[The Purifying Tide]
Across the wide expanse of Floor 1, the golden sunlight radiating from Cynthia's solar form bathed the battlefield in absolute, conceptual heat.
Nefa blurred through the horde, her twin daggers tearing effortlessly through a cluster of Void Knights. As the beasts fell, white-hot embers consumed their remains, preventing them from reforming.
"They aren't regenerating anymore!" Nefa called out, her eyes gleaming. "The moment my blades touch them, the Eternal Flame incinerates their core!"
Standing at the center of the defensive perimeter, Fraxy lowered her healing staff in awe. "I don't even need to cast single-target restoration buffs... every soldier's wounds are mending on their own under this light!"
The allied vanguard pushed forward with immense momentum.
"Annihilation Technique: Vermilion!" Lapis shouted. He snapped his fingers, ripping open a crimson spatial fissure that swallowed half the incoming monster army into an absolute void-compressor, erasing them from existence.
Ground-shaking rumbles echoed from the left flank as Gaia slammed both gauntlets deep into the earth. Tens of thousands of tons of rock surged upward, morphing into a towering legion of Geo Golems accompanied by five colossal, roaring Geo Dragons that rampaged through the enemy ranks.
Neweland swept his trident, blasting a void behemoth aside with a high-pressure water stream, before glancing over at Gaia in shock. "If you could pull off a summoning of that scale, why didn't you do it earlier?!"
Gaia wiped a sweat stain from her forehead, a confident smirk on her face. "Before Cynthia unlocked the Eternal Flame, these void beasts would have ripped my golems apart instantly! Now, their corruption can't even penetrate the Geo-armor!"
[The Vanguard's Momentum]
Near the frontlines, Captain Carod drove a massive, energy-infused greatsword through the chest of a Void Commander, carving it in half.
Techyon blurred past in a flash of white starlight, slicing down three adjacent beasts before landing right beside the captain. He blinked, looking closely at the heavy blade in Carod's hands.
"Where did you get that sword, Captain?" Techyon asked over the roaring battle.
"Ripped it right off the corpse of a Void General three minutes ago!" Carod grinned through his helmet's comms, his upgraded thrusters venting superheated steam. "Works like a charm!"
Nearby, Yoru executed a series of high-speed spirit blade strikes, executing monsters in close quarters before instantly teleporting back into the rear defensive line beside Saina.
Saina adjusted her star-glasses, her tactical interface locking onto thousands of remaining signatures. "Fall back to my coordinates! It's my turn now—Virtual Energy: Million Lasers!"
From the sky, thousands of high-tech Netland combat drones materialized out of spatial storage, unleashing a massive, blanket barrage of crimson laser fire that swept across the plain, completely wiping out the remaining vanguard waves.
[The Falling Stars]
KABOOOOOOOM!
A deafening, catastrophic tear echoed from high above. The colossal First Floor dungeon gate shattered completely into jagged dimensional fragments as the gargantuan silhouette of the Void Drachoon breached reality.
"ENOUGH!" the Void Drachoon boomed, its single crimson eye flaring with apocalyptic malice. "I will show you what true power looks like!"
Opening its massive, razor-toothed maw, the dragon condensed a colossal beam of pitch-black, conceptual void energy and fired the Breath of the Void straight down toward Cynthia.
Cynthia hovered before the newborn sun, her golden-yellow hair streaming like wild plasma and her sun-ringed irises narrowing onto the incoming annihilation beam. She crossed her arms, her solar emblem flaring with white-hot radiance.
"Flare Blitz!" Cynthia roared.
Transforming into a blazing, meteor-like sun-projectile, Cynthia launched herself directly up into the descending pillar of void destruction.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The thermal force of her white plasma fire cleanly parted the void beam in half, instantly overpowering the dragon's breath. Cynthia slammed with full kinetic momentum straight into the center of the Void Drachoon's massive head.
The shockwave tore the skies apart.
The legendary Sword of Supernova, held tightly in the Drachoon's massive claw, slipped from its grasp and plummeted down toward the earth, embedding itself deep into the battlefield floor.
As the impact fractured the spatial boundary of the breach, both Cynthia and the colossal, staggering form of the Void Drachoon tumbled headfirst back through the swirling vortex of the dungeon gate—vanishing together into the abyssal dimension within.
[The Breach Within]
"I am going to help Cynthia!" Techyon shouted, his white-blue aura flaring to its absolute peak.
Before anyone could object, Techyon leaped directly off the vanguard line, soaring straight into the swirling, unstable vortex of the dungeon gate after his sister.
[The Glitch Domain]
BOOM!
Inside the twisted, obsidian realm of the internal dungeon layer, shockwaves of white starfire and dark void energy tore through the unnatural landscape.
Cynthia flipped mid-air, landing heavily on a floating mass of shattered spatial rock. Her sun-ringed irises tracked the shadowy silhouette of the Void Drachoon as it micro-teleported across the cavernous void.
'His movements... he's using that frame-skipping glitch again,' Cynthia realized mid-combat, her white-hot plasma hair whipping around her shoulders. 'He couldn't execute spatial micro-stutters out on Floor 1... which means his glitch-frame movement only works while he's inside the dungeon fabric!'
FLASH!
Before her thought could fully clear, the Void Drachoon vanished entirely, re-appearing directly behind her in a zero-frame spatial skip. Its massive, clawed arm swung out like a scythe.
Cynthia snapped her arm up, blocking the massive strike with her forearm guard, but the sheer kinetic momentum sent her skittering across the floating rock face.
"Let's make this interesting!" the Void Drachoon roared, its crimson eyes burning with malice.
Reaching over with its right claw, the beast gripped the pitch-black void blade carried in its left hand. With a harsh, metallic screech, the Drachoon pulled the weapon apart—multiplying the black blade into twin, corruption-oozing swords.
The monster launched forward, dual blades raised for a lethal, downward execution stroke.
ZIP!
Suddenly, a glowing, white-blue mana kunai pierced through the spatial tear, flying directly between Cynthia and the descending blades.
SWAP!
In a fraction of a microsecond, Techyon instantly swapped places with his thrown kunai. Mid-teleport, he spun his entire body, driving a heavy, light-speed kick straight into the Void Drachoon's jaw!
CRASSSSH!
The massive beast stumbled back, its dual blades scraping against the stone.
Techyon landed cleanly beside Cynthia, his light-matter aura swirling to shield her flank. He glanced over his shoulder, his brow furrowed. "Are you okay, sister?"
Cynthia pushed herself up, her golden hair flaring with intense heat as she locked eyes with the towering threat.
"We have to force him out of the dungeon," Cynthia gritted out.
Techyon blinked in surprise. "But sis—"
"I know," Cynthia interrupted, her tone grave as she held back the surging output of her core. "If I unleash a little bit of, unbridled capacity of my Arcon form out on Floor 1 without an absolute conceptual barrier... the entire surrounding universe will vaporize in seconds."