Chapter 3: The Phoenix Unit
It's been a week since the six were recruited to the Elite Forces. Most of their time were eaten away by Commander Elsword and Commander Chung's training practice for the actual fight for they are going to get in the battlefield, but for now all of them has their own free time. Blake and Zechs are hanging out in their rooms. They all share in one room and it has mostly everything a living room and a bedroom has. Blake is bored as ever when he sharpens all of his seven swords on his down time and check if it has any damages or anything that will lead to a disadvantage in combat, on the other hand Zechs is checking up on his system to see if his nasod arms or legs have any difficulties or damages during all the training they had for the past week. It is just now that he noticed his hidden blades are getting dull and ask for Blake's help to polish them.
"Hey Blake, can you help me with my blades here." Zechs requests nicely and Blake simply nodded, he stop sharpening his sword and sit besides Zechs to see what is the problem of his blades.
"It seems the blades' sharpness is getting a bit dull and the tip is nearly as a blunt edge." he dictates and points out the sharp part and the tip of the blade, he took out a weird looking rock and starts to rub it on the dull blades. When the rock made contact with the blade it made a calm scratch sound and Blake sharpens the blades at the same time he is lost in thought.
"Hey Blake what is that rock you are holding?" Blake regains his senses and looks straight forward to Zechs.
"Oh um, this is called a whetstone. It is really useful to sharpen the edges of the swords and the next thing you know you have a deadly weapon."
"But what about its durability?
"Well my swords were made by my father, he gives it to me as a present and I got to say each sword is really thick it doesn't need to be fixed by blacksmiths."
"Oh, how is father anyway?" Blake flinch by his question, he stops sharpening Zechs' blades and stare at his sword with half lit eyes.
"I don't want to talk about it for now, maybe some other time." Blake blurted out and Zechs just nodded in reply since he feels that Blake doesn't want to talk about his past at this time. An awkward silence came afterwards and after a few more rubs of the whetstone to the blade Blake finally finished his job. Zechs took his blades and see that it's stinking sharp and shiny.
"Thanks Blake. Oh and I am curious about what you said about your sword, may I take a look at it." Blake looks at Zechs surprised that he gets interested by his sword.
"Sure I don't mind at all." as time flows the two now starts to talk about blades, weapons, guns mostly everything and keeping their conversation on the main topic, Zechs looks at the swords one by one and continued talking to Blake.
In the training room is where Eiyu, Nash and Gryle having their usual practices to enhance their profession and combat tactics. Since Gryle is the tactician and the assigned leader for the group, she takes a lot of responsibility to lead her group to the right track. Nash is in the shooting range, he is making adjustments to his dual barrage pistols since his accuracy to the target circles are a bit off. He made a few tweaks on his two pistols Raze and Rave, examining both guns he aims at the target circles again and took a shot. He keeps shooting the target circles then his pistols clicked, he unloaded the empty magazines and took fresh ones from his vest, he cocks the chambers and starts to shoot again at the targets once more. He ceased fire after he finishes his second magazines, he checks the targets and there were a lot of holes near and on the bulls-eye. Nash is now satisfied at the results, he walks to the sparring area where Eiyu and Gryle are fighting against each other.
Nash observes his two friends fight, swords clashing, guns firing, dodging and powerful attacks. "Assassination!" "Force Shot!" both trade blows with their guns and clashes swords again and again and by the looks of their fight it is like a stalemate. "Crimson Shot." Gryle's mind went into a state of nothingness, as for Eiyu this is an opportunity for her to get a clean strike. Eiyu quickly charges at Gryle and just within seconds Eiyu is in range with the vulnerable Gryle standing still at the same spot. "Quick Charge!" before Gryle could finishes her concentration she was interrupted by a bullet to her right arm and fell down to the floor from the sudden impact. Eiyu quickly pointed the tip of her sword to Gryle's neck by an inch.
"Surrender." Gryle pouts while she raises her hands to admit defeat. Nash walk closer to Gryle and held out a hand for her.
"You guys are really good." Nash compliments while Gryle reaches his hand and pulls her up to her feet. The three manage to chat a little longer before calling it a day for their training as they walk back to their room, they were greeted by Blake and Zechs.
"Welcome back Gryle, Eiyu and Nash." Blake said blankly.
"Yeah, the bath is ready for you guys." Gryle and Eiyu raced to the bathroom and Eiyu got in first, Gryle rant a bit then she just sigh and lean against the wall. Nash scan around he noticed Asashin is not with them.
"Blake, where's Asashin?" Nash asked out of the blue but Blake just remained himself and replied while fixing his swords.
"He said he just want to get some fresh air."
Asashin lied about getting some fresh air, he is inside the HQ walking around for no reason at all and just wants to kill time, he past a lot of pole and once past him they start to whisper.
"Hey he is one of those new recruits."
"Such a waste it's been a week and they didn't even had a single mission."
"Yeah a waste indeed."
Asashin twitch everytime he hears people whispering about him and his friends. He tightens his fist due to anger, he isn't focused to where is going and he ended up at the entrance of the bridge room.
"Ugh, why did I ended up here." Asashin scratches his head, he is about to leave but heard Commander Elsword, Commander Chung and all the other commanders are talking.
"Did we receive any communication from the Lion unit?"
"Negative. We are trying to make communications with them but something is blocking our signal."
"Where are they right now?"
"They are located at Residential Area 3."
"What are they do-" the conversation of the commanders was interrupted when they heard a beeping sound and one of the staff shouted out loud.
