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Chapter 12

  –2 weeks earlier-

  As the sun slowly rises above the mountain peaks of C-100's northern plains, it emits a soft orange glow. The glow flows into the caverns below through holes in the ceiling. The warm light bathes the alien city, prompting some to wake up early and take a warm bath.

  H??ü, on the other hand, was still fast asleep - until his wife woke him up. H??ü lets out a soft growl in protest and turns onto his side, but his wife is having none of it and gets him out of bed. He lets out a soft rumble and gets up before wrapping his tail around his wife's, which causes her tone to soften. The two then go down to their kitchen. The kitchen was still far from modern, but in the short time the humans had been there, they had made many improvements. They had proper counters, cutting boards, knives, pots, pans, and a stove. H??ü begins to grab meat from the cabinets, which he chops up to put into a pot before adding some water and ground up seasoning and leaving it to cook. While it cooks, he then grabs some dough, which he cooks on the stove to make some flatbread. After a few minutes, he served his wife the stew, flatbread, and some tea at the kitchen table. The two begin to eat together while talking, presumably about their work or about the strange mop-haired bipeds that had left for the other side of their world.

  ??x?§ had been awake for the past hour, helping his wife to finish a diagram of possible city expansions. They both sat shoulder-to-shoulder on their kitchen table, occasionally taking sips from their purple berry brew, something Miku had shown them how to make while they were here. As the sun rises, its deep orange light flows through their windows, which is followed by the sound of their young child, D?úsh?m?, waking up. ??x?§'s wife sighed softly, getting up to check on the young child. A moment later, D?úsh?m? wobbles into the kitchen, holding onto her mother's hand so as not to fall over. A smile immediately appears on ??x?§'s face. Scooping down to pick up his daughter, he spins her around, inciting tiny giggles from the youngling. After being fed, D?úsh?m? goes back to her room to play with her toys. After that, they see the sun, which has now fully flooded the city in its light. The couple exits their home to see H??ü and his wife lower themselves from their tree house. The couples greet each other with good morning before the wives and husbands group up and separate for the beginning of the work day. The wives go to the left, towards a towering building, while the husbands go towards the negotiations room to begin planning.

  H??ü says something to a scribe, who nods, leaving the room before returning with a scroll. H??ü takes the scroll, sitting down across from ??x?§ before opening the scroll and spreading it onto the table. The scroll is a giant map of the caverns. Red blobs are splotted around the caverns, some crossed out by black Xs.

  "Today's plan?" H??ü asks as he looks at the map.

  ??x?§ takes out some wooden pieces, carved to look like the three species that live in the city. "?D?t says we need a "nitric acid" to create our ultimate weapon." ??x?§ says, his voice raspy and dry.

  H??ü nods. "From what the boy told me, we need a 'platinum' to do this." H??ü questions, running his finger over the bumpy surface of the map.

  "Indeed that is the case but it has been a difficult search."

  "Yes, but my wife told me that my eldest discovered a small deposit around here," H??ü said, rubbing his finger around a part of the cavern that was covered in red blotches.

  "Hmm," ??x?§ hums, gazing at the paper. "This is an incredibly infested area, but still possible. Time is the problem." ??x?§ says before moving some of the wooden pieces across the map, making an audible scraping noise as he does so.

  "Indeed, it would be an operation of 3 sunsets and we would need the catapults," H??ü says, plucking a catapult piece and sliding it over to the other figures. "We must also keep a watch out, the heart location is unknown." H??ü says, his voice low and secretive.

  "Yes but the weapon is of uptmost priority, we can leave your sons and ?TY? behind to guard." ??x?§ rebuttals.

  "Before we decide, consulting ?D?t would be wise. He may have also learned how to create another item from the book of knowledge." H??ü says.

  "Agreed." ??x?§ agrees as the two get up and begin walking through the village to the science center.

