"Defense!" Valeria's voice rang out. The Vanguard had formed a shield wall around the plaza. "Hold the line! Do not let them pass!"

The clash was instantaneous. The Blood of Engels threw themselves at the students with mindless ferocity. Shields buckled. Armor crumpled. These were Level 45 elites, far stronger than the average student.

"We're being overrun!" a Vanguard lieutenant shouted as a black spear pierced his shoulder.

"Arin! Now!" Alvian commanded.

Arin, standing in the center of the formation, unleashed his spell.

"[Heaven's Judgement]!"

A pillar of blinding white light erupted from the plaza, piercing the darkness. The Blood of Engels shrieked as the holy light burned their void-formed bodies. Their regeneration halted. Their defense crumbled.

"Counter-attack!" Valeria roared, sensing the weakness. She led the charge, her claymore glowing with golden light, cleaving through three monsters at once.

Alvian didn't join the melee. He watched the sky. The hand had withdrawn, but now, a face was pressing against the barrier. A face of infinite sorrow and rage. Engels was trying to push his head through. If he succeeded, his breath alone would freeze the island instantly.

"He's too big," Seraphina's voice came over the comms. "Alvian, the island is cracking. The gravity stress from his presence is tearing the foundation apart. We have maybe twenty minutes before the Academy splits in two."

"Then we have twenty minutes to kill a God," Alvian said.

He scanned the rift. He saw them. Four massive chains of mana, extending from the rift and anchoring into the four corners of the floating island. They were pulling Engels down—or pulling the island up into his maw.

[System Analysis: Void Anchors Detected.]

[Status: Indestructible by Physical Means.]

"He's tethered himself to us," Alvian realized. "He's using the island as a lifeline to pull himself into reality."

"Can you cut them?" Valeria asked, breathless from the fighting.

"Not from here," Alvian said. "I need to get close. And I can't do it alone. He has a defensive field around the anchors."

Alvian looked at his team. They were fighting for their lives against the horde. But he needed them. This wasn't a solo boss fight anymore. This was a raid.

"Squad Alpha-9," Alvian's voice was calm, authoritative. "New Objective. We are going to the sky. Valeria, I need you to tank the attention of the God. Seraphina, locate the weak points on the anchors. Arin, you keep the lights on."

"Tank a God?" Valeria laughed, a frantic, bordered-on-hysterical sound. "Sure. Why not? Tuesday, right?"

"Grab on," Alvian ordered.

He activated [Runic Aegis +2]. He expanded the runes, forming a platform. The team jumped on.

"System. Maximize [Frost Heart]. Flight Mode."

Alvian launched them into the air, flying straight toward the face of the Demon God.

--------

The ascent was a journey through a hurricane of mana. The air was so cold it burned. Wind buffeted Alvian's runic platform, threatening to throw them off into the void.

Above them, the face of Engels filled the sky. It was a landscape of frozen craters and abyssal eyes. As they approached, the God noticed them.

"PESTS," the voice boomed.

Engels opened his mouth. A swirling vortex of blue energy began to gather.

"[Breath of the Void]," Alvian identified it instantly. "Shields!"

Valeria stepped to the front of the platform. She didn't just raise her shield. She activated her [Titan Bloodline] fully. Her body grew, her armor expanding with her until she stood eight feet tall, a golden giantess.

"[Titan's Aegis: Absolute Defense]!"

A massive, golden dome materialized around the platform just as the beam of blue fire hit them.

"BOOM!"

The impact was deafening. The platform shook violently. Valeria screamed as the weight of the attack pressed down on her. Her boots cracked the runic floor. Her HP bar plummeted.

[-5,000... -5,000... -5,000...]

"Heal her!" Alvian shouted, pouring his own mana into the runes to keep the platform stable.

Arin, terrified but functional, cast [Greater Restoration] repeatedly. His mana drained rapidly, but Alvian reached out and touched his shoulder, using the [Lance of the Void Winter]'s absorption ability in reverse, feeding his infinite mana into the mage.

"Infinite ammo," Alvian said. "Keep casting."

The breath attack ended. The golden dome shattered, and Valeria collapsed to one knee, smoking. But they were alive. And they were close to the first Anchor.

