The magical barrage finally ceased, only for a giant fleet of ships to emerge over the horizon. Atlas groaned as the recognized the flags, Scalliers.

They teleported onto the Glacialine, getting ahold of whoever was running the ship. "We need to move in to intercept them! They'll completely overwhelm Caros!" Atlas explained.

"How're we supposed to handle an entire fleet of ships?" The commander demanded.

Atlas rolled their eyes. "I'll take care of it. We need to go get Helena first." The Glacialine turned around and began to make way back to Oceanus's ship.

The ship soon arrived, and Atlas looked at the battle unfolding. "Helena, we need your help!" Atlas called out to her. Maya and Luna were facing down Oceanus, while Jacob seemed to be struggling to stand up.

Helena glanced at the group, but picked up on Atlas's urgent tone and leaped onto the Glacialine.

The boat sped off to meet the Scalliers fleet, and Atlas racked their brain trying to think of how to hold off the fleet. "I recognize one of those ships, it's Titus's." Atlas remembered, staring at the ginormous boat.

Helena groaned. "That means this is their main fleet. They're pulling no punches, it makes me wonder... we have to stop them."

Astraeus's army of ships had proven to be dead weight once both Guardians became preoccupied in battle, but these ships weren't as simple to manage.

"I'll take on Titus, maybe I can scare him off." Atlas theorized. "At the very least, if I can stop him they'll be without their lead commander."

Helena glanced at the crew on board the Glacialine. "Guess it'll be up to us to fend off against the rest of the ships in the meantime." The warrior chuckled and she looked at Kerven. "We've handled worse."

Then her eyes fell on a few small ships approaching them from afar. "Well, I'll be." Atlas stared questioningly, and Helena chuckled. "It's Marius and Canonball. Friends of Xavier. Looks like we won't be all alone then. Atlas, you can handle Titus?"

The Guardian thought back on their previous battle against the mighty mage. "Maybe. I fought him before, and it didn't go great. But I'm confident I can do better this time."

Helena nodded. "I'll keep an eye out if you need a hand." With that, the Guardian teleported onto Titus's ship.

Luna couldn't believe how much power was at her fingertips, launching it at Oceanus without a second thought.

The Guardian teleported behind her, and she turned around and caught his trident with her hand. "Dammit!" Oceanus snarled, thrashing his weapon. "How are you this strong?"

Luna shrugged. "Not sure myself, but it doesn't matter." She made a fist, shattering the weapon. "This ends here!" Balls of magic began to appear all around Oceanus.

He tried creating copies of himself, but Luna wasn't deterred. Each one ran at her, trying to overwhelm the girl. Luna demolished them with projectile after projectile, ducking under stabs and tossing one of the clones into the others.

Luna freely flew through the air and rose up, higher and higher, dissipating clone after clone. Finally, it was time to end it. Luna channeled the magic into her hands, and a weapon began to appear.

Its form was undefined, but the power was immense. Luna flung the weapon into Oceanus and the impact generated an explosion.

Oceanus was flown into the mast of the ship, with his gem left shattered into pieces. Luna landed on the ground and Maya rejoined her.

"Luna... you are incredible." Maya said with glee.

Luna smiled at her girlfriend, and kissed the girl without a second thought. As always, sparks flew from Maya. This time, the sparks seemed to react with Luna's magic that was in the air. A second explosion was triggered, leaving Oceanus barely alive.

Luna and Maya glared at the weakened Guardian. Jacob had finally staggered to his feet and began walking over to them, meanwhile Helena was nowhere to be seen.

Oceanus looked up at Luna in his weakened state, his form was flickering in and out of existence. "You know, Astraeus warned us about an Eighth Guardian. It doesn't do me any good to tell you this but, he insisted you were corrupted by humanity. That humans had turned you from a Guardian to a human, and maybe that's true. But clearly, you're more powerful than any of us other Guardians... maybe that's how it's supposed to be. If he's wrong, promise me you'll stop him. And once you're in control, you'll give this world what it deserves."

