Steel and Mana

The moment my airship got close, I felt something. It was... If I have to put it into words, it's like suddenly smelling leaking gas. It was a sharp... sense for better or worse, but then when I tried to catch it or focus on it, it was gone.

"Sasha?" I asked, and her answer came from the Eagle's Nest almost instantly.

"There is magic gathering down below us, like something that is ready for an eruption! Be careful!"

"Roger," I answered, furrowing my brows. This was not the first time I felt something, "We will be careful."

I was curious about what it really was or what it meant, but all of that faded into the periphery of my thoughts as I refocused my attention on the now.

"Status?" I asked without looking back.

"The twin cores are fully active, My Sovereign," Kustov confirmed from his position, "We are using our shields at full power, emitting strong magical waves, so... If anything, we should be the best bait around this part of the world."

"Good, and keep holding the shields at maximum capability, we don't know what this thing is capable of! For now, keep us hovering directly above the hole of this bastard... Let it feel us."

While outside, there were constant flashing, the raining fire from our artillery, the flying and buzzing fighter planes, the bright firewall outside of the hive... I ignored it all. I was solely gazing at the hole below us, feeling as if the outside world was not even there, and time had slowed down.

"Be careful, it is doing something!" Sasha radioed over quickly,

"Mhm," I nodded. "It's aware of us." I whispered, having a thought that it was indeed 'looking' at the Camelot.

"General Oleg," Seltana's voice came through the main channel in the open comms. She felt calm, but her voice was clipped, her brain probably working in overdrive because of the ever-changing battlefield. "The Excalibur reports that the enemy formation is breaking into waves. They are throwing their own into the fire to build a bridge through it... So far, it is holding them back, but...

"Refocus part of the artillery fire on them," Oleg answered, and then Rashira acknowledged, just a second later.

"Changing sequence, artillery is falling on marks... 3... 2... 1..."

"Oleg," I keyed the mic in my chair, "Have Mikan reinforce communications between our dive bombers and the Eagle's Nest. I want full coordination and not one bomb wasted... The worm is coming."

"Understood."

I cut the feed this time, completely, and turned back toward the display, while I leaned forward on my armrest... I could... feel something... Come on, you big prick... Worm your way out and let me play some reverse fishing game with you...

"Contact!" someone yelled from the sensor cluster on the right, "Visible tremors down below! The target is moving!"

Oh, it did alright. I watched as the fissure bulged, swelled to twice its size in just under a second, and with a hideous rumbling sound of earth and stone being cracked apart, the worm burst from its 'little' hiding place.

I don't scare easily, I think, but I'd be lying if I said the sight of it didn't turn my stomach up and down, back and forth, and a few more ways around itself. Looking down at the erupting hive, the reappearing, disgusting mouth of it was colossal.

"Ascending!" Kustov yelled, and the Camelot shuddered as we began climbing high up, already expecting this to happen.

As it kept coming after us, it looked like a writhing, strange mountain of meat and blackish, bony carapace. This time, the thing was truly out, and its previous size was just about half of it. At first, when it reached its 'original' height, the beast recoiled, readying itself and then sprang upwards once again, trying to catch us.

With a loud crash, after missing the ship, it landed back down on the ground, completely out of its hole. It was easily over a hundred meters long right now, and with the way it could stretch, it could effortlessly add thirty meters to its length if it wanted. Or even more... I watched as the segmented plates shifted around its joints, giving it the ability to move, acting like weird muscles. Now, wholly out, it was trying it for a second time, its mouth opening in full, blooming like some nasty flower, filled with spikes... Was it trying to jump again? No... I don't think so.

"It's surfaced!" Sasha's voice came in a hurry, audibly panicked, "Leon, my magic is reacting! It's going to attack!"

"I see it," I answered, "Take us further away, Kustov!"

Seeing us move towards the east, the worm whipped around its tail, as if showing its anger. As a result, one of the few remaining towers near the edge of the hive crumbled as it smashed past it, not caring about the bugs, the artillery fire, or anything else, really. All that came down from above, be it magical or physical shells, they bounced harmlessly off its plated body as it began following us. Hard bastard...!

