The Manaships were the first through the shattered wards. Volcanic Rain and Kinetic Shockstorms launched from the decks of their thirty galleons, destroying the minions below before hitting the Shining Wall's battlements. Hierocratic soldiers fell back beneath the onslaught, their defensive powers turning aside pieces of the Manacannons, but they were unable to defend the streets and buildings that burst into infernos or collapsed into rubble.

The Shining City had begun to burn.

Atar soared above, gesturing at the flames that raced across rooftops. They winked out, their heat and fire Mana pulled into his center, even as his Stars of the Sovereign tore through walls and soldiers like tissue paper. Atar’s task was not to annihilate the city, but to keep it from burning to ash, if he could manage it. So far, it had gone well, and each snuffed out fire fed his own power.

The Manaships spread out, half their cannons concentrated on the soldiers below, while the other half was focused on the Hierocratic ships that still plied the skies above Amaranth. Atar's second task was to keep those ships at bay and give their fleet room to dispatch soldiers. His Stars of the Sovereign flung amongst the enemy vessels, slicing through hulls, masts, sails, and setting decks ablaze. He burned across the sky, hopping between Manaships on trails of white flame that poured from his gray skin.

There was chaos below, where Felix had engaged with the command tower and the center of Amaranthine defense, but that wasn't his concern.

to the east! i sense a delicious fire burning down upon those across the street. pathless magic swirls among it.

Atar gathered himself up. He was more than happy to consume the fires that broke out below them in the city. He had no desire to hurt the innocent people of Amaranth if they could help it.

Atar leaped from the deck, his Will burning beneath the movement as fire ignited from the soles of his feet. He floated, the flames simply boosting him for a moment as he described a strong arc between galleons. It was not so much flight, not in his fleshy Body, but it sufficed for their needs. Unfortunately, however, it meant maneuvering was difficult at best.

When the Champion of Noctis dropped upon them, Atar barely avoided the strike.

A barbed tail like a scorpion's dropped on him, followed by a long monstrous body like a scorpion with moth wings and mantis claws. It slammed into Atar, its clamp blade snagging around his dark robes, but pinching little flesh. It hurled him, sending him careening to the ground below.

atar!

Fire burst around them, slowing the descent, but not nearly enough to stop. They impacted the blue-tiled roofs of Amaranth's outer districts, skidding over two peaks before crashing through into a dusty bedroom.

"Blood and ash," Atar groaned, fighting for breath. "At least the floor broke our fall.”

get on your feet, atar. that thing is not done with us.

The roof was ripped away, revealing the buzzing, amalgamated insect hovering just above. Its tail was poised to strike, and a knight in spiky black armor was saddled upon its back. A blood-red lance thrust forward, carrying with it a river of molten light followed by a freezing shadow. Atar scrambled back, but the power consumed the dusty bedroom. Cold clutched at him, freezing his robes against his legs and snatching the breath from his lungs.

"The Stars of the Sovereign," Atar gasped. White, four-pointed stars ignited around him, each a point of considerable heat and light. They tore through the dark before shooting outward, six at a time, slicing into the Champion of Noctis and sizzling through its hardened shadowflesh. Only one he kept for himself, and that Star Atar sent flying through the dark, toward where he knew the wall had once stood. The masonry exploded outward, and Atar made a blind leap.

The moment he passed beyond the building's boundaries, his sight returned, the frigid clutches releasing him as the normal heat of a summer’s day beat down upon him. Atar shot twenty strides into the thin air and he twisted, summoning sheets of white fire. The Champion followed, shattering the rest of the building in its crazed assault, and Atar sent the sheets roaring toward the bug.

It ignored them entirely. Atar fell, nowhere near the other side of the street, as the Champion dropped down upon him.

"Incendiary Vortex!"

A tornado of flame erupted around him, bursting from the ground in a wide cone that caught up the insect and rider before exploding outward across the rooftops on either side of the street. Freezing cold surrounded the Champion, snuffing the white flames of his Skill, but Atar thought it was hurt.

it isn’t. the shadow is our enemy! focus your power! sear it’s divine connection into ash!

Atar drifted to the earth, buoyed upon the burning winds of his vortex, and when his heels hit the cobblestones, he could see that the Champion still hovered amidst the flames. The built up fire and heat Mana within him poured through the Skill, raging out of his channels and into the vortex, pushing the white flame to blinding heights. The black sphere of shadow broke apart with an icy crackle. Atar grinned.

it falls to our might!

Revealed amid the flames, the Paladin thrust his bloodied lance into the sky. A swirl of lights ignited, breaking the fire vortex before lacing it with crimson lightning.

not good!

"Primal Firestorm!" Atar gasped out. The flaming vortex vanished, pulled all at once into his channels by his Skill as his flesh ignited. Once the Skill had turned him completely into ineffable flame, it had grown since reaching Master Tier—now he became elemental fire, but his Body was solid and able to grapple with the world. Heat and light surged inward, fueling a significant boost to his Strength and Endurance. Atar kicked out of the way, dodging crimson lightning with a sudden ease.

The bloodstorm expanded, spreading outward from the hovering Champion and its rider's lance, growing as it ate away at the buildings on either side, collapsing more of them with dusty explosions. A flash of fear and concern shot through Atar's Spirit, but when he heard nothing more than crumbling timbers and cracked stone his concern turned to curiosity.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

There's no one inside these buildings. They must have evacuated all of the citizens to the center of the city.

good! then we can burn it all!

Just beyond the lightning, Atar planted his feet. Shadowbeasts and Fungal Horrors poured from the streets and alleyways around them as if called, racing towards the mage with a savage intent. The bloodstorm swelled, lightning flashing down the street. Atar leapt away, putting the godslaved minions between himself and the attack.

