Realizing that the negotiations had already broken down, Ash finally cut into the conversation between the two. He even let out a light sigh as he reached out and rubbed her head.
Solitar, however, wore a sweet smile as she looked up at him. "You might be a coward, but~ if you gave me a deep kiss right now, maybe I'd be able to muster some courage?"
"What do you mean?"
"Think about it. When humans go to their deaths to steel themselves, don't they often share a kiss with their lover? Don't you think that's really wonderful?", A faint blush of anticipation colored her cheeks as Solitar stared up at him without blinking, "So~ I want to try it too~ to see if it really can give me courage."
"Forget it. Letting someone without power go into battle, no matter how you look at it, is unnecessary."
"I… don't have power?", For the first time in thousands of years, someone had said that to her. Solitar couldn't help but look a little surprised.
"It's a matter of compatibility. You don't have any way to defend against Diagoldze. One mistake and you'll be in serious trouble."
"I see… but I really like that kind of thoughtfulness, you know?"
"Just don't cause trouble for me for no reason," Ash had no intention of getting entangled with her. He turned his gaze back to Macht, who was quietly waiting for something.
With the demon race's pride in magic, it was impossible for Macht to resort to sneak attacks. His overly relaxed sense of time also meant he didn't mind being delayed for a few days.
But compared to Macht, who had actually already prepared for battle the moment they appeared, Ash felt somewhat troubled.
Because if possible, he didn't want to engage in meaningless fights, especially when the opponent was strong.
Although he could already counter "Diagoldze" with curse reversal, Macht himself also knew human magic. And as a great demon, even if his mana wasn't as vast as Frieren's or Solitar's due to his relatively younger age, he was still far stronger than the younger Aura.
No matter how you looked at it, he wanted to minimize pointless battles. So after organizing his thoughts, he spoke.
"Anyway… let's talk one last time."
"What is there left to talk about?"
"I don't like meaningless fights. In the end, your magic has already been cracked. Staying here any longer has no meaning," He stated calmly, "If possible, I hope you'll join us. We can make the world peaceful in the most peaceful way possible, and allow the two races to truly coexist."
"Come to think of it, I haven't heard Solitar explain how exactly your coexistence works," Macht raised a brow slightly, showing a hint of interest.
"Simply put, we unify humans and demons and rule both races together."
"That's just domination."
"It's also coexistence. And it benefits both sides."
"Call it whatever you want. I have no interest in false peace. And this kind of behavior won't help me understand human emotions," Macht looked at him coldly, completely uninterested in his persuasion, "If you want to play house, that's your business. Don't drag me into it."
"Even if what I'm proposing is a form of domination-based coexistence, it's still more reasonable than your idea of coexistence after understanding emotions. In the end, your way of understanding is just too strange," Unable to hold back, Ash retorted before letting out a long breath and issuing his final ultimatum.
"If we can't cooperate, that's fine. But could you at least stay quietly in some empty corner? My kingdom will be liberating this place soon… to be honest, you being here is going to get in the way."
"Impossible," Macht gave his final answer in one short word.
Rather, when his memories were read, he already knew someone would come to subjugate him, but he didn't care.
Ash actually understood that much from the memories he had seen. But what Macht truly thought inside, he couldn't know.
Because those memories were just sights and sounds. They didn't include the constant flow of inner thoughts.
So this unique form of coexistence, honestly, he couldn't understand it. He had thought about it for a long time and still couldn't figure out why Macht and the previous Demon King insisted on understanding human emotions before coexistence.
'Is this just a peculiar way demons think? But although Solitar had once had the same idea, she chose to suppress it before meeting me, and after meeting me she changed her approach. Only these two are this extreme… maybe this is just something unique to them.'
As Ash thought about it, he slowly released his mana. A pair of horns grew from his head, and surging magic power echoed throughout the great barrier.
"Since you insist on going your own way, I have no choice. I don't want to do this, but right now I can only cut you down here," Ash slowly stepped forward, letting out a quiet sigh tinged with pity, "Killing such an outstanding member of our race is truly regrettable."
"Don't lie. Since when do we feel regret for killing our own kind?"
"That's true… then let's say killing such an outstanding mage is what I regret?"
