Arriving at the city they spotted vast quantities of smoke emanating from a large building. As they got closer they realized it was one of Reinford's munition factories. As they were worried about the situation they decided to head there and investigate.
They discovered a few panicked workers and security guards, but no sign of the RMP or provincial army. When questioned as to what happened, they were horrified to learn that the factory had been attacked by monsters. Worse, they were metal monsters, which immediately caused the group to think about the events at Garrelia Fortress one month prior.
The fact that there were still workers unaccounted for only made the situation more dire. An explosion rocked the factory as flames reached something explosive, adding urgency to the situation. Since the authorities were nowhere to be seen, Rean made the call for Class VII to move in and rescue the survivors themselves. Although some members of the group were clearly frightened of the burning building and potential archaism attacks, none of them were willing to back down and leave those trapped inside to their grim fates.
Luckily they didn't have to go far to find the ones they were looking for, but unluckily they found the survivors trapped by a giant archaism, the likes of which they had never seen before. It was large, almost like an oversized tank, and bristling with weapon systems. Hurriedly, they moved to engage the enemy, drawing it's attention away from the civilians. Of course this meant that they engaged without any planning, save for a singular call to spread out and not let it focus its weapons on anyone, but it was a risk they were willing to take.
As was often the case, Fie was the first to move, drawing attention to herself. She had to abort her charge, but was able to evade the archaism's opening salvo, creating an opening for the others. Surprisingly, it was Elliot who attacked next, hitting it with a powerful ice attack. Apparently the archaism was created with arts-resistant armor, as the cast did little visible damage, but the ice did appear to slow it down just slightly.
Rean arrived on scene shortly after, and the enemy trained it's many guns on him, but before it could take the shot it was stopped by a combined barrage from Crow and Machias. Again, little real damage was inflicted, but it spoiled it's attempts to fill the Eight Leaves practitioner with bullets. Exploiting this opening, Class VII's leader was able to slice deep into one of the mechanical arms, disabling the gun in that location. He had to scurry away after, as the archaism appeared to take offense to his attack and did its best to run him over.
Fie was back in the fight, forming a combat link with Alisa as the two girls supported each other with blade and bow. Neither of their weapons were able to cut through the armor, but they were precise enough to target vulnerable sensors, weapons, and joints. Although it was a machine and held no real emotion, it appeared upset at their attacks and spun around to engage the offenders.
In an unexpected move, the archaism appeared to realize the difficulty in striking the agile ex-jaeger directly in front of it, and instead trained its guns on the Reinford heiress. Caught off-guard, there was little she could do to evade, but luckily Machias was prepared to create an earthen wall to protect her from the worst of the attack. What little damage she took was quickly fixed courtesy of Elliot Craig, and soon the three were back to engaging the monster with arts and firepower.
With the others preoccupied Rean formed a link with the second year and the duo proceeded to attack like the two females had. Unlike the earlier duo, the machine was clearly wary of Rean's longsword and made an effort to keep the Schwarzer heir from getting close. Doing so, however, left it at the mercy of the slacker, who proceeded to show off the power of his pistols as he punched holes deep into the armor plating, doing little in the way of stopping it, but leaving it quite open to follow-up attacks.
The fight continued in this way for quite some time. None of the members of Class VII were able to punch through the thick plating like Laura or Millium might have, but their quick attacks from every direction left it reeling and vulnerable, unable to bring its full might to bear, despite how much it tried. Of course slowly wearing it down wasn't the most viable tactic when the factory was burning around them, so Fie decided to mix it up.
"I'll create the opening, but you have to finish it!" Saying that, she formed a combat link with the swordsman of Class VII.
To make true her words she broke into a reckless charge directly at the tank, firing rounds from her orbal guns as she went. It turned its many guns upon her, but instead of evading like she had prior, she instead focused all her energy into her legs as she drew ever closer. The exact moment she saw the flash of gunfire she leapt, launching herself over the hostile barrage and landing with catlike grace on top of the machine.
The AI of the archaism apparently understood just how threatening an enemy on top of it could be, as it proceeded to do whatever it could to dislodge the stubborn girl. The functional arm couldn't reach her, but it could still make a passable effort at aiming for her with it's gun, so she had to lay flat against the machine knowing it probably wouldn't want to risk shooting itself. To make matters worse, it had started driving erratically in an attempt to force her off that way.
