Embrace The Ether 24 Skyfire

Elias cheered as he moved to reload the Skyfire ballista. The s.h.i.+p came to a halt as everyone aboard peeked over the railing. To their shock, they witnessed something that would be engraved into their minds forever.

The original injury inflicted upon the centipede was only the beginning. It didn't take long for heavy shards of metal to erupt out of it, collapsing to the ground with a solid thud, creating divots in the black salted earth.

"Quick, get ready for another strike!" Elias shouted out as he finally finished placing a second metallic rod onto the barrel of the ballista. Deus watched all of this with both shock and surprise on his face.

"Screeee!"

The centipede lifted itself higher than ever before as it came face to face with the bottom of the s.h.i.+p. Its featureless face came to the same height that Elias and Deus were at as several metallically sharpened p.r.o.nged teeth began to grow out of it's gnawing mouth. The teeth were serrated roughly to allow it to rip through whatever it came into contact with.

To Deus' shock, the centipede lifted itself higher, growing even taller than before as the missing chunks of metal that were knocked out by Elias's previous attack began to replace themselves with new plates that took their place, growing out from within the worm.

"d.a.m.n, it's self-regeneration has already started! Deus, you see that over there? Bring it to me, and hurry!" Elias called out as he pointed towards the wall, there sat another metal rod, only this one was black and smooth. It hung on the wall as if some sort of prized trophy or dangerous tool.

As he was instructed, Deus carefully moved over toward the rod that sat against the wall, carefully moving through the room as Elias shot out a second strike against the mighty centipede. Another terrifying screech echoed through the air as the s.h.i.+p began to rock, the worm went smas.h.i.+ng down against the earth as even more metal came shooting out into the sand.

The pressure from the worm's collision against the black sand created a sort of tsunami of wind, pulling the Nijaden downwards. Everything shook as their s.h.i.+p once more came under enemy fire, most likely in an attempt to stop Elias from continuing to oppose the centipede. They'd never seen anyone openly fight against the worm and survive, so seeing one fall to the earth right before their eyes brought fear to their minds.

Elias held on tightly to the ballista as a rumble took over their s.h.i.+p. Deus, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. He lost his grip as he was attempting to move through the room for the metallic rod which Elias had ordered him to retrieve.

"s.h.i.+t!" Deus shouted out as he desperately reached around the room for something to latch onto. As he began to slide and tumble, he cautiously flung his arm out towards a railing which he was quickly pa.s.sing as the s.h.i.+p began to tilt onto its side.

Everything started to fly through the air as the Nijaden went sideways. Dust came puffing through the air as rough sacks of junk came flying off their shelves down through the room, instantly plummeting through the opened trapdoor.

Right as Deus believed he had a firm enough grip, an entire metal table came sliding through the room with a loud reverberating scratching sound, as the legs of the table sc.r.a.ped against the floor.

"Get a d.a.m.n grip!" Elias shouted out as he watched Deus desperately try and find safety.

Deus continued to slide through the room as one railing after another shattered as the incoming table continued to fall with him. Loud thuds echoed through the room as the Nijaden began to practically spin in place, the pressure of the wind and collapsing earth beneath them starting to pull them down.

Elias gripped firmly down onto the ballista which had been securely attached to the mechanisms throughout the s.h.i.+p. While he did that, however, Deus and the other crew members lost their footing and some of them were even thrown from the railing down onto the chaotic earth over forty feet below.

Panicked screams burned through the air as people were flung from the Nijaden, forced to fall through the air with no salvation in sight. Simply by smas.h.i.+ng into the ground, the midnight centipede had taken victims. Such was the way of life here in Midnight.

"Eeeek!" Terrified shrieks of panic and worry arose from the remaining clansmen who Elias had brought along. Most of the clansmen aboard the s.h.i.+p were here simply to oversee maintenance and hadn't seen actual combat before. After all, if they had engaged in combat prior to this, they would've been posted alongside the gunners, safely away from the main conflict as they'd attempt to take potshots at the enemy.

Deus continued to slide down the tilted-floor as it had launched several appliances against him as if attempting to cast him out. He reached his arms out in a flurry of swipes, hoping to grab hold of anything at all, even if it could only slow his descent for a few moments.

Truth be told, he had dealt with this sort of room-twisting situation before, during his first confrontation with a midnight centipede. He should've learned from his past experiences, but what's done is done, and you can only plan for the future, not the past.

"Ahh… come on… gotcha!" He shouted as his arm roughly caught against a wire which had slashed down against him. It had hurt a great deal, but it was worth it to keep from falling through the hatch.

Seeing this, Elias gave out a faint chuckle and grin as he turned his attention back towards the centipede which had begun to crawl back upwards in retaliation.

"Deus, I still need that!" Elias proclaimed as he looked toward the black metallic bolt which had remained attached to the wall by means of locked hinges.

"Right… s.h.i.+t. Give me a second, fire a third shot while I'm getting it… if you have to!"

Deus lifted himself up as the Nijaden began to calm down, most likely due to Rufus and his masterful piloting. The turbulence would've dragged any other pilot to the ground.

He looked around the room with a blurred daze. His arms and legs were incredibly sore from being slammed against repeatedly, but now wasn't the time to be feeling pain, no, now was the time to act.

After a few seconds of dizzily glancing around the room, Deus's eyes once more landed on the bolt which Elias needed. He started to shuffle his way through the messy room, stepping his way over shattered rails and loose tools. The ground had been covered by whatever was stashed away before.

"Screeeee!" The midnight centipede let loose a fearful roar as it began to reform itself from the inside-out. Old metallic shards came collapsing out of it, while new plates of solid metal pierced out through its mechanical innards. These beasts were renowned as one of the most dominant predators throughout Midnight for a reason.

Elias fired off a third bolt, only this time, he missed. The shot came firing past the centipede as it buried itself deep within the black desert.

"s.h.i.+t!" He cursed, lifting a fourth metal rod out of an old crate that sat beside him, loading it onto the ballista.

Arriving at the wall of the room, Deus pulled the smooth black bolt off of its hinges and shuffled it under his arms as he carefully made his way back to Elias. From the way Elias had asked for this rod, Deus had quickly determined that this bolt was special, and more so than that, dangerous.

"Elias, take it and kill that d.a.m.n worm!" Deus said with a rough shout. He had lifted the black bolt into the air so Elias could load it onto the ballista after his fourth shot.

"Screeee!" The centipede once more began to crawl back up out of the sand as metal reformed. The beast's regenerative abilities were monstrous to witness, and even more so when you knew just how destructive these metallic rods were.

The shot that Elias had missed with was more than enough proof of that. The moment the rod collided with the sand it had formed a terrifying chasm of empty s.p.a.ce as if pulling the sand downward. The power at which one would need to release those bolts to create such a reaction was only fair when one considered the strength that the ballista wielded.

Imagine using the Skyfire, a weapon designed to counter the enormous and terrifying midnight centipedes, against a humanoid target. There'd be nothing left after a single shot.

Elias released his fourth shot, landing a hit against the worm's left-most side. It let out a horrible screech once more as it twisted around in anguish. New metallic plates began to take form, but each time they did, Elias shot them off. A continuous self-regeneration countered by overwhelming destructive force.

"Elias, use this!" Deus spoke, holding the black metallic rod towards him.

"Hmph, I suppose it's time we end this… now, time to see if our clan has truly created a weapon capable of countering that monstrous regeneration."

Elias took the bolt from Deus as he loaded it onto the ballista. A heavy click sounded as he pulled back a lever to arm it, creating the pressure necessary to launch the rod at the incredible speeds needed to pierce its metallic plates.