"See! You're perfectly fine! Are you just ignoring me?!"
Subaru glared at the Flame Sword floating in the air, her golden pupils mixed with anger and resentment. This hateful Sword, residing within her, wasn't responding to her. Had it been deliberately ignoring her all this time? Only showing up at the brink of death, it was like an arrogant tenant.
Carlisle was completely frozen in place, his eyes reflecting the fiercely burning sword.
"This is… Flame Sword Blaze?"
His voice trembled slightly with shock
His Fingers twitched unconsciously. Carlisle, without the Return by Death memories, wouldn't know that this sword should have belonged to him. The moment he touched the hilt, a sense of familiarity, originating from the depths of his soul, coursed through his body like electricity.
"Clang!"
The Flame Sword's flames suddenly surged violently twice, but then settled back into a calm, obedient glow in Carlisle's palm.
Subaru's throat suddenly tightened. The last time she saw this scene… in that loop, Carlisle had also held the Sword like this, then transformed into countless specks of light amidst a dazzling glow… "What's going on?! Why are you still alive?!"
Regulus's piercing shriek interrupted Subaru's recollection. The white-haired woman was staring at them in disbelief.
"According to the laws of this world! According to my authority! You should have been crushed into a bloody pulp by now!" She frantically clutched at her hair, "And! Do you think changing weapons will allow you to defy my perfection?!"
"Shut up! Your insignificant authority shatters at a touch!"
Subaru retorted without hesitation, a long-lost confidence burning in her eyes. The appearance of the Flame Sword instantly gave her the home-field advantage, and she unconsciously straightened her back a bit.
Carlisle gripped the hilt tightly, the scorching sensation spreading from his palm. The sword vibrated slightly, as if responding to his heartbeat.
Why… does it feel so familiar?
His Fingers traced the sun-like emblem on the sword guard. A resonance across time and space surged in his blood. What shocked him even more was that the overwhelming attack just now had been effortlessly blocked by the sword's flames.
"Maybe I just decided to let you live a little longer just now!" Regulus's shriek pierced the sky, "My authority is absolute! It is inviolable! It is the very law of the world!"
She suddenly spread her arms, and the surrounding air began to twist and collapse.
"Die!!!"
A destructive shockwave struck again, and the ground in its path exploded in layers like fragile crackers. Carlisle instinctively swung his sword horizontally!
"Clang!"
A clear sword cry echoed across the battlefield. The moment the Flame Sword was drawn, crimson flames transformed into a roaring dragon, devouring the incoming impact. When the heatwave dissipated, the ground beneath their feet was the only untouched spot in the ruins.
Indeed… Subaru gazed at the flames swirling on the sword. Memories clicked into place like puzzle pieces. In the very first loop, the information Pandora had revealed… Authority nullification… This was the Flame Sword's characteristic.
Carlisle forcibly suppressed the doubts in his heart, and battle intent surged in his azure eyes. Since the Flame Sword could block Greed's unreasonable attacks, then…
Here we go!
He stomped the ground, his body shooting out like an arrow from a bow. The Flame Sword's flames trailed a brilliant wake in the air, and the blade slashed fiercely at Regulus's waist from the side!
"Foolish! I already told you I wouldn't give you another chance to violate my right to bodily movement!"
Regulus arrogantly lifted her chin, not even bothering to raise a hand to defend herself.
"Bang!!!"
A heavy thud exploded. To everyone's shocked gaze, the pure white figure was sent flying horizontally like a broken kite!
It's working!
Carlisle's eyes lit up. He lightning-fast pursued Regulus in mid-air, the sword tip pointing directly at her left chest!
"Boom!!!"
The two crashed to the ground from high in the sky like shooting stars. Carlisle used the momentum of the fall, pouring all his strength into the blade. The tip of the Flame Sword plunged deep into Regulus's chest, the aftermath shattering the ground within a ten-meter radius!
"You dare!!!"
