Date: 20th June 1025

Location: The Southern side of the NET Base

Time: 4:36 A.M.

As the battle wages on, Group C led by General Esdeath was pushing in while the NET had sent out some of their defenses and Group C had little trouble dealing with the enemy up until this point. They had punched through the enemy tanks, aircrafts and other units with minimal casualties.

Esdeath had slowed down the assault slightly since it was nighttime, the Terminators had the advantage since they could see significantly better than the average Alliance soldier, plus the 2th and 4th Army had to slow it down after more than 8 continuous hours of fighting. Kurome and Mine switched their rifle scopes with night vision ones and continued the fight.

Over the months Mine and Kurome have bonded and became the best of friends while they were being trained. It's hard to believe Kurome and Mine being Sisters in Arms now even though less than a year ago, Kurome with her team, the Jaegers and Mine with her team, the Night Raid were at each other's throats.

Now, the war against the Empire is over and the Night Raid as well as the Revolutionary Army and the Jaegers as well as the Empire are combined into a single force which will combat the NET.

Mine had her Pumpkin as well as an M1911 sidearm for those rare close quarter combat situations while Kurome no longer wielding a sword had her M40A5, a bolt action rifle with AP rounds designed to destroy most NET infantry with one bullet either to the head or the core.

The rest of the soldiers continued to push on, now the enemy had their own snipers too and to make matters worse, they had the ability to turn themselves invisible.

"One more down, I need to reload" Kurome went back into cover after shooting a T-800's skull with her rifle. Mine and Kurome were on the roof of a building sniping enemy targets from a safe distance

"The enemy seems to be reducing in number, They're retreating??? What's going on here?" Mine questioned as Kurome was about to come back out of cover before she gripped Mine's clothing and pulled her into cover right before a bullet ricocheted off the surface of their cover.

"Ah damn that was close. Thank you but what was THAT??? How did know it was coming?" Mine asked

"I sensed it" Kurome answered

"WHAT? What do you mean you sensed it?"

"No time to explain, we can't stay here, we need to move positions since there are atleast 5 enemy snipers aimed at our location" Kurome replied

They both moved into the building and towards the windows.

"Mine, first one is on that skyscraper, 36th floor" Kurome told the confused Mine

Mine had no idea how Kurome could know such information but regardless she took aim anyway. What she saw surprised her a bit. The enemy was completely invisible however once Mine swapped her night vision with a thermal one, the enemy sniper's higher heat signature can be seen, Mine took the shot and the T-800 sniper with the Barrett was destroyed. It was only then Mine remembered Hussein had once spoke of such an ability to sense enemy positions, few had it, fewer knew how to use it, but Kurome seems to be one of them.

"Nice, next target is near that tank" Kurome pointed at the target for Mine after she herself took out another enemy from a different window.

Everything went well until "!!!!!!!!!"

"AAAHHHH!!!, damnit, I hit!" Mine grunted in pain after a bullet hit her right in her left arm. She went back into cover immediately and Kurome rushed towards her. "Mine, Let me see" Kurome took a look and thankfully it wasn't anything serious, but still Mine had to be treated and so Kurome took Mine to the group's medic while the rest of the team pushed on.

Hours went by and the sunrise could be seen by all 3 groups. Group C had took more than 2 kilometres of ground from the walls. Many had been wounded and were being treated though casualties still were at a minimum for the group.

4 Soldiers were behind a wall from a destroyed building while a hail of bullets prevented them from leaving the cover. Then an enemy tank aimed its main cannon at them before firing. The impact left a cloud of dust, when it cleared the soldiers were surprisingly unharmed. A huge ice wall was infront of them which protected them from the blast, it turns out Esdeath created the ice wall just before the tank shell exploded.

Esdeath always kept an eye on all her troops under her command while simultaneously fighting the enemy. The tank began turning its cannon but was stopped by Esdeath freezing the cannon before a bunch of soldiers blew it up with a rocket launcher. Esdeath continued her rampage by repeatedly freezing and destroying every enemy unit she sees while at the same time taking some glances at a certain white haired fox boy.

There he was, Kiyoshi Sasaki, despite being just a teenager, he was just another soldier fighting against the NET, with an assault rifle in his hands, he held his ground together with his fellow comrades even after more than 12 hours of fighting.

