“Shit,” Jack whispered, his eye tracking the rising structure coated with hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of demonspawn falling from its edges.
Before Jack, the entire landscape had been torn apart, the land ahead replaced instead by a gap in the earth and an ancient bastion rusted and caked by demons and soil.
“Sarah, what's our plan?” Jack asked, flying upward to track the vessel whose massive thrusters lifted the hidden fortress that dwarfed even the imperial capital.
“We need to stop it! Get onto it and try to stop it from going higher! The more it rises the stronger it's connection to-”
Detonations, the sound of hundreds of explosives hitting the structure cutting the archangel off.
Yet it wasn't enough, even the barrage of the satellites in orbit firing again were unable to damage the structure as a magical barrier of intense energy reflected the beams.
It was over.
The Black King had won.
But Jack wasn't going to lose quietly.
He turned, noticing Selfia and dozens of others disembarking from several mechs to appraise the situation.
“Sara, what can we do? How do we bring it down?”
“I…”
“Think! You know this thing better than anyone else! So tell-”
“If you use Gehenna we can breach the barrier! Then Selfia can coordinate her guns to strike the main thrusters on each side of the fortress!” Sahaqiel shouted, pointing at one of six massive thrusters lifting the structure. “We knock those out we can stop the link!”
“Okay! Lilith and I can do that, tell Selfia to get her troops ready!” Jack said as Sahaqiel descended, reaching the Imperial Queen wearing a mask over her face as Jack flew upwards.
Lilith! Jack sent, analyzing the barrier of mana that hung heavily in the air, almost as if the miasma was responding to the rising citadel.
In fact, it was beginning to get hot, too hot with an itchy sensation crawling across his skin that was indicative of corruption.
“Lilith!”
“I'm already working on it, calm the fuck down!” Lilith hissed, the spectral reaper attempting to cut her way into the barrier.
Then, a small hole, followed by large parts of the barrier fading away as Sahaqiel’s voice carried through the wind shouted “GET AWAY!”
Jack bolted, soaring away from the citadel with demonspawn in pursuit as the airships opened fire.
“We've got one engine down, all we need is the other five!” Jack sent back, deploying his wings to shred the flying bonebats and mutant slicers pursuing him.
Selfia frowned, turning and ordering her MECHFrames into the fray to engage the demonspawn as Jack simultaneously fended off the demons while trying to tear a hole through Heaven’s enchantments.
Under the barrage of the airships, the mana propulsion device Jack had exposed finally ceased working, visibly slowing the vessel's ascent.
“Got it! On to the next one!” Lilith relayed as Jack fired a dragon's breath shell at the swarm pursuing him and ignited dozens of demonspawn.
“Next engines exposed!” Jack called out before racing through the sky until a bolt of condensed water knocked the air from his lungs.
Spinning, Jack attempted to reorientate himself, only to be met with a multitude of stinging blasts of water that were only halted by his wings.
“Damn it, more apostles!” Jack hissed, his skin and body feeling lethargic as he continued to rise with the floating citadel.
“The miasma is intensifying! Fly faster and closer!” Lilith hissed as a thunderbolt from Sahaqiel blasted several monsters chasing Jack.
Jack soared to the side, watching in horror as the airships nearby began to be devoured and breached by the numerous monsters latching onto their hulls.
He frowned, watching a jet to take off only for the aircraft to be intercepted and fall to the earth in a plum of flames.
Yet, despite the hopeless situation, the soldiers continued working as Jack tore open another breach to another engine.
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“It's not stopping fast enough!” Sahaqiel exclaimed as her skin began to turn black, pockets of corruption latching onto the angel.
“Sara!” Jack yelled in alarm, racing to the angel.
“It's fine! I'm fine! We need to continue! Go! I'll protect you!” Sahaqiel ordered, ushering Jack forward while sending bolts of lightning down at their pursuers.
Below, Selfia fell to one knee, the Queen scowling as a swear left her mouth.
Her body was fatigued, her arms weren't responding and she could feel the connection between her magical limbs faltering.
“It's not enough…” Selfia frowned before turning to the hole in the earth where millions of demonspawn began charging their direction.
She turned to her forces, the culmination of her work still moving to meet the enemy head on.
However with their numbers…
“Keep fighting! It isn't over yet! The angels need our support!” A paladin chaplain ordered, rallying the lethargic defenders with commissars ordering imperials to fix bayonets.
Thousands, against millions with what air support they had falling from the sky and the mechs already breaking down.
“The miasma is getting worse…” Selfia frowned, realizing what fate would befall her if they didn't succeed.
