Mom tried her best to contact anyone outside of the academy to no avail. Seeing a glint of frustration in her eyes told me so. Kat worked fervently to try and get visual contact with whatever was coming towards the school but none of her surveillance devices were working either. While they were busy pulled the curtains over another cot and swapped my robe for my jacket. The situation became direr as the seconds passed. As far as I knew, Kat's surveillance equipment was the best of the best. Whatever enemy was at our doorstep they weren't going to be easy to deal with. Then the first explosion came. The entire school rocked violently to the left before becoming still. Then two more explosions boomed in the distance with more aftershocks following. As I looked out of the window I could see Peacekeeper forces rushing out of the doors of the school. Revenants arose from platforms along the schoolyard armed to the teeth.

As soon as the Peacekeeper force mobilized a large black mech crashed down onto the yard. It swiftly tore through the Revenant with its claws killing the pilot in the process. Then it quickly spun around slamming the destroyed Revenant into its comrades. As it stood, holding the destroyed cockpit of its prey it began to scan around. As far as I could tell it wasn't a Revenant. A reverse-jointed close-quarters type and from the looks of it, it was an Eidolon.

"Kat... I'll need to use it," I said. I hadn't noticed that Kat and my Mother had seen the same thing I did, which was going to complicate what I had to do at this moment.

"I don't know if it will be ready," Kat answered. "I still need to correct some of the errors in the OS."

"I think I might know someone who will be glad to do so."

"You two aren't serious," Mom interrupted. "This place is a warzone we need to evacuate as soon as possible."

She tried grabbing my hand but I snatched myself away. "I'm sorry Mom. The Peacekeepers won't last long without some backup."

"So it has to be you? Donnell is here there's no way the military will allow the academy to be attacked without swift retaliation!"

Kat placed her hand on my Mom's shoulder. She seemed to calm down though her anger began to turn into tears. "You can't get hurt again..."

I knew I couldn't promise her that since I didn't know what kind of enemy I was up against. But I had to at least reassure her in some way. "Look, the military probably won't arrive in time for us to survive," I said. If they attack the academy for long enough it could fall causing more casualties than just us. I need to buy us some time. I need you to let me do this."

Mom tried to hold in her sobbing but almost couldn't. She wiped her tears and then placed a hand on my cheek. "Don't go too far ok... As a Mother, I can't allow my child to go too far."

I nodded and then headed for the door. "Wait," Kat called out as she tossed me something. Catching it I gave it a look only to see it was a small external drive. "Whoever you're getting to fix the OS, they'll need that."

"Thanks... Get to a shelter you two. I'll be back..."

Bolting out of the infirmary there was one person I had to find before I could go back to the hangar. I'd passed by many students who'd been rushing toward the evacuation center. A lot of them were telling me "Turn around" or "The evac center is this way." I had to ignore them and the explosions going on outside. As I arrived in the main atrium I spotted Andrew carrying something wrapped in a cloth.

"You Soran," Andrew called out. "The hell are you doing man we have to evacuate."

"Sorry man, no can do. Whoever these jerks are if they destroy the floatation system of the school the entire place is coming down."

"Ah crap, that doesn't sound good at all."

"Right, meaning someone has to distract them long enough for backup to arrive. You've seen Talia?"

Andrew looked confused for a moment, but he nodded and pointed toward the west wing. "She went to the Revenant hangar with the others. The Peacekeepers needed some volunteers."

"Alright... Get to the others and evacuate. I'm going to buy you guys time."

"You crazy, I saw one of those things cut a Revenant to ribbons. You think you can take them on?"

Andrew didn't know the full extent of my plan. I'd have to tell him everything once it was all over. "Look... I'll explain everything when I see you again. But you have to trust me."

Seeing the desperation in my eyes Andrew responded with a nod. He held his fist out and I tapped mine against his. Turning around I started running toward the west wing when I heard Andrew call out to me again. As I turned my reflexes kicked in and I caught the cloth item he had. "You may need that. Minerva managed to get it for you."

Unwrapping the item I was shocked to even see it. It'd been the same beam saber I'd used to kill Butch. "None of us could get it to work," continued Andrew. "Maybe it was meant for you."

Andrew turned around heading to the evac center. As I made my way through the west wing, portions of the building began to crumble above me. Tightly gripping the sword its blade flickered to life allowing me to use it to cut apart any debris that was coming down on top of me. As I reached the Ghost hangar, I found the door blocked by a pile of rubble. There wouldn't be time to use the locker room doors and the debris was probably too heavy for me to move. So it might have been time for the unconventional approach.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Gripping my weapon I focused on it just enough to ignite white flames from its blade. Raising it high I swung downward cutting through most of the debris as well as melting anything that wasn't cut. The metal seemed to liquefy a lot easier than I thought. Then I stabbed the blade into the door cutting a small rectangle into it and making an opening. As soon as I could get in I was greeted by two gunshots. Luckily my flames were still lit so the two shots burned away.

"Hold your fire! It's just Xenthos!" I heard a voice command. It was the Instructor.

"Soran?" I heard Talia call from in the back. "What are you doing here?

"She came from behind Bargest almost tripping over some tools. Even though I wanted to rush and give her a hug I had to quell my relief over her safety. "Look there's no time to explain," I said mainly addressing everyone. "All of you need to get to the evac center asap. We got enemy Eidolons attacking the school." Everyone began to panic until the Instructor clapped her hands so loud I was afraid she might knock over a few things.

