Anya POV:
After I went to sleep and woke up at 5 before midnight, I got all of the others up to see that, outside, the purple clouds were beginning to flow into the city. "Time to save Jibral," I said as we rushed off to the castle and up the stairs to the area that we saw the Tsunami Vortex before. And when we arrived, we saw that Zola and Jibral had already sent out a ship into the sea. And I could sense magic on that ship. "That's the Eternal Engine I sense! It's enormous!" I gawked at it.
"It was big enough to power a Mechat, so it's definitely going to be powerful enough to stop the tsunami," Zola said, me looking at her in confusion.
"How did you know that was what it was called?" I asked her, Zola looking at me with a frown afterwards.
"I'd rather not explain that part," Zola frowned, me growing suspicious at that, but I kept it hidden.
"NOW!" Jibral exclaimed, the Eternal Engine lighting up immensely as the first watery cube was about to fall down, the Eternal Engine's light disintegrating the giant cubes of water without breaking a sweat!
"THAT was cool!" Shu smiled, but then the clouds above started raining down electricity.
"I think we made him mad," Kluke said.
"Ready the harpoons!" Jibral exclaimed, the doors behind us opening from three different areas to bring out gigantic harpoons with... enormous people with horns on their heads pushing them like they were nothing! They just had to be members of the Gorgo Giants!
"I've never seen a Gorgo Giant before... they look so... buff... mm..." I admitted as I couldn't help but ogle at them. They were so big and manly, but I knew that they were testy, so I looked away before I could make anyone uncomfortable. And when I did, I saw that the Flying Fortress had appeared on the horizon.
"Let's wait for it to get a little closer," Jibral said as the airship started to descend until it was close enough, Jibral giving the go-ahead to Zola.
"Aim the harpoons... and FIRE!" Zola exclaimed, everyone of the harpoons doing just that. The airship, upon getting struck with all 8 harpoons, tried its damnedest to fly away, but the Gorgo Giants were no slouches. Our group assisted the giants with the four central harpoons, using our magic and our shadows to help them reel in the Flying Fortress.
"Aerial Troops, begin your ascent!" Jibral exclaimed, our group smiling as large balloons started to rise up and two flying balloons landed for our groups to pile into.
"Let's get going! You guys are with me," Zola said as we followed her into her balloon machine. Once we ascended high enough, I noticed that the Flying Fortress tried to activate its jet thrusters, but the Giants held strong with their harpoons. Our group then shot some grapples to the top of the ship and, one by one, we flew down the cords to the bottom with me simply jumping down without using it. I managed to land with enough force to force a hole in the hull of the ship, which is what I wanted.
"Okay, that was equal parts cool and badass," Shu smiled at me. But our smiles wouldn't last long, as Nene sent out the cavalry in the form of numerous robots with drills on their hands.
"You guys get into the ship! We can handle these machines out here," Jibral said, me frowning at that as I simply approached him and knocked out a robot that was about to drill his head open.
"Not until I properly equip you for the job!" I exclaimed at him.
"What are you talking about?" Shu asked loudly, as there was a lot of fighting going on.
"You guys go on for now. I'll join up with you after I give something to Jibral! I'm going to call out his inner magic!" I exclaimed, Zola gasping at that and nodding, leading my allies below deck as Jibral looked at me in shock.
"You can really do that?" Jibral asked.
"Yes, I am, but it requires someone to be maximum level in Guardian status. Luckily, I am one of those people. Now, whatever you do, don't resist," I frowned at him as I held onto his temples and focused my magic to bring out the shadow that lay within him.
"AUGH! It's hurting!" Jibral exclaimed.
"It's only for a few seconds! Let out a loud roar! Let your magic pour out of you!" I exclaimed at him, Jibral roaring extremely loudly as a giant shadow appeared out of his back. It was one that looked like a demonic horse with large feathers on its backside and a giant horn jutting out frontwards from its forehead. "Now that you have the Qilin shadow, you can effectively fight! Don't hold back on these machines. They are built to kill!" I exclaimed at him.
"Understood. And thank you!" Jibral exclaimed at me.
"You're very welcome!" I exclaimed at him as I jumped down the same hole I made to meet up with my allies. And I then immediately ran for where I sensed their magics at.
Shu POV:
Our group proceeded through the interior of the Flying Fortress with Zola leading the way until we came to an area that looked very large and spacious. "What are we looking for?" Kluke asked.
"Nene's machines use Eternal Engines. This Flying Fortress should be powered by them. But I know there has got to be more than one Eternal Engine to power a fortress of this size," Zola said as we then came upon a console and she simply pushed a red button, causing a diagram to appear above us and for a small dimming of light to happen for a large engine in front of us. The diagram had 6 lights and, when Zola turned the engine off, it now had 5 lit up.
"Okay, according to this diagram, there should be six altogether," Jiro said.
"Then that means five to go!" Marumaro smiled widely.
"But now we must be cautious. This machine has cameras in it, so Nene is able to see that we've infiltrated his ship. He may very well decide to call upon the Four Generals," said the voice of Anya as she appeared from behind us.
"So, how did it go in helping Jibral?" I asked her, wondering how that went.
"From me calling out the inner magic in his soul, he is now the proud owner of the Savoir Qilin Shadow. He should be able to help out his forces up there for a good long while," she smiled.
"A Qilin? What's that?" Zola asked.
