Book 2: Chapter Nine

Evan teleported into the control chamber, fingers at ready. He activated his ability, **Hundred Hands**, and laid a finger on each button.

"It's amusing to see you this way, Evan. You've done this so many times, and yet..." she said, casting a meaningful glance at the transparent hands that covered the control panel.

He glared at her. "These are the Heroes of the Prophecy! Of course I'm excited! The last time I did this was over three hundred years ago!"

Instead of replying, Arabelle strode over to the control panel and tapped a button. It read **DROP TNT - STARBOARD WING**. He heard a faint explosion and angry shouting about his ancestry from somewhere below. He snorted explosively and tapped another button: **DROP STORMBERRY ROLL - STARBOARD WING**. The shouting stopped.

"When did you get that one?" Arabelle asked, looking curiously at the button.

Evan grinned impishly. "When I have a destructive wife like you, I have to have a few gifts as well."

Arabelle chuckled darkly as she reached for another button located in the pasty-dropping section: **DROP STORMBERRY ROLL - CONTROL ROOM**. She sighted contently as she deftly caught the cake and bit into it.

"Entering Zone Three. Entering Basilisk mode. Prepare for altitude drop," he said, holding up a microphone. "Gravity is reaching zero point five."

It continued like this before a report came in. "It appears that there are two parties: one with ten entities and one with twenty-four. The first one has nine descendants, and the other one is made up of twenty-three Knights of Aetheria and one descendant. The descendant with the second party appears to have a clan symbol on her dress. Searching for possible clans... query matches with either the Emmiti clan, located in western Ravensong, or the Unity. It is most likely the Emmiti. Reason: the-" A monotone voice said before Evan interrupted.

"Got it. Are we in range?"

"We are not. Estimated time until in range is thirty seconds. To have eyesight of the parties, seventy seconds. Safe landing location, eighty seconds."

Evan pressed a button, **AUTOPILOT**, before immediately pressing another button, **DROP STORMBERRY ROLL - CONTROL ROOM**. He joined Arabelle, obliterating the roll before the computer reported.

"We are in range. There are several unidentified entities that appear to be attacking the parties. Parties are in disarray."

"Strength?"

"About twenty in number. Identified species: wraith. A confirmed Hexblade is causing harm upon them, and the party's swords are not working on them."

Wraiths were horrible to deal with. They technically didn't exist, appearing incorporeal and only being able to inhabit places called Unsacred Spaces, which were places that were created long before the First Great War. These Spaces were places that allowed beings that lived in a completely different multidimension to enter, which were not bound by the same laws of reality - but only be affected by their own. A wraith would use somebody's mana against them, doing impossible feats and causing slow, agonizing deaths to their opponents.

Swords would have no effect on them. Enchantments and other types of magic had limited impact. Holy Water combined with Unholy Water could cause strange, reality-bending things, which could banish the wraiths, but the combination can cause dimensional fluctuations that would actually make it easier for the wraiths to re-enter the dimension.

Fortunately, Evan, as the ready-for-pretty-much-anything gadget guy had a wraith-destroying weapon. It would use the laws of physics, both the wraith's and the universe's, and combine them to throw the wraith back into their own world. In addition, the wraith would have both rules of the dimensions affecting them, causing havoc to befall the cursed universe they originated from. The weapon was insanely expensive, but Evan had his share of wraith encounters and had quickly invested in it.

"Deploy the wraith-killer thingy!" Evan shouted, throwing out his arms dramatically.

"Deployed. Charged. Fire?"

"Fire!" he yelled erratically. He had never actually tested the weapon and leaned forward in anticipation of the supposedly amazing view of what was about to happen.

It was amazing. A huge amount of mana suddenly came out of nowhere and crystalized. As it hit the ground, it vaporized. The wraiths suddenly fell to the ground before suddenly floating up. They ripped into tiny pieces before reforming. A faint scream echoed inside an antidimension - a place where nothing should exist, yet things did, somehow - before the dimension suddenly disappeared.

To the party members, it should have looked like the wraith had suddenly disappeared after an ethereal blast had shot down from the heavens. In fact, Evan had been watching through the advanced reality viewer, which allowed him to see distortions and fluctuations in the fabric of the universe. Not even his ability, **Sight XX**, could see what was occurring.

"Amazing! I've never seen such a brilliant display of physics! And mana! And dimensional exploitation! And..." Evan babbled. Arabelle rolled her eyes before taking control of the ship, literally placing Evan on the couch and pressing the **LAND** button.

"Landing."

The cloud ship turned slowly from a ship to a palace. It landed softly on the ground right in front of the Heroes' eyes.