000 - What Makes The Sky Blue

After seeing many people faint like this I immediately wanted to leave this place to check what's happening. "Therese it's a pity but we have to postpone our duel."

But as I was about to run, Therese suddenly stopped me by holding my arm. "Wait a moment Rei! Take me with you I can help too!"

I wasn't sure if bringing Therese to fight the Primal Beast is a good idea or not... But when I saw her determined expression, I finally decided to take her along.

"Alright, Therese... But stay close to me because we might face the Primal Beast." I pulled Therese closer to me.

After that, I immediately lifted Therese with a Princess Carry. "Uaaahhh!!?" Therese didn't expect me to carry her like this.

"Rei, what are you doing!? I can run on my own!" Therese protested while thrashing around trying to get me to put her down.

"It'll be faster this way," I said, then started jumping towards the exit hallway from this place. Therese Instinctively hugged my neck to prevent herself from falling off.

But because many panicked people were trying to enter this place to seek shelter from the monster attack, it is really difficult for me to get out of this place.

After Therese and I managed to escape from the Casino Liner, we could see countless monsters attacking the city.

"What the hell..." I could see many people who hadn't escaped in time being killed by these monsters.

Because the casino liner is on high ground, I can see the whole city easily from here and I can see clearly the chaos that is happening.

"It's horrifying... So many innocent people dying just like that," Therese muttered while clenching her fists tightly.

"Hold on tight, Therese! I'm going to make a long jump to get us there faster," I told Therese.

Therese nodded after hearing me and hugged my neck even closer and a bit tighter. Seeing that Therese was ready, I then channeled a bit more of my energy into my legs.

Then I jumped very far with the help of that energy, with Therese holding onto me tightly.

While Therese and I were in the air, I could see the entire city more clearly from here.

The screams of many people those being killed by the monster attacks, and people running in panic that making them trampling over fallen children...

Seeing this really makes me angry, but then I noticed Djeeta fighting several monsters alone while trying to help fallen residents.

"Therese, I'm going to change direction, hold on tight!" After that I used the Wind from Tiamat to change my movement and headed straight towards Djeeta.

I landed hard near Djeeta causing her to turn towards me. "Who- Rei!?" But Djeeta couldn't look at me for long because the monsters were still attacking her.

"Focus on the fight, Djeeta. I'm here to drop off Therese." I then set Therese down and said to her, "Therese, please help here. I'm going to the Primal Beast's location."

Therese is shocked to hear what I said, especially when I mentioned that I was going to the Primal Beast's location. "What!? What are you thinking!? What if the Primal Beast attacks you? You can't defeat it alone!"

"It's okay, Therese, I'll be fine, so I want you to help the others—..!??" In the middle of my sentence, I suddenly saw a huge blaze of fire shooting up into the sky.

The power I felt is getting stronger and stronger, even surpassing any Primal Beast I had encountered before! "Djeeta!!" I shouted towards Djeeta who is also staring at the huge fire.

When Djeeta heard me calling her she immediately turned to me. "Djeeta, the power of the Primal Beast I'm feeling is getting stronger. If you're done helping the other residents, please bring Lyria there!"

Djeeta quickly nodded and said, "Alright, Rei! I'll follow you after I finish here." Then Djeeta resumed attacking the monsters, but this time I could see a blue aura enveloping her sword.

Without wasting any time I walked away from Therese. Once I was far enough I started to release my four wings.

"!!!??" Therese looked shocked when she saw me using my wings, but I didn't have any more time. I immediately flew towards the source of the fire.

I felt a bit relieved that the fire I saw is outside the city, so it didn't cause more destruction within the city. The city is still filled with monsters, and many Skyfarers are helping and fighting them.

I flew out towards the source of the fire. The closer I got, the warmer my body felt, which is really concerning because my body doesn't easily feel cold or hot. If I felt warm, ordinary humans would likely be burning up!

"SCREEECH!" I heard the sound again from within the towering flames.

"Ughhh!! It's so hot!" I had to stop because the heat is getting stronger and stronger, making it difficult to get closer.

I saw the ground around it starting to glow red from the intense heat. "Damn, this is bad. I need to do something before the entire island gets burned." I then raised my right hand and used my Force Barrier.

"Atheism." As I said that, light of various colors—red, blue, brown, green, yellow, and dark—emerged from my right hand.

The light flew into the sky and spread out, creating a barrier around the area. This way, the island wouldn't be affected by the Primal Beast's heat; only the area within the barrier would be impacted.

"I am the embodiment of the burning flame. The strong fear me; the wise respect me." Suddenly, I heard a voice, like a woman voice from within the fiery tower.

Soon the flames began to calm and converge into a single point, forming something. "Yet ye insolent fools dare forget your place. Ye shall suffer my burning judgment, here and now. My flames shall sear the sky and cremate the earth. All shall tremble before me."

The flames started to take the shape of a massive bird, even larger than the Celeste ship!

Everything happened so quickly. Not long I could see a silhouette that I recognized. "Phoenix!?"

The point of fire then exploded, causing me to be thrown back slightly from the intense heat and wind. "Damn!!!"

After the wind stopped, I could clearly see the form of the Phoenix. Her body is completely engulfed in blazing fire, and I wasn't sure if ordinary weapons would have any effect on her.

[IMAGE]

As far as I remember, the Phoenix is the sole sun creature, born from the sun three billion years ago. She can be categorized similarly to the Omnipotent Bahamut, but despite their similar categories, the Phoenix utterly despises Bahamut.

Eventually, together with her chosen human, she managed to kill the Omnipotent Bahamut, causing Bahamut to split into two. In the last event I completed, it even took many overpowered beings like Archangel Raziel and Sandalphon to defeat the Phoenix.

But besides those two many others tried to defeat the Phoenix until Raziel used her book to have Djeeta possessed by Bahamut and gain his power!

However, upon closer inspection, I could feel that this Phoenix is a Primal Beast, and it's impossible for the real Phoenix to be a Primal Beast. So, the conclusion I came to is that this one is a fake.

Perhaps the Astrals used fragments of the real Phoenix to create this one.

The Phoenix seems to be surveying her surroundings and notices the barrier surrounding the area and me flying while observing her.

"Are you an Astral? My Master? After abandoning me here, what do you want to do with me?" The Phoenix speaks with a tone full of hatred towards me.

Damn, she can sense that I'm an Astral, but whatever, if she can be negotiated with, it's fine. "I'm not the Astral you remember from hundreds of years ago, Phoenix. If possible, can we talk this through?" I say, hoping everything can be resolved peacefully.

"...HAHAHAHA. After your kind abandoned me here, now you want to negotiate with me?" The Phoenix's body is instantly surrounded by fire that forms a massive arrow.

"Damnit! Leviathan! Leviathan Bow Omega!" I call upon a bow imbued with the power of Leviathan.

[IMAGE]

"Reflective Water," the bow then begins to produce a glowing arrow made of water, which I shoot.

As I fire, the arrow speeds forward and explodes in front of me, creating a large mirror capable of reflecting any attack.

"*SCREEECH!*" The Phoenix then fires her massive flame arrow at me, but thanks to the mirror in front of me, all her attacks are deflected back towards her.

*Booooom* An explosion sounds as the Phoenix is hit by her own attack, but after the smoke clears, I can see that the Phoenix isn't hurt at all.

The mirror in front of me disappears since it is a one-time use, and the bow I hold also begins to vanish. Now, it is just me and the Phoenix staring at each other.