Chapter 228: Aestrea Against The World (V)

Phew~

The wind outside had calmed, but inside the large military tent, tension hung in the air like a storm waiting to explode.

Zeva stood near the war table, her arms crossed, one brow lifted slightly as Aestrea stepped back in through the tent’s flap.

She didn’t say anything at first. Just stared at him with those sharp green eyes of hers, locking onto his face with the precision of a hawk.

His expression was pretty much unreadable.

But not to her.

“…You’re angry,” she said after a moment, her voice was surprisingly quiet.

Aestrea paused mid-step after hearing her words, and he quickly rebuked.

“No.”

Zeva smirked faintly.

“Liar.”

He didn’t respond again,

She took a step forward, her boots softly tapping against the dirt ground beneath them.

“You’re thinking about something… something that bothers you a lot, after all, your aura’s much thicker than usual.”

Her smile widened slighly.

“You’re even leaking it out a little…”

Aestrea glanced toward her but didn’t deny it.

So, Zeva tilted her head, parting her lips slighly. “You’re either gonna explode, or go kill something.”

A slow grin crept across her lips.

“Wanna make it me?”

His eyes twitched slightly.

“I’m serious,” she continued, stepping into the center of the tent, the wind parting the flap just slightly to let the sunlight in.

“You look like you need to let off steam.”

“…Zeva.”

“C’mon,” she whispered. “You owe me a rematch, remember?”

“…I don’t recall owing you anything.”

“Oh, now you’re just making me mad on purpose.” She grinned wildly.

A long silence stretched between the two of them.

And finally, Aestrea replied.

“…Fine.”

“Let’s go then~” Zeva hummed sweetly, heading towards the exit of the giant tent.

Aestrea let out a small sigh before following her.

And just in a few minutes…

The designated sparring ground had been cleared out completely.

Soldiers watched from a distance, lined up far from the raised stone platform at the center, carved with a protective enchantment ring.

The spar was strictly to first blood, or until one side yielded, though with these two, that was more like a polite suggestion.

Aestrea stepped up first, his violet aura already leaking faintly around him, making dozens of floating, ethereal swords shimmer like crescent moons above and behind him.

Zeva arrived second, rolling her shoulders as her twin green swords materialized into her palms with a burst of wind and aura.

Her cloak billowed behind her, and her smirk never left her lips.

But as soon as she saw the floating swords around Aestrea, Zeva’s instantly lit up… even more than before.

“You always look so beautiful when you’re mad~”

She drew her twin blades with a flourish, green energy bursting around her as her aura exploded outwards.

FWOOM!

Hundreds of emerald swords appeared behind her, floating like a storm of daggers ready to strike.

Aestrea raised an eyebrow in surprise.

’I almost forgot that she was an SS-rank aura user…’

“…That’s new.”

Zeva’s grin widened like a predator revealing her fangs.

“You really thought I showed you everything during that golem battle?”

Her swords spun around her, matching his number, maybe even more.

“This… is my real power, Aestrea.”

Her tone turned breathless.

“So please… don’t hold back.”

At her words, Aestrea briefly narrowed before swinging his arm, and Lumi appeared on his hand as a pink-black scythe…

’…She’s still waiting for her reward… huh. I almost forgot about that in this whole month…but how come she wasn’t in her snake form when we were all together in the apartment…? he frowned slighly.

But her attention was quickly drawn to Zeva, because she…

FWOOM!

…She vanished from his sight.

Aestrea’s eyes snapped forward.

CRACK—!!

Her twin swords came down like twin executioners’ blades from above, but Aestrea met her strikes instantly with three floating blades crashing into hers.

CLANG!

The impact was so powerful it cracked the very air between them, splitting it like glass.

Thin black lines spiderwebbed across space, reality itself tearing slightly before knitting back.

Aestrea leapt back, his scythe appearing in a burst of violet aura.

He spun it once, the massive curved blade humming with power, then launched forward!

WHOOSH!

They clashed mid-air.

Her twin swords blurred into a storm of slashes.

Aestrea parried one, ducked under the second, and countered with a sweep of his scythe that forced her to twist her body midair.

Sparks flew as steel screamed against steel.

And then…

BOOM!

Aestrea’s foot hit the ground, cracking it open like an egg, and he launched himself forward.

Fwoosh!

His floating swords circled him at high speed before darting toward Zeva at lightning speed.

She spun, slashing them out of the air with perfect timing, but unfortunately… she missed one!

SLASH!

A shallow cut sliced across her shoulder.

Blood splattered the dirt.

But she grinned.

Her aura exploded again, this time erupting with so much force that the space behind her warped.

Distortion rings spread outward like ripples across the sky, causing the clouds to bend unnaturally.

Aestrea narrowed his eyes… the emerald swords around her that she surprisingly wasn’t using, multiplied even more.

So… Aestrea adjusted his Aura to match hers.

SHING!

Behind her, twelve hundred of gleaming green aura appeared, suspended in the air like a deadly halo.

Each one hummed with power, and the moment they activated.

ZING—!!

They flew at Aestrea from every direction.

FWOOSH!

