Fifteen minutes in, more and more pirates jumped into Hokori’s airship. Kenkō went outside to join in the fight. She paralyzed her foes with a simple touch—due to her innate ability giving them heavy doses of succinylcholine.

As it went on, Haruto would slice through projectiles and then slice up the pirates swiftly. As it went on, no matter how many times they shot at Tokino, she never received a scratch as she skewered them all.

Their battle became more difficult six minutes later. Kakunō had to swerve over and over via his flying carpet to avoid enemy blasts. Kakunō contacted them all through the Pocket Hubs mounted on their necks, “Guys, this isn’t working! We need to find a way to attack them head-on!” He avoided more enemy fire midair.

An idea popped inside Kenkō. “Fold the ship and call in the carpets, Kakunō! There’s a way to get closer to them!” She turned to her little sister. “Can you shrink things, Yukichi?”

“Yes, but only nonliving things!” She explained while fighting off the pirates.

“That’s perfect! You can shrink the ship right now! Just hold me close, alright?”

“Okay!” She placed her hands on the floor and cast runic arrays that moved around to cover their transport.

Kakunō pressed the designated button and exited the airship alongside his comrades. As they all stepped into their flying carpets, their ride returned to its compact, rectangular cubed form. Many pirates fell to their deaths.

With a snap of Yukino’s fingers, the cube quickly shrunk into the size of a shoebox. It became light enough for her to carry with one hand. She safely stored it inside runes.

“Wow… I never knew you could do advanced techniques, Yukichi.” Kenkō smiled, driving her shared carpet.

“I’m still learning. But it’s good enough for now.” Her eyes filled with confidence.

With that, Hokori’s family flew to the sky to move forward.

Aria noticed their approach from afar. She caressed her chin and turned to her comrades. “Pathetic, you two… For other tribes to best us against evolution meant the Gods abandoned us. I demand instant results. We must please them again…” she gazed.

Several nerves popped on Danielle, grunting. “Could you like shut the fuck up for five minutes?!! First, you shat on our fashion sense. Now, you’re suddenly anal about Social Darwinism? You are honestly the most—” Feuer held her shoulder from behind.

He sighed with his eyes closed. “I’m afraid you are in the wrong here, old friend. At the least, for once. Please think of this. We are not regular people—no matter our wishes. Even Tokino’s child can desolate a figurehead nation overnight. All she’d need is hope and luck from the Gods. In truth, old friend, we are far from weak….” He commanded his comrades to go outside.

Unlike other mages, Feuer and his team could fly using their innate ability. Aria channeled wind beneath her feet while Danielle rode on a flying piano. In his case, he created a sentient magma dragon.

Feuer turned around and encased their airship in a magma sphere. He stacked twelve hollow layers supported by “I-beam” engineering; it meant perfect impact absorption.

With that, they flew to the sky and moved forward.

Harald chuckled at his comrades’ ingenuity from afar. “I bless them all… And the Gods and my people for having such talented mages living today.” He turned to his men. “Come… they shall lead me this time.” They rode on flying carpets outside.

Harald cast minuscule runes all over the airship. Instead of turning it into a cube first, it stayed in its original form. Snapping his fingers, it disappeared into thin air. The brigade mages stood in shock. “What the hell…?” one said.

The king chuckled. “I stored our ride for safe coming, my good men. Back home, that is. Not to worry, though. I can summon it back anytime.” He chuckled again and drove his carpet past them. The brigade mages wondered internally if all that was even necessary.

Meanwhile, two airships flew by two kilometers behind. Before the battle, Harald tasked his imperial mage guards to attack the pirates for a second time when they were too busy reinforcing.

Seeing the mages arrive, the enemy went on the offensive again. As it went on, however, some crewmates stood baffled by the clay vases they had never seen lying around their decks. Once the fools inspected them, copious amounts of water flooded their ships. As a result, multiple ones exploded.

Bernard’s comrades gave him applause. He bowed down in return.

A driving Rosado grunted in the cockpit, trying to get to Hagel’s head via a call. “Oh, come on, signore! We are in this together, aren’t we? A blind eye to your kin means a blind eye to all!”

Surprisingly, he did get a response, but it was from one of the Kizoku twins. “No good, sir! I even tried shaking him. He never says a word!” Hatsune looked at her sister. “Hey… you didn’t copy me that time. What gives?”

Dainishi’s eyes sulked. “I… I-I’m really scared for Hagel’s health, Sis. And I’m not talking physically….” She clutched her left upper arm and lowered her head.

Hatsune’s eyes widened in surprise. and she hugged her. “Oh, you… Please don’t go all too sappy and miserable on me now. He’s fine. I know so….” In another surprise, her words of encouragement made Hagel turn his head briefly.

With a dignified look, he gave a call to Sakusei’s team. “Continue distracting the heathens, you lot. I shall nip their insolence in the bud in an instant.” He turned to the twins. “Take the wheel.”

Just before he exited the door, Dainishi walked from behind. “Hagel… Do you hate all of us?” Her eyes frowned.

