An intervention from the elite harpy forces in the city had been expected by Tiar, but in light of the instability borne from his absence as a leader figure for the armies of Chaos in Yut, he had hoped that intervention would’ve been more delayed. Evidently, the members of the Air Beast Division that used to have been under his command were more organized that he had given them credit for, which meant he would have to take extreme measures as well.

The first of such measures was going to be to separate himself from Bara for the type of battle that was about to begin was something she was not ready for at all. And as the possible key to the entire dimension’s salvation, she could not be lost under any circumstances.

Hearing his voice managed to free his apprentice from the state of shock and slight despair the arrival of the Bloodguard had put her in, given that their leader had neutralized her second deva-based attack, the young lady now looking at him again.

‘Bara, the one leading those harpies up there managed to counter your attack, but the others won’t be able to. Focus on them. Use what I taught you and apply it again and again until they’re eradicated. The herkleri will help you with that.’

The pink-skinned beauty didn’t give neither a verbal, nor a non-verbal response to Tiar’s advice at first, still seeming to be slightly off-balance to properly comprehend his words. And when she did comprehend them, that only added more confusion for her as to the situation they were now in.

‘But why are you telling me this? What are you planning to do?’

‘I have to face her. Alone.’

Hardly had the Viktar finished that statement when his apprentice defied it in a fit of anger. But as problematic as it was, her response at least was expected whilst the one from the herkleri prince next to the two wasn’t.

‘We faced everything up until now together! How is she any different?!’

‘Help her with destroying the harpies?! What are you saying?! We’re more than able to do that on our own!!’

Thankfully, there was another in this situation of the same mind as Tiar – the prince’s guardian who he had referred to as ‘Os’. That old-crown herkleri now pulled the boy back to avoid the possibility of another argument starting between him and his newest ally.

‘I’m afraid we won’t be able to survive against so many enemies without any magic, my prince. We do need the almeya woman with us.’

The prince now directed his outrage toward his guardian just as the apprentice directed hers toward her teacher, Tiar having already sensed the Bloodguard had flown down to attack, which meant there was no time left for arguing. Everyone’s sole goal needed to be survival.

‘What I meant was the two of them should go together while we …’

Tiar simultaneously pushed the boy prince back and threw Bara at Os who instinctively caught her, that action on his part being momentarily followed by the leader of the Harpy Bloodguard trapping the Viktar between her claws.

She pulled him off the ground with her monstrous strength and threw him very high up, Bara’ teacher still seeing her shouting at him with outstretched arms and a desperate face, but no longer being able to say any calming words to her. The female almeya wouldn’t be able to hear them and even if she did, it would not change the present circumstances.

Being thrown up by the one leading the Bloodguard had been no coincidence, that harpy having already launched an attack from the side to collide with Tiar before the momentum of her throw was exhausted. With the distance put between them and the battles that ensued around both the teacher and the apprentice, Bara was going to have no choice but to accept their temporary separation and focus on her foes, the Griffin Slayer planning to do the same even more so.

It was precisely for that reason that he had actually been so insistent on leaving the almeya aside – not just to protect her from the strongest threat in the area but to protect her from himself as well. The clashes up to this point had made the Viktar go mad with bloodlust and if he were to try and sate his hunger for ruin in the view of his allies, those among them that still believed him to be a servant of Order would lose their faith completely.

Thus, the arrival of the elite harpies had proved to be most fortunate for him. Their leader had provided him both with a target powerful enough to properly enjoy ripping to pieces and one he could battle in the sky, far from the eyes of all almeyas and herkleri, especially Bara. There at last could the former Distroya’s true nature could be revealed.

Forming a thin disk-like platform made of Order energy under his feet so that he wouldn’t fall down, the Viktar looked in the direction of the sunset, which could no longer be seen by him because of the object that was blocking it. As that object moved closer, more and more of the setting sun was revealed, its rays starting to illuminate Tiar until they partially blinded him. Even without fully seeing it, the Bloodguard leader’s enemy could guess what the object was by its shape – a bundle of black-feathered wings brought together.

That bundle was most likely meant to explode upon coming in contact with its target, all the wings it contained serving as a distraction for Tiar while his enemy moved behind him to deliver an actual strike, but he could counter both with ease. Simply touching anything with the power of Order run through it was enough to cause Chaos-bound creatures unbearable pain, so Bara’s teacher formed a cloud of white-and-dark-blue energy around him just before the bundle of wings reached him.

The creator of those wings had indeed already appeared at his back, not daring to touch the energy cloud once put up, but her disappointment at her failure to strike seemed so slight it could hardly be noted. Either she was simply trying to conceal her true emotions or had another plan already in play.

Tiar’s doubts were soon cleared when it was revealed the bundle had something hidden inside it after the wings it was made of were restructured into nothing by the cloud around the Order champion. An orb made of ever-swirling Chaos winds had been placed within, inside that orb shining a smaller orb, only this one being made of Chaos flames.

This was a multilayered surprise as to the former Distroya’s knowledge, Chaos harpies only had a Chaos wind deva and more often than not – a wing multiplication deva. To possess a Chaos flame deva on top of those two made one a most rare and special existence, Tiar even regretting not having learned such a gifted harpy existed earlier for a moment.

