I own nothing

Well here's the next chapter, man this took forever to finish.

So just so I know, did you guys like my little reference at the end of the last chapter or no? I think I got mixed reactions but I wasn't sure.


Chapter 7: Prison Break

Rex's POV

"Alright is everyone ready? We probably won't be able to go back to the house afterwards, in fact we're probably going to have to leave Torigoth after this…" Rex asked tentatively as the party walked along the edge of the Titan along the roots that Tora mentioned. They were getting very close to the ship now; hopefully the darkness of the night would conceal them.

"Tora have everything he and Poppi need!" Tora said excitedly as he patted the large pack he was carrying, large for him anyway.

"I always have everything I need," Gil responded, Rex wanted to ask why he was still dressed normally, aside from his Enki he was still wearing the clothes he wore when he was finding them information.

"We're good to go Rex, we had everything when we checked the first time," Pyra said and Rex blushed a little in embarrassment. Then Gil nudged him and pointed ahead towards the end of the roots they were walking on.

"Looks like Tora was right, the root does lead out right under the ship," he said. Rex let out a breath in relief, as indeed, what Tora said was true. The root didn't just lead out off of the Titan; it was under the ship, right under an open hatch to boot!

"Right, now we just have to get up there," Azurda pointed out. That was true, it was a bit higher than they could jump. Well ma-

"I could probably make that," Gil said and before anyone could say anything he sprinted towards the edge of the root and when he reached the edge he leapt from the edge and he didn't just reach the hatch, he actually went high enough for him to land on his feet in the hatch. Then he turned back towards them and gave them a small wave.

"It's clear up here, come on!" he announced.

"Show off…" Rex sighed and then he saw the flabbergasted look on Tora but surprisingly Pyra didn't have a similar reaction, she was just smiling. Then Poppi didn't have any reaction at all aside from blinking.

"Right well, I'll go first and carry you up Pyra. Tora, Poppi, I'll get you next," Rex said as he aimed his grappling hook up and shot it. It hit the upper end of the hatch and Rex smiled at his success. He hit the reel and it easily pulled him up towards the hatch. When he reached the hatch he stopped and swung onto the ledge and pulled his grapple hook back.

"Nice of you to join me," Gil said simply and Rex rolled his eyes as he looked back towards the others.

"Ok, Pyra you ready to go?" Rex asked and his Blade nodded though she seemed…scared?

"Here you go!" Rex fired his grapple hook down towards her. And stopped it before it lodged itself in the ground.

"Climb on and I'll pull you up!" Rex promised and Pyra cautiously approached the hook. She slowly reached out and grabbed it before she put her weight on it.

"Ok here go-oh!" Rex tried to pull her up but he couldn't quite pull her up and his hook's gyro was struggling to pull her up, which was saying something since it could support Rex's weight!

"Pyra! You're so…heavy!" Rex exclaimed as he struggled to pull his Blade up.

"W-W-WHAT!?" Pyra shrieked and then suddenly she let go and Rex fell onto the ground with a small thud.

"Ow! Why did you let go?!" Rex groaned as he got up slowly and rubbed his back where he fell. Then suddenly Gil chopped him over the head.

"OW! What was that for?!" Rex groaned as he held his head and glared up at his friend who was giving him a deadpanned glare.

"Because you said something unbelievably stupid…" Gil stated matter of fact like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Rex didn't get it until Azurda floated in front of his face from his helmet.

"Rex, you should know you never tell a woman that she's heavy!" Azurda chided and Rex paled a little. Of course…how could he forget! He made that mistake enough times back home with Illya!

"Rex-Rex not have much tact!" Tora shouted and Rex quickly scrambled over to the edge again.

"I didn't mean it Pyra! I was just surprised, I mean um…" Rex couldn't think of a better way to explain it.

"I'm sorry!" Pyra wasn't even looking at him, she was covering her face in embarrassment.

"No! No! It's not your fault! I just um…" once again Rex couldn't think of an appropriate response to that!

"Its ok Pyra, you're just very well grown to impressive height!" Tora appeased though Pyra still didn't lower her hands.

"Poppi have solution!" the Artificial Blade announced as her ankles lit up even more than usual. Suddenly smoke started emitting from her feet and then she shot up off the ground, the smoke had come from the rockets in her feet!

"Whoa!" Rex jumped back when Poppi landed on the hatch.

"Poppi can carry Pyra up!" Poppi announced cheerfully as she grabbed hold of the wire.

"Oh boy…" Gil sighed.

"Um sure if you think you can, go ahead!" Rex agreed, trying to get the subject off of Pyra's weight.

"Pyra, grab on again!" Rex shouted down and his Blade slowly grabbed onto the hook again. Then immediately Poppi started pulling her up like it was nothing.

"Whoa! Poppi, nice going!" Rex cheered. The new Blade smiled at him cheerfully.

"Poppi can carry a truck if need be!" she said and Rex thought he heard Pyra say something but when he looked down he saw that she was hiding her face again as she was pulled up. When she was all the way up she didn't grab the ledge and Rex frowned.

"Hey Pyra, come on. You're here," Rex said gently as he offered his hand out to her. Pyra slowly raised her head towards him and she reached out to grab his hand.

"Ok…" she said meekly as she stepped onto the hatch but then her other foot caught onto something.

"Oh!" Pyra's red eyes widened as she fell and Rex tried to catch her as she fell but since he was so caught off guard he wasn't prepared for her sudden weight. He hugged her close and brought her to a stop and then he slowly helped her so she could stand on her own.

"You ok, Pyra?" Rex asked as he stepped back from her when she was standing on her own. Her hands seemed slow to let go of him but when they did they snapped back and she clasped them together in the usual way she did it when she was nervous. Her cheeks were fully red as well.

"Yes! Thank you Rex!" she said quickly and Rex wanted to talk to her more about that but he needed to pull Tora up first.

"Right, Tora you're next!" Rex said as he went over but Poppi held up her hand.

"Poppi can get Masterpon," she said simply as she jumped back down onto the root. Then she picked up a rather squirmy Tora before she lifted off with her boosters again and landed back on the hatch with them.

"Here you go, Masterpon," Poppi said as she placed to Nopon onto the floor.

"Poppi give, Tora warning next time!" Tora exclaimed though Rex thought that he was enjoying it. He was probably overjoyed that his dream had come true.

"Hey, Pyra you ok?" Rex asked next as he turned back to his Blade. Her cheeks had returned to their normal color but she still seemed a little out of it.

"Yes Rex, I was just surprised that's all. Thank you for catching me," she said gratefully, while giving him her usual warm smile. Rex smiled as well, he was happy that she wasn't mad or embarrassed about him making that crack about her weight. He hoped that maybe she forgot about it but he had a feeling she didn't.

"Now that we're all here and the pleasantries are over we need to move on and be careful," Gil cut in suddenly. Rex turned to his friend and nodded.

"What would you recommend in this situation?" he asked. Rex might have forced this venture but he wouldn't be so bold as to decide what course they should take inside an enemy ship.

Rex knew that he didn't always think things through enough. He could point out what to be done but getting there was a little more difficult. So he would rely on Gil for that, he was always good at that. Back home he would always be the one that took charge when they were doing something big. That hadn't changed a whole lot even now. Thinking on it now, Rex was surprised Gil hadn't stepped in sooner actually. Well actually he kind of did looking back on it. He did help make sure Poppi came online and that they wouldn't be found in the process.

