Chapter 329: The First Defeat

Erza remained at the bottom of the crater.

Completely still.

The dust created by her impact continued to drift through the air, slowly settling across the broken road and the edges of the enormous crater. Small pieces of stone occasionally rolled down its fractured sides, but Erza didn’t react to any of it.

Her head was slightly lowered.

Her face had darkened beneath the shadow of her white hair, hiding almost every trace of expression. Only her violet eyes remained clearly visible, glowing faintly within the darkness.

They were wide open.

Horrified.

Disbelieving.

Erza hadn’t moved since the portal disappeared.

She hadn’t lowered the hand that had almost touched Yuuta’s.

She hadn’t screamed again.

She hadn’t even spoken his name.

That complete silence was what disturbed Isvarn the most.

Standing some distance away, Isvarn watched her carefully. He had expected many things from Erza after Allen escaped. Rage would have been natural. Destruction would have been expected. He had even prepared himself for the possibility that she would immediately turn toward him and demand an explanation for why he had allowed Allen to leave.

Instead, she had done nothing.

Isvarn’s gaze moved briefly toward the empty place where the portal had vanished.

Even he had to admit that Allen had prepared remarkably well.

Leviathan. The army sacrificed merely to steal seconds. The portal waiting before Erza could reach him. Even the Law of Deity had been accounted for.

Allen had known from the beginning that he couldn’t defeat Erza.

So he had never tried.

He had manipulated where she looked, restricted those who could interfere, and escaped before overwhelming strength could become relevant.

Isvarn’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Cunning little demon.

He had lived through enough wars to recognize the mind of someone who had done the same.

And somehow, Allen had succeeded.

His eyes slowly closed.

But Allen’s plan was no longer what concerned him.

It was what came next.

Isvarn opened his eyes and looked toward the crater again.

Erza remained exactly where she had landed.

For the first time in her life, Erza had tasted true defeat.

Not losing an exchange or being forced backward.

A real defeat.

Something precious had been taken directly from her, and all of her overwhelming strength had failed to stop it.

Erza had lived her entire life with the certainty that whatever stood before her could eventually be overcome.

Tonight, that certainty had failed her.

And the price had been Yuuta.

Isvarn’s expression became grave.

You have to accept it, Erza.

His eyes lowered toward the hand she still held before her.

You lost.

There was no cruelty behind the thought. If anything, Isvarn felt something dangerously close to pity.

She was still sitting there because some part of her had yet to accept what had happened.

But she couldn’t remain there forever.

Eventually, reality would settle in.

Yuuta was gone.

Allen had taken him.

And when Erza finally accepted those two facts...

Isvarn’s expression darkened.

That’s when the real trouble begins.

Before Isvarn could determine what she would do next, another sound entered the ruined city.

Engines.

Several of them.

Isvarn glanced behind himself.

Agency vehicles appeared through the damaged streets one after another, moving quickly until the scale of destruction ahead forced the convoy to slow. Tires scraped across broken roads before the first armored vehicle came to a sharp stop.

Another stopped behind it.

Then another.

Doors opened almost immediately.

Agency soldiers began pouring out, weapons already in their hands as they spread around the vehicles. They had come prepared for another battle, expecting to find whatever had produced the terrifying readings that had drawn them toward Yuno City.

Sara was among the first to step out.

Sister Mary followed close behind her.

Both women stopped almost immediately.

Neither of them had expected this.

The area ahead could barely be called a city anymore.

Entire sections had been reduced to ruins. Roads were shattered, buildings had collapsed, debris covered the streets, and the aftermath of several different battles seemed to overlap across the same area.

Sara’s eyes slowly moved across it all.

She saw demons lying among the destruction.

Then she saw the black uniforms.

Shadow Corps.

Some lay scattered across the ruined street. Others remained buried beneath collapsed debris, completely motionless.

Sara’s expression tightened as she took in the destruction surrounding them. The reports from Yuno City hadn’t exaggerated the situation; if anything, they had failed to capture the true scale of what had happened here. Buildings had been reduced to ruins, the streets were torn apart, and the few surviving members of the Shadow Corps were scattered among the bodies of their fallen comrades.

