Silver could tell the last citizen of this ramshackle town was set to continue his defiant arguing, when a crackling flame exploded behind his shoulder. The rider's horse was spooked, immediately the last holdout was racing away and toward the slowly wandering caravan of its ilk. Hopefully he'd have the good sense not to pull away from the herd and give them another piece of his mind.
The psychic fully slumped where he stood as relief and exhaustion surged through him, "Thank you," He called to the figure behind him, "You'd think after what happened last night, everyone would be raring to leave. It's not like regular folks can handle what's coming."
Last night had indeed been a wild one. For weeks flaming creatures had been gathering around this particular settlement, but they hadn't dared approach the buildings made from salvaged metal until their numbers had properly amassed. That point had come last night, mere hours before they had made it into town. The battle had been hard fought, some buildings were already destroyed, but Silver and his partner had routed the swarm. Soon however, the flaming monsters had begun to gather once more at the city edges, in preparation for what was to come.
"It's to be expected, this was their home, of course they'd want to stay. The world's hard enough as it is without having to move to a whole new town every couple of months. One of the girls here told me it's their sixth time we've cleared her out. At least she was helpful for convincing others,"Silver yawned, rising to stretch as he stood straight, "You know, you'd think word would get around? That people would start to recognise that seeing a load of burning mares and hellhounds at the edge of town suggests trouble is brewing? Maybe that our appearance should be taken as a warning? That it might be worth leaving? But no," The hedgehog removed his hat and retightened his ponytail, "They always lock themselves up, maybe send one brave soul to check the chaos out and inevitably don't hear back from them," The dirty cream cattleman hat back atop his head, "I guess I can understand wanting to tough it out, we're the only ones who can-
Silver turned around only to find a vacant sandy street behind him, the buildings framing the permanently blood red sky above. He blinked, looking left then right only to find no sign of the feline who'd accompanied him. It was far from the first time this had happened, the hedgehog's shoulders slumped again.
"Blaze? Where'd you go?" He called out, only to hear the sound of rummaging in the recently vacated tavern.
The swing doors were pushed aside with a single psychic wave, revealing the dingy interior. The counter was made out of corrugated metal, likely taken from the roofs of houses over a hundred years destroyed. The walls were, judging by their varied colouration, likely made from cars of different makes and models; welded and cut to leave holes as windows. The barstools looked anything but comfy, being made from similar salvaged materials of the old world, but Silver floated himself to sit as his partner rose from beneath the bar.
The feline cut an intimidating presence, wrapped in black as she pulled bottles from a crate. Blaze kept herself covered when they were dealing with strangers, but now her goggles had risen to her forehead and a bandana no longer obscured her lips. A dark purple shawl covered her left shoulder obscuring part of the rough-cut waistcoat and shirt she wore. Dark trousers, a second bandana to tie her ponytail, and thick heeled boots completed the ensemble.
His appearance completely contrasted hers, from his hat to his boots. Silver wore a cream poncho, tattered by sand and wind. His gloves were thick brown leather, matching the heavy boots he wore. All of it, the hat included, had been salvaged and resown at least a dozen times. The same was true of her garb, but she tended to keep her's for longer without issue. By her own claim, that was because she chose her fights more wisely than him.
"You were psyching yourself up again," She flatly informed him, pulling the cork from a bottle, "I thought I'd start preparing in a more tangible way."
Without another word she turned the bottle upside down, letting it pour out and onto the floor. The smell wrinkled Silver's nose, but he knew what she was planning. The cat was right, they had to act quickly.
"Glad they had gunpowder they could spare," Silver hummed, lowering his head to his folded arms atop the bar, "Today would be tricky without it."
"It'll be tricky regardless," Blaze responded, drawing up a metal canister, "But, it's getting easier."
She began to pour black powder into the now emptied bottle, letting the volatile material fill up to the neck of the bottle. Blaze reinserted the cork, giving it a flip to ensure the seal would hold, before moving on to pour out another bottle. The pyrokinetic was diligent in her work, she'd prepared in a similar way prior to almost all of their anticipated engagements. Today however there was something even more mechanical about her movements, there was a chill in the air. Something was wrong. It was only after she filled the third bottle that he put two and two together.
