Chapter 186: Tear The Sky Asunder

The wind howled the moment the hatch cracked open wider, sharp and violent, ripping through the cabin like a living thing. Steam hissed louder in response, the aircraft compensating as the outside pressure clawed its way in.

Below us was nothing but clouds.

And around us? Just plain old death.

Arrows screamed past the opening, one of them punching clean through the metal frame beside Julius, embedding itself halfway through.

“H-How is this happening…!?”

“Leave the questions for later,” Evelina replied, her voice calm despite the chaos. “It’s best we try not to die.”

“None of us is fit to fight in a moving aircraft,” Marcellus scoffed.

Another explosion rocked the aircraft, tilting it violently to the side. A second later, a body slammed against the outer hull, one of the imperial soldiers, before dropping out of view into the clouds below.

“That doesn’t include me,” I replied.

“You’re a close-range fighter, how do you—” Marcellus cut himself off the moment I pulled a steam gun from one of the lockers. “A gun!? Here!? How the—”

“Can you shut up!?” Evelina snapped. “I don’t see you doing anything.”

“F-Fine, just don’t blame me when he can’t even hit his target.”

I ignored Marcellus’s comments as I knelt and braced the gun, aiming at what looked like the leader of their formation, trying to shoot a moving target with an outdated sniper rifle. Still, magic should make up for its flaws.

And with magic helping to slow down time, it should make up for not having a scope or any guide for wind and distance.

[Black Flame Manipulation]

Time slowed for a moment. While I calculated the distance, I also coated the bullet and the firing mechanism with magic, trying to extend its effective range.

I added a [Dark Serpent] as well, to subtly guide it like a homing bullet, just in case.

[Endless Fang] would have been useful too, but without profaned manipulation, I doubted I could control it over long distances as well as a simple bullet.

The world narrowed as the roar of the rotors dulled into a distant hum, the screaming wind faded into a low, muted whisper, and even the chaos behind me. The shouting, the explosions, the clash of magic, it all slipped into background noise.

All that remained was the target.

The elven rider at the front of the formation shifted slightly, the massive eagle beneath them banking to the left, feathers catching the light as they adjusted their altitude, their bow already drawn, another arrow forming—no, being formed—from condensed magic.

Not a normal archer. Of course it wasn’t.

I exhaled slowly.

Wind speed… erratic. Altitude… unstable. Target movement… predictive pattern every two seconds…

There! A brief window.

“—You’re not seriously going to hit that,” Marcellus muttered behind me, but his voice sounded distant, irrelevant.

I squeezed the trigger.

BANG!

The recoil slammed into my shoulder, the sound cracking through the cabin like thunder as the bullet tore through the air, and then reality snapped back.

The projectile vanished from sight almost instantly, a streak of distorted air trailing behind it as the black flame coating ignited mid-flight, twisting unnaturally.

At first, it looked like a miss—then the [Dark Serpent] activated.

The bullet curved. Not sharply, just enough. Enough to correct and certainly enough to kill.

Far in the distance, a burst of black fire.

The eagle shrieked as the rider’s body jerked violently. Flames devoured them both, spreading unnaturally fast and clinging to feathers, flesh, and magic alike. The creature spiraled, its wings faltering as rider and mount were consumed mid-air.

“…What the hell…?” Marcellus breathed.

Julius didn’t say anything.

Evelina, however, smiled.

“See how inferior you are compared to him?” she boasted.

“You’re lucky your family’s powerful…” Marcellus replied.

“Says the nepotistic imperial prince,” Evelina shot back.

The formation broke, not by a lot, but enough.

The elves shifted, several riders peeling off to assess the sudden loss of their leader, their once-perfect coordination faltering for just a moment.

That moment was all we needed.

“Again,” Evelina said calmly.

I was already reloading when another arrow slammed into the hull, sparks flying as it scraped across reinforced metal, and one of the mages cried out as a second shot pierced through the cabin, grazing his shoulder.

“Shields are failing on the left side!” someone shouted.

“Julius, can you use your Light Guardian?” Marcellus shouted.

“I-I’ll try!”

“You didn’t think to try before the arrow almost hit us!?” I yelled.

Was this guy, who was literally supposed to be the main character, seriously forgetting he had the perfect spell to completely nullify the elves’ arrows?

“It’s a high-stakes scenario, okay!? Don’t expect me to think perfectly immediately!”

[Light Guardian]

Julius activated his spell just in time. The shimmering barrier flared to life and barely intercepted a fireball aimed directly at the four of us.

The fireball exploded only inches away from the aircraft.

“Just cover me!” I shouted, continuing to fire, taking them out one by one. It was slow work, but in a life-or-death situation, anything that worked was good enough.

Outside, the imperial soldiers circling the aircraft did their part, picking off the remaining riders who’d lost coordination after I took out their leaders.

“They’re starting to thin out!” one of the soldiers outside shouted. His steam gun roared, a slab of metal spitting bullets like a Gatling gun.

Absurdly overbuilt. Absurdly effective.

Each burst tore through wings and armor, knocking riders out of the sky one after another. Feathers, splinters, and bits of shattered gear scattered into the wind.

Majestic, disciplined elven riders on living mounts didn’t stand a chance against ugly, unrelenting machinery. In the end, the sky didn’t care about elegance. It only cared about who had more firepower.

Exactly how life should be. Survival of the fittest.

“We’ve got a problem!” the pilot yelled from the cockpit.

“What is it!?” I shouted back.

“Shit… no time to explain! Just brace for impact!”

I tore myself away from my firing position and stumbled into the cockpit. One look was enough.

He wasn’t exaggerating. Bracing for impact was all we could do.

[Tear The Sky Asunder]

Haha… shit.

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