Light Anemone had no time to ponder the Church's tactical abilities, only hoping the egg in the central area would be useful.
Meanwhile Nan Zhiyi summoned Pluto and the Sun with a wave. Ice and fire dual heaven power roared forth, sweeping the sea surface. Surrounding island vegetation even spontaneously combusted to ash. Astonishing energy struck directly forward.
Then converged light flow artillery collided with it at zero distance.
Thump!
Full-power clashes from both sides brought attack afterwaves sweeping outward, expanding round after round with magnificent momentum. Results—both were injured by shockwaves, unable to shake the balance scale, impossible to create advantage let alone convert to winning momentum. This undoubtedly pressured both Light Anemone and Nan Zhiyi. Delay meant fault tolerance rapidly declining—on rapidly changing battlefields, this could trigger fatal chain reactions.
Actually Hegemon Disaster Beasts could gain upper hand or even suppress veteran Growth Stage Magical Girls, counting as slightly superior, but reality wasn't always ideal numerical comparisons.
Fallen Zone depths gathering most forces to jointly siege Tulip and subordinate Departure Island counted as one layer of consumption.
Later four-against-one battling out-of-spec state Hyacinth counted as second layer consumption.
Results became the same starting line.
Already heaven's chosen strongest magic users could now contend with hegemons killed from harsh environments, so it became stalemate where neither side could quickly find breakthroughs. One side had to change methods and take risks—
Nan Zhiyi lightly pointed toward the sky, suddenly dropping Jupiter while canceling all other domain-manifested celestial bodies, concentrating energy at one point.
Seeing this, Light Anemone sneered disdainfully: "Right, you indeed belong to the Church's largest-scale range attacks, but so what? Magic effects are ultimately limited, while we Disaster Beasts excel most at origin. No matter your endless methods, it's meaningless. Magical Girls are too fragile—to decide victory I only need one flaw."
"You'll know immediately."
Before words ended Nan Zhiyi vanished from her original position, appearing beside the Hegemon Disaster Beast incredibly fast, making it unable to react. Again a fist viciously struck into flesh.
Instantly unstoppable might pounded into its body as if every cell was trembling.
Correspondingly, Magical Girl Dandelion's skin continuously cracked with bleeding wounds, yet she maintained relentless pursuit. A dignified high-tier Disaster Beast that had dominated for years was actually in sorry straits.
"Madwoman, you're actually making yourself bear gravity multiples." Precisely because seeing this point, Light Anemone was moved.
At this moment Nan Zhiyi was actually like a pointer—wherever she exerted force, Jupiter behind her projected gravity to crush targets with pure kinetic energy.
Under similar principles, gravity capture was possible—the truth behind rapid movement.
Risking life!
Before it could curse, continuous attacks submerged it, covered in wounds, vitality declining. Only one thought remained: so Domain Magic could be played this way?
The strong attack from Magical Girl Dandelion echoed rolling majesty sweeping the entire field like a charge horn. Time to go all-out coordinating island withdrawal operations. Every minute and second hereafter was crucial—no room for carelessness. Tacit understanding old partners naturally understood. Even always reserved Nan Zhiyi began squeezing magic might—indeed time for big disturbances.
Instantly a meteor fell from heaven, carrying massive energy flying directly toward Hundred Eyes, but it dodged perfectly.
Reflecting Fortune and Misfortune magic's misfortune judgment plus its own telekinesis deflected the meteor's trajectory toward the pink-haired girl.
Treating others as they treat you.
Sure enough Jin Ruochu similarly captured the meteor hitting back.
Similar scenes had played out countless times. Though it was an outstanding Hegemon Disaster Beast, it encountered enemies with perfect compatibility. Admittedly, it could reflect magic but couldn't escape dual-nature judgment. Misfortune and fortune were just playthings in the pink girl's hands, freely convertible.
Results—two converters began playing ping-pong. Others had increasingly magnificent momentum, but their battle actually reduced scale, appearing completely lacking in presence.
Endless!
Irritation made Hundred Eyes lose composure for the first time, only now realizing its methods were too impoverished. Previously it only released avatars from the rear for sneak attacks, but this was meaningless against Magical Girl Manjusaka—the opponent was equally keen.
Basic combat skills, origin capacity, and bizarre magic armament left Jin Ruochu flawless.
