The next few days were spent scrambling to prepare for the full force of the Guardians and their armada of ships. Caros was in a frenzy, fortifying its defenses all across the border.

Clamerates ensured that the Kingston-Caros strait would remain under their full control, and sent a notable number of ships to the location.

They wouldn't be able to recreate the miracle pulled off a few months prior, it would be Caros mostly on its own.

Xavier was confident, however. The group had more than enough power between them to handle the remaining two Guardians. The pirate had been able to fend off Oceanus on his own, and Astraeus was hopeless now that Jacob had awakened his power.

The group were poured around a table in a tavern. The building was entirely cleared out, having been claimed by the group to plan for defending Alport.

Atlas even seemed to be in decent spirits, despite their concerns. "My brothers are no pushovers, you know this firsthand."

"Right, but we did almost win when we faced them previously." Xavier pointed out.

The Guardian shook their head. "You did great, sure. But Astraeus and the other Guardians knew their position the entire battle, they were toying with you all up until Rose damaged the Jewel."

Helena crossed her arms. "We'll also have to deal with their fleets of ships. Even though they have skeleton crew, the boats can still fire the canons."

"Leave that to us," Jacob jumped in. "These canons are excellent at splitting ships to bits, and Caros has enough of a force to engage the remaining ships. We just have to worry about the Guardians."

Maya and Luna were seated at a table off to the side, holding hands. "I'm not sure how much I can do, but whatever I can... I'll give it my all." Maya told the group, sparks practically shooting from her eyes.

Luna broke away from Maya's grasp to charge a bit of magic in her hand. She looked down at the dark sphere and sighed. "I may not be at my strongest... but I can still help."

Atlas nodded at Luna and then turned to the door. "You'll do just fine. Oceanus is a bitch, and will likely get himself killed. Astraeus is going to be tougher, but I can take him."

"Save a bit of him for me," Xavier chuckled. "I have a bit of revenge I oughta enact."

Jacob leaned against the table and looked up. "No time to lose at this point. I have to group up with the other CIF folks and make some final plans, so what's our game plan?"

Xavier pointed to the docks on the map. "The Glacialine should arrive this evening, we're going to take it out to meet them head on. This all ends tomorrow."

They planned a few more logistics before Jacob departed to go join the CIF. The group was left with little to do before the Glacialine arrived they evening.

The pirate captain was eager to have his mighty ship back, greeting his crew and explaining the plan to them.

The plan was set, and the only thing left to do was rest before the final battle. The pirate struggled to sleep at first, his mind racing. Eventually, he managed to calm himself down.

Xavier thought of Rose, and what she may think had she still been around. It was comforting for the pirate, having barred himself from thinking about her for so long.

The captain eventually drifted off into sleep, ready to confront Astraeus once again.

The next day rolled around, and everyone was anxiously waiting by the docks. All of Alport seemed to be holding their breath, waiting for the ships to begin appearing. They had no idea what time Astraeus would be arriving, and how much of an entrance he would make. It was a waiting game.

The weather was miserable, with a light rain pouring from the sky and the sun nowhere in sight. There were still a few hours until the afternoon, so it was overall very cold. Just how Xavier liked it.

Eventually, dark spots started to emerge on the horizon. Tradton's trademark dark wood ships, and lots of them. A cursory count revealed at least several dozen.

Xavier and his friends rushed to the Glacialine, climbing aboard while the fleet began to near the island nation.

The artillery canons began to fire off warning shoots, striking a few ships while canon fire pierced the water.

The Glacialine began to sail towards the ships, and magic started to rain down from above. Atlas flew into the sky and deflected some of the magic as the boat cut through the water.

The Guardian teleported back to the ship, and Xavier flung icicles in the direction of the boats.

Helena pointed at one of the ships in the center of the fleet. "Is that Oceanus's ship?"

Atlas nodded. "Sure is. Astraeus is here too, somewhere else though." The Guardian narrowed their eyes.

The group sailed onward, reaching Oceanus's ship as another round of artillery shattered several ships. The Glacialine began to slow down, and it approached the large boat.

The ship was similar to the one where Xavier had faced Clymene a few weeks ago, and so the pirate wasted no time climbing on board. The rest of his crew joined them, and they looked around.

"Oh boy," A voice interrupted the tension before it could brew. Standing at the helm of the ship was Oceanus. He was adorned in a large amount of armor and helmet that covered everything but his orange eyes. Around his neck was yet another fragment of the Indigo Jewel, and in his hand was a trident. "So you're all here?"