"You've been here before, haven't you?" He asked, realisation plain in his voice.
"I've done something similar before the last thirty or so encounters with Iblis, yes," Was her answer, "I'm used to emptying and refilling bottles."
"You know that's not what I meant," Silver stayed low, casting his eyes from her work to her face, "You should have told me, I could have cleared out the town myself."
"That last merchant was certainly proof of that," She sighed, seeming to catch the harshness in her own tone, "I'm sorry, Silver. I'm fine, really."
Blaze had something of a reputation, having been chased out of fifteen different towns. She'd been on the run before from the moment she could walk, her latent ability to conjure flames had earned her endless scorn. For a while she'd accepted being branded as an outlaw and a demon, even played into the role as she fought and stole to survive. It'd taken their chance encounter, followed by him pestering her for much too long, to get her on side. Even now though, those scars ran deep.
"Maybe," He reached up, catching her wrist as she reached for another bottle, "But you deserve to be better than fine."
"Everyone deserves to be better than fine," She set the bottle down, catching his eyes for the first time this morning, "With how things are, fine is as good as it gets."
"Well, then it's my mission to push things to be good by your standards," He slipped his hand down to the crate, "And I'll start by helping you with this."
Cyan light filled the room, overwhelming the red glow through the windows. One by one the corks popped from the bottles, tumbling to the floor before the glassworks floated to upend themselves. To keep the glugging from becoming too cacophonous Silver opted to only do two at a time. He smiled up at her only to catch the feline rolling her eyes.
She jumped the bar, claiming the seat next to him. She plucked one of the emptied bottles from the air and began to set about the more delicate procedure of filling it with black powder. The harshness hadn't left her posture but Silver would see her brows were furrowed, a debate was brewing behind those amber eyes.
If she wanted to talk then he'd let her, but Silver knew better than to push the feline too far. She was the type to suffer in silence rather than shout her frustrations to the heavens like him; thoughts would rumble like a storm in her head, it could take hours for the swell to calm. It was only recently that he'd convinced her to come to him in her times of need. That had first manifested as her pushing him to sit at their camp and proceeding to take a seat of her own in his lap. Hugging it out had become the go to, albeit in silence save for his occasional-
"This was the third town to chase me out," Silver almost fumbled the sixth bottle as her words breached the air, "I managed to get by for four years before I got caught and they put the pieces together."
"What happened?" He mumbled, not wanting to scare away this breakthrough by rambling.
"The barkeep here kept badgering me; I think he always knew, maybe he'd heard a rumour about me from a traveller. Day after day, snooping and questioning, and pushing me around. The last straw was when he poured a drink over me," Blaze's tone grew icier as she finished filling her fourth bottle, "I exploded. This place used to have a wooden bar."
He heard her kick the raggedy sheet metal of the current counter as if to accentuate her point, "Your emotions took control, none of it was your fault," Frustration was starting to well in the hedgehog now, "After four years of knowing you, they should have realised that you were were just like them, that there was nothing to actually fear. Even if your flames were new to them, I'm sure you did a lot of good in this town."
"They realised I'd been hiding the truth from them for four years, it probably made them consider what else I might have been lying about," Silver bit his tongue rather than immediately shoot down their foolishness, "That and, well, I only lost control for a moment. After all the bartender had done before..." The cat's expression finally shifted from stoic to sour, "I chose to burn for a while longer. I knew scaring them off would buy me time to gather my things, just like it had in the towns before."
"If they could understand all you'd endured then they wouldn't blame you. You'd already been through so much by then, it's no wonder your fuse was short," Silver huffed, "You made a mistake Blaze, that's all it was. That shouldn't have led them to exile you, nor anyone from towns before or after that."
"Maybe it was a mistake but, after all he'd done before," She started on the fifth bottle, her brow steadied, "I couldn't stop myself. A lot of this place has changed since my last visit. I didn't realise how much damage I'd done."