"What we're going to do is be careful first of all. This is a military vessel, so you can expect plenty of guards all over the place. The fact that there's no one here must mean that this isn't a real corridor; this might just be a large vent. If not then we're just lucky that they assumed no one would actually come through here," Gil explained and Rex nodded. The young Driver looked over at his Blade and noticed that she seemed pleased for some reason. He wanted to ask her what was going on but he decided not to since this probably wasn't the best place for that.

"We'll need to find the cell block first of all. Mor Ardain would probably keep Drivers and Blades in separate areas so that they couldn't break out so easily. We just need to figure out which one is closer," Gil said.

"How are we going to do that?" Rex asked.

"Pyra and I can sense Blades so hopefully that'll tip us off to where Dromarch is, assuming there aren't many other Blades on board. We should be able to tell if we get close though since we've sensed him before," Gil said and Rex nodded. He still didn't understand why Gil was able to do that but the guy didn't exactly know why himself either.

"Poppi can sense Blades as well!" Poppi interjected and Rex turned to her in confusion.

"Wait what? How can Poppi sense Blades?" Tora asked and Rex turned his confusion onto him. Didn't he create her?

"Unclear Masterpon. Poppi can feel it almost like a wave in the air. On the way here, Poppi felt several strange wavelengths through the ether and when Poppi compared it to Pyra's, Poppi assumed that she can sense Blades," Poppi explained and that answered a question but created a few more too.

"Tora you didn't know she could do that?" Pyra asked and the Nopon shook his head.

"Tora not know how. Tora try his best to make her like real Blade though," he explained.

"I think you succeeded then, Blades can sense each other, though we can also hide our power from each other too," Pyra praised and the little Nopon smiled.

"Yes, Tora is definitely a genius but we need to get moving. If she can sense them, then it should be easier to find Dromarch and Nia," Gil said curtly, moving them back on track.

"Right, so where are we on the ship, do you know?" Rex asked and Gil shook his head.

"Unfortunately I don't. I haven't exactly been on Ardanian warships and this is the ship belonging to the Special Inquisitor herself. If I had to guess I would say that the cells were at the lower end of the ship. Fortunately we've entered the lower levels of the ship first. We should probably try to track someone down and make them tell us where the cells are," Gil explained and Rex nodded, though he was uncomfortable with that last part. Except he knew they needed to do it if they wanted to find Nia.

The ship was massive, Rex could tell that from the outside. It would be challenging to search the whole thing, hopefully Gil was right. There wasn't much else for them to do unfortunately. Searching through the whole thing could make it easier for them to get caught after all.

"If we're not careful then they might just kill Nia, especially if they figure that we're here to save her," Pyra mentioned and Rex's heart clenched up a bit at the thought. He promised that he would save her; he couldn't let her down like that.

"We also need to worry about the-" Gil stopped suddenly and tensed and Rex was about to ask what was wrong until he heard someone talking along with footsteps.

"Quick!" Gil grabbed Rex's arm and dragged him to the side of the hall and Rex nearly tripped and caught himself on the wall, behind the support pillars. He noticed Pyra and the others had followed their example rather readily. Rex looked past Gil and glanced down the hall to see shadows of two figures walking.

"Man why are we checking this. It's just an exhaust port basically, no one even knows this thing is here," Rex managed to make out.

"It's your fault for mouthing off to the captain again. I just want to know why I got dragged along for this," someone else complained. Rex leaned back into cover when Gil touched his shoulder gently.

"Alright, two guards. I'll take one, who wants the other one?" the blonde asked. Rex wasn't going to answer so he looked back at one of the others.

"I'll do it," Pyra said and Rex gave her a look but she just gave him a smile as she stepped past him and nodded to Gil.

"We just need one. I'll knock mine out, you keep a hold on yours and make sure he doesn't shout," Gil said and Pyra nodded.

"The rest of you stay a bit behind us," Gil ordered and Rex nodded but he was probably going to follow along a little bit.

"Alright, lets go," Gil said as he and Pyra crept along the side of the hall towards the guards. Rex waited until they were a good deal away before he followed them and Tora and Poppi did as well. He stopped when Gil and Pyra froze and he immediately ducked behind one of the pillars again with Tora and Poppi but they all stuck their heads out slightly so they could see.

Gil and Pyra were poised for the strike and Rex noticed the guards were getting louder and he saw the shadows getting larger, signaling they were getting closer.

"Well we best check this last part so we ca-" whatever the first guard was going to say was caught off as Gil grabbed him by his arm and shoulder and slammed his the man's face into his knee with an audible crack and crunch that made Rex wince. That one went down without another word.

At the same time Pyra literally kicked the other guard's gun out of his hand and before he could react, she grabbed his arm and slammed him into the wall with a small thud to stun him before she locked his arm and covered his mouth so he couldn't move or shout.

"Come on guys, it's done," Gil called and Rex blinked when he realized that all happened in the span of one to three seconds. He didn't expect that at all, especially from Pyra. Then again he recalled how good she was when they were fighting Malos…Rex shook himself out of his awe though and approached.

"Ok then. Listen up, Mongrel you have an opportunity to make things easier on yourself and your crew, understand?" Gil asked as he leaned onto the wall, besides their new captive. The guard looked at him and didn't respond and Gil frowned.

"I said do you understand? They teach you how to listen in the academy don't they?" Gil asked harshly this time. The guard nodded quickly to that and Gil nodded.

"Good…now then, my friend is going to let your mouth go. You're going to tell us anything we want to know and if you even think about calling for help…" Gil reached over and pulled out the soldier's radio and held it up towards him. Then he crushed the device in his hand with ease until it was a ball of circuits and metal. The guard's eyes must have widened behind his mask because he nodded quickly. Rex hoped that Gil wasn't serious about that threat.

"Good…ok then Pyra, let his mouth go," Gil said and Pyra nodded before she stopped suppressing the guard's ability to speak but she kept him pinned.

"W-W-What do you want to k-know?" the guard asked fearfully.

"Where's the Cellblock and which cells are the Torna Prisoners in?" Gil asked swiftly and the man must have balked under his helmet.

"Well?" Gil asked as he tapped his foot impatiently as his hand moved towards the sword he had on his waist, making the guard tense. Rex glanced at Tora and Poppi to see they were actually engrossed in the scene a bit more than Rex would have thought, especially Tora.

"T-The Special Inquisitor moved the Torna Driver to a private Cell in the back of the Cellblock! Her Blade is still being kept in the Cellblock, room A12! The Cellblock is close! You just need to keep following the path we came from and you'll come across it in five minutes top! Most of the guards are asleep right now! You'll literally leave this hall right at the cellblock's doorstep!" the guard stammered quickly.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" Pyra asked rather lowly, something Rex had never heard before. It was…interesting to hear, in a good way actually.

"I have a keycard for the area in my right pocket! Please, I'm just a technician, not a real soldier! I work at the Cellblock sometimes to make sure the systems are working! I know they're there!" the poor guard stammered. Gil shrugged and reached into the man's pocket as he said and pulled out a small keycard. The blonde looked it over and nodded.

"It looks like it checks out. Thank you, now then Pyra if you would…" right when the blonde finished, Pyra pulled the guards head back and slammed it into the wall. Rex winced from the sound as the guard crumbled onto the floor, out cold like his companion.

"Wasn't that a bit much?" Rex asked finally and Gil just chuckled while Pyra at least looked embarrassed.

"Sorry…well we needed him to talk…" Pyra said as she tapped her index fingers together again nervously. Rex freaked out since he didn't want to make her feel bad again so soon.

