"Sight of Halkeginia in t minus 1 minute."
Louise walked into the main bridge of the Nightscreamer and up to the monitors beside Saw'veleesh. "Good, we're near the mountains then."
"Correct. But,-"
"But what?" Louise replied angrily as she glared toward Saw'veleesh.
Saw'veleesh turned to the panels and poked them telepathically, opening a large ichor screen that showed the mountains that split Halkeginia from the elven lands. The mountain range was both high and broad, splitting the continent into two nearly impassible halves. The mountains were covered in a thin layer of snow and above them was Saw's cause for alarm.
High above the mountains floated the entire combined strength of all the airships of Tristania and the elves. Almost three dozen sky ships ranging in size from the smallest Tristanian merchant ship to the largest elven battleship. Surrounding them were dragon, griffon, manticore, and wyvern knights, easily numbering in the hundreds. One the ground below them, standing in front of the mountains, were hundreds, if not thousands of soldiers, all of them armed and ready for combat.
Louise looked at the monitor and nearly growled. "How in the Overlords name . . . . . . . . . . . . there's no way the Tristanian would believe the elves, how?"
"Perhaps they decided to anyway?
"Doubtful. It is more likely that somehow they found out on their own. I'm sure not a single person escaped the expedition grounds."
"Could they have had a change of heart and listened?"
"It's possible, but unlikely. Regardless it does not matter. Halkeginian cannon would not be able to pierce our hull, and while the elven cannon may be able to just barely, they don't have enough of them, and they would never have exchanged info on how to build more. This will be a slaughter!"
"This one worries about the potential of the combined enemy strength, but shall submit to your judgment. Shall they be engaged?"
"Yes, how many Stormriders do we have in the hanger again?"
"Five?"
"Phalanx squads?"
"Ninety three squads of three, as well as four hundred squads of buzzer drones."
"Good. The buzzers alone should be sufficient, release them and the phalanxes to crush the ground forces. The Stormriders will take out the non-sky ship units in the air. Dragons and wyvern will be no match for Stormriders!"
"Of course. What of the flying wooden ships?" Saw'veleesh asked.
In response all of Louise's Polaron cords lifted up and stabbed into the control panel, pink and purple pulses of light traveling their lengths immediately. "I shall control the ship directly. The plasma disks will annihilate any forces that near us and the main gun will pick them off ship by ship. They will stand no chance!"
"Of course, I shall deploy the troops."
"Good, it's time to kill them all!"
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"That thing . . . . . . . . The Nightscreamer is moving closer, and it seems to be slowing down as well, my queen." Karin Vallière said as she stepped up beside the queen of Tristania.
The queen nodded. "Yes, it looks like that silver mist the elves spoke of is being released from it as well. And what are those large bulky things its dropping?"
Karin squinted and looked on toward the ground were the pool of mist was gathering, with objects landing among it. "They look kind of like trolls, or perhaps ogre's, they looks like bulky versions of what Cattleya's familiar saw."
"The ground forces look like they may have a hard time then. Will they be okay?"
Karin smirked. "I'm sure they will, General Gramont and my husband are both highly skilled, they will not lose to a mere mist and ogre wannabe's."
"Alright, then let us end this creatures terror. Give the order please, Karin.
Karin nodded and walked over to the edge of the ships main deck, placing her hand on the cannon beside her. The cannon was a new model, devised within the last two weeks by incorporating the technology of the elven cannons into their own. They still were not as powerful as the elven cannons, but by using strengthened cannons and firing them using ground up fire crystals in the powder, it caused the cannon balls to be covered in bright flames as the flew through the air, and increased their velocity exponentially. "All of our ships have already been given their orders, all I need do is make the first hit, and they shall open fire," Karin muttered to herself as she lit a match and held it to the cannons fuse. Using her wind magic she shifted the cannon slightly to the right, and waited.
A horrible blast erupted from the cannons end as the gunpowder ignited, sending a plume of bright red flames straight out of it almost ten meters long. The ball shot out of the flame plume glowing bright orange with a wisp of flame trailing behind it. The air screamed as the shot flew until it struck the front of the Nightscreamer, creating a massive blast of metal on metal. Without waiting for the smoke to clear to assess damage all of the other ships, Tristanian and elven, began firing at will, deafening the surrounding landscape with their fire.
"I cannot tell if it's being damaged or not, can you, Karin?" The queen asked Karin as she stepped away from the cannon and back to the queens side, letting the ship's crew re-man the cannon she had fired.
