"Oh? Young lady, why are you sitting here alone basking in the sun? I've come back and you didn't even come out to greet me. Don't tell me this endless blue sky is prettier than I am?"
Holding Inori's delicate hand as she stepped onto the rooftop, Chu Lian spotted the girl sitting on the railing, her legs dangling over the edge. She released Inori's hand and asked her to wait there for a moment before walking over.
"You've grown stronger again. It seems this trip brought you great gains."
The white-haired girl, her head lowered, spoke softly after Chu Lian approached, as though this were something extremely important.
In truth, during this dungeon journey, aside from learning a bit of magic and stirring up a pile of trouble, Chu Lian had not gained much in terms of raw improvement. But what the girl referred to was not her strength in numbers—it was her presence.
After countless battles within the dungeon, Chu Lian had grown increasingly adept at wielding her various skills and abilities. Moreover, having stopped relying on Inori's Void greatsword and instead fighting with the Senra Longblade—no more than a finely crafted weapon—she had become far more familiar with her own attributes.
Especially when she encountered that rootless giant ape. The single slash she unleashed then had fused her spirit, energy, and will into one. She herself had seemed like a peerless blade drawn halfway from its sheath, carrying boundless sharpness.
Ordinary people might not sense that edge clearly. But to a martial artist—to someone who also wielded a blade like the white-haired girl—it was a state she had long yearned for. She knew Chu Lian used a longblade as well. That was why she said such words.
"I fought my way through the whole journey. Every enemy demanded caution. After a while, it became second nature. Improvement is only natural. When you also—"
Chu Lian understood what she meant and began to explain, but before she could finish, the white-haired girl moved.
Shing—
A katana flew from its sheath toward her. Chu Lian sidestepped and raised her hand, catching the black hilt. Looking at the icy blade, she murmured, "Young lady, this is a declaration of war."
Shun—
The white-haired girl ignored her completely. She grasped the hilt of another katana—this one white—and unleashed her sword technique.
Clang...
Perhaps it was a second. Perhaps far longer. As the wind on the rooftop seemed to slow, the white-haired girl's blade flashed from its sheath. Yet Chu Lian caught the trace of its movement and blocked it directly.
Clang—
Kurosaki Satsuki brushed past her and spun, slashing horizontally. Chu Lian held her blade upright and parried, then flicked it aside with force, her gaze calm as she looked at her.
"You've truly grown much stronger. If this were before you left, even if you could have blocked that strike, it wouldn't have been so effortless."
The white-haired girl halted, no longer swinging her sword, murmuring softly.
Raising her head, her black eyes fixed quietly on the girl, she said, "Draw your blade. Let me see how wide the gap between us is now."
"Do you really want to know?"
Chu Lian did not avoid her gaze. She simply looked at her, like the stillness before a storm.
"Isn't it your duty to let me know how weak I truly am? Defeat me."
The white-haired girl lifted her blade before her eyes, slender fingers sliding along the spine. She longed desperately for a battle to calm the turmoil in her heart.
"As you wish."
Her right hand lowered, the blade angled downward. Her long hair stirred faintly in the air. Chu Lian closed her eyes, and her aura changed completely. If before she had been a peerless blade hidden within its scabbard, now she was fully drawn—declaring the terror of her edge.
The blade had not yet moved, yet her presence already pressed down, making it hard to breathe. When had she become this strong?
A trace of jealousy surfaced in Kurosaki Satsuki's heart—jealous of Chu Lian's environment for growth. She herself could not even muster the strength to take revenge.
"A blade is like a person. If it is lost in confusion, there will be no target worth cutting down."
Chu Lian's voice sounded at her ear.
While Kurosaki Satsuki focused and guarded, Chu Lian had already rushed forward. She wanted to move, but she could not budge an inch. All she could do was watch the longblade sweep past, grazing her cheek and severing a strand of white hair.
Only when Chu Lian stopped behind her did the white-haired girl recover. Her fingers loosened. The katana slipped from her grasp and fell to the ground. Her eyes were filled with confusion.
Why? Why was it me who first learned the sword, me who first stepped onto the martial path—yet she surpassed me and now stands far beyond? Am I too foolish? Have even my blade and my path abandoned me?
They refuse to take me as their disciple. Is it because I am not their chosen successor? Because I am an outsider? Or because my talent is too poor?
"As a martial artist, how can you so easily cast aside your weapon? What they desire is a strong wielder who will never admit defeat—not a weakling who abandons them at the first taste of frustration. They wish for their final resting place to be a battlefield where they are broken in combat, or laid to rest within a sword tomb—not discarded because their master believes the opponent invincible. Weapons possess spirit. They watch their wielder always, offering their best assistance."
Chu Lian turned around, looking at the white-haired girl's dejected back, and sighed.
"Do you know what Mother just said to me? Heh. You probably wouldn't believe it. She thinks you will surpass me."
