Chapter 22:

4:27 pm.

"NOW!"

*GUHI!*

*BANG!* *BANG!*

The bullets pierce through the air. It tries to move, but the brunette stands her ground. It's as if her entire muscles have contracted and trapped its elongated fingers that is currently piercing her. The twin lead is getting closer, it tries to move its head from side to side.

*BAM!* *BAM!*

It limps lifelessly the moment the bullets pierces through its head.

"Finally… Kh—!"

"Iffy!"

"Dammit! Commander!" the Operator instantly jumps out of his passenger seat and dashes towards his Commander with Compa.

*GUHIII!* *GUHIII!* *GUHIII!* *GUHIII!*

Up above, as though mourning for the loss of its partner, it shakes the MRAP from side to side, trying to tip it over.

"What the hell's happening back there!?" the driver asks, trying to keep the MRAP balance.

"The Commander's been hit!" the Combatant said, as he covers for the Operator and the Nurse, peeking through the hole one of them made.

"Fuck!" the Driver curses.

"Iffy! Are you okay!?" Compa grabs onto IF, laying her down

"…Been worse… Kh! *Blegh!*" IF vomits up a small amount of blood.

"Keep breathing, okay? Slowly pull her out! Hurry!" she immediately tells the Operator.

"Ma'am!"

The Operator grabs onto IF's shoulders and pulls her out, while Compa gently pulls out the elongated nails of the dead thing. Normally, in a situation like this, the item that was used for the piercing shouldn't be removed from the body, as the risk of blood bleeding out or the blood going towards places where it shouldn't be is high. However, this is no ordinary situation and there are no hospitals to run towards to.

Just from looking, she's been stabbed 2 times from shoulder above, 4 times through the chest from the side, and 4 through her gut from the side. 10 stab wounds; 1 for each finger. In a stab wound, the primary factor of the rate of death is the amount of blood loss. If anything goes through the lung, she'll most likely suffer from pneumothorax. However, that's survivable given that all you need is to plug the hole externally, and just drain either the blood or the air that got into the pleural space; via sucking it out or using a machine. But what concerns her is the gut.

Luckily, she wasn't stabbed through the abdominal aorta. However, she was stabbed through the liver, and considering where she was stabbed, there's a chance that hemoperitoneum can occur and that it hit the hepatic artery.

"Don't lay her down! Sit her upright! We'll need to cover the wounds at the back first!"

"Ma'am!" the Operator sits IF down on the floor as Compa takes out a knife from one her holsters.

She swiftly rips her friend's clothes, giving her a better picture of what's happening.

"—!"

*GUHI!* *GUHI!*

The MRAP shakes again, tilting from side to side as if someone from above is trying to tilt it over. The driver struggles to balance the truck.

"Argh fucking hell! Do something about that thing!" the driver demanded.

"I can't get a clear shot! Do something!"

"Mister Driver, can you keep it steady!?" Compa asked.

"I'll try!"

"haa, haa… Dammit…!"

"How is she?" the Operator asked.

"It's…!" Compa's tongue stops.

It's bad. Where she was hit in the liver is bad. While it didn't hit the hepatic artery, there's is already evidence of a yellow discoloration around the wound. She needs surgery to seal up the laceration now. But there's no hospital around, and she doesn't know the extent of the injury if she opens her up now. And even if she does, she doesn't have the proper tools to seal it up.

"Haa, haa… Compa… Kh…! Seal it up…" IF said gritting her teeth.

"But…!"

"Compa… we both know… that's its bad…"

"But I can still…!"

"…please… if we run now, it's going to be tough to get our footing again…! Kh! *cough!*—! Fuck…!" IF grimaces in pain the moment she coughed.

"So please… Seal it up and inject it… haa, haa…" IF asked with begging eyes.

"But! But…!"

"Compa… please…!"

"I can't…! *sniff!* *sob!*

I can't…! *hic!* *sob!*" Compa's tears flows down from her cheeks.

"I can't Iffy! I can't live like this anymore!"

"…"

"I don't want people to die on me again! I don't want anyone to die on me again! Why does it have to be you, Iffy! *sob!* *sniff!* Why can't it be someone else's problem! *hic!* We've been fighting for so long! Aren't you tired!?" Compa bellowed towards her best friend.

