Chapter 76: Infamous III

Chapter 76: Infamous III

Whether they were priests or priestesses, warrior-casters or deckhands, the Everrain fleet wore either blue, white, or a mix of those colors. The people from Everrain themselves sported hair color that spanned the entire range of the color blue, and sometimes the color black. It was not a tradition to dye their hair, it was simply the natural born genetic color of the Everrain territory's residents.

Even those not native to the raincloud lands, found their children to be magically born with blue hair coming out of their heads. Whether or not their parents had blonde hair, brown hair, or green hair, their children were always born with blue or black hair.

Yet now, an unknown figure wearing all black with a head full of red hair was standing calmly amidst the chaos. Whilst he stood proud and stoic, the members of the fleet were trying their best to stay alive. Fear, dejection or tough instinct to survive filled their beings, the Rain Priestess that was on her knees next to the young man, had an expression of fright and confusion while he stood there indifferently.

Anyone with an observing mind would conclude that he did not belong to the Everrain fleet. The next process within that line of thinking was to ascertain the figure's identity. Everyone from the draconic heir to the crystal daughter, to the hundreds of leaders below were making conjectures and hypotheses on who that unknown figure was.

Wearing all black and concealing his features…was he part of an elite shadow force that was busy gathering information until something destroyed the ship? Was he there for an assassination operation? No…an elite member from the shadows would not reveal themselves so easily. The figure stood openly under the skies without even a mask, whereas shadow members would do whatever it took to not be seen.

Maybe he was a prisoner of theirs that escaped during the destruction of the ship? No that did not make any sense either, for he was not in rags but what seemed to their eyes as luxurious black silk.

The most logical yet unbelievable conjecture had to be that the young man…was the reason for the colossal ship's destruction. If so…then that meant there was another figure whose power was on par with the crystal daughter.

Although the ships were made of wood they were not made of any ordinary wood. The trees were grown from magical elements, and their hardness and durability largely exceeded steel. To snap such a ship in two required unbelievable power and force, bordering on the level of the true elites of empiric forces. Such a person had to be watched closely, and in the first place they had to observe if the young figure truly held such power to him.

Below the remains of the falling ship, Gayle looked at the figure with shock and surprise. Who else could the young man be other than her impudent new friend?

'Zan!?'

'Why did he come here!?'

Obvious emotions expressed themselves on her face. Her pretty features becoming stressed and grieved before they slowly softened as another thought passed in her mind.

'...Did he come here because he thought I was in trouble?'

In the next moment, Reh-Tom, her pet owl landed on her shoulder.

'Hmph.'

'Your thoughts are too easy to read, child. Why else would he come here if not for you?'

'You're lucky no one is looking at you, else they might connect your identity to his.'

'He's likely to do something brash. Associating yourself with him might become something even you cannot do.'

…

As tens of thousands of people placed their eyes on the youth, Zan placed his own eyes on the colossal ship that was snapped in half. Debris of the destroyed ship fell from the skies as he contemplated.

'I thought I had to save her but nevermind I guess…'

'Didn't think I'd break the damn ship either…'

'Fuck it. I'm here anyway right? Time for some fun.'

The young man looked towards the flying fleet of ships, their war weapons, and the Everrain warriors and priests. He felt a sensation of magnificence and wonder as they flew through the clouds, and how the priests and priestesses guided the ships with their magic staffs. It was easy to forget that Zan was not part of such a world until a few weeks ago. Such a scene astounded him every time he set his eyes on it. Most of the years he lived, he lived a mundane life in a mundane village. Seeing such a supernatural and magical scene would leave any normal person stunned just like he was.

Yet Zan was not totally normal but perhaps slightly deranged, and two things were triggered within the insolent young man. Greed for possession, and the desire to test his strength against the flying fleet.

The young man really only had two goals. To find his sisters, and to ¹battle the most powerful foes until he was hailed as the strongest under the heavens. The second goal was already enough motivation for the battle junkie to fight the fleet, but together with his immature greed, Zan was now dead set on "acquiring" a few material possessions.

Unfortunately the youth was too young, and had yet to develop a mind resistant to such desires. The greed for earthly possessions, being a new desire for the otherwise crude and simple boy. It was not something he had experienced in detail as a poor, mundane villager. All there was to see was bigger houses and pretty rocks. Yet now…beautiful jewels may not have affected him in the past, but a flying ship of his own?

'Ye— Yeah…maybe a flying ship or two would help me in my adventures…'

"Hehe…haha…HAHAHAHA." The young man laughed madly.

Sounds of rushing water entered his ears, and Zan noticed as spherical barriers of water started to form around Everrain's flying ships. Whatever snapped that ship in two, might attack them once again, and so the Everrain forces prepared readily for such a possibility. Zan smiled a toothy grin. It only served as a ready challenge for him.

