In my semi-conscious state, it was difficult to make out the shapes of the images floating across my closed eyes. They were formless, made of faint color; I vaguely thought they didn’t look unlike the things one sees after rubbing their eyes with a little too much force.

Maybe I stayed like this for a few seconds or a few minutes; it could’ve been an hour and I wouldn’t have known. It was only after a certain point in this place that my consciousness snapped awake and I could see the space around me wasn’t as formless as I thought.

But that didn’t mean I understood it.

I was floating on a gray slab of stone, perfectly smooth save for the hexagonal patterns decorating it. Around me were recognizable dots of white stars covering the empty voids of black. What caught my eye more than them, however, were trails of azure and jade clouds sweeping across those same dark patches of sky. And in front of it all—

“Did you bring me here?”

—was a charcoal gray mecha, with emerald green lights running along the trim of the joints and a single, hollow white diamond design on its chest.

It said nothing in response to my question, of course. But for some reason I didn’t think…

No no. This is a piece of machinery, MY giant piece of machinery, there was no way a machine could be conscious. I pinched the bridge of my nose, looking around me once more.

It really was a beautiful sight. Not even in my dreams could I imagine something this beautiful.

“So what is this place?” I found myself asking; it wasn’t until the words left my mouth that I realized I’d asked my Slayer.

And it turned its head downward— staring directly at me.

Panic rushed through me. I quickly retracted my steps only to find I wasn’t able to walk away from it further; at the edge of the gray slate of stone my feet stopped responding to my muscles.

The panic made it worse, survival instinct kicking in…until I realized the Slayer wasn’t moving anymore. I dared to lift my eyes to see it again, realizing this was actually the first time I was able to take a good look at it.

It was dark in color, true, but its face lacked any sort of mouth or nose design. Instead, the same iridescent emerald color filled the entirety of where its eyes were, looking more akin to shades than actual eyes. Around its face too, was something like a helmet, with sharp fins lining along the jaw extending outwards towards its ears.

Its body…I expected it to look heavier. It was no doubt massive, but its armor was cleaner than I thought, less bulky, with no protuberances or extra padding. Well, a bit more armor was around the forearms and shins, and its chest was decently covered too.

And yet, while it still stared at me, I couldn't shake the feeling I was wrong.

“Are you…alive?”

No response.

“If you are, then why bring me here?”

Only the crystal colored clouds responded, swirling like galaxies across the vast distance.

“No…there’s something else, something……”

A frustrated sound between a laugh and a sigh escaped my throat.

“This doesn't make sense,” I said, pushing my hair back. “And still I can tell, for some reason……you’re upset, right?”

Its emerald eyes, glowing like the lights along the joints, stared at me.

“In all fairness, it wasn’t my plan but…was it you that protected me?”

Right. That blast. If not killed, it should’ve at the very least crippled me. I don’t know how the Slayer did so, but in this space I could feel the outside world calling— I was alive. I was alright.

Or should I say “we” instead?

“Either way thank you ahh…” I pursed my lips. “Right, you don’t have a name yet. I’ll think of one on my…our?…way back to base.”

It didn’t move. In all honesty, I couldn't tell if this conversation was all in my head, if it was real, or if this giant mecha was actually alive. In a way, it felt like it, but I’d been wrong many, many times before. In fact, I was about to repeat the question of whether or not it was alive—

“id!……kid…!……”

—had a distant voice not surrounded every corner of the vastness around me.

Drowsiness washed over me. I didn’t want to go back just yet. I wanted to know more about what in the world was in front of me— what was around me. I wanted to know what this Slayer did to protect me. I wanted answers.

But in the same way my consciousness slipped through my fingers upon arrival, so too, could I feel it fade as I left this place.

“Not……yet………” I slurred.

Azure and jade turned into blurs that turned into drowsy mosaics as my eyelids betrayed me. I could feel my foot finally slip off the floating slate of stone as my body fell and weightlessness overtook me.

“KID!”

