**High Altitude. The Border Zone.**
The sky bled.
The fleet of the Divine Martial Academy was crossing into the **Red Wastes**. The clouds here weren't white water vapor; they were a crimson smog of iron dust and dried blood.
On the deck of *The Azure Hawk*, the disciples were shaking. The visibility was zero.
"Maintain formation!" Elder Iron shouted from the helm. "Shields at maximum! They are out there!"
Kaelen leaned against the railing, eating a dried spirit-fruit. He looked at his black metal arms. The blue veins on the Star-Iron pulsed in time with the distant thunder.
"They aren't just out there," Kaelen said, pointing into the red smog. "They're underneath us."
*SCREEECH.*
The clouds tore open.
Hundreds of massive, bat-like creatures erupted from below. They were **Blood-Gargoyles**, constructs made of red clay and animated by forbidden alchemy. Riding on their backs were soldiers of the Iron-Blood Alliance, wielding jagged harpoons.
"AMBUSH!"
*THUNK. THUNK. THUNK.*
Massive harpoons, trailing thick iron chains, punched through the hull of *The Azure Hawk*.
"Reel them in!" an Iron-Blood captain roared from the back of a gargoyle. "Board them! Kill the men, keep the women!"
The chains tightened. The massive airship groaned as it was dragged downward.
Disciples screamed as Gargoyles landed on the deck. The enemy soldiers didn't fight with technique; they fought like rabid dogs, detonating explosive talismans strapped to their chests.
*BOOM.*
A group of Academy students vanished in a cloud of red mist.
"It's chaos," Viper crouched behind a crate, daggers drawn. "Kaelen, we need to cut the chains or we'll capsize!"
Kaelen watched an Iron-Blood soldier bite the ear off a disciple.
"Savages," Kaelen noted. "I like their energy."
He stepped away from the railing.
A gargoyle the size of a horse landed in front of him. The rider raised a spiked club.
"Die, pretty boy!"
The rider swung.
Kaelen didn't draw his slab. He raised his left hand.
The black Star-Iron gauntlet caught the spiked club.
*CRUNCH.*
The spikes didn't scratch the metal. Kaelen's fingers closed. The steel shaft of the weapon crumpled like paper.
The rider stared. "What...?"
Kaelen reached up with his right hand. He grabbed the rider's face.
"**Star-Crusher.**"
He squeezed.
*SPLAT.*
It wasn't pretty. The rider's head simply ceased to exist.
Kaelen threw the headless corpse at the gargoyle. The beast screeched and tried to fly away.
Kaelen grabbed the gargoyle's wing.
"No, you don't. I need a ride."
He ripped the wing off.
*RIIIIIP.*
The beast howled. Kaelen spun around and threw the gargoyle corpse at another incoming enemy.
*CRASH.*
"System," Kaelen asked. "Can I eat these things?"
> **[Analysis: Blood-Constructs.]**
> **[Edible. Taste: Metallic.]**
"Good enough."
Kaelen looked at the massive chains dragging the ship down. They connected to a heavy Iron-Blood Frigate hiding in the clouds below.
Elder Iron was fighting three enemies at once. "Someone cut those chains! My sword can't chip the Blood-Iron!"
Kaelen walked to the nearest harpoon, which was embedded in the mast.
He didn't use a sword. He grabbed the chain with both hands.
His **Titan's Arms** flared blue. The **Titan's Ribcage** anchored him to the deck like a statue.
"You want to pull?" Kaelen grinned.
"Let's play Tug-of-War."
He pulled.
**Strength: Unmeasurable.**
*CREAAAK.*
The chain didn't break. The *other ship* moved.
Below the clouds, the Iron-Blood Frigate—a vessel weighing hundreds of tons—lurched violently upward.
"HEAVE!" Kaelen roared.
He pulled the chain hand-over-hand. He was fishing for a battleship.
The enemy frigate breached the cloud layer, dragged up by a single man. The crew on the enemy deck were screaming, tumbling over the railings.
"What is that?!" The Iron-Blood Captain screamed, staring up at the demon on the Academy ship. "Who has that kind of strength?!"
Kaelen wrapped the chain around his arm.
"Come here!"
He swung his arm.
He used the chain like a whip. He swung the *entire enemy frigate*.
*WHOOSH.*
The massive ship arced through the air.
It collided with a second enemy frigate.
*CRASH-BOOOOM.*
Two warships were reduced to splintered wood and falling debris in a single second. The explosion lit up the red sky.
The remaining gargoyles froze. The battle paused.
Everyone stared at Kaelen.
He stood by the railing, holding the slack chain.
"Two down," Kaelen dusted off his metal hands.
He looked at Viper.
"I think I see their flagship."
He pointed to a massive, floating fortress in the distance—a flying island of red steel.
"Viper, get on my back."
"No! Absolutely not! I know that look!"
Kaelen grabbed her and strapped her to his back with a piece of torn sail.
"We're skipping the minions," Kaelen said, climbing onto the railing.
"We're going to board the boss."
He bent his knees. The deck planking splintered under the pressure.
*BANG.*
He launched himself into the red void.