Saya popped four HUDs from her gear. One showed the academy network map, one showed the frozen audit log, one showed active sessions, and one showed a terminal for commands.
Saya's eyes scanned and flicked between each screen, noting every useful piece of information.
An unknown session displayed by the third HUD caught her attention. Fingers moved effortlessly as she typed commands in the terminal.
She attempted to terminate the session.
Denied.
She attempted to revoke administrator privileges.
Denied.
Her hands froze.
"He has root access..."
"Here..." Stelle called, holding her administrator card between her fingers.
"Go find the primary console."
Saya accepted the card.
"...but why were you waiting for me?"
Stelle crossed her arms.
"The door was shut, and the card is useless if the scanner is offline."
"Only the elevator has a physical slot for emergencies."
"Now go. No time to waste."
Kageri's wind construct stood guard at the building entrance. But Andreas was the first wall.
A slash of Kageri's blade slid over Madoka's waist. She landed on the ground with a spin.
Pressing against her Katana, she pushed herself up with gritted teeth.
"You're lucky I had a suppressant this evening."
Kageri burst out laughing, shaking her head.
"If you need Null to defeat me, then what are you without it?"
Finn stood in front of Madoka with hands ready to defend, breathing loudly through his nose.
Max and Edric, even though visibly tired, stayed side by side without losing stance.
"Ed, do we go all in?" Max asked, eyes locked on Andreas.
"We're low on energy. That's a horrible idea," Edric replied, giving Max a side eye.
Max frowned, a drop of sweat trailing down his left cheek.
"Never mind."
Andreas lazily spun the handle of the hammer, chuckling.
"You kids need a break? I can wait."
Alex was trying to push herself up by leaning on her Claymore.
"I can't move… My sync rate's too low."
Justin's gaze landed on Andreas. His breathing became heavier and more violent by the second. "GIVE. IT. BACK!"
He sprinted and jumped at Andreas with a punch.
Andreas turned and swung the hammer.
Edric dashed in and swung his Great Axe.
A small shockwave blasted outward as the axe hit the hammer's head.
Andreas took a hit to the jaw.
Max pointed the frosted blade of his longsword and ran straight at Andreas.
Andreas groaned as he pushed against Edric's axe.
Edric staggered back.
He grabbed Edric's hand and threw him at Max.
Max halted mid-charge. "Hey hey hey!"
Edric crashed into Max. Both went down.
Andreas turned his attention to Justin.
Their eyes met.
Andreas stood still, glaring at him as if daring him to charge again.
"You want it back? Come take it."
Justin froze. His hot head didn't.
"Damn you!"
Andreas raised an eyebrow.
Kyoya couldn't help but stay still and watch everything that unfolded in seconds.
"This is… a waste of time. We can't win."
Immediately after, a familiar voice called from behind.
"On your left."
Kyoya's head turned.
Julianna jumped in the air and aimed her lance.
Water converged around it as she threw it at Kageri.
Kageri dodged away, creating just enough distance before the lance landed and water exploded around it. "Looks like we'll actually have to start trying now."
She let go of her wind construct to preserve her energy.
Cassie sprinted in from Kyoya's right and charged at Andreas with her staff.
Viara was right behind Cassie before she stopped beside him.
A surprised smile played on Kyoya's face.
"How are you guys here?"
Viara smiled back at him.
"Werner knew you'd need backup. We left everything else to him and the guards."
She followed behind Cassie right as she finished speaking.
Blades flared in flames as Cassie swung horizontally at Andreas. Andreas twisted his body and dodged, but as the blade glided past a few inches away from his face, the heat reached him.
Viara came in with her flame-infused scythe. Just as hot, if not hotter.
Kageri and Andreas regrouped in front of the building entrance.
Max and Edric picked themselves up. Madoka forced herself to stand even with low energy. Justin slammed his fists together. Even Alex picked up her claymore through the weight of her gear. Her gear responded to the adrenaline with a boost of sync rate.
Kageri and Andreas took their combat stance, surrounded.
Finn pulled out Julianna's lance that was plunged into the ground and tossed it back to her.
Julianna caught and spun her lance.
"Make every bit of your energy count, everyone."
"We've had our fun. Let's finish the job," Kageri said, not even looking at Andreas.
