Disclaimer: I do not own God Eater, and any contents already in the game.


Chapter 33: The Tripartite Deceptions 2

"I guess it begins," Jerad moved his eyes upon her, and Claire simply looked up at him. Her response made him raise his eyes. 'Too close..!'

"Yes, shall we..?" Claire smiled at him, partly for his flustered look, and she thought he was being cute. With further self-amusement, she wondered if he was also aware of his flushing cheeks, but nevertheless, she could start getting used to this, hopefully one day when they are finally…

"Yeah, please..start prepping your God Arc. I still need to put my stuff away," Jerad turned away, and started slightly leaning back.

Claire knew she would have definitely laughed at him if only they were in the right moment. "Alright."

Then she finally let go, and watched Jerad quickly turn away before packing his new custom rounds in each bag. However, he suddenly paused for a few seconds after he grabbed his first newly made custom round to be placed in a new bag before he decided to move on, and placed them one at a time. Once he grabbed his spear for function checks, Claire finally moved towards hers, partly worried that she had to start before Jerad notices her.

And only a few seconds later, the rest finally arrived.

"You guys heard it, right?" Hugo inserted his armlet into his slot, attempting to start a conversation.

"Uhh, yeah. The hell you think we are? Deaf?" Jerad chuckled while pushing his charging handle forward. "I'm ready to have some fun right now."

Then Hugo paused, shocked that he seemed to be back in his usual demeanor again, looking forward to fights. "Alright, good. Nice to know you're in the mood for it."

"I just miss my playground," Jerad put his spear on his shoulder.

"Playground? You want to play, daddy?" Phym suddenly latched on to him.

"Yeah, let's go out there, and ask Aragami if we can join," Jerad grinned. "Get your God Arc."

"Okay, this is going to be fun!" Phym trotted to her God Arc she left by her storage, and picked it up. "I'm ready!"

"Good," Jerad snickered. "We're gonna play together outside."

"Just…don't get too careless, OK?" Claire warned them.

"Wow, he's back to his usual self," Misha whispered while loading her scythe with healing rounds. "Just what kind of sorcery is this..?"

"Keep it that way," Hugo whispered back. "He needs as much of that. Just play along."

"Maybe Claire did some magic to him?" Trista suggestively grinned.

"Be quiet. That's NOT a good time right now..," Hugo grimaced before holding his long blade up. "Leave them alone for once…"

"I get ya. I'm just merely stating my opinion," Trista made a low chuckle.

Then only about an hour later in the field, a few Ogretails and Axe Raiders had their heads blown off.

"Tch..! Just mostly small fries out here?" Jerad grimaced in his disappointment. "Hm, I have an idea."

Without a slight care of the rest of the herd charging at them as the rest of his teammates readied their God Arcs, he turned to Phym. "Phym, this is the perfect time for you to have fun like being in a shooting gallery. How about you pick these critters off as support like your mommy does?"

"Creet-ers..?" Phym murmured.

"Another word for creatures," Jerad curved his lips. "Get your gun ready now. They're coming, and they ain't gonna wait."

"Okay," Phym shifted to assault gun. "Shooting gallery, yay!"

Then she started shooting.

"Somehow, I feel offended by that," Claire made a slight pout.

"Huh?" Jerad turned to her with disbelief. "What did I say..?"

"I can fight in close combat, too. You trained me for this reason," Claire winced.

"Uh, OK? True," Jerad plainly nodded.

"I'll show both of you," Claire ran off.

"Crap, what the hell is her deal..?" Jerad facepalmed. "OK, Phym. You know the drill. DON'T ever hit your mommy, and anyone else."

"Okay," Phym resumed her gatling gun-like stream of fire, mostly due to her superhuman strength withstanding her recoil.

"Fire in bursts..! I already taught you this," Jerad reminded her. "Two to three rounds per trigger. These are just small enemies. No need to tear them apart that much, and you're also wasting OP. You have to learn this as your second nature if you don't want to accidentally hit your uncle, your auntie, and more importantly, your mommy."

Then noticing an Ogretail only a few yards on their left that somehow managed to slip through the battlefield his friends are engaged in, Jerad raised his sniper gun in a flash, and shot its head off with just his left hand.

"From now on, no more Swiss cheesing Aragami until you learn to control your firing. Got it?" Jerad turned her as he lowered his gun. "Or at least until I tell you so."

"Okay, no fun anymore," Phym whined.

"It ain't fun if you run out of ammo all the time," Jerad refuted. "You like reloading?"

"Mm mm," Phym shook her head while hesitantly firing in bursts.

"That's right. You'd rather shoot than reload all day. Here, I'll show you. Let me borrow it," Jerad shifted his gun to spear before stabbing its spearhead down.

"Um," Phym reluctantly let her daddy take her God Arc, and watched him check its small screen.

"You only have a quarter left with just killing four," Jerad commented as he pulled an O-ampule out. "This is exactly what I'm talking about, Phym. Watch."

And he stabbed it in, and injected all of its contents inside before tossing it aside, and aimed her gun downrange. He aimed, and fired several bursts in quick succession, killing about six small Aragami. "This is your goal from now on. Shoot like I did."

"Okay," Phym more confidently nodded.

"And look at this, you still have about 80% left with the number I just killed," Jerad pointed at her gauge. "You get my point now, right? I can imagine you being more happy later on once you start seeing that you have more juice in this thing than you thought, and I'm honestly jealous of you, Phym. You assault gunners can both spray and pray, and precisely pick your targets at the same time. Best of both worlds. Don't waste it. Find fun in it."

"Okay," Phym nodded with a smile.

"I'll show you more," Jerad glanced back at the battlefield, and Frida caught his attention. Out there, he was watching her confronting a Chi-You alone, battering it left and right with her scythe behind Levin whom she is seemingly covering his back until both of its steel wings shattered. Then she swung her scythe down in a stretch, and subdued it to kneeling position before she retracted it, and he was able to see her acceleration trigger glow white before diagonally swinging upwards, slicing it in two by its torso.

"Ho ho, little re-, err I mean uh.., reaper girl is rockin' right now," Jerad could not help but laugh in pride at his former fresh student. "I hope she can do better than that later. So, the mediums also decided to come play with us. Maybe I'm going to…"

"Hound 1, look out! Medium Aragami behind you!" Amy suddenly cried. "Take eva-!"

"I got it…" Seemingly unsurprised by this, Jerad turned a sharp eye above him, and quickly shifted Phym's God Arc into melee before raising it straight up in a flash. A Kongou in mid-air gasped in its would-be prey's response, and landed its chest on the sharp edge of Phym's heavy moon. Phym also gasped at the sight.

Regardless, Jerad laughed at this. "How comical. You thought I wouldn't suspect something like that, did ya?"

He laughed again as he lowered Phym's God Arc, and shoved it back up, burying the Aragami deeper into its edge. "And how dare you interrupt my lessons for my Little Devil, hm?"


"Huurah!" Trista recently axed a Nemain down. "Where the hell is Jerad? Is he just gonna stand there with Phym all da-?"

She suddenly paused. "What the..?"

"Oh, what is it?" Shin just pulled his twin swords, and jumped off the shoulders of a dying Chi-You after climbing on it. "He's been having his little girl support firing for us, so…"

He froze. "Huh…"


"My punishment for you for such crime..," Jerad smirked. "Is death."

Then he shoved the Kongou up in mid air, and spun as the gravity started pulling it a few feet down. Once at the right height, he swung her God Arc, and sent it flying in two parts.

Wanting to stop his momentum due to its weight, Jerad gritted his teeth as he buried his heel on dirt, also worried that he might accidentally also cut Phym. "I can't believe how heavy this is!"

He stared at Phym. "Seriously..! How is a little one like you NOT flying off swinging this thing around? I almost did!"

And Phym made a teasing giggle. "Me, very strong, daddy!"

"Huh," Jerad furrowed his eyes before sighing, and planting her God Arc on the ground. "Here…"

"Yay!" Phym took her God Arc back. "Should we play together, daddy?"

"Yeah, lesson is over," Jerad pulled his spear up. "Let's go, but first let's find one to make us go on Burst together."

With a grunt, Hugo raised his sword for a Swift Slash, and ended a Barbarius. "Hoo! I still remember how hard these things used to be back then."

Then Misha giggled. "We've come this far now, huh?"

"Yeah," Hugo nodded with a smile. "I've remembered telling Hilda just a few months ago that we aren't just run-of-the-mill AGEs. I thought in some ways I was a bit too cocky, but well, after we killed our first Ash Aragami, and then a couple more, I ended up speaking too less of us now."

And they laughed together before they noticed another Barbarius charging at them, seemingly the last of all the medium Aragami.

"Well, I guess this one wants to prove me wrong, otherwise," Hugo held his long blade to the side, ready to strike. "Wanna test us?"

Then he suddenly saw his scarfed friend in dark clothing land on its back, and stabbed it which felt like a deja vu.

"This last one is mine, brother-in-law," Jerad grinned as he kept his spearhead in its back. "Just sit there."

And Hugo sighed. "Fine, go have your fun. Don't take too long, though."

Then the Barbarius finally managed to sweep him off its back, and Jerad simply flipped and landed on both feet. The Barbarius growled in rage, and charged at him. It raised its drill arm, and tried to slam him, but Jerad backflipped away. Next, it raised its drill arm's RPM before diving underground.

"Oh..?" Jerad simply stood there, watching the dust that was giving away its position come towards him, and with perfect timing, also in consideration of his lesson with Claire during their acceleration trigger field test, backflipped again right before Barbarius erupted from the Earth trying to hit him from below, missing him.

While both still in mid air, Jerad chuckled as he began thrusting his spear with Stardust Rain. His Burst Art connected to its chest, and he drove it hard back on the ground, sliding a few yards together. Jumping back to avoid danger, Jerad waited for his opponent to stand up, and to his surprise, it turned away from him and began running.

"Got scared of me, huh? Oh well..," Jerad shifted his spear to sniper gun, and shot the retreating Barbarius down, like shooting a fleeing game during hunting season.

"That's that," Zeke rested his blood soaked hammer on his shoulder. "By the way, the hell you've been doing just standing back there? You said you wanna have fun smashing Aragami with me, right?"

"Oh, yeah. Well, these small fries aren't worth my energy," Jerad shrugged. "So I decided to teach my Little Devil how not to waste ammo by being gung ho."

"Daddy, I shoot the rest of smallies like you told me," Phym smiled. "In small bursts, 'pow-pow-pow,' 'pow-pow-pow,' like that. Can I shoot rapid fire now?"

'AHHH!' From behind them, Lulu just happened to stab her glaive on the ground before cupping her cheeks..with hearts in her eyes. 'She's so cute saying it like that! Jerad, how could you be able to resist?!'

"Not yet, Phym," Jerad shook his head. "You'll have to show me more that you're used to it. This is very important, you know?"

"Aww," Phym dejectedly murmured.

"But you're still getting a new bag of candy after this, OK?" Jerad patted her head.

"Yay! Okay!" Phym jumped a few times with joy.

"I'll buy it for her, this time," Claire smiled. "Please save your money."

"Uh..OK," Jerad plainly nodded.

"Hey, did I just see you kill that thing with Phym's God Arc?" Trista furrowed her eyes.

"Uh, yeah," Jerad paused. "I can't believe how heavy those things are. How are you not throwing yourselves around swinging them like that, and also not break your backs?"

"Hah, I already showed you guys, did I?" Trista grinned. "All you need is more ab workouts."

"As if I don't have one," Jerad pulled the bottom of his shirt up, and showed his abdomen. "I have them, too. What's your deal?"

And seeing this, Claire nervously swallowed.

"How about your back muscles, hm?" Trista leered at him. "And then your muscle memories in swinging these giants, and having your legs move to support their momentum, which is why you almost threw yourself around swinging your baby girl's. Your legs just weren't used to it yet. You can't just brain these things, and you gotta practice them..quite a lot, too. I've been swinging mine for YEARS!"

"OK, point made," Jerad plainly said.

And Phym giggled. "See? Big sister, and I have strong backs."

Then Trista laughed. "That's right. This girl also knows best."

And she patted her head.

Then Zeke chuckled. "With my poled rocket anvil here, you think I can be good at swinging yours?"

"I don't know about that," Trista replied. "But you'll definitely have it easier."

"Maybe I could try one of the dummy ones," Zeke grinned.

"Let's head back now," Hugo turned to their ship which could still be seen far away from them in the plain field. "We have a time limit in this mission, aaand I would rather not spend the night looking for the Crimson Queen. I mean, you guys agree with this, right?"

"Definitely," Claire walked up to them. "Aragami are known to be more aggressive, and some even more cunning at night. I'd say we try to make a bit more haste."

"I agree with my cousin," Levin spoke up. "I would prefer not to Engage Aragami at night, and avoid this scenario as much as possible."

"Heh, not like me and Shin would care," Trista grinned at him as they started walking back to their trailers. "We fought both day, and night back in Chrysanthemum if a mission asks for it, and then look at Shin here who likes hiding in the dark."

"With his white outfit?" Zeke chuckled.

"I've said it already it's meant for the Frozen Plants where most of our exterminations happen," Shin closed his eyes. "And if anything, yes, I would have chose a dark one..like Jerad's."

"Wow, I'm gonna be a ninja, too?" Jerad grinned.

"You..could, actually," Shin raised his eyes. "You're already quick on your feet even with your spear."

"Nah, save that for your little girl like you said earlier," Jerad chuckled. "Your kuno-itchy daughter, or something?"

'Children, huh..?' Misha quietly frowned.

"Yes, you got the word right," Shin closed his eyes with a smile.

"Whoa, Shin! You actually said that?" Trista grinned.

"Y-yeah, I did. So..?" Shin awkwardly shrugged.

"Oooh, Shin's actually gonna pass his ninja antiques to his future baby girl?" Trista teasingly grinned. "How adorable…"

"T-that's what parents do, you know?" Shin glared at her. "It's only natural."

"Yeah, I get ya," Trista shrugged. "To play fair, I did say before that no kid of mine is gonna grow up weak. But what is that again? Coo-no-itchy?"

"Yes, it's just simply a female ninja," Shin plainly replied.

"Ugh, I swear, your language is weird, and hard to say," Trista facepalmed. "Like what that noodle old man keeps calling me. Jun, right? What the hell does 'okami kanojo' mean, dammit? Stop dodging the question this time!"

"Haw, look at her. So much for saying how hard Far East words are," Jerad chuckled.

"Because he kept calling me that every time we ate in his ramen shop," Trista explained. "As if watching Bugarally with you guys helped me that much, but that old man just beat it into my head."

Then she turned back to Shin. "Now tell me what that means! No more dodging!"

"It means Wolf..Girl," Shin hesitantly replied. "Okami is Wolf, and kanojo means Girl."

And Trista paused for a few seconds. "With that look you're giving me..I'm not convinced."

"OK, then suit yourself," Shin shrugged.

"So, are you two done family planning together?" Levin grinned.

"Ooh..!" Jerad cooed before breaking out a laugh with Zeke.

"Levin..are you asking for a future deathmatch..?" Trista grimaced.

"No thank you, madam," Levin paused with a smile. "I don't believe I am ready to challenge you yet."

"Good. Don't cross me, then," Trista crossed her neck with her index finger.

Meanwhile, Frida gave Trista an unnoticed cold stare. 'You'll have to get through me first. I still owe you a good match…'

Then Levin felt a light tug from his side.

"Hey, good one," Jerad made a quiet snicker. "I thought I was the only one."

"I figured I should try a bit of humor," Levin whispered back. "You are all starting to grow on me, aand I could start getting used to this."

"Hey, are you alright?"

Misha suddenly felt a heavy, yet gentle hand on her shoulder, and she turned to see it was Hugo.

"You looked glum for a bit. What's wrong?" He followed.

"U-um, nothing," Misha shook her head. "I'm OK."

"You sure, sis?" Jerad suddenly spoke. "I mean, we're having a little fun out here. I'm already anxious to kill some more."

"Thanks, brother. But I'm fine, really," Misha closed her eyes. "Let's just..get in our trucks."

Then one hour later, they arrived back in Ash Crawler Chrysathemum's hangar, and they felt the ship rumble, a sign that they are underway again.

"So, what you guys wanna do in the meantime? Poker again after debrief on the bridge?" Hugo picked up his God Arc suitcase.

"Yeah, sounds good," Zeke shrugged.


In the ashlands.

"OK, this is our third now," Sarah peeked through her binoculars before her brother finally detonated the three explosives set by Lucia as per her commander's instruction, and the landscape crumbled into the ground. Even more clever on her part to order Lucia to plant one under a small archway that caused a domino effect of the landslide. "Myyy, look at that. Everything almost worked as I intended. Such a work of art."

"But, ma'am. Don't you think there's a little bit of room on the right corner?" Carol pointed at it.

"Heh, yeah. That rubble would be too easy for me to ride over with my bike," Leon smiled.

"But that's the point, dear brother," Sarah smiled at him. "This is our third demo site, remember? Also likely the third one Ash Crawler Chrysanthemum will take after being completely blocked by the first two demolition sites we did, and by then, they will start getting suspicious, but that's exactly what I want them to think. With that, I want to give them a bit of room to investigate, so from here, don't worry about leaving no evidence. Heh!"

And Leon chuckled. "I could add a little burn out track here before leaving, if you want, sister."

Then Sarah also chuckled back. "Please do..as long as you won't get a flat tire for it."

Meanwhile, the other four are exterminating Aragami, both small and medium sizes, who are attracted to their explosions. Feng brought down the last medium Aragami alone, a Chi-You, with a graceful spinning swipe of his Gem Sword: Zhaojun EX before ending his posture with his left index and middle finger holding up, and his sword being held up by his right hand.

"Ooh, I would never get tired of watching Captain Long fight," Sarah commented. "He always fights with extreme finesse and grace, dancing on the battlefield with his sword, and flying so beautifully with his jumps. The Flying Dragon, indeed."

"It's the nature of wushu," Carol smiled.

"Ah, yes. Even I've already taken an interest in kenjutsu," Sarah chuckled.

"An ancient Japanese martial art?" Carol suddenly turned to her.

"Yes, being a two handed sword wielder myself, I figured its way of the katana would suit me nicely," Sarah replied. "I was never a fencer type..It's just not my style."

"I see, but there are also western martial arts for using two handed swords," Carol suggested. "I generally think they are easier, so have you considered those alternatives?"

"I've already looked into them, but I prefer the more finesse style of the eastern ones..like Feng does," Sarah explained. "And no offense to Commander Brandt, but I would rather try conserving my energy than use brute force in everything. Lethal quick strikes with precision is what I aim for."

"Understood, ma'am," Carol nodded.


"Mmah ha ha ha ha..! How foolish of you all to test me with my lance," Sonia raised her head with her hand just hovering above her chest after finishing a Kongou with a powerful spear thrust, and there were also many Aragami corpses already littered around her. "But be honored to have been slain with grace by my most powerful Burst Art, the Spear Requiem. I, 2nd Regiment Vice Captain Sonia Jung, have carried out your execution. Hha ha ha..!"

"Red 1, all Aragami are eliminated," Jaffar finally reported.