It was a chain the thickness of a castle tower, made of writhing shadow, hooked into the northern edge of the island. Surrounding it was a barrier of spinning void blades.

"Seraphina!" Alvian pointed.

"I see it!" Seraphina shouted. "The barrier has a rhythm. There's a gap every three seconds!"

"Mark it!"

Seraphina's mechanical eye whirred. A laser grid projected from her eye, highlighting the path through the spinning blades.

"Now!"

Alvian dove. He navigated the platform through the deadly maze of blades, following Seraphina's guidance. They reached the chain.

"Valeria, smash the casing! Alvian, cut the core!" Seraphina ordered.

Valeria forced herself up. She roared, swinging her claymore at the outer shell of the chain.

"CLANG!"

The shell cracked. Dark energy leaked out. Alvian saw the core—a pulsing vein of violet light.

"[Voidpiercer]."

He stabbed the dagger into the crack.

"Sever."

The dagger cut through the dimensional anchor like it was paper. The chain snapped with the sound of a thunderclap. The backlash of energy whipped out, but Alvian absorbed it with his [Vestments].

"One down!" Arin cheered.

"Three to go," Alvian said grimly. "And he knows we're here now."

Engels roared in pain. The loss of an anchor destabilized him. He couldn't use his breath attack again so soon. Instead, he summoned help.

Pores on the God's face opened, and swarms of winged gargoyles burst forth. Thousands of them.

[Enemy Spawned: Void Gargoyles]

[Level: 40]

[Status: Swarm]

They clouded the sky, diving toward the platform.

"I can't tank all of those!" Valeria yelled.

"You don't have to," Alvian said. He looked at Arin. "Make them blind."

Arin raised his staff. "[Supernova Flash]!"

A pulse of light exploded. The gargoyles, creatures of the dark void, shrieked as their eyes burned. They crashed into each other, their formation breaking.

Alvian seized the moment. "System. [Frost Descent +2]. Aerial Configuration."

He didn't cast it on the ground. He cast it on the cloud of monsters. A blizzard manifested in mid-air, freezing the blinded gargoyles solid. They rained down from the sky like hail.

"Move!" Alvian pushed the platform toward the second anchor.

They fell into a rhythm. Seraphina found the weakness. Valeria smashed the shell. Arin provided support and blinding light. Alvian delivered the killing blow.

Second anchor down. Third anchor down.

By the time they reached the fourth anchor, the God was desperate. He stopped summoning minions. He stopped using breath attacks. He reached out with his remaining hand to grab the platform directly.

It was a hand the size of a mountain moving to crush a fly.

"He's going to grab us!" Seraphina screamed.

"Let him try," Alvian said.

He looked at his team. They were spent. Valeria's armor was in tatters. Arin was hyperventilating. Seraphina was bleeding from her nose from the strain of using her Chrono-eye.

"Jump," Alvian ordered.

"What?!"

"Jump off the platform. Now!"

They hesitated for a fraction of a second, then obeyed. They leaped into the open air, thousands of feet above the ground.

Alvian stayed on the platform. He watched the massive hand closing in.

"System. Overload [Runic Aegis]. Detonate."

He didn't just let the hand hit the runes. He pumped every ounce of his 4,500 mana/sec regeneration into the construct until it glowed white-hot.

The hand closed around the platform.

"BOOM!"

The explosion was nuclear. The magical backlash blew the God's hand apart, shattering fingers and palm alike.

Alvian was thrown clear by the blast, free-falling. He activated his wings, swooping down to catch his team with a wind spell, slowing their descent until they landed on the final anchor.

The God howled, a sound of true fear. He had no hands. He had one anchor left.

Alvian landed on the chain. He didn't wait for Valeria to break the shell. He didn't wait for Seraphina to find the path.

He placed his hand on the chain.

"[Genesis Mode]: Reactivate."

[Warning! Soul Damage Imminent.]

"Do it."

His stats doubled again. His strength hit 540. He didn't cut the chain. He ripped it out of the island's bedrock with his bare hands.

"CRACK-BOOM!"

The final tether snapped.

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