  Meanwhile, H??ü's wife sits at a desk at the far end of a large building. Currently, it was just her and a handful of scribes, the scribes were helping her file paperwork. Her claws gracefully danced across the page as she drew small pictures of different commodities and the human numbers beside them. It was far quicker than the old method where she had to draw a picture for each item, her claws thank her for the new method. Her husband had taught her the human numeric system, which she had to admit was ingenious. As she writes the number "102" beside a meat drawing, she hears screeching and squabbling. A breathy growl escaped her throat, She recognized the two voices as two Perversi Viri. She turns her head to where the sound is coming from before raising a hand to silence the two. The two Perversi Viri shut up immediately. Using this silence, she took the time to talk to them both. For the next 15 minutes, she had to console the two arguing Perversi Viri, who constantly argued with one another, but after those 15 minutes, she had resolved the argument. She repositions herself at her desk, but before she can begin writing once more, she hears the bickering of a Luminare Reptans and Perversi Viri walking through the door. It was going to be a long day.

  ??x?§'s wife, meanwhile, had pinned up the blueprints she and her husband had created, looking them over while instructing the workers on what to build. Some of the workers used a pulley to pull up giant half-ton rocks while other workers on the wall positioned the rock before using a mixture of clay and Volantes Electricae blood. The blood of Volantes Electricae acts like an adhesive while the clay works to thicken the clay. It was one of the many things ?D?t invented. When he first showed her and ??x?§ about it, he told them that he found this out after accidentally gluing two of his fingers together for a few hours by spilling some of the blood on himself. She continued to overlook the construction, which, as usual, was going smoothly.

  ??x?§ and H??ü arrive at the science center. The science center consisted of one large hut, which is the lab. To the left of the lab is a smaller hut, which is a storage center. Surrounding the lab were the 3 forages that the humans had created. Hard at work at the forge was K?s?kü, who was currently doing a craft that they learned from ?D?t called "glass blowing". ??x?§ calls out. For a few moments, there was no response until a tired ?D?t stumbles out. ?D?t waves before welcoming both H??ü and ??x?§ into the lab. The lab was incredibly spacious. Shelves lined the walls, and on the shelves were various glass instruments that neither ??x?§ nor H??ü had any clue what they are used for. On the middle tables were many materials and tools that ?D?t were experimenting with; among the mess of materials and tools was a book that the humans had given them. The title of the book read: "The culmination of Humanity's knowledge". The humans had given them the book; within was an explanation of all of the technology that their species back on their planet had created. How absurd that these squishy creatures managed to travel beyond their world and onto a new one.

  "Let us speak in the human tongue, I'd rather have what we discuss stay secret." H??ü says.

  ?D?t nods. "Why are you here today?" He asked, sitting down in a chair.

  H??ü and ??x?§ sit down as well. "We are here to discuss what you are currently creating." ??x?§ states, crossing his arms together.

  "Right now, we're making 'nitroglycerin.' It's a crazy powerful weapon that'll destroy any fleshspire!" ?D?t says with a grin, opening the book to a page about the chemical.

  "I see. this is the weapon you told us about," ??x?§ says, glancing over the page.

  "How are you and K?s?kü progressing on the creation of this weapon?" H??ü asks.

  "Well, we are doing pretty good; the roadmap is almost complete," ?D?t says, taking out a scroll from under the table and rolling it out. The roadmap showed all the different chemicals they needed to create nitroglycerin and how they would get said materials. The first thing on the road map was to collect potassium carbonate, water, and oil, which all had arrows that pointed to a drawing of soap. Then, there are more drawings of an extremely complex way to get nitric acid. Arrows from the soap, nitric acid, and sulphuric acid drawings pointed to a drawing of nitroglycerin. On the roadmap, the soap and sulphuric acid were crossed out, along with some of the components of the nitric acid.

  H??ü runs his finger over the roadmap, feeling the inked lines with his sensitive touch, able to perceive the image despite his blindness. "Your progress is impressive, but I sense that you've encountered a roadblock."

  ?D?t nods. "Yup, I already had a bunch of the ingredients on hand from exploring. I just can't find any animals that use nitric acid. There are even creatures that produce sulphuric acid like the 'Legione Sumus', as Hibiki calls it, but not a single animal that produces nitric acid. Because of that, I have to make a device that can make nitric acid," ?D?t says, tapping the roadmap. "The problem with that is that I need platinum and I have no clue of any deposits and from what Hibiki said, its incredibly rare." He says, slumping down in his chair.

  ??x?§ nods. "I see well, it seems our planet is much richer in resources such as platinum for H??ü's eldest discovered a small deposit of metal that resembles your description of platinum."

  ?D?t immediately sits up straight. "Wait, for real?!" He says, the grin on his face reappearing.

