Chapter 250 - 3.7 A Phoenix Fury

Ignis and Leila made another round, roasting another 10-20,000 of the creations before the vampiric army jumped in and started fighting. Hades and Posi already left. Hades was pissed and upset with himself. He didn’t think they’d stash the phoenix and the dragon together and he didn’t want to do anything rash. He knew he’d already lost a sizable portion of his army and would have to rebuild it.

"So much for catching them off guard, fuck!" He screamed while kicking a massive boulder, sending it flying like a soccer ball.

Back on the battlefield, the vampiric army was still struggling with some of the creations. Their regeneration if not killed properly was a problem for most of them. Ignis and Leila had no problem as they could simply burn them to death and Ignis was back in his humanoid form, burning enemy after enemy until he slammed his hands on one’s head.

"Ha, dumb fucker told me everything I needed to know about this battle," Ignis laughed.

"Green impale, red you have to drain their life, black body and blue eyes decapitate, yellow burn, and the weird white eye fuckers you have to use acid on." He screamed.

Once they had this information, the original families were able to regroup within the regular army and the army could impale and burn them.

"Sora we need a god for the red eye creations. I’m not exactly sure how to kill them other than power drain."

"We’ll come." Pride said with a smirk from Paradise.

"Excellent! Are your kiddos ok?"

"Yes, they’re good. It’s been two nights. They’re almost 6 and look like they’re 9. They’ll be ready in a week at this rate," Eris laughed.

Pride and Eris teleported down and it wasn’t long before the fight was over. Eris and Pride took turns zapping the power out of the red ones and passing it along to Leila, Ignis, and the Original families.

"Aren’t you going to keep any for yourself?" Dorian asked. "I didn’t even do anything..."

"Better if you are all stronger. It feels good to be on Exteria again." Pride smiled.

"We saved a little for the kids so don’t worry. We’ll be back," Eris said quickly and they were gone.

"So they come, save the day and just run back to Paradise? I guess that’s what it’s like being a parent!" Camilla said with a light chuckle.

"Indeed. They certainly are impressive. As is our army. How many did we lose?" Dorian asked.

"Not many. No more than 1,000. Some of those creations are rather tricky. It feels good to get a win, especially since that day." Ignis thought.

He remembered it all clearly. The day he lost his planet.

*****

Solstice’s inhabitants were outnumbered and had nowhere near the strength necessary to defend. The Aware and Ancients titans already cleared the south and began trampling towards the center.

Every time someone on the planet perished, one of the goddesses was there to absorb their power. Despite being dead, their strength and lifeforce lingered for about ten minutes, giving the women plenty of time to use their hands to absorb the life force.

Eris moaned with excitement the more souls she absorbed.

"I haven’t felt this good since before that bitch locked me in her prison in ’Paradise," Eris mocked, using air quotes sarcastically while saying Paradise.

"If Paradise exists, it’s this," Helen said as she used both hands to absorb two of the fallen fire warriors.

The King looked at his tablet and sent out a final message to the citizens of Solstice.

"Everyone please pray for forgiveness and praise the mighty Athena for allowing us to live our peaceful lives. I’m afraid this is it for our planet."

The central area heard the rumbling of the titans’ footsteps growing closer and closer.

Azazel teleported to the Center and started killing some of the warriors for fun. "Pathetic creatures."

The King charged Azazel furiously, exchanging blows with the demon Lord.

"Why us? Why bother a peaceful land? Just to power yourselves up. What a disgrace. You’re everything that’s disgusting about this universe," the king taunted.

Azazel laughed. "Because free power is the best power."

"I can see through your lies. You’re here because you’re terrified of someone or something. But who? At least tell me the name of the person you’re so afraid of!"

Azazel’s laughter turned to rage and he teleported behind the King, who turned to block his blow. Unfortunately he didn’t realize it was an illusion, and the real Azazel stood right behind him. He elongated his nails and ripped right through his chest, and pulled out a beating piece of fire.

"So you do have hearts. What a waste. I’m not afraid of anyone, you piece of shit. Thanks for all your lovely power!"

