The Lizardman mage crouched behind the altar, the hail of bolts peppering the floor around him. He spun his hands together, creating a small magic circle.

Just as it was about to complete, a dart bounced off the roof, then off the wall in front of the Lizardman.

It went straight through the magic circle, dispersing it.

And continued into the reptilian’s chest, the Lizardman letting out a hissing snarl. He quickly reformed the circle and jumped up above the altar, flinging the circle forward.

But no one was there.

The Lizardman spun his head around.

BANG!

A bullet pierced through his skull from above.

Nana let out a sigh as she stood on the roof, sniper rifle in hand. She turned to see how the other fight was going…

Elise opened fire with her machine guns. A green barrier appeared around the Lizardman Leader, blocking the bullets.

“Loading Profile: Voidspeaker.”

Elise put away her guns and brought her hands together. Her core grew black…

Elise dropped to the ground, her robotic eye cutting out for a second as her core was cut off from her systems.

“A-Activate…e-emergency reboot…”

Elise climbed to her feet, her core and robotic eye lighting up once more.

“O-Observation: Voidspeaker profile has deleterious effects on electronic systems. Profile restricted until countermeasures developed.”

The Lizardman Leader took advantage of the lull to construct a large magic circle on the floor around him.

“I summon thee, my slumbering kindred. Rise, and reclaim our world!”

The ground crumbled beneath the Leader. Scaled hands grabbed the sides, humanoid reptiles crawling out from beneath the ground. Some carried stone axes and clubs, others blowguns and spears, still others relying on naught but their claws.

“...Nervous Reframing: This unit is…grateful for the opportunity to test additional components. The battle is developing per Elise’s simulations.”

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Three lizardmen cried and fell back into the tunnel as Nana laid down covering fire from her position on the roof. Elise took the opportunity to fully reactivate the rest of her systems. Many were still rebooting, but she fired a missile as it came back online.

The tunnel was engulfed in flames, hissing screams ringing out as the lizardmen fell.

But as the explosion died down, more poured out.

And the Lizardman Leader turned to other spells, firing a round of poison arrows at Nana. She put away her sniper rifle and pulled out her blaster, firing a round of flame-infused bolts. The bolts collided with the arrows, small balls of flame burning away the green clouds that resulted.

The lizardmen horde approached Elise. She extended her fists forward and a nozzle opened up on her wrists, spraying green gas out into the crowd.

But the lizardmen continued on, ignoring the toxin.

“Observation: Hostiles resistant to toxic substance. Engaging close combat mode.”

Blades extended from Elise’s wrist and she leapt into action.

She dodged to the side as a seven foot reptilian tried to crush her with a club, stabbing a blade into his stomach. She then spun around, catching a smaller lizardman’s neck in a slash with her other hand. An axe swung horizontally through the air at her head but she bent back at a ninety-degree angle, a blade extending from her right foot as she swung it upward into the attacker. She stopped and suddenly sprung upright again, bringing both her hands to stab another large reptilian’s chest.

Panels opened on her back, thin robotic arms tipped with blades extending, two from each shoulder. The blades began to spin, forming spinning disks that sliced through everything they touched. Elise spun into the crowd, a whirling top of blades and death.

And then her Mass-Energy Manipulator Array came back online.

“Loading Profile: Shinobi.”

She channeled the energy to her feet as she had seen Kiyosuke do time and time again, and then leapt backward, blades still whirling around her. The chakra boosted the speed of her leap as she sliced straight through the crowd, leaving a trail of severed limbs and hissing lizardmen as she took distance. She put away her blades and robotic arms as she turned to face the horde once more.

All the panels opened all over her body and unleashed a hail of lead and explosives.

And her core began to glow a light blue.

“Loading Profile: Icy Rose”

Water condensed into icicles all around her, adding yet another layer to the barrage.

Elise poured all her energy and ammunition into barrage, hoping they would run out of bodies before she ran out of ammo…

Meanwhile Nana and the Lizardman Leader continued their exchange. Nana fired with the chakra blaster in one hand and an automatic pistol in the other, bolts blocking magic arrows as she bombarded her opponent with lead.

But his barrier blocked every bullet without any sign of waning.

Nana frowned and put away the pistol. She channeled her chakra to her feet and leapt from her spot, the poison arrows slamming into the wall behind her.

She landed on the far wall…only to see a huge glob of poison in front of her face. The glob exploded, obscuring the girl in green mist. The Lizardman Leader was about to turn to the other opponent…

Darts shot out of the mist as it began to swirl. Nana reappeared, holding a scroll covered in a pattern of characters around an empty circle. The green mist was sucked into the scroll, the character for ‘poison’ appearing as the last of the mist spiraled into it. With her other hand she fired darts out into the air.

The darts landed wide. The Lizardman Leader chuckled his sibilant laugh. She must of inhaled some poison after all to have missed by such a degree…

The darts began to glow and characters shot out of them, forming a square of ink around the Lizardman Leader. A cube of blue light formed between the characters. A green barrier appeared around the Lizardman, the two barriers sparking as they overlapped.

Both barriers cracked and vanished with a snap.

The Lizardman howled as bolts and bullets rained down on him, striking his body. He quickly spun a simple magic circle to raise a dome of earth around himself, buying time to heal his wounds.