  H??ü nods. "Yes, but there is a huge infestation of infected creatures and of flesh spires in the area. We think that it may be possible using catapults but that would waste individuals and time. We are hoping you have an invention that may speed the process." H??ü says, stroking the hair on his chin.

  ?D?t leans back in his chair, and after spending a moment lost in deep thought, he finally responds. "I'll have to research the book, so give me time," ?D?t says.

  ??x?§ and H??ü nod. "Well, we will give you the time you need. In the meantime, we will train our troops," ??x?§ says before he and H??ü leave.

  K?s?kü bursts into the lab, cradling within his arms some new glass instruments such as beakers, flasks, and bottles. ?D?t grins, patting K?s?kü on the back and saying words of praise in their native tongue before placing the glass instruments on the shelves. ?D?t's set was now complete, and he now has plenty of spares in case the fragile glass shatters. K?s?kü laughs a deep, hearty laugh before eagerly looking over at the book, which ?D?t had now picked up and begun flipping through. As ?D?t flipped through, something caught his eye. He began to quickly draw out a new roadmap. The next 3 days were filled with the scribbling and scraping of his bone pen against paper, and finally, after 3 long sleepless nights, the road map was complete. K?s?kü, who fell asleep in the lab while ?D?t scribbled away, woke up and, smelling the fresh ink on the paper, waited a moment before beginning to feel over the roadmap, his brain constructing the image in his mind. His mouth contorted in slight confusion, which was quickly replaced by a look of excitement as ?D?t explained the ridiculously complicated concept. K?s?kü roared with excitement before running out, taking the roadmap with him as he rushed to forge to begin the forging process. ?D?t chuckles before leaving to recruit some people to help, otherwise, a project of this magnitude would take at least 2 months with just him and K?s?kü working on it.

  That morning, H??ü was training his sons and ?TY? in combat. Specifically, combat using the weapons that K?s?kü had spent the past 2 weeks crafting. H??ü's weapon is a giant great sword with two blades on either side, while ?TY? and his sons wielded spears or swords. Currently, H??ü was sparring against an ever so confident ?TY?, who, as usual, challenged H??ü.

  ?TY? lunges forward, swinging his sword in a wide arc. H??ü counters by raising his blade to block, which even then pushes him a few feet back. H??ü then takes advantage of ?TY?'s lack of defense by disarming ?TY? and then pointing his blade at his neck. H??ü chuckles before lowering his blade and wrapping his tail around ?TY?'s blade and tossing it back to ?TY?.

  After that quick sparring session, H??ü's 3rd son, ?a?e, comes up to challenge him. The two circle each other, using their keen sense of hearing to catch any irregularities in the other's stance. This continues for a moment longer until ?a?e shifts his foot, baiting H??ü, who quickly goes for a strike. ?a?e had preemptively moved out of the way of the strike, taking the chance to strike at H??ü. His slash connects, and he goes for another attack, but before that could land, H??ü wraps his tail around ?a?e's wrist, and he quickly brings his blade to ?a?e's neck, ending the spar.

  With that being the last spar for now, the others begin training on their own while H??ü rests. His rest is soon interrupted when he sees ?D?t approaching with a giant rolled-up scroll tucked under his arm. He chuckles as he goes to meet the resident scientist. "Why have you come ?D?t?" H??ü asks, standing in front of him.

  "I need manpower for a project." ?D?t says, rolling the scroll out onto the floor.

  H??ü, hearing the sound of the scroll rolling out, begins to run his finger over the roadmap, and after a few minutes, he speaks. "Remarkable. I knew I could rely on you, take as many men as you need for this project. I want it done in a week's time so that we may begin the operation for platinum." H??ü says, dropping down an emblem to ?D?t, who catches it with a grin.

  H??ü's eldest son, V??da, walks over after overhearing the conversation between his father and ?D?t. "What are you two discussing?" He asks before gently feeling over the roadmap.

  "The scientist has an idea for an invention, he requires manpower for this as it's an incredibly huge project," H??ü explains.

  V??da hums and nods. "I see, If I may, can I assist you, scientist?" V??da asks.

  ?D?t nods. "Ya sure, now c'mon we gotta get started," ?D?t says with a chuckle before he begins to run off to the town. V??da follows right behind him as the two look for poor souls to enslave, I mean, help them with their project.

