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

Chapter 36: An Assassin in the Ashlands

"Alright, thanks," Jerad leaned back on his dining table before sighing.

"Honestly though, considering alone that you showed a good amount of weapons handling knowledge to everyone this morning, I would personally want to certify you myself, and let you buy one right now," Hilda murmured. "Unfortunately, I don't have my own weapon knowledge to test you to make it certain, so it has to be only Captain Edwards who will, and also, it still has to be kept in the God Arc Storage Vault deenergized, and unloaded. We just can't have any risk of fire in any compartment in our vessel."

"I won't complain about that. I'm actually cool with it," Jerad shrugged out of agreement. "But, I'll see Captain Edwards to earn my cert before keeping it in my room once we get back. Just for the sake of sticking with the laws."

"Right," Hilda nodded. "Laws have to be followed to maintain integrity in our Port, so I appreciate you for still respecting it.

"And I still have to wait for Hope to find one for me, anyway," Jerad smiled.

"Also, you do understand the Ashland Navigation Law part..right?" Hilda gave him a mischievous grin.

"...Yes, ma'am," Jerad curved his lips.

"Remember to keep this under taps, more specifically not letting Gleipnir see you in possession of firearms besides God Arcs. We may be an independent Port, but we're not completely absolved to the universal aspect of Ashland Navigation Laws," Hilda noted. "Being independent only keeps us less subjective to Gleipnir's leery eyes."

"Understood, and in the meantime, I'll get a hold of Daris to have that cert, and pay Hope as I told her sister to once she gets it," Jerad replied.

"Sounds good," Hilda nodded with a smile. "I like people who negotiate, and completely keep their end of the bargain. May not be much, but Hope's businesses also help Chrysanthemum's income, so please maintain good business ties with her."

"Definitely will," Jerad grinned.

"Heh, so laws are meant to be broken," Zeke leaned back with his arms behind his head.

"Yes.., and no," Hilda held a chuckle. "I know you aren't law breakers, and I trust you'll keep it that way, but I also don't agree with all of Gleipnir's laws. I'll just say..if no one sees it, it didn't happen."

"We have about one hour left until we station ourselves," Hugo murmured. "Should we start preparing?"

"Yes, absolutely," Hilda nodded. "Please spend your time in preparation accordingly, and station yourselves as per the watchbill. Amy will watch the resonance radar, and warn you of any potential threats near our fleet as necessary."

"Will do, ma'am," Amy nodded.

"Very good. Let's wrap this up so you'll have more time," Hilda stood up. "And stand by until Amy makes the call. It will be 10 miles to Arrowhead when we must reduce our speed for a safe approach, but this will make us more vulnerable to Aragami attacks."

"Understood, Hilda," Hugo also stood up.

"That will be all," Hilda nodded. "Good luck, everyone, and stay safe."

And the three left the galley.

"You know the drill, guys," Hugo turned to them with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah," Zeke leaned forward. "Rags, and hot soapy water. Here we go."

And 15 minutes later.

"Quick, and easy," Jerad hung the wet rag on the side of their sink after dishwashing, and wiping it shiny. "Hoo, I swear. That was really a lot of beef stew."

And he laughed while rubbing his belly

"Yes, you totally indulged yourself in your meal," Claire furrowed her eyes. "You even ate your last serving clean."

"Can't help it. Ain't fighting out there with an empty stomach," Jerad grinned. "Plus, I don't like wasting food. Lulu agrees with that."

"Me, too. I don't wanna waste food," Phym grinned. "I wanna eat them all."

"You're a good girl," Lulu patted her head.

"Well..let's get going," Zeke pointed to the exit with his thumb. "So, we just make sure our God Arcs are ready, and hang out there until Amy calls it?"

"Pretty much. I just hope I don't fall asleep in there with all this food coma," Trista groaned as they started leaving the galley.

"Yeah, you ate like a horse," Shin laughed.

"What did you say?" Trista growled.

"Heyy, that's how we are," Jerad smirked. "At least we won't worry about getting fat."

"Well, that isn't helping much," Trista grimaced before they finally entered the vault.

"OK, you guys know what to do," Hugo said. "Get to it. Function checks, loading, whatever you need to prepare."

"So, after that, do we keep our God Arcs in hand hangin' here for a quick response once Amy calls, or put them back after to be safe?" Trista pulled her armlet back before her heavy moon's arm rack began moving towards her.

"Good question, I'd say keep it with you..if you're fine with yours," Hugo replied.

"Not a problem. Gun mode, and just lay it down," Trista shrugged before lifting her God Arc.

After only a few minutes, everyone already had their God Arcs on tables, making sure they will function properly with a few others loading them.

"You're really going for it, are you?" Claire sighed after watching him load his custom rounds.

"Uh, Shin, and I made them this morning for a reason," Jerad finished loading two rounds in his sniper gun while keeping his charging handle forward to avoid chambering one before smirking. "I honestly don't think you should be surprised at all."

"I still believe that looks a little excessive," Claire murmured as she continued working on her assault gun.

"Like I always said, Aragami got no soul, so no need for Geneva Convention," Jerad laughed. "Plus I'm serious about flexing as brother-in-law wanted, and I also want to show those Baran bastards not to think about messing with us."

And hearing this, Lulu glanced at him.

Then Levin suddenly chuckled. "Geneva Convention, huh? That's quite amusing."

"What is it..?" Frida turned to him.

"In short, a historical set of internationally recognized humanitarian rules in armed conflict," Levin explained. "It is meant to protect those who become victims of war, and to also prevent any inhumane treatment of individuals, combatants, and noncombatants alike."

"I see," Frida murmured.

"You agree that Aragami don't deserve humane treatment when they don't do the same to you, right?" Jerad clicked his tongue.

"I suppose..," Frida hesitantly replied.

"To be fair, the Geneva Convention has no consideration of whether the enemy forces conduct inhumane treatment to your own or not, you will nevertheless be held accountable in its laws," Levin chuckled. "But fortunately, Gleipnir's Ashland Navigation Law holds no rules of engagement against Aragami."

"Well, I'll be damned if they did," Jerad cracked a short laugh before returning to his work.

"Heh, it's bad enough that Pennywort has ordered us not to fight Aragami even if they're right in our faces so we keep our God Arcs clean, remember?" Zeke laughed. "And a lot of times, we end up fighting them, anyway."

"Thank me for it," Hugo chuckled.

"Fuck those bastards, anyway," Jerad also chuckled. "Both of them. If not Hugo, I would have killed them, anyway, and told that bastard captain to get his asshole fisted by a Kongou."

And everyone laughed at his comment…with the exception of Claire who curved her lips, and Phym who glanced around by the bewilderment from her innocence.

"Man, if only you actually get to say that to his face," Zeke laughed again. "Imagine how many guys in other cells would laugh."

"I would have, if I had the chance," Jerad smirked. "You know how I once pissed one of them off before we tested Engage. His butthurt face was so priceless."

Then the two men laughed.

"Alrighty, gun is also loaded with our new customs," Shin grinned.

"Ohh, yeah. Port side is about to be lit," Jerad snickered.

"Damn, right," Shin pushed the last custom round in his internal magazine. "Lock. And. Loaded."

"Hell yeah," Jerad and Shin armlet bumped.

"I'm all ready here," Hugo smiled.

"Same. Marksman bullets fully loaded in," Claire closed her internal magazine bay.

"Oooh..! Claire ready to pop some Ogretail heads," Jerad grinned.

"Maybe mediums as well," Claire smiled.

"I'll help you out with that," Jerad flashed his eyebrows. "I'll spot for you. It's why I bought my binoculars for."

"Then, please," Claire smiled again.

"Daddy, can I use them?" Phym begged.

"Fine, but if Amy spots Aragami, it comes back to me immediately, OK?" Jerad flashed his eyebrows again.

"Okay," Phym smiled back.

"And keep the lanyard around your neck so you won't drop it overboard," Jerad lastly noted.

"Lines are ready," Trista threw the last bag of ropes onto a pile. "One bag for each platform we're using outside. Don't forget to grab 'em..!"

"Understood," Lulu nodded.

"Aaand all we have now is wait," Zeke leaned back on his table.

"Yep, it may not be that long," Hugo chuckled while leaning on his table with his long blade behind him.

And only a few minutes later.

"Attention all crew! We are now ten miles to destination. I repeat. We are now ten miles destination. Station yourselves broadside as per watch bill."

"Here we go," Zeke leaned forward before turning around, and grabbing his God Arc. Everyone soon followed, some grabbing theirs leaning on the bulkhead.

"Guys, don't forget your rescue lines in case you fall off!" Trista threw a bag near Hugo.

"Gotcha," Jerad grabbed a bag with his spear already in his other hand.

"I got it," Keith swung a bag over his shoulder.

"Whoa, are you sure..?" Zeke paused. "I mean, I can still carry that for you, but…"

"It's OK, bro. You're already carrying a heavy God Arc, and Lulu holding a pair in comparison to mine," Keith chuckled as the crew began walking out of the vault. "I'm the most suited for this."

"That's fine, but don't try to be a hero, OK?" Lulu murmured. "Ask your brother for help if you need it."

"I appreciate it," Keith grinned. "But this is nothing."

At the same time…

"Wah! Levin, are you sure..?" Frida paused.

"I don't see an issue," Levin held the bag over his shoulder while holding his long blade with his left hand.

"But, it's just that..," Frida paused.

"Please worry not," Levin shook his head with a smile. "More importantly, you have a larger God Arc than mine like Keith just told them, and I could always use a continuous little exercise."

"I see…T-thank..," Frida frowned. "Never mind…"

"Let's start moving, and not fall behind," Levin smiled again. "Home, and aunt are waiting for us."

Once gathered in the Residential Hall after boarding the elevator in turns of two groups.

"Alright, port side, starboard side, we split here," Hugo glanced at everyone. "Once you are stationed, inform Amy."

"Roger that," Trista nodded. "Enjoy the view, and stay safe."

"Good luck, and see you again once we're back in Port," Levin smiled.

"Ditto," Jerad replied before they finally split.

"Amy, we're opening air tight doors," Misha spoke for Hugo.

"Ash level 0.005 ppm. Tolerable," Amy reported to all crew radios. "Open air tight doors, and seal when shut. I will begin close vigilance with the resonance radar, and inform you of any potential threats. Remain alert."

"Roger," Misha glanced at everyone on port side as a signal to begin opening, and Zeke, and Levin nodded before they pressed the green button. A few mechanical noises were heard before the light turned red, an indication of the airtight seal no longer in effect before the door slid open, a refreshing breeze blew past the crew of both sides.

"Let's go! Let's go!" Trista cried. "Don't let too much ash into our ship! Get out, and shut the door fast!"

"Let's move!" Jerad quickly moved outside before Claire and Phym followed, and as soon as the three were finally out, Claire quickly turned, and pressed the button. The door began shutting itself slower than when it opened, partly out of automatic safety measures for personnel, and shortly after Jerad placed the bag down, and laid his sniper gun on the guardrail corner, he paused.

Once Claire finished observing the door completely shut itself, and the light turned back to green to indicate retaining its airtight integrity, she turned around to begin their security duty, but saw Jerad standing at the left side staring at another vessel while still holding his sniper gun on the corner. She took a step closer behind him.

"What's wrong..?" Claire asked in spite of knowing that something is bothering him considering their revision with Amy earlier. It was the only way she could think of starting their conversation.

Jerad made a slight gasp, and turned to her in shock before calming himself. "Baran..that must be it…" He turned back.

"Oh..," Claire glanced at the black vessel with a large red stripe diagonally painted on its broadside from forward top to aft bottom, cruising a few hundred yards from their port aft.

"Don't stare too much, just in case," Jerad calmly sat down, and began pulling an end of their rope from its bag. "Red, and black like Lulu's outfit. No mistaking it."

Then he began tying.

"I see," Claire grabbed the rope, and after Jerad finished tying it, she pulled to ensure its secured tightness.

"Let's be on look out," Jerad grabbed his sniper gun again.

"Understood," Claire also leaned her assault gun on the guardrail while still holding its handguard, and glanced at Phym on the other side of the guardrail, who was busy enjoying the view with his binoculars.

"Is everyone stationed?" Hugo suddenly radioed everyone.

"Hound 1 here, rescue line secured, and we are stationed," Jerad replied.

"Hound 3, this is Hound 8, we are stationed," Trista reported.

"Hound 3 to Hound 11, stationed security watch," Levin reported.

"Hound 3, this is Hound 4..We. Are. Stationed," Zeke enthusiastically reported.

"Good, everyone," Hugo replied. "Chrysanthemum to Hound 3, all security are stationed, and commencing our watch."

"Roger, Hound 3," Amy acknowledged. "We will maintain vigilance with the resonance radar. Report any visual contacts of concern until our arrival."

"Copy that," Hugo also acknowledged. "Beginning our watch. Hound 3, out."

"We..," Claire murmured.

"Ricardo, and the owner are likely on the bridge now," Jerad glanced at her.

"Ah," Claire blinked her eyes.

Then Jerad turned to Phym. "Still having fun, Phym?"

"Yeah," Phym quickly answered. "Looks so…bee-you-tee-fool..!"

And her two 'parents' glanced at each other for a few seconds before making a short laugh.

"Good, but say that word faster next time, OK?" Jerad let out a few more chuckles. "And I'm gonna have that thing back in a few minutes for look out."

Then Phym glanced at him. "Okay…"

And she frowned.

"Don't you be like that," Jerad noted. "You have all your life for more of those."

"Sir, we have detected something..unusual in our resonance radar," An female operator in black and red uniform stated.

Then their captain groaned. "What is it? Report."

"Ashcrawler Chrysanthemum has personnel outboard..in their port side," Their operator replied.

"What?" Their captain lazily leaned forward on his seat.

"They seem to be AGEs..along with one regular God Eater, and a strange looking girl," Their operator continued.

"I'll have a look," Their captain pressed a button on his seat to energize their outboard camera, and began moving his small stick to rotate it. As soon he pointed the camera at Chrysanthemum's ship, he zoomed in, and saw a young male AGE in white along with a red haired woman having a casual conversation with each other. "Interesting…"

He smiled, and then another balcony caught his attention farther from them. He shifted his camera, and zoomed on them. In his screen, he saw a white haired young AGE holding his sniper gun with one hand, a blonde woman stroking her hair from the wind, and a white haired little girl smiling with a pair of binoculars before talking to the blonde woman, the regular God Eater his operator reported about. "Weird that Lulu isn't there with them."

"Hm?" A tall, long spiky haired man standing beside him glanced.

"I was hoping for a moment she'd be with them," The captain replied. "But instead, it's that weird girl. Isn't that the humanoid Aragami they just had from Gleipnir?"

"I heard," Goh replied.

"She's really an interesting catch..with Lulu as our door," The Baran Captain snickered as Goh behind him furrowed his eyes.

"Okay, Phym. Time is up," Jerad smiled.

"Aww," Phym whined. "I want to see more…"

"If only this isn't work, you could have all day," Jerad chuckled, and then his smile suddenly faded when he noticed a glint in his peripheral vision. He turned to its direction..towards Baran's ship.

"Phym, your daddy's right. You'll definitely have more opportunities later on, OK?" Claire sat down, and smiled before reaching her left hand to her as a gesture to pass her daddy's binoculars to her.

"Okay," Phym lifted the lanyard above her neck, and passed it to Claire.

"Very good," Claire smiled before patting her head, and then she stood up and walked towards Jerad. She paused as soon as she noticed him staring at Baran's ship again.

"I think they're watching us," Jerad murmured while wearing his lanyard around his neck.

"Huh?" Claire blinked her eyes.

"Don't look," Jerad gave her a subtle glance. "They're probably looking for Lulu.., but too bad."

Then he smirked.

"Man, this isn't so bad at all," Zeke chuckled. "The wind, the smell of fresh air, no wonder those two love birds like hangin' out here. I could get used to this."

"Love..birds..?" Lulu murmured.

"Yeah, you know..? The beauty," Zeke made a half heart shape with his left hand as the shaft of his boost hammer laying upside down rested on his shoulder. "And the beast."

