During a war, you don't get many thoughts. You usually just sway the weapon and hope that someone gets killed. One prominent thought in my mind during this whole period was whether Xavier was fighting too.
He wasn't. He was up until now fixing his warship for the fight. I was very tense whether he would even participate in the war. But standing there, looking at the strong giant who was about to kill me get slaughtered by Xavier's warship, I looked up and had a big smile on my face. Mark who was down on the ground, injured, also looked up and cried, "The machine-freak is here!" All ally eyes lit up. Most of our warriors looked up in the sky and a few started dancing. Being the hero, why wasn't I given that entry?
Anyways, Xavier quickly landed the warship, slid open the door and shouted in between the deafening war cries, "Blaze, get in!! I need a hand flying this thing!" I immediately boarded the ship and sat on the other pilot's ship. Xavier noticed my elbow and asked if I was alright. "Who cares? We anyways have to kill them, right?" I answered and he smiled. "Alright! Go wild with the controls." He commanded. I took 'going wild' as doing things you don't even know about. Well, that's actually the way I have flown the ship earlier – having no idea how to make it work. I did whatever I had known till now and I pressed all extreme buttons which would have effects even I don't know about.
The ship flew forward. We crossed the bewildered soldiers down below. But it wasn't as if we weren't intruded. All ravens and Krosts had their eyes on us. We were constantly dealing with flying attacks on the ship walls. But Xavier had really put some work into making sure nothing would break easily. Not even a dent was seen. The Krosts after a while changed tactics and decided to attack all at once at one spot. They were coming from the front, hoping to crash the front glass behind which we were seated. Xavier said, "Fire!!" I didn't understand at once what he meant but when I saw majority of the ravens falling down; I understood and fired the machine guns on my side wall as well.
Many of them had cut wings but some of them survived. They were huge and one set of firing wouldn't defeat them. "Pull that lever!" Xavier ordered. I looked at the controls and saw a hundred levers there. (Thanks Xavier, you were very clear which one I had to press!) I asked him which one and he flicked the lever on his side. Following his movement in symmetry, I pull the lever on my side. Both machine guns on the bottom of the ship rotated downwards. Xavier pointed at another control which was present on my seat handle. "Control the rotation with that joystick. Lock target and fire whenever you feel it is needed!" He explained. I replied, "Um, I am not the machine gun kinda guy but I will try to control this thing."
I used the joystick and below, the machine gun on my side started rotated. My hand was shivering to such an extent that the gun couldn't catch a target and kept dancing below. I also had to control the one on my side of the wall. And I also had to help in flying the damn ship! Why in Darknor did Xavier think I was the right guy for this?
Without questioning his decision-making much I tried to focus on one giant which was down. The target locked and I fire hundreds of bullets. When the giant fell, I could help but bang the controls in joy. Xavier shouted at me to focus and not hit any wrong buttons. This tactic of firing from above went on for quite a while. We were not only progressing ourselves but also clearing the path for the other DELTAs to rush to the end. The Saphrop was setting.
As this was going on, I heard a loud bang on the back of the ship. As the ship walls were mostly glass, I could see through. I found a large club which had cracked the back wall a bit. The weapon-wielder had to be powerful to crack the wall. "We need to get that thing out of there! It's too much weight for the ship!" Xavier shouted. It indeed was heavy because our ship was now flying quite lower than before.
"I'll get it!" Saying so, I slid open the door and climbed the roof of the flying warship. Afraid? Of course not! I was totally not shivering because of this horrifying stunt. I crawled to the back of the roof and extended my hand down to get the club. I grabbed hold of it and suddenly felt like it was pulling me rather than me pulling it! In a moment, I was thrown out of the ship's roof along with the club. I flew in the air, screaming like a mad man. In the process of falling, I smashed into some wounded ravens and killed them unintentionally. Well, at least that was something good that happened. But as I came closer to the ground, death seemed certain.
Xavier did some unimaginable turns and sped down towards me. About 30 feet above the ground, I grabbed one of the ledges on the ship and was saved. My one hand still kept hold of the club while the other grasped the ship. I was saved from dying but the force again overpowered my right hand which was clinging to the warship and I fell down from that height. Luckily, I was only injured near the shoulder and did not die. I ignored the excruciating pain and got up, looked all around me. I found the club on the ground which later was picked up by a tall and fat monster. About ten feet tall, the warrior wore armor which looked like made out of thousand leather skins.
He had a rather large chain helmet which extended till the neck. One of his hands itself was as big as both my hands combined. The heavy club didn't look a burden for the warrior. His fat belly showed that he was a bit lazy but also a tank when it came to battles. "Greetings, Zakostroph!!" He announced. I sighed, "Lord Ison! I feel like putting a board in the sky saying that my name is Blaze Hunt!!!!" My fearless voice didn't seem to scare him off. "Doesn't matter what you call yourself. That name of yours won't be remembered after this day because you won't be alive!" He yelled.
"Judging by your stupid speech, I am guessing you know me." I said. He smiled, showed his teeth, half of which were rotten. "You are smart, Hunt! I am your uncle, Vasterok! You wouldn't have heard about me but I have helped your father in his conquests in many ways. I am his younger and loyal brother unlike Rock Flames, the brother-in-law of shame!" His words were harsh and I wanted to stab him immediately but doubted it would be possible when he was wearing that armor. "You know nothing about Rock Flames! In the end, even you fear the King and are a coward!" I shouted. I probably shouldn't have. After all, he was my uncle, who was fat and had the potential of sitting on me and killing me.
The infuriated Vasterok grabbed the club and took an attack posture. I held Magnum tight though my shoulder was damaged. He pounced on me, smashing his club on me. I fell back on the ground quite a lot of times but got up immediately. I couldn't show my pain to him and make him more confident. Xavier had gone back up, firing anyone who came near our fight. He tried to help me kill Vasterok but the monstrous giant was too strong for small bullets to even tickle him.
Just like Mark's grappling hook, Quester, Vasterok's club Massacre too had an extending rope attached to the grip which helped him to use the club from far. That would explain why I was sucked to the ground by the club which was so high up – it was attached to the grip which Vasterok used to pull me.
"Try as you may, kid! You cannot defeat me, accept that." The creature barked. Not paying attention, I rushed towards him. He got ready and smashed the club on the ground. I jumped on the massive club and slashed the battle-axe up his nose. He started bleeding and cried in pain, dropping his weapon. I took that as an opportunity and sent numerous blows on his face, making him uglier than he already was.
I thrust through his left leg and he fell to the ground. I was so angry and desperate to kill the monster that for some reason, I sheathed Magnum and used my fist to punch him. Now if you look back, it seemed illogical. The battle-axe could clearly do more damage. But it wasn't the power that mattered – it was the feeling! I roared as I punched and kicked him like a child whose toy had been stolen.
In the end, I grabbed Magnum, sat down next to Vasterok, casually grabbed his head, and ignoring his protests, I cut of his neck. It was the most casual death I had ever witnessed. I had killed him as if all this was very normal to me. But it felt nice killing someone without any fear. Then I continued forward.