The heavens raged across the sea.

Talos’ hammer summoned divine thunder to light up the night sky. Standing at the prow with her scepter raised, Andromache called upon her magic with a chant. Thunderbolts fell on the Foresight, only for the witch to deflect them away.

Below, Kairos’ fleet opened fire upon the Cradle’s defenders. Ballista missiles and fireballs rained down on enemy ships and mechanical sea monsters, while Thessalan vessels retaliated by ramming Lycean galleys. Mechanical krakens swept away sailors from decks before attempting to drag ships below the waves.

The vast army that Kairos had gathered under his banner included many [Heroes], and they all proved their mettle again today. Nausicaa and amphibious soldiers placed strategic mines in the path of enemy vessels. Aglaonice commanded [Spellcasters] to rain fiery rocks and ice javelins from the safety of their ships’ decks. Lycean warriors eager for glory boarded Thessalan vessels, their [Heroes] slaughtering men by the dozens as Pelopidas had once killed his way through the Foresight’s crew. Even Cetean sea monsters who Kairos had rallied emerged from the ocean to give the machines a battle worthy of an epic poem.

Kairos didn’t fear for a second that his troops would not prevail in the naval engagement, but the skies would prove a harder fight.

Kairos’ aerial force assembled in a crescent formation under Queen Euthenia’s leadership as flying automatons emerged from the Cradle to face them. Pegasus riders around the Orthian ruler carried Cassandra, Ultor, Dispater, and Agron. As soon as the opportunity presented itself, they would make a dash for Talos’ forges and storm them.

But for that, they would have to get past Talos himself. Kairos saw his colossal legs move below the water, each step of the giant automaton sending mighty waves in all directions. Ships were pushed back at his approach, their formation disrupted. Any vessel brave or foolish enough to open fire on Talos himself was felled with a blow of his warhammer, the giant weapon shattering galleys into splinters.

Talos alone might destroy the entire fleet if left to his own devices. However, the flock of flying machines controlling the aerial space around the titan made approaching him difficult even for Kairos. That was why he had left the control rod in Thales’ hands for now, so he could fully focus on clearing the path ahead.

The Travian King couldn’t summon a hurricane like he did in Orthia either. The sea wasn’t the land. The waters would rage on fiercely, sinking friends and foe alike. Nor would any wind be powerful enough to cast down Talos anyway.

“Engage Talos!” Kairos shouted as Rook flew in front of the Foresight. “Let us bring down his helpers and drive him away from our fleet!”

The Foresight let out a roar and breathed fire from its fanged maw.

Kairos summoned the winds to empower the attack, enhancing the blaze tenfold. The Foresight’s fires hit half a dozen flying automatons and caused them to detonate in blinding explosions.

Talos’ aerial escort retaliated with lethal force. Flying machines tried to swarm the Foresight from all sides. Some unleashed fireballs, others straight-up attempted to ram the living ship’s hull and wings. Queen Euthenia’s aerial forces moved to intercept them and Kairos quickly joined in. The Travian King deflected fireballs with his wind while pegasus and griffin riders struck the flying machines with spears before they could reach their target. Cassandra blasted foes with ghostly flames from her steed’s back while Dispater turned automatons to silver and gold with a glance. Those he successfully targeted grew too heavy to support their own flight and collapsed into the sea below.

But it didn’t matter how many machines Kairos and his allies destroyed; more kept coming. If they had been fighting living creatures, the mere sight of the Travian King would have sent them fleeing.

But alas machines knew no fear.

[Raider] and [Telchine Sorcery] failed to activate! Automatons are immune to [Mind] effects and status ailments!

Most of Kairos’ Skills focused on affecting living beings, whether they were civilized people or animals. Machines were his worst match-up.

But he had other tricks up his sleeve.

“[Spellblade], [Sun of War], [Heartseeker]!” Kairos shouted as he activated his combat Skills. His spear glowed like the sun as the Travian King threw it into the aerial melee.

His weapon hit a flying automaton and unleashed a mighty explosion of sunfire. The blast opened a sizable hole in the machines' defense perimeter, which Euthenia swiftly exploited.

“Onward!” the Orthian Queen shouted to her troops. Euthenia led a charge of pegasus riders and flew straight for the Cradle with Cassandra, Ultor, and the others in tow. The automaton flying force prioritized protecting the fortress over their maker and gave the pegasi chase.

Only the Foresight and Kairos remained to confront Talos.

The giant automaton finally noticed the Foresight’s approach and stopped targeting the seafaring fleet to focus on the flying ship. The colossus raised his warhammer as he advanced, slow as only a giant behemoth like him could be.

