BZZZ!
Lynae and Mo Bai used the Voidworm's moment of weakness to put some distance between themselves and it.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Just after they pulled away, several beams of light shot in from afar.
"It worked!"
From the delight in Lynae's voice, those white beams had to be the defensive array they had planned to activate.
"Lynae! And Mo Bai?!"
The Rover arrived on her Motorcycle. Like Lynae, she was surprised to see Mo Bai.
But years of battle had taught her that this was no time to catch up.
"Get close while the Binding Vow has that big thing weakened!"
Lynae called to Mo Bai and the Rover beside her.
"Right!"
The two nodded, then joined Lynae in speeding toward the Voidworm from different directions.
Attacking on three fronts would keep the huge worm off balance.
"ROAR! ROAR!"
Trapped by the defensive array and harried earlier by Mo Bai's Fused Shikigami, the Voidworm was especially enraged.
It looked at the ants darting around beneath it and the light restricting its movement. It stopped holding back.
As a monster formed from the power of a Void Threnodian, it could turn everything it hated into nothing.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Powerful Laser beams fired from its gaping maw as its massive body thrashed, striking one spot after another around it.
"Attacking at random..."
Mo Bai could tell it had all but gone berserk.
Its massive body churned wildly, tearing huge boulders from deep underground.
"Perfect." Lynae smiled from the other side.
The boulders would give them cover as they closed in on the Voidworm.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
Sensing its enemies approach, the Voidworm grew even more agitated. This time, its beams fired straight from the core at the center of its body rather than from its mouth.
The attack came from every angle, forcing Lynae and the Rover to dodge in a hurry.
One was a former New Federation mercenary; the other was a Threnodian of the Black Shores. Both could evade the Voidworm's attacks.
Mo Bai, by contrast, had already struggled against its earlier assault.
He knew there was no chance he could dodge this desperate strike on his vehicle.
Should I call for help?
He looked at Lynae and the Rover ahead of him.
No. They've already reached the monster. Calling out now would only distract them.
I'll have to leave the rest to them...
With that thought, Mo Bai leaped off his vehicle.
Thud.
BOOM!
The Voidworm's attack struck Mo Bai's Motorcycle dead on, turning it into a fireball.
"Damn it!"
Lynae and the Rover heard the explosion behind them, but neither looked back.
They knew they had to deal with the huge worm first.
Besides, they remembered that Mo Bai could escape into shadows.
BZZZ!
The two rode up to the Voidworm, and the Rover leaped into the air.
Her Resonance Ability let her fly and keep the Voidworm occupied, while Lynae attacked from the ground with the equipment on her Motorcycle.
"ROAR!"
Under their combined assault, the Voidworm let out a cry of pain.
BANG!
The Rover showed it no mercy. Seizing her chance, she drove an exquisite longsword down from the air and pinned its head to the ground.
Both women had the same thought.
We can win.
If we keep this up, the monster will...
"ROAR!!!"
The Voidworm rose again, drawing all the energy in its body together.
Ignoring the two women beside it, it aimed its enormous mouth at its original target.
"Oh no! It's targeting Star Torch Academy!"
Lynae saw what the Voidworm intended and cried out.
Even if it died, the monster meant to take something with it.
Lynae would never let that happen.
BZZZ!
She pushed her Motorcycle to full power and rode up the Voidworm's body.
"Lynae!"
Seeing this from above, the Rover feared Lynae was about to do something reckless and immediately tried to descend to help her.
BOOM!
But more Laser beams burst from the Voidworm's core, cutting her off in midair.
Worse, some of the beams were headed straight for Lynae.
Just then, a shadow deepened beneath the Voidworm.
Thud.
A hand reached out of it. The light from the Voidworm's Lasers cast the hand's shadow across the ground.
It looked like a long, winding snake.
"Great Serpent!"
Mo Bai's voice rang out as he summoned a new Shikigami.
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
A giant white snake, nearly as large as the Voidworm, emerged from the Voidworm's shadow and coiled around it.
Mo Bai had not yet subdued this new Shikigami. For now, he had merely drawn the Voidworm, Lynae, and the Rover into a Subjugation Ritual.
The Great Serpent would not obey Mo Bai's commands, but it would instinctively attack anything within the ritual that threatened it.
So it wrapped itself around the most conspicuous target: the Voidworm.
That bought Lynae enough time.
"ROAR!!"
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
The Great Serpent's enormous body took every Laser fired from the Voidworm's core, leaving Lynae and the Rover free to move.
With little intelligence to guide it, the Great Serpent absorbed the full barrage and finally dissolved into a puddle of shadow.
BZZZ!
While it had held the Voidworm back, Lynae had reached the top of the monster's head as it prepared to attack the Academy.
VROOM!
With her engine roaring, Lynae launched her Motorcycle into the air and came face-to-face with the Voidworm.
It was dangerous. The Voidworm still had one last burst of energy in its mouth.
But Lynae was not afraid.
The Voidworm wanted to hurt the Academy.
It wanted to hurt the first place that had taken in a mercenary like her and let her experience warmth and happiness.
She would not allow it.
Click-clack.
In midair, Lynae sprang backward off her Motorcycle, landing behind it, then hurled her paint cans forward.
With her Resonance Ability, Lynae could turn every one of those cans into a small bomb.
The bombs would add force to the Motorcycle's own momentum...
BOOOOM!!!
The exploding paint cans drove the Motorcycle into the Voidworm's throat. The energy in its mouth detonated along with the Motorcycle.
"Oh no..."
From the air, the Rover saw that the explosion had reached the Voidworm's core.
That would turn the Voidworm itself into a giant bomb!
BOOOOM!
The blast from the Voidworm's self-destruction sent Lynae soaring into the sky.
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