"Angron!"
The roar of The Bloodthirsty Fiend was no longer just a sound.
Those two words, as if forged from the wails of countless tormented souls and solidified blood, transformed into a crimson psychic shockwave, slamming violently against every inch of the bulkhead of the genesis, causing the metal structure to groan in agony.
This brass behemoth, its eyes burning with eternal hellfire, locked its gaze onto the Red-haired Valkyrie standing in its path.
Its gaze was filled with rage, confusion, and the ultimate insult of discovering that its most cherished toy had been defiled.
"You dare to forsake the Blood God's gift!"
Every syllable it uttered carried a majestic pressure capable of crushing a mortal soul, "That supreme rage! That power that allowed you to transcend the mundane! Who made you forget your master? Who made you, this beast, wear a collar?!"
Angronia did not move.
She simply stood there quietly, allowing the gale, mixed with sulfur and the will to kill, to blow through her red hair, which flowed like a waterfall of lava.
Upon hearing the name "Angron" and the word "gift," for the first time, a clearly discernible, mocking sneer appeared on her usually tense face, which was filled with wild beauty.
"A gift?"
A disdainful snort echoed in her heart.
"That is nothing more than chains bestowed by cowards, a poison used by the weak to numb themselves."
She remembered the endless, bone-deep agony that had lasted for centuries.
She remembered the cycle of being driven to madness every time by the Butcher's Nails, seeking a moment of peace in endless slaughter, only to wake up left with even deeper emptiness and self-loathing.
That was not power.
That was a cage.
Now, someone had severed the cage for her.
She slowly raised her head, her amber eyes burning with pure flames, looking directly at the hellish behemoth before her; in that gaze, there was no longer a shred of pain or confusion, only the clear, surging Battle Intent of one who had been liberated.
"My name is Angronia."
Her voice was not loud, yet like the sharpest battle-axe, it easily cleaved through the imposing roar of The Bloodthirsty Fiend.
"And the 'gift' you speak of..."
She paused, the corners of her mouth curling into an arc that held three parts mockery and seven parts wildness.
"...has long since been thrown away by me like trash."
These words, like an ignited star, exploded deep within the soul of The Bloodthirsty Fiend.
Betrayal!
This was the most complete betrayal! It was the most naked blasphemy against the Blood God's divine office!
"You... damned... traitor—!!!"
The fury of The Bloodthirsty Fiend finally broke its breaking point.
It spoke no more, its massive brass body lunging forward, its only remaining left hand gripping the giant axe burning with hellfire, pouring the pure source of slaughter from the deepest parts of the Subspace within it without reservation.
On the axe blade, the flames that had originally only clung to the surface now expanded crazily, transforming into a boiling, viscous sea of blood-red fire.
Within the sea of fire, countless painfully twisted faces floated and wailed; it was the collective resentment of billions of souls devoured by this battle-axe.
The air in the entire corridor was drained away by this power, forming a vacuum zone.
The surrounding alloy walls, under the scorching heat of the sea of fire, silently melted and vaporized, unable to maintain even their most basic form of existence.
It intended to completely erase this traitor who dared to declare freedom, along with her soul, her new name, and everything about her, from this universe!
Facing this destructive blow capable of instantly vaporizing a small moon, Angronia did not dodge in the slightest.
She did not even look at the approaching giant axe.
Her gaze pierced through the violent energy, through the layers of deck plating, as if falling upon the distant bridge, and upon the black-haired goddess who was quietly watching her.
A scorching, indescribable emotion rose from her chest.
It was protection.
It was loyalty.
It was... love.
"My goddess..."
In the depths of her amber eyes, the pure black eyes of Leticia, deep as a sea of stars, were reflected.
"My rage, my Battle Intent, my everything..."
Angronia took a sudden step forward, and the deck beneath her feet shattered with a boom.
"From now on, I burn only to protect my goddess!!!"
An earth-shattering battle cry erupted from her chest!
That sound was no longer a roar of pain, but a declaration of freedom! It was a battle song of rebirth!
With this cry, the crown of thorns on her forehead, transformed from the Butcher's Nails, erupted with unprecedented, dazzling crimson-gold brilliance!
