The corners of Reinhard's mouth lifted almost imperceptibly when he saw the scene before him.
He was smiling.
Rowan had once asked him whether he had ever encountered an opponent evenly matched with him—someone who could force him to fight with everything he had.
The answer had been no.
Because Reinhard was simply too strong.
Not only was he overwhelmingly powerful in every aspect, but he also possessed an enormous number of Divine Protections. With those blessings supporting him, Reinhard had never encountered an opponent truly worthy of a full-strength battle.
Even throughout the entire Dragon Kingdom of Lugunica, he could not find anyone who could force him to go all out.
But now—
in this world, stripped of every Divine Protection he possessed—
he had finally met someone like that.
He admitted that Esdeath was strong.
These Ice Knights were also strong.
Each individual knight possessed strength and speed comparable to an ordinary knight, while their coordinated formations multiplied that power several times over.
If the knights of Lugunica encountered this army of Ice Knights, there would only be one ending.
They would be surrounded—
and slowly exhausted to death.
Unfortunately for the Ice Knights, their opponent was not Lugunica's knight order.
It was him.
The Sword Saint—
Reinhard van Astrea.
Reinhard bent his knees slightly and lowered his center of gravity.
For the first time, his left hand also moved onto the sword hilt.
He assumed a two-handed stance.
An unprecedented pressure erupted from his body, so heavy it seemed capable of crushing the entire surrounding space.
The frozen ground beneath his feet could not withstand even the aftereffects of that pressure.
Large sections began cracking and collapsing, while spiderweb-like fractures spread wildly in every direction.
This was a stance Reinhard rarely showed anyone.
Back in his own world, he almost never needed to hold his sword with both hands.
Because hardly anyone could force him to.
But now—
to properly answer Esdeath's enthusiasm in giving everything she had—
he would show her the same respect.
The next instant—
Reinhard swung his sword.
A brilliant sword light exploded outward.
It spread forward in overlapping layers, expanding in a fan shape and transforming into an unprecedented storm.
Without question—
this was a heaven-shaking sword strike.
The countless ice spikes hurled by the Ice Cavalry were shredded like scraps of paper the instant they entered the storm of sword energy.
The dozens of cavalrymen charging at the front—
their ice lances,
their bodies,
even the eerie blue flames burning within their eyes—
all began collapsing the instant they touched the sword energy.
And after destroying the enemies directly ahead, the sword energy did not dissipate.
It continued onward—
destroying everything that stood in its path.
Watching this scene, Rowan could only think of one phrase.
Utterly overwhelming.
Thousands of Ice Cavalry—
annihilated by a single sword strike.
Not one remained.
The battlefield fell into deathly silence.
Reinhard stood exactly where he had been.
His fiery red hair fluttered within the freezing air without a single shard of ice touching it.
His breathing remained steady.
His expression remained calm.
It was almost as though all he had done was take a slightly deeper breath.
Then—
he raised his head and looked toward Esdeath.
Esdeath was kneeling on one knee amid the shattered ice.
Her maid uniform had been torn to pieces.
Her long ice-blue hair hung messily across her shoulders, soaked with sweat and melted ice.
She looked extraordinarily battered.
The Ice Knights she had exhausted herself creating had been completely shattered by Reinhard with a single sword strike.
Anyone else would have fallen into despair.
Their spirit might have broken entirely.
But Esdeath did not.
Her eyes were still shining.
Within those ice-blue pupils burned a brilliance more intense than ever before.
The stronger her enemy became—
the more excited she grew.
Reinhard stood ten paces away.
His sword had already returned to its sheath.
His red hair swayed faintly in the freezing air.
To anyone else, Esdeath might have appeared to have reached the end of the road.
But Reinhard understood clearly—
this woman had no intention of surrendering.
The light burning in her eyes told him that she was not finished yet.
She still had one final trump card left.
Reinhard was curious.
What kind of technique would it be?
The Ice Knights had already left a tremendous impression on him.
That only made him look forward even more to Esdeath's final move.
And Esdeath did not disappoint him.
"You're strong, Reinhard."
"You really are."
"You're far stronger than I ever imagined."
"I'm genuinely glad I could meet an opponent as powerful as you."
"I'll wager everything I have and use every last bit of my strength to defeat you."
"So take this!"
"Mahapadma!"
In that instant—
without the slightest warning—
something unbelievable happened.
The world—
froze.
The wind stopped.
The falling ice crystals hung motionless in the air as though nailed into place.
The mist ceased drifting and became frozen curtains of pale white.
The breath Reinhard had just exhaled stopped three inches in front of his lips.
It no longer expanded.
It no longer moved.
At that moment—
even sound itself disappeared.
Mahapadma.
The ultimate technique of Demon's Extract—
an absolute domain capable of freezing space and time.
Esdeath stood alone within the motionless world.
She was the only thing still capable of moving inside that frozen space-time.
She raised one leg and began walking through stopped time.
One step.
Two.
Three…
Until she arrived directly in front of Reinhard.
