It couldn't be said with any certainty just what was coming down from the whirling skyline--at the very least, it didn't resemble a beast of any worldly kind, and especially not a Dragon. Even its five heads, which followed the curvature and snoutish angles of a Drake's, seemed corrupted and unnatural, with flares and bolts of five colours slithering out through the gaping holes in its mouths. The creature's lower half defied the reality of its flight, fattened to the point of absurdity, pint-sized shadows wiggling clearly beneath the taught skin of its pregnant belly. Black blood and viscera--the remains of stillborn Dragons, leaked freely from the budding orifice which poked out from its crotch, evaporating into crimson mist as it mixed with a smoking, amniotic fluid. It descended from the maelstrom like a meteor in slow-motion, the shards of its body crackling in the descent transforming into yet more Dragons, leaving the soldiers upon Branda's soil to question what it is that they were looking at.
"Retreat!" Dorma, who appeared to be just about the only person with their wits still about her, "We're returning to the mainland! Arbalests, prepare to shoot down any Dragons in our path!"
It wouldn't take a second glance to confirm that the 3 Anti-Demon Leagues were hopelessly outclassed when faced with one of the Four Heavenly Kings, but it was Dorma alone who truly understood Tiamat's strength. The Queen of Dragons' endless pregnancy allowed her to spawn as many Dragons as she pleased, overwhelming countries with mindless children who happily sacrificed their lives in the name of a darker future. The full might of Gria would struggle to repel her attack, let alone a collection of less than 2,000 soldiers.
"Yula! Lotte!" She turned her head, "We're preparing a magic circle!"
"A magic- but there are only three of us!" A bead of sweat appeared on the forehead of Yula, who seemed to be grasping the weight of the situation, "It would take too much time to-"
"Don't question it! Every second we waste is crucial! Get to work!"
The Anti-Demons Leagues didn't need to be told twice to retreat. Almost immediately, the air was filled by the metallic scraping of their heavy armour as the disciplined soldiers of each battalion quickly moved into a loose formation and began moving towards the west, arbalests casting backwards glances while keeping an eye out for any approaching Dragons. Dorma, Yula and Lotte were quickly left behind by the retreating force in a display that completely contradicted their intended goal--to protect their sorcerer commanders.
"Right, erm… a three-layer, then." Lotte muttered to himself, "We'll use a three-layered circle."
"No." Dorma interrupted, "Make it five-layered."
"T-That's not possible!" He replied, "It would take hours!"
"-And just what are we planning on doing with a five-layered circle, anyway!?" Yula contested, "Focusing a spell through it would leave us completely defenceless!"
"Most of these Dragons will no doubt chase after the Leagues." Dorma explained, "If they keep up our plan of attack, then we'll only suffer minor casualties. While that's happening, we can strike at Tiamat--possibly even incapacitate her, with the right spell."
"And the circle!? Who can tell how much time we have before she takes notice of us!"
"Not to worry."
Releasing the grip she had on her staff, Dorma balanced the weapon by cupping her hand around its circular top. The blue-silver adamantite crystal pulsed with a magical energy in her palm. As she concentrated, the crystal began to glow brightly, before suddenly cracking in an instantaneous burst of light, before crumbling to pieces like a piece of inert stone.
"Have you gone mad, Dorma!?" Lotte yelled, "Without a focus, you'll be dead in seconds if those Dragons decide to attack!"
"Be quiet and watch for a moment." She demanded.
A magical circle was used to amplify the effects of spells by channelling one's magical energy through a more receptive medium. The sigils upon a circle issued 'commands' to the miniscule particles responsible for creating magical outputs. Combinations of these sigils could be used to organise those particles into more efficiently-concentrated formations, creating powerful spells. Magical circles were composed of layers, or segments, each with more complicated sigils than the last, thus making larger circles exponentially more difficult to create. However, by harnessing the incredible store of mana within her adamantite staff, Dorma had temporarily exceeded her natural reserve of magical power, allowing for the instantaneous creation of complicated magical circles so long as she had the required sigils memorised--which she did.
