The audience above really was nervous, but because his opponent was Frieren, Ash truly could not feel tense at all. He even waved his hand and drove away the referee before seriously saying, "Friendship first, duel second, got it?"
"This concerns the future of the world..."
"You're going to kill your own friends and family over the direction of the world? Are you even human?"
"Ugh..."
That simple accusation instantly left Frieren speechless. Even the look on her face turned strange. She had never imagined Ash would say something like that to her.
Before she could recover, Ash kept going, "When you get down to it, if you really cared that much, why did you take so long to defeat the Demon King back then? For you and Eisen, ten years wouldn't even change anything, right? But now it's different when it comes to me? Picking on your own people? Bullying honest folks?"
"I-I was wrong already!", Frieren's cheeks turned a little red. She pressed her lips together and lowered her head, giving up as she muttered, "Friendship first, duel second. Fine, whatever you say."
Ash nodded in satisfaction, a faint smile appearing on his face.
"Good. Then surrender."
"Okay, I'll noti—hey! What are you even talking about?", Frieren failed to react at first, but once she realized it, she immediately snapped at him with a dark look on her face.
"Tch! Women really do lie so easily. Just now you were feeling guilty, and now you're angry again," Realizing she still refused to back down, Ash couldn't help grumbling about her for a while before continuing, "Forget it, forget it. I won't talk about it anymore. Let's just start."
"Just you wait, I definitely..."
Frieren took a deep breath and worked hard to steady herself again before raising her head, fighting spirit returning to her eyes.
There was no need for a referee. Ash casually summoned a chunk of ice and tossed it into the air.
The instant it hit the ground, the duel officially began.
Former close friends were about to fight a duel that would decide the fate of the world. Normally, it should have drawn endless attention or stirred people's emotions, but, aside from the Emperor, who still held hope, nobody else could find anything exciting about this duel.
———
Because the Goddess's healing magic had turned into a curse, Ash's wounds still wouldn't heal, leaving him even weaker than before.
Fortunately, demons had tough bodies. Even if all their blood drained out, they would only become weak instead of dying, and right now he hadn't lost all his blood, though blood loss still made him weak, and moving around with unhealed wounds still caused pain.
Even so, he still didn't think he would lose. To save energy, he simply stood there quietly, watching the elf girl in the distance.
The ice had already hit the ground long ago, but neither side attacked immediately.
Even though the barrier inside the arena didn't have anti-flight enchantment, Frieren not only didn't attack, she didn't even fly up right away.
Instead, she frowned as she stared at him, seemingly trying to see through his weakness, but Ash really was just standing there without doing anything special, leaving her no choice but to move first in the end.
She lightly pointed her staff forward, and a giant magic circle over ten meters wide instantly appeared before her.
A massive black beam followed, moving at a speed that looked slow but was actually surprisingly fast, surged toward Ash like a tidal wave.
Where the pitch-black beam passed, even the air twisted. It completely swallowed Ash's figure, making it hard for everyone nearby to see what was happening below.
The floor tiles in the arena had only recently been repaired, yet despite never being touched by the beam itself, the overflowing energy easily tore them apart.
Ash had already faced this attack when dealing with the clone before, and he knew its power was enough to smash through layers of defensive magic through sheer force alone.
But looking at the beam rushing toward him, he didn't move at all. He merely raised a hand slowly, purple lightning instantly wrapping around it before he casually swung it.
The lightning became a sharp blade that split the black beam in half, making him look like an unshakable rock blocking a flood.
The torrent of black energy completely failed to overwhelm him. Instead, it was shattered and scattered in all directions, slicing ripples through the air itself.
Frieren's eyes narrowed slightly. Though she was somewhat surprised, she had expected something like this.
No one understood Ash's strength better than she did, so... while using the raging black light to pin him down, her body shot into the sky like a light bird with a whoosh, changing position in the blink of an eye.
The moment he broke through the black light, the flames of hell, that black-red fire, descended from above like a crimson lotus bringing destruction to the world.
Where the flames passed, the air warped from the heat, as though the entire space would be swallowed by those terrifying flames.
Ash looked up at the fire falling like the end of the world, but calmly raised his hand and clenched it.
In an instant, invisible gravity covered the black-red flames. The dark fire that should have engulfed him instead came under tremendous pressure and was rapidly compressed into a tiny fireball.
As Ash tightened his fist slightly, the fireball shrank smaller and smaller until it became the size of a grain of rice.
In the end, the heat violently shook the air under the extreme compression, letting out a sharp ringing sound before all the energy was forcibly suppressed and completely vanished.
But while he dealt with the flames of hell, a giant bolt of Ruin Lightning flashed across the sky.
