Through slow turns of the head Meditat assesses the large cafeteria room he’s flown into blind as Kokei stumbles back to remain closer to the group and Ekitai puts his hand by his stomach or rather the opening of his overcoat, a flare reignited in his yellow irises as though a relief had allowed him to return to his signature attitude towards an adventure, especially of such scale.

Surrounded by the enemies they hoped to simply sneak sneaking past, a plan that was extinguished as quickly was it was enacted, Meditat shifts to the next plan as he simply demands in an authoritative grandeur: “Where are you keeping your captives?” while he just slowly pans his gaze.

All around him the men and women glance at each other, their breaths audible given the otherwise silence of the room, yet a few of them subtly gesture an open hand to them in signal to remain silent as they do, not one word out.

Far beyond the immediate crowd, the floor appears to be shaped only in its rectangular frame as there’s a wide gap in the center, one that exposes two more floors with one above which has a thinner frame but from the angle of the edge it’s clear there are booths along that floor and below there is the full floor full of long tables which has the densest population, for both stories are occupied heavily by others, others who remain silent and stare straight towards the sound of the voice.

Not only did the three land in a spot where they were caught instantly, but they flew straight into an intensely packed crowd, one that perhaps Meditat hadn’t anticipated given that supposedly Dana had guided a drone through it, for one of his hypotheticals specifically the vacancy of the position has now been found false.

Regardless of that explicit misstep, Meditat stands his ground even when positioned in potentially the worst dropoff location possible. Even without an immediate answer to his rather ballsy demand, he doesn’t stumble back but instead maintains his footing, his presence flooded with many others but keeping above the water.

Just directly around him there’s about twenty people, but on the other floors there are well over fifty just in this room alone, and now that his presence has been exposed, there was no telling how many reinforcements were waiting to be alerted just outside.

Against all odds, his stance doesn’t waver, and he simply glares down on the immediate people, the people who are very well protected by numbers and truthfully have little to fear.

That’s when one of those people who appear to be only in their early adult years directly in front of the intruders abruptly raises his finger and points to the right, his body quivering frantically with wide eyes.

Next is when the adjacent neighbors glance at him before those glances become glares, and the man turns to his own hand as though he didn’t even realize what he had done, and he lowers his arm slowly as he stammers desperately, “I-...I didn’t mean to…I-...,” to which the other neighbors either take a cautious step back or forward but all with anxious gazes from the mess they just fell into.

Either way, that man had done it.

He lit the spark.

There would be no stalemate, this the man beside the snitch acknowledges when he instinctively bellows and charges straight for the Spirit with fists whose knuckles protrude long metal blades which he swings at the intruder with only for his nose to be grabbed by a blue cable which yanks him forward helplessly, arms flailing before the frosty crystals of the knuckles makes contact with that very nose, propelling his body backwards far such that he nearly flies over the ledge, only to be saved by a tug to that cable which propels his body forward again at greater speed straight into the floor face first by the Spirit’s feet.

That single strike unleashes a hell as the whole cafeteria uproars, and all the frozen statues mobilize as the pirates in the immediate focus charge straight at Meditat as those on the upper floor begin pulling out firearms from their hips and others leap off of the ledge straight for the second floor.

But they aren’t the only side to mobilize as the Spirit charges forward as Ekitai and Kokei stumble back and watch speechless at first as the Spirit narrowly evades a punch from a fist in flames before counter striking with his own flaming hand but one blue and one that manifests a black baton with blue rings that flare when contacted with the side of the attacker’s head, for a short blue burst of energy expels him to the side but not a full second before the next guy right behind swings a long greatsword right for Meditat who parries back with his own baton although holding him still as another man runs from the side with a hand that begins rotating detached from the wrist, moving at speeds so great the motion blurs it like a drill which he tries jabbing at Meditat who swings his other hand back which summons a strange pad gripped by a handle, and one that blocks the hand but furthermore delivers an electric shock which jolts the pirate’s body before collapse, freeing the Spirit’s focus for just a fraction of a second to relinquish the pad and instead reinforce that free hand with a large gauntlet made of a material similar to chainmail which he uses to grab the greatsword blade before simply snapping it to which the pirate stumbles back in awe before being jabbed in the stomach with the baton.

