Helidor: Outer Boarders [End]

[The Bhalian Empire]

The combined blast of water and ice surged forward with devastating force, a torrent of raw elemental energy aimed directly at Helidor’s golden gates. Kamari, as the spell neared, quickly realized the sheer magnitude was beyond even his formidable strength to counter alone.

It moved almost too quickly for him to track, but as the blast reached the gates, it collided with an unseen force and dispersed harmlessly in a dazzling display of steam and frost. The ground trembled as the energy dissipated– frost and vapor amassed at the site but the gates still stood untouched.

Jack, standing amidst the soldiers, observed the display without so much as a flinch. His icy blue eyes narrowed, not in surprise but in contemplation. He tilted his head slightly, as if scrutinizing a riddle he already knew the answer to.

"Hmph," he muttered, his tone detached, though his mind raced. A barrier woven into the caster’s life force. Rare, but not unheard of. Impressive work.

---

As his mind lingered on the barrier, Jack’s gaze shifted to Kamari, who had already closed the distance to Kilik. The Nissagro Elf barely had time to react as Kamari’s monstrous form barreled into her, his strikes fast and brutal. But Kilik parried with a practiced gility, her. The clash of Kamari’s raw, animalistic ferocity and Kilik’s refined, relentless skill sent shockwaves through the battlefield. It had only just begun, but he could see a flicker of prospect thay Delion had championed so fondly.

The soldiers around Jack stirred, murmurs of awe and disbelief rippling through the ranks as they watched the two warriors exchange blows. Just the initial blow carried an air of devastation, like the start of a dance of power— leaving its witnesses stunned in awe.

Jack, however, seemed uninterested in the spectacle. “She’ll hold her own,” he muttered under his breath, brushing a strand of white hair from his face. For now. Without a sound, Jack disappeared from where he stood, leaving only a faint shimmer of frost in his wake.

---

In the blink of an eye, Jack reappeared, now closer to Helidor’s gates. The shimmering barrier stood before him, an impenetrable wall of ethereal energy that seemed to hum with life itself. He stepped closer, his hand outstretched but stopping just short of touching the magical construct.

His icy gaze analyzed the barrier’s texture, the faint pulsing lines of magic coursing through it. He circled slowly, observing the radius of its reach and the strength of its glow. Every step brought more clarity to his evaluation.

“Hmm.. well..” Jack murmured, his voice cold and calculating. “Impressive... but flawed.” His lips curved into a faint smirk. He pressed a finger into the air just before the barrier, not touching it but feeling the faint resistance of its power.

Turning away, Jack glanced back at the distant battlefield where Kamari and Kilik continued their brutal exchange. He didn’t intervene. He didn’t need to. His mind was already elsewhere, calculating.

"Ya know.. If I push hard enough, that tether will snap," he muttered aloud, glancing over his shoulder to whatever powers reinforced this pitiful obstacle. He doubted they could hear him but it mattered not. His smirk widened as frost began to form on his fingertips. “Let's find out much more you can take.”

He turned back to the barrier, the air around him growing colder as he began to focus his energy. Jack wasn’t one to rush. No, he preferred to chip away, to measure his prey before delivering the final blow. But barriers? Shields? These would not do. He'd level their defenses himself. His eyes began to radiate white death as the very ground itself began to shiver and crack from the massive drop in temperature.

[Kilik]

His power was astounding. He could drive her back merely by the recoil of his blow. Her feet cut through the earth like a jagged blade. She readjusted her stance, this was going to be fun.

"Last ditch? Heh, this is but the start, merely a stepping stone..."

She said as her eyes trained on him, and only him.

"I would say my name would be wasted on the ears of the dead."

Her form glimmered in the waning light. His taunts might as well have fallen on deaf ears. It was the way men fought, fixated on words and petty snides. Kilik was impervious to his childish attempts to disorient her resolve.

"But your strength is...commendable...deserving."

Her lithe form began to outline with a deep cherry blossom hue. Despite his attempts to rattle them the soldiers, especially those under her command were not swayed, for they had witnessed just days before coming here, the extent of their Squad leader's dedication, and the extent of her power. They held faith, not in just themselves but in those who they had come to know as pillars of B'halia's mission, their dream. Each of them had given blood and bone to stand on this soil.

