Chapter 188: Chapter 188- Buying time
The scene shifted back to the battlefield above the clouds. Julian raised his hand, veins in his temples throbbing as a dense gravitational field rippled outward. The sky itself seemed to bend under his power, dragging the colossal sky whale down as if invisible chains were coiling around its massive body.
"Hold it tighter, Julian!" Joe’s voice boomed, his draconic fangs bared in a grin. Flames licked the edges of his jaw as his body shimmered with dragon energy. "Pin it down for me. I’ll pierce through its heart this time."
Julian clenched his teeth, sweat dripping down his face.
"Just don’t waste my effort, Lizard!"
Meanwhile, Leo swept his insect hand. Every swing carved through swarms of sky insects trying to interfere, his tone as arrogant as ever.
"Don’t get yourselves killed. I’m not covering your mistakes forever."
At his flank, Rafael’s hands trembled as he extended both arms, his magnetic field drawing in scattered shards of metal and broken weaponry, fusing them into a massive, jagged spear. His face was pale, breath unsteady.
"I... I-I’ll try to pin it in place too! J-Just give me a second...!"
But then, a low, thunderous hum rolled through the air. The whale’s colossal body convulsed. Its luminous wounds glowed faintly as if knitting back together. The creature’s regenerative power surged, its massive fins twitching, and its shield-like aura flickered back to life.
Julian’s eyes widened, the gravitational field straining against resistance far stronger than before.
"...It’s waking up."
The tension in the air spiked, the moment they had feared was finally happening.
The sky trembled as the whale’s body convulsed, its enormous shadow stretching across the battlefield. A deafening rumble echoed like the growl of a mountain, and the glow across its wounds grew brighter, the shield hardening once more.
Rafael’s eyes widened in terror. His magnetic spear flickered in his grip.
"N-No... it’s... it’s regenerating too fast! What if it breaks free?!"
"Shut up and move, coward!" Leo barked, his attack cleaving through another swarm of insects that dove toward them. His eyes, sharp and unwavering, snapped to Rafael. "If you’re scared, Go home."
Rafael flinched at Leo’s words, but forced his trembling legs forward, raising both hands as a magnetic pulse tore the broken debris from the air. He hurled them like a storm of jagged projectiles toward the whale’s glowing shield, sparks and screeches echoing as metal scraped against its aura.
Meanwhile, Julian gritted his teeth, his entire body shuddering as he forced gravity to its limit. The air around him warped, his vision blurring.
"Don’t... panic," he muttered through clenched teeth, his voice carrying through the comms. "As long as I’m here... it’s not breaking free."
Joe, wrapped in draconic flame, ignored the chaos around him. He planted his feet on thin air as if standing on an invisible platform, dragon energy spiraling tighter and tighter into his clenched fist.
"Just hold that bastard steady," Joe growled, his grin sharp and almost feral. "I’ll break it open in one strike."
The whale let out a guttural, ear-splitting roar, its body writhing against the invisible force.
"GUUUUOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
The whale’s roar split the heavens, a sound so deep it made the ground quake like a living drum. Dust rained from the cracked ruins, and the air vibrated with crushing force, shaking even Julian’s gravitational field. Stones tumbled, walls groaned, and the entire battlefield seemed ready to collapse under the beast’s fury.
Leo narrowed his eyes, the corner of his lips curving into a grin. "Now we’re talking..."
With a guttural shout, his skin rippled as swarms of insects burst forth from his body, scarabs, mantises, beetles, locusts, even spiders. They wove and fused together, layering across his limbs in glistening plates of chitin. The carapace clicked and clattered as it hardened, forming a grotesque but resilient exoskeleton armor, his frame swelling with monstrous resilience.
"Let’s see if you can crush this, monster!" Leo roared as he launched forward, his armor gleaming with the shimmer of thousands of insect wings.
Rafael swallowed hard, sweat rolling down his temple, "D-don’t go alone!"
Magnetic energy hummed to life in his hands, pulling twisted metal and shattered debris into twin jagged spears. Sparks danced around him as the air grew heavy with static, and he sprinted alongside Leo.
The whale’s colossal eye rolled toward them, glowing like a storm lantern. Its fin slammed downward, the air itself cracking under the pressure.
Leo crossed his armored arms, exoskeleton screeching as he absorbed the impact. The ground cratered beneath his feet, dust exploding outward, but his grin widened through the chaos.
"NOW!"
Rafael screamed and hurled his spears, magnetized shards spinning in a deadly spiral, piercing the whale’s shield in a burst of sparks and screeches. The beast recoiled, shaking its massive head.
For a moment, Leo and Rafael’s combined assault drew its focus entirely, buying Julian precious seconds to hold it down, and Joe to keep charging his devastating strike.
The whale thrashed its massive body, sending waves of destruction in every direction. Its gaping maw opened, crackling with electricity, as jagged streaks of lightning shot toward Leo and Rafael. The air around them sizzled with ozone, making their hair stand on end.
"Watch the sky!" Rafael shouted, eyes wide as a bolt nearly grazed his shoulder, scorching the ground behind him.
Leo didn’t flinch. His insect-armored frame absorbed minor arcs of lightning, each strike bouncing harmlessly off the layered chitin, sparks scattering like fireflies. He leapt forward, kicking up shards of concrete, and unleashed a swarm of beetles from his gauntlets, which zipped toward the whale’s glowing eyes.
The beast roared again, rearing back, and a torrent of ice shards shot from its tail, slicing the ground with deadly precision. Rafael barely managed to magnetize a debris shield to block the incoming shards, gritting his teeth.
"Left flank! Ice tail!" he barked, spinning to keep the shards at bay.
Leo spun in midair, letting a swarm of locusts jam into the whale’s tail, disrupting its motion. He planted both feet on a chunk of shattered concrete and slammed the ground, sending vibrations through the battlefield. The whale staggered slightly, recoiling from the combined assault.
The creature didn’t relent, it spat a torrent of scalding water, a mini-tsunami that surged toward them. Leo skidded across the wet rubble, using the momentum to launch more insect swarms into its chest, while Rafael used his magnetic manipulation to lift nearby steel beams and hurl them like javelins into the whale’s gaping mouth.
"Keep it distracted!" Leo shouted, narrowly dodging a jagged shard of ice that embedded itself in the wall behind him.
Rafael gritted his teeth, beads of sweat rolling down his face. The whale’s attacks came faster now, laser-like water jets, electrified spouts, ice spears, but the duo moved in near-perfect synchronization.
Leo’s armored exoskeleton deflected the brunt of the attacks, while Rafael’s magnetic control channeled debris and fragments to intercept stray strikes, turning the battlefield into a chaotic ballet of dodges, blocks, and counterattacks.