"um…I mean! Uh…Its fine, I mean you guys were cool! Especially you, Pyra I mean you moved in a blur, I could barely see it happen and you were so elegant too!" Rex had no idea why he said that last part but for some reason he was compelled to. Pyra seemed to react badly to that too since her face went scarlet.

"Heh…a bit early for courting don't you think?" Gil asked smugly and Rex blanched at him like he just insulted Corinne.

"What?! NO!" Rex shouted.

"Oh…" Pyra mumbled and Rex noted that she sounded rather depressed for some reason.

"Heh…well we better get moving, the sooner we get out of here the sooner we can get out of here and laugh about it," Gil intervened as he moved and Rex sighed in relief and followed after his blonde friend while the others fell in step behind them. Thankfully the hall was not filled at all, those two guards were probably just unlucky to be stuck patrolling it like the guard said. It made sense; no one would go through the way they went normally even if they were trying to sneak in. Most people couldn't jump heights like Gil and Poppi and grapple hooks weren't exactly common items on thieves.

"Tora think that Pyra and Gilgamesh were cool!" Tora piped up as he walked along the front with Rex and Gil. The blonde chuckled a little while Rex scratched the back of his head.

"You got that right Tora, especially Pyra," he said, hoping that would appease Pyra a little bit.

"Heh…" Azurda let out a small snicker behind him but Rex didn't have time to ask him what was wrong since he flew out of his helmet and sat himself on Gil's shoulder.

"By the way Gilgamesh. I might have been…indisposed for most of it but while we were looking in the cloud sea I thought I spotted you talking with a woman, a rather pretty one if I say so myself…" he asked and Gil remained silent. Rex wasn't exactly surprised. He saw it too; it wasn't like the blonde was trying to hide from them. Gil did have a way of attracting women to him though why was he so quiet about it? Usually he would have just said she was some kind of gold digger or a thin-skinned coward pretending to be confident. Actually now that Rex thought about it the fact that Gil actually allowed her to stay and talk with him should have been a tip off that something was a bit different. Of course he was busy with his salvaging so he didn't pay much attention to it.

"I thought you couldn't see anything until he let you out?" Gil asked and Azurda scratched his head.

"Well…yes but I did spot you since I flew up rather high to um…excrete my bile somewhere else…" Azurda said embarrassed and Rex held in a laugh.

"Heh figures. Yes I was talking to a rather pretty woman," Gil explained evenly.

"Oh! Gilgamesh have pretty lady friend?" Tora asked excitedly.

"I actually saw her too. Did you find her attractive or something?" Pyra asked as she moved up towards the front with them, though she did stray a little close to Rex. The young Driver just shrugged it off though.

"I did actually. I don't see how that matters though. I didn't even get her name since I was busy chasing after you. You guys are not as subtle as you think," Gil said, a little agitated.

"Ah! I see. Oh well better luck nex-"

"I gave her my card before I left though. After all I recently bought a small place here for my business and she seemed to have what it takes so I gave it to her. I think we'll be seeing her again soon," Gil mentioned and Rex's eyes widened. Wait…he gave her his card? As in business card?! He almost never does that!

"Ah I see! So you've set your sights on her then!" Azurda said quickly. Rex…wasn't exactly thinking that but now the idea was there. Gil scoffed and flicked the small Titan in the head, making him nearly fall off his shoulder.

"Don't go making conclusions again Old Man, I met her once so far. You can play your games with Rex but not me, got it…" Gil said seriously and the Titan nodded before he got off his shoulder and went back to Rex's helmet.

"So, what was she like if you don't mind me asking?" Pyra asked suddenly and Gil glanced at her and Rex did as well. Why was she so curious? Was she interested in what Gil liked or something? Rex didn't like that idea but he didn't know why.

"Well I only talked with her for a bit but I could tell that she was very confident. Not the fake kind of confidence that you see a lot of people put on though, real confidence," Gil said.

"Ah so you do like her then," Azurda said again and Gil gave him a glare that shut him up, which Rex found funny. Azurda could usually get away with that stuff but since he wasn't as big as he was before he had to be careful.

"Anyway…yes, confidence. She didn't buckle when I countered her arguments and she actually had the gall to just sit down without me saying she could," Gil said with noticeable intrigue in his voice. Rex noticed that he seemed legitimately interested in this girl, whoever she was. Perhaps Gramps wasn't just trying to bust his chops.

"Anything else?" Pyra asked again and Gil seemed to think about it for a moment. He opened his mouth but then he paused.

"She…wait we're here," he said suddenly switching subjects and Rex looked ahead to see the end of the tunnel right ahead. It was an open hatch, probably left open by those guards they interrogated. Rex could see a walkway past the hatch that came from inside the ship and extended out a bit before leading back into the ship.

"Remember what that guard said, we should be coming out close to the cellblock," Gil said quickly and Rex's heart fluttered a little. They were close to breaking them out. He hoped that Nia would be happy to see hi-them!

"Quickly now. The guard said that most of the crew is asleep but there must be some that are awake," Azurda mentioned.

"Yeah and if we trigger the alarm then the rest of the crew will be awake fast," Pyra continued.

"Exactly there's also the idea that they might just kill Nia if we get discovered before we get to her…" Gil said and Rex felt his heart clench at that thought. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if she died that way.

"Rex…" the salvager jumped slightly when he felt Gil touch his shoulder. His friend's red eyes were staring at him with slightly concern. Pyra and the others were staring at him as well.

"Sorry, what is it?" Rex asked.

"I was asking if you were ready to go…" the blonde said calmly and Rex hardened his heart at that.

"Yes, more than ready!" he said fiercely and Gil narrowed his eyes slightly before he shrugged.

"Alright then. Everyone lets go and be careful," Gil commanded and everyone nodded.

Rex went on ahead to the hatch and he peaked out to see that there was no one standing on the walkway. He waited for a few moments and he didn't see anyone walk out so he waved the rest of the group to go ahead and they all dropped down onto the walkway as silently as they could.

"The guard said to keep going so I assume we should keep going straight," Gil said softly and they moved along the walkway and entered the ship. The walls were all pure metal and they had to take extra care to try and muffle their footsteps so that they wouldn't alert anyone who might be nearby. They kept to the sides of the halls just in case but thankfully no one came running as they moved along.

"Cellblock…cellblock…" Rex thought as he looked at the directories on the ceiling whenever they passed a new path. None of them said cellblock and after the fifth one he was starting to get a little panicked but thankfully the sixth one said cellblock and he let out a sigh of relief. They all stopped and Gil peaked around the corner before he moved back quickly.

"Ok the path looks clear and I can see the cells from here," Gil said and Rex was about to move along but Gil grabbed his shoulder.

"What?" Rex asked, annoyed and Gil gave him a glare.

"You said it was clear so lets go!" Rex pressed as he shrugged him off and went on before he could stop him again. The cellblock had a gate in front of it with metal bars on the sides. Rex walked right up to it and turned around to throw his hands up.

"See nothing bad happened," Rex said and Gil sighed before he and the others walked up to the gate where he was.

"I suppose this is where we need to put that keycard in," Gil muttered as he pulled said keycard out and put it into the slot on the gate with the red light. After a few moments the light turned green and the door unlocked.

"Right, so we need to find Dromarch first and then Nia," Rex said as they entered the area. The place was pretty desolate even though it was supposed to be a cellblock. All the cells were rooms with no bars. There were only small slots where they could look through so that would probably slow them down a bit.

