“That is a bad idea!”
Dys paused in her destructive efforts to turn her attention onto Sabina.
“What do you mean? This thing might explode at any minute! I’ve got to get it out of here!”
The Behemoth’s prototype magic engine wasn’t anywhere near as large or complicated as Jadis knew a combustion engine from Earth would be for the same purpose; it was basically just a big wood and metal box with the propeller coming out of the back end. There was a complex array of eleria-based runes on the inside, she knew, but from the outside it wasn’t too different from an iron-banded crate. While avoiding the spinning propeller was tricky, Dys was able to break open the back wall of the Behemoth and was prepared to pull the whole engine right out of its stability casing and send it hurtling to the ground below. The only thing stopping her was the frantic, rapid-fire shouting coming from the half-elf enchanter who had made the thing in the first place.
“You can’t pull it out while it’s running because you’re going to break all the connections that run from the engine to the controls to the runes in the balloon and that will destabilize the air lift heating system and—”
“Sabina! What happens if I pull it out?”
“If you break the connection right now it’ll probably explode!”
Another probably. Jadis cursed internally, but the imprecision was something that came with a brand-new technology that was being put through a completely novel situation. She couldn’t expect Sabina to have more than educated guesses. Still, while the smith was telling her not to break the eleria connections built into the frame of the airship, Jadis couldn’t leave the engine in place. Even as they spoke, small explosions of magic were causing the aether around them to ripple in disturbing ways. Further, her naked eye could see that the metal shaft that the propeller blade turned on was turning red from friction heat. Even if nothing magical happened, the damn thing might catch fire anyway.
“Okay, can you disconnect it safely?”
“I think so, if I don’t get bumped around too much and I have my tools, and I do have my tools, but I need to be careful not to crack the rune marks anywhere or break them or fracture them because then it’ll be just as bad as if you did rip the whole thing out of the back of the Behemoth and—”
“Sabby, focus! Short answer! Anything else you need?”
“I need to keep power going to the runes in the balloon otherwise we will lose all our lift and we’ll fall out of the sky like a giant wagon with no wings because we are in a giant wagon with no wings. The runes will lose power as I disconnect them and I can’t power them myself while I’m doing this so I need someone with magic to keep them powered.”
“I’ve got it,” Sorcha called out from behind Sabina. “Tell me where to go and I’ll keep the runes powered.”
“I’ll help, too,” Cora shouted as well, her voice calm despite the urgency. “Thais is keeping us all healed well enough, so I have magic to spare.”
“Alright, how long?” Dys asked Sabina as the magic explosions coming from the engine made her wince.
“One minute! Maybe two!” the smith cried out, her head already ducked under the engine mounting. “Try to keep us steady!”
“Easier said than done,” Dys murmured as she dropped out from the back of the Behemoth and moved to the underside so she could try to stabilize the vessel from below. “This thing is as aerodynamic as a pineapple right now.”
Indeed, that was the problem her Syd self was struggling to fix. The large tears in the front of the airship were why the vessel had sunk so low, but they were also having the dual effect of reducing the stability of the Behemoth. The ship was shaking like a leaf in a storm thanks to the open holes in the front.
Keeping her sword staff in one hand, Syd was straining to keep the treated wool fabric in place so the balloon could be patched. Aelius was helping, thankfully, but even between the two of them, it was a struggle to keep the tarp where they needed it thanks to the wind and vibrations. Securing the fabric was an even bigger challenge to overcome.
“Shit! The hook here is broken!” Syd called out as she tried to attach the patch to the wooden frame.
“Several are damaged here, as well,” Aelius shouted back over the noise. “We will need tools to fix them!”
“I don’t have any—”
“We do,” Meli’s calm voice cut Syd off. “Make room.”
In a display of acrobatic skill, Meli climbed up the side of the airship, several tools tucked into the folds of her flapping toga. Behind her, Syd could see Terrance climbing out of the airship’s window, a hammer clutched between his teeth as he displayed unexpected nimbleness. The two ignored the wind and danger and within seconds were holding onto the front of the balloon. They worked quickly, using large iron nails and hammers to anchor the tarp into place.
