Chapter 12: Ch 12: Victory?

“Woosh, woosh, woosh..”

​Like a plague of death, the Sky Predators attacked at once.

​Some swooped down by extending massive claws; some sharpened their fangs like vampires; while others wielded halberds like Hercules.

Fortunately, none of them seemed to have innate elemental powers. They only have physical powers.

​”Naida, raise the Shields, while I charge the Crossbows!” Aegis roared over the chaos.

“And Girls, roast them when they get close! You too, Pyro!”

​”Yes, Papa!” the three Phoenix children chorused, their marks blazing.

​Boink, Boink! Pyro the Fire Slime jumped up and down, readying its Magma Spit.

​All of them readied themselves with their firepower, while Aegis began to channel his own Water Manipulation magic into the stationary crossbows.

The silent crossbows quickly began to hum as condensed water molecules charged the firing mechanisms.

​Meanwhile, Naida activated the Tidal Shields using her own remnant Water magic, augmented by the resources Aegis had provided.

​Hum, Humm, Humm!

​The Tidal Shields roared to life. Three shimmering concave walls of solid pressurized water came into place just before the predators could bypass the defensive line.

​Bam, Bam, Bam!

​The oily dark creatures slammed across the tough water shields like a group of moths. A few’s claws broken, teeth shattered, and weapons vibrated because of the intense aftershocks.

The barriers deflected the initial kinetic assault perfectly.

​”Fire!” Aegis commanded, channeling his own energy to augment the few stationary defenses.

​THWACK! THWACK!

​Aegis personally controlled two of the Water Jet Crossbows, firing hardened, razor-sharp bolts of condensed water magic.

Puchi, Puchi, Puchi

The elemental water bolts bypassed the predators’ oily hides, hitting them like icy daggers.

Skreeech!

Several predators screamed as their wings were pierced or their shoulder joints shattered, sending them spiraling harmlessly into the depths of the Aquabyss Domain water.

​Eterna, Flama and Diva joined the fray.

Their small bodies radiated blazing fire power.

They unleashed targeted, searing bursts of elemental heat.

​Fwoosh!

​The targeted bursts found the weakened points of the predators who were still struggling against the Tidal Barrier. The combination of intense heat and the elemental incompatibility with the water environment began to take a massive toll on them.

​The initial assault of the 20-plus predators was broken. Six were downed, shredded by water bolts, and sinking; several others were injured.

​However, the remaining predators were not stupid.

They quickly adapted. Their screams changed into coordinated, high-pitched clicks.

​Their new strategy emerged instantly:

​Instead of slamming against the Powerful Tidal Barriers, the Sky Predators began climbing up the palace’s unshielded sides, attempting to reach the upper edges where the girls were positioned.

Others began concentrating their forces on a single, tiny weak point they identified: the narrow access point beneath the central palace structure, where the water pressure was slightly less intense.

They were looking for an asymmetrical attack point.

“Naida! They’re flanking us! They’re trying to breach the foundation!” Aegis yelled, quickly diverting his attention to the aggressive bunch.

​”What should I do, Your Grace?” she asked while maintaining her control over the Tidal Shields, which were still deflecting the main force.

​”You take charge here. I am going after them,” he instructed.

​The Water Jet Crossbows didn’t need a constant energy supply; they could remain charged for a while. They just needed manual control to make shots connect.

​Naida immediately created several long arms of condensed water and took control of the crossbows from Aegis.

​”Leave them to me, Your Grace. These pests will not get past me alive,” she said coolly.

​However, just then a hyper-agile Predator charged at her from her back, having slipped past the perimeter in the chaos.

​Her mermaid tail reacted immediately, like it possessed an eye of its own.

Buzz!

It spiraled rapidly, creating a vortex of water that instantly dragged the Hyper Agile predator into the Abyss below.

Aegis jumped high using Water Manipulation, then manifested a Water Ball in his palm.

​He concentrated the water to the point of near explosion, then slammed it onto the Sky Predator.

​The Creature reacted immediately, but its back was still caught in the explosion.

​Bang!

​It was flung away into the water Domain, its whereabouts unknown.

​It’s not that they were weak, but Aegis’s Water Manipulation (Ultimate) skill was truly that good, maybe even overpowered. Combined with his Sea God’s Physique, wielding this skill was smooth and extremely efficient.

Aegis quickly followed up with a simple command:

Eterna, Flama, Diva! Move to high ground defense! Any predator that climbs higher than the first tier, you know what to do!”

​The three Phoenix descendants understood instantly.

​”Yes, Papa!” they cried, their combined auras blazing.

​Next, Aegis sprinted toward the narrow access point at the palace foundation where the enemies were concentrating.

He reached the bottleneck and raised both hands, focusing his newborn divine energy.

​”Water Manipulation: Hydro-Pressurization!”

​He wasn’t creating a shield; he was increasing the ambient water pressure in that small, confined zone to crushing levels.

Buzz!

The pressure instantly multiplied by a factor of ten, squeezing the Sky Predators attempting to breach the entrance.

​CRACK! SQUELCH!

​The predators screamed from the brutal invisible force of the water closing in.

Their thick bones buckled, their organs ruptured, and their movement became impossible.

Within seconds, the three creatures attempting the breach were rendered immobile. Their bodies were crushed by the impossible presure.

“Pyro! Cleanup!”

​Boink! Pyro instantly jumped down and released a steady stream of Magma Spit onto the immobile targets.

They instantly dissolved the crushed bodies into ash, thus eliminating the threat of contamination.

​Meanwhile, above, the Phoenixes were doing their job excellently. A single predator just passed the second barrier, only to be met by a coordinated blast of Divine Fire Breath from Eterna.

She instantly turned the creature into a falling cinder.

​The first major assault had failed, and the remaining Predators, realizing the defense was too strong began a slow grudging retreat into the upper sky.

Seeing their pitiful retreat, everyone smiled.

​”You did it, Your Grace. The Sky Predators have fled for their lives,” Naida said, her eyes expressing a flicker of hope she had forgotten ages ago.

​Right now, she felt that the Sea God’s Choice had been correct. Aegis was definitely not the best Sky Lord out there. He was initially weak and clumsy, but he knew how to adapt and care for his people.

​That’s all she ever expected from the Sea God’s Heir.

Aegis shook her head at the compliment.

“No. I didn’t do it alone. And this is just a prologue.”

Just as they thought everything was over, a terryfying rumble echoed from the Upper Sky.

Ding!

[ System prompt: Final Boss had arrived. ]

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