"Alert! Palanan port is under attack by unidentified forces!"

A report resounded within Pamana Island. Carmel stood before a monitor watching the events unfold in Palanan port. Soon, two other men arrived behind her: Malachi and Ismael.

"Well, that was quick." commented Ismael, "Hey, aren't they supposed to be in Japan!?"

On screen was a small group of people assaulting a naval port. Three men, two girls, and three midgets were wrecking the surrounding area. Mechs and monsters were fighting back, but were slowing being pushed back as time went on.

"Hmm, that girl there is pretty cute." said Malachi as he watched a girl with a bow wearing a Japanese highschool uniform, "Magic, huh? Otherwise, how could we explain those blue bolts of light just appearing on the string?"

"Do we reinforce the port, or just let them take it?" asked Ismael.

"I doubt they would occupy the port." said Carmel, "Judging from the radar, they are alone, and they don't have the backing of any military nearby. We can assume that they are coming of their own accord."

"Still, that's the guy with the same ability as Father, right?" said Malachi, "Hey, who's that other guy with the weird weapon?"

"No clue." answered Carmel, "This is the first time encountering him."

While they were discussing, another person with a similar appearance arrived behind them.

"Elders, Father is calling for you." said the new arrival, "He wishes to speak to you about the intruders."

Carmel and the other two nodded, and they left the room.

...

Carmel and the other two stopped before a door. A flash of light appeared above them momentarily, and the door slid open afterwards. Behind the door was the very same room where Alexander had declared war with the world's leaders.

"Ah, here you are, my beloved children." greeted a young man, "It seems that our visitors are getting impatient. Shall we serve them some bread and coffee?"

Malachi raised a brow.

"You want them to come here, Father?" he asked, "We are not reinforcing the port?"

"It saddens me that we have to give up the port." said Alexander, "However, the project takes priority as it will be nearing completion. Deliver the orders for retreat, Carmel, and have them gather back home."

"Yes, Father." said Carmel as she went to a nearby console to do what was ordered.

"As for you two, help the others in finishing the GODS before their ascension. Carmel, after delivering the orders, reinforce the defenses to welcome them."

"Yes, Father." replied the three.

---

A beam of light just so nearly hit Cavaron's flank as he agilely dodged to the right.

"Wouch! That's hot!" he exclaimed, "What the hell is up with their obsession with directed energy weapons!?"

Cavaron once more dived into a mass of black monsters and produced a signature of a hurricane of flesh and blood. Every so often, his swords would hum with mana, sharpening his attacks and easily cleaving his opponents. At set intervals, especially with a faraway target, the mana around his swords would fire away with a swing cutting down anything in its path before dissipating.

Hideki deftly controlled the earth around him. Walls of earth shot up to disrupt the flow of battle, giving him a chance to attack unexpectedly, and even used the earth to spike and skewer the enemies behind him. Able to control the earth with little effort, his movements were almost similar to a dance as he swung, spun, and twirled around his unorthodox weapon.

Aimi attack as she was taught, being at the back and supporting from afar. Each time that a black monster was about to reach her, Aomi would intercept and crush it with her powerful maw. The blue bear's fur glistened as it became stained with red blood. For each arrow Aimi would let loose, two to four would be pierced in mere seconds.

White light enveloped Cavaron and his companions as they received Maguro's support. Standing right in the middle of everyone, the arrays around Maguro protected him from the surrounding onslaught as he threw out one magic circle after another that boosted the others abilities. For Cavaron, he augmented his agility. For Hideki, his power. For Aimi, her speed. For Aomi, her defense.

As for the three midgets, the sword midget fought alongside Cavaron. He supported his Prime with his own torrent of blades. The tech midget went from one flank to another, delivering his own directed energy weapons at unsuspecting enemies. The magic midget was floating in midair and took care of most of the flying black monsters and drones that filled the sky with his massive amounts of magic bolts.

This lasted for an hour until the movements of their opponents changed. The red-eyed people within the mechs stopped attacking and looked at each other. Suddenly, they turned, even the remaining black monsters changed course with them, and fell back without missing a beat.

"What the...? A full retreat!?" exclaimed Cavaron, "Do we let them leave, or do we go after them?"

"Seeing as they are all headed towards one direction, I suggest that we pursue." suggested Hideki, "It would make our assault on the island much more difficult if they were to regroup and reorganize."

"True. All right, after them! Cut their numbers down!"

Cavaron and the others begun pursuing the retreating enemies. The mechs and monsters, although the were under attack, ignored Cavaron and the others. It didn't matter if they lost ten, twenty, thirty or more as they ran. They didn't care, all they cared about was the order to retreat.

Eventually, Aimi stopped attacking.

"Hey, why'd you stop?" asked Cavaron.

"They are not fighting back." replied Aimi, "What we're doing is just a massacre."

"Naïve." argued Hideki, "Although, such is a Japanese youth. Worry not, Senior. She'll get used to it."

"Fine, you may stop attacking." said Cavaron, "Come, Maguro, Hideki!"

