"Lumine, are you alright?"
Paimon hurried to Lumine's side, her gaze fixed on the massive crater before them. A sense of vindication washed over her.
The sight of the Doctor inevitably brought Chu Xi to mind.
"I'm fine," Lumine replied, shaking her head. After one last glance at the remaining Harbingers, she ascended into the air and flew toward the other battlefields.
Once Lumine had left, the Knave and the other Harbingers departed as well. Throughout the entire encounter, not a single one of them spared even a glance at the Doctor, who lay sprawled across the ground, covered in grime.
-
Meanwhile, at the location of the towering Pillar of Light in Natlan:
The Captain and Mavuika were the first to arrive. As they drew closer, the Abyss's aura grew increasingly dense, causing The Captain obvious discomfort. The Abyss's energy was having a significant impact on the heroic souls within his body.
Yet The Captain refused to retreat.
About a hundred meters from the Pillar of Light, they could advance no further. Abyss Monsters poured endlessly from the pillar, growing stronger with each wave.
The duo swiftly eliminated the surging monsters while frantically devising a viable strategy.
The Captain's longsword swept horizontally, bisecting a grotesque monster lunging at him. Its foul blood never even splattered, repelled by the fierce energy field surrounding him.
His voice, muffled by his mask yet resonating with undeniable solemnity, rumbled through the air:
"We can't delay any longer. This Pillar of Light is a gateway—it's constantly strengthening and spawning ever more powerful monsters. If this continues, Natlan will be unable to resist them."
Flames surged around Mavuika as she incinerated another monster with a single punch. Her sharp gaze locked onto the twisted Pillar of Light, so close yet seemingly separated by an insurmountable chasm.
"The energy level continues to escalate, making it nearly impossible to shake its core with conventional methods."
"We must strike with force beyond its threshold before it fully stabilizes—a single, decisive blow to shatter its heart!"
As she spoke, Mavuika's long hair blazed like living flames. Her remaining power was dwindling; she had conserved it all this time, waiting for this critical moment. Now, there could be no greater urgency!
"What are our chances of success?"
"Less than twenty percent."
Mavuika retrieved the Pyro Archon's Gnosis, gripping it tightly in her right hand. "With this," she said, "perhaps we can reach thirty percent."
Mavuika had never been a God who favored reckless gambles, a trait evident in her meticulous five-hundred-year Plan. But now, there was no other option. Even with a mere twenty or thirty percent chance of success, she had to act!
She could only imagine the carnage unfolding on the battlefield. Hesitation would only lead to more lives lost, and the already meager odds might dwindle further.
In this critical moment, she had to gamble everything.
"Let's move."
The Captain abruptly accelerated, clearing away all the monsters surrounding Mavuika.
Mavuika hovered in the air, her aura growing terrifyingly intense.
The fiery tresses cascading from the back of her head blazed like a molten waterfall, swirling wildly. In her hand, the Gnosis erupted with unprecedented brilliance, resembling a miniature sun. She pressed it against her chest and absorbed it into her body.
Vast Pyro Elemental Power converged frantically, distorting and melting the very space. The ground beneath her feet cracked into countless fissures, dissolving into churning, crimson lava.
Slowly, she drew her fist back to her waist. The compressed power radiating from it sent shivers down even The Captain's spine.
"Yaah—!"
With a sharp cry, Mavuika unleashed the fist, a devastating strike forged from the Natlan Sacred Fire and the totality of her will!
There was no sound.
Or rather, the sound had been utterly devoured by the overwhelming force.
A colossal, crimson-gold Pillar of Light, as thick as a Divine Judgment spear, erupted from her fist. It tore through space itself in an instant, vaporizing everything in its path. Even light itself was twisted and consumed by its searing intensity.
The force of this punch seemed poised to pierce the heavens and earth, utterly purging all the world's impurities!
The Captain swiftly turned away, retreating from the epicenter of the collision.
BOOM!!!
The crimson-gold Pillar of Light slammed mercilessly into the towering, filth-ridden Pillar of Light that stretched to the heavens.
A terrifying shockwave of energy erupted in a circular blast, instantly vaporizing everything within range, including the endless swarm of monsters pouring forth.
The earth shattered like fragile eggshells, layer by layer, crumbling, melting, and vaporizing into nothingness.
Yet...
As the destructive light and the aftershocks of the explosion gradually dissipated, Mavuika and the Captain's pupils constricted in disbelief.
The twisted Pillar of Filth still stood stubbornly erect, its surface rippling violently like turbulent water. Its color had dimmed noticeably, and spiderweb-like cracks crisscrossed its surface, as if on the verge of shattering...
But it did not shatter. Instead, it remained stubbornly rooted in place, and in those fleeting moments, it seemed to begin slowly repairing itself...
Mavuika's ultimate strike—a blow fueled by the full power of her Gnosis, capable of reshaping the very landscape—had only gravely wounded the pillar, failing to obliterate it completely!
The unsettling writhing and roars within the Pillar of Light grew even more distinct, as if utterly enraged. More twisted and terrifying shadows began to coalesce within it!
Mavuika slowly descended from the sky, her face pale and her breathing ragged. Staring at the still-standing Pillar of Light, her crimson eyes blazed with disbelief.
It failed...!
The Captain silently stepped forward, his longsword held horizontally before him, shielding Mavuika.
Beneath his mask, his gaze sharpened to an unbearable intensity, fixed on the damaged yet still-functioning Pillar of Light and the greater horror now gestating within it.
No words were needed; the weight of their failure and the looming crisis hung heavy between them.
At the critical moment—just as the corrupted Pillar of Light convulsed violently, its cracks rapidly sealing, and the terror within threatened to erupt—
The very Laws of the world seemed to be plucked by an invisible, colossal hand.
Vast, boundless moisture surged inward like a frenzied throng paying homage to their Monarch. The gray sky instantly transformed into an endless azure, as if an inverted sea had descended upon the world!
From that azure expanse, a dragon's claw emerged, slamming down heavily onto the still-healing Pillar of Light.
Almost simultaneously, the Cryo Archon materialized elsewhere. She raised her slender, pale hand, and with a gesture of her fingertips, the very concept of absolute zero was forcibly extracted, condensed, and projected forth!
In that instant, all natural laws seemed to freeze completely, dissolving into an eternal "stillness."
A faint, nearly invisible pale white line traced from her fingertip: "Return to Stillness."
The dragon's claw and the white line struck the frantically writhing Pillar of Light almost simultaneously!
Under the interwoven power of two forces touching the world's fundamental order, the impossibly resilient Pillar of Light—which had withstood even the Pyro Archon's ultimate strike—twisted and shuddered violently, like fragile glass thrown into the heart of Purgatory.
Then, starting from the point of impact, the sky-piercing, defiled Pillar of Light rapidly disintegrated.
The shadowy monsters within the pillar vanished along with it...
Umbral Scion, who had just arrived on the scene, witnessed this moment. Her mechanical head cracked into a grin. "Small trouble solved. Time to catch up with the mini-boss..."