In the skies above Stardale, Edward rode his majestic griffin, Aquila, and engaged in a brutal aerial battle with the berserk flying beasts.

Blue lightning crackled around him and Aquila as they flew toward the enemy group. Edward had been practicing flying with the griffin in the past, however, this was the first time he was doing so in battle.

At the beginning of this fierce skirmish, he still had to get the hang of things, however, he quickly adapted.

The dark clouds above swirled ominously, whereas the battlefield beneath was embroiled in fierce conflict as potions of explosions went off every now and then.

Under the soft glow of the twin moons, Edward gathered the lightning mana and focused it at the tip of his spear. The next moment, he and Aquila bolted past a wind falcon, leaving a trail of blue lightning in their wake.

In the aftermath of this clash, the wind falcon slowly fell to the ground as lightning viciously danced across its body, completely immobilizing it. If Edward's spear hadn't done the job already, the fall from such a great height would surely do it.

This had been the youth's plan all along. He didn't aim to outright kill the enemy, only electrocute them with his lightning magic. Then, gravity would do the rest.

In this aerial battle, it was difficult to cast spells accurately at the enemy. So Edward focused mainly on his magic combat techniques. This would also ensure that he lasted longer in battle.

After all, magic combat techniques required considerably less mana than magic spells.

The youth and his familiar had been fighting for over an hour now. Both of them were riddled with ghastly injuries and profusely bleeding from several places.

He gently patted Aquila's back and asked, "How long can you hang on, buddy?"

Aquila let out a screech filled with determination, his eyes blazing with fighting intent. Seeing this, Edward's blood boiled with a fiery passion. "Hahaha, that's the way it should be."

SCREECH!

With a deafening screech, Aquila steeply rose to the sky after listening to the youth's battle plan through a mental transmission. Right after the pair flew straight through a blanket of clouds, for a brief moment, it was just them, the night sky, and Selene and Luna.

Edward glanced at the twin moons and was stunned by their beauty from up close. At that moment, he promised himself that he would take more flights with Aquila just like this one.

Following that, the youth's eyes narrowed and gleamed with exhilaration. "Alright, boy, let's do this!"

Aquila let out a screech one more time before diving straight down. The strong, chilly winds brushed past Edward's face as he raised his legs and crouched on his familiar's back.

The next moment

He jumped!

Aquila went his separate way as it clawed through the horde of flying beasts underneath him, his ferociousness unmatched. Meanwhile, Edward spun his weapon above his head and then landed on a dark crow, stabbing it with his lightning-infused spear.

As the dark crow's body twitched and fell toward the ground, the youth jumped from the beast's back and landed on a rot vulture and did the same.

Every flying beast that tasted his spear, was instantly electrocuted and miserably fell to the ground, their bodies convulsing in sheer pain. He continued jumping from one beast to another, all the while free-falling.

Until finally, there were no more flying beasts in his vicinity. All of them had been zapped by him and had already fallen to their deaths.

As the youth fell through the clouds, there was no fear on his face. Instead, his lips curled up into a wide grin as he spread his arms and legs and fully embraced this experience.

Storm Bringer, the mana extraction technique that Edward practiced, focused heavily on the elements of lightning, air, and water. Unsurprisingly enough, the skies just so happened to be the place where he felt at home.

The next moment, a black shadowy figure approached him from the distance at lightning speed. Seeing this, Edward somersaulted in the air and then gracefully landed on this figure.

SCREECH!

Aquila let out an excited roar after catching the youth. The griffin had just fought his way through a pack of flying beasts and made his way here.

As the pair descended from the sky, they caught sight of another small group of flying beasts with sinister auras coming toward them from the direction of the Murky Mountains.

"They just don't stop," Edward grumbled in annoyance. He glanced at Aquila and was about to ask if he could go on, but seeing the bloody injuries on his body, the youth swallowed his words.

Although Aquila didn't mention it, the youth knew just how much pressure he was going through. Suddenly, Edward turned his head in the direction of the city and saw another group of flying beasts flying toward them.

"Reinforcements?" He was slightly taken aback.

It didn't take long for him to confirm his speculations. Magi from the allied forces flew in on their flying mounts and hovered around him.

"Magus Edward, you can leave the rest to us now!" A female Magus replied with deep respect.

All this while, Edward and Aquila had been fighting in the skies all alone and displaying unparalleled skill and determination.

If it wasn't for these two to take it upon themselves to defend against aerial attacks, the Magi within the city would have to divert their manpower from repairing the gates and the walls.

This would have certainly made things more difficult for the allied forces and would have resulted in greater casualties.

However, thanks to Edward taking care of the enemies in the skies, and Adam taking care of those on the ground, the Magi now had great chances of emerging victorious in tonight's battle.

Edward glanced at the Magi and nodded, "Alright, may fortune be with you."

With that said, he directed Aquila to fly toward the city. The Magi glanced at the youth's departing back with great admiration.

Then they turned their heads in the direction of the enemy flying beasts, their eyes flashing with boundless rage and fighting intent.

"For the Southern Federation!" The female Magus roared as she commanded her flying beast to soar toward the enemies.

"OHHH!!" The rest of the Magi followed behind.

On the northeast wall, amidst all the bloodbath and violence going around him, Adam sat in a tranquil state as a faint vortex of mana swirled around him.

The mana in the surroundings was extracted by him and flowed inside his body unobstructed. Suddenly, the vortex of mana dissipated as the raven-haired youth exhaled a slow and deep breath.

He gradually opened his eyes which were calm yet deep.

"It's time."