"Good, let's leave now. We still have two more demolition sites to do," Sarah held her earpiece. "All units, regroup. Reminder that once we are finished, we are to find a safe cave big enough to park our vehicles, and hide from resonance radars. Then from now on, we'll monitor Chrysanthemum's movements with Berry 1's assistance, and at that point, be ready for anything."

"Roger, Red 1," All four of them, including Lisette acknowledged.

"We're barely ahead of schedule right now, and we have to keep it this way, nothing less for Red 3's sake," Sarah noted. "Berry 1, inform us immediately of Ash Crawler Chrysanthemum's presence in our resonance radar."

"Roger, Red 1," Lisette acknowledged.


"So, how was field work?" Hilda smiled.

"Not too bad," Hugo waved his hand. "I had a bit of fun, actually."

"Even had more time to teach Phym some new stuff," Jerad added.

"Yeah, daddy wanted to teach me to..," Phym assumed a gatling gun posture. "Pow-pow-pow..! Pow-pow-pow..! Like that so I save ammo."

Then everyone laughed, and in the meantime, Lulu turned away.

'Aaaaah! So cute! Phym please stop..!' Lulu impulsively cupped her cheeks. 'There's only so much I can..!'

Hilda chuckled. "I see. Fatherhood finally grew into you, huh?"

"Uh, yeah," Jerad glanced to his side.

"You're doing fine as you are," Hilda smiled. "Just keep it up."

"Come on, buddy. Give yourself a little more credit," Hugo placed his arms over his shoulders. "Nothing wrong being proud of honest compliments."

"Heh, yeah," Jerad smiled.

"Ma'am..?" Amy suddenly murmured. "Please look at our resonance radar…"

"Hm?" Hilda turned to Amy with shock before glancing at their radar.

"There seems to be a..blockage in our current route," Amy explained.

"What..? If something happened there, Gleipnir would have known, and broadcasted that to all caravans nearby as a navigation hazard," Hilda furrowed her eyes. "It must have recently happened. A landslide, perhaps?"

"Would you want us to investigate?" Hugo stood beside her.

"Not necessary, Hugo," Hilda murmured. "We'll just take another route. The ash out here is a bit thick right now, and I don't want you to take unnecessary risks. Amy, reduce ship's speed to 10 knots, and we'll decide our next course. It's a good thing you saw this 90 miles away so we won't have to completely halt our ship."

"Aye, ma'am," Amy pressed a few buttons. "Ship decreasing speed to 10 knots."

"Aye?" Zeke scratched his head.

Then Amy giggled. "It's..an old way of expressing acknowledgement in mariner vessels."

"Ah, alright," Zeke grinned.

"So, let's decide our next route," Hilda turned back on the resonance radar. "Hm, maybe we can go a bit further east. I did look up the chart myself earlier, and there should be four other alternative routes, though this will take us on a longer route to our mission area."

Then Jerad sighed.

"Amy, shift course to 080, and return to cruising speed," Hilda ordered.

"Aye, ma'am," Amy pressed a few buttons, and the crew felt a gravity shift from their ship's turn.

"Whoa..!" Misha took a few side steps to avoid falling down.

And Hilda giggled. "Still haven't had your sea legs yet?"

"Sea legs..?" Misha blinked her eyes.

"A terminology for sailors having their legs used to their ships rocking with the sea," Hilda smiled.

Then Levin suddenly laughed. "I have not heard that for ages."

And Hilda smiled at him with anticipation.

"I've been used to it being in our ships," Levin continued. "I'll just say, my aunt tends to be..quite extreme with our ships' movements. Making abrupt sharp turns on occasion, and it's almost like..she also enjoys it."

"I remember a few of those..," Frida curved her lips.

Then Hilda laughed. "I see. I'm guessing she hasn't changed much from the stories whom…a once close friend of mine told me. I'm not a God Eater, so I never saw it firsthand. She's quite a crazy driver from what I've heard."

"I..see," Levin chuckled.

Then they spent another hour on the bridge talking about some of Sofia's humorous deeds in her career.

"Are you kidding..?" Amy raised her eyes. "Ma'am, this route is also blocked in."

"What?!" Hilda suddenly turned to her. "Amy, slow ship down to 10 knots. I'd like to take a closer look at this with our resonance radar."

"Yes, ma'am," Amy pressed a few buttons. "Ship is slowing to 10 knots."

"Alright, I want a close look at that. Amy, zoom the radar to that site," Hilda furrowed her eyes. "Are you serious? Another ruined ravine route?"

"Could it be that an Ash Storm probably happened around these areas?" Hugo asked.

"Hmm, that's a solid possibility," Hilda murmured. "Depending on their severity, they can affect landscapes, more so routes. They have taken out beacons before, too."

Then she turned to her operator. "Amy, turn to bearing 090, and maintain cruising speed after."

"Yes, ma'am," Amy nodded.

Then another hour later.

"You've got to be kidding me," Hilda grimaced at the resonance radar. "That's a 3rd route having a blockage?"

"Hilda, I think this is starting to warrant an investigation," Hugo replied. "With your approval, should we go out there, and check it out?"

"Yes, definitely," Hilda nodded.

"Then once we're close enough, we'll board our trailers, and take off," Hugo continued.

"No, that is not necessary," Hilda objected. "The ash is too thick out there right now, and I don't want to needlessly expose you to it. I'd rather we bring our ship to the site itself where you can just get to the area itself within walking distance."

"Alright," Hugo nodded.

"I'll come with them, if you don't mind, ma'am," Ricardo suddenly spoke from his station.

"Ricardo?" Hilda turned to him. "But the ash…it's."

"I'll be fine, ma'am. As long as I get a full bias factor fill before taking off," Ricardo chuckled. "Plus, playing detective is one of my highlights so I figured I might as well come with them."

"Alright, then," Hilda nodded. "But please be careful. I'm starting to have a bad feeling about this…"

And two hours passed.

"Ma'am, we are right by the blockage site," Amy reported. "Should we deploy?"

"Yes, please be careful out there," Hilda nodded.

"Yep, I'm all ready to go," Ricardo swung his right arm after coming from the Medical Ward to refill his armlet. "I bet you kids already missed me being in the field, huh?"

Then Hugo chuckled. "Yeah, we definitely did."

"Well, let's get this little adventure started," Ricardo grinned. "It's also almost sunset, and no point chekin' stuff around when it's dark."

"Yes, I don't want any of you to be stuck out there at night," Hilda added. "Check around the area, but be also quick about it."

"Roger that," Ricardo nodded. "Boys, and girls, let's grab our God Arcs, and go to the hangar bay. We'll walk from there. Amy, open it at my signal."

"Understood, Ricardo," Amy nodded.


Just outside their ship, everyone walked out of their trailer hangar, and began walking along the ship's portside. Zeke stared at their ship with awe, particularly their giant tires. They truly tower over the human height, and pondered how today's engineers could make such giant moving machines. As if he wondered about this, he could only imagine how Keith would feel, glancing at him, and found that he is staring at their behemoth with more detail. Zeke chuckled at this, imagining the idea that if they weren't out in the field, his brother would have spent all day crawling around the exterior of their vessel, filling his notepad with his pen.

"What's so funny, Zeke..?" Keith stared at him with suspicion.

"Nah, I just thought that if you're in Port right now, you'd be spending all day crawling around the ship like some house lizard, and taking notes," Zeke laughed. "Tell me I'm not wrong."

"...Yeah, you're not," Keith laughed. "I've actually already planned for it, and I can't wait."

Then Zeke chuckled as he put his arm around his brother's neck. "You're doing great, bro. It's nice that you have a smart brain that I don't have."

And he knocked on his brother's left forehead.

"Hey, knock it off," Keith swatted his brother's hand. "But unlike me, you're a natural warrior."

"Heh, that was something Neal told me a long time ago," Zeke frowned before forcing a smile. "But hey, I can make a warrior out of you, too. The hell you think I've been working your ass off for?"

"Mm," Keith looked away.

"I'll make you a Mad Slashing Keith before you know it. Got that?" Zeke snickered.

Though, unbeknownst to them, Lulu behind them has been listening, and tried to hold her laugh.

"Yeah, I'll do my best," Keith murmured.

"Huh, this rubble is definitely huge," Ricardo stared up at the site. "It's almost like a dam."

"Hilda, and I thought these were caused by an Ash Storm earlier," Hugo added. "At least for the first two routes we saw this."

"Yeah, that's true, but nothing like this," Ricardo held his chin. "Especially for a ravine wide enough for an ash crawler to fit through. An Ash Storm would not cause this much landscape destruction unless it's an ash tempest."

"Ash tempest?!" Zeke froze. "There is one?"

"Oh yeah, it happens, but much more rarely," Ricardo nodded.

Then Jerad saw Phym sniff a few times before walking closer to the rubble and sniffing again. "Phym..?"

"Phym, please don't come too close, and more importantly don't touch anything!" Claire warned. "That rubble might still be unstable, and could cause another landslide!"

"I smell..gunpowder," Phym sniffed a few times with her eyes closed. "And…people?"

"What..?" Hugo froze. "Amy, are you listening to this?"

"Yes, we are," Hilda replied instead. "This is starting to confirm my suspicion more."

"Suspicion..?" Hugo murmured.

"That this might have been done by someone," Hilda replied. "I've been thinking it was a bit too strange having our first two possible routes blocked off like that, and that someone might be behind it."

"So, does that mean that the Crimson Queen might be aware that we're sniffing them out?" Hugo asked.

"That, I cannot be certain yet," Hilda murmured. "But it is a possibility. Have you seen any evidence of Phym's claim yet?"

"We haven't checked yet," Ricardo replied. "But I don't think we'll find anything on this side, however…"

He glanced at the most shallow part of the rubble. "We can climb a bit over, and check the other side. If someone did do this, then we might see something there."

"Huh, now I'm thrilled to go to the other side," Shin added.

"Wait, but like I warned earlier, this rubble might still be unstable," Claire protested.

"Then this is where I come, and play," Shin turned to her. "I'm not climbing on the rubble, but rather I could easily climb on those rocky walls, and be on the other side. Easy."

"Then do your ninja thing," Trista waved her hand.

"Hey, be careful still, alright?" Ricardo nodded.

"I got this," Shin already stretched his arms, and legs. "Here I go. Huah!"

He leapt onto a wall, and stabbed one of his swords in before running straight up to the surface.

"Damn..," Jerad blinked his eyes.

After landing on top, Shin glanced around to make sure there are no Aragami nearby before running past the rubble site, and then jumping down past it. After running only a few yards, his eyes widened. "What the hell..? Guys, you have to see this!"

"Huh?" Hugo, and Ricardo glanced at each other.

"Don't worry about Aragami. I looked around already," Shin added. "Just get here. Now!"

"OK, then," Ricardo nodded before walking towards the shallow part of the rubble. "Let me at least see first if these rocks are solid before going. You guys, and gals stay back in case more of these fall apart."

"Right," Hugo and everyone took several steps back.

Once they were at a safe distance, Ricardo poked several rocks with his scythe before taking a few steps up. He repeated this process several times until he was at the summit. "It looks fine for the most part. Just follow my route, but still, watch your every step. I'm coming down to check."

"Got it," Hugo nodded. "I'm going up first."

"Heh, does this remind us of something?" Zeke smirked.

"Zeke…shut up," Jerad grimaced before Misha laughed as they began climbing after Hugo.

"Hm? Did I miss something..?" Levin made a slight smile.

"Yeah, your cousin tripped, and fell on top of..," Zeke tried to hold his laugh.

"Zeke!" Both Jerad, and Claire cried.

But Zeke nevertheless laughed. "Still wish I got my camera for that. Would have been picture perfect."

"Hah, gonna be the hottest picture you could take," Trista grinned.

Then once on the other side…

"Huh," Ricardo stood beside Shin, who was sitting down. "Tire tracks."

"And this one, what the hell is this?" Shin placed his finger on a small dug up ground. "These are definitely tire tracks, but too small for a trailer's width. It's even about an eighth of its size, and there are two of them."

Then Ricardo walked over a few steps to Shin, and sat down to examine it. "Whoa, that's really interesting. I haven't seen these for almost a decade."

"Hm?" Shin turned to him.

"Motorcycles," Ricardo replied. "Offroad types, or dirt bikes. I used to see a few of them being ridden around Fenrir HQ residence areas, and a few satellite bases I've been to. I didn't know they were still being ridden around."

Then he also stuck his finger on the dug up track, and chuckled. "Whoever did this must be having a lot of fun before they took off."

"Motor..cycles? What's that?" Jerad raised his eyes.

"Heh, think of them best as bicycles with engines in them," Ricardo explained. "People used to call them death machines because of how dangerous they are, but some still rode them for the thrill and fun of it."

Then Jerad chuckled. "Thrill, and fun? I like it."

"Hey, if you're lucky, you might find an abandoned one in some ruined city that probably still works," Ricardo smiled. "And if you do, bring it home to our Port. Daris would get ecstatic if you brought one or two of those."

"Hm?" Jerad raised his eyes.

"He told me he used to ride one himself before this ash thing happened," Ricardo chuckled.

"Well, if I find one, that thing is mine," Jerad grinned.

"Aw, don't be stingy. I'm pretty sure he just wants to see it," Ricardo laughed. "I don't think he'll get into it again..especially after having a wife, and kid. He's probably grown past that, but hey, it might be in your best interest to share it with him, anyway. He's a bit of a mechanic himself, and also told me he used to work on his own bike."

"A two wheeled motorized vehicle, huh?" Keith held his chin. "That will be an interesting one to see."

"Perfect, because dirt bikes are single cylinder engines," Ricardo noted. "Smaller than trailers, which makes them easy to work on."

Then he turned back on the tire tracks. "Anyway, let's go back to work."

"Yeah, I found some more here," Hugo held up a small object. "Casings laying around just several yards away from here."

"Those look like they came from God Arcs," Jerad commented.

"Custom bullets," Shin and Jerad nodded at each other.

"I still smell people here, mommy," Phym turned to Claire. "And they're strong, and they're kinda different each..smell?"

"Yep, there were definitely quite a lot of people here. Look at this, even," Hugo pointed at the area. "There's still some dried blood stains in there. Definitely some Aragami skirmish which means..these people were God Eaters here to say the least."

"I hear you, Hugo," Hilda suddenly said. "It's definitely possible that the Crimson Queen might be aware of our presence here, and are already attempting to sabotage us."

"Sabotage us? Hm," Levin held his chin.

"What's up?" Hugo murmured.

"Remember what our aunt told us about the Crimson Queen during our dinner together?" Levin turned to him. "That they have an elite division who specialize in intelligence, and guerilla warfare?"

"Yeah," Jerad nodded. "So…"

"Think about it, this might be no longer a surprise to us, if that's our lead," Levin murmured. "And if anything, these sabotages are telling us to turn back. It was even surprising they haven't attacked us yet when they could have. They are truly notorious for their caravan raids."

"Right," Jerad plainly murmured.

"And should we continue on with this, then we must prepare to cross God Arcs with them," Levin furrowed his eyes. "A bloodshed might be imminent. Their message was already clear enough."

"So, what do you want to do, Hilda?" Hugo held his earpiece.

"I would say continue on with our investigation," Hilda replied. "Even for a bit longer."

"Insane..," Jerad snickered. "Our enemy already knows what we're up to, and this traitorous asshole might have been already long gone knowing that we're out to get him."

"But think about it for a second, friend," Levin smiled. "This…Gleipnir traitor is likely aware of our knowledge of his treasonous schemes, and I am certain he wants to bury us along with it so we will not live to expose him. It is a good chance that regardless of whether we abort this mission or continue, we are still in danger of him, and that he will eventually attack us. With this in consideration, I believe it would be best that we maintain our pursuit."

"Heh, kill or be killed, huh?" Jerad smiled. "Fine, you got a point."

"Levin is right, Jerad," Hilda added. "At this point, I no longer think we have any choice but to continue this to the very end. Thank you for understanding."

"Right," Jerad murmured.

"All Hounds, return to base," Hilda ordered. "You have uncovered enough, and it is almost dark. Amy found a new route to go to, and you barely have enough time for dinner. Do not waste a single second."

"Understood, ma'am," Ricardo held his earpiece. "We are returning home."

And inside their ash crawler, Hilda was relieved by Levin's reasoning since she has been having trouble trying to come up with a reason to continue their operation, and it was likely thanks to his awareness of their true mission as bait for Inukai, and perhaps his military knowledge that he was able to convince crew to continue.

If only a little more…


One hour later.

"Red 1, explosive planting is complete," Lucia reported.

"Very good, come down Red 3," Sarah replied. "Berry 1, begin decrypting Dr. Inukai's radio frequency using the crypto I gave you this morning, and I would like to intercept whatever transmission that might come between him, and Chrysanthemum. I want to hear everything while we wait for them to possibly pass here…before I drop this huge rock on them."

"Understood, Red 1," Lisette acknowledged. "Executing decrypting procedure now."

"Good work, Berry 1," Carol held her earpiece. "At this point, secure any personnel interference in your station in 15 minutes. Have off duty personnel get whatever you need before that: food, coffee, whatever will keep you awake."

"Roger, Cardinal 1," Lisette acknowledged again.

"Lucia is back. Let's find a nearby cave, and hide from here," Sarah turned to them. "Carol, get that radio box ready in our trailer once we do."

"Yes, ma'am," Carol nodded.

Then 30 minutes later after traversing a few rough terrain, they finally found a cave to hide in.

"Um, Cardinal 1, can you hear me..?" Lisette suddenly transmitted.

"What is it..?" Carol stopped plugging connections to their radio box. "You sound nervous. Report."

"Our resonance radar picked up Dr. Inukai's ship entering your area," Lisette reported. "Distance from your position: 40 miles."

"What?" Sarah suddenly froze. "Berry 1, report decryption progress!"

"Ninety-percent, Red 1," Lisette replied.

"Ugh! That one needs to go faster!" Sarah gritted her teeth. "Berry 1, report completion to me immediately, and send us that radio frequency. Is that clear?"

"Roger, Red 1," Lisette acknowledged.

"Should me, and Sonia stand lookout in the meantime?" Neal grabbed his scythe in anticipation.

"Yes, but don't get too close to the cave entrance," Sarah turned to him. "Stay away 15 feet to avoid resonance radar detection from both ships, and more importantly avoid Aragami attention."

"Roger," Neal nodded.


Another hour later on the bridge.

"Hm, we finally found a route that isn't blocked off for once," Hilda murmured. 'But I wonder why, if their motive is to prevent us from finding them.'

"Should we set course to it?" Amy also murmured.

"Yes, proceed with caution," Hilda replied. "Also as a first measure, maintain speed at 10 knots."

"Roger, ma'am," Amy nodded.

"You didn't eat with us this time," Hugo noted. "Are you sure you'll be fine with this?"

"I'll be fine. I'll just eat later," Hilda turned to him. "Plus all this anxiety is killing my appetite, but I suppose I could use a little snack for us."

"Heh, here's Keith's first job as an errand boy," Jerad snickered. "Here's my FC card. Go get 'em."