"Commander Elesis we receive a distress call!"
"Who is it from?!"
"It's from the Lion unit ma'am!" there was a total silence until Commander Elsword speaks up for everyone else.
"Patch it through private."
"Yes sir!" Asashin is really curious about what is going inside the bridge, he slightly opens the poke his head in a little to see and hear the distress call.
"T-This is James, leader of the L-Lion Unit! My co-comrades and I are cut o-off from returning to HQ by nasods! We also have the cr-crates of food and wa-water supplies but some of it were left behind but no-not too far from our lo-location! We ne-"
"James here they come!"
"D-Damn it, we need immediate a-assistance! Lion unit o-out!" the communication was full of static and the video is shaking, blurry and buffering from time to time. James and his units managed to get past the jamming system by chance.
"Damn! Penensio, is there any unit available to do a search and rescue mission?" Commander Elesis starts to take control of the entire bridge and Commander Penensio started to search an available unit.
"Private, track the exact location of the distress call." Commander Elsword joins in and gives an order to one of the staff.
"Major I want you to scan the entire area of the place and give me the coordinates of anything including any suspicious reading." Commander Chung joins in as well.
"Yes sir!" both replied in unison, Commander Elesis has a smile printed on her face to see his brother and all the staff are working hard to save the Lion unit, she focuses back to Penensio.
"There are no 1st rank and 2nd rank available right now although in 3rd rank the Zell unit is currently available but 3rd rank units can't go alone since they are just new to the battlefield." Elesis curses under her breath knowing the fact most units are out with their missions defending bases, spotting enemies entering the area or finding resources.
"Commander Elsword they are positioned in this spot!" they turn on the holographic projector made by Add and it made a 3D map of Residential Area 3, four blue dots were appeared on the projector indicating that the Lion unit are holding out in one of the intact houses.
"Multiple bogeys are spotted in the radar! Patching it through!" this time a lot of red triangles appeared on the map indicating the incoming enemies, all of it are moving towards the Lion unit and fast.
"More enemies located! Sending coordinates!" There are more red triangles appeared but those aren't moving at all it seems that they are covering the entire area preventing anyone to go in or out.
"One unit can't handle this alone!" Vanessa shouted out loud and Elesis smashed her fists on the table.
"Sis, I will go and help the Zell unit rescue Lion unit." Elsword straighten his back and volunteered himself to be with the mission.
"So will I, they need all the help they can get." Chung volunteered as well but it didn't satisfied Elesis' thoughts.
"Even with the two of you with them it's still not enough." Elesis replied bluntly.
Asashin is really pissed that they seems invisible in the HQ, he quickly opened the door and salutes the commanders.
"We will join the mission Commander Elesis."
"Asashin what are you doing here?" Elsword looks at Asashin confused while Elesis just gave him a death glare.
"Do even know how dangerous the mission is?!" Elesis shouts at Asashin although he shrugs it off.
"We beat the Alpha unit, I am sure we can handle it."
"How about your friends do they even agreed to join?"
"We are just on standby in HQ for a week now, and I can say they will go as well." Asashin knows that he and his friends wants to join the fight, they don't want to be a burden and be useless forever. Elesis gives him one last stare and sigh in defeat.
"Fine, from now on you will be called Phoenix unit. Elsword accompany Asashin to gather his friends, Chung I want you to rally Zell unit. Meet up back here at the bridge within 15 minutes to discuss our battle plan." Elesis announce proudly and the other commanders nod in approval.
"Yes ma'am!" the three salutes and bolted out of the room.
They run down the hallway as fast as they can, at the very first intersection Chung part ways as he turn right. Asashin and Elsword kept running straight, they dodge a few people in the way and try to create a conversation as well.
"Hey Asashin, why did you speak up for the rest back there?" Elsword questioned Asashin and he looked at him confused.
"I did say we stayed here for too long in HQ." Asashin has a point when Elsword realised they just trained them a week.
"Lets see what will their reaction to this sudden news." Elsword replies and both of them kept running to the room. After a few minutes they finally arrived to Asashin's room. He slowly opens the door to be greeted by the group.
"Hey Asashin, where have you been?" Eiyu asks casually.
"Oh uhmm." Asashin can't manage to reply then Nash noticed the person behind him.
"Commander Elsword? What brings you here?" Everyone quickly stood firm and straight and give a salute to the commander.
"No time to explain, we need you all in the bridge within 10 minutes. Better gear up and move your butts!" Elsword gives them the order they need to do including Asashin too.
"Yes sir!" they replied in unison, Elsword left them as he heads back to the bridge and the five eyed Asashin suspiciously.
"Why did Elsword want us at the bridge?" Gryle stare at Asashin still has suspicions.
"Well I accidentally went to the bridge and heard them talking about a mission. So I barge in and volunteered ourselves to join the mission." Asashin confess his mistake, there was complete silence covered the group then becomes excited about the mission they have. No one is even bothered by the danger or troubles that they will encounter.
"You are the man Asashin." Zechs pats Asashin's back.
"We finally have our first mission!" Gryle did a little happy dance with Eiyu.
"Its about time too." Nash fist pumped with excitement.
"Sorry to interrupt your celebration everyone but we need to get back there quickly. We have 8 minutes left." Blake pops out of the bathroom, he already wears his black coat, greyish pants, elbow pads and knee pads, grey plate armor and grey outline boots. He walks toward his sword and made some fininshing touches, he unloads one of his sword and put it on the horizontal holder on the back of his waist while he carries the biggest sword with the other swords in it.
