Aldric stared into the storm beyond the fractured viewing glass.
Silver lightning crawled across his face in violent flashes while the colossal eye beneath the vortex continued watching the fortress.
Then he spoke.
Flat.
Irritated.
"So that thing's what's causing all this mess."
Another pulse rolled through the ship, hard enough to rattle the walls of the control deck.
Kaelira blinked at him.
"…Causing the mess?"
Aldric cracked his neck once.
"Then we deal with it."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Kaelira stared at him like he had finally lost his mind.
"…What do you mean, deal with it?!"
Another enormous shape shifted beneath the storm clouds outside.
The ship groaned.
Silver lightning detonated across Lyriana's barrier shell.
Kaelira pointed wildly toward the viewing screen.
"THERE'S NO WAY WE CAN FIGHT THAT!"
Aldric looked at her with immediate annoyance.
"Shut up."
Kaelira choked.
"What?!"
"Who said anything about we?"
Another pulse slammed into the barrier hard enough to tilt the entire deck sideways.
Aldric didn't even flinch.
"If you go out there," he continued flatly, "you'll die trying to breathe."
Kaelira opened and closed her mouth once.
Fair enough.
Nearby, the cultist tightened her grip around the wrapped artifact before speaking carefully.
"…If you're planning to fight it," she said quietly, "I'm sorry to say this, but…"
Her eyes drifted toward the colossal shadow moving beneath the clouds.
"Though you are clearly powerful… there is no way you can defeat the Veil Serpent."
Aldric slowly turned toward her.
His expression remained perfectly blank.
"All of you bastards should keep your opinions to yourselves."
Crimson mana flickered faintly around his body.
"I never asked for them."
Silence answered him.
Another violent tremor rolled through the fortress.
Outside—
the silver eye beneath the storm narrowed slightly.
Watching.
Lyriana finally spoke.
Cold.
Direct.
"What are you going to do?"
Aldric snorted once.
Then pointed lazily toward the storm.
"Beat the hell out of the damn fish while you idiots escape."
Kaelira stared.
Then blinked.
Then blinked again.
"Oh."
A pause.
"…So you're going to distract it."
Aldric looked deeply offended.
"I literally just said that."
"You made it sound like you were going to punch a sea god to death."
"I still might."
"THAT'S NOT BETTER!"
Another impact detonated against the crimson barrier.
The ship screamed.
Lyriana's expression never changed.
But her voice lowered slightly.
"…Don't die."
For the first time since the storm began—
Aldric smirked.
Small.
Sharp.
"I wasn't planning to."
Kaelira folded her arms immediately.
"Well, you could've said that first."
Aldric slowly turned his head toward her.
"What part of you doesn't know when to shut up?"
Kaelira stared back.
"I thought you were sacrificing yourself."
Aldric's eye twitched.
"Your entire family should go sacrifice themselves."
Kaelira pointed at herself.
"My family isn't even here."
Aldric ignored her instantly.
Stupid annoying brat.
Another violent pulse rolled through the ship.
The Veil Serpent shifted beneath the clouds again.
Silver lightning erupted across the vortex as the ancient calamity slowly circled the fortress through the storm currents.
Aldric finally turned toward Draven.
His expression sharpened.
"Where's the nearest exit to the outside?"
Draven's fingers moved calmly across the control array.
Blue mana pulsed through the deck.
Then—
part of the control platform shifted.
Deep metallic clicks echoed through the chamber as hidden mechanisms unlocked beneath the floor.
A circular section of reinforced plating several meters behind the command seat slowly split apart.
Wind immediately howled upward from below.
Cold.
Violent.
Heavy with storm pressure.
Kaelira stared at the opening in horror.
"…THAT was here this whole time?!"
Aldric glanced down into the darkness beneath the hatch.
Far below—
rotating stabilization rings glowed blue within the ship's interior.
Beyond them—
open sky.
And the storm.
Draven answered calmly.
"Maintenance deployment shaft."
Aldric nodded once.
"Good enough."
The cultist looked alarmed.
"You're seriously going out there?!"
Aldric glanced at her lazily.
"What gave it away?"
Another catastrophic impact slammed into the ship.
Lyriana's crimson barrier buckled violently.
Warning lights flooded the control deck once again.
Barrier integrity collapsing.
Hull pressure critical.
The Veil Serpent moved.
Faster this time.
The colossal silver eye disappeared beneath the clouds—
then reappeared much closer.
Kaelira felt her entire body go cold.
"…It's coming."
Outside—
the storm split apart.
An enormous section of the serpent's body emerged from the vortex itself.
Silver-black scales towered across the sky like moving mountains while lightning erupted naturally across its armored hide.
The pressure alone distorted the air inside the control deck.
The pilot collapsed against the floor and let out a broken sound.
"…We're dead…"
Aldric rolled his shoulders once.
