'Sighing? Is that a lack of confidence in yourself?'
'That really isn't an emotion you should have before a major battle,' Akame couldn't help but feel worried.
Even though Iori had clearly said he didn't want anyone else to interfere, when it truly came down to it, Akame would not stand by and do nothing.
As for a warrior's pride and dignity… come on, she's an assassin, okay.
"Have you realized the gap in strength and already foreseen your own death?" Esdeath sneered.
A true expert could judge the rough difference between two sides just from their presence alone, and Esdeath believed she wouldn't lose to anyone in that regard.
"No, the sigh was just because I'm a little disappointed…"
However, what Iori said next made Esdeath's pupils shrink abruptly, "You're not as strong as I imagined."
The moment his words fell, extreme cold enveloped the land.
Amid violent tremors, sharp ice spikes surged forward, enough to make one think of towering mountain peaks.
Layer upon layer, as if a gigantic frost flower were blooming across the earth, crushing everything with its massive weight! Piercing through everything.
Huge boulders fell into it like grains tossed into a millstone, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Whether they were members of Night Raid or the Three Beast Generals, all were struck by that direct, pure force and scattered like small animals fleeing a forest fire.
Even so, some were still caught in the blast, if not for their companions stepping in at the last moment, they would have turned into a mangled mass of flesh and blood.
Najenda was carried in the hands of Bulat, who was wearing Incursio. The two leapt high into the air to avoid the first wave of impact.
With agile movements, Bulat shattered the ice spikes chasing them from behind and used the momentum to escape again, only then truly leaving the attack range.
The short-haired female general watched with her own eyes as the camp was crushed as easily as building blocks.
One after another, Imperial Arm users hiding in the shadows were forced to reveal themselves, each showing their own abilities to block the ice spikes while retreating quickly.
When everything finally calmed down for the moment, a gigantic ice flower appeared on the spot, stretching over two hundred meters across and nearly a hundred meters high.
Many Imperial Arm users, including Akame and Leone, stared at the scene before them with lingering fear.
It wasn't that they had lost their fighting spirit, but their previous confidence had been completely shattered.
Because even Najenda had always believed that the lineup gathered this time was extremely strong, and that as long as nothing went wrong, they could take down Esdeath.
But now it seemed… even if they could win, it would only be a pyrrhic victory. More than half of the Imperial Arm users would likely have to die to bring down this monster.
"Wait, what about Iori? Where is Iori?"
Najenda snapped back to her senses. Her eyes darted anxiously as she searched for Iori's figure. Suddenly, her expression froze as she spotted him standing alone atop the tip of a towering ice peak, his cloak billowing behind him.
"He…"
The female general's heart immediately settled. She believed she was good at judging people. Even though Esdeath's strength had exceeded expectations, seeing Iori's reaction made her inexplicably feel that there was still hope.
"Go, Iori. Defeat Esdeath…!"
Iori didn't respond to Najenda's words. His current state of mind was quite peculiar, there was relief, and there was excitement. It truly felt like facing a powerful rival, but, this was absolutely not a trial of life and death.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Thick, long ice lances capable of hunting large Danger Beasts let out shrill sonic booms. The enormous impact blasted the ice peak Iori stood on into countless fragments, turning into a mist of shattered ice that glittered brilliantly under the dusk sky.
Yet in the very next moment, Iori appeared atop another ice peak, calmly raising his long sword, Clang!
The specially made military saber collided with the Sword of Ama-no-Murakumo, producing a crisp metallic ring. The force transmitted through the blade made Iori's grip tighten, his entire body's muscles tensing instinctively.
At the instant their blades met, the two faced off at close range. The queen's eyes seemed shrouded in shadow; even through her mask, one could feel that icy, pure killing intent.
Yet Iori's expression remained calm, though no one could see it anyway.
With a light lift of his toes, he flashed aside to evade Esdeath's follow-up slash. The queen pressed relentlessly forward, her figure diving at Iori like a stooping hawk, her ice-blue hair stretched straight by the wind pressure.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
In the brief moment of descent, the two had already exchanged blows three times.
