Following the roars, Alex and Autumn Blaze went through the jungle to reach the village of the Kirins. In their arrival, they were met by the sight that was presented in front of them, witch made Autumn recoil with a bit of fright.
There are three towering humanoid entities engulfed in black flames standing in his way. They were almost taller than the trees of the forest. The bodies looked like made of stone, with glowing red and blue lines flowing on their skins and converging on a hole in their chest. Their heads resembled that of a turtle, but without the lower jaws. Spikes raised from their backs and their hands being rocky, blunt maces. The creatures advanced toward the Kirins, who were silently running away in fear. Their presence gave Alex another reason to be more annoyed.
"W-what are those monsters?" Autumn demanded.
"Three huge inconveniences." Alex commented.
"They are Volems. Don't even waste your minions on those things." Aidan said. "At least you don't have a better idea, you are going to deal with them by yourself."
Autumn, without any warning, turn herself into a Nirik and rushed toward them. "Let my kin be!!"
"Wait! Those are not something you can beat!" Alex warned.
Furiously, Autumn circled the three Volems in a circle of flames and leaped toward one of them, only to be backhanded by it's hblunt-mace like hand and being flung violently against the soil. With their obstacle out of the way, they went through the flames unscratched.
Alex face palmed at that failed attempt. "I warned her."
"You better hurry before they do more damages."
"Hey, hulking idiots!" Alex exclaimed, getting their attention while materializing his giant axe. "Let me show you how much size matters."
One the three Volems raised his blunt-mace like hands and slammed to the ground, causing stone spikes to burst from the ground and advancing toward Alex. He jumped away from it's trajectory and ran toward them. The second one charged his hole in the chest with red-blue energy and shot a big plasma sphere toward him. Alex dodged the sphere by dissolving in black-green flames and reappearing from behind them for a surprise attack.
"Watch out, you idiot!"
The third Volem noticed that and brutally tackled him, making him crashing against a tree. Alex collapsed on the ground. Even after the electric surge stopped to electrocute him, he was battered and stunned, but not so stunned to not notice the same Volem trying to smash him with his mace shaped hands in a raging frenzy. He quickly rolled away, leaving the creature's brutal to unleash his barrage of swipes that destroyed the tree instead of him.
Ignoring the pain that was biting his chest and his back, Alex rose up and charged his axe as the three Volems advanced toward him.
"Let's see if they can resist to this." Alex proclaimed as he slammed his axe against the ground, causing a pyroclasm to erupt around him while engulfing the Volems. "BURN!!"
As flaming pillar was burning, Alex teleported behind away and looked at the wounded Autumn, feeling a little sorry for her. He then returned his attention to the dissipating pyroclasm, revealing the result. Alex froze upon seeing how his enemies took the damages.
Much to his shocked surprise, the three Volems' were still standing, seemingly indifferent to the damage that he has inflicted on them despite having their bodies being mostly destroyed. A portion of their pitch-black skulls, the bones of their legs and chest were now exposed, along with luminous red-blue spheres inside of their rib-cages. Black-violet flames coming out of their opened wounds, mixed with green ones that were still devouring their rocky skin.
"That's bullshit!" Alex exclaimed. "Those flames should melt even the rocks. How much resistant they are?"
"The spheres must be their power core. Alex, I know what you were thinking but your sword gun isn't enough against them. You need reinforcements... And you know who I am referring to."
Alex widened his eyes and turned for a moment at Autumn. He already knows what Aidan was talking about and he didn't like that a bit. However, on the other side of the coin, he also knew what he needed in the mission that Atlas assigned to him.
"I'm sorry... But you will come with me." Alex said as he used his corrupting lightning on Autumn, who briefly screamed in pain.
For a moment, Autumn began to wriggle frantically, but then she exploded in a pillar of flames. Her figure seemed to have disappeared from the existence, until she came out from the pillar, hovering above the ground, regenerated and changed.
Her mane and tail were made of pure fire. Her back hooves, fore hooves, horn and head were resembling reddish-grey volcanic rocks with the rest of her body being made of fire. She deviously smiled, seemingly amused.
Alex on other hand was just struck by surprise. "Autumn?"
"Nopony will prevent Autumn Cinder from rising against your stupid faces!" She said. "I am both Kirin and Nirik in one,"
With newfound fury, the flaming kirin spiraled like a flaming arrow toward the one of the Volems and crushed it's power-core, causing it's body to explode in black-violet flames as she landed in front of the other two. One of them tried hit her with it's blunt-maced hand, but she quickly dodged the blow and proceed to deliver powerful punches at it. The other one tried to attack her from behind, only for her to avoid that by flying upwards. Autumn Cinder then dived upon the second like a meteor and caused a fiery explosion as she collided against it's power-core.
Alex exploited the confusion to dematerialize his axe and equip himself with his sword gun. He charged his weapon and shot a powerful coil of destructive energy that destroyed the power-core of the last Volems, causing it to explode.
The fight was over, with Alex and Autumn Cinder standing two legged, in the middle of the burn soil. The villagers and their queen Rain Shine arrived in place with an awestruck expression.
Before any explanation was being given, a tremendous chorus of roars ranged behind them. Alex turned toward the source and found an horde of Hellhounds coming toward them.
The kirins were scared and Rain Shine was worried. Alex, however, smiled, seeing no problem into deal with them. Alex charged his sword gun and shot another coil of destructive energy that wiped all of them.
Rain Shine and her kin observed Alex and Autumn Cinder in astonishment, not knowing not only what to do, but also not knowing if they could trust him or not. He noticed that.
"It seems like I have attire so much attention." Alex thought.
"Alright, insecure screw heads, listen up," Alex said. "We save your asses, so I expect you being at least grateful for that."
"I wonder how they would react to your actions."
"Grateful?" Autumn Cinder said. "You gotta be kidding me! They banished me because I couldn't accept to silence my voice!"
The kirins began to gesture to each other in body language, looking unsure about Alex's intentions. Rain Shine did the same, but only to bring them back to the calm. Autumn Cinder turned toward Alex with a gleeful expression.
"You did this to me, right?" Autumn Cinder said.
"You can say that." Alex replied.
"I feel wonderful, like controlling my own rage and unleash it with a ominous glee. It's fantastic."
"You can keep your powers, but only if you swore loyalty to me. What you have to say?"
"You know what? I will follow you since you were so kind with me. I will burn everything who stands in your way."
"Good."
"Alex, look at them." Alex said.
Alex turned toward the kirins, who were now bowing in front of him without any fear or resentment. Only gratitude and devotion were in their place.
"The hell?" Autumn Cinder said confused.
"It seems like they had accepted you as their new god, Alex." Alex said.
Alex flinched. "Their new god? Me?"
Alex paused for a moment to reflect about the situation. After some reconsideration, he smiled at that, taking this event as a bliss.
"Good for us." Alex said deviously while looking away from them. "OPEN GATE!"
The dark portal opened in front of Alex, who entered inside, followed by Autumn Cinder, his new ally. The portal then shrunk into smaller proportion before disappearing from the sight of the kirins, who were reveling in silent jubilation.