The Bloody Valkyrie

—I’ll kill her with one attack.

The prouder they were, the more desperate they become once cornered. If he couldn’t kill her with the first attack, she would no doubt order her servant to join the fight. Then the situation would become two versus one, and even Brain couldn’t be confident against those odds.

That’s why he had to settle it in one blow.

His face unmoving, Brain silently ridiculed her.

Approaching without care, she didn’t understand that she was walking towards a guillotine.

Just three more steps, two steps.

… one.

And then—

—your head is mine!

Thinking so in his head, Brain put everything into his slash.

“Tsuu!”

His breath was sharp and short.

The katana exploded from its sheath and cut through the air towards Shalltear’s bare neck.

The speed was like a flash of lightning. So fast that by the time the light entered your vision, your head would already be falling to the ground. Millions of repetitions had finally resulted in a speed that entered the realm of gods.

I got her.

Brain was certain—

—and couldn’t help but widen his eyes.

The slash that cut through the air had all of his strength behind it. If she had managed to dodge, then he would have been forced to admit that an opponent stronger than even his wildest imagination had finally appeared before him.

However—

Shalltear had caught it with her fingers.

—a slash near the speed of light.

And with a delicate motion like holding the wings of a butterfly—.

The air around him seemed to freeze. Brain exhaled a large breath.

“… I-Impossible.”

His voice carried barely a whisper.

Brain forcefully held back his body that was threatening to tremble uncontrollably. He couldn’t believe the sight in front of him. But without a doubt, resting on his outstretched blade were two fingers, both white as pearls— her thumb and index finger.

Not only that, her wrist was bent at a 90 degrees angle while holding the flat side of the blade, instead of the sharp edge. Rather than stopping it head on, she had caught up to the katana’s speed— caught up to his 「God Slash」 from behind.

Although it looked as if she was holding it lightly, no matter how hard Brain pushed and pulled against her, the katana didn’t budge. It felt as if the sword was chained to a boulder hundreds of times his size.

Suddenly, the power exerted on the katana rose, causing Brain to almost lose his balance.

“Hmph. Cocytus has a few swords too, but it seems they’re not even worth being wary about when there’s this much of a difference between the wielders.”

Shalltear peered at the blade while drawing it closer to her face.

Brain, who had no idea what she was talking about, felt the inside of his head turn white.

It was the despair of having his entire way of life denied in front of him.

But it was thanks to his defeat in the past that he could stay standing. Similar to how a broken bone grows stronger after it’s mended; his experience with defeat was what kept him strong.

It was impossible, but he had no choice but to admit it.

She had easily caught his light-speed slash.

Brain looked pale. Shalltear was surprised to see him this way and frowned. She then sighed in disappointment.

“Do you understand now? I’m not an opponent you can beat without using martial arts. If you finally get it, shouldn’t you start getting serious?”

Hearing such cruel words, Brain unintentionally let a single word slip from his mouth.

“Monster…”

Shalltear gave an innocent smile, like a blooming flower.

“That’s right. You just figured it out? I am a cruel, composed, merciless – and adorable monster.”

She released her grip on the blade and jumped back to her original position. It was probably accurate to a millimeter.

“Are you ready now?”

Shalltear said with a playful smile. Hearing the same question as before, Brain flared up in anger. Just how much could she look down on someone?

On the other hand, Brain shuddered as he realized that his opponent was strong enough to make a mockery of him, a human who had reached the highest pinnacle of strength.

—should I make a run for it?

Brain always considered survival to be his number one priority. If it seemed like he couldn’t win, the best plan was to retreat and live to fight another day. Even now, he believed that he still had room to grow stronger. That’s why as long as he survived, the only thing he had to do was emerge as the winner in the end.

But even if he retreated now, the fundamental difference between their physical abilities was insurmountable.

Careful not to make his plan obvious, Brain focused his attention on his new target.

The enemy’s legs; the plan was to cripple her mobility and flee with everything he had.

The idea was to attack where her defenses were weakest, the area where her hands had trouble reaching.