(Blake's POV)
I lean on the door and wait for the others to get prepared. Gryle and Eiyu went inside the bathroom to change and since both of them are girls we didn't bother to ask, while we boys change near on our own beds.
Nash finished first, he wears a white jacket with red outlines reaches to his waist, a grey vest within the jacket where he stores his magazine and grenades, white pants with red lines design and has a gun holster both on his left and right hip where the handles of his pistols are pointing forward, red combat boots and a very long scarf half red and half white that reaches to his thighs. His clothing really matches his white hair and red eye and i'm gueesing it's his favorite colors. Zechs wore a simple white jacket and black trousers and I can clearly see his nasod arms and legs and he made a quick system check. Asashin is almost the same as me, he let his medium length black hair unkempt, he wore a black zip-up hoodie,dark blue denim pants and black sneakers, has a holster at the back of his waist for his handgun and his rifle is strapped on his back. He put some kind of stick on his left sleeve and has a mini pouch on his left waist. We gather up then the girls finished changing as well.
Eiyu tied her long black hair into a bun at the back of her head, she wears a dark red long sleeve button up shirt which is over a cream shirt, also has a white tie and white pieces of armor on her shoulder, white gloves with red plating, a grey and red accents jeans and a small plated heeled boots, she has her gun in a gun holster on her left thigh and her sword sheath on her left hip while her whip coiled on her right thigh. Gryle let her black hair flow that reaches to her waist and some bangs covering her right eye, she wears a simple whitish sleeveless shirt and covers it with a brownish red sleeveless jacket including a red light weight armor, brown jeans reaches to her legs with shin guards and black heeled boots, she has also have a gun hostler on her left and right thighs and a long sword sheath for her katana on her left hip. Both of them quickly joins us.
"You all ready to go?" Nash asks everyone just to be sure that we are all ready to leave, everyone nodded, I took my sword leaning against the wall and everyone looks at me with their eyebrows slightly raised.
"Dont you have somekind of holder for that sword of yours Blake?" Eiyu questions and I only shrug as a response.
"Technically this sword is already a sheath of my other swords and a holder can't carry it." I said in a matter-of-fact voice and quickly noticed the time.
"Shoot, we only have 5 minutes lets go!" I quickly exit the room and the others followed behind me. We continue to run to the bridge, we arrived with 1 minute to spare and before we enter the bridge I heard footsteps coming towards us. I look to the diretion of the sound to see Commander Chung with 4 more people.
"Good you made it in time. Lets go we need to act quick." we didn't bother to question why by the look on his face is dead serious. I enter the bridge first and one by one the others enters as well. The four stick together and the six of us did the same, Commander Chung went to Commander Elsword to announce we are here.
"Good you made it in time 3rd rank Zell unit and 3rd rank Phoenix unit." Commander Elesis walks towards us along with the other commanders, she look at the four when she said Zell and to us Phoenix.
"By the way Gryle you will be the leader and your code name is Phoenix-1, Eiyu will be Phoenix-2, Nash Phoenix-3, Asashin Phoenix-4, Zechs Phoenix-5 and Blake Phoenix-6." Commander Elsword said out of nowhere.
"Yes sir!" we all replied in unison then Commander Elesis clears her throat to get everyone's attention.
"Ok enough celebrating, we need to rescue 2nd rank Lion unit." she said the focus of the mission and Nash raised his hand.
"What's the ranking about?"
"It means what it is, if your rank is higher you will be assigned to the frontlines and since you are 3rd rank its better to be the support than risking your lives in the battlefield." Commander Penensio explains, everyone is hurt and thankful at the same time cause of their care to us not to get wasted out there.
"Alright back to the task at hand. The Lion unit made their stand in Residential Area 3 and the area is in complete control of the nasods." Commander Vanessa opened a holographic projector making an exact replica of Residential Area 3, then there were blue circles appeared and Commander Elesis points out that these are the Lion unit, then there are red triangles appeared circling the blue circles thus this indicates the enemies engaging them, then more red triangles appeared far away the location and these enemies are stationary that secured the area where no one can go in or out.
"Now this is how we will infiltrate their defense."
"The main entrance is heavily fortified and we all need to be alert since we don't know what we will encounter there so I want Elsword, Chung, Aisha and Blake to charge through the mob." I was surprised that I am about to go with the commanders rather than being with my team.
"Wait! Why am I seperated from my group?" I said instantly and the others agree with me.
"It is best that they have some assistance and we all decide that you will be with them during the operation." I can't believe it but why me? I know we are six in the group but it feels wrong.
"But Blake doe-" I put my hand on Gryle's shoulder totally cuts her off, she looks at me worried and I only shake my head.
"Are you sure Blake?" Nash questions me anxiously to think that something wrong will happen.
"They already decided and I'm sure it's for the best." everyone eyed me and I nod to assure them my decision.
"Alright now we have Blake's approval let's get back to it. As I mentioned that the four of them will take the front main entrance, now there are two rear entrances that are less fortified but I want all of you to remain alert! Gryle, you will take your unit at the right entrance. Gon you will take the left entrance."
"Roger!" we all said in unison, Commander Elesis, Commander Vanessa, and Commander Penensio said they will stay and guide or notify us that what might happen. They also gives us ear pieces so we can communicate with the others on the battlefield. We proceed quickly to the launching bay, I ask Commander Aisha if I can be with my group for the moment luckily she agrees and give me a toothy smile. I wave at my group, yeah group friends is just too foreign for me right now.
