A cluster of parasites screeched upward, their twisted forms lunging through the air.
The mech's cannons flared.
Green light ripped across the sky.
The creatures burst apart in wet, glowing sprays, their remains dissolving into drifting mist. Silence followed, heavy, unnatural.
Inside the cockpit, Lionice panted, sweat soaking his brow. His hands trembled around the controls, knuckles white, breath ragged. His blue Abi flickering aroundhis tourso
Singway sat beside him, her expression tight with worry. Slowly, carefully, she reached over and placed her hand over his.
"It's okay," she said softly.
Lionice flinched and pulled away.
"No... it's not," he snapped, voice cracking. "They're all dead. And I ran. I ran like a coward."
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"Grinex told us to leave," Singway replied, her voice steady but strained.
"I know," Lionice said, jaw clenched. "But I could've helped. I should've helped."
LIONICE CURRENT ABI MAX 310%
"You couldn't," she said quietly. "That parasite woman... she wasn't someone we could fight. Your Abi barely reaches four hundred percent. Mine's even lower."
The words landed heavy.
Lionice exhaled sharply, the anger draining into something colder, heavier. Guilt.
Gibbons continued forward, flying low through the broken skyline, staying beneath the clouds to avoid detection. The city below was silent, too silent. No signals. No life. Just ruin.
Singway hugged her knees to her chest.
"You really think heading to the Zoner District is the right call?"
Lionice didn't hesitate. "It's the only place left. The shelters in the Animal Forest... they're gone. I know it. Those three weren't sent to hunt, they were sent to erase."
Singway swallowed hard, curling in on herself.
Halfway through their flight, a blip appeared on the scanner.
Then another.
Lionice leaned forward. "Wait... those readings—"
His eyes widened.
"Hidikai. And... Releyanda."
Gibbons descended, thrusters whining as it touched down amid shattered ground and drifting ash.
Hidikai stood there, hunched and breathing hard. One arm was melted beyond recognition, warped metal and scorched flesh fused together. Blood ran down his side, dripping onto the cracked earth.
Across his back, he carried Releyanda.
Her body hung limp, unconscious, her breathing shallow but steady.
Lionice stepped out of the cockpit, the world around him suddenly quiet.
He looked at Hidikai's ruined arm... then at Releyanda's unconcious.
No words came.
Hidikai met his eyes, defeated, exhausted, ashamed.
Lionice slowly reached out, placing a trembling hand on his shoulder.
That was all that needed to be said.
Above them, Gibbons hovered, scarred and flickering, as the survivors turned toward the distant lights of the Zoner District, uncertain if they were heading toward salvation... or something far worse.