The situation is dire- if the government let out a prototype of these kinds of machines, it means that they know about the existence of Chronos and that he was nearby after the Pandora’s operation. In the worst-case scenario, I would have to go back and become a Lab rat again, but if we manage to get to Gree I can forget about all this. –Sinns considered her options while taking cover between some trees, clenching her fist while remembering everything she had to go through back at the Laboratory.

Flashbacks of grotesque operations and limbs dismembering crossed her mind and also recalled her last memories of the Pandora’s operation being hazy, knowing very well she was implemented a drug her immune system wasn’t able to stop, so she couldn’t help but be obedient towards her higher-ups. Her head began to hurt a bit before Elvira managed to get into the withered forest with Chronos being carried on her shoulder.

A mechanic noise was heard from the direction of the machine that was chasing them while at the same time the steel hitting the ground stopped as if it was waiting for something. The machine was readjusting some of the connections to move differently, adapting to the terrain and making it more agile.

Elvira threw Chronos towards Sinns’ direction and ran as fast as she could towards a different direction to act as bait while moving through the forest, the machine stopped for a brief second before going towards Chronos. Elvira wasn’t able to see it but she could still notice the machine ignoring her and going for Chronos, so she decided to run back towards them. Chronos landed while rolling backward on the ground once to minimize the strain on his legs as his momentum kept dragging him, allowing him to stop right in front of Sinns.

“How do we deal with something we can’t see? I can’t simply attack it and risk myself being attacked in exchange for not being able to neutralize it fast.” –Chronos complained to Sinns who was biting her nail and snapped out of her train of thought.

“That is one of the reasons we brought it here, eventually it will slip and make us be able to destroy it; the trees will be a good indicator for you so focus and stop complaining!” –Sinns snarled to Chronos while he winced after being scolded by her. In the blink of an eye, a tree snapped horizontally as if something used it as leverage to get impulse and Chronos unconsciously materialized three spears that rose from the ground on which the machine impaled itself due to its own momentum on the air. The machine stopped moving and it slowly turned visible to Chronos and Sinns; Elvira also managed to arrive in time to see what happened and imagine that could’ve been what happened to her if she wasn’t agile enough while fighting Chronos.

Chronos sighed in relief and turned to Sinns while the spears began to fade away. Sinns and Elvira walked toward the mechanic carcass and investigated it a bit. Sinns then turned to Elvira and pointed at her gloves. “It is your turn to use your custom weapon properly” –She commanded Elvira while it caused curiosity to Chronos.

Elvira hesitated for a bit and walked closer to the machine with the intention of using her gloves with it. Right at the moment, the gloves came in contact with it, they began to break down into several thousands of Nano-robots, invading the electronics of the mechanical hound and only leaving two sorts of bracelets on each of her wrists. The Nano-machines began to reconnect and hack the electronics of the previously impaled mechanic hound, allowing it to restart the system but corrupting the A.I. Causing a drastic change in behavior, turning docile towards the three of them.

Elvira was confused since this wasn’t a feature she used before. She recalled the time Gree told her about the capabilities of those Nano-machines that shaped themselves into gloves. The main feature was the ability to wield any of the other custom weapons if the user was able to handle them, also, besides being a sort of Swiss knife, 80% of the overall units could hijack any electronic components, depending on the width of the wiring network. In conclusion, Elvira is also able to manipulate the STFM:TH.

Once the machine was able to move once again, Sinns stretched and hopped on top of the machine’s haul. “Well, now that we conveniently seized one of these, we better hurry to Casamira, before the government addresses the location of this missing unit. It will be best for us to move as fast as possible and pray they don’t send the whole forces to catch us.” –She joked while Elvira and Chronos hopped on as well. The machined then jumped suddenly at a great speed into the direction of the border between Delcyt and Falladis.

Once the STFM:TH was disconnected from the military network, the engineer in charge of it immediately reported to the head researcher of the facility, giving details of the coordinates where it got lost. The head researcher was hesitant since the STFM series had a faulty network connection system from the start but The Hound seemed to have a lot of potentials, so he had to send several stealth drones in order to double-check its location and what was able to take it down. He also had his suspicions about the anomaly being the culprit but couldn’t make any groundless hypothesis on whether this anomaly was the cause of a faulty reading from the equipment or if there is actually another walking catastrophe within the kingdom. The past events consisted of the extermination of an ancient forest along with an earth dragon and a national-threat Elf mage, followed by the deaths of 3/4 of the teams that got involved in the operation, without leaving aside the fact that Lawrence Kaiser managed to free himself from the electronic collar as well as the disappearance of Elvira’s and VM No.1: Sinns’ bodies; presumably, they were consumed by the forest before it totally burned –The Head researcher wrote down in a report that was directed to a next facility in order to make public some information about the incident.