What woke me up was the feeling of hitting the ground after a suicidal fall in a dream. Inside my Slayer, I took my hand off the control pad, grabbing my head to stave off the dizziness that briefly overwhelmed me.

“Kid, you alright?!”

“Yeah I…I’m fine.” I said, surprised to find that it wasn’t a lie.

“Gaaahh, for a reckless plan that was a pretty fine save you did there, save for your hand— closing the Aegis inward to lessen the impact. That takes practice.”

A muddled memory of the shield closing tighter around the enemy came briefly to mind; I avoided mentioning that I didn’t think I was the one responsible for that.

I looked at my hand, hearing she mentioned it.

Everything above the wrist of my left hand was completely blown off— likely since I had to have some part of my body inside the shield so it’d activate in the first place. Other than that though, I felt completely fine, if fatigued.

“Are you alright? How’s Lia?”

“Fine and dandy; likewise for Lia.” she said, pointing to the Slayer still out of commission, but without any further damage. She offered me her hand, which gave me a sense of deja-vu as I began limping to the girl in question. “It’s thanks to that shield of yours. Pisses me off you went and did something so reckless SPECIFICALLY after I told you not to…but no doubt it worked. Rogue’s nothing but ashes now.”

“Sorry about that,” I said, trying for a laugh. “But in my defense it wasn’t my plan.”

“So long as we don’t run into this situation too often, I think we can forgive him this time Hanna.”

“Need I remind you that YOU are the reason we got into this situation!”

“Ahahah…” laughed the redhead over the radio. I could almost see her scratching her head in embarrassment. “Right, sorry.”

“Don’t go thinking you’ll get out of this without an explanation! Honestly, the both of you…”

From our interaction, I could’ve easily believed it was Hanna who was the eldest— in terms of experience on top of age. Especially listening to their banter after everything that happened gave me a sense of comfort I couldn't quite explain. Maybe it was just nice to hear normal, everyday bickering.

If near-suicide by fighting an eldritch monster is what counted as normal in this world.

“Either way, you two are done here.” said Hanna, taking up a more serious tone. “Green-light, I need you to take Lia back to base. Your Flight capacity should be enough to carry another Slayer, it shouldn’t take you long to arrive.”

I furrowed my brow. “You’re not coming? I thought you said the Rogue got incinerated.”

“It did,” explained the girl still on the ground, “but the fight took longer than we thought. The few minutes you were unconscious, we picked up other Outsiders approaching our coordinates.”

“Swarms of the bastards, no doubt looking for anything they can kill.”

My first thought was telling her we should run, escape and regroup. But to my genuine surprise, those weren’t the words that came out of my mouth.

“Let me help you! I’ll admit that I’m damaged but…I can still fight.”

I was fully prepared to have her yell at me— even hit me for suggesting something so reckless again. I was prepared to have her call me an idiot or retard.

Instead, she sighed.

“Listen. I appreciate the offer, really, but this isn’t something you can handle. You didn’t see their numbers on radar.”

“What do you mean I—”

“Your hydraulics are damaged.”

I blinked back my surprise.

“What do you mean?”

“You might feel okay right now, but that’s only because of the adrenaline and nanobots in your system.” she said in a tone unlike her. “It’s a miracle you’re even conscious considering that blow. And on top of your missing hand, your Slayer is badly damaged. You’re limping because the hydraulics system in your joints are damaged so you wouldn’t be able to run, much less fight; not to mention your Aegis is probably all used up by now too. I appreciate the feeling, but you’d only get in the way.”

My jaw stiffened, I had to physically bite my lip lest I say something I would’ve regret. But I couldn’t lie to myself……I knew she was right.

Frustration built in me as I considered what another fight would look like— if it was as drawn out as the last one, if it was anywhere as complicated, anywhere as demanding…she was right. I would only get in the way, and indirectly, my blood would be on her hands.

Of course she said it because she didn’t want to see my needless death. But it didn’t make getting called deadweight any easier.

