After saying this, Wright pointed at Erza and stared coldly at her hair.
"I will kill you. As for those two little pipsqueaks behind you, I'll take them to the Tower of Heaven and make them laborers there."
Sensing the fear of the two little sisters behind her, Erza guarded them tightly, using her own body to block Wright's malicious gaze.
"I won't let you succeed!"
Looking at Erza like this, a trace of a strange emotion flashed in Wright's eyes, but it was soon replaced by even stronger mockery.
"How laughable. What can someone as weak as you protect? Don't forget, if that piece-of-junk cat hadn't risked its life to save you just now, you would be a corpse by now."
Erza bit her lip tightly. Her small fists clenched so hard that her fingernails dug deep into her palms, leaving shallow red marks.
She knew Wright was telling the truth. She was indeed very weak right now. But even so, she had people she wanted to protect!
Erza handed Alice from her arms to Kagura and instructed, "Kagura, take Yukino and run! Run as far as you can!"
Hugging Alice tightly, Kagura was so scared that tears swirled in her eyes, but she still nodded vigorously.
"Big Sis Erza, you have to be careful!"
The two little girls turned and stumbled away, running into the distance.
Erza faced Wright. Silver light condensed rapidly in her palm, summoning a silver sword.
Tike had said that although Erza's magic attribute was Spatial, he always felt she had more talent for close-quarters combat. Therefore, during their journey these past few days, whenever they had free time, Erza would work hard practicing sword swings.
"They can't run far anyway. I'll chase them after I kill you; it's all the same."
Wright didn't chase after the fleeing Kagura and Yukino. His scarlet gaze remained locked on Erza—or more accurately, on her vibrant scarlet hair.
"The more I look at that color, the more I hate it. Exactly the same as that woman."
"..."
Erza didn't know who the woman Wright mentioned was, but seeing him like this, she knew she had gambled correctly.
From Wright's gaze just now, Erza vaguely sensed that, although she didn't know the specific reason, he seemed to despise her hair immensely.
Based on this guess, she decided to let Kagura and Yukino go first while she stayed behind to face Wright, betting that his hatred for her hair color would make him choose to deal with her first rather than immediately chase the fleeing girls.
Now, it depended on how much escape time she could buy for Kagura and the others.
"Heh, overestimating yourself."
Wright sneered. His figure blurred, and he vanished from the spot instantly!
(So fast!)
Erza couldn't even capture Wright's figure; she could only rely on intuition to raise the silver sword in her hand horizontally in front of her chest to block!
Clang!
With the crisp sound of metal collision, the silver sword in Erza's hand snapped in response. The massive impact numbed the web of her hand, and her body involuntarily stumbled back several steps.
Before she could stand firm, Wright's figure appeared on her flank again, delivering another attack fast to the extreme!
Erza raised her sword to block again!
Clang!
"Useless, useless! You're too slow!"
Wright's voice echoed in Erza's ears, seemingly omnipresent.
Erza ignored Wright's taunts and instead constantly adjusted her breathing.
Besides Space Magic, Erza had also learned Moon Breathing from Tike.
Although this breathing technique didn't allow her to draw power from the moonlight like Tike, as she adjusted her breathing rhythm, she clearly felt a significant improvement in the speed and power of her sword swings, and her body became lighter and more agile.
While Wright was fast, he seemed unskilled in using this power. His attack trajectory occasionally revealed flaws, allowing Erza to barely defend herself.
However, as time passed, Wright's attack speed grew faster and faster. Erza began to feel overwhelmed, and her defense line, which she had barely managed to hold, gradually showed signs of collapse.
Attack after attack, block after block. Multiple wounds appeared on Erza's body, blood slowly seeping out and dyeing her clothes red.
(No... at this rate... I'll die...)
She didn't want to die!
She still had people to protect! She hadn't rescued Kagura's brother and Yukino's sister yet! She couldn't fall here!
"Die!"
Wright's figure appeared in front of Erza. Raising his arm high, he chopped down ruthlessly toward the top of Erza's head!
At this critical moment, a mysterious voice suddenly rang in Erza's mind.
"Draw me... use my power..."
The voice seemed to possess some kind of magic, causing Erza to subconsciously reach out her hand and grasp firmly in the empty air!
In an instant, a dazzling light flashed. A pitch-black katana engraved with exquisite dragon patterns appeared in her hand. It was precisely the weapon Erza had failed to summon no matter how hard she tried before—Demon Sword: Star-Shatterer!
Without time to think, Erza gripped the hilt tightly and swung it at Wright with all her strength!
"Haaah—!!"
A purple-black blade light flashed and vanished. Wright was sliced open with a huge gash down the middle. The grimace on his face froze at the last moment as his body fell backward limply, slamming heavily onto the ground.
Erza also collapsed weakly to the ground. That single swing just now had nearly drained all the magic power in her body. Right now, even moving a finger was incredibly difficult for her.
As she fell, the black katana, as if having completed its mission, automatically returned to the extradimensional space she used to store weapons.
Erza slowly closed her eyes, letting darkness swallow her.
She was too tired. She needed to rest, even if just for a moment...
Truly only a moment later, Erza's eyes snapped open.
However, her originally clear eyes had turned a bizarre scarlet, and her signature long scarlet hair gradually faded, turning snow-white.
"Erza" rose elegantly. Every gesture carried an air completely different from the girl who had fought with all her might just moments ago.
"That one's useless now, what a pity. As for this one..."
"Erza" pulled an exquisite small mirror out of thin air and examined her current appearance carefully in it. A look of utmost disgust appeared on the pretty little face that originally belonged to Erza.
"I hate it~ Lucia doesn't want to use her body~" "Erza"—or rather, Lucia, who now occupied this body—muttered to herself in a petulant tone. "Better go find Big Sis Blake and have her help me find a better 'vessel'~"