### Chapter: 328
The third princess of the Ephania Empire, Sigrid Ephania.
She was a prodigy with an extraordinary talent for the sword.
“Princess Sigrid’s talent is undoubtedly fit for an emperor!”
“Really, all the titles related to swords in this tournament will belong to Princess Sigrid!”
Perhaps because of this, she was showered with praise from a young age. Who would dare criticize a princess of her stature, right?
Still, she was praised to an excessive degree thanks to her promising talent.
Maybe that’s why Sigrid Ephania always thought of herself as the best.
A being reigning at the top.
A natural talent with the sword.
And someone blessed with beauty.
Sigrid delighted in her various titles and lived in the sweet nectar of compliments.
However, that was only for a moment.
There was someone surpassing all her talents.
The Sword Master.
Charlotte Balheim.
The one who snatched away the title of Sword Master, a title originally meant for her.
Sigrid thought back, wondering if her life went astray from that point on.
And now, there was another person making her feel the weight of the walls.
The one who had taken the power of the White Dragon, which she herself could not fully wield.
The one who was boldly advancing while she repeatedly failed even after reincarnation.
Kraush Balheim.
This Balheim brat always blocked her path.
What kind of grudge did he hold against her?
He constantly hindered her, again and again.
This fact filled Sigrid with disgust.
Every time she saw Charlotte, and now Kraush, she felt increasingly insignificant.
While she was like a piece of Swiss cheese riddled with holes,
Kraush kept pushing forward without a single crack in his armor.
After all, he was just a cursed being who originally held a non-combatant position.
Yet he stood firmer than the one once called the most talented in the world.
Kraush’s figure reflected in Sigrid’s eyes.
Thinking back, even in his cursed days, his gaze never lost its spark.
Despite the numerous trials he must have faced,
His infuriating eyes still shone brightly.
“I’ve hated you from the very beginning.”
Sigrid revealed an intense hatred towards Kraush.
“How amusing it is to see your gaze laced with poison, especially when buried under the star known as Charlotte Balheim.”
When they first met at Rahern Academy before her reincarnation,
Sigrid had aimed to pull Kraush down to create a political advantage for herself.
As the representative of Starlon, the more fractured Kraush became,
The more solidified Sigrid’s standing would be.
Understanding this, Sigrid had relentlessly tormented Kraush while pretending otherwise.
But despite the harassment, Kraush never broke.
He certainly acted like a reckless fool and was prickly towards those around him,
But he was nowhere near being shattered.
Rather, it almost seemed like he had chosen to stand firm.
He stood resolute like a stone guardian amidst a raging tempest.
“You and I could never coexist from the start.”
Perhaps Sigrid wanted to prove something.
That she could stomp on the name Balheim whenever she wished.
“So…”
A menacing aura of the White Dragon surged fiercely from Sigrid’s sword.
She was confident that there was no one who could stop her today, who wagered her future.
“One of us has to die.”
If they couldn’t coexist, then one must undoubtedly perish.
Sigrid uttered this while twisting into a ghastly grin.
In that moment, white flames began to swirl around Kraush’s body.
As someone who wielded the power of the White Dragon, Sigrid’s bloodline was a World Erosion force.
Thus, white flames would inflict far more damage on her than the black flames of World Erosion.
Simultaneously, the swirls of white flames began to compress around Kraush.
Sigrid guessed.
Kraush, who had reincarnated alongside her, would surely know her specialty of lengthy battles.
Furthermore, he would be aware of the existence of Sword Light.
He must have deemed a drawn-out fight unfavorable.
So he would plan to end it in a single strike.
Kraush’s form began to change.
Scales erupted from his face, and horns sprouted.
The Celestial Fire Dragon.
Kraush had reached the state of becoming the Dragon King.
Sigrid watched the scene, slowly pulling her sword back.
If she desired, she could escape and render Kraush’s efforts meaningless.
But Sigrid didn’t do that.
Because all she had left was her pride.
Turning her back to Kraush was something she’d never permit.
Moreover, she had to inform him.
That even his most powerful strike
Would not work against her, Sigrid Ephania.
“You’ll forever be a cursed being.”
She wouldn’t allow defiance against destiny.
He probably didn’t know.
She had been waiting for this moment all along.
Kraush’s strike was indeed powerful.
That was a fact she had come to know firsthand.
Kraush mainly relied on a single powerful strike at Rahern Academy.
By just defeating Mary, who was known as the spear of the gods, one could easily understand how potent his strike was.
Thus, Sigrid deliberately led him into this situation.
Knowing he was aware of her preference for long battles, he would eventually opt for a short fight.
The energy of the White Dragon swirling around Sigrid began to wane.
Instead, the energy began to swirl within her,
Gradually strengthening her physique.
Similar to Kraush, but different in process.
Sigrid was drawing out the full potential of her body.
As Sigrid quietly exhaled,
The breath of the White Dragon froze everything around her.
Sigrid’s pupils began to emit a chilling blue glow.
Due to Kraush’s absorption of the true power of the White Dragon, Sigrid could only swallow the remnants.
However, Sigrid had already reached the pinnacle while once binding the White Dragon’s power.
She had her trump card too.
Crackle—
Once she used this power, she would lose all remaining power of the White Dragon.
But it was okay.
She had drawn from her future for today.
At this point, she wasn’t afraid of such things.
What Sigrid feared most was one thing:
Losing to Kraush, who stood before her now.
