Boom.

While Aya and Tiran were still playing on a half-cut track, a sudden vibration came from the silent ruins at the bottom of the well.

"Tsk, this old pervert's vitality is even stronger than cockroaches." Aya squinted her eyes and stared at the trembling ruins.

"Normal, isn't there a saying that says being perverted is the shortcut to success? The more perverted, the stronger, it seems like it isn't wrong." Tiran rubbed his chin and said seriously.

"...I think I suddenly understand why you are so strong."

"Oh?"

"Nevermind." Aya shrunk her neck. "Let's just get rid of him quickly."

On this point, the opinions of master and servant were in agreement. After Aya used some of her restored magic power to give Tiran two buffs, a massive frost Chi was released into the air, condensing into several meters long ice spears as if they were free.

One shot could freeze everything, with the additional powerful impact force, they didn't believe he wouldn't die.

But at this moment, a dazzling beam of light broke through the ruins below and hit the ice spear before it fell, causing the gun made of dark blue ice to disintegrate and melt in the light.

Immediately after, a seven-meter-tall figure broke through the ruins that were restraining him with an astonishing force, and at an almost inconceivable speed, he rushed towards the two people on the broken tracks.

"So fierce? Is this guy on drugs or something?" Tiran was slightly surprised, he spread his ice wings and flew up, continuously launching freezing missiles.

None of the missiles directly hit the body of the magical puppet, but instead froze into a large ice shell about half a meter away from its surface on the invisible magic barrier.

It was indeed the legendary Chi, even being able to freeze something intangible like a magic barrier, but... it wasn't enough.

Hermes manipulated the magical puppet, swinging his sword horizontally, shattering the frozen magic barrier along with the ice shell, and the magic pistol, which had cooled down, began to shoot again.

When Tiran appeared, he already realized that it was impossible to defeat everyone and take down the core. He didn't know Aya, but he had heard of the famous Silver War Maiden.

Despite his heavy god machine being an almost completed semi-finished product, it fell a little short. Defeating the Silver War Maiden was almost impossible, not to mention having Aya, who had almost killed him, by her side.

So, he would gamble on the correct interpretation of the detail that flashed through his mind when he was pinned under the ruins.

Mechanical transcendency... his long-cherished dream was within reach. Even if it's the Silver War Maiden or even God Himself, he would show them! Hermes roared as the clouds parted and the heavy cannon slid onto his shoulder, shooting straight ahead.

In that instant of firing the heavy cannon, Aya finally realized that something was wrong.

Although this guy fired a barrage, most of it was meaningless scatter shots, without any intention of causing effective damage. What he wanted was just to distract them and cover up the real important strike.

"The target is... Chirp?!" Aya suddenly turned around and jumped up in place, extracting the remaining magic power to its fullest, releasing the wind soaring technique to accelerate toward the point of attack.

The artillery strike hit the location slightly below where she had been hiding, completely destroying the original stand, causing the remaining half of the platform to collapse with a groaning sound under the weight.

Falling along with it was Chirp, who was still quiet and asleep.

"Exactly!" Hermes' face showed a crazed expression of joy. His guess was correct. When Aya jumped out earlier, she could have avoided his attack, but she took the hit because the rear couldn't tolerate being destroyed by him.

The armor plate on the chest of the magical armor cracked open, revealing the dimly glowing magic core. Four silver-gray steel cables accurately predicted the landing point and stabbed straight towards the girl falling asleep in her dream.

"Uh-oh...it's too late!" Fear climbed up Aya's heart as she realized her speed wasn't enough to catch the girl before she fell.

Tiran also reacted in an instant upon seeing Chirp, and noticed the steel cables shot out by the metallic giant below.

Should they prioritize killing Hermes or...? Do they even need to think about it?! They could deal with that old dog later, but if anything happened to Chirp, it would be irreparable.

In a situation where Aya couldn't catch up, it was unrealistic for her, who was even further away, to rely solely on speed to catch up. The only way was...

Aya suddenly noticed that the surroundings seemed to have been forcibly put in slow motion. The collapsing iron frames from the bombardment, as well as the falling debris, were moving at a much slower speed... Was time being slowed down?

This wasn't just ordinary magic; it was a rule!

"What are you waiting for? Hurry up!" Tiran's urgent voice echoed in the contract, revealing not only anxiety but also undeniable weakness.

Clearly, forcefully slowing down the passage of time was quite difficult for Tiran, a quasi-Holy Rank.

Gritting her teeth, Aya reached out to catch Chirp.

If time was indeed being slowed down, there was hope!

Just as she was about to touch Chirp, another anomaly occurred.

Aya realized that her own movements had also slowed down. It wasn't a traditional slowing down of speed, but... her own time was also being dragged.

"Tiran?! What are you doing?" Aya asked in shock and anger, ignoring even the fear of the princess.

"It's not me..." Tiran's voice quickly weakened.

Not him? Besides Tiran, the only ones able to use Holy Rank powers...

Before Aya could get the answer, four silver-gray steel cables grazed past her body, even though they were slowed down by Tiran's time rule, they were still much faster than her.

The only ones who could resist the rules of Holy Rank were Holy Rank beings.

Recalling the battle with Angel, Aya's heart sank like it was being submerged in ice.

Hermes, who should have been the farthest from Chirp, suddenly unleashed the power of Holy Rank. Although the magical core in the puppet's chest had completely dissipated, the rules of time were still clearly slowed down.

That was... his own law.

Yeah, they should have thought of this earlier. Even without Tiran, Aya was able to manipulate spatial rules with ancient dragon language magic at a level below Holy Rank. Why couldn't Hermes momentarily control the laws of time with some means?

There was no need to suppress Tiran. They just needed to gain a split second advantage to surpass Aya.

In front of Aya, the tips of the four cables penetrated Chirp's body like butter without any resistance. Blood splattered out, tracing a graceful arc in the extended time, and dripped onto Aya's cheek.

So close...she was only a hair's breadth away!

The next moment, time returned to its normal flow.

Tiran weakly knelt on a rail, using the blade of his sword to support himself, while Aya, propelled by the previous Wind Walk, fell into the gap created by the bombardment.

"... "

In the rough metal cut, Aya trembles as she lifts her right hand. The five slender fingers tightly grasp a broken piece of fabric.

In the end, she still couldn't hold on. It was a narrow miss, the difference between success and failure by a hair's breadth.

The car flipping over was... completely unexpected.