Angell's strength and speed were simply too overwhelming. Even with the Golden Holy Blood modifying his body, facing an S-Rank Valkyrie meant Li Wu could merely avoid being instantly killed.
Angell slowly lowered her long leg, tapping her toes against the ground. She shook her head, a hint of disappointment in her eyes. "I really don't understand what Anna sees in you. Risking her life to meddle in a Red-tier mission for someone like you is entirely not worth it. Was it your fearless courage that won her over?"
"To put it nicely, it's courage; to put it bluntly, you're just an impulsive idiot. You don't even know your own limits. You can't even beat me, yet you have the nerve to show up here? How boring. The fight outside must be wrapping up soon."
Angell turned around and walked toward the shattered window, gazing at the three figures clashing fiercely in the sky.
Even fighting two-on-one, she wasn't losing ground.
As expected of Cecilia, the strongest S-Rank Valkyrie of the Schariac House. It was just a pity she had too many soft spots; she wanted to save Anna, but was terrified of hurting her own kin.
If she simply unsealed her stigmata and unleashed her full rated power, the battle would probably have ended by now.
"So... if I beat you, I can take her away... and let her live a peaceful, happy life...?"
Li Wu's voice echoed from behind her.
Angell glanced back, her eyes narrowing slightly.
Stepping out from the rubble, Li Wu pulled a jagged piece of shrapnel from his body. The blood that flowed out was golden, radiating the same eerie, unfathomable presence as his eyes.
Suddenly, Angell felt that something about Li Wu had changed.
The boy she had been fighting just moments ago was someone with tightly wound nerves, unable to even react to her movements. He had stared at her unblinkingly, terrified of missing even a micro-expression.
But the Li Wu walking out of the ruins now, despite having his head bowed, exuded a chilling aura of absolute certainty that he had already won.
"She certainly could. Right now, my two colleagues are tied up. As long as you defeat me, there will be no one left in the Babylon Tower to stop you. No other Valkyries want to be stationed in this godforsaken place anyway, so you don't need to worry about reinforcements."
"Living a peaceful, happy life... Hmph. Even without this incident, it's incredibly difficult for a Valkyrie to live peacefully or happily. Just surviving is hard enough; peace and happiness are pure fantasy. It's something we spend our entire lives chasing, but reality rarely aligns with our desires. Not just me, but Anna and the other siblings in our family—our lives were mapped out for us long ago."
"We never had the right to choose. I... I made the exact opposite choice as Anna. Between my ex-boyfriend and the fiancé Schicksal arranged for me, I ruthlessly dumped my ex."
"I don't know how he did it, but he managed to extort some compensation money and came all the way to Schicksal just to see me one last time. What an idiot. What did that change? It changed nothing. It only made his future life even more impoverished. So stupid."
Angell's eyes trembled slightly as she patiently explained this to Li Wu. "I'm getting off-track. Anyway, if you want to take Anna away, you have to strike me down first. Otherwise, this 'love' and 'affection' you speak of is nothing but a childish joke to me, to them, and to everyone else."
"She bet her life on you. Are you ready to do the same?"
With that, Angell bit her finger and pressed the blood against her energy core, verifying her biometric data.
A silver-white Valkyrie battlesuit, remarkably similar to Anna's Void Snow armor, enveloped Angell's body. However, unlike the pure white of Void Snow, the energy circuits on Angell's armor pulsed with a dark purple light, emitting a mysterious, oppressive visual presence.
"Time Scar—"
Angell's voice was slightly raspy.
The prefix of this technique was identical to her sister Anna's. When they were young, the two of them were inseparable. But unfortunately, as she grew up, she lost her freedom. She rarely saw her younger sister anymore, and even when they did meet, they would only exchange cold glances without saying a word.
Later, when Anna became the Holy Maiden of the Schariac House, they became total strangers. There was no other reason than the fact that not just anyone could be the Holy Maiden. Getting close to the Holy Maiden meant increased surveillance from Schicksal, which meant losing whatever little freedom she had left.
And to them, freedom was a million times more precious than wealth or fame.
"Ice Lances."
There was no heart-rending battle cry; Angell's tone was as calm as someone reading a book.
Her voice acted as a command. The surrounding space seemed to be affected by some higher-dimensional power, its colors dulling.
Li Wu tried to move, but his limbs felt agonizingly slow. In an instant, dozens of razor-sharp ice lances materialized out of thin air, aiming directly at him.
The ice lances hovered for only a split second before violently thrusting toward his vital spots.
