Skadi ignored the glares of the mourners as he traced a fingernail along the turtle’s shell, which resembled a beehive now that the spikes were gone. His fingertips glowed as he pressed down into one of the holes in the shell where a spike had been. Solera couldn’t see it clearly through the truesight goggles, but he thought he saw smoke rising from the shell where Skadi was touching it.

Two Vigors lumbered over to the Xuanwu’s corpse. One grabbed one side, while the second took the other. They were about to start ripping the shell apart when Skadi lifted a hand.

“Hold up, let’s just flip it over. It’s a long way back, and I don’t want you to overexert yourself and drain your Lake.” Skadi smiled at the controller, who nodded. He stopped channeling power into his helmet, causing the Vigors to crumble into dirt heaps, leaving only the talisman on the top.

Meanwhile, Macaw, Verreaux, and Chianti were carrying Fischer’s body to a makeshift grave created by a Vigor. Mercenaries were throwing the dead from both sides into the grave, after looting their corpses of cards and choice equipment. Of the twenty mercenaries, eight had died in the attack, five of which had been killed by the Xuanwu.

“Thirty years together, Fischer. Of the ten of us, it’s just me and Macaw now.” Verreaux looked very troubled as they threw Fischer’s body into the pit. “I remember you wanted a vacation after this campaign was over. You always wanted a vacation, actually. We should have listened to you sooner. I guess I’ll be taking a vacation on your behalf very, very soon.”

“You’ll be on your own then, Verreaux. I prefer using my money at the whorehouse, as you already know.” Macaw laughed bitterly. “But maybe for Fischer’s sake… ah, Fischer, you were always the calm one. I didn’t think you would die before me. I’m sorry, friend, life has been so unfair. Killed by a damn turtle. That’s not the right way to go at all.”

Guinness looked forlornly at the mass grave. His mind seemed to be in turmoil as he gazed down at the corpses. Chianti went over to him, patting his shoulder and consoling him. She had Fischer’s truesight goggles with her; Solera assumed it was going to be given to Guinness, now that Fischer wasn’t around to use it.

The sound of flesh splitting apart screeched out from where Skadi and a few mercenaries were.

“That’s it.” Skadi smiled as he saw something. “Hey, why are all of you still fussing over some bodies? Even though their souls have been fractured into trillions of pieces, all your friends are still alive and kicking in Sky. Don’t worry about them!”

“Shut up, Skadi.” Verreaux glared at him. “I’m not in the mood for your crap.”

“Okay, okay.” Skadi raised up a hand placatingly. “It’s just that there are some interesting things inside here. I’d expect you all to like them, it’s a shipment inside a Xuanwu, after all.”

He dragged a bag out of the Xuanwu’s body. “Haha, they actually grafted the shipment into the turtle. I thought this sort of thing was just a joke, but I guess I was wrong.”

Skadi excitedly ripped open the bag and took a peek inside. His curious smile drooped, turning into a disgusted frown.

“Bah, just some weapons.” Skadi snorted, tossing the bag onto the ground. Several violet gauntlets made a loud clattering sound as they fell out.

“J-just some weapons?” A mercenary spluttered, grabbing one of the gauntlets and holding it up to the light. “These are Shatter gauntlets from the Shatter sect! Do you know how much this is worth?”

Skadi shrugged. “Nope.”

Solera walked over to pick one up for himself. The Shatter gauntlet was made out of a hide that seemed like leather but probably was not, and covered with metal plating that gleamed with a dark violet hue. One the wristguard was an insignia of a jagged scar. This was undoubtedly the markings of the Shatter sect. The soldiers they had killed also had badges with the Shatter insignia on them, but Solera had not paid too much attention as everything except power was translucent with the truesight goggles on.

“Hey, there’s enough to go around.” A mercenary laughed, tossing a gauntlet to each mercenary. “Shatter gauntlets are notorious on the battlefield, so coming across this shipment is like striking zircon! They could see for ten million Iotas each, maybe.”

“Feh, weapons.” Skadi shook his head, wiggling his fingers. “The only reliable weapons are a part of you. They are one with you, and only you can depend on you, you know what I mean?”

Solera raised an eyebrow as he heard this. If he could use one word to describe Skadi, it would be eccentric.

