After Mewtwo launches Astra onto the ship, he has to fly away in a quick zigzag pattern. The phantoms are somehow homing on him, a first for the psychic mon.

  With them, and the constant barrage of magic beams from the ship, he is quickly getting overwhelmed.

  He tries to thin the numbers of manta-shaped monsters, but for each he rips apart, more constantly join the air, exponentially growing their numbers.

  And on top of that, is the danger of the Praetor commandeering the ship. Like the one that attacked them on their second day, the tall armored human is armed with a sword reeking of corruption, even from afar, and now more than ever with Mewtwo's aura sight.

  Unlike the one that was their first raid in this world, this one seems to be using all of his abilities. From his cursed blade, he summons waves of energy unlike the ones sent by his minions. Where the cultists magical attacks could loosely be compared to Mewtwo's moves, his are unlike anything he has ever felt. Well, almost. They stayed little time close to the flux rift, but he can feel some tenuous connections between the two. He would need more time to study either phenomenon to be sure.

  Another wave forces him to dodge straight into the forming cloud of phantoms. The monsters bite and batter him, leaving him with multiple cuts and marks. A quick summon of barriers is enough for Mewtwo to force them back, but they quickly charge him once more.

  He takes off again, spiraling around the ship, taking pot shots at the cultist and the growing cloud of manta monsters.

  Something has to be done. And surprisingly, something ends up being done. After his latest sending of energy ball within the cloud, Mewtwo realize the cloud is thinning. The phantoms are no longer replenishing themselves.

  A quick scan of the ship show him Astra is making his way through some lower part of the ship, going to the aft. Why he is taking such a roundabout path, Mewtwo is unsure. Although the moment he reaches the back of the ship, he suddenly goes backward once more and up.

  Whatever his friend is facing, Mewtwo has his own problems. But now he can see a possible solution. Slowly, Mewtwo has the entire swarm of phantoms gather around him. He baits the monsters, letting them come closer and closer, but always moving just out of reach at the last moment. The cloud is slowly obscuring him from Praetor and the crimson cultists, allowing him a reprieve from their attacks.

  Once the phantoms are gathered close enough to look like a ball of wings and glowing eyes surrounding him, Mewtwo unleashes a massive hurricane. The sharp winds destroy most, if not all, of the monsters. He maintain it for a minute, slowly ascending within his self-made tornado.

  This turns out to be a mistake as it places him perfectly in line for the Praetor to attempt a strike once more. Somehow finding Mewtwo within the hurricane, the Praetor slashes horizontally. The wave of eldritch energy crashes upon his wall of wind, and Mewtwo is forced to release it, letting the phantoms remains rain down below.

  Mewtwo dives down, coming closer to the ship and face to face with the numerous crimson cultists filling its second deck.

  He feel more than hear Astra's cheer, and smile as he sends a cone of flames onto the deck, wincing as he witness the men panic and try to put out their flaming robes and garments. Why do they have to be so obsessed with our demise? Mewtwo wonder, ducking away from another wave of energy, and letting elemental magic beams impact him to little effect.

  He suddenly feel Astra's thoughs freeze. His friend has found something that somehow bypassed the cold and calculating demeanor he had adopted during this fight.

  A quick scan reveals he might have found some powerful monster as an amalgam of aura shines bright before his friend, right at the back of the ship.

  After sending another burst of flame on the remaining arrayed forces, Mewtwo ducks into the third deck, joining his friend. And he freezes as well.

  What Astra found is no monster. No he has found something monstrous instead. The reason the ship floats, the power source of the airship.

  Embedded at the back of the ship, is a massive structure of stone and steel. It rumbles with purpose, making the blades of the propeller turn. And beneath it, linked to it with engraved cables of dark stone, is a glass cupola.

  The more Mewtwo looks, the sicker he feels, and the more details he can make out.

  Within the cupola is light, and whereas Astra only sees light, he can see what makes the light. Dozens, no hundreds of souls are stuck within the glass prison. The longer he looks, the more he can make out faces, forming and dissolving. The longer he looks, the more he can see how the souls all meld together. The majority of the souls come from pokemons, the energy they liberate predominantly aligned with he flying type. However, those souls alone would not have been enough to power the airship, even stuck together like they are. What acts as the glue to hold them all together, and gives the boost necessary for the pokemons souls to work, are human souls. It is that amalgamation, through some sick and twisted ritual, that allows the ship to remain afloat and powered.

  Bile rises in Mewtwo's throat as he makes more and more details. He can start to hear echoes of screams at the edge of his psychic senses, pleas for help, for the pain to end. More and more the screams grow louder, and louder, and louder. Eyes. They look. Help. Help us. Kill us. Please. It hurts. I want to go home.

  Mewtwo's trance is broken by a tackle from Astra.

  "Mewtwo! Can you hear me?" His friend cries out. He must have called multiple times already, but Mewtwo did not hear him.

  It takes a moment for Mewtwo to come back to his senses, during which Astra drags him once more.

  Mewtwo soon finds out why when a blade misses him by a hair. Cultists have jumped from the top and are attempting to get them away from the airship engine. Looking up, he can see the Praetor going over the railing of the upper deck. Astra has not noticed them.

