"Impossible…"
Robin took a hesitant step forward, disbelief etched into every line of his face. His jaw fell open as he stared upward, eyes locked on the impossible sight above him.
The woman in the black dress… she hadn't dodged. She hadn't tried to escape. She hadn't even twitched.
She had willingly allowed herself to be swallowed whole by the overwhelming torrent of Ashification Energy—a force so destructive it could vaporize mountains and hollow out cities in the blink of an eye.
"She's not… even resisting?"
His voice trembled, spoken more to himself than to anyone else. A cold shiver crept down his spine.
Even Rinara, standing in stunned silence behind him, turned her gaze to the sky, eyes narrowing in alarm.
"...This isn't right," she muttered. "No one can just ignore A Law of the Destruction path like that…"
It was well-known that Laws of Destruction were not to be trifled with.
Take the soldiers of the Great Serpent Empire, for example. They could only harness the Law of Corrosion because they were infused with Durgar's bloodline. Even then, even among the elite like the Marshals, it required the burning of their very blood just to manifest a fraction of the law's power—granting them only a partial resistance to its effects.
Even Durgar, wielded the Law with the utmost caution.
And yet here this woman was… standing her ground against one of the most potent forms of destruction known to the multiverse.
Whooosh. Whooosh. Whooosh.
The energy continued surging skyward in a roaring blaze, so thick and dense it completely obscured the sky.
No one could see what was happening within the inferno.
But everyone felt the truth: the pressure hadn't lessened.
The planetary barrier ford by Juri still groaned under invisible weight, and the atmosphere still trembled.
And above all…
No one had heard a single cry of pain. Not even a grunt.
WOOOOOOOOSH—
Then, in one thunderous gust, the Ashification Energy burst free from the planet's upper atmosphere, streaming out into the void of space like a solar flare unleashed by an angry god.
It scattered into the abyss, targeting whatever unfortunate celestial bodies were in its path—turning them to ash with little more than a touch.
And when the inferno had finally cleared, when the sky were visible once more…
What had been hidden revealed itself.
She was still there.
The woman in the black dress.
Hovering in place.
Untouched.
Unhard.
Unfazed.
There wasn't even a burn mark on her clothes.
She simply stood there—suspended in the sky as if she had never even been threatened—her cold, burning gaze locked on Robin like a divine judge awaiting a verdict.
Robin's knees weakened.
His mouth moved, but no sound ca out.
He took another unconscious step back. His body was beginning to understand sothing his mind still refused to believe.
Even Rinara looked shaken now. "
"..." The woman's eyes narrowed, still burning with rage. But behind that fury was a flicker of sothing else… sothing more unsettling: surprise.
Because sothing unexpected had occurred.
The gravitational field Robin had unleashed earlier wasn't just defensive anymore. It was rising—slowly but surely pushing her away.
It was supporting Juri's do from beneath, enhancing it, reinforcing it.
She could feel it now.
Her body was gradually being pushed backward, away from the planet's surface.
The resistance was subtle at first—like a shift in wind—but rapidly growing stronger.
And that was bad.
Very bad.
Traveling across the cosmic void physically, especially between sectors, was not a simple feat.
Those in the Nexus State could use their energy to bend space, creating safe "slipstreams" through which they could travel.
But she hadn't done that.
She had shattered her way through space.
She had forced open a breach—violently—leaving behind no stable pathway to return through.
And the space she had traversed… was of a higher grade.
Not the fragile, pliable space that blanketed a young world like Jura.
This was old space. Tough space. Cosmic space that pushed back.
The massive torrent of Ashification Energy she had unleashed earlier had been no ordinary attack.
It had represented a huge portion of her remaining reserves.
Had she condensed that power into a single targeted strike, perhaps she could have obliterated a portion of the continent below. Perhaps she could have forced that rodent to flee using his Spatial Law.
And now, the energy remaining within her… was a pale shadow of what she had spent.
Barely enough to hold her ground.
"..."
Slowly, the woman in the black dress turned her head.
Her glowing eyes, sharp as daggers, scanned the void.
She was looking.
Searching.
For any nearby celestial object—a moon, a huge asteroid. Sothing large enough to rest upon. Sowhere she could fall back to, recover, and bathe in primordial chaos to restore herself.
If she could find such a place, a few weeks of stillness would be enough to bring her strength back.
And then…
She would return.
