The fires took far too long to put out. Scarlet looked up at the sky and judged that they only had fifteen minutes to get back to town before high tide and wouldn’t be able to make it in time. Looking to Shiro, who was putting out the last of the fires, she yelled, “Shiro! We need to go now!”
Hearing the urgency in her voice Shiro didn’t argue and spread his wings wide, “Hop on!”
Scarlet did as told and jumped onto Shiro’s back, wrapping her arms around his neck. His wings began to glow with a fiery blaze as he shot into the sky, leaving a trail of fire behind him. They sped toward the town at incredible speeds, hoping to get there before it was too late. Although, Scarlet was a little distracted by Shiro’s strong chest and shoulders. The determined look on his handsome face.
Scarlet chastised herself, shaking her head, ‘No, no! Stop thinking that! I need to focus. We are on a mission.’
Noticing Scarlet shaking her head, Shiro yelled over the wind rushing past their ears, “What’s wrong?! Did a bug hit you?!”
Not wanting to embrace herself any further, she yelled, “Yes! It was nasty!”
“You get used to it after a while!”
Before Scarlet could respond, they turned around a mountain and saw the town far below. They were too late. The town was under attack. Dozens of blue and black sea serpents, half a dozen meters long, slithered across the ground lunging at fleeing civilians and guards. Three massive red Krakins climbed onto land, their powerful tentacles crushing buildings and any fleeing civilians they saw down a street. Cami and Grandmaster Valdour fighting desperately to keep the monsters at bay near the beach and docks.
Shiro cursed under his breath and sped up, expending more chakra to get there sooner. Scarlet held on tighter and took a deep breath, clearing her mind and cycling her chakra. Looking north, she saw Xiao and Jax flying to the town as fast as possible as well. But they wouldn’t be fast enough.
Shiro quickly got over the town and closed his wings, making them fall from the sky toward the nearest monsters. Grabbing Scarlet’s hand, Shiro pulled her off his back and twisted his body, putting them into a spin and launched Scarlet into a different part of town. She was thrown right at a sea serpent engaged in battle with a group of guards.
Bringing back her fist, she filled it with explosive power, and the moment she made contact with the monster, its head exploded in a shower of blood. The body writhed on the ground as she landed and turned to the awestruck guards, “Evacuate the civilians! The ground passes are clear of bandits! Go!”
The guards didn’t move for a moment before one of them gave her a salute with his hand clenched over his heart as he said, “YES, MA’AM! YOU HEARD THE CULTIVATOR MOVE! WE NEED TO GET THE CIVILIANS OUT OF HERE! GO! GO! GO!” Scarlet nodded and turned as two more sea serpents began to crawl over the still-writhing body of their kin.
Gritting her teeth, she cycled her chakra and threw two fireballs at the beasts, pushing them back as they hissed and screeched. Just before she continued her assault, the guard stopped her and said, “Ma’am!” Scarlet stopped and turned to him as he continued, “Thank you.”
Scarlet smiled and nodded, jumping over the corps of the sea serpent and continuing her attack. She filled the street with fire and explosions. Shredding the serpents as they tried to attack again before jumping to the rooftops and going to the next street over, spotting two more serpents. She tried forming another fireball, but she felt that her core was nearly empty, so she switched to her first core made of Air and Speed chakras, making it a Sound core.
Her speed increased dramatically as she launched herself at the monsters. She kicked the first one in its wheel-sized eye, making it burst in a shower of blood. The monster screeched as it reeled back in pain while its companion snapped at Scarlet. She kicked off the air throwing herself back down the street and skidding across the ground. Launching herself at the monsters again.
The first one, now missing its left eye, snapped at her with its hundreds of razor-sharp teeth. Channeling her chakra to her throat, she took in a deep breath and screamed at the monster, the high-pitched sound shattering windows and making the monster’s blood vessels burst. As blood rained over Scarlet, the second sea serpent snuck behind her and clamped its jaw around her torso. Its teeth snapped on her rock-hard skin, but it refused to let go as it shook her violently and threw her into a nearby building.
