"Move people, Come on! We don't have all day. Into the bunker!" A soldier shouted to the civilians as they were regrouped into a bunker.

"Bet this would keep them safe for now?" Another one asked her subordinate.

"No clue, it's barely used. Come on, we should concentrate." The soldier leaned towards a corner as she used a special mechanical mirror that was embedded to her gun.

"So? Did any of those idiots enter?" One of the soldiers asked her subordinate.

"No. Just....stay quiet and keep watch, you dolt." She made a hand signal as she kept her watch at the cornerside.

....

Meanwhile, The Aviation and The Echelon Crew decided to group up by a huge forest side which was left untouched by the Axis soldiers.

They gathered up their remaining ammunition as they shared plans and approaches as quickly as possible without Mastermind to help them.

"...Captain, we have no choice. The only way we can fight now is with our Guardians. We have barely any ammunition left. We have to summon them." Chau-Min pleaded to Captain as she was trying her best to bandage up her comrades wounds.

"Scheisse, Fine. Any of you who have a summon key , go ahead." Captain Shanina said as she whips the ground and tossed it to the air as it glowed.

With a blinding light, the glow turned to a feminine silhouette which slowly slithered out a Lamia. Not too shabby looking, she had peculiar snake like appearances though her dressage is rather millitary-grade. "Finally, a fight." She hissed.

"Greetings Miss Snare, didn't expect you to be her Guardian." Sae-Ying smiles towards the Lamia.

"Ahh, it's Shimaya's elder daughter, good." She smiles as she summons and puts on some sort of battle armor?

"No time for chit-chat...we have to be serious now." William said as he tried sniping one by one some soldiers with Shin-ae. (Who was summoned some time ago)

"Where the heck is The Phantoms anyway?" Shizuka/Crimson asked.

"Their probably taking care of the base for flankers...and most probably the Generals are activating the defenses." Captain Wisp replied.

"Dammit..." William held his hand which started to bleed from blisters. "Need a bandage up please, a quick one." William handed out his hand towards Chau-Min.

"On it..." She carries her first aid kit as she wraps a mana-enhanced bandage onto his hands. "Your gloves, did it tear or did you forget it?"

"It tore as I was having a CQB with some nutcase axis." William sighed as he held the pain.

"Alright, there done..." Chau-Min said as she immediately calls out Ni-au to help heal another soldier who was bleeding furiously from a knife slash.

"Alright, Guardian and Griffin, you guys stay and take care of the injured as usual. Rampage, I want you to stop sniping. You can go ahead and help the Aviation Crew to get ammunition, alright?"

"On it. Shin-ae, Sae-Yong. Hurry." William transforms the sniper back to the duet pistol and groups up with the Aviation Crew as fast as he could.

Shin-ae and Sae-Yong did the same too.

"I will head out and look for their Captain, without her, they cannot act normally anymore." Shanina said as she puts on her glove. "Snare, you better assist me alright?"

"No worries, I will." She slithers towards her.

...

"Hey Will, your hand is still bleeding. You think you can really hold on?" Shizuka/Crimson asked as she looks at the wound worryingly.

"I'm fine... Really. Guardian already applied some numbing anaesthetic onto it and I took some painkillers." William/Rampage replied as he took a slight look to the left noticing a shadow.

Sae-Yong immediately hid behind a tree and signalled them not to move.

A group of Axis soldiers gathered speaking in an incoherent language similar to gibberish. Made sense as the Axis body were already slowly rotting so it made sense for their vocal cords to not be intact.

After some time, the group left leaving the Rampage and The Aviation Crew to continue their resupplying.

"I wonder how this clones work, when bodies rot , won't they get rigor mortis, shouldn't they basically be paralyzed?" Blaze asked as she fumbled about with a twig, lighting and unlightening it.

"Not sure, I think it's more of something to do with the chemicals that are still active in their body or the amount of adrenaline that is continuously being pumped into their bloodstream." Captain Wisp replied.

"Still it makes no sense." Blaze said as she accidentally snaps the twig.

"We're close already, hurry up girls..." William hand signalled to hurry up.

"Sorry, Mr.William.... I meant Rampage." Captain Wisp replied as she slowly ran towards his direction. The others followed too.

"Here, stand on my hand and climb over the wall, simple." William said as he knelt onto the ground.

"Are you sure about that? It's bleeding." Crimson made a surprised look.

"Uh hmm, is there anyone else here who can support your weights." William raised his eyebrow.

"Alright alright..hurry." Crimson immediately jumps into his hand and climbed over the gate.

As the others did so, Wisp's the slightly hardest to do as of her tall and curvaceous state.

"Ughh..." William held the pain with an iron will. "Come on, you can do it."

"....There, did it...now grab my hand." As Wisp climbed over she places her arm down as she stared directly down at him.

"Alright." Grabbing her arm, William used the ground as a launch and jumped over the wall with a slight pull from Wisp. "Phew~..."

Wiping the dust off, they immediately head to the Armoury. Since they had special tags in their clothing, the defenses never really worked on them and just let them pass through.

"I realised one thing, you three didn't summon your Guardians." William snickered as he took along some magazines for his LN, tossing a few to Shin-ae and Wisp.

"Well, our Guardians are elemental types. If we summon them, they could either ice out the forest or burn them down to the ground with the slightest touch." Blaze replied.

