The two stared down the Herrscher as it simply hovered in place, seemingly observing the situation it was in.

"What's your plan?" Asked Alex.

"Simple. I had Raven go and salvage the Scepters as best as she could. First we need to severely weaken her. Once that's done, I'll activate the Scepters and use my energy to power it up, allowing use to seize the cores." Explained Mei as she looked back at the dragon, giving it a nod as the beast took to the skies again and flew around the area, seemingly on standby.

"Sounds like a good enough plan. Let's go." Said Alex.

The two withdrew their weapons and charged towards the Herrscher.

The two charged at the Herrscher as it simply weaved in-between their attempted slashes and went back up into the air as she snapped her fingers, summoning a massive iced meteorite as she brought it down.

Alex and Mei hastily jumped out of the way as the massive attack hit the ground, effectively breaking it in half as the meteorite shattered into numerous ice crystals circling around the Herrscher as she sent them towards the duo.

It became apparent quickly that the Herrscher was gonna do everything it could to keep its distance which Alex figured out.

"Hey. Let's launch them back at her. Get her to lose the aerial advantage." Said Alex as Mei nodded.

The two began to reflect and try their best to send the crystal back at the Herrscher as with each hit, it got lower and closer to the ground, eventually being right in striking distance as the two began to go off and land a multiple of attacks on it.

As the two kept wailing on it, Mei sensed something from behind as she grabbed Alex's arm and moved out of the way alongside him as from below came a blue blur as from it launched an all to familiar lance as the weapon pierced through the Herrscher clearly, stabbing into the ground right in front of them as surely enough Durandal had arrived.

The blonde turned her attention to the two and gave a smile as they approached her.

"Though I didn't appreciate being left Mei Raiden, I can now see why." She said as she turned her attention to Alex however before he could respond, their  conversation was immediately cut short.

BGM: Eye of the Storm from Kingdom Hearts III

The Herrscher would let out a loud wail, creating a forceful wave as the trio were pushed back a bit.

It then gave off a faint blue glow before slowly spinning around as the underneath the main body, the massive white structure sprouted open like a flower, revealing a black circular mass of energy inside the chamber, as it seemingly had now fully awakened.

"Her Honkai Energy is so immense that it's engulfing the entirety of Coral!" Shouted Durandal.

The three looked at one another and nodded as now was the time to finish things once and for all.

They charged at the now awakened Herrscher as it brought tons of waves of ice whether it'd be from above or emerging from below as it was a constant onslaught of attacks, with neither being able to get close.

"I'll distract! You two try and tactically pick it apart!" Shouted Alex as this time he charged in alone, fully taking up the Herrscher's attention as and Durandal snuck around to get into position.

Having to deal with the Herrscher's stronger and quicker attacks proved to immensely difficult however Alex knew it'd be worth it.

As the boy kept prancing around as bait, Mei and Durandal would successfully get behind the Herrscher as first Durandal went up, charging her lance as she ran ahead, jumping up to the main body and slashing across its back as the Herrscher reacted in pain.

Now was Mei's turn as she took a deep breathe, and slowly pulled out her sword, the blade teeming with tons of electricity as in an instant, Mei would swing in front of her with a wide motion as the Herrscher was then engulfed all over by lightning.

The electricity then went away as the Herrscher slumped forward.

"One more should do it." Said Alex however before he could act, the Herrscher again let out a loud wail, putting her hands to her head in immense pain as another large ice meteorite, this time even larger than before was thrown down to the ground.

Acting quickly, Mei whistled to the dragon as the beast quickly picked her up and flew to Alex and Durandal.

"Hurry and hang on!" She shouted.

Alex and Durandal immensely got on the dragon's back as the Ice meteor completely shattered the entire landmass into tons of pieces as it began to send out tons of icicles towards the dragon.

The beast effortlessly dodged all the attacks with grace as the trio held on for dear life.

"The hell's up with her!?" Asked Alex.

"It seems she's gone into desperation mode! Approaching her is effectively impossible now!" Responed Durandal.

"Crap. How're we gonna enact the plan Mei!?" Said Alex towards Mei as the girl began to think this over.

