The plan was in place, Operation Highrise was a go. Aldegar, Aiden and Synnove busted through the main entrance, while Khiara and Amaro stood back. Once they had entered, Khiara climbed on Amaro's shoulders and he activated his power, Overdrive, to be able to get on top of the building.
Overdrive is an interesting power. It allows Amaro to increase the work rate of his cells with Essence, multiplying his strength multiple times over. However, the now hypercharged cells produce much more heat than usual, putting Amaro at a risk if used for a prolonged time.
He prepared himself to activate Overdrive, until he was frozen in place by a familiar voice.
"Hold on", the voice called. "I think I could help."
Amaro and Khiara turned around, greeted by Francesca, the Defense Corps sixth rank. She was wearing an aerodynamic, skin-tight suit of some sort, her hair tied in a ponytail and her look determined.
"Francesca," Khiara instantly jumped down from Amaro's shoulders with a smile on her face. "Thank god you're here. Jumping up with this guy would be a death sentence."
Francesca laughed, clearly both her and Khiara of a teasing nature, as Amaro avoided turning his gaze towards them. "Come on, I'll take you up."
Out of Francesca's back suddenly sprouted a large set of wings, almost angel-like in nature. The wingspan was huge, and they created a gust of air as Francesca just flapped around to warm up. She wrapped her hands around Khiara and firmly held her against her chest, Khiara leaning over her shoulder. With a light jump, Francesca flew into the air, and dropped of Khiara at the roof. She then flew in a circle around the building, before perching herself on a nearby factory chimney.
"Miss Ingrid told me to get a nice aerial view!" she shouted down to Khiara. "Good luck!"
Meanwhile, still on the ground, Amaro begrudgingly mumbled as he looked up at Khiara, waving at him from the top. "Damn it, Francesca. You really had to steal the show."
Once more, he prepared to activate Overdrive, tensing his body and preparing for a high jump. His muscles contorted and his veins bulged as a surge of warm air suddenly pulsed from him, and he jumped. With an incredibly high jump, Amaro crashed in through a window on the upper half of the building, the fifth floor.
The sudden crashing noise of Amaro's violent entrance alerted a lot of the corrupted that were inside the building, drawing attention away from Aldegar's team and Khiara briefly. As he busted in, he knew the outcome, so, he just perched on a window and waited for the horde that'd more than certainly appear soon.
A loud thumping of steps was heard, as above so below, all running towards the staircase and Amaro's floor. "Alright, now here's the fun part." he joyfully exclaimed as he pulled out a grenade from his pocket.
The corrupted gathered in the tight hallway in front, walls and doors on both sides. Amaro already pulled the pin, and the grenade was set to explode. He gently threw it at the horde, and with a smile, he activated Overdrive at a lower level, throwing himself out of the building. The grenade exploded, and Amaro, now focusing Overdrive solely into his right arm, clung onto a window.
He pulled himself up after hearing the explosion, noticing that all the corrupted were seemingly defeated instantly. A few still twitched and turned, but, had damage too severe to recover. The spot where the grenade was was charred in a small black circle, the shrapnel that flew around penetrating the walls and leaving large holes and dents. Thankfully, the grenade was on the weaker side, and didn't do a lot of structural damage.
He shoved open a path for himself through the corpses lain on the ground, and headed up towards Khiara. The slain corrupted exuded a foul smell of death, one many times worse than a human. It was clear, this corruption wasn't some surface level change. It changed everything.
He climbed upstairs found her, wakizashi in hand, fighting a small horde of corrupted. The sword's edge glowed that unique yellow tone only Khiara's Essence seemed to manage.
She dashed back, the corrupted chasing right behind, instinctively looking to corner Khiara. However, none of them expected the depth of her arsenal.
"Discharge!" she screamed, a yellow orb forming at the tip of her blade and exploding, blowing off the head of one of the corrupted. The other few jumped back, before Amaro joined in on the brawl.
Overdrive in his leg, it surged with an unparalleled physical prowess other Oracle officers could only dream of. He kicked the small, quadrupedal foe so hard, he died on impact. Khiara soon followed with a swift slash, decapitating the last of the corrupted.
