Heck, he could already imagine Luna nagging him for the aftermath of all of this shit show that's about to happen.

"Heh."

… Or at least, that's the reaction he's aiming for.

A mysterious faint chuckle escaped from him, causing him to shake his head.

'What a bad guy I've become.'

***

The third floor laboratory hummed with contained magical energy, crystalline instruments casting soft prismatic light across workbenches covered in meticulous notes and diagrams.

Luna sat at her primary station with her pink pupil glowing faintly as she analyzed the soul binding phenomenon she'd been studying obsessively since that ridiculous mass summoning.

"Fascinating..."

Her heterochromic eyes tracked floating calculations that shifted and reorganized according to her mental commands.

The soul anchor, which was her own terminology for the binding mechanism connecting Nero to his summons, operated on principles that defied conventional magical theory.

She'd spent days documenting the energy patterns, mapping the spiritual connections, attempting to reverse-engineer something that shouldn't exist according to everything she knew about dimensional magic and soul manipulation.

The binding wasn't just complex.

It was elegant in ways that made her simultaneously frustrated and excited.

"The anchor points utilize a substrate I've never encountered before," she muttered, making rapid notes with her enchanted quill. "Not pure mana, but something more fundamental. Closer to what I've theorized about Aether..."

Her recent research into efficient energy conversion had led to discoveries about a hypothetical energy type that existed beneath standard mana.

A more primal force that conventional magical theory couldn't properly quantify or manipulate.

And Nero's summoning system seemed to operate on exactly that principle.

"If the soul anchor truly channels Aetheric resonance rather than standard mana circulation..."

The implications made her pulse quicken with scholarly excitement.

This could revolutionize everything.

Dimensional travel, soul magic, energy conversion.

Entire fields of study would need to be rewritten if she could prove her theories.

She reached for her pen, ready to document the next observation.

*RUMMMBBLLLEEE!!!*

The entire villa shook violently.

"!!!"

Luna's hand jerked, the ink bottle tipping over and spilling black liquid across her carefully organized notes.

She watched in frozen horror as hours of meticulous documentation became illegible smears.

"..."

Her eye twitched.

Once.

Twice.

The temperature in the laboratory dropped noticeably as her magical aura began leaking out unconsciously.

"Ms. Luna?" Felt's nervous voice came from across the room. "W-What was that? An earthquake?"

"..."

Luna's hands trembled as she stared at the ruined notes.

The crystalline instruments around her began frosting over from the cold radiating off her body.

"Felt."

"Y-Yes?"

"Did you feel that tremor?"

"I... yes? It felt like something exploded nearby?"

"I see."

Luna stood slowly, her expression completely blank.

But anyone who knew her would recognize the signs.

The way her magical aura pulsed with barely-contained fury.

The way frost continued spreading across every surface near her.

"I'm going to freeze someone solid," she stated with deadly calm. "And use them as a lawn decoration. Just as I promised."

"Ms. Luna, wait!"

But the Great Sage had already vanished through a portal, leaving Felt alone in the rapidly chilling laboratory.

'Uhmm… Isn't this bad?' Felt had a foreboding feeling as she looked at the mess that had become of Luna's recent research notes.

***

*CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!*

The loud sound of metals clashing resound within the area.

*Wooosh!*

Aurelia moved like liquid silver, her blade tracing precise arcs through the air as she engaged Velraeth in direct combat.

And each of her strikes aimed for vital points which had more complexity and familiarity than before when she still has her memories fragmented.

*Wooom!*

Her superhuman speed created afterimages that made it look like multiple angels attacked simultaneously.

*Whoosh! Slash! Thrust!*

But,

*Clang! Clang! Clang!*

Each of her attacks were easily met with resistance using the scales in the dragon's arm.

And on her other arm, Velraeth's massive warhammer swung with devastating force single-handedly, each movement creating shockwaves that cratered the ground.

The dragon woman shifted seamlessly between weapon and hand-to-hand combat, even using her thick tail as a third limb to create unpredictable angles of attack.

*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*

Every strike that missed Aurelia and hit the ground instead created new craters.

The landscape around them transformed into a moonscape of destruction.

Trees in the distance toppled from the shockwaves alone.

Aurelia's blade sharply flickered like starlight, seeking precisely to target the very tiny gaps in Velraeth's guard.

*Whaap!*

Pivoting on her heel, she used the momentum to drive a thrust toward the dragon woman's exposed flank.

*Clang!*

Velraeth's tail whipped around impossibly fast, the hardened scales deflecting the broadsword with a shower of sparks.

But despite her attacks getting easily countered, the angel didn't pause.