Luckily she earned a reprieve as the other four members of Group A took the opportunity to throw everything they had at the archaism. Bullets, arrows, and high-level arts impacted it from all sides, further impeding and weakening it. It did what it could to counter the attacks coming at it, but it could only do so much while trying to deal with the girl who was doing her best to carve through the top armor with her blades.
All of this, of course, meant it was completely open to Rean Schwarzer. The second Fie opened her mouth and formed the ARCUS link he knew exactly what she wanted from him, and he did his best to oblige. He took the time to prepare his tried and true signature technique, focusing energy into his blade. It didn't take long before flames coated his tachi.
But... He felt he could do more. After the past month he knew how far he could push himself without risk of transformation. While he could do that if needed, he didn't want to risk exhausting himself in the middle of a field study unless absolutely necessary. Still, he knew he could go further without reaching that point and he continued channeling energy.
His efforts bore fruit when the flames on his blade grew brighter and brighter, until eventually turning a brilliant azure. It was so hot that he almost dropped his weapon, but managed to overcome that initial instinct and kept hold of it. With that done he set himself for a charging slash against the distracted machine.
Thanks to the combat link, Fie knew the moment Rean was prepared to attack, and gracefully leapt away from the aggravated opponent. She, along with all the other members of the group, watched in surprise as a blue streak shot across their vision and carved through the machine as if it had no armor at all.
There was a brief second where nobody moved, but it ended as the machine shorted out and collapsed upon itself, before being wracked by internal explosions. Once they were sure it was completely out of commission they turned to the workers and were happy to find out that none of them had been injured during the battle. Despite the situation, the workers and security guards made sure to shower the students with praise, much to their awkward embarrassment.
That all ceased a few seconds later, when Captain Claire and a squad from the RMP arrived on scene. While happy that nobody had been hurt, the older woman made it quite clear that none of them were authorized to be in that factory and they all had to leave, now. One member of her squad led them out of the area and kept a close eye on them while Claire and the rest of the RMP proceeded deeper into the factory to engage any other archaisms and to fight the fires.
The group ended up joining the rest of the bystanders as they silently watched the police take control of the situation and put out the fires. After a few minutes they were joined by the captain, who, while grateful that they defeated the boss archaism and saved the workers, chose to reprimand the group for their rash actions. While her concern wasn't unwarranted, it did annoy some members of the team that they were being scolded for helping people.
It was Rean who put that frustration into words. "If we have the power to save someone and don't use it to do that, what kind of people would that make us?" Against such an honest declaration, especially as it was backed by his classmates, Claire had no way to retort. Still, she tried to at least warn them to be more careful in the future.
Surprisingly, when asked, the Icy Maiden was forthcoming with information regarding the attack. They weren't sure if it was repayment for their efforts or if she simply didn't think it was important enough to keep away from them, but they appreciated it all the same. The details, however, were quite alarming for the group.
Apparently, the archaisms had been shipped to the factory over three months ago and had been sitting dormant until now. That kind of planning showed just how far the ILF and their enigmatic leader had calculated events. This left the group with more questions than answers.
Was the attack designed to interfere with the government's inspection of Reinford's First Division? Where were the terrorists? And most ominously, where had the provincial army gone? Such an attack in one of the most critical factories in Nortia should normally have generated a massive response, but not a single soldier had been seen.
The captain was the first to put the pieces together, with the quicker members of Class VII following not long after. It had to be a diversion. But if that were the case, where was the real threat...?
As if reading their minds, a panicked group of RMP soldiers approached their leader and informed her that there had been an attack at the Sachsen Iron Mines. With that declaration the final piece was in place and she wasted no time in ordering all available members of the RMP to move towards the mine, before leaving without a single word to the students.
Since the group were so worried about the miners they had met yesterday and had a vested interest in opposing the terrorists, the decision to follow the RMP to the mine was an easy one. Of course with the incident they had no choice but to make the trek back up the mountain on foot. As much as they wanted to hurry, rushing full speed up the long path was a terrible idea so they kept themselves to a brisk walk.