"I honestly am unsure, but I'm sure we're doing something to it. There's no way anything could come out of that unscathed."
"I suppose not. I can't even see it through all that smoke. Should we order a stop to the fire momentarily?"
"Perhaps, but that would- what the hell is that?" Karin suddenly questioned as she moved to the railing and leaned over it, trying to get a better look at the smoke cloud that covered the Nightscreamer. A small section of cloud swirled as Karin and then the queen looked at it, and a second later, five deep purple shapes burst forth from the clouds, trails of purple light trailing behind them. The objects flew through the air at impossible speeds and careened directly toward the sky ships, but before getting to them, turned upwards and flew through the swarms of dragon, griffon and wyvern knights. Before anyone could react from the shock, the objects began firing pulses of light that pierced through dragons and griffons alike, killing them instantly and dropping them from the sky.
"by the founder!" the queen gasped as they watched their own forces be torn into by the strange craft.
"I don't think so!" Karin yelled as she pulled out her wand and raised it to the sky preparing to cast her magic upon them.
"No Karin, you'll take our forces down too!" The queen sighed, pulling down Karin's hand.
"But they'll-," Karin began, until the queen interrupted her.
"They'll be fine; we need to focus on the plan."
"You're right. We just need to-," Karin began as a screeching pierced the air, and an elven battleship blew into pieces. One minute it was fine and unharmed, the next it was a flaming wreck falling from the sky in pieces.
Both the queen and Karin looked back to the Nightscreamer to see the cloud of smoke around it had been blasted away, revealing it to be covered in small pits and holes, and its long spear-like point sticking out of the front glowing dark black. Before they could say anything a black light shot out of the long piece and blasted a Tristanian sky ship out of the air.
"By the Founder, what was that?" The queen shrieked in shock and disbelief.
"The weapon the elves told us about, the Nightscreamer's tongue I think they called it. " Karin said in horror as it fired again, destroying another Tristanian sky ship in a single hit.
"That's . . . . How can we beat that!"
Karin grinned. "Because, look to our borders!"
The queen turned around and looked to the north, south and west, and donned a smile similar to Karin's. "Give the order, Karin. We're bringing this thing down!"
"Of course, I shall give the order, then go and prepare for the operation."
The queen turned to Karin. "Just, don't lose yourself, okay? I know you have to do this but-"
"Don't worry, I'll stop this madness my daughter has created."
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Shield strength at 72 percent, hull integrity at 93 and power levels are still nominal." Saw'veleesh said quietly.
Louise nodded. "The Tristanian cannons are doing more than I thought. They must have stolen some of the elves' guns, or maybe stolen their knowledge."
"Halkeginian sky ship forces down to 84 percent, small air units down to 62, and we've lost one Stormrider." Saw'veleesh continued.
"Impressive. How is the ground battle faring?" Louise asked as she continued to look at the monitor and control the ship directly.
"Ground forces have just recently reached engagement status. Buzzers down to 77 percent, phalanxes down to 94. Enemy ground forces down to 86. "This one worries about the strength the enemy is showing."
"I wouldn't worry. The elves may have somehow gained the Tristanian help, but they'd never get-,"
"New contacts found on the ichor scans." Saw'veleesh interrupted abruptly.
"What?" From what direction?"
"North, south, and west, all contacts should be coming into range soon."
Louise watched the screen before her until the new contacts appeared, and when they did she went from unworried about resistance, to very worried. From the north, the entirety of the Germanian sky ship fleet, a total of sixteen battleships and twelve cruisers. From the south, the entire sky ship fleet of the Gallians, a total of twelve battleships and twenty three cruisers along with many militarized merchant vessels. And from the west, the fleets of both Albion and Romalia, almost forty battleships and a hundred cruisers, and easily twice that many merchant ships. "This could be a problem. How has the battle outcome statistics changed, Saw?"
"Previous likelihood of victory was between 70-100%, is now down to 15-25%. This one suggests a change of strategy."
"I agree. Order the Stormriders to stop engaging the small units; have them focus on all the small merchant ships and cruisers instead. It looks like I'll actually have to USE the plasma disk batteries!"
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"It appears we have the creature worried." The elven elder said calmly as he watched as the Nightscreamer began firing black disks all across the battlefield, both at the ground forces and at the air forces. The disks careened through the air and struck many ships at a time, each disk exploding with the force of easily three cannon balls; but against full sized battleships, it wasn't enough to break them, at least not nearly as quickly as the tongue did.
