Lukai felt the power burning hotly within his heart. His gaze turned toward Osian for a moment.
Though it was definitely a power he was feeling for the first time, it felt familiar. He wondered how this could be, but Lukai decided to focus on reality first.
He didn't know the reason or principle behind why this power had settled within him. But it didn't matter. In a situation where he was desperate for even a straw to grasp, having another skill he could use was fortunate.
'Even though it's my first time, I can understand how to use it.'
From the moment the flames of the sun ring settled in him, Lukai could instinctively realize how to use this power.
The sun ring was destructive. Though it specialized in protecting something, it was paradoxically a power that wasn't easy to control.
The weight of the sun ring carried on one's back becomes heavier as there are more things to protect.
It was a double-edged sword that could crush the user himself if handled carelessly. Its appearance reminded him of himself when pushed beyond what he could handle.
The fool who carried an absurdly massive sun on his back, saying he would save all of the Liberation Army.
"I'll carry as much as needed."
Whoosh.
A sun ring rose behind Lukai's back. Compared to Osian's, it was ridiculously small, only about the size of a fist.
But even though it was small, it was a brilliantly shining sun. Its weight and heat pressed down on his entire body. Lukai, who had shouldered the sun on his back, began to move.
'Like this.'
Lukai slowly raised his hand like a child just learning to walk. The moment his palm faced the artillery shell flying toward them.
Kiiiiing!
The sun ring rotated fiercely. It was intense and light beyond belief for something the size of a baseball. The heat of the sun ring, unprecedented energy, could be seen rippling in the air. And the moment that rippling membrane collided with the artillery shell.
Pububububung!
A flower of flame bloomed in the air. If Osian had used it, he would have completely shattered all the incoming artillery shells in the air with that intense energy. But Lukai was still a beginner, and this was his first time using the sun ring.
His sun ring wasn't strong enough to shatter the artillery shells. But it was sufficient to make them explode randomly in the air.
Kyaoooo!
A giant black cat soared into the air. Edgar, riding on top of it, used magic. A 5-star spell unfolded. A blue drill created in the air shot like a missile and struck the escort ship's barrier.
It was magic deployed to penetrate unilaterally. After slight resistance, the drill easily pierced through the defensive wall. Through that pierced hole, Diolan infiltrated. The cat's characteristic of being able to enter anywhere with even the smallest gap also played a part.
"Block it!"
When Diolan charged, the crew members went into emergency mode. But their resistance was meaningless.
Clang!
The window made of special glass shattered. Through a hole that wasn't small but wasn't large either, a beast several times larger than a tiger entered.
The crew members running down the corridor were overwhelmed by the sight. They froze at the infrasonic waves that Diolan emitted. At that moment, Edgar used the magic he had prepared. Rock chunks made of mana shot out like buckshot. In the corridor with no space to escape, all the crew members were swept away.
Tatatatatata! Aaaaah!
Commotion arose inside the escort ship. Special forces moved, but they too were no match.
Balud looked up at that scene from the ground.
"Please, Liberation Army miss."
"...I really don't care if you get hurt, you know?"
Clara extended her hand to Balud according to his request.
Balud placed his axe on Clara's palm with a thunk .
"...? What are you doing?"
"Ah. I'm a man with a partner, so I don't hold hands with other women."
"No, but an axe..."
"Still, I understand there's no hindrance to transportation."
"That's not the problem. If we don't make proper contact, the coordinates get strangely off."
"It doesn't matter."
When Balud spoke firmly, Clara didn't argue further. She concentrated and activated her ability. Along with the supernatural power to leap across space, Balud's figure disappeared.
Where he appeared was not inside the escort ship, but in the air even higher than that. Clara let out an exclamation seeing this.
"Ah! That's why I said I didn't want to!"
Even if he fell like that, would he be able to break into the ship's interior? However, shortly after, something happened that made such worries meaningless.
Crack!
When Balud, who had fallen onto the escort ship's hull, swung his axe, countless ice spikes jutted out sharply from the point of direct impact.
This tore the ship's gas bag. Gas mixed with ether water gushed out violently. The vessel lost balance and tilted to the side.
