Like a spotlight, a yellow beam pierced through the fog. It struck the dome of purple energy surrounding Dragon’s Nest and quickly started turning it a bright red. The floating island jolted to a stop, forcing me to stumble as I barely maintained my balance, before reversing away from the golden light.

Svend cursed as he tried to peer through the blood mist. “This is as close as we can get? I cannot even see an outline of the city. How far away are we?”

“Based on the intensity of the light, my guess is it would take me about a minute flying at full speed to reach the source,” Sebastion replied thoughtfully.

Donte frowned as he controlled Dragon’s Nest and moved it out of range of the concentrated light. “If each of the thousand cannons is as strong as the one that just hit us, Mare will not be able to protect us. She says that just a hundred of them would be enough to completely decimate her energy reserves in less than ten seconds.”

“So, the floating island is useless?” Svend mumbled in annoyance, “I was hoping it would allow us to get a little closer at least. A minute may not seem like much, but while under attack, even a few seconds can feel like an eternity.”

“We are not useless,” Donte replied in a huff, “So long as we do not use the shield, the rock base covering the bottom of Dragon’s Nest should be able to hold out against the heat for a short while. It is just that Mare refuses to accept that option. She says the rock base only covers one direction and that she has no intention of wasting energy repairing the main building when the Demons find a way around that.”

“Yep, useless,” Svend replied with a nod.

Donte’s face turned red but I interrupted before an argument could break out between the two of them. “We never intended to rely on the island right away, regardless. For now, we stick to the basics. Scout the surroundings and get a grasp on what the Demons might have prepared for us. I doubt it is only the splinter cannons we need to worry about.” I paused as I turned to look at my mom and dad. “For now, all you should stay a good distance back from the main scouting group. Your domains are not strong enough to survive more than a few seconds under one of those attacks. Donte… I guess you will have to stay here with the island since you still cannot stray too far from it and have not awakened a domain.”

Donte shuffled in embarrassment as he looked down at the ground. “I understand.”

Svend slapped the boy on the back with a big grin. “Don’t look so down. Protecting our base is the most important job of all. Without a place to come back to, this would be a very short mission that could only end in defeat.”

Donte nodded solemnly but did not look up despite the words of comfort. “Don’t worry. Mare has assured me that unless all the remaining Demons came here at once, the island will not be destroyed.”

“Good, we will be counting on you then.”

As Svend was consoling Donte, I noticed my mom and dad looking into the mist with grins on their faces. It almost looked as if they were excited as they prepared for whatever came next.

I quickly understood why and scowled. “I know both of you are itching to try out your new Divine Bodies in combat but you should save it for escaping in an emergency. The toll it takes on the body should not be underestimated.”

“Don’t worry Wren,” Dad replied with a smile, “I understand the drawbacks of this new strength. We are not rookies.”

“Still, I would feel better if the two of you stayed here with Donte and Charly. It may just be our first scouting mission but this will be dangerous.”

“You really expect us to let you go alone?” Dad asked as he shook his head, “Your mother and I are not that weak. You should trust our capabilities a bit more.”

I bit my lip hesitantly but knew the two of them would not take no for an answer. “Ok then, let’s head out and see what we are up against with our own eyes.”

Eight Domains spread out from each of us as I stepped over the side of the island. I glided down towards the ground swiftly, constantly vigilant for any sign that I had been targeted by one of the splinter cannons. I was not sure how long my domain would be able to last against the direct might of Sebastion’s Innate talent but I doubted it was more than a thirty seconds.

The descent to the ground was nerve-racking. Because of the blood mist, I was not even sure if I was in range of the cannons yet or if the Demons were just drawing me in so that all thousand cannons could focus on me at once. I could not even see an outline of the city through the crimson haze.

Luckily, it was not hard to judge which direction I should fly. Even without the beam of light I saw earlier, I would still know where to go. Not because o recognized the twisted landscape below but because of the skin-crawling sensation of my every move being watched. It was the feeling of a pair of eyes that could see through my very skin, the signature of the Demon, Aym.

I waved to the others as my feet touched the ground. The land that had once looked so peaceful had now turned into a ghastly hellscape. The trees that had once decorated the flowing plains outside Ater-Albus were now twisted into monstrosities straight from a nightmare. They were covered in thorns instead of bark and their leaves were as crimson as blood. The fields that had once been bountiful farmland were now chocked with dark purple vines that oozed a nauseous-smelling liquid.

The other seven landed near me as I spoke without moving my lips as much as I could, making it impossible for Aym to read my lips. “Any further than this and we should be entering range of the first splinter cannon that struck the island. Follow the plan. Spread out and never stop moving. Do not take any unnecessary risks. Our first scouting mission does not have to be anything more than a test of the splinter cannons’ fire rate and accuracy.”

The others nodded as they spread out. Their silhouettes were just barely visible through the mist as they each took up a distance we had agreed upon ahead of time. Taking a deep breath, I shot forward like a cannon. Propelled by my domain, I was able to move at speeds no less than the fastest of hawks in full dive.

Moving in a blur, I dashed past the line of safety and into the guaranteed range of the splinter cannons where Dragon's Nest had been forced to retreat. I zigzagged erratically and kept as low to the ground as possible as I flew. The closer to the ground we stayed, the safer we would be.

