Li searched frantically for the voice in her head, her heart pounding once more. "Any tips?"

  "Only for what is directly in front of you."

  Feeling a chill crawl down her spine, Li turned her attention towards the slender aquatic creature that had emerged from the darkness.

  "What is it?"

  As Yrix expined herself at a grueling pace, Sonera began probing the creature for weaknesses and behavioral patterns, flicking a radiant knife at its shrouded face with a disrespectful scowl. To her surprise, the knife came to a rather sudden halt, shattering against a surrounding bubble of energy that became only visible for a brief moment.

  Li could hear Yrix smacking her non-existent lips. "That is a Canere. A local gestalt of organisms piloting the weapon you see before you."

  "You mean...it's a mech for a bunch of little dudes?" Li's eyes narrowed, watching as the creature revealed two crescent disks from beneath its veil, clinging onto each silver trinket with its most dominant tendrils.

  "Yes. And no, it's not from Mars. And no, germs won't kill it."

  Li cursed. "You beat me to it."

  "How do we stop it?" Lunae pleaded, entering the Psionic conversation at Yrix's behest.

  Yrix chuckled. "You already possess the knowledge and abilities you need. Fight well."

  Ignoring the girl's conversation, the Canere began to brandish its crescent weaponry, their silver metal shimmering with a rainbow of energy before releasing a ray of heated energy. Unlike psma, the attack was instantaneous, albeit fortunately predicatable.

  Lunae gracefully performed a flexible backbend, allowing the beam to pass over her as both Li and Sonera jumped high.

  "Okay, here's the pn!" Li peeped, zipping around the creature as she tried to distract it. "We-."

  A bolt of psma interrupted the girl, burning through the ends of her skirt as she stumbled backwards. Her schemes had been dashed before they could be properly devised, thanks to the arrival of the Consortium warriors. No doubt under the direction of the Canere, the host of warriors wasted no time emptying their arsenal into the girls.

  They were badly outnumbered.

  "Okay, screw it. New Objective." Li threw up her hands in frustration. "Survive."

  Sonera enveloped herself in a gyre of sparks, reemerging with both her ballet attire and a strengthened longsword. Smashing her bde against the Canere's shield, she took hold of the many shards that erupted from its fming vitae with a Psionic grasp.

  "Die," Sonera growled, imitating the words of a true Psion, much to Yrix's delight.

  She then flung the remains of her bde at the rgest cluster of aliens. Many of the lesser ranks were melted alive in an instant. But as for the Vespers, whose energy shield cracked only after they escaped the molten trap, there was still a chance for glorious combat.

  "Oh, what the heck." Li gnashed her teeth upon seeing the Vesper's rush towards her, all the while jumping through an excessive barrage from the Canere's heat ray. "We're cooked."

  Each Vesper, coated in a bckened sheen of armor, unsheathed a pair of silver hilts that ignited with a stream of consolidated liquid. As if to make matters worse, they dissapeared into thin air the moment they lunged at Li, utilizing their armor's cloaking technology.

  "Write that down on my grave, Lunae." Li tried her best to smile. "Jumped by five dudes with cool water swords."

  Lunae reached over to the girl with her Psionic grasp, casting a familiar ability using the closest object she could find. "Not today, friend."

  Li charged forward, looking for her own fists as she tried to swing like a wild animal.

  "What the?" Li gasped.

  Her entire body had become an invisible shimmer of reflective light, identical in nature to the Vespers that surrounded her. The warriors swung their bdes with a touch of confusion in their step, unable to find their mark as Li dove out of the way with ease.

  "Ha-hah! Li cheered. "Uno reverse card!"

  The Canere spun around, pointing its tendrils towards Lunae before firing both its heat rays. She barely dodged the first beam, tumoring to the ground before blocking the second with a Psionic barrier. It would seem the creature's strategy prevailed, for the strenuous effort of defending herself began taking its toll on Lunae.

  "Oop, nevermind." Li grimaced.

  It wasn't long before her disguise faded, allowing the closest Vesper to grab her by the throat.

  "Ya got me!" The Earthling teased. "But not before I got yo momma."