"Sir! The strange small craft have stopped attacking our wyverns and dragons; they are attacking all of the smaller sky ships now!" A soldier declared as he ran over to just behind the elder and bowed at the waist while he spoke.
The elder nodded. "That is good. Have our knights split into two groups, one to continue attacking the craft, the other to assist the land forces."
The soldier nodded and left as another came over to him and bowed before speaking. "Sir, we've a message from the Tristanian flagship. They request that we prepare the killing blow and be ready to use it at a moment's notice."
The elder nodded and turned to the soldier. "I expected it would come soon. Tell the General that he is in control now, as I shall be participating in the killing blow along with our elites and allies. And send a message to the Tristanian flagship that we are preparing momentarily. I will be on the flight deck."
"Yes, sir!" the soldier replied as he ran off, as the elder left the main deck and head into the ship.
Inside of the ship dozens of supply officers scurried about with a calm urgency as they tried to keep the gun crews supplied. The ship was not crowded as it would normally be as all but these officers were at their positions, and it reminded the elder just how well trained their forces were. The Halkeginian forces were well trained, but he personally did not like the layout of their ships, though it did not matter.
Going down three levels the elder walked up to the door clearly labelled for female soldiers and rapped his knuckles upon it. In a moment the door opened up and a single female soldier with short blonde hair poked her head out. Seeing the elder she came to attention then bowed to him, "Elder, do you need something? I was just preparing my equipment for the killing blow operation."
"That is what this is about actually," the elder said calmly with a smile of seriousness. "We are to begin official preparations for it, so I was wondering if Siesta was around."
"Oh, I think she went down to the flight deck already. If you're going down, may I accompany you, Elder?"
The elder nodded. "I would be honored, Samantha."
Samantha smiled, "Then give a second to grab my cleaver!"
True to her words, Samantha grabbed her cleaver, a large wide width and wickedly curved blade, and sheathed it on her belt. Her garments were like most elven wyvern riders, a tight shirt and equally tight pair of shorts and heavy boots, though Samantha seemed to like her shorts slightly longer, having them custom made to go down to her knees so her thighs were not showing as much
As the two of them proceeded down the corridors, dodging the occasional supply officer, the elder looked to Samantha and opened his mouth to speak, but waited until a barrage of cannon fire quieted. "May I ask you something, Samantha?"
"It would be strange not to considering I'm your daughter?"
"I suppose so. . . . What do you think of Siesta?"
Samantha looked forward, as if ignoring the elders gaze as she replied. "She is skilled for a human."
"I want your honest personal opinion, not your official rank affected one, please."
Samantha looked to the elder for a few moments before smiling. "Honestly, she's the most skilled non magic using human I've ever seen or heard of. Her skill, innate talent and drive are all almost scary with how impressive she is, and while humans can ride dragons without too many issues, I've never seen a human able to ride a wyvern with as much skill as she displays. It's like she should've been born an elf she's so talented!"
"I see. Anything else you'd like to add out of curiosity?"
"Yes. In addition to her amazing skill I've never met a human who is so understanding of others. I don't think I've ever seen her get into a fight over stupid things, and everyone seems to like her, despite her being human. I am quite proud of her, and glad that I took her in."
"I see. I'm still surprised you managed to convince the other elders to do such a thing honestly."
"What was I supposed to do? You got me training her and then a week into training she find out that her entire family had died from sickness. It only seemed right to take her in. If her hair was blonde I'd argue she was genetically my sister!"
"Not likely there, Samantha." The elder chuckled as the two of them went down a flight of stairs and stood before the only door available to them. "Shall we see if she is indeed here?"
"If she isn't I'd scold her for not being ready for the operation!" Samantha replied as she stepped in front of the elder and swung the door open, revealing the entire bottom floor of the elven battleship, its flight deck.
It did not used to be, but was now considered common knowledge that Halkeginian ships that carried griffon or dragon knights had their flight deck near the tops of their ships. By doing this their knights could take to the sky faster and take advantage of the wind flows created by the ships draft, but this also meant that it could be damaged by fire on the top and cannon decks. Elven sky ships on the other hand were designed quite differently, with their flight decks on the bottom of the ship. Because of this, their own knights could not take advantage of increased drafts, but in case of the ship becoming crippled and falling from the sky, the knights had significantly more time to get out of the ship with their mounts. It also protected their mounts from the cannon fire the upper levels were likely to receive.
