While not what I’d expected to learn during my visit, the discovery that my teachers were likely deceased people that Keeper or Conflict had enslaved was certainly a revelation.

Related, it occurred to me that all three of those who were real were surprisingly knowledgeable in their fields.

Well, Suzenne was technically a cook. A very good one. She just also happened to have a nearly encyclopedic understanding of a great number of conspiracy theories, which extended to less savory spell design concepts.

Whatever reason they’d been put here, I suspected it wasn’t accidental.

Near the end of my fourth day of the trial, I went to the bridge. I’d picked up enough knowledge of worth that I was certain I’d qualify for a completion. Not that I was certain what aspects of my mind I was even emphasizing. The Dauntless had become too expansive, too comprehensive to feel like I was simply focusing on any special part.

When I arrived on the bridge, Keeper was nowhere to be seen.

There was a strikingly familiar figure though.

For a solid three seconds, I simply stared at the woman. She was a near mirror for Nexxa, excepting the buzzcut and complete lack of ambient lightning crackling around her.

It wasn’t entirely accurate to say there was no sign of Keeper, since there was a familiar demon’s head woven into the breast of her uniform, just over the heart.

“Senior enchantineer, is there a problem?” the woman, Captain Sidhe asked, turning her attention towards me with a raised eyebrow.

“Uh. No, no problem, I just…”

I hadn’t actually bothered to come up with an excuse for visiting the bridge. I hadn’t thought I’d need one. Either I’d talk to Keeper, the trial would end or they’d all be the soulless automatons that dominated the rest of the ship.

Also, if this really was a simulation based on captured souls, did that mean that Perth’s aunt had ended up in Keeper’s claws?

“Ah, I suppose I did promise to give you a lesson on fleet tactics, didn’t I?” Captain Sidhe asked, flashing me a small smile. “Thought you might’ve been scared off since you hadn’t stopped by since you returned from rotation.”

“It’s been a busy few days,” I said. Which was honestly true. If the Dauntless didn’t enforce strict maximum shift lengths, I could’ve spent the last four days working on repairs without rest and still been behind.

“That it has,” Captain Sidhe agreed, gesturing me to her side.

I took in the bridge of the Dauntless for the first time as I approached. It was a bullpen design, one that placed the captain above the other stations, with a view into each.

The longer I spent aboard the simulated ship, the easier it was to spot the equally simulated crew members. All but one of the staff working on the bridge were obvious fakes. The last one wasn’t as obvious, but that was because they were a Forgeborn.

He looked nearly human, to the point that his face, despite being made of metal, had the same exact shape as most of the simulated male elves aboard the ship. Combined with the repetitive hiss-whistle-rattle cycle that neither Inertia or Equilibrium had ever made, it wasn’t hard to tell it was a simulation too.

“Now, last time we spoke, I promised to tell you about our efforts on the Front,” Captain Sidhe started, pausing as she brought up a map on her enchanted display. “And why we’re even bothering to fight them with ships instead of having one of our Dragon-souled come in to clean things up for us.”

“Doubt I’m the only one wondering that,” I said, giving her a weak smile.

“True enough. It’s rather simple though. Our Dragon-souled can’t be arsed to care about such a minor threat,” Captain Sidhe stated, amusement tinging her voice.

“Minor… threat?” I replied despite myself. Sure, it was minor, compared to the pillars coming down. But from the way Kezil and Vaden talked, it was one of the worst monster breaks in centuries.

“That’s right. You’re not cleared to know the nature of the big stuff, but let’s just say that there’s worse stuff out there than Dragons and Warwalkers. Much worse,” Captain Sidhe replied. After a second, she tapped the armrest of her chair and the display changed from the map to the Warwalker in question.

In a rather professional voice, she proceeded to give me the aforementioned lesson on the fleet’s tactics. Mostly they were using minimum attrition strikes, wearing down the horde in preparation for the final strike on the Warwalker itself, which the Dauntless would have the glory of delivering the ‘Alpha Strike’.

Since there weren’t any images of the whole machine in Kezil’s notes when I’d been looking through the schematics, I hadn’t noticed the similarity of the Warwalkers to some of the Kaiju that showed up on Calbern’s doors.

Was pretty easy to see it now.

The upper half of the Warwalker looked like a pair of dancers who’d been cast in steel, then shoved into a furnace just long enough to blur their form. Three awkward arms hung about its twisted torso, each ending not in a hand but in two claws and a stinger.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

The lower half had four crab-like legs that seemed like they’d have no problem stepping over the Infinite Rift.

After a quick test on the weak points, she let me go, reminding me that she still had more she could teach me.

The Dauntless was planning to strike the Warwalker in two days. I’d gotten a hint as to the real reason the engines were such a pain at that point. I found myself wandering to the head of the deep valley that ran down the center of the Dauntless, slowly making my way up the gantry until I was able to look down the full length.

All throughout the ship were enchantments that reduced air friction. I’d thought the highly variable settings were just another sign of the ship’s over-engineered philosophy.

Yet after a casual mention of how Dauntless would deliver the ‘Alpha strike’ I’d started to wonder how Dauntless even could. After all, it wasn’t equipped with weapons of that caliber.

But I saw it now. The entire center of the dreadnought was a clear corridor. One that had enchantments that could be repurposed. Looking at the gantries, then the shutters that stood open next to every open bay and restaurant, I sat down hard.

