Hilde had continuously observed the regressor during their journey. Tyr, old and powerful, but even more well-known, was already like a walking natural phenomenon. Since there was no need to know more, Hilde always kept me and the regressor in her sights, throwing even trivial tests to observe our reactions.
Her observation bordered on research. Appearance, origin, personality, voice and speech habits, footsteps and qi. After observing and researching all of it in detail, she disassembled it and draped it over herself. She obsessively delved into the characteristics that made the person look like themselves, causing others to mistake her with superior appeal.
In that process, she sometimes discovered secrets the other party had hidden. Finding out the regressor's gender was also thanks to Hilde acting out her role.
'Shay's weakness is clear. Anti-personnel combat. Not a world-shattering battle where authorities clash against authorities, but merely a little talent in a fight among people.'
The regressor is certainly strong. However, perhaps because she relies on the power of a relic, there are openings against humans. They say it's hard to kill a chicken with an ox-slaying knife; how troublesome must it be to catch a small human living within them with the sword of heaven and earth? That was likely why the regressor showed difficulty against Absolute Song Parthexion or Commander Historia. Let alone if one had reached the Principle.
Hilde hadn't reached the Principle, but she was a former Holy Swordswoman. Faith gifted her with miracles comparable to the Principle.
...Coincidentally, Hilde's faith was malleable, a holy sword that freely changed its shape, though.
"...Then~."
Two daggers swiftly flew as if draping over the regressor's arm. Instead of Jizan, she blocked the hand holding Jizan, and Cheonaeng met the hilt to contest their strength. At a distance where their breaths touched, Hilde constantly threw out moves and exchanged sword strikes at an interval favorable for daggers. When the regressor barely managed to cope, received the attack with the Heaven-Turning Mirror, and prepared a counterattack.
'I' am Historia. The Military Nation's Commander. Pseudo-Explosive Corpse Mirror.
A flinch. The regressor's experience reacted faster than the Heaven-Turning Mirror. It was a dizzying sense of déjà vu she had continuously experienced in previous loops.
The fighting style of always aiming at the enemy with the tip of the sword was the primary combat method of the Military Nation's Commander, Historia. Wielding gun-swordsmanship, Historia used gunshots as her secret weapon to occupy the high ground. It didn't matter if she didn't shoot. By showing a powerful gunshot applied from the Explosive Corpse Mirror and keeping the muzzle in a position where she could fire at any time, that alone could unilaterally force a disadvantage.
Right now, Hilde was using Historia's combat method exactly as it was. Sensing it intuitively, the regressor twisted her body and infused qi into Cheonaeng. At the same time, Hilde's holy sword burst out like a flash explosion. The two blades stretched out long, grazing each other as they passed. Because they collided in midair, the trajectory of the swords changed.
"...This is, the Commander's!"
"Oh ho. You are quite adept at responding, aren't you?"
It was different from Historia's technique. Instead of the Explosive Corpse Mirror, she used the body's elasticity and the holy sword's explosive power, and instead of speed, she tore the opponent with sharpness. The length was also insufficient, so if the regressor moved just two steps further away, it probably wouldn't reach.
It was different, but the underlying principle was almost identical. Enough that even the regressor felt a sense of déjà vu.
"Now it begins~. Focus! If you miss again, this holy sword will be found buried in your forehead!"
Runken immediately charged toward the crowd. There were no more warnings. He didn't even howl like a beast. He prioritized the Progenitor's command a step ahead of the exhilaration he felt in battle. He swung his arms wildly, sweeping away even one more person.
Humans were dying. Aji had no intention of tolerating that. He howled fiercely and struck at Runken's back...
"I don't have time to play with you, King of Dogs-!"
At that moment, Runken abruptly held out a not-yet-dead Thunder Guardian. The crumpled human dangled in his large hand. Looking at the broken arm and crushed leg, he was no different from a corpse, but he was still alive. That alone was enough to stop Aji's steps.
"Woof! Woof woof!"
