Chapter 808 - 807: The Beginning of the Battle Between Ifrit and Bahamut."

Once again on this crazy day, the residents of Midgar were shaken by yet another large-scale event. Mortally terrified citizens one and all thought that this day had, perhaps, become the worst in the entire history of their lives. It bore no comparison even to those terrible tragedies of the past, when a bloody riot had erupted in the Slums, ultimately leading to a mass slaughter and Shinra's brutal purges.

Initially the city's residents had sincerely believed that they were in for the most ordinary, completely unremarkable day that would be no different from hundreds of previous ones. But everything began with the unexpected explosion of a train, when every news channel announced the first high-profile terrorist attack.

From that single incident all subsequent events turned into one rapid snowball that caused the townspeople ever more shock and animal fear. But what happened immediately after sunset plunged the entirety of Midgar into complete panic.

All the residents of the megapolis stared in horror into the darkness of the sky, watching two gigantic creatures hovering right above the Plate. A wave of feverish panic instantly swept the streets, yet no one even moved from their place—people understood perfectly well that there was simply nowhere to run from the locked city. All that remained for them to do at that moment was tearfully pray for their own survival and hope that the two ancient monsters would not begin a deadly battle right over their heads.

Meanwhile, through the narrow alleys of the Sixth Sector, Tifa, Claudia, and Barret were running at the limit of their strength, having managed to take cover from the previous powerful shockwaves thanks to the tight stone walls. Hearing the wild beastly roar that rolled over the houses, they ran out onto an open street not far from the café and likewise froze in place, raising their heads to the heavens in shock.

"What the hell is even going on here?! Where the fuck did these monsters come from?!" Barret shouted at the top of his lungs, pointing a trembling finger in horror at Bahamut and Alex in Ifrit form hovering high above.

"I don't know… But all of this is very bad. If these creatures really start fighting right here, the whole of Midgar will be wiped off the face of the earth," Claudia said in an extremely grim tone, not taking her heavy gaze from the sky.

"What do you mean—wiped off?! What about my little Marlene?! No, to hell with everything! I have to go back for my baby right now! I'll get her out of this cursed city at any cost! And I don't give a damn about these fucking monsters in the sky!" Barret cried in frenzy, preparing to rush back toward the Slums.

"That's completely useless… You physically won't have time either to go back for her or to get her out of the city," Claudia said in a cold, pragmatic tone, lowering an indifferent gaze onto Barret.

"What did you just say?! Say that again!.. You, damn it, want to tell me I should just accept the thought that my baby might die?! Maybe I should finish you off here first?!" Barret shouted in blind rage, in the same second grabbing Claudia by the collar and lifting her off the ground.

"Let go," Claudia said in an icy tone, clamping Barret's wrist in a death grip and looking him straight in the eyes, making it clear with her gaze that if he didn't let go, it wouldn't end well for him.

Looking straight into Claudia's cold green eyes, Barret clenched his fist from blind rage, seriously itching to give her a proper punch. But his fury retreated far too quickly, and in its place came only complete despair and all-consuming anguish. Slowly releasing Claudia's collar, Barret laughed sadly and heavily, after which he sank powerlessly onto the stone curb, covering his head with trembling hands.

At that moment all his thoughts were occupied exclusively with Marlene. He thought only that if he had known in advance about such a nightmare, he would have gotten his baby out of Midgar by any means as far as possible. And the most painful, soul-tormenting feeling for him became the realization that he would most likely never see Marlene again, even though he had sworn sacredly to protect her until his very death.

Seeing how such a stern and thunderous man as Barret was sincerely crying from powerlessness, Claudia slightly clenched her fists, feeling an involuntary response and deep understanding inside. And in the same second before her eyes appeared blurred, fragmentary pictures from the distant past: a house engulfed in roaring flames that she barely remembered.

An inner voice literally screamed at her that on that fateful day she too had not managed to say goodbye to someone—someone extremely dear who had remained in that blazing hell. Only Tifa continued to stare continuously into the darkening sky, intently watching the two colossal creatures. She, like everyone else around, felt the sticky despair from the unfolding madness.

