"Come on, everyone, walk slowly, don't push the people in front of you, and there's no need to panic," Djeeta tells the crowd in front of her.
After Rei leaves to face the Primal Beast and uses his Barrier, the monsters that attacking the city suddenly stop and start fleeing.
It seems that thanks to Rei's Barrier, the pressure from the Primal Beast that caused many monsters to panic has disappeared. As a result, they calm down and run out of the city.
However, Djeeta is still evacuating many residents to the Casino Liner, as it is a safe place to serve as an evacuation center.
Therese is also there, helping her organize the residents. Finally, after some time, all the residents have entered the Casino Liner, leaving only Djeeta, Therese, and a few Skyfarers outside.
"Djeeta!!" Lyria's voice calls out.
Lyria, Katalina, and Vyrn are seen coming out of the Casino Liner it seems they are also helping with the evacuation from inside.
"Lyria, has everyone been evacuated?" Djeeta asks Lyria, looking back at her.
"Yes, we're done. Now we just need to deal with that rampaging Primal Beast!"
Katalina is looking towards where the colorful Barrier is. "It looks like Rei is already there, right?" Katalina asks Djeeta.
"Yes, Rei said he felt the Primal Beast's power growing stronger and stronger, so he decided to go ahead," Djeeta nods, then turns to Therese, who is listening to their conversation.
"Are you Therese? It's a shame we have to meet in the middle of this chaos."
"Yes, I'm Therese. Are you the friend of Rei who got separated from him?" Therese asks Djeeta, remembering that Rei had mentioned being separated from someone.
"Yes, I'm Rei's companion, but we're not actually friends, you see... We actually-!?" Suddenly, the entire island of Port Breeze shook violently, leaving them all confused.
"What happened!?" Vyrn looked bewildered by what was happening.
"It's Rei! I can feel his power growing stronger and stronger," Lyria said in a panic while pointing towards the Barrier.
"In that case, we need to help him quickly! Let's go, everyone!" Djeeta shouted to them before running off.
They all including Therese quickly followed Djeeta to help. Meanwhile, Richard had just exited the Casino Liner having been delayed by the crowds and was left behind by Lyria, Katalina, and Vyrn.
As Djeeta and the others run toward the location of Rei and the Phoenix's battle, Rei is struggling to defeat the Phoenix.
"Woahh!" I dodge the fiery arrows launched by the Phoenix.
I keep flying quickly, avoiding the numerous attacks the Phoenix is relentlessly throwing at me. The Phoenix has been continuously hurling countless fire arrows.
Since I have already used Atheism to isolate this area, I can't use it to protect myself, so I have to rely solely on Leviathan's Aura.
But, "Owch, it's so hot!!!" Some of the Phoenix's fire arrows manage to hit and pierce my body, causing the impacted areas to immediately blister and turn red.
"*Screeech!*" Seeing her attacks hit me the Phoenix becomes even more aggressive in her attempts to strike me down.
"Damn, this is so annoying... There's no way I can fight in the air against a bird that's been using wings since birth." Compared to the Phoenix I'm not skilled at using my wings at all.
Since I rarely fight using my wings, I'm not as agile as the Phoenix in aerial combat. "I just need one opening..." Despite this, I am still trying to find a way to strike her with my sword.
I keep flying around the area, dodging all her attacks while being chased by the Phoenix. I can see my wounds starting to regenerate, but since these are severe burns, the regeneration is quite slow.
But as I am focused on dodging the Phoenix's attacks, I don't realize that I am flying into a trap she has set.
Suddenly, a massive pillar of fire appears, blocking my flight path. "What the!?" I quickly channel energy from my wings into my sword and slash through the pillar of fire, allowing me to fly safely through it.
*Stab* However, because I am too focused on avoiding the pillar of fire, I don't notice that the Phoenix has created a larger and stronger fire arrow that she shoots at me that piercing my abdomen.
"Ughh!!!" I crash to the ground hard, losing control of my wings.
After coming to a stop, I see the blazing arrow stuck in my abdomen and the Phoenix flying toward me.
As the Phoenix gets closer, she begins gathering fire in her mouth to shoot at me. "*Screeech!*"
"That's it!" Seeing the Phoenix flying towards me, I quickly channel energy from my wings into my sword.
The Sword of Repudiation begins to emit a black aura that envelops the blade causing it to glow darkly.
The Phoenix sensing something dangerous from my sword, tries to fly away to avoid it but since she is flying really fast towards me with her mouth full of fire she cannot stop or dodge fast enough.
I then point the Sword of Repudiation at the Phoenix. "Apocalyptic Messiah." My sword glows even brighter, and a magic circle forms in front of it.
The light that enveloping my sword immediately transfers to the magic circle, which then fires a massive Ray of Light. *BOOOOOMMM* The Phoenix is hit directly by the Ray of Light.
