My Brother Is The Hero Of Earth 31 Chapter 31 - Sacrifice

"Nope, Becca is the one cursed," Terri said with a bit of a laugh.

"Always a joke with you," Sophia said in a similar tone as Ella.

"I got jokes for days," Terri said with a cheesy grin.

"I think we should Terri in first then. While the Piasa Birds are laughing, we can kill them before they know what happened," I said with a chuckle.

"I am surrounded by children," Yue said with an exasperated sigh.

"There is something to be said about laughing in the face of danger," Katye said with a small smile.

"I knew you were one of us," Terri laughed as she put an arm around Katye's shoulder.

"Anyways... How does it look, Melissa? We don't have much time before they get here," Yue asked through the intercom.

"Kiara and I have almost expelled all of the poison, but I still need another hour before I'll have her healed," Melissa's reply came a minute later.

"d.a.m.n," Yue swore as she pounded the railing.

The seven of us stood in silence as we watched the horizon, waiting for sight of the dragon birds. Ella pa.s.sed control of the ship back to Yue then changed into her armor with a flash. The others changed into their armor as well and started pulling out their gear.

Sophia had pulled out a cannon that was nearly the same size as her and started filling it with monster cores. Ella pa.s.sed out a few paper talismans which would greatly increase our strength, speed, and defense, but once they wore off, we wouldn't be able to continue fighting, so we had to plan when we used them properly. Yue woke the ship's formations and put it for the first time into attack mode.

The four white, winged serpents appeared, but instead of wrapping protectively around the ship, they few around aggressively, straying out from the ship, then turning back and testing their limits in the opposite direction. She kept the snakes wrangled in enough, so that they wouldn'd fly directly over the island with the Thunderbirds, so the uninjured one made no attempt to attack them.

"Lesedi..." I started as I thumbed my knives.

"Just stay conscious this time. You aren't light to carry around. I'll make you some new ones when we get back," she replied as she shouldered her ma.s.sive hammer.

I chuckled, "I'll do my best."

"Well, so much for your first trip to the 'Rift', huh?" Lesedi said to Katye.

"I do imagine it could have gone better," Katye said, trying to keep her smile.

"We only have to hold out for three more hours," Yue said, checking her watch.

"Let me go check if they will give us an hour then," Terri said.

I laughed and knocked her off balance with a light punch to the arm. "You do that," I said simply.

"You could fly around in circles to buy us the time, Becca," Terri chuckled.

"If I thought I could make it through the eyewall alone, I would try to pull them away," I said more seriously.

"No one blames you, Becca," Yue said.

"Well, I do," I said mentally since I would only get a lecture if the others heard.

"Here they come," Terri said in a somber tone.

They were only small black dots on the horizon, but they were quickly growing in size. Five of us took the launch rope to the top of the zeppelin, leaving behind only Sophia and Yue. Since I took the rope of the far side, I saw Gustavo climbing up the air with a number of powerful jumps and landed on the catwalk a minute after the rest of us.

"Are you sure your ready for this, Katye?" Gustavo asked.

"I don't think there is really any room for debating whether I am or not, I'm afraid," Katye replied.

"She's got a point, Gus," Terri said.

"Hey... don't they seem a little big than they should to you guys?" I asked since I was still watching the horizon.

The Piasa Birds were no longer just black dots, their golden scales shimmering in sunlight that broke through the thin clouds above us. They were closing in fast, but they were just too large compared to my memory of the first one.

"f.u.c.k... Was that just a juvenile before?" Terri cursed.

"s.h.i.t... I hope this works. For your own sake, don't watch," I said then closed my eyes.

I stirred my bloodline and it responded excitedly. My bones grew denser, my muscles thicker, and my scales harder, but I didn't stop there. The bones in back shifted and cracked as my skin squirmed then it all stopped before my wings ripped out of my back. My senses magnified as my horns sprouted a branch that curved back along my skull and I had to stretch my jaw as I felt my teeth enlarge into fangs.

"Oh G.o.d, I watched," Gustavo said, making heaving sounds as he leaned over the side of the catwalk.

"Try feeling it, a.s.shole," I said, noticing a change in my voice.

"You're... okay?" Terri asked cautiously.

"Mostly, but that is due in a part to the fight we are about have," I said as the world took on a slightly reddish hue. I walked down to the end of the catwalk and added, "Hold on to something."

I only gave them a moment before I flapped my wings and took off. I expected some difficult flying, but the natural instincts of my body seemed to help me. I wouldn't be able to pull off any fancy maneuvers with my wings alone, but I was far faster in the air than if I had to rely on my hover board or boots. Katye appeared next to me with her own wings out and gave me a nod before zooming around the zeppelin. Gustavo jumped onto the back of one of the winged serpents as it made a pa.s.s by the ship while Lesedi hopped onto another.

