"I'm not able to control the plane, remove it from the wings, or the wings will break!" Lyra urgently informed Adam.
Adam relayed this to Johan, who began pulling at the viscous substance. Adam aimed, pinpointing the special variant connected to the goo, and instantly shot its head, killing it. As Johan finally managed to detach the substance from the wings, a massive shadow suddenly covered the sunlight.
"Lyra, are you seeing this?! Please get us out of its way!" Adam yelled, as a giant wing swung down, attempting to cleave the plane in half.
Adam kept firing, breaking apart sections of the colossal wing, but it continued its descent onto the plane. Johan used multiple invisible hands, bracing against the immense weight to prevent it from cutting the plane, but the pressure slowly pushed the aircraft downward.
"It's going to break the plane, LYRA!" Adam shouted in desperation.
Lyra, understanding the impending impact, brought the plane down to lessen the pressure. She then tilted the plane sideways, forcing the giant wing to continue dropping as Johan, in a last-ditch effort, used his hands to break the wing in half. The special variant, which had enlarged its wings, plummeted.
The last remaining special variant remained, trailing behind but not engaging. Adam continued his fire on the evolved variants, systematically destroying their formation. The special variant maintained its distance, only commanding the evolved variants. "It's not engaging us directly; I believe it's tracking us to the civilization," Adam deduced. Lyra maintained their course as Adam and Johan kept watch, destroying and foiling every coordinated attack by the evolved variants.
A Desperate Stand
Hours passed, and Adam slowly began to lose focus, fading in and out of consciousness from blood loss, yet he continued to shoot down variants, infuse mana into Azrael, and hold the child close. Johan concentrated on deflecting long-range attacks and killing the many evolved variants that drew too close.
"Let me pull out the spear!" Johan offered, still concentrating on protecting the plane.
"Don't. Look at that special variant," Adam warned. "It's waiting for an opportunity for us to slip up. Just one mistake, and this plane will go down. I believe this spear came from that special variant. It's waiting for you to make a mistake, which is why it managed to send this spear through the blind spot."
"What should we do?" Johan asked.
"Just focus on protecting the plane until it runs out of evolved variants to use. We can only wait for it to make its move," Adam explained.
Hours dragged on, and Adam's injury slowly caused him to lose focus, fading in and out of consciousness.
"Adam, stay awake!" Johan urged, watching the special variant.
"Adam, we need to refuel now! Connect to the fuel of the plane and absorb the fuel in the containers inside the cockpit," Lyra's urgent voice cut through.
Adam focused his mana, removing the projectile system, and merged it with the fuel tank and the fuel in the containers.
The special variant immediately seized the opportunity, sending out multiple spears that shot straight down at them. Johan blocked and broke them apart, swatting a few evolved variants away.
Suddenly, the special variant appeared directly in front of their makeshift seats. Johan was shocked, but Adam, despite his injury, shot bullets at its arms and legs, immobilizing it. He then shot its head, causing the evolved variant to plummet from the sky. Adam told Johan to continue destroying all remaining evolved variants.
With the plane refueled and heading directly for human civilization, Adam struggled to hold on as Johan managed to kill the last evolved variant surrounding them. Lyra's scan confirmed they had reached the civilization, its giant protective walls visible in the distance.
The plane descended towards the field as multiple evolved variants and special variants charged forth, trailing them relentlessly. Lyra drove the plane, pressing on, nearing the gates of the civilization's outer wall.