, leaving a faint streak of blood.
She gritted her teeth and leaped back, simultaneously yanking the chain—
But Elsa Granhiert's speed was even faster!
A cold glint flashed, followed by a "Clang!", and the chain snapped!
The meteor flail flew from her grasp, heavily smashing into the distant wall.
Rem stumbled backward, cold sweat beading on her forehead.
"My weapon... it's gone..."
Rem's fingertips trembled slightly, the meteor flail's chain lay broken on the ground, emitting a crisp metallic sound. She gasped rapidly, her gaze quickly darting to her side.
Frederica Baumann lay sprawled in a pool of blood, her normally healthy tanned skin now ashen white, the bloodstain beneath her continuously expanding, weaving a shocking crimson trail across the floor.
"I must end this quickly... If this continues, Frederica-senpai will..."
Rem gritted her teeth, her nails digging deeply into her palms.
Now, only Rem herself could protect Frederica Baumann.
If they were defeated, only death awaited them both. Now, only by risking their lives in battle could they grasp a sliver of hope.
"How surprising~" Elsa Granhiert slowly approached, blood dripping from her kukri onto the floor. She extended her tongue to lightly lick her lips, her eyes glinting with dangerous light.
"To be able to achieve this level, you deserve praise~ But... it ends here!"
"Don't... underestimate Rem..." Rem forced herself to stand, slowly crossing her hands in front of her chest.
"I'll finish you now!"
Now, this was the only method left...
"Pointless struggling will only increase your pain~" Elsa Granhiert toyed with her kukri, a knowing smile on her face. "I've seen through your Magic. Why not just let me see... your beautiful intestines?"
"Ul Huma—!"
Without preamble, resolute flames burned in Rem's eyes as she unleashed her final Magic at Elsa Granhiert.
Instantly, three ice pillars, each as thick as an adult's waist, materialized, shooting towards Elsa Granhiert in a triangular formation!
The surface of the ice pillars glowed faintly blue, and where they passed, the air condensed into tiny ice crystals.
"Heh~" Elsa Granhiert scoffed disdainfully, her figure flickering like a phantom. "The first time, yes, it was surprising, but this level of Magic is useless against me now!"
The kukri in her hand traced an elegant arc. The first ice pillar burst instantly upon contact with the blade, countless ice crystal fragments scattering like fireworks.
Immediately, the second ice pillar also disintegrated under Elsa Granhiert's sharp spinning slash, the broken ice shards carving numerous shimmering trails in the air.
"Too bad, little maid!" Elsa Granhiert's figure flickered in and out of the ice mist, a hint of perverse excitement in her eyes. "Your Magic is useless against me..."
However!
Just as the third ice pillar burst—
"Wh—!?"
Hundreds of sharp ice shards, hidden within the ice pillar, poured down like a sudden storm.
Each ice shard gleamed with deadly cold light, weaving into a net of death in the air.
This was Rem's true finishing move!
Compressing and concentrating all her Mana, she concealed deadly intent within seemingly ordinary ice pillars!
Those ice shards interwoven in the air, each contained enough deadly ice Magic to be lethal. Even an enemy with an immortal body like Elsa Granhiert would find it difficult to escape unscathed.
"A trap!"
Elsa Granhiert's dark pupils suddenly constricted. She retreated rapidly, her blades dancing into an impenetrable barrier.
But facing such a dense barrage of ice shards, even she found it difficult to completely parry—
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
The sound of ice shards piercing flesh rang out repeatedly.
When the ice mist dissipated, a cruel yet beautiful scene presented itself.
Elsa Granhiert's body was impaled by dozens of ice shards. Blood slowly dripped down the glistening ice prisms, reflecting an eerie light in the sunlight.
The scarlet blood drops slid along the ice shards, blossoming into shocking blood flowers on the floor.
"Did I win?" Rem gasped faintly, her vision blurred as she looked at the motionless figure. "Finally... I've dealt with this monster."
She had to admit, Elsa Granhiert, the Gut Hunter's, strength far exceeded expectations.
Her almost perverse reaction speed and elusive assassination techniques were so formidable that even Rem and Frederica Baumann combined found them difficult to counter.
"My body has also reached its limit..."
As the light from her Oni horn completely faded, Rem's knees buckled, and she fell to the ground.
Her formerly prominent Oni horn gradually receded into her hair. The intense pain from her depleted Mana caused her vision to warp, and each breath felt like swallowing glowing embers.
"Frederica-senpai, I must check her condition..."
Rem forced her weak body up, her gaze laboriously shifting towards where her companion had fallen.
At that very instant—
Crack!
A slight crackling sound.
"......?"
Rem turned her head to look, her blue pupils abruptly constricting.
The ice shard piercing Elsa Granhiert's heart... had a fine crack appear in it.
"How truly... exhilarating~"
And the figure that should have been utterly dead slowly lifted its head.
A familiar curve appeared on her blood-stained lips, and the body pierced by ice shards was healing at a visibly rapid pace.
"I was quite startled just now, but the outcome seems rather good." Elsa Granhiert licked her lips, slowly speaking to the now incapacitated Rem:
"Now, I can pull out your intestines in one go."