The government made public top classified information to spread awareness of individuals like Sinns that are nothing but a threat to humanity, also that special machinery was stolen. The news of Delcyt also reached the neighboring nations. This of course was also broadcasted on every radio on a national scale, The STFM:TH had one incorporated for convenience.

Sinns, Elvira, and Chronos were able to listen to the national broadcast given by the Ruler himself. While he was talking, Sinns recalled some information given to her related to the latest fugitives which included Gree. Falladis is also alert on the matter since there were fugitives that crossed the border; however, they wouldn’t focus on that matter because of the present situation with the TDW-A01 and the hordes of mutated beings that create the hives. –She thought while holding tightly on the machinery in order to not fall due to the speed. After analyzing the situation, Sinns also tried to put in place all the information she had about Falladis in her mind, including a tale she was told about the ruler from that Kingdom.

As she recalled as much as she could, she then asked Elvira to stop under a bridge nearby in order to explain the following: One of Falladis specialties was the rich land and complex cavern systems located in several parts of the kingdom, making it a wealthy and rather advanced nation. The Ruler of Falladis is Eloise Reed, An elf with dark hair and a voluptuous body who holds the absolute command called Et imperatrix, which was passed down to her after the Prophet let her drink his blood in a forgotten ritual before the prophets were hunted down. Many years later, a military Human family took her in, and slowly but surely, Eloise built a nation after several generations to what now is the great Kingdom of Falladis. However, despite being a peaceful kingdom, it was once at war with the Federation of Orst, which had to retreat since Eloise herself along with a Guardian personally joined the fight for the cavern systems. From that time, Eloise was known as the Crimson Empress due to her ability to manipulate blood at will. That was the only time Eloise ever fought, repelling the entire army of Orst which was very well equipped with cutting-edge war machines and soldiers.

The Guardian of Falladis and his descendants, on the other hand, keep fighting up to today’s date against the Hives that have been appearing underground with the help of a primal dragon descendant cataloged as water dragon. Thanks to the technology advancements of Falladis and the access to an incredible amount of materials, the water dragon was equipped with special devices used mostly for the guardian’s support and the special clean-up team that follows them.

“So guardians are those who are chosen by the dragons?” –Chronos Asked after drinking water from the river they stopped by.

“That’s correct, and the Victoria Project started in order to use the virus to enhance human beings and make soldiers able to match the power of these beings.” –Sinns stopped the explanation for a second and turn to see Elvira for a brief moment. “The Custom weapon program was also made since all Human beings subjected to the virus were not able to survive it. I was the only successful attempt and so I was also enlisted for a custom weapon and taught everything I know.” –She sighed while looking a bit frustrated while leaning back against the wall behind her.

Archival previously explained to Chronos there are other Guardians in Delcyt. There are currently 2 candidates of Guardians and 1 Guardian that already meets with Archival to be baptized by Pandora and receive her blessing; however, the candidates couldn’t complete the trial and fled the forest. The guardian also fled but was still entrusted by a primal dragon to raise its offspring, just like Chronos while the other two candidates stumbled upon the forest as Heroes to tame the earth dragon but unable to complete the trial. The only difference is that the dragon of the guardian was able to hatch, becoming a threat already for being alive. Neither Chronos nor Elvira or Sinns had any idea that they were nearby the territory of this individual.

The broadcast was still going for some hours, repeating the same information in order to keep the awareness of the situation to the population. The Ruler of Delcyt had to present himself in several meetings and press conferences, keeping his responsible status by explaining the importance of secrecy for the military and research matters, detailing the most convenient points to win the over media.

Once the ruler was back to his office and had a moment to breathe, he sighed and sat on his chair to look outside of his window only to notice many people striking in front of the government building, denoting their discontent towards the secrecy in the military and the human experiments. He simply rubbed his eyes and stretched before calling for Cristobal to enter the office. “You are going to be the new face of the military forces, the one who managed to kill the Earth Dragon.” –The ruler spoke with a very dominant and assertive tone as if it was an absolute order after Cristobal passed through the door.

Cristobal nodded before being told to leave and once he left the room, he quickly leaned against a wall and tried to grab his chest as his heart was beating fast and sweat fell from his forehead, like if he had a nightmare and just woke up from it. The General of the Military forces was passing by to congratulate him about the success of the mission and invited him to eat something afterward, to which Cristobal agreed while regaining his composure but still not forgetting about the fear of being in that office, in front of the ruler of Delcyt.

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