Sister Mary barely paid attention to the destruction. Her eyes were already moving across the battlefield, desperately searching among the survivors until she finally noticed Isvarn standing some distance away. Relief almost appeared on her face, but before she could approach him, something else entered her vision.

Her gaze shifted toward the enormous crater.

Mary stopped.

Sara noticed the sudden change in her expression and followed her gaze. At the center of the crater sat Erza, completely motionless, with dust still drifting around her from the impact. Her white hair had fallen partly across her face, covering most of her expression beneath its shadow, while one hand remained slightly raised in front of her as though she had forgotten to lower it.

Only her violet eyes remained clearly visible beneath her hair. They were wide open and fixed on the empty ground before her, carrying a horrified disbelief that neither Sara nor Mary had ever expected to see on Erza’s face.

Neither woman moved.

The soldiers behind them gradually noticed where they were looking and turned toward the crater as well. Their movements slowed one after another until even those who had been spreading through the area came to a stop, while the surviving members of the Shadow Corps remained where they were among the destruction.

An unnatural silence gradually settled over the ruined street.

Sara had seen Erza angry before. She knew what it felt like to stand near the Supreme Commander when her temper broke, and she knew how suffocating Erza’s presence could become when someone truly provoked her.

But this was different.

Erza wasn’t releasing any power or threatening anyone. She wasn’t demanding answers or looking for someone to blame. She simply remained at the center of the crater, staring at the place where Yuuta had disappeared as though her mind had yet to accept what her eyes had witnessed.

Sister Mary’s lips parted.

"Highness....."

Her voice came out much quieter than she intended.

Erza gave no response.

Mary instinctively wanted to approach her, but her feet refused to move. Something about the expression hidden beneath Erza’s white hair made her hesitate, and Sara seemed to feel the same warning because she made no attempt to order the soldiers forward.

Isvarn watched them from where he stood, but his attention soon returned to Erza. His eyes narrowed as he studied the unnatural stillness surrounding her, his expression becoming increasingly grave.

Unlike the others, Isvarn understood what they were actually witnessing.

This wasn’t the end of Erza’s reaction.

It was only the moment before it began.

For several seconds, no one seemed capable of moving. Even breathing felt strangely difficult as the ruined street remained trapped beneath an unnatural silence. Sara’s fist slowly tightened at her side while she stared at Erza sitting motionless inside the crater.

So this is the Power of Atlantis Queen...

Sara had witnessed powerful people before, but this was different. Erza wasn’t releasing her aura, threatening anyone, or even looking at them. She was literally doing nothing, yet the entire battlefield had fallen silent simply because no one knew what would happen if that silence finally broke.

Then the atmosphere changed.

A violent shockwave suddenly rolled across the city, forcing several Agency soldiers to turn. This time, however, the pressure hadn’t come from Erza. It came from somewhere far beyond the ruined streets, accompanied by a presence that should no longer have existed.

ROOOOOAAAAARRRR!

The roar thundered across the sky.

Sara’s head snapped upward while Sister Mary’s eyes widened. Even Isvarn turned toward the source as an enormous shadow began rising in the distance, its monstrous presence becoming stronger with every passing second.

Something had awakened.

Something Erza should have already killed.

The Leviathan rose once again.

But it no longer resembled the creature Erza had fought before.

Its enormous body had changed, becoming longer and more terrifying than it had been over Atlantis Ocean. Four colossal clawed limbs extended beneath its body like those of a dragon, while a pair of enormous wings unfolded from its back. The wings looked almost absurd against something of its size, yet when they spread completely, the air beneath them erupted from the force.

The Leviathan rose higher.

Its enormous body climbed into the sky.

Agency soldiers could only stare as the creature began to fly, because something that massive shouldn’t have been capable of remaining in the air. Each movement of its wings displaced enough wind to shake the damaged buildings beneath it, while its monstrous aura spread across the surrounding region.

