Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 447: Infants

Chapter 447: Infants

Jules had intentionally relocated their battle away from their original position. Near the shores, the Ibong Adarna swooped and sang. Its hauntingly beautiful song echoed across the battlefield, reaching the ears of the wounded and weary. The rain seemed to glow where the bird passed, healing cuts, burns, and broken bones alike. Soldiers who had fallen rose again.

The Red Bake-kujira recovered in an equal struggle; its massive, crimson-tinged body floated unnaturally atop the lake. Hundreds—no, thousands—of fish had swarmed beneath it, their slick, scaly bodies creating a writhing platform that carried the young leviathan forward. The water boiled where they gathered.

"They say the tears of the sun god Ra created bees in the desert. Those bees were then captured and some of their honey cultivated for food. For our purposes, the bees were farmed to create a weapon. So when I say you have to speed away, you speed away."

"Got it."

Three spherical objects shaped like honeycombs, blackened and glowing. A bomb of divine origins, of the Sun God Ra and his tears. Booker brought out three matches and...

"Shit. This damn rain." He couldn’t do it. The matches wouldn’t light up. The matches were supposed to be placed inside and kickstart the damn thing.

"Hold on!"

The missiles! They were raring at them. Feenie, no longer diving, managed to dodge and roll out of the way. But they chassed. Suddenly, they were on the move, flying as fast as they could, trying to outflew it but not quite.

"Tch!" Booker had been grabbed and wrapped up by Feenie’s fiery tail. He blinked when he realized that, well, he didn’t need the matches. "I’ll drop them when we need to! You two get us above it! Go as fast as you need to!"

"Ìdáàbòbò!"

"Blazing Comet!"

Matty and Jules. Offence and defence. Two halves of golden light that came together as one. In a flash, they blazed through the skies and—

Hisss!

The bomb was unsealed. A fire was found, that being the phoenix itself. Blazing Comet was a form Feenie took on when supercharged. Without a clear sun, Feenie had to borrow mana from Jules herself. Doing so granted less raw mana and thus more control. The phoenix swooped lower and the horrifying scale of the fish swarm became clear. A hundred feet of surface alive with a number of creatures propping up the infant Bake-kujira.

Booker dropped the first bomb. The Ember Hive fell like any ordinary object, the black iron suddenly glowing brighter and brighter from the inside out. A fire had been lit. A truly mighty one. Upon impact, it detonated—not with a single explosion, but with hundreds of tiny bursts. Flaming projectiles erupted outward, spreading like a swarm of angry bees.

The Red Bake-kujira roared, its crimson glow intensifying as the fish beneath it began to scatter. In response, the Red Bake-kujira summoned and created more. A desperate act for a desperate creature.

"Nice hit!" Jules cheered, though her voice was tense. "Two more to go!"

Feenie arced upward, narrowly avoiding a spiraling steam missile. Matty glanced back at Booker. He was far too casual for how he was weaving and wrapped in the phoenix tail. "Second one! Now!"

"I’m going to throw it from the side. Take us low!"

"Take us low," Matty told Jules who nodded.

Feenie looped around for another pass. As instructed, the phoenix skimmed dangerously close to the water, her flames hissing as they met the spray of the lake. Jules held her breath, waiting for the perfect moment.

Booker threw the bomb with all his might.

Feenie pulled up.

"Blazing Comet!"

And tripled its speed.

Fire and light erupted from the point of impact, the tiny explosions cascading outward in waves. The swarm of fish writhed in agony, their numbers thinning as the bomb tore through them.

"Last one!" Booker exclaimed. "We’re going for the center!"

The phoenix screeched, her wings beating furiously as she climbed higher into the sky. This whole time, more and more steam missiles chased them. They did not dissipate.

Feenie’s speed made her untouchable. Jules watched as the Red Bake-kujira thrashed, its support crumbling beneath it. The fish swarm was still moving, but the gaps in their numbers were growing.

"This is it!" Jules shouted. "Let’s finish this!"

Feenie dove one final time, her flaming body cutting through the sky like a spear. Down, down, down, they went.

Down, down, down, they were about to face hundreds of steam missiles. To dodge them would would be...

"I’m going! You two pull up!"

Matty looked over his shoulder. "Huh? Booker—"

The man was gone.

Booker released himself from the tail. He knew that the Bake-kujira was aware of what this bomb was doing. Moreover, Feenie was running out of steam. It needed the sun to survive and this rain was stopping it from acting at full capacity. Another Blazing Comet and it might die.

So he decided to take it upon himself to dive, throw the bomb, and hopefully escape.

Hopefully.

He was facing hundreds of steam missiles. Hundreds of obstacles. So many that it looked like one big cloud. Booker Davis Jr closed his eyes.

Counterflow Stance.

Then opened them.

Counterflow Stance, Counterflow Stance, Counterflow Stance—

Dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge—

Counterflowstancecounterflowstance—

Dodgedodgedodgedodgedodgedodgedodge—

He made it through. He made it through the impossible.

Only to be faced with a greater impossibility. Monsters. Hundreds of them. The Bake-kujira knew. It knew that they would be killing his support, that this lone was causing and would cause him danger. So he summoned birds. He hurled fish.

How many were there?

Three hundred and forty seven fish and one hundred and twenty two birds.

In total, 469 monsters.

"Ah."

"BOOKER!"

Jules screamed. Feenie was already up and away. All those monsters had slammed into him—no, quite literally, they swallowed him.

Blood imploded.

Blood fell.

From a long distance away, Kazi Hossain had looked. His left eye pulsed. He witnessed the future of blood, of Booker Davis Jr dying, and the Red Bake-kujira coming to join its twin to fight him.

The future was set in stone.

The future had become their horrendous past.

He could do nothing.