Moon Carver wasted no words.
Between his antlers, blazing fire suddenly ignited. The Pyro compressed tighter and tighter, condensing into a smaller, searing fireball.
With a mighty thrust, Moon Carver hurled it at the Creator.
BOOM!
The fireball detonated, erupting into a violent inferno that engulfed Moon Carver and half of the Creator's vast body in flames. The entire earth trembled under the blast's shockwave.
The Creator, having only forced half its body through the Hollow while straining under the crushing pressure of the spatial fissure, was no match for Moon Carver.
Sensing the Adeptus's overwhelming strength, it gave up on killing Moon Carver and the others. Now, it only sought to break free of his grasp and retreat back to Hollow Zero.
But escaping Moon Carver was no simple task.
The Creator had no choice but to tear off part of its own body to retreat.
The next instant, several of its arms swelled with Ether, erupting in massive explosions.
BOOM!
The shockwave of high-concentration Ether engulfed the battlefield, swallowing Moon Carver, Cloud Retainer, Mountain Shaper, Hoshimi Miyabi, Zhu Yuan, and the others.
Fortunately, Moon Carver and Cloud Retainer shielded the rest, her winds and his strength sparing them from the corrosive, hyperactive Ether..
Moon Carver snarled in anger.
"Don't think you can run—"
He prepared to cast an immortal art to seize the Creator again, but it was already too late.
...
Just as the Creator tore free and began to withdraw into Hollow Zero, a golden figure appeared in the distant sky—Sam Li, spear in hand. At last, he had arrived from the other side of the void.
From thousands of meters away, he swung his weapon.
A golden light, as if transcending space and time itself, instantly slashed across the fissure toward the Creator, skimming along the edge of the fissure.
There was no roar, no tremor.
The Creator simply froze in place.
The next moment, its colossal body toppled.
Only then did they realize—the golden strike had split the towering figure clean in two.
One half collapsed into the Development Zone Hollow, right before their eyes.
The other fell back into Hollow Zero.
BOOM!
The earth shook violently as the massive form crashed down, toppling ruins in its wake.
From the other side of the fissure came a deafening, furious roar:
"No... impossible—"
Zhu Yuan's eyes lit up.
"It's Sam Li. He's finally here."
Hoshimi Miyabi's face was pale with shock.
"That strike just now... what martial art was that?"
She had seen firsthand the Creator's terrifying might—its vast body, hundreds of meters tall, far beyond Destruction-class, already an Apocalypse-class Ethereal.
And yet Sam Li had split it in half with a single blow.
The sight left her utterly shaken.
...
Soon, Sam Li descended before the group.
Cloud Retainer raised her hand, and a mighty gale swept through, clearing the dust and smoke that had choked the battlefield for a kilometer around.
Only then did they see it clearly: the enormous fissure was gone.
The Creator's fallen half-body had not vanished immediately. Instead, it dissolved bit by bit into the surroundings, dispersing as ultra-high-concentration Ether. The other half had already disappeared.
At once, Tsukishiro Yanagi stiffened, feeling the Etheric environment twist violently around them.
"Stay alert! Ether density, activity, and corruption levels are spiking fast—"
Nearby, someone gasped for breath.
"I... I can't breathe! Officer Seth, help me! I still have evidence—important evidence—I can't die here!"
"Don't worry. You won't die—"
"Withdraw immediately!"
Zhu Yuan wasted no time. With the Ether levels surging, she ordered a retreat at once, ensuring the injured Seth and Perlman wouldn't be consumed by the corruption.
But Hoshimi Miyabi kept her eyes fixed on the fallen titan before her.
The Creator.
The same being that had just been forging Bringer and fighting them with his Hand.
Dragged into the Development Zone Hollow by Moon Carver's brute force...
Cleft in two by Sam Li's spear from thousands of meters away...
If the creature hadn't fled so quickly, she was certain Sam Li would have slain it outright.
She recalled how, back on the surface of Hollow Zero's "Void Curtain," Sam Li had already slain a being suspected of being Apocalypse-class.
This was no fluke.
...
Soukaku broke the silence.
"Sis Yanagi... is that Creator dead?"
Tsukishiro Yanagi frowned.
She wasn't sure. A being of that level would never die so easily. Besides, they had all heard its voice roar from beyond the fissure even after its body had been split apart.
Her guess: it still lived.
Sam Li's calm voice confirmed it.
"Not yet. Let it crawl back this time. Next time we enter Hollow Zero, I'll finish the job."
"..." Hoshimi Miyabi.
"..." Tsukishiro Yanagi.
"..." Asaba Harumasa.
Soukaku, however, clapped her hands excitedly.
"Mr. Sam Li is incredible!"
To him, slaying a Creator seemed no harder than sipping tea.
And for Sam Li, perhaps there truly was little difference. A cup of tea took minutes to savor slowly.
But slaying a Creator? That didn't even take that long.
...
The fall of the Creator left Section 6 and the Public Security Bureau awed—but on Sixth Street, in the Proxy siblings' video store, the shock was even greater.
Through Eous's visual feed, Wise and Belle had witnessed the entire battle.
It wasn't their first time seeing the Creator's Hand. Over a decade ago, during that catastrophe, it had appeared once before—abducting their teacher.
Since then, the siblings had devoted themselves to the Proxies, all to investigate that day and find their lost teacher.
Wise's face was pale.
"They... they dragged its true form into the Development Zone Hollow... they actually defeated it..."
Belle trembled, yet her eyes burned with hope.
"With them here... we'll definitely find our teacher."
...
On the battlefield, Zhu Yuan glanced at Eous in confusion.
"Proxy, what did you just say?"
Belle blinked, then hurriedly shook her head.
"Nothing. I just... need to speak with Mr. Sam Li."
Zhu Yuan warned her immediately.
"Don't go near that area! The Ether levels are abnormal. Without protective gear, you'll be corrupted—"
But Belle didn't listen.
With firm resolve, she turned and began walking straight toward the battlefield.