He sighed. “Never in eternity. My love for you and my people could submerge even the universe itself. But for that animal—it may as well be drought. Make no mistake, however. I condemn none of your friendship. Love him if you must….” We went outside the ship.

Eyes still stern, Hagel slowly walked to the front deck. He raised an arm, and a chilling wind followed.

Back in the pirate ships, more pots spontaneously appeared in random locations. Instead of water this time, a million intrusion of cockroaches emerged. Pirate crewmates screamed, terrified beyond belief, as the bugs crawled up their torsos and backs. Outside the ships, other crew complained about not being able to shoot back at the mages. Rose vines clogged up all their cannons.

At the lower floors, more pirates ran away from flying axes giving chase. For the ones who met a dead end, they closed their eyes and shielded themselves. However, they found out said axes could not even inflict pain, albeit annoying.

Moments later, the air around them turned colder by the second. Eventually, their skin cracked. The pirates in their ships could no longer breathe properly. Some underwent hypothermia. Three minutes tackling the unbearable chill, a massive flash freeze occurred. As ninety airships fell into the sky, Hagel slowly walked back inside.

Sakusei stood in shock. “Wow! Talk about a cold shoulder!” He chuckled in a very awkward tone.

Bernard lightly punched him in the shoulder. “Read the air, dude… There’s more coming our way.” He pointed to the cockpit’s camera feed.

Sakusei scratched his head and shrugged. “Welp, I’m out of ideas. Insta-blacksmith is next to ineffective the further away the conjured weapons are.”

Rosado turned his head. “I suggest we should go out and attack them, signore! We are more than capable.”

He cringed at the idea. “Nah… Sorry, guys, but I really don’t like seeing blood. I hated it ever since….” his eyes and head lowered.

Bernard sighed with his eyes closed. “We know very well why. You don’t have to tell us twice. But we’re mages first and foremost, dude. Whatever crappy position we’re in, there are always times where we have to—” An incoming call from the cockpit interrupted his speech.

“Hey, guys! I just wanted to tell you that I got this! You can rest easy! Hey, stop copying me!” the Kizoku twins said in unison.

They exited outside their airship to the front deck—and commenced their battle ritual. They called it the “Amaterasu x Tsukuyomi Tandem.”

Hatsanu moved her arms up, down, side-to-side, then in front, “Ode to the God shining upon the mountains! Lend me your embers so I could bask in your brilliant glory!” She created a wide-eyed, cartoonish sun the size of a cruise liner. It had a perpetual grin.

Dainishi moved her arms invertedly, “Ode to the God shining upon the lakes! Lend me your light so the darkness shall never harm me!” Her cartoonish crescent moon was roughly the same size.

The two constructs merged and spun tremendously in the air. The twins raised their arms up and then in front. “Omikami-no-Mikoto!!” they shouted a command that ended the ritual.

Like an enormous disco ball, the sun’s beaming gaze incinerated thousands of pirate ships, while the moon’s light slowed everyone’s movement to a crawl.

After the technique, the Kizoku sighed and smiled. “I still got it!” The twins held up peace signs with their tongues sticking out in unison.

Back to the main scene, Kakunō had to make many twists and turns to avoid incoming projectiles. Like back in Smaragdos, he complained about their predicament, but he told Yukino, “Don’t make a shield this time! Remember what Unce told you? The pirates can disrupt rues in a pinch! Just hang on, Yuki. Don’t let go of your sister!”

“Okay!” said Yukino, nodding with worried eyes.

He concluded they should press on no matter what. “Hope and pray to the Gods we don’t lose our flight pattern! Whatever it takes—” Unfortunately, he forgot the most infamous aspect about pirates in their world. Airlock ammunition fired right at them.

Dodging the blue cubes proved extremely difficult, even for Tokino using her foresight. In a stroke of luck for their foes, they hit Kenkō’s carpet directly from below. Their ride stopped moving briefly midair. She fell into the sky alongside Yukino.

Yukino’s screams of terror instantly caught the attention of her mother. She cried out her name in tears and drove her carpet downward as fast as it could let her.

As Yukino still screamed during her descent, Kenkō quickly shielded her fully. “Big Sis!” the former exclaimed.

“It’s okay, Yukichi! I’ll protect you! I’ll do anything for—” After the first shot, three more plasmic shots cauterized her back.

Yukino gasped. “Big Sis!!!” Tears rolled down her eyes.

Kenkō went through the agony, never letting go of her little sister. No matter the shots, she kept her smile and held her closer. “Don’t worry… Agh!” she began panting. “This is nothing… I can heal myself. Don’t— Aaaaaaaagh!!!” It took thirty plasmic shots via chaingun to bypass the runes on her back; her spine and ribs exposed.

Kenkō’s vision turned hazy, seeing vivid hallucinations.

“Dad… Are you—proud of me?”

Even with eyes closed, her arms locked shut, and her smile never faded.

“Big Sis!!! Big Sis!!!” Yukino bawled a river, trying to wake her big sister.