"…Thank you for waiting, Your Highness the Crown Prince."
"Since everyone here is going to die anyway, I'll at least let you have a proper farewell. Besides, I want to fully enjoy this chance to fight you seriously!"
A faint light flickered in Felix's clouded eyes.
"Now that I think about it, you said something similar back in the Reglif territory, didn't you? Just as the rumors say—you really do love fighting. That part hasn't changed at all. In that case, to meet your expectations… I'll play with you a little."
Shion took a combat stance.
A geometric pattern surfaced in her right eye.
"Let's see how long that confidence lasts!"
Felix shouted as he swung his sword.
An invisible slash mixed with repulsive force, created by his special ability Attraction-Repulsion Manipulation, flew toward Shion.
However, with the eyes of a spirit dwelling within her, Shion could clearly see the slash.
"How long, you ask? Well—"
While speaking, Shion activated Shift Teleportation.
Her figure vanished.
"—It'll last until the very end."
Hearing Shion's voice from above, Felix looked up.
In the sky, countless ice hailstones had appeared alongside Shion.
"—Hailstorm Strafe."
When Shion activated the spell, the ice hailstones floating around her shot toward Felix all at once.
Felix saw the masses of ice raining down at speeds rivaling subsonic velocity and immediately used his special ability.
By covering his surroundings with repulsive force, the hailstones came to a halt in mid-air before reaching him.
Shion showed no agitation at having her attack stopped and immediately moved to her next move.
"—Scattered Blossoms Diffusion."
In response to her voice, the hailstones frozen in the air burst apart.
The now much finer ice fragments broke through the wall of repulsive force.
"Kh…!"
Felix hastily deployed a magical barrier to protect his vital points.
By narrowing his defense at the last second, he avoided a fatal wound, but numerous small cuts were carved across his body.
Shion did not let up her assault.
She descended to the ground and swung her staff toward Felix.
"—Stillness of the Frozen Great River."
As if painting on a canvas with a brush, everything within Shion's field of vision was instantly swallowed by a massive block of ice along the path of her swinging staff.
The royal castle and parts of the castle town were caught up as Felix was sealed inside the ice.
Stillness of the Frozen Great River was an improved, wide-area version of Shion's original spell Frozen Stillness.
Anything trapped inside the ice had its time effectively stopped due to the influence of her special ability.
It was a kind of cold sleep—people trapped inside would not die.
"Restraint complete."
The moment Shion slightly relaxed her guard after neutralizing Felix—
"—To think the match would be settled so easily. The title of the world's strongest has become meaningless with this."
A different man was standing beside Felix, who was trapped in the ice.
"—!?"
Shion gasped in surprise but immediately tried to resume her combat stance.
However, she could not move, as if she had been bound by invisible chains.
"I never expected you to be in the capital as well, White Demon."
The man spoke to the immobilized Shion.
He was a young man missing his left arm and wearing an eyepatch over his right eye.
"Belia Sans…!"
Shion shot a gaze filled with killing intent at Belia.
"…Heh. You saw through me with just one look. It seems I'm more loved by you than I thought."
"Don't say such disgusting things! It makes me want to vomit! I'm going to drag you down to hell! Right here, right now!"
Shion raised her voice in raw emotion.
In response, numerous ice spears rose from the ground and lunged at Belia.
Belia swung his sword at the approaching ice spears.
The force of the swing shattered the spears before they could reach him.
"An attack of this power even under the influence of my special ability? And this is… magic?"
Right now, the entire area around Belia was under the effect of his special ability Eternal Invariance, forcibly stopping everything except him.
Because of this, magic could not be used in this space.
Belia had believed he had completely neutralized Shion, the mage, but he was mistaken.
"To think you had become a Transcendent… Was it during the battle with the water demon Due at the farm? …Plan change. I'll kill you before Lucilla N. Edelweiss."
Belia recognized Shion as an enemy and approached her while gripping his sword.
"That's my line! —Silver Blizzard of Frost and Ice, Boreas!"
A silver storm far below freezing point swept toward Belia, transforming everything it touched into a silver world.
"A blizzard of ice that freezes to the very core. Quite a troublesome attack. In that case—"
Belia sheathed his sword, and in his hand appeared a blade of hellfire capable of burning even space itself.
"—Ragnarok Flame, Laevatein."
He swung the flaming sword at the oncoming silver blizzard.
The clash between the ultra-low-temperature wind and the ultra-high-temperature blade caused a sudden extreme temperature change.
"—!?"
As Shion gasped, a massive explosion engulfed the surroundings.
With a thunderous roar, a huge cloud of white smoke blanketed the area.
"…What is this?"
Even after taking the direct hit of the massive explosion, Belia—unharmed thanks to Eternal Invariance—looked around with a bewildered voice.
The explosion just now had been powerful enough to destroy everything within its range.
The royal castle right beside them should have been obliterated, and the castle town should have suffered catastrophic damage.
A considerable number of people in the capital should have died.
But that had not happened.
Despite receiving the massive explosion, the royal capital remained completely undamaged.
The only difference from before the explosion was that the entire capital had been swallowed by a gigantic block of ice.
"Haah… haah… haah… That's right… You people don't care at all if the city gets destroyed… I'm glad… Nothing was destroyed…"
The one responsible for creating this scene—Shion—had covered herself with a magical barrier to protect her body while breathing heavily.
She had swallowed the entire royal capital with Stillness of the Frozen Great River, and the instant the surface of the ice broke, she had used Time Regression to continuously maintain the ice block, thereby protecting the capital.
Due to the nature of Stillness of the Frozen Great River, not a single person trapped in the ice had died.
"To think you would protect the entire capital… An unexpected result, but if it exhausted you, then I'll take it as a win."
Belia was surprised by the world of ice Shion had created, but he quickly shifted his thoughts and approached her once more.
"A parting gift for a Transcendent. I'll kill you in one strike."
"Ahaha…"
At Belia's words, Shion let out a weak laugh.
"What's so funny?"
"Unfortunately, I have a promise I must keep…! I can't die… in a place like this…!"
Even while gasping for breath, Shion wore a defiant smile.
"Do you think you won't die because you have Time Regression? Even if you are a throwback to the Witch, if I don't give you time to use your ability, you'll simply die."
"Honestly, I wanted to drag you down to hell with my own hands… It's a shame I couldn't do that."
Shion could barely speak or move her facial expression, but thanks to Belia's special ability, she could not move her body at all.
"That is unfortunate. Die with regret!"
Belia raised his sword and mercilessly brought the blade down on her.
The deadly blade closed in on Shion—
"—How many more precious things of mine do you plan to take before you're satisfied?"
In the stopped space where only Belia was allowed to move, Orun's jet-black sword Schwarzheze caught Belia's deadly blade.