So, Sigrid advanced to a higher level of transcendence, combining all of the White Dragon’s powers.
The Descent of the White Dragon.
White scales rose upon her body.
Simultaneously, her eyes transformed into a draconic form just like Kraush’s.
Flap!
Wings of shimmering white dragon energy formed from the currents behind her.
With sharpened fangs, Sigrid steadied her stance.
Boom!
Suddenly, it seemed Kraush was also readying himself as ferocious white flames erupted from him.
Crash!
The cracks on his sword, which had been emitting thunderous energy, shattered.
Simultaneously, Kraush’s sword, spewing white flames, stretched out towards Sigrid.
Annihilation Erosion.
Eight Styles.
The Divine Fire Warrior.
Kraush’s white flames poured toward Sigrid, narrowing the distance rapidly.
Just breathing in could incinerate her lungs.
Kraush’s strike lived up to its name as a fatal blow.
But Sigrid was no less impressive herself.
She thrust her sword, filled with her full strength.
At the same time, a chilling aura erupted from her sword, engulfing everything around them.
White Dragon’s Final Strike.
Nine Styles.
Emperor of White Dragons.
The breath of the White Dragon clashed with Kraush’s white flames, soaring fiercely.
As cold and heat battled, the surroundings turned pure white.
The power of the two could easily be deemed equal.
Because of this, their collision brought the palace crumbling down.
Tumbling—Collapse—
Pieces of the destroyed palace scattered everywhere.
“Hah, hehe.”
Throughout the chaos, a sinister smile crept onto Sigrid’s lips.
“How foolish.”
She had poured all her strength into unleashing the Emperor of White Dragons.
Yet her sword showed no signs of weakening, instead releasing even greater power than before.
It was thanks to the heritage and technique of the Sword King, Sword Light.
Sword Light transformed the power received from an attack into one’s own.
Right now, Sigrid had absorbed even Kraush’s lethal strike head-on.
Thus the Sword Light shining with newfound vigor glowed even brighter than ever.
This was Sigrid’s ploy.
Crackle—
The sword of the Ten Great Swords, the White Line Sword, began to fracture from the accumulated force.
Now there was no one in this place who could stop her.
Kraush had undoubtedly exhausted his all-out effort moments ago.
Sigrid already knew he would marshal his strength like a glass cannon.
“Was that your plan?”
At that moment, Sigrid heard Kraush’s voice from the smoky haze and opened her drowsy eyes.
It appeared he was putting on a show of bravado.
Don’t kid yourself.
Boom!
Sigrid slammed her feet onto the ground.
At that moment, the air bursting forth from her foot cleared the smog.
She charged at Kraush, determined to strike him down with her sword filled with Sword Light.
However, at that instant, Sigrid witnessed a bizarre sight.
Kraush, who had just exhausted every bit of his strength,
Somehow emitted even greater output while wielding the Rain Thunder Prime.
The energy contained within the Rain Thunder Prime was so overpowering, it turned the space before Sigrid pure white.
What suddenly happened?
He had just poured all his energy moments ago.
Was that previous effort just a trick?
That can’t be!
If that were true, her White Dragon’s Final Strike would have pierced through Kraush’s Annihilation Erosion, ending him at that moment.
This was a concept Sigrid understood better than anyone.
So how was it that Kraush was now outputting more power than before?
It was all due to Kraush’s crazy antics.
The Aura’s Inner Core was an overwhelming force squeezed into a form he deemed impossible to digest.
At the moment Kraush engulfed the Aura completely,
The Aura’s force would instantaneously run rampant, potentially obliterating Kraush!
At that moment, Kraush thought.
What if he emptied all the power residing in his body?
An empty vessel within.
If he absorbed the Aura’s Inner Core, wouldn’t the Inner Core fill the void he created?
It was a risky move, barely on the edge of a gamble.
He could easily collapse from the pressure of the remaining Aura.
However, upon seeing Sigrid, Kraush realized he needed to unleash everything he had.
Otherwise, Sigrid, being the powerhouse she was, could not be toppled.
So Kraush cast aside his last hidden card.
In the end, it was half a success and half a failure.
Kraush noticed the rampaging Aura was viciously gnawing away at his own body.
Even with the vessel he created through pouring out all his strength,
Kraush’s physique was unable to fully withstand the power of the Aura’s Inner Core.
Crack, crunch—
Thus, in real-time, Kraush’s body began to break down.
But that was all fine and dandy.
For this moment, only for this one time,
Kraush was about to grasp an area that let him transcend into the distant future.
Oblivious to his own crumbling body,
Kraush diligently struck all his remaining strength into the Rain Thunder Prime.
Consequently, the Rain Thunder Prime housing a massive amount of absorbed Aura surged with an intensity never seen before.
It was like a star.
A star so bright it could blind just by looking at it.
And before Sigrid stood that very sight.
Before her, the Sword Light she had ignited appeared pitiful against the shining star.
“Ah, aahhhhhhhhh!”
Sigrid screamed out, unleashing her sword in denial of the star’s radiance.
“I’ve had enough, Sigrid.”
Before Sigrid,
Kraush raised his sword, overwhelmed by the consuming heat.
“This is farewell.”
Then, Kraush’s sword fell down upon Sigrid.
Annihilation Erosion.
Nine Styles.
Eternal Flame.
The moment the star imbued with white flames fell towards the ground…
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