He looked down towards the war weapon beneath him, and then towards the Rain Priestess he had accidentally kidnapped. When the young man descended from the skies, his initial trajectory led him straight down towards the poor girl. While callous and rough, Zan was not overly cruel. In the last second before he squashed her into meat pulp, he diverted the angle of his descent.

The durability of the magical ship would help to stop his momentum, but the explosive landing was still destructive enough to launch hunks of flying wood at her. So Zan took the next best step, and shielded her as he penetrated through the ship.

Rain Priestess Lara, was at one moment leisurely strolling through the deck of the ship. The endless clouds of rain made her feel at home within the foreign land, so she wished to fully revel in the homely scenery. The wind upon the deck was pleasant, and despite the warfare going on below, the view was gorgeous…And in the next moment she was rapidly dragged down through several floors of her own ship.

First she saw her main office be destroyed, followed by the kitchen, then the servant quarters, then her specially custom made tea lounge, then finally her pink bedroom before she was welcomed to the sea of clouds.

Zan let her go from his hold and as she fell to her knees, she looked up to see the remains of her ship, broken in half by some catastrophic force. The Rain Priestess wondered if she was dreaming. Yet what she saw next made her especially wish it was all a dream.

Lara noticed that her knees fell upon the 2700s Railgun series, a war weapon of their territory, and upon that weapon was the unknown stranger responsible for pulling her down through the seven floors of her ship. In her confusion her eyes were drawn to the mysterious figure, but once she set her sight on that glowing red eye, an unknown pressure overwhelmed her. Sweat beaded from her eyebrows as she directed her eyes back towards the surface of the cannon. A feeling of fright and trepidation filled her as she let out heavy breaths.

'What the…'

"Hey."

The girl flinched. It took a moment for her voice to escape her throat.

"Ye– Ye— Yes…?"

The man impatiently tapped on the surface of the cannon with his foot, producing metallic sounds that echoed through the air.

"You know how to work this thing, right?"

…

It was only mere moments but the battle below completely stopped. tle Of the factions that observed the disturbance above, the crystal daughter was especially focused on the scene. Her emerald eyes were placed directly on Zan, and a sharp light shot across her eyes as she stood in deep contemplation. An Earthern Heart advisor going by the title of "Bloodstone" noticed her pondering and voiced his thoughts.

"What do your eyes tell you, princess?"

"He…is an anomaly."

"...How so?"

"His flesh…is an abomination not from this world."

"I see. In the very distant past there were cases like that also."

"Perhaps he is what your visions and dreams have been alluding to."

"..."

"An element out of this world. It's very likely that Eok wishes to eliminate him, princess."

"If that is so the case, then you should send most of our warriors back."

"You cannot match his strength?"

"I cannot contain it, there is a difference."

"We cannot fight him right now, either. There are no methods for us at the moment to reach the skies."

"Princess, look!"

A blue glowing light lit up part of the skies. The falling railgun that the unknown figure and the Rain Priestess stood upon started to activate in mid air. Now that there was no colossal ship to contain its bright light, it drowned the tens of thousands of observers in a light-blue rainwater light.

All of them opened their eyes wide, the railgun fired a steady stream of dozens of pressurized rivers. The concentrated beam of water easily penetrated the hydro barrier of a ship, and tore a hole right through the middle of the colossal vessel.

The tens of thousands on the ground were focused on the just destroyed ship, after all it was not even a minute since the last one was destroyed. The two halves of the previously destroyed ship was still falling through the skies. Yet while everyone else watched the ship with a hole blasted through it, the crystal daughter kept her eyes on the unknown figure.

The railgun fired its devastating beam and now that it was not attached to the colossal ship, it was sent careening towards the ground at breakneck speed. Dozens of people quickly scattered and ran away from its trajectory, but the Earthern Heart faction stayed their ground. One second away from hitting the crystal princess, the colossal railgun was stopped, embedding itself in the equally colossal hand of a literal titan.

Emerald eyes focused on the flying war weapon but the two figures were nowhere to be seen. The crystal princess tilted her head higher, and what she saw made her scoff in disbelief.

The young man of mysterious origins held the kidnapped Rain Priestess roughly on his shoulder. Currently, he was rising upwards in the sky. As she screamed at the top of her lungs, he rose towards the falling debris of the destroyed ship. Jumping from chunk of wood to chunk of wood like a flea in the sky, the tens of thousands observers started to catch on and witness his ascent.

Reaching the two halves of the destroyed ship he hung on the deck with one hand, and with the other he tightly carried the poor girl. It was either he let her fall to her death or take her with him, so he made his choice.

Directing his eyes towards the ship with a hole in it, his black heart started to pump wildly. A savage smile appeared on his face, and single lines of energy made their way through the maze in his legs. In the next second, a black and red blur shot into the other ship like a laser beam, and the previously destroyed halve was sent speeding towards the ground.