"Wind, gather here—Strike Air (King of Winds' Hammer)!"
At the same time, accompanied by a cold shout, the airflow around the bamboo grove frantically converged toward the private dojo, then compressed sharply before sweeping and blasting outward in all directions.
"Bang bang bang bang!"
In an instant, dozens of mud monsters that had poured into the house were sent flying like cannonballs, turning into battered puddles of sludge.
That voice was...!
Outside the bamboo grove, Samael's gaze sharpened upon hearing that familiar voice.
"Boom!"
Just as the Ancient Serpent was briefly distracted, a bucket-thick bolt of purple-red lightning twisted down from the clear sky, piercing straight through the roof and striking inside.
"Urgh...!"
Amid flying wood splinters, the battered house collapsed with a crash. Accompanied by a muffled groan and the shrill scraping of metal armor plates, a slender figure clad in damaged black knight armor knelt on one knee, bent over protectively above a silver-haired, red-eyed beauty.
At the same time, the heavily injured Black Knight forcibly activated her mana. The red-black Aether Light Flow gathering around her blasted away the falling beams and lumber, and amid the air's trembling hum, she cradled her Master and sprang upward, trying to escape the danger zone.
However, the instant the knight rose into the air, the sky changed color. Dense arcs of lightning endlessly writhed and flashed, staining heaven and earth in a sinister, terrifying hue.
"Watch out behind you!"
The silver-haired beauty in the knight's arms saw the lightning arc racing toward them and instinctively cried out in alarm.
But it was already too late. Amid a piercing whistle, a beam of purple-red lightning arrived in an instant.
"Boom!"
With a dull explosion, the King of Knights, caught off guard in midair and only able to hastily raise her sword,