Chapter 99

"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive."

Howard Thurman

First of all, I would like to deeply apologize for the long wait and incredibly late update. But trust me, I have a good reason this time. I don't know why, but ever since March 2012, I could NEVER and I mean could NEVER signed in as Agent of Chaos to for whatever reason.

I was pissed off by this happening myself, especially since I worked hard to please my readers yet I was not even allowed to contact them or even told them what was the reason for the delay. I hope this kind of thing will never repeat itself, ever again. I'm sorry if I sound bitter, but I was incredibly upset especially because the problem was something beyond my reach and it lasted for months! Though it's not really my fault, I will still ask for your forgiveness.

Without further ado, enjoy!

The moon is still high on the skies when Akari discloses her eyelids and takes a look for herself where she is standing right now. The forest of Einbroch; the mining town where General Eduardo assigned her to go must be close. But she is no beginner herself, so she is aware she is in enemy's territory, which does not allow her to move recklessly. Keeping her guards high, Akari advances slowly as to not make a sound to make her way out of the forest. She quietly takes a glance behind to see smokes soaring from the direction of Einbroch, "I have heard Juno is a place where technology and society advanced further than anywhere in Rune Midgard. But even after such achievement, wars and bloodsheds can not be avoided. I wonder what led them to this? Could they not be satisfied after prospering for decades?"

Her wonder is interrupted when she hears the footsteps of several men approaching to her direction. Smoothly, she hides behind one of the trees, out of their line of sight. And come six gunslingers, fully armed with Black Rose shotgun. "The rat should be around here" One of them says, a radar is visible on his left hand, "Anyone find anything?"

"No" The other answered almost simultaneously, "Maybe it's giving off a wrong signal?"

"No way, the radar is always right. It cataches the presence of someone that isn't our soldier, whoever it is must be an enemy" The man with the radar answers back, "And prime minister made it clear any enemy is to be shot on spot"

Akari feels it would be unwise to let them make their move, mainly because she is outnumbered. And they carry weapons she has never seen or fought before, so pre-emptive attack is her chance. Before the gunslingers truly realize where she is hiding, the samurai unsheathes her sword, Masamune, and slices off the tree she's been hiding right behind. The moment she slice the tree of its woods was done very quickly, so quick it left not even a hint of sound. Before they know it, the tree is already falling right to where the gunslingers are standing.

"Watch out!" The radar man yells when they fall back, but one of them is too late and the tree crushes him good. The gunslingers don't have a time to react or decipher what just happened, because Akari emerges right away to the radar man and hits him with Bash, killing him in one slice as the sword cut him into two.

"It's the rat!" The other four manage to regain their stance and aim their Black Rose at her, firing as soon as they lock their target. Akari falls back to behind one of the trees, evading all the bullets coming at her. "Don't let her get away!" The four go after her, but Akari has another idea. Once again utilizing the tree she's hiding right behind, she cuts it into two, this time with Magnum Break which triggers a chain reaction, as the small explosions spread the fire away to the trees around it as well, automatically trapping the gunslingers in flaming trees about to timber.

"Fall back! Fall back!" One of them warns his group, but they're not fast enough. The flaming trees crumble on them and bury them on a scorching hot grave to the ground, leaving only one gunslinger on sight, "Damn it! How could she have gotten to us like this?!"

"Because all of you keep talking…" Sneaking from behind the gunslinger, Akari pierces his heart from the back without him even noticing her movements, "While I actually do something"

She quickly pulls her sword from his body, letting it fall almost instantly. "So, they are the gunslingers? I thought they would have been stronger than this, but whatever" Akari speaks to herself, carefully studying her work, "This place will be safe no more for me. The fire will surely attract more of them, I better get going soon"

Wisely, before more shooters come for her head, the samurai leaves the area. She is headed straight toward the mining town while constantly keeping her guard in the on mode. Though she is far from where the battle just happened now, she does not feel the need to neglect her awareness of her surroundings. Who knows what might happen if fighters stronger than those gunslingers show up. Not that she's afraid of them of course, but being outnumbered the way she is now, maybe putting on a head on fight would be unneeded. Although the story will no doubt be different if only she has allies. And, she is informed she will be accompanied by two other people in this journey. From what she can recall, two people that will meet her sooner rather than later; Gen Ed specifically told her they are from The Ropera Squad, so any doubt about their quality should be cast aside. "If I'm not mistaken, one of them is called Hellion" Deep in her thoughts, she tries to remember, "What kind of name is that? I haven't heard of something like it before…whoever he is, I hope he is…"

"Right here!" Akari's thought is interrupted by a sudden shout from her left, "We found her!"

Akari turns her head to the left, and to her horror, at least thirty gunslingers with Black Rose are already present. She's been discovered; and not only that, they also have five Apocalypse robots with them. The situation has turned for the worse.

"This must be the work of that thing you called radar, huh?" Akari throws a rhetorical question, "How troublesome"

"You're not going anywhere this time!" The gunslingers take positions and, "Ready…fire !"

The Black Roses project their scattering bullets to Akari's standing, obviously showing the gunslingers' seriousness on carrying out their order. Luckily, Akari is standing near a tree. With one leap to the back, she reaches the top of the tree and thankfully evading all bullets which rumble over the giant tree. "These gunslingers are irritating!" The samurai, however, refuses to give up. She leaps to the back of the tree, all the while casting a two hand quicken on herself. Quickly, she heads back to the deep forest with the Masamune still on her right hand.

"She's running away! After her!" The gunslingers waste no time running after their target, like a pack of hungry tigers hunting a delicious deer. Akari, knowing she is on their sight and that puts her at risk of having bullets lodged onto her back, consistently running between the trees so her pursuers cannot have a perfect aim. "Damn! That samurai isn't a fool!" One of the gunslingers curses her tactic, proving its effect, "But, we'll see the end of the forest pretty soon! She won't be running around for long anymore!"

And indeed, she won't. Because running around is not even her plan to begin with. Akari keeps running past the trees when, by the end of the forest, she looks over her shoulder, with a content smile, "Bye"

The soldiers ask to themselves what she meant, but their curiosity is soon answered when the trees around them begin to set alight, "What?! What is happening?!"

They did see her running across the trees. What they didn't see was, each time she passed a tree, she moved her sword quickly & silently, unnoticeably enough to "plant" Magnum Break on them. When she got to the end of her cover, all she needed to do was activating the spell and she had her work cut out for her.

