"The skies have never looked so ominous." Ignus remarked, his voice laced with concern as he looked up at the sky.

"They always have." I added internally.

The skies of Mordurn turned a menacing deep crimson, swirling ominously and casting foreboding shadows over the massive village, instilling a sense of dread in its inhabitants.

The lava-filled rivers stopped flowing and solidified into jagged, fiery paths.

The air's acrid, sulfuric smell intensified.

The once lush and vibrant trees crumbled into dust, their lifelessness evident in every crumbling branch.

The previously flat expanse of land became treacherous terrain, with rocky outcrops jutting out and deep crevices creating an uneven landscape.

The heaving ground echoed the emotions of its people grappling with an insurmountable challenge.

Lilith unleashed a powerful beam of fire called Soul Blast, which appeared to harness energy from the cosmos.

The air seemingly vanished, and a shockwave pushed us all far back.

The scarlet energy cracked with power, the air around her fracturing into a spiderweb of crimson cracks.

With each passing moment, Lilith poured more energy into her attack, the ground trembling beneath her feet as if in fear of the imminent explosion.

The intensity of her power was both mesmerising and terrifying, leaving no doubt that Lilith was a force to be reckoned with.

But the tremendous dark angel stood before her unscathed, seemingly unaffected by the immense power of the beam. It appeared to be absorbing it.

"How?!" exclaimed Lilith, pouring more power into her attack, "Why won't you fall?! What are you?!"

She gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on the beam, pouring even more energy into it.

The air around her had cracked with the scarlet energy, and the ground had shaken beneath her feet.

But still, the angel remained unscathed.

Lilith was at a loss.

Never before had she encountered an opponent other than Beatrice that could withstand the full force of her powers.

Taking a deep breath and pausing for a moment, Lilith stepped back, her eyes narrowing in determination.

She needed to think of a new strategy that could defeat this seemingly invincible opponent.

"Lilith! Ignus! Any ideas on dealing with the big and ugly over there?" Beatrice yelled over the din of battle.

Despite the overwhelming odds, Gorgon's resolve remained unflinching. Everywhere one looked, another version of him was engaging a dark angel.

"I don't have any!" Shouted Gorgon.

"Me neither." Ignus responded, also shouting.

The clash echoed across the landscape, creating a cacophony of noise that was deafening.

"I'll shield Mordurn." Beatrice declared with a resolute voice as a luminous red barrier, both ethereal and robust, had enveloped the entire village, a palpable display of her courage in the face of adversity.

Amidst all this, the colossal dark angel had cast its gaze upon Gorgon, its voice rumbling like thunder and chilling the air.

Its immense size and power were almost overwhelming.

Undaunted, Beatrice bolted forward, summoning the celestial chains and attempting to anchor the beast.

"It's not invincible!" She shouted with conviction, hoping to inspire her comrades.

She somehow moved even faster, but the chains seemed to do nothing against the dark angel's immense power.

With a mere flick, the dark angel sent her soaring across the sky, causing Lilith and Ignus to scream in horror.

"Fall back!" Gorgon's voice cut through the chaos.

It was clear that brute force wasn't going to be the answer to this problem.

"Any bright ideas?" Lilith asked sarcastically, sending a blast of energy at an approaching dark angel, forcing it to retreat.

Gorgon, catching his breath, spoke up, "We can't just brute force this. We've seen how that ends."

"What do you expect us to do?!" Lilith growled, her frustration mounting.

Gorgon hesitated, feeling helpless in the face of such overwhelming power, his voice trembling.

"I wish I knew."

"Just thinking out loud, but what if we draw it away from Mordurn?" Gorgon postulated, his eyes darting around, looking for a feasible escape route, "Lead it somewhere it doesn't have an advantage?"

"Sounds reckless, but at this point, we might not have much choice," Beatrice responded, somehow appearing out of nowhere, her eyes scanning the skies.

"Just what I wanted to hear. A likely death wish," Lilith sneered, her tone dripping with sarcasm, "How did you even get back so quickly? And why do you look so different? Did the air up there favour growth? There's a certain fullness about you that wasn't there before."

A sly smile danced on Beatrice's face.

"I've got my own secrets." She said, her words accompanied by a mischievous and enticing sparkle.

Her fingers traced a tantalising path down her chest, her playful demeanour making it clear that there was more beneath the surface.

Her voice dripped with mischief as she leaned closer, "Wouldn't it be thrilling to uncover every hidden layer?" She purred, her gaze locking with Lilith's.

Ignus sighed, catching a brief moment of respite, and chimed in.

"Death wish or not, we need to act. Staying here is a guaranteed loss. Could we use a decoy—"

"Outsmarting might be a better idea, actually." Beatrice interjected, her demeanour instantly changing.

