A Wall of Fire

'So how exactly is this smoke blocking my vision when I have the FOG command on?'

I coughed as I tried to understand what Dominion was trying to say. I pretty much managed to absorb the gist of his rushed explanation. There's just a bit of a problem. The smoke was not only obstructing my vision, but it's also disallowing me from breathing properly and thinking well.

'So even Bismarck can't see through this?'

'So this might actually be just us giving ourselves even more liability?'

We had our suspicions, but that was immediately quelled when we saw Bismarck missing all of his shots. He was firing nets after nets into the air without hitting the still swiftly soaring Vyurborne soldier. And I could see well enough to read the fear in his eyes. He wasn't ready for this; heck, he didn't expect a fire of this scale to happen, and I can't blame him. After a while, Bismarck, too, began to cough out like he's trying to puke his guts out just like the rest of us. The only difference is that the Vyurs managed to keep their coughs at a minimum, trying to stay as quiet as they can so that Bismarck wouldn't notice our escape. Both warlords tried all that they could to escape the flames, but our party had already long gotten away from him before he realized the full extent of this disaster we had just incurred upon his small group.

The fire just raised higher and higher without an end in sight as if the flames themselves have transformed into a transcendental being hell-bent in abiding by my will to destroy Bismarck. While the three of us escaped and the annoying Vyurborne soldier continued fanning the flames, we heard a few words from the other kapre soldiers who came with Bismarck.

"What is this smoke? Argh! It's clogging in my chest! No, no, what is this!? My brothers, help me! Get me out of here! I need to go out! Let me out!"

The Vyurborne soldier heard this scream and immediately descended in the smoke without uttering a sound. After just a few seconds, he soared back to the air with a kapre's head sticking out of the pointed end of his wings and talons stained with blood. The Vyurborne soldier would then throw it into the smoke, and another set of screams erupts.

"No! No, get away from me, stop! Help! Help! I can't breathe! He's going to kill me! Mom! Dad! Help me! I can't breathe! Oh, god, mercy! Spare me, oh Lord Dominion, our god from heaven, please spare me your mercy!"

"Fire! Fire! It burns! I am burning. No! How could it burn me!? I am wearing the armor of the gods! No fire can burn me! The blacksmiths promised that I would never, ever burn anymore with this armor! How!? HOW!?"

"My face! It's burning my cheek! The fire is eating me alive! Where are you? General Bismarck! Where are you!?"

"The smoke... It's too much... I am sensing too many footsteps! Where is General Bismarck!? I need you, my brothers! I... I... I am losing control."

The Vyurborne soldier expertly dove into the sea of smokes with wings raised high up. He pointed his talons at his landing site as if he had already assured himself that a kapre would die once his feet hit something. And every time, whenever his figure disappears into the smoke, he would always reappear with no injuries and more blood staining his pale leathery skin. And now and then, the Vyurborne soldier would fan the flames in his wake. It almost seemed like his wings were blowing fire.

It didn't even take minutes before the small fire spread into a catastrophic wildfire that towered into the sky like a wall of flames, searing anything it touched. I couldn't quite see what's going on out there, but the kapre's inflammable armor didn't really quite as well as they would have expected.

Bismarck tried to raise the morale of his burning men. "My brothers, stay strong! The enemy leader is nearby! We need to make our sovereign god proud!"

But his voice was only met with pained screams and cries of utter agony.

"I'm going too," Gertrude spoke out once we got out of the thicker parts of the smokescreen.

"No, you will not." Times immediately replied with words filled with condemnation without looking at his daughter. "You will stay where it is safe unless you want this Exile to pull you back out of your misery again. No!"

"I can do this, father! His men are burning, and he's left alone in the smoke!"

"You will escape with us, and that's the end of it."

"Please! I need this, father!"

But Times didn't reply. His words are absolute, and he wouldn't interact with his daughter until she tired herself with all her shouting. It looks like ignoring people until they shut up is a staple tactic in this family. I hope no tongue-pulling will happen again this time. Luckily, Gertrude just glared at Times, who's still refusing to look at her, and didn't press on her desire to accompany the Vyurborne soldier in the air anymore. However, a sense of hatred is building up in his eyes. I had seen those eyes before in the face of a man I once called a friend. And I saw that same pair of transcendentally maddening disgust when he sold me out to my enemies.

I wanted to find a way to convince Times to allow his daughter to have her way or else she would do something absolutely fucking stupid. That's when I heard Bismarck roar behind us.

"TIMES NEWEL ROMA!" Bismarck threw his cannon-like weapon at us, but he missed our faces for just a few centimeters. It didn't look like he minded it much. "TRAITOR! I WILL BRING YOU DOWN IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!" The giant general then pulled his thorny whip.

Bismarck charged, cracking the whip in the air in a circular motion while roaring forward with reddened eyes, both dead set on destroying the winged general.

The Vyurborne soldier from above screamed something incomprehensible before diving into Bismarck with both his talons pointed at the giant general.

However, unsurprisingly, that loud motherfucker's attempt to make a stealth attack obviously failed. Bismarck quickly realized the upcoming strike from the skies. Without even bothering to use his weapon, he managed to disengage the Vyurborne soldier with just a slap from the back of his hand. The Vyurborne soldier's face collided with the ravine's wall, incapacitating him immediately.

"IF YOU WANT TO DIE FOR THAT TRAITOR SO BADLY, ALLOW ME TO FULFILL YOUR WISH!" Bismarck readied himself to crack his whip down, intending to split the Vyurborne soldier into half with just a single blow.

No!

All three of them must survive!