The battlefield trembled under the weight of a dying god.
"Three phases…?" Yuan Wu muttered, his single crimson eye narrowing as reality itself twisted under pressure.
Fang Yuqing's voice trembled beside him. "High-level bosses don't just die… each phase is a reset. A new rule. A different hell."
Below them, the Alliance raid team was collapsing.
Thirteen Level 90+ Spirits—each one a monster in their own right—were locked in a desperate struggle against the humanoid dragon. Steel clashed, abilities roared, and yet the outcome was already tilting.
The third phase had broken the balance.
Too fast. Too precise.
Too alive.
Yuan Wu watched in silence.
Then—
BOOM.
The dragon moved.
Three Spirits were erased before the shockwave even reached them. One was split clean in half. Another lost its head mid-cast. The third didn't even realize it was dead.
The battlefield didn't crumble.
It disappeared.
Only one remained.
The Iceborne Queen.
Her blade burned with absolute frost as she intercepted the creature mid-air. Steel met bone. Ice met annihilation. Shockwaves rippled outward, freezing sand into jagged glass.
But Yuan Wu saw it clearly.
Her breathing.
Her hesitation.
Her limit.
"…She's slowing down," he said quietly.
Fang Yuqing's grip tightened. "If this goes on… they're going to lose."
Yuan Wu smiled faintly.
"Then we go in."
"Are you insane?!" she snapped, grabbing his sleeve. "That's Level 100!"
"And?" he replied.
The word landed cold.
Final.
The next second—
He vanished.
Space didn't open for him.
It shattered.
By the time the others reacted, Yuan Wu was already standing inside the kill-zone.
"Level 28?!" Han Yue's voice cut through the chaos. "Get back—NOW! You're not—"
Too late.
The predator had already locked onto him.
The humanoid dragon disappeared.
Reappeared.
Above him.
Its blade-arm descended.
BOOM—!!!
The impact shattered the air itself.
For a split second—
Silence.
Then—
Blood.
Yuan Wu didn't dodge.
His kagune surged forward instinctively, forming a dense, spiraling shield of flesh and hardened RC structure.
It held.
For less than a second.
The blade tore through it.
Bit into his shoulder.
Cracked bone.
Blood sprayed across the battlefield.
Fang Yuqing froze.
Yuan Wu didn't.
He looked down at the blade buried in his body… then at the blood running along it.
"…Good," he exhaled.
Not pain.
Recognition.
His kagune didn't explode outward this time.
It compressed.
Tightened.
Layer by layer, it reinforced itself—not stronger, but denser. More controlled.
The next strike came.
CLANG—!
He didn't block.
He redirected.
The blade slid along the angle of his kagune, force bleeding away instead of colliding head-on.
His body trembled violently.
Bones groaned.
Muscles tore microscopically under the strain.
A Level 28 vessel… forcing itself to carry the impact of a Level 100 existence.
He was breaking.
But not collapsing.
"Master," he said calmly, blood soaking his clothes, "how much do you have left?"
"Half… maybe less!" Fang Yuqing gasped.
"Enough."
The dragon moved again—
And stopped.
Just slightly.
A fraction.
A hesitation.
Yuan Wu's eye sharpened.
"There…"
He moved.
Not to kill.
To interfere.
His kagune shot out—not as blades, but as threads. Thin. precise. invasive.
They didn't aim for flesh.
They aimed for joints.
Connections.
Movement itself.
The dragon's leg shifted—
And locked.
Balance broke.
For exactly—
0.3 seconds.
"NOW!"
The Iceborne Queen didn't hesitate.
Her blade ignited.
Absolute zero condensed into a single point.
She pierced through the opening Yuan Wu had carved with his own blood.
The strike landed.
For the first time—
The boss staggered.
It bled.
Silence cracked across the battlefield.
Yuan Wu exhaled slowly, his breath ragged.
"…That's how you kill something stronger than you."
At close range—
The boss revealed its true form.
Not a beast.
A woman.
Black horns curved from her head. Dark scales wrapped around her body like armor. Her physique was both refined and dangerous, every line of her body built for killing.
