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Esdeath, mounted on her horse, heard Qin Yi's words, and her face instantly turned icy cold.
"You have remarkable audacity to speak to me like that! I will make you kneel before me and lick my boots!"
Without a doubt, Qin Yi's taunts had completely enraged the Queen. In the next instant, Esdeath leaped high from her horse, drew her longsword, and thrust it forward.
Crrrackle!
Frost immediately spread across the ground, icy tendrils surging toward Qin Yi.
"Is that so?"
"Then you shall serve as my maid beneath my feet!"
Qin Yi slowly raised the longsword in his right hand, his gaze turning glacial.
The overwhelming majesty of the King's Way erupted, materializing into a tangible force that shattered the frost into fragments in an instant. The suffocating pressure stifled the very air of the Imperial Capital.
Simultaneously, his figure blurred forward like a gale.
"Dodge!" Najenda roared urgently.
She had witnessed Esdeath's power firsthand, and though Qin Yi's true strength remained unrevealed, the sheer magnitude of the energy he had just unleashed defied imagination.
The Night Raid members swiftly retreated, instantly putting distance between themselves and the clash.
At the same moment, the two figures moving at high speed collided violently.
Boom!
An immense force erupted the instant their blades met, cracking the ground beneath them.
"You're the first man to dare speak to me like that!" Esdeath said coldly, her eyes brimming with murderous intent.
"And you're the first woman to dare address this king in such a manner!" Qin Yi replied, his gaze equally severe.
They faced each other like two needles poised to pierce, and in the next instant, their weapons clashed again.
Brilliant starlight flashed forth. Startled, Esdeath watched her longsword snap clean in two. Her entire body slid backward, leaving a long trail carved into the ground.
So strong!
For the first time, she had encountered someone who completely overwhelmed her in a head-on clash of power.
You've truly ignited my hunting instincts!
A ferocious glint flashed in her eyes as Esdeath raised her right hand.
Crackling, hissing sounds filled the air.
In an instant, ice surged forth from all directions, materializing out of thin air and sweeping toward Qin Yi.
At the same time, ice spikes shot from the void, hurtling toward Qin Yi like lethal projectiles.
"Utterly useless."
"Is this the extent of your power, Esdeath? You disappoint Us!"
Qin Yi's expression remained impassive as starlight bloomed from Murasame in his hand. With a single, sweeping motion, he slashed through the void before him.
Hum!
The void trembled, ripples expanding outward, instantly shattering the layers of ice before him into countless colorful shards that drifted like snowflakes across the sky.
"One strike!"
"He shattered Esdeath's ice attack with a single strike!"
"Incredible!"
Najenda and the others, watching from a distance, erupted in excited cheers.
This scene was beyond their wildest expectations. This seemingly unimposing man, with his lean build, possessed such terrifying power.
Under their awestruck gazes, Qin Yi advanced slowly, Murasame held casually in one hand.
"If this is all you have, We see no point in wasting Our time."
Esdeath's eyes flickered. The man's strength far exceeded her imagination. But surrendering so easily was unthinkable!
With a low growl, she conjured a thick, elongated ice blade that lunged toward Qin Yi.
He brushed aside the attack with a casual wave of his blade, shattering the ice blade into fragments.
"This ice is as hard as steel! Yet he shatters it so easily!"
Esdeath's eyes narrowed, realizing that the enemy before her was unlike any she had ever faced.
In the next instant, a gust of wind swept past, and a blade materialized before her.
With a roar, she instantly erected a thick layer of ice in front of herself.
Her Imperial Arm granted her mastery over ice, allowing her to wield it for both defense and offense. This ice, as durable as steel, served as her ultimate weapon and shield.
Yet, to her astonishment, it faltered for only an instant.
The tip of the black longsword effortlessly pierced through the ice, cleaving through everything in its path, and reappeared at her brow. Reacting instinctively, Esdeath arched her back, narrowly dodging the blade as it grazed her head.
Her military cap was sliced in two, and several strands of blue hair fell to the ground. A primal terror gripped Esdeath's heart.
This chilling dread paralyzed her, sending icy shivers through her body.
Death. In that fleeting moment, she had truly sensed the aura of death itself!
Swish
Using the momentum from her backbend, she slid backward, narrowly avoiding Qin Yi's blade and escaping his attack range.
"Impressive reflexes, but nothing more," Qin Yi said indifferently, standing with his blade, radiating an overwhelming aura. "Is this the strength of your world's most formidable warrior?"
Esdeath's pupils narrowed, her heart pounding with dread. This man's power far exceeded her imagination.
With that, he stepped forward, his blade instantly reappearing before Esdeath, causing her heart to leap. This time, a strand of hair was sliced from her forehead.
So fast! This strike was too fast!
Esdeath retreated, widening the distance between them once more, her eyes locked on Qin Yi. She hadn't even seen the blade move in that instant.
Taking a deep breath, Esdeath's gaze hardened. She resolved to unleash her hidden ability.
"Mahapadma!"
This was a Skill capable of freezing even time and space. Though its duration was fleeting, within that instant, Esdeath could strike with speed far surpassing her enemies'. Despite being limited to a single use per day, this trump card allowed her to defeat most foes, making it practically an invincible technique!
In an instant, an icy storm erupted from Esdeath, sweeping outward in all directions. In less than a thousandth of a breath, everything around her was frozen solid.
The freezing power froze time and space itself, creating a terrifying absolute zero.
Qin Yi stood within the ice-encased space, his body seemingly stiffening slightly, his expression gone.
"You're finished!" Esdeath spat out coldly between clenched lips.
The man before her, whose aura rivaled her own, filled her with loathing!
As a Super S, she craved control and despised men who were even more arrogant and ruthless than herself. By nature, she was born to conquer such men, to make them submit!
Clatter, Clatter, Clatter, Clatter!
Esdeath's right hand trembled, condensing into an ice blade as she sprinted forward.
In moments, she stood just two meters from Qin Yi, raising the ice blade high above her head.
But at that instant, Qin Yi, who had seemed frozen in place, suddenly smirked coldly.
Esdeath's eyes narrowed in disbelief.
Stunned by this unexpected turn, she accelerated the ice blade's descent.
"Is this your trump card?"
Simultaneously, Qin Yi's longsword flashed out.
Crack!
The ice blade shattered. The pitch-black blade whipped up a gale-force wind as it came to rest steadily against Esdeath's neck, her pupils shrinking to pinpricks.
Frozen! Everything froze.
The moment Murasame touched Esdeath's neck, time itself seemed to grind to a halt.
"You, the empire's strongest warrior, are to me..." Qin Yi said indifferently, his longsword pausing slightly.
"Pathetically fragile!"
(End of Chapter)