The stirring speech from Hyacine was still echoing in the audience's minds.
But before they had time to express their feelings, they saw everyone move in unison.
And that was not all, the music also began to surge.
As the chains drilled out from the clouds, a shocking human voice exploded at the same time.
The atmosphere of a great battle was raised almost instantly!
Phainon swept his gaze over everyone, then withdrew it. Without the slightest hesitation, he yanked hard with his hand.
At the end of the chain, a strange head shaped like a drill was pulled out from the clouds!
The Titan had been dragged out barehanded by Phainon!
The instant Aquila appeared, a brilliant golden light rapidly radiated outward with it at the center!
The sky, originally covered with dark clouds and thunder, was dispersed in an instant!
At this moment, the camera floated above the sky and froze on Aquila's full form.
Its entire body was tight and orderly. Its wings shone with a pure white glow like marble, and its long neck was bony and jagged, with no skin covering it at all, making it look just like a fossil.
Behind it, several rings always floated around Aquila's back, following it like a shadow.
This posture was in the same style as Nikador, whom they had seen before. But compared with Nikador, Aquila was far more beyond imagination, and its design carried an even stronger kind of geometric beauty.
After Aquila appeared, the music also began to become tighter in rhythm, making people feel tense and awed without realizing it.
As a sense of epic grandeur rose in the audience's hearts, the Titan finally flapped its wings and flew before the platform where everyone stood.
In front of the clouds, it spread its arms and let out a shriek!
Those enormous wings blotted out the sky, its long neck stood tall, and the rings behind it spread open at this moment.
Two eyes.
One was in its head, while the other was located at the waist-like area between its head and body.
Its design was unique and bizarre, yet it made the majesty of Aquila, the Lord of the Sky, even more prominent.
Especially when Aquila revealed its full form, the platform everyone stood on looked utterly tiny compared to its body.
Together with the clouds blown apart in the background and the golden cloud fields, that oppressive feeling… had arrived!
And just as the audience was stunned by this magnificent aura, a line of large words slammed onto the screen.
[Sublime, Radiant, Avatar of the Sky]
...
: Oi!!!
: Holy crap! Did they have to make it this cool?!
: This subtitle is way too pretentious! Damn!
: Although I was already prepared, seeing Aquila's true body still shocked me!
: The violent aesthetics of Star Rail's monsters have never disappointed me!
: Such majesty, as expected of the Sky Titan! A cold, powerful Sky Titan!
: Who understands that feeling? After knowing Aquila's personality and what it has done, I basically couldn't imagine a form that matched it, until I saw this source of ugliness.
: That bony neck, the whole body is practically like a skeleton frame, but the color scheme and design give it a sacred feeling. The body also feels a little cold, stern, and harsh...
: The art direction is too strong!
: And those two eyes too. Looking closely, it actually has a bit of a Cthulhu flavor.
: The music is amazing too! Just that section gave me goosebumps!
: Charge, Hyacine! That answer to Seliose just now really retained the power of resistance against suppression!
: Wake her up with a hard beating!
: The battle feels so good!!
...
The audience no longer had the leisure to dwell on that deeply meaningful answer from before.
After Aquila's entrance, everything had naturally fallen into place. Nothing could end this thousand-year conflict better than a conquest, a battle!
Just as Seliose had done a thousand years ago.
On the screen, facing the overwhelmingly majestic Sky Titan, although everyone's eyes were filled with shock, they did not retreat in fear.
Phainon even gripped Dawnmaker and laughed freely, asking, "Does this weather please you, Titan incarnate?"
"Indulge in this, and taste the fiery blaze of Dawnmaker!"
Aquila did not like cloudy days. It liked clear skies. As it happened, Dawnmaker carried a similar meaning.
And just as Phainon finished speaking, the battle song began.
Heavy and powerful strings rose in grandeur. Mixed with human voices of the same rhythm, they sounded like thunder, playing the prelude.
