Chapter 399: The Beginning Of The End [LXI]

“Moonlit Ice Lotus Sword Art…”

The moment the words left Aestrea’s lips, the silver mana around him snapped inward.

『 Fifth Move! (✯ Thousand-Lotus Guillotine ✯) 』

…Swish.

Everything went completely silent for a single moment; that was just an understatement… as compressed would be the better definition for what happened.

The wind inside the domain froze in place for a fraction of a second, as if time itself had been grabbed by the throat.

Lina felt it immediately.

Her domain was still active, still hers, yet the control she had over it suddenly felt distant, like trying to move fingers that no longer belonged to her.

“What!?” Lina barely managed to say anything before Aestrea finally moved.

He stepped forward once.

FWSSHHH!

In that single step, his body blurred, not vanishing, not teleporting, but moving with terrifying precision.

Midnight traced a thin arc through the air, and the moment the blade completed that motion…

The world seemed to have frozen under her eyes.

One slash became ten.

Ten became a hundred.

A hundred became a thousand.

Aestrea was everywhere.

His figure flashed across the domain in broken afterimages with Midnight dancing in his hand, cutting through space with perfect rhythm as one thousand slashes were unleashed in less than a millisecond.

Fwip, fwip, fwip, fwip, fwip!

Each slash birthed a lotus.

Not flowers of flesh or illusion, but razor-edged constructs of frozen silver-blue energy, shaped like blooming ice lotuses.

They appeared midair, one after another, surrounding Lina from every direction, their petals rotating sharply as cold flooded the domain.

“One… thousand…?” Lina whispered, eyes shaking.

The lotuses detonated.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

Explosions rippled outward in rapid succession, overlapping, stacking on top of each other. The shockwaves shattered the vortexes instantly.

Wind pillars collapsed like broken towers, their rotation torn apart by the slashes before they could even react.

The domain screamed.

Cracks raced through the empty sky like broken glass, spreading outward from Aestrea’s path.

The ground ruptured violently, entire sections lifted into the air before being shredded into fragments by the exploding lotuses.

Lina tried to raise her staff and reinforce the wind to protect herself, but she deeply failed, as the power contained in each of those slashes were terryfyingly strong.

And finally, the first few slashes reached her.

Splurt!

Blood sprayed instantly.

Her shoulder was torn open as a blade of frozen energy passed straight through it. Another cut split across her side.

Splat!

Then another across her thigh.

Her body jerked violently as dozens, then hundreds, of impacts slammed into her defenses.

“Guh!”

Her wind barriers shattered one after another, each one lasting less than a second. The cold seeped into her body instantly, numbing her limbs, slowing her reactions.

“A-Aestrea!” she shouted, panic finally breaking through her composure.

The final wave of lotuses detonated at once.

BAAAAAAAAAAM!

A pillar of silver-blue light erupted from the center of the domain, blasting straight upward.

The sound alone shook the entire academy, windows rattling, barriers flaring wildly as the arena struggled to contain the force.

“What the hell is THAT?!”

“Is this Aestrea’s true power?!”

“The wind domain… It’s collapsing!”

“HE WAS STILL HIDING HIS POWER?!” Tyrian slammed both hands onto the barrier, his eyes widening as his breath caught in his throat.

“YES! YES! I KNEW IT! I KNEW HE’D DO IT! DID YOU SEE THAT?! DID YOU SEE THAT?!” Next to him, Kael was jumping like a madman, pumping his fists excitedly.

The professors stood frozen, mouths slightly open, unable to process the sheer speed and scale of the attack.

And back onto the domain, the light had faded, and the countless vortexes made out of wind that entirely vanished.

The sky shattered completely, fragments dissolving into nothing as Lina’s domain collapsed under the overwhelming force.

The deserted land disappeared, replaced by the ruined stone of the arena.

Lina’s body crashed into the ground.

THUD.

She skidded several meters before stopping, her staff clattering away from her hand.

Her clothes were torn, her body covered in slashes, blood spreading beneath her in dark streaks. Steam rose faintly from the wounds where frost still lingered.

She coughed, barely managing to push herself onto one elbow.

Her eyes lifted slowly.

Aestrea stood a short distance away, Midnight resting calmly in his hand, silver mana fading back into his body as if nothing had happened.

“Are you giving up?” Aestrea finally spoke after staring at Lina for a few seconds.

Lina clenched her teeth hard, a sharp breath escaping her lips as pain shot through her body.

The wounds carved into her flesh began to close rapidly, muscle and skin knitting back together at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The frost left behind by his attack melted away as her wind and water affinity worked to restore her body.