"Hey Blake are you sure you will be fine?" I sigh as Zechs questions me.
"A hello would be better and yes I will be fine." I joke a bit to lighten up the mood a bit.
"If anything goes wrong just message us alright." Gryle said and I simply nod in reply.
"Okay everyone let's go." Commander Elsword shouts and we split up to our groups, Asashin volunteered himself to drive their jeep and I group up with the commanders. We all entered our military armored jeep and Commander Elesis says her final remarks through the communication.
"Stay safe everyone. Begin Mission!" we all bolted out of the HQ and we split ways to our assigned positions.
Gryle and the others made a right turn and Gon with his unit made a left turn while we remained moving straight. The ride was totally boring as ever and I have no intentions rather than looking outside the window, I wonder what we will encounter on the battlefield, is it out of my league? Is it something we can't handle? Are we enough to stop the enemy? More questions run through my head and it gets worse and worse every question. I shrug off my thoughts and return my focus looking outside the window. Now that I noticed it that there are already houses around the area but what catches me is that someone or something suddenly appeared on top of the buildings.
"What are those things?" I ask the group while I point the roof of the houses.
"It's a surprise attack!" Commander Chung shouts and Commander Elsword drift the car sideward to create a small barricade and we now are receiving gunshots on our side.
"Ride's over we will fight our way through." Commander Elsword got out of the jeep first then Commander Chung followed, the same goes to Commander Aisha and I since my exit door is getting shot.
"Aceldama!" Commander Chung bombarded one of the houses and Commander Elsword gave me the order to charge as well, once the rain of missles stops Commander Elsword charges to the left while I charge to the right. I see nasods gathering in front of me, I engage them with a powerful side slash.
(Gryle's POV)
"I can't believe he agrees to split with us." I pout and play with my fingers during the boring ride.
"Just suck it up, it's the command from the very top and Blake thinks its for the best." Nash stated and the tension of silence just thickened, but I think there wouldn't be any difference since he doesn't talk much anyway.
"Don't worry about it, he will be with us for the next mission." Zechs reassure us and we all nod in agreement.
"Exile unit and Phoenix-6 are now engaging the enemy." Commander Vanessa said through the earpiece and it only made us worry more.
"Hey Gryle, take the wheel." I am so lost in thought I almost didn't heard Asashin's call. I nod as I hold the wheel with both of my hands, Asashin brings out his rifle and he opened the window to aim for something. I am a bit confused since there is nothing out here but a bunch of houses then there are now something shooting at us. Asashin started shooting his rifle and I notice small figures on the roof. Asashin stops shooting and focus back on the wheel.
"Bring out your guns we will pierce through this defense." Asashin put away his rifle and took out his handgun. We all nod except Zechs because he doesn't wield a gun, I bring out my dual rapid fire pistols and open the window. Everyone does the same thing and starts shooting the enemies we can while there are enemy troops popping out of the road, Asashin tries to avoid them or run them over if it's impossible to avoid them then suddenly one of them jumps into the front of the jeep and tries to destroy the engine, I destroy the mirror in front of me to aim the nasod with blades on his hands. "Assassination!" I take a shot to the nasod's body and it pierces through its body and falls down to the side. Our ride came to an end when the nasod shot the back tire on the left, Asashin ables to stable the car poorly but we can't park here in the open we will be sitting ducks!
"Asashin try to park there!" Nash pointed to a location where there are destroyed houses but it makes a good barricade. Asashin steers the car to the destroyed houses and parks inside. We quickly pop out of the jeep, Zechs, Nash and Eiyu secures the back hole while Asashin and I secure the front.
"Phoenix-1 to HQ, we were able to past the defense line although our jeep is not accessable anymore." I report our status right now and we wait for a reply.
"Copy that Phoenix-1, proceed onward before the nasods reach you." I hear Commander Vanessa answers back.
"Copy HQ, Phoenix-1 out. Alright we will proceed on foot everyone." I inform everyone that we need to push forward. We check the front and the back and it seems there are no enemies on sight, we remain cautious as we move out leaving the van behind. Out of nowhere more nasods came out of the buildings and in front of us.
"What are kind of nasods are these anyway?" Eiyu questions but we can't reply because we don't know either.
"The ones on the roof are called Nasod Guard: Cannon, they equip with a rifle that shoots lasers and throws grenades and in front of you are Nasod Guard: Shield, they use their shield to block your attacks and watch out for his electric baton." Commander Penensio briefly explains while we engage in combat.
We can't turn back now since we made it this far, Asashin and Nash return fire against the nasods on the rooftops and Eiyu, Zechs and I charge towards the mob in front. "Hunter's Emerge." I hold my katana with my left hand and one of my pistols with my right hand, I make a few shots at them to make them stop marching forward. "Enhancement Up!" Zechs suddenly becomes really fast and his strength increases as well like his nasod limbs unlocked its potential. He left us behind and made contact with one of the nasods, Eiyu swiftly dashes her way to the middle of three nasods "Blade Entrapment!" she starts slashing them even if her slash is getting blocked by the shields but every hit she made more chains are getting tangled at them. "Sphere Blast!" I mark the three nasods around Eiyu first then try to mark the others as well "Explosive Bind!" the chains exploded and the damage became more severe thanks to my mark but I suddenly felt a painful sting behind me. I fell down on the ground and my body temperature is dropping low.
"Gryle!" Zechs pushes the nasods out of his way towards me. I try to reach my hand to him but my body refuses to move from the pain and my body is starting to get cold.
