After Ena completely deflected Theodor's attack from behind, the three of them remained still for a moment and looked at each other—trying to process the situation.
To be more precise, they couldn't distinguish each other's mana from the Cyalias—it was easier to tell humans and parasites apart by silhouette and movement.
Ena took a deep breath before looking down, then glancing back up again. They all eased their stances, and the wave of Cyalias finally settled for a bit. Piles of dead parasites filled the airship.
Not just bodies but whole gallons of blood spattered on the deck and on their clothes as well. Tiny scratches in their clothes—they couldn't really see where they were, but they could feel the chilling cold touching their skin slowly.
Well, except for Haruo—he couldn't really feel the cold if his body is already cold to begin with. But he could still feel the fog entering through the scratches of his clothes, though.
"Ugh!—This is so annoying! Do you guys know how many times I had to fix my clothes already!?"
Ena was the first to speak, and of course, it was her usual tantrums. She grabbed the side of her sleeve just below the scratch.
"I keep saying this... KEEP. YOUR. OPINIONS. TO YOURSELF!"
Haruo was already stressed due to the unpleasant hit of inferiority just earlier, then got hit with waves of parasites—now it seems like he has no way of determining which is a parasite and an ally when they rush at them in groups.
While they were fighting, Theodor, just beside them, glanced at his spear. Then redirected his attention toward his lower right—beside his leg was a dead clone of him, which had matching silhouettes with tiny bits of uncanny details.
He poked the clone with the edge of his spear, and then it changed its form to something that no longer resembled him. Though he didn't know the anatomy of the parasite, he still noticed that large chunks of his body were gone.
And the closer he looked, he noticed the body of the parasite was continuously deflating, becoming smaller and flatter each second. It kept shrinking until it was no longer as big as it was before.
Ena noticed this and immediately looked disgusted.
"Why are you playing with it? And why does it look like that now!"
Haruo slowly glanced at the deflated parasite; he only rolled his eyes and looked forward before replying.
"It's just decaying, don't put too much attention at it."
As he said that, he didn't hesitate to walk away. Ena only scoffed and trailed Haruo's silhouette. Theodor then took one last glance at it before walking away with the two of them.
***
After walking for a bit, he saw three faint silhouette's standing still just meters away from them. Haruo stopped and placed his finger on his ear before saying:
"Leo, is that you?"
Out of nowhere, the middle one which looked like Leo rushed toward him. Haruo was quick to react, slashing the parasite in one swoop. But as he did, the parasite deflected it last second.
For a moment, Haruo was a tad confused, then he realized it was ACTUALLY Leo. Lowering his weapon he palmed his forehead then looked directly at his silhouette then said.
"Do you think this is a joke to y—!?"
Leo attacked him once again, his saber nearing Haruo's throat. But before it could connect. Theodor's spear quickly blocked it, just beside Haruo's neck and above his shoulder—precisely beside his skin.
Then out of nowhere, Tatiana teleported beside Haruo—the same side where Leo and Theodor clashed—and made a quick downward slash on Theodor's arm.
Haruo reacted quickly and moved from his original spot, swiftly turned clockwise, and used that momentum to deflect her attack. With Haruo gone from his original position, Leo and Theodor quickly prepared for their next attack.
But before they could clash again, Haruo interfered and kicked Leo away. And due to Tatiana being outnumbered and at a weak spot to be in, she teleported beside Leo creating distance between the Division.
"How are they attacking!? Don't tell me they can copy how we fight too!"
Ena was in a storm of confusion; never before had a monster been able to mimic a person so perfectly, let alone an entire race.
"No, those aren't Cyalias, they're actual them."
Haruo took a deep sigh, he raised his hand to his side while taking a few steps back. The two followed his movements, carefully retreating steadily gaining some space to talk.
"So many things are happening so fast, I forgot the main reason why I hated sky fishing so badly; Damn leeches."
"Right... leeches, what exactly are those 'leeches' exactly?"
They stopped once their silhouettes disappeared into the fog, then formed a circle with their backs to one another. At this point, no one dared to let their guard down a bit.
"A species that lived for 8 periods— did you think there would only be one of its kind? That amount of time would made the species extinct already, but they haven't."
Ena contemplated for a bit, trying to estimate the amount before saying:
"Hundreds?"
"Thousands—There is a reason why most people don't sky fish. This entire place is recorded as a death zone. Not because of the Skavilens but because of the number of subspecies of Cyalias ever found in the ether zone."
"Why did we even come here for! We could've hunted on the ground or sea!"
Exasperation filled up Ena's mind. She first thought that sky fishing was just normal monster hunting in a blurry zone, but she realized it was more than that.
The ship was vulnerable to abilities; their sheer power and variety meant even a slight use could tear it apart—or split it in two. This weakness had already slowed much of their progress, yet it was only the tip of the iceberg.
The ether zone's air was so dense and compressed it could crush a normal man within seconds. Every movement felt like moving through deep water—heavy, sluggish, and restrained.
Suffocation was inevitable—whether physical or mental. In this place, the senses were useless, leaving only sight and the ability to detect mana. Yet the worst part wasn't the loss of vision or sound, but what lurked within this forsaken zone.
If Ena could go back to before the mission began, the first thing she would do was swallow her pride and admit they had been right—sky fishing was frustrating.
"We're directly beneath the Ulium Sea, which belongs to the second continent. Fishing here could spark a war between two continents. The only waters we can fish without consequence are the Arctic Sea and Cal Lake in the north."
"For fishing!? A war could start because of fishing!?"
