The warhead continued, falling directly onto the deck.
"What the..."
The crewmates turned to it, dumbfounded that something was able to penetrate their shield.
Their faces bore expressions of shock. How could anything bypass their defenses, yet here it was?
Their eyes lit up in unison as they all realized what it was.
Fear crept up their spines as they scrambled for cover, but deep down they already knew it was too late.
The warhead did not explode instead vibrating with a high-pitched frequency, an ear-piercing monotone echoing, the air vibrating to it.
The sound waves traveled a radius of 300 ft, forming a sphere of vibrating, humming air.
The Lucy was completely enveloped, being only 250 ft in length, 140 ft in width, and an imposing 200 ft in height.
About the length of a jumbo jet, the width of two blue whales, and the height of a downtown skyscraper.
A mechanical island it was, yet its massive frame was easily contained in the EMP field.
A few police aircraft were caught in it, being too close for comfort, but luckily none of the cyberpunk aircraft were within range , seemingly aware, or simply lucky.
All within that sphere lost consciousness, their neuro implants flooded with currents, their bodies falling limp like puppets with their strings cut.
The EMP wave affected not only the humans but also the aircraft they boarded, even the Lucy wasn't spared.
Anything with circuitry was within its grasp, thus the nickname Nullnut.
The Lucy's humming engine halted, not that anyone was awake to notice, its majestic frame falling through the clouds.
"Hahahahahaha!!!" Heavenly Monkey laughed maniacally, elated his plan had worked.
Now the Lucy and the CC would be his, not to mention the bounty of the Iron Beard pirates' heads.
"Heavenly Monkey... should we go after them?" the female cyborg by his side inquired.
"No, not yet. The Nullnut is still active. Let the blues take care of it; we'll pick up the spoils," he grinned, assured of his victory.
As he reveled in his supposed victory, the Lucy continued to plummet, a police aircraft falling with it.
"This is our chance, I heard the CC is on board!" one of the commanders of the cyberpunk aircraft shouted, bringing their crew back to their senses.
They were all but overwhelmed by what had just happened.
Getting wind of the CC from an anonymous source, they followed it here, only for one of their aircraft to explode before the war truly began, and before they could even catch their breath, the Lucy was falling, an EMP field around it.
"Yeah!!" They roared in unison.
Each man to their station.
They might have been overwhelmed earlier, but an opportunity had presented itself, and they weren't going to let it slip by.
Flying a couple of feet away from the still-active EMP field, they shot missile after missile.
The Iron Beard pirates may be out of commission, but they had to be sure.
The ironbeard pirates were from Aether afterall, having a trick or two against a Nullnut wasn't unheard of.
"Sir, there's a city down there, we need to stop the ship," one of the police officers stated, noticing the various skyscrapers above the clouds: the bustling city of T.Hill underneath.
"How?!" The commanding officer's eyes darted around, his voice hitched.
If the Lucy fell, a lot of lives would be lost, and the chaos that would ensue would cost him his job.
As he racked his brain on how to resolve the issue, the sounds of explosions rang again.
Boom!! Boom!!
Attacks from the cyberpunks rang through the clouds, unrelenting.
They didn't care about the people below, only those on the deck, making sure each of them wasn't breathing.
The Nullnut might be powerful, but they weren't taking any chances.
These punks were from Aether, and that was enough to warrant paranoia.
"Fuck, these riffraffs don't care about the city below," the commander cursed, veins bulging in fury.
"Sir, isn't this a good thing? You can blame this on them," one of the police suggested.
"You do have a point there. It's not like we can do anything to stop that monstrosity," he calmed a bit, seemingly finding a way to keep his job — his narrowed gaze on the Lucy that was falling rapidly, its mast broken, sails burning with untamed flames.
The deck had several craters, spider-like cracks lining its features, yet it remained.
There wasn't any great damage, the craters only dents, unable to break the obsidian alloy of which it was made.
The majestic figure of the Lucy finally crossed the clouds, its massive frame casting a shadow over the city below.
The bustling city looked up, momentarily silent, struck by the descending abomination.
"AHHH!"
Screams rang in unison as panic ensued, each man for himself.
They squirmed like ants, frantically running to safety.
The city's emergency alarm rang, the siren announcing for civilians not to panic and to head to the underground bunkers, not that anyone could hear, as the Lucy was only a few seconds away from the ground.
As the stern of the ship left the clouds, all hope seemed lost, the ship was now a second closer.
People still fleeing, those that seemed to have gotten to safety, were still in range of the explosion if the ship were to hit the ground.
They could only pray to a God they knew not, not for salvation but for acceptance into His embrace.
...
The ship's prow reached the ground, the expected crash, the expected explosion, not sounding.
Like a ghost walking through a wall, the ship sank into the ground, passing through people, buildings, and vehicles alike.
Like a spirit, it passed through them, completely sinking into the ground, not even a breeze stirred, the wind still as they were.
Some had collapsed, a few eyes widened into saucers.
What had just happened?
Everyone was in shock, from civilians to the police who watched all of this in the sky; the cyberpunks even more so.
The most baffled of them all was Heavenly Monkey, who had invested a lot into the destruction of the Iron Beard pirates.
The Nullnut , a weapon that cost hundreds of millions.
"What's going on?" His voice hitched, panicked about the turn of events.
He quickly dashed to the control room.
"Heav..."
The conductor was pushed out of the way, the Heavenly Monkey watching a giant screen, the eyes of the mechanical Jade Dragon.
If his eyes had deceived him, then maybe, but the multispectral eyes of the Jade Dragon wouldn't.
"What..." He replayed the scene of the Lucy sinking into solid earth over and over again, switching from vision to vision.
Phasing; the process of passing through solid matter, was something current science was yet to achieve.
Not even the Country of Aether had been able to do so, at least that is what the public was aware of.
The heavenly Monkey no better, despite his many connections
" No one has the technology of phasing; there is no way this damn pirate could get their hands on one " He thought no more like prayed.
And to answer his prayer...
"A hologram..." He noticed the color inconsistencies of the ship and the shimmering outlines, features of a hyper-realistic hologram.
"IRONBEARD!! " He roared in rage.
He had been had.