Pushing down