Balud didn't stop there. He threw the hand axe he held toward another escort ship nearby.
Clang!
The axe was blocked by the escort ship's defense shield, but that single blow broke part of the defense shield. Balud reached his hand toward the axe. The runes carved on the axe glowed and returned to Balud's hand.
And when Balud threw the axe in his hand again.
Kwang!
One escort ship with a giant ice flower blooming on its flank began falling rapidly.
Uwooooooo!!
Balud, who had retrieved his axe again, roared toward the air. It was a barbarian warrior's battle cry. The massive echo flowing through the atmosphere focused the attention of the surrounding escort ships. Steel Wing unit members flew up aiming for Balud.
Confirming this, Balud removed the glasses he wore on his face and placed them in his chest pocket.
"This should buy a little more time."
At most one minute. But this was also the best he could do. Now he had to deal with those flies swarming like a swarm of bees.
The military wasn't just taking it lying down either.
"Pour all the magic bullets!"
"Even capsules are fine! Use magic unrelated to firepower, like dark magic curse series or magic other than flame!"
New weapons flew targeting Ena. Martinez's expression hardened. Something more dangerous than armor-piercing shells that couldn't explode was coming.
'Magic!'
Magic was the exclusive domain of mages, but that didn't mean others couldn't use it. Capsules made using semi-solidified ether water were proof of that.
Going further, the military had developed weapons to activate that magic more strongly and effectively. The large magic bullets now flying were the result of that.
'I must block it!'
Martinez gritted his teeth and drew up divine power. Whatever else happened, he absolutely had to protect Ena. The golden barrier surrounding Ena became large and thick. But this wasn't enough. Shields made of sacred alchemy surrounded the barrier in layers.
Right after that, the magic bullet exploded.
With tremendous flash, a whirlwind that cut through everything was generated from the impact point.
Kwagagagagak!
The shield made of sacred alchemy was instantly sliced apart. It was definitely at least 5-star magic.
'The power is too strong!'
And right now, more than 10 such things were pouring down.
"Kyaaa!"
Lupona stepped forward. The dark sun she used sliced through the incoming artillery shells in the air. When the red laser grazed past, the magic bullet detonated in the air. However, some magic bullets had been targeting Lupona from the beginning.
When Lupona realized this fact, one magic bullet had already caused a massive explosion right next to her.
Crackling!
A giant blue lightning connecting earth and sky was created. Lupona, swallowed by that lightning, couldn't even scream.
Lupona, who had been continuously emitting smoke from her armor joints, crashed to the ground. The dark sun she wore also lost its light and disappeared like a mirage.
"Lupona!"
Ena's eyes welled up with tears seeing Lupona who had fallen beside her. Fortunately, Lupona wasn't dead yet. Martinez immediately used sacred magic to inject divine power into Lupona's body.
Wheeze. Hah.
Lupona's breathing stabilized a little. But it was too much for her to rejoin the battle. And while healing Lupona, Martinez's defense momentarily weakened.
It was the moment when magic bullets were about to be fired again, targeting that gap.
Kieeeeeek!
A resounding eagle's roar echoed. Martinez and Ena were startled and looked up at the air where the sound came from.
They could see a bright red eagle clearly visible even in the night sky.
'No. That's not an ordinary eagle.'
The eagle, whose wingspan when fully spread seemed to exceed 20 meters, shot forward like a bullet, leaving a bright red afterimage the moment it was captured by the eye.
Pububububung!
The blood-colored eagle became a red flash, piercing through the escort ship formation consecutively. A total of 4 escort ships fell spewing fire. The first escort ship to be shot down exploded consecutively in the air before disappearing while creating a magnificent sphere of flames. It truly happened in the blink of an eye.
To bring down as many as 4 escort ships in one strike.
'Who on earth?'
Martinez recalled the most intense person from his memories. No, not a person.
"Blood-colored energy, could it be?"
His gaze turned toward the distant air. There he could see a black-haired beauty riding a giant black pterosaur, her hair flowing in the wind.
The eldest sister of the Blood Brotherhood, Grace Seeker. She, the only vampire left in this world, had helped at a crucial moment.
"Oh my. It seems I've drawn too much attention."
