Even with it seemed impossible for him to win, Aviary smiled at his opponents. “Hahahahahaha! Thank the Gods none of you will disappoint me.” He flew at them at top speeds.

However, Hokori was not fazed and chuckled. “Not bad for a featherless biped.” He quickly grabbed his face as if the world slowed to a crawl and threw him at Feuer.

His eyes widened, seeing the pirate captain hurled in his direction. Fortunately, he was quick on his reflexes. He delivered a magma fist at the last second. Feuer’s eyes narrowed, and he grunted with clenched teeth. “Is every fight to you a game, simpleton!?” He walked, “I’ve always known of your pride, but that won’t excuse ignorance!”

“Well, don’t ignore him. Das for sure.” Hokori smirked and pointed at the distance.

Feuer turned around and saw Aviary delivering a downward diagonal slash of magic. Both jumped out of the way.

The attack completely bifurcated Grace’s ship, now falling into the sky. Tokino gasped at the occurrence, but the mentioned pirate reassured her that her crew could fix her up a new one.

Hokori and Feuer moved to another airship nearby. The pirates aboard stood terrified before their presence. They all jumped down and pulled out emergency parachutes.

Just as Aviary expected, he had to be more clever with his twists and turns midair to stand a chance against both. However, something bugged him about his fight.

He attacked Hokori first with a horizontal slash with his swords. He quickly noticed him taking the hit and even drawing blood. Momentarily, he got punched and kicked in return, but all he felt was a beesting.

Hokori delivered a push-kick in the end. Although it was stronger than the last attacks, Aviary still felt close to nothing. “Why are you holding back! You could have knocked me unconscious with a lone finger!” He swung his sword at him but was blocked easily with one hand.

Hokori sighed with his eyes closed. “Why…? Well, one, I don’t want the planet annihilated by a finger flick.” He hurled Aviary onto an airship from afar, destroying it. “Secondly… makin’ your head flyin’ in one fell swoop just ain’t fun!” He pointed, even though he could not hear him.

Feuer stepped in front of him. “Move aside. I found a weakness in that man’s power. As you said: it’s ‘fun’ in every sense.”

Hokori chuckled and sat on a chair. “Say no more, pretty boy. Rain hell down on that guy if ya want. Just don’t make him kick the bucket—or I’ll consider turning your pelvis into one,” he crossed his arms.

Feuer sighed. “Dare to try.” He summoned a flood of magma that blanketed the sky. A thousand pirate ships flew out in panic. Yukino huddled around her mother from far away. Before they knew it, meteor showers occurred.

However, Aviary twisted and turned midair like there was no tomorrow. His eyes lowered. “Come on, now. Surely you’re not the kind to do cheap tricks, Feuer? You’re not the vigorous boy I knew before—” A bit of magma grazed his arm. He looked up in confusion, and he gasped. The meteorites gradually turned into a storm of flaming arrows.

Hokori got up from his seat. “Hey, hey. I told ya to hold back, pretty boy,” he spoke in Japanese.

“I am refraining myself. It takes more than a roadside show to end that man’s life.” He guessed his words correctly by sheer chance.

Five minutes in, Aviary suffered burns that could kill a firedrake queen. He resorted to healing himself via Runic Art in midair. There were only so many arrows he could deflect with his cutlass. Even then, he grinned and chuckled. “That’s more like it. It’d be rude if I won’t show them my true strength!”

He spun his sword around at blinding speeds. It formed a barrier that said arrows could never penetrate. After the spinning, his imprinted weapon released a massive slash. The magic circle of pure destruction traveled far and wide.

It neared both Hokori and Haruto in the distance at the same time. Naturally, they stepped in. One used the blade, the other the fist. The attack dispersed into thin air.

Haruto’s family showered him with endless praise. Even William and Grace clapped their hands with smiles. Tokino neared her lips unto his. “Oh, honey. We truly are forever till the end….”

He became very daring as he held her shoulders. “We sure are.” He made the first move. Her eyes widened in surprise, but they quickly closed. Their session began, which made everyone blush.

An enraged Feuer walked heavily toward Hokori. “What was the meaning of that nonsense! You took away my chance to do my part in the battle.”

He shrugged. “Well, I am the MC… sounds like you deadass butthurt. Not gonna lie. But it ain’t no excuse to be slow as fuck on the uptake.”

“I was not slow! You—” Feuer held back his anger and sighed. “Whatever the case… listen closely, simpleton. I have a foolproof plan in the works. In your words, this shall be a certified ‘W’ for all of us.”

Hokori chuckled. “Hahahahahaha! I swim in W’s 24/7, fam. Lay it on me!” He cupped his right ear.

Aviary flew back to the scene. Now all he saw on the airship was Feuer, who showed him stern narrow eyes of determination. He smiled. “No matter your schemes, don’t disappoint me now!” Just as he moved at high speeds, a magma platform materialized before him.

Hokori threw a straight punch to his face. His molars flew everywhere. In a flash, Hokori threw them in his direction. They sailed nine times faster than sniper bullets. Even when riddled with holes, he carried on.

Feuer created more platforms for Hokori to stand on. He now punched Aviary back-to-back like a pinball game. The onslaught felt endless. Aviary surely did not want his enemies to hold back, but he wanted his fair share.

