Chapter 135: Carlotta is the Best Ice DPS in the World!
"Ugh!"
Time resumed its flow.
From Carlotta's perspective, one moment Aeron was aiming his gun at Schwarzloch, the leader of Fractsidus, his finger already pulling the trigger.
The next moment, his body was as if struck by an invisible hammer, uncontrollably sent flying backward.
"Cough, cough, cough—!"
"Aeron!"
Carlotta's exclamation rang in his ears. She was about to rush toward Aeron.
"—[The World]."
In an instant, Carlotta's movements froze, and everything around lost its color.
That golden, muscular phantom had already appeared before Aeron.
Its inhumanly robust physique, golden skin gleaming with a metallic sheen under the dim light of the Holy Spire of Confluence, gray stripes winding along the lines of its muscles. Its face was hidden behind a strange mask, only those golden pupils coldly staring at Aeron.
Stand [The World].
"Time, begin to flow."
The moment the declaration was made, [The World]'s fist swung fiercely toward Aeron.
"Damn it!"
Aeron reacted immediately, but in such a short time, all he could do was dodge to the side.
Thud!
But the right side of his body, which he couldn't avoid in time, took a solid hit.
Bang!
His back slammed against the cold stone pillar of the Holy Spire of Confluence, the air in his lungs forcibly squeezed out. Pain spread upward along his spine, and his vision briefly darkened.
Aeron used his left hand to push himself up from the ground. A tearing pain came from his right shoulder—his collarbone was probably broken. But it didn't matter, just a mere fatal injury!
Without hesitation, he raised his left hand, pulled the safety with his teeth, and pressed the gun barrel against his chin.
Bang!
"You—!"
Carlotta's exclamation was drowned out by the gunshot.
[Death Method: Suicide]
[Death Evaluation: C, An Unexpected Crisis!]
[Death Reward: Reaction Speed Increased]
[Status Refresh in Progress—]
The next moment, Aeron, completely unharmed, appeared behind the leader, once again thrusting his knife toward him.
"Hmph."
The leader didn't even turn his head, merely snapping his fingers lightly.
Time stopped once more.
But this time, Aeron's perception was even clearer.
Though his consciousness could still function, think, and "feel" the stagnation of time, his body was completely immobilized, unable to even breathe.
"So that's it... Immortality isn't a metaphor but literal. No wonder Cristoforo's intelligence always emphasized 'unkillable.'"
He saw [The World] slowly turn around, its golden pupils meeting his own eyes.
He saw it raise its fist, assuming an attacking stance.
He saw the leader calmly take two steps forward, creating distance, leisurely adjusting his cuffs.
"It seems you and I are the same type."
Who the hell is the same as you?!
Though Aeron shouted this in his mind, his body couldn't move at all.
It had to be said, this was... truly a troublesome ability.
Aeron's consciousness raced through the frozen time, pondering how to confront the enemy without equivalent conditions.
Imagine Breaker against physical attacks = useless.
Arsène was still outside and couldn't be summoned.
Instant Mastery but he couldn't even get close.
Satanael... the time wasn't right yet.
So, the only thing left was...
Just as Aeron's mind was racing at light speed, [The World]'s fist tore through the air with overwhelming force, aiming straight for his face.
"—Time, begin to flow."
Bang!
Aeron was sent flying once again, this time struck in the abdomen. He could almost hear the crisp sound of his ribs cracking.
"Cough—!"
Blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, but Aeron's thoughts were clearer than ever.
At that moment, Carlotta rushed over and caught him just before his back was about to collide with the stone pillar again. She held him close, her face filled with worry.
"I... will get you out of here."
[Projection, begin]
[Connection target: Carlotta Montelli]
"Then, I'll borrow a little from you, Second Young Lady!"
As he spoke, Aeron tightly grasped Carlotta's hand.
Immediately, Carlotta felt a strange Nexus forming between her and Aeron.
"...Heh, I understand."
Centered around the embracing pair, a dazzling ice-blue halo erupted violently—with Carlotta at its core, countless ice crystals instantly began to grow wildly across the floor, walls, and pillars of the Holy Spire of Confluence.
"Oh?"
The Grand Architect watched as Aeron projected Carlotta's Reality Marble, feeling the sudden drop in temperature around them, and let out an intrigued sound.
"So this is the ability that defeated 'Arachne'... How do you plan to use this against [The World]?"
"Like hell I'd tell you!"
Though he spoke defiantly, Aeron's plan was actually quite simple.
If the opponent could take more actions than him, then he would force the opponent to waste all their actions on unnecessary things.
For example—
Snap!
Another snap of the fingers, and time once again ground to a halt.
Whether it was Carlotta moving while holding Aeron or the entire Reality Marble, everything was paused.
"Heh, the Second Young Lady of the Montelli Family has a decent ability. Pity she was fooled into developing feelings for someone like this."
One second passed, two seconds passed...
As the frozen time gradually ticked away, the Grand Architect still hadn't taken any action.
"...To be able to pull this off—should I call it terrifying intuition?"
His gaze swept across the surroundings—throughout the entire Holy Spire of Confluence, countless bullets fired from ice-crystal barrels hung suspended in mid-air, maintaining their spiraling forward momentum. Every single one was aimed directly at him.
This was what Aeron had accomplished in the instant before time stopped.
Using wide-range, high-density indiscriminate attacks to compress the space for movement. Even if time could be stopped, the moment it resumed, all these attacks would arrive simultaneously.
"What a terrifying guy."
He not only quickly deduced the ability of [The World], but even devised a countermeasure within a few moves.
