Episode-1034
Chapter : 2067
Lloyd stepped out from behind the barrier, standing next to her. He could feel the power coming off her—it wasn't a hostile cold, not to him. It felt like a solid, unshakeable support. For the first time in his life, he felt like he didn't have to carry the entire world on his shoulders. He had a partner who could hold up her half.
Lloyd looked at the Titan Squad. "Rook! Valkyrie! Move the injured to the keep! The pressure is gone, but this won't last forever. Go!"
"On it, Boss!" Ren shouted. The mechs began to scramble, clearing the courtyard of the wounded soldiers and the terrified staff.
Lloyd turned his attention back to the Devil King. He flexed his metal fingers, the hydraulics of his suit whining in the silent air. He could feel his mana starting to stabilize. The presence of Rosa’s domain was actually acting as a buffer, shielding him from the Fire Fly jammers.
"You heard the lady," Lloyd said to Lucifer. He allowed a dark, predatory grin to spread across his face. "Your tricks aren't working anymore."
Lucifer was shaking with rage. His face, which had been so handsome and composed, was twisted into a mask of pure hate. He was a King of Pride, and he had just been told that he was powerless by a human woman.
"You think you've won?" Lucifer hissed. "You think because you can stall for time, you can defeat me? I am a Prince of the Seventh Circle! I have the backing of a galaxy! I will burn this island to the ground and dance on your ashes!"
Lucifer’s wings flared out, dark energy dripping from the feathers like ink. He was losing his human shape, the demonic power inside him starting to warp his white armor.
"The 'Stillness' will break!" Lucifer screamed. "And when it does, I will make you watch as I tear your husband apart!"
Rosa didn't answer with words. She simply tightened her grip on her ice spear. The blue-white light in her eyes flared brighter, matching the intensity of the silver moonlight.
Lloyd stepped into a combat stance, his right arm beginning to glow with the golden light of the Nova spirit. He could feel the fusion reactor in his suit humming, ready to dump every ounce of power into a single, decisive strike.
Standing together—the King of Steel and the Queen of Ice—they prepared to launch their counter-attack. The silence of the domain was the only warning Lucifer received before the storm began.
The silence that Rosa had created with her domain of absolute stillness didn't last long. It couldn't. When three god-like beings decided to kill each other, the quiet was just the deep breath before the scream.
Lucifer moved first. The Devil King of Pride wasn't used to being told "no," and he certainly wasn't used to his gravity magic being turned off by a human woman. His white armor flared with a sickly purple light, the "Reality Anchor" on his chest pumping raw power from the dropships above directly into his veins.
"You think you can freeze the King of the Abyss?" Lucifer shouted. He didn't cast a spell. He just punched the air.
A shockwave of pure kinetic force, amplified by his suit’s hydraulics, tore across the courtyard. It was aimed right at Rosa. It was enough force to knock down a castle wall.
But Lloyd was already moving.
He didn't need to communicate with Rosa. He didn't need to shout a warning or come up with a complex plan. For the first time in two lifetimes, they were looking at the same enemy, and they understood the assignment perfectly.
As Lloyd sprinted forward, the ground beneath him was uneven, filled with rubble and craters from the earlier fighting. It was bad terrain for a charge. But Rosa was watching.
Rosa flicked her wrist. She didn't look at Lloyd; she looked at the space in front of him.
Snap.
The moisture in the air instantly froze. A smooth, flat ramp of diamond-hard ice materialized out of thin air, bridging a massive crater. Lloyd didn't even look down. He trusted her. He ran up the ramp, his boots gripping the ice perfectly because Rosa had textured the surface for traction.
Lloyd launched himself into the air, aiming for Lucifer’s head.
"Cute," Lucifer sneered. He raised his hand to swat Lloyd out of the sky like a fly.
But as Lucifer’s hand moved, it slowed down.
