Thalamoid's Treason

"Mom! Look! The chickadees love our birdhouse!"

"My Little Chickadee?" Isrina opened her eyes.

She was alone in Choro Emplexion's infirmary, slumped on a chair beside the bed where her son lay silent.

Isrina placed the family's plush chickadee in Shien's hand. "I miss you, Shien. Stay safe."

"We can make this world safe for Shien, o friend of mine," A dark bony hand rested on Shien's head.

Sitting beside Isrina was a familiar shadowy Vulpi with a scorpion symbol branded on his forehead. It was Iagen.

"You!" Isrina swiped his long fingers away from Shien. "Where did you come from?"

"I came from you," Iagen's face melted with his porous smile. "Surely, my friend, you remember my offer. Don't you?"

"Y-yes, I do."

"Dear diligent mother, be not afraid. I understand you better than any of your friends."

"How so?"

"Please, allow me to demonstrate."

He used his sharp thumb to slit his palm. The blood bubbled with wailing human faces. Arms choked out of their mouths, wrapping into a small woodwind zurna of human flesh with eyeballs as its tone holes.

"W-what kind of magic is that?" Isrina shuddered.

"Didn't I tell you I'm an angel? I can teach you such powers beyond the likes of the Vultau," Iagen crossed his legs and balanced on his tail. "Behold what I promise you."

Iagen played shrilling notes from the instrument with his long fingers popping the regenerating eyeballs. Isrina flinched as Iagen's eyes rushed deep into his skull, leaving hollow black sockets.

The bedroom spun around Isrina with fog as notes echoed from the zurna. The room melted into her house's backyard with familiar shrubs with pink blossoms lining the fence. Two chickadees sang on top of a tiny birdhouse that hung on a cherry tree.

"Mom, look!" Shien bounced in joy beside Isrina. "The chickadees love our birdhouse! Come on, Dad!"

"Dad? But he's gone, my Little Chickadee."

She froze when someone patted her head. Isrina turned, gasping at the tall man with Shien's dark hair and eyes.

"Jinhai?" Isrina touched his smiling face. "Is that you?"

"Wo de hong niao," Jinhai kissed her. "Just letting you know that Chenyi and Ifan just arrived."

"My sisters?"

Isrina saw her two sisters walk into the backyard, alive. Their children ran past them, rolling on the grass with Shien.

Their kids were just babies the night Hernamidos murdered them! Isrina gasped. A whole family for Shien so he isn't lonely!

The backyard spun around Isrina as it reverted to the bedroom where only her unconscious son and Iagen sat. Iagen's eyes rushed back into their sockets as he ended the song.

"It can be real once I teach you," Iagen hopped onto his legs. "However, you must swear loyalty to me as a willing student. My magic cannot flow if you're unwilling to learn from me."

Isrina looked down in thought, for she wanted everything Iagen presented. "I-I'm not so sure. I don't know if I can trust you."

"Your doubt is understandable, dear friend. Please, take your time to consider my offer," Iagen bowed.

"Isrina!" Saitori barged into the room. "We're ready to attack the Samsara Crinoid!"

Isrina nearly jumped from the bed. In an instant, the awe and warmth she felt from Iagen's vision evaporated.

"What's wrong?" Saitori asked. "Were you talking to someone?"

"I-I was..." Isrina paused, looking back to where Iagen stood.

He was gone.

Saitori waved to Isrina's face. "Hello? Earth to the Desert Cardinal?"

"Oh! I was just talking to Shien," Isrina rested a hand on her son's head.

She strained to keep the scene in her mind like a fading dream: her husband, sisters, nephews, and nieces being alive.

"I think you locked yourself with Shien too long," Saitori pulled her outside. "Misuna told me about a superweapon called the Samsara Crinoid. Dorian can hack into it to disrupt Project Zeruqkchiyion and open people's eyes to Maika's lies."