"So Rean," Machias asked as they made the trek, "back at the factory. What was that, anyways?"
"Oh yeah! The flames on your sword were blue. It was really cool."
He laughed sheepishly under the praise of the musician. "It's nothing special. I've just learned how to put more power into my Flame Slash, that's all."
Crow just scoffed. "Nothing special, my ass! Another benefit of your secret training, I take it?"
"Well I couldn't keep fighting against a pair of absolute monsters without getting a little stronger, right?"
Fie blinked. Should she feel offended that he called her an absolute monster? Laura was one, for sure, but her? She decided to brush it off, for now. "Don't sell yourself short. You've always been strong, it's about time you started to realize it."
"But do you really need to keep forcing yourself to get stronger?" A concerned Alisa asked. "I mean you three have always been the strongest ones in the class, right? You guys always look so worn out when you return to the dorms..."
"Given what we're sticking our noses in and the fact we just fought a giant tank, I'm kinda glad they did." Machias countered her concern with rationality. "Honestly I am regretting not focusing more on my own marksmanship skills. Maybe I'll start doing some extra training of my own when we get back..."
"After the festival, of course. You won't have any free time for the next few weeks." There was something about Elliot's kind smile that sent shivers down all their spines in that moment and none of them dared to bring up the point that survival is more important than a school festival, lest they incur his wrath.
Despite it having been only a day, the group made it up the mountain a lot easier then they had previously. None of them were more than winded by the time they reached the mine. The sight they arrived to was something far worse than they had seen on their previous visit. The mine appeared to be on fire, with smoke billowing out in multiple places, and both the Provincial Army and RMP were present, but were clearly not on the same side.
It appeared to be a serious standoff between the provincial army and the RMP, with the former having seized control of the entrance to the mine and were in the process of preventing the latter from entering. Since they couldn't hear anything or make out any details from this distance, they decided to move in for a closer look. Luckily both military organizations were so focused on each other that none of them appeared to notice the group of students from Thors.
Once in hearing range they quickly understood the situation. The troops from Nortia claimed they were preventing anyone from entering due to worries about the hostage miners. It was Fie who put the pieces together first, realizing that the soldiers were way too prepared for this situation, and were almost certainly in cahoots with the terrorists for some reason. The fact that the smoke from the mine appeared to her to be the kind from a smoke grenade and not an actual fire only reinforced her assumption.
While they didn't know why House Rogner's soldiers were aiding terrorists, the likely assumption was that it had something to do with the inspections that Captain Claire had warned them about the previous night. Still, while the friction between the nobles and reformists was of great importance, the students of Class VII realized that neither side actually cared about the miners who were trapped in the middle, and they were the only ones who could possibly rescue them.
To do so required a plan, and that wasn't something they could do on the spot like that, especially if they got noticed by one of the squabbling factions. So it was decided that they would regroup back in Roer to figure out a plan. Of course that meant going back down the mountain yet again, and even the more hardened members of the group were feeling a bit grumpy at having to make that trek yet again.
Once returned they set about trying to devise a plan of action, but it was difficult with the limited information they had. It was such a delicate situation that one misstep would be extremely bad, not just for the miners, but for Erebonia as a whole. Before long, however, they were interrupted by a voice calling out to them.
Responding to the call, they were very surprised to see the familiar faces of Angelica and George riding in on the former's orbal bike. Considering the distance from Thors to Roer was at least seven hours on bike, it meant the two had departed long before the current crisis and Rean now had some understanding why Angelica had asked him for a spar during the previous free day.
As the daughter of Marquis Rogner the second year had clearly suspected wrong-doings in her family, and with the assistance of Towa and George had dug up some serious information. The former had remained at the school in an attempt to find anything new, while the latter had decided to accompany her directly to the site.
Having been on the road for so long meant they weren't abreast of current events, so the two groups decided on an information exchange at one of the local diners. The second year students were surprised to hear about the attack on the factory, and Angie especially was concerned about the plight of the miners, seeing as how she used to work there.
In return the two told the members of Class VII about the information that Towa had discovered. After digging through multiple reports and shipping logs she had discovered a massive discrepancy between the iron that was mine and the the iron that was processed. And it was something that had been going on for years.