Oceanus jumped down, and took a casual stance. "Let's wrap this up then." A blast of magic flew down from the sky and landed on his weapon.

Xavier looked up at the sky and grit his teeth. "I'll take care of Astraeus, at least for now. Focus on taking out Oceanus!" The pirate shouted to his friends.

Jacob nodded, "Go ahead! We've got this from here, and we'll back you up soon. Give Astraeus hell." Xavier smiled at his friend before running off the side of the ship.

Xavier was eager to finally confront Astraeus and finish this all. He summoned ice beneath his feet with ease, dashing between shops. Xavier was ready, he just had to keep cool.

Jacob banged his blade against his shield and charged the weapon with Light Magic while facing down Oceanus. He looked to the group of friends with him. "Alright everyone, just get me a clean jab at him! Here we go!" The rebel sped across the deck and swung his blade into Oceanus's trident.

Oceanus grinned, and Jacob was suddenly knocked away. The boy looked up to see a second Oceanus standing beside the first.

"Are you kidding me? There's two of them?" Maya complained, blasting lightning at the duo. One of the Oceanus deflected it with his trident while the other one ran in.

Helena slammed her axe into his weapon, and the two became interlocked in battle. "It must be the power of his Jewel Shard. We need to take it out quickly, or else this could become problematic." Atlas declared.

A volley of Astraeus's magic rained down on the deck, nearly striking Maya. Jacob scrambled to his feet while Atlas rolled their eyes.

"It looks like he's directing it at Caros as well. I'll focus on deflection." The Guardian vanished without another word, leaving them with only four members on the deck.

The Glacialine had sailed back into battle, decimating ships from behind while several boats began to approach Jacob's island. He forced himself to focus on the task at hand, and ran at Oceanus again.

Helena pushed back the Oceanus she was up against, and Jacob plunged his blade into the copy's back. The copy faded away into black mist, leaving only the real one.

The real Oceanus was taking several stabs at Maya, while Luna flung magic at him to distract the Guardian. Maya slammed an electric fist into his face to blow him back a bit.

Jacob charged up Lumis and flung several blasts of light magic at Oceanus to follow up, while Helena tossed her axe into the fray.

Several copies of Oceanus burst from his body before the attacks could land, absorbing the blows. The real Guardian vanished, reappearing in the sky.

He grabbed hold of the ancient stone once again, and dozens of copies of Oceanus began to rain down onto the deck. Jacob put up his shield to block one of them as their trident came down.

His friends were scattered across the deck, trying to handle the onslaught of attacks. The real Oceanus descended in front of Jacob. The boy slammed his blade into the copy and then prepared to engage the real deal.

Oceanus scoffed as Jacob charged in, blocking his sword swings. The Guardian tried to jab at Jacob, and the blacksmith spun around to block the attack with his golden shield.

Jacob took a step back and then jumped up as his blade was charged with magic, ready to bring it down on his enemy. Oceanus reached out his free hand and grabbed Jacob by the neck.

The rebel began to thrash and kick as the Guardian's grip on him tightened. "Let me- let me go!" Magic began to pump into Jacob's body, and it all flooded into the Dragon Fang around his neck. Jacob tried slamming his blade into Oceanus's chest, but the Guardian tossed him into the deck.

Oceanus wretched the Dragon Fang from Jacob's neck and tossed it away. Oceanus then grabbed a hold of him again. The Guardian began to unload magic into Jacob, and the boy dropped his blade and shield.

Oceanus's eyes narrowed as he started to walk forward. "This is for each of my siblings you killed!" He slammed Jacob into the deck and raised his trident.

The boy faded in and out of consciousness as the weapon prepared to strike him.

Luna cleared out several of the clones with ease, scanning the deck to see that Oceanus had grabbed a hold of Jacob.

Luna wasted no time running over to aid her friend, firing a blast of magic as he was tossed onto the deck. The sphere slammed into Oceanus's back, getting his attention.

"Hello, sister." Oceanus spat, creating a clone at either side of him. The clones ran in at her, only to be obliterated by lightning from Maya.

Luna's girlfriend joined her side, while Helena knelt down and checked on Jacob. "He's out cold, but still breathing." She explained before standing back up.

Oceanus looked up and sighed. "Looks like Astraeus won't be of any use." He grabbed hold of the Indigo Jewel fragment and a swarm of copies exploded from his body.

The horde flew through the air, jabbing their tridents at the group. Luna could barley parse what was happening in front of her.

Helena's axe spun around her body, shredding through some of the enemies. Maya channeled a wave of lightning outward to take care of another couple.

Luna summoned a sphere in both of her hands and slammed them together to create an explosion around her that consumed several more.

