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「Ross?!」
「Have you forgotten that we are already compensated? She already paid us in advance! Is that the correct attitude of a responsible adult, going against what we’ve already promised?」
「B-, but still! That isn’t the—」
「Not to mention. Even if I managed to narrowly escape death here, our opponent next is the Prisma. We can’t possibly leave the very disaster we roused up to be. Should Charalia fall and become Venefique, then all who live here will become Venefians—people we can’t abandon.」
「Ah……! Th-, that’s—」
「Do you understand now? The preoccupation that is haunting you right now is no more than a small bump.」
「Y-, you are right…… I’m sorry……」
「If so, then why don’t you let me revel in your power for this one moment? My skills as a warrior have been urging me, you see! We are fighting a Runeless who rivals even a Knight equipping a Hyrule Menace! A being that destroys the common sense of this world! Does that not amuse you?!」
「Ross! All right, if that’s what you wish for—」

With determination in her eyes, Arles nodded strongly. Personally, Inglis wanted to applaud Rochefort for coming up with such a good excuse.

She wouldn’t actually do it though, since she didn’t want Arles to change her mind again. Rochefort had been putting up the farce of a madman, but he was keen and well-spoken behind that mask. Quite an interesting character.

「Sorry for that, let us get started!!」

With that, Rochefort smirked.

「Yes. Please do!」

Inglis replied with a smile and a bow. By then, Arles’ body had begun glowing and changing. With the golden shield back in his hand, Rochefort leaped back and took a distance from Inglis.

「We don’t have much time! So, just one blow! I’ll give you the best, strongest blow and end it all!」
「I shall do the same, then!」

They only had a small window of time to fight without constraint. If so, then Inglis would offer her maximum power attack as well!

「uuoOOOOOORRRRAaAAaaaAAAHHH—!!!!」

Rochefort raised his golden shield to the sky with a fierce fighting spirit.

The shield’s brilliance intensified for every moment, as the overflowing light covered Rochefort’s surroundings in a hemispherical shape. It expanded, becoming bigger, and brighter. When it touched the city wall, the wall effortlessly crumbled due to its sheer pressure.

And that was only the shockwave of what was truly brewing! More and more Quasi Ether was converging on the shield itself. It was stronger and more intense than it had ever been, and it was reaching for higher and higher power still.

「Rani, everyone! Stay farther away! The whole castle could be pulverized!」
「G-, got it! Be careful, Glis! Just make sure that you’re okay!」

Following Inglis’ warning, Rafinha and the Knights split off on their flygears.

「Kgh! Even though we’ve already prepared a uniform that suits Lady Inglis as well as a feast to celebrate her!!」

Redas lamented.

「?! You heard that?! They’ve got a feast! And a cute dress for you!! You’ve got to protect them! I can fix you up if you get injured a bit!」
「You changed your mind that quickly! But, sure! Leave it to me!!」

Inglis took a deep breath and readied her dragonscale sword as she responded to Rafinha.

「I’ll do just the same then! HAAAaaa!」

She poured Ether into the blade of the sword through her hands.

Ether permeated the blade of the sword even when Inglis had Ether Armor active, but that was merely a side effect. It was unavoidable that the sword she possessed in her current state would also possess Ether.

Compared to the previous swords, however, it was different this time.

After she poured a large amount of Ether into the sword, the blade began to glow in the pale tinge, characteristic of Inglis’ Ether. It shone bright, as bright as the golden shield that Rochefort carried… no, perhaps even brighter.

Its luminescence far surpassed even Ether Strike and Ether Armor, comparable only to Inglis’ most powerful Ether Battle Technique, Ether Breaker, when the loopback happened and the energy exploded.

It told her that there was simply that much high-density Ether condensed within the blade.

Ether was the root of all things in existence, but as a power, it was extremely difficult to manipulate. One either could only do nothing with it or unleash the entirety of it in one single blow, in Inglis’ case, that would be Ether Strike where she unleashed a huge mass of Ether from her palm.

However, in pursuit of even greater destructive power, Inglis developed Ether Breaker. The Ether Breaker was a phenomenon when Inglis caught up with the Ether Strike she unleashed using Ether Armor and hitting it, causing it to explode and forcing it to increase its destructive power.

However, if she had a weapon that could be a vessel to contain Ether, then she had no reason to go that far. The sword would contain the Ether and store it for her.

Since it converged on a single point, there was less diffusion of Ether, and as a result, she could expect the same numerical output as an Ether Breaker without the burden of causing one.

No, there really wasn’t a reason to stop at the same level of Ether Breaker. She could do more! She could put all of her Ether into this sword!