  With a quick psychic push, Mewtwo gets Astra out of the way and then roll away from the massive knight. Landing on three limbs and with his tail raised, Mewtwo snarl. The situation is quickly devolving to their detriment. More knights are jumping down, and the hooded cultists are already preparing spells to send their ways.

  With a quick psychic grip, Mewtwo kills the closest knight to him, crushing his skull with the man's own helmet, before turning to face the Praetor. Astra also dispatch a couple of the armored men before turning his attention to the greatest threat.

  The Praetor armor may hide his face, but Mewtwo can feel his displeasure at the situation. Already he is maneuvering to get between the duo and the soul cage.

  Astra's armor suddenly glow with heat as a spell from above hit it. The android hiss, and Mewtwo realize their situation will soon become untenable. With the upper support and more knights coming down constantly, the engine room will become a killbox soon.

  What do you think happens if we break that soul generator? Mewtwo sends to Astra.

  Astra does not verbally answers, instead Mewtwo reads his thoughs of the ship either crashing, exploding, or both. As well as his eagerness to try breaking the generator anyway.

  Mewtwo smirks at his friend thoughs. Then get ready to play either sledgehammer or distraction.

  He grabs Astra in a psychic hold, and sends the android barreling toward the glowing glass cage. The Praetor reacts instantly, rushing to stop the Astra missile. Mewtwo then gathers his own strength, and a ball of white light appears between his two hands. It takes him a couple seconds to charge it, long enough for the Praetor to be forced to hesitate. Once he unleashes his gathered energy, the hyper beam traverses the room almost instantly. The Praetor tries to redirect his attention, but he is a moment too late.

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  The beam of energy crashes upon the soul generator, shattering its fragile surface. The Praetor screams in horror and hate, but his cry is soon drown under the wails of the freed souls.

  FREEDOM! RELIEF! THANK YOU! FREE! FINALLY!

  Their cry of relief flood Mewtwo. Between this and the backlash of the hyper beam, it breaks his concentration, making him drop Astra, and even land back on the ground. He winces as the onslaught of mental noise grows louder and louder each seconds. Until it abruptly stops.

  Mewtwo's regains his senses only to see the Praetor dueling with Astra. The knights are scurrying all over and Mewtwo can start to feel the ground tilt under his feet. The airship is starting to fall.

  A nasty backhand from the Praetor sends Astra against a wall, where he bounces almost straight into the heavy knight waiting sword. The sword only scrapes against his armored flank however, as Astra twist midair, allowing for him to punch the Praetor in return.

  The ground inclines more and more, and Mewtwo floats once more, looking for the closest exit.

  Astra, we need to go. Mewtwo warns, the incline rate is accelerating.

  With a backward dash, Astra gets some space between him and the Praetor. His landing almost goes wrong as the floor is now inclined by more forty-five degrees. "I'll need a lift."

  No sooner has Astra said the words that he starts floating, Mewtwo holding him in a gentle psychic hold.

  They rush out of the engine room and shoot out the nearest opening, coming out above the left wing of the ship and ascend far enough to be out of reach of any retaliation.

  They watch as the arrowhead-shaped airship slowly descend to the ground. It takes a good minute for it to finally crash.

  When it does, it does so with in a large cloud of dust and a resounding crack. The ship splinters apart, some parts jumping up a few meters before falling back down. Something catches fire beneath the propeller, and the wooden blades and ripped wings quickly go ablaze.

  Mewtwo and Astra remain above for now, as the dust cloud slowly rises toward them, carried by the heat and smoke of the blaze.

  Mewtwo breath is slightly winded. The fight in itself took a slight toll, but the mental anguish and pressure from the souls was the mos debilitating factor. For Astra, his armor is battered, and in some place possibly broken. Mewtwo cannot see his weapons, but they might be as damaged as his armor. His body seems fine, but as he sees his friend gobble a few cooked potatoes, he can guess his energy reserves might be a bit too depleted.

  They stay afloat for some time, recovering, and preparing. Astra may not see it, but Mewtwo can sense him. The Praetor survived, and they will have to finish him to clear the raid.

  Astra signal his readiness, and Mewtwo has them descend. They pass through the dust cloud and the acrid smoke, Mewtwo summoning a safeguard to ward them from the worst of the heat and smoke.

  They reach the ground and behold their work. The airship came down nose first. The structure splintered apart from its bow to about two-third of the way. The propeller is ablaze, as are the wings. Wood and colored terracotta fragments litter the ground. And yet, coming out of the blaze, with a slight limp, is the Praetor.

  His helmet is gone, one of his arm is limp at his side. His armor is caved in in some places, yet his eyes are still locked straight into Astra. With a cry of hate, he charges at them, his sword held high. Both Astra and Mewtwo charge as well, each with their own swords.

  Mewtwo is the one to reach the Praetor first, forcing him to respond to the pokemon before the human. Annoyance roll off the massive human, and makes Mewtwo smirk. Corrupted blade meet psychic blade, and sparks erupt at the point of contact. Even with all his injuries, the Praetor still has some absurd strength left in him, and start pushing Mewtwo down.

