The Noble Lady of Lust

Chapter 392: Critical Moment

Yes, defeat seemed imminent for her.

She did not deceive herself by the fact that she had stood up to Mitrass or had come out relatively superior in the previous exchange.

She understood perfectly well that Mitrass had been holding back from killing her, and that the other two were just watching.

But that would no longer be the case.

her actions had crossed a point of no return and from every angle were clearly rash.

Mitrass no longer had any reason to hold back.

And besides him, she would have to face the other two... and who knows how many more beasts Noha could summon.

Analyzing her situation coldly and realistically, she was no better than a walking corpse.

Cutting off Noha’s hand had done her no good: it only seemed like she was closing off her only escape route and actively seeking her own death.

And yet-

Just at that moment-when she should be overcome by despair or fear, with a beast of tenth metamorphosis halfway to devouring her-there was only one expression on her face.

A big smile, as she looked at the agile beast.

In an instant, the single gauntlet she wore transformed back into a spear, though now it was shorter, similar to the one held by her doppelganger.

"ART OF LUST, FIFTH STANCE:." (x2)

Two powerful screams like never before echoed in unison: Seraphina’s and her doppelganger’s.

The latter was right behind Mitrass, who was already preparing to confront her.

The aura emanating from the doppelganger from the spear was almost identical to Seraphina’s: an overwhelming, chaotic and extremely lethal energy.

The doppelganger’s attack was aimed directly at Mitrass.

Seraphina’s, on the other hand, seemed to be aimed at the demonic beast... or even at Noha, its summoner.

"I won’t let-"

That was the obvious flow of what looked like it was going to happen.

Even Mitrass ignored a faint sense of incoherence he caught a glimpse of. Trusting the obvious, he braced himself for a serious counterattack.

Noha, for her part, instantly erected a protective barrier.

Oryx prepared to move alongside Noha in the worst case scenario.

The time for games was over. Everyone was ready to deal with Seraphina.

But-

"Saltus Spatii!... TEMPTING TORRENT" (x2)

BOOMMM!

GRAWWW!

What happened was completely out of everyone’s expectations.

They both appeared right on top of the demonic beast.

THRUM!

They attacked almost the same spot on its back, in a perfectly coordinated manner.

The objective was clear: to kill it as quickly as possible.

They did not hold back at all.

The Fifth Posture of the Art of Lust was, on its own, almost a natural phenomenon: an aggressive vortex that propelled the weapon—while simultaneously dragging, pinning, and shattering everything else it reached.

And not only that.

Depending on the number of elements involved, that torrent became even more chaotic, more aggressive and more devastating.

In addition to the fact that these elements were empowered by multiple Skill, the damage inflicted by Seraphina -although not as striking or on such an enormous scale as the magic used before- was, at the time, her fastest and most powerful controllable attack.

’Get ready, they’re coming.’

’Yes.’

On the other hand, the doppelganger used a higher percentage of the light element, but with the Spear of Lust - being the best possible amplifier for that element - while it didn’t reach the damage of the original, it was still considerable.

Even more so because they both hit almost the same spot and, at that instant, both Seraphina were putting everything they had, holding back almost nothing.

Slowly...

GRREAAAAAUGH!

The beast, of course, did not allow this to continue without resistance. It began to writhe and flail violently, but both Seraphina stood their ground, concentrating on driving their spears deeper and deeper, inch by inch, destroying skin, flesh and reaching the creature’s bones.

At the same time, the chaotic and destructive aura of the Art began to invade its interior, causing a disaster from within.

"This wretch... what did she do because my connection to my baby, shit! Oryx, do something too! Try not to hurt my baby, And you don’t just stand there like an idiot, didn’t you want to kill her, do it now!"

Incited by Noha’s fury, they all began to attack: Oryx with what looked like space magic, Noha himself initiating what appeared to be a powerful plant element magic, and, although he was farther away, Mitrass was already preparing to execute a strong follow-up attack.

BOOMMM!

Once again, the cave shook; collapse was only a matter of time. But the important thing was that the three, who had attacked without holding back, did not achieve their goal.

"Shit... really, how many tricks does she have...?"

Seraphina was still on top of the beast, but now she was holding the large spear instead of the short one, while her doppelganger had positioned itself in front of the three and the creature.

It wasn’t that she could defend against attacks without restraint; she simply already knew that the three would attack without reservation and had activated her remaining defensive artifacts.

Some were among the few she had kept since rescuing Ciel; others she had purchased or received as gifts from her father, and some she had created herself along with Ciel over the last period of time.

There were none particularly good. The best would barely withstand attacks of up to the ninth metamorphosis; still, all together they were supposed to be able to completely stop many attacks of that range.

But the three were not easy opponents. The defences were barely enough to stop the combined magical attack and Mitrass’s assault.

Even so, these gave Seraphina the moment she needed.

