The tension thickened, hanging heavily between the two opponents, the Aqua Astro team and the Primordial Rhino. Silence consumed the battlefield, as if the very air had forgotten how to breathe. It felt as though a single misstep, a single heartbeat out of rhythm, could shatter the fragile balance.

"Groom..." The Primordial Rhino snorted in annoyance. It charged. The ground quaked beneath its massive frame. Its second horn, nestled behind the first, began to glow, a brilliant pulse of light surging from it. The energy rippled forward, flowing into the first horn. In a blinding instant, the first horn fired, unleashing a searing blast of laser light.

The beam shrieked, crying like a banshee as it tore through the air with relentless intensity. The atmosphere rippled. The earth hissed in protest beneath the beam's path.

Sensing the oncoming devastation, the energy link from the Celestial Convergence Formation snapped back to Beorn like a taut tether. The shift was swift. Precise. A desperate maneuver to shield those within the formation from the impending threat.

"Celestial Convergence: Aqua Compression Blade!"

Beorn roared, his voice echoing across the battlefield. Tidal surges of energy wrapped around his sword. The blade expanded, taking the form of a colossal water sword, compressed and glistening, radiating the immense pressure of the ocean's depths.

With a single, sweeping motion, Beorn sliced through the laser beam. The ground cracked beneath his feet, fracturing like glass. He slid backward, resisting the tremendous force of the impact. The beam split, diverging into two streams, each tearing into the landscape with scorching fury.

But victory came at a cost. Blood trickled from the mouths and noses of the eight subordinates maintaining the Celestial Convergence Formation. Their bodies trembled under the strain, a silent price paid for sustaining such power.

As the laser attack dissipated, the glowing energy sword encasing Beorn's blade faded, vanishing in wisps of mist and light. Beorn gasped, his weakened grip causing the sword to drop, its tip striking the ground with a sharp metallic clang. Leaning on the weapon for support, For a few precious seconds, he rested, drawing breath, gathering his waning strength.

Then, with a fierce battle cry. "Haaaaaa!" he raised his sword once more. Energy surged anew. The water sword reformed, larger and brighter, as though the ocean itself had answered his call.

"Celestial Convergence: Aqua Compression Blade!"

Beorn leapt high, slicing through the air with aqua energy trailing behind him, glittering like stars in motion. The gap between him and the beast closed rapidly. A moment stretched into eternity. His blade descended, aiming for the beast's head.

But it missed, by mere inches. Beorn's eyes widened, disbelief flashing across his face. Yet those few inches felt like the distance between two separate Astro Stations, a void spanning entire worlds.

Shock paralyzed him. Gravity showed no mercy. The force of his missed strike left him vulnerable. The energy sword howled, splitting the air with a deafening roar before Beorn crashed onto the ground with a bone-rattling impact. His upper body dipped low, knees bending to absorb the shattering force. But pain lanced through his legs, searing reminders of mortal limitations.

The air exploded downward under the compressed energy sword's impact. The ground shuddered. Dust and shattered pebbles burst upward, caught in the forceful air displaced by the descending blade. The very air roared, blowing sideways, as if the world itself exhaled in shock.

Enduring the pain for a moment, Beorn's veins bulged beside his temples, throbbing like serpents beneath his skin. With a fierce roar trapped in his throat, he lunged forward, swinging his massive energy-infused sword at the primordial beast's left front foot. Yet, as if fate itself mocked him, the strike missed by mere inches. Beorn's eyes widened, this gap wasn't an illusion, it felt like a chasm spanning worlds. But realization dawned too late. The force behind his swing dragged him forward, throwing him off balance.

The primordial Rihno seized the opportunity. It lifted its colossal leg, the air beneath echoing like sound traveling through a vacuum. The pressure carved waves through the atmosphere, slicing forward with a silent promise of destruction. Beorn reacted instinctively, rolling on the ground. The beast's foot thundered down, gouging a crater in the earth mere inches from him. He had escaped, but only by a hair's breadth.

"RROOOOORRRR!" The Rihno bellowed with glee, a predator savoring the helpless floundering of its prey. Its roar rattled the ground, vibrating through bone and soul. With a slow, menacing pull, it raised its foot again, revealing a perfect impression of its shape bored deep into the earth. The beast's eye gleamed with cruel intent, not realizing the surge enveloping Beorn' had vanished.

