Chapter 445: Too late for regret
I can translate the non sexual portions faithfully, but I can’t reproduce the sections that depict sexualized coercion, humiliation, or abuse. I can instead render those moments as non sexual torture/interrogation while preserving the plot and tone.
Without saying another word, Ashina willed the frost lances forward, sending them rapidly toward the fleeing Biskaly. At the same time, she began charging up her divine art, preparing to unleash a devastating burst.
"So fast! I have to give it everything I’ve got, or I definitely won’t survive this!"
The sudden chill behind her made Biskaly’s scalp go numb. She had almost never encountered such overwhelming killing intent. After all, as an Imperial Guard, she had very few opportunities to experience genuine combat.
Even military Divine Chosen treated her like a mouse seeing a cat, afraid of provoking someone close to the Empress. And whenever the Imperial Guards dealt with loose organizations such as Night Owl, they usually fought alongside large groups of soldiers. As a result, they rarely had to engage in fights to the death.
"Divine Artifact, Dissociation!"
Grinding her teeth, she reluctantly dissolved her divine artifact. Cracks appeared across the battle axe in her hands before it rapidly shattered into fragments and merged into her body, increasing her combat power by fifty percent.
Yet the next moment, four frost lances exploded simultaneously around her.
A dazzling storm of ice erupted from Biskaly’s position and spread wildly in every direction.
The countless shards of ice were like a metallic storm, turning the surrounding trees and corpses into riddled wreckage.
"Urgh!"
Biskaly was nearly reduced to a broken, barely conscious state.
"Huh? I haven’t even finished charging my divine art, and she’s already done for."
Ashina waved her hand, dispersing the divine art that was still gathering power.
"An opponent who carries too many emotions into battle and doesn’t even know how to avoid incoming attacks is no fun at all."
Watching the battle from a distance, Phield recorded the information in the notebook he carried with him.
"Lack of combat experience. I can exploit that in the future."
The Imperial Guards they had encountered this time were roughly comparable in strength to Night Owl. The Imperial Guards’ greatest weakness was their pitiful lack of practical combat experience. They were much more accustomed to relying on rules and schemes.
Night Owl, on the other hand, had abundant combat experience and high morale. Unfortunately, they were hopelessly foolish, had poor talents, and struggled even against ordinary soldiers.
Phield suspected that perhaps they had suffered from poor nutrition, had too many burdens weighing on them, or perhaps someone had deliberately suppressed their strength.
"You... you’re not Night Owl at all. Who exactly are you...?"
Biskaly’s face was mangled, and she spat out blood as she begged for mercy.
"I know I was wrong. Please let me go."
"Whether you were wrong has nothing to do with whether I want to kill you."
Ashina approached and repeated Biskaly’s own earlier words.
"You made my lord unhappy, so you have to die. If you want someone to blame, blame your own bad luck."
It felt like a thunderbolt had struck her.
An overwhelming sense of terror surged through Biskaly’s heart as she finally realized exactly who these two people were.
Regret and fear flooded her mind.
She should never have interfered. She could have simply taken Night Owl’s heads and returned home to enjoy wealth and glory.
Instead, because she had become accustomed to acting recklessly, she had thrown away her own future.
"You... you are..."
Before she could reveal the truth, Firomina drifted over.
She raised her pale arm and casually swept it downward with an expression of disdain and arrogance.
Biskaly died instantly, taking nothing with her except despair and regret.
"What a noisy woman. Stop wasting time talking to her."
Having claimed the kill, Firomina summoned the Nirvana Seed and absorbed Biskaly’s Goddess Mark.
Although she disliked obtaining power so easily, her voice was clearly elevated with excitement. Crossing her arms before her chest, she spoke with the cold arrogance of an empress.
"I suppose I can barely acknowledge your strength."
"I think you should thank our lord."
Ashina tossed her hair back.
"No need. I don’t need some lord."
The Nirvana Seed floated back as the Goddess Mark of the Goddess of War dissolved into pure energy and was absorbed by Firomina.
She narrowed her eyes in obvious delight.
"I’m not far from Tier Three now. Since I absorbed someone above my level, the accumulation is extremely fast."
If she had fought Biskaly herself, she might not necessarily have been able to defeat her. Divine Chosen were simply too good at escaping with their lives.
Sensing Phield’s curious and expectant gaze, Firomina found this feeling of relying on someone else extremely unpleasant. It felt as though both her body and mind were being tormented by Phield, yet somehow she seemed to be enjoying the feeling more than she wanted to admit.
Firomina shook her head before pointing toward the little lion, Brinda.
A cold smile appeared at the corners of her lips.
"Now that things have come this far, let’s kill her too. Kill them all!"
"Have you lost your mind? Don’t forget our orders."
Ashina glared fiercely at her. She did not want to indulge Firomina to the point where she became a killing monster. Otherwise, things could easily spiral out of control.
"You..."
Brinda instinctively took a step backward, cold sweat immediately breaking out across her body.
Even she could sense that something was wrong.
"Well, I have somewhere I need to be, so I’ll be going now."
"Mm. We’re running low on divine power too."
Ashina waved her hand.
"We’ve already weakened the enemy, so we’re not going to help you rescue everyone. You’ll have to handle the rest yourself. The underground palace is in the grasslands to the west. You can tear open the concealed formation with divine power. Just make sure you don’t get yourself trapped in a prolonged fight."
"You’ve already helped us tremendously."
Brinda looked embarrassed and sincerely thanked them.
After casually saying goodbye, Ashina and Firomina quickly disappeared into the forest.
Brinda glanced behind her. Only after seeing Phield leave as well did she finally breathe a sigh of relief and run toward the underground palace.
"If she still can’t save them after all this, then perhaps it simply wasn’t meant to be."
After Brinda left, Phield controlled Firomina, who had transformed back into her moon form, and transmitted divine power to Brinda.
"Wait, the divine power I used during the earlier battle is recovering so quickly. I’m almost fully recovered."
As she ran, Brinda looked at her hands in astonishment.
"Could it be that I’ve unlocked some hidden potential?"
Without daring to stop, Brinda reached the location she had been directed to, tore open the magic formation, and returned to the underground palace.
Joey had originally been barely holding her own against two opponents. Once Florine joined the battle, however, the situation immediately collapsed.
Joey was struck by Florine’s powerful divine art, and her divine artifact was also dissolved. After squeezing out the last of her strength, Joey finally lost the battle.
"Hahaha! We finally subdued this troublesome woman!"
Simon shouted excitedly.
"She was pretty stubborn, wasn’t she? Go ahead, fight back again! Hahaha!"
"The sensations around me have become so strange. My senses feel overwhelmingly heightened. I can’t... I can’t lose my mind. If I do..."
Joey’s normally calm expression became increasingly unstable as tears streamed down her face.
The surrounding soldiers exchanged sinister smiles, and some had already begun discarding their weapons and armor.
"Line up behind me."
Simon cheerfully ordered the soldiers.
"Long live Lord Simon!"
"Sir Simon, don’t do something so pointless."
Sherry looked disgusted and frowned.
"Even though they are our enemies, please give them the dignity that warriors deserve."
"Miss Sherry, don’t be soft on these fools. Those commoners will never learn their lesson otherwise."
Simon waved his hand.
"Don’t worry. They won’t die. Once their minds completely break down, they’ll be much easier to interrogate."