Chapter 1011 — Fall

"General, word just came from Hill 21 — they've been hit by the blizzard too. I'm afraid their anti-air guns can hardly give us support at this distance."

"I understand," Ma Qi nodded. "Maintain current speed, keep moving toward the Shadow Marsh — contact Longwind Fortress, have the War Citizen enter Line Three."

"Yes, General!"

Ma Qi nodded, frowning up at the sky off to the upper left. In the mingled light and shadow woven by anti-air guns and searchlights, he saw the Typhonians' griffin knights and battle mages locked in struggle with the flying machines and dragons. About each of those battle mages coiled a mighty magical radiance, and they came and went through the clouds like phantoms; some of them had already broken through the net of fire woven by the aerial defense line and reached an altitude from which they could strike the armored train directly. Fireballs and arcane missiles with power rivaling small and medium magitech cannons fell ceaselessly from the sky, bursting against the hulls of the World Serpent and the Iron Scepter or beside the tracks.

This already exceeded the magical limits of any human — even a Legend-rank champion should be showing signs of exhaustion in such a fight, shouldn't they?

The only explanation was that these Typhonians' magic was inexhaustible, and the source of their power... was most likely this vast blizzard.

Just then, a violent shudder ran through the whole carriage, mixed with the shrill noise of every power unit on the train braking in emergency. The armored train's speed began to drop rapidly, and many aboard nearly fell to the floor. Ma Qi's train of thought was broken with it; he raised his head and looked at the technician beside the main console, calling out sharply: "What's happened!?"

"General!" the soldier answered, equally loudly. "The tracks ahead have been blown apart!"

So it had finally happened.

Ma Qi's face darkened briefly, and he noticed that outside the carriage the Iron Scepter had already overtaken the World Serpent and was continuing forward — that armored train carried an engineering crew; they must have intended to repair the broken tracks under the Typhonians' bombing.

If all they wanted was a temporary passage out of their predicament, such a repair scheme was feasible, but under present conditions the odds of success were far too low.

"Order the Iron Scepter back," Ma Qi said after a moment's thought, giving the order at once. "Where is the damaged stretch ahead?"

"Near Junction 22, General."

"Good. Close to Junction 22, then stop, and have the Iron Scepter stand by there," Ma Qi said rapidly. "Have the engineering crew pour all the cooling water into the heat sinks of the prismatic generators; the power spine goes to overload dry-burn from now on — once the two trains have joined, open every cooling grille."

"Yes, General!" The adjutant at his side accepted the order at once, but could not help asking then, "You're going to...?"

"Didn't the Typhonians want to keep this carriage of ours?" Ma Qi said in a low voice. "Then let them have it. We change trains."

The adjutant was startled and blurted out instinctively, "But General, this carriage is the strongest on the eastern front..."

"This carriage is only a weapon," Ma Qi said, looking at his adjutant, word by word. "A copy of it will roll out of the factory within two months."

"...Yes, General!"

...

Cremont awoke amid a maddening din of noise and gibbering, and found himself falling from the sky, while the red dragon that had just killed him was sweeping swiftly past directly overhead.

He understood at once: he had already "partaken" of the miracle brought by the God of War.

Now there was absolutely no turning back.

In the corner of his eye, several gryphon knights were falling from the sky.

A flying machine was blown into a huge fireball, breaking apart as it slid down toward the southwest.

More than ten battle mages were besieging a blue dragon. The dragon was covered in wounds, and it looked only a matter of time before it was killed by mortals. Among the mages, one after another suffered fatal wounds; some would revive the next instant, while others had already exhausted the extra lives granted by the miracle and fell from the sky in hideous, twisted postures.

Anti-aircraft fire from the ground continued to tear the sky apart, illuminating the iron-gray clouds and creating one bright firework after another in the blizzard.

All of this was like a mad dream.

Cremont let himself continue falling. His gaze had already turned to the ground and fixed on the larger steel train. He knew the railway ahead had been blown up, and that the most powerful mobile fortress, the one that had inflicted the greatest damage on the Winter Fort defense line, was destined to remain here today.

The dragon's appearance was a huge accident, one that directly caused the course of battle previously deduced by Cremont and Palin Winterfort to deviate. Cremont knew that the air-raid force he led was very likely to be annihilated in this great aerial battle today, but precisely because of that, he had to destroy that train.

Otherwise, the sacrifice he and his comrades made today would be utterly meaningless.

The two armored trains gradually drew closer in the valley. Suddenly, a vast cloud of steam filled Cremont's field of vision.

What happened?

Cremont was stunned for a moment, and in that very instant of distraction, he suddenly felt his body torn apart by an enormous force. A shell had exploded very close to him, and the lethal shockwave instantly shattered his mortal flesh.

And just like that, the second miracle was muddled away.

When Cremont awoke again from the mad gibbering and even more piercing noise, he found that he had fallen near the larger mobile fortress. A strange sensation filled his body and mind; he felt as though something extra had appeared inside him, and something extra in his mind as well. A majestic, vast voice was constantly telling him truths beyond human comprehension, and his body, once so familiar... seemed as though part of it no longer belonged to him.

He understood: this was his third life, and in this life, the God of War... had already begun to exact the price of the miracle.

Even if he was not a follower of the God of War, as long as he was in this blizzard and had received power bestowed by the god, he had to act according to the rules of the miracle.

Below, the clouds formed by steam remained thick and seemed as though they would not disperse for a long time, but Cremont knew his direction of fall was correct. There was no longer the slightest hesitation in his heart. Under conscious control, endless magical power began to converge within him; these mighty forces even set his body ablaze. In the final stage of his fall, he used his remaining strength to adjust his direction, turning himself to face southeast, toward Aldernan.

"Luo Yan... I am watching right here..."