The Aligodon was hit by another thermal shock, its body protesting in agony, but its brutal resistance kept it standing. It ignored the pain and kept moving forward—or at least it tried to. The minimal delay imposed by the impact was enough to seal its fate.
"Maximum power, Vivian!! No need to hold back."
Gregory's firm voice echoed through the communicator, a clear and precise command.
Vivian was already smiling before Gregory had even finished speaking. Her eyes shone with anticipation, reflecting the dancing flames in front of her. Heat and cold mixed feelings, the battle was at its peak, and she loved every second of it.
Without hesitation, her fingers closed in a precise gesture, concentrating incandescent energy. The air around her trembled, distorted by the absurd temperature that accumulated in her hands.
The Aligodon hadn't expected the battle to change, so as soon as it emerged from the flames and focused on Vivian again, its vision was filled with an entirely new kind of flaming inferno. This time, it wasn't a single, weak fireball like every time before.
Fssssshhh! SSWWWHHHAAAAA
Thin jets of blue flame tore through the air, hitting it squarely in the snout.
The heat was unbearable, far more intense than anything it had ever endured. The Aligodon roared in despair, its primal instincts screaming that this was too dangerous for it to face.
Its body shuddered, paralyzed by the searing pain that seemed to melt its scales. It tried to resist, but the intensity of this fire was different—it didn't just burn, it devoured.
It spun around quickly, its massive tail rising like a makeshift shield. The impact muffled part of the attack, protecting its most vulnerable areas. But it was too late. The throbbing pain filled his body, and Vivian's flames, cunning and merciless, spread through his damaged defenses, cooking him from the inside out.
The Aligodon groaned, pain mingling with frustration. He was being cornered, manipulated, forced to react instead of act. And this was unacceptable.
The fury within him reached a new level. Hatred pulsed through every fiber of his being, boiling in his blood like a corrosive poison. He had to destroy something—anything!
Then his sharp scales began to glow. At first a faint, pulsing glow, but then it intensified, spreading rapidly across his snout and making those sharp scales look like stones of pure oxygen. Something was about to happen. Something devastating.
The tension was almost palpable. The battlefield seemed to hold its breath as the critical moment came. The heat from Vivian's flames still danced in the air, contrasting with the freezing aura that was beginning to spread through the Aligodon's body.
Then—
A crack.
Not thunder. Not a roar. Something sharp, fast, precise.
ZUUUUMMM!
The sound tore through the atmosphere like an invisible blade, a death knell that no one had expected at that moment.
The impact came before comprehension. The Aligodon's head jerked slightly to the side, as if an invisible hammer had tried to crush it. It was a brutal blow—and yet it was not enough to cause severe damage.
The bullet from Drake's Black Death, a projectile designed to pierce even the toughest metal alloys, found resistance in the creature's thick hide. It did not pierce. It merely left a deep groove in the hardened skin, dissipating some of the energy contained in the growing glow of its scales.
The glow faded. The bullet was enough to break the Aligodon's concentration and halt its attack.
But then… the fury returned, worse than before.
THOMP! THOMP! THOMP!
The massive tail began to slam violently against the ground, compacting the earth under its colossal weight. He no longer cared about the blue flames that burned his skin, he did not care about the pain. His reasoning began to fade, giving way to a more primitive and destructive instinct.
Then, the air around him changed.
The scorching heat was replaced by a biting, icy breeze. The atmospheric pressure seemed to compress around the creature.
And then, again—
ZUUUMMM!
Another shot.
This time, the bullet hit the growing glow on the Aligodon's snout. But whatever should have stopped its energy buildup… failed.
The glow continued.
ZUUMMM! ZUUMMM! ZUUMMM!
Three shots in quick succession, each hitting critical points—the snout, the eyes, the forehead. But none of this stopped the phenomenon from advancing.
On the contrary…
The Aligodon's eyes began to glow brightly, a deep, icy blue, almost ethereal. The freezing glow spread rapidly, traveling along the rows of raised scales that ran from its snout to the tip of its tail. The air around it crackled with a sudden drop in temperature, and the imminent threat became clear.
Gregory's voice came over the radio, cold and calculated, cutting through the tension of the moment:
"Here comes the attack. Get ready. Zara, get into hiding. Vivian, try to keep him busy while you retreat. Remember, the point of no return is when the energy ball is completely formed. Do not cease the attack until the last moment."
At this point, Gregory was already in a makeshift shelter, a tight, dark hole just over four meters deep. The space was too small for four people, and the smell of damp earth mixed with the sweat and rapid breathing of Rebecca, Daira, Louise and Gregory who were crammed inside.
None of the girls said anything. They just waited. Listened. After all, they would soon be in action…
Above them, the battlefield was still in full tension. The intense crackling of Vivian's jets of fire and flames spread while occasional tremors caused grains of earth to break loose from the roof of the makeshift bunker. The ground around it seemed to pulse with the fury of the combat.
In addition to this hole, seven others had been hastily dug in the forest surrounding the battlefield by Zara and Vivian as they took turns attacking the Aligodon. They were not sophisticated—far from it.
But right now, they were a great protection against the devastating attack that was to come… Gregory was counting on them to avoid wasting precious energy from his Hounds…
Outside, Vivian continued her retreat. Her flames lit up the frigid air as she backed away, jets of fire dancing around the Aligodon, preventing it from advancing. Then, she noticed it.
The first sign.
The cold crept across the battlefield like an invisible shadow, transforming everything around it. The ground that had once been ravaged by flames began to darken, a thin layer of ice spreading like webs over the cracked earth.
The air, which had once shimmered with the heat of the fire, became thick and opaque, sucking the color from its surroundings. The twisted vegetation, already struggling to survive, froze in an instant, leaves shattering like fragile glass.
She saw all this, but felt nothing. Her body remained warm, protected by the searing heat of its flames, as if the cold tried to invade her and was immediately repelled.
Still, the warning was clear.
She kept up her pace, her steps firm and quick, keeping the jets of fire between her and the beast. The nearest bunker was already within reach. Now, all that was left was to wait for the second signal.
And then came the second signal.
The glow.
For an instant, it seemed just a flicker, a discreet pulsation, as if the Aligodon's energy was adjusting. But then, suddenly, the light exploded in intensity. The blue glow that had previously run beneath its scales became almost blinding, growing aggressively, like an LED overcoming the soft glow of a regular bulb.
Snow began to fall on the battlefield, falling in thin, treacherous flakes, like cold ash heralding impending disaster.
The wind died down.
The air grew dense, almost still, as if the world itself were holding its breath. And then, Vivian noticed—her flames, once fierce and uncontrollable, flickered more feebly, as if something were draining them of their intensity. The heat around her no longer roared; it struggled to exist.
It was now or never.
At that moment, Vivian stopped the jets of flame and raised her arms, focusing her energy. Above her, a sphere of blue fire began to form, growing rapidly until it was nearly ten feet in diameter. The heat it emanated was intense, so fierce that it seemed to defy the icy cold the Aligodon spread across the battlefield. But Vivian had no interest in a contest of endurance—she wanted to end this once and for all.
With a swift movement, she hurled the incandescent sphere at the creature. The projectile sliced through the air, its flames crackling as it advanced. The distance Vivian had subtly created while retreating meant that the fireball took a little longer to reach its target, giving the Aligodon enough time to react.
But it didn't move.
It didn't try to dodge, it didn't show any intention of dodging. On the contrary—it remained still, as if willing itself to be hit.
And then, at the instant of impact… nothing.
The fireball didn't explode. It didn't tear flesh, it didn't spread heat. It simply disappeared. Sucked in.
Erased. As if it had never existed.