This was perhaps the clearest view the cat had ever given into the days before the pair had met. Long before meeting Blaze, Silver had heard the rumours drifting across the badlands of a purple feline who could cast fire from her fingertips and had fled every settlement due east of Station Square. Having been born with powers himself, Silver had been irked from the start regarding the tone others carried regarding the cat, and meeting her had solidified that. Her hurt had been so much plainer in those early days, back when she'd run from even him.
"Well, we're setting things right here now, aren't we?" Silver managed to raise, "You even helped push that barman to safety."
"This place is about to be levelled, I'm not sure we're setting things right so much as keeping them from worsening," The pyrokinetic was about out of gunpowder, "Though, I suppose these walls won't stand to remind me of the past for much longer."
That point gave the hedgehog an idea, one he couldn't help but act on.
"How about we make up for the drink he spilled?" A hard look from the cat made Silver raise his hands in panic, "It just feels a bit wasteful to pour this all away, even if it's going to be destroyed..."
The feline maintained her stare for a moment, just long enough to leave his blood icy.
She finally rolled her eyes, pouring the last of the gun powder into a seventh bottle, "Pass me a glass."
Silver fumbled behind the bar with his psychic grasp, eventually managing to find a pair of glass tumblers. The pair floated their way to land on the bar before them; with another flick of his wrist the psychic uncorked a bottle then started to pour. The liquid was a deep brown but poured into the glasses just as smoothly as it had splashed to the floor, it looked perfectly clear.
"Should we toast to something?" The hedgehog asked, picking up his glass.
Blaze's fingers found hers, "What would we ever have to toast to?"
"Making the world a better place?" Silver pointed out the obvious, "Beating back Iblis again?"
"We haven't done either of those things yet and neither are a certainty," Blaze shot him down.
"Then what about," He began, without an actual idea in mind, "To us."
"Us?" She questioned.
"Just us," He quickly repeated, "We've been together, what, over a decade now? We've never really celebrated."
"Don't phrase it like that," The cat scoffed, half turning away from him.
"What did I say?" He panicked.
"You're so naive," She turned more, but held out her glass, "To us."
"To us," Silver took a swig, "Eww..."
"Too strong for you?" Blaze evidently hadn't had such a problem.
"Tastes worse than dirty water," The hedgehog groaned, spitting on the ground of the Ten Gallon Spittoon, "You'd think they'd at least make it fruity..."
"What were you expecting?" Blaze asked between sips, clearly handling it better, "The man mixed it himself, it's certainly not gotten any better over the years."
"Has it got worse?" He asked, pouring the remainder of the glass over the bar to mix with the big spill.
"Only slightly," She set her empty tumbler down, "I'm sure it won't be missed."
"Hopefully it's not a bad omen of things to come," His tongue still felt gross, "So, seven bottles? That should be enough."
"It's enough with some to spare," She mused, returning corks to each of the bottles, "But it's better to be safe than sorry."
Silver took the makeshift bombs with a wave of a hand, letting them float around him, "I'll get them into position. How's your aim today?"
The cat extended her right forefinger and pointed across the counter, toward a collection of shelves stocked with fancier looking bottles and trinkets of the bygone era. The tip of her finger caught alight as she stuck up her thumb, her left hand came to grasp her wrist as she drew her hands closer to her eye. With a twitch of her thumb a bolt of flame shot across the room, in the blink of an eye it'd collided with a green bottle and shattered it- leaving a dark scorch mark in the attack's wake.
Silver blinked, "Are you sure you're okay? That was a lot of set up for one-
With three super fast flicks of her thumb three more shots rang out in sequence, reducing a trio of bottles to shards and setting alight the woodwork of the shelf. Blaze shifted her left hand to above her thumb, proceeding to force down the digit at an even quicker rate. All six of the remaining bottles were shattered, flaming glass splinters bounced off the back wall to hurtle towards the pair of them.
With a wave of his hand Silver froze the burning glass in the air, mere inches from their faces. The glittering shards cooled in an instant, though still caught the shining light of his partner's finger to sparkle like starlight in the dark room. Silver heaved a sigh of relief.
