The Anomaly Beyond The System

"Oh~ go ahead.

...Make me."

Valentina answered in a casual tone, her words deliberately doing everything they could to get inside Nivelle’s head and provoke her.

And...

It worked.

Snap.

The temperature throughout the throne hall plummeted in an instant.

A silent freezing storm swept across the room, causing the marble floor to rapidly creak beneath it as layers of frost spread in every direction. Even the air itself seemed to crystallise.

Nivelle’s icy-blue eyes grew even colder, and so did her expression.

Without moving an inch from her spot, dozens of frost weapons materialised behind her, razor-sharp swords condensing out of the freezing air, each one radiating a terrifying chill.

Sitting beside her... even Alaric instinctively felt a shiver run through his body, his chest tightening beneath the overwhelming cold as he witnessed her power.

Then, his gaze shifted toward Valentina.

The crimson-haired woman didn’t even flinch despite the terrifying pressure that had clearly been directed at her, almost as though she were genuinely enjoying it—especially judging by the wide smile spreading across her face.

Without a single word, the frost weapons floating behind Nivelle slowly rose.

Each razor-sharp blade was large enough to tear the woman’s entire body apart, gleaming with a chilling power that made even the surrounding air tremble.

SHHHHHHHHHH—!!

Every single one of them shot forward at the same time.

The entire throne hall erupted with a deafening shriek as the frozen blades tore through the air toward Valentina at a terrifying speed, reaching the crimson-haired woman within a heartbeat.

Yet...

Valentina remained seated upon her throne, completely unmoving until the very instant the blades were right before her eyes.

The smile on her lips widened even further.

Then, in the next instant—

Her figure vanished from the throne.

Before the human eye—or perhaps even the vampire eye—could process what had happened, her body had already moved.

Her fist shot forward.

Then—

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The throne hall trembled slightly as deafening impacts echoed one after another, while blade after blade... every single one of them shattered into countless pieces.

And it wasn’t as though Valentina was using mana to protect herself or relying on her intent to destroy them.

Nivelle could clearly see it—or rather, she had already known it from the very beginning.

This woman...

She was simply using her own physical strength, punching through every single blade and shattering them apart as though they were nothing.

As though the frozen weapons, capable of effortlessly cleaving through mountains, were nothing more than fragile glass.

But still...

Frost rapidly climbed from her knuckles toward her wrist, turning her pale fingers completely white before thin cracks spread across her skin.

Despite how monstrously strong she was, Nivelle was not someone she could fight carelessly.

Though...

With every passing millisecond, the frozen layer cracked apart, and the torn flesh beneath regenerated once again.

Nivelle’s lips twitched, and slowly, a small, amused smile appeared across her face as she looked at the recklessness of the woman before her.

But instead of stopping...

Dozens, hundreds, then thousands of frost swords materialised throughout the throne hall.

An endless sea of shimmering blades completely filled the hall before forming a gigantic whirlpool around Valentina, every single sword aimed at only one person.

The maniac who refused to stop, continuing to use nothing but her bare fists.

Nivelle had no intention of killing her—because she knew she couldn’t.

But she truly... really wanted to at least put a hole through that insufferable woman.

The sound of every punch echoed like thunder, each collision sending a deafening boom throughout the throne hall and causing the entire castle to tremble.

"Nivelle! Valentina!

Enough!"

Alaric’s powerful voice reverberated throughout the hall, his command echoing like thunder.

Yet...

Neither woman paid him the slightest bit of attention.

Valentina’s laughter suddenly erupted throughout the castle, wild, unrestrained, and filled with pure exhilaration.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!

YES!! JUST LIKE THIS...!!

MORE!! MORE!! MORE!!!!!"

Valentina’s laughter echoed throughout the throne hall, growing louder with each passing moment, every booming laugh shaking the very interior of the castle.

Her golden eyes gleamed with madness and a hint of exhilaration, as though she had finally found someone she could fight properly.

Then...

She suddenly grabbed one of the frost swords Nivelle had hurled toward her and swung it, using it to tear through the other incoming blades.

Each slash, seemingly wild yet perfectly precise, sent ripples through the air, while almost every blade it struck burst into glittering fragments before dissolving into countless snow-like particles.

And whenever the sword in her hand shattered...

She simply grabbed another one from the endless buffet of blades Nivelle kept sending toward her.

Nivelle remained expressionless.

Valentina suddenly swung her sword toward her.

The energy released from the blade rippled through the air, sending an enormous crescent-shaped slash hurtling in Nivelle’s direction.

Before Alaric could even make a move...

The attack itself froze.

Then, the mana within the slash rapidly crystallised before turning into solid frost.

With a simple snap of her fingers, Nivelle shattered it, reducing it to sparkling frost particles.

The once clean and immaculate throne hall now looked as though it had been swept through by a raging blizzard.

But before long...

Valentina’s smile slowly faded, and the excitement within her golden eyes gradually turned into disappointment as she watched Nivelle repeat the same attack over and over again.

She already knew the pattern, so this was becoming boring...!

"Nivelle! Don’t you know anything other than this?!"

Nivelle did not answer.

Clicking her tongue, Valentina glanced one last time at the countless swords flying toward her from every direction.

"...Sigh."

Letting out another disappointed sigh, she casually released the sword in her hand.

Before it could even reach the floor, she lazily waved her hand through the air.

Immediately—

All the surrounding weapons, every icy construct rushing toward her, came to an abrupt stop.

CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.

Tiny fractures spread across every single one of them simultaneously.

The very next moment—

CRRRRASHHHHH—!!

Every frozen weapon shattered at once, exploding into a raging blizzard of glittering ice.

Silence followed.

The guard, who had fainted earlier, was jolted awake by the deafening explosion.

Yes, he hadn’t died, since as Valentina had said earlier... she had spared every single one of them—at least spared their lives.

But the moment he opened his eyes...

An overwhelming killing intent suddenly erupted throughout the entire castle, causing his body to instantly go limp once again as his eyes rolled back from the sheer dread and suffocating pressure engulfing him.

And it wasn’t only him.

Every single vampire inside the castle immediately collapsed beneath the monstrous killing intent, falling unconscious, leaving only Nivelle and Alaric still standing.

Even Alaric... couldn’t stop the cold sweat from trickling down his forehead, though every single drop froze almost instantly.

A flicker of fear surfaced within his eyes as he stared at the scarlet-haired maniac.

’Monster.’

Valentina’s crimson hair floated menacingly behind her, as though dancing beneath an invisible current.

Without sparing another glance at the shattered frost surrounding her, she leisurely sat back down upon her floating throne—the very throne that had remained completely untouched since she had consciously protected it throughout the entire exchange.

Nivelle quietly narrowed her eyes, knowing full well that Valentina hadn’t released her full killing intent.

Only enough to force her to stop.

Only enough to knock everyone else unconscious while deliberately leaving them alive.

But still...

Her lips twitched, caught somewhere between restrained frustration... and begrudging admiration.

’Tsk... just how did she become this strong even while being cursed?’

"...What? That’s it?

Finished already?"

Valentina’s lips curled into a wide smile the moment she saw the bitter, defeated look on Nivelle’s face, and that smile slowly stretched even wider until it almost looked distorted.

’She might’ve been so beautiful... if only she didn’t have such a maniacal, disgusting personality.’

Alaric thought silently, feeling the faintest trace of attraction toward her, though he knew he would die if he dared stare at her inappropriately for more than a second.

And...

If his wife somehow noticed even that fleeting thought—

He would probably spend the rest of eternity as a perfectly preserved frozen statue.

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