Chapter 119

"Now, it doesn't matter who you claim to be to that Shaya girl."

"Whether you want to fight or not, whether you'll attack or not—none of that is up to you anymore."

The defensive curtain of flames surrounding Timani dissipated.

Timani lowered her head. Slowly, ripples of flame spread outward from her feet.

At the same time, Sylatrella halted her high-speed movement.

The afterimages converged into one, appearing at the edge of the arena, a hundred meters away from Timani.

The Little Holy Sword narrowed her eyes, sensing the magic waves Timani was releasing, feeling the temperature of the arena gradually rising. Instinctively, she sensed a trace of danger.

From Sylatrella’s perspective, she couldn’t see it.

But from the spectators’ viewpoint above the arena, the full situation on the field was clear.

Everyone held their breath… not even daring to breathe, wide-eyed, breaking into cold sweat for Syla.

It was a scene worthy of being called a spectacle.

The entire ground of the arena—within a range of several hundred meters—had been completely covered by a crimson magic array.

It looked like the calm surface of a lake, where a leaf had landed, stirring ring after ring of ripples, tranquil and undisturbed.

But the difference was… the water in this lake was all made of fire!

Therefore, Sylatrella retreating to the corner of the barrier was completely meaningless—the flame magic array had already spread to the edge of the arena.

"This is what you brought upon yourself."

Even from that far away, Timani knew the other side wouldn’t be able to hear her.

But consider it a preemptive apology—Timani still had to make her intentions clear.

"You’re strong… but I must win this match. Anyone who stands in my way—I’ll have no choice but to remove them. Don’t worry… I’ll hold back enough to avoid blowing you up, but getting hurt is unavoidable, okay?"

The flame magic array had now fully formed.

As hot steam spilled from the defensive barrier, Timani slowly opened her vertical pupils, glowing with golden light.

The crimson wings spread out, layering multiple defensive barriers over herself.

She began chanting,

the strongest offensive magic she could currently release—

【Dragonburst Purgatory】

A moment of silence—heralding the storm.

A burst of light, like the core of the sun, flashed—white brilliance engulfed the entire arena, even drowning out the gasps of the crowd.

On the sidelines, Eclight furrowed his brow, channeling even more magic into the 【Divine Thread Chain】. Even so, the defensive barrier had already begun to creak in protest.

RUMBLE!!

"Hey hey, I’m serious! Should we run?!"

"What did you say?!"

"I said should we run…!!"

"Where to?! Can we even run?!"

The flames within the defensive barrier shifted from red to white, then from white to blue, and finally transformed into a terrifying purple light. The chain-reaction explosions boomed so violently, it was hard to believe that any living creature inside could survive!

Let alone those inside—was the outside of the barrier truly unaffected?!

In fact, some spectators had already started running.

But they should have more faith in the sturdiness of the kingdom’s treasured barrier.

Once the purple light faded, only thick smoke remained. The barrier shook violently several times before gradually settling down again.

Those nobles who had just stood up to flee awkwardly returned to their elegant selves, sitting back in their seats as if they had merely stood up to stretch their legs after sitting too long.

Now that they no longer feared for their safety, they finally had the leisure to pay attention to what was happening in the arena.

This Fire Dragon Clan girl—wasn’t she being a bit too ruthless...?

The opponent was just a child. This was only a match. That clearly could’ve killed someone, right? Wasn’t the referee going to step in?!

No use looking for the referee—the referee had already fled far away and was only now returning.

The defensive barrier couldn’t stop the smoke from dispersing. As the haze in the arena cleared...

What first became visible was the completely transformed terrain.

The once-solid ground had turned to quicksand during Sheffy’s previous match, and now that quicksand had been scorched into blackened patches, sending up billowing heat.

Now, the arena resembled a true desert more than ever.

Having shielded herself in advance with the Flame Curtain defensive spell, Timani was, of course, unharmed.

【Dragonburst Purgatory】 could not burn through the flame curtain whose nature matched her own magic.

As the curtain of flame dissipated and her crimson wings folded in, Timani, dressed in a vivid red dress, landed steadily. The sand instinctively rippled outward around her, as if clearing space for her, showcasing the overwhelming presence brought by the higher races.

To the audience, she appeared elegant, cold, and powerful.

But only Timani herself knew just how much strain she was under.

Sweat dripped from her forehead—sure enough, the magic had consumed quite a lot of mana...

She couldn’t fully control the trajectory of such wide-range magic, but fortunately, this protective barrier was sturdy enough that as long as her magic remained within this set area, she didn’t need to worry about direction.

Rather than adjusting her own condition, what concerned Timani more was the other side of the field.

That little girl… was she okay?

The thought that her actions might have seriously harmed her made Timani instinctively hate herself.

But she truly had no other choice...

She was exhausted. She wanted to go home.

So, sorry for—

“Phew... impressive, impressive! No wonder Lady Shaya said I might get beat up this round. Big sis, sorry I underestimated you earlier—you’ve really got some skills!”

“?!”

As the smoke at the edge of the arena completely cleared, a flash of golden light burst forth.

Sylatrella, holding a longsword formed of condensed golden magic, slashed through the remaining haze and, with a blink-step, appeared less than ten meters away from Timani.

Timani widened her eyes in utter disbelief at the sight before her...

