Gilliam was taken aback, the welcome at first looked nice and inviting but he couldn’t exactly feel invited or welcomed when there was a literal army surrounding her. She also had an air of mana around her, hinting at her being a spellcaster even more than her staff did. It was almost like the mana in the air was gathering around her a little more dense than what was just floating about.

He decided to just play along for now, they all had good barriers on them and they were expecting a fight, hopefully, that would be enough in case something happened.
They also had an emergency escape through Savia, so he was feeling a little confident.

“Thank you.” Gilliam responded in Fracturian as he exited the landing platform.

This caused some raised eyebrows, metaphorically speaking as not every... thing... here had eyebrows or even eyes. The woman seemed a bit confused as well, he didn’t know if this was because of something he did or just that he spoke Fracturian at her.
“So Xyros failed.” She seemed happy about this.

Gilliam didn’t know who Xyros was, but based on context it was probably the demon he fought on the other side of the Gate. If she was happy about it then it might be some hierarchy thing.
“If Xyros was the one with the electricity and tail-blade then yeah, he’s dead.” There was no sympathy or consideration for having killed him in his voice, as weird as it sounded he was far too used to it at this point.

She just laughed loudly. “Wonderful!” This landed well with her. But the exact reasons for why was still unclear.

“So, what’s the deal here?” Gilliam was getting a little impatient. “Do we fight? Will you lead me to your lord?” On one hand, he didn’t want to rush things and focus on survival, making sure the mission went as it should. But on the other hand, he was getting closer to the end, he wanted to get this over with so he could get on with his life and not be in a perpetual life-and-death situation.

“Impatient-” She replied in a taunting tone. “I haven’t talked to someone like you before, so*”

Gilliam interrupted her, he didn’t care for befriending, talking, backstabbing or something like this at the moment. He felt powerful which might have helped his arrogance but at the same time, he didn’t bother caring for any Fracturian except Petal until this was over.
“Yeah, yeah. We can talk all you want once this is over, but right now I would like to challenge your lord.”
Deciding to state it right away felt like a good idea, not just for the possible intimidation effect but also to perhaps trip some internal challenge laws to get them to lead him to the lord right away.
This was a gamble but not one that could do any harm.

She looked annoyed. It was impossible to know if it was because of the interruption or finding some loophole in their laws.
“Lord Vozellath isn’t here to take your challenge-”

Gilliam sighed at his failed attempt to gain access to the lord right away, and his immediate thought was that perhaps to challenge her for a safe passage like with the other leader.

“-but perhaps we can play together.” She had an interesting tone, almost like she had been bored for months and some entertainment just came through the door.

“You want to fight me? What’s in it for me? Why shouldn’t I just leave now and find Vozellath?” Gilliam had always been a relatively polite man, but he was feeling pretty good about the unfiltered approach. It started as an act but it still felt fine ignoring pleasantries and processes to get to the point.

“Do you think you can fight us all? Duelling me would be much better than fighting us all.” Her voice was filled with a better-than-thou attitude.

“Yes, I think I can.” Gilliam decided to reply. Though he felt in his heart that it was a bluff, at the same time he did have ways he could deal a monumental amount of damage in seconds. Just have Savia teleport them quite the distance straight up and to the side, then shoot a few Star Lance’s down. Empowered by the staff should do some considerable damage and though it would no doubt take out the Gate, strictly speaking, he didn’t need it anymore as Savia had now been on both sides.

It seemed like this caught the Fracturian off guard, or perhaps she realised something, in either case, both her expression and tone changed.
“Bluffing will get you nowhere.” She sounded almost insulted.

Gilliam didn’t want to do this anymore. They were outside and he wanted to make a point, a point that would end all discussion.
He knew that the pocket for the Star Lance was charged, it took two fist-sized fire crystals and one marble-sized Aether crystal to cast it. Mentally pinging the ring he had 11 fist-sized fire crystals and 10 marble-sized Aether crystals left. With the already filled pocket, this gave him 6 casts if he wanted to. And that was without considering mixing in his active mana.
This had him consider two things. The first was that pre-creating mana crystals was a surprisingly terrifying way of doing things. Using downtime to allow for rapid-fire artillery magic was a good way to go. The second was that not only did he have enough to lay waste to cities but he should have plenty to send a message. The perfect weapon is the kind that only needs to be used once.
Refilling the pocket in the coat could be easily done after it was cast.

Gilliam pointed his hand straight up, he didn’t even look at where he was shooting but rather kept his eyes locked with the demon ahead of him. Activating the pocket and channelling the spell through the staff he was expecting a devastating result.

A massively complicated orange spell circle manifested above his upstretched hand and in the following second as the concentrated and focused energy was pumped into it the colour disappeared entirely in favour of a pure white-hot glowing light. The girls stepped away from the heat although it seemed that the barrier aided them a lot. For a brief moment, Gilliam could see the sheer panic in the lizard’s eyes before the spell activated.

