I climbed up after The Simurgh, jumping up through the hole I had kicked her through the wings of my anima banner spreading out. it's presence roaring about me as I cleared through to the open sky above.

I could see her, emerald embers still burning as she vanished up into the sky. Trailing a thick dark 'blood' behind her as her gathered projectiles slowly fell away from their position around her as she shot straight up into the sky.

As much as I'd like to lay claim to that, it seemed more likely that she was finally running.

~You really need to work on that temper problem~

I failed to see how someone channeling the essence of Malfeas should be holding in their temper when it came to blows.

~Yeah, you see, that is the thing. You went all... cold there, way too focused and clinical. That sort of thing works for-~

Was now realty the time for this?

~...Okay got it. Danger's past right? I'll quiet down and let you handle the details, but we got to talk about this stuff.~

I appreciated that.

~Aaand that's...not sarcasm. ...Right then. I think I'll come back when you're being less creepy~

I took stock of the damage inflicted before she completely left my view. We'd damaged two wings, clipped their ends and feathers off leaving them bloody stubs. Much of her main body was skinned and burnt and my final blow had pretty much destroyed the lower half of her face, but her 'human' limbs were still intact her main body structure was fine, and more importantly, her core unexposed.

In other words we'd barely managed to land a few flesh-wounds. The general equivalent of shaving cuts, though the nature of the flames I'd seared her with insured at least some of the pain was debilitating.

The Simurgh was the least suited of the Endbringers to direct conflict. That's why she supplemented her abilities with hyper advanced weaponry further down the original timeline. If I wanted to actually kill one of these things given their tendency to retreat after a certain level of their disposable armor was destroyed, I'd need a way to strike something critical in a meaningful way. Hit it hard and fast.

That meant hitting the core with something a lot harder then my fist. At least my fist as it was now.

Wasn't the core in one of the wings with her? It was hard to remember. I barely remembered my own name. I knew Leviathan's was where the tail joined the main body. For Behemoth...

I couldn't remember.

This was going to be troublesome.

I could hear some people calling out in triumph, cheering out, screaming words of hate, joy or spite as the city's attacker was driven back to the heavens.

Not many. Not for lack of survivors. We actually didn't seem that heavy on cape casualties, at least from what I had seen but just because many likely found it easy to cheer standing in the remains of their comrades and those they had failed to protect.

At least one person was trying to call them out to stop squawking and instead focus on aiding those still in peril.

My caste mark burnt on my brow as I gazed down on the suffering survivors of The Simurgh's last desperate defense. Some were pinned by debris, others were just... broken. Shattered legs, hips and backs. Crippled with pain, bloodloss, or simple fear and shock.

At least one woman was openly weeping over the body of a man, I blinked in realization as I recognized them as the teenager I had watched be smashed against that outstretching bit of wall earlier.

My job was not yet done.

I slid back down the hole letting the radiance of my anima aluminate the ruined building as my eyes flickered over the survivors, who could be extracted, what needed to be done to get them clear. Who could be saved, who could not.

I didn't have medical training, but I was strong, my eyes were sharp and so was my mind.

And I wasn't the only one who could work such evaluations.

~What me?~

Yes you.

~I don't know anything about how humans work outside of how to make themstop, and that's more just due to a broad knowledge in the art of killing.~

Well that was wonderfully useful for the situation.

~Says the 'Malfean Murder Machine' trying to play triage~

Slayers were warrior generals, leadership and hence looking after your supporters was part of the job description.

~Your eally don't get how the armies of hell work~

Knowing how to make someone 'stop' was half the knowledge how to avoid doing that.

~You're really going to push this?~

I really wanted to help those people. I was going to do it with or without help, as much as I could.

~Fine. Okay get that crying woman out. She's going to rec the morale of the whole place, and be a pointless distraction to everyone else.~

It was a start.