Depthless Hunger

With all the destruction around him, Kai had been barely keeping up with a speed half-phase. That was the only reason he noticed immediately when the obelisks harmed Graveylin and had time to see Matiavel launch his attack. He was already moving on instinct, his own claw swinging as he desperately sought his own destruction phase.

Even a fully powered Tyrant's Claw, charged with all of his knowledge of phases, only managed to shunt the ominous flame aside. It sailed just past the elven elder, instead striking a building behind her and consuming it in silent flames.

Matiavel's eyes flickered to him in slight annoyance, but he wasn't foolish enough to take his attention off the real threat. He was already preparing to launch another flame toward Graveylin to finish her off while the obelisks pinned her in place. It might have worked, too, if Omilaena hadn't appeared at the side of the crater and unleashed a thicker column of smoke than he'd ever seen before.

Powerful as he was, Matiavel was offensively focused, so he couldn't simply ignore such potent poison. He dodged back and launched another flame, this one too quick for Kai to deflect. Only another Thunderbird arrow loosed by Yonto managed to knock it aside.

Kai hadn't been idle during that exchange: he'd leapt closer and unleashed Baleful Breath again. It poured from his new jaws, roiling over the entire bottom of the crater. Between the smoke and the fire, Matiavel had no choice but to evade again, leaping up to a large piece of rubble. For just a moment, they had one of the great powers of Rosemount on the back foot.

One of the elves leapt from above, trying to take advantage of his distraction, and one of the whispering ghostly flames caught her and she burned without even a scream.

When Matiavel counter-attacked it was catastrophic, unleashing flames against every single threat. Kai was best able to dodge with his wings carrying him into the air, but he saw the others barely leap aside. One of the flames got through to Graveylin and she managed to raise a hand, releasing a glorious light that caught the flame and managed to push it back. But as the tongue of flame faded, she dropped to one knee, clearly drained by the effort.

Directly attacking wouldn't work, and they couldn't sustain this for long. Eventually one of Matiavel's attacks would kill Graveylin and then they would be in trouble, if the elves didn't flee altogether. Kai prowled closer, gathering strength and waiting for the perfect moment.

He caught a glimpse of Zae Zin Nim, apparently fleeing from the crater. No, that didn't make any sense... he realized a second before the others. The small cultivator leapt at the obelisks surrounding Graveylin and began tearing them apart with her bare hands. With each one that she smashed, the elven elder stood a little taller and her presence grew stronger.

Not far away, the demons were trying to prepare another obelisk, but they never had a chance. Omilaena had moved to their location and struck them all with poison needles, neutralizing the risk of future attacks. It seemed that everything was turning in their favor, yet the demon in the center of the crater was still unbowed, treating his injuries as if they didn't even exist.

After fighting Matiavel for so long, Kai had begun to understand how he fought. When he began to move, Kai instinctively used Thunderbird's Wings to hurl himself behind the largest rubble he could find.

Seconds later a wave of pure destruction rolled out from the center of the crater, flowing over the city. Trees and grass were incinerated instantly, along with several unfortunate Commonwealth soldiers in its path. Kai saw elves and other forces retreating on all sides - even Graveylin and Zae Zin Nim had no choice but to fall back as the wave expanded.

Finally it stopped, a great and terrible wall of flame that kept them all at a distance. Kai realized that he was one of the few, perhaps the only one, still near the central crater. Did it matter? Was this a final act of pain and desperation, or was there some sort of plan?

Kai groaned when he saw Matiavel turn back to the heavily damaged weapon. The demon tore off the sphere at the top with raw muscle and then began to pour flame into it. Something within resonated with the flames, growing hotter. Whatever it was, it had to be stopped.

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So, despite his exhaustion and injuries, Kai stepped forward and hurled one more Tyrant's Claw.

It struck the demon in the back and he tipped forward. Not enough to disable him, but it actually drew lines of blood. Matiavel looked over his shoulder with a gaze of pure demonic hatred.

"You insect."

When the flames burst out, they came more intensely than ever before, or perhaps Kai was just exhausted. He had been pushing himself to the limit so long, using his maximum power and tapping into half-phases to keep up with this opponent. His transformation was faltering and he could feel his wings giving way, so it was only a matter of time. But every flame that Matiavel sent toward him was one that slowed him down and bought everyone else more time.