Her attack subsided, and the girl looked around to see if her move had worked. Oceanus marched toward her, the prongs of his weapon glowing with magic.

Luna launched several projectiles at him, and Oceanus vanished. He appeared behind her, and knocked the girl over. Luna turned around and then rolled across the floor of the deck, barely avoiding having her head smashed.

A familiar electrical whip wrapped around Oceanus's trident, and lightning crashed down onto him from above. Maya charged directly at the Guardian before her, electricity flying from every part of her body.

Maya landed several electrical punches on his body, and then uppercut the Guardian. Luna started to get back up while Maya followed up by electrocuting the airborne beast.

Oceanus groaned under the barrage of attacks, and Maya seemed to be ready to deliver more. She dashed at him again, and the Guardian grabbed a hold of his gemstone.

"Maya, look out!" Luna called, but it was too late. A copy of Oceanus appeared behind Maya and launched magic into her back. The girl crumbled over, and Luna exploded with rage.

Magic flowed through Luna's body, what she had wasn't enough. She needed more, she needed to protect her girlfriend like Maya had for her.

The power that she had kept down, the power that she knew she had, it was time to let it be free. Luna practically flew across the deck, bombarding Oceanus with balls of magic.

Luna looked down at her hands and found purple mist swirling around them, the power at her disposal felt practically endless. "Maya, are you alright?" She asked her girlfriend.

Maya looked up and her jaw dropped. "Luna... you look incredible." Luna helped her girlfriend to her feet, and then turned to Oceanus.

"Let's end this, together." And she took Maya's hand.

Xavier spent far too much time just trying to find Astraeus. Tracking down the magic proved to be more difficult than he had anticipated.

The pirate eventually found where the magic was coming from, and prepared to face the warlock. Xavier jumped aboard the giant boat, and found it was entirely empty outside of Astraeus.

The mage stood in the center, clutching the familiar golden staff. The bulky weapon had an intricate spiral design, and seemingly possessed a large fragment of the Indigo Jewel on the top.

It sent a pang of remorse through Xavier, as he recalled what the staff had been used to do. The captain shook his head, he had to use that to motivate him.

Astraeus turned to face Xavier, his orange eyes glared at the familiar face. Astraeus was still wearing a large cloak that covered much of his body, and he still looked borderline inhuman. "Xavier, it's been so long."

Xavier rolled his eyes. "And in all that time, you've gotten foolish. I'm surprised you decided to show your face here, given what happened last time."

Astraeus idly toiled some magic in his hand while Xavier paced across the deck. "I'm really not interested in small talk, 'captain'. Don't forget, you're only alive because she is not."

Xavier looked down, and then back up to face the Guardian. "That's exactly right, which is why I'm going to end this right now. Astraeus, you may think that you've got everything figured out... but really, you know nothing."

Astraeus wasn't impressed, and instead began to charge magic in his staff. "Let's end this, pirate."

Astraeus launched magic at Xavier, who quickly created a barrier of ice that blocked the attack. The pirate ran in and slammed his blade against Astraeus's staff. Sparks flew at the familiar clash, but Xavier wasn't deterred.

The pirate threw several icicles at Astraeus from all sides, and the Guardian shattered them with magic. The mage vanished and reappeared in the sky, launching a massive blast of dark magic at Xavier.

He jumped off the ship, creating a column of ice in the water that continued to rise up. "Let the cold flow! I embrace it all!" Xavier declared, calling upon the ice magic within his heart.

The pirate leaped from the column as Astraeus flung several magical orbs at him. Xavier countered each one, creating small footholds of ice in the air out of the rain and then deflecting the attacks.

Astraeus dissipated the magic and rushed at Xavier, trying to slam the staff into the pirate's chest.

The ice mage launched himself into the air off of the tiny footholds, ascending further up. Xavier spun around and turned in midair, facing the Guardian down below. Icicles surrounded him and Xavier began to descend, readying his weapon.

The icicles swirled around the pirate, absorbing magic without any trouble. Xavier had never felt this in control of his power, it was an unfamiliar feeling as he descended from the air like a boulder.

Xavier slammed his blade into Astraeus, carrying them both into the deck of the boat. Astraeus rolled across the ground, just as the icicles all crashed into him.

The pirate allowed himself to take a breath, while Astraeus struggled to his feet. "See Astraeus, this is the power of the humans you hate so much."

Astraeus scoffed, and then looked past Xavier. "No, Xavier," He pointed past Xavier, and the pirate turned around to see a massive fleet of Scalliers ships approaching Caros. "That is."