Quartz meanwhile moved toward the lotus petals that blocked the area. Her feet dug into the ice as her body crouched down, preparing to jump.
Like a tightly coiled spring, her muscles contracted with explosive power. She then leaped forward, kicking the spear with incredible force.
The spear pierced through the air with a deafening boom. As this happened, Isolde imbued it with wind to lower the friction and enhance the speed.
Frost's aura started spreading from MingYue. With a gesture of her hand, part of the lotus petal turned into a chain, binding the transformed Dragari down.
From the outside, the chain looked like MingYue could manipulate part of the lotus at will, but in reality, this was not the case.
The chains were made from ice mixed with her blood. She was still not at a level where she could manipulate everything that easily.
The spear pierced through, creating a gaping hole in the Dragari's body.
"Groarr!!!" The Dragari roared in pain as blood gushed out from where his heart was.
Life started disappearing from his eyes, but it didn't dampen his determination.
MingYue's eyes turned sharp as she felt Dragari's life force fluctuate. She quickly realized he wanted to self-destruct. The draconic body started growing in size like a balloon, his scales cracking further.
She quickly moved, arriving right in front of the Dragari. Her palm touched his forehead. An ice-cold aura started spreading, turning him into an ice statue.
Isolde felt a sense of relief; the Dragari had put her life at risk multiple times.
Before Zold and the others came to help, she was thinking of a way to pull him down to the ground. But she never found a way; instead, the Dragari kept attacking her from unexpected spots.
MingYue put the frozen Dragari into her storage ring; even though he had lost his heart, it was not a wound they couldn't heal. As long as his brain wasn't damaged, it wasn't a problem.
The frost lotus then turned into icy mist, revealing the burning city.
Back at the spire, Alex was now looking at Jake. He didn't attack since he concluded Jake was one of his mother's comrades.
Jake's lips curled into a smile as he quickly recognized him. "You have a similar presence to your father now. I am Jake, one of your parents' old comrades."
"It seems you have seen me before, but this is the first time I have met you."
"Yes, when I saw you, you were still a small child," Jake replied with a lie. He had seen Alex many times, even after that day, but mostly at their parents' request.
He didn't want him to know he was following from the shadows.
Alex could detect the lie, but he decided not to ask further as there was something more crucial to do. His gaze turned to the door.
Part of the wall was already destroyed, revealing an invisible barrier of energy.
"I got stuck. If you have a way, we should try to breach it. I am sure whatever is inside is something important," Jake said, as he could tell now Alex was stronger than him.
It was a realization that came from his instinct honed in the underworld.
Jake never underestimated this instinct; it had saved his life multiple times.
Alex started digging information from his brain, looking through a list of arrays and runes. But he didn't find any solution.
He then decided to dig through some of the information he got from Felidaen's library.
While he did this, Jake let out a small chuckle as it reminded him of his old comrade. When Edward thought of what to do, he also used to act like that, in a daze. But this didn't mean he let down his guard.
If anyone came close to a certain distance, Edward would quickly become alert. Based on what he saw, Jake didn't doubt it was the same with Alex.
A rock then appeared in his hand; he flicked it slowly toward the barrier. The moment it hit, the rock repelled back with similar speed.
Next, Alex tried to shoot a small fireball, his eyes focused, making sure he wouldn't miss any changes.
The moment it hit, the barrier's surface rippled gently like a rock falling into a calm lake. Alex started getting an idea of how it worked.
The reflection seemed to work by utilizing space-like abilities. When the energy entered, it created a portal that made it return to where it came from. However, Alex felt that his hypothesis was not entirely correct.
He had seen part of the wall destroyed; it was clear it came from Jake trying to enter through the barrier. If his hypothesis was correct, this shouldn't have happened.
Jake should have teleported back, not gotten knocked.
"What are your thoughts on this barrier?" Alex asked. He wanted to know how Jake ended up knocked back and how he tried to barge inside the room.
"As you tried, it seems to be able to reflect anything. I have tried using an incorporeal form to enter, but I got knocked back instead."
"How did you feel when you got knocked? I mean, did you get pushed back with equal strength, or was it something more?"
Jake tried to remember what happened before; he felt like he was being crushed by a truck. It's not like he tried to barge in with all his strength. He just did the usual change into shadow and then tried to slip through the gap.
"It's something more, as I just moved at my usual speed."
Alex frowned since this made all his hypotheses false.
"Can you try to do something similar? Like creating this incorporeal energy and attacking it?"
Jake replied with his action. He flicked his finger, shooting a dark bullet into the gap in the wall.
When it hit the barrier, it rippled in the same way before it shot back. This time with more strength than it was shot.