At approximately 45,000ft above Larien village four metallic objects can been seen circling overhead. These metallic objects are latest generation fighter jets created by the Global engineering guild back on earth. They are named the F-52 Judgement or more affectionately known as the Pale Rider. It got its cute nickname by being completely unmatched in the skies, thus bringing swift death to its adversaries. Military propaganda states that a single F-52 is capable of defeating over 30 of the previous generation of fighter jets.
The Pale Rider has a top speed of Mach 6 and can reach it in less than 30 seconds, a radar that can detect enemies from 300,000m away, and a range of 5,000km. These specs make it an almost invincible bird in the sky and completely unmatched on Earth. Now it is being pitted against the monsters of Nelithea.
One of the pilots in particular is very excited by this prospect, a graduate of the UN air Academy, John Walters. John was the top one of his batch and was considered a prodigy in air combat. During fighting exercises John would have a ratio of 20: 1 which means he can take on 20 fighters on his own and win, earning him the call sign “Death”. Unfortunately for him the world was at peace, thus he was never able to showcase his capabilities in actual combat, this fact frustrated him greatly. He was a man who sought adversity above all else and this new world had the potential for that.
When the portal to Nelithea was created a year after he entered the Air force, he immediately asked to assigned to the other world and would take no for an answer. Given his performance in the academy he was immediately accepted into the special task force, but after almost two years of living on Nelithea he still hasn’t found that challenge he craved. This was all going to change now, he hoped.
Three large bogeys have been detected closing in on Larien village, he was one of the pilots sent to intercept the threats. This mission however also had another goal; demonstrate the power of humanity, hence they were only allowed to engage the Bogeys when they were in visual range of the village.
John, sensing an opportunity, asked something rather stupid. He wanted to take on the Bogeys alone. General Nikolai immediately declined his proposal, but the special Ambassador insisted they go with his plan since it would have a more dramatic effect. The general however insisted that he should have 3 more back up pilots flying with him just in case the situation went south, to which he obliged.
“It’s not fair that you get to have fun on your own” said his wingman and long-time friend, Norman.
“Are you the top pilot of our batch? Possibly the top pilot in history? No? I didn’t think so.” John arrogantly replied.
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“You are such a smug prick” Another pilot chimed in.
“Can’t really do anything about it though, he does have the skills to back it” said another pilot.
John was about to reply when they detected the Bogeys to be in the designated kill zone. With this John did a quick salute with his aircraft and dived right into action.
“It’s show time” John said himself in excitement.
Almost immediately he could see the three monsters directly below him. He cared not about their frightening appearance because to him they nothing more than prey.
As he was descending he was able to lock on to the three of them immediately yet he only chose to shoot one with a missile. In his mind he wanted to test these monsters first so he was planning to through his complete arsenal of weapons.
“Fox two” he declared.
The results was… Disappointing.
The monster, despite its frightening appearance, was completely torn apart by one missile. He didn’t expect this at all! He expected these things to be very tough and powerful.
“Why did it die so easily?” John said to himself in frustration.
John then decided to reveal himself to the beasts and flew by right in front of them. Surely enough the monsters went after him, he even deliberately allowed them to be at his 6. Yet the monsters disappointed him yet again.
The monsters attacked him with what looked like a fireball yet it was so slow and pathetic it made him cry. “Even a cadet at the academy fresh from the simulations would be able to dodge this pathetic excuse of an attack”. John said to himself further disappointment setting in.
John then decided to try and shoot them with the on-board machine guns. So he flew upward again and lost the monster trailing him. He then started to dive straight down one of the monsters and once he was in range, open fired. The on-board machine gun fired at a rate of 6,000 rounds per minute and tore the beast in half.
“ARE YOU SERIOUS?” John shouted in anger. He was beyond disappointed now.
The remaining monster, upon seeing his kin slaughtered mercilessly decided to flee. It flew away as fast as it can, panic and fear can be seen on its body. This was the first time anyone below saw a Manticore run away in fear.
Of course John wasn’t going to let this last one escape, disappointing as they were he was still here to put on a “Show”.
Trailing directly at the fleeing monster he unleashed his true trump card, a high powered anti- aircraft laser weapon. This laser was so powerful it can blow a hole clean through an aircraft. With a weapon like this the monster stood no chance of winning.
The laser went clean through the Manticore’s body, back to front. It left a large gaping hole running through the monster’s length, the damage resembling s a hot metal rod shoved into some butter. With this powerful blow the beast fell down to the ground losing all majesty and was reduced to a smouldering carcass.
John, heavily disappointed, went back to his squadron and together they flew back to base. Due to his disappointment, he didn’t care about the reaction of the villagers. He simply went straight to base.
The situation on the ground however, was completely different.