"Monsters are attacking us! We lost da favor with da Lady Laleyn!" Various roars erupted within the horde.
Their duty was to wait for the teleport provided by the benefactor, yet instead of teleporting, the monsters within their ranks turned against them.
The berserker dodged a strike from a Screamer.
Dis cannot be. Why are the monsters looking at us with such hatred?! His mind tore itself trying to find a solution.
They must have offended Lady Laleyn somehow, yet he did not know how.
He used his crude club to defend against another slash of the Screamer. He then grabbed a small bone dagger from his waist and stabbed the monster in the throat.
Then the smell of melting flesh reached him, the screams of his fellow warriors deafening as a roar of Argus pierced the air.
His horse-like eyes widened. Even the Argus had turned against them, this was it. There was no way out for them.
Just as they were about to reclaim their ancestral land, their goddess had turned her back on them.
He brought the warhorn to his mouth and blew on it, calling for a retreat.
They could not fight an Argus, the most blessed of their lady's children. All they could do was run or die. Thus, they would run. The warriors turned tail and ran, without any organization or goal, they needed to make distance from the monsters.
Bauks and Besomarks trampled the warriors, rampaging through the savage army, not allowing them even a chance to run.
Splat.Splat.Splat.
His horse-like face contorted in anger. How could the blessed children of Laleyn abandon them at the cusp of victory?
He ran as fast as he could, the dying screams of his fellow warriors dying down with each movement of Argussian tentacles.
However, as he approached the forest, more monsters appeared, trampling the trees and rushing right into the army.
He raised his weapon, ready to die honorably.
However, the monsters stopped for a mere moment, their attention turning north.
Then the heat in the air rose, making it even more difficult to breathe. His body shook.
In the distance, massive wings of flame eclipsed the sky, the earth beneath it burned, and the air ignited.
The monsters and warriors forgot they were supposed to fight each other. Everyone turned away from the incoming inferno and gave a mad dash.
"Run! Run!" he roared, ordering every warrior to run.
Yet neither they nor the monsters were fast enough.
The strange blazing entity flapped its wings and got closer. His fur incinerated, and the land glassed. Before he could even realize what had happened, everything, from monsters to the warriors, turned to dust.
The Argus looked up, the phoenix drew closer, and it braced itself for an immense rise in temperature.
In the blink of an eye, the blazing phoenix flew past the former battlefield, and in its wake, nothing was left.
Even an Argus, a monster with high durability, turned to ash, leaving not even a drop of acidic blood as proof of its existence.
***
Aqua held Sheira tightly against her body, as they left the elven kingdom, she had unleashed some of the unrestrained aura.
The heat around her rose to such a high degree that even the air burned, but Sheira remained safe within the barrier and her own immunity.
Aqua flew low, making sure to scorch and glass the land in her wake. She flew above multiple savage villages, leaving nothing behind.
Then, in the distance, she noticed a massive savage army, her eyes furrowed. They were fighting an army of monsters, including an Argus.
Her wings expanded even more. These enemies were the force that had attacked the academy, and they stood in a perfect path. "Sheira, do you see them?" she said, gesturing for Sheira to turn her gaze forward.
The princess nodded. "Yes," she said, grinning. "We could kill them on the way."
"You read my mind," Aqua said, and her wings grew even more, and the heat increased. She tightened her grip around Sheira.
She flapped the wings, and before a blink of the eye, the duo flew above the army, erasing everything and leaving only a glassy desert in their wake.
"That was amazing!" Sheira exclaimed, staring back at the trail of fire left behind them.
Aqua smiled, and the duo scorched even more of the savage lands, the villages fell, and the forests burned, leaving a trail of ash and char.
Soon, a massive mountain appeared in the distance, the clouds swirled around its tip, and inside the hollow core, Aqua could sense the so-called Dragon God.
"That's it, when we get to him, I will isolate the mountain and clear out any of the smaller dragons. If you have any difficulty, I will be here to help," Aqua explained.
Sheira nodded. "Understood, mommy. You can count on me!"
Aqua smiled; she really did not wish to let Sheira fight someone as powerful, yet it was likely the only and the best opportunity she would ever have to exercise her power.
Aqua stopped close to the mountain, a sudden burst of wind and flame shattering it, revealing a nest of dragons inside.
She stared down, and a [Temporal Barrier] enveloped the mountain perimeter.
"Aqua, drop me, I want to land on him and pummel him to paste!" Sheira said, grinning.
The Dragon Lord's seven heads turned toward the sky, noticing a duo of elven women who dared to invade his territory.
Should I let her do this? Aqua kept asking herself. It was a bad idea by any metric, yet she couldn't refuse Sheira's request.
She racked her brain for a solid second before sighing. "Do not get hurt."
She released Sheira and let the girl fall like an asteroid onto Zm'Aj.
Aqua crossed her arms and clicked her tongue. "I should deal with his spawn."
Aqua swiped her hand, and a wave of black flame washed over every dragon inside the hollow mountain, their forms consumed by the cosmic terror.
Aqua then turned toward Sheira and Zm'Aj, who were in the process of pummeling each other. She couldn't help but feel proud of the growth the princess had undergone.
"From a defenseless little girl, to someone capable of challenging the strongest entities of the world. Just like me," she muttered, motherly pride welling up in her chest.