  The Vesper tilted its head in confusion, only to release Li in a desperate attempt to escape once it realized what she had pnned. Having stolen the warrior's grenade, Li stuck the orb onto its knees with a sleight of hand, using her mocking smile as a temporary distraction.

  Her trick, however clever, did not fully save her from the ensuing bst. And by the time she began to recover from the sudden taste of rock in her mouth, an extending tendril pinned her to the wall.

  It was the Canere who held on to both Lunae and Li, leaving Sonera as the st chance for survival. But just before her helpless friends could be sin, the solemn girl sprang into action.

  "Oooohh." Yrix cpped, using her Psionic gaze to feel Sonera's blinding rage. "Yes. Drink your fill. Evolve beyond their deepest fears."

  Using nothing but her own Psionic might, Sonera enveloped the rocky floor around her in fmes, illuminating the entire room as she began to spin on one leg. With both grace and ferocity, she performed a Sissonne jump before smming her heel down. The resulting explosion called forth a spiral of fme that split apart into several cones of unrelenting heat, each pursuing a different target.

  "Eek!" Li screamed, her fear of burns having not yet faded as Sonera's attack brushed past her, incinerating the invisible Vesper.

  The Canere turned its attention to Sonera, abandoning its attack on Lunae moments before she colpsed from exhaustion. Realizing the radiant girl wasn't quite yet finished, it prepared itself by raising every avaible tendril into the air as if preparing a cultic chant.

  Sonera recalled her torrent of fmes, coalescing their strength and searing heat into a single overcharged revolver. But just before she could unleash her attack and shatter the Canere's shield, it released a deafening scream that forced its way into the girl's minds, causing them to freeze in pce.

  "Ah!" Sonera released an unusually passionate scream, her Psionic powers fading away.

  Lunae was the first to break out of the spell, using her own Psionic screech to cancel the effects. But by the time she could reach out to Sonera, who was still thoroughly stunned, it was far too te. The Canere grabbed hold of the girl with its tendrils, smming her into the ceiling.

  It then began to choke the life out of Sonera.

  "Sonera!" Lunae screamed as Li y still in shock. "No!"

  Unwilling to accept her fate, Sonera stared the Canere down, fearless even till the end. But as the ceiling above her caved in, even she was startled.

  "Ivy!" Li jumped with joy, her Psionic gaze locking onto the girl long before her pale dress had even slipped into the corner of her eye. "Yipee!"

  With sheer luck and a bit of irony, the heiress and Rena had come crashing down onto the Canere, accompanied by a cluster of heavy boulders. Such a downheavel was, of course, not enough to disable the alien's defenses. But it was enough for Sonera to regain her composure and slice her way free with a radiant dagger.

  Ivy's body crumpled to the ground, followed by Rena's unconscious body as a sea of dust consumed them. The heiress wheezed, gasping for air as she began to suffocate. Confused and dazed, she nearly fainted alongside her would-be killer.

  "Gotcha!" Li zipped past both girls, bringing them out of the rubble and back towards Lunae, who had just barely recovered.

  "We are-." Li continued, grabbing Sonera before dumping her at the same rendezvous. "In this shit togethor."

  "Y-you," Ivy muttered as Li helped her onto her wobbling feet. "Li. I'm...sorry." She whispered in an almost inaudible voice.

  Li grinned smugly. "Hey, you're the one who rescued us with your fat ass breaking the ceiling."

  The heiress flicked the girl's nose in response. "Don't be a pest!"

  "What matters is that we're togethor." Lunae smiled, turning back towards the dust as it began to settle. "As we should be."

  And not a moment too soon, as a lumbering Dargen covered in gold armor burst through a nearby wall, just as soon as the Canere found its way around the rubble. A group of Psions and Xenquar followed close behind, surrounding the girls once again.

  "Pn?" Sonera dusted herself off as she turned towards Li.

  "Yea...I have a new one." Li smiled. "But we're gonna need Rena."

  "How so?" The heiress compined. "She tried to kill me! What could you possibly do to get her help!"

  "Uhhh." Li shrugged, unsure of how to process her feelings on the matter. "Ask nicely?"