At the very moment the woman named "Nai" introduced herself and nonchalantly commented on the tragedy of the Oni Clan, Frederica moved.
Her tall, sturdy frame released like a spring compressed to its limit. The ground beneath her feet erupted with a shockwave and spiderweb cracks.
One moment she was standing in front of Ram. The next, as if tearing through the short distance between them, she appeared before Nai in the blink of an eye.
"Stop spouting such nonsense!"
The roar and the attack arrived simultaneously.
Frederica clasped her hands together and raised them high above her head, swinging down, accompanied by a wind-tearing shriek as she aimed squarely for Nai's head.
"Not a bad strike."
Nai did not even move her feet. She looked up at the fist rapidly enlarging in her field of vision, filled with terrifying power. Her green eyes still held the same interest as if she were watching a performance, and the curve of her lips remained unchanged.
"Want a compliment?"
As she spoke, she raised her left hand with casual ease.
BOOM!
The moment her fist met the palm, a dull, thunderous sound erupted. Centered on where they stood, the stone floor for several meters around collapsed and shattered. Spiderweb cracks spread wildly, and gravel and dust erupted like a fountain.
However...
Nai's slender left hand had steadily caught Frederica's heavy blow. Her arm had not even bent, nor had her body swayed in the slightest. The smile on her face remained untroubled by even a trace of panic.
"Tsk!"
Frederica's pupils constricted, and she didn't hesitate. Utilizing the recoil from her arm, she twisted her waist. Her left leg whistled through the air with a sharp, piercing sound as she unleashed a swift side kick aimed at Nai's unguarded waist.
At the same time—
Swish! Swish!
Two wind blades, even denser and faster than before, roared through the air as they struck from Nai's blind spot behind her.
Ram's attack and Frederica's close-quarters assault were perfectly coordinated.
Yet Nai remained standing in place, not even glancing at the wind blades behind her. She lowered her head slightly, watching the blur of Frederica's leg, and sighed softly.
"Sigh."
"Do you still not understand?"
Just as Frederica's side kick was about to graze her clothes, and the wind blades behind her were mere inches away—
Nai's left hand, which had just caught the heavy blow, curled its fingers inward for a split second.
And in that instant—
BOOM!
Flames erupted without warning from all around Frederica, bursting forth from within.
The intensely blazing flames instantly engulfed her tall frame, turning her into a raging "fire human".
The terrifying impact, accompanying the eruption of flame, blasted Frederica away. Her burning body streaked through the air like a dazzling line of fire before slamming into the stone wall at the edge of the courtyard with a dull thud, sending gravel cascading down.
As for the two wind blades behind Nai, they were effortlessly dissolved by that suddenly erupting scorching force field the moment they were about to touch her back.
Ram's red eyes constricted to pinpricks.
This person...
Her control over fire magic had reached the point of complete mastery.
Ram's red pupils reflected the charred marks on the wall in the distance, along with the tiny flames still flickering.
The wind blades continuing to condense at her fingertips hummed, and she did not let her guard down for a second.
Frederica's fall did not make her retreat. Instead, it ignited her fighting spirit even more.
Her brain raced at a speed far beyond normal, calmly analyzing her opponent's abilities and how to find that glimmer of a chance to break the deadlock despite the disparity in strength.
"That's about enough, isn't it?" Nai's voice rang out softly, interrupting her train of thought.
She remained standing in place, not even sparing a glance for the blasted-away Frederica.
"I only want that little girl. I've said before, I won't hurt her. I'm just asking her to show me the way, that's all."
Her tone even carried a hint of helpless sincerity. "Because Roswaal doesn't keep his word. I am not like those lunatics in the Witch Cult. I have no interest in your lives, and what's more—I have no desire to fight you."
Upon hearing this, the corner of Ram's lips curled into a sneer.
"Stop spouting such nonsense! You bastard!" Her voice rose slightly with anger.
"The atrocities of your Witch Cult... I have already experienced them firsthand!"
The blood and wails of that night in the Oni clan, the despair of losing her horn, the hatred buried deep within her heart—all of it was completely ignited at this moment.
A violent surge of mana erupted from her petite frame.
Pale-green mana swirled rapidly around her legs, emitting a high-pitched hum.
At the same time, more than twenty incredibly dense wind blades materialized out of thin air all around her—above, below, left, and right. Their tips were all aimed at Nai, spreading out like deadly wings.
The ground beneath Ram's feet exploded. Her legs, enhanced by wind magic, provided terrifying propulsion. She became a blurred afterimage, and charged toward Nai, carrying the twenty-plus wind blades that spun and roared around her.
Faced with this desperate charge, a sigh appeared on Nai's face, mixed with helplessness.
"Sigh..."
She seemed to genuinely regret that they couldn't resolve this peacefully.
She raised her right hand, holding her index and middle fingers together, and pointed them nonchalantly in the direction of Ram's charge. At her fingertips, a spark of flame ignited.
Immediately following that, two, three, ten, a hundred... countless tiny specks of flame materialized out of thin air. They were thick and dense, instantly filling the space several meters in front of her.
These specks of flame converged rapidly. In the blink of an eye, right before Nai's fingertips, they condensed into a miniature fireball, its core swirling with the glow of molten lava.
The fireball floated silently, radiating a heart-stopping heat and unstable energy fluctuations.
Here it comes!
Ram's pupils constricted slightly. At the same time, half of the wind blades around her changed their angle, preparing to intercept or deflect the incoming fireball attack.
However...
Nai's fingers were not pointed at Ram. She gave her wrist a flick, and the miniature fireball at her fingertips, along with the countless tiny specks of flame, suddenly shot upward, pointing toward the sky.
The next second.
WHOOSH!
The fireball, trailing a long, thin orange wake, shot straight into the sky.
It then... exploded.
The exploding fireball did not turn into a massive ball of fire. Instead, like the most magnificent festival fireworks, it instantly burst into countless finer, denser sparks.
The light illuminated Ram's charging figure, as well as Nai's face below, which wore a sweet smile.
The sparks seemed to drift down slowly, but their range was vast, precisely covering every inch of space around Ram.
Ram's expression changed drastically. She tried to force her charge to a halt, but momentum kept her sliding forward.
The moment those drifting, tiny sparks touched the air, the ground, or any object in the courtyard, including the wind blades and mana shield around Ram—
Boom... Boom...
It was as if countless long-buried gunpowder barrels had been ignited. Every single tiny spark transformed into a fist-sized fireball, each one containing terrifying heat and explosive force, detonating all at once.
The explosions triggered in a chain, one after another. The blazing flames and violent shockwaves instantly engulfed Ram's figure, as well as everything around her.
Firelight soared to the sky, and heat waves billowed as the entire front courtyard trembled amidst the continuous, thunderous explosions.