"In your dreams!"
Childe let out a booming laugh. The lightning spear in his right hand shattered, reforming into a broad-bladed longsword wreathed in violent purple arcs.
With a backhand swing, a crescent-shaped slash of lightning flew from his blade, tearing through the air straight toward Tione.
The lightning traveled blisteringly fast, carrying a scalp-numbing aura of destruction.
But facing a lethal strike that could easily cleave her in half, Tione didn't even bat an eye.
She didn't stop her chant, nor did she adopt any defensive posture.
Because she trusted her comrades.
She knew better than anyone that he would absolutely never let the attack touch her.
"Lose your shape, strip your fangs, become the king snake!"
Tione's incantation continued.
And that golden figure didn't betray her trust.
"You're not getting past me!"
Finn forcibly intercepted the trajectory of the lightning slash.
He gripped the shaft of the Fortia Spear tightly with both hands, holding the First-Class weapon horizontally in front of him.
The dark purple lightning smashed brutally against the solid gold staff, erupting in a blinding flash.
The terrifying impact felt like a moving mountain slamming into his chest.
The muscles in Finn's arms bulged instantly, but his body was still uncontrollably pushed backward, his legs plowing two deep trenches across the indestructible ice.
Beyond the kinetic force, the lightning slash carried an extremely violent paralyzing effect.
Countless fine arcs of electricity crawled down the spear shaft, striking Riveria's green Via Shilheim veil.
The green cloak of light flickered wildly, rippling in overlapping waves as if it might shatter at any moment.
The residual voltage leaking through sent Finn's arms into spasms, but he clenched his teeth and refused to yield a single inch.
With Finn risking his life to block the strike, Bete, Ais, and the others at the vanguard completely abandoned all defense. They threw everything they had into tying Childe down, denying him any chance for a follow-up interruption.
"Pierce the sea, cross the earth, overturn the world, grasp fate, conquer fate, ravage fate!—Instant Petrification!"
The final verse echoed.
The magic Jormungand was complete.
In the empty air, a thick chain forged of pure magical energy materialized out of nowhere. Like a striking viper, it instantly coiled around Childe's right arm and torso.
The moment the chains locked on, the water blade Childe was about to swing jerked to a halt.
He felt a bizarre force invade his limbs and bones, causing his muscles, his skeleton, and even the flow of his magic to completely freeze up for a fraction of a second.
Complete paralysis!
Even a pause of less than a second was fatally decisive in a clash between top-tier experts.
However, to Childe's surprise, Ais, Bete, Gareth, and the others—who had risked their lives to create this opening for Tione—did not use his moment of immobility to ruthlessly kick him while he was down.
Instead, the four displayed terrifying synergy. The instant the chains formed, they all simultaneously kicked off the ground, rocketing backward at maximum speed to clear the area.
"Riveria!"
Using the momentum of his slide, Finn seamlessly rolled back to create distance, tearing his throat with a furious roar.
All the harassment, all the probing, all the blocking—it was all for this exact moment.
Atop the distant ruins, the Elven Royalty's emerald hair whipped wildly in the gale.
Beneath her feet, a massive, intricate crimson magic circle had already been fully drawn.
She raised the Magna Alf high. At the tip of the staff, a sphere of crimson light so dense it was almost black pulsed violently, radiating a soul-trembling, horrific heat.
Riveria's forehead was slick with fine sweat.
Forcibly compressing a wide-area annihilation spell designed to sweep hordes of monsters down to a single point at the tip of her staff, transforming it into a single-target anti-personnel spell...
This demanded a freakishly high level of magical control, and even for her, Orario's strongest mage, it was no easy feat.
The slightest distraction, or a single misstep in control, and the hyper-compressed sphere of fire would detonate right in her face.
If that happened, she and her surrounding comrades would suffer catastrophic damage from her own power.
But watching that mysterious youth carve through their encirclement like he was walking through an empty field, Riveria hadn't hesitated to take the risk.
The staff pointed distantly at the immobilized Childe.
"Burn everything to ashes, sword of Surtr— My name is Alf!"
The final trigger words echoed across the battlefield.
The violently pulsing red sphere could no longer be contained, instantly erupting into a crimson pillar of light that pierced the heavens.
The crimson beam crossed the hundred-meter distance, the extreme heat distorting the very space along its path into rippling waves.
In the fraction of a second before Childe could regain his mobility, the cannon of light struck him squarely in the chest.
BOOM——!!!
An indescribably violent explosion detonated in the center of the 27th Floor.
Blinding red light stripped everyone of their vision, followed immediately by an ear-shattering boom.
A massive fireball expanded and spiraled outward from the point of impact, as the destructive shockwave carried a hurricane of super-heated wind in all directions.
The supposedly indestructible ice walls melted into water the instant the heatwave touched them, before instantly flash-boiling into white steam.
Even the massive waterfall nearby was forcibly severed by the blast, sending vast amounts of vapor surging into the sky.
A miniature mushroom cloud slowly rose from the center of the battlefield.
The entire floor of the Dungeon shuddered violently under the devastating power, as if struck by a massive earthquake.
This was one of the Loki Familia's trump cards, an absolute firepower that could truly obliterate a Floor Boss in a single strike.
"Is it over?"
In the distance, Lefiya squinted, barely able to open her eyes against the fierce wind. She gripped her twin staffs tightly, her unblinking blue eyes locked onto the raging firestorm.
Riveria lowered her staff, her chest heaving as she panted slightly.
Forcibly compressing high-tier magic had taken a massive toll on her mental stamina.
But her gaze remained fixed on the center of the blast.
Ais, Finn, Gareth... everyone focused entirely on the dust ahead, waiting for the results of their decisive strike.
However.
As the residual heat of the flames slowly dissipated and the thick smoke and boiling mist were blown away by the air currents, the scene revealed to them caused everyone's expressions to contort in shock.
The frozen lake had been utterly annihilated. In its place was a boiling cauldron of scalding water, massive bubbles rising and popping on the surface.
And hovering above the boiling water, a figure knelt on one knee.
White smoke drifted off Childe's body. His fine, gray casual wear was heavily torn and charred over a large area, revealing horrifying burn marks seared into his skin.
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