"Same as always — what a pain to deal with."
Treading across the gleaming golden ground, Nanoda became a streak of white light. The severed horn's blade bore down on Macht as he was sent flying backward. Wherever she stepped, the ground seemed to dissolve — golden barbs erupted continuously from the surface, thrusting upward at every landing point.
A single strike was all she needed.
With Nanoda's razor-sharp instincts, the ambush did nothing to slow her. The white arc twisted and wove through the thicket of spikes bursting from the ground, rapidly closing the distance.
"A pain to deal with? That ought to be my line. Unfortunately for you, this is my home turf."
From their earlier exchanges, Macht had drawn one clear conclusion: he could not let her get close.
Severance Magic alone — cut anything within a fixed range, simple as that — posed no real threat on its own. But paired with that singular swordsmanship, it was lethal.
As far as he could recall, only a warrior of the Demon Race like Rivale would ever dare close into melee range with Nanoda.
Macht's thoughts moved almost simultaneously with his body.
As the gap between them narrowed, he came to a sudden halt, bent low, and slammed his palm against the ground. The surface rippled outward in a wave of golden light.
― ― ―
It wasn't only Macht adapting to the rhythm of the fight. Somewhere in the depths of her instinct, Nanoda had also begun to read Macht's style.
Her Mana Perception — which had been all but useless, no better than decoration, since the battle began — caught, in that one moment, the faintest flicker of mana movement from the Mana-to-Gold magic.
Instantly, Nanoda leapt backward. At that same moment, a golden trident plunged into the ground directly in front of where she had been standing, sinking into the gilded earth.
No wind. No sound. Natural to the point of being uncanny.
"What terrifying intuition. I really thought I'd at least be able to nick you there."
Something between relief and astonishment — Macht's expression shifted almost imperceptibly.
The ground surged before him, and a thick golden barrier rose from the earth, interposing itself between the two as they drew apart once more.
Nanoda paid no attention to the wall climbing higher in front of her. With one hand, she swung the severed horn straight upward.
The invisible slash, imbued with Severance Magic, carved upward through the sky, parting the clouds — and sheared away the hidden projectiles lurking in the heavens above.
One by one, the golden tridents lost control and fell like meteors, raining down across the Fortified City of Weise.
These were the traps Macht had seeded before the battle even began.
Macht's voice came from behind the freshly raised barrier.
"Remarkable. It seems you can already read the flow of my mana."
In this place saturated with gold, saturated with the lingering residue of Macht's mana, Mana Perception had lost its conventional function entirely.
"Since when did you become such a talker?"
Nanoda shook out her arm. She had no way to logically unravel and break the golden-transformation curse through technique alone — but her senses had already adapted to this glittering, gold-drenched arena.
"Someone told me that saying a few extra words during a fight helps distract your opponent."
"That person must talk way too much."
"I wouldn't — I wouldn't say that."
While the two demons traded words, Nanoda had spent the strike that cleared the threat above her head, expending the mana she had been building up — roughly a quarter of what she had gathered.
Now, drawing on her exceptional physical conditioning, she compressed mana while simultaneously scaling the golden barrier at a run.
Sensing Nanoda's movement, Macht cast his magic again — the barrier rose higher once more.
But it didn't rise faster than Nanoda could run.
Before long, Nanoda reached the top of the barrier.
From there she saw it: Macht behind the wall had vanished — and reappeared atop a clock tower not far away.
"Since I still can't seem to hurt you, I suppose I'll just buy time."
His arm, transformed into a blade, came crashing down onto a bronze bell that had been turned to gold. A piercing, discordant toll rang out and spread through the air.
The massive golden bell went hurtling toward Nanoda — and in the same motion, Macht leapt toward a rooftop further away.
― ― ―
Time was running out.
Nanoda swung the severed horn and smashed the great bell aside. One of her legs had been completely turned to gold by now — and along with half of her body, golden veins were crawling up her neck.
She could feel it clearly: her throat was beginning to stiffen, as though every cell inside her was transforming, becoming immovable gold.
Nanoda stopped moving. She simply raised the severed horn in her hand.
Once he felt he had put sufficient distance between them, Macht turned his head to look back.
But a single point of black swallowed his entire field of vision.
His body had no time to evade.
He didn't even manage to gold-transform his body as a shield.
Pain erupted across his cheek. The black severed horn raked a line of blood through the air and buried itself in the ground nearby.
"Boom!"
The explosive crack of mana surging through the air followed immediately. A massive shockwave blasted Macht's hair back and widened the gash on his cheek by several centimeters, sending a stream of blood sliding down his face.
Even the golden ground — supposedly indestructible — fractured under that single blow. The black severed horn gleamed with a savage, cold light where it was buried in the earth.
By pure instinct, at the very moment Severance Magic detonated, he had gold-transformed his vitals to shield them.
Macht staggered several steps. The sheer force of the impact nearly sent him tumbling from the rooftop's edge. Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.
"Why… did she miss…"
That strike looked as though it had been deliberately aimed just slightly off.
When Macht met Nanoda's gaze, he couldn't help but freeze.
Nanoda's expression was unreadable — only her eyes fixed on him, unblinking. And the faint light flickering in those eyes seemed to say: Don't push me any further.
That last strike had contained no Paradox Magic — had it, Macht would have sensed the telltale warning sensation in advance. It had been pure, unadorned speed, mana, and explosive force.
His opponent was already half-turned to gold — and yet Macht still could not see a path to victory.
"It's like… ugh…"
The words that had slipped unconsciously from his lips sent a spike of pain through Macht's skull, as though something had been dug out of him. The sentence died in his throat.
After that split-second of blankness, Macht seemed completely unaware of his own reaction.
Nanoda watched from a distance as he produced a second severed horn. Macht's face was expressionless — utterly blank.
His mana was still ample. The distance was sufficient. His opponent had lost half her mobility, and had only been rattled for an instant by that last exchange.
Macht stood on a distant rooftop. Nanoda stood atop the barrier.
The two demons stared at each other. No more words. No movement.
Time passed in silence.
"All right. You win."
In the final moment before her neck was completely consumed by gold, Nanoda spoke. "Paradox…"
Just as her trump card was unleashed — the golden-transformation curse stopped dead.
"No — you win. I surrender."
Macht raised both hands with a blank face.
Abrupt. And yet not surprising at all.
Macht had been gambling all along.
Gambling that Nanoda could no longer perform at the level she once had — and toward that bet, he had made thorough preparations, leaving nothing to carelessness.
And yet, with his mana still abundant and the situation still in his favor, he folded everything.
Because he had suddenly lost the nerve to keep betting.
When Nanoda had spoken those final words, he had been struck by an illusion — that the entire Golden Land was about to be overturned.
Not an emotional response. A rational choice to quit.
"Why?"
Nanoda was genuinely puzzled. The very instant she had begun to form the spell, Macht had surrendered — and he had even voluntarily halted the golden-transformation curse on his own.
____
👻🔥P- Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Uchiha Reborn in Jujutsu Kaisen: The System Thinks I'm in Konoha, but I'm Not
Help us hit our targets:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 free chapter for all