Mira left a trail of light, slicing through the air with unmatched speed, while Elenei illuminated the path ahead.
The ship, despite its damaged engine, was surprisingly agile, dodging and weaving through the clouds. The captain pushed the ship to its limits, desperate to escape with the crystal.
"We can't let them get away!" Mira shouted, her eyes fixed on the ship. "Elenei, try to flank them!"
Elenei responded with a sharp nod and veered off to the side, circling around to approach the ship from a different angle. Mira, meanwhile, continued her direct assault, launching a series of devastating ice attacks from her scythe.
The ship's crew worked frantically to maintain the barrier and evade the attacks. The captain's voice echoed through the ship, "Keep moving! We're almost out of their range!"
But Mira only became more enraged. She focused her Qi, channeling it into a massive surge of Yin Lightning that crackled against the air, causing the very space around her to distort. The lightning bolt streaked toward the ship, striking its barrier with a deafening boom.
The impact caused the ship to shudder violently. Inside, the crew struggled to keep the ship stable. Some of them even fainted as they used up too much of their Qi to try and strengthen the barrier.
Elenei, who had now appeared right above the ship, launched a concentrated beam of icy fire at the ship's remaining engines. The intense cold seeped through the barrier, causing the engines to freeze and malfunction.
"Destroy that ice and get this damn ship moving!" The captain shouted as he focused on navigating it. He made a series of hand signs, and the wind around the boat started to shift, pushing it forward and keeping its momentum.
He couldn't allow it to go down now.
With the ship's mobility limited, Mira saw her opportunity. Pumping Qi into her scythe, she made an exact ice replica of it, except instead of being around 2 meters tall, it was as large as the ship. Activating her Scythe Manifestation, she struck the barrier with all her might, creating a large crack that began to spread.
The captain realized the severity of the situation, grabbed the ship's emergency controls, and initiated a desperate maneuver. "Full reverse! Activate emergency thrusters!"
The ship lurched backward, its emergency thrusters firing with full force. The sudden movement threw Mira and Elenei off balance, causing them to miss their next attacks.
But they quickly recovered and adjusted their tactics. Mira and Elenei coordinated their movements, attacking from different angles to keep the ship's crew on their toes.
Mira dove underneath the boat and charged forward with a surge of Qi. Right now, she wasn't worried about what she wasting. All she cared about was taking down this damn ship.
With a flap of her wings, she shot up and slammed her scythe into the barrier. She saw it crack for a moment before regenerating immediately and frowned.
'Fine.' She thought, putting her scythe away. Popping her knuckles, she coated the shield in ice and grabbed onto it, finally latching onto the boat. 'I guess my fists are more useful in this situation.' Raising her free hand, she used her [Explosive Ice Gauntlet] and began pounding away, delivering countless explosions every second, knocking the boat off-course with how much strength she put into every punch.
Each strike was more powerful than the last, fueled by her growing fury at having to put up with this nonsense.
Meanwhile, Elenei hovered above and unleashed a relentless onslaught of icy fire. For the crew, her flames were more terrifying than anything Mira could do, as any little crack, imperfection, or weakness was taken advantage of. All it took was one minor thing for that god-forsaken fire to spread.
On the ship, the crew members were at their wits' end. Their faces were lined with exhaustion and fear as they struggled to maintain the shields and keep the ship afloat. The captain was now trembling with rage, but he kept his cool, knowing that their situation was dire.
"They're tearing us apart!" one of the crew members shouted, panic evident in his voice.
"Keep focused!" the captain barked back. "Redirect all available power to the shields! We can't let them breach!"
The ship's defenses, bolstered by the desperation of its crew, somehow managed to hold against the relentless assault. But Mira and Elenei were far from done.
"We need to break through," Mira growled, her eyes narrowing as she assessed the situation. "Elenei, on my mark, combine your flames with my lightning and ice. We'll hit them with everything we've got." She communicated with the Dracophoenix through their connection.
Elenei nodded, understanding the plan. Mira flapped her wings and landed on her 'mount'. The two of them circled the ship, looking for the right place to attack.
"On my mark... Now!" Mira shouted, locating a spot they could take advantage of.