"You'd be surprised how territorial humans can be, especially the political ones."
"So do we just knock them out, or do we have to kill them."
"Not EVERYTHING is solved by killing okay? Just find the parasite that's controlling their body and kill it."
As they talked, the ship rumbled, shaking relentlessly before its center of gravity was tumbled down. The ship tilted to the back—getting steeper by the second. The trio grabbed onto something to keep them from falling or drifting away from the ship.
"Again?!" Ena exclaimed as she stuck herself onto the flooring with her ability with her palm on the flooring.
"Aren't you tired of getting surprised? We already told you sky fishing sucked!" Theodor clung to Ena's feet, gripping tightly and not daring to let go.
"Really! And here I thought you were always lost in your own world! I never expected you to actually talk in serious situations!" she exclaimed, wiggling her foot a little to mess with him.
"How are we even plummeting!?!? I thought we just floated around in this space! How come we're still reliant on gravity!?"
As the ship tilted to the side, Haruo gripped the rope tightly with one hand while keeping his blade ready. And when it leaned almost completely sideways, he formed a small platform beneath him to stand on.
"Can we use abilities!? The ships is going to be destroyed either way!"
Haruo glanced at Ena, still dangling on the side with Theodor clinging to her like a nuisance. He let out a long breath, scratching the back of his head before looking at her again. His patience was wearing thin due to the number of things happening at once.
"Fine, just avoid trying to destroy our only way to the Fiond."
Ena slowly swung her body toward Haruo's direction before making a large leap toward him. Theodor let go of her feet and landed together with Ena on the platform. Neither of them slipped, despite standing on ice—They locked their center of gravity on the platform for better balance to make sure.
The platform glided steadily through the fog, but as they moved forward, flames suddenly burst to life just inches from their faces, as if the clouds ahead had turned to fire.
But before the flames could reach them, a wall of blood surged up, shielding them from the danger. Their eyes widened as they hastily jumped away from the platform—just inches from where they stood, it shattered into countless shards.
They split in different directions—Ena jumped forward while the others leapt to the sides. Theodor clung to the ship with one hand, while Haruo and Ena were still midair. As they were adjusting their positions the three suddenly showed up teleporting at their blind spots.
Isaac, Tatiana, and Leo lunged at them simultaneously.
Isaac gripped his blade tightly, their eyes meeting despite only seeing each other's silhouettes. In less than a second, Isaac unsheathed his blade in a quick draw, its speed exceeding what Haruo expected.
Haruo had no choice but to block the attack head-on, trying to prevent the slash from cutting the ship in half.
***
After just splitting from the other two, Theodor was back to hanging on the side of the Airship. His foot is lodged in the side, while his other hand is occupied by his spear.
Clinging to one of the ropes, he quickly composed himself and tried to observe his surroundings. But it wasn't long before he was interrupted by his sister lunging straight at him with a blade behind his back.
Theodor immediately changed his posture; he let go of the rope that was holding him to the ship and grabbed his spear at the end with his other hand, making it rest behind him.
This blocked her attack, and he took his to deflect her blade away by putting pressure on the hand that was near the blade and letting go of his other hand, causing the spear to spring toward Tatiana. Her reflexes made it easy for her to teleport away.
Theodor then hooked his foot on the rope and used that momentum to move forward and reposition. This time, he was standing on the mast of the airship and could stand properly.
But he wasn't able to rest. Just after he landed, Haruo crashed right into him. They both gasped and crashed on the floor of the ship. Haruo tried his best to absorb the impact as much as possible and distribute it along with the ship.
The ship then slowly reverted back vertically, and Haruo and Theodor both fell on each other again as it did. Luckily, the floor only sustained a minor bend; they both groaned as they regained their footing.
Isaac wasn't finished with his attack. Tatiana once again teleported him near them. Not by their side but above them, he was in the same position he was in when he attacked Haruo.
Both raised their guards, but it was too late—they couldn't reach him in time. Just as they braced for a major attack, something suddenly crashed into him before he could even draw his sword.
"GET THEM!"
Ena screamed into their ears, and they didn't waste the opportunity. Once they regained their footing, they lunged forward and knocked the two silhouettes back before they could adjust.
Haruo used his ability to freeze their legs and arms, restricting their movements. Ena ran toward Isaac and Leo, and held both of their wrist while she focused on finding the parasites that lay in their body.
It didn't take more than two minutes before finding and eliminating the parasite. The two instantly regained their rationality back. both were a little confused before realizing they couldn't move.
As Leo slowly guiding his hand to his ear, the other three raised their weapons directly at them. But they didn't stop him from doing so.
"I thought you guys were the ones getting controlled by the parasites, haha..."
They all lowered their weapons after confirming it was him. Isaac couldn't move which meant he couldn't speak even if wanted to.
"Can you release us now? I'm kind off itchy and uncomfortable here laying stiffly"
After being freed by Haruo, all restrictions that limited their movements which finally allowed them to stand up. Though despite being able to move their backs ached slightly.
"So where's Tia?"
Suddenly the light fog became darker, they felt liquid coating their clothes and skin. Breathing even with the mask felt considerably harder, their movement heavier.
they couldn't see each other's silhouettes anymore, it was completely dark. Tiny sparks of light that look like electricity far away gave them a little light source but that was it.
The ship wobbled as if they were sailing on water. They all heard it—the distorted humming they were familiar with—then three different light sources from separate directions illuminated the dark.
And there she stood on the pinnacle of the mast.
"Didn't think she'd be this annoying to fight"