And with a grin, he made the other half with his right hand before connecting them together into a one whole heart.

Lulu simply curved her lips while staring at his heart shaped hands before bursting into a small laughter. "That is..quite romantic, I'd say."

"What..? You find that surprising?" Zeke curved his lips.

"Kinda..," Lulu kept smiling.

Then Keith laughed. "I find that a bit surprising, too. You always act tough, and all, so it was a bit out of character of you."

And Lulu giggled while Zeke plainly stared at him.

"I don't know whether I should hate you both right now, or not," Zeke furrowed his eyes.

"Depends, you can take that as a compliment or not," Lulu smirked.

"Just take it as a good thing, brother," Keith chuckled. "Nothing wrong about showing a bit of a romantic side, either."

"OK, fine..," Zeke sighed.

Then Lulu stared at the horizon. "You know..? Speaking of scenery.., I am enjoying this right now."

And Zeke glanced at her after scratching his head.

"I'll tell you something, but..," Lulu frowned. "When I was a little girl..even in Baran..I happened to find a book that showed what the world was like before the Aragami..It was truly beautiful."

"Huh," Zeke blinked his eyes.

"Considering our ages, and the current time, I know we're born after that," Lulu murmured. "So either way…none of us will ever get to see it..not ever in our own eyes."

"Hm..," Zeke scratched his head again. "I don't know what to say about that. You're right..the world probably ain't gonna be the same again, but..thinking about that history thing Jerad told us this morning..stuff changes, you know? Maybe we'll get a chance to see that kind of thing, someday."

Then Lulu stared at him before making a short giggle. "Yeah, hopefully we will. In either case, that book also inspired me to travel, someday."

"Huh?" The brothers blinked their eyes.

"Yeah..I know it's dangerous out there, but sometimes I think life would be worthless without its experience," Lulu stared at the horizon.

"I get it, but are you sure you want to travel? Like…alone?" Zeke waved his hands.

"It will be fine..I can take care of myself," Lulu smiled. "I learned a lot about survival lessons during my time in Baran."

"Okay..," Zeke slowly nodded. "But you know..? If you ever change your mind..just ask."

"Hm?" Lulu blinked her eyes. "But you…"

"I know I said it, but..," Zeke scratched his head again. "Somehow, I just don't feel comfortable letting you out alone like that, so if you need company, just tell me."

"Uh, well..," Lulu murmured.

"Danger? I think that's what I live for, anyway," Zeke snickered with a grin. "I got the feeling that once we're settled, and in peace, I'm probably gonna start getting bored. I wouldn't mind going 'round the world with you so I can get more action against Aragami. Two ass kicking AGEs are better than one, right..?"

"I see, then..," Lulu shyly smiled. "I may consider it."

"It's a done deal, then," Zeke grinned again. "How about you, Keith? Down to go with us..?"

"I think I'm gonna have to sit this out," Keith murmured. "I mean, you know..? I'm not capable of being out there myself…"

"Oh..," Zeke, and Lulu paused, though with different thoughts. Zeke being caught off guard for forgetting his brother's shortcomings while Lulu felt puzzled.

"Well.., if you change your mind, you are free to come with us, Keith," Lulu broke her silence. "We'll definitely look after you."

"Thanks, but I also have a different goal," Keith chuckled while scratching his head. "Other than that, I really appreciate it."

"Heh, glad that Jerad switched with us, huh?" Zeke smiled.

"Hm..?" Lulu blinked her eyes.

"You definitely wouldn't be thinking this, if you were on the port side right now," Zeke murmured. "I had no idea you'd like things like this..like Claire does."

"Zeke, what are you..?" Lulu began pouting.

"I have to agree with bro on this one," Keith laughed. "I never saw you as the type to want to see the world, really."

"Keith..," Lulu gave him a slight glare.

"It's..a compliment, seriously," Zeke smiled again. "First time I've seen that side of you.., and it's good since you know at first, you often looked like a killing machine to me, even during the first time we played poker together, so you being like this made you look more like..a person..more human, even. So, if anything, call it even."

Somehow moved by his comment, Lulu stared at him for a few moments before smiling. "Fine. Thanks."

"Speaking of that guy now, I wonder what he's doing," Zeke stared back at their ship.

"Arrowhead is just ahead now," Claire peeked through Jerad's binoculars. "I can hardly see the tower even through the dust."

"Ah," Jerad muttered. "So close yet so far..with our current speed that is."

"I'll continue my shift as look out," Claire began scanning again.

"Go for it," Jerad replied.

"No fair. Why does mommy get to use your by-no-queue-lars more..?" Phym whined.

"Again, this is work, Phym," Jerad warned her. "Mommy is not sightseeing. Look at the bright side. Are you excited to see grand auntie?"

"Ah," Phym suddenly beamed. "Yeah, I want to see grand auntie!"

Then Claire giggled. "Yes! We'll see her together soon enough. Be a little more patient, OK? I'll also let you peek through for a bit more."

"Okay," Phym nodded.

And as Jerad resumed his look out, he noticed another glint from Baran's ship.

"Hmph..! These AGE worms sure are having too much fun," The Baran Captain murmured. "If they got time to yabber, they got time to do their 100% watch. Chrysanthemum surely doesn't know how to properly handle their dogs like we do. If ours were to do that, it's a mega extra duty for them to the ground, or into the labs they go."

And in spite of this, Goh made no comment, at least dared not so since as far as he had been concerned on the contrary, each of them in Chrysanthemum's port side still kept their eyes on the field while still readily holding their God Arcs in spite of their subtle conversation, and for him, their watchstanding is..adequate at best.

As the Baran Captain continued observing Chrysanthemum's sentries, he noticed the male white haired AGE was already staring at their camera's direction, and as he continued watching him, he watched the male AGE make a provoking wide smirk before flashing his eyebrows. After only a few seconds of still leaning his left elbow on his guardrail, he slowly raised his clenched left hand before snapping his middle finger up.

"AGE worm bastard..!" The Baran Captain growled before he finally shut his camera down. "Who does he think he is?! How could he even see from that far?"

Meanwhile outside…

"Mm," Phym nudged him.

Jerad lowered his hand before turning to the little girl standing on his right side, and his eyes raised after seeing her middle finger raised to him. "Hey, Phym! No! Don't do that, OK?"

"What is this, daddy?" Phym twitched her middle finger.

"Put your hand down. Now..!" Jerad grabbed her hand down.

"Huh?" Claire took her eyes off her binoculars, and turned to see Jerad grasping Phym's hand.

"Did something bad happen..?" She blinked her eyes.

"It's alright. I got this," Jerad shook his head before turning back to the confused little girl. "I'm not mad at you right now, but don't ever do this to others, OK?"

"But I don't understand..," Phym frowned.

"I'll tell you once you're a little older," Jerad explained before sighing. "Listen.., if you do that to someone, you could get in trouble. Just don't do it..OK?"

"Okay..," Phym slowly nodded.

"Good girl," Jerad smiled while patting her head.

Claire continued watching them, and in spite of still being completely unaware of what recently transpired between them, she nevertheless resumed her watch. She decided that she could ask him later.

Before resuming his watch for his perimeter, he saw Trista and Shin simply watching him from another platform before the two laughed with Shin following up with pointing two fingers to his eyes, and then to him. Jerad simply flashed his eyebrows at them while smirking.

"Your lens glare," Goh replied in monotone. "Likely."

"What..?" The Baran Captain turned to him.

"Lens easily reflect sunlight," Goh further explained. "It's a common strategy for snipers to spot others using glares from their scope lens…much like how I once taught Lulu myself."

"Whatever, then," The Baran Captain waved his hand again. "But wait a minute…That white haired worm…Isn't he Chrysanthemum's devil dog?"

"Seemingly," Goh plainly replied.

"Such a shame. Baran would have better use of him," The Baran Captain rested on his hand. "Just how the hell did that puny Port get such a dog, anyway?"

"I have no answer for that," Goh plainly shook his head.

"Bah! No matter," The Baran Captain waved his hands. "Worms will always be worms. However..!"

He stared up at the tall AGE standing beside him. "Considering what happened in that Port, Lulu probably already cried her tears to them about us, and that bastard probably knew we're onto them. He could be a huge threat to our plan, so if he gets in our way, get rid of him yourself, got it?"

"Of course," Goh dryly answered.

"Hm. Everything looks fine so far," Hugo leaned on his guardrail. "Almost too good."

"Yeah," Misha stroked her bangs. "At least we could relax even a little."

"Heh, like your brother, I should have bought my own pair of binoculars from Faith," Hugo smiled. "Would have made our watch more interesting."

"Hey! You could borrow ours if ya want!' Zeke hollered from another balcony.

"Yeah, but what? You're gonna throw it to us?" Hugo turned to him.

"Yep, but you better catch it when I do!" Zeke cackled. "Or you'll buy me a new one!"

"No thanks," Hugo shook his head before leaning back on his guardrail. "You three keep looking after the long distance for us."

"Gotcha!" Zeke grinned.

"Chrysanthemum, I have no visual contact with Aragami, so far," Claire tapped her earpiece. "Request an update via resonance radar?"

"I have detected several Aragami herds at least 40 miles from our location," Amy replied. "Not threats."

"Any that could be potentially in our path?" Claire followed on.

"Negative, Hound 5," Amy replied again. "We are still maintaining close vigilance with our resonance radar, and will update you if there are any contacts of interest."

"Roger, Chrysanthemum," Claire nodded. "Hound 5, out."

"Heh, looks like the only way Aragami could get to us is if they suddenly spawn out of nowhere," Jerad smiled.

"Seems like it," Claire murmured. "I simply hope we don't encounter any along the way."

"Nothing ever goes smooth with anything that involves Aragami," Jerad chuckled. "I'd say, let's..keep our fingers crossed."

"Yeah," Claire nodded. "By the way..what happened between you, and Phym?"

"Uh, that," Jerad glanced at Phym who started looking nervous. "Don't give her shade since I already took care of her, but I gave that bastard ship a flip, and she copied me."

"What..?" Claire raised her eyes. "Why?"

"I got tired of them watching us, and their stupid lens glare has been making me ADD, so I told them to piss off," Jerad chuckled.

"Mommy, what does that mean? Why did daddy do that..?" Phym murmured.

"It's…a curse gesture, Phym," Claire sighed. "A very strong one. Please do not do this to anyone like your daddy just told you."

"There you go," Jerad smiled. "Now you know why I said you could get in trouble, if you do that."

"And please don't be doing this around her again," Claire grimaced.

"Yeah," Jerad closed his eyes.

"Is that ship..bad?" Phym murmured.

"Yes," Jerad plainly replied. "They're being rude, so I taught them manners."

"It certainly looks too peaceful out here," Frida murmured. "It just..doesn't feel right."

"I can agree," Levin closed his eyes. "Considering our situation, it would make us an easy target for Aragami. Also…"

He cleared his throat. "I sent the pictures of your deed to aunt a few days ago, so she should have already seen them by now."

Then Frida froze. "Um, if Her Grace speaks to me about that, I don't know what to…"

But before she could finish, Levin chuckled. "Please do not worry. It's your work, so if aunt speaks to you, please take it as an honor."

"Um, right," Frida murmured.

"You were just like me back then when I saved you," Levin looked down. "The time I slew that Vajra? That was also my first kill on a large Aragami. I paid no heed to it since I only cared about saving lives during that time, but now thinking about it."

Then he smiled at her. "That is indeed..no small feat. Being able to kill a large Aragami at 14 before Elias, Beatrice, and Isaac arrived to wipe out the rest, but nevertheless.., I'm sorry for not being able to save your family. I realized during your trial that you still think about them."

"That's..OK," Frida frowned. "I knew you did your best. That's part of the reason why I enlisted in your family as a God Eater..to help your cause in saving more people."

"And as atonement, I will protect you as well," Levin murmured. "I believe that is what your family would want. They sacrificed themselves so you could live on, and I will gladly honor that."

And moved by this, Frida raised her eyes.

Back in port side, Jerad was still keeping his watch in their broadside while Claire maintained hers in the more forward direction. He glanced at the Baran ship again with only his eyes, and found no glint this time, giving him a low sigh of relief that hopefully they would not be watching them again. He turned his eyes back to his security view right before he heard a beep from Amy.

"Warning..! Oracle activity detected at bearing 000!" Amy suddenly reported. "Distance: 2 miles!"

"Bearing 000?! Where?" Jerad tapped his earpiece.

"Aragami spawning behind a high cliff west of our fleet," Amy followed.

"Right in front of us?!" Jerad cried. "We can't fire at them from here! Gleipnir 500 freakin' yards in front of us! Why haven't they seen this earlier? Are those bastards blind?"

"We just received a report from them," Hilda replied. "We cannot hold that against them since well..resonance quality also affects detection, which in other words, with Hound 2 having a much higher resonance provides us not only a much longer detection range, but also better quality picture, and faster resonance radar detection time. It's how we're able to detect them earlier than Gleipnir."

"...Copy that," Jerad grimaced.

"Also…we have to keep your resonance gifts a secret, I'm just letting you know now," Hilda almost whispered.

"What..?" Jerad raised his eyes.

"So we cannot make any contact reports of anything farther than 30 miles to them," Hilda continued. "We're doing this for you, and your sister's sake. Understand that."

"...Understood," Jerad murmured.

"We have just been given an order to maintain our transit," Hilda informed them. "Their elites will take care of the front, and they already have their weaponry ready! All Hounds, remain alert!"

"Roger," All Hounds in security acknowledged.

Jerad, and Claire placed their God Arcs on top of their guardrails while Phym, being shorter, aimed below the guardrail' surface. Shortly after, they began hearing gun fires from the front.

"Warning! Oracle activity detected at bearing 280," Amy reported. "Aragami spwaning! Distance: 3 miles!"

"What? Claire, let me have the binocs," Jerad suddenly raised his hand.

"Here," Claire passed him her binoculars.

Jerad peeked through, and saw a horde of small Aragami jumping down from a cliff. "Confirmed visual contact! Small Aragami approaching from the cliff south. Ogretails, Dread Pikes, and Axe Raiders! We also have Zygotes approaching ahead of them!"

Then Claire saw Shin, and Trista in the other platform begin readying their guns.

"Should we start nuking them?!" Shin cried from across.

"Let the bastards come a little closer, first!" Jerad cried back. "The Zygotes are moving ahead of them! Pick 'em off!"

"Roger!" Shin aimed his gun.

"Not a problem! My laser will sweep 'em off!" Trista aimed her gun as Shin began firing regular rounds. She waited for a few seconds before streaming her ray gun.

"Claire, pick off any who passes us three! Use your new rounds!" Jerad shot the two most leading Zygotes approaching them. "Phym, tear any Aragami that gets past Mommy! Don't let any of them get close to us! Got it?"

"Yes, Daddy!" Phym kept her aim.

"Chrysanthemum, verify if there are Aragami in our starboard side," Hugo held his earpiece. "We can't see Aragami past 400 yards because of this ravine wall!"

"Roger, Hound 3. There are no Aragami in your perimeter," Amy replied.

"Should we help them?" Hugo asked.

"Negative, Hound 3," Hilda replied. "Remain in your station. Port side can take care of them."

"But..!" Hugo paused.

"Having limited visual up to 400 yards makes this even more important, Hound 3," Hilda explained. "Though they are just Aragami, something is still suspicious about this. Attacking in the most convenient area possible? If they're smarter than we've known they are, it is possible that they're waiting for you to turn your backs before attacking your side, so keep your guard up there. Remain on starboard vigilance."

"Don't worry about us!" Claire suddenly spoke. "We're successfully holding them back. Keep watch on your side!"

"...Roger," Hugo snorted.

Meanwhile on the ship's bridge.

"Ma'am, there is just something off about this," Amy murmured. "Wasn't Ashcrawler Baran supposed to be providing security on the port side? Why haven't they assisted yet..?"

"Huh, now you mention it..," Hilda turned to their resonance radar.

"Crap! A few of them just got past us!" Jerad kept shooting. "Our firing rate can't keep up. Claire, they're close enough! Start popping their heads! Phym, get ready to help her like I told you!"