"Yes, the guard said that Dromarch was in the main area. Thankfully he also gave us the number of his cell," Pyra said and Rex blushed a little since he totally forgot about that last part.

"Poppi do you sense a Blade nearby?" Tora asked and Poppi stopped for a few moments before she nodded.

"Poppi senses one single Blade nearby," she said as she shook her arms a little like she always did when she spoke. Gil and Pyra both stopped and concentrated for a moment and Rex felt a little left out again.

"Hm…yes that's Dromarch but…that's strange I don't sense any other Blades," Pyra said and Gil remained silent but he nodded.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Rex asked.

"Rex-Rex, this is a big ship and it's supposed to be big important person's ship," Tora pointed out.

"The Special Inquisitor should at least have a full team of Drivers and Blades stationed on her flagship. It's also alarming that I can't sense Brighid anywhere either, a Blade as powerful as her should be able to make out even if she's in the town instead of the ship," Gil mentioned and Pyra nodded in agreement.

"So you guys think this is some kind of trap?" Rex asked and Gil nodded.

"That would be the likely scenario," Gil said and Rex frowned.

"Well we can't turn back," he said and surprisingly Gil nodded.

"If it is a trap then we are already right where they want us. If we try to leave now then they'll spring it on us, if we go for Nia and Dromarch they'll spring it on us. Either way we've walked right into it. We might as well do what we came to do and try to deal with whatever they have planned for us," Gil explained and Rex couldn't fault that logic. At the same time though Rex had a feeling that he said that because he didn't want to let Nia die either but he wouldn't say that to him.

"Right then so first of all we should find Dromarch, we have his cell number right?" Rex asked as he looked at the numbers on the cells.

"Yes, A12," Pyra answered and right on queue Rex found the cell number. Now that Rex knew it was probably a trap it seemed odd that his cell was positioned so close to the entrance. A way to lure them into a calm probably from how easy it was.

"He's definitely behind the door, he's basically right in front of us," Pyra said as she placed her hand on the door.

"Poppi concurs, Blade from earlier is in this cell!" Poppi proclaimed. Gil went up to the door and pushed the keycard into the slot on the door but the red light didn't change. Gil groaned in annoyance and tried again but the same thing happened.

"Figures…" the blonde sighed as he pocketed the card.

"Can we blow the door open?" Rex asked next and his friend shrugged.

"Might as well at this point. Poppi can you open this up?" Gil asked as he tapped the metal door with his hand. The Artificial Blade nodded her head but before she could do anything heat started building up near them.

"Wha-" Rex looked over to see Pyra charging up flames in her hands.

"Back away from the door!" she commanded. No one needed to be told twice, they all backed away from the door and Pyra herself. Her entire body began to light up as her power built up.

"Wow…" Rex thought as he watched her. Times like this he had to remember that Pyra was not just his new partner and friend, she was a super powerful Blade. It was easy to misplace that since she was so nice and humble all the time.

"Blaze!" Pyra let loose her flames and blasted the door. The door resisted her flames for a few moments but Rex could see the metal begin to melt quickly. Then after a bit the area being hit burst open as the flames rushed through the new hole she opened up. Thankfully Pyra stopped her barrage immediately after she broke through.

"Oops…um I hope I didn't overdo it…" Pyra said as she cautiously peaked into the hole she made. Rex chuckled a little nervously and he saw an amused look on Gil's face as they both peaked into the hole as well.

"Dromarch?" Rex asked and thankfully he did see the white tiger though he seemed to have been ducking at the moment. When he raised his head towards them he gawked.

"Rex, Pyra, Gilgamesh?!" the Blade exclaimed as he blinked at them.

"It's good to see that you're ok Dromarch!" Azurda exclaimed and then Poppi and Tora popped up in front of them.

"Very very good!" Tora proclaimed.

"Poppi's senses work!" Poppi exclaimed happily.

"Um, I'm sorry. Master Titan and…who are they?" Dromarch asked as he stood up.

"I am Tora and this is my Blade, Poppi!" Tora said proudly as he motioned to himself and then Poppi. Dromarch stepped out of his cell attentively and bowed to them both.

"Greetings new friends. I am Dromarch and I thank you and the others for saving me," he said respectfully and Rex had to wonder how someone so polite was paired up with someone as…prickly as Nia. Then again Nia wasn't really that bad if you got to know her, Rex could attest to that.

"Dromarch, quick! We need to find Nia. Can you lead us to her?" Rex asked quickly. He knew she was supposed to be in some kind of private cell but the guard didn't tell them where it was.

"Yes, she is my Driver. I can lead the way to her easily no matter how far away she is!" Dromarch said proudly and Rex made note of that. He would have to ask Pyra about that later.

"Then lets get going! Driver Friend awaits!" Tora said proudly and Rex couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm.

"Of course, follow me. She is not very far!" Dromarch immediately ran off while Rex and the others ran after him. He led them further into the cellblock but along the way no one tried to stop them, there weren't even any alarms.

"We are close! I can feel her just around the corner!" Dromarch exclaimed after what felt like an eternity even though it was probably only around five minutes. They rounded a corner and Rex saw a singular door at the end of the hall and Rex noticed that there was a lack of guards still.

"She's in there!" Dromarch said as he ran up to the door. Rex followed him quickly and tried to the door and to his surprise it wasn't locked. He blinked in surprise as the door moved, he ignored the warning signals in his head and opened the door quickly.

"Nia!" Rex stepped into the room quickly to see his new friend sitting on the floor with her knees pulled up to her chest. She was staring up at him in surprise as if she couldn't believe he was actually there. Rex almost felt like a he was some kind of hero in a story but Nia was hardly a damsel in distress. She would probably blow up at him if he mentioned that.

"Rex…?" Nia said slowly as she stared up at him. She seemed to be shocked. Probably because she assumed that she was going to die. Rex didn't like that idea; he REALLY didn't like that idea. He didn't think anymore after that, he just acted.

"Hey…yeah it's me…" Rex said slowly as he knelt down in front of her. He held his hand out to her slowly and she reached out and grasped it just as fast. When he felt her hand enclose on his she seemed to flinch before she threw herself at him. She wrapped her arms around him and Rex nearly fell over from the suddenness of it but he managed to stay up and hug her back.

"You came…" she whispered and Rex smiled as he held her. He felt remarkably warm for some reason as he held her. Then someone cleared their throat behind him and he froze.

"…Rex there are other people here…" Gil said in a deadpanned tone. Rex felt Nia tense and then she pushed away from him nearly making him fall on his rear. Nonetheless he scrambled onto his feet and saw Gil leaning against the doorframe with a blank look on his face. Pyra was there too and she seemed a little…angry? Why was she angry?

"Ah! I mean, Gilgamesh, Rex its good to see you again! Thanks for the save!" Nia said quickly as she tried to regain her bearings. Rex turned back to her and saw that her cat ears were sticking up, basically screaming out that she was still alarmed. Thankfully Dromarch came to her aid.

"Milady…I apologize for the delay. I came as soon as I was able," he said as he walked in and bowed to her. Nia frowned and her ears flattened before she walked over and placed her hand on his head gently.

"Don't mention it…I didn't think anyone was coming actually…" she said somberly at first but a smile broke onto her face as she ended the sentence.

"Like we'd leave you. I promised I would come back and besides. "Always help those who help you". That's the second rule of Salvager's code," Rex said truthfully and Nia gave him a small smile in response.

