Page 2883 -- CCLIII. (Patreon)

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Again, he found himself gaining altitude unintentionally and had to compensate. That was going to be a reoccurring issue, wasn't it? He'd have to keep that in mind.

But this speed. It was exhilarating. Going this fast through the open air, with the whole wide world stretched out below him? It was like a dream.

Was this really his top speed, though? He kinda doubted it.

What if he just kept applying that same force over and over again? Would he keep accelerating? And how was his control? He'd just been going in a straight line this whole time, but obviously, that wasn't going to do the trick in an actual fight.

He decided to try banking left.

Holy fuck, everything went wrong at once.

Turbulence, vibrations out of balance, losing altitude.

He tried to compensate and overcorrected. The turbulence made it too difficult to tell what the right balance was, and he ended up zooming almost straight up--which he had to correct again, only now it was even worse.

Then the outer layer began coming apart, breaking away from him in chunks that went sailing off in their own directions. And with his thoughts disorganized, his concentration disrupted, and iron flying haphazardly all around him, Hector began to enter freefall and saw the forest quickly rising up to meet him.

And he only managed to hold on to one cogent sentiment as all of that was happening.

Yep. This seemed about right.

Chapter Two Hundred Fifty-Three: "That which eludes Knowing...'

Abbas had never seen anything like it. Even the Earth Cruncher didn't truly compare. They were only similar in the most superficial of ways.

He wished he had more to contrast it with, but he'd only heard of others, never gotten close to them. He'd actually been hoping to change that soon, what with the Vanguard having grown so eager to win his favor. In time, he was sure that he would have finally been able to gain access to their famed Golden Hour in Intar.