Each step forward conjured forth a new wave of eldritch terrors, an army’s worth of bloodborne beasts, and still undaunted the Revenant King pushed on.

With each step forward, more of the stain melted beneath their feet, until Zelsys was wading in blood up to her knees. The next moment, she found herself lifted up by a block of blood-ice, a layer of newly-formed blood-glacierglass now spreading out from the Revenant King’s footfalls.

Whence at last they reached the monument, from its mass emerged the upper body of a woman, hanging forward by her back-bent arms, a waterfall of blood in place of hair shrouding her face. She raised her head and revealed a charred mask in the stead of a face, a mask whose shape matched the Smoke Witch’s real face.

A sorrowful banshee-scream blasted out from the figure. Its shockwave calmed the churning blood-lake upon whose surface they strode.

The Revenant King sheathed his sword and took the memory-sarcophagus in both hands, and with a mighty pull he tore off its lid. Out from its confines came motes of gentle light, zipping through the air to that blood-effigy of the Smoke Witch. One after the next they smashed into the mask, shattering it. With each one the horrid monument, too, broke a little more, and when the memory-sarcophagus had emptied, vast chunks of blood-ice came crashing down all around them as the monument fell to pieces. Despite the pandemonium unfolding all ‘round them, not once did any of it come close to striking the Revenant King or Zelsys.

Memories that weren’t her own flooded into her head; memories of the man whose legacy the Smoke Witch had taken in payment for her work on the Crescent Jungle. Brief, they were; just flashes, single drops out of a great deluge that she happened to catch. But even then, she understood, and that was all it took for her to instantaneously develop a deep and abiding respect for whomever the once-forgotten man was.

For Hul, the Mammoth Rider.

Once more, the Revenant King spoke, as the stain’s vast bloody mass began to evaporate in huge plumes of red Fog.

“WE TRAVELED REALMS BEYOND THE CRYSTAL MOON, WHERE MIGHTY SERPENTS STALKED ENSORCELLED SEAS. THOSE BEASTS, WHOSE OFFSPRING BECAME THIS KALPA’S DRAGON-TREE SERPENTS, INDEED SAVAGE THEY WERE IN THEIR TIME… THROUGH SHADOWED KEEPS IN MOUNTAINS OF DIAMOND AND EMERALD WE STRODE, SUCH A GRAND AGE IT WAS, SUCH GLORY, SUCH… SUCH TERROR. EACH DAY OFFERED DEATH, EACH DAY OFFERED A NEW MIGHTY FOE, A NEW TERRIBLE WOUND TO SUFFER OR TRIAL TO OVERCOME.”

She could scarcely ignore the similarity to her own life, or the immense fondness with which the King spoke of those ages. He continued to regale her with ancient tales of sword and sorcery, both of them heretofore unaware of what was transpiring in Oasis City.

“We are in range.”

“Fire.”

A rising whirr. Teutobochus’ maw gaped open as it ran. A bright-blue ray screamed death. It smashed into the side of Eisengeist’s head, the dragon tumbling off-balance.

“Something’s wrong with it.”

“That all-consuming malice is identical to that which seemed to grip Ten Billion Fathoms when Tian Feng took direct control of it. Its set objective priority is too high to let it account for us.”

“But how could it be controlled? I see no parasite or external control artifact; neither does Teutobochus. Unless…”

“...The means of control is within the beast. Look, its stabbed-out eye, the sword has been removed and eyelid sewn shut. That is where the control method must be hidden.”

Eisengeist’s attention snapped to Teutobochus. His Dragonstone shone as he roared, and the blades tipping his tendrils were set alight by incredible heat. Whipping them forward, Eisengeist sent a barrage of what may as well have been swordlight towards the Titan, following up with a high-pressure burst of sap-breath.

A row of houses went up in a blaze just from the impossible heat of Eisengeist’s magical projectiles. Eisengeist was fast; terribly so. But Teutobochus had been purpose-built to contend with Eisengeist’s betters. At Victor’s command the Titan weaved to the side, stepping into one of the city’s streets as it weaved to the side and merely crushing the road in its act of evasion. Another blast from the Inverse Array; a medium-output burst. Each took a few seconds to charge, but otherwise didn’t affect the Titan’s operational capabilities.

The sapdragon suddenly maneuvered deeper into the city, bulldozing houses and crushing fleeing folk as it went, wildly spraying sap and throwing heat-blades every-which way in a clear attempt to hit Teutobochus.

“Finally, whoever is controlling the lizard took note of us. No matter how sharp the blade, a worthless wielder will still lose to a club.”

“We cannot dodge without destroying several houses.”

“We do not need to dodge.”

A particular subsystem pushed its way into Victor’s awareness.

Arms crossed in an X, Teutobochus’ mouth open once more, the titan exhaled not an offensive blast, but a short-lived barrier which annihilated Eisengeist’s sap and halted most of the heat-blades which would’ve struck home. The three that passed through had been weakened, but nonetheless scored the titan’s armor quite deeply.

Further closing the distance, that red dot flitting about the dragon also became distinguishable. It was Red, flying on blackstone wings and accompanied by four octagonal constructs which were the source of the thin beams punching tiny holes into Eisengeist’s skin.

“Send an aetherwave ping. We must ascertain that she isn’t hostile.”

“Understood.”

The red dot slowed for a moment before resuming her frantic assault, and an agitated aetherwave message returned, Karmesin’s accented tone barking into the cockpit: “Be silent and make yourself useful, you crow-voiced walking fossil!”

“Koschei’s voice. Good call.”

“Of course. I sent the message, after all. It seems Lady Karmesin has acquiesced to our suggestion of an alliance.”

As he continued sprinting headlong towards Eisengeist, Victor saw the dragon stomp down… Only for its leg to be halted. The next moment, an unmistakable scream resounded all throughout Oasis City. The surface of Eisengeist’s leg, the road, and many buildings’ exteriors were ripped apart by the shockwave of Kyriak’s mighty scream, and the dragon was lifted by its sheer force.