Gaston rested his back on a fallen vehicle. Bioenergy ran through his hands. He pulled on the slide of his MF-weapon. Then watched as the Cultists fortified their location while keeping them at bay.

“This Adjutant Hardy, come in,” he said.

“This is BRIDGE CECIL, copying.”

“I need a sit-rep, over.”

Gaston saw information flowing. He skimmed through the reports, then swiped the information with his eyes. He took a crackshot, and the enemy returned fire.

“They are suppressing well,” he thought. “Keeping us pinned while they are making use of the Lancers to threaten us.”

Gaston could see that even though they were controlling the belua from attacking them. They were threatening the forces. From the looks of it they were trying to reconnect to the tunnel or wait for reinforcements. If anything Gaston deduced that they already had a contingency plan.

“The information relayed by the BRIDGE suggests that they have successes in setting up the devices. The other regions managed to push back the cultists, but there are far too many. It’s a multinational organization. Multi Ethnic people that are willing to turn this world into something they desire.”

Gaston still wanted to understand what brought them to do this. But minds that are twisted were something he couldn’t easily fathom. If anything the idea that these professionals were doing this made it concerning for Gaston.

“This Blau speaking, do you copy?”

Gaston heard a voice he wanted to somewhat hear. He switched to their private channel.

“Janna, what’s the sit-rep?”

“The enemies are professional. One of them is part of the Royal marines.”

“How so?”

“We identified him after they tried to ambush us. From the looks of it, they are neutralizing scouting teams. Satellites and drones are being engaged. Clout-Breakers are being targeted as well.”

Gaston stayed in cover. He looked around him before asking plainly.

“What are ORI’s thoughts on this?”

A moment of silence. Gaston waited patiently. She broke her silence.

“They want to continue observing. EC demands that we continue monitoring the situation. Your objective in the first place is to find BRIDGE CECIL. We find them. Let the lady continue that she has put a leash on us. But the situation right now is dire. How’s your condition?”

“Fine. I’m holding up. Are you okay, Janna?”

“I am. Brother Reginald has informed me of their movements. I will continue suppressing some of these fools.”

“Do you think that this situation can still be saved?”

There was another long pause.

“No. Considering that it caught everyone off-guard. I say that the chance of success from these cultists is high. Schemes are nothing when these bastards have punched everyone in the mouth.”

“We are being pinned here.”

“And yet you are still talking to me.”

“I want to hear your voice. It keeps me from being stressed,” Gaston said calmly. “This fighting truly is not for me, Janna. All this killing and chaos. It isn’t good for the soul.”

“We do what we do, Gato. That reminds me. Is the AETF contacting you?”

“Not at the moment. They are not spreading redlight. So I’m guessing that they still have many more cards to play.”

“Do not act unless required,” Janna said forcibly. “We are indebted and the UEDF have leashes. We are not their slaves. Do you understand?”

“I do.”

“Janna Forster, you keep safe.”

“Té cura de tu mateix, Gato,” she said without the steel in her voice.

Gaston switched channels. He remained in cover while continuously assessing the situation. The more they fought. The harder the response of the enemies were. They were continuously fortifying themselves that it made impossible for them.

It didn’t come as a surprise to Gaston when he saw them moving up to the lake. The enemies were not fools who couldn’t guess what they were fighting so hard for.

The Lancers who were maintaining the kinetic shield wall were falling. The BELUA, the TYPE-monsters were continuously pouring out from the split-realm. It wouldn’t take long for the STORMING event to taint the lake and when that happens. Gaston knew that there was no need to defend the lake.

Seeing this Lotus Company and YDF pushed them with great success. They were able to catch the mid-center of their defenses and pushed through while they were unable to keep up. Once the Lotus Company Breakers, the Yamato Defense Force, and the JSDF were able to enter. It became a brutal close combat fighting where they relied on their MF weapons.

Each side knew how to fight. They were desperate to keep the Lancers standing so the defense line would not break. But the enemy was quick to act and thoroughly fought back. Nonetheless, they knew that with the desperate attempt of the Breakers to keep the line. They know that they had to do it.

Gaston stared helplessly while the cult detonated a bomb in the lake followed by a ritual bomber that dived head-first into the defense wall. Caught off-guard the Lancers were injured, but were killed by the assault of the TYPE-class monsters. Their reinforced exoskeleton made them human canned goods to the monsters. The rest of the Lancers formed up into a tortoise formation.

They became a walking fortress. Each Lancer takes turns detonating the blasts on their kinetic shield. Gaston made contact with Rook Squad, deftly avoiding gunfire, while also sweeping his exoskeleton-armed hand to block them. He made a horizontal leap towards the Rook Squad, then stomped his right leg on the hard surface.

He took a look at the Rook Squad. Boris remained steadfast. Yumina and Shion Jin had worn looks on their faces. Yumina barely holds back her shot. Shion Jin ducked down while keeping his MF-weapon on Gaston’s throat.

“Stand down,” Gaston said calmly. He thumped Boris on the shoulder. “It’s your call from now on, Boris.”

Boris traveled his gaze on Lake Sanaru. He pushed on his earpiece and made his choice.