After ridding of the two immediate combatants, the Spirit faces forward to assess the batch of pirates a few feet in front of him, all of whom make chase at him as he relinquishes his gauntlet and baton before both hands are then, through blue flames, equipped with hilts attached to long black whips that spark with blue electricity, and he swings both of them horizontally over his chest which slashes all of the pirates before him, all of them being jolted by the electricity with agonized yelps.

With all of the enemies right in front of him gone, the Spirit can then focus to the man whose left arm is made of metal with larger proportions which he lunges with from the floor above, but with a single swing the Spirit’s black whip reaches and wraps around the arm before he then leaps off of the floor straight for the center, arcing his arm back before thrusting it forward thereby redirecting the metal-armed man to instead fly in the same direction straight at the Spirit. However the Spirit propels himself with a blue boost in a side strafe as his whip detaches from the arm, instead having the metal-armed pirate fly straight into a l+ong table on the base floor below the Spirit who then thrashes both whips each to the man’s arms and with a single jerk he thrusts himself straight into that table on the pirate’s back, the impact splitting the whole table and collapsing it as plates and cups spill everywhere.

Yet as the Spirit stands over the defeated pirate, the bandit army surrounds the intruder with many revealing firearms and blades and others igniting their hands with flames or wrapping it in dripping acid.

Their target renounces the two whips, and he casually brings his right hand by his hip, pausing for a moment as another man flies from the higher floors with a fist triple the size of his arm, although in the Spirit’s hand comes flames that form a small handgun in style of a Glock which he raises up with a grip reinforced by his other hand in an instant to fire a single physical dart, one that strikes the shoulder before the pirate’s entire body abruptly flashes black and his fist promptly begins shrinking to a normal size as he crashes into the ground.

Now facing ahead, the Spirit aims the pistol in front of him yet near his face, tilted about forty five degrees in a militaristic stance before dodging an electric bolt and countering with his own shot at the pirate surging with energy, energy sapped away as his body flashes black after being struck by the next dart.

He continues to fire five more shots rapidly at the incoming enemies as he begins to march forward down the right side of the cafeteria where beyond all the hordes there is a visible open doorway to another section. That doorway is blocked off heavily by those he weaves and fires back to, his aim instant and shots perfectly precise, utilizing skills taught from his former leader, skills grounded for a man who could create anything yet its utility is unquestioned in the moment.

One of the pirates stands at over eight feet in height in a tank top, revealing his oversized arms with veins visible given their vibrant green glow, and that pirate roars and charges at the Spirit who fires a shot straight for the chest, but one that does not result immediately in a black flash, for instead he has to fire seven more in rapid fire before the last one ultimately causes him to stagger and flash before collapse.

The Spirit lets his left hand go off the grip and summons blue flames over it as he flicks his right wrist to allow a magazine to expel from beneath the handgun’s handle right before inserting the second magazine he manifested back in not a quarter of a second after.

He resumes firing down on the pirates on his unstopped march for the door, dodging and evading attacks from all directions, attacks not only from Exhumans however as he notes that several of his shots have no effect as he strikes men and women armed exclusively with physical weaponry rather than supernatural ability, those of whom take no effect from the darts other than slight nudges before continuing to fire.

To that note, the Spirit relinquishes his left grip again and exerts another flame, but this time to summon a second Glock-like pistol which he aims and fires at a man holding a long sniper rifle point blank, unable to get a shot before he gets shot by another dart but one that simply neutralizes him as he falls unconscious although without a flash.

Onwards the Spirit swiftly fires down with both handguns, the right one targeted at Exhumans and the left for regular humans, sometimes requiring him to cross his arms, yet he manages to maintain a distance of several feet from all pirates as he fires multiple shots a second, so fast he only allows the windup of Exhumans simply to identify them but prevents them from managing to even emit an attack.

The constant fire does quickly drain the Spirit of rounds from both handguns, to which he flicks both wrists which expels both magazines before he rotates them sideways and brings his arms over his chest as two blue flames emerge from the pencil emblem, each one morphing into a magazine sideways, each one perfectly placed so his handguns seamlessly consume them before gravity can take effect. Thus not a second after depleting his ammunition he resumes his battling march, firing down on the many pirates as more leap from the second floor.

One of those pirates raises both hands which each project a large green sheet of energy in front of him, a sheet that vaporizes the darts fired into it as he marches towards the Spirit, eating up any shots and allowing the rest of the pirates to close in two of which have matching overalls and both wield large clubs which they raise upon proximity.