He is clumsy, Kairos thought as he recalled his spear to his hand. For all of his immense power and size, Talos was a [Crafter] and not a [Fighter]. His movements lacked any martial pride. But he only needs to hit the Foresight once to destroy it.

Worse, Kairos’ ship lacked Rook’s maneuverability in the air. The Foresight would need support to survive.

“Thales, Julia, are you ready?!” Kairos shouted to his allies, his voice booming over the wind. The Foresight would enter Talos’ striking range within minutes. “Now is the time!”

“My Legendary Skill does not work on him!” Julia answered back at the prow of the ship. The queen covered her face with a hand to protect herself from the blowing wind, although she couldn’t hide her clenched jaw. “Either he is immune to it or automatons are outside my Skill’s purview!”

Her [Queen’s Rebellion] ability allowed her to cause magical items to malfunction up to a certain level. Kairos had hoped automatons under Talos’ control might count, but clearly, he had been mistaken.

In contrast, Thales was as ready as he had ever been. The automaton touched the rubies adorning his creation, causing them to shine brighter.

“I am arming the weapon, sir!” Thales shouted. Mages on the Foresight’s deck cast buffs on him to boost his [Luck] and general accuracy. “I will activate it at your signal!”

I will not betray your faith in me, Thales, Kairos swore in his mind as he raised his spear. Talos was now close enough to strike and lifted his warhammer above his head.

“Rook, move to the left!” Kairos shouted.

“Buckle up, Kairos!” his griffin replied as he followed his partner’s command.

Talos brought down his hammer with a mechanical roar in a vertical strike, his mighty weapon surging with lightning. The Foresight moved to the left to dodge as Kairos threw his spear like a javelin.

The Dawnspear shone as brightly as the sun as it hit Talos’ hands from the left side. The resulting blast slightly deviated the hammer to the right, the head narrowly missing the Foresight. The hammer crashed into the sea below with enough strength to spread a small tidal wave around the impact point.

“Thales, now!” Kairos ordered as he teleported his spear back to his hand. The Foresight had now moved close to Talos’ left flank. “Before he can raise his hammer again!”

Thales raised his control rod as it brightened with power. He moved at the very edge of the Foresight’s deck and threw his weapon straight at his maker.

His aim was true.

The control rod struck Talos’ bronze skin and violently exploded in a red flash. Crimson energy spread through the colossus’ body as he roared to the heavens.

A red glow spread through the Cradle, the automaton aerial forces, and the mechanical sea monsters alike. Some of the machines outright stopped functioning, with flyers falling into the ocean or steel krakens freezing in place as they were about to drag sailors to their doom. Others fled in confusion, abandoning the fight outright.

Thales’ plan had worked. His weapon had disrupted Talos’ control over his own creations. Even better, the father of machines himself appeared shaken. The flames in his eyes turned green and lost their malice.

“I…” Talos’ voice was a booming echo as powerful as thunder. “What is happening… where am…”

“Lord Talos!” Thales shouted to his creator from the Foresight’s deck. He was overjoyed at his plan’s success. “You are free!”

“I…” Talos’ voice shook as he struggled to form a sentence. “I…”

A chill went down Kairos’ spine and he immediately ordered his allies to back down. “Fly away!”

Rook swiftly put some distance between them and Talos. The Foresight imitated them right as the red glow around Talos dissipated. The colossal automaton turned silent once more and the green fires of his transformed into a baleful purple.

Some of Talos’ automatons had regained their freedom, but the [Demigod] himself swiftly returned under Mithridates’ control. Thales’ ploy had only temporarily disrupted his maker’s divine control rod.

Worse, Talos immediately attempted to reassert control over his flock. His eyes unleashed a flash of purple light that touched all automatons within his sight, Thales among them. Those affected by the light immediately fell back under the giant’s control and returned straight to fighting Kairos’ forces.

To Kairos’ relief, the purple glow vanished from Thales as swiftly as it appeared.

Talos [Machine Authority] couldn’t [Enthrall] Thales thanks to your [Leadership] Skill!

Even though the situation was dire, Kairos couldn’t help but smile in pride at Thales’ resolve. Leadership only worked if the people fighting under him truly believed in his command. The fact Thales benefited from it meant that he considered the Travian King a greater authority figure than his own creator.

But his smile turned to sorrow as soon as he saw Thales’ shoulders crumble in despair.

The engineer knew his plan to save his maker had failed.

They would have no choice but to destroy Talos.

“Kairos!” Julia shouted from the Foresight’s prow. “Look, the Cradle!”