Jadis wanted to protest and send them back inside the airship. Neither had flight magic, and falling off the racing Behemoth could be lethal even though they were only a dozen or so feet off the ground. She couldn’t reject the aid, though. With her own eyes in the sky, Jadis saw the danger coming, and even three bodies were not enough to be everywhere at once.
The turn to the left had helped angle their flight path out of the way of the main horde of Demons that Noll and Severina were combating, but there were still many more enemies to contend with. Without sparing the time to give a word of explanation, Syd launched herself away from the Behemoth and shot ahead towards the glowing targets that shone in the dark thanks to her bespelled eyes.
As she neared the ominously glowing points, a beam of icy frost magic and a burning stream of fire shot out of the dark landscape at her. Syd dodged around the twin blasts of magic with a rapid spin before levelling out a second later, her sword staff extended to her side. In the next second, her sword shattered the shields of two dead head Demons who had been lying in ambush on the crest of a small hill. Her blade connected with rotted flesh and a moment later she saw the notification pop up that told her at least one of the headless Demons had been slain.
The Behemoth passed over the hill a few seconds later and Dys winced as her back scraped against a bit of raised stone. The airship above her shuddered, but she did her best to hold it still. Since nothing exploded after a few seconds, she assumed that the slight collision hadn’t caused Sabina to mistakenly shatter one of the crystallized rune circuits that she was disassembling. Gritting her teeth, Dys focused on pushing the Behemoth higher into the sky so that it wouldn’t be so easy for landbound targets to hit. Her efforts gave the ship some altitude, but not much.
As Syd continued her flight ahead of the Behemoth, cutting down any Demons that were in the way, Jay raced along above everyone. Her enhanced eyesight allowed her to spot many of the Demons moving across the landscape, as well as the maneuvers of her allies protecting their rear and flank. In a way, the sight of all those glowing specks flowing through the aether far below had an eerie beauty to it. If the situation was not so dire, she might have enjoyed the spectacle.
A high-pitched laugh that sounded like a tiny bell reached Jay’s ears. Glancing at Alex who was held against her chest, she saw that her demonic lover had opened the protective cocoon slightly so that Hope’s round face was exposed. The baby was smiling and laughing with delight as she stared down at the chaotic scene, her rainbow-colored eyes shining.
“I’m glad someone’s having fun, at least,” Jay murmured as she squeezed Alex against her chest a little tighter.
Turning her attention back to the battle, Jay scanned for Severina and Noll. The Seraphim was easy enough to spot, since her aura lit up the aether like the sun. Noll, however, was a little harder to find among all the churning lights of the Demons. She found it was easier to locate him by searching for where the rancid motes of demonic magic were being snuffed out in great numbers.
Both warriors were chasing along behind and slightly to the right of the Behemoth, slaying hostiles as they went without lingering. Many of the Demons were angling their chase after them rather than the struggling Behemoth thanks to all the commotion their presence was causing. However, as Jay overwatched the battlefield, she saw several points of magic light coming from the north moving at a rapid pace that were ignoring the two fighters and were instead heading on an intercept course for the Behemoth.
“We’ve got four wyverns coming at us,” Syd cried out as she fell back to fly parallel to the Behemoth. “Brace for impact!”
As Syd moved to cover the right side of the airship, Dys left her spot under the Behemoth to do the same. The whole ship dropped five feet out of the air as she stopped supporting it, which turned out to be a good thing. For the Behemoth’s balloon, at least, since it meant the wyverns intercepted slightly higher than they likely meant to.