"I am Kilik Nissagro, let that name be seared into your soul...as for why we have come...well isn't it obvious?"

The outline of her suit became more defined as her ki began to surface in more copious amounts. A brief flood of this affluence spiked before stabilizing around her. The suit that the engineers crafted for her was a true marble. ASble to assist her in equalizing her vast pool of energy without burning herself out too quickly as she was still a fledgling of Shinjustu, and in truth, of her magic in general. It was welded together, a second skin that sought to accentuate her anthem. A testament to B'halai's aim to expand the natural talents of those under its banner, not stifling them. In a burst of speed, in the blink of an eye, she accosted him. Her arm extending giving the impression she was going for another strike at his midsection.

"We have come to kill you...all of you."

But before her hand could even reach him she backpedaled, pivoting on the ball of her foot to spin. A feint, upon dialing back her tail firmly gripped the hilt of her blade, Vorpalion, a light blue glint was the only indication of it's coming before she unveiled her arbiter. She twirled with her momentum at her backing unleashing a spirling torrent of fast, powerful, and sharp slashes. Her blade endowed with naten appeared like a serpent-like grace. The acquis assault made it difficult to predict the pattern of the fluid attacks aiming to eviscerate him in a whirlpool of devastation. Jack had left her deal with this opponent on her own, no doubt splitting focus to deal with their defenses. So be it, it had been a while since she was able to test the full mettle of her prowess against a challenging opponent.

[Fate I]

"I am Kilik Nissagro, let that name be seared into your soul. And as for why we have come.. well isn't it obvious?"

..The outline of her suit became more defined as her ki began to surface in more copious amounts..

In a burst of speed, in the blink of an eye, she accosted him. Her arm extending giving the impression she was going for another strike at his midsection.

"We have come to kill you... All of you."

The moment of stillness between them lasted only a fraction of a second. Then Kilik moved—no rather, she vanished.

In a blink, she was upon Kamari, her blade a blur of motion, carving through the air with deadly precision. Each strike was infused with crackling energy, making her attacks not just razor-sharp, but devastating on a molecular level.

Kamari barely had time to react before pain bloomed across his chest. A flash of fuchsia and silver. A searing gash. Then another.

One‐ Two—Three– Four– Each slash faster than the last.

He instinctively raised his arms in defense as crimson streaks filled the air. Kilik's blade was a phantom, a blade of shimmering steel guided by a steady hand–a hand well versed and talented in morbid its artistry. She wove around him like a wraith, exploiting his openings, and carving through his flesh with terrifying ease. Naten reinforced his strength, but his body still struggled to survive.. Well.. at least this body.

“Tch. Too fast.” He lamented to himself. He couldn't guard against what he couldn't see. The battle had only just begun and she was forcing him on the defensive. She alone embodied this Empire's mettle, but Kamari wasn't without ambition of his own. And he would not stand down so early.

"No! Not yet!"

His golden eyes flickered and his teeth grit in resound defiance. His body responded accordingly.

In a moment's notice, Kamari's flesh darkened and hardened, thick plates of chitinous armor bursting from his body, shifting into an impenetrable shell-like carapace. His frame expanded, his stature growing until he loomed at nearly eight feet tall. His arms, once lean and sinewy, swelled with reinforced muscle, layered in rugged, earth-toned scales. His fingers thickened into clawed gauntlets, his stance now low and immovable—like a walking fortress.

Kilik’s blade clashed against his newfound defenses, but each strike failed to find purchase. Her sword met the dense, diamondesque plating of his shell, the impact sending sharp reverberations up her arm but failing to break through. She moved like a storm, attacking from different angles, aiming for weak points that no longer existed.

He waited for his moment amidst her wrathful dance and sought to catch her blade within his rigid grasp– in an attempt to not only stop her assault but keep her within range for his own, devastating counter attack. He opened his slimy, Fang ridden maw and unleashed a sonic blast that could rip the paint from the armor she wore. It was a powerful scream that deafened at least a few hundred of Bhalia’s surrounding infantry– a memory for them to take to their families should they survive their bout with the Primal Fang.

But Kamari hoped in his heart that this scream was enough to scramble Kilik’s brains. Maybe bleed her from the inside with devastating vibrations? Something. She was a deadly foe, and her speed had given Kamari reason to breathe a little heavier than usual.