Luna was shocked by the display, but it seemed fully earnest. "I will. Atlas and I will fix this archipelago, together with the people of these isles."

Oceanus nodded and then looked up into the sky. "I wonder what it'll be like, fading away and not coming back. I was beaten once, but it was a brief absence. I didn't even process it. Astraeus has a plan, I don't know what but he has some big trump card prepared. Can't say what but, be on guard. Someone's gotta stay alive to... to fix all of this." With that, he faded away.

Luna stared at where the Guardian had been for a long moment, and then looked down at her hands. Her clothes had changed. She was now wearing a white dress with loose sleeves and intricate drawings on it. Power still swirled around her hands, and Luna felt at peace with herself.

There wasn't much time to waste though, she set her sights on the horizon. "We need to warn Xavier and stop Astraeus,"

Atlas appeared on the deck of the ship, scanning the massive area for the familiar face. They noticed him barking orders to several other Scalliers crew members, and the crew members scrambled away afterwards.

Atlas flew through the air and swung their sword at Titus without a second thought. The Scalliers Envoy turned around just in time to leap away using his wind magic. He produced his fans and began flinging wind magic at Atlas.

The Guardian deflected the projectiles with their blade and they fired magic from their other hand at him.

Titus was struck by the blast, so Atlas moved in to follow up. At this point, several Scalliers on board had noticed them and began to fling magic at them.

Atlas tried their best to counter the incoming attacks, only to be slammed by wind magic from behind. Titus stomped over to them, and swung one of his fans in their direction.

Atlas blocked the move and teleported behind Titus, engaging in close-quarters combat. "Rose's Shade? What are you doing here? You should be on our side!"

Atlas groaned. "You really are a moron, aren't you? I'm not a Shade, I'm a Guardian." They fired magic at several Scalliers attackers. "And I'm here to stop all of this before my brother destroy the archipelago."

Their words seemed to have little effect, as Titus just moved in to strike them again. They parried the fans and stepped forward to jam their blade into his stomach.

Wind burst from beneath their feet and Atlas was suspended in midair. Titus leaped up and slammed his fans down onto their body.

The Guardian crashed back down onto the deck where they were pelted by all forms of magic. The attacks blew them off of the side of the ship, but Atlas was wretched into the hull of the boat by brutal wind currents.

They could barely think before they were lifted back into the air. Titus was channeling wind magic all around his body, and Atlas couldn't escape from the hold their were in.

The Guardian thought back to Rose's battle against Titus, and tried to remember how she handled him.

Atlas tried firing magic from their hand, but it was stuffed out by the wind. Atlas tried pouring magic into their blade, and that seemed to work. Magic from their sword poured into the wind magic surrounding them, until the wind was surrounded with their own magic.

Atlas descended while surrounded by this power, slamming their blade into the deck and blowing back all the members of the Scalliers.

They got their bearings, trying to find where Titus was located. They didn't see the pirate, but suddenly felt wind enclose them again. From above, Titus descended and kicked Atlas in the face.

The Guardian went flying, and were immediately grabbed again. The trick was getting old, but it was effective. Suddenly, the whirring of an axe filled Atlas's ears.

They were freed from the hold, and looked to see that Helena had joined the fray. She was battling against Titus, slamming her weapon against his.

"Figured you could use a hand Atlas! This guy is nothing but persistent!" Helena called to the Guardian. She tossed her axe at Titus, who had to focus all of his wind magic to stop it.

Atlas dashed at Titus, striking his fans with their blade. The fans went flying, landing far away on the deck.

The Scalliers crew mates began to recuperate, surrounding the duo. Helena called the axe back into her hand and spun it around them, slamming into several of their enemies.

"Let's wrap this up. Hey Atlas, how do you feel about spears?" Helena asked the Guardian.