The flight deck of the flagship was the largest flight deck and ship board stable of any elven ship. Its entire length was almost three times that of any Halkeginian sky ship deck. Along its entire length were dozens of stables and pens for dragons and wyverns, and at the back of the deck, by the door, was a large open area with some tables and chairs for use by the riders before a mission.
Normally the tables would be full of the knights and riders, keeping themselves calm before mission or in some cases sparing for practice. This time it was the latter, but all of the knights were gathered in a broken circle around two people who were sparring, a man and a woman. The man was a dragon knight, and wore heavy leather pants and a leather cuirass, both of which had small sections of plate mail on them to increase their protection. He wore no helmet, allowing his short light brown hair to move around as he swung his practice stave at his opponent moving his feet quickly to avoid being cornered as he did. The girl was his exact opposite on all points, even species. A human with long sleek black hair that was now braided, Siesta stood her ground across from the elven man, her own stave cracked and splintered badly. She wore the light leather armour of a wyvern rider; tight black shorts, a leather cuirass that could barely contain her voluptuous flesh, and almost knee length boots. She had modified parts of her equipment to suit herself better, including adding a short skirt to her belt that covered her shorts, and a small belt around her one thigh that held a large dagger. Using the damage to her stave to her advantage, Siesta twirled it above her head and swung it toward her opponent who was obviously out of range. The end of her stave broke off and flew toward her opponent, smacking him directly in the stomach and dropping him to the ground, giving her victory.
As many of the knights congratulated Siesta and helped up her opponent Samantha and the elder walked over, causing all of them, Siesta included, to stand at attention and bow at the waist.
"At ease, everyone!" the elder called, giving all of the men and women before him a second to get more comfortable as he continued. "Operation Killing Blow is to be prepared and will likely begin within the hour. Get you ready!"
As soon as the elder finished his words, the men and women began moving around, many of them running down the deck to the tables to make sure their mount was ready. Siesta however, walked over to the elder and Samantha, due to Samantha having waved her over a second before. "So, you ready, Siesta?" Samantha asked, a grin covering her face. She thought she knew the answer.
Siesta nodded. "Yes, I'm ready."
"Good . . . . Where's your weapon then?"
"Beside my stable."
"Why is it not on your person? It could get knocked over and out of the deck if an emergency happened you know." Samantha said causing Siesta to smack herself in the face.
" . . . . . . . . . . . . . I'll be back in a second," Siesta said with a groan as she turned and ran off down the flight deck.
Samantha looked on as Siesta ran down the deck and into one of the stables, and promptly fell out as her wyvern mount reacted to her sudden entrance. "She's changed quite a bit in a month, hasn't she?"
The elder nodded. "Indeed, when I first met her I would never have believed she could have beaten one of our best and most skilled dragon knights. She'll be quite a force to reckon with once this is all over, I'm sure of it."
"I am as well, but that only will ring true if we all survive this." Samantha said casually, not having meant it negatively.
"True, I suppose. And if we survive this, nothing will be the same."
Samantha smiled. "Change can be a good thing, I think. We'll just have to see."
The elder nodded in agreement as a small white bird flew into the flight deck and landed on his shoulder, holding a small piece of paper in its mouth. As the elder took the paper from the bird and looked it over Siesta came back, an extremely large single blade axe on her back. "Where'd the bird come from?"
"It's a messenger." Samantha replied as the elder passed the paper back to the bird and it flew off.
Both Siesta and Samantha looked at the elder as he slowly drew in a deep breath, then they realized what was going on as his voice roared to life. "The operation is to begin! The killing blow is nigh! Mount up and deploy! We end this now!"
The entire flight deck rocked as riders and their mounts roared in affirmation and excitement. Within seconds the first of the wyverns and dragons lumbered out of their individual stables, many of the wyverns salivating from excitement. Without saying a word, Samantha and Siesta walked over to a nearby stable, the elder following closely behind them.
"Would you be against me riding alongside you, Samantha?" The elder asked and she and Siesta got on their wyverns.
Samantha smiled and outstretched her hand to the elder. "Of course not. I even prepared the two person saddle, get on. You ready, Siesta?"
Siesta nodded, her face now looking cold and fierce as she pushed away all her doubts. "I'm ready. It's time we end this!"
Samantha smiled as the elder got on. "Good, then I'll see you out there!"
Without another word Samantha's wyvern ran out of its stable and down the flight deck. Following quickly after her Siesta's did as well, leaping into the open sky.
