After being forced down to low altitude by the Black Thunder, the battle between the dragons and The Church continued. But no matter how formidable those three dragons were, they could not possibly be a match for the Ring Arcanists of a Great Parish like Moon Bay.
She had thought the three dragons were merely drawing attention away so that the small boat from Just Now could operate near the coast. But Bella Belinder now understood that the cultists' thoughts were beyond the imagination of anyone with a normal mind.
Abandoning their opponents, the people atop the dragons' heads guided the three dragons into the sky amid the distant sound of conch shells. Before the black lightning could strike them, the three dragons suddenly accelerated and collided in midair. As the horrifying sight of Flesh and bones flying everywhere appeared above the docks, the falling remains mixed with rain and snow did not hit the ground. Instead, under some inexplicable force of attraction, they all flew toward the skies above the nearshore harbor.
At some point, a group of small boats had appeared upon the water. Dozens of black-robed figures slit their wrists together, letting their blood drip into the sea. Then came that long, conch-like sound, produced by an instrument like a concertina in the hands of one of the black-robed figures.
A Ritual Matrix glimmering with faint light appeared out of thin air on the sea surface. The cultists' blood mixed with the blood and bones of the three dragons, forming an intricate pattern dizzying to behold.
Compared to the people of The Church on the docks, the Witches aboard the small boat were closer to the ritual site. Yet even with her wealth of knowledge, she could not identify those symbols. She only noticed that the ghost