The Noble Lady of Lust

Chapter 397: Decisive Actions

The pull wasn’t clean.

It wasn’t an orderly force or a simple vector.

It was gravitational chaos.

Space folded toward the point of attraction as if the world had decided to collapse in on itself.

...Everything was torn from its trajectory and thrown in the same direction.

WHOOOOOOM—!

Oryx felt his stomach twist.

There was no ”up” or ”down.” Space stretched, compressed, and his perception—normally dilated—became erratic, saturated with contradictory signals.

Noha was no better off.

And their summonses struggled to stabilize: roars, flapping wings, brute force tearing through the air... all useless.

All absorbed.

They were dragged along as they collided with each other.

BROOMMM—!

CRASH—!

FWUUM—!

Amidst the distorted chaos—

Seraphina.

She wasn’t fighting the force.

She was using it.

Her incomplete body was supported by platforms of light that were born and died in fractions of a second, created only to stabilize her, propel her, and disappear.

Everything had to be executed exactly as she had calculated.

Her single arm rose.

BANG—!

A shot of light pierced the chaos and severed one of the giant vines Noha had thrown out to anchor himself.

Noha growled.

”No—!”

Rocks and trees torn up along the way began to hit him indiscriminately.

CRASH!

Oryx, who had tried to use his ability too late, forced it again.

”...”

This time he moved.

But he appeared in the worst possible place: between two colossal stones about to crush him.

His teleportation was still failing.

He activated the space jump again—

And reappeared a few feet away from Seraphina, spinning out of control.

Their eyes met.

For a single moment.

BANG!

The light projectile shot out from Seraphina’s hand.

Oryx raised a space barrier in front of him.

CRACK!

It worked.

But the impact threw him backwards, spinning violently, losing all reference for a brief moment.

Seraphina didn’t let it pass.

”Lux—”

Her spell didn’t quite form.

Her vision clouded for an instant.

Pain. Burning. The overload gnawing at her from within.

Blood floated, scattering in the gravitational field like suspended droplets.

’It’s good enough.’

Confirmation came to him.

WHUM—!

The point of attraction collapsed in on itself.

The force disappeared in an instant.

The world reclaimed its weight.

THUUUD! CRASH—! BOOM!

Everything fell.

Bodies. Remnants of spells. Fragments of beasts. Compacted sand. Uprooted roots.

The impact shook the forest like a sharp, brutal blow.

Seraphina landed on her knees on a platform of light. Her breathing was heavy. Irregular. Blood continued to escape.

But she smiled.

As if she had been waiting for exactly this moment.

Oryx struggled to his feet, staggering, still disoriented.

Noha emerged from the wreckage, breathing heavily.

They both looked up.

Seraphina was already standing.

Mana swirled around her uncontrollably.

Dense. Violent. And in large quantities.

The ground began to crack.

The air vibrated.

And then—

CLANG! BANG! BRUM!

Coincidentally?

The clanging of weapons could be heard. Closer and closer. Too close.

At that moment, Seraphina opened her mouth.

”Thronus Spinarum Obscurarum.”(X2) (Throne of Obscure Thorns)

The Seraphina who had left with Mitrass... was also there, they were the source of the noise.

”....”

Silence fell suddenly.

The silence lasted only a second. A second in which magicians of their level could have made more than one move.

But no one moved.

The pressure was absolute. The feeling of inevitability, overwhelming.

”UARG—!” ”AHH!” ”HUH—? AGH!” ”PYAA!” ”CRYAAA—!”

Confirmation came immediately. Black vines covered in thorns emerged and instantly grabbed everyone present, except for the two Seraphina.

They grabbed limbs. Necks. Torsos.Without warning.

Weakness struck first.

Then the dragging.

Everyone was violently pulled toward the same point.

No one was spared.

Not even the colossal worm that had avoided the previous dragging; it made the mistake of following them and was forcibly pulled out of the ground, caught by the thorny vines.

Oryx reacted instantly, forcing a release, trying to escape... even to rescue the others.

