"Wings of Rebellion"
"Darling, one of them is coming," said Linda fearfully, peering through her binoculars at a ship rushing toward them at full speed. The carriage, of course, couldn't possibly compare.
Peter frowned and spoke with seriousness.
"Take the wheel," he said, switching places with her without hesitation.
With a swift motion, he grabbed his rifle from the side and uncorked a mana flask, downing it in a single gulp. His eyes turned a brilliant golden hue, like those of a hawk. Half his body emerged above the vehicle, while the weapon in his hands gleamed for an instant, imbued with one of his abilities.
The ship closed in with each passing second, cutting the distance by dozens of meters. In less than a minute it was within fifty. Peter aimed and pulled the trigger. The shot tore through the air like a laser beam, while the rifle in his hands shattered, consumed by mana and the ability itself.
Peter watched the ship intently. At first it seemed to ignore the attack and kept going. But then the projectile struck a barrier, which resisted only for a heartbeat before breaking. It pierced straight through the glass, right into the pilot's head. The ship halted abruptly in midair before descending slowly on its own.
"Linda, stop. Turn back," Peter ordered, his voice still firm.
She obeyed, turned the carriage around, and approached the craft, which landed softly.
Peter drew a smaller weapon and walked toward it. Up close it looked more like a futuristic car, armed on the sides. Through the glass he saw the elf's corpse, head pierced clean through. The shot had gone right through the skull and out the back, shattering the rear glass and cauterizing everything along its path. Luckily, the interior wasn't soaked in blood.
He opened the door, and the body fell heavily to the ground. Linda covered her mouth, stifling a cry of disgust. Peter, unfazed, dragged the corpse off the road and returned to inspect the ship.
"It's small, but it'll do. Two seats in front, and the back can hold luggage… Sally will fit there just fine."
He sat at the controls. It was difficult to know what was what: screens filled with numbers, a wheel, dozens of buttons everywhere, even more above his head. Still, the basics were intuitive: steering wheel, speed lever, and another for altitude. He shifted them lightly and quickly got the hang of it.
"Get Sally. We're leaving before they notice," he said decisively.
Linda ran to the carriage and lifted her daughter, encased in the blue capsule formed by the computer while she remained inside the game searching for help. She set her gently in the back, alongside their provisions and equipment, then took the copilot's seat.
Peter pulled the levers, and the ship lifted with a strange wobble at first, but soon sped off, gliding above the treetops.
...
"What do we do?" Loli asked nervously as she ran behind Bert. He fired relentlessly with his gloves, cutting down the elves appearing on the ground.
Sig vanished into a swirl of black mist and reappeared behind one, slashing its throat with a simple kitchen knife.
For Loli, killing monsters inside the game was one thing, but doing it in the real world slowed her down. Still, she opened portals to deflect bullets and spells, shielding her companions.
An elf dropped from a rooftop onto them, but a slime latched onto his head, suffocating him.
"Look up!" shouted Edward, leaping from another roof and finishing the foe. Even in his dying breath, the elf fired wildly in every direction.
Loli quickly moved her hands, creating a portal that redirected the shots just as another dozen elves appeared to open fire. The projectiles rebounded among them, cutting down their own ranks.
At that moment, Joe appeared wreathed in flames, dropping from the sky after tearing apart part of a falling ship. He crashed into the elves on the ground, and the explosion shook the area, hurling bodies everywhere.
"Don't stop!" roared Joe, his gaze a mix of excitement and grim resolve.
Meanwhile, the grandfather raised his hands like a commander, and the earth golems charged at the elves, seizing their weapons to turn them against them. They began firing at the many ships still arriving, though the crafts remained shielded by energy barriers.
Bert's expression hardened. Suddenly, Dean pierced through one ship with a dark spear, shattering its defense before raising his bow and shooting the pilot.
"Only magical attacks pierce the protective layers," Bert warned quickly.
"Maybe we can use one of those ships to get out of here. If we stay, more will come, and they'll wreak havoc among the civilians," said Sig with determination.
Before Bert could agree, Alfred appeared calmly piloting one of those ships, stopping beside them. Joe nearly attacked him but recognized him in time.
"Get in. It'll be tight, but we'll grab another along the way," Alfred said.
