Chapter 261 - Go Go Super Sol!
The glow built rapidly, folding outward from Sol's core in bright, blinding golden waves. The heat coming off him intensified further and further. The grass near Sol literally ignited.
And yet despite the blazing heat, the burning heat destroying the very environment around him, Eden was entirely fine, even soothed by Sol's bright flames.
"What…?"
Eden felt it through the bond as a second heartbeat pressing against the inside of his mind, steady and growing louder. Sol was thinking of him. Through the sight of Eden about to take the heavy blow for him, Sol was moved to the point of unlocking his inner potential.
The Vermillion Bird's fire column was still coming.
Sol's wings spread wide and he screamed, cutting through the air and splitting the fire column around them both. Eden felt the heat pass to either side of him but not touch him.
The column died just like that.
Sol launched himself upward, and the Vermillion Bird actually began to backpedal. Its talons gouged trenches in the dirt as it scrambled to put distance between itself and the smaller phoenix.
Eden stared at the scene. His shoulder still throbbed and his lungs still burned, but for a moment none of that registered. Sol was glowing with something deeper than the normal fire that wreathed his body constantly. It came from inside and shined through.
The Vermillion Bird's eyes tracked Sol's ascent. Its head tilted, calculating, and then it raised both wings and brought them down in a single violent motion. A wall of superheated air rushed upward toward Sol.
Sol dove straight through it.
The wall broke around him and Sol emerged on the other side with his talons already extended, flames burning white at the tips. He raked across the Vermillion Bird's face and this time he hit the eye.
The Vermillion Bird's scream came out high and desperate. It thrashed its head from side to side while Sol let go before he could be thrown, banking away with ease.
Blood ran down the Vermillion Bird's face. Blood, red and thick, dripped freely from the ruined socket of its left eye. The eye was still there, though it was clouded and weeping as the bird blinked rapidly, trying to clear whatever damage Sol had done.
Eden didn't waste the opening. "Ember Wave!"
The fire caught the Vermillion Bird across its wounded face and it shrieked, stumbling sideways. One of its wings dragged along the ground and its entire left side was exposed.
Sol dove without needing Eden's command, talons sinking into the joint where wing met body. He tore through feathers and flesh in burning chunks. The Vermillion Bird's wing buckled but still held, though it could no longer raise it fully. The injured wing hung lower than the other and dragged slightly when the bird moved.
Eden felt Sol's satisfaction through the bond, sharp and hot and deeply vindictive. The pride of an Imperial Phoenix who had finally made his lesser understand the difference between them.
But Eden also felt the cost. Sol's reserves were draining fast. Whatever this new power was, it burned through him at a rate that wasn't sustainable. They had minutes at most.
The Vermillion Bird lowered its head with its beak aimed at Sol, and the heat in the air began to concentrate around its throat. The glow built brighter and more contained than before.
Eden understood without knowing how that this attack would be faster and harder to dodge.
"Sol, move!"
Sol banked hard right just as the Vermillion Bird opened its beak and fired a sphere of compressed fire. It was small enough to track a moving target and fast enough that Sol had to twist midair to avoid it. The sphere grazed his wing and exploded behind him, and Sol tumbled through the shockwave but caught himself.
Another sphere was already coming.
Eden teleported Sol south and the sphere passed through where Sol had been. The Vermillion Bird tracked the teleport instantly and fired a third sphere before Sol had fully reoriented.
Sol dove, letting the sphere pass over his back close enough that his flames flickered. Eden felt the near miss like ice down his spine.
The spheres were coming faster now with the intervals between them shrinking. The Vermillion Bird was clearly enraged and they couldn't keep dodging forever.
Eden reached through the bond. He sent the outline of a plan toward Sol and felt Sol catch it, turn it over, and send back fierce agreement.
The next sphere came. Eden teleported Sol directly in front of the Vermillion Bird's face.
The sphere was still forming in the bird's throat and its one good eye went wide.
Sol screamed and unleashed everything he had in a cone of fire, pouring directly into the Vermillion Bird's face and throat. The sphere the bird had been building detonated inside its own mouth.
The explosion threw Sol backward, tumbling end over end, but he caught himself after twenty feet and shook off the impact. His flames were dimmer now and flickering, but he was still flying.
The Vermillion Bird had taken the explosion through the inside of its beak and throat. Smoke poured from its mouth while its one good eye blinked slowly, unfocused. Its legs were unsteady beneath it and the injured wing dragged lower than before. The bird tried to raise it and failed.
Sol circled overhead, waiting. Eden could feel his exhaustion, heavy and pressing, but underneath it was something that felt like hunger. Sol wanted to finish this and prove which of them was the true master of fire.
The Vermillion Bird lifted its head with visible effort and looked at Sol. Then it looked at Eden. Its eye was clearer now as the shock faded, and Eden could see the calculation happening behind it.
It made its choice and spread both wings, even the injured one, and screamed. The sound was ragged and raw but carried power nonetheless. The heat in the air spiked again and the grass burst into flame yet again. It was clear to them that the bird was gathering everything it had left.
"SCREEEEE!" Sol answered with his own scream, then instantly dove to meet it.
They clashed in the air above the burning plain, fire against fire and gold against red. The Vermillion Bird's beak snapped at Sol's wing, plucking a couple feathers out. Furious, Sol immediately retaliated, his talons raked across its chest, cutting flesh. The larger bird tried to bring its wing around in a backhand, but the injured wing was too slow.
By the time it had turned around, Sol was already gone.
Eden watched and felt useless. His mana was low and his body was battered. Though he drank mana potions, there was only so much he could do. Every spell he cast now was a gamble between his remaining reserves and Sol's need for support. Sol was still fighting and still burning against an enemy that should have crushed him ten minutes ago.
And Eden realized, watching Sol dive again and again, that this was what the bond was supposed to be. Trust. Sol trusted him to be here and to teleport him when he needed it and to cast when the opening came.
Eden straightened. His shoulder screamed and he ignored it.
"Wingbeat!"
The power surged through Sol and his next dive was faster than the Vermillion Bird could track. His talons found the injured wing joint and tore deeper, and this time the bird's wing gave way entirely. The limb hung limp and useless, dragging the bird's entire right side down.
The Vermillion Bird stumbled, and for a moment, it looked as if it would directly fall. Yet it caught itself with its good wing braced against the ground, its chest heaving and smoke still leaking from its throat.
Sol circled above, waiting. His flames were still dimmer than before, but the glow at his core had not faded. It was brighter now and steadier, proving that although his burst of power was fading, he had truly awakened something permanently.
Eden felt it through the bond. The phoenix who had started this fight was not the same phoenix who was currently circling above the wounded Vermillion Bird.
The Vermillion Bird pushed itself upright with visible effort. Its injured wing hung useless and its throat was torn and one eye was clouded. Despite it all, it still planted its talons and raised its head.
It locked eyes with Sol. It silently stared, considering its options. It could tell very well that Sol, despite his boost, wouldn't last forever.
The Vermillion Bird's eye flicked between Sol and Eden. It had been treating this as two separate fights with the phoenix in the air and the human on the ground. But every time it had gone for Eden, Sol had been there. Every time it had focused on Sol, Eden had cast from the ground.
He now understood something. They were not two enemies but one, and it had taken the bird this long to understand that.
Changing targets, the Vermillion Bird lowered its head, beak aimed at Eden, and charged.