The metal of Dom’s gauntlet was still searing hot as I held it to my skin. My hair whipped in the wind, hiding my tears as I fell. The last image of Dom’s sacrifice was burned into my mind.

A wail of pure rage overshadowed the roar of the wind in my ears. Beams of blinding golden light erupted out in every direction. Sebastion’s wrath became pure destruction. Unfortunate Demonkin were sliced apart before they knew what happened, and a nearby Leviathan that had been blocking his path became the sole target of his rage. Beams of light struck down on the creature again and again. Gone was any of the regality of a king. All that remained was a beast-like fury. Typically, a leviathan could easily withstand a few of Sebastion’s blows and even be able to counter-attack but not now. The beams of light were so numerous and struck so fast that the sky itself seemed to be burning. The man held nothing back. The defenses of the Leviathan were shredded, and bloody holes began to dot its body as the beast fell from the sky, but even as the Leviathan was defeated, the man did not let up. The giant creature became unrecognizable as it was turned into ground meat under the repeated barrage.

Sebastion’s shouts of rage dimmed into a wail of grief. His domain wavered unstably as he drifted down from the sky, his energy wholly spent after his outburst.

I saw everything through my own blurry, tear-filled eyes. Sebastion’s reaction to his father’s death struck my heart like a knife. My mind could barely process what had happened. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go. I had finally regained my old power. The Demons were at death’s door. How did everything go so wrong so fast?

If he was just dead, I could have handled that. I could have resurrected him, and we all would have laughed about this later. But Envy… He had dragged Dom to his realm. I couldn’t save him. I couldn’t bring him back. I couldn’t do anything.

I closed my eyes as grief nearly overwhelmed me. Dom had been one of my closest friends. He had fought by my side for centuries. Many of the battles were far bloodier than this one. For him to die here…

I should never have asked for his help.

The ground approached quickly, and for a moment, I considered just letting myself hit it. I didn’t know if the fall would kill me after all the modifications Mare had done to my body. At that time, I didn’t really care one way or the other. A part of me even felt like I deserved it.

Still, I knew I had to push forward. Even if it didn’t kill me, hitting the ground at terminal velocity would still cause injuries. I forced my grief down into the bowels of my stomach and focused on my situation.

My eyes darted quickly as I scanned for any way to slow my fall. Almost all of my undead were gone. The only one that remained was the enormous serpent, and hitting its hard scales would probably be worse than the actual ground.

Nox, Sylvie, and Naga were with the army, but none of them had formed their own domain yet. Only Sylvie could fly. I doubted the little bird could do anything to slow my descent on her own, but without enough energy to activate my domain, they were my best hope.

I sent a plea for help through the mental link that connected all of us. Nox reacted first, followed by Sylvie and Naga. Sylvie flew up and met me midair. Her little talons grabbed hold of my hand. Flames burned across her body and erupted down as she flapped her wings as hard as she could. It didn’t slow me down much, but it helped. Meanwhile, Nox and Naga gathered under me, using their own body as a cushion to break my fall.

I felt the wind get knocked out of my lungs as I plunged into the two animals. The tough muscles of Nox did not make a good pillow, but with my physique, it was enough that I escaped the fall without injury.

I gave a sigh of relief as I looked up at the sky. The battle was still raging without me. The force of the explosions and domains had knocked away most of the blood mist, allowing me a good view. With two Demons dead and only a single leviathan remaining, our domain warriors could surround Andras and his remaining Alphas, preventing their escape.

I tapped Sylvie and pointed to the fight. Go, send a message to Mare for me, please.

The tiny bird nodded and took flight. Most of my power was depleted, but I could still maintain a slight connection with the bird. It was enough to observe the battle in greater detail.

Vissna was forcing the sole remaining Leviathan away from the battle while the others moved to block Andras’s escape. The Demon was in full panic mode now at the sudden collapse of his army. The death of the two demons and Sebastion’s sudden explosion of rage had destroyed any hope Andras had of salvaging his army. He tried to run as soon as the Leviathan died, but Mare was even faster than he was. No matter what direction he turned, the small girl easily blocked his path with a delighted laugh.

Andras’s face turned red as Mare blocked his retreat for the third time. “I don’t know who you are, brat, but you had better move out of my way before I cut you down!” He shouted furiously. A tornado began to whirl around the Demon.

Mare smiled teasingly at the Demon as she leisurely floated upside down at the edge of the tornado. “This didn’t go well for you last time. Are you sure you don’t want to try something new? You won’t get a second chance to show off.”

