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DN : [399] Massacre
🕑 Added 2024-12-30 16:00:05 +0000 UTCThe sight of the vast horde of foreign soldiers surging toward her filled Esdeath's face with exhilaration and uncontained excitement.
"This is my war. A war that belongs to me alone."
In this moment, Esdeath's joy was indescribable, a thrill that surged deep within her soul.
Without wasting any time, she invoked her Demon Transformation. A jet-black sigil of a demon appeared on her forehead, and with it, a swirling force of dark energy erupted around her, enveloping her figure.
"Freeze, all that exists on this battlefield! Absolute Zero!"
Boom!
In an instant, an intense, bone-chilling frost expanded outward from where Esdeath stood.
"What's happening?"
"This can't be real—this temperature…"
"So cold… It's freezing…"
"Is this… the power of the Queen of the Empire?"
"Unbelievable—impossible!"
What was once a dry, barren plain transformed within moments into a frozen tundra. A battlefield of ice replaced the arid terrain, reshaped entirely by Esdeath's overwhelming power.
This was her strength—one capable of rewriting the rules of the world itself. Adverse terrain? Irrelevant. She would simply create her own battlefield, one perfectly suited to her domination. Her power was absolute.
Onboard the golden airship Vimana, August stood silently, observing alongside Akame and Kurome. Both sisters stared in disbelief at the unfolding scene below.
"So this… this is the power of Queen Esdeath?" Kurome whispered, her voice tinged with awe.
"Can such strength even exist within a human?" Akame added, her crimson eyes fixed on the frozen landscape.
From their vantage point, they could see it all clearly. In the wake of Esdeath's unleashed frost, the once-chaotic battleground had been reduced to icy silence. Thousands of enemy soldiers—entire legions—were frozen solid, their bodies now lifeless sculptures of ice.
From above, the scale of the devastation was staggering. Nearly a tenth of the enemy alliance—a force of tens of thousands—had been annihilated in a single moment.
"Unbelievable," August muttered, his voice laced with a mixture of admiration and amusement. As he stood aboard the airship, he could sense the immense surge of negativity that the battlefield now radiated: despair, fear, anger, jealousy—a feast of dark emotions.
It was intoxicating.
More than that, the souls of the fallen—tens of thousands of them—hovered in the frozen air. August's eyes gleamed with hunger.
"Now, it's my turn."
A vortex of dark energy erupted as a violent storm of wind swept across the battlefield. The swirling maelstrom devoured the souls of the dead, their anguished remnants absorbed into August's being.
As the Devourer of Sin, one of the Seven Lords of Darkness, August's unique gift allowed him to consume all things—life, souls, even the very essence of light that opposed his darkness.
The feast was bountiful. The souls of tens of thousands of warriors, coupled with the collective negative energy emanating from over a million soldiers, surged into him, transforming his power.
The progression was immediate and overwhelming: from an early-stage High Demon to a late-stage High Demon in moments.
"H-he's a devil… She's a devil…"
"This monster… there's no way to beat her…"
"In an instant… so many dead… This must be a nightmare…"
On the ground, panic erupted as the ranks of the allied army began to collapse. The hastily assembled coalition of revolutionaries and tribes had been fragile from the start, and under Esdeath's onslaught, their resolve shattered completely.
"Impossible…" muttered the leader of the Revolutionary Army, his voice trembling as he stared at the battlefield. "Tens of thousands of soldiers—gone in an instant? That's not a person… That's a monster."
"Retreat! Sound the retreat immediately!" another tribal leader screamed, his face pale with terror. "We cannot afford to lose our entire army here!"
"Fall back now! The Northern Tribes cannot perish here!"
Amid the chaos, each faction issued hasty orders to withdraw. It wasn't cowardice—it was survival. None of them were willing to risk their forces any further against such overwhelming power.
From the airship, August watched the crumbling alliance with an amused smile. "Just as I thought—a coalition of opportunists. They came together for their own gain, but when faced with true power, they're nothing more than cowards."
He raised his hand, his fingers tracing a dark sigil in the air.
"You're not going anywhere. This is a battlefield—no one leaves until it's over."
Boom!
A massive black gate materialized in the sky, its immense form radiating an oppressive energy. Known as the Gate of Sins, it emitted a wave of pure darkness, spreading across the battlefield and sealing it within an inescapable barrier.
The soldiers of the allied forces panicked as they realized they were trapped. No matter how they tried, they could not escape the boundaries of the gate's power.
"What is this?!"
"This black wall—it's impossible to break through!"
"Are they planning to kill us all?!"
"Mama… I just want to go home…"
Despair rippled through the army like a disease, their fear feeding the power of the gate.
Esdeath's icy laugh echoed through the frozen battlefield. "Thank you, August. Now they can't run away."
Her icy blue eyes scanned the terrified remnants of the allied forces, her voice ringing with cold authority. "This is my battlefield. Cowards and deserters have no place here. If you lack the will to fight, then allow me to grant you the release of death."
She raised her hands, summoning her ultimate technique: Grand Ice Cavalry.
From the frozen ground, an army of ice knights emerged—an unending tide of warriors forged from frost and death. As they rose, they immediately began their assault, cutting through the panicked ranks of the allied forces with ruthless efficiency.
The battlefield descended into chaos. Blood, screams, and despair painted a horrifying picture of absolute carnage. The Revolutionary Army's leaders, as well as the tribal chieftains, stood frozen, their faces pale with fear as they witnessed the slaughter.
