Looking at how Lilin was absolutely unscathed despite his destructive attack, Acht couldn't help but feel a shiver of terror and despair run down his spine, making him tremble to his very core.
Hastily standing up from his position, he immediately moved away and each time, he would move himself into a new place and attack her with a new barrage of his weapons of mass destruction.
His bullets were powerful and extremely deadly, the entire patch of the forest ground that the battle was ensuing on was being reduced to nothing but ashes in a ferocious sea of flames as the bullets detonated in Lilin's direction. Each attack was more unpredictable than the other and Acht didn't forget to superimpose the power of the bullets to create more and more havoc and annihilation in the general direction of his opponent.
His territorial zone whirred at its full capabilities and even went beyond, giving him the precise position that was most suitable for him to shoot at, the best angles to deal the greatest damage, and the right amount of energy that he needed to deliver to reach the utmost efficiency of all of his ammunition and capabilities.
This made each attack a perfect shot that would have brought down most dukes and even a team of ordinary dukes with the amount of ammunition he had spent till now.
Sadly for him... Lilin, despite being newly promoted to the Duke rank was in no way an average existence at this rank. He didn't know how but whenever he attacked her, she would simply be left completely unscathed. Not even a speck of dust could touch her body. It was astonishing and terrifying.
"Just how is this possible?"
Crouching against a tree far away from Lilin, with his chest heaving up and down clearly a little too fast to be normal, he muttered to himself. He couldn't believe and couldn't comprehend what the hell was happening right now.
His body was covered in sweat and his mana reserves were consumed by more than 40% with his previous continuous barrage of attacks. That was the breadth of the power and energy he had been using for those deadly attacks.
But even all of that, his best and most ruthless methods, seemed completely and utterly useless against Lilin.
'This is... Had it even been a trimester?'
He realized that he had underestimated the girl's potential by a long margin. Her growth and the evolution of her powers were too fast, too abnormal to even be considered in the realm of possibilities. This definitely did not match the records they had learned about her in the past. It was completely unprecedented and made utterly no sense whatsoever.
'Fuck, fuck, fuck!!!'
It was upsetting and truly enraging to see someone he could bully at will, and who needed a companion to barely confront him, now surpass him so easily in such a short amount of time.
He hated this feeling of powerlessness that he was forced to feel. Especially so as the one giving him this feeling was none other than Lilin.
'Don't fuck with me, you bitch!'
The pain in his soul resurged once again along with those thoughts, warning him of his possible outcome in case of prolonged confrontation with the dangerous girl. However, at the same time, that pain which made even his soul shiver in fright made way for a murderous rage to grow inside of him... He was unable to control the anger in his heart any longer and it heavily impacted his emotions and psyche.
Indeed, Acht was really, really angry right now. The fact that a person that was inferior to him could become superior was nauseating and absolutely despicable to him.
He wished for nothing more than to wipe out the smug grin on her face but there were few things he could really do at this juncture.
"Din't you say that it was your turn to attack now? Why are you not attacking, you whore?"
He screamed and cursed loud enough that Lilin could hear him loud and clear, reminding her of her old words and seemingly trying to taunt her. In reality, however, he was just trying to find a way to pass more time and decide on a plan of action he could pursue to get out of this situation.
Even though it hurt to admit, he was completely outmatched and the difference in power between them was vast and simply undeniable.
As such, rather than complaining, Acht tried to find an opening and bring her down in the fastest and most efficient way possible. But no matter how he thought about it, there was nothing he could come up with at this juncture.
Even though she was standing still and unmoving from her stance, he felt like he was facing some kind of rock. No matter from where he shot her, she was able to block his attack one way or another and he couldn't even detect how she was able to do it.
"Haha. Do you remember? The events of that night?"
A quiet laugh escaped her lips even as she looked up, her hands resting on her sword, in a languid and relaxed position.
It didn't look like she was fighting a Duke. More like she was simply playing around with some puny mortal.
"I have never felt so humiliated as I have on that night, you know?"
Lilin was still calm and her voice even and soothing, "Everything was new. Everything was a discovery. I was absolutely destroyed even though we were two fighting against one. There was no hope, only the avenue for despair."
Lilin could still remember how Acht soloed both her and Nuwa. It had been a brutal fight and this had resulted in many losses on their sides.
But nothing could compare to the psychological trauma that situation had brought to her...
"Thanks to a friend, I managed to climb back up from the depression of that horrifying loss and find the desire once again to fight."
'Bitch, stop speaking already.'
He took aim once again, this time with a normal bullet rather than his most powerful explosive one...
Thanks to this decision, he was actually able to get a close glance at everything that was happening when the bullet reached her vicinity.
She wasn't just fast. He was sure that her movements were nearly instantaneous and he could not even understand what happened or how the speed she reached was possible to be enacted before everything finished and the bullet was slashed into nothingness.
"In the past, you felt like someone incredibly strong. Someone who I would have a hard time surpassing in all my life. But now I realize- aren't you a little too weak? I guess I was just as weak back then and even more ignorant."
'You!'
Acht nearly cursed out loud subconsciously at those provoking words. He could feel the verbal attack land directly on his guts and he certainly did not like it a single bit.
"Feeling angry?"
Acht instinctively tried to move but a high pressure and all-encompassing killing intent made sure to keep him grounded and immobile; not letting him take even a single step from his position.
"You know, it's very important to listen quietly and not fight when someone is speaking. Where are your manners?"
"How..."
He could not understand. Once again he was completely lost about just what the hell was going on here.
"Distance is meaningless for me. I have transcended them."
She sighed and pushed her sword open with her hands and placed it close to Acht's neck,
"I am honestly disappointed. There are so many things I wanted to try out in this battle. At the same time, I am extremely happy. But now, I realize... You are indeed so very weak... So now, why don't you just die quietly... please...?"
Her gaze was apathetic even as she spoke word by word. She felt no joy nor anger at finally taking the enemy's head. She clearly remembered the tears of frustration she shed on the day she woke up on the hospital bed after the miserable defeat she had faced at the same guy's hands. They were like the distant past now...
"Wait! I have intel that could be useful. I will..."
"Not interested."
'Ah...'
It felt like flowing water. Acht did not even realize that the very last moment of his life had come before him even as he felt his vision start to darken.
He finally realized that he was dying in real time.
He was unreconciled, there were so many things he wished to do in his life. So many goals he had in mind. So many things that he wished to accomplish.
Sadly for him... This was the end for him.
His head fell on the ground loudly and blood flew all around and splattered on the surrounding. The turbulent streams of blood would have covered Lilin's face but before they could even reach her... they vanished into nothingness as soon as they entered her sword domain.
Now, as she looked at the corpse of the person she considered her lifelong enemy and the first true source of defeat she had ever faced, Lilin felt like a weight had finally been taken off her chest.
Her mind felt clearer and her whole body felt lighter. Now that she had slain her past, she could look forward to a bright future ahead.
Walking up to the severed head, Lilin took it by the hair before starting to walk away from the plain with slow and carefree steps.
She only needed the head for Isis to perform soul reading or whatever that skill was called. The skill would allow the caster to receive a certain quantity of information from the dead. Having a necromancer on their side was always good for these occasions.
She had left behind her a place filled with fire, dust, and ashes of the world surrounding her, but when she looked in the direction of Setsuna's fight, all she could see was endless ice and falling snow.
"I wonder what decision you will make.."
It was still left to be seen.
