The impact rippled across the ship like the fist of a god.
Crimson barriers screamed.
Not metaphorically.
Actually screamed.
A high, metallic shriek echoed through every layer of the fortress as silver lightning detonated across Lyriana's defensive shell in cascading waves. The entire viewing screen fractured further under the pressure.
Cracks spread.
Then spread again.
Kaelira stared upward with dawning horror.
"…That barrier is making noises barriers should never make."
Lyriana's expression didn't change.
Which, somehow, made it worse.
Crimson mana continued pouring from her in immense quantities while layered defensive formations rotated behind her like burning halos. Veins of red light crawled across the floor beneath her feet.
Another collision struck.
The ship dropped sharply.
Everyone's stomach lurched violently as the fortress plunged hundreds of meters through unstable current streams.
The pilot on the floor let out a deeply distressed sound.
"WHY ARE WE DIVING—"
Another impact drowned him out.
BOOOOM—
Silver lightning exploded across the outer shell, blinding the viewing deck white for half a second.
The fortress shuddered violently.
Warning glyphs multiplied faster now.
Barrier integrity failing.
Hull strain critical.
Directional stability compromised.
Aldric's expression finally lost all traces of amusement.
"…That's excessive."
Kaelira looked at him like he was insane.
"EXCESSIVE?!"
"The ship's still intact."
"Parts of the WALL are becoming optional!"
Another pulse slammed into the fortress sideways.
The control deck tilted hard enough that loose debris skidded across the floor while several floating sigils shattered entirely.
Nia nearly fell again.
The cultist caught her immediately.
Draven remained seated.
Steady.
One hand still on the controls.
Blue mana now flowed around him in violent streams—no longer calm currents, but roaring rivers of light surging through the command platform.
The navigation arrays spun so quickly they became luminous rings.
They screamed.
Not electronically.
Structurally.
The air itself distorted around the rotating circles of mana.
Outside the fractured viewing screen, the storm had become a wall of silver and violet chaos.
Lightning crawled across Lyriana's crimson barrier in continent-spanning veins while the ship forced itself deeper into the vortex.
And still—
Draven pushed it faster.
Aldric's irritation finally broke through his restraint.
"…Alright, enough of this."
Crimson mana flared around him.
He stepped off the floating crate and drifted upward toward the fractured viewing screen.
His eyes ignited.
Deep crimson light flooded his gaze as he stared directly into the storm beyond the barriers.
The pressure in the room shifted.
Not from force.
From perception.
The storm outside warped subtly under Aldric's gaze, as though layers of reality were being peeled back.
Silver lightning.
Mana currents.
Cloud density.
Wind trajectories.
Everything became visible.
For several long seconds, he said nothing.
Then his expression flattened completely.
"…What."
Kaelira looked up immediately.
"What?"
Aldric kept staring into the storm.
Farther.
Deeper.
Beyond the rotating vortex clouds.
Beyond the violent current streams.
Toward the world beneath them.
His crimson eyes narrowed sharply.
"…Why the hell are we here?"
Another violent impact slammed into the barriers.
Lyriana's crimson shell groaned loudly.
Draven remained calm.
Aldric slowly turned toward him.
"…We're above the Veil Sea."
Silence.
Even Kaelira froze briefly.
"Huh… where's that?" she asked.
"The sea between Eryndor and Kharvos," the cultist said.
Aldric pointed downward through the storm.
"Yes. That sea."
Another silver flash illuminated the clouds beneath them.
For half a second—
everyone saw it.
Far below the storm layers.
Black ocean.
Endless.
Violent waves twisting beneath the sky like writhing shadows.
Kaelira's eyes widened.
"…Why are we flying over THAT?!"
Aldric drifted closer to the command platform, crimson eyes still glowing.
"No," he said flatly, glaring at Draven,
"better question."
Another pulse rocked the ship.
"Why the hell are we flying here at all?"
The control deck rumbled violently.
Blue mana surged beneath Draven's fingers as he adjusted the navigation arrays without even looking at Aldric.
Then he answered calmly.
"I decided to take a shortcut."
Silence.
Aldric stared at him.
