Shu could feel the air around him suddenly refuse to transmit sound, the ice beneath his feet give up supporting him, and even the light distort, choosing not to let him "see" them.
But this wasn't the whole world turning against him. It was more like... everything in this world had its own business to attend to, and nothing cared about what he was doing.
It was a strange feeling, giving him an instantaneous feedback of "loneliness."
This did indeed trap him, but trying to trap him with just this... was unlikely.
A golden cogwheel materialized in Shu's hand. In an instant, the world stood still. The previously chaotic world was like a mechanical toy with a jammed gear, completely losing its ability to move.
The authority of [Constraint].
Everything returned to its original state in an instant, as if the previous events had never happened.
Realizing that their "combo" was broken, the three members of the Snow Wolf squad decisively began to retreat, trying to create distance. But how could Shu, who now recognized the threat they posed, let them leave?
This kind of "control" was far more terrifying than the occasional attacks from the Book of Time. In that instant, Shu had truly felt a sense of banishment, a feeling that he "couldn't do anything." [Constraint] was the only way he could think of to break free.
If it were at a critical moment... no, it didn't even need to be a critical moment. It seemed like he had only been controlled for a moment, but for Kiana, that was enough for her to achieve her goal!
Kiana, who had been dodged, had already turned back and rushed in front of him. An unavoidable punch was already coming at him with the pressure of the wind.
Shu had no choice but to raise his hand to barely block it. After that punch, he felt like his hand wasn't his own. Not only was his arm sore, but the forearm that had directly blocked the attack was in tearing pain.
The part of the force that he had deflected acted on the ice beneath his feet. The ice in a hundred-meter radius instantly shattered, and endless cracks began to spread across the ice surface.
He couldn't take it head-on anymore. Shu wanted to repeat his previous action of grabbing Kiana's wrist, but Kiana had anticipated it and quickly retracted her hand, then launched another short, sharp attack.
She had already suffered from being caught several times. The Kaslana combat instinct would not allow her to repeat the same mistake!
Knee strikes, one-inch punches, headbutts, and even elbow strikes.
Kiana precisely controlled the distance between them to within half a meter, abandoning the wide, powerful attacks for these short but still powerful grappling moves.
Shu, whose forearm was still in severe pain, didn't dare to take a single hit. But Kiana's attacks were so dense that they didn't even leave him room to turn. He could only keep retreating to dodge.
And how could he escape Kiana's frontal charge by walking backward? Shu was "stuck" to Kiana and chased all the way. If he dared to make any extra moves, he would be viciously scratched by her.
How did Shu know this so clearly?
Because he had only glanced at Bianka, who was catching up to act as a scout, and his chest was viciously clawed by Kiana, tearing his collar.
And with Bianka in position, the situation Shu had been worried about from the beginning finally appeared.
The environment around him changed again. And even though he had used [Constraint] to break free the moment he sensed the change, when he came to his senses, his feet were already firmly locked to the ice surface by ice.
And in front of him, Kiana had finally opened her stance, her whole body filled with "tension."
"Hah!" Along with Kiana's angry shout, the fist filled with enough tension to kill a person turned into an afterimage and slammed heavily into his abdomen.
The defensive line constructed by [Hope] was broken through by the concentrated authority of Evolution, and the solidified defensive layer on his body was shattered by pure violence.
Like hitting a baseball, Shu's figure instantly turned into a stream of light and flew backward, bouncing several times on the ice surface like a skipping stone.
"Beautiful!" Kiana waved her fist excitedly. As the one who had landed the blow, she knew very well what the feedback from her hand meant.
This was the first time they had truly injured Shu!
Uh, the small cut Bianka had made on his face didn't count. He had recovered from that in an instant, so it didn't count.
But seeing that Shu showed no signs of stopping, the slightly excited Kiana suddenly sensed that something was wrong.
"Silly Kiana, Shu's target is the Snow Wolf squad!!" Bronya's urgent voice suddenly sounded. Kiana's expression changed, but Shu had already used the force of being sent flying to rush in front of Cecilia!
"Watch out!" Just before Shu was about to hit Cecilia, Siegfried swung the Judgment of Shamash and cut in, trying to intercept his attack.
He succeeded, because Shu's attack did not land on Cecilia.
Because from the very beginning, Shu's primary target had always been Siegfried, who had been acting as Cecilia's sword-wielding guard!
The Judgment of Shamash collided with Shu for the third time. Just like the previous two times, the Judgment of Shamash was directly crushed by him. And this time, no one could help Siegfried.
Bang— After the Shamash was extinguished, Shu grabbed Siegfried's arm and threw him like a dart, leaving only a dim Judgment of Shamash on the ground.
Retracting his hand, Shu clenched the extra Thousand Stars of Reason in his hand and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
The sharp pain in his abdomen made it difficult for him to stand up straight. Kiana's punch had truly broken through all his defenses.
Seeing that Kiana and Bianka had already reacted, Shu didn't think any more. He endured the difficult-to-repair pain and rushed towards Cecilia and Nicholas again.
The moment Shu was controlled was enough for Kiana to do many things. And the distance Shu had created by being sent flying was also enough for him to accomplish all his goals.
Nicholas, holding the Jizo Mitama, still wanted to resist. But in a face-to-face exchange, the Jizo Mitama, which had been her closest partner, had already betrayed her and was in Shu's hands. He swung it like a baseball bat and sent her flying out of the arena.
Shigure Kira was ten thousand meters away, Salome was on Noah's Ark, and only Cecilia was left on the main battlefield.
Kiana and Bianka were still some distance away. And with enough distance, Kiana's threat was far less than Bianka's.
At least Shu was already within Bianka's attack range!
The moment he reached attack range, the spear in Bianka's hand was thrown with all her might. At the same time, Shigure Kira in the distance also locked onto the high-speed Shu and pulled the trigger at his head again.
Under the pincer attack, if Shu didn't give up his pursuit of Cecilia, he would have to take both of their attacks head-on...
Then he would take them!
Cecilia, who could assemble the White Cells, was a much greater threat than these two attacks! It didn't matter if the other members of the Snow Wolf squad were eliminated. Cecilia had to be out!