— Watedia, Ranth 13, 8054 —

“Puuuahahahaha!! Sentry! It’s nice to see you, again!”

“I’m sure it is…” Davídrius drawled as he stopped at the gates to the WCU campus. Many of the students trailed him from a distance, watching from the practice fields while Karísah accompanied Davídrius. Obra, Pierce, Phoenix, Conrad, and Kestrel followed behind him, each of them wearing apprehensive looks as Davídrius leaned on his crutches… to stare through the gates at Strén.

The leader of the Bleeders stood some distance away, outside of the campus walls. Still in his grasp was Ralak, who now had her hand and feet bound. Behind Strén gathered a group of Bleeders, while flanking Strén on his right were a group of SFC soldiers, all of them with their guns ready and trained on Davídrius — and on Strén’s left were a handful of Rokresians. Upon seeing them, Pierce briefly locked eyes with the Rokresian Cryotechnic he had encountered earlier; they both glared at each other, but neither said anything. Strén and Davídrius dominated the scene, the tension between them suppressing any urge from others to speak. The backdrop of billowing smoke and continued fighting in the Compound beyond amid the golden light of late afternoon merely piled onto the oppressive atmosphere.

“…Ha!” Strén scoffed as he looked down at Davídrius’s bandaged leg, and the crutch that he was leaning on. “Just like when we fought in old times, huh? You never could beat me!”

“Bullshit, I had you dead to rights,” Davídrius retorted. “If not for your little pets, you’d be fuckin’ dead, right now. I even destroyed that stupid laser you’ve got in your chest!”

“And yet, I’m still standin’,” Strén remarked. “And you’re the one on crutches. I think that says a lot, about how strong the Bleeders are, compared to the Compounds!”

“So strong that you had to take a hostage just to finesse a kill on a wounded man?”

“Puahaha! That mouth of yours is what I always liked, Sentry!”

“Liked? I thought you hated my guts.”

“Heh. Both can be true,” Strén replied. He then produced a pistol from his side and held the barrel up to Ralak’s head. “But let’s get to business. The life of the Willthief, here, and of all of your students — just for yours. Hell of a trade, I’d say!”

“What—?!” Both the SFC soldiers and the Rokresians looked at Strén in surprise.

“This wasn’t part of the deal!” argued one of the SFC soldiers — presumably, their commander. “We’re here for the whole campus, the whole Compound!”

“Is that why y’all’ve been sittin’ on your asses all day, too afraid to raid a school filled with fuckin’ kids?” Strén countered. “All while me and my Bleeders have been actually fuckin’ things up in the city!”

“…Strén’s right,” replied the man who seemed to be leading the Rokresians. He passed an annoyed look to the SFC commander, saying, “I’ll grant that your tech is what enabled this raid in the first place, but you SFC outsiders have been next to useless otherwise.”

The SFC commander glared back, his nostrils flaring with indignation. “Why, you—!”

“For our part…” the Rokresian said, cutting off the SFC commander as he gave a dismissive shrug. “We are only interested in punishin’ Tresnon for their transgressions against Rokres. We intended to capture those directly responsible, but I think that the life of the Sentry is an acceptable trade.”

“I knew y’all would come around!” Strén remarked, glancing between the SFC commander and the Rokresian leader before turning back to grin at Davídrius. “Well? Your life, to save everyone else’s! Ain’t this what you always wanted, Sentry?”

Davídrius glared at Strén, responding only with silence.

“…You can’t seriously be considerin’ this,” Karísah said, her voice low, such that only Davídrius and the others near her could hear.

“Yeah, that guy’s a fuckin’ Bleeder!” Obra pointed out. “You can’t trust him!”

“I agree that we can’t trust his word…” Conrad said, “but I think we can trust that he has a gun to Ralak’s head, right now.”

“…Conrad’s right,” Davídrius muttered, passing Karísah and Conrad a quick glance. “If I go out there… it’ll at least save Ralak.”