The amount of missing ore was staggering. If put on the black market it would be worth billions of mira, or it could be processed into enough steel to create an entire army. Of course trying to offload that much iron would draw too much attention to the sellers, and the noble alliance lacked any ways of processing the iron themselves...
They decided to put that thought process on hold for the moment, as despite having a clearer picture of the entire situation it was obvious they were still missing a few critical pieces of the puzzle. Instead they turned their attention back to the unfolding crisis, especially as it became more and more clear that none of the squabbling factions cared about the miners.
The daughter of Nortia's Marquis declared her intention of saving them, which earned her the support of the members of Class VII. Even with her support they couldn't just walk through the front entrance of the mine, so Alisa suggested that they go see her mother in case another entrance was available. Angelica promised to meet up with them after checking on some of her own sources, while George planned on contacting Towa before seeing if he could find anything of use in the Institute.
After seeing the two second year students off, the members of Class VII made their way to the Reinford building. It appeared that the situation had the mine had gone public, as there was a palpable sense of fear among the citizens. That only reinforced their desire to make things right.
The tension was thick as the group of six rode the elevator up to Chairman Irina's office, but the moment was ruined when Sharon was there to greet them, either having waited there for hours, or had somehow predicted the exact timing of their arrival. They suspected the latter.. The maid led them the rest of the way to the office.
Irina Reinford didn't waste time mincing words, instead all but ordering the group to finish up their field study tasks and prepare to leave the city the next morning. It was clear the CEO was swamped with work at the moment, but that was not the answer they wanted to hear, and Alisa gave her a piece of her mind.
Her mother was unimpressed, however, and forced her to look at the big picture. How any misstep taken by Reinford in the current crisis could have dramatic ramifications across the entire continent and could affect the lives of so many. None in the group could deny the truth in her words, but sitting idle at that moment just wasn't the way Class VII did things.
And that is what Alisa told her mother. All of her grievances at how the company was being run came to the forefront, and she lambasted the older Reinford. Everything from her mistreatment of Gwyn to the increases militarization of the organization. And she vowed that she could come up with a better way, given time.
It was hard to tell if her words had reached the Chairman, but at the very least she seemed intrigued enough to give Class VII a chance. With a simple command Sharon handed them a key card that they were told led to an emergency tunnel connecting the city to the mine. The fact that the maid had that on hand made them suspicious that everything that had just occurred had been scripted, but they were too relieved at having a plan to really ponder that train of thought.
Fortunately for the group, it wasn't long until they realized they knew where the entrance to this secret tunnel was, as they had found the alley during their orbal communications testing the previous day, with two members of the group also having visited it that night. It was close to the Rogner estate so that is where they met up with Angelica and George, and together the group of eight made the trek to their destination.
A flight of stairs and a brief elevator ride down awaited them, and they found themselves many arge beneath the city itself. There they found themselves before a long tunnel that stretched as far as the eye could see, and Elliot let out a pitiful moan as the realization began to set in that they had another long trek ahead of them.
It was there that George separated from the rest of the group, as he began to set up what appeared to be an orbal antenna. He explained to the group that this would extend the range of their communications, and allow him to remain in contact with both them and Towa at the same time, so they would be able to remain abreast of any events occurring outside of the tunnel and mine.
As was the case with most underground places, the tunnel was filled with fairly powerful monsters, but the addition of Angelica to the group meant that none of them were a problem. Despite having never fought alongside the members of Class VII before, she fit right in, and could form combat links thanks to her own ARCUS.
"Oh, right. You fought against Rean last week, didn't you?" Fie's question surprised the other members of the group, save for Rean who obviously knew, and Crow who probably found out about it from Angelica herself.
"Yup. Had a feeling that something like this was going to happen, so I wanted to shake off some rust first. Was surprised at how strong he was until Crow informed me that he was having secret lessons with you and Laura."
"Oh no..." Rean had an idea where Angelica was going with this.
"So how 'bout it Fie? Ditch Rean and the three of us can have 'secret lessons' ourselves. I bet we could get all kind of exercise done together~"
Said girl took the chance to flee, hiding herself behind Rean and pushing the older boy forward. "Make yourself useful and protect me from this creep."
