The lightning was faster than thought.
In a single moment, light covered the surface—only light, heat, and death.
Gamora was in the air. The orders were clear. In one second, with his zone, his eyes swept over everything without hesitation. Anyone he could see—he transported them immediately.
The smell was hellish... The beasts unaffected by the lightning... were trembling.
Valeras was there, no longer a human body. Just a mass of burnt flesh, a mixture of ash and blood, a body with no features left...
He was dead.
The king took a slow breath.
"I could have matched you..."
He stood up and took a step forward. The echo of his footsteps was the only sound in the absolute silence.
"But who am I to match a being like you?"
He stood over the charred mass.
"You are immensely powerful, no doubt about that, but against the grasp of the ocean, you will remain insignificant."
He raised his foot and slowly placed it on Valeras' back.
He pressed.
The ash crumbled under the force, the bones cracked...
The king didn't increase the pressure further, just kept it there, as if sending a clear message.
"My lack of resistance to you, my endurance of your blows, was nothing but a burden."
His voice darkened.
"Because he... is angry."
On the other side, Gamora was panting, his eyes narrowing in pain and rage.
He looked up at the surface, everything stained with the marks of a fierce battle, and the corpses scattered.
He clenched his fist and turned to glare at the Magins, his voice low, filled with suppressed anger...
"I'll put you and the wounded on the ground... As for me, I'll transport myself with the fish to... And there, I'll kill him."
He didn't waste time. With a swift motion, he disappeared with the king.
In an instant, he was standing on solid ground, the wind hitting his face...
The king, surprised, his eyes widening.
"Where... how... human?! What trick is this?!"
But Gamora didn't give him a chance to comprehend.
His body moved before the king's words were complete.
He swung his hand, and in a moment, a massive green hammer formed in his right hand, and a heavy axe in his left.
Before the king could react, Gamora instantly transported himself behind him.
Boom!
The hammer came down heavily on the king's back, violently pushing him forward, nearly causing him to fall face-first.
But Gamora transported himself again, now beneath him.
The hammer gleamed, heading straight for the king's jaw in a devastating vertical strike.
Crack!
The hammer shattered his jaw, scattering his teeth in the air, lifting his head high with the force of the impact.
But Gamora didn't give him a chance to fall.
He grabbed his hand, and with a swift motion, pulled the axe and struck again...
The axe pierced his chest, sinking deep, but in that moment... it stopped.
Something.
Suddenly, Gamora's fingers froze. His eyes widened as he realized...
Frost was creeping from the axe to his hands, then his arms.
Gamora choked out, "W-what?!"
He had no time to escape. The frost engulfed his entire body, trapping him inside a pure ice statue, frozen mid-strike...
The king took a step back, his eyes carefully examining the crystalline statue.
Then, in a heavy voice, he spoke:
"Who are you to dare pierce my heart? Hah, the entire universe cannot withstand its cold... You made a mistake here, human. Those tricks? Tsk, you will always bow to authenticity, to the heart of the ocean."
On the other side, where the Magins were trying to treat the wounded after a quick triage, one of them stood watching the scene with tearful eyes.
He looked at the leaders who had been saved thanks to Gamora—Aelius, Claude, Levar, Darmin—everything felt incomplete...
He looked around, then fell to his knees, clenched his fists, and began pounding the ground with all his might.
"Fuck it, fuck, fuck... The four leaders... Valeras! The Lord! Valeras!.."
The pain in his voice was heavy, as if he had lost more than just a leader...
As if he had lost his father.
Now, the Grasp of the Ocean was there, ready to end everything, to end the suffering and the losses.
Only his booming voice echoed, his envy everywhere...
He opened his mouth, and the air began to be sucked in with terrifying force.
The suction was horrifying. Rocks were torn from the ground, bodies began to lift into the air.
The guards and even some of the Magins couldn't resist and were pulled toward the giant's gaping mouth.
Claude, who was half-unconscious, opened his eyes with difficulty.
His body was weak, but he saw the scene—the massive jaw was about to swallow them whole.
And now, the colossal creature was preparing to unleash the devastating pressure for the third time, which would obliterate everything.
And in that moment, that moment...
A massive crimson circle, almost as large as the jaw of the Grasp himself, appeared in the doorway of his mouth, adorned with strange runes.
In an instant, it absorbed the piercing storm completely and lit up to reflect the energy back, but this time in a glowing crimson hue...
The devastating whirlwind surged back from the circle, piercing and sweeping through the jaw, flowing inside with destructive speed.
It pressed against his insides.
The massive corpse cracked.
And it retreated, its body shaking violently, then... it fell...
Like a continent that had lost its foundation.
A colossal fall, truly, that made the kingdom, no, the entire continent, tremble with seismic shocks.
Stunned.
The Magins couldn't comprehend what had happened.
Even the guards, half-dead from the impact of his fall, were watching the scene with wide eyes, lying on the ground like shattered chickens.
Even the king himself, far away and trembling, hadn't expected this.
Then, in a moment...
A giant spear shot down from the sky, pinning the king to the ground with immense force.
A crimson spear.
He raised his head, his eyes widening.
Then... he saw.
Egologia.
Standing there, in the sky, his eyes blazing with unparalleled chaos.
His radiant wings...
In a voice filled with awe, he spoke:
"The boy... the great maga... I never thought there would come a day in my life when I would use the Crimson Mirror."