Leofwynn strained, but there was no effect.
Her flames could not wound.
Grōnilubō's body simply regenerated to such an extent that its arms and legs, and even the head that had been destroyed before, now appeared as if they had never been injured.
In turn, Leofwynn's Enchantments grew weaker and weaker after each new attack. There was no hope of victory, or even of fighting, yet the Volcana did not give up, focused on what she could do, which was to fight with what remained to her.
THE SOLUTION
— Find Edas for me, Æthelflæd, promise me.
Cwenburg, feverish, held the Alchemist's hand.
The Unicorn-Girl had been laid among other wounded on a new vessel. Æthelflæd embraced her and swore:
— I'll find a way to bring your colt back, he can't be far. — more boats arrived as the hours passed, and the ruins were improvised as harbors.
The Warriors could do little.
They watched Leofwynn, like a bonfire, without the sixth Seal.
And then, falling and rising to attack that which merely levitated to explode higher and higher.
At times, Grōnilubō descended to the city and destroyed what remained below in new bursts of uncontrolled flames.
At times, merely levitating, it expelled more of the black clouds.
Æthelflæd helped the Warriors. They searched for survivors and dug through the rubble for the buried.
But the Alchemist's focus remained the same. On the one fighting the Night.
It happened when the storm ceased.
Æthelflæd and Hatizblāw sat side by side, sweat dripping from both from the endless work.
More boats set sail, loaded with wounded and dead.
And the fire ceased to be so intense on the Volcana, so much so that everyone felt the arrival of the cold.
Æthelflæd called out for Godwyna, but could not find him no matter how hard she searched. She would later find him unconscious, on a boat departing for Seaside Deep. He had been buried, they said, struck by debris, but he would survive.
As she watched the clash, Æthelflæd began to grow irritated with the situation, until she understood something so profound that the effects of the Alchemies on her body ceased, and sober, she ran across the city, swimming, and exploring the fallen buildings.
— It's always the same! — Æthelflæd shouted, but Leofwynn was distant in the sky, with the Alchemist drawing dangerously close, her eardrums injured.
The Human bled from her ears when Leofwynn saw her; she had used perfumed Alchemies in the ocean water, and the vicinity became fragrant with Siamese Benzoin, the Volcana's favorite.
The foam was made by the movement of the waters.
When Leofwynn went to the Human, she knelt, and had no hope. Little remained of her Aura, and the fire had gone out.
Without the luminescence of inflamed veins making her reddish, the Volcana's skin was seen in its natural tone. She was golden like gold.
— That thing isn't attacking. We'll just move the survivors and leave. Help me convince the others. It explodes, is reborn, destroys, levitates, and explodes again. There's no victory. Nothing can destroy it. If it could, it would already be in pieces. — Leofwynn heard the Human but did not move. Æthelflæd embraced her and carried the Loli in her arms. — Who would have thought I'd save you too?
In the Alchemist's arms, the Volcana was received as a Heroine by Hatizblāw's soldiers, who listened to Æthelflæd and decided to give her words a chance.
They did not attack Grōnilubō, and it ignored them as they rescued the remaining wounded and collected the corpses for identification.
There were thousands awaiting the boats.
— Æthelflæd. — Leofwynn, lying among the bodies in the crowd of bloodied fallen, held the Loli Alchemist's hand without letting go. She confessed. — I adore you.
— I know.
— I owe you my life.
— Someone as amazing as me should indeed have one or two lives in their hands. — Æthelflæd assumed, drinking from her Alchemies, and offered some to Leofwynn, who spat it out.
— That's disgusting, it's pure alcohol!
— Don't diminish my skills. Remember, you owe me.
— I take it back. You're an idiot, I don't owe you anything. — A new explosion from Grōnilubō was ignored by the Lolis. It was far away, in the stratosphere.
— You were all cute just now, what happened? — Æthelflæd lay down and hugged the Volcana with her right leg, half-lying on top of her, who sighed.
— I love you, you wretch. — Æthelflæd embraced her, and laughing, bit her lightly on the shoulder skin, now red again, pulsing with fire through veins and arteries.
THE REWARD IN SEASIDE DEEP
When they embarked on the voyage, among many other homeless folk, Æthelflæd and Leofwynn spoke little, walking hand in hand to the deck, and then sleeping together again.
The Alchemist returned to good spirits at the thought of the reward. After all, Leofwynn had challenged the Monster, and she herself had discovered a way to coexist with the absurd situation.
However, they were sent to the prison.
Cwenburg and Godwyna were there, and with them many others, all non Tritons or Mermaids. The foreigners were being arrested, but this did not matter at first, as the Lolis embraced each other, comforted in this reunion.