"Hmm! As expected, Diagoldze doesn't work, huh?"
Already aware that Ash had come prepared, Macht tried to cast the spell after Ash released his state, but it had no effect. Instead, his own feet turned gold first, making him slightly surprised.
However, the gold quickly faded, returning to its original color, clearly, he had prepared for this as well.
"I can keep applying 'Diagoldze' while resisting for over three days and nights. What about your strange magic?"
"As for curse reversal, in this state, I can keep it active indefinitely. It doesn't matter how long."
"Looks like it," Macht smiled.
He threw off the cloak on his shoulders. But instead of turning it into a long blade like he did when dealing with the vanguard mages earlier, he took a serious stance and transformed it directly into a magnificent three-pronged golden halberd. The moment his words ended, he slammed it into the ground.
BOOM!
The entire street shook violently with a thunderous crash. The ground caved in like a meteor impact, and the stone pavement that had turned to gold shattered all over.
But Ash could clearly see that it wasn't brute force breaking it. Macht was controlling the ground itself.
From what he had seen in the memories, Macht could control objects that had been turned into gold.
Right now, he was briefly restoring them before turning them back into gold the next instant. The speed was so fast that the naked eye couldn't perceive it.
If someone didn't know this beforehand, seeing him as a mage with strength not inferior to top-tier warriors would be shocking, even to Ash.
Out of respect for his opponent and magic, Ash had no intention of using sneak attacks. He planned to suppress him directly with power. In the end, given Macht's abilities, sneaking wouldn't work anyway.
"But I really don't understand, are you actually trying to die? Letting someone without power steal your memories, then waiting here like a fool, now that your greatest trump card has been broken, even if you're still strong, how much fighting power do you really have left?"
"That's none of your concern."
Macht refused to continue the conversation. Golden fragments surged up from the ground, instantly forming two golden tornadoes that swirled around him.
The swirling golden pieces were dazzling under the moonlight, beautiful enough to intoxicate.
But… the golden tornado split apart in an instant and crashed toward Ash like a landslide.
In a moment, his front was covered by dazzling fragments reflecting moonlight.
Each piece carried mass far beyond its original form. Even dust had turned into golden particles, surging together with overwhelming weight.
In this situation, defensive magic was useless. Destroying them was impossible too, since their hardness exceeded that of anti-magic stone.
"As a killing move, this should be more than enough."
Since the curse wasn't directly applied to his body, Ash's constant curse reversal was meaningless here. Normally, the only way to deal with such an attack would be to dodge.
But he had no intention of dodging. He simply raised his hand and waved.
BOOM!
Dense, pure black lightning roared forward like a tide, surging toward the golden tornado.
If one looked closely, the space itself seemed unable to bear the power. It began to twist and distort, even forming tiny cracks, like fragile paper breaking under pressure.
And the moment the gravity-crushing lightning collided head-on with the golden tornado carrying immense mass, the entire fortress city trembled. A deafening, indescribable impact echoed out.
It was a clash between ultimate pressure and ultimate mass and hardness.
The sound surpassed all common sense. It was no longer just an explosion or shockwave. It felt like the world itself crying out in agony under unbearable pain.
As the aftermath of that cry faded, it turned into howling fragments, like a violent blast sweeping across the entire district, even reverberating between the two solid golden walls of the fortress city for a long time.
If everyone present hadn't already been turned into gold, the aftermath alone would have been enough to completely destroy their hearing and kill everyone in the district.
"Truly astonishing… someone actually dares to clash head-on with Macht's gold. This is the first time I've seen it in my life," From afar, Solitar watched quietly, her face filled with amazement.
And the fragments forming the golden tornado, unexpectedly, did not pierce through the lightning barrier. They were either blocked or fell into the torn spatial cracks, vanishing without a trace.
"I never thought someone could take that attack head-on. Then…", Even Macht showed surprise. At that moment, he suddenly crouched and placed a hand on the ground.
BOOM!
The entire city seemed shaken by an invisible giant hand. Buildings on both sides of the street, including the lord's mansion, shattered and collapsed almost instantly.
Golden dust filled the sky like a heavy curtain, completely covering it. Only golden light pierced through, blanketing the heavens. Calling it "blocking out the sky" would not be an exaggeration.