"Jerad, that is not necessary," Hilda shook her head. "It's on the house, and I was going to have Keith inform Faith about that."

"Well..," Jerad sighed. "I damaged one of your guardrails earlier, so I figured I should start..paying for it. Well… I'll also cover the repair damage itself once we return to Port."

"I see. So, that's what happened to it," Hilda murmured before closing her eyes for a few seconds. "That's fine…You do not have to worry about it."

Then Jerad paused.

"I know this whole mission has been stressful for you, so I take some responsibility for it," Hilda murmured. "However, I have a better idea for your finances, if you want to insist on atoning. How about…you use what you earned in this Reclamation to send Phym to school once we return? Tuition, and her school supplies."

"Huh," Jerad blinked his eyes with surprise. "That…"

"It definitely won't be a bad idea to send Phym to school, don't you think?" Hilda smiled. "She's a very brilliant girl, and it will also allow her to learn to socialize with other children her age."

"I'm not against it, at all," Jerad tried to shake his shocked feelings off. "It's just that…I never thought of it."

"Daddy? Does that mean I get to learn lots more, and um…talk to more kids?" Phym beamed.

"Yeah, you might even make some kid friends," Jerad smiled.

"It would be a good experience for you, Phym," Claire also smiled.

"Yay! I wanna go to school now," Phym cheered.

"Hey, school isn't just about playing with other kids, OK?" Jerad raised his index finger. "It's also work, so you better learn their stuff, too. I'll be checking your homework every day to make sure you did them, and no playing until they're done on weekdays. Got it?"

"Okay," Phym nodded with a smile.

Then Hilda chuckled. "Setting the rules already, huh?"

Seeing this, however, Claire frowned.

"You alright..?" Jerad suddenly asked.

And Claire almost gasped. "...I'm fine."

"I'm so excited, mommy," Phym latched onto her. "I get to learn lots more, and make more friends!"

"Yeah," Claire forced a giggle.

Jerad, however, continued watching her. He has been seeing Claire's occasional glooms at times, and thinking back on this, it was always about their plans once they return to Chrysanthemum…Then his eyes slowly raised,

"Once we're there, my job will be done."

"Your job, mommy?"

"Yeah, it's almost over."

Turning away now, he has no idea how to feel about this. Part of him feels dread while the other part of him tells him that it should not matter since…he will not have a future with her, anyway. They are too different…

"Daddy, daddy!"

Jerad jumped from Phym's sudden grasp of his hand. "Once we get back, let's buy school stuff together with mommy, OK?"

"...Yeah," Jerad forced a chuckle while patting her head. "We will…"

"Ma'am, we have a problem," Amy suddenly spoke while still staring at her screen.

"What is it, Amy?" Hilda walked to her console.

"I've detected an Aragami density in our route," Amy reported. "Distance from our position is 10 miles. Aragami identified as one Fallen False Idol, and a number of Cocoon Maidens in the area."

"Such pests..," Jerad grimaced. "And god help my ears. I still remember killing one of those loud singing bastards."

And behind him, Claire closed her eyes, and curved her lips.

"I agree, I fought one of these before," Levin chuckled. "They are indeed ear piercingly loud."

"Tch! Just when things got a bit better for us," Hugo complained. "Hilda, we are getting rid of them."

"As much as I hate to send you out there with this thicker ash in the dark of the night, but a swarm of cocoon maidens could pose a threat to any caravan, especially with our ship with paper thin armor, and could also fire from a long distance," Hilda murmured. "But yes, deploy to exterminate them, and make it quick."

"Understood," Hugo nodded.

"I'm going with you guys again," Ricardo leaned forward from a guardrail near one of the terminals. "Gotta help the two girls sweep them off with their scythes. Plus, with this rough terrain, it's really dangerous out there."

"Agreed," Hilda nodded. "Please be careful. Amy, slow our vessel to a stop. This place is perfect for deployment."

"Right away, ma'am," Amy nodded.

Then the whole combat crew hustled out of the bridge to pick up their God Arcs, and head to the hangar bay. As soon as they arrived there, Ricardo radioed Amy to open the hangar bay door as they quickly boarded two trailers, and drove out of the ship as soon as the door opened high enough for their vehicles to pass.

20 minutes later.

"Damn these things," Jerad took cover behind Zeke's tower shield while being pelted by many stationary small Aragami. "I'll blast these bastards one by one. Hold on, Zeke!"

"I can still hold longer than this!" Zeke grunted. "I lifted weights for a reason! Blow them to bits!"

Then Jerad popped out of his cover, and began firing his sniper gun, blowing three apart with his high caliber round from where they stood, and when he aimed at his fourth target, it suddenly burrowed itself.

"Fuck..," Jerad hid behind Zeke again. "Those things just want to keep playing whac-a-mole, don't they?"

Then he heard some rumble on their right flank, and saw a few cocoon maidens pop up. "Shit! Watch your right flank!"

"Huh?" Distracted by Jerad's warning, Zeke turned to his side, and saw him deploy his shield.

"I had enough of this bullshit," Jerad held his shield against their spams as he watched their four assault gunners struggling to fire back only to quickly get suppressed by their barrages.

"Tch! I can't even fire long enough to have my beam build up," Trista complained who was hiding behind Claire and Phym.

"Lulu, Shin, here are my spread bombs!" Jerad used one hand to throw a few custom rounds at them, who was hiding behind Ricardo. "Burn the whole place to the ground!"

"Got it," Lulu carefully loaded her sniper gun with his rounds.

"Do it faster! I got you covered!" Jerad cried.

"Sniper guns loaded," Shin, and Lulu aimed their guns up while also flinching from their enemies' near hits. "Fire!"

Then the two fired their guns, and their pair of bullets arched before spreading into small shiny bomblets, blanketing the area with explosions, and incinerating most of the cocoon maidens in the area.

"Misha, Frida, let's go while they're still confused!" Ricardo retracted his tower shield. "Swipe them before they retaliate!"

"On it!" Misha stood up, and began charging.

"Following!" Frida also stood up, and followed.

Ahead of Ricardo, the two girls already began swiping the rest of the cocoon maidens before he also began sweeping them.

"Let's go!" Trista stood up. "Kill them all!"

Then she charged with her heavy moon raised, and began cleaving any cocoon maidens in her way.

After Ricardo sliced the last one. "Hoo! That was a real pain."

Then he wiped off a sweat. "I could use a good shower for this."

But shortly after, they heard a vibrato singing.

"Warning! Medium Aragami has entered the area!" Amy warned. "It's the Fallen False Idol!"

Then they saw the floating Aragami reveal itself from one of the cliffs, and hovered down.

"Ground that fucker!" Jerad cried. "So I could kill it with my anti-armor Burst Art!"


"Heh, so these filthy stray dogs have finally fallen into my brilliant trap," Inukai grinned while staring at his resonance radar screen. "Even better that they had to fight Aragami on top of that. Did they honestly think I was having them investigate my customers? Hah! Just how stupid they can be? Maybe I should let them have their fun a bit, and once they let their guard down, they're going to be in my net of Ash Storms with a press of this button."

Then he held his remote control up. "Then I can coerce them into handing over that pathetic Specimen One so I can finally finish my business with Werner, or else they'll die…well, they'll die, anyway, like a bug trapped in a Venus Flytrap. Can't let them live to tell about my secret business."

And he laughed.

However, unaware of one of his guards watching behind him from the bridge exit. 'Young Master Levin, and Corporal Sinclair are inside that ship!'

He furrowed his eyes while squeezing his rifle's pistol grip. 'Governor-General..! When will you execute Phase 3? If anything happens to them…'


Once the Fallen False Idol fell, Jerad wasted no time clinging on it in Burst with his spear head charged.

"Shut up!" Jerad stabbed its head with Mocking the Gods, and it screamed its vibrato voice. "Shut up! Shut up..! And..!"

He repeatedly stabbed its face as he said these each time, and before his fourth strike, he charged his spear. "SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

He finished it with another Mocking the Gods, completely obliterating its head. "Fuck..! My ears are ringing again. Fucking goddammit!"

"No more Oracle responses detected!" Amy reported.

"Of course it is!" Jerad jumped away from its corpse. "I blew its head off. Stupid fuck!"

"H-huh?!" Amy gasped.

Then Jerad froze. "I-I don't mean you..! Jeez..!"

"Okay..," Amy murmured.

"Hey! Don't disrespect her like that!" Trista furrowed her eyes.

"I just said it's not her!" Jerad spat back. "Don't push it!"

And Trista laughed. "I was just kidding. I know not even you would dare cross her."

Then she laughed again.

"Everyone, since you are finished there now," Hilda spoke. "Return to base immediately, it's…"

Then the crew in the field suddenly felt wind starting to blow.

"A strong wind..at a place like this?" Frida murmured. "Ugh..! My skin..it feels…"

Then she started rubbing her arm.

"The ash..," Jerad worriedly raised his eyes as he watched Frida, and then Claire and Ricardo. "Is it..?"

"This is an emergency, everyone!" Amy cried. "Area ash density is rising! They're…Ash Storms! They are forming around our vicinity!"

"Ash Storms?! Are you kidding me?!" Zeke cried.

"All Hounds, board your trailers, and return to ship immediately!" Hilda cried. "Then we will retreat from this area!"

"No, there is no time for that!" Jerad cried while holding his earpiece, and running with everyone towards the direction of their trailers. He also remembered the time they avoided one in Pennywort. "Ma'am, recommend escaping to an elevated area of over 800 feet!"

"How can you be sure of this?" Amy argued.

"We did the same back in Pennywort!" Jerad argued. "Just do it, or you die. Now!"

"Amy, I just saw a nearby road heading uphill from our resonance radar," Hilda cried. "Override all warm up procedures, and set course to that road! I don't care what damage this vessel could have after. Get our ship moving!"

"Aye, ma'am," Amy acknowledged.

By the time Amy started their ship, in the field, Jerad, and Ricardo boarded their trucks with everyone hustling to board behind them.

"Zeke! Grab the chart, and find a road to a higher ground!" Jerad began starting his trailer as the black dust nears them. "ONLY with over 800 feet contour lines! Hurry up, or we'll be joining the ash!"

"Already on it, dammit!" Zeke slammed the glove compartment lid down, and pulled the chart. "Uhh, southeast! Head southeast, and drive on that road!"

"Is everyone in?!" Jerad turned to their back after his trailer finally started.

"All present, and accounted for!" Lulu cried. "Go, go!"

In the other trailer.

"Everyone in?!" Hugo turned back with a chart in hand.

"Everyone is present, and accounted for," Levin began bandaging his arm, which was starting to bleed from the corrosive effects of the high ash density.

"Alright, I'm putting the pedal to the metal!" Ricardo engaged his first gear. "Hang on there! Jerad will follow us, too!"

Then the two trailers roared, and sped to their escape with the limits of their engines.


Around the same time earlier…

"Ugh!"

Sitting near the cave entrance together as lookouts, Sonia, and Neal covered their faces from a sudden shockwave.

"What the hell was that..?" Neal finally uncovered himself before raising his eyes. "Was that a explo..?"

"That's..," Sonia's eyes widened in fear as she saw a swirling dark cloud forming near them, and increasing in size.

"An Ash Storm!" Lisette suddenly reported. "And…there are also several of them forming in a..large circle in your region..? No! You are within range of one of them! Evacuate now!"

"Crap!" Neal cried before running back to their comrades with Sonia behind him. "Sarah! Leon! An Ash Storm has formed outside, and it's only on the other side of that hill!"

He pointed in its direction. "We gotta move NOW!"

"Already on it!" Sarah, and Carol already began packing their radio equipment in the fastest they could, and placing them in their trailer. "Go, GO! Get in the trailer, and I'll get started!"

In the meantime, Leon, and Jaffar hopped on their motorcycles, and kickstarted it with a few strikes until it started.

"Sister, we are ready now!" Leon cried.

"Egress northeast to avoid the storm!" Lisette directed them.

"Roger! Moving out!" Sarah engaged in first gear. "Leon! Jaffar! Follow us closely! I'm going to floor this thing!"

"Understood!" Leon nodded before Sarah's trailer finally took off, and then he and Jaffar followed suit.

"Holy shit..!" Sarah glanced around at the black horizon, horrified by the amount of dark hurricanes surrounding them, and also remembering what triggering artificial Ash Storms meant…

"Inukaiii…" She gritted her teeth while also gripping her steering wheel as she continued driving northeast.


Inukai maniacally laughed. "This is so fun! Watching those Chrysanthemum dogs scramble as the Ash Storms I have set threatens to swallow them alive. At least those physically unable AGE rejects finally had their uses…"

Then he chuckled. "Now I have one more for them in that ring of storms, and regardless of whether they bow to my demands or not, that girl will be joining them in hell, too!"

And listening to this, that same guard behind him grimaced with disgust…


"Ricardo, go faster than that!" Jerad kept his steering wheel under control as they continued driving uphill on rocky terrain. "The fucking Ash Storm is still coming up behind us. If it catches us, we're done!"

"This is as fast as I can go, kid!" Ricardo spat back before making a right turn in a corner with Jerad closely following behind him. "If I drive any faster than this, then we'll either risk blowing up a tire, or lose control and crash! Then it's all over for us!"

"Fuck!" Jerad stared back in his frustration. "Are you three doing fine back there?!"

"We're fine, it's like having a bad rash so please don't worry about us," Levin held his bandaged arm as Claire and Frida just finished patching themselves.

"Attention all Hounds! Our vessel has finally reached 800 feet above!" Amy suddenly reported. "We are only 5 miles south of you. Egress south, and return to our vessel as soon as possible!"

"Roger! But until we get away from this..," Jerad stared at his side mirror to see the black storm still behind them.

"Just keep driving, buddy!" Hugo suddenly spoke. "We are at 750 feet! Keep up the speed, and don't look back!"

"Well, I'm at the mercy of your speed, dammit!" Jerad cried.

"Ricardo, left corner incoming!" Hugo pointed forward.

"I see it!" Ricardo shifted a gear down. "Get ready! Three..two..one!"

Then he turned his steering wheel to the left, and his trailer made a sharp turn, almost tipping it over due to the limit of their suspension.

"Hang in there!" Zeke turned back. "Hold on to something! NOW! DON'T FALL OFF!"

Then Jerad turned the steering wheel with all his might, and the trailer turned. In his fright, he could have sworn he felt his left wheels lift from the ground, and as soon as he passed the apex of the turn, he quickly steered to the other direction to reverse the momentum of his trailer, transferring its weight back to its left side, and regaining full traction.

"We're almost there!" Ricardo cried. "Here it is! Keep flooring!"

Then both drivers from different trailers bottomed their gas pedals as hard as they could, and Jerad could feel that he was already hovering his behind above his seat before they finally reached the summit. The two trailers jumped, and then landed on top of a plateau, skidding sideways with screeches until their trailers finally lost all momentum.

Leaning his head on his steering wheel for a few seconds, Jerad grunted as he raised his head, and turned his eyes on Zeke.

"Damn..I hit my head kinda hard," Zeke tipped over to his left, and held his head. "We're still alive..right?"

Then Jerad glanced at his side mirror, and sighed in relief that the black storm was no longer behind them. "Yeah…"

And he turned back. "Are you guys, OK?"

"Yes..," Claire sat up.

"That was scary..daddy," Phym whined.

"I know..," Jerad wiped a sweat off his temple. "But we're all driving for our lives here. Can you…do me a favor, Phym? Could you..heal them?"

"Hm?" Phym blinked her eyes.

"Like what you did to me once," Jerad smiled. "Please..?"

"Ah, okay," Phym quickly moved to Claire, and hovered her hands on Claire's bandaged arm. A green light began glowing.

"Huh..?" Levin wearily blinked his eyes. "Was this..?"

"Miracle girl..," Zeke turned back forward.

"Yeah," Jerad also turned forward, and sat back to recover.

"Hey, are you guys OK there?" Hugo suddenly spoke through the radio.

"Yeah, Phym is just healing the three behind us," Jerad wearily replied.

"Wait, what? What happened?!" Hugo alarmingly asked.

"They were getting eaten by the ash, and I told Phym to patch them," Jerad explained.

"Brother?! Is Claire, Levin, and Frida alright?" Misha exclaimed.

"They'll be fine," Jerad glanced back. "Phym was already done with Claire, and Levin, and she's patching Friday…Wait, how's Ricardo? Did the ash get him?!"

"I'm alright, kid," Ricardo chuckled. "I'm more resilient than this, and have gotten used to it since I used to travel…"

"Oh..," Jerad paused, partly perplexed about what Ricardo told him.

"Daddy?" Phym walked to the driver's area. "Everyone is OK now, including mommy."

"Thanks," Jerad patted her head. "Go buckle up. We're driving back to our ship."

"Okay..," Phym nodded.

"Hey guys, we're good here," Jerad tapped his earpiece. "Let's get out of here."

"Roger," Ricardo started his trailer, and Jerad followed suit.

"All Hounds, we'll be waiting for you," Amy murmured.

"And everyone, meet me in my office after you return," Hilda added. "Stow your God Arcs, and come here."

"Ooh, this sure sounded very important," Zeke sat back.

"Roger," Jerad calmly replied, and now able to think again, he felt blood in his veins start boiling. Nevertheless, he quietly continued driving, anxious to know what will happen next…


"Berry 1, do you copy?" Sarah tapped her earpiece while driving. "We are far from all the surrounding Ash Storms now. Do you see any cavern near us where we can safely hide?"

"With these Ash Storms, it is very difficult to maintain visual of your position right now, but I will do my best to analyze," Lisette replied.

"Do what you can," Sarah replied.

"...There is a small cave just about one mile southeast of you near a small plateau," Lisette followed after a few seconds.

"Good work. Visibility is currently poor due to wind and dust, so please let us know when to turn," Sarah glanced at her side mirror to make sure Leon, and Jaffar were still behind them.

"Roger, Red 1," Lisette acknowledged. "Also please be advised that in spite of the poor visibility of the resonance radar, I have been able to still detect many Aragami movements in the circle."

"Hmph..! Must be those driven crazy by these sudden deployment of Ash Storms," Sarah rubbed her nose.

"Hm, demolitions, and then a lot of Ash Storms," Carol murmured. "Who would have thought..?"

"I've been saying that things could get worse at any minute," Sarah grimaced. "But not even I was expecting this MUCH magnitude. That bastard is a real nutcase. What exactly was he really planning?"

"Um, Red 1?" Lisette suddenly spoke.

"What is it?" Sarah irritably responded.

"I greatly apologize due to what recently happened, but around the same time as the Ash Storms appeared, decryption is complete," Lisette answered. "Once again, I greatly apologize."

"That's OK. You picked your priorities right," Sarah replied. "Send us the frequency once we arrive at the next cave. I want to begin intercepting."

"Understood," Lisette acknowledged.

"I can see the cave ahead," Sarah pointed at its direction for Carol before holding her earpiece. "Red 2, Garnet 1, do you copy?"

"We hear you, Red 1," Jaffar replied.

"There is a cave ahead. I want you two to scout it before entry," Sarah said. "Red 3 will pass your God Arcs from the top of the trailer. Catch them, and go."

