They arrived at the foot of the city.
"We're here."
Saint Anna said softly:
"Sister, please wait a moment."
She raised her head. Ripples spread through her eyes, white light flickered, and her lips moved as though she were whispering some sort of encrypted message over a great distance.
Terrifying surges of power suddenly erupted throughout the city.
At the same time.
Rumble-
The earth beneath them began to shake, as though a massive earthquake had struck.
Amid that tremendous roar, an enormous hand thrust out of the yellow sand behind them. The earth split open with a thunderous rumble, and a giant so immense that the entire city looked like a toy garden before him climbed out from underground.
Countless rocks and clods of earth fell from his body. Radiance flickered in his enormous eyes, and his entire body seemed to be made of stone. He was so vast that even the Self-Binding Angel looked as insignificant as an ant before him.
Saint Anna said softly:
"The Stone Ancestor of the North Star Region, the God of Earth, Afeiqinius."
A man in heavy golden armor appeared atop the towering city wall, his face weathered by hardship. He gazed gravely down at them. His chest had split open, yet the terrifying power emanating from him surpassed even that of the giant who blotted out the sky.
Saint Anna looked up at him and said:
"The God of War, Nus, King of the Asolon Dynasty."
On the towering stone giant's shoulder, a woman holding a staff stepped forward, her entire figure shrouded in tattered elemental robes. She gazed at the Self-Binding Angel and the Witch God Head below the city walls. She gave off no aura whatsoever, yet her appearance seemed to make every element within the storm sing in unison