The feathered creature was large, to say the least. It made Ondo and the dragons look like regular pigeons in comparison. Its plumage was a gorgeous golden yellow with a crimson red accent on the end of every feather. While its flight feathers underneath its wings were a more dark blue that faded into purple halfway down each feather. Its tail had similarities of a peacock's but was a bit smaller in comparison to its body size, while its head resembled that of a falcon. Hovering above its head was what could only be described as a fiery halo.
The villagers were awestruck and paralyzed from fear as they were all aware of the history the Phoenix had with the water continent. Even Ondo crawled back into his cave on the mountain to hide.
"What is that thing?" Kaden asked.
"... That's the Phoenix." Mai replied after swallowing heavily. "The diety of the fire continent."
"Ah, she's beautiful!" Kajar exclaimed. "How dare you primitive insects enslave something so beautiful. Turning her into a mere light source because you were too scared to live under the sun like the rest of us. Pathetic."
"How'd you know about that?" Elder Aira questioned as she was finally able to pull her gaze away from the Phoenix. "Not even us Elders knew that she was our sun until recently. How'd you know?"
"Oh, I have my ways. Don't you worry about that. Anywho, I think I'll be taking my leave now."
"What?"
"I came here for one thing only, and now that my want has been satisfied, I'd rather not stay in this pitiful land any longer."
Without looking, Kajar could have sensed something above him that was about to threaten his life. He jumped backward just a second before an ice spike impaled the ground where he was just standing. The spike was taller than Kajar himself, and when he glanced upward, there were about twenty more of them hovering above him.
"You made those when you were flying around earlier, didn't you?"
"You come to my land, destroy my home, endanger my people, and you think I'm just going to let you leave?" Maleah said in a state of anger. "Your brother will have to take the throne after all because I'm not letting you leave here alive!"
"Heh, c'mon then." Kajar replied with a grin. "Allow me to see the famous Aira bloodline in action firsthand."
"Moisture on the ground and in the air is getting evaporated because of the Phoenix." Maleah thought to herself. "I need to be conservative with what I have."
With a swipe of her finger, Maleah sent three more of the spikes hurdling down at Kajar with the intent of gauging his speed and reaction time. The Ignus Commander quickly proved himself to be more than just a shot caller as he evaded the spikes with no wasted movements. He then struck the back of his hands together to create sparks as he was wearing a pair of spark gloves similar to what Jayson had. With them, Kajar created just enough fire to set his own hands ablaze.
"Let's go, Elder!" Kajar exclaimed as he used a quick burst of fire from his hands to propel himself towards Maleah.
Before he could reach her, she sent down another ice spike, perfectly aligned with the path he was taking, and if it wasn't for Kajar's quick reflexes, he would have been impaled. He blasted himself sideways with his right hand while using his left hand to throw a fireball at Maleah from a distance. Without moving an inch, Maleah caught the fireball with a wall of water. The attack left a cloud of steam blocking Maleah's vision, yet she still didn't move a muscle or became panicked in the slightest way. Before the steam dissipated, Kajar leaped through it and threw a flaming punch at Elder Aira.
CRASH!
Kajar's fist went directly through a pane of ice, shattering it to pieces. This misdirection left him perplexed for just a second, which almost was enough to cause him to be impaled by another falling ice spike. Kajar returned to evading, but this time, there were not any spikes falling. Instead, three more crystal clear panes of ice fell into the grass around him. Even the spikes he had dodged earlier on had transformed into panes as if Maleah had changed her approach in the middle of the fight. Every single pane displayed the exact same image of Maleah standing completely still. That was until she swiped her finger down again, prompting another spike to fall and just barely miss the head of Kajar.
"How amusing." He stated as he observed his situation. "I'm guessing you're just trying to stall me until help arrives. Well, I know better than to take on multiple of you people, so like I said before, I'll be taking my leave now."
CLAP!
Kajar clapped both his hands together and then twisted his top palm counter-clockwise and his lower palm clockwise against each other. When he separated his palms, the fire around his hands concentrated between his hands and began to rotate. The rotation quickly sped up, and as it did, the fireball became smaller and started to change color. First to white for a split second, before fading into a deep blue.
"I've never fired this in such a close proximity." Kajar stated as he dodged two more ice spikes without breaking concentration. "Oh well."
.....
"Mai, wait up a second!" Kaden exclaimed as he ran after a frantic Mai.