Then, she suddenly had an idea as she turned to Alex.

"Listen to me! Use all the strength you have left and try to send flames upward into the sky as far as you can! Trust me!" She said.

Alex was initially confused however decided to trust whatever she had in mind as the boy carefully stood up, maintaining his balance as he gripped his sword tightly, coating it in flames as he waited for a moment.

Once he felt he had channeled enough power in the flames, Alex pulled back and thrusted foward as hard as he could as a ton of fire was shot and sent upwards to the sky, disappearing into the clouds as Alex held his infected arm in pain as that caused it to flare up again.

"Alright there! Whatever it is you're planning, it better happen real soon!"

The dragon would then stop moving around and fly in place as it opened its mouth and charged up a beam as the Herrscher did so also.

The two beams would be sent out and collided in the middle as neither was able to overpower the other, however this was exactly what Mei wanted.

BGM Ends Here

At that moment, loud thunder was hears as Alex and Durandal looked up to see that the skies above them had suddenly darkened as lightning started to emerge in the sky.

While Alex was confused as to how this suddenly appeared, Durandal seemed to have figured it out as she gave a soft chuckle.

"I see. So that was her plan. Gotta say, she's pretty clever." Said the blonde.

"What's she gonna do?" Asked Alex.

"Remember the flames you just sent up into the sky?"

"Yeah. What about them?"

"When those flames entered the sky, it was enough to create a sudden warmth in the atmosphere to combat the cold. In turn, you helped create an ascending air current."

"An ascending air current?" What's that mean?"

"To put it simply, you created thunder clouds for her." Said Durandal.

When she said that, Alex was shocked as he looked to the sky, seeing the storm pick up in intensity as he looked at Mei.

"Wait. Don't tell me she's............"

"Mhm. Instead of using her own energy, she's gonna take advantage of the massive amounts of energy in the atmosphere."

Mei would step forward towards the edge of the dragon's body as she stared down at the occupied Herrscher.

"This attack will bring down thunder from the heavens." She said, coating her sword in electricity as she slowly raised it to the sky.

When she did, the skies seemingly parted as emerging out from the thunderstorm was something that Alex nor Durandal couldn't believe.

What seemed to be an enormous mass of purple colored lightning shaped into the form of a dragon moved back and forth as it stared down the Herrscher.

It would then slowly turn around, back into the thunder storm, preparing to attack as Mei uttered an ominous statement.

"Vanish, with the roar of thunder."

Mei swung her sword down as the giant electrical like dragon bursted through the clouds and in an instant, struck down at thr Herrscher as a loud bang was heard along with an immense light blinding their vision.

This would only last a few seconds as everyone's vision came back, Mei falling onto her knees as even though she didn't use up any of her energy, just performing the attack was enough to tire her out.

Alex ran up to where she was and looked over the edge below as he saw the Herrscher just hovering there, hunched back and moving ever so slightly which Alex was impressed with.

'Damn. It's still barely moving after an attack like that?' Thought Alex before going to Durandal as he had a plan to finish it off for good.

"Hey Durandal. I need your help." He said.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Random but, can you fly?" Asked Alex as Durandal nodded as she pointed to the sides of her battlesuit. "I have propulsions that can keep me suspended in the air. Why?"

"I'm gonna charge up an attack. As I'm doing so, I want you to grab my hand and spin me around with all the strength you got, going faster and faster and don't stop until I tell you. Once I say stop, that'll be your que to launch me straight at the Herrscher with all the force you got." Explained Alex.

Durandal admittedly was a little baffled at Alex's bizarre idea as she had a small laugh.

"My. That's quite a lot of trust you're putting in me. I appreciate it." She said.

Alex nodded before gripping his sword tightly, beginning to channel energy and conjuring up flames.

Durandal would do a short hop into thr air, her propulsions activating as she was hovering in the air as she grabbed Alex's right hand and slowly hovered foward as now the boy was suspended in the air holding on tightly to Durandal.

"You ready?" She asked as Alex simply nodded.

"Let's finish this."

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Chapter 14: Complete