"You know why…"

"I know! I know why we had to fight! *hic!* *sob!* I know why I started following you! *sniff!* *hic!*… I know why it had to be you! But…! I don't want to…! *sniff!* *sniff!*… lose another friend…! *hic!* *sniff!* If I lose you…! If I lose you! I don't know…! I don't know if I can live with myself! *sniff!* *sob!*"

"I couldn't live with myself too… when Gear died that day…"

"—!"

"No… when I couldn't stop Gear from using the sword on Nep… that was when I… —!" IF grits her teeth once more.

"To… me—! If I was stronger—! If I… *sniff!* If I was stronger—! I could've saved Gear—! I could've saved her—!" the tears from all her years have begun to flow…

"So please… For Nep, and for Gear… I need to…!" but she coughs again, the pain in her gut forces her to grit her teeth instead of crying her heart out, as though reminding her she is not allowed to cry. Her best friend looks at her, shocked that she's still the same Iffy that she always knew. Unchanging like the air, running to tomorrow like the wind. Just like a gust of beautiful wind that blows through Gamindustri. So, she too must…!

"…*Sniff!* *Sob!* Mmmgh!" Compa wipes the tears from her eyes.

"Operator, get a towel for Iffy to chew on. Iffy, can you sit on your own?"

"I'll… try…! haa, haa"

"I'll sew your wounds without anesthesia, it's going to hurt so please bear with it!"

4:31 pm.

*BAM!* *BAM!*

"M—r! Fu—r!" Chika cursed through bated breath.

Chika dodged the 2 tanks falling on her with all the strength she had. Her ability to breathe returned at the very last moment. She huffs in as much air as she can.

"haa… haa…—!"

As she consumes oxygen, her artificial arm suddenly lost its strength for a moment.

"Kh-! Stupid useless!?—!"

A shadow suddenly covers her. On reaction, Chika jumps back, and a water tank suddenly crashes down where she stood. The moment it hits the ground, the water tank bursts open, causing the water to rush out from its confines.

Chika jumps back, and then jumps towards the main road, putting her directly behind the fairy.

The fairy 'looks' at her.

*SPLASH!* *SPLASH!*

The roar of the waves roars beside her. She looks at the side road where she came from and saw a giant wave of water towering over her. They rise and rise and rise, slowly eclipsing the sun. And when it reached its apex, the wave of water drops.

"KH! You bitch!"

Chika runs.

The water rushes towards her at breakneck speed. She has about 4 meters left before she could reach the nearest building. However, the water has already reached her. She puts as much power as she can in her legs and jumps, intending to cover the 4-meter gap in a single jump.

*SPLASH!* *SPLASH!*

She hears splashing noises coming from the water below.

"—!"

Something hard hit her side. The numbing pain spreads through her body. Adrenaline kicks in, as a vehicle barely hits her directly and instead grinds its side on hers. Due to where the vehicle is shooting to, Chika is forced to turn in the air: seeing another car shooting straight at her.

"—!" she grits her teeth, as she puts her feet together and plants them on the bumper of the car.

"Kh!"

However, her artificial left leg couldn't handle the shock and it suddenly lost power. Now, she only has 1 leg that's bracing the impact of the shooting car.

"…!"

"Dammit!—!"

As she curses in mid-air, she notices taking position above her. She looks, and there up in the sky, is her ex-Oracle mate, with her small hands raised up as if holding something above her. And above her is another vehicle with a canon that can shoot 120-millimeter ballistics.

And without giving Chika any more time to think…

…the fairy drops her hand.

*BAM!*

4:32 pm.

Kei closed her eyes the moment the tank fired its shell.

She puts her thumb on the power button on the remote and turns off the TV.

"It's time…" she said as she stands up.

She takes out a photo from her pocket. An old photograph of black and white. In the photo, is shown men wearing suit with a top hat, sitting with their left leg up on their other leg. All of them have beard and mustache, except one man who instead have a cigar in his mouth.

A photo not from here. A photo not from her world. A photo of a world she knows nothing about.

A photo from her world.

This photo could not be reproduced no matter what kind of scanner used. Even hand drawn, the reproduced product is mangled and unreadable. It's as if the photo itself exudes power that prevents anyone from reproducing it. So instead, she looks at the man with the cigar in his mouth. And memorizes his features, the shape of the noise, the folds on his ears, the shape of his jaw.

"Her Brother, eh…" she mumbled.

She puts the photo back in her pocket and proceeds to walk towards the door.

"It's time I meet with you, Passerby, no... Theodore"