The explosions above never ceased. The ground crackled and cried in agony as they grew more nervous each second.
Tremors followed them, and they knew. Seconds later, they took a deep breath before they blasted out a path.
In the skies, a laser arrived moments later, destroying the hole into smithereens.
All three of them lit up as they summoned their spirits. The elements collided before they reached the nearest ship.
It couldn't withstand the massive hit and fell down. Now, however, the other ships deployed maximum level shields, and no longer used heavy artillery lasers.
They split up into one and twos. The ships didn't dally and split up as well. Following one with three ships to destroy him quickly.
Blythe moved throughout the destroyed island as the other group seemingly left the island.
Moments later, she and her other colleague found themselves surrounded by two ships.
They didn't despair. With shouts and signals, they kited the ships around without spending serious amounts of energy.
Ten minutes later, they both exploded with power and threw out their strongest attacks.
Just in time, the third bursted out of the ground.
Like the first time, their attack hit one ship multiple times. However, due to its shields, they only seriously damaged it.
The powerful earth user entangled the undamaged ship without delay as they concentrated on the damaged one.
Within minutes, it fell. A flashing light in the distance announced the arrival of the rest of the ships.
They didn't flinch and escaped at a great speed. Enemy lost two ships in those short fifteen or so minutes.
Nevertheless, it cost everyone around twenty or thirty percent of their entire energy, which would take at least an hour of good rest to recover.
At least that held true if mana didn't make progress. They each took out their remaining portions and absorbed however much mana they could.
This time, the ships didn't follow with aggression. Instead, they hovered around just in enough distance to not lose them.
They knew that they had to book it before the giant ship comes. To solo a giant ship, never mind the mech, would be a fantasy in their current state.
With the support incoming at any time. A small glimmer of hope ignited in their hearts.
They stood a chance. To attack again would be to truly court death.
Not left with many options. And with little communication resources as possible, they had to have at least one emergency flare each.
Otherwise, if someone fell and had their chance of survival. It would become a brawl.
Their faces twisted as they found the third flare too damaged by the battle just now.
Just one little shave of the laser destroyed its functions. The two elders looked at each other before they glanced at Blythe.
Her heart sank a little lower. As she knew, they were probably acquaintances. Chances of her getting a piece of such equipment grew to an absolute zero unless she tried to fight them for it.
The odds of her surviving now went a notch lower, not to mention the impending doom which could come at any moment without warning.
She sighed. The two elders took a flare. No communication needed when they saw her face.
Of course, another faint light passed through their eyes.
Blythe didn't notice anything wrong, and they planned out their next step.
With just three ships. The option to split into three turned into a much more favourable one.
The current enemy couldn't pick them up one by one. Blythe didn't wait much longer and took off at a great speed.
One enemy naturally followed, with the other two keeping a close eye.
Their lasers carved out another large hole as the chase resumed.
Both sides wished to stall. While one wanted to escape as well.
In just a few seconds, Blythe lost contact with the other two. She didn't know what they had in mind.
But the option to split seemed the best for now. Her wind attribute allowed her to escape alone under the right circumstances.
When she passed by, she remembered an island not too far. Its fauna should have survived and could become a great hiding spot.
If the giant ship decided to pick her first. Then she didn't have many fighting chances from the start.
She weighed her options. To move onto the island would be a roll of a die.
A lot of energy would have to be depleted, but when she got there. The odds of the enemy finding her in the short amount of time became abysmal.
On the other hand, she could try to confront it. With her mana, she should be able to do it.
However, one small wrong move and she would get injured. Injury would mean certain death.
Unless the god of luck smiled upon her, then even the smallest injured could become fatal.
Especially when she couldn't use mana to stich them up. Even a single drop counted.
But she knew her next option very well. She didn't come here and didn't adapt to the environment just to roll a stupid dice.
To wait for her, perhaps inevitable doom.
Her odds of survival may be lower in theory. But she just had to destroy it in time.
Without the permanent scout. It would be much easier to slip through cracks and escape.
She looked at the enemy charging up their weapons as her eyes glowed.
Although she couldn't penetrate through the thick armor. Her eyes could see small details.
From there, she saw small cracks around parts. With her goal in mind, she had to first destroy the shield.
Blythe scouted the surroundings for a second before she flew into a small ravine.
The ship couldn't follow. To her expectations, it didn't funnel more energy into weapons in order to destroy the ravine.
Its barrage of attacks didn't stop as it chipped away. With no care in the world.
Blythe knew for sure that the large enemy ship might be coming soon.
She observed the intervals at which it attacked. While the enemy didn't have a real pattern and the laser could attack at any time without delay.
A small detail didn't go unnoticed. She flew out and played around with it.
However, from the unwillingness to choose more powerful weapons, her taunt didn't work.
Her eyes flashed as she looked around before finding the right place.
She flew out again and danced around with a laser whilst attacking from time to time.
Again, she began to retreat as the enemy shot even harder. This time, she made a huge blunder.
Her eyes widened as she took a deep breath. When entering the ravine, her shoe got stuck inside.
Seeing the opportunity, the enemy finally took the chance and shot out its most powerful shot.
A massive explosion appeared when Blythe appeared behind it from the ravine, shoeless and with a ripped sleeve.
The enemy shot a lot of attacks as she ignored them and deployed a mana shield of her own.
Attacks kept bombarding her, but none held a great amount of power.
In seconds, she arrived near it as she brought out the attacks she kept brewing for the past minute.
A vacuum like state froze the entire surroundings before a powerful wind sucked everything into it.
With the ship at its epicentre. Powerful winds sliced and distorted the weakened shield before breaking it in seconds.
Blythe shot out another spell, breaking into the small cracks and creating real holes.
She didn't wait and confirm her kills as she took out her greatest speed she could muster.
Her mana draining like crazy. Blythe's face grew pale as she noticed another new arrival on the horizon.
The two elders she lost contact with appeared in her vision with the enemy she didn't want to meet the most in their heels.
Her one good news showed the damaged condition of the ship. It seemed that the wind awakened elder had some tricks up his sleeves...
Sweat trickled down her back as her presence grew some aggro. Two small ships flew out and intercepted her.
The powerful cannons started their symphony of attacks as Blythe danced to their rhythm.
One small mistake and she would be a goner. She flew across the skies, dodging everything.
Many times, the laser brushed her body as her hair got burned.
Each second became a pure hell as she squeezed out anything she had left.
Her body screamed in agony, and her spirit was the same. The other elder not too far from her threw out a flare before he succumbed to the enemy not long ago.
With the main firepower on the other elder, she didn't need to count to know his fate.
The mech didn't appear as it kept fuelling the last resolve she had deep inside of her.
The fall of the elder proved to be a fatal distraction. She made a mistake as she screamed in pain.
Her hand burned as she spent the last pieces of her mana to support her dying arm.
With the scream of the other elder. The powerful will supporting her the entire time finally crumbled.
There would be no hero. And no fateful arrival just in time for her. Death had came to collect the debts.
Her world grew dark...