Once more we venture to Avalon. With Morgana as our guide, we have only one objective. We must find and defeat the evil that stems from that land; the king of thorns.

Yet even with an army at my side, even with the alliance with both Aquia and Rosaria, the demons at the fiends beck and call prove the dangers of this journey.

Such unholy monstrosities, born forth from hell, from this void that Morgana refers to, are capable of slaughtering dozens of men in one fell swoop.

Thus we embark to claim the only thing that could put and end to such creatures, the source of the King of Thorns power.

Morgana referred to it, a name that reviles us; the holy grail.

Allisa’s head pounded as she awoke. Once more she had a memory flash in her mind, showing segments of king Arthur's life. Like before, the King of Thorns played a central role to his life. There were faces she recognized, even if the names had escaped her. Yet there was one more; Morgana.

She couldn’t put her finger on it, but there was something about her that-

“EMERGENCY! EMERGAN-GHA!”

Allisa grabbed a hold of Berken before he flew and hit her head.

“Morning…” Allisa threw the rabbit away as she let out a deep yawn.

“Didn’t you hear me! EMERGENCY?!”

“What’s up now?”

“Ion’s gone!”

“She’s…. Wha-?!” Allisa shot out of her rotted bed and looked around. “What? When?”

“I don’t know! I booted back up and she was gone!” Berken said frantically flying around. “Ahhh! What do we do! What do we do!”

“…. She couldn’t have gotten far,” Allisa sat up and stretched. “Maybe she’s gone to the bathroom?”

“Ba! The Star Singer has no need to defecate. She can’t consume food like you so she doesn’t need to, remember!”

“And how was I supposed to know that?”

“It’s simple hune biology you dolt! Ahh, this is bad! If anything happens to Ion it’ll be on your head!”

“How’s this my fault?! You're her flying support robot! It should be you who keeps a close eye on her!”

“Automotive Support-! Who’s that?”

After Berken’s sudden shift in tone, Allisa looked behind her and nearly jumped out of her skin. Sitting on an old chair was a woman, dressed in a white shirt and a black skirt making her look as though she worked in an office, black hair tied into a bun, glasses, and scribbling something down in a massive, very old tome.

“Uh… h-hello?”

The woman looked up, unnerving Allisa with her blood-red eyes under her spectacles, then returned to her book.

“A friend of yours?” Berken asked.

“…. No. I don’t think so,” Allisa had met a lot of weirdos on her long journey, and she was certain she had never seen this woman before.

“Ahh, we don’t have time for this!” Berken suddenly blurted out in a loud volume. “We need to find Ion! Right now!”

“I know, I know!” Allisa snapped, rubbing her ear. “Like I said, she can’t have gotten too far. She must be around-”

“If you're looking for your friend, she’s just beyond the walls looking for food.” The woman said, not looking up from her book.

“Uhh….. thanks,” Allisa said nervously, looking back at Berken who seemed just as confused. “Sorry… who are you?”

“Careful, spy. She’s probably another spy sent to abduct Ion like you,” Berken hissed. Allisa glared at him.

“You may call me Ark,” The woman said before slamming her book shut, standing up to full height while tucking it under her arm, adjusting her glasses with her free hand. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Allisa Reed.”

“H-Huh?” Allisa felt alarm bells ringing in her head. “Y-You know who I am?”

“Correct.”

There was no way someone from this would be able to recognize her, which was enough for Allisa to remain cautious. There were also her eyes; the dark crimson that was staring back at her. It was the same kind of eyes both Yun’s had. She also gave off the strange, vacant feeling the boy/girl did. Yet unlike the aforementioned boy/girl, there was not this horrific sense of dread that came from their presence. In fact, Ark gave a completely empty vibe, one that was cold and distant.

“I assure you I mean no harm.” Ark continued sensing Allisa’s tension. “I had a few things to write in my compendium about you. Though I will admit I’ve been curious to meet with you in person.”

“Me?” Allisa didn’t drop her guard. “Why?”

“I cannot say for now. But I suspect you and I will be meeting again in the near future.” The woman began to walk away, “And when that time comes, you and I will be coming to a mutual agreement.” Passing through the open door.