He raised his scythe, twisting once, and spinning it around to create a shield of violet energy, while his own swords clashed with hers in midair, turning the sky into a chaotic storm of green and violet streaks.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Every time their blades struck, it shattered the air, creating massive cracks like broken mirrors suspended in space.

Reality distorted further, gravity bending slightly under the weight of their auras.

Aestrea dashed forward mid-air, two of his swords converging to form a platform under his feet as he launched off them like a springboard.

Zeva met him in the sky.

CRASH!

“HAH—!!” Zeva shouted as she flipped mid-air and brought both her blades down in an arc so sharp it carved a burning green crescent across the clouds.

Aestrea blocked it with the pole of his scythe, sparks flying, but the force sent him hurtling back, straight through a boulder-sized rock that cracked apart like glass.

BOOM!

He hit the ground and skidded, but with a flick of his wrist, his swords returned, circling him like wolves.

He stood up, brushing dust off his shoulder.

“That’s all?”

Zeva landed, panting slightly, sweat glistening down her neck.

“You always piss me off with that expression.”

“I know,” he replied softly.

And suddenly…

Step…

Aestrea vanished without making any sound.

Zeva’s eyes widened just a moment before his scythe appeared behind her, swinging low.

She twisted her body, sliding under it, but unfortunately didn’t dodge the knee that followed.

CRACK!

It slammed into her gut, launching her backward into a crater.

Dust burst into the air.

But even so… she started laughing.

“A-Ahaha… I needed that,” she said, coughing once, and standing slowly, aura flaring back even stronger than before.

“…I really missed this.”

Aestrea looked at her for a moment… then raised his scythe again, preparing to swing it again.

But just at that moment, Zeva’s aura surged again, but this time, with a roar that shook the skies.

Her swords pulsed with a huge green light, and then…

FWOOM!!

Green fire and golden light spiraled together in a brilliant blaze as she raised her blades into a crisscrossed stance, energy spiraling around her body like a storm given form.

“[Twin Dragon-Phoenix Sword Art!]” she screamed.

In an instant, two titanic figures of energy erupted behind her.

One was a roaring jade dragon with gleaming emerald eyes, the other a blazing golden phoenix wreathed in solar flame.

The sky trembled.

The ground beneath her cracked and splintered like a shattered egg, unable to handle the overwhelming pressure of her full strength.

The twin spirits coiled around her swords as she launched herself forward.

“HAHHH—!!”

Her movements blurred into afterimages, her twin swords carving through the air with such fury that space itself twisted and splintered.

Aestrea’s floating blades darted in front of him to block, but…

CRACK—!!

SHHHRRRIIIIING!!!

His aura barrier shattered under the force of her assault.

BOOM!

Aestrea flew back, sliding through the dirt, his boots digging deep trenches into the ground.

His scythe dragged behind him, hissing as its blade scraped against cracked stone.

“Tsk…”

He stopped just before hitting the edge of the training ground.

Zeva didn’t relent.

She spun again, descending like a green comet, her swords blazing with a furious mixture of dragon flame and phoenix light.

Aestrea looked up calmly… and then…

“Haaah…”

He exhaled.

His breath misted, even in the summer heat.

CRACK—!!

A sudden sharp pulse erupted from his chest, and the temperature around him dropped instantly.

Within half a second…

FWOOOOSH—!!!

A massive burst of pale silver mana exploded from his body.

The very world responded.

The entire training ground…no, the entire field for 300 meters around them, froze in an instant.

The soldiers watching in awe suddenly found themselves encased in ice mid-cheer, their armor glittering under the sudden frost.

Tents, weapons, training dummies, everything turned to frozen sculptures in the blink of an eye.

Even Zeva paused, her foot hitting a patch of midair ice she hadn’t even realized had formed.

Aestrea stood at the center of it all, unmoving, steam rising faintly from his shoulders.

His hair fluttered softly in the sudden blizzard.

Then, with a casual swipe of his hand…

FWSSHH—

The frozen soldiers were released, their eyes wide and breath heavy with disbelief as the ice simply faded like mist.

Zeva hovered just above the frost-covered training ground, still glowing with the Dragon-Phoenix energy, but now sweating slightly.

She stared at him with horror in her eyes.

She really didn’t expect that Aestrea was so powerful now.

“I’ll give you one more move,” Aestrea said quietly.

His scythe vanished.

And his swords floated gently behind his back, no longer attacking.

Then he raised his right hand.

A small orb of glowing cyan-blue mana appeared on his fingertip, no bigger than a raindrop.

It was cold, silent, and quite beautiful to be honest.

“Let’s see…,” he whispered.

“If you can handle a single spell.”

He wasn’t mocking her.

Zeva’s eyes narrowed at his words, and she didn’t hesitate at all.

“Twin Dragon-Phoenix Sword Art…”

『 Final Move! (✯ Ascension ✯) 』

The dragon and phoenix fused into one massive, spiraling beam of light that burst from her twin swords like a god-slaying attack.

And to her attack, Aestrea simply flicked the orb forward.

『 Frost Explosion! (✦ 6th-Level Spell ✦)』

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