Nobody moved for the next four seconds.
Then, Justin charged with an angry groan. Everyone else followed instantly. Longsword, Lance, Scythe, Twin-blades, Gauntlets.
Kageri chained slashes, fast enough that it became a blur.
Every swing and strike of their weapon met hers.
Every attack met an immovable wall.
Not a single opening to slide past her defense.
Andreas's swings were trackable. His movements were not—every block, every tackle, and every step—precise.
Kageri and Andreas went in a closed circle behind each other, defending from every possible angle.
Cassie's twin-blades glided by. Finn went for a punch but cancelled at the last second and slid away from beneath them. Max managed to swing his sword straight for their head at that opening. Justin went for a tackle. Kyoya slipped in gunshots, still low on energy.
Both Andreas's and Kageri's eyes narrowed.
Wind sang out loud around Kageri like a whistle.
Andreas gripped the hammer with one hand and jumped into a horizontal spin. He slammed the hammer on the ground. A loud smack echoed as the ground shook violently in a small area.
The ground below everyone's feet slipped. Everyone got knocked off balance.
As they were mid-fall, inches away from the ground, Kageri sheathed her katana. From each direction, multiple of her wind projections appeared, unsheathing their blades. Each wind construct dashed forward with a slash, covering the distance in a blink.
Every slash connected.
Every shield took a hit none anticipated.
Every gear HUD flashed red at that second.
"WARNING: SHIELD DEPLETED!"
Everyone's body shot outward and finally crashed onto the ground. Shattered bits and pieces of gear outer coatings scattered on the ground. The next moment was just a collection of nothing but cries and groans as everyone clutched their arms, legs, and waists.
"I'm… drained for good," Julianna murmured.
"What… was that?" Kyoya thought.
Alex's finger twitched before her body gave up any attempt to move.
Edric's glasses lay on the ground right beside his head, the right lens cracked.
Andreas rested the hammer's head against the ground.
Kageri pushed the last of her blade into its sheath.
"That's all out of the way."
"Progress?" She asked in comms.
"Eleven percent," Hector replied.
Kageri's voice relaxed.
"At least you've started."
That earned a laugh from Hector.
Max lifted his head, still gripping his sword. His vision, blurry and spinning, landed on Kageri and Andreas. "They're… so strong. Is this… what a real battle feels like? Is this what… danger… feels like?"
He exhaled through his mouth. The breath came out cold against the atmosphere.
His head gave up and rested on the ground.
"It hurts so much…"
"Heh… all those stories about heroes pushing through pain. I can't even move."
His grip on his sword finally loosened.
"I'm not a hero, after all."
Senses flared. Kageri's grip on her katana tightened. Andreas looked up at the sky.
Between his eyes and the dark sky, a six-meter-long wind projection of a staff with asymmetric curved blades on each side hovered in the air.
With a hard push, the projection shot out towards the duo.
Kageri and Andreas dashed away in either direction.
The projection landed on the ground and burst into a brief whirlwind in a small area.
Justin covered his face with his arm as the wind blew past, swirling his hair.
Dust settled as the whirlwind dispersed—and plunged into the ground was the physical weapon of the earlier projection.
Alpha-02 landed beside it with a metallic thud, gear damaged, eyes immediately locking onto the rebellion duo.
Justin watched with wide eyes as Alpha picked up his staff.
Edric picked up and put on his broken glasses. His only clear eye landed on the weapon in Alpha's hand. "Zen Fuyukawa…"
Kageri came face to face with Alpha, standing only a few meters apart.
"I honestly thought you wouldn't be able to show up tonight."
"Quite the shame she couldn't keep you all to herself."
Andreas stopped a few meters to his right, resting the hammer on his shoulder.
"Greetings, oh great adversary."
His eyes scanned Alpha from top to bottom.
"You're going to fight us in that condition? Old habits die hard, I guess."
Alpha didn't reply. Not yet. He spun his staff and rested it against the ground.
"...I don't care. You hurt my friends."
Kageri scoffed.
"Tch. Friends."
She closed her eyes for a brief moment. Then they snapped open again.
"So were we…"
Saya flew through the restricted corridors of the administration division, getting narrower the closer she got to the elevator.
