The battlefield was chaotic, to say the least. It was to a level where an important figure like Ruyue couldn't leave her position unless she wished to cause the deaths of countless allies.
But she was still able to do so without any qualms. This was because she had absolute trust in the person holding the fort while she was gone.
And this person wasn't disappointing her trust at all. She stood at the forefront of the battlefield, her muted pink hair waving in the wind and giving her the valiant air of a hero.
With every swipe of her hand, attacks that were sure to kill many would vanish into thin air. Hundreds of enemy soldiers would burst into cries of pain without being attacked at all. From the position of these common 3rd class soldiers, her actions were like those of a god.
Seeing their reverence, Rose didn't feel anything. Instead, the pride welling up in her chest came from Ruyue's efforts alone.
When comparing age alone, Ruyue was actually a bit older than Rose. But their mentalities couldn't be compared. Regardless of age difference, Rose was still like a big sister to Ruyue.
Since the first time she met Damien, many years had passed. She didn't spend these years idly. In fact, her personality had gone through a myriad of changes.
The time she spent away from Damien impacted her greatly. Being stranded in a new world with only Elena to keep her company was in truth a terrifying experience.
But Rose never hated Damien for it. Rather, she took that time as a smelting trial. In her mind, doing so was only her duty.
Damien had spent the two years before he met her in a far worse environment without a single soul to keep him company. The impact that time had on his psyche was far more immense than any experience she'd been through.
He was a broken man when they met, and while she had her fair share of problems, she didn't believe any of them added up to his struggles.
Her experiences on the Cloud Plane allowed her to experience a portion of what he felt like. If that was only a portion, she couldn't even imagine the true extent of his pain.
This was why when he came to apologize to her, she didn't take long to convince. She never blamed him, only subconsciously bore some resentment that she couldn't control.
But more than that, she was proud of his growth. She was proud to see the man she fell in love with flourishing.
It was an extremely self-sacrificing mentality. Even Rose was aware of this. But when it came to Damien, was it a problem to be self-sacrificing? If the situation required it, she wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice everything for him, even if that meant destroying the entire universe for his sake.
And over time, these feelings began to flood over to the women who she shared him with.
At first, Ruyue and Elena were hindrances in her eyes. Despite her efforts to support Damien's harem, her mind couldn't help but sprout jealousy.
Yet, this jealousy wasn't even allowed to bear fruit. The two women were too outstanding for it to do so.
Never once did they make her feel uncomfortable or unwanted, never once did they make her feel like they were "competing" with her. Her experience sharing her man was far different than what she experienced witnessing her father's imperial harem.
It was strange. No matter how she tried to hate them, she couldn't. Instead, she grew to love them like real sisters. With them sharing life and death on the battlefield countless times, this bond became unbreakable.
Ruyue's glory was her glory. Elena's glory was her glory. Even if their paths separated, they would never forget their bond, nor would they abandon their love. Rose was keenly aware of this, and it was for this reason why both she and Ruyue didn't question Elena's decision to leave.
She was no longer the little girl she was in Apeiron, she was no longer the sheltered little princess who only wished to explore the world. Her goals had evolved and changed.
To support those she cared about with all her power and help them achieve their dreams, this was what Rose wished for.
Now, seeing Ruyue set a goal for herself and act on it, how could she not be proud?
Rose turned her attention back to the battlefield. She didn't know why she suddenly became sentimental, but she didn't mind the small interlude that lightened her mood within this bloody battlefield.
Only, it was hard to be optimistic. There were too many enemies and too few allies. If the current pace was kept, it would only be another day before they were defeated in a battle of attrition.
'Before Damien finishes his Baptism, only Ruyue and I can hold the fort. I can't rely on these weaker soldiers to accomplish anything noteworthy.'
For every hundred enemies she killed, a single soldier below her would kill at most ten. When combined together, their might was undeniable, but their numbers were slowly dwindling as people ran out of mana and were forced to withdraw.
Rose's eyes hardened. It had been a very long time since she last had to fight seriously. She never held the same desire to challenge herself that her peers had.
