The Void-Colossus let out a bone-chilling shriek as it lunged toward the defenseless Isolde. But before its chitinous claws could pierce her, a streak of amber-gold light blurred across the ravine.
"**Mina, Expand!**" Caelum commanded.
The golden gauntlet on his arm didn't just glow; it liquefied. Mina detached from his arm in a high-pressure stream, flying through the air like a sentient whip. Upon impact with the beast, she didn't bounce off—she spread, her liquid body coating the Colossus's massive legs and thorax in a shimmering, golden film.
As a perfect solvent saturated with Caelum's Gold Aether, Mina's touch was catastrophic for the Void-beast. The black, jagged carapace began to hiss and bubble, the golden slime eating through the reinforced chitin as if it were parchment. The beast's movements became sluggish, its limbs sticking to the ground as Mina's non-Newtonian properties hardened her grip wherever the creature struggled.
"Now, Xavia! Find the breach!"
Xavia didn't need to be told twice. While the beast was preoccupied with the golden acid melting its armor, she vanished into the long shadows of the ravine. She reappeared like a ghost directly beneath the monster's underbelly, where Mina had thinned the armor to a translucent grey. With a silent, predatory snarl, Xavia thrust her obsidian-coated daggers into the softened flesh, twisting them to rip open a jagged vent that exposed the beast's pulsating, purple core.
"Caelum, go!" Lyra cried out. She slammed her hands into the ground, a massive cyclone of teal wind erupting beneath Caelum's feet.
The wind didn't just push him; it bonded with his own energy. Caelum became a projectile of **Gold-Wind Synthesis**, his agility boosted to the point where he appeared as nothing more than a golden lightning bolt. He soared over the struggling beast, his right hand cocking back as Mina flowed back onto his fist, hardening into a massive, spiked crystalline knuckleduster.
"Evaluation: **Terminal**," Caelum growled.
He drove his fist directly into the breach Xavia had created. The impact was visceral—the sound of shattering glass and exploding Aether. Caelum unleashed the full, pressurized volume of his Gold Aether directly into the beast's core.
The Void-Colossus didn't just die; it underwent a total molecular collapse. A shockwave of gold, teal, and obsidian energy ripped through the ravine, blowing back the mist and forcing Isolde and Seraphina to shield their eyes. The beast disintegrated into harmless ash, leaving only Caelum standing in the center of the crater, his hand still glowing with the amber light of Mina.
Isolde sat on the dirt, her silver hair matted with sweat, looking up at Caelum with a gaze that was no longer just fearful—it was completely shattered. She had spent her life believing in the purity of her Ice, but she had just watched a commoner use a "slime," a shadow-girl, and a wind-mage as if they were simple tools in a master's laboratory.
Seraphina limped forward, her magenta Aether pulsing weakly. "You... you saved us," she panted, her eyes lingering on the way Caelum's uniform was torn, revealing his corded muscles. "I knew you were a monster in the sheets, Caelum... but in the field? You're a god."
Xavia walked over, wiping a smear of purple blood from her cheek, her eyes fixed on the exhausted Isolde. "She's ripe, Caelum," Xavia whispered, her voice a low, dark tease. "The Ice Queen is finally at her boiling point. Look at her... she's shaking."
Lyra landed softly beside them, her teal Aether fluttering. She looked at the group—two women he had already claimed, and two more who were now utterly indebted to him.
"The sun is going down," Lyra noted, her voice dropping into a suggestive lilt. "And the Commander said we had to stay in the woods until dawn. We need to find a place to... *stabilize* our energy."