Ordinary Magical Girls should avoid zero-distance close combat with Disaster Beasts. This one did the opposite, deliberately maintaining kiting posture. Those countless unlucky pranks prevented the hegemon from displaying strength. Whenever you wanted to charge up strikes, you'd encounter giant waves, volcanic eruptions, current disruptions, deep sea whirlpools, or tornadoes. It wasn't fighting one Magical Girl to the death—more like suddenly becoming the world's enemy with everything targeting itself.
"You're really disgusting."
"I quite like the feeling of gradually grinding down boss HP bars game-style. The process has twists, but the ending is predetermined." Jin Ruochu smiled: "You're anxious?"
In fury, the Disaster Beast rapidly decomposed into pieces of eyeball monsters, forming waves charging forward with rolling roars, enough to smash an island to pieces. Pressure had also locked onto the petite target.
Little did it know this loss of control was also within Jin Ruochu's manipulation and guidance.
Meteors floating around her accumulated until now actually actively collapsed under subtle magic, revealing fine meteorite iron like swords.
Extraterrestrial misfortune was born from disaster. Now concentrated curses too thick to dissolve were grasped in hand. The fully charging Hundred Eyes couldn't dodge in time.
Slash!
A sword filled with disaster curses and origin explosion swept across. Whatever it touched directly vaporized. The previously menacing Hegemon Disaster Beast actually had most of its body disappear under the full-power strike. From beginning to end it never expected enemies would patiently advance step by step according to rhythm. Its usually playful personality concealed excellent combat intelligence—even it had been careless.
Hundred Eyes knew trouble, thinking further pursuit meant certain death, but unexpectedly Jin Ruochu spat blood, her aura wilting, obviously also suffering disaster involvement.
Regardless, the situation had breached—the first severely wounded high-tier Disaster Beast appeared.
Hermit Island seized the opportunity, releasing new missile bombardment rounds covering the battlefield in all directions when pressure relaxed.
Under firepower, blood and flesh flew while Disaster Beasts fell into chaos, just loosening the encirclement. Simultaneously, Magical Girls on the island began tactical cooperation, even covering Departure Island's tamed Disaster Beasts entering. Both sides had no time for greetings but seamlessly connected in life-and-death racing.
The Salvation Church was ready to break through.
But the Fallen Zone depths' number one Disaster Beast cluster, Armored Artillery's offspring, blocked the front.
"Must clear a path!"
Ruan Manyue, responsible for steering navigation loudly reminded, but Elsa and Minase Kaori originally staying to command the main island had to engage two high-tier Disaster Beasts—temporarily no one had spare capacity.
Beside her, Anri Sakagami suddenly injected magic power into the Thousand-Li Viewing Mirror relic itself, then instructed: "No time to clear roads—first accumulate spatial energy."
"Don't you remember what Hyacinth said about transmission being unusable for a while?"
"The main problem is insufficient fuel. As long as materials are piled up, there's no reason it can't move. So she'll solve it—"
Clang!
Hermit Island's main body violently collided with the Disaster Beast army. Though considerable numbers scattered under firepower coverage, they still had landing combat capability. Results evolved into beachhead battle—Salvation Church's mere 800 combat personnel facing dozens of times their numbers.
Zoe, Helen, Yeta, and Stephanie—four with large-scale damage capability—handled periphery clearing. Beauty as the main attacker targeted powerful individuals.
Barely held on but far from optimistic.
Casualty numbers climbed steadily, even near-death situations appearing, fortunately Ruan Xinyue used save points to forcibly pull them back. In some sense this already proved that in ultra-high intensity combat with overwhelming enemy numbers, coverage from Healing Rain, Military Band, Purification Light and other support abilities faced diminishing returns. Medical teams could improve fault tolerance during war and reduce post-war deaths, but couldn't expect an additional "immortality buff" for bloody battles with enemies.
From the hillside navigation high ground perspective, Hermit Island was completely surrounded—three layers inside, three layers outside, all Disaster Beasts.
At first glance Ruan Manyue's scalp tingled. Now truly in mortal danger.
"Don't worry. We've encountered similar situations before—there's always a way." Anri Sakagami comforted: "The key is getting the transmission ready."
"Senior Rose, it's not that simple. Look at the horizon at the depths' edge—Disaster Beasts are gathering."
Looking into the distance:
Where the sea met the sky, lightning flashed and thunder roared with successive high-pitched roars, representing thousands of Disaster Beasts killing from the core circle. This meant the hegemons' summons were effective—a grand war was imminent.