“H-Hey!” Allisa ran after her. “We’re not…. What?”

The woman was gone. Not only that, she had vanished completely with not a single trace of her. Berken flew out to join her, equally confused.

“Strange… my sensor wasn’t picking up anything.”

“You mean she just disappeared?”

“No. I mean they weren't picking up anything at all. Even when she was right in front of us. It’s almost like she doesn’t exist. Strange,”

“Yeah…. Strange,” Allisa continued to look around, but there was no trace of that woman at all and nothing out of the ordinary.

“Ba! What are we waiting around for? We need to find Ion!” Berken yelled.

“O-oh right.” Allisa nodded. “That woman said she was looking for food. Don’t you have something to track her?”

“Way ahead of you,” Berken began to fly off. “Follow me, spy!”

“Coming.”

****

“Ion!” Allisa called as both her and Berken left the settlement. “Ion!”

The sun had risen (or was back), casting morning on the rocky ground interspersed with both large stalagmites and the occasional metal pilon.

“Ion! Where are you?!” Berken bellowed at max volume. “This is bad! This is very bad!”

“That lady said she was somewhere out here,”

“Ba! Of course you’d take a fellow spy at her word,”

“Would you give the spy crap a rest!”

“Allisa! Berken!” Ion’s voice suddenly called out. Off in the distance, near a patch of glowing flowers, they spotted the star singer smiling and waving at them.

“There, she’s fine.” Allisa sighed with relief. When she looked back, she saw Ion’s face had changed to one of shock. The sound of an engine crept closer. Allisa looked behind her and to her horror spotted the same dragonfly-shaped ship coming towards them.

“AH! Ravengers!” Berken panicked.

“Th-think they saw us?”

Energy shots fired from the ship, landing on the ground a few feet away from the pair.

“I’ll take that as a yes!” Allisa said, summoning her sword.

The ship got low enough and opened its bay doors. From it, about ten ravenger’s, seven with four arms and halberds and three-four legs with gunners landed on the ground, searing and hissing as they scuttled towards the two.

“Looks like you’ll have to fight them,”

“Yeah, I was thinking that two,” After her rhetoric, Allisa parried one of the halberdiers before taking its head off in a follow-up, teleporting behind another before cutting into its back. Her magical blade made short work of the crude armor, slicing through the crude metal like butter, even slicing one of the halberds in half. However, when she did the ravenger drew out a pistol with its lower left hand. Before it could fire, Allisa teleported back out of danger, only just getting up when two beams passed by her head, fired from the two shooters. Allisa rushed forwards, teleporting through the attacking helbardeers, appearing in the sky before descending and cutting down the two shooters.

No sooner had she turned around did she deal with them, the helbardeers had caught up with her. Reacting quickly, Allisa parried a strike from the first attacker before teleporting in the middle of the group, cutting and slashing at the attackers who were taken completely by surprise. She only got three, with the final one retreating back before following up with an overhead strike. Allisa teleported again, appearing behind the monster and finishing it off with a downward strike. All that was left was the final one with the pistol. Allisa was about to dodge when something grabbed her ankle. It was the ravenger she had slashed before, holding onto her leg with both left arms.

Not good.

The pistoleer was about to fire when a rock hit its bone-decorated helmet. It turned and saw Ion throwing another rock. Hissing it took aim at Ion as the girl darted for a nearby rock. Allisa had freed herself from what held her and teleported over to the final ravenger. With one strike, she severed both left arms before delivering the killing blow; slicing the creature in half.

“That was close…” Allisa sighed as she discarded her sword.

“Allisa! Berken!” With the threat now passed, Ion poked her head out from behind the rock. Looking relieved, she left the object and rushed over to her two companions. “Thank the ekon you’re both alright.”

“Forget us, why’d you run off like that?!” Allisa asked.

“I thought for sure the spy had made her devious move,” Berken said.

“Oh drop it!”

“Ahaha… sorry. I didn't mean to worry you.” Ion apologized with a bow. “The sun had returned and I thought you could use some food. I wasn’t expecting ravengers to come and find us.”