"Already taking aim," Claire raised her assault gun, took careful aim at the nearest Ogretail. "I won't miss like last time..!"

Then she fired, landing a headshot, and sending the headless Aragami tumbling. With a sense of pride, Claire shot several more rounds, stopping more charging Axe Raiders, and Ogretails in their tracks.

"Nice shooting, Claire," Jerad grabbed an O-Ampule from his back pouch. "I like that headshot."

"This is no time for compliments!" Claire kept shooting.

"Well, I'm reloading right now," Jerad grinned as he finished injecting the ampule's green chemicals into his God Arc before tossing the empty large syringe overboard. "Ready to pop heads again. Let's do this!"

"Please take this more seriously," Claire continued shooting.

"I am. I'm just too good," Jerad cackled before firing again.

After firing two more rounds, Claire's next trigger squeeze only made a click sound. "Aww! I'm out of ammo..!"

"Hiiyaaa..!" Phym fired a stream of assault gun rounds, and tore an Axe Raider that Claire tried to shoot down.

"That's my girl!" Jerad laughed proudly at the little girl. "Go reload! We got you!"

"Right..!" Claire opened her internal magazine, and began inserting new rounds.

"Hah! I'm about to turn this place into a raging inferno!" Trista kept waving her most intensified ray gun.

"We'll probably make it worse for them!" Shin tossed his empty O-Ampule overboard. "Keep firing!"

But after a few more minutes, the Aragami horde charge remained relentless, and to make matters worse, medium Aragami began appearing above cliffs, Kongous, Nemains, and Chi-Yous.

Jerad snorted. "Ready to light these bastards up, Shin?!"

"Been thinking the same, buddy!" Shin held his sniper gun up before holding his charging handle.

"Hah! Let's do this!" Jerad pulled his charging handle, and released it. "You two stand back for a bit."

And he aimed high forward. "Come get some! Fire!"

Then the two sniper guns thundered with a bright muzzle flash after Trista, Claire, and Phym covered their ears. Two meteor-like projectiles arched over the front of the approaching Aragami, and as soon as they landed, both rounds exploded into a ball, incinerating everything caught in it.

"What was that..?" Hugo blinked his eyes. "Did something just explode?"

"Hugo! Remember what Shin, and my brother just made?" Misha grimaced.

"Oh..yeah, right," Hugo chuckled.

Then Zeke chuckled. "I bet they're having fun right now! Blowing the shits up."

"WOO! Hot damn!" Jerad cheerfully raised his arm while laughing. "Eat that, you bastards! Shin, let's go for another round!"

"Goodness..," Claire stared at the sight of the infernal carnage.

"Gotcha!" Shin took aim. "Fire!"

Then the two sniper guns fired with large yet loud muzzle blasts, and then the rounds arched over the horde. Like earlier, both rounds exploded into large infernal orbs, and obliterated more Aragami caught in them.

"YES!" Jerad flexed his arm. "That's a one damn success!"

Then they suddenly felt a full stop from their ship which Jerad managed to hold on to the guardrail before he could fall on Claire, and Phym. The other two did so, likewise.

"Chrysanthemum, what is this about?" Jerad cried on his radio. "Did we just-?"

"We just received a report that large Aragami just appeared and destroyed cliffs to block our route before they began charging Gleipnir's front!" Hilda cried back.

"What the-?" Jerad froze in disbelief at such an execution. "Then why won't they just blow the rubble up with their big guns, and run the bastards over?! They'll just keep coming if we stay here! Hound 9, and I don't have an infinite amount of nuke ammo to dish them out!"

"Vajras are too large, and dangerous for ships to get close to, Hound 1!" Hilda argued back.

"Vajras..?" Jerad paused. "Shit..!"

"For now, please do your best to repel them," Hilda pleaded. "And leave the front to Gleipnir's elites. They'll take care of them, and come up with a solution."

"Oh, they better!" Jerad commented. "Shin. How many nuke rounds do you still have?"

"I got two left!" Shin held the two rounds between his fingers.

"They're coming again!" Claire began shooting her marksman rounds while Phym readied her assault gun. On Shin's left side, Trista resumed streaming her ray gun.

"Crap. Same here," Jerad took aim, and began firing. "Hold off on those nuke rounds for now. Once they pile up together again, blast them!"

"Roger that, buddy!" Shin also began firing.

And after a few more minutes.

"Crap! They're coming in droves fast, and Claire and Phym are starting to struggle!" Jerad glanced at the two. "Shin! Let's do this! Blow the bastards up again!"

Then he took aim.

"Right on!" Shin pressed his ALT button. "Ready when you are!"

"Fire!" Jerad fired his sniper gun, and the two rounds arched over the charred battlefield again before exploding, incinerating more Aragami caught in the inferno, and now leaving a total of six small craters in the area.

"I'll litter this whole place with their charred corpses, if we have to!" Jerad switched his gun to NORM. "Keep shooting! Keep those bastards out!"

"Should we provide aid..?" Goh turned to his captain.

"Bah. Let them be," The Baran Captain dismissively waved his hands. "I'm not gonna waste Baran's assets to a bunch of AGE worms from a puny Port."

Then Goh furrowed his eyes at his response.

And after a few more minutes.

"They're starting to close in!" Claire cried after switching to her NORM mode due to Aragami being too close for her sharpshooting. "And they just keep spawning as we eliminate them! What should we do?!"

"If they get too close, then we'll just have to jump down, and CQ them head on," Jerad kept shooting. "If they wanna die more horrible deaths, then have at it."

"It's not looking good for the port side to keep holding off Aragami!" Hugo complained. "Chrysanthemum, is there really something we could do?"

"Let me think about this a bit more..," Hilda gripped her hands.

"I have an idea, Hugo," Levin suddenly spoke up. "You, and Zeke remain on the balcony. Lulu, Frida, and I will climb to our vessel's topside, and provide supporting fire for our friends at port side!"

"Are you sure..?" Hugo turned to him.

"Only four of us are suited for longer range fire," Levin replied. "Me, Misha, and Frida have assault guns, and especially Lulu has a sniper gun. Shotguns are ideal for close range fire, so be our rear guard. Can you both do that?"

"Alright, we'll cover your backs from here," Hugo nodded. "Zeke, you getting this?"

"Yeah," Zeke readied his shotgun. "Ready when you are now. Let's do this!"

"Good strategy, Hound 11," Hilda murmured. "Yes, I approve. Please execute."

"Roger," Hugo nodded with a smile. "Alright, Levin. Jump up, and help them."

"On our way," Levin nodded back. "Commence."

Then the four jumped to the topside while Hugo, and Zeke began their sharp watch.

Hilda sat back on her seat with her hand on her face, sighing. "I wish I had as much acumen on war strategy as these kids do. I'm failing them as their owner…"

"Please don't beat yourself over this, ma'am," Ricardo shook his head. "This is why you have people like me, and Daris to relegate these matters to."

"Right, and I also don't have time for this kind of sentimentality, either," Hilda murmured. "Ricardo, would you please provide them support anyway you can? Leave these systems to me, and Amy, and when it comes down to it, I will operate your console myself."

And with this, Ricardo laughed. "Now we're talking. I'll be more than happy to jump out there."

"Please, and thank you," Hilda smiled.

"Right away ma'am," Ricardo began running out of the bridge.

"Crap..! Here they are, and I guess it's time for the slaughter," Jerad shifted his sniper gun to spear. "Ready, Claire?"

"Right behind you," Claire nodded.

"Phym, stay here, and keep supporting fire," Jerad said.

"Um, okay..," Phyh murmured.

"This is work, so you have to put up with it," Jerad closed his eyes. "It's too dangerous down there, so stay here, and don't go anywhere. Keep firing from behind us."

"Auntie will look after her. Don't worry brother," Misha suddenly smiled from above them.

"Auntie!" Phym beamed as Misha smiled back.

"We can't be too far from our station, so the least we can do is give you guys cover fire from up here," Misha took aim. "Go! I got Phym. Levin, and the others are supporting, too!"

"...Alright, thanks," Jerad nodded. "Oh, here you go, Phym."

He passed his binoculars to her. "Not gonna need it down there, but don't mess around with it."

"Okay," Phym excitedly took his binoculars.

"And throw the lines out once we need to get back," Jerad added. "Alright, we're down."

Then the two jumped down.

"I got you, Phym. Let's have fun shooting together, OK?" Misha smiled.

"Okay," Phym giggled.

"Alright, Shin. Since you're a sniper, you gotta stay here, and keep giving back up," Trista shifted to heavy moon. "I'm about to slaughter these critters."

Then they suddenly heard a door open behind them.

"What the..? Ricardo?!" Trista paused.

"Sup, you two?" Ricardo chuckled before throwing a large bag in front of them. "Figured I'll bring you some more supplies, and help out."

"I'm about to jump down, and cleave these bastards in two," Trista said. "And Shin will stay here, and keep up with the sniping."

"Huh. I think I have a better plan for that," Ricardo rubbed his chin. "How about this? You stay here, and keep providing support fire with your sweeping ray gun while me, and Shin go down there, and mow the Aragami down? I have my scythe for crowd control, and Shin has the speed to cut Aragami to Aragami?"

"Hmph..! I guess I have no choice, do I?" Trista shrugged. "Fine."

"Sorry to disappoint you today, missy, but you do get more action than me," Ricardo chuckled while rubbing the back of his head. "So, give it to me just today. Old man could use some more exercise."

"Yeah, I get it. Just go!" Trista picked up a few O-ampules from Ricardo's bag. "Thanks for the supply, anyway."

"Alright, ninja. Ready to kill?" Ricardo rested his scythe on his shoulder.

"More than ready to feed these with their blood," Shin held his sword up in a way that the sun reflected its razor edges.

"Let's do this," Ricardo jumped down.

"Right behind you," Shin performed a spinning backflip as he dove down.

"Everyone, ready?!" Levin called his support crew. "Fire, and do not falter!"

Then everyone on the topside began their stream of fire.

After a few minutes, Jerad skewered an Ogretail up with his spear. "Hmph..! You're so boring, and yet so many. Why don't you bring me at least a few small large ones?"

And he finished it with Spear Requiem.

"Jerad, please don't be asking for that," Claire shot two Ogretails, and then a Zygote coming above her. "An appearance of large Aragami could make this horde a greater threat."

"Yeah, I get it," Jerad cut an axe raider down. "But this easiness is really pissing me off."

"Please get your priority straight," Claire stabbed a Chi-You's right shoulder after jumping on top of it, killing it. "Our imperative is to protect our ship above all else."

In the other area.

"Haaa!" In a single swipe, Ricardo sliced five Aragami in half with his scythe, and then shortly after, shifted to ray gun and took aim at Shin. "Shin, here you go!"
He fired a burst round at him.

"I was about to eat one of them to get into Burst and kill these flying things," Shin assumed his offensive pose as he entered Burst. "Thanks for saving me the trouble."

Then he sped, and jumped at the flock of Zygotes. Without landing on the ground, slicing them one at a time in half before jumping on the other, and cutting them down. He slew a total of 6 airborne Aragami before finally landing.

"Whoa, how the hell did you do that?" Ricardo raised his eyes. "Were you just jumping on air whenever you cut those Zygotes down?"

"Heh. That's..an embarrassing secret," Shin awkwardly smiled.

"OK, whatever as long as it works well for you," Ricardo shook his head. "Let's try regrouping with those two lovies. I'm sure we can fight better together, if we stay close."

"Agreed," Shin nodded.

"I'll pave the way, vice captain. Finish those I might miss!" Ricardo began charging, and slicing several Aragami at the same time.

"Backing you up!" Shin held his twin blades in reverse hold before rushing in to continue slicing Aragami that managed to move close to Ricardo. In some cases, cleanly decapitating some Ogretails in their way, and once they are finally close.

"Huh. Ricardo decided to join up, too?" Jerad chuckled.

"Old man's gotta need some exercise," Ricardo smiled. "Is it just me, or do these Aragami don't ever run out?"

"Yeah, and it's starting to piss me off, too," Jerad complained. "And I'm trying to make this as fun as possible."

"Well, we are in a dire situation right now," Ricardo murmured. "We got put into a full stop, and now these hordes are infinitely coming for us? I don't feel good about this."

"Don't matter to me right now. I just want all these bastards dead," Jerad held his spear. "I'm getting so fed up with this. Let's get this over with."

"Fair enough," Ricardo held his scythe back. "Ready for the killing?"

"I've been," Jerad grinned.

"Let's do this," Ricardo, and the three rushed in.

"I'll play support!" Claire cried.

"Yeah, just keep swiss cheesing them!" Jerad replied as Claire shifted to her assault gun, and began spraying. After several more minutes of pushing them back together, Claire suddenly noticed small green sparks gathering around her before five Blast Spiders sprawled out of the ground.

"What..?" Claire paused before she began shooting.

Also seeing this in his horror by remembering Gleipnir's reports earlier, Jerad's eyes widened. "CLAIRE! GET OUT OF THERE NOW! JUMP!"
Though too late to act, Claire instinctively shot the first Blast Spider that jumped, and it exploded, sending her stumbling back, and covering her eyes blinded by dust as the rest of the four already jumped at her. In his desperate move, Jerad activated his acceleration trigger, and moved in burst speed, wrapping his right arm around her waist, and throwing her out of the area before the four Blast Spiders exploded in his position.

"Brother..?" Misha ceased her firing. "No..! NO! BROTHER!"

"DAADYYYY!" Phym shrieked.

"JERAD!" Claire struggled against her pain to stand back up.

"DADDY!" Phym began climbing the guardrail before she suddenly felt an arm wrap around her waist, causing her to drop her assault gun on the deck.

"No, Phym!" Misha cried as she struggled against the humanoid Aragami's strength. "Daddy told you to stay here, didn't he?!"

"But Daddy is hurt! I have to..," Phym began prying her aunt's hand off of her.

"Phym, listen to me!" Misha cried to her ear. "D-Daddy will be fine..okay? It's too dangerous down there! Stay with me. Auntie is here for you, you got me?! Your mommy will take care of him!"

"Okay..," Phym sniffled.

"Good girl," Misha patted her head. "We'll support them together, OK?"

"Okay..," Phym murmured.

"Crap! Did Jerad just got hurt?!" Hugo cried.

"Warning! Oracle activity detected at bearing 020!" Amy cried. "There are Aragami spawning in the area!"

"Oh, shit! Hugo, Zygotes are coming to us!" Zeke cried while peeking through his binoculars. "We got Blast Spiders coming from the cliff, too!"

"Those are suicide bombers like what happened just now! Shoot 'em! Shoot 'em down! We can't let them get too close to us!" Hugo began firing his shot gun. 'It's just as Hilda predicted… Crap!'

"Turn around! We have Aragami closing in on the starboard side!" Levin cried. "Concentrate your fire on them..! Lulu, concentrate fire on Blast Spiders since Hugo, and Zeke cannot hit them at long range! We will take care of the Zygotes!"

"R-roger!" Lulu shifted her aim.

"Stay there, Misha. We'll take care of the starboard side," Levin cried from above them. "Look after Phym."

"Got it," Misha nodded.

"Hmph..! How pathetic..," The Baran Captain snickered. "An AGE worm throwing his life away over some weak woman. I suppose that's just fitting for him."

Then he chuckled. "And now there's Lulu on top of their ship."

"Move."

"What? Who is this?" The Baran Captain hissed.

"This is Governor Ein from Ashcrawler Dusty Miller One," Ein replied. "I am sending my forces to help, and if you are still unwilling to provide aid in this dire situation, then I politely advise you to move out of the way."

"What? How dare you..," The Baran Captain growled.

"Per Ashland Navigation Law, noncombatants shall not impede those who will enter the combat zone, and I am certain you are well aware of that. This is an emergency situation, and if you do not shift your position immediately, then I will force you to," Ein warned. "And if you try seeking damages from us over the damage done to your ship in the process, then I will testify against you for your intentional impediment of our combat aid. Move your vessel!"

"Tch..!" The Baran Captain gritted his teeth. "Operator! Move our ship 900 yards back, and make sure Dusty Miller's ship can pass!"