And then, whatever it was working on, was finished, and it released it at once. I couldn't even see it, none of us could. It was an attack that traveled at the speed of light, undodgeable. What I saw was a beam of crimson-white magic, already smashing against the Camelot's shields, being scattered in every direction.

It hit us dead center, but because our shields were up, we weren't destroyed. This was... the strongest monster attack I had yet to see, and even though we were running the shields at maximum capacity, the whole ship began shaking, and I almost fell out of my chair.

The Camelot groaned loudly in protest, and the shields flickered as the continuous beam kept hammering us, pushing the whole ship over to its side, almost as if trying to roll us over in the air. Yet, before it could happen, the attack finally died off.

"Fuck!" Kustov cursed, losing his temper a little, climbing up from the floor, "Shields down more than half! That blast nearly overloaded the cores! We can't take another hit like that, My Sovereign!"

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"I know," I grunted, "Maintain our distance, do not accelerate, and keep the roll slowly turning!" I ordered, "Let it think we're vulnerable!"

"We are vulnerable!" He answered, but followed my orders nonetheless.

"Leon—" Sasha called out, but I was already ready.

"I know," I answered in the channel to the Eagle's Nest and the dive bombers, "Target confirmed. Mark the worm's mouth when it opens up again! Throw everything we got at it!"

I was right. Seeing us still, slowly rotating, the monster probably thought it had us. Literally, worming itself through the hive, the fire, and everything else, it was coming to get us, opening its mouth for a bite... It was ignoring everything else, focusing solely on one thing: food.

Good. Thankfully, they are indeed stupid.

The moment its mouth was opening, I could hear our dive bombers scream down in formation, three wings strong per wave, dropping their payloads into the worm's belly, feeding it with some spicy nuggies of death.

"Roll us back to position! Fire all cannons!"

While yelling, the Eagle's Nest was already on it, its broadside batteries lighting up like a Christmas tree, sending fire spells straight into its mouth, not missing with either of them. That's Sasha for you...

My Camelot joined them, just a moment later, right when their cannons had gone silent, rotating to its other side, Kustov unleashed our response. Our spells were not as strong, as most of the magic was to keep our shields operational. Still, we had a good amount of physical cannons ready and able... And every one of them fired as one. By then, the beast was already closing its mouth, as we clearly hit it where it hurt.

It was trashing around in pain, and I could see cracks running around its body. A moment later, smoke rose from its midsection, while a dive bomber dropped a payload right into its closing mouth. The impact forced it back open, just wide enough for another to blast it in the face.

It was working... And from where I sat... I was sure it now had trouble closing its mouth fully anymore.

Smoke rose from its jaw, along with black and oily sludge, staining everything, looking like the raw liquid from which this whole hive was put together. Of course, the dive bombers didn't stop. Their formation wheeled in a tight arc, swooping in to hammer the worm's body with their weapons, now that they were out of bombs, joined by the fighters as well. It made me realize that there were no more flying beasts in the sky either.

Then, the Eagle's Nest's fire-spells, enhanced by Sasha's own magic, exploded across its upper body, scattering pieces of carapace into the air like when you crack a block of obsidian. This time around, the worm shrieked, releasing a pulse of magical waves overlapping on each other, sending it through the battlefield. Strangely, it was spreading horizontally, but in all directions except vertically. I saw as many bugs simply explode when they were hit, and next, I heard the reports coming in.

That wave was like a magical EMP... it disabled all our mechs.

"What about the soldiers?" I asked, but according to Oleg's words, they were simply feeling nauseous while some had a blackout moment for a second or so. As for the machines, they had gone entirely offline.

"Dad," suddenly Galahad's voice came through, "Fila is unconscious..." He was audibly shaken, but managed to keep himself together instead of panicking.

"Stay put. We are ending this!" I answered, turning towards Kustov, "Status?" I barked.

"Still alive," Kustov growled. "But its body is fractured and bleeding. We must have hit something sensitive."

"It's magic is leaking," Sasha reported, "It is certainly dying!"

"Then we keep pressing," I leaned forward. "Send its position to Rashira! I want the artillery turned on this bastard!"

