Rewinding time to several dozen minutes earlier, inside Raiden Mei's consciousness space…
"Puchi!" A hair-raising sound of a sharp weapon piercing flesh suddenly rang out, tearing through the originally deathly silent air. Two figures that looked almost identical were tightly embracing each other, yet this embrace was filled with endless blood and cruelty.
In that instant, Raiden Mei unhesitatingly thrust the incomparably sharp blade in her hand fiercely into the Stigmata Mei's chest. However, she seemed unsatisfied with merely delivering a fatal blow. After the blade sank into the Stigmata Mei's body, she still mercilessly twisted the hilt, as if she wanted to completely destroy the enemy and leave her with no chance of survival.
As Raiden Mei continued her ruthless actions, warm blood gushed out from the Stigmata Mei's nearly split-open heart like a bursting dam. The scarlet liquid splashed into the air, forming shocking lines of blood. In an instant, the entire space was filled with a thick, pungent smell of blood, and the world before Raiden Mei's eyes was quickly submerged in this sea of red.
Immediately after, the hand with which the Stigmata Mei had been tightly gripping her long blade suddenly loosened. The sharp blade she had been holding firmly instantly lost its support and fell straight toward the ground. Accompanied by a crisp, loud "clang," the sharp blade collided fiercely with the hard ground, sending up a few tiny sparks.
"You win, Raiden Mei." The Stigmata Mei's voice, helpless yet carrying a trace of indulgence, slowly rang out, breaking the tense atmosphere between the two.
She trembled slightly as she stretched out her right hand and slowly reached toward Raiden Mei's face, which was stained red with blood. When her fingers touched Raiden Mei's cheek, it felt as if time had frozen at that moment. She gently wiped away the scarlet blood splattered on Raiden Mei's face with her fingertips, her movements careful and gentle, as if afraid of hurting the person before her.
"To be honest, perhaps you no longer need my protection. You've already grown up." She had originally been born from Raiden Mei's protective personality. Her very reason for existing was to protect her.
But the Raiden Mei who could now defeat her head-on probably no longer needed her protection. The current Raiden Mei was already an adult who could stand on her own.
"Thank you for protecting me all this time. Thank you. But there are things I must do." Although the time they had spent communicating face-to-face wasn't long, Raiden Mei had already recognized that the other her before her was the personality mask named "Raiden Queen" that she had put on after sealing away her own heart.
Unfortunately, they ultimately could not coexist.
Raiden Mei slowly loosened the hand that had been tightly gripping the hilt until her knuckles turned slightly white, as if she had used up all her strength. Her gaze was somewhat complicated as she stared at the Stigmata Mei before her, a trace of indescribable emotion flowing in her eyes.
The scarlet katana was thrust straight into the Stigmata Mei's chest. Around the blade, blood bloomed like red lotuses, flowing down along the blade and dyeing the ground red. The Stigmata Mei simply stood there motionless. Her already snow-white skin now looked even more bloodless.
The Stigmata Mei's waist-length hair, which had been let down, was slightly disheveled because of this sudden turn of events. A gentle breeze blew past, causing a few strands of hair to flutter in the wind and adding a touch of poignant beauty to her.
"Then let it be so. Let me become your power… Raiden Mei." The Stigmata Mei said. Her body turned into specks of light that flew little by little toward Raiden Mei's body. She closed her eyes, feeling this power that came from the most primal source within her.
At the same time, a red mark resembling a bar pattern on the left side of Raiden Mei's lower abdomen emitted a bewitching red glow.
In an instant, streaks of scarlet lightning surged out from Raiden Mei's delicate body like raging pythons! These lightning bolts intertwined and wrapped around each other, forming a dazzling electric grid that enveloped her entire person. At this moment, Raiden Mei was surrounded by piercing lightning, as if she had become the sole ruler of this world.
Recalling the past, she had once called herself the "Raiden Queen," but at that time it had perhaps been more of a form of confidence and longing. Yet at this very moment, as this violent and powerful scarlet lightning rampaged across her body, she truly deserved to be called the Raiden Queen!
When Raiden Mei opened her eyes again, the Stigmata Mei's figure was nowhere to be seen. Only the blood-red katana remained, thrust into the ground in front of her.
Raiden Mei's face was as still as water. Her beautiful yet resolute face now looked exceptionally cold and stern. She steadily took two large steps forward. Each step carried the momentum of ten thousand thunderbolts.
In an instant, a dazzling red light suddenly bloomed like a fiercely burning flame. Upon closer inspection, it was countless fine red lightning bolts wrapping and slithering around the blade like spiritual snakes, producing crackling explosive sounds. At this moment, Raiden Mei was surrounded by this powerful current, her entire person like the Thunder God incarnate stepping out of myth, radiating an aura that made one's blood run cold.
Her gaze was extremely sharp as she stared fixedly at the invisible barrier ahead. Then, she shouted loudly, "Chidori, draw!" Before her words even faded, the katana in her hand drew a brilliant arc in the air, bringing with it a patch of red lightning as if it would tear the entire space apart.
"One slash, to end it all!" With this angry roar, the katana in Raiden Mei's hand slashed fiercely toward the barrier with overwhelming force. For a moment, the sound of wind and thunder rose dramatically, and heaven and earth changed color.
The originally rock-solid, unbreakable barrier was instantly sliced apart like fragile paper under the sharp swing of the long blade in Raiden Mei's hand! Accompanied by a dazzling red light, powerful and violent red lightning erupted fiercely from the inside out, piercing straight through the Herrscher of Thunder's body with lightning speed.
This sudden and completely unexpected strike took the Herrscher of Thunder entirely off guard. She had no time to react at all before she was struck by this terrifying power originating from within her own body, causing her figure to tremble and fall into a brief state of stiffness.
In the outside world, Misteln waved the banner in her hand. A purple array appeared, blocking the Herrscher of Thunder's attempt to resist and plunging the Herrscher of Thunder's mind into blankness.
At the same time, in the blink of an eye, Shun appeared in front of the Herrscher of Thunder. His left hand reached straight through Raiden Mei's chest and touched the most primal power of the Herrscher of Thunder the Herrscher Core.
Immediately after, a blinding white light flashed. Shun and the Herrscher of Thunder fell from the sky one after another, soft as two puppets that had lost their souls, descending toward the reed field.