"This is a trap!" It's too late when the soldiers realize this and an explosion sways the entire topography. The leaves and the branches are wiped out by the blazing fire almost instantly, leaving the quite dark night with scorching hot flame and tower high smokes, incinerating all the less than smart soldiers alive.

Akari, from a distant where it is enough for the fire not to pinch her, looks silently at her handiwork. She fully realizes this means lots of unwanted attentions will come searching to detach her head off her neck, but it was needed to get the job done. "Now, I better go to the town before it gets too cramped in here" She turns her attention to the mining town, refocusing on her mission at hand, "Whoever this Hellion guy is, I hope he turns out for real. I have a feeling this mission won't be an easy one"

0000

The sun is still slumbering when Akari quietly enters the town. Stopping still, she studies the mining site carefully. The town doesn't seem like it's been occupied with daily activities, the opposite of what you'd actually see from any non-ghost mining town. And she doesn't spot what seems to be living, as in non-soldiers, people inhabiting the houses and the buildings either. That means, they're either killed or forced to leave their home. For the sake of decency, Akari is hoping for the latter. The former is too gruesome, although if what she had heard about Valdomir and their allies are true, it's not a stretch to be completely honest.

She walks in carefully, looking at the streets to ensure herself of her safety. Though she is by no means inferior to those gunslingers, 1000 against 1 is better off never happening for her. Besides, she still has to find the exact mining site General Eduardo told her to. And since she does not know this town at all, a map would be her best bet. And she is willing to make another bet she can find that map in the town hall. And in a town like this, the town hall is usually the building that stands out the most in the centre of this place.

And she wins the bet. It only takes a couple of minutes to reach the town hall, all thanks to sneaking around in the corners where the gunslingers don't patrol. Akari spots an open window and enters, almost instantly. It gets her to the security office. Correction, thrashed security office. And the inside of the town hall is also thrashed, with spots and stains of blood saying hello from here and there. Tsk, so the latter did happen to some capacity.

But no time to cry about that now, that won't do the victims any good. Akari re-focuses on finding the map to or of the mining site. Again, betting for the map to be present at the mayor's office sounds good. I guess betting runs deep in this family, huh?

With no gunslingers present, it's a walk in the park to reach the mayor's office in a blink of an eye. Akari enters silently to avoid any sudden attack, but the mayor's office is empty, just like the rest of the building. She scans the room in a second, searching for the map. No result found, so the map must be somewhere closed. Another bet, the mayor's desk in front of the window would be a good start. The samurai peeks from a safe spot to make sure no gunslingers are patrolling near or to the desk. If she closes the curtain, someone might notice and that's the last thing she needs.

Thankfully, no one seems to pay much attention to the desk or the window, so she goes for a quick work. Akari opens a small cabinet under the desk, and finds the map she needs right there. Using the floor, she opens the map and locates the mining site: it's around four miles from the town. Now she knows where she must be headed. "Gotcha", she murmurs to herself.

But her peaceful time stops there. Without her noticing, or even realizing, a huge amount of strength strikes through the door to the mayor's office and startles her. The door is torn into pieces, and from behind the rubbles, an Apocalypse robot is visible. What follows him is two gunslingers, one of them taller than the other, both wearing what seems to be a pair of helmet on their head, which covers their face, and three more Apocalypse robots.

"Why, look what we found" The taller gunslinger speaks out, "A rat, in the dampest place anyone would guess no less"

"And just like actual rats, trapped in a corner" The shorter one continues, "She must be the samurai our soldiers informed us of missing her whereabouts. But seriously, it's always in the last place you'd look"

Akari knows there's no running away from this, so she won't start running away soon. "Enough chit-chat" She says, preparing her trusted sword, "If you wish to stop me, then do it using your bullets, not your words"

"Ow, this here is a feisty one" Unsurprisingly, mockery is all she got from the shorter one, "You think you're some big shot cause you took out a bunch of useless gunslingers? Know your place, brat. If you wanna pick up a fight, do so after defeating...them"

And of course, she meant the four Apocalypse robots. One of them slowly walks to Akari's direction and opens up its arms, revealing a machine gun on each arm. The Apocalypse shoots at the samurai, who dodges the bullets by slashing her way out to from the window. After all, fighting those things in a closed space is a major handicap. But here in the field outside the mayor's office, it's an equal ground.

The Apocalypse robot follows, jumping out from the office. The young girl wastes no time charging at the robot, prompting it to shoot at her one more time. And that's what she's been aiming, because she leaps to the air and reduces the space between herself & the robot, enough for her to land an attack from mid-air. "Bash!" The samurai hammers the powerful blow to the Apocalypse's head, almost from point blank range. But to her dismay, "What?! No effect?!"

That's right, that attack barely scratches the Apocalypse, "Impossible! He took that attack head on! Bash should be able to cut through steel!"

That little thought does her little good. The Apocalypse swings its punch at her, mid-air, and it's unavoidable. Akari blocks it using her sword, but the strength of the robot is more than enough to send her flying to the air. The little samurai, however, is not actually an amateur in combat. This is not the end of her journey.

Before the Apocalypse could actually resume doing anything after catapulting her, Akari balances her body mid-air and lands safely back to the ground. "Heh, not bad" The tall gunslingers remarks from the inside of the office, "But that's about it. We got her now"

And the situation looks worse for Akari, for the gunslinger soldiers notice the ruckus and swarm the location in matter of seconds. Soon, it will truly be 1000 vs 1. "Drat! This is no joke!" Akari curses when she realizes her opponents are turning the table against her. While she would try to escape if she could, she couldn't. This mountainous Apocalypse in front of her would stop her attempt at once. "Alright, if Bash couldn't do it, then" With one more card up her sleeve, Akari uses the speed enhancement provided by the Two-Hand Quicken, and pierces to the Apocalypse's stomach in an even closer range this time, with her Magnum Break. A rage of fire blasts through the emotionless machine…again, to no result.

"What?! Not even this?!" Akari steps back, her face in shock, "What on earth?!"

"Heh, that's why you shouldn't be too cocky, brat" The short gunslinger ridicules Akari one more time, with a giant grin on her face, "This is the end of the line for you. You're as good as dead"

And she may be right, the soldier gunslingers finally have the place surrounded. Akari looks in anger around her, those soldiers pointing their shotguns & handguns at her from her back. And in front of her, the three remaining Apocalypse robots join the one she's already having a hard time with. "Is this really it for me?" Akari asks to herself. There's no way she wants to end up like this, with the mission entrusted to her not carried out & with her head detached from her body. This is not the way she wants to end.

And indeed, she won't end this way.

