They saw Esdeath thrust out a colossal ice lance dozens of meters long.
The Plunderer's entire body radiated evil energy, forming demonic claws that shredded the ice lance. At the same time, an overwhelming tide of negative emotions surged into Esdeath's mind.
"!"
She clutched her head, eyes bloodshot and face contorted in pain.
In just those few minutes of combat, Esdeath had exhausted every trick she had. Ice mountains, ice spheres, ice spears, ice knights… The entire area was littered with shattered ice crystals, yet not a single shred of the Plunderer's clothing had been touched.
From the Plunderer's perspective, taking on Esdeath was far too easy; if not for being wary of her space-freezing move, he would have killed her long ago. He didn't see the people of this world as any threat.
By now, Esdeath was clearly at the end of her rope—and she showed no indication she could use her space freeze again. The Plunderer raised an eyebrow.
"So you can't freeze space anymore?"
"…"
Esdeath did not reply.
Realization struck the Plunderer, and he sneered. "Heh. So that was all a bluff. You had me thinking you still had that move left."
"Pathetic trash without a real threat… Die."
With a cruel grin, the Plunderer swung both arms, sending massive demonic claws to tear Esdeath to pieces once again.
"…"
Esdeath tilted her head back, her expression devoid of joy or sorrow, as though resigned to life and death alike. In reality, the negative emotions invading her mind had made her feelings even more extreme. This was her second crushing defeat—again, a helpless loss.
Fighting the Plunderer made her see even more clearly the gulf between herself and Ren. For someone as proud as Esdeath, multiple losses were unacceptable. In her worldview of survival of the fittest, those who fail deserve death. Perhaps she no longer had a reason to keep living.
"Oh? You think you've seen the extent of my power?"
Ren appeared by Esdeath's side, at some point unknown to anyone.
"When did he…?"
Night Raid jumped in surprise, none of them aware of when Ren had stood up and left.
The Plunderer spotted Ren and immediately diverted his attack, attempting to seize the giant orb of evil energy in one go.
But Ren merely shot him a cold look.
The monstrous evil claws dissolved as if pacified, flowing obediently back into the sphere of evil energy. And this time, since the Plunderer was up close and focusing his ability on Ren alone, Ren took the opportunity to rip out even the evil-energy seed in the Plunderer's body. Together with the escaping evil energy, he claimed it all for himself.
Stripped of the evil energy's support, the Plunderer dropped from midair like a stone, slamming into the ground. But despite the pain, he scrambled, panic-stricken, staring in disbelief:
"Who…who are you?! How can you control even the seed of my evil energy?!"
"Is it that hard?"
Ren looked at the condensed sphere of evil energy—evil energy gathered from across the entire world.
Gluttony!
He activated it. A crimson substance enveloped the sphere and devoured it in a single second. The moment that sphere of evil energy vanished, the Plunderer fell into complete disarray, body trembling, wailing in terror:
"How…how can this be? My evil energy has disappeared from this world?! That's impossible—impossible!"
Ren paid no attention to the now-powerless man. Instead, he focused on Esdeath, whose eyes held no trace of confidence, only self-mockery.
"You really want to die?"
"…"
Esdeath gazed at him in silence. She had never before admitted to being weaker than anyone.
"Hmm, I'm not opposed to letting you die. We have no particular ties, after all."
Ren rubbed his chin, studying Esdeath a moment before making a proposal.
"But if you plan to die, then hand over your Demonic Extract before you go. It'd be pretty useful for my people."
The Teigu known as "Demon God Manifestation: Demonic Extract" was the bloodlike substance Esdeath had once consumed. Ren could still sense that power flowing through her veins. On second thought, it seemed like a decent ability—maybe he could give it to Eriri or someone else.
…
Meanwhile, in the chat group.
March 7: "Uh… what's going on? Why is Ren talking about her final wishes now?"
Momonga: "If someone wants to die, stopping them might do no good."
Reinhard: "This woman seems to have suffered a blow she can't endure."
Aqua: "Maybe she got depressed after Ren beat her last time."
Exusiai: "I don't get it. So she lost a fight—why would she want to die?"
Saeko Busujima: "People born with great pride can't handle failure, especially crushing defeats. This time, Esdeath lost again to the Plunderer."
Tushan Honghong: "I think I understand. Ren is doing nothing wrong—he's respecting her fate."
Emilia: "Mm, Honghong's not wrong. Still, I hope everyone in the group stays alive. As long as you live, there's hope."
Emilia: "And there's a good chance Esdeath's mind was affected by that strange evil energy."
Nami: "You're so kind, Emilia."
Emilia: "Not at all."
Nami: "Don't worry, I trust Ren. He's not a heartless guy."
Saeko Busujima: "I believe that too."
March 7: "Me too!"
…
Esdeath stared unflinchingly into Ren's eyes; he met her gaze without wavering in the slightest. He was entirely serious. Yet the sight of that calm look stung her heart—she recognized it all too well. It was the same look of scorn she used to give weaker foes.
In his eyes, she was just a feeble speck.
"You're overthinking it. I'm just saying your heart is fragile—like a speck of dust. I don't really care about your battle strength."
"?"
All right, so Ren had used his Dominion skill to peek into her thoughts.
Esdeath's pupils dilated, her mind struggling to process what he said: 'My heart is fragile?'
Impossible! She'd been through so much bloodshed, so many battles—how could her heart be fragile?