The fireball construction circle activated and pulsed outwards to the size of a small building several men wide. A split second later, it formed a massive roaring sphere of fire that condensed and contracted as the roar turned into a high pitch whine when the fireball forcefully shrank to the size of a man’s head which was encapsulated by a barrier barely strong enough to keep things in check. The heat was barely affected as the targeting circle blinked and collapsed into the barrier. This was launched straight up at terrifying speeds. A long and bright plasmic tail trailed after it as it crackled and popped when debris in the air was vaporized.

The lizard’s terrified eyes moved to follow the sphere upwards into the air as it reached a distance of many miles in the air. Detonating a distance Gilliam expected was safe.
For a brief moment, the bright light of the explosion outshone the strong sun on a mid-day by far, the following fireball was immense and its radiated heat caused even the Fracturians who were used to the constant desert to seem highly uncomfortable. Had it not been for the protective barriers Gilliam’s human skin would most likely at least suffer first-degree burns.

Several seconds later the shockwave hit, it was powerful enough to feel like a powerful punch even from this distance. If their buildings had any windows they would certainly shatter, it knocked sand and dust off the buildings and fragile constructions lost some debris. Some of the Fracturians fell over, not due to the power of the shockwave at this distance but more in surprise and being somewhat unstable from before.

This explosion was exponentially more powerful than the one he cast at the island when he first created the spell, he couldn’t stop himself from marvelling at the staff’s boosting power.

At this moment Gilliam took care to take the crystals out of the ring to refill the pocket, it didn’t even take a second as he simply used his hand as a temporary storage between two extradimensional pockets. Meaning he was immediately ready for a second shot if he wanted to, it would only take a few seconds at most.

“I challenge you.” Gilliam said in a commanding voice at the lizard mage in front of him, having the same expression on his face as someone with a desire to be somewhere else and was currently held up.

She looked back at Gilliam for a split second before her already terrified eyes turned into panic.
“No, what? No.. Stop... Hold on.” Stuttering and panicking her confident aura had been blown away by the Star Lance.

The Fracturians around her were equally not keen on fighting, he couldn’t read all their expressions, and it didn’t help that some of them didn’t have faces, but it was clear that their will to fight had been shattered.

Even though he didn’t look at them he could feel Angela holding back a ranting rage at this. Likewise, he expected Petal to be strangely happy about it, she didn’t have the same sense of what was normal or not but she seemed to like when he displayed strength. He was glad that they at least kept calm and silent, though he didn’t know what expressions they had.

“I thought you wanted to play together.” He put hard pressure on the word ‘play’. He was a bit annoyed as well as drunk on power. A bad mix for actual survival but a good mix for an intimidating atmosphere.

“No. Yes... No, I mean...” She didn’t seem to know how to diffuse the situation. In the heat of the moment, she let go of her staff, causing it to fall over and slam the crystal against the sandstone ground, shattering it in a puff of purple smoke and crystal fragments.
This caused her to react even more frantic, having an internal moment of panic as her staff was destroyed in the moment on top of all of it.

“Well? I got places to be, let’s fucking play and get this over with!” Gilliam decided to just trigger them all, it seemed they were on the verge of running, perhaps some of them still wanted to fight, trying to get the situation to tip in his favour he was ready to just cause havoc if he had to.

“I don’t accept!” She shouted out in the end. Seeming quite distraught.

Based on earlier explanations he was aware that this was an option, but it was still interesting seeing it done. All things considered, this was the optimal outcome. If they had indeed duelled then she might have had a spell or power that he didn’t expect and could have won. Even a tiny spider can kill you, even if your chances are vastly higher to win.

Gilliam walked in closer, prepared to defend himself should that be needed. As he walked closer he heard the girls step in with him.
“Then where is Vozellath?” He had the same commanding tone as he had until now, it seemed to work fine so far.

She didn’t seem to respond but rather pointed in what seemed like a random direction to Gilliam. There might be a fancy building or area over there but... he didn’t exactly have local knowledge.

As he was closer and talking to the leader he suddenly heard the sound of something whipping through the air as well as a squelching sound covered by a thud. Turning towards it he saw a bodybuilder Fracturian being slammed into the stone floor with surprising strength. It seemed that someone had attempted an attack on Gilliam but was caught by Petal’s tail, he was now lifeless on the sandstones with three claws deep into his chest.

Gilliam turned back to the mage who seemed to know better than to attempt an attack when he looked away, even though she did have the option to do so.
“Fine, lead me to him.” He commanded her even though she was no longer pointing.

“I... I can’t do that.” She tried explaining. “I*”

Again Gilliam interrupted her. “It wasn’t a question. Lead me to him.” The tone of voice was much more commanding. Putting more pressure on the latter half of the sentence.
He did this for two reasons. The first was just that he didn’t know where to go, the second was that having her with them would hopefully help in deterring any further attacks before they got there. Parts of him would like to try out more spells with the staff but he also didn't want to risk more fights than he needed, though he was empowered some of the Fracturian leaders seemed quite powerful as well.

She hesitated in responding but rather than arguing, started walking. Gilliam and his group followed her through the corridor that her army opened up as they came walking.