"Close your eyes, samurai" She hears something, almost a warning. But she knew it was real, and her heart knows not to doubt it. So, she does as she was told. She closes those eyelids of hers. Just in time when a pack of stun grenades explodes, blinding everyone on the premise, with the exception of Akari, almost in synch. And in that instant moment, where the gunslingers have their eyes unusable, a figure moves in from their behind, with combat knife on his left hand. The figure wears a pirate bandana covering his hair, and black goggles protecting his eyes from the effect of the grenade. He appears from right outside the field and stabs a gunslinger on his back. The gunslinger screams to his death, releasing the shotgun he's been holding and giving the figure to grab the shotgun with his free right hand, jumping a high deal to beside Akari, like a real protector. What many people didn't notice was, he also left a great deal of grenades scattered amongst the soldier gunslingers when he made his entrance.

"Wait…what did just happen?" The taller gunslinger, apparently had been stunned for a second there, notices the presence of the figure, "That uniform…Ropera Squad?!"

"Hello" He said, as if saying "you're right" in a different way, "And good-bye"

The "good-bye" part comes when the grenades explode, killing the soldiers and enveloping the entire field with scorching flame. The two gunslingers escape their narrow death by quickly heading to the entrance of the town's hall, right outside the mayor's office. With the sudden attack giving their opponents a good favor, they look back at the destruction as their remaining underlings try to stop the fire from doing more damage.

"We've been had!" The shorter one clenches her fist; if only her face could be seen, no doubt anger is casing her facial expression as well, "We didn't expect someone from Ropera Squad to sneak in here! He must be searching for the key to ARMAS as well!"

"Calm down! If that were true, then we knew where he must be heading" The taller one keeps more tranquility compared to her partner, somewhat hinting why they're paired together, "I've had placed guards inside the mine"

"So? Have they found the key to ARMAS yet?"

"No, not yet. But I ordered them to continue digging, it's only a matter of time before the key to ARMAS is found" The taller gunslinger ensures the success of the mission they have in hand, "There are only two of them. We can take care of them, and just to be sure, we still have 1,000 Apocalypse Robots. No matter how skilled they are, they won't be able to defeat our troops while being greatly outnumbered"

"Heh, it feels assuring having you around, Carlo" After a brief pause, the shorter one throws some praise, which her partner fancies, "So, what do you say we wait in the mine?"

"Seconded, Carla"

0000

From a place far inside the woods near the hill, where you can have a good look at the town without being noticed, Akari is retaking her breath. That quick surprise movement was a shock to everyone. Panting, she glances at her rescuer, "You're…Hellion?"

"I do answer to that name" Hellion, Ropera's newest member, answers with his eyes still occupied to the town.

"Nice timing" Of course, Akari refers to the rescue. But her tone makes it hard to differ whether or not it's genuine or simply an attempt at mockery, "You really totaled those bastards down there"

"There's still plenty of them" Now, he finally looks at Akari. His goggles give the impression of him not wanting people to see through his eyes directly, "I haven't heard your name, Miss…"

"Akari" Straight & honest, "And you can drop the Miss. I'd bet we're about the same age anyway"

"If you'd prefer it that way" A polite response, somewhat unsurprising, "And I assume you're here due to General Eduardo's order? He did inform me two more people are going to assist me"

"I'm alone, as you can see" True, "So, what does that mean? Uncle Ed still has one more soldier to help us out?"

"It's possible, but he did not specify this third member of the party" Hellion takes a quick stare at the town again, hoping whoever their friend is isn't being fried right over there cause he or she hid in some unknown place near the field, "Anyway, do you mind telling me the progress of your mission?"

"Oh, yes, I found this" Akari hands over the map, "It's pretty easy to read, now I know where we must be going to reach the mine"

"Yes, the mine does seem close to the town" Hellion seconds the comment upon reading the map, "But now that they know we have this map in our possession, those soldiers will be planting precautions in the vicinity"

"I don't doubt that" Akari asserts her capability, "And truthfully, I have no problem fighting anyone made of flesh and blood. If it weren't for those huge robots, I would have escaped from the town hall just fine"

"You mean the Apocalypse Robots?"

"Yeah, those"

"Well, they're rather tricky"

"Tricky how?"

"Their armor is like a really hard shell, which is why attacking their body is fruitless unless you really have something that can be highly destructive. Normal swords and guns would do you no favor against them"

"So…if I don't have anything fancy to strike their armor?"

"You wait until they open their mouth or hands, when they reveal the guns inside their system. Attacking their guns and damaging them from the inside is your best chance to subdue them" An educational conversation. Better late than never, right?

"I see, so there's that way, huh?" Now knowing the secret to success, the young girl shows a mirthful smile, "I'll keep that in mind. In the meantime…"

"Yes?"

"Do you know the two scumbags who ordered those soldiers in the town hall? What are they like, the commanders?"

"They're Carlo & Carla, members of Buckler, the prime minister's own security force. I'm sure they are sent here to ensure the success of their mission to reach the key"

"Are they skillful?"

"I'm not sure, they don't seem like the higher ranking members considering they are placed here despite the fact a battle is taking place in Einbroch. Let's just say, being careful is the best approach"

"I see. One last thing, what took you so long?" Here comes the big question, "Not that I didn't appreciate your timing. I did, right? But can you tell me why you came in the last minute? Was it something big?"

"Oh, that. That was rather unpleasant, yes, but I do have an explanation" Being honest is always for the best, huh? "As you might have heard, Einbroch, headquarter of our military, is currently under attack attributed to Councilmen of Juno, assisted by Valdomir Kingdom. I was assigned to guard the eastern border, which was rather quiet, when General Eduardo summoned me to carry out this mission. I tried to get to the location as soon as possible, but some Valdomir soldiers encountered me along my way, and plus the forest seemed to be burnt down which caused a fair number of apocalypse robots patrolling over the area. So, you see, I didn't actually have an easy way in"

"Oh…the forest, huh?" Now, who's responsible? "Yeah…I kinda had to do with it"

"You burned it down?" Hellion is a very quick thinker.

"Sort of" Guilty as charged, "I was outnumbered"

"Well, you must do what you must do" Thankfully, Hellion isn't one who likes to mock, "What matters is all's well that ends well, yes?"

"Yes, yes. Should we get going now?" Akari tries to direct the conversation forward, "I heard Uncle Ed needs that key pretty quickly"

Hellion agrees and an understanding nod is more than enough signal for the both of them to head to the mining site.

