Storm and Aurora could waste no more time spectating and immediately took to the air in pursuit.
Right from the beginning , Storm could see that these aircraft were different from the ones that attacked Sanctuary.
The ones attacking his city had large platforms extending from the sides for large groups of soldiers to stand on and so moved slower than these ones.
The ones they were facing now was clearly designed for a different purpose, instead of a regular flame cannon, these ones had a forward facing energy weapon similar to the one that Pyros had in his chest.
On their sides were no platforms, instead the sides were left open, revealing the interior. A weapon launcher was located on either side operated by a single Order soldier.
These weapons could load two different kinds of ammunition that Storm had seen. They could be loaded with a fast firing harpoon that could pierce even dragon scales.
Or they could be loaded with a chain net. The net was designed to get caught up and bind a flying creature's wings and limbs. Forcing them to the ground ready for capture. Even dragons struggled to break the net once ensnared and usually required another dragon to free the ensnared ally.
Seeing two large dragons closing in on them fast, the aircraft operators made the wise decision to focus on the dragons, instead of the two battling giant elemental Djinn.
A glow forming in front of the cannon alerted Storm to it's intentions, he twisted to the side and just barely managed to avoid a blast from it's cannon.
One of his heads turned towards the aircraft as he flew past and he fired a bolt of lightning in response.
As the lightning hit it's mark, it arced between several more aircraft that were flying too close. Storm had learned long ago that many machines like the Arcadian Golems as well as these new aircraft were vulnerable to lightning.
The lightning spread through the components that these machines required to operate and quickly disabled them, rendering them inert and unresponsive.
The affected aircraft dropped out of the sky like puppets who's strings had been cut, exploding as they hit the ground.
Before he could celebrate, another aircraft fired a net at him, pulling on his shadow magic, he made himself incorporeal and the net passed through him and fell to the ground.
His second head inhaled before blowing a stream of fire in retaliation at the craft. The craft was resistant to the fire, but it's operators were not.
In flew into the interior and quickly burned the weapon operators to ash, before spreading to the front of the machine where the controls and their operator was located.
Without the humans controlling the craft, it dropped out of the sky.
Aurora would have had a harder time against the machines if she weren't so proficient in magic.
She was displaying the full might of her talents in high magic now, summoning tornadoes of magic that made it next to impossible for the craft to stay in the air.
Despite their skill, there were only two of them and they could only keep them occupied for a while. Several of the aircraft after seeing how formidable the two dragons were, pulled away and continued on to the giant djinn that were still fighting each other.
Firing several cannons at once, the blasts punched several holes in the fire djinn. He clapped his lower arms together once hard, releasing a shockwave that knocked all the nearby aircraft out of the sky.
As they exploded when they hit the ground, the djinn inhaled and sucked all the fires the explosions caused into his mouth.
He began to grow larger as the fires were absorbed as fuel for his growth until he towered over his opponent. The change in size had an immediate effect on the outcome of their duel and began to push Tempus to the defensive.
"He needs help!!" Thought Storm
Unfortunately he had a problem. Even with him and Aurora unleashing and combining their attacks, he doubted that they would be able to cause significant damage.
The Djinn was much to large for that, and he regenerated his wounds much too quickly. Nor did Storm think he would serve as a useful distraction.
The Djinn's attacks were too widespread and he'd be little more than a fly buzzing in his ear and could be swatted away just as quickly.
Storm looked at the water and lightning that made up Tempus's body and an idea began to form in his head.
If the Fire Djinn could grow from absorbing sources of his element, couldn't Tempus do the same?
A dam was constructed not far from the palace that carried water to the city of Stone Helm through a series of aquaducts.
He doubted they would be able to divert the flow of water towards Tempus but if they broke open the dam, the sudden rush of water would flood the region.
Not only strengthening Tempus, but also potentially weakening his opponent. That just left lightning. Storm could supercharge the air and generate a powerful lightning storm that should do the trick.
"Aurora!! I have a plan!!" Stated Storm.
He quickly filled her in and after agreeing to it's necessity, she took off in the direction of the dam.
Storm landed on the ground and spread his legs and wings wide, reaching into his magic reserves, he pulled the moisture in the air over a wide area together, forming a thick dark storm cloud over the immediate area.
Unfortunately Storm's activity drew the Fire Djinn's attention and he began to advance on Storm.
As Storm hadn't directly attacked him yet, the Djinn was unable to attack Storm with his elemental magic, but that limitation didn't stop him from responding with physical might instead.
He pulled back a massive fist and was just about to deliver a punch to Storm that would have flattened him if it connected, when Tempus tackled his opponent from behind and stopped his strike.
A distant boom sounded from the mountains before a massive wave came from the now destroyed dam.
"Watch yourself, Storm!! A tsunami is coming!!!" Warned Aurora mentally.
Storm released his hold on the storm cloud and took to the air.
Switching from manipulating the water to form the cloud, he instead began to charge the energy that was already building up in the cloud.
Despite the size of the wave, it had shrunk considerably by the time it reached the two giants and only reached them at waist level. The water began to sizzle and boil when it collided with the fire djinn.
He realized what Storm's plan was when the water struck him, but at that point it was much too late.
Storm directed all the built up lightning at the water surrounding them. The fire djinn bellowed as the lightning electrocuted him.
His opponent had an opposite effect however , Tempus smiled in ecstasy as the new addition of energy washed away his fatigue and hurts, And he immediately began to grow in size.
Steam rose from the fire Djinn as he began to shrink. He flailed around heavily but was unable to escape the water around him.
Just before he sank beneath the surface, Tempus reached out and pulled his opponent out of the water's embrace.
A sharp clear crystal appeared in his other hand, the fire Djinn's eyes buldged when he saw it and began to thrash harder. But Tempus drove it into his opponent's chest before he could break free.
His form began to break down into energy before being completely absorbed by the crystal.
Once he was completely gone, the crystal had turned bright red and seemed to be on fire.
Tempus shrunk down to a human size and stared at the crystal floating above his hand.
"This is the second time that I have underestimated you, Dragon! I promise that I shall not do so again!" Stated Tempus.