To the Sky

Evalin's battle with the Sky Whale continued from there.

The situation was at a stalemate.

The Sky Whale couldn't break through the reinforced barrier, and Evalin couldn't chip away at its regenerating body fast enough.

A one-on-one fight, yet the sky above the Royal Capital was blanketed in spells and black orbs.

It was like a battlefield staged in the heavens.

Evalin was firing off a variety of spells at the Sky Whale with almost no pause between them, but whenever her magic collided with the black orbs, it detonated prematurely and lost its potency.

That interference was keeping her from gaining the upper hand.

Still, the fact that a single person could hold her own against a creature large enough to cover the sky over the Royal Capital was nothing short of extraordinary.

A powerful blast tore a hole in the whale's belly.

She'd done the same thing several times already, but it always recovered given enough time.

Meanwhile, soldiers who'd arrived as reinforcements were guiding civilians into sturdy buildings.

The stunned onlookers finally came to their senses and began following the evacuation orders.

There was no sign of panic.

Perhaps the sheer unreality of the scene before them kept it at bay.

Thank goodness Evalin was here.

Without her, the barrier would have been breached, a proper evacuation would have been impossible, and the casualties could have been catastrophic.

But it was too early to relax.

Evalin was holding the line, but she hadn't actually managed to repel it.

The kingdom's mages had finally arrived as reinforcements and were firing spells at the Sky Whale, but they were dealing far less damage compared to Evalin.

They needed one more push to outpace that regeneration.

And the only ones in the Royal Capital right now who could provide that were Azu and the others.

"Your Majesty, I'm going to deliver their weapons. They should be able to reach an enemy in the sky."

"… Understood. Be careful."

He received Queen Tianis's permission to leave her side.

He could see her body trembling.

She was putting on a brave front, but letting a trusted retainer leave must have been hard.

Yet she sent him off all the same.

To not waste that resolve, he clutched the tool bag and broke into a run.

The evacuation had thinned out the once-packed central plaza considerably.

He sprinted to the stage.

"Master!? What are you doing here?"

"Delivering your work gear."

Azu, who'd been staring up at the sky, noticed him and looked startled.

The others were much the same.

He began pulling each of their weapons from the tool bag.

"Yohane-san, is Her Majesty… is Tianis safe?"

"Yes. She has her guard detail protecting her as we speak."

"Thank goodness. I was worried this might be a diversion and something might happen on that end. What on earth is that thing? Evalin-san seems to be handling it, but…"

"Evalin-san said it's an apostle of the Sun God. An airborne monster that even preys on dragons."

"So that's… an apostle of the Sun God."

Anatia gazed up at the Sky Whale with an uneasy expression.

In stark contrast, Princess Yupe looked annoyed, directing her irritation squarely at the Sky Whale.

"If that thing hadn't shown up, I could've kept singing. Having that many people watching while I sang felt incredible. This is the worst. Apostle of the Sun God or whatever, just hurry up and deal with it."

She'd technically been conspiring with them not long ago, but as far as she was concerned, that relationship was over.

Being effectively abandoned would do that, he supposed.

Whether you called it fickle or pragmatic.

Azu and the others equipped their usual weapons.

There was no time to change clothes, so they stayed in their dresses while arming up, but he thought the look suited them in its own way.

"So they've recovered enough to rouse the Sky Whale. Sooner than I expected…"

"You know what that is, Elza?"

"Only a little, from legends. That thing is less a living creature and more a weapon. It moves to wherever it's been ordered and keeps attacking the place until it's razed flat, to make an example of it."

Having something like that hovering overhead, endlessly raining down exploding black orbs.

A perfect tool for making an example of someone, no doubt.

"Does it have any weaknesses?"

"There should be a core somewhere inside it that sustains its regeneration, but… at that size, searching for it isn't realistic. Unless you had a group of elves like Evalin-san or a flock of dragons."

"We don't have either of those."

"So let's just chase it off instead. If Azu-chan gets on top of it and goes all out carving it up, combined with Evalin-san's magic, they should be able to outpace the regeneration. It just woke up, so if it senses it's being destroyed, it'll probably take off."

As a living creature, it would still fear death.

But the altitude at which the Sky Whale hovered was considerable.

Even the top of the royal castle wouldn't come close to reaching it.

He had no idea how they could get Azu up there.

But Azu and the others seemed to have it figured out. After a brief huddle, Finn headed for the royal castle first.

Then Alexia pointed the tip of her halberd at the ground, and Azu stepped onto the flat of the axe blade.

Elza bestowed her blessings on everyone.

Then, gripping the halberd alongside Alexia, Elza helped swing it toward the sky with everything they had.

At the moment Azu was launched upward, she kicked off the halberd, converting Alexia and Elza's momentum into force and rocketing skyward.

"Do your best!"

Elza cheered her on.

Azu shrank rapidly as she hurtled toward the Sky Whale, but even so, the momentum wasn't quite enough.

At this rate, she'd fall just short and plummet back down.

That was when Finn, who'd moved to the top of the royal castle, took flight using the power of the Wind Elemental.

The timing was perfect. Azu and Finn met in midair.

It lasted only an instant, but in that moment, the two clasped hands.

Finn transferred her own momentum and the Wind Elemental's power to Azu, pulling her upward to accelerate her.

"This one's on you. Go get 'em, Azu."

"Yeah. I know."

Azu nodded at Finn's words.

She vanished from sight almost immediately.

Having given all her thrust to Azu, Finn was now simply falling.

Alexia was waiting at the stage and caught Finn as she dropped.

As she was caught, the skirt of Finn's dress billowed up, so she pressed it down with both hands to keep Yohane from seeing underneath.

"Thanks. Impressive brute strength, as always."

"'Brute strength' doesn't feel like much of a compliment."

Alexia set Finn down.