Crimson mana began spreading outward from his body in slow waves.
The atmosphere inside the chamber immediately thickened.
Not violently.
Heavily.
Like blood saturating water.
Kaelira's ears flattened again.
"…Why does it suddenly feel hard to breathe?"
The answer became obvious immediately.
Aldric's mana wasn't rising anymore.
It was expanding.
The crimson aura spreading from him distorted the floor itself.
Cracks formed beneath his feet.
The floating control sigils nearest him trembled violently.
Even the storm outside reacted.
Silver lightning bent away from him.
The Veil Serpent's massive eye narrowed sharply.
It noticed him.
Aldric grinned.
Wide.
Dangerous.
"There you are."
Another pulse exploded through the sky.
The serpent moved.
The storm moved with it.
And Aldric stepped toward the open deployment shaft like a man preparing for a casual walk.
Kaelira looked genuinely panicked now.
"WAIT WAIT WAIT— you're just LEAVING through the FLOOR?!"
Aldric didn't stop walking.
"That's usually how exits work."
"THAT ISN'T AN EXIT, THAT'S A SUICIDE HOLE!"
Aldric stepped onto the edge of the open shaft.
Violent storm winds screamed upward around him, whipping his coat violently behind his back.
Then—
he looked sideways toward Draven.
"Try not to crash the ship while I'm gone."
Draven didn't even glance away from the controls.
"Fuck off."
Aldric barked out a laugh.
Then—
crimson mana detonated beneath his feet.
BOOOOOOM—
The entire control deck shook as Aldric launched downward through the deployment shaft like a falling meteor.
Straight into the storm.
The moment Aldric vanished through the shaft—
the hatch sealed shut behind him with a violent metallic slam.
CLANG—
The roaring storm winds disappeared instantly from the control deck.
Only the trembling ship remained.
Outside the fractured viewing glass—
a crimson streak erupted upward through the storm currents.
Fast.
Violently fast.
Aldric shot past the side of the fortress like a cannon round, crimson mana exploding behind him in jagged waves while silver lightning twisted wildly throughout the vortex around him.
Then—
he stopped.
High above the ship.
Standing directly atop the outer barrier shell itself.
The storm screamed around him.
Black coat whipping violently in the wind.
Crimson eyes gleaming through silver flashes.
Far beneath the clouds—
the Veil Serpent moved.
Massive silver-black scales shifted through the storm like continents turning beneath the sky.
Aldric's grin widened slowly.
"There you are."
Lightning flashed.
The serpent's enormous eye opened again within the vortex.
Watching him.
Aldric cracked his neck once.
Then smiled wider.
"Let's play."
BOOOOOOM—
Crimson mana detonated outward.
The barrier shell beneath his feet shattered from the force as Aldric vanished instantly.
Not moved.
Vanished.
One moment he stood above the fortress—
the next—
he appeared beside the Veil Serpent's colossal body.
Right beside it.
The difference in scale was absurd.
A human beside a calamity.
An insect beside a mountain.
And yet—
Aldric swung anyway.
His fist erupted with compressed crimson mana before slamming directly into the serpent's armored scales.
BOOOOOOOM—
The sky exploded.
Shockwaves tore through the storm hard enough to split entire cloud layers apart while the Veil Serpent's massive body twisted sideways from the impact.
Silver lightning erupted wildly across its scales.
The creature moved backward.
Actually moved.
Inside the control deck—
everyone froze.
Kaelira's eyes widened.
"…HE PUNCHED IT?!"
Then the storm retaliated instantly.
A colossal bolt of silver lightning descended from the vortex itself—
straight onto Aldric.
BOOOOOOOOOOM—
The heavens turned white.
But at the exact moment the lightning struck—
a crimson barrier unfolded around Aldric's body.
The silver lightning detonated harmlessly across its surface in cascading explosions.
Aldric grinned through the light.
Then—
something appeared beside him.
Instantly.
No warning.
No movement.
Just—
there.
Aldric's grin vanished.
The Veil Serpent.
Its colossal head emerged directly from the storm beside him, silver-black scales stretching endlessly through the vortex while ancient silver eyes stared directly into his soul.
Massive.
Silent.
Aware.
Aldric barely had time to react.
The serpent's tail moved.
BOOOOOOM—
The impact shattered his barrier instantly.
Not cracked.
Not strained.
Destroyed.
Aldric was launched across the storm like a crimson comet.
Cloud layers exploded apart around him while silver lightning swallowed the sky in violent flashes.
Inside the ship—
Draven was already moving.
Blue mana surged violently through the control arrays as the fortress rotated sharply away from the impact zone.
The ship accelerated through the storm currents.
Kaelira stood near the fractured viewing glass, eyes glowing faintly as she tried to track the battle through the vortex.
"I can't see anything!"
Another explosion lit the clouds silver.
"Everything's moving too fast!"