Red laser sights trembled over Velira's forehead, her chest, and directly over her heart.
The Raider Commander's finger rested on the trigger. His mechanical voice was clear in Eray's ears.
"Awaiting fire authorization, Captain."
Time seemed frozen at the peak of the Moon Tower.
Eray struggled to breathe inside his shattered armor. Every breath felt like shards of glass stabbing into his broken ribs. He locked his eyes on Velira.
The Princess stood frozen before the "Metal Gods." Fear was there, clear and raw. But beneath it, Eray saw something else.
Disappointment.
Pure, deep, and impossible to repair.
Eray's logic, his military training, screamed inside his head.
Kill her.She is a threat.She is an enemy commander.If she lives—
His lips parted to say the word.
"Fire."
But no sound came out.
In the dark corner of his mind, the memory returned.The fire in the Crimson Forest.Velira's lips brushing his.
"Maybe you are the only thing that could ever be my equal."
Why?He didn't know why he bit his tongue.
Maybe he wanted to interrogate her later.Maybe he wanted to take her alive to Earth as a living prize.Or maybe…
He simply couldn't pull the trigger.
"Captain?" the Commander asked, impatient.
Eray clenched his teeth.
"Cease fire," Eray growled. "Do not waste ammunition. Target is neutralized. We're leaving. Get me out of here!"
The Commander hesitated for a brief moment, but did not question the order.
"Understood. Package retrieval confirmed. Support team, move in!"
Two Raider soldiers stomped forward, the floor shaking under their heavy boots. They grabbed Eray by the shoulders and lifted him.
As Eray's feet left the ground, he met Velira's gaze one last time.
She hadn't heard the order, but she understood one thing clearly.
She wasn't going to die.
Her expression twisted from shock into pure hatred.
"You're running…" Velira whispered.Then she screamed.
"YOU'RE RUNNING!"
Just as the soldiers began attaching Eray to the extraction cables, the atmosphere changed.
The heavy, metallic Raider pressure in the air was crushed instantly, as if the sky itself was being pushed down by an invisible hand.
The ship's turbines groaned. Warning lights shifted from yellow to red.
BOOOOM!
The massive gate of the tower exploded inward like paper.
What entered was not dust or smoke.
It was pure, golden light.
And from within that light stepped Emperor Kaelthas.
He was alone. No royal guards. No mages.He wasn't even wearing battle armor, only his imperial robe.
Yet the energy radiating from him was so overwhelming that the soldiers carrying Eray struggled not to drop to their knees.
The Emperor looked up at the colossal metal ship above, as if staring at a fly inside his home.
"In my city…" Kaelthas said. He wasn't shouting, yet his voice overloaded the sensors inside Eray's suit."…in my sky… what is this insolence?"
The Emperor raised his hand slightly.
One of the soldiers carrying Eray shoved him forward and opened fire.
TA-TA-TA-TA!
The bullets never reached the Emperor.
They melted mid-air, one meter away from him, turning into liquid metal that dripped onto the floor.
Kaelthas snapped his fingers.
The soldier's armor collapsed inward, crushing the man inside it like an invisible press. Blood and metal sprayed as his body was compacted like a crushed can.
Eray watched in horror.
This power…This was far beyond anything listed in the Raiders' "Magical Threat" reports.
"Father!" Velira shouted, snapping out of her shock. She grabbed her sword from the ground."He's mine! That human is mine!"
Velira ran toward Eray, who was hanging from the cable. Her face was twisted with tears and fury.
"You don't get to leave me, Eray!"
She swung her arm. Crystal shards erupted from the ground and sliced through the cable.
Eray fell.
His armor slammed into the floor. He tried to crawl away, gasping.
Velira was already above him.
She raised her sword.
This time, there was no hesitation.No curiosity.No twisted affection.
Only the price of betrayal.
"I will rip your heart out," Velira said, bringing the blade down.
Eray caught the sword at the last second with his metal gauntlet.
The blade cut into his palm. Sparks flew.
Velira pressed down with all her strength. Eray was weakening. The sword tip crept closer to his visor.
"Die…" Velira hissed.
Above them, the Commander's voice echoed from the ship.
"Release hell! Extract the Captain!"
The ship's heavy weapons activated. A-30 Thunderbolt cannons and missile pods rotated.
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT! BRTTTTT! BBBRRRRRRRRTTTTTTT!
The tower was flooded with gunfire.
They weren't aiming.They were erasing the area.
Rounds slammed into Velira's shield. She staggered, lost balance, and was forced back several steps. Her sword scraped across Eray's armor and embedded itself into the floor.
Kaelthas stopped the incoming rockets mid-air and detonated them, but the dust and shockwaves blinded the area.
A grappling cable shot down from the ship and locked onto Eray's armor.
"Pull! Pull!"
As Eray was yanked upward, Emperor Kaelthas raised his hand toward the ship's main engine.
"Fall," the Emperor said.
A colossal golden hammer formed in the sky and smashed into the ship's right wing.
CRAAAAASH!
The scream of tearing metal deafened the city.
One engine exploded, flames bursting outward. The ship tilted, losing altitude.
But the Raider pilots were skilled.
Despite the damage, they pulled Eray and the team aboard.
The ship, trailing black smoke, lurched violently and dove toward the dimensional rift.
As Eray was thrown into the cargo bay, the closing hatch gave him one final glimpse below.
The shattered tower.The city in flames.And, amid the dust, the silver-haired woman screaming toward the sky beside her father.
Eray lay on his back. His entire body ached. His lungs burned.
But he was alive.
The Commander approached and removed his helmet. His face was tight with tension.
"Captain…" he asked, gripping the shaking hull."What was that thing? One man crushed armor like paper."
Eray smiled weakly, blood on his lips, and closed his eyes.
"He…" Eray whispered."…was only the beginning."
As the ship entered the dimensional tunnel, Eray still didn't know why he had stopped the execution order.
But he knew one thing.
He would return.
And next time, it wouldn't take a ship to crush that Emperor.
It would take a fleet.