"Ouch. Looks like Gelica got shot down." Crow joked as the older girl fell into despair at the rejection. The rest of the group just watched the interaction oddly. Silently they just decided to pretend that it was just an attempt at humor from the second year girl, but all of them knew better.
On and on the tunnel went. Although it was impossible to get lost in such a straightforward path, the vast distance and unchanging scenery made it feel like they were making no progress. Luckily Fie had been keeping an estimate of the distance they traveled and reassured them that they were making progress and didn't have much longer to go. So they continued to walk, occasionally having to stop to defend themselves against monster attacks,.
Eventually they reached what appeared to be the end of the tunnel, with the exit containing a large ladder headed up. After some debate from the second years on what order they should ascend, the group made their way up, and sure enough found themselves at the mine. Fortunately, they realized that they knew their location, as the tunnel exit brought them almost exactly where they fought that monster the previous day.
The group paused for a quick break as George contacted Rean via ARCUS, confirming the connection still worked well. According to Towa, the RMP was gathering in force, both in Roer and in Ordis in the west. The group was surprised to hear that and worried for Group B, but since there was nothing they could do about it they just had to place their trust in their classmates and continue onward.
One major difference in the mine between yesterday and today was the presence of a large number of archaisms. Although the mechanical monsters were starting to become a familiar sight to the students, it made them no less dangerous. Still, they did their best to avoid them when possible, only stopping to destroy the machines when they had no chance in the matter.
Before long the group made it out of the abandoned shaft and back into the mine proper. Luckily the main door had been sealed shut, so they weren't at risk of being discovered by the two arguing military forces just outside. But this still caused a problem for them, as the terrorists and miners were nowhere to be found. Since there was nowhere else to go, the group descended down into the active mine shaft, all the while continuing to be harassed by archaisms.
As they progressed deeper into the mine they came across a door. While this would normally be an unremarkable discovery, the fact that it was guarded by two massive archaisms, similar to the pair that they fought a month prior at Garrelia. Since the terrorists wouldn't be guarding an unimportant room the group of seven drew their weapons and prepared to break through.
While the two large mechanical weapons were a far cry above everything else in the mine, even they couldn't hope to stand against the large group for long. Their thick armor allowed them to keep fighting for a while, but under a relentless barrage of arts, bullets, blades, and fists the pair were worn down and deactivated easily enough.
With the threat eliminated the group cautiously entered the door, expecting an ambush from terrorists. There were no terrorists to be found however, but they did find something better: The miners. It appeared that most of them had been locked away in this room and the group wasted no time in freeing them. There they learned that the mine chief, along with a few others, were still in captivity, presumably in the control room just ahead. Which meant that the terrorists were probably in that direction too.
Unfortunately, this created a problem for the group. They didn't want to leave the miners in such a dangerous area, especially with one of them injured, but they didn't have the time to take them back to Roer. Eventually Crow stepped up and volunteered to lead them back himself. It was a blow to their combat strength, but there really was no alternative given the circumstances, so Rean reluctantly agreed to his plan. They watched as the slacker departed with the miners before resuming their advance.
Losing the gunner hurt, but the group of six continued onward, deeper into the mine. They were definitely on the right track, as the archaisms became more frequent as they went. Now, however, they had a destination, and with Angelica to guide them the path before them was clear.
About fifteen minutes or so later they were startled by a rumbling noise that all miners knew to fear. Although initially fearful of an imminent cave-in, the group calmed down when they realized that whatever it was came from rather far away. Just as they began to wonder where that noise might have come from, Rean's ARCUS began to ring.
Apparently the path they had originally taken had collapsed. Luckily it had happened after Crow got the miners to safety, but the good fortunes ended there. With the collapse there was now no way for their classmate to rejoin them, and now they couldn't exit from that route if something were to happen.
Still, at the very least everybody was safe, so that at least was a relief to the group.
There really was no other option but to keep moving forward, so that's what they did. They didn't have much farther to go and soon found themselves in front of the door that they were told would lead into the control room. Just as they began preparing for the imminent battle ahead, Rean's ARCUS began to ring yet again.
