Elderstahl was weirded out, she had no idea what to make of the girl in front of her.

  A girl wearing blue fire, her eyes burn with a determined blue glow, full of conviction and pleasure. Vibrant blue hair as if they are glowing.

  And then there is the silver nce in her left hand, spiraling with electricity and fire, with the sportbike spewing out blue fme.

  She knows this is bad, as this body was only made a few weeks ago and was not ready for intense combat yet. But she will not back down, if this Avatar of hers is destroyed, then so be it.

  She is a sword, her purpose is to kill the person in front of her.

  She stepped forward, lunging at Charlotte with her obsidian sword. To which the girl crossed her nce with the unfinished weapon of Surtr.

  VRRROOOMMM!!!

  However, she had to quickly disengage to avoid the fming sportbike from hitting her.

  Taking the chance, Charlotte hopped on the bike and rode off, leaving a trail of blue fme behind. Elderstahl realized instantly what she was trying.

  "Escation Level Eight: Trailbze!!"

  Somehow, Charlotte was riding down the volcano, heading straight for Elderstahl. She was too fast to dodge, and there was not enough time to unleash a Seal—

  So Elderstahl pnted her sword down into the ground, readying to block Charlotte. And she too got ready to dodge to the side—

  Like a comet, Charlotte crashed into the obsidian sword, shattering it. At the same time, Elderstahl rolled to the left side, only getting her left arm shredded by the spinning nce.

  Lance are not very practical weapons on their own, as they are bulky and the handle is usually too short to be wielded properly with two hands.

  But on a mount is a completely different story, as the speed of the mount grants the nce greater penetration than it could ever have on foot. A motorbike is that mount, the mechanical steed of modern times.

  Calmly, Elderstahl prepares for the next attack, closing her eyes as they are useless against Charlotte's ridiculous speed.

  "First Seal: Niflheim - Release.", her entire body bzed up, a ghostly projection of a fiery golden bde extended from her right hand.

  She can hear the engine going around, getting further and further away... until...

  VRROOOOMMM!!!

  She spun around and unleashed an energy ssh, cleaving the forest behind her— burning all to a cinder.

  !!

  She was tricked, it was an illusion!

  Opening her eyes, she sshed behind her— cshing against the Lance of the World with the power of an entire world—

  CLANK!!

  And she successfully parried Charlotte's attack, instantly she unched a counter, intended to cleave the girl into two.

  !!

  But she had to cancel her attack, as she felt an uneasy presence— she sidestepped to let Charlotte pass through.

  Examining her body, Elderstahl immediately realized what was wrong. Her right foot lost its color, instead of a pure white foot, it was a chalky grey, like the stripes of tainted nd.

  So she cannot stay in one spot for too long, this is going to be hard. There is no reason to not go a bit further.

  "Second Seal: Helheim - Release."

  Her body ignited again, just in time for another csh with Charlotte. This time aiming for the sportbike.

  Cnk!

  However, Charlotte's nce cshed against the ethereal bde, successfully protecting her bike. Though Elderstahl can work with this.

  Using all her strength, she pushed her bde against the nce—

  BOOOMM!!!

  She knocked Charlotte over with an explosion, fueled by the cores of two Worlds. The girl crashed to the left of Elderstahl, her bike flipped over— but she managed to stab her nce into the ground, stopping herself from crashing down.

  "Hah... this is fun.", Charlotte smiled, staring at Elderstahl with her bzing blue eyes. Despite the serious burn on her left arm, she acted as if nothing major happened

  "I need to get a bit more serious now...", she giggles.

  =0=0=

  To be able to overpower me with Malice, heha! This is fun!!

  "By the Authority of the Witches, Consteltions, Ignite!!"

  The circles of fire I made with my sportbike shot up toward the sky, and they closed in, creating a dome made of blue fme.

  Walpurgis Festival is a God Syer, but not really a weapon since I can't really just warp reality to snap someone in half. I tried it with Enna before, this hat doesn't target humans.

  However...

  Everything else? It absolutely can.

  So, I sent my sportbike far away and created a barrier out of my Malice Fme... because this show is only for one person. Me.

  "What are you doing?", she asked me with that same bored expression.