Four winged figures came slicing through the sky at high speed, all aimed at the airship. Long, spiny tails wreathed in magic whipped below their bony bodies, striking out as they passed by overhead. Syd lashed out with her sword staff, slicing through a wyvern’s tail that was dripping with poison before it could hit the Behemoth. As the monster continued on its flight past the airship, its amputated tail smashed against the side of the balloon and stuck in place thanks to its many sharp spikes. At the same time, a second wyvern that was flying so that it struck the vessel further back down the length of the balloon attacked with dangerous fire burning on its tail. Dys caught the blow on her crossed arms, letting it hit her so that it wouldn’t cause further damage to the ship. Her protective maneuver was successful, though it left burnt and torn gashes in the skin of her forearms.
Aelius’ flaming sword extended to a ridiculous length as he swung the blade in a mighty arc that caught a third wyvern in the meat between shoulder and neck. The beast was sent spinning out of control as it flew by the Behemoth to crash some distance away into the ground beyond. For a moment, Jay expected to see a fiery explosion, until she remembered that Demons weren’t full of silver screen pyrotechnics. That said, the way the possessed creature’s red and purple aura bloomed as its body crumpled into the dirt and stone of the churned earth was oddly explosive-like. When she heard Hope’s giggle ring out again, she knew that her daughter appreciated the light show as much as Jadis did, in an abstract way.
A cry of pain kept Jadis’ Syd self focused on the immediate situation. Flying to get back in place next to the nose of the aircraft, she saw that the fourth wyvern had landed an attack with the lightning crack of its electrified tail. Meli’s toga was torn, revealing her back which had chunks of wooden flesh torn from it. Yellow sap was flowing freely from the large open wounds, and Syd could see that the injuries were deep enough that if Meli had been human, her internal organs would have been exposed. That wasn’t the case, so all Syd could see was torn and broken wood-flesh, but her body was still in a terrible state.
“I’ve got her!” Terrance called out, one arm wrapped around Meli as he helped support the Dryad. “Keep up the fight!”
Jadis wanted to help move the wounded woman back into the safety of the Behemoth’s interior, but she forced herself to leave the task to Terrance. The bald man was in a position to help, and she needed to focus on the fight, just as he said. The three remaining wyverns were already turning to make another pass at the airship.
As the hostile flying lizards looped back around to strike a second time, inspiration struck Jadis. Dys was in need of a weapon, and she had a new option available to her. Using great speed and care, Dys pulled the severed wyvern tail out of the side of the Behemoth’s balloon. It left a great number of holes behind, but they weren’t too bad compared to the rent cloth on the front of the airship.
Holding the tail at the base where some blood still dripped from it, Dys raised the whip-like appendage so that its nearly twenty-five-foot length streamed behind her. The thing was covered in wicked long spikes and a venomous green ooze still dripped from the many sharp points. Jadis had never used a whip before, but she didn’t see any reason why she couldn’t learn. Practical experience was an excellent teacher, after all.
As the three possessed monsters neared, Dys, Syd, and Aelius moved to the other side of the ship so they could protect it. This time, though, Jadis recognized that the Demons had a much more direct vector of attack.
Dys lashed out with the makeshift weapon and struck the leftmost wyvern with a downward blow that was empowered by her shield-breaking skill. The crack of the whip connecting with the beast’s head echoed loudly, the sound redoubled by the Demon’s magic protection shattering, and the creature was forced to dip down as its head was knocked aside. The diving monster’s spiny back scraped along the underside of the back end of the balloon as it passed, though the damage was minimal.
Aelius’ burning blade lanced outward at the wyvern furthest to the right. His attack was met by a crackle of lightning as the Demon within the lizard created a shield to protect its vessel. Aelius didn’t have the power to punch through shields the way Jadis did, but his fiery attack still struck hard and shattered the shield. Jay couldn’t quite see where the wyvern was hit from her vantage point, but the beast flew past the Behemoth with its left wing set ablaze.
The third wyvern, the one that was missing its tail, aimed to smash headfirst into the middle of the airship’s balloon.
