My Brother Is The Hero Of Earth

Everyone was sleeping in the room or I would have said it aloud. I was tempted to pull out one of those meditation pills and try to get a straight answer out of One, but he would likely just tell me to beat it out of him then process to pummel me for the next five hours. Annoyed and unable to sleep, I quietly made my way up the stairs and out on the main deck. The cool night air instantly soothed a bit of my anger and I released the rest with a sigh. There was nothing I could do about it now other than make up my mind.

Ella was laying on one of the couches, under a hanging lantern, and peeked up from her book long enough to see it was me before returning to her book. I took a seat on the couch next to her and pulled out a book of my own. We read in peaceful silence for awhile, only the gentle sound of the wind and the occasional sc.r.a.p of paper as one of us turned a page.

"Becca, you got any sodas? I"m out of my bottled coffees and I"m about to fall asleep," Ella asked.

I chuckled and handed her a red can of soda. She marked her page in her book before she took the can and cracked it open. Taking a drink, she stood up then stretched and walked over to the edge of the ship. Before I could even start reading again, she called me over.

"Becca, come look at this," she said.

I tucked my bookmark in place then set my book down and stood up. It looked like a storm was rolling in on the horizon as I walked over to join her at the railing. The night sky was slowly being swallowed in gray clouds, but Ella pointed in a specific direction where I could the briefest signs of strange movements with one of the clouds. I pulled out my night-vision googles and put them on, turning the world into black and white. Watching the clouds closely, I saw one that was clearly moving faster than the others.

"It"s a swarm!" I exclaimed.

"Wake up! Wake up! We have a swarm in our sights," Ella called out through the intercom.

"s.h.i.t! They are heading this way!" I said, seeing the cloud turn and start moving towards us.

Although no one responded through the ear cuffs, within a minute the others we running up to the main deck. I kept my eyes on the swarm, sensing something off in the way it was moving. Before, when the swarm of Flying Heads attacked us, they moved in a straight line with the swarm just shifting from as they flew, but this was different. The black cloud dipped in and out of the real clouds and would suddenly change course altogether then turn back towards us a moment later. Yue and Ella switched control of the ship while the rest hopped in the mage cannons. I stood along the railing, leaning forward while holding onto one of the ropes and staring out at the swarm of Flying Heads as "something" entered the edge of my senses.

"Yue! Get us out of here now!" I yelled.

Before anyone could question me, a ma.s.sive figure of a bird with a tail twice its body length broke through the clouds. It was toying with the swarm of Flying Heads, flying along the boundaries of the swarm and sending a breath of orange flames into the group. Everyone was silent as we saw the thing Alice had warned us the most about: a Piasa Bird.

Thankfully, Yue understood the moment I said something and started steering us away. The whole ship swung back and forth dangerously as we turned and turned up our engines to max. As the ship steady, Ella jumped out of her cannon and ran over to me. I knew she wanted to check my charm, so I met her half way and held it out. There were no damages since the last time she fixed back when we first entered the Bataie village, but she still gave it a once over and reinforced as best she could.

"You can"t fight, Becca," Ella said.

"I can still use a cannon, right?" I asked.

Ella made a face, but it was Yue who answered a moment later. "Even if she hides inside the ship, once the Piasa Bird gets close enough, it will sense her all the same. Becca, get in a cannon. Sophia, come take command of the ship, so that I can set up my personal formations."

"If we are at the point of pulling out the big guns, I have something new to add to the defensives," Sophia replied as she jumped down from her cannon. She waved her hand stacks of metal discs appeared all across the deck. Her hands lit up in a deep blue before she pointed them at the discs, causing them to glow as well then zoom up and flew around the zeppelin. "They can reduce our wind resistance and boost our speed which I can maintain for two hours without replenishing my mana. If it manages to close in on us, it can boost our defense, but we will only see how long I can manage it."