But at the same time she managed to notice that these ancient beings were not simply roaring, but fully speaking to each other. And when one of the creatures made a casual wave of its paw, Tifa's eyes immediately widened in silent shock. She recognized the painfully familiar mannerisms. Despite the fact that she had known Alex for less than a week, she would have recognized this gestural handwriting out of a thousand—when he bashfully waved away compliments.

Feeling the complete surrealism of what was happening, Tifa simply could not get rid of the obsessive feeling that the gigantic creature wreathed in black flames was none other than Alex. And in her head a bright flash immediately brought up Alex's recent words that she, Claudia, and Barret would need to run without looking back, or they risked instantly turning into a handful of ash. At the time she had completely failed to understand why he had thrown out those strange words, but now, looking at the flame-engulfed monster, the entire picture finally came together for her.

"It's him…" Tifa whispered barely audibly, as if trying to convince herself of the reality of what she had seen.

"What the hell are you whispering about over there, Tifa?! Who else is this 'him'?!" Barret asked in a hoarse, completely emptied tone, turning his head toward Tifa.

"The second monster… It must be Alex," Tifa said in a quiet whisper so that only Claudia and Barret would hear her.

"Say that one more time… You're seriously trying to tell me that one of these fucking monsters in the sky is our fucking SOLDIER kid?!" the stunned Barret asked again, heavily rising from the curb and pointing a trembling finger upward.

"It must be so… He himself personally warned us that we would need to run just so we wouldn't burn," Tifa answered, shaking her head, still struggling to believe she was saying this out loud.

"This… This… Oh, motherfucker! And what the hell are we supposed to do now?!" Barret uttered with enormous difficulty, having absolutely no idea how to react to such news.

"If it really is him, then we're not in nearly as deep shit as we just thought," Claudia said dryly, sharply jerking her head and thereby rid herself of the tormenting aftereffects of yet another seizure.

In response to such words Barret could only nod his head in stunned bewilderment with a completely lost-and-wild expression on his face. He simply did not know how he was even supposed to react to such shocking information. It was insanely hard for him to accept the simple fact that the kid who until recently had constantly been throwing out stupid jokes had suddenly turned into a huge, hellfire-engulfed monster in order to fight another colossal dragon on equal terms.

But it was not only Barret who tormented himself with such thoughts—even Claudia and Tifa struggled greatly to fit into their heads the realization that one of the celestial titans was Alex. Feeling the full surrealism of what was happening, they continued to gaze in fascination into the darkening sky and immediately noticed that movement had begun above: Alex in Ifrit form raised one of his massive clawed paws in front of himself. In the same moment such a blindingly bright flame flared up in the heavens that it instantly illuminated the whole of Midgar down to the tiniest alleys.

Everyone who at that moment was looking upward had to frantically squint and cover their faces with their hands from such searing light. When the scorching rays of the bright flame finally melted away, the city's residents as one raised their gazes to the sky again—and immediately experienced yet another powerful surge of shock. High above there were no longer two colossal monsters. Only rare, peaceful clouds drifted there, as if everything they had seen from the very beginning had been merely a terrible mass hallucination.

Frightened people began glancing at one another in shock, trying to make sense of what had happened and understand where the two giants had vanished in a single instant. However, among the townspeople there were also more observant ones who with enormous difficulty managed to make out among the clouds against the dark sky a small, bluish-black sphere that was incredibly hard to notice under nighttime conditions.

Naturally, there were also those who, with the help of advanced optics, immediately and clearly examined this mysterious object, and that was the Shinra Corporation with its high-tech surveillance systems. And while the entire city guessed where the two gigantic monsters had gone, Claudia, who had not taken her eyes off the sky, managed without any outside help to discern that same barely noticeable black sphere.

"And where the hell did they just disappear to?!" Barret could not hold back a shout, insistently and fruitlessly peering into the night sky.