Loli and Sig quickly climbed inside, while Ganfall, Joe, Bert, and Edward clung to the roof. Alfred steered toward the ships Dean had disabled without destroying, unlike Joe, who left wreckage in his wake. Dodging incoming fire, Joe leapt again into the fray to rip apart more attackers.
The grandfather, with a motion of his hand, absorbed mana flasks and cast spells against the ships, weakening their shields. The golems on the ground fired their stolen weapons, bringing vessels down one after another, explosions lighting up the sky.
…
"Mmm… Mama Lua said to just wait, but she'll take a long time."
In Liora's hideout, the little girl with golden eyes was restless. She stroked King's head while sitting on the bed, swinging her little feet with a trace of excitement.
In front of her, dozens of mana flasks lay scattered across the floor, their liquid gleaming as it spilled onto the ground. There were at least fifty high-quality flasks.
Then the liquid began to stir strangely, spinning rapidly toward a point in the center. In seconds the energy formed a vortex, and from it a silhouette slowly emerged.
Blue hair. Red eyes. Beautiful and young. It was Lua. Though she looked a bit younger than she had in Drunai, her essence was unmistakable. She glanced at her hands for a moment, then touched her forehead and noticed something missing: her horns. She looked down and realized she wasn't wearing any clothes.
"Mama Lua…" Liora murmured happily, running to hug her at once.
Lua took her in with a faint smile, but her gaze scanned the dim room, lit only by the mana flasks. Spotting some robes on the bed, she set Liora down and put one on. Liora, thrilled, fetched more clothes from the wardrobes, hopping with joy.
In a short while Lua was properly dressed, though the outfit made her look a little like a scientist.
"SIA, where are the others and how are they?" Lua asked calmly, as Liora circled her beaming.
"One moment, boss…" SIA replied, as if searching for the information.
"Liora, go keep your grandmothers company for a while. And watch Grandma Lila so she doesn't make Grandma Silvia angry," Lua said softly.
"Okay!" the girl answered solemnly, as if entrusted with an important mission. She ran to the computer and logged into Drunai without hesitation.
"I found them," SIA reported. "Boss, there seems to be a major attack across several major cities. But most of the enemy reinforcements are heading toward Loli's city and the others. They'll need help. The main ship is already on its way."
"Understood," Lua replied, preparing to leave.
"Wait, boss. Take enough mana flasks for the others. They don't have enough reserves to endure a long battle. Only Dean, Joe, and Edward have evolved enough to draw mana from Drunai. Once they exhaust their reserves, they won't be able to recover them until they return. The same applies to you… although you have far more mana, of course. Still, I'm not worried: this clone only holds about 10% of your real power. It would take at least a first-level demigod to drain it."
Lua nodded and moved to the computer, grabbing several empty flasks. With a finger she inscribed runes on them and connected them to the system. Then she exchanged roughly a hundred demon beast cores for pure mana. Normally that would convert into five hundred flasks, but she enchanted them to store larger quantities. In the end there were only five flasks, each loaded with that concentrated energy.
She headed for the bunker exit, inscribing dozens of protective enchantments on the walls to secure the place for Liora. She climbed the stairs to the hatch buried under stones; a small explosion was enough to clear it.
She emerged onto the surface. The toxic air of the real world hit her immediately. She stood among the ruins of a building whose collapsed wall had concealed that exit.
No sooner had she stepped out than a large black rabid dog lunged at her, teeth bared. Before it could touch her, it burst into flames and collapsed to ashes. Lua calmly surveyed the ruined city around her.
"The air really is toxic. Without mana to cleanse it… it's a shame," SIA commented in her mind.
"Give me the coordinates," Lua ordered, looking up at the sky thick with contaminated clouds.
"Of course, boss," SIA answered.
Lua vanished then, moving at high speed. Her form flickered in flashes every few hundred meters as she traveled, following the route precisely.
…
On the main ship, the man in charge watched through the window as dozens of small craft deployed in various directions.
A soldier entered the command room.
"Sir, several ships have been destroyed by the rebels. It seems you were right: they're rising up and have enough power to face our men. Do you want me to request reinforcements from headquarters?"
"Tsk… useless." The commander sneered. "No. Don't send anything. Just deploy the combat ships. Prioritize taking out those idiots who started the rebellion. And…" he stood up with a gleam in his eyes, "we'll go too."