"Well, that answers that," He let the pieces drop, "N-Not that I had any doubt."
"You're so naive," With a single breath she blew the flame off her finger.
"We've done this enough times, we know what we're doing," Silver leaned back on his stool, using psychokinesis to act as a backrest as he kicked his boots onto the counter.
"But it's never easy," The cat hummed, "You're amping yourself up again."
"I'm not," Silver pushed back.
"You absolutely are," Blaze quietly responded, pouring herself another glass of the gross moonshine.
It was just as she'd raised the tumbler to her lips that the ground started to rumble, the flimsy metal bar began to wobble and shake. The hedgehog turned his attention to the window, finding a darker red hue had claimed the sky to wash through the building's insides. The temperature was rising, heat lines and wispy steam was beginning to rise from where so much alcohol had been spilled. A roar sounded outside, the hedgehog heard the stampeding of heavy feet tear down the street.
"They're back," Silver pointed out the obvious.
"And bolder by the sounds of it," She confirmed.
"It won't be long now," He lowered his legs to stand, "Shall we step out?"
"I think we shall," She rose too, dusting herself off, "Best to cull them before too many gather together."
"You know this town, where should I head?" He stepped to the door, cyan light flaring as he levitated their stowed gunpowder.
"There's a bandstand near the town's centre, it's twisted and made of black metal. It should be a strong defensible point and give us a clear view of the sky," She answered, igniting both forefingers, "Plus, hopefully, somewhere to hide the bottles till the time is right."
Silver opened the door ever so slightly, peeking out and into the street. The red of the sky had grown ten times more intense, the air that slipped through the doorway was enough to dry the hedgehog's eye. The moment was almost upon them, Iblis was about to return. Even the dark saloon was completely awash in crimson light.
"Alright, which way am I heading?" Silver half turned back to ask.
"Follow the main road left, take the right when the road splits and it'll be obvious," The cat responded, leaning in to look through the doorway herself, "Put me up on the roof, I'll thin their numbers. Keep low until you've stashed the powder."
"I'll set up there and ward off any that get too close," Silver nodded, throwing a hard look to her, "When it's almost back, hurry over. If you need any help just send up a flare."
She returned his nod, bracing behind him. No more stalling, no more waiting. It was time!
The hedgehog barged through the door and out into the street, oppressive heat immediately coated his brow with sweat and made his body feel so much heavier. The change had come quickly, the moment was arriving. He couldn't see the beasts but he could hear them, stomping over dry land and soaring through the air.
With a wave of his hand, Silver launched his partner up and onto the roof of the Ten Gallon Spittoon. He nodded to her one last time, a gesture that she returned before vanishing over the flat corrugated metal. Immediately the sounds of screeching and flashes of orange light were in the air, as if battling the endless sea of darkening red above. She was steady, so why was he sweating? He should have been used to this heat!
Psychically drawing the bottles close to his chest, Silver began to rush down the dirt main street. He'd hardly moved when the roaring started, that of discordant flame mixed with shouted barking. A glance over his shoulder proved exactly what the hedgehog had anticipated, four dogs made from coal-like stone with veins of burning red across their body. The white hot gleam of their fangs was more than enough to quicken his pace.
"Well, if this town is going down..." The hedgehog swung his right arm toward a nearby house, made from similar materials as the inn.
As he shot past the building tore itself from the foundations to cascade into the street. The hounds were crushed under the landslide of metal and stone, but Silver wasn't done with it. He tugged the mass of metal and brick, undeniably straining as it tumbled across the ground after him. Soon the mass was crushed into a rough orb, uncomfortably rolling behind him.
His choice to bring it immediately proved useful, a stampede of great dark steeds with burning manes and flaming hooves were rushing straight towards him. Silver barely glanced the glow in their eye before he slipped into the nearest alleyway, clutching the seven bottles tight to his chest. The great orb barrelled down the street, the moment it rolled past he was back on the road and following it. Material crumbled and broke away as the hedgehog surrendered control, but in the sphere's wake lay great broken lumps of black coal and scattered flames. Regardless of how many there'd been before, the path was clear now.
