What the hell was that?
The moment that question arose, an enormous suction force descended, swallowing Phantylia and Topaz together.
"Clack—"
The ball landed on the carriage seat, wobbling twice before going still.
Russell, who had somehow acquired a hat, naturally appeared beside it. He picked up the ball and tried to shake the red hat, only to bump against a horn.
"Um... did I accidentally grab an extra accessory?"
Russell weighed the ball in his hand. As if recalling something, he poured another surge of magical power into "Tiger" and tossed Topaz out.
The dazed girl's gaze seemed to remain fixed on the instant she had been possessed, and she nearly threw a punch on instinct.
But the moment she saw Russell, she froze. A trace of unease gradually surfaced on her face.
He had saved her life.
"You saved me?"
The facts were right before her, yet she spoke in a questioning tone. It was as though she wanted to get closer, but deliberately kept her distance. The conflicted feeling practically overflowed from her.
"Just lending a hand."
Russell played with the ball in his hand, realizing that the girl before him seemed unusually fierce.
He tried using the distinctive Type-Moon style of armament—turning a real object into a conceptual weapon and implanting it into his body.
As that mysterious sphere was implanted, dazzling azure-blue flames abruptly ignited at Russell's tail end, as though a heliobus were roaring in fury.
The power of Destruction surged turbulently through his body, seeming ready to burn the fire of his life to ash in an instant, while injecting an even more violent aura into him.
That power was like a dark tidal wave, roaring and churning as it sought to devour everything.
At that moment, Topaz's heartbeat resonated with that power,