Chapter 369: Esdeath's Frozen Space and Time

This is her Teigu.

Demon's Extract!

Cast from the blood of a Super Danger Beast that legend says lived in the northernmost lands, it is less a Teigu and more a bloodline potion concocted by a sorcerer.

Take a shallow sip; as long as one can resist the soul and mental assault of the Super Danger Beast's residual will without going insane, one can possess the ability to control ice.

However, before Esdeath appeared, everyone who drank the Demon Extract had already gone mad.

Even a light sip was enough to make one unable to resist the residual aura of the Super Danger Beast.

It was not until the appearance of Esdeath that she not only became a Teigu User of 【Demon's Extract】, but also drank the entire jar of the Danger Beast's blood!

And 【Mahapadma】 is the strongest technique she possesses as a Teigu User, capable of freezing space and time.

Although the duration is not long, within the frozen space and time, no life can perceive the passage of time, let alone move freely, as if time itself has stopped.

Therefore, in a sense, Esdeath is an invincible existence throughout the entire Imperial Capital and the world.

She has not activated the ability to freeze space and time for a long time.

The prey before her is truly not bad! Esdeath walked forward with a leisurely stroll, her long, shapely legs stepping on the ground, and the entire space was frozen into an ice-blue color.

Hum.

She reached out her arm, and an ice blade radiating bone-chilling cold condensed in her palm.

As if toying with prey, the tip of the blade stabbed toward Erza's chest.

Clang.

The Heaven's Wheel Armor, containing dense Magic, shattered the ice blade.

Esdeath licked her lips, her eyes growing increasingly excited, and she directly changed her posture, bypassing the defensive parts of the Heaven's Wheel Armor, "You cannot kill her, stop."

A cold voice suddenly rang out.

Esdeath's wrist was gripped by the figure who had been watching the battle all along; she tilted her head slightly,

And saw a woman dressed in a white top and red hakama, styled like a shrine maiden from a temple.

Her long, jet-black hair, deep and bright eyes, and fair, delicate oval face made her look extremely elegant.

Yet, her brows and eyes contained a very complex emotion.

Esdeath did not understand.

As a brutal Hunter, she had never possessed such an expression as the person before her, so she could not comprehend it.

Filled with sorrow and melancholy, yet soft and firm? A strange woman.

"Who are you?"

Esdeath's brows furrowed deeply, and a hint of tension even appeared in her eyes; she had not felt this way in a long time.

It was somewhat like when she was a child, a frail figure hunting powerful Danger Beasts on the ice plains that were difficult to oppose—an instinctive sense of crisis.

What was noteworthy was,

The archaic bow and arrow on the shrine maiden's back, although it did not look like a Teigu, and she had never heard of a bow-type Teigu...

It radiated a very strong sense of danger.

Most crucially,

The other party was actually able to move freely within her 【Mahapadma】 frozen space and time without being disturbed?

"My name is Kikyo, a traveling shrine maiden."

Seeing that Esdeath was no longer struggling, Kikyo released the hand that had been gripping her wrist.

Her gaze was cold, like a divine statue that had long resided in a temple and never touched the mortal world—ethereal and stunning, yet without excessive outward emotion.

"There is very powerful energy within her body... it is not Reiryoku, but it makes her body become very strong."

Kikyo reached out, her fair, soft fingers gently touching Erza's red hair; this was her perception.

"You cannot kill her; if you stop now, you can avoid the conflict that follows."

Kikyo said very calmly: "Our situation should be quite special; it is not what we imagined it to be. Let's sit down first and discuss it properly."

In fact, she was also very confused right now.

Having just been resurrected by the demon woman Onigumo, she had arrived in this place inexplicably in the state of the dead.

The strange girl in iron Armor,

The woman who could freeze space and time—everything was completely different from her experiences in Musashi Country during her lifetime. The Magic and the bloodline power from the Super Danger Beast were both very strange.

In the world she was familiar with, there was only Reiryoku and Yoki. Therefore, she boldly inferred that this was a very strange place, and perhaps they did not even come from the same world.

Whoosh...

The ice-blue frozen space and time receded like a tide.

Erza, having regained consciousness, saw that Esdeath, who had originally maintained a safe distance, had already arrived at her side,

And was holding a Sharp ice blade in her hand,

Looking as if she intended to pierce her own chest.

Beside her,

Stood a beautiful shrine maiden who looked like a pretty figurine and showed no emotional expression.

She quickly pulled away.

"Teleportation Magic?... No, was the surrounding space locked?"

Erza's combat awareness was extremely high; in just two seconds, she deduced the other party's ability.

This kind of terrifying ability,

If Gray were compared to her, he would be nothing more than a brat playing with ice. To think she could even freeze space and thought.

"Thank you, Miss Figurine—I mean... Miss Shrine Maiden!"

Judging by her posture, the shrine maiden in the red hakama was actually able to remain unaffected by the spatial freezing and stop the other party?

Erza revealed a friendly smile.

With her resplendent Heaven's Wheel Armor, red hair that could bring a sense of passion to others, and an exquisite, beautiful face, this smile made even Kikyo feel as if the sky had suddenly cleared.

It was just... what was a "figurine"? Was it some kind of strange term? As expected... the ice woman, the armor woman, and herself most likely came from places very far apart.

Kikyo possessed a stunningly beautiful face and powerful strength; even her wisdom was that of a powerful Shrine Maiden rarely encountered in hundreds of years.

It was precisely because people like her kept appearing,

that humanity was able to survive in the Sengoku period where demons ran rampant.

"Wuwu... waku waku, I really shouldn't have eaten the second son's liqueur chocolate cake; to think I would have such a strange dream!"

Wearing a Noble school uniform, with pink shoulder-length hair and cute emerald-green eyes, the little girl climbed up from the ground with a dazed expression, yawning.

She had been taking a nap at school, and before sleeping, she had eaten the liqueur chocolate cake that the second son had tossed to her with a look of disgust, claiming it was gross even though he hadn't taken a single bite; the sweet, boozy filling had made Anya's head spin, and she had quickly fallen asleep.

Opening her eyes again, she saw three beautiful older sisters whose looks did not lose to her mother, huddled together, their gazes clashing as if sparks were about to fly.

Ice blades, bows and arrows, armor...

It was just like a fairy tale played on TV.

"Hahahaha, I really want to ravage them!"

"The red-haired armor woman!... And the Shrine Maiden who is as lifeless as an ice sculpture; I wonder if they would show expressions of pain if they were tortured by my cruel punishments?..."

Anya's ignorant gaze landed on the well-proportioned ice-blade woman, and she shivered instantly.

The little bit of sleepiness she had left was scared away; what a crazy laugh, to actually have a penchant for torturing people.

What a truly terrifying dream...

Something was wrong.

Anya narrowed her eyes, looking sneaky, and rubbed her chin with her chubby little hand, thinking: "If this were a dream, Anya should be able to wake up right now."

She turned her head to look to the side,

at the harmless-looking, beautiful Shrine Maiden sister.

"Should someone like me, who has already died, really continue to remain in this world?"

Anya's youthful face froze instantly; besides the crazy woman, why was there also a ghost?

Without leaving a trace, though the movement was actually very obvious, she covered her head and lay on the ground; the teachers at the Noble academy had taught her that if you have a nightmare, you should hold your breath, and when your body clearly realizes that something cannot exist in reality, you can suddenly wake up.

Anya held her breath until her face turned flushed and she could barely catch her breath, only then carefully lifting her head.

Three cold gazes were all staring fixedly at her.

It's over...

Anya was in big trouble.

(End of chapter)