"Beatrice might be onto something." Lilith said, her eyes narrowing in determination.

Ignus nodded in agreement, his mind racing as he tried to think of a strategy.

"But how do we outsmart an opponent who seems to have all the advantages?" Gorgon asked.

"We need to identify its weaknesses," Beatrice suggested, "There must be something it's vulnerable to."

"Like what? What would it be vulnerable to?" Gorgon began to ask before Ignus interrupted him.

"Bickering won't help. We need a strategy, and we need it now." His determination blazed in his eyes as he charged forward, his massive blade gleaming with the power of his pride.

Amidst the chaos of the battle, his declaration pierced the air.

"It's got to have a weak point!"

The urgency in his voice had been clear, and I could feel the weight of his conviction bearing down on me.

As Ignus' flames illuminated the surroundings, I took a moment to assess the situation.

The anger within me burned brighter than ever before, a new and unfamiliar emotion that I was still learning to control.

Lost in thought, I remembered Yukio's tendency to overlook small details. Suddenly, an idea struck me.

"If we can destabilise its balance, we may be able to challenge its dominance." I said, my voice low and determined.

Ignus caught my drift, nodding his head as he focused his energy on the giant's legs. The entity began to wobble, causing gravitational forces to shift and spatial fabrics to tear.

The shield Beatrice had placed around the city coincidentally dimmed before shattering completely, allowing the devastation to seep through.

Lilith's warning cry echoed too late, as Ignus’ strategy to destabilise the colossal entity had dire consequences.

The massive steps of the wobbling dark angel crushed large parts of Mordurn beneath its feet.

Ignus stumbled back, realising the magnitude of his move. "No... this isn’t... I didn’t mean—"

Ignus was taken aback by the unintended consequences of his actions. He turned and walked over to me, a mix of frustration and realisation etched on his face.

As the echoes of the catastrophic battle faded, a heavy and ominous silence descended upon the land, contrasting starkly with the prior chaos. It was the kind of silence that hung heavily, full of weight and meaning.

Ignus scrutinised me with a searching gaze, probing for any hint of deceit or revelation.

"You knew this was going to happen, didn't you?" he asked, his tone heavy with accusation.

I replied immediately and with complete honesty, "I didn't expect this to happen." I said in the most unconvincing way ever.

A heavy sigh had escaped me, the gravity of the situation settling in.

Suddenly, Lilith's scream pierced the eerie silence.

"Ignus, MOVE!"

Ignus. But it was too late. Shadows oozed from the dark angel, enveloping Ignus and turning him to dust. The gravity of our decisions and losses weighed heavily on my shoulders.

He made his point.

He was in control.

The tendrils moved with uncanny speed, and with a suddenness that left Lilith reeling, the tendrils snaked around her and pulled her into nothingness.

Gorgon tried to dodge, but the tendrils were relentless. They caught him mid-flight, and like Lilith, he vanished.

Ignus realised the gravity of the situation and fought back with all his might, brandishing his blade at the dark threads. However, his efforts were in vain, as he too disappeared in a matter of moments.

Beatrice, realising the futility of direct combat, tried a different tactic. She whispered incantations, hoping to push back the grasping tendrils, but they proved too powerful.

Even her strongest spells couldn't save her. As she was consumed, she gave me a final, unwavering gaze.

As I struggled to make sense of my emotions, the angel spoke again.

"Even with your memories back, you still feel connected to them..."

I seethed with anger, rejecting his words, yet the confusion still lingered.

"Shut up, Yukio..." I muttered through gritted teeth.

He laughed, a sound that was both cold and mirthless.

"Little girl, lost in her emotions. How amusing. Are these feelings new to you?"

The raw emotion in me had been too much to hide anymore. My voice broke as I shouted, "Just shut up!"

The eerie silence had only been broken by my shouting and the sound of the tendrils slithering away, leaving no trace of their destructive path.

Looking at the barren lands that were once Mordurn, I sighed, "Fine, I'll play your game."

Suddenly, I heard whispers. They were cold and ghastly, and they seemed to come from all around me.

"Good choice..." The whispers said.

As I took a deep breath, I started walking into the unknown, feeling the fiery air brush against my face.

The sound of my footsteps echoed through the deserted lands, the red gravel crunching under my feet.

The whispers had grown louder, their tone mocking.

I was aware that Yukio was watching me, his eyes fixed on my every move.

As I walked, my mind raced with a million thoughts. Was I making the right decision? Did I have any chance at all?

The uncertainty had gnawed at me, but I forged ahead, determined to see this through to the end. I knew that failure was not an option.