The Empress stared at Leo for several seconds before another scream tore from her throat and she charged straight at him, ice ripping through the air as her speed increased. Instead of retreating, Leo leaned forward and met her advance head-on, closing the distance in a single blur of motion.
They collided in an instant, and when Leo crossed into her frozen sphere nothing happened to him. For the first time since the battle began, shock broke through the Empress's madness, her eyes widening as Leo stepped fully into her domain and drove his sword forward. Thorn pierced her chest and burst out through her back, blood and mana surging along the blade as the force of the strike hurled her backward through the air.
She flew dozens of meters before finally stopping, a deep scar splitting her chest, though ice rushed over the wound immediately and sealed it before a single drop of blood could fall.
Leo lowered his sword slightly, a faint smile forming on his face as he watched the ice struggle to fully suppress the damage. "Not that easy, it seems."
The sky darkened as a new meteor formed high above, larger than the last and tightly wrapped in dense mana, tearing through the clouds as it descended directly toward the Empress. As it entered her frozen sphere, she released a violent wave of mana that washed over the falling mass, causing the stone to glow, vaporize, and vanish completely within seconds.
She lifted her head and looked at Leo with a twisted, broken smile before surging toward him again, her corrupted power flaring wildly. Leo remained calm and began to retreat through the air, drawing her away while continuing to call down mana wrapped meteors that she destroyed one after another with brute force and raw energy.
The fight turned into a battle of endurance as minutes passed and Leo maintained his distance, forcing her to chase him while she burned through her mana without restraint. Nearly fifteen minutes later, the corrupted S-rank finally slowed, her frozen sphere shrinking as the absolute cold collapsed inward and her body began to distort, bones shifting and ice cracking as she lost what little control she had left.
Leo stopped in the air, his breathing steady and his expression composed as he raised his sword and poured blood and mana into it, the blade expanding until it stretched into the clouds above while thick crimson energy wrapped around it and vibrated with destructive power.
"Blood Calamity."
He brought the blade down in a single decisive strike that cleaved through the Empress and continued onward, splitting the mountain behind her and tearing the land apart in its wake. The sky seemed to fracture as the shockwave carved a ruined wasteland through the valley, and the two halves of the monster crashed to the ground below.
Even then, they still twitched.
Leo's sword shrank back to its original size as he prepared to strike again, but a sudden pressure pressed down on the air itself and forced him to stop. A new mana signature flooded the battlefield, cold, sharp, and invasive. He looked up.
A woman hovered in the air above him. She wore a simple robe, unadorned and practical, with a thick book held casually in her right hand. A monocle covered her left eye, her glass glowing faintly as it studied everything below. The moment Leo felt her presence, recognition struck him with certainty.
She was the source. The one who had been twisting thoughts, planting urges, and bending minds around him from the shadows.
Blood surged around Leo's sword as he launched himself forward without hesitation, closing the distance in an instant and driving the blade straight through her chest. The resistance felt wrong, and what he saw next froze his thoughts completely.
The body pierced by his sword was not hers.
Elna stood in front of him, her eyes wide, her body having moved into the path of the strike a heartbeat too late for him to stop. Blood spilled as Leo yanked the sword free and caught her before she could fall, his arm locking around her waist as panic surged through him.
"Elna!" he shouted.
The woman's voice echoed calmly across the battlefield as she appeared at a safe distance, completely unharmed. "Can you feel the pain?" she asked, her tone measured and authoritative. "It will not stop until you give me what I want."
Leo looked down at Elna, his vision blurring, then raised his eyes toward the woman, rage and grief mixing together. "And what is that?" he demanded.
She regarded him with detached interest. "You already know. I want the domain of my path. One by one, all of your friends will fall by my hand until you give it to me."
As she finished speaking, Elna's body began to dissolve, fading into fragments of light that slipped through Leo's arms. His demeanor changed as the illusion peeled away, revealing the truth of the scene.
Leo straightened slowly.
The grief vanished from his face, replaced by cold clarity as the illusion lifted completely. There were no tears in his eyes, only focus.
"Is that all you want?" he asked, his voice steady and controlled.
The woman's expression flickered with surprise before she masked it behind calm composure. "So you had help from the Phantom Oracle," she said. "I should have expected that. Still, you have already used most of your mana."
As she spoke, the ice behind Leo shattered with a thunderous crack. The frozen dragon broke free, its massive form rising as hatred burned in its eyes, fixed solely on Leo as if nothing else existed. On the other side of the battlefield, the remains of the Empress twisted and reshaped, forming a grotesque monster ready to attack once more.
Leo did not look at either of them.
His eyes remained locked on the woman in the air.
While suspended in midair, Leo shifted his grip and drew his sword to his side before angling the blade downward. The weapon responded instantly, expanding as blood mana surged through it, its massive head slamming into the ground with a force that shook the battlefield.
"It is a fact that Elna was only a phantom," Leo said, his voice low and steady as he lifted his gaze to meet his enemy's eyes. "But even harming her phantom…"
His eyes hardened.
"…is unforgivable."
The ground beneath the sword erupted as a massive sphere of blood burst outward, formed through Blood Destruction and expanding with overwhelming pressure. The crimson mass swallowed both the distorted monster that had once been the Empress and the newly freed dragon, erasing them completely in a single, merciless surge of power.