Not long the Ray of Light begins to diminish until it finally disappears, leaving nothing of the Phoenix behind.
The fiery arrow piercing my abdomen also starts to vanish slowly, revealing a wide-open hole in my stomach. I collapse onto the grass while releasing my sword.
As soon as my sword touches the ground it instantly disappears. I can feel my regeneration starting to heal the hole in my abdomen. Because this wound is more severe so it takes priority.
The only things remaining are the blazing flames around me from the Phoenix's previous attacks.
"Rei, the others and I are outside your barrier now. Can you open it?" Suddenly I hear Lyria's voice contacting me through the Primal Beast that connects us.
Without hesitation, I open a small part of the barrier to allow Lyria and the others to enter. Even if I wanted to speak, I can't because I need to conserve my energy.
I close my eyes to rest for a bit while waiting for them to arrive.
"What the! Why is it so hot here?! Even with Leviathan's protection, it's still so hot!" Soon, I hear Vyrn's shout.
"Rei!" I hear Lyria's voice again; she spots me before the others and runs to me.
"!? Why are you so badly injured? What kind of primal beast did you fight?" Lyria sits next to me and places her hands over the hole in my stomach.
"Oceansoul's Healing." Lyria's hands begin to glow with Leviathan's blue aura and start healing my wound.
The others finally reach me looking panicked when they see my condition. But upon seeing Lyria concentrating, they decide not to disturb her and instead observe the surroundings.
"So many blazing flames... What Primal Beast did you fight, Rei?" Katalina murmurs as she surveys the destruction around us.
Djeeta and Therese walk up next to my other side. "Hey Rei, are you unconscious or awake?" Djeeta pokes my side with her finger.
Therese looks confused by Djeeta's seemingly indifferent behavior. "Djeeta, what are you doing!? He's injured, don't do that," she tries to stop Djeeta.
"Too bad Djeeta. I'm not unconscious, so you can't do whatever you were planning..." I say to Djeeta, still with my eyes closed.
"Tch..." Djeeta clicks her tongue in annoyance when she realizes I'm still awake.
"Eh?" Therese looks even more confused by Djeeta's and my behavior.
"It's okay Duelist Girl... These two are always like this," Vyrn says to Therese while shaking his head.
"What Primal Beast did you fight this time, Rei?" Djeeta decided to change the subject when she realized her plan had failed.
"Well..." I opened my eyes and glanced towards the still-blazing fires.
"You'll find out in a moment..."
They all looked confused by what I meant, but Lyria who is trying to heal me suddenly had a panicked expression. "Everyone, I can feel the Primal Beast's power getting stronger!"
As soon as Lyria said that the surrounding fires flared up. "Woahh!! What happened!?" Vyrn panicked while feeling the increasing heat.
"It's Phoenix," I told them.
"Phoenix!? You mean the Phoenix from the legend? I heard that the Festival of Falling Flame is started by the islanders as an offering to appease the fearsome Phoenix!"
"What!?" Katalina hadn't expected that the island has such a legend.
A strong and really hot wind began to blow against them. "Ahhhh, the wind!" Vyrn was thrown back due to his small body being unable to withstand it.
The blazing fires began to converge into one spot, similar to when I first saw Phoenix's rebirth.
"Wait, if Phoenix can revive itself, what should we do to defeat it?" Katalina said while using her hands to shield her face from the strong wind.
Thanks to Leviathan's Aura they weren't burned by Phoenix's hot wind but they could still feel the heat.
"Well... I have two ideas to defeat a Primal Beast like that..." I told them.
They immediately understood what I meant. "No way, you will never use that again, Rei!!" Djeeta scolded me with a terrifying expression.
What I meant is using "The End" because it's the only ability I have that can negate resurrection...
Unfortunately, Paradise Lost doesn't have that ability and can only negate immortality without negating resurrection...
"Well... In that case, we'll use the other method," I said while looking at Lyria.
"You mean that?" Lyria understanding what I meant responded.
"Yep, the only way to defeat resurrection is for you to absorb Phoenix's power."
I then grabbed both of Lyria's hands that were touching my stomach to heal me and lifted them. "We don't have any more time, we need to prepare before Phoenix is fully reborn."
Djeeta and the others nodded, except for Therese who looked confused...
The wound in my stomach is almost completely healed, but my body is still covered in burns from Phoenix's previous attack. We don't have time to wait for me to fully recover.
I tried to move my body and stand up but kinda struggling because my entire body felt painful...
"Let me help you, Rei!" Djeeta and Therese said, then both helped me stand.
"Thank you both."
Once I was standing with their help, I looked at Lyria and nodded. "Get ready, Lyria."
"Okay!" Lyria immediately closed her eyes and began touching the crystal on her chest. Shortly after the crystal began to emit a bright blue light.
"What is Lyria doing?" Therese asked me.
"Hehehe, you'll find out soon enough," Djeeta answered Therese with a playful expression.