Realizing his former method was now being negated and the distance was closing, the Spirit drops both handguns from his hands and brings both hands closer as he emits a long ray of flames that forms a metal bo staff with frosty crystal tips. Wielding the staff with both hands, he raises it to dispel the simultaneous club swings as his shoulder projects another flame upwards which forms a sphere that manifests into a hovering black glassy ball that begins firing blue bolts omnidirectionally, first at one of the men in overalls which staggers him in time for Meditat to focus on the other man and slash him at the feet, tripping him as he then jabs the former man.

He continues ahead with another shoulder stream forming a second glassy ball functioning similar to a turret, both of whom fire autonomously in aid of the Spirit as he fights to recover his lost distance. Ahead he moves as above him on the second floor simply stands Ekitai and Kokei, entirely untouched as none of the focus has been placed on them.

Dumbfounded by the resilience to face such a great army all at once, Kokei just blinks and asks anxiously, “Do we…even need to be here…?”

Ekitai however turns around to find a stampede of pirates running down the ramp from the top floor and circling to the next ramp, to which he slips his handgun into his pocket and retorts lightly but with some hesitance, “I guess he had to get famous somehow.”

Driving both closed fists wielding the staff into a taller pirate, the Spirit next faces a man in traditional aristocrat clothing with one hand on his back and another on a rapier which he swings straight through the center of the staff, seamlessly splitting it in half with the tip not a full foot from the white mask.

Staggering back from the near hit, the Spirit first slashes two pirates coming from the side with the split staff as one of the hovering turrets moves towards the aristocrat to fire before being abruptly grabbed by a large shirtless man from the sky who slams it viscously into the ground, shattering it and leaving only one other turret which the Spirit raises his attention to just as it deflects a barrage of gunshots from a light machine gun wielded by a man deeper in the ground, able to withstand the shots due to an invisible protective shield but one penetrated as another pirate from the sky somehow swings his arm straight through the ball as if it was intangible, and without any physical splitting the ball mysteriously falls to the ground inoperable.

Before he can focus on his loss of turrets, the Spirit’s attention is diverted behind himself to the huge swarm of pirates from the ramps all chasing him.

He quickly turns back ahead just in time to block another strike from the aristocrat, using the crystal tips of his split staff to repel the rapier as blue flames wrap around his knuckles and swap his frosty crystals for a slim device resembling brass knuckles but matte black and more specifically it fires blue bolts at the aristocrat even while the Spirit clutches the staff halves, able to defeat the aristocrat and sprint forwards through the crowd ahead as he relinquishes his broken staff and emits more flames from his hands for another creation, but before doing so he’s tackled by that previous large man who brings Meditat to the ground. Not a second later he’s propelled in the air with a scream as the Spirit’s frosty shins shimmer, and as he stands back up he’s quick to block rounds of gunfire with his black gauntlets as his black cape and hood deters any fire from behind, although what it doesn’t deter is a grab from another pirate who drags Meditat back who struggles helplessly as the never ending horde continues to retract the distance he was fighting for.

Helpless from the infinite wave, the pirates finally gang up on Meditat in preparation for their retaliation, chaining down the intruder as helped by the man grabbing him from behind, but a bright blue radiating bolt from above strikes the ground by his feet which causes a small patch of the floor to froth blue which causes him to lose his balance and slip, ripping off his hold to the confusion of the other pirates before the pirates immediately in front of Meditat are struck by a blue bolt that secretes a slime that binds them to each other before then being rained down on by a rainbow of bolts from above.

That rain is showered by the Alchemist

from the ledge wielding his own handgun, the copper wrappings shimmering as his yellow eyes lock onto the pirate army.

He then aims down right below him over the ledge to fire a pink bolt before leaping off the ledge down the story, but landing comfortably on the fluffy pink veiny cushion that he throws himself off of to continue firing, deterring the pirates who just now only had one target in mind for their shock of a known legend had made them forget about the other companions.

As a result Ekitai manages to march up to Meditat’s side in the brief window of confusion within the bandits, firing non stop as he loudly remarks: “So how you figure you’d do this yourself?”

Tisking from the need of a rescue, Meditat shakes his head and retorts sternly, “I didn’t need that,” before standing up on his own and equipping himself with a long spear which projects a tip of blue energy that he swings, working up the distance again as he again starts to walk but now alongside the Alchemist who constantly swaps between ammunitions which spawns clusters of huge purple spikes destroying tables and benches below pirates who begin levitating up in the air against their will as they flail their arms and scream helplessly.

