Every word seemed to be hammered out from a red-hot anvil, heavy, scorching, and filled with unquestionable determination.
The pallor on Leticia's face had not yet faded, but her pure black pupils were filled with relief and joy.
She reached out.
That fair, slender hand, which had just personally ended centuries of suffering, did not touch Anglonia's power armor, but instead, with a gesture bordering on intimacy, gently lifted her firm chin.
The warmth of her fingertips formed a sharp contrast with the taut, heated bronze skin of her jaw.
Anglonia's massive body trembled slightly.
She could clearly feel a warm current, even gentler than the previous purification but equally divine in origin, flowing from those slender fingertips, instantly soothing the Battle Intent that had been surging within her due to her excitement.
"Rise, Anglonia."
Leticia's voice was very soft, yet carried an irresistible gentleness.
"From now on, you are no longer anyone's slave, and certainly not mine."
"You are my Sisters."
Sisters...
This word, like a warm lightning bolt, split open Anglonia's soul.
Her heart, which had only beaten for battle and fury, was filled for the first time with an emotion called "belonging."
She followed the pressure of Leticia's fingertips and slowly straightened her body.
Her towering figure, over two meters tall, cast a huge shadow before Leticia, but this shadow held no sense of oppression; instead, it felt like a bulwark, instinctively shielding her from all outside prying eyes.
Anglonia stood up, but her gaze did not shift in the slightest, locked tightly and greedily onto Leticia's face, as if she wanted to forever engrave this divine visage that had granted her rebirth into the deepest part of her soul.
"Yes."
She replied in a low voice, her tone carrying absolute obedience.
"But to be the first bulwark guarding you is my eternal honor, my... Elder Sister."
She mimicked Fogremia's address, and as she squeezed the word from her throat, it carried a hint of awkwardness, yet also a distinct solemnity.
Leticia nodded with a smile and withdrew her hand.
A trace of imperceptible loss flashed in Anglonia's eyes, but it was immediately replaced by a stronger, newly born curiosity.
She subconsciously raised her hand to touch her temple.
The grotesque, twisted metal conduits had long since vanished, replaced by that dark golden headpiece resembling a crown of thorns.
"It..."
She closed her eyes and carefully felt it.
It was an unprecedented, wondrous feeling.
"It no longer brings pain, Goddess."
Anglonia opened her eyes, excitement flashing in her amber pupils; like a child who had received a new toy, she couldn't wait to show it to her creator.
"No, it is still shrieking, roaring, and burning! But..."
Her voice suddenly rose, filled with a sense of power.
"...It is burning for me! Roaring for me! It is singing! Singing for you!"
Anglonia clenched her fists, feeling the surging, powerful force within her body, strong enough to tear apart stars.
This power was purer and stronger than any surge of fury she had ever experienced when she was Angron.
Most importantly, it... is controllable.
"All my fury, all my Battle Intent, all my hatred... they are all still here."
For the first time, a wild and confident smile appeared on Anglonia's face, a smile that made her entire being radiate a breathtaking charm belonging to a Valkyrie.
"But they are no longer my masters, they are my slaves! They are imprisoned within this crown, transformed into the purest source of power, waiting only for your command to become flames that burn everything to ash!"
She felt all of this, felt this rebirth as if she had been stripped of her old self.
Without the eternal agony, without the endless noise, the world became so clear for the first time, so... real.
She could even hear Terrania's heartbeat in the distance, slightly accelerated due to nervousness, and smell the faint, reassuring fragrance on Leticia, like a newborn nebula.
Just then.
"Boom—!!!"
An even more violent sound, one that threatened to overturn the entire Colosseum, came from the already twisted and deformed alloy gate!
Immediately following was a cold, slightly impatient rebuke from Fogremia.
"Ignorant beasts!"
The battle outside had clearly entered a white-hot stage.
Anglonia's ears twitched slightly, like a leopard's.
She turned abruptly.
Those amber pupils, burning with flames, instantly locked onto the direction from which the sound came.
A terrifying, tangible Battle Intent erupted from her! That Battle Intent was no longer chaotic and mad like in the past, but like a peerless weapon just unsheathed—sharp, piercing, and with a clear target!
She stepped forward and bent down.
That long, powerful hand gripped the huge twin chainaxe that belonged to the "past," lying quietly on the sandy ground.
The rough, cold metal handle, stained with dried blood and sweat, once again fit into her palm.
This weight was incomparably familiar.
Her fingers tightened abruptly, her knuckles protruding from the force, and the explosive muscle lines on her arms tensed instantly.
"This axe was once an extension of my pain. Now, it will be the fangs with which I guard you."
Vroom—!!!
The engine of the chainaxe, under her will, let out a roar unlike anything before—filled with joy and longing!
"Goddess."
Anglonia did not look back; her broad back, encased in copper-colored power armor, stood like an insurmountable mountain range, blocking the space between Leticia and the gate.
Her voice was filled with a longing to join the battle.
"Please allow me to offer you the first sacrifice."
Her stance was no longer the wide-open, flaw-filled berserker posture of the past.
Her feet were rooted deep into the earth, knees slightly bent, back straight, her center of gravity as steady as a rock. Her fury was no longer destructive lava venting in all directions, but a scorching shell tightly constrained within a cannon barrel, waiting only to be fired.
Leticia looked at her back, at this newborn furious guardian she had personally created, and nodded with satisfaction.
This rescue could be called perfect.
Anglonia had already positioned herself as Leticia's sharpest spear and strongest shield. Her perfect control over power and that absolute loyalty stemming from her soul heralded a great victory.
"Go."
Leticia's voice was calm and majestic.
"Let your kin see what true..."
"Fury."
"Understood!"
Anglonia's reply was crisp and decisive.
Having received permission, she hesitated no longer. Her massive, agile body exerted force suddenly, the sandy ground beneath her feet exploded into a deep pit, and she shot forward like a red cannonball toward that wailing alloy gate!
However, just as she was about to rush to the gate.
The massive gate, which had been battered to pieces and was held together by only a few metal skeletons, was pushed open violently from the inside out by a deft force.
A pink-purple figure, like an elf under the moon, flashed in from outside the door, light and unscathed.
Fogremia's figure appeared at the end of the passage.
The longsword in her hand was still as clean as new, and her gorgeous crystal battle armor remained spotless. Only on her flawless, pretty face was there a hint of faint, almost imperceptible fatigue from the prolonged, high-intensity precision combat.
She had just finished eliminating the last wave of berserkers attempting to climb the corpse wall and was preparing to report back to Leticia.
Her gaze pierced through the dim passage and happened to collide mid-air with that crimson figure, burning with raging flames, rushing toward her.
Fogremia's steps came to an abrupt halt.
Her deep purple eyes, which always carried a hint of laziness and arrogance, contracted instantly upon seeing that figure clearly, revealing an unprecedented, extreme shock.
That face...
That aura...
Is that Angron?
No!
That's not right!
Fogremia's pupils widened instantly.
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