Chapter 20: The Price of Power

Cornflower’s gaze was icy, firmly locked on the specter hovering before her.

The monster’s repeated assaults had failed to land a hit, seemingly draining much of its stamina. It no longer charged recklessly, instead circling Cornflower with the cautious deliberation of a lion king. Within its cavernous, black eye sockets, two points of crimson light flickered erratically, as if assessing, searching for a chink in its prey’s armor.

Stalemate.

Cornflower understood. She was a newly ascended Blossom Envoy, and her opponent was a freshly formed, high-tier R-rank specter. Their strength, speed, and even nascent intelligence were currently balanced on a delicate fulcrum, making it difficult for either to easily overcome the other.

It seemed this specter had yet to awaken any special, dangerous abilities; for now, it possessed only brute force and a touch of cunning.

Thus, the strategy became clear: delay.

If she could just wait for Gentian to clear the surrounding Aggregates and rendezvous, it would be two against one, and the tide of battle would instantly turn.

“Awooo—!!”

Just then, the specter suddenly threw its head back, letting out a long, piercing shriek, almost a wolf’s howl!

Cornflower’s brows furrowed sharply.

‘A summons?’

She distinctly sensed that with this shriek, the lingering Aggregates in the nearby streets—those that Gentian had already driven off or suppressed—began to stir unnaturally, showing signs of converging.

‘Did it intend to recall all the remaining demonic creatures, concentrating their power to deal with her first?’

This monster’s intelligence was higher than she had anticipated. However… this was also favorable. With the demonic creatures gathering here, the outer perimeter would regain safety more quickly.

And Gentian, that ‘berserker’ who reveled in combat, would naturally be drawn here as well. It was a perfect chance to catch them all in one net.

Almost the instant her thoughts concluded, a rushing sound and an impatient, slightly hoarse female voice simultaneously drifted down from a height behind her.

“Hey! Still haven’t finished up?”

Cornflower looked up.

A figure had appeared, perched on the railing of an open-air clothing store on the second floor facing the street.

A deep purple-blue asymmetrical off-the-shoulder mini-dress fluttered slightly in the wind. A black leather corset accentuated a slender yet powerful waistline, while high-heeled boots, beneath torn dark fishnet stockings, swung idly.

It was Gentian.

Perched on her shoulder was Xiao You, a purple-gray lop-eared spirit rabbit with unusually long ears, its eyes half-closed in a lazy gaze.

With one hand propping her chin, Gentian held a ‘Phantom Whip’ crafted from condensed deep purple magic, which coiled and twisted like a living serpent. At the whip’s tip, four struggling black shadows were clearly bound—the last few mid-tier R-rank Aggregates.

With a flick of her wrist, the long whip, carrying those Aggregates like a string of heavy prey, she lightly leaped from the railing and landed within Cornflower’s unfurled pale blue domain. Simultaneously, another Aggregate, having fortuitously broken free and fleeing in disarray, scrambled behind the specter.

“You haven’t ‘finished’ either, have you?” Cornflower’s voice was calm and even, her gaze sweeping over the bound yet still ‘intact’ Aggregates. She silently reassessed a certain someone’s combat efficiency.

“Nine whole Aggregates! They weren’t hard to fight,” Gentian pouted, shaking her whip. “They just kept hiding, which was annoying! See, only these few small fry are still clinging to life. For me—”

Before she could finish, a sudden change occurred!

The specter seemed enraged by Gentian’s casual attitude, or perhaps it sensed the arrival of reinforcements. Its ferocity erupted, abandoning its standoff with Cornflower. Its massive body lunged with surprising agility towards Gentian, who had just landed, and the twisted streetlight pole in its hand slammed down with a fierce gust of wind!

“Oh? Not choosing to escape, but actively approaching me instead?” A smile played on Gentian’s lips. “It seems you’ve made the wrong choice!”

Just as Gentian prepared to receive the blow…

“Clang—!”

Cornflower’s figure flickered. Her rapier precisely parried, blocking the heavy strike once more, but the ground beneath her feet cracked, and she was forced to slide back half a step.

“Focus on the fight!” she sharply admonished.

“Tsk~ I’ll leave a few small fries for you to play with.” A hint of disdain flashed across Gentian’s face. With a shake of her wrist, the long whip loosened, and three disoriented Aggregates tumbled to the ground. One of them, upon impact, was instantly corroded by the lingering magic at the whip’s tip, letting out a shriek before dissipating into black smoke. “This big gorilla… is mine!”

“Deep Violet Domain: Injury!”

