Before the ant's decapitated head had even reached the peak of its arc, Seth was already moving across Omelette's back. He moved like a phantom, disappearing in one location and appearing in another, his blade already descending upon his next victim like the blade of an executioner.

As he moved, his mind went into overdrive. Not just controlling the Manticore spikes that had been revolving around him, now sending them tearing through the crowds to cause chaos within the encroaching 'tendrils', but also making use of Omelette's feathers.

When the Wyvern sent out his next volley of feathers, which tore through a cluster of ants and turned them into nothing but pincushions, while the bodies fell to the ground, the feathers stayed suspended in the air where they had landed. However, they did not stay in this state for long, soon after they were free they immediately because flying through the crowds, much like the Manticore spikes.

But where the Manticore spikes pierced and punctured like bullets, the feathers spun like saw blades, slicing and carving the ants apart. Some of them didn't have to be killing blows, slicing apart their wings or otherwise disabling their ability to keep themselves aloft was more than enough. Gravity would take care of the rest.

Although even with this onslaught, their numbers advantage was still simply too great. Still, there were ants that clawed their way through the defensive barrier, slipping through the gaps by pure luck, and latching onto the Wyvern for a chance at another meal, or simply diving directly for the juicy human on its back.

If it were anyone else, perhaps they would have been overwhelmed by the herculean task of defending both of them from the ants that slipped through. But Seth was not anyone else, and whilst he took this fight into close quarters, he was not some simple brawler.

As he cleaved his sword through yet another ant, a crescent slash of water emanating from the tip of his blade and sailing off into the distant crowds to wreak havoc, three more insectoids landed on Omelette's back behind him. There was simply no rest.

With his arm still swinging upwards from his previous attack, most swordsmen would aim to carry the momentum into another swing or simply flow their attack into a downwards slash. Seth, on the other hand, simply let go of his sword. The falchion flew from his grasp, spinning through the air and instead used that momentum to swing itself through the air, removing the head of the farthest insectoid.

In the same moment, Seth swung his arm downwards as he spun, slamming the back of his hand into the head of the closest ant, which had been lunging for him with hunger in its beady black eyes. It's chitinous shell shattered from the impact, its brains bursting out of the cracks like an egg that was dropped on the floor.

Now faced with the final member of this intrepid trio, Seth took two steps forward before leaping into the air. It seemed at first like he was intending to kick the ant as it charged forward to meet him, instead he lowered his foot and planted it against a Manticore spike that just so happened to fly beneath his foot at that very moment.

He pushed off the spike, lifting himself further into the air and launching himself at an ant that had yet to land, but had slipped his previous defences, whilst his spiky springboard carried on its initial path and plunged through the skull of the ant he had just leapt over.

Although he might have been fighting in close quarters, Seth was not limited to fists nor blades. He was in perfect control of every weapon in this battlefield in the sky. His mind was completely fractured, split between controlling so many different projectiles, so many different puppets, all with their own sensory inputs.

Even if they had no eyes, no ears, they still could sense the world around them. There were no Spirit Animals that could relieve the burden on his mind, not with these puppets, not with a battle this chaotic.

Previously, he was mostly limited to micromanaging the puppets that were under their control, it might have been an arduous task but even still, then he was simply correcting something else's control. Now, it was only him. He was in control of everything, and everything was a part of his mind.

A mind that was beginning to become fractured, beginning to lose its sense of self as he dove deeper and deeper into the flow of the battle. Controlling every spike, feather and blade alongside his own body was not like he was some all seeing god, observing a complex chess board and simply moving pieces accordingly.

Instead, it was as if every weapon, every puppet, was just a single entity of a singular body. With his mind split in so many directions, he stopped even thinking of his true body as such, instead thinking of it as another puppet to be controlled. Another part of the grand unity that was this battle.

He was everything, everything was him. Every time they plunged through an ants head, Seth could see its brains splatter across the spikes as if it was splattering across his own face. Every time a feather or his falchion carved through their bodies, it was as if he was doing it with his own hand.