This time it was George, but the engineer had called to connect them directly to Towa as she had some information to share with the group. The reception wasn't great, but they could make out the student council president's words just fine. Towa was relieved to hear that they were all fine, as she had heard about how close Crow came to being caught in a cave-in.
According to her, the RMP had gone all the way up to the Emperor himself for permission to storm the mine. With such consent the provincial army wouldn't be able to oppose them any longer and it seemed that things were about to heat up quickly. With that said the diminutive girl forbade the group, and especially Rean and Angelica, from doing anything too rash, before ending the call.
Knowing they didn't have much time, but also seeing the upcoming chaos as a good opportunity to strike, the group finished preparing for battle. Once sure they were ready they stepped through the door and into the control room.
They were greeted by the gruff, but familiar voice, as it was the terrorist Vulcan who was present. He seemed amused that Class VII was interfering with their plans yet again. Accompanying him were three other terrorists that none of them recognized.
He didn't appear all that bothered by the arrival of the students or the imminent RMP attack, and for good reason. Outside of Rean and Angelica, the rest of the group were part of the team that fought him alongside Instructor Neithardt the previous month at Garrelia Fortress and could testify as to how strong the massive man actually was.
It was at that moment that all the pieces fit into place for Fie. "Are you a survivor of the Arngarmr jaeger corps?"
Now that managed to get a reaction out of the terrorist. He was surprised to know Fie knew about them, but she had simply heard about it from the Boss. That caused his eyes to soften slightly, and he actually gave his condolences for the Jaeger King's death, which caught the younger girl off guard.
Surprisingly, when questioned why they were committing acts of terrorism, Vulcan and the other terrorists decided to answer. For the others their reasons varied, but generally involved some kind of loss due to the Chancellors reformist policies. Gideon hated him as he saw his methods as leading the country down the road to a dictatorship, while Scarlet lost her home to a railroad.
Vulcan, as Fie had guessed, once led a jaeger group known as Arngarmr. It was a small group who one day took a contract to rough up a rising star in imperial politics. That man was Giliath Osborne. He had somehow predicted their attack and countered it spectacularly. But his methods left no room for mercy and not even the surrendering members of Arngarmr were spared, with only Vulcan himself escaping from the carnage.
It was a tragic story, but none of the students were willing to believe that such an event justified their terrorist actions. If anything, however, Vulcan seemed amused by their lack of pity and as he pulled out a large mini-gun and pointed it at the students, it became obvious that the time for talking was over. The members of Class VII and the other terrorists all readied themselves and the battle began.
The group was smart enough to scatter as the spinning barrels of Vulcan's gun were pointed at them, desperately seeking to evade the rain of bullets. Whether it was respect afforded by their past professions, or simply an acknowledgment of her threat level from the previous battle, the terrorist pursued Sylphid with his barrage. Fortunately for the younger girl Machias was there to back her up, providing her defensive earth arts to handle the stray shots that she was unable to dodge. Their own attempts at counter fire amounted to a whole lot of nothing and they resigned themselves to the fact that they would be stuck on the defensive until support could arrive.
Said support, meanwhile, found themselves facing off against the three terrorists. While they certainly weren't as dangerous as Vulcan or some of the other enemies they had fought previously, they were still well-trained, well-equipped, and possessed of decent teamwork, so the group didn't take them lightly. Despite that, Rean was confident that with time they would prevail, but he wasn't sure how much time Fie and Machias had...
The taito practitioner found herself facing one of the terrorists by herself, and was grateful for her spur of the moment request to fight Rean. While the older man in front of her was probably physically stronger, he was clearly slower and less skilled with his blade. Of course unlike the eight leaves student the person in front of her probably wasn't a swordsman by trade, so she made sure to keep an eye open in case he tried pulling out a grenade or some other trick.
With her superior speed and skill she flowed around his strikes like water, denting his body armor with her powerful fists. Her opponent tried to put a little distance between them to keep away from her armss, but almost fell victim to her long legs instead. The terrorist growled in frustration as he realized he was outmatched in this battle.
