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CHAPTER 268: THE GREAT LIBERATION BATTLE 10

 

Slipping past the four members of Ambrosia, Ciel’s kick collided with Garcia’s greatsword, and the grating clash of metal froze the flow of time itself.

Though the sudden blow launched Garcia dozens of meters away, he quickly launched a counterattack the moment he landed, aiming to cut off Ciel’s pursuit. Their weapons clashed in a storm of metallic shrieks.

After several fierce exchanges, Garcia returned the favor and sent Ciel flying, his cloak emblazoned with the Calvados insignia billowing as he slowly approached Ciel.

「Neither of us likes interference, do we? At this distance, we can fight without distractions.」

「…Heh. As expected.」

Ciel exhaled, lowering himself into a poised stance—supple and feline. Even mid-conversation, his guard never wavered for an instant.

「Is it youth… I wonder.」

Garcia’s calm voice carried a strange weight, an aura of pressure thickening the air between them.

A heavy, burning tension welled up between the two.

The chaos of the battlefield felt distant now. It was as though this moment, this place, was the center of the world.

「Garcia, the era of Calvados is over.」

「…Oh?」

Ciel’s gaze was cold—but burning straight and true.

「I’ll prove it—right here, right now. That greatsword of yours… ready to let it go?」

A slight smirk tugged at Garcia’s lips.

「…Interesting. Then let me show you—just how heavy the seat at the top really is.」

Both warriors grinned—and unleashed their power simultaneously.

「Manifest Earth. 【Ifriit’s Blessing】.」

The ground beneath Garcia cracked and rippled with heat. Red fissures bloomed outward as searing energy surged from both shoulders, igniting his blade in flame.

「Dance of the Water Ring. 【Sylph Flow】.」

Wind coiled beneath Ciel’s feet, lifting him lightly into the air as if buoyed by a breeze.

The moment their eyes locked—space itself exploded.

Garcia’s flame-wreathed greatsword swept forward with crushing force, as if to flatten the earth itself.

Ciel slipped past it like mist, his bladed tonfa cleaving through the flame with ease.

「Come then, challenger!」

「…Of course. I’ll go all out from the start.」

The ground split. Wind howled. Water danced. Fire roared.

The ‘Absolute King’ versus the ‘Rising Fang’.

The instant their magic clashed, the pressure of the air changed.

The atmosphere grew heavy. The earth groaned underfoot.

And then—Ciel moved first.

Wind and water wrapped around his clawed foot as he tore through the air, accelerating so fast that even tracking him with the eye was nearly impossible. His afterimages streaked like a gale.

「【Gale Fang Spiral】.」

Planting his foot firmly, he twisted midair, slashing down with a sharp, curving arc of wind-coated claws.

In the same instant, Garcia thrust his greatsword into the earth with both hands—detonating a shockwave.

「【Geostrike Unleashed】!」

The surrounding ground erupted like a field of jagged blades, a surge of earth turned into Garcia’s own weapon.

But Ciel merely smiled.

「If I couldn’t see that coming, I’d never have made it this far.」

With a twist of his foot, he reversed the wind’s flow and slipped through the gaps of the rising stone, his body flowing like liquid.

He landed in silence—right behind Garcia.

「…Got you.」

Holding his tonfa in a reverse grip, he swung for Garcia’s flame-wreathed shoulder.

But Garcia’s left arm flared with magic, and he sneered softly.

「Still too naive. 【Flameburst Shock】.」

A fiery explosion burst outward, blasting the air and sending Ciel flying.

He twisted midair and absorbed the shock, landing gracefully.

「…Heh. So your magic’s not just for show, huh.」

Wearing a languid smile, he casually popped his dislocated shoulder back into place.

「You’ve earned the right to bare your fangs at me. And… your growth is a bit abnormal, isn’t it? Why have you come so far, so fast, at your age?」

Ciel replied quietly.

「…Because I kept moving forward. Even when I coughed up blood, even when my legs were shattered. If we ever stop, it’s all over.」

「Those words… aren’t spoken lightly.」

「They’re not. I mean every one.」

With Seiha’s sudden intervention, a deadly battle between clan masters had begun.

—Sharpness and weight. Wind and flame. Fluidity and force.

Which of them stood superior… was still anyone’s guess.