From far away, something boomed, and soon, Ignis had noticed the spells flying forward, constantly bombarding the rushing monsters. They didn't stop, so now and then, some of them did reach closer to the hiding Vasas' lines, only for them to finally step into action. Watching, she could tell that they did not do it personally, as it was their controlled beasts, using their magic, blasting out fire, electricity, or ice, coming from those who stepped into the way of the horde. For now, their superior firepower was doing its job, cleaning the herd up, and keeping their ground troops out of battle.

As for Ignis, she floated high above the twelve big ones, hidden in the clouds, watching, her eyes narrowed to slits. She didn't expect them to be this strong... To have a second hiding hole beside the volcano... But there was one positive thing. She was getting a feel of how the beasts' magic worked, and maybe, later on, she could replicate how the Vasas were controlling them now.

"..." With a thought, she sent down a simple order, and a moment later, the jungle stirred.

The smaller beasts, hundreds of them, scared from the weight of her presence, began running again as they poured from the forests, their tide rushing toward the mountains like a flesh tsunami. Even if they were being bombarded to death, it was worse to feel Ignis's mind pushing down onto them. Of course, she didn’t try to control the small ones; there were too many little minds to keep track of, and it was easier this way. It was enough to keep a hold on the twelve and let the big ones’ presence guide their assault, their auras acting like walls of sound and scent, herding them to the correct direction.

It worked beautifully... Yet they were still dying in droves.

"I see..." She muttered, realizing that probably this power was what killed the first horde she sent over. It made sense, and it complicated things a bit. She was sure that she could withstand this level of power, but it would still hurt and would still be annoying. She will have to exhaust them first, before making a move... But before she could lean into that thought, something touched her mind. The moment she felt it, she shuddered and turned her head sharply, scanning the clouds below, her eyes narrowing. “Who…?”

Then, there was a magical ripple, washing over her, making her realize the Vasas had discovered her hiding place in the clouds. Abandoning it, she descended, letting them see her glory, hovering above the landscape with slow flutters of her ashy, flowing wings. As for her mind... it was searching for the first feeling. She had never touched anything like that... That mind was... It felt... stuffed and alien, in a way, ancient but still sharp at the same time. It didn’t belong to any monster, that was for sure... And it certainly wasn’t one of the Vasas. It... lacked the thoughts and patterns of one. That mind was... not like any she had ever sensed. Throughout her thousands of years, being connected to them, she knew that Vasa souls were coarse, single-minded, focused on a dream, wanting to leave this world for the Heavens. But... This one was… different. It didn't care about the Heavens at all...? How weird...

“Who are you?” she hissed under her breath, her tail swiping the air behind her like that of an angry cat's, “What are you...?” she asked nobody, wanting to find its source, suddenly feeling unsure of what she should do.

For a heartbeat, she thought it might be one of the Gods the Vasas always talked about... No. That couldn't be the case, because she would have sensed their return. Maybe their descendants? No. That wasn't true either, because... But when she tried to think back to what the Vasas knew, all those shared memories, her headache returned, and she almost fell out of the sky, abandoning the thoughts.

"The Gods...?!" Her wings twitched with anxiety, “So… they are still here?” she gulped, trying to tell herself that was not the case.

But just then, a massive form began moving in the distance, making her finally notice it, drawing her out of her thoughts and making her pay attention to what was happening before her. Something rose from the mountain pass, and it was a shiny... A metallic shape, huge, as big as she was. Immediately alerted, she reached out with her mind, wanting to dominate that alien beast, but... It wasn’t alive, yet it flew and gave out the feeling of a monster... it had a core, she could tell it did... It even had two! Two? Ignis’s pupils narrowed to slits... How could that thing have two? Was it... Two monsters?

“A flying beast?” she whispered, tilting her head, "Immune to my mind? How?!"

The... thing... had climbed higher steadily, and she could see it angling towards her, matching her altitude. A challenge...? The moment she noticed the provocation, anger and pride overcame her fear at once as she spread her wings and rose a little higher, watching it climb, matching her altitude again.

"Oh?" Her claws flexed unconsciously, “Did they make you?” she wondered aloud, “Or did you make yourself? No matter! You are challenging me, Beast of the Gods! Challanging me?! I am Ignis! This is my world, and it belongs to me! I will consume you in fire and learn your secrets!” she roared, and her thoughts were spreading out loudly, but not as spoken words.

As she was spreading her wings, trying to appear bigger than that oval, floating beast, it finally leveled out, turning its nose toward her.

"Hah!" She snorted, feeling the magic gathering within it, knowing there was an attack coming, so she began doing the same, "I do not fear you!"

And even though she was roaring it... a thought in her was already being rooted, maybe even reinforced by Zah'Ratil's last attack... An irrational fear, slowly spreading and budding in her.

...

....

.....

“Main cannon ready,” Kustov called out, but I also saw it on the display, built into my chair's armrest.

“I am boosting the output,” Merlin added, his voice coming from the engineering. “Targeting is stable... lock acquired.”

"Get ready..." I muttered, giving time for the cores to sync up and gather as much power as we could.