0000

With no vehicle to carry them, the two new friends walk their way to their destination. Along the way, Akari notices how Hellion never loses sight of his goal: forward. He doesn't seem to move his eyes around for whatever reason, and it's been going that way for several hours. And it ticks her curiosity. Axiomatically, Akari is pretty straightforward, so it should come as no surprise when she fires away, "So, tell me something about yourself"

"Me?" She finally gets his attention, even if only for a glance.

"Yeah, I told you one thing about my family. So, quid pro quo. You tell me one thing about you"

"Do you always open a conversation this way?" That thought alone entertains the gunslinger. Such a different personality his new friend is.

"Hey, we've been walking for two hours without any letter being uttered. Excuse me if I want to break the ice and lighten up the mood" See? Straightforward, right?

"Fair enough"

"So, tell me something about yourself"

"What do you want to know?"

"Anything, just say something"

"Alright…I'm a new member of The Ropera Squad. And due to some circumstances, I haven't been introduced to my seniors"

"Attaboy, now's my turn" Akari puts some thought into what she's gonna say, "I have been spending the last one year training in the mountain to hone my swordsmanship skills. Although my hometown has been working together with the alliance between Sagramore & Military of Einbroch, I'm also yet to meet any of them. So, we're similar that way"

"What are the odds?" Now, it's Hellion's turn again, "I'm also new into my marksmanship training. At least, compared to my seniors"

"But, you're good with those so called firearms, right?"

"I try my best, yes"

"Now, that I think of it. What was it that you do to those soldiers in the town hall?" Hot topic.

"Oh, these?" Hellion shows Akari the grenades, which, of course, is new to the samurai, "We call these grenades"

"Grenades?"

"Yes, I have 3 types of them: Hand Grenade, Chaff Grenade, and Stun Grenade"

"And they're used for…"

"Hand Grenade has an explosive quality to it, so to speak. So, they are used to dispose any target you wish to dissolve. Chaff Grenade is used to disable any electronic devices momentarily. And lastly, you use the Stun Grenade to blind your opponent for a brief amount of time"

"And you used two of them in the Town Hall" Quick thinker, that Akari, "Magnificent, they really did come in handy"

"Yes, and easy to use as well. Just pull their pins and throw them to your target. Stay as far away as possible from the hand grenade & close your eyes when you use the stun grenade to avoid receiving their impact directly" In an act of friendship, Hellion hands some grenades to the samurai, "Here, have some. You might need them later"

"Thanks" And Akari receives them happily. I mean, why not? New toys, new adventure, "I'm sure they'll become useful later on"

"You're welcome"

"Okay, now's my turn…" Akari actually does put her index finger to her lips while thinking, "Let's talk about family?"

Hellion does not reply first, in fact he does not even make a sound or react. After a moment, he finally answers, "Sure"

And Akari does not say anything, but she notices that pregnant silence just now. Is there something he does not want to share? Is he hiding something? But that matter is being put aside for now, and Akari chooses to start, "Well, I'm the youngest of two siblings. My family had held the control of the current Amatsu region for centuries. My father has retired from the position of the head of the family, and right now my sister is the head of the family"

"Oh, that reminds me of something", It's Hellion's turn to have his question answered, "I'm sorry, I couldn't help but notice you refer to General Eduardo as Uncle Ed?"

"Oh, yeah. His wife is my mother's sister, so it kinda explains itself"

"I see" Question answered, "So, that would make you cousin to Captain Emilio Barragan of Ropera Squad?"

"Yeah, I'm your boss's cousin and your boss's boss's niece, so to speak" That somewhat sounds entertaining, "Wow, now I feel like your actual boss"

"You surely are entitled to that sense" Even Hellion finds it amusing, "So, you're okay with not being leader?"

"Well, duh. I'm more bohemian in a sense, anyway, so not being the head of the family actually gives me the freedom I want. My sister is also more serious about stuffs like that, so I'm having the time of my life like this"

"Good for you"

"Okay, now's your turn. Tell me about your family"

"Well…" Just like a moment ago, Hellion stays silent for a while before actually responding, "I'm an only child, my father is still alive"

"…that's it?"

"That's it"

"Hey, not fair! I gave you my background!" There's the demand, we'll see if the supply actually comes up.

"Well…I…" Hellion stops his steps, taking a second to look at Akari, "I don't actually feel like talking about my family…or my past, so to speak"

"W…" Akari was going to ask "why?", but quickly restrains herself from doing so. As pushy as she is, she does realize there are things people want to keep secret. And maybe, it's exactly the case with Hellion. Moreover, whatever altercation they might have if this subject continues will definitely be worse for their mission, because this has to be done together. So, she restraints herself, "Alright, fine. If you don't want me to hear whatever it is your story's all about, cool"

Hellion feels bad about it. But he does have a big reason as to why this needs to be kept a secret. Though he shies away from even looking at the possible grumpy expression Akari is having, he expresses his gratitude openly, "Thank you"

No response, and that's the last thing they say to each other for the remainder of the night.

0000

By dawn, they finally arrive on the mining site. Just like every other normal site, quite a work was done around the cave leading to the deepest parts of the mine. But it's not worker who occupy the whole field, but Apocalypse Robots & Gunslinger Soldiers. Looking from the hills, both Akari & Hellion knew this isn't going to be a walk in the park.

"I don't see those two jackass gunslingers from the Town Hall" Akari says, noticing the absence of the two obvious main antagonists.

"Either they're dead, or they're staying inside the mine waiting for us" Hellion offers two possibilities, one of which is correct.

"Whatever they're doing right now, this battalion comes first. We're outnumbered by like 3,000 to 2? I mean, what are the odds of us winning?"

"We don't actually need to defeat all of them" Here's an idea from the gunslinger, "We only need to pass through them and head to the mine"

"Good idea, but it's not like that'll stop them from trying to chase us to the inside of the mine"

"I know, which is why…we have to use the mine to our advantage"

"What do you have in mind, Hellion?"

"Let's mark our checkpoint here" Hellion points to where they are standing at the moment, "There's two of us and dozens of them. No matter how you think of it, all of them won't fit to the mine if they don't go one by one. So, we pass through them and head to the cave, which will make sure they come after us. Only, we stop around quarter a mile near the entrance or so, where they are going to appear in huge number, in such an enclosed space limiting their movements. We'll deal with them there. We got a higher winning percentage that way. After we're done inside the mine, we use the butterfly wings I have to return right to this spot"

"That doesn't sound bad…" No kidding, "But…what if the decide to destroy the mine and bury us inside it?"

