Pure desperation.
This was what any Tier 4 Beasts of Corruption felt at the unfolding scene around them.
On the walls of Carthage, Gem Masters were frozen in place as they stared out in shock.
In the skies, the Praying Mantis and Lightning Sparrow besieging Branch Leader Axel had their senses telling them a single thing as they carried it out right away.
Without paying attention to anything else, their life force surged as they shot back toward the Breach in the distance.
Branch Leader Axel reacted a step later with his own shock as he bellowed out.
“No you don’t!”
He turned into a streak of lightning that gave chase.
Down below, amidst the heavy storms of lightning, a Flame Crow enlarged to become the largest Aerial Beast here, the natural black flames around its body burning brightly as a lightning storm whipped around It!
CAW!
It cried out in disbelief as before it could understand what had happened, it received a command from the entity that had just bound it.
And without a delay, its eyes blazed with flames as it flapped Its wings and appeared directly in front of the Caladrius.
In front of the Envoy and Branch Leader who were already having a hard time holding on!
The moment it appeared, the storm it brought without broke down the defenses around them, and spears of flames began to form and encircle the Envoy and Branch Leader Enaman.
They lingered in the air like deadly spikes that could thunder down at any time.
CAA!
The Caladrius cried out in fury as white and green flames surrounded it, while Enaman burst with purple flames that were all torn apart!
And in the next moment, above the flaming head of the now titanic Flame Crow, the figure of the garbed Alexander appeared.
He sat freely on the flaming feathers of the Flame Crow that did no damage to him, his figure releasing an air of power.
His left hand pulsed with swirling frost while his left hand clasped a pulsing crimson lightning bolt threateningly.
And he looked towards the Envoy and the Branch Leader Enaman coldly without saying a word.
But his stance was clear!
He didn’t say a word, but he didn’t have to.
He changed his path and came directly in front of this unique Aerial Beast as her shrill voice had shown that she held a great deal of information.
And what Alexander needed most right now was information!
“Haha…you got us this time. But for me, it is akin to choosing death right now or later.”
The feminine voice of the Envoy echoed out.
If she submitted right now, she would break her loyalty to the power behind her as when they ultimately understood what happened here, they would send a force to eradicate everyone- especially the one who betrayed them!
This human was powerful, yes. But he was only one.
Unless he got the help of other Ascendant Gem Masters from the more powerful Human Lineages…
BOOM!
What met her despairing laugh was a strike of the crimson thunder blasting apart the green and white light surrounding her as her white feathers laced with a gorgeous verdant light became charred.
Before it utterly eviscerated her…
“I yield! I yield!”
Her shout, filled with frustration and madness, echoed out.
Another crimson bolt stopped above her as Alexander gazed forward coldly, keeping to his word of not repeating himself as a Golden light radiated from his chest and flowed to the Caladrius Aerial Beast before him.
Seeing this scene, Branch Leader Enaman let out a despairing laugh as he threw himself off of her back before the deadly transformation he had just seen on the Flame Crow unfolded, but he didn’t get far before crimson lightning crackled around him and bound him like live snakes!
CAA!
Another cry of a bird species echoed out as the Caladrius Envoy was forcefully bound to Alexander, her body beginning to transform as her pupils dilated with shock.
And the figure of Enaman wrapped in crimson chains of lightning struggled with despair as Alexander flung him backwards towards a man floating in the skies surrounded by flames.
Branch Leader Julius, his father, was surrounded by tendrils of flames as his calloused hands caught the leader of the enemy camp- his gaze difficult at this moment as he looked at the one man who was able to do all of this.
He wanted to wonder how all of this was possible, but too many ridiculous things had happened in the last hour as he didn’t know where to even begin.
In the distant skies ahead, Alexander controlled the Flame Crow as its beak moved right in front of the white beak of the Caladrius Envoy, his figure moving gracefully from one Beast to another as he stepped on the head of this unique Aerial Beast and spoke out lightly.
“Are there any others waiting in that Breach?”
…!
Information.
The most truthful one would only come from the Beast bound to him at this moment!
The Caladrius shuddered at his words as after undergoing all the changes just now, the shock she felt towards this being had risen another octave.
With every new change or effect she felt as soon as she became bound to him, she confirmed the link between these changes and the effects of Support Gems.
And if she counted right…was that five? Six Support Ability Gem augmentations?
She didn’t know for sure as at the very least, this Entity truly was a Tier 7 Ascendant Gem Master!
Someone similar to the powerhouses she had only seen from a distance in her world.
So towards his question…
“N-no, Ascendant Master. These are all the forces from the City Fortress of Nethus. Only a few Tier 4 Beasts were left behind to guard it.”
She answered truthfully.
She had to.
And the terrifying Gem Master walked across her beak and onto her white green feathers as he nodded.
“Good. I have many questions, but let’s ensure that everything that happened here stays that way.”
…!
As he spoke, he gazed towards the direction where the Praying Mantis and Lightning Sparrow were escaping to while Branch Leader Axel chased.
Down below, the Golden Flame Lion and Arctic Wolf suppressed all other Tier 4 Beasts.
A moment later, the Flame Crow already streaked across the skies to stop the retreat of the Mantis and Sparrow in the distance, its speed nearly three times as theirs even with its massive body!
Nothing would escape today.
After capturing the enemy commander and binding the most powerful Beast from the enemy side, all that was left for Alexander was clean up as they had to do this cleanly while understanding just who their enemies were, and what they could expect from here!