15: A New Strain
Even from within the brig of the Phalanx, the noise of countless pairs of armoured feet marching and scurrying to their stations, ready to rain fire down on the proudest city in Altus, Eridias. As a Battleship, the Titan was huge, perhaps the width of a Jhen Mohran, and twice one in length, easily able to hold two hundred normal-sized airships within itself. And, of course, it had its own weaponry: huge cannons with power enough to leave craters where houses would stand; ballistae to tear huge holes in ships of similar size and simply tear apart normal aircraft, flamethrowers -thanks to the newest technology- plus whatever other fearsome, cruelly imaginative ways to destroy there were installed upon this airborne death machine. It was worrying just to merely entertain the thought that one could design new and inventive ways to kill their fellow man so easily.
"This ship is so huge...Full of airships and soldiers," Alexis said, her voice filled with dread. "There's an army in here. Eridias is gigantic, but...can it really withstand a force this large?"
"Sure it can!" Aaron boomed optimistically. "It's not defenseless. It's got its own army!" He placed his hand on Alexis' shoulder reassuringly. The intimidating, angular eyes of his Rathalos Soul helmet held no emotion, but Alexis, like everybody else, could imagine the sixteen-year-old's million-zeni smile behind it. "This is the capital of Altus we're talking about," he said slowly. "Whatever this thing's packing, Eridias'll have tenfold."
"Yeah...I guess you're right...But what about us?" Alexis murmured, still unsure. Dante, who sat right up against her, gently turned her to face him.
"Hey," he said comfortingly, clasping her hands in his own. "It'll be okay. We'll get out of this, I promise. I won't let them hurt you." He hooked his arm around her and pulled her in for a kiss.
"Steady the buffs!" Thain bellowed, chuckling heartily. Alexis smiled as she pulled away and buried herself in her lover's arms. Meanwhile, Aaron turned to face April, pulling off his helmet to reveal his stunning eyes. They were blue like Dante's, but they were a vibrant sky blue, as opposed to Dante's, which were sapphire, like the sea. His hair was windswept and messy, coloured faint brown.
"Are you okay?" he asked, as softly as possible. April slid over, laid herself on top of him and kissed him. It was strange, new and exciting for him. April was his first -and, he hoped, only- girlfriend and he wasn't used to the passion. It wasn't familiar yet. He liked it that way. The feeling washed over him like a bolt of thunder. This was what love felt like. At last, April's lips gently fell away from his, but not far.
"I am now," she purred, and, like Alexis, buried her head in Aaron's arms.
"Ah, youth!" Thain sighed wistfully, chuckling again, a little more brief this time.
"Haven't you ever fallen in love, Thain?" Ash cooed teasingly. The teenagers chuckled, bar Ichiro, who still hadn't said a single word in ages. Thain's face became placid and he sighed again, deeper this time, as if mulling over a question that had been eating away at him forever.
"Aye, I did, once."
"What was she like?" Ash asked, like a child being told a legend. "Was she pretty?"
"Oh aye, she was indeed; the finest lass from miles around. We'd agreed to marry one day, but we never got the chance."
"What was her name"? Teiko asked.
"Alice," Thain said a smile on his face. He said the name with wistful nostalgia.
"Why?" Ruby cut in. Thain exhaled deeply.
"She went out to gather some herbs one night for sick child in our village. She never came back. Never found her body. She was probably eaten by some godforsaken beast. I can only hope it were quick an' painless."
Now that the teens knew this, Thain looked just that little bit wearier. He sighed once again and said nothing more.
Before conversation to continue, the whole airships shuddered into life, the engine making a whining noise, the pitch growing higher and higher.
"We're leaving!" Miyuki exclaimed.
"They must be starting to attack...!" Ash cried out, then whined like a hurt dog. She looked to Teiko for comfort and fell into his embrace.
"It's gonna be ok," he reassured her, despite his own doubts.
There was nothing the hunters could do but wait.
