Silence. A long silence.
There was no telling whether the duke, rendered speechless by that tongue-lashing, was now so furious he was spitting fire.
A moment later, Dr. Ratio looked at the flames before them and said, "The faint consciousness residing within has vanished. Duke Inferno has abandoned these flames..."
Stelle blinked and instinctively imitated Mr. Xiyan's storytelling tone. "Well done, Little Fish! His verbal onslaught proved unstoppable, rebuking Duke Inferno into speechless submission and leaving him no choice but to slink away."
Dr. Ratio glanced at Stelle. The girl's mental state was concerning; she really was far too out of touch.
Just then, the Core Flame, now missing the mind within it, suddenly went out of control. It shot upward and vanished, then opened countless portals here.
But the very next moment, the Horrific Maze reacted and immediately went to work. Space began to warp and twist, and the escaping Core Flame fell back down. The monsters it had teleported over rained down as well, burying it beneath them.
Then Professor Dr. Ratio took out a containment device.
Now the Core Flame had nowhere left to run.
Once the matter was resolved, everyone was rescued. Thanks to the Little Fish Knight Group's actions, the staff all knew that even Asta had not been spared in this disappearance incident.
The escalating conflict therefore died down as well.
Afterward, Stelle spoke with Screwllum again. Professor Dr. Ratio was absent and seemed to have left long ago. Screwllum said he still had matters to attend to, and Stelle paid it little mind.
There was not much time left before their departure for Penacony, so she accompanied Jiang Yu to take the Cat Cakes for a walk.
Jiang Yu had no intention of sneaking a look at Dr. Ratio and Screwllum's conversation, and