Back at the West Gate, the bloody battle raged fiercely. The brave warriors of Genesis held their ground against the relentless hordes, filling the streets with clouds of red mist. Though several escaped from the West District towards the heart of the village, many were hunted down by skillful GCU wielders. Roland himself faced the Alpha alone, clashing against it with his broadsword encircled by a whipping wind down the length of the blade.

He stood wary of the other Fractured around him, cutting them down with waves of wind when they came too close. When one leaped at him, two flying swords pinned it to the ground. A small smile formed as he saw Aram jump in, his back to Roland’s as he faced the other incoming Fractured.

“So you finally joined the fray, huh?”

A smirking Aram recalled his summoned swords to his hands. “Naturally. Wouldn’t want to waste an opportunity to earn some overtime pay.”

“I’ll bring it up with the council,” replied an amused Roland.

One of the Fractured approaching them suddenly stopped and began writhing in pain. It fell to the ground and shattered, revealing Auriel arriving on the scene. She locked eyes with Roland, who nodded solemnly. A mischievous grin appeared on Aram's face.

“You caught up. We’ve been waiting.”

“Don’t pretend you didn’t just get here; I saw you trying to act cool with that flashy entrance.”

While Aram frowned, Auriel stood next to the two as they prepared for the next Fractured wave that appeared from the top of the gate. She raised her shield and sword, scanning the crowd. Noticing Roland staring, she turned to address his concerns.

“I know what you're gonna say, but I’m not backing away from this.”

As she clutched her sword tightly, the words that followed seemed to trickle out with a tinge of uncertainty, yet at the same time, decisiveness.

"It's been a VERY stressful walk over here and I honestly feel like I want to just give up and hide in a hole somewhere, but I know that's not an option I should consider right now. I need to do this."

Considering his surroundings, he refocused on his enemy, though he still replied, “We’ll talk after we’re done here.”

The Alpha charged at the old swordsman, slashing with its arms, but he parried with well-timed sword swings. Aram and Auriel prepared for the horde running towards them, when suddenly a shower of glowing crossbow bolts rained from the sky, hitting all the Fractured.

“What the-?”

“Is that?” mouthed Auriel in surprise.

Though somewhat difficult to make out, she could see a figure standing atop a nearby building. The figure waved, and she recognized III, standing on the edge with her weapon drawn. A smile crossed her lips, and her eyes filled with growing hope.

“Hey Ellie, I made it!” yelled III as she shot another Fractured close to them. “I got the small fry!”

“Friend of yours?” asked Adam, confused at the sudden arrival. Auriel smiled widely and waved.

“Right now? Definitely!”

Seeing the fallen Fractured around it, the Alpha started walking towards the trio, then picked up the pace with a light sprint. Roland lowered his stance in anticipation.

“Look sharp! He’s coming!”

The three clashed with the beast, splitting its focus. They planted their feet and pushed it back, attacking in unison. Sparks flew in the air, as the bladed hands of the Alpha appeared to be as hard as steel. Preparing for a threefold effort, the warriors distanced themselves temporarily. For a moment, they attacked from different sides to confuse the Alpha, but it countered them, slashing outwards in all directions and damaging their armor.

Aram turned to Auriel, signaling a tactic she picked up on, and the duo ran head-on for the kill. Working in tandem, Aram and Auriel parried and immobilized its arms, leaving it wide open for a deadly strike from Roland into its abdomen. It struggled with the blade until it finally fell over, shaking the ground with a loud thud. With a few more crossbow bolts, the remaining Fractured in the surrounding area all shattered.

“Haha! And that’s how it’s done!” bellowed a proud Roland, removing his sword from the creature.

Auriel breathed a sigh of relief, and the combatants sheathed their weapons. III jumped down to greet them for a job well done.

“Ha. So, you were still here after all. You’re a hard person to find, y’know.”

“Trust me, I wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t.”

“Guess not. Thanks, by the way. You were pretty great.”

“Well, not to jinx it or anything, but that could have been much worse. Could have been better too, but we got it done right?”

“Right.Oh! You guys haven’t met," she motioned to Roland and III. "This is who I was talking about before.”

III threw back her hood and deactivated her mask. In the juxtaposed light of the moon and lantern torches, they were able to ascertain her features: curly, ginger hair with several braids, lightly reddish-brown skin, and hazel-green eyes that refracted so well that they seemed to emit light.

