The world was obscured by a radiant, blinding light produced by the otherworldly weapon wielded by the Holy Knight, War Reaver.
His target, the Bone Mountain, was by no means weak. It had withstood and repelled his attacks when he found the heart of it and engaged it in direct battle. For one reason or another, the creature was special. It was negating all effects from War and his companions who went within to battle it. Those men and women were now dead, except for a handful like Walkyr, who no doubt was somewhere recovering from the great burns inflicted upon him by both War and the Bone Mountain's attacks.
Thus, as the light faded and once again revealed the state of the Bone Mountain, it was a surprise to see just how different it was in appearance.
It did not withstand War's attacks unpunished like it'd done when he fought it inside of itself. Instead, this time, its entire white outer texture had been charred by the divine radiance unleashed by the holy weapon. It was like it'd been bathed in a sea of coal and spat out in a pool of red paste. Pieces of the mountain had been eviscerated and other pieces of it were crumbling.
Sadly, that was not nearly enough to defeat the Bone Mountain. Unlike the mindless abominations that were covered by it to help fend off ordinary attacks, the Bone Mountain's exoskeleton possessed many properties that fended off mystic assaults. The Divine Sword's entire being seemed to embody mysticism, forged through the usage of unknown runic sorcery and being bestowed enchantments that most skilled enchanters could not hope to replicate in the world outside the Towers.
In fact, Worthy suspected many of the Divine Swords and relics, including their nigh-impervious armors, were produced by someone's Reward. If not a Reward, then something very close to one on the outside. Runic sorcery existed before the Towers emerged, of course, but he doubted if such a thing existed, that there was no mysticism whatsoever.
He ceased those pointless thoughts in the wake of the battle, however. Things were heating up, and he wanted to witness it himself.
War was still in the air after unleashing his attack when the Bone Mountain unleashed counterattacks of its own.
Lengthy, jagged spikes made of bone clawed their way from the holes in the mountain like the lengthy limbs of a spider. Without warning or mercy, they shot out at the knight who was suspected in the air and crashed into his chest, pushing him further into the sky without puncturing his armor. The shockwave produced by the impact knocked the force straight through the Holy Knight's body. Any other person would have been killed even if their armor endured that much damage.
With the swipe of his weapon, War severed the boney appendage that carried him into the sky, where he was then assailed by a swarm of flying behemoths that were no longer kept in check by the Knight Captain.
It was of no matter to the Holy Knight, who tilted his head in the direction of the monsters, and then turned back to face the Bone Mountain.
Spiraling energy surged to life around the Holy Knight as he raised his weapon past his shoulder. Again, there was a collection of energy in his weapon. The Bone Mountain trembled, recognizing that the Holy Knight was preparing to unleash the same devastating attack that'd just charred it once again.
This was the way War should have fought it to begin with. He had made a mistake challenging its heart, in a space where it held the advantage. Rather than fighting the heart, he was going to tear its body away layer by layer from the outside. Without any of his allies inside of it, he could do so freely.
At that moment, Worthy realized that he had been deceived.
He had assumed he'd seen the limit of War Reaver's power. That was not the case at all. The weapon was building up too much energy too quickly to be fair. All the power it'd built up within a few seconds seemed little when put beside the new attack that the Holy Knight was charging. It was twice, no, three times as powerful after only a small amount of time passed.
The avian beasts that grew close to him were eviscerated by the presence of the energy. He did not need to swing his weapon, because they were not mighty enough to be in the presence of the divine wrath stored inside of the weapon. The holy weapon used to fell armies for centuries, since the ancient times, was in the hands of a being that exceeded that power with his own.
Worst of all for the Bone Mountain, its previous attack had launched the Holy Knight too far away for its bone appendages to intercept.
There was a glint somewhere in the distance, but it was far too little too late.
Even as the spearbearer unleashed a bone spear at War, who was suspended in the air, it did little to stop him.
He moved his arm, swinging the weapon, and the result of the attack showed well before the swing was finished.
The mountainous spear, only several inches away from War's head, crumbled to dust. The mist that obscured the ceiling, as well as the lives of all the avian horrors who grew too close to the Holy Knight, were dispersed. The furthest flesh mountain crumbled to the ground, ashes rose as an intense heat destroyed it, burning it to a crisp that could no longer stand in the way of the flying city. Every moving body of flesh in the radius of both mountains found themselves plasterized, flattened into mere colors that blended in with the already crimson terrain.
The Bone Mountain received the worst of it.
Cracks ran down the body of the Bone Mountain, and through these cracks, the terrible heat that once lit War aflame was ventilated. Even from the wall, many miles away, Worthy felt the awful, burning air reach his skin and his mouth dried. Rows of monsters that had not been eviscerated by War's attack were now instead lit aflame by the profane heat instead.
Blood slowly spilled through the cracks in the Bone Mountain's shell. Whatever was within it was melting, pouring out of its apparent flesh. Perhaps within, there was a flesh abomination more abhorrent than the rest.
Worthy would never know.
Rather than letting the abomination shed its flesh and utilize the heat it's built up from his attacks during their original encounter, War overwhelmed it instantly. The shell of the bone mountain crumbled, and soon the parts of it that did not turn to dust left chitinous fragments of black bone collapsing in on itself.
Its body, whatever was hidden within, was melting. It could no longer contain the heat with its unique bone shell, because that shell was destroyed. It was overwhelmed by a heat, and magnificent power, that it simply was not made to endure. It was too much, and so, it did the only thing it could do.
It died.
The Bone Mountain, where it once stood, crumbled into a pile of black dust, and pools of its blood, which were really its melted body, made the pile discolored and gross.
Not too far from that battle, Lady Freya's Stone Titan had finally finished its battle with one of the remaining mountains of flesh. The only one left in the way, anyway.
The Stone Titan was not quite made of stone anymore. Red, disfigured flesh covered its body, and it was much taller than the mountain it was battling all this time. It used its mighty hand to press into the remaining pile of flesh, which could've once blocked out the sun if there was one, and crushed whatever was at its center. Crushing the heart of the flesh mountain, its mass stiffened and collapsed to the ground soon after.
It no longer produced any drones to attack them.
Thus, the path for the Prime Settlement was clear.