“Hanna, that’s a little—”

“Sorry to interrupt you Lia,” I said, taking a second to calm down. “But I don’t take well to hypocrisy.”

“Come again?” asked the girl, with a now dangerous edge to her voice.

“A Resonator never goes into the field alone, but you’re telling me that now you’re somehow the exception?”

I could almost hear the anger boiling in her veins.

“Quit acting braindead, I’m—!”

“—I get it!” I said, standing up from examining how I could carry Lia, “I get it, I’m a liability, I know. But I’m still not going back without you.” I approached her Slayer— bright, golden yellow visors covered both her eyes, maybe those were her eyes. Either way, I could feel Hanna’s glare behind them as I spoke. “There’s no point in saving someone if someone else is just going to die as a result.”

Silence drowned the meters of space between us. For a long few seconds, I didn’t hear a thing— nothing but the deep hum of radio connection. Not until, all of a sudden, a frightening amount of curses spilled into my ear, as loud and clear as when I first left the redoubt.

“H-Hanna! Calm down!” insisted Lia as the river of words continued. I couldn't help but smile at her worry, and at the fact Hanna could string together curses with creativity I couldn't even dream of. “We won’t be of much use in a fight, but at the very least we can stay nearby to evac you in case of an emergency!” she quickly added.

“AaaghhH—WHATEVER!” In one fluid movement, Hanna stood up, unsheathing the enormous silver blade dangling at the base of her hip and walking towards an enormous cloud of dust rising against the horizon. “Just pick up Lia and go float in the corner of the air or something, so long as you’re out of my way!”

As she strode further away from us, I could hear a small *click* in my ear, signaling a separate channel being created.

“Sorry about that,” apologized the redhead, “Hanna can get like that but doesn't really mean it. She just doesn't want to see you—us— get hurt.”

“Ahah, no worries, I figured it was something like that.” I said, to her audible relief. “So, any idea on how to pick you up exactly? I’d try your arm but…”

“Right, it might fall off,” she said, “but no problem, we can try something else! Try grabbing onto my collar.”

“But…there’s no grip.”

“I know,” she laughed, “trust me.”

It was hard to deny the smile audible through her words. With an open palm, I did as she said only for a quick and sudden force to yank my arm and connect it to the Slayer’s metal with so much pressure that, even with no grip to speak of, I couldn't pull back.

“It’s…magnetized?”

“It took me a long time to figure this little trick out. Granted it’s not perfect and Lelvedere is still damaged, so if I could kindly ask you not to not fly so fast…”

The Flight system on my back spread outwards, releasing only as much force as was necessary to gently lift us off the ground. In the back of my mind I registered her Slayer’s name, but it was overshadowed by the clear view of the horizon spread out before us. Making note to ask about it another time I focused towards the horizon crawling with black dots, stirring up dust and stampeding towards the lone figure walking towards them.

I held my breath. There must’ve been hundreds.

No, that was too few.

Thousands. Tens of thousands.

Though far away and covered in sand and dirt, I could make out their shapes: deformed figures of insects, drooling fingernails, lizards with exoskeletons, even some that looked like odd combinations of parasites I couldn't quite describe.

There were too many. Far, far, far too many.

“Lia,” I said with more calm than I felt, “we need to do something. Radio for backup, pull Hanna out, do—”

“Don’t worry.”

What forced me into silence wasn’t the threat before us, but the lulling calm of Lia’s tone. How sure she sounded with those two simple words.

I could feel her heart through her words alone.

“Don’t worry. She’ll be okay.”

“Lia, what are you talking about? Sure she managed to beat the Rogue but…that was only one. There must be thousands of these things I…I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“If it were anyone else, I might also be worried. For Swarmers, even numbers this large aren't common to see.”

“So how can you be so sure?”

In the distance, Hanna stabbed her sword into the ground, tracing the outline of a small circle as she gained speed by running around it. With each loop, her blade dug further into the earth, dust beginning to surround her as she soon became nothing more than a bright pink blur against muted brown— the rising earth took the form of an imposing dust devil, its increasingly violent winds shielding her from view.

