"[Wind Slash: Dance of the Dead]!"
Cocytus's massive insectoid body flickered continuously, moving with blinding speed as he circled Ban. The God-Slaying Emperor Blade in his grip unleashed wave after wave of freezing, lethal blade-light.
Ban's body instantly shattered into dozens of pieces.
But this time, Ban's revival speed had become even faster. Before the blood could even begin to flow, the deep slash wounds on his body had already stitched themselves back together, vanishing completely.
Standing firmly on the ice surface, Cocytus reached into the void and stowed the God-Slaying Emperor Blade. When his armored arm extended again, a massive, terrifying halberd was already grasped in his hand—the [Guillotine Fang].
"An immortal body!" Cocytus snorted two thick plumes of cold air from his mandibles, speaking to Ban with profound gravity. "I never imagined such a rule-breaking ability truly existed in this world."
All of his lethal slashes were completely unable to harm the human. What was even more terrifying was that Ban's physical adaptability was visibly growing stronger. From being able to easily cleave him in two at the beginning of the fight, Cocytus's strikes were now only leaving faint scratches before the weapon's kinetic energy was completely absorbed by [Snatch].
Ban... was becoming exponentially more troublesome with every passing second!
"Since I cannot kill you," Cocytus declared, his grip on the Guillotine Fang tightening. "Then I will have you sleep forever within an eternal ice seal!"
To lose the confidence to kill his opponent in a fair duel, and to instead rely on a stalling tactic to seal the opponent away—for Cocytus's proud warrior heart, this was undoubtedly a deep humiliation.
However... Cocytus's compound eyes gazed through the void, fixing on the distant direction of his master.
'The Supreme Being's command is absolute,' Cocytus resolved internally. 'I must fulfill it, even if I must wager my warrior's honor.'
Cocytus raised the Guillotine Fang with both upper hands, a freezing, absolute-zero light flashing across the heavy axe blade. He brought it down with devastating force. The moment the blade struck the frozen rooftop, the ice layer violently surged.
"[Frostburn Smash]!"
One after another, massive, jagged pillars of ice erupted upward from the roof. A dazzling, crystalline ice-flower bloomed across the skyline. Trapped dead in the absolute center of the glacier was the Fox Sin of Greed, Ban, firmly and completely frozen.
"You are a worthy opponent. I respect your strength," Cocytus said, looking at the frozen human.
Seeing that Ban had finally fallen still, Cocytus deployed his translucent wings, hovering in the freezing air and preparing to return to Ainz's side.
But just then, a sharp, terrifying sound began to echo from the glacier.
CRACK. CRACK.
The massive ice-flower instantly shattered from the inside out, millions of tiny fragments shimmering with rainbow colors under the sunlight.
Ban broke free, stretching his neck.
"Is this your final trick, Mr. Bug?" Ban asked lazily, shaking the frost off the Holy Rod Courechouse in his hand. He tilted his head, looking up at Cocytus suspended in the air.
Cocytus did not reply. Instead, his magical armory opened one final time. Various enchanted weapons materialized, encircling his insectoid body. Once again, he grasped the God-Slaying Emperor Blade.
"Then let's end this!"
As Ban's words fell, his lean body had already leaped into mid-air, entirely ignoring gravity. The holy staff in his hand swung with lightning speed.
CLANG! SNAP!
The floating weapons surrounding Cocytus were shattered one after another by the blunt-force trauma of the staff.
Cocytus lunged forward. The God-Slaying Emperor Blade thrust with absolute precision, piercing cleanly through Ban's chest and erupting from his back.
At the exact same microsecond, the heavy metal tip of Ban's holy staff swung in a brutal, unstoppable arc, slamming directly into Cocytus's large head.
THUD. The Insect Warrior's massive body instantly went rigid. Dark blood gushed from his shattered neck as his six-eyed, insectoid head was cleanly decapitated, tumbling heavily across the ice layer.
'Lord Ainz!' Cocytus thought as his vision faded to black. 'I... have served my loyalty.'
Ban landed on the ice, stepping back and slowly dragging the divine blade out from his chest. The gaping hole healed instantly. He crouched down, respectfully picking up Cocytus's severed head and placing it back near the fallen Guardian's body.