“You can’t be serious,” Phoenix responded incredulously. “And what if Strén goes back on his word, huh? Say he kills you, and then they all attack the campus, anyways. What would be the point of you going out there?”

“The point is that it buys time. Selind’s already sent some folks from the Defense Force over. We just need to buy time for them to get here…”

“And you want to do that by fucking sacrificing yourself?!” Pierce questioned. “Why the hell can’t we just stall with fucking taunts, or something?”

“Ralak…” Kestrel muttered.

Davídrius nodded. “Yeah. So long as Strén’s got Ralak, the cards are in his hands. If we stall too much, then she’s dead.”

“But there has to be another way!” Karísah insisted. “You can’t just— you can’t just let yourself die, like this!”

“Yeah,” Obra quickly agreed. “There’s a whole campus of students, here! You just give the word, and we’ll fight ‘em back!”

“I bet we could even take them all, right now!” Pierce added.

“Not before they kill Ralak,” Davídrius snapped. “You dumbasses, all of this bullshit is what I’m tryin’ to avoid in the first place! You students — you’re too young, too inexperienced for this. How many times do I gotta say that ‘fore it gets through those thick skulls of yours?”

“And you think the only alternative is gettin’ yourself killed…?” Karísah questioned warily.

Davídrius glanced at Karísah through the corner of his eye. He then sighed, deep and long, before turning to place his hand on her shoulder. “…I’m sorry,” he said, a bitter smile on his face as he gave Karísah a reassuring squeeze. “…But sometimes, shit happens. And you just… gotta do what you gotta do to protect the people around you.”

“But… but…!” Karísah protested.

“You’ll be just fine without me,” Davídrius added. “You’re a fifth-year, and one of the Elite Six… I’m sure you’ll be able to take care of yourself.”

“Oi!” Strén shouted impatiently, drawing Davídrius and Karísah’s attention. “I’m all for touchin’ good-byes, but time’s runnin’ out, Sentry! Don’t think you can stall me out for reinforcements!”

“…Suppose that was kinda obvious, huh…” Conrad muttered.

“…Well, guess this is it.” Davídrius finally withdrew his hand, re-gripping his crutch to take a step forward. “Y’all stay put, a’ight? This ain’t your fight. Soon as I’m beyond the gates, I need y’all to get back inside the buildings.”

“But… Davídrius!” Karísah called after him in distress. “…Dad! No!”

Davídrius scoffed, still facing forward. “You’re still insistin’ on that, huh? …Although…” He trailed off, his gaze dropping to the ground for a moment — only to then look back at Karísah with a forlorn smile. “…I’ve always thought the only thing parents were good for in Treséd, was dyin’ and breakin’ your heart. Guess I’m about to qualify, huh?”

“Cute,” Strén cut in, pulling Davídrius’s attention back to him. He then gestured at one of the Rokresians; they promptly scurried forward, planted some kind of device in the open ground, and then retreated back to the rest of the group. “Now stand in the field,” Strén ordered, gesturing for Davídrius to step next to the device. “Once you’re there, I’ll release the Willthief.”

“CENT field, eh?” Davídrius remarked, all while slowly approaching, his gait unsteady due to his crutch and wounded leg. “I’m on a fuckin’ crutch, and you’re still scared of me?”

“You’d take the same precautions, I’m sure,” Strén replied. “You’ve been a thorn in my side for a long time, Sentry. I’ll do whatever it takes to ensure a kill!”

“Tch. I wasn’t even the one who crippled you, all those years ago.”

“Yeah. It was outsiders — outsiders that you brought to Treséd! The same outsiders who’re fuckin’ things up in the present day!”

Davídrius snorted dismissively, his gaze briefly drifting over to the SFC soldiers. He then took a deep breath, having just approached the device planted in the dirt — and feeling the familiar, yet unpleasant sensation of being cut off from Chaos Energy. “…A’ight, I’m here,” Davídrius shouted. “Now, you gonna keep your promise? Or are you gonna prove that you Bleeders really are the lowest of the low, once and for all?”

