Micchi Versus the New World - Chapter 126

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Chapter 126

"Sathorayne is a landmass not unlike the surface," Lilim began as she drew a large outline of it on the map just behind Jinwa. "In fact, it was once attached to the continent of Dysentia many millennia ago. We are many races with kingdoms and monarchs of our own. The giants of the Kartolan Badlands are ruled by the warmonger King Garran. Our diverse cultural center, Roila, is led by the former demon lord, Lady Katrine. Lastly, the bratty imp lord Vermire breeds countless monsters in the verdant highlands of Miterhask. However, for all their strength, we all bow to the one true lord."

"Chika." I folded my arms and stared at the newly-drawn map. Three chunks of land surrounded what looked like a castle at the very center.

"Yes, Master. Chika is what you call her, but she has been nameless to us. A few years ago, she came out of nowhere and challenged Lady Katrine, defeated her, and claimed the mantle as our lord," she explained.

"My, my. I find it hard to believe you demon buffoons had advanced enough in magical technology to lift and move such a large piece of land," Mildred taunted from a seat across the room. She was smoking from a long pipe with only one eye open. Some kind of magic made her shut eye levitate creepily above the map, but now it squinted pretentiously at Lilim.

"We are on the verge of annihilating the surface world and claiming it for our own. Who are the buffoons now?" the demoness fired back at Mildred's eye with fangs bared.

Oaks burst into the captain's quarter out of breath.

"Boss, you might want to come take a look at this!" he exclaimed.

We followed him out onto the deck of the airship. Everyone on board was up here, crowding around the edges and gawking in the direction we were headed.

Taiq'ae, the blossoming city, was on fire. Hundreds of floating lanterns were burning and leaving behind trails of smoke in the sky.

"Swarm of demons coming our way!" A sailor on the crow's nest pointed behind the airship.

I pushed my way to the back just as their spells bombarded the hull. One struck the crystals, causing the airship to lurch.

"Hey, stop that! Don't make me come over there!" I shouted.

A flying demon that led them sneered. "What are you going to do, human? Jump down and get us?"

"Let's see you squawk when I—"

Hurai, Thelesia, and Naka pulled me back before I could jump off.

"Are you crazy? There's no way you're going to survive that fall!" Thelesia cried.

The swarm of demons split off into two groups, going down our port and starboard. They fired off volleys of spells again. A barrier encircled the airship in time to block them.

"If there is any time for your brutish intelligence to kick in, it's now. I won't be able to hold this barrier against their magic for long," Mildred warned.

"You got some artifact or relic that's gonna do us any good here?" I asked Naka.

"I-I mean… There's supposedly a hidden relic buried in Jinwa somewhere that grants flight?" Naka shrugged.

I rolled my eyes and pushed the others off me.

"Okay, screw it. Bring the ship down and start fucking up any demon you see! Drop the damn barrier!" As soon as the barrier fell, I jumped off.

"MICCHI?!" they cried from above.

I caught one of the demons by his ankle. He barrel-rolled and did everything imaginable to shake me off. When he tried to kick me with his free leg, I grabbed it and climbed up to his back.

"You're fucking crazy, bitch!" he shouted.

"Where do you think you're going?" I slapped one hand over his eyes and squeezed the base of his wing with the other, threatening to snap it off. It wasn't like wrangling Kawa, but I managed to steer the demon towards the rest of his swarm. When they saw us, they didn't hesitate to shoot at their own just to down me.

Sacchan ignited with fire. I swung hard and sent gales of flames licking at their backs. Most of them couldn't escape and got cooked well-done before plummeting.

A bolt of magic nailed us from behind. I lost hold of the demon and went into free fall.

Mildred flew off the airship on her broom and swooped down to catch me. Lilim and Ririko, being able to fly on their own, jumped ship to take care of the stragglers.

"Why the fuck didn't you guys do that sooner?" I asked angrily.

"My broom was downstairs," Mildred said.

"I was doing my makeup!" Ririko huffed.

"I wanted to be the one to catch my master when she fell!" Lilim pouted.

As we descended into Taiq'ae, seeing Sathorayne and the shadow cast over the city really drove home how fucking gigantic it was. Below, Jinwan soldiers were defending a bridge against demons, mostly concentrated at the other side of the bridge, trying to get to the emperor's pagoda. It was probably the only thing that wasn't on fire.

"What's the situation?" I asked when we landed next to the weary soldiers.

"What does it look like we're doing? Fighting for our lives! And there's a demon RIGHT BEHIND YOU!" one yelled.

"Alright, wise guy." I picked him up by the chestplate. "Where's Kaoru? Ain't no way she's just letting the city get hammered like this."

"Oh, no…" He lifted a shaking finger to the palace.

A monster crashed inside, making a large enough hole for flying demons to go in right after. An explosion blew them right back out. Kaoru walked up to the edge of the opening and jumped. She landed in front of us with a wrathful scowl.

"The demons woke Yonnu and Theo up. My orders were simple. Keep the demons at bay for twenty more minutes. Now, that's twenty minutes watching their cute sleeping faces that I won't ever get back. I have new orders— start running," Kaoru said calmly.

A hundred Jinwan soldiers made a break for it across the bridge. Some outright jumped into the canal. The demons raised their weapons, thinking it was an enemy charge.

Kaoru summoned Kamigoroshi and launched it after them. The spear, which rivaled Sacchan in power, ripped through and decimated both forces. Jinwan and demon soldiers alike lie groaning on the ground.

"Eeehhh?!" Lilim hid behind my back. "Master, is that woman also your friend? Why is it that everyone you know is so terrifying?"

