000 - What Makes The Sky Blue

Hey it's me I'm sorry but the next few days i can't really write because i need to spend the free time i have to grind in Honkai Star Rail.

I need 40 rolls more to get Acheron so yea i need to rush the main story and do side story to get more crystal, Really sorry about that

Btw don't forget to give me your feedback on this chapter

Thank you ~

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After Rei's attack, the area where their fight took place looked completely destroyed.

Fortunately, they were not close to the city when Rei swung his sword.

"*Cough* *Cough*" several people were heard coughing from inhaling the lingering smoke from Rei's attack.

Rei hearing that, immediately snapped out of his thoughts and looked around.

He saw Djeeta, Katalina, and Vyrn coughing and trying to stand up.

Rei ran towards them with his golden sword in hand and carrying Lyria.

"Hey, are you guys okay? I'm sorry, I didn't expect my attack to have this much impact," Rei hurriedly apologized to them.

"You! You need to be careful swinging a weapon like that, I almost got thrown far!" Vyrn looked angry because his small body made him more easily thrown.

"Sorry, Vyrn, I didn't expect my attack to have such a big effect," Rei apologized to Vyrn again.

"Your power is indeed incredible, Rei, I didn't expect a human to have such power," Katalina said, standing up and dusting off her clothes.

"Yeah, I need to train more so that I don't fall behind" Djeeta said as she got up and cleaned the dust around her.

"Um.... Rei, please put me down," Rei heard Lyria's voice from below.

Rei looked at Lyria and saw her looking at him with a slightly red face.

'What is this!? Lyria is so cute, I really want to pinch her cheeks,' Rei felt surprised because in the game, he remembered Lyria wasn't this cute... it seemed seeing someone in person and from his phone was very different.

Rei then set Lyria down, and she remained silent, looking down, remembering the sensation of being Princess carried by Rei like in a book she had read before.

Suddenly, a golden light appeared in Rei's left hand, and the sword he was holding slowly disappeared.

"Ah, it seems like I can only use it for a short while" Rei felt a bit disappointed and wanted to quickly to gain his wings so he could use the sword again.

He felt like when he used the sword, he could do anything, and his satisfaction at seeing himself kill someone with one strike was remarkable...

'Wait... what was I thinking earlier?' Rei shook his head, trying to get rid of those thoughts.

"Rei? What's wrong with you?" Djeeta, seeing Rei shaking his head, felt puzzled by his behavior.

Before Rei could answer, Rackam's voice suddenly approached them.

"Wow, look at you guys!? You really were able to defeat the Empire soldiers, huh," Rackam appeared, looking around.

"Rackam! I'm so glad to see you're okay!" Vyrn flew towards him.

"Weren't you taken by those two soldiers earlier?" Djeeta asked how he managed to escape from the Empire soldiers.

"Ha! I might've played along if they were tough, but I'm not getting carted off by those two-bit grunts!" Rackam confidently replied to Djeeta's question.

"What about you, little miss? Are you okay?" Rackam asked Lyria, who was still silent and blushing.

Lyria, hearing that, snapped out of her thoughts and answered Rackam, "Ah... I...I'm okay... Rei was able to save me."

Rackam saw Lyria's reaction and nodded, understanding what she was feeling. 'Ah, young ones." Rackam thought to himself.

"Then what about those two?" Rackam pointed to Drang and Sturm, who were unconscious from Rei's attack earlier.

"We'll have to carry them both, if we leave them here, they could be eaten by monsters," Djeeta answered Rackam.

"Hah!? You're going to help those Empire people?" Rackam was shocked by Djeeta's words.

"No, they are just mercenaries paid by the Empire, and they have no interest in killing us at all," Djeeta tried to defend them.

"Alright alright enough you two, let's continue our journey to the city now, we've spent a lot of time here" Katalina suggested to everyone.

Everyone nodded and started walking towards the city with Rackam Carrying Drang and Katalina Carrying Sturm, after Rackam finally agreed to join them in defeating the Empire.

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After they were almost at the gate of the city, suddenly Drang and Sturm woke up.

"This...." Sturm woke up and realized that she was being carried by someone.

She started to panic and tried to free herself from the person.

"Hey, let me go! What do you want to do!?"

"Hey, calm down, don't act like that," Katalina started to lower Sturm down, and Rackam also placed Drang next to her.

Drang started to regain consciousness and look around.

"Egads! Heaven help us!" Drang immediately screamed after waking up.