"Aye, sir..!" The operator began pressing a few buttons.

After Baran's ship moved, Ein's ship slowly moved past them.

"Captain Smith, and Captain Rogers, we will support Chrysanthemum. Inform your men, and prepare to mobilize," Ein informed two young adult male AGEs. "Deploy in two trailers with two gunners as rear support, and stand by in the loading bay until we open the hatch."

"Understood, sir." A 20 year old male AGE stood straight with his fisted hand on his chest as a salute.

"Right away, Governor," A 19 year old male AGE responded in kind before both left the bridge.

"Shit! Shin, cover me! I'll get to him!" Ricardo turned around.

"I got your back! No problem," Shin stabbed his blades on a Chi-You's shoulders, and tilted it a few times before swiping its head off with a snarl. "Go!"

"I still detect vital signs from Hound 1!" Amy informed them. "But please check if he's OK!"

Hearing this, Claire continued moving towards Jerad's location, and was unable to see him due to all the dust from the explosions. She felt a pang of guilt for this, if only she had been better enough to react faster, Jerad would not have risked his life to save her, and then wondered how many times he has to save her before she becomes better. To be good enough for him.

Suddenly, she heard a growl near her, and not being able to locate the origin of the noise, she drew her assault gun before scanning the area around her. A Kongou jumped behind her, and with her quick reflex added with her frustration of inadequacy, she snapped a 180 turn, and shot the medium Aragami while airborne with two rounds on its chest, and one to its head with her marksman rounds, pushing the Aragami back. After falling back on its butt sitting against a boulder, Claire coldly shot another two rounds to its chest, and another two on its head. After deeming it as dead, Claire let out a sigh until another Kongou leaped from her side, and just as she was about to jump out of its way, she saw a black monster latch its jaws on one of its legs, and stopped its momentum in midair, forcing it to fall straight down. The Kongou tried to resist being dragged to its doom by clawing itself on the ground before the black monster suddenly yanked it back into the dust, approximately at Jerad's direction, and then Claire heard the Aragami's painful whimpers and crunching noises before silence. Then after a few moments, a Kongou corpse was flung out of the dust, and against another boulder with one of its legs missing, and its head completely torn off.

"Heyy!" Ricardo called out to her, and before Claire could turn to him, they were suddenly blown by a short blast which made the three of them cover their eyes. Only after a few seconds, they uncover, and see Jerad in the center of it.

"You alright..?" Jerad wearily asked, staring at Claire.

"...Yes," Claire took a few steps toward him.

"Good..," Jerad chuckled while wiping blood seeping from his black headgear. "Bastards. Those explosions really hurt, you know? Now I'm getting pissed off, and I'm really about to get into a massacre mood…"

Then he suddenly felt a soft, warm body latch all over him. "Oww! H-hey! What are you-?!"

"I was so scared, you know..?" Claire almost sobbed. "Don't ever do anything so crazy again…OK?"

"Crazy..?" Jerad blinked his eyes. "Since when's saving your ass became crazy? Okay, if you're going to be pissed off at me because I worried you shitless, then take it out on me by shooting me with your custom heal bullet as hard as you can, and I'm pretty sure that will help. Do it..!"

"Fine then," Claire stepped back, and loaded a large green bullet into her assault gun before switching to ALT.

"Oww! Fuck..!" Jerad held his stomach, and nearly dropped his spear after Claire abruptly shoved the barrel of her assault gun to his gut. Then she shot him with a spray healing bullet at point blank.

"That's your punishment," Claire glared back.

"Jeez, woman..!" Jerad grimaced. "Thanks for the heal."

"Me, too," Shin suddenly spoke behind them. "Had enough chemistry already? Ricky is out there fighting, and he's gonna need help."

"Ohh, he's definitely not gonna need my help," Jerad rested his spear on his shoulder. "Because I'll slaughter them all for him. Let's go!"

And the three ran towards where Ricardo had been fighting, and began slaying Aragami behind him.

"Oh, hey. Glad you're still alive," Ricardo chuckled.

"Mere explosions ain't gonna kill me," Jerad spun in midair, and slew several Ogretails and Dreadpikes in front of him with Stardust Rain. "Is that all you fuckers got? Come at me harder!"

"Hm..?" Ricardo turned around after feeling a rumble, and saw a large ship parking behind them. "Whoa, hey. Look."

"What..?" Jerad pulled his spear off a recently killed Nemain's chest. "Huh..? Who's that..?"

"I don't know, but I think they're here to help," Ricardo smiled.

"Good," Jerad turned back. "Whoever they are, we're gonna owe our asses to them."

"That's what I'm trying to find out right now," Ricardo sliced a Chi-You down with a grunt before staring at the ship again. "Oh, that emblem. That's Dusty Miller!"

"Wait, Ein?" Jerad turned to him after slaying two Ogretails as Trista's ray gun beam swept the rest in front of him to give him reprieve.

"Ein is sending us help?" Claire stopped shooting after mowing Aragami down in front of her.

"Attention all Hounds! Be advised that Ashcrawler Dusty Miller is providing reinforcements!" Amy informed them.

"Huh, sweet," Jerad turned back to the front. "Roger."

"Did I just hear that right?" Zeke turned to Hugo after shooting a midair Blast Spider down. "Dusty Miller is helping!"

"I know," Hugo shot another Blast Spider. "But stay focused, Zeke. These guys ain't gonna stop coming, and we won't stop shooting, either!"

Meanwhile in Ashcrawler Dusty Miller, their loading bay began opening.

"Here it is, Cayden," The 20 year old AGE started his trailer. "Once the bay is open, I'll zoom out of here, and then you follow me! We're going to unload behind the Chrysanthemum's front. Don't let 'em down!"

"Gotcha, Asher!" The 19 year old AGE also started his vehicle. "All gunners, start blazing your guns as soon as the critters are in range. Cover us while we unload! You know the drill!"

"Roger," Both gunners responded.

"Hatch is fully open!" Asher cried. "Floor it once we're outside! Let's do this!"

Then Asher shifted his knob to first gear, and then his trailer finally moved.

"Ohh, my blood is starting to boil with this!" Cayden also shifted to first gear, and began trailing closely behind Asher's. "Please fasten your seatbelts, ladies and gents, and relax!"

Shortly after they left the bay, their vehicles picked up speed in a straight line, and drove between the giant wheels of their massive ships before finally arriving in the open field, and then turning left while splitting side by side together as a formation. As ordered by their respective captains, the gunners began firing their stream of bullets as the vehicles fast approached Chrysanthemum's defensive line.

"Eat that, you bastards!" Jerad sent several small Aragami flying with his acceleration trigger powered Mocking The Gods.

"We're starting to push them back," Ricardo waved his ray gun to his front. "Keep going!"

And then they heard growls coming from the cliffs of the ravine in front of them. Vajras standing in three separate locations behind the approaching Aragami horde jumped down from the cliffs, and began steadily approaching.

"Vajras, huh?" Jerad furrowed his eyes with suspicion before chuckling. "Finally, some worthy opponents to kill."

"Oh, boy. We have the big bads to deal with now?" Ricardo chuckled.

"No problem. One of them is mine alone, I'll have you know right now," Jerad snickered. "I just hope our kill tallies are still up, and Amy is still counting our kills. Hah!"

Then the Hounds continued their push, slaughtering any Aragami that stood in their way as Dusty Miller's AGEs began disembarking from their trailers, and unloading their God Arc cases while their gunners continued their stream of fire.
"Cavalry's here!" Ricardo cried. "Keep pushing, and wipe the rest of them out. Take the large ones out as soon as possible!"

"I'm about to claim one of them!" Jerad laughed as he swung his way through with Claire giving him support fire from behind. "Stay where you are! You're about to be mine!"

However, as he was about to jump over a few medium Aragami left who were seemingly guarding his target while it imposingly continued walking towards him, Jerad noticed small sparks growing around him. "Oh, crap..! Aragami spawn, incoming!"

"What?!" Ricardo paused.

Familiar with this attack earlier, Claire instantly jumped up as soon as Blast Spiders sprung from the ground, and began firing her assault gun while still airborne, raining her bullets down before the suicide bombers could detonate. Jerad backflipped, and as soon he landed, made quick shots at five Blast Spiders in front of him. Ricardo swung a 360 with a round fang of his extended scythe, slicing all of them in two, and Shin with his super agility with acceleration trigger, sliced all Blast Spiders around him in less than one second with his twin blades.

After recovering, Jerad turned back. "Claire, are you alright?"
Claire stood up around the corpses of her recent kills. "I'm fine. I won't be fooled by the same trick twice."

Then Jerad smiled at her before he noticed an unfamiliar AGE about Hugo's height with a few other..AGEs approaching them from behind. The leading one is holding a familiar looking buster blade on top of his shoulder. It reminded him..of Garret's.
"Are you all OK? We're here to help," The 20 year old AGE stopped between him, and Claire.

"We're fine," Jerad lightly dusted himself. "Just got caught by a little surprise."

"Yeah, those three cats will surely cause us some trouble," The 20 year old AGE chuckled.

"What's your name?" Jerad smiled.

"I'm Asher Smith, Captain of Dusty Miller's First Expedition Unit," Asher replied. "And the red haired, and hot headed guy with a long blade there is my fellow captain, Cayden Rogers of the Second Expedition Unit."

"Hot headed, huh?" Jerad chuckled. "I might get along with him. I'm a hothead bastard myself."

"Oh..?" Asher smiled. "I might get along with you, too. You're already amusing me with your daredevil charge against that Vajra."
"Well, Devil is my middle name," Jerad said with a wide grin.

'Devil..?' Asher paused. 'Wait, the ace Governor Ein told me about is actually…'

"Sorry I almost forgot our formal introduction, but I'm Jerad Pe..slash that. I'm Jerad Alexander," Jerad smiled.

"Jared Alexander…got it," Asher smiled back.

"Jeh-rad," Jerad awkwardly repeated as Claire giggled.

"Jerad..? Hmm, quite an unusual name," Asher chuckled.

"Thanks?" Jerad curved his lips as Claire finally let out a louder giggle.

"I already like that we're both English people, I'll at least say that," Asher chuckled. "And who is this pretty busty lady? Your woman?"

"My name is Claire Victorious. Nice to meet you," Claire furrowed his eyes at him.

"Likewise, miss," Asher smiled before it faded at the sight of the Aragami horde already too close for them. "Such a beautiful name for such a beautiful lady. You lucky you."

He smirked at Jerad.

"Dammit, you already..?" Jerad grimaced.

"Huh..?" Asher furrowed his eyes.

"Nevermind. Whatever..," Jerad dismissively waved his hand.

"Wish I could introduce my other four members here, but that might have to be saved for later. They're coming for us," Asher swung his Evil One down, and slammed its tip heavily on the ground. "I'm about ready to cleave this big cat down."
"Oh, that cat is mine, by the way," Jerad smirked at him.

"Then let's race to claim it," Asher responded after holding his large blade up.

"I'll one shot this bastard. You just watch," Jerad snickered.

'Goodness. Is this how you AGEs truly are?' Claire quietly sighed.

"Here they come. Let's party!" Asher began rushing with his buster blade raised.

"Here, let's have some fun together," Jerad shot him a Burst round.

"My many thanks, mate," Asher grinned before the two AGEs charged together.

"RRRAHH!" Shin spun before all Ogretails, and Axe Raiders around him fell apart in pieces.

"Holy! That was fast!" Cayden froze after watching a black haired fellow AGE in white slew Aragami in seconds. "I missed the whole thing blinking my eyes. What are you, man? You seemed oriental."

"Name's Shin Chrysanthemum, Japanese," Shin proudly held his reverse held blade up. "Glad you like my craft."

"Oh..from the Far East?" Cayden blinked his eyes. "Name is Captain Cayden Rogers of Dusty Miller's 2nd Expedition Unit. Nice to be fighting with you."

"Name is Ricardo Sforza, Intel Officer of Chrysanthemum," Ricardo turned to him before slaying a Nemain in front of him. "Thanks for helping us."

"Nah, you guys helped our ships safely cross a ravine a few days ago," Cayden struck a Kongou down with his long blade. "Governor Ein sent us, but we're more than happy to do you guys back a favor, anyway. Plus, I could also use a good fight!"

Then he struck two Ogretails with a single swipe. "Ooh, that felt so good."

"So, you said you're a captain, huh?" Shin smiled after striking another Chi-You. "I'm a vice captain. Chrysanthemum's 2nd Defense Unit."

"Well, you're definitely more than a vice captain, I'll tell you right now," Cayden swung his sword down at an Axe Raider, and then a side swing at a Kongou. "You probably need an upgrade."

"I have my reasons," Shin blocked both of a Nemain's blades before parrying them, and leaping at its chest for a fatal stab.

"It's to work under his She-Wolf girlfriend," Ricardo laughed while blocking a Fallen Nemain's blades with his shaft, before like Shin, parried them, and spun a back swing as a fatal strike of his scythe to its belly.

"Oh, shut up," Shin swiped two Zygotes in midair as Ricardo laughed again, and then he landed.

"A she, huh?" Cayden struck another Chi-You after missing its side karate chop over his head. "I don't see her around."

"She's the one up there streaming her laser down," Ricardo stared at her direction. "Careful, though. She's a hell of a force to reckon with. An Amazon with a heavy moon, and she will cleave you in half with it, if you cross her. Just to give you an idea."

"Ah," Cayden blinked his eyes. "Looks like we finally cleared our left flank. Good job, team."

"Yes, sir," A blonde, long haired female AGE with a short blade replied.

"Alright, all that's left is to push forward," Cayden held his long blade forward. "The real fun starts now. Ooh, my blood is starting to boil!"

Ricardo suddenly laughed. "Does this remind you of someone, Shin?"

"Only Jerad," Shin also laughed.

"Who's Jared?" Cayden grinned.

"Hah! You'll probably meet him soon enough," Shin grinned back. "He's fighting on that other front. The white haired guy."

"That's where our other guys are fighting," Cayden chuckled. "Oh well. Let's kill these things first, and let's try regrouping with the rest! Nina and everyone else, stick close to me! Don't stray!"

"Yes, captain. Right with you!" Nina held her one handed sword up. "Ready when you are, sir!"

"Let's go!" Cayden began charging. "Kill any Aragami that gets in our way!"

"Hound 8, can you hear me?" Shin held his earpiece as Cayden, and his other four unit members began fighting ahead of him. He also saw Nina leapt with her short blade held up with both hands, and struck a Kongou down.

"What?" Trista replied.

"We are going to regroup with Hound 1!" Shin informed her. "Cover us while we're at it! We're fighting our way to the middle, and establish our defense hold!"

"Roger!" Trista acknowledged. "You hear that Hound 2?! They're gonna regroup in the middle, so keep firing for Hound 1!"

"Roger!" Misha fixed her aim. "Phym! Follow where I shoot, got it?"

"Yes, auntie!" Phym aimed her gun.

"Let's go pew pew now!" Misha began firing.

"Yeah! Pew pew! Pew pew!" Phym also began firing.

"GRRRAH!" Asher swung his buster blade in side sweep, and cleaved a Kongou in two.

Jerad sliced a few more Ogretails in front of him before trying to claim his kill on a Vajra.

"What the fuck..?" His eyes raised after three Blast Spiders landed in front of him, and exploded. Only just in time he managed to backflip away to be caught in their explosions. Seeing an opening, the Vajra leapt, but Claire landed a few high caliber rounds to its face to push it back.

"Are you OK?" Claire cried.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks," Jerad irritably wiped dust off his lower lip before spitting. "Just got a little by surprise, that's all."

"Damn, that's a hell of a move," Asher stood beside him. "Never seen Aragami work together like that."

"Hm," Jerad furrowed his eyes.

"What's up..?" Asher turned to him.

"I'm not completely sure," Jerad murmured. "But I'll look a little more. I guess I didn't win the race on this one."

"What gives? Let's take on this thing!" Asher held his sword forward. "Hey, guys! Establish a defense perimeter around the gunner lady while she gives us cover fire. Don't let a single Aragami lay a scratch on her! You got this?"