"…Shortcut."
"Yes."
Another impact shook the fortress.
Cracks spread farther across the viewing screen.
Kaelira looked horrified.
"You brought us through a cursed storm-sea shortcut?!"
Draven's expression didn't change.
"We avoid crossing six territories this way."
Blue mana pulsed through the controls again.
"And we avoid the main routes and the Empire."
That made Aldric's jaw tighten instantly.
The room grew quieter.
Dangerously quieter.
"…So," Aldric said slowly,
"you decided to take the ship through the storm sea between Eryndor and Kharvos…"
Another impact.
"…without informing anyone…"
The ship tilted violently sideways.
"…because you wanted to avoid the Empire."
Draven finally glanced at him.
"Yes."
Aldric stared at him in disbelief.
Then pointed sharply toward Lyriana.
"…My little sister is currently the ONLY reason this thing hasn't exploded!"
As if to emphasize the point—
another catastrophic wave of silver lightning detonated across the outer barriers.
The entire ship screamed.
Lyriana's crimson shell flickered violently.
Veins of red light climbed further up her arms.
Still, she stood perfectly still.
Still maintaining the barrier.
Draven looked back toward the storm ahead.
"I didn't think informing everyone was necessary."
Aldric's eye twitched.
"And the storm?!"
"I didn't expect we would encounter one."
"…Yeah?" Aldric snapped.
Another violent tremor rolled through the fortress.
"Well, we DID."
BOOOOM—
A colossal impact slammed into the forward barrier, wrenching the entire command deck sideways.
The pilot screamed from the floor.
Kaelira nearly hit a wall.
Nia grabbed the doorway hard enough to splinter it.
And outside—
for the first time—
something moved inside the storm.
Not lightning.
Not clouds.
Something enormous.
Far beneath the silver currents.
A shadow.
Watching them.
The storm shifted around it.
Not metaphorically.
Physically.
The spiraling clouds rotated as if responding to its presence. Silver lightning bent sideways. The black ocean below erupted upward in towering waves.
Then—
something struck the barrier.
BOOOOOOM—
The impact was catastrophic.
Lyriana's crimson shell buckled inward violently.
The entire ship twisted sideways so hard that gravity fractured for several seconds across the control deck.
Kaelira slammed into Aldric.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"
Aldric caught her without looking away from the storm.
For the first time since the vortex began—
his expression was fully serious.
Outside the fractured viewing screen, the storm lit again.
And they saw it.
A shape moving beneath the clouds.
Massive.
Endless.
Silver-black scales stretching through the storm like a mountain drifting under the sky.
A single enormous eye opened within the vortex.
Silver.
Ancient.
Aware.
Watching the ship.
Kaelira froze completely.
"…What…"
Another massive shape shifted beneath the clouds.
The storm screamed around it.
The sea below churned violently upward as if the entire ocean feared its movement.
"…What the HELL is that?!"
The cultist answered quietly.
Almost reverently.
"That…"
Her grip tightened around the wrapped artifact.
"…is why nobody flies through the Veil Sea."
Silence hit the room.
Another silver pulse rolled through the clouds outside.
The thing beneath them moved again.
This time, part of its colossal body breached the storm layers briefly.
A serpent of impossible scale.
Covered in jagged silver-black armor-like scales.
Lightning arced across its body naturally, warping the air itself.
Kaelira's face went pale.
"That's not a beast."
"No," the cultist whispered.
"It's a calamity."
Another impact struck the barrier—
this time not with force.
But with presence.
The crimson shell shrieked under it.
Lyriana's feet slid backward across the floor despite the overwhelming mana pouring from her body.
Aldric's crimson eyes narrowed sharply.
"…You've got to be kidding me."
The cultist stared into the storm.
"In the old records…" she said quietly,
"they called it the Veil Serpent."
Lightning exploded across the sky as if reacting to the name.
The massive eye narrowed.
"…An ancient sky predator that nests within the storm currents above the sea."
Kaelira looked horrified.
"You say that like this is NORMAL INFORMATION?!"
"Nobody survives long enough to forget it."
Another violent pulse rolled through the ship.