Their momentum does however stall yet again as the Spirit turns around to find the mob that had come from the ramp recovers substantially and resumes their charge, requiring him to focus efforts on warding them off with his spear as he projects three more turret balls to help deal with his front, although one of those pirates who has a more muscular body raises a market umbrella which opens up with a bright red canopy which deflects the majority of the shots, protecting the other pirates who once again start overwhelming the Spirit.

He isn’t the only one however, as the Alchemist starts to take steps back as regardless of how fast he fires, he struggles to maintain pace with the rest of the army, and even when he fires a bright green acidic shot at one of the shirtless bandits, it merely drips down his abdomen like water.

Stumbling back closer to Meditat’s back, he hesitantly admits with a hint of anxiety, “I won’t lie, alone I’m most experienced in dealing with smaller groups, or at least the larger ones with more allies.”

Relinquishing the spear and swapping it for a large riot shield that emits propulsive blasts from the window, Meditat takes a step back against Ekitai’s back and begrudgingly admits, “I’m not used to fighting a mix at this scale, dammit we need to get to Dana,” only for one of his drones to be suddenly shot by a bolt of electricity which chains with the other two, shutting off all of them in a swift strike to his sighing dismay.

Meditat then raises his head just as a towering man reaches for him simultaneously as a man holding a medieval shield approaches Ekitai, warding off all his shots, the two closing all their distance. Suddenly though both of those pirates along with all of those surrounding them are swept in a field of pink electric arcs that spread over the area, and all of those caught in the radius freeze up, huffing and shouting to each other in confusion, Meditat also stunned as his goggles flicker white. Ekitai however immediately raises his head up with a smile to the higher floor, up to the source of the pink stream that being the Vanguard who holds both of her arms out which sprawls arcs all over, her eyes lit up and hair waving.

Her body slowly begins to rise, her feet lifting off the floor, and she begins hovering over the ledge with her teeth gritted as she glances around to find more pirates outside the radius who turn towards her, and those armed with projectile weapons such as firearms and javelins all take aim on her.

Her eyes expanding in fear, she instinctively thrashes her arms out, to which the entire horde in the electric field are suddenly thrown off their feet and in all directions outwards, colliding with their fellow bandits and the tables in a mess that temporarily removes balance from their whole mob. As her body slowly drifts towards the center of that newly formed ring of bodies, she blinks twice as the electricity flickers, and finally vanishes before she then suddenly falls to the ground but is swiftly saved with a pink cushion formed out of a timely bolt by her old friend, to which she sighs in relief before throwing herself off the veiny bag.

She waves her hands as she awkwardly runs up alongside Ekitai and Meditat, first to apologize insistently, “Sorry sorry I froze I uh just didn’t know what to do, I didn’t think it was something like this I’m sorry I-.”

“No,” interjects Meditat all the sudden, silencing Kokei in befuddlement as she watches him shake his head before turning to her and assuring, “That was well timed, I apologize for that troubled start.”

“Yeah well roll your shoulders or something,” advises Ekitai as his eyes sharpen and he begins stepping towards the doorway as distant shouting grows louder while the pirates at the corners of the room grunt and shake their heads. “So you have a plan? No fancy words, make it quick.”

First Meditat faces the same direction as Ekitai, that being the doorway to the room towards the direction that snitch pointed to, and more pressing through that doorway comes a horde of screams but also a physical horde visible from afar charging down.

“Go that way until we find her,” Meditat simply briefs, following Ekitai’s criteria as Kokei faces down the doorway before then glancing to the pirates as they begin to stand up. The three stand side by side– Ekitai, Meditat, and Kokei from left to right– in front of the door by the end of the cafeteria, all of the tables and benches utterly destroyed in chunks and pieces scattered about. Around the edges of the room are the pirates who they pushed aside, although many of them slowly come to their feet, disoriented but recovering. And ahead, there were only more.

They had only fought the first wave.

One of the brutes stands up in the cafeteria and shakes his head, finally orienting before he bellows, “GET THEM!” as he begins charging straight for the three intruders, reinforced by growing numbers of other bandits recovering and making chase from behind.