Flying forward, Syd used her sword staff like a spear as she rammed into the magic beast in a head-on collision. Making sure to activate Break the Bulwark, she had a brief moment of surprise when no shield manifested to protect the wyvern from her attack. Either the Demon didn’t possess the spell, or it didn’t have the time or magic to cast it. Either way, her blade pierced through the creature’s torso as the two collided in midair. Syd was forced back by the wyvern’s momentum and the two crashed into the wooden side of the Behemoth’s cabin.
Syd gasped, not so much from pain as she did from the sudden lethargy that overtook her. Not just that body, but her Dys and Jay selves as well. Using two hundred points of stamina to power Break the Bulwark twice in rapid succession had drained her already strained reserves dramatically. She suddenly felt as winded as though she had sprinted a mile in her original, far less athletic, human body on Earth.
As the still living, wildly struggling wyvern clawed at her with its hindlegs and beat against her with its body, Syd did her best to leverage her strength to pull the beast away from the airship so that no further harm would come to the vessel. The task was far harder than it should have been, as she found she barely had any energy to move her own limbs, much less push back against the flailing wyvern. As Syd grappled with the beast, she felt a warmth envelop her that bolstered her flagging stamina, followed by a scintillating blue flame bursting across the wyvern’s scales.
Looking up, she saw Bridget’s glowing lantern withdraw back into the open port window on the side of the Behemoth. Half a second later, the Wyvern’s fanged maw chased after her as it crammed its ugly head into the window. Syd couldn’t see what happened next, but she could hear several loud noises, including what sounded like a bear roaring, before the wyvern’s body went abruptly slack. The beast’s mangled neck slipped out of the window, headless, leaving a trail of blood behind as the whole creature fell limply out of the sky.
A moment later, Syd saw Thea’s hand stick out of the window and give her an imitation of the thumbs up gesture she always used.
As Syd pulled up and away from the airship so she could respond to the two remaining flying enemies with Aelius, Dys slipped around the back of the Behemoth to check on Sabina’s progress.
“Almost done!” the smith called out, her head still inside the engine casing. “Just a few more!”
Jadis was glad to hear that, because the aether-rippling explosions coming off the engine were getting bigger and the propeller shaft had turned so red that she was shocked that the metal hadn’t deformed yet.
Tossing the end of the wyvern tail inside the back of the airship, Dys began breaking the metal struts that held the engine casing in place in preparation for pulling the whole thing free of the Behemoth. As she did so, her other selves watched the two remaining wyverns turn to come back in for another pass at the airship. Gauging their speed and the way they were angled, her Syd self shifted her flight to get into better position to protect the speeding wagon while Aelius flanked her.
“Aim for the one with the burning wing!” Syd shouted to the older Seraphim.
As Aelius swung his flame-extended sword at the oncoming wyvern, Syd did the same with her sword staff, catching the possessed beast between them. In an instant, both of the wyvern’s wings were bisected and the monster was sent hurtling to the ground in a bone-breaking crash that cut its malicious life short.
The final spiny wyvern met with a different fate.
As the huge, winged lizard came near, its mouth open and magic boiling up from within, Dys whipped around the back end of the Behemoth’s cabin with a heavy box in her hands. Using all the strength she had, Dys hurled the engine with its spinning propeller still attached at the oncoming wyvern. The animate and inanimate vessels met in a brutal show of blood and splinters that was rapidly left behind as the Behemoth coasted along with its momentum. As she watched the possessed beast and the airship engine crash to the ground, Dys let out a sigh of relief.
That sigh turned into a shocked curse as a multi-colored fireball of immense proportions exploded outward from the site of the crash, lighting up the destroyed landscape as bright as the noonday sun for a few seconds before fading into a dusty mushroom cloud.
“Holy shit…” Dys gaped as she leaned against the back of the Behemoth.
“I told you it would be a bad idea to just rip it out,” Sabina said as she stood next to her in the gaping hole. “Oh! Nice wyvern tail. Very big. I think I can use that for a few different weapons and enchantments.”
“That’s nice…” Dys said quietly, her eyes wide, before slowly sinking down to help push the Behemoth back up into the air.
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