Kairos did so and gritted his teeth in frustration.

A flock of griffin riders appeared out of nowhere above the fortress and swiftly engaged Kairos’ own aerial forces in a pitched battle. The Travian King was too far away to see how his allies fared on that front, though thankfully most of the automatons protecting the Cradle had dispersed.

Since Talos’ focus had been on the Foresight when he activated his [Machine Authority] ability, many of his creations beyond his sight had escaped enslavement. Kairos could only hope the brief disruption would allow them to claim the fortress. And if Talos now needed a conscious effort to keep automatons under his thumb instead of doing so automatically, then the colossus’ demise would mean his army’s end.

Whatever the case, Kairos had to turn his focus back on the colossus as he lifted his warhammer again. Kairos raised his spear to attack Talos, only for spots of his bronze skin to liquefy. The drops of molten bronze fell off the colossus’ body and swiftly transformed into dog-sized arrows with wings.

Talos’ [Bronze Forge] Legendary Skill generated new automatons!

Kairos had long wondered how Talos could craft automatons when he was larger than his own forges.

Now he knew.

“Do you have a new plan, Thales?” Andromache asked as she turned her focus from protecting the Foresight from thunderbolts to their new enemies.

“I have!” Thales frantically turned to Julia. “Milady, I need fire rods!”

Kairos would have asked Thales what he intended to do, but Talos didn’t give them the opportunity to coordinate. While the giant attempted to fell the Foresight in a single blow, his castaway creations assaulted Kairos.

“Respect our personal space!” Rook shrieked as he flew away from their pursuers. The Travian King created a wind tunnel to enhance their speed while blasting away the arrow-automatons as they came. Andromache did the same with the few creatures attempting to assault the Foresight.

The living ship managed to avoid Talos’ swing by flying out of his range, though the colossus immediately gave chase. Soon Talos found himself sandwiched between the Foresight at his front and Kairos in his back just as Kairos defeated the last automatons attacking him.

Like any good [Rogue], Kairos immediately backstabbed Talos by throwing his spear. His weapon hit the colossus between the shoulders in a cataclysmic burst of sunfire that seemed to set the night itself alight.

When Kairos teleported the spear back to his hand and the dust dissipated, his attack had barely left a mark. The bronze making up Talos’ skin had heated up and melted in some areas, only to reveal more layers of metal underneath.

The colossus hadn’t even noticed. His attention remained firmly set on the escaping Foresight which he attempted to bring down with slow, clumsy hammer swings.

How are we supposed to bring this thing down? Kairos wondered as he furiously tried to figure out a solution. My [Godslayer] Skill can bypass magical resistance, but it can’t pierce through layers upon layers of metal shielding!

He could only hope Thales had a plan.

“Kairos!” Rook warned him as his head tilted in the Cradle’s direction. “Something is coming our way!”

Kairos’ eyes turned from Talos’ back to his fortress, and to a lone flying figure coming for his head.

At first glance, Kairos thought it was some kind of harpy. The truth was more mystifying. It was a winged woman, yes; but her feathers were made of enchanted silver and attached to her shoulders through a harness. A suit of body armor of steel completed the strange apparatus.

Kairos’ Skills immediately identified the wings’ true nature.

Silver Wings of Icarus

Artifact: Rank 3

Value: Priceless.

An improved version of the infamous Wings of Icarus, refined by Talos to correct their vulnerability to fire. The Wings allow the user to fly with excellent maneuverability, grant them Resistance to [Fire] and [Sunlight], and raise their [Agility] stat by one stage. Finally, the silver feathers can be used as bladed projectiles.

The wings allowed the woman to move as swiftly as a bird, even though she wore light armor and carried a throwing ax in each hand. One was clad in a shroud of fire and the other released a cloud of misty ice around its blade.

Kairos recognized her even before she approached him enough for him to see her face. After all, he had already fought her in a sky duel last year.

“Teuta?” Kairos whispered under his breath. How did she get here?

“It’s that sore loser again!” Rook complained as he extended his talons.

Teuta greeted them with a roar as she raised her axes. Her wings moved so swiftly that they became difficult to see and she closed the gap between Kairos and herself within seconds. Rook immediately dodged by diving down close to the sea, though his rider didn’t retaliate immediately.

Kairos still wanted to talk things out if he could.

“I thought you were days away in the east?” Kairos asked before noticing the magical amulet around Teuta’s neck. This was the same device she had used to cheat death when last they met. “I see… you teleported to the Cradle, didn’t you?”