When Iori landed steadily, Esdeath suddenly kicked off the slanted side of an ice peak, like an invisible gale wielding a blade capable of cutting steel.
Crack!
An ice spike of unknown thickness was actually severed by a single strike.
Even so, the attack still struck nothing. Iori descended from above, the Sword of Ama-no-Murakumo in his hand glowing faintly as he slashed toward Esdeath.
At that moment, slender ice spikes suddenly jutted out from both sides, crossing in front of Iori. By the time he cut them down, the Ice Queen had already reset her stance, forming a ring with her index fingers and thumbs before her chest, perfectly encircling the dark mark symbolizing demonic power.
Hiss!
An ice spear shot out, hitting Iori in a flash of lightning.
Clang!
The sturdy blade blocked the spear, but the force behind this attack far exceeded the previous ones. The ice spear continued to extend, blasting Iori far away.
Whoosh!
A flash of ice-blue light. Esdeath was propped up by an equally extending ice pillar beneath her feet, quickly catching up to Iori. Her saber, gleaming with cold light, swung down toward his neck.
Clang!
Iori blocked with his sword and used the momentum to shake off Esdeath's pursuit.
Who would have thought that with a single wave of her hand, the surrounding massive ice peaks would surge upward, instantly blotting out all sunlight and plunging Iori's vision into darkness.
If someone were to look down from high above at this moment, they would see a gigantic ice flower rapidly closing in.
The collision of solid ice against solid ice produced terrifying muffled booms, like polar glaciers grinding against each other, a kind of overwhelming power that only nature itself could create.
"Severing Radiant Wheel!"
Just before the ice flower completely closed, a sharp blade of light tore through the ice and burst out from the top. Along with it flew Esdeath and Iori, locked in a struggle.
"To be able to contend with me to this extent, you really are no ordinary person!"
The female hunter was unusually excited. Her ability was to control ice and snow, but both her personality and fighting style were extremely aggressive, like a wildfire, like a starving wolf, eager to tear apart and devour all prey.
"Your swordsmanship, your weapon, and that bizarre movement style, these are all things I've never seen before. This is a truly rare experience. After killing you, my strength will rise to another level!"
"…That's really a pity."
Iori replied with a seemingly unrelated remark. "Looks like I came too late."
"What?" The queen's gaze sharpened. "Trying to stall for time with nonsense?"
"I'll give you a bit of praise, Esdeath."
Iori glanced around at the surroundings already sealed in ice and shook his head with a sigh. "You really are strong. This isn't flattery or mockery, but an objective assessment."
"Agility, strength, burst power, technique, reaction speed, you possess formidable supernatural abilities yet don't rely on them excessively, instead integrating hand-to-hand combat with your Imperial Arm in a balanced way… You're practically a perfect killing machine."
"…I don't like the way you talk."
Esdeath lifted her chin slightly and said coldly, "As if you're qualified to judge me!"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Ice arrows formed out of thin air, filling the sky as countless flashes of light rained down. There was simply no way to dodge.
"That's exactly why I find it regrettable."
Iori held his long sword horizontally. A beautiful gleam burst forth from the gem, illuminating the jade blade like emerald glass.
As he swung, a dragon-shaped surge of energy roared forth, blowing away the rain of arrows amid a majestic roar, then wheeled around and dove toward Esdeath.
It was the first time the female general had seen such a strange attack. She couldn't help but smile faintly. Without making any movement at all, thick, towering walls of solid ice rose up in front of her.
BOOM!
The energy shattered several layers of ice walls but failed to reach the queen herself.
Immediately after, the ice-blue figure vaulted over the high walls and once again engaged Iori in battle.
"Putting on airs, do you think this little trick can scare me?"
"Looks like I really came at the wrong time!"
Iori didn't argue with Esdeath, instead continuing on his own. "You're still growing. You haven't reached your theoretical peak yet… to me, that can't help but be a regret."
His words were not false, this was genuinely how he felt.
Esdeath was a very typical combat-oriented powerhouse. The training and education she received in her tribe from childhood, as well as her later military career, destined her growth path to be constantly accompanied by battle, from which she would draw nourishment.