“That voice!” Andras’s eyes went wide. “You… you think I am scared of you just because you dodged my attacks last time! Indoors, my power is limited, but in the open sky, you will not be so lucky.”

The tornado around Andras intensified. The wind was whipping around him so fast that his figure became blurry and indistinct. It was so fierce that a nearby domain warrior from the Free Cities was dragged into the cyclone before anyone could save him. His screams were abruptly cut short as invisible blades of air sliced through his defenses as if they were made of paper.

The others fell back from the tornado in time, but even Mare frowned at the display of power. The size of the cyclone surpassed anything that could naturally form in nature. If it touched down in the wrong area, an entire city could be wiped off the map.

“You’re right. Getting past a cyclone of this size would be a pain. Still, I doubt you can keep up this level of destruction for long,” Mare said, glancing up at the storm clouds that had gathered at the top of the tornado and the enormous quantity of blood mist being sucked into the tornado itself. “But that’s not your plan, is it? You’re just using the tornado as cover so you can get above the stratosphere before escaping into the blood mist where we can’t track you.”

Andras grunted in surprise. “Even if you know, there is nothing you can do to stop me. I will cover this land in a mist so dense that nobody can follow me. You pathetic humans can do nothing but watch and wait until I return with an even bigger army.”

“Making a lot of assumptions,” Mare mumbled softly before shrugging. “No matter. I never intended to be the one to defeat you anyway. That’s the dimwit’s job.”

A nearby Donte stumbled backwards as he blocked an attack from an Alpha. His domain wavered sporadically and barely kept him afloat. It was clear at a glance he had no experience using it yet, and was only because of Mare’s influence that he could even fly at all. “What? Why me? Wouldn’t Svend be a better choice?”

Mare flew up to the boy, stopping an inch away from his face with a sadistic grin. “He would, yes, but then I wouldn’t get to test my experiment's effectiveness.”

Donte gulped nervously as he tried to back away from the small girl, but his flying speed was far too slow. Without waiting for his consent, Mare grabbed ahold of Donte and threw him as hard as she could towards the cyclone. A profane string of curses was lost in the roar of the wind as he was powerless to resist being sucked into the tornado.

“Good luck, Donte. I believe in you,” Mare replied with a cheery wave.

I trusted Mare to some extent. I knew she wouldn’t just throw Donte off to die, but I still predicted a repeat of the earlier casualty as Donte entered the realm of invisible blades. The boy didn’t even know how to use domain armor yet. Too exhausted to intervene, I could only watch events unfold through Sylvie’s eyes. I grimaced in expectation of the bloody scene,

However, the spectacle of Donte getting sliced apart by the wind never came. As he approached the tornado, he breathed in deep, activating his Divine Body. Elaborate golden patterns emerged under his skin, and more surprisingly, Donte began to grow larger. His muscles inflated like balloons, ripping through his clothes. Within seconds the boy had tripled in size.

A sound like razors scraping across metal echoed from Donte’s body as he fell into the tornado. Blades that had shredded domain armor moments prior now only left minor white scratches on his skin.

I blinked in surprise at the sight. Like this, he looked similar to Svend. Even his defensive capability was comparable. Mare’s capability was simply astounding. Countless generations had bled and fought to create a monster like Svend, and yet Mare had replicated it with near perfection.

Despite this, I thanked my lucky stars Mare hadn’t done the same experiment to me. I may not have been the girliest of girls by any measure, but I still didn’t want to erupt in watermelon-sized muscles every time I fought. Just the thought alone was enough to give me the shivers.

“Still only about seventy percent,” Mare muttered as she watched Donte get engulfed by the storm, “Further improvements are still needed for the bone expansion. I still have to fix the flexibility issue as well. Maybe if I reorganize the circulator system to match a dragon’s transformation… I need to convince that oversized lizard to give me a few tissue samples. So much to do.”

While Mare was analyzing Donte’s transformation, the boy in question was getting tossed around the tornado like a pinball. His body was capable of resisting the worst of the storm, but it did not help him fly any better than before. He was helpless as the strong wind pulled him along its current. It pulled him around in circles and dragged him higher into the sky. By design or chance, he was pulled all the way to the top of the tornado before being flung above the clouds. There, he was able to look down into the eye of the cyclone where the Demon Andras stood.

Donte clenched his fists at the sight. “I can do this. I am stronger now. I won’t be the only one left behind!”

Donte’s eyes glowed with a crystal blue brilliance. Steam escaped his mouth with every breath he took. The roaring wind around him fell eerily still before beginning to rotate in the opposite direction. With a final deep breath, Donte plummeted down towards the Demon below.