"Stop."
The wind obeyed the Pegasus's will.
With a single motion, Gerald precisely caught the storm's flow, seized control of the disaster's core, and before it could spiral completely out of control, folded, gathered, and compressed all its power into the storm's deepest point.
Then, when he released his hand, the storm's source vanished into the air, leaving behind a testing ground in a horrific state, utterly reduced to ruins.
The surroundings were silent. The ground was riddled with holes, cracks crisscrossing everywhere.
Gerald lowered his raised hand and slowly turned his gaze toward Ai Fanier, who stood amid the storm's lingering aftermath.
The young Banshee Queen still held his casting pose, the Bone Pen in his hand floating in midair. His eyes still held the disbelief and curiosity from that moment.
The two of them silently stared at the scene before exchanging a glance.
"I have good news and bad news, Father." Ai Fanier glanced toward the distant entrance, his nose twitching slightly as though he had caught a scent. "The good news is, the ceiling we just broke probably wasn't anything particularly important."
"And the bad news?" Gerald quietly asked.
He had smelled that familiar scent in the air. He would never forget it.
"The bad news is that the money I've saved over the years may not be enough for compensation." Ai Fanier turned around and pointed the Bone Pen at himself. "Also, please make sure you survive."
The next instant, he recited an Incantation without hesitation:
"Unconsciousness, slumber, Incantation nullification, Incantation rever—"
But he could not finish.
"Knockback."
A streak of black light flashed from the distant entrance, landing with incomparable precision and elegance on the Bone Pen just as Ai Fanier was about to unleash his Incantation. It instantly knocked the pen into the ruins.