In a sense, she was like a hot-blooded protagonist, the more intense and dangerous the battle, the more it would stimulate her growth, allowing her to surpass her peers at astonishing speed, even earning the title of "the strongest."
But unlike true protagonists, those without plot armor could easily perish midway… after all, not everyone possessed the privilege of miraculous comebacks.
Esdeath undoubtedly enjoyed half a protagonist's treatment as a boss-level character, which was why she displayed such overwhelming power in the original story.
And the "regret" Iori spoke of lay precisely here, the current Esdeath still lacked two crucial battles compared to her future self, missing out on key "nourishment."
One was in the northern lands, where she defeated and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of foreign troops, utterly crushing their leader, destroying his dignity and will.
The other was her battle with the humanoid Imperial Arm Susanoo, where she was pushed to the brink by the overpowered Susanoo. Although she succeeded in killing him with her trump cards, the fight left a deep impression on her.
On top of that, the situation at the time was chaotic. While enduring constant casualties among her subordinates, she also engaged in battles of wits with Night Raid led by Najenda, allowing her to taste defeat and powerlessness, a rare experience for her.
All of this deeply stimulated Esdeath, pushing her even further beyond an already near-perfect foundation.
Now, although Esdeath was still extremely powerful, she was still missing a bit compared to the awe-inspiring presence she had at the original story's climax… and she likely hadn't developed the ultimate move of "freezing time" yet.
Iori had originally fully prepared himself to face the complete Ice Queen, but now… it could only be described as anticlimactic.
Even through the mask, Esdeath sensed his emotion. When strong warriors clash at a certain level, their minds resonate. Facing Iori's undisguised disappointment, the queen was furious.
"If that's the case, then I'll grant your wish! Witness true hell!"
As Esdeath erupted in anger, dark clouds instantly gathered overhead. The temperature of the entire atmosphere plummeted rapidly.
Moisture in the air condensed into frost that covered the land, and within a radius of a thousand meters, or even farther, countless sharp ice fragments like tiny knives formed out of thin air, spinning wildly in the gale like bladed wheels.
"Surge forth, Ice Storm!"
A sky-filling, bone-chilling gale mixed with ice spikes enveloped Iori. Before Esdeath even launched a direct attack, frost began forming on his clothes, as if it were going to swallow him completely.
This was the release of all the power she had accumulated over time in one burst, to obtain destructive force beyond her limits.
The already exaggerated range of Demonic Manifestation was elevated even further at this moment, easily capable of covering the entire northern lands and even vaster regions.
Of course, using such an extravagant amount of power against just one enemy would be an enormous waste, so Esdeath chose to reinforce herself instead, elevating her already formidable self to an entirely new realm.
From afar, Akame and the others felt tremendous pressure, struggling to withstand the severe cold as they nervously watched the battlefield at the center of the raging winds.
Whoosh!
Ice blades, ice spikes, ice pillars, ice arrows… all kinds of attacks rained down from the sky, filling the entire atmosphere in an instant, as if everything in the world had become Iori's enemy.
Yet the young man bearing the brunt of it all remained calm. He brushed his shoulder lightly, flicking away the frost clinging to it.
"Mere ice shards, not even half of my strength."
And at that very instant...
"Sever the Void!"
Clang!!!
An invisible wall of spiritual pressure spanned the sky, countless ice blades and frost edges being deflected away. Below it, Iori stood completely unharmed.
"Reflecting all phenomena, circulating through all emptiness; All things are impermanent, fullness and emptiness follow their laws..."
Clang!
Before the chant could finish, Esdeath impatiently swung her sword. Iori caught the even more ferocious slash. The chill transmitted through the blade felt as if it would pierce his entire body, if it were an ordinary person, mere contact would have frozen them into an ice sculpture.
Yet even so, his state of mind did not ripple in the slightest.
Brilliant light flowed along the Sword of Ama-no-Murakumo. The clear blade took on a deep, ancient hue, like a mirror of liquid mercury, reflecting Iori's face, not the mask, but his true appearance.