Alexander The Great Mage

"Alexander!" Aleyria screamed in horror as she watched the black dragon dissipate into nothing, mere minutes after the battle began. "Blackfire, we need to get there NOW!"

"As you wish, Princess." Blackfire gritted his teeth and burned a portion of his life energy to boost his power and allow him to teleport instantly across the final bit of distance between them and Alexander.

WHOOSH!!

Aleyria and Blackfire immediately appeared next to Alexander's motionless body.

At the same time, thousands upon thousands of mechas exited the Star of Symphonia and flew at full speed towards them. Hatches also opened in various sections of the Starship and sleek dome-shaped motherships appeared, surrounded by their fleets of battlecruisers, destroyers and frigates. Immediately, those ships released hundreds of thousands of fighters which swarmed towards them as well.

Prince Flario was holding nothing back. He deployed the bulk of his strength to secure and capture this special asset of his which had rebelled so powerfully and successfully against him. If he could somehow retrieve this asset and discover the secret behind his great power, the battle to the throne would be all but over..

"Sir! Two additional life forms detected by the special asset. One seems to be a dragon." An aide reported.

Prince Flario frowned slightly. The special asset was proving to be extremely difficult to capture.

"Release all the mechas. Charge the secondary cannons. Secure the special asset at all costs. Capture the two life forms as well, they may yet prove useful to me." Prince Flario ordered.

Immediately, more hatches opened, and this time, millions of mechas began to exit the Starship in neat and coordinated formations. They swarmed towards Alexander, Aleyria and Blackfire from all directions.

Almost the entire fighting capability of the Starship was put to bear in this small and insignificant operation. It was a very clear indicator of just how frustrated and yet eager Prince Flario was with regard to the issue of the special asset.

"Blackfire! What do we do now?" Aleyria said softly. By herself, she could probably go toe-to-toe against a mothership and her accompanying fleet. At his prime, Blackfire could probably deal with fifty or so motherships by himself.

But in his weakened state and against millions of mechas, hundreds of motherships, as well as the Starship's cannons which were clearly humming and charging up, there was absolutely nothing he could do. He couldn't even teleport away. He had burnt a portion of his life energy earlier and could no longer do that. If he could, even at great cost to his health and longevity, he would. But he absolutely couldn't. Burning life energy, be it a portion or all of it, would leave the person in a weakened state for a period of time. How long the period lasted would depend on how much life energy was burnt. And in Blackfire's case, he estimated that he would be weakened for at least one full hour. It was already a very optimistic estimate. Chances are, he would require more than an hour, possibly closer to two.

A short amount of time in any other situation. But it was one that stretched longer than eternity in that particular moment.

"Prepare to be captured." Blackfire said softly yet realistically. "With our mental link, we should be able to know each other's positions at all times. Whoever manages to escape should try to free the other first before trying to free Alexander. Two fighters are stronger than one. We would stand a better chance to successfully escape if we work together."

At that, Aleyria's heart plummeted. But she quickly took a deep breath and adjusted her mental state. There was no time and absolutely no room for useless panicking or complaining. Every single iota of her being had to be ready to escape at the first opportunity. And right now, the opportunity had not arrived yet. They had to be patient and bide their time.

"I've placed a tracker on Alexander. You should too." Blackfire said softly.

Aleyria nodded and immediately did that.

However, at that moment, a cute little yawn could be heard.

Meowwwww.

"FLUFF-FLUFF!!" Aleyria almost screamed out in excitement.

A cute little head poked out of a space slit near Alexander. It looked at the unconscious Alexander in mild confusion before looking at Aleyria, Blackfire, and the incoming enemies.

Meow! She pointed at the incoming mechas and ships. "You've got company." Fluff-fluff seemed to say lazily.

Aleyria's heart which had plunged way below rock bottom began to soar once more. She had completely forgotten about Fluff-fluff! How could she? Fluff-fluff was singularly the most powerful entity in the entire Symphonia, and possibly second in the entire universe!!