"Yes, My Sovereign," Seltana replied crisply, already at work, sending the coordinates to her sister.

To their credit, the howitzers responded like clockwork, and a second later, their new salvo was whistling through the clouds, arching above us in perfect timing, coming down on the worm.

The beast, no matter how injured or stupid it was, seemed to realize its precarious position. It coiled on itself, twisting and turning, trying its hardest to burrow the front half of its body into the scorched ground.

"No, you don't," I hissed and keyed the command channel, "All wings, all squads, everything we got! Converge fire on the worm! Don't let it disappear. Kill it while it's exposed!"

Of course, the response was immediate.

"Eagle Squadron, locking in!"

"Sparrow Squadron, on the tail!"

"Hawk Squadron, strafing by!"

To our left, the Eagle's Nest had already turned on its axis and released another full broadside from the other side. I could even see a massive, red formation appear above the ship, realizing it was Sasha's magic. She was doing it personally, summoning more fire spells than the number of cannons the ship itself had.

The response was a subsonic roar, so low it vibrated my teeth when it reached us. Then, without warning, it surged forward again and its massive body uncoiled with brute force, like a loose spring, flinging rubble and flaming debris across the battlefield. There was no direction in its attack but only desperation. It tried to dive again after it was done, trying to flee, to hide beneath the ruined hive, but it was too late.

Another wave of shells and spells screamed down from the skies, like falling stars or meteors. I watched the impact, almost eighty percent of it being direct hits. Damn, Rashira... you are a sniper, aren't you? The ground around the worm fractured and liquefied from the force of the hits, but... But it wasn't enough...

"Kustov!" I snapped. "Position us above its head! Blast its skull open!"

He didn't need to be ordered twice. The Camelot banked hard, diving low, dangerously low if it decided to try and smash us down or something. I gripped my armrest as we skimmed over the battlefield, arriving before the monster's head.

"All guns, fire!"

It was another full salvo, hitting its mark, along with the planes attacking its cracking body, the shells falling on its top from above. It screamed again and whipped its head and tail around. Its broken jaws were hanging open by then, that damn blooming mouth glowing with energy again, but this time, it didn't get to fire.

It was a perfect shot, from my Camelot's cannons, hitting something vital.

I winced as the detonation ripped through its mouth, tearing half of its jaw off. That did it... I was sure of it. This time, blood, if that black ichor counted as such, maybe it did, gushed from its face like a fountain, making it fall over, convulsing.

"Keep firing!" I ordered, slamming my hand down. "Do not let it rest or try to get up again!"

The Eagle's Nest released another synchronized volley, then another. All of our fighters strafed along the worm's length, raking it with gunfire, emptying all their ammunition, and artillery spells still hammered its whole body, relentless and continuous.

I think this was the first time we killed a monster, and we lost out on CC... Mostly because the amount we used up here wouldn't be recouped, even if we harvest its core. Not that I was minding it. Fuck it. War is expensive, after all.

Its end wasn't fast, and it certainly wasn't clean.

It died like a mountain crumbling in slow motion. Its body convulsed, rolling sideways, crushing part of the hive under its weight. Sometimes, chunks of its shell exploded outward as pressure built inside, making it groan and moan, as if I would feel sorry for it. And finally, after what felt like an eternity, something vital gave out inside of it, and a final tremor ran through its full length.

And then... it stopped moving.

"Report," I said as our cannons slowly stopped firing.

"Confirming… I sense," Sasha said finally, her voice focused. "No magical reaction anymore... I… I think it's dead."

No one spoke for another second as the battle started to die down... Then I finally allowed myself to exhale and smile.

"Good," I said with a chuckle, then turned serious again, "I want full reports! I want to know what's going on with the bugs; were there any that escaped or not? Kustov, take us to the Excalibur!"

"On our way!" He nodded, changing our course, while I began listening to the incoming reports of all the squadron leaders.

It seemed we obliterated them... No more bugs were crawling above the surface, but... That didn't mean they weren't around here. Just... simply underground. Well, we will see. But for now, I was more worried about that EMP-like attack it released. I don't want to tell Mirian that her daughter got... wrecked while staying in Avalon. Ugh...