  "I did say that we will dance.", I look at my left arm, I got a pretty bad burn and my trench coat is pretty much ruined.

  I think I can take one more hit from her before I must get away... this is fun.

  I can feel my heart beating wildly at the prospect of this danger.

  "Let us start with the climax!", I stabbed my nce into the ground, "Escation Level Seven: Requiem!"

  The fme around me began to condense behind me, including Elderstahl's.

  She instantly went on the offensive, appearing in front of me in a fsh.

  But without me holding anything— Desire zapped me behind her. To which she swung her right hand back.

  And once again I was moved back before that sword could ever reach me.

  Time after time, as she tried to reach me... it was unfortunate for her, and for me too as this was about to end.

  Now my dome of blue fme was lighter, thinner than it should be. But Elderstahl, being so close to me had not faded one bit... only her right foot turned grey from being inside my tainted world.

  The fire gathered behind me began to revolve around me, becoming a ring of light.

  "Let us have a good fight, Elderstahl.", the fme began to come out of the ring, like tendrils they scattered then gathered at my right hand, forming a blue fming sword in the shape of a cross.

  "You won't lose in a battle of the bde, right?", I showed her a wide smile, once filled with pleasure and hysteria. I grabbed the sword with both of my hands in a roof guard position.

  She ripped out her mangled left arm, it reshaped and became an obsidian longsword, "Come, Charlotte Silvi."

  Then...

  "Escation Level Eight: Trailbze."

  1

  I cshed my sword against hers, trying to push to get a better vantage point. But it was like hitting a wall.

  2

  So I disengage, pulling away for her to pursue me. Taking the chance, she tried to pierce my left shoulder, which was wide open.

  3

  But I knocked her tip away with the guard of my bde, though only slightly even if I had to use all my strength. Gd that Trailbze is helping me.

  4

  Using this opportunity, and with the help of Desire, I swung my bde again and sunk my sword into her colr.

  BOOM!!!

  My sword ignited, burning bright with blue fme, and cleaved into her body. Her sun-like eyes... they were unfazed.

  Even if the forest behind her burned to ashes...

  I didn't stack enough for Trailbze to do enough damage. I might have underestimated her...

  I tried to pull my sword out of Elderstahl— only to be stopped by dozens of bdes growing out from her body, lodging my sword into it.

  To that, I smiled.

  5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

  And once again, I pushed the bde down for another ssh—

  Urk!

  Just as my sword cleaved clean through her entire body and vanished, I felt the searing heat hitting my back.

  "Delusion."

  I quickly teleported myself away. I touched my back to check for the damage... my trench coat is pretty much ruined.

  I took it off, while watching Elderstahl... not cleaved into two pieces, tiny swords grew out of her body, stitching herself together... fuck.

  "I admit.", she spoke as her body healed, "You are good with the sword, but there are too many errors in your stance."

  Is she really criticizing my swordsmanship right now? When everything behind her became nothing but ash?

  "There are too many mistakes, you could've ended me anytime before I opened the Second Seal... no, you are deliberately making errors.", she stared at me with that same bored look, "Why?"

  To that, I just ughed, "Hehahahaha!! Because there is no fun in ending everything with just one attack!"

  However, I did use Escation Level Eight: Trailbze, which double the strength of my power every time I block an attack. It still wasn't enough.

  I am in quite a pickle here.

  I began to waltz around, "Plus, my preferred weapon isn't a sword."

  I ended up picking up Quirinus, letting the silver tendrils wrap around my right arm.

  "I've come to be fond of using the nce.", I said, pointing it at Elderstahl, gathering what was left of my fire. Still, I prefer Fallen Starlight more.

  "So you handicapped yourself?", she asked me.

  I understand why she asked that. The sword is a unique type of weapon. Bow was originally made for hunting, the same as the spear, and any other weapon in human history, including guns, was not originally made for killing. The sword is not one of those types, it is designed specifically for killing humans.

  No matter how poor or good a sword is, even in its worst condition, you cannot deny its purpose was to kill.

  A nce, however, is not a viable weapon despite being made for warfare. It is usually a one-off item, to be discarded after its first use, even with its destructive force on a mount. And in the time of peace, nothing more than an item to show one's prowess.