Aimi remained at the edge of the port, while her seniors continued to whittle down the enemy. Only when the distance between them widened did Aimi follow with Aomi.

Arriving near the docks, they were able to see a ship where the retreating mechs and monsters were boarding. Beside the ship, however, was a giant tentacled monster.

"Either Alexander has been playing the same game repeatedly..." commented Hideki, "Or he's an avid watcher of THAT."

"He could be an avid reader instead." added Maguro, "Legends of a Kraken?"

The long range attacks they had released were blocked by the squid's tentacles, each tentacle was sacrificed to be blown off. However, as soon as half of its tentacles were blown off, one of them regenerated at an alarming pace.

"How the... Do squids have regenerative properties!?" cried out Cavaron.

"They do! But not at the rate we're seeing!" replied Maguro.

Suddenly, another squid surfaced right beside it. It appeared to be aiming its tentacles at Cavaron and his companions.

"Hey, what the hell is..." asked Cavaron, but was cut off before he finished as the new squid shot off its tentacles like missiles of dismembered limbs.

"Oi! I've seen enough of that already!" he shouted.

Cavaron swung down a sword to divide the incoming flesh missile, while Hideki erected a wall of earth in front of him. Maguro dove right behind Hideki to be protected by the wall of earth. Cavaron effortlessly split the flesh missile, and Hideki successfully blocked the one coming right at him. The tentacle missiles that missed them hit a pillar of concrete, and wrapped themselves around it. Shortly after wrapping the pillars, the tentacles contracted and crushed them.

"Holy hell, that was pure concrete, right?" said Maguro in disbelief, "We better avoid or destroy those things at all costs."

"Tech mini-me, Magic mini-me! See if you can overpower those squids with a rain of unrelenting attacks! Feel free to grab as much mana as you can!"

"Roger, Cavaron Prime!" replied the Tech midget.

"Wee! Finally!" replied the Magic midget.

"What about me!?" asked the Sword midget.

"Make sushi?" answered Cavaron unsure of himself, "Well, once the squids cannot attack us, we're going in."

"Okey-dokey, Prime." replied the Sword midget.

The Tech midget pulled out a huge box from out of nowhere and mounted it on his shoulders. He then faced the squids over at the docks, and pressed a button.

"Targets locked!" he exclaimed, "Eat this!"

The box opened at the front, and revealed multiple tubes. As soon as the first tube could be seen...

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

A flurry of missiles came out. The box had a total of 56 tubes, amounting to 56 missiles. However, halfway to their target, the missiles fragmented and split further into 4 micro missiles each. A swarm of micro missiles flew towards the squids.

At the same time as the micro missiles flew, a multitude of magic bolts appeared in midair. All of them were aimed at the two giant squids. As soon as the first micro missile hit a squid, the Magic midget let loose his own share of missiles.

Explosions buffeted the squids for five minutes. The Tech midget kept pulling out one launcher after another, and the Magic midget just kept pouring down magic missiles like a waterfall. After five minutes, they let up, and all that remained was a bombed out dock. The ships that were loading the retreating enemies were gone, and their silhouettes could already be seen in the distance.

"Damn." cursed Cavaron, "Well, at least we were able to whittle down their numbers to an extent."

"Hardly..." argued Maguro, "Did you see if any 'children' died? I think these beasts were more of cannon fodder, though."

"Hmm, yes... I cannot see any mech or scrap metal nearby." added Hideki, "The fact that they were retreating once we attacked should mean something. It's possible they already know about us, and are planning to concentrate on defending the island."

"So... How do we get there?" asked Cavaron.

"The island is approximately 200 kilometers away." answered Hideki, "We will be using the subterranean route."

Hideki stomped on the ground, and a hole opened up. The hole was a tunnel, complete with stairs, paved walls, and lighting. Cavaron raised a brow at the sight of it.

"Was this done beforehand or..." he asked, "did you create this on the spot?"

"Just a specialty of mine." answered Hideki, "Its initial range is 500 meters, and I can extend it further as we go along. I would like to entrust to you, Senior, of detecting any lifeforms we may encounter ahead of us and when we arrive at the island so I can have us pop out in a safe area."

"Why not just emerge right in the middle?"

"Do you hope to fight in the tunnels?"

"Hmm, not really. It's gonna be a tight fit in there."

"Then, let us go once Ms. Aoyama has caught up to us."

...

"Nice job with this tunnel." commented Cavaron, "It doesn't feel stuffy, and the tunnel is pretty sturdy against cave-ins."

Cavaron and his companions were now crossing the ocean by running through the tunnel. By running, they had reinforced their bodies with mana to quicken their pace as they had an approximate distance of 200 kilometers to cover. In half an hour, they had already covered at least a quarter of the distance. The further they went ahead, Hideki created one new stretch of tunnels after another.

"I wish we had the leisure of crossing the sea instead..." said Aimi, "I would have loved to take in the fresh sea breeze."

"It's a nice thought, but a mere luxury." said Maguro, "Being out in the open like that, we'd only be inviting hardships to us."

"At this rate, we only need another hour and a half to reach the island. Come on, people. Double time!"