Commanding the magical particles with her hand, a set of deep-blue circles began searing into the soil beneath their feet, creating miniscule columns of smoke as they appeared. A five-layered magical circle was the most practically powerful formation that existed. Only a handful of six-layered circles had ever been created, which took months of continuous effort to form. Theoretically, it would be possible to create a circle with any amount of layers, but the time required to do so would eventually outlast the lifespan of any living creature. Dorma's syphoning of her adamantite crystal had provided enough mana to form a five-layered circle in no time at all, at the cost of the staff itself, which she needed to cast spells of any real use.
"We'll use this." Allowing her staff to fall uselessly to the ground, Dorma looked over to her two comrades, "We'll be casting at the 9th tier, naturally, so prepare yourselves."
"That's preposterous! We'd be channelling enough mana to blow the peninsula apart!"
"Better pay close attention to your incantations, then." Dorma smiled, "No time to waste. I'll lead the cast, so make sure to follow after me."
"And the Dragons!? What about the Dragons!?" Lotte complained, "Why not bring the Leagues back!? At least we'd be protected, that way!"
"Better to save lives when we can. Soon enough, we won't have the pleasure." Dorma answered, "And wasn't it you who said we should seize every opportunity? If we pull this off, Tiamat might be taken out of the picture for decades. Plenty of time for our intrepid Hero to grow up, wouldn't you say?"
Upon speaking those words, another wail erupted from the broken sky, forcing the three sorcerers to their knees while clutching the sides of their heads. As she looked up, Dorma could see the hideous, bulbous form of Tiamat hovering in the air, surrounded by thousands of her frenzied children. Many fractured groups of Dragons had already departed from the swarm to attack the retreating Anti-Demon Leagues, but it seemed as though they hadn't taken notice of the sorcerers yet.
"Hah…" Grimacing, Yula dared not to follow Dorma's gaze, "This had better work."
"We were putting our lives on the line to begin with." The girl answered, "It's the 'fate' of this world to fall into ruin now that Demons have reappeared. But we're free to kick and scream as harshly as we please in retaliation."
"Not a very hopeful person, are you?" Lotte muttered.
"If you knew half as much as I did-" Dorma finished, "-You wouldn't have even bothered trying to fight back."
With those words, she took her position at the outer rim of the magical circle, and gestured for the duo to follow her lead. Taking their positions so that the three sorcerers were arranged in a triangle formation, Dorma began her magical incantation--less of a sentence and more of an incoherent string of loosely-intelligible words. Magical particles only responded to certain words, and so, to practise magic efficiently, sorcerers needed to find ways to loosen or abbreviate those words, lest their spells take hours to cast. The resultant dialect was something quite feverish and difficult to master.
The sudden influx of mana hadn't gone unnoticed, however. Tiamat, who seemed to respond to the phenomenon, roared for a third time, signalling her children to attack the source. At the Queen's command, an army of Dragons descended from her corpulent form, assortments of fire, ice, lightning, darkness and pure light frothing at their vicious lips. Though there would be a few merciful moments before the swarm descended upon the three sorcerers, it was obvious at a glance that their sonorous incantation wouldn't be concluding quickly enough.
"...W-We should run." Lotte spoke, trying to avert his eyes from the sight, "This was a poor idea, and we can't afford to die so soon."
"It's already too late, Lotte." Yula shook her head, "Even if we did retreat, the Leagues are too far to reach, and Dorma is the only one here capable of creating a Gate… if she had her staff."
The woman in question, who was too deep in concentration to acknowledge her own imminent death, continued focusing on the incantation, diverting the still-lingering power of the adamantite crystal towards the magical circle.