She fell to the ground under a mountain of rubble. Groaning in pain and annoyance, Scarlet tried to move, but one of her arms was pinned under a stone column. The serpent noticed she was still alive and prepared to strike again. With a curse, Scarlet struck her shoulder, destroying the stones that made up her body, and removed her arm. The serpent lunged at her, and Scarlet closed her eyes as she braced … for an impact that never came.
Opening her eyes, she saw the serpent had been frozen at the last minute in a block of ice a few centimeters away from her face. The next moment the frozen serpent was shattered into dozens of large ice chunks as Jax slammed down through it in an eruption of molten stone. He quickly jogged over to Scarlet and lifted the column off her.
“Thanks,” She said as she got out from under it and re-attached her arm. Xiao landed next to her a second later and roared at her as if asking a question.
“The bandits are taken care of to the north. What now?” Jax asked.
Scarlet looked toward the beach where the massive Krakins fought Grandmaster Valdour and asked, “Did you see more serpents nearby?”
“No,” Jax answered, “The last two were being taken care of by Shiro on the other side of town last we saw.” Xiao roared in confirmation.
Scarlet nodded, “Good. Go help Grandmaster Valdour. Immobilize and kill the Krakins.”
Jax jumped onto Xiao’s back, and they took to the sky. Scarlet jumped onto the nearest rooftop and ran across them, searching for survivors. Whenever she saw someone, she would jump down and check on them. She counted forty-five dead, most of them town guards.
The sun soon set behind the mountain, and the last Krakin finally fell to its wounds, collapsing back into the ocean. Scarlet ran over to the docks and quickly found Cami and Shiro collapsed on the ground and leaning against a sea serpent corps, gulping down gasps of air. Cami noticed her and weakly raised a hand in greeting. “Hey,” she said weakly.
“Hey! You two all right?” Scarlet asked.
Shiro nodded, “Yeah … we’re fine. Just need … to rest a minute.”
“Good,” Scarlet said and breathed a sigh of relief. As they waited there, Scarlet considered talking with Shiro … about things … for him. She felt her crystal heart skip a beat, or would if she had a heartbeat. ‘Is now really the right time? What if he doesn’t feel the same way? What if he rejects me because I told him in the middle of a monster massacre? No, no. I can’t tell him now. I just can’t.’ Scarlet shook the thoughts from her head and caught the knowing and smug smile of Cami in the corner of her eye.
Scarlet glared at Cami, to make her shut up.
Cami raised an eyebrow and looked mischievously at Shiro out of the corner of her eye.
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Scarlet shook her head lightly.
Cami nodded, her smile growing wider.
Scarlet began to shake her head a little more franticly.
“Hey, Shiro—” Cami began but was cut off as Grandmaster Valdour, Xiao, and Jax landed next to them.
“Good work, everyone,” Grandmaster Valdour said as she jumped down from Xiao’s back, “Your master would be proud.”
“No, she wouldn’t. She would’ve told us everything we did wrong,” Shiro countered, annoyed.
“Umm,” Grandmaster Valdour said, not knowing how to respond.
“It’s true, though,” Cami confirmed, “Master Haze is a good teacher that way. If a bit mean.”
“Intimidating,” Jax added.
“Scary,” Xiao said, changing to his human form.
“Know it all!” Shiro added.
“Enough!” Grandmaster Valdour yelled, interrupting their descriptive words, “The point is, you did well. And if your master wouldn’t be proud of you, then I will. So, good job.”
“Thank you, Grandmaster Valdour,” Scarlet said, bowing.
Cami, Shiro, Jax, and Xiao mimicked her gesture and, in a chorus, said, “Thank you, Grandmaster Valdour.”