Salvation Church's currently designated combat personnel elite force was sufficient for one-against-ten but didn't represent absolute suppression—actually very dangerous now.
In fact, current battle lines relied entirely on Tulip running around bombing fish. Thanks to her mechanism advantages, she could fight large groups with high damage, very suitable for low-end situations and bullying weak enemies.
Suddenly the horizon clouds reflected red.
Rumbling explosions could be heard from this distance, with mushroom clouds unexpectedly towering. This represented possible cloud bomb effects with extremely large charges—more than one. Sure enough, explosion clouds forcibly blocked Disaster Beast groups attempting support. Both sides had engaged in battle.
Simultaneously radio channels connected: "Hello, this is Pharmacist. Command will coordinate Church withdrawal."
"This is Rose. We're turning around. If traveling by sailing is too dangerous, we might need spatial transmission... will take some time."
"Doesn't matter. Fighting either way. The support group waits for you."
With Kale's unwavering voice came cloud bomb after cloud bomb, recklessly covering Fallen Zone depths' edges with pure firepower tearing open gaps while Holy Relics and Fusion Warriors firmly blocked Disaster Beasts from further support.
The second battlefield's opening of major operations naturally couldn't be hidden from various experts, especially the Lurker responsible for sonic summoning, sweating profusely. The anticipated numerical advantage didn't materialize.
"Still no news from the egg?"
It was already considering retreat. Little did it know, in that instant of relaxation was long enough for Hibiscus.
In the slowly flowing gray-white world of Sands of Time, all phenomena froze, but the silver-haired girl took no action. She'd activated twelve times since battle began.
No one present knew the full count. Moreover, she didn't attack during time stops. Reason was simple—high-tier Disaster Beasts possessed powerful regenerative force, physical strength, and origin protection. Upon contact they might react, destroying effects insignificantly. So using for movement and rescue was more cost-effective. According to Jin Ruochu's words, "against strong enemies, first reduce toughness then finishing moves"—very fitting for time magic.
Long battle had weakened the Lurker's protection sufficiently.
Hibiscus took a deep breath, unhurriedly gathering remaining origin between both hands. Her entire person was like a fully drawn strong bow, the gray-white world's sole brilliance. Energy flowed unobstructed from inside out, refined to one point.
Ultimate tranquility—only Magical Girl Hyacinth seemed like meditative cultivation accumulation, breathing calmed, heartbeat slow.
29th second!
Both hands struck zero-distance toward the Lurker's massive body core. Instantly time stop released. Everyone felt dizziness while strong light flickered for hundreds of kilometers. Evaporating energy directly struck the target like a pale sun melting the pterosaur's body.
Explosions continued, spacetime shook, sea and sky overturned. Echoing magic waves turned back and collapsed, exploding the original center point again.
Below the light, a black military uniform figure floated, overlooking the entire field with a grave expression.
"I need to oversee transmission. You'd better kill another one."
Hibiscus tossed the Hegemon Disaster Beast's magic crystal in her hand then vanished in a flash. The entire process was seamless and highly efficient, not even giving enemies chances for post-battle scavenging sneak attacks—no way to start.
Both sides in combat were shocked beyond measure, never expecting such a sudden balance-tipping weight. This strike was ultimately created by the strongest Magical Girl—the situation was clear.
Just as battlefield gazes gathered toward Hyacinth, only one area remained unmoved, finally entering white-hot stage.
"Go die!"
Under Armored Artillery's terrifying force, giant pincers forcibly severed the World Serpent coiled around it, breaking the body thicker than ten people's embraces at the waist.
Even with Jin Yulu's rigorous training, she couldn't help sweating. "Damn, that really hurts!"
Complaining verbally but her body moved without hesitation. The next moment the severed parts healed together, growing back and exerting even more terrifying force, tightly coiling around the Hegemon Disaster Beast comparable to a small hill—clearly a python strangling posture. Being in the prey position made Armored Artillery furious, yet feeling the gradually tightening World Serpent, it couldn't help but panic.
The enemy was too tough—had to use softness to overcome hardness.
Since battle began, Jin Yulu had tried various methods, discovering her output could break through armor, but afterward weakening was too severe to cause effective damage. Why did Hyacinth arrange her to face this crab? Because only Magical Girl Protea could withstand it while understanding how to combine hardness and softness.
"Damn, you think I'll surrender?" The coiled Disaster Beast struggled desperately, trying to drag her into the seabed.
"Need help?" Suddenly Tulip's voice rang out.
"You can attack me too."