(Asashin's POV)
"Nash look out!" one of the nasods already locked on at Nash thankfully he got away before he got shot in the body. I keep shooting at the nasods on the roof but everytime I shot one down two take its place. "Twist Shot!" Nash cross his pistols and shot in sync as soon it reaches the middle of two nasods the bullets quickly split apart hitting the nasods to side and fall down the roof. I take another shot and my magazine runs out of bullets, I quickly unload the magazine take out a fresh one from my pouch and reload. I was about to take a shot but three nasods has their guns pointed at me, I jump away from the cover holding my rifle with one hand I take out my handgun with my right hand and aim at the nasods who are targeting me. "Suppressive Fire!" I keep firing my handgun while jumping out of their range and aim my rifle at them with one hand "Bullet Ricochet!" pulling the trigger and the bullet hit the nasod right in the face and it bounces to the other two nasods killing them perfectly.
"Gryle!" Zechs shouted out of the blue, I look at them for a bit to see Gryle is down on the floor with a little blue on her back. Zechs slash his way through the nasods while Eiyu prevents the other nasods from coming in.
"Nash let's go help them." I communicate Nash through the earpiece then he looks at me and gave a small nod. We dash our way towards them while returning fire to the nasods on the roof that are shooting at us. Before we even about to meet up with Zechs and the others we notice there are big ice blizzards heading straight right at us.
"Everyone look out!" Nash shouts through the communicator but there are a few ice blizzards heading towards Gryle.
"Nash take out those ice heading towards Gryle!", "Copy that!" We sprint into action, Nash glide his way through the nasods while I hide in a poorly made barricade. there are six blizzards incoming quickly and Nash said he will handle the three from the left while I will take the three from the right. "Tri-Shot!" (New skill for Asashin) I take three shots for each blizzard and the bullets past through the ice shattering it to bits. "Shell Shock!" Nash takes a few shot with his pistols and prevents the blizzards moving closer as soon it came to a halt a few meters away from Gryle's position.
"This is Phoenix-4, Phoenix-1 is down and are there any nasods that can wield ice?" I ask sternly while giving covering fire for Nash to assist Zechs in his advance.
"What! A nasod that wields ice! Asashin be careful that nasod is Leviathan and it has an impenetrable shield unless you find its power source." Commander Elsword shouts through the communication and a bigger nasod steps into the fight and has blue outlines colors to it. I quickly take a shot but it didn't give any powerful damage, so this is what they call Leviathan huh?
"Nash try finding the power source Commander Elsword is talking about we will hold it off as long as we can!"
"I'll do my best! Hang in there guys!" he quickly sprint out of the battlefield to find the power source, I know it's stupid but according to nasods you can't function the shield if you are too far away from the source right!? I know it's here somewhere, find it quick Nash!
(Nash's POV)
Don't panic, don't panic, Gryle will be fine my job is to find that power source and destroy it. I try finding it every corner, houses, everywhere and farther I go more nasods show up. I'm getting irritated by these things, I supressing fire until my guns 'click' and pass through them. I reload my pistol and continue my search. At the next corner I was surprise attacked with lasers, I manage to dodge a few but they hit my left leg and I tumbled down on the ground. I quickly hide behind the broken house in front of me. I peek at the nasods, instead of hunting me down they defend the fortified house behind them. I try to look at the house and I finally found the power source one is shaded red and the other is shaded blue.
"This is Phoenix-3, I found two power sources here.", "Copy that Phoenix-3, destroy both power source and regroup with your team when you are finished." I heard HQ replied and I started to become worried.
"Roger. Phoenix-3 out." I return my focus to the nasods, I ready my pistols and ready myself to charge in.
I start a countdown in my thoughts to begin my assault "3...2...1...Go!" I pop out of the cover and there are 4 nasods start to fire at me. I return fire while closing my distance to them "Twist Shot!" I cross my pistols and take a shot in sync. Once the bullets are in the middle of the first two nasods it quickly split apart and hit them to the side. I shoot at them some more and I hide in a small cover, I take out new magazines from my vest and reload my pistols ignoring the storm of laser shots at me. I jump over to proceed my advance "Disarm."I use my pistol Rave, I aim for the nasod on the right and take multiple shots to its arm forcing it to drop the weapon. I slide on the ground to get past them and when I am right in the middle I point my pistol at them "Blitz Shot." I take a shot and bullets fly faster to the nasods giving them no time to react. It hit them right in the head, I get back up on my feet and check the area if its clear. I look around and there are no nasods in sight. I take out my high explosive grenades, pulling the ring of each grenade I throw it inside the house and run my way back to my friends. The grenades detonated and made a big explosion.
"Power sources destroyed!", "Good job Nash now proceed with the mission." Commander Penensio gives his remark and assist my friends on beating Leviathan.
(Blake's POV)
"This is Phoenix-4, Phoenix-1 is down….."
I am now worried about them Gryle is down by a nasod named Leviathan and things are not folding in our hands right now, Commander Elsword and I try to pierce this defense and rush through or the Lion unit will be annihilated. I was caught off guard for a second when I felt electricity courses through my veins, I bit my lip to prevent the pain and stab my sword on the face of the nasod that just hit me. I jump back to regroup with the commanders but the defense is too overwhelming we can't create a hole to pass it.
"Where are the reinforcements coming from!?" Commander Elsword snaps while I clash swords with a nasod that its hands are daggers.
"This is HQ, Elsword keep what you guys are doing. The units near the Lion unit are being pulled to barricade your way. If this keeps up the other units can rescue them easier."