Noticing the revival, Meditat sighs and announces, “Let’s go,” before he sprints ahead towards the door, running ahead of Kokei and Ekitai, and ahead of the massive mob. He runs through the doorway and glances back to watch both Kokei and Ekitai do the same, and after they do he aims his hand at the door and projects an azure blaze into the doorway just before the brute reaches the opening which expands and transforms into a solid wall made of frosty crystal bordering the door shut and stopping the brute.

Only the rumblings of strikes against the crystal wall could surpass the barricade, for that seal proves effective, allowing more focus forward towards the louder shouting, and the one in numbers far greater.

For in front of the three is a vast long hall to the scale of a shopping mall, and a design similar in that along the sides are entrances to rooms on all three floors visible from the ground mimicking wooden boards. Connecting the long floors along the upper two levels which hung like balconies for the other doors is an intricate network of bridges, some of them simply reaching from one side to another but others diverging into several branches to create more sophisticated networks, however the top floor is the most complex as a long catwalk hangs over the ground floor yet narrower thus allowing sight. All of the bridges of the same metal wooden material lack any railings to obscure them, perfectly allowing for the immensely dense crowd of pirates to be visible, all of them charging in one direction. On the higher levels chasing down the bridges and those too on the base floor, they roar in their unique outfits and various weaponry, the army called to action.

As the three Bellators charge on, they run past the wide openings side by side to the side rooms which lead into what appear to be lounges given the casual sofas and tables inside, with bars visible further back. On the upper floor the openings are just slightly more narrow with the rooms less visible but still full of substantially casual equipment like chairs and desks, but on the highest floor there are less doors all more distantly scattered and far more narrow albeit tall, yet they’re distinctly closed shut with dark metal doors.

Although there’s only one destination, one that can hardly even be discerned from the distance and crowd, yet it was known that at the end of this hall there’d be the door to the next room, perhaps where the fourth team member would be found.

That destination is the one that the three race to despite the crowd stampeding the other way, the one finally reaching close contact as the center manifests a pair of long bo staffs, although segmented in threes and connected by projective blue ropes that allows them to be swung straight at the flaming blades of his opponents as their comrades are swarmed in pink electric coils that raise them off the ground before tossing them far back and making them easy targets to be shot at with colorful bolts that attract them into huge helpless clumps.

Battling forward, the Spirit glances back to find that the metallic wooden walls to the cafeteria explode with fiery booms and dissolve with bright acids, allowing those from the first wave to pass through even if it requires collateral damage to their own facility. After slashing a gunman to the face with his staff, a translucent rope emerges from the Spirit’s shoulder at an upward angle which reels him off his feet as two more cables project from his hips with one clinging to the rapid firing Alchemist and another to the ground controlling Vanguard, both of them being swept off their feet just before they could be incinerated from behind.

The three swing in a pendulum up above the second floor as two azure flaming streams emit from the Spirit’s shoulders and expand into thin horizontal rays that form wires each with small metal orbs both above the two other warriors. Each orb projects its own blue cable onto one of those warriors, allowing the Spirit to disengage his own so the two orbs can then slide down the ziplines outwards to the far sides of the room where the long floors are.

The Vanguard thrashes her arms to command her floods of electricity to toss bandits off the floor to the ground as the Alchemist fires up a dark green bolt onto the bottom of the third floor’s bridges, and upon impact it secretes a thick dark goo that drops down onto the pirates below, covering them before lifting them off the ground and straight into those bridge’s underbellies. Both of them reach their destinations simultaneously as the orbs disengage their cables, allowing them to land on the ground and continue running forth as the Spirit swings from the upper floors in the center, approached in an aerial tussle with combatants few of whom lift themselves with the supernatural through tunnels of concentrated air by their fingertips or simply manage to reach greater heights helped by the accelerated growth of long vines while some of their comrades use traditional approaches in the form of suits that allow them flight some of which are backpacks that exhaust a flame from beneath like a rocket.

The Spirit strafes to the side in evasion to a lunge of vines sprouting off the Exhuman’s hand, her body covered in green plants, her long red hair blocking back from the propulsion of the hovering gear that allows her fellow raider to bear the weight of a huge firearm resembling a minigun as he lugs it with heaves before unleashing a rapid barrage that requires the Spirit to drop before dashing in an intense bolt as he throws his arm to fling a flame made into a large cleaver blade which cuts straight through the vines holding the woman up, causing her to fall and lose her ability to stand as a hindrance thus allowing the Spirit to focus on evading the heavy gunner’s fire with cable zips and quick dashes until he’s able to zoom right beside him, letting the Spirit place a small disk on the backpack which discharges an electric surge that shuts down the propulsion system thereby dropping him too.

