The landship of Rhodes Island was darting across the barren lands of Terra as fast as it possibly could. The engineering department had managed to get it mobile, but Closure and her fellow engineers were not able to repair the land enough to get it to be able to move at top speed. Kal'tsit informed the vampire that the pharmaceutical company didn't have time to be able to fully repair the landship. Rhodes Island had to get moving and they had to get moving immediately towards Iberia.
A few miles behind the landship, the army of Laterano had been mobilised by Yvangelista the XI and was on the move towards Iberia along with Rhodes Island. The remaining army personnel who were not going along with the rest of the army were on standby in Laterano. Their job was to evacuate the civilians from the nation if they received word that Rhodes Island failed to defeat the seaborn.
In the command centre of Rhodes Island a group of individuals were all standing around a table and looking at a map, a map of Iberia. This group consisted of Yua, Ch'en, Talulah, Mostima, Fiammetta, Amiya, Swire, Hoshiguma, Shirayuki, Irene, and the abyssal hunters. They were all discussing the possible location of the future Skadi. While they could all determine that the aegir was in Iberia, they wanted to know her exact location.
After some deliberating with each other, Ulpianus then pointed to a group of island's several miles out from the coast, "The only other option is here, at this group of islands. There have been rumours in the past of an entrance to an ancient temple built in the honour of Ishar-Mla by the first followers of the church of the deep. A temple that they had managed to build under the sea itself, even deeper than the cities of the aegir. But I have never had the chance to investigate it. If Skadi will be holding the doctor anywhere, it has to be there." The aegir man gave his thoughts on the future Skadi's possible location.
Irene was the first to reply to this information, "Are you absolutely sure of this, Ulpianus? Whenever we have investigated these islands, the Iberian Inquisition has found nothing. If you are wrong, then we will be wasting valuable time looking for something that isn't there. Time that my people don't have. We cannot afford to be looking around for an entrance that might not possibly exist." The liberi wasn't convinced of the information that the aegir man had of a possible entrance to an ancient temple and possible location of the future Skadi.
"This is the only option we have, Inquisitor. I imagine that the church of the deep had hidden the entrance well from the Inquisition. Now that the seaborn are invading, the church of the deep might be emboldened and be more out in the open." Ulpianus explained to the liberi that the church of the deep must have hidden the entrance to the ancient temple. Now that the seaborn were invading Iberia, the cult must be more comfortable operating in the open.
Irene didn't know what to say, but it was the only lead they had of locating Skadi. "Fine, we will head to these islands, Ulpianus. But we will need to head out to sea, it will be too dangerous to head across the water with all of the seaborn coming from the sea. We will need to wait until Rhodes Island and the Laterano army have engaged with the bulk of the horde before we head across to the islands." Ulpianus and everyone else present agreed with Irene's plan. Everyone knew where they would be heading.
Just then, someone else appeared which drew everyone's attention. Kal'tsit had shown up, and the ancient feline looked like she had something to say to the group. "Everyone, I have someone who wants to join you all on your mission." Nobody expected someone else wanted to join the group on their mission to rescue the doctor and to stop the future Skadi. Everyone was curious to find out who it was, Ch'en the told Kal'tsit to bring them in.
The blue-haired lung immediately regretted her decision to bring in whoever it was when she saw a very familiar sarkaz woman...
After hearing Ch'en telling her to bring this new individual in, Kal'tsit left the command centre. A few minutes later, the ancient feline returned with a certain sarkaz mercenary...W. While Amiya, Hoshiguma, and Swire were not happy to see W, Yua and her mother were especially angered by her presence, "What the hell is she doing here?! Is this some sort of joke, Kal'tsit?! She is the one who wants to join us?!" The blue-haired lung didn't believe that the sarkaz woman wanted to help them rescue the doctor. Ch'en knew of W's hatred for the doctor and believed she had ulterior motives.