"Well I suppose that's you all over. You're one of a kind you know," she said gratefully and Rex felt his heart flutter a little at the praise. It was odd hearing it from Nia but not the bad kind of odd.

"Rex-Rex! Tora and Poppi found ways out while you were with friend! Its all clear!" Tora exclaimed and Rex turned back to the door to see Tora and Poppi pop their heads out.

"A Nopon? And a robot?" Nia asked in surprise.

"We made a few new friends while we were planning to get you," Rex said as he scratched his head.

"I have no doubt that they are capable if Rex and Gilgamesh acquired their help, Milady," Dromarch said.

"My name is Tora and this is my Blade Poppi!" Tora introduced and Nia seemed taken aback but that but she seemed to take it in stride.

"Hello there. Name's Nia," she greeted.

"I believe we should talk later. I think we've overstayed out welcome," Azurda piped up and right on queue an alarm set off.

"Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert! Code Red! All Personnel Report to Cellbock! Blocking off all external hatches!" an automated voice announced.

"Lovely looks like we were right about this being a trap," Gil groaned.

"We need to move before we get swarmed!" Pyra exclaimed.

"Right, Nia can you fight?" Rex asked and she scoffed before she held her hand out and Dromarch placed her ring blades in her hand, which lit up with power.

"Does that answer your question?" she asked and Rex felt a little dumb.

"Right um, lets go!" Rex announced. He was about to run off before Gil stopped him.

"You heard the announcement. The hatches are all closed. We can't go back the way we came. If we did we would just corner ourselves," Gil said and Rex stopped.

"Where do we go then?" Rex asked.

"Only way we can. Through the ship," Tora interjected.

"He's right. We have to leave through the main docking ramp. I have a feeling that's where they want us to go anyway," Gil agreed.

"There's no doubt that it's a trap now. They're probably going to be waiting for us," Pyra added, worried.

"Tora and Poppi saw the way when we were looking for way out! We hoped we could use way we came in but now we have other option! The way was basically lit up!" Tora said and Rex smiled.

"Good work Tora, lead the way!" Rex praised and the Nopon gave off a little cheer before he and Poppi led them down the path they mentioned.

They ran through the halls of the ship to try and escape but after a few minutes of running, Rex began to worry. They had not encountered any guards on their way. Rex began to see why Tora said the path was basically lit up. They had encountered many locked doors but they seemed to be strategically placed while there were certain doors and paths that weren't blocked off. It quickly dawned on Rex that Gil and Pyra's worries were probably right when they said that the enemy wanted them to go to the main ramp.

"So I'm not the only one thinking we're going to walk into a huge ambush now right?" Rex asked as they ran through the halls.

"You would be a fool not to expect it at this point…" Gil said.

"I kind of got it was a trap the moment the alarm went off," Nia added.

"Tora think it's a trap," the little Nopon said simply.

"Poppi calculates that this is one hundred percent a trap!" Poppi declared.

"That idea seems logical at this point," Dromarch said respectfully.

"Whatever it is, we'll work through it together," Pyra said confidently and Rex noticed that she was remaining rather close to her.

"A bit good at noticing the obvious aren't you?" Azurda said and Rex had half a mind to shove him back into his helmet. He batted that aside though in favor of the news he was told.

"There! That must lead to the hanger and the main ramp leading into the city!" Dromarch announced and Rex looked ahead to see a pair of doors. Except these doors were much different from the ones Rex saw before. These ones were far larger and more reinforced. It also helped that the directory above the door said hanger…

"Great! We're alm-"

"Ugh!" suddenly Gil and all the Blades in their group except for Poppi stopped and held their heads as if they were assaulted by migraines.

"Danger!" Poppi exclaimed, flapping her arms even faster than usual.

"Guys?! What's wrong?" Rex wrapped an arm around Pyra and supported her as she leaned on him a bit readily.

"There's something strong nearby…" Pyra said slowly as she shook off her daze.

"Very strong…" Gil agreed slowly as he leaned on a wall for support.

"What do you mean?" Rex asked.

"It was only for a moment but there was something…unbelievably strong that projected itself over the ether…" Dromarch said, shaking his head as if he had fallen from a great height. Nia placed her hand on his head, worriedly.

"Is it Brighid?" Rex asked, turning to Pyra but she shook her head.

"No, it didn't feel like her energy and even then there was no way it was hers…" Pyra said slowly.

"What do you mean?" Rex asked.

"The power we sensed felt…brutal...uncontrollable and extremely volatile…" Pyra said slowly.

"Was it a Blade?" Rex asked.

"Yes at least I think it was…I haven't sensed anything quite like that before from a Blade though. Even our Pyra doesn't feel quite so…unstable," Gil said as he righted himself.

"Poppi, did you pick it up?" Tora asked and Poppi nodded though she seemed rather agitated, which was a little new for her.

"Poppi can confirm it was a Blade. However Poppi sensed extreme volatile and unstable nature from Blade like friends say! This is likely what caused friends to react in such a way!" Poppi explained though she seemed affected by it as well.

"She's not wrong. It…it almost feels like the Blade was in extreme pain…" Droamrch explained.

"Pain? You guys can sense that?" Rex asked but Pyra shook her head.

"No, we can't sense emotions but in some rare cases we can get a sort of "feel" for what's happening to a Blade through their energy. In this case it felt like it was in extreme pain or it was very VERY angry," Pyra explained.

"Yes, which is alarming. I have never sensed this before and its power was just so…unnatural..." Gil said slowly.

"Is it close?" Rex asked. This was getting very worrying, even Gil was shaken.

"I think so, it's power was projecting itself so much that it was hard to get a clear fix on it but it should have been close…" Pyra said as she came out of her issues as well and stood up on her own much to Rex's relief. He released her but she seemed a little discontent with his action for some reason.

"We don't exactly have much choice though…we have to face it," Dromarch said somberly and a grim mood set down on the group, even Tora's joyfulness and Gil's calm demeanor were a bit shaken.

"Then we move on. We have to get through this if we want to reach Elysium," Rex said firmly though he was scared. He felt someone grab his hand, he turned towards Pyra she gave him a warm smile.

"As my Driver I will follow you to the ends of the world no matter what battles you face in order to fulfill our dream. Remember that when we are together we can accomplish anything," Pyra said as she held his hand tightly and Rex blushed from the contact but he didn't back away from it. Though he suddenly felt like someone was glaring at him and he turned towards his friends and saw Nia had her arms crossed and her head turned away from him.

"Haha! Let's go before we have some infighting!" Gil intervened while Azurda and Tora seemed to chortle to some hidden joke.

"Um right well lets go!" Rex said quickly as he drew his sword and quickly moved towards the hanger doors, which opened for him but what met him was…nothing. Nothing but a empty room, a rather large room filled with supplies and fighters like he would expect from a hanger but…nothing else. No mass of guards or Drivers with their Blades, just an empty hanger…

"What…" Rex asked dumbfounded. The others all followed him in and were equally surprised by the lack of a trap being sprung.

"This is strange…if there was a time to spring a trap then it would have been here…" Dromarch said cautiously. Rex nodded and they all moved further into the hanger. Rex saw the doors leading to the next section of the hanger and what he hoped would be the last section before they reached outside. Except before Rex could get more than halfway to it, the doors opened and someone tackled Rex to the side.

"UGH!" Rex heard gunfire followed by a few cries of pain and some gurgling.

