The Fire Spirit Sword II in Aiden's grip emitted a strained, overwhelming hum. It was the warning sign that the weapon's tolerance had reached its absolute limit. Originally, this heat-resistant Third-Class Weapon could have held out much longer. But this battle was far too intense. Aiden had pushed the [Everlasting Flames] magic to its absolute current limit, causing the weapon's durability to plummet like an avalanche.
He even had a premonition that after this fight, this freshly acquired Third-Class Weapon, which hadn't even warmed up in his hands yet, was going to be honorably retired.
At the thought of this, Aiden's face involuntarily twisted in a pained grimace. "My Valis... my heart hurts..."
Ais noticed his expression, which looked more agonizing than his actual injuries. Though she didn't understand why, she simply raised Desperate once more.
The wind roared again. This time, the gale was even more violent. Emerald magic wrapped around the blade like a physical substance, emitting piercing, explosive shrieks. Her golden hair whipped in the hurricane, and a blazing fighting spirit burned within her golden eyes. She took a step forward, and the ground instantly shattered.
Dead End Butcher hoisted its giant weapon. It no longer waited. It no longer tested the waters. Roaring, its colossal body charged at its maximum speed, the massive weapon smashing down with enough force to annihilate everything in its path.
Ais met the charge head-on. Aiden gritted his teeth and followed suit. Wind and fire erupted simultaneously in that exact moment.
Ais arrived first. Desperate fiercely clashed against the giant street sign—BOOM!!!
The deafening roar of grinding metal violently shook the entire floor. The raging winds detonated at the point of impact, and the terrifying shockwave once again blasted all surrounding debris into the air.
Ais was forced back three steps by the monumental force, every single step stamping deep, spiderweb cracks into the solid ground. But Dead End Butcher was also knocked high into the air by the impact, exposing a massive opening.
Aiden cut in. The flame sword, blazing with golden fire, slashed down mercilessly. Dead End Butcher reached out to grab him, but the flame sword cleaved precisely into its left arm.
Squelch!
The flames scorched the hardened carapace pitch-black. Flesh and blood rapidly melted under the extreme heat, and Dead End Butcher unleashed an earth-shattering shriek. Having landed a successful hit, Aiden didn't linger and immediately retreated at top speed.
But Dead End Butcher's other hand swept its weapon horizontally, brushing right past his chest. Though he avoided a fatal blow, the gale generated by the giant weapon battered him like a siege ram, launching him into the air. He tumbled through the sky, stumbling back several steps upon landing before dropping to one knee again. Another mouthful of blood sprayed from his lips.
Compared to Ais, who could hold her own in a frontal clash, Aiden was in a much more miserable state. This was the price of participating in a battlefield far beyond his own level. He couldn't afford to take a single one of Dead End Butcher's attacks head-on; even the shockwaves were enough to injure him.
Yet, he stood up once again. Ais engaged once more. Wind and fire commenced their final, frenzied dance.
Dead End Butcher's roars echoed throughout the entire floor. It swung its weapon and claws in absolute madness. Ais darted through the raging winds, and Aiden flickered amidst the flames. The two of them took turns attacking, took turns dodging, took turns getting blasted away, and took turns standing back up. Crisscrossing fissures and deep craters scarred the ground everywhere. The rock walls were littered with sword slashes and scorch marks, and the pungent stench of charred flesh and blood permeated the air.
Boom!
Aiden was blasted away once again. This time, the light of his flame sword grew dim, on the verge of collapsing entirely. His magic power had bottomed out, his mental strength was nearing its limit, and every bone in his body screamed in agony.
But he didn't stay down. Using the fracturing sword to prop himself up against the ground, he slowly, painfully struggled to his feet. His bloodshot blue eyes looked toward Ais in the distance.
Ais was looking at him, too. Within her pure, golden eyes, something seemed to be sparkling brilliantly. She understood. No words were needed. In those bloodshot yet entirely clear blue eyes, Ais read everything. It was the trust of completely surrendering one's back to the other, the resolve of betting every single possibility on this one, fleeting instant.
