Whoosh! Whoosh!

"Faster, you lumbering lizard!" Warden Poahf spat harshly as she whipped the reins of her Sand Krayt Dragon. After being berated. the beast surged forward through the air with a burst of speed.

Squinting against the glare, Poahf's gaze focused on a lone figure standing atop the peak of the Rendil Temple. It was the old Aerithran, the one who had humiliated her in the presence of Duke Theodore and defied the might of the Dune Empire. A surge of fury coursed through her, awakening a thirst for vengeance that burned hotter than the desert sun.

"Squadron leaders, to me!" she barked across the landscape. "Form a circular formation around the temple's peak. Leave no escape route for that old bastard!"

“ORAAAH!”

Eager to gain the favour of the Warden, the leaders of the Sand Devil and Pyro Warrior squadrons raced to comply. They propelled their Sand Krayt Dragons ahead to create an ever constricting circle around the summit of the temple. With their leathery wings beating in time, their mounts took off and soared higher and higher.

Poahf watched with satisfaction as her troops got into position. She contemplated her next move. She had witnessed the old man's abilities firsthand – his mastery of ZenFlow Kana, the strange staff that could grow to unimaginable sizes, and the devastating power he wielded.

'He's swift and unpredictable,' she thought, recalling Sorah's graceful movements and lightning-fast reflexes. 'But in this formation, he won't be able to attack us all at once.'

She envisioned her forces launching a concerted attack, raining down Aether Sabres and Kana Bombs on the elderly man like a steel and fire storm. She imagined his staff, no matter how large it grew, being overwhelmed by the sheer number of attacks.

'And if he tries to escape,' a cruel smile crept across her lips, 'We'll bring the whole temple down on top of him.'

Her plan was simple yet brutal. She would obliterate the Rendil Temple, bury the old man and his companions beneath tons of rubble and shattered stone. It would be a fitting end for those who dared to defy the Dune Empire.

She yelled, "Ready yourselves, men! Prepare to fire... Sand Sphere Bomb!"

“GROWL!”

The Sand Krayt Dragons, sensing their riders' bloodlust, raised their heads and opened their cavernous jaws. Their throats glowed faintly as they began to channel their own Aether Steam, drawing upon the energy of the earth element.

“Hmm? Those are…?”

Standing atop the temple's peak, Sorah watched in dismay as the Sand Krayt Dragons above him began charging up their attacks. He could see the swirling sand within their jaws, expanding and growing larger with each passing moment as their riders poured forth their own Aether Steam into the beasts, enhancing their powers.

Whoosh!!

The airspace crackled with energy as the Sand Sphere Bombs grew to the size of boulders. The entire Rendil Temple vibrated with their destructive potential.

Sorah gripped his staff tightly, feeling the tremors coursing through the ancient wood.

'I can't abandon the temple,' he thought, glancing down at the swirling portal that the Rice Guru and the others were working on. 'If even one of those bombs hits, it will cause a great disturbance.'

He considered using his staff to block the attacks, but he knew it wouldn't be enough. There were too many of them, and they were coming from all directions. He had to think of another way, a way to deflect the bombs without endangering the temple or the people below.

But before he could formulate a plan, Poahf's resounding voice cut inside his eardrums like a whip. "Fire! Blow him to smithereens!"

“Fire!”

“Fire!”

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“Fire!”

“Fire!”

Hearing their riders’ commands, the Sand Krayt Dragons unleashed their attacks simultaneously. Over two dozen Sand Sphere Bombs shot downwards towards Sorah, their spinning forms leaving trails of dust in their wake.

“Here they come… I have to stop them.”

With no time to think, Sorah reacted on instinct. He drew upon the power of the Sage Curse, feeling the glyphs on his skin pulsating with energy. Slowly levitating from the roof, he pulled his arms close to his chest, curling into a foetal position as the glyphs danced around him, forming a protective barrier.

"Sage Curse Eruption!" he hollered while extending his arms outwards with a burst of power.

Boom!

The glyphs detached from his body, shooting outwards like ethereal serpents. They wrapped themselves around the Sand Sphere Bombs, interweaving their golden-black patterns with the swirling sand, disrupting the bombs' internal structure and preventing them from detonating.

Sorah's eyes blazed with power as he uttered the words, "Counter Assault!" He redirected the bombs back towards their senders.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The Sand Sphere Bombs, now ensnared in the Sage Curse glyphs, shot upwards with incredible speed.