"They're still there," Claudia said in a calm, icy tone, slightly narrowing her eyes and not taking her gaze from the black sphere.

"Where the hell is 'there'?! I can't see a damn thing!" Barret barked, straining with all his might to make out at least something in the twilight heights.

"If you finally take off your stupid sunglasses in the middle of the night, maybe you'll manage to see at least something," Claudia said with venomous sarcasm, turning her head toward Barret.

"And how the hell is that supposed to help me?!" Barret asked in an extremely irritated tone, staring at Claudia challengingly.

"Bonehead…" Claudia muttered in a quiet whisper and shook her head, turning her gaze away from Barret with contempt.

"Say that again! You think I won't hit you?! Want to check right now?!" Barret spat out with even greater irritation, threateningly clenching his massive fist right in front of Claudia's face.

"Enough, you two! No need to start a fight! Better let's hurry to the others, we're already very close. Maybe they still don't even suspect that that creature in the sky was actually Alex," Tifa intervened, in the same second stepping between Barret and Claudia and resolutely separating them.

Lowering his gaze onto Tifa standing right in front of him, Barret merely smirked slightly and resolutely stepped forward, casting a sliding glance at Claudia as he went. Watching the departing Barret, Tifa turned to her friend, still sincerely failing to understand how she had turned into such a sharp provocateur capable of starting a conflict out of nothing.

After all, in the distant past, as far as Tifa remembered, Claudia had been a rather closed-off, quiet girl and had extremely rarely interacted with other children. Claudia, for her part, answered with an absolutely calm, imperturbable gaze and silently followed after Barret so they could finally meet up with the others.

Once again drawing out a long sigh at the realization of how radically Claudia had changed over the five years of their separation, Tifa followed her and Barret toward the café on the observation deck. Climbing the stone steps, Tifa intensively pondered how to more delicately explain to their friends that one of the celestial monsters was actually Alex, secretly hoping that this news would calm the group at least a little.

Having reached the very top, Tifa, Claudia, and Barret encountered a picture that was quite familiar for today's insane events: on the observation deck there was no room to swing a cat because of the crowd of frightened people, and everyone as one was staring dead-fixed into the darkness, as if hoping to make out at least something more among the clouds. Somehow pushing through the dense mass of people, the trio entered the café premises battered by the previous shockwaves and immediately headed for the open terrace, where their entire company was supposed to be.

And the moment they stepped onto the terrace, they immediately noticed: although complete devastation reigned here as well and almost all the furniture lay overturned, the atmosphere in this place was radically different from the panic that had swept the streets of Midgar. Dean was still sitting on a chair with an insolent smirk, casually throwing his legs up onto the railing of the barrier, and next to him sat Aerith, intently and silently peering into the heights.

Nearby on the floor perched Yuffie, whose face still expressed truly universal grief—as if she had just lost the most valuable thing in her life. Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge were leaning on the railings altogether, holding binoculars and carefully scanning the night sky. Hearing the footsteps and the noise of cracking broken glass behind him, Dean unhurriedly turned his head and smirked mockingly.

"You're late. So how did you like the grand performance in the skies?" Dean said with a smirk, immediately waving his almost finished sandwich.

"Couldn't be worse… Do you guys even know what the hell that was just now in the sky?" Barret said with a heavy sigh, crunching the broken glass under his soles and approaching the group together with Tifa and Claudia.

"Something like that… Who would have thought that the rare Materia Shinra was transporting in that armored vehicle allows a person to transform into a colossal fire monster," Biggs said with a tired, nervous smile, lowering the binoculars and turning to the arrivals.

"So you already figured everything out too… Wait! What Materia?!" Tifa first said with a sigh, but in the same second asked again in astonishment, having grasped the essence of Biggs's explanations.

"Yes, Materia… I personally handed it over to Alex yesterday evening as a small bonus for helping cure my father. And he even then called it Ifrit," Jessie said with a guilty, strained smile, shaking her head in dismay.

"And it didn't occur to you, damn it, to tell us about this a little earlier?!" Barret barked, rubbing his face with his palm as he approached Jessie.

