"Exactly."
Artoria declared, "Below an Ultimate Skill, even a Unique Skill can only harm me, not kill me."
"Harm?"
Frey laughed bitterly. "With our recovery abilities, damage that can't stop your regeneration is meaningless!"
The Sky Queen felt profound humiliation.
Not only had Artoria fought her without using her full strength earlier, but now, this knightess had sacrificed her greatest advantage to protect others.
"You…!"
"There's a limit to underestimating me!"
Frey had never been so enraged, her dignity trampled under Artoria's feet.
Her already unstable magicules grew even more volatile.
"You think you can still defeat me without your absolute defense?"
"Yes!"
Artoria's answer was blunt.
Wielding her holy sword, her aura showed no sign of weakening... instead, it grew stronger.
"If anything, abandoning the scabbard lets me unleash my full power."
"Arrogant!!"
Unable to tolerate Artoria's provocation, Frey charged, engaging her in a fierce clash.
As if to prove something, Frey's fighting style turned ferocious.
Each exchange saw Frey trading wounds for wounds, posing a massive threat to Artoria.
"Next, you'll see Artoria's greatest strength."
The Snow Empress wanted to assist, but Damien stopped her with telepathy: "Leave the battlefield to her."
"Her greatest strength?"
The Snow Empress didn't know what Damien meant.
But she was eager to see the supreme form of Artoria that earned his praise.
Bang!
Bang, bang, bang!!
Great Nature's space, already destabilized by Frey's secret art, grew more unstable.
Even with Avalon's reinforcement, the Reality Marble teetered under the clash of a Demon Lord Seed and a half-awakened Demon Lord.
Perhaps summoning Avalon had drained too much of Artoria's magic.
Or perhaps, without her absolute defense, she had to fight more cautiously.
Their battle reached a stalemate, neither able to overpower the other.
"The situation… it's not in Artoria's favor…"
With her keen insight, the Snow Empress saw the scales tipping toward Frey.
It couldn't be helped... Frey's near 800,000 magicules gave her a massive edge.
Artoria's magicules, originally just over 100,000, had been boosted to 300,000 through Damien's infusion before the battle, second only to the Snow Empress.
But 300,000 against 800,000.
The 2.6-fold gap seemed small, but it was far greater in practice.
Magicules determined magic recovery efficiency and speed.
Frey's per-second magic recovery was several times Artoria's.
True, Frey fought in a battered state.
Her clothes were tattered, her skin bloodied, and even her collarbone had been shattered multiple times.
But so what?
Both were Demon Lord Seed and Chosen Hero Egg... who didn't have strong regeneration?
"You're strong, truly strong!"
Frey, surrounded by six distinct Sabers, praised sincerely: "But our magicule gap means you can't outlast me in a prolonged fight!"
If Artoria couldn't defeat her quickly, Frey could outlast and exhaust her!
"Look!"
Frey watched the fading Holy Spirit avatars: "You can't even maintain these strange clones!"
Artoria had conserved magic with her Knights of the Round Table, materializing them only for attacks rather than sustaining them constantly.
But their battle had dragged on for nearly an hour.
To deal enough damage to overwhelm Frey instantly, Artoria summoned six Holy Spirits to attack together.
Yet, she still couldn't strike at Frey's core, allowing her to recover once more.
"Is this your strongest move?"
Frey watched her wounds heal rapidly under her magic recovery: "See? Against my [Transcender], without decisive power, you can't win!"
Being outmatched or chased down didn't matter!
Her [Transcender] matched Rimuru's and the Orc Lord's self-regeneration in recovery.
Artoria was the same.
The wounds Frey traded for had already healed, leaving flawless skin.
It was hard to believe this was after Artoria had converted most of her Unique Skill into the scabbard to stabilize the Reality Marble and Tengu Mountain.
If Artoria had fought with that turtle-like defense from the start, Frey shuddered at the thought!
"No…"
After fighting so long, Artoria was tiring.
She slightly relaxed her grip on the holy sword, then said something that baffled Frey, "This battle is mine."
"What?!"
Frey froze. "Have you lost your mind?"
She considered the Snow Empress, still capable of fighting, and Damien, who hadn't acted.
Frey admitted she wasn't their match.
But as the Sky Queen who ruled the skies, she was confident Damien couldn't stop her escape!
At worst, it would cost her something.
"You say I lack the means to decide the battle?"
Artoria was exhilarated, her holy sword resonating with her will!
"Then witness it."
"The true power of the Sword of Promised Victory, forged to repel outer gods!"
"Sword of… Promised Victory…"
Frey murmured, her unease growing.
In the cardinal world, everything that has a Name was never simple.
Hum~~~
"What?"
As the holy sword blazed with golden light, Frey felt a chill race up her spine.
"This!"
"What is this…?"
Shielding herself from the golden wind, Frey sensed her magic growing chaotic, the disturbance intensifying!!
***
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