The peerless beauty in a white robe, black hair cascading like a waterfall, was the Valkyrie who set a one‑year pact with Aphelia.

In a heartbeat, the Crimson Flame burned that twisted Rune to ash, then coalesced into a snarling Ghostface Vambrace upon her arms, its twin demon eyes locked on Merlin.

The revived body collapsed again, yet the towering knight still stood straight beside Merlin, like a silent guard.

“Merlin, you’ve gone too far.”

That ethereal voice calmed the panic beating in Aphelia and Lilo. The Crimson Flame shaped a blurred human silhouette at the Valkyrie’s side, standing quiet.

“Too far?”

Merlin doubled over laughing. His withered hands pointed straight at the Valkyrie’s brow, his tone dripping malice.

“She’s down to a single shred of soul. How’s that excessive?!”

His aging face twisted, ghoul‑like. The warped Rune strained to peel off his white robe, yet under the Ghostface Vambrace’s stare, it was forced back.

The Valkyrie answered nothing. She stayed before Aphelia; the Crimson Flame drew a line of fire, pushing him back.

Merlin snorted, all gentleness gone. A silver‑white Star‑Eye opened behind him again, and starshine flooded the sky once more. This time, no black firmament followed.

“Looks like your mind’s set.”

“She’s already dead. Why not let her go?”

The Valkyrie sighed long. Crimson Flame surged around her, burning toward the sea of starshine. It held the light at bay, no more; she seemed unwilling to strike him.

“Dead?”

Merlin sneered. With a sweep of his arm, the heavy‑armored knight lunged, broken sword raised to cut the Valkyrie. The figure by her side already drew and struck; the flames looked thin, yet drove the armored knight back step after step.

“If she’d died, I couldn’t have traced her from the Aether realm…”

“That’s your own brand you left. Please, wake up! She died then. She is her; Aphelia is Aphelia. They’re two people—just two flowers that happen to look alike!”

“Shut up!!”

The Valkyrie’s rebuke snapped Merlin’s sanity. From under his once‑sanctified robe, countless giant tendrils spewed out, twisted and rabid, a tide blotting the sky. They didn’t strike her—they surged for Aphelia behind her.

On the flank, Lilo saw his focus fixed on the Valkyrie. She drove her Aether again; a massive storm of flame bombarded Merlin as she chanted Runes, readying a domain.

Those grotesque, warped tendrils triggered a soul‑deep instinct in Lilo to reject them—let alone let them touch Aphelia.

“You really… don’t know what’s good for you!”

The Crimson Flame folded inward, gripped in the Valkyrie’s hand. Her motion flowed like cloud and water, seamless, and Aphelia’s eyes lit up—almost forgetting Aether still gnawed at her body.

No doubt, it was the opening of the Ancient Martial Flow. Yet in her hands, Aphelia couldn’t read which strike would fall. The kill‑in‑one Thunderclap? That Autumn Silence that sweeps like falling leaves? Or… the world‑splitting Heaven‑and‑Earth Instant?

It felt like the blade could be any of them—or none. It was clearly at a True God’s level, yet Aphelia still couldn’t see through the Valkyrie’s intent.

The long blade flashed; Crimson Flame whirled.

Even Lilo, aiding from the side, had to drop her Aether control on both of them, letting it collapse under the Valkyrie’s strike. As the flame‑blade swung, she felt herself almost dragged into that terrible arc. Cold sweat broke; she backed off, forgetting the domain she was about to unfurl.

She knew the Valkyrie was strong, but compared to that fight on the Hydra Plains, this was worlds apart!

After a single stroke, the mountain‑crushing tide of giant tendrils vanished to nothing. And that strike was far from just that.

The starshine that had stalemated the Crimson Flame was consumed on every front, even turned into its fuel. The whole sky seemed burned into pure crimson.

Merlin, who unleashed the tendrils, had expected this. His wan face went corpse‑gray, and his once‑normal body shrank like a punctured balloon, collapsing inward—left a rack of dry bones.

Behind him, a third silver‑white Star‑Eye snapped open.

“Why do you think she can wield that kind of Aether? Why do you think a non‑clone can look exactly like her?! You’re the one lying to yourself!”

With three Star‑Eyes supporting him, the air around Merlin turned viscous. Even the raging Crimson Flame hit an unseen wall, stuck a meter out, unable to press closer.

Merlin roared, then coughed like a dying elder. Skin clung to bone so tightly you feared he’d cough himself apart.

Under the gaze of the three Star‑Eyes, Aphelia couldn’t breathe. It was True God power, and she felt like an ant—thoughts of resisting couldn’t even rise within that sight.

“Only resemblance. She died back then. Didn’t you see it?”

Seeing the corrosion in Aphelia accelerate, the Valkyrie’s face darkened, her reply frost‑cold. Before the three silver‑white gazes, she didn’t yield; she pressed forward. The Crimson Flame folded back into Bracer Gauntlets. This time her aura unfurled, nothing held back.

In a blink, Aphelia and Lilo felt their eyes trick. Around the Valkyrie, a tightly wrought barrier seemed to unfold—yet no Aether or Arcane Power stirred, no sign at all. It felt innate, part of her body.

As that force surfaced—

“Hmph… if that’s how it is, then die!”

“Exactly my intent!”

Whoosh—the Valkyrie’s figure vanished. Bursts boomed through the air; only the leaping Crimson Flame marked her path.

Merlin still stood his ground, arms flailing madly. With every boom, his arms recoiled a bit, then thrust out again, wrapped in silver‑white starshine.

As the blasts grew tighter, his thrusts sped up. His recoil sped up too. About to buckle under attacks too fast to see, he bit his shriveled lip and rasped like a hell‑ghost.

“Star Shift!”

As the word fell, the tight blasts paused for a heartbeat. The Crimson Flame was flung aside—yet before he could strike again, the snarling Ghostface Vambrace met his shriveled cheek in a “close embrace,” smashing him clean away.

It hit flesh, yet the sound was mountain‑shattering, like a blow struck on a peak.

Air warped, and the Valkyrie appeared. Some force swam around her, rippling, blurring her outline.

“She’s… way too strong, isn’t she?”

Lilo stared, stunned. Earlier, Merlin had crushed her and Aphelia utterly. Now, before the Valkyrie, he was a sick cat, flattened on all fronts—left with futile defense, no room to attack.

But the Valkyrie’s steps didn’t stop. She drew a deep breath, and vanished again from their sight. Crimson Flame dragged a long scar through air, like a stream of light.

The great booms rolled back to their ears, but not the tight kind—each thud longer, heavier than the last. Every strike felt heart‑stilling, like a giant bell shuddering your pulse to a halt.

The assault lasted at least half an hour, yet to the two watching, it felt like a blink. They were lost in the Valkyrie’s cadence, drawn deep.

“Kah!”

Before long, Merlin was blasted back from afar again. This time, the two Star‑Eyes behind him had been shattered. Only the first, central Eye still barely held, a stark crack slashed across it.

“Hand over her remnant soul. I won’t make it hard on you; you’ve done so much for her, after all.”

The crimson blade rested against Merlin’s Star‑Eye. A small move and she could cleave the last Eye in two. She looked down on him, voice ice‑cold.

“Ha… haha! Too late. You’re already too late…”

Merlin showed no fear. He laughed loud, certain she wouldn’t kill him outright. He crawled up slowly, gazing at her with something like pity.

“Too late? What do you mean?”

The Valkyrie wasn’t rattled by his babbling. Her blade pressed in, lodging into that crack, as she asked, indifferent.