Korla's lifeless, headless body collapsed to the pavement. As blood poured from it, Shaska fell to her knees right beside it. The tears began to flow again, but this time they were accompanied by screaming and wailing and sobbing that could be heard all across Piedmont Street. Zinnia couldn't help but start crying at the sight as well, cupping her free hand to her mouth.

Shaska was completely unable to think coherent thoughts; all that registered in her mind was pain. She couldn't even scream her sister's name anymore; the only thing that would come out was unintelligible gargling and wailing as rivers of tears poured down her face.

She eventually grabbed her head and began screaming skyward, then began pounding the pavement, leaving cracks and craters in it from her fists.

As all this transpired, Izmena's laugh transformed into a mad cackle.

"Ohohohoho… AAAAAAHAHAHAHA!"

"You… you are a monster… a monster in human flesh!" Zinnia growled, wiping the tears from her eyes and reassuming her combat stance.

"Sure I am! But what are you going to do about it, girlie?" Izmena casually responded.

Zinnia looked down at Shaska, whose crying hadn't even begun to cease, then looked back up at Izmena. "On behalf of my boss, and of all the other people you have murdered, I will destroy you!"

She swung at Izmena with Ruth, but the latter dodged with a quick Shave technique, appearing right behind Zinnia. She then sliced Zinnia's back open with her sword, the tearing of Zinnia's shirt revealing her slave brand.

As Zinnia reeled from the pain of the attack, Izmena laughed again. "Oho! A slave brand! So you must understand when trash needs to be taken out! A brand like that permanently marks you as less than human!"

"Grrr!" was all Zinnia could respond with as she swiveled around for another strike, but again, Izmena Shaved away, this time landing on top of a building.

"Tell me, should I take you out too?" Izmena inquired.

She pulled her leg back, then kicked the air with the force of a hurricane, creating a razor wind that slashed open the ground. Zinnia barely managed to dodge as Izmena called "TEMPEST KICK!"

Izmena then assumed her half-rhino form and Shaved back down to the street. She then Shaved directly into Zinnia's gut, horn first. Though her horn was dull, it still did a great deal of damage, and Zinnia went flying down Piedmont Street, bouncing off the pavement and leaving large cracks several times as she did so.

Zinnia struggled to her feet, huffing and puffing as she did so. Izmena just laughed.

"Ohoho! Worthless! Absolute worthless garbage!"

Zinnia huffed and puffed, then ducked into an alley and pulled out her transponder snail again.

"Think! Who should I call?!"

She quickly dialed Schwarz again.

"What's up?"

"Mister Schwarz! I desperately need backup! The Marine who destroyed that city is here on Piedmont Street and Shaska is incapacitated!"

"Shaska?! Incapacitated?!" shouted an incredulous Schwarz.

"I do not have time to explain! Find us, quickly!"

"But tha—"

Caaaalick

Zinnia hung up, then promptly dialed Ren.

"Hello?"

"Miss Ren! I need backup! Do you know where Piedmont Street is?!"

"I can try to find it! What is matter?!"

"The Marine who destroyed your town is here and I cannot fight her alone!"

Ren's blood ran cold, then she said "I'm on it. I will try to find you, pronto!"

Caaaaalick

"Okay, that should be enou—" Zinnia started thinking.

But then, Izmena Shaved into the alley, appearing right behind her.

"Ohoho… what're you doing, slave girl?"

Zinnia slowly turned around to face Izmena, who already towered over her normally, but in Izmena's half-rhino form, she was massive compared to the six and a half foot tall Zinnia. Zinnia, normally slow to process things, processed this terror quickly.

Izmena delivered a mighty kick to Zinnia's gut, sending her flying out of the alley and through the wall of the building across the street. All the while, bystanders ran away in fear. Or they tried, at least. The unlucky ones found themselves cut down by Izmena.

As Zinnia stood up from the hole in the building, Izmena started walking closer.

"What were you doing in that alley, slave? Calling for backup?"

"And if I was…?" Zinnia panted.

"Well, then it won't quite be a fair fight unless I get some backup too~!" Izmena declared in a sing-songy voice, pulling out a transponder snail and dialing it.

"Since when do you care about fair fighting?!" Zinnia shouted. Ruth hissed in agreement.

"Commodore Vryzk!" Izmena ordered. "Meet me at the bakery on Piedmont Street yesterday!"

"At once, Vice Admiral Izmena!"

Quick as a whip, a buff man with a bomb tattoo on his right shoulder and spiky black hair wearing a surgical mask Shaved onto Piedmont Street.

"Oh no…" was all Zinnia was able to say.

—

The soldiers of Minus World continued their march up the highway toward Lant, slaughtering anyone in their path. The lead officer began a chant.

"I don't know what I've been told!"

"I don't know what I've been told!" chanted the other five thousand troops in unison.

"The world's future is red and gold!"

"The world's future is red and gold!"

"Aaaah… music to my ears…" muttered von Esens.

Sixty minutes remain until Minus World reaches Lant.

—

At the northern end of Piedmont Street, about a mile and a half away from Shaska, Johnson and Franco's duel had begun in earnest. The explosion of Korla's bomb collar and Shaska's subsequent screams could be heard, but Johnson was too distracted by his current engagement to help.

