Hartmann flies in the skies above, battling Yu Huang's new dragon, the mighty fire-breathing drake, however down on the ground, Pandora is gripping her stomach, on her knees. Loud thuds echo through the hallway as Ichiko comes running back, followed closely by the giant forge god, Hephaestus. "Pandora!? My girl. What… what is going on?!" He drops his knees gently picking her up, easily fitting into his hand.

"Dad… dad it hurts. It feels like… ngh…" She peels her dress to the side, Hephaestus seeing the open gate and his eyes widen as he picks out a monocle from his pouch, putting it on. "What's… happening?"

Wukong, Sakai and Ichiko look on curiously as Hephaestus inspects her. "This… should not be able to happen…"

Wukong points up towards the sky. "It's him isn't it? He's causing this somehow… Hartmann that is."

Hephaestus nods. "Yes."

Hartmann hits a button on his plane, firing a missile at another large fireball launched by Yu Huang's drake, blowing it apart, spinning his plane to fan the flames away. "Nice try, Herr Huang!" He calls out as he passes through the flames, only to be met by Yu Huang's dragon in front of him, opening its maw and a deep crimson glow emits from its mouth, blasting a pillar of flame at Hartmann who grits his teeth and yanks at his control-stick to dodge aside, however his plane is hit by the flames nonetheless. He sees a big red fire-symbol on his digital display. He looks out of his cockpit seeing his wing is on fire. "Scharf eh?" He mutters as he sits down again, shooting forward at high speed to put some distance between them.

Yu Huang points forward with his spear. "Do not let up the assault my companion! Once more! Give him no rest!" The dragon roars and launches another pillar of fire, Hartmann dodging over and over, having no time to make a counterattack, his plane being hit with flames over and over, starting small fires.

"Okay SHER scharf! Perhaps we should turn down the heat a little, Herr Huang!?" He pulls his plane up, seeing structural integrity-warnings appearing on his digital displays. "Yes yes. I hear you," He flips a green button-cover up and takes a deep breath before hitting the button, which suddenly makes the wing-flaps shoot down and up, opposite of one another, forcefully sending his plane into a violent roll, putting out the flames after a few 20 spins, Hartmann flipping the switch again, jerking his control stick the other way to slow his spin.

Down on the ground The Wright Brother's look on wide-eyed. "That… there is no way that could be comfortable… Modern pilots certainly are a different breed aren't they brother?" Orville asks and the taller brother shakes his head in agreement.

Messerschmidt nods, crossing his legs. "In the most extreme cases. Most planes can force more than 8 times Earth's gravity upon their pilot. That model Hartmann is flying is theoretically able to produce twice of that in the most extreme cases. Put simply… most people would die simply from flying that thing."

The Wright Brothers both look wide-eyed. "So what you're saying is that any other pilot… would already have been killed by the plane? And not the dragon?"

"... pretty much, yeah."

Hartmann's spinning comes to a halt and without missing a beat, he points his jets down and forcefully shoots the plane up and around to face the other way. "Let's do this, Fire-breathing dragon!" He hits a red button on his control stick causing the engines to expand and BLAST him forward, the red flames turning blue, Yu Huang's eyes widening seeing him approach.

"My beast! FALL!" He commands and the dragon obediently folds in its wings, falling as Hartmann's jet BLASTS over them at mach speed.

"WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO! Now THAT is some POWER! AHAHAHA!"

As Hartmann hits the boost button, Pandora writhes in pain harder. "Gaaah! F-Father! H-help me… please!"

"What did you two mean… Hartmann is doing this?" Sakai comments, Ichiko growling at the plane on the screens out in the arena.

Hephaestus shakes his head. "I am not sure… Pandora. Please. What did My Box produce from it when Hartmann used his key?" He asks and Pandora shakes her head.

"Hartmann… he never used his key. He just… took the key. He said his plane uses… a divine power source. I think it's the… key!" She groans out, sweating and shaking in his hand. Hephaestus' eyes widen.

"NO! No that is not… that is not how those are meant to be used!" He grits his teeth.

Wukong crosses his arms. "Why didn't this happen with someone like that Beethoven guy? Didn't his weapon also use magical power?"

"Yes but he actually used his key. The key's are connected to Pandora directly. Inserting it into the key will drain some power from her to empower the box. The weapons meanwhile draw their power from the box. Hartmann using the key… it means it's draining Pandora directly. Pandora! My treasure. The portal must be closed to cut off the connection and stop the pain… Here allow me," He moves a finger down to her stomach but Pandora slaps it away.