Scarlet rose from her bow and saw the water behind Grandmaster Valdour, or rather, the lack of water behind her. She jogged past the Grandmaster and saw the bottom of the harbor. All the water had gone from the bay, leaving behind dry sand, stones, and seaweed. “What’s happening?” Scarlet asked, pointing to where the water once resided.
Grandmaster Valdour walked up beside her and said, “I-I don’t know.” A small light caught their eye in the distance. It shone brightly under the water and appeared to get closer by the second. Then all the water came rushing back in a massive wave that would destroy the town and any civilians still evacuating.
With a quick thought, Scarlet clapped her hands together, cycling her Shield chakra and creating a shield as big as she could. Cami saw what she was doing and cast several quick spells to boost Scarlet’s power, and the shield soon formed a wall between them and the tidal wave big enough to protect the town. The water crashed against the shield, and Scarlet struggled to keep the wall up. Cracks began forming on the shield's surface and spider-web across its surface.
Just before the shield failed, the water receded, and Scarlet released the power, utterly exhausted. She fell to her knees, gasping for air. “What the fuck is that?” Shiro mumbled, and Scarlet looked back at him to see he was looking up at something in the distance.
She followed his gaze and soon saw what he saw. A monster towered over them. It stood over two kilometers tall. Its black skin had hundreds of glowing spots across its body, like the night sky. Its body was also covered in a hard shell that resembled volcanic rocks. The monster had six muscular arms, webbed fingers with razor-sharp claws, and ivory spikes going up its forearms to its elbows. Hundreds of tendrils formed hair atop its head, each ending with a glowing light that waved in the air as though it was still underwater. The monster looked down at them, its twelve burning red eyes turned onto them.
The world seemed to fall silent other than the heavy breathing of Scarlet as they all stared at the abyssal monster, and it stared back at them. Grandmaster Valdour broke the silence as she whispered, “S grade calamity class monster: C’thunil. The abyssal monster of drought.”
“We can’t fight that,” Jax whispered.
“We can, but we won’t win,” Cami countered, “We just need to buy the townspeople a little more time.”
A woman screamed in the distance, and the sounds of everyone panicking drew the monster’s attention away from them. Grandmaster Valdour waved a hand toward the sound of the civilians and said, “Go evacuate the civilians! I’ll hold it off!”
Xiao changed into his Wyvern form as Jax and Cami jumped onto his back, and he launched himself into the sky. Grandmaster Valdour cycled her chakra and lept at the monster landing a punch that sent a shockwave through the air and pushed the monster back, one small step. The monster roared, and several tentacles shot toward Grandmaster Valdour, slamming her back to the ground.
She landed right where she jumped from, creating a crater that pushed Shiro and Scarlet back several steps. They quickly rushed toward the crater and jumped in to check on her condition. Her arm was shattered, and she coughed up blood as she struggled to get up.
“What are we going to do now?” Shiro asked, exasperated as he helped Grandmaster Valdour to her feet.
“Like I … said. Help with … the evacuation. That’s an … order,” Grandmaster Valdour commanded as she coughed up blood and struggled to breathe.
“Like hell! You can’t fight that thing in your condition!” Shiro argued.
“If I don’t … then who will!” Grandmaster Valdour countered.
Scarlet bit her lip as she thought of a way out of this situation, coming up with nothing but bad ideas. The monster slowly drew back three of its arms as though to wipe the town off the map, and Scarlet knew she didn’t have much time left. She bit her lip and said, “Shiro.”
“What!?” Shiro snapped, pulling Grandmaster Valdour over his shoulder.
“I—” she hesitated a moment, “I need you to get Grandmaster Valdour to safety.”
Shiro scowled, “What are you planning?!”
She turned to face him, tears forming in her eyes as she smiled, “By the way … I love you.” Then she jumped back into the harbor.
Shiro stood frozen for a second as he processed what had just happened. Then he noticed the arms of the monster coming toward him. He spread his wings and blasted into the sky, and just before the monster’s arms struck the town, three pillars of mud and stone shot at them and stopped their momentum. The monster stumbled back another step, then another pillar shot out from the ocean and struck the monster’s jaw. It stumbled backward several more steps as a low rumble filled its chest.
