Noble had a unique vantage point of the battlefield. As far as she could tell, the Dreamscape champion was the only one among the Awakened that could fly.
She could see all of the carnage in its full glory, whether or not she wanted to.
Awakened were fighting for their lives against the tricolored mass of reptilian skin and teeth. Some were faring better than others.
One archer's head had transformed into that of a bear, making him able to fight long-range with his bow and up close with his teeth.
Beside him, a man with an aspect that made him unusually flexible was outmaneuvering the sinister serpents, but for how long?
Noble took it all in.
The wall, the horde of creatures, the army of humanity determined to push back impending doom.
It was like getting a morbid peek at Antarctica, only there was no Sovereign to swoop in and save the day.
Unless Catphine could quickly locate Wake of Ruin, there would only be one Saint among the troops today. And while Soul Reaper was among the most powerful Saints in the world, would she alone be enough?
Or would Crestfall finally be demolished once and for all under the pressure of the coming Titan?
Noble was fairly certain she could escape. The snakes were not made for aerial combat. She could fly away, taking Sarai and Hamish with her to safety. Over long distances, two to three people were her cargo limit, and they would have to go far to find another gateway if both Crestfall and Ender's Deep collapsed.
But Noble would not abandon the others to the coming fate. Her only option was to fight alongside them, support Jet, and hope it would be enough.
'Speaking of support.'
After wetting her blade with another line of serpentine blood, Noble flew to the open side of the citadel and glanced into the valley. Ender's Deep was mostly empty—the soldiers there had heeded the call—and the few people left were preparing to barricade the second citadel in case the first was breached.
While the action made sense, Noble sensed the effort would be fruitless. There were too many sizes of serpents and too many cracks in the broken ground for a blockade to slow down the minions of the Titan.
Perhaps it would buy enough time for a few to escape their fate. Noble hoped they would never need to find out.
That led her to the more pressing matter. The Titan looming in the distance.
'A Corrupted Titan.'
She hadn't even known who made the claim, but it was made with such certainty that Noble did not doubt it.
How in two worlds were they supposed to defeat something like that?
A burst of fire from the wall alerted Noble to Sarai's presence. Locking onto her friend's emotional signature, the flying Master swooped down to back up her friend.
Noble pierced the skull of a red beast before reversing her hold and taking out the yellow monster behind it.
The action was smooth and almost effortless. Noble forced the bodies off of the wall to give the fighters more space.
A pile of dead corpses was beginning to form at the base of the wall, making it even easier for the next in line to climb over the bodies and scale the barricade.
If this kept up, there would soon be a ramp of dead flesh for the Titan to easily cross.
Something needed to be done.
"We need a fire line!" Sarai yelled while her spear pierced the side of a verdant beast. The Amber quickly turned the creature to ash.
"A fire line? Can you do that?" Noble was able to gut a larger Monster before smashing on one of its tiny brethren with her gauntlet. The smaller one looked newly hatched, but Noble could show no mercy.
Keeping the Zenith at the ready, Noble used her free hand to slip half of a Memory behind her ear.
The second half of [The Other's Voice] was passed to Sarai after she threw another intruder from the citadel's fortifications.
'Get me to the ground and I will set them aflame,' Sarai told her confidently.
The floating woman shook her head as she wiped sweat from her brow.
'I'm not leaving you down there. I'm going with you!'
Together, the two women tumbled over the wall and headed toward the ground. They barreled through the snakes attached to the vertical surface, creating a wake of destruction as they descended. Even without Noble stopping them, the pair would have landed on a pile of their kills.
Thankfully, they did not have to find out if the fangs of the fallen could still release venom.
At the last possible moment, Noble stopped their descent, and they hovered over the chaos.
'We need something flammable.'
Sarai could have blasted the flesh into submission until it lit, but that would drain a lot of the woman's essence.
Noble didn't have a good incendiary Memory, and even if she did, they needed more than a fast flash.
"Catch!" Noble barely heard the word before she registered an object plummeting towards her.
Slowing the Memory, Noble let the bottle come to rest in her free hand.
'What is it?'
Above, Master Chip had already returned to slaying creatures. He would not be providing any more information on what he had thrown.
Uncorking the bottle, Noble's nose wrinkled. The acrid smell was worse than the fetid blood of the dying beasts.
'That will do,' Noble turned the container upside down and let the unending streak of liquid pour out.
She motioned to Sarai, whose Amber was already aflame.
The redhead shot a ball of flame at the pile.
The caustic liquid turned into an immolating blaze, catching both ladies by surprise. Noble fled as the liquid continued to pour, bringing the fire and her friend with her as she went.
Sarai filled in the spaces that the original blaze missed, and soon a wall of fire stood between the abominations and their human prey.
Sweating, Noble landed on the wall very grateful for her fire charm. She handed back the bottle Memory to Master Chip.
"Thank you for the help," she nodded. "How did you know we were struggling with a way to light the fire?"
Chip grinned fiercely. "I didn't. I just thought you might be in need of a drink."
He took a swig of the alcohol in the bottle before dismissing it. For the first time in a long time, Noble couldn't tell by someone's emotions if they were kidding or crazy.
The soldiers on the wall were battered. Most still looked ready for battle, but a few were noticeably injured while others were missing entirely.
Noble hoped that the last group had been escorted from the wall like Jo and was not part of the inferno below.
The troops took the moment to regroup, rest, and recuperate.
Only Jet seemed entirely unfazed by the ordeal.
Her ghostly scythe was now shaped like a misericorde, resting at her side like a natural extension on her arm. Her eyes were bright with the clarity of battle.
She peered out past the carnage at the distant horizon.
'What I wouldn't give to know what is going on in her mind right now.'
Noble cleared her throat. "What do we do next, General?"
A dark smile appeared on Jet's face.
"I think it's time to pay the Titan a friendly visit."