“What the hell!”

“They’re coming towards us!”

“Growl!”

The Sand Krayt Dragons and their riders were caught off guard by the sudden reversal and had no time to react.

“Damn him!” Warden Poahf, who was the first to realize what Sorah was up to, screamed in terror and attempted to flee. But it was too late.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Sand Sphere Bombs detonated in a series of deafening explosions. The sky above the Rendil Temple was bombarded with a blinding flash of light and a rain of sand and debris.

“KYAAAAAAAA!”

The Sand Krayt Dragons and their riders were thrown into chaos. Some were blasted out of the sky and plummeted towards the ground like fallen stars. Others were caught in the shockwaves and had their bodies tossed and turned like rag dolls.

Warden Poahf, despite her desperate attempt to escape, was caught in the blast. The force of the explosion ripped her from her mount, sending her tumbling through the air.

“Gah!”

She landed with a thud on a rocky outcrop with a couple of bruises across her body. She groaned, feeling the pain radiating through her limbs.

"Damn you, old man! Cough! Cough!" she cursed, spitting out a mouthful of sand and blood.

Still hovering in the air above the temple, Sorah surveyed his falling enemies. He had turned their own attacks against them, using their arrogance to his advantage.

However, not all of them were knock down. Taking advantage of their disorientation, he extended the Dawn Sky Crusher up to 10 meters in length then intercepted the hovering soldiers. He executed a wide range sweeping motion that swept horizontally, hitting several targets in consecutive order and sending them flying miles away from the temple.

Wham! Wham! Wham!

"Stay down, you sand-loving slugs!" he growled as he sent another group of soldiers careening backwards. “That should be the last of them… Hmm?”

From above, he noticed Warden Poahf picking herself up from the ground and glaring up at him. "You... you'll pay for this, old man!" she screamed.

Sorah smirked. "Perhaps another time, Warden."

Whoosh!

He kicked the air, propelling himself downwards towards Poahf with the speed of a falling star. He raised his staff high, aiming it directly at her head.

"Hah!" he shouted, bringing the staff down with the force of a mountain.

Boom!

The staff connected with Poahf's forehead, and a shockwave of energy rippled outwards, cracking the ground beneath her feet and splitting open the earth behind her.

‘What the...?' Sorah's eyes widened in surprise as he realized that his attack had failed to penetrate her skull. Poahf's head, instead of shattering like he had anticipated, had transformed into a solid block of metal.

"You... you think you can defeat me with a mere stick?" Poahf laughed coldly with a distorted metallic sound. She grabbed the staff and held it firmly in place against her head.

"Com-bus-tion!"

Boom!

Warden Poahf’s body commenced bursting apart with a surge of emerald-white Aether Steam. Her form shifted and transformed, growing larger and more monstrous with each passing moment.

"What the..." Sorah gasped as he witnessed the spectacle. “Is this the form of her Titan Avatar?”

Howl!

Poahf's body was gone, replaced by a towering, metallic three-headed hound with fiery tails that lashed the air and left trails of destruction. Each head bore some semblance to Poahf's face, but twisted and distorted with animalistic rage and power.

The three heads spoke in unison with furious obscenities, "You will die for that, old man! We’re going to rip you apart and feast on your flesh! GRAAAH!"

Swish! Swish!

Sorah flipped backwards, putting some distance between himself and the monstrous Cerberus Titan that was drooling to take his soul to the underworld. He stared up at the creature, while they stared down at him with a wild air of hubris. He had never seen anything like it before. The metallic furs present across its body were at least four inches long and could cut through solid rock. Not to mention those jagged teeth present in the mouths of the Cerberus’ heads. One bite could crush his bones to dust!

"A Cerberus... Titan…" Sorah slowly intoned. There was a galloping in his chest which signified his rising trepidation. However, he stood his ground and prepared himself to face this monster head on.

“Just die you old fart!”

“I’m going to make you suffer!”

“Your death will be slow and painful!”

The three heads of the Cerberus Titan growled and snapped their jaws. Saliva trickled from their mouths that reeked of brimstone and decay. They snorted with a murderous intent.

Whiff!

With a deep breath, Sorah closed his eyes then opened them seconds later. He began releasing his ZenFlow Kana as the grip on his staff tightened.

“Here I come.”