"Then... let's do this!"
Using the last dregs of his strength, Aiden raised the crumbling flame sword. Ais simultaneously raised Desperate.
The wind roared again! The fire blazed once more!
"Roar...?"
For the first time, Dead End Butcher's chaotic instincts sensed the looming threat of death. It roared, and then, as if trying to completely crush this creeping unease, it launched its final, most berserk charge toward the two of them.
Aiden took a step forward. Ais also took a step forward. But their target wasn't the charging monster. The two swung their swords simultaneously—their targets were actually each other!?
"What the hell are they doing!?" Bete let out a shout of sheer disbelief from a distance.
"Infighting? No, that's not it!" Finn's pupils shrank to pinpricks.
The two blades intersected in the air. The blazing flame sword and the tempest-wrapped Desperate collided at a perfect cross angle. In that split second, wind and fire melded in an unprecedented fashion. Their powers didn't repel one another. Instead, guided by their masters' wills, they completely and unreservedly embraced each other.
Fire fueled the wind—the searing flames turned the emerald tempest even more violent and scorching, transforming it into a burning hurricane that sought to incinerate all creation. Wind fanned the fire—the howling gale made the golden flames even more unstoppable, morphing them into an apocalyptic wave of fire that devoured everything.
"My god... Is this some kind of exclusive two-person ultimate attack!?" A nearby adventurer babbled incoherently.
That wasn't two separate attacks. It was a unique, singular combination strike born from the absolute fusion of two people's wills, magic power, techniques, and convictions. The burning hurricane and the sweeping wave of fire condensed at the intersecting tips of their swords, forming a colossal cross-slash—its magnificent and terrifying brilliance defying description—that hacked mercilessly toward the charging Dead End Butcher.
Dead End Butcher collided head-on with that cross of radiant light. This time, there was no deafening sound of grinding metal. The moment its razor-sharp claws, capable of tearing through steel, touched the cross-slash, they severed, melted, shattered, and evaporated silently—like butter meeting a branding iron.
The cross-slash cleaved effortlessly into Dead End Butcher's massive body—from the right shoulder down to the left waist, and from the left shoulder down to the right waist. A perfect cross. Total penetration.
Dead End Butcher's roars ceased abruptly. It froze. Its massive, five-meter-tall body stood utterly motionless. It looked down at the cross of light on its chest—it was no longer a wound, but a glowing mark that had completely cleaved its entire body apart.
Then, it split. Like the most precise dissection, its body quietly slid apart along those two fatal trajectories. Four pieces. The sundered chunks of its body slammed into the ground with dull, heavy thuds. Black blood geysered out like a burst dam, instantly staining the entire floor pitch-black.
The entire seventeenth floor fell into a deathly silence.
"Hey, hey, hey... What the hell was that!? When did they secretly practice a combination attack? You magic idiot, do you know anything about this!?" Bete's eyes were wide, looking as if he'd seen a ghost. He turned to Lefiya in disbelief.
"I-I don't know! And I'm not a magic idiot, Mr. Bete!" Lefiya was equally dumbfounded. It took her a moment to react, blushing as she pouted and shot back a retort.
"S-So cool! Aiden and Ais are both so cool! That strike was amazing! I want to do it too! Hey, hey, Tione, let's practice a combination attack too!" Tiona was screaming in excitement, grabbing her sister's arm and shaking it vigorously.
"Idiot, who would want to practice with you!" Tione rejected her foolish younger sister without hesitation. Then, she instantly swapped to an affectionately longing expression and looked at Finn. "If I'm going to practice with anyone, it's going to be with the Captain. Right, Captain~?"
Being stared at with that expression, Finn chuckled awkwardly. He quickly regained his composure and began analyzing, "It shouldn't be something they practiced beforehand. After all, their initial coordination looked quite stiff."
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