The skies moaned once more, and a bolt of red lightning ripped through the clouds, rushing towards them. It struck the griffin's right wing, sending sparks of silver and crimson all around them.
The griffin shrieked in pain, as it tumbled to the ground.
"Clam, Jinx!" Vondell screamed, still emitting waves of calming blue light from the gem. The pain in his wrist was starting to overpower the calming effect, and he could feel the strength in his arms slowly leaving him.
After a few flaps, Jinx recovered and began soaring back up. Several of its silver feathers had been reduced to charr, but that was the extent of the damage. Jinx was a beast blessed by Taranis, father of storms, lightning-based attacks would not injure it too badly.
"Faster, Jinx!" Vondell shouted, and Jinx flapped her wings even harder.
His wrist began to numb, so he stopped thinking about the 'calming memory', and the spell was disarmed. Jinx's muscles tightened once again, however this would work to their benefit. Now that it knew where its enemy was, allowing it to follow its battle instincts would be more efficient than trying to control it.
They tore off toward the dark cloud, and once they were close, Vondell twitched his free hand, tugging out three cleansing elixirs.
He hurled them toward the cloud with as much force as he could manage before screaming "Activos!" His shout echoed against the rumbles and moans of the cloud, and the elixirs went up in flames.
In response, several streaks of red lightning crackled out of the clouds, striking the elixirs. They exploded in a cloud of brilliant white, which quickly ate away at the surrounding black clouds.
A small opening was revealed, showing the creature that they now fought against.
It was a sea beast as large as the sky; with a pointed snout and a wide toothy grin outlined in blood. Its skin was a puss-oozing mess of black and red flesh, bubbled and rotten all around. It released clouds of black from its underbelly, which kept it both afloat and hidden within the clouds.
"It's a juvenile. We're lucky," Gregory shouted from behind.
"Lucky? The empyreans knew better than to send a bigger lamb to its slaughter," Vondell replied, excitement creeping into his voice.
"Huh?"
The sea-beast's crimson eyes, crackling with lightning, stared down at them. In front of it, they were a speck of light lost in a sea of darkness. Barely large enough to register as a pimple on its face.
"Fly, Jinx! Fly!"
Vondell's heart was pounding, and he felt a smile creep across his face. This was a true battle, the sort his people had trained him for. Not to kill his fellow mortals, but to slay agents of the gods. He would savor ripping this chunk of 'corrupted' empyrean energy to shreds.
Surth's blade glowed red hot in response to his fervor, he wanted to draw her now, but it was not yet time.
Jinx beat her wings harder than before, thrusting against the strong winds that pushed them back.
"I don't know if the scions of Antras were ever taught about threat levels. But that's a transcended beast, juvenile or not, it's just a few realms away from being a monarch," Gregory shouted, however, Vondell kept focusing forward.
"Did you hear me? Even a Grand Knight wouldn't leave this battle unscathed."
The leviathan moaned, and its eyes began glowing brighter.
"Get ready to take the reigns," Vondell shouted back.
Streaks of red zapped from the sea-beast's eyes towards Jinx. However, it had already learned its lesson. It tucked its wings, and ducked right below the strike, before opening them again and continuing its ascent.
Vondell started unstrapping himself from the saddle as they approached the leviathan.
The monstrosity let out a low guttural click that made the very air around them tremble. Black clouds began to gather around it, forming orbs with red lights pulsing deep within their center.
Jinx's feathers began emitting streaks of silver, and her beak glowed bright white. With a screech, a beam of pure white lightning tore forward, the recoil jerking them back.
The lightning bolt crashed against the side of the leviathan, however it did nothing to injure the gargantuan beast. They were going up against the sky itself, cantrips on this level would do nothing.
The black orbs began to unleash smaller sea creatures, carnivorous-looking fish, made of black vapor, each of them with glowing red eyes that instantly locked onto Jinx.
Jinx dodged three of them and shot another with a lightning bolt, before pulling up into the air, leaving the rest behind. At this point, she was flying almost level with the leviathan.
"Closer, Jinx," Vondell ordered, handing the reigns over to Gregory, before grabbing Jinx by the scruff of its neck.
Jinx soared closer, and once it was above one of the leviathan's fins, Vondell jumped off.
"I wasn't aware you were suicidal. I hear some maidens are quite fond of men like you these days," Gregory shouted from above, as the wind crashed against Vondell's face. "We can talk about things later if you make it. If you don't, I'm telling people you died doing what you love," he added, pulling Jinx's reigns so they could dodge another fish.
As Vondell plummeted, he took a deep breath, drawing Surth slowly.
"Surth. On this day, our quests align. Lend me your strength, and I will give you my heart. Let us punish them for what they have done. Let us burn the gods!" Vondell shouted, before stabbing himself in the heart.
His soul was set aflame.
The air exploded with unbearable heat, sending out shockwaves so powerful they changed the direction of the winds. The shockwaves sent Vondell plummeting even faster towards the beast.
He screamed out in pain as a maddening fire pumped into his veins.
His scars glowed bright red, and sizzled his flesh into smoke and ash. Quickly, his entire body was covered in a thick smokey layer, making it look like he was adorned in shadowy armor.
He pulled Surth out of his chest, and a glowing red crevice was left behind. Surth blazed with a blinding crimson flame as she slowly transformed into a much larger sword, one almost the same size as Vondell himself.
Once she had fully formed, Vondell thrust her at the leviathan as if she were a javelin. She shot forward, using her flames to give her explosive speed.
She tore into the side of the leviathan with a massive explosion, sending chunks of rotting flesh and blood out like putrid rain.
The creature wailed in pain, and streaks of lightning came thundering towards Vondell.
He snapped his fingers, and the world around him went red for a split second. When his vision returned he was on the leviathan's surface, Surth in hand.
She did not burn him, not like before. Physically, he was okay. But in his mind, he battled to be the main persona. When he and Surth merged like this, a new being was formed. One that was neither Surth nor Vondell, but both at the same time. And they were... rowdy.
"Lay witness Urth," they shouted, their voice a mixture between a man's and a woman's. "I offer you this beast of Taranis as a sacrifice," they continued, beating their chest with a booming thud. "May you choke on its bones, and fall ill to its flesh."
A horde of black fish swarmed toward them, streaks of red lightning trailing behind.
They took a single flaming step forward, before becoming a blur of flame and smoke. They slashed through every single fish in a single blink, using bursts of explosive fire to reach speeds otherwise out of reach in their separate state.
They landed back on the leviathan, as the fish's cloudy remains dispersed into the air.
The heat from their body was enough to cause small-scale rain around them. It was enough to burn the flesh they stood on top of. And it was enough to remind them why they had come to this continent in the first place.
The leviathan continued wailing out in pain, as their armored boot melted deeper into its putrid flesh.
They began laughing, a booming bellow, the echoed throughout the skies.
"Do you hear that, Surth, Vondell... Surthell?"
"The gods can scream too."