Ais, who was moving in a spiraling dance of emerald light... her figure cloaked in a living tempet... suddenly felt a strange sensation ripple through her body.
"Huh? My wind... why is it not responding properly?"
Her brows furrowed, her expression twisting into confusion.
This was something she had never felt before.
The gales that had once obeyed her every command now hesitated, faltering midair as if questioning her intent.
The roaring winds softened, uncertain.
'Looks like I've established some sort of resonance.'
For a fleeting instant, Judas felt it too... an echo deep in his soul, faint yet familiar.
A delicate thread connecting him to her magic.
It wasn't control.
Not yet.
But there was influence.
His will brushed gently against the essence of her wind... and the wind listened.
Ais' breath hitched.
"What... is this feeling...?"
Her sword arm trembled as she sensed her magic fluctuating, the once steady rhythm of her tempest breaking apart into uneven surges.
Judas' gaze sharpened as realization dawned on him.
"It's not as strong as Estelon when he had absolute command over spirit magic... but this is enough for confirmation."
He exhaled slowly, extending his hand toward her.
The air between them began to shimmer, rippling with invisible pressure.
Ais' eyes widened as she felt it... the wind around her body, the very core of her Ariel, was tilting toward Judas' presence, responding to him.
"Impossible..."
She whispered, disbelief lacing her voice.
She could feel her Ariel weakening second by second, the emerald colored wind that protected her and helped her slay her enemies was slowly slipping out of her control.
"No."
Panic surged through her chest.
She clenched her scabbard, golden eyes blazing as she lunged forward, feet exploding against the ground.
'I just have to stop him before he takes complete control over my Ariel!'
But the desperation made her reckless.
Her movements, usually sharp and precise, became rushed... her balance off, her form imperfect.
And in those fleeting moments of imbalance...
Judas took the opportunity to strike.
Sliding through the flickering wind currents she could no longer fully command, he appeared at her flank like a phantom, eyes gleaming with grim focus.
"You are full of openings."
With his hand covered in a faint emerald colored wind.
"Because you lost your composure."
His fist slammed forward, breaking through her half-formed wind barrier.
Ais' body was hurled backward, slamming against the dirt before she skidded to a stop, her boots carving twin trails across the ground.
Her emerald wind sputtered wildly, slowly breaking apart into unstable currents.
"No way!"
"Ais!"
"What happened to her magic!?"
"Why does it look like it's becoming unstable!?"
"Holy crap! The rookie might actually pull it off!"
The crowd erupted, the stands trembling under the combined roar of astonishment and disbelief.
Dozens of voices overlapped in chaos, yet all eyes remained locked on the two figures standing in the center of the field.
"Riveria..."
"Did Judas just override Ais' wind?"
Finn's brows furrowed deeply, his gaze sharp as he turned toward the high elf beside him.
"It seems so."
Riveria said quietly, her tone tense.
Her green eyes didn't once leave the battlefield.
"A person taking over someone else's magic... I've never heard of something like that before."
She murmured, pursing her lips in thought.
"How's that even possible?"
Gareth rumbled beside her, crossing his arms, confusion etched into his rugged features.
Riveria didn't reply.
Not because she ignored him... but because she had no answer.
For Finn, Riveria, and Gareth... the three pillars of the Loki Familia... this moment wasn't just shocking.
It was something that they couldn't comprehend.
Not because Judas had somehow gained the upper hand...
But because of what it implied.
"Loki..."
Riveria finally said, her voice low.
"What are his origins? Judas Spade... who is he really?"
The goddess in question leaned lazily against the railing, her eyes half-lidded but gleaming with a hint of speculation beneath the playful mask she wore.
Out of everyone in the Familia, only the four of them knew the truth about Ais... her bloodline, her birthright.
The daughter of the Great Spirit Aria and the Mercenary King, Albert Waldstein.
A mortal born from spirit and man.
'Is Judas... the same as Ais?'
Riveria thought.
The theory made sense... but at the same time, it didn't.
Even if Judas had somehow inherited a purer spirit lineage, Aria's domain was the wind... and as her daughter, Ais inherited that power by blood and birthright.
There was no reason someone could simply override it.
Even if it was another spirit.
And yet...
Riveria's sharp senses... the refined perception of a high elf... had been reacting to Judas since the moment she met him.
