The world was aflame with death and destruction as war raged across its surface, on its seas, and within its skies. The earth was ripped open as tsunamis a thousand feet tall scoured its surface. Waves dozens of meters in height rode in their wake, dreadfully looking as they threatened to drown entire regions in deathly water.

  The defenders of the world—armies of Lese—rose condensed water geysers thousands of feet long to slap out flying Aveanii from the skies, while the bird people rained down destruction from miles away.

  Due to Spirit lords' innate ability to fly, air superiority shouldn't have been in the Aveanii's favor, but one thing the Lese warriors had holding them back that the Aveanii didn't was civilians.

  Civilians, majority of whom were in the realms below Monarch, could do nothing but watch and scamper in fear as the warriors of Lese weathered the storm sent against them, deflecting attacks powerful enough to turn anyone that wasn't a Spirit lord to a pile of flesh and bones.

  The warriors of Lese fought back the Aveanii with one hand, while the other healed and shuffled the scared and traumatized civilians into awaiting shuttles that took off the moment they were full. Unfortunately, many of those shuttles did not make it to the waiting transport ships drifting behind the Cordon of Lese armada. Some were struck down as soon as they reached orbit while others were hijacked by the Aveanii, their occupants shackled and enslaved.

  The initial wave of reinforcement sent by Lese had been successfully holding back the Aveanii for weeks. They were strained to their limits, with countless casualties in both warriors and civilians, but they'd still held back the horde of half-human winged warriors.

  Word of another reinforcement diving in, this one twice the size of the others combined and led by a direct scion of one of the founding houses of the Lese Alliance, turned on all sorts of alarm bells among the Aveanii leadership in the system.

  Powerful Aveanii Spirit Kings, warriors who had been kept in reserve, were sent out in lines, burning with powers as they moved to capture the scions that were just at the tip of their claws.

  Unfortunately for them, House Verrille did not come unprepared.

  Solis Verrille, despite being a mere Spirit lord, was a high commander within his house’s armed forces, and as such had command over millions of powerful warriors, including high-tier Spirit Kings.

  From the bowels of the Verrille's Dreadships poured out dozens of those Spirit Kings, each crackling with cataclysmic powers. Despite Solis’s earlier claim of going all out against the Aveanii, he'd still kept his cadre of nuclear warriors in reserve, saving them for unavoidable situations. But in the advent of the Aveanii's hunt for his sibling and friends, he'd swiftly changed his mind and truly gone full out.

  If the earlier battles between Lese and the Aveanii had been called devastating, then this one eclipsed that.

  High domain Spirit Kings battled over the planet Za, warriors closing in on the Divine King tier. Their powers sent other Spirit Kings—lesser ones—scattering in fear and panic as immense shockwaves and explosions rocked the planet's highest levels. And for the first time in weeks, the Lese armadas could finally take a break—not that they did.

  Down on the surface of the planet, a swarm of winged warriors clashed with robed warriors of different races above the skies of a nearly vanquished city. By some unworded agreement, both sides had agreed to restrict their Spirit Kings to the skies, giving the spirit lords a fair chance against each other

  When the skies suddenly changed, a tremor rolling across its surface as the clouds drew closer, no one really thought much about it. All assumed a couple of powerful Spirit Kings were simply having a harsh contest between each other.

  When it turned deep orange, the clouds consumed by a vast sea of raging flames, attention had swiftly turned upwards, multitudes of eyes searching for the cause of the anomaly.

  Spirit Kings from each side looked at each other, wondering who amongst themselves had the power to conjure such vast and powerful working.

  When tongues of crimson lightning began flickering within the vast canopy of fire, releasing an earth-rending roar with each appearance, panic had immediately set in. It went higher when the lightning started striking out at winged warriors in the skies, launching even Spirit Kings from the skies.

  And as if it couldn't get any worse, a vast maw of abyssal darkness, terrifying in its sheer breath, appeared.

  Fangs could be seen on each side of the maw, long protrusions as tall as some of the tallest buildings that had once stood in this city.

  Altogether, the workings resembled an abyssal creature on the verge of spewing fire and lightning from its great maw.

  All that changed when a dot appeared suddenly from the center of the flame, passing through it without any effect whatsoever. With great visions, it didn't take long for anyone to figure it out.

  The first creature to appear was a great bird, a falcon. Emerald energy swirled visibly around it as it dove down towards the earth with terrifying speed. The creature’s eyes flared with dreadful light as it sought down for the earth, leaving in its wake a terrifying wind gale.

  Multiple dots appeared behind it the following moments, most notable of which was another great bird, this one much greater than the former, its wings stretching for many miles on each side.

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  Other than its size, what made the creature more terrifying was the flames it seemed to be clothed in. Wreathed in a mantle of fire, the massive bird fell to the earth like a meteor, trailing a storm of inferno behind its plumage.

  On the other side of where the bird dove, ran a great wolf. The beast was ten times the size of an elephant, and its maw was pulled apart to reveal long, terrifying canines that dripped with hunger and wrath.

  Like the others, it released its own form of energy, tongues of charged crimson lightning whipping out from its hind legs, its tail, and its body in general. They flickered here and there, erratically as they sought for any unfortunate victim.

  A serpent followed behind the group, slithering through the air in a mantle of flowing darkness.

  One thing everyone noted about this creature was that no one could see its full figure, it was hidden in a cloak of darkness, but what they all knew was that it was very huge, likely twice the size of the flame bird.

  Between those three creatures, diving alongside them in the middle, were multiple individuals—Spirit lords. But of all of them, only three were instantly recognized.

  Vanis Verrille, who was shrouded in midnight black armor with streaks of crimson. Lightning danced between his armored form, jumping between the jagged spikes that grew along his limbs.

