His face was covered in blood.

He wiped his eyes clean with his fingers and glanced around, finding the Kazan clan packing in close around him. A cheer rose from among them as though of its own accord.

The Patriarch slapped Ziel on the back. “Gratitude! But you should warn us next time. We thought you were leaving us.”

The state of unnatural focus passed, but it didn’t leave the fear in its wake. Instead, Ziel felt like himself again.

He sighed.

“What would be the point of that?” Ziel said. “Not like I have anywhere to go.”

That wasn’t true, and he knew it. Akura Malice was here, and she wouldn’t let her daughter face down a Dreadgod without giving her a way out. If he could get to Mercy, he could still escape from this mess.

But that would mean leaving these people behind.

The one good thing about the arrival of the Bleeding Phoenix was that it had scared off the people trying to leave through Heaven’s Glory. The crowd pushing their way up the side of Mount Samara had scattered, fleeing in every other direction.

Ziel pointed. “Hey, look at that. Line’s shorter.”

Lindon felt his eyes change to blue as pure madra flowed through him.

He grabbed Yerin’s wrist, pulling her off-balance while he dropped low to drive his left palm at her core.

A Forged blue-white imprint of his palm covered her midsection as his Empty Palm landed, driving madra from her core.

But he didn’t know how the Empty Palm would affect a Herald.

Combat report! Lindon called desperately.

[Call me naïve, but I think we should save that for an actual enemy.]

Yerin grunted when the technique landed, but she gave him a reproachful look afterwards. “Still me. Phoenix doesn’t hold my leash.”

“Apologies. I wasn’t certain.”

Yerin waved a hand casually behind her, and a pulse of blood and sword aura tore the half-formed bloodspawn to pieces as it tried to emerge from the girl’s bandage.

The girl shrieked and tore off her wrappings, crawling as far away from them as possible. Lindon admired her appropriate reaction.

“More spawn rising,” Yerin reported. “I’ll take care of them. Just get us away.”

Another cry came from the north, and this time Lindon could see something slowly flapping great wings. Something that covered the northern horizon like a bank of clouds.

Kelsa walked up behind him, her mouth open in horror. “Is that…”

“A second one,” Lindon confirmed. His stomach churned.

“…what about the people who haven’t made it out?”

That was what he wanted to know too.

“We’ve done everything we can,” he said, voice tight. “We just have to hope the Phoenix leaves them alone.”

[And doesn’t follow us,] Dross put in.

Kelsa’s face twisted in pain and concern, but she nodded. As Yerin made her way out the door to deal with bloodspawn, he focused entirely on pouring his spirit into the control console. There was no such thing as running too fast.

While he did, he glanced back at the projection that showed what was behind him. Shadow crawled over Malice, and she started to melt into the ground…only for the Wandering Titan to stomp its foot.

From miles away, Lindon felt her portal break.

The darkness shattered, and Malice stood exactly where she’d started, but she didn’t hesitate. She hurled a glob of sticky shadow madra with one hand, and it exploded into a web. The Strings of Shadow tied the Titan down, while at the same time, heavy darkness rippled through the depths of her violet armor like a wave.

Her full-body Enforcer technique made her sink deeper into the ground, but Lindon could feel the weight as she speared the Titan in the chest with the butt of her bow.

A column of wind blasted over Sacred Valley, tearing up yet more trees. Mount Samara should be far enough away that the Irons and Coppers down there wouldn’t be in too much danger, but Lindon worried for anyone left down in the valley itself.

The Titan staggered back a step, but its tail whipped up and struck Malice in the side. She was knocked off her feet, and Lindon thought she might stumble through a mountain…but, gracefully, she turned that fall into flight.

Wind aura cushioned her before she hit the ground, and in another great hurricane burst, she shot away.

Heading south.

Lindon was certain the Monarch was about to circle around the outside of the suppression field to meet the Phoenix, but he didn’t see it happen. His attention was called away by a bright red light filtering through the windows.

The Phoenix’s head swiveled to look at them.

Lindon was growing used to feeling the willpower of others. He had Consumed thoughts from the Titan itself, had withstood Fury’s test of will, and he’d been sensing the weight of will behind Malice’s attacks.

Only when he felt the Bleeding Phoenix focus on his cloudship did he realize how far he still had to go.

The weight of the Dreadgod’s attention caused the blood aura in the area to flare in power. Lindon reacted immediately, flooding out the Hollow Domain and his own willpower to push against the pressure.

He defended his family and some of the others from Sacred Valley, but he couldn’t cover everyone. He hadn’t been out of Sacred Valley’s suppression field for long, and hadn’t regained his full strength.

One man from the Li clan keeled over, blood running from his eyes. Several others collapsed, their bodies twitching.

Bloodspawn didn’t rise from them…at least not yet.

The cloud fortress had a script specifically to protect it from sudden destruction by Sages and Heralds. It protected them from the worst of the Phoenix’s attention. So this could only get worse.

Lindon could feel the script, all around the ship. It blazed bright red, overloaded by the Phoenix’s power. The protection was only meant to stop glancing blows, and wouldn’t protect from an all-out attack. Or sustained pressure.

Beneath them, the scripts began to crack.

Under the Dreadgod’s stare.

What can we do? Lindon demanded of Dross. He was already going over every weapon and ability he had. Sages were supposed to be able to help against Dreadgods.

[Lindon, I…] Dross was at a loss for words.

Yerin whimpered behind him. He spun to see her curled up in a ball in the corner. Her knees were drawn up, her six Goldsigns covering her in a cage. Her red eyes were filled with absolute terror.

“It wants me back,” she whispered, and Lindon heard Ruby in those words.

A stone sank into Lindon’s gut as he realized it was true. The Phoenix wasn’t focused on the rest of them. It was looking for Yerin.

Lindon focused as he hadn’t since pulling Dross back from Northstrider. He felt space bend and buckle beneath this will, desperately drawing his power together to get them away from here.

The Phoenix’s willpower brushed his aside like a passing ship shoving past a fish.

It let out another cry, and Yerin staggered to her feet. White light gathered around her as she prepared to activate the Moonlight Bridge.

She was running. Trying to draw the Phoenix away.

Lindon lunged for her…but her Divine Treasure faded on its own. It hadn’t recovered yet.

The scripts in the cloudship cracked further.

And suddenly, the pressure on them lifted.