***

Dynastiotron Francium Warbird

Level 186

HP: [88,092/186,666]

[X]Trait 1: Poltergeist Semblance[X]

Trait 2: Phantasmal Mitosis

-Contaminated Matter-

"My ability won't last forever!" Knavus warned as he deflected the warbird's bullets.

Ritom dragged Elysia away from being shot by a cannonball. "Commander! What's your plan?"

"Ruddigus! Esarin! Lead the elephantier towards me!" Mivangeline ordered.

"Huh? Now, why would we do that?" Esarin fired a napalm rocket into the warbird's eyes.

"Trust me!"

Ruddigus loaded a new deck of cards into his minigun. "We can push it your way by firing at its backside."

He and his father rolled behind the aircraft's golden back of rotating cogs.

"Mirror Force ought to do the job!" He fired blue and red cards that pushed the elephantier away.

"Meh! Time to blow smoke in this sucker's ass!" Esarin blasted smoke rockets to help.

The double-rotor aircraft struggled to return by the warbird's side as Ruddigus and Esarin forced it away. When the elephantier was close enough, Mivangeline activated the hellcracker's giant talon to grab the chopper and smash it into the train.

"I'll hold it in place while you guys finish it!" She pushed against the levers to slam the elephantier down.

Shien and Elysia attacked the head while Knavus sliced its rear. The warbird's orange heart spilled with tar, which took the shape of a shadow clone with half the original's stats.

"It multiplied?" Elysia exclaimed. "That's not fair!"

"Don't let the warbirds interrupt them!" Enshiron fired wind arrows at the shadow clone.

As Ritom and the others pushed the ghost choppers back, the elephantier writhed. It struggled to break free from Mivangeline's grip.

Mivangeline pressed her tired hands onto the levers against the elephantier's squirming. Knavus, Shien, and Elysia slashed the golden parts altogether until the helicopter exploded into blue hexagons.

Dynastiotron Aerial Elephantier

Level 125

HP: [0/500]

"Great job! Now we can focus on the warbird," Mivangeline fired the hellcracker's eye cannons. "Huh? My scanners are picking up something."

"More Dysnastiotron troops?" Shien spun his staff to deflect the warbird bullets. "But we took care of them!"

"No, it looks like... a player? It's behind us," The Commander gasped at the familiar figure. "Oh, no..."

"Avian Form: Avocet Lancer!" Thalamoid shredded the hellcracker with a single slice of her tuning fork scythe.

The walker toppled onto the party, blinded by the smoke.

"Shien, you little brat! Come out and face me!" The droid woman sliced Knvaus' eyes off and dragged Mivangeline out by the hair. "We have a score to settle, false child!"

"Avian Form: Blackhawk Missile!" Shien dashed out of the ruins in a cyclone to knock Thalamoid back. "Don't treat my girlfriend like that!"

"You'll die, and I'll prove that Isrina is my mom!" Thalamoid slashed her scythe against Shien's clarinet staff.

The friends wanted to help, but the warbirds attacked them. Naivern shielded the party from the miniguns as Enshiron tended to Knavus.

"Mivange! Focus on the miniboss! I'll deal with Thalamoid!" Shien pointed to his friends, signaling them to stay away from Thalamoid.

"Okay, Shien. Be safe!" Mivangeline drew her kunai and led the party against the warbirds.

"Thalamoid! What's the meaning of this?" Cyroid's hologram appeared. "You may destroy Mivangeline and the rest, but you mustn't kill Shien!"

"Back off, Cyroid! I don't care about Fanghui's plan. This is about me! Isrina will be mine! Shien is worm meat!"

"You're conducting treason against the Supreme Herald-" Thalamoid swiped Cyroid's hologram away before assaulting Shien.

Meanwhile, Knavus' trait negation expired.

"My Vampiric Zephyr and Knavus' Cosmic Matterslash finished their cooldowns!" Enshiron notified the party. "Knavus and I can do our combo again, Commander!"