"Rex, get up!" Rex blinked as his eyes were uncovered and he realized that Pyra had tackled him and she had unknowingly covered him with er…something he couldn't admit without feeling guilty. He chose to just follow what she said and quickly got onto his feet and ignited his sword.

"Whoa!" just in time he brought his sword up to deflect a bayonet coming for his face and in a quick motion he slashed the Ardanian across the stomach, searing him and cutting him at the same time. Rex grimaced at the act of taking the life but he hardened his heart and kept going.

"You think you can take me!" a different guard boasted as he charged him. Rex grit his teeth and ducked under his strike before he knocked him in the head with the butt of his sword, staggering him. Then he followed it up with a quick slash across his chest, bringing him down.

"Don't forget me!" Rex sidestepped and narrowly dodged a guard who tried to stab him in the back and ended him with a quick slash to the back. Thankfully the blood wasn't going anywhere due to the nature of his sword. He turned to engage even more soldiers but the group he turned to face were all brought down by precise shots from javelins of ornate nature.

"Thanks Gil!" Rex praised before he turned to hack down another guard.

"Is this the trap you were expecting?!" Azurda shouted but Rex was far too busy to really pay him too much mind.

"Rex-Rex, duck!" the Aegis Driver didn't hesitate to crouch down as some kind of drill projectile went over him and impacted a guard coming up on him.

"Rex!" the Driver flinched, as a guard got close but an ether shield came up and deflected the attack, staggering him. Then Pyra came in with a flying sidekick to the soldier's face, knocking him flat onto his back.

"Aqua Wave!" Rex turned to see Nia and Dromarch blow a group of soldiers away with their arts.

"Poppi initiating combat protocols!" Rex blinked as he saw the Artificial Blade ignite her boosters and dive into a group of soldiers and knock them all aside. Meanwhile Tora was batting soldiers away with surprising deftness with his mech-shield that had a build in drill.

"Filthy Mongrels!" Rex flinched as he felt something speed past him and he turned to see Gil hack down soldiers in a storm of Blades while he used his Bab-ilu to shoot anyone who tried to fire on him or sneak up on him.

"Rex don't just stand there!" the blonde shouted at him and Rex flinched before Pyra blocked another attack from impacting him by putting up an ether shield once again.

"Thanks Pyra!" Rex flipped into the air and brought his sword down onto the ground, creating a fire wave, which engulfed several of the soldiers in front of him. Then he turned to face the next soldier but saw none. He turned to see if he could find anymore but none were coming.

"Huh…" Rex turned to all his friends and aside from breathing a little heavily they were unharmed. There were bodies littered around Gil and Nia specifically, more so than anyone else. Though there were bodies littered around the hanger in general. In fact now that Rex was apparently out of combat the overwhelming scent of blood hit his senses, nearly making him wretch.

"That seems to be the last of them…" Nia said as she wiped her forehead and shook her ring blades to get the access blood off of them.

"How many was that?" Rex asked as he looked towards the door he was originally moving towards. The doors were closed again and several bodies were lying around it.

"A few dozen…nowhere near the amount of soldiers that should be stationed on a ship like this…" Gil said as he wiped his blades off but he still kept them ready. Rex turned to Pyra who seemed a little saddened by the sight of the bodies but she shaped up when her eyes connected with his.

"Do you sense that thing from earlier?" Rex asked as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. Pyra closed her eyes and concentrated for a few moments before she opened her eyes and shook her head.

"No I don't," she answered. Well that was reassuring hopefully. Maybe it was further away than they originally thought? Either way they needed to move quickly while things were calm.

"Rex-Rex, we should go now!" Tora spoke Rex's thoughts as he and Poppi moved towards the doors. Rex and the others were about to follow after them but suddenly Pyra, Gil and Dromarch tensed while Poppi plucked her Driver up from the ground and literally sprung back as the doors to the next section were literally knocked off their hinges.

"Whoa!" Rex rolled to the side to avoid getting hit by the metal doors and when he looked up his eyes widened. Standing at the now opened doorway was the biggest Blade Rex had ever seen. It was easily as tall as the doorframe, which had to be at least ten feet tall. It was basically a giant bulky armored knight, wielding a giant hammer. Except something seemed off about it, the Blade seemed like it was holding something in.

"Not so fast you little miscreants!" a rather snide voice spoke. Rex blinked and looked towards the Blade's feet to see a rather plump man. He was dressed up in a brown and tanned colored suit. Actually calling it a suit was probably modest, it was more like a nobleman's outfit really considering the amount of gold he had on as well. His jacket was unbuttoned showing off his red vest which had a badge of some office Rex didn't recognize pinned right on it. He even wore this puffed out hat that had the Empire's symbol right on the front of it. The man was middle aged though his face was twisted into a sneer that just screamed how little he cared about the people in front of him if his tone wasn't already a dead give away.

"Lovely…" Nia sighed.

"Consul Dughall…" Dromarch said with noticeable distaste.

"Ah so the little terrorist and her pet can remember some things. You didn't seem so keen on that during your questioning. I'll have to make sure I put that in my report when I ship you off," the Consul sneered. Rex was confused though, what did he mean by "ship off"? Nia was supposed to be executed in the morning.

"I should give you some credit though. You did manage to completely defeat the advance guard that I stationed here," Dughall said as he looked around the hanger as if there was mud everywhere instead of bodies. Rex felt his dislike for the man raise even higher.

"I suppose I should have known better than to think that these idiots could stop a Terrorist from Torna and her group of friends," the man shrugged uncaringly and Rex felt his anger rise at the total disregard for the lives that were lost. Then the Consul's eyes lit up before Rex could retort.

"Ah yes and there it is…the emerald core crystal…that must be the Aegis!" Dughall exclaimed. Rex's eyes narrowed, he didn't need to be able to read people to know what he wanted after that.

"As much as it pains me to admit it, Morag seemed to be right on the money," Dughall laughed at the end of his statement.

"So you know who Pyra is. Are you going to try and take her too?" Rex asked as he raised his sword towards him. The Blade standing behind Dughall growled lowly in response but Rex ignored it.

"Why of course! The most powerful Blade in history! Said to have the power to burn all of Alrest asunder! Who wouldn't attempt to take such a prize? Only a fool wouldn't seek such power and I am no fool! Therefore I will take her as my own!" Dughall boasted and Rex shook his head in disgust.

"There is a flaw in final step of logic. You assume we will just let you take her," Poppi said simply but Rex agreed with her.

"Sorry pal but you're done. Get out of our way or we'll kick your sorry ass to the side," Nia said lowly as she moved up to Rex's side.

"Ineed. A lowly mongrel such as yourself shouldn't try to grab things outside his reach," Gil supported as he walked up to Rex's other side.

"Such insolence from such filthy rabble! Dolmes, crush them!" Dughall commanded.

"RAAAA!" the giant Blade let loose a loud roar that shook Rex to his bones. The ether lines on the Blade changed from blue to red and a purple mist started exuding from it, changing the Blade's armor from gold to a blackish color. The Blade's eyes turned blood red as well as if it had been hiding its nature from them the whole time.

"RAHHH!" the Blade raised its giant weapon and charged at them with speed Rex didn't expect from something so large!

"Move!"


Gil's POV

Gil grunted as he threw himself out of the Blade's path and rolled onto his feet. The others had thankfully moved out of the way as well even Rex and Tora had gotten out of the way on their own.