"I myself had no idea! All Alex said was that an ancient spirit was sealed in the Materia, and nothing more! He didn't breathe a word at that moment that he himself was capable of transforming into that very spirit!" Jessie answered with a heavy, regretful sigh.

After Jessie's justifications no one was able to object to her with a single word: none of those present had any idea that Materia could even exist in nature that allowed its owner to transform into a colossal fire monster. However, another question naturally arose next—where, in that case, had the second winged giant come from?

But the answer to this riddle was found rather quickly. Tifa timely recalled how Alex had carefully studied the secret documents on the hacked terminal, where mention was made of some anomalous energy core found by Shinra archaeologists during deep excavations. After Tifa's short explanations everything finally fell into place.

The picture that emerged was extremely grim: once again the greedy corporation was to blame for everything, having once more employed an ancient archaic force with which it was simply incapable of coping. And now all that remained for them was to wait passively and hope that Alex would somehow miraculously manage to defeat the ancient dragon who by his entire menacing appearance made it clear that he felt not the slightest sympathy for the residents of Midgar.

Approaching right up to the railings, Barret frowned and suspiciously stared into the darkness, slightly raising his sunglasses. But even so he managed to make out absolutely nothing against the deep night sky. Heavily sighing from frustration, Barret unceremoniously snatched the binoculars from Wedge's hands and again aimed the lenses at the area where the two chthonic titans had been hovering not long ago. Finally making out through the optics a barely noticeable, absolutely black sphere, Barret simply could not help voicing the question that was bursting out.

"And what the hell is that devilry hanging over the city?.." Barret muttered aloud, not taking the binoculars from his eyes.

But no one could answer that question, for of all those gathered on the terrace only Dean knew the exact answer. However, he was simply too lazy to describe and explain anything to the agitated company. Unlike the others, Dean could see perfectly well without any devices through the barrier everything that was happening right now inside the compressed space of the Domain. At that moment he sincerely regretted only one thing—that there was no glass of ice-cold beer and some hearty snack at hand at such an inconvenient time.

At the same time, finding himself inside the Domain, Bahamut slightly narrowed his glowing green eyes, looking around. Everything he saw around himself was one continuous, colossal world of fire. In this place there was no solid ground in the sense familiar to mortals: everywhere stretched endless landscapes of boiling lava, melting rocks, and raging primordial flame. The air of this space was filled to the limit with suffocating smoke, showers of sparks, and an unbearable heat that melted everything around.

Raising his gaze upward, Bahamut saw that the local sky was a dense dome of acrid ash, heavy smog, and eternally raging storms, where instead of the usual rain, flakes of scorching soot and fiery sparks continuously fell to the ground. Stretching out a massive paw, Bahamut caught a large clump of scorching soot and lightly rubbed it between his long claws.

In the same second an unending low rumble of exploding volcanoes that were born and immediately perished every instant began to reach his ears. Thoroughly sensing the ancient atmosphere of this dimension, Bahamut could not understand at all what this place was and by what forces it had even been created. Raising his gaze a little higher, the dragon looked at Alex in Ifrit form, who was lounging on a fire-engulfed stone tree, gripping in his paws a heavy club created from his own broken-off horn.

"What is this place, Ifrit?.." Bahamut asked, intently watching Alex, who continued to grin excitedly with his beastly maw.

"This is Muspelheim. This place is far older than Gaia itself. This is the world where that very heat first arose from which the first stars in the Universe were kindled. This is the world that gave all its energy without remainder to the creation of life itself," Alex said, exhaling thick tongues of flame from his maw and raising his gaze to the raging sky of Muspelheim.

"A world that gifted heat to other worlds and to our common Mother… A magnificent place, Ifrit. But our battle is still inevitable," Bahamut said with a complex, deep breath, radically revising his initial opinion regarding this ancient space.

"Eh, and here I was hoping we'd chat a little heart-to-heart and then everything would somehow end on its own," Alex said in a bored tone, propping his beastly muzzle up with a powerful clawed paw.