“... let's hope there won’t be more,” Allisa sighed.

“Don’t count on it. The ravengers must be on the hunt. There’s no doubt we’ll be encountering more.” Berken said. “You’d better pull your weight today spy.”

“Like there'll be anyone else.”

Ion let out a small chuckle. “W-well, we're close to the translucent forest. The ravengers shouldn’t pursue us in there.”

“Unless they come for the warframes inside.” Berken pointed out as Allisa began to walk on. She cringed upon hearing what the robot said.

“Is there anywhere on this journey that’s safe?”

“Nope,” Berken said obnoxiously happily. “Let’s hope you don’t get torn to shreds before we reach the peaks. I’d hate for anything to happen to Ion.”

Allisa shot a deadly glare at the robotic rabbit.

“Now now, it's a long journey yet and we can’t have you two constantly at each other’s throats.” Ion said with a smile as the pair followed behind them. “Let’s put aside your rather unfortunate first meeting and try to become best friends.”

“No promises….”

****

This part of the Crag was even more twisted than the part they were on before, consisting of a honeycomb of tunnels that peppered the terras. Luckily the monsters were the same variety as the previous day. While that was comforting, an ambush by three predators shortly after setting off. Despite getting the jump on them, Allisa was able to get the upper hand by using her teleporting ability, which proved invaluable in closing the distance to the fast warframes.

“I hate these things….” Allisa sighed after the final warframe fell.

“Fear not spy. There are plenty in this part of the crag.” Berken said cheerfully.

“….. Your encouragement sucks, you know that.” Allisa groaned as they continued forwards. Like the previous section of the crag, machines were dotted all around the plains, twisting and turning into many different shapes and sizes. From large slabs of rectangles that were broken and overgrown with vegetation to the old spires that pierced through the earth. The natural wildlife could be seen huddling around these machines, some making nests out of the old hulks of the machines.

After much walking, Allisa and Ion stopped by a waterfall, running down one of the broken rectangles into a small pond.

“Is this safe to drink?” Allisa asked Ion.

“Oh yes. It should be.”

“Should be?”

“There won't be any poisonous toxins if that’s what you're worried about,” Berken said.

With a sigh and inwardly saying “what the hell,” Allisa crouched down, taking some water in the palm of her hand before sipping on it. It tasted very fresh and pure. Certainly nothing like back at home.

“See. You’re perfectly fine,” Berken added. “Honestly, I can never understand why you organics worry about what you can and can’t eat.”

“Call us crazy,” Allisa jabbed, taking some water to splash on her face. Ion chuckled to herself.

Moving onwards again, Allisa found herself more on edge than before as the absence of her friends began to sink in even more. She had two more encounters since the spring, first with folforo’s then with a vof pack. They were about to enter a cave when they were jumped again by preditors. After defeating them, Allisa let out a deep sigh, unequipping her weapon as she caught her breath.

“A-are you okay? Do you need to stop?” Ion asked concerned.

“… Maybe for a sec,” Allisa slumped against a wall. “Man, it’s hard when it’s just me.”

“Sorry. I really can’t fight.” Ion bowed her head.

“Don’t worry about it,” Allisa smiled at her. “Guess…. Never realized how lucky I was with my friends around.”

“The ones who helped Markus, correct?”

“I don’t like the look of them…” Berken said. “Especially that one with the blue ears in her hair.”

Allisa giggled. “I don’t think Mary will try to eat you if that’s what you’re worried about. Probably,” She then sat up, slapping her cheeks. “I’m okay now.” She said, moving first into the large cavern, snaking around to the lower plains.

“Wait!” Berken suddenly spoke up. Allisa stopped and looked back at the rabbit.

“What? More monsters or warframes?” She said alert.

“No,” Something then passed overhead. Allisa looked up and saw one of the ravenger dragonfly ships, then another, and another smaller one that lowered itself. There was gunfire from its open doors, ripping apart a pack of predators warframes before it landed. “Ravengers,”

“I can see that…”

The trio watched as a group of eleven ravengers exerted the ship. There was a mix of both the four-handed ones all wielding spears and four-legged ones carrying guns. Flanked by them were four wolf-shaped warframes that rushed ahead. Allisa watched the group as they attacked the predators, noticing gunfire from the spears, blasting apart the warframes armor. The final predators fell when the wolves pounced on it, the mechanical jaws ripping into its metal flesh.