Aji just jumped around barking with a terrified face. As if pleading to stop the slaughter and turn his attention this way.
But Runken ignored Aji's howling. To be faithful to Tyr's will, he chased the fleeing humans.
"I'll deal with you later-!! After I've carried out all of the King's orders!"
Every time Runken followed the Progenitor's will, darkness gradually enveloped him. The darkness, which was the Progenitor's authority and protected vampires from the accursed sunlight, bestowed its grace. Along with the darkness, his blood qi wouldn't be damaged even under the sunlight. He swam in the subtly filtering sunlight without feeling any resistance.
In a situation where he could draw out all his strength, Runken used that strength to carry out the Progenitor's command. His blood surged like a storm.
At that time. Veldamir raised his greatsword. Wrapped in red blood qi, he took a step forward for slaughter. Just that, and the area where humans could survive shrank. The sharply refined, swirling blood qi was like a storm harboring blades.
Even in the midst of slaughter, Veldamir muttered calmly.
"You must have had a good encounter."
That was the end of his impressions. Now it was time to work.
Veldamir kicked the ground. The red mist shook faintly, and before long, he was in the middle of the crowd. The Thunder Guardians who had approached to protect the Thunder Cult Master flinched at the suddenly looming giant figure, and before they could even react, they were swept away by the sword pressure raised by the red greatsword. Blood crashed like a wave. Within the blood qi, the one who reacted to the Crimson Blood Duke was the Thunder Cult Master.
[...Crimson Blood Duke!]
The Thunder Cult Master swung lightning with her charged arm.
Her body, momentarily unified with the lightning, shot out at a similar speed. Sacred lightning that had condensed and condensed until it could burn even blood qi pitch black. Since an ordinary power could never kill an Elder, this was an attack the Thunder Cult Master had prepared by deliberately narrowing the distance and even allowing herself to be caught. Divine punishment was fired to punish the Elder.
The power that moved Claudia was swung to kill a vampire, but...
One step faster, Veldamir moved first. He wedged the greatsword's hilt inside the Thunder Cult Master's arm and twisted it slightly, pushing it. The greatsword became an axle, spinning in a circle, their positions twisted around each other, and the Thunder Cult Master's attack strayed off, piercing the air. Pure white lightning flowed down the cloud waterfall. The city's power vanished in vain.
No matter how strong the power, if a human wields it, it can be overcome with human technique.
A swordsman called a genius from birth, and even after death, received the True Blood and accumulated power and experience—the Crimson Blood Duke Veldamir had already reached the extreme limit of humanity with pure technique alone. He deflected the immense power instead of unnecessarily taking it with his body. Even that was merely a fragment of the minor techniques the Crimson Blood Duke possessed.
[Ah.]
The class was different. Both power and technique were leagues above. If an immortal beast even honed its technique, how on earth was a normal human supposed to fight against it?
The exhaustion after unleashing her power. Veldamir dug into the inevitable opening created before it could be filled again. He grabbed the spine of the greatsword with his hand and pushed it shortly. Even if she tried to defend, her arm was already broken. With a single fluid motion, he neutralized her defense and tore through her body.
The Thunder Cult Master's shoulder was half split open, and bright red blood seeped into the blade of the greatsword. The Thunder Cult Master hurriedly tried to grab the blade with her other hand and push it away.
"Harder than expected."
That was the extent of his impressions. If it was harder than expected, he just had to apply more force than expected. Veldamir's greatsword took in blood qi and gnawed at the Thunder Cult Master's body. Blood Demon Mirror. Just as a blade presses down and melts ice, the greatsword pushed through her arm. It was only a matter of time before she was completely sliced apart.
At that time, something was caught in the Crimson Blood Duke's qi perception. An irresistible massive flow crushed the space he occupied. Even though he was one step away from killing the Thunder Cult Master, he pulled out his greatsword without hesitation and raised his arm to block the unknown attack.
Boom. The arm covered in blood qi exploded. Amidst the splattering blood, a small fist wrapped in cloth was visible. Veldamir noticed the opponent's identity and furrowed his brow.