”Activa—! Cough!You won’t escape this time!”

Seraphina had already anticipated this. The arrow’s function was activated.

It was an improved version, which she planned to give to Alice later.

It had two divine runes.

’Attach’. ’Interrupt’.

The first was what prevented it from being removed, and the second was how to deal with him. Seraphina knew that abilities unrelated to affinities tended to resist or even ignore common magic.

That’s why she could stop his affinity... but not his jumping Skill.

But with the divine runes, it was different.

”—!!!”

Everything Oryx tried to use was interrupted.

Nothing responded, no matter how fast his mind worked.

He continued to be dragged by the vines.

CRACK! PRACK! JISAAAA—! HIAAAA—!

The magic dragging them was brutal.

Probably the most powerful used that day.

A joint effort by both Seraphina, channeling overflowing and chaotic mana, perfectly aligned by the second parallel thought.

The vines of darkness and plant suppressed and weakened whoever they caught.

Breaking them was extremely difficult, even for tenth-rank beasts.

The thorns dug into the flesh, causing constant damage while further weakening them.

And it didn’t end there.

The vines began to join together into a sphere of thorny vines.

Squeezing.

Compressing everyone together.

Continuous damage. Suppression. Drainage.

A slow and merciless execution.

”UGHH! Swallow this... let’s see if you survive.”

The doppelgänger fell to his knees, breathing heavily.

A brutal relief washed over his body: a huge amount of mana had been released all at once.

He looked at the ball of thorns.

Three enemies and the beasts trapped inside.

The colossal worm had been pulverized, crushed without margin for error.

Of all her options, this was the right one, as it caused continuous damage and would force those trapped inside to use up all their reserves if they wanted to survive.

An all or nothing gamble.

Her body couldn’t take much more. And the original’s situation wasn’t good either, even if it was somewhat better than hers.

BROOMMM! CRRUUMM!!

Impacts from within.

Those trapped were trying to free themselves with everything they had.

But the black vines continued to spread, making the sphere denser, thicker.

The magic absorbed the mana from the attacks.

It was no coincidence that it had taken so long to conjure, even with the original’s abilities and the mana reserves of both.

Even for her current temporary power, it was a very complex and difficult magical execution.

In fact, it was no simple feat, and it was so extraordinary that...

Affinity with Plants (+A) >>> Affinity with Plants (S)

Affinity with Darkness (+A) >>> Affinity with Darkness (S)

Even the world recognized it.

The battle was coming to an end.

If they survived, Seraphina was ready to finish them off without delay.

WAASSHK—

”Tsk!.”

Both Seraphinas saw him at the same time.

Oryx appeared outside the ball of thorns.

It was not surprising. The arrow only interrupted him temporarily. There was a slight hope that he would believe, even for a moment, that he could not use his Skill until the end.

But his skill set was still problematic.

Even so, Oryx was torn apart. One of his arms was completely covered in blood.

And something else.

Before, he wore a necklace with a ruby bead around his neck. Now—it was gone.

Seraphina looked at the arrow stuck in him.

It was still there.

It was made of good material, which she had her father give to her. It was kept in the family vault and was a kind of family treasure, although for her it was simply the perfect material to hold divine runes, more than once.

It would withstand two more activations.

As soon as she saw Oryx, she took immediate action.

The doppelgänger, in the last stretch of her strength, lunged at him.

Oryx saw her.

His face twisted in pure terror. Seraphina was already a permanent shadow in his mind, and he didn’t want her to get close.

SKRRRAAA—!GRRRAAAH!

But out of nowhere, the circumstances changed. A heavy roar shook the area.

At the same time, a brutal pressure fell upon the surroundings.

Seraphina reacted immediately.

She located the source.

A huge red panda was running in her direction.

Not toward her.

Towards the ball of thorns.

The aura it emanated—Soul Conversion. First rank.

An eleven-star beast.

For a moment, she thought it was a beast from Noha.

But—

[[no connection]]

Qetesh confirmed instantly: no connection to Noha.