“Bleeders do what we want,” Strén growled, his pistol still held to Ralak’s head… only to pull it back a second later and shove her away. She almost tumbled to the ground, barely able to catch herself due to the shackles on her hand and feet — but one of the Rokresians quickly approached to free her of her binds, and then gesture toward the WCU gates. Tentatively, she glanced back at Strén, and then at Davídrius.

“Go,” Davídrius urged.

Ralak stared at him for a second, only to offer a curt nod and cautiously rush over to the gates, never once taking her eyes off of Strén.

“…Huh,” Davídrius commented, eying Ralak’s retreating form before turning back to face Strén. “I was sure you’d go back on your word.”

“I mean what I say, Sentry,” Strén retorted, finally turning his pistol toward Davídrius.

“Well that’s bullshit,” the Dean replied. “Constantly goin’ on about how outsiders are ruinin’ everythin’, and yet workin’ alongside outsiders to ruin everythin’… you Bleeders have always been self-servin’ hypocrites.”

“Talk big all you want, Sentry…” Strén said, a bitter smile stretching across his face as he grasped his pistol with both hands, taking careful aim at Davídrius’s chest. “…But at the end of the day, I’ve won. Our little feud, over twenty years in the makin’… finally ends, right now—!”

“NOOOO!”

“What—?” Strén glanced to the side, only for his eyes to widen in surprise as Karísah landed almost on top of him, having just bounded through the air from the WCU gates. The CENT field generated by Strén’s cybernetics robbed Karísah of her supernatural strength, but her sudden movements threw Strén off just enough for her to yank the gun from his grasp, whip around, and shoot the device next to Davídrius to shreds. She then lunged away from Strén, escaping his personal CENT field to finally bound to Davídrius’s side.

“What are you doin’—?!” Davídrius began to question as Karísah stooped to pick him up. “You could’ve gotten shot—!”

“Sorry,” Karísah apologized with a sheepish smile, “…but you said it, yourself: sometimes, you just gotta do what you gotta do to protect those around you… Dad.”

Davídrius regarded her with a surprised look, only to release a resigned sigh. “Fuckin’… what am I gonna do with you…”

“So that’s how it’s gonna be, huh?!”

Upon returning to the campus gates, Davídrius and Karísah both turned to look at Strén — who was beside himself with fury.

“You think you’re gonna get away with this? Huh?!” he roared, “I’ll burn all of Treséd if that’s what it takes to kill you, Sentry! EVERYONE! RAZE THE CAMPUS!”

“Belay that— capture it, if you can!” shouted the SFC commander, “but at this point, casualties are acceptable — just stop Dean Wrikax! Open fire!”

“Shit…” Karísah muttered, quickly moving to interpose herself between the SFC soldiers and Davídrius — right as they all opened fire. Blasts of energy ripped through the air, their lasers all aimed straight at Davídrius… only to never reach him, instead blasting a nigh-invisible wall in the air.

“What the hell—?” the SFC commander began to question, only for Obra to raise his fist into the air, his body half-turned to address the rest of the WCU students standing farther back on the campus grounds.

“This is it!!” Obra shouted, pumping his fist once all while maintaining his barriers to block the incoming laser fire. “It’s OUR turn, everyone! If the Dean thinks his life is worth all of ours, then let’s show ‘im that we’re worth even more than that!!”

“Now this is what I’m talking about!” Pierce added, quickly summoning his energy whip weapon. “It’s time to make these fuckers regret what they’re doing in Tresnon!”

“That’s right,” Karísah added, raising her fist to join Obra. “We might just be students, but we’ll still fight to protect Tresnon — because we’re Tresédians, and this our home!!”

“YEEAAAAH!” roared the students in reply, spurred on by Obra and Karísah’s words as they surged forth, bringing to bear flames, lightning, ice, water, rocks, metal, and all manner of other Chaotic abilities against the Bleeders, SFC, and Rokresians — as the students finally joined the fight for Compound Tresnon.