"Is this... the true power of the Gut Hunter...?"
A bitter smile escaped Rem's lips; this battle had almost drained all her strength.
Now she finally understood why Natsuki Subaru had suffered so much at this woman's hands, why even the Sword Saint Reinhard van Astrea hadn't been able to take Elsa Granhiert's life.
Her all-out finishing blow had only earned her the opponent's nonchalant mockery.
"Heh... Surprised?"
Elsa Granhiert brushed off the ice shards from her shoulder, her black dress gleaming eerily in the sunlight.
"Did you really think... an attack of this level could kill me?"
As she spoke, Elsa Granhiert's fingertips gently traced the spot where the ice shards had pierced her, now completely healed.
"I am... quite tenacious~"
"You... you can revive?"
Hearing this, Rem seemed to realize something, painstakingly squeezing the words out from between her teeth. She tried to prop herself up but found she couldn't even lift her arm.
The intense pain from Mana depletion caused the edges of her vision to darken, yet her mind remained unusually clear.
Memory suddenly flashed back to the previous fight: Frederica Baumann's beastial claws had clearly torn open Elsa Granhiert's arm, yet those bone-deep wounds had healed completely in a few breaths.
At the time, Rem had thought Elsa Granhiert had merely used a Magic artifact or something similar, but now, it was clear she had guessed wrong.
This wasn't healing through external means at all, but rather the terrifying Regeneration ability inherent to her opponent's constitution.
Facing such a monster that could instantly recover no matter how much damage was inflicted, they had no chance from the very beginning.
After all, Rem's every attack felt like striking cotton, while every counterattack from Elsa Granhiert inflicted tangible damage.
"It seems you've noticed now..." Elsa Granhiert seemed to read Rem's thoughts. She slowly raised her completely healed arm, rotating her wrist in the sunlight. Not a single scar remained from where wounds should have been.
"But realizing it now, isn't it a bit too late?"
As a half-vampire specially modified and nurtured by an assassination organization, Elsa Granhiert possessed a despair-inducing Regeneration ability.
Even if she suffered a fatal wound, as long as a single piece of flesh remained, she could regenerate. Only by being completely incinerated could her life be ended.
This was precisely why she could repeatedly return from the brink of death, establishing her notorious reputation as the Gut Hunter.
"Just as I thought."
Rem's heart sank, realizing her opponent's incredible recovery ability from the very beginning.
She should have noticed it during their first clash: those fleeting wounds, that confident smile.
But even if she had known Elsa Granhiert's information, what then?
With their strength, they couldn't find a way to counter it at all.
"Well then..." Elsa Granhiert's tongue slowly traced her scarlet lips, her dark eyes gleaming with excitement. "Let me see if your intestines are more beautiful than that boy's?"
The next second—
A cold glint appeared abruptly!
Elsa Granhiert's blade aimed directly for Rem's abdomen. Time, at that moment, seemed to stretch indefinitely.
The chill of death crept up her spine to her nape, and Rem's vision began to distort.
"Am I going to die...?"
Memories flooded in like a tide:
That night, Lady Emilia brought back that black-haired young man from the Royal Capital.
Back then, Natsuki Subaru was so ordinary, dressed in foreign clothes, speaking strange words, not even recognizing the most basic Kingdom script.
"Another freeloading fellow, I suppose."
That's what she thought at the time, not even considering the young man named Natsuki Subaru seriously.
Until that blood-stained moonlit night.
A Magic Beast's sharp claws ripped through the night sky, and the young man she had once underestimated stood in front of her, shielding her with his own flesh and blood.
What is a hero?
It's not unparalleled Swordplay, nor world-destroying Magic, but the courage to step forward when others need it most.
Natsuki Subaru was such a hero, one worthy of her complete loyalty and adoration... a hero.
Later, Natsuki Subaru, having become a knight, accompanied Lady Emilia to the Royal Capital and successfully subjugated the Magic Beast White Whale, the calamity that had raged for four hundred years.
In the good news brought by the messenger, the figure hailed as the Kingdom's hero, people spoke of how he joined forces with Lady Crusch Karsten to repel the Archbishop of Greed—a truly remarkable feat.
Afterward, Natsuki Subaru also thwarted the Witch Cult's attack on the domain and personally ended the life of the Archbishop of Sloth.
These legendary feats were repeatedly recounted in every street and alley, and Rem's heart, too, quietly succumbed amidst these praises.
That always clumsy yet gentle figure had long been deeply etched into her heart.
"At least, in the end, I can still remember you... Natsuki Subaru."
Rem slowly closed her eyes, a serene curve appearing on her lips.
The cold blade tip was already pressed against her abdomen—
"It's over~"
Elsa Granhiert maintained her lunging posture, her scarlet tongue slowly licking her lips.
For the prey she was about to claim, a hint of morbid anticipation gleamed in her eyes.
Especially the intestines of such a powerful opponent, they would surely display intoxicating colors, wouldn't they?
But the next second—
Her playful smile suddenly froze on her face.
______
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