The U.S. military is attacking the lava village!

Abby and Esther, without any context or extra information, really, jump straight into the battle to save any people they can find.

Honestly, Abby realizes that she’s never actually seen a lava person here in Lava World. What do they even look like? Is she going to freak out about their grotesque molten features? Will it be extremely embarrassing to save the lives of people who aren’t even necessarily carbon-based lifeforms?

She decides not to think about these things and brings out Life Flayer, slicing straight through the metal of the U.S. military’s tank.

Whatever this double-edged scythe is made of, it makes a big impact, because it cuts a massive gash in the tank. One more slash, and the hull interior is exposed. She can see a terrified soldier leaving his post and trying to escape the tank, but she shows absolutely no mercy.

The tank is disabled.

The soldiers attacking the town turn around and point their guns at Abby. They’re just as freaked out, completely caught off-guard by a well-equipped human attacking them out of nowhere.

“Come at me, bros,” Abby growls. She tosses Life Flayer and it performs its namesake as it glides through the air and slices off limbs and other appendages like butter. Then it comes right back around to her and lands neatly in her hand.

Bringing guns to a blade fight is extremely unwise. Not to mention dishonorable beyond belief. These guys probably don’t even have the RPG system, if they’re going around trying to fight things with little metal bullet propellers.

Esther tosses another one of her orb things in the air, but this one reaches its apex and just sort of... stays there. Floating and watching over the battle.

When the soldiers see it, they aim their weapons up and start shooting rapidly. All missing wildly, of course.

And after a second, the orb charges up... And blasts down a volley of stun-locking laser bolts. Every one that hits a person shocks them into submission. It’s cool to watch, and likely much more humane than Abby’s Mind Flayer attack.

It feels like they’re completely eviscerating these dudes. They were caught by surprise, invading an innocent village, and now they’re going to pay for being so mean to everyone about it.

However... Their numbers are growing.

Two more tanks pull in, not firing off their cannons but definitely shooting their machine guns indiscriminately into the village.

Savages. Who would do such a thing?

Poor Esther’s shivering from fear, Abby realizes. This is her first battle, first time ever outside of her parents’ supervision, really. She’s only been alive for fifteen months, so it makes sense.

“Esther, go in that building and hide,” Abby orders. “Let me take care of this.”

“B-but... There’s so many of them.”

“Don’t worry about me. When have I ever let you down?” She flashes a smirk at the kid, a reassuring one that covers up the stress building in her own heart.

Esther does what she’s told and goes to hide. She brings that caged lava bat with her, too.

Two tanks, about a dozen soldiers... What can go wrong with this?

A bunch of gunfire covers her position. The laser stun orb above gets shot and blown up, and the soldiers now are dodging every time she throws Life Flayer. These ones must be actual system users, well-trained and high-leveled. And just like Eryk at the height of his powers, once they start out-classing normal fighters, it becomes something of a joke.

But Abby Faulkner is no normal fighter. She’s a Surf Ronin, and she’ll make sure she goes down fighting, if need be.

Going down fighting... Against... an entire platoon, all by herself...

Actually, first... A strategic retreat back into that same house as Esther. Because that’s two tank cannons blasting right at her. KABOOM!

She jumps and rolls into the small house through an open window.

Esther is sitting there quietly, more peacefully than Abby thought she would be.

And there are a few more people in here, too.

Lava people.

Indeed, the lava people seem to be made of rock and lava. But they aren’t literally melting everything around them, so it must be some special magical thing going around. Abby can tell that Esther is doing a lot to keep herself from trying to collect samples of these sentient beings hiding in a building with her.

The lava people and Esther all look at Abby, who is still panting from her maneuver to dodge a bunch of attacks at once.

“Hi,” she says.

“Who are you?” the older lava man asks.

“Abby Faulkner. I’m here to rescue your city.” She stands up and brushes herself off. “But I need some help out there.”

The lava woman shakes her head. “They’ve already taken our young. Working them in the laser mines. We can’t fight anymore, so they’re trying to... clear us out.”

“Why do they care?”

“Because we have... This,” the older lava man says. He hobbles over to a compartment in the room and opens up a drawer. He pulls out... a chunk of some kind of igneous rock, but gold-hued and instantly eye-catching.

Esther’s entire body perks up. “What’s that?”

“A family heirloom,” he says. “A hyperstone my grandfather mined back during the Lava Rush of 704. It’s priceless to my family, a reminder of how far we’ve come since the old times.”

“But the U.S. wants it?”

He nods, slowly. “They want it for their factories. All the hyperstone in the world has already been dug up, so they can only get it by smelting it down from others. But they... I wish they would stop.”

“I’ll make them stop,” Abby says.

A voice from just outside shouts, “And I’ll help!”

Everyone snaps over to the window, where they see...

A young girl standing there, greeting everyone with flames lit up and a heroic salute!

A lava girl, of course.

The girl sees the two humans and cocks her head to the side. “That’s new. Well... Want to help me?”

Esther gets to her feet. “Yes!”

“Follow my lead, and we’ll defeat the bad guys together. By the way, little one. Release that lava bat and we can have an even more fun time.”

Abby is shocked. “Release it? It tried to kill us!”

“And it’ll try to kill those soldiers. Trust me!”

Reluctantly, Abby decides to trust this random lava girl she’s never met until just thirty seconds ago, and leaves the house with Esther quickly following behind.

The three girls, along with the lava bat, attack the U.S. soldiers head on.

It’s a glorious, and highly successful battle.