"Grandfather!"
Seeing Elder Harald cast a spell despite being so badly injured, Claire was deeply worried. But she only cried out in her heart and remained in the air with Shade rather than descending.
After casting her spell, Elder Ursa supported Elder Harald. Emilia, lacking combat experience, actually turned to look down at the ground, but the Twelve-Ring Diviner was extremely experienced:
"Careful, the battle isn't over yet!"
Before the Diviner's words had even faded, the ice layer on the Blood Sea's surface exploded into icy powder. The next moment, towering waves of Blood Water surged before them again.
But at that very moment, scorching light appeared at their side. Then an enormous orange sphere of light, blazing like the Sun, was hurled toward them.
"Thaumaturgy—Eternal Blazing Sun!"
The Sun's light evaporated the Blood Water. After colliding head-on with the Blood Sea, it melted a huge hole directly into its center. Then that "Sun" exploded within the Blood Sea, and even Ellie and Little Liana were tossed about in the air by the shockwave.
But once that seemingly endless light and heat faded, the sound of gurgling water emerged again.
The Blood Sea had indeed been evaporated, but it also exposed the secret hidden within it. Weeper of Blood Hermons stood atop an enormous skull. That skull was not the skull of a giant, but was pieced together from thousands of human skulls.
Claire's full-force strike had evaporated the Blood Sea but failed to damage that skull. Blood Water was now flowing out once more from its pitch-black eye sockets and mouth, while the Blood Water scattered across the Snow Mountain was also gathering back here.
The Thirteenth Ring of Fate behind the long-unseen Weeper of Blood slowly rotated, with bloody light clinging to it—the sign of casting at full