A wall of flame lit up on one side, he staggered away from it, and his wings finally gave out and dissolved. Kai could barely land on his feet, desperately reaching for a phase, and the next ghostly flame floated directly into his chest.

For just a moment, he felt the pure destruction consuming him...

Then Kai staggered back, his entire body in agony. Skin was peeling off his face and his chest was a mess of charred skin. And yet... he was alive. Kai realized that his defensive phase had held, just enough to turn what should have been a completely fatal attack into a merely devastating one.

It should have meant nothing. Kai was in too much pain to move again and his mind couldn't pull together enough concentration for another phase. Everyone watching could see that Matiavel only needed to use another flame to finish him off.

But what everyone saw was that Matiavel the Destroyer had struck and his opponent still lived.

In that completely silent moment, two women swept toward the demon's back. Omilaena arrived first, jamming her syringe deep into his flesh. Matiavel roared and struck her with a backhand, sending her tumbling across the crater. But Zae Zin Nim was just behind her, palm striking the end of the syringe and forcing the bright blue liquid deep into the demon's veins.

"Absurd!" Matiavel clenched his fists and all his veins seemed to glow white-hot for a moment. "You think poison will work on me?"

He unleashed a flame toward Omilaena, but Kai had recovered enough to move. Thunderbird's Wings burst him ahead of the attack with just enough time to scoop up Omilaena and pull her out of the way, but without the manifested wings they tumbled across the crater. Matiavel frowned and shifted enough to target them again... and faltered.

"That isn't just poison," Omilaena said weakly. "I'm using your same trick against you. How does it feel to be on the receiving end?"

Matiavel reached back and pulled out the syringe, crushing it with one hand. The phase-compressed poison was clearly spreading through his body... but would that be enough? Zae Zin Nim rose to stand beside them, exhausted but raising her hands as if ready to defend them.

Just when Kai began to get angry at Graveylin sitting and doing nothing, he found out why the elven elder had been absent. One of the walls of flame faltered as a massive power pressed through it. Not just the elven elder... the Windlord and the Empress were moving along with her. Everyone on the battlefield fell silent as three of the great powers on the continent approached the last.

"They show up now that the danger is over," Zae Zin Nim said irritably. But too softly for anyone else to hear.

"So it's come to this." Matiavel stood surprisingly casually in the bottom of the crater as the others moved to surround him. "Time to do what you never had the courage to do before?"

"You have been a thorn in Rosemount's side for too long," Graveylin announced, her voice ringing out over the city. "Today is your end!"

Even surrounded by three great powers, Matiavel went out like a demon, unleashing more walls of fire and a constellation of ghostly flames. But Graveylin's presence was inhibiting him, so it was only a matter of time before one of the Windlord's impossibly fast strikes cut through his arm. The Empress joined in, slamming an earthen tail over him, and from there the fight became a brutal execution.

Almost everyone on the battlefield was watching in awe of the great powers, but Kai found himself walking away, toward the fallen dome. So much of the building had been destroyed that there was no trace of the First Crest's altar. But of course it was unharmed: he found the white disc at the bottom of a new slope, partially covered in dirt.

When he brushed it off, it really did look like a coin. Completely featureless, yet he couldn't deny what it was. Kai bent down to try to pick it up and might as well have tried to uproot a mountain. The coin didn't feel powerful to the touch, but it ignored him utterly as if it weighed more than the world.

"That's how the Insanities work," Omilaena said from not far away. She was watching him fondly, though.

"You think they'll have to rebuild everything to account for the new crater?" Zae Zin Nim asked.

"What else? It's not like they have a chance at moving it."

"The Primal Loom proved more useful than we thought, though. Kai was burned over and over and he isn't naked."

"Yet," Omilaena said with a laugh.

Kai hadn't expected his efforts to work, and he would talk to his wives in a moment. Soon enough the others would be coming and he'd have to deal with the aftermath of the battle, including all the political implications. While he had a moment, he bent down and tried to bite the impossible coin.

Just in case.