Atlas gave her a confused look and shrugged. Helena chuckled and tossed her axe into the air. The two blades fell off of her weapon, leaving a simple and slender spear.

Atlas's eyes widened as they realized what had just been unleashed. "Divios? It was with us the whole time?" Atlas gasped as the weapon descended.

Helena nodded and caught the spear. "Xavier and I stole it a while back, not really knowing what it was. Feel free to do the honors." She tossed the spear to Atlas, who gently held the weapon.

Power exuded from the ancient weapon, and Atlas clutched it. "Gladly." Atlas sped through the air, and gleefully jammed the spear into a dazed Titus. The weapon was powerful enough to finish him off with a simple blow.

With the victory achieved, Atlas turned their attention to ripping up the hull of the ship with the mighty weapon.

Xavier shook his head, and turned back to Astraeus. "My friends will take care of it. It's not going to stop me from beating you, right here!" Xavier lunged at the warlock, slamming his blade against Astraeus's staff.

Xavier was flung back, tossing shards of ice at the magical being. Astraeus strode forward, deflecting all the attacks. Xavier wasted no time creating a wall of ice that he jumped at.

The pirate leaped off of the wall, landing behind Astraeus. He began to unload ice magic onto the mage, coating him in frost. Astraeus hissed and swung his staff to try and hit Xavier.

The pirate took a step back and conjured a barrier of ice that slammed into Astraeus's side. He followed up by swiping his blade down onto the Guardian's body.

Xavier continued the brawl by flinging icicles at Astraeus from all sides. Ice was coming naturally to him, not daring to fight the pirate in such a confrontation.

Astraeus slammed his staff onto the ground, sending out a wave of magic that destroyed the icicles and launched Xavier into the air. The Guardian then teleported in front of Xavier and struck him with the golden staff.

The blow was rough, and sent Xavier flying off of the ship. The pirate created a wall of ice behind him, and then fired ice from his hands to launch himself from it. Xavier rammed directly into Astraeus, and they both crashed back onto the deck of the boat.

Xavier got back to his feet, shaking off his injuries and slammed his hand onto the deck of the ship. Ice rushed across the floor, turning into a giant ice spike once it was under Astraeus.

The mage was launched back into the air, and Xavier followed up by summoning a column of ice above Astraeus that shot downward, flinging him back into the deck.

The ship was taking several blows from their battle at this point, but Xavier wasn't worried about that. It was time for the grand finale, after all.

Astraeus started to stand up, so Xavier dashed in and started slamming his blade into the Guardian.

Astraeus fruitlessly tried blocking the attacks with his staff, deflecting the blows and being pushed further and further back. Xavier leaped back, conjuring a boat similar to the one Astraeus had attacked him on all those months ago. This time, it was made entirely of ice. The ice ship cut through the boat, punching a hole into it and catching Astraeus entirely off guard.

"H-how are you this strong? This is... this is ridiculous. You should be exhausted by now!" Astraeus spat, clutching onto his weapon for dear life.

Xavier sighed. "It was all you, Astraeus. All this power is thanks to the cold you caused in me. I warned you, not to mess with my ship. Not to mess with me. Not to mess with the ones I loved. And you didn't listen! I'm no pirate, I'm the Maker-Damned Ice Pirate!"

Ice, all of it turned to ice. Just as Xavier had felt the cold in the last six months, now Astraeus would feel that cold in full. The pain caused by the Guardian, the lives he took, what he did to Rose. All of it would bite back in full, right now.

The rain crystallized, turning into fragments of ice that all began to combine. Swirling together into a vortex of ice that began to descend.

The blizzard slammed into Astraeus repeatedly, and what's more, pried that damn staff from his hands at long last. The weapon went flying to the other side of the ship as the boat started to sink into the sea.

Astraeus was coated in a thick layer of frost when the attack subsided. Xavier finally started to feel some exhaustion, but he knew it wasn't over. The pirate started to run over to the staff, and noticed something.

