King Vardisia shattered the spear, freeing himself, but his breaths were labored, his body trembling, on the verge of collapsing. Egologia was in the sky, getting closer and closer.
"Hah, Your Majesty..." His voice dripped with sarcasm. "You look like a scarecrow now... What happened to you? A sack of grain devoured by birds?"
His eyes narrowed as he descended slowly. "A foolish decision to let me live... Even lowly creatures like you have their pride and traditions, don't they?"
The king panted, watching him approach, as if preparing for something.
"That damned iguana..." the king said in a hoarse voice. "I should have killed you myself... The element of fire... I wanted the captive iguana to kill you... She's the only one unaffected by your flames..."
He raised his head with difficulty, his body bleeding icy heat. "I think I'll burn because of this... You're more chaotic than I expected."
Egologia smiled a dangerous smile. "Of course I am. And now you're filling my head with your nonsense... Charging your energy?"
He pursed his lips in disdain. "Unfortunately, this law... I don't abide by it."
As he descended calmly, he suddenly shot forward with speed, like a flash.
The king opened his mouth to release a cyclonic roar, his head spinning violently, unleashing a deadly storm of ice around him. But Egologia was faster. He suddenly appeared with a swift side kick to the king's face, slamming his mouth shut with force. Then Egologia landed on the ground, following up with a precise punch to the king's hardened stomach, lifting his body into the air.
He didn't give him a chance to catch his breath—Egologia's fists came together and hammered down on the king's body like a sledgehammer, crushing him toward the ground. Then he kicked him away with two powerful blows, a double push, as if enjoying tearing him apart more and more.
The king screamed. "Perish, human... Perish!"
He enlarged his hand into massive frost claws and lunged. Egologia jumped back as the claws struck the ground, causing freezing glass-like explosions to erupt in all directions.
One of them caught Egologia's leg, but before it could completely freeze, he shattered it with a sudden burst, blood threads emerging from his leg, then he continued flying with his wings without stopping.
The king created an icy wall beneath him, ascending through it rapidly, forming frosty arms that shot out in all directions.
Egologia charged forward, only to be struck by one of the arms, slamming him to the ground. In the midst of the dust, icy arrows shot in, dispersing the dust, but there was no trace of the crimson demon.
Then he appeared behind the arms, which accelerated to strike automatically. He dodged them gracefully, clinging to the air itself using the same arms tied with his crimson threads, maneuvering in fleeting moments.
When he reached the king, he headbutted him like a driven nail, crashing into him with unstoppable force. They hurled each other from the heart of the icy turmoil, only for him to slam the king into the ground with brutal intensity.
Egologia lunged again to deliver a finishing blow... but no, he retreated in an instant, surprised by a sharp icy drift shooting from that spot.
The king's reaction was delayed... Egologia charged at him, summoning the crimson sword, shattering the wall into glass-like shards that scattered like rain... but the king disappeared.
Suddenly, the shards accumulated at a single point, rapidly forming into an icy fist that struck Egologia's face directly, shattering his nose gruesomely and forcing him to be hurled backward, crashing onto the ground on his ass, crawling as he bled profusely.
He stood up and took a step back, but before he could regain his composure, he saw the shards condense further, forming the image of the king himself.
"Damn... what is he trying to achieve?"
Even the king himself was surprised by the speed of his evolution. His body turned into a frosty specter, charging like a ghost, his sharp hand striking at Egologia... but he dodged it below, only to be met with a barrage of punches... no, a series of thrusts under the icy arm, completely shattering it.
The shards were flying now, scattering everything apart. Then, before he could comprehend, that spot turned into a whirlwind, spinning continuously as ice struck him, shocking him—there was no escape from that whirlwind.
Then, in a moment, all the shards shot out, piercing into his body in midair. And now he was falling, but before he even touched the ground, he was struck by a colossal ghostly palm, hurled away only to be lifted again by the current and thrown once more. Then, the palms followed one after another.
With a pained scream, "[Vortex-Maga]!"
A vortex gate formed behind him, and in an instant, it absorbed the whirlwind, pulling all the simple elements toward it. Egologia laughed.
"Old man, you can't handle my bag!"
He fell to the ground, freeing himself from the strange whirlwind, then retreated, watching the king's figure struggle with the vortex.
But he didn't want to waste maga meaninglessly, as its only purpose was to save him from disaster. He stopped it, looking at the king, who had become a ghost with no predictable limits.
"Oh human! Come on now! Indeed, when will you use the fire? I think I'm ready to adapt to it."
"Tsk!"
On the other side, after the fall of the [Grasp of the Ocean], the few surviving monsters began to fall like meteors towards the earth, their sharp fangs dripping with saliva, and their eyes gleaming with a ravenous, wild hatred.
There was nothing to restrain their hatred now, except for the few remaining guards and the Magins.
Amidst the devastation, Claude watched the scene with cold eyes, then slowly turned to the Magins and commanded clearly:
"Heal Darmin only."
Some of them were puzzled, not understanding his decision, but there was no time for debate.
They moved towards Darmin!