"Oh, don't worry. Their two bosses are inside the mine, right? No way they didn't warn their soldiers not to do anything smart. Besides, if they blow up the mine, how can they recover the key to ARMAS?"

With her realizing that, even Akari couldn't help but showing a grin, "You smart, you"

And Hellion, too, shows a confident smile and pulls out his knife, "Are you ready?"

"Say the magic word" Akari unsheathes her sword, definitely prepared.

"In…3…2…1…go!"

In an instant, both rushes their way towards the soldiers and robots. Two gunslingers notice their coming, but are too late to do anything. Akari speeds up and slices the man in the torso, almost at the same time Hellion plunges his knife to the other one's neck. And needless to say, this gets them the attention of the rest of the battalion. Ten gunslingers aim their shotguns at the two youngsters and fires away. Akari, now used to the movement of bullets, exacts a precise Magnum Break to the bullets, burning them all mid-air. Continuing Akari's effort, Hellion leaps and lands right in front of the ten soldiers. He grabs the nearest one from him by the neck and slams his knife into it, releasing two hand grenades without the other nine knowing. In another show of athletically brilliant feat, he leaps backwards quick enough to avoid the hand grenades' explosion to even lick him. Twelve down in a blink of an eye.

Next up, out two Apocalypse Robots, one for each target. Akari, now knowing the weakness of this big guy, throws away the Chaff Grenade to the Apocalypse robot. The robot shoots it, not knowing its effect. Once the grenade explodes and the magic powder makes its debut, both robots stop instantly. Akari jumps and stabs through the robot's lips, igniting its inside with Magnum Break and quickly pulling away. Hellion, meanwhile, casually throws a hand grenade inside his target mouth's, somewhat similar to Akari's method. Both Apocalypse bursts out into flames when the fire explodes inside their engines. With a knowing look, the two friends look satisfied. But dozens of other enemies are still waiting, eager to take them out. Nonetheless, it wasn't like this attack wasn't planned. The smokes and flame from the Apocalypse robots are enough distraction for a large number of the soldiers, so now it's phase two of the story. Hellion throws a belt of Stun Grenades to the air, containing 12 stun grenades, and puts on his google. Akari closes her eyes, and the belt stuns everything with the ability to see.

The bright white light colors the entire field for a moment, but it's more than enough for Hellion. He grabs Akari by the hand, like he did last night, and charges through the blinded oppositions. Akari, also recalling last night's event, lets her new compadre guide her way through. They move in lightening speed, and now after having felt it twice, Akari silently realizes Hellion is quicker than her when it comes to movement. Is that way he prefers knife to gun despite being a gunslinger?

That question is put on hold, however, when the entrance to the mine is only 500 meters away, but the effect of the grenades has died down. And it takes only a second for the whole gang to spot the two running towards the entrance.

"Akari, they spot us" Hellion warns the samurai, "But, we're close to the entrance"

"No free entrance apparently" Opening up her eyes, the girl refers to twelve gunslingers guarding the entrance to the mine, "Twelve clowns left, Hellion. Don't blow up our way in"

"You got it" And finally, Hellion pulls out his two handguns. Leaping right to the middle of the party, Hellion stretches his arms to both sides and aims all twelve soldiers right on their legs. Hellion shoots two on his right then crosses his arms to shoot four on his left. Six soldiers try to aim at him but he is faster and turns around, facing them, giving their legs the taste of his weapons. Twenty four bullets without misses in total, he got 'em right on all their legs. Very quickly, before his foes scream and react, Hellion reloads his guns and falls to his back to get better aim. All soldiers fall down right to the ground and receive another one on their head, clockwise. Thirty six bullets in total, all enemies out in a blink of an eye.

Watching from afar, Akari takes a time to gaze at this surprise, "He really is quick! All those people in a second?! Sweet!"

"Let's go!" Akari is brought back to reality by Hellion's calling, with the mine finally open. Both friends enter the mine with no qualms, minus dozens of enemies following them from behind of course. Per the plan, the robots and the soldiers are filling in the entrance pretty quickly, causing the two to gain some space despite the size of the entrance. And since the capacity of the space is not vast, they hesitate to actually shoot in fear of hitting each other. Noticing the pursuers showing weakness, the samurai throws a Chaff Grenade, rendering the robots immobile, and signals "Now!" to Hellion so he starts, his bidding, which he does. He pulls out the shotgun he took last night and turns backwards, firing the rounds at their pursuers. The first shot hits two soldiers in the stomach, the second got two, and the third took out one. Hellion was right, the size of the overall space didn't allow the pursuers to move much and now they're sitting ducks.

"Damn! This is a trap!" Those moronic soldiers just realize that now.

"That was a shootout, not a trap" Hellion corrects them, "This is"

In that moment, Akari performs a horizontal slash right to the walls of the mine in front of the pursuers, circling their path with blazing flame. "Retreat, retreat! This is a trap!" That moment, the pursuers finally give up and admit they have been fooled. Hellion adds an insult to the injury by throwing three Hand Grenades to the fire. When the entire thing explodes, the soldiers and many of the robots are caught in the impact, and rubbles pile up all the way to the entrance. Now, the rest of the battalion cannot enter. Disappointed, one soldier turns on his talkie and contacts Carlo, who's inside the mine, "Captain Carlo?"

"Speaking"

"They got us…" The soldier mutters under his breath, angered, "They got us good. They blew up the entrance to the mine. They're inside now and we cannot enter, we failed to stop them"

"Or maybe not" Carlo answers to his frustration, "They're no fools, they didn't bury the entrance for no reason"

"What do you mean, Captain?"

"Think about it, if they bury the entrance we cannot get in, but they cannot get out either, right?"

"Yes"

"But, in case they want to try getting out, then there's to be a way"

"Yes, sir…"

"What allows us to travel without being limited by time and space?"

"Wings, Captain. Fly wings or butterfly wings"

"And to get out of an isolated space, he would need butterfly wings. Which means…"

"They have a point here somewhere!" The gig's up, too bad Hellion & Akari don't know this.

"Bingo"

And with that, the soldiers set out to find the checkpoint.

0000

Inside the mine, Akari & Hellion find it easy to guide their way through. Surprisingly, the mine is empty along the way, and there's not too many routes they can take to begin with. There are some bumps and missed, also dead ends, but all they need to do is reroute and find the right one. With no harmful obstacle all the way, they're having some serene time. Too serene, in fact, cause the two of 'em don't even say hi to each other. Apparently, the tension from last night still got the hang of it.

Akari feels uncomfortable even glancing at Hellion, and the other party feels the same way. Though that did not affect the way they worked together just a moment ago, it still odors their way of conversing with each other.