The King dropped to his knees with a smile while looking into the sky. A phoenix flew over him, swooped down and flew through his heart. The phoenix vanished, and the King rose to his feet.

"You don’t get my power that easily." The King said as he collapsed his hands on Azazel’s head. Azazel screamed in pain and Helen immediately teleported to him and kicked away the King.

The King burst out in laughter.

"You’re afraid of people from your own planet, so rather than relocating, you’re going to go planet to planet to steal power in an attempt to get him to destroy the world for you. You three are the most pathetic beings in existence!"

Phoenix wings emerged beneath his arms, and the King quickly took to the skies.

"Get him!" Azazel screamed.

*****

Solstice lay in complete ruin. Rather than obeying Azazel’s command, Helen and Eris teleported as quickly as they could to the remaining souls and absorbed their power.

Azazel watched furiously as the titans tried to reach the King, but even the 150 foot tall Ancients couldn’t come close.

The King continued to fly away, until he was no longer in view. At the risk of being caught off guard by the goddesses, he flew to a secret spot only he knew existed.

"How the hell did we let someone escape?!" Eris demanded.

"We scouted this planet for months. At no time did we ever notice, see, or hear about a phoenix. The phoenix flew through the King and brought him back to life. I’m sorry my love," Helen said while reaching for Azazel’s hand.

He thought about slapping it away, but wanted the power from the 499,998 souls they absorbed, so he took her hand and gave her a kiss.

"Well, no use dwelling on what’s done. Now that you’re powered up, are you ready for the next planet?" Azazel asked, putting on his best smile.

"Yes. The titans are too. Hopefully we don’t have any unexpected surprises," Eris stated as she regrouped her titans.

"This planet has one million souls and is considerably weaker than Solstice. It’s currently nighttime and it’s home to daywalkers. Send the normal, armored, elite, aware and enlightened titans home. They can rest. This job can be completed with the Legendary and Ancient." Azazel ordered.

Eris and Helen opened a portal, and over 1.5 million of the five lower levels of titans returned to their Exterian bubble. They closed the portal and opened another to the planet Vakka and followed the titans through.

*****

Meanwhile, the King finally landed on a floating nest, approximately a mile in the sky, and allowed the phoenix to leave his body.

"Thank you my old friend."

The beautiful bird bowed its head and returned to its nest and the King rubbed his head.

"If they find you, pray to Sora and Brie Lockheart. They will be able to protect you."

The bird nodded and ignited in flame. Reborn from its ashes, the little bird chirped, and the King allowed him to eat fire from his arm. The bird began growing, and within 30 minutes, it was an adolescent Phoenix.

The king noticed the flame on the island burned as brilliant as ever.

"This isn’t goodbye. I will see you soon. Be good, brother." The King said.

The phoenix smiled, nestled its head in the King’s shoulder, like he was giving him a hug.

*****

"Are you ok Ignis?" Leila asked while giving him a hug from his flames.

"Oh, sorry, did you grab the clothes or did I lose them?"

"You lost them," She smiled. "It’s ok. No one can see me anyway. You did wonderfully."

"So did you. Sorry, I was thinking about the day I lost my planet. Looking back at that now, I really do hope we win this war so Hope can meet Indra," He smiled faintly.

"I’m sure we will and when the time comes I’m sure both of our races will happily exist again!" She said cheerfully.

"I already told Camilla we’re going to win the war and one day we’ll be great grandparents to all sorts of creatures, so don’t you two worry. You did great. Sincerely, thank you, you helped this Settlement greatly." Dorian smiled while giving them both a hug, careful around Leila, who smiled.

"How does he even know I’m here?" Leila laughed.

"My husband always knows... I always joke about him being a 2,500 year old detective, but for some reason, despite not having foresight, he just figures things out. It’s no wonder Jubelle has that big brain of his." Camilla smiled while walking down to hug them both.

"Iggy can you come back with me for at least a night? Scarlet misses you."

"Yeah, I can do that." He smiled. "Dorian, I’ll see you tomorrow morning."

They were off and back in Paradise.

"Dada!" Scarlet screamed while running over to him.

"My, you are getting quite tall!" Ignis smiled. "I missed you sweetheart."