Every camera installed in the corridors caught a glimpse of her flying by, streaming straight on Hector's second monitor, who was sitting in the darkness of their temporary base.
He looked at the other screen.
"Extraction in progress: 36%"
Saya finally arrived in front of the elevator. She braked her thrusters just a few meters away to avoid collision and sprinted to it.
Her eyes immediately landed on the scanner.
"Offline…"
She quickly checked below the scanner and noticed a thin line just the size to let a card slip in. "Bingo." She took out Stelle's administrator card and inserted it into the slot.
…Nothing.
She waited anxiously, checking over and over if the card was slotted in correctly.
"C'mon, c'mon…"
The scanner screen flashed.
"Local Authorization: Accepted."
Her face lit up.
"Yes!"
The heavy elevator doors slowly slid open. She quickly stepped in, and the door closed.
The elevator descended.
Meanwhile, Hector was rapidly typing on his keyboard, navigating through a series of UIs until he landed on what he was looking for.
"Initiate Emergency Threat Containment System?"
"Yes/No"
Yes clicked. No hesitation.
Saya waited as the elevator was nearing its destination.
The lights in the elevator suddenly flashed red. So did the entire underground facility.
An announcement repeated in every corridor. Saya listened carefully. "Attention: Emergency Threat Containment Sequence initiated. Access between sectors will be restricted in thirty seconds. Please head to the nearest safe zone. Attention…"
Every hydraulic door in the facility slid closed, completely sealing shut, trapping all personnel in any room they were in until the situation was resolved.
Others who were walking down the corridor dropped their task and bolted towards their nearest safe zone.
"Only thirty seconds?!"
"What lunatic set the lowest timer?!"
Saya's eyes widened with alarm.
"What?!"
The elevator stopped, and the door slid open. She sprinted out without wasting a second and fired her thrusters, zooming through the corridors at the highest speed possible in such space, taking every hard turn as efficiently as she could.
Heavy blast doors had begun descending at every checkpoint in a programmed sequence.
Saya didn't stop, flying lower and lower as the space beneath each door in sequence got narrower, until she was dangerously close to the floor.
The next door had barely enough space, daring her to go lower. She did. Her body collided with the floor, and she went rolling, sending sparks flying as she slid beneath the door just before it closed shut.
She got back up, clutching her head. Realization hit as she reoriented herself. She sprinted to the blast door ahead that was already sealed shut. She was one door away from the primary console room.
She banged her fist on the door in frustration.
"Now what?"
She gritted her teeth and then let go, taking a deep breath.
"Stay calm and think."
She observed her surroundings.
"A blast door has to have a manual control box somewhere."
And her eyes landed on a panel with a warning sign on it, screwed to the wall.
"This has to be it."
She sprinted over, inspected it, and popped her gear HUD to deploy the appropriate screwdriver from her housing unit.
Hector watched her unscrew the panel through his monitor, chuckling.
"Clever girl… I like it."
He checked the other screen again.
"Extraction in progress: 65%."
Saya found a lever behind the panel. But with the lever was a lock asking for a PIN.
She popped her gear HUD in front of the lock and ran every single PIN she had from the facility's database. The lock flashed green and released its grip on the lever mechanism. Saya pulled it.
The blast door shook and slowly began ascending with a loud hum.
Saya waited in front of it, bouncing on her heels, and just as there was enough gap underneath the door, she dove into a slide, passed through, and ran straight for the scanner of the primary console room.
She scanned the administrator card. The hydraulic door slid open. She ran in, finding one single console in the middle of a room filled with a few important server units, secondary consoles, and power kill switches.
Saya tapped the administrator card on the console again. It unlocked.
"Welcome: Commanding Officer Stelle Amarinth, Nexus Pentagon Eastern Island."
She opened the command prompt.
Hector, unable to do anything else, checked the progress again.
"Extraction in progress: 72%"
Fingers moved on the keyboard again.
"Cancel extraction?"
He pressed Yes and opened another UI showing the transfer log.
"Can't forget to maintain good crime scene etiquette."
The primary console flashed a prompt.
"Terminate all remote connections?"
"Yes/No"
Saya slammed her finger on Yes.
Everyone in the control room waited anxiously, all the screens still red with Hector's logo on them. Then the screens suddenly turned off, and back on again after seven seconds with the academy's crest.