Over the months, Esdeath's army had disbanded when the Alliance created the 14 armies. Many of Esdeath's former soldiers joined the 2nd and 4th Army which were the ones under Esdeath's command.

The skies had a battle of its own on the southern side of the NET base, with fighters, bombers and other aircrafts from both the NET and the 1st Airborne Army just going at it.

All of that was about change as soon as something huge joined the battle.

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"WARPRIEST!!!"

An S class War Priest came into the fight, it had the exact same model as the one which came to the Capital months ago, being 15 meters tall and heavily armed. It wasted no time firing its 30mm rifle and killing a few dozen soldiers. Esdeath tried to create a defensive ice wall but it was too late. After that, Esdeath knew there was no way for her team to take down this monster without backup, so she did the best thing she could've done.

"FALL BACK!!! RETREAT!!!" She ordered all of her troops to fall back while she tried to freeze the legs of the War Priest. Though it only slowly down the War Priest for less than a minute, every second counts. Esdeath immediately contacted both Vadim and Trevor aswell as the warships outside the walls about the situation and Trevor told her the Big Bill shall be on its way towards her team.

Though this strategy seem to work at first, after an hour, the enemy showed no signs of slowing down their counteroffensive. This was terrible for group C as the enemy could move at a faster pace since they do not treat the wounded and Esdeath could hold the War Priest back for a limited amount of time since her ice powers drain a lot of her energy.

Esdeath had to change tactics once again only this time, she would do something which could be considered almost suicidal. She ordered her second in command to take charge of the team,

"Captain, where are you going?" The soldier asked

"I will fight it" Esdeath replied

"WHAT? No, it's suicide" The soldier knew how powerful a War Priest was, Esdeath was strong sure, but not as powerful as either Captain Vadim or Trevor, and even they couldn't take down a War Priest alone.

"Tell everyone to retreat back a few hundred meters, reinforcement will arrive in about an hour"

"But Captain!"

"That's an order, soldier" Esdeath wasn't going to change her mind

"... Yes Captain" He reluctantly agreed and took the lead of the group while Esdeath went towards the War Priest.

The War Priest fired a barrage of missiles from its back all aimed at Esdeath, she avoids a few and blocks the others by creating an ice wall. She had her Rapier in hand and charged towards the War Priest with supersonic speed and thrust her sword into the chest of it but realised it was heavily armoured and couldn't break it.

"It's armoured? I need to find a way to break it" She thought

The War Priest aimed its shoulder cannons at her and fired both simultaneously.

Esdeath quickly created an ice shield to block the shots but they were too powerful and shattered her shield. The impact sent her right towards a pile of rubble before the War Priest launched a punch towards her. She immediately avoided it before the huge fist demolished the pile of rubble into pieces. That punch could've ended her right there.

She decided to take a step back and recover, but before she could, "!!!!!!!!!"

"arrghhh" She felt a sharp pain in her stomach after an enemy sniper shot her. She created an icicle and threw it at that enemy sniper, destroying it after the icicle went through its metal skull.

Esdeath backed away from the War Priest and went into a small factory but she knew she couldn't stay there for long. She acted fast and created a pair of ice pincers to pull out the bullet. After the bullet was out, she immediately sealed the wound using her ice powers to stop the bleeding. It was at that moment too that the War Priest ripped opened the roof of the factory and aimed its shoulder cannons again at Esdeath.

She fleed instantly before her enemy fired and went outside to face the beast again. She didn't have the power to defeat it but she could buy the rest of Group C some time before Reinforcements arrive.

She waited for the War Priest to attack. It stared her down with its white glowing eyes. She was ready for it to attack, however something else happened. "!!!!" another sniper shot her but she managed to block it with an ice wall created just in time.

Unfortunately, this distraction caused the War Priest to quickly launch a punch at her. She created an ice wall to block it but all it did was reduced the force. She was sent flying towards a tower before she crashed into it. "Ahhh damn!" Esdeath could feel her ribs crack. "I can't give up now, I can still fight" She went back towards the War Priest while trying to ignore the pain.

Esdeath charged towards it before creating a dozen icicles and fired them towards the possibly vulnerable spots of the War Priest, the joints.

