The shockwave cracked the ATV's barrier and sent both the vehicle and Felix flying 300 yards across the battlefield. When the ATV crashed into the ground, its power shut off with a hiss, and the barrier collapsed. Black smoke billowed from the engine, which sputtered and groaned before falling silent.
Felix tumbled from the wreckage, rolling on the wet, muddy ground. His aura automatically dried the mud, turning it into hardened soil that clung to his skin. Dazed and disoriented, his vision blurred, and his ears rang from the deafening explosion and violent impact. He lay motionless, stunned, unable to move or make sense of his surroundings.
The napalm fire spread across the field, indifferent to the rainstorm pouring down around them. The roar of the flas muffled everything else, blanketing the battlefield in an eerie silence beneath the storm.
Felix tried to move, but nothing responded. His fingers, arms, and legs felt like they were made of lead, completely numb. He attempted to lift his head to assess his condition, but his neck refused to cooperate. Sothing felt horribly wrong with his back—like parts of his body were no longer where they should be.
His mind, however, remained sharp enough to receive Jessica's ntal ssage.
Felix remained numb to the world around him. He kept his eyes shut, focusing solely on the rhythm of his breath, puffing the cigar in slow, deliberate pulls. A warmth spread through his chest, the familiar calming sensation of the cigar helping to anchor his consciousness. His body was broken, but his mind clung to the fragile thread of life.
Jiji, still holding her breath to avoid inhaling the cigar's potent fus, worked swiftly. She cut through Felix's shredded shirt, exposing his torso. What she found made her stomach twist. Two deep gashes marred his abdon—one just above his belly button, and the other on his left side, where his abs had been split open.
His intestines were partially exposed, glistening in the dim light, dangerously close to spilling out.
Without hesitation, Jiji poured more of the healing potion directly onto the wounds. The liquid fizzled as it t his torn flesh, rapidly nding the severed arteries and regenerating the damaged tissues. Within monts, the bleeding slowed, and the gashes began to close.
The potion was working, but Jiji wasn't fully at ease. Rain continued to pour down around them, drenching everything in cold water. She knew that treating such grievous wounds in these conditions could lead to complications later—infection was a serious risk. But there was no ti to worry about that now. Saving Felix's life was the only priority.
Had the bleeding continued unchecked, Felix would have died for real this ti. Not even his phoenix bloodline could prevent that. She glanced at the cigar still nestled between Felix's lips, understanding the only chance he had. The cigar's magic, combined with the dormant power of his phoenix bloodline, was the key to his survival.
Jiji clenched her fists. If Felix couldn't hold out long enough for the potion and cigar to do their work, they'd have to rely on a more desperate plan. His phoenix bloodline granted him the ability to rise from his own ashes, but only if he could endure the excruciating process of being burned alive and self-resurrecting.
It was a brutal thod of survival, but one that had saved Felix more than once.
*GRRRRRRR*
A deep, guttural groan from the galith dragon echoed through the rain, startling Jiji. She whipped her head toward the crater, where debris and fallen objects lay concentrated. Despite the distance, over 400 yards away, her sharp eyes pierced through the darkness and the relentless curtain of rain.
The dragon was still alive.
However, it was in a dire state. Three of its four massive wings had been torn away, reduced to smoldering stumps. Its severed spiked tail lay twitching on the scorched ground like the dismbered limb of a gecko. The dragon's once-imposing belly had split open, its innards spilling out in grotesque detail.
Green, viscous blood gushed from the wounds, dripping onto the earth and causing the soil to sizzle and dissolve. The napalm flas continued to consu its flesh and scales, feeding on the dragon's own bodily fluids as if using them for fuel.
But that wasn't the end of it.
Amidst the wreckage, 77 strange objects had landed along with the dragon. Five wedge-shaped capsules, each about 10 feet tall, were embedded in the dragon's back. One had lodged itself directly into the creature's spine, rendering it immobile despite its feeble attempts to move. The dragon's body convulsed as it tried to roar, but its efforts were futile.
On the ground, 37 of these strange capsules had successfully landed, scattered across the battlefield. Silent and still, they seed to wait, as though preparing for so unseen command. anwhile, 40 large crates, which had descended with parachutes, were strewn haphazardly across the area, their contents scattered by the earlier explosion.
The shockwave had blown many of the crates open, sending mysterious objects tumbling across the scarred landscape.
Jiji swallowed hard. The dragon was incapacitated but still very much alive, and with the arrival of so many unknown elents on the battlefield, the situation had taken a more unpredictable turn. Her heart raced as she considered what to do next.
Glancing at Felix's inventory screen, she reached for one of his creations—the M1 Garand loaded with mana-piercing rounds. It seed like the perfect weapon for the situation.
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