[Kilik]

Her strike became more precious and more deadly the longer her cadence went uninterrupted soon to reach the point of severing limbs should the opportunity arise. Like a hurricane, her blade went for every and any place left inadequately defended against she fell a growing exhilaration course through her, the thrill of battle, the call of the hunt. Nissagro were not predatory creatures they were largely passive unless their groves were threatened. However, Kilik's blood ran with the ancient legacy of creatures whose very speech moved the world around them. She was no guppy, no mere salamander, but a creature of the old world with the ferocity to cleave mountains to sharpen their claws, consuming lakes to quench their thirst. The legacy of Titans and as formidable as this warrior was proving himself to be, she could not allow herself to fall here. Try as she might, the clang of her blade sent chills through her proving unable to comprise the strength of his defenses. This man...this beast, his resolve was uncanny, and the scope and control of his mortal form was truly awe-inspiring. To be berated by the strikes of her Vorpalian and still possess the faculties to morph under that kind of pressure.

"Ngh.."

With a deadly vice grip, he grabbed her blade. This close to him she could feel his desperation wafting from him like a flame soon to burn out. She had to press him even further, it seemed possible that his shape-shifting in combination with her continuous assault was pushing him closer and closer to the brink. What she did not foresee however was his dastardly sonic assault. Fortunately for her, her hands were entirely free granting her the scare moment needed to fashion a swift magic barrier that dampened the reverberation. She severed her tail like a crab would a faulty claw. The scales that formed the appendage fell at his feet stabbing into the earth like daggers lingering flickers of cherry blossom light terminating from them. The force of his soul crumbling bellow forced a few meters between them. A sparkling plume of dust would engulf her, seemingly from the collision of sound and her body but for only a few fleeting seconds before Kilik would be seen on all fours groveling in the dirt her blade still in his hand.

"It seems...I may have underestimated you..."

She said as she gained control over her breathing. It seemed that the Primal Fang accomplished what he sought, the sonic attack appeared to disrupt Kilik's armor the intensity of the vibration shredding through it revealing pieces of her bare flesh. She appeared barely able to make it to a bent position The light around her began to oscillate slightly, sporadic sparks like that of malfunctioning circuitry. It would seem this battle had taken more out of her than she thought. Her eyes appeared to be bleeding, a long stream of crimson dripping from her left eye.

"Tell me....warrior...your name..."

Her eyes were forced to the earth, avoiding eye contact with him as if her shame kept her unable to hold his gaze. Yet beneath the veil of hopelessness, they hummed with purpose.

[Fate I]

"Tell me....warrior...your name..."

Her eyes were forced to the earth, avoiding eye contact with him as if her shame kept her unable to hold his gaze. Yet beneath the veil of hopelessness, they hummed with purpose.

Between the sounds of his haggard breathing and the strain settling deep into his bones, Kamari couldn't truly make out Kilik's words. Aside from the wounds Kilik inflicted, the primal fang was suffering from “backlash”; the sheer force of his transformations—the raw power coursing through his body and mutating it accordingly —came at a cost. Every time he shifted into one of his monstrous forms, his Naten drained like sand slipping through his fingers. He could feel it now, a creeping fatigue clawing at the edges of his consciousness.. the longer he remained transformed only amplified the damage to his psyche. A prolonged battle would be his undoing.

Fuck.. I can’t keep this up forever…

He lamented to himself, heaving in and out for oxygen. But he didn’t need forever. He just needed now.

With a guttural roar, Kamari buried himself beneath his primal instincts. He flung Kilik's blade into the sea of surrounding soldiers and lunged toward her. His massive form moved with unnatural speed, closing the distance between himself and Kilik in an instant. His shell-clad body, despite its bulk, propelled forward like a blazing comet– catching fire along his rigid spines in his wrathful charge toward his crumbled foe.

He was fast. Faster than something that size had any right to be.

The ground thundered in his wake as he intended to answer Kilik’s humble question with visceral malice. But even as The Primal Fang advanced, he felt it—his heartrate growing sluggish, his breathing coming heavier. His body was reaching its limit. Every monstrous shift drained him further, and he had overestimated just how much he could take. The Spectral Fang was right to worry, still, Kamari refused to falter. He felt the weight of Helidor on his shoulders, the heat of Erigor’s pride and conviction like a furnace at his back. He wouldn't fall here. If he managed to kill Kilik here, he knew the Bhalian infantry would crumble at the root.

