Suddenly, a deafening roar split the air.
"AHHHHHHHHH!"
Albedo's shout shook the arena to its foundations. Each shockwave surged outward, smashing the rocky floor below. Dust, rubble, and shards of broken stone lifted into the air, swirling violently like a miniature storm, dancing in chaotic eddies around them. The very walls of the arena trembled with each pulse of his power, tiny fissures cracking along the columns as if they might collapse at any mont.
Dila's hands shot up, pressing against her ears, eyes squeezed shut against the roar and the stinging dust. Her knees trembled slightly as the force pressed against her chest, yet she stayed rooted to the ground, gripping her staff as tightly as she could. Beside her, Fran mirrored the gesture, shivering as the vibrations rattled her entire body. Her tail twitched nervously, signaling every ounce of her unease.
From a distant vantage point, Zeon's silhouette appeared, calm and amused. His lips curled into a smirk as he watched the chaos unfold.
"Hmmmm… I got to go."
With barely a sound, he vanished into the shadows, leaving only the echo of his faint chuckle behind. The wind swept the dust in his wake, as if even the environnt acknowledged his sudden departure.
Dila peeked through her fingers, eyes glowing faintly blue in the dust-lit air, and whispered to herself,
"This… this is insane. He's destroying everything…"
Fran shivered beside her, clutching her sister's sleeve,
"We… we're not ready for this… not even close…" she widened her eyes looking at above.
The arena, once imposing with its towering walls, now looked fragile under the relentless fury of Albedo. Every piece of shattered stone and whirling dust reflected the raw, overwhelming power of the father Dila still struggled to comprehend.
Dila's eyes widened, her jaw slightly dropping as she whispered in disbelief,
"What… in the world…?"
Her staff still projected the holographic video image above the ground, shimring faintly in the dust-filled air. She could see every detail of the fight, frozen in her mind like a nightmare made real.
A sudden, twisted CRUNCH tore through the air, echoing across the arena like a death knell. The elental golem's right arm—the one that had been gripping Albedo's hand—was obliterated in an instant. Sparks of red light flew off from the severed limb, crackling as if it had been sheared by the edge of so impossibly sharp tal blade. The arm dangled in the air for a brief mont before collapsing to the ground, leaving the golem montarily staggering backward, still levitating, but thrown off balance.
Albedo hovered above, effortlessly controlling his position despite the chaos. A low, nacing laugh escaped him, echoing like thunder across the arena below:
"Ehh… heheheheh… look at that arm… looking for this?"
He waved his hand mockingly, eyes gleaming eerie blue as if the destruction itself thrilled him. His aura swirled with faint dark light, cutting through the dust and rubble of the arena, highlighting the jagged cracks and shattered stones below. Every movent was deliberate, precise, and terrifyingly calm.
Dila's hands tightened around her staff, her knuckles whitening. Her heart thumped in her chest, a mix of fear and fury flooding through her. Fran, crouched nearby, could only gasp, her tail twitching nervously. The hologram flickered slightly as the residual dust from the arena still swirled upward, yet the image of the golem's severed arm burned into Dila's mind.
Dila's internal thoughts raced, "I can't let him… I have to do sothing, or it's over… my golem… my future and my everything…"
The arena seed alive with tension, the air thick with the scent of ozone and scorched stone. Albedo's laughter cut through it like a blade, the sound both playful and deadly.
As Albedo hovered effortlessly above the arena sky, dust and debris swirling lazily around him, the remnants of shattered pillars and scorched stone littering the ground. His piercing blue eyes glimred with amusent as he leaned slightly, dragging the tip of his right finger along the corner of his lips in a slow, almost teasing gesture.
"Actually… I'm tired of you," he said, voice low and deliberate, echoing against the empty stone walls. "Since you're just a re toy… how did you deal that much damage to ?"
The faint trace of a smirk curved his lips as he added,
"I'll applaud you for that… but it looks like your buff is nearly ended."
Dila's gaze remained fixed on the elental golem. The slick red obsidian glow that had surged along its fractured body was dimming gradually, fading to a dull black as if the life force of the enhancent was ebbing away. Sparks still flickered from the severed arm it raised, but even that flickered weaker with each passing second.
The golem's robotic voice sounded, calm but tinged with frustration:
"Hmmm… you're too desperate to win, do you?"
Dila's heart tightened in her chest. The sight of her elental golem—the companion she had poured her mana, skill, potions and hope into—struggling under Albedo's gaze felt like a physical blow. The wind whipped around the arena as Albedo's aura seed to draw the very light from the air, the shadows stretching long and sharp across the broken stone floor.
Fran crouched slightly behind Dila, ears twitching, eyes wide as she stared at the scene, feeling the oppressive weight of Albedo's presence.
