Chapter 397: Battles of Life and Death (1)

The entire battlefield shifted the moment Maria drove that slender sword into her own chest.

With a gentle smile on her face, she realized there was no way she could win a fight against four people—especially not with Prince Aegon Valerion among them.

So, she chose to end it.

From within her fragile frame, an overwhelming torrent of blood surged out .. far too much to belong to a single person.

It spread across the battlefield like a ruptured dam, soaking everything and everyone in its path.

Then, without warning, the crimson tide ignited.

At Maria’s signal, the blood detonated, red flames engulfing the entire area in a massive explosion.

It was a suicidal strike from the Empyrean who had been completely cornered. Even though she had already defeated Dawn, and then Daemon afterward, the Last Survivor’s ability had already done its work.

A mysterious power that defied the world’s Five Unbreakable Laws.

Faced with such a power, Maria had no choice—victory was simply out of reach.

Even if she had managed to defeat all four somehow... a fifth or a sixth might have appeared.

Dawn would always receive whatever he needed to survive. It wasn’t fair to the others, but it was his fate.

A burden he had to carry until the final breath of his life.

The Blood Blossom Bomb.

That was the name of the technique Maria had unleashed, leveling the entire area, while the others fled to avoid being caught in the blast radius.

But at the very last second, Selena intervened—just in time—casting a thin yet formidable barrier around herself and her allies.

Her magic was swift, and she managed to construct a shield strong enough to repel the wave of blood-fueled destruction.

Standing within the square-shaped barrier, everyone stared at the blood that continued to pour down like a storm.

"Where is all this blood even coming from?!"

Selena shouted in frustration, struggling to hold the barrier intact.

But there was no answer.

Maria and her strange powers remained an enigma.

A few seconds passed. Eventually, the tide of blood calmed and dried across the scorched ground, revealing the battlefield once more.

But Maria was nowhere to be found.

She had vanished from sight.

"She wasn’t trying to kill us," Aegon said as he slid his sword into its sheath. "She was carving herself an escape route. Not bad."

On the other side, Daemon Valerion removed his armor, though he kept it wrapped around what remained of his right leg—because that foot was never coming back.

The look of fury on Daemon’s face was impossible to miss. No one dared approach him.

Even though he hadn’t technically lost, and had been ready to keep fighting, Maria had managed to completely immobilize him and remove him from the battle.

That, to him, was no different from defeat.

He would’ve died, if not for the prince’s and Selena’s intervention.

"Damn it!!"

Daemon roared, punching the ground beneath him with burning rage.

They had survived, but the taste it left in his mouth was bitter beyond words.

"Let’s move," Aegon said calmly. "We’re done here."

He began walking, and the others followed.

"But... where to?" Dawn asked, uncertain.

After realizing that the gate they had pinned their hopes on was nothing but a trap, they were lost again—back to square one.

Only this time, it felt even worse.

Yet Aegon Valerion didn’t seem the least bit concerned.

"We’ll find the others first," he replied. "This battle won’t last much longer... we’ve already reached the end."

Whether it was the Empire or the Ultras, the hunt was nearly over.

But the outcome was still uncertain.

And so, the four of them set out—on a journey to regroup with the rest of their scattered comrades, each of whom was fighting their own deadly war.

...

...

...

"Haaah..."

Maria’s breath came out as red-tinged mist in the cold air.

She walked slowly, one hand pressed to her chest, the other gripping the wall for balance.

Her black coat and once-elegant white outfit were drenched in blood.

"I’ve gone too far this time..."

Maria’s ability made her stronger the more she hurt herself—stronger the more blood she shed.

But in exchange, her wounds took a very long time to heal.

The gash in her hand that she had stabbed multiple times... her bleeding chest...

They remained open as she bled in waves of burning pain.

And yet, Maria’s calm expression never faltered. Not even for a moment. It was clear she had grown used to pain—a long time ago.

Once she was far enough from the battlefield, she raised her gaze to the night sky above.

"I wonder if Lord Mergo has completed his mission..."

She spoke softly, pulling a golden pocket watch from her coat.

Time was flowing—slowly, but inevitably.

The end was near.

And everyone could feel it.

Empyrean Maria vs. Dawn Polaris...

Another round ended in the Empire’s favor.

...

...