A hysterical shriek came from the dust. Regulus suddenly swung her arm, and an invisible shockwave tore through the air. Carlisle hurriedly blocked with his sword, but was still sent flying by the immense force. He nimbly flipped his body in the air, and the Flame Sword carved a long scorch mark on the ground before he regained his footing.
After the dust settled, Regulus stood up. There wasn't even a scratch on the spot where she had been stabbed in the chest.
"How did you do that?!"
Regulus's voice was distorted by rage. She frantically clutched her white hair, screaming like a madwoman.
"I clearly solidified the air around me! Solidified the dust! The flow of time had already stopped for me!" She suddenly pointed at the Flame Sword, "What's with this unreasonable sword?! This level of strategy! My meticulously designed absolute defense! You actually broke it just by switching to a shabby sword?!"
She clutched her head, howling like crazy. "Ah, ah, ah, unforgivable! This is cheating! This is fraud! This is the most heinous violation of my sacred authority! You despicable, filthy, shameless!"
Carlisle didn't give her a chance to continue her rant.
"Boom!"
The Flame Sword, wrapped in scorching flames, cleaved down! Regulus hastily raised her hand, and the solidified air wall collided with the blade, erupting in a deafening roar.
Carlisle twisted his wrist, and the sword's trajectory suddenly changed. The crimson flame wave, like a living thing, bypassed the defense and slammed heavily into Regulus's waist!
"Ugh!"
The pure white figure was sent flying backward like a cannonball, consecutively smashing through three protruding rocks before finally stopping. But Carlisle's pursuit had already arrived!
"Bang!" A swing sent her flying into the air.
"Swish!" The sword tip aimed at her face.
"Boom!" The hilt of the Flame Sword struck her back.
The battlefield completely devolved into a one-sided exhibition of torment.
Amidst the intertwining flames and storms, Regulus's figure was tossed back and forth in the air like a rag doll. Every time she managed to solidify the air, every time she tried to regain her posture, she was interrupted by a tricky slash.
This guy's combat awareness… is worse than expected!
Carlisle keenly noticed that this self-proclaimed perfect being seemed to have never seriously practiced combat techniques. Her attacks relied entirely on the brute force of her authority, and her defense was full of holes.
"Cough…! You…!"
Regulus, who had been slammed into the ground again, struggled to get up. But there was still not a single scratch on her clothes or skin.
Subaru stood at the edge of the battlefield, her gaze fixed on the center of Carlisle's clash with Regulus, where flames and twisted air intertwined, and every sword impact sparked dazzling fire.
No way… Carlisle did indeed send Regulus flying, the Flame Sword blasting that madwoman dozens of meters away, but when she climbed out of the ruins, her dress was still spotless, without even a single scrape.
Authority nullification… but is it merely a one-sided authority nullification?
Subaru's thoughts raced like lightning. The Flame Sword's characteristic was not to directly "cut" authority, but to "reject" it, like an invisible barrier, repelling Regulus's solidified time-power. Carlisle's attacks were able to hit because the sword's flames temporarily pushed away that authority, but pushing away did not equate to destroying.
So… the Flame Sword didn't truly break her ability, it just temporarily 'rejected' it?
This conclusion made Subaru's heart sink, but what made her even more uneasy was…
The power is wrong!
In her memory, when Carlisle in the first loop held the Flame Sword, wherever the sword light passed, the Beast of the End's ice and snow were instantly vaporized, and scorching fire waves swept through the entire forest, as if the sky itself was about to be burned through. But the current Flame Sword, though still powerful, was far from possessing that world-destroying might.
Why? Has the sword not awakened yet?
In that loop, when Carlisle grasped the Flame Sword, the sword body had emitted a loud, mechanical sound effect, solemn and inspiring.
"Liefire Blade Draw! When courage meets Flame Sword Blaze, the crimson sword will pierce through evil!"
But now, the sword merely burned silently, with no sound other than the roar of the flames.
...
Re@d adv@nce ch@pters on p@t
guilt_free_daoist
Jo!n d!sc0rd I!nk in synops!s.
GIVE ME YOU POWER STONES.