"I assure you, Ch'en. W wants to help." Kal'tsit tried reassuring the blue-haired lung of the sarkaz woman's desire to help. "Like hell she does!! I really think I will trust her after everything that has happened?! After everything she has done?! I bet she only wants to join us only so she can kill him!! Well I'm not letting that happen!! She isn't coming with us!!" Ch'en wasn't going to let W come with the group, she didn't want to trust the sarkaz given their recent history. And with what she had put her future daughter through.
"Now you listen here, Ch'en. Looking at this group here, you need all the help you can get. I don't care what you or your daughter thinks about me, I'm coming with you whether you like it or not. And believe me when I say this, I don't intend to kill the doctor. So it's in your best interests to not turn away my help while I'm in a charitable mood." W replied to the blue-haired lung's criticism of her, the sarkaz sounded like she was getting annoyed with it.
"Go to hell, W!! We can do this without you!! You can shove your help!! Well don't need it!!" Ch'en still didn't want W involved in the groups mission to save the doctor. The sarkaz woman was about to retort, but seeing the situation deteriorate before her eye's, Talulah decided to speak up in her friend's defence, "Ch'en, this isn't the time or the place to reject help. I don't know what happened between you two, but we need someone with W's skills. Please sister, listen to me. If you want to save the doctor, then you have to trust W."
Ch'en and Yua looked at their relative like Talulah had grown a second head. Neither lung wanted to trust the sarkaz woman. Ch'en then stormed out the room, the blue-haired lung didn't want to be around W anymore. Yua began following her mother out of the room as well. Before she herself left, Yua looked towards W, "I haven't forgotten that you helped me save my aunt. But that doesn't mean I trust you. I still haven't forgiven you for what you have done either. I'll work with you with it means saving my father. But know this, W. If you try to hurt or kill my father, me and mother will do whatever it takes to stop you. I don't care if you are a friend of my aunt."
The white-haired lung warned the sarkaz that there would be consequences if she tried to hurt her father in anyway. While Yua still couldn't forgive W for what she had done, the white-haired lung knew that W's skills would be invaluable in helping save her father. Like before when rescuing her aunt, Yua was willing to put her grudge aside to work with W to save the doctor.
W simply waved off the warning of the white-haired lung, the sarkaz woman had no intention of hurting the doctor...as long as Kal'tsit kept her promise. But W wasn't going to inform anyone else of the deal she had struck with the ancient feline and Mostima. That deal was only known between the three of them, W was going to make sure it stayed that way.
Yua then left to join Ch'en, no doubt the white-haired lung intended to calm her mother down before the battle and make her see that working with W was the right move. No matter how much neither would like the idea.
When Yua left W then turned to the rest of the group, "Well, care to tell me what the plan is?" The sarkaz called out to the group. While Talulah was happy that her friend had decided to help, even the draco found it suspicious that W suddenly had a change of heart. Talulah also wanted to know what had caused her sister to act to hostile towards her, even Yua didn't seem to like W. The draco wanted to know what had happened between them, but that wasn't the priority for now. Talulah could find out what happened between after the battle...if they managed to win. Instead Talulah stepped forward to speak to W to tell the sarkaz woman everything...
"Well W, this is our plan..."
When Rhodes Island arrived in Iberia, nearly every single operator disembarked the landship. Many operators could see countless Iberian civilians fleeing for their lives, many of them were coming from the south of the nation. Many operators began helping the civilians by treating their wounds and getting them evacuated to safety. Those that weren't helping the civilians began pushing further into the south alongside the army of Laterano. For quite some time, neither Rhodes Island or the army managed to come across any seaborn as they carried on their push deeper into Iberia. Just more Iberians fleeing for their lives.
That changed as they got further and further south...
Eventually, both groups had managed to come into contact with the remnants of the Iberian military...and the colossal seaborn horde they were fighting...
"By all the gods...this reminds me too much of that day...the day the seaborn found us..." Yua began to remember the dark day that the seaborn had finally managed to corner Rhodes Island...
The day that she had to flee to the past...
The day that so many gave their lives so she could escape her nightmare...
Yua wasn't going to let it happen again, she knew who her enemy was, and what she had to do to stop her. "Skadi!! You won't get away with it this time!! You are going to pay for all the people you have killed!! I swear it!!" Yua screamed at the top of her lungs before charging into the battle alongside the Iberians.
