"That is a fine bow."
"Even across the entirety of the Xianzhou Alliance, no master smith could match this craftsmanship." Jingliu had a remarkably sharp eye for weaponry. Just one look, and she instantly recognized the bow's transcendent quality.
"Hehe! It's okay."
"But I honestly prefer swords over bows. So, Master Jingliu, will I need to get a sword?" March meant for learning swordplay from her.
"Whatever works," Jingliu's reply was curt and entirely pragmatic.
"If you don't like bows, why are you using one right now?" Yuki teased lightly.
"Uh... well... I haven't actually learned swordplay yet! So bows are all I have for now."
"More like you're nervous about your first real battlefield experience and you're actively playing it safe from a distance." March's eyes had been nervously darting toward the explosive battlefield. Yuki saw right through her bravado and casually called her out.
"That's not it!"
"A beautiful, seasoned Trailblazer like me doesn't get nervous!"
"Don't you dare lift a single finger in this fight! Just watch me! I'll prove you wrong!" March fumed indignantly, pointing a finger at him.
"Fine. I won't," Yuki shrugged lazily. Playing the role of a passive war correspondent? He was more than happy to sit back and watch the show.
"March, war isn't a joke. Stay close to me. Be safe," Himeko cautioned gently, her golden eyes scanning the chaotic front lines.
"Don't worry," March nodded seriously.
"Now!"
Jingliu had been intently watching the rhythm of the battlefield. She seized a microscopic opening in the enemy lines and signaled the strike.
March and Himeko moved instantly, following Jingliu directly into the fray.
The absolute moment Jingliu stepped onto the battlefield, her entire aura shifted violently. The cold, aloof, and tragic beauty transformed seamlessly into a fearsome War-Goddess, suffused with a suffocating, icy killing intent.
Jingliu raised her crystalline greatsword and carved through the Abundance soldiers in her path like a hot knife through butter. Her crimson eyes glowed with a lethal intensity, brighter than the fresh blood spilling across the wasteland.
"March, watch closely! One strike, no return!"
She lunged. Her physical form blurred into a phantom.
A violent rush of freezing wind—and she was already 20 meters ahead. Behind her, the immortal Abundance soldiers abruptly froze completely solid, then shattered into a million glittering ice shards.
"So fast!" Himeko hadn't even seen her swing the blade.
In a matter of seconds, Jingliu had reduced dozens of elite, immortal soldiers to frozen debris. So this was the legendary Sword Champion of the Xianzhou Luofu.
As a mortal, Himeko's primary weapon was her high-tech portable railgun. Naturally, her human eyes couldn't possibly track Jingliu's City-tier combat movements.
But March? With her vastly upgraded physical and spiritual limits, she saw it all—the blistering speed, the flawless technique, the flow of energy. She was actively learning.
"Incredible!" March cheered.
Jingliu didn't respond. She pushed relentlessly deeper into the enemy lines, carving a straight path toward the Abundance commander.
Himeko and March followed closely in her wake.
Himeko seamlessly popped open her sleek briefcase. A small, satellite-like drone emerged, buzzing to life and extending a vicious, whirring chainsaw blade. It orbited them defensively, brutally cutting down any enemy that tried to flank them, keeping the path clear for Jingliu.
But unlike Jingliu's absolute zero strikes, Himeko's physical weapon couldn't permanently kill the Denizens of Abundance. It could only mangle them and delay their regeneration.
Jingliu didn't expect Himeko to permanently kill the Abominations anyway. She just needed them to cover her blind spots and buy her enough time to reach the enemy commander.
"I can't fall behind!" March was deeply eager to prove herself to Yuki.
Carefully, she drew back the string of Guinsoo's Rageblade. Instead of a physical arrow, she condensed her newly acquired Power of Memory and pure Imaginary Energy. A glowing, crystalline arrow materialized on the bowstring, shimmering like multi-faceted ice.
She aimed directly at a dense cluster of Abundance artillery and released.
Fwoosh—!
The arrow tore through the fabric of space, leaving a crackling trail of fracturing light in its wake.
It struck its target. And in that exact instant, the entire world turned blindingly white.
A catastrophic flash erupted. The ground shook violently, cracking open in deep fissures as if a massive earthquake had struck the wasteland. From high up in orbit, one could clearly see a brilliant white flare blooming on the planet's surface, the shockwave making the atmosphere itself tremble.
On the battlefield, everyone—friend and foe alike—stumbled and fell.
"Wh-what happened?!"
"That Nameless girl fired a single arrow... and then the earth shook!"
"Duh! Look at that massive crater! That's not an arrow—that's a heavy orbital cannon!"
"By the gods... Is this the true power of a Nameless?!"
The native resistance fighters stared at March 7th with profound, terrified reverence. Even Jingliu paused her slaughter, glancing back in genuine surprise at the sheer devastation.
But she was a seasoned warrior. She didn't let the shock waste her momentum. She seized the opening.
The Abundance army was in total disarray from March's blast. It was the perfect time to strike the head of the snake.
She located the enemy commander in the chaos and lunged.
"Lightfall!"
Mid-air, she swung her icy blade. Deadly crescent waves of freezing sword qi arced beautifully toward the commander.
"Hmph."
The commander raised a hand with practiced arrogance. A thick, translucent energy shield shimmered into existence around him. He was a veteran; he had flawlessly tracked Jingliu's approach despite March's earth-shattering distraction.
The crescent sword qi struck the shield with a series of deafening, sharp cracks.
It held.
Jingliu clicked her tongue in annoyance. She had one chance to end this before he could counterattack.
"Let this moon's light... illuminate the rivers of the world!!!"
She spun gracefully in midair, channeling her absolute maximum power, and unleashed a colossal wave of glacial sword qi hundreds of meters long.
It effortlessly swept aside the surrounding immortal soldiers like dust and crashed head-on into the commander's glowing shield.
BOOM—!!!
The energy shield violently bulged inward under the sheer pressure, then catastrophically exploded in a blinding shower of shattered light.