“So that’s what’s hiding under that musty hood and weird mask,” quipped a smirking Auriel.

“Oh, so you’ve got jokes, huh.”

“Nice to be acquainted with a friend of Ellie," said Roland, offering a handshake. "You’re quite the sharpshooter.”

“Thanks. Nice to meet you as well.”

III turned to shake Aram’s hand, but Auriel stopped her. She looked confused and turned to her new friend.

"He’s Aram, and definitely not a shaker, don’t bother.”

“Don’t speak for me. But yes, I’m not a shaker.” III retracted her hand with a raised brow, while Aram turned up his nose.

“Alright then.”

“By the way, I need to talk to you about something.”

“Same, but that-” she stopped mid-sentence to shoot down a lingering Fractured that snuck close to them. “-will have to wait. Thanks to you ringing the dinner bell earlier, we’ve got a lot more work to do here.”

"Wait, what do you mean by that?”

As the group checked their surroundings for more surprises, the Alpha’s body seemed to twitch. Without warning, it suddenly shot large spikes in the direction of the warriors, forcing them to jump out of the way. Arming her crossbow, III shot down the spikes closest to them.

“Guess this one doesn’t know when to quit.”

The spikes stopped moving, having landed in the floating spheres from all the Fractured shot and cut down by the warriors. Without warning, they suddenly retracted towards the Alpha's body, pulling in the spheres. The clouds of red mist followed the spheres, twisting in the air like snakes comprised of vapor, until they converged over the body. A look of uncertainty overcame III

“Is this…”

Before she could end her thought, the fact of exactly what was occurring seemed to flash in her eyes, as her countenance changed. She began shooting bolts towards the spikes, and though her shots appeared to pierce the clouds, the spikes continued their withdrawal.

“STOP THOSE SPIKES!!”

The three sword wielders rushed to cut them down but were smacked back by the serpentine whipping, as the semi-aware Alpha would not allow them to interrupt. The mist was absorbed slowly into its body, transforming it into a larger and much more imposing figure. The formerly alien-like body was now much more humanoid, with the face of a confused man. For a moment it seemed as if it was struggling to say something, until it screeched loudly, shaking the surrounding area with the strength of the sound waves. Roland stabbed the ground to maintain his position.

“What is this?!”

A distant memory of Mefitis flashed through III’s mind of a similar experience. Her skin flared with goosebumps at the mere thought. The chilling blue eyes of the creature hovered over each of them, as they prepped themselves for a counter.

“This is bad. Bad bad bad.” III gripped her crossbow's handle tightly.

Moving slowly, Auriel reached for the handle of her sword when in a split second, the great beast rushed towards her, knocking Roland out of the way and into a wall. It turned and locked eyes with her once more, but when it reached to grasp her within its claws, III and Aram intervened, barely saving her from a serious wound, while they both received minor injuries. Auriel struggled to her feet, while III shook off the shock of the attack which caused her arms to tremble.

“So, this is definitely not going the way I expected it after the last couple of minutes,” grunted an annoyed Aram.

III shook her arms back and forth to loosen up and recover from the heavy hit.

“Well, it’s just a tad bit stronger than before is all.”

Aram looked over at the transfixed Auriel, with her hand still hovering over the handle of the undrawn sword. Noting her apparent fear, he stood between her and the monster.

“Now would be a good time for you to run,” he suggested.

Unwilling to give in, Auriel grabbed and squeezed the handle. “No! We need to fight it together, or we won’t stand a chance! Like you said right, gotta have better instincts!”

The young swordsman sighed, frustrated at her answer.

“Look, I get what you’re trying to do, but this isn’t exactly the type of opponent you can trick into making a mistake. We can recover faster than you too, so let us handle this.”

Fleet of foot, the Alpha was once more on the attack, this time heading for Aram and attempting to stab him in the chest. In the nick of time, he knocked it off trajectory, and the blade went through his shoulder. The nefarious entity tossed him aside and set Auriel in his sights. III began a rapid-fire barrage to block its vision, biding time to find cover.

III took a knee to catch her breath, noticing her arms were still shaking.

“Damn, this went downhill fast.”

She turned to Auriel, still frozen with a tight grip on the handle, yet still not drawing.

“Not sure I can protect Ellie and fight at the same time. Not to mention it took out those guys in one hit," she thought as she looked over at Roland, then Aram. "This thing is scary strong. What to do, what to do!”