[Kilik]

Kilik would be found smirking as her question went unanswered.

"I suppose, that's to be expected..."

In but an instant her opponent was upon her, his form clad in a terrifying combination of flame and force. Her body appeared too weak to avoid the crude yet destructive power of Helidor's champion. Yet as he crashed against Kilik's frame he would find even less opposition than their previous clashes of strength and body. What he clashed against had little substance, for what he collided with was not Kilik herself but a collection of scales she enchanted with her likeness while she hid behind a veil of refracted light that made her nearly invisible.

Though his sonic attack was powerful it did not possess the power needed to cause the level of damage that she bestowed upon her illusion. By appearing to assure his victory she hoped to exhaust him further, priming him for a counterattack of her own. But it was more than sufficient to leave her in a state of intense disorientation that would have left her more open than she could've. The scales that appeared missing from her shoulder were used to give her"Light clone" more stability. She returned to complete visibility a few meters away from where the clone and the Primal Fang clashed. Her form was outlined with an intensely growing cherry blossom hue of energy.

"It wounds me to use such trickery, but I can't afford to waste any more time here with you."

Kilik had taken this brief reprieve to recenter her grip on her Ki. It didn't require a lot for she had trained rigorously to be able to gather it even under the strain of a hurricane. However, his scream ruffled her enough that she needed to stay still to stabilize herself again. As her Ki coalesced her breathing calmed and her discombobulated state vanished, though she was not healed to tip-top form the flow of natural energy coursing through her coupled with the advanced healing factor of her nissagro lineage returned her faculties to functional levels.

"If you want to live....run."

She said over the B'halian coms, her only warning. Kilik had a habit of holding back for fear of those who might be unexpectedly caught up in the aftermath. She no longer held that concern and would give but this single chance for those capable of escaping with their lives. It was time for them to advance and though she respected the warrior's strength he was the first in several other obstacles. He needed to be overcome.

"Noa Sozu..."

From beneath her, a glyph manifested, several meters wide. From it, a torrent of waves rushed forth. Those unlucky enough not to escape were swept up by the unyielding force of the cascading water's incredulous force. Invoking the mystical patois that was her Wrymspeech Kilik could magically conjure water in the most barren of wastelands. And though such a conjuration wilted her reserves even more, it was a risk she was more than willing to take, manifesting a lake in nearly an instant. The battle thus far had certainly taken a toll on her but not enough to see her crumble just yet. Though the shifter was powerful, and she did indeed sustain damage from his counterattack, he simply could not stand before one who bore the tonnage of the planet on her shoulders.

"Be swept away, by the planet fury..."

Her eyes grew bright as she sent her magic into a frenzy sending the full force of the waves crashing down upon him while she began breathing deeply. She needed to end this and rendezvous back with Jack. With the battlefield covered in water the field was set for the final exchange of blows, should he survive this one.

[Fate I]

Kamari’s monstrous form tore through the battlefield like an unchained force of nature, locked onto Kilik with lethal intent. His massive bulk moved faster than any creature of his size should, his shell-lined body igniting the very air with friction as he closed in for the kill.

But the instant before impact, Kilik’s form wavered, flickering like a mirage. Kamari’s tackle tore through her decoy like plaster and his golden eyes widened in the brief moment of realization—a trick. An illusion!

And then came the water.

From beneath Kilik’s feet, a violent surge erupted, a tidal force given unnatural life by her will. What began as a ripple swelled into an overwhelming deluge that rose toward the heavens before crashing forward in an unstoppable cascade.

In moments, the battlefield was swallowed in its shadow.

Kilik gave a sharp warning, her voice cutting through the chaos like a whip. The B’halian soldiers needed no second urging; those who recognized their captain's cadence dove for cover, scrambling to escape the spell’s wrath. Most of them deployed powerful barriers. Yet the tsunami’s range was too vast, its destructive force too all-consuming. The wave crashed down with the roar of a vengeful god, the terrain shifting beneath its weight.