These Piasa Birds were indeed larger than the first and both were sporting a pair of horns that resembled a goat's. The smaller of the two had similar orange eyes and beak as the first did. The larger one had red eyes and beak while its tail was tipped with a long, jagged bone that was stained a rusty color. They both cried in fury as they neared then released a volley of red and orange flames.

Lesedi jumped forward, off the snake, and 'pulled' the flames towards her. She absorbed both fires with ease and the snake flew up, catching her on its head before she could fall more than a few feet. Perfectly in sync, as the flames died away, a volley of gray arrows flew out around Lesedi and the serpent, preventing the Piasa birds from counter attacking. The two birds split, one going left while the other right.

"I've got the big one!" Gustavo shouted, "Lesedi and Terri, with me!"

"I've got the smaller one then. Ella, don't hold back, just warn me when I need to back off. Katye, no need to be shy with me, your magic doesn't hurt me," I said through the intercom.

Gustavo and Lesedi broke off to the front of the ship while I flew towards the back, with Katye hovering just over the tail end. I shot out like a cannonball, intercepting the ma.s.sive dragon bird.

The one from before was about thirty feet tall when it stood on the ground and ninety feet long, front its beak to the tip of it tail. The one in front of me looked like it reached a length of a hundred and fifty feet. As the dragon bird charged at me and I at it, I pulled out one of my throwing knives and charged it with my Chaos Lightning. It curled its body in the air, preparing to rip me to shreds, but I wasn't a fool. I summoned out my hover board and kicked off of it while tucking in my wing. In that brief second when my foot touched the board, I threw out the knife in my hand.

I escaped its claws as a crack of thunder erupted and a red beam pierced through its chest. It cried out in pain as it whipped its tail for me. I pulled into a ball, blocking it tail with my forearms and shins which numbed both with the brunt of the impact, while a large bolt of violet lightning crashed down on its body. While I was knocked back, Ella took the chance to send an attack of her own, three speeding trails of yellow-green fire. The three talisman erupted in three different effect: the first was a shower of electricity, followed by a gale of wind blades, and ending by covering its body in a layer of frost. For a moment, while I stabilized myself in the air, I thought this was going to be easy... then the Piasa Bird flapped it wings, shattering the ice and revealing that, other than the rapidly healing hole from my knife, it didn't have a mark on its scaled hide.

Drawing a pair of knives, I charged back in for the bird, filling both with my Chaos Lightning along with my body. This time, it didn't fully commit to catching me, ready to dodge my attack, but I just chuckled and executed a Flash Step just before its claws could grab me. I appeared just above its head and threw both knives straight down, threw its skull... or it was what I was trying to do, but they couldn't penetrate the hard bone protecting its brain. Instead when the knives exploded, they only took off a chuck of skin and exposed the bone.

It may not have killed the Piasa Bird outright, but it certainly hurt as the bird cried out painfully while it started to fall. The winged serpent on this end of the ship took this chance to swoop in and wrap its long body around dragon bird immobilizing it. I used another Flash Step, landing in the bird's head, and pulled out one of my spears. The was a loud screech from the other end of the ship and I looked up just in time to see both Lesedi and Gustavo were sent flying as the larger Piasa Bird charged over.

I snorted and drew back my spear. Time screeched to a crawl as I started my Lightning Barrage on the weakened spot on the creature skull. One, two, three... ten, eleven, twelve then it cracked. One more thrust and I pierced its brain, frying it with my Chaos Lightning. The larger dragon bird's cry turned into a roar as its body gave off a red mist and began to swell in size.

"Its going berserk! Move the ship!" Terri yelled through the intercom.

"We can't move without switching out of attack mode," Yue snapped.

"Try to use the free snakes to pull it away, I'll deploy my barrier," Sophia said.

A hundred metal disc flew out around the ship and a thin, navy energy spread out covering the ship. At the same time, the winged serpent next to me released the dead Piasa Bard then zoomed straight for the large one. I flapped my wings and shot after the snake, but the dragon bird wasn't idle.

It tail whipped against the barrier, dimming it, but not completely destroying it, so it turned to the next closest target: Katye. My eyes grew wide as I saw its tail turn towards her, curving upwards as it followed her attempt to escape. I moved by instinct as I executed a series of Flash Steps to close the distance and crash into Katye, knocking her to the side just before the boney tail hit her.

Katye tumbled to the side before she could right herself, but she looked at me in horror as the Piasa Bird drew back it tail when the snakes crashed into its body. I somehow didn't feel impact, but I did feel when the jagged tailbone rip out of my back. I wasn't sure how I was still in the air as my wings seemed to stop responding. My finger shakily found their way to my chest and felt a hole on the left side, where my heart should be. The next thing I knew, Katye was right in front of me.

"You, you, you..." she couldn't speak as tears started falling from her eyes.

"Shhh, it's okay..." I said, then coughed, feeling blood dribble out of my mouth. "As long as you are okay," I said barely above a whisper.

"Becca? Becca!"

I heard Katye's cry, but it sounded so far away even though she was right in front of me. I reached up and wiped away some of her tears as everything faded to black.