While wracking her brain for an idea, an imagination bubble appeared in her head.

“Maybe I could… leave her here, make a run for headquarters, call the mission quits and take a vacay somewhere… No no, I wouldn’t hear the end of it from Number II.”

As her mind went a million miles per hour, she remembered her earlier conversation with VI. Back up would be on the way, but how long would it take? With a veritable demon before her, she knew time was short. She took deep breaths to relax her nerves and smiled widely.

“I’ve got it.”

When the Alpha wound up for another attack, III fired a hail of light arrows around it to stun it momentarily. She removed the star from her cloak, returning it to normal size, and smiled again at a confused Auriel.

“What are you-?”

Without a moment to lose, she shoved Auriel in the vehicle and locked her in, activating the external controls. The vehicle roared to life as it prepared for takeoff. With a wide grin, she gestured with finger guns in a salute.

“See you around, Ellie.”

“What are you doing?!” yelled Auriel, knocking on the glass.

The vehicle blasted off, flying through the sky at incredible speed and heading for the stars.

Shaking off the stun, the Alpha held its head in irritation. Roland stepped forward, brushing off the dust from the wall, and Aram stood up, holding his wounded shoulder and gritting his teeth as he bandaged it.

“Wow! I knew you guys wouldn’t get taken out so easily. Though Aram looks like he needs to take a break.”

“Heh. Don’t you go deciding things for me either.” He summoned a sword in one hand, and with the other a second blade floating behind him in a circular pattern. “I can manage just fine. How about you, Sir Roland?”

"Well now, if you young people still have the energy to fight this thing, then I should be able to pick up the slack as well, now shouldn't I?" A red aura formed around the seasoned swordmaster, whipping the air around him, and running down the length of his blade as well. A surprised III turned around to face down the Alpha, meeting its glare with a proud smile.

“How’d you like that ‘ol razzle-dazzle? I call it, ‘Taste the Sun’. What’d you think?”

In apparent response, it roared angrily and bared its teeth.

“Hey, the name’s a work in progress, okay?” She stretched her neck, turning her head to the left and right to get kinks out, then grinned devilishly. “Although, I guess that a reasonable reaction to getting a face-full.”

The space around III’s left hand warped, and a second crossbow appeared. She combined them at the stocks and held it one-handed, allowing the strings to connect both stirrups. The strings flickered like a laser, glowing green and white. Pulling back on the strings, a lengthy light arrow appeared, aimed at the Alpha.

“Now, where were we?”

~X~

The Star carrying Auriel burst through a few clouds dotting the night sky above Genesis, increasing in speed as it flew ever on, making several twists and turns. When the star finally descended, she could barely make out a vast facility under the brilliant moonlight. Upon landing, she fell out and was greeted by armed soldiers surrounding her on all sides.

Through an incredibly disoriented perspective, the weary warrior did her best to make out her surroundings, holding the handle of her sword in preparation to draw in defense. The door on the far end of the courtyard opened, and a figure appeared: a peculiar and sharply dressed gentleman dressed in white and wearing an ornate masked helmet. He approached Auriel, who slightly unsheathed and her sword in caution.

“Now this is quite something.”

Behind him, two young women appeared, dressed in light armor and also sporting masks. Their appearance reminded Auriel of III.

“Ah, right on time, yes?”

“Indeed,” replied II. “So, she came after all.”

“It seems III hasn’t made it back yet. I surmise her hands are full at the moment. Wouldn’t you agree, VI?”

“That’s likely. I did let her know that we would be on the way soon. There’s also a peculiar energy signature among the Fractured that I’d like to investigate.”

“Oh, I see I see. Ever the curious one.”

“Can someone clue me in here?!” blurted out the visibly irritated Auriel, as the commander turned around.

“Oh, right. This must be quite confusing for you. No worries, I’ll explain shortly, so you can relax.”

“My definition of 'relax' doesn’t include a room full of weapons aimed at me.”

“Stand down everyone.” With a quick wave of an arm, the soldiers stood at ease. “My apologies, my security detail can be a bit… overzealous, so please forgive the welcome wagon. We weren’t expecting you to get here by yourself.”

“It wasn’t by choice flying here, that’s for sure,” she replied while sheathing the sword.

As her words trailed off, Auriel fell forward, passing out from exhaustion. Though a few soldiers stepped out of the way, the commander caught her before she fell entirely.

“I suppose we’ll talk later then.”

~End of Chapter~

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