“Well… time to die I guess…” Selfia let out a maniacal laugh as she picked up a bloodstained sword off the ground, nearly slipping if not for Ada and Leona helping her up.
***
In the command deck of the King Raven-Class airship, Python unloaded his gun, dropping the empty magazine onto a stack of other spent magazines and bullet shell casings.
“Admiral! I'm running out of bullets and mana!” Python yelled as Lieutenant Harper stumbled into the passageway and handed him a shotgun before slumping against the bulkhead wall and falling over.
“Harper! Harper, stay with me!” Python ordered as he racked a shell and fired the buckshot loaded with seeds at several screeching slicers.
The bridge officer wheezed weakly, disconnecting her filter and offering it to Python.
“Go…” the blonde officer let out before going limp as corruptive energy began to latch onto her body.
The ship shook, an explosion or perhaps an attack? Either way Python didn't know as he used what little mana he had to turn the seeds embedded into the monsters into a large wall of vines.
“Admiral!” Python yelled, turning his head as the monsters began to already cut through his barrier. “Admiral!”
No response.
Python snatched the filter off the ground and rushed into the bridge, the old man slumped over his command console with every person within dead or dying.
“Damn it, damn it!” Python swore, rushing to the admiral only to pause at the sight of Jack and Sahaqiel through the viewscreen being overwhelmed by demonspawn while trying to expose weaknesses in the massive structure.
“Time to cut off a leg I guess…” Python wheezed, feeling incredibly weak.
“Sorry old man,” Python said, grabbing the decorated officer from his chair and sitting down to take command.
On the screen, he could see Skirita had slaved all systems to his command chair as his crew began to pass out, allowing Python executive limited control of the massive air carrier that was filled with enough ordinance to level a city.
Seeing the controls before him and the two angels fighting against a dozen of apostles, Python Est made a choice.
The air carrier wouldn't be able to destroy the massive thing in a collision but it would definitely slow it down.
“All coalition forces!” Python slammed on the intercom, blaring his message on all signals. “This is Colonel Python Est of the Imperial Army! Assuming command of the FYR! All hands prepare for impact!”
Python's left eye involuntary twitched, a slight delay in his actions as he moved to disengage the safety parameters of the airship and alter its trajectory to the opening in the shield Jack had made.
Warning! Collision! Five thousand feet!
Python dry swallowed at the ships safety alert, taking a shallow breath as he took a daylily and placed it into his mouth, smirking while he held an image of himself and a woman named CC beside a drawing of himself and long lost friends.
Warning! Collision! Two thousand feet!
Python closed his eyes, the screeches of demonspawn drawing closer.
Warning! Collision! Nine hundred feet!
“Serves me right trying to look to the future,” Python smirked, the images of his loved ones falling to the command deck as someone kept calling his name.
Warning! Collision! Two hundred feet! Pull up! PULL UP!*
***
“Python!” Jack yelled as the familiar airship coated by demonspawn soared past and slammed into the floating structure. “PYTHON!!”
Sahaqiel grabbed Jack, pulling him away from the brilliant explosion of the colliding titanic air carrier detonating against Heaven.
The two tumbled, the pair latching onto one another for safety with their wings forming a ball as they fell to the earth.
Hitting the ground, Jack quickly recovered, his eye wide as his hands balled into fists.
“PYTHON!”
Heaven began to list. With half of its engines gone and the air carrier ramming it, the entire citadel began to rotate, flipping as it's propulsion lost control.
“It's falling,” Sahaqiel muttered with the angel noticing she could breath just a bit easier.
Jack screamed, his voice carrying with it his rage, sorrow, and frustration that were overwhelmed by the shockwave released of the structure smashing into the earth.
Sahqiel and Jack held each other, forming a massive barrier of wind to shield themselves and those behind them from the carnage of the earth being torn apart.
A moment passed then another, the shock fading with Jack staring out into the ruined landscape overturn by the shockwave.
“ALL FORCES!” Selfia's voice, boosted by her MECHFrame’s megaphone called out, her voice piercing the silence. “The citadel has fallen! All soldiers charge! The fate of humanity is decided here and now! The war is almost won! Citizens of the world! Get up! Just one more push!”
Jack stood there for a moment, clenching and unclenching his jaw as survivors charged past him, heeding Sahaqiel's words as the world slowed.
“Jack, we have to go, they're depending on us,” Sahaqiel said as Jack's body sparked with black lightning.
He shut his eye, jaw clenched before he opened his eye with renewed determination, “I won't waste your sacrifice, Python.”