But if she chose to fight again now…
She might not survive long enough to make it out of this sector.
Her gaze drifted downward once more.
And settled, unblinking, upon Robin.
Would he truly remain where he stood, simply waiting for her return if she goes for weeks?
With an interloper of Rinara's caliber involved, she wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if that stubborn little rodent gathered his precious allies and fled into the Middle Belt.
There, he would likely find sanctuary—perhaps even throw in his lot with one of the most terrifying enemies she could think of:
A man who wielded the Law of Truth,
The one who forged this magnificent empire in a re three decades.
No… She couldn't allow that to happen.
This ends today.
He would either kneel… or perish.
"You're talented, rodent," she said coldly, her voice resonating with a dangerous kind of sincerity. "I will grant you that. I could've used a follower like you—strong-willed, cunning, relentless..."
She paused.
A hint of regret flickered in her eyes…
Then it died.
"…But what a waste," she whispered.
And without another word, she extended a single finger toward the earth below.
FROOOOOOO—
A dull gray radiance began to rise from her body—soft at first, like a dying ember. But within seconds, it intensified, flowing toward her fingertip.
The sa Ashification Energy she had unleashed earlier now condensed, tightened, until it took the shape of a spiked orb the size of a grown man's head.
It pulsed like a cursed heart, vibrating with dense destructive intent.
She was sacrificing almost a quarter of her remaining power—
An act that would drastically lower her chances of survival if she were forced to flee today.
But she did it anyway.
Her voice was calm. Barely audible.
More like a death sentence than a command.
"…Die."
SHRRROOOOOOMMMMM—
The gray sphere erupted downward, punching a perfect hole through the planet's protective do.
It didn't burn it.
It didn't tear it.
It simply… ignored it. As if it didn't exist at all.
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!!" Juri shrieked in pain.
Her spiritual construct was connected to that do—it was part of her. And now, it had been pierced.
The agony bled through her form, lighting her veins with fire.
But sohow, through sheer willpower, she regained control.
Clenching her fists and teeth at once, she patched the tear, re-weaving the barrier using everything she had left.
Then she scread down to Robin:
"ROBIN! If that sphere touches the ground, HALF of the Central Continent will be ERASED! DO SOTHING!!"
"...?!"
Robin froze.
His pupils shrank.
That woman…
She still had access to this level of power?
Had he misjudged her this badly?
Had all his calculations… all his gambits… ant nothing?
No ti.
He clenched both fists again, forcing down the creeping panic.
Then—
SHIIIIIIINGGG—
The massive blue gravity field—the sa one that had flung away the pillars of Ashification Energy earlier—compressed violently.
He gathered it inward, focusing it into a dense point, a razor-thin disc of pure repulsion, honed like the edge of a god's blade.
The gravitational force magnified tenfold.
"NOW!!!" Robin roared, lifting both arms high, directing the miniature gravity disc beneath the falling sphere, tilting it at a precise 45-degree angle.
He didn't plan to stop the sphere. He wasn't foolish.
That much energy could no longer be stopped—not by him, not by anyone present.
His only hope was to nudge it, divert it just enough to send it flying toward the sea, where its explosive force might be swallowed whole.
"..."
High above, the woman's brows drew together slightly. She understood his intentions instantly.
And indeed—she could feel it.
The orb's descent… slowed ever so slightly.
Its trajectory… began to tilt.
The push of gravity… was working.
But she didn't react. She didn't need to.
Because that's what he always did, didn't he?
Delaying the inevitable.
Holding back the collapse with threads and prayer.
But not this ti.
SHHRRROOOOOOMMMMMMMM—
The sphere of gray spikes continued its descent, now slower, yes, and tilted—but still falling.
It moved like a curse, cutting through the air, erasing everything in its path.
Not vaporizing. Not shattering.
Erasing.
Unmaking.
Clouds, wind, particles, even the subtle threads of Jura's spatial fabric—they all turned to ash on contact and scattered.
And for the first ti ever, those on the ground did not feel an earthquake in the earth…
They felt a quake in the sky.
The heavens trembled.
"AAAAHHHHHH!!" Robin howled.
He gave everything.
Every drop of power.
But it wasn't enough.
His plan might have succeeded—if the distance between him and that woman had been ten tis greater.
But at this range…
Even with the tilt… even with the slowdown…
The sphere's impact site was still directly above the Imperial Capital.
And if it landed—
There would be nothing left.
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