As she spoke, Chu Lian relayed Li Mingxue's evaluation of Kurosaki Satsuki. The white-haired girl's hand trembled slightly. It was unclear what she was thinking.
"I've told you twice before—mindset greatly influences strength. Only a strong heart can forge a complete powerhouse. Physical strength alone is merely a fragile shell that cannot withstand trials. I thought you had taken that to heart. Who would have known you would still be like this? It seems you are destined to remain weak in spirit."
To be honest, Chu Lian felt somewhat disappointed. The white-haired girl's current display did not qualify her to be her rival. No matter how high her talent, if she could not cross the threshold within her heart, she would never become a true powerhouse—let alone compete with her.
"Do you know? I envy your upbringing very much. You have friends around you. Someone you like. A back you can rely on. Even people willing to die for you. And I... I have nothing."
The white-haired girl's voice grew lower and lower.
"I begged you to teach me, but you refused. I wanted the same trials you experienced, yet you did not take me with you. Do you know what it feels like to be utterly alone—abandoned by the world? You don't..."
Her tone sank further still. Her heart began drifting toward that whispering voice—the one that spoke of this world's cruelty, tempting her to let her soul be tainted. It beckoned her toward the abyss, a place without sunlight, filled only with battle and survival, where the strong reigned supreme.
"So that's how it is?"
Lost in her own thoughts, the white-haired girl failed to notice wisps of pitch-black, abyssal energy seeping from her body, radiating an aura that threatened to destroy everything.
Chu Lian sensed it immediately. In an instant, she understood why the girl had been acting so strangely. It was that existence—the one that had been tempting her all along, granting her power while corroding her soul—stirring up trouble.
"Do you truly think I wouldn't dare touch you?"
Chu Lian closed her eyes and extended her spiritual sense, attempting to invade Kurosaki Satsuki's mind and eradicate that thing.
Unfortunately, she was a step too late. Or perhaps the dark shadow had sensed her intention and abruptly accelerated its corruption. A dense layer of black substance spread across the white-haired girl's body.
Her long white hair began to whirl wildly within it.
The black matter assembled into armor, encasing her entire form. Only her pale face and her snow-white bare feet remained exposed. Runes crept across her fair cheeks, and within her eyes lay the stillness of death itself. In that moment, she seemed to have become someone else entirely.
"Using my provocation to seize her heart and take control of her body? It seems you're quite confident in your strength."
Chu Lian did not switch to her usual longblade. She simply held the katana in hand and spoke softly to the 'girl' before her.
"Then let me show you what salvation and refusal to give up truly mean. She is my spoils of war. Until I permit it—until I fall in defeat—who dares to take her from my sight?"
Her expression grew solemn. Gripping the katana with one hand, her aura climbed steadily, step by step.
Since you crave power so desperately, I will show you what true power is.
"Inori, guard this place. Don't let her leave."
The wind rose, her long hair dancing in the air. After giving her instruction to the vigilant Inori, Chu Lian lifted her blade and looked at the girl, who had already picked up the white-hilted katana from the ground.
"I defeated you once. I can defeat you a second time. And this time, I won't use the Void greatsword. I won't use the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. I won't use Ordinary Punch. I will even suppress my strength to the peak of the Spirit level and temporarily seal Tírnas' Blessing. I will fight you fairly and squarely."
She raised her blade. No further aberration appeared—only the burning fighting spirit of a girl.
At the rooftop entrance, Inori watched Chu Lian and Kurosaki Satsuki. Though worried, a gentle smile curved her lips.
"Both of them need a battle to dispel this atmosphere. Lian, Satsuki is in your hands."
How could she not have noticed Satsuki's abnormal state these past few days? Yet if it were left to her, she would have been powerless to intervene. Now that Chu Lian had returned, she was the most suitable one to save a girl who had gone astray.
Perhaps Satsuki's current state could indeed be described as having lost her way.
Despite the swirl of thoughts in her heart, Inori still drew her pistol. Spiritual power surged within her, gathering sharply as she guarded against the possibility of the girl breaking free.
"Hm?"
Having just set down her phone and resumed chopping vegetables, Li Mingxue sensed what was happening on the rooftop. A flicker of surprise passed through her eyes as she understood the situation.
But she paid it no further mind. Matters between girls were best resolved by the girls themselves.
"Anna, don't move around. They can handle it on their own. Don't you trust your mommy? She's the strongest, you know."
Of course, just because she wouldn't intervene didn't mean the little girl could restrain herself. Before Anna could turn the impulse to blast straight through the ceiling and rush to the rooftop into reality, Li Mingxue quickly stopped her.
Pouting slightly, Anna loosened her tightly clenched fists.
"Hmph. A thing tainted by the Endless Abyss. Acting so arrogantly in front of Mommy. When I get the chance, I'll descend and slaughter you all, turn everything upside down, and see if you can still be so arrogant."
Whatever others thought, the battle between Chu Lian and the white-haired girl had already begun.