Sorcerer… Cyborg???

Chapter 252: Alone, in the Aemos

By now, everyone who had landed on to the Aemos in hope of fighting the invaders or rescuing kidnapped people were flying away, floating high in the air above the enormous ship.

Here, the ocean was so deep that the ship continued to descend, Kothar at the helm, taking the ship down, trying his best to level out its trajectory.

There was an explosion of sound, all throughout the ship, a kind of grinding, scraping noise.

Even high up in the bridge of the ship, Kothar heard the sound, and realized that he had been successful, the ship had landed onto the ocean floor. 

But the ship continued sliding forward, for even though it was moving slowly, its massive size meant that it still had an enormous amount of momentum, and even as Kothar spun the thrust sphere backwards, and the ship pushed the sea apart in front of it, and continued onward.

The ship was reshaping the seafloor as it gouged out the sediment and the solid rock beneath, replacing the rising hills and peaks that decorated the sea floor with a long undersea ravine.

The floor of the control center was shaking beneath Kothar, it seemed that even with the ship's ability to stabilize any movement in the upper portion of the ship, the repeated vibrations from the ship grinding against the seafloor had broken down whatever system stabilized the top portion of the ship..

Beneath Kothar, the cube-screen has turned completely black, and all around him, most of the cube-screens were dark, where the ship had become submerged in water.

Slowly, after traveling forward for a few more moments, the ship ground to a halt, two enormous waves travelling behind it diagonally from the wake of the ship.

[So, what now?] Silane asked Kothar, they had achieved their objectives, the ship would not be travelling to any other planes, and they had prevented it from slamming into the surface of Eclat.

[Right now? It seems that we've got some friends coming our way.] Kothar said, as he sent a quick burst of mana to his Mana Sensing Lens, the mana empty silhouettes of the guards lining the corridor beyond the bridge were rushing toward him.

They hadn't noticed anything until the vibrations had broken down the stabilization, and were now rushing toward Kothar.

[How about leaving this control center? Xerev's dead body should keep them occupied for a moment, and that should be enough time for you to slip back into the maintenance tunnels.] Silane suggested, she could tell Kothar was fatigued after the hours of fighting the Aemos and traversing the enormous ship.

[Alright then, time to go. Let's hope they just assume Xerev decided to crash the ship and then commit suicide. He seemed to have enough resentment to do so.] Kothar said, replacing his mask and pushing open the heavy door, slipping through as it opened just enough to let him through, pushing against it with his shoulder to slam it shut quickly once he was through.

Kothar ran down the corridor, Silane highlighting the path through the maze of constantly intersecting and sloping corridors, leading him back to the hidden door within the wall that led into the maintenance tunnels.

Breathing heavily, Kothar pushed his palm onto the wall, and with a familiar 'click' the wall swung open, and Kothar stepped though, into a narrow horizontal corridor.

There were droplets of blood on the floor where Kothar had carried the corpse of the slain guard, and soon Kothar found himself at the vertical shaft which he had pushed the guard down.

[I don't think it'd be ideal to go down this way. They'll probably be searching for the guard's killer down there.] Kothar said to Silane, who immediately replied.

[Just go down a few levels to a  nearby horizontal shaft, that should put enough distance between you and the control center. Besides, all the maintenance workers on this ship are probably near the heart, trying to figure out what's going on.] Silane said, and Kothar started climbing down the rungs, a few of which were still damp with the blood of the slain guard.

Kothar slipped off the rungs and into an adjoining tunnel, hurrying down it. The guards he had seen through the door were even larger and likely even more powerful than the others he had faced, and he had no interest in fighting any more than he needed to, he was beginning to tire, and he was still trapped in the enormous mothership of the Aemos.

[Well, what are we going to do now?] Silane asked, they were practically stranded in the middle of the ocean, thousands of kilometers from the Isle, and from any land in particular.

Kothar knew he wouldn't be able to swim that distance, and that all the Advanced Rank individuals had bailed off of the craft long ago, flying abc to the Isle.

[I guess I'll wait for the Spatial Artifact to find its way back to me, I don't think we can use any of the smaller ships, since the hatches are all closed, and opening them would be catastrophic.] Kothar said grimly, as he realized that he would be stuck on the ship, with who knew how many Aemos, who would all be looking for the person who had sabotaged their ship.

[I don't Kothar, they're bound to find us sooner or later, and it's not like there's anyone else on board to distract them anymore. You'll be the only invader on the ship,and every single one of them is going to converge on you.] Silane's voice was filled with concern, Kothar had managed to avert a major disaster for Eclat, but now he was stuck in between a rock and a hard place.

Kothar stayed silent, walking along the dimly lit maintenance tunnel, brow furrowed in thought.

[I don't see what other options I have, Silane. Holing up in these maintenance tunnels is probably the best place to hide for me to survive as long as possible.] Kothar's voice was filled with resignation, even he was exhausted after the grueling day he had.