"There was fire, I'm sure of it." Mai thought to herself as she ran over to where Maleah and Kajar were fighting. "Those ice walls... I've seen granny do that technique several times before. And I'm sure I saw fire moving around it. I'm coming to help granny, hold on just a second longer. I'm com-"
BOOOOM!
Without warning, an explosion the size of a two story building shook the area and stopped Mai dead in her tracks.
"Granny..."
.....
Cough Cough "Well, what do you know." Kajar said as he fanned dust away from his face. "Even after I took some strength out of it, that blast damn near took myself out."
Even though Kajar was standing at ground zero for that explosion, it appeared as if his clothes were the only part of him that took damage.
"You did well to protect yourself for the most part, Elder."
At the very last moment, Maleah managed to encapsulate herself in an ice sphere using the majority of the resources she had left. The impact of the blast shattered most of that ice and left her on the ground, slowly recovering. There was a high-frequency ringing left in Maleah's ears following that explosion. She noticed Kajar walking towards her, saying something, but she could not have made out what he was saying. All Maleah felt afterward was a heavy kick to her abdomen that sent her rolling just a few inches away from the hole that was now Aestus.
"Since you care about your village so much, how about you go drown with it." Kajar exclaimed as he walked toward Maleah once more.
The ruthless commander was quick to raise his boot over Elder Aira, and he didn't hesitate to kick her over the edge. She reached and grabbed at anything her hand came into contact with as she was falling, but nothing was strong enough to hold her. It was as if time slowed down, and an invisible force grabbed her by her throat as Maleah was unable to take a breath in that moment. The only thing that came across her mind was the thought of leaving behind her precious granddaughter in such a manner.
"..."
"KÁLYMMA!"
On command, vines extended from just below the surface and swiftly wrapped around Elder Aira before she could have fallen far. As they carefully ensnared her, Maleah gasped for air and grabbed at the vines that lifted her above ground before Kajar. The commander was stunned and looked on in confusion.
"How?" He questioned.
While he was distracted, Kajar once again got this feeling of a threat approaching him from his left side. He quickly turned and immediately noticed a strong gust of wind only moments away from hitting him. Kajar placed his arms up and braced himself as that was the only option he had at that point. However, the wind gust easily blew through his defenses and knocked him back several feet.
"Are you alright, Granny!?" Mai questioned while she was kneeling with her hands on the ground.
Kaden stood next to her with his hand outstretched toward Kajar.
"...Mai, this was you?" Maleah asked as the vines placed her back on solid ground.
"What was that just now?" Kajar asked himself while evaluating the two people who just interfered with his moment. "That was wind essence. From that boy most likely. Was it the girl then that controlled the vines?"
"I-I-I'm sorry, but there wasn't any other option." Mai nervously explained. "I figured I'd learn a small amount of this practice from Via just in case -"
Before Mai could have fumbled a sentence together to explain why she knew the technique, she was met by the warm embrace of her grandmother, who was thankful just to be alive.
"Thank you, Mai." Maleah said proudly.
For a brief moment, an overflowing amount of relief poured into Mai, but only for a moment as she refocused herself back into the situation at hand.
"Granny, who's that?" Mai questioned.
"... He's the man that did this to our village. Kajar Syton, the man who killed the former king of Ignus."
A dragon then landed behind Kajar, awaiting his orders and directions along with what was left of the soldiers he had arrived with on the remaining two dragons circling above.
"This is where we part ways Elder." Kajar stated. "Thank you for accommodating me and my concerns today, I really appreciate it. Taking time out of your busy schedule, it really means a lot. Of course, I hope that we can maintain a strictly business relationship moving forward."
"This guy is pissing me off." Kaden said as he readied his hands to shoot another gust of wind.
"Kaden, wait!" Mai exclaimed, but not before Kaden fired a stronger blast of wind than before at Kajar.
The dragon stepped in front of Kajar and flapped its massive wings once to generate its own wind barrier that negated Kaden's attack.
"Uh oh." Kaden said lightly.
Without hesitation, the dragon stepped forward and exhaled an intense breath of fire at Kaden, Mai, and Maleah. Moving purely off of instinct, Kaden pushed the other two aside and out of the immediate line of the attack while he himself took the full brunt of the blast head on. Mai was stunned and almost couldn't believe what she had just witnessed.
"Ka...den?"
"..."
Just before the fire made contact, Kaden remembered a conversation he had with Jayson a few days ago while they were still training.
"Don't misunderstand now, Kaden." Jayson said. "All of the elemental essence types can be used to harm others. Even life essence can be used to kill someone. It's just that historically, fire essence has been used the most in acts of violence. So now, because of that stigma, one of the first things soldiers in Ignus are taught is how to protect themselves from fire."