“What’s—she doing!?” I asked, struggling against the air trying to pull us in.

“Most Resonators are specialized for one of two areas: close or ranged combat.” she explained in that still soothing tone. “But Hanna is different, I’m told that much was clear even when she first began operating as a Resonator.”

“What do you mean?!”

The winds not only became stronger, but soon I could feel bursts of heat against the metal of my Slayer. It was difficult to do, but looking through the debris I could see small flashes of red and white at the base of the vortex, a rosy figure slowly climbing what could only be described as a tower of pure dust and wind.

“She’s lifting herself into the air…?”

But even then, the swarm didn’t let up. While Hanna was preparing, they approached at wind-shattering speeds, only a little more than a thousand feet away, closing fast. I could see their bloodthirst. Their mindlessness. The wings on Hanna’s Slayer, prodding out against the violent storm, momentarily brought me back to the present. I could see them adjust, turn, and twist to maintain her position inside the vortex; small flares occasionally burst from the thick tunnel of debris only to retreat just as quickly.

Likewise, I could see massive barrels breaking through the airborne earth, only unlike the bursts of fire from her boosters, they didn’t disappear back into the winds.

“Mmm. Hanna is one of the rare Resonators who specialize in ranged combat as much as in melee. I’m not worried about her,” she explained, “because she never planned on getting near them in the first place.”

As if heeding her words, a massive sword suddenly pierced through the zenith of the dust devil, cutting through the howling air to bury itself in front of the quickly approaching swarm of Outsiders. Right on cue, as if shattering the wind, Hanna released a massive explosion at the base of the vortex causing it to unwind from bottom to top until nothing was left but her and the falling particles of earth.

It was obvious from the moment the debris disappeared that her wings were gone— what I’d gotten wrong wasn’t that they didn’t retreat inside her Slayer, they’d become the massive twin barrels rising from her shoulders.

Barrels aimed straight at the swarm.

“Green-light, you’re still too close!” I heard via the radio that had clicked in my ear. “Whatever, hope you and those Woven Mountain folk like fireworks, cause you're all about to get some!”

I expected the barrels to light up. Each one, at least five feet in diameter, erupted up with horrifying flashes of yellow, white, and pink that blended together into a cacophony of colorful noise.

What I didn’t expect was for her sword in the far distance to start glowing those same colors too, illuminating the Outsiders now swarming around it.

Another click in my ear.

“Concussive Flames Technique, Hell’s Belle AOE Specialization—”

“Oh dear…”

The flashes became brighter, melting together with a high pitched sound like shattering glass and tropic thunder. I had to cover my eyes from the amount of light spreading across the massive desert, it felt as if there was a second star in the sky.

One born from Hanna’s weapon.

“Drop dead, ALL OF YOU—VIGOR OF THE MIDDAY SUN!”

The instinct to run flooded through my blood, I tried ignoring it and rushed to Hanna, but lost sight of her as soon as I moved.

No. That’s not quite it.

I didn’t lose sight of her.

I couldn’t see at all.

I was high enough, far away enough to have seen Hanna as she shot the sword she threw into the swarm of Outsiders— the massive rounds of colored metal that buried themselves in the earth— but everything went white soon after.

Waves of heat, like a dry summer sun multiplied by ten, scorched my body, wind tossing and toying with my body however it pleased. I could feel the strain on my flight system, I didn’t bother trying to keep us steady, staying aloft would be a miracle in itself as the waves of force churned my stomach up, down, sideways.

I squinted my eyes in pain, the light was too much. The sudden eruption forced a migraine into my skull, weighing down my body, making me want to vomit.

I resisted the urge fly away, feeling that getting carried by the inertia of the explosion would make me lose control entirely; I really didn’t want another crash landing, especially not with—

“—Lia!” I said, trying to maintain stability while blind. “Are you there?! I can’t feel anything!”