"Haha! That sounds kinda fun," Leon blipped his throttle. "Riding with God Arcs in our left hands. "Give 'em!"

Then without being told, Lucia climbed to the top of their trailer before Sonia passed Jaffar's Ammit Twin 0 to her from below, and then Lucia turned it into a glaive.

"Here!" Lucia threw his glaive, and Jaffar caught it

"Gotcha! Thanks," Jaffar swerved his bike to the right.

"Here you go, Leon," Lucia threw his Resheph Lance 0 to him.

"Nice throw!" Leon caught his spear. "Ready, Jaffar? Woo!"

He cranked his throttle wide, and his front wheel rose up, looking like a knight on a horse standing up tall with his spear up ready for battle, and then he let his front end down and sped up together. "Like playing joust!"

"Those idiots..," Sarah curved her lips before Carol chuckled.

In only a few minutes, Leon, and Jaffar stopped several yards from the cave entrance as a precaution before stopping their motorcycles, and putting their kickstands down, albeit quite awkwardly with their pole weapons in their left hands.

"Let's go," Jaffar pulled his glaive apart into twin blades before both of them switched to their gun modes.

They jogged for several yards into the cave entrance before they began their stealth walk, and lit their God Arc's front lights as they entered. After taking several steps, and scanning the interior with their lights for any Aragami inside, Leon suddenly heard a faint whimper. The two AGEs paused, now knowing that they are not alone inside the cave, and quietly glanced at each other before Leon tensed his arms, being closer to the noise's direction. Leon slowly began turning towards the direction of the sound with Jaffar behind him ready to act as his back up in case an Aragami in the dark lunges at him.

Once Leon finally turned his light on the direction of the sound itself, he made a light gasp.

"What in the hell..?" Both of them murmured as they saw a small ragged girl alone covering her face from being blinded by their light.

"What is an..?"

"Red 2, Garnet 1, what's your status?" Sarah called them. "Why haven't you finished scouting that cave yet? It's not that big, so it should not take long to clear!"

"Uhh, Red 1?" Leon murmured. "We found a little AGE girl inside a cave who seems to be around 8.., and her armlets are also linked together."

"What?" Sarah and Carol glanced at each other. "What's an AGE alone doing out here?"

"I don't know, sister," Leon replied. "But you've got to see this. Wait, holy shit! She has an armed Ash Storm generator in her armlet! It's blinking green!"

"Huh? Did Leon, and Jaffar just find an AGE girl in there?!" Neal suddenly slid the rear lid open from the back.

"Yeah, apparently," Sarah glanced back.

"How bizarre?" Carol commented. "An AGE girl alone with her armlets linked in a cave.., and armed with an Ash Storm generator..."

"Hm," Sarah furrowed. "Inukai…Chrysanthemum…Specimen One…"

Then she glanced at the side of her window to see the wall of Ash Storms still blowing. "Multiple Ash Storms…encircling…Ash Storm generator…"

And Sarah's eyes raised with a slow gasp. "No..! We're…"

"Ma'am?" Carol froze.

"Uh, Sarah..?" Neal blinked his eyes.

Without replying to them, Sarah abruptly held her earpiece. "Both of you, listen! Keep her calm, and most importantly, tell her that we are here to save her. I repeat! Keep her calm, and tell her that we are here to save her. Is that clear?!"

"R-roger, Red 1," Leon stuttered. "Why, what's-?"

"No time to explain! Do what I just told you now!" Sarah cried. "Red 1, out!"

"Commander?" Carol murmured.

"We've got to save that poor girl, and diffuse that Ash Storm generator!" Sarah just stopped her trailer. "I finally know what's going on here. Inukai is..!"


"So, what's your name?" In a show of non-hostile intent, Leon laid his God Arc before kneeling in front of the little girl.

"A-Alice..," The little girl shuddered

"Alright, listen. We're not here to hurt you, OK?" Leon smiled. "We're here to save you."

"Really..?" Alice backed further onto a corner.

"Of course we are. See these?" Leon showed his two AGE armlets. "We're just like you. Me, and my friend here. And we have more coming here."

Then Sarah, and the rest of the four arrived with their trailer parking inside the cave, and Alice whimpered, shuddering.

"It's OK, it's OK," Leon raised his hands to calm her down with a smile. "That truck behind us is where our friends are. "They'll help you."

"My, god," Being the first to disembark, Neal paused at the sight of the girl.

"Hello there," Sarah quickly jumped out of the truck, and kneeled in front of her, but Alice whimpered again into a corner. "What's your name?"

"Alice..?" Alice backed herself again.

"Alice, listen. You're in good hands now, and we're going save you.," Sarah smiled. "Work with us, and you won't die from that thing. We'll all go home together, and I promise you, you'll be in a much better place from now on. People like us help you. Will you trust us..?"

"...Mm," Alice timidly nodded.

"OK, we would like to see your armlets, and we'll remove that bad thing out of it," Sarah smiled. "Lucia, get to work. Carol, get that radio ready asap. A transmission could happen any time soon, and I want to hear all of it. Also, get Lisette to send that hacked frequency the second you are ready."

"Understood, ma'am," Carol nodded. "Berry 1, once I set this radio box up, send that frequency immediately."

"Understood," Lisette acknowledged.

"Leon, Jaffar, go ahead and bring your bikes in," Sarah glanced at the two. "We'll take care of her."

"Roger," Leon nodded.


In Hilda's Office, everyone finally entered her office with Hugo, and Jerad being the first ones in.

"What the hell was that?" Hugo crossed his arms. "Ash density doesn't spike like that normally."

"We're looking into it," Hilda replied. "Ash Storms springing up out of nowhere…The Crimson Queen, and Ash Storms…I don't like this."

Then they heard a beep.

"Sorry for the interruption, but I have Inukai on the radio," Amy said.

'Here it is,' Hilda mused. "The radio? They must be pretty close, then. Can you record it?"

"Sorry, the signal has noise that prevents recording," Amy replied.

Meanwhile, in the room only next to Hilda's Office where the Hounds are, Abraham held a portable recording device in his hand, and pressed it.

"I thought so. Fine, put him through." Hilda plainly ordered.

"You really are nothing but trouble, aren't you?"

"Doctor Inukai, you made this request," Hilda calmly said. "Do you have some business in ash this dense?"

"I've come to take care of the pawns of the Crimson Queen, in other words, you."

"What..?" Jerad grimaced.

"Huh?!" Hugo raised his head. "What makes you think th-"

"The Ash Storm near the place you were operating! The disappearance of the target! Connecting you to the Crimson Queen is simple enough, isn't it?"

"The people in Gleipnir aren't likely to swallow that line," Hugo argued.

"Heh, heh, heh… What do you know? Hilda ignores AGE handling rules, and treats you like pets. If you were in the other caravan, they'd keep you locked up in the hold. Ignoring rules disrupts the system, which will impact our great mission of reclamation. Not only that, but I suspected you might have some contrary plan of your own. One that had to do with Hilda's connection to the Crimson Queen."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hugo grimaced.

"Oh, has Hilda not told you yet? You'll have to pardon me. I thought that your relationship with Werner, Crimson Queen's leader, was publicly known."


"Huh?" Sarah froze before glancing at Carol. "Hilda? Werner..? Us?"


"What?!" Hugo turned to Hilda. "...Hilda, is that true?"

"It was a long time ago," Hilda frowned.

"Now then, let's get down to business. Hand over the humanoid Aragami you've been keeping. If you refuse, an Ash Storm will take your sad little vessel."


"Just as I thought..," Sarah glanced at Alice, whose Ash Storm generator was still being uninstalled by Lucia. 'She is just a child…how low will you subhumans keep sinking?!'

Then she gritted her teeth.


"An Ash Storm?" Hugo blankly raised his eyes. "You can't…"

"Control Ash Storms? I can, young Hugo. Heh, heh, heh…"


"Ma'am, work is complete," Lucia stood up, and handed the detached device to Sarah.

"Good job," Sarah complimented in monotone before taking the device. "This…abominable thing."

Then she jokingly tilted her head. "Well..he won't be setting another Ash Storm now…"

As hypocritical as she felt for also having one in her armlets, and among all others for grim special reasons, she plainly dropped the device in front of her before abruptly crushing it under her heel. Noticing that Alice was startled by her angry display, Sarah gave her a genuine warm smile, giving her an assurance that she is now safe in their hands, a new family member.


"I've heard rumors that the Crimson Queen has technology that can set off Ash Storms," Hilda murmured.

"Ah! Then that means Inukai is the traitor!" Hugo exclaimed.

"How astute!"

"What do you plan to do with Phym?" Hilda asked.

"Sell her to the Crimson Queen, obviously. They're my most valuable client, you see."


"Phym..," Sarah furrowed her eyes. "That must be the name of that humanoid Aragami Inukai was trying to sell us."

"Hm," Carol nodded.


"All this for money?" Hugo felt his blood boil.

"For my research. My current budget is meager. The Gleipnir fools have no appreciation."

Then Hilda hissed. "You have no right to…"

"We're done talking. You're currently surrounded by Aragami that I've driven there with Ash Storms. Don't even try to escape. Got that? Make the delivery tomorrow, when the storm has settled. I'm sure you like to take some time to say farewell to the humanoid Aragami, anyway. Heh, heh, heh…"

"Without telling us where you are..?" Jerad began making an evil grin. "An invalid shipping address always returns, you know? Please tell us where your vessel is so I can personally make the delivery to you. Express shipping."

"What?!" Claire gasped.

"Oh, my. How convenient. I'm merely only a forty miles north of your pathetic vessel. Make that delivery tomorrow..dog."

"The call has been cut off," Amy reported. "Inukai is right. We appear to be surrounded by Aragami."


"That's it, huh?" Sarah furrowed her eyes.

"I'm afraid the radio has also been cut off from us," Carol murmured. "Maybe for now."

"I've heard enough, anyway," Sarah turned to their cave entrance. "Now, are they seriously going to bend, and hand over that humanoid Aragami to that bastard?"

"Somehow, I doubt it with that tone he has," Leon made a short laugh before shaking his head. "Whoever that guy was, I think he just duped Inukai into giving away his position, and he did it so easily, too. What a moron..!"

"That familiar voice..," Neal held his chin. "I think that guy is…"

"Warning! Aragami horde detected nearby!" Lisette suddenly warned.

"What?" Sarah quickly grabbed her Imaginia, and stood up. "Berry 1, why didn't you see this earlier?"

"Ash Storm is causing heavy interference with our resonance radar with rapid flickers," Lisette explained. "Heavy ash density also causes inaccurate detections."

Meanwhile, Leon removed his sunglasses, and peeked through his binoculars. "Puta madre..! Confirmed through visual contact, sister! Aragami horde headed in our direction. 600 yards!"

"Crap! With that amount, and our vehicles easily visible from outside, we can't hide from them! Lucia, stay here with Alice, and deploy the stealth resonance field to avoid detection!" Sarah ordered. "The rest of us will cover you!"

"Aragami..?" Alice whimpered. "I don't want to…"

"Come here. We'll be fine, OK?" Sarah gave her a hug. "We are strong AGEs, and we'll keep you safe. Stay here with Lucia, and don't go anywhere. She can protect you."

"Okay..," Alice nodded.

"Lucia, now!" Sarah cried.

"Roger..!" Lucia closed her eyes after kneeling, and planted her palms on the ground, emitting a yellow aura. "Now, commander…"

"Let's go, Carol!" Sarah started running outside with Carol following her.

Once they are outside, Sarah positioned herself between them. "Listen up, everyone! Let NO Aragami pass us. Lucia, and Alice are completely vulnerable inside that cave. Is that understood?!"

"Yes, ma'am," Everyone nodded.

"No Aragami shall pass my spear," Sonia swung her Manticore Spear. "Come at me, cretins!"


"Jerad..," Claire growled as Jerad calmly glanced back at her. "How COULD YOU?!"

"Jerad, what the hell is this about?!" Hugo gritted his teeth.

"Brother! YOU!" Misha gritted her teeth.

"Daddy, DADDY!" Phym desperately latched on to him. "Please don't send me back to him! I've always been a good girl!"

Then she felt a warm hand on her back, and followed by a pat on her head. She slowly glanced up, and saw her daddy smiling at her.

"Why would I send my Little Devil away?" Jerad kept stroking her. "You're always a good girl."

"Huh?" Claire blinked her eyes. "Then…"

"I never said I'll hand PHYM over. I just wanted to ask where he is so I can make proper delivery to him," Jerad smirked at her. "By planting a bullet between his eyes once I arrive at his doorstep."

And he loudly laughed. "Amy, run a high frequency scan, focus scan, or whatever you call it, up to forty miles north of our position. I want to verify Inukai's grave."

"Ash Storms are causing a lot of interference with our resonance radar, but I'll try. Please stand by," Amy replied. "Yes, I've confirmed Inukai's vessel. Thirty miles north of us, and it was hiding under an arch."

"Hmph..! Then I'll make his tomb out of that ship," Jerad barred his fangs. "Let's kill those bastards outside, and wait until the Ash Storms are done. Then I'll be coming for his head…"

"Aragami are now closing in at two miles," Amy cried. "They are moving in a stampede! Hounds, please scramble, and exterminate them! We cannot allow them to get too close to our vessel."

"Everyone, get moving!" Hugo cried. "Get your God Arcs, and deploy from the hangar bay! Don't let a single Aragami pass through."

And due to everyone haste in leaving Hilda's office, no one except Claire, noticed Jerad simply walking towards the office exit with Phym following closely. She also quietly followed him out of Hilda's office.

After waiting for a few minutes, Hilda turned to her room. "Governor-General, you heard everything, correct..?"

Then her quarters door opened, and Abraham walked out. "Yes, and I have the whole conversation recorded."

"Then you understand what is now at stake," Hilda furrowed her eyes. "Jerad is now after him, and you cannot hold that against him considering how life threatening this situation is now, including yourself being on board this ship."

"Worry not. I will execute Phase 3 at my signal, and our undercover agents are now on standby," Abraham replied.

In the Laboratory Block.

"Daddy?" Phym murmured.

"What is it..?" Jerad paused.

"That old man..," Phym murmured again. "He is scaring me…Please don't leave me."

"Hmph," Jerad closed his eyes. "Got it. Stay here, and go to sleep, then. It's late."

"Hm?" Phym raised her eyes. "But…"

"The boogeyman..," Jerad murmured.

Then Phym paused. "Boo gee..man..?"

"That creepy old man. He is out there to get you..," Jerad explained, and listening to this, Claire could not believe he would make such a parental joke in this situation. If only it was not for their tense atmosphere, she would have laughed. "But daddy will slay the boogeyman."

Then he turned to Phym with a plain smile, but to Claire, behind his smile lies a chilling intent for murder…

"Okay..," Phym nodded.

"Yes, please go to mommy's bed," Claire caressed her cheek. "Mommy will help daddy get rid of that..boogeyman, OK?"

"Okay," Phym nodded again before leaving.

The two watched Phym bravely walk alone into the elevator, and once the door closed and without saying a word, Jerad turned back to the storage room.

Once inside, Claire walked straight to her God Arc, and inserted her armlet in just as Jerad did his. They both began preparing their God Arcs with Jerad grabbing two bags in one of their storages, and wanting to see what was in them, Claire decided to watch while also working with hers. One of his bags were indeed his new rounds, and after staring at one in his hand for a few seconds, he placed it in his back pouch, and then a few more. He opened another bag, which she guessed were his favorites: cluster bomb rounds. He pulled his charging handle back before placing two of them in his chamber like loading cartridges in a shotgun, and then pushed the charging handle back forward.

"You ready?" Jerad asked in monotone.

"Yes," Claire smiled, partly out of relief that he finally spoke to her.

"Alright, let's get out of here," Jerad murmured.

"You're…going to keep your God Arc like that?" Claire paused as they walked across the hall.

"I'm gonna cause some fireworks first thing outside," Jerad said with a faint smile. "We're late, so I figured I should get a head start."

"Fair enough," Claire smiled back as they were about to enter the hangar bay.

"Once we're past this door, it's on," Jerad murmured.

"I'm ready," Claire shifted her spear back to assault gun. "Perhaps I should have kept mine like yours."

Then she smiled.

Jerad chuckled. "Whatever floats your boat. Just follow me, then."

"Right," Claire nodded with a smile, and their door opened.

"Game on," Jerad rushed through the opening with Claire behind him.


"HAA!"

Sweeping through a Barbarius with Flashing Blade after it tried to skewer her with its drill arm, Sarah held her long blade forward until her opponent turned around, and as it attempted another rush at her, it was suddenly diced apart by her Lingering Fang.

'Too easy..,' Sarah turned back with a grimace. 'But I'm definitely liking these Japanese style sword techniques. So simple, yet so elegant and effective. I should spend some more time practicing them on these shrimps, preferably mediums, as they are just as easy as small ones now, but still perfect size.'

Then a Kongou suddenly lept behind her with its fist raised.

"And you are no different!" Sarah deployed her devour, and grasped it mid air with its jaws. "Not a well thought out strategy."

And she swung her sword overhead, and slammed the medium Aragami head first into the ground. As the Kongou stood up, it gasped as its opponent was already in mid air, spinning a forward somersault before raising her sword, and cleaved in two with Spinning Descent. "That's how you do it."

Then without being given a break, several Ogretails charged at her only to get sliced into two with a single swing by her Morning Calm as they came to her.

"I could kill you all in my sleep. Come at me," Sarah made a mocking yawn before suddenly turning around, and swung her long blade upwards with her right hand, slicing an Ogretail behind her in two with Crescent Moon, her favorite Burst Effect.

Meanwhile, Feng, Leon, Carol, and Jaffar were fighting closely together. Feng was fighting two Nemains alone, mixing his sword fighting with kicks, knowing that only God Arcs can harm Aragami, but his real intent was to stagger them, and cancel their attacks, similar to parrying. After jumping from one of his opponents' low swipe, Feng activated his acceleration trigger, spun to his right, and landed an aerial roundhouse kick on its head as a counterattack. His increased physical strength enabled him to send the Nemain rolling away in a good distance, making it perfect for him to finish his other opponent. As he expected, the other Nemain tried to impale him mid air, and Feng managed to parry it with his own sword, sending him a few feet away from it.

"Time to end you," Feng murmured while in his defensive stance, his left elbow raised forward, and his sword held downwards in front of it. As he anticipated, the Nemain charged at him with its both of its arms raised, and with his acceleration trigger still active, he parried both arms thanks to the length of his sword, spun low to trip it with a reverse roundhouse kick, and with it falling forward, stabbed its chest with an upward thrust. Sensing his other opponent coming behind him, he quickly pulled his sword out before turning around, blocking its thrust with the flat side, and extending his left arm out with his two fingers up to keep his focus and balance as the force made his feet slide a few yards back.

"Too slow..," he parried it upwards with his swing, and spun past it with a backward swing to its torso, making the medium Aragami fall.

"You doing OK there, brother?" Jaffar smiled after slaying a Chi-You with a swipe of his glaive.

"I am perfectly fine, my friend," Feng smiled back. "It's like fighting four swordsmen alone. I can fight up to six."