"She's got a point but there is an odd flaw, they somehow don't hurt when you physically touch them. You feel a little tingle of warmth or cold but it won't permanently freeze or char you to ashes." Sae-Yong said as she polished her blade.

"You can say each of our different types have their own flaws... " Shin-ae replied back with a smile.

"Thats true ." Shizuka answers back as she peeks outside with a USP she decided to use. "All clear....I also found a secret door we could use as an exit." She points to a camouflaged door nearby the wall.

"Nice..." William says as he carries a container filled with ammo along. "...Damn, this is heavy."

"Hey, let me help you with that." Captain Wisp said as she one side of the container. "Alright, you two. I trust you in our protection now. Do your best." She smiles towards Shin-ae and Sae-Yong.

"You can count on us." Sae-Yong replies as Shizuka nods and immediately opens the door out.

"Now ... Go go go." Shizuka ran as Blaze opens the secret exit open.

Shin-ae closed the armory's gate and hurried up to the others with her gliding ability.

As the two guardians protected the soldiers, they tried their best to get back at the temporary campsite as soon as possible.

Five minutes later , they did. Exhausted , Captain Wisp and Rampage immediately grab some bottles of water and drinks it out.

"Finally, ammo." A partially injured soldier said with a smile as she reloaded her SMG.

"Save some for the others too." Sherrinford/Griffin replied as she lays by a tree looking as if she fought for hours without rest.

"You alright?" William/Rampage asked her.

"No. I was defending this campsite for quite some time. This axis soldiers are like rats. They either come in a group or ambush solo."

"Damn, where's Captain anyway?" William asks Sherrinford. '"Looking for the Axis Captain with her guardian friend." She replies.

"Dammit, she can't just go solo-ing again. [email protected]#£ it, Shin-ae, Sae-Yong. Let's go!" William says as he reloads his FMG-9 that he picked out in the Armoury.

"Nice gun...it's terrible at aim though." Chau-Min tells him.

"Who says I'm gonna aim anyway? It has the auto-aim enhancements on." He shows a switch which was screwed into the gun.

"Ahh, alright..one of those newer models." Chau-Min replies as she helped Ni-au to enhance her med-tools.

"Alright, I'm off." He heads into the deep forest as Shin-ae and Sae-Yong followed.

"Screw it...If Captain is going to suicide dive, atleast don't do it alone." William said softly to himself.

"Who says she is solo diving? She has Snare with her. She is one of the too rankers in the Guardian Millitary firm." Sae-Yong tells him.

"Solo or duo, what if there was a bigger pack with them...what? Expect to fight 100s , you must be kidding. This ain't a movie, this is real life." He cuts away some branches with his Hunting Knife and wraps the leaves around his arm as a camo.

"I don't think that will work that well." Shin-ae made an innocent smile.

"We're figthing Axis soldiers not normal ones, their different. Due to their rotting bodies, they may have enhanced agility but their sight, strength and smell are terribly off. I bet they can't taste food either." William replied.

"Best not to underestimate them." Sae-Yong replies back as she unholsters her blade.

"I sense some nearby , shall I excuse myself for a second?" Sae-Yong asked.

"Go ahead, lightspeed." William continued walking forward.

In one thud, Sae-Yong dissapeared, sliced up all the axis soldiers unaware and bounced back to the other two as if nothing happened. Her blade was still bloody though, so she waved it to the ground to drip it off.

"Welcome back..." William said as he made a hand signal for them to take halt.

He noticed Captain Shanina talking to another figure. A figure resembling an axis soldier, no doubt. She wore a similar captain's uniform but only shrivelled up and torn away from the ever rotting.

Snare was behind the figure possibly threatening her.

Hiding in the bush, the trio watched.

"You know you are trying to fight off and become back to normal but you can't even if you try, you would probably die due to the lack of the chemicals the older cloning machines produce. Just, try to handle it alright..." Captain Shanina said to the Axis Captain who was looking down to the ground.

In a roughened and broken English, she/it spoke. "I will try....my...best." The axis Captain using her corrupted Guardian immediately dissapears.

"And other than that.... You three can come out." Captain Shanina said as she slightly turns her head to a bush they were hiding behind.

"Damn, she's good at hide and seek." Shin-ae said as she pops her head out. William and Sae-Yong walks out and heads to her.

"Was that a malfunctioning clone?" William asked.

"No, Captains in Axis are still normal selves, they are just being controlled by the General's "curse" of the corrupted Guardian she owns. Not malfunctioning but she knows how to bypass the control." Captain Shanina replies.

"She's been working with me for some time to gather certain information. Only that this ambush wasn't part of their plan, it was only a side job. That's what she explained." Shanina explains.

"And her corrupted Guardian crystal is broken, meaning dead...so she can't be called out by the Mother of corruption." Snare fills in Shanina.

"That makes sense...So that means the General of Axis is being controlled by the Mother of Corruption then." William asks.

"Yes..." Captain Shanina answers. "This is why I wanted to solo it. I didn't want to be spotted out but since you did, I had no choice. Also, I trust you so it was fun." Shanina sighs as she ties up her hair and places on her gloves.

"Let's get back, the Captain called off the side job. They will be retreating soon enough, but, there will be corpses to dispose off, lots of them. Shanina orders.