"OSTRICH FLASH!" Johnson called as he sprung off the ground with his back foot and flipped backward with his front foot extended, creating a razor wind with his ostrich talons. Franco dodged.

"CRESCENT MOON SLASH!" Franco retorted. He sliced the air with his sword, and the shockwave flew outward and sliced the building behind Johnson clean in half, though Johnson himself dodged.

"Very impressive, Lieutenant! You're a lot tougher than you used to be!" Franco exclaimed.

"Fight for real, Franco!" Johnson chided. "We both know you're packing a lot more firepower with those fancy new robot limbs!"

"Hmph! Very well!"

Franco sheathed his sword and held out his robot arm, palm facing Johnson. A cannon popped out and fired a powerful laser. Johnson attempted to dodge, but the blast got him clear through the shoulder.

As Johnson reflexively grabbed his shoulder in pain, Franco drew his sword again and charged at him.

"Behold the power of Marine science! That laser? Modeled after the force of Admiral Kizaru's Glint Glint Fruit! You can't be faster than light!"

Franco then charged as fast as he could shield-first into Johnson, propelled by rocket boosters in his robot legs. Johnson was knocked through the wall of another building.

"JUSTICE SMASH!"

As Johnson struggled to his feet, Franco ordered "give up, Lieutenant! I was already stronger than you before! Now I'm a living prototype of the government's human weapons program! Soon there'll be an entire army of me!"

Johnson huffed and puffed, then asked "Franco. What do you think you're fighting for?"

"Justice, obviously!"

"And you think going with a crooked government that covers up the worst crimes against humanity is how you do that?!"

"What?"

"Surely you don't believe the official narrative of what transpired in the Mazurka Kingdom!" Johnson shouted. "I wasn't there myself, but I've worked with Shaska for a while now, and she wouldn't do something so heinous!"

"The government wouldn't lie to us! And don't call me Shir—"

"THAT'S NOT FUNNY!" Johnson shouted even louder. "OSTRICH DROPKICK!"

Johnson leapt forward and, true to the attack's name, drop kicked Franco with the full force of an ostrich.

It was then that Puerco arrived on the scene, turning in from a cross street. He saw the two fighting and called out "hey, birdson! Need some help?!"

"It would be appreciated, yes!"

"Hmph. A two-on-one, eh? Not particularly just of you, Lieutenant," said Franco. "No matter. CRESCENT MOON SLASH!"

Franco slashed the air in Puerco's direction, and the resulting shockwave took Puerco's head off.

"Puerc!" Johnson cried.

"That was your backup?" asked a puzzled Franco.

Johnson buried his face in his wing hands and muttered "guess all that training was for nothing."

The training was not for nothing. Puerco's headless body ran forward and delivered a devastating knee strike to Franco's back. As Franco turned around, he was met with an uppercut to the chin. Johnson wasted no time and began making tiny micro-flaps with his wing arms, the spinning air currents building up in front of him.

Puerco's bees picked up his head and brought it back to his currently fighting body, sticking it back on with beeswax.

"What are you?!" Franco shouted.

"I'm un-bee-lievable!" Puerco retorted.

Both Johnson and Franco briefly stopped what they were doing to go "UGH!" at that pun.

"BIRDSON! NOW!"

"Oh yeah!" Johnson replied, turning his focus back to the massive spinning air current that had built up in front of him. He flapped as hard as he could, and the force trapped Franco in the spinning air current, knocking him around like a ragdoll.

"OSTRICH HURRICANE!"

Franco went flying through a building. Then another building. Then across the next street. Then finally landed in another building, unconscious from having been repeatedly slammed through bricks.

Johnson huffed and puffed, clutching his bleeding shoulder. He transformed back to his human self and sat down.

"Teamwork makes the dream work!" Puerco declared. He then noticed Johnson's messed up shoulder. "Want me to take care of that?"

"Nah… not right now… You hear that? Down there…?"

Johnson pointed south. Around the corner, Shaska was screaming.

"Is that… Shaska?" Puerco asked.

"I think so… something must be seriously wrong down there. I'm too busted up to go check it out, though."

"I can't just leave a teammate wounded!" Puerco exclaimed. "C'mon, Shaska can handle herself. You need medical attention, stat!"

"Rrrr… alright. I hope this doesn't wind up with our leader dead."

—

Freddie and Delilah were hiding inside an evacuated building together on Piedmont Street, listening to the commotion outside. Delilah couldn't help but break down crying.

"I messed up! I messed up so bad!"

Freddie put his arm around her as she sobbed.

"Look, I'm not gonna say 'it's okay', considering the boss fired you the moment she found out. I don't know how you're gonna get out of a war zone like this. But…"

He trailed off, unable to think of anything that could possibly comfort her at this time.

"And what about my husband?!" Delilah cried. "I need to get back to him! But he might die today! Oh, I knew we shouldn't have joined together! Deeeeaaacooooonnnn!"

Freddie stood up, and pulled Delilah up by her shoulders. The two locked eyes.

