Amid the flickering light that represented Eternity, the withered, blackened vines rapidly crystallized and solidified. Before they could touch the two above, they shattered with a series of cracks into broad sheets of crystal that fell below.
Adele clung around Shade's neck and watched as a magnificent crystal forest emerged from the air around them. There was no need to fully manifest the Mystic Lock this time. Shade raised a hand and pointed upward.
"Mizzle - Crystal Light."
Crack!
The seemingly ordinary air above them was "frozen" amid the brilliant radiance of crystal, solidifying into a visible crystal wall. The power to "freeze time" sounded much like "Time Stop," but Shade had understood its true nature from the beginning.
Adele found it utterly unbelievable.
"What kind of power can actually freeze time?"
Flowing time had truly come to a complete halt beneath Shade's Thaumaturgy, as though someone had frozen the river of time solid.
But Shade had no time to answer Adele's question for the moment. Holding her close, he charged directly upward through the still-present simple crystal forest. With a rumble, he smashed through the crystal wall with his body and carried Adele out of the deep pit.
His consciousness descended into Chaos once more. When Shade came back to himself, he found that he was lying on his back amid windblown sand. Before him lay the dim yellow sky and the wreckage of the Floating City wrapped in storm winds.
He braced himself against the ground and sat up, looking around to find that he had returned to Saint Derain Square. He looked to either side but saw no trace of Adele. Yet he seemed still able to smell the perfume of the Great Witch who had been in his arms only a moment ago.
*No need to