"According to history books that I've read, the Qilin is a mix of dragon and unicorn that has powerful feathers on its back to make up its mane. It's main class is the Guardian Class, much like my own," Anya smiled.
"You're incredible! I wish that I could do that. You know, awaken people's shadows," Jiro smiled.
"Well, it can only be possible once you have completely maxed out your shadow's main class. I mastered mine before Nene abducted me thanks to the numerous powerful monsters around Noluta Village," Anya smiled widely.
"So why didn't you do that to us when we first met?" Kluke asked.
"I barely knew you and you still are younger than the age required for me to be able to call out your inner power. You'd need to be at least 18 or older if I were to give you your own shadows... speaking of, can you show me your shadow's aura on our way to the next engine?" Anya asked.
"Sure," I smiled as all of us let out our shadows as we proceeded out of the area.
"Okay... Shu's shadow is Rank 5 in Sword Master, Rank 4 in Generalist, and Rank 3 in Monk. Jiro's is Rank 5 in White Magic, Rank 4 in Barrier Magic, and Rank 3 in Generalist. Marumaro has ascended to Rank 5 Monk, Rank 3 in Black, White, and Sword Master Magics, and Rank 4 Generalist... Kluke, I don't know how to tell you this... you are the first one of your quintet to have attained Rank 6 in a class," Anya smiled, all of us looking at Kluke, who looked quite happy to hear that.
"I'm at the maximum rank?" Kluke smiled.
"Indeed. But now comes the hard part. Getting intense anger inside of you in order to fully connect with your Fiery Phoenix within you. Once you have reached that state of pure rage, you can finally be able to free from Nene's soul's influence," Anya smiled.
"Amazing! Congratulations, Kluke!" I smiled at her.
"I can't believe it... but what can I get angry about? I'm normally quite a calm person," Kluke said.
"Think. What was the most traumatic experience you have ever experienced?" Zola asked.
"My... most traumatic experience..." Kluke frowned as she got angry eyebrows on her face. "It was when I witnessed my parents die from the Land Shark... the Land Shark sunk them underneath the sands... and smothered them until they suffocated!" Kluke growled angrily as I could feel some slight wind pressure appearing from her body.
"And who was the cause of it?! WHO ARE YOU MOST ANGRY AT?!" Anya yelled at her. And then Kluke finally lost it.
"NENEEEEEE! ! ! !" Kluke exclaimed in absolute fury as we all then gasped as a large flume of numerous different elements surrounded her just as we got spotted by a large robot with a drill on its hand. Kluke then exclaimed again and jumped up high, all of us in shock as she summoned a giant phoenix from out of her shadow and she rode on its back with ease. "TAKE THIS!" Kluke yelled with an echo in her voice as her Phoenix exhaled a giant torrent of lava from its mouth, melting the robots into dust and also leaving a gaping hole in front of us in the middle of the floor!
"Hah... hah... What... was that... awesomeness...?" Kluke asked after panting a bit.
"Be proud of yourself, Kluke. You've just become one with your Shadow and used your Corporeal Attack," Anya smiled at her.
"That looked awesome!" I smiled at Kluke happily.
"Yeah, let's go to the next Eternal Engine. Just be wary of any of Nene's robot generals. Raging Kesu especially. She's got very sharp knives coating her body," Anya said.
"Her?" Zola asked.
"They don't really have genders, but their voices determine how we address them. Mai and Kesu are females while Szabo, Ku, and Sai are males," Anya explained.
"Okay, we'll be cautious... especially of this lava... I can't believe that my shadow could make this big a blast," Kluke gawked.
"Believe it. It just happened, right, Lady Zola?" Marumaro smiled.
"Yeah, it did... heh," Zola smiled without any kind of sharpness in her eyes. But it would soon drop as we came to a door and we were suddenly ambushed by a robot that came out of a purple sphere. It looked to be someone with a rounded head, a calm expression on its unchanging face, two guns held at either side of his torso, and he flew in the air without a sound.
"Silent Ku. Honestly, I didn't expect that you'd want to face us so early on. You probably would've let Mai do it instead," Anya smiled at him.
"Master Nene... very unpleased with you... don't worry... you will soon be... out of your misery," the robot said with his voice in a calm manner like Anya's, but a bit softer in volume.
"Very well. Let's duel," Anya said as she pointed her fingers at her sides and squared off against Ku. "One. Two. THREE!" Anya exclaimed as she quickly pointed her fingers at Ku's guns before he could even grab them and shot them out of his reach and then some more shots to his face and torso.
"Gugh... impossible... Silent Ku is... the best gunslinger..." Ku groaned as he looked quite damaged from the attack.
"I've had a decade to practice while you were trapped in containment. Now do me a favor. Die," Anya frowned as she shot him in the face once more, Ku's head exploding off of his body before the rest of it followed suit.
"That just earned you 25 badass points, Anya," Jiro smiled.
"Heh, I know. And I love it," Anya smiled as she looked at Jiro and then winked at him, making him blush afterwards, something I never saw before.
"D-Did you just make Jiro blush? He's never blushed before in his life!" Kluke smiled.
"Looks like you've found your dream girl, Jiro," I smiled at him, which I was just teasing him, but Anya could tell he was feeling uncomfortable.
"We'll speak of it after we take out this fortress," Anya smiled.
"Okay, I'd like that," Jiro said at that.