The lightning roared like a dragon, charging toward him with overwhelming force.
Where the lightning passed, the sky itself seemed to split open with black cracks, lighting up the entire arena.
At the same time, countless ice spikes cut through the air with sharp whooshing sounds as they rained down from above.
Yet Ash, who had stood in place from beginning to end, merely let out a helpless sigh before slightly turning his body to avoid the lightning strike.
Then a full-field repulsive force burst from his body like an invisible storm, causing the ice spikes to shatter into countless tiny fragments the instant they struck it, scattering across the ground with soft rustling sounds.
Aside from the ice spikes, every spell Frieren used was top-tier human magic, yet the only result was the Emperor's mood rising and falling, then falling again and again and again... never rising anymore before finally dropping into a bottomless pit where he could no longer see any hope.
Inside the arena, amid the beautiful sight of drifting ice fragments, Ash calmly looked up toward the girl floating in the air.
"Frieren, stop using little probing tricks. These spells are definitely powerful, but I know that whenever you fight strong enemies, you always rely on modified basic attack magic to win by surprise. And these spells with direct power far greater than attack magic... at least against strong enemies, they've never accomplished anything."
"You really do know me well," Frieren frowned and lightly waved the staff in her hand. A beam of attack magic immediately descended from the sky.
But Ash simply stood there as his iron wall of mana blocked it with ease, ripples spreading across it while never showing any sign of breaking.
Standing within the light that could easily kill humans and even demons, his expression didn't change as he casually said: "I'm not bragging, but unless something unexpected happens, the person in this world who understands you best is me."
"At first, I thought the same. I also believed I should be the person who understood you best, but now...", Frieren bit her lip, loneliness showing on her face, "I really don't understand what you're thinking at all."
"Don't say something so hurtful," He looked troubled as he tried to explain himself, "At least I'm telling you everything now, right?"
"You only said it because you had no choice in the end, didn't you?"
"What difference does it make?"
"You think there's no difference between telling someone beforehand and confessing because you're forced to?"
"I hope there isn't, but... cough, let's not talk about things that hurt unity. Think about it seriously too. If it's for a great goal, then even if..."
"Stop trying to twist things!", Before he could finish, Frieren angrily waved her staff again, sending out another magic beam instantly.
But Ash still didn't move. He only looked troubled as he let the light slam into him, creating ripples... yet there was still no sign it would break through.
Even so, Frieren still didn't give up. Instead, the surging black light appeared again, sweeping out like a magical tsunami.
Ash stood there without dodging or moving, not even raising a hand, while several defensive spells appeared before him on their own.
The storm of magic crashed against Ash. The aftermath alone shattered bricks and stones under the immense force, sending them flying in all directions like bullets.
Two deep trenches also appeared in the ground, as though even the earth feared that overwhelming magical power... though only on both sides behind Ash.
Watching him calmly neutralize attack after attack, Frieren couldn't help feeling powerless.
Deep down, she had already begun to realize she truly might not be Ash's opponent. Even though she had known that result from the beginning... it still made her angry. At the very least, she wanted to land one hit on him. Besides that, there was also a reason she absolutely could not ignore this.
"Give up. This fight has no meaning."
"Magic is a world of imagination. If you don't try, how will you know what's possible?"
"Magic is a world of imagination, but imagination is only the part that moves between the upper and lower limits. Once it goes beyond your own magical limits, imagination can't really do much. Otherwise, there'd be no need for you to spend so many years training your magic."
"You talk too much. Stop distracting me!"
As they spoke, the broken earth suddenly rose up, and a stone giant over ten meters tall was born.
Frieren landed on top of the statue as well. While controlling the golem to throw a punch, she slowly opened her free hand. A small substance like a singularity, black at the core and red around the edges, floated into the sky the moment she released it.
That strange object twisted the surrounding space, while the rubble throughout the arena began rolling and even floating into the air.
But while everyone's attention was drawn to the singularity, Frieren herself suddenly vanished and instantly appeared behind Ash, the tip of her staff aimed directly at the back of his neck.
This truly was an attack from both front and back, but...
"Flames of Hell."
With only a glance upward, raging flames instantly swallowed the giant over ten meters tall at Ash's quiet words, vaporizing it in the blink of an eye without leaving it any chance to resist.
The singularity stone falling from above also met invisible gravity the moment it reached above his head, twisting apart with a violent explosion before breaking into countless fragments.
Behind him, Frieren released one beautiful multicolored orb after another, each containing compressed mana with different attributes, seemingly preparing to overwhelm him through sheer quantity once again.
But before they could reach him, the target had already disappeared.