Onward he moves down the long hall as he throws his arm again now to toss a barrage of star-shaped projectiles which spin in flight to the right floor and into the crowd of pirates. The stars explode upon proximity, emitting clouds of gaseous smoke that the bandits stop and cough from, losing their focus just enough for them to be caught in the pink web where they could move no longer, all of their gazes caught on the one who held the strings. All of them protrude from her arms, and upon grabbing the streams with both hands, she throws her arms to the left with a hard pivot, throwing the whole crowd far to the left as they all shout in bewilderment.

That crowd flies over the whole width of the hall, flung all the way into the other side where they collide with their own comrades, the shouting becoming louder and more muddled before one of them is struck by a gray bold before their and the whole clumped group’s bodies begin hardening into a gray stone, transfiguring them into frozen statues.

Those statues are easily ran past as the old gunslinger keeps racing before glancing over to the man in the air swinging from bridge to bridge, but from one of those bridges drops down a man wielding a huge sword taller than himself, pointed straight down for an ambush to which the gunslinger fires a shot straight at that very sword, striking the blade the moment before it strikes its opponent. However rather than slicing through the man in blue, the blade instead splits into liquid streams as the whole huge blade liquifies into a harmless goop, perplexing him as he just continues falling past his target who glances back and aims his hand down to fire a blue cable, suspending the enemy from hitting the ground three stories high and detaching the cable right after.

He then glances over to the direction of the shot, finding the gunslinger who nods his head and faces forward with a smile towards the huge man balled up and rolling at speeds of a racing pod, straight for collision if not for the timely cable grabbing the gunslinger’s back and yanking him off the ground up into the air from the warrior’s left hand as his right aims straight up to pull himself in a vertical jump, thrusting the gunslinger in the air with the cable that then disconnects and leaves him flying. However he’s unconcerned as he continues firing with a wide smile while the leader zips to the right side to fire a cable and grab the core of the pink plasmic ball, yanking her high up in the air before he then swings himself up around the bridge as she chaotically flings her arms.

All three of them simultaneously soar above the third floor’s bridges, and with a brief zip on both of the free-falling bodies, the leader pulls each of them on their nearest respective bridge, allowing them to continue sprinting and firing as he lands on the central lane, spinning and swinging plasmic swords whose blades dance in the air before then switching to a firearm resembling an Uzi and firing a burst of neutralizing darts into the next pirate whose body flashes black as he’s passed.

From top down, all three of the Bellators run on the three far lanes, the Alchemist firing colorful shots ahead, the Spirit rapidly swapping new weapons to best suit his next obstacle, and the Vanguard freezing oppositional attack before throwing them off to the bridges below. Below them the pirates on the ground chase with their heads up, their arms raised as they fire blindly up in hopes to graze them. Those who are not limited to the floor soar straight up, one of them in a suit resembling medieval knight’s armor but with boots that propel them with flames as they carry a great longsword. They attempt to slash the central fighter at the legs, but his arm fails to make the full swing as he’s infested with pink arcs, allowing the target to notice and throw a hard kick to the face with his crystalized shin.

The unconscious body is allowed back down as the Vanguard breaks from the edge lane and runs alongside one of the connecting bridges as ahead of that very bridge a black goo rises from the floor, taking on the shape of a man who arches his arm back for a punch, only for that fist to be shot by a bolt from the other side of the room which causes it to revert to goo, perplexing the attempted assailant in time for him to be flung over by a swift swarm from the fighter who glances over to her ally who also begins running along the connecting bridges.

More pirates however reach the ledge and begin climbing over all the bridges, reinforcing those already up, imbuing them the confidence to make a charge. The Spirit unleashes bursts of flames which spawns a huge mob of miniscule black flying bots who move together like a swarm of bees, diverging to invade multiple bridges and cover the bandits, making focus difficult for them thus allowing it easier for them to be shot and thrown. Thus onwards they move and closer too, the Vanguard and Alchemist taking branches that eventually brings them all together in the central lane, the three running together down the lane that up ahead abruptly explodes as multiple rockets fly up from below, crashing into the many bridges and even again into the central lane but from behind, detaching the bridge the three are running on and dropping it.

