“This barrier suppresses Abyssal Aura. It’s one of the ways Magic Maidens handle an Abyssal Rift. Smother the aura, and the rift won’t open easily. But Abyss Monsters run on the Magic Stone inside them—same as how Magic Maidens pivot on Mana.”

The Magic Stone before the Eye Orb belonged to the Azureblood Octopus in the lab below. The octopus had monstrous regeneration. The liquid in the glass bell was a secret brine that tamped down regrowth. Drain it, swap in a Magic Stone, and the Azureblood Octopus would stir again.

With the suppression still active and the weakness of fresh revival, its combat power should only edge above First Symphony, though its recovery would be high.

The Eye Orb hopped onto the lab bench. It worked the instruments, bled the green liquid from the glass bell, and cracked a thin gap in the cover.

Air kissed the Azureblood Octopus. Its withered heart twitched, then began to beat. A creature that had slept like stone, with no sign of life, relied on sheer vitality—and “lived” again.

A native mutant, the Azureblood Octopus was one-in-ten-thousand, warped by Abyssal Aura, with life-force like a tide. Cut it again and again, and in days you’d have a teeming brood. Its vitality alone could strangle most known Cantata Two Monsters.

“Eat. Go on—eat. All these Magic Stones are yours. I need your strength.”

Its tissues twined tight and locked onto a Cantata Two Magic Stone. The Abyssal Aura slicking the stone’s surface nourished the flesh. In a blink, the octopus filled the empty corner.

Soldiers heard the noise and rushed from the stairwell. The Eye Orb tucked itself into the bench’s shadow. In the Obsidian Stone chamber, the Azureblood Octopus spread along the walls. The half-ajar door swung wider. Fresh air flooded in. Warm life spilled into the room, and the octopus’s hunger woke.

The knotted mass lunged and wrapped the first man through the door. Mana bullets sparked and tore the flesh, but within moments it sealed whole.

Screams split the hollow villa. A Monster’s aura rolled out in all directions.

“Miss Dawnlight. Doctor Zhao. There’s a Magic Maiden inside at roughly Cantata Two. We need you both.”

The lead on this mission was the Magic Maiden of holy light—Dawnlight, who’d blocked Night Frost the other night. This time, she wasn’t alone. With her came a girl in a white coat—a chief physician, absurdly young for the title.

“HQ never runs out of errands. I was literally at work. Good thing I’m quick,” Dawnlight muttered, pinching her nose at the disinfectant reek clinging to Zhao Qingsnow.

Zhao Qingsnow grumbled back, shed her white coat that stank of disinfectant, and set it on a bench.

She lifted a pendant. Azure light wound around her. From the lining of her ice-blue dress, translucent ice spines sprouted and climbed her long arms. Two ice-element short spears formed in her palms, keen and narrow, as if they could pierce the world.

“Finish fast. Clock out fast. Hm… what’re we eating tonight?”

Dawnlight stood behind her. Holy light spread, bathing them both.

“Anything.”

Zhao Qingsnow vaulted high and dropped into the fray. Two frost-rimed short spears split Night Frost’s flames. The fire around Night Frost shied, instinctively, from the crushing cold.

Night Frost felt that marrow-deep chill and fixed on its source—a Magic Maiden she didn’t know. A spear kissed her forehead. She leaned back and caught the updraft, barely skimming past a lightning-quick strike.

She didn’t know the ice-blue girl, but she knew the one behind. They’d crossed paths days ago. That one was strong. With Black Flame, Night Frost could take her—if not for this icebound girl in the way.

“Self-styled Night Frost, a flame-wielding Magic Maiden. No registration. No records. Nothing on you—that’s count one. You tore open an Abyssal Rift and colluded with Abyss Monsters—that’s count two. You conspired with Aklatia—that’s count three.”

The ice spears melted. At the same moment, a perfect ring of water bloomed under Night Frost’s feet. She didn’t know what it was, but every instinct screamed to move. She grabbed Qianchun and leapt into the air.

Dawnlight tapped her Wand. Gold kindled in the dark like plucked stars. Behind her, a scatter of light orbs gathered, then streaked in from every side toward Night Frost.

“Bestow—”

Night Frost barely spoke when the water ring that had formed on the floor reappeared in midair—above her head and below her feet. Cold crashed down. From the rings, ice-vines thrust out and wound her throat and limbs.