She chanted softly, her toe lightly tapping the ground, as if beginning a short, eerie war dance. A hazy, deep purple-blue aura rapidly expanded from her, forming a small domain several meters in diameter.

Within the domain, the light of her whip suddenly became dazzling and violent, as if countless deep purple thorny illusions grew and entwined around its body, while the protective aura around her noticeably dimmed.

Extremely strong offense, extremely weak defense. This was the tragic beauty of the Gentian flower, ‘turning pain into power’—a dangerous double-edged sword.

“Come on, big gorilla! I, Gentian, am all guts!”

“Focus on the fight, stop with those chuunibyo lines.” Cornflower knew her teammate’s quirks all too well.

“Oh, stop nagging!” Gentian tossed her long hair, her deep purple eyes glowing exceptionally bright with the surge of magic. “Quick, old rules, attack buff! No defense!”

Cornflower said no more. With a light flourish of her sword tip, an exquisite Cornflower emblem magic circle instantly lit up on the ground.

“Loyalty Domain: Boost!”

“Here, I bestow upon you the sharpness to break your enemy.”

A breeze carrying Cornflower’s cool floral scent swept past, and a deep-blue Cornflower emblem illusion subtly imprinted itself onto Gentian’s shoulder. The power of her whip visibly increased by another third.

“Now that’s more like it~ Next, watch me—”

Gentian was about to strike a stylish pose, but the specter, devoid of any ‘martial ethics,’ took advantage of her distraction. Its massive fist, carrying a foul wind, swung like a heavy hammer directly into her side!

“Bang—!”

The dull thud was bone-jarring.

Gentian was sent flying backward, crashing heavily into a broken lamppost on the street. A mouthful of fresh blood spurted from her lips, staining her deep purple dress with a stark, dark red.

She crumpled to the ground, severe coughing wracking her body, blood foam continuously spilling from the corner of her mouth.

“Damn it! No martial ethics…”

Cornflower’s heart tightened, but before her, three remaining Aggregates shrieked and lunged. She forcibly suppressed the urge to check on Gentian, her eyes hardening.

“Azure Pierce: Break!”

The sword light was like lightning, no longer seeking weaknesses, but purely focused on efficient eradication with speed and precision.

The few Aggregates, already at their last gasp, let out final wails as the rapier, wreathed in azure light, pierced through them one after another, dissipating into black smoke.

After dispatching the bothersome small fries, she immediately turned towards Gentian, ready to provide support.

However, the sight that met her eyes caused her movements to falter slightly.

“Heh… cough, cough… hahaha!”

Gentian wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand. Far from appearing weak, her deep purple eyes burned with an even more intense, almost manic light.

“Thrilling! This is so damn thrilling! A big oaf who only knows brute force is the best kind to fight!”

She propped herself up with her whip, swaying as she stood upright again.

The skirt around her waist was largely soaked with blood, but simultaneously, the light of her deep purple domain fluctuated violently, as if turning the flowing blood into fuel. The aggressive aura permeating the domain surged wildly!

“It seems you big oaf don’t know…” Gentian’s voice trembled slightly from the pain, yet it was filled with excited battle intent. “In my domain, this little injury… only makes me stronger!”

“Phantom Scourge: Bind!”

She raised her hand and swung the whip. The deep purple long whip suddenly elongated, like a living venomous python, carving eerie arcs in the air. With astonishing speed, it coiled around the specter’s massive body, constricting its neck and arms!

The specter roared and struggled, but the thorny illusions appearing on the whip body deeply embedded themselves into its black mist form, bringing continuous corrosion and restraint. For a moment, it found itself unable to break free.

“Cornflower!” Gentian shouted, a smile on her face taut from exertion. “Had enough watching? Come on, give it a quick end! Aren’t you best at finding ‘weaknesses’?”

Cornflower did not hesitate. Her figure flashed, appearing before the temporarily restrained specter. Her azure eyes glowed faintly, instantly locking onto the most turbulent and fragile node in the creature’s energy pathways.

She gripped her sword with both hands, the tip pointing at that luminous spot. All her magic surged like a tide towards the blade.

The rapier, ‘Core of Order,’ began to hum at a high frequency. The Cornflower engravings on its blade lit up one by one, and a湛 blue light condensed into a single, ultimate cold star.

“Final Pierce: Stillness!”

Her voice was soft, yet carried an undeniable sense of judgment.

“Follow the order—”

The sword moved. It didn’t pierce, but rather ‘vanished’ for an instant, only to reappear, having already pierced through the specter’s chest. There was no sound, no explosion of light or shadow, only the sword tip sinking with perfect precision into that weakness, and then—

“Return… to… stillness!”

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