As Erosion stepped to get closer to Burn, a dragon suddenly stepped in her way. Prince Smolder, his scales shaking, walked directly in front of his sister, his talons gripping the deformed spear around his snout, still keeping it closed.

Erosion tossed him an expression of amusement. "I see you think you're trying to be 'brave,' pretending that you can protect your sister?" she chuckled.

With a final tug, the spear ripped off Smolder's snout, taking scales with it. Blood ran down his snout and jaw, dripping onto the dirt below. "Animus magic has never been allowed in royal combat," Smolder quietly answered. "If you want to get to Burn, and to the SandWing throne, you'll have to get through me first."

Erosion laughed. "If I had any pity left in my, I would use it on you. Unfortunately, I don't. This is no longer the age of weak, puny queens, pretending to squabble amongst each other just so that they can ignore the suffering of their subjects," she hissed. "Step aside, prince of old, your bloodline only represents failure. This is the age of the animus, and no dragon can defeat me."

She took a step forward, about to tap her bracelet again, when her eyes suddenly turned to the crowd, noticing a disturbance in it.

"Are you sure about that?" a voice yelled from the crowd. A flash of blue pushed through the yellows and browns of the mass of dragons, as Torrent stepped into the open arena, holding his dagger in his right foreclaws as he stepped between Erosion and Smolder.

Erosion winced as she saw that the SeaWing had entered the fray. "How did you get here?" she hissed. "I told you not to follow me."

"You see, I have powers far beyond your imagination," Torrent snorted, invoking whispers from the crowd. "And by that, I mean I flew here. It was a long flight, so I'm somewhat tired. Would it be too much to ask for you to just give up now and let me kill you? You know as well as I do that you can't hurt me."

Erosion bared her teeth, and swished her barbed tail back and forth. Torrent aggressively moved forward, causing the SandWing to take a cautious step backwards, before casting a nervous glance towards the nine other animuses behind her, still in her control. The horde of watching dragons started talking among each other, wondering how this SeaWing could make Erosion, the animus who'd defeated even Burn, defensive.

Torrent looked back towards Smolder, and gave him a glare of disapproval. Smolder returned an awkward grin, scratching behind his horns with a claw, even as blood continued to drip down his snout. "I, er, don't actually have anything against SeaWings," the SandWing prince quickly explained to the SeaWing prince. "I was told to say that."

Torrent gave out a quite growl, then glanced over towards Burn. "Get your sister, and everyone else out of here while I'm keeping Erosion busy," he ordered.

Smolder rapidly nodded, then turned to his sister, still lying on the ground. "Hyena! Scorch!" he called. "Help me carry Queen Burn away! Other troops under my command, help get all SandWing and MudWing civilians away from the battlefield in an orderly fashion!"

The mass of dragons started to yell and shift in panic, and dragons started to rush away from the arena, pushing aside dragons behind them to get out. Two SandWing soldiers nervously ran out towards the injured Burn, who snarled as they approached. Along with Smolder, the three lifted up the collosal princess, slowly carrying her away.

Erosion's beady eyes followed Burn, but quickly turned back to Torrent. For a moment, she had thought about trying to stop their escape, but at the moment, she had a larger threat on her mind. There would be other chances to get rid of Burn, but first she needed to deal with Torrent. The SeaWing snarled, and moved closer to Erosion, causing her to take a step back in alarm.

"Bring him out!" Erosion roared to the dispersing crowd. Within moments, an elderly SandWing pushed through the sea of dragons, dragging a net behind her.

Erosion toothily grinned as Torrent looked on in horror. Gazelle stepped into the open space of the arena, dragging the injured Griffin behind him in the net they'd carried him in. Griffin struggled slightly, attempting to tear a hole in the net, but Gazelle turned around to him with a hiss, flicking her tail and placing her barb at the top of Griffin's head.

Gazelle stepped up to Erosion, placing the net with Griffin nearby, then flicked her tail again threateningly.

"I warned you not to follow me," Erosion hissed. "Take even another step closer, and Gazelle's barb will go through your friend's head."

Torrent stopped, still holding his dagger. His snout contorted in rage. "You don't have to do this," he growled at Erosion. "You don't need to rule Pyrrhia, or use your magic."

"Maybe I don't need to rule, but Pyrrhia needs me," Erosion replied, flicking her tongue.

Torrent bared his teeth at Erosion, but didn't respond. Erosion smirked, then it turned into a slight frown, and she cocked her head to the side in confusion. Something seemed slightly off about Torrent's expression. Scanning it, Erosion saw that his ears weren't folded back to match his anger.

Suddenly, Erosion yelled out in pain, as she felt something stab through her tail. She whipped it across the sand, and looked at Gazelle in shock as Gazelle's barb was torn out from far within Erosion's tail, ripping out scales and flesh with it.

Erosion a step backwards, glaring in fury at Gazelle. "You traitor!" she screamed, as the flesh and scales on her tail started to regrow.

Gazelle bowed her head low. "I'm sorry," she whispered quietly.

Erosion's eyes narrowed, and she turned to the nine animuses behind her. "Ichthyes, kill her!" she ordered with a yell.

The SeaWing didn't respond, and blinked a few times, then turned towards Erosion. His frown suddenly turned into a grin. "No."

Suddenly, the sandy dirt beneath Erosion rose up, forming solid spikes as thick as a dragon's arm, puncturing through Erosion's neck and brain. Erosion's eyes went wide as her claws flailed around. She attempted to open her mouth, as if trying to speak an curse, but it spasmed, causing her to bite off half of her black tongue, which fell to the ground below, the tongue quickly regrowing in her maw.

As blood poured down the spikes of stone from the holes in her neck and head, the flesh and scales around and within it attempted to regrow, but was unable to do so due to the solid spikes in the space where they were supposed to be. Instead, a amalgamated mass of blood, flesh, and scales started to grow on the two spikes, the pressure causing Erosion's neck and skull to tear apart from the inside. The rest of her body violently spasmed, as Griffin attempted to scramble away in the net so not to get hit by the randomly swinging barb. He heard a crack from one of her wings, as it dislocated itself.

The rest of the animuses quickly realized they were now free of Gazelle's control. The SkyWing animus stepped forward with a sadistic grin. "I enchant her organs to burn!" she screeched in glee, as Erosion's insides started to melt, the growing flesh and scales turning to a scorched mush. The spasms continued, whatever enchantment she'd placed on herself unable to allow her to die.

Gazelle quickly reached down to the dirt, and grabbed one of the scales that she'd dislodged from Erosion with her barb string. Taking a step back from the Erosion's horribly disfigured body, still stuck on the spikes within her, Gazelle tore open the cloth on her tail, where Nightreader had injured her. Taking in a deep breath, she quickly yelled out in pain as she stabbed the scale into her raw flesh as far as she could, knowing that if she failed, both she and Griffin would end up like Erosion, or worse.