As for the Blade that tried to run them over, it went right into the wall behind them, creating a large dent but it didn't seem perturbed at all. It simply pulled itself out of the wall and charged again, this time towards Nia and Dromarch. Thinking that it was just going to charge, they both moved to the side but surprisingly the Blade stopped and swung at them.

"Whoa!" thankfully Nia managed to dodge out of the attack barely but the Blade pulled it's weapon back faster than something that big had any right to and swung again.

"Milady!" Dromarch put up an ether shield to block the attack however the Blade packed enough power to send Nia reeling back even if the shield didn't break.

"Nia!" a fire ball hit the Blade it the back but aside from staggering slightly the blast had little effect. The Blade turned its red eyes on Rex right away before it charged.

"I don't think so!" Gil opened his gate and fired a weapon right at the Blade's knee joint. The javelin went into the join and lodged itself in but instead of falling over the Blade simply stopped. It looked down at the weapon in its leg and then it pulled it out, creating a fleshy and metal sound that even Gil winced at. The Blade dropped the bloodied weapon on the ground and charged after Gil instead now.

"What the heck is wrong this Blade, it's almost like it didn't even feel it…" Gil thought as he leapt away from the Blade as it brought its hammer down where he was standing, creating a large dent in steel.

"Go Poppi!" Tora cried out as a missile hit the behemoth of a Blade in the back, staggering it. Then Poppi flew up and upper cut it.

"UR…" Dolmes fell onto its back with a loud thunk however it quickly started moving to get back up.

Gil growled in annoyance and fired off a barrage of weapons from his gate to try and pin the thing down. Most of his weapons bounced off of its armor but the weapons that hit its joints definitely had an effect if the blood that leaked from the wounds were any indication. Still though the thing just refused to stay down! It kept moving!

"Rex! Do something quick!" Gil shouted as he kept up his barrage.

"You got it! Pyra lets go!" Rex raised his sword in the air and Pyra stepped up to grab the sword as well.

"Burning Sword!" they both shouted as the Aegis sword lit up. Then they brought the strike down right on Dolmes, creating an explosion that completely engulfed it.

"Did we get it?" Rex asked and Gil even stopped his barrage but unlike his friend, he could sense the Blade.

"No…" Gil thought as the smoke cleared and his eyes widened when he saw that Rex had literally blown parts of the Blade's armor clean off around the torso, revealing charred and slashed flesh. Yet the thing was still moving!

"What the bloody hell is wrong with that thing! Even a Blade needs time to regenerate from that!" Nia exclaimed.

"Poppi senses Blade's energy is spiking!" Poppi announced as even more mist started exuding from the Blade. Then suddenly it clicked in Gil's head. He knew exactly what was wrong with the Blade…

"Damn Mongrel!" Gil turned his sights towards Dughall instead, who had been watching contently the whole time so far. The consul's eyes widened in fear as Gil turned his gate on him and without a second thought he unleashed his treasury on him.

"Dolmes! Protect your master!" Dolmes shrieked and as if the thing could teleport it just appeared right in front of it's Driver and absorbed the hits. Due to its chest armor missing a lot of Gil's weapons literally sunk right into it and stayed there but the Blade still didn't fall!

"What the hell! How can it still move that fast with the beating we gave it!?" Rex shouted, unbelieveably. Gil scoffed in disgust at the display though.

"It's because that Blade has a Berserker chip installed…that's why the Blade is still standing!" Gil exclaimed. Rex was predictably confused and showed little understanding by his expression. Tora and Poppi didn't seem to understand exactly either but Nia and Dromarch were a different story. Their shocked expressions easily told Gil that they knew exactly what he was talking about. Pyra was the worse though, she looked utterly terrified…though not in the surprised way, it was more akin to the terror of realizing that one was right about something they hoped they were wrong about.

"You bastard! How dare you! Those things are illegal all across Alrest! Why would someone like you have that!" Nia accused, angrily and Dughall just laughed.

"HA! Didn't I just tell you that only fools wouldn't seek out power when it's available? Why wouldn't I use it when it would make my Blade nearly invincible!" Dughall boasted and Gil felt only disgust for the man.

"Blades are beings too you bastard! They feel pain and emotions just like us! You can't just use them like that!" Nia hissed.

"Why of course I can! Blades are merely tools! After all, if Dolmes here is hurt then he will just regenerate whereas if I die then my Blade would return to a useless core!" Dughall exclaimed boastfully from behind his Blade. That comment resonated with Rex and the others.

"Blades aren't tools! They're our partners and friends! If that's how you view Blades then there's no way I can let you have Pyra!" Rex announced and Gil noticed Pyra blush.

"Rex-Rex right! Blades are valuable partners to Drivers!" Tora boasted as he raised his shield and loaded another drill missile into it.

"Ha! Well if you're so confident then why don't you try it!" Dughall boasted and Gil narrowed his eyes and immediately charged in.

"Pitiful! You might have some interesting abilities but magic tricks like that won't stop my Blade!" Gil ignored him and kept charging in. Dolmes raised its hammer but despite its speed there was no way it could catch Gil.

Gil stepped to the side at the last minute as the hammer came down and impacted the ground. Then Gil slammed his swords and his weight down onto the hammer and held it down. Dolmes tried to pull its weapon back but Gil managed to hold it down for a few moments before he suddenly pulled back and Dolmes lifted its hammer up right into its own face, unprepared for the sudden change. The attack staggered it immensely and opened it up for attack.

"Now!" Rex shouted and Gil leapt back and prepared as Rex and Pyra charged in.

"Rolling Smash!" Rex summersaulted in the air and unleashed a fireball, which impacted the Blade directly in the face while Pyra launched her own fireball into the Blade's side causing it to stagger back further.

"Tora go!" Rex shouted as he leapt to the side to avoid Dolmes's wild retaliation swing.

"Mecha Biter!" Tora shouted threw his shield to Poppi, who flew in close to the Berserker Dolmes. She held the shield out and a large Biter sprung out like a boxing glove on a spring and impacted the large Blade directly, nearly making it fall over.

"Nia up!" Tora shouted as Poppi came back and threw the shield back to him.

"Lets go Dromarch! Dark Maelstrom!" Nia rode past Tora and Rex on Dromarch and when they reached Dolmes; Dromarch released an aqua roar while Nia threw her ring blades out like boomerangs. When they came back, Nia jumped off Dromarch and snatched up one while her Blade grabbed the other one. Then they finished their combo with two cross slashes. This finally forced the giant Blade to tip over, leaving Dughall vulnerable.

"Go Gil!" Nia shouted she leapt out of the way with Dromarch. Gil's eyes locked on Dughall, who was now shaking in his boots.

"You're done!" Gil shouted as he unleashed his gate once again and this time his storm of weapons hit. Multiple weapons impaled the greedy man, sending him onto his back. Blood pooled under him rather quickly due to the multitude of attacks he suffered.

"Gah…bested by a bunch of…kids…my triumphant return to Mor Ardain…ruined…" Dughall gasped before he took his last breath for good. Gil sighed and made his weapons return to his gate. It was disgraceful that he had to use them on a Mongrel like that but he needed to. The consul's Blade glowed for a moment before it disappeared, leaving only its core behind, which fell to the ground harmlessly.

"That guy was a creep…but his Blade was strong…" Rex panted as he picked up the core.

"Hey how come this thing is dark?" Rex asked as he shook the core.

"The core is dormant right now. It needs time to recharge before a new Driver can use it," Nia explained as she walked over and elbowed the rookie Driver.

