⫸ [ TIME: 16:50 AETHELGARD STANDARD TIME ]
⫸ [ LOCATION: DECK OF THE SUN-ARK "GOLDEN DAWN" ]
⫸ [ STATUS: BOARDING ACTION ]
The deck of the flagship was a slaughterhouse of confusion.
Elian stood amidst the wreckage of the railing. Steam poured from the vents of his Mark-IV suit. He looked like a void in the world. A hole in the light where the sun refused to shine.
The Golden Crow crewmen were frozen. They stared at the black metal titan that had fallen from the sky. They gripped their spears. Their hands shook.
"CLEAR THE DECK," Elian's synthesized voice boomed. It wasn't a warning. It was a noise clearance.
A Flight Lieutenant screamed. "KILL THE DEMON!"
A dozen fireballs struck Elian simultaneously.
WHOOSH.
The flames washed over him. The heat was intense. The teak wood of the deck scorched instantly.
But the fire did not stick.
The Void-Steel Composite Plating of the Warlord chassis acted as a superconductor for Aether. It grounded the magical energy instantly. The fire splashed off him like water off a rock.
Elian walked forward.
CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.
His boots were magnetized. He didn't walk. He crushed the deck plates with every step.
A brave lancer charged. He thrust a glowing spear at Elian's chest.
Elian caught the spear.
His hydraulic grip crushed the haft. Splinters flew.
Elian didn't stop moving. He backhanded the lancer.
CRACK.
The man flew across the deck. He hit the main mast with enough force to shatter his spine.
"Target priority," Elian commanded calmly.
[ Target: Engine Room. ]
[ Location: Sub-Deck 3. Amidships. ]
[ Access: Main Hatch 50 meters ahead. ]
"Obstacles?"
[ Three hundred crewmen. Two Tier-3 Elders on the bridge. ]
"Ammunition check."
[ Shoulder Cannon: 40 Rounds. ]
[ Jump-Jet Fuel: 30%. ]
[ Battery: 98% (Infinite Reactor Link). ]
"Save the ammo," Elian said. "We use mass."
He activated the Servo-Overdrive.
The suit hummed with lethal power.
Elian began to run.
It was terrifying to watch. An 800-kilogram tank sprinting at forty kilometers per hour.
He plowed through the line of defenders. He didn't fight them. He ran through them.
Bodies were tossed aside like ragdolls. Shields shattered under the impact of his shoulders.
He reached the Main Hatch.
It was a heavy door of bronze, reinforced with locking runes.
"Knock knock," Elian whispered.
He grabbed the handle. He planted his mag-boots. He pulled.
The hydraulics screamed.
The door didn't open. The frame ripped out of the deck.
Wood splintered. Metal sheared. Elian threw the entire door behind him. It crushed a caster trying to flank him.
He dropped into the darkness of the ship's belly.
⬡ ─── ⬡ ─── ⬡
⫸ [ TIME: 16:55 AETHELGARD STANDARD TIME ]
⫸ [ LOCATION: SUB-DECK 3 – ENGINE ROOM ]
⫸ [ STATUS: SABOTAGE ]
The interior of the ship was not industrial. It was organic.
The corridors were lined with pulsing amber veins that carried liquid light. The walls were carved from Spirit Wood. It smelled of incense and ozone.
Elian stomped down the central corridor.
Alarms were ringing. Not digital sirens. Great brass bells tolled rhythmically from the walls.
He reached the Engine Room.
The heart of the ship was suspended in a spherical chamber.
It was a massive Solar Crystal. It spun rapidly, humming with a song that grated on Elian's teeth.
Below the crystal, a team of Technicians (Spirit-Smiths) were frantically trying to stabilize the output.
They saw Elian. They dropped their tools.
"THE VOID-BEAST!" one screamed.
Elian raised his shoulder cannon.
"Get out."
The technicians fled. They were engineers, not warriors. They knew what a railgun looked like.
Elian walked to the console.
It was a complex array of levers and runes.
"A.R.C., how do I crash this thing?"
[ Analysis of Control Surface... ]
[ The crystal generates Anti-Gravity Lift by vibrating at a specific Aetheric frequency. ]
[ If you disrupt the frequency, the lift inverts. ]
[ Instead of pushing against gravity, it will pull. ]
"Gravity Well," Elian noted. "Nasty."
He didn't use the console. He used his fist.
He punched the glass casing of the frequency modulator. He ripped out the delicate gold tuning forks.
The crystal shuddered. The hum turned into a scream.
The light shifted from gold to an angry, unstable red.
The ship lurched.
Elian felt his stomach drop. The artificial gravity failed. The tools on the floor began to float.
[ Warning. Structural Integrity Compromised. ]
[ The ship is falling. ]
"Not fast enough," Elian said.
He grabbed a heavy wrench from the floor. He jammed it into the gears of the main drive shaft.
SCREECH.
Sparks showered the room. The crystal cracked.
The Golden Dawn tilted.
It didn't just drift down. It pitched forward. The nose dropped forty degrees.
"Steering," Elian said.
He grabbed the manual rudder chains running along the wall. He engaged his magnetic boots to the floor.
He pulled.
The hydraulics of the Mark-IV fought the resistance of the massive external rudders.
GROAN.
The chain moved.
Outside, the massive ship banked hard to the left.
[ Trajectory Updated. ]
[ Collision Course: Sun-Ark "Glory of the South". ]
[ Impact in 20 seconds. ]
"Perfect," Elian said.
He turned to leave.
The door blocked.
A figure stood in the entryway.
He was tall. He wore the white robes of a Fleet Admiral. His face was serene.
He held no staff. He held no weapon.
But the air around him was distorting. The space itself was bending.