---

*

“Chaos BLAST!!”

An explosion of reddish energy burst forth from Feral’s body, rapidly consuming a chunk of Tresnon’s eastern walls — and flinging Sky and Twy through the air, their bodies alight with the golden shine of energy shielding. Before they hit the ground, the gravity around them lessened, slowing their fall and allowing them to catch themselves as Gavon rushed forward to try and seize Feral’s attention. “Chaos Cannon, Chaos Cannon!!” the Bleeder shouted, shooting high-speed projectiles up at Gavon from the bottom of the Blast-created crater, only for Gavon to just barely dodge the shots through evasive action. Without a gun, Gavon’s offensive options were limited, but he was still well-able to use his gravity-manipulating powers as a distraction.

“Chaos…!” Feral began to shout, only to scowl as she began to fall into the sky. “—EXPLOSION!!” she quickly finished, detonating the air to her side to launch herself at Gavon, claws of Chaos Energy outstretched — only for a silver streak of light to nail her in the side, flinging her off course. Sky quickly followed her sister’s bow shooting with high-powered gouts of flame, bathing Feral and her shields in intense heat. Irately, Feral snapped her attention to the twins and began to lunge for them, though stumbled as a hail of tiny stones slammed into her from above — manipulated into rapid descents by Gavon’s gravity manipulation.

“Alright…!” Sky remarked while cautiously eying Feral, though smiling all the same — the induced fear from Strén’s Overdrive had worn off by now, allowing her to assume a confident tone as she shouted, “c’mon, sis! We’ve got her on the back foot!”

“Thanks mostly to Gavon…” Twy muttered, though still readily took aim with her Mystryth bow and loosed another couple of silver arrows at Feral. The Bleeder managed to brace herself against the arrows this time, and wasn’t flung back. But between Twy’s arrows, Sky’s flames, and Gavon constantly assailing Feral with falling stones, the Bleeder found herself constantly assaulted on all sides.

“Raaagh!! Chaos Impact, Chaos Impact!!” Feral snarled, shooting out two planes of nigh-invisible force that knocked the twins over, and enabled the Bleeder to turn her attention to Gavon. “You! SUN!! I’m gonna tear you to pieces, if it’s the last thing I do!!”

“You might even achieve that, if you spent your time fighting instead of taunting,” Gavon retorted.

“You…!” Feral growled, and then glanced to the side, where Sky and Twy had jumped to their feet and were splitting up, in an effort to make it harder to target them both at once. “…Chaos…—!”

In the middle of her call, however, the thunder of a loud explosion shook the damaged street they were fighting in. Reflexively, Sky and Twy turned their attention to the west, in search of the source of the explosion.

“…Well, would you look at that!” Gavon remarked, ascending just high enough to peer out over the whole Compound. “…There’s fighting at the campus!”

“The WCU campus?” Twy questioned, “wait— are you saying it’s finally been overrun?!”

“Ahhhhahahahaha!!” Feral cackled with maniacal glee. “Looks like you’re finally gonna lose all your li’l friends, huh~?”

“Don’t be so sure,” Gavon cut in, descending back to the street to give Feral a challenging look. “The campus isn’t being overrun — the students are overrunning the SFC and Bleeders.”

“Whoa, really?!” Sky remarked.

“Yep. Comms confirm it, too,” Gavon replied, and then shook his head in disbelief. “I can hardly believe it, but it’s true. For a PMC like the SFC to get pushed back by students, of all things… I suppose they really are a bottom-of-the-barrel PMC, huh?” He then passed Feral an amused smirk. “Though it’s only fitting that trash like them would fall in with garbage like you.”

“What?!” Feral glared at Gavon, her posture hunched over — though seemingly reluctant to advance. “You— you’re makin’ that shit up!”

“And if I was?”

