The sky split open with gunfire.
Inferius Squad shot out of the cloud layer like predators hunting wounded prey. The Bloodhawk's engines roared behind them, flooding the air with the vibrato of high-output antimatter turbines. Tracer rounds rained downward from its forward cannons, carving molten streaks across the hulls of the Sawtooth Razors' escort cutters.
"Targets locked!" Zev barked through comms as he fired a burst from the wing-mounted repeater. One of the enemy's escort ships—Serrator-3—buckled along its side, flames bursting from its fuel line.
Kirke dove alongside him, tapping commands into his wrist rig.
"Jamming their uplinks… now. Razors' formation is splitting!"
"Push them apart!" Netoshka commanded from the Bloodhawk's open side ramp. Wind howled around her but she stood steady, coat snapping violently. "Inferius, form on me! Strike in a cross!"
Rue and Surgeon leaped out behind her, riding drop-tethers that lit up in synchronized arcs. They swung downward toward the first enemy deck like falling comets.
Below, the Razors scrambled, swinging mounted guns around, shouting orders, bracing themselves against the chaos Inferius had unleashed.
And then they hit.
Rue landed like a detonation, sending two Razors skidding across the metal deck. Surgeon crashed into a cluster of gunners, cleaver-blade gauntlets spinning in his hands until the entire group was sent tumbling.
Netoshka hit last—silent, deadly. Her boots clanged against metal once, then she was already in motion. She cut through the first gunner before he could even scream, tore the rifle from another, and hurled it overboard.
The wind carried her words across the entire deck:
"We break your fleet here."
II. KRANE STRATOS – DECK OF THE SPINEBREAKER
Far above the chaos, aboard the armored Blimp known as the 'Spinebreaker'. Krane Stratos stood with arms folded behind his back.
He watched Inferius descend upon his fleet like butcher birds circling wounded prey.
His jaw tightened.
They had struck faster than he expected.
At his side, three of his commanders awaited orders—
Varkesh, the wiry tactician;
Harvey, his cold-voiced weapons officer;
and Gorik, a brute of a man with a plated spine.
Varkesh broke the silence first.
"Inferius Squad is carving through Serrator-3 and 4. Their Bloodhawk is operating at 130% output, Captain. They're using some kind of—"
"I don't care what they're using," Krane cut in. His voice was deep, even, unshaken.
"I care where the Glitching Aberration is."
Harvey zoomed in on the first deck battle feed. "Netoshka is leading the strike personally."
Krane's lips curled into something between irritation and excitement.
"Of course she is."
Gorik slammed his fist into a railing.
"Captain, give me the order and I'll lead a boarding squad now—"
"No," Krane ordered.
"You'll die before you even reach their ramp."
He stepped closer to the holo-map, observing Inferius piercing deeper into his formation.
The Bloodhawk danced through fire like it had a mind of its own—anticipating angles, climbing steeply, then diving with predatory precision.
"Inferius is smart enough to split my escorts," Krane murmured.
"But they're missing something."
Varkesh raised a brow.
"And that is?"
"That I don't need the escorts to win this fight."
He turned sharply.
"Bring the Maw Cannons online. Lock them on the Bloodhawk. Force Netoshka to bring her squad back aboard."
Harvey hesitated.
"Captain… the Maw Cannons are volatile this high up—"
"Do it."
His voice wasn't raised. It didn't need to be.
Within seconds, alarms rippled through the Spinebreaker as enormous armored plates slid open along the blimp's underbelly—revealing rotating barrels the size of small buildings.
Krane clasped his hands behind his back again.
"Netoshka… let's see how far you're willing to push your people to the edge."
III. DEATH ON THE DECK
Netoshka felt it before she saw it—
a tremor in the steel under her boots,
a shift in the wind,
a sudden tightening in the air's pressure.
Surgeon shouted first.
"Neto—DECK CANNONS CHARGING!"
She looked up.
Far above them, the Spinebreaker's underside glowed with swirling energy—the Maw Cannons spinning to life.
Her blood ran cold but instantly hot again.
"Zev! Kirke! Pull back to the Hawk!" she barked, slashing another enemy across the throat.
"Rue, Surgien, grab anything useful and move!"
The deck vibrated with the growing hum of the charging weapons.
Kirke's voice cracked through static:
"Those cannons will tear the Bloodhawk in half if they fire!"
"Then we don't let them fire," Netoshka snarled. "Inferius! New target—their Spinebreaker!"
They took off running across the deck as burning metal rained from above.
IV. SPINEBREAKER ROOM
Krane leaned forward as Inferius began their desperate sprint.
"Those aren't soldiers," he murmured. "Those are fanatical zealots."
"Sir?" Harvey questioned.
"It seems Netoshka trains monsters the same way Lucretia does. They don't retreat. They don't question, almost Robotic-like"
A small, cruel smile touched his lips.
"So let's see how they look when everything they rely on is stripped away."
He raised his hand.
"Fire the Maw Cannons."