Faith looks around in awe at the unnatural landscape of the floating island she is standing on. Not only that, she too could feel the raw energy around her, as if it was water flowing all around her.
"This place...It's...No" Faith shook her head, realizing that she had more important matters to attend to "Now's not the time. I gotta find and kill him"
She walks around, going through its natural vegetation, and crossing through the bridges connecting the islands. Sometime later, she would hear the sound of gunfire and explosion in the distance. Knowing it might be where 117 is, she decides to look for a higher and unnoticed place to get a good look at it instead of following it.
One of the flowing islands flew above her, overshadowing her with its huge presence. Noticing this opportunity, her nano drones form giant legs around hers. Then, she crouches for a moment, before jumping up high and landing on the island.
Faith deforms the legs and walks toward the edge to see what the commotion is. Once she arrived, it was as she guessed. 117, the troopers, and a couple of Armenthian warriors are fighting the kingdom's soldiers garrisoned here. The battle seems fierce and 117 seems outnumbered.
"There he is. Just a little closer"
She felt happy, seeing 117 among the troopers, commanding them in battle. Nothing else matters to her except his death and avenging her sister. She didn't even care if she made it out alive. However, she wasn't as foolish as to just charge in there. And so, she begins planning her route to get to him without being detected by both the troopers and kingdom soldiers.
It didn't take a minute before she finished planning and formed a grappling hook to make her way down safely to the ridge below her. Afterward, she made her way through the ridge quietly, keeping her head down and making sure no one saw her.
Suddenly, an arrow landed right in front of her, causing her to stop mid-way. She turns around to see who her attacker is.
"Hold it right there!"
A group of kingdom's soldiers stood in front of Faith. Their leader, Shinaka, then steps forward, with a strict demeanor and hostility towards Faith.
"You're not going anywhere" Shinaka then takes out her sword and points it at Faith "Where's your leader?"
Faith raises her eyebrow "Leader?" At the same time, sneakily put one of her hands behind her back, quietly forming a blade.
"Don't play dumb with me. I know he's down there. Tell me which one he is, and I'll spare you"
"Hmph" As soon as Faith completes forming her blade, she uses it to attack the leader. However, Shinaka was quick enough to jump back, evading the long blade that Faith just used.
"You seem to be mistaking me as one of them" Faith said with a vengeful tone while getting into her battle stance "But that doesn't mean I'll let you kill him"
"All of you, continue on and support our men. I'll deal with her!" Shinaka orders.
"Yes, lieutenant!"
Shinaka rushes forward, distracting Faith while her men make their way down to join the battle. Even though Faith wanted to stop them, she was too occupied with fighting the leader. The two of them continued their battle there.
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As the battle continues, both sides continue to lose men. Despite having the technological advantage, the troopers continue to fall as the kingdom's archers snipe them using magical arrows, penetrating even the troopers' armor. The village warriors continue to fight valiantly, both in melee and in firing back using their bows.
Trooper 117 continues to lead the battle from the frontline, fighting alongside his men while commanding them. Thanks to Faith's appearance and her apparent situation of fighting a soldier, the voice in his head also taunted him repeatedly, commanding him to protect Faith. Not only that, but his mind was also racing, thinking up multiple ways to end the battle as quickly as possible to go to her aid.
Until Yami suddenly taps his shoulder.
"Why don't you let me handle them?" She spoke with a soft voice to calm him down.
117 sighs, relieving himself of the intense emotion "I can't risk pulling some of your warriors from the frontlines or they'll break through"
"I meant alone. I can contain them long enough for you to destroy the barrier. Besides, the people you mustn't kill are both in one place right now, so this might be a good opportunity"
"I suppose that is possible...Wait" 117 lurks at Yami suspiciously "You knew?"
Yami smiled devilishly "I suggest you focus on the battle. Leave the rear and those two with me" before she confidently walked away from him.
117 grunted before once again returning his focus to the battle. He realized that the person fighting Faith was none other than Shinaka Mori, the Armenthian that the mysterious girl warned him to not kill. Having no better option at the moment, he decided to leave the matter to Yami, even if he was suspicious of how many things are Yami hiding from him.
After some time of quickly formulating a plan, he started barking out his orders "All units, listen up. We need to push through and break their defensive line. Frontline warriors, continue pushing their vanguard back. Squad 4 and 7, give them covering fire while Squad 5 deals with their snipers!"
The others acknowledged his orders and started putting his plans into motion. The warriors on the frontline started fighting fiercely, pushing through the frontline of the kingdom's soldiers. The troopers ordered by 117 to cover the warriors started shooting the soldiers on the frontline, even at the cost of their being exposed. The archers of the kingdom also traded shots with the Troopers, yet even with their magical arrows that could penetrate the troopers' armor, they were still no match for the snipers within 117's ranks.
Eventually, the frontline was broken and the troopers managed to break through but with heavy casualties. The kingdom's soldiers retreated inward to the center of the island, forming a line in front of a wall behind them.
"The Akadians and the rebels are stronger than we've anticipated. Where are our reinforcements?" The captain asked one of his soldiers.
"No idea, my lord. They said that they'll be here but...We haven't seen any"
"Damnit. We can't let them destroy the barrier. Summon the beast!"
The soldier started worrying "My lord, are you sure that's wise? There's no guarantee we can control it"
The captain looked at the soldier with authority and anger "The fate of this planet and the entire kingdom rests on our shoulders. There is no time to worry about that. Now, summon the beast!"
"Y...Yes, my lord!" The soldier answered trembling.
He then ran towards the mages behind them and gave them a nod. The mages also share the same concern as the soldier, but they know what is at stake. So, they form a circle and start drawing a mysterious symbol in the middle of them.
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Faith continues her battle with the leader, Shinaka Mori. Even though she couldn't keep up with Shinaka's speed and agility, her nano drones could quickly form the necessary weapons to counter Shinaka's moves.
Suddenly, one of the kingdom's soldiers was thrown towards them and landed near their feet. Yami walks up to them calmly while not carrying anything as a weapon.
"It appears that your men won't be able to reach them at all. I took care of them along the way"
The two of them jump away from one another and then turn their attention to Yami. Faith takes a good look at Yami, before speaking up "You're Yami Tanaka, aren't you?"
Shinaka gasps "Tanaka!" seemingly aware of who Yami is.
Yami smiled gently "I see Riu has told you about me, Faith Narukami" Then she looked at Shinaka "And you must be Shinaka Mori. One of Shigeoka Kenji's lieutenants, and part of the king's elite guard"
Shinaka clicked her tongue and didn't answer Yami. The two of them kept their attention towards Yami, as both of them knew that Yami was the larger threat compared to each of them. Yami remained calm, not even getting to her battle stance.
The two of them then rush towards Yami, commencing the battle between the three of them. Yami skillfully dodges all of their attacks and parries them. It didn't take long before she was able to push them back.
"I enjoy this little dance, however"
The crystals in the environment around them suddenly grow rapidly, blocking the area around them, and making it impossible to escape. Yami then gave a mischievous smile and pointed towards herself.
"You'll have to go through me to get to Priad"
Once again, Faith and Shinaka get into their battle stance. Strategizing for a moment before attacking Yami again. Both of them tried to outrun each other in defeating Yami. Shinaka is determined to help the others defeat the Akadians, while Faith is determined to kill 117 before anyone else. Yami remained steadfast and continued fighting them barehanded.