The Flame Lance transformed into a crimson meteor, tearing through the remaining ice and steam. With even greater speed than before, wreathed in the faint light of the Preservation Path, it defied the trajectory of the incoming iceberg and fiercely counter-attacked toward Kevin in the distance!
The spear emerged like a dragon, fire illuminating the sky!
A glimmer of approval seemed to flash in Kevin's ice-blue eyes.
He did not dodge, but simply raised the baseball bat in his hand, preparing to meet this unexpected counter-attack.
However, the aftermath of this peak duel remained a catastrophe for the person fleeing in the other direction.
Kiana was only focused on running for her life, dodging the main iceberg, completely failing to anticipate that after the spear strike shattered the iceberg, countless sharp ice fragments of varying sizes would explode outward in a fan shape like shotgun pellets!
Several fragments, as large as a tabletop and with edges as sharp as knives, happened to be whistling directly toward her panicked back!
The sound of them breaking the air was sharp and piercing.
Hearing the noise, Kiana glanced back in a hurry, her soul nearly leaving her body!
The shadows of the ice blocks rapidly enlarged within her suddenly constricted pupils. The distance was too close, the speed too fast, the angle too tricky—she couldn't dodge!
A cold despair instantly gripped her heart, overwhelming all fear and noise.
Time seemed to be infinitely stretched at this moment.
"I'm going to die... Is it ending just like this?"
Countless images flashed before her eyes: Mei's gentle smile, the warmth of her fingertips when tying a scarf for her ("Mei... goodbye. In the next life, and the life after that, I will still love you!")
Bronya's usually expressionless face, and that limited edition Homu doll of Bronya's that she had secretly hidden away ("Bronya, I'm sorry. Who told you to be so annoying when you beat me at games last time... The doll is in the box under my bed, remember to look for it...")
Himeko's embrace, smelling of alcohol yet incredibly reliable, and Aunt Theresa's loud but caring exhortations...
Her life flashed before her eyes, regrets, reluctance, and a tiny bit of unwillingness at the thought that she "hadn't yet truly become a powerful S-rank Valkyrie capable of protecting everyone," all intertwined.
Just at the moment the lethal ice blade was about to touch her spine—
A female voice, tinged with a hint of impatience, abruptly rang out deep within her consciousness, as clear as a whisper right beside her ear:
"Idiot. Open your eyes."
The voice carried a strange magic, or rather, a command.
Kiana almost as a reflex, in that final moment of near-death, snapped her eyes open and looked in the direction from which the voice came.
The scene before her eyes switched instantly.
The suffocating extreme cold, the whistling ice blocks, the deafening roar... everything had vanished.
In their place was a strange space that seemed to exist between reality and illusion.
And what she was standing on was none other than the familiar plaza ground in front of the main building of St. Freya Academy!
The sensation was real, but the surroundings were empty, and the academy buildings appeared hazy and silent, like fading memories.
"Th-this is...?"
Kiana looked around, bewildered, completely unable to grasp the situation.
Shouldn't she be in that terrifying training room, about to be smashed into Kiana-chan by the ice blocks?
"Look here, you fool."
The female voice sounded again, carrying clear displeasure.
Kiana looked in the direction of the voice and saw, not far in front of her, suspended quietly in mid-air a few meters off the ground, a purple figure.
The light was not blinding, but it strangely distorted the surrounding scene, preventing her from seeing the person's true face or specific attire. She could only vaguely discern a female silhouette; the figure seemed quite elegant, with long hair fluttering, and radiated an aura that was both mysterious and powerful.
A purple halo flowed around her like a living thing.
"Y-you... who are you?"
Kiana subconsciously took a small step back, her heart filled with vigilance and confusion. "I... I didn't get hit? Where is this? A hallucination? Or the world after death?"
"Hmph."
The purple figure let out a cold snort, her voice filled with the exasperation of "are you an idiot?" "Of course you weren't hit. That kind of crude ice, wanting to hurt... Hmph, anyway, you are perfectly fine right now; your consciousness has been temporarily pulled here."
"Oh... as long as I'm not dead, that's good, that's good."
Kiana breathed a sigh of relief and patted her chest, then immediately frowned. "But, who are you? Why did you pull me here? And what was going on with that training room earlier? Who are those two people?..."
"Stop, stop, stop!"
The purple figure seemed to have a headache from this series of unfocused, disjointed questions; the halo flickered, and her tone became even more impatient. "One question at a time! Who am I? Even if I told you, you wouldn't necessarily understand! The important thing is—aren't you just too weak?!"
"Huh?"
Kiana was stunned by this sudden accusation.
"Look at that cowardly display of yours earlier!"
The purple figure's tone was full of disdain. "Scuttling away with your head in your hands, doing nothing but screaming for help and closing your eyes to wait for death! Where is your fighting spirit? Where is your Kaslana bloodline? What about your pathetic Valkyrie training? Did a dog eat it?! It's simply shameful!"
Kiana was a bit dazed from being scolded, then felt a bit unconvinced and defended herself in a low voice. "Th-that can't be helped... In that situation earlier, anyone would have run, right? That white-haired uncle is simply not human! And that gray-haired girl, she's also ridiculously strong! I... I'm just an ordinary Valkyrie..."
"Ordinary?"
The purple figure seemed to have heard a huge joke; the halo shook violently. "What kind of misunderstanding do you have about yourself? Forget it... trying to explain it to a Paramecium-level intelligence like yours is too much of a hassle."
Kiana blinked her large, deep blue eyes, her face full of confusion. "Paramecium? What's that? Is it edible?"
Purple figure: "..."
A suffocating silence spread through the purple consciousness space.
That mass of light seemed to freeze, and even the flowing halo stalled for a moment, as if a certain existence was experiencing a severe mental storm.
After a while, the female voice sounded again, in a tone that tried hard to maintain calm but had surging undercurrents beneath it, every word sounding as if it were squeezed out from between gritted teeth: "...I was using a metaphor for you being single-celled, brainless, and only knowing how to wriggle by instinct!"
"Oh..."
Kiana nodded, seemingly understanding, then asked again, "So what did you come here for? Just to scold me?"
The purple figure's halo fluctuated violently again, as if she had taken a deep breath, deciding to give up on certain futile attempts and get straight to the point:
"Listen, idiot. I'm here to help you."
"Help me?"
"Yes. Watching you being chased and beaten like a rabbit, I really... can't stand it."
The voice was full of the awkwardness of "I'm doing this for my own face." "It's too embarrassing. So, I plan to do it myself."
Kiana was even more bewildered: "Do it yourself? Do what? Help me take the beating?"
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/SolyuraMT
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"