  Destructive, easy to use, but at the same time impractical without a mount and easily broken. So as Elderstahl said, I've been handicapping myself all this time.

  The reason is quite simple.

  "There is no fun in going all out in the beginning, after all.", I ughed as I tried to feel my back.

  It is uncomfortable, there are shards of obsidian in my body...

  "So...", my fire bred up once again, burning away the obsidian shard and igniting my nce, "Let us do this again..."

  "With my full power."

  "If you are getting serious, then I too with receive it with honor.", she stabbed her obsidian sword into the ground, "Although this body may be extinguished, I shall show you why I am the strongest sword in the universe..."

  "Escation Level Zero: Beat of Hatred."

  Blue fme roared around me, setting everything on fire once again.

  "I am the Bde forged from eight worlds.", she too began to chant.

  "Escation Level One: Melody of Destruction.", fire spins around me like a tornado.

  "Body made from the finest Steel, Flow in my Veins is Fire itself."

  "Escation Level Two: Path of Ruination.", my shoe bzed into fme as I began to circle around Elderstahl.

  "Unaware of Glory, nor Aware of Defeat"

  "Escation Level Three: Dance of Annihition.", and Quirinus began to absorb the surrounding fire, burning brighter and brighter.

  "Over a thousand years I was forged for Destruction."

  "Escation Level Four: Encore of Entropy.", the fming nce began to spin, revolving the Malice of Humanity, so much so it began to generate its own gravity.

  "Yet I was never finished."

  "Escation Level Five: Chorus of Insurrection.", I pulled up my hood, and I spread my wings of fire, burning blue feathers spinning around me.

  "Forever searching for an end that will never come."

  "Escation Level Six: Choir of the Dammed.", and I feel the wails of humanity inside me coming out, the pain, the suffering, the rage, the pleasure...

  "So, as I pray..."

  "Escation Level Seven: Requiem.", all was still for a moment, as all the accumuted fire on Quirinus... seeped into the nce. And like a tree, it began to warp, the tendrils grew beyond my arm, branches growing out with tips of blue fme on them.

  "Escation Level Eight: Trailbze.", and I pointed the nce at Elderstahl.

  "Forge of Eternity.", she finished.

  From under her feet, a pool of va spews out— I hurriedly fp my wings, avoiding the burning ground. The floor is va, quite literally.

  That's not all... swords began to pop out from the va, all red hot as if they were in the heat-treating stage, ready to be quenched. And the sky turned red... as if I was pulled into another world...

  With a single wave of her hand, all the swords, thousands of them, flew to the sky... all aimed at me.

  Any they unched at me at Mach 1 speed—

  "In the Name of Humanity! Raise the wind of destruction and camity!!"

  A wall of hot wind formed around me, melting every sword that came my way... but even then with this sheer amount, I can't see or sense that well. Plus the fact that the beads of molten steel are hitting my injured left arm.

  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20...

  But through the storm of bdes, I heard it.

  "Third Seal: Nidavellir - Release."

  For the first time in my life, I sensed Death coming. Something that can kill me... it just makes my smile wider~

  "It is time to awaken, Quirinus.", the nce pulses its Runes, which are all now an ethereal blue.

  Against the endless rain of swords... against the bde forged from eight worlds...

  "The Ardent Fme of Camity, may you be released from your bindings."

  Once again, the nce lit on fire.

  "Split the Heaven and Rend the World."

  I pointed my nce at where Elderstahl should be, pulling it back to get ready for a thrust.

  "In the Name of Humanity! Crave the path to the future!!"

  And I thrust—!!!

  "World Breaker!!!"

  Like a beam of light, the accumuted stacks from Trailbze ripped through the rain of swords with electricity, vaporizing them, all crashing down upon Elderstahl.

  I smiled... once again, I could sense it... reality was ripped open. The rain of endless swords was over.

  But it is not finished yet, I flew down towards Elderstahl—

  Cnk!!

  I cshed my nce against her sword... which was broken in half and glowing yellow. She had a hole pierced right through her chest, still crackling with electricity...

  Her eyes... they still have a bored look to them—

  Huh—?