"Roger!" A male AGE squad member with a variant scythe nodded.

Then Jerad chuckled. "Don't worry too much about her. She can hold her own."

"Can't let a pretty lady like her die in a place like this," Asher smiled. "Just doing you a favor."

And Jerad laughed. "Trust me, I have been showing her the ropes."

"Ohh, someone's already got her, huh? You really are a lucky one..," Asher chuckled. "It's coming! Let's slay this thing!"

"Still mine," Jerad charged in before Asher followed suit.

"Hah!" Ricardo swiped two Zygotes before landing back down. "We're almost there! How are you guys fairing up?"

"Big Aragami is mine!" Cayden ran in, jumped with his beamed long blade drawn, and struck it with Swift Slash. In only a few moments, the Vajra fell. "I guess I scored my first big Aragami kill over Asher, today. Hah! Drink's on him!"

"Amazing move, Captain," Nina praised him.

"Hell yeah. Can't fall behind Captain Smith at any time," Cayden swung his sword.

"I'll have the other one," Shin readied his twin blades. "It's in our way, too."

"Go for it," Ricardo held his scythe. "I'll cover you. End it quick!"

"That's my specialty," Shin finally leapt.

"GRRAH!" Jerad struck a Vajra head with Mocking The Gods with Acceleration Trigger, and as a result of his immense power, the Burst Art completely obliterated its head. Added that there was still enough force to send the headless large Aragami land on its back.

"Wha..?" Asher dumbfoundedly stared at the gory sight. "The hell did I just..?"

"Told you I'll one shot this thing," Jerad chuckled while smugly resting his spear on his shoulder. "I win this one. How'd you like it?"

"Hey, cool," Still dumbfounded, Asher nodded. "And what are those white glowing things on your armlets?"

"Acceleration Trigger," Jerad smiled.

"Wait, that? I heard rumors!" Asher cried. "Weren't those still being…experimented on by…Baran? Is that where you came from? Wait a second!"

'Acceleration Trigger..?' A long, black haired female AGE stared at her armlets, and then to the black and red vessel quite far from them before glancing at Jerad's armlets.

Asher rubbed his head. "You're from Chrysanthemum, aren't you?! How the hell did you get one?"

"It's a long story," Jerad replied. "Tell you about it, if we get the chance later, and no, I am NOT from that goddamned Port, so I got nothing to do with that piece of shit vessel just being there not doing anything right now."

He pointed at the black, and red ship. "Fuck all of them! It's just you and your guys from Dusty Miller, and us from Chrysanthemum handling this front."

"I get what you mean," Asher murmured. "A couple of my boys and girls were runaways from that Port. Kinda. Got a story to tell you about that."

"We have one right now, and you might see her soon enough. We got these from her," Jerad shook his left armlet. "And a sexy one at that. Heh."

"Cut the chatter. You've been talking long enough," Claire began shooting again, who was seemingly agitated. "They're coming again in droves! Get to work..!"

"Hah, you heard the lady," Asher readied his buster blade. "I haven't even broken a sweat yet."

"Well, looks like we're about to," Jerad spun his spear. "Four more Vajras coming down the cliff."

"Shit! Are you serious?" Asher furrowed his eyes.

"Right there in front of us," Jerad chuckled.

"Whatever. Leave one to me, this time," Asher murmured.

"Have at it. Just don't die," Jerad smiled. "I have an idea while we're at it. Ready to hear it?"

"I'm all ears," Asher replied. "Out with it."

"Alright, see the guy in white fighting with your guys? Let's get to them," Jerad sliced two Ogretails. "I have a plan for him."

"Roger," Asher readied his sword.

"Chrysanthemum, can you hear me?" Jerad tapped his earpiece.

"Loud, and clear, Hound 1," Amy replied. "What is it?"

"Run a focused resonance scan up to 10 miles around south of us," Jerad said.

"That could compromise our observations, and support for you in our frontlines," Amy objected. "Are you sure? Could you state reason?"

"No time to explain everything..!" Jerad jumped from a Kongou's ground punch before headshotting it with his sniper gun. "I think a controlling Aragami or two are behind this, and I want a final confirmation. Just do it. Us, and Dusty Miller guys are fairly holding the line right now."

"Amy, I approve Jerad's request," Hilda turned to her from Ricardo's console. "He has shown some effective tactical moves that saved us already. Execute it."

"Yes, ma'am," Amy touched a few areas in her screen as Jerad directed, and their resonance radar began scan sweeping.

"Chrysanthemum, what's taking you?" Jerad slew two small Aragami with one sweep.

"It takes time, please hold on," Amy eagerly waited on her screen. "Oh, my…"

"What is it?!" Jerad cried in her headphones. "Report!"

"Though I cannot see a clear picture at this time due to thicker ash in the area, I am detecting a heavy Oracle life form 7 miles south of your location," Amy reported. "It has a similar reading as a large Aragami!"

"Hmph! Just as I thought," Jerad murmured. "Marduk bastards..! Maybe…"

"What..?" Claire paused.

"Same pattern like last time," Jerad replied. "Horde after horde, Vajras, and then smart moves."

Then he turned to his teammate. "Asher, let's hurry up! I need to get to them fast, or we'll be killing these bastards forever!"

"I heard it all," Asher cleaved a Chi-You in two. "Team, push on! Gabriel, lead the charge! Sweep them with your scythe!"

"Roger, captain!" Gabriel began charging forward with his variant scythe.

"Here you go, Gab!" A black long haired female squad member with a red hairband raised her gun. "Right behind you!"

"Thanks, Elsie!" Gab entered burst from his teammate's Burst round. "Let's do this!"

"Kill them all!" Jerad cried.

"Hugo, is there any end to this?!" Zeke kept firing his shotgun at the oncoming Zygotes.

"Just keep going, Zeke. We're getting somewhere! Have you heard from Jerad with Amy?" Hugo also kept firing. "He seems to have a plan! Keep holding on!"

"Crap, I need to refill!" Keith put his assault gun down.

"Don't worry, I'll cover you!" Lulu shot down two suicide Blast Spiders while still on the cliff, and then she spotted a Zygote moving on the side of Zeke, and Hugo's position, seemingly attempting to flank Zeke.

"Zeke!" Lulu cried as she aimed her high caliber gun at the now swooping Aragami with its mouth open.

Shortly after hearing a familiar voice call his name, he suddenly heard a splattering noise that was quickly followed with a warm red fluid bathing him. "Whoa!"

He winced. "What the fuck?!"

He stared at its direction only to see blood on their ship's armor, and quickly learning what happened, he turned back to see Lulu worriedly staring at him with smoke seeping out of its barrel, realizing that the pressure is beginning to degrade his full situational awareness, and that Lulu just saved him from being unknowingly eaten. "Damn you, Jerad! Hurry up with that!"

And he continued firing.

"GRRAHH!" With a hard swing of Slaughter Fang, Gabriel sliced seven small Aragami in front of them.

"Good job, Gab!" Asher leapt up. "Now for the follow up!"

He dove down, and smashed the earth with Nemesis, sending several small Aragami flying in all directions.

"HAAAAAA!" Gabriel made another hard swing with Slaughter Fang, slicing small and medium Aragami in two with his extended scythe.

"Damn, your guy is good!" Jerad leapt, and skewered a Kongou's face. "He could compete against my sister with that."

"What?" Asher suddenly turned to him. "Did you say you have a sister?"

"A hot blue head at that. My twin," Jerad added. "But too bad, she isn't available. Haha!"

"Aww, man," Asher swung his sword in a diagonal left upper to strike a Nemain down. "I wanted an AGE as my woman."

"Huh..?" Jerad furrowed his eyes with bewilderment.

"Wanna know what Governor Ein told me once?" Asher grinned. "God Eater couples make stronger kids, and also told me he's seen one before. I want some AGE born kids now."
"You're telling me? I was born as one," Jerad laughed as he continued fighting. "My parents were GEs..just so you know."

"You kidding me?!" Asher froze. "A living God Eater Child in front of me?"

"God Eater Child, huh?" Jerad turned back to block a Nemain's twin blades. "What's the deal..? I can't be the only one. Claire behind me is also one."

"Your type is rarer than you think, you know that?" Asher chuckled before parrying a Chi-You's claws, and following up with a successful swipe. "Not a lot of God Eaters grow old enough to tie the knot, and have kids. Your parents must be good!"

"That, they are..," Jerad also parried his opponent's twin blades before quickly rushing in, and stabbing its chest.

"Claire, are you alright?" Elsie turned to her.

"I'm holding fine," Claire kept shooting in another direction.

"That's impressive shooting, by the way," Elsie resumed firing.

"Thank you, and I can say so to you, likewise," Claire glanced at her. "Um, what is your name?"

"Name's Elyse Bertrand. Nice to meet you," Elyse smiled. " But people like calling me Elsie, instead. Claire Victorious, huh? Classy."

"Um, well," Claire paused. "Actually, I..."

She shook her head. "Never mind. Thank you."

"Alright! Ready to rip more Aragami together?" Elyse pointed her barrel at the approaching horde. "My gun is fresh, and ready for more tearing. Damn, if it wasn't for my role right now, I'd be tearing more apart with my scythe like Gab."

"I…see," Claire murmured. "Oh, dear…"

"Hm?" Elyse turned to her.

"Nothing. It's just that..," Claire held her speech to briefly concentrate her aim at her targets, and shot them. "I've been noticing that quite a lot of AGEs seem to enjoy fighting."

Then Elyse made a brief laugh. "I see. Well, you're not completely wrong."

She shot a Kongou to death with her assault gun. "We are child soldiers, after all. Once you fight for a while, and get used to it, the battlefield starts becoming your playground, plus being in Burst as an AGE can make us feel pretty high like being on ecstasy, sometimes. More than just an adrenaline rush. I mean, you regulars can be in Burst, too, so I bet you know how that feels, but imagine that with us feeling it tenfold. That..can cause some of us to see fighting as an enjoyment, and it's clear that your white haired friend is having it. I've already lost count of how many times he's laughed while fighting."

"It's the way he is since I met him," Claire murmured.

"You gotta get used to him," Elyse grinned. "But keep an eye out for him, okay? He's definitely skilled but not invincible, and his over enjoyment could kill him, someday, so I hope he knows that. Governor Ein used to scold us time to time for being careless once we got good at our job. Getting cocky is very easy for experienced AGEs like us because you know..power. Power can corrupt, and people had a fair reason to be afraid of us…"

"I understand," Claire closed her eyes.

As one of the two remaining Vajras erratically turn around in confusion, Shin with his acceleration trigger on, was swiftly running around under the large Aragami while tangling its four legs with his long chain, and as soon as he reappeared behind it, he abruptly yanked his chain with a snarl, causing the giant feline to fall forward with all of its legs bound together, and head laying forward on the ground. Finally, Shin jumped over the subdued Aragami, and shifted his twin blades into a glaive. As soon as he landed, he thrusted his end through its head where its CNS Core is located for a swift kill.

"Damn," Cayden watched Shin pull his glaive. "Unconventional."

"Heh, figured him out yet?" Ricardo chuckled. "He's Shin the Ninja."

"A ninja..," Cayden blinked his eyes. "I could have, but I thought they're just on TV."

"Well, here's the living one," Ricardo chuckled again.

"Heyyy! My buddy's got the second," Jerad cackled as he slammed a Kongou against a wall with his spear, causing a crack behind it. "Are you gotta have me, or him get the last one, too?"

"Keep your ass out of this! This one is my kill!" Asher swung a Sky Cleaver, and quickly followed with a Nemesis. The two quick successive hits of his Burst Arts stunned and grounded the large Aragami, and as soon as Asher recovered, he raised his heavy blade, and began charging. "Here's my Overkill!"

With a snarl, he swung down, and crushed the large Aragami's head with his heavy sword.

"Nice kill. Is that what you call the Burst Art you just did?" Jerad chuckled.

"Because it works best on downed Aragami," Asher flashed his eyebrows.

"There you guys are," Ricardo landed beside them. "Finally."

"So we're finally together again," Jerad raised his spear at the approaching Aragami horde. "By the way, where is..?"

He caught a glimpse of a white blur jumping up before landing and slicing an unaware Chi-You from behind, and then spun and decapitated two Ogretails.

"Oh, boy. I could have expected that," Jerad grimaced as he saw four new Vajras roaring on the cliffs before jumping.

"No way!" Nina cried. "We just killed three of them. Now we have four?!"

"That's exactly why I got a plan for this," Jerad murmured. "Alright, since we're one big team together now, mind if you cover us for a bit?"

"No problem," Ricardo replied.

"Got your back like always," Asher slammed the tip of his sword on the ground. "Plus more possible Vajra kills for me."

"Alright, Shin. Let's talk," Jerad called as the rest of the team charged forward. "Did you hear what Amy, and I were talking about earlier?"

"Too busy to hear everything," Shin shook his head. "Something about scanning south of us."

"Good enough. Listen, I have a plan that only you can do since you're the only one I know who can run super fast like a blue hedgehog," Jerad placed his hand on his shoulder.

And Shin suddenly chuckled. "I'll take that as a nice compliment."

"Yep," Jerad smiled. "I need you to get out of here, and kill about two targets, hopefully no more than those. Remember our last weird mission about a week ago? You noticed how similar this is right now?"

"...Yeah," Shin furrowed his eyes with a nod. "You're telling me there is a…"

"Marduks, likely," Jerad also nodded. "Psions that can control Aragami. I want you to come after them, and kill them behind these hordes' backs. If we don't do something about them soon, these bastards will tire us out, and we're all fucked. You getting this?"

"Alright," Shin nodded. "But that also means…"

"Don't worry about us. We can handle them for a while," Jerad nudged him. "Plus Dusty Miller's guys weren't slouches, and it's a good thing they came to help. I wouldn't be thinking this if it weren't for them, but you also gotta hustle, and this is why I chose you. Kill them fast, and we should be able to mop the rest of them easy."

"Alright, I'm down for it," Shin tensely sighed.

"Coordinate with Amy about their location, and once you find one of them, kill it," Jerad nudged him again. "Then move on, and kill the other one."

Then he pressed his earpiece. "Chrysanthemum, this is Hound 1. I have briefed Hound 9 about our plan. Once Hound 9 departs the combat zone, commit your support to him."

"But Hound 1, how about-?"

"Don't worry about us! All we're doing at this point is keeping Aragami at bay," Jerad cried. "Keep tracking Hound 9, and pinpoint the targets for him. Do you understand?"

"Acknowledged, Hound 1," Amy replied. "Commence operation. Hound 9, you have my full support. Egress to bearing 200 at the small ravine entrance to locate your targets."

"Alright, you got this, Shin," Jerad armlet banged with him. "Get out of here, and kill them… Shit..!"

He suddenly snapped his sniper gun at a swarm of Zygotes who passed their defense line. "I'll take care of them! Ignore them, and go!"

"Got it!" Shin turned around, and began running at high speed towards the ravine entrance as Jerad began firing at the Zygotes.

Once Shin entered the ravine, he jumped on several rocks in his way, and ran along the walls in turns. As soon as he began running in a straight path, he activated his acceleration trigger, and boomed through.

"Ma'am, Hound 9 has now departed the combat zone," Amy reported.

"Maintain your full support for him. I will handle support for our front, if needed be," Hilda replied.

"Yes, ma'am," Amy nodded.

"Chrysanthemum, keep me updated on my first target's location," Shin ran at high speed. "And warn me-!"

Then he raised his eyes. 'Zygotes!'

"RRAH!" Slicing three of them in half as he passed through with his twin blades, Shin continued his run. "Warn me of any potential Aragami ahead, and update me about my distance to the target! I am now in pursuit!"

"Roger, Hound 9," Amy acknowledged. "There is a two way fork half a mile ahead. Take the right."

"Copy that," Shin continued his run.

'Jerad, I swear. If your plan gets Shin killed,' Trista mused after reloading her ray gun. 'It will be your head next..!'

Then she pointed her ray gun downrange. "Misha, I just finished reloading!"

"Right on time, big sis!" Misha raised her assault gun. "Just ran out. Reloading!"