"Guys, please stay focused," Carol dragged her hammer on the ground before unleashing her Howling Soul, sending a Kongou flying fifty feet up.

"Heh, you know what, Major?" Jaffar chuckled. "I think you are too nice for your rank, sometimes."

"And what exactly do you mean, Jaffar?" Carol wiped her sweat after landing.

"I just thought Majors are the Sergeants of officers," Jaffar grinned.

"Thank you for telling me that I don't fit that stereotype," Carol furrowed her eyes. "And please watch that rank."

"Oh, you're pulling rank now, woman?" Jaffar laughed.

"And in spite of your secular religious beliefs, I would like to politely ask you to please refrain from your…sexism," Carol smirked.

"I was just kidding, jeez," Jaffar spun his glaive after parrying a dreadpike's attempted horn charge, and slicing it. "I can still respect women for their merit, you know? I get that times have changed since God Eaters have been born, and I would not dare cross, and more importantly look down on my commander for that. She can definitely cut me in two with a single hand."

Only several yards away acting as the last line of defense for their cave, Neal has been swinging his round fang to keep Aragami away from their vehicles. However, too busy to notice all his surroundings, a Chi-You attempted to flank him with a palm attack but Sonia moved in front of it to block it in time.

"How dare you attempt my precious captain's life?" Sonia held her spear against a Chi-You's palm. "For this, you shall be punished!"

Then she parried it back, and began charging her spearhead. "Have a taste of your sentence for such an offense. Spear Requiem!"

And thrusting with all her might, she obliterated the medium Aragami by the torso with her favorite Burst Art, in spite of its steel skin. "Your execution has been carried. All who dare stand before His Highness without grace shall be put to death. Hha ha ha ha!"

"Thanks, Sonia," Neal smiled. "You always had my back. I'm really glad I chose you to be my vice captain."

Then Sonia froze, and quickly turned around, cupping her cheeks while still holding her spear in her right hand.

Perplexed by this, Neal slightly tilted his head. "Uh..are you okay?"

And she quickly turned back. "Yes, captain. Thank you, and I shall keep up the good work."

"Okay..," Neal blankly kept staring at her until he suddenly turned a sharp eye to their vehicles, and quickly shifted to his Bandersnatch. He shot the Ogretail's head, and its blood splattered all over the back of their trailer.

"Oh, man..," Neal groaned. "Now I have to wipe all that off when we get back."

"Hah, call it a trophy, buddy," Leon landed beside him. "If you need help, just ask. We're all doing the same job right now."

"It's fine, we can take care of it ourselves," Neal readied his Jabberwock."...But any help would be appreciated."

In another area, Sarah continued slaughtering small Aragami mindlessly charging at her.

"You're all starting to bore me!" Sarah sliced an axe raider with Morning Calm. "I could definitely use a bit more challenge. A large Aragami like a Vajra would suit me fine enough. Is this asking too much..?"

Then she glanced around, and saw Neal, Leon, and Sonia slay the remaining ones. "That's it..?"

"Warning, all units! Another stampede has been detected nearby, and is heading your way! Distance: 5 miles," Lisette cried. "And there are Ashborns among them!"

"Ashborn..s?" Sarah furrowed her eyes. "Did you mean..?"

"Three Ashborns identified as Ra, Nuadha, and Balmung!" Lisette followed with her report.

'Three Ashborns..?' Sarah raised her eyes. 'They're pretty solitary, and most would fight for territory. Why would they..?'

Then she raised her eyes. 'No..! They're definitely after that humanoid Aragami. Once they get to her, they'll definitely-!'

"Wait, they are not heading towards you, Red 1," Lisette spoke again.

"What..? Then..," Sarah paused.

"They are heading towards…Ash Crawler Chrysanthemum's position!" Lisette cried. "Will you engage?"

Then Sarah closed her eyes, musing over the fact that they have never fought multiple Ashborns before, and it's always been a whole squad or two versus one. Another factor that bothered her was Werner, after she learned more about his seemingly past connections with Chrysanthemum's owner. "We will engage. Kill them all!"

"Wait, are you serious, sister?" Leon paused. "Our job is to protect the two inside. We can just let them slip by."

"I believe this is something Werner would want," Sarah murmured. "Protecting that ship, and I think I finally understood why he didn't want us to interfere with them until now. He's done a lot for us, so let's do him a big favor for once. Don't worry about those two. Those Ashborns would have us to worry about before they can even think about eating them. They'd be fools to try ignoring us, otherwise, and the moments they've tried fleeing from us has always been the times we killed them. Ash Aragami are smarter than that."

"I…see," Leon nodded. "Then I'm with you."

"Agreed, Red 1," Jaffar acknowledged. "Anything for our leader."

"Werner is family, and my brother is also with them!" Neal readied his scythe. "We're down for it!"

"Then let's go," Sarah readied her sword. "For the first time, we're taking on more than one Ashborn! Fight your very best, and don't die! 'Lucia, and Alice…Hang in there a bit more..!'


"Get fucked!" Jerad was shoving a Barbarius with his devour until he crashed it against a boulder. "I'm in a mood for fucking shit up right now, and you decided to get in my way."

Then he pulled his spear back. "DIE!"

And he ended it with Mocking the Gods obliterating its upper torso along with the boulder behind it.

"Is there no end to this?" Zeke smashed an Axe Raider. "They just keep coming."

"Stay positive, Zeke!" Hugo side swiped an Ogretail. "Keep in mind that the only Aragami we're fighting right now are the ones trapped in this ring of Ash Storms. They're not infinite, so keep going! They'll slow down once we kill enough of them! Pull back a bit if you're getting tired!"

"You kidding me?" Zeke held his hammer up. "I'm not complaining because I'm getting tired, you know? But we can't be fighting forever."

"We won't! They'll eventually run out!" Hugo held his sword. "Keep pushing!"

"Warning! Three Ashborns detected in our resonance radar!" Amy screamed. "Distance: 5 miles…what?"

"What is it, Chrysanthemum?" Hugo held his earpiece. "You said Ashborns?"

"Yes, but they..," Amy paused. "Suddenly disappeared as they were heading towards you…"

"Huh?" Hugo paused.

"It must be from the Ash Storm interference, but I swear I saw them," Amy cried. "We even had a special mark for them!"

"Don't worry about it for now, but keep giving us warnings that matter right now!" Hugo sliced a Barbarius down with Swift Slash. "Keep your eyes on the radar!"

"Roger!" Amy acknowledged.

"Three Ashborns, huh? I heard it," Jerad murmured after he finished a Kongou with Spear Requiem.

"I haven't had the chance to ask you, but where is Phym?" Hugo turned to him.

"We told her to stay inside, and sleep," Jerad replied. "It's late."

"Ah, I see. Good call," Hugo suddenly held his sword firm before striking an ogretail down. "Plus I don't want her out here because of Inukai."

"That's also the point," Jerad stabbed an Axe Raider through its jaws, and lifted it up. Then he activated his devour, and crunched it. "Need a burst round?"


"Out of my way!" Sarah slew a Kongou as she continued running. "Ra is mine!"

"Right behind you, sister!" Leon followed behind her, and also sliced small Aragami in their path.

"Sonia, and I will take on the Nuadha!" Neal headed towards the grotesque monster.

"Look after her, Neal!" Sarah cried. "She is still not there yet, and don't let anything happen to her!"

"Roger, I will keep her safe!" Neal replied.

Then the rest of the three combatants were pursuing a Balmung that was running across the field.

"We're not gonna be able to catch up to it!" Carol kept running.

"That's fine. We just got close enough!" Feng stopped, and shifted to his sniper gun before firing. The first round hit the Balmung's right face, and stopped it in its tracks, recoiling from the impact. "Stop right there! I'm your opponent."

And Balmung turned to him, and roared.

"Jaffar, Carol, cover the vicinity, and let no other Aragami interfere as planned!" Feng shifted back to his short blade. "The white tiger is mine to defeat."

"Roger that," Jaffar smiled. "Slay the tiger, dragon."

"Feng, you better not die!" Carol pleaded. "Remember, I'll be cooking your favorite meal after this. We'll jump in, if we have to whether you like it or not!"

"Sounds fair enough," Feng stretched his arms, and tilted his neck. "How about you give me a good luck kiss before I fight?"

"Feng!" Carol puffed her face. "I'm serious."

"I can't BELIEVE you two," Jaffar grimaced. "Quarreling in front of an Ash Aragami..? Why don't you start hitting it off, and then get a room, already?"

"Jaffar, I will hear no more from you!" Carol grimaced.

"Yes, ma'am," Jaffar smirked.

"Here it comes!" Feng assumed his stance as the Balmung began charging. Once it reached him, it tried to do a swipe down with its claw but Feng jumped towards it, gracefully spinning sideways, and then slicing its face from above before landing behind it.

Meanwhile in the cave, Lucia began whimpering with her eyes shut.

"Umm..," Alice tipped her lip.

"It's OK, Alice. Don't interrupt. I need to stay focused," Lucia gritted her teeth. 'Ashborns..are interfering…'


"Hm?" Amy glanced at her resonance radar screen. 'Those signals popped again for only a second, and now I saw new signals among those this time. What is really going on? Should I tell Hugo..?'


Outside their Ash Crawler.

"Haa!" Lulu finished a Chi-You with a Cosmic Bolt, and hearing another battle near her, she glanced at its direction and saw Shin fighting. She raised her eyes at seeing him use his glaive for the first time in a live combat.

'Hm, not too bad so far,' Shin parried a Nemain thrust, and swatted it to his side before leaping it for a killing stab. 'Maybe I should try something new for a bit of fun.'

After clashing a few more times with his opponent's claws, Shin made a strong swing with his glaive, and both ends connected. The medium Aragami was stunned, and pushed back before Shin spun, and threw a rope at it.

'A grappling hook?' Lulu blinked her eyes before she watched his grappling hook wrap around the Aragami's hip, and he reeled it towards him. Then Shin spun, and lept swiftly at the same time with his glaive. It took her a few seconds to notice as the Nemain fell, its head was also flying.

'Oh, that worked,' Shin shook his rope back to untangle, and then yanked it back to him before storing it back in his back pouch.

"Wow, Shin. That was an impressive move," Lulu murmured.

"Huh? You were watching?" Shin suddenly turned to her.

"Only for a few seconds," Lulu glanced at Misha, who was slaughtering oncoming Aragami with Inferno Rush.

"Frida, move in! I'll cover you!" Misha kept swinging her Inferno Rush.

"I got you!" Frida jumped in, and confronted a Barbarius.

"Haa!" Followed with a loud blow, Jerad fatally struck a Caligula with Mocking the Gods, blowing a hole through its chest.

"Watch out, friend," Levin suddenly stood behind him, and blocked a large Aragami's fiery sword.

"The hell, a Hannibal?" Jerad paused. "I've read about these things, and I guess I'll make a first kill out of you!"

Then the flaming Aragami generated another sword from its other arm, and tried to strike Levin, but Jerad blocked it, and taking advantage of its attention to his friend, Levin parried it before rushing in, activating his acceleration trigger as he held his long blade for a side sweep. With a battle cry, Levin swung his sword to its face, and it recoiled before falling to its side.

"Oh, what?" Jerad grimaced. "First time I fought one of these, and was gonna make it my first kill. You stole it."

"I'm afraid it's my second, friend," Levin smiled. "I fought one only a few months ago together with Elias, and one precaution I must tell you is to avoid breaking its back since you like doing aerial spear charges as one of your favorite Burst Arts. It won't end well for us."

"Alright," Jerad rested his spear on his shoulder. "Though, if I fight it alone, I'd prefer to break it."

"No, please. I'm serious," Levin waved his hand. "Just that single Aragami alone could turn this place into an inferno."

"Yeah well, I'm a devil, so..," Jerad grinned. "We live in fire."

Then Levin only sighed at his response.


15 minutes later.

"Ugh!"

Sent flying by Balmung's tackle, Feng bounced a few times back before recovering on his feet, and sliding a few more yards back with his sword defensively pointed forward, and his left hand back, keeping his two fingers up to keep his balance and focus. Also while fighting, Carol glanced at Feng with worry before turning back, and reengaging a Chi-You.

'That hurt a bit..,' Feng murmured before licking blood off the right corner of his lip, and then spitting it. 'But I hurt you a lot more than you did me. Seven cuts…How many more, I wonder?'

Then he started taking careful sidesteps to his right, keeping his sword pointed at the beast, and his left hand in the same posture while his Ashborn opponent fixed its glowing blue eyes at him. After a few more steps, he paused, and when Balmung lost its patience, it shot flying orbs around it, and launched at its lone opponent. Raising his eyes at this, Feng took a few steps forward before jumping towards its swarm of sparks, and spun and maneuvered his body through it. Still flying in the air after he passed them, he pulled his sword back while still in mid air, activated his acceleration trigger before gritting his teeth from the pain of using it, and dove down in his thrust at high speed. With its reaction to evade hampered by its own shock of its human opponent's brazen jump through its electric attacks, Feng connected a thrust on its face. Flinched by his somewhat devastating blow, Feng wasted no time to deploy his devour, and grasped its head with its jaws. The two struggled against each other for a few seconds before he began shoving it forward until it broke through a nearby boulder.

'Next time you get hit by that same sword thrust attack, you're finished,' Feng deactivated his acceleration trigger before retrieving his devour, and entered Burst.

In the rubble, Balmung stood up inside the dust, and roared in rage as its eyes glow brighter. Next, it jetted out of the dust, and rushed at high speed. In response, Feng reversed his stance, his left hand now forward, and his sword held far back, ready for a counterstrike. Once Balmung attempted a lunge at him, he spun counterclockwise to his right to evade, and swung a backswing. As soon as the Balmung raised its left claw to try to crush him, he jumped a few feet back, and it attempted another and yet desperate lunge, but Feng spun again and followed with another back swipe to strike its throat from underneath. The critical damage caused the four legged Ashborn to crash before standing up again with its legs, and then it attempted another pounce but Feng already knew that he had his opponent in his hands as he counterattacked with another slice. After the Balmung recovered, it glared at its opponent for a few seconds before Feng noticed its rear jets charging.

'It's trying to Devour me,' Feng raised his eyes before furrowing them, and then switched to his defensive stance, his left hand forward, and his sword held back tall, also tensing his two fingers to hyperfocus. 'It must be getting desperate. Come at me!'

And he activated his acceleration trigger.

Then after a few more seconds, the Balmung finally launched itself toward him with its hungry fangs, and its deadly claws forward, and with perfect timing, Feng quickly responded with his buckler thrust to its head, and its immense impact also sent some of its head parts including one of its broken fangs flying.

"Hell yeah! Good job, brother!" Jaffar cried.

"Time to end this!" Feng kept his acceleration trigger on, ignoring the pain for the moment. "Suffer a thousand cuts!"

Leaping in at blinding speed, Feng began his series of sweeping slices in his Gale Dance, moving around the hapless Ashborn in a flash, and slicing it with his Burst Art each time as he dances with his sword, also leaving Mad Wind Burst Effect after each slice. After a few more cuts, Feng jumped in front of it, and dove with a Rampaging Comet, ending his series of dancing slices, and landing a devastating blow directly on its head. Landing behind it, he stayed in a kneeling position before sighing, and then the Balmung fell hard on the ground.

"Damn, the dragon's got it," Jaffar smiled after slaying one of the few remaining medium Aragami. "One on one, too."

Then Feng slowly stood up, and turned around to look at its corpse, but after a few seconds of not seeing it begin dissipating as expected, he raised his eyes as the Balmung slowly started standing up.

"Hmph..! Still alive?" Feng swung his sword in frustration. "Then I'll…"

After running a few steps, he suddenly paused. The Ashborn simply glanced at him before it started running opposite of his direction. "Is it retreating..?"

Then he glanced at its direction, and his eyes widened as he saw heading towards Carol's direction, who was fighting a Barbarius. "CAROLLL! BEHIND YOU!"

"Major! MAJOR!" Lisette screamed through their radio.


After Sarah managed to land a hard Spinning Descent on Ra to stun it for a finishing blow for her brother, she suddenly turned to Feng's direction, and gasped. "Carol..!"

Quickly being reminded of the danger in front of her, she quickly turned back, and saw Leon attempt a Stardust Rain on it, but somehow, the agile Ashborn managed to recover quick enough to teleport away from his devastating attack.

After landing, Leon watched Ra teleport a few more times away before hovering up to a cliff, and disappearing into the horizon. "It got away..!"

"Forget that! We have to help Carol!" Sarah cried. "Go, go, go!"

And the siblings began sprinting as fast as they could.

"Sarah, we're sorry, but Sonia and I got our hands full with this Nuadha," Neal said through their radio. "Please help her! We'll keep this one occupied, and finish it as soon as possible!"

"We got her Neal! Do what you gotta do!" Sarah replied.


Then from a distance away, Carol turned to the direction of Feng screaming her name across the battlefield, and gasped as she saw a Balmung running towards her.

"I got her!" Jaffar stood in front of the charging Ashborn with his glaive only to get knocked to the side with its head.

Panicking, Carol spun around to knock the Barbarius with a homerun swing with her hammer, and only a few seconds before death had her in its grip that she managed to deploy her Guardian's Targe, and blocked Balmung's jaws, also pinning her hard against the ground. While resisting the beast's strength with her acceleration trigger already on, Carol glanced back, and saw the Barbarius she was fighting earlier opportunistically tried to strike her with its drill arm.

"Damn you!" In mid air, Jaffar was already diving towards the medium Aragami before it was fatally stabbed through its chest. Already frustrated that he could choose both slaying the Barbarius and attacking Balmung to save Carol, he glanced up, he saw a flying silhouette behind the white Ashborn still trying to maul his friend.

"Get away from her!" Feng finally landed on a Balmung's back, and stabbed it. In spite of what he had hoped, however, the Balmung remained adamant in devouring its prey.


"Sonia, NOW!" Neal pinned the Nuadha down with his extend bite, only barely able to lower its chest enough for his vice captain to strike a fatal blow.

Then with a battlecry at the top of her lungs, Sonia charged in with her opened spear while her acceleration trigger was active, and thrusted against it with all her might. Her Spear Requiem resulted in blowing a large hole through the large Ashborn's chest, its internals flying in bloody parts before it fell on its back, never moving again.

"We got to help Carol, now!" Neal cried. "Let's go!"


"Feng..," Carol whimpered as her fatigue was starting to overrun her.

"Damn you!" Feng repeatedly stabbed its back, but the beast ignored its pain, only slightly flinching, but still keeping its jaws on her shield before he suddenly paused. "Carol, Engage!"

But Carol kept whimpering as Balmung's jaws were starting to inch closer.

"ENGAGE, NOW!" Feng screamed again as he kept holding on to his sword.

"Trying..!" Carol whimpered again, managing what little strength she had left between pushing her death back, and opening her mind for Feng. She only narrowly managed to do so only for a split second, but was enough for Feng's mind to enter hers. She felt that he must be very desperate, and then a yellow light finally flashed between them. Just as she was about to get crushed by her shield from Balmung's brute force, she felt a surge of strength in her, shared from her Engage partner, and began pushing inches back with a loud cry.


