WHOOOOOM!
Space itself distorted as the Elf Queen made her first move, rushing towards her target in a blur of light.
"Wha—?"
Before Conquest could even react, Melian was already in front of him.
Her blade was swung, carrying with it an overwhelming power that could not be explained with mere words.
Fortunately for the Archdemon, his Spatial Magic activated right on time, triggered by the Elf Queen's immense energy.
WHUSH!
He was able to vanish by a hair's breadth, reappearing a considerable distance away from Melian.
However, the moment he reappeared, he noticed a golden figure right beside him.
"Shi-"
SWOOOOSH!
The blade was swung with even more ferocity, and this time, Conquest felt it nearly reach his neck before teleporting once again.
WHUSH!
As soon as he teleported away, Melian's eyes darted all around her, and she instantly spotted the next distortion in space.
Her legs carried her to the location in no time, and she raised her blade for a powerful vertical strike.
Thus, once Conquest manifested, he was greeted with a strike he couldn't avoid.
WHUUUUMMMM!!!
He could only move back as fast as he could, but even then, the attack was bound to hit him.
And so...
SWOOSH!
...He sent his axe to intercept Melian right as she was about to deliver the blow.
That way, just like last time, he would disrupt the momentum.
However, there was one crucial detail that the demon failed to recognize...
BOOOOM!
A bright golden ray of light shattered both of his weapon and the hand that would have skewered the approaching Elf Queen, causing the demon to writhe in pain.
This gave Melian the perfect chance to deal her attack.
WHOOSH!
The blade approached, distorting the fabric of space itself as it neared its victim.
"Damn it...!"
Staring at Melian, who's face at that point was not one of victory or rage, but a lull that just seemed to state the brute fact of the situation.
Righteous judgment had come!
It was time for the beast of terror to experience it himself.
Conquest knew deep down that if the blade connected with his heart or sliced off his head, he would be gravely injured, if not good as dead.
And so, he did the only reasonable thing he could.
VWUUSH!
He activated his Spatial Magic, prepared to teleport a far distance from the Elf Queen.
Unfortunately, he wouldn't be fast enough to escape.
He knew that already.
He could use his Spatial Magic to redirect the sword that neared him, but even that was rendered impossible thanks to the warped space around the blade.
As a result...
"Tch!"
Conquest raised his arm, where his severed hand was, and reached for the Divine Sword.
He knew blocking was useless, as the blade would simply slice through all obstacles like butter.
However, by letting his arm be sliced off first, it would give him enough time to escape.
SQUELCH!
His arm was easily severed off, and the blade now neared his head.
Fortunately for him...
WHUSH!
... He finally vanished away from harm's way.
Just barely escaping with his life intact.
'Damnit! I missed him!' Melian thought as she felt her sword crack apart that it fell on.
Everything around her shook, but she ignored all of it.
She had missed the mark on her enemy. Or rather, the demon was able to escape faster than she could completely kill it.
'I wanted to end it with that move... damn it!'
Melian could already feel the strain on her body as she breathed heavily.
Her body was tense.
Her bones rattled.
She could already feel pain slowly visiting her.
'I can't keep this up for much longer.'
In as much as her entire body had been strengthened by the [Limit Transcendence] ability, she was still using more power than she could keep up with.
"I'm surprised that you managed to sever my arm. At least be content knowing you achieved such a feat," Conquest said, as he appeared far from the Elf Queen.
As both of his recovery skills and equipment healed his wounds, he pulled out another weapon, which appears to be a halberd.
"You sure talk a lot," Melian spoke out for the first time.
"I really do, that's why my comrades dislike me for it," Conquest said honestly, raising his hand as a blue aura began to radiate from it.
[GIF]
Now wielding both of his strongest weapons, he took a battle stance.
"I shall now take you on without holding back."
"You should have done that from the beginning," Melian whispered.
Not wasting time, Conquest takes the initiative as he zooms off the ground and towards Melian, leaving a crater where he stood and instantly appearing in front of the Elf Queen.
"[Rakshasa]"
Upon whispering these words, both his halberd and Odachi Sword seem to gain afterimages as he moves them around and attacked Melian at an unimaginable speed. With his skill named [Rakshasa] activated, it looked like there were at least ten different weapons each of a halberd and katana that was about to slaughter the elf.
But they never reached her.
Just as Conquest had attacked her at an unbelievable speed, Melian had also dodge every last strike at an equal speed, slightly shocking the demon.
Seizing the opportunity, Melian coated her fist with a massive amount of mana and punched Conquest right in the chest. Though the demon managed to stay on his feet, he slid back from the impact.
"[Triple Maximize Magic: Gravity Suppression]!"
In an instant, Melian felt an immense weight drop upon her, far heavier than before, as if a mountain tens of kilometers high had landed on her back.
As a result, a massive crater beneath her feet was formed, and she is going to sink to the ground further as time passes.
"[Ice Pillars]!"
As Conquest said this, the ground broke apart and spiked icicles rose up from it.
Despite being suppressed by gravity thirty times stronger, Melian felt her mana drastically increased from the Goddess' Blessing again, and thanks to [Limit Transcension], she immediately jumped in the sky and was able to escape the attack, but the icicles only extended further up and began pursuit as Melian was maneuvering through them.
