As she felt the mana connection maintaining the "Yin Magic" in her hands transmit feedback that was growing increasingly violent and uncontrollable, an undisguisable panic appeared on Beatrice's face.
"No... I can't."
Her eyes stared fixedly at the massive cyclone in the sky, which was darkening in color, her voice carrying a slight tremor.
"It's... too late."
Forcibly dispelling a high-level spell that was on the verge of losing control and had been infused with mana—the power of its explosion would likely be even more terrifying than letting it collapse on its own.
In the air, the Eye of the Storm that had been spinning rapidly was now almost stagnant.
Its massive vortex structure hadn't disappeared. Instead, like solidified lava, it took on a nearly solid crimson hue.
The center of the vortex was no longer a deep point of gravity, but a sea of fire compressing to the extreme, radiating suffocating heat.
It was no longer a spell, but a giant bomb composed of flames and storm, hanging over everyone's heads.
The only way to survive was to either forcibly teleport it far away or find some way to absorb this terrifying energy before the bomb completely lost control and exploded.
Wind Bind!
Ram's eyes were now tinged with a layer of frantic determination. The horn on her forehead shone brightly, its milky-white halo almost flowing down.
As the chant left her lips, the air around her began to spin and converge frantically. At first, it was just turbulent airflow, but in the blink of an eye, countless pale green wind blades were generated out of thin air. These blades were no longer used for attacking, but began to interweave and spiral upward at high speed.
With Ram's petite body as the center, a tornado over ten meters in diameter, composed of countless wind blades and violent currents, boomed into existence.
She intended to forcibly suck the energy of that terrifying Flame Cloud into the storm she had created.
This move was extremely risky, but it was also likely the only way to buy time or even reverse the situation.
A massive suction force emanated from the storm Ram created, like an invisible hand, beginning to pull at the crimson Flame Cloud in the sky.
The rotation of the Flame Cloud changed. The fire at its edges began to be torn and shifted, "flowing" down toward Ram's direction.
It was working!
However—
"That's a nice try."
Nai's voice drifted faintly from deep within the crimson Flame Cloud in the sky.
Immediately following—
Boom! Boom...
Countless small but extremely dense explosions erupted on the exterior of the Flame Cloud. These explosions weren't meant to cause massive destruction. Instead, each one precisely disturbed the stable flow of the air currents outside the Flame Cloud.
This turbulence instantly threw the gravitational field created by Ram's Wind Bind, which was trying to pull the Flame Cloud, into total chaos.
The Flame Cloud energy that had been "flowing" stably toward Ram suddenly became sluggish and began to dissipate in reverse.
"Ugh!"
Ram let out a muffled groan, a trace of blood seeping from the corner of her lips. Even though she had learned Reverse Cursed Technique and possessed a horn, her mana hadn't recovered yet, making this a huge burden on her body and energy. Now, being interfered with by Nai in such a tricky way, the pressure increased sharply.
The ground beneath her feet cracked inch by inch, unable to withstand the counter-force but she didn't give up. The madness in her eyes intensified, and the light from the horn on her forehead surged again.
"Get down!!!"
Vrrr—
The storm tornado below suddenly became even more violent and solid. The suction force was forcibly increased once more.
At this moment, a stalemate had formed between Ram and Nai.
On one side was the violent wind tornado below, with Ram using her body as an anchor to try and bind and absorb the Flame Cloud.
On the other was the crimson Flame Cloud above, constantly using internal explosions to interfere with the pull while accelerating its energy compression and transformation.
"If I were to let you recover, that would be bad."
The countless tiny explosions inside the Flame Cloud that were being used to interfere with Ram's pull suddenly stopped. Immediately after, a wave of reckless fire-attribute energy erupted from the core of the Flame Cloud.
Nai was no longer going to ignore Ram's pull. Instead, she was going to forcibly trigger the Flame Cloud and detonate it prematurely.
"Is this person crazy?!"
Beatrice exclaimed in shock, her body trembling slightly from mana exhaustion. The previous Yin Magic assistance had already squeezed her mana to its limit. Now, even standing up was difficult.
She knew better than anyone that while forcibly detonating such a massive energy structure could cause destruction, Nai herself—as the detonation core and energy source—would inevitably take damage. Even the power of the Flame Cloud itself would be greatly reduced due to structural instability.
This was a suicidal tactic!
However, at the very instant Nai was about to completely detonate the Flame Cloud—
BOOM!!!
A sound far exceeding any previous explosion burst from the distant sky.
It wasn't the Flame Cloud exploding.
Everyone—Ram and Beatrice on the scorched earth, and Nai within the Flame Cloud—looked up.
On the distant horizon, the sky that should have been shrouded in smoke and dark clouds was now covered by a purple light. That light was so pure and grand that it instantly dispelled the gloom, reflecting the entire sky in an eerie purple hue.
The light fell on everyone's faces, reflecting expressions of shock, bewilderment, or awe.
Immediately after, a terrifying shockwave spreading in a ring swept out in all directions from the origin of that purple light burst. Wherever the shockwave passed, the earth groaned under the unbearable weight.
The power of this shockwave was far beyond imagination, and its range was so vast that it swept across the battlefield where Ram and Nai were in an instant.
Boom!!!
The crimson Flame Cloud in the sky that was about to be detonated by Nai likewise suffered severe structural disruption under this sudden, brutal spatial vibration and energy turbulence. Its internal balance was shattered, and the out-of-control energy could no longer maintain its compressed form.
Rumble!!!
The Flame Cloud reached its limit and prepared to explode. It wasn't under Nai's full control, nor was it under Ram's pull. It was "smashed" into exploding by that purple shockwave.
However, just as the Flame Cloud was about to explode, a calm, familiar voice pierced through all the howling, echoing in the ears of everyone on the battlefield.
"Phase."
"Twilight."
"Eyes of Wisdom."
Above the battlefield, a flash of deep blue light appeared, and a vortex refined to the extreme manifested out of thin air. Like a black hole, it enveloped the Flame Cloud that was about to erupt.
That mass of crimson Flame Cloud, composed of Nai's power core and a massive amount of fire, along with the exploding flames and shockwaves already raging inside...
Everything was swallowed before that deep blue vortex.
One second it was a scene of world-ending destruction. The next, only that slowly rotating deep blue point of light remained in the sky, along with the scorching air currents and smoke being forcibly pushed aside and gradually dissipating.
Ram leaned against a ruined wall, barely supporting her body, the blood at the corner of her lips not yet dry. Then, her gaze slowly lowered.
The smoke hadn't fully cleared when a figure stepped out slowly with composed, unhurried strides.
His white hair fluttered slightly in the residual heat, but he didn't look the least bit disheveled. The signature arrogance on his face could make one forget his gem-like eyes, and a familiar, teasing curve hung at the corner of his lips.
"Yo!"
"Ram."
"This pathetic appearance... you don't look like my maid at all."
Ram stared at him blankly, her lips moving as if she wanted to retort or describe the danger just now but in the end, all her words converged into: "Shut up, you narcissist. Ram's business is none of your concern."
(End of Chapter)
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