Seeking to turn the tides in his favor he reached into his pocket for a tool to defeat the skilled martial artist, but Angelica had been waiting for that moment. With a burst of speed she appeared inside his guard where he couldn't reach with his sword. In desperation he fumbled as he removed his hand and tried punching at the girl, but she simply latched onto the arm and with a mighty heave flipped him over her heard. The terrorist had the air knocked out of him as he landed, thus rendering him unable to defend against the leg that came thundering down on his head, rendering him unconscious.
While that was going on, the gunner of the terrorist group found himself facing off against both Alisa and Elliot. While his assault rifle fired rapidly and was able to suppress whichever student he was targeting, the other would always step up and start casting a dangerous art, forcing him to switch targets. That of course freed the original member to start their own attack.
It was a desperate situation for the member of the ILF, and one that only had one possible outcome. That outcome came to fruition when Elliot opted against using an art while the enemy was firing at Alisa, but instead used the alternate mode on his orbal staff to create a powerful noise, like a thousand bells chiming in unison. The sound was so disorienting that the victim felt like he was going to fall unconscious, but held on thanks to sheer willpower. The time spent doing that meant he was completely vulnerable when the Reinford heiress unloaded her most powerful fire art upon him, causing him to collapse covered in nasty burns.
This meant that Rean was alone against the final sword-wielding terrorist, but honestly? He was fine with that. He knew not to be overconfident, but after the month he has had he wasn't bothered at all.
When the terrorist unleashed a flurry of blows upon him he deftly evaded or blocked each and every one of them. After all Laura's swings were a lot crisper and held far more power behind them. When he attempted to put some distance between the two and pulled out a handgun, Rean simply utilized the fourth form and Autumn Leaf Cutter to close the distance quickly and disarm the terrorist. Fie was a lot quicker and more dangerous with her guns, after all.
It was almost a mercy when he introduced the flat end of his tachi to the skull of the enemy, removing him from consciousness and ending the fight abruptly. With the imminent threat dealt with he quickly took stock of the battlefield as the others finished up their battles. The others had finished their fights leaving only Vulcan remaining, something which the former jaeger noticed as he ended his game of bullet tag with Fie.
"Well, shit. You kids certainly are a tenacious bunch, ain't ya? Guess I can stop holding back!" With that he turned his mini-gun away from the elusive Sylphid and the bespectacled gun user and towards the rest of the group. They expected to see the weapon start spinning as it prepared to fire another barrage, but instead it appeared to be charging it's orbal energy. It was reminiscent of Fie's gunblades, but on a much larger scale. Once fully formed the massive fireball of energy was launched towards the students of Class VII.
It came upon them at an extreme speed and the swordsman knew there was little chance of the group avoiding the attack, at least on their own. He did have one idea on how to survive the attack, however, and rushed to put it into action before it was too late. In the literal heat of the moment as the fireball drew ominously close, none of the combatants noticed his hair turn white or his eyes crimson.
None of the members of Class VII knew exactly what had happened. One moment they were about to be engulfed by the largest bullet any of them had ever seen, and the next they found themselves well out of the explosion radius. It was only a few seconds later that Rean flashed into their vision, looking surprisingly tired, but otherwise normal and unharmed that they understood he had rescued them with a Gale far quicker than anything he had displayed to them prior.
While this was going on Fie did not remain idle. She had no way of stopping the attack and had to place her faith in Rean and the rest of the group to find a way to endure, instead using the chaos of the attack to mask her own offensive. Darting through the smoke she found herself face to face with the terrorist leader, who just had the time to widen his eyes in realization before she struck. A quick slash was enough to cause V to lose the grip on his gun, and the follow-up shot from her fully charged gunblades impacted him directly, staggering him backwards before he eventually fell to a knee.
With a lull in the action the members of Class VII regrouped, all the while keeping their weapons trained on the battered terrorist leader. They had thought the battle over, but V merely laughed before allowing a sickly aura, one known to most high ranking jaegers, to engulf his body. To their further surprise, the previously incapacitated terrorists slowly rose to their feet and staggered to his side, clearly prepared to fight until the bitter end in a manner reminiscent of the ones they fought at Garrelia. They were just about to engage in a second round when...
"Do not despair, Comrade V. This simply goes to show how much they've grown since our first meeting." Came a voice that nobody had sensed.
Turning to the side, all were shocked to see the intimidating figure of C, leader of the Imperial Liberation Front.