The Paladin had no precision. His attack smeared the minions into ichor and paste. The Champion bug, however, was not hindered in the slightest. It rammed into Atar through the veil of lightning, checking him bodily with its clamped blades and hurling him towards a row of tenements.

Atar flared his power, flames gouting in all directions, but he could not seize his momentum. Boosted Strength and high Adept Body or not, Atar's limbs whipped away from him at the sheer speed of his trajectory, utterly uncontrollable.

stop yourself!

"I'm trying!" Atar shouted back. He tried to curl into himself, but the wind was too great to fight. He could barely clench his arms around his head before the impact. Atar reached into himself, seizing his last resort—his Pyreform.

His bones burned within him—but the flames cut out as he impacted what felt like a soft cushion. A net of air currents swirled around him, slowing him down immensely.

"I have you, Glyphmaster."

Atar snagged his hands on the barding of the tenku that flew behind him, arresting what remained of his momentum. His enhanced Strength bunched across his shoulders and biceps as he pulled himself astride her back.

"Thank you, Scylla," he gasped. "You're my favorite tenku."

“Rude!”

Pit dropped from the sky, dive-bombing onto the Champion's back, tackling both beast and Paladin down into the street. The ground caved, a shockwave tearing through cobblestones and foundations before collapsing four buildings into huge pillars of dust.

"This guy got away from us before and headed right for you, Atar. I think he likes you."

Pit spread his wings wide, flapping a heart against the Champion bug as it tried to stand. A blast of wind smashed it back to the ground before he slashed at it with his crystalline talons.

"Don't worry, the Chimeras got this one."

Atar looked up just as the rustle of wind and the crash of feathery wings announced a Chimeric rush across the skies. Guardian Beasts attacked swarms of flying monstrosities, including both shadowbeast and the Sporeflies that spread noxious trails of Yyero's power. Tenku and wyverns both piled onto the minions, their superior strength and powerful armor enough to take on the worst of the godslaved, demolishing them beneath their fury. Yet even the dragoons that rode their backs and summoned exploding Spears were not enough to overcome the godslaves sheer numbers. Hundreds filled the skies and more rushed from the buildings around Atar, bursting from windows and doorways, before they shot into the sky to attack the cavalry.

Blighted Night! We need to clear those skies for the ships. Atar conjured his Stars again, letting them revolve around him like a mobile of concentrated infernos. With a flex of his Will and Intent, he sent them chasing the godslaves, each one burning through an abomination’s twisted flesh.

"You will die to the bloodstorm!" The Paladin thrust his lance once more into the air. Crimson lightning burst in all directions, but Pit met it with his Mantle, absorbing the Paladin's Skill without issue before he tore into the Champion with his Maelstrom Maw. The bug screeched as its wing was ripped from its body and legs were trampled beneath Pit's massive paws.

“Take shelter!” Scylla warned Atar, nudging him off her back with her wing. “I must assist the Stormlord.”

Atar frowned. “I am not a bystander—”

“Sanguine Soulsear!”

The Paladin’s lance expanded, crackling as it doubled in size and breathed out streamers of crimson. Scylla shot forward, throwing Atar back with the sheer force of her acceleration. By the time he looked up, the pale tenku had crossed the hundred strides between them and the Champion. The man dropped his lance, aiming it at Scylla, but before he could bring it to bear she smashed into him, claws digging into his black armor and surging upward.

Crimson might washed outward, sputtering apart as the Paladin was carried up, screaming into the sky where the full flock of Chimera raged. His screams faded and then cut off entirely as the Guardian Beasts converged.

impressive.

On the ground, Pit and the Champion exchanged blows, claw for claw, shadow against the storm.

Atar crouched on the cobbles, forgotten for the moment.

your primal firestorm is waning, you need to absorb more or take the second stage.

"I'm aware, Flame." Atar put a hand to his chest. "Pyreform Undying."

His flesh burst aflame, burning away until he was no more than a blackened skeleton, lit with sigildry and wreathed in white flame that curled around him like a cloak.

The Champion bucked, knocking Pit on his heels as its mandibles quivered. Its shadowslick flesh was covered in wounds. It screamed and Pit squawked right back.

"Hold it down," Atar shouted and didn't bother to wait for Pit's compliance. He shot forward, fire bursting around his cloak of flames, launching him through the air as easily as a bird. He soared forward just as Pit wrestled the giant bug to the ground and it screeched its unholy, buzzing rage at him.

Atar flew directly into its open maw.

"Incendiary Vortex!"

Fire burst from within the beast. Eternal shadow versus Undying Flame.

Its body bulged, the white conflagration within bubbling and expanding its shadowflesh before it began to pour from its wounds.

that is the signal, alister! pay attention!

Through the layers of shadow flesh and roaring flames, Atar could briefly hear a familiar voice cry out, "Drop the Volcanic Rain!"

Pit squawked in alarm, a rush of wind following him as he leapt away, chasing the other Chimeras from the area. A beam of molten fire dropped upon the Champion. It met the beast as it screamed and bubbled, its interior consumed by Atar's vortex, until its shadow flesh boiled away and the two gouts of fire magic met in the middle.

It exploded, ripping apart the street for a hundred paces in every direction. Shadowbeasts and rot monsters were eradicated from the area, wiped clean by the flames and left charred and smoking. With a great inward rush, all of the flames and heat pulled inward, converging on a point at the center…where a dark skeleton stood, bones lit by gleaming sigils, standing in the ashes of what once was a Champion of Noctis.

landing secured!

From above the first of many ships landed in the open area that once was a city street, a worried Alister standing on its prow. The gangplanks dropped, and the Legion flooded into the city.

“Still alive?” the force mage asked.

“Still alive.” The skeletal mage rose on wings of white flame. "Flame. Find me the next Champion.”

yes! let us crush them all!