“Fine!” she said, equally straining; I could hear her teeth grit with every word. “I’ll be fine! Hanna! Hanna, do you copy?!”

“zHz-ck!” clicked our radios. “One of my wings got busted!”

“Busted?”

I forced my eyes to open— my retinas burned, trying to shrink down even more than they already were, causing my head to flare with the pain already caused by the migraine.

But there was no time to focus on it.

“Do you see her?!” I knew Lia was talking to me, but I could hardly see the Slayer holding onto my hand, let alone the girl in question.

“COMING AT YOU FROM UP TOP!”

The gruff, young voice blasted in both our ears. For once, I was thankful for the volume that let me listen to her words loud and clear against the ringing in my eardrums.

“Lia, I see her!”

She was in freefall, one pink wing twisted at a horrible angle with sparks and wires coming out of it. Her limbs were spread out, no doubt trying to slow her fall, but she was dropping too quickly.

“Hanna!”

“ANY DAY NOW, LIA!”

“Lia, can you catch her like a magnet!?” I said the first thing that came into my mind. I was missing an arm, and though Lia was out of commission, she didn’t need her Slayer to use her ability.

“I-I—she’s dropping so fast I—” she stopped. I don’t know what she was doing, but an audible *pop* came from my radio. “Fly beside her while she falls, we’ve no time to spare!”

I obeyed without question. In no time at all I caught up to the pink mecha charred black from the explosion, twisting in midair, I dangled Lelvedere against the broken mecha, the three of us plummeting towards the earth as wind chipped the Slayers.

“GRAB MY LEG!”

Beneath me, I could see Hanna strain to reach for Lia’s purple and white leg; green electricity arced between the metals as more and more weight strained against my flight system until finally—

“PULL UP!”

“GAAAAGGHHHH!”

I wasn’t sure whether it was vomit or blood that leaked out of the side of my mouth. My head felt like a feather crushed under lead as the veins in my temples strained against the skin; noises of rocket propulsion and radio thrumming were all I could hear as that still unfamiliar sensation of flying high in the sky let me know we were still airborne.

It let me know we succeeded.

“Y-ou’re…re-a-lly hea-vy…”

“Are you asking to get beat up?” taunted a voice in my ear. “I’ll have you know both Hell’s Belle and I weigh less than Lia and Lelvedere!”

“Haaaaah,” sighed a tired voice, “if only.”

“Sh-Shut up! I do not weigh more than you! And even if I do, it’s MUSCLE— MUSCLE! YOU HEAR ME GREEN-LIGHT!?”

“L-oud…and a little too clear.”

A laugh escaped the girl connecting Hanna and I. Fighting to ignore the pain in my body, I began floating towards a direction I vaguely recognized as being towards the Redoubt, taking in the scorched earth beneath me as I did.

Whether by coincidence or mood, I wasn’t the only one who noticed.

“Looks like we beat the odds this time. Especially you, green-light.”

“…………”

“Kid?”

“Are you alright?”

“Even.” I said in response to the concerned voices.

“……are you in shock or something?”

“I was as well, when I first saw your Midday Sun attack.”

“Hmph, for good reason. Either way what in the world is—”

“The name for my Slayer.” I said, feeling a lightness in my body. “Even.”

“Ohh, a fine name, but, why?”

“HAH! Because you ‘beat the odds’? Don’t let a little compliment like that go to your head, Kid.” said the bottom-most Slayer, dangling off Lia’s leg. After a momentary silence, however— “—still, it’s a decent name. I don’t dislike it.”

“You never asked for mine, you know.”

“Oh……er…”

“Hmph, fair enough. Since we’re on the topic, what are we to call the Slayer Even’s pilot?”

I actually gave it a decent amount of thought. In a place like this, a world unfamiliar to me, I was still the person I am. Though my prayer might’ve been answered after all, was this a chance at redemption from the failures of my old life?

Did I still want to be the person from my old life? Aren’t I anyway?

I don’t know.

But the answers might come with time. So in the meanwhile—

“—just…call me Anon.”