Ether consumed the flames, claiming their heat and stopping the fire. The crackling embers danced closer until they engulfed Ether in a hellish hug.
Where they lost heat and power, draining them completely. Burned grass and flowers coated the area of the fight, revealing where Befehlnadir stood.
He tapped his forearm as the hand rested on his hip. There were no signs of aggression in Befehlnadir's stance. In fact, it looked like he was bored.
"Did you send him to Uvurim?" he asked.
"Yeah, uh... I tried to throw him over there. Who are you?" Ether asked.
"Forget about that." Befehlnadir stepped in Uvurim's direction. "I need to find Hitirus before he can cause damage. Thank you for cutting me the majority of the work. You're a brave warrior, and a clever one."
"You're welcome, and thanks. Good luck with Hitirus," Ether replied.
Befehlnadir rampaged to the west. Clearing most of the open space in seconds, leaving Ether amazed. He continued to watch until he could not see the mysterious Variant anymore.
Ether reached for Tellendor as he stepped over the crispy grass. "Lya, is there a way for me to instantly reach Shora?"
"Shora's body is the result of your Third Rule, I'm not sure. Why don't you experiment with that?" Lya answered.
Hearing her response left Ether feeling a little annoyed. Yet he understood why she was doing this. Her job was not to baby him around, but to support and encourage his Will power's growth.
Bright white flames consumed his ankles, wrist, and the base of his neck. After focusing as hard as he could, Ether realized Shora was in his arms. The expressionless Thresher looked up at him.
Despite holding Shora, they were not in the city. Instead, they were still out in the fields. Shora noticed the pretty space, causing them to fight out of Ether's grasp. Only for him to consume them.
"Shora!" Ether angrily grunted. "Damn Thresher... fine, I'll go there myself."
Lya hummed. "Don't be so mad at Shora, they're just trying to be themselves. I didn't get mad at you when you tried to do that."
"Yeah, but Solice did," Ether snapped back.
***
Pools of radiant sunlight helped Variants to relax and recover. The warmth made them forget they were soaking wet atop a mountain earlier that day..
While they bathed themselves in the magnificent rays, they acknowledged how fast the events went by. Conqueror was still fighting not too long ago, and last night thousands of their forces died.
It felt somewhat surreal to think about how much this battle changed since the previous night. Now it was late noon, and they were recovering.
Even Demon was resting. He sat beside his Iron Maiden, who bowed her head as she offered what she observed while following Hitirus around.
Demon curiously watched how effective Hitirus was in combat. Clearing out entire sections of an area before others in that spot could realize they were being attacked.
While the Iron Maiden sat by her master, the Iron Butler followed Hitirus around. Latching onto it before Valentine Primed tore Hymo in half.
"Hmm, having Hitirus as an Iron Butler would be an interesting choice. We should do that. From now, the Iron Butler will exclusively follow Hitirus around. And another will take his place," Demon thought to himself.
Together, the duo sat in silence. Studying what they saw while elites gathered themselves and their warriors. Infinus in one area, Volatile on the other.
Sernatacus checked over the Ferals that stumbled back into their sight. He ensured they belonged to either Volatile or Infinus, so no Conqueror survivors could attack them while they recovered.
He pointed them to where their Legions rested, before turning to check on his wounds. After seeing they were patched, Sernatacus went out and dragged a dying warrior in.
Fulfilling the duty Shora had before Ether took them from the group. Once the warrior was in the pool of healing flames, Sernatacus turned to see what else he could do.
Ether gently landed in the middle of the recovering groups. He looked all around, admiring what Shora did on their own. Secretly, Ether began to respect them.
"You should love Shora just as much as you love Pearl, Ether. That Thresher is you. They even found their way to fertilizing Pearl's egg, which birthed your youngest son," Lya commented.
He sighed, trying to not show anymore respect. "Shora did good, I guess."
A Volatile elite made his way up to Ether. "You're the one who killed Danitour, right?"
Ether jumped after they acknowledged what he did. "Y - yes, although there is a huge misunderstanding. I'll be glad to repay in some way."
"We don't want payment, just justice. Even if Danitour attacked you first, you seem to have the skills and power to move from an encounter quickly. You could've fled," he replied.
"Yeah, but it was in the moment and I wanted to push with the first surge of ground forces. Danitour was blocking my way and I had to kill him. I didn't want to, but I had to," Ether explained.
The elite nodded, understanding the situation. "I understand, and I'm not calling for your death. I'm just saying our forces aren't too happy. Especially those that remain from Danitour's branch."
He lifted a hand. "By the way, thanks. You helped me and my men recover from that monstrous attack. Hopefully, we can fight each other again, but that's unlikely. We'll have to see what Valiant says."
Just as quickly as the interaction started, it ended. The elite disappeared back into the crowd of gathering Volatile warriors.
Ether sighed, unsure if what to do next. While the war was a huge victory against the Trilogy's bane, there were no longer three Legions allied. And the only one to keep up with Ubitwa and Volatile was Infinus.
Deep down, he knew Niro could use this as an advantage over him. After all, he did kill Danitour and the punishers could punish in any form they wanted. Including forcing Infinus to join.
This thought plagued his mind as he checked over his forces. Making sure they were all fit enough to start their trip back home.