And it wasn't just that. Looking down, ice crystals had already begun to climb from his feet—a precursor to freezing.
Beside him, [The World] slowed its movements as a result. Moving within the domain of time stop should have been as effortless as a fish in water, but now every inch of progress required several times the usual effort.
"It seems you don't just rely on that immortal body of yours."
The Grand Architect chuckled, and as his words fell—
"Time, resume its flow."
Clang, clang, clang, clang—!
Hundreds of ice spikes fired simultaneously the moment time resumed! They collided, refracted, and split in mid-air, transforming into a relentless storm of ice, raining down on the Grand Architect from all directions.
"Hah."
The Grand Architect didn't even move a step.
[The World] manifested before him, its fists swinging at speeds imperceptible to the naked eye—not to block, but to "shatter."
Thud, thud, thud, thud—!
Wherever the fists passed, the ice spikes exploded one after another, pulverized into icy dust from the front.
[The World]'s fists moved so fast they left afterimages, constructing an impenetrable wall of punches around the Grand Architect. Every ice spike that approached shattered before it could even reach him.
Meanwhile, Carlotta and Aeron finally seized this opening to land on the ground.
"I never expected you, Second Young Lady, to be capable of something like this. I only thought of launching attacks."
"After all, this is a rare opportunity. Of course, I wanted to test how far I could go."
As she spoke, Carlotta clenched her right hand in a gesture. All the shattered ice dust did not dissipate but instead coalesced, transformed, and reassembled in mid-air—eight massive Heterogeneous Armaments now tightly surrounded the Grand Architect at the center.
They positioned their wings in front of them, forming frigid shields, while the machine guns on their shoulders were already primed and ready.
"Then—in the name of Montelli."
With Carlotta's declaration, the machine guns on the shoulders of the eight Heterogeneous Armaments roared simultaneously! A barrage of icy-blue projectiles poured down like a blizzard, sealing off every possible avenue of escape for the Grand Architect.
"..."
An Emerald Spray with a radius of twenty meters, now reduced to an Opal Tempest with a range of less than five meters.
Capable of dealing damage, providing support, and controlling the battlefield—this is our Wuthering Waves' premier Ice DPS. Would you dare to meet her gaze for even two seconds?
However—
"Not a bad strategy."
The Grand Architect didn't even retreat half a step.
[The World] stood before him, its fists swinging at speeds surpassing the limits of human vision. It wasn't shattering the bullets—it was doing something even more terrifying: it was "catching" them.
The sharp clangs of metal colliding merged into a continuous cacophony. [The World]'s hands turned into golden afterimages, each punch precisely striking the incoming ice bullets. The bullets didn't shatter upon impact; instead, the moment they touched its fists, their trajectories changed, rebounding with greater speed and more treacherous angles.
Clang, clang, clang, clang—!
The rebounding ice bullets hammered against the shields like a tempest, the crisp sounds of shattering ice crystals echoing endlessly. In just three seconds, countless cracks appeared on the shields of the eight Heterogeneous Armaments.
"...Tsk."
As expected, this opponent wasn't someone who could be dealt with so easily.
Time stop. Rebound. Overwhelming close combat prowess.
This Stand[The World] is practically a monster.
Damn, Aeron himself hasn't even gotten to use it yet, and this guy gets to play with it first.
Jotaro managed to defeat DIO because DIO got cocky at the last moment, but the Grand Architect here... even though he seems to be just playing around... he's way too steady.
But it's fine, Aeron still has a trump card up his sleeve. It should be about time now.
Aeron drew his pistol, stepped forward, slowly raised it, and aimed at the Grand Architect, who hadn't retreated an inch despite being surrounded.
Bang!
An utterly ordinary bullet shot out from the barrel.
Such a plain attack would naturally be noticed.
"—[THE WORLD]"
Time stopped once again. Ignoring the storm of attacks around him, the Grand Architect had [The World] catch the bullet.
Unlike the chilling Opal bullets surrounding him, this one looked completely unremarkable.
But he knew Aeron wouldn't do something pointless.
He glanced around once more. Surrounded by eight Heterogeneous Armaments and engulfed by Opal bullets, there was no other way out.
Unless he could use [The World] to shatter everything around him, there was no chance of escape.
And with [The World]'s speed currently restricted, that was clearly impossible.
...I see.
"Time, resume its flow."
This time, without waiting for the time stop to end, the Grand Architect actively restarted the flow of time.
Then, a faint glimmer of light approached from the dome of the Holy Spire of Confluence.
Boom!
The dome of the Holy Spire shattered, the entire main tower was pierced through, and the Six-Winged Demon Satanael, having just retracted its smoothbore gun, hovered high in the sky, looking down upon the entire Holy Spire.
"I won't waste time idly here with you, Grand Architect.
However, it's clear the battle won't end here.
"Is this the power that defeated the Threnodian? Truly... impressive."
The Grand Architect, who had just taken the Sin-Piercing Shell head-on, emerged from the dust, but he no longer resembled Fenrico.
Now, he wore a hood and a mask, his skin dark, his cane transformed in style, and his voice even more hoarse.
"It seems I'll need to put in a bit more effort to take you away."
"Don't speak too soon, because you might not get that chance."
After all, Aeron never thought he and Carlotta alone could defeat this ancient being.
As Aeron's words reached the Grand Architect's ears, the latter immediately sensed two powerful frequencies descending from the sky as well.
"Ex—"
On one side, a roaring gale stirred the very heavens and earth.
On the other, a radiant brilliance dimmed everything around it.
"—Slayer of All Evil!"
"—calibur !"