"Good. We just need to guide Knavus somehow," Mivangeline pointed at Zirconessa and the police droids. "I need you all to distract the shadow clone away!"

"Zoom! Got it!" Zirconessa and the Tesla police droids lured the shadow clone away from the party.

"I-I can't see! Knavus clutched his sword, trying to envision his stance. "How can we do this?"

"I'll sight for you!" Enshiron offered.

"Enshiron?" Knavus turned in his direction. "A-are you sure?"

"Don't you trust me?"

"O-of course I do," Knavus felt Enshiron's hand rest on his shoulder.

"And I, dear Knavus, trust you," Enshiron smiled, then nodded to Mivangeline.

"I'll use Paladin's Aegis to lure the warbird into position," The Commander activated her trait. "Naivern! Shield me!"

"On it!" Naivern jammed on her guitar to summon a flaming barrier for Mivangeline.

"Here," Enshiron turned Knavus until he faced the warbird. "It's straight ahead. We'll run together, and I'll tell you when to jump and strike. Okay?"

"Sure, but whose health do I use?"

"It looks like I have the most health now," Enshiron checked the group's stats. "You can use me, alright?"

"If you're good with it, then let's do it," Knavus summoned as a spell circle around Enshiron.

The spell circle drained 100,000 HP from Enshiron before the duo dashed for the warbird. Unexpectedly, the aircraft dived toward Mivangeline, forcing her to roll out of its way.

"No! I wanted the warbird to stay still for Knavus!" Mivangeline huffed.

"Don't panic, Commander!" Enshiron assured her. "Knavus, jump forward at 2 o'clock!"

Knavus pounced in the direction where the warbird soared.

"You're too high. Dive lower!" Enshiron shouted.

The warbird noticed Knavus diving into its head. It flew backward to avoid him.

"Ruddigus! Esarin! Push the warbird to Knavus!" Mivangeline commanded.

The two fired at the aircraft's rear as they did with the elephantier, propelling it toward Knavus.

"Strike it now!" Enshiron instructed his friend.

Knavus lunged forward, stabbing the warbird's sicklebill head with Cosmic Matterslash. It dealt massive damage, negating its Poltergeist Semblance once again.

"And your eyes shall return, Knavus!" Enshiron fired his Vampiric Zephyr at the shaken aircraft.

The powerful blood arrow exploded onto the warbird, damaging it while healing the group and Knavus' eyes. The rest of the party blasted the miniboss into oblivion. When it exploded into blue hexagons, the shadow clone self-destructed.

Dynastiotron Francium Warbird

Level 186

HP: [0/186,666]

Knavus blinked his recovered eyes and swiped a tab for his spare glasses. "Did we beat it?"

"We did, dear Knavus," Enshiron hugged his friend. "We couldn't have done it without you."

"Thank you for being my eyes."

"Nice, guys!" Shien saw his friends' victory as he held off an emotionally deranged Thalamoid.

Everyone fell when the train slowed with a loud whistle. It skidded towards a village of red Minka houses. A large staircase ran through the main street to a golden palace where the Dynastiotron boss resided.

"We made it!" Mivangeline cheered with the group.

Ritom looked with his goggles. "Something's wrong. Why is the town smoking?"

Purple plasma fire raged throughout the Dynastiotron's village as DJ bionic commandos marched inside. Dynastiotron hellcrackers stood high, holding their ground against an army of DJ subwoofer hypertanks. Aerial elephantiers hovered above the fire, defending the village against a swarm of DJ Kyushu fighter jets.

"The Dynastiotron is at war with the DJ Meteonis!" Naivern watched. "The DJ Meteonis is the toughest faction of the three. What do we do?"

Ritom scratched his head. "But the DJ can distract the Dynastiotron while we sneak into the palace, right?"

The group noticed a colossal boombox tripod walker firing cannons from its rotating Saturn-ringed disk.

"Brace for impact!" Mivangeline warned as the tripod fired a long laser at the wartram, making it crash into the village.