Silver shot over the wreckage, now sighting the fork in the road ahead, but his eyes were drawn backwards again. Those flickering embers he'd just passed over were still dancing, now trailing up and into the air. It wouldn't be long, he had to be quick, no more stops, not even for a moment!
He could see the bandstand ahead, the strange form made from scrap metal cast darker still in the red light. It was big and it looked sturdy, but it too would surely fall without his support. Already he could see beasts encircling it, more hounds set to get in his way and slow the charge.
The bottles were tossed back over his head and snatched to hang behind him with psychokinetic power. Hands aglow, the hedgehog grasped one of the black mutts and tossed it into the second. A third was already on the path toward him, snarling smoke and leaving a trail of flame.
Coating his right palm in aura, Silver grabbed the creature by the throat. He pushed its whole body to the ground, back first, and kept flying forward as fast as he could. The creature's rocky form tore itself to rubble as he ground it down, sparks and howls surged from its throat even as only the head remained in the hedgehog's hand. He tossed the snarling rocky mass aside, mere metres were-
Silver's shoulders met with the ground, he felt his body scrape just as the dog's had. Panic had him grab his head and bind himself in cyan light, but no explosion came. He hadn't seen this foe coming.
Wings that shed embers with every beat, a sharp beak of hard rock and matching talons. A flaming eagle had got the jump on him, the red sky and bent metal of the bandstand had made for ideal cover! Still on the ground, patting the flames from his coat, Silver sighted the monster in the air as it rounded after striking him down. He dared to look down from the bird as it circled around, finding their containers of gunpowder scattered across the ground. They came first, even at the cost of his own body. If a single errant flame made it into their stockpile things would get a whole lot harder and ten times deadlier.
With a flash of blue the hedgehog pulled the bottles beneath himself, sealing them within a psychic barrier. The bird bared down on him, claws tore the hat from his head and a flame burned at his scalp. All he could do was brace for the moment, harden the psychic shielding over his back, and wait for his opening.
His opening came with another stampede; six more massive mares bearing down the street towards him. As the bird fled to the air, Silver had a split second to act! He surged psychic energy away from his body and the bottles beneath him, pushing it into the cracked sandy ground in front of him.
The earth shot up in chunks, creating a jagged wall that launched into the front hooves and undersides of the hellish horses. Black rocks tumbled through the air, bouncing off the ground and crumbling into pebbles. Silver rounded as he rose, in one swift movement putting his back to this new barrier and sighting the flaming bird in the air. He cast the crumbled pieces up in a scattershot volley, tearing holes through the eagle as it raced towards him.
With a second wave of his hand, Silver shielded himself against the falling magma rubble. The molten stone didn't hold the hedgehog's attention for long though, no. His eyes quickly affixed to the flaming mote hung in the air, the fires of the bird he'd struck down were now burning brighter!
The peak of that flame began to stretch, reaching like a tendril into the air. Silver's eyes were drawn to where it was chasing only to find others from across town were joining it, including a set of four reaching over the wall he'd constructed. A spiral of orange was being cast against the red sky, condensing into a single glowing point. This was why they gathered, this was how it always happened, only seconds remained! Was it getting faster?!
Snatching up the bottles and what remained of his hat, Silver darted for the cover of the bandstand. Now immersed in the shade, setting the contained gunpowder at his feet, the hedgehog lowered his right hand to the ground. Cyan light began to coalesce around metal, Silver felt his life's energy pour into the bandstand and reinforce it. The symbol from his gloved hand made its way to mark the floor as his light filled what holes the haphazard craftsmanship had left in the roof. Soon it was as if he was knelt in the brightest room on the planet.
Outside though, by the psychic feedback alone, he could feel that things were growing dire. The temperature alone was putting strain on his barrier, this internal space was insulated against the heat but eventually it would creep in. He could only hold up so long against the eternal sun; only sacrifice so much energy without leaving himself powerless.
Silver glanced up from his bastion only to find devastation through the cyan tinted entryway. Where once wisps of fire had coiled upwards they were now whipping back down, scorching lines in the dirt and tracing toward buildings. He watched as a great sunbeam turned the corrugated metal form of one shack into nothing but dust... then another, and another, and then another.