“…Aaaarrghh!! CHAOS EXPLOSION!!” the Bleeder roared, detonating the ground beneath her feet to rocket her into the air near Gavon. “CHAOS…!!”

“FERAL!”

“—Wha—?!” Startled, Feral began to turn in the air — only for Strén to virtually fly onto the scene, grabbing Feral out of the air before falling to the ground on the opposite side of one of the many craters created by Feral’s explosions. As soon as he appeared, both Sky and Twy turned their focus to him, plinking away at his shields with arrows of light, jets of water, and plumes of flame. But aside from giving them an annoyed glance, Strén seemed to pay them little heed.

“…Look,” he muttered, turning back to Feral to look her in the eyes. “It’s time. Level the place!”

“Level?!” Feral exclaimed incredulously, “but you—!”

“Things’ve changed. Now blow it all up!!”

“Oh?” Gavon remarked from the side, “finally realized that Tresnon isn’t easy pickings, have you?”

“This place will still be RUBBLE when WE’RE done!!” Strén growled back. “Feral! DO IT!”

“Lettin’ loose? Well, if you say so~!!” Feral replied, a dangerous grin crossing her face. “Overdrive:…!”

“Overdrive: Conflict’s Judge!!”

“What—!?” Feral drew back in surprise as Strén’s right forearm sparked and then detonated itself, leaving his arm a mess of mangled cybernetic components. Strén’s face contorted in discomfort, his remaining hand clutching at his head… all as a familiar woman descended through the air, with a short stature, olive-toned skin, dark wavy hair, and a dark blue uniform, rounded out by a blue shawl and a waistcloak.

“Kaoné!” Twy exclaimed in relief. “You’re back!”

“Sorry for being late…” Kaoné responded, half-turning to give Twy and Sky a reassuring smile. “But I’m here, now. And I’ve brought some help!”

As if on command, as soon as the words left Kaoné’s mouth, two airships zoomed into the skies over Compound Tresnon. While the airships themselves appeared to be standard cargo ships, the individuals that soon began to spill out of them all wore familiar uniforms — uniforms of black, navy blue, and silver, that perfectly matched Gavon’s own.

“Ah ha!” Gavon remarked with a grin. “So Krydonin managed to speed up their arrival, after all! I knew I could count on her!”

“And the infection issue out by Oasis Lake is dealt with, as well,” Kaoné declared, at which point she returned her attention to Strén and Feral. “Your heartless raid ends now, Bleeders. Surrender… if you know what’s good for you!”

“Tch…!” Strén growled, though remained clutching at his head as an intense migraine dominated his thoughts. After all, Kaoné’s Overdrive suppression of aggressive and murderous intent was proportional to the aggression in the target — which rendered Strén almost immobile under his fury and pounding headaches. Feral, as a Chaostechnic, was immune to the effects of Kaoné’s Overdrive, but she remained on the defensive as she looked over at Strén’s wrecked right arm, where he had been hiding a weapon in his cybernetics — a weapon that Kaoné’s Overdrive had instantly destroyed.

“Well?” Gavon prompted, as the sounds of renewed fighting echoed throughout Tresnon… though this time, as a result of highly-trained Chaotics capturing and subduing the unskilled combatants among the Bleeders and SFC. “Are you coming peacefully, Strén? Or am I going to have to ki—“ Gavon winced, as Kaoné’s Overdrive prevented him from finishing the thought. “…Well, to take you in?”

“Preferably, neither.”

“Shade—!” Feral muttered as a heavily-robed woman appeared out of thin air next to Strén and Feral. As soon as she appeared, Strén and Feral both reflexively heaved sighs of relief, as Shade activated her own CENT field to locally dispel the effects of Kaoné’s Overdrive.

“’Bout time you got here…” Strén muttered.

“Yes, well…” Shade offered him a cold smile, the only part of her face visible under her oversized hood. “…I can’t exactly leap around like the two of you, so you’ll have to excuse me for struggling to keep up.”