“What are they doing?” Allisa asked.

“I think they’re hunting warframes,” Ion said quietly as they watched the wolves retreating back to the group who let out a loud hiss before walking off. As she spoke, more of the smaller drop ships circled overhead, landing in different spots unloading more ravengers.

“It seems a bit excessive to me,” Berken said.

“…. They’re not looking for us, are they?” Allisa asked.

“Doubt it. They were on the prow yesterday too, remember. Even if they found out what we did, no way they’d mobilize this much in such a short period of time.” Berken replied. “…. It might be, they’re looking to build a settlement. Expand the clan’s borders. It would make the most sense,”

Allisa pushed Ion closer to the wall as the ravenger party moved past them, hissing and clicking under the bone helmets until they were gone completely. “Well, if they’re not looking for us, best we just leave them to it.” She said once the monster was out of sight. “How much further to the woods we’re heading too.”

Ion pointed to a spot in the distance. “It’s not too far now. We just need to get past them.”

“Hopefully the Ravengers don’t rip you to shreds before we get there,” Berken added.

“…. Please don’t jinx it.”

Allisa was the first to leave the safety of the cavern, keeping an eye on the sky in case of another dropship circling above. After the last encounter, she wasn’t that enthusiastic about fighting the creatures.

They kept to the shade as much as possible, though the unevenness of the terrain made navigation difficult, more so than the previous day. It wasn’t long before they were once more jumped by predators’ warframes, and while it was quick to deal with, it drew the attention of a small group of ravengers.

“Here they come,” Allisa swore to herself as she parried one of the spears before striking it through the chest. She had to teleport to avoid the gunfire from the other three, coming from the tips of the spears, until finally Allisa had closed the distance and dispatched the remaining three.

“Okay, let’s go before their friends come.”

They left the area as quickly as they could, finding a narrow path that took them along the outer rim of the plateau. Allisa struggled not to look down, as right below her feet was a sharp drop into a white mist ocean that covered the gaps between the plateaus.

“Hope none of those things follow us here,” Allisa said, following Berken as he hovered ahead.

“If there are, it’s the skars that. Will be coming after us.” Berken said.

“Skars?”

“Oh, he means the four-legged Ravengers,” Ion explained.

“Oh, those things,” Allisa carefully walked over a small gap. A small piece of rock got loose and fell down to the mist below. “While we’re on the topic; why do some ravengers have four arms and others have four legs? Are they… different races or variants?”

“It’s actually their gender. The four legs are the females; which we call scars. The four-armed ones are males; they’re called Regs.”

“Skars and… regs?” Allisa scratched her head. “So the amount of limbs you have is what you’re gender is. That’s pretty…. Weird.”

“You’re one to talk,” Berken said turning around to face Allisa. “From my perspective, you Hune females may as well be a different race compared to your male counterparts.”

“….. Okay, got me there.” Allisa chuckled.

“Aw, It’s good to see you two finally bonding,” Ion beamed.

“We’re not!” Both rebutted, walking forwards ahead of Ion in a huff. The star singer chuckled as she followed behind, carefully watching her footing.

****

Allisa was glad when the narrow path turned into a cave, taking them back out onto the plains near one of the old pylons. She wasn’t bad with heights but certainly did have an issue with perilous passageways. She still remembered vividly how Yuki had push her and Meracle off back in cataka, and the recent near falls she had in the conduit.

“Coast is clear,” Berken said, hovering ahead. “Come on spy! Move it!”

“I’m coming,” Allisa was waiting at the foot of the cave, waiting for Ion to catch up. “Can you keep going?”

“O-oh, I’m fine,” Ion nodded to her. “I spent my youth in rugged terrain so this is nothing new for me,”

“If you say so,” Allisa walked ahead. “Just let me know if you need to rest. We can’t have you collapse again,”

Ion nodded. “I should be okay. There hasn’t been a need for me to sing today.”