"We were worried for nothing?" I sighed.

"I see by the Blizzard of Hokkaido and a demon with you that much has happened. Shall we clean up my city before we talk?" Kaoru asked.

When the citizens saw Kaoru and reinforcements from the airship coming, it lit a spark in them to fight back. We repelled the demons and put out the fires across Taiq'ae by mid-afternoon. After which Kaoru brought us to the palace to fill her in on the missing details.

"So you see, Anya's gone, Ririko and Lilim went turncoat, and we got a bunch of airships coming to bring us onto the giant rock up there," I said.

Throughout my explanation, Kaoru's gaze was fixed on the boys playing with Kawa in her wolf form. They chased each other around the throne chamber. Yonnu and Theo were throwing balls across the room, and Kawa fetched and brought them all back.

"Anya missing poses a problem," Kaoru said. She rose from the throne seat and walked to the edge, just another step away from the sheer drop off the palace. "We need her enhancements to withstand breaching the demon's homeland."

"What? You tried going up there yourself?" I asked and didn't expect Kaoru to nod.

"There are obelisks lining the boundaries. Not the usual obelisks that bring demons to fight us, but magical ones that repel any attempts to get close with powerful spells. The airships wouldn't make it. Anya would have withstood the attacks, but now we need to find another way," she explained.

"More than what my enchantress class can deal with?" Mildred raised a brow.

"No offense, but they were designed by Lady Katrine specifically to protect Sathorayne from invaders like yourselves." Lilim smirked.

If Anya was around, she could bolster up her defenses to take all that pounding, land on the flying island, and destroy the obelisks to open a hole.

When I joined Kaoru at the edge, pieces of debris trickled past my eyes. We were a few floors below the one that had gotten broken into earlier.

"Wait a minute… Have you tried just hitting it?" I asked.

"Micchi, don't be silly. That would never work." Kaoru brushed me off immediately.

"No, seriously! Like, uh… a lighthouse on top of a cliff. If you hit the cliff, everything and the lighthouse comes falling into the sea. We can just hit the side of the Sathorayne until those obelisks fall off. Only thing is, it's gotta be some serious firepower."

"That would mean myself," Mildred said.

"Me." Kaoru raised her hand.

"And Sacchan." I looked down at my trusty bat.

"That's a preposterous idea!" Lilim exclaimed and rushed worriedly up to me. "Master, if you go up there, those magical cannons will obliterate you! We shouldn't do it. Absolutely not! No!"

Mildred whistled for her broom to come to life and pick her up, and Ririko jumped to her feet to stretch her arms and legs. Meanwhile, Kaoru went to tell her boys that she was going to be gone for a bit.

"Lilim, if you're too chicken, then you can stay here. Just don't try anything funny like screwing with us. Or touching Kaoru's boys. She gets pissy about them," I warned.

"Gaahh. Of course, I'm going to come with! This is still an insane plan that will most likely fail!" Lilim cried.

From the palace, the five of us flew for Sathorayne. Ririko carried Kaoru, and Lilim carried me. Mildred came up on our rear and readied a magical barrier. The floating continent loomed over like a doomsday meteor. If it dropped down right now, no one in Taiq'ae could do shit to save themselves.

Which only got me wondering, why didn't they just do that?

"We're nearing Sathorayne! The obelisks can be seen from here!" Kaoru shouted over the strong winds and her hair fluttering wildly.

Dozens of black obelisks dotted the length of Sathorayne's edges. There had to be tens of thousands or possibly more going around a continent this big.

Suddenly, explosions went off all around us. Mildred raised her barrier. A rainbow of magic spells fired from the nearby obelisks in an attempt to blow us away.

"I can't hold them off for long…" Mildred winced with each spell that struck the barrier.

"Go underneath! They won't see us from below!" I shouted.

The spells stopped once we were out of their line of sight and under the floating island's craggy surface. There must be at least a hundred feet of solid rock between here and the obelisks.

"I don't believe it. Micchi was right." Ririko gasped sarcastically.

"This is the best place to hit the obelisks so that the debris doesn't fall on Taiq'ae. Ririko, move me to the other obelisk," Kaoru said.

"Are you seriously going to do this? Blast the island until it gives way?" Lilim asked in shock.

"You're goddamn right." I clenched Sacchan with both hands and took a deep breath.

Kaoru and Mildred spread out to position themselves underneath the adjacent obelisks. They were also skeptical, but we didn't have any other plans than this. Mildred chanted her spell first, a cataclysmic one that had smashed me into a crater. From her staff came a massive ball of pure, volatile magic. She sent it into the side of the cliff, shattering a chunk of earth away. Dirt and stone shook loose and plummeted to the surface.

Next, Kaoru charged up Kamigoroshi. Black flames consumed her arm and gathered at the tip of the spear. It boomed like thunder, leaving her hand. The spear plunged into Sathorayne, carving deep into the stone. Cracks snaked up all along the side of the cliff. Everything was becoming brittle.

"Now it's my turn. If you can't get through… make a hole for yourself!" I buried Sacchan into Sathorayne. The impact blew me and Lilim back. She lost hold of me. I went into free fall until she caught me.

We watched as the last hit had knocked loose the already weakened cliffside. Pieces of the island chipped off by the tonnage. Enormous stones gave and so did the obelisks at the very top. The five of us flew away to safety while Sathorayne heaved and rumbled from getting a taste of an earthquake. Now there was a gaping hole and less enough obelisks for airships to pass through.

Lilim's jaw fell wide open.

"Your friends… aren't normal at all…"