"So we just need to kill these things so more units will be pulled out?" Commander Elsword jump back to communicate while Commander Chung, Commander Aisha and I hold the line.
I slice the nasod in half and more nasods are charging towards us. I take out my Sickle Sword "Sharp Tornado!" I throw the sword in a circular motion to make it spinning knocking out the incoming nasods but I can't get my sword now when it landed in the middle of the mob.
"Alright then thanks sis. Ok we just need to take them out so we can get the attention of the nasods inside." Commander Elsword exclaims.
"Roger that commander." I charge at the next wave and Commander Elsword joins as well "Armageddon Blade!" his sword became bigger and made a down slash at the mob, "Swords Storm!" I throw my Mother Sword at the incoming nasods and all the swords inside pops out and barrage anything it passes. I take out my Blunt Sword that is stored at the holder on my back and charge again.
"Elsword at your right! Magic Missle!" Commander Aisha warns Commander Elsword the nasods with rifles are already aiming him but she interrupted the nasods and she shot fireballs at them. "Scare Chase." Commander Chung fires a round of his cannon and hits the nasods ahead of me and made a path towards my swords. I am about to reach for my Mother Sword but at the corner of my eye I spot a human like nasod charging at me and fast. Our swords clashed and nasods start to circle around me.
"Commander Elsword what is that?" I ask what is the nasod in front of me that wields a sword, it gives random slashes and I try my best to dodge it.
"That is 'Crow Rider' be careful that thing has good swordsmanship and careful with its nasod claw too." Commander Elsword tries to reach me but another Crow Rider appeared and confronted him to prevent from reaching me.
"Hold in there Blake we're coming!" Commander Chung and Commander Aisha assist Commander Elsword dealing the other Crow Rider and some other nasods while I need to make my stand here, but when I look further my sickle sword is close and I will try to create a path for the commanders. I charge at the Crow Rider and we clash swords. The nasods begin closing their distance to me, I push away the Crow Rider and it is open for an attack "Quadra Thrust." I thrust its chest twice and its nasod claw twice. It moved back then I ran fast to my sword and pick it up. I stare at the commanders, they have destroyed the second Crow Rider and clearing the nasods they face in front. I took the opportunity to open a path for them "Sharp Tornado!" I throw the sword again and clears a straight path, the commanders rushes their way to me. I almost lost my focus when I heard footsteps coming at me fast. I looked back to the Crow Rider and took a step back when I saw his claw is about to make contact but my right shoulder got scratched badly by the claw. I hold my injured shoulder and I can feel a few blood trickling down, the Crow Rider makes a downslash at me and I block it with my sword. Thankfully Commander Elsword arrives just in time and knocks the Crow Rider away from us then Commander Aisha pipes in and handles the incoming nasods "Meteor Shower!", "Chaos Cannon!" Commander Chung positioned himself in the middle and started shooting on both sides.
"Blake you're injured!" Commander Aisha notices the blood dripping down on my shoulder. "I'll be fine- agh." I suddenly felt a sting of pain on my shoulder. I hold the injury to lessen the pain.
"Here he comes again!" I groan when that thing got back up on its feet. I ignored Commander Aisha's concern and I split away from the group to retrieve my swords. Commander Chung was surprised at first but he stayed in his position and fire more cannon shots to back me up. At the corner of my eye the Crow Rider is chasing my tail then I finally reach my swords. I took the mother sword and stored my blunt sword within. I turn my body around and made a powerful sideslash to the incoming nasods. I retrieve my dual swords, and chain sword and store it within while I hold my long sword with my right hand while the mother sword with my left hand. I shifted my body and clashes sword with the Crow Rider again and I extended my right arm and sideslash but it used the nasod claw to block my other sword. I push away and jump back to make some distance.
"I am tired of you already!" I shout and charge it again. "Assistance." I store the long sword and it releases one of the dual swords and my sword is now glowing red and the my other sword is glowing blue. We keep trading blows, it gives me a lot of scratches and slash me everywhere and I give him powerful strikes and slashes. I make a sideslash with the mother sword and he block it with his sword, I throw a downslash with the other sword but used his nasod claw to interrupt my attack "Maximum Cannon!" He reaches his nasod arm at me and spit a fiery fireball. I endure trying to endure the pain, I used the other sword and smash the arm. I push him back and I chase him while he is off-guard. I thrust his nasod arm completely, I send him flying in the air. "Sword Shot!" I spin my mother sword and make a powerful swing releasing the other dual sword. My sword hit him in the chest and he enters his free fall, once he is 20 meters away from the ground I jump towards him leaving the mother sword behind, removing the sword and it starts to glow again "Dual Dance." I land a lot of random hits in every part of his body. When I'm almost out of stamina I land one last X slash to him and push him down and meet the cold rough floor. I swiftly land on the floor, but I start to lose balance and my vision is starting to blur. I fell to my knees, I thrust my sword into the ground and hold onto it to prevent myself falling down completly. Commander Aisha teleports in front of me with a worried a look.
"Blake are you alright?" she puts pressure to the scratch on my shoulder, I winch at the sudden pain when she pressed it too much.
"I'm fine. I can still fight." I force myself to stand with the help of my swords but I can't balance myself right.
"Are you sure?" she ask me, my body has a lot of scratch marks but I can still fight.
"Here drink this. It will make you feel better a bit." she hand over a small bottle containing red liquid. I didn't bother to ask, I drink the liquid and she was right I feel better. I stored the dual swords back to the main sword and continue our mission.