One, three, ten, twenty...
Time dilation combined with instant-cast attacks was more than enough to obliterate any unarmored opponent who wasn't an S-Rank Valkyrie.
But when the hazy frost dispersed, those golden eyes still shone brilliantly, blazing like an inextinguishable flame.
Li Wu yanked out the ice lances that had skewered his arms one by one. It hurt a little, but he was already used to it.
"Stupid? I think everyone is just doing what they believe is right."
Li Wu took a step forward.
Angell thought it was just a small step, but to her shock, Li Wu had instantly appeared right behind her. He grabbed her by the shoulder with one hand, his fingers clamping down hard. With a sickening CRACK, the shoulder armor shattered.
This was an S-Rank Valkyrie battlesuit forged from Soulium! Could he really crush the hardest metal on Earth with pure physical strength?!
Angell immediately executed a vertical spin, using the blade attached to her greaves to force Li Wu to let go.
As they faced off again, the contempt from before had vanished from her eyes.
"What did you sacrifice?" Angell asked.
Temporarily empowering oneself was possible—whether through modern technology or various Authorities—but it always came at an astronomical cost.
Li Wu looked down at his left hand.
"I overdrew my future in exchange for the power to defeat you. I will absolutely win. There is no other possibility."
Angell couldn't comprehend what "overdrawing the future" meant, so she assumed it was some kind of highly toxic enhancement drug.
Then, Angell activated the secondary "Pseudo-Authority" of her S-Rank battlesuit. Much like Anna's [Time Scar: Blood Sky], it comprehensively enhanced her physical specs. She engaged Li Wu in close-quarters combat holding absolutely nothing back.
Yet no matter how she attacked, Li Wu dodged every strike, instantly delivering the perfect counterattack.
After several exchanges, her body was clearly hitting its limits. The armor was constantly devouring her blood, meaning her combat effectiveness would only drop as the fight dragged on.
"Time Scar—"
The moment Angell raised her hand, Li Wu closed the distance. He grabbed her by the face and viciously slammed her into the floor.
The terrifying impact was so immense it shook the entire Babylon Tower.
However, a blow of that magnitude would only be enough to knock an S-Rank Valkyrie unconscious.
[She held back.]
"...I know. If she really just wanted to complete the mission, she would have ambushed me the second I entered the lab. The physical specs I borrowed were just barely enough to defeat her. Winning shouldn't have been this easy. She was holding back the whole time, trying to give me a legitimate reason to defeat her and take Anna away."
"All her taunting earlier... she was just trying to provoke me."
Li Wu reached down and cleanly ripped the energy core out of Angell's chest to prevent the "Pseudo-Authority" from continuing to drain her blood.
[You must proceed to a high-danger zone within twelve hours and survive there for over forty-eight hours.]
"A high-danger zone... Which means even the most elite S-Rank Valkyries can only survive there for two days, right? You need S-Rank strength just to pull that off. Since I have to achieve that, it naturally means I possessed the strength to defeat Angell."
"Let's put that aside for now. The blood I'm bleeding right now should still count as Holy Blood, right...?"
Li Wu glanced at the glaringly bright golden blood staining his clothes.
He walked over to the examination table and violently ripped out all the transparent tubes plugged into Anna's body. Then, he picked up a shard of the Plasma Army-Breaker from the floor and, with all his might, slashed his own wrist.
His veins split open, and golden blood flowed from the wound directly into Anna's mouth.
However, the Holy Blood pooled in her mouth, completely unswallowed.
[After falling into a deep coma, the swallowing reflex disappears. This is an essential biological mechanism to protect the trachea. It is normal that Anna Schariac cannot swallow your Holy Blood.]
"What do I do?"
[Stimulate her swallowing reflex.]
"..."
"If you were awake, I'd probably tease you about this. But I'm really not in the mood right now."
Looking down at Anna's emaciated body, Li Wu felt no desire to joke around. He gently tilted her chin upward with his hand to stimulate the swallowing reflex.
He kept his eyes locked on her throat the entire time, feeling for her faint pulse with his fingers, only relaxing when he finally saw the golden Holy Blood go down smoothly.
Compared to the gentle process of the Golden Holy Blood healing Anna, Li Wu realized that the effect of a comprehensive physical enhancement only worked on himself. For anyone else, it acted purely as a miracle drug.
Li Wu hoisted Anna onto his back and quickly left the Babylon Tower, pressing forward against the chaotic blizzard.
