Two forces, drawn from their mythical existence, faced each other and pulled air into their lungs.

  Spiraling vortices funneled into their jaws, condensing into power that swelled into overwhelming glows in their throats.

  Deveralna looked up at Ophion, who gleamed radiantly at the mouth from the devastating magic building inside him. Then she glanced at the three Ophireans not far away.

  "..."

  With a simple stare, she ordered them forward. They moved around Ophion’s mouth, drawing air into themselves the same way their Sovereign did.

  Var'Lathen, on the opposite side, condensed lightning within its throat. Sparks rolled from its scales, white streaks crackling across the gashes in its flesh, weaving pale filaments over exposed organs.

  Lightning coursed along its lengthy body, arcing and leaping in spirals as the drowning sound of crackling echoed across the sky.

  Two opposing energies were moments from colliding, ready to hurl the region into complete chaos.

  Watching all of this with eerie calm, the Remnant controlling the Ophireans silently prepared.

  At last, Var'Lathen’s energy finished condensing. With a terror-filled roar, it unleashed a beam of lightning at Ophion and Deveralna.

  The beam tore through the air, blowing apart clouds in its path. Heat choked the atmosphere, scorching everything, and a brutal shockwave traveled alongside it.

  Like a white spear meant to impale them, the beam crossed the distance in a blink.

  Energy continued to gather in the four Ophireans’ throats—they were still preparing their ultimate strike.

  Deveralna lowered her face slightly, a dark veil falling over her eyes as light engulfed her.

  Anytime now...

  She hoped her children weren’t wasting energy and time.

  When the beam was only a few hundred meters away, the power within Ophion stabilized. The light in his throat reached a blinding peak—then inverted, as if the heavens themselves had been turned inside out. Darkness gleamed like polished silver. Brightness drowned in rich, impossible black.

  Time seemed to halt as Ophion leaned back, his head aimed at the heavens, mouth wide. Then he snapped downward and released all the power inside him.

  A massive, swirling blast erupted from the Sovereign of Storms’ jaws. The three smaller Ophireans unleashed their lightning at the same moment, their beams spiraling around Ophion’s like orbiting stars.

  Forming a colossal anchor of power, Ophion’s beam surged forward—faster than Var'Lathen’s—meeting it a short distance away.

  ZIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

  Before anyone could blink, the beams collided, releasing devastation so intense the world below shattered under the pressure, cracking open in widening fractures.

  The storm overhead evaporated from the shockwave, clouds shredded until only blue sky remained.

  The three Ophireans were flung backward. Even Deveralna, directly in front of Ophion, struggled to hold her place.

  Looking up, she saw the strain racking her monster.

  Keep going, Ophion! I know you can do it!

  Ophion forced his head to stay steady; even a minor shift would redirect the beam. His body trembled violently under the strain of the continuous release. He could not hold much longer.

  Var'Lathen looked even worse.

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  Though both attacks were powerful, they were not quite equal. Slowly, its beam was pushed back, panic flickering in its eyes.

  I need to think of something! Anything! I won’t be able to hold on for very long!

  If I can just hold on until it loses energy! Then I’ll escape…

  Clinging to this hope, Var'Lathen pushed on, nearing exhaustion.

  But it didn’t realize Ophion was preparing something bigger.

  Suddenly, the Sovereign surged forward, pressing into the Devourer’s attack.

  The beams screeched, shards of light breaking into trails. Electricity against plasma.

  Ophion’s tactic worked—his beam began carving through the other, pushing deeper. Momentum grew.

  Shock flashed across Var'Lathen’s face, but Ophion saw only the sea of blinding light ahead.

  The Devourer’s beam faltered, splitting apart as Ophion’s attack forced through and drove toward its maw.

  At the last moment, feeling the collapse, Var'Lathen tried to pull away and cut off its energy.

  This mistake cost it the escape it wanted. Nothing could save it now.

  Ophion’s beam tore through the remaining half of its body, severing its head from the rest.

  "Graaaaaaaaah!" Var'Lathen shrieked as its charred form split into two.

  Ophion turned his head and swallowed the remaining body into the beam, ensuring it could not be reattached or used against his master.

  The beam continued until it detonated far away, carving out a crater the size of three cities.