...

While Maria was locked in combat with the others, a far more violent battle erupted elsewhere—one of pure vengeance.

Seris Moonlight unleashed her full might against Baylor Moonlight.

The icy flower tattoos covering her right arm were the same ones that had once appeared in the distant past, when she had lost control.

But this time, Seris wielded her power with complete intent. The marks stopped advancing once they reached her shoulder—limiting the awakening to one arm only.

"This is my current limit..."

After countless days of relentless training, she had barely managed to reach this point.

"The Ice Flower ability burns through aura at an insane rate... but in return, it grants overwhelming power."

Fully aware of this cost, Seris threw everything she had at Baylor Moonlight.

With a flick of her hand, six celestial orbs materialized. But these weren’t ordinary orbs.

They were massive spheres—planets, in a sense—infused with the frigid aura of her Ice Flower, each brimming with destructive force.

Serpents hissed around her, conjured by her aura, all lunging at Baylor with wrath.

Seris herself charged in, sword drawn, clad in a crystalline shield of frost.

She was all in.

Every ounce of strength she had forged through pain and training ..she used it in a single goal: to kill this man.

"So that shard of ice has taught you to control your power," Baylor muttered, finally growing serious. "Even if you’re barely able to withstand it."

Suddenly, the six planetary orbs fired icy beams of devastating scale.

Baylor endured them with his body, dodging the serpents and clashing directly with Seris in brutal close-quarters combat.

The tattoos on Seris’s arm glowed more intensely with every blow she struck.

"You won’t be able to defeat me, Seris. The difference in rank between us is far too great."

With his bare hands, Baylor crushed the white serpents one after another, blocking the orbs’ constant bombardment.

"I’ll admit it—you’re strong. Reaching this level at your age is nothing short of a miracle."

Seris’s aura output far exceeded the S rank threshold—something considered impossible for someone of her age.

But her opponent was Baylor.

A towering, insurmountable foe.

"I let my guard down once, which allowed you to land a hit."

BOOOM!

Summoning dozens of his own celestial orbs, Baylor retaliated, overwhelming Seris’s frozen planets and nullifying them completely.

"That won’t happen again."

With a single punch, he shattered her swords and regained control of the battlefield.

"This struggle is meaningless."

"Shut that damned mouth of yours!"

Seris roared, pushing herself further, summoning every last drop of latent power she could muster.

Even knowing her enemy outclassed her in every way, she refused to back down.

"Do you think you’ll continue to escape , no matter what atrocities your hands have committed?!"

The frozen orbs spun faster, launching a relentless barrage of icy projectiles, veiling Baylor’s vision entirely.

Seizing the opportunity, Seris pierced his domain and closed the distance.

"The souls of those you killed in the past... one day, they’ll coil around your neck to announce your end!"

She slammed her marked hand against his chest—ready to finish it.

Baylor’s eyes widened in shock as her aura exploded at point-blank range.

Seris bore the pain, unleashing the most powerful technique she had ever created—her final hope to end the man who had taken so much from her.

"Ice Formation... Supreme art : Inverted Butterfly Wings!!"

The enhanced ice aura erupted in Baylor’s face, consuming him in its entirety.

The power surged outward in a blinding storm, and from within it, massive wings of frost bloomed—shaped like the wings of a giant butterfly—encasing Seris at the center.

She had poured everything into that one attack. The strain was so immense, her tattoos began bleeding from her arm.

But it was worth it.

That was a finishing move .. powerful enough to kill even an SS-ranked Awakened.

The mountainous terrain where the battle took place had become a field of frozen death.

Frost mist veiled everything, obscuring vision with a chilling fog.

Seris couldn’t tell if her attack had succeeded—but she knew she had reached her limit.

She could barely remain standing in this form.

Her body was breaking.

She had risked it all, hoping this overwhelming attack would be enough to kill Baylor.

But reality had other plans...

Just as she was about to collapse, Baylor, still standing, grabbed her by the wrist—the one etched with tattoos—and gazed at her in a way that sent fresh terror flooding through her.

"Amazing... truly amazing..."

With one hand gripping hers tightly, Baylor touched his chest with the other.

There, a long, bloody wound stretched from his collarbone to his abdomen.

"If your attack had been just a bit stronger... you might have actually killed me."