"Hurry up! Hurry up!"
Zack couldn't wait for the deck to fully lower. He climbed on board mid-descent, rolled into the cabin, and sprinted for the pilot's seat, firing up the engines in a blur. Some of the pursuers were drawn to the engine's thunderous roar—they abandoned the decoy and swarmed toward the ship.
"What now, Arthur? Got a plan?" Zack glanced at the flashing red lights on the dashboard out of the corner of his eye and let out a cold laugh. "Figured you had a backup trick up your sleeve."
Without hesitation, he pressed the button. A massive fireball erupted at the distant airport instantly. Seconds later, a deafening boom reached them even ten kilometers away. The shockwave froze the pursuers for a split second, and Zack seized the chance to swing the ship around, bombing them relentlessly. After several bursts of flame, silence gradually fell below.
Arthur's figure emerged from the smoky pile of rocks. He waved at the ship, watched it glide closer, and nimbly climbed up the lowered tail deck.
"Get us out of here!"
Arthur hit the switch on the tail, retracting the boarding ramp. His gaze flickered between Zack and the narrowing gap of the closing deck.
"Like I need you to tell me that." Zack curled his lips into a sneer. "So that's what you snuck off to do halfway—was this part of the plan, or a last-minute call?" He let out another triumphant chuckle.
"Don't get too cocky."
Arthur shot him a disdainful look, sweeping his eyes over Zack's back, clearly annoyed by his attitude. But he swallowed his irritation, brushed the dust off his clothes, and jumped into the co-pilot's seat.
"The moment I boarded," he said, "another wave of enemies started closing in from the airport."
"Ha, they're still miles away!"
As Arthur reached for his seatbelt, Zack's cocky remark was immediately proven wrong. A furious curse burst from his lips.
Clang!
The sudden sound of metal slamming into the hull jolted both men. Before they could process what was happening, another impact rocked the ship's side, sending it lurching violently left and right.
Arthur was thrown from his chair but scrambled up instantly. "Hey, Zack! Pull up! Pull up!"
"Damn it, shut up! I can't pull her up!"
Zack manipulated the controls in a panic, anger and urgency contorting his face, just as Arthur had suspected.
The ship hovered, swaying uncontrollably. No matter how hard Zack pushed, it refused to move forward. The two men were tossed around like water in a shaking bottle. Arthur, thrown to the floor, had reached the limit of his patience with Zack. Ha! His already low opinion had plummeted below zero.
"Zack, what the hell are you doing?" Arthur rushed back to his seat, snapping his seatbelt into place this time.
"What am I doing? Saving both our asses! Something's hijacking the ship—do you get that?"
Arthur quickly activated the external cameras, but the pitch-black night revealed nothing. Only warning symbols flashed wildly on the dashboard. A strange metallic clanging echoed through the cabin, followed by another violent jolt.
He switched camera feeds—this time activating the underbelly lights. Now they could see.
Blurred dark figures loomed in the night, each clutching a thick chain. They were clearly trying to yank the ship down by hand.
"What the hell is that? That's impossible!" Arthur exclaimed. "No one can hold a ship like that. Zack! Push the throttle to the max!"
"Like I haven't tried! Look at the power output on the dash!"
Sure enough, the readings confirmed it—but Arthur still didn't trust the man at the controls.
"Damn it, let me take over!"
He forced the controls to the co-pilot's seat, only to realize Zack was telling the truth. The dark figures were using the chains to pin the ship in place. But… how? The ship's weight alone, combined with the thrusters' power, should have torn their arms off.
He gripped the joystick, sending the ship hurtling backward, then slammed the throttle forward.
Clang!
The sharp sound of snapping metal cut through even the engine's roar. The thrusters' full force ripped the chains apart, the noise echoing clearly in the cabin. With the chains broken, the ship shot upward like an arrow from a bow.
Before they could even catch their breath, an explosion erupted from the left wing, jolting them both awake. The engine sputtered and roared, the computer blared engine failure alerts, and the ship veered wildly—their nerves stretched to the breaking point.
The ship was now uncontrollable. They'd barely escaped that godforsaken place, and now they were going down.
As Arthur fought to save the crashing ship, he tried to figure out what had disabled the engine. All signs pointed to an unknown external force sabotaging it. He glanced at the screen, which showed flames erupting from the engine—and the cameras confirmed it.
