Kickstart My Sky III

Haruki flew the Kenichi Modern away from the Dragon Lord. He watched the dragon consume Lias from the Isolde’s bow. Even for someone like that, he couldn’t wish for a more horrible way to go.

Chomped his upper body first, then his lower body? Brutal.

Satisfied with his meal, the Dragon Lord turned and looked up at Haruki. It smiled. Not just the man, but the lizard too.

In a flash, it lunged at Haruki. He rolled to the side. From the blue, a gargoyle flew at him with its claws out, scraping his wings. Anemone opened fire at the gargoyle when they raced past it, tearing it into shreds with the Lewis gun.

The Dragon Lord pivoted and blew a stream of fire at the KM. Haruki evaded the worst of the flames, but too close. A bit too close. The fire discolored the wings.

Magical cannonfire struck the body of the dragon, hitting an invisible glass-like barrier—just like before.

The Isolde, or whatever was left of it, began speeding and circling the Dragon Lord, magic cannons at full blast.

Taking this chance to reposition, Haruki headed down to the sea and flew at a low altitude. Less space to evade, but the same could be said for the Dragon Lord.

The Dragon Lord, seemingly distracted by the Isolde, focused on it, exchanging cannon fire and dragonfire.

When they neared Bellfry, Haruki took notice of those gelatinous, fleshy masses beginning to amass over the city.

Figures—barely human-like, but definitely humanoid, fell from the blasphemous masses like dead skin.

He couldn’t quite make out what was happening, but it seemed the masses were airdropping lifeless, zombie-like flesh into Bellfry city as their ground forces. Haruki wretched at their disgusting appearance, and that of the gelatinous masses floating above.

With machine fire, he tore through mass after mass. He hoped to stymie their approach, but shooting them down seemed to just make the bodies’ descent faster. At least he reduced their amount. Somewhat.

“Shit. These things are disgusting.” Haruki grunted. “Have you ever seen these things before, Anemone?”

“They’re rare, but it seems like the Sky Legion is going full force today. They don’t always deploy these granfalloons.”

“Granfalloons. What a perfect name you guys picked for ‘em.”

More gargoyles rushed at Haruki, and he dispatched them just as quickly. They thought to attack him distracted, but he was too sharp. Too aware. But with every squad that came at him, the KM sustained minimal damage.

Dammit! I can’t keep this up. Even with Anemone’s magic enhancing the plane’s performance, they couldn’t keep up with the sheer quantity of attacks. The Sky Legion also seemed to track their flight patterns better. They were learning, and fast.

He searched for Marina and Flare’s griffon, and with wind magic, established an echo tunnel.

“Help me take down the Dragon Lord! It’s the best way to stop the invasion, isn’t it?”

“We’ve got our hands full, yeah?” Flare retorted. An axe swing echoed within the echo tunnel, followed by the squelching of torn gargoyle flesh. “You’ve done it before, haven’t you?”

“There’s too many. Not to mention the granfalloons…”

Explosive shells flew from the direction opposite the harbor, striking the granfalloons and engulfing them in a fiery death.

The Legrassi ships had just arrived, and came into range of the Bellfry harbor.

“Speaking of,” Flare said then laughed. “You won’t have to worry about them. Go fight that dragon.”

“Miss Flare!” Anemone said, delighted. “Thank you!”

“Do not call me Miss Flare again! I hate that so much!”

Anemone laughed. “Okay. Flare. Thank you for your assistance.”

“Wait.” Marina interrupted over their makeshift comms. “Haruki. I need you to help me out. If you can get me on the Isolde unharmed, I may be of better use there.”

“Are you sure?” Haruki looked up at the half-eaten, half-armed yet still flying Isolde. “It… doesn’t look promising.”

“There is better than me sitting on my butt here.”

“Won’t the soldiers still there like… try to kill you?”

“They’re loyal to the Federacy, not just to Lias. They will follow me if they want to live. If they want Bellfry to survive. I am sure of this.”

Haruki sighed. He was in no position to judge if this was a bad plan or not, but all he could do was trust her.