He utterly lost himself to the chaos of battle, the concept of a man called Seth fading away to the back of his scattered mind, until all that was left was blood, death, carcasses and the legion of puppets fighting as one single entity.

***

Far below this battle in the sky, the skirmish of the earth was still ongoing. The wave of ants was growing ever closer, so close that they could see the globules of saliva dripping from their maws, could see their blood splatter as they crushed each other under foot in order to get to their prey.

They forced themselves forward with ravenous hunger, the only reason they hadn't yet descended upon them was the efforts of the hunting team slowing their advance. But with explosive supplies dwindling and Astra's lightning bolts growing farther apart in frequency, the swarm was slowly gaining its advantage back once more.

However, if Astra was feeling the pressure of their situation, it was not evident on her face in the slightest. She kept her usual stoic, emotionless expression throughout the entire battle, only ever going so far as to slightly narrow her eyes or deeper her permanent scowl. But what that meant for the emotions swirling around inside of her, was another story entirely.

Without turning her head back, Astra shouted over the deafening orchestra of screeching and buzzing wings.

"Are you ready to fire?"

The individual she was addressing was Erik, the aquamarine knight who had exchanged his golden armour for something closer to a seaweed green metal, although what metal it was made of he had no earthly idea. For some reason, he had grown to despise the gold armour, something about bad memories with it.

He was currently hunched over, his hands held in front of him with his palms pointed together, with a gap between his hands. Between his hands, and within the gap, was a small ball of water, no bigger than a baseball.

It's surface undulated slightly, soft waves occurring across its surface as if something was moving within its depths and disturbing the tranquil water. With every wave that occurred, even the smallest one, Erik's hands trembled with strain and the muscles in his arms flexed as if he was holding up the sky itself.

Gritting his teeth, he responded with a strained voice, desperate not to lose his concentration just because he had to speak. He had only recently transcended and gained the ability to control the water he produced, after all.

"Ready when you are Boss."

Astra simply nodded in response, holding up her hand with her fingers spread. All of their attacks against the oncoming swarm immediately halted at this signal, allowing it to burst forth once more like a river finally breaking through a dam.

The black tidal wave streamed forward, until they were drowned in the shadow of countless bodies. However, just before the swarm could finally descend upon them, and more importantly before they broke their somewhat cohesive formation, Astra clenched her fist. At the same time, she shouted out a single word.

"FIRE!"

Erik thrust his hands forward, pushing the baseball sized glob of water outwards. However, he didn't just throw a single ball of water. Instead, from this ball, an endless torrent of water burst forth, colliding with the black river like a tsunami and forcing it back.

The insects at the front were blasted apart, some crushed by the force of the jet of water while others were shredded apart by the small impurities Erik had allowed into the water. It was like a single, giant pressure cutter, carving through the swarm and forcing it back.

By the time his stream of water died down, losing the pressure he had spent so long building up, the ground before them was cover in a continuous film of water that reflected the sky above, as well as the battle that was taking place within it.

The swarm of ants had been cut in half, their numbers absolutely decimated by the power of nature. Those that remained had carapaces glistening with water that defiantly clung to their bodies, making their chitin shine like freshly polished armour and reflect the world around them.

Standing before Astra's shield, which floated in the air, Fox slowly drew one of his swords as he stared into the surface of the shield. The silver surface glimmered in the midday sun, acting like a perfect mirror that reflected the world in front of it.

A smirk played on the grey haired man's lips as he stared at his own reflection, before the portrait displayed in the shield's surface shifted. No longer could he see himself, instead he was staring at an image of an ant with a glistening carapace.

With the shield acting as a window into the depths of the opposing swarm, Fox slashed his sword across the window. Even as it hit the rim of the shield, it faced no opposition, simply continuing on its course and slashing through the window, and carving the ant on the other side in two.

As soon as his sword reached the other side of the rim, the image changed once more. Displaying a different ant in a different location of the swarm, and Fox brought his blade down once more.