"ALL HANDS, FIRE AT WILL!" Shin Mei shouted over the very same loudhailer that Shikimaru had been using only minutes ago. Moments after he gave the command a crescendo of -if not for the thick glass of the bridge front- deafening noise began its woeful chorus. Explosions bloomed like flowers all over the cityscape of Eridias, destroying countless buildings and lives. Whole rows of houses and industrial structures, annihilated in an instant.
Shikimaru had delegated control of the Titan to Shin Mei upon his departure for the Phalanx. It wasn't something he particularly enjoyed, but he couldn't complain. He didn't dislike it. He just didn't like to be in absolute command. He preferred having at least one superior above him, partly because he preferred to be told what orders to give rather than make his own decisions and partly because it was better to not be the first person everybody looks to when something goes awry.
"General, sir, our instruments are picking up another electrical charge! Fifty-three gigafulgurs!" one of the bridge crew shouted out.
"Look, there! It's emerging from the clouds!" another cried.
Shin Mei looked with both frustration and awe as a Battleship as gargantuan as the Titan pierced the wispy white veil of clouds in the midday sky. Unlike the bland, industrial dark grey of the Titan, this vessel's every inch was covered in the valiant red and gold of the Guild. The ship itself was shaped much like the Titan, too; relatively triangular and covered in cannons and other weaponry, almost a mess really.
Then again, the technology required to sustain ships this large was extremely modern, hot-off-the-press, and humans had only just learned how to manipulate it: the electricity generated by Zinogres, or, to be more precise, the Fulgurbugs that provided the beasts with such power. The unit of measurement for this "electricity" had been aptly dubbed "fulgur". Of course, instruments to detect separate sources of electrical charge had been developed, as well as metres to display the fulgurs of electrical charges within ships. Then there was a kilofulgur (one thousand fulgurs), a megafulgur (ten thousand fulgurs), a gigafulgur (one hundred thousand fulgurs) and terafulgurs (one million fulgurs, although no such measurement had ever been recorded).
Shin Mei's black, already beady eyes narrowed to slits, making his angst apparent.
"Sir? What are you orders?" the crewman nearest to Shin Mei asked him, awaiting instructions. Shin Mei thought for a while. There was no way they were turning back. They'd come for a reason. Of course, now that they'd attacked Guild territory -not to mention crossed into it- the Battleship now staring them in the face would do all in its power to swat the Titan out of the sky...
It was then that Shin Mei realised their mistake, and laughed.
It was clear that the Guild's intention was to shoot them down. However, they had failed to notice a fatal flaw in this otherwise simple, perfect plan - when the Titan fell, where would it land? Eridias, of course. Even if the Titan was shot out of the sky, it would crash into Eridias and crush countless buildings and people alike.
Checkmate, Shin Mei thought to himself smugly. He turned to face his still-waiting subordinate.
"Destroy it."
The Titan fired.
Admiral Lysander Hunt stood upon the bridge of the Dragon's Roar, his hands behind his back, standing with a stiff posture and an equally stiff upper lip (hidden under his moustache, which was, like his hair, dark grey and swiftly turning white) and staring in the face the Tenkai Battleship before them, which had fired upon his aircraft only moments ago. Even as the ship had shuddered beneath his feet as the enemy projectile had torn into the ship, Admiral Hunt had stood completely still, as if he hadn't even acknowledged the attack. It had only dealt superficial damage but there was bound to be more projectiles and other lethal paraphernalia headed their way. He had to be ready to do his job. He calmly produced a cigar from the pocket of his red and gold waistcoat and lit it with a match, which he promptly flapped about in the air the extinguish the flame before discarding it, placing the cigar in his mouth and taking a good, deep puff, blowing a few O's in the air with the excess smoke afterwards.
"Admiral, sir! Upper Decks nine through twelve are compromised!" One of the bridge crewmen shouted.
"Ignore it. Just seal them off," Hunt replied calmly.
"Aye aye. Sealing Upper Decks nine through twelve."
"ALL HANDS, FIRE AT WILL!" Hunt shouted down the loudhailer, incredibly loud but equally as placid. More shuddering and booming and myriad other sounds clashed against one another as the Dragon's Roar loosed the wrath of a thousand Teostras upon the gloomy grey enemy, ugly explosions dotting the ship.