"We are surrounded by enemies! Alexander is injured! HELP US!" Aleyria practically screamed at Fluff-fluff! Her emotions which she had suppressed very savagely earlier on for the sake of responding well to the emergency suddenly burst out of her heart and overflowed.

Yawn.

Fluff-fluff yawned lightly and glanced very, very lazily at the incoming host of mechas, motherships, battlecruisers, destroyers, frigates and fighters. She then looked away as if dismissing them completely as non-factors.

She turned her head to look at Alexander curiously. Meow? Why is this lazy bum in a dead faint in the middle of a battle? She sniffed at Alexander's head.

Meow!!

"Wow! This is really serious. Who on earth did this to Alexander?" Fluff-fluff was so surprised that she actually spoke out.

Blackfire, who had never seen Fluff-fluff before, was quietly studying her. He had a very weird, yet pleasant tingling feeling when she appeared. And when she opened her mouth to speak, his suspicions were confirmed.

"Lady Fortuitous Cosmic Feline." Blackfire said respectfully. "He was injured when he took down two Dark Warriors a few minutes earlier. "

"Dark Warriors? Ah, so that's the weird energy I sensed earlier that disturbed my nap. Alexander's fate must be extremely tied with the two Dark Warriors for him to be affected this way. Interesting." Fluff-fluff raised one cute kitty paw and patted Alexander affectionately on his head.

"Lyra had entrusted me to him for four months. And now barely one month has passed and he's already in this state. I better help him some more. Lyra would skin me alive if she found out that he died under my watch." Fluff-fluff muttered to herself very audibly.

Whoosh!!

A little cocoon of golden energy appeared around them. It was a very gentle and soft golden energy, unlike the golden energy of Scion Lords which were dominating and explosive in nature. However, also unlike the power of Scion Lords, this little golden cocoon gave Aleyria and Blackfire an extremely deep sense of security.

Aleyria could feel her worries and fears simply melt away. She glanced at the host of mechas, fighters and ships which had finally reached firing range and felt absolutely… nothing.

PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Countless energy beams, cannons and missiles were launched from the vanguard of the great host and smashed into the small cocoon with ludicrous power.

However, no explosion sounded. All the energy beams and projectiles simply disappeared a few meters away from the golden cocoon.

Within it, Fluff-fluff was patting on Alexander's head rhythmically, as though she was listening to a song and tapping along with the beats.

PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Undeterred by the mysterious disappearance of their attacks, the soldiers released a second volley. However, the exact same thing happened.

Aleyria turned her head away from the enemy and looked at Fluff-fluff who was patting away on Alexander's head. She wanted very much to ask Fluff-fluff about Alexander's situation, but she was afraid of disturbing her, so she held her questions in and remained silent.

Tap-tap. Tap-tap. Tap. Tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap. Tap! Tap!

Fluff-fluff glanced at Aleyria who was watching her tap Alexander's head very intently. Her gaze was so intense that Fluff-fluff couldn't help but chuckle.

"Relax Aleyria. He should be fine. Why don't we sing a little song together? Here let me teach you…" Fluff-fluff said with a smile.

~In the jungle, the mighty jungle, a cute cat sleeps tonight….~ Tap-Tap.

~In the jungle, the quiet jungle, a cute cat sleeps tonight….~ Tap-tap.

"Oh my god. She was actually singing a song in her head and tapping on Alexander's head along with the beats!" Aleyria shouted to herself internally as her mouth dropped open in surprise.

"OWEEEEEEEEE WEO WAM WAM WAMAYYYY!!!" Fluff-fluff sang out enthusiastically.

PEW! PEW! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

The army outside continued their barrage. But it was clear that many had stopped firing, and were maneuvering around to completely surround the golden cocoon from all directions.

"Wha-What are you doing? Is Alexander alright?" Aleyria finally interrupted Fluff-fluff and asked the question that she had been holding in.

"He's not fine at the moment. But he should be soon. I've sent out a signal to Magius. He's actually nearby, so he should be here soon. He should be able to help Alexander." Fluff-fluff said as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

Aleyria, and next to her, Blackfire, could only stare at Fluff-fluff in shock.