Chapter 1024 Attack of the Phoenix

"That's weird, why have I still not been informed about anything? Are they having too much fun with the bird? Well... I did tell them to be as explicit in their torture as possible but having no news now... I expect an excellent analysis report from their findings. Heh." Saberteeth wondered to himself as he watched the sunset sinking into the edges of the White Sands Desert. 

He had been expecting a report from the Southern Capital with regards to the torturing of the Nine Oceans Phoenix's chick or any particularly new developments. While patterns had estimated that today it should have reached the point of exhaustion leading it to resurrect into a stronger form, it could be possible the report was delayed due to the chick's resilience.

He yawned, wondering if the new chick down in their basement would be like its sibling putting up some feeble resistance before it goes down. Still, its elder sister though young and had barely alive a few days after hatching, was afraid of death and probably unaware that its resurrecting abilities were its only form of defence without its parents around. 

"Heh, if only my father were to see that I, that 'useless bastard' had managed to tame a phoenix…. And soon I will have two at our disposal, which shall become the turning point for us People of the South!'' Saberteeth enjoyed his daydream of grandeur. He wandered around the room with a giant grin on his face as he enjoyed the quiet breeze of the White Desert until he suddenly felt a slight disturbance of the mana in the air.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!" 

A screech so loud that he was able to hear from the small cottage situated a few kilometres away from the hatchery filled the air. Saberteeth immediately grabbed his cape and staff that was hanging at the perch as he went out where he saw the prominent flying figure fly towards the secret location.

'You've finally come, eh? Took you long enough, but don't you worry, everything is ready for you to join your egg." Saberteeth thought to himself as he ran inside to grab a few ancient looking metal cubes from inside his basement. 

He believed that it would take the Nine Ocean's Phoenix quite some time to reach the bottom of the hatchery, but he also did not want to leave his mages alone with the rampaging mother for too long.

At the very most they would suffer a terrifying blow, but if Saberteeth played his cards right, he could capture and control the Phoenix and use her powers to resurrect them again. He would only have to find out how the Phoenix resurrected people, since none of the historical records and texts passed down from the previous generations of Southerners had any mention of that. 

Unfortunately, it was hard to tell what parts were accurate and which were heavily exaggerated. Still, more than one record attributed those abilities to the Phoenix, so all Saberteeth would have to do would be to find out how to properly utilise its powers and the full extent of it in time to come.

"Ahhh just thinking about it makes my body get fired up!" Saberteeth muttered to himself as he unlocked the basement to grab the metal cubes.

In the meantime, his mages were indeed having a tough time fending off the terrifying monster. Its appearance came at the worst possible moment, just when they were about to have a shift change. They had let down their guard since the hatchery had arguably more firepower than even the capital. 

The Nine Oceans Phoenix had emerged from the skies and had started blasting down torrents of water beams at them. Before they could shield themselves behind magic, some of them already found themselves drowning in burning waters and all that would be left of them would be bits of flesh and bones. 

It was the only surprise attack that the Nine Oceans Phoenix could muster as the magical barrier immediately went up to protect the hatchery and the building's defences were initiated. All sorts of defensive spells like Slow, Weaken and Stupidify got used to hinder the Phoenix' advances as the mages began to congregate to pull off a massive spell while still under the protection of the building's magical barrier.

"If such a barrier could stop me, I should stop living as a Nine Oceans Phoenix!" The bird screeched at them as she flew up and with a quick twirl into the skies, the mages saw that the clouds above eventually turned into something more solid. Without any magic circles, the Nine Oceans Phoenix had managed to change the properties of the clouds into orbs of water. 

With a flap of her wings, the large orbs of water descended towards the hatchery's magical barrier. Reaching terminal velocity made the orbs of water fall as if they were mini comets crashing into the world's atmospheric barrier. Indeed, the orbs created such a splash that the barriers instantly weakened by 40% and was barely able to hold up against the second wave.

The Nine Oceans Phoenix was shocked that this attack was not enough to deal with the humans, but she felt that her magic powers were still in tip top condition after eating Lynn's plates full with luxurious slabs of meat. She had no idea what it was that the cook had served her but the only word capable of describing the taste would be 'Delicious'. 

Her magic was flowing out without any delay, a vast difference compared to a few hours ago when she had needed to concentrate to bring the magic out. It was as if the food had not only turned her stronger temporarily but also allowed her to become a little more sensitive towards mana, which had enabled the Phoenix to use the magic in her surroundings.

At that time, the Southern Mages were finishing the conjuration of a few large scale spells and started throwing it towards the Nine Oceans Phoenix. As the monster was a flying type which dealt with water, the mages believed it was best to use attributes that it was weak to.

"Star Lightning Storm!!" The mages shouted as they pulled whatever they could simultaneously against their nemesis. Most of them knew what they had signed up for when Saberteeth had recruited them to guard this hatchery. Many of them had been captivated by their greed since their benevolent leader had offered to pay them very generously, while a minority had been genuinely interested in saving the nation upon learning about the Phoenix Egg. 

Yet, none of them had expected the Nine Oceans Phoenix to be this ridiculously strong. With Lynn's buff the Nine Oceans Phoenix was agile enough to evade each and every attack the mages threw at it. Even a lightning based magic, which was considered to be the fastest attack possible in every Mages' repertoire had been countered so easily.

But instead of evading every one of the magic attacks, the Nine Ocean Phoenix soon understood that it was not enough to stop them from casting as some were seen to be sacrificing themselves to power the spells up. 

And since they were so willing to die, the Nine Oceans Phoenix decided to grant them swift deaths.

She flew up higher into the skies and for once in this entire battle, she stood still momentarily to gain enough mana to decimate the entire hatchery. A spell which she had initially reserved to paralyse the Southern Capital.

"Tidal Sky Wave!!!"