Thousands upon thousands of humanoid origami Ancient Tower drones filled the air space above Lake Vesovian and even spilt out onto the lake's coastline. The origami drones on the coast banged into each other as they tried to take off before thin, liquidy dawnite tendrils raced towards the drones and pierced through their joints. The joints of the drones shattered like brittle stone, and the drone pierces collapsed into a pile of body parts.
"Careful; you'll ruin Master Zalroth's plan if you aren't careful!" Kai (humanoid kid form) shouted as she frantically pushed and pulled against Zallino's shoulders; Zallino rolled his eyes as he retracted his fingers back to their normal length.
"Concern noted; however, not required," Zallino stated as he scanned for the limbless origami drones' faint energy signatures.
"Energy signatures intact.". Kai sighed before she widened her eyes as she spotted something within the mass of limbless drones. Kai hopped off Zallino's back and ran across the limbless drones before swan diving into a specific spot; she sank into the mass of drones, with only her legs and tails remaining outside the mass as she rummaged around for the thing she spotted. Zallino watched Kai rummage through the pieces of the origami drones, and he occasionally moved out of the way of the debris Kai flung about until she pulled her head free from the mass of drone pieces.
"Inquiry request: what has one found-". Zallino halted his speech as Kai turned around with half a fish in her mouth.
"Inquiry request cancelled.".
Meanwhile, Providence stood at the very front of the flying airship carrier: while Lumios, Callie, Yokuza, Prima, Yumi, Sapphire, and the royal knights stood slightly further away from the edge of the airship. The group watched Providence as he held his hand like a posh person would a wine glass, and he created an intricate magic circle.
"But Mama, why can't we help?" Prima asked as she pouted and twiddled her fingers together.
"It's way too dangerous," Callie stated as she had her arms crossed and metaphorically put her foot down.
"Are you sure?" Sapphire asked whilst she piggybacked on Yokuza's back. Callie nodded her head.
"Absolutely; after the many years I spent researching those towers' technology and using them as the bases for my own, I learned one thing.".
"Which is?" Yokuza asked, with a hint of apprehension in his voice.
"Is, if it looks like a super weapon then don't try to use it to make a robot butler," Callie stated as Xero arrived while carrying a massive tower shield over his head: the shield is a golden tower shield covered in silver plating with six large holes in it organized like the six dots seen on dice, each hole has a thin translucent membrane in them.
"Thank you, Xero," Providence said as he grabbed the shield from Xero, and as he did, Providence's right pupil morphed into a cluster of yellow stars with various amounts of points. Primia eyed the shield Providence was holding before she looked over at Callie.
"Mother, what's that?" Prima asked with as posh a voice as she could muster. Callie smirked as she uncrossed her arms and aimed them at the shield.
"That, my sweet daughter, is The Valley of Hymns; thee signature weapon wielded by the incarnations of the God of Magic and Chaos," Callie said smugly as Prima stared at The Valley of Hymns. Prima looked at the palms of her hands and conjured a tiny replica of The Valley of Hymns made out of primordial gold (the golden material created from Prima's Primordial Gear Azure Ability).
"Neeto," Prima uttered as she dismantled her replica into thin air.
"Say, are you done yet?" Chronia asked as she appeared and floated in front of Providence.
"For the incarnation of Time and Order, you never fail to be impatient but to answer your question, I've finished the spell," Providence uttered as he floated off the ground. The duo discussed the best place to launch the spell while Prima watched Chronia's catalyst weapon floating around her.
"That's The Cradle of Fate, btw," Callie whispered into Prima's ear. Prima slowly nodded and looked at her hands again as she tied to replica a smaller version of The Cradle of Fate, to less than stellar results.
Back at the heart of the action, Zalroth was surrounded while being shoulder-to-shoulder with the many humanoid-origami drones around him. The sheer quantity of drones made it almost impossible for Zalroth to see the sun or even the Ancient Colossal, aside from the occasional ray of light from either of the two beaming through.
"This went over a lot more smoothly in my head; I guess using Lola's technique for breaking buggy video games isn't going to be the final solution here," Zalroth uttered as a drone proceeded to kick him in the back of the head.
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"Mind your step, buddy," Zalroth said, a split second later pondering what he said.
"Would that be a pun?". Zalroth continued to mull over his self-imposed question as the distant sounds of Chronia's voice caught Zalroth's immediate attention.
Chronia surveyed the floating sphere of origami drones before the entire thing was engulfed by black-coloured lightning and exploded into ash, leaving only Zalroth behind. Zalroth hopped on a magic barrier and rode it up to Chronia and Providence. Chronia joyfully hopped onto Zalroth's back and wrapped her arms around him.
"Long time no see, wannabe hero," Zalroth remarked, and Providence slightly chuckled at the wannabe hero comment while he itched his magic scar.
"It has indeed been such a long time since our last conversation, though I'll chalk it up to your usual getting wrapped up in otherworldly affairs," Providence stated while he placed a hand on his chest and slightly bowed his head.
"Are you referring to other planets, realms or literal world hopping?" Chronia asked while resting her chin on top of Zalroth's head.
"Do the specifics matter if all three are true?" Providence asked, to which Chronia simply giggled.