Finally properly looking at his party he noticed a few things. Angela had a strange uncertain expression that was seemingly mixed with an epiphany, and Petal was no longer holding the heart of the last leader.
Looking at them he asked them in V’idan. “What’s going on?”

Petal replied first, seemingly cutting Angela off from answering. “I ate the heart as I thought we’d end up fighting, thought I could need any edge we got.”

“And?” Gilliam questioned. He couldn’t see any changes to her so he wondered if she learned anything.

She shook her head. “It gave me an energy boost and... perhaps some strength? I don’t know but I didn’t learn anything or got anything substantial.”

“Ah. Well, that’s a shame.” In the middle of his sentence, he looked over to Angela questioningly.

She took the moment to reply:” Well. I really want to complain about that spell of yours, but as I held back and saw how you handled this it made me realize something. Something important. But it’s hard to say exactly what that is. It’s a feeling, a way of considering yourself.” She looked deep in thought as they walked down a sandstone road after the Fracturian leader.

“Oh? If it’s important, what kind of important?” Gilliam didn’t know how to ask further, she already said it was hard to describe and it seemed that wasn’t easy to talk about.

“I always wanted to get stronger, I believe I said this to you the first day we met. But there was something blocking me from getting there. It wasn’t technique but a more mental block of obtaining power. My father found out a way to get it and he could do amazing things as a result, things that surpass the human body more than I ever thought possible, an inner energy more than just mana.”

Gilliam considered if this was what media and modern arts called Chi, or Ki, depending on the country and setting. It sounded very much like it.
And with everything going on, he couldn’t remember specifics of what they spoke about the first few days, he was too focused and excited about his magic.

“He told me it would be simple-” She continued as she looked at her hands, opening and clenching them over and over. “-that it would be something that was so stupidly simple once I realised it, but hard to realise. And I think I found it.” Her expression changed into determination. “I always thought I had to find or get some power, but if it’s something within myself I need to unlock, it’s always been there. I always sort of knew that but since I believed I needed to unlock it, it became that I actually did need to do so. But...”

She was explaining things a bit in circles, it seemed that she needed to believe in herself and find the power that was already resting within her. Gilliam didn’t properly understand it but it seemed that this was a highly personal epiphany, so he didn’t expect to understand it.
“Well... I’m not going to pretend to understand what you mean but... Congratulations?” He didn’t seem entirely sure about congratulating her, but at the same time, it did seem like a thing to do.

“Thank you. I don’t know yet but I feel something in me differently. This is good, this is a warm feeling.” Her determination was clearly showing as she returned her focus to her hands.

Gilliam turned back to their escort, Angela would have to figure that out on her own, he didn’t have any info about this but it seemed like the path was opened.
Petal seemed to just be more confused than before Angela started explaining, but she seemed to choose not to comment.

Moving his focus to their surroundings there were many more demons around than he expected. Many of them looked more upstanding than the others, much like the last landmass they were on. It seemed that in the city life evolved a bit more civilized, at least for some. There were still plenty of unclothed individuals, most didn’t wear anything but a few did and it almost looked like a good city to a certain degree.
He didn’t know if they could sense something, were just fearful from the massive explosion, the group being escorted by the demon leader or a large chunk of the army following them from a distance was the reason that nobody got involved. But he didn’t mind avoiding combat.

They were stopped a few times by what seemed like guards who were uncertain, but some frantic ordering and explanation that she was ‘taking them to see Lord Vozellath’ seemed to be enough to get anyone to step aside.

This went on for quite some time as they were led through the city along what seemed like a slightly wider road than the others. They were looked at with weird expressions by anyone and everyone they passed. The buildings looked quite similar to each other with only minor differences in construction, it was a strangely boring walk had it not been for the need to be vigilant.

They stopped as the road opened up into a massive plaza, it was quite the distance between one side and the other, and the area would have been wasted if it wasn’t for the massive building in the middle of it. It looked to be the size of several industrial warehouses on top of each other, gaining height in addition to its already substantial width and length. Even at this distance, it was easy to see that it was quite well maintained. Compared to all other buildings this sandstone building was adorned with crystals, seemingly random bits of bone as well as runes. Along the side facing them were two massive doors with the same adornment, they were large enough to cover the entire height of the building as well as a proportional width of it, looking like outward-opening castle doors made of metal.

“C... Can... Can I leave now?” The female mage pleaded, she looked almost as terrified of getting close to the building as she was of Gilliam.

“Yes.” Gilliam replied coldly, she had done as ordered and had probably helped them get this far without getting attacked by groups if not the whole army, she deserved her freedom from him.

Not seeming to wait more than a second for this to sink in she ran away, back the way they came from and disappeared into the crowd.

Gilliam turned to his companions. “I suppose now we go challenge the Lord, then?” His voice was a bit tired but there was an undertone of uncertainty and fear.

Angela inhaled to reply but was interrupted by what felt like an earthquake, everything shook a little. It wasn’t to the point where it was hard to stand upright but felt more like something of gargantuan size was moving close to them. All of them turned towards the building as they heard the sound of metal sliding against metal, a second after the sound stopped the doors started opening.