They didn’t stop. The rings spread outward, slow and steady. It made her think of an ancient sentence—drawn and quartered.

Ice crystals needled her skin. Cold began to freeze her Blood. Numb limbs and neck were hauled wide by the pulling vines. The light-orbs pressed closer by the dozens.

“Let go! You won’t die from this height! I’ll toss you to the second floor!”

Qianchun released her. Night Frost hurled her upward with the Mana inside her, then narrowed her eyes and thought hard.

They’re not affected by the lockdown. They can draw ambient Mana clean. Their casting flows. So it’s only me… My strength comes from Mana, but also from Abyssal Aura. I’m an outlier. If I use pure Mana, I’m fine. Strip out the Abyssal Aura and move only what’s clean—maybe this gets easier. But I don’t know how… Guess I’ll brute-force it.

Pain ripped her limb joints. Flesh bound by ice-vines went numb. Golden holy light crashed into her over and over. In the distance, a golden spear lined up on her heart.

Suddenly, gunfire cracked and shrieks tore through the villa. The flimsy walls bulged outward. A long octopus tentacle slid through the door, hooked a soldier in the grass, and whipped him inside. A moment later came his scream, then the dull chew of meat.

“Wasn’t this area sealed? The Rift might crack, but a Cantata Two Monster shouldn’t be possible!”

Dawnlight’s hands tilted, and the golden light-spear shifted. In that instant, a white streak ripped the calm air. The ice-vines binding Night Frost snapped all at once.

Night Frost, Mana hoarded to the limit, chose that heartbeat to detonate everything inside her. Scalding fire poured from the sky and sheeted over the earth.

Dawnlight’s golden light-spear flew in the same breath and punched through Night Frost’s undefended body—one she no longer tried to defend.

White bone showed stark. Her heart clenched. Boiling Blood fell onto the flames, turned to clots of Black Flame, and drowned the Crimson fire.

The blaze spread. This uncanny Black Flame ignited whatever it touched. And everything nearby would burn well.

Night Frost’s body lost all strength and dropped. On the second floor, Qianchun, eyes bright with tears, gathered every current under her—but it barely softened the fall.

Too far. Beyond Qianchun’s Mana. She’d never lifted anything heavy; even a person was too much.

“Am I doomed to this ending? My mother. The superior who looked after me. And you… Give me a scrap of kindness, and you walk to your death. Magic Maiden? Call me a Sorceress instead.”

“What can a First Symphony even do?”

Guilt crushed Qianchun. She hated her useless hands. She loathed fate’s crooked scales.

Dawnlight and Zhao Qingsnow fought the Black Flame that refused to die. The Azureblood Octopus skulked around the fire, hunting by instinct.

Its tentacles unfurled, snatching Night Frost from the blaze, sweeping up Dawnlight, and hauling soldiers by the armful. The massive body broke the villa and surged toward the edge of the Twelfth District.

Qianchun looked at the sky-blue Magic Stone in her palm. She clenched her teeth and ran after it. Mana overdraft fogged her head. Her legs wobbled.

“Wait up. Take me.”

From nowhere, the Eye Orb hopped onto Qianchun’s shoulder. He pointed after the Azureblood Octopus. Now and then, bright gold flared in that direction.

“I stuck a tracker on that brat. This way!”

Qianchun and the Eye Orb bolted. The moment they crossed the seal, cold welled from the deep earth.

Zhao Qingsnow shook the fire off and scanned the scene. She raised her arm. Cold surged from the ground. Ice climbed the lockdown’s shell and sealed the fire within the barrier’s light.

“Ancient frost, descend upon the now. Let ages of ice shatter—Frostbite Fang! Freeze all things anew! Παγωμένος!”

Zhao Qingsnow poured almost all her Mana into unyielding ice. In that frozen hush, Black Flame still burned, quiet and wrong. She lay back and called the branch for support. Lu Jin and Lu Shi got the ping and sped for the villas.

She forced herself upright, but Dawnlight was nowhere. She remembered a tentacle taking her. That was the villa’s Cantata Two Monster.

She steadied, scraped together a little strength, and followed the trail of Abyssal Aura at a run.

“You can’t be the one to fall…”