Outside the flight deck Siesta was finally able to get a view of the entire battlefield and it was just as bad as she figured it would be. The ground below them was filled with the sound of screams from the pitched battle, and the sky around them was filled with the continuous sound of cannon fire and dragon breath. Below them, littering the mountains, were the wrecks of dozens of sky ships from all countries, and more were falling, burning as they crashed out of the sky.
Siesta could feel her rage slowly building in her body, rage over the situation, and at its cause. Pulling on the reins she guided her wyvern down alongside the elven flyers, and towards the Nightscreamer. As they neared it she turned to see dozens of griffons and manticores joining them, Tristania's part of the killing blow.
Smiling to herself she followed Samantha's wyvern, and let hers spit small balls of acid toward the Nightscreamer when it wanted to. The combined flyers flew down so close they could almost touch the Nightscreamer, and as they all fired upon it at close range, it almost sounded like the thing screamed in pain
Swinging around again to dive bomb the Nightscreamer once more, it's actions changed as it began firing its black disks directly up at the flyers. Siesta scowled as she led her wyvern through the maze of fire. They only needed to keep hitting it; once they broke it they could kill it! Siesta kept going as flyers around her were struck down, decimated by the explosions the black disks created; until her wyvern was hit.
In horror Siesta watched, unable to dodge as a black disk struck her wyverns head, blowing it into pieces. Its body went limp and began falling through the fire. Acting quickly Siesta undid the fasteners on her saddle that held to her to it, and grabbed at her ax. If she survived landing on the Nightscreamer, she had to be ready, and if she didn't, it would be quick at least.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Shield strength critical, hull strength is compromised in three sectors, power output is declining!" Saw'veleesh stated quickly as he checked over other systems.
"Dammit! How in the Overlords name did they manage to convince all the other countries?" Louise hissed as she slammed her hands down on the controls as her tendrils aimed all of the dreadnaughts weaponry.
"This one has not the information to answer that question. Ground forces in disarray. Buzzer forces annihilated, phalanx down to 34 percent strength. Halkeginian ground forces down to 48 percent. Halkeginian air fleet down to 54 percent strength, one Stormrider remains."
"Grrrrr, this is ridiculous! Why are they not breaking yet!" Louise yelled, moments before a chain of explosions and rumbles rock the top of the ship, causing her to look up. "What the hell was that!"
"New contacts, numerous small fliers have come out of Tristanian and elven ships and are now swarming the ship. Suggest focusing AA batteries to annihilate."
"Grr, fine. I'll annihilate them myself!" Louise screamed as the screen before her changed to show the airspace above the ship, and moments later began showing it being filled with plasma disks. One by one the flyers were being picked off as they turned around to bomb the ship, until only a handful remained. "Now I'll just-," Louise began, before being interrupted by the horrendous sound of tearing and shearing metals.
The roof above her and Saw'veleesh tore into pieces and came down in chunks, forcing Louise to disconnect her Polaron cords from the ship and leap away. As the debris settled Louise looked up from where she had landed to see a massive hole in the roof of the dreadnaught, light shining in like a fire. Directly below the hole among a pile of wreckage and metal, was what remained of a wyvern, its head gone and its body nearly unrecognizable. "Damn, if the hull is so badly compromised that the dead body of a freaking wyvern can punch it, then I guess we'll have to retreat and regroup. Saw, give the order! . . . . . . . . . . Saw?" Louise said as she looked around. Walking around the wreckage Louise sighed in displeasure as she found Saw'veleesh's body, or half of his body, lying just a foot away from the wreckage and the wyverns corpse. He had gotten caught under it. Groaning, Louise walked back over to the control panel and prepared to plug herself back in, until a knife flew from behind her and embedded itself in the panel beside her hand.
Louise stayed still for a second before turning around and started laughing. Standing beside the wreckage was the impossible to not recognize face and body of the maid, Siesta, though her hair was done into a braid and she was wearing a very revealing outfit of leathers and bits of steel. "Well, that explains why Tristania believed the elves. How'd you get away from my buzzers, Siesta?" Louise asked inquisitively.
Siesta pulled her axe off of her back and looked at Louise with a brow raised in confusion. "How do you know my name, and what the hell are you?"
"Ah I forgot. You hadn't seen any of my transformation stages have you? I'll just tell you straight then. I am Louise Vallière!"
"Impossible!"
"Oh it's completely true. I also kidnapped and experimented on Kirche. Oh, and I was the one who killed Maria; her body's likely rotting on a mountain top by now!"