The authority of the [Battle Intent], pure to the extreme, flowed through her limbs and bones like a bursting flood.
She raised the chainaxe in her hand high.
This time, upon that massive axe blade, there was no hellish filth-fire burning, no resentment of wailing souls lingering.
A ball of pure, solidified, crimson-gold Fire of Glory, as hot as the core of a sun, roared into existence!
That was the holy fire ignited only for protection, the wrathful flame fighting only for glory!
The next instant.
Angronia's figure transformed into a meteorite charging in reverse, wrapped in crimson-gold flames, meeting the sea of blood-red fire capable of devouring everything with an indomitable, fearless posture.
One red, one gold.
One was the "Wrath of Hell," gathering the pain and destruction of billions of souls.
One was the "Wrath of Glory," condensing all the protection and loyalty of the newborn Valkyrie.
The two giant axes, representing the ultimate manifestation of two completely different kinds of "rage," clashed violently in the void under the gaze of countless demons and the suddenly constricted pupils of Fogremia.
There was no sound.
Or rather, the sound wave produced by the impact, at the moment of its birth, exceeded the limits of what matter could propagate due to the excessively high energy level.
Time seemed to have been pressed on pause at this moment.
The entire world was left with only two colors of light.
Blood-red and crimson-gold.
The two lights crazily squeezed, devoured, and annihilated each other, forming a continuously expanding, eventually pure white sphere of light at the point of impact, as if it were about to consume the entire universe.
The sphere of light silently expanded to its limit.
And then—
BOOM—!!!
An indescribable energy storm exploded!
The shockwave turned into a visible, destructive ring of ruin, sweeping out in all directions.
Wherever the ring passed, whether it was the fearless bloodthirsty demons or the thick alloy walls on both sides of the corridor, they were instantly decomposed, vaporized, and turned completely into nothingness.
The entire main corridor was forcibly widened several times, becoming a monstrous, gargantuan void with energy arcs still flickering along its edges.
At the center of the storm.
Angronia's body was trembling violently.
She could feel a terrifying, soul-tearing force crazily surging from the axe handle, traveling up her arm and battering her internal organs.
Every inch of muscle was wailing, and every bone was shivering.
Golden divine blood continuously seeped from the gaps in her power armor, only to be instantly vaporized by the high temperature.
But...
On her face, however, there was no pain at all.
Replacing it was a sense of unprecedented, hearty, almost making her want to laugh out loud... freedom!
"So... this is what it feels like..."
Her soul seemed to have broken free from the last layer of shackles, flying wantonly in the storm.
No longer fighting to vent pain.
No longer a passive slave driven by rage.
But actively, for the beliefs she chose, for the person she wanted to protect, to control anger, to burn with Battle Intent!
This feeling was more satisfying and more thorough than any so-called "victory" she had achieved in the past several hundred years!
However, spiritual transcendence could not fully compensate for the vast gap on the physical level.
The power of The Bloodthirsty Fiend, that pure physical strength honed by the Blood God's blessing and eons of slaughter, still suppressed her tightly, like an unshakeable mountain of a god.
Crack... crack...
Crisp cracking sounds began to emanate from Angronia's dark red-copper power armor.
Fine cracks, like spiderwebs, quickly spread over her entire body, centered on her hands gripping the axe.
Her upright figure was being pushed back, inch by inch, by that irresistible, massive force.
Her feet plowed two ever-deepening furrows in the ground, which had been melted into glass by the energy.
She was gradually falling into a disadvantage.
"Not a bad struggle, traitor."
The voice of The Bloodthirsty Fiend, filled with cruel satisfaction, rang in Angronia's ears like muffled thunder, "But chains are chains; no matter how gorgeously you plate them, they will eventually... be snapped!"
It roared, pouring all its remaining strength into the push!
Seeing that Angronia's defense was about to collapse.
A cold, clear female voice, carrying three parts laziness and seven parts murderous intent, rang out unexpectedly beside The Bloodthirsty Fiend, like a whisper between lovers.
"Is that so?"
"Then what if you add me to the mix?"
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