Her footwork carried her into a momentum-spinning slash aimed at Velraeth's neck, the blade humming with concentrated divine energy.

*Whoosh!*

The dragon woman ducked beneath the strike, her warhammer already sweeping upward in a brutal arc that would pulverize ribs and spine.

But Aurelia,

"..."

She twisted her lithe body mid-air, her wings flaring to arrest her momentum.

The hammer passed beneath her by millimeters, the wind pressure alone caused a part of her pristine armor to rattle a bit.

'An opening.'

The upward hammer swing generated a wide range of motion for her to take advantage.

*Wooosh!*

Aurelia's eyes narrowed as she decisively descended, with her blade angled downward in a killing thrust.

… However,

*CRASH!*

Velraeth caught the blade with her hand, the divine steel slightly cutting into her palm but held firm by raw strength and draconic resilience. A bit of blood dripped from her hands as she then grinned as if she caught a mouse,

"Got you."

"!!!"

Aurelia was caught off guard!

Valraeth then twisted her hand violently, attempting to wrench the weapon from Aurelia's grip.

"..."

But it seems the First Star Valkyrie was no newbie, as her mild shock was immediately reeled in and the angel adapted to what might be a deadlock situation for most.

"..."

Relaxing her hand, she released the blade from her grapes and instead used the unexpected freedom to drive an elbow strike toward Velraeth's temple!

*Thud!*

The blow connected, snapping the dragon woman's head to the side!

But,

"... What kind of half-assed attack is that?"

"...!"

The dragon woman wasn't damaged in the slightest.

And Velraeth's counterattack came instantly.

*Wooosh!*

Her fist pistoned forward with enough force to shatter stone.

Aurelia tried to deflect it with her forearm as a last resort, but…

"Ugh…!"

A dragon's strength is truly ridiculous, as the angel felt a part of her bone fracture from the sheer amount of force held behind that single punch.

"Come!"

Aurelia commanded and the divine broadsword forcefully tore itself from Velraeth's grip in a moment of distraction and flew back to its master's hand.

'She lacks decisive power,' Velraeth immediately analyzed, her ember eyes tracking every movement. 'Her speed is a bit superior, our combat techniques are quite the same… but her raw power is weak.'

Despite her outward provocation, the dragon's observation held no mockery, only tactical assessment.

A single conclusion then surfaced within her mind as she grinned,

'She can't breach my defenses.'

Every cut Aurelia landed mostly only left a scratch on her scale but failed to penetrate deep enough to draw blood.

But with that being said, the angel's strikes were very much decisive and could be deadly if she was given enough time and opportunity to land a lethal strike.

***

Meanwhile,

'She's strong.'

Aurelia immediately evaluated after just a moment of exchange.

And not just strong… but overwhelmingly stronger than her.

Any single direct blow from that dragon would end the fight immediately.

Aurelia understood this perfectly.

Her countless combat experience read the dynamic with crystalline clarity.

*Whoosh! Boom! Crack!*

She moved with experienced agility, dodging by the smallest margins necessary to conserve stamina.

When Velraeth committed to a heavy swing, the angel didn't retreat. She stepped forward into the attack's dead zone, her blade tracing a line across the dragon woman's ribs.

*Slash!*

But that was it… just a line. Not even a dent.

"Tch."

"Heh."

Velraeth smirks at Aurelia's annoyance of being unable to penetrate through her scale that seems to always grow and replace her human-like skin whenever her blade is about to come into contact.

"Annoyed already?"

The dragon's hammer reversed direction mid-swing, the handle aimed like a spear at Aurelia's chest.

*Clang!*

The angel parried, angling the strike away rather than meeting it directly. The redirected force still sent her sliding backward across the torn earth.

*BOOM!*

Velraeth pursued instantly, closing the distance in a single leap that cracked the ground beneath her. Her just transformed fist descended with apocalyptic force.

Aurelia rolled aside, the punch cratering the earth where she'd been standing.

She then lunged up inside Velraeth's guard, her blade seeking the gap beneath the dragon woman's arm.

*Clang!*

But Velraeth's warhammer materialized horizontally, catching the sword strike.

*Creak! Creak!*

The two locked briefly, strength against leverage causing the weapons on their hands to creak under the pressure of their attacks.

"I also have this, you know?!"

Then Velraeth's tail struck like a battering ram, aimed at Aurelia's spine.

"..."

The angel's wings flared, launching her straight upward to avoid the devastating blow.

*CRASH!*

The tail strike punched through three trees before stopping.

Aurelia descended in a spiral, her blade trailing divine light.

And then,

"Hah!"

Her figure sharpeningly flared with a strong silver aura,

"Divine Slash: Celestial Mirage."

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