Unlike Childe, the "Aiden" before her was... entirely different.
He was silent, highly efficient, and utterly lethal.
There were no emotional fluctuations in his eyes; he was merely executing the Dungeon's extermination order.
He was like a meticulously programmed killing machine, flawlessly carrying out the directive the Dungeon had bestowed upon him—to erase all life that entered this domain.
Riveria's heart skipped a beat.
In that instant, she realized that in a certain sense, this mindless puppet was far more dangerous than the battle-crazed Childe.
With consciousness and sentience came independent thoughts and desires.
Childe's desire was to fight to his heart's content. As long as Finn and the others could satisfy that craving and pin him down, he wouldn't divert his attention to slaughter the weaker Familia members who were retreating.
But this "Aiden" was completely different.
He had no desires, only a mission.
As long as someone caught his eye, regardless of how strong or weak they were, or whether they were actively fighting, they would become a target for his merciless blade.
This was the absolute perfect weapon of slaughter.
Having figured this out, Riveria abandoned any lingering hopes of getting lucky.
While pouring all her strength into deflecting his relentless, tidal-wave-like slashes, she relied on her innate talent as Elven royalty and began Concurrent Chanting.
While she was a rear-guard mage and not a specialized magic-swordsman, surviving in the Loki Familia's constantly lethal environment meant she had specifically trained in close-quarters combat to protect herself and cover her biggest weakness.
She knew perfectly well that her offensive magic was utterly useless against his Silentium Eden.
And conversely, any of his attacks posed a lethal threat to her.
Whether it was the defense-piercing sonic magic Demon Lord Valion, the super-heated enchantment magic Everlasting Flames, or those terrifyingly fast "Lumina Slashes"—if her fragile mage's body took even a single direct hit, it would result in catastrophic, near-fatal injuries.
Fortunately, the magical system she had mastered wasn't strictly limited to pure offense.
Direct attack spells were useless, but what about physical entities generated by magic?
"—Harbinger of the end, white snow!"
In the split-second gap between their clashing weapons, Riveria completed her Concurrent Chant.
Boom!
A massive, incredibly thick wall of ice erupted from the ground directly beneath "Aiden's" feet without the slightest warning, forcibly halting his pursuit.
"Aiden" merely slashed out apathetically, the crimson light instantly melting and severing the solid ice.
But in the fraction of a second it took him to break through, Riveria had already pulled back, creating large swathes of jagged ice spikes around him to severely restrict his high-speed movements.
She was not a rigid, inflexible mage.
In her hands, magic could be infinitely versatile. She could shape terrain, set up barricades, and obscure lines of sight.
Like a master chess player, she used the few pieces she had left on this board of despair to stall the emotionless Reaper.
Because of this, she managed to briefly disrupt "Aiden's" aggressive, storm-like tempo.
But that was the absolute limit.
Every parry left her arms screaming in agony.
Every Concurrent Chant rapidly drained her mental stamina.
She knew very well that she couldn't hold on for much longer. After all, "Aiden" countered her far too perfectly.
Meanwhile, on the other battlefield, the situation was equally disastrous.
Seeing Lefiya, Raul, and the others successfully retreat with the wounded, Finn breathed a minuscule sigh of relief.
But out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Riveria's precarious situation. He knew a decision had to be made immediately.
"Ais!"
Finn let out a sharp, powerful shout.
Immediately after, the Prum Braver—a man renowned for his intellect and composure—made his choice.
Without a moment of hesitation, he began chanting his taboo magic.
"Magic spear, pierce my head and drink deep of my blood!"
Berserk Magic—Hell Finegas!
This magic would strip away his prized judgment, allowing his rationality to be entirely swallowed by an endless tide of bloodlust.
For a commander, this was undeniably fatal.
But in this exact moment, Finn deduced with absolute clarity that intellect and reason had lost all meaning.
If they wanted to survive—if they wanted to break this deadlock—the only option was to sacrifice his sanity in exchange for power that shattered his physical limits.
And so, he unleashed himself without a second thought.
A thick, bloody aura erupted from Finn's tiny body like a physical geyser, swallowing him whole.
His eyes were instantly dyed crimson as his sanity rapidly melted away in the frenzy of battle.
His Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, Agility... all of his stats received a massive, exponential boost in an instant.
He was no longer the calculating Braver.
He had transformed into a pure beast that knew nothing but slaughter and destruction.
Finn unleashed a guttural roar. The Fortia Spear in his hands traced a golden arc, thrusting frantically toward Childe at a speed several times faster than before.
It was no longer refined spear-play, but the most primal, ferocious thrusts and sweeps imaginable.
Noticing the night-and-day change in Finn, Childe let out a booming laugh of sheer ecstasy from beneath his one-horned mask.
"Hahahaha! Now this is what I'm talking about! This is the fight I've been waiting for!"
Without hesitating, he raised his Hydro and Electro polearms, gleefully rushing to meet the golden streak of light head-on.
And the very instant Finn erupted.
Ais moved.
Pushing Ariel to its absolute limit, she transformed into an emerald gale. She instantly broke away from the frontal clash against Childe, shooting straight toward Riveria and "Aiden" like a cannonball.
This wasn't just her decision alone.
The moment Finn shouted her name, the members of the Loki Familia's vanguard relied on years of fighting side by side to instantly grasp their captain's intent.
The second Ais pulled away, the Hiryute sisters roared, throwing themselves at Childe from the left and right with total disregard for their own safety, using their own bodies to carve out an absolutely secure escape route for her.
Bete blurred into a silver flash, unleashing a frantic barrage of kicks to force Childe onto the defensive, ensuring he couldn't immediately give chase.
Gareth's Grand Axe entirely sealed off all of Childe's evasion routes.
Faced with Finn's berserk frontal assault and the combined covering fire of the other three, even Childe in his Foul Legacy state was firmly pinned down. For that brief window, he simply didn't have the time to worry about the departing emerald gale.
Ais Wallenstein had successfully broken away.
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