After the First Symphony converged, a monster-only lockdown snapped into place like iron nets over a black tide.

Under Lu Shi and Blade's plan, Lu Shi and Lu Jin would lure the Azureblood Octopus to the marked ground. Zhao Qingsnow would spring the trap like a steel jaw. Other First Symphony units would rescue survivors or reinforce the seal, layering it like frost upon frost.

"Hey, haven't seen you before. You new?"

Qianchun nodded, and the First Symphony girl beside her didn't pry; they swapped assignments and split like two currents parting around a stone.

Qianchun had tailed them up after the First Symphony Magic Maidens took the top floors. She wore the same colors, so they took her as one of their own, and a seed of a plan took root like a sprout in dark soil.

"From that girl's intel, the Order Keeper branch wants the Azureblood Octopus alive, maybe because no Magic Maiden is tailored for it. It's native here; fire and lightning hurt it most, like summer storms scouring tide pools..."

The Eye Orb hid behind Qianchun's hood, smothering its presence like a moth folding its wings in moonshadow.

"Hi, I'm First Symphony, here for support and rescue..."

Zhao Qingsnow gave Qianchun a cold once-over, and a tide of chill climbed her spine; her blood felt ready to crystallize like a winter stream.

They won't have spotted me, right? The thought fluttered like a trapped sparrow.

Qianchun swallowed hard and edged back a step, like stepping off thin ice. But Zhao Qingsnow withdrew her gaze soon after; just an ordinary girl, dusted with a trace of Abyssal Aura like soot on snow...

The Eye Orb and Qianchun both exhaled, relief like warm steam in winter air. Good thing she'd changed clothes at the mall, scrubbed off the blood, and, guided by the Eye Orb and her own Mana, bled most of the Abyssal Aura away, or she'd be a lantern in fog.

"Hold it!" The word cracked like a whip in cold air.

Qianchun had taken only a few steps when Zhao Qingsnow rose and came over, her shadow cutting across the floor like a blade of dusk.

"Have we met somewhere?" The question hung like a fishhook.

"No." The denial slid out like a shard of ice between teeth.

Forcing the word through clenched teeth, Qianchun felt the chill at her back recede like frost under a hesitant sun.

"Don't be late next time." The warning fell flat and heavy, like a slate on wet ground.

Zhao Qingsnow shook her head, maybe over-worried or drained of Mana, and let the suspicion go like mist off a river. She returned to her corner to gather Mana, a reservoir deepening before the rescue and capture began.

Qianchun's knees felt loose, as if she'd almost been frozen into a block of ice on a winter step.

The Eye Orb couldn't help grumbling; that old woman's eyes and memory were razor-sharp, like owls at midnight. They'd met once, before dawn's thinnest light, and she still almost picked Qianchun out.

Girl and orb slipped under the lockdown, where every member stood ready, and Lu Shi's voice crackled from the radio like sparks from dry pine.

"Everyone's here. Group One, raise the seal. Group Two, pull people out—save as many as you can. This may be your first time facing Cantata Two, but do not fear; we're your wall against the storm. Don't force it; you are the hope!"

Near the barrier, Zhao Qingsnow lifted her radio and confirmed readiness, like a banner raised before a charge. She was in a hurry, sea-swell under her ribs, yet she showed no panic and moved with Lu Shi like oars in sync.

"When the shot rings, and the Azureblood Octopus marked by my skill reaches the lock point, that's our opening, like a gate swinging wide!"

On the far tower, Lu Jin got the order. Lollipop between her teeth, she set the Rosefire Pistol's sight on the Azureblood Octopus, a slumped smear of muck in a shadowed ledge, and squeezed the trigger like snapping a twig.

Just past noon, the sun was a white blade, roasting the streets. It was the best time to fight the Azureblood Octopus, like salt scattered over a slug.

The bullet and its spit of flame traced a bright arc under the heat-hammered sun, the line swallowed by light like a spark in noon. Then, faster than thunder could shout, it burrowed into the octopus's brow.

Hit square on, the Azureblood Octopus screamed, a keening like torn metal in wind. It writhed its slightly shrunken tendrils—better than before, but still gaunt. It had clearly fed on many, recovery blooming too fast like mold on damp bread.

At the shot, Lu Shi rushed to its flank and poured Mana from her core, stamping a mark on the Azureblood Octopus, a brand visible to the people one level below like a lantern held aloft.

No one else was near. In the octopus's mind, the one who hurt it had to be this small, faintly savory human before it, a mindless moth to its flame. It would make her a dish on its night-black plate.

The scorched sun baked the city. Enraged, the Azureblood Octopus left the shade; its tentacles unfurled like whips and slammed the floor. Lu Shi vaulted in a single leap, then landed steady as a cat on a wall.

On another rooftop, Lu Jin loaded a fresh round. This one would bring the octopus "joy" beyond measure. The round carried a special paralytic, asleep until awakened by Mana—demanding control fine as threadwork. Only a Cantata Two could wield it clean.

Most Cantata Two Magic Maidens didn’t use guns; they had Mana to burn like oil lamps at noon. But Lu Jin's Magic Stone and inner well set her path—guns for life, bullets cut to her measure like a tailor's best silk.

