Sui: "Are all people from other worlds this overwhelmingly powerful?"
Esdeath had just frozen entire mountain ranges with a single casual gesture, conjuring towering pillars of ice the size of hills, yet Haruto danced through the apocalyptic chaos with effortless grace.
The sheer scale of inter-world combat left Sui wide-eyed in sheer disbelief.
Megumi Kato offered a gentle, self-deprecating smile in the chat. "I'm sorry... I'm really just an ordinary person."
Ayame chimed in, "I'm nowhere near strong enough to keep up with Haruto-sama, either."
Stella sighed heavily. "Honestly, it's completely insane how casually they throw continent-shaking power around."
Shizue asked quietly, with a note of genuine awe, "Do you... do you think Haruto can really defeat a Flame Spirit like Ifrit?"
As she watched the cataclysmic battle unfold on her screen, her mind raced. If it's him... maybe it's actually possible.
Back on the battlefield, though the clash looked earth-shattering to the onlookers, Haruto was starting to feel a twinge of boredom.
Esdeath's attacks, while undeniably devastating, couldn't even graze him.
Feeling the sparring match drag on past its entertainment value, he raised his hand and shattered one of her largest ice mountains with a single, casual shockwave of his blade.
"Is that all? Do you have any final, hidden moves?" Haruto called out, his tone laced with mild weariness. "This fight is starting to get a bit dull."
Esdeath's fiery, battle-drunk spirit cooled slightly as reality set in.
She realized with a jolt that none of her attacks, no matter how lethal, could even force Haruto to take her seriously.
This wasn't a fierce duel—it was a masterclass in one-sided domination.
Landing softly upon the fractured earth, Esdeath lowered her rapier and stared at Haruto for a long, silent moment.
"You're strong. By far the strongest opponent I have ever faced in my entire life."
No one in the Empire even came close to matching his terrifying tier of power.
Finally, she completely understood how General Budo had been wiped out so effortlessly by this man.
Exhaling a long, steady breath, her focus shifted entirely.
She was no longer frustrated by her inability to kill Haruto; instead, a new, burning obsession took root—she had to push him to his absolute limit, no matter the cost.
"This next technique... it's something I've only theorized in my mind, never once tested in actual combat. If it works, it should give you the kind of challenge you're looking for."
"Oh?" Haruto raised an eyebrow, immediately recognizing the iconic ultimate move Esdeath had originally reserved for Tatsumi in the original timeline.
Esdeath crossed her arms over her chest, closing her eyes as a colossal spike of concentrated ice energy began to condense around her core.
When the pressure reached its absolute boiling point, her eyes snapped open, blazing with fierce intensity.
"Here it comes... Mahapadma!"
In a blinding flash, an overwhelming shockwave of sub-zero energy detonated outward across the landscape.
Rather than simply freezing the physical surroundings, the anomaly expanded, gripping and locking down time itself.
Everything in the world stopped dead in its tracks.
A triumphant, breathless smile spread across Esdeath's face as she realized her brand-new technique had successfully triggered.
Confident in her victory, she took a few unhurried steps toward Haruto, who was frozen stiff in the middle of a motion.
"It looks like you aren't quite as invincible as you thought after all," she murmured, stepping right up to him with her rapier raised.
As she stood inches from his chest, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of bittersweet regret.
He was the only person who had ever truly matched her soul—it was almost a shame she had to end him here.
"Goodbye."
She lunged forward, thrusting her rapier straight toward his heart.
"Why are you saying goodbye?"
Haruto's voice rang out smoothly, a confident smirk stretching across his face despite having supposedly been frozen in time mere moments prior.
"You can move?!"
Esdeath's eyes widened in sheer, unadulterated shock. Panic flashing in her chest, she tried to violently backflip away, but Haruto was infinitely faster.
With a lazy flick of his wrist, he shattered her illusionary domain, reversing the spell and sealing her completely in place instead.
"Freezing time and space? I can do that too, you know."
In an instant, time stood still once more—not through a localized thermal trick, but under Haruto's absolute, god-tier control.
Esdeath was left entirely paralyzed, unable to even twitch a single muscle.
Stepping forward, Haruto reached out and gently caught her by the chin, looking down into her wide, unblinking eyes. "The problem is, your time-freezing trick is far too crude."
Esdeath's technique hadn't actually tampered with the fabric of the universe.
It was merely an explosive discharge of ice magic that brought molecular motion to a dead halt within a localized radius, creating a cheap imitation of a time-stop.
Haruto's freezing, on the other hand, was a true conceptual reality-warp—he could freeze the actual flow of time and space itself.
The sheer, staggering gulf between their techniques left Esdeath's Mahapadma looking like child's play.
Stella: "Phew... that genuinely scared me for a second. I thought he was about to get stabbed!"
Frieren: "She was merely manipulating molecular thermal kinetics to simulate a stop, but compared to Haruto's ability to freeze the fundamental fabric of time and space, it's utterly amateurish."
Sui: "Freezing actual time and space? Is that even humanly possible?!"
Ayame Yomogawa: "Haruto-sama is far beyond mere humanity."
Akame: "Yes, the proof is right there on the screen."
Shizue: "That is truly incredible..."
Frieren: "And just like that, the fearsome human general Esdeath is being completely toyed with like a child."
Saeko Busujima: "Will he actually kill her?
Every single one of her opening moves was drenched in pure, lethal intent."
Mai Sakurajima: "...Did you seriously forget the fine print of the trade agreement?"
Saeko Busujima: "...Ah. Right. She probably won't die. At least, not in that way."
Sui: "Wait, what does that mean?"
Megumi Kato: "You'll understand eventually, Sui."
Far away in the Night Raid hideout, Najenda stared at the floating projection in absolute disbelief. "Esdeath... just lost. Just like that."
No one on earth knew the terror of Esdeath's combat prowess better than her former superior.
"That's amazing! Does that mean our biggest, scariest enemy is finally gone for good?!"
Leone pumped her fist, ready to throw a celebration, before Mai's deadpan message cut through the excitement.
"Esdeath won't die. She's officially part of the chat group now, and she lost the wager."
Leone suddenly froze as the terms of the deal flashed back into her mind—body usage rights.
She let out a long, complicated whistle and muttered, "Speaking of which... do you guys think Haruto is going to end up... you know, thoroughly tamed by an apex predator like Esdeath?"
"..."
Even Najenda's stoic expression cracked, a look of profound anxiety creeping across her face.
Knowing Esdeath's insatiable, hyper-competitive nature, it wouldn't be the least bit surprising if she tried to conquer him in other, more intimate arenas of battle as well.
After all, a man is only flesh and blood, and as the old battlefield proverb went: The ox may tire of the plow, but the fertile field never complains.
Turning her head slowly, Najenda looked directly at Akame and asked with deadly seriousness, "Akame. Based on your firsthand experience... how well does Haruto hold up in that regard?"
Akame blinked, her stoic mask slipping slightly as she instinctively glanced down at her own stomach, a faint, delicate blush dusting her cheeks.
"Probably... he is exceptionally formidable."
Najenda raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Probably?"
******
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