As the blue beam was about to reach Andreas and Lilith. The vines that had thrown Andreas and Lilith up into the sky grew wildly and formed a hollow ball-like structure with the duo Andreas and Lilith trapped inside.
Bearing the impact of the blast the ball crumbled about 15 kilometers into the air right at the claws of a large beast.
The beast was a towering, skeletal beast with twisted antlers, gnarled limbs, and a grotesque, semi-exposed ribcage. Its skin was smooth stretched across its whole body, and its clawed limbs were animalistic. Its mouth is torn and jagged, lined with rows of malformed teeth, this blackened, earthy beast.
The claws of the large beast easily broke the wooden ball that protected Andreas and Lilith and revealed them with Lilith still in Andreas's arms, then the beast hurled them even further into the air, then it opened its jagged maw, prepared to swallow Andreas and Lilith whole.
In the spur of the moment, Andreas held out his hand towards the mouth of the beast and let pitch black tentacles with grey tips sprout from his hand and stretch deep into the beast's throat.
Experiencing this newfound pain in its throat and mouth the beast could not continue flying and so it fell along with Andreas and Lilith.
Lilith yelled over the rush of air.
"We're falling?! What's your plan, Sir Andreas?"
Andreas was half-shouting, half-laughing as he said.
"There is no plan!"
"Please Sir this is not a time for jokes!"
Andreas gritted his teeth.
"I wasn't joking. I was improvising! It worked... now I just need to think!"
The beast below them flails, roaring in agony. The ground is coming fast.
"Oh yes, fantastic! We killed the monster by joining it in death!"
Andreas glanced at his hand as faint smoke trails from his fingers
Andreas muttered quietly.
"...yeah, maybe this is it."
In a desperate attempt to live the grotesque winged beast let out one last, guttural howl, a sound that echoed through the sky like a dying storm, as its torn wings spread far and wide allowing the beast to glide through the air completely.
But its body gave out soon after at just a few hundred meters above ground. Blood and ichor streamed through the air, black and thick, painting streaks across the sky.
Then it fell.
Like a meteor.
The air thundered. Trees bent and snapped like brittle bones under the sheer weight of their descent. The sky itself seemed to reel.
The skeletal beast slammed into the earth with terrifying force.
The ground crumbled beneath its body, exploding outward in a jagged ring. Stone shattered.
At the heart of the chaos, Andreas and Lilith were flung from the collapsing ribs of the beast, sent tumbling through smoke and dust and fragments of bone. The tentacles still trailing from Andreas's hand twisted madly, reacting on instinct, wrapping around the two of them like a shield as they hit the earth.
They crashed through stone, rolling down into a gully hidden beneath the impact zone. The tentacles took the brunt splattering into the ground like a grey mirror, before vanishing into the air in a hiss of black mist.
Silence followed. Deafening silence.
Then a cough.A gasp. Movement.
Andrea's limbs were trembling but intact. Lilith lay beside him, eyes wide in disbelief, clothes torn but body whole.
The beast… was no longer moving.
Its body was half-buried in a fresh crater, wings crushed, ribs shattered like broken spears stabbing toward the sky.
"Ha, we live."
"Yes, we do, but... Andy, can we talk about your survival strategies?"
Andreas (wincing as he sits up):
"What... we were airborne, almost eaten, my survival strategy was borderline genius"
"NO WAY."
"..."
Lilith dusted off her torn sleeve, wincing from a bruise.
"Next time, please make better genius strategies."
Andreas was smirking despite the pain.
Then the pain intensified, bringing him to his knees, then Andreas lay on the ground in a fetal position.
"...ANDREAS, are you okay?"
"...Yeah... just give me a moment."
Damn it, why do I suddenly feel soo hot.
Half an hour passed and Andreas stood up bearing whatever remains of the unknown source of heat in his body.
Suddenly Andreas and Lilith experienced a huge gust of wind.
And then...
Footsteps.
They were slow and Deliberate. Crunching on the scorched earth with unnatural calm.
Lilith turned first, eyes narrowing as she reached for her blade, her body still aching from the fall.
Andreas stiffened, instinct flaring. The heat inside him pulsed, violently.
The figure stopped just beyond the edge of the crater and tilted its head — not like a person assessing damage, but like a predator inspecting prey already caught in its trap.
The figure was a man just as tall as Andreas, with deep yellow eyes and hair that looked like it was made of pure gold. He wore a suit that had an unnaturally pure white color.
The golden-haired person looked at the grotesque skeletal beast lying on the ground.
"So you two must have been the ones who caused all this commotion. Well done surviving the fall soldier and child of Leicester Evander.
Lilith immediately bows after recognizing the face of the golden-haired man.
"My apologies, Lord Verlion Sabeth. I... I did not recognize you. I meant no disrespect."
"No need. Your circumstances would make hesitation... understandable."
Andreas rushed to stand in front of Lilith taking a protective stance.
"... At ease, soldier, your instincts are good but wasted here. Take all the rest you need and head straight past those floating islands where you'll meet your colleagues.
BOOOOOM.
The wind roared again louder, deeper. A blast of air cracked the earth.
And in the blink of an eye, Verilion Sabeth was gone.
And so was Lilith.
"Son of a bitch, He took Lilith."
Andreas looked around and what he saw made his haw drop.
"Wow."
It was a giant bioluminescent blue tree that seemed to have golden veins across its branches and trunk. Its branches spread far and wide along the sky behind where Andreas was standing.
Andreas slapped himself.
"Focus Andreas, who knows what that man might do to Lilith?"
BOOOM.
Leaving a roaring sound that sounded as if an explosion took place, Andreas ran in the direction where large rocks looked to be floating one above another.