"****!" Some phrase in the Titan's language rang out from Aquila's mouth.
But no one knew whether the one before them was Aquila or Seliose.
But that did not matter because the Titan's wrath had already descended. This Titan incarnation spread its right wing in the sky, and blazing flames ignited upon it.
With only a slight sweep, its blade-like feathered wing carried unrivaled heavenly fire down from the sky.
The golden sky also turned into a sea of fiery clouds at this moment!
[Fury, Incineration of Dawn and Dusk]
A name also appeared at the bottom of the screen. If Nikador's attacks symbolized bravery and battle, then Aquila's attacks were sheer oppressive force!
As far as everyone could see, everything was covered by blazing fire, how could it be only ninety thousand miles?!
"Stand behind me!" Stelle summoned the flaming lance!
She had everyone retreat behind her. The intense heat made the air currents in the sky become violent, and her long hair danced wildly with the gale.
But her gaze was fierce and firm. She raised the flaming lance high, then stabbed it into the ground beneath her feet.
The power of Preservation immediately spread outward with her at the center, covering the surroundings.
The next second, a violent wave of flame descended from the sky. The air wave collided with Stelle's Preservation barrier, leaving behind strange flowing traces.
The temperature rose rapidly, to the point that even the air became distorted!
The platform, which had seemed enormous to everyone, was like a small boat in a storm under such a natural disaster. It swayed unsteadily in the sky and trembled violently.
"What terrifying majesty!" Hyacine gripped her medical staff, cold sweat forming on her forehead as she stared fixedly at the figure protecting everyone in front of her.
Thank goodness... Thank goodness Grayie was here.
She closed her eyes and began to pray. Green healing power spread along her body, resisting the high temperature that the barrier could not fully withstand.
And just then, the flame wave created by Aquila's right arm had not yet faded.
Its left arm also began to glow!
[Fury, Incineration of Dawn and Dusk]
The impact of the flame wave had been blocked by Stelle, but as its left wing began to burn, the high temperature suddenly rose by several levels.
Aside from the center of the platform where everyone stood, every other area had already been distorted by the intense heat.
The clouds were evaporated, revealing the sea beneath them.
Even the distant ocean, so far away from here, had begun to boil before heat of this level.
"Little Ika!"
"Dudu!"
Hyacine had already clenched her teeth tightly, her forehead covered in sweat.
Everyone was suffering badly in the heat. If this went on, sooner or later, they would be roasted alive by Aquila.
Just as she was preparing to borrow Little Ika's power and launch a sneak attack on Aquila from the side, a shower of sweet rain suddenly fell from the sky.
The hazy rain mist carried a kind of power characteristic the Chrysos Heirs had never seen before, falling onto their bodies.
The unbearable heat instantly lessened by more than half.
"Dan Heng!"
Stelle, who was holding the front as the survival position, looked back.
"I collected a little of the cloud and mist here."
"Good thing I prepared in advance."
Dan Heng had not transformed into his little azure dragon form. He merely formed a hand seal with his right hand and spoke calmly.
"You really have hidden depths."
Phainon wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Even at a time like this, his mentality was still good enough for him to joke, "I was about to say, if we kept getting roasted like this, I'd be medium-well soon."
With that said, he raised his head and looked toward Aquila.
His eyes burned with fighting spirit. Fighting this Titan here, they had neither the timing nor the terrain on their side.
The only thing they had was people.
"Then... it's our turn!"
The waves of flame receded.
Phainon leapt out of Stelle's barrier, gripped Dawnmaker with both hands, and fiercely drew a half-circle through the sky!
It fully brought out one hundred percent of Phainon's strength.
A shockwave exploded through the air, tearing apart the flames that had yet to disperse, and struck Aquila's wing with a single slash.
On the other side, Stelle also leapt up, attacking Aquila's abdomen.
But at that moment, two strange objects drilled out from Aquila's waist and abdomen. They looked like some kind of devices.
One on the left and one on the right, they suddenly lit up.
