As Bane soared away with Adrian, Ardel, and Dorian, the Ruin Guardian let out a guttural roar that shook the battlefield. Its gaze, now burning with rage, scanned for a new target. Losing sight of Adrian and Ardel, the massive creature shifted its attention to the frontlines where E, ire, her two ssmates, and Ceil fought valiantly against its remaining minions.


    The Guardian''s eyes locked onto the five of them. With a furious bellow, it began to stomp toward them, each step sending tremors across the battlefield. The earth beneath it cracked, as jagged stones shot up to fortify its path.


    "Adrian''s right, we need to get them out of there!" Ardel shouted, barely catching his breath after their intense assault.


    Dorian nodded, already directing Bane to circle back. The flying creature''s powerful wings beat against the air as they angled toward the backline where their remaining allies stood.


    Meanwhile, on the ground, E and ire had also noticed the Ruin Guardian''s enraged advance. Both of them had witnessed the ambush on the symbol-bearing men from afar. While they couldn''t see the details, it was clear that the first years had made a decisive strike—killing the key figures and destabilizing the Ruin Guardian. Or making it enraged.


    "Looks like the guardian regained its consciousness after Adrian took out the suspicious men," ire muttered, adjusting her grip on her sword. "As expected of the guy who beat you."


    E''s eyes narrowed at her words but she didn''t retort. "...Then it''s up to us to bring it down. Ceil take Hugo and Sara, and focus on the remaining minions! We''ll handle the big guy."


    Ceil hesitated but nodded. She understood her role—without the minions taken care of, they would be overwhelmed. She threw herself into the fight, taking on the smaller monsters with the other third years at her side.


    E and ire advanced toward the Guardian, the ground trembling under its massive form. They knew the odds weren''t in their favor. The creature''s defenses were immense, and its ability to manipte the earth made it a formidable opponent.


    The Ruin Guardian raised its massive arm, summoningrge stone pirs from the ground, aiming to crush E and ire in one strike.


    "We need to split its attention!" ire shouted. "You go left; I''ll take the right!"


    As E darted left, her silver hair glimmered in the sunlight, caught by the wind she summoned. With a graceful flick of her hand, she summoned a powerful gust that carried her swiftly out of the Guardian''s range. ire, on the right, conjured an array of Water Dragons from her staff, their serpentine forms twisting through the air as they surged toward the Guardian''s towering stone form.


    "Let''s test this thing''s defenses!" ire called, her red hair flowing behind her as she released a Wind Dragon alongside her Water spells, abination that made her renowned as the ''Tempest Empress''. The dual-elemental attack struck the Guardian''s chest, crashing against its stone armor in a powerful surge of force.


    But the Ruin Guardian''s defense was no joke. The Water and Wind Dragons collided with its stony surface, sending cracks through the earth and sshing water everywhere, but barely leaving a dent in the creature''s hardened exterior. The Guardian roared in fury, mming its massive fists into the ground, summoning more jagged earth pirs from beneath their feet.


    "ire, watch out!" E shouted as a massive stone spike shot up, aiming for her friend.


    ire leaped back, narrowly avoiding the pir. She clenched her staff tighter, her brows furrowed in frustration. "Its defenses are insane! We''ll have to hit it harder than that."


    E nodded.


    Her mind raced, calcting the best way to break through the Guardian''s thick defense. Her mastery over four elements gave her an edge, but the creature''s earth maniption seemed almost impossible to crack. Yet, as the ''Elemental Virtuoso'', she had learned to adapt.


    She raised her hands, summoning a swirling vortex of fire and wind around her. The mes intensified,bining with the wind to form a powerful inferno. The air around her shimmered with heat, and her silver hair whipped wildly as she focused her energy.


    "We''ll overwhelm it then!" E called out, her voice firm with determination. She shot the zing vortex straight at the Guardian, the mes roaring with intensity. As it collided with the stone armor, the mes licked at its surface, but again, the creature stood firm.


    ire gritted her teeth. "If we can''t break through from the outside, then we''ll drown it from the inside."


    She nted her staff into the ground, summoning a swirling tempest of water from beneath her. The Water Dragons she''d sent out earlier returned, circling the Guardian, but this time with more intensity. The air around her grew cold, the water freezing as it wrapped around the Guardian, seeping into the cracks E''s fire had weakened.


    ire''s eyes shed with power as she manipted both water and wind, creating a deadly tempest aimed at the core of the creature.


    "Now, E!" ire shouted.


    E understood instantly. She called forth her strongest lightning spell, focusing the crackling energy into her hands. The sky above darkened as storm clouds gathered, responding to her will. With a deafening crack, a bolt of lightning descended from the heavens, striking the Guardian where the frozen water had infiltrated its stone armor.


    Thebination was devastating.


    The lightning, now supercharged by the conductive water, surged into the Guardian''s body, lighting up its entire form with crackling energy. The stone armor began to shatter from the inside out as the frozen water expanded and the lightning fried its internal structure.


    The Ruin Guardian let out a final, anguished roar as its massive form crumbled. Stone shards exploded outward as the elemental forces tore it apart, the earth shaking with its copse.


    E and ire stood their ground, panting from the exertion of their aether-draining spells. As the dust settled, the once towering figure of the Ruin Guardian was reduced to rubble. The battlefield grew quiet as the remaining minions, now without their leader, faltered and fell under thebined assault of Ceil and the third years.


    "Not bad, right," ire breathed, a grin breaking across her face. "The rock is down."


    E nodded, though her expression remained focused. "That should make the rest of the fight easier… but let''s not celebrate just yet. This might as well be the beginning."