  She parried my nce— in an attempt to stab me in the heart, but it was broken so it couldn't quite reach me. Yet... she disregarded her body, letting my nce stab into the left side of her chest, and her sword nicked my left arm—

  —In an instant, my arm burned by the fire of the Burning Sword, charred as flesh and bone melted into one.

  Without hesitation, I kicked her in the stomach to increase the distance between us.

  This pain... it hurts... it hurts a lot. Being burned alive is never fun, the pain that comes with it is unimaginable. I can't even feel or move my finger anymore.

  Yet why am I still smiling?

  I need to get this treated quickly...

  "Hope.", I let the golden dew of salvation drip down my arm... rapidly healing it.

  Meanwhile, Elderstahl just stood there with this strange world of va and swords retreating to her.

  "You are pretty good... Elderstahl.", I smiled, nding on the ground.

  She looked at her fading body, still with that bored emotionless expression, "This was below average for me. This body had only 0.4% of my power, after all."

  ...what?

  That was less than one percent of her power? And she wounded me this badly...?

  "But you did pretty well, Charlotte Silvi", then she looked at me with those golden eyes, shining like suns, "Stand proud, you are strong."

  And she vanished...

  I also dispelled Malice, and I knelt down... The blue fme quickly snuffed out, and the tainted nd of chalk disappeared.

  That was tiresome...

  Sighing to myself, I took out a cigarette. I have another person on my list of people not to mess with now.

  I grabbed my trench coat on the ground, letting Reverie consume it... as I don't think I can repair it. That fire was not normal at all, my left arm, although healed and I was able to move my finger again...

  I got a pretty nasty scar, covering my entire arm in red markings. And my back too...

  Tch, I ripped my shirt, making it into a crop top.

  "Open, Gate of Akasha. Ars Goetia."

  I summoned my coat, wearing it in pce of my trench coat... I have to make a new one.

  I think I will rest for a bit...

  Taking out my phone, which somehow survives all of that crazy shit.

  "Hello, this is Charlotte Silvi."

  [This is Enromi, what is your status?], a man's voice came from the other side.

  "My mission... about that, the glowing humanoid called herself Elderstahl, the Sword of Surtr. I had successfully eliminated her, but that wasn't her real body..."

  [Can you eborate?]

  "She is capable of creating projections of herself, and they are pretty powerful. The one I fought only had zero point four percent of her power, and just by grazing me a bit... gave me a fourth-degree burn on my arm."

  [I see, I will report it to the Broad. Is there anything you would like to add?]

  "It's pretty destructive, the forest next to Mount. Etna was cleared out... around six hundred to a kilometer radius became nothing but ashes."

  [I will inform some of our Druids to help with the restoration. Thank you for your report, you should go rest now.]

  "I really need one...", and I ended the call.

  I need a very long rest after this... the Leviathan Hunter license should really be saved for ter...

  =0=0=

  Athens is especially packed with tourists, so it was quite difficult to traverse the main road with all of the cars.

  Eventually, I reached the hotel Mitsuki sent. It was pretty big, but I don't like how it looks like a cube... it is a cube.

  "Charlotte! You are here!", Mitsuki ran out from the entrance.

  "Hello, Mitsuki. You picked quite the unique pce.", I smiled, tugging my left sleeve.

  "Of course! There is even an arcade here! This is the best hotel I could find!", she cheerfully said.

  "How much did it cost?"

  She flinched and her smile became strained, "Uh... the receptionist said it's five hundred Euros for a night."

  That sounds more like a scam...

  "I will deal with that ter, I'll go park my bike.", I sighed.

  But before I could go, Mitsuki grabbed my right hand. Her eyes are staring at my left... I exposed some of the burns...

  "Charlotte... what happened?", she asked me, her blue eyes turned serious.

  "You don't need to worry about it.", I brushed her away, "I'm fine, I just need a bit of rest."

  "Charlotte... please, let me know when something is wrong. That's what friends are for."

  I didn't say anything, just kept staring at her. And I went off...

  Tch...

  I want to share my thoughts with her and chat with her more... but what can I talk about?

  My fight with Elderstahl was entirely my fault, I have too much pride to admit that it is my mistake that my arm ended up like this...

  For now, I just want to rest.

  Rhaps