  Mewtwo bulks himself up, bolstering his own strength and slowly evening the contest. However the contest is broken down by Astra. The android jumps over Mewtwo ready to split the Praetor head open. The armored knight seemed to have been waiting for it, as he takes a single step to the side, causing Mewtwo to stumble forward, even as Astra almost land on him.

  A quick reaction from Mewtwo in the form of a psychic push redirect the android right into the Praetor. Astra's sword buries itself deep into the Praetor good shoulder, eliciting a cry of pain from the warrior. Still he keeps his hand tight on his sword.

  Using his now stuck sword, Astra jumps away and calls out for Mewtwo. "Descent Kick!"

  Mewtwo reacts immediately. A combo of heightened gravity and a psychic hold sends Astra careening down on the Praetor faster than the Praetor can react. With one foot extended before him in a ballerina pose, Astra pierces through the Praetor left shoulder, going straight through his armor and flesh alike.

  Blood gushes from the wound, and the Praetor falls on his knees, letting out a wail of agony. He remains so for a couple seconds, before falling down for the final time. Two pop-ups confirm their victory, the raid has passed, and they have overcome.

  With a shared shout of happiness, Mewtwo and Astra cry out their victory, the first they earned without feeling like they only won through luck.

  "Well shit... they did it."

  Some distance away, atop an outcropping, lay two figures. One observes the rising smoke in the distance through a looking glass, while the other takes notes.

  "They won? They should still have the Crimson Praetor to dispatch though." The second figure speaks to the first.

  "Yep, ah, here they are, shouting and laughing. Nope, they won, they overcame the raid." The first figure rises and jump down from the outcrop, soon followed by the second.

  They join another pair, waiting around a dead fireplace. The first figure, a woman covered in pelts of many hues, sit with the waiting two, two men in heavy and battered armors, the symbols of the dark god scratched from them. "So, they did it?" One asks.

  "Sure did. They took down a heavenly challenger manned by the crimson cult." the woman replies in a laugh. "I guess the Lord Hunter did not waste our time. This is a worthy prey."

  "Too bad we lost one of our party already." The second figure huffs in annoyance. the lanky man wears a scowl on his scarred face. His own multi-colored pelts and trinkets clink as he sits down.

  "Carrie was a dumbass, she was warned, and she decided to ignore it. Too bad, but stupidity will only get you so far." The woman snarls.

  "Well, I kinda understand her though. Look at this. We never seen anything like that." One of the armored men says, pointing at the distant dome covering the forest.

  They all look, observing the oily iridescence of the barrier. Carrie was supposed to be their magical support, yet the woman had decided she was better than any other and tried to study the new barrier around the hated flower goddess garden. The result had been her demise by the blade of her own comrades.

  "Dumbass." The woman snarls.

  Princess observed almost the entire fight. What must have been about thirty minutes of fighting outside the Sanctuary, had translated to almost five hours of uncertainty. When the portal first opened above the Sanctuary, she had almost ordered for her aerial forces to intervene. She had been reminded of the last time she had seen a portal open above a location. Of Marble City. Yet when only the skyship had exited, she had relaxed slightly.

  Although it was not as dangerous as whatever had brought ruin to Marble City, it was still something that had killed her liege more than one time. Aster's team had always lacked aerial coverage. They made up for it with range, but this very raid had brought Aster low more than one time in the past. The ten year trial, unleashed here for two beings technically only two weeks in the hell of the Ezian Plane.

  She had once more considered assisting the Legend and the Revenant, but her worries were soon dismissed as both ascended for the ship. They had tried it like that once, a long time ago. It had gone oh so wrong. They had later changed it to be only team members that would go. As these raids only targeted the humans, pokemons were free to attack without much retaliations. In their later attempts, Her and Paladin the gallade would lift Cutter the haxorus to the ship while Master the lucario, Hound the mightyena and Knight the ceruledge would defend Aster on the ground.

  Princess is reminded of the horrors within the ship as the distorted cries of the dead washes over the Sanctuary. They have found the tortured souls used as fuel, and liberated them. If only it served any sort of purpose beyond bringing the skyship down.

  She observes as the ship ever so slowly dips forward, and then comes down on the ground. Even though she is floating, she knows the tremor of the crash does not passes through the Sanctuary barrier, and her aides surprise at the lack of quake confirms her own senses.

  She watches as the two points that remains in the sky descend to the wrecked skyship, a heart accelerating as she hopes they can sense the ship master is still alive. She does not feel him herself, but she know, for they have been tricked more than once in the past. Once they enter the smoke and dust, she can no longer see them, and returns to her throne room. There is little she can do now. She knows her aide has dispatched a staravia to observe and report the final result, and she may work on maintaining the forest while she waits.

  Two hours later, she receive the report. They were victorious.

  Once she is once more alone, she let out a breath she had not realized she was holding. "May He who was stillborn guide your steps Legend, Revenant. May the progenitor protect you." She intones. Her eyes then dart around the room, expecting retaliation for her brazen prayer to a being that no pokemons should know, yet all instinctively feel.