"N-no! No Father! If I close it… Hartmann will die and we will lose. I won't… allow that. I will bear it! He will win. I believe in him!"

"Pandora… it's killing you!" Hephaestus says but she glares up at him with a determination he has never seen in her eyes before. "I… I understand…" He holds down his other hand simply looking at her in his hands. "Please… let this round end swiftly." He mutters.

Hartmann blasts past Yu Huang again, the god leaping onto the wing of the dragon to hide behind the tough skin of the wing. "This boost of speed must surely come at a cost…" He mutters before seeing Hartmann approach from behind again.

"I might not be able to harm that dragon just yet! But it is not my opponent! You may wish to pilot it from inside, Herr Huang!" Hartmann calls out, firing his gatling guns once again.

"I am not a savage, Hartmann. After him, mighty beast!" He charges after Hartmann, despite being so much slower than Hartmann. The dragon blasts bursts of flame and brimstone at Hartmann's jet, but even these are slower than Hartmann in his current state. "I truly am not built for battles such as this…" He says seeing Hartmann stalling mid-air before shooting upwards to turn around. "Hmm?" He points forward once again as his dragon sets into flight. "We are getting nowhere in this battle as it stands! So I shall take the initiative this time!"

"Hahaha! And how do you plan to do that, Herr Huang!?"

"As so!" His dragon blasts Hartmann with fire-pillars again.

Hartmann easily outruns them, spinning out of the way. "Oh I have already learnt how to defend against those attacks! Try something else! Or else!" Hartmann smirks as he jerks his stick forward with a tap of a pedal, making his jet flip around again.

"Just what I have been waiting for!" Yu Huang tightly grips his spear before stabbing the end into the back of his dragon, green energy flowing through his body into the dragon, which opens its mouth once again, the glow becoming more intense than before and MUCH faster. "You are unable to dodge when you perform those speedy turns. They require you to slow to a halt!" He pushes his spear forward as if it is a control stick of his own. DRACOMANCY: GREATER FLAME OF HIGH DRAKE! The drake BLASTS a MUCH large ball of fire out, seemingly pushed forward by a similarly supersized pillar of green flames.

Hartmann's eyes widen as it shoots towards him. However despite his panic he does not move. He stays perfectly still. "Trust in the machine," He says as his plane finishes its spin to face the fireball. However he does not touch the control, instead closing his eyes causing the plane to spin further, falling down JUST in time to avoid the fireball, however suddenly giant blaring lights and alarms explode from his jet. He's hit! He quickly looks back seeing the most of his vertical stabilizer, the top of his backfin, is missing, with a large flame exploding from that. "Scheiße!" His plane starts falling, spinning out of control. He slams on the jets again, sending him shooting forward, twirling as he did earlier.

Wukong scoffs. "I guess that's it huh?"

Pandora sees Hephaestus reaching for the portal but Pandora shakes her head. "N-no! Not… not yet. He's still alive. He's still alive! I trust he's got this!" She suddenly feels a sharp jolt in her body, causing her to arch her back and scream out in pain, Hephaestus gritting his teeth.

"I am sorry Pandora. He will fall… and he will die."

In the air, Yu Huang stands and watches Hartmann's plane flying out of control. "Such a fragile machine…" He says putting his arms in the sleeves of his garb. "I suppose he will fall sooner or later."

Hartmann however has a much different reaction. "Alright! Time to lock in, Hartmann!" He says undoing his seat-belt causing him to be flung into the ceiling of the cockpit, before he reaches down to tap a button on his boots. He pushes himself down to the floor again his boots magnetizing to the ground. He can just about stand behind his seat and he reaches in and grabs something, strapping it to his back, pulling a flight helmet over his head… "Let's do this!"

Down on the ground humanity gasps at what they're seeing. "What… is he doing!?" "That's insane!" "How is he not passing out!?" "I can't watch!"

Messerschmidt looks on with an impressed look. "I would expect nothing less from that man…"

"Wilbur are you SEEING WHAT I AM SEEING!?" Orville yells shaking his taller brother who nods with equally wide eyes.

The gods as well look stunned at the display. "That human… He has gusto." "It is suicide…"

Wukong smirks. "Heh. Badass…"

Hartmann has opened his cockpit and crawled out using magnetic gloves and boots, seemingly powered by Pandora's key as well, sticking him to the side of his spinning plane, a single piece of rope tied around his waist. "Come on… just… a bit further.." He reaches the burning piece of metal where his back rudder once was and grabs a little handle, twisting and pulling it causing the top half to shoot off. He reaches for what he strapped to his back… a replacement!