She at least had a point: better to take command of something than sit in Flare’s griffon the entire time.

Flying up again, he cut a path with wind magic and machine gun fire through the legions of gargoyles. Flare and Marina followed behind, flying faster through the wind tunnel Anemone was leaving behind for them.

Marina hopped off the griffon and boarded the Isolde. Flare headed out and quickly ran a perimeter defense of the airship. Warren flew from the Legrassi and joined her, sweeping creature after creature.

Haruki wanted to watch out for Marina, but—

“HEY, SPORT!”

In a booming voice, the Dragon Lord lunged with teeth and claws at Haruki. He rolled to evade, but burning saliva sizzled on his aviation suit, damaging his left sleeve.

Oh, now you’ve done it.

The Dragon Lord circled back and rushed again, all too happy to see him.

“How gracious of you to come back up here and fight me. I was getting bored of this airship, tough, annoying gnat it is,” said the Dragon Lord through telepathy.

“Yeah, I was just looking to pick a fight!” Haruki thought back.

He outraced the Dragon Lord, tricking him into following behind again. He followed, and Anemone aimed. She fired the Lewis gun, but the Dragon Lord dove at the last moment to evade.

“Not this time, artificer!”

The Dragon Lord stretched up, maw ready to chomp at the Kenichi Modern—

Blue cannonfire struck the Dragon Lord, knocking it off course.

The Isolde—and Marina on its deck. Clouds were contracting around her like she was a living whirlpool. When the cannons fired again, the clouds rushed towards the shell, infusing it with Marina’s own magic.

Flare spiraled upwards on her griffon, and charged with a giant, molten axe, shattering the Dragon Lord’s invisible barrier in one mighty strike.

“Haruki, now!” Marina commanded.

The KM turned around and, in a yo-yo maneuver, rushed toward the Dragon Lord. Haruki’s fingers danced on the gun triggers.

“Anemone, the bullets!”

“Of course!”

Wind-enhanced gatling fire tore the Dragon Lord and the vulnerable dragon asunder, ripping it into paper-like shreds. Color left the dragon’s scales as it meandered over the sky.

“Did we get them?” Haruki asked.

“Yes—No, wait.” Marina said over the wind tunnels. “Look!”

From the portal where the Dragon Lord emerged, countless white paper cranes began rushing into the dragon’s body. The Dragon Lord assimilated the cranes, forming them into new sinew and flesh.

Haruki shook himself awake. He must be dreaming. The Dragon Lord… was regenerating. “What… the fuck?”

“Again!” Marina shouted.

Cannonfire rained down on the Dragon Lord again before it could come alive completely. Flare repeated her attack. Haruki circled one more time and tore its reforming flesh.

But more cranes flew from the portal. Hundreds? Thousands? An infinite number of them.

Anemone’s breath skipped. “What is happening? This has never happened before!”

“You’re asking me!” Marina answered back, frustration raw in her voice.

The Dragon Lord groaned—not telepathically, but as if his voice were being projected with a divine, echo-y megaphone. “Are you done yet?”

Its wings fluttered open, and a hurricane-level wind blew every combatant away and back.

“Good luck. You’ve only yourselves to blame, dumb mortals.” He pounced in the direction of the Isolde, fangs ready for the iron meal. “Chow time!”

Flare leapt from the griffon and descended like a meteor at the dragon’s forehead. “Oh no, you don’t!” With a flaming fist, she slammed the dragon down, sending it into a dizzied downward spiral. She tumbled, and when she fell past the Isolde, her griffon caught her.

Haruki traced the trail of paper cranes and flew at the portal. “Dammit. It’s the damn portal. He’s regenerating from whatever the hell’s pouring out from it!”

Anemone observed the flying pieces of paper. “Cranes…? Why would they…?”

“We need to close this portal!” Haruki said. He angled the KM to see what was beyond the tear in space. And when he did—

He blinked. Closed his eyes and opened them again. Pinched himself.

For the image that lay beyond the portal—

—Was one of home.

Tokyo, alive and well.