ZWOOOO.
A sound resonated, tearing through the serene night sky above the Titanora, a huge ship seemingly accentuated by the moonlight yet appearing to be in a dire state.
The metallic exterior bore cannon marks, broken in places. Despite the ship's humongous size, the impact seemed to have been caused by a beast of the same level, strong enough to breach the outer layer of shielding.
Inside the main control center of the battleship:
Bam!
thud
"Khugh!" A small silhouette was thrown by the impact of a punch, directly colliding with the metal wall before falling to the floor in a coiled position.
"Wait! Please, young master, he is the chief engineer!" An old man with several blood clots, a swollen face with bandaged eyes, and wounds visible through tattered clothes pleaded.
"Shut up, bastard! I want to kill those bitches!" A man with light black hair and orange pupils clenched his jaws, shouting with one hand missing and his leg tendon completely severed. He sat on a bed, breathing heavily.
"Young master, we have barely survived by sacrificing our remaining fleets," the old man reminded him, his voice trembling, his body shivering from pain and fear.
"Contact them again! I want to know about both of those women, where did they come from?" the man shouted, his absent arm and heavily breathing body burdening him in a situation where he was cornered into running away.
"Yes, this instant!" The old man bowed before swiftly moving towards the control monitors, handled by the remaining Savants, standing with their miniature bodies handling the ship's mainframe.
"Contact them now," the old man ordered, causing the small creatures to swiftly establish contact with the battleships left behind, attempting to gain access.
BEEEEEPPPPP.
::We are taking heavy fire. These individuals have a dual-person flying artifact. It seems confusing. Each one of them is highly skilled in sword arts. We have lost contact and will soon fall. Young master, this is Heindal.
I repeat, these people are natives of Heinda—::
'!?'
BANG!
"Fucking bastards! How dare they!" The man, clenching a table beside him with his remaining hand, threw it against the glass window of the ship. It was hard enough to not break but formed cracks.
"Calm down, Young Master! It happened only because we had encountered a Flagbearer beforehand," the old man tried to reassure, knowing the unfavorable condition they were in due to losing all ship's energy which were brought from branch families.
"Damn it, I need to calm down my anger. Fire the cannons! Isn't this some shitty continent?" The young man shouted, glaring towards the old man, already prepared to take out his frustration in this broken continent.
'What if she came?' The old man turned towards the vast expanse known as Titanora, pondering whether he should fire the cannons or not, fearing the myth about this place being under the protection of the Tenebri family.
But without any chance to hesitate, gritting his teeth, he ordered, relieved that there could never be a Flagbearer in this backward place already in ruins, "Fire the smaller cannons on any town."
"W-we understand," the Savants said in unison, handling the mainframe while switching towards the cannons.
"Huh, why isn't it working?" One of the Savants felt confused, seeing his system completely locked, making him turn towards the old man to inform.
DING!
A voice reverberated inside the control room, causing all of them to turn their gazes towards the screen before another sound reached them.
[Hello, my dear passengers, this flying piece of metal is hijacked. Have a good death ^_^]
'!?'
"What are you doing? Activate the firewalls! What is this thing—" The old man shouted, turning towards the Savants who were already looking blankly at the window, not understanding what just happened, instantly breaking their pride.
.
"Y-young master, are you alright?" The old man struggled, emerging from the water and pulling the only remaining survivor from the ship, his master.
Things had been very rough for them in the past few months.
Their visit to a middle-level continent had become far more devastating than they had anticipated.
There, they collided with the second Flagbearer under Lady Angelica, Anneh.
Even with a level of EPIC, only one thing could be said about her.
A monster.
Supported by the army personally led by Lady Angelica's right-hand man, along with seven battleships, things took a turn for the worse.
After an utter defeat, with no casualties due to the drawback of the Devereaux Bloodline, in a broken state, the whole army had retreated to a low-level continent near the newly formed one called Heindal.
And there, suddenly, two women appeared.
Seeing their young master losing his temper and attacking them, the battleships fired, but a whole army of more than 500 individuals of Phase I level, flying in two manned vehicles, arrived.
Even with more than fifty Phase II warriors, they lost.
Two factors played a major role: first, those people's sword skills, and second, these people having already exhausted bodies.
Altogether, they somehow escaped with their young master and the last remaining broken ship, which was hit by a long-range mana-infused metal projectile, seemingly thrust by some launcher.
"I will kill them!" The young man shouted, feeling humiliated for falling so low to be defeated by mere EPIC-ranked women, even being an Early LEGENDARY Ranked Powerhouse.
A true genius, supported by everyone, and now fallen this low.
"Your eyes really look disgusting."
Suddenly, a voice caused the young man, who was balancing himself while stumbling, to turn towards a woman standing with golden eyes looking at him.
"HAHAHAHA, well, well." Placing his palm on his face and tracing it down, he burst into laughter.
Even with one arm missing, in the end, he was a Phase II warrior with an energy core completely exhausted.
But in front of him?
A mere ADEPT ranker, and with the aura around her, he was sure she was Imperfect at that.
"I will make sure to give you a slow death." With his eyes glinting, even with his broken body, in the end, his strength was near Phase II, making him instantly close the ten-meter distance, arriving in front of Esme.
SCHLKT
"Huh?" The young man's eyes reflected his hand stretched at the woman flying after detaching from his body, his pupils reflecting it in slow motion.
SWISH
A grip on his face forced him directly to the ground.
BANG!
"Kuuughh!...." His eyes widened due to the force being much higher than any other he had felt till now.
None of the previous encounters had such heavy force.
"She's off-limit, touch her, and your hand won't be the only thing you lose."