"Just do what you gotta do!" Trista began streaming. "I got you!"

In the front lines, Jerad continued sniping Aragami until he heard a nearby laughter.

"You guys are just gonna keep coming, huh?" Cayden relentlessly sliced one Ogretail after another with his long blade's Morning Calm as they came to him. "You're all just making my blood boil harder. Come at me!"

Then he dodged a rear attack from an Ogretail's pounce, and counterattacked with Whirlwind Sword, sending a few sliced in half Aragami flying.

Jerad laughed at this. "Is he serious?"

"I told you he's a hothead," Asher chuckled after swiping an Axe Raider off with his buster blade in one hand. "He's finally in the moment."

"Heh. I'm an adrenaline junkie myself. Plus, my gun just ran out of juice," Jerad shifted to spear. "Maybe I should have a little fun with him?"

"Go for it," Asher smiled after executing an Adrenaline Rush counter on a Chi-You. "He always enjoys a good fight with someone."

"Perfect!" Jerad held his spear. "Ima jump in! Hah!"

"Jerad, please be careful!" Claire warned him.

"Nah, we got this! We're fighting with a bunch of pros," Jerad leapt.

And nearby, Elyse laughed. "That's exactly what I'm talking about."

"Huh?" Asher turned.

"I just told her to look after him," Elyse giggled.

"I see now. Don't you know these two are an item?" Asher smiled. "That guy has been training her."

"Oh, will you two stop it?" Claire pouted.

"My, I had no idea. I'm sorry for referring to him as your friend, Claire," Elyse chuckled. "He's actually your fiance. That's adorable."

"Enough!" Claire growled. "We got work to do, and please get to it."

"Roger that, missus," Asher chuckled.

"Repeat that, again..," Claire blushed.

Cayden has been swinging his long blade left, and right with Morning Calm before he sees a white haired black figure jump a Kongou with his spear buried in its head. He watched him jump off before turning to him.

"Hey, what's up? Cayden, right?" Jerad grinned. "Looks like you're having too much fun. I love fun, too. Mind if I join?"

"Oh, hell yeah! Why not?" Cayden held his long blade. "You're Jared, aren't you?"

"What..?" Jerad grimaced. "That's…Jeh-rad, by the way. How did you know?"

"Shin told me," Cayden replied.

"Asher told me who you are," Jerad replied back. "A captain, too, huh?"

"Correct, my friend," Cayden slew an Aragami down. "Where is Shin..?"

"I sent him off on a different mission," Jerad skewered an Ogretail before lifting it up with his spearhead, and throwing it towards the horde.

"For what?" Cayden paused. "You do know considering our situation, we can't afford to lose even a single body here, right? It's a good thing our guys, and gals weren't pushovers!"

"Hah! You're gonna change your mind once I tell you why," Jerad bit an Axe Raider with a Devour before crushing it in two, restoring his Burst. "I sent him on a mission to kill two Aragami behind this horde. Probably Marduks hiding like bitches they are."

"You serious? Didn't one of them just try to ambush our ships last week?" Cayden turned to him. "Governor Ein told us what you did."

"Yep, and we saved them for it," Jerad blocked a pair of hands from a Chi-You. "This is exactly how I knew, and I sent Shin to kill them off behind their backs. Their bosses won't know what hit them."

He turned back to his opponent. "Is this all you could do?! How the hell did you become a trial monster for old God Eaters? They must suck!"

Then he grunted as he parried it off to the side, and while still open, stabbed it with Mocking the Gods, obliterating its upper torso.

"Heh, that looks like old school assassination textbook strategy," Cayden grinned. "Send a ninja to kill the leader, and the rest of its army will fall apart. Not a bad plan."

"Hah, so you already know how he is, and why," Jerad smirked.

"Took me a while to figure him out until Ricardo told me, and he's quick as hell, I tell you," Cayden made a sudden dash, and struck a Kongou's chest. "Never seen an AGE like him."

"So for now, we just have to keep fighting until Shin does his job," Jerad snickered. "And that's the fun part. Just. Fighting."

"Down for it," Cayden's hands on his long blade hilt began shivering. "I haven't drained my adrenaline fluids yet. Far from it, buddy! Let's do this!"

"Here you go," Jerad shot him a Burst round. "Let's rock..!"

"Hah! Whoever kills that Vajra wins," Cayden cried.

"I got one already," Jerad cackled. "Gonna have my second."

Already traveled six miles, Shin sliced two wandering Zygotes in his way.

"Hound 9, be advised you are now 0.40 miles towards the target area," Amy informed.

"Alright, close enough," Shin stopped his run before trying to catch his breath. "Gotta go quiet from here."

"Huh..?" Amy murmured. "Hound 9, you have to be..!"

"I know, but as ironic as this sounds, I have to be quiet and steady," Shin ran at normal speed. "Best to kill targets quickly are sneak, and surprise attacks."

"Understood, Hound 9," Amy acknowledged.

"Keep me updated on my direction," Shin kept running. "Am I heading in the right direction?"

"Affirmative," Amy replied. "Maintain your current course. You are very close to an Oracle area. Please be careful..!"

"Understood," Shin continued running before stopping. "A two way fork…"

"Take left," Amy said.

"Thanks. On it," Shin took the left pathway, and after a few more yards, he suddenly heard footsteps coming from the front. "Crap..!"

He quickly leapt, and hid to a nearby boulder on his right.

"Hound 9, is everything alright?" Amy almost cried.

Not responding, Shin watched several Ogretails, two Nemains, and two Kongous run past his hiding place. Seeing two Kongous among them, and aware of their very sharp hearing, Shin dared not move his legs. Not even an inch of scrub between his boots, and dirt, and also being careful not to ever allow any friction between his metallic God Arc and stone, for a Kongou could easily hear even the faintest of noise. He realized he was only lucky that his earpiece was completely sealed with his left ear canal with a noise filter that still allows him to hear outside of it.

Once the small horde is no longer in sight, Shin tapped his earpiece. "This is Hound 9. I'm fine."

"Oh.., glad to hear," Amy murmured with worry. "I thought you were…"

"Sorry, I had to be quiet," Shin hid back on his boulder. "There's an Aragami with them that is very sensitive to noise, and I couldn't afford to make even the faintest one."

"I see," Amy murmured.

"Let me scout a bit further. Stand by," Shin peeked to see if there were more Aragami ahead of him. The silence convinced him of a cleared area before proceeding deeper into the ravine, and after he took another cover, he peeked from his hiding spot. His eyes raised at the sight of a cave. "Chrysanthemum to Hound 9, I have spotted a cave entrance," Shin whispered as he continued observing. "What does the resonance radar show?"

"Radar shows a dense Oracle reading there, Hound 9," Amy murmured.

"Then the target is likely inside," Shin furrowed his eyes. "Tch..!"

"So, Hound 9. How should we..?" Amy paused.

"I think I have a plan for this," Shin began pulling materials out of his back pouch. Smoke bombs, and shock trap materials. "I don't like how that thing is inside, but I'll also use that against it."

"May I ask what you are doing..?" Amy whispered.

"Traps, and poison bombs..," Shin replied. "I'm assembling them right now. Give me a few minutes."

And a few minutes passed.

"Alright. From now on, radio silence until I'm finished," Shin murmured.

Then Amy gasped. "What? Hound 9, I…"

"This is extremely dangerous," Shin murmured. "I need to fully focus, so please maintain radio silence until I say so."

"...Roger," Amy murmured back.

"Moving in," Shin peeked around for any Aragami presence before finally leaving his hiding spot, and ran towards the cave entrance. Right by it, Shin quietly hogged the wall, and carefully peeked inside the dark entrance. No Aragami presence, and he proceeded inside. After tiptoeing deeper into the cave for several yards while hogging the wall and leaping one hiding spot after another, Shin suddenly heard a low yet familiar growl before quickly hiding by a nearby boulder. He stood still for a few seconds before slowly peeking at the noise's direction, and saw a black, four legged silhouette inside. He could barely identify the Aragami due to the cave's darkness, however, the figure had about four pinkish glowing tendrils that lightly illuminated the area, and after his eyes finished adjusting for the darkness, his eyebrows raised.

'It's just as Jerad suspected,' Shin now furrowed his eyes. 'A Marduk…'

He went back into hiding, and began scanning the area. The cave's ceiling height is nearly as high as the wolf Aragami, and while that may be disadvantageous for him to quietly maneuver based on his plan, he could use that same situation to turn it into his favor by causing panic, and using its confined space to possibly crash itself around. However, another concern suddenly struck him which was how he could swiftly neutralize this Aragami. He has yet to read more information about this wolf since it was their recent encounter, and he felt foolish to not have done it sooner. He can only guess its CNS core is either in its chest, or the head, an organ he knew is both the brain and the heart of all Aragami. Shin could only hope it's in the chest since the Marduk's head is well protected by its bone like structure, an exoskeleton of sorts. He heard another noise from the Marduk, and saw it turn around, towards the cave's dead end, its sight away from his position before sitting back down. Shin wondered why would this Aragami turn its sights away from the entrance, away from his position where intruders can only enter. He speculated that perhaps being a psion, it was probably redirecting its psionic signals to its minions to issue mental commands, and whatever its reason was, it did not matter to him as this is also his window of opportunity to begin his plan in motion.

Shin made sure his shock traps were ready in his hands, and carefully began to slowly and quietly walk out of his hiding place. He glanced to see the fiery wolf was still turned away from him, not being aware of his presence, and after a few more stealthy steps, he placed one shock trap on the ground, turned the knob, and it quietly activated. Keeping his eye on the black Aragami, he took a few more steps farther across, and placed another trap as a backup in case the first missed his target. After setting his last trap, Shin leapt into the nearest hiding place in the opposite of his last hiding position, and vaulted over a boulder. However, in only a glimpse of inattention, he accidentally tugged a loose rock on top of his new hiding place, and made a thud. He gasped at the noise while hogging the boulder on his back as the Marduk turned with a low growl, and he dared not peek as his instincts were right, Marduk's head hovered over him as he glanced up with only his eyes. He dared not move a single part of his body other than his eyes to keep his sights fixed on the wolf's head, and to maintain undetection while also keeping his slow breath. The cave was so silent that Shin could only hear the low growls of his target in every move, and his heartbeat from fear. While observing the monster's head above him, Shin spotted a vertex area under the Marduk's head, just behind its armored head. This gave him a small sense of hope that it is likely a weak spot still close enough to penetrate through it; to strike where its brain was likely located.

To his relief, Shin watched the Marduk pull its head back, and took a heavy low sigh, but nevertheless remained still as a safe measure, and to relax his nerves. After less than half a minute, Shin peeked from the side of his hiding place, and found his target to have resumed its work. With its unwariness, it is now prime for him to make his kill.., or so he sincerely hoped.

He quietly pulled three poisonous smoke bombs from his back pouch, ones mixed with the same bias factor formula used in God Arcs to sever the bonds of hundreds of Oracle cells that form an Aragami, and he hoped that by exposing his target into it as a smoke would at least weaken its skin's bonds enough for him to strike a single fatal blow. Shin glanced around the dark area to find three spots to smog the Aragami, and swallowed hard before swinging his arm. Three small spheres flew in three directions before detonating on impact; two on both sides of the cave, and the other on the ceiling right above the large Aragami. The Marduk raised its head after being startled by the explosions, and quickly turned around, but before it could see its small intruder, it shut its eyes from the irritation of the bias factor smog. Panicked, the black wolf growled as it shook its head, and took a few steps to Shin's direction to try blindingly escaping the smog. Also spooked by this, Shin also took a few steps back before seeing it suddenly whimpered into a halt by two of his shock traps, followed by automatic explosions from those activated traps, further smothering the Aragami with bias factor smog.

'Here goes..!' Shin placed his dual blades hilt to hilt together to form a glaive, and sped towards the seized Aragami. He lept towards his chest, hung himself on its fur with his left hand, and after stabilizing himself while locking his sights on the Marduk's chin, Shin activated his acceleration trigger, and thrusted upwards with all his might, screaming in the process…

"Shin..! Shin!" Amy cried.

"Haa!" Jerad landed on a Chi-You with his spearhead on its chest. "You bastards just won't stop coming! Fine then, keep coming for me!"

Then he buried his spear deeper into its chest before seeing three Blast Spiders leaping at him, and he jumped back to avoid their explosions before a Vajra tried to pounce him.

"Hmph! That's the third time you tried that on me!" He jumped straight up, and landed on its back. "I'm down for another rodeo, if that's what you want."

He thrusted his spear on its back. "YEEHAW! Let's go!"

And he pulled his spear back to force the giant feline to raise its upper body, and out of panic caused by pain, it began running towards one of the other Vajras. Sensing an approaching danger, another Vajra turned towards Jerad's direction as he jumped high only a few seconds before their heads collided. Both Vajras fell, and were stunned in place, and exploiting this, Jerad charged his spear while airborne, and as soon as he finished, he dove straight down at high speed with Fallen Tear, smashing the two heads into a gory end with a crater. Witnessing this, Claire turned away, and covered her mouth for such a gruesome sight, and shortly after, Jerad jumped a few yards back.

"Holy shit, man!" Asher dumbfoundedly commented. "Two Vajras in a single Burst Art?!"

Then Jerad cackled. "Double kill! How ya like it?"

And Asher sighed. "Alright. Much expected of the Devil of the Chrysanthemum…"

"Uh, what..?" Jerad paused. "How did you..?"

"You told me yourself, earlier," Asher chuckled. "You said "devil is your middle name," right?"

"Oh..," Jerad blinked his eyes.

"Hey, guys! Could you help us over here?" Cayden blocked a Vajra's jaws with his shield. "Don't leave us dealing with two big Aragami ourselves! Ricardo's got his hands full dealing with the other!"

"Alright, captain. We're coming!" Asher began running with Jerad, Claire, and Elyse following behind them.

"Don't worry about me. I can deal with these cats," Ricardo parried a Vajra's bite with a slice of his scythe to its cheek, leaving a deep gash, but just as he was about to strike its opening, he suddenly paused. "What the..?"

"Wait, what..?" Asher also paused.

"The Aragami, they suddenly stopped a bit," Ricardo murmured.

And while the Vajra in front of Cayden shook its head as if it recently snapped itself out of hypnosis after being pushed back, Cayden did not waste time with the opportunity, and leapt with his long blade raised. It grew a long energy blade before swinging it down with Swift Slash, cleaving the Vajra in two diagonally across. Also at the same time, Elyse and Claire began firing at the last Vajra, and while flinching, Ricardo activated his acceleration trigger, and swung his scythe in a round fang, striking the side of its head, and having his point penetrate deep enough through its head to strike the CNS core. The Vajra fell, and then Ricardo pulled his scythe.

"Bagged a big one today," Ricardo wearily chuckled before glancing at the two machine gunners behind him. "Thanks, ladies."

Still in the cavern, Shin breathed hard as he watched the dead wolf in front of him while resting to catch his breath, and he glanced at his bloodied glaive on his right hand, recalling his swift kill on this creature by spearing its head from under with it. He was relieved to see it suddenly pause after he impaled its head, a sign of its life's instant end, before he pulled his glaive back, and jumped away before it fell. This creature never learned what its killer was. Taking another sigh, Shin realized that this is his first stealth kill on a large Aragami, rather technically not when counting his sneak attack on a Vajra a few months ago on its tail when defending Chrysanthemum from an Aragami invasion during the 1st Defense Unit's absence with the help of his teammates. This is his first true stealth kill, no mistaking it as he thought, as he alone executed it almost flawlessly by using every means of surprise attack available: poison smoke bombs to disorient his target by surprise, shock traps rigged with bias factor and explosives to ensnare it as prime for his kill and for further poisoning, and his deadly guess of where to fatally strike it with a single blow. Shin breathed another heavy sigh to fully relax himself, and could not help but feel proud as this was no small feat. Also in his mind, it felt like..home for him.

As its Oracle cells began to dissipate into the ash, Shin tapped his earpiece. "Chrysanthemum, this is Hound 9."

"I read you loud, and clear, Hound 9," Amy quickly responded. "Hound 9, are you..?!"

