The Final Charge

The Twin Holy Icon did not sit still and wait for death.

It folded its two wings before itself to fend off the long-rod projectiles' bombardment, while hurling out more feathers. All manner of Evil Spirits engaged the gathered warships in a fierce melee.

"Lesser Evil Spirits have jumped aboard from the bow!"

"Ah—my hand—"

"Don't just stand there like fools! Get the muskets and drive them off!"

"Hold on! Lord Lieya will be here soon!"

Faced with the surging hordes of Lesser Evil Spirits, the ships' own defenses were clearly insufficient to stop them. Thus, the Dragonborn led by the Lieya Family formed this middle line of defense.

To lessen the storm's effects on themselves, they had mostly chosen to fly close to the ground, never rising higher than a three-story building in the Upper City. Whenever the Evil Spirits clustered together, several Wyverns would sweep over their heads and breathe fire as if sweeping the ground. Wherever the flames passed, the smaller Evil Spirits turned to flying ash.

Yet their situation was not absolutely safe either.

Flying low meant reduced maneuverability. When facing Four-winged Worms diving from above, the slightest carelessness could leave them bitten. One or two bites could still be endured, but if four or five attacked together, even Dragonborn would fall to the ground from the excruciating pain. And once they fell into the Evil Spirit horde below, their fate was easy to imagine.

In fact, by this point in the battle, two Dragonborn had already been torn to pieces before everyone's eyes.

This was a duel between living beings and Chaos.

No one could emerge entirely unscathed.

High above the Lesser Evil Spirits, Taxisis carried Xia Fan as she circled along the vortex's edge.

"Its attention... really does seem to have been drawn