The polished deck of The Iron-Heart didn't stay white for long.
Twenty Sky Knights charged Ciro. They were the elite of the Kingdom, graduates of the Academy of Swords and Sorcery. Their blades glowed with enchantments of sharpness and fire.
But they were fighting a ghost in a machine.
"Formation!" the Knight Captain shouted, slamming his visor down. "Shield wall! Box him in!"
Five knights stepped forward, locking their enchanted shields together to form a shimmering barrier of blue mana.
Ciro didn't stop. He didn't even slow down.
He triggered Stealth Mode.
To the knights, he simply ceased to exist. One second he was there, a black-armored demon; the next, empty air.
"Where did he go?!"
SHING.
Ciro didn't vanish; he slipped through the visual spectrum. He reappeared behind the shield wall.
He didn't stab; he spun. His mono-filament daggers extended to full length, humming with a high-pitched frequency that grated on the teeth.
The energy blades sliced through the enchanted silver armor as if it were parchment. Three heads hit the deck before the bodies realized they were dead.
"Magic," Ciro scoffed, kicking a headless corpse into the remaining knights to break their line. "So predictable."
The formation broke. Panic set in.
A Battle-Mage at the back of the group raised his staff, chanting a incantation. "Lightning Bolt!"
An arc of jagged blue electricity shot toward Ciro, faster than he could dodge.
Ciro didn't try. He raised his left gauntlet, bracing for impact.
ZAP.
The lightning hit his arm. The Poly-Weave Suit's insulation layers screamed, absorbing the industrial-grade power surge. Smoke rose from Ciro's joints, and his HUD flickered with static, blinding him for a split second.
It hurt. But it didn't kill him.
Ciro shook his smoking arm, dispersing the excess charge into the deck. He looked at the terrified mage.
"My turn."
He fired his wrist-mounted grapple gun. The mono-wire hook caught the mage by the throat.
"Get over here!"
Ciro yanked the cable. The mage flew across the deck, flailing, straight into Ciro's waiting armored fist.
CRACK.
In less than two minutes, the deck was clear. Bodies of the "Elite" Sky Knights littered the wood, their magic fading along with their lives.
Ciro walked over them, heading straight for the Helm.
The door to the Captain's Quarters was locked with a magical seal. Ciro didn't pick it; he kicked it off its hinges with a hydraulic-assisted boot.
Inside, the Ship's Captain—an elderly man with a white beard and elaborate robes—was standing over a glowing Control Crystal. There was no wheel; the ship was steered by mind-link.
"You... you monster!" the Captain stammered, pulling a flintlock mana-pistol.
THWIP.
Ciro threw a dagger. It didn't hit the Captain; it pinned his sleeve to the wall.
"AHHH!"
Ciro walked up to him, retrieved his dagger, and shoved the Captain aside.
"Look at me," Ciro said, his black visor reflecting the Captain's terrified face. "How do you steer this thing?"
"You can't!" the Captain spat. "It requires a mage to channel mana! You have no magic, savage!"
"I don't need to fly it delicately," Ciro said, looking at the massive purple mana-crystal pulsing in the center of the console. "I just need to aim it."
He looked out the front viewport.
Directly ahead, hovering parallel to them, was the third escort ship: The Storm-Caller. It was busy bombarding the city's shields with fireballs.
Ciro grabbed the control crystal. It burned his gloves.
"Engine override," Ciro muttered.
He didn't channel magic. He stabbed his vibrating energy dagger directly into the heart of the crystal.
CRACK-HISSS.
The crystal fractured. The magical containment field failed. The energy output spiked to 300%.
The ship groaned. The mana-engines roared with an unhealthy, explosive sound. The Iron-Heart lurched forward, accelerating uncontrollably as the magic bled out.
"You're insane!" the Captain screamed, scrambling for the door. "The core is going critical! You'll kill us all!"
"Not me," Ciro said, walking to the shattered window.
He checked his Jump-Pack. [FUEL: 15%. ONE JUMP REMAINING.]
"Elara," Ciro radioed. "I'm sending you a present. Watch the fireworks."
"Ciro?" Elara's voice came back, thick with worry. "What are you doing?"
Ciro stood on the window ledge. The wind howled around him. The Iron-Heart was now a runaway train, speeding straight toward the broadside of The Storm-Caller.
"Just taking out the trash," Ciro said.
He jumped.
FWOOSH.
His thrusters fired for the last time. He shot away from the ship, arching high into the air.
Behind him, the collision happened.
CRASH.
It wasn't a dull thud. It was the sound of a forest snapping in half.
The Iron-Heart, moving at full suicide speed, rammed its armored prow deep into the flank of The Storm-Caller.
Wood shattered into millions of splinters. Metal twisted. The unstable mana-crystal in The Iron-Heart's engine room went critical.
KA-BOOM!
A massive explosion of purple fire engulfed both ships. The shockwave knocked the remaining Wyverns out of the sky like swatting flies.
From the Spire balcony, Elara watched as two burning airships spiraled down together, locked in a death embrace. They crashed into the desert dunes miles outside the city walls, creating a mushroom cloud of sand and magic fire.
"Three down," Elara whispered, awestruck. "Two left."
In the sky, Ciro was falling. His fuel was empty. The thrusters sputtered and died. He was plummeting toward the city plaza like a stone.
"Uh, Elara?" Ciro's voice was calm, but urgent. "I'm coming in hot. Catch me?"
"I got you," Elara said, her hands flying across the console. "AURA, activate the Gravity Cushion in Sector 1."
"DEPLOYING SAFETY NET."
A beam of blue anti-gravity light shot up from the plaza floor.
Ciro hit the beam. It felt like hitting a wall of thick jelly. His descent slowed instantly, his stomach lurching into his throat. He floated down the last ten feet, landing on his feet in the center of the plaza with a heavy metallic thud.
The Glass Guard and the refugees cheered. They surged forward, surrounding him, chanting his name.
"Shadow! Shadow! Shadow!"
Ciro stood up, his suit smoking, his helmet cracked. He looked at the sky where the burning wreckage was falling.
He raised a fist. The crowd went wild.
But up in the flagship Sunpiercer, the cheering wasn't heard.
Prince Kaelen stood on his bridge, watching his fleet burn. His handsome face was twisted into a mask of pure, unadulterated hatred.
"They destroyed my ships..." Kaelen whispered, his hand shaking on the railing until his knuckles turned white. "They destroyed my heritage."
He turned to his Grand Wizard.
"Prepare the Ether-Cannon."
The Wizard paled. "Your Highness... the Ether-Cannon is forbidden. It is a siege weapon for destroying mountains. It will wipe out the city and the Princess."
"There is no Princess anymore," Kaelen hissed, his eyes manic. "There is only a witch. Burn it. Burn it all down."
The Wizard bowed, terrified. "As you command."
On the underside of the flagship Sunpiercer, a massive hatch opened. A cannon the size of a building emerged. It didn't glow with purple mana. It glowed a terrifying, void-like black.
[SYSTEM ALERT][EXTREME MAGICAL SIGNATURE DETECTED.][CLASS: CITY-KILLER.]
Elara's victory celebration ended instantly.
"Ciro," she said, her voice trembling as the sky darkened. "Get back to the Spire. Now."