"That will not be… You unconditionally follow the will of the last Cetra, who strives to protect these disgusting creatures that are destroying the world for whose protection we were all once born," Bahamut said in a heavy, unyielding tone, proudly spreading his massive wings to the sides.

"And you're not the least bit afraid of upsetting Mother with such foolishness, Bahamut?" Alex asked, narrowing his eyes and leaning slightly forward, exhaling new tongues of hot flame from his maw.

"This is her true will. And I will follow it to the end!" Bahamut answered in a proud, thunderous tone, and the scales on his colossal wings began to slowly ignite with bright light.

"Mmh, looks like the Gray Whisperers really did dig around thoroughly in your dragon brains… Well, no matter, it's far from the first time I've had to bring a too-arrogant lizard to its senses. A couple of good knocks on the head have always been enough to make ones like you far more amenable," Alex said, baring rows of the sharpest teeth at Bahamut, and, lightly swinging the fiery club, nimbly jumped down from the stone tree.

Bahamut made no reply, but only continued to silently watch Alex while the wings on his back burned with an ever brighter, more threatening light. Mockingly tapping the fiery club against his shoulder, Alex could not hold back and spat a clump of boiling lava onto the heat-cracked ground in frustration. How could he not have understood at once that the "Mother" Bahamut kept talking about was not Gaia at all?

Although the blinded dragon himself sincerely believed that the desire to exterminate all of humanity root and branch was the sacred will of the Planet itself. Feeling wild irritation at Bahamut's pitch-black stupidity, who had still failed to break free from the firm shackles of the Gray Whisperers, Alex barely restrained himself from demonstratively rolling his eyes.

Lightly swinging the fiery club, Alex immediately narrowed his eyes, noticing that the scales on Bahamut's wings had flared with a blinding light. In the same second an entire volley of dense clumps of compressed plasma shot from his wings with a deafening crack. Watching this sudden destructive bombardment, Alex reacted in fractions of a second and lightning-fast dashed sideways, deftly dodging every falling projectile.

Gracefully jumping from side to side and dodging the explosions, Alex performed a powerful forward somersault and spun right in the air, continuing to evade the unceasing barrage. Spinning in flight, Alex slammed his feet with all his strength into the slopes of a nearby mountain and in the same moment raced upward along the vertical cliff at furious speed, clamping the scorching club in his fang-filled maw.

Reaching the very summit, Alex sharply pushed off backward. Spinning in the air, he found himself right above Bahamut, who was still excitedly raining plasma onto the emptied ground. Snatching the fiery club from his maw, Alex spun like a top in his fall, intending to put all his weight into delivering a crushing blow precisely to Bahamut's head. Noticing Alex rapidly approaching from above, the Dragon in the same second raised crossed sabers over his head, intending to block the attack.

In the next instant the fiery club and the heavy silver blades clashed in a terrible collision. This was followed by a colossal shockwave that immediately destroyed absolutely everything within a radius of several kilometers: an entire lake of boiling lava, a chain of ancient mountains, and even a newly born volcano were wiped to powder, and an impenetrable, dense cloud of dust from scorching soot rose around them.

From the monstrous recoil Alex and Bahamut were hurled in different directions. First to leap out of the soot cloud, Alex narrowed his eyes and in the same second swung the fiery club at random toward the dust trail. But the moment he swung, Bahamut shot out of the fog like a swift shadow, deftly dodging the heavy club.

Finding himself at close range, Bahamut clamped his sharp teeth onto Alex's powerful arm and in the same moment dragged him along. Bahamut began hauling Alex with all his might across the scorching ground, deliberately slamming his body into the stone spikes and monolithic rocks jutting out everywhere.

Feeling series of unpleasant, deafening blows to the head, Alex sensed how fury was boiling up inside him. Clenching his free paw into a heavy fist, Alex delivered a precise, brutal blow right to Bahamut's muzzle, trying to tear free from his steel jaws. Beginning to growl dully from all-consuming rage, Alex continued to pound Bahamut's muzzle with even greater diligence and ferocity.