When the blood dispersed, nothing remained.
Leo's sword contracted back to its original size as he lifted it once more and pointed it directly at the woman in the air, the blade still dripping with restrained power.
"The only thing you will gain here," he said calmly, "is your death."
…
Elna sat in the vast whiteness, her gaze stretching into the endless expanse of light, with a new girl, Katrine, beside her. Katrine had appeared suddenly, brought here by Leo so that Ilandra could tend to her injuries, and now the two of them remained quietly seated, the stillness of the void wrapping around them like a soft, protective shroud.
Then a sharp pain flared in Elna's chest. She clutched at it, the ache lingering for a full minute before fading, leaving only a faint echo in her body. Almost immediately, the Mirror of Truth shifted from its place, sliding toward her on its own, stopping directly before her eyes.
In its reflective surface, a single image appeared: Leo holding her body in his arms, standing over the ruins of the battlefield.
She blinked, voice trembling. "Is she…"
"She is you," Ilandra said softly from beside her. "Or the phantom that bore your form. The illusion was so powerful that even you were affected. I have to admit, this Phantom Oracle is truly formidable."
Elna's eyes lingered on the mirror. In the image, Leo had destroyed both the dragon and the remains of the Empress before raising his sword toward a new opponent.
"Who is that?" Elna whispered, her heart tightening at the sight.
Ilandra's gaze followed hers, the concern in her eyes sharp. "I don't know, but whoever she is… she is dangerous."
For a long moment, the two of them remained in silence, their eyes fixed on the battle frozen in the mirror, the tension of the fight spilling into the whiteness around them.
…
"How do you still have that much mana to do that?" the woman asked, her voice sharp with disbelief.
"Illusions don't use nearly that much," Leo replied, an angry smile tugging at his lips. All of the meteors, except the first, had been nothing more than illusions.
Before she could respond, Leo surged forward, faster than ever before, his sword cutting a crimson arc toward her neck. She dodged easily, a blur of motion, and he followed with a relentless rain of attacks, each one anticipated and evaded.
Leo leapt back, and suddenly hundreds of phantoms materialized around him. His hair turned white in an instant as his power and mana surged outward, filling the air with oppressive energy. Without hesitation, the phantoms, along with Leo, charged forward in unison.
But she flowed effortlessly, weaving from one side to the other, none of his attacks connecting.
"Future sight," Leo muttered under his breath, narrowing his eyes.
Above the phantom army, the woman floated, raising her book in front of her as a soft glow emanated from its pages.
"I can see one minute into the future, with all of its possible outcomes," she said, her voice calm yet commanding. "I am Aerwyna Starlight, Celestia of the Fates, and seeing the future is only the beginning of what I can do."
A brilliant light burst from her, and every phantom around Leo erupted into smoke and fragments. The explosions spread outward, even brushing against him, but he remained unharmed. When the smoke cleared, her figure floated untouched, serene and composed.
Leo's mind raced. That was more than future sight or an illusion, what she had just done defied everything he knew. His eyes narrowed. Could it be…?
Without warning, he threw a Blood Slash, aiming directly at her. But the moment the blood left his hand, it shimmered, turned to light, and twisted back toward him, growing ten times more powerful as it homed in on his position.
Leo swung Thorn through it, cutting cleanly through the transformed attack.
"You can change the future," he said, voice steady despite the shock.
"Knowing it will not change your fate," Aerwyna replied calmly, her eyes glinting with an almost divine certainty.
Hundreds more of phantoms appeared, one after another, charging toward her, but not a single one reached her. That was not the point, what Leo needed was time. The battle was far more complicated than he had anticipated. She could see the future and bend it to her will, just as his creations could generate infinite possibilities. Her power was boundless in its own way; she could even pierce through illusions as if they were transparent.
But he also had infinite possibilities. Raising his hand, Leo prepared his next move. If she could foresee anything, he would unleash chaos itself, forcing her to reveal the true limits of her power.
The sky erupted in violence. Tornadoes tore downward, rain and lightning screamed through the air, and the wind shredded everything it touched. Nature itself surged toward her, but nothing could make contact.
"It's useless," she said calmly, her voice cutting through the storm.
Then a bolt of lightning near her twisted unnaturally, changing shape before streaking toward Leo. He flowed to the side to dodge, but the attack followed, bending toward his new position, hitting him before he could react. Every move he attempted to evade was predicted, leaving him open to the strike.
Gritting his teeth, he pushed through the air, launching a barrage of attacks, fireballs, Blood Slashes, and his trademark Blood Explosion, but none landed. Every attack he conjured became hers, and each strike he attempted injured him instead.
In the midst of the chaos, his mind raced, calculating, analyzing. How could he fool the future itself? Then, like a spark in the darkness, an idea struck him. How many "possibilities" could she truly see? How far into reality did her vision extend?
The answer was clear. To defeat her, he would not manipulate illusions or predictions. He would use one thing she could never anticipate, reality itself.
A wave of mana erupted from his body, and thick red-and-white fog began to swirl across the battlefield, blanketing everything in a haze that distorted sight, sound, and motion.