Surprisingly, Esdeath was able to draw blood from the War Priest as the icicle did manage to pierce the skin of the War Priest.

Somehow this weakened the War Priest as it kneeled for a moment.

This gave Esdeath just about enough time to charged towards the recovering War Priest and froze the 2 shoulder cannons, making them brittle. She then Hardened her right fist which turned into a matte black colour and punched the left frozen shoulder cannon, shattering it and did the same to the right one. She then jumped off the back of the War Priest as it recovered.

"Finally, the cannons are gone" Esdeath was now ready for a counterattack, however she wasn't ready for what will happen next. The War Priest opened its right hand and a barrage of bullets were fired from it. Esdeath quickly took to cover behind a piece of wall as her ice powers being used repeatedly were beginning to affect her.

But then a small grenade was thrown right in front her. She didn't have time to react to it as it detonated just after a single bounce. Instead of sending shards of shrapnel, it emitted a blinding flash of light and an intensely loud "bang" sound which disoriented Esdeath.

"Damn I can't see!" She perceived an afterimage plus it caused temporary deafness.It took her 3 seconds to recover from it, but it was too late.

As soon as she popped out of cover, a gigantic fist only 3 meters away was coming towards her.

This time there was no ice wall or shield to block it nor did she have time to dodge it.

This Fight was over

The War Priest hit her with its right fist which sent her flying a few hundred meters with a velocity of a speeding bullet.

Just 1 second later, she crashed into a brick wall which stopped all her momentum. Every bone in her body should be broken by now, the impact knocked her out for a couple seconds and even after that, she still couldn't move her body. Esdeath coughed up blood, she was done for.

Coincidentally, she crashed very close to her team's position. They saw her in disbelief as she was dying.

"CAPTAIN!!! NOO!!!"

Esdeath could hear their cries and see the Big Bill Airship and a couple of their attack planes in the distance in the sky. Reinforcements will arrive soon but it was too late for Esdeath.

"I guess this is it for me, atleast I wouldn't die for nothing" Esdeath thought to herself before she felt something.

"You're not dying today Captain!!" There he was, the white haired fox boy, Kiyoshi grabbed Esdeath's left hand and pulled her out of the wall. She couldn't move her body anymore and just collapsed onto him. "Leave me" Esdeath couldn't even mutter the words as she knew the War Priest was on its way to her position and she was done for.

And before she knew it, it landed right infront of them aiming its rifle at them. The War Priest opened fire, a couple of explosions happened at their location and the targeted area was covered in a cloud of dust.

The rest of team were about to engage the enemy but before they could, they saw both of them avoided the attack, Kiyoshi was running from the enemy while carrying Esdeath. He went into a building, and took a look at Esdeaths' injuries. He could believe it, Esdeath shouldn't even be alive at this point, her body was destroyed from the impact yet she's still breathing. "Captain, we will need to stay here and lay low until reinforcements have destroyed the War Priest.

However, that wasn't going to happen as the War Priest ripped off the roof of the building and with incredible speed, grabbed Kiyoshi by the waist with its left hand. The roof crumbled into rubble which landed on Esdeath

Reinforcements were still at least a few minutes before arriving, Kiyoshi was struggling to free himself from the enemy's grasp, he pulled out his hatchets sliced the fingers of the War Priest but it wasn't enough to cut through them. The enemy tighten its grip, Kiyoshi screamed in pain before throwing one of his hatchet into the left eye of the War Priest which didn't even dent it.

Even underneath all the rubble, Esdeath could hear his agony, she would do anything to make it stop. Then it happened, "Are you sure?" A voice in her head asked her "YES, ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING!!!" She could only think of an answer. It was the Demon's Extract, her Teigu for the first time conversed with her instead of just her hearing voices. "Very Well..."

Suddenly she felt something in her chest, her heart started to beat very fast, she started to breathe heavily before...

Meanwhile, the War Priest still had its enemy its hand before it aimed its huge rifle at his skull, ready to open fire at any second.

Kiyoshi's suffering continued, he began to black out from the pressure exerted on his chest, making it difficult to breathe. He was about lose consciousness but before that happened...

