The originally soft, aqua-blue glow was completely overwhelmed by this devastatingly destructive lightning.
The surrounding ice shattered inch by inch under the electrical radiation, the stench of ozone permeating the air.
The moment the Delusion was activated, all of Childe's attributes received an outrageously terrifying boost.
The flowing water around him, infused with lightning, turned into electrified blades capable of paralyzing the nervous system.
Finn and Gareth's expressions shifted drastically.
As peak experts who had stepped into Lv. 6 years ago, their status values had been polished to the absolute limit.
But at this moment, the pressure radiating from the young man bathed in purple lightning felt like a collapsing mountain, pressing directly against their hearts.
That sensation... it was exactly like facing the Freya Familia's "Warlord," Ottar, going all-out.
"Go!"
Finn didn't hesitate. He knew he absolutely could not let the enemy dictate the tempo.
The Prum hero struck first.
His body became a streak of golden light as the Fortia Spear thrust out, creating a sky full of afterimages.
The strike carried no unnecessary flourishes; it was a pure manifestation of technique and speed, the tip aiming straight for Childe's throat.
"Too slow!"
A flash of lightning.
Childe's silhouette left an afterimage in its wake.
His speed was so fast that it outstripped even Finn's retinas.
"Behind!"
Gareth roared, bringing his giant axe down with earth-splitting force, slamming it into the seemingly empty ice directly behind Finn.
—Magic: Ardeus!
Terrifying power flooded into the ground. A radius of several dozen meters exploded upward, sending countless razor-sharp ice spikes and shattered rock hurtling into the sky to form a barrier of destruction.
"Good instincts."
Between the airborne ice spikes, a purple light flared.
Childe stepped on the flowing water in mid-air, forcibly twisting his body.
With a beckon of his right hand, a spear formed entirely of lightning materialized, and he hurled it viciously at Gareth below.
The lightning spear tore through the air with an ear-piercing shriek.
Just as the spear was about to strike Gareth, a howling gale swept in.
Ais cut in from the flank. Desperate, powered by the maximum output of Ariel, precisely slashed the side of the lightning spear.
The spear exploded. Frenzied electrical currents rode the wind pressure, expanding outward and striking the green magical veils draped over the group. The barriers rippled wildly, but no substantial damage leaked through.
"Die, you bastard!"
Using the wind as cover, Bete stamped his metal boots against the ice with an explosive crack.
Like a silver wolf flying across the ground, he instantly appeared in Childe's blind spot as he landed.
A barrage of kicks transformed into a dense flurry of afterimages, every strike aiming for Childe's vital joints.
At the exact same time, Tiona and Tione converged on him from the left and right.
The broad flat of Urga blocked Childe's upward escape route, while Urvas lunged for his lower body like venomous fangs.
A flawless combo; an inescapable pincer attack.
Under Finn's precise tactical command, the quartet's coordination brought out a combat strength that broke past their status limits.
Yet the wildness on Childe's face only deepened.
"Bring it on!"
He didn't retreat.
He clapped his hands together violently in front of his chest.
Water and lightning erupted simultaneously.
Water Blade Storm!
The hydro element transformed into a myriad of rapidly spinning water wheels, immediately supercharged with purple lightning.
High-speed water blades carrying massive voltage cut indiscriminately in every direction.
Taking the brunt of the attack, Bete was struck by the electrified water, the intense paralysis making his movements stiffen slightly.
Childe keenly seized that 0.01-second opening, planting a heavy kick squarely into Bete's chest and sending him flying.
Immediately after, the lightning spear reformed in Childe's hand. Holding it horizontally, he blocked Tiona's thousand-pound overhead cleave. With a twist of the shaft, electricity surged down the weapon, forcing Tione to leap back.
"Don't even think about it!"
Finn's spear darted in like a striking viper, slipping perfectly through the gap left by Tiona's retreat. The tip grazed Childe's cheek, leaving a shallow, bloody scratch.
"Interesting!"
Feeling the sting, Childe not only didn't retreat but pressed in even closer, engaging Finn in an extreme clash of blows.
The sparks of clashing weapons intertwined with flashing lightning.
They moved so fast that an ordinary person could only see a blur of blue and gold light frantically colliding across the ice.
With every clash, stray blasts of force cleaved bottomless fissures into the ground beneath them.
The air was sliced apart, releasing a continuous string of booming detonations.
Furious, aggressive, relentlessly pursuing, fighting to the bitter end.
This was Childe's fighting style with his Delusion unleashed.
He had completely abandoned defense, pouring all his magical energy into absolute offense.
The fluidity of water and the ferocity of lightning were perfectly harmonized in his hands, forcing even a veteran expert like Finn to give ground.
And at the far rear of the battlefield.
Riveria tightened her grip on her staff.
Her gaze was locked onto Childe's blurred silhouette.
She wasn't casting heals, nor was she replenishing defenses.
Orario's strongest mage was doing something incredibly dangerous.
She was compressing her magic.
The wide-area annihilation spell capable of destroying half a floor, Rea Laevateinn, was currently being forcibly gathered and restrained at the tip of her staff.
The moment she spotted an opening in Childe's movements, this hyper-compressed, anti-personnel magic cannon would instantly pierce the battlefield.
Childe likewise sensed the spine-tingling magical lock-on from behind.
But he didn't care.
The glow of his lightning blades flared brighter, laughing wildly as he pressured Finn and Gareth.
To him, dancing on the edge of a blade and slaughtering his way out of desperate situations was the true joy of combat.
Childe was fighting to his heart's content.
The weaving of hydro and electro became a fatal dance in his hands. Every recoil sent through his weapons made his battle-craving blood boil hotter.
The suffocating pressure of being hunted by multiple peak experts fighting tooth and nail was infinitely more beautiful to him than a one-sided slaughter.
However, he had ultimately underestimated the foundation and synchronization of the Loki Familia.
Just as the battle hit a fever pitch—with Gareth abandoning all defense to hack wildly, Ais pushing Ariel to its breaking point, and Bete and Tiona frantically sealing all of Childe's escape routes from the flanks—Finn, who had been darting through the core of the formation, flashed a sharp glare.
"Tione!"
The Prum hero unleashed a short, piercing shout.
Without a sliver of hesitation, Tione, who had been hovering on the periphery looking for an opening, suddenly leaped back a half-step. Crossing her short blades over her chest, her lips moved at rapid speed, reciting an ancient, obscure incantation.
"My desires submerged in the sea of my heart, my hopes born in the sea of my heart—fate descends!"
Intense magical fluctuations immediately rippled across the battlefield.
Childe, currently fighting one-against-four, instantly locked onto the chanting Amazon girl from the corner of his eye.
Even without deep knowledge of this world's magical systems, his warrior's intuition clearly warned him that this spell was anything but ordinary.
----
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