But now, seeing Ruyue's fervor, her fighting spirit unintentionally erupted. She couldn't let her little sister overshadow her now, could she?
With a fiendish grin on her face, Rose snapped her fingers. In that instant, the surrounding hundreds of kilometers and the countless thousands of existences within were encompassed in a mysterious black barrier.
"Illusory Throne, show them your might."
The Illusory Throne was a domain Rose first gained when she reached 3rd class, but since then, it had changed constantly.
Her crude use of its abilities from the past looked like child's play compared to her current control.
A throne appeared in the air within the black barrier. Rose drifted through the air, calmly arriving in front of it and sitting down as if she was an emperor overlooking the world.
"Mana cancellation."
Sitting on the Illusory Throne, her command was law. Mana itself became illusive, shifting into an ethereal plane that these soldiers could never even dream to access.
In that instant, the battlefield came to a screeching halt. Every attack fired within the barrier was erased from existence as if it never existed.
But Rose was only getting started.
"Hell flames."
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The ground erupted with magma. Burning red flames danced through the air, rapidly spreading until the entire dark domain was dyed in its color.
"Ahhhh!"
"Someone save me!"
"Hel- huh?"
Cries of anguish and pain rang true, but within those cries were also mixed many confused reactions. After all, Rose didn't just encompass enemies in her domain. A few rogue soldiers were trapped as well.
The Hell Flames she summoned never existed in reality in the first place. These illusory flames burned on more ethereal concepts, and the pain they transmitted was decided wholly by Rose.
Vengeance, bloodlust, anger, negative emotions like these were used as fuel to the flames. Compared to the safety of her allies, the fate of her enemies could only be imagined.
Those weaker Niflheim and Asgard soldiers were corrupted in an instant. Unable to bear the burning negative emotions around them, these soldiers' eyes turned bloodshot, their reasoning disappearing.
Without suspense, they began wildly attacking. But in the current situation, the only ones around them were allies!
Clang! Clash!
Swords and spears moved zealously through the crowd. The deranged soldiers attacked fiercely, however, without access to mana, their attacks didn't contain the same power as they used to.
However, everyone else was in the same position. Their weapons were deadly against the weak mortal bodies of those they used to consider their friends.
"Burn brighter."
Rose's voice rang out again. The intensity of the Hell Flames increased exponentially. It wasn't just one or two bloodlusted soldiers turning on their allies anymore. All 3rd class soldiers were forced into a maddened state.
Without Rose having to move a single step from her throne, her enemies began killing each other wildly. If she gave the word, they would do anything she said. Their minds had been corroded to such a terrifying degree.
And to cause this mayhem, Rose only spoke a few words. This was the nature of her power.
Rose's original affinity was for illusions, an incredibly rare non-elemental affinity. Matching their rarity, non-elemental affinities tended to have more conceptual leeway than their elemental counterparts.
Even Ruyue's moon affinity could be used as an example of this. Through this strange affinity, she was able to control a power that mirrored that of a Celestial.
As for Rose, her situation was even more special. Her illusion affinity was similar to Ruyue's yin affinity in that it was able to showcase far more power than an ordinary illusion affinity.
As Rose became more and more powerful, she found that her abilities were allowing her to manipulate reality itself.
It was almost god-like.
Naturally, there were plenty of restrictions on this power. One couldn't simply manipulate the universe's foundation because one wanted to.
But to Rose, these restrictions were negligible. With the power she currently possessed and the power she possessed in the future, she had no doubt she would be able to achieve the impossible.
Within an hour of Rose laying down her domain, every enemy within a thousand kilometers had been slain, leaving a gaping hole in the battlefield. As for Ruyue, she'd long since killed the burly man and moved on to new prey.
But no matter how optimistic their situation looked, reality wasn't so kind. The massive gap was soon filled by the endless number of enemies they were facing, and the only thing they had to show for their efforts was their depleting mana reserves.
The current state of affairs wasn't positive in the slightest.