Yue pa.s.sed control of the ship to Sophia and pulled out her mithril formation flags while I headed over to a cannon. Yue jumped along the air, attaching her flags upside down to special anchor points created for this very situation. As long as Yue wasn"t controlling the ship"s formations, she could still use her own and work in concert with the ship"s. She landed back on the ship just as the first of the Flying Heads neared us.

"Kill as many as you can. We can burn the untreated cores when our fuel tanks run low!" Yue said.

"Let"s kill these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!" Gustavo shouted as he started firing.

Unlike before, the Flying Heads showed no interest in attacking us, despite us killing their members, and focused desperately on escape. Sophia started activating the defense formations, but she wasn"t as skilled as Yue, so it took long, but even so, the Flying Heads split like water instead of fighting against Sophia"s item"s barrier. The ship was still gathering speed as we were engulfed by front of the swarm. The Piasa Bird made another lazy pa.s.s across the back, but when it grew closer, it gave an ear piercing cry then sent a column of flames towards us. Sophia pulled the ship up and away, dodging the flames, but swinging everyone around dangerously.

"Try to stay within the swarm! We can use the Flying Heads to keep it at a distance!" Yue said, holding on to one of the couches.

"There too fast and nimble, I"m not able to keep up with them," Sophia said with panic in her voice.

The swarm was slowly pulling away from us despite Sophia"s best effort. The four white, winged serpents solidified, but no one felt confident after watching the bird"s flames turn tens of Flying Heads to ash. Suddenly, to my left, there was a flash of violet light and I turned to see Katye jumping up the flying up along the balloon.

"Katye!" several people shouted, myself included.

She disappeared above the balloon and I jumped out of my cannon.

"Sit your a.s.s down, Becca! I"ll go after her," Terri snapped as she ran for the nearest launch rope.

I gritted my teeth and punched the metal seat of the cannon, denting it, but I knew she was right. I hopped back into my cannon and starting shooting into the swarm. Terri grabbed the rope and disappeared up above the balloon.

"She"s in the middle of casting some kind of spell," Terri said the intercom.

"This situation probably triggered something special from her bloodline. Defend her until she finishes," Yue said.

A pulse of violet light erupted a moment later and radiated out in a sphere. Nothing seemed different at first, when the light faded, but when I noticed a clear shift in the swarm. Quickly, they became less chaotic as started forming together and started flowing around the edge of the ship"s winged serpent barrier without a single one striking against it. Everyone stopped shooting as their eyes grew wide at the scene before us. Hundreds of Flying Heads, their eyes glowing with a dim violet light, surrounded the ship protectively and surging out anywhere the Piasa Bird dared approached causing it to screech out in protest.

"Guys! She can"t keep this up for long! Her aura is starting to waver!" Terri said, snapping everyone out their shock.

Silver columns of light shot out from Yue"s formation flags and she raised a hand, bending the beams to strike overhead. "Moonlight Crane, dance of the silver feathers," she said, forming her large silver crane. "Gustavo, Lesedi, I"ll get you out there!" Yue said.

"Here!" Sophia said, practically throwing them both a set of boots. "My best ones so far!"

Gustavo and Lesedi nodded and quickly switched out their shoes.

"You"ve got to let me go, too! I can still use my Chaos Lightning without shattering my charm," I protested.

"No, its too dangerous! You can"t use you defensive form and only your Chaos Lightning would be able to hurt it," Yue argued.

"But..."

"No, Becca!" several people shouted.

I slammed a fist on the seat as I watched Gustavo and Lesedi jump onto the crane"s back, creating another dent. Since we had stopped firing at the Flying Heads, I abandoned my cannon and ran to the stern of the ship. I was joined shortly by Ella, Kiara, and Melissa as we watched helplessly Gustavo and Lesedi fly straight into danger.

