Austin and the queen wanted to apply their bodily movement skill as soon as possible. They hoped that it would help to at least avoid the impact of the explosion.
But that ball of light was moving faster than they had expected, rushing up to meet them like a bullet. In the blink of an eye, it reached where both of them were standing and threatened to shatter the whole mountain beneath their feet.
It was quick and formidable. The power it released was overwhelming and bone-crushing. The energy waves that seemed to be shooting out from its center started to grind the mountain like an invisible huge hand. It was so vigorous in movement that it seemed like all the things, alive or dead, would turn into ashes in an instant.
Astonished at the sight before their eyes, Austin and the queen found themselves fixed in their spots. They were unable to move at all. It did not matter how anxious they were to get out of that place.
They were petrified and were left with no chance to escape.
Austin began to sweat. This was a life-or-death situation. As the seconds passed, they were afraid that they would be melt by the heat even before they got crushed to dust by the pressure. Just then, Austin remembered his City model, the magic space he had always carried. It cheered him up a bit. He wasn't sure it would work, but he knew that it was their only hope.
Wasting no time, he activated the transporting power of the City model. If he could send the queen and himself into it, there was a possibility to survive this strong force.
The fact was that he was being too optimistic. To his surprise, the City model did not answer him. The ball of light was drawing nearer and nearer, but the City model seemed to have malfunctioned, turning into a piece of stone.
That might also be this light's doing! Every corner of the space around them was suppressed by the endless great pressure from the blinding light. It was then that Austin realized that all the spaces and the tunnels between them were blocked, frozen and squeezed by the light completely!
It was too late. There was no way that they could travel through those blocked spaces and
mountain of several hundred meters tall, yet it had been razed to the ground in less than a second. Austin gasped at the scene. This was how they would have ended up if the Fire Stela hadn't worked.
Fortunately it did work. The ball of light was swallowed by the light of the Fire Stela, the mountain was gone. But Austin was covered by the golden light bubble of the powerful treasure, safe and sound.
Even the queen was unscathed since she had been hugging Austin tightly and got protected by the Fire Stela, too.
In the end, when all the sound died away, Austin and the queen were floating above the place where the mountain once stood, embracing each other.
They were holding each other tight like a couple madly in love.
And when they realized that they had narrowly escaped a close call, they exchanged delightful looks, smiling brightly as their eyes met. There was the exultant joy of survival.
Just then, the queen's smile froze.
It was at that moment that she came back to her senses. She realized that she was hugging Austin in the most loving and caring way!
She had always been a demure and serious woman, who seldom showed her affection to others. In fact, she couldn't believe that she had totally lost control of herself and acted so brazenly and got so close to a man! It could be said that she had lost herself completely in the face of death, allowing herself to do anything that came to her mind.