"Not fragile? You've only been beaten twice, and now you're acting like it's do-or-die. Are you really that afraid of losing?"
His words laid bare her essence.
Esdeath was born in the far north, in a tribe that hunted Danger Beasts. She was the daughter of the Balut clan chief. From a young age, her father had drilled into her the belief that only the strong survive.
The concept of the strong devouring the weak had been etched into her soul since childhood. Once, when she returned from a solo hunt, she found her entire tribe wiped out by hostile northern invaders. From that moment on, she became even more convinced that to live, one had to become strong. Those who failed were weak, and the weak had no reason to keep living.
Right now, she was a defeated weakling—unworthy of life.
"With that attitude, you're nothing more than a bully of the weak yourself. How could you possibly become strong?"
"Stop mumbling to yourself. Hurry and decide. I'll extract the Demonic Extract in one piece," Ren urged impatiently.
…
"You two bastards!"
Eyes bloodshot, the Plunderer roared.
His evil-energy seed had vanished, along with all the power he'd worked so hard to cultivate as a Plunderer. In a frenzy, he charged, face twisted in madness.
"Shut up!"
Two furious shouts rang out simultaneously—one accompanied by a raging blast of wind, the other by a surge of frigid air.
"Gah?"
The Plunderer squawked. First he was encased in ice, then shredded by the ensuing whirlwind, scattering as glimmering ice shards that spiraled away.
[Detected that the Plunderer is dead!]
[Apocalypse Journey complete!]
[Ren gains 500,000 apocalypse points, Esdeath gains 200,000, Nami gains 100,000, March 7 gains 50,000, Tushan Honghong gains 50,000!]
"It's over just like that?" March 7 blinked her big, watery eyes. That felt so abrupt.
He'd seemed so powerful, yet was wiped out in an instant. More importantly…
"Huh? We hardly did anything, and we still got 50,000 points?"
Tushan Honghong lifted her hand timidly. "I didn't do anything either…"
Nami scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. "All I did was shoot a few lightning bolts at Night Raid—and I didn't even hit the Plunderer. I still got 100,000?"
"…"
Night Raid was thoroughly baffled. This terrifying menace to the entire Empire had just been annihilated in a matter of seconds by that man and Esdeath… and now these newcomers were babbling about something they didn't understand—50,000, 100,000… Some kind of currency?
By reflex, they assumed so. But being able to hire such powerful people for just a hundred thousand anything seemed ridiculously cheap.
Esdeath and Ren glanced at each other, having jointly finished off the Plunderer. Ren smirked in a teasing way. "Don't tell me you couldn't bear to lose your powers after all."
Esdeath's expression was no longer so deathly. Killing the Plunderer, sensing the satisfaction of it, seemed to have cleared her thoughts somewhat. The negative feelings were receding, and the familiar aura of the Ice Queen was returning.
With a flick of her long hair, she said arrogantly, "Lose my power? I won't allow it. I'll get stronger, and I'll challenge you until the day I finally defeat you!"
A vein popped on Ren's forehead. The last thing he wanted was more trouble. He muttered in annoyance, "I told you—don't provoke me. Why do you start making my life difficult the second you recover?"
But Esdeath's next words left him momentarily stunned. Her voice was cold and level.
"I've already lost to you, so my ownership is for you to command. Accept my challenge as many times as I see fit, until the day I'm strong enough to reclaim my rights."
"?"
Those words were definitely not PG-friendly. Ren instantly snapped off the livestream.
As annoying as Esdeath's domineering personality might be, she had a near-flawless figure and face. Saying something like that really got his attention.
"You're serious?" Ren asked warily.
Her thought process was different from normal folks—he'd better be cautious.
"I, Esdeath, always keep my word. Perhaps there's another way I can beat you."
A flicker of something crossed her eyes. She ran her tongue across her lips, an overt challenge gleaming in her gaze.
When she said that, Ren's face darkened.
"If you say that, I can't pretend I didn't hear."
He could tolerate many things, but not having his capabilities dismissed!
"And how exactly do you plan to control me?"
Esdeath, quite interested, feigned ignorance.
Ren glanced over his shoulder at the others and spoke quietly, "Where do you live?"
Esdeath didn't reply out loud, but simply thought of her room's location—she understood now that Ren had mind-reading powers.
Without another word, Ren scooped Esdeath into his arms and soared into the sky, leaving everyone else dumbfounded. He called back.
"I'm off for another battle with Esdeath. You guys feel free to do whatever you like!"
Anyone who got it understood exactly what he meant.
Those who didn't—like March 7, Tushan Honghong, and Akame—remained confused.
March 7 wore a worried frown.
"Sigh, why do they have to fight again? I thought they were on the same side now…"
Tushan Honghong supported Ren firmly.
"Ren-nii isn't going to lose."
Akame, nibbling on her pocky like a little rabbit, had come to see March 7 and the others as good people. She offered a comforting remark.
"Sometimes, companions need to spar to truly understand each other."
"…"
The rest of the group listened to their conversation, all silently remarking how pure these three were.
Najenda eyed the blue figure of Esdeath vanishing in the distance, her expression complicated.
'Is that truly Esdeath?'
Nami and Kanae, meanwhile, had their own thoughts about it.
Nami felt a pang of annoyance—'Why not me?' They'd only just met again after all that time…
"Ugh!"
Kanae exhaled hotly, murmured a quick, "I'll keep an eye on them," then vanished into spirit form.
That left the rest of them looking at one another, unsure what to do next.