An explosion happened right where Esdeath was before a gust of wind bombarded the War Priest which disoriented it slightly. It then noticed something, it took a look at its left hand and appeared confused. 4 of its left fingers from the index finger to the little finger were GONE, sliced off despite being covered in armoured. What's more, Kiyoshi disappeared too.

Kiyoshi felt something really cold in contact with him, he could also feel that he was in the air because of the wind . He opened his eyes as he regain consciousness and he saw the last person he expected.

"Captain Esdeath???" She took a look at him and he saw an unforgettable sight. It was Esdeath. "But H-How???" Esdeath was close to death only a few minutes ago

She had him in her arms before landing onto the roof of a factory. She placed him leaning against a wall and now, he was able took a full look at her.

Her chest tattoo was bigger, about twice the size, she was covered from shoulder to toe in a bluish transparent armour completely made out of ice crystals.

The ice which covered her hands had sharp tips which basically gave her claws.

Then there was her crown, a crown made from ice crystals with 10 spikes pointed upwards.

She bent down, looked at him straight in the eyes and gently pat his head while a small smile appeared on her face.

He could feel her ice cold claws going through his hair.

"Thank you Kiyoshi, rest for now" She thanked him before standing up, pulled out her Rapier which transformed into a 2 meter long sword which was bluish white in colour and looked like as if it was made out of ice crystals too. She gave him one last look assuring everything will be alright before jumping off the roof and headed straight for the War Priest.

"Damnit, do not give up, we can still change the tides of this Battle!!!" Esdeath's second in command wasn't willing to give up just yet, with multiple Terminators entering the facility they were in and killing the soldiers of the 2nd and 4th Army, they tried to hold the enemies off before, "!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!! !!! !!!" The hail of bullets from the enemy stopped, when the soldiers took a look, they couldn't believe it, ALL of the terminators were destroyed after having head sliced off or a huge hole with a missing core but the next thing shocked them more.

There she was, General Esdeath standing on the remains of a T-800. She walked over the one soldier she put in charge "Order a missile strike on that War Priest" She told him.

"Y-Y-YES CAPTAIN!" The soldier replied before he contacted the ones on the Big Bill.

Esdeath wasted no time and went outside to face off against the War Priest once again.

It immediately spotted her and aimed its 30mm rifle once again at her and began firing. She didn't even dodge it, and created a huge ice wall at least 50 meters tall and 20 meters wide. She took a glance at the sky and saw the Armour Piercing Missile being launched and heading straight for the War Priest.

She wasn't going to waste this shot and with supersonic speed charged towards the monster. Her eyes turn red, as in glowing red, just like a demon. The War Priest still had its eyes on her before "..." She disappeared!!!

The targeting system of the War Priest was next to useless in finding Esdeath.

She reappeared near the legs of the War Priest and sliced the knees of it causing it to kneel once again but it didn't get the time to recover and Esdeath with just a single kick, tipped the 15 meter tall War Priest off its balance and it fell on its back onto the ground. It was at that moment too that the AP Missile hit its target, the War Priest's chest armor. The War Priest realised the trouble it was in and fired off smoke from its back to escape but it was no use, it only got so far before Esdeath found it and just with 1 slash, cut open the War Priests' white eyes, now blinded, it started shooting off all its weapons simultaneously before " !!!! !!!!! !!!!! !!!!!!" Esdeath destroyed all of them with her ice sword all with just 1 slash for each weapon.

"Time to die" The War Priest had nearly no weapons or armour and was vulnerable.

It launched a right punch at her, Esdeath easily dodged it and proceeded by going near its right shoulder and with just 1 attack, sliced off the ENTIRE right arm before beginning to cut open the chest of the War Priest. Blood was just flowing like a fountain from the War Priest's chest as Esdeath sliced over a dozen times every second.

It didn't have any time to react as Esdeath had already reached its heart. It attempted to hit Esdeath with its left palm but failed as Esdeath froze the heart and with 1 hardened punch, the heart shattered like glass. That was the final blow to the War Priest. However Esdeath came out of the chest and sliced the head clean off the War Priest.

A few seconds passed and the War Priest collapsed onto the ground. Its systems shut down and so did it cells.

The War Priest is dead, Group C saw the battle ending and celebrated their victory over the NET.

