Infernal Flight II

Anemone withdrew her lips from Haruki’s, a mix of saliva and traces of blood trailing behind.

“A-Anemone…?” Haruki’s tone faltered. “What did you just…?”

“Watch out!”

On cue, Haruki faced forward, a gargoyle rushing him again. It was too close—too late—

He pulled the plane up an extreme angle, and when he did, a force pushed wings up, driving the plane up faster than he thought it could. When the gargoyle followed, he turned hard to the right and evaded its acidic spit.

The KM looped and pivoted facing the gargoyle. With a press of a trigger, a floating circle of runes formed around his guns’ muzzles. Wind flowed through Haruki’s fingertips. Gunfire followed.

Bullets rushed at the gargoyle, leaving green, wind-like residue at their wake. The beast burst into bloodless fragments of itself until they, too, exploded into mist.

Haruki caught his breath. “What was that?”

“I’ve linked my mana circuits with your body,” she said. “You and your mount are now enhanced.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’ll take a while to explain,” Anemone replied, refastening a seatbelt over her waist. “Just think of what you want to happen, and I’ll imbue it with magic as best as I can.”

Finally realizing the biggest threat in the area, several gargoyles rushed the KM in all directions. Haruki thought of going up and flanking their formation. A blast of wind pushed the KM up again, and Haruki rode the slipstream, looping and tearing several creatures to shreds with wind-trailed machine gun fire.

When acid tried to clip his wings again, a vortex of air sucked it in and pushed it away.

Anytime Haruki thought of a maneuver—

—Wind magic enhanced it, as if on cue.

Several more formations of gargoyles fell to the Kenichi Modern, until the mass of shadows that was once raiding the castle had been reduced to a mere fraction. The elves down below were all too happy to reclaim the upper hand, magic bolts and arrows hitting their marks more often now.

From below, the single dragon clinging on the ruined castle ramparts flew off the wall. Magic and arrows alike only dented it, only a few drawing shallow blood off its scales.

It turned its attention to the plane flying above. With a mighty roar, it jumped into the sky, torpedoing in their direction.

“Oh, shit!”

Haruki strafed the plane hard, the dragon narrowly missing its charge. Its trail swept wind, pushing even the KM’s wind-enhanced piloting off-course.

The dragon steadied itself overhead, its size made apparent, a great shadow obscuring the sun.

Red scales covered its almost twenty meter-high body. Its talons and horns were the size of trucks, traces of broken stonework still crumbling off them. Embers smoked from its maw, which when opened, looked big enough to swallow the KM whole with ease.

Sinew parted on its forehead, and from between its eyes, a man—muscular, rugged, with long unkempt hair that reached up to his hips, emerged with a sickening squelch. Bloody flesh bound everything below his half to the dragon, but he could move around just fine as if the dragon were only a pond to him.

When the man opened his mouth, his voice boomed out—though it seemed he was less speaking, and more projecting thoughts in Haruki’s head.

“I was not made aware that the elves hid such machinery in their territory,” the man said. “All your siege weaponry had been laid to waste at this point, but it seems you’ve readied your masterpiece for this moment. A shame. A shame indeed! The king’s head would have made an easy taking for tonight!”

“Who’s this guy?” Haruki grimaced.

“A commander of the Sky Legion,” Anemone said. “We only know him as the Dragon Master.”

“Dragon Master!” Haruki shouted at the top of his lungs, but the Dragon Master responding with a mental grunt hinted that his telepathy went both ways. “Pull your troops back. You’ve already lost more than two-thirds of your fighting force. There’s no use to fighting any longer.”

“Oh,” the Dragon Master cackled. “Hah! Perhaps you overestimate the varmints below, but you must realize you’re the biggest—and only credible threat around here. If I destroy you, then tonight will play out exactly as envisioned. You feel?”

“Listen. I have no quarrel with you. Not me, no,” Haruki said, then glanced at the girl in the co-pilot seat behind. “But this place seems really important to her, so I’m not gonna let this slide. So pull back now, or—”

“Prepare to die?”

“Pretty much.”

“Hah,” the Dragon Master laughed. “Then ready your arms, artificer. Your bones will make great feasts for my pet!”

The dragon’s maw opened, baring its fangs. Flames coalesced in its mouth. With a mighty heave, a ball of fire launched itself at the KM.

The KM rolled and pitched away from the fireball. He retaliated with machine gun fire.

Magic-infused rounds struck the dragon’s belly, trailing up towards its thorax, their impact marred by the protection of invisible glass.

“You’ll have to try better than that, artificer!”

The dragon swooped down and dove at the KM’s underside.

“Dammit!”

Fire streamed from the dragon’s mouth like a fiery updraft. Haruki rolled hard right, magic pushing him along. Jets of fire singed the wings, though a vacuum of wind prevented the worst.

Haruki nosedived just below the stream of fire, unloading another wave of infused bullets at its frontside. Invisible glass shattered, and his shots drew blood.

Enraged, the dragon circled the plane, striking with its claws first. Haruki turned and evaded, pitching back up to the sky. Another stream of fire followed. Another dodge. Then came its claws again.

Haruki zigzagged into the defensive, avoiding every single attack.

Forcing an opening, Haruki aimed for its left wing and opened fire. For a second, invisible glass protected it. Then a shatter. Bullets bore holes in its webbing.

The dragon roared in pain, its breath of fire scattering on the ground and up the sky. Dragonfire painted the sky and clouds an infernal red—once a picturesque heaven, now made into a snapshot of hell.

The blood-red beast tumbled off-balance, crashing into the ground, its tumble crushing gargoyles under it. Elves down below scattered in its wake.