"True," Chronia said as she lightly patted Zalroth's cheeks. Chronia squeezed Zalroth's ears and playfully hummed as Providence leaned his head to peer behind Zalroth and Chronia. Providence raised his hand, and the membranes inside the holes on The Valley of Hymns stretched out of their holes; the membranes coiled around the space around the trio and formed a vaguely spheroid-like shape right before a large eye beam from the Ancient Colossal pierced through the air and blasted into the membrane barrier. The beam shook the membrane barrier like a salt shaker, but it showed no signs of damage.
"Talk about bad turbulence," Chronia said jokingly as the membrane barrier jolted from the Ancient Colossal eye beam until it eventually relented. Providence held out the complex magic circle before it latched itself to Zalroth's arm, and it transformed into a golden-trimmed silver gauntlet.
"Alrighty, time for stage two of the plan." Chronia proclaimed as Xelphia (in her spider form) popped her head out from Chronia's hair, and Kusana popped her head out from behind Chronia.
"And what might that be, grandmother of Kusana?" Kusana asked as Zalroth tied up Kusana's hair into thirteen rings using her white scrunchie to keep the hair in place. Chronia patted Kusana on the head.
"You'll see, within time, my academically entuned granddaughter," Chronia uttered.
"Time pun," Kusana uttered, causing Chronia to quiver as she realised Kusana was right. Chronia defeatedly buried her face in Zalroth's hair and wallowed in despair.
"Despite my efforts, I've been cursed... yet again... by the snake," Chronia whined. Zalroth and Kusana sighed in unison, Zalroth with endearment and Kusana with indifference.
"Just a word of warning. You and Zuno should probably think of a way to stop the Ancient Colossal from making waves; once I take out its core," Zalroth stated as another energy beam struck the membrane barrier. Providence nodded.
"I think I have an idea, but it will require the assistance of your Azure Ability.". Zalroth rolled his eyes and grabbed Providence's left wrist. A grey magic tattoo formed on Providence's wrist and took on the appearance of a bracelet-looking tattoo.
The Ancient Colossal's eye beam ceased, the membrane barrier opened up, and Zalroth lept out while having Lightning Amp lightning coursing across his body. Zalroth landed on and raced across the Ancient Colossal's arm. More drones formed from the Ancient Colossal's left arm, and they rushed towards Zalroth as the Ancient Colossal fired a torrent of smaller energy beams from its eyes.
Zalroth manoeuvered around the energy beams and caught a punch from one of the humanoid drones with his foot; he slammed the drone's fist on the floor before kneeing it in the head and backflipping away from the group of drones. A drone rushed for Zalroth and fired an energy arrow at him; however, Chronia intentionally put her hand in the path of the energy arrow, and the moment before it would hit her hand, the energy arrow inverted its orientation before rocketing back at the drone and blasting its head off.
Zalroth football kicked the headless drone at the other drones and managed to strike two of the four. The four drones clambered over the headless drone, and they were about to attack but suddenly started to float as a transparent energy field formed around them. The drone floated around in the energy field like they were in zero gravity as Kusana held her hands out at the energy field.
"Would you like to finish them off, Xelphia," Zalroth asked, to which Xelphia shook her head. Zalroth quietly smirked and raised a hand at the drone. He gathered black flames and Thundering Berserker (dark purple) lightning into the palm of his hand; the two magical energies melded together into a shining black plasma globe. Zalroth paused and moved his arm a few centimetres to the left before the plasma globe collapsed and erupted into a massive plasma beam. The beam easily tore through the drones and disrupted the energy field. The plasma beam soared through the air and made a direct course for the Ancient Colossal's head.
The Ancient Colossal veered its head out of the way of the plasma beam's trajectory, causing Zalroth to make a tsk noise as he watched the plasma beam about to miss. An echoing whistle rippled through the air, causing the plasma beam to careen at a perfect right angle and pierce straight into one of the Ancient Colossal's eyes. The eye exploded and shattered into black ash.
Zalroth ramped up his Lightning Amp lightning and grabbed Kusana under his arm before lept into the air. He jumped between multiple magic barriers and quickly made his way up to the Ancient Colossal's broken eye. Kusana heard another whistle, and Zalkutaro's dawnite harp appeared in front of the Ancient Colossal's broken eye. Kusana grabbed the dawnite harp (with grey magic particles infused into its mana strings) as Zalroth lept into the Ancient Colossal's eye before it regenerated.
Zalroth fell through the confines of the Ancient Colossal's head before a yellow glow shrouded his body, and his descent ceased.
"Thanks, Xelphia," Zalroth said as he scratched Xelphia's chin, causing an uncontrollably cat-like purr to emanate from Xelphia. Zalroth quickly removed his hand from Xelphia's chin before he encased his hands in his mana before he batted a golden lightning strike away from the group. Zalroth smirked and got into his combative stance, although it was slightly off given his levitating state.
"You girls ready?".
"Is that even a question?/Naturally/Maybe... I guess?" Chronia/Kusana/Xelphia said in response to Zalroth's question. Zalroth nodded and pounded his fists together as he and the girls stared down the golden lightning-gushing Ancient Tower energy core.