Everyone let out the breath they had been holding, cheering and hugging each other.
Stelle adjusted her hat, murmuring,
"Never doubted you, Sofia."
Hector's monitors froze. Then a red dialogue box popped up.
"Connection lost."
Hector stared at it for two seconds and leaned back in his chair with a long sigh, hands behind his head. He checked the other screen again.
"Extraction aborted: 72%"
"Connection lost."
He let out a small chuckle that slowly turned into a laugh.
"Heh. That was fun."
Alpha exhaled through his nose.
Kageri unsheathed her Katana. Andreas charged at him like a bull.
He spun his staff and took a combat stance, hands shaky.
Adrenaline spiked. Pain didn't matter.
Hammer upswing from Andreas—a clean dodge from Alpha by stepping aside with a body spin.
Kageri's chained slashes came.
Two horizontal sweeps of his staff.
Metal clashed like thunder once more.
Alpha dashed back and, with a twist of his body, threw his staff horizontally, spinning like a blade at Kageri. Kageri tilted her head to the left in time. The staff flew by fast, barely missing.
Alpha redirected the flow of wind with his hands.
The staff took a curve and glided around the fight in a circular path.
Andreas swung vertically at full force. Ice shimmered into existence in Alpha's hand. The hammer hit what sounded like a dense crystal. A single-edged ice glaive was blocking the hammer head, visibly making the air around it dense.
Kyoya's breath caught.
"He has ice?!"
Kageri followed along. Alpha pushed the hammer away and blocked Kageri's infused slash.
Kageri pushed into the blade lock with a satisfied grin.
"Told you I'd make you burn faster."
Alpha didn't flinch—until his left arm electrocuted him. A loud groan escaped his throat.
Kageri slashed hard on the glaive. Alpha got pushed behind and backflipped away right before Andreas could land a hit.
Andreas missed. Alpha's staff came in fast and hit Andreas in the shoulder as it zoomed by.
Water materialized above Alpha mid-flip, converging into an elegant female figure with long flowing hair, a crown on her head, and a slick ancient aquatic trident in hand aimed at the enemies.
Julianna's eyes widened as her body shivered at the sight.
"Authority of the Sea…"
The Authority of the Sea threw her trident before disappearing.
Behind the trident formed what looked like a Whale with a single horn on its head—four meters long, one and a half tons in weight.
Kyoya's jaw dropped. Viara blinked. Cassie froze. Alex's eyes followed the Whale.
Kageri dashed left, and Andreas dashed right just as the ground beneath them shifted into a pool of water.
The trident plunged into the pool. The Whale followed, getting swiftly swallowed by the body of water before the ground shifted back to natural soil.
The duo closed in on Alpha from either side with a barrage of attacks.
Alpha evaded efficiently. His staff continuously flew by, helping him break their formation. But his body was slowing down.
Kageri landed a horizontal slash from right to left.
Alpha staggered.
She swung a heavy diagonal strike.
The slash connected on his chest. His body slammed into the ground.
Kageri and Andreas finally paused for a few seconds.
Alpha pushed on his hands, groaning.
Cassie managed to sit up against a pillar, still gritting her teeth.
"Zen…"
Max's eyes landed on the sight. His heart pulsed faster.
"That's a hero… pushing through pain."
He released a shivering breath. Then his hands moved, pushing against the ground, shaking so hard as if they'd break any moment. "Come on…"
Alpha got back on his feet. His arm zapped again.
Andreas cracked his neck.
"I'm not surprised you can still stand."
Kageri ran her fingers over her blade.
"Let me fix that."
She closed the distance in a blink and slashed left to right.
Alpha reacted poorly, his block half-baked.
Kageri's slash staggered him again, knocking his glaive into the air.
It dissolved into white dust.
Andreas swung for the finisher.
Max upswung his longsword desperately and instantly fell on his knees.
Ice crawled over and formed a small wall in front of Alpha.
Andreas's hit smashed through the wall.
Alpha covered his face with his arms, bracing himself. The force of the hit had dampened, enough to survive, not enough to stay standing. It slammed into him, throwing him off his feet, sending pieces of his already depleted gear scattering into the air.