She raised her left arm.
Her five fingers pressed together.
Gathering the final remnants of her strength, she aimed directly at his throat.
"It's over, Reinhard."
But at that exact moment—
Reinhard's sky-blue eyes moved within frozen time.
His eyeballs shifted slightly.
His pupils focused directly on Esdeath's face.
And then—
Esdeath saw the corners of Reinhard's mouth rise into a faint smile.
Her pupils contracted violently.
Someone could actually move inside Mahapadma?
That was completely beyond Esdeath's expectations.
"I see."
Reinhard's voice sounded within the frozen world.
"This technique truly is remarkable."
Then—
he moved.
Naturally.
Smoothly.
As though the frozen space-time around him were merely the resistance of flowing water—
something that existed,
but nowhere near enough to restrain him.
His right hand rose.
His five fingers wrapped around the hilt at his waist.
And he drew his sword.
Watching through Clairvoyance Magic, Rowan could not help sighing in admiration.
As expected of Reinhard.
Even a technique that froze space and time itself had almost no effect on him.
Apparently, even without his Divine Protections—
this man was still a walking cheat.
The sword strike that followed was dazzling.
So brilliant that Esdeath could barely look directly at it.
The instant Reinhard swung—
Mahapadma shattered with a thunderous roar.
Time began flowing again.
The wind resumed blowing.
The suspended ice crystals began falling.
Esdeath felt an irresistible force travel from her fingertips—
into her arm,
through her shoulder,
and across her entire body.
She was violently pushed backward.
Her feet left the ground.
Her body traced an arc through the air before crashing heavily onto the ice ten meters away.
Rowan watched as she continued sliding across the frozen surface until her back finally slammed into a rock wall.
Broken ice fell from overhead.
It scattered across her hair, shoulders, and face.
Esdeath opened her mouth and tried to speak.
But all that rose into her throat was the metallic taste of blood.
Rowan was not surprised by the result.
In Re:Zero, Reinhard had once displayed a sword strike capable of cutting the world apart before restoring it afterward.
Breaking through Esdeath's ultimate technique was only natural.
Meanwhile, the Esdeath who had been sent flying was already approaching her physical limit.
Her strongest moves had been destroyed one after another by Reinhard.
Then she had been sent flying by a single sword strike.
Even for a battle maniac like Esdeath, the repeated strain and damage had finally accumulated into something overwhelming.
Her vision had already begun blurring.
Through that hazy sight, she saw Reinhard return his sword to its sheath and walk toward her.
His footsteps remained steady.
His expression remained calm.
It was as though everything that had just happened had been nothing at all.
Reinhard crouched on one knee in front of her.
His sky-blue eyes looked directly into her face.
"That final technique of yours…"
"If your opponent had been almost anyone else, it would have been enough to kill them."
Reinhard spoke seriously.
"It was an extraordinary technique."
"You were even stronger than I expected, Esdeath."
"I'm very satisfied with this battle."
Esdeath wanted to laugh.
But she could not.
Her strength was draining away rapidly.
Her body felt almost weightless, as though everything inside her had been hollowed out.
The backlash from Mahapadma being forcibly shattered, combined with everything she had already expended throughout the fight, had completely squeezed out the last of her energy.
Her eyelids grew heavier.
Her vision became increasingly blurred.
Reinhard's calm face gradually dissolved into nothing more than a fuzzy red silhouette.
"You've… got to be kidding me…"
Esdeath weakly muttered.
"You… bastard…"
"A guy whose expression didn't even change…"
"How could you possibly… be satisfied…"
The moment she finished speaking—
Esdeath's body went limp and collapsed sideways onto the shattered ice.
She lost consciousness.
In the next instant, a nearly imperceptible ripple appeared in the air.
An air door opened.
Then Rowan stepped through it with both hands in his pockets.
His gaze swept across the devastated battlefield—
then across the unconscious Esdeath—
before finally landing on Reinhard.
"Tsk, tsk."
Rowan clicked his tongue.
"That fight was even more intense than I expected."
"You two almost demolished the entire thirtieth floor."
Incidentally, the Rowan who had entered the Dungeon was not his true body.
As a God of Death, Rowan entering the Dungeon personally would immediately trigger the Dungeon's violent reaction.
So this time, Rowan had entered using a magical clone.
The clone possessed no divine aura whatsoever and could use all of Rowan's magic.
It perfectly fooled the Dungeon's senses.
Faced with Rowan's teasing, Reinhard calmly replied,
"She's strong."
There was no unnecessary emotion in his voice.
He was simply stating a fact.
"If her power had been even ten percent greater, or if she possessed slightly more stamina, the outcome might have been completely different."
Rowan rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, right."
Forget Esdeath becoming ten percent stronger.
Even if she became twice as strong, whether she could actually defeat Reinhard would still be questionable.
"You can use that line to fool other people."
"Just don't fool yourself with it."
Reinhard: "…"
For once, he genuinely had no idea how to respond to Rowan.