"Damn you, let me go, you fucking lizard!" Alex roared, contorting and digging the claws of his hind paws into Bahamut's torso for all he was worth.

"As you wish, Ifrit…" Bahamut hissed, cunningly narrowing his eyes, and, sharply gaining speed, rapidly soared high into the sky.

Feeling himself being rapidly pulled into the very heights, Alex seriously wanted to complain that this was absolutely not what he had meant by a fair duel. But he simply had no time for such whining and complaints. Having no intention of finding out on his own hide what exactly Bahamut had planned, Alex clamped onto his massive torso with his hind paws for all he was worth and with even greater fury began pounding the heavy fist into his muzzle, trying at all costs to wrench his second arm free from the steel grip.

After dozens of deafening blows to Bahamut's scaled snout, Alex finally managed to tear his paw out of his jaws with flesh. But by this moment they were already incredibly high in the sky, lost right among the black, searing ash clouds. Hovering in weightlessness amid the smog, Bahamut sharply jerked his head back and in the same second delivered a crushing ramming blow, slamming his horned forehead right into Alex's muzzle.

Feeling the dull impact on his muzzle, Alex threw his head back, but immediately answered with the exact same savage lunge, slamming his forehead with all his might right into Bahamut's jaws. From such a brutal reply the dragon's head snapped back, and Alex, without losing a second, greedily opened his maw and clamped his sharpest teeth for all he was worth right into the tough scales on the opponent's shoulder.

Biting ever deeper into Bahamut's flesh, Alex began spewing streams of concentrated hellfire right into the wound in order to inflict as much damage as possible. Feeling the sharp fangs tearing the meat and the mad fire penetrating through the charred scales to the very bones, Bahamut let out a deafening roar filled with pain. This cry was immediately followed by a powerful shockwave that pushed the dense black clouds apart for kilometers around.

Following Bahamut's wild roar, the wings on his back flared with blinding light, and he began chaotically firing hundreds of clumps of compressed plasma in all directions from every barrel. Seeing this desperate fireworks display, Alex merely cunningly narrowed his beastly eyes, not for a moment loosening the grip of his clenched jaws on the dragon's shoulder. However, in the same second Alex felt Bahamut's massive hind paws with a short swing pressing right into his stomach.

This was followed by a colossal push of force that sent Alex flying backward like a projectile. Flying a considerable distance, Alex deftly spun in the air and was already preparing to push flame from his palms, using it as a solid support for a rapid dash back. When suddenly he noticed with annoyance that absolutely all the previously fired plasma clumps had sharply frozen, turned around, and raced toward him in a single front.

Looking at the self-homing charges approaching from all sides that had completely cut off any paths of retreat for him, Alex merely sighed irritably. He did not regret in the slightest that he had made the firm decision to fight exclusively with the power of Ifrit, without using a single drop of his own might. But that by no means meant that such cunning tricks of the dragon would not frankly piss him off.

"What a bitch…" Alex muttered in frustration, perfectly understanding that he simply had nowhere to run from this fiery trap.

At the very last moment before the inevitable collision with the plasma clumps, Alex immediately tucked himself in, drawing his hind paws toward himself and tightly wrapping them with his front ones. In the same moment a dense fiery cocoon began to form rapidly around his body, which spun in a whirlwind with a whistle. And the moment the deadly charges almost touched the protective shell, the cocoon exploded with a deafening detonating crack.

The flared fireball generated a colossal shockwave that in the same second destroyed absolutely all the guided plasma clumps. Having reflected Bahamut's dangerous attack, Alex began sharply looking around until he heard the heavy flaps of powerful wings coming from directly above. Raising his muzzle and narrowing his eyes, Alex managed to make out how Bahamut at full speed shot out of the cleaved black clouds like a stone.

Drawing his front paw back and clenching it into the heaviest fist, Alex began preparing for a hard counterblow. Flame swirled around his fingers, continuing to compress and densify to such a degree that crackling discharges of compressed plasma began to spark around the fist.

