Following the voice, Rosalina swung her sword in a deadly arc.

The blade sliced through the air with a sharp whistle, moving so fast it left only a faint silver trail behind it.

The strike came straight at Miasma’s neck, filling the woman’s wide eyes with nothing but cold, flashing steel.

But Miasma stayed completely calm. She did not flinch or step back.

Two small blue birds shot forward in that same moment.

They did not fly fast, they simply appeared, like they had teleported through space itself.

In the blink of an eye, the two birds stopped right in front of the incoming sword and snapped together, forming a solid, glowing shield.

Clang!

The loud, ringing clash echoed across the room as the shield stopped the sword cold.

Sparks flew from the point of impact, and the force of the blocked strike sent a small vibration through the air.

On the other side, Julius did not waste a single second.

He yanked a long spear out with a quick, powerful motion and thrust it forward with everything he had. The sharp tip raced straight toward Miasma’s throat, aimed to pierce deep and end the fight.

Miasma moved her hand in a small, almost lazy wave. In the next instant, another blue bird appeared right in front of her, blocking the path.

The tiny bird hovered for a split second, then opened its small beak. But the mouth did not stay small.

It stretched wider and wider in an instant, growing huge until it looked like a dark, gaping door ready to swallow anything.

The sight was shocking, such a tiny creature turning into something so massive in the space of a heartbeat.

Julius finished his strong thrust, muscles tight and eyes locked on target.

But the spear went straight into the enormous open mouth of the blue bird, disappearing inside without touching Miasma at all.

"My turn!" Miasma called out with a sharp, mocking laugh.

As Julius and Rosalina kept attacking without pause, she moved her fingers in quick, graceful patterns.

Right away, more blue birds appeared all around her.

They swirled and spun faster and faster, forming a tight, spinning ring that glowed with strange power.

The circle of birds created a living wall of wings and sharp chirps that filled the air with noise and motion.

Julius and Rosalina saw the danger at once and quickly pulled back, retreating across the cracked floor.

Their feet moved fast, eyes never leaving the spinning birds.

She wasn’t using any big spells. She was only controlling these blue birds from her domain.

Yet each bird felt like its own separate spell, with a different wild ability that could be almost anything.

One might explode, another could freeze the air, and the next might steal speed or vanish weapons.

The possibilities made them terrifying.

"It’s a weird domain..." Rosalina said while retreating.

Her voice came out low and tense. Her face had lost all its usual playful glow. The easy smile was gone, replaced by tight lines of worry.

Julius looked the same, his jaw clenched hard, golden eyes narrowed with strain.

Fighting a void core specialist with a fully formed domain like this felt like suicide.

The power gap was huge, and every move she made carried deadly weight. Still, they had no other choice.

They had to fight with everything they had. Because if they lost, they would die... or face something far worse.

So they kept fighting, dodging and striking while they waited desperately for the dean to arrive.

"Do you have any spells that can stop her domain for just a bit?" Julius asked as he pulled back farther.

His breathing was heavy now. The round shield he had summoned earlier was getting hammered from every side.

Loud bangs and crashes shook it nonstop.

Cracks had started spreading across its surface like thin spiderwebs, and it was clear the shield could not hold much longer.

"I don’t have anything..." Rosalina shook her head, her voice heavy and grim.

She kept moving backward, eyes fixed on the swirling birds.

"She isn’t using any time path spells at all. With all those time path runes glowing across her body, one single spell could have ended us already... but she is playing with us."

Her words trailed off. A new thought suddenly hit her hard, and her eyes widened slightly.

Before she could speak again, Julius finished the idea for her.

"Why would she play with us?" he asked softly, his tone low but urgent.

It was strange. Her domain was incredibly powerful. It worked like a passive ability that helped her control the battlefield and cast spells with total freedom.

On the surface it looked simple, just birds flying around, but if she combined them with her real spells, the attack would become far more terrifying.

Yet she held back every time path spell. There could only be one reason for that.

"Her runes are chaotic!" Julius reached the conclusion in an instant.

Runes were like the laws of nature itself.

When a cultivator passed each heavenly trial, these special runes, the laws of their chosen path, attached to their body.

The more trials they completed, the stronger their spells became.

For example, after passing the second trial, every spell grew twice as powerful as normal.

After the third trial, three times stronger. It kept increasing all the way up to five times after the fifth trial.

That was why her choice made sense now. She was not using her time path spells because her runes were in chaos.

The runes she carried were far more powerful than her current core could safely handle.

She had sacrificed most of her cultivation to survive for the past thousand years.

Even though her power was slowly coming back, her core was not yet strong enough to control those ancient runes.

If she forced herself to use those high-level time spells before her core fully recovered to its old infinite core stage, the backlash would crush her from the inside, damaging both her core and her soul.

Just like what happened earlier when she healed her throat wound.

The realization hit them both at the same time. Miasma’s cultivation was still recovering. That small window gave them a real chance.

As these thoughts raced through his mind, Julius’s eyes sharpened with new focus.

Miasma’s cultivation was still recovering, which meant he and Rosalina still had a real chance.

"Rose!" Julius called out while dodging the blue birds.

Rosalina, who was weaving and evading right beside him, turned her head immediately.

"Go all out," he said, his voice firm and steady. "This is our chance. Until she fully recovers, we have to injure her badly!"

As he spoke, he sidestepped another diving bird and brought his hands together in front of his chest.

Rosalina gave a quick, determined nod and focused deeply on her own casting.

"Infinite cast!" Julius shouted as he stepped straight toward Miasma.

She was using her blue birds to attack and defend at the same time, but Julius kept his glowing golden eyes locked on her without fear.

"I don’t have any spells of the law path..." he muttered. A small wave of regret passed through his heart.

Law path spells would have been perfect right now. But most of the spells he knew came from his father and mother. His mother followed the space path, and his father followed the fire path.

’Still, these spells are more than strong enough,’ he thought, pushing the regret aside as he finished his cast.

He raised his palm. A fiery eagle formed above it. The bird was not very big, but every feather and claw burned with bright, raging flames.

"Bird’s space: first form..." Julius said clearly. He threw the eagle forward with a powerful motion. "Eagle of destruction!"

"Screeech!! "

The fire eagle shot into the air with a piercing cry that cut through the chaos.

It spread its burning wings and dived straight down toward Miasma like a falling comet.

The moment it appeared, blue birds rushed to meet it. At least twenty of them flew up fast and surrounded the eagle in a tight, swirling cluster.

The eagle let out one final, furious screech before it exploded.

A massive fiery wave burst outward, swallowing all the blue birds around it in roaring flames.

"Space bomb!" Julius followed up instantly.

As the fire swelled, he reached out with his hand and made a sharp grabbing motion toward Miasma.

Whoosh!

The space around Miasma’s head suddenly twisted and folded in on itself. The air warped and bent like crumpled paper.

She reacted quickly, pulling down several blue birds to take the hit. The birds vanished instantly into the distorted space.

"Impressive spells..." Miasma muttered, a hint of surprise in her voice.

She raised her hand high, and the remaining blue birds followed like an angry swarm of bees.

They rushed toward Julius and Rosalina in a deadly wave.

But right at that moment, Rosalina spoke up.

"Rose petal eyes..."

The world around them began to change. Bright red petals started forming everywhere.

The ground, the walls, and everything in the room slowly transformed into floating red petals that drifted and spun through the air.

Rosalina pressed both hands over her eyes.

Fresh blood trickled down her cheeks from beneath her palms. Her gaze stayed locked on Miasma, her pupils shrinking with intense focus.

"Endless petals of blade..."