Nana frowned as her bolts and bullets landed in the dome, unable to pierce all the way through.

She should’ve worked on that earth-element infusion after all.

And so the battle raged on…

Saydaa gasped for breath. She still felt as if fire was rushing through her body…but it no longer overwhelmed her. Where once her whole being burned, now most of her body merely hurt.

She still couldn’t move, devoting most of her will to enduring the stream of power, but she had gained enough leeway to become aware of her surroundings.

And her eyes widened at what she saw.

Her heart pounded.

Her body trembled.

“W-Why…h-how…”

There were Elise and Nana, battling wave after wave of reptilian warriors.

And there…was the jerk, standing before her.

“Why are you here?!”

The jerk narrowed his eyes at her.

“Why do you think, you idiot? We’re here to get you.”

Saydaa’s eyes widened even more before she tore her head away.

“Well then, go away. I don’t need your help.”

Kiyosuke crossed his arms and scoffed.

“Kidnapped by a cult? Stuck in some sort of magic ritual? Clearly you do.”

“S-Shut up! I have it handled!”

“Saydaa.”

Saydaa swung her head to stare wide-eyed at the jerk.

He said…her name?”

The jerk looked at her before sighing and lowering his head.

“I’m…sorry.”

Saydaa froze despite the fire coursing through her veins.

“...what?”

He looked up at her. She squirmed under his gaze. T-This was weird! This jerk was acting all weird! He never looked at her, except to glare or scoff!

“I treated you horribly. For everything I did to you, for how I treated you up to now…I’m sorry.”

She once again tore her gaze away.

“W-Well, I don’t care, you jerk. If you want to be sorry then go away.”

“No.”

“No?!”

“I’m not leaving you alone, ever again.”

She swung to stare at him again, this time glaring at him.

“I don’t need a stalker, you jerk! Go die!”

She swung her hand forward, launching a blast of fiery red energy. Kiyosuke simply stepped to the side.

“Nope, you’re stuck with me now.”

“Screw you!”

She held both hands out, firing a cone of flames. Kiyosuke flickered behind her.

“Seriously, are you even trying?”

“GO DIE!”

She spun her hands in a wide arc, sending out a half circle of flames. The arc caught Kiyosuke and slammed into a wall…only for a puff of smoke to reveal a log.

“You always used to bug me when I wanted to be left alone, now it’s my turn.”

“DIE DIE DIE!”

Saydaa thrust her hands out to either side of her, sending a blast of flames in all directions. Kiyosuke swung his blade and stepped into the white light of the slash, suddenly appearing on the other side of the blast. He smirked at her.

“This is amusing, I think I’m starting to see why you did it.”

“DIE!!!”

Saydaa continued until her arms burned from all the energy surging through them. She grit her teeth…but she was growing exhausted and that stupid ritual was still dumping energy into her. Anymore than this and she would lose focus.

And that stupid jerk was still standing in front of her.

She closed her eyes so she wouldn’t have to see him.

“Just go away…you stupid jerk…can’t you tell when someone doesn’t want you around?”

“That’s not what you think.”

“What do you know?”

“I know…because we’re the same.”

She clenched her teeth and opened her eyes, glaring at him.

“We are NOTHING alike!”

She paused. The jerk was…tearing up?

Him?

The jerk?!

“We both had no one. We were both left alone, betrayed by our own family. And that’s why I know. You’re afraid. You’re afraid that we’ll leave, that we’ll betray you like everyone else did.”

He took a step forward, weaving his way among the lines of the magic formation. Saydaa began to tremble.

“T-That’s not true. I-I don’t care about you. In fact, I betrayed you! T-That’s how it is! So go away and swear revenge or something.”

The tears began to fall down his cheek.

“I was hurting and lashing out. I didn’t want anyone coming close to me. That’s why…I hurt you. Even though…we were hurting the same. I’m so sorry…”

“W-What are you…”

“...I’m not good at…friends. People. All I know how to do is kill. So…I’m just going to do for you what you did for me. Which is annoy you and refuse to leave you alone, even if you want me to.”

The jerk stepped forward.

Saydaa’s eyes quivered but she couldn’t look away this time.

The jerk stepped in front of her…and reached his hands into the tempest of energy.

He winced as his hands began to burn.

“S-Stop that! Y-You’re burning you idiot!”

Then she felt it.

He grabbed her hands.

“We’re your friends, Saydaa. We’re not going anywhere.”

“S-Stop! Can’t you see you’re on fire?!”

He made a sad smile at her.

“I’m not in as much pain as you.”

She realized…her traitorous eyes were crying once more. She could feel the warmth of his hands, even through the storm of energy. Her heart pounded and her legs grew weak.

She wanted to push him away.

She wanted to blow him away.

But for some reason…she couldn’t.

All she could do…was cry.

“Just…go…away.”

“No.”

“...you jerk.”

Bob nodded as he stood in the hallway, watching the pair. He’d admit it, he was proud of the boy. Looks like he wouldn’t need to use Plan B after all.

He grimaced as he glanced at Kiyosuke’s hands though. Might need to utilize the NSLICE data once again…

And grimaced again as Elise and Nana’s gunfire continued to ring out.

Right.

Reptilians.

Lizardmen are so annoying.