"Full speed ahead!" Hunt snapped to the bridge crew. The Dragon's Roar began to creep (needless to say, "full speed" for a battleship as terrifyingly large as this really wasn't very fast at all) towards the enemy ship. They were fairly close, so it wouldn't take long to be at the distance (or lack thereof) Hunt desired. The Tenkai aircraft continued to fire upon the ship but Hunt stayed the course regardless, firing back constantly in return. At last, the Guild ship was close enough, drifting past the ship's right side (or left from a person's point of view).
Now was the time.
"Fire the starboard side ballistae!" the Admiral barked. He almost jumped as he heard the noise and felt the jolt of at least seven enormous ballistae launch from within the ship. These particular ballistae used metal chains instead of rope, although the cruel, barbed, four-pronged grappling hooks and the ends were the same (just unimaginably large). He heard the discordant screeching of the hooks tearing through the metalwork of the Tenkai ship. He waited until the screeching stopped, meaning the ballistae had settled in one place.
Once again, Admiral Lysander Hunt bellowed into the loudhailer.
"BEGIN BOARDING THE ENEMY VESSEL!"
The rumbling was so intense if felt like an earthquake was ripping the world apart. The screeching that accompanied it was so loud, ugly and unpleasant that it was almost painful to the ear.
"Ugh, what is that dreadful noise?!" Ruby growled as she, like Yumi, Teiko, Ash, Alexis and everybody else in the brig of the Phalanx, clamped her ears overhead head in a vain and futile attempt to drown out the noise.
"Ballistae!" Thain shouted. "Eridias must 'ave a Battleship, too!"
"The Dragon's Roar..." Miyuki murmured to herself. Suddenly, the screeching subsided, and slowly, hesitantly, everybody let go of their heads with relief.
"Hang on, didn't we leave the Titan?" Ash asked, perplexed.
"Evidently not," Irvine answered her, curiosity in his tone. "Something tells me that this does not bode well."
"Why are we still onboard the Titan?!" Shikimaru growled at the pilot of the Phalanx. He was in a rather disagreeable mood. He had a tight schedule and had wanted to be on his way to Szaras Dúl by now.
"I-I-I'm sorry, my lord, we-! Th-the Titan's under attack by an enemy Battleship! It's n-not safe to-!" The nervous and startle pilot stammered, but had no time to finish his sentence. Shikimaru had broken his neck in his ire. He hadn't even had time to blink before he fell to the floor in a heap.
"I don't have time for this!" Shikimaru hissed. He grabbed hold of the wooden wheel that steered the ship and ignited the engine with a lever to his left. He shouted at the crew below through the loudhailer to his right at the top of his voice.
"FIRE FRONT CANNONS! BLAST THE DOCK GATES OPEN!"
He watched as the light from outside burst in through the newly blown hole in the ship (one of many by this point), the lights of still-glowing splinters of charred metal dancing across his gleaming black eyes. He summoned a soldier from below to take command of the ship and told them to head for Szaras Dúl before walking away from the wheel and down below deck, headed for the brig.
Silence was drawing near.
Admiral Hunt kept his position on the bridge, still not moving a muscle, as he watched the explosions light up the Battleship that the Dragon's Roar had latched onto with its nightmarishly large ballistae. It irked him greatly that he couldn't see the boarding as it happened but he wasn't going to leave the ship, so he'd just have to deal with it.
But he was about to find out that the boarding was never going to happen.
Another tremor shook the aircraft violently, so much so that Hunt had to move properly for the first time in ages, grabbing onto the seat of the nearest crewman to him. When the quake settled, he righted himself and immediately demanded an explanation.
"What was that?!" He snapped impatiently, concerned.
"The enemy severed one of the ballista chains!" someone on the bridge shouted. "We've lost our grip on the enemy aircraft!"
"Goddammit!" Hunt growled, puffing his cigar to vent his anger. "I didn't wanna use it just yet, but..." He murmured to himself. The Dragon's Roar was facing the Tenkai ship at such and angle that a wide-area blast from the front of the ship could damage its engines. It was now or never. Admiral Hunt had made his decision.