"Hmm. A fairly decent opponent," Ban muttered, acknowledging the warrior.
.....
"Cocytus!"
Hovering in the city center, Ainz Ooal Gown suddenly felt a crushing sense of unease.
Moments later, on the glowing guild interface floating in his vision, Cocytus's name flickered and slowly faded to gray.
Ainz stared in the direction of the battle, the green light of **[Emotion Override]** flashing incessantly over his skeletal body to suppress his rising panic.
'He clearly had the upper hand,' Ainz thought, his mind racing. 'How could a Level 100 Floor Guardian be killed so suddenly?!'
The rooftop where Cocytus and Ban had fought was not far from the city center; Ainz could literally see the shattered remnants of Cocytus's ice pillars glistening in the sun. Yet, in just a few minutes, Cocytus was dead.
How could the Supreme Being accept this impossibility?
'Could it be that these humans still have hidden combat power?'
Suddenly, a horrifying realization struck Ainz. He stared directly at the guild panel.
Right below Cocytus's darkened name, Albedo's health and mana bars were flashing in the extreme, critical red. She was on the verge of death.
"Quickly!" Ainz roared, his voice cracking with desperation. "Shalltear! Demiurge! Go support Albedo immediately!"
The absolute urgency and terror in their master's voice left the remaining Guardians with no mind to ask questions. Instantly, their figures disappeared from the sky, teleporting directly to Albedo's coordinates.
'Hold on, Albedo!' Ainz prayed silently.
With Cocytus already fallen, Albedo absolutely must not come to harm. Although the Guardians possessed means of resurrection, and the Yggdrasil gold in the Great Tomb's treasury was plentiful, Ainz still could not bear the thought of his children experiencing the cold agony of death.
...
"I originally wanted to use you as bait to lure some of your stronger companions over," Meliodas said, stepping heavily onto Albedo's crushed chest. He looked down at her with an entirely expressionless, cold gaze. "But now, that plan seems to have failed."
The Dragon Sin of Wrath was never one to show mercy to an enemy, regardless of their gender.
With her dark helmet shattered, Albedo had finally revealed her breathtakingly beautiful, succubus face. Yet, even twisted into a look of absolute hatred and bleeding from her mouth, it did not diminish her unearthly charm.
"Give up!" Albedo spat blood onto Meliodas's boot. "Your pathetic schemes will never succeed! Kill me! Nazarick has no cowards!"
Meliodas slowly lifted his foot from her chest.
This brief release allowed Albedo to seize the chance to take a ragged, desperate breath. However, before oxygen could even reach her lungs, Meliodas's execution had already begun.
The sole of a worn boot expanded infinitely in Albedo's golden eyes as Meliodas stomped downward with earth-shattering force.
In her final fraction of a second of life, Albedo only felt a profound, agonizing regret. She regretted that she could not stay by her beloved Lord Ainz's side just a little longer.
'Lord Ainz, I am so sorry,' Albedo thought, a single tear escaping her eye. 'I have failed your expectations.'
SQUELCH.
Her head shattered like a dropped watermelon. Blood mixed with brain matter sprayed violently across the shattered asphalt.
Another invincible Guardian of Nazarick had fallen.
A microsecond later, the air warped. Shalltear and Demiurge materialized on the street.
But they were too late. All they saw was Albedo's twitching, headless corpse, the blonde boy who killed her already gone.
"Bastard! BASTARD!!"
Shalltear was the first to hit the ground. Looking at Albedo's mutilated remains, her eyes bled crimson, and she fell into an apocalyptic, furious rage.
Although the two of them had never gotten along well within the Great Tomb—one could say they insulted each other on sight—the bond between the Guardians was actually unbreakable. Back when Shalltear had been mind-controlled, Albedo had never once thought of giving up on her, actively formulating plans to rescue her alongside Ainz.
And now, Albedo had been slaughtered and discarded like trash right before her eyes.
"Gather Albedo's remains," Demiurge ordered, adjusting his glasses. His voice was deathly quiet.
Behind the screaming vampire, Demiurge still maintained a cold, logical demeanor. Since the catastrophic event had already happened, dwelling on their grief held no tactical meaning. On the contrary, the mysterious enemy's sudden disappearance made his brilliant, demonic mind incredibly uneasy.
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