The sharp round pierced the octopus’s hide, and the anesthetic burst inside, spreading like ink in water. At the same time, Lu Shi finished her task, though she looked a touch battered, like reeds after a gale.

The thing was fast. Without Lu Jin's cover and the pitiless sun, in her current state she'd never finish this—like chasing lightning with bare hands.

"Now!" The word rang like a bell struck with ice.

Cold surged. The floor crazed with cracks, and chill sprayed from the seams like breath from winter earth. A heartbeat later the brittle concrete gave, and the massive octopus dropped into the sealed pit like a whale into a net.

The capture teams of the First Symphony closed in. A crystalline veil snapped over the Azureblood Octopus in an instant, gleaming like hoarfrost, because everyone knew they faced a Cantata Two—terror given shape—and they dared not slip a single step.

Qianchun and the rescue crew reached the top floor and found a few soldiers by the water tank, like driftwood at a flood’s edge. But there was no sign of Lingchen Yao or the other Cantata Two Magic Maiden named Dawnlight.

"How? Did I drag them down...?" Her voice thinned like smoke.

Qianchun's voice shook as she stared at the blackened smear of blood on the floor, a burnt shadow on stone.

"No, you're top-tier for the First Symphony. It's the enemy... two Cantata Twos. We met them before, but that was luck. They didn't know us then, and this time the wind cuts different..."

Someone seemed to notice the Eye Orb's scent, so it tucked closer into Qianchun's collar like a pebble under moss. In the crowd, Qianchun stepped a touch forward, letting those behind her block Lu Shi's line of sight like reeds in a river.

"We've only got this path, no second road. He's not dead yet; save your grief. If I'm right, the Azureblood Octopus keeps both of them close. Pass that to the one below..."

Qianchun found that reasonable and relayed news of Dawnlight to Zhao Qingsnow. Zhao's brows drew tight like sutures. This custom seal was closed; nothing inside could leave, nothing outside could enter, like glass over a snow globe.

The Azureblood Octopus could live by absorbing Mana. In this barrier, almost barren of Mana and Abyssal Aura, its only source would be Dawnlight and Night Frost, like candles fed to a hungry dark.

"But before that..." The pause hung like frost mid-fall.

Cold coalesced into an icicle and pressed against Qianchun's lower belly, a winter fang at the soft earth.

She could feel the ice spear's chill like night water. If nothing unexpected happens—well, it just did. Somewhere along the way, she'd been found out, like a fox's print in fresh snow.

"What do you mean by this?" Her words shook like leaves.

Qianchun was driven into a corner, like a sparrow pinned between eaves and rain.

"Simple. Lu Shi said someone slipped into the building, yet our sweep found no one. Then you showed up, wrapped in Abyssal Aura I recognize. Think on it—same stink as that pesky black flame. And finally, your build matches the one from the second floor, like a shadow laid over its caster."

Exposed after all... Qianchun had thought the rescue was solid and the Azureblood Octopus caught clean. She meant to use the moment to pull Night Frost out, but the octopus clearly wouldn’t drop its meal, like a wolf on a throat.

"If I'm right, that Magic Maiden's caught like Dawnlight, struggling inside the seal now, correct?" The words rippled like rain on glass.

Qianchun nodded, unwilling as a tide held back by a dam.

"I must keep her alive, and you need to keep Dawnlight breathing, right? If so, we can work together." The offer opened like a door in stormlight.

"Cooperate? How? You're First Symphony. You can't break the seal from outside. All you can do is wait quietly for judgment to fall like winter hail."

Zhao Qingsnow wasn’t wrong; the First Symphony could do nothing here, like fishermen staring at ice.

"Heh. And how will you save Dawnlight? What’s your way?" The Eye Orb's voice clicked, mechanical as a wind-up bird.

The Eye Orb’s abrupt machine-voice cut in, and Zhao Qingsnow paused, like a hawk catching a glint; the girl hid more thorns than her petals showed.

"The way? Wait for the workers to haul the octopus away, call the branch, bring a heavyweight to rescue. That avoids a rampage and pulls Dawnlight out clean, like lifting a pearl from a shell."

Zhao Qingsnow’s plan rang hollow; even the Eye Orb shook like a bell in refusal.

"There's not enough time. How long can Dawnlight last after a war, with the Azureblood Octopus leeching her Mana? Guess how much she has left. When Mana runs dry, life frays. By the time your heavyweight arrives, the hourglass is dust."

"Unless you act now and shatter the seal... But can you bear the sin of releasing the Azureblood Octopus? You can't, and neither can Dawnlight. There are so many First Symphony girls and civilians inside and out. Will you wager everything—yours and hers—to save her?" The questions fell like stones into a well.

The Eye Orb’s words left Zhao Qingsnow silent. She knew the Order Keeper code like etchings in bone. Releasing an Abyss monster alone was a grave crime—loss of badge, years in a cell, and family marked like trees with scar-fire.

Besides, alone she couldn’t handle the Azureblood Octopus, not with only her shadow and a blade of frost.