"So that violence wasn't just directed at other nations then?" Kaden questioned.
"No, there's been a growing divide in the country for some time now. Once things spilled out of control and the sixteenth king was killed, anyone and everyone became at risk of being tossed aside."
"Damn."
"So learning how to defend yourself from fire is now a priority." Jayson explained. "With how things are going, this could be very useful for you sometime soon
.....
Cough Cough "I wonder if that's how daredevils feel when they light themselves on fire." Kaden said as the fire fell off of his body onto the floor around him.
Kajar was once again surprised by yet another new development.
"A mixed blood?" Kajar thought. "Fire and wind is a rare find."
"How'd you do that?" Maleah questioned.
"Well, you see -"
Before Kaden could have answered, the ground began to quake once more.
"What now?" Mai questioned.
The Ignus Commander already had a solid idea as to what was coming. He wasted no time climbing onto his dragon and flying away from the scene. The rumbling wasn't anywhere near as intense as when the Phoenix had first appeared, but everyone nearby felt the same overwhelming feeling of energy in the air.
OOOOOOOUUUUUUUWAAAAAAAA!!!
"The hell was that!?" Kaden exclaimed.
Promptly afterward Kaden asked that question, the Leviathan suddenly erupted from lake Aestus and towered into the sky before everyone. The massive serpent stood over three miles tall when it had finally stopped emerging from the hole and even then, some of its body was still underground. The majority of the scales of the Leviathan's body were a beautiful livid color that faded into a bright aqua around its belly. The most recognizable feature on the Leviathan were what appeared to be scutes made of ice that stood vertically down the middle of its back. Each plate was roughly the size of a two story building, except for the ones closer to its head which looked more like lines of ice stalagmites. An icy mist leaked off of the serpent that cooled the atmosphere in the immediate area.
OOOOOOOUUUUUUUWAAAAA!!!
"Let me guess... this is the water continent's diety." Kaden said in awe of the creature before him.
SCAAAAAAAWWWWW!!!
The Phoenix at last flew down from the mountain peak to confront its eternal enemy.
"This isn't good." Elder Alex stated. "If they fight here, it's going to destroy this entire area."
Faye watched on blocking out everything that her fellow elder was saying. Two deities had not been in this close proximity of one another in hundreds of years.
OOOOUUUU! SSSSSSSSS!
SHEEEWWW! SHEEEWWW!
OOOOOUUUUUWAAAAA!
"Are they... talking to each other?" Aaron questioned.
That's exactly what was happening. The Phoenix perched on the edge of a cliff that gave it even ground with the head of the Leviathan and communicated with it while every so often flaring its feathers.
SHEEWW! SHEEEEWWW!
OOOOOOUUUUUU!
Every groan from the Leviathan's deep and heavy voice was so low that it shook the Earth.
"They're not going to fight. Not here at least." Claire stated calmly. "The Phoenix is severely weakened so it probably knows it would lose if it were to fight right now."
"And since the Leviathan wants to protect this land, he's also going to abstain from fighting even though he knows he'd win." Via added. "He doesn't want to risk the possible casualties."
OOOOOOOUUUUUUWAAAAAAAA!!!
Small flames were blown out of the Phoenix's beak in what could only be described as an act of frustration. It backed off from the Leviathan before leaping into the air and flying away into the horizon.
"It spared us?" A random villager questioned.
"We were saved."
"Thank the heavens!"
All of the surviving villagers felt a huge sense of relief rush over them once the Phoenix had left the area. However, the Leviathan still had something to share with the villagers of Aestus before he made his exit. Its body began to recede back into the hole while it turned to face the thousands of Aestian people who were now homeless. It lowered itself until its head were just above the people.
OOOOOOOUUUUUUUWAAAAAAAA!!!
The villagers had to brace themselves against the wind that came out of the Leviathan's mouth when it spoke. It then rolled its tongue out like a carpet to present to the villagers a body. Very carefully the body was laid on the grass, and upon first inspection the person appeared to be unconscious but alive.
"Who is that?" A villager questioned.
"Isn't that-"
"JAYSON!" Avery shouted as she identified the body.
She ran over to him followed by Nakayla and Sayu, who all appeared to be deeply worried about their unresponsive brother.
"Jayson... hey, wake up." Avery said as she rolled him onto her lap.
"... Is he okay?" Sayu asked hesitantly.
Avery placed her hand on Jayson's chest to feel his breathing, which was light but steady.
"I... I don't know."