Kamari, still reeling from his failed assault, turned just in time to witness the aqueous calamity bearing down on him. Exhaustion gnawed at his limbs, his body growing sluggish beneath the toll of his continuous transformations. He had pushed himself too far. His own power—his greatest asset—was now a weight threatening to drag him under. Every transformation drained more and more Naten. And the more powerful the mutation, the larger the toll.

But still, he would not break.

With a defiant, guttural growl, Kamari forced himself into a defensive stance. His tortoise-like behemoth form granted him armor unlike any mortal hide—dense, layered, unyielding. It would have to be enough. With the tidal wave upon him, he retracted into his massive shell, bracing for the full weight of Kilik’s wrath. He channeled his reserves into fortifying his already powerful shield and prepared himself.

Impact.

His world became a concert of pain, force, sound, and water. Kilik's tsunami crashed over Kamari like a mountain, the pressure immense enough to split diamond and tear warriors from their feet like leaves in a storm.

And when the waters finally receded, the boarders of Helidor had been warped and reshaped by the devastating tide. Now, a valley was formed where rivers flowed where solid ground had once been. Tattered bodies and ruptured metal floated along morbidly along their current.

The massive armada of Bhalian Infantry had been reduced drastically– A difference of ahundred warriors to a mere thirty thousand thousand. Those who remained, did so within protective bubble like energy fields that allowed them to float above the deadly waters.

Kamari also remained, though only barely.

He lay amidst the destruction, his monstrous shell fractured with deep, jagged cracks. His defenses had held—but only just enough. Pain seared through his body, his breath ragged as he emerged from the frigid waters in his human form. He struggled but managed to swim to solid land and collect himself.. He was horribly out of breath, freezing cold, and nearing the lasts of his Naten.

"..What.. what just.. happened?.."

He mumbled through failing lungs.. An empty smile crawling along his face. For the first time in this fight, as slowly death dragged him further into that damning cold.. Kamari felt something unfamiliar sink into his chest.

Doubt.

[The Bhalian Empire]

The atmosphere of the battlefield had shifted.

What had once been an unshakable wall of B’halian might was now a fractured, battered force struggling to regain its footing. The very ground beneath them had transformed—where once stood solid earth, now lay a twisted, waterlogged ruin. Rivers carved through the battlefield, turning rigid formations into scattered remnants of order.

And the water—it was everywhere. Corpses and shattered weapons drifted aimlessly, remnants of warriors swallowed by the deluge. The survivors clung to whatever dry ground remained, their armor drenched, their formations shattered, their confidence shaken.

The elites who had managed to withstand the devastation floated above the ruins, suits generating energy barriers that flickered from the strain of Kilik’s attack. Many among them turned their gazes toward her, eyes filled with an emotion rarely seen among the empire’s hardened ranks—uncertainty.

Yet, even in the wake of this catastrophic turn, the discipline of the B’halian army remained. Hesitation was not the same as surrender.

From the ruined formation, a captain clad in obsidian armor and embroidered crimson sigils raised his halberd high, his voice cutting through the uneasy silence. This was a J'oro Elf whose voice and name restored the ambition of all within range of his call.

“Form ranks! Regroup and reinforce!”

His name was Qalen, and his command was sharp, precise—a lifeline for soldiers lost in the chaos. The trained instinct of the B’halian legions snapped into place. Warriors who had been scattered found their footing, moving with practiced efficiency to close the gaps in their ranks. Energy shields flared back to life, the glimmer of Naten coursing through them as the infantrymen fortified their defenses.

It was then, within his energy bubble, that Qalen's eyes found Kilik.

She stood amidst the wreckage, the architect of this devastation, her figure framed by the receding mist and fractured light of the battlefield. Her visage was the focus of every functioning pair of eyes – a being far more dangerous than any of them could have anticipated, any of them aside from Qalen of course.

He was the only one of them familiar with Kilik's power. But they couldnt help but wonder; Was she a God? A witch of some sort? Regardless of the insignia on her armor, the realization settled like a stone in the gut of every soldier still standing.

Thank the Zenith she was on their side.. but after witnessing what happened, could they really trust her?

Qalen narrowed his eyes and pressed a hand to his ear.

“Come in, Crimson Cloud. This is Bravo-9.” His voice was sharp, unwavering. “Despite casualties, the target is down. The battlefield has been terraformed. Requesting SDU for immediate stabilization.”