"This ship is called the Dragon's Roar...I think it's about time this dragon breathed some fire," he said slyly, a slight grin twisting his lips.
"Aye, sir," the crewman nearest him on his left muttered. "Firing flamethrower in three, two, one..."
At zero, a funnel of flame burst from the front of the Guild aircraft, obscuring everything from view. The hellish claw of fire reached across from the Dragon's Roar and latched onto the Titan, melting, scorching and ripping everything it touched. At last, it hit the engines at the rear of the ship. An explosion larger than life bloomed like a deadly flower, before the flames from the Dragon's dissipated and the fire from the damaged engines was consumed by thick black smoke. Admiral Hunt watched safely from behind the bridge window as the Tenkai war ship slowly began to tilt toward the ground far below, unable to sustain itself without all its engines in full working order. The smoke followed close behind it like a faceless phantom. Everybody aboard the bridge of the Dragon's Roar whooped and cheered, relieved.
"Good job, people. Pull the ballistae back in," Admiral Hunt gave what he hoped would be his last order, for now at least. The jolt of the safely retracted ballistae washed over the Admiral like a tide of reassurance and relaxation.
"What the hell's going on out there?!" April moaned impatiently as she hit her head for the thousandth time against the back of the cell and the Phalanx shook violently, also for the thousandth time.
"Oh, who cares anymore?" Ash huffed. "The sooner we get off this thing the better."
"My thoughts exactly."
Everybody jumped out of their skins with shock, Shikimaru suddenly stood before them. Had he been there the whole time? It was highly unlikely, but it felt like it.
"Since you asked, we're currently embroiled in a mass aerial dogfight. But we don't intend on seeing it to the bitter end, no no. I've far too much to do. We're headed straight for the Glass Palace, Szaras Dúl. But while we have this precious time together, I thought I'd explain to you something of vital import," Shikimaru said, pacing back and forth slowly, from left to right.
"And what would that be?" Yumi hissed defiantly.
"The true nature of Mad Dragon Virus. Perhaps, before I begin the theory, I should give a visual demonstration," Shikimaru answered. He closed his eyes, as if to will the universe to fall under his control. Dante almost screamed as a large black wing burst from the left side of Shikimaru's back. Unlike the sharp, bony stubs of normal monsters' wing tips, this one had a menacing set of rusted orange claws which twitched and flexed -almost like a separate organism- as the wing did. The large, webbed, monstrous appendage looked so out of place with a human body that Dante wanted to rip out his eyes. He didn't want to gaze upon it any longer.
"What the fuck?!" he exclaimed, his voice pitchy and fearful, eyes wide with disgust.
"The Goa Magara's hallowed gift, with some help from Narka, naturally. This is what the virus can achieve. The power of monsters in human hands will make us unstoppable. Well, it will if one survives the process. Survival of the fittest, as they say. This is the next stage of humankind."
"You're fucking insane! How the hell did you do that to yourself?!" Dante yelled, outraged for reasons he couldn't define.
"A magician never reveals his secrets," Shikimaru replied mysteriously. "But seriously, in all honesty, I have no idea. I was merely the first text subject. I don't know how he did it. But he did. It may not me a complete, perfect merging -yet- but perfection only comes with time. That man is a true genius..."
"Who?" Teiko asked, confusion creasing his brow.
"I can't fly of course," Shikimaru continued, unperturbed, "one wing cannot provide the balance. But still, aesthetics are not the only feature of this new strain. Greatly increased physical strength and a limited ability to tap into the power of the monster you've been spliced with. Such are the powers of a hybrid. Like the Goa Magara, I too can spread the virus should I wish."
He allowed the unsettling revelation to sink in.
"Now you see. The Guild is the one with its neck in the hangman's noose. Not Tenkai."
Shikimaru relaxed his wing, allowing it to drape over his back like an organic cloak -exactly like the wings of the Goa Magara itself- as he strode away confidently, counting the minutes as the Phalanx drew nearer and nearer to its destination.
The Chancellor's seat of power.