Another devilish mare galloped past the bandstand, clearly looking for an opening to strike him down, but it would not receive such an opportunity. Before it could pass from one side of the entryway to the other its glowing light was seen to surge upwards, like a frayed string being tugged from loose fabric. As that thread was pulled the whole form fell apart, tumbling to but a pile of dark pebbles. That would be the fate of all demons in this area; they were set to feed the true devil.
A dark figure leapt from one of the buildings but a moment before a ray of fire devoured it. As that familiar silhouette sped across the ground, Silver dared to open a gateway into his sanctuary. The dark figure doubled their speed, making it inside just as the heat had fully dried the hedgehog's sweat. Goggles down and bandana over her mouth, the feline had made it.
"There were hundreds of them," Blaze deadpanned as she caught her breath, "We've seen more, but it's bad."
"The fusion started just before I made it in here," Silver responded, swallowing to rewet his tongue, "There's no point in picking off the beasts any more, they'll end up in the same place regardless."
"The face has almost formed," She relayed, "It's about to become tangible."
"Just in time, the room is finished, we'll have cover if things go badly," He stumbled to his feet, his head woozy as the room stayed bright even without his conscious effort, "Which side do you want?"
"I'll go right," The cat decided, "Keep close to the shade this time, it's progressing too fast, I don't like it."
"Let's do it on the roof," He suggested, "There's enough space, and if we need shelter then it'll be perfectly close."
"It also means we'll be a single target," She gruffly responded, "But if pinning myself to your waist is what it takes to keep you from doing something foolish, it's what we'll do."
Another flash of light outside stole Silver's attention; he felt the heat rise as another nearby building was disintegrated. The threat they faced would have killed hundreds had they not arrived earlier; the loss of a home was a terrible thing, but lives were always more important. If they failed here though, lives would be lost. That certainty had to drive him!
Silver made for the entryway, finally free to abandon the bottles. The aura cast around his person could only do so much to deflect the harsh red light, this town once full of people was now uninhabitable. Smoke came in waves, drifting over dirt reduced to true sand by the heat.
Bolstering a leap with psychic power, he landed on the harshly angled rooftop. It was difficult to take a strong stance, he ended up grabbing the weather vane atop the structure to steady himself, but the hedgehog could see why the feline had chosen this as the site of their standoff. The bandstand granted an ideal view of the sky; even if buildings hadn't fallen, this clearing gave them a perfect angle on their foe.
A sun was shining in the sky, the only one Silver had ever known. It was a bright red circle upon a now near black black background, the only source of colour and light. It would have been blinding to look at were it not for the dark face of charcoal drawn upon the entity's surface. The darkness acted as an outline, defining the circles that were the eyes and the angle of the jaw as well as lining a set of pointed skeletal teeth. It had all the makings of a skull, albeit one distorted by the imperfect and ever changing framing the flames granted it. Iblis had risen to desecrate the red sky and destroy all beneath it.
Twisting beams of flame blistered forth from the burning form of the great orb. Spiralling red tornados of flame, hot enough to liquify metal and turn bone to ash were encroaching with plain intent. The monster saw all beneath it, it'd surely seen this sight a hundred times. It knew what they were doing, but it wasn't smart enough to come up with a new plan of attack!
Silver reached out, channelling the energy he'd already poured into the bandstand to resonate and amplify his power. A cyan pulse expanded outward, battering against the gnarled fire, sparks flew and a screech now filled the air. He tightened his grasp on the weather vein and grit his teeth; the three encroaching red fingers doubled to six, all intent on crushing through his defence.
Orange flames shot through his cyan barrier, mixing with the red for but a moment. Silver glanced to his right, across the steeple, only to find the Blaze had joined him. Both of her forefingers were pointed this time; glowing golden motes had taken root in two of Iblis' limbs. With no more than a gesture, bringing her hands together, those two flames exploded and severed the tornadoes in two; fire neutralised fire in a stunning display.
