Conquest knelt on the ground, Riko gripping her arm to keep her upright. She stared at Death in utter shock, realizing he had seen this outcome long before her strength gave out. The thought unsettled her, yet none of it made sense.
Blood ran from her nose, her mouth, her eyes. Why?
The question spun through her mind.
Death crossed his arms, his ever-present grin plastered across his face, and said.
"As much as I can't read another Horseman's mind, I could still tell you're wondering why you're bleeding."
He ran a hand through his black slick hair as he continued.
"You see, no Horseman is actually born a Horseman. The Sovereign makes that decision. He can turn any entity he chooses into a Horseman, one that represents him and follows the laws and rules he sets."
Conquest clenched her teeth as anger seeped in. She closed her eyes and focused on regenerating. After a few seconds, the blood stopped pooling, and her body returned to normal.
Still, her regenerative ability was nothing compared to Death's. He could fully restore not only his body, but even his mana. She could not and neither could the other Horsemen. However, they could recover from injuries, but only up to a point.
The truth was, besides Death, none of them could regenerate from the head. If it was severed, they would be forced into another reincarnation process.
Death narrowed his eyes as he reappeared his dual scythes in each hand.
"Hey, are you listening? This is where I tell you why it's futile, so listen carefully, because I'll only say this once."
He put his fist to his mouth and cleared his throat.
"The reason your strength is failing is because you're a human Horseman. Humans were never meant to hold a Horseman's mana. Only beings from the unseen realm can. A human vessel can't withstand that power forever. Eventually, it cracks, like blood forced into veins too small to carry it."
Conquest got up and pushed Riko away lightly. They quickly exchanged a nod as Riko snapped her fingers three times and made a portal in front of her.
"Hey, move. We have to let Yuki fight this alone. Get in the portal now!"
The cameraman and his reporter partner frowned.
"Why? This is the best piece of entertainment I have ever witnessed, and I managed to catch it live on camera. We're not moving from here. You'll have to drag us out by force."
"Yes, that's right!" The reporter lady said.
Riko smiled.
"Is that so?"
Seconds later, she snapped her fingers three times, and her bracelet emitted a dark glow. A portal opened beneath their feet.
The cameraman barely had time to yell before he vanished. The reporter lady followed right after him, letting out a sharp scream, her voice trailing behind them as they dropped straight through the portal.
Riko dusted off her hands and exhaled, then quickly turned back toward Yuki before jumping into the portal.
***
Death ran at conquest and attempted to slash her head off but right as he was about to do it he stopped mid way and backed off quickly.
Conquest smiled and wiped the blood from her face.
"That strike would've crushed you. Running was the right choice."
Death smiled as well.
"I'm already adapting to your abilities. Give it a little more time, and you'll collapse on your own. After that, finishing you off will be trivial."
He clapped his hands, and dark miasma poured from his body, spreading outward as it engulfed the battlefield. Anything it touched began to disintegrate. The cut off trees vanished first, then the grass, followed by boulders and even the nearby lakes. Nothing was spared.
It was pure destruction given form. Even Conquest could not stop the miasma itself. All she could do was shield herself, relying on her passive projectile negation as the world around her was erased.
Conquest narrowed her eyes as it was difficult to make out anything due to the dark miasma.
"Have you forgotten what my passive does or have you lost interest in fighting me all together and just throwing a temper tantrum?"
Conquest felt something was wrong, though she couldn't tell what. Still, she kept wondering why he would use a useless attack on her knowing it would not work. She scratched her head and closed her eyes.
A few moments later, blood spilled from her nose.
Her eyes widened as she shot upward into the open sky, the sun high above her, escaping the dark miasma.
She realized what he was doing. Her passive still consumed mana, and with it active nonstop to protect her, it was accelerating her eventual collapse.
Conquest looked down at the dark miasma below as she yelled out in anger.
"You little rat. That would've gotten me if I'd been a second slower."
A breeze brushed her neck, catching Conquest off guard as she looked back and saw Death already behind her. He grinned from ear to ear, his dual scythes aimed for her head.
"It's been tedious fighting a counter to all my abilities, but at last, this is the end."
He swung his scythes. Conquest reacted with barely half a second to spare, raising her Igarashi sword to block. Death adjusted mid-swing and redirected the strike to her right forearm, cutting it clean off as it fell to the ground.
Conquest screamed as pain tore through her, sweat pouring down her forehead. It wasn't just agony, it was overwhelming, sharp enough to drown out everything else.
Her vision wavered, her breath hitched. She clutched what remained of her right arm, pressing it tight against her chest plate as if that alone could stop the pain from consuming her.
Death charged in without hesitation, laughing maniacally. Conquest tried to block with her Igarashi sword, forcing her left hand to compensate, but it was useless. He slipped past her guard and severed her right leg instead.
Blood poured freely.
The shock overwhelmed her. She instantly lost consciousness and fell from the sky at incredible speed. By sheer luck, the dark miasma had already fully dissipated. Her body crashed into the ground, carving out a small crater.
Death descended gently and touched down on the scorched ground. He looked down at Conquest, her right forearm and leg gone, her eyes shut.
He then quickly turned his head up to the sky. His smile fading, a cold stare coming from him.
"You must have been entertained by all of this fighting, I can tell you're itching to come down to the mortal realm but this wish will not come true. I'm speaking to you specifically Lucifer and Azazel."
He continued.
"By the way, I understand why you vanished so suddenly, Azazel, right after you arrived in the mortal realm. It wasn't because you were homesick. You simply couldn't stay. That's because of the Sovereign's rule, wasn't it? The rule that states higher-level demons are forbidden from remaining in the mortal realm. Right?"
Death knelt before the unconscious Conquest, poking her face as he smiled, amused.
"You know, Azazel and Lucifer, we seem to have a lot in common. We're all trapped by the Sovereign's rules, and we all try our best to break them. The difference is, that I succeeded in breaking my shackles, and I won't allow either of you to break yours and flood this rich, beautiful world with barbaric demons to make it your new home."
***
Riko and the others watched from the mountainside, using the camera's zoom to try and see what was happening. They were way too far to make out any real details.
"I really hope she's okay…"
Koji limped over to her and spoke quietly.
"All we can do is hope and pray. It's not like we can match Death's strength."
***
All of a sudden, the Igarashi sword turned to slime and slipped into Conquest's chest plate. In that same instant, Death's eyes narrowed at it, wondering what kind of cursed spirit it was and why it was so deeply attached to Conquest in the first place. He let the thought go soon after, an idea forming in its place.
Since Conquest was unconscious, he decided that instead of killing her, he would attempt to use his Death ring once more and see if he could control her. It was only a test. Realistically, he had nothing to lose.
He aimed his ring toward Conquest's chest plate, but then a hand holding a bow wrapped in chains emerged from it, an arrow already drawn. A face followed right after, catching Death off guard.
"PESTILENCE!!" Death yelled, his aura flaring violently.
He quickly aimed his hand at her, but she simply smiled.
"Goodbye, big brother."
She drew her bow and released it. The arrow pierced straight through his head, and in the next second, the chains wrapped around the bow began to expand, surging outward as they enveloped Death in a sphere of pure chains.
Death wasted no time, flooding the chains with miasma and tearing at the links. They began to break apart, but new ones formed immediately, reinforcing the cage around him.
Pestilence fully emerged from Conquest's chest, glancing at the massive sphere of dark chains.