Chapter 7: Ashcloud Ambush
The Auric Fang cut through the skies like a predator.
Below, clouds rolled thick and dark—Ashcloud Veil, a stretch of sky no sane captain liked to cross. Rumor said entire ships disappeared in its mists, swallowed by cursed wyrms or worse.
Zephyr, of course, chose it for a shortcut.
Kairo stood on the deck, leaning over the railing. The air tasted strange here, heavy with ash and salt. It wasn't the clean, biting wind he'd felt on the higher routes.
> "Keep your eyes open," Rhea said from beside him, adjusting her sword harness. "Things live in this fog that shouldn't."
Kairo gave a humorless smirk. "Like me?"
She didn't answer.
---
The mist thickened until Kairo couldn't even see the ship's nose. The Auric Fang's engines hummed low, running in stealth mode.
Then—
Screeeeee!
A piercing shriek split the air.
Figures burst from the mist on the backs of winged, skeletal wyrms. Rusted armor, chain hooks, jagged weapons—they were bounty hunters, their faces masked by bone.
> "Ashfang Riders!" Darek shouted from the upper gun deck. "Bounty grade—Crimson Class!"
The wyrms dived in, claws outstretched.
Zephyr's voice boomed from the bridge.
> "All hands! Protect the cargo and keep the Voidspawn alive!"
---
The first rider slammed onto the deck, swinging a curved axe toward Kairo.
He blocked instinctively, his hand flaring with the silver ripple of Null Kaigen—
And the axe's glowing edge vanished, its enchantment snuffed out. The rider stumbled, shocked, but Kairo's follow-up was clumsy. His palm strike barely knocked the man back before Rhea swept in, blade flashing, and finished him.
> "Don't overextend," she snapped. "Your Null's not endless."
Kairo gritted his teeth. "Then tell me how to—"
Wham!
A wyrm tail slammed into the railing where he'd been standing, splintering the wood and tossing him hard onto the deck.
The rider leapt from its back, landing in front of him. This one moved differently—faster, sharper. His mask was painted with a black lotus.
Kairo froze.
The rider tilted his head. "So it's really you," he said, voice muffled by the mask. "Didn't think I'd see you again after Vareth."
---
Kairo's stomach dropped.
> "Who are you?"
The rider laughed, low and cruel. "You really don't remember?"
He drew two hooked blades, their edges dripping with Kaigen energy. "Guess I'll remind you… while I collect your head."
---
The battle raged around them—Skyblades clashing with riders, wyrms tearing at the hull—but in that moment, Kairo heard nothing except the hum of those blades and the pounding of his own heart.
This wasn't just another bounty hunter.
This was someone from his missing past.
---
✦ End of Chapter 7 ✦
> Next Chapter: "The Man from Vareth" — In the chaos of the Ashcloud battle, Kairo faces the masked rider who knows his history. But fighting him means risking the power within… and if he loses control, the whole Auric Fang could be erased.