Consider this an act of kindness if you will, but Akari shows maturity by quietly muttering, "Sorry for last night"

And that does not escape Hellion's hearing, thankfully. He doesn't say or show it, but he's grateful to hear that. And now, it's his turn to say something to make the whole thing even, "Don't mention it. I'm…I should have clarified it in a more benign manner"

"It's okay. All of us got a thing or two we don't want anyone to eavesdrop. I shouldn't have been too pushy" The samurai doesn't bother to cover her genuine smile, "Still friends?"

"Gladly" And if the mine wasn't too darkly lit, Akari would have seen Hellion's little smile too.

But, the party stops there for now. "How touching, is this some kind of a development?" Carla, who's been waiting alongside Carlo, greets the two friends, "Too bad for you, it stops right here, right now"

Akari & Hellion don't even wait for one second to prepare their weapons. With their two main enemies here, it's a huge telling they're close to their destination. Unlike the cramp spaced-mine, the particular area they're currently standing at is as big as the inside of a dome. The miners have been told to create this much of a space in anticipation of having the key to ARMAS as big as it can be.

"The two of you're here and this place is vast…so, that means the end of the mine isn't far, but you're not there yet" Quick and sound deduction by Hellion, "Why?"

"Oh, clever. You realize that, huh?" Carla responds, per usual, in a mocking tone, "Care to explain that, Carlo?"

"Sure, Carla" This, too, is done in a mocking manner, "Now, you see, kids, we cannot risk having the Key to ARMAS damaged. If we find it before you do and something happens to that key, we would have lots of problems to deal with. So, we decided to deal with you first, and then the key"

"Good idea" In a bat of an eye, Hellion rushes right to in front of Carlo and slashes his knife right across Carlo's face, slicing it to half and killing him instantly, "Next time, if you wish to shoot someone, then shoot, don't talk. But I guess it's too late for you"

"Carlo!" Carla reacts by reaching to her Grenade Launcher and points at Hellion, but Akari also does some action of her own and appears right beside Carla with a Bash. Carla dodges it, missing barely an inch of the attack. "You wanna fight someone, fight me" Challenges the samurai.

So now, it's 1 on 1.

0000

Akari stands on guard when Carla looks at her with eyes filled with madness. "I've had enough of your antics, brat" Carla says it as if Akari doesn't share her opinion, "Die!"

The gunslinger opens fire, aiming the grenade launcher at her target and firing her rounds. Akari moves to her right side with accurate speed, avoiding every grenade that might hit her as she progresses. The grenades hit the walls behind her, each exploding after hitting their target. And that's enough warning signs for the girl, "Dang it! One hit from that thing and I'll never see Amatsu again!"

Casting two-hand quicken on herself, the samurai encloses the space between herself and her enemy pretty quickly, trying to force Carla into a melee battle she had hoped would gain advantage at. Akari delivers a Bash from the overhead direction, which Carla blocks using her Grenade Launcher and stops the attack right away. It's an unpleasant surprise, but now Akari knows Carla has enough physical power to at least defend herself from high-powered physical attack. Akari, once again, hammers a continuous blow aimed to Carla's grenade launcher, an upper hand given by her two-hand quicken. Carla, hating to resist in the first place, similarly slams her gun to Akari's sword every time it moves near her, giving them an equal footing.

The samurai quickly realizes this is going nowhere and pulls back, trying to find a better route to defeat Carla. The gunslinger, now fully understanding her target isn't an amateur, finally ups the stake of the game, "Not bad, now's the time to get serious"

Carla shows Akari a rather unusual round of grenade, red colored with golden tint on its edge. "This is called Mastema, the latest invention of Juno. If one normal round of a grenade launcher is only capable of containing one element, not with this" Carla pompously explains as she puts Mastema inside her firearm, "Let's begin round 2!"

Carla presses the firing trigger and out comes a fire blast, like a flamethrower. But unlike a flamethrower, the fire stays in the shape of a giant whip. Even Akari cannot hide her astonishment by gasping, even slightly. Carla attacks by whipping the flame to Akari's direction. And the samurai knew full well this one cannot be blocked, so she leaps to the air to avoid being roasted to death. Landing back on the ground, she notices the time gap Carla needs to pull her weapon back, so she strives to her direction with Bash prepared. But Akari overestimated herself; Carla, in another surprising move, cancels the flame whip in a second and reforms it into a jousting lance-like object, still made of fire. And with it, she hits Akari's sword back when she executes her Bash, cancelling Akari's attack again in one day as the samurai is pushed backward.

"That Mastema works like magic!" The samurai sees Carla closing in on her, attacking her with the lance. Akari slashes at the lance to stop it from even touching her, who knows what else Mastema is capable of doing. And her suspicion is proven correct. Aiming it high to the air, Carla transforms the element of her grenade launcher back to fire and shoots away fire balls to the upper part of the cave, which soon plummets down like a rain. Rain fire, that is.

Akari flips backwards in an instant, refusing to let any of those exploding spheres to even scratch her. Carla, amidst the rain fire, adds more attack with her flame whip again, which escapes Akari's attention due to the barrage of rain fire. Where she finally hits a corner, Akari just then notices the whip coming close to her. With no other way to run, she slashes the wall in the whip's direction with a Magnum Break, creating an explosion big enough to fight the fire whip and stopping it halfway. That was close.

"You're lucky, brat" Carla chides, "But there will be no second time"

She's right, Akari was an inch away from being a steak. She might not be lucky the next time. But she never depends on luck anyway. "You think that gun of yours can really defeat me?" The samurai upholds her pride, "The bloodline of royalty of Amatsu isn't so low you can stamp it with mere theatrical magic. Go ahead, show me that flashy attack again. I'll show you Tsubame Gaeshi"

"Challenge accepted" Carla employs the flame whip one more time, readying herself to launch one final attack, "Die!"

Shooting fire balls from the whip again, the gunslinger pulls away both forms and quickly corners Akari, the target having two forms of flame thrown at her. But she keeps her cool and focus, gripping her sword with all her strength and putting it close to her left shoulder. "Don't be ridiculous!" Carla yells at the samurai, "Your sword isn't enough to contain all my attacks!"