“But I’m afraid this is as far as you’ll go,” Kaoné shouted, still hovering in the air between the Bleeders and Sky and Twy. “Your CENT field can suppress the effects of my Overdrive, but where do you expect to go from here? You don’t have any escape options.”

Strén glared up at Kaoné, and then out to the waters of Mirage Lake — where two of the Black Suns Chaotics were effortlessly tearing into the boats parked just off-shore. Upon seeing them, Strén held his left arm up to his mouth. “…This is Strén!” he shouted, “release ‘em! Release ‘em now!!”

«Got it, boss!»

“That doesn’t much sound like a surrender, to me!” Gavon remarked from afar.

“That’s because it ain’t!” Strén shouted back. “Now you listen to me, you damn outsiders! What that order just was, was to release a bunch of infected animals on Tresnon!”

“Infected?!” Kaoné exclaimed. “As in, the metallic infection?!”

“If that’s the one with the silver rashes, then yeah! So you ask yourselves this: are you gonna waste your pretty little heads tryin’ to capture me? Or are you goin’ to actually save this precious Compound of yours?”

“You can’t be serious!” Sky replied incredulously. “Are you really so much of a sore loser that you’ll just kill everyone on your way out?!”

“I’ll do whatever it takes to reach my goals,” Strén spat. “…The Sentry may’ve escaped me, today. But this ain’t over! I’ll be back—!”

Strén cut himself off in the middle of his sentence to look skyward, at which point he moved to dodge to the left, all while shoving Feral to the right — just as a shotgun-like spread of tiny stone debris rocketed down on them both, having been accelerated to incredible speeds by Gavon’s gravity manipulation. While the pellets weren’t large, they were still fast and numerous enough to finally overload Strén’s battle-worn shields… and tear the right side of his body to shreds.

“Strén!!” Feral shouted as Strén collapsed to the ground, amidst the sparking pile of cybernetic parts that his body was revealed to be — absolutely none of the revealed internals of his body were organic. Nevertheless, he wore on his face an expression of intense pain as his legs were obliterated and his lower torso shredded; upon seeing this, Feral whipped around toward Gavon, her teeth beared in a rage. “I’m gonna KILL you—!”

“We’re going to leave,” Shade cut in, already stooping down to lift Strén’s remaining arm over her shoulders. “Unless you want to die here, Feral.”

“And what makes you think we’re just going to let you leave, hmm?” Gavon questioned.

“Well, that’s up to you,” Shade replied coolly. “How well do you trust your compatriots to deal with a rampant infection, hmm? Especially when you don’t know where in the Compound it was released?”

In response to Shade’s question was only silence, punctuated by the continued sounds of distant combat. Kaoné and Gavon both stared stoically at the trio of Bleeders, with Feral glaring back, her chest heaving with barely-suppressed rage. After just a second of that, however, the three Bleeders suddenly disappeared into thin air — hidden by Shade’s Visitechnism.

“They’re leaving!” Sky shouted, and then looked to Kaoné and Gavon. “Are we really just gonna let them leave?!”

“…Shade’s right,” Kaoné muttered, her eyes still forward, as if she were still tracking the invisible Bleeders. She then turned to look at Sky and Twy. “I can verify that those three really are retreating. Which means that the infection is our next, top priority. We cannot allow it to overrun Tresnon!”

“Fortunately, Krydonin’s command is well-versed with dealing with the infection,” Gavon remarked. “I’ve already alerted her. We should have things contained before the end of the night.”

“…So…” Twy commented, dismissing her bow as she looked hopefully to Kaoné. “Does this mean… that the Bleeder raid is actually over?”

“Well, we do still need to deal with the infection,” Kaoné pointed out as she began to lead Gavon, Sky, and Twy deeper into Tresnon. “But as Gavon said — with the Suns here, that should be straightforward. So, Twy, your answer is, effectively… yes. The raid is as good as over.”