It was now raining flaming monkeys. Scores of burning figures fell from the trees in droves, crashing down upon the white monkeys.

I ducked to the side as I dodged a screaming monkey whose entire body had been lit aflame. He smashed into the ground below me, writhing in pain as his cries were drowned by dozens of others.

I actually felt quite sorry for these monkeys, as I had experienced first hand what the pain of burning alive felt like. I shivered as I thought back to the time Celeste had lit me on fire before bringing me to this world.

Six-tails’ sudden attack on these monkeys had evidently caught them off guard, and he was able to kill many of them before they could even react.

However, the defending monkeys had now realized what was happening. I looked deeper into the forest where the flames had yet to reach, and my eyes caught glimpses of black figures moving across the trees.

Soon, a swarm of monkeys had coalesced around our position. I belatedly realized that they had surrounded us!

These monkeys were howling in rage, and they charged through the forest as they paid no mind to their burning surroundings. Dozens caught fire or were crushed by flaming logs as they approached us, but a hundred more appeared from behind to replace them.

Monkeys with thick, black fur soon came into vision. They had the same numerous tails and shining blue eyes of the white monkeys, but their fur was a stark contrast. Both sides wasted no time as they pounded their fists on their chests and charged. In only a few moments they were tearing each other limb from limb as sharp claws and bared teeth flashed.

It was such a chaotic frenzy that I couldn’t tell who even held the advantage. Looking down, I spotted six-tails swinging his flaming stick wildly amidst the carnage. Each time he swung, a handful of night monkeys were sent flying, their bodies instantly erupting into flames.

Many black-furred monkeys had also spotted me flying above the chaos below. They howled as they jumped at me from nearby trees, intent on ripping me to shreds.

I was nearly twenty meters in the air now, but this was well within the reach of something that could climb trees. I figured that six-tails could hold his own, so I turned my attention to my own attackers.

Even without my sword my aether was a potent weapon, and I sent a wave of it outwards towards the attacking monkeys, quickly sweeping them up in its depths.

In the past year I had come to visualize my aether in the form of water, as that seemed to be the most apt description for its properties. It was seemingly formless, but when I visualized my powers in that way I could exert them to their fullest potential.

When I sent a ‘wave’ of aether at these monkeys, it was as if a quite literal wave of water had smashed into them. They didn’t even have time to be surprised as they were instantly sent back into the flaming depths of the forest.

I had blown them so far away that I lost track of them, but my attention was immediately taken by another group of black-furred monkeys on my flank.

Two monkeys gave no warning as they launched themselves into the air, their nimble speed bringing them to me in only a moment. Shaking my head, I simply surrounded their forms with my aether as I swiftly floated higher into the air—out of their reach.

I then reached out my small hand and clenched it, crushing the two monkeys before they could even fall. Their bodies twisted and collapsed inwards as the pressure from my aether overwhelmed them, not even their blood was able to escape from it's grasp.

This was also a new technique I had discovered. If I focused my aether around something, I could then force it inwards and crush things. I had previously only tested this out on small logs, but I was pleased to see that it worked on more dangerous targets.

Their mangled corpses promptly fell down towards the battlefield below, forgotten as I saw a black figure approaching from my blind spot.

I quickly sent this monkey crashing towards the ground, turning just in time to see that another monkey had just reached me!

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This night monkey had three-tails, and it howled in rage as it came upon me. In only a second it was right above my position, its claws reaching out to grab me.

My aether wrapped my body up in its grasp as it sent me flying downwards. I twisted my body as I swooped through the air, dipping down before flying back up towards the treetops. The fast maneuver I had just executed was able to dodge the three-tailed monkey’s sudden attack, and I was now in a position to look down upon him.

I promptly sent a wave of my aether at the monkey, sweeping him up into the air. They howled in confusion as they were blown backwards, not even able to control their descent.

Remarkably, my aether seemed to have even picked up some of the nearby flames gathering in the vicinity. It was almost like the aether was absorbing the fire.

My aether lacked a true form, yet it wasn’t the air itself. It behaved more like a solid—intangible but undeniably present. My gaze expanded in shock as I saw the fire spread across my wave of aether, creating a blazing inferno in the air.

‘How is that possible?! Is my aether flammable?’ I wondered, never having considered such a possibility.

