At this moment, Ultear radiated a kind of crazed beauty that was genuinely unsettling.
Her black hair—usually groomed to perfection—was now a mess across her shoulders. A few strands stuck to her swanlike pale neck with a sheen of sweat, rising and falling with her quickened breathing.
She stared at Shane with raw, undisguised loathing, as if she couldn't be bothered to waste even a single extra word on him.
She raised a hand in disgust and snapped it down.
"Disappear."
Bzz—bzz—bzz!
In an instant, dozens of crystal-clear spheres blossomed into existence above her head. No probing, no testing—just a direct barrage as they erupted into blinding magical light and poured down on Shane like a storm.
Shane, however, remained remarkably calm.
This wasn't the first time he'd fought Ultear. He already knew her rhythms and habits by heart.
"So this is your 'personality completely changing'?" Shane shifted his footing, slipping sideways as a beam skimmed past the tip of his nose. He still had the leisure to mock her. "I thought you'd have something new. Nope—same old routine. What, did Nirvana flip your IQ into negative numbers too?"
He clicked his tongue.
"Seeing me and not running, but attacking instead… Have I been too nice to you?"
Her answer was an even denser barrage—and a cold snort.
"Annoying."
"Alright then. Looks like I really do have to 'wake you up' the physical way."
Shane sighed, lifted his bow, drew the string, and formed a light-arrow on the limb.
Thrum!
A crimson streak tore through the air, aimed straight at Ultear's face.
This time, Ultear didn't dodge like she usually would. Instead she crossed her hands sharply in front of her.
"Ice Make—Rose!"
Crack! Crack!
Cold exploded outward, and a massive ice rose bloomed in front of her in an instant.
Its petals were thick and crystalline, layered upon layered, shielding her at the core. Through the translucent ice, her long figure appeared distorted by refraction.
The light-arrow drilled through the first seven layers like a spear, but by the eighth it finally bled out, shattering into glittering fragments.
"Oh?" Shane lifted a brow, surprised—then his expression softened into understanding.
"So that's it… Your personality got flipped, so the magic you used to hate and refuse to touch… you can use it now without any hang-ups."
He eyed the exquisite ice flower and couldn't help but sigh in admiration.
"Honestly, yeah. Just like I expected. Compared to that half-baked Arc of Time, your talent for Ice Make is terrifying."
"Don't you dare judge me!"
Ultear's voice cut through the rose, sharp as frost.
"This magic is beautiful and strong. Why didn't I use it before? I was an idiot."
As she spoke, the air grew even colder.
Countless beautiful, lethal vines and thorns erupted at Shane's feet, forming transparent ice serpents that lunged to bind and crush him.
Shane tapped off the ground and slipped between gaps, hopping and weaving through the writhing growth. Ice flakes burst around him, every dodge clean and measured—neither frantic nor strained.
"This level of ice won't catch me," he even had time to comment.
"Is that so?" Ultear's lips curled, and the ground around her had already turned a solid sheet of white frost. "And what can you do to me? I know the limit of that bow's output. The current me can block it."
"Output limit?"
Shane landed on a jagged boulder and paused. Then he raised one hand.
Light swirled—the telltale glow of Requip Magic—and a strange sword appeared in his grip: a long blade twisted into a spiraling corkscrew.
He'd modeled it after Fergus's magic sword from Celtic legends, forging it specifically as special ammunition for the deep red bow.
And today, it finally got to debut.
"Friendly heads-up."
He casually nocked the spiral sword like an arrow, aiming at Ultear.
"This thing hits at least twice as hard as a normal shot—and it has a stupidly unfair piercing effect."
The bow creaked as the string drew taut.
"Don't try to tank it. Dodge properly."
His voice stayed calm.
"My goal is to knock you awake, but if I leave you torn up—even if you say you don't care—I'll still feel guilty."
"Arrogant bastard—!"
Ultear started to sneer, but in the next instant her pupils snapped tight.
Because Shane let go.
BOOM—!!
There wasn't a sharp whistling flight sound—just a brutally heavy, muffled blast.
The spiral sword broke the sound barrier the moment it left the string, carving a visible white shock channel through the air.
Can't block it.
The thought flashed through her mind, and the ice defense she'd trusted like armor collapsed like papier-mâché.
The layered rose detonated into a blizzard of crystalline dust.
Using the brief stall it created, Ultear threw herself sideways, scrambling out of the line.
The spiral sword screamed past her by a hair's breadth. The wind pressure alone ripped several tears through her clothing, exposing snow-pale skin beneath.
"Cough—cough…"
She dragged herself up, filthy with dust, face smudged and hair a wreck.
Teeth clenched, eyes blazing, she spat, "A savage who only knows brute force! Crude! Disgusting!"
"Still got the strength to talk, huh. Good—your spirit's still intact."
Shane was suddenly right in front of her, wearing that infuriating smile.
"But we're done now."
Before she could gather her magic again, Shane drove in without a shred of mercy.
Thud—thud—thud!
His punches landed clean and heavy—exactly where she'd imagined he'd hit: her soft abdomen.
"Ugh—!" Ultear let out a muffled gasp.
The pain erased her control in an instant. Her body went slack, and darkness swallowed her consciousness.
Shane caught her automatically before she hit the ground, scooping her up with quick reflexes.
A part of him even thought, Shame. If she'd dodged that shot cleanly, I could've tested more.
He still had forty-nine spiral-sword rounds sitting in his Requip space, and he almost never had an excuse to use them. Having Ultear around as a test dummy was rare.
He retrieved the shattered spiral sword from the ground, then laid the unconscious girl on a flat stone.
Her eyes were shut now, long lashes casting faint shadows against her lids.
With her hostility gone, Ultear looked less cold and severe—softer, almost fragile.
Shane wiped at the sweat on his brow and looked down at the results of his "work," feeling oddly satisfied.
"Thank god Nirvana didn't flip her feelings toward me," he muttered. "If she'd turned into some teary, soft, helpless 'please don't hurt me' type…"
He rubbed his chin, trying to picture it.
"…I might've actually hesitated. Like, two whole seconds."
He nodded to himself, dead serious.
"Yeah. Two seconds."