"Thud—"
As the duel between Viviana and Royce reached its fever pitch, on the other side, Selena's battle—wielding Zilliax against the Knight-God—was also proceeding in full swing.
Dathrohan had thought he could wash away his past disgrace. After all, without the pilot Faust, and having received a gift from the lady that granted him resistance to Snow White's heart-charming authority, he believed he was finally without weakness.
However, the moment his initial spear throw was deflected, Dathrohan felt something was off.
With an ominous premonition, he engaged Zilliax in combat.
Then, he experienced the true meaning of absolute frustration.
This ultimate weapon of the Golden Age, formed from seven titans combined, was a nightmare. Although the tower-builders had been reluctant, claiming such a modification went against their original intent and lacked a soul, they certainly didn't hold back once the fighting started.
It was operating at full capacity.
The poisonous module ensured every strike carried corrosive toxins capable of dissolving both flesh and metal. Even the manifestations of the Knight-God Stance struggled to withstand them.
The windfury module allowed the titan to rapidly cancel its recovery frames, unleashing relentless combos.
The rush module lightened the heavy Zilliax to an unbelievable degree. Even without a pilot, its own computational hub allowed it to maintain a speed superior to the Knight-God.
Even when Dathrohan used his exquisite skill to pierce Zilliax's shell at the cost of taking a hit himself, the latter used the reborn module to repair itself in the blink of an eye.
He was even held firmly in place by gravitational forces due to the taunt module, making it impossible to even temporarily disengage from the fight.
Even with the refined temperament of a grail knight, facing this absolute garbage, he couldn't help but curse inwardly.
Damn it all, what kind of modifications did this profane creation undergo? How is it completely different?
Is this even an alchemical creation a human could design?!
He desperately wanted to release his limiters and use his full strength to shatter Zilliax's defense in one go.
But he didn't dare. A melodious flute sound continued to drift out from within the titan mecha.
The princess of Midwinter was still inside. If he were accidentally charmed, it would be a catastrophe.
Dathrohan was absolutely unwilling to once again experience the horror of his beloved Lady of the Lake being shaken and replaced.
He could only wait for Royce to make a breakthrough. As much as it galled him, he had to rely on his rival and colleague.
"Boom—"
Just as Dathrohan thought this, a massive explosion rang out, accompanied by a brilliant light that nearly illuminated the dark night.
Whether it was the grail knights, Snow White, or the others on different battlefields, everyone couldn't help but turn their gaze toward the Silver-frost Forest.
There, a young knight with pale gold hair darted across the tops of the silver frost trees. she raised her rapier, which was ignited and wrapped in luminous flame, leaped high into the air, and then...
Smashed it down!
The erupting torrent was less a sword light and more a light-cannon composed of raging flames and thunder.
The mana torrent, resembling a light-cannon, looked like a stream formed from the melting of countless pieces of gold, true silver, and colorful gems, radiating extreme heat and power.
It plowed through the ground, each torrent exploding across a wide area before finally converging into a single, upward-spiraling pillar of light that lingered for a long time before dissipating.
However, such an assault was not limited to a single strike.
"Bang— Bang—"
Then came the second strike, the third...
The sword strikes of luminous flame roared like heavy artillery. If observed from high above, one would see the Silver-frost Forest looking as if it had been wiped by an eraser, leaving behind only deep gray scorch marks.
"That is... the Hammer of the Solar Flare..."
Dathrohan stood dazed on the spot, first murmuring the name before exclaiming excitedly.
"How is that possible?! How can she use the Hammer of the Solar Flare?! Setting aside the rank requirements, where did she get so many occult relics?!"
It was no wonder the grail knight was so agitated. The technique Viviana was using was the world-renowned Hammer of the Solar Flare.
Only those on the path of the hero who specialized in combat, killing, and conquest could learn it upon reaching the rank of 【hero】. In terms of raw power, it ranked among the very best of all techniques.
But it came with a price. Every activation of the Hammer of the Solar Flare required the total exhaustion of a treasure-grade mystery relic, turning it into dust.
Because of this, almost no one ever used the Hammer of the Solar Flare. Even if it was absolutely necessary, it was usually a top-tier powerhouse using a treasure they had no use for to clear out the center of a monster tide.
But what was Dathrohan seeing now?
Viviana was using the Hammer of the Solar Flare with such reckless abandon, not even caring if she hit Royce. She was just throwing them out!
How many mines does your family own to squander resources like this? Even the Lady of the Lake's reserves wouldn't allow for such extravagance!
"Ha, she's actually doing it."
The beautiful girl with long black hair used Zilliax's surveillance system to see Viviana's actions and smiled faintly.
"It seems I can't fall too far behind. Grail knight, I'm curious—is your mana reserve still sufficient?"
Facing the witches who were gradually dropping their pretenses, the grail knights were left utterly speechless. They no longer harbored thoughts of victory, exhausted from merely defending, and turned instead to desperately stalling for time.
However, they perhaps forgot that the ones who truly needed to stall for time were Snow White's side.
As the minutes passed, the heavy artillery position built by the frost-walkers was completed in the early hours of the morning. All that remained was to fire it and use it to blast open the fortress's spell barrier.
Then, Selena could use Divine Countenance to drive straight in and violently crush the hearts of the defenders.
At dawn, just before Viviana's one night's dream was about to dissipate, she finally exhausted the mana of Royce, the grail knight. Fairy's Blessing could no longer bring him healing.
Royce was finally sent flying by the aftershock of the last Hammer of the Solar Flare, falling to the ground unable to rise again.
"Damn it!!"
Dathrohan erupted in powerless rage at the sight. Zilliax seized this opening, piercing the Knight-God with a spear and pinning it against the fortress.
"Thud—"
The Knight-God tried to resist, but Dathrohan didn't even have the mana left to maintain the Knight-God Stance. He immediately deactivated the form and fell to the ground.
With this, both grail knights had been defeated, and the remaining legions were naturally unable to stop Zilliax's advance.
"Wait! Princess, please stop!"
At that moment, the gates of the pass fortress suddenly swung open. The prime minister of Midwinter led a large group of military officials to stand before the titan mecha.
This defenseless posture caused Snow White to cross her arms and say, "What is it? Arcturus, do you intend to surrender to us by opening the gates now?"
The prime minister with dark green hair said seriously, "Princess, we need a temporary ceasefire."
Selena laughed at his words. "A ceasefire? Nonsense! What kind of insult to my intelligence is this?"
"This is no joke, nor is it a pathetic struggle, Princess."
Arcturus shook his head and gritted his teeth.
"I have just received word from the royal capital. We are facing a dragon disaster. The situation is dire!"
"What?"
Selena never expected to hear the term "dragon disaster" from Arcturus's mouth. This was a specific term used to describe the phenomenon of a dragon's rampage.
The prime minister of Midwinter took a deep breath and said, "There is no need for us to continue fighting. The curse... has manifested."
"The dragon's eye... has appeared in the royal capital. That magic mirror has been activated."
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