The splinter cannons were positioned around the city walls and palace with no blind spots. They were placed to defend against an enemy even if the city was surrounded and they were not easy to move without disassembly. This meant that so long as we stayed close to the ground only a third of the cannons could possibly target us at once. The other two-thirds of the cannons were blocked by either being on the other side of the city or by the palace itself.

However, that still left over three hundred splinter cannons ready to fire on us at a moment’s notice. The beams of light themselves were impossible to dodge but there would be a delay in the reaction time of the one handling the cannon. The Demonkin could not see through the blood mist any easier than we could. They normally used this to their advantage since their other senses were more advanced than any human but at this range, all of that was useless to them. The subordinate Demonkin manning the Splinter cannons had to rely on Aym’s directions to know where to fire. Against a big, slow-moving target like Dragon’s Nest, this would not be a problem but against a small erraticly moving person, that short delay when Aym issued commands was our window to move.

As expected, the moment we dashed forwards, a golden beam of light pierced through the mist. The first ray of light passed by my shoulder by one a hand’s width. I could hear the plants behind me sizzle and pop as the extreme heat cooked them into charcoal almost instantly. The beam of light did not dissipate after a short burst. It was more like some had suddenly turned on a flashlight aimed at me. It followed after my every movement. I could feel the heat on my back as it chased after me. Even the air became hot as I breathed it in.

Simultaneously, dozens of other beams of light cut through the fog. Some hit randomly in places I had been and others were aimed at my companions. I heard Dom grunt as one of the rays of light passed over his domain armor. It only lingered there for the briefest of seconds but I could tell resisting the heat took significant effort. Even without the kinetic effect, Sebastion’s ability was not weak.

The three dozen beams of light were blinding against the dull red of the blood mist. It would almost have been beautiful if it was not for how dangerous it was. The rays of light were not very accurate but they moved fast, searing everything in their path. Even the rocks it touched on the ground were left glowing red after only a moment of exposure.

I grimaced as one of the dancing lights passed over my leg for just a fraction of a second. It was such a short amount of time but it was enough to deplete more than a tenth of my energy. I felt despair as I realized that even a few grazing blows would be enough to force my retreat.

I looked back at my mom and dad to see how they were faring. My mom was at especially high risk compared to the rest of us. She was fast enough with her ability that she was the hardest to hit but she lacked domain armor to protect her. Even a glancing ray of light would be enough to seriously injure her. Luckily, it looked like most of the sporadic lights were easy for her to dodge for now. Once the lights were turned on it was just a matter of staying ahead of the beam. It was only the moment that a new light ignited that she was in the most danger.

To my surprise though, the number of lights was far fewer than I expected. There was barely more than a tenth of what we expected. It felt like an obvious ploy on Aym’s part. My guess was that he wanted to draw us in closer before activating all of the splinter cannons so that we would have a harder time escaping. Luckily, we did not plan on going too deep this time. I just wanted to test how dangerous the cannons truly were and get close enough to see the city.

I flew with all my might as desperately tried to avoid the deadly rays of light.

Fifteen seconds.

It might sound like a short amount of time but when running with your life on the line it felt like an eternity. A single mistake was the difference between life and death and the city was still not in view.

We flew towards the origin of the lights as quickly as we could manage. Every second spent was that much more time that it would take us to escape afterwards. I felt a knot growing in my chest with every moment that passed. There were still only a few dozen cannons firing on us. It was so difficult just dodging those few split among the ten of us. Would we be able to make the trip out of their range in that if there were over three hundred?

The tension continued to grow in my chest as we continued to fly closer. How thick was the blood mist here for us to still not be able to even see the walls of the city? My domain kept the mist from touching my skin or being breathed in but I could still feel how thick it was as we flew and it was getting harder and harder to see the others around me with every passing moment. That could only mean one thing. There was an absolutely enormous number of Demonkin up ahead.

Unable to suppress my growing unease, I let out a shout. “Stop moving forward! Sebastion, give me a big burst of light ahead of us. Clear the mist best you can, even if it is only for a moment.”

Sebastion nodded solemnly. A blinding radiance exploded out from his body. The blood mist was pushed back by the kinetic force as it sliced through the air in a way the other lights hounding us could not imitate. The light faded as quickly as it appeared but it gave us just a moment to see what was up ahead.

The crimson fog swirled like the eye of a storm as moved to fill in the gap created by Sebastion’s ability but for just a moment I was finally able to see what was up ahead. It was not the walls of a city as I expected but an enormous mass of squirming Demonkin. There had to be thousands of them piled on top of each other in three dozen distinct mounds of flesh and sitting atop those mounds were large metallic cannons glowing brightly with golden light.

I felt a panic well inside me as I realized what I was looking at. The Demons had managed to move several of the splinter cannons away from the city! They had even used Aym as bait to make us think we were flying in the right direction. Because of the fog, we could not see it. That meant the real city was…

“Everybody fall back! We’ve been tricked! The city is not ahead, it’s a decoy!”

A feminine voice echoed through the mist. “You noticed quick but it is already too late.”

At that moment, the world to my right was filled with golden light as hundreds of new splinter cannons were activated.