"Saintess?"
"..."
A strong body couldn't endure for even a moment. It wasn't due to power or technique, but a miracle of a different dimension dwelled in that fist. Calmly grasping the situation, Veldamir readjusted his grip on the greatsword's hilt and struck Peruelle. A concise yet powerful attack, as if ingrained in his body, dug into Peruelle's abdomen....
Thud. The greatsword that seemed to dig in bounced right back. Even though it contained enough power to collapse a building, not even a single scratch appeared on Peruelle. Her skin wasn't even dented. The strongest Elder's somewhat full-powered strike couldn't change the outcome of her self-precognition. Because Peruelle's existence was already established.
"Then, I cannot kill you. It must be your fate."
Veldamir accepted that fact. His mountain-like movements changed. He lowered his posture and held the greatsword shortly. It might seem like he intended to flee, but his fighting spirit hadn't faded yet. Seeing the blood-soaked tip of the sword still pointed at humans, Peruelle clenched her fist and spoke.
"Fate... can change. Just as it is twisted now. However, vampire, you who are cursed, have neither the power nor the right to change it."
The immortality of Elders was great, but not perfect like the Progenitor's. If her head was burst, her heart crushed, and then shredded and scattered in the sunset-lit sea, she wouldn't be able to endure it. The target was the Crimson Blood Duke, to trample that accursed strongest vampire. Peruelle had caught up to the figure of herself she had seen in the future through self-precognition.
An irresistible strike that couldn't dare be described with words like strong or solid. That was already fate and truth. Before that attack, Veldamir...
'No! I have to stop the Crimson Blood Duke! No matter who goes...!'
Yielded.
He didn't resist Peruelle's irresistible precognition. He inserted his own flesh as an axis into that flow. When Peruelle's fist was about to smash Veldamir's arm, he used his body as a lever and spewed the force in a different direction. As their wills clashed, the blood-red greatsword moved in a trajectory no one could predict. Spinning, the red greatsword rotated widely and fell.
At the end of it was the Thunder Cult Master. The Angel of Lightning, suffering from wounds, belatedly noticed the greatsword approaching as if to split her head. She no longer had the strength to block.
The greatsword split the Thunder Cult Master's body. The blade dug in from her shoulder, reached her chest, and then exited. There was not a hint of hesitation in slicing. Instead of the unkillable Peruelle, Veldamir maintained his distance as if fleeing and ruthlessly harvested the lives of the wounded. Peruelle's precognition was entirely her own. She couldn't know the Thunder Cult Master's fate. Having lost the Thunder Cult Master in vain, Peruelle looked at Veldamir and shouted.
"Fight back! If you truly want to escape from the horrific fate!"
Veldamir ignored Peruelle's provocation. As if she wasn't worth talking to. Instead, he answered by lifting his leg high and crushing the groaning human beneath his feet. Warm blood splattered on Peruelle's face.
The enraged Peruelle poured out successive fatal strikes, but Veldamir responded calmly.
He just took the ones coming from the front. Fists that were too strong pierced Veldamir's body lightly, unable to be stopped. Even at the moment a hole was pierced in his body, the Crimson Blood Duke silently harvested humans.
But when she tried to strike widely, he grasped it with his qi perception and used that power in reverse. If Peruelle tried to break the greatsword, he twisted it slightly, and even if he had to give up other body parts, he preserved his head and heart. Even if Peruelle shattered his body, he regenerated and calmly slaughtered the Guardians.
The regressor's judgment was correct. No one standing here could stop the Crimson Blood Duke. Above all, his slaughter was concise and without waste, so it was fast yet quiet. Without any loud screams like Runken's, the humans Veldamir passed by fell on the ground with some part of their bodies sliced. That was the extent of it, even with Peruelle sticking to him.
The regressor, who could at least hold the Crimson Blood Duke back, was likewise tied down by Hilde, who had revealed all her moves. At this rate, no one would survive.
...Because of that, Peru moved.