Chapter : 2068
Rosa’s "Zero-Zone" defense wasn't just about making walls. It was about controlling the battlefield. She focused her Sovereign power on the air around Lucifer’s arm. She dropped the temperature so low that the atoms in the air stopped vibrating. The air became thick, like invisible syrup.
Lucifer’s punch, which should have been faster than the speed of sound, turned into a slow-motion swing. He looked confusingly at his own limb, watching it drag through the frozen air.
"Too slow," Lloyd said.
Lloyd didn't use a sword. He didn't use a gun. He reached into his blood.
"[Steel Blood]: Sandstorm."
This wasn't the heavy chains he usually used. Chains were strong, but they were heavy. Today, he needed speed. He needed erosion.
From the pores of his skin, millions of tiny, microscopic flecks of Star-Metal erupted. It looked like a cloud of silver glitter. Lloyd swung his arm, and the cloud swarmed forward.
It hit Lucifer.
If Lloyd had hit him with a hammer, Lucifer’s armor would have absorbed the impact. But this was a sandstorm made of razor blades. The millions of tiny metal shards swirled around the Devil King like a grinder. They sought out the joints in his white armor. They scratched at the sensors. They tore at the black cables pulsing under his skin.
SCREEEEEEE.
The sound of metal stripping metal was excruciating. Lucifer roared in annoyance, covering his face as the steel dust ate away at his pristine white shell.
"Get off me!" Lucifer yelled.
He released a burst of gravity, pushing the steel cloud away. But the moment he did, Rosa was there.
She didn't attack him directly. She attacked his footing.
The ground beneath Lucifer’s feet turned into frictionless black ice. At the same time, she created jagged spikes of ice directly behind his heels.
Lucifer slipped. Ideally, a King doesn't slip. A King floats. But Rosa’s domain of "Stillness" was messing with his ability to fly. He stumbled backward, his balance ruined.
Lloyd landed on the ground, skidding to a halt. He looked at Rosa. She was standing twenty feet away, her silver hair floating in the cold wind she created. She looked pale, her energy draining fast, but her eyes were locked on the enemy with a terrifying intensity.
She gave him a tiny nod. Go.
Lloyd didn't hesitate. He pushed off the ground again. This was the "Symphony." It wasn't just two people fighting at the same time. It was a rhythm. Rosa set the tempo, creating the openings, controlling the board. Lloyd was the instrument, delivering the violence exactly where it needed to be.
Lucifer recovered his balance, his face twisted in genuine anger now. His helmet was scratched, his white armor pitted and dull from the steel sand.
"You act like you are equals," Lucifer hissed. "You are insects. One freezes, one cuts. It is annoying. But it is not enough."
Lucifer slammed his hands together. The purple light in his chest flared brighter.
"Let’s see how you handle heat."
The shoulder pads of Lucifer’s armor slid back. Two dark, mechanical barrels extended from his suit. These weren't magical devices. They were Fire Fly tech.
"Plasma Casters," Lloyd identified instantly. "High-yield."
"Burn," Lucifer said.
Two beams of superheated red plasma shot out. They were aimed at Rosa. Lucifer knew she was the one controlling the field. If he took out the controller, the fighter would fall.
The beams moved at the speed of light. There was no dodging them.
But Rosa didn't try to dodge. She didn't build a wall of ice, knowing it would melt instantly. Instead, she attacked the concept of the heat itself.
She reached out with both hands, grasping the empty air as if she were strangling a snake.
"Thermal Halt."
The red beams hit an invisible barrier about ten feet in front of her. But they didn't bounce off. They stopped.
It was an impossible sight. The plasma, which was pure energy, began to slow down. The red light dimmed. The heat was sucked out of the attack in a fraction of a second. The plasma turned from a beam of destruction into a cloud of warm, red gas, and then into a dusting of red snow that fell harmlessly to the ground.
Rosa had frozen the fire.
Lloyd used the distraction. While Lucifer was staring at his failed attack, Lloyd flanked him.
He formed a spear of condensed Steel Blood in his hand. He didn't throw it. He drove it forward like a pile-driver.
THUD.