"Nice moves by the way. You're good for an amateur. Of course you had me backing you up," Nia said smugly as she placed herself relatively close to him. Gil rolled his eyes since all Rex did was back away a bit and look at her weirdly as he pocketed the new core.

"Did Tora and Poppi do good too!? It was our first time fighting!" Tora asked excitedly as he practically bounced up to Nia hopefully.

"Heh, yes you did well too little guy. Your partner did well too all things considered," Nia praised. Gil chuckled a little since it was akin to a child pining for approval from a parent or sibling.

"As much as I would like to celebrate, perhaps we should escape first? I doubt that Dughall is the only one after us," Gil suggested before everyone pat themselves on the back too much.

"Right, it wouldn't look good if we tried to save Nia only to get caught and put on the execution block with her," Rex said as he turned to the doors but Gil paused as he remembered something important that the late Consul said.

"Wait, what do you mean Rex? I…I was going to be taken back to Mor Ardain…I wasn't going to be executed…" Nia said slowly and everyone else paused with that revelation.

"What…but Gil said that…" Rex didn't finish the sentence as he looked towards Gil who just came to a conclusion.

"My contact told me that the information came straight from the top…I…oh shit…" Gil cursed as he failed to realize that the top didn't mean the Consul, it meant the Special Inquisitor.

"Gil?" Pyra asked.

"Rex-Rex! Pyra! No time, we need to go now!" Tora exclaimed, he probably pieced together that things were worse than they originally thought as well.

"He's right, we need to go quick!" Nia pressed and then she grabbed Rex's hand and ran with him.

"Whoa! Ok!" Rex stammered as he was tugged along. Gil caught Pyra wince and he sighed as he followed after his oblivious friend.

"If we don't die, I am really going to have to make sure that he starts noticing what he's doing," the blonde thought as they ran through the rest of the hanger. They made their way unimpeded through the rest of the ship and thankfully the ramp was still open so they were able to cross right back into the city. Of course they had literally walked right into a military checkpoint/port at the same time.

"No guards again…" Gil noted as they ran outside. The sun had come up while they were in the ship so they were standing in broad daylight for all to see. The fact that no one started shooting at them was very alarming indeed. The many buildings and guard towers were just empty.

"Poppi sees exit!" Gil looked where the Artificial Blade pointed and saw that the main entrance to the port was unblocked, another nice coincidence.

"Come on!" Rex shouted as he charged towards the exit and Gil sighed as he followed after him with the rest of the group. Just before they reached the exit though, Gil sensed power flow through the ether and in the next instant blue flames rose to block their exit.

"Not those flames again!" Nia cursed and Gil agreed with her for once. The power he sensed was even greater than last time though. That could only mean that his worries were just proven true. He saw two figures just past the flames. Except before he could make a move, he sensed another power spike but from behind!

"Move!" Pyra shouted and Gil quickly leapt to the side while everyone else rolled, jumped or was pulled away. A large red blast struck the area they were standing on, creating a crater in the paved stone.

"Ha! I'm surprised you all didn't die right away!" a rather upbeat voice cut in. Gil turned to see an armored figure approaching them.

The person was short in height, probably around Rex's height. The power that the person was practically oozing screamed that she was anything but weak though. The person was wearing thick plate armor but it was unlike any armor from Mor Ardain that Gil had seen before. The design was medieval but advanced in the way that it was crafted. The armor was a silver color with red highlights and trim. The helmet covered the wearer's full head and face. It had two horns protruding from both sides of the head, giving it a partial demonic look. This person was basically like a knight from the old stories. For weaponry the Knight was holding a rather nice looking two-handed sword. The handle was a dark red while the guard was silver and red just like the armor. The blade itself was a white-silver color while the area of the Blade near the guard had intriqite red designs. There was writing on the blade itself but Gil could not tell what it said. This was probably that so called "Saber of Red" Gil read about.

"Who's that?" Rex asked.

"No idea, I've never seen anyone like that before…hey where's her Blade?" Nia asked.

"Ha! I need no Blade while I have my fabled Clarent!" the Knight boasted as she placed her sword on the ground and put her two hands on top of the hilt. Gil felt uneasy as he watched this "Knight". He felt an odd tug in the back of his head and he felt really angry as he looked at this Knight for some reason.

"No Blade? Like Gilgamesh?" Azurda asked.

"And that's not all…look…" Dromarch brought their attention back to their front. The two figures Gil had seen past the blue flames had literally walked through the fire like it wasn't even there and were now standing in front of the fire wall. One of them was Brighid of course and the other one was no doubt her Driver…

"Lady Morag the Flamebringer…" Dromarch said slowly. Gil narrowed his eyes as he stared at the Special Inquisitor.

Morag was a tall woman, standing a little bit above Brighid in height but still shorter than Gil by a bit. She was beautiful there was no doubt there but her face was set in a cold, calculating expression. Her brown eyes scanned over the whole group but they lingered on Pyra, Rex and Gil much more than the rest. Her black hair was set so that her bangs were out of her face's way with a single strand hanging between her eyes while the rest of her hair was probably tied up behind her head. She wore a royal blue outfit that consisted of a long coat with split flaps that hung down behind her with pants that bore the same color as the top. The detailing was red and her coat had a white center to it along with the pauldron like cloth that hung around her shoulders. She wore bronze armor over her hips, feet and shoulders. She wore a hat the same color as he outfit and she had the symbol or Mor Ardain attached to the front of it. She was holding Brighid's rapiers in both hands with such familiarity that Gil felt a little nervous.

"Morag…isn't she supposed to be a very powerful Driver?" Rex asked.

"That's putting it mildly…" Gil sighed.

"Morag is the strongest Driver in the Empire and she wields Brighid the strongest Blade," Dromarch explained.

"So…they're ultra powerful together!" Rex exclaimed and Gil didn't know if he should be happy or annoyed.

"Then…who's the other one?" Rex asked next as he turned back to the knight behind them.

"Ha! Tell you what! Out of respect for dodging one of my attacks I'll grace you with my name!" the knight boasted and then the helmet literally split apart and folded down onto her chestplate. Aside from revealing that the armor was actually advanced, the Knight also revealed their face, her face to be exact. She looked a lot younger than Gil thought. She looked like a teenager, a few years younger than him to be exact. She had blonde hair done up in a single ponytail while the rest of it seemed to just frame her face without aid. Unlike Morag her hair was rather rough and unkempt, which made it even weirder since her hair seemed to be staying in place somehow. Even the bit of hair she had tied behind her head looked roughened up. She was beautiful though not in the same way that Morag was. She had bright green eyes that were also full of life and she had a permanent smirk on her face.

"My name is Morded! Saber of Red!" she announced and Gil got a small headache in response.

"I am Mordred! The one and only heir of Aurthur Pendragon!"

"Ugh…not now!" Gil shook his head to banish the weird voices before he got another vision of some sort. This was not the time for that!

"So I ask of you…will you give me a challenge?" Mordred asked arrogantly.


I decided to end it there since the chapter was already pretty long. I mean holy crap I broke 12,000 words. I really didn't think this was going to take that long.

So finally more characters show up. Did you think Gilgamesh was the only one I was pulling over?

Also just to catch this before it becomes a problem, or to stop it before it gets too big I want to address something. Gilgamesh is obviously acting different from how he usually is I know that. That's on purpose and I have my reasons. He still has bits of his original personality in him of course so its not like I completely changed him. I would say think of it like if Kid Gil didn't change so drastically.