At the sandy lakeside camp, Akari neatly folded Scarlett's pyjamas and placed them on top of a pile of clothes located in a suitcase, as she hummed to herself; she continued to hum as Sophia and the others (excluding Xinia, Mei-La, and Fei-Ku) teleported into the camp. Scarlett and Snow spotted their mother; the two quickly disembarked from Lola's tails and rushed to Akari while calling out to her. Akari turned at the sound of her daughters' calling her and was swiftly greeted by the flailing hands of Scarlett and Snow.

"My my, what's gotten you two so worked up, especially you, Snow?".

"Dunno. Lola's sisters. Said something. About. Scary tower," Scarlett said between heavy breaths as she and Snow tired themselves out from jumping. Akari itched her head and wondered what Scarlett was going on about as she looked over at Minia. Minia pointed out to the lake right as Vivo landed by the group and placed Destiny and Kara on the ground.

"Lady Akari, could I trouble you to ask the village head if he could have everyone pack up the camp and relocate?" Vivo requested as he gave Akari a courteous bow.

"Does it have something to do with a tower?" Akari asked, to which Vivo nodded in response. Akari was even more lost now but let out a pessimistic exhale.

"I'll see what I can do.".

"Appreciated," Vivo stated as he turned a few of his wing feathers into duskanite (a green metallic/ice material). Vivo's duskanite feathers stood up on end before jettisoning themselves from his wings and rocketing themselves straight into the platoon of Ancient Colossal Drones; the drones were covered in a transparent greeny crystal before the drones shattered into tiny specks of dust.

"We'll get a move on straight away!" Rokai shouted from across the camp as some of the dust from the drones fell on his and some other villagers' heads. Vivo and the egos/visages Vivo was carrying bidded the others farewell before he flapped his wings and propelled himself back in the direction of the Ancient Colossal. Akari asked Sophia and the others if they were planning on helping with whatever Zalroth and Co were dealing with; Nola decisively shook her head before anyone else could respond.

"Not a chance; just as a reference, me trying to fight the thing Dad is, is like Scarlett trying to fight... well Dad," Nola explained.

"It's that serious?" Akari asked, with a tinge of worry in her voice as she glance towards Lake Vesovian but couldn't see anything other than the extremely turbulent waves for off in the distance. Nola and Minia nodded in unison to Akari's question.

"If that's the case, would you girls mind helping us evacuate?". The group instantly agreed and quickly split up, leaving the kids by one of the transport wagons. The kids sat silently, wondering if they should help with the evacuation.

"So..., you wanna play Candy Cat Astraphia: SCG?" Lola asked, to which the others happily agreed too while Kara said she'd be the judge for fairness.

Zalroth blasted through the air, ducking and weaving between the torrent of small energy bolts and the eye beams of the Ancient Colossal as flames trailed behind him. Clusters of cubes gathered on the hand of the Ancient Colossal before they bursted apart as humanoid-origami-metal drones broke out from the cube clusters. Zalroth tilted his head as he sensed the humanoid drones trying to catch up with him; he smirked as he slowly lowered the output of his flames, allowing the drones to etch closer to him.

The moment the drones were within arms reach, Zalroth cut off his flames and spread out his arms before reverse clotheslining (wrestling move) two of the drones in their faces. The two drones spiralled out of control and were sent flying by a concentrated blast of wind mana from Zalroth. The third drone dashed at Zalroth, but Zalroth kicked it in the face with a magic barrier under his foot. Zalroth spun around in the air and slashed the drone in half with an upwards slash, using a black lightning phantom sword.

Zalroth landed on the outreached arm of the Ancient Colossal and sprinted for the Ancient Colossal's head as more humanoid-origami drones sprouted all over the Ancient Colossal's arm. Zalroth conjured a white raging-blade sword before he hurled it at the army of drones; the raging-blade sword flashed and multiplied into a volley of glistening blades. The blades skewered many of the origami drones, and the few survivors were hacked to pieces by Zalroth as he raced past them.

"How odd... they shouldn't be this easy to cut through," Zalroth commented mid-sprint before coming to a halt as a sea of origami drones sprouted all around him. Zalroth narrowed his stare into a scowl as he looked up at the Ancient Colossal's eyes.

"So, that's what going on.". Zalroth twirled his black lightning phantom sword as it morphed into a long single-bladed polearm, and he slammed the base of the polearm against the floor as the drones swarmed him. Zalroth ducked, weaved and blocked the attacks of the swarm of origami drones using his polearm and slashed them with the blunt end of its blade to keep them at bay while reframing from destroying them. More and more origami drones formed from the Ancient Colossal, but Zalroth continued to keep them at bay using the extended reach provided by the polearm.

Zalroth surrounded himself in dark green wind mana, and blasted a large chunk of the origami drones off the end of the Ancient Colossal's arm; however, the origami drones simply floated in the air while more drones sprouted from the Ancient Colossal to take the previous drones' places. The origami drones all simultaneously tried to fire energy beams at Zalroth, but they all appeared to buffer, allowing Zalroth to take a break; he glanced up at the Ancient Colossal's eyes and watched as one of them faintly flickered, which caused Zalroth to smirk and look up at Zuno as he stared at the origami drones just floating motionlessly around him.

"Hey, Zuno! Try not to destroy any of the drones; it seems the Colossal hasn't got much gas in the tank.". Zuno tilted his head at Zalroth's comment.

"Gas... in the tank?".

"The saying, in this circumstance, means the Ancient Colossal hasn't got much energy to spare," Zalkutaro stated as he stood on the edge of a vertically orientated magic barrier.

"I see... so, the plan is to overburden the Colossal's power reserves like Mama does with her laptop when she has two chrome tabs open," Pink Hika said as she sat atop Zuno's head. Pink Hika asked if she should refer Zalroth's plan to the other Hikas, and Zuno requested she does it. Pink Hika saluted Zuno before disappearing into a cluster of pink holographic cubes. The drones sprung back to life and continued their assault on the trio as the trio continued to fend them off.

"Vivo, how much longer until the spell is ready?" Zalroth asked telepathically.

"Given certain circumstances, the spell will be ready in five minutes." the telepathic voice of Vivo stated.

"Only five?" Zalroth uttered before a supersonic shockwave erupted past Zalroth and flung all of the origami drones on the Ancient Colossal's arm into the air; Zalroth covered his ears as the shockwaves blasted past him and only released them once the shockwaves died down.

"Sorry, dude, didn't mean to use such loud shockwaves!" Echo shouted as she rode on top of a shockwave platform generated by a thin hand-sized gold ring beneath Echo. Karock scoffed at Echo, causing her to glare at him.

"He's not just some dude! He is the number one ranked adventurer!" Karock shouted as his shadowy body morphed and flailed around like a mass of tendrils.

"Don't get so worked up, dude; I'm just trying to stay professional because-" Echo managed to say before she was interrupted by Xero jetting past her and the air rippling behind him. Xero landed next to Zalroth as a magic barrier formed between him and the floor and bowed before Zalroth, causing Zalroth to scratch his head.

"Why would she need my permission; it's not like I own the things. Also, you should stay away from any Ancient Machines while they're active," Zalroth remarked as he backhanded an origami drone behind him. Xero nodded before a diamond-shaped portal opened behind him, and he jumped into it. Zalroth sighed and rubbed the back of his ear as he commented on how he probably won't have to use Mastered Sage State given he's got back up now; he peered over towards Talkia and spotted the Zelkio flying airship carrier floating over it with a dome-shaped magic barrier covering itself and Talkia.