Seeing its scheme exposed and escape impossible, the star chart core jumped the gun in desperation.
At some unknown moment, it had turned into a three-headed monster with wings, and it launched a frenzied attack at the two of them.
Zane suddenly exerted force with his right hand, pulling Cameliya out of the three-headed monster's attack range in an instant.
"How are you?"
Whether it was an illusion or not, Cameliya suddenly felt her body lighten a bit. The overclocking symptoms that had been entangling her seemed to have eased considerably.
Facing those eyes that carried a trace of concern, Cameliya instead smiled. In her now clear eyes, a hint of bloodthirsty madness surfaced.
"Perfect timing. How about we compete to see who deals with this annoying little bird first?"
Before her words even fell, Cameliya's figure vanished from where she stood, turning into a streak of red light that slammed fiercely into one of the star chart core's heads.
"And you call this five-meter-tall Impermanent Vicious Vulture a little bird?!"
Along with Zane's exclamation, the vulture formed by the star chart core let out a piercing screech. Its long neck twisted into a grotesque angle under Cameliya's heavy strike.
A strange red glow flickered in its eyes, like something from the depths of hell, staring fixedly at Zane and Cameliya.
"Tch."
Cameliya clicked her tongue softly and landed back on the ground. The massive recoil forced her to step back a few paces to steady herself.
Although she had expected it, the hardness of this thing's skin still far exceeded her imagination.
The vicious vulture adjusted its posture. Its messy feathers stood on end one by one. Its enormous wings tore through the air with a roaring sound, carrying a force of annihilation as they smashed down toward Cameliya.
"Heh heh~"
Cameliya let out a light laugh, turning and leaping gracefully. Her slender body rose high into the air.
Within the dark purple glow of annihilation, she was like a beautiful dancer, performing an elegant yet dangerous ballet at the edge of a cliff.
Within her soft waist was an incomprehensible, terrifying power. As she danced lightly, the vulture's feathers fell one after another like torn cloth.
Thick black fluid dripped from its wounds, giving off a nauseating, pungent smell. When it hit the ground, it made a sizzling sound. Each drop ignited a cluster of dark flames on the ground.
Restricted by the flames of annihilation, Cameliya's attacks gradually became constrained.
Seeing this, Zane held his blade in his left hand and slashed fiercely at the vulture's wing.
Don't be fooled by how it looked like a grounded chicken right now. If this thing got the chance to fly back into the sky, once they lost air superiority, he and Cameliya would end up as live targets.
The vulture cried out in pain. Its massive wings flapped lightly, leaving a dark purple tear in the void.
Although they managed to avoid the direct strike of the wings, the gale they stirred still sent both Zane and Cameliya flying.
'A bit troublesome…'
Zane shook his right hand, his brows slightly furrowing.
Having successfully created distance from the two of them, how could the vulture let such a good opportunity slip by?
Its three heads raised high at the same time. Taking advantage of the gap where the two couldn't close in instantly, thick flames gathered in its beaks.
A red glint flashed in Cameliya's eyes. Facing the charging monster, she neither dodged nor retreated. She instantly turned into a streak of light and rushed straight at the Impermanent Vicious Vulture.
But in the next moment, the flames of annihilation spewed out like sludge, carving a deep trench into the ground as they shot toward Cameliya.
"Tch!"
The thick flames were already right in front of her. Cameliya lightly clicked her tongue. The red in her eyes grew deeper, and even her hair began to shift toward crimson.
"Then let's see who gets torn apart first!"
With a gradually crazed laugh, Cameliya charged straight into the annihilation flames.
She wanted to see whether she would be annihilated first in the flames, or if the vulture would be completely torn apart by her Day Flower.
But in the end, she had underestimated the star chart core.
As an erroneous star chart that recorded the past of the "Flower Maiden," how could it not know Cameliya's thoughts?
The bone-piercing flames instantly engulfed Cameliya's body. In that instant, she judged the situation and tried to break free.
But the thick aura of annihilation made it impossible for her to escape. She could only watch as the flames climbed up her hands, her chest, her entire body…
Watching Cameliya engulfed in flames, the vulture let out a long howl toward the sky. Its piercing screech was like blades scraping across a chalkboard, drilling into the bone.
But in the next second, its cry was cut off by a blade of light flying in from not far away.
"You damn bird, you're too noisy. Don't you know your voice sounds awful?"
Zane held Cameliya's slender waist lightly with his left hand, half-kneeling on the ground as he panted heavily. Fine beads of cold sweat seeped from his forehead.
Cameliya opened her eyes and immediately noticed Zane's abnormally pale face. At the same time, she saw his right hand hanging behind him.
"Your right hand…"
Zane forced a smile and shook his right arm hard, extinguishing the flames clinging to it.
"This damn… it's nothing. It doesn't have strength anyway, so this works out… just take care of yourself."
Clearly, Zane didn't want to dwell on his right hand. But since the star chart core's attack had failed, it was bound to make another move.
And just as Zane expected, the star chart core knew very well that if it continued fighting on the ground, the only outcome left for it was defeat.
With that thought, the Impermanent Vicious Vulture flapped its wings. Its massive body shot into the sky in an instant. Its three ferocious heads looked down at their prey from above.
As long as it stayed in the air, it would be invincible…
At that moment, a golden light suddenly lit up in the crimson sky. Blinding sunlight tore through the false sky, shining down beside the two of them.
A brilliant meteor was born from the crack, cutting through the air and smashing onto the vulture's head in an instant.
Caught off guard, the vulture only managed to let out a cry before, in the next moment, one of its three heads was severed by the meteor, falling weakly to the ground and turning into nothingness.
"Zane, Cameliya, are you alright?!"
The Rover who came out of nowhere immediately spotted Zane's pale face. Her pair of golden eyes seemed to ignite, golden flames flowing within them.
Rover has a reverse scale.
The intense pain forced the vulture to land again. But when it saw Rover rushing toward it with killing intent, the pain of losing a head suddenly didn't seem like much anymore.
At this moment, it only wanted to escape this place of trouble.
Its massive wings flapped again, trying to use the gale to delay Rover while buying time to return to the sky.
But this time, it miscalculated.
Thick vines suddenly burst from the ground, wrapping tightly around the bird's wings like pythons.
Cameliya, acting in anger, naturally wouldn't let it escape again.
Along with another piercing screech, the vulture's second head was also shattered by Rover's blade.
At this point, the Impermanent Vicious Vulture only had its last head left…
Just as Rover raised her swift blade to cut off its final head, a scorching flame suddenly ignited from the vulture's body.
Its already hideous appearance grew even more grotesque under the burning flames.
"It's trying to escape!"
Through the blazing fire, Rover saw at a glance that the vines binding it had already been burned away. To escape, it was willing to burn itself completely just to seize that last chance to fly into the sky.
Realizing this, Rover charged straight into the flames without hesitation, intending to cut off its head at the final moment before it took flight.
But in the next second, under Rover's astonished gaze, a vine wrapped around her waist and pulled her out of the flames.
Freed from her restraint, the Impermanent Vicious Vulture instantly flew into the sky. Its feathers peeled off one by one under the burning, but it still seized the chance to escape into the air.
Rover grew anxious and quickly shouted, "We can't let it get away!"
What answered her was Zane's steady voice.
"It… won't escape."
Under the astonished gazes of Rover and Cameliya, a light arrow shot from Zane's hand straight into the sky, tearing this entire Sonora apart.