As the golden light contracted inward and fell, an indescribable pressure surged like a tide, almost swallowing one's sanity.
"Now that's… quite a move," Ash grinned, pulling out the lightning-clad blade without hesitation.
At the moment the golden mass contracted to its limit, he shot forward like an arrow.
Surging lightning tore through the golden restraint. The long blade cut through the golden curtain with near-impossible force, breaking him out of the golden sea.
Then, the sharp wail of metal echoed across the street.
The blade struck the trident, sparks bursting out in rapid succession.
Sparks flew everywhere, accompanied by piercing metallic sounds.
Macht mobilized his magic power to resist with all his might. His golden feet scraped against the ground, creating sparks like explosions as he was pushed back over a hundred meters, until his back slammed into a building at the end of the street that had been temporarily restored from gold.
Although he deliberately avoided sturdier structures and took all the impact himself, the continuous booming echoed across the city.
From above, he had smashed through at least ten buildings, disappearing into the dust and completely leaving Ash's sight.
"Didn't expect it. Without even using defensive magic, just forming defense with pure mana can resist gravity applied directly to the body… looks like anyone with enough mana can do this," Ash muttered as he watched the distant figure vanish.
Before he could decide his next move, Macht rushed back at terrifying speed, leaping over rooftops, raising his trident like a falling meteor.
The speed of his charge, gripping the trident with both hands, was no less than Eisen in his youth.
The vertical slash he swung carried a piercing wind. If it hit a human body, it would split it clean in two, just like the vanguard earlier.
And as he descended, countless golden fragments followed behind him, like a golden waterfall crashing from the sky, both magnificent and overwhelming.
A new explosion rang out.
On the ground, Ash swung the black blade at incredible speed, clashing fiercely with the trident.
The dome-shaped shockwave burst outward, lifting golden fragments from the ground and even freezing the massive amount of golden dust falling from the sky in midair.
As his legs sank slightly, Ash twisted his body to dodge the golden blades surging from the "waterfall." Even as his cheek and chest were torn open, he showed no reaction. Instead, he turned slightly and flicked his blade upward, forcing Macht back.
"Impressive technique. But… your attack patterns and your magic were all seen through beforehand. You have no chance of winning."
Ignoring the golden tornado rising behind Macht again, Ash walked toward him calmly, "I'll give you one last chance to surrender, I'll give you the best treatment."
"Not interested."
"I see. Then…"
BOOM!
Without much warning, Ash stomped the ground. A massive explosion and shockwave erupted instantly.
But from afar, Solitar clearly saw that as his foot touched down, thick lightning shot toward Macht at terrifying speed.
However, a golden wall rose before Macht, blocking the attack solidly.
Yet the immense impact shook the entire golden land violently.
Although the wall didn't break, the entire golden land shifted under the collision of gravity lightning that tore at space itself.
Perhaps the fractured space deflected the gold, but its indestructibility meant the entire connected golden land had no choice but to tremble as a whole.
And that tremor made even the outside world shake.
———
The trembling that echoed between heaven and earth carried a sound like the land itself crying out.
The massive golden land shook so violently that even distant mountains were affected. Even the small wooden houses at its edge were not spared.
This violent jolt woke up both Fern and Denken, who had been asleep without knowing anything.
Even though the great barrier of the golden land could block sound, it couldn't block vibrations that exceeded its range.
Just after waking, suspecting an earthquake, they glanced toward the window, and were shocked to discover... the great barrier surrounding the golden land, which had been intact, shattered under the conflict between the two… perhaps due to the impact of the shifting land, it couldn't withstand such massive force.
———
The two fighting also looked up at the same time and clearly witnessed the barrier breaking.
"If you want to run, I won't stop you. But if you still want to fight, then next… it's time to end all of this," As he spoke, Ash slowly rose into the clouds.
"Doesn't matter. In fact…", Macht smiled faintly, casually flicking his trident, "To fight such an outstanding junior to the death… this kind of joy has been a long time coming. But now, let's end this."
As his words fell, the entire fortress city trembled again.
A massive amount of golden bricks floated into the air. Ash could clearly feel Macht's mana rapidly draining.
Clearly, controlling all the gold in the entire city at once was his full-power, final strike.
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