“Allie, circle around to the right and attack its left leg joint!”
Without giving the enemy any extra time to react, Greg issued another command.
Allie tapped her toe against the ground, her body turning as lightly as a falling leaf as she circled around to the right, heading behind the Perpetual Visceral Clock.
The tip of her sword pointed straight at the piston joint of the Perpetual Visceral Clock's left leg.
The Perpetual Visceral Clock was forced to turn and face her.
It could sense that the woman with dark-golden hair before it radiated an extremely dangerous aura. If it were hit by her cleanly even once, it might be taken out of the fight entirely.
Thus, it had to use its full strength to deal with her every move.
The Perpetual Visceral Clock's chain arm swept toward Allie like a python, while the gears in its chest spun faster, unfolding a time-deceleration zone around it.
“Excellent.”
Seeing that Allie had successfully pinned down the enemy, a sharp light flashed in Greg's eyes.
He raised his right hand, a ball of pitch-black fire condensing in his palm. Without a moment's hesitation, he hurled it directly at the Perpetual Visceral Clock.
The black flame drew a sharp arc through the air, heading straight for the Perpetual Visceral Clock's chest.
The Perpetual Visceral Clock's gears instantly spun frantically, for it sensed the threat contained within that unstoppable black flame.
Without any hesitation, it immediately mobilized its time abilities, sending the entire area it occupied back to a past space-time to dodge.
Seeing that the Perpetual Visceral Clock had successfully dodged the attack, the tip of Allie's sword lowered slightly, a look of regret appearing on her face.
If she had been able to pin it down just now, Young Master Greg's black flames would have hit the target directly.
Allie bit her lip, preparing to speak, but Greg beat her to it.
“Allie, there is no need to blame yourself.”
The corner of Greg's mouth curled up slightly. “Thanks to you, my plan has already succeeded.”
“What?” Allie blinked, tilting her head in confusion.
The moment she spoke, the figure of the Perpetual Visceral Clock materialized once again in the center of the hall.
It had successfully used time reversal to dodge the direct hit of World-Devouring Black Flame, but as it returned to the present timeline, something extra had appeared on its body.
A layer of white frost covered the cluster of gears on its chest, and within the gaps of those gears, tiny ice crystals had condensed, radiating wisps of cold air.
Allie's eyes widened, unable to comprehend what was happening.
Greg, however, had expected this as he watched the scene unfold.
His tactic was actually not that complicated.
First, he had used Freezing Ice Mist to cover the entire hall, filling the air with cold air and ice crystals, knowing the enemy would surely send the mist back to a past space-time.
Second, he had used Wave Current to splash water onto its body when it wasn't on guard against it.
Third, he had Allie pin down its movements, and then used World-Devouring Black Flame to force it to escape into the past space-time.
And this was the most critical step.
When the Perpetual Visceral Clock sent itself back to the past space-time to dodge the black flame, the water residue left on its body reacted elementally with the freezing mist it had previously sent back to the past. Under the influence of the low temperature, it rapidly froze, locking its gears in place.
That was why it returned looking like this.
Click... Click...
The Perpetual Visceral Clock stiffly lowered its head, staring at the frost-covered gears on its chest, and mechanically tried to turn the gear cluster.
Creeeak.
The gears let out a harsh, grinding screech, showing a slight jam.
Greg, of course, would not let this opportunity slip. He shouted, “Allie, now! Finish it in one blow!”
A fierce light flashed in Allie's eyes.
She felt she had already let Greg down once, so she would never allow the same thing to happen a second time.
Allie gripped her longsword with both hands, pouring her entire mana reserve into it without reservation. A dazzling, silver-white light erupted from the blade.
The silver-white brilliance enveloped the entire hall in an instant, shrouding every single inch of space.
And within that light, a faint layer of golden patterns vaguely emerged. These patterns spread to every corner of the blade like blood vessels, radiating a heart-palpitating pressure.
Holy crap, is that... the embryonic form of a Domain?
Standing behind Allie, even Greg was thoroughly startled.
In this world, the reason top-tier powerhouses like Headmistress Olivia could possess such a transcendent status was because, as Archmages, they mastered a power known as a "Domain."
And those who remained at Level 70 or above for many years might eventually comprehend the embryonic form of their own Domain during that time.
Yet as far as Greg knew, Allie had only recently reached Level 71. To think she had comprehended the embryonic form of her Domain in just a few days... She really was incredibly combat-ready.
“Sword Domain—Judgement.”
Allie took a step forward, slowly raising her longsword.
At that moment, the ghostly blue candlelight stopped flickering, the dust in the air ceased to float, and even the light itself seemed to freeze mid-air.
Only the sword in Allie's hand continued to slash down slowly, carrying an unstoppable momentum.
The Perpetual Visceral Clock felt a mortal threat.
It strained with all its might to turn the gears in its chest, attempting to hide itself in the past to dodge this strike.
But the frost-frozen gears let out an overburdened creak as their edges began to fracture. Metal fragments splintered off from the gear cluster, and its rotation speed fell far short of the threshold required to trigger time reversal.
Finally, the sword light fell.
There was no earth-shattering explosion. Only the silent flash of sword light swept through the body of the Perpetual Visceral Clock, like a beam of moonlight piercing through the clouds.
Then, beginning from the middle, the Perpetual Visceral Clock's body slowly split into two halves.
The cut was as smooth as a mirror. Both metal and flesh were sliced cleanly through.
The gears ground to a complete halt, the hourglass stopped flowing, and the chains and claw blades fell limply, clattering against the floor with a crisp metallic ring.
Immediately after, the entire body of the Perpetual Visceral Clock began to disintegrate.
Metal shards fell like rain, and its flesh and tissue dissolved into ash, scattering into the air. The constantly spinning hourglass also shattered into countless tiny crystals as it fell, casting one last glimmer under the ghostly blue candlelight before returning to silence.
At the same time, the environment of the entire hall began to change.
The cracks on the walls grew deeper, and large chunks of plaster peeled away, revealing the grayish-black stone beneath.
The benches rotted away entirely and collapsed, turning into piles of decayed wood.
And the female statue at the very front became a headless husk, standing solitary on its stone pedestal.
At this moment, a notification rang out in Greg's mind:
[Assisted in slaying the Perpetual Visceral Clock. Gained experience points. Level increased to LV41.]
Rate on N.U.