It was a massive cannon.

One meant to fire shells the size of a schoolbus. And not one of those short yellow ones they sent north of town to the rural area. Full sized, probably a red double decker like they had in movies.

I sat there a lot longer than I should’ve. There was a lot to process. I was getting drawn into the scenario. One I suspected was based on actual history, a defensive action that had taken place roughly ten years before I arrived in Cape Aeternia. Dauntless’s service history was far from secret and it hadn’t taken much effort to look up after my last trial.

A moment of curiosity and preparation in case I got stuck inside again.

It bothered me that Kezil didn’t seem to know what the Dauntless was capable of.

But then, he was more of a live in the moment, drink by drink, woman by woman, sort of guy. Big picture wasn’t really his thing.

The engines were the key. They were tied into everything, and when active, they’d create a resonance around the projectile. It would allow it to soar forward much like Bevel’s little trick when she smushed the Sahevin at supersonic speeds. Except with a projectile large enough to obliterate a small city.

It was something we could use.

A smile crept its way onto my face. Yeah. We could definitely use it. Not that we would. Easier ways to make a big gun. But Inertia and I would have fun picking apart a better way to do it.

The next two days went quickly, and soon Kezil and I were back on the bridge. Kezil was constantly shifting back and forth, clearly uncomfortable with being summoned before the captain, despite being head of maintenance for the whole ship.

After giving a report on the ship’s readiness, he practically ran out of the room. I turned to follow him, but Captain Sidhe spoke before I could. “Stay, if you would, senior enchantineer.”

Wasn’t a big ask. I’d already seen her for an additional lesson, so it wasn’t like I was a stranger to the bridge at that point.

Turned out, it was time.

Wasn’t much for me to do as I watched. Around us, the screens were filled with mile upon mile of monsters swarming forward. And this was after two weeks of constant raids to thin them.

Over the monsters towered the massive form of the Warwalker. I’d expected all the monsters to be running from it but at least one type of spider seemed to have made it their home, hanging from thick webs hung between its four crab legs.

It was spewing a stream of projectiles from its pair of twisted mouths, some sort of enchanted cylinders that were exploding just before impacting the horde.

Not especially effective, but then, it was herding them, not trying to kill them.

Further evidence of that could be seen in how the clawed hands would swing down in the direction of the horde yet would rarely impact them. Honestly, it looked a bit like a child sweeping their toys to the side instead of picking them up.

The Dauntless remained stationary as the horde and its shepherding Warwalker drew closer.

No longer was the central corridor full of the activity that I’d come to relate with my time on the Dauntless.

Instead, Spellships flew around us, shooting down the flying monsters who decided attacking a behemoth like the Dauntless was a good idea while the Dauntless herself remained still, a low humming slowly building in the background.

An actual dragon crashed down inside the central corridor, pursued by a pair of scythe-like attack craft.

They tore apart its wing then pulled out.

The dragon pushed to its feet. This wasn’t one of the long snake-like dragons. It was much closer to the Inferno Drakes, though it had green liquid dripping from its jaws.

It was clearly pissed. It raised its head, mouth open as if to roar.

It never got the chance.

Ever since Kezil had given his report, the engines had been charging. The massive doors leading into the engine chamber had rolled open, noticed only by those within the bridge, silent thanks to some simple air barrier enchantments.

Between those resonating engines was the highly enchanted projectile. A twisting, spiraling mass that didn’t resemble any missile or bullet I’d ever seen.

Right as the dragon had raised its head, the projectile was fully primed. With a shudder felt throughout the ship, it shot forward.

The dragon was obliterated, not noticeably slowing the projectile as it sped towards the Warwalker.

The Warwalker didn’t get a chance to notice the projectile either.

One moment it was sweeping the horde towards the nearby Terra Vistan fortress city of Nell Ferra, the next, its half-melted features were deleted from existence.

“Status,” Captain Sidhe commanded, drawing me back to the moment.

“Confirmed soul depletion. Regeneration successfully overwhelmed. No sign of second form gestation,” one of the stations rattled out, voice terse but also proud.

“Any sign of resonance backblow?”

“Engines are within operational tolerance, though I doubt maintenance is going to be happy with us,” another station replied.

“No, I don’t imagine they will be,” Captain Sidhe said, sparing a glance in my direction. “Though perhaps they can forgive us, this once.”

I chuckled, shaking my head. Before I could respond, I found myself standing outside the trial once more.

“Okay, that was just rude,” I said, shaking my head. Thankfully, there was no headache.

I went and tracked down Conflict, asking him about the exit being so unannounced.

“I’m afraid it is your trial at this point. You are the one forging your path,” Conflict said, shaking its head. “I have no control over when you believe its over.”

“Right. Figures,” I said, shaking out my shoulders. Felt weird to get transported out at the end of the day only to return to early morning.

Shaking off the sudden transition best I could, I made my way back to Mount Aeternia.

Vendil was waiting, yet before he could get into whatever he had for me, Keria came striding towards us. I held up a hand to Vendil as I turned towards Bevel’s sister.

“Problem?”

“Not exactly. Banya’s been bugging me.”

“And… why are you telling me?”

“Because she’s been refusing to talk to you directly. She’s figured out how to repair Barber. And for some reason, she’s afraid to ask for your help.”