Gray clapped his hands over his ears, feeling as if his eardrums were about to burst.
"Don't just stand there! Hurry and save them!"
Gildarts shouted.
He flashed into motion and leaped to the cave ceiling, his hands moving like lightning as he quickly plucked down the cocoons hanging there.
Gray snapped out of it too. Enduring the ringing in his ears, he rushed over to help.
"Ice-Make: Sword!"
An ice sword formed in Gray's hand. Carefully, he sliced open one of the cocoons.
Inside was an unconscious middle-aged woman. Her face was pale, but her chest was still rising and falling faintly.
"She's alive!"
Gray's heart leaped with joy, and his hands moved even faster.
Meanwhile, the battle on the other side had reached its height.
Lu Chongwei was fighting all three beasts alone, yet he was holding his own with ease.
"Get lost!"
Lu Chongwei roared.
He dodged a Gidoken's lunge, then grabbed it by the base of its wing. Putting his back into it, he swung the enormous beast up into the air.
"Whoosh—"
A huge black shadow flew over Gray's head.
Gray looked up and saw Lu Chongwei hurling the adult Gidoken toward the cave entrance as casually as if he were throwing away trash.
Then—
Lu Chongwei did the same again.
Using Flash Step to move at blinding speed, he darted around the cramped space, seized his openings, and threw the other adult Gidoken and the young one out of the cave in turn.
"I can't cut loose in here. Get your asses outside!"
Lu Chongwei snorted, gripped his sword, and strode out after them.
Outside the cave—
The moonlight was cold and clear.
The three Gidoken crashed into a pile of rocks. They were battered, but their tough hides had kept them from taking any fatal injuries.
When they saw Lu Chongwei emerge, the murderous glint in their eyes only grew fiercer.
They seemed to realize how difficult this human was to handle and decided to join forces.
Lu Chongwei stood in the open space, looking up at the three beasts circling overhead. He slowly exhaled.
"There are ordinary people inside. I was worried about hurting them, so I've had to hold back."
Lu Chongwei stroked the hilt of the sword in his hand, his gaze gradually growing feverish.
"Now there's plenty of room."
"Just the right time to test this sword's true power on you."
High above—
The three Gidoken formed a triangular formation.
They opened their mouths at the same time, and strange purple magic gathered furiously within them.
Humm—
The air began to vibrate.
Three enormous energy balls merged in the sky, forming a terrifying sphere several meters across that radiated an aura of destruction.
By now, Gildarts and Gray had finished rescuing the people and rushed out of the cave.
Seeing what was happening, Gray's face changed dramatically.
"Bad news! That's a highly compressed magic cannon! Lu Chongwei, get out of the way!"
Without a moment's hesitation, Gray slammed both hands against the ground.
"Ice-Make: Lancer!"
Countless enormous ice lances burst from the ground and shot toward the energy sphere like a forest of spears, trying to intercept it.
But—
"Crack!"
The ice lances shattered like glass the instant they touched the energy sphere, turning into a storm of icy shards.
The sphere continued on unabated, hurtling straight toward Lu Chongwei.
"Get out of there!!!"
Gray screamed in despair.
No human body could withstand an attack of that magnitude!
But Lu Chongwei didn't move.
He stood where he was, watching the energy sphere rush toward him. A look of disdain even crept across his lips.
"Dodge? Why would I dodge?"
Lu Chongwei slowly raised the long blade in his hand, its tip pointing straight at the heavens.
Just as the energy sphere was about to swallow him—
A strange flame burst out of him without warning.
It wasn't an ordinary fire.
It was the hellfire of damnation, a red lotus flame that burned everything to ashes!
"Boom!"
The energy sphere slammed into Lu Chongwei, but the expected explosion never came.
Instead, like a snowball tossed into a furnace, it was instantly engulfed by the terrifying flames, consumed, and burned away!
Not a trace remained!
"What?!"
Gray's eyes widened in shock.
The flames receded.
Lu Chongwei was still standing in the same spot, completely unharmed.
Now, red flames enveloped his entire body, and even the Zanpakuto in his hand seemed to have turned into flowing lava.
His hair whipped wildly in the heat, and his gaze was resolute and cold. He looked like a god born from fire.
A terrifying wave of heat swept across the area in an instant.
The air began to warp. The rocks underfoot reddened and softened.
Even Gildarts, standing far away, felt his mouth go dry. A searing pain prickled across his skin.
"This temperature..."
Gildarts' pupils contracted sharply, and for the first time, horror showed on his face.
"That kid's magic... Could it really be this terrifying?!"
High above—
The three Gidoken felt a fear unlike anything they had ever known.
It was the instinctive terror a creature felt in the presence of its natural enemy.
They shrieked and tried to turn and flee, to get away from the monster radiating an aura of destruction.
"Trying to run?"
Lu Chongwei narrowed his eyes. The blade in his hand quivered faintly.
"Too late."
He drew a deep breath. His voice was low, yet it rang through the heavens and earth like a great bell.
Those ancient words of Shikai were finally spoken for the first time in this world.
"Let all things be reduced to ashes—"
As he chanted, flames surged from the blade and soared into the sky, dyeing the entire night red as blood.
Lu Chongwei swung his sword with all his might.
"Ryujin Jakka!!!"
Boom—!!!
Red flames burst forth in an instant, forming a pillar of fire that reached from heaven to earth and swallowed everything in its path.
The terrifying heat of 6,000 degrees Celsius erupted in full force.
There was no explosion.
No shock wave.
Only pure, absolute destruction.
The three Gidoken in the sky didn't even have time to scream before they turned to ash.
The once-solid rocky ground began to melt like candle wax, becoming scorching lava that dripped away drop by drop.
The air warped violently from the heat. Everything in sight blurred beyond recognition.
"It's so hot! It's burning!"
"Help! Is this hell?!"
Deep inside the cave, the humans who had been unconscious were jolted awake by the terrifying heat.
They screamed in panic. Though their bodies were weak, the instinct to survive drove them to crawl toward the cave entrance on their hands and feet.
How could this still be the human world?
This was nothing less than a hell of fire!
Gray, standing at the cave entrance, was experiencing the most desperate moment of his life.
As an ice Mage, he was far more sensitive to high temperatures than ordinary people.
"Sizzle, sizzle—"
To his horror, he discovered that the only thing he had left on was beginning to smoke.
A sharp, burning pain ran across his skin. It felt as though all the moisture in his body had evaporated in an instant, leaving his skin dry, cracked, and wrinkled.
"Ice-Make..."
Gray tried to gather his magic and create an ice shield to cool himself down.
But—
No matter how hard he tried, not a single water element in the air responded to him.
Before you continue