Grace Seeker smiled, feeling the battlefield's killing intent concentrating on her.
"Sister. Is it okay?"
Her younger brother Aaron, who had transformed into a pterosaur, asked with concern. Grace shrugged as if it was nothing.
"What does it matter? When else would we get to step forward if not in a situation like this?"
"I thought we needed to be as careful as possible since the District 17 incident."
"That's true, but I couldn't just watch such a well-made opportunity. We have some justification too. After all, in this city we're heinous terrorists, right? Interfering with the military's work like this is only natural. And we don't lack ill feelings toward them either."
"Well, that's true too."
"Still, it's regrettable that we can't intervene further. It can't be helped."
"That's why only you and I came, sister. Everyone wanted to come and was making a fuss."
If they drew too much attention, it wouldn't be good for the Liberation Army either. Just the news of joining hands with the Blood Brotherhood would damage their image.
So Grace only helped at an appropriately measured level. The soldiers were probably also on high alert at her appearance, tensely watching how they would act.
"I don't plan to attack after this anyway, but should I play along with this drama a little? Aaron. Try just bothering those people with moderate circling flight."
Aaron laughed out loud.
"Hahaha. Just thinking about making those arrogant guys break out in cold sweat makes me feel good already!"
"But don't overdo it."
"What a disappointing thing to say."
Aaron began flying while deliberately maintaining that delicate distance of neither getting too far away nor getting close to the ships.
Just that alone would make the escort ships nervous, not knowing when Grace might attack again. That was what Grace was aiming for.
'This is as far as I can help, knight.'
Grace watched Osian, who was far away, with her transcendent eyesight. Right now he was displaying three kinds of light and fusing them into one.
Even to Grace, who was a vampire, it was captivatingly beautiful light. The noble slash that had cut through Red Eternity in District 17 that day was about to unfold again.
She desperately wanted to watch it to the end, but that wouldn't do.
Grace tapped Aaron's neck with her hand. She could see the Steel Wing unit approaching from afar, targeting them.
"Let's go back now."
"Regrettable, but it can't be helped."
Aaron immediately changed direction and moved away from District 44.
Thanks to Grace's help, they could buy much more time. Especially shooting down 4 escort ships was enough to create a huge gap in their formation.
"Damn it!"
The commander struck the tactical board with his fist. There had never been such humiliation since the Baptism by Fire began. How could they, with overwhelming firepower, fail so sluggishly like this?
"Quickly erase that witch! Hurry!"
"B-but we don't know when the Blood Brotherhood might attack again."
"That's just bluffing anyway. They can't step forward anymore! The moment they do, the executors will come rushing in. If we miss this opportunity now, it'll be irreversible forever!"
The commander gave orders with cold judgment. But since soldiers were also human, the confusion of the battle situation itself prevented orders from translating directly into action.
"Our casualties are severe!"
"Less than half the escort ships remain! Commander!"
Bad news were coming from everywhere, and then the worst moment came for the commander.
[Commander Corsolini.]
Communication connected through the upper command's hot line hit the commander's ears.
[As of this moment, cease the Baptism by Fire operation. Quickly take the remaining forces and return to base.]
At the order from above, Corsolini's expression turned pale. Return? When they hadn't even started the Baptism by Fire yet?
That wasn't the problem. With this operation, over 10 escort ships had exploded, and military casualties were enormous. Who would take responsibility for that? Naturally, it was him, the field commander and leader.
Following orders from above, they had set out to eliminate the heretics, but now suddenly canceling the order? For Corsolini, it was absolutely unacceptable.
But.
"It's an order."
Following orders from above was a soldier's fate.
"All personnel, as of this moment, cease the Baptism by Fire operation..."
Hihihihihi! A bizarre laugh from somewhere cut off Corsolini's words. Everyone in the command also shut their mouths. An unknown chill ran down their spines. Their blood ran cold, and they felt the life draining from their bodies.
Corsolini looked at where the laughter came from, the air above the tactical board.
There, a red balloon was floating.
An eyeball sprouted from the balloon, followed by a mouth opening wide.
"Operation cessation? By whose authority?"
The balloon's mouth grinned widely. Soon, massive amounts of blood poured from that mouth.