"...Hm." Lotte sighed, "Well, this isn't quite how I would have liked to die, but…"
Just then, there was a sound that drowned the green-clad sorcerer's voice out. It wasn't the woeful screeching of the creature above them, or the roars of Dragons howling towards their location, but a sharp, echoing noise, like the twinkling of magical crystals. From the west, great spears of moonlight rose up from the soil, appearing like angels as they flew to cut through the darkening sky. It wasn't a type of magic that either Lotte or Yula recognised, but the unerring bolts nonetheless tore through the myriad shadows of Dragons hurtling towards them, sending globules of black blood from exit wounds as the spears tirelessly danced in the sky to attack the endless swarm of beasts.
"Wh-" Blinking, Lotte couldn't believe his eyes, "What sort of-"
"Lotte! Focus!" Yula interrupted, "While they're distracted, let's finish the incantation!"
"R-Right…!"
As the Dragons contested with their unknown assailants, the three of them stood with their eyes closed, minds focused singularly on the task in front of them. Muttering in tongues, the screeching mass of death above them seemed to dissipate as their senses became dulled by the sheer concentration of mana being channelled through their bodies into the magical circle. As the ritual continued, the circle itself changed--each outermost layer of its formation rose into the air one after the other, giving it the appearance of a funnel when fully-prepared. As a low, brilliant light appeared and was suspended above the centremost sigils, Dorma's eyes opened, and her gaze once more fell upon Tiamat, who appeared incensed by the appearance of the moonlight spears.
"Hm." Pausing, she thought for a moment, "I didn't actually decide what spell to cast…"
"Lady Dorma! Please take this seriously, while we still have a chance of succeeding!" Lotte cried.
"I'm only joking around." She smirked.
Spells were organised into 9 ascending tiers of complexity and power. Any sorcerer could cast a 1st-tier spell, but only the most powerful could dream of invoking a 9th-tier. Even with 3 of the most powerful magic-users in the world assembled in that one spot, it would completely drain each of their mana reserves to cast a single one.
"I-I must admit, this is my first time invoking a 9th-tier…" Lotte confessed, "Please do be mindful that we ourselves are not invincible, Lady Dorma-"
"Yes, yes. Duly noted." She interrupted, throwing her arms wide open, "Disintegration!"
Having the forethought to cover her eyes in the following instant, Dorma's comrades weren't so lucky as their fields of view were suddenly occupied by a blinding flash of colourless light. From the perspective of the Anti-Demon Leagues, who at that point were well on their way, it would have seemed like a column of divine fire had risen into the sky, punching a hole straight through the seemingly-impenetrable blanket of clouds and into the far reaches of space. As Tiamat was enveloped in that flash of brilliance, a half-cylinder was carved through the front of her bloated body, severing two of her serpentine heads and sending globules of steaming, acidic flesh from the punctured bloat of her pregnant belly. Like a lead weight, the Queen of Dragons fell from the sky like a floating castle, amniotic fluid raining down as her gargantuan form flattened an entire forest some distance away, sending quakes along the ground that could be felt from as far as Tor.
Of course, cheers of celebration erupted from the Leagues, but the sorcerers who had invoked that deadly attack were not given the pleasure. Having expended a tremendous amount of mana, their bodies fell into paralytic shock, knocking the three of them unconscious simultaneously as the fading magical circle left a scalded imprint on the soil at their feet.
Still contending with the spears of moonlight, many of the Dragons who had witnessed that event quickly dispersed into the clouds, having lost contact with the only being powerful enough to issue them commands. While the maelstrom continued to storm overhead, it was a clear fact that, though not dead, Tiamat had been incapacitated that day, but for however long, it was impossible to say for certain. As the three sorcerers responsible for her defeat laid face-down in the dirt, a few moments of indeterminate silence passed, before the sight of their attack was graced by a platoon of soldiers whose blue-silver armour reflected what few rays of sunlight managed to penetrate the cloud-cover. Making way for a regal-looking woman wearing a crown, a sigh of relief could barely be heard on the low wind.
"It seems we arrived in time…" The woman spoke, "Make certain that these three are escorted safely to the capital. They are in dire need of rest."