Dogg showed no surprise at Sphinx''s introduction. What he truly wanted now was the escape method Sphinx had hinted at.


    "Enough. I don’t care about your origins—just tell me how to escape this place!"


    "Refreshing to work with someone rational, unlike my gluttonous brother..."


    "Stop wasting time! The clock’s ticking! Tell me now!!"


    "To escape, we must sever the Gleipnir binding you."


    "Useless! I forged that rope myself—even my full strength couldn’t break it."


    Dogg’s brief hope shattered, his anger flared anew.


    In his mind, Sphinx’s voice suddenly amplified:


    "Patience! Hey Diule—quit pretending to sleep!"


    The mental shout struck Dogg like a hammer, leaving his skull ringing. As the echoes faded, a sluggish voice rumbled:


    "Never thought the Mad Lion had a twin."


    The speaker was Dogg’s right-arm rhino head—Diule, the Frost Emperor of Flamefrost Abyss.


    "Only Diule can break Gleipnir in this world."


    "Him?"


    "Me?"


    Dogg and Diule spoke simultaneously, the rhino’s own disbelief mirroring the Tyrant’s.


    "Four hundred years ago, I captured Diule effortlessly. How could such a weakling break Gleipnir?"


    Dogg’s disdain dripped from every word. Diule remained silent, offering no rebuttal.


    "Raw strength alone? None can rival Your Majesty. But Diule wields the rarest power—frost generation."


    "You suggest freezing Gleipnir with ice? Ridiculous! That rope defies all natural forces!"


    "True..."


    Even Diule admitted the impossibility.


    "Gleipnir resists all earthly harm. But do you know of the ?true freezing threshold?"


    "The true freezing threshold?"


    Dogg’s eidetic memory recalled the concept from a forbidden text. His mind sifted through centuries of accumulated wisdom.


    "Ah! Now I grasp your meaning!"


    "What’s this ‘true freezing threshold’?"


    Diule’s curiosity finally surfaced.


    "All matter possesses a cold limit. Beyond it—even the sturdiest bonds between essence and form will shatter."


    "You want my frost to push Gleipnir past that brink?"


    "Precisely!"


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    Sphinx’s explanation drew a sigh from Diule.


    "Impossible. My deepest cold merely grazes that boundary. To breach it... no being in creation can achieve this."


    Dogg’s renewed hope dissolved. He knew Diule’s limits better than any.


    "Alone, you could never reach that threshold. But merged with the Tyrant Dogg and Nemea, channeling our essence will amplify your frost tenfold."


    "An intriguing proposal, Sphinx. Survive this, and you’ll be rewarded."


    Dogg voiced approval while Diule hesitated.


    "But... is this truly feasible?"


    "Silence, beast! Receiving my essence is an honor beyond your lineage’s wildest dreams!"


    After a prolonged pause, Diule relented: "Proceed."


    "Then let us begin—"


    "Wait!"


    "What now?!"


    Dogg surged with gathered essence, only to be halted by Sphinx’s warning:


    "We have three minutes to freeze Gleipnir. As a soul without essence, I must control Nemea’s spiritual form to channel his power. But that mad lion tolerates no commands—I can dominate his form for three minutes at most. If he breaks free sooner, the essence flow ceases."


    "Ha! A mere lion’s essence matters not. Mine alone suffices!"


    Dogg began gathering essence, yet only faint wisps coalesced.


    "What’s happening? Why can’t I concentrate essence?"


    "Did you think Lama—the man who trapped you—would rely solely on glass and Gleipnir?" Sphinx’s voice sharpened. "This liquid disperses your essence. Fortunately, Abyssal beasts like Nemea and Diule retain theirs. Especially you, Diule—pretending to sleep while stockpiling power."


    Diule coldly retorted, "No wonder a mad lion ruled Flame Abyss for four millennia."


    "Still," Sphinx conceded, "to amass this much essence so soon after awakening... truly worthy of the Seven Realms’ ruler."


    "This is less than a tenth of my usual reserves..."


    "My calculations show our combined essence may reach the true freezing threshold."


    "Then proceed!"


    As Dogg strained to gather essence, skull-splitting agony erupted.


    "They’ve begun erasing your personality! No time left—channel everything to Diule! I’ll control Nemea!"


    The thrashing lion head stilled instantly, eyelids sealing like Diule’s.


    "Focus all essence into Diule’s head—now!"


    Dogg’s essence surged toward his right arm. Diule’s eyes snapped open—crimson gems blazing with primal fury that dwarfed even Nemea’s madness.


    The rhino head twisted 180 degrees, bending Dogg’s arm impossibly backward. Jagged teeth clamped onto the Gleipnir binding his neck. Frost cascaded from its maw, encasing the divine rope in crystalline layers.


    "More! Channel more essence!"


    Frost permeated the chamber, coating surfaces in rime. Researchers huddled near malfunctioning climate controls, oblivious to the true source of cold.


    "Diule! Focus the frost on the rope!"


    "Shut your jaws! This essence torrent—I can’t—arghhh!!"


    "Hold! The rope’s fully frozen! Just a bit more to the threshold... No—"


    Sphinx’s controlled lion head resumed its mindless thrashing.


    "Nemea reclaimed his spiritual form! The essence flow fades!"


    "Useless! Couldn’t last three minutes?!"


    Dogg’s temple veins bulged as he roared at the convulsing lion head:


    "Silence, wretched cat!"


    His teeth sank into Nemea’s right ear. Purple blood sprayed as the lion howled.


    "Now!"


    Sphinx seized control again, resuming essence transfer. Diule channeled the combined essence into frost. A faint snap echoed behind Dogg’s skull—growing clearer with each passing second.


    Clang!


    The Gleipnir’s grip vanished.


    "Alert! The Gleipnir—"


    A white-coated researcher pressed against the glass, witnessing the severed rope.


    "Yes... alert."


    Dogg’s bloodshot eyes locked onto the man, violet essence-blood dripping from his lips. He whipped his head back like a drawn bowstring—


    Crash!


    The researcher stumbled backward as Dogg’s skull struck the glass. Relief flooded him seeing the barrier intact—until fissures spiderwebbed across the surface. Green preservation fluid oozed toward his shoes.


    "D-D-Do..."


    His stutter drowned in exploding glass. Colleagues turned to witness:


    A bisected body—legs mangled in lion jaws, torso frozen crimson in rhino teeth. Diule crunched the frozen remains like crystalline shards.


    But true terror radiated from the naked tyrant. His gaze swept the room, dismissive as one viewing insects.


    "Hungry."