Rias stood motionless, her hands slack, eyes staring vacantly at the blurred horizon. The cold wind blew across the battlefield, biting into her skin, but she felt nothing except complete numbness. "It can't be... not like this... Emilia..." Her whispers echoed in her mind, each word breaking down the last fragments of her sanity.

The ice beneath her feet felt like it was dragging her down, and the air around her seemed to suffocate. Pain and fear surged in her mind, like a dark wave dragging her into a deep abyss of despair. “What have I done? Why couldn't I save her?!”

For a moment, Rias lost control, the Atheria’s Mystique light around her body dimmed. Her small frame collapsed onto the cold snow, her frail shoulders trembling uncontrollably. Her hands clutched the snow beneath her, desperately trying to find some sense of reality amidst the nightmare.

Above, Ios looked down at Rias with utter disdain, his smile like another painful wound. He shouted, his mocking laughter echoed through the space, stabbing deeper into the despair of the girl who had lost all hope. In the oppressive atmosphere of defeat and mourning, Ios's cruelty was an inescapable shadow, intensifying Rias's agony and torment.

“Look at you,” he sneered, his savage laughter cutting through Rias's heart like a knife. “Pathetic. You dare call yourself a warrior?”

Rias lifted her head, eyes red and tear-filled. “You... shut up!” But her voice was weak, lost in the cold air. Her defiance was nothing more than the feeble cry of a small creature before its predator.

“Truly disgraceful...” Ios laughed loudly, his voice sharp and filled with contempt.

“In this entire battle, you’ve been nothing but a hindrance to your comrades. Your weakness caused that white-haired girl to die. Do you feel ashamed? How much is your warrior's life worth?”

Each of his words stabbed Rias’s heart like sharp knives. She hung her head, clenching her fists until her nails dug into her flesh, blood staining the snow red. Inside, a storm raged, torn between the pain of loss and self-hatred. “Damn it... Is it all my fault?”

Ios slowly descended, his feet stomping on the snow, causing it to crack like reflecting Rias’s shattered soul. He bent down, grabbed her messy hair, yanking her off the ground. Her tangled hair stuck to her pale face, as if the fire within her had been extinguished by the storm of despair. As Ios pulled her hair up, the red strands floated in the cold wind like bloodstains on the white snow.

At that moment, Rias’s eyes met Ios's hateful gaze, devoid of any pity. Her face lifted, facing his devilish grin.

“Look at you now,” Ios sneered. “You’re not even worth killing. But living like this is no different from dying, right?”

Despair slowly engulfed her, each insult, each torment was a burning flame in her soul. Ios spat at her, sending electric currents through her body, each cold surge running through her nerves, making her convulse violently.

“No… Argh” Rias’s scream tore through the battlefield’s grim silence, but no one responded.

Tears streamed down her pale face, Rias bit her lip, struggling not to collapse completely. “No… I can’t let him win… I can’t…” But any remaining strength within her was crushed under Ios's brutality.

A yank sent Rias crashing into the snow, then Ios dragged her. Her whole body ached, her breath came in gasps, her eyes dazed as if life had left her. She didn't want to die, couldn't die… but her weak will was being choked by the weight of pain and despair every second.

“Your warrior life ends like this? Look how pitiful you are!” He sneered, enjoying the torment he inflicted.

And then, Rias lost her grasp on reality, blurry images appeared before her:

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“No, no, no, he's too strong, I can't defeat him,” Rias thought, isolating herself in a dark space, bound by fear, letting go of everything.

“Will you accept giving up, Rias? We are the Wardenholf family, we promised to reunite after the battle.” A childhood image of Lumiere, her beloved cousin, appeared before Rias. Seeing Lumiere, Rias burst into tears.

“I’m sorry, I can't do anything, I can't see you anymore.” Rias sobbed, hugging her younger brother tightly.

“Why do adults shirk their mission? Why do they use circumstances to excuse their lack of effort?” Lumiere angrily replied, pushing Rias away and walking into the endless darkness of her mind.