A moment later, the ground below the town began to fall away. All the stone, earth, and mud began to coalesce around a massive orange crystal twice the size of an average human. The stone, earth, and mud soon formed a massive two-kilometer-tall golem of Scarlet with a crystal heart in its center. Rivulets of glowing red magma snaked across the golem’s body as its two red eyes fixed themselves on the calamity class monster.
The monster opened its mouth as its jaw split into four parts, revealing a beak and hundreds of sharp teeth as it roared. The enraged roar shook the ground and created a shock wave through the air.
The monster swiped at the golem with its massive arms. Scarlet blocked the attack with a massive stone arm and countered with a right jab at the monster’s face. The monster reeled back from the attack and countered with an uppercut that Scarlet was too slow to block. She took two steps back and balanced herself before launching forward with a punch to the monster’s abdomen. It caught her arm and ripped it off, making it crumble to rubble before swiping at Scarlet’s head and removing it from the colossal body.
Scarlet stumbled back several steps before stopping partway in the town. She knelt and plunged her fist into the ground. The earth began to move and rebuild her arm and head. The monster roared in frustration as Scarlet rebuilt herself and charged. Scarlet lunged forward and tackled the monster pushing it back. The monster roared and brought one of its massive legs up to knee Scarlet in the center of her chest. She released the monster and avoided the attack.
The monster fell silent for a second as Scarlet got into her fighting stance. The monster cocked its head from side to side before straightening and mimicking her stance. Scarlet charged forward and punched at the monster. It batted the attack aside and jabbed at Scarlet’s heart again. She used her other hand to block the attack, batting it aside.
Several rumbles echoed within the monster as if … as if it were laughing. The monster stepped forward and jabbed at Scarlet’s heart again. She batted the attack aside, and the monster used its other arms to grab Scarlet’s and crush it. The arm crumbled under the monster’s immense strength, and Scarlet stumbled back, trying to get some distance.
The monster didn’t let her, however. It followed her and punched her heart again. She backstepped and dodged the first attack, then blocked the second and third. Then the monster’s massive tail came out of the water and knocked her off her feet. She fell back and slammed into the ground with a loud boom that shook the earth below.
Before she could react, the monster lunged at her and pinned her to the ground as it tore off her other arm. She lay there defenseless as the monster looked down at her with its raging red eyes. Then it leaned over to look into Scarlet’s heart as it spoke, “You … disappoint … me.” Its low, slow voice rumbled within Scarlet’s mind as it drew back its fists and brought them down on her heart.
BOOM! The first blow shook the ground and made a small crack in Scarlet’s heart. BOOM! The second blow widened the crack, making it span the entire crystal. BOOM! At the third blow, Scarlet tried forming the earth around her heart, but it did nothing to stop the blow. BOOM! The fourth blow nearly shattered the crystal. BOOM! The fifth broke the crystal into hundreds of tiny shards, with five swirling in the center of it all before falling to the ground, their lights dim and weak.
As the sixth attack came, a red blur shot through the air and struck the monster’s arm diverting it and making it strike the ground next to the crystals. The attack was quickly followed by a beam of ice and fire that struck the side of the monster’s head. It roared as the attacks struck. The red blur relentlessly attacking the colossal monster with a rageful frenzy.
Shiro yelled from that red blur, “I’LL KILL YOU!!”
Xiao flew in and froze the monster’s legs to the ground as he flew by, and Cami jumped from his back, landing where Scarlet’s crystals lay. She shook her head, “You are an idiot. You know that, Scar.” She quickly gathered the crystals, stuffing them in her shirt for safety before raising her hand, and Xiao swooped in to grab her with his talons.
He then picked up Jax as the monster roared at Shiro as he evaded its attacks. Once Shiro saw that everyone had escaped, he peeled off and ran, flipping off the monster as it roared behind him.