“Very good, artificer!” The Dragon Lord called out, smirking. “But I shall outlast you! For you are but a siege engine, and I—I am alive!”

“We’ll see about that.”

With the dragon still lurching on the ground, Haruki grabbed the opportunity. He dove the KM, and began peppering its back with gunfire, trailing up until its head—

Click.

His guns ran empty—and no magic infusions could substitute real 20mm rounds.

“Sir Haruki, what’s wrong?”

“Shit! I’m outta rounds!”

The Dragon Lord’s smirk bent up, his skin squelching. “Your siege engine runs on ammunition like the rest of your measly machines! But mine only lives on will. An immortal will!”

The dragon rose from the ground talons first. Haruki pulled up, but the edge of its claws tore linen from below. The metal frame under it warped.

The KM’s movements slowed and so did its turning.

Haruki flew straight forward, creating as much distance as he could from the rising dragon.

“Anemone! I know you can’t understand what I’m imagining, so just do as I say.”

“O-okay! What do I do?”

Haruki took a breath and calmed his voice. “Below the plane, there’s a hole. I can kinda imagine how bad the damage is. If what you said earlier was true… can you see it?”

“I can’t envision it, but I understand it by instinct.”

“Good enough,” Haruki said. “Focus all your magic on plugging that hole, and pushing us up gently with an upward force. Constantly.”

A flow of wind lifted the plane, and the KM’s agility returned close to how it was before.

The Dragon Lord and his dragon lifted off the ground, leaving the castle’s vicinity and trailing the KM.

“Sir Haruki, the Dragon Lord! He’s catching up to us,” Anemone said, panic raw. “With all my magic pushing us up, at this rate…”

“It’s fine,” Haruki said, cold and confident.

“Sir Haruki—”

“Do you remember the thing I told you not to touch? That ‘ballista’?”

Anemone carefully ran her fingers around the handle of the back-mounted Lewis gun in front of her. “This?”

“I’m sure you’ve handled a crossbow or bow before?”

“Yes, of course,” Anemone said, nodding.

“When the Dragon Lord gets close, just aim the ballista and press that trigger near the handle. It’s going to kick you back a little, but keep that trigger pressed—and grip that handle very, very tightly. Like your life depended on it.”

Our life did depend on it. “Anemone, I trust you know exactly where to shoot.”

“I do.”

The holes in the dragon’s wings and abdomen closed, only leaving streaks of blood stained at the surface. The Dragon Lord sped towards the KM, though no embers frothed at the dragon’s mouth anymore.

He’s going in for a melee.

“Turning your back on me?” The Dragon Lord lifted his beast’s claw high in the air, poised to strike. “You show your weakness, coward!”

Gunfire.

Bullets pierced bloody holes in the Dragon Lord’s body—holes big enough to rip limb from limb. Rounds punctured his chest, his shoulders, and punched a hole through half his face.

Anemone held the Lewis gun’s trigger down, her unnatural strength keeping whatever recoil there was down. An excess of rounds shot at the Dragon Lord, until his beast struck the ground and trees below with a thunderous crash.

She screamed, closing her eyes and wincing at the pain from the sound of muzzle fire.

Haruki held the top of her head. “Enough.”

Anemone released the handle. “Is it over?”

They savored the quiet of the moment, letting the smell of brimstone waft through them briefly. They caught their breath with a single cough.

“I think it’s—”

The dragon rose again from a distance, though its scales had lost both their luster and color, looking more like an excellently made paper mache than a mighty beast.

The Dragon Lord stared at them, his body still standing but dismembered and looking like a wad of swiss cheese.

“Artificer,” he said. “I have no strength left to fight you. But you did surprise me—pleasantly so. I concede tonight, though it is a shame I could not have the king’s head. But I will be back. I know you will be there, too.”

“I hope not,” Haruki said with a sigh.

The dragon crumpled like paper alongside the Dragon Lord, and what remained of his gargoyle minions followed suit. A gust scooped up their remains, all returning in the rough direction of the Inverted City like birds in migration.

When the sky cleared, dusk had already come. A warm, orange glow bereft of dragonfire comforted Haruki and Anemone’s weary bones.

“Sir Haruki…” Anemone said, holding back tears. “Thank you. I thought everyone—we were going to die.”

“No, thank you.” With a finger, Haruki wiped the blood off his lip, still remembering the strange kiss from earlier.

“If it weren’t for you, I would’ve died, too.”

=====

Haruki landed the KM near a plain between two hills just a stone’s throw away from the castle. Anemone jumped out first, then came Haruki after turning off the engine.

He checked the damaged underside and saw the large gash and bent metal frame caused by the dragon. This is gonna be tough. He didn’t know how to fix this kind of damage without knowing what tools and materials he could use from this world.

Not even half an hour in, elven soldiers clad in golden armor and blue cloth appeared at their location, marching in with an ironclad synchronicity and lined in rows of six each.

Anemone hid behind the plane’s wing, though there really was nowhere to hide this far into the open. Haruki sat at the edge of the cockpit, tapping the metal beneath him.

“What, are we getting arrested?” He meant the question for Anemone, who only hid in silence, but the soldier in front answered.

He straightened his legs and offered a bow.

“We are not, Hero of the Sky,” the soldier said, tone as hard as stone.

“Hero of the Sky…?”

Of course they’d be quick to give me a title. After what he did, it would be likelier than getting arrested.

The line of soldiers parted right in the middle, making way for the slender silhouette of a woman walking towards them.

“We’ve come to honor you, Hero of the Sky,” she said, her voice dancing with a mature playfulness. “And as for you, princess. Let us return home posthaste.”

Haruki turned to Anemone, whose expression was like a child caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

“Princess…?”