However, it actually seemed like the flames were merely hitching a ride on my aether. They didn’t seem to be burning it in any way.

I watched as the monkey I had grabbed was cooked alive in the air. The blaze from the fire spread across the air as it followed the monkey, causing even more trees to catch fire in the distance.

When I looked back down, I saw that the night monkeys were slowly overwhelming the white ones. While the white monkeys had initially held the advantage due to six-tails’ surprise attack, they were now being swarmed from deeper within the forest.

There had to have been hundreds of black figures now swinging across the treetops. Their numbers were almost three to one, and if I didn’t do anything, I knew that my allies would slowly be whittled away. This gave me an idea, one that could likely change the tide of this battle.

I sent my aether out all around me—in every direction. My head began to spin from this sudden exertion, but I clenched my teeth as I forced my powers into overdrive.

When my aether touched the fire in the vicinity, the flames abruptly began to spread through the air. I then lifted myself higher, making sure the fire would be unable to spread to my position.

Soon, the blazing inferno I created had spread to at least ten meters in diameter. The air from the surroundings was sucked away as this massive fire grew, and I could see the trees it touched nearly instantaneously turn to ashes.

From the ground, I imagined this intense ball of fire was blocking out the very sun. Both sides of the battle came to a halt as they all stared up towards the sky, no doubt struck speechless by what they were seeing.

After the inferno had grown to a suitable size, I released it forwards.

When I sent this wave of my aether down towards the forest, I directed it to where the black-furred monkeys were coming from.

Scores of trees were instantly burned to ashes as this literal wave of fire began to spread across the forest, burning everything to cinders.

For the night monkeys, this was probably an apocalyptic sight.

The closest monkeys turned around and screamed in horror as they attempted to dash back to where they came, but they were all too slow. White and black-furred monkeys alike were caught in this sudden attack from above.

They didn’t even get the chance to scream as they were immediately burned alive, their bodies turning to ash as the wave of flames continued to travel unimpeded.

Even I was struck speechless as I watched this unfold, for it was as if the entire forest was now burning down. Previously, only large patches of trees were on fire. Now though, the flames were spreading everywhere.

The fire had started like a wave, but it quickly grew until it had become a tsunami of flames that burned everything in its path. The tsunami of fire had now reached the bulk of the black-furred monkeys, and I could hear terrified shrieks come from within the forest as they were all burnt to a crisp.

I had already released my aether at this point, so the flames that were now spreading were moving on their own. Huge swathes of forest were burnt down as the inferno continued onwards, leaving only cinders in its path.

I audibly gulped, ‘Holy f*ck! That was way more effective than I thought it would be.’

If I could replicate that attack again, it would likely become my most potent ability. I would definitely have to test it out further at a later date.

The surviving monkeys below me began to holler and jump around in victory, their white fur stained with soot and blood. I estimated that there were around fifty or so of them still standing, and they had sustained some pretty heavy losses. Many of the survivors bore grisly wounds or mutilated limbs.

Six-tails was also now looking up at me in awe, his prideful gaze now showing the first signs of fear since I had met him.

This battle was evidently not finished though, and I watched as he began to summarily walk through the battlefield and execute his downed enemies. He had pulled an iron spear out of thin air, and then promptly began to stab it into every monkey he saw.

Some of the monkeys were dead already, but Six-tails clearly didn’t care.

Soon, even four-tails began to join in on this with his own spear, and they moved across the field of bodies as they stabbed into black fur with a chilling calmness.

This continued for five or so minutes before my attention was abruptly drawn to the sound of a deep roar coming from within the forest.

The roar sent a shiver down my spine, and it echoed through the burning forest.

At this point the fire had now spread several hundred meters deep into the forest, and the flames in our immediate surroundings had stopped. This was likely because the fire had already burnt through all of the fuel in this area.

I looked past the field of scorched dirt and into the inferno behind it, and my eyes were drawn to a black figure that was walking through the fire.

This black figure soon revealed itself to be a towering monkey with thick, charred fur.

My eyes were immediately drawn to its tails, for I counted seven of them!

Even though its body had been singed by the fires, they were evidently unharmed. They beat their powerful chest with meaty fists as they looked straight at Six-tails, their blue eyes bloodshot.

“LITTLE FIVE-TAILS!” He screamed, his voice booming across the burned clearing.