"To think you could reach this level… I almost admire you." Mab laughed, though her eyes grew sharper by the second. "Then show me—how many more fatal blows you, or rather that Sage, can withstand!"
"Not a chance—!"
Aesc raised her spear to meet the attack.
Mab's speed and strength had increased dramatically with her bodily enhancement, but it wasn't an absolute advantage.
Her original plan had been simple: to strike by surprise and end the battle in one decisive blow—whether or not she killed Aesc didn't matter. The confirmed defeat of Aesc the Savior would be enough to shatter the Southern Fairies' morale and make the coming conquest effortless.
But her supposedly certain strike had failed. Not only was Aesc uninjured, she had already begun adjusting to Mab's new speed and power. Within just two exchanges, Aesc had adapted enough to meet her attacks head-on.
Her raised spear narrowly caught the longsword that came slashing down toward her shoulder.
"So unwilling to let him keep taking your wounds?" Mab sneered. "Or are you afraid he'll die before you do?"
"Such nasty words," Aesc replied with a strained smile. "There isn't a being in this world capable of killing him… not even you, Queen of Fairies."
As her words fell, both women struck out with a kick at nearly the same time, their blows landing before they leapt back, widening the distance between them.
Aesc knew all too well that Shiomi could not die.
It wasn't simply that his lifespan surpassed the fairies'—he had long since transcended the very concept of death itself.
Having shed the notion of "death," Shiomi existed as pure life. His body would never age, his soul would never decay, his spirit would never rot. No pain, no suffering could ever end him, nor could he ever reach his own conclusion.
Even so, Aesc couldn't bear to see him take fatal wounds for her again and again.
"An undying human?" Mab frowned, clearly not understanding.
"Human? Even among gods, only a rare few escape death." Aesc shifted her weapon back into a staff.
The sky darkened.
The Magecraft she had begun preparing during their duel—the same one once used to terrify the Fang Clan—was now complete.
Lightning and thunder crashed down, rain sharpening into blades as it poured toward Mab. Within dozens of meters, everything was swallowed by the spell's range.
But Mab had strengthened her body to an almost monstrous degree. Golden magical lines ran across her entire form, creating a beauty that was both radiant and terrifying.
The rain blades, sharp enough to cut stone, struck her body only to explode into showers of molten sparks.
"This level of power?"
Mab began moving forward. Step by step, her pace quickened until she was sprinting. As Aesc shifted the area of her spell, Mab broke free from its reach with sheer speed.
"I won't lose to you!"
Their weapons met again, this time intertwined with magic.
Mab retaliated in kind—one swing of her sword split the ground, sending jagged spikes of earth lunging toward Aesc in rapid succession.
The battle had shifted from pure melee to a clash of magic and force.
Aesc's Magecraft was intricate and varied, weaving multiple elements into her attacks. Mab's, in contrast, was brutally direct—she wielded her Mana like a weapon itself, raw and overwhelming.
"If this keeps up, we could fight until sunrise and still not have a winner."
Aesc rose into the air, expanding her range of movement to evade Mab's relentless pursuit.
"We'll fight all the same," Mab said, deflecting Aesc's Magecraft with her sword. "Or you could surrender now—it's not too late. You and the Sage are both exceptional forces. If you're willing to assist me in suppressing the calamities and maintaining my rule, I'll grant you the finest treatment."
Aesc frowned. "You should know—it's been a thousand years since the last Great Calamity. No one knows where or when the next one will begin. Why start a war now?"
"You mean if I'd started it earlier or later, you wouldn't have interfered?" Mab retorted. "The result would be the same either way. The timing doesn't matter! Even without you, I can suppress the Great Calamity on my own!"
"With the power you've shown, that's not an empty boast," Aesc admitted with a nod. "But rejecting every other clan and founding a nation of only one—that's a mistake."
"Uniting all clans under one banner, making every fairy bow before me." Mab's tone was dismissive. "Isn't that the peaceful, strife-free country you claim to want?"
"Even if united, conflict won't disappear…" Aesc could already see how it would end.
Such unification would be achieved without understanding or compromise—through Mab's sheer personal might and the overwhelming strength of her army. The fairies would submit only out of fear, not loyalty.
After all… fairies could never truly accept kneeling to one of their own kind.
"That's not your concern, Aesc."
Raw Mana collided with refined Magecraft in bursts of blinding light. As the battle grew fiercer, both of them understood that this was no longer just a clash of strength—it was a collision of ideals. Only one could shape Britannia's future.
"The idea of uniting the clans isn't bad," Mab said, closing in fast, "but it's far too slow."
She darted directly beneath Aesc and leapt upward, striking again and again midair.
Whether that "too slow" referred to the 1700 years of slow, steady progress Aesc and Shiomi had made—or Aesc's sluggish reactions in this moment—Aesc didn't have time to think. All she could do was parry each blow and counter when she could.
Their battle dragged on from noon to dusk. Night was not far off.
Both women were breathing heavily, their strength and Mana nearly spent, yet neither had gained the upper hand.
"You really are troublesome…" Mab said, half laughing, half exasperated.
"I could say the same of you." Aesc leveled her wand toward Mab, gathering power for her next spell.
"With opponents like you still around, conquering Britannia won't be easy after all." Mab tightened her stance, ready to strike again. "I thought I'd already surpassed you."
To take a human lover as Aesc had—and then launch a campaign to conquer Britannia.
"Likewise," Aesc said with a knowing smile. She understood perfectly that Mab had always seen her as a rival at the same starting line.
The air around them thickened, the battlefield's chaos echoing faintly in the distance.
Then, suddenly, Mab's expression changed. Her face twisted in disbelief, sorrow, and fury.
"…Why?"
"Hm?" Aesc blinked in confusion.
She could sense the presence of the Great Calamity—but Mab wasn't reacting to that. Her gaze was fixed elsewhere.
Toward the direction where Shiomi was fighting.
What… happened?
Aesc hadn't yet realized it.