Gine looked at the black-armored knight in front of her while the environment around them still trembled from the effects of the previous battles. The underground was no longer a closed space—parts of the ceiling had been completely destroyed, and cracks spread in every direction. Even so, that didn't seem to affect the posture of the man before her. From what she knew from the stories told, Knigrave was stronger than Surfien, even while holding a lower position in the hierarchy. While Surfien was considered Leon's right hand, that man could easily be seen as the left—someone who wasn't there to think, but to execute without hesitation.
"So you—"
"Yes, we betrayed you."
Knigrave pointed at her without any shame as he said that, as if there were no reason to hide or justify his actions. Among all the comments she had heard about him, one always came up frequently, even from allies: "he was an idiot." Watching his direct and completely unfiltered posture, Gine saw no reason to disagree.
Before she could respond, a dark red explosion burst from his sword and was launched directly at her. The reaction came by instinct—she barely dodged as the attack passed beside her face. The energy didn't just cut through space, it completely broke the structure behind her, opening a vertical path that reached the surface.
"An idiot… powerful."
She finished the thought silently while adjusting her stance. Without wasting time, Gine activated her magic. The ground around her responded immediately—not just the earth, but everything within that concept. Stone, dust, minerals, and even fragments of the destroyed structure began to move under her command. Her affinity wasn't limited to the ground, but to everything that existed within it, just like Enrico's deep water magic and Kai's ocean magic.
"Earth Magic."
Knigrave didn't wait long and advanced in a straight line, with direct movements and no attempt to hide his intent. The sword in his hand carried that black and red energy, an unstable mixture that looked more like a disaster than controlled magic.
"Earth Elevation."
Gine raised the ground in front of her, creating dense layers of stone that rose quickly to block his advance. The impact destroyed the first layer, pierced the second, and only lost force at the third. He kept advancing, moving through the debris while preparing another attack, completely ignoring the pressure being placed on him.
'He really is an idiot.'
Gine quickly realized that he didn't fight with refined precision, but with constant pressure, like someone who didn't care about taking damage as long as he kept advancing. Instead of just defending, she began shaping the terrain around him, creating pillars that rose at different points, trying to limit Knigrave's movement and force him to reposition. At the same time, fragments of rock were launched at high speed from different angles.
"A bunch of weak attacks, Lady Counselor."
Knigrave took some of those attacks directly. His armor absorbed part of the impact, but not entirely. Marks began to appear on its surface—small cracks and dents showing he was being hit—but even so, his advance didn't slow down. He moved through the attacks as if they weren't enough to stop him, making Gine narrow her eyes slightly as she realized this wasn't just ordinary physical resistance.
'So that's it…'
With a whisper, she poured more magic into the ground. Without hesitation, she intensified the terrain further. The ground beneath Knigrave suddenly opened, trying to swallow him along with a dense mass of compressed earth, while structures rose from the sides attempting to crush him at the center. Knigrave seemed briefly surprised.
"This is bad."
For a moment, his movement was interrupted, trapped under pressure from all directions—but it didn't last.
"Just kidding."
The energy around his body began to grow—subtle at first, then violently. The black and red color expanded not only through his sword, but across his entire body. The earth trying to restrain him began to fragment—not pushed aside, but destroyed from within, as if it lacked the resistance to withstand that force.
"Prepare yourself, Lady Counselor. I'm already bored."
His voice remained simple, unchanged, as his magic finally revealed itself completely. This wasn't just offensive energy, nor something that could be classified as a normal affinity. It was pure destruction—a force that didn't follow stable structure and seemed to exist only to break everything around it.
"Crimson Calamity Magic."
A tense smile appeared on Gine's face, as she knew from that moment on survival would be extremely difficult. Now, without a doubt, she regretted ever thinking of betraying the king. The aura around him expanded violently, completely breaking the pressure she had created. Unlike other magic, it didn't seem to follow logic or refined control—it was chaotic, aggressive, and unpredictable, like a natural disaster that couldn't be contained. Gine reacted by raising multiple layers of defense at once, making the ground rise in a massive formation to contain the advance—but it wouldn't be enough.
"Destroying Sword."
Knigrave advanced through his own magic, cutting everything in a straight line, destroying each layer of defense before it could be reinforced. Even so, Gine didn't lose control and responded with all her strength, making the entire environment react. The ground around them moved massively, creating pressure not from a single point, but from all directions at once, as if the world itself was trying to crush Knigrave. That was the only way to stop him—using half of her magic.
"Earth Crush."
This time, he stopped. His movement was finally contained, and his armor began to show more visible damage, larger cracks spreading as parts were forced under extreme pressure.
'This is my only chance to survive.'
Gine didn't waste the opportunity and advanced, intensifying the attack even more. Pillars rose from all sides, compressing, crushing, and trying to completely break Knigrave's defense. The ground sank under the impact, and the surrounding structure gave way even more, creating a scenario where, for a brief moment, it seemed he had finally been contained.
"This is the first time someone managed to hold me… but—"
But it still wasn't enough. The magic grew again from within the sword and the armor itself. An explosion tore through the entire area, opening a massive hole beneath them that made Gine fall. While she was in the air, Knigrave raised his sword in an arc, creating a red and black wave that swallowed the counselor's entire body.
"That last attack was kind of fun."
Gine was now trapped among several pieces of debris, completely unconscious. Knigrave rested his sword on his shoulder as he held it and looked upward, seeing the sky split in half, with the clouds being burned by Leon's fire.
"If he weren't Lord Leon, I'd ask to fight him."