A beat of silence. Then, an automated voice crackled through his earpiece.

“This is Crimson Cloud. Request granted.”

Qalen's request for backup was met with haste and action. This was not the first time the B’halian Empire had faced a setback. Their soldiers did not waver in the face of loss. They adapted. And the Sylva Dryad Unit [SDU] were exceptional at disaster management..

High above the ruined battlefield, the sky rippled with energy. A dozen Sylva Dryads descended from the heavens, cloaked in woven vines and shimmering green sigils. They moved in unison—agents of balance, the Empire’s masters of restoration.

They landed just outside the perimeter of Kilik's valley and the moment their feet touched the broken terrain, the land obeyed.

The raging waters receded, absorbed into the earth. Craters and broken ground sealed, as if time itself rewound. Soldiers once struggling in the aftermath now found themselves lifted, stabilized. Wounds closed, breath returned.

The battlefield had been reformed. The dead remained dead, but the survivors were restored. And with them, the Empire’s will endured.

---

The sky above Helidor darkened, a thick, frost-laden mist swirling as raw energy crackled in the air. Jack stood with hand pressed against the Spectral Fang's magical barrier, his form wreathed in an otherworldly chill. He had been patient, allowing the battle to rage on behind him while he gathered his strength— shaping his magic into something cataclysmic.

Jack exhaled, his breath curling into frost. The air vibrated, the temperature plummeting to something beyond winter—beyond even death. Beneath him, ice spread like veins of frozen oblivion, creeping outward, devouring the ground.

“Yeah.. yeah, I’d say that’s enough.” he muttered, gazing up at the barrier. His fingers flexed, gathering the final threads of his incantation. Ward shimmered in response, mighty and unyielding, forged by the finest enchanter of the kingdom. It would have withstood countless sieges, held firm against untold horrors.

But it would not withstand him.

“Heh..”

Then, with a single, fluid motion—He raised his hand.

And the heavens answered.

A lance of cerulean lightning tore through the sky, crashing into his outstretched palm. The air screamed in protest. The very air froze in its wake, a creeping maw of ice and annihilation coiling around his fist. This was no mere spell. This was devastation given form.

Jack smirked.

“But.. let’s see what you think, hmm?.”

Then, with a single punch, he unleashed it.

And the world shattered.

A frozen maelstrom erupted, howling with storm-born fury. Shards of razor-edged ice formed an unrelenting vortex around the entirety of Helidor, a blizzard of unimaginable destruction.

The soldiers turned, their eyes locked onto the moment Helidor’s Gate fell.

–For a fleeting second, the Spectral Fang's barrier held true—its golden light flickering, straining, resisting. But then—

CRACK.

A deafening rupture split the air, a shockwave so violent it uprooted the crystallized earth beneath them. The ward shuddered, its magic writhing, breaking—until, with a final, ear-splitting explosion—

It collapsed.

The remnants of the once-impenetrable spell rained down in glimmering shards, dissolving before they could even touch the ground.

And then—

The gate itself froze. Stone and steel, once defiant, turned to brittle ice in an instant. Towers that had stood for centuries groaned under their own weight, encased in a deathly chill.

Then—with a mere whisper of wind—They crumbled.

Massive chunks of ice-ridden stone plummeted, crashing into the ground with thunderous finality. The great gate of Helidor, the Kingdom's last physical defense, was no more.

The path was open.

The city lay bare.

Jack lowered his hand, exhaling as the frost dissipated around him. His smirk widened as he surveyed his handiwork.

"..that was easy.” He tilted his head in disappointment “Not as impressive as I thought… Oh well.”

Behind him, the B’halian army erupted in a triumphant roar.

The invasion had begun.

[Kilik]

Kilik's body crackled with a callous cackling of pink energy as her Ki empowered her magic to a point that heavily tipped the scales of the battle. Her draconic nature filtered the raw essence of the planet's sway through her vigorously endowing her spell. In that moment Kilik could not feel pity, she could feel no woe for the lives that might be lost for the only emotion she could feel in that very moment was the total ecstasy of being able to let loose her potential. Her people had always encouraged her to hold back, to limit herself, fearing what casualties might be caught in the ripples of her magic. She had adopted this mindset, fearing that she would harm those she once cared for or those on her side. Yet as the magic soared towards the darkened skies she recounted her first encounter with General Roux, the man responsible for her awakening. And the admonishment he gave her.