He never wanted to use Zenith Corpus in his severely weakened state. Sadly, his other choice was succumbing to said onslaught. He closed his eyes. “The fun’s just beginning, lads!” A sudden bright light blinded Hokori.

Feuer sweated bullets. “Leave that place at once! His power is now next to a Go—” Before he could even react, a long horizontal slash opened his stomach.

As he fell to the floor, he saw Aviary walking in front of him. He now donned glistening gold wings exuding a magical aura. He cleaned his cutlass with a piece of cloth. “I’m terribly sorry for that. But I needed to sever your teamwork somehow.

“However… your friend is ever so bold and prideful. And for that, I thank him.” He knew his opponent stood behind him and turned around. “I know I won’t win this, Hokori… But at least without your friend’s help, you’re still at a disadvantage.”

Hokori shrugged again. “Eh… Maybe. Maybe not. Tho, you’re gonna regret showing me your ax to grind….” He grinned and tensed up his muscles.

“Hahahahahaha! I don’t live with regrets! And I don’t live for selfishness!” He delivered a swift diagonal slash aimed at the left shoulder. The result was monumental.

Aviary’s eyes filled with dread as his attack could not even scratch Hokori’s skin. He always knew him as invulnerable to some degree but could still bleed. Now, the reasons he constantly held back in his battles became clear.

Hokori yanked his cutlass and pushed-kicked his gut. After rolling on the floor several times, Aviary got back up while holding his left upper arm.

The former chuckled. “I may not be able to use the fire blood cells in me to become the Ultimate Spear. But when it comes to defense, I legit become the Ultimate Shield! Credence to one of my favorite shows, by the way….”

He saw Aviary still pressing on. He now flew around the area with all his might. His pace was now so blinding not even Hokori’s impeccable eyes and reflexes could keep up. He felt fifty slashes per second. The shockwaves formed by Aviary’s flight shredded the airship they stood on.

One minute in, Hokori could now tell the attacks became sixty a second. He eventually found out what Aviary was trying to do; to make him stagger so much he would fall over.

Hokori grinned at his predicament. “Not bad at all, fam. However…” he quickly discovered one fatal flaw. As soon as Aviary neared him, he would throw devasting turning kick. Again and again.

Aviary always thought legs were slower than fists. It turned out they were twenty times faster in Hokori’s case. He vomited out blood during the last attack. He could feel his organs churning.

Hokori slowly walked to Aviary, who now lay on the floor with his blood. “Wanna know the secret to the shit I pulled off? Kicks are inherently stronger than punches. I wanted to exploit that to its limit. I may hold back every day, but at least you saw a stronger side of me.” He cracked his knuckles. “We ain’t done yet, tho….”

Aviary got up and panted. “Yes… I shall respond correctly to that.” He disappeared into the sky in a nanosecond. He flew higher and higher onto the mesosphere to use Falcon Ascent: his most powerful technique. His highest diving speed was under 100m/s.

Back down, Hokori reached out a hand. “Gimme it now, Feuer!”

He put his right foot on a railing and threw a long igneous javelin onto his opponent. It traveled under 200m/s.

Aviary luckily dodged by a hair and continued his descent. He sighed internally. “That was a close on—” Just when he had a moment of relief, the javelin transformed into a mass of red hot spikes, piercing him from behind. “Aaaaaaaaaaaagh!!!” He could feel every inch of his body seared into a crisp from the inside.

Eventually, Aviary could not scream anymore. He fell unconscious to the shock as the spikes still burned him.

Feuer gestured his fingers to bring the pirate captain down. All the magma inside him disappeared into thin air.

Aviary slowly opened his eyes an hour later. Pulsating blood vessels covered his entire body. He got up and sat with a heavy breath. “Wow… that was quite an eye-opener, Hokori. That was very sly of you….”

“Don’t mention it, fam…” he shook his head. It’s a tried and true strategy passed down to generations. And to think it was only for playing shogi. Hahahahahaha….”

Feuer walked toward Aviary and kneeled. “I’ve been curious about your life of piracy. What did the Devil thrust upon you? We would have brothers-in-arms in another time.”

He sighed and looked up in the sky, seeing a flock of Lacusian red-bellied gulls. “I know a few things about you. You being a defector meant you refused to follow an empire’s law. For us pirates, however, the law hated us since birth. Being children of genociders and traitors made life on the surface impossible. Life under the gentle breeze is all we have. And you know what? It’s not so bad after all. We became family….”

While Feuer did not condone his crimes, he still sympathized with his words. On the other hand, Hokori smiled calmly and lent the captain a fistbump.

Aviary chuckled and complied. “It would be my pleasure.” He stood up. “I’m not sure if this has affected your city yet. But there’s been this strange man creating artificial dwellbeasts and— Aaaagh!”

The two archmages in front were startled by what they saw. Huge, bloodied ice crystals came out of Aviary’s stomach. As he screamed in agony once more, his entire body froze.

Back with Haruto and his family, Yukino huddled behind her mother again. She sweated bullets, frightened beyond belief seeing William and Grace encased in a subzero prison slowly.