The wind sung an orchestrated tune of a thousand warriors.
Kites flapping in the air and boards slicing through the clouds.
Figures moving in graceful rhythms behind the kites were dressed in polished white tunics that clung tightly across their forms from the wind pushing back on them.
Just like the shepherds, they wore an undergarment for their legs to cover any up skirts.
They wore silver half masks that covered their nose, eyes, and forehead; each one having its own unique design and embedded with sparkling diamonds.
A lead hand was used to manipulate the kite, held forward and twitching with the flow of how they pulled on the ethereal strings of magic.
Their legs stood firm on their board, the rear foot tilting and leaning to stear the direction of their flight.
To the naked eye, the scene was absurd.
Their shimmering white tunics and masks sparkling in the light, with their kite ahead of them with no visible strings attached, one hand reaching and one hand dangling freely, and their legs working to weave in and out of the clouds for cover…
The sight looked bizzare for those who did not understand the nature of magic.
The ethereal strings surrounding these powerful mages were woven together like intricate gears that propelled their complicated maneuvers.
Lilo could not see it, but with the little knowledge taught to him by Wonka, he could simply feel the complexity of the hidden reality before him.
It was truly stunning, their speed and agility while having to keep such an intricate and complex magic system fueling their flight.
Observing only one of them had enough aura to comfort Lilo; but seeing a fleet of a thousand of these powerful magic masters overflowed Lilo's confidence.
Lilo could finally breath again. His griping fear subsided and he faced the colossal dragon; only this time with vigor.
'You fucked with the wrong spire.'
"Don't be a dumbass. Saying something like that is only going to-" Soda's warning was interrupted by the screeching roar of the gargantuan maw before them.
It's guttural voice pounded into everyone's ear, causing a shock wave of pain to flood everyone's head.
Lilo's whole body shivered from the blood chilling sound and was soon hit with a blast of skin frying heat.
It was not fire, it was simply its breath, as if the closed maw was a cooking oven that overheated and puffed out boiling saliva steam.
His hearing was temporarily dazed but as it phased back into the caucphony of roars coming from the kite riders behind him; he was immediately thrown into the mayhem of attack.
The shepherds on the ground finally reached the sea of gluttons that remained still like statues; and with a series of orders, their cravers pulled out their weapons and began slaughtering the monsters ravenously.
Still, the army of obedient gluttons remained unbothered by the violent onslaught of attacks.
The gluttons that were stationarily floating in the air ahead of the dragon were also being met with a ferocious attack.
With the kite riders free hand they formed a ball of glowing energy.
Mana blasts shot through the sky like laser beams, hitting each target with clinical precision.
As the gluttons fell like flies from the sky, the dragon simply stared with distain and the sentient glutton on its neck remained stoic.
Some of the kite riders grew annoyed at the aloof figures and aimed at the humanoid glutton with their mana blasts.
Two streaks whizzed past Lilo, and it left neither heat or cold in their wake, but the smell of what comes before and after a storm hit his nostrils.
It was akin to plasma. How the farm fields around his old home that he grew up in would smell like when lightning struck its soil.
Not burning… not earthy… other worldly.
If earth had harnessed the power of electricity. This world had harnessed its own equivalent terrifying power source.
Humans used it for transportation, weapons, ease of living; and it was no different from both of the two worlds.
Only this world was riddled with monsters that took on the form of flesh eating gluttons, rather than the corrupt leaders on earth who were knifing demons that wore the mask of humanity.
The blasts of mana were faster than bullets and aimed true to their target, but the ones directed towards the dragon and the uncanny sentient glutton… simply vanished.
They disappeared before reaching a close vicinity of the two undisturbed figures.
Magic was physical. It had a form that was invisible to the naked eye but… Lilo felt it. They were the ethereal strands that were tangible through his soul.
It was used to create and manipulate… but to make it disappear like it never existed?
That had to be advanced magic.
If the mana blasts were weaves of ethereal strands, the humanoid glutton was somehow capable of making the weave become undone in an instant.
Burberry was still leading the charge, and the Griffen they were atop of was tearing through the hovering gluttons.
Minutes passed like heart beats and the army of unmoving gluttons were dwindling slowly…
But the looming untouched figures of the two powerful gluttons was making everyone uneasy.
Lilo could feel it. The dwindling confidence was palpable in the air.
Bubbles diaphragm was still uneven and shaky.
Burberry was overly savage, desperately ripping through the gluttons in the sky like paper, but Lilo could feel the gnawing doubt in Burberry's frantic actions.
The shepherds below were growing tired.
That was a bad sign.
They weren't even battling an army that was fighting back.
The sheer number of the sea of glutton was enough to cause fatigue and the endless slaughtering was draining them of their confidence.
Somehow, the more they killed their enemy, the more they grew weary.
The colossal dragon remained still. The translucent curvy human shaped glutton atop the dragon remained calm.
It was the army of humans surrounding the serene creepy figures that were violently fighting with all of their efforts; pouring everything into their desperate slashes.
The two undisturbed figures was like the eye of a storm. A pillar of rock that remained at peace while the torrent of waves of attacks came from the warriors of the spire of peace.
Lilo's heart seemed to sink into despair the more the minutes passed and the feeling of something terribly wrong was growing in his chest.
And then… it finally happened.
In an instant, a flood of flames erupted from the colossal maw of the dragon, sending a group of the cravers below into a lake of fire.
It took seconds for what was once a feild full of people to turn into a burnt mark.
Not even ashes were left behind.
Time seemed to stop as everyone froze.
More than a hundred people on the ground vanished just like that and Lilo's heart beat into his chest as he searched the crowd to make sure people he knew were safe.
The army above haulted in a hover, awating what the dragon and its master would do next.
The decision of who lives and died was at the mercy of the two menacing serene figures.
The scale of power tipped in the favor of the gluttons and it was no question who was in charge.
Nobody moved. Even breathing was done in silence.
It was deafening. The only thing that brought Lilo back to his senses was the constant flap of the Griffen's wings in syncopation to his own heart beat.
One. Two. Three….. One hundred.
Lilo counted his heart beats as the arena of battle waited patiently for what the sentient glutton would decide and to everyone's surprise…
It spoke.