"Hey! We've no intention of fighting! Won't you find it in your heart to forgive us? The empire just pays us! We're not loyal to them or anything! So c'mon, just—" He continued to scream without stopping, if Sturm wasn't tied up, she would have stabbed him by now.

"So... what do we do with these goofballs?" Rackam asked Djeeta because she was the Captain of the group.

"Let's just let them go," Djeeta answered Rackam.

Drang and Sturm were surprised to hear that their enemies easily released them.

"Huh? Really? Really, really?" Drang looked hopeful towards Djeeta.

"Showing mercy to a foe is foolish, but I won't complain about being spared..." Sturm shook her head.

"Are you sure, Djeeta?" Rei asked Djeeta.

Djeeta heard him and then she's smiled while answering, "Yes, besides, if they come back, we can beat them again."

Sturm feel a little bit annoyed hearing that Djeeta was really underestimating the two of them, but she remained silent.

"Besides, it wouldn't be very knightly to turn a sword on a surrendering foe." Katalina seemed to agree with Djeeta's choice.

"And it's not like you're die-hards. You were in it for the money. You're free to go!" Vyrn also supported Djeeta's decision.

"Oh, thank you, thank you! I owe you a million times over!" Drang began to thank them repeatedly.

After that, Rei and Rackam began to release them both, and finally Drang and Sturm left.

After seeing Drang and Sturm disappear from their sight, Djeeta and the others began to enter the city and warn all its inhabitants that the empire would attack this city.

A while after Drang and Sturm reported their failure to General Furias.

"How'd this happen? Why and how and why!" Furias looked very angry, hitting his desk.

"My apologies, sir. We have no excuse." Sturm apologized for their failure.

"Sorry! They were way stronger than we thought they'd be!" Drang didn't joke around like usual and just looked serious.

Furias, hearing their reasons, started to get even angrier because how could renowned mercenaries like the two of them lose like this.

"Someone execute these fools! Immediately!" Furias yelled at the soldiers around him.

"Sir, these two are under the command of the Black Knight... We can't punish them even if you order us." One of his soldiers replied to Furias.

"Then I'll punish you instead. One clean cut should do the trick!"

"But, sir..." The soldier who replied to Furias before started to panic, but he couldn't do anything after the other soldiers started to take him away.

"Regardless, you two still managed to buy me some time, and my plan's moving right along. Just look at this storm! Soon this island—No! The entire archipelago will be plunged into the darkest depths of the sky..."

Furias looked towards the Port Breeze island while smiling and then suddenly the island darkened, and strong winds began to appear destroying the trees around it.

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While Rei and the others were in the city, suddenly a huge storm appeared which made their discussion with Sierokarte and the townspeople stop.

They went out of the house and looked around.

"What's going on with this rain? I've never seen a storm like this before!" Vyrn was confused because the weather was still sunny before but suddenly turned dark like this.

"How strange... It was clear just a moment ago." Sierokarte started to think about something.

"We can't fight back the empire in this kind of weather." Katalina could see that the storm wind was starting to destroy the roofs of the houses around them.

"Even they must be helpless in a storm like this! We've gotta get away from here!" Djeeta suggested to everyone for an evacuation from this island.

"You're right! And we have an escape airship, so let's head to a nearby island." Sierokarte replied to Djeeta.

"Who's gonna pilot that thing?" Suddenly one of the townspeople spoke to them.

That question made everyone silent...

"I almost forgot... All the helmsmen are out on business." Sierokarte remembered that there were no helmsmen on this island at all.

"And we wouldn't want any average helmsman for a storm this intense. Only the best of the best would have a chance..." Sierokarte continued her conversation.

Everyone who heard that started to look at Rackam.

"Why are you all looking at me?" Rackam looked anxious when he saw them all staring at him.

"We're in trouble! Monsters confused by the storm are nearing the town!" Suddenly, the voice of one of the townspeople running towards them was heard.

"Let's handle this first. You can lecture me about piloting later!" Rackam spoke to them and pulled out his weapon.

Djeeta and Katalina nodded and headed towards the town gate, except Rei because he still didn't have a weapon to replace his damaged one.

After they defeated the monsters attacking the city, they all returned to their previous location and continued their conversation.

"Look, I know I agreed to fight the empire with you guys... But piloting airships is a whole other matter!" Rackam spoke to them all.

"I might crash again. Hasn't that crossed your minds? It was a miracle that I survived after crashing the Grandcypher. Got beat up pretty badly... But I might not be so lucky this time, and you'll all be on board with me. Are you still going to tell me you're not scared?"

