Chapter 1326: No Path Through Fire

On the other side, Feylora moved up beside Seraphina.

Green energy spread from under her feet, forming a soft, soothing barrier. The shield enveloped the teammates who’d temporarily fallen back into it, and tiny green motes kept drifting down over everyone’s bodies, replenishing what they’d burned earlier.

Feylora turned her head toward Ethan.

"Master, aren’t you coming?"

Ethan took one step—then stopped.

Something was off with Cindara.

Seraphina had been biting her, and Ataneya’s twenty-four fox tails had her locked down. By all logic, she should’ve been thrashing nonstop. But instead, her aura wasn’t weakening at all.

It was condensing inward.

Like she was winding up for a second berserk phase.

The Sanctified Judgment Array was already fully formed.

The infernal energy in Ataneya’s palm had finished charging too. The dark-red sphere shot through the gaps between her fox tails, streaking straight for Cindara.

Seraphina sensed the incoming hit and immediately released her bite, beating her wings to pull out of the array’s range.

Andona lifted her Blade of Judgment.

"Sanctified Judgment Array!"

The sword tip dropped.

"Rise!"

Ataneya’s infernal sphere hit Cindara first.

Dark-red flames burst along her scales and washed across her body, turning the mechanical armor’s surface bright with heat.

But Cindara didn’t dodge.

She spread her wings and leaned into the infernal force—dragging the flames into her body like she was breathing them in.

She was devouring it.

Andona swung the judgment blade forward.

A massive wave of sacred fire surged from the edge, crossed bridge and abyss, and slammed into the Sanctified Judgment Array.

The array fully activated.

Runes lit layer by layer.

Divine Power poured inward from every direction, transforming into countless flickering blades that kept flashing through the formation. Each holy edge locked onto living aura inside the array—cutting, suppressing, then snapping to the next target.

As long as another living being remained within the array...

Judgment wouldn’t stop.

Everyone watched Cindara trapped at the center, and Ethan voiced what he’d been thinking.

"She didn’t give up."

"She’s been stockpiling power this whole time."

His eyes stayed on Cindara as she swallowed infernal flame.

"Once she absorbs enough, she’ll hit a second stage."

Andona’s expression turned awkward on the spot.

If Ethan was right, then this Sanctified Judgment Array was basically an energy power bank built for Cindara.

She turned to Ethan, the worry plain on her face.

"Ethan..."

He knew exactly what she was afraid of.

"She won’t absorb Divine Power that easily."

Inside the array, another wave of holy blades carved through Cindara’s wings.

Sparks and scales sprayed outward.

"Divine Power’s ’judgment’ isn’t a joke."

And the reality backed him up.

Cindara stood in the center, absorbing and being judged at the same time.

Whenever sacred energy entered her body, her aura swelled.

Then Divine Power immediately turned inward, cutting again and again through her internal structure—shredding scales and mechanical components together.

Her whole body trembled with pain.

Yet she still refused to let the power go.

Agony... and growth, tangled together.

"You just wait!" Cindara’s roar shook the array until the runes trembled.

"When I get out, I’ll make you feel this pain too!"

That howl confirmed Ethan’s guess completely.

For the moment, nobody focused on Cindara anymore. Instead, they looked toward the Blazing Vortex Kaelira had enhanced.

That thing couldn’t just be extinguished casually.

But staying here wasn’t a solution either.

Namyanna stepped to the edge of the steel bridge and slammed her trident down.

Water surged up from beneath the spear tip, flowing across the metal, gathering—then rising into a rapidly spinning waterspout.

The waterspout leaned toward the Blazing Vortex, slowly merging with the yellow and purple-red flames.

Water and fire crushed against each other.

Steam blasted outward in sheets, and energy began leaking from the vortex’s edge.

Right then, a furious roar erupted from inside the Sanctified Judgment Array.

Cindara finally couldn’t take the holy blades running through her anymore.

Her wings snapped open. A violent force burst from deep inside her body and slammed straight into the array.

BOOM!

The Sanctified Judgment Array shook violently.

Divine Power kept slicing through her from different angles. Scales peeled away layer after layer—so quickly it looked like her entire outer coat had been replaced in seconds.

Ethan watched with a hard, focused stare.

This Cindara wasn’t the same as before.

Her aura was wilder.

Her movements had lost all that earlier laziness and composure.

But—

Ethan could still feel that leg.

The thread of white lightning he’d planted in it hadn’t been fully purged. Even in this new state, he could still influence that dragon leg.

A plan formed.

Seraphina was already charging from the side.

Phoenix Queen Ignara swept in beside Ethan and let him step onto her back, carrying him up toward the high air over the abyss.

But berserk Cindara’s response blindsided everyone.

She caught the team’s movement and her eyes turned blood-red instantly.

The waterspout vanished without warning.

All the water that had been merging with the Blazing Vortex converted into flame, surging up from the vortex and becoming a pillar of fire that shot toward the group.

Cindara shifted her body only slightly and cleanly avoided Seraphina’s first collision.

Her blood-red gaze swept the abyss.

Wherever it passed, more identical pillars of fire erupted in sequence.

Seraphina turned her dragon body and lunged again from the side.

Cindara slid left, narrowly evading Seraphina’s outstretched claws.

Ataneya’s fox tails arrived as well.

All twenty-four closed from different angles, forming a circular cage around Cindara.

Only then did Cindara truly look at the attacks coming from Seraphina and Ataneya.

Flames rose in front of both of them, temporarily cutting off their charge lines.

Cindara beat her wings slowly, beginning to circle in place.

Seraphina slapped forward with a claw.

The force of the strike snuffed out the blocking flames, and she surged toward Cindara again.

Ataneya’s tails threaded around other fire pillars from the opposite side, continuing to tighten.

But Cindara had only needed time.

From the center of her spiral, fireballs drifted out—one after another.

At the same time, the flame pillars scattered around the abyss began spitting out more fireballs as well.

They moved slowly.

Individually, anyone could dodge them.

But the count kept climbing.

Dozens.

Hundreds.

More and more fireballs clogged every possible route through the abyss.

Slow didn’t matter if it was dense enough.

Seraphina and Ataneya were the closest to Cindara.

Staring at the near-seamless wall of fireballs, they still prepared to force a breakthrough.

Cold spread from far away.

The first wave of fireballs around Cindara was wrapped in ice, all of them arrested midair.

Queen Elowen had frozen them.

But it was only a temporary shell.

Inside the ice, heat kept building. Fine cracks immediately began crawling across the surface.

Still—

It was enough time.