"YOU HAVE KILLED MY SHIP," the Admiral said. His voice was calm, projected directly into Elian's audio sensors. "YOU WILL DIE WITH IT."
◤ THREAT DETECTED ◢
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
⬢ Subject: Admiral Kael (Tier 3 Peak)
⬢ Ability: Aeromancy (Vacuum Control)
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
The Admiral flicked his hand.
The air in the room vanished.
Elian's external pressure sensors flatlined.
Vacuum.
"My suit is sealed," Elian said over the external speakers. "Try again."
The Admiral frowned. He clenched his fist.
The air pressure returned, but focused on a single point. Elian's chest.
Atmospheric crush. Ten tons of pressure slammed into him.
CREAK.
The Mark-IV groaned. The Void-Steel plating held, but the joints strained.
Elian took a step forward.
"Physics," Elian grunted. "Pressure is just force per area."
He activated his Jump-Jets.
Not up. Forward.
He launched himself at the Admiral like a missile.
The Admiral's eyes went wide. He raised a wind-wall.
Elian punched through the wind. Mass multiplied by velocity equals force.
His fist hit the Admiral's chest.
SPLAT.
The robes remained pristine white, but the chest underneath collapsed. The Admiral flew backward into the hallway, his spell shattered by kinetic trauma.
Elian didn't check the body.
The floor was tilting to sixty degrees. The ship was in a death dive.
"Time to go," Elian said.
⬡ ─── ⬡ ─── ⬡
⫸ [ TIME: 17:00 AETHELGARD STANDARD TIME ]
⫸ [ LOCATION: MIDAIR – 1000 METERS ]
⫸ [ STATUS: THE COLLISION ]
Elian smashed through the exterior viewport of the bridge.
He ejected into open air.
He fell.
Above him, the massive bulk of the Golden Dawn was screaming through the sky, trailing smoke and fire.
It was on a direct intercept course with the second largest ship in the fleet, the Glory of the South.
Elian twisted in the air. He watched.
The crew of the Glory saw it coming. They tried to turn. They tried to fire their lances.
It was too late. Inertia is a cruel mistress.
CRASH.
The flagship T-boned the second ship.
The sound was like the planet cracking in half.
The golden hull of the flagship sliced through the other ship like a knife through butter. The crystal cores of both ships collided.
BOOM.
A shockwave of blue Aether exploded outward.
The blast vaporized the two ships instantly.
The debris field—huge chunks of burning wood and gold—shot outward like shrapnel.
The shockwave hit the other three ships in the formation.
Their shields flared and failed. Their sails were ripped to shreds.
They began to drift, uncontrolled, spinning toward the jungle below.
"Strike," Elian whispered.
He was falling fast.
Velocity: 200 kph.
The ground was rushing up. The jungle canopy looked like a carpet of green needles.
"A.R.C., brake!"
[ Engaging Solar-Drive Discs. ]
[ Inverting Void-Field. ]
[ Brace for deceleration. ]
The discs on his back flared.
A bubble of anti-gravity formed around him.
He hit the invisible wall of resistance.
His velocity dropped from 200 to 20 in two seconds. The G-force nearly blacked him out.
He crashed through the trees. Branches snapped against his armor.
He hit the mud.
He rolled.
He stopped.
Silence returned to the jungle.
Then, the rain started.
It wasn't water.
It was the burning wreckage of the Golden Crow fleet falling from the heavens.
Elian stood up. He checked his HUD.
◤ BATTLE REPORT ◢
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
⬢ Enemy Capital Ships: 2 Destroyed / 3 Disabled
⬢ Enemy Gliders: 100% Casualties
⬢ Base Integrity: 58%
⬢ Status: Victory
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
"Grom," Elian radioed. "Send the salvage teams."
"COMMANDER," Grom's voice came back, thick with awe. "THE SKY IS BURNING. YOU BROKE THE SUN."
"We didn't break it," Elian said, looking at the burning debris field. "We just turned it off."
He began the long walk back to the base.
⬡ ─── ⬡ ─── ⬡
⫸ [ TIME: +2 HOURS ]
⫸ [ LOCATION: BASE CAMP ALPHA – COMMAND CENTER ]
⫸ [ STATUS: DEBRIEF ]
The fires were still burning in the distance.
The base was in celebration mode. The Giants were roasting meat over the vent-fires. The Deep-Kin were dragging massive pieces of golden wreckage into the scrap yards.
Elian stood in the command center. He had removed his helmet. His face was pale, sweaty, but his eyes were sharp.
Alara sat on a crate nearby. She was wrapped in a blanket, watching him.
"You jumped onto a ship," Alara said softly. "You are insane."
"I calculated the odds," Elian lied.
"The odds were zero," she said.
"Non-zero," Elian corrected. "It's always non-zero."
Disciple Lin entered the room. She looked terrified and ecstatic at the same time.
"The survivors," Lin said. "From the crashed ships. They are surrendering. Hundreds of them."
"Take their weapons," Elian ordered. "Put them in the containment pens. If they use magic, kill them."
"What do we do with them?" Lin asked. "They are disciples. They will not serve."
Elian looked at the Fabricator. It was humming, printing fresh ammo.
"They have Qi," Elian said. "They have energy."
He pulled up a new schematic.
It was a design for a Bio-Aetheric Generator. A pod that could extract ambient Qi from a cultivator to power machinery.
"We don't need them to serve," Elian said coldly. "We need them to generate power."
Alara looked at the schematic. She looked at Elian.
"Dad," she whispered. "That's... that's slavery."
Elian looked at his daughter. He saw the fear in her eyes. He looked at his own hand—the grey, scaled skin of a monster.
"We are at war, Alara," Elian said. His voice was tired. "And I need to charge the batteries."
He turned off the screen.
"But not today. Today, we let them sit in the dark."
[END OF CHAPTER 29]