  The young scion's iconic crimson eyes flickered with inner light, exuding a feeling of destruction to all who stared into them.

  To his right dove the figure of a beautiful maiden. Her hair whipped wildly in the wind like an angry flame, matching the bright color of the fire up above. Huiron Saulae flew behind them, a pair of great black wings attached to his back, tucked in together as he dove.

  Behind the scions came other figures, notably the famed warrior maidens of the Duveyar scion and other figures, but all eyes fell on the next generation of Lese powerhouses.

  The time difference between when they emerged and when they touched down on the earth was crossed within a fraction of an instant.

  One moment, they were dots in the sky, visible but distant; the next, a surge of fire, destruction, and black death, all held up together by a chain of wind, came down over the heads of the Aveanii.

  ***

  A massive gale of wind heralded Keilan as he came down over the sea of bird warriors.

  His Astral image arose from behind him just as he let loose the bird form that cloaked him. Gray armor flowed down his body and a spear appeared in his hands. And Keilan prepared to face the swarm of bird creatures surging towards him.

  But just before he moved, a series of explosions rang out across the battlefield, sending both foes and allies alike staggering backwards.

  Along the tiny divide that separated the armies of Lese from the hordes of Aveanii, multiple plumes of smoke rose into the sky, obstructing the views of both sides. And from the plumes of windy darkness emerged great figures.

  From where he hovered, Keilan could only see their backs, but even with that, he was still able to identify them.

  The War Titans of Lese were massive goliaths rising multiple great meters in height. Their humanoid bodies were made from shiny black metals, with thousands of tiny Interlocking plates of metal covering them from head to toe.

  Out from the shadowy smoke they lumbered, their every footsteps sending the earth trembling. The Aveanii on the ground scattered aside, fleeing the Titans' advances.

  “Ooh,” Huiron said beside him. “Vanis, have I ever told you that your family knows how to dish out terror? You sure you aren't descended from the Saint of Destruction?”

  Vanis gave the Saulae scion a dry stare. “Do I look like a demon to you?”

  “There's no resemblance now, and that's the problem. Who knows what kind of shape-shifting powers you have hidden back there?”

  A sigh. “Now I understand why my brother believes you were dropped on the head as a child.”

  Huiron snickered.

  Sareina chose that moment to speak up. “We should meet with the commander here, take their report of the situation.”

  ***

  The temporary command station set up by the alliance leadership on this planet did not look temporary at all.

  It was a massive arena of sorts, risen out of the earth by no doubt an earth wielder. It was round, with a dome of glass shrouding it from the top.

  They found the commander in a large room inside the building. She was a severe-looking woman, with auburn hair that seemed to have been divorced from a comb a long time ago. Her military suit was wrinkled and smelled of sweat and exhaustion, and despite all that, she still bowed as they walked in.

  “Lord Verrille, Lady Duveyar, Lord Saulae, your arrival is greatly appreciated.”

  “Lady Oisern, many thanks for having me,” the Young scion replied with one of his rare, kind smiles. “I brought fresh reinforcement, a gift.”

  Keilan sometimes found it jarring how Vanis could walk into a room and have all the leaders in that room—individuals of a whole greater realm—instantly subsume themselves to his command. And that was what was happening here.

  Lady Oisern, despite her haggard look, was a Spirit Queen, he could tell. And so were the other aides scattered around the room, all of whom were still bowed.

  “Please,” Vanis gestured. “Enough with the bowing. We're in an active warzone.”

  “I was informed that your entourage would be…” she glanced at the small group behind Vanis, “larger.”

  “Don't fret, miss, we've still got thousands coming down with the giant turtle up top.” Huiron said, thumbs jerked upwards.

  Vanis' eyes twitched but he nodded. “Huiron is correct. We left the rest of our forces for security reasons—”

  “Your security?”

  “Their security,” the young scion corrected.

  Oisern nodded. “You drew their attention away from the larger group,” she discerned.

  “Correct,” Vanis replied. “I am just one person, Nalon should have no difficulty protecting me from harm. Same with Huiron and Sareina here. Adding more than that would do nothing but weaken our Minders capabilities.”

  The woman nodded as her eyes scanned the rest of the lords gathered behind the scions. She glanced past Sareina's maidens, likely because they were already well known, and then her eyes settled on Keilan.

  Oisern’s severe features, combined with her definitely perceptive eyes, weirded Keilan in no definable way as she stared at him. It looked like she was scanning past his physical body and into his soul. Thankfully, it didn't last long. The woman turned back to Vanis.

  “Reports are already being sent in of War Titans in the field. I assume those are your actions?”

  Vanis shook his head. “While I'd like to claim praise, general, taking credit for another person's deed is not befitting of one of my station. No, the War Titans are from my brother, Solis. He is back up in space with his fleet, engaged with the Aveanii.”

  Immediately, whispers swarmed the room as the other important aides began whispering amongst each other. Keilan wondered why they couldn't have just done it mentally, but his thoughts didn't have time to reach his mouth before Oisern raised a single hand, silencing all.

  “This is more than we hoped for,” the woman said, and this time the feeling of relief in her voice could not be hidden. “I—my house— greatly appreciate your help. We will not forget this.”

  “You're welcome,” Vanis nodded. “Now, not to come off as rude and impatient, but I'd like to be briefed up to speed on the situation on ground.”

  Oisern grimaced, but Keilan could tell it wasn't because of Vanis. The woman nodded, gesturing for them to come closer.

  The crowd of aides standing behind her parted to reveal one of the most detailed mirror of the battlefield beyond.

  “If you'll allow me to be candid, Lord Verrille, we're fucked.”