Everyone in the stands cried out in shock at that scene.
But the twin-tailed girl whose hair danced amid the constantly exploding shockwaves inside the arena instead curled her lips up in delight.
She slightly raised her free left hand, and an extremely compressed attack spell suddenly shot through beneath her arm without warning, blindly firing behind her.
The tiny beam carried astonishing piercing power as it silently flew toward the figure that had just appeared behind her.
BANG!
The pale blue barrier of defensive magic tore apart instantly like paper, scattering into specks of blue light.
But although the light pierced through the defensive spell, it still failed to break through his iron wall of mana. It twisted, resisted, and quickly dissipated.
Still, without the defensive spell prepared in advance to buffer it, he probably would have been pierced through already, but... there were no ifs in the world. The truth was that it had existed.
"I already told you. I might be the person in this world who understands you best. I probably understand you even better than you understand yourself... how could a sneak attack like this possibly work on me?"
Ash smiled as he raised a hand and gently patted Frieren on the head.
The frustration of carefully preparing a plan for so long only to still lose everything at the final moment from falling just one move short was frustrating to say the least. Frieren bit her lip tightly, her eyes full of unwillingness and disappointment. The momentum she had finally gathered vanished instantly like a popped balloon.
Even though she had known from the beginning that she had no chance of winning.
———
If the world of magic was a world of imagination, then in other words, if someone could not imagine victory, there would not even be the slightest hope.
And in truth, from the very beginning Frieren had felt the chances were extremely slim. She could not picture herself defeating Ash at all. Everything now... had only been one final struggle.
Now, with her back facing Ash, she didn't even have the energy to brush away the hand touching her hair. She simply lowered her head, shoulders trembling slightly as the staff in her hand drooped down.
Every moment of the battle replayed over and over in her mind. Every attack she launched had been effortlessly neutralized by Ash, while she herself could never find an opening in him. No matter how many times they fought again... the result definitely would not change. She understood that herself.
"You've gotten much stronger than eighty years ago."
"Frieren, you already worked very hard," Looking at her like that, Ash also felt a little reluctant. He let out a soft sigh, "But the outcome of this duel was decided from the beginning, and it was completely unnecessary too."
"Why?", Frieren slowly raised her head before suddenly turning around, tears even glimmering in her eyes, "Why do you insist on becoming the Demon King? Is there really no other way to achieve peace?"
"Don't be like this. I'm not saying I'm going evil or anything. I just want to achieve unification," Ash, who had never expected this to make her cry, explained helplessly, "I know you're angry right now, but please understand me. This world has suffered from war and chaos for far too long. We need a complete change, and I'm not—"
"Change? You think becoming the Demon King will bring change? You're too naive!", Frieren took a deep breath, then for the first time showed an extremely emotional side in front of everyone as she shouted, "That would only be the start of disaster! Human nations would never accept demon rule, right? And if humans and demons become united, do you know what that means? You don't, do you? That's right! You know absolutely nothing! Because in the end, you'll die! You idiot who doesn't understand anything!"
At first, Ash thought Frieren simply didn't want to see him become the Demon King. After all, that process would definitely involve slaughter and war, and conquering the entire world would naturally mean countless deaths and injuries.
But he truly couldn't understand why Frieren's reaction was this intense. She even looked like she was about to cry now... though recently Frieren really had become easy to cry. She would even burst into tears after getting tricked out of her secret savings.
Even though she would get stubborn a thousand years ago too, her recent reactions really were... unexpected.
'But there is actually another reason? That shouldn't be right though. Why did nobody else mention it?', For a moment, he simply couldn't figure it out. His brows drew together, his eyes filled with confusion.
In the end, Ash shook his head and let out a long sigh, "Frieren, calm down first, then let's talk properly, okay?"
"I really do need to have a proper talk with you," Frieren bit her lip and spoke word by word, "And you... you need to apologize to me!"
"Why?"
"You lied to me so many times! Every single time you only said anything after getting exposed at the very end! Even though I should praise you for not making excuses afterward, still! Now I'm starting to wonder if you still have some other—"
The more Frieren spoke, the more emotional she became, as if she were about to list every single one of his crimes on the spot. But before she could finish, Ash had already lowered his head and admitted fault.
"I'm sorry. I understand my own problems, and I've been deeply reflecting on them."
"Has nobody ever told you not to start apologizing and reflecting while someone else is still talking? It makes you look completely insincere," Frieren frowned, dissatisfaction showing in her eyes.
"Yes," He still answered honestly, but Frieren's expression became even stranger.
"And then? That's it?"
"I've also been actively reflecting on that issue."
"And the result?"