A colossal shadow rose beyond the ruined city.

Sister Mary’s eyes widened.

"That thing survived?"

Mary didn’t answer.

She recognized what stood before them now.

One of Nova’s beasts.

And it was looking directly at Erza.

The Leviathan’s enormous head turned.

Its eyes found the white-haired woman sitting inside the crater.

Another roar tore from its throat as its wings spread to their full length. The creature began moving toward Yuno City, and despite its unbelievable size, its speed increased rapidly as it crossed the sky.

"Defensive formation!"

Sara’s command immediately broke the soldiers from their shock.

Agency personnel raised their weapons while others spread away from the vehicles, desperately establishing firing positions. None of them truly believed conventional weapons would be enough against something of this scale, but standing still and waiting for it to attack wasn’t an option.

The Leviathan opened its mouth.

Light appeared deep inside its throat.

Sara’s expression changed immediately.

"Scatter!"

The light intensified.

What had once been the Leviathan’s Solar Beam now looked like a burning sun gathering inside its jaws. The surrounding clouds reflected its brilliance, while waves of heat and monstrous energy rolled toward the city before the attack had even been released.

The soldiers immediately abandoned their positions.

Some dove behind ruined structures while others sprinted away from the projected path of the attack. Sara knew immediately that there was no formation they could create capable of stopping something like that.

Then Erza Finally moved.

She didn’t look at the Leviathan.

She didn’t stand.

Her violet eyes remained fixed on the ground where Yuuta had disappeared.

Erza simply raised one hand.

Her arm moved upward in a single casual swing.

The air split.

A colossal slash erupted from that simple movement and tore upward through the sky. The shockwave generated behind it ripped through the surrounding ruins, sending debris flying and carving a violent path through the air as it raced directly toward the approaching Leviathan.

The monster had barely begun releasing its Solar Beam when the slash reached it.

There was no struggle.

No collision between powers.

The slash passed straight through.

The brilliant Solar Beam disappeared as the Leviathan’s enormous body suddenly froze in the sky. For one brief moment, the creature remained suspended there, its wings still extended and its mouth still glowing with the remnants of its unfinished attack.

Then a perfectly straight line appeared through its body.

The Leviathan separated into two enormous halves.

Its monstrous aura vanished instantly.

Blood and frozen fragments scattered through the sky as both halves of the creature began falling toward the city. The impact came seconds later, enormous pieces of flesh crashing through already ruined structures and sending another wave of debris across the streets.

Then silence returned.

The Agency soldiers stared upward.

Weapons remained frozen in their hands as they looked at the enormous remains of the creature that had terrified them only moments earlier. The beast had returned stronger, transformed into something even more monstrous than before, yet Erza had cut it perfectly in half without even looking at it.

Sara slowly turned toward the crater.

Erza slowly lowered her hand.

Somewhere beyond the city, the remains of Leviathan crashed into the earth.

She didn’t look.

Her eyes returned to her empty palm.

The same hand that had just killed one of Nova’s beasts without effort.

The same hand that had failed to move another inch when Yuuta had been directly in front of her.

Her fingers trembled.

And finally, something inside Erza cracked.

A tear slipped from her violet eye.

No one moved.

The soldiers who had been preparing to fight the Leviathan remained exactly where they stood. Sara didn’t issue another command, while Sister Mary watched Erza with growing dread.

Even Isvarn remained silent.

Erza’s aura began to rise.

It started slowly, spreading outward from the crater in waves as the air around her grew heavier. Broken stones trembled against the ground, dust lifted from the ruined street, and the remaining windows throughout the area began vibrating beneath the pressure.

Erza finally raised her face completely.

Tears continued falling from her violet eyes.

Isvarn’s eyes narrowed.

The shock was gone.

Erza had finally accepted reality.

And as her aura continued rising over the ruined city, Isvarn understood that what everyone had witnessed until now had merely been the silence before the storm.

Here it comes.

The real disaster.

To Be Continued...