"Everyone quit your yammerin', The time you lot are spending pissin' yer pants is the time ya could be spending getting the hell out of here!"

That got them all to listen. As the other students evacuated the Instructor held up her thumb while wishing me good luck. All that remained were Talia and me.

"So what's up So-So? What kind of insane plan have you concocted to beat Eidolons?"

"I think I'm about to make all of your wildest dreams come true." I handed her the drive and headed over to Barghest's terminal. Keying in a few codes the terminal changed showing the words "Hatch opening." Barghest's platform slowly rose from the floor a few inches and moved to the right revealing a hidden hangar underneath.

"Well crud," Talia blurted out. "Looks like you've been keeping secrets again."

"Well yeah but trust me you'll like it. My Dad hid this here after the Economic War several years ago."

The sound of gears echoed through the room as a platform beneath the space began to rise. A giant visor-type head arose from the ground along with the rest of the hidden mech. Its slim body would make one think it wasn't heavily armored. In its clawed hands, it carried twin firearms. It also sported a tail unit and wings each having its uses. Its demonic form exuded an air of unchecked power.

"T-This... This is the Red Beast," Talia exclaimed. "How in the hell is the Red Beast here?"

As I lowered the platform down I dug out a secondary seat from under a pile of discarded tools. Taking it to the platform I turned to Talia.

"It's because this was the craft I was found in as a kid. You're looking at the first Eidolon."

Talia's eyes sparkled with so much glee I thought they were going to flash me. She then held out the drive and took a moment to examine it. "Is that what this is for?"

"Since you've been studying Ghosts for a long time I thought you'd be able to figure out what Kat couldn't. Hop on." Talia stepped onto the platform and it rose until it reached the chest of the Eidolon. The armor opened revealing a small opening in the chest. The cockpit of an Eidolon was nothing like a Revenant. There was far more room inside which is why I'd grabbed the secondary seat. Hooking it up to the back of the pilot's seat I helped Talia up into it.

"Alrighty, what's the issue that needs fixing?"

Sitting down in the pilot's chair and began flipping switches and pressing buttons until the hatch closed. "There's a problem with the OS," I answered. "The last time it was used Kat had to trick the security system into thinking my Dad was the pilot of the craft. It didn't work very well as you know."

Talia started working and as she began the Start-up sequence I heard her mumbling to herself until a long and understanding "oh" escaped her lips. "Did Dr. Machina ever encounter some strange symbols?"

I hadn't heard about them at all until now. Usually, Kat didn't like it if there was something she didn't know. "I'll take your silence as a no," Talia continued. "There seems to be a strange language even my U.A.D. can't translate... Ow... OW!"

Looking back I found Talia gripping her chest tightly. I was about to ask her what happened and if she was alright until I saw something strange. There was a strange aura around her and I could see something glowing even though she'd been covering her hands. It was a symbol with a robed woman carrying a lantern. On her robe, the number "9" appeared on her shoulder.

"Ugh... Crap that burned," Talia sighed. Her pain subsided as she returned to her senses.

"What was that about?" I asked even though I could probably guess.

"I don't know. Ever since all of that craziness went down in the arena, all of us have been feeling this burning sensation on parts of our bodies. Weirdly enough none of us can use our Esper abilities. Wait... That's really weird."

"What? Something else wrong?"

Talia shook her head. She ran her fingers across the screen she'd been looking at, then her eyes widened. "I can read this now... It says... This Animus can only be used by Solomon. All others will be purged."

It was a bit ironic that the phrase explained the entire situation while also opening up more questions along the way. But there was no more time to dither about since another explosion rocked the school again. Reaching for the back of my neck I began to peel a substance from the back of my neck. It was false skin that I used to hide a very particular implant. Leaning back I gripped the control yokes and continued the startup sequence. A wire connected to the implant in my neck and I braced myself for what came next.

A wave of information began to transmit directly into my brain and I could feel my head pounding so hard it felt like getting clocked in the head by Butch. Everything about the Eidolon was flooding my brain. Battle data, operation instructions, and even past battles. All of it was now in my head. A bit of blood began to trickle down my nose as I'd finally stop seizing from the connection.

The thing that made Eidolons so dangerous was the Animus System. It allowed a pilot to directly interface with the mechs via a hardline connection and nanomachines that are implanted in the pilots. Even an illiterate pilot could become a master with an Animus. It even allowed one to project their Esper abilities through their Eidolons and control the machine with nothing but pure thought. The control yokes and pedals were mainly for the weapon systems and thrusters. But for a great amount of power comes a hefty price. A Pilot and an Eidolon must be synchronized for normal operation meaning any damage my machine took, I was taking in the form of phantom pain.

The view within the cockpit changed. There'd been a panoramic view of everything around us. The HUD generated before my eyes meaning now the machine was ready to go. So far so good.

"The Startup sequence is complete Soran," said Talia. "Hopefully we'll survive this."

Hope wasn't going to get us far. We had to survive this, or else everyone else was dead.

"Is it time to go Solomon?"

I looked around for a moment. The voice wasn't Talia's and no one else had been nearby. It would've been crazy if it was what I thought it was. "Yeah... It's time to go.

"Soran Xenthos... Launching in the Bahamut.”