Soren grabbed his hand, trying to comfort him, "Don't be afraid."
He glanced once more in the direction of the soldiers.
This time, he noticed a faint, pale seam running along the front panel of the transparent cage, and the heavy circular vault door at the entrance wasn't made of impenetrable metal as he had first thought.
Soren smiled reassuringly at Silas, "You won't die. I'm going to get you out of here."
As his words fell, something extraordinary happened.
For the first time in three long years, the dazzling light of his evolution burst forth from his body!
A stream of digital data condensed in his right hand into the fearsome, gleaming Excalibur.
Runes etched with golden divine symbols circled around him.
With one swift motion, he scooped Silas up, then used a beam shield to slice right through the barrier of the transparent cage!
The HYDRA soldiers hadn't even had time to react before an eight-winged angel had already materialized in front of them, and one by one, the beam shield struck their chests.
The soldiers collapsed with cries of pain, their weakened fingers still squeezing the triggers of their guns.
Bullets ricocheted wildly around the room, causing Silas to scream in terror.
Soren gently placed his hand over Silas's eyes. "Don't be afraid."
—Magna Angemon's eight wings spread wide, forming a massive defensive shield that blocked every bullet that was aimed at them, keeping the two of them safe behind the wings.
"We're leaving."
Soren held Silas close as they charged through the HYDRA base, breaking free.
HYDRA had no shortage of endless foot soldiers.
As one soldier after another came at him, Soren didn't hold back.
His body darted swiftly through the crowd, knocking out wave after wave of HYDRA grunts with his beam shield.
After taking down a field of enemies, he made his way to the end of the underground passage.
In front of him was a half-buried ventilation shaft, its opening narrow, barely wide enough for one person to crawl through.
"You go up first. Wait for me outside," he instructed Silas.
However, Silas'ss eyes widened in shock, as if he had just seen the most terrifying thing in the world.
He slumped against the wall, pointing at Soren, "Y-you're... you're Angemon! You weren't supposed to... didn't you disappear three years ago?"
"Three years?" Soren was startled.
But then Silas asked, "Are you taking me to the Resistance base?"
"What Resistance?" Soren replied, confused.
Silas's baby-blue eyes glared at him defiantly for a moment before he stubbornly turned his head away, "You can go on without me. I'm not going with you."
Soren frowned, just about he wanted to pull him up when a violent tremor shook the ground above.
Large chunks of dirt and dry leaves suddenly fell through the ventilation shaft's grate, and the floor beneath them started to quake.
Soren immediately looked around with heightened awareness, then quickly pulled Silas up, "No, you have to go. The rest of this base is exploding. If you don't leave now, you'll be buried under the collapsing dirt."
Ignoring Silas's struggles, Soren ripped open the vent's grate with his bare hands, pushed Silas through, and then reverted to his human form.
He swiftly climbed up the shaft, gripping it with agile precision.
As Soren crawled out of the ventilation shaft, another muffled explosion echoed in the distance.
The ground trembled again, and just before his right foot cleared the vent, the shaft behind him collapsed rapidly, with the teal-colored metal edge scraping off one of his shoes.
Wet, decaying leaves clung to his body.
They had emerged into a dense forest, but the air was far from tranquil.
Soren caught the familiar scent of gunpowder in the breeze.
Not far ahead of them, an intense battle was raging.
Silas tumbled to the ground in front of him, terror etched on his face, "The Resistance…"
"Shh." Soren pressed a finger to his lips, signaling for him to stay quiet.
He led Silas behind a large, moss-covered tree and quickly began pulling down branches from nearby shrubs, crisscrossing them in front of them.
He piled leaves on top, swiftly creating a makeshift camouflage.
Hidden behind the interwoven branches, Soren carefully observed the battle unfolding in front of them.
In the clearing ahead, several groups of combatants were engaged in a fierce skirmish.
Around two hundred people, armed with guns, were locked in a violent firefight.
In order to avoid stray bullets, Soren crouched behind the tree, exposing only his eyes.
"What's this Resistance you mentioned earlier?" Soren whispered to Silas.
Silas's eyes were wide and unblinking, his nerves on edge as if Soren might harm him at any moment, "They're a group of rebels… they don't recognize the authority of the World Government and constantly cause uprisings."
"World Government?" Soren frowned, "You mean the United Nations?"
"The UN was dissolved a year ago," Silas panted softly, "They couldn't protect us… only the ruling government can."
Soren's eye twitched.
He finally realized that the world he had returned to after three years was vastly different from the one he remembered.
It felt as though he had been playing a game, forgot to save, and reloaded it, only to find the entire scenario updated to a war-torn version.
—What had happened on Earth in the three years he was gone?
"Which country's government is this 'ruling government' from?" he asked.
Silas hesitated, his eyes cautiously scanning Soren's face, "The Earth doesn't need nations."
Soren's unease deepened.
He wanted to ask more, but suddenly, something reflected in his gaze as he watched the battlefield—a red, white, and blue shield with a star emblazoned on it.
—It was Steve!
Soren was just about to stand up when he saw another circular shield, this one dark gold, soaring through the air.
It collided with the iconic star-spangled shield, sparks flying as the two shields clashed.
Both were knocked back by the force, flying into the hands of the warriors who wielded them.