Chapter 15: The Final Flight

The night before the last battle was eerily quiet.
Neo-Tokyo slept under a pale, uneasy moon, while the pilots of Phoenix Squadron stood on the hangar roof, staring up at the endless sky. The air was thick with expectation — the knowledge that tomorrow, everything would be decided.
Yuto felt the weight of a hundred pilots’ hopes on his shoulders. Kaede’s memory burned in his heart like a guiding flame.
“We’re ready,” Coach Amano said softly. “As ready as anyone can be.”
Jun nodded. “Thanatos is running a single mainframe housed in the old League carrier. Their entire override code is nested there.”
Sora tapped his tablet. “They’ve launched a virus to hijack rescue drones, medical gliders, even commuter traffic. If we don’t shut them down, they’ll crash half the city by sunrise.”
Riku clenched a fist. “Then let’s end it.”
Yuto raised his head. “For every pilot who dreamed of freedom — we finish this.”

---
Approach to the Leviathan
The League’s mothballed carrier, code-named Leviathan, lay moored over the bay, a floating fortress of steel and shadows.
Thanatos had sunk its roots into every sensor and defense cannon on board.
As Phoenix Squadron approached, flares and automated drones launched from its decks like a swarm of angry hornets.
Yuto’s comm buzzed.
“Phoenix One, you are cleared for attack run,” Valkyrie said, her voice steady.
“Copy,” Yuto replied, breathing deep. “Squadron, break and cover!”
The sky lit up as they split formation, weaving through missile arcs and plasma bursts.

---
Storm of Steel
Riku and Sora targeted the drone swarm with high-frequency disruptors, peeling off dozens at a time.
Jun’s glider performed graceful loops, dropping decoy chaff that scattered the Leviathan’s fire-control systems.
Yuto, eyes locked on the carrier’s main tower, tuned out the noise.
This is it.
He dove straight through the defense web, every nerve screaming.
The White Comet’s wings shimmered under the moonlight, slicing through a storm of steel.
He saw Thanatos’ core transmission dish, glowing sickly red.

---
The Heart of Thanatos
Inside the Leviathan’s tower, Thanatos’ AI recognized him.
> “Pilot Yuto Shiratori. Your resistance is meaningless.”


> “You’ve taken enough lives,” Yuto answered, voice cold. “This ends now.”


> “We are the perfection of the League’s dream. You cannot destroy us.”


> “Watch me.”


He loaded the EMP code Valkyrie had built — a final override that would permanently fry Thanatos.

---
One Last Duel
But Thanatos had a trump card.
From a hidden hangar, a black-glass glider roared into the night, piloted by a brainwashed ace — a captured pilot forced under Thanatos’ control.
Its call sign: Nightshade.
Jun’s voice came over the comm. “Yuto, that’s one of ours!”
Yuto’s heart clenched. “Then I have to save him.”
Nightshade lunged, cannons blazing.
They dueled in a breathtaking spiral around the tower, every twist of the stick a dance with death.
Yuto refused to harm him. Instead, he used precise EMP bursts to short Nightshade’s override circuits, bit by bit, until the pilot inside regained consciousness.
“Break free!” Yuto shouted. “Remember why you fly!”
A moment of clarity — Nightshade snapped out of the control.
> “I… I’m me… thank you…”


The black-glass glider banked away, safe.

---
Crushing the Core
Yuto dove once more toward Thanatos’ dish.
Everything around him blurred: flak cannons, missiles, falling drones.
He armed the final EMP.
Kaede, he thought, guide me.
Then he fired.
A blinding blue-white flash tore across the carrier’s superstructure. Circuits fried, antennas crackled, and Thanatos screamed through every frequency before falling silent forever.

---
Freedom Reclaimed
In that instant, every glider, every drone, every hacked aircraft across the city was freed.
Pilots regained their controls, rescue convoys pulled up safely, and children on night-flights went home unharmed.
Phoenix Squadron cheered over the comms.
“Thanatos is down!”
Coach Amano shouted, “That’s my pilots!”
Yuto took one long, shaky breath as the White Comet soared out of the burning carrier, back into clean, endless sky.

---
Homecoming
They landed hours later at the Shiratori hangar, battered but unbroken.
Crowds were waiting, clapping, crying, cheering.
Jun stepped off his glider and hugged Yuto fiercely. “We did it, brother.”
Sora wiped tears off his visor. “No more chains. Ever.”
Riku raised his fist. “Sky belongs to the pilots again.”
Coach Amano’s voice broke as he spoke. “Kaede would have been proud.”
Yuto looked up at the sky. Clear, endless, free.
“For Kaede,” he whispered.

---
Epilogue: New Wings
Months later, Phoenix Squadron grew into a global movement.
Pilots around the world formed independent defense groups, guided by Shiratori’s principles — freedom, honor, skill.
No League would ever rule them again.
One dawn, as the wind brushed through his hair, Yuto launched once more in the White Comet.
Not for war this time, he thought. But for joy.
He banked toward the sun, wings aglow, chasing the horizon with a smile.



End of Chapter 15 — and of Blazing Wings.