  It had been a long, long time since it fled. In the scorching attack, it lost an estimated 35% of its mass. Unlike the others, it was alone in being aware of its own existence, and it alone was aware of what those lifeforms could do. It hid far, far away, but even then, it had eyes everywhere. Keyword, had. It felt as if it were being melted into a disgusting, gooey pulp every time they killed one of its less aware kin. For the past week, the lifeforms had stopped their hunting. It may not be able to speak, but unlike the other's it wasn't dumb, it was aware. They were planning something, and all it had to do was wait. Soon it would be found, so to ensure its survival, to ensure it's spread, it would have to find them first. Its thoughts, if you could call the electrical signals flowing through the rotted flesh that constructs its body thoughts, are interrupted by a loud, mournful bellow. It drags itself along to the opening out of the caverns that it's rested in for all of its existence, when the hundreds of eyes that are not its own land on something amazing. A lone Sol Comedentis. No clue why the giant had separated itself from the herd. Possibly grief? Maybe a mother who lost it's child. Not that it could understand the concept of family or the concept of grief. They're simply behaviors it's observed, chemical reactions in the body. It shifted its thoughts from the why, which was irrelevant. The last thing heard was the loud whoosh of a thousand darts flying through the air and the last of the Sol Comedentis' lonely song.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  It had now been 2 days since the production had begun. Most of the easy stuff was done, that being gathering all the raw materials, making the wheels, and creating a furnace. Now, ?D?t had to begin the hard part. K?s?kü sat in front of a spinning lathe with some wax-like material on it. K?s?kü chuckles as he slowly and gently shapes the material. The others had already left, the only ones there being ?D?t, K?s?kü, and V??da. V??da stands next to ?D?t, listening to the old Luminare Reptan carving away at the wax.

  "So we are creating the most important pieces of the project with such a brittle material?" he asks, stroking the short hairs on his chin.

  "I was incredibly confused at first but we are going to put it into a box and then pour this mixture over into the box. The mixture will dry and then we can take out the brittle material before putting molten brass into it," ?D?t explains.

  V??da nods, a smile spreading across his face. "I see, thats a great way to get all sorts of fine details for parts like this. I could see sculptors use this to make metal statues with great detail." V??da comments with a nod.

  ?D?t eyes widen slightly. "Huh, ya, I never thought of that." He says, rubbing the back of his neck as he gazes at K?s?kü, taking his time to gently and precisely craft each part from the wax-like material.

  After roughly 30 more minutes of crafting, K?s?kü holds up the finished wax product. The piece was a long, thin rod that had two wider sections near the top, kinda like a honey dipper. "Need make harder for me, youngling!" He exclaims with a hearty laugh.

  ?D?t chuckles and shakes his head. "Ya, don't get so excited yet, geezer. We still got a lot of stuff for you to make." ?D?t responds, taking the piece so that he can cast it. K?s?kü runs off to craft more, dragging V??da along with him.

  After a few more hours of crafting, which was filled with K?s?kü complaining about all the aches and pains in his old body, which was quickly replaced by excited yelling as V??da drip-fed the limited knowledge he had on the project to the old reptan. The bronze parts they had made included lots and lots of pipes, a large bronze container, gears, a bronze wheel with notches on it, and a rod with a hole in it so that it could connect to the notches on the wheel. ?D?t lay on the floor, dazed and surrounded by deformed bronze versions of K?s?kü's piece. The human book made casting seem far easier than it was, but after all the failed attempts, he finally got a perfect copy. As V??da and K?s?kü walk over, ?D?t straightens up before telling them that he made a perfect copy, which he gives to them to feel over.

  "So what will this be used for?" V??da asks, gently handing the piece back to ?D?t.

  "Ya! Dying to know, my bones hurt. Want sleep." K?s?kü complains, putting a hand over his back.

  "It's gonna be used in what's called a wobbler engine. We will boil water and turn it into steam, which will push the piece down and turn a wheel which will then turn a bunch of gears to the wheels of the vehicle, moving us forward," ?D?t explains, drawing a diagram of it in the dirt. The two reptans hear him dragging the stick through the dirt so when they hear the noise stop, they feel over the diagram.

  "WHOA!" K?s?kü exclaims, his teeth bared in a smile.