“This is Rook-1 to BRIDGE CECIL. The situation is lost. I repeat. The situation is lost. All units are advised to retreat to UTM coordinates at Ryounji Temple. We will be falling back to defend National Route 150.”

“Acknowledge.”

“Lotus Company will hold the line. Lancer Units are in critical condition. Requesting backup. I repeat. We are requesting backup.”

“Negative, Lotus. There are no men to spare. I repeat. STORMING levels have reached catastrophic levels. Units are advised to make a stand at Hamamatsu Castle. Defense grids are reaching critical levels. I repeat.”

The message repeated indefinitely. Gaston looked at his wrist and saw multiple warnings from satellites. Gaston didn’t think. A burst of dark red electricity came out of his body and spread it around the Rook Squad.

He felt a ton of pressure in his body. His mask activated and he could tell that there was a suction around them. It didn’t take long for the explosion to finally happen.

Ears ringing. Body shaking. Gaston gritted his teeth while leaking out a mouthful of blood. Gaston breathed in and out. It took a second before he finally moved.

“The bastards fired a thermobaric at us.”

Yumina stared in horror at the lake. The Lancer Units were able to somewhat deflect the blast by joining together. The cultists knew it was coming and were able to shield themselves. The rest of the breakers who were caught in the blast were gone.

Gaston shook his body. More dark red electricity came out his body and made constant static electricity sounds. Gaston pointed his pistol at the defense formation of the cultists and released a terrifying force that carved the ground.

“What the hell was that?”

Bori asked while standing unsteadily.

“Pressure redirection. Don’t ask. Might as well throw them back.”

Gaston adjusted his bearing. He shook his head once more before holstering his MF weapon. His body was stiff to move. And it took about eighty seconds before his movement became natural once more.

“Let’s go. There is nothing we can do here, Boris,” Gaston said frankly. There is little emotion in his voice. Boris looked at Shion Jin and Yumina before issuing the order to retreat.

Gaston remained in the rear while the surviving Babaika Lions formed around the Rook Squad, keeping their guards up despite their heavily damaged equipment. The pressure of the Thermobaric missile made a mess of their equipment. The blast radius was enough to decimate the area around the lake. The temple they retreated to had its shrine gate fallen over. The survivors of the missile retreated and made a perimeter sweep around the area. Gaston searched with Yumina and Shion Jin. Unexpectedly, they found a group of people huddled up inside their personal shelter.

Gaston had the two natives talk to the people inside and warned them about the storming event. They weren’t planning to leave and the old man guarding the shrine was rather keen on staying behind while he kowtowed and begged for them to rescue the family that had taken shelter with him.

Boris called in the nearest JSDF and had them escorted out of the temple. With the family taken care of, Gaston settled down for a moment. He closed his eyes and breathed out loudly. He ran a troubleshooting diagnostic on his bracer and exoskeleton. His AR-module was able to mitigate the blast, but his bio-shield generator needed quick repairs. He made field repairs before injecting himself with an auto-syringe.

Boris lit up a cigarette and checked on the sights of his weapon.

“Thank you for that.”

“Sure.”

“The two are doing well, considering.”

“Yeah,” Gaston said casually. “Shows why the Babaika Lions recruited them. Unusual for newbies like them to stay clear-headed.”

“You’re experienced.”

“I’ve been at this for seven years, Boris. Seven years is enough to know what you can do. If anything, you are doing well.”

“Bah, I doubt that I’d have a long life.”

“What do you think?” Gaston thumbed the smoke rising up. “Will this nation continue on?”

“I don’t know. They are prepared. They know where to fight. Know how to deal with us and they are practical enough to know how to fight Breakers and land units.”

“What do you think?”

Boris looked around and said to Gaston.

“I think that we are wasting our time in this country. Before all of this. We thought that we’d be earning money. But now? All this trouble, for what? I only hope that after Miss Hilda and Mister Jakob slay that behemoth. We’d be able to harvest the ichorium and then leave. There is no functioning Consortium. And considering the damage? I think it’s best that we do not interfere. Our contracts demand we protect them from monsters. Not from men who act like one. There is no profit. There might be prestige, but the reputation of the Babaika Lions will surely plummet.”

Gaston stared at Boris before nodding quietly. He adjusted his bearing once more and pushed himself. The rest of the group remained on the Temple while the rest secured the route leading to the Hamamatsu Castle.

As Gaston and Boris’s Squad marched to the castle. Gaston heard news from the Capital.

“The BEHEMOTH-class is down. All units are moving in. All Babaika Lions are to focus their operations. Units are to retreat to the Capital.”

It was a call to arms.

“The Babaika Lions will bring the sword to the main forces here in Tokyo. We will crush the necks of the Sitra Ahra Cult and take back the BEHEMOTH resources. All Units are advised to retreat and focus their attack on UTM coordinates that will be repeated on all channels.”

Gaston stretched his limbs. He looked at Boris for approval before calling it in.

“This is Vermell, requesting evac on the GPS coordinate. Sending battle reports.”

Gaston sent the KIA list and waited for the BRIDGE to respond. After processing the data, the bridge responded, and marked the coordinates of their evacuation point.

Reaching the evacuating point. Boarding the Split-Realm Ship. Gaston watched the City of Hamamatsu resist the tide of monsters while the Lions bared their fangs at the main forces.