The fragment of the Indigo Jewel was missing. Xavier whipped around to see that Astraeus had removed the ice from his body using the magical item in his hand. "I must say, I'm impressed." Astraeus admitted, rising into the air. "But this ends here! It's time to remind you which one of us is a God!"

Astraeus blasted Xavier with an immense amount of magic, nearly knocking the man unconscious. He then drifted over to his staff and retrieved it, returning the jewel piece to its place on the weapon. Astraeus flew into the sky and started to prepare something.

Xavier felt his heart sink, and reached out to try and stop him. Out of the corner of his eye, Xavier saw Atlas flying directly at Astraeus.

The Guardian had Divios in their grasp, and was prepared to ram it directly into Astraeus. Astraeus countered using the staff, and fired magic at Atlas.

Atlas teleported behind Astraeus and slammed their blade into him, but Astraeus whipped around and jammed the Indigo Jewel into their chest. Atlas started to be pulled back into the artifact.

Several blasts of dark magic struck Astraeus from afar. Xavier glanced over to see Jacob, Maya, and Luna on board Oceanus's ship as it sailed over to the group.

Astraeus shook his head and ascended, and then began waving his staff in the air as it exploded with green magic. There was a low rumbling, and Xavier forced himself to his feet.

In the distance, Caros seemed to be shaking. Atlas tried again to attack Astraeus, but was repelled by a magical barrier.

"You see? This is the power we possess! We will bring this archipelago to its knees!" Astraeus screeched. "You will learn to fear us!"

Caros began to rise into the air, it was an unbelievable sight. The entire island was suspended by nothing, floating above the water.

Atlas stared in horror, and then vanished. Astraeus swung his staff downward, and Caros started to descend. Xavier realized what Astraeus was trying to do, and began to shake.

"No, no, NO!" Jacob screamed. "He can't! We need to stop him!"

Caros's descent was suddenly stopped. Xavier squinted to see that Atlas was holding up the entire island. The massive landmass was forcibly trying to drag them down.

The Guardian was somehow keeping it from sinking, but their strength began to fail them almost immediately. Xavier sprang into action, jumping off of the ship and freezing the water in front of him.

The pirate created a path for himself, freezing over waves and building up speed. "No, I won't let you fall." Xavier declared, conjuring pillars of ice on either side of Atlas to try and bare some of the weight.

Xavier was closing the distance, and Atlas was somehow still holding on. The island would crush them if Xavier wasn't quick enough, he could see their strength faltering.

The pirate's body began to ache, the ocean was a much tougher force. It didn't matter, he had to save his friend. Xavier created a ramp made of ice and slid down and up, launching himself into the air.

The ice pillars had nearly shattered, it was now or never. Xavier grabbed a hold of his friend, thrusting Atlas from their position. Atlas was too weak to muster any kind of response, crumpling in Xavier's arms. The pirate created more ice beneath them while his pillars began to crack and creak.

Xavier erected several more as he conjured yet another bridge of ice, sliding out from underneath Caros as his supports gave out and the island began to slowly descend once again.

Xavier could barely go on for much longer, forcing himself to create just a little more ice. All it would take is a little more.

Xavier made it to an abandoned Tradton ship, and was finally able to collapse.

He looked at Caros to see the entire island be slowly consumed by the ocean. Even the mountaintops slipped under the water. An impossible sight became reality.

The pirate blinked, expecting Caros to return when he did. It did not.

He looked back at the chaotic battlefield set on the water, and saw the remaining Scalliers ships speeding off towards... Clamerates?

Xavier could see more ships on the horizon heading in the same direction, and squinted to see a Kingston flag on one of them. Kingston's entire fleet was headed to Clamerates.

Xavier looked down at the unconscious Atlas lying next to them, and then at the sky where Astraeus once was. And instead of keeping cool, the pirate began to cry.