Following Anne's ringing declaration, the enormous beam emitted by the floating city of the Ghost Empire slammed into the ground again, engulfing the entire mountain region containing the mausoleum.
Amid the dazzling light, William I's furious expression instead vanished completely. The silver rapier at his waist appeared in his hand as though teleporting. With its tip pointing upward, he slashed straight down.
Following his movement, the light of order capable of destroying everything was split in two by the same power of order. It brushed past the exposed secret mausoleum and struck the nearby hills, throwing up clouds of dust.
Standing at the edge of the floating city and looking down, Anne remained expressionless. She extended her right hand, and another beam began gathering beneath the enormous island in the sky.
This time, she used the power of a Duke of Entropy to distort the beam's trajectory, making it even more unpredictable and impossible to block.
This head-on clash of overwhelming offensive and defensive power was precisely what she had wanted. William I was forced entirely onto the defensive, without any opportunity to attack the Ghost Empire. The floating city could withstand multiple attacks, while the mausoleum below would immediately suffer damage, or even collapse entirely, if a single beam he failed to intercept reached it.
Boom—
The fourth golden beam shot out, but as it approached the fully prepared William I, it suddenly changed direction, following a bizarre trajectory around the Founder and slamming toward the mausoleum behind him.
Yet just before it struck, the attack, brimming with the power of order and capable of forcing most angels to retreat, vanished like an illusion.
In midair, William I lowered his other hand, the one not holding his rapier.
At the critical moment, he had used Exile to banish the