At the same time, the ring behind Aquila began to tremble violently.
"Those two things are wrong!" Dan Heng frowned and shouted.
"I felt it!" Phainon had just landed when he dragged Dawnmaker behind him and, using the platform's position, charged madly toward them.
Stelle also changed direction in midair. Her bat was replaced with a feather pen.
Mem quickly flew to her side as well, ready for any emergency.
"****!" Aquila's voice rang out once again.
Flames and wings came crashing down toward Phainon almost at the same time.
It was protecting that thing!
Seeing the wing fall, and the object at Aquila's waist and abdomen now right before his eyes, Phainon's expression did not change. He actually held the greatsword horizontally above his head and forcefully met the descending wing head-on!
That was a Titan's giant wing! Putting aside the high temperature, just the size of that wing alone already carried terrifying force.
Yet Phainon actually relied on himself and a single sword to forcibly block that immense power and flame.
The audience watched with their hearts in their throats. They were afraid Phainon would simply be crushed there and then.
But what they saw instead was the terrifying scene of Phainon's Dawnmaker and Aquila's wing-blade locked in a contest of strength, sparks flying everywhere.
"It's... now!" The muscles in Phainon's arms bulged violently. His eyes were bloodshot as he stubbornly held back the force of Aquila's downward strike.
Flames? Heat? Immense power?
Of course he could feel the pain. Of course he could feel the enormous weight and pressure.
But the fire in his heart burned far fiercer than Aquila's!
In this fleeting instant, a figure shot past Phainon's side like thunder.
It was Stelle!
Her lance struck out, her speed extreme!
With one thrust, she pierced one of the devices at Aquila's waist and abdomen.
The device had no protection. After letting out a sound like shattering glass, it broke apart directly.
But before Stelle could strike the other side, Aquila, in pain, had already withdrawn its wing.
The ring behind it had already expanded and burned like the sun itself!
"Fall back! Run!"
The voices of Solabis and Lunabis rang out from the edge of the sky.
Earlier, the two had dived into the clouds to drive Aquila away. During their entanglement with Aquila, they had been thrown far away.
Only now had they barely managed to return. The moment they came back, they saw that ring, terrifying enough to make one's soul scatter.
A thousand years ago, during the great battle against Aquila, even the Daythunder Knight had suffered a major loss under this move!
"The helium flash is coming!!" The two winged beasts flapped their wings and landed on the platform, protecting everyone behind them.
"Run? At a time like this, where are we supposed to run?"
Stelle gripped the feather pen tightly, glanced at the endless height beneath her feet, and complained.
"Then hide behind us. Avoid its edge for now!" Solabis said urgently.
Their bodies were already broken. After a thousand years of waiting, what remained of them had long since been worn down.
Even if they had to sacrifice themselves, they had to let these people survive this terrifying disaster.
Lunabis also stepped forward right behind it. And in the sky, Aquila seemed to have been completely enraged.
It once again spread its arms wide.
The rings behind it all opened. The Titan's power began to brew around it, forming some wondrous connection with the far end of the sky.
Everyone felt their vision fill with blinding light, coming from that distant place, crossing ten thousand miles to arrive.
They raised their hands to shield their eyes, tears streaming from the sting, while still looking up at the sky.
It was the sun. The sun had come!
A fireball radiating incomparable heat passed through space and time, drawn in by the ring behind Aquila. In the blink of an eye, the two collided.
"!!!!" Aquila's terrifying shriek resounded throughout the worlds.
The light across its body rose rapidly.
At this moment, it was the symbol of the sky.
The true blazing sun!
Solabis and Lunabis had already prepared to be melted beneath this light. They closed their eyes and spread their wings, attempting a fearless and laughable resistance.
But before they closed their eyes, a fiery-red thread ignited in the golden sky.
The two winged beasts stared in astonishment at the figure raising a flaming lance and charging toward the sun, and heard those words, wild to the extreme:
"Why should I avoid its edge?!"