  ?D?t gets an evil grin. "Too bad we'll have to do that later, though, K?s?kü seems tired. It's ok though, we'll just sleep," he says with a fake disappointed sigh.

  K?s?kü's facial muscles twitch before he suddenly roars much louder than a reptan of his size and age should be able to before ripping his shirt off completely. "I SLEEP LATER, WE DO NOW!" He exclaims, his face crinkled in determination, as he begins walking off towards the building area. He flicks his tail to make sure the other two are following him.

  Once again, they stayed up all night, and after much welding and putting parts together, they were finished. They made a prototype: a simple wooden board with wheels, along with all the necessary things to get it moving.

  "Beautiful!" K?s?kü cries out while hugging the wheel of the vehicle.

  ?D?t chuckles, shaking his head. "Well, cmon let's take it for a test drive!" ?D?t says with a grin before stepping into the driver's seat. K?s?kü and V??da climb up onto it, holding onto the car as he loads some fuel into the furnace, which in turn begins to boil the water and make steam. In a few moments, they're off! K?s?kü whooped and yelled excitedly as he felt the wind rush past them as they drove, which wasn't an exactly smooth ride as they were constantly hitting bumps since there were no paved roads. V??da, on the other hand, sighs softly, enjoying the fresh air as it rushes through his mane.

  H??ü had just finished another training session. As usual, he won every sparring session against his sons and ?TY?. Even so, he still smiles softly. They were improving at a rapid pace, and he couldn't help but feel a great sense of pride. His son, ?a?e is incredibly skilled, completely outmaneuvering and outstrategizing on multiple occasions. ?TY?, on the other hand, was... interesting. He relied on pure strength, which, considering his age and his wild nature, makes much sense. Even then, he was incredibly strong, nearly as strong as H??ü himself. H??ü's self-reflection was soon interrupted by the sound of something rolling towards him. He also smelled steam, how odd he thought before hearing the screech as whatever it was stopped in front of him.

  "Yo! H??ü!" ?D?t yells with a grin.

  H??ü chuckles softly. "I take it that you've completed the project?" H??ü asks as his sons run over to meet their older brother.

  "Well, no, but we're about done," ?D?t says, leaning against the car.

  "I see, well, you should rest now," H??ü suggests, walking to inspect the vehicle. His sons do the same, clamoring around the vehicle and asking V??da all sorts of questions about how it works.

  "Nah, we got a lot more to do, I just showed up to show off a little," ?D?t says with a grin.

  H??ü chuckles softly. "I should've expected that, well I suppose I should let you go back now," H??ü says, patting ?D?t on the back.

  ?D?t chuckles. "Yup, goodbye." ?D?t says, hopping back on the vehicle. V??da does the same, and they begin to drive off.

  ??x?§ and his wife, meanwhile, were busy hunting. They weren't hunting traditionally with spears or even trying to kill the animals they were hunting. Instead, they were going to try to domesticate them. ??x?§ had read a great deal about the benefits of farming in the human book, so it was only logical to go do just that now. After walking around all morning, they finally found some animals. Specifically, a flock of Rostrata Pascentis. So they quickly tossed a net over the entire flock, capturing the distressed, squawking critters. ??x?§'s wife grabs the net and holds it proudly, ??x?§ smiles, patting her on the head before they continue looking for animals to begin farming.

  A couple more days pass, and the car is complete. It now has wooden walls and a roof covered with carbon fiber, which is made from plastic and paper. The carbon fiber makes the car light and durable. Windows line the vehicle, allowing anybody to see outside of it. On the front of the car, a masterfully carved wooden sculpture of Armato Rege's head is displayed.

  K?s?kü clings to the wheel. "HAHA IT'S AMAZING!" He yells, clinging to it and putting his hand over the car.

  "It is a feat of creation for sure," V??da says with a grin.

  "Yup, H??ü and ??x?§ should be waiting for us," ?D?t says, hopping into the car.

  "Me and K?s?kü will stay back, I gotta take his role while he's gone." V??da says, giving a wave as ?D?t drives away.

  After a few minutes of driving, ?D?t arrives at the designated meeting spot, where H??ü and ??x?§ were waiting along with a small number of soldiers.