His aura wasn't like a human's.
It was calm, vast, and ancient... the kind of presence she'd only ever felt from spirits and divine beings.
'In ninety-nine years of life, I've never met a human whose presence harmonizes with nature so perfectly.'
She thought with crossed arms.
Her emerald eyes shifted toward Loki.
"In the end, my speculations mean nothing. Loki... I can only ask you directly."
Loki's grin faltered for a split second under their stares.
Then she tilted her head and shrugged.
"Well, to be honest with ya..."
She said with a lazy drawl.
"I don't actually know that much."
Three jaws dropped simultaneously.
"What?!"
"Didn't you recruit him because you saw through his potential with your godly intuition?"
Finn asked incredulously.
"Hmm..."
Loki tapped her chin.
"I was dead drunk that night, so my memory's kinda fuzzy."
"Don't tell me—"
"Yup!"
Loki grinned cheekily.
"I think I just recruited him on a whim!"
Finn buried his face in his hand. Gareth groaned. Riveria visibly twitched.
Even amidst the chaos of the arena, the exasperated sighs of the executives nearly drowned out the crowd's cheers.
Meanwhile, the battle between Judas and Ais was reaching its climax.
With every strike exchanged, the air itself seemed to compress under the sheer force of their blows, bursts of shockwaves rippling through the surroundings.
Ais, true to her years of experience as an adventurer, had quickly regained her composure and tilted the odds back in her favor.
However, with each passing second, her Ariel grew weaker and weaker.
But that wasn't the only problem.
'My arms... they feel heavy. Why am I getting slower?'
Ais grit her teeth and pressed on.
『Zero Friction』
A magic circle flared beneath her feet, and for a split second, she nearly lost her balance.
Seizing the opening, Judas drove his heel into her stomach, sending her skidding across the ground.
'Looks like the damage I inflicted earlier is finally taking effect.'
Judas noted how her movements had turned sluggish, her breathing strained and uneven.
He knew the reason why.
Ais Wallenstein, having just returned from an expedition without a moment of rest, was already worn and fatigued before the fight had even begun.
'The exhaustion had finally caught up to her.'
This was a key reason he had an easier time against her than he ever did with Alise or Kaguya.
There was also the fact that he was not restricting his use of magic.
And with the hundreds of attack spells he had unleashed earlier... though they hadn't seemed to do much at first... the damage had built up, little by little.
It didn't matter if she was a first-class adventurer; she was still mortal, and her stamina was beginning to run dry.
'Well... I can say the same for myself.'
He could feel his own body screaming at him to stop, to rest.
The spells that strengthened him were tearing his body apart.
'I guess it's thanks to my passive healing ability that I can still move at all.'
Which was why—
'I'm ending this with the next move.'
Everyone watching held their breath.
Time itself seemed to hesitate... as if the world itself awaited the strike that would decide the victor.
Meanwhile...
In the depths of the artificial dungeon, Knossos.
A woman with medium-length pink hair and yellow eyes could be seen walking down a dark hallway.
This was Valletta Grede, one of the leading figures of Evilus.
When her eyes spotted a tall figure clad in armor, standing guard before a metal door, her steps froze... and her lips twisted into a grin.
"Hey… you soulless puppet. Is your master still inside?"
Valletta asked, but the armored figure gave no reply.
Seeing this, she clicked her tongue in disdain.
"Look at you... reduced to nothing more than an obedient soldier following orders."
"How the mighty have fallen, don't you think so, Zald the Gluttony?"
The armored figure did not respond to her provocation in the slightest.
Valletta chuckled softly before shifting her gaze back to the metal door.
'The Demon King, huh?'
She could feel it... her instincts screamed at her.
A powerful presence was lurking inside, far more terrifying than the Level 7 puppet standing before her.
Even now, just standing here, every fiber of her being warned her not to approach.
'What a monster.'
She thought as a bead of sweat trickled down the side of her face.
On the other side of the metal door, a shadowy figure sat motionless in a dimly lit room, illuminated only by the faint glow of a magic circle etched into the floor.
Inside the figure's chest, vast amounts of mana pulsed like waves.
A mana core shone brightly, and six stars orbited it like a miniature solar system.
When the figure opened his eyes, the space around him trembled violently... causing the entire Knossos to shake.
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