Chapter 587: Unwilling to Dodge
The mana cannons erupted, sending five searing energy spears hurtling toward us. They descended like comets, too swift for the eye to follow, filling my vision with an all-consuming white.
Borealis reacted instantly, tucking in a wing and executing a graceful roll that flipped us out of their path. Time seemed to hang by a thread, suspending us upside down, the city a dizzying blur overhead. The sun hung low over the mountains, casting long shadows across the streets, while the first flickers of magical lights appeared in windows. The souls of the city’s inhabitants, twinkling like stars against the encroaching darkness, gawked and pointed as we cut across their sky.
Our flight righted itself again, my eyes flitting to the skyship. The hull cannons were powerful but clumsy, only able to adjust a few degrees in any direction. It made them effective only when the ship was directly above its target, and even then, only against something that couldn’t just fly out of the way.
My soul tingled, a gentle warning unlike before. A sense that I had missed something, that something was terribly wrong. I looked over the side, scouring the city below for any danger. But there was nothing, only--
A blinding flash of white blossomed on the edge of the city. Because of our previous position, the first lance had gone wide, landing on a stretch of farmland a few hundred yards from the city. The explosion devoured everything in an expanding sphere of brilliant light, stopping only as it brushed against the city walls. It faded almost immediately, leaving a dazzling afterimage concealing a crater over a hundred feet deep.
That first lance had forced us to flee directly over the city. It had been fired a second earlier than the others, but they should have known we could dodge! They must have seen our entire battle with the first ship from their position, but...
That meant they’d waited. They could have attacked at any time, but they let us do our scouting and lower our guard. When the first ship attacked, they allowed us to defeat it.
And then they’d waited until we were right above the city to fire.
"They wouldn’t..." I whispered, clutching a hand to my chest.
"Xiviyah!" R’lissea cried wide-eyed, pointing at the city. "They’re going to–"
Her voice was lost as the lances tore through the space we’d occupied a heartbeat earlier. They’d been fired at diverging angles, increasing the area their combined attack covered. But now that they’d missed, the city below would suffer the consequences. Just how many people were down there? Would any of them survive this?