Deep within the ruins, Aquila struggled, shaking its dazed head from the impact.
It had only just managed to prop part of its body up from the rubble, not even having had the chance to shake off the debris and dust clinging to its divine form—
WHOOOSH!
Countless golden threads, gleaming with light, sprang forth from the void like venomous snakes that had long been lurking in the shadows, precisely coiling around its limbs and joints! It was Aglaea!
The icy grip of restraint and the stinging pain of divine power eroding it finally made Aquila sense a glimmer of danger from its initial stupor.
It let out a shocked and enraged roar, its one remaining intact wing flapping wildly, churning the air into chaotic currents as it tried to forcibly lift off, to escape this damned web of threads.
Cerydra, who had been observing the battle, saw this and, despite her petite frame, erupted with an undeniable authority.
She stomped her scepter on the ground, and her clear, cold voice rang out across the battlefield like a proclamation of law:
"In the name of the Imperator, within this place—flight is forbidden!"
Her words became law! An invisible force of rules instantly enveloped this airspace.
Aquila, which had just barely managed to lift a few meters off the ground, felt an immense force descend upon its divine form, as if the weight of the entire sky had suddenly pressed down!
Its flight authority was forcibly deprived, and it let out an unwilling wail, plummeting back to the earth like a kite with its string cut, crashing down in a cloud of dust and smoke!
Its massive body hadn't even had time to fully recover from the dizziness of the fall.
SWISH!
A golden figure, wrapped in the lightning speed of tearing air, had already appeared directly above its head as if teleported! It was Cipher!
On her face was a smile that blended the thrill of impending revenge with the sharp edge of killing intent. She raised one long leg high, and after gathering destructive power, she brought it down in a brutal axe kick!
In Aquila's pupils, dilated with fear, the only reflection was a pair of golden boots gleaming with lightning, crashing down towards its head with the force of a final judgment!
BOOM——!!!
Like a meteor striking the earth! Aquila's head, which had just tried to lift, was ruthlessly hammered back into the ground by that kick!
The sheer impact shook the entire ruined city-state!
CRACK——CRUNCH——!
The ground beneath the Eye of Twilight, already unable to bear the strain after Mydei's violent demolition and Aquila's consecutive crash landings, finally let out its last groan and completely shattered.
Aquila's unbalanced divine form, along with a mass of broken building debris, plunged straight down towards the "Golden Pool" below, its golden lava churning!
This sudden collapse, though chaotic, unexpectedly gave Aquila a brief, fleeting moment to catch its breath.
During its fall, enduring the agonizing pain of its nearly shattered skull and the sluggishness of its bound wings, it mustered its remaining divine power.
Then, it abruptly adjusted its angle and, with a suicidal frenzy, lunged from below upwards towards the relatively intact platform where the Chrysos Heirs had been standing!
It would drag these blasphemous ants into destruction with it!
Another thunderous crash! The already dilapidated floating city shook violently once more under this fierce counterattack, and large sections began to crumble.
However, how could the experienced Chrysos Heirs be so careless?
The moment Aquila adjusted its angle, Aglaea had already sensed it through her "Romance" threads and issued a warning: "Careful! It's going to ram the platform!"
Almost simultaneously with the warning, countless golden threads weaved through the air above the platform at incredible speed, instantly forming a huge, flexible, and incredibly resilient net of "Romance"—not to withstand a blow, but to capture!
Sure enough, Aquila, having smashed the edge of the platform, did not find the Chrysos Heirs plummeting with the debris as it had anticipated.
What it found was a golden net, already spread wide and waiting!
The net closed in like a spider trapping its prey, tightly entangling around its head, neck, and torso. The immense binding force not only restricted its movement but also completely disrupted its final flight balance.
Aquila let out a desperate, enraged roar as its massive body lost control again, accelerating its fall towards the endless void and the Golden Pool below.
But the battle was far from over!
"Now!" Aglaea commanded. Golden threads from her fingertips shot out like bridges, rapidly interweaving and fixing between the broken ruins and falling debris, creating a series of stable footholds for her companions!
Seizing a perfect opportunity, Terravox charged down one of the golden threads like a primordial beast. Its huge hooves, carrying the power to shatter mountains, stomped heavily onto the root of one of Aquila's still relatively intact wings!
CRACK! A harsh sound of tearing metal rang out. The wing was crushed against a large piece of falling platform debris, twisted and deformed, and had likely lost all function.
At almost the same moment, Castorice on the other side acted with equal decisiveness.
Connected by thought with her sister, Polyxia, purple light of "death" gathered at the tip of her scythe. Then, with a sharp slash forward, she opened a gate to the Nether Realm directly onto Aquila's other flailing wing! The cold and decaying power from the land of the dead frantically eroded the wing's structure.
Polyxia herself partially revealed her draconic form, transforming into a majestic dragon and using her heavy dragon body to firmly suppress that wing being eroded by the Nether Realm gate.
Then, opening her maw, she spewed a breath of dark purple dragon flame, imbued with the power of decay and death, precisely covering that wing!
With a sizzling corrosive sound, the huge wing visibly dissolved and disintegrated, eventually leaving behind only twisted, lusterless metal skeleton!
On the other side, Hysilens was already prepared. She invoked the vast authority of the "Ocean," and a translucent giant whale, formed purely from raging currents, materialized from the void, letting out an ethereal whale song, and charged straight at the wing Terravox had pinned!
CRASH—WHOOSH——!
The giant whale impacted and scoured! Combined with the immense force continuously applied by Terravox, the already severely damaged wing, under this double blow, had its metal plates peeled off, its internal energy channels completely washed away, eventually leaving behind only the same miserable skeleton!
"ROOOAR——!!!"
Aquila let out its most piercing, most agonized screech since the battle began. Deprived of its wings' protection and balance, the most vulnerable part of its divine form—the chest and abdomen area protecting its core—was now completely exposed before everyone!
"Phainon! Over there!" Anaxa's calm voice rang out. Light flashed from the alchemical gun in his hand, and several scorching magic bullets, marked with a distinct signal, whistled out, thud-thud-thudding into a spot right in the center of Aquila's chest—a slightly pulsating node emitting an unstable energy glow. That was its core! Its weakness!
"Got it! Teacher Anaxa!" Phainon's eyes sharpened without a moment's hesitation. Gripping his "Dawnmaker," his agile form moved in a few swift leaps and bounds along the golden thread path Aglaea had woven for him, instantly closing in!
Phainon barely had to exert any effort; the marked weak point was cleanly severed in two.