"Disgusting!" Michaela uttered in disdain before brandishing her sword, flames spewing out and reducing everything in the room to ashes.
Outside, chaos ensued as people panicked and attempted to call emergency services, but the traffic and the ongoing situation made it impossible for help to arrive.
Emerging from the burning diner, amidst the shocked onlookers, Michaela remained unfazed by the confusion and awe directed at her. With a wave of her sword, she extinguished the flames that had engulfed the building.
Looking up at the sky where the invisible bound fields were, Michaela sensed their vanishing. She estimated that in a few minutes, the magical barrier would completely dissipate, and everything would return to normal.
With her 4 wings unfurled, Michaela ascended into the sky, heading back to report to Envy.
— Oceanos —
A few minutes later in Oceanos, following Michaela's destruction of the magic formation's core, the situation markedly improved. The first to notice this was a crew member whom Odysseus had tasked with monitoring visual data continuously.
Upon realizing that the magic obstructing his registration of visual data was no longer effective, he promptly reported to his superior, who took a few minutes to confirm the information.
Now, within Oceanos' bridge and command center, the main screen displayed the ongoing battle between the Orochi mana construct and Scylla. They were locked in fierce combat, trading blows with each other. Scylla's blood and flesh were scattered, torn off by the relentless attacks, yet its regeneration remained steady, healing its wounds and lost limbs.
On the other hand, the Orochi mana construct's repairs grew slower with each strike it endured.
At that moment, a call came in from Envy, prompting Odysseus to instruct his crew to bring the call up to the main audio of the bridge.
"Mr. Odysseus, can you hear me?" Envy's voice rang through.
"Loud and clear, Ms. Envy. It seems like communication has returned to normal. Is it you who destroyed whatever was blocking our communication?" Odysseus inquired.
"No, it was Michaela who did that. I just tell her where the magic formation core is. As you can see, I'm maintaining the shield to protect the city from collateral damage during the giant monster fight. I can't leave my post," Envy explained. "Also, I called you because I need your help with Koyuki, who is controlling the Orochi Mana Construct that is fighting against Scylla."
"Affirmative," Odysseus replied, then asked, "How long can you maintain the shield, Ms. Envy?"
"Based on my mana reserves, only until morning. After that, I'll need to use some of the Chromatic Philosopher's Stones that Daniel gave me," Envy stated.
"Affirmative," Odysseus nodded. "We'll assist Ms. Koyuki in destroying Scylla. Can you convey to her to drag Scylla out into the open sea?"
"Yes, I'll tell her. But you must help disable Scylla's movement capabilities as much as possible. Koyuki's mana reserves are dwindling, and she can't sustain the fight for much longer," Envy emphasized.
Only high-concentration lightning bolts, such as the judgment bolt Koyuki uses, can create wounds significant enough to hinder Scylla's regenerative capabilities.
Thus, to the artificers working for Daniel, the original power of the Corrosion bomb was akin to black technology, impossible to 100% replicate. Their best effort was to recreate it as a tactical missile warhead, many times larger than the original hand grenade but still maintaining its destructive capabilities.
Seeing that all of Scylla's limbs and parts of its body had been heavily corroded, Koyuki gritted her teeth. She drew out more mana, burning it mercilessly to fuel her giant mana construct, the Orochi, and push Scylla out toward the open sea.
"Arrrrgggg!" Koyuki roared as she increased her mana output and amplified the Orochi's power.
Scylla, now without limbs and heavily injured by corrosion, was easily pushed and couldn't offer any resistance. It continued to move toward the open sea, where Oceanos lay in wait for an ambush.
At that moment, the sea churned, and the top half of Oceanos emerged from the water, cascading down from its conning tower like a waterfall due to its colossal size. The massive submarine floated on the sea for a few minutes before its front section began to open, revealing a large hole resembling a cannon's barrel.
This large opening housed Oceanos's most powerful weapon, the 'Annihilator Cannon.' This cannon harnessed power from all over the colossal submarine and focused it solely on firing this massive instrument of destruction.
Inside Oceanos, Odysseus consulted the manual, which described the protocols and safety measures for using this destructive weapon.
"Engine section power, relocated." "Living quarter power, relocated." "Dimension phasing engine power, relocated." "Non-essential system power, relocated." "Shielding on, in 15 seconds."
The crew in Oceanos Command Center repeated the finishing procedure of power relocation and safety protocols as Odysseus continued checking off the boxes in the manual.
"Charging! Begin. Charging finish ETA 1 minute," announced one of the crew members near Odysseus's command podium. The countdown appeared on the main screen of Oceanos's command room, illuminated by red emergency lights since most of the power had been redirected to the Annihilator Cannon.
On the screen, Koyuki had successfully pushed Scylla into the open sea, and the cannon's targeting system had fully locked onto Scylla. The only issue was that it needed about 20 more seconds to finish charging.
Seeing this, Odysseus quickly contacted Envy. "Ms. Envy! Please tell Ms. Koyuki that it's enough and she should return quickly. The Annihilator Cannon is about to fire!" he urged.
"Got it!" Envy replied and promptly used her telepathic message to instruct Koyuki on what to do next.
Koyuki swiftly commanded the Orochi mana construct to retreat from Scylla and move as far away from the line of fire as possible. She positioned herself beside Oceanos, floating in the air and waiting for the cannon to be unleashed.
As the countdown on the screen reached zero, the blue-red energy began to gather, emitting a bright light from the cannon barrel. The gravity lock function of the cannon, designed to prevent the target's movement, pulled Scylla out of the sea while Oceanos tilted its head up about 30 degrees into the sky.
"Annihilator cannon! Fire!" With a single command from Odysseus echoing throughout the command center, a colossal beam-like pillar of red and blue energy was unleashed from the cannon barrel, engulfing Scylla in its attempt to survive.
The thunderous sound of energy burning and exploding reverberated across the sea, audible even in San Francisco like a distant thunderstorm.