The End of Spirits

"Ice Avalanche!"

As Esdeath's voice resounded, an icy blue radiance exploded from her body. Sharp icicles burst from the ground, and in an instant, a blizzard engulfed the manifested imaginary space.

Frost-white ice stretched endlessly, covering every inch of sight. Everything before her was transformed into a cage of ice and snow, towering like a frozen forest reaching the heavens, sculpted as if from eternal frost.

Countless massive ice spikes materialized out of thin air, piercing toward Mio Takamiya, who was shrouded in a veil of frost and mist.

Mio appeared utterly unmoved. No matter how broad, dense, or fast Esdeath's ice spikes were, no matter how dazzling the gleam of the cold light, they failed to stir even the faintest reaction from her.

"Pointless. If this is all you can do, then cooperation would benefit us both. I don't enjoy fighting, and if you insist on it, let's wait until I accomplish my goal. Then we can settle this. How about that?"

Ignoring the surrounding frost, Mio spoke calmly.

"If you cannot make decisions, summon your legion commander or your Empress to speak with me. My power should at least suffice to warrant dialogue with your ruling class, no?"

This wasn't arrogance. For a being like Mio, whose body had surpassed natural laws, even glacial assaults of this magnitude required no evasion.

She had tried everything from bloodletting, drowning, and overdosing to end her life in the past, but her resilient body had always refused. Only power of the same origin or comparable energy could harm her.

"Then how about this? Come, let us kill each other!"

Esdeath's eyes gleamed with unfiltered battle lust, a pure desire to either kill Mio or be killed by her.

The giant ice spikes expanded again, now infused with the full authority of the Herrscher of Ice. The snowy prison writhed as if alive, countless smaller ice shards branching off the massive spikes.

"Oh, I see…" Mio muttered, her hand covering her face, obscuring her expression. "You're just an unreasonable battle maniac."

Sensing the energy fluctuations capable of harming her, Mio lowered her hand, revealing her face. Her expression was blank, her voice quiet yet heavy with sorrow.

"Shinji… Why must they keep obstructing us?"

Dropping her hand, Mio's tone grew cold.

"Ain Soph Aur!"

Mio's First Angel, the Angel of Death, materialized.

Silently, all the ice shards around her disintegrated within a 100-meter radius.

A radiant barrier of pure white energy expanded outward, nullifying Esdeath's attacks entirely and even altering the miniature manifested imaginary space, staining it with Mio's presence.

Esdeath, despite her power, was neither the Herrscher of the Void nor Selene herself.

Even with the Honkai crystal cube bestowed upon her by Selene, which allowed Esdeath to partially transform imaginary energy into a spatial domain, her control over it remained limited.

Abruptly, the space above Mio began to distort violently. A massive ovoid object appeared, its smooth surface rippling like water before slowly folding and peeling back.

It unfolded like a flower of light, layer upon layer of petals revealing its core. At its heart was a figure, horrifying in its stillness—a girl-shaped form as its nucleus.

"The Virgin Mary pose? What an aesthetic indulgence…" Esdeath muttered, frowning. Without hesitation, she encased herself in a shell of frost.

From the blossoming flower, countless pollen-like light particles shot outward in all directions.

Bang, bang, bang!

The icy constructs began to corrode rapidly as the light pollen collided with Esdeath's ever-expanding domain of frost.

Esdeath's dissipating Honkai energy clashed violently with Mio's Spirit energy. Neither force could overwhelm the other; the Spirit energy could not penetrate the frost, and the frost could not erode the light.

Light and heat erupted in endless explosions, their sounds reverberating across the battlefield. Esdeath's ice spikes disintegrated faster than they could grow.

Boom, boom, boom!

The frozen forest shattered, revealing the dim purple void beneath.

Drip.

"Cough… Haha! As expected of the First Spirit, the strongest extraordinary being in this world!"

Esdeath rose slowly, her demeanor unchanged. Instead of despairing over her failure, her expression grew ecstatic.

"You're strong! Only someone like you is worthy of a life-and-death battle!"

Slash!

