"Run!"
The second X-97's voice reached his ears, Nico dumped every bit of mana into the Cloak of Flight before taking off with every ounce of speed it could afford him.
The forest blurred into streaks of dead green beneath him.
Behind him, Nom-Nom clung tighter as fingers dug into his shoulders as she watched X-97 halt and draw the Jubokko's attention towards herself.
"MASTER!"
"I KNOW!" Nico shouted back with a crack in his voice, yet he pushed harder until the clearing vanished behind them.
X-97 had slammed to a halt midair and turned, wings flaring wide as she dropped altitude on purpose while fire erupted from her like a signal flare meant for hell itself.
"Over here," she said calmly.
And the mutated Jubokko answered.
The ground below her convulsed.
Roots didn't burst upward like before; they uncoiled, like thick red cables tearing free from the ground before snapping skyward.