He rolled and slid across the ground, managed to get up on his knee in the same motion, and exhaled. "I can't keep going… My body won't let me. I can't… I can't brute force this."
His gaze flicked to Max.
"You've got a big heart, Max Elliot Bennett."
He inhaled deeply, briefly closing his eyes.
"As blind as people are to see it…"
He held up his left hand.
"...every failed attempt matters."
His staff came back gliding and landed in his hand. He spun the staff and lunged it into the ground. A vibration echoed throughout the courtyard. A green and warm energy burst outwards over the ground, hitting every fallen ally in pulses.
Finn's eyes snapped open, energy flowing through like a symphony.
Pain vanished! Energy replenished! Strength and speed returned greater than ever!
Madoka pushed herself up.
Cassie picked up her staff.
Viara's scythe roared up in flames.
Max breathed normally again.
Great Axe and Claymore brushed against the ground as they were raised again.
Every pair of fallen eyes snapped open, narrowing with determination as the warmth of nature coursed through their veins like music.
Kageri gripped her katana tighter.
"Oh, so righteous. Caring for others when you're the one dying."
Andreas's gear vented with a hiss. His bracers charged up. He charged forward with a fully powered swing.
Finn appeared in front of Alpha, crossing his arms in an X-shape. His gear was too drained to deploy a force field.
Hammer hit his gauntlets like a bell. The force sent him sliding back. He didn't lose his stance.
Kageri appeared on Alpha's left with a slash.
"Oh, no you don't!" Madoka intercepted with a hard swing, staggering her back.
Cassie ran in with her infused twin-blades, faster than before.
Kageri's blade met Cassie's.
Viara slid in with a flaming scythe swing for her head.
She pushed Cassie away and ducked to dodge.
"Room four-o-seven!" Finn yelled.
Julianna nodded and sprinted up the staircase past the building entrance. Kyoya followed behind.
Edric swung for Andreas, one eye blurry. Justin charged to grab him.
Andreas parried Edric and aimed a hit at Justin.
Justin caught the hammer barehanded. The force landed on his stomach.
Max sprinted around Andreas and jumped in with an opening.
Andreas let go of the hammer and maneuvered away for distance.
Kageri covered his back, both surrounded.
Finn charged in recklessly with punch after punch after punch. Hot swings came from Cassie and Viara. Cold ones from Madoka and Max. Heavy ones from Edric, Alex, and Justin.
The next few minutes became a blurry game of relentless dodging for the duo as punches, swings, slashes, upswings, heavy strikes, and cleaves came from every direction.
Kageri's gear HUD flashed.
"SHIELD INTEGRITY: 56%"
"Elemental Energy Reserves: 49%"
Julianna and Kyoya climbed as fast as possible, already passing the third floor.
Kageri's comms crackled.
"Get out of there," Hector said.
Andreas briefly glanced at Kageri. Kageri nodded while flipping mid-air, dodging attacks.
A flurry of attacks came his way. He maneuvered a dodge, buying just a few seconds as he popped his gear HUD mid and tapped a button.
Alpha, three meters away from the fight, still on his knee, continuously releasing pulses of elemental energy, caught a glimpse of his HUD in that brief second.
His eyes narrowed and shifted towards the fourth floor where Julianna and Kyoya were already sprinting through the corridor balcony to the room.
He aimed as the ice glaive formed again in his right hand, and threw it at full force.
The glaive cut through the air, leaving a trail of icy smoke behind, and closed in.
Julianna blinked as she sprinted, and the next moment, the glaive flew in and plunged into the wall four meters ahead of her, forcing her to slide to a stop halfway through the corridor. Kyoya braked as well but slipped and crashed into her from behind.
And then, BOOM!
Flame and smoke burst out of room 407, throwing small pieces of debris on fire into the air.
The sky lit up orange and yellow, dragging every pair of eyes from below. Even Madoka looked up, the cloud of fiery smoke reflecting in her eyes. She stared at it for just three seconds before looking back at Kageri and Andreas—only that she couldn't spot them. Not anymore.
Alpha finally stopped channeling as the final pulse of green energy burst outward. The weight of his eyes became unbearable. The sting in his left arm went numb. His fingers loosened around his staff, and behind that hood and mask, his eyes finally drifted shut.