"Damn, it’s harder than it looks—Art of Lust, Third Stance: Seductive Touch."

SCHRK!

At that point, putting more weight on the spear, she switched to the third stance, which had more penetrating than destructive properties, and entered even deeper into the beast.

And when she had penetrated deeply-

"Art of Lust, Fifth Stance: Tempting Torrent "

Krrrshh!

She was being extremely generous with her mana and didn’t hold back for an instant. In fact, she already had a little less than ten percent left.

She was using all she had left.

Completely focused, the chaotic maelstrom went deep inside the creature, causing it such intense pain that it could no longer even attempt to remove Seraphina.

Seraphina knew: it was rare to find beasts that, without having surpassed ten stars, possessed intelligence.

These did not have the capacity of thinking beings to take countermeasures or make complex decisions; they only reacted by instinct.

And in this case, that was not enough.

Besides, it was a dominated beast, which depended on its summoner to make decisions, without that it was an even easier prey.

The wound was becoming lethal. Little by little, its movements slowed. It was a tenth metamorphosis beast, but it clearly did not excel in defense or vitality.

Seraphina had noticed this detail before; that’s why she showed a big smile when she saw it instead of despair.

"Die, dammit!"

At that moment, Seraphina glimpsed what she was looking for and withdrew her spear. It disappeared, turning back into gloves, and went straight for the red stone and extracted it cleanly.

GRAAAWWWWW!

A scream of agony and inevitable death erupted from the tenth-ranked beast.

And that was the last thing it emitted.

The beast died.

A creature subdued by someone four ranks lower, in a short period of time.

The speed, tenacity and precision with which it reached the target surprised even the three, who were now ready to make more follow-up attacks.

But after the surprise... for Noha came anger at losing one of his valuable summons.

Immediately, another circle began to emerge from the ground.

No, it wasn’t one: it was two.

One was even bigger than the previous one.

Oryx simply snorted.

Although Seraphina’s achievement—killing a ten-star beast—was something he would not have considered possible for someone at the sixth metamorphosis, in the end it proved futile.

The tactic of picking off enemies one by one was understandable, but to him it was impossible for her to repeat it.

And, besides, he knew that Noha still had plenty left....

To Oryx, Seraphina’s actions, while worthy of admiration, were fundamentally futile.

They were both certain that Seraphina would fall...

But those were just the thoughts of those two.

But Mitrass, upon seeing Seraphina standing over the corpse, bathed in blood and holding the demonic beast’s core, felt a chill and an unpleasant sensation unlike anything he had ever felt before.

"Hehahaha!!... Now you sons of bitches, let’s even this out! It’s time for the second phase..."

Seraphina, with her other hand and while laughing, pierced her own chest, opening a hole in an action nothing short of suicidal and losing.

But Mitrass stepped forward with great speed towards Seraphina.

He, who could feel the flow of battle, understood: this was definitely wrong. He didn’t know what it was, but he couldn’t let Seraphina finish.

His movement was so fast that he would arrive in front of Seraphina in a split second.

He already had his heavy sword up high, held with one of his hands and surrounded by a red aura; he was obviously circulating his art and executing some very powerful technique.

His own body even began to be surrounded by a thick crimson flame.

That attack had not a bit of restraint; on the contrary, she seemed to be putting every possible ounce of her power, skills and mana into that attack.

And his sword was like a sickle of death, aimed directly at finishing off Seraphina.

But in front of him appeared a barrier: the last defensive artifact that the doppelganger had kept.

She couldn’t really follow Mitrass’ serious movement, but she had already activated it even before Mitrass moved.

She knew it was a critical moment and she wasn’t going to allow anyone to intervene.

Boommm! -crack-

The blow resounded, followed immediately by a cracking sound. Mitrass had broken through the defense, but that small moment gave the doppelganger a chance to get in his way.

"Art of Lust: fourth stance-."

She activated her counterattack art as fast as she could, preparing for Mitrass’ next attack, which - as he thought - would come immediately.

Boommm!

And so it did. Mitrass didn’t even take a split second to use his sword again to attack the doppelganger.

Even so, the blow was so powerful that the doppelganger could not resist it at all, even when his hand, for an instant, had been covered in gold.

It was sent flying into the wall without even having a chance to deflect, let alone counterattack.

Mitrass did not hesitate for a moment. He paid no more attention to the doppelganger and went straight for Seraphina again, who at that moment seemed hunched over and in great pain.

Nothing unusual, considering that she herself had just opened her own chest. In fact, it seemed that in that short period she had even spat out large mouthfuls of blood.

Everywhere you looked, it seemed that even without Mitrass’ intervention, she would die alone.

Still, Mitrass - who did not fail to sense that something was wrong - pressed on. When he arrived right in front of Seraphina, again with his sword raised high, charged again with his most powerful attack, he swiftly descended straight towards Seraphina’s head to finally put an end to this.

Demonization (C) >>> Demonization (B)