“Yes, only you can rely on yourself, but some exceptions can be made.” Skadi laughed, walking over to clap Solera on the shoulder. “Are you appreciating that rock I threw, my boy?”

Solera blinked in confusion. “What rock?”

“The one that bashed through the head of the woman who was about to stab you, that rock.” Skadi raised an eyebrow. “Oblivious kid, you didn’t even realize I saved your life?”

Solera stared at Skadi in shock. Only now did he remember the woman’s corpse falling down next to him, during that desperate struggle between him and the spearman. He remembered his realization that she could have killed him!

Seeing Solera’s incoherence, Skadi laughed. “Come on, now. I would not drag some young seedlings into battle and completely disregard them. That would be a completely irresponsible thing to do!”

Hearing this, Solera could only chuckle.

“You’re too overzealous, my boy.” Skadi smiled. “Remember, only you can rely on yourself. Don’t be so foolish next time, and charge one man after another. Even if you can win a one on one, battles are not one on one situations.”

Solera looked down, ashamed. He recalled that the first lesson Skadi had given him when they had run into each other yesterday was to always be careful. Yet it turned out he had to be saved consecutively by Skadi and then Chip.

“I’m sorry, I was being stupid.” Solera mumbled. From Skadi’s tone, it seemed like Chip and even Guinness didn’t need saving. Truly, Solera was the one who had made big mistakes without even realizing it. And had people not been watching out for him, he could very well have died.

The gravity of what Chianti had said, that it was simply too easy to die in battle, began to sink in for Solera. To Fischer, perhaps this ambush was just another fight in a long list of battles. Yet he had met death here; one moment alive and healthy, the next speared to death by an impossibly fast projectile. The UD soldiers had been lounging about when explosives detonated under their feet and enemies came swarming out of nowhere to execute them all.

If grown adults could die in an instant, then couldn’t he, a thirteen-year old child, do so as well?

“Of course you were. Just get over it, and understand that you must survive with your own power.” Skadi looked around. “So tell me, anyone, how much is this turtle shell worth? And those spikes?”

A mercenary bent down to peer closely at a spike. “This is extremely tough material, I’d say. The shell might even make two hundred million Iotas. The spikes, perhaps each could go for a million or so.”

“Ah, that is a lot of money, right?” Skadi scrunched up his eyebrows in thought. “Yes, yes it is. If I remember correctly, my meals cost an average of three hundred thousand Iotas each. That’s a lot of meals. I suppose we’ll have to destroy all of these, then.”

Chianti blanched as she listened to Skadi. “What the hell are you eating, to actually have meals cost that much? Xuanwu meat? And how do we destroy these things, anyway? They’re expensive because they’re tough!”

“I don’t know the answers to your questions, Chianti.” Skadi shrugged. “Figure it out, I guess.”

He picked up a spike and, with some effort, snapped it in half.

“Yeah, let’s not do this.” Chianti eyed Skadi in disbelief. “How about we hightail it out of here before several thousand UD soldiers surround us?”

Skadi looked off into the distance, his eyes shining with something that looked like anticipation. “Ah, too late for that.”

Her face going pale, Chianti turned around. After squinting and rubbing her eyes for a bit, she put on her goggles. “What the hell are you talking about, Skadi? I don’t see anything.”

Skadi didn’t respond. He folded his arms calmly as he stared into the distance.

“Let’s get out of here already, we’ve been here long enough.” Chianti urged nervously. All around her, the mercenaries stowed away their weapons and stuffed the cards they had looted into their bags.

“Well, you guys can leave, I guess.” Skadi laughed. “They’re a few kilometers away still. A little girl wearing a pink helmet, and a skinny grandfather with a very long beard. Ah, but their Vigors have already surrounded us.”

Solera frantically searched the area. Everywhere he looked, he could only see translucent dirt and trees. What was Skadi talking about?

And then he saw it.

Small bumps of dirt and pebbles moving up and down as a faint talisman, dimly shining with power, moved through them, like waves on the ocean. One here, one there…

“Get ready, everyone!” Skadi shouted.

All around them, Vigors burst out of the ground, sucking up the surrounding dirt and rock to form their bodies. Unlike all the previous Vigors Solera had seen, which had never exceeded three meters, these Vigors were around seven meters tall, as tall as the Colossi back in Fortress Hickory!

One, two… Solera’s face grew grimmer and grimmer as he counted.

Twenty Vigors!