  When Ophion finally closed his jaws, energy flickered across his body. The corners of his mouth were burned, and his tongue hung loose.

  Yet despite the pain, he glared at the Devourer—still alive.

  "I'll finish it. You rest for now," Deveralna said. "You've done well. Go to the others, then go to May and Stella."

  He hesitated, eyes dropping as if asking permission one last time.

  She nodded. He turned and flew back to the scattered Ophireans.

  "..."

  Silence rippled through the air. No wind. No sound at all.

  The eerie calm after the storm was her reward. Before her, the Devourer clung to the final spark of its life.

  Only its massive head and one remaining claw were left. It was but a fraction of the sun-blotting monstrosity it once was.

  Somehow, the sight made Deveralna smile.

  "Seeing an almighty being reduced to this state. What a sight." Her words struck the Devourer like a blade. "Now then. This is the end for you. I promised I'd kill you."

  She spread her wings and flew toward it.

  As a final effort, it straightened, trying to appear overpowering by pressure alone.

  Deveralna didn’t falter.

  "What are you doing? Trying to look tough? After all this?" She smirked. "It’s over. Stop resisting. There’s nothing left."

  Its eyes still clung to hope—escape, somehow.

  It refused to speak. Or perhaps it couldn’t. Deveralna didn’t care.

  Var'Lathen lunged weakly, its last arm stretching toward her.

  Deveralna vanished, leaving a trail of light.

  She appeared beneath its arm and sliced it clean off with a lightning-charged strike.

  "Grah!" The loss of its final limb filled it with despair.

  Plasma enveloped her hand. Deveralna thrust it into its body.

  Her magic burst through its veins. Scales ruptured. Blood streamed from every crack, pouring from its mouth in a crimson waterfall.

  Var'Lathen’s heart burst. It was over.

  She pulled her arm free and watched the once‐mighty Devourer fall backward, unable to float.

  Color drained from its scales. Its eyes, fixed on the heavens, dimmed to nothing.

  "I won’t tell you to rest in peace. Good riddance."

  Wiping her hand, she nearly spat on the corpse.

  "Wherefore such hatred toward these beings? What transgression have they wrought to merit such scorn?"

  "Thinkest thou this not unreasonable? Do I err, Var’Lathen?"

  A calm, regal voice—kind yet powerful—echoed through the air.

  "!" Deveralna tensed. She refused to look toward the voice, scanning her surroundings instead.

  "Such wariness. I have beheld these sentiments ere this. Strangers from realms beyond are ever a strange folk indeed."

  "Art thou likewise inclined to bring this one’s life to its end?"

  Under the falling remains of Var'Lathen, a woman in a black dress appeared, holding a black umbrella.

  "Seven against one. I deem it an unseemly contest. I shall attend to mine own purpose and depart forthwith, if it offend thee not."

  She smiled beneath the umbrella and lifted a hand.

  Var'Lathen’s body, barely conscious, drifted into her palm like a feather.

  Deveralna realized instantly.

  "Ophion! Bring everyone immediately!" Her voice thundered, startling even the mysterious woman.

  She's bad news! Very bad! We have to get out of here or it's over! Sweat rolled down her temples. This one is different. I can feel it. She's on another level…

  Her eyes flicked to the side—Ophion and the Ophireans were already coming.

  The serpents flew past the woman, their draft revealing her eyes beneath the umbrella.

  Her eyes glimmered like molten gold, molten and flowing as if the purest essence of fire had been captured within them. They fixed themselves upon the serpents with an unblinking intensity that made the air itself still.

  Then the world changed. Glass spread from the woman’s feet, covering the entire region.

  "In that case, if thou hast no objection, I shall claim this one likewise. I give thee thanks, O great one."

  Ophion, with May and an unconscious Stella on his back, arrived at Deveralna’s side.

  "Deveralna! What is it with this woman?!" May shouted, trembling violently.

  "I don’t know! All I know is that we need to leave! Immediately!" She ordered Ophion to flee.

  Under the watch of the woman—who slowly sank into her mirror world with Var'Lathen—they escaped.

  "Until our paths entwine anew, I shall not lay hand upon thy cherished ones. Be thankful for this mercy, strange man."

  The woman vanished into her world. Stillness returned, sealing the land in a glass-like shroud forever.