She had clearly taken the full brunt of her 【Dragonburst Purgatory】 head-on, yet this girl was completely unscathed—not even a speck of dust on her clothes. Only the tips of her blue hair had curled slightly from the heat!

And it wasn’t just Timani who was shocked—the spectators erupted into the loudest cheer of the entire match so far!

Meanwhile, Timani realized that more than half of her mana had already been depleted.

Even someone as prideful and confident as she was couldn't help but show a faint, bitter smile on her face.

“No way... you, and that Shaya girl earlier too... Is this place just full of monsters like you...?”

---

34. Appointment (4K)

Though Sylatrella kept calling her “big sis” again and again, in truth, how old was Timani, really? It was Sylatrella—this thousand-year-old loli—who was the true senior here.

Whether she was a senior or not didn’t matter.

Sylatrella had never been stingy with her praise

for things she genuinely appreciated.

Her small hands brushed the sleeve of her blue dress, which had barely collected any dust. She nodded occasionally, clearly recognizing the strength behind Timani’s earlier move.

“Not bad. Just... the magic’s area was too wide, so its power got spread out. If you could’ve focused all that mana into a single line—if you blasted that at me—I might not’ve been able to take it... Well! Don’t worry about it. To pull it off like this, you’ve got every right to be proud!”

“If I could do that... would I even need to do all this...” Timani’s voice was a little low, making it hard for the other side to hear clearly.

“Hm?”

Had Sylatrella spoken with such arrogance from the very beginning, Timani would’ve surely mocked her for being young and reckless, not knowing her place.

But after what had just happened... she felt that this little girl across from her had every right to be this arrogant.

Arrogance was a word for the weak.

For the strong, such arrogance was only natural.

Sylatrella rested the golden illusion blade on her shoulder, one hand on her hip—the massive blade forming a stark contrast against her petite figure.

Seeing that Timani was still adjusting her breathing and showed no signs of attacking again, Sylatrella tilted her head and asked,

“Big sis, can you surrender now? Honestly, I've got something urgent to take care of—we're kind of in a rush.”

Sylatrella turned to look at the spectator stands, only to find that Lady Sheffy and the Hero were no longer there.

That last blast of 【Dragonburst Purgatory】 had thrown the magic particles on-site into complete disarray, making it impossible to detect where they had gone.

Tch… Lady Sheffy must have found something interesting, but she didn’t take me with her!

Sylatrella found herself getting more and more envious of the Hero lately… always being able to act alongside Lady Sheffy, sticking close together like that—how nice.

But… but this feeling of being deliberately ignored wasn’t bad either…! Ahhh, what a dilemma!

Compared to that—

Sylatrella’s eyes, which had been subtly sparkling with little hearts, now regained their weight and focus.

After all, she had yet to hear the opponent say the word “surrender.”

On the battlefield, the greatest mistake was to lower one's guard before hearing the signal that the fight was over.

Timani exhaled the searing air lightly. She lowered her gaze to her slightly trembling palm, still unsteady from casting that massive-scale magic.

She knew—there was no retreat left in this match.

The trump card she had originally reserved to use against the Demon Clan Princess...

Should she use it now?

But if she used it here, with the finals just an hour away at most, she wouldn’t have time to recover either her stamina or mana—how could she hope to win then?

Her hand slowly closed into a fist.

The crimson dress swayed gently with the wind, like a scarlet lotus in bloom.

She couldn’t worry about all that now.

The road Timani had walked up to now—stretching from the North Ice Polar Lands to the Southern Wastelands, from the fringe of the Demon Domain to the Spirit Realm in the Far East—every nation bore the footprints of her efforts to prove her own worth.

If she couldn’t even make it past this round, then what future was there to speak of?

She’d think about what came after when it came.

Sylatrella didn’t fully understand what the Fire Dragon Clan girl was thinking. Though she was clearly at a disadvantage, the fighting spirit rising from within her only grew stronger, as if she truly had some means to reverse the tide.

—Domain Magic.

Like the 【Zero】 domain magic that Jeffriel, the Six-Winged Demon, unleashed during his invasion of the Royal Capital—magic capable of freezing time and space, granting absolute dominance within the domain. It was a super high-tier exclusive magic.

Xiarette had previously estimated Timani’s strength to be around the ninth rank in the human power hierarchy, but that was an incomplete assessment.

After all… Timani had always been deliberately suppressing herself, in order to avoid losing control over her magic.

Those who possessed Domain Magic were rare, elite beings in this world.

Unleashing a domain would nearly reduce one’s mana to zero—its requirements were harsh, but its effects were unquestionably overwhelming.

Timani calmed her mind and closed her eyes.

Her long red hair lifted slightly in the scorching breeze.

In that moment, she looked like an angel of flame, with tongues of fire rising like wings, singing a requiem of destruction.

Sylatrella no longer rested the golden greatsword on her shoulder.

She held it horizontally in front of her, her expression growing heavier.

She could probably interrupt Timani’s spellcasting right now—but she wouldn’t do that.

A thousand years ago, Sylatrella had been selected by the Kingdom’s high command to be forged into the Holy Sword through magma precisely because she had defeated many of the Kingdom’s strongest warriors of the time. Her talent was unrivaled, and her fame had soared.

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