At the very last moment before the ram, Alex sharply dodged to the side with a leap, evading the dragon's rapid lunge. When Bahamut raced past him at enormous speed, Alex in the same second dashed after him and with all the accumulated fury slammed the concentrated plasma clenched in his fist right between Bahamut's wings.

From this crushing blow the very air around detonated, and the black ash clouds immediately evaporated. Receiving a terrible impulse from above, Bahamut began rapidly falling toward the scorching ground until at full speed he crashed into one of the numerous mountains of Muspelheim, crushing hundreds of tons of rock beneath himself.

With enormous difficulty climbing out from under the rubble, Bahamut shook his head in dismay, immediately coming to his senses. But Alex had no intention of giving the dragon even a single chance to catch his breath: he plummeted from above like a stone and with all his strength slammed his hind paws right into the dragon's shoulder blades. Receiving yet another crushing blow to the back, Bahamut once again sank deep into the scorching stone thickness.

"Now it's your turn to work as a battering ram!" Alex said with a mocking beastly grin, clamping onto the back of Bahamut's head with a clawed paw for all he was worth.

"We'll see about that, Ifrit…" Bahamut answered through his teeth and, digging his front paws into the destroyed rock with the last of his strength, began slowly rising to his full height.

In response Alex grinned even wider and with renewed force pressed his heavy hind paw onto Bahamut's shoulder blades. Before the dragon could undertake anything at all to break free from the steel grip, he felt a crushing blow to the back of the head that immediately drove his scaled muzzle deep into the scorching stone rock. The first blow was followed without delay by a second.

Continuing to grin predatorily, Alex began with particular excitement delivering blow after blow to the back of Bahamut's head, forcing the colossal opponent to sink deeper and deeper into the boiling granite. After a dozen brutal blows to the head Bahamut grew tired of enduring this humiliation: he sharply swung his powerful tail, wrapped it tightly around Alex's neck, and yanked him backward with all his might.

Yanking Alex off his back, Bahamut was able to finally free himself and in the same second delivered a powerful blow with his hind paw right into Alex's torso. Receiving the lashing blow, Alex slid across the cracked ground, leaving deep furrows behind him that before his eyes began filling with boiling lava.

Stopping, Alex unexpectedly broke into loud, mad laughter and immediately charged forward on all fours straight at Bahamut, giving him not a single chance to catch his breath. Deftly slipping under the broad sweep of the dragon's wing, Alex slammed into his torso with full force and began powerfully pushing him backward. Digging his hind paws into the scorching ground, Bahamut with the last of his strength clamped his claws onto Alex's shoulders in a death grip, trying to slow his onslaught.

And when Alex finally began to slow down, Bahamut thought this was his ideal chance: a sparkling silver saber materialized in his paw in the same second. Already preparing to pierce Alex's chest with one precise lunge, the dragon suddenly felt his own legs lift off the ground. Jumping high into the air together with Bahamut and continuing to hold him tightly by the waist, Alex changed his grip mid-flight.

Pinning Bahamut's arms and planting his hind paws with all his strength into the dragon's torso, Alex hurled him right beneath himself. Receiving a crushing impulse, Bahamut crashed into the cracked rock at enormous speed, causing yet another powerful explosion of stone chips and dust. Before Bahamut could even come to his senses, Alex landed on him from above like a stone and again began delivering brutal blows to his muzzle, continuing to laugh loudly and excitedly.

To be continued...

(Hmm, I may have promised a full-blown battle between Alex and Bahamut, but I just thought I needed to fully flesh out all these parallel events so it wouldn't feel forced. Like, I'd have to explain it all anyway. How could I skip all these character reactions and stuff? It's just a matter of time. Anyway, the battle continues in the next Star Wars episode, so, you know. And it just so happens that there are only two story days left until the group leaves Midgar. Wow, that seems so close yet so far away. Hmm. Okay, time to eat and take my medicine. Peace, love, and my embrace will warm you better than any flame. Hehehe.)