As Nero called out, the entire illusion suddenly shook violently.
Then, the layers of black clouds rolling across the sky churned. A streak of light instantly tore open the heavens, breaking through from somewhere beyond the dome and plunging downward.
The black blade, forged from an unknown metal and a Stellaron, cut through the air with a series of hums. Like a meteor, it shot straight down and slammed into the floating island beneath them.
BOOM!
Before anyone could react, a wave of air exploded outward. The ground beneath their feet cracked and shattered.
The floating island had actually been smashed apart by Black Cutter in a single strike.
Rocks and dirt flew everywhere. Sand scattered in all directions. For a moment, there was nowhere to get footing. Amid the shaking and collapse, Stelle heard Huohuo let out a scream, and then all of them fell from the sky.
In a daze, they passed through layer after layer of cloud barriers and curtains. The same scenery repeatedly swept past their eyes. Stelle tumbled through the air, unable to find her balance or steady herself.
As another layer of clouds burst apart, everything around her suddenly became clear. Stelle finally regained a little control of her body.
Falling on her back, she looked downward and saw several holes had appeared in the thick cloud layer covering the top of the maze.
Huohuo was falling too, and Cirrus, who had turned into a balloon, was also dropping.
However, he was falling much slower than they were.
Stelle looked around, but couldn't find any sign of Nero.
Then, in the next instant, Black Cutter's sword cry rang out beside her ears.
Following the sound, she caught sight of a streak passing through the corner of her vision. The next moment, her body jerked, and she found herself wrapped in one of Nero's arms.
Immediately afterward, the scenery before her changed rapidly. She could only focus as much as possible on Black Cutter's dark body to barely suppress the dizziness and nausea.
The sound of rushing wind filled her ears. The air was split apart as the wind howled against her face.
Stelle felt Black Cutter make a turn and head upward again.
Before she could think about it further, Huohuo's startled cry sounded nearby. Turning her head, Stelle saw Huohuo had been caught in Nero's other arm.
Cirrus witnessed every bit of this.
How Nero had somehow summoned a sword from nowhere to smash apart the illusion, and how he had ridden the sword to save people... Cirrus saw it all.
It left her stunned and confused about the current strength of the Xianzhou people.
Even a child could do something like this?
Had the Xianzhou become this powerful?
While she was still wondering about it, Nero wasn't finished yet.
Cirrus suddenly felt a jolt in her consciousness and looked downward in alarm.
The white-haired brat was riding a sword, carrying one person in each hand, and flying upward again.
'Oh no, he's coming for me!'
After closing the distance a little more with his sword, Nero lightly jumped.
At the same time, he flicked his arms.
Stelle and Huohuo were tossed onto Black Cutter's blade. Then he himself leaped upward, grabbed the inscription rope, and caught Cirrus again just when she had a chance to escape.
After grabbing Cirrus, Nero let out a light breath.
A gust of wind immediately supported him, allowing him to move freely in the vast sky like a fish swimming through water.
At that moment, Black Cutter also flew over and stopped beside him.
Then the boy and the sword descended toward the maze below at a steady speed.
Stelle waved at Nero while sitting on Black Cutter.
The Stellaron baby showed no sign at all that she was currently falling from an enormous height.
When the ground beneath her feet had suddenly collapsed and she had fallen from the sky, Stelle had indeed been startled.
However, because she trusted Nero, she hadn't panicked too much.
And sure enough, Nero had caught her.
At this moment, she wasn't afraid at all.
In fact, this kind of high-speed flight through the air without any protection felt kind of fun.
But soon Stelle froze.
A thought suddenly appeared in her mind.
The way Nero had performed all those actions just now looked extremely practiced. It was obvious he had done this sort of thing many times before.
Could this kid be sneaking out at night to race around on his sword?
Thinking back to when they first met, and how he had already caused a sword accident back then, Stelle, as one of the victims of that sword accident, found the sudden idea increasingly believable.
Meanwhile, Huohuo had also calmed down a little.
Although she was standing on a pitch-black sword, at least it gave her the feeling of having something solid beneath her feet.
The little fox girl sat on the sword with both hands covering her head. She was clearly not used to this kind of unprotected high-altitude flight.
Behind her, Tail grumbled a few times.
"Good kid. Showing off, huh? If you keep being this cool, what am I supposed to do? Young people should learn to respect their elders. Next time there's a chance to make an impressive entrance, you should let me do it!"
Nero glanced at Tail and said nothing.
Soon, the three of them returned to the maze.
When Xueyi saw that Stelle, Nero, and Huohuo had not emerged from a mirror but had instead descended directly from the sky, even she was shocked.
However, the surprise quickly faded.
After all, she had worked for the Ten-Lords Commission for many years and lived for a very long time.
What strange things hadn't she seen?
This dramatic entrance from the sky was certainly eye-catching, but the shock only lasted a moment.
Besides, Nero was among them.
That made this kind of entrance even more normal.
Xueyi's first instinct was to ask whether the three of them had encountered anything.
But when her gaze landed on the balloon-like Cirrus in Nero's hand, the concern and worry stuck in the puppet judge's throat.
She couldn't bring herself to ask.
Without question, the three of them had definitely run into some trouble.
But equally certain was that someone else had suffered much more in the process.
After landing, Huohuo shook her head and fluffed her fur. Looking at the familiar surroundings, she finally let out a sigh of relief.
"We... we're back in the maze..."
"You have returned safely. It seems the Ten-Lords Commission's luck today isn't too bad."
Xueyi's voice came from behind them.
Huohuo immediately turned around and looked pleasantly surprised when she saw her.
"Lady Xueyi!"
Xueyi nodded.
However, her gaze couldn't help drifting toward Cirrus.
Although Nero was standing there without saying anything, he was holding that Cirrus-brand balloon in his hand.
Even though the child showed no expression, just standing there made it feel as though he were saying, "Look at the treasure I caught!"
"What are you looking at? You're a judge. Haven't you seen a Heliobus before?"
Cirrus felt Xueyi's occasional glances were unbearably scorching, as though sunlight had been shaped into needles and stabbed into her body one by one.
Combined with her current miserable state, she felt both embarrassed and furious, grinding her teeth.
However, something even more infuriating happened.
After hearing her words, Xueyi simply nodded and replied in a serious-sounding tone that revealed no emotion,
"I have. But one like you is a first."
Cirrus, "..."
Red.
Really red.
After Xueyi said that, Cirrus's cool-colored body gradually shifted into warm tones.
Then Stelle, Nero, and Huohuo took turns telling Xueyi about everything that had happened inside the illusion.
Xueyi listened without interrupting.
Occasionally, however, surprise appeared on her face.
Clearly, some of Nero's actions inside the illusion seemed outrageous even to a well-informed judge like her.
By the end, she couldn't help giving Cirrus a sympathetic look.
Like Tail, she was a fragment of the Flint Emperor and someone who needed to be watched carefully.
Yet now she had ended up in such a pitiful state.
If she had encountered someone else today, the outcome might have been very different.
But this unlucky child had happened to run into Nero.
She had really hit terrible luck and suffered for it.
Looking at her current spirit, she was probably already numb and felt that life as a Heliobus had become dark and hopeless.
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