A column of fire, which was three meters wide in radius, was sweeping through the forest. Streaks of land filled with vegetation had been scorched. And unfortunately, the moving fire post was aiming for Grimm.
Grimm was watching this while thinking of his capabilities being greatly overshadowed by Sun Child, who he knew had set ablaze this fire.
"She must have over 30 points of mental strength to cast such an amazing sorcery!" Grimm marveled in awe. The fire column prompted his memory of Sorcery Dior's ice column in resistance against the tentacles on the ship.
For a moment, Grimm neglected the fact that this fire was targeting him. As the heat wave nearly seared him, he was awakened from his memory; the fire had already encircled him. He protected himself by using the shield.
But soon, Grimm realized that he was going to die in a minute because a fifth of his magical strength had been used up in less than ten seconds.
The only thought in his mind was to escape.
But there was another difficulty: he had found himself in the middle of a blazing ground, and he couldn't tell which direction would lead him out of this burning hell.
Grimm picked up a random direction and took a run. Yet, he couldn't run out of the fire as if he was restricted in a melting pot and every place was inflamed.
Sun Child was perching on the top of a tree. Steam was gushing upward from behind her feet. She had nearly none clothes to cover her white body now. She was actually controlling the movement of the fire to surround Grimm. The fire column followed him wherever he fled to.
Wherever the column fire had touched had been then burned to ashes.
In a tree far away, the Phantom Thief was taking his pleasure in enjoying some crimson fruits. He seemed to be delighted at this "fight" or even enchanted!
"What a gorgeous scene! It's the third time I'm seeing the Sun's Daughter flexing her power, and I'm still not getting bored. The fire is purely an art!" The Phantom Thief spat the fruit's pit and laughed to himself.
Half a minute had passed. The section of forest Grimm ran through was completely charred. It was like a scene that appeared on the doomsday.
Grimm was now in a desperate situation. His magical force was about to run out out in a few seconds, and without the shield, he would be melted into liquid.
A cloud fell on Sun Child's brow.
"Why is he not dying?! Why doesn't he die?!" Sun Child cried, and she had to halt the fire to take a rest.
Grimm was a lucky dog, having avoided being burned, yet his arms and back had been covered in blisters. Worse, he had lost most of his consciousness since his magical force had been drained up, not to mention that the high temperature almost gave him a stroke.
Grimm's breathing was barely perceptible at the time.
As the old saying went, "house leakage happens on a rainy day, and a broken ship runs into headwind." Grimm's nemesis— Machine Heart— came for his life.
Sun Child had gone for Grimm for a strategic reason. If Grimm lived to join hands with the three Desperaters from the Black Isotta, she would be reduced to passivity. But for Machine Heart, he just wanted revenge.
Machine Heart turned up and kicked Grimm on his shoulder.
"Hah? Aren't you that all-powerful divinity? Why are you under my foot now? Where is your bloody bird, anyway?" The Machine Heart chortled.
Grimm was still unconscious and thus was unable to fight. He was at the machine's mercy.
Machine Heart mobilized his tail and whipped it at Grimm's head, and the Ashen Mask couldn't work its magic again without its master's order.
Even the Phantom Thief lost grip of the fruit in his hand after seeing this. He was sort of disappointed at the prospect of a shortened action scene.
"Ah—" A roaring sound thundered, which jolted Grimm back into life.
It was the Buzzing bug that had played the heroic role. For all this time, it had been taking cover behind trees and biding the time to his rescue. The Bug rammed Machine Heart and knocked him on the ground.
Sun Child became impatient. She wanted to end this quickly. The second column of fire whizzed at Grimm.
The devil's talons were here for Grimm's life again.
Machine Heart drew back immediately as he knew its effect. But Grimm was too weak to take any action.
The Bug growled the second time, but this time, it sounded gloomily, as if it knew it was going to perish.
The next moment, the Bug pushed off the ground, galloped and pounced high into the air to Sun Child.
Sun Child was startled, and in no time, she dodged the Bug by jumping back onto the ground. She then moved her hands to direct the Fire Column to the Bug.
The Bug had no shield for its protection, so, the moment it was attacked by the Fire, it was obliterated. Nothing was left except for a miserable scream.
As Sun Child turned her attention back to Grimm, he was nowhere to be found.
Kyrie, the Transformer, had gotten Grimm out under the nose of Machine Heart.
"That bitch has gone mad! Brianna will delay him, and I will send you somewhere safe." Kyrie looked into Grimm's eyes.
Kyrie spun his body and Grimm's, and the next second, their bodies twisted and reappeared 200 meters away!
Grimm threw up because of this transfer. He sat down and began to replenish his magical force by consuming an intermediate magical stone. Seeing such a fancy stone, a surprised look appeared on Kyrie's face.
"Brianna, it's always a pleasure to see you!" Sun Child's pretty face displayed a ray of grimness.
"Save these polite sh*t! Let's take a roll." The Golden Sighted Brianna snapped.
Sun Child was enraged and produced the column of fire to get Brianna. On Brianna's part, she focused all her power to her eye and shot out a waterspout from her mouth.
The waterspout was pure azure. It darted through the air to battle with the fire.