Ch'en didn't object to her future daughter diving right into the fight. The blue-haired lung knew how much that her daughter wanted to win this battle to prevent her future from happening again. Instead, the blue-haired lung ordered her group to join in the fight alongside her.
Nobody in the group objected...
With a ferocious war cry, they all joined in the battle alongside the white-haired lung...
Far away from the battle on the surface, a certain aegir was still trying to replace the memories of the doctor. The future Skadi was using her power to try to manipulate the memories of the alien man, she wanted to remove any memories of Yua and Ch'en and replace them with memories of herself. But the future aegir was having no success.
As Skadi thought she had finally managed to unlock the puzzle that was the doctor's mind, the aegir could feel another presence in the alien man's mind. Flashes of a pink-haired sarkaz woman were what the future Skadi could see. The aegir tried to remove this presence, but to no avail. The presence of the sarkaz woman was steadfast, "I will not let you harm him." The future Skadi could feel that is what the presence was trying to convey to her, even if the woman didn't speak to her.
But the future aegir did not plan on giving up, she was going to do whatever it took to make sure the doctor was hers and hers alone. Nobody, not Yua, not Ch'en, or this presence would stop her.
Just then, the future Skadi's concentration broke. The aegir could sense through her seaborn kin that something on the surface had changed. The future Skadi had ordered her kin to find Ch'en and destroy Terra. She was aware that her seaborn were decimating the Iberian forces, Skadi had thought that she wouldn't have to intervene, that her kind were more than enough to destroy the Iberians.
That no longer seemed to be the case...
Deciding that it was best to halt her plan with the doctor for the moment, the future aegir then telepathically connected with her seaborn kin. Skadi telepathically jumped from seaborn to seaborn to find out what was going on, it didn't take long for her to find out. "Ah, so Rhodes Island have decided to show themselves. That means Ch'en Hui-Chieh has decided to come here as well. That harlot has made this easy for me, my kin will tear her to pieces. Let's see if I can find that disgusting lung." The future aegir could see Rhodes Island battling alongside the Iberians and another group. She wasn't worried though, if anything she was delighted.
If Rhodes Island was here, that could only mean her mortal enemy, Ch'en Hui-Chieh was here as well. The future aegir then decided to search for the blue-haired lung through her kin. The future Skadi jumped from seaborn to seaborn until she located the blue-haired lung. When Skadi found Ch'en, the aegir could see her fighting her kin, alongside several familiar people.
Two people who she could see fighting alongside the blue-haired lung shocked the future Skadi, "Ulpianus! What are you doing here?! Why are you fighting alongside Rhodes Island?! No, this must be Gladiia's doing!! How dare she get him involved!! Gladiia will suffer for this!!" The future aegir was not happy seeing her surrogate father on the battlefield. In her timeline, Ulpianus was the only person that the future Skadi regretted having to kill. Skadi wished he had joined her instead, she didn't want to kill him. But Ulpianus was dead set in trying to stop her. Even to this day, Skadi regretted having to kill him. The future aegir wasn't looking forward to having to do it again.
The future aegir could sense that Gladiia was behind this and was planning to make sure her former leader suffered immensely for bringing Ulpianus here...
The other person who the future Skadi saw fighting alongside Ch'en angered her even further, "Yua?! It can't be!! I swear, I swear I killed her!! She should be dead!! How is she still alive?! Damn you!! You disgusting spawn of Ch'en!! I will carve out your heart!! You will be begging for death before I am done with you, Yua!!"
The future Skadi was truly irate knowing that the white-haired lung was still alive. If her anger was a white-hot fire when she had seen Ulpianus, it was now a supernova upon seeing the white-haired lung. The future Skadi then decided to abandon all reason and ordered every single seaborn to hunt down Ch'en and her group. But the future aegir gave them one order, "Kill the rest, but bring Ch'en Hui-Chieh and her spawn to me alive. They will die, at my hands!!" The seaborn were not going to disobey their God.
Following their gods order, every single seaborn began to hunt down Ch'en and her group...