"Target eliminated," Shin finished his report. "I'm still fine. Please guide me to the next target. I'm moving out."

"Roger, Hound 9," Amy acknowledged.

Then Shin ran towards the exit of the cave, leaving his dead prey behind that would soon completely wither away into ash, and once he exited back into the sunlight.

"Hound 9, I hold resonance radar visual on your next target northwest of your location," Amy followed with her report. "Egress at bearing 275 into the small ravine. Do you have visual?"

"Hm," Shin glanced around while running, and quickly sighted a crack under a small plateau. "I see it. Heading there now."

"Roger, we will maintain support for our objective," Amy replied. "Please be careful."

"I have good copy, please keep me updated," Shin continued running towards the crevice, and once he was close enough, he activated his acceleration trigger before booming into the ravine entrance.

"This is way much easier now!" Asher cried as he swung an overhead, and struck a Nemain down. "Claire, how's Nina?"

"She's fine. Just a little deep gash," Claire finished wrapping her bandage on a female AGE's left arm. "There. How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling fine, thanks," Nina stood up while holding her arm. "I can still fight, and this will heal in no time."

"Don't get careless this time, Nina! Just because we AGEs heal fast!" Elyse sliced two Ogretails. "That last Fallen Nemain nearly sliced you in half. If I wasn't close enough for my scythe to cut it down from behind, and even worse, what if I wasn't in Burst?!"

"Sorry..," Nina murmured.

"Stick with us from now on," Elyse shifted to assault gun, and began firing. "You got two good machine gunners to back you up, and your short blade ain't good for crowd control. Leave that to us, and kill the more isolated ones. Don't get side attacked.., and more importantly, don't get ganged. The owner won't be happy if you don't make it back. You still have a lot of experiences to go, so don't let it end here!"

"Understood," Nina readied her sword.

"I'll fight with you," Claire stood up with her spear in hand. "I know how it's like to fight with a lack of experience, and it is scary, but someone I know protected me from my shortcomings. I'll do the same for you."

"Yeah, Claire is definitely more senior than you," Elyse continued firing. "Treat her like it."

"Alright," Nina nodded.

"Let's go, girls!" Elyse swung her arm forward. "Can't let our men hog all the work! Mow the rest of these critters down, so we can all get out of here alive! Go!"

"Understood," Claire nodded before charging in with Nina.

At the same time.

"Whoa, is it just me, or have these suicide bastards been slowing down?" Zeke reloaded his shotgun.

"You're definitely not the only one," Hugo shot a Zygote down. "I've been having a bit more time to even breathe, actually."

"I know it's been hectic with you guys down there, but I've been listening to Amy's comms," Lulu shot two rounds. "Jerad was right. There are about two Marduks, at least I simply hope only two, that are behind these limitless hordes, and Shin just killed one which is why our area started slowing down."

"Atta boy, Shin!" Zeke flexed his hand with a grin. "Go get the other bastard!"

"So, right now, we'll just have to take the remnants down. Just push a little harder," Lulu smiled. "We're almost there."

"Looks like victory will be upon us very soon," Levin placed his empty ampule down. "I can still keep shooting. In fact, my adrenaline is still flowing strongly inside my system, and I'm terrified to feel an extent of excitement."

"Hah, now you get why some of us enjoy fighting, huh?" Zeke chuckled while shooting. "Love livin' on the edge. That's the life!"

"Doesn't suit my lifestyle, unfortunately," Levin pelted two Zygotes, and then a Blast Spider near a cliff. "I just want to fight to protect those close to me. That is all."

Then Lulu giggled. "That's fair. Everyone of us is doing the same, but..some of us fight for more than that, which are two people."

"Yes, Jerad, and Zeke," Levin chuckled.

"Hrrah!"

While passing through at high speed, Shin sliced several Zygotes in mid air which put them to a still, but after he landed, all Aragami he passed through fell in two parts. Paying no heed to the results by his confidence, Shin boomed to speed again. "Chrysanthemum, distance to next target?" Shin continued speeding through the near straight ravine before deactivating his acceleration trigger, and began running along the walls in a few sharp turns, like a sports car in a racing track. After approaching another straight line, he reactivated his acceleration trigger, and boomed to speed again.

"Distance to target: 5 miles," Amy replied. "Continue your course."

"Roger," Shin acknowledged. 'I'm starting to feel my body's limits with my acceleration trigger. Just…how am I supposed to kill the other one..? Hopefully that's my last. Shit..!'

Leaping, and forward somersaulting sideways with a grin, Jerad laughed as he executed Stardust Rain, and his ground drag shredded several small Aragami in his way. "Hah! Your boss is dead now, so why y'all keep coming? Wanna die that badly? I'll help you with that!"

"Sheesh, really like a demon," Asher glanced at him after slaying three Dread Pikes in a single swing. "I thought some of us fellow AGEs were bad, but this white haired guy took it to a whole new level."

"Still think I'm a hothead, eh Asher?" Cayden sliced a Nemain by the torso with Aegis Caliber.

"Yeah, I still think you are," Asher furrowed his eyes.

"Hah! I guess I have to work harder then," Cayden grinned evilly.

"Hey, settle down with that, you got me?" Asher scolded. "Don't get yourself killed. The Devil is something else in skill, and you still have ways to go in comparison. Well, I can say the same for myself, too!"

"I was just kidding, man," Cayden snickered. "I know better enough not to get too careless. Come on."

"As long as you're damn true to what you say," Asher readied his buster blade. "Ready, Cayden. Keep mopping the rest."

"Got an idea, buddy. How about we Engage to put on a better show?" Cayden smirked.

"Ohhh, I'm definitely down for it, captain," Asher smirked. "Ready to double team them?"

"Then let's do this!" Cayden boomed. "Engage!"

Then a flash of yellow light shone from the two.

"What the..?" Jerad paused. "Those guys can also Engage, huh?"

"Engage! Engage, auntie!" Phym excitedly pointed her finger. "But I wanna Engage with Daddy, too…"

"Sorry, Phym," Misha shook her head with a smile. "Maybe next time. Let's keep giving them support fire.

"Hound 9, distance to target's approximate location: 1.5 miles," Amy reported.

Then Shin dragged his boots, and stabbed his sword on the ground several yards into a complete stop. "Roger, I guess I'll have to approach quietly from here."

"Be advised that I'm detecting two large Aragami readings in that area," Amy added.

"Huh?" Shin murmured as he struggled slightly to catch his breath.

"They are..still. They're not moving at all," Amy further reported in detail. "As if they are guarding an area..Wait, from what I can hardly see in our resonance area, there seems to be a cavern entrance nearby those two large Aragami."

"Are you serious..?" Shin grimaced. "Likely two Vajras. Dammit…Marduks surely love them, do they?"

"Hound 9, if you deem this too dangerous, you don't have to-"

"No, I'll get this done no matter what," Shin cut her off. "I'll come up with something once I get there, and assess the situation. If there's a will, there's a way."

"...Roger," Amy replied. "I will continue to support you."

"Like earlier, radio silence once I say so," Shin began jogging.

"Understood," Amy acknowledged.

"Moving in," Shin continued jogging, and then after several minutes, he found an opening towards the end of his trail. As soon as he was close enough, he paused, and slowly began hogging the wall with his back before cautiously creeping forward for a peek. As Amy reported, he found three large dark figures inside the mirage of the landscape heat. Furrowing his eyes at this, he crouched down to cover himself below the heights of the several boulders in front of him, and began swiftly creeping himself closer to the dark figures. After several leaps from hiding place to another, he was finally able to see that they are indeed two Vajras, and the dark figure between them is a cavern entrance.

'Kuso..,' Shin mused before realizing that he chose his native language's curse, perhaps a sign of his growing desperation. 'Two Vajras…how would I sneak and quickly kill these bastards? I may get one, but the other will definitely fight me head on after, and if that bastard Marduk is in that cave like earlier which is very likely, it will be alerted before coming out and two on one me. Not a good plan. How about sniping..?'
He glanced around, and in less than a few steps away from him, he found another boulder and also a smaller one closely beside each other. 'I could rest my sniper gun there like a bipod, and shoot the bastards from here, but that will be the same. I headshot one, and two of them will come running for me. Crap..! Think, Shin, THINK!'

"We're doing good, guys!" Ricardo sliced an Ogretail with an uppercut. "Keep pushing."

"Amy, I just received a report from Gleipnir that they are starting to push their front back, and recommended we begin retreating our forces to our ships," Hilda informed her.

'What..?' Shin froze before remembering the time that their first Marduk confronted them after its horde failed. With no time to protest against this order to stay quiet, Shin shifted his biting edge to sniper gun, pulled his charging handle back, loaded an explosive armor piercing round into its chamber before pushing his bolt carrier forward, and placed his gun on the crevice to aim downrange, anticipating his target appearing from that cave considering its now unfavorable situation, assuming it would decide to personally deal with its enemy as one of its kind once did. He would just simply have to wait, and aim for its head as soon as his line of fire is clear before acting accordingly.

'Shoot to kill, think later…'

"If they manage to cull the front thin enough, we will break through them together, and escape!" Hilda continued. "Pass this message to the Hounds…Wait, how is Shin? Is he still out there?"

"Yes, ma'am. He is still on mission to eliminate the second Psion," Amy replied.

"Alright, then..," Hilda sighed. "Pass that message to the Hounds anyway, and order Shin to retreat immediately after."

"...Yes, ma'am," Amy held her earphones. "Attention all Hounds! Be advised that Gleipnir has informed us to retreat back to our vessel in a short time. I repeat. Gleipnir has advised us to retreat to our vessel in a short time."

"Wait, what?!" Jerad paused before jumping back from a Kongou's down fist pound, and headshotted it. Before he could fire at several more Axe Raiders charging at him, a stream of assault gun fire tore them, and as he glanced back, he saw two of Dusty Miller's gunner vehicles behind him who recently moved forward to support their push back. "Explain!"

"Gleipnir has recently informed us that they are pushing their front back, and once they thin them enough, we will push through and escape," Amy replied.

"No! That won't work!" Jerad shook his head. "Hound 9 just killed a Marduk, didn't he? That slowed the horde down coming here, so the one behind attacking Gleipnir's front is very likely another one! If they try pushing through right now, then that Psion itself would show up, and call up more of its buddies to jump our ships from above, and we'll all get slaughtered. Hound 9 has to kill that thing first before we can get out of here! Tell those idiots to hold up a little longer! Got it?!"

"Hound 1, please tell me more about Psions?" Hilda asked. "I'm genuinely curious."

"They have resonance that affects the environment," Jerad explained. "There are more kinds of them, but Marduks can control nearby Aragami, and if we don't get rid of them, then they'll just keep sending them until they overrun us. Last time we fought one, we slaughtered horde after horde until it finally showed up, and we killed it. This was when we cleared the way for Ein's fleet, remember?"

"I see now," Hilda murmured. "Very well. I will relay your message to Gleipnir."

"Do not tell them to advance until Hound 9 kills it," Jerad advised. "Because if that Marduk bastard shows up while we're already in that ravine and it starts dropping its minions all over us, we're dead! Tell them to keep holding it back until Hound 9 takes it out, and we're holding out good here, anyway. Let him finish the job."

'Thanks, buddy,' Shin mused while keeping his aim on the cave entrance. 'If this is how they're going to be like before, then…'

Then he raised his eyes as he was able to see two white paws emerge from the darkness of the cave entrance, and then its familiar head, indeed another Marduk. He could very much conclude that they are working together for this attack, just as Jerad also suspected. "Chrysanthemum..radio silence."

Hearing no response from Amy, Shin could only assume that her silence was her acknowledgment, and proceeded to aim his gun.

'One shot, one kill.'

He was already at his best to keep his barrel still, but the tingling feeling of his exhausted arms from his near overuse of his acceleration trigger has been making his arms shaky, even while already resting his sniper gun on a boulder crevice as its bipod. A feeling similar to the aftermath of exercising his arms with weights. Shin watched the Marduk interact with the two Vajras with aggressive growls, and gestures, who was seemingly unhappy, and began slowly raising its head. He remembered in their last encounter that this Psion summoned Aragami by releasing its resonance with a wolf's howl, and not wanting to allow this, Shin gritted his teeth before fixing his aim as the Marduk fully raised its head for a howl, now primed for a clean headshot. Still could not stop his shaking arms, Shin only had one hope in making his aim true from one of the first lessons his friend taught him about sniping.

"You got this, Shin? Remember before you fire, keep your aim, take a slow exhale, and feel your body totally relax. Once you get to the point when you see your aim is still as a rock, fire and blast that window. Don't ever flinch before you fire. Keep your aim until that's done. Do it."

Like softly blowing a fire from a candle, Shin focused his aim at the Marduk's head, and pressed his index finger firmly on the trigger. As soon as he felt the flow of time slow, and his barrel at a complete still as the Marduk howled, he blankly squeezed his trigger, and his gun fired. The round traveled across the field at high speed, passing through before any small Aragami spawning from the ground would spring up, and possibly block his shot. It was only thanks to him firing one second sooner that his round traveled clean to its target, and the Marduk's howl was abruptly halted as the round penetrated its lower jaw. Before the Psion could realize its grim fate, the round exploded inside its head, completely obliterating it with nearly only half of its body still intact while the Vajras flinched from the explosion, and after a few seconds, the headless corpse of the Psion fell onto the ground.

"Target eliminated! I repeat! Target is eliminated!" Shin cried while pressing his earpiece before seeing the two Vajras roar in rage, and then began charging to his position along with several small Aragami. "They're coming for me!"

Then he fired another similar custom round, and successfully headshotted the Vajra that was most ahead of the small horde before exploding. "Shit, I need to reload!"

"I hear you, Hound 9!" Amy also cried. "Hound 9, do you read me?! What is-!"

"Don't worry about me right now!" Shin opened his reloading bay, and inserted one explosive armor piercing, and one bomblet custom round. "Relay that message to everyone right now! Order the retreat!"

Then Shin aimed again, and fired at the last Vajra.

"R-roger that!" Amy stuttered before hearing another loud explosion from Shin's radio.

"Amy, order the retreat now as Shin said!" Hilda cried. "I just relayed the message to Gleipnir, and reported to me that the horde on their side suddenly stopped coming, and are now exterminating them before executing a tactical retreat. Order the Hounds to begin their retreat now! I will contact Ein shortly after!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Amy tapped her headphones. "All Hounds, be advised that Hound 9 has eliminated the target. I repeat. Hound 9 has eliminated the target, and you are ordered to begin your retreat."

"Woo!" Jerad lightly stomped a recently killed Chi-You under his boot while raising his hand. "Shin's done it! The real MVP! Hahaa!"

"M..V..P?" Claire blinked her eyes.

"Most Valuable Player," Jerad chuckled. "Shin will get it once I tell him. We'd probably be dead here if it wasn't for him, you know?"

"That…I agree," Claire smiled. "Good job."

"Huh..?" Jerad paused. "What did I do?"

"Besides his credit, you also conceived that plan, silly," Claire giggled.

"Yeah..," Jerad curved his lips.

"All Hounds, be advised that Gleipnir will clear the way with their main guns shortly," Amy informed them only a few seconds before everyone heard two loud cannon fires west of them.

"Huh, so we're finally getting out of here," Jerad murmured before hearing another two rounds of cannon fire.

"Silver 1, Gray 1, this is Dusty Miller, do you both copy?" Ein suddenly radioed them.

"Read you loud, and clear, Governor," Asher replied.

"I was just contacted by the Chrysanthemum owner, and you are cleared to return to base," Ein said. "But do not forget to provide cover for Chrysanthemum's men as well while you're on it."

"Roger, not problem to us," Asher nodded.

"And make sure you bring any injured personnel to our Medical Ward once you arrive back regardless of extent," Ein added. "Arrive home safe. Dusty Miller, out."

"Yes, sir," Asher nodded again. "Alright guys, time to get back to our ships. There's still some Aragami around, so we'll cover you."

"Huh?" Jerad turned to him.

"Don't worry about us. We got the wheels while you had to get back on foot," Asher explained. "Been nice fighting with you all. Hopefully we'll do that again sometime."

