Chapter 64 - Their Debut

Chapter 64: Chapter 64 - Their Debut

"SOLARIS! INCINERATE THEM!"

*SCREEEEEECH!!!*

The Phoenix let out a metal screeching sound before launching high into the clouds and summoning a catastrophic storm of fireballs straight down toward Maelle and Vincent.

Vincent stood confidently while looking up. As the firestorm rained down, he casually raised his right arm and delivered a single backhanded stroke through the air.

FWOOOOOOSH!

An immense atmospheric shockwave erupted from his palm. The sheer wind pressure blew away the firestorm, extinguishing the hot flames instantly into nothingness.

Without waiting for a follow-up second, Vincent kicked off the ground –BOOM!– leaving a crack in the dirt as he shot into the sky.

"Let’s see what you’ve got, birdy!"

*SCREEECH!!*

The mythical beast banked hard in mid-air, fanning its vast wings to unleash a barrage of molten lava projectiles that streaked through the clouds like miniature flaming comets.

A battle-crazed glint ignited in Vincent’s glowing eyes. Not bothering to dodge, he instead accelerated straight into the incoming attack.

CRASH! BAM! BOOM!

Vincent punched through the molten rocks with his bare fists, shattering the superheated projectiles into harmless sparks. He then closed the distance in a fraction of a second, appearing directly above the Phoenix’s head.

"You’re mine!"

He brought down a brutal double-axe-handle hammer fist onto Solaris’s skull.

THWACK!

The force of the blow hit like a falling mountain. Solaris emitted an agonizing screech as its massive head snapped down and its body plummeted fifty feet before its fiery wings clawed at the air, barely stabilizing itself above the open grass and dirt field.

"Solaris! Use Flame Aura!" Quinton screamed frantically from below. "Burn him to ash! Show this Familiar the true authority of the Solara bloodline!"

The Phoenix’s feathers blazed with blinding intensity, shifting from crimson to orange, yellow, and to eventually, a terrifying, pale white flame that instantly scorched the grass below, and turned the soil to ash.

Blazing toward Vincent, Solaris whipped its massive, flaming-feathered tail, sweeping a thousand-degree wave of heat straight toward him.

"Not today, birdy!"

Vincent crossed his arms into an X, and with a flash of light, a translucent blue sphere of divine power that transformed into absolute-zero ice magic erupted around him.

The white-hot flames slammed into the frost barrier with an explosive burst of steam that filled the entire sky above the field with thick white mist.

PSSSHHHHHHHH!!!

"You really think a little overgrown campfire can break through divine power?!" Vincent taunted from within the fog. "I’ve fought against a beast a million times stronger than you! And guess what?! She was smaller too!"

Through the fog, Solaris thrust its razor-sharp talons forward, aiming to tear him limb from limb. The talons sheared through the ice shield, gouging deep cuts into Vincent’s chest and drawing a spray of..... golden blood?!

"Whoa! You weren’t supposed to see that!"

His wings snapped back, propelling him forward instead of away. Ignoring the blood dripping down his chest, he reached out to grab hold of its left-wing joint with an iron grip.

*SCREEEECH!*

Solaris thrashed around violently, flying up, rolling in mid-air and diving toward the earth to throw him off. Vincent held on tight and unleashed a relentless barrage of knee strikes straight into the side of the Phoenix’s ribcage.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

"Come on! Show me what a legendary beast like you can take! I’m purposefully holding back, y’know! Is this all the Crown Prince’s Familiar can amount to?!"

Solaris snapped its beak around with terrifying speed, clamping its jagged, flaming mandibles directly onto Vincent’s shoulder. Bone crunched beneath the immense pressure, and white fire erupted straight into the open wound, searing his flesh.

"Vincent!"

Down on the grass, Maelle’s fingers tightened into tight fists as her eyes locked onto the golden blood falling from the sky.

"I’m fine, Maelle! Just warming up!"

Channeling power into his free hand, Vincent raised a clenched fist. "Let go of me, you overgrown turkey!"

He drove a bone-shattering jab directly into Solaris’s golden left eye.

THWACK!

The Phoenix screeched in agony, unclamping its beak as a fountain of fiery fluid burst from its eye socket. Vincent hovered to its face and grabbed the beast by its upper beak and lower jaw, planting his boots firmly onto its neck. With a burst of effort, he violently pried the creature’s mouth open, staring straight down into its burning throat.

"Open wide!"

He quickly threw his arm inside its mouth. Solaris snapped its beak shut, but Vincent didn’t care, nor was he hurt. Then, he unleashed a point-blank blast of divine power straight down its gullet.

KABOOOOOOOOOM!

An internal explosion rocked the giant bird. Solaris’s chest swelled like a balloon as white smoke and blue light with golden shimmers tore through its flesh from the inside out. The creature plummeted like a lead weight, crashing heavily into the open field below.

BOOOOM!!!

The impact tore up vast swaths of grass and soil, throwing dirt and rock fifty feet into the air. Solaris lay coughing up plumes of black soot and burning embers as its wings twitch violently.

"Solaris! Get up!" Quinton bellowed as nervous sweat poured down his face. "Do not let a lowborn familiar get the best of us! Quickly, stand up and beat him!"

"He’s not lowborn, you pompous dolt!" Maelle screamed across the field. "He’s better than anything your rotting royal lineage could ever dream of summoning!"

Vincent hovered high above the dirt field with his wings fanned out wide, and the golden blood slowly sealing over his wounds as his regeneration went to work. He crossed his arms and looked down with a mocking head tilt.

"Hey, Prince! You sure you don’t want to call a timeout? I know your Familiar is a Phoenix and all, but it looks like it’s about ready to be served for Sunday dinner!"