But Akari never said anything about containing. In an invisible speed, she leaps high to the air, causing all the fire based attack to miss, and, using the momentum of her leap & the force of Bash, she descends in a blink of an eye with her sword slashing right through Carla's body. The gunslinger didn't even have the time to scream. But Akari is not done yet. With a two-handed sword attack, she jumps one more time and slices through Carla's neck and jaw, killing her almost instantly. Carla's body drops dead to the cave floor when Akari does so as well, alive and safe. Slowly, she sheathes her sword back to its scabbard. This is Tsubame Gaeshi, the Swallow Reversal. "Now you've had enough of me" Akari smirks when she takes a look at her work.

0000

"Job well done" Hellion doesn't hide that compliment.

"Oh, please. You took out that scum like in, one second" That's also a form of compliment.

"He underestimated me, and he was off guard" True and true, "And he also talked too much"

That, too, is true.

"Wow, now I feel bad cause I didn't have it easy against that skank"

"She was more prepared than he was. If it were me fighting her, I wouldn't have had it easy either"

"But, you didn't jump in and help" Another million dollar question, "Mind telling me why?"

"Cause I knew you were able to defeat her by yourself. And I got this feeling that if I barged in, you would have been angry at me" And a million dollar answer.

"Oh, yeah. If you dared, I would have kicked your ass as well" Both giggles to this sentence. The atmosphere has finally been restored, "Thanks for putting the faith in me"

"You're welcome"

With the mood as light as ever, they continue their journey deeper inside the mine. There is nothing to stymie them anymore, so by the end of the mine, both discover what seems to be a silver box.

"Is that it? That's the key?" Akari obviously questions the legitimacy of the object cause it looks nothing like a key at all, "Do keyholes around here look like boxes?"

"Eh…I'm sure it's more than it looks like" Hellion grabs the box and puts it in his pocket, "Are we sure there's nothing else in here?"

"Super sure" Akari's eyes don't defy her yet, so she's super sure, "If there is, it's either invisible or hidden. And I'm not about to find out"

"Fair enough" The gunslinger shows understanding by giving her a butterfly wing, "On the count of 3"

"3" Akari "counts" and uses it right away.

0000

Both arrive back in their checkpoint, safely so far. "See anyone? Anything?" Hellion quickly checks the surrounding area, "Seems fine, let's head back to Einbroch right now"

But, there's no time for that. Before they can take even one step, they already hear the sound of triggers being pulled and quickly got down before an array of bullets ride through the air, almost turning them into a pair of honeycombs. "What the?! We're found?!" Akari almost cannot believe their misfortune, as practically the battalion they tricked near the mine is there. All of them, surrounding them.

"I cannot believe our captains failed" The contacting soldier speaks out, "But we'll get that key for sure"

"Ooookay…this is 2 versus 2000" Even with her sword ready, the samurai really doesn't like this, "Got any idea, Hellion?"

"I don't think our earlier trick will work again" The gunslinger also dislikes his chance against the battalion, "So, I'm planning to give them a hard time, you're in?"

"Gladly" Akari, right after the answer, dashes to one gunslinger and cuts his neck off, killing him in a second while also warning the rest of the dozens to up their ante. She turns her sight to three men who are aiming shotguns at her and quickly lays low when they shoot straight. One single step is enough to completely erase the distance between them and slashes all three of them. Two Apocalypse from her back jumps at her and stomps at her, even before she managed to actually catch some breath. She rolls over to the front and the Apocalypse miss her by three inches. Her heart tells her to deal with those robots, but she knew they're tricky and prefers to focus on her human enemies first, which are easier to kill. But these humans aren't going to make it easy for her cause right behind her, ten gunslingers fire their assault rifles, forcing her to run and leap to right behind the Apocalypse robots, "Their numbers are unbelievable!". In turn, the robots turn around and start shooting at her as well. The bullets are countless now, she has to resort to Two Hand Quicken to move further away to safety.

Hellion, however, has an easier time. Three Apocalypse robots rampage at him with their machine guns, but their bullets miss him, always, even when it seems he's only standing there. Pulling out his grenade launcher, he shoots at three of them and blasts them away almost effortlessly. A gunslinger tries to sneak from his back with a knife and plunges himself at the Ropera Squad member, only to have the newest addition appears right behind himself and shoots him in the head with a handgun. Eight more amateurs fire their rifles at him, hoping for a score, but Hellion calmly moves, as if sliding through the bullets, and presents himself right in front of them with a Black Rose shotgun, with three shots proving more than enough to clean the junks. Three Apocalypse robots attempt to gain technological advantage by activating their jet pack and flying to the air, shooting their rifles at Hellion, but they only turn themselves into the flying form of sitting ducks over there, because Hellion easily makes a move that make all the bullets go to waste while giving them a taste of his grenade launcher. "What is that guy made of?!" One of the soldiers yells, "Be careful! He's not ordinary!"

And that turns out to be the last thing that soldiers says because Hellion gives him a bullet to the head as a present for his warning. "In all seriousness, you really talk too much" Hellion voices his humble opinion of this battalion again, this time directed to the soldiers, "If you want to do something, be about it"

"Man, he sure is something" Even Akari is being bought some time to praise her compatriot, "How the hell did he do all that, anyway?"

Two more robots try to his Hellion point blank, but is disappointed when he dodges it casually and fires them with two shots from his Grenade Launcher. Now, seemingly realizing they cannot defeat him with sheer number, the soldiers begin to line the robots up, amounting to 12 in one line and, with one order, the robots fire at Hellion, hoping to reduce the space he allows himself to move. But Hellion cannot be defeated by childish tricks like that and simply jumps high to the air, quietly dropping off a belt of hand grenade which resulted to the obvious.

At this point, the soldiers begin to grow wary of him, "We need to think of a way to stop him! Taking out that man is a pretty tall order!"

"But, look!" Another soldier points to Akari, "Taking her out isn't"

Akari, is indeed, in a pinch. Unlike Hellion who is seemingly otherworldly, Akari is pretty much down to earth (figuratively). She is, again, forced to dodge the entire bullets coming at her by running. Two soldiers launch grenades at her via grenade launchers and almost hit her if it weren't for her Focus, which allows her to sense her surrounding at all times. But, she's starting to feel the toll of non-stop combat. Her movement is slower, her breathing is heavier, and she attacks less than she did. It's only a matter of time before she shuts down completely and defeated. Though she didn't say anything to Hellion, she could only use Tsubame Gaeshi three times a day, and that too, with the requirement of an hour break due to the excessive burden it puts on her muscles and bones. It was barely fifteen minutes ago when she hammered Carla with it, so she really is not in her peak condition.

"Let's take her out, but don't kill her!" The soldier tells the other, "If we can take her hostage, maybe we can force that guy to give up!"