“I intended to ambush you at sea and wondered why you weren’t coming!” Teuta replied as she and Kairos circled Talos’ waist a few meters above the rising waves. The colossus paid them no attention as he chased after the Foresight. “When Talos’ rod started to malfunction, I knew you tricked us again!”

“And I suppose you gave similar amulets to the griffin riders over there,” Kairos said as he glanced at the Cradle. Teuta’s allies were still fighting Euthenia’s aerial force for control of the fortress’ defensive perimeter to the sound of cannonfire. “Will Mithridates join us? Did he trade his dragon for wings, as you did with your griffin?”

“Concern yourself with fighting me before you can think of Mithridates!”

Kairos manipulated the wind to enhance Rook’s speed. The griffin and his rider regained altitude and approached the thunderous clouds.

“You know what happened to the last person who bore those wings, Teuta!” Kairos shouted over his shoulder. “Icarus flew too close to the sun and fell into the sea to their death.”

“Good thing it’s still night then!” Teuta replied as she raised her icy ax. “You killed the sun while you were a mere [Hero], if I remember well! Let’s see if I can do the same!”

The would-be pirate queen threw her ax at Kairos, the Travian King swiftly deflecting it with a swing of his spear. Teuta’s weapon immediately reappeared in her hand.

“A copycat to the end!” Rook mocked Teuta.

“I have no desire to fight you!” Kairos shouted to his enemy. The Pirate Queen might have been his rival once, but the situation had spiraled far beyond their rivalry. “Teuta, do you know Mithridates allied with the Beast Cult? The side you fight for has sold its soul to Lycaon!”

“I know!” Teuta gritted her teeth. “I know.”

“Then why do you keep fighting for them?” Kairos asked as the two flew high above the battlefield. From his vantage point, the Foresight appeared no larger than a dove. Its attempts to escape Talos’ attention were growing more frantic by the second. “Queen Euthenia has turned her back on Mithridates and obtained favorable terms, you can do the same! Or is your lust for the throne worth Travia’s destruction? Lycaon will spare no one!”

Kairos didn't know whether it was his speech-oriented Skills having an impact or Teuta’s guilty conscience getting to her, but she briefly stopped her assault. Her grip over her weapons weakened, and for a brief moment, the pirate queen seemed to truly consider the cost of her alliance with Mithridates.

“I… I cannot, Kairos,” Teuta replied with a hint of regret. “I simply cannot. The Orthian Queen was not bound like I am. Mithridates’ [Pantheon] has measures against betrayal. I know I picked the wrong side, but I can’t back down anymore.”

“Then surrender!” Kairos argued as Rook moved in front of her, though at a respectable distance. “If you cannot fight for me, then do not fight at all!”

But instead of inspiring Teuta to surrender, Kairos’ olive branch only hardened her resolve.

“You would like that, wouldn't you? To defeat me with words rather than steel?” She glared at Kairos with jealousy and pride. “We both know there can’t be two rulers of Travia, Kairos! So long as one of us lives, the other’s throne will never be secure! I will not lay down my weapon before your feet, no more than you would surrender to me!”

“You would rather fight for nothing?!” Kairos snarled as he waved his spear in Talos’ direction. “None of the people fighting at my side are mind-controlled, Teuta, but you’re fighting to keep an entire species of slaves in chains! Where is your Travian pride?!”

“Says the one who sold out to Lyce!” Teuta replied as she raised her weapons in a fighting stance. “Our ancestors fought for the freedom of the Travian people and its independence, but you threw both away first! I would rather see the automatons suffer than Lyce growing strong enough to enslave us again!”

Her words were as hollow as her resolve. They killed whatever sympathy Kairos had left for her, for they only cloaked her selfish ambition and grudges under a veneer of patriotism. Kairos couldn’t claim the moral high ground, but he was fighting to help his people move beyond piracy, to free Thessalan slaves, and create a better future. He was pushing the Travians forward while Teuta kept them chained in the past.

If Mithridates allying with Lycaon hadn’t convinced her to stop this madness, then nothing ever would.

To think I once admired her as a [Hero] of our people, Kairos thought.

She was right about one point, however. His throne would never be secure so long as she lived. And though Kairos had grown stronger since last they met, a [Hero] could kill a [Demigod] whether through luck or skill; much like he had slain Helios in spite of the power gap between them.

He wouldn’t underestimate her.

“Then we have nothing else to say to each other!” Kairos raised his weapon at Teuta for a swift kill. “Burn like Icarus, you queen of hypocrisy!”

The Dawnspear glowed like the sun as Kairos set the skies ablaze.