Lloyd had never fought as skillfully as he did now in his entire life. He remembered the training from Kratos and skillfully dodged, thrust, and cut as he wove through the battle.

His twin blades flashed faster than the eye could see, parrying sword blows from angels and spilling their blood upon the ground. Furthermore, his exsphere, containing the life of his mother, shone more brightly than ever, filling him with energy.

But with a growing sense of dread, he became aware that it would not be enough. Not nearly enough.

There were so many angels that it seemed Pronyma had brought the wrath of the entire angelic city of Welgaia upon them. For every angel he cut down, another took its place.

Pronyma herself was also fighting in the battle. Regal, Colette, and Presea were currently trying to hold her off amid a furious storm of angels. They would be overwhelmed soon without help.

Gritting his teeth, Lloyd began slashing his way towards them.

--

Colette moaned as she was thrown backwards by a blast of dark mana from Pronyma.

"HAHAHA! Is the Chosen of Sylvarant this weak!" Pronyma sneered. She raised a hand, intending to finish Colette off, when Regal landed a flying kick to her chest. Grunting, she hurled the blast of energy at Regal instead.

Regal hissed as Pronyma struck a glancing blow upon his body with the blast. His side felt like it was on fire, but he pushed the pain away.

Utilizing the ancient art his old sensei taught him, he became a blur of speed with his Mirage technique and appeared behind Pronyma before she could react. He struck her stomach with a powerful sidekick, slamming her forward into the ground.

"How DARE you…!" She growled.

Presea rushed the pained Desian Grand Cardinal, preparing to cut her to pieces. Pronyma saw her coming, and hurled a sword made of darkness mana at the child-like woman.

Presea dodged the attack with surprising agility, but gasped as an angel tackled her from behind.

Using her incredible strength, she plucked the angel from her back and slammed it into the ground. More angels dropped from the sky, however.

With a grim look on her young face, she fought on with Regal and Colette.

--

Sheena, Zelos, and Raine stood together, fighting off angel after angel. Raine was mostly supporting Sheena and Zelos with support spells, throwing up Barriers and firing off quick healing spells. Sheena and Zelos kept her between them, protecting her as best they could.

Zelos cursed as he parried another sword slash from an angel.

I hate fighting I want my hunnies I hate fighting I want my hunnies he chanted in his mind.

Keeping the angel's sword locked with his own, he bashed its head with the shield on his other arm.

He winced when he saw that the angel was female.

Too bad…she really was a cutey! he sighed, before being tackled by another angel.

Sheena bit back the pain as an angel's sword slashed a gash into her right leg. Growling in anger, she tossed a seal scroll at the offending angel, and the Pyre Seal exploded in it's face.

Disintegrating, the angel turned to ash. With a ninja's grace, Sheena dodged the thrusts of 2 more angels and crushed their throats with two quick chops of her hand.

This isn't going to work she realized. There's too many of them. We're going to need help!

"Zelos! Raine! We need to get with the others! The only way we'll survive this is if I summon! We'll need the others to protect me!

Zelos and Raine only nodded, they had no time to speak.

Sheena frantically searched through the crowd of angels, searching for their friends. She finally found Regal, Presea, and Lloyd, fighting off angels and that Desian, Pronyma.

She quickly tossed a column of Pyre Seals in a path leading to them. The Pyre Seals blew up, blowing away angels like ragdolls, and revealing a clear path to her friends.

"Come on!" She screamed to Raine and Zelos.

The trio desperately ran towards their friends, dodging swords and arrows along the way.

When, they finally reached them, Lloyd glanced at them while fighting off an angel and screamed a sentence.

"We're going to die here if we don't think of something!"

"Get everybody to protect me while I summon!" Sheena screamed back.

Lloyd informed Regal and Presea, and they along with Zelos and Raine formed a protective ring around Sheena.

In the center of the ring, Sheena began a summoning ritual. Summoning took a huge amount of her mana, it would take her time to gather enough. Closing her eyes, she sank herself into the summoning state-of-mind.

We need someone who can use area-of-effect attacks…ok ok…then Volt it is….

Her friends, for their part, were on the brink of collapse. It took an incredible amount of strain and energy to fight off this many angels.

"Sheena…we could really use that summon about now!" Lloyd screamed. He slashed at an angel who came to close. Sheena did not answer him. Cursing, he kicked at another angel. The angel dodged, however, and cut his left arm.

Hissing in pain, Lloyd dropped the sword in his left hand. Before he could react, three more angels rushed him and impaledhim upon their swords. The world became very dark.

Pink ancient magic symbols of summoning appeared around Sheena, and the air suddenly grew heavy. Sheena had gathered enough energy. Soon, she roared

"HAMMER OF GODLY THUNDER, I SUMMON THEE! COME, VOLT!"

In a flash of light, the Summon Spirit of Lightning appeared.

"Save me and my friends!" Sheena screamed to Volt.

Immediately, the Summon Spirit cast huge bolts of lightning in a circle around the group of heros. Angels were instantly electrocuted and their bodies were charred beyond recognition. Volt did not let up until every last angel was dead. Seeing its job was done, Volt disappeared.

Letting out a moan of exhaustion, Sheena sank to the ground in a heap.

There…we're safe she thought.

Then she heard the crying.

Sheena turned around, and ice crawled down her spine.

Colette was kneeling at the side of Lloyd, who was unconscious on the ground and bleeding profusely. Raine was attempting to heal him. Zelos and Regal also sported serious wounds, but the only person that mattered to Sheena right now was Lloyd.

She tried to rush to his side, but collapsed to the ground. Exhaustion from fighting and summoning overcame her, and like Lloyd, she fell unconscious.

No! Lloyd...

--

Presea stood alone as she watched Altessa and Tabatha helping to carry her friends back into the house.

Lloyd was seriously injured. Sheena exhausted. Raine exhausted from fighting and attempting to heal Lloyd. Zelos, Colette, and Regal injured.

And Genis…missing.

She knew she was the only one who had noticed that Genis was missing. He had not been in the fight against the angels. Where had he gone? Had Yggdrasil done something to him?

By the time the fight was over, Yggdrasil, Pronyma, and Genis had been gone. So were Kratos and Yuan, although Kratos had probably been taken by Yggdrasil.

"Probability of victory…30" she said, to no one in particular. Then she entered the house with the others.