Endless Evolution: Last Star

Chapter 352: Midnight Crystal (Part 77)

The main problem why Citadel hadn't sent help to Adam, Katrin, and the others was that Plague Reaper had taken care of it in advance.

In fact, one fighter with a K3-Phantom on board had been waiting for some time for the pilot to fly into Fallen Crypt, but that couldn't happen while the sky was covered in black air.

It was quite possible that for the K3-Phantom it wasn't a strong threat, at worst the Phantom could just hold his breath until they got out of that cloud of death, but... for the pilot that option was impossible.

Sure, the pilot had a mask and could hold his breath too, but considering that he was a simple human and not a Phantom, he didn't need to breathe for the black air to do him lethal damage.

The black air would simply pass through the gaps between the plates into the fighters and touch the pilot before he could realize anything.

Thus, the only way to allow someone weak enough to pass through the black air was to protect the fighter.

Some kind of Phantom capable of creating protective barriers like Lero could do that. Fort Norton, along with the mission department, was already working in that direction, but it would take time.

When they sent the first fighter to the rescue they didn't know that Plague Reaper had prepared and was even there, as the first rescue was sent not because of its appearance but because of a spatial anomaly.

Adam, Katrin, and Golden Light Squad were K1-Phantoms and they ended up in the Light Yellow Threat area. This incident was enough to immediately send a fighter to their aid with a strong Phantom waiting in Fort Norton.

Plague Reaper ruined their plans as Fort Norton sent a fighter and Phantom to their aid, unable to safely pass through the black air.

Well, fortunately for Adam and the others, besides Fort Norton and the mission department, there were enough different forces in the Citadel to affect their situation.

One of them was Refesa and her unique XH-01 fighter, which no one had ever used but her.

True, the military knew of the existence of this fighter, but they realized that they needed to set aside some time to test and negotiate with Refesa for mass production before pilots could take advantage of this latest technology.

"Nessa, the fighter is about to start shaking, so I suggest you grab onto something." Refesa said calmly before pressing the far blue button on her control panel.

In thirty seconds the fighter with Nessa on board would collide with the black air, so it was already time to act.

Wheeeeeeez.

Before Nessa could reply to anything, she heard a hissing sound behind her. Looking around she saw steam coming from the wide tanks at the rear of the fighter.

The blue liquid that filled them to the brim began to flow rapidly down the wide tubes to somewhere below.

Nessa didn't know what it was, how this mechanism worked, and what this unusual blue liquid, thick but bright as if saturated with energy, was for. However, the mystery of the unknown only increased her interest.

Sitting in the pilot's seat, she watched mesmerized as the tanks emptied by a third, more than enough to activate a special function of the XH-01.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

Just as Refesa had warned, the fighter shuddered vigorously, beginning to shake and sway from side to side.

At that moment, Nessa was frightened, for it seemed to her that the fighter was about to collapse and then she would fall from a great height to the strong solid ground!

Her body was as durable as her bones, but gravity was still a dangerous enemy against which Nessa could do nothing.

'Fuck, fuck, fuck! What did I sign up for?! This bucket of bolts is about to fall apart!' Nessa inwardly exclaimed watching through the windshield as the wings shook.

Moreover, it was only five seconds away from colliding with the black air.

With every breath, with every beat of her heart, Nessa saw the black cloud growing larger and larger, bringing her imminent death closer.

Whoooooooooooooooooooosh.

Suddenly, all the trembling stopped, and her eyes reflected a bright blue glow. She saw dense azure streams like streams of water rapidly covering the entire fighter, creating a curved sphere around it that mirrored the shape of the XH-01.

The azure barrier acted like a veil, ready to protect and follow XH-01 as long as necessary.

Then, while Nessa stared in amazement at the magical blue streams surrounding her on all sides, the fighter entered the black cloud at the same high speed as before.

'Wait... Is this happening...?' Nessa internally muttered.

The black air was aggressive, eager to do its master's bidding and kill any intruders, but... no matter how the black air tried, it couldn't penetrate the azure barrier.

The streams of energy simply wouldn't allow the black air to touch the fighter.

"Well, well, not bad at all." Magnus said with a wide grin on his face, "What's that feature called?"

Refesa threw him a puzzled look.

"The defense barrier of the XH-01." Refesa replied with a wave of her hand.

"Agh...? Hey, I realize you're not a fan of pretty names, but isn't this too boring? It's more like a code in a technical document rather than a title." Magnus tilted his head.

Refesa shrugged.

"If you want to, come up with a better option. I'm listening to you."

Magnus smirked, taking a few steps forward to get a proper look at the screen and discern the azure barrier.

"It's a protective function, blue is considered a calming color and associated with protection. Furthermore, the XH-01 like any airplane has wings... Hmm..." Magnus muttered to himself, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Then, his eyes sparkled, an idea clearly coming to him.

"Hey, how about - Angel's Embrace? Fits perfectly, right?"

Refesa quickly looked at him once. It was clear from her eyes that she wasn't impressed, because she didn't care. To her, the most important thing was functionality, not a pretty name or appearance.

"Fine, whatever you want it to be. I guess it's not that bad."

...

Nessa continued to fly forward quickly in XH-01, pushing the black air apart with Angel's Embrace.

Neither she nor Refesa or Magnus had yet suspected that some object, some being was moving towards her at high speed, someone who could keep flying even among the clouds of black air.