"I was starting to think I was alone up here," Silver confessed.
"I managed to make it up before your display," She responded, firing two more shots beyond his boundary, "Thankfully for us both. I've learned to anticipate your foolhardiness."
The moment her shots detonated Silver pushed out again; the twisters reforming and those still left standing were battered back. One veered off into a nearby stable and reduced it to charcoal, the remaining five were battered into nothing. Silver's eyes returned to the sky only to catch the skull grinning at their act of defiance, as if it was something so minor.
"It's starting to move," Blaze highlighted.
She was right, the red orb was starting to shift higher into the sky. Maybe it already knew this town was empty? Silver was certain it was moving in the direction they had sent the citizens.
"So we've got to stop it!" He was amping himself up again, this time he wouldn't deny it, "Right here, right now! I'm getting the black powder, while we have an opening; hold it back while I set up!"
Silver reached out to his left, grasping at the torn earth with his psychic might. He pulled chunks of the earth up, rending all the way out to the wall he'd knocked up prior. While that mass churned through the air Silver flexed into the building beneath them. One by one the seven bottles flew to accompany them on the rooftop, circling the pair faster and faster.
Blaze was already hard at work, firing shots to disrupt the incoming flames before they could touch down. Light was flagging from the bandstand, he couldn't afford to use any more of the power he'd stowed. If things went wrong they had to have an evacuation plan; the rest of this would come from his own body.
Silver threw a look to Blaze, he only had to catch her eye for a moment to know she was ready.
Releasing the metal he'd been using as a support, the psychic threw his right palm up towards the sun. One by one the seven bottles chased each other into the air, guarded by Blaze's fire as they cast themselves into position. The constellation of bottles formed a line to the right of the sun, just in time for the hedgehog to have raised the great mass of earth to its left. Teeth ground as toes and fingers curled; the moment arrived. They couldn't beat back the sun, they couldn't fight it directly; their only option was to smother it!
"Now, before the sun breaks them!" Silver called aloud, heaving his left arm with as much might as he could muster.
The bottles could have only been released from a moment, a mere second, but Blaze had been ready. Fire flew, skirting the edges of devilish sunbeams as it raced all the way to their gunpowder stash. With just one shot making its mark, an orange and yellow flame exploded to fill the sky almost as fully as Iblis' own form! Silver watched out of the corner of his eyes as the cat's fingers widened and then clawed, scraping downward through the air with a light on the tip of each of her digits.
Cyan tinted earth enclosed on the left side of the sun, orange mystic flames on the right! The colours simultaneously flooded over the great glowing orb with an ear aching crash, sparks flew down a remaining red seam as they met in the middle. Silver felt his brow harden, sweat now pouring off of him as he pushed to close the last inches of that gap and finish the energy casing around the massive monster.
One eye shut as he manoeuvred the contents of his shield, properly creating a solid layer of rock and dirt that encircled the energy sphere. The pushback was undeniable, great flares would rend and stretch the gold of Blaze's flames and his barrier alike, but they had to hold. They had one shot at this, their gunpowder was spent, there was no back up plan!
"Just a bit more, just a little more time!" Silver shouted, "Suffocate! This is our world, there's no air for you here!"
It was working! Iblis was shrinking! Silver could feel the dirt in his psychic hold pushing closer and closer together, making the net all the more inescapable. With each passing second their victory should have grown more assured, but the hedgehog knew better than to presume that. The assaults on their shared barrier had ceased, the eternal sun was charging up for a final push!
"It's time!" Silver called out, winding back his arm to push his power further.
"It's still too big!" Blaze hissed back, "Not yet!"
Silver winced; he could hear a rumbling in the air, wind was pulling at him from behind as if this great demon was still breathing. The smoke had cleared from their surroundings but the sky was still bordering on black; only their facsimile of a sun was shedding light on the land. He dared not look to his surroundings but he already knew what he'd find; if any of the town did still stand, it would fall to what came next.
"Now!" The cat demanded, orange fire exploded on the right side of the orb.