“Lumiere! Lumiere! Don’t go, stay with me...NO... What am I doing?” Rias realized something.

“Why did I give up everything seeing Emilia’s death? I still have so much to fight for. For Lumiere, for the family, this life means nothing if it abandons every ideal.”

Back to reality, trudging through the icy snow, Ios continued tormenting Rias’s body. He dragged, electrocuted, beat, and flung her around.

“What a disgrace, a human warrior now being humiliated. Look, you're in so much pain your eyes have no life left.” Ios laughed gleefully.

“No! I won’t die like Emilia!” Rias suddenly grabbed Ios's arm dragging her, a red light from her palm breaking his arm.

Ios's eyes widened at the sudden change. Rias was no longer a weakling accepting fate. She stood up, fire blazing in her eyes. Her muscles trembled, but her will was steel. "Emilia sacrificed for this...", she told herself, “Lumiere put all his trust in me... I won’t let that trust fade!”

Under the flickering light, Rias’s red hair flowed in the snowstorm, a tiny flame in the darkness. She touched the icy ground, fingers trembling, feeling the cold biting her skin.

“Atheria’s Mystique - Form II: Atomic Blood Cannon”

Rising from the depths of despair, Rias unleashed her ultimate move, but in an entirely different form. Red light exploded from her body. Her blood energy shook the space around her, the snow at her feet turning blood-red. The atomic cannons on her shoulders glowed fiercely, vibrating in the air, with her fiery red warrior dress, she became a red death.

Ios stepped back, his cold eyes showing surprise, not expecting Rias – whom he had just scorned and tormented – to rise with a power even he had to fear.

“You can’t defeat me, Rias! You’re just a weak insect!” Ios roared, charging with terrifying speed, striking the air, tearing space with electromagnetic waves. He unleashed a flurry of lightning punches at Rias, intending to end her instantly.

From Rias’s slender shoulders, the twin atomic cannons erupted in red light. The heat from her blood energy scorched the space around her, melting the snow beneath her feet, revealing the black, barren ground.

“I will never bow to you!” Rias shouted, “From Atheria’s Valori to the Crimson Quantum Dimension Nexus: Crimson Guardian Array” - Rias summoned a crimson array, formed from atomic energy around her. A blood shield appeared, blocking all of Ios's terrifying punches. Lightning exploded against the crimson shield, but Rias stood firm. The cannons on her shoulders blazed, charged with atomic energy, hot as lava.

“Return to hell, Alsma!” - “From Atheria’s Valori to the Crimson Quantum Dimension Nexus: Crimson Explosive Shot” - Rias raised her cannon and fired a glowing red atomic bullet flying at him. The bullet struck Ios's body, creating an earth-shattering explosion, snow and debris swirling. The red light engulfed Ios, pressing him into the explosion’s core.

Ios screamed in agony, but he didn’t fall. His body emitted terrifying electromagnetic energy, pushing back Rias’s energy. Electrical currents ran along his body, interweaving like lightning, forming a blinding blue light.

“You think you can defeat me, Rias? I am Alsma's Commander! I am the strongest!” Ios roared, huge energy surging from his hands.

“Alsmaniac Skill: Destruction Thunder” - With all his rage, Ios combined the energy from both hands into one, firing a destructive thunderbolt, tearing everything in its path.

“From Atheria’s Valori to the Crimson Quantum Dimension Nexus: Atomic Crimson Cannon - Core Shot” - No retreat, no dodge, no defense against Ios’s lethal attack. Rias focused all her energy into the atomic cannon on her shoulder. She aimed at Ios's destructive energy, and just as the lightning was about to strike, Rias fired. Two energy beams – one red, one blue – collided in mid-air, creating a colossal explosion, tearing the sky and shaking the battlefield.

The energy blast caused the ground to tremble violently, snow scattered, debris swept away, creating a terrible storm between Rias and Ios. The blinding light of the explosion blurred the space, leaving no one able to see them clearly.