  It had everything ready to eliminate its only threat to survival. It had been a long time since it had last taken action, but the time wasn't right. As it hid, it heard a noise—a noise it had never heard before. It moves eyes that aren't its own to observe, it sees the source of the noise. Some strange creature that almost resembled the giant predators above, but it was different. Something about it was off. It realized what was off when it saw the threats to its survival poke their heads out of it. This beast was carrying them somewhere. Somewhere away from the city. It couldn't get ahead of itself just yet, it didn't want to make a mistake.

  After a few minutes of driving, they saw the infected area in front of them. All sorts of infected animals stumbled around, their numbers in the hundreds. ?D?t continued to barrel forward, running into the infected and squishing them into mush. Warriors stuck their spears out from the windows to stab some of the infected. Within a few minutes, all the infected are dead. ??x?§ steps out of the car and goes over to a few of the bodies. He notices they were once, long ago, Perversi Viri. He lowers himself to his knees and wraps some cloth around his hand to hold the hand of one of the corpses. The soldiers step out, looking at one another with confused faces. H??ü sits next to ??x?§, his sons joining him soon after. After a moment of silence, they all get up. ??x?§ speaks, small tears streaking his cheeks. The soldiers nod and begin to unload supplies from the car. The supplies they unloaded were the parts to make a catapult. Within a few minutes, they had already set up 5 catapults. They begin to load the catapults, and they wait for the signal.

  "Fire!" ??x?§ yells loudly, as he does, lights the load before launching.

  The flesh spires screech loudly and try to put out the fires with their blood or by flattening out the fires with fleshy tentacles. H??ü smiles softly as the soldiers continue to fire, some running out to get more vegetation they can use for their flaming ammo.

  It was in pain. Every cell in its body felt as if it were experiencing total deterioration and death. Blood poured out from the corpses that made up its complex, a reflexive response to a fire that didn't exist. It was in complete agony, but it knew that now it was time. It sees them through the eyes of the others. It's time, so it points a tentacle towards the city, and on command, the earth shakes and rumbles as the infected Sol Comedentis runs to the city to deliver complete and utter death.

  The catapults were firing off with unprecedented efficiency, the soldiers running back and forth. The flesh spires began firing back their projectiles, a futile attempt in trying to survive as the car's carbon fibre armor blocked every last dart. Some infected creatures who still survived ran out towards them, only for ?TY? and ?a?e to cut them down with ease. Only a few moments later, the last of the flesh spires cried out for the last time and fell silent. ?D?t grins as he sees the shine of their treasure, the bright silver shine of pure 100% platinum. They unload the pickaxes from the car as they go to mine the platinum, but before they could swing their pickaxe, they hear a loud bellow reverberate through their body. Booming footsteps fill the cave around them, stalactites fall all around them, and shatter into hundreds of tiny pieces. ??x?§ looks over, and his eyes widen in terror.

  "H??ü THEY INFECTED A GREAT ONE! IT'S RAMPAGING TO THE CITY, WE GO NOW!" ??x?§ yells as he begins to run over to the rampaging Sol Comedentis.

  H??ü runs after him, followed by ?TY? and ?a?e. The other soldiers immediately began loading up the catapults and began firing towards the towering beast. The fireballs have little to no effect against its thick hide as it continues to run straight towards the city, destroying anything in its path. H??ü, his sons, and ??x?§ toss some ropes with rocks tied to the end of them to throw them up and tie them around the giant's neck before they begin to pull, slowing down the beast slightly. Keyword, slightly as it continued to power along. ?TY? runs straight ahead and jumps onto one of its legs before climbing up onto its back. He then runs up to the neck and begins hacking away, his sword doing little against its thick hide. ?D?t breaks off a small chunk of platinum before beginning to rush to the city in the car. There is only one thing that could save them, their ace in the hole, nitroglycerin. Meanwhile, the Perversi Viri manning the catapults began loading stones instead of using flaming vegetation, but the stones didn't have much effect either. ?TY?, in frustration, throws his sword straight into one of the Sol Comedentis' eyes. That is the first thing to pull a reaction from the giant as it turns its head to face ?TY? on its back. It lets out a pained roar before trying to bite down on ?TY?. He barely scrambles out of the way of being bitten into two, but it's relentless. Just as it's about to successfully bite him, part of the beast's tongue is cut off, and a few of its teeth are knocked out. It roars in pain, but before it could retaliate, ?TY? sees his savior, H??ü, grab him by his mane before jumping off the beast. It wasn't a light job considering they fell over a hundred feet, but they both looked up in time to see the worst of the worst. It got to the city.

