The Grey Lord narrowly dodged a ball of fire by spinning to the left, it was so close that he could feel the overwhelming heat travel by him and it caused him discomfort even without it touching him, but at this point he was used to it.

He flapped both wings to gain height and then flapped his wings again - this time one by one - to shoot out sharp blades of wind at both of his foes. Unfortunately, not only were they fully capable of dodging attacks as well, but even on the occasions where his attacks had landed thanks to its speed, the damage wasn’t enough to cause immediate effects.

In order to hit and not be hit, he had been forced to sacrifice power for greater speed. It allowed him to preserve his life against the destructive might of his legendary adversaries but it didn’t allow him to help out his people, and he was furious.

“Wh-” He began, but then noticed a sneaky fireball that forced him to quickly dodge. He couldn’t tank even a single one of these attacks or it would be over for him. Purgatory flames were no joke.

After righting himself again, he shouted out once more. “WHY MUST YOU PERSIST WITH THIS?!” He dodged another fireball and shot back with his own wind blades. “MY SCAVENGE OWL RACE HAS NEVER POSSESSED THE MIGHT TO COMPETE WITH ANY OF THE LEGENDARY RACES, WE DON’T EVE-”

He dodged another fireball, and then dodged once more. They had been trying to predict where he would dodge recently and it hadn’t worked, but things were becoming more dangerous.

“WE DON’T EVEN HAVE AN AFFINITY WITH AN ELEMENT, THE POWER OF MY WIND IS SOMETHING I OBTAINED FROM A CHANCE OPPORTUNITY! YOU ALL KNOW THIS! SO WHY-”

He was forced to dodge another attack, but his climbing rage had made him sluggish and the fireball managed to scrape his right wing, singing it immediately and causing frightful damage. Not frightful because it opened up his flesh or anything, but frightful because that would definitely affect his flight.

“DAMN IT, YOU FIENDS! I JUST OBTAINED A BIT OF POWER AND THAT WAS ALL IT TOOK FOR YOU OVERLOOK ALL THE WORK MY RACE HAS DONE FOR YOUR KIND AND SENTENCE US ALL TO DEATH?! IS THIS HOW YOU TREAT THOSE THAT WORK HARD FOR YOU?! YOU LEGENDARY RACES ARE ALL-”

“You’ve said enough Grey One. Your race is doomed to perish here not because of your pitiful power, but because you dared to lust after someone you shouldn’t have. She wants the doom of your race and so shall it be-”

The Purgatory Vermillion Bird was silenced when a blade of wind struck his face.

“LIES! DECEIT! RUBBISH! EVERYBODY KNOWS WHO I AM! EVERYBODY KNOWS WHO I LOVE! I HAVE NEVER LUSTED FOR A SINGLE ONE OF YOUR EVIL FEMALES! THIS IS ALL JUST A COVER UP SO THAT YOU CAN PLACATE THE OTHER RACES THAT WORK FOR YOU! I’M SURE YOU LEARNED AFTER WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PHOENIXES IN THE PURE SOCIETY, SO YOU DECIDED TO RESORT TO CHEAP TRICKS LIKE THIS! HEINOUS! ROTTEN! WRETCHED! YOU ALL DESERVE TO DIE- AGH!”

Multiple attacks slammed into his back, and from the extreme burn he was now suffering they were no doubt fire attacks.

‘I BLUNDERED!’ He inwardly screamed as his body suffered from the relentless purgatory flames.

It didn’t take much to guess what had happened. You see, Spirit Sense was a useful ability that allowed one to see and hear as far as it could extend. You could use it to look in all directions at once, or you could use it to focus on one particular area with a security that eyes couldn’t emulate.

But the problem with looking in all directions at once was that it messed with your senses. It was fine when you were standing still and focusing on what your Spirit Sense was perceiving but to fight in that state was just too difficult.

That’s why he would only periodically let out his Spirit Sense to check on his surroundings, and not keep it up the whole time. It was by using the intervals between his scouts, coupled with his anger and his focus on his 2 opponents, that allowed the weaker Purgatory birds who had been focusing on hunting his brethren to sneak attack on him.

He wasn’t dumb and always knew that that was a possibility, but his rage had temporarily occupied all of his thoughts. He had blundered big time! But it wasn’t over yet! The might of 3rd Realmers, even multiple at the peak, wasn’t enough to defeat him whether he had protected himself or not, he just need to-

BOOOOOM!

Something hot slammed into him with the impact of a tree and rendered him temporarily unconscious. His body caught on fire, fire that was multiple times hotter than the last, and he immediately began to plummet as his body lost all strength.

He woke up shortly later with a minute gasp, but feeling the state of his body, he couldn’t muster the will to save himself, talk less of the energy. He couldn’t even feel his wings. His mind was foggy so he couldn’t decipher whether he still even had them or not, but he knew with certainty that he was done for. It was over.

His blurry sight caught the devastating scene of his dying brethren below, and the multiple balls of fire above that intended to sentence him to death before the ground could do it, and tears began to seep out of his eyes.

What did he ever do to deserve this? Was it wrong to seek strength like everyone else? Is it only the legendary races that are allowed to keep climbing? Was everyone else supposed to be slaves forever?

Why?!

‘I wish you unwell, Purgatories! I wish your flames to go cold and your race to go extinct! I wish you to never have peace! I CURSE You! I CURSE YOU ALL-’

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAM!