The steady drum of cannons guided them out.

Outside, the night sky was filled with clouds and popping lights of cannon fire, and as they flew further away from Vhlad’s ship, Luna could see its massive cannons breathe orange and red against Silvus airships in the distance. The attacks landed direct hits as two enemy airships were on fire and fell out of the sky, sinking to the sea below.

Luna made her way towards Ada. "Nice shot Captain!" Ada relayed the message back to Sylvie, who was with Vhlad.

"Yarr! It's all on you now, minnows! Give em hell!"

The biplane began to shake, and Annie looked out the window. Vhlad’s glider planes began to engage Treese’s dreadnaught, while the other aircraft, where Baldric and Tinkerton were, began to break formation while their biplane continued on their route.

"Baldric! G! We might lose you soon! Remember the plan!" Luna said to Ada as she watched the other biplane fly further away.

"I should be saying that to you!" Baldric’s voice came out of Ada. "Remember, don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone!"

"No promises." Luna replied. He laughed, but his voice was soon drowned out by the sound of explosions from the outside.

As she looked out, the sky seemed to be on fire as the bright orange flames on the deck of the Silvus dreadnaught lit up the night. Glider fighters and anti-air guns were in a fierce dogfight with no clear winner among both sides, but with all the guns and rockets distracted, the landing biplanes got close without any resistance.

As they got close, Annie was the first one to jump off, followed by Luna gliding behind her. Annie, armed with her jump jet and cannons, aimed directly at the deck and blasted a massive hole, which gave them an opening.

The moment she landed, the crew, startled, opened fire. Annie used her mechanical arms as shields and retaliated by firing the freezer chemical at them, locking them in place. Luna, Ada, Shinaki, Groti the bestian, and Thandos the Trojek landed inside.

Thandos acted as their shield, with him soaking most of the gunfire as his thick armor just deflected any damage, while behind him, the five of them returned fire.

"Shinaki, can you track them?"

The knight focused as she tried to find a scent. "This way."

"Annie stay close! Thandos watch our rear!" Luna yelled.

Shinaki lead the way through the ship. The knight excelled in close-quarters combat as she used her reversed edged sword to cut through the guards who were too slow to react against her. Groti, armed with his modified shotgun handled any threats from the side, as he fired buck rounds filled with the freeze chemical. Annie sealed off corridors as she sprayed the freezing chemical, while Luna, Ada, and Groti focused on giving Thandos and Shinaki cover.

The whole ship suddenly lurched, with everyone aside from Luna and Shinaki falling to the ground. All of them knew it was Baldric's team, no doubt causing the explosions rocking the entire ship.

"Wait." Shinaki stopped as they approached an intersection. "The scent is… coming from two directions."

"Which way is the strongest?" Luna asked and Shinaki pointed to the right.

"If its strongest that way it must be Oichi and Elizabeth. We will go left and hopefully run into Treese and take him down for good. Annie, Ada, Thandos, go with Shinaki, Groti, and I will go the other way."

"Don’t die." Shinaki said as the four of them went down the hall to the right.

As Luna and Groti continued down their hall, they encountered heavy resistance. Silvus soldiers formed firing lines which Luna had to block with her hat and staff while Groti cleared with their freeze grenades. When they approached the end of the hall, Luna stopped them.

=0o0=

There was only one way in, and Treese’s guild had it completely guarded.

In the room, they set up four gattling cannons, all aimed at the door. Five of them were equipped with heavy flamers. They had four marksmen at high-perched locations, and they were briefed on what weapons to expect.

They waited in silence even as the alarm blasted and the ship quaked all around them. All their focus and concentration were on the door, and their orders were to annihilate anything that came through. Behind them was the vault where the prisoners were locked, and they even set explosives around the door as a final surprise. The noises in the outside corridor vanished. They looked at each other and aimed all their guns.

Something slid underneath the iron door. It was a disc, and a marksman shot it immediately. Once it shattered, blinding darkness filled the room.

"I can’t see!"

"What happened!"

"I’m blind!"

They heard the sounds of gunfire. They felt the immense heat as someone must have used their flamers. But they could not see what was going on. Men screamed as more gunfire echoed around them. One by one, the noises, gunfire, and screams fell silent. And by the time the darkness vanished, not one member of Treese’s guild was awake.

Luna was in the middle of the room, desperately panting and holding her staff with blood smeared on it. Groti entered the room and was in awe of what he saw. Some men were frozen on the walls, some hanging from the ceiling. Others were on the ground, but none of them were dead. The gattling cannons were jammed with the freezing chemical. Beside him was a man with a flamer locked completely in crystal.

No wonder she is the top shadow…

“You alright?” He asked.

“Yeah. Just need to catch my breath.”

=0o0=

When Luna recovered they headed towards the large vault made of Britus steel, a metal that can suppress mana, which required the two of them to open. The moment they pulled the vault door opened Luna saw-

"Chi! Elizabeth!"

"Luna?!" Oichi yelled in relief. Oichi was resting on a bed while her two handmaids and Elizabeth were beside her.

"Chi! Elizabeth! Thank the maker!" Luna rushed to their side.

Oichi struggled to get up, but once she did, she immediately gave Luna a sideways hug.

"Chi you’re… big." The expectant mother was larger than Luna anticipated and looked like she was due soon.

"Still cheeky as always…" Oichi bent over as she grunted in pain. Everyone quickly helped her get her feet as she almost fell over.

"What’s wrong?" Luna asked.

"The pain, it comes and goes." Oichi said clutching her belly.

"Groti clear the way for us." He nodded and went outside to secure their way.

Oichi’s two handmaids helped her walk, but Luna realized Elizabeth had hidden behind the bed. Willow and Shiny, who were hiding in Luna’s coat, leapt off and made their way to Elizabeth. The child, seeing the blotking’s true form for the first time, backed herself against the wall as the blood-red mass of goo made its way towards her. Small eyes popped out of the blotking and looked at Elizabeth lovingly. It slowly made its way forward and rubbed its body against her legs as it softly gurgled.

"Wi...Willow?" Elizabeth said as she slowly petted the blob.

It jiggled happily while Shiny rubbed on the child’s cheeks.

"Elizabeth." Luna kept her distance but called softly. "Let’s go."

The child, however, refused to move. She saw the fear in Elizabeth’s eyes before she looked away to hide from her gaze. She did not even look at Luna as she picked up the blotking from the floor.

"Elizabeth." It was Oichi who called her. "It’s alright, darling. Take my hand."

Elizabeth quickly ran past Luna and grabbed Oichi’s hand.

At least she is safe. Luna thought as she made her way to the front of their group.

=0o0=

As they backtracked their way to the meet up point, the ship violently rocked and lurched forward. Luna felt the explosions in the upper decks while the sound of loud alarms dominated the air. A massive explosion rocked the ship, and everyone lost their footing. Luna acted quickly and caught Oichi and Elizabeth before they fell and shielded Oichi’s belly from the fall. Groti was the first to get on his feet and quickly went on ahead.

"Luna." He said when he returned. "That explosion was closer than I thought. The hallway back is blocked."

"Damn." Luna recognized they were in a familiar intersection. "Alright, we need to find another way. If Baldric’s schematics are correct, there is another way to the hangar, and that is through the vehicle hangar below us."

As they made their way further down through the ship, Oichi kept wincing in pain. They had to stop repeatedly just so she could catch her breath, but the latest one made her stop completely.

"It’s… coming much faster." Oichi said as she tried to contain her voice.

"My lady, I think you are in labor." One of her handmaids said. A more powerful explosion rocked the ship, causing them all to stagger.

"We cannot stay here!" Luna said as another explosion rippled through the ship. What is Baldric doing?!

"Groti, give me the grenades and help carry Oichi. I’ll go ahead and secure the way."

They carefully carried Oichi, who was now crying out in pain. Luckily for them, no one was guarding the way forward. Luna went ahead and led them down until they reached a massive hangar door that was sealed shut. She checked, and to get it open, it needed another person to open the door.

"Groti, get the other lever!" As the door slowly opened upwards, the source of the explosions was revealed.

=0o0=

Walkers have four classifications.

The weakest are grunt class walkers, generic walkers used by most militaries simply for shock combat or bullet shields. Next was the fighter class, specialist walkers that can perform vital roles like providing anti-armor support and also specialized combat. Third are the gladiator class walkers, incredibly durable machines that can perform multiple roles, from close combat to acting as portable artillery. They are also fitted with command boxes, which make them highly adaptable in any situations. But no doubt, the strongest are the champion class walkers.

The champion class walker in front of them was massive. It wore full plated armour like a knight and was armed with heavy hovitzen cannons, flame throwers, electric coils, and a massive sword. What was happening in the hangar was not a fight, but rather the walker playing with Shinaki’s group.

Shinaki was badly wounded but holding her own against the massive mechanical giant as she parried and blocked with her sword. She dodged out of the way as the walker swung down and caught her in the back swing, which sent the knight to slam onto a steel beam. Annie, who had blood flowing from her head, out of four, only had one mechanical arm left. She was using it as a cannon while her personal armor had been damaged, leaving her exposed to injuries. She retaliated with her revolvers alongside Thandos, but against a walker, their bullets were more of a nuisance rather than a threat.

Ada, who had already lost an arm in her body, was the only one doing any damage to the walker, but it wasn’t enough. When the walker saw the hangar door open, it stopped toying with the four of them, allowing them to regroup alongside Luna and the others.

"Well look who it is."

"Treese." Luna recognized the voice coming from the walker.

"I had to admit taking me head on had guts. But this ends here!"