  ?D?t got to the city and immediately ran to the city council, where H??ü's wife was sitting. He quickly fills her in on the situation, and she nearly turns white before nodding and running out to start evacuating people. After that, ?D?t runs to the lab, grabbing K?s?kü on the way there. He shows K?s?kü a diagram, and he nods, quickly beginning to make all the intricate glass tubes and chambers that would make up the nitric acid generator. Meanwhile, ?D?t begins to melt down the platinum.

  At the city center, ??x?§'s wife begin organizing the evacuation, leading people out of the city in a giant line. While she did that, H??ü's wife ran all over the city, telling people to head to the city center for evacuation instructions from ??x?§'s wife. A massive crash is heard following a low, almost mournful wail as the city wall crumbles like a sand castle being hit by a wave. The warriors at the walls begin to fire arrows and throw spears, but their towers are pulverized in seconds, and right after, they are promptly squished by the giant's massive feet. Civilians scream and run in all different directions, pushing each other to the ground and crawling over one another as they try to escape. It runs through houses and other buildings in the city, flattening them with ease. H??ü, his sons, and ?TY? run, throwing spears from the fallen soldiers in its eyes to slow it down while ??x?§ runs past them and begins helping his wife organize the evacuation and trying to calm people down. The Sol Comedentis roars in sheer anger before trying to step on H??ü, who just barely moves out of the way in time before slashing the inside of where its ankle would be, causing it to trip and fall sideways into a watch tower. Before it could hit the ground, though, it rights itself up, using the watch tower as a support. It continues its rampage through the city, crushing houses and shops; most of the warriors, less skilled than H??ü, his sons, and ?TY?, were crushed and killed without exception.

  Meanwhile, at the lab, they had completed it. They made a machine that uses the Ostwald process to create platinum nitric acid. Now they just had to wait to get enough to mix it with their soap and sulphuric acid to get their ultimate weapon, but ?D?t wasn't sure if they had that much time on their hands from the sound of it.

  H??ü, seeing that spears weren't working, formulates a new plan. He knew from personal experience one thing - the bigger something was, the harder it would fall. He learned this the hard way when he got tripped by his wife as a joke, it hurt quite a bit. He barks out orders to the Mauis Reptans, and they nod, grabbing some rope and then climbing on top of the houses up ahead. With an equal amount of Reptans on either side, they held on hard. Not even a second later, the beast plowed straight into the rope, and it pushed hard to get through. The Reptans hold on with every last drop of their strength, and then, it finally pushes through, but in return, the rope gets wrapped around its two front legs, causing it to fall. H??ü chest heaved with exhaustion as he looked down at the beast, without missing a beat, it stood back up, lifting its head and smashing its head against stalactites hanging in the ceiling and letting out a rumbling bellow.

  It had been a few minutes now, and ?D?t now had just enough nitric acid, so he poured it into a bottle along with the soap and sulphuric acid before running to the car and driving to the battlefield. He soon arrives only to see the beast still rampaging, nearly a third of the city was destroyed at this point, and that's when he spots ??x?§ and rushes over.

  "I GOT THE NITROGLYCERIN!" he says, causing ??x?§'s eyes to widen.

  "Ok, how do we use it," ??x?§ asks frantically.

  ?D?t takes out the bottle and soaks a piece of cloth in the solution before motioning to a bow and arrow on the ground, which ??x?§ promptly grabs along with the soaked paper. He then wraps the cloth around the arrow tip before taking aim. After a few seconds, he draws the arrow back and lets it fly. It soars through the air before hitting the Sol Comedentis' face, immediately right after a huge flash of light, as if a lightning bolt just struck, lights up the city. The flash of light is accompanied by a sonic boom that not even the most potent of thunderstorms could deliver. Smoke bellows out from the site of the explosion, and once it clears, we see that the Sol Comedentis no longer has most of its face. You can see part of its brain leaking out of its skull like rotted stew. For a bit, nothing happens, until it begins to run again, slowly, but it takes one step after the other. ??x?§ and ?D?t desperately load up another explosive arrow, but there is no need as a moment later, a thunderous boom flows through the earth as the behemoth falls, crushing several more houses. It was finally dead, but so were so many others.

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