Silver swept his arms from left to right, cyan aura ducked between red flame and orange to form a complete spherical prison. Blaze's efforts matched his; from right to left fire swept over the top of his psychic shielding to provide an outer layer of defence. With two layers now in place, and the hellish sun smaller than ever, there was no way-
Heat washed over Silver, it felt as if his whole body was alight! His back arched and stare fell to the glowing rooftop beneath him, its protection now dwindled to a near translucent varnish. The solar form had expanded; it wasn't going down without a fight. He had to bear the brunt, Blaze's flames couldn't block like his power! He was a wall, a barrier that kept this world from sinking any deeper into destruction!
Eyes returned to the sky in defiance; the psychic could see the mocking skull of Iblis superimposed through the shine of cyan and glow of orange flame! It was trying to push through, trying to break free, but they could not allow it! None of Iblis' fire would escape them!
Clawed hands gnarled into fists as Silver swirled his arms, beginning to rotate the inner shell he'd crafted. The massive face began to distort, dark patches of colour drifted into swirls and streaks of intensity that were fighting to push back together. As the spinning grew faster Silver felt his head swirl and vision blur, imposing his will in such a perpetual way was taking its toll... but it was working!
Silver felt his grasp tighten as the fireball shrank. He brought his fists together, truly concentrating on the crushing sensation over anything else. His eyes twitched and chest ached, his mind was ablaze and shocking him. With every twitch came a twist of pain, like nails plunging deeper into his head, but there was no other choice! He had to-
The sunspots on Blaze's wall of orange vanished, now only a golden glow remained. The sky was no longer dark, instead the red glow had bled through the night to relight the world. For a moment Silver could only stare as he looked upon the closest thing he'd ever sighted to a true sunrise... or was it a sunset?
It all caught up with him at once, the hedgehog felt his head become weightless. He stumbled two steps forward then slid on the rough metal of the bandstand to tumble forward. Something caught his left leg before he could crash to the ground, though did leave him hanging upside down.
He managed to rouse enough strength to look up, just as his ragged hat finally tumbled to the ground. Of course Blaze had caught him, she always came out of his nonsense better than him. Still, seeing her purple face framed against the red sky put a true wave of relief through him. If they hadn't succeeded, they'd have surely been dead by now.
"Victory at last," He mumbled aloud, letting his head drop, "For now, at least..."
The surrounding town had, as expected, been reduced to no more than glowing rubble. If The Ten Gallon Spittoon were still standing then he would surely have been able to see it, so much had disintegrated. From where the fire had made contact with earth smouldering piles still remained, from which a few errant magma monsters were starting to clamber.
They'd flee, they always did, these monsters would exile themselves to the great open plains until the time came to form that demon again. Destroying those here, even if they had the energy to do so, made no difference. They'd simply rise again somewhere else.
"It'll be back," Silver grit his teeth, scanning the rubble, "It always comes back. Another town will-
His head met the ground with a thunk but he was too numb from exhaustion to truly feel it. He stared up at his partner only to find her sprawled, hanging over the lip of the balcony roof. Despite her plain exhaustion, there was a certain frustration in her eyes.
"Despite calling you naive for it, I think you're far more sensible when you're amping yourself up rather than tearing down what success we've stolen," She panted.
"That's fair," He moaned, "Sorry."
He wasn't good at bottling his emotions, they'd done this so many times that it was practically down to a science. He didn't feel the regret in this moment quite like he had upon first learning Iblis would return, but it still stung every time. No matter how they fought, calamity would always return. Didn't that mean they should make the most of the time between?
"You didn't happen to steal a bottle from the bar before it was destroyed, did you?" He asked, "My head is killing me."
"I thought you hated their moonshine," Blaze reminded him.
"Is that a no?" He pushed for an answer.
After a pause, he did hear her answer, "Just one."
"Enough for a toast to our success then," He started to laugh, "And this time, neither of us are allowed to deny it."
As the cat dropped from above and he struggled to rise, Silver couldn't help but keep chortling. Ignoring a few wayward walls, this bandstand was all the remained of the settlement. Another town gone but another fight won. They'd put an end to this someday. That, or Iblis would run out of towns to burn down.