"Nghh..!" Lucia whimpered before she collapsed. "I'm sorry…Leon."

And she finally fainted.

"Lucia..? Lucia! Lucia!" Alice began shaking her.


While at the same time…

'Huh..?' Amy glanced back at their resonance radar again after hearing beeps. 'The signals are back again, but what are..?'

Her eyes raised as in spite of their resonance radar still flicking, she can now see two Ashborn signals. One was 10 miles away from them being surrounded by red dots as unidentified contacts, and one of the Ashborn signals was already heading towards their position only 3 miles away.

'I've got to warn everyone immediately!' Amy tapped her headphone while glancing at her screen, making sure that her console was still recording for investigation later.


Also meanwhile…

"GRRRRAH!" Jerad ruthlessly slammed a Nemain against a boulder. "Go to fucking hell!"

Then he obliterated its upper torso with Mocking the Gods, also shattering the boulder behind it.

"Hoo! I guess that's the last one," Zeke sat down while leaning on his hammer. "Keith, you're doing great."

"Thanks, but damn," Keith sat beside his brother. "I'm totally beat, but if you're that tired then…"

"Large Aragami approaching!" Amy suddenly warned. "It's an Ashborn! It's headed straight for your position! ETA 2 minutes!"

"Whoa! That was fast!" Zeke suddenly stood up followed by Keith.

"It sure picked a hell of a time!" Hugo exclaimed. "Watch yourselves!" 'Fast, huh? I think I might kno…'

"Tch! I don't give a flying fuck," Jerad growled. "I'll kill that thing, and then anything else that stands in my way. I'll bury that bastard!"

"Amy, estimate the Ashborn's point of entry!" Hugo radioed her. "We're setting up an ambush."

"According to its movement, it is heading towards a cliff about 400 yards north of you," Amy replied. "It's heading for our ship. Please eliminate it!"

"Good. Once it shows up, I'll maul its face alive," Jerad angrily said.

"Then let's go. Run uphill to that cliff, and take cover," Hugo pointed at the landscape across a small lake. "We'll attack once it shows up."

Then they started running uphill.

"Ooh, man. This is the second time I'm about to fight an Ash Aragami," Ricardo chuckled.

"It's our first," Levin murmured as they hid behind a large wall. "I won't deny that I'm nervous."

"I am ready to fight," Frida gripped her scythe.

Though, in spite of his anger, Jerad turned to Frida with a smile, impressed with her brave confidence, and seeing her deathly eyes again.

Then he turned back. "Quiet…It's here."

And they hugged themselves against the wall, and as Jerad said, Ra just hovered below the cliff.

"Guys, on my count," Hugo whispered. "Three..two…"

Then he was interrupted by the sound of someone's acceleration trigger activating, and saw Jerad leap at the unwary Ashborn at high speed.

He clung on its chest before raising his spear. "Looking for Phym, are ya?!"

And he stabbed through its beak, making the floating Ashborn shriek before falling straight down, and crashing its kiln on the ground.

"I'll tell you where to find her!" Making a vile grin, Jerad stabbed its face two more times before raising his spear, and forming a devour. "By taking the HIGHWAY TO HELL!"

Then he began mauling its head with his God Arc.

"Everyone, let's go!" Hugo began running before Diving towards it. "Hm..?"

He glanced at Ra whom Jerad was still grappling with. 'There are already physical damages on that thing. Cuts, burns, and.., bullet holes? And there's also a large gash straight down on its chest…'


While Carol was pushing Balmung back, Jaffar rushed in with a battle cry, and bravely clung on Balmung's face with his glaive in hand before stabbing it. The Ashborn finally flinched back with a growl, swinging Jaffar off, and being exhausted from his repeated stabbing to save Carol, Feng was also thrown off without his God Arc. It remained on Balmung's back. Turning on the only helpless enemy, Balmung turned on Feng who recently recovered from his fall, and began growling with rage.

"Feng!" Carol rushed in with a battlecry.

"Carrie, wait!" Feng gestured his hand to stop her. "I can..!"

Then Balmung turned its attention to the oncoming threat, and from the front, Feng could see it was hiding a growing laser blade from its left fore joint.

"Carrie! NO!" Feng cried.

Then Balmung suddenly swung its laser blade, and to Feng's surprise, and relief, Carol jumped high from its would-be fatal sweep, and raised her hammer. She suddenly felt a surge of energy in her, similar to entering Burst, and not having time to ponder, she assumed that Jaffar behind her shot a Burst Link round to support her before she swung down, and landed a direct Lost Memory on its head. Not wasting a second while the white tiger was stunned, Carol ignited her boost hammer, and began repeatedly pounding its head with Doom Hammer. After several blows, she attempted to crush its skull with Grand Finale, and its shockwave knocked Feng's white sword off its back, stabbing itself on the ground in front of him.

Exhausted from her all out fury, Carol took a few steps back, and felt her legs collapse, bringing her down into a kneeling position while still grasping her hammer's shaft. Hearing a low growl, Carol raised her head in horror as the Balmung in front of her slowly stood on its four legs, and shook its head.

"Carol!" Sarah, Leon, and Jaffar stood in front of her. "We got you. Stay back a bit. We'll finish this!"

Then the three readied their God Arcs. However, Balmung took a few steps, growling in its defense before it jumped back.

"Hmph..!" Sarah grimaced as she began walking close to it. "Kill this thing because if we don't, it would come after us again with a vengeance after it's done licking its wounds, and it would also learn the way we fight. Surround it."

"Roger," Leon nodded, but before they could move, it turned away and began running. After a few more yards, it suddenly felt a blinding slice on its face, stopping it in its tracks, and Feng landed in front of it, his feet far apart from his graceful landing, and had his left hand towards it, holding his two fingers up firmly, and holding his short blade back. Then he reversed his stance, with his sword now pointed forward.

"You will not escape!" Feng grimaced. "You cowered away in the face of an enemy, and then tried to take my friend? Unforgivable..."

Then he glanced around, and noticed the rest of his friends, including Neal and Sonia, now surrounded the once mighty tiger. In confusion and fear, the four legged Ashborn glanced around, nervously almost trotting its legs to try to find an opening to escape as the surrounding AGEs moved closer with careful steps. It tried to attack starting with Neal, who swung his scythe to scare it back to the center, and then at Leon who made a threatening thrust to force it back to the middle.

"Ma'am, I'll finish this..again," Feng shifted to his offensive stance, his left hand forward, and his sword back.

"Do it," Sarah murmured.

"Get him, Feng!" Neal quickly shifted to his sniper gun, shot a burst link round at him, and then shifted back.

Now in Burst, Feng activated his acceleration trigger, and with its realization that escape was no longer an option, Balmung pounced on an enemy who was most likely to attack. Feng jumped up from its attacks, spinning sideways in mid air before swinging his sword for a slice on its head. After landing, he began his Gale Dance, quickly cutting the Ashborn in various places in confusing yet quick succession that it had no time to react to his next attack: chest, right side, across the face, left rear leg, spine, left side, and finally the chest again followed by a Mad Wind before he readied his sword in mid air, preparing for another Rampaging Comet. He finally dove in, and struck the Ashborn across the chest in a fatal blow. Only in a few seconds that blood suddenly gushed out of its body where Feng struck them, especially its forehead, and made its last whimper before it finally fell, slamming all its weight into the ground. Skeptical this time to avoid endangering his teammates again, Feng turned around, and pointed his sword at it, breathing slowly.

"Berry 1, verify that this Ashborn has been felled," Sarah held her earpiece. "This is quite a stubborn one."

"Confirmed. Oracle response from the Ashborn target is diminishing," Lisette replied. "It has been eliminated."

Then Sarah glanced at everyone to make sure no one was close enough.


Several hours ago.

"Lisette, can I talk to you for a moment?" Sarah entered the radio room. "I have a favor to ask."

"Um, sure, ma'am," Lisette turned to her while setting up her radio. "What is it?"

"Once we deploy for our mission, could you begin recording us via the resonance radar?" Sarah asked.

"I would have no problem with it," Lisette replied. "But my only concern is if there is enough space…"

"I see, then I have an idea," Sarah held her chin. "How about you begin the record after we finish our demolitions?"

"That should be fine, ma'am. Given that you will be returning by next morning," Lisette noted.

"Then that's good enough, and even better that you don't have to keep recording once we start returning here," Sarah murmured.

"Then, I will do it," Lisette smiled.

"Thank you. You are the best operator in the department," Sarah smiled back.

"I'm only curious, but may I ask why you want to do this? Lisette asked.

"It's for their eval, particularly Feng, Sonia, and also your department head," Sarah grinned.

"Even Major..?" Lisette froze.

"Yeah, maybe it's about time she moves up a bit more," Sarah replied. "I just need evidence for Werner, and also Commander Brandt if Sonia passes. I'll also be watching them."

"I see," Lisette nodded.

"Also keep this between us, and have a private channel ready for just us in case I need to talk to you 'alone,' if you catch my drift," Sarah chuckled.

"Then I'll prepare one for you," Lisette smiled back.


"Lisette, you had this whole thing on record, right?" Sarah murmured.

"...Yes, ma'am," Lisette murmured back. "No incident."

"Took you a while to reply, huh?" Sarah chuckled.

"I have to make sure I don't accidentally respond to you in our channel, ma'am," Lisette giggled.

"I understand. I was just jabbing you," Sarah chuckled. "Thanks again, and make sure to save it somewhere as back up before I come by to retrieve it. Remember to off that recording once we board our vehicles to return home, and after this, we won't be likely using this private channel anymore. Our little covert operation is complete."

"Roger, ma'am," Lisette giggled.

"Sarah, out," Sarah tapped her earpiece again before glancing at others in the field.


"Heh, in the end, the tiger is no match for the dragon," Jaffar began walking to his friend with his glaive on his shoulder, smiling. "Congratulations, brother. You're definitely getting that pin!"

Then he suddenly paused. "Feng..?"

And even with the Balmung already dissipating, Feng kept his eyes fixed with his sword still pointed towards it, and he suddenly saw Jaffar's hand hold his sword arm.

"My brother, it's over. Carol is safe now," Jaffar gave him a serious look. "Put your God Arc down, and dis-Engage with her before you two start giving each other headaches."

"Hm?" Without realizing this, Feng was indeed still Engaged with Carol, seeing the yellow glow still flowing on both his sword, and his arm before he closed his eyes to close his mental flow from her, and lowered his God Arc. Then after a few seconds, he glanced at Carol's direction, who was resting earlier while still Engaged with him, and as soon she seemingly no longer felt him, she slowly stood up with her hammer, and began walking to his direction.

"Hey, are you really, OK? Seriously," Jaffar furrowed his eyes. "You've won! Should you be happy?"

"True, but..," Feng stared at the horizon.


"Very good, son. You are already mastering every basic technique we've been teaching you."

"I'll keep this up, Father. Before you know it, I will be the greatest swordmaster in the world, who will slay all Aragami like you, and Mother. Just you wait!"

"Hahaha! I agree that you will do great as a sword saint one day, but there is one very important thing I want you to always remember, no matter how you do."

"Hm?"

"Arrogance invites ruin; humility receives benefits. Any form of self-conceit can defeat even the strongest warrior, for in this vast world, there will always be someone stronger than you."

"Oh…"

"As long as you remember this, you will never fall. One day, you will grow your own wings, and fly, and you will begin learning more things beyond everything me, and your mother would ever teach you. Always put humility first, even before honor."


"My arrogance…almost cost her," Feng closed his eyes. "If I had been less complacent, I could have prevented this from happening."

"Hey man, if anything..," Jaffar glanced around to make sure no one would hear them, and put his arms above his friend's shoulders. "You're the most humble guy of all of us here, maybe besides even Neal. Honest to Allah, but our commander thinks she's an apex predator of Aragami, Leon just enjoys action as if nothing will ever happen to him, and then…don't get me started with that shortie Sonia because the sun will be up by the time I finish."

Then he chuckled. "It gets the best of us from time to time, OK? At least you learned from that without Carol dying. Tell you what, some people don't learn until someone..does. Keep your head up. Your girl is still alive, and that's what counts. Now she's cooking you some nice food tonight. Learn, and move on."

"What are you boys whispering?" Carol stood behind them with her arms crossed.

And her two friends jumped.

"Uh, nothing too specific," Feng stuttered.

"Yeah, I was just congratulating him, that's all," Jaffar grinned.

"Oh, whatever," Carol shrugged. "I don't care, anyway."

"Good work, Feng. You definitely passed," Sarah smiled. "Well, I'm pretty much planning to, anyway."

"T-thank you, ma'am," Feng bowed.

"And Carol, I will speak to Werner for you," Sarah turned to her.

"Uh, are you sure?" Carol frowned. "I don't think…"

"Of course I am," Sarah raised her eyes. "Putting up against a Balmung after you cheated death? Balmung is also one of the fiercest Ashborns you'd ever encounter, and I don't think you're gonna have a hard time with a Ra at all. I don't even have to say anything about the Nuadhas which are slow, a perfect match against your heavy God Arc."

"With that being said," Neal glanced at his vice captain with a smile. "It was Sonia who gave the final blow against it. After putting it in a world of pain with just us, I held it down, and she finished it."

"Oh, my," Sarah turned to Sonia with disbelief. "I was wondering while running towards Carol what that loud boom was, and I couldn't imagine it was Neal since variant scythes solely rely on sharpness while charge spears are a bit of both. To think that was from you.., and not to mention like your captain, you're also un…no, you got some bruises on you..including your face."

"Tis, but a scratch, ma'am," Sonia touched the stinging wound on her cheek. 'Oh, no. My beauty for my captain! I must treat this with ointment at once!'

"Yeah, she definitely did great," Neal chuckled.

"Ah..ah..," Sonia almost gasped before turning around, and cupped her cheeks. 'AHHHH! Neal just acknowledged my skills against that giant Ashborn! Maybe I should invite him for tea tonight, stare at the stars together, and then..! And THEN! No…still forbidden..!'

"Yeah, I highly think you should consider talking to your commander about her performance today once we get back to HQ," Sarah suddenly paused.

"I'll definitely do," Neal nodded.

Then they turned to Sonia who has her back turned to them

"Sonia..whatever you are fantasizing right now..drop it. We are still on MISSION..!" Sarah grimaced.

"Ah, I'm so sorry, ma'am," Sonia turned back at attention. "It won't happen again. I promise."

"Then I'll have your word," Sarah gave her a serious look.

And they heard Jaffar, and Feng laughing with Carol giggling.

"You had a lot of hearts flying from your head, you know?" Jaffar kept laughing.

"Silence! With all due respect, captain," Sonia glared at them.

"Ooh, the queen is mad," Jaffar sneered. "I wished Leon was here right now. Haha!"

"Speaking of Leon..," Sarah glanced around, and her little brother was nowhere in sight. "Where is he..?"

"Ma'am, he told us earlier he wants to check on Lucia to see if she's..," Jaffar suddenly paused after hearing their radio beep.

"Red 1, Red 1, do you copy?!" Leon cried. "Red 3 fainted earlier, and Alice woke her up with one of our water bottles! She's conscious, and resting now."

"Fainted?!" Sarah froze. "That means..! No, never mind…"

"Ma'am..?" Feng also froze.

"They won't do anything to us.., or more like they can't, anyway," Sarah turned to him. "Remember that Ra slipping away from me, and Leon? They should have their hands full with it right now, and I know they'll finish the job. We saw them kill a Nuadha before, so a mere Ra should be a cinch, let alone an already injured one. Something those Gleipnir inferiors couldn't even lay a dent on."

"Understood," Feng nodded. "So, what are we doing next?"

"Let's return to the cave, and rest up, but be still on the lookout for Aragami, though, and Carol?" Sarah turned to her. "Turn your radio box back on once we're inside, and I want to listen again. We need to see the final outcome of this, and needless to say, I also want to see what happens if Inukai does try to bury them with another Ash Storm. I can't wait to hear him make a fool out of himself."

And she laughed like a female executive, her hand elegantly in front of her mouth.

"...Understood, ma'am," Carol nodded with a smile.


With Ra's desperate swings of its two sun orbs, Frida back flipped before deploying her scythe in mid air with extend bite, smacking the Ashborn with its blunt end, and causing it to crash against a wall.

"An Ashborn cannot be this easy," Frida murmured after landing beside Hugo, and tried to recover her breath. "I'm really sorry to sound conceited, but I was really expecting worse."

"You are right, but there is a reason besides Jerad and Misha grilling you, and then your Engage with him," Hugo murmured while waiting for an opening for him to rush, and switch with someone amidst the chaos. "Did you notice those damages before Jerad even headstarted it, especially that long gash on its chest?"

"Hm..," Frida squinted. "Now you mention it, yeah."

"That Ash Aragami fought something..or someone powerful before it got here," Hugo furrowed his eyes. "It reminded me of that time I found a dead one of that same kind not too far from here, actually."

"Yeah, I remember your story back in the manor," Frida turned to him. "But does that also mean..the Crimson Queen might be around here..?"

"Hmph..! Not an impossibility..," Hugo furrowed his eyes. "I just simply hope they won't attack us, and in either case, that Ashborn was definitely already worn out when it crossed us. You, and Levin are lucky, if you think about it. While our first encounter was a bit more terrible, it was nevertheless a good start for you, and at least you learned some stuff about this thing. Good job countering those orbs earlier, too, and bonus for even slicing one in half. It was trying to devour you. We all took a hit from those, and thought we were goners. You outdid us on that."

"Ah, I see," Frida paused while Hugo chuckled.

"Let's go," Hugo readied his sword. "Trista, and Zeke are getting tired. Let's bag this thing!"

"Right behind you!" Frida raised her scythe before the two rushed in.

"Zeke, I got your ass. Stay back! I'm about to bury this bastard to hell!" Jerad rushed in as Claire provided supporting fire with her assault gun.

In response, Ra held its two sun orbs forward, and fired homing lasers.

Seeing the incoming lasers, Jerad grimaced before deflecting a few of them with his spear while still running with Levin also behind him also deflecting its projectiles with his long blade before they both jumped.

"You're too easy this time, how disappointing!" Jerad held his spear back for an aerial Burst Art. "Or maybe I'm just becoming too uber! I was hoping I could at least use you to blow some steam. HAA!"

Then he dove in with Stardust Rain, and landed a hit on its chest, recoiling it back a few yards. However, unnoticed by both men earlier, Misha has been also behind them, and dove in, spinning into her Dystopia, and landing several hits to it before landing. Angry, Ra raised its hand to try swiping her with its flaming orb, but Misha quickly countered it with Slaughter Fang to stagger it before it could swing, and taking advantage of this, she connected her hit with an overhead swing to pin it against the ground before following it with Heaven or Hell.

"Here goes!"

After successfully concentrating her Burst energy to her scythe, Misha yanked it back, and sawed the Ashborn with it, almost tearing its left shoulder off. However, in its desperate attempt to defend itself, Ra floated back up, and raised its right hand before forming its orb in a pair of jaws in an attempt to devour her.