“…O-of course not!” she snapped back, forcing her legs to steady.

She tightened her grip on her staff until her knuckles turned pale.

“I still have plenty of energy to waste!”

Swish!

Wind gathered again around her feet, weak but stubborn. Her posture lowered slightly, ready to release another spell the moment he moved.

“…”

Aestrea remained silent, and then he slid Midnight back into its sheath.

Clink!

The soft sound of the blade locking in place echoed loudly through the damaged arena.

Lina’s eyes went wide.

For a split second, she thought she had imagined it.

“…What?” she exclaimed in disbelief.

“Hey, are you fucking around or something?! Why are you putting your sword away?!”

Her voice rose, sharp and angry, the last of her composure cracking.

“You think this is some kind of joke?!”

Aestrea ignored her completely.

He rolled one shoulder, loosening it lightly before raising his right hand calmly, and bringing his thumb and middle finger together.

“This might hurt a little,” he warned.

Lina blinked, her anger briefly interrupted by confusion.

“What are you talking ab—!”

Snap!

He snapped his fingers, and at the same time, he activated an old ability of his.

『 Bleed 』

Lina’s eyes widened instantly as a sharp, tearing pain exploded across her chest.

“KUH—!”

She gasped violently, her body jerking forward as if struck from the inside.

The skin where her wounds had just healed split open again, not cleanly, but violently, as if something was forcing them apart.

CRRRK!

Blood burst outward as her wounds reopened.

A thin fountain of crimson shot out from her torso, splashing onto the broken stone beneath her feet.

The wound stretched wider than before, flesh tearing as invisible pressure pulled at it, reopening cuts that should not have existed anymore.

“AAAAAGH!!!!”

Her staff slipped from her fingers and clattered to the ground as she collapsed to one knee, one hand slamming against the arena floor while the other desperately tried to cover the wound.

It didn’t help.

Blood poured through her fingers, dripping in heavy drops, forming a growing pool beneath her.

The crowd froze.

“What!? What the hell just happened?!”

“Her wounds… weren’t they healed?!”

“…What was that ability?” Tyrian and Kael were also deeply shocked.

“I’m not sure,” Kael muttered back.

His eyes went back to the arena.

“Haagh! Gaah… ugh…” Lina’s breathing turned ragged.

Her vision blurred as she struggled to stay conscious, wind around her body flickering wildly as her control shattered.

Her body started healing itself once again, but as if sensing Aestrea’s strange power, the healing speed slowed down a lot.

Aestrea lowered his hand slowly and once again asked,

“Are you giving up?”

His tone was the same as before.

Lina’s body shook.

She pressed her hand harder against her wound, trying to stop the blood as her healing struggled to keep up.

Every breath felt heavy, like her lungs were filled with wet air. Her teeth were clenched so tightly that her jaw ached.

“…N-no,” she forced out, her voice coming out hoarse.

“I can still—”

Her words instantly cut off when Aestrea raised his right hand again in that same familiar position of snapping fingers.

But he didn’t snap his fingers and just stood with his hand like that.

After all, for Lina, that simple motion was enough.

“A-aah…”

The memory hit her all at once.

The sudden tearing pain, the feeling of her body betraying her, and the horror of watching healed flesh split open as it had never been healed at all.

Her breath hitched.

Her pupils shrank.

Her legs gave out, and she dropped fully to her knees with a dull thud.

Her shoulders trembled as her grip loosened from her wound, blood dripping freely again onto the cracked stone.

“…S-stop,” she whispered.

Her pride screamed at her to stand and fight, but that deep pain that seemed to have reached her bones was simply unbearable.

And her mind was already breaking.

Tears welled up in her eyes, blurring her vision as she shook her head weakly.

“…I can’t… I can’t do it…”

Her voice cracked.

“I… I give up.”

The words barely escaped her lips, drowned in complete fear and exhaustion.

Swish…!

The wind around the arena finally died down, dissolving into still air as her domain fully collapsed.

For a few seconds, no one spoke.

Then the professor swallowed hard and stepped forward.

“…The match is over,” he announced loudly, his voice echoing through the stunned arena.

“The winner is Aestrea!”

A barrier of light descended around Lina as healers rushed in, while the crowd erupted into a mixture of cheers, shock, and uneasy silence.

Aestrea lowered his hand completely and turned away, already walking toward the exit as if the fight had ended the moment she said the words.

Behind him, Lina bowed her head, tears falling silently onto the stone as she tried to steady her breathing.

She had lost, and this time, she knew she never had a chance once he decided to stop holding back.

“…H-he truly is a monster,” she muttered.

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