VII

Constant beeping finally registered in Jikein's consciousness. He forced his eyelids to open because the tone was a bit unnerving. His first thought was that he got spat out in the FR-200, Freg, again due to another cosmic problem. But the words in his vision reminded him that he was still in the virtual reality.

>>Extinction!<<

>>Quest Updated! Denying Fate!<<

>>Survive!<<

"What's this?" Jikein muttered, looking around the enclosure with black metals, "It's dark. But I can see."

Unbeknownst to him, he's inside a ship that's about to go spiralling out of control into an unknown planet's atmosphere. The ship automatically deployed its shields for a planetary drop.

Jikein would have been thrown around, bouncing on each wall as the ship violently rotated but due to the advance graviton physics implemented by the Rzirs to their ships, Jikein was able to stay on the floor without getting dizzy.

Slowly, Jikein made his way to the helm and saw that the interface seemed empty. "I'm in a ship? How in the shit do I steer this one?"

As Jikein reached a hand to one of the holographic buttons, a dark metal rod appeared with two holes the size of his hands. With panic and curiousity in his heart, Jikein planted his hands inside the holes then the rod suddenly split into two and thousands of command buttons appeared.

A smile appeared on Jikeins face as the interface became familliar to him, "I lived for this!"

With the metallic rod transformed into some kind of chains and coiled around his forearms, Jikein waved a hand causing the ship to deploy its gravity drivers to the opposite direction of its rotation to stabilize its descent.

As the ship regressed into a normal flight, Jikein's smile grew wider. It's not that he did not picked up a few informations in the forum. The players stated of crashing on a planets surface or getting flung into star. He was confident because he was an 85-year-old deep space veteran. Even in his years as a stormtrooper, he had faced the most bizarre landing inside a Drop Pod.

The ship blast off into the planet's atmosphere with an evil laughter escaping from Jikein.

>>Warning! Backup power is down to 3%. Propulsion System is now offline.<<

"Huh?" Jikein's laughter was extinguished as he nervously glanced around, cursing his luck.

Fortunately, the ship deployed its stabilizer, denying the chance of another spiralling motion.

The ship slowly descended but gaining speed. The person inside underwent a chaotic panic. Unlike a very durable drop pod designed for harsh landings, the pleasure ship would turn into an unrecognised debris of metals upon impact, including Jikein inside.

Another evil laughter escaped Jikein after he found the weapons system. He aimed to the direction of the ship's motion and charged a pair of double Pulse Cannon. After a second, the weapon was charged to 100% and he fired. The ship was fortified enougj to withstand the weapon's recoil so he need not worry about any self inflicted damage. After a few seconds, an explosion appeared on the surface of the planet.

Jikein braced himself as the ship bounced back up instead of down from the strong recoil. After a moment, the ship resumed its descent.

>>Backup power is now at 2%!<<

"Crap! I need to make this count." Jikein started tapping the command buttons.

>>Pulse Cannon can now charge to 200%<<

Grimacing, Jikein charged the weapon to maximum power, depleting the remaining energy of the ship. Before he reached the ground, he had to fire the cannons and secure a safe landing using the recoil of the weapon. But he needed precise timing and calculation so he wouldn't get caught from the explosion.

"Is there even a safety measure in this ship?!" Jikein roared after repeatedly scanning for informations, "A chute? Even a seatbelt woud do!"

Jikein saw the vast materiality of the planet. He readied himself, itching for the right moment. Then he fired.

Ngyub!

A huge explosion occured. Regaining from the recoil, the ship descended to the sea of fire.

Bam!

The ship hit the ground hard but remained intact. Jikein crawled out with a few bruises, coughing from the thick smokes. He pushed himself into a stand only to see the fire, blazing like the angry waves of the ocean. There was a momentary shock in his expression when he saw that the fire had a face and gazing at him in disgust. It swipe a hand towards his direction. Jikein had a mind full of experience from wars and had the reflex to go back inside, sealing the entrance of the ship before the hand that is made of fire reached him.

Luckily, the ship was able to withstand extreme heat. Jikein suddenly dropped on his knees as whispers of incomprehensible words reached his ears. It was wrathful and vengeful. However, Jikein withstood the pressure. Unable to mentally crush him with such methods, visions started to appear. Jikein saw a merciless and unforgiving plane. He can feel it, the varying temperature on that plane. He felt like his skin is getting peeled.

Jikein shook his head to no avail. The visions kept coming until he fall on the floor unconscious.

The fire oustide continued to assault the dark ship but could not penetrate its defense. Admitting defeat, the being dissipated into smokes.