Chapter 10 Echoes of the Altitude

The city never truly slept.

High above Neo-Tokyo, air traffic flowed like veins of neon light, and floating billboards flickered with Aether League propaganda. But in a secured sub-basement beneath Shiratori Academy, Yuto and his team gathered around a screen where truths cut sharper than any blade.

The decrypted fragment drive still buzzed with fresh files—leaked communications between Aether League executives, lists of “failed” pilots, and fragments of code from the Skybreaker Protocol.

“Look at this,” Sora said, voice hushed. “It’s a full algorithm. They were using AI-guided override codes during live matches.”

Riku crossed his arms. “You mean… they weren’t even flying their own gliders?”

“Some didn’t even know,” Jun added. “Just thought they blacked out. But they were being used. Like simulations.”

Yuto’s fist clenched. His brother, Kaede, had died trying to expose this.

Coach Amano entered quietly. “We have a problem. Big one. We’ve been flagged for ‘breach of conduct.’ They’re trying to disqualify us.”

The room fell silent.

The Trap Tournament

Within a day, Shiratori’s team was summoned for a “special evaluation match” — a surprise race against one of the top five national squads: Black Nova Institute.

Riku’s jaw dropped. “We’re not even seeded to face them until the quarterfinals!”

Jun frowned. “They’re fast. But they’re also Aether loyalists.”

Sora checked his comms. “Something’s off. They’re blocking external drone views for this match. No third-party visuals.”

Yuto’s eyes narrowed. “They’re setting us up.”

The Match Begins

The course was brutal—The Abyssal Ring—a looping circular dive over a kilometer drop, where g-forces ripped at your vision and microbursts of wind could flip a glider end-over-end.

The Black Nova squad opened with surgical precision, executing a maneuver called Heaven’s Spiral—a corkscrew dive that created turbulence to knock opponents off balance.

Yuto felt his glider tremble, gauges flashing red.

“Stay close!” he shouted.

Sora swerved left to avoid a stall. Riku flew higher, absorbing the wind crest.

Yuto dropped lower—dangerously so.

“Trust the pressure,” Jun’s voice echoed in his mind. “You have to become part of the storm.”

As the next spiral came, Yuto reversed direction.

The maneuver was risky—one wrong angle and his wings would snap.

But he emerged through the turbulence like a phoenix.

Straight into the lead.

The Tampering

With two laps remaining, Sora screamed through the comms.

“My right thruster just failed—on its own!”

Riku’s screen glitched, and his display flashed “REMOTE DIAGNOSTIC OVERRIDE.”

“They’re doing it again!” he shouted.

Yuto gritted his teeth. “They’re using Skybreaker on us.”

But Sora, fighting imbalance, locked his glide using a manual clutch and rerouted his signal feed.

Riku activated mirror shielding—one of Jun’s hacks.

They fought the system. And won.

On the final lap, Yuto dived through the main tunnel. The Black Nova lead tried to intercept—too late.

Yuto soared ahead. His team held formation.

They crossed the finish line together.

Unanimous victory.

Retaliation

Back in the hangar, the team barely had time to breathe.

A league official appeared on-screen.

“You’re being placed under review. Multiple anomalies detected. Possibly unauthorized modifications.”

Jun laughed coldly. “They’re accusing us of cheating?”

Coach Amano stood tall. “Then we go public.”

“No,” Yuto said.

Everyone turned.

“Not yet. We need more. Enough to crash their entire system.”

Valkyrie’s Return

At midnight, Valkyrie returned—this time with blueprints.

“Skybreaker has a root,” she explained. “An AI core housed in the League’s capital headquarters: Stratos Spire.”

“If you crash that…” she whispered, eyes gleaming, “…you free every glider. Every pilot.”

Jun rubbed his chin. “That building’s guarded like a warship.”

Yuto took the blueprint. “Then we fly through hell.”

Wings of Rebellion

The team began preparing for the next phase. Not just a tournament.

A revolution.

Sora designed stealth chips. Riku built signal inhibitors. Jun reactivated old combat maneuvers long thought obsolete.

Yuto trained like a man possessed.

Every second in the air was sharper.

Every movement, cleaner.

His heart carried Kaede’s final words like fire.

To Burn the Sky

As Chapter 10 closed, the team stood on the hangar’s open roof.

Neo-Tokyo shimmered below them.

And above them—the stars.

“Next race is our last in the league,” Yuto said. “After that… we fly straight at the heart.”

Riku nodded. “Let’s make it count.”

Sora grinned. “Let’s make it legendary.”

Jun raised his old pilot badge.

“For every pilot who never got to finish their flight.”

Yuto’s eyes gleamed.

“For Kaede.”

They launched into the sky.

And the heavens trembled.