Fairy Opera: The Last Chapter

 

Party

I sat on the dock, watching the sun rise over the horizon. The skyfloor, far below the island, rippled with waves of green. The attack was coming. Activity around me displayed the tension of the moment. Sailors ran past me. Sails unfurled. Skysteel engines came to life.

Jak came up to me. “We’ve spotted the Ultimar coming towards us. We’re making the move to intercept. The plan should go as decided.”

“Right.” It was my mission to take down the Ultimar with the boon of the God Emperor. With my new magic ability, I had the power to bring the whole ship down. I developed a spell specifically for this purpose, programmed to hit both skysteel engines within the ship at once. I pulled out the scroll, checking over it one more time. I stood up. “Let’s get going.”

Our fleet of relic ships and captured Imperial vessels headed out from the docks. We sailed straight for the Imperial navy’s location. About an hour after leaving, we spotted the Ultimar, as well as two dozen support ships. Their formation was conservative in comparison to how they had attacked the previous time. A ring of protective ships floated around the Ultimar. It would be very difficult to get aboard this time. I needed to get to the upper deck skysteel engine to unleash my spell. Then I needed to be able to ditch the ship before it hit the skyfloor. These two things would prove to be very difficult, I knew.

Our ships engaged. Broadside cannons exploded as the Rebellion ships and Imperial ships came up to each other. The sky filled with smoke and cannon fire tore the air apart. Several ships went down within the first ten minutes, both sides taking equal losses.

Our ship, the Grand Mahogany, attempted to thread the line and slip through the ring of defending ships. We almost made it through the line of defense, but were caught at the last minute by an Imperial ship. We prepared to take boarding action. Two dozen Imperial marines leaped across the gap on ropes. We stood our ground and engaged.

Two marines faced up against me. I stepped forward with lightning speed and knocked one of them off the ship. He tumbled, screaming, down to the skyfloor. The second marine backed away from me. He held out his cutlass, taking up a defensive stance.

We traded a few blows. I feinted and ran him through with my blade. The marine staggered, clutched his wound, and fell backwards.

I wiped the blood off my sword and looked at the status of the battle. It looked like we had repelled the boarders. Our cannons opened fire and tore the attacking ship to pieces.

We broke through the line of defense and headed straight for the Ultimar. We were able to dodge a barrage of fire from the ship’s frontal cannons. When we were close enough to board, I turned to Jak and Tae. “Let’s do this.”

We leaped aboard the Ultimar, using ropes to carry our momentum. When we landed on the deck, dozens of marines were waiting for us. The battle on the deck devolved into a massive brawl. Jak, Tae, and myself slipped through the chaos and retreated down a hatch. I looked at a map of the ship and pointed in the direction that we were supposed to go.

About two minutes later we made it to the skysteel engine.

“I knew you would be coming.” A familiar face stepped out from the shadow. It was Malgor. He slashed his sword through the air, and then held out his hand. “Null skret.”

“Apropos!” I shouted out a counterspell.

Malgor snapped his fingers. “Precut.” His entire body lit up with energy. Tae and Jak froze next to me. Malgor approached me. “We’ve got a score to settle, don’t we?”

I held my sword out as well. “Indeed we do.” I stepped towards him. Then we both attacked. Our flurry of blocks and parries sent sparks flying. Even with my boon of the God Emperor, I was unable to find a chink in his impeccable armor. I wondered how I was able to defeat him the first time. I knew that, even if I did defeat him here, he would return just like before, through his arcane magic phylactery. But I still needed to get past him.

We exchanged more blows. Malgor’s attack cause me to slip. I hit the floor, holding up my arms.

Ruby flew out from my pocket and punched Malgor in the face. Even though it didn’t do much damage, it caused him to stagger for a moment and lose his concentration.

I recovered. Malgor lowered his sword. “You have grown much since we last fought.”

I shook my head. “I’ve been practicing for this moment.”

Malgor laughed. “It’s great, having a rival who you can see progress.” He held out his hand. “But you will see that you’re not the only one who has progressed.” He leaped for me, flipping over my head, attempting to strike me from above.

I performed a backflip at the same time. Our eyes locked as we flew past each other. I twisted and faced Malgor again. Malgor began jumping around, off the walls, kicking at me from every direction.

I blocked several attacks from above and behind. Malgor’s superior agility kept me from being a real threat.

I improvised a spell at that moment. “Null speed: degenerate!” The world shimmered and Malgor’s body slowed down. He fell to the floor, rolled, and got up.

“That’s nasty.” He sniffed, rubbing his chin. “Using magic without a spell. No fair.” He held out his sword. “Well, I guess we’ll have to settle this the old-fashioned way.”

We clashed again, our swords striking each other, as we parried, fainted, and attacked. Because of my boon from the God Emperor, I was tiring much slower than I would have. But Malgor didn’t seem to be tiring either. We continued to exchange blows.

“Ruby!” I leaped back, yelling out her name.

“Right on!” She flew straight for Malgor. Malgor swatted her away, but that left a tiny hole in his defenses, which I used to break through is guard and stab him in the side.

Malgor lifted his chin. “You’ve got me this time, child.” He staggered backwards. “But I will be back. And I will see this through.” Again, his body turned to dust, collapsing to the ground in a puff.

Tae and Jak unfroze. Both of them fell to the ground.

“What the?” Tae got up. “What happened? Where’s Malgor?”

“I defeated him. Not forever, but he’s gone for now.” I put my hand against the skysteel engine. “Null extra Bravos! Let my end be known! Target variable nine, let things come through!” I turned to Tae. “Let’s ditch this place.” I cast a fire spell to blast open the walls and leaped out into the open sky, followed by Tae and Jak. I cast a float spell, and we sat on a current of air as the Ultimar’s two skysteel engines exploded. The ship reared, and then plummeted to the skyfloor.

The zombies on board that ship would never have a chance to rampage through the Rebellion’s island. We had won a major victory here.

The remaining Imperial ships turned around and retreated. I could hear the cheers coming from our ships. I pushed our float spell back towards the Grand Mahogany. We got back on board and were greeted with smiles from our crew.

I pumped my arm in the air. “We’ve done it! We’ve won!”

Jak shook his head. “For now, that is.” He sighed. “But in any case, we’ve got to get back to the island and report our victory.”

About two hours later the surviving members of our fleet were docked at Gagna. Andrew hugged me when I stepped off the ship.

“You did it, lad. You saved us all.”

“The war isn’t over yet.” I looked up. “In fact, it’s just started. There are a lot of battles that we’re going to have to fight.”

Andrew bowed. “Yes. I understand that. But with you on our side, I doubt that we’ll ever fail.”

I grinned. “Thanks for believing in me.” I turned towards Jak and Tae. “And thank you two as well.”

About a day later, I stood at the courtyard of the castle keep, in front of a large crowd. Tae and Jak stood next to me. A knight in full armor stepped towards us, bearing medals, while a band played pompous music. The three of us were awarded medals, and Andrew held up his hand.

“The battle is not over yet!” He lowered his hand. “But with people like this on our side, how can we ever lose?”

The crowd cheered.