Esdeath's armour shattered into tiny bits and she returned to her team.

2 hours later it was sunset, most of Group C main commanders were inside an NET weapon storage which they had made into their own base.

"How many did we lose?" Esdeath asks her second in command.

"Unfortunately, about 5000 Captain" He answered

"May they rest in peace" They all took a moment of silence before Esdeath spoke about their future plans

"We have pushed in about 3 kilometres into the enemy base, the other groups would've taken more ground by now. So for tonight, we slow it down a bit, a fraction of us shall rest while another fraction shall be on the front lines. In the meantime, treat the wounded"

When Esdeath was being treated by the team's medic, he could believe it, she was completely UNHARMED!!!

"What? How could that be?" Everyone saw Esdeath getting slammed into the wall which should've at least broken a bone or two.

Esdeath didn't believe it either, but her Teigu might be the only explanation and it was.

Esdeath learned that the Demon's Extract was much more powerful than she previously thought. The only side effects of her having accepted the offer made by the Teigu itself was that every now and then, it spoke to her in her head which she honestly didn't quite mind.

"Esdeath, as of now, your ice powers are significantly more powerful, your body can now regenerate much faster, a broken bone can heal in less than a day, you will be able to summon your armour at will" Teigu told her

"That is excellent, so now since I said I would do anything, what should it be?" Esdeath asked

"Let us be one" The Teigu

"We already are" She replied

"Hehehe, we are going to get along just fine..." It said

"Definitely" She replied

"But why now? Why never during my countless other battles?" She asks

"Those months of training and witnessing you change into a stronger human showed me, the time was right" It replied

She now had developed a mutualistic relationship with her Teigu.

Esdeath then took a look around and saw 2 familiar allies getting treated.

"Mine, Kurome, nothing too bad I hope"

"No Captain, nothing life threatening"

"Good good, hope you two get healed soon"

"Thanks Captain, we have also learned that our enemy has the ability to turn invisible"

"Understandable, thanks for the information" Esdeath thanked them

Although Esdeath had no more injuries, she still had to rest since hours of fighting will soon take its toll on her. But before she could, she spotted the one who might have triggered her new powers.

The fox boy known as Kiyoshi was just sitting on a bench by a window, gazing at the stars yet still hearing the battle going on in the distance.

"Kiyoshi, I would like to have a word with you" Esdeath tells him

"Yes Captain, what is it?" Kiyoshi asks

"Thank you once again"

"Oh no need to mention it" He replies

"I do, without your intervention, we wouldn't be here by now. What were you doing out in the open anyway?" She asks

"Ah about that, I volunteered for a specific task to destroy an enemy tank but then, the enemy reinforcements came and I was basically stuck at that position"

"I see, but still you risked your life saving me"

"And you did the same after you got your new powers, so we're even" Kiyoshi replied

A small smile appeared on her face again, "Sure we are" Yet again she bent down and patted his head, this time she could feel the warmth of his long fox ears. "I'm honestly still fascinated by your ears, they look so different" Esdeath said

"I get that a lot here"

"Mind if I touch them?" Esdeath asks

"No not at all" He replies

As soon as her left hand touched his right ear, she could feel it, not only were they warm but fluffy too. She could rub them all day and it seemed like it created stimulating effect on the fox boy too. He didn't want it to stop, it felt good having his ears rubbed. Then their eyes meet, they both stared into each other. It was just the 2 of them at that place at that time.

"Hey hey hey don't you think it's time for bed now Esdeath?" Her Teigu suddenly spoke in her mind ruining the moment. Esdeath blinked a couple times before breaking eye contact and stood up.

"So Kiyoshi, get some rest, the battle won't end anytime soon"

"Oh right, yes Captain"

They both went their separate ways to beds.

"Just what was that just now? Were we just about to ????" Kiyoshi thought to himself

"Hey better get some rest am I right Esdeath? Esdeath?" The Teigu said

"I prefer not to be interrupted right now" Esdeath replied annoyed "But still at least there was some progress" she thought to herself

"Yea, that is some real progress" The Teigu interrupted

"Goodnight" Esdeath was now starting to reconsider her decision of gaining new powers at the cost of no privacy in her mind.