### Chapter 88: Metamorphosis (Part Ten)
Carlos tightened his grip on his sword.
He stared at the female heretic, her words echoing in his head. He looked up at the burning sphere hovering above them, his gaze flickering momentarily as doubt crept into his heart.
Boom—
Suddenly, a tremendous explosion echoed from the west side of the town.
Instinctively, they turned to look, only to see a shadow, dragging a stream of water, leap out from the ruins. Before it even landed, the yellow sand beneath it began to tremble. Carlos, startled, dashed back like a bolt of lightning, stopping a good ten meters away. Ahead, the heretic hadn’t managed to escape yet; droplets of water had already begun to gather from all directions in the air, converging like raindrops toward her location.
Zzap.
With a flash of thunder light, Carlos shot back again, retreating to the road outside the ruins a couple dozen meters away. He lifted his head and watched as countless droplets zipped towards the heretic so fast that there was no escape—they all hit her directly.
Szzzzt—
The sound of steam hissing echoed as the infernal fire on the heretic was extinguished in a heartbeat. With more and more droplets gathering, her head was quickly enveloped in flowing water, followed swiftly by her body. The whole process was so fast that one could barely comprehend it; in less than two seconds, those droplets had formed a massive water ball, completely wrapping around the heretic, who began to struggle, bubbles escaping her mouth.
She was trapped inside…
No way to breathe.
Bang!
Another dull thud sounded as the plump, giant old woman landed from the sky, crashing down onto the ruins not far from Carlos.
“Ha! Carlos—”
She looked far from okay; several nasty burns decorated her body, bl**d caked at the corner of her mouth, her hair and robe soaked. Disheveled, yet her spirit was unusually high, she turned to lock eyes with Carlos and shouted at the top of her lungs, “You brat, at least you know how to come back! You haven’t let the old man down! But step aside! This is not your fight, and after I squash this female heretic…”
Before she could finish, she noticed the burning bl**d ball above them, now enveloped in dead smoke.
“…Hmm?”
Old Granny Apfel blinked in confusion.
Previously focused on battling the heretic, she had been unintentionally flung away and buried under the collapsed ruins. Emerging now, she finally realized the ominous presence hanging above.
“That thing doesn’t look good…”
She gazed at the crimson beam shooting into the dark sky, the swirling black mist above her head causing her manic expression to momentarily falter before twisting into something even more sinister.
“The Abyss? It shows up now? Ahahaha—”
Though she laughed, a hint of hatred crossed her features, which Carlos noticed all too clearly.
This is bad, he thought.
In the next instant, he saw Apfel leap high into the air, completely disregarding the struggling heretic in the water ball. Streams of water coiled around her like serpents, gathering in the massive hammer she raised above her head, charging toward the dead smoke bl**d ball with fierce momentum.
“ABYSS—!!!”
Her wrathful roar echoed in the sky.
Oh no…
Zzap.
Carlos’s feet sparked with arcs of lightning, and he instinctively dashed toward Apfel as she soared high, arriving just in time to block her path.
“Wait!”
Faced with the overwhelming force of her hammer, Carlos, who lacked the brute strength to face her head-on, acted swiftly. He shot his hand out and grabbed the hammer’s handle just in time, twisting his body to throw it aside!
Whoosh—
The mighty swing sent both Apfel and her hammer off-course, crashing into the ruins twenty meters away with a loud boom. The earthen walls collapsed dramatically, and Carlos landed on solid ground as a thunderous crash echoed—Apfel erupted from the ruins, still entangled in swirling water, glaring at him through the dirt flying all around them.
“Carlos! What are you doing—”
“Let me explain!”
“Are you trying to stop me from squashing that d*mn monster!?”
“It’s not what you think…”
“You? You think you can stop me—”
“Please, calm down!!”
“My daughter, your battle buddy! It’s only been three years; have you already forgotten what she looks like—”
The two seemed to be in a heated argument, their dialogue rapid-fire. Apfel’s emotions had taken over, drowning out Carlos’s words as she once again swung her heavy hammer, hurtling skyward like a cannonball!
“Granny Apfel!”
Carlos saw this, arcs of lightning gathering around him once more. Knees slightly bent, he prepared to launch into the sky after her. But then, he heard a swift whoosh from his right, and three streaks of deep brown light zipped by at speeds almost unnoticeable, aimed straight at the airborne Granny.
“Watch out—!”
Carlos shouted.
In that moment, Apfel in mid-air sensed the danger. She pivoted quickly, trying to stop her momentum to dodge the unexpected attack. Alas, the brown lights were too fast; she barely spun around once before they hit.
Clang!
Pffft—
Her raised hammer deflected one, but the other two struck her left shoulder and right calf, bursting through with a spray of bl**d, cascading into the murky sky above.
Her massive form plummeted quietly from the air. Carlos spun around, just in time to see the heretic had escaped her watery prison, the scattered water flowing away beneath her feet. Scalding steam rose around her frail form, and amidst the mist, a flicker of fire ignited. Several blazing fireballs rushed forth, aimed at the spot where Apfel was falling!
Zzap—
In a flash, Carlos disappeared and reappeared, positioning himself in front of the fireballs, his sword slicing through them in rapid succession, causing explosive bursts as he propelled back, appearing beside Apfel.
“Are you okay?”
He watched the heretic’s direction intently.
“…Ha! What nonsense are you spouting, you shrimp—?”
With a loud thud, the hefty old woman leaned her hammer against the ground, spitting out a mouthful of bl**d, grinning ferociously as she stood up beside him. “Do I look like I’m in trouble?”
But in reality, two gruesome wounds, each the size of a fist, marred her left shoulder and calf, and bl**d gushed out, staining her collar.
Apfel glanced down at the damage, pounding her fist against the wounded shoulder, her expression darkening further. “It’s just a scratch…”
However, from Carlos’s peripheral vision, he noticed her right foot barely touching the ground with all her weight supported by her left leg and the hammer. The left hand, hanging limply by her side, trembled slightly, as if it struggled to lift itself again.