While dodging the pillar-like icicles, she was also throwing energy slashes at them to cut them down and didn't see Conquest quickly running up one of the icicles and effortlessly closing the distance between them.
Immediately, he swung his halberd at Melian's neck at full speed. Had it landed, the victim truly wouldn't have even known they had been beheaded, however, this time the halberd snapped at the neck of the blade, and similarly, Conquest's wrist also snapped all the way back in an unusual manner.
But as if having his arm broken didn't even faze, he immediately tried to once again attack Melian with his Odachi Sword, but the elf was faster as she roundhouse kicked him in the face, sending Conquest flying back down to earth at such a speed that the impact broke apart the ground and shook the land, the point of impact in dust that seemed to work as a smoke screen.
Melian quietly landed back on the ground and as soon as her leg touched the ground, a small vortex circled around her leg before quickly spreading out in the area like a shockwave. Just as quickly as it appeared, it also disappeared but the impact shattered all the remaining icicles that were still in the air.
The shockwave also vanquished the dust that had gathered, revealing Conquest standing there with one twisted arm and the other holding his katana-like sword.
"You sure are a tough one huh?" Conquest says with a sadistic grin, not even minding his broken hand.
Crack!
Without even flinching nor a hint of hesitation, Conquest reached for his broken arm and simply twisted it back in place, before opening and closing it into a fist a few times, testing its functionality.
"You are undoubtedly strong," Conquest remarked, his expression darkening, "But as strong as you are, it's a shame you don't recognize the eminence of being aligning with an even more powerful force such as us."
"Don't talk about eminence when your ambition leads you to destroy a nation and condemn millions of death simply because you don't get your way," Melian shot back sharply.
"You might be mistaken," Conquest replied calmly, "I sense the immense suffering in this world. So... so much suffering. That's why death is a mercy which saves one from suffering and all of the citizens of this world."
By this time, Melian's composed look had already disappeared, replaced by a distasteful scowl when listening to this thing spouting bullshit.
"And now... your intervention will end in your kingdom's destruction," Conquest continued, "But this nation you were backing up, we shall extend the same kindness that befell this land towards them since it's likely that they possess weapons that might pose a threat. You are no exception to that assumption."
A small glint flickered in Melian's hand as she tightened her grip on her blade.
"We will then move on to your kingdom," Conquest declared ominously.
"!!"
Before Melian could respond, he continued, "The citizens which swarm that place shall be culled each will get a painless death and we shall give that same kindness to the rest of this world."
But Melian was no longer listening...
"You, who rule that place being here, works in our favor since you've gone and gotten involved in this war. We no longer need to look for a reason to invade your kingdom and by defeating you here it will make things even more easier."
As he stepped forward, Conquest's body briefly glowed with an ethereal light before it dissipated and what lay on his body were golden armor parts as he raised his Odachi Sword towards Melian.
"To begin with, all of your fate has already been decided." Conquest proclaimed confidently.
Like a broken dam, memories Melian has been trying to cast aside all came flowing into her at once. A massive Magical Beast tide attacked her kingdom. Many of her citizens are all laying on the floors of the kingdom as far as the eye can see, all dead. Many magical beasts brutally devouring down any survivors.
The blood of all those under her, painting her kingdom red, and her father, standing before a massive ancient beast that had wiped out many of her people.
It was the last time she had seen her father alive.
As she began to remember the tragedy that happened decades ago, dark clouds gathered around the sky above where they stood and casted an eerie shadow over the battlefield, as if to warn everyone a storm was coming.
"No!!!"
At that pivotal moment, the markings on her hand blazed with brilliant light, and in an instant, colossal wings as radiant as a thousand suns erupted from her back.
As if unable to hold back the overwhelming power, the wings rampaged and randomly destroyed anything and everything in the area it could come in contact with.
Melian's eyes blazed with golden fire, mirroring the intensity of her determination and bloodlust.
990,000
.
.
.
???
For the first time since arriving in this world, Conquest subconsciously put up his guard entirely as he sheathed his blade and took a defensive stance.
Unlike the other times, this wasn't as a form of respect towards his opponent, but it was out of pure instinct...
The pure instinct known as "survival."
"The next attack will determine who lives and who dies."
That is what Conquest survival instinct, forged through countless battles to the death back in his home world and across countless others, was telling him.
'I shall end this with my fastest strike, otherwise it would be rude of me.'
"[Limit Breaker]." Conquest says as he sharpens his stance, the ground beneath his feet slowly starts freezing and space begins to distort around his form as his blade coated itself in a calm wind.
He held his sheathed blade in a japanese-like striking style. This was his fastest sword drawing style, he planned to decapitate the Elf Queen in one quick strike.
Tightening the grip on his blade, he dashed off the ground towards Melian at lightning speed.
Meanwhile, Melian extended her hand and outstretched her palm in the direction of the oncoming demon.
This was it!
Everything will be settled with this one strike.
In a blur of motion, Conquest drew his blade and aimed for Melian's neck... all within a trillionth of a second.
The match had been decided...