Nora's armor was covered in dents.
Cracks spread across the black plates protecting her body.
Every collision echoed like a hammer striking steel.
She was losing.
Not because she lacked strength.
Because she had chosen the wrong weapon.
Thread Breaker excelled at severing destiny.
Against ordinary enemies, that was enough.
Against the Stone Knights...
It wasn't.
Their physical bodies weren't sustained by ordinary fate.
Their destinies were rigid.
Heavy.
Almost inseparable from their stone shells.
Each slash barely scratched them.
Meanwhile—
Their weapons were terrifying.
The massive jade swords didn't simply cut.
They painted.
Every swing traced glowing runes through the air.
A heartbeat later—
BOOM!
Explosions erupted wherever the blade had passed.
Nora was forced backward again.
Stone fragments blasted across the battlefield.
Her armor absorbed most of the impact.
The rest shook her organs.
"Cough..."
Blood escaped the corner of her lips.
Across the battlefield...
Rose had already stopped attacking.
She simply stood there.
The Stone Knights continuously hacked at her body.
Cuts appeared.
Bruises spread.
Yet Rose barely resisted.
She knew her own flaw better than anyone.
The longer the battle continued...
The stronger her flowers became.
Unless...
The Stone Knights evolved into Mutant Initiate Mythics.
Then even she would be in danger.
Nora glanced toward Rose.
"...Still buying time."
Good.
Everything was proceeding exactly as planned.
She turned back toward the approaching Stone Knights.
Not a single one had died.
Readers would have called it hopeless.
The monsters certainly believed victory belonged to them.
Nora thought otherwise.
She had never intended to defeat them through strength.
She intended to defeat them through understanding.
As another sword descended—
She dodged by centimeters.
The resulting explosion blasted her across the ruined chamber.
Instead of immediately standing...
She secretly released strands of essence.
Invisible.
Silent.
Threadlike.
They flowed beneath the dust.
Across broken stone.
Around shattered pillars.
Toward the Stone Knights.
One thread...
Connected.
Nothing happened.
Another.
Connected.
Still nothing.
Another.
Another.
Another.
Each successful connection vanished before the monsters noticed.
Unlike humans...
Monster destinies were complicated
Brutal.
They possess countless branching futures.
Violence.
But yet the stone knight destinies were direct
Simple
That simplicity allowed Nora to anchor her own essence directly onto theirs.
One...
Five...
Twelve...
Twenty.
The invisible network quietly expanded beneath the battlefield.
The Stone Knights remained completely unaware.
They continued attacking.
Nora continued retreating.
To them...
She looked desperate.
Weak.
Cornered.
Exactly what she wanted.
A gigantic war hammer descended.
Nora deliberately slowed.
The hammer struck.
BOOM!!
She was launched across the chamber.
Her armor cracked further.
Her vision blurred.
Pain exploded throughout her ribs.
Yet despite everything...
A faint smile appeared on her lips.
"...Done."
Every Stone Knight on the battlefield was now connected.
Rose noticed the smile.
Her eyes narrowed.
"...You've finished."
Nora slowly rose.
Then...
To Rose's complete confusion...
She lowered her sword.
She even dropped her guard.
The Stone Knights charged together.
Perfect synchronization.
Rose's heart nearly stopped.
"Nora!"
She instinctively tried rushing over.
Nora simply raised one finger.
Wait.
Rose froze.
She trusted Nora.
Barely.
The Stone Knights reached her.
Their blades fell.
BOOM!!
Another explosion consumed the battlefield.
Dust swallowed everything.
Silence.
Several seconds later...
A whisper echoed inside Nora's mind.
"You have slain an Initiate Mythic."
"You have received one Spirit."
Nora smiled.
"It worked."
Rose blinked.
"...What?"
At almost the same moment—
A blade finally pierced Rose's shoulder.
Blood splashed across the ground.
Rose frowned.
"...One evolved."
The Stone Knight before her radiated noticeably greater pressure.
Mutant.
Without hesitation...
Rose snapped her fingers.
Thick crimson vines erupted beneath the battlefield.
They wrapped around the mutated knight before violently crushing it into the ground.
"Stay down."
She immediately looked toward Nora again.
Then...
Her eyes widened.
The Stone Knights were... bleeding.
Not one.
All of them.
Blood seeped through the tiny cracks in their stone armor.
Some bled from their mouths.
Others from their eyes.
Several collapsed onto one knee.
Yet Nora hadn't moved.
She simply stood there.
Her eyes closed.
The invisible network connecting her essence to every monster suddenly blazed with crimson light.
Nora reopened her eyes.
Her Third Eye shone brilliantly.
"So that's how destiny feels..."
She whispered.
Every connected fate became perfectly visible.
The Stone Knights had unknowingly shared their own destinies with one another through Nora's essence.
Now...
Their fates had become one.
Nora slowly activated her God Body.
Golden threads erupted behind her.
The Seven Divine Arms unfolded one after another.
An overwhelming pressure descended across the battlefield.
Her pale face betrayed the enormous amount of essence this consumed.
Still...
She refused to stop.
The connected destinies became brighter.
Stronger.
More rigid.
Nora wasn't weakening them.
She was strengthening them.
Rose frowned.
"...Why?"
Then realization struck.
If every destiny became identical...
Then one cut...
Would affect them all.
Thread Breaker appeared within Nora's hand.
She inhaled once.
Stepped forward.
And made a single, ordinary slash.
No explosion.
No flashy technique.
Just one clean cut.
The crimson thread connecting every Stone Knight silently snapped.
For one heartbeat...
Nothing happened.
The monsters continued charging.
Then—
CRACK.
One helmet split apart.
Then another.
Then another.
Blood erupted simultaneously from every Stone Knight.
Their stone bodies fractured.
Their destinies collapsed together.
One by one...
Every Stone Knight fell.
The chamber became silent.
Nora stared at the battlefield.
"...Super Slash..."
"So this is its true purpose."
The System whispered continuously inside her mind.
"You have slain an Initiate Mythic."
"You have slain an Initiate Mystic."
"You have gained Spirit Fragments."
The notifications blurred together.
Nora barely heard them.
Her essence had completely dried up.
The Seven Divine Arms vanished.
Blind Owl Armor dissolved into particles.
Thread Breaker disappeared.
Her legs trembled.
"...Too much..."
She managed one final step.
Then darkness claimed her.
Nora collapsed onto the stone floor.
Unconscious.
Rose immediately rushed toward her.
"...Idiot."
Yet despite the scolding...
A smile slowly appeared on Rose's face.
Nora hadn't won through overwhelming power.
She had won through patience.
Preparation.
And absolute trust in her own plan.