(Zechs' POV)
"Gryle you alright?" I manage to reach her, carrying her out of the battlefield and make her drink a potion to remove all ailments. Gryle slowly gets up while she holds her head.
"Ugh, where are we?" she asks.
"Not quite far from where we were earlier." I simply reply. Silence crept upon us I try to say something but HQ interrups me to make an announcement.
"Attention Zell unit and Phoenix-1 to Phoenix-5. The defenses are seemingly dim now. The commanders and Phoenix-6 are getting their attention. Proceed now while you have the upper hand." I look back and it is true, some of the nasods are leaving the fight except that Leviathan though.
"This is Zell-2, we manage to defeat Ignis. We are proceeding our advance."
"We need to defeat that Leviathan." Gryle said sternly.
"Now we can focus on it more. Their numbers are reducing every minute." Gryle nods, we run back in battle gladly they are still alright.
"The hell you two have been?" Asashin was the first one that noticed us. Eiyu and Nash are fighting Leviathan but it already received a lot of fatal blows but it is still standing.
"We can't march forward with this thing in our way." Eiyu jumps away out of the fight to catch her breath leaving Nash fighting it then Asashin takes Eiyu's part and help him take down the nasod.
"What if we give it fatal blows cosecutively." I said the others through the communication.
"Sounds like a plan to me. Let's do it." Nash approves my idea and the others agrees afterwards. Eiyu regains some of her strength and we charge in back to the fight. The Leviathan sends its arms on the ground then ice spikes are coming out. The three of us jump but it is not finished, it points its arm towards us and I can see ice are coming out. "Disarm!" Asashin fire a few rounds to the arm and forces its aim away from us then we all are prepared to attack directly. "Sphere Blast!" Gryle puts a mark at the nasod before jumping away from it, "X-Slash!" I engage the enemy making two slash on its body and jump back and made two slashes forming an X beam strike. The nasod got teered and move a step back "Sword Ace." Eiyu moves with tremendous speed dealing multiple powerful slashes with her saber. "Long Shot." "Homing Volley!" Eiyu jumps away then Nash and Asashin bombarded it with a storm of bullets. Nash fires his pistols, every fire he does three bullets come out from each pistol and has a specific location at the target while Asashin accurately shoot the head of the nasod multiple times. Both of them cease fire when it fell down to the ground but it is still not finish.
"One more strike!" Gryle shouts as she charge at it. I charge as well to it, the mark is still there and Gryle focuses on her katana "Assassination!" she lands a powerful thrust and it pierces the armor making a weak spot. "Hard Blade." I put all my strength to the final attack. I aim for the weak spot Gryle made and land a powerful thrust. The nasod struggle from the pain, it tries to push me off. I push myself back and my sword pierced through the inner armor then it stopped moving. I pull out my blade and lay down catching my breath and the others gather to me.
"You ok Zechs?" Nash streches his arm, I hid back the blades inside the limbs and reach his hand, he helps me back up to my feet.
"Yeah, good thing we finished it off." I look back at the nasod lying down not moving and sparks coming out from the spot where we attack him.
"Phoenix-1 to HQ, we defeated Leviathan and we will proceed our march to the Lion Unit." Gryle said to the communication system waiting for new orders.
"Good job Phoenix unit, proceed to the main mission. Zell unit is already engaged at the rendezvous point assist them quickly." Commander Vanessa replies back to all of us and we nod to each other to press on.
"Let's move." Gryle starts to run and we followed behind her afterwards.
(Eiyu's POV)
The place is a bit less crowded now then Nash and Asashin said they want to help Blake and the commanders stand their ground. We split ways and pick up our pace to help the Zell unit to reach the Lion unit. It feels like we run for hours gunshots were heard not too far from us, we follow the sound and finally spotted the rendezvous point. The Zell unit are giving massive attacks to the nasods but having a hard time to free the stranded unit inside, Gryle, Zechs and I assist the Zell unit with their advance.
"You guys are a bit late." Gon greeted while he fires his assault rifle to the nasods hiding on the other side of a terrain. Zechs charges bluntly while Gryle and I bring out our pistols and give him cover fire. I notice that their numbers are getting thin by every minute, Zechs and two members of Gon engage melee combat with the frontline nasods.
"This is Exile-3, the enemies are retreating. We will proceed our march." Commander Elsword said through the communication. We are both relieved and tensed, right now the nasods are heading towards us quickly and we need to rescue the survivors inside.
"You guys go rescue the Lion unit, we will open a path for you." Gon threw a few frag grenades destroying the terrain in front. He and his group battles off the nasods blocking the way, we go through them and meet up with Zechs on the other side . We finish off the rest of the nasods blocking our way and we jolted into the building.
"Lion unit!? Where are you!" I shout out loud hoping they would reply but we heard nothing.
"Let's spread out and find them." Gryle said and quickly entered the right door, Zechs takes the door on the left and that left me going straight. I keep myself aware of my surroundings in case there are nasods in here. I take a right turn and finally I heard a voice calling for help.
"Hey! Over here!" I see a man waving his hand in a barricaded room. I act quickly as I run and help him, when I entered the room there are three more people and one of them is injured.
"You alright?" I ask the injured girl, she holds her right waist that is bleeding badly. She didn't reply and I need the others to know they are here.
"Phoenix-2 to all units..." I hear nothing but statik when I try to make communications with the others.
