Ashley leaned back, resting against Sir Selddup’s fluffy nape. She let out a sigh and stared up at the clouds rushing by.

“Excuse me,” Sir Selddup said, the birds attached to his feet flapping their wings as hard as they could. “I’m still being chased.”

“I know,” the Light Lord said. “Give me a second to recuperate my focus. I know I make aiming look easy, but it does use up my concentration.” Her root bracelet flashed amber as a tall glass with a bubbling blue liquid inside of it appeared in her hand. She retrieved a straw from her bracelet and placed it into the drink before taking a sip.

“Yeah?” Sir Selddup asked. “How about we trade?” He glanced behind himself at the unrelenting insect swarm. “You can piggyback me and run away while I shoot them down.”

“No,” Ashley said and shook her head. “That sounds like a losing deal for me.” She sighed as a pig-shaped cloud passed by. She took a few more sips of her drink and exhaled. “Do you think teleportation magic is really difficult to perform, or do you think Tafel simply forgot about us?”

“Why are those the only options?” Sir Selddup asked. “What if something terrible happened to her, and we’re stuck here waiting forever?” The white dog blinked. “Yeah, people lose contact in the tower all the time; I think we should come up with a plan to save ourselves in case she’s no longer with us.”

“You killed her off so easily,” Ashley said before sitting up with a groan. She tossed aside her now-empty glass and picked up her rifle, pointing it at the swarm. “Just keep running in circles. If we bring these insects back to the tower, who knows what kind of chaos that’d cause? I refuse to be the one responsible for the tower’s collapse.”

“It wouldn’t be your fault if you shifted the blame onto Tafel,” Sir Selddup said.

Ashley shook her head. A flashing light coming from her root bracelet drew her attention, and she glanced down at her wrist. “Get ready,” she said. “The portal’s opening soon.”

“Alright,” Sir Selddup said, fixing his posture as his ears perked up. He looked around, his muscles tensing as he waited for the portal to appear. Then, …he waited some more. After a bit, he frowned. “How soon is soon? This isn’t like one of those times you told me you were going to throw the ball, made the motion to throw the ball, and didn’t actually throw the ball, right?”

“I knew you enjoyed those times,” Ashley said, glancing at Sir Selddup from the corner of her eye as she shot at the insect swarm. “But, no, this isn’t a game.”

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“You think fetch is a game?” Sir Selddup asked. His eyes widened as a portal opened not too far away, and he swerved to the right, zipping through the torn space without checking to see what was on the other side. He turned his head towards the Light Lord. “For the record, I did not enjoy being tricked.”

“Watch out!” Ashley shouted and shot her rifle into the air, causing her and her dog to plummet towards the ground from the gun’s recoil. A flood of blood-red flames washed over the space above their heads, flooding into the portal.

Sir Selddup’s face contorted into a snarl as he turned his head in the attack’s direction. The white dog froze upon seeing the battalion composed of dragons and phoenixes, and the bark he was about to let out turned into a whimper that leaked out of his lips.

“Hey!” a yellow dragon in the group, Fern, said to the phoenix breathing out flames. “Who said you could attack? Don’t act if you aren’t given a command!”

The phoenix glared at Fern. “If you’re not attacking your enemy while they’re unprepared, then you’re a fool.”

Ashley’s expression darkened, and her gaze swept over the beasts. Her eyes landed on a particularly large, ocean-blue dragon with a demon standing atop its head. The Light Lord whirled around to sit facing the same direction as Sir Selddup before patting the dog’s shoulder and pointing in Vur’s direction. Sir Selddup’s eyes lit up, and the dog sprinted towards Vur, unwilling to stand opposite a crowd of dragons and phoenixes any longer than it had to.

A low buzzing sound appeared amongst the crackling of the phoenix flames, causing the dragons and phoenixes to turn their attention onto the portal. The buzzing grew louder as the flames dispersed, revealing the portal Tafel had created. On the other side, hundreds of bugs—each one half the size of a phoenix—were flying towards the thanks to the layer of insect gold smeared on the ground the beasts were standing on.

Vur stood up on his hindlegs, his eyes glowing as a multicolored glow spread out of him, washing over everyone present. The dragons and phoenixes blinked before examining themselves, some of them letting out surprised cries. Amplification wasn’t limited to just Vur’s offensive abilities; the strength of the buffs provided by Sheryl, Diamant, Mistle, and Zilphy could be greatly increased as well. “Ready!” Stella said from her spot on Vur’s snout.

The dragons and phoenixes tensed as they took in deep breaths. One insect-type Oebu Sin flew through the portal, officially enter the phoenixes’ tower.

“Attack!” Stella shouted.

Hundreds of phoenixes and dragons unleashed their breaths at once, causing the air to distort from the sheer amount of mana concentrated in one area.

“My portal!” Tafel said, her eyes widening as the attacks destroyed her portal instead of going through it. The demon turned her gaze downward and glared at the fairy queen attached to Vur’s snout. “Why are you giving commands? You’re not the commander! Also, we’re hunting these bugs to eat, not turning them into ashes.”

Stella lowered her head before shifting her eyes up to look at Tafel like a sad puppy. “I’m sorry,” the fairy queen said. “I got too excited.” After hearing the fairy queen’s commands over and over again during the multi-hour apology session, the dragons and phoenixes were already used to obeying her. And, just for fun, she wanted to see if they’d still listen. It was nice that they did.