"Listen. What you're gonna do is go out there and fight like your life depends on it," Freddie said. "Because it does. Nobody said life after the Collective would be easy. Your only chance to get out of here alive is to go out there and put on a show so intense that the boss has no choice but to take you back!"

Delilah wiped away her tears and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah!"

The two grunts picked up their rifles. "Let's go out there and give them hell," said Freddie.

They exited the building… and just barely missed being hit by a stray Tempest Kick from Izmena, the force shaving off the bills of their Marine caps.

"Hoo boy…" they said in unison.

—

Roxanne kept up her pace running down Piedmont Street. In the distance, she heard Shaska's wailing.

"What's that noise…?" she thought. "Sounds like Shaska's voice, but… I've never heard her scream like that…"

Roxanne rounded the corner to the southern end of the street. And she found exactly what she heard earlier: Shaska on her knees, crying her eyes out and screaming her lungs out. But what she also found was Zinnia fighting for her life against two high powered Marines.

"Zinnia! Need a hand?!" Roxanne called.

"I already have two!" Zinnia replied before being kicked through a wall by Commodore Vryzk.

"Hey! Over here!" Roxanne shouted at the Marine officers, which got their attention. She turned around, stuck her butt out, and smacked it. "Come get some!"

Izmena turned to Vryzk and asked "well, are you going to get some, Commodore?"

"Yes ma'am!" Vryzk declared, squaring up.

Vryzk held out his hands, and an array of fireworks shot out toward Roxanne, exploding right in front of her, singing her clothes and temporarily blinding her.

As Roxanne rubbed the stars out of her eyes, Vryzk Shaved right behind her and delivered a mighty kick to the back of her head, shoving her face first into the pavement.

Roxanne spit up blood and a tooth, then turned to face Vryzk. He said "I'm a firework man. Thanks to my Boom Boom Fruit, I can make fireworks!"

"Yeah… I figured…" Roxanne growled in response, still feeling the ringing in her ears.

Roxanne's hands shot toward Vryzk's throat, attempting to bend it shut, but Vryzk Shaved right behind her again. He grabbed her around the waist, then suplexed her head-first into the ground, where she exploded upward.

As she landed face-down on the ground, covered in soot, Vryzk stood over her and held his hand out. "Pathetic," he said. "I expected more from you Worldwide Smoke whelps."

Roxanne coughed and began struggling to her feet. As she did so, she reached into her pocket and pulled out another crumpled up glass bottle.

"Now… hold on… don't you want to see… what I've got next…?"

"Not particularly," Vryzk replied coldly. He grabbed her face and flatly said "kaboom."

Roxanne's eyes whited out, and she lost several more teeth, but she miraculously survived having a firework explode right in her face, albeit being left unconscious. She dropped the glass bottle, where it shattered, releasing lightning all along the ground for about half a mile in every direction. Izmena and Zinnia managed to dodge, but Vryzk got shocked and reflexively dropped Roxanne.

"You're going to regret that," Vryzk growled as he kicked Roxanne in the gut.

Zinnia stood there and watched in horror as her compatriot was brutalized. As she tried to run to help her, Izmena intercepted, Shaving in front of Zinnia and picking her up by the throat.

"Ohoho… so much for your backup, eh…?"

"There are still… several more officers… able to aid me…" Zinnia choked out.

"Amuse me, girl," Izmena responded.

"I am sure… this will keep you… entertained…" Zinnia said with a sly smirk.

Izmena was puzzled for a moment, then Ruth bit her arm and sank her fangs in deep, causing her to scream in pain and drop Zinnia.

"You little…! What is this?!"

"Ruth's fangs secrete a powerful neurotoxin. You will need to have that arm amputated if you wish to survive, monster woman."

"No problem," Izmena growled.

As if it was nothing at all, Izmena used her sword to cut off her own arm at the elbow, much to Zinnia and Ruth's shock. She then used her sleeve off her severed arm to make a makeshift tourniquet to stop the bleeding.

"Do not underestimate what I will do to achieve justice, little girl!"

"I am twenty-two years old," was all Zinnia could say before she was met with a knee strike to the face, sending her flying backward and landing right next to Roxanne.

"Let's get one thing straight," Izmena said, shifting back to her human form. "I will let this city burn and all its inhabitants be slaughtered before I let a single one of you criminals escape. Even if I have to do the burning and slaughtering myself. That is my duty as a Marine Vice Admiral. That is my justice."

Vryzk and Izmena menacingly stood over Zinnia and Roxanne, who was slowly starting to regain consciousness.

"H-Hey, Zinnia…? How screwed are we…?" Roxanne asked, realizing what was going on.

"I… I do not think now is the time to be thinking about intercourse, Miss… Miss Roxanne…"

—

Lulupo looked up and down the street he was on. It was completely empty now. He and his division of grunts had cleared out the southwest section of Lant.

"Hm, it's all quiet in this part of town…" he said to himself, adjusting his glasses. "But I can definitely hear fighting elsewhere!"

Using his powerful legs, he hopped up on top of a nearby building so he could get a better view of the city.

"Oh, I do hope those darlings are okay…"

TO BE CONTINUED