Nico felt the pressure ease, though the sky was still on fire, and the spells were still carving through the night, but the density had dropped with fewer "you die here" futures screaming in his skull all at once.
So he throttled the Precognition down, collapsing six seconds into four.
And the difference was immediate.
The static behind his eyes faded with the migraine-edge pulling back just enough for him to breathe without feeling like his brain was being wrung out like a wet cloth.
"Oh, thank god," he muttered before banking hard as a lightning lance cut through the space he'd occupied a heartbeat ago.
Below him, the Southern Vigil looked… wounded.
Whole firing lines were just gone now.
Straight into Nom-Nom's tummy.
And for the first time since this whole suicidal sprint began, Nico wasn't purely reacting anymore.
He dodged on instinct now, small corrections instead of desperate corkscrews, slipping between spells with something approaching rhythm. Still not elegant, but sustainable.
And that was good enough, all things considered.
Now, Nico moved towards the second phase of his supposed plan… A plan that kept changing every few minutes.
Nico flooded mana into the shotgun, and the runes inside the barrel responded instantly with a white glow as the charge rebuilt before he angled his flight, but not toward the chaos on the Vigil's deck, where Nom-Nom and Thane were very clearly having a disagreement…
… but towards the smaller one that the compass bar atop his vision pointed to be Chimer X-97's location.
Diving headfirst into the lines of spell-fire, Nico began closing the distance while he pushed the thought across their Familiar Bond.
[Nom. Don't dragon-up unless your life's actually in danger. I'm getting backup… I think.]
He didn't wait for a reply.
If Nom-Nom went full dragon now, both ships would fold like cheap paper, and everyone aboard would die, which may also include the person he was here to extract.
And besides…
Nico's eyes flicked to the two Pantheon warships floating helplessly on the sea.
He had plans. Admittedly stupid plans. Yet, potentially brilliant ones.
But only if the ships stayed in one piece.
Mana surged into the cloak as he dropped altitude with wind screaming past him, and eyes locked on that orange dot as spellfire flashed in front of him like a dying storm.
"Alright," Nico muttered with teeth bared in a grin that was half nerves, half resolve. "Here goes everything."
Spell-fire immediately thickened as the Soul of the smaller ship realised what Nico was aiming for.
Fire lanced past his shoulder. Ice shards screamed close enough that his cloak tugged sideways from the shockwave.
Precognition flared in his mind again and again, keeping him alive by margins measured in inches.
He flew ugly, using micro-bursts from the cloak to slip between converging lines of death. No fancy spirals now, just closing distance while the ship threw everything it had left at him.
And then -
-Ding!
{Boomstick is sufficiently charged.}
Nico grinned.
Wrenching the shotgun up mid-dodge, Nico rolled sideways as a lightning arc tore through the space where his head had been, and fired without slowing.
-BOOM-!
The shot punched forward through the chaos in a straight, brutal line of violence that didn't care about finesse.
Cannons snapped toward it instantly, targeting the predictable trajectory as they tried to intercept the shell mid-flight.
But it tore straight through incoming spells, and the barrier around the ship before punching into the deck with a concussive blast that shoved metal inward like poked wet paper, leaving behind a man-sized hole rimmed with glowing, half-melted adamantite.
Nico seized the opportunity.
Mana surged into the cloak as he dropped behind his own shot, nowhere near its speed but close enough to ride the opening as he aimed for the smoking breach.
The cannons tried to aim back at him, but it was too late as Nico folded himself and slipped through the hole, vanishing into the ship's interior just as the air above the deck filled with fire again.
And the next moment, Nico's boots slammed into metal floos with a hollow thump, echoing down the corridor as he staggered a step before catching himself, instinctively bringing the shotgun up.
Red light flooded the interior via the mana lamps embedded in the walls that pulsed in warning hues, casting long shadows that stretched and warped with every flicker as silent alarms rippled through the ship's spine.
The air smelled… sterile.
Nico glanced back over his shoulder.
Behind him, another hole in the floor gaped back at him.
"…Here's hoping I didn't ventilate the entire ship," he muttered as he adjusted his stance.
The shotgun stayed raised with its final two shells, while he formed AP Ice Pebble that hovered near his shoulder.
Now that flight wasn't eating ninety percent of his mana capacity, Nico actually felt ready to fight, should it find him.
Exhaling, he then flicked his gaze up to the compass bar hovering at the edge of his vision.
The orange dot in the middle now had 20 Meters written below in faded white letters.
"Okay…" Nico whispered, squaring his shoulders. "Forward."
But before he could even take a step -
"Intruder identified," a calm, disembodied voice echoed through the corridor, "Engagement protocols initializing."
Panels along the walls snapped open in perfect synchrony, folding back to reveal smooth crystal orbs recessed within, with mana surging inside them.
Spells began forming, and -
-CRASH-!
The crystals shattered as Ap Ice Pebbles shattered through them.
Their mana feedback screamed as the nodes disintegrated mid-cast before their shards skittered across the floor while the remaining panels slammed shut in emergency response.
