Sehki grinned, enlarging the staves and staff's space so Mako's weapons slipped, stuck inside of him.

Restraining his arms to drop the sword, he delivered a brutal uppercut, smoldering his adversary. Constructing five doppelgangers from his spell, they helped him pummel the arrogant prince throughout the air, climaxing with a kick smashing him into the ship behind.

Mako staggered upward, retracting his sword with smaller feathers, heavily wounded as he landed.

"Your existence," coughing, "is a threat to all those in Fenghuang."

"You want to punish your people for a test you set them up to fail. Then I'll lead them to pass."

Anguish from below caught his attention. Recognizing Tenshia's voice, he jumped down to free her from her restraints, absorbing the energy from her weapon. Taking her to the dock, he sheltered them within a black hole, hearing her recover.

"You awake?"

"No," whimpering. "Qian and some other child, Proxim had them use their magic on me," struggling to keep it together. "They got sent away to...a station...airborne. But it's a trap..for you."

Her weapon spread out more miasma, transforming her into a more feral version of her Evolution. A large rock fell from the sky with Proxim's name fell to him, looking up to see him approaching.

Flipping back to keep distance, the ringleader descended with more dents in his armor.

"What happened to the other heirs?"

"Still struggling to stop the inevitable. You want your brother back? Have a taste," opening a portal in front of all of them while forming restraints around her limbs to conduct her movements.

He barely had time to react, backing from her agility when out of the portal, a large gray sludge shaped itself to immobilize himself and his shadow in midair.

"Your brother's been helping me with my little experiment, an inanimate object with the sentience of all my research to finally absorb your StellArt."

"What do you do to my brother? All those attacks were just for me?"

"Removing you from your powers has always been part of the goal. However, your influence has been too important to ignore."

He could feel his shadow attempting to rip it off but found his magic being siphoned at the same time, trying to focus on one area to burst through with enough energy left to summon Ophiuchus.

Proxim turned to Mako, punching him in the face.

"Fighting for a cure to your mother's ailment. Your hubris continues to hold you back. Now, this is your attempt to finish us both," floating and stopping airborne. Mako called out Pavo Art: Majestic End, making a feather field of blades behind them, combining them all into one giant sword.

The mastermind moved out of the way and his allies were too far to help him stop the flying blade meant to deliver his execution.

"You're not dying before we have our rematch."

With one spike, a woman smashed and melted the blade into magic feathers. Mako broke the shock to forge two swords to swoop in from behind, but she easily burned them, punched her ally's restraints off, and stomped on her mutated admirer in seconds.

The wings of a phoenix emerged behind her, unleashing a scorching heat forcing the slime back to its owner. She swiped the energy consuming Tenshia to free her so she could warm her body, regulating her temperature.

"I'll get you out of here," burning a hole underneath to let her rest, turning to the metallic criminal and her brother.

"The Phoenix: Xia Hinata, you've finally arrived."

"Why are you helping him?"

"Me? You're colluding with the benefactor who almost got our own people killed?!"

"The Obsidian prince's demise aligns with the goals of the Rooster of the Rose Sword."

"Mako, if I get stronger, I can cure your mother's illness!"

"Your family is the reason she's ill!"

"So you engineered heroics with them in exchange?"

"I'll do whatever needs to be done for the sake of my family and people!"

"Cuz he's too much of a coward to fight Proxim! The Rising Twelve are strong, but those devices he created are the only ways they've been able to keep up with us heirs."

"But he's been honing his skills for years!"

"Because he thought he could take advantage of you all slacking to finally bridge the gap. Underneath your brother's wings is a baby willing to do anything for power."

"Shut up!" He unleashed a storm of blades to rain on all three of them.

Proxim easily breezed through Mako's flurry, pushing him back to his sister's mercy while Sehki went for the masked assailant.

Then all three young adults noticed his close proximity, forming their own StellArts blades at Proxim, who endured all three of their slashes, unleashing a metal wave.

Xia was the only one able to deflect it while the other two rolled from the impact, thrusting a firebird heading for Sehki. He flipped over it, only for her to flick her hands and redirect it after her own brother. Proxim attempted to crush it.

Her "hurry up and don't make me regret this" face was all he needed to charge and fire a shadow infused flame, granting her Phoenix enough of a claw to burn through Proxim's seemingly impenetrable defenses.

Rivals, childhood friends at best with more animosity between them than two warring nations at a peace treaty, attempted manslaughter culprit and victimized bully at worst, exchanged a glance of unity, stomping the ground with an eruption of pillars at the two.

Mako and Proxim sprung from the ensuing flame geysers large enough to block their view. The duo jumped off the apex of their spell's reach, somersaulting and molding his silhouette into a massive blade she mirrored to slam down on both of them.

Mako was blown back, grating the sword against the ship's heck to stand, while Proxim dragged their feet through the metal to desist from falling.

He grinned. "Team up?"

She ignited her fists. "Don't slow me down."