Before the words were even finished, the space ahead suddenly distorted, and a tall figure slowly stepped out from the heat waves.
"...Too slow, Herrscher," Kalpas said.
Raiden Mei took a deep breath and drew the longsword from her waist.
"I was worried you'd need more time to warm up. After all... you've never fought with a Herrscher of the next era before, have you, maybe it's not what you imagined."
Under Kalpas's mask, his eyes narrowed slightly. "Then, let me see if this 'different' you speak of... is truly worth all the effort that guy went through!!!"
Before the last word even faded, Kalpas's figure vanished from his spot.
In the next second, a blazing fist was already in front of Raiden Mei.
She hastily raised her sword to block. The enormous force behind the blow made her slide back several meters.
"How much longer do you plan to keep pretending, Herrscher?" Kalpas laughed wildly.
"Everyone thinks I'm 'crazy,' but no one's ever dared to call me 'stupid.' Whatever you're after... I don't care.
Right now, the place you've been desperate to reach is right here, you've gotten what you wanted. Now it's time to pay the price."
"I know what you want." Raiden Mei stared straight into the madness behind his mask. "And I know... you've been waiting for this moment."
Kalpas suddenly stomped forward. The ground cracked in an instant, flames like molten lava erupting from the fissures.
"Ha... hahahahaha... My anger has been left unspent for too long... far too long!"
"Since you want it to reappear in this place, then try... try to shoulder it with everything you've got!"
"Enough talk... Come!"
Before the last syllable even faded, Kalpas's entire being erupted into a human-shaped inferno. The violent karmic flames exploded outward with him at the center.
"Inward, outward, kill every Herrscher in my way!"
"Come! Face death, face, ME!! Beg for mercy now and you might still have time, Herrscher, though I'll never stop!!"
Recomposing her stance, Raiden Mei once again pushed every ounce of strength through her body. "Facing a Herrscher... you'd better not talk too big."
But as the battle dragged on, Raiden Mei's heart sank lower and lower.
Because she realized that even with her full power, even after summoning the Guren Karmic Sword, she still couldn't defeat Kalpas.
Her strongest strike, unleashed with everything she had, only shattered a corner of his mask.
And the mask fragments scattered with the wind, as if flipping a switch, unlocking the chains of madness within Kalpas.
Crack!
The sound of the mask breaking was chillingly sharp.
Before the fragments even touched the ground, they turned to ash in midair.
Kalpas's pupils were now completely consumed by fire, and the corners of his mouth twisted into an inhuman grin.
"Congratulations, Herrscher. You've done your best and finally proven yourself... worthy of being hunted down!"
He slowly raised his arm, the surrounding flames beginning to twist and warp. "But this isn't a battle. It's a hunt. Now, do the same, run for your life with everything you've got!"
As the last word dropped, the flames filling the space suddenly contracted, then erupted upward in a spiraling inferno, forming a flaming tornado nearly a hundred meters wide.
The heat warped the air, even tearing cracks into the space itself.
Raiden Mei felt her skin burn painfully, but what truly terrified her was the sudden, unfamiliar tremor rising from deep within her.
A feeling called fear, screaming at her to run.
"This is completely different from before... Is this his artificial Herrscherization? Or... something else?"
Staring at the figure before her, no longer even recognizable as human, Raiden Mei's eyes hardened.
There was no doubt.
The one before her was the strongest enemy she had ever faced. No contest.
Every instinct, every tremor in her body screamed the same thing.
If she didn't run, she would die.
But to break through Apollonia's so-called "Ten-Day Judgment," and to uncover the hidden past of that person she was chasing...
Raiden Mei took a deep breath and stepped forward with absolute resolve.
Even if this move was no different from a moth flying into a flame, she had to do it.
Because only by stepping into death could she find her only path to life.
'I have to... keep moving forward.'
Strangely, the moment her foot hit the ground, that lingering fear vanished entirely.
She even felt a ridiculous surge of confidence, maybe... maybe she really could win?
But reality quickly shattered that illusion.
Kalpas's attacks were now more violent, ten times what they were before.
With every clash, Mei felt her bones screaming in agony.
When even her strongest strike shattered under his single punch, she finally understood what true despair was.
"This pathetic, insect-like strength is what you call destruction?" Kalpas's voice roared through the flames. "Come again, again! Destroy me, or watch as I destroy everything!"
Raiden Mei fell to one knee, barely holding herself up with her sword, her face filled with disbelief.
"This power...?! I've never seen anything like it. He can't keep this up for long..." she tried to console herself.
But Kalpas showed no signs of fatigue.
His attacks only grew fiercer, shaking the very foundation of the space.
When another devastating punch came flying toward her, Mei barely raised her blade to block,
BOOM!
She was slammed violently into the ground, smoke and dust filling the air.
When the dust settled, Raiden Mei lay broken and battered on the ground, flickering like a dying candle.
Step... step... step.
Accompanied by approaching footsteps, Raiden Mei lifted her head, and saw the monster about to end her life standing just a short distance away.
"...So that's all," Kalpas's voice suddenly quieted, towering over her as he looked down.
"You remind me of the first Herrscher I ever tore apart... She died too quickly. I couldn't even enjoy it, she didn't even have time to despair."
"Fourth or fifth... I can't remember, and it doesn't matter. So... I'll give you one more chance. Say your last words."
Raiden Mei struggled to push herself upright, the corners of her lips curling into a defiant smirk. "Last words... I'll say them one day. But it won't be today."
At those words, Kalpas didn't grow angry. Instead, he laughed, a sharp, wild sound, as the flames around him flared violently.
"Very well... After today, this place will vanish along with you. Let's see... who will be the one buried with the other!"
As Kalpas's words fell, the air grew unbearably hot once more.
Everything was evaporating, burning, choking her breath.
His hand rose, and she knew, if this strike landed, from any angle, there would be no doubt.
She would be utterly, completely destroyed.
But that also meant one thing, she had already broken through Aponia's prophecy.
"I've broken your fate, Aponia... Show yourself...!" Raiden Mei declared her victory silently in her heart.
But there was no response. Not even a whisper. Not even a fleeting memory.
Her pupils widened. "No response?! Where... where did it go wrong?"
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