In that mont, everything seed to slow. The shattered pillars, the lingering smoke, the faintly glowing embers of the arena floor… all of it painted a battlefield that was almost silent, except for the faint hum of residual energy and the golem's chanical breathing.
Dila's grip on her staff tightened. Her mind raced, weighing every second. If the buff fades completely… the golem could collapse entirely. But I can't let that happen… I must—
The tension in the air coiled like a spring, every fiber of the arena screaming that the next monts would decide everything.
Suddenly, Albedo's smirk softened just slightly, his piercing blue eyes fixed on the elental golem, but his voice carried a rare, almost vulnerable weight.
"What do you expect?" he said quietly, almost to himself. "I wanted a better life for my daughter… I've longed to retrieve you, to give you a future, a life worthy of being a queen."
The arena seed to quiet in that mont, the wind dying down, the dust suspended midair as though holding its breath. Dila's face, frad in the soft blue glow of her staff's hologram projection, shook imperceptibly. Her lips pressed together, her jaw tight, as conflicting emotions warred inside her.
Her eyes darted upward to the far sky, beyond the shattered pillars and smoke-streaked horizon, where Albedo floated above the arena. Her chest heaved, and with every fiber of her being, she shouted, her voice cutting through the emptiness of the arena:
"I won't beco a queen! I want to be free!"
The words carried with them a mixture of defiance, pain, and raw determination. They echoed off the stone walls, bouncing across the debris-strewn floor, vibrating even the hovering dust particles.
Albedo's smirk faltered. His usual composure cracked ever so slightly, replaced with a profound sadness, a father's fear of letting go. His eyes glowed faintly, almost mournful, as he responded softly but firmly:
"But… you created a deal. And i accepted it. I rember it well… you said if I won, I could keep you here. If I lost… you could go on your own."
He lowered his gaze, hands slightly clenched, as though trying to restrain the ache in his chest. The black aura around him shimred faintly, reflecting the mix of authority, regret, and the love he had long buried beneath years of kingly duty.
Dila's face contorted with emotion. Anger, sorrow, and determination collided within her. Her staff glimred, projecting her hologram brighter as if her own resolve burned in the light. She gritted her teeth, focusing not on the pain of his father past but on the freedom she desperately sought.
The arena seed to tremble slightly in that suspended mont, both from the residual energy of the golems and the emotional storm raging between father and daughter. Ti itself felt stretched, the battlefield holding them in a fragile, tense silence where a single word could decide everything.
Suddenly....
Without any warning, the elental golem's robotic voice emitted a cold, resolute "Now…", and its right arm swung with a force that seed to shatter the air itself. Ti seed to slow for a heartbeat as the punch connected with Albedo's body, the impact resonating like a thunderclap.
Albedo's figure rocketed across the horizon, the sheer velocity flinging him far beyond the arena, toward the jagged mountain peaks in the distance. Dust and shattered stone erupted in waves from the impact, the mountains groaning under the sheer force as if nature itself recoiled. The arena trembled violently, pebbles and debris tumbling down the fractured stone walls as Dila and Fran clutched the ground, shielding their eyes from the shockwave.
The golem's eyes glowed a piercing blue, the last vestiges of its potion-enhanced power flickering like fading stars. Smoke curled from its right fist, a blackened haze rising from the intense energy it had just expelled. Its slick obsidian-like body, once glowing red from the red potion boost, now cracked and splintered in fine lines along its limbs, a testant to the strain it had endured to land that one devastating strike.
Dila's chest heaved, her hands gripping her staff tighter. She watched as her creation, her faithful guardian, gave its all. Despite the fractures running across its body, it remained standing on the sky, unwavering. A mix of awe and guilt swelled inside her—her golem had pushed beyond its limits to protect her, yet she could see the toll etched across its form.
Fran's voice quivered as she whispered to herself, almost inaudible above the ringing in her ears:
"It… it actually did it… it punched him… my sister's golem… it's insanely powerful…"
The red aura had vanished, replaced now by faint sparks along the cracks in the golem's armor, like embers in a dying fire. Its stance wavered slightly, one foot shifting to maintain balance on the air, but its determination radiated as strongly as ever.
Dila's lips parted slightly, a whisper of resolve leaving her:
"Hold on… just a little longer… you've done enough…"
The air itself seed charged, still humming with the residual energy of the punch. Albedo, far in the distance, had crashed into the mountain with a deafening boom, earth and stone cascading down the cliffs, yet even there, a faint black glow shimred around him, hinting at his indomitable resilience.
The battlefield fell into a tense silence, broken only by the faint creak of the golem's cracked joints and the wind whistling through the shattered arena. Ti had slowed, and in that suspended mont, the impossible fight between father and daughter's champion hung in precarious balance.
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