"Is that… a giant egg?"
A massive flaming egg had appeared in the place of the phoenix's grave!
Ves suddenly recalled that a phoenix was able to undergo nirvana. There were myths that described how they were able to reverse death and advance their strength by undergoing a unique rebirth process!
He found it difficult to believe that phoenixes were able to do this in reality, yet the appearance of this egg showed that the legends may actually be correct!
"Attack!"
The Dominion of Man opened fire on the egg. There was no challenge in hitting a stationary target.
While the egg did not move from its place, it strangely managed to resist every attack that struck its flaming shell!
"None of our attacks have inflicted any apparent damage! Its structure as well as its energy readings have remained constant. Neither energy nor kinetic weapons have produced any meaningful results!"
Though Furia tried to amplify the armaments of the Dominion of Man as best as possible, it quickly became clear that they were dealing with an exceptional phenomenon!
As the seconds passed by, the egg not only remained undamaged, but also started to show signs of increasing activity.
Its energy levels were rising!
"If we do not find a way to destroy this egg, then the chances are high that it will spawn another phoenix, one that may be stronger than the one we previously fought against!"
Dread Captain Volkert Argile couldn't hold himself back any longer.
"Arm all of our remaining antimatter missiles and bombs. Begin the process of retrieving as many usable superweapons from our secure vaults and laboratories. We must throw everything we have at this strange egg."
That was a huge amount of destructive power!
Ves did not know how many superweapons the dreadnought had left, but it was likely enough to crack several planets at the very least!
He had a feeling that it wouldn't be enough to break the egg.
"HALT." The First Flame suddenly spoke over the noisy communication channel. "YOUR FIREPOWER WILL NOT AVAIL YOU THIS TIME. THE NIRVANA OF A PHOENIX IS AN EXPRESSION OF A GREATER RULE. NEITHER THIS SHIP NOR FURIA CAN BREAK IT BY FORCE."
"I suppose you know more about phoenixes than everyone else in the Red Ocean." Ves said. "I don't think you opened your mouth to tell us how futile it is to employ a lot of weapons of mass destruction. I take it you have a more elegant solution."
"YOU ARE CORRECT. I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS OCCURRENCE SINCE I LEARNED THAT THE FINAL TRIBULATION COMES IN THE FORM OF A PHOENIX. I WOULD LIKE TO PROPOSE A TRANSACTION WITH YOU, FURIA."
"A transaction?! Now?! We need to defeat the phoenix as quickly as possible!"
Furia ignored her progenitor's complaints.
"TERMS?"
"I SHALL TEACH YOU A METHOD TO NEUTRALIZE THE PHOENIX EGG. ONCE THE DOMINION OF MAN HAS SURVIVED THIS TRIBULATION, I SHALL COME TO YOU AND ASK YOU TO TRANSFER YOUR DETAILED IMPRESSIONS OF THE PHOENIX. THIS REMOTE CONNECTION HAS DONE ME NO FAVORS IN MY ATTEMPT TO STUDY THIS MAGNIFICENT BEAST. ONLY YOU, A FIRE ELEMENTAL, IS ABLE TO STUDY ITS ESSENCE."
"I AGREE."
"THEN LISTEN CAREFULLY."
The Fire Flame quickly transferred the method over a separate and private communication channel.
Ves found it annoying that he was left out of the loop. He had very good reasons to believe that it might not be a good idea to transfer so much data about the phoenix to the First Flame!
Unfortunately, Furia had already agreed to the transaction. It was an enormously bad idea to renege on a deal with any god pilot, so there was nothing Ves could do to stop this deal from happening.
Furia soon took action once again. She quickly managed to learn the technique taught by the First Flame and soon began to extend her domain around the burning egg.
"The energy readings of the egg are dropping! It is weakening by the second!"
"The temperature of the egg is declining as well. It is 30 percent cooler than before!"
It was as if time was going backwards. Instead of growing hotter and stronger, the egg was instead changing in the opposite direction.
Meanwhile, Furia started to absorb much of the fire energies that were previously condensed in the phoenix egg.
Soon enough, the egg had lost so much energy that a single salvo from the dreadnought's surviving primary armament succeeded in bursting it apart.
"The threat has been neutralized!"
"We succeeded!"
Everyone began to feel a lot of relief once they finally confirmed that the blasted phoenix was no more!
Just as they started to let go of their concerns, the heavens finally began to deliver their final reward for the dreadnought's exceptional performance.
"Our sensors are detecting drastic changes from the storm clouds!"