“The beast is doing something, probably preparing its own spell,” Sasha said, not looking at me, reaching out with her own magic, trying to get a feel. “We need to fire and do it soon!”

“I know,” I answered, because I could swear I was hearing faraway shouts, talking about monsters? Gods? Something... And I don't think I was hearing voices in my head, so it had to be that I was picking up on that bastard's thoughts.

Not that there was time to worry about it, as that thing was more dangerous than the Vasas thought. Yes, they realized that this creature could extinguish all life in this world, but that was only one option. I could see a worse outcome. What if it enslaves the world? What if that bastard overcomes its natural instinct of burning and killing and decides we are better off as its servants? What then? Which would be worse? Haah... I don't want to find out.

“Fire.”

The moment I said it and initiated the spell, the Camelot growled as the primary weapon discharged, its light as bright as the sun... At least, through the Imaginary... I don't know if she can see it, how a spear of light tore across the sky, heading straight toward her body. The shot was perfect... Come on... Hit her... That was the only thought I had, even though everything was happening in a microsecond.

But... Of course, Ignis made her move too. I saw her head dip, her wings fold, and her maw open as a beam of her own erupted forward, its colors a mix of blood-red and molten gold, meeting ours before it could impact her.

“Brace!” I shouted, grabbing onto my armrest, but the impact was already upon us.

The explosion didn’t sound like thunder at all; it was like the sound of a derailing freight train, not only flipping to its side, sliding forward, but also hitting another, causing a massive crash. The shockwave, both magical and physical, ripped through the clouds, scattering them and revealing the blue sky while flattening everything beneath it. For a moment, I couldn’t see anything beyond the glare it was making. Every instrument in the bridge went haywire at once, all the dials spinning, alarms blaring in overlapping tones, as the ship itself tilted, losing some of its altitude.

"Stabilizing!" Merlin yelled through the intercoms, his voice distorted to all hell, but just by hearing him, I knew we weren't offline. But we weren't fully operational either.

When the initial, intense light faded away, and I could look at the fuzzy image, where the Imaginary was trying to realign and show us what was happening, I could still tell that half the landscape had been changed, probably forever.

The ground the horde, or the twelve monsters for that fact, had been standing on had been erased from existence, leaving a smoking crater that stretched for kilometers, still glowing at the edges. No... it was actually burning in ghostly flames. Part of the forest was also gone... The nearby river? Yeah, it was flowing downward into a new route, a hole, filling the part that had simply evaporated, where the ice had melted, its original course forever altered. The snow did not merely evaporate; even its mist was gone, leaving no steaming clouds behind or anything for that fact. Hells, the sun was shining down on the hole from above as the clouds were yet to merge back into one blanket, doing it ever so slowly. It was as if there was a godly spotlight being shone on the destruction.

Of the twelve titans Ignis had brought, only five remained... And I say, remained, because they were corpses, but at least tangible ones. The rest didn't even leave a body behind, only their cores. Not that it mattered, as I was already aware of the bad news... that bastard was still up. I could feel her presence even before the scenery came back into view and the Camelot stabilized itself. Damn it...! When everything refocused, we could all see how Ignis hovered above the devastation below us. Even from this distance, I could feel the residual heat rolling off her, and then, some thoughts appeared in the back of my mind again... She wasn’t unharmed. I could tell... We couldn't see but somehow, I could tell that her scales along the chest and neck were cracked, glowing faintly... And she looked or felt… confused.

“I bet she didn’t expect that,” Sasha said softly.

“No,” I agreed. “She didn’t.” We watched as Ignis turned her head, scanning the destruction below her, before looking at us again... There it was... I could sense actual fear. Good... Good! We must capitalize on that. “Kustov, get us moving!” I ordered, almost yelling. “Aim the nose at her, open fire with whatever we have, and start charging the cores again!”

“Aye, My Sovereign!” He answered, obeying at once, and even though we never fired the primary weapon twice in a row, nobody was arguing.

Then, the moment we began charging up, I watched as Ignis suddenly spread her wings, backing off, roaring, before suddenly flying up into the closing clouds, and... she was gone.

"Did we... scare her off?" Kustov asked, surprised, looking back at me, not really knowing what to do next.

"Seems like it," I smirked, but that was not what I wanted... I wanted to fire at it again and kill it here and now.

"Should we...?" Sasha looked at me, too, but I shook my head.

"We can't follow a smart beast into its nest or territory... That could be devastating. Turn us around, Kustov!" I leaned back, exhaling a breath I was holding until now, "If this bought us time, it's enough. Next time, we will have our new Subjugators here to disrupt her thoughts, her spells... and then, we will hit her for good..."

"You know," Merlin chimed in through the comms, "I think, your favorite idiom had played out again."

"Hm?" I chuckled, "You think so?"

"Yes..." He shrugged, "I intercepted Sa'Ith's mind, blocking her from disrupting us... She wants to meet with you. Like... the moment you are back."

"Hah!" Sasha snorted, answering before I could, "She will meet US. Tell her that, Merlin!" she added, looking at me, "Us. I want to hear what she has to say... to my husband."