Those who came from other worlds had limits on entry, but the inhabitants of this world did not.

That is why there were forbidden zones. That’s why certain places were left untouched until the power was equalized; there were many soul conversion beasts everywhere.

They had entered its territory. Or maybe it was just bad luck, whatever it was, it seemed that the beast saw magic as a threat.

CRAAUGH!

The red panda attacked the sphere of thorns.

The vines, like the rest, tried to wrap around it, drag it down.

But it didn’t work.

The beast was absurdly strong. Its defense, too.

It wouldn’t let itself be restrained.

Its claws left deep gashes, tearing away layers of vines.

From one of those gashes, a hand emerged.

Covered with what looked like a glass glove. It bled purple.

Small compared to the panda and the sphere... but a string of light emerged from it.

It stretched out. And it wrapped itself around the red panda’s neck.

The panda’s movement stopped dead in its tracks.

A moment later—

GRAAAWW!

The beast intended to attack the area where the hand was coming from, with everything it had.

”Damn it... Saltu—.”

But the doppelgänger didn’t stand still.

It changed its target.

Instead of going after the elusive Oryx, it lunged at the red panda.

It wasn’t fast enough, and before it could complete its throw.

BOOMM—!

The panda attacked with full force.

The roar shook the area. The earth trembled.

The shockwave even affected the doppelgänger.

’Shit.’

Seraphina, watching from a distance, understood immediately.

The attack had been effective. It didn’t just open a breach:

it broke the magic.

The structure collapsed.

Mitrass was gone. Only his boots remained.

Seraphina wanted to believe that he was finally dead.

But Noha was still alive.

Conscious.

He was injured, but his body was covered—no, rather, his body now seemed crystallized, and his hand had even recovered. He even had two extra arms.

’Do it.’

Seraphina was decisive.

With an eleven-star beast on the scene, the situation had spiraled out of control.

’I understand.’

”Saltus Spatii!” (Spatial Leap)

The doppelgänger, on the verge of collapse, teleported.

Straight to the red panda.

More specifically—

Straight into its open mouth.

And was devoured in one bite.

Noha saw it.

He didn’t understand everything that was going on. But he retreated.

He didn’t control the red panda; his rank didn’t allow it.

He had only forced it for a moment with his ability.

Before the beast turned on him, he distanced himself.

Then—

BOOMMMMMM—!!!

The roar was absolute.

Noha looked back.

The red panda’s head fell, brutally separated from its body.

A gigantic explosion had occurred inside its throat.

The doppelgänger had sacrificed herself.

It was the result of ninth metamorphosis statistics, and with a higher-range core, along with the fact that it had been detonated from within for greater effectiveness.

She decisively eliminated that variable, making one last use of that body that could no longer resist another moment.

”Enough is enough.”

Noha was exhausted, mentally at his limit.

Two defensive artifacts and five beasts sacrificed just to survive the previous attack.

He couldn’t drag this out any longer, and he was going to be decisive too.

Seraphina saw him.

She read the decision in his eyes.

Unlike her doppelgänger, she couldn’t ignore the warnings her body was screaming.

But she had no choice.

She gritted her teeth.

She prepared to attack Noha, now fused with his crystal beast.

CRACK—!

The sound was sharp, a sound that represented a turning point.

And then she felt it—

Relief.

Overwhelming relief.

The relief her body had been demanding for a long time.

The reason—

The demonic core in her chest had broken.

A dagger had been thrust into it without her noticing.

The demonization ceased instantly. The relief made her weak, and her body was about to collapse.

It was one of Noha’s trump cards: a quick, stealthy dagger.

Perhaps she didn’t notice it because he had no intention of killing her.

Just to rip out the demonic core, something her body desperately wanted.

But at that moment, losing the demonization—

Was a death sentence.

Frosssh!~

And Noha was also being decisive and didn’t stop there, and immediately A gigantic glow flooded the area and headed in her direction.

Another attack. One of the things Noha should only use when cornered.

Seeing it, in that moment of weakness, Seraphina felt it—

Death approaching.

Absolutely.