By now, exhaustion was finally beginning to set in.
He looked up. High in the sky, Cecilia was still engaged in combat with the two S-Rank Valkyries. Suddenly, Cecilia noticed Li Wu below, and Anna on his back.
An S-Rank Valkyrie's five senses far exceeded those of ordinary humans. Even from a thousand meters in the air, Cecilia's gaze pierced through the dense snow and saw that color had returned to Anna's face.
Without a word, Cecilia paused for two seconds before rushing forward again, keeping the attention of the two S-Rank Valkyries completely focused on her. Li Wu took the opportunity to carry Anna further away.
Everything was going impossibly smoothly.
Whether it was escaping the Babylon Tower or the complete lack of Schicksal reinforcements, his successful getaway with Anna almost felt like it was part of someone else's plan.
Li Wu ran for a long time.
So long that every wound on his body had completely healed. So long that time lost its meaning. So long that the snowflakes striking his skin lost their bite, replaced by the warmth of the sun melting them across his body. So long that—
The girl on his back woke up. Without saying a word, she rested her head gently against his shoulder, experiencing the sensation of being on the run—something she had never felt before, and likely never would again.
Even though she was only wearing a thin hospital gown, her body was radiating heat.
Anna pursed her lips, trying desperately to keep her head still while carefully tilting her eyes up to sneak a peek at Li Wu's profile.
But with his massively enhanced physical specs, Li Wu's senses were incredibly sharp. The moment Anna opened her eyes, he knew.
Of course he knew, how could he not?
Her previously steady, faint breathing had grown heavy, speeding up and slowing down erratically.
He understood.
A young girl experiencing the first flutters of love was as unpredictable as the weather, completely impossible to read.
It wasn't until they reached the low-danger zone that Li Wu finally stopped. Without turning his head, he paused for a long time before asking in a tone that sounded both intimate and distant, like old friends reuniting: "You awake?"
"Mhm."
Anna replied, pulling her flushed cheeks away from his back. "Put me down. I... I feel a lot better now. Thank you."
"Thank you?" Li Wu froze for a second before setting her down in surprise. But because the atmosphere of their escape had broken so awkwardly, the conversation hit a dead end.
The two of them just stood heavily among the snow-dusted flowers, looking away from each other. Neither looked directly at the other, yet both kept stealing secret glances to see if the other was watching.
The falling snow began to pile up around them like creeping ivy, gradually burying their calves.
At that moment, Li Wu suddenly noticed that Anna wasn't wearing shoes. She was standing barefoot in the snow. His previously awkward mind instantly snapped back to focus. He took two steps forward and instinctively reached out his hand, but stopped short. His hand hovered in the air, unsure whether to advance or retreat.
"Are you cold?" Li Wu asked.
The cold in the low-danger zone wasn't enhanced by Herrscher Authority, making his question a bit redundant.
"No..." Anna had wanted to say she wasn't cold, but for some reason, she inexplicably changed her answer. "A little..."
"I'll use my power to buy you a pair of warm shoes."
Just as Li Wu reached out, preparing to use [Future Loan] to borrow a pair of suitable boots, Anna suddenly called out to him.
"Li Wu."
Li Wu looked up at her, confused.
Anna tilted her head, her eyes darting away to look at the sky diagonally above them. She stammered out words that even she found completely illogical:
"Never mind, it's actually not that cold."
She finished her sentence.
She had literally just said she was cold, and now she was changing her story? Wasn't she just openly lying? Anna, oh Anna, what are you even thinking? What is Li Wu going to think of you?!
But just as Anna felt she had made a complete fool of herself, she saw Li Wu biting his lip, his index finger and thumb rubbing together nervously—he was fidgeting even more than she was.
Anna stepped forward barefoot, her pale ankles cutting through the thin snow until she stood right in front of Li Wu's black boots. Her toes were red from the cold.
Despite this, she rose onto her tiptoes. Her voice was soft, cutting through the falling snow: "I lied. It's actually really cold. But I'm worried about you... No matter how useful your power is, there's always a price to pay..."
"Then I'll carry you on my back."
"Okay."
Anna didn't refuse; she agreed instantly. Seeing Li Wu crouch down with a smile, she stepped forward, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pressed her cheek against his back once again.
So warm...
Modesty? Grace?
How could she possibly maintain any of that in front of the person she loved? It was completely impossible to hold back...
The snowflakes drifted past them like floating clouds. Just like so many cherished people in life, quietly disappearing along the journey before you even notice they're gone.