Wielding ice blades trailing violet-red particles, Esdeath tore through the air, her attacks shredding Mio's Spirit barrier with terrifying precision.

"She's a completely different entity from either Spirits or humans—a wholly new lifeform. Even the Angel of Death cannot corrode her."

Mio remained composed, her face impassive. She attempted to retreat, but Esdeath blinked forward in a sudden spatial movement.

"Spatial manipulation again?!"

Clang!

Sensing the disturbance behind her, Mio extended a tendril of pure white light, coiling around Esdeath's ice blade and trapping it.

Yet, as Mio grasped the weapon, Esdeath was nowhere to be seen.

"Huh? Where did she—"

Bang!

In the next moment, Esdeath's ice-blue hand struck Mio squarely in the back, the sheer force crumpling her ethereal Spirit attire.

"Urgh!"

With a muffled cry of pain, Mio bent forward, her elegant gown torn and exposing much of her figure.

"Her Majesty was right—there's no greater thrill than feeling the fight in your very flesh!"

"You—!"

Raising her head, Mio's azure eyes flared with fury and killing intent, almost tangible in their intensity.

Esdeath, unfazed, pressed her assault. Her blade-like fingers pierced through Mio's Spirit attire, embedding themselves deeply into her flesh.

Hum!

Unconverted violet-red Honkai particles surged forth. Esdeath injected massive amounts of Herrscher energy, unique to the Herrscher of Ice, into Mio's body.

Then, grinning, Esdeath declared, "Cryo Detonation!"

BOOM!

Mio's body was flung backward by the explosion.

"Come on, entertain me!"

Leaving a trail of icy blue light, Esdeath pursued Mio's flying form. Her hands blurred into motion as she executed a flurry of piercing strikes.

Shlck! Shlck! Shlck!

Blood sprayed in thin arcs as Esdeath's blows tore through Mio's defenses. From her shoulder to her abdomen, a vertical line of shredded Spirit attire exposed her pale skin, marred by countless punctures.

Crimson splattered onto Esdeath's face, painting her visage with Mio's blood.

"I will kill you!" Mio roared, her expression twisted with rage. Behind her, the glowing wheel of light brightened, and ribbons of light surged outward, filling every corner within ten kilometers.

Crack, crack, crack... Boom!

Unfortunately, Esdeath's figure flickered and disappeared long before the ribbons could reach her.

A few seconds later, as her mind settled, Mio ceased her attack, the ribbons withdrawing into her.

"Ugh!" Mio wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, clutching her chest as she raised her head, locking her gaze onto Esdeath in the distance. Calculating the distance between them, she realized something shocking.

In mere seconds, she had been struck and sent flying tens of kilometers.

While tens of kilometers might sound like a significant distance, in the vastness of the partially manifested imaginary space, it was insignificant.

Lowering her hand, Mio's grievous injuries—blasted open wounds on her shoulders, chest, and abdomen—had already healed. The recessed flesh filled with vibrant light buds and smoothed out entirely.

Even her Spirit Dress was fully restored, leaving no trace of the earlier carnage.

Suppressing the trembling within her, Mio glared intently at Esdeath.

The icy blue conversion energy was tolerable, causing damage but failing to disrupt her essence. However, those ominous violet-red particles were different—they began to erode and assimilate her!

Had the quantity been greater or the magnitude closer to her own, she might have actually been killed.

"You deserve to die," Mio stated flatly.

"This domain is your source of confidence, isn't it? Spatial abilities? An incomplete origin? It doesn't matter. I will kill you."

Her tone was cold, her face emotionless as she spoke of her fury.

Mio's abilities had undeniably been weakened through the process of splitting herself to create other Spirits.

Yet even in this diminished state, her power still far surpassed any other Spirit. The combined power of the eleven fully realized Spirits' Sephira Crystals and Spirit energy was only a fraction of Mio's own energy.

(P.S.: The Yamai twins each hold half of their original Spirit's Sephira Crystal; only when combined do they form the complete Spirit Yamai.)

