Another of the centaur heathen's eyes fizzled out, leaving it with only one of its original nine. Yokuza slammed his fist into the ground, unleashing a wave of Artic Mist mist which washed over the heathen's legs and converted them into opaque white ice. Yokuza panted heavily as he fully fell onto his knee from exhaustion.

"I'm starting to think Lola's father is aware I'm the heathian that manifested in Prima, and he's intentionally putting me in increasingly tense situations," Yokuza uttered mentally while his siblings were catching their breaths. Yokuza glanced up and noticed Zalroth smugly giving him a thumbs up.

"I would ask if she's sure he has the memories of that heathian, but questioning her judgment is no different than questioning objective fact," Zalroth mentally as he recalled Ela informing him about Yokuza's retention of memories, "But he didn't seem too bad as a heathian... and Lola seems to like him so I'll leave him be.". Lola floated down to the others and energetically landed on the ground.

"Hooray, we only have one more to go," Lola proclaimed pridefully. Lola gazed back at the others before her big grin shrank at seeing the others in their exhausted state: Yokuza was propping himself up using Blue Empress, Prima was half asleep, and Sapphire and Yumi were in half-puddle-like states. Yokuza groaned and forced himself to his feet.

"Yeah-yeah, let's just get this over with...," Yokuza muttered as he walked past Lola while dragging Blue Empress behind him. Lola silently watched Yokuza approach the heathen as it slammed its non-crystal feet on the ground one by one to shatter them. Lola gave Dream Weaver a sombre stare before ever so slightly tightening her grip on it.

"Lola, you coming?" Yokuza asked. Lola swung her head up and stared at Yokuza with a bewildered look on her face.

"Y-yeah.". Yokuza sighed at Lola's unsure response.

"Something on your mind?" Yokuza asked.

"... no? I'm just wondering.".

"Wondering?".

"I... never mind it's too hard to word it.".

"I see," Yokuza stated, "You should probably talk to your parents about it.". Lola nodded as Yokuza got into a combative stance. The heathen's feet, like a plant, regrew from its legs before the heathen swung its arm and fired a torrent of light mana spears at the duo.

Yokuza coughed as he raised a hand, and the clouds swirled over the flying airship carrier. As Lola watched, the swirling clouds gathered together and darkened into a thundercloud. Yokuza snapped his fingers, and the cloud above rumbled. The light mana spears raced for the duo before a runway-spanning lightning strike rained down from above and obliterated the light mana arrows.

"Thankfully, this thing changed the shape of its attack," Yokuza remarked. Lola couldn't help but giddily sway her tail from side to side at seeing Yokuza using weather manipulation.

"Yeah... Papa said light mana doesn't like being altered and slows down to be mean," Lola said playfully. Yokuza smirked before he raised Blue Empress at the Heathen.

"It'll be on the back of its head again, right?" Yokuza asked. Lola nodded before the duo stared down the heathen as it charged straight for them. Yokuza dashed forwards while Lola took to the sky.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Yokuza hurried for the heathen, ducking and weaving around the swarm of light mana arrows as he gathered wind mana around Blue Empress. Yokuza unleashed a flurry of sword slashes, firing a barrage of large wind mana slashes at the heathen. The heathen formed a light mana spear with a claymore for its blade and slashed through Yokuza's magic attacks.

Swinging their weapons, Yokuza and the heathen's blades clashed with each other. The blades ground against each other, until the blades misaligned causing the clash to break down and knocking the combatants away from each other.

Yokuza took a step back to regain his balance and hurled another sword slash. The heathen threw up its light mana spear to block the attack. Blue Empress came inches away from the heathen's weapon before Yokuza flexed his body. He abruptly swung Blue Empress in the opposite rotation and slammed it into the heathen's side it wasn't defending.

Yokuza smirked as he watched the heathen stagger to the side; however, his smirk swiftly melted off his face as the heathen swung its head and headbutted him in the face.

"Brother!" Prima and Sapphire blurted out as they exhaustedly led on the ground. Yokuza crashed into the ground before the heathen slammed a foot on Yokuza's chest. The heathen swung its head down to Yokuza's face. The heathen's eye flickered with a jingle as light mana gathered into its eye and increased the intensity of its glow.

Before he could respond, the heathen unleashed a point-blank light mana blast in Yokuza's face, filling the area with a blinding white flash. Lola gasped as her eyes flickered a glowing green and glared at the heathen. As the light faded, Lola's expression softened upon seeing the state of Yokuza. A perplexed Yokuza blankly blinked at the Primordial Gear (dark gold) recreation of The Valley of Hymns floating between him and the heathen.

"That was close...," Prima remarked with Sapphire biting Prima's raised arm before the two face-planted the ground from exhaustion. The Primordial Gear VoH bursted into a cloud of dark gold. Yokuza exhaled in relief while thinking he should really get on making it up to Prima for previously possessing her body.

Yokuza's thoughts were interrupted when he suddenly felt Lola's qi disappear. Yokuza grabbed the heathen's leg. In a split second, Yokuza converted the leg into opaque white ice and shattered the ice-turned leg. Yokuza rolled out from under the heathen and hopped onto his feet.

"Lo-". Yokuza raised his head but froze as he saw Lola plummeting to the ground while grasping her head. Yokuza swiftly dashed under Lola and caught her with his snowy wings. With its leg restored, the heathen marched towards Yokuza as it gathered light mana into its eye. Yokuza went into a defensive stance and glared at the heathen whilst Lola wriggled on Yokuza's wings.

"Mr Zalroth?" Scarlett asked worriedly as she and the others stared at Zalroth to do something. Zalroth rubbed his eyes and smirked as led back on his tails.

"I didn't think she'd awaken it so soon without my aid," Zalroth stated as he stood on top of the horse part of the heathen while Scarlett, Kusana, and Snow clung to his kitsune tails.

The heathen didn't have a chance to register Zalroth before Zalroth plunged his hand through the cracked section of its head. The crack on the heathen head grew and spread across its body as the colour in its body faded. The heathen made a humming noise before it bursted into dust.

"Perhaps Ela gave her suggestion for this sole reason," Zalroth remarked as he landed on the ground. Lola's wriggling died down as she watched the remnants of the heathen washed away in the wind. Lola looked up at Zalroth before her face went red, and she covered her face with one of her tails.

"Sorry for making you get involved, Papa," Lola mumbled through her tail.

"Don't sweat over it, Fluffkins, but let's hope your la inzo doesn't cause your divine qi to go out of control in the future," Zalroth stated. Lola froze before angrily squealing into her tail and curling up into her furball mode.

"You're one to talk, hubby," Chronia remarked after she appeared sitting on Zalroth's shoulders. Zalroth couldn't stop his cheeks from turning faintly pink as Chronia poked Zalroth's face.

"Please don't bring up the Volatile Valentine Incident...," Zalroth uttered defeatedly.

"Should have thought about that before you teased, Lola," Chronia said smugly as she squeezed Zalroth's head with a hug.