“Wha- coast isn’t clear! Help me spy!”

Allisa stopped at Berken’s frantic warning, seeing the rabbit flying backward from behind him was one of the wolf warframes chasing after him.

“Ion, hide!” Allisa summoned Excalibur and rushed forwards towards the panicked rabbit. She raised her sword up as Berken rushed past, bringing it down on the warframe, destroying it in one swing. Just as the machine lifeform skidded across the ground, another pounced on Allisa, digging its metallic fangs into her already ruined hoody. Allisa squealed in pain as she kicked the machine away. She teleported when the beast pounced again, scoring a hit on its body. Her follow-up was interrupted by gunfire. Five ravengers, four of them regs with sabers and one a scar with twin pistols, flanked by two more machine warframes.

“Oh are you kidding me!”

“Allisa!” Ion called out.

“Stay there!” Allisa backed away, transforming her weapon into Aqua heart as the saber ravengers pounded her. With water jutting from her feet, Allisa slid back, using the fluid momentum the saber provided to parry and slay one of the charging ravengers while avoiding gunfire from the pistoleer. She leaped off the ground as the wolves charged, inverting her weapon and plunging it into one of them, making sure it was dead before teleporting away. She was forced into a two-way fight with two of the ravengers, using all her inherited momentum to give herself some breathing room. Her weapon transformed into a water whip, which she used to coil around one of the ravengers. She lifted it over the air, expecting it to panic. However, while in the air it threw one of its weapons at her.

Shit!

Allisa disengaged her whip and teleported back to avoid being hit. The ravenger landed back on its feet, hissing as it took out its weapon again. Allisa was once more forced back onto the back foot as the remaining wolves rushed in. She killed one of the wolves- the one she wounded before- only to take a bullet to her leg. Allisa groaned, looking up as another ravenger rushed her. She parried it and stabbed the monster in the chest. To her shock, it dropped its wave weapons and grabbed her sword arm. Panicked, Allisa turned and saw a ravenger coming up behind her, swinging its swords to her neck.

Fa-ci-qu-cha seee!

Glyphs suddenly spread on Allisa’s body as a golden glow covered her. The weapon aimed at her shattered once it hit her skin. Allisa kicked the ravenger aside, turned, and took a swing at the ravenger show jumped her. It retreated, avoiding being cut by Allisa’s sword. Allisa rushed forwards, propelled by her water slide ability to cover the distance. The ravenger attempted to block but Allisa was too fast, slicing the creature in half from its narrow torso. Skidding to a halt, Allisa transformed her weapon into Azure flame as the final warframe pounced on her. The superheated blade made short work of the machine, melting its armor. Allisa then unleashed a torrent of flame on the pistoleer, eviscerating it in the blast. The final ravenger, undaunted by the death of its comrades, howled into the sky before charging to Allisa, leaping off a dead warframe. Allisa lowered her body, holding her sword in both hands before slicing upwards. The blades made contact, and Allisa’s heated weapon melted through the alien weapons and sliced through the ravenger with ease.

“…. That was close,” Allisa sighed as she unequiped her weapon, keeling over to catch her breath. The glyphs that covered her body had vanished, and it was then Allisa noticed her gunshot and torn arm were completely healed, far faster than it normally took her.

“Allisa!” Ion and Berken emerged from her hiding place at the cave. “Are you okay?”

“Y-Yeah…” Allisa kept looking at her arms, baffled by the strange light that covered her. “Was that… was that you?”

Ion nodded. “I can’t fight, but I can support you.”

Allisa smiled. “Thanks.”

The sound of engines roared overhead, breaking the momentary respite.

“I’d recommend we leave before more show up,” Berken suggested flying ahead.

“Suits me,” Allisa said looking back at the signs of battle. “I’ve already had enough of these things….” Allisa followed after Berken. The robotic rabbit took a quick glance at her. He looked like he wanted to say something. “What?”

Berken looked to Ion. “.... Nothing. Just take more care of yourself spy. It would be inconvenient if you died before we reach the peaks.” He flew off in a huff.

“.... Okay?” Allisa shrugged.