Gustavo and Lesedi held onto the feathers of the silver crane as it flew threw the winged serpents barrier. The flock of Flying Heads parted, allowing the crane to pa.s.s un.o.bstructed, as the Piasa Bird moved to intercept them. It sent a column of orange flames straight at them, but Lesedi kicked off the crane and charged into the flames without a trace of fear. The flames wrapped around Lesedi without harming a hair on her head as her body greedily absorbed the fire. There was no flame she feared because of her Flame Devouring Physique which increased her strength with the stronger flames she absorbs.

When the Piasa Bird realized its fire breath was useless, it gave a terrible screech and whipped it pointed tail for Lesedi. Gustavo pulled out a round shield and filled it with a golden glow before hurling it at the attack. The shield moved with incredible speed and managed to get in front of Lesedi, casting a golden barrier around her. The tail struck right in the center of the shield, shattering the golden light as it pierced through, but Lesedi escaped the brunt of the attack, only being sent backwards, tumbling through the air. Gustavo jumped off the crane and caught her in the air, helping her stabilize herself as they stood on the air.

Before the dragon bird could make another attack, a stream of the swarm of Flying Heads shot at it, slamming their bodies against it like they were possessed. Many of them crashed into the scaled hide of the bird and fell to the ground below, but there was always more. Nearly half the flock had attacked the Piasa Bird when suddenly, something changed and they scattered in a ma.s.s panic.

"Katye has collapsed! I"m bring her down!" Terri said through the intercom.

There was a crack and I fell forward as the railing beneath my hands shattered. Stress alone had shifted me into my "enhanced human" form and I couldn"t even feel the charm burning me. I felt a hand on my shoulder and a rush of calming energy surge from the contact, causing me to let out a deep breath I didn"t know I was holding.

"I know it"s hard, Becca, but you need to calm down," Melissa said as she pa.s.sed me.

I nodded and forced myself to take deep, slow breaths as I followed her. Terri slid her way down to the main deck with Katye in her arms and my heart fell. Katye"s skin was deathly pale, even her hair had lost its natural glow, and she was bleeding from her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Melissa"s hands lit up in a pure white light as she touched Katye who was still cradled in Terri"s arm, but she let out a sigh of relief a minute later.

"She just overtaxed herself. That spell wasn"t something she should being using this soon," Melissa said as she pulled out a deep blue, high-grade mana potion and poured it down Katye"s throat. "She"ll be fine with some time," Melissa a.s.sured while channeling her mana into Katye"s stomach to speed up her recovery.

"Gustavo!" Ella cried.

Our three heads snapped up to see his "t.i.tan" form shooting down towards the ground like a cannonball. Terri pa.s.sed Katye to Melissa and followed a step behind me as we ran to the edge of the ship, grabbing a launching rope. While we zoomed to the top of the ship, a fiery meteor in the shape of Lesedi crashed into the side of the Piasa Bird, knocking its follow-up attack on Gustavo off course. There was a boom from the ground below and debris was launched into the air.

"s.h.i.t, that hurt," Gustavo"s groan came over the intercom a moment later.

"Thank G.o.d," I whispered.

"How badly are you hurt?" Melissa"s concerned voice asked.

"I took more damage from the fall than the actual attack. I just can"t root myself in the air."

A minute later, Gustavo, still in his "t.i.tan" form, entered everyone"s view as he climb back up into the air with numerous leaps. Lesedi had jumped back onto the crane as she tried to escape the bird"s fury of tail swipes. When it realized it couldn"t hit the graceful crane, it shrieked and turned its eyes back to the zeppelin, more specifically, me.

Gustavo jumped in the way of the dragon bird, smashing his shield into its wing and causing them both to hurtle towards the ground. The bird flipped in the air, giving up on saving itself from the fall, and instead, trying to kill the bug that kept attacking it. It turned its long talons on Gustavo, crushing his armor as it savagely tried to shred him. His scream of pain was transmitted through the intercom and I let out an inhuman roar as I took off running for the end of the catwalk.