The blade extending from her arm pulsed faintly, as if alive.
She stared at Yuan Wu.
Confusion flickered in her crimson eyes.
"…What… was that?" she murmured, her voice glitching slightly. "What… blocked me?"
Yuan Wu tilted his head.
"So you can talk."
A pause.
"…And you're self-aware."
The air turned colder.
"Don't get distracted."
The Iceborne Queen moved again.
Her sword flashed.
"Icefall Dominion!"
The world froze.
Temperature plummeted instantly. Moisture in the air crystallized into razor-sharp frost.
The dragon raised her blade—
BOOM!
She was blasted backward, ice erupting across her body, freezing and dragging her through the ground.
Crack—!
With a violent slash, she shattered the frozen terrain and escaped.
Yuan Wu nodded slightly.
"Not bad."
Then—
Eyes shifted.
Focused.
"Who are you?" the Iceborne Queen demanded. "Level 28… and you can intercept her attacks?"
That wasn't normal.
That wasn't logical.
Fang Yuqing quickly spoke, "We're from MoFang Academy—he's my Spirit, Yuan Wu—his abilities are—"
"Too long," Yuan Wu cut in.
He stepped forward.
"I can help you win."
Silence.
"How?" Han Yue asked sharply.
Yuan Wu looked at the boss.
"Not control," he said.
A pause.
"…Restraint."
He raised his hand slightly.
"I won't stop her."
"I'll make sure she can't move."
The Iceborne Queen frowned.
"Explain."
Yuan Wu didn't answer immediately.
Instead—
His kagune shifted.
Not outward.
Inward.
Condensing.
Rewriting itself.
"When I change forms," he said slowly, "my kagune doesn't just attack."
"It evolves."
Thin strands began to spread into the air.
Barely visible.
"Every thread… can become a limb."
"A lock."
"A binding point."
"They don't cut."
"They seize."
Han Yue's expression changed.
"Physical capture…?"
"More than that."
Yuan Wu's eye darkened slightly.
"They anchor movement itself."
A brief silence.
"How long?" she asked.
"One minute," Yuan Wu replied.
"And the cost?"
He didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he glanced toward Fang Yuqing.
"…Everything she has."
"And me?" the Iceborne Queen asked.
Yuan Wu smiled faintly.
"You just need to kill it."
The battlefield went still.
Buffs activated.
Energy surged.
The Iceborne Queen's form shifted—
Frost erupted around her body, crystallizing into layered armor.
"Valkyrie Form."
Power spiked.
Yuan Wu rolled his shoulder.
Blood was still dripping.
"Stay away from me," he said casually.
"When it starts… I don't guarantee control."
Then—
He stepped forward.
"Let's begin."
The transformation began.
His body expanded—
Swelled into something monstrous—
A mass of writhing flesh and unstable structure.
Then—
It split.
A crack of silver light cut through the mass.
Silence replaced the noise.
From within—
He emerged.
White.
Refined.
Terrifyingly calm.
RC cells restructured into armor.
Smooth.
Metallic.
Perfect.
Behind him—
Wings unfolded.
Not feathers.
Blades.
Dozens of them.
Layered. overlapping. alive.
Each one humming faintly with restrained violence.
He raised his hand.
The battlefield shifted.
Threads spread.
Invisible.
Everywhere.
The dragon reacted instantly.
Too late.
The first thread touched her ankle.
Then—
Her wrist.
Her shoulder.
Her spine.
They didn't bind all at once.
They waited.
For movement.
For resistance.
She moved.
And—
Locked.
"Angel—"
Yuan Wu's voice was low.
Cold.
Final.
"—Restraint."
The world fell silent.
The boss froze.
Not stunned.
Not suppressed.
Captured.
Every attempt to move only tightened the invisible threads digging into her structure.
Her breathing slowed.
Eyes flickered.
For a moment—
She looked… lost.
Fang Yuqing collapsed in the distance, her spirit power draining violently.
Yuan Wu stood at the center of it all, wings slightly trembling.
Blood continued to drip from his shoulder.
His body was reaching its limit.
But he smiled.
"Now…"
His voice was hoarse.
"…finish it."