After letting the spirited Esdeath lie back down on the bed—while Jean Stardust's pain had healed, Esdeath's had not—Jean Stardust let her continue resting and began the day's charging.
Jean Stardust sat by the bedside, holding the gemstone to charge while pondering the current situation.
As for its relationship with Esdeath, Jean Stardust wasn't entirely certain. A mere ten-plus days certainly didn't constitute a deep bond, nor had it become infatuated with the other party after being beaten up for nearly a month—after all, Jean Stardust wasn't a masochist.
As for love at first sight, it was true that ever since seeing the original work, Jean Stardust had been very fond of Esdeath's image, so its favorability was naturally very high from the start. However, an image is an image, and a person is a person. The mother of a certain cult leader once told it that beautiful women are the best at lying, though in the end, it still chose one who often lied to it.
All things considered, for a person who had been single since birth, what love actually was remained an abstract concept, and it had absolutely no experience with it.
But at the very least, the desire to save her was absolute in Jean Stardust's heart, and the method wasn't complicated: once Muzan was killed, it just needed to use the azure spider lily.
Even if it still couldn't be used, it could rely on drinking blood to sustain life. As for the hurdle in its heart, once the great vengeance was achieved, the obsession would no longer matter.
But the Scum Boss's strengthening made Jean Stardust feel somewhat annoyed. After all, in the original work, even the Lower Moons that were wiped out dared to talk back to the Scum Boss, and some even tried to escape.
Yet now, that Budo, who had been single-mindedly devoted to the Imperial Family, would actually acknowledge this Scum Boss—who murdered the Imperial Family—as his sovereign.
And Esdeath had been driven into a corner.
"What are you spacing out for?" Esdeath hugged Jean Stardust from behind while it was deep in thought.
The pleasant sensation of being pressed against by her chest immediately dispelled the gloom in its heart.
It set the fully charged gemstone aside, turned around, and kissed Esdeath, feeling the scorching kiss possessed by the cold queen.
It made up its mind: even if it meant giving everything, it would secure a chance for Esdeath to defeat Muzan.
Then, it picked up the ice-made toy that still hadn't melted, recalling the pain of yesterday.
'Neither death nor the tentacle black room can stop me now. At this moment, I have nothing left to fear.'
Not realizing it had set a classic flag, Jean Stardust once again became intoxicated in the second round of battle with the queen.
---
By the time the gemstone was fully charged, it was already the 28th day since Jean Stardust had awakened on the snowy mountain, exactly one month since the battle with Budo.
Ever since the day Esdeath was defeated, their sparring life had come to an end; on one hand, this was to conserve Esdeath's strength, and on the other, there was nothing left to teach Jean Stardust.
Of course, the other aspect of their sparring hadn't stopped; at least in Jean Stardust's perception, the two had become more in sync.
Jean Stardust hadn't wasted these days either, practicing the control of larger-scale wind element while pondering ways to defeat Budo.
Budo was still stationed at the foot of the mountain to this day. During the day, it hid in that Night Barrier Teigu, and during the night, it would come out to patrol. Although it had climbed the mountain to search before, the ice and snow on the mountain were completely under Esdeath's control; even Budo could only advance to the halfway point and could not climb any higher.
Just like that, it didn't know if the other side knew Jean Stardust was still alive, but in any case, they were besieged tightly, as if they were prepared to trap Jean Stardust on the mountain until it died.
Under these premises, after several days of thought—and not knowing if Esdeath's personality had influenced Jean Stardust—it finally came up with a rather crazy plan.
"So this is the tactic you came up with? Running off to commit suicide?" Even Esdeath couldn't help but question it, but Jean Stardust remained quite confident.
It entrusted the already tattered scabbard to Esdeath to seal with ice, and at the same time, used the bones left behind by the giant Danger Beast that served as Jean Stardust's food to create a sturdy snowboard.
And based on the observations of the foot of the mountain over these days, it judged Budo's approximate location and built a slide.
Up to this point, all the preparations Jean Stardust needed were in place.
Meanwhile, Esdeath took an ice flower pendant and handed it to Jean Stardust.
"Inside this is the blood from my heart."
Shaking the pendant, Jean Stardust noticed that there was indeed red liquid flowing inside, adding a touch of allure to the originally elegant pendant.
"This pendant can, on one hand, infuse the wind element you release with ice properties, and on the other hand, protect you from being injured by my ice. Also, if I die, you can drink the blood inside to become the new user of Demon's Extract."
"I already said, I won't use it, so let's not bring it up. By the way, how do you plan to go to the Imperial Capital? Do you need me to make a box to carry you?"
Surely, a Nezuko-style Esdeath would be very cute.
"Don't worry about that; I can also use Blood Demon Art. As soon as the environmental modification in the Imperial Capital is complete, I can move there directly."
At the same time, Esdeath performed a demonstration of moving through the ice she created.
"Regarding the upcoming battle, you must remember well: Teigu of the level that Budo and I possess naturally clash with demon blood, so Demon's Extract can resist Muzan's mental interference, while Budo cannot use Teigu and demon abilities at the same time."
Jean Stardust also recalled the details of the previous battle with Budo; indeed, he had never used both powers simultaneously. However, this was irrelevant to Jean Stardust's combat—no matter what state he was in, if this wave succeeded, it would be able to completely slay him.
---
Time reached the evening, and the soon-to-set sun was crossing the mountain ridge, shining onto the area where Budo was located.
Just like that, it stepped onto the slide, fixed the snowboard to its feet, calmed its heart, waved goodbye to Esdeath, and then let the wind compress behind it, simultaneously pushing itself out violently.
The immense thrust caused Jean Stardust's speed as it rushed out of the slide to exceed 200m/s. This was already a high speed that ordinary beings could not react to, but this was not Jean Stardust's goal; Jean Stardust's goal was even higher.
The airflow shield created by the wind element seemed to have the effect of perfectly avoiding wind resistance, and this was the key to Jean Stardust's entire plan.
Just like that, driven by gravity and elemental power, Jean Stardust's speed while gliding in the sky continued to increase: 270m/s, 2s, 335m/s.
Although Jean Stardust couldn't perceive the exact data, when the sonic barrier with its immense resistance appeared, Jean Stardust knew it had approached the target speed.
Then, it triggered the wind element on the snowboard again for an explosive acceleration, moving forward with all its might, bracing against the weakness of its internal elemental power being exhausted, giving it everything.
Then, in an instant, it was as if all obstacles had suddenly vanished, and it entered an accelerated state once again.
And the magnificent white sonic boom cloud forming behind it proved that Jean Stardust had successfully surpassed the speed of sound at this moment.