Dawn and Mirror's breakthroughs did not affect the trials in the other three spaces.
In the training ground where Tiga Lingyu and Song Ling stood, the atmosphere had grown icy.
The translucent biological model reassembled and shattered before them, then shattered and reassembled again, as if silently mocking their helplessness.
"Again!"
Stubborn defiance rang in Tiga Lingyu's voice.
She gathered her divine power once more, trying to shape it into an invisible probe that would touch the designated red heart.
The result came as no surprise.
The domineering force of Absolute Stillness slipped out of control again, dragging the entire model and the space around it into a standstill.
Unable to withstand the vast difference between the rules inside and outside it, the model shattered once more.
Fine beads of sweat covered Tiga Lingyu's forehead.
Song Ling, beside her, was faring no better.
The wisp of End Frost at her fingertip was denser than before, and more dangerous.
She could now barely compress that power of Erasure to the thickness of a hair.
But when she used that "thread" to cut the designated Nerve Cable, the surrounding tissue was still annihilated along with it.
Her power was too clean.
So clean it left no room for exceptions. It made no distinction between target and bystander. Anything it touched returned to the Void.
"We've both been wrong," Song Ling said suddenly. She dispersed the black flame at her fingertip and looked at Tiga Lingyu, who had hit the same bottleneck.
"Our powers aren't tools."
Tiga Lingyu looked at her, breathing hard, and waited for her to continue.
"Your Absolute Stillness isn't a freezer for 'freezing' things. My End Frost isn't a knife for 'cutting' them, either." Song Ling spoke slowly, as if sorting through her thoughts. "They're rules. Commands."
Tiga Lingyu