Chapter 77: Infamous IV

Now more than ever the tens of thousands of people below ran for their lives. Perhaps some of the elite of the Earthern Hearts could take the blow without flinching, but anyone else did not have that durability to them. Even the draconic heir, despite his flaming power and dragon blood, could not endure such a blow.

With an irritated face the golden haired and golden eyed young man quickly fluttered his flaming wings, and in the next second he appeared fifty meters away. Half a second later, the half destroyed ship produced a thunderous boom as it embedded itself into the ground. Indeed it truly was magical wood, for despite the height of the fall and at such speed too, the half of the destroyed ship remained relatively intact. Ten seconds later, the other half of the destroyed ship fell right on top of the other.

For many who did not have ocular powers, the distance from the ground to the skies made the ship look like the size of a bird. Yet, now that the monstrosity was felled and taken to the earth, they could witness the full magnitude of the colossal ship before them. It was eight hundred and eighty feet in length, and a hundred feet in height. It was ridiculously large, intricately made and oozing with power and magnificence. Yet, it fell from the skies all the same.

Once again, all eyes locked on to that mysterious stranger. The unknown individual seemed to be waging war all by himself against the Everrain fleet. The strength that he recently displayed had surprised most of all of them, save for the few who held magical powers of observation. That same strength led to many questions speeding through their minds once again. Who was he? Why was he attacking the fleet? And the single question that hung in their minds most of all, could he really do it?

The blur of colors was still flying through the skies, and the trajectory of the two individuals speedily approached the ship with a hole blasted through it. As the wind assaulted the two, the Rain Priestess’s dress flew up from the gales of wind, revealing her undergarments. Lara started to scream again, this time not only in terror but also because of embarrassment.

Luckily however, they were simply going too fast for the majority of observers to notice the change. Although the crystal daughter started to giggle while Gayle put a hand between her eyes…

The Rain Priestess’s worst fear however, was that the unknown stranger would take this opportunity to feast his eyes. Yet that fear did not come true. As they flew through the air, Zan’s sight was placed everywhere else. His eyes were carefully observing everything in his surroundings. He observed the tens of thousands of people below him, and from Gayle and her crew’s discussions, he could only conclude that they were people looking for the nuclear core.

Owing to both his astute intuition, and the bloodlust nose of his eldritch flesh, he could feel the intention in their eyes. Among those who were weak and cowardly, he could feel the fearful emotions that filled them up when they looked up at him. Among the crafty and cunning, he could feel their dubious intentions. Planning and scheming ways to pull him to their side, or manipulate him to do their bidding. Among the strong, he could feel excitement and challenging eyes. If not for the main goal of looking for the core, perhaps they would also try to pick a fight with him.

Truly, all the dreamers who came for the nuclear core were filled with a variety of people.

Yet the most dangerous of them, were the eyes whose emotions he couldn’t see through. That woman made entirely out of crystals was one such example. To those with the abnormal power to feel intention, a single glance could tell them a massive amount of information. Yet Zan couldn’t tell whether the crystal girl held good or bad intentions. What he could tell was that the gaze within those emerald eyes contained both high intelligence and outrageous power. People that had both of those traits were extremely dangerous, and now an unknown person with unknown intentions who held such traits, was looking at him.

It made him feel…excited. If she didn't come knocking on his door for trouble then he would do so instead. The impudent and slightly deranged boy was simply such a character.

Apart from the people below, Zan also observed the thousands of row boats in the sky. Small clouds of miniscule power were keeping them afloat midair, and it seemed that magical power came from that man over there, waving his staff around. He seemed to be dressed in the same fabric and colors as the girl he held on his shoulder. Carrying the same staffs too, so it was easy to conclude they must hold the same jobs and power.

From that information, intrusive and impulsive thoughts started to appear in his head.

'If I attack him right now, I wonder if all the boats would drop out of the sky…'

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…Luckily he did not act upon those urges, and quickly flew past the Rain Priests and thousands of row boats.

Rapidly, his momentum took him towards the other ship. It was only thirty seconds since a hole was blasted through the middle of the vessel, so the majority of the crewmembers were still in a state of panic.

BOOM!

Suddenly something hit the side of their ship, and hundreds of people looked down the edge to investigate. There they saw a figure who embedded himself inside the ship, by punching and kicking holes into the magically enforced wood. On his shoulder was a kidnapped Rain Priestess, who was none other than one of the royal daughters of a certain important figure.

Before they could react, the figure launched himself upward. His body touched the sails of the ship, before he crashed onto a group of warrior-casters. Their bones ended up broken, but surprisingly they held a breath of life.

Rain Priests on opposite sides of the unknown enemy yelled out commands and hundreds of warrior-casters brought out their weapons, staffs and weaponized water. Although they could not summon rain and cloud, they could still fight with metal and the present water.

Seeing the important person on top of the figure's shoulder however, they withheld from attacking. That was their first mistake, not that it would have mattered anyway. Zan dropped the Rain Priestess from his shoulder, then disappeared and reappeared in the same spot holding a Rain Priest in each hand. He held them by the throat as they gasped for air, kicking towards their enemy in a futile effort to be released.

The thousands of individuals upon the ship looked at the ghastly scene, dropping their weapons in both surprise and bitterness.

"You know, I was wondering why this ship wasn't falling even though I blasted a hole through it."

"So you two must be keeping it flying, then huh?"

The brute released his grip, letting the two fall towards the ground. Air reentered their lungs as they gasped and heaved. Zan let them have a moment to stop coughing, before he asked his question again.

"So?"

One of the Rain Priests decided to answer his question.

"We will have your head after this!!!"

An unamused expression appeared on Zan's face. He grabbed the man's hand, before he pushed onto one of his fingers until it bent in an unnatural way.

The Rain Priest started to scream, but the red haired figure simply continued towards the next finger. Screams echoed throughout the skies, until the Rain Priest finally could not take it anymore and started to divulge all the information Zan wanted.

“Yes! Us two keep it flying!”

The man whimpered and heaved.

A curious expression appeared on Zan’s face.

“Oh? How?”

“The staffs!”

“The energy in our body is connected to the staffs, and the staffs serve as the control for the ships!”

“Is that so?”

Zan took the staff that laid motionless on the ground and carefully inspected it. Made out of cloud and rain, the magical staff was a beautiful sight to behold. For the boy who had never seen such things before, it was like a new toy. He tried to inject his own energy into the staff, hoping to gain control over his new ship. In the end the staff rejected his energy, finding it both unfamiliar and unsuited.

Of course, Zan was stubborn and forceful, continuing to inject energy into the staff despite its rejection. Everyone watched as he did so. Warrior-casters and crewmates watched in confusion while the two Rain Priests watched in spite and mockery.

Did the fool really think it was so easy to seize and control an Everrain ship? No one but those blessed by the god of rain could wield the staff, much less this bandit. In short, the “essence” between the Rain Priest’s energy and Zan’s was much too different.

As the two continued with their spiteful thoughts, Lara on the other hand, watched in horror and urgency. Although the two Rain Priests were talented, they did not have the pure bloodline she had and thus, did not have the proper senses to perceive what was happening.

In both Zan’s ears and Rain Priestess Lara’s ears, was a high pitched sound. Lara knew what this was. The staff was screaming out. Its cry started to grow louder and louder before in the end, the staff exploded.

Cloud and rain assaulted everyone who was close to Zan. All they could see through the fog that the staff left, was a glowing blue light that slowly started to fade away. When the blue light completely faded, half of the ship started to sink into the clouds…