“What.. is this place?”
“Look at the sky!”
“The dungeon must be close!”
The feathered warriors of the army of immortal flame stared up in wonder at scenery the likes of which they had never seen.
A gorgeous sky that was a myriad of colors with a humongous and strange tree towering over a city in the distance.
The leader of the army was a powerful second stage evolved by the name of Aerin.
Aerin was a woman of average height with a thin frame. Her body was decorated with vibrant red feathers that perfectly matched the long flowing hair coming from her head.
Her vibrant green eyes were trained on the city ahead, mixed with equal parts suspicion and curiosity.
Reaching out with her senses, she immediately became alert when she sensed thousands of demonic auras.
‘Damn it! I thought we would have made it here first even if we didn’t fly but it looks like we weren’t fast enough after all!’
It was obvious to her that the demons had arrived first, killed everyone in the city and now were in the process of obtaining the legendary item if they hadn’t already.
But there was another problem.
At first observation, she could sense over two thousand first stage evolved.
Their army only had ten!
Things certainly looked dire, however a speciality of the phoenix race was that they needn’t fear death.
“General, are we moving forward?” A nearby soldier suddenly asked.
Aerin prepared to answer when her eyes suddenly widened. “Heh, seems like they’re coming to us instead.”
“RRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!”
The war cry of thousands of demons together was enough to put the army on high alert.
“Enemy approaching! Get ready!”
The warriors under Aerin’s command immediately drew their weapons and watched in horror as a swarm of demons took to the sky.
Unfortunately, their nightmare was only just beginning as the gates to the city soon opened and another massive army walked out led by four women and… a little girl?
“Don’t let them get above us!” Aerin ordered.
The phoenix army obeyed and they immediately took to the skies, meeting the army of demon’s in midair.
They were slightly taken aback by the appearance of these ravenous looking demons that they’d never seen before.
Bekka was not fond of exchanging pleasantries so she gave the demon’s under her command a simple order.
“Wipe them out.”
Those behind her rushed forward and Bekka’s body began to show some strange yet familiar changes.
The tattoos on her face glowed brightly before her skin became darker, her muscles broader and her black sclera returned.
“Uwah?” Mira who was directly next to her was very confused.
“I’m curious too but stay focused, Mira.” Lisa said as she called for her trident and unfurled her wings.
Mira nodded and did the same.
She was only allowed to participate in this battle on the condition that she obey every single one of her mothers’ commands.
For the moment, the group were watching the first collision between their army and the enemy’s.
The results were… pathetically one sided.
The demonic army were annihilating the phoenixes left and right.
Wings were being ripped off, heads were flying and blood was falling from the sky like rain.
It had been no more than a few moments since the battle had started, yet almost 80% of the phoenix army had died.
The rabisu generals along with Malenia had racked up a rather impressive kill count themselves.
With each attack the four of them were taking out at least twenty of the winged invaders.
Mira pouted and her wings had begun to droop a bit.
At this rate, she wasn’t going to get to do anything cool!
“Patience, daughter…” Bekka said calmly, a humorous light in her eyes.
“The fun has yet to begin~”
Mira didn’t know what her mother was talking about but she still found her to be incredibly cool at the moment.
Luckily, her curiosity was about to be sated.
FWUSHHHHH!!!
The night sky suddenly lit up all over with columns of fire exploding from the bodies of the deceased phoenixes.
Mira watched in equal parts fascination and excitement as giant red birds alight in flames filled the sky.
Growl!
Everyone looked towards Lailah who had an embarrassed expression as she clutched her growling stomach.
“T-They look like giant chickens a-and I was feeling a bit…” Her voice gradually trailed off as she stared at the ground.
Everyone merely smirked before the battle literally began to heat up.
A speciality of the phoenix race is their ability to arise from death in their true form.
Their stats take a major boost, and their flames become capable of turning an enemy a stage above them into ash.
The battle that had been so one sided before, was already becoming increasingly difficult.
While the sex demons were faring a bit better, some of the rabisu were showcasing their weakness to strong flame as they were mercilessly cooked alive before falling to the ground dead.
Bekka grinned madly, showing off her sharp white fangs.
She had not been able to take her eyes off of Aerin who was clearly the most powerful and was harder to bing down than the rest.
It was only through the combined efforts of Absalom and Hakon that she was beheaded in the first battle.
But now she was a giant and gorgeous phoenix of around forty meters tall and her flames seemed to cook the very air around her.
“I hope you girls are ready.” Bekka said.
“Lailah and Valerie, provide long range support.” She ordered.
The women nodded and wasted no time.
Valerie ran forward wearing bright bronze armor with a simple black breastplate, she looked like a war goddess descended upon land.
She thought she would feel nervous for her first battle, but instead she was determined.
Unlike some of the other members of her family who had a true lust for battle, Valerie had only the desire to protect her family and the happiness they shared.
‘How dare these chickens try to steal my husband’s gift!’
Valerie’s weapon of choice was a giant war hammer, much like the one Bekka used to use.
Spinning it around with ease and precision, Valerie then gripped it with both hands and brought it over her head before slamming it down into the ground.
“HA!”𝗈𝚟𝗅xt.𝒸𝑂𝑚
BOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!!
Valerie shattered the earth around her, sending chunks of earth into the air.
Valerie’s eyes suddenly glowed completely orange and all of the fragments she’d flung up began to float in the air.
Evolution had brought a drastic improvement in her control over the earth element.
She would never have been able to execute this move before but with her new precision and a bit of inspiration from her husband, she was now more than confident.
Suddenly the shards of earth began to rotate like miniature drills.
They compacted, becoming thinner and longer while also forming a sharp spearhead.
Valerie draped her hammer over her shoulders and snapped her fingers.
“Down you go~’
Snap!
The spears of earth launched into the sky like living missiles, fast enough to break the sound barrier.
The phoenixes in the sky could barely register what happened before a giant hole was formed into their chests, wings and heads.
At least thirty fell out of the sky, their flames sputtering out signaling they would never soar again.
A phoenix can only utilize it’s rebirth ability once every seven days.
If they die again within that timeframe they will never get up again.
Valerie watched the overgrown birds fall to the ground with a satisfied smile.
‘Damn I’m good!’
“SCREEEEEEEE!!!!”
Multiple birds wailed at the loss of their comrades and dive-bombed the one responsible, intending to roast her alive to avenge their fallen.
Valerie was suddenly swelling with confidence.
She was a blacksmith, born and raised.
Why would she be afraid of a little fire?
Seeing that Valerie had already gotten started, Lailah felt as though she shouldn’t lag behind.
The mark on her forehead suddenly began to glow as she called for her ‘adorable’ son.
“Apophis~ Let’s show our family what we learned, hm?”
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Huge thank you to Red_dragon for sponsoring this bonus chapter!