"Watch out!" Levin jumped with all his strength, and landed on its face. Activating his acceleration trigger to try delivering a decisive blow, he held his sword in reverse, and thrusted down. Ra shrieked from his thrust, but Levin continued pushing down, burying sword deeper twice before he felt the monster fall back down. Pulling his sword up, and jumping away from it, he landed on the ground with the twins, and waited for its next action, only to see its right arm slump, and its fires extinguished.

"Huh, maybe we didn't have to jump back in, after all," Hugo paused.

And seemingly not hearing him, Frida froze, amazed by the sight.

"Was it finished..?" Levin took a few deep breaths before slouching himself from fatigue while also using his sword to keep himself standing.

"I..guess so?" Jerad nodded.

"Oracle dissipation confirmed! Ashborn eliminated," Amy suddenly reported. "That was a heck of a job. Good work, Levin!"


"I knew they'd kill that thing," Leon chuckled. "I was honestly rooting for them."

"Heh," Sarah smiled. "That kind voice must be their operator. Reminds me of Lisette."

"I'm proud to hear that," Carol also smiled.

"Those voices, I finally remember them," Neal leaned forward with his arms crossed. "I heard…Hugo, Jerad, and Misha. There were a few others I don't recognize at all, though."

"Must be their Chrysanthemum buddies," Sarah murmured.

'Wow, Neal had many friends,' Sonia mused.


"Aww, I was hoping to have one as my kill this time," Misha dejectedly slouched.

Then Zeke suddenly laughed. "Shit, I was gonna pound that bastard's head, and mad hammer it before it gets her, but look at that. A reggie killed an Ashborn."

And him, and Shin laughed together.

"If this was an RPG, Levin would have gained a ton of levels," Shin laughed, and also understanding this, Jerad also laughed.

"Context..?" Levin curiously asked.

"In games with experience points, and level up mechanics, a character gains them each kill, and the stronger the enemy you killed, the more you gain..in short," Shin explained. "You'd be a damn super reggie by now."

Then him, and Jerad laughed again.

"Nerd talk..," Trista murmured.

"You guys are definitely tempting me to try it out," Keith murmured.

"Good for nerds like you, Keith," Trista chuckled.


"That was definitely Zeke, and Keith," Neal almost exclaimed. "And that loud whoever she is mentioned Keith by name, too. He's also there."

"Glad you finally know they're both still alive, huh?" Sarah smiled.

"I told you," Leon also smiled.

"Yeah," Neal nodded with a faint smile.

"That would be an interesting topic on our dining table once we get back," Sarah smirked. "Do you mind telling us more about them?"

"Well, now I remembered more about them, sure," Neal smiled back.

"I never had the slightest idea that you had two brothers, captain," Sonia murmured.

"Hm? You never knew this, Sonia?" Sarah glanced at her.

"Yeah, sorry for not telling you. Not that I'm trying to hide it," Neal scratched his head. "I'll tell you more about them once we get back. They're both great guys."


However back in the Ashlands, just as they forgot about their dire situation…

"A splendid display. You AGEs are blessed by that humanoid Aragami."

Then hearing his voice again, Jerad quickly growled. "Inukaiii!"

And he shifted to his sniper gun, and loaded his big round in it before pressing ALT.

"But your mischief has gone too far. Alright, you filthy dogs! Be cleansed by a storm of ash!"

And all within the frequency, including their unknown eavesdroppers, heard a sudden beep.

"I have heard enough of your crude language, Doctor Inukai. You will be picked up soon."

Then Jerad raised his eyes from that detestable familiar voice…


In Inukai's ship.

"I-Is this the governor-general?!" Inukai froze in panic, unaware that two of his bridge guards were already closely behind him with half of the others' unconscious bodies being quietly tended by a few other 'guards' who quickly sedated them without warning. Before he could notice, he suddenly felt four strong arms push him against one of the bridge's panels, and forcefully gripped his hands on his back to restrain him.


Outside in the ashlands.

"Undercover! FREEZE! GET ON YOUR KNEES! GET ON YOUR KNEES!"

Then both the Hounds, and the Crimson Queen in their own areas at the same time glanced at each other.

"Residential Block, secured! All AGEs locked inside compartments are also safe, and secured! No resistance!"

"Laboratory Block, secured! No resistance!"


"Oh, my," Sarah murmured while listening to the chaos.

"It's just as what Werner was afraid of..," Neal closed his eyes.


Back in Inukai's ship.

"Who do you think I am?! What is the meaning of this?! Let go of me!" Despite being already handcuffed, Inukai continued resisting their grip.

"You are under arrest for espionage, and treason against Gleipnir! We have orders to bring you before the governor-general! Do not resist!"

Then one of the two agents leaned forward, and pressed a button.


In the ashlands, both sides heard a beep.

"That's it," Carol murmured. "Someone cut off the radio transmission. It's all dark now."

"Yeah, but to know that the governor-general of Gleipnir was personally involved in this," Sarah grimaced. "Inukai has been doomed to begin with.., and he's been already a loss for us."

"Then, ma'am. What should we do next?" Feng stood up. "About Specimen One..?"

Then Sarah stared at him for a few seconds. "No..we'll leave her as it is. With both us and them exhausted from this chaos, I don't think it's in the best interest of both sides to clash, not to mention..they are just about as capable of fighting as us. Werner…does have another solution as he said, so let's just bank on it..whatever it is. Personally, I don't want to have to raise my sword against our fellow brothers, and sisters, anyway. Let's leave them be."

And she tapped her earpiece. "Berry 1, request connecting me to Crimson 1?"

"I'm afraid I cannot, Red 1," Lisette replied. "Crimson 1, and several members of both Intel Div, and a few others from the Logistics Department combatants are currently deployed to repel Aragami from base. Berry 2 is supporting them as we speak."

"What..?" Sarah froze.

"They were also driven to our hideout by multiple Ash Storms," Lisette explained.

"That's fine, then. Please relay the message to him that we are returning to base…Mission accomplished," Sarah murmured. "And that I will personally report the details to him once we're back. We will also act as reinforcements from the enemy's rear if we arrive on time."

"Roger, Red 1," Lisette acknowledged. "Berry 1, out."

"A-are we safe now..?" Alice timidly asked.

"Heh, yes we are," Sarah smiled. "Can you walk?"

"Um," Alice tried to stand up, and then whimpered as she collapsed.

"Hey, are you OK?" Carol kneeled beside her. "Are you injured?"

"Yeah..," Alice nodded.

Then Carol made a careful squeeze on her right ankle, and Alice made a loud whimper. "You probably have a bone fracture. Don't worry, I'll carry you, and please do not push yourself more than necessary. We're here to help you."

"T-Thank you..," Alice smiled before raising her hands, and Carol lifted her in her arms.

'No wonder why that bastard used you as his bomb,' Sarah grimaced. 'Rotten…all of them!' "Alright, pack everything. We're leaving."

Then she smiled at the little girl, who was now being carried by Carol. "We can't wait to bring you home with us. Once we are there, we'll unlink your armlets, and then treat your injury in urgent care. Then by tomorrow, you should be able to walk. Did you know that we AGEs heal superfast?"

"Mm mm," Alice shook her head.

"And our leader is a very kind man who takes care of us. You'll never be scorned again simply for who you are," Sarah smiled. "We have many kids like you back there, and I'm sure you'll make good friends once we get back to our place, a good place for people like us. We are family."

"Yeah..," Alice nodded with a smile.


Around the same time.

"What was that about?" Hugo murmured.

"All units, return to base," Amy said. "And please meet on the bridge after stowing your God Arcs."

"Roger," Hugo nodded. "It's over. Let's head back."

Then he turned before noticing Jerad standing still. "Hey, are you OK?"

"Fuck..," Jerad shut his eyes, and began gritting his teeth. "FUUUUCK!"

And he threw his sniper gun down. "GOD DAMN YOU ALL!"

"Hey, calm down!" Hugo dropped his sword before grabbing his shoulders. "Look at the goddamn positive side for once! Whatever the hell just happened, Gleipnir got their hands on Inukai, which means, he won't FUCK with YOU, CLAIRE, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY PHYM, ANYMORE! You got me?! Will you stop fucking obsessing on revenge?! IT'S OVER! Phym is safe now! Think about this for a second!"

"Whatever..," Jerad swatted his hands off. "It's done, anyway. It is what it is…"

After this, Hugo watched him pick up his sniper gun, and daring not to be in his way, everyone stepped aside as they watched him head towards their ship. With this heart aching sight, Claire shut her eyes, and winced.

Then 30 minutes later, everyone was walking across the hall in the Laboratory Block when an elevator in front of them suddenly opened, and it was Phym.

"Daddy!" Phym quickly latched on him.

"Phym..?" Jerad closed his eyes as he lifted her up. "You haven't slept..?"

"I'm so scared..," Phym murmured. "And it was so dark…"

"Alright..," Jerad sighed. "Well..we are here now."

Then they proceeded to the elevator, and on the bridge, Hilda was waiting for them.

"Ready to see something entertaining?" Hilda smiled before pressing her remote, and the large screen turned on showing Inukai humiliatingly forced on a bench. As soon as one of the guards holding Inukai noticed that the screen was now live, he visibly paused and raised his eyes before continuing.

"Hm?" Levin raised his eyes. It was clear to him that the guard stared at him for a brief moment.

"Let me go, I'm innocent!" Inukai continued his struggle. "Those from the Chrysanthemum are the real traitors! Arrest all of them!"

In disbelief of his persistence to claim innocence, Hugo crossed his arms, and while at the same time while protectively holding Phym's hand, Jerad angrily winced. Shortly after, they heard metallic footsteps on the deck, and annoyed by this, Jerad glanced up before raising his eyes in complete shock to see the governor-general…inside their ship.

"This is most unseemly, Inukai," Abraham's voice almost boomed. "We received news of your support for the Crimson Queen from your own forked tongue."

Then he showed his well cared vintage recorder towards the screen. "On this very vessel."

"What?" Inukai gasped in disbelief. "What are you doing here, Governor-General?"

"Send Doctor Inukai to mission HQ," Abraham ignored him.

"Let go of me! Hands off!" Inukai spat at the two guards, who nevertheless tightened their grip on him. "Without me, Gleipnir's technology will fall 20 years behind. Do you want that, Governor-General?"

Then Abraham plainly stared at him. "Accept your punishment, Inukai."

"Let go! Get off of me!" Inukai pleaded before the screen turned off.

And Hilda turned to him. "Did we play our role enough?"

'What..?' Jerad raised his eyes.

"You mean..you were just trying to sniff out a traitor?" Lulu murmured.

"Ma'am..please explain yourself," Jerad almost exclaimed. "Has this been..?"

"I'm sorry, my good friend," Levin suddenly stood in front of him, and held his shoulders. "Frida, and I..are just as guilty. Yes, this whole thing has been a joint conspiracy scheme between Gleipnir, this vessel, and House Victorious. We have known Inukai's schemes all along, and we worked together to finally apprehend him. We also accepted this task to help you, so please..believe us."

"I'm so sorry, Jerad," Hilda looked away. "Yes..Levin is right, and I knew exactly why they came here. They were sent here by Sofia to help us ensure that our covert mission will succeed. We knew Inukai would come after us the moment we left Arrowhead."

But before Jerad could suspect Claire's involvement, he saw her gasping. "Aunt..?"

"I should have also known that Inukai would never let Phym go free," Ricardo added. "We had to help out in order to avoid future…problems."

"Yes, I learned from Gleipnir that Inukai tried to frame us after the whole incident with Phym right before we arrived to cover his secret dealings with the Crimson Queen," Hilda continued. "I figured that being a grave threat to us, cooperating with them would be the best way to get rid of him."

"But you could have told us, and we'd play along anyway," Hugo argued.

"C'mon, Hilda. You gotta tell us this stuff, anyway," Zeke put his hands behind his head.

"It's not that..simple," Hilda painfully turned to Jerad. "Jerad..I know you cared so much about Phym..but I also could not risk jeopardizing this mission, and did this to protect the governor-general. I'm very sorry, but know that I did all this for everyone's best interest here."

"Oh..," Painfully understanding her, Jerad dejectly stared down.

"And furthermore, I offer my deepest apologies for endangering you," Abraham added. "But you will be awarded with appropriate compensation. You have done us a great service, and your skills are remarkable."

Then he turned to Hilda. "Thank you, Hilda. With the Ash Storms settling, my escorts should arrive soon."

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to provide better quarters," Hilda apologized.

"But on the contrary. Being in a place like this suits me better than a stifling meeting room," Abraham replied.

"Yes..sir," Hilda hesitantly replied.

Then to everyone's surprise, Abraham approached Jerad, who was still staring down. "Please, take good care of Hilda for me. Do not think less of her."

Shocked awake from his deep contemplation by Abraham's hand on his shoulder, Jerad suddenly looked up, and froze.

"I do understand that you AGEs have a great burden to bear," Abraham put his hand back. "However, in order that humanity might survive these desolate times, I'm afraid it is unavoidable…I beg your assistance in this."

Then he paused to stare at him for a few more moments, and then at the young woman in white beside him who worriedly had her hands clutched together as if she was praying while staring between him, and her brother. He can definitely see his late two subordinates in them…

Shortly after, they felt a rumble from outside, a sign that one of Gleipnir's two military ashcrawlers had finally arrived.

"I must go," Abraham continued. "Until we meet again…"

"I'll walk with you," Hilda began walking beside him.

"Hilda," Hugo called. "Can we… talk about Werner at some point?"

Then somehow, Jerad noticed Abraham paused, and being reminded of earlier, he glanced at his right shoulder and then back at him before he slowly dusted it with his left hand three times…

"Sure..," Hilda hesitantly agreed. "Let's talk in our office once I get back."

"Ma'am, do you need me to come as well..?" Ricardo stepped forward.

"It's fine. Please rest," Hilda smiled. "I'm sure Gleipnir will send their own God Eaters from their vessels to make sure we're safe."

"Alright," Ricardo leaned back.

After Hilda, and Abraham boarded the elevator, and its door shut, Amy turned down to her console. "Everyone…I think you'll have to see this."

"Hm?" Hugo turned to her.

"What I saw earlier," Amy pressed a few buttons before the large screen turned on. "This is my recording of the resonance radar from the battle earlier before their signals appeared. Wait for a few seconds."

Then after everyone watched, three Ashborn signals blipped for a split second before disappearing, and then Amy played back. With perfect timing from her fast finger, she pressed pause in that very second they appeared again.

"What in the hell?!" Zeke froze.

"Yes, those three yellow large signals are Ashborns that were about 10 miles away which I reported earlier before disappearing. This was the time I warned you about them," Amy explained. "And this is our current position."

"Hmph..!" Jerad's eyes furrowed.

"Huh," Levin blinked his eyes. "Our situation could have been definitely worse, but why did we only fight one?"

"I'm about to move to the next part, where it becomes more interesting," Amy fast-forwarded the video, and like last time, she perfectly timed her video pause. "They appeared again in that same area, and this time, they are now surrounded by these red unidentified contacts, implying that there was an ongoing battle there. Their signals disappeared again for a few minutes, but wait again…"

She forwards the video slowly. "Their signals reappeared, and this time, there are only two Ashborns shown. Also around the same time, an Engage has also been detected."

Then she paused the video.

"Engage?!" Hugo exclaimed. "That likely means the red dots fighting those three were AGEs, and one of those Ash Aragami was already killed!"

"I highly suspected it," Amy murmured. "Also, one of the two Ashborns left seemed to have fled the combat zone, and headed towards our direction. It was the time I finally reported to you that we had one coming which was eventually identified as Ra."

"Ah," Hugo paused. "That explains why…"

"Huh, what is it?" Trista turned to him.

"I'm not sure if any of you guys noticed because of all the chaos, but I saw first hand that Ra was already hurt," Hugo murmured. "It had damages all over it when it crossed us. Bullet holes, cuts, and then a huge gash on its chest. It reminded me of a dead one about a month ago when I was looking for one to lure onto Inukai's ship! That wound could have been inflicted by the same AGE!"

"Your suspect was spot on, Hugo," Frida murmured.

"Hm?" Levin turned to her.

"We talked about this during our battle after we switched out," Frida replied. "That someone…or even more people already fought this Ash Aragami before it fled to us."

Then Ricardo suddenly laughed. "That was an impressive perception, Hugo. You could make a hell of an investigator."

"Thanks," Hugo smiled back.

"Heh, then whoever he is, he must get his kicks cutting Ashborns into two like tomatoes," Zeke laughed. "And now we really know we're not the only Ashborn ass kickers out here, huh? Who are they?"

"Considering all the leads we have now, and what other party besides Gleipnir was involved in our mission earlier, I have only one suspect," Hugo murmured.

"The Crimson Queen," Levin answered for him.

"You got it," Hugo glanced at him. "It's very likely now that they're the ones behind destroying those routes. They somehow knew we're out to sniff them, and have been outsmarting us."

"And for the rest of that, you pretty much know the history when you clashed with Ra," Amy said. "But let's continue on to see this other side of the battle happening alongside yours. I admit it was quite entertaining."

Then she giggled before playing the video again, and saw the few red dots move around the last Ashborn while the rest of the others converged with them.

"Hah, those Crimson Queen guys had that thing's ass now," Zeke laughed, and after a few seconds. "Oh, man. Even that last Ashborn got spooked, and tried to get away from them, but…"

"Please keep watching," Amy smiled.

"Wow, one of them just stopped it in its tracks," Lulu gasped. "And that AGE was quick."

"Oh, they ain't letting that bastard get away, alright," Zeke laughed again. "Even surrounded it, and it even still tried to get away, but they kept ranching that thing back."

"Like wolves cornering their prey..," Trista chuckled before turning to Shin. "Doesn't that remind you of us?"

"Oh, definitely," Shin smiled back.

"Wha..?" Hugo stepped forward as they watched that red dot move fast around the Ashborn for a few seconds before it stopped.

"Well, if I was their operator, I could have told them that there were no more Oracle responses detected on that contact," Amy giggled before everyone saw the Ashborn contact finally disappeared.

"Whoa, Shin. I think you found your match!" Trista complimented. "Whoever he is."

"I..would like to beg to differ, captain," Amy paused the video with a smile. "Shin is still definitely faster. Our resonance radar's frame rate limits cannot keep up with him, so whenever he moves around with his acceleration trigger on, his signal just…skips around. He sometimes confuses our resonance radar by making erratic detections of him before it finally picks up an accurate fix."

Then everyone laughed, even Jerad who let out a small chuckle.

"Thank you, Amy," Shin bowed. "I'm still the fastest man in the world."

And everyone laughed again.

"Just now, I noticed a lone red signal there," Claire pointed at the one isolated from the rest after the Ashborn's disappearance. "Could that AGE be injured?"

"Maybe..," Amy murmured. "After I lost signal to their Engage, that contact moved again a few minutes after, and joined the others. Here are the last parts."

She played the video again. "For some reason, they hustled to a certain location before disappearing, which was seemingly a small cave."

"So, that's where they're hiding from, a cave just big enough to fit a trailer in," Hugo murmured. "They're spying on us, but I wonder how."

Then Ricardo furrowed his eyes. "Amy, could you zoom into that location?"

"No problem," Amy paused the video, and zoomed in.

