A crimson streak tore through the fading storm.
Fast.
Unstable.
Behind it, the Veil Sea had finally gone quiet.
The silver lightning no longer hunted the ship. The vortex currents had collapsed back into drifting, dark clouds. Only scattered remnants of the ancient storm remained across the sky like fading scars.
The vessel pressed forward through the thinning veil.
Damaged.
Badly damaged.
Large sections of its outer hull were scorched black from repeated lightning strikes. Several mana arrays along its flanks flickered intermittently, while fractured plating exposed glowing internal mechanisms beneath the ship's surface.
Yet it still flew.
Barely.
Inside the control deck, the atmosphere had settled into exhausted silence.
Lyriana stood near the fractured viewing glass. Her crimson barrier had long since dissipated, though faint traces of residual mana still lingered across her body. Despite that, her posture remained perfectly straight.
Cold.
Controlled.
Kaelira stood nearby, staring at the distant storm receding behind them.
"…He's not coming back. He might be dead."
Silence.
Then Lyriana slowly turned her head.
Her silver eyes locked onto Kaelira.
Killing intent flooded the room instantly.
Kaelira froze.
Every hair on her body stood on end.
"…!"
She immediately shut her mouth.
A very wise decision.
On the floor nearby, the pilot had apparently been awake for quite some time already—no one knew when, and no one bothered asking.
He lay sprawled across the deck with both hands folded over his chest like a corpse preparing for burial.
Then he sighed deeply.
"You know," he muttered calmly, "you genuinely have no sense of what should or shouldn't be said."
Nobody responded.
The pilot stared blankly at the ceiling.
"To think I almost died trying to sleep…"
A pause.
Another exhausted sigh.
"And now I only have a few hours left before I have to start working again."
He closed his eyes.
"So I'm not wasting them."
Silence returned immediately.
Honestly, everyone respected that.
Nearby, the cultist still sat against the wall, clutching the wrapped artifact, while Nia remained quietly beside her.
The cultist glanced toward the girl.
"…Are you alright?"
Nia nodded once after a moment.
Small.
Quiet.
But steady.
The cultist relaxed slightly.
At the control platform, Draven continued piloting the ship with steady focus.
Blue mana flowed through the navigation arrays despite the damage spreading across the deck.
The black cat rested silently on his shoulder once more.
Draven raised one hand toward the black earring hanging from his ear. Mana pulsed faintly through it.
"Status."
Vaelith's voice answered immediately.
Cold as always.
"The lower chambers remain stable."
Faint sounds echoed through the connection behind her.
"The young master and young miss are unharmed."
A brief pause.
"Minor structural damage has spread through the eastern maintenance corridors, but the mana circulation systems are stabilizing."
Draven's gaze remained forward.
"Good."
The mana link faded.
Then—
THUD.
A heavy impact echoed from somewhere beneath the control deck.
Everyone froze briefly.
THUD.
Another one.
Kaelira blinked.
"…What was that?"
The pilot didn't even open his eyes.
"If it's another ancient calamity, I'm resigning."
THUD.
This time, directly beneath them.
Draven calmly moved one hand across the controls.
Deep metallic clicks echoed through the chamber.
The maintenance hatch behind the command platform unlocked again and slowly slid open.
Wind immediately rushed upward through the shaft.
Then—
a crimson blur shot upward.
BOOOOM—
Aldric slammed onto the deck hard enough to crack the floor beneath him, stumbling three steps forward before stopping.
Silence.
Everyone stared.
He looked terrible.
His clothes were nearly destroyed. Blood coated most of his body. Fine cracks still traced across sections of his skin, like fractures in overheated glass. One of his wings flickered violently before dissolving into particles of fading mana.
Aldric stood there, breathing heavily.
Blood dripped steadily from his fingertips onto the cracked floor.
Then his gaze lifted.
Straight toward Draven.
Silence deepened across the control deck.
Aldric's crimson eyes narrowed slightly.
"…Next time," he said flatly, "maybe try asking questions before making stupid decisions."
Nobody spoke.
Draven didn't even turn from the navigation arrays. Blue mana continued flowing steadily through the damaged systems.
Then his voice came, calm and even.
"I wasn't the one who beat you up."
A pause.
"So why are you barking at me?"
Silence.
Kaelira snorted.
Actually snorted.
A short laugh escaped before she could stop herself.
Aldric slowly turned his head toward her.
"…."
The laughter died instantly.
Lyriana's cold voice cut through the silence.
"You will not make another sound."
Kaelira nodded rapidly.
"Understood."
Aldric ignored her and looked back at Draven. His expression eased slightly, losing most of its irritation—replaced instead with something heavier.
Seriousness.
"Before you act," he said quietly, "keep something in mind."
The atmosphere shifted.
Not hostile.
But heavy.
"Lyriana and I are here by our own choice."
Silence.
Aldric's crimson eyes remained fixed on Draven.
"And if something happens that endangers her—"
A faint surge of mana flickered around him.
"I won't hesitate to drag her away from all this."
He glanced briefly toward Lyriana.
"Even if she protests."
The room remained quiet.
Draven finally answered.
Calm.
Unmoved.
"I'll keep that in mind."
Aldric stared for another second.
Then nodded once.
"Better."
Just like that, the tension eased.
Aldric walked toward a nearby crate of alcohol resting against the wall and lifted it with one arm despite his condition. With the other, he grabbed a bottle and twisted it open.
CRACK—
He took a long drink and began walking toward the exit.
As he passed Lyriana, her voice stopped him.
"Are you alright?"
Aldric paused, took another drink, and answered.
"I'm fine."
A brief pause.
"Just pissed off."
Lyriana's crimson eyes narrowed slightly.
"Why did you use that?"
Aldric smirked weakly over the bottle.
"I was testing something."
Another drink.
"And it made things fun."
Lyriana stared at him for several long seconds.
Then exhaled.
"…Moron."
Aldric let out a tired laugh and continued walking.
The control deck doors slid open.
Then shut behind him.
Silence returned.
Only the steady hum of the damaged ship remained.
Draven's eyes shifted across the navigation arrays. Several mana readings flickered dangerously unstable.
Fuel reserves: critical.
Engine circulation: degraded.
His fingers moved once across the controls.
Then he spoke calmly.
"The engine needs refueling."
Kaelira blinked.
"What?"
She gestured vaguely toward the rear.
"Didn't we literally just refuel it not that long ago?"
The cultist answered quietly from her place against the wall.
"The barriers."
Everyone looked at her.
She adjusted her grip on the wrapped artifact slightly before continuing.
"And the speed."
Her gaze drifted briefly toward the damaged hull visible through the fractured viewing glass.
"The mana consumption while maintaining high-speed flight through unstable storm currents would have been enormous."
A brief pause.
"Especially while reinforcing both hull and barrier systems repeatedly."
Kaelira stared blankly.
"…So basically—"
"We burned through everything."