"Shut your mouth! Solaris, I know you’ve got more in you than that! Get up and burn him! Burn the entire field to ash if you must! Leave nothing!"

*SCREEEECH!!!*

Rising high from the crater of torn dirt, the mythical beast pulled its wings inward and drew in every ounce of ambient heat, light, and mana from within itself.

The remaining grass across the field withered and ignited in seconds, the dirt baking into cracked, red-hot clay, and in front of the Phoenix’s beak, a miniature sun began to expand bigger and bigger.

"Everyone!" one of the senior academy instructors yelled from the edge of the grounds. "Get out of here! Now!"

"Vincent! End this madness!" Maelle’s voice rang out strong and unwavering over the howling thermal winds.

"You got it, Princess! Let’s bring down the sun!"

Vincent folded his wings tight against his body, diving headfirst toward the forming nova blast like a bolt of thunder from the heavens. As he fell, he enveloped his entire right leg in a blade of shimmering blue light that crackled with terrifying golden static.

Solaris unleashed the Solar Nova – a hundred-foot-wide ball of catastrophic, blinding white heat that shot upward, devouring the air and melting the very sky to consume him.

Vincent didn’t dodge.

"UUOOOHHHH!! TAKE THIS! DIVINE DROPKICK!"

Vincent rotated in mid-air, driving his enhanced boot directly into the center of the apocalyptic sun blast.

BWOOSH!!!

The momentum and force tore straight through the core of the heat, splitting the ball of fire completely in half like a wooden log under an axe. The split flames roared harmlessly past Vincent, scorching the sky behind him, while his boot continued accelerating down until finally, he broke through and drove his foot right onto Solaris’ chest.

KABOOOM!!!

*SCREEECH!!!*

The resulting shockwave blew out every single pane of glass in the distant academy buildings situated around the field. The ground violently shook, tearing open massive trenches through the dirt field and uprooting trees hundreds of yards away.

Solaris’ ribcage caved in with a sickening crunch, and the legendary beast was driven twenty feet deep into the ground!

Dirt, pulverized rock, and burning feathers rained down like a grim shower.

As the dust settled, Solaris lay pinned in the bottom of a smoking crater. Its fiery body flickering weakly as pools of glowing mana leaked from its shattered torso. It couldn’t even manage a whimper.

"Wow, it’s not dead yet. This is usually the part where it fades into particles. I guess it’s because it’s a Phoenix? Wait. Will it revive if it dies? Hmm..."

From the edge of the crater, Quinton’s eyes went wild with rage, shock, and terror. "NO! NO! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE! SOLARIS, GET UP AND KILL HIM! I COMMAND YOU TO KILL HIM!"

Realizing his unbeatable Familiar was completely broken in the mud, Quinton lost the last remnant of his sanity. He drew his sword, and let out a primal, unhinged scream as he charged straight down into the crater toward Vincent.

"DIE, YOU ACCURSED MONSTER!" Quinton shrieked, swinging his sword in a wild and predictable overhead arc.

’Wait... The Phoenix is healing...’

Vincent didn’t even turn his body to face him completely. He merely stood over the healing Phoenix, his glowing blue eyes watching the Crown Prince rush him like an angry child.

"You really don’t know when to give up, do you?"

Quinton swung with all his strength, aiming to take Vincent’s head.

Vincent on the other hand, casually raised and extended just two fingers.

CLANG!

The razor-sharp steel blade stopped dead in its tracks – caught effortlessly between Vincent’s forefinger and middle finger. The shockwave of the stopped blow barely even rustled Vincent’s hair.

"W-What...?"

"You’re wide open, Prince."

With a simple, casual twist of his wrist, Vincent snapped the high-grade steel sword in half like a brittle twig.

Before Quinton could even register the broken hilt in his hand, Vincent grabbed him by his collar, and brought his forehead straight forward in a brutal, merciless headbutt right into his nose.

CRACK!

A sickening crunch echoed in the crater as Quinton’s head snapped back with blood spraying into the air. Before the prince could fall to the ground, Vincent grabbed him by the throat, lifted his whole body up with one arm, and slammed him flat into the dirt.

"Guhaaah!!" Quinton wheezed, all the air exploding from his lungs as he bit his own tongue, blood pooling in his mouth.

"I’m not done with you yet."

Vincent didn’t give him a second to recover. He lifted him back up by the head and gently let go, letting his body fall for the ground.... Before sucker punching him right in the face.

CRUNCH!

Under the crushing weight of his divine fist, flew against the wall of the crater, falling unconscious. Seeing its master losing the battle but being unable to do anything due to how hurt it was, Solaris emitted one final, mournful cry before its body shattered like glass, dissolving into lingering embers that vanished completely into the morning air.

The massive crowd of hundreds of students, faculty members standing away from the field fell into a dead silence as they saw the particles of mana faze into the air.

Maelle stepped forward, her heels clicking cleanly against the hard dirt as she entered the crater.

Her chin was held high and her regal posture radiating unshakeable majesty. She walked towards the fallen Prince and spoke coldly over his unconscious body.

"I hope you keep your end of the deal, Quinton Solara."

Vincent carried and flew out of the crater with Maelle. When he landed, his wings retracted into his back, his hair shifted back to its natural brown and the divine glow in his eyes faded.

Behind them, Ava suddenly appeared, looking over the crater and sticking her tongue out at the prince before bursting into giggles. "Bye-bye, blondie~! Better luck next time~!"

As Maelle and Vincent walked toward the academy building, the stunned, terrified crowd of students automatically parted like the Red Sea, looking at the duo in awe and terror as the "Disgraced Princess" and her Familiar strode through the center aisle, leaving the defeated Crown Prince lying alone in the dirt behind them.