When that moment passed, the dual-element orb concealed amid the wings had already managed to break through the energy cloud and was now headed straight for the chest of the Viktar within. This proved that having two Chaos-powered devas over the lone Order-powered one that he had gave the harpy an advantage, so her quantity needed to be beaten with quality. And that meant Tiar would need to focus rather than just enjoy this clash as had been originally intended, much to his disappointment.

The Griffin Slayer teleported away from the orb, the winds in its outer layer and the flames in the inner one mixing to form a wide-scale blast of unparalleled might that one could only hope to neutralize by restructuring it. That is precisely what Tiar did without delay, but his foe was on the move as well, the harpy having appeared behind him, cutting his back with both her wings that were clad in her version of a wind deva.

Overcoming the pain of the damage that had been done to him, Bara’s teacher caused a burst of Order energy to put some distance between him and the leader of the Bloodguard, her triumph-fueled grin being visible through the dark blue smoke that had risen from the blast. Tiar then started healing his wounds through restructuring, thinking the only way to counter the enemy he was currently facing was to buy time during which to formulate a strategy. One as insightful and gifted as her couldn’t be defeated with brute force alone.

Suddenly the enemy herself provided the opportunity the Viktar was looking for when she paused their battle to start a conversation – a fact most welcomed by Tiar.

‘We haven’t had one like you show up in these parts for a while. What is it you hope to achieve here, servant of Order?’

‘What does it look like I’m trying to achieve?’

‘Die as pointless a death as your predecessors?’

The harpy wasn’t simply making conversation. She meant to disturb her adversary’s mind and then seize the moment to strike at his body and finish him off. But Tiar had a counter of his own for such a scenario and he delivered it with the same amount of confidence and triumph as the ones shown earlier by the Bloodguard leader.

‘I’m not like them. And neither is this dimension the same as it was before. The forces of Chaos here … as well as everywhere else … they are all pretty distraught, aren’t they? By the devastating defeat their lord suffered recently, I mean.’

Those affected by Chaos had never been good at hiding their emotions and while one could learn to deceive others about their actual state after extensive training, the flicker of fear and anger caused by that fear that passed through the harpy’s face did not go unnoticed by her opponent. Not to mention she paused before answering him, clearly needing at least a few moments to think up a lie that could keep her mask of calm superiority on.

‘Wasn’t the swiftness of our reaction to your poor attempt at a rebellion proof enough that no one serving Chaos here has been disturbed by anything in recent times?’

‘Or was the swiftness of your reaction meant to deceive us that you have not been influenced by the defeat I mentioned? Surely your superiors have given you instructions to not show any signs of weakness in front of those ‘lesser’ races you’re meant to govern. Hence the execution of the nobles I and the herkleri interrupted. This is not the first instance of Chaos force members using execution in desperate times when those beneath them lose respect for their power. So you can confess to me if that is the case in the present as well with no shame, harpy.’

The harpy returned Tiar’s confident smile once he was done with his little psych-breaking tirade.

‘You’re right, Order boy. You’re different from your predecessors. They weren’t nearly as arrogant and weak as you are.’

‘Have you considered the possibility that I was simply testing you to see the extent of your abilities?’

A chuckle came out of the mouth of the Negite harpies’ leader as a response to the Viktar’s latest quip, her reaction showing that his attempts to intimidate her had not been as efficient as expected.

‘And what makes you think you’ve seen the full extent of my abilities?’

Whatever time had been bought with words had now elapsed, the harpy forming giant wings of wind and flame atop her actual ones to use in a cutting fashion, starting to swing at Tiar who used a massive cross-shaped shield to block. The shield cracked more and more under the destructive force it was bombarded with after every swing, in the mean time its maker having concentrated as much of his deva as possible in his lower right arm. Hoping no one on the ground would witness it with how high up the combatants now stood in the sky, the Viktar counterattacked just when his shield was completely shattered, the leading harpy having drawn much closer to him as expected.

Her attempt to deliver a finishing blow fell short as she was met by a colossal beam of Order energy shot at point-blank range. Even with her three devas, such a wide-range and empowered attack would injure the crystal-bearing commander badly without leaving any room for escape. From there Tiar could move to cut her down with one final hit.

Or at least so he thought as this attack didn’t even wound the harpy, the reason for that being that what stood in front of him wasn’t actually her, but a clone she had made by grouping together multiplied wings. The original had hid herself in the giant wings the clone had used to attack the champion of Order with, those wings only partially being restructured into oblivion by the energy beam due to their size. Out of the remainder emerged the leader of the Bloodguard, at first her body being made entirely of black feathers, eventually regaining its normal appearance.

While enraged because he had been outsmarted by someone he considered to be a very low-class creature, Tiar still found the time to be utterly surprised when many fires of Chaos flames burst all around him, immediately being mixed with mini-typhoons of Chaos winds. The last thing he saw before being trapped in the center of a firestorm that had formed unnaturally fast was the villainess mocking him.

‘Much gratitude to you for being too blind to notice the air heating up from my other fire attacks, Order boy!! Now I’ll be able to keep you trapped long enough to extinguish the already smoldering fire of your rebellion!!!’