Chapter 285: Isolated Battlefield
She tried to imbue the gigantic blade with the power of Anemo, and a cyan current instantly coiled around it, its scale and intensity far exceeding anything she had ever wielded before.
Lumine could feel it with startling clarity—it wasn't just her size. Her strength, speed, the total volume of her elemental energy, and even her recovery rate had all received an beyond understanding, monumental boost.
But in that same instant, a critical problem dawned on her. The clash to come would be a true battle of titans, and its scope would dwarf anything they had faced prior.
"March! Dan Heng! Mr. Welt!" Lumine's voice, now a deep and resonant boom, echoed across the landscape. "Retreat immediately! Get out of the core combat zone! Leave this to me and Stelle!"
The three of them understood at once. In a fight of this magnitude, their presence would not only be of little help but could easily lead to them being caught and obliterated by the terrifying aftershocks.
"Be careful!" Dan Heng said, his words concise as always. He, March, and Welt transformed into three streaks of light, withdrawing to the distant outskirts of the battlefield at top speed.
After confirming her teammates' safe retreat, Lumine glanced down at the scarred, abyss-corroded land beneath her feet, then looked toward the far-off silhouette of the Holy Fire Arena.
She took a deep breath. The aftershocks of this battle could not be allowed to ravage this land any further; the people of Natlan still needed a home to return to.
"Stelle, cover me!" Lumine shouted, then leaped backward, putting some distance between herself and Bakunawa.
While Stelle once again swung her star-shattering bat, drawing Bakunawa's primary attention, Lumine plunged her own sword deep into the earth. Pressing both hands to the hilt, she unleashed the surging, ocean-like Geo energy within her without reservation.
"Majestic thousandfold crags, heed my command—Rise!"
Accompanied by her solemn chant, the very earth let out a muffled, tectonic roar.
A Geo elemental barrier, radiating a heavy, golden-yellow luster, erupted from the ground. Like an awakening dragon of stone, it snaked along the edge of the battlefield, rapidly spreading and enclosing the area. It finally formed a circular rock wall over a hundred meters high and of astonishing thickness.
The height of the wall was more than sufficient to block most of the stray energy blasts and flying boulders. Its perimeter firmly contained the destructive power of this "Battle of Giants" within the Crag Gorge—an area already desolate and severely eroded.
Within the barrier was a battlefield now beyond the limits of mortal imagination; outside the barrier were countless hearts, caught in throats, beating wildly with the ebb and flow of the fight.
Lumine intended to use this rampart of stone to guard Natlan's last remaining homeland. And within this self-made coliseum, she and Stelle would finally subjugate this undying beast.
Freed from their worries, Lumine and Stelle completely unleashed themselves.
The immense power transformed from the Light of Hope surged and flowed within their gigantic bodies, bringing with it an unmatched sense of strength and responsibility.
Lumine was the first to attack. She gripped the Prototype Rancour tightly with both hands. With a mere thought, the cyan Anemo energy coiled around the blade like a docile but immense dragon, emitting a dangerous, high-pitched hum.
Then, her massive body displayed an agility that defied its size. She lunged forward in a charge, the greatsword tearing through the air with a piercing shriek as she brought it down fiercely upon the shoulder guard of Bakunawa's right arm.
"Screeeech—!"
The cutting properties of the Anemo-wrought blade were amplified to their absolute extreme. Although the strike failed to shatter the thick, dark crystal pauldron outright, it carved a massive gash tens of meters long across its surface. The cut was deep enough to reveal the internal structure beneath, sending crumbling crystal fragments raining down like hail.
On the other side, Stelle's combat style was far more unrestrained and flexible.
She perfectly used her advantage of being able to switch weapons on the fly. When high-speed advancement or precise armor-piercing was needed, the bat in her hand would become a black bolt of lightning tearing through space.
Relying on its unmatched sharpness and its special efficacy against energy defenses, she specifically aimed for the cracks Lumine had created or the weaker connecting joints of the shoulder guard, intent on secondary destruction.
"Crack!"
Each successful strike sent large chunks of dark scales and abyssal crystal splintering off its mountain-like body.
And when Bakunawa, enraged by the pain, retaliated—swinging its giant claws or lashing its steel-like tail in an attempt to crush this annoying "big bug"—Stelle would instantly switch her weapon. The bat vanished, replaced by the Flame Lance, a weapon far heavier and better suited for defense and direct power confrontations.
"Come on! Who's afraid of a head-on clash!" Stelle roared with excitement. She held the Flame Lance horizontally, the power of the Preservation coiling around its shaft to form an indestructible crimson-gold barrier.
"Clang—!"
Bakunawa's giant claw struck the lance, erupting with a deafening clang like a great temple bell. A shower of incandescent sparks flew, yet the blow was unable to budge Stelle's colossal figure, rooted firmly to the earth, in the slightest.
The Flame Lance perfectly blocked all pure physical impact and most of the corrosive energy. The force, enough to flatten mountains, now only made Stelle's arm slightly numb, failing to achieve the devastating results it had before.
Lumine and Stelle's coordination grew increasingly seamless.
Often, at the very instant Stelle executed a perfect block with her lance and launched a powerful counterattack that completely drew Bakunawa's attention, Lumine would immediately switch her elemental alignment.
"Drink this, thunder's shadow!"
She uttered a low shout, and the Anemo energy coiling around her greatsword was instantly replaced by violent, crackling purple lightning.
She didn't aim for a close-range slash. Instead, she wielded the greatsword like a conductor's baton, unleashing several immense arcs of violet sword-light, each one so condensed with Electro it seemed almost solid.
These thunderous phantoms arrived later but struck first, precisely hitting Bakunawa's wide-open chest and arms as it was thrown slightly off-balance by Stelle's counterattack.
The destructive flames left by Stelle's lance, not yet completely extinguished, combined with this sudden, violent lightning to produce the most intense of elemental reactions.
"Boom—Boom—BOOM—BOOM—!"
A continuous chain of Overload explosions erupted wildly across Bakunawa's torso.
Intense fire and lightning intertwined. Each detonation was like setting off a heavy bomb inside its body, blasting its scales away, charring its flesh black, and sending its massive body reeling backward with a muffled roar mixed with pain and fury.
The staggering impact brought by the Overload reaction greatly disrupted its attack rhythm, creating even more opportunities for Lumine and Stelle to press their advantage.
Although their battlefield was located in the Crag Gorge, the farthest point from the Holy Fire Arena, at this moment, they had become the undisputed focal point of all Natlan.
The towering figures of the giants, the devastating tremors from each collision, the dazzling and potent radiance of Elements and Paths—all of it was transmitted through the wind, through the light, and through the very trembling of the ground, reaching the heart of every Natlanian.
Worry, prayer, anticipation, shock… countless intense emotions transformed into an even purer, more fervent Light of Hope.
It was invisible to the naked eye, but Lumine and Stelle could clearly feel it: a continuous, warm, and powerful stream of light energy, crossing space and converging from all corners of Natlan.
It merged into their bodies, replenishing their stamina and sustaining their continuous, high-intensity battle as titans.
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