Khiara neared her wrist towards her mouth, sending a tactical announcement. "Team A, Team B reports clear top half of building. All corrupted purged. Next course of action?"
A few moments later, Aldegar's voice could be heard from her watch. "Team B this is Team A reporting, descend towards us, we will crush the remaining with force before initiating investigation."
"Copy." she responded. "Team C, any escaped corrupted on the outside?"
Francesca's warm voice returned. "Sondre got one, Vivianne got two. I'm still perched on that chimney, but, I haven't seen anything."
With the top few floors cleared, Amaro and Khiara continued downwards, taking out the rare few corrupted that were left.
"You know, considering how injured Severo and Ambrosio came to the courtyard," Amaro questioned the situation. "You'd think there'd be more of these guys. There has to be something more."
"Who knows," Khiara said, stepping out of a side room after checking it for possible injured. "Maybe some got away, maybe some died to the corruption before we even arrived?"
They kept going, and as they reached the seemingly completely desolate and empty third floor, their ears were greeted with the sound of horrible roars and vile combat. Something big was running amok, and someone clearly engaged it.
Khiara hurriedly activated her watch and sent out a message. "Team A, what's going on? Team A, do you hear me?"
There was a brief crackle of static before Aldegar's strained voice came through. "Team B, we... we're fighting a corrupted on the second floor... it's... a mixture of multiple corrupted... a transfigured mess... we need... backup..."
Khiara's eyes widened as she realized the severity of the situation. Before she even had a chance to react, Amaro already activated Overdrive and bolted down the stairs. Khiara followed soon behind, running with all her might. They reached the second floor, and were greeted by a chaotic and disturbed mess. At the center of the room, almost frozen in place, stood an amalgamation.
Multiple heads, at least a dozen arms, all in one big, disgusting pile. It roared and shouted as it spun its many limbs around. Synnove was pressed against a wall, seemingly knocked out, a trickle of blood flowing down her forehead. Aldegar was running in circles around the monster, he had activated Mental Map and was looking for a weakness.
All the while, Aiden was holding a blazing sword, set alight with Matchbox. He kept severing off limbs and flesh from the creature, but, they all grew back at a medium rate. It could be temporarily weakened by this sort of attack, but, nothing meaningful.
"Khiara!" screamed Aiden. "Me and Amaro will stall this thing out! Carry Synnove to Ishikawa and Arden!"
With a nod of the head, Khiara jumped over the railing and swooped in to pick Synnove up. She dodged an attack from the creature, quickly unsheathing her wakizashi and slashing its extended arm off, before returning it back. Meanwhile, Amaro and Aiden showered the creature with a barrage of strikes. Aiden's flaming slashes and Amaro's brute force pained it so, that its roars became even stronger than before.
She returned to the staircase, and ran with full might until she reached the first floor, after which she busted through the already broken door.
"Francesca!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, before the friendly lass flew down from her vantage point.
"What the hell is going on in there?!" she worriedly asked, seeing Synnove fainted in Khiara's arms.
"Not even I'm sure. Here," she placed Synnove carefully in Francesca's arms. "Take her to wherever Ishikawa and Akker are. Where is Vivianne's outpost, her power could help us stun this guy?"
Francesca gently rose up into the air, answering Khiara's question before flying away at full speed. "Right hand side of the building, an abandoned kiosk."
She made her way there, where Vivianne sat on an old wooden chair, water bottle in hand, undisturbed by the chaos that was more than loud enough to be heard to there.
"Vivianne," she gasped, leaning over with her hands on her knees, struggling to catch her breath. "Come on, we need your help?"
"With what?" she returned. "Miss Ingrid told me not to leave my post."
"This is too urgent to worry about defensive duty! We're fighting this huge enemy inside, we need your help to shock and stun it, so we can find a weakness!"
Her eyes narrowed in a mixture of fear and excitement. "You need *my* help?"
"Yes," Khiara grabbed her by the hand and dragged her along "Come on!"
And just like that, a whole ensemble of Oracle officers, bound to play to the beat of eachothers' strikes. A musical piece that a single instrument can't play alone, yet heavenly when multiple are in perfect sync. In this symphony of battle, where each strike is aimed and carefully planned, and where even the slightest slip up can cause havoc and defeat. That is alliance... and that is combat.