"Well, look at that," Ricardo grinned. "Their trailer, and their two bikes parked close to it. Just as we thought earlier. They are behind all this."

"Wow, those bikes sure look pretty cool looking," Jerad smiled.

"Oh, trust me. They're damn fun," Ricardo turned to him. "Daris used to ride one, remember?"

"So these are the motorized two wheels," Keith held his chin. "Their engines does seemingly look small. Fascinating."

"And then about 30 minutes later, they boarded their vehicles, and departed the area. Direction away from our position," Amy fast-forwarded until the video actually showed them leaving. "There they are."

"Hmph..! One of those two bikers seemed to be having fun," Jerad chuckled. "Popping his front wheel up just like that."

"Then that's where it ends," Amy pressed the button. "I stopped watching them at that time since they're no longer a potential threat but kept recording it, and then Levin killed Ra. I honestly didn't see them leave until I played this video again, and they must have left while the governor-general was still here."

"Oh yeah, speaking of that," Trista grinned at Levin. "A reggie killing an Ashborn!"

Then everyone laughed.

"Seeing this now, we really owe our lives to these guys," Hugo murmured. "Our situation could have been a LOT worse."

"Indeed, truly," Levin nodded.

"And to see that a squad of these can take on three Ashborns was scary even for me, I had to say," Trista commented. "I can't imagine us being able to handle them. We gotta step up cus' if these guys can do it, then so can we. I wouldn't want to cross God Arcs with them, yet."

"Yeah, but the fact is," Levin scratched the back of his head. "We don't know if they are truly our enemy or not since they never attacked us when they had a few chances to, but I'm nevertheless thankful. I hope we can be friends, somehow."

"We'll see," Hugo closed his eyes. "I'd like to hope for the same thing, but they are an extremist group of our fellow AGEs, so I wouldn't want to get my hopes up yet."

Then they suddenly heard a beep in their radios.

"Everyone, can you hear me?" Hilda asked. "I'm finished, but Gleipnir had to make some preparations, and debrief before we can depart. We are heading back to Arrowhead together."

Then Jerad closed his eyes while snorting.

"Now may be the perfect time to discuss what we need," Hilda continued. "Please come to my office."

"Roger, ma'am," Amy nodded. "We are on our way."

Then a few minutes later in Hilda's Office.

"OK, so you had connections with Werner?" Hugo crossed his arms.

"Yes, we were once students of the same lab," Hilda replied. "He was a gifted researcher. Everyone had their eyes on him. He was intelligent, hardworking, and genuine…Those traits attracted me."

'Ex-lovers, huh?' Jerad mused.

"The world was still being ravaged by Aragami, but for us, they were tranquil days," Hilda continued. "I had faith that we'd be side-by-side forever…Until that day came."

"The Calamity?" Hugo murmured.

"That's right," Hilda replied. "Everything changed on that day. My life, and his, too..."

'The time I lost mother, and father,' Levin closed his eyes.

'Mom..dad..,' Misha frowned.

"I understand..," Hugo murmured.

"I didn't mean to keep this from you," Hilda turned to them. "I'm sorry."

"Everyone has a secret or two…That's only natural," Hugo commented. "One other thing. What's your relation to the governor-general? It's something I noticed before. You two seem to go a long way back."

"That's because..," Hilda frowned. "Werner is the governor-general's son."

Then Jerad raised his eyes.

"Huh?" Hugo almost jumped. "So this is all a father-son quarrel?"

"Everyone in the area who survived the Calamity owes it to the governor-general and Gleipnir," Hilda replied. "But there were many sacrifices as well…That includes the existence of AGEs. Werner could never accept those sacrifices. He threw himself into the fray to protect the weak who were written off by Gleipnir."

"And then he formed the Crimson Queen," Hugo added.

"So, he's a hero..?" Jerad murmured.

Then Hilda glanced at him for a second. "Perhaps in a sense..."

And she frowned. "But I wonder if there was a way to stop him. If I had been braver, like all of you, then things could've been different. If I could stand up to the world's despair…"

"Hmph..!" Jerad closed his eyes. "You only did what you could…"

Then Hilda glanced at him again..with some doubt in his claim.

"You should listen, Hilda. You really did fight on your own way," Hugo began consoling her. "Your Port is a paradise, and this ship…You've got AGEs, regular God Eaters, and a mess of kids who need your helping hand. Everyone does what they can, and helps open the door to a new tomorrow. We might not be related, but…we're a family. All of that is here now because you never gave up. You kept fighting."

"Thank you…both of you," Hilda gave them a pained look. "You're both right. We need to look toward the future, not the past."

And Jerad frowned.

"Let's head on home, Hilda." Hugo smiled. "We don't want to get surrounded by Aragami again."

"Right. Let's go home," Hilda forced a smile. "Gleipnir should be ready soon, so we might as well as begin start ups. Amy, Ricardo, to your stations. This vessel is returning to HQ. The rest of you, please get some rest. I've brought so much weight on you."

"Don't worry about it..," Jerad shook his head. "I'm not bothered by it anymore. We still owed a lot to you, anyway…"

Then Hilda paused for a few seconds. "Thank you, it meant a lot to me."

And then she made a forced, yet meaningful smile. "Please keep taking good care of Phym. You'd make a great father one day…"

"Hm..," Jerad closed his eyes as Hugo glanced at him.

"Then, let's head for the lobby," Hugo murmured. "It's really late, but I'm not fine hitting the bed without decompressing, first."

"After the chaos, the Aragami outside the circle of Ash Storms were driven away from our position, so I'm not expecting a fight for a while," Amy added.

"So…that means we can drink even for a bit, right..?" Trista leaned towards her owner with a smile. "Right?"

"Yes, please do, and enjoy," Hilda smiled again. "And it could be up to two days until we finally return to Arrowhead, and this operation training is officially over, so please take a short but well deserved vacation until then."

Then once they are in the hallway, Jerad, Claire, and Phym are behind everyone, letting Hilda, Ricardo, and Amy enter first so they can move up to the bridge, and begin their start up operation.

"Daddy..?" Phym tugged his hand.

"What is it..?" Jerad wearily glanced at her.

"Is the Boogeyman gone..?" Phym pleadingly asked with her puppy eyes.

And in spite of his fatigue to even talk further, Jerad could not help but answer, and inhaled deep in his chest. "Yeah…the boogeyman is gone. Daddy scared him away."

Then unbeknownst to them, Claire has been holding her lips, and finally laughed.

And in response, Jerad made a low chuckle. "What's so funny..?"

"The boogeyman, of course," Claire wiped a small tear off her eyes. "Where did you get that idea from?"

"Yeah, did you mean, boogerman?" Zeke leaned forward.

"That's gross, Zeke. Do your ears need cleaning?" Lulu grimaced. "He meant it clearly as the boogeyman."

'Well, maybe you can have him lay on your lap, and clean his ears,' Shin quietly smirked in amusement. 'If only you two were Japanese people, heh.'

Then his smirk slowly faded. 'Thinking about it now, doesn't Lulu seem..?'

"Well, my dad used to scare me with that so I could go to sleep on time," Jerad began smirking.

'Dad…I remember,' Misha mused.

"Well, since now you know, if you two are gonna pump kids later, then you gotta know about that monster to keep them in line, and make sure they don't do bad things," Jerad laughed, who seemingly forgot his fatigue. "Just a protip for ya."

'Kid..s?! Did he mean..?' Lulu covered her mouth in embarrassment, and impulsively made a quick glance at her belly much to her regret. Part of her felt so angry that she wanted to immediately retaliate, but another part of her made it too embarrassing to do so.

"What the hell, man?" Zeke glared at him. "That was uncalled for."

"Hey, I'm just telling you how it was used," Jerad chuckled before glancing at Phym. "So yeah, too bad devils are scarier than mere boogeymen. He put him in his place."

Then everyone finally laughed.

"I'm so tired..," Jerad sighed.

"I know, buddy," Hugo put his arm above his shoulders with a smile. "We all are. Let's all just enjoy our drinks together, and forget about these. We're moving on, and then have a nice shower after."

"I'll start brewing tea soon," Claire murmured.

"I'll join you on that," Misha grinned.

"Roster me in," Levin said.

"Um, me too," Frida shyly added. "I can't drink alcohol, so I'll absolutely go for tea."

Unaware of this, Jerad quietly made a mischievous smirk behind her. "Hey, how about this? We save the drink for tomorrow night, and we all drink tea, and play a little poker for now."

"Are you serious, Jerad?" Trista grimaced. "You blue baller!"

"But tonight, you get to drink to a hangover if you want," Jerad grinned. "Owner said up to a few days until we get back to that shitty Port, right? Plus we owe the Reaper Cutie a party here. What ya say?"

'Cutie..,' Claire grimaced.

"Yeah, I'm starting to think it might not be a good idea to indulge in our drinks while we're all tired, and up so late," Hugo murmured. "It's even past midnight now, so I'd say let's hold off until tonight technically speaking. What you say, Tris?"

"You guys are weak, but fine," Trista shrugged. "All combat crew tea time, then."


In the ashlands, Sarah continued driving before glancing at her co-driver, who was staring out the side window with Alice soundly asleep in her arms. Alice looked at peace, and safe, but Sarah nevertheless felt pity for the girl, suffering an injury in her leg, and yet, her armlets remain linked. She could never imagine her surviving in these dangerous wastelands even without her Ash Storm generator, and without them, she would have never be given a chance to experience real life, something this cruel world outside the Crimson Queen will not allow them to have. Now thinking further on this, she remembered the Ash Storms set around Ash Crawler Chrysanthemum's position, and those AGEs, possibly also children like Alice…died for something trivial…all for one wretched man's greed. She closed her eyes for a few seconds to have a moment of silence for the unfortunate souls to reach paradise in the afterlife before performing the sign of the cross with her right hand, and regretting that somehow, if only she knew better beforehand that she could could have possibly saved them as well; she would have even scrambled all over their operating area to save their lives, if located. After this, she opened her eyes again, glancing at her side mirror to see two headlights, showing that Leon, and Jaffar are still safely behind them.

A few hours later in their hideout's garage.

"It's good to see you back and safe, sir," A male intel div squad member greeted.

"Yeah, glad to be back," Feng murmured to his squad member. "It was rough, but..we lived to see another day."

"And did I hear from Lisette that..you fought three Ash Aragami out there?" Another male squad member from Jaffar asked.

"That, we definitely did," Jaffar smiled. "Crazy, huh?"

"Definitely, sir," His squad member froze before frowning. "With that much you could do, I'm starting to wonder if I can…"

Then he suddenly felt his captain's hand on his shoulder.

"My brother, you will get there someday. Keep your head up," Jaffar smiled. "Remember that you are part of this elite group, and you are here for a reason. You will get there, someday. I used to be where you are, so just keep working hard, and looking forward. OK?"

"Yes, sir. We will," His squad member, and along with others listening stood up. "Thank you, sir."

"You guys are the ones who helped Werner wipe those Aragami out, right?" Sarah joined them.

"Y-yes, commander. We're absolutely there!" Jaffar, Sarah, and Feng's squad members all stood at attention. "We drove them out, ma'am."

"Please be at ease," Sarah chuckled. "But you all did so swiftly that by the time we crossed the area, it was filled with nothing but Aragami corpses, so good job out there. Like Captain Al-Rashid just said, just keep going, and you'll get there. You already showed by helping Werner repel them out so effectively. I bet he's proud of all of you."

"H-he did commend us, so thank you, ma'am," Their squadmates made brief nods.

"Have you guys already eaten?" Sarah asked.

"N-not yet, ma'am," One of the squad members replied. "Right after Werner finished the last, we decided to check the area to make sure there are no Aragami alive left.., and it was a good thing we did. We had to kill a few more before we came back, and then we decided to be on standby in case you get attacked on the way here, and we could redeploy as reinforcements to make sure you come back safe."

"Oh my, good work. That makes me really proud," Sarah smiled at them. "Then join us in our feast. We have a nice war story to tell you about once we're done eating before we all take a nice shower, and go to bed. Please take it as further inspiration, too."

"Absolutely, ma'am!" A quiet female squad member finally spoke.

"You guys take care of the rest," Sarah turned to the garage exit. "I have to report to Werner immediately."

"Understood, ma'am," Carol nodded while already carrying Alice from her passenger seat. "We'll take it from here."

"I'll see you later," Sarah gave Alice a playful wave with a big smile before going through the exit, and Alice waved back.

"So..captain," A squad member turned to Jaffar. "How did the mission go? Mainly Inukai..?"

"Hm, sadly we'll never have the humanoid Aragami anymore," Jaffar murmured. "Inukai got arrested by Gleipnir."

Then all members of the three squads gasped.

"Then..how will Werner finish our bias factor upgrade?!" One of his male squad members stepped forward.

"Werner apparently has a different solution in case this fails," Jaffar murmured. "But for now, don't talk about this until we're sure of what will happen, and as much as I hate to say it, but take it as a direct order from me. I don't want to start any rumors."

"Yeah, I also have to agree with Jaffar with this," Feng turned to his squadmates. "You guys, too. You know how rumors spread fast in HQ, and I'm pretty sure our commander would want the same thing. Keep a tight lip about this until then, and we don't want to risk hurting our organization's morale. Everyone has been working hard back there, so let's not make it any worse for them."

"Yes, sir," A male squad member nodded. "For now, we'll keep doing our best."

"Thanks," Feng smiled. "Let's finish wrapping up the rest of these, and we have a new member I want you guys to welcome."

A few minutes earlier.

"Alice, wait here," Carol placed her on a seat. "We'll have to unpack our things, and I'll call one of our technicians to come here, and unlink your armlets. Then I'll take you to our urgent care, and have your leg treated by wrapping it with bandage and two splints, possibly to also give you a crutch until you heal hopefully by tomorrow. Afterwards, I'll take you to our galley, and have you sit on one of our benches until we eat. I'll be cooking for everyone this..morning. Are you hungry?"

"Yeah…kinda," Alice timidly replied.

"That's great. Carrie is an awesome cook," Feng suddenly patted the little girl's head before sitting beside her, and turning back to his friend. "We just finished emptying the trailer, and they're now ready to be stowed back in base."

Then he turned back to the girl. "We haven't had a chance to talk yet, but your name is Alice, right?"

"Yeah," Alice nodded.

"Cute. I'm Feng Long," Feng reached for a handshake.

"Fang..Long?" Alice raised her eyes before the two chuckled.

"It's Feng," Feng smiled. "It's an eastern name. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too," Alice smiled back. "Mister."

"Oh, is this the girl you just rescued? Poor thing..," One of the male squad members arrived, and Alice whimpered.

"Don't be scared. I'm Jaffar, by the way," Jaffar reached for a handshake, and Alice hesitantly took it. "Me, and Leon first met you, remember?"

"Yep, that's me, Leon Castillo. They're all my boys, and girls here," Leon put his arms around Jaffar, and Neal's shoulders with a chuckle. "I'm actually also my commander's little brother, the good lady who told you we're going to save you, and this is Lucia, the one who took that bad thing out of your armlet."

Then he turned back. "Hey, Lucia. Come up front, and introduce yourself."

"We already got acquainted," Lucia murmured as she moved to the front. "Remember me?"

"Yeah, Lucia," Alice smiled. "T-thank you for removing that bad thing from me."

"It's my pleasure..," Lucia smiled.

"And this guy here who scared you?" Jaffar snickered as he grabbed one of his male squad member's neck by the elbow, and started grinding his head with his knuckle. "This scary kid is Lloyd, my unofficial trusty right hand man. Haha!"

"Oww, captain!" Lloyd whined as he struggled to break away from his officer's grip, and Jaffar released him which made everyone behind them chuckle. Alice could not help but finally giggle.

"We're your brothers, and sisters," Leon grinned. "Just like you are now. Don't be a stranger to us, and just like my older sister once said, you are a family member now."

"Yeah, we are family here in the Crimson Queen," Neal smiled.

"Crimson..Queen..?" Alice murmured.

"It's the name of our organization who help people like you," Neal chuckled. "And our leader is a great man who takes care of us, and you'll see him soon enough. He's here. My name's Neal, and this is my faithful assistant, Sonia."

"Aww, you are such a cute one," Sonia bent forward with glee. "Yes, I'm Sonia Jung, nice to meet you, too."


And just on the highest level of their hideout which is Werner's favorite scenic area, and his place to smoke.

"Werner, sir," Sarah stood behind him.

"It's good to see everyone back safely," Werner softly said as he turned to her. "What is it?"

"Doctor Inukai has been apprehended," Sarah reported. "We learned that Gleipnir has been aware of his secret dealings with us for some time now, and they finally made their move."

"Hm, it was as everything as I feared," Werner closed his eyes, and then to avoid secondhand smoke out of courtesy, he cut his tobacco tip off with a cigar cutter. "Then I'll have to execute the final solution to complete the last step for our new P73c bias factor, but I must speak with Commander Hector Brandt, and Vice Commander Amelia Brandt for their consent beforehand."

Then Sarah raised her eyes. "Is this about…Mark?"

"Yes..," Werner nodded. "Perhaps his blood sample contains the final piece of the formula to complete our upgrade. I am loathe to do this myself, but we no longer have a choice…Our survival for our upcoming utopia depends on this."

"Then sir, I also have close relations with Hector, and Amelia," Sarah stepped forward. "Would you want me to speak to them on your behalf?"

"No, that is not necessary," Werner shook his head. "I appreciate it, but this is very important. I will personally speak to them."

"Understood, sir," Sarah nodded.

"How is the young girl?" Werner smiled. "Is she currently being treated?"

"Yes, sir. Her armlets should be unlinked by now, and are likely being treated in urgent care. She suffered a leg fracture before we found her," Sarah replied. "And her name is Alice, sir."

"Very good. Thank you for saving her," Werner smiled again before turning away. "I would like to see her myself after this. Good work."

"Thank you, sir," Sarah nodded.

"Children are the seeds of humanity's future, we must nourish, and protect them..regardless of who they are, and be taught with great values. That is our responsibility as their elders, one that the rot of the outside world has long forgotten," Werner slowly shook his head. "Otherwise, humanity cannot hope to survive as a species as it stands."

"Absolutely, sir," Sarah firmly agreed. 'I see now. With Chrysanthemum being an orphanage, and then you...'

"We no longer have a reason to stay here," Werner turned back to her. "Ten hours from now, we will secure this base after our late breakfast, and head back to HQ. I will immediately speak to them alone after we arrive. Rest well after your meal. You all must be exhausted.., and thank you for your report."

"Understood, sir," Sarah nodded. "May I take my leave."

"Mm," Werner nodded in acknowledgement before Sarah left. He relit his tobacco before drawing in, and then blowing to relieve himself of the grim outcome. He tapped his tobacco off of its ash before staring at the horizon, watching the moon sink down into the mountains for an upcoming dawn.


This is the end of Rank 4 of the story, and Rank 5 will begin next chapter. As a bonus, and a 'thank you' for reading my story this far, I decided to show my video gameplay pf my OCs from the game itself, however, this can only be done in the AO3 version of this chapter so please check that, if you are interested. Until then, see you all in Chapter 34.