In the blink of an eye, as the wave of destruction neared by, just inches away, something else trembled, not the world outside, but deep within Kyouno's very soul.
That sensation, strangely familiar.
Just like the moment before, when her Ice and Light magic ascended to the Adept Tier.
And now—her Fire Magic was ascending!
At the very instant the colossal wave of rock and earth surged forward like a tsunami, the moment that towering mass threatened to bury them whole—
Kyouno opened her eyes.
What was once a gentle emerald gaze now blazed red, a crimson glow of fire, of unyielding will.
Within those pupils, flames danced, bright and wild, a gaze burning with absolute resolve.
She raised her arms—
Left hand stretched forward like drawing an invisible bowstring, right hand pulled back as though gripping the shaft of an arrow.
Her voice rang out, clear and resolute, like a blade piercing frozen air:
"Flame Lance Arrow!"
In an instant—
"WHOOM!!!"
A roar of fire erupted, like the awakened cry of a primeval beast rising from a thousand-year slumber.
From her left hand, flames surged upward, shaping themselves into a flaming bow, majestic and fearsome.
And from her right, the fire burned even fiercer, even wilder—
But what formed wasn't an arrow, it was.....a lance, long and slender, sharp as war itself, breathtakingly beautiful, yet steeped in annihilation.
Fire Magic, had reached Adept Tier!
And this marked Kyouno's third element to achieve that level.
At this tier, a mage no longer merely commands the element, they forge it, molding its raw chaos into weaponry etched with their very will.
This lance wasn't just a weapon.
It was the embodiment of the blazing inferno surging through her veins.
And without another word,
Kyouno loosed the bowstring.
"Whsst—!"
The blazing lance, propelled by the force of the drawn bow, shot forth with blinding speed.
It flew, a crimson bolt splitting the air, racing straight toward the oncoming tidal wave of stone and soil.
And then—
The Snow Wolf howled. A proud, resounding cry, its eyes gleaming with icy resolve.
A freezing mist suddenly wrapped itself around the lance—
A sheath of pure frost, coiling like a white spirit around the flaming projectile.
Fire and Ice—the opposing extremes—now entwined.
No longer clashing. No longer rejecting.
But united through will and unwavering belief.
A single lance, born of two elements once thought irreconcilable, now soared forth—
Piercing through destruction itself.
And then—
"BOOOOM!!!"
A thunderous explosion tore through the battlefield, as if the heavens themselves had been rent asunder. The ground shook violently with each deafening reverberation.
The air was compressed into an unbearable stillness, then detonated in a violent shockwave, blasting searing wind and dust across the war-torn land.
The Flame-Ice Lance—burning with unstoppable fury—ripped through the very fabric of space, piercing the towering wall of stone as if skewering fate itself.
"Crack!"
The stone around the lance's path split open, then shattered from within.
A massive section of the wall, nearly ten meters wide, erupted, colossal rocks flung into the sky like dried leaves in a hurricane.
But the lance did not stop.
It kept flying, searing, sharp, and driven by an unyielding will and an aura of absolute annihilation.
And in that moment—
The beast froze.
Its golden eyes widened, lit with a primal terror, pure, instinctual fear awakening from the depths of its being.
A fear... it hadn't felt in ages.
Not since it ascended to the Master Tier.
It wanted to flee.
To turn and run, to howl and escape.
But...it couldn't.
The overwhelming pressure radiating from that lance—from the blazing, frozen firestorm it carried—crushed it like an icy volcano of death, pinning it to the earth, holding it in place.
It could not move, not even half a step.
And the last thing it ever saw—
Was a blinding light.
A flame—scorching, yet frigid.
Magnificent, yet merciless.
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!"
The explosion was like the funeral dirge of an era—The final punctuation to a life burned and frozen into nothingness…
All in the same, shattering moment.
"We... we won..."
Kyouno panted heavily, each breath scorching her throat as if fire still burned inside her. Her cheeks were flushed, a feverish red from heat and exhaustion, sweat soaking her brow.
Her body, tense through the entire battle, finally let go, leaving behind only a deep, bone-deep fatigue that tingled all the way to her fingertips.
The life-or-death battle with a Master-Tier beast was finally over.
She pressed her lips together.
In her chest, it felt as though a massive weight had dropped, dragging away the tension that had coiled within her. A sigh escaped her lips, fragile and trembling, as though she had never breathed until now.
But then—
"Ugh—"
Kyouno staggered.
Her knees buckled beneath her as if the strength had drained out all at once, and her whole body swayed. Her vision blurred, shrouded by a dense veil of black mist.
Her mind emptied.
No thoughts, no clear feelings, just a void.
She was spent.
Drained completely.
Her body had reached its absolute limit.
That was the last flicker of awareness in Kyouno's mind before darkness devoured her.
In her final moment of consciousness, she glimpsed the ravaged battlefield—
The ground, dusted with ash and fractured like the aftermath of a minor apocalypse.
Snow drifted silently down, cold and white, covering the scorched earth like a mourning shroud.
The wind howled, slicing through the desolate air.
And then—
Everything went black.
....