Just as he prepared to reroute power, he froze. A dark figure stood in front of the burning engine. Zooming in, he gasped. It was definitely a "person", the fire illuminated their silhouette clearly. They wore a black cloak, standing rigid even against the intense wind pressure.
Eerie red light glowed in their eyes. They locked gaze with the camera, then plunged their hand into the wing's steel plate, tearing out the internal components and flinging them aside. The motion was as effortless as tearing paper.
In the next instant, similar figures appeared on every camera feed. Charcoal-black hands burst through the wings, slamming into the steel and clinging on. The sound of twisted metal echoed through the cabin.
"What the hell are those things!" Zack yelled.
"How should I know?"
Arthur was focused on the task at hand, every word from Zack cut through him like a sharp blade. This wasn't helping the mission. He had to endure. Maybe once they escaped, it would end. And someone was going to pay.
"Hold on tight! I'm gonna shake 'em off!"
He used the engine failure to send the ship spinning, subjecting them to crushing centrifugal force. The g-force left them gasping for air. After a few seconds, through the agony, he saw the figures still clinging tightly to the hull—what kind of inhuman strength was that?
These freaks even had the energy to try and tear through the deck.
"Zack, blow 'em to hell!"
Arthur stopped the ship's violent spin and handed over weapons control to Zack. But Zack, still dazed and terrified, stared blankly at the weapons panel, unable to operate the cannons. His mind was clearly blank, his wits scattered to the wind.
Arthur's anger flared again. This was the same man who'd acted so tough earlier. Goddamn it, he was wasting precious time that could save both their lives! Arthur screamed internally.
"Zack!"
Zack snapped out of his stupor, staring at the weapons panel that had popped up in front of him, but made no move. Thank god he'd come to his senses—though he fumbled frantically, pressing buttons at random. To Arthur, he was barely recognizable from the man who'd taunted him earlier.
"Zack! Zack!" Arthur glared at him, shouting.
"For fuck's sake, stop yelling! "Zack lost his temper, slamming his fist on the armrest. "This damn thing won't respond!"
Stuck with an unreliable teammate, Arthur had to think of another way. The dashboard and alarms screamed with multiple failure warnings. He looked up, red light flickered across the net-like radiation shield above Saya. A sudden idea hit him.
"Let's blast straight into outer space—let the radiation shield burn 'em up!"
Arthur cut power to the engines, adjusted the flap deflection, then slammed the throttle forward when the nose pointed toward the ground. The intense jetstream kicked up sand from the desert floor. The ship skipped upward like a stone on water—and for a brief moment, hope surged.
But the "good mood" lasted less than two seconds. A powerful force slammed the ship downward. Now Arthur understood how Zack had felt earlier, though it did nothing to improve his opinion of him. They hurtled toward the sand dunes like a bullet.
"Pull up, Arthur!"
"I'm trying—"
Arthur jammed the joystick back as far as it would go, repeatedly rebooting the ship's sensor systems, but it was no use. The panel and alarms continued their relentless warnings—the ship was completely out of control. Anxiety and curses filled his mind.
"Arthur—" Zack clung tightly to the armrest. "What the fuck are you doing now?"
"Shut up, Zack! If you're so brave, go out on the wing and take those things down!"
The elevators controlling the airflow were clearly being manipulated by the dark figures. They were intelligent. Everything that was happening defied Arthur's understanding: figures who could leap dozens of meters into the air, tear through steel with their bare hands… how could such things exist in the real world?
The warning alarms grew more shrill, a symphony urging their crash. Zack seemed to have snapped, channeling his terror into anger as he pounded the seat.
At that moment, a loud thud echoed from above. A violent explosion rocked the ship's nose, and a dark figure appeared on the screen. He punched the steel plate below—with the force of several tons, almost punching through it.
The uncontrollable ship plunged toward the ground.
The dark figure was separated from them only by a layer of glass. Illuminated by the dim moonlight, his form merged with his cloak—charcoal-black skin, and blood-red light seeping from beneath the hood, sending chills down their spines.
A terrifying smile curled the figure's lips. He raised his clenched fists, arched his upper body backward at an inhuman angle, then slammed his fists into the nose of the ship once more.
The force of the blow shattered the barrier between them.