"It's no use, the nasods jams the communications in here." the other man watching over the injured girl said to me. I hope Gryle and Zechs are ok but we start to hear footsteps heading towards us. I hide behind the unoccupied barricade and I bring out my pistol cocking its trigger and aim at the hallway. We were about to shoot but instead of nasods it was Gryle and Zechs.
"Finally found you." Zechs and Gryle are catching their breath while I sigh in relief that they are here. After a few minutes we are prepared to escort them to safety. The other man carried the injured girl by wrapping her left arm around his neck and has his hand rested on her hip to help help her walk. We look at each other and nod that we are ready.
"Let's move." Gryle takes the lead, we retrace our steps on the way out of the building. As soon we exit we were greeted by the battlefield again, Gon and his team are fighting off the nasods but more are coming their way. Zechs and Gryle dash into action while I lead the Lion unit to safety. We move to some terrain as a barricade, I cock my pistol and return fire to the nasods firing at us. They hid back into their cover and we move quick and get away from the battle.
"Look out!" the leader shouted and when I look up there are three nasods jumped off the roof and ready to strike. I fire a shot or two but ended up hitting nothing but air. I close my eyes and prepare myself for the pain but I didnt felt anything. I open my eyes then see the nasods are on the ground then a familiar black hair boy appears in front of me.
"Sorry I'm a bit late." Blake said as a jeep park right in front of us and commander Aisha was on the driver seat.
"Get in, it is time to leave!" she shouts and we nod. I open the door and let them in first while Blake cover us from any intruders. I quickly get in the jeep as well but there are no more space left for Blake. I was about to call for him and take my place until two more jeeps pop out of nowhere, Blake and the others disengage and rush their way to the jeeps. At a blink of an eye they already boarded the jeeps, Commander Aisha steps on the gas and drive out of here. I sigh in relief when we are out of that place then our earpieces beep a few times and hear Commander Elesis's voice.
"Good job everyone, you all dealt a serious blow to the nasods camped in Residential Area 3 it is a good time to strike back, but for now return back to base." she said through the communication with joy in her voice. After the message there was nothing but awkward silence through the communications and inside the jeep. I want to talk a bit but now is not the time, keeping my mouth shut and stare outside the window to kill the time.
(Gryle's POV)
The ride arrived back to HQ faster than I expected, I jump out of the jeep and strecth my body then the others come out of their jeep as well. The first one I see first in our group is Zechs, I walk towards him while he waves at me when he noticed me.
"Hey Zechs you seem alright." I awkwardly say those words and made him confused.
"Well I guess I'm fine, oh there are the others." Zechs pointed his finger at the others all four of them are talking to each other, I look at Zechs and we nod to each other. We walk our way to our friends and the first thing I heard in the conversation is.
"You need to get that thing check at the infirmary." Nash said and the others agreed with his words, I was confused for a bit but when we arrived I take a quick look at Blake and he has a large scratch mark on his right shoulder. Zechs and I also agreed that he needs to go to the infirmary.
"Come on guys, I'm fine really." he pouts while he freely moving his arm but it didnt change our minds though.
"They are right Blake. You need to get that thing checked." Commander Aisha joins in the conversation then Blake sigh and surrenders, Commander Aisha accompanied Blake to the infirmary while all of us were needed to be in the bridge.
We enter the bridge until everyone is in the room well except Blake and Commander Aisha though. Commander Elesis gave her remarks to our hard work on the battlefield, she also said we can take a break until we were needed again then finally the commanders dismissed all of us. We first exit the bridge and we decide to visit Blake at the infirmary, as soon we enter the room we see Blake sitting in one of the beds while his arm is being wrap with bandage. Commander Aisha is there watching him and we wave at them.
"How do you feel?" Nash asks him nicely and he give smile to us that he is fine
"You all better get some rest now, you might be called for the next mission and good job by the way." Commander Aisha gave her regards and leave the infirmary. We waited the doctor to finish wrapping Blake's injury then we all go back to our room.
Everyone does their own things afterwards, Nash quickly rush to the bathroom to take a bath, Asashin disassembles his weapons and clean it, Blake is sharpening his sword again while Zechs watches him how he do it and Eiyu and I just friendly conversation. I know we were out there just for a while but it feels like we fought out there for a week. Good thing they let us rest for now and if we were needed again, we will be ready.
(? POV)
"They finally started to move huh." My spy drones shows those pesky humans expanding their lands. I order all the nasods back to the fortress and make sure the humans won't destroy our base near Velder.
"You don't to work yourself too hard." A man with spikey black-colored hair wearing a black colored vest, black pants, has a few belts strap onto it and he is carrying his sword with his human arm. He has a few people behind him bowing down to me showing respect.
"You already prepared to leave Raven?" I ask him and he nodded in reply. I look at the five behind and check them one by one. I see all familiar faces, these are the five who are loyal to the nasod race. I can't help it but smile to these five.
"Say your names my faithful nasods." I raise my right arm as a sign then the five stand up firm and say their names one by one.
"Ash."
"Loren."
"Carson"
"Kira"
"Zircon"
"Raven I trust you to keep them and yourself safe out there on the battlefield." I said in a stern voice and he bows down in front of me.
"Don't worry Eve I will ensure their safety and mine." he replies and kind of sweet in a way.
I cast them off and return my gaze to the projector watching the humans making their next move.
"Watch yourselves humans, we will show the true wrath of the nasods." I mumble to myself and turn off the projector.
Ok first up I'm very sorry for the very long delay for this chapter, it's just a lot of things is happening especially writer's block and no free time and such but I will try to post the next chapter faster. Again I am truly sorry.