Siestas grip on her axe tightened as she pulled out a dagger with her other hand. "Why!?"
"Why? Why what?"
"Why would you do this? Why would you cause all of this destruction, death and horror!?" Siesta demanded angrily as rage seethed through her teeth.
Louise's Polaron cords lifted into the air and pointed their tips towards Siesta. "I think I'll tell you after I've made you into my new experiment. Please try not to move around too much, I don't want to break your brain!" Louise said as her Polaron cords began firing at Siesta.
Siesta leapt to the side, and fell down right behind the wreckage she had come in by. Putting her dagger down carefully as Polaron fire began blasting her cover to bits; she pulled out a small sphere, and lit the rope coming out of with a small piece of flint. Standing up from the cover during a break of fire Siesta whipped the object at Louise, who caught it in her right hand and laughed.
"Did you really think a throwing knife would actually-," Louise began as the grenades explosion silenced her. Louise looked down to see her entire forearm blown into pieces, deep purple liquid dripping out of what was left of her arm. "That was, a, how did it? There's no way a Halkeginian grenade could break me!"
Siesta stepped away from the wreckage and screamed as she ran toward Louise, her axe held high in both hands. "I never said it was Halkeginian!"
Louise waited until Siesta was close and grappled her with all of her Polaron cords, throwing both her and her ax across the room and off the upraised command platform. Siesta's body fell to the floor with a dull thud, and her axe landed beside her as Louise leapt down from the platform. "I do this because it will mean the survival of Halkeginia, and the advancement of all as a species. We will become perfect beings. And the only way to do that is to burn away the greatest amount, to leave only the strongest. Only they will be able to become Scrin as I have!" Louise declared to the motionless Siesta who looked to be impaled on a crystal of ichor that had been in the wall.
"So you betray not just your family name but your entire species? Do you not remember my rules?"
Louise turned away from Siesta to find Karin, Cattleya and Eleonore Vallière standing on the command platform above her. "You appear to know my identity, how long have you been watching I wonder?" Louise asked in reply, her tone callous and uncaring that her sisters and mother were before her.
"We just got here in time to hear your explanation," Eleonore said as she glared at Louise much like her mother was. "But we've known what you've been doing since when Cattleya's familiar returned from looking for you."
"Huh, your familiar, Hanes. I should have recalled him. How careless of me.
"Please tell me you aren't doing this, Louise!" Cattleya said, almost pleading with her as she pulled out her wand. "You don't need to do this!"
Louise Polaron cords lifted into the air and pointed toward her family. "Yes. I do."
The three of them leapt to the floor as Polaron blasts zinged past them at frightful speed. Every chance they tried to stand and attack was taken from them by the shots that seemed to automatically locate their position and change their firing angle. "We need to stop whatever that is!" Karin said as she ducked another shot and was now nearly kissing the ground behind the control board. "If we don't hurry this thing will fall and crash before we finish here!"
"You won't be able to stop me, you know!" Louise yelled happily as she continued firing toward where they hid. As long as I know where you are I will kill-," Louise stopped as agonizing pain assaulted her sense, and all of her Polaron cords fell to the ground, cut from her head.
Turning around in a panic Louise froze as she found Siesta standing in front of her, axe held high above her head, and crystal of ichor still embedded in her stomach. Thinking that the axe could not hurt her Louise did not move, and gasped as the axe plunged deep into her torso, sickly purple liquid and gore spilling out around it. Without saying a word, Siesta lifted her leg and kicked Louise off of her axe blade before standing over her and screaming in rage. "You killed everyone! Now I'll kill you!"
Siesta's axe came down again onto Louise's torso, this time cutting completely through her body and piercing the floor beneath her. Siesta wrenched the axe free of the decking, and dropped it onto Louise again. And again. And again. Siesta only stopped when her blade bisected Louise's skull, painting the floor purple with her now inhuman blood and leaving her body barely recognizable to even what it had been.
Siesta dropped to the ground a moment later, all energy leaving her body in a flood as she used her free hand to grip the ichor embedded in her stomach. With a horrid scream Siesta tore the crystal out of her body, and fell unconscious in time for Cattleya to grab her. "We need to leave, now!" Karin yelled as a horrid groaning moan echoed inside the ship as it began to fall from the sky, its power finally dying.
A minute later the Nightscreamer crashed to the ground, creating an explosion that rocked the continent and devastated the landscape.