Yu Huang sees this from afar and his eyes widen. "Tenacious! I will not simply allow you, Hartmann! Drake! TO BATTLE! With haste!" He shoots after Hartmann's plane. Hartmann grits his teeth seeing the dragon approaching, as he is lining up the new rudder with the clean slot, his megantic gloves keeping them stuck to him so he doesn't drop it. He gets it into the slot and sees steam shoot from it as it attaches, Hartmann twisting the handle that shot it off before. "Alles klar!" He says looking up, seeing his plane stop spinning and stabilizing.

"A valiant effort, Hartmann! But did you honestly believe you would get away with it so easily!?" Yu Huang says as his dragon fires another fireball at Hartmann. "You are not in your seat. How will you dodge THIS!?"

Hartmann smirks. "I am not a fool, Herr Huang," He grabs a firm hold of the rope around his waist. He YANKS it hard and his plane SHOOTS upwards, his boots keeping him pinned to the plane. He grits his teeth under his flight mask as he swiftly makes his way back to the cockpit.

Yu Huang smirks, seeing him dodge the attack. "Ha! You are something else, Hartmann!"

Down on the ground, Izanagi, and Izanami are sitting on their thrones, Tsukuyomi standing by their side as always, with his arms crossed. "That human is a persistent pest," Izanagi grunts and Izanami puts a hand on her cheek.

"I do worry a little for Yu Huang. Pest he may be, but that machine he is flying in is so nimble and dangerous. I have never seen anything like it."

Tsukuyomi is gripping his arms very tightly to his chest. "No that's wrong…"

"Oh? Do enlighten me my sweet!" She says with an excited clap. It's so rare Tsukuyomi willingly joins in a conversation these days!

"It's the opposite!" A voice calls out from behind Tsukuyomi as soon as he is about to speak. Izanami glares down the hall seeing Ao Kuang coming down the hall, followed by three other men his age. Ao Kuang's clothing is blue, while the other three are white, red and black. "Tsukuyomi! So good to see you again!" He rushes up and hugs him tightly, making Tsukuyomi tense up.

The biggest of the three others, Ao Ming, rolls his eyes. "Must you express your crush so blatantly, Ao Kuang? You were talking?"

The shortest, in red, Ao Qin smacks Ao Ming's chest. "Shut up dude! They're being adorable!"

The last one, in white, Ao Run, smirks. "Ao Kuaaaaang? I believe you're annoying the eldest gods in Heaven?"

Ao Kuang's eyes open seeing Izanagi, clutching his naginata and Izanami glaring at him. He swiftly pulls back from the hug and pats Tsukuyomi's sleeves, the moon god standing there frozen a bit before he fixes his mask and hood turning away. "S-so sorry about that. Ah um… Lord Izanagi and Lady Izanami! These are my siblings. Ao Qin, Ao Run and Ao Ming."

Izanagi squints. "I do not care. Tsukuyomi? If you would please finish your previous thought?"

Tsukuyomi shakes his head and spins on his heel away from Ao Kuang. "Yes father. As I was trying to say… and as Ao Kuang said. His machine only seems impressive on the surface."

Izanagi puts his weapon down again. "Hmm… I do not understand."

Tsukuyomi looks back to Ao Kuang. "Perhaps… his sons can elaborate?"

Ao Kuang nods excitedly and steps up next to Tsukuyomi. "Yes we can! It seems impressive because he keeps being able to narrowly escape tricky situations. As opposed to our father who cannot seem to land a single strike."

Izanagi nods. "I understand now. You are saying that he is not winning. He is surviving. Should Yu Huang land but a single blow on him… that is all it will take?"

Tsukuyomi nods. "Yes. I believe that is what Ao Kuang is saying," He glances over his him seeing Ao Kuang staring right back in his eyes, quickly averting his gaze the other way and fixing his mask again.

Ao Qin laughs. "Those two! I can't!"

Up in the air Hartmann laughs as he shoots off into the sky again, now in full control of his plane. "Alright, Herr Huang! Sorry for the wait there! I'm back and ready to BATTLE!" He looks down at his monitor seeing power is still at 100% and all functions are up and running.

Yu Huang scoffs. "So be it… I shall endeavor to end this quickly however!"

Hartmann laughs again, swinging himself around. "Oh trust me! It's almost over! I've got you pinned down this time! I got the weakness of this dragon down too!"

"Then show me, human skyrider!" The two combatants charge at one another again, Hartmann firing furiously, each bullet fueled by Pandora who is writhing down on the ground. Each shot like a needle poking at her stomach. Each part he builds like a punch in the gut. But she will endure!