"Thanks for helping us," Jerad smiled.

"Me, too. You've been a great help," Ricardo chuckled.

"Don't mention it. Our crew from other ships owed their lives to you," Asher grinned. "Alright, Nina, Elyse, Gab, and the rest of you, get onboard. Your captains will be the last to leave. Let's go!"

"Been an honor, Claire," Elyse smiled. "Hopefully we'll fight together again next time."

"Likewise," Claire smiled back.

"See you later," Elyse waved as she jogged towards one of their trailers.

"Thank you," Nina made a slight bow.

"I'm just glad you made it," Claire waved. "Please take care."

"I will," Nina waved before following Elyse to their trailer.

"We got Aragami coming again!" Cayden cried. "Probably just the wild ones that got attracted here. Tear 'em up, gunners! Give our Chrysanthemum buds time to escape."

'Good job, Shin,' Trista held her coiled rope. 'You've done enough. Now get your ass back here, and I'm not going back inside until you're back on my platform.'

Then she turned to Misha who was also holding a rope on another platform. "Misha, you ready? They're close enough now, so cast the lines!"

"Alright, big sis," Misha nodded before both girls threw their lines down, and watched their friends from below begin climbing.

"Claire, climb up, first," Jerad aimed downrange. "I'll give them a bit more supporting fire. I'll follow you after."

"Okay," Claire nodded before she began climbing up, but after a few phases up. "Hey, this time, please don't loo…"

"Huh? What did you say?" Jerad turned up, and froze in red. 'White...'

"I said don't..!" Claire pouted as she tried covering her skirt with her God Arc. "J-just keep focusing on supporting them, OK?"

"Chewing me for a distraction YOU did, but OK," Jerad resumed firing.

"Oooh!" Claire resumed her climb until she reached the platform.

"Chrysanthemum, this is Hound 8," Trista tapped her radio. "What is Hound 9's status?"

Meanwhile, the area was covered in smoke and dust after Shin carpet bombed the field once with a custom round made by his friend, and there are already several corpses of small Aragami, mostly sliced in halves, laying around him. The silence was tempting his logic to believe that all threats have been wiped out, but his intuition disagrees otherwise as shortly after, he saw a Fallen Nemain suddenly leap from the dust from his side, and tried to impale him with its right arm as a surprise attack, but it is thanks to trusting his instinct that he was well prepared. He parried his sharp arm to his side on time, spinning and activating his acceleration trigger at the same time, and then landing a high reverse kick to its face with a snarl, sending it airborne. Wasting no time, Shin leapt into the air, and sliced it several times with Northern Cross, and then finished it with Dive to Blue, ending the medium Aragami hitting the ground in two. Hearing a few more growls in the dust, Shin used his sharp senses reinforced by his adrenaline, and quickly shifted to his sniper gun before firing at the direction of the noise. All of his seemingly blind shots silenced the growls, and he was thankful for his hard self training of throwing his shurikens to his targets blindfolded since after all, he read in that document that ninjas must also learn to fight with more than their eyes. He also noticed that the shockwave of his recoils blew dust away, exposing a few more silhouettes, and fired at them as soon as they were in his sight. Silence came again, and Shin kept his guard by being still with his sniper gun still aimed onward before luckily, a wind blew most of the dust and smoke away, revealing several Aragami corpses, some of them no longer having their heads, and others with large holes on their chests. Now truly alone in the field, Shin finally let his body relax, and collapsed into a kneel, breathing heavily with his eyes closed but daring not to fall asleep, and leaning on his sniper gun with its hilt planted on the ground.

"Hound 9, Hound 9, do you read me?!" Amy suddenly called in his radio. "Hound 9, please respond!"

"This is…Hound 9," Shin muttered between his breaths. "I'm fine."

"I'm so glad to hear you're OK," Amy worriedly replied. "But listen, you have to return now. Gleipnir has ordered us to return to our vessel, and to depart the area as soon as possible. Can you make it?"

Then Shin grunted as he stood up while still leaning on his sniper gun. "I can. This is nothing."

"Hound 9, listen closely, we have a plan for you," Hilda said. "Everyone is already back to their vessels, and we are already underway to Arrowhead again, but our operator will guide your course to it, and you will board back to us while we're moving. Hound 8 will cast her rescue line overboard for you to climb on. Run fast on top of the ravines straight back to us, and while we are picking up a few small Aragami in your planned course, ignore them and keep going. Port side team will remain outside to support your return. Is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," Shin split his sniper gun into two blades. "On my way."

"Please come home safe," Hilda added.

"Egress to bearing 280," Amy ordered. "Please be careful, and remember, ignore Aragami along the way. You are 7 miles from our vessel."

"Copy that," Shin began running towards the nearest wall, and ran up to the top. After landing on its surface, he quickly sprinted for several more yards before activating his acceleration trigger, and sped into a boom. 'Dammit, this AT is starting to be a bit more painful…'

He slightly gritted his teeth. 'But it's a good thing that I'm an AGE, I guess. A regular human me would have passed out there, and become a scavenged Aragami food. I'm pretty close so maybe I can push a little more.'

Back in their vessel's port side.

"Hound 8, Hound 9 is now on his way back to our vessel. Distance: 5 miles, and speed: 195 knots," Amy reported.

"Standing by," Trista readied her rope. "Keep us informed, Chrysanthemum."

"Also standing by," Jerad readied his sniper gun.

"Woo. 195 knots, huh?" Ricardo chuckled. "And 5 miles? That's going to be in a few minutes at that speed. He's closer than you think."

"And what do you know about knots?" Trista turned to him. "Sorry. Serious question."

"Knot is almost the same as Miles Per Hour," Ricardo explained. "Every 1 knot is 1.15 MPH. So, if Shin is only 5 miles away from us traveling at a speed that he'll reach about 200 miles in one hour, imagine how quickly he'll get here. Do a little math."

"In only about a couple of minutes," Trista murmured.

"Attention all Hounds. Hound 9 is now 2 miles from our location. Prepare to conduct rescue," Amy informed. "We are also picking up several small Aragami trailing behind him, but he is currently outrunning them."

"Confirmed visual on Hound 9!" Jerad reported while peeking through his binoculars. "There are also Aragami behind him, and he just slowed down. He is now about half a mile away from us."

"There he is," Ricardo smiled. "Whoa, he looks in a bit of bad shape."

"Hound 8, throw the rope once he is close enough!" Jerad cried. "I'll get those bastards off his back. Claire, Phym, Misha, just sit tight for now to avoid friendly fire."

"Understood," Claire nodded.

"Yes, daddy," Phym smiled. "Shin, come back."

"They're in range now. Firing!" Jerad carefully aimed his sniper gun, and began firing.

"Whoa! You're not gonna hit me are you?!" Shin glanced back, and saw the Ogretail close to him stopped by his friend's headshot.

"You know me, buddy," Jerad chuckled before firing his second round. "I'm the one who taught you how to shoot your gun, remember? Keep your ass going, and get back here! Can't let our MVP die right now!"

"MVP, huh?" Shin smiled while running.

"Here he comes," Trista threw her rope overboard. "Catch it, Shin!"

Then as a response, Shin placed his twin blades together into a glaive, and caught her rope with his right hand. As soon as he reached the cliff, he held on to his rope, and swung across the pit towards their ship.

"Crap!" Jerad quickly aimed his gun, and shot an airborne Ogretail that leapt from the cliff to try catching Shin on his rope.

"Now tear them," Jerad turned to Claire, Misha, and Phym. "They're stopped at the cliff. Don't let another one jump him."

"Yeah!" Phym gleefully aimed her gun at the Aragami herd clumped together at the cliff with some of them pushed over by others into a fall. "Pew pew pew!"

"She-Wolf, pull him up now!" Ricardo grabbed the rope behind her. "Or he might get caught in our tires in that swing! Pull!"

"I know that!" Trista, and Ricardo began pulling the rope together, and Shin finally grabbed the guardrail before Trista grabbed his hand, and helped him over.

"Guess who's back home now?" Trista smiled.

"Shin, the man," Ricardo chuckled. "How was your assassination mission? Had fun?"

"It was scary as hell," Shin caught his breath before laying his glaive on the corner between the bulkhead, and their guardrail while scratching the back of his head. "But in all honesty now that I'm still alive, I actually did."

Then Trista, and Ricardo laughed.

"You are officially Chrysanthemum's ninja," Ricardo added. "Ooh, the fact that you can even do that to large Aragami. Imagine if the owner starts using you to kill her business competitors. Other people? That will be scaaary."

"Hey, I called the same thing a while ago, you know?" Trista laughed. "I said that if the owner was a bad person, he would be her perfect assassin."

And the two laughed again.

"I can hear both of you, you know?" Hilda suddenly spoke on their radio as the two squeaked. "I appreciate it, but no, I would never utilize a family member for any heinous acts. Please stop imagining that."

"Y-yes, ma'am," Both Trista, and Ricardo nervously agreed.

"And Hound 9? Great job today," Hilda said. "You saved a lot of lives, and more importantly, you came back home safe. Please rest yourself while you can, and as a reward, your new clothing and any accessories while shopping in Arrowhead this afternoon will be on my tab."

"Uhh, ma'am. That's OK," Shin shyly chuckled. "I have a lot of…"

"I insist," Hilda cut him off. "Just pick what you need, and I'll cover the cost. Chrysanthemum, out."

Then Trista chuckled after turning her radio off. "Cutting herself off before you can argue more, huh?"

And Ricardo did likewise. "Yeah, but welcome to being a business woman. Sometimes, life in that can be…tricky to say the least."

"Woo! Guess who's back now?!" Jerad cried from another platform. "Shin, our ninja assassin. I knew you could do it! You totally saved our asses back there, and you gotta tell us a story for that!"

"Yeah, I'll gladly tell you," Shin smiled. "I was really on the edge, you know? I'll remember this all my life, I swear."

"Good memories to have, kid," Ricardo smiled. "That's something you wanna tell your kids if they become God Eaters like you, someday, so remember it so you can tell them how awesome their dad has been."

"Yeah, tell your little kunoichi girl that!" Jerad grinned. "Maybe she'll try one upping you by assassinating an Ashborn by herself years later. Haha!"

"That..is something I will be proud of, if she does," Shin chuckled.

'If that was mine, I ain't ever gonna send her alone to an Ashborn,' Trista grimaced. 'Is Shin seriously crazy enough to do that? I'll kill him if he does!'

Then she suddenly blushed before shaking her head. 'Dammit, why am I thinking about this..?'

"Can we have our turn to talk now from starboard side?" Hugo chuckled on their radio. "Congratulations, Hound 9. Glad you're back."

"Hell yeah, Hound 9!" Zeke added. "You killed it today!"

"Good job. That's not even a feat I would think about doing," Lulu commented.

"You guys are truly incredible," Frida added.

"Right, being with you, I experienced battles that built me," Levin agreed. "Hopefully we keep fighting together like this."

"Uh, Jerad, your sister is with you right now, right?" Hugo asked.

'Aww, my beloved Hugo has been worried about me?' Misha swoonly blinked her eyes.

"Yeah, don't worry, brother-in-law, I'll keep her safe," Jerad smirked at his sister. "So, you'll really become one."

"You…insufferable!" Misha fumed as her brother continued snickering at her, and then she smirked. "Heh, you got a new thing for staring at Claire's panties now, do you? You pervert…"

"What?!" Jerad grimaced.

"Oooh!" Trista started laughing.

"M-Misha..!" Claire blushed.

"Again..?" Zeke laughed on their radio.

"Good lord..," Levin murmured on their radio.

"My poor sister-in-law," Misha wrapped her arms around Claire, and in response, Claire only closed her eyes with a sigh.

"Oh, man. You kidding?!" Shin also laughed. "When?"

"When he climbed up the rope while you're gone," Trista laughed.

"All of you, shut up!" Jerad berated them. "That was a freakin' accident, OK?"

"Hey, buddy. Did you see the color?" Shin flashed his eyes with a wide grin.

"I saw nothing!" Jerad shot at him.

"Shin!" Claire gave him a deathly glare.

"I wanna see!"

"Huh?!" Before Claire could react, Phym moved quickly behind her, and raised her arms.

"Yaa! It's white..!" Phym cheerfully giggled.

"Phym, what the hell..?!" Jerad turned away shutting his eyes while Claire squealed before pulling her skirt back down.

"Oooh, I saw none of that, OK?" Ricardo also turned away.

"Phym, bad..," Misha teasingly shook her head at her with a smirk.

"Uhh, what just happened..?" Hugo murmured on their radio.

"Why? It's so funny, though," Phym giggled again.

"No, Phym! You do not expose underwear to people, you got me?" Jerad curved his lips.

"Okay..," Phym murmured before she felt a hand on her head.

"It's fine. Just don't do it again," Jerad kept stroking her head. "I'm not mad."

"Ooh, Jerad for the third time?!" Claire pouted at him, who was also completely flushed.

"H-hey, I did not see it this time, OK?" Jerad argued back. "I turned away quick. I saw nothing!"

"Third time, huh? Well, that's nothing..," Ricardo leaned over to Shin for a whisper. "Soon, he's gonna be the one to pull those panties out. Mhm mhm?"

"Definitely," Shin flashed his eyebrows before both men quietly snickered.

"You boys are..," Trista shook her head with a light smile as the two men behind her continued snickering.

"Oh, look. We're finally past the ravine," Ricardo pointed at the landscape. "Oh, man. Feels like fresh air now."

"Yeah, finally. Same on our side, too," Hugo added. "Now I feel this is really over."

"Attention all Hounds. We are no longer detecting Aragami that is deemed a threat," Amy suddenly reported. "The owner has ordered that the broadside watch is secured now. Please return inside our vessel."

"Roger, but mind if you let us hang around for a bit?" Hugo asked. "Need to enjoy the good view."

"That's fine…as long as the ash is not eating any of you yet," Hilda chuckled. "But by all means, please enjoy yourselves, and we still have 45 minutes until we finally arrive in Arrowhead. Make use of that time."

"Thanks," Hugo smiled.

"Thanks for speaking for us," Lulu also smiled. "I'd definitely use a good view after this fight."

Then Misha sniffed her elbow. "Aww. I'm definitely gonna need a shower after this. The sun made me all sweaty, and stinky."

"Heh, you're telling me. We fought tooth, and nail down there," Jerad chuckled. "But I agree with you."

"Yes, I think I could use one, too," Claire sighed. "And my shoulders ache. I could use a little massage."

And she instinctively glanced at Jerad.

"Uhh, you ain't gonna ask me, are you..?" Jerad blushed. "I know nothing about massaging…"

"Well, I'm not going to!" Claire glared at him, also blushing. "I can do a little self-massage. Thank you for offering."

"Okay..," Jerad nodded.

"Claire, be honest, you WANT him to, right..?" Misha smirked.

"Misha…enough," Claire pouted at her.

"Pshh, sadly she's better off, anyway," Trista smirked at the two men behind her. "She ain't gonna last long with him massaging her. She'll cum just after he squeezes her shoulders a few times."

And the three of them quietly laughed.

Then after 15 minutes of sightseeing.

"Okay, everyone. Ready to head back inside?" Hugo said. "I think Hound 2 made a point that we can all use a shower, and maybe hopefully a small snack."

"Yeah, I've rested enough already," Jerad chuckled. "To be honest, I'm ready to kill something again."

"Hey, don't jinx it, man. I'm tired, myself," Zeke complained. "Can't wait to take a shower, and get rid of all this stinky stuff from me."

"Yeah, me, too, and I gotta be quick," Ricardo turned his right arm around. "I gotta take over the console, and not keep the owner on it. She has her own stuff to worry about."

"Well, ready to head in? No objections?" Jerad glanced at everyone.

You can still walk, right Shin?" Trista turned to him.

"Of course I can. I'm better than that," Shin made a few small hops before smiling. "See?"

"Alright, good," Trista smiled back. "I'm ready to head in."

"See you guys inside," Hugo said before everyone began packing their gear, and re-entered their ship to stow. Then refresh themselves in nice cold showers.