Rackam was worried that if he piloted the airship, he would make it crash and kill everyone.

"Ouch..!" suddenly one of the townspeople hit Rackam.

"How stupid can you be! Keep whining and I'll hit you again!" the person spoke to Rackam.

"Take a good look at the faces all around you, Rackam. No one looks worried, do they?" Lyria replied to Rackam with a smile while looking around her.

Rackam, hearing Lyria began to look around and saw that everyone's faces showed no signs of worry at all, just smiling at him.

"You guys..."

"So, are you still worried, Rackam?" Rei patted Rackam on the shoulder.

"..." Rackam then smiled and looked at everyone confidently.

"Not anymore. Thanks, everyone. Besides, I've gotta live up to everyone's expectations! The best of the best!"

"All right! If that's settled, then let's make our escape!" Vyrn shouted and finally everyone went towards the escape airship.

As they were all heading towards the airship mentioned by Sierokarte, Rackam began to think about something.

"This is one weird storm..."

"Something about the storm strikes you as strange, Rackam?" Djeeta asked Rackam about his thoughts.

"For Port Breeze to have a storm is rare in and of itself." Rackam was confused because during his time here, he had never seen Port Breeze hit by a storm like this.

Suddenly, Lyria stopped running and closed her eyes.

"Lyria, what's wrong?" Katalina and the others saw Lyria stop and also halted, approaching her.

"I can sense something... It's like the presence of a primal beast... Rackam, does this island have a primal beast?" Lyria opened her eyes and asked Rackam.

"There is, indeed. All winds that blow on this island are the breath of Tiamat, a guardian deity of sorts." Rackam answered Lyria's question.

"We can think about it later, for now let's all go to that escape airship first," Katalina reminded them all, and they continued their journey.

When they all arrived at the valley where the airship was, the storm around them grew stronger, making it difficult for them to walk through the valley.

"Looks like we found it! And it's big enough for all of us to board!" Vyrn observed the airship.

They all started boarding the ship, except for Rackam who still seemed hesitant.

"Huh? Why aren't you getting on board? We can't do anything without you, Rackam!" Djeeta saw Rackam still hesitating to board the airship.

"Sure, I get that. But... I knew it. I can't—" Rackam looked panicked and started moving away from the airship.

Seeing this, everyone started to worry about Rackam and went back down to help him.

But before they could talk to Rackam, a voice suddenly yelled at them.

"Just hurry up and board already! I don't have all day, you know!" Furias appeared with many of his soldiers.

"You!?" Rei saw him suddenly appear and began to worry because he did not remember this part at all.

"I'm sensing something weird about him, Rei. He's scaring me..." Lyria looked scared, hiding behind Rei.

"It's fine, Lyria. You needn't worry." Rei tried to comfort Lyria while watching Furias and his soldiers.

"Hah Actually, I wanted to wait for you all to board the Airship before starting the main event." Furias observed the airship in front of him and shook his head.

"But I don't have much time left, so I'll do it now." Furias smiled and nodded to his soldiers.

His soldiers began to do something and suddenly Rei sensed danger.

"Everyone, duck!" Rei shouted to everyone, then suddenly

*BOOOOMMMM*

"Kyaaaaaaa" an explosion occurred, destroying the airship and causing panic.

After the explosion stopped, everyone began to look at the airship.

"What in the skies..." one of the townspeople saw that the airship was severely damaged.

"Are you all okay?" Lyria looked around and felt relieved that no one was hurt.

"Ha-ha-ha! Wonderful! I just love the expressions of utter disbelief on your faces!" Furias laughed loudly, pointing at them all.

"That's right! I blew it up! That precious airship of yours is nothing but flotsam now! Ha-ha-ha!"

"Ugh, you!?" Rei hearing that started to get angry and release his aura, but before he could do more, Djeeta held his hand.

"Rei, stop. Don't do it here, the other townspeople could be affected by your aura too." Djeeta reminded Rei.

Rei, hearing this, looked around and saw the terrible condition of the other people, realizing that ordinary people could not withstand his aura.

"Fyuhhhhh" Rei sighed, and his aura disappeared.

"Alright, soldiers, attack them!" Furias ordered all his soldiers to attack Djeeta and the others.

"You fiend! Listen, Djeeta, don't try to stop me!" Katalina looked angry and began using her weapon to fight the soldiers.

"I'll defeat this flunkies myself!"