"…Yeah, Precognition is one hell of a cheat," he chuckled despite himself and began walking.
That's wehn the voice returned.
"I am Auralis," it said, no longer announcing but addressing him directly. "The Soul of this vessel."
Despite precognition, Nico flinched.
"You are trespassing," Auralis continued, unbothered. "Chimera X-97 is the property of Pantheon. So is Chimera B-41. Leave now, and you will be allowed to."
Nico snorted and kept walking.
"Look…" he said with a tired voice, "I'm really not in the mood for a passionate debate on what should and shouldn't be considered property."
"You are making a grave mistake," Auralis warned. "Pantheon's reach extends beyond this battlefield. Beyond this night."
"Yeah, so I've been told," Nico replied, getting closer to the orange dot with every step, before stopping before a door.
Not a 'door' per se, it loomed ahead like a bank vault, with layers of reinforced metal wrapped in glowing runic locks drenched in mana so dense it made his ears buzz.
And the orange dot on the compass bar sat directly behind it. Just 10 meters away.
Nico glanced at the door, then at the shotgun as its runes began to glow brighter.
"You may withdraw," Auralis's tone shifted, gone was the sterile calm. "B-41 will be relinquished to you. You may leave with it unharmed."
"Nah~" Nico bared his teeth in a grin that was all nerves and resolve as the shotgun's barrel burned white.
"Do not-"
-BOOM-!
Nico stepped through the smoking breach he blasted through that door, almost tripping in the process, before he caught himself and brought the shotgun up on instinct.
The room beyond was stark and sterile with white walls lined with embedded mana lamps that painted the room in a suffocating white.
And just ahead, a glass containment cage dominated the center of the room, faintly fogged from within with a thin white vapor.
And inside it stood a woman.
She had already backed herself against the far end of the enclosure with her bare feet sliding slightly on the polished floor as she pressed herself away from the hole Nico had blasted through.
Her wide violet eyes were fixed on him.
Upon a single glance, Nico slowed immediately.
He raised both hands in front of himself, careful not to make any sudden movements, even keeping the shotgun gripped by its forestock in his left hand.
"Friendly," he said quickly, keeping his voice calm despite the hammering heart. "I'm friendly."
Her gaze flicked to the weapon, then back to his face, narrowing just a fraction as her breathing steadied instead of speeding up.
"My name's Nico," he continued as he took a slow step closer, "I'm here to get you out."
That hitched her breath.
But Nico didn't stop talking, afraid silence would do more harm than words.
"Look, there's another Chimera like you fighting on the upper deck right now… She's keeping their heavy hitters busy. That's the only reason I managed to reach this ship. But we need your help to actually defeat them."
The woman shifted again, but this time stepping forward instead of back, and as she did, Nico finally registered what she was wearing.
If it could be called clothing.
A dull white sheet, with rough holes cut out for her head and arms, hung off her frame like something meant to cover rather than clothe.
She stopped a step away from the glass, close enough that Nico could see the tension in her shoulders as she spoke for the first time.
"Why should I trust you?"
"Don't," he said honestly, "But I'm breaking you out either way."
Her eyes flickered with surprise, cutting through the guarded look.
"You can help us, and we can escape together…" he went on, already stepping back as he raised the shotgun and began feeding mana into it.
"Or you can just fly away the second you're free. Their forces are mostly crippled, and the ones still standing are busy with the Chimera I mentioned."
He tilted his head slightly as a grin spread across his face despite the nerves crawling up his spine.
"You can… fly, right?"
And before she could answer -
-BOOM - CRASH-!
The shotgun thundered with the shot placed deliberately wide of her as it smashed into the reinforced glass beside the cage.
And the 'containment' failed instantly as glass shattered across the room.
But the white vapor inside reacted violently with the open air.
The smoke thickened in a heartbeat, swallowing the space where she stood.
-Ding!
{Airborne Mana Core Inhibitor detected in Host's System. Predicted effect: reduced or halted MP regeneration.
Analysis: Useless against infinite regeneration.
Forget I said anything.}
"…Right," Nico muttered.
He barely finished the word before the unmistakable sound of bare feet striking metal echoed through the chamber.
And through the smoke, she stepped out while violet eyes locked onto him with an intensity that made him instinctively shift his footing.
She passed him without a word, close enough that the heat radiating off her skin forced him back a step.
She stopped beside him, facing the breach he'd created.
And the next moment, golden embers began leaking from her skin, not flames yet, just enough heat that Nico felt it bite even without touching her.
Nom-Nom's presence had always felt warm to him through the bond. This felt different.
And then -
-BOOM!
She dashed, sending a shockwave through the chamber, hurling Nico off his feet before skidding him across the floor as she vanished through the breach in a blast of heat and sound.
Nico groaned as he rolled onto his side before pushing himself up on one palm, chest heaving as he stared at the hole.
And for the first time since he'd pulled the trigger on that cage, doubt crept in where confidence had been doing all the work.
"I really hope…" he muttered under his breath, "… that was the right call."