The Vanguard covers her head with her arms in fear from the upwards bombardment, yet at least she’s covered from below as streams from the Spirit manifest what resembles umbrella canopies but upside down, one under her and another under Alchemist, both emitting extended shields that divert the rockets and allow them to drop down by the second floor just as the Spirit grabs both of them with cables and spins his body, throwing them back onto bridges with ground and returning to swinging as they find themselves now facing a far denser crowd and now again separated.

That is until the Spirit emits a flame that forms a new lane along the center bridge, one made of white metal leveled same with the second floor, and after dropping down he spreads his own branching paths out of the bridge to reach the other two allies who take those branches, following the new path to the central lane thicker than the top floor’s center.

Again grouped together, the Vanguard raises her arms forward and more aggressively projects her swarms at a further distance, focusing primarily on freezing large crowds as she allows the Alchemist to fire down on them for her while the Spirit continues building the bridge every step, blue flames extending beneath their feet before transforming into hard structured metal.

He raises his head up before then exclaiming over all the noise, “AHEAD!” which calls for the other two’s attention, and as they raise their own heads and look past the crowds, they see the far wall approaching close, the end of the long hall.

That sight is then blocked by a huge wall of slime that rises from below, cutting off their path as different bridges are shot down and destroyed in an effort to yet again tear down their path.

Understanding this new fixation, the Spirit makes a sideways flipping leap over the Alchemist as he projects a cable to both him and the Vanguard, pulling them away from the center path and in fact away from the entire outside center, as he dashes through one of the openings and lands inside one of the smaller office rooms where they leap over desks and cabinets, reaching the next wall which the Alchemist burns a hole through, letting them step through away from the outside.

They however are not entirely safe from below though as all the sudden bolts emerge from the floor, now without any knowing of the shooter as the three just frantically strafe without any aim. Beams of fire penetrate through the wood and barrages of gunfire from others, and the three can only break into the next room and keep running blind.

But as they pass that room and move to the next, they’re met with an intense bombardment from underneath the boards as the whole room’s floor splits and collapses, dropping them again from one floor to the next.

Dropping into one of the lounges below, the Spirit deploys small pads beneath the two allies which saps any impact from the drop, letting them keep running after gaining their footing. The room is substantially larger than the upper ones, but is now occupied by many more pirates, and that occupation rises as the huge mob outside puts their sights on the lounges.

Glancing to the side in notice of such a problem, the Spirit projects a hovering rectangular wall past the Vanguard, one that glides alongside with them and has a face reinforced with crystals. The wall absorbs any fire their way but still allows pirates inside, which the Vanguard manages as she diverts her focus from forward to the side, sending her sieges of electricity to the entrances and suspending those who attempt to invade.

The Alchemist keeps focus forward as the Spirit aids in the blockade with several ball turrets spawned above him which fire blue bolts down as he makes rapid throwing motions while forming and tossing spheres towards the entrances that explode with energetic blasts upon impact.

At the same time the Alchemist opens the door to the next lounge through holes burned through the walls, making enough to let all three in with ease so they can focus their efforts on the main entrances.

After a quick glance ahead though, the Spirit subtly shakes his head in hesitancy before then relinquishing the wall and running towards that main entrance where all the pirates are coming from. Clearly bewildered given their gazes, the two allies nonetheless follow out of the lounge past the destroyed table tennis table now split in half and they run back out into the main hall, for now only a few lounges ahead is the end: the closed door out.

Side by side, the three Bellators run into the dense mob, freezing some of them whether it’s swarms of arcs from the Vanguard or blue slime covering the bodies as the Spirit tosses out disks onto the shoulders of the pirates which project blue cables straight up to the ceiling before pulling them against their will. A bright blue bolt to the floor spreads an icy blue sheet over a horde of gunmen, causing them to slip on their backs, a drone deployed to the air drops down a large net over a cluster who are all shocked to sleep, and two flocks are individually captured in different swarms before both are pulled together, slamming bandits against their own uncoordinated team.

Unable to even focus on a breath, the three battle their way down relentlessly against the obstacles until the only one remaining is simply a closed door, and to that one all that the Spirit does is leap forwards and kick it straight in the middle, causing the entire object to shatter any connections to its frame and thrust it forward into the next room.

Onwards past the great hall, the three Bellators remain intact as they emerge into the next room away from the army, guns flashing, lightning crawling, and flames dancing.