Standing like a goddess of destruction towering above the world, Mio's gaze swept across her surroundings before settling on Esdeath. Her eyes cold, her lips parted, and her words carried an icy detachment.

"Ain Soph, The Angel of Laws—Samsara of Paradise!"

In the next moment, black and white hues spread out like multiplying cancer cells, consuming everything in sight.

Instantly, the temporary manifested imaginary space summoned by the Honkai crystal cube turned black and white.

The violet-red space that represented Esdeath's domain was rapidly compressed, her icy blue snowstorm collapsing upon contact.

Trembling!

For the first time since encountering Selene, Esdeath felt an overwhelming sense of danger rise from within.

"This is… a domain of world erosion?"

Esdeath muttered in uncertainty, watching as the world around her turned into monochrome tiles of black and white.

"Her Majesty was correct—I truly am no match… but no matter what, I'll give it my all."

Biting her lip, Esdeath's eyes gleamed with resolve. Blue energy particles poured from her, surging toward Mio like a tidal wave.

"It's futile," Mio remarked coldly, raising her finger and pointing at Esdeath.

The next instant, the icy aura capable of freezing all things abruptly disintegrated.

Mio's domain was leagues beyond Esdeath's. She could erode the world itself, turning it into a space governed by her own rules.

In comparison, Esdeath's powers were constrained to a world constructed with borrowed energy.

In front of Esdeath, the once-vibrant space was now pitch black, her flying frost vanishing without a trace. Black and white squares stretched endlessly across the sky.

Simultaneously, a massive, towering tree manifested behind Mio.

Its surface resembled frosty glass, its countless branches stretching heavenward, and at the peak of its trunk was a fissure shaped like a girl's silhouette.

The tree was so gargantuan it filled Esdeath's entire field of vision.

"To be precise, this is a field of absolute dominance. It is the Neighboring Realm, a world that I alone command. All rules here are defined by me. However…"

Though her voice was calm, a trace of surprise laced Mio's tone as she continued.

"This void space can resist my Ain Soph? Your energy levels are undeniably high, but not enough for this. It doesn't belong to you, does it?"

"It's merely a portion, and you are only its borrower," Mio declared. Raising her hand, her voice turned icy.

"It's over. I don't have time to play with you anymore."

Zing!

"Ain, The Angel of Void—Erasure!"

A streak of light emerged from the monochrome space above Mio's head, speeding toward Esdeath's chest like lightning. Looking at its source, Esdeath glimpsed a tiny seed at the core of the light.

Yet this small seed set her instincts ablaze, her nerves taut, a sense of impending death overwhelming her.

"Esdeath, be erased from existence!" Mio's voice was like a decree.

"Move, damn it! Mahapadma!" Esdeath roared, her body unnaturally sluggish under Mio's altered laws.

The streak of light hurtled toward her, nearing her heart—

Suddenly, the light dissipated into nothingness.

Mio collapsed to her knees, blood pouring uncontrollably from her mouth, her luminous wheel of light dimming rapidly behind her.

"Cough… cough… The Earth… it's reclaiming all that belongs to it!"

It wasn't over. Mio's Spirit waves plummeted like a crashing stock market. Behind her, the towering tree of Ain Soph cracked audibly before shattering completely.

Curled in pain, Mio trembled as the agony of her Spirit energy, flesh, and soul being stripped from her coursed through her.

In her haze, Mio's vision cleared to reveal the Earth, encased in a colossal ritual formation.

On the scarred land where she was created, Mio understood what was happening.

The Spirit Creation Technique had been reversed.

"Elliot… Shinji! No! Don't!"

Surrounded by countless blue-armored giants, Mio's creators—Westcott, Ellen—stood respectfully nearby, their expressions deferential.

At their feet lay Elliot, and to her horror, Shido Itsuka.

But what terrified her most was the graceful figure encased in a torrential crimson energy stream at the center of the Eurasian crater.

In that moment, an indescribable fear engulfed Mio's heart.

"Esdeath, the game is over. Bring her back to me. The harvest is about to begin!"

"Understood, Your Majesty," Esdeath replied, her voice steady.

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