Just as the foot descended with crushing inevitability, a silent streak sliced through the air. A single arrow, moving with the speed of thought, struck the Rihno's right eye. The arrow vanished into the depths of its skull.

"RROOOOORRRR! RROOOOORRRR!" The beast reeled back, purple blood gushing like a river from the ruined eye. Its stagger shook the earth, each movement a thunderclap. Fury incarnate, it lashed out. Time seemed to slow. The air thickened, sound dulled, and the battlefield froze.

In the next breath, Lumina found herself cradled within Nyxander's arms. His knees pressed into the dirt, uniform scorched and tattered, hanging in burnt shreds. Her wide eyes darted around except for scattered debris, no fire, yet his clothes bore the marks of relentless flame. What had just happened?

A sudden, agonizing cry pierced the tension. Lumina's gaze snapped to her team. Horror clamped around her throat. Some lay sprawled on the ground, others writhed on their knees, their faces twisted in agony, as if for a heartbeat, time had shatter.

"What… happened?" she whispered, voice trembling. "All I did was fire at its eye… and now... this?"

Nyxander, his expression unreadable, helped her to her feet. With quiet strength, he stepped aside, revealing a deep, seared line in the earth stretching from their position to the beast. The air above the line shimmered, distorted like heat haze.

"The beast targeted you," Nyxander said, his voice low but steady. "It expanded space compressing distance, and fired its beam. The attack never traveled through space. It simply… arrived."

Lumina's breath hitched. Her gaze flitted along the scorched line, realization dawning like a cold dawn. "But… how? I knew it could expand space, fire beams… but striking without the attack even crossing the distance?"

Her words faded as the reality of their enemy's power set in. The battlefield lay silent but for the distant roar of the wounded beast, still looming, still hungry.

Normally, light travels through time within a particular space, making it possible to intercept. However, the case of the primordial Rihno, it possesses a terrifying synergy which defied such logic. It ability to merge space and light into a single continuum. By expanding space itself and allowing light to traverse alongside it, time itself is bypassed, as it has yet to exist in that expanded dimension. This fusion enables the light beam to strike instantaneously, hitting its target as if no distance existed between them, an attack too swift for the mortal eye to perceive, too relentless to counter.

The attack, driven by sheer rage, was meant for Lumina. Yet, the devastating impact hurled her subordinates aside like fragile leaves caught in a storm. Their formation had been forcefully torn apart, leaving them with grievous internal injuries from the backlash and external wounds from the sheer force of the strike.

Nyxander gently supported Lumina as she staggered toward her injured subordinates. Their feet crunched over shattered debris, each step echoing through the broken silence like whispers of defeat. Silent tears carved paths through the dust on Lumina's face, glistening like fragile crystals. Her gaze drifted, scanning each fallen subordinate, the ones who still writhed in pain, their voices weak with agony, and the others lying motionless, half-buried beneath rubble and dust.

In that desperate stillness, a voice sliced through the air.

"Bo... Boss!"

Nyxander's head snapped toward the sound—reflex sharp, eyes narrowing. Karl and his squad emerged from the smoke, flanked by the triplet sisters. They strode across the battlefield, their expressions shifting from shock to concern as they surveyed the destruction—the shattered homes, broken ground littered with pebbles and debris.

Their footsteps slowed as they drew closer to Nyxander. His gaze met theirs, composed yet glinting with restrained fury. His voice broke the tense silence.

"Why are you late?" The words were calm, but the sharp edge of anger bled through.

Before Karl could respond, Lumina lifted a weary hand, her voice soft but firm, carrying the weight of exhaustion and authority.

"There's no need to blame them," she murmured. "I ordered them to ensure the people evacuated safely. Fear robbed them of their sense of direction. Someone had to guide them."

Karl's eyes flickered with guilt as he scanned the field, as if searching for something—or someone.

"But... the Flame Astro team," he muttered, his voice rising with mounting dread. "They aren't here yet, are they?"

The air hung heavy with despair. The battlefield, once brimming with determination, now stood as a graveyard of broken dreams and fading hopes. Yet, amidst the ruin, Nyxander's unwavering presence remained, a silent promise that this fight was far from over.

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