"Like hell I'd let that happen!" Akari overhears and is angered by that mockery, "If you want to capture me, you're not going to do it while I'm alive!"

That anger rushes more blood to her legs and she gets to the two mocking soldiers in a jiffy, making a quick work on them with Bash. But that's it, her left leg finally shows a sign of giving up and she kneels down to one leg, to her and Hellion's surprise. "Akari! Behind you!" Hellion, from afar, shouts to her in hope he'd reach her, as an Apocalypse robot is right behind her with his arm ready to deal a fatal blow. The gunslinger heads to where his new compatriot is, hoping to reach her in time, but two Apocalypse robots, seemingly noticing this move, sacrifice themselves by barricading Hellion's path, forcing the Ropera Squad member to dispose of them by two shots from his Grenade Launcher, and ultimately buying their side enough time.

Not being able to go anywhere, and knowing no matter how quick Hellion is, he won't get to her in time, the samurai closes her eyes and prepare herself for the worst as the robot throws his iron punch at her.

When, all of a sudden, a gargantuan pod falls from the sky and caves in on the Apocalypse near Akari, crushing him to pieces. The impact shakes the whole area, enough to make them pay attention to what is happening and struggle to keep their balance. The giant pod crumbles slowly from the inside, and out a behemoth of a figure emerging from the smokes. Five times the size of a normal human, roughly the same height as Ifrit in Erebus Form, is a giant Vesper.

"A Vesper?" One of the soldiers notes, "But…isn't he defeated? Besides…this one is two times bigger than a normal Vesper!"

The Vesper looks down on Akari, who looks like a dwarf compared to him, and tells her, "Get down"

Akari does as she's told, and the Vesper opens his mouth to reveal massive cannon which he points to the watching soldiers and robots standing not far from the samurai, "Hyper Beam"

The beam crosses the barricade and hits one Apocalypse, causing an explosion huge enough to swallow more than 100 members of the battalion, perishing them in flames and explosions almost in a rapid succession. Standing right behind that sea of flame, is that Vesper. "Prepare your grenade launchers!" One soldier orders the other and is abided, with grenade launchers being aimed at the Vesper in a matter of seconds, "Ready….fire!"

The soldiers bombard the Vesper right on target, causing explosions here and there. Some of the Apocalypse robots join in on the attack by their machine guns, all supplies hitting the vast robot. But even after all that, the Vesper shows no sign of being hurt. And there is not a scratch on his armor. Too bad those morons don't know his body is made of Mithrill, which gives him the same durability as that of Satan Morroc.

And that's the final straw for the soldiers, "Damn it all to hell! First we have that guy to deal with, and now this?! Screw this! I'm outta here!"

But, the Vesper has no intention of letting them go. Opening both his hands, which also contains massive cannons, he stretches both of his arms to the sky and collects his energy to them, "Cover up, comrades. This is going to be a big one"

Hellion doesn't know why Vesper calls him a comrade, but he doesn't want to find out about it now and follows Akari who already guarded herself, "Will do"

And with more than enough energy in both his cannons, the Vesper releases his attack, "Fragarach"

What follows is the cannons shooting two pillars, made of hyper beam, to the sky which shatters into thousands tiny pieces…and fall to the ground in blinding succession. The beams hit the soldiers and the Apocalypse robots, causing explosions everywhere with each tap. One soldier in the north got hit and explodes. Three robots in the west receive the beams and are destroyed. Their scream echoes throughout the entire battlefield, cries that belong to that of lost lives. The forests are destroyed, tree by tree, the mine is crumbling, rock by rock, and the battalion is completely wiped out, all done under one minute. Courtesy of the giant Vesper.

Amidst the massacre, Hellion & Akari stand up, both facing the gigantic terminator. "Neat" That's a little comment from Akari, "I'm hoping for a good answer, but…you're our friend, right?"

"Pardon my tardiness, but it took a long time to get here from Rune Midgard" The Vesper, fortunately, is a friend, "My name is Hugo, the third member of your party and a member of Ropera Squad. I am here to assist you under the order of General Eduardo Barragan"

"Ow, gee, our party has the tendency to come right on time to save me" Akari is both flattered and humbled, "Thank you for saving me"

"Wait a minute. You said your name is Hugo?" Hellion, however, has something to ask, "From the information I received, a Ropera Squad named Hugo was destroyed during a mission in Endless Tower?"

"That is correct, I was destroyed by Red Valdes" It's all in the past, "But upon my demise, the scientist in Einbroch did a quick work rebuilding my unit by inserting my memory chip to the body of the original Vesper whom Ropera Squad defeated and combined it with any eligible system existing in Juperos which was destroyed by Princess Fiorentin Adler of Prontera. I now possess the power that is one hundred and twenty times stronger than the original Vesper"

"I'll say" Akari hints at an agreement by glancing back to Hugo's quick work of a battalion, "Whoever that original Vesper was, you must have put him to shame with your display"

"Ditto" Even Hellion quickly seconds it, "Thank you for the big help"

"You are welcome, comrades" Thankfully, that memory chip retains his politeness, "Was your mission to retrieve the key to ARMAS successful?"

"You bet" Akari says it with confidence.

"That's very fortunate, but now we must hurry to Einbroch"

"Why? Is there any development to the war?" Hellion rushes his question, with eyes as wide as they can be. A hint, like saying he's responsible for the war. And Akari doesn't miss this.

"My last transmission informed me, Beelzephir The Chaos, Ifrit The Fire God, and Great Demon Baphomet have just arrived in Einbroch to assist Satan Morroc & the army of Valdomir Kingdom" Oh, boy, four big guns in one place. That cannot be good.

"All those names? What in the world?" A certain gunslinger realizes more than enough threat in the capital city of the army, "We must hurry to Einbroch!"

"I hope I am not undermining this situation, but this might be able to lessen your stress. My last transmission also informed me, General Eduardo is leading the Ropera Squad members to Juno, with the companionship of Sagramore" Finally some good news, "But you are right, we must make our way to Einbroch as soon as possible. If Einbroch falls to the hands of Valdomir, the core power of the military will be reduced to ashes"

With that news in mind, the three heads to Einbroch.

0000

Phew, feels good to be back after being isolated for so long! Sorry for the tardiness, but I actually erased my previous chapter 102 & 103 because I wasn't pleased with the result. The 102 was too sappy and sentimental which didn't fit the current mood of the story & the 103 was a jumbled mess, I'm planning to re-write it to present a good war.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. I hope I can update regularly from now on, and nothing like this "unable to connect" s**t ever happens again.

C u next chappy! _