Chapter 85: Plans Upon Plans

Thud.

"So, they are at the bottom now . . . hand me the next book," says Tahara to the flying workers and guardians in the library, handing one of them the book she just closed.

A large, armored guardian hands her two books, and she opens one.

She hums, "Nice, Sharara has met with the others,"

. . .

When the war started, civilians that had nothing to do with the conflict were evacuated by the pilots and spread out, leaving the places of conflict into the outer grassy hilly landscape with lakes. Others were evacuated to places depending on the levels, but as an act of Mercy, all those with marks had been gathered at the parking area of the pilots.

Following the instructions of the letter from her mother, Sharara stands alongside other pilots at the plane parking area, and they converse.

"The castle is no longer going to repair itself; Mercy has nearly abandoned it. Soon, it will free fall completely," she remarks.

"We should leave this place and head for the Rope then, no?" suggests one of the pilots.

"The orders are that you take everyone around in here, mark or not, all the people with marks are here anyways,"

". . . what about the others?"

"Don't worry about them. Even the ones that we take with us from here that have no marks . . . but if you make it to the Rope and have time to come back and pick them up, then do so. Such are the Mother of Mercy's commands,"

"But why so? When the Rope goes up, won't they all fall down anyways? Why bother coming back at all?" questions one of the pilots.

Sharara shrugs, "I don't know. Take it up with my mother if you don't like it,"

The pilot falls silent.

Sharara looks at the sparks going about her, "I will give you my seal to operate my plane. You have your orders; once you reach the port on the Rope, you will receive further instructions. Protect civilians at all costs. Now, if you don't mind, there is someone I have to go find,"

She sprints away.

Cool! I got to see the undercover pilots as well.

. . .

Navigating the Castle, she heads to the place where the Castle was cut in half and makes a straight jump to the other side in search of Dara.

While doing so, she notices a man floating above the void in the gap of the Castle and heads in that direction.

As she draws nearer, blue flames suddenly erupt in the form of a circle, surprising her and making her stop right outside the flames.

Such potent heat that she feels it from some distance away . . . looking through the flames, she sees an armored humanoid with glowing blue lines on his armor and he is wielding a lance.

"S-stop!" says a voice.

The armored humanoid tilts his head to the side, and Sharara watches as the flames fan out.

Behind him, she sees Dara walking up.

"S-s-sharara! What b-brings you h-here?" he asks.

"Mother's orders. What are you doing? Who is this?" she asks, cautious of the armored humanoid.

"I-I don't k-know. He d-doesn't respond to me b-but seems to be on o-our side. H-he even s-saved my life I think!" responds Dara.

"Okay, and him?" she questions, pointing to the other man floating up next to her.

"I-I don't k-know. I was i-interrogating him . . . b-but it w-wasn't going well . . . I am n-no good at it,"

"Name is Orbit, pleasure to meet you,"

Sharara looks him up and down and raises her eyebrows, looking impressed with herself.

Seeing her react like that, Orbit tilts his head in curiosity.

Huh?

"Mother is amazing in her own way! Dara, I need you and him to help with something. Mother's orders," she says, pointing at them.

Dara and Orbit look at each other in confusion.

. . .

"T-that's insane!" exclaims Dara.

"Yeah, but it has to be done. Mother's orders,"

"And what makes you think I would comply and hand my equipment over to you?!" questions Orbit.

Sharara smiles at him, "If you don't, I'll head to your hide out and smash every precious thing you own to pieces,"

He scoffs, "As if you know–"

Sharara points her thumb behind her, "Within the walls of the Castle is the location. There is a secret door right–"

"Alright alright! I'll help!" interrupts Orbit in tears and now regretting opposing her, ". . . how did you even know?"

"My mom told me," She grins, flashing a victory sign at him, "Besides, consider it as payment for getting us in trouble in the first place!"

"But that wasn't my fault! I got hacked into!"

"Well, it was still your camera that you placed there that recorded the fight at the parking area,"

Orbit hangs in head in defeat, ". . . okay,"

"A-are you s-sure about this S-Sharara?" questions Dara.

Electricity sparks through her eyes, "Yes. Now, let's get to it,"

. . .

In a few minutes, everything is set up.

Sharara stands in front of a long ramp cleared up and made by her and Dara. While Dara, Orbit, and the knight stand a distance away along with some of Orbit's equipment.

The knight looks at Dara who is setting things up . . . and then at Sharara who is stretching.

He then goes over to Sharara, startling her by his sudden appearance.

"Um . . . what?"

The knight offers her a handshake.

Though confused, Sharara accepts it without much thought.

. . .

The knight then goes back to his post next to Dara . . . and they all look at him in confusion.

"Hella weird" remarks Sharara, side-eyeing him, ". . . but since my mother didn't warn me about you, I guess we will find out what you are later . . . "

For now . . .

Sharara does a backflip into an Olympic Racer's set up position with support behind her as such. She looks ahead at the track in front of her and presses her fisted hands and thumbs on the ground as her body begins to get electrified.

Dara looks at the screen in front of him, seeing Sharara's face. He then raises his left arm and a barrier forms around her.

. . . it actually worked!

The barrier is an independent entity of Sharara, not something attached to her. Meaning, it is supposed to act as a horizontal air loss blocker as it will travel at whatever speed she is, to stay around her as long as Dara commands it to do so . . . this way, she will not lose any horizontal speed to air resistance . . . like a car driving behind another car having less resistance.

However, this means that she will also continue to accelerate down without hitting terminal velocity, so Dara has to somehow balance and give her only upward air resistance as much as possible.

And when she reaches the desired level, he is to provide her with surface to continue the last bit of running on his barrier as surface.

Sharara presses on the ground and two lines of electricity run on both sides of the path.

Just like she taught me . . . she also told me to remember and say this whenever I wanted to do it, easier to remember.

Electricity amplifies around Sharara's body and intensifies to levels she has never pushed before.

First Chemistry Technique: Bolt

Sharara sprints, launching far in the direction of the Rope at a velocity she never reached before . . . true lightning velocity.

A trail of fire blazes behind and on the lines as she disappears from view.

Dara keeps his eye on the screen and barrier up.

"Stop him," he says.

"Eek!" Orbit, who is trying to sneak away by the knight, freezes and sweats, "Come on! I thought you were on my side! Remember how we made such a–"

The knight raises his lance, threatening Orbit.

"It's very c-convenient that he l-listens to me, huh? A-anyways, while I am d-doing this with S-Sharara, I w-will need you t-to start w-working on the t-teleporter,"

"But I don't know how! I saw your brother do it on the island, yes, but I have no idea how he made that wormhole! To me, I thought such a thing was impossible! And that should give pause to anyone really," says Orbit, rolling his eyes.

"D-don't worry. He t-told me how he d-did it. F-follow my i-instructions, it s-shouldn't take too l-long. We will n-need it for a p-plan Daki t-told me about!"

. . .

Thud.

"Great! Dara is saved because of the Castle being cut in half and Sharara is heading to deal with the problem under now. Now, for the other book . . . "

She opens the second book.

"Ah! Look dear, this one's about your father," says Tahara to the baby in the crib near her.

The baby girl coos, making adorable noises and reaching out to the sheathed katana left to her by her father atop the crib, and the three kittens gather around her, cuddling together.

"Yes, yes, dear, no need to worry . . . your dad . . . my brother is the strongest,"