In perfect unison, Mira unleashed a devastating wave of ice-covered Yin Lightning while Elenei bombarded the ship with her fiercest icy fire. The combined power of their attacks created an explosion that cracked the very air around them.
The ship's barrier flickered wildly under the onslaught, cracks spreading across its surface like a spiderweb. Inside, the crew members were thrown off their feet and hurriedly scrambled to their posts, but it was already too late.
"We're losing it!" one of the crew members cried out.
The captain gave a frustrated sigh and glared at Mira and Elenei, who were planning another attack. 'Fucking bitches.' He inwardly grumbled, scorching their faces, auras, and any other notable features into his mind. 'I'll remember this day.'
With that thought, he made a crucial decision and yelled. "All hands brace for impact! Prepare to eject the crystal!" While it'd be a shame to lose it, having the boat destroyed was many times worse.
"But-!"
"JUST DO IT!" The captain roared back, causing the crew member to shrink back and nod before running toward the crystal.
BOOM!
Another coordinated attack exploded against the barrier, creating a massive hole in the side.
Mira and Elenei surged forward, their eyes fixed on the prize. But just as they were about to reach the crystal, the captain initiated the ejection sequence.
With a loud hiss and a burst of light, the crystal was ejected from the ship, encased in a protective field. It shot up into the sky, propelled by a powerful burst of energy and shooting in the opposite direction.
Mira and Elenei were both taken aback by the sudden turn of events but quickly adjusted their trajectory and followed the crystal.
However, Mira couldn't help but glance back at the ship, her eyes meeting the captain's. The two stared at each other for a few moments, both thinking the same thing. 'I'll see you again, bastard.'
Turning back around, she closed her eyes for a moment to communicate with Rhydian, giving her a few orders before she shot forward to the crystal.
Now that the ship was severely damaged and unable to fight, they began a hasty retreat using their remaining power. The captain watched the two figures chase after the crystal and muttered under his breath, "Let them have it for now. I'll strip it from their corpses when we meet again."
The people around him shivered at how indifferently he said those words and knew they were in for a world of pain later.
As Mira and Elenei raced through the sky, the crystal shed another layer of ice. The two powerful beings shot through the sky, each determined to be the first to claim their prize.
However, the competition wasn't even close, with a certain 'bird' nearing it almost instantly.
Elenei managed to close in on the crystal first, her talons outstretched to grasp it.
But just as she was about to seize the crystal, Mira's instincts screamed a warning. "Wait!" she shouted, reaching out and grabbing hold of the crystal herself. With a yank, she tore something off it, revealing a black, spherical object concealed beneath an illusion.
The object was unfamiliar to Mira, but its ominous aura sent chills down her spine. Without a second thought, she coated it in a layer of ice and hurled it as far as she could into the distance, in the opposite direction of their flight. "Move!" she yelled to Elenei, propelling them both away with a powerful burst of Qi.
Elenei sensed the rare tone of urgency in her voice and didn't hesitate to follow. She stored the crystal safely away and followed Mira's lead, soaring away at breakneck speed.
Moments later, the black object exploded in a colossal blast that resembled a nuclear detonation. The shockwave ripped through the earth below, tearing apart the landscape and sending a mushroom cloud of debris and energy soaring into the sky.
The force of the explosion caught Mira and Elenei off guard. Despite their natural defenses and even the hastily put-up shields, they were still sent hurtling towards the ground, spiraling out of control.
"What the hell was that?!" Elenei exclaimed mid-spin.
"I don't know," Mira replied, gritting her teeth as she fought against the turbulent air currents, using her [Paragon Wings] to try and control herself. "But that thing was a trap. Someone wanted to ensure that if they couldn't have the crystal, no one would."
The two of them managed to stabilize their descent, slowing down just enough to make a controlled landing. They touched down on a snowy ridge, far from the site of the explosion. The ground was still trembling from the aftershocks, and the sky was darkened with smoke and debris.
Turning around and looking at the aftermath, Elenei couldn't help but walk closer to Mira and say with a slight smirk, "It's mine."
"..." Mira scowled. "...I… I suppose it is." She said through gritted teeth, irritated that she spent all that work to not even receive any reward.
'I'll just steal that ship the next time I see that asshole.' Mira thought, which seemed to calm her nerves a bit, but not completely.
