Phantom Vision

The moment that massive hand closed around her, Love's mind went blank.

Until now, her strength had always let her crush her enemies outright. At the station outside the city that day, the Fusion Monster had been on her level, but at least her attacks had worked on it. She hadn't panicked then.

This was the first time her attacks had done absolutely nothing.

She had tried to fight back as it carried her away.

No use.

She had tried several more times after that.

She drove her Magic Power to its limit. Pink light surged wildly between the giant hand's fingers and exploded, blasting furrow after furrow into the cave walls with the power that spilled free.

But the hand didn't budge.

Worse, the attacks she poured her Magic Power into seemed to sink into the writhing black crystal coating, as if it had "drunk" them. Not even an echo remained.

Her panic lasted only a few seconds.

Then Love calmed down.

For now, the Fallen Beast was only holding her as it moved. It showed no sign of attacking further, so she was still relatively safe.

And her attacks hadn't failed because its defenses were too strong.

They had failed because its crystallized skin was absorbing them.

That much was clear. In her panic, she had used only simple Magic Power attacks, which normally exploded on impact.

But her attacks hadn't exploded against the enemy. They had sunk straight in.

Love took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and began drawing on her Magic Power.

She could try beating a Beibei Bird with a Gaia-sized hammer. It might even work, since there had to be a limit to how much the enemy could absorb. The problem was that Love had no idea where that limit lay.

So she