“You chose not to kill Qalen.. You chose to withhold your full strength, despite his clear weakness. Why?” The General asked plainly, not shifting an inch from his meditative position as he opened his eyes; a pair of still, blue ovals that searched Kilik's face for the answers hidden beneath her words. Qalen was visibly nonplussed by these words, but instead of responding he remained silent.

I...was afraid...

“ I fear my power. I loathe my lack of control. When tapping into the deeper wells of my magic I feel like a single entity in an ocean ones whose depths I cannot see. Like I’m standing above an abysss of vengeance that could swallow me whole at any moment…”

But it was no longer just blind vengeance that fueled her quest. What she sought to achieve, what she knew now she must become to see this world free of the parasites that were eating away at her, was not something that could be held back any longer. She knew the trust between her and the other would be impacted, but also knew no matter what she did she would acquire very little of it to begin with. She didn't need their fancy, she needed their obedience. Especially if they wished to see victory, and keep their lives.

"If the extent of your potential does not scare you, then you do not have enough of it. But do not allow fear to dissuade you from power. Your true power."

As the raging water reached the apex of its crystalline ascension, that haunting voice replayed in her mind. The vision she bestowed upon her when she first made contact with B'halian soil, and by extension, the Ki that saturated the land.

" A destiny ruled by anger, your storm filed by pain. You have come to the land where fate and truth collide; what will become of you? Who will you be should that fury subsides? Your blood price shall be the mountains of death sired towards your ascension. There fury, your burden

She... had made peace with the deaths he must sow, the lives she must reap for the waters of restoration to bath this world in healing. The price of blood, the mountain of corpses that would be left by her tale's end...and the scorning wrath of those who would mourn the fallen of her deeds. She would hold them, and shoulder the burning burden of their anger, the smolder curses of their grief, and with that flame forge onward her path, her mission, her divine duty.

Humanities eradication

The tsunami brought with it a nearly genocidal deluge of devastation that land warped and twisted, crumbled, and broke under its force. Waves carved through stone, barreling through mountains sides creating chasms and rivers where there were once none. The calamitous power unleashed by her arbiter was magnitudes larger than what she unleashed when Orvyn took control of her body during the match against Qalen. Then her power was still infantile, untouched by the power of shinjustu. It was now evolving to a cosmogonal advent that left naught but chaos in its wake. Though she did not see herself as a god, nor was that image she was chasing, she could no longer afford to be seen as a nissagro princess, and by the glare of anger confusion, and fear of the surviving infantry that was no longer their impression. She was a living extinction event, a walking calamity. She was afraid of herself no longer.

" So this is the path you have chosen?"

As the SDU descended she caught the piercing stare of Qalen but continued walking towards the mortally wounded champion of Helidor, her stride unabated.

"..."

Her right hand gleamed with a subtle light that called her blade back to her hand. It cut through the air, a faint but sharp whistling sound as it returned to her. She didn't respond to Orvyn, her silence a louder answer than any word she could have tried to encapsulate her resolve in. Her eyes narrowed on him, his body barely holding together. The land began to sow itself back together but the pace of her stride went uninterrupted, even as her breath was labored she did not stop. She couldn't as if moving by purpose alone.

As much as she once wished to restrain herself, she was beginning to realize its futility, an insult to the efforts in the fight against her father. But she could no more contain her magic than one could stuff the ocean into a glass bottle. She was a dragon, the scion of primeval legacy. She stopped before the Primal Fang, now returned to his true form, a defenseless mortal man. Her deluge washed away his bravado and brave speech, leaving him now a cold, nearly lifeless husk. Before it all was soaked up she retained just enough to ensnare the shifter, at this time, the air became rigorously chilled as a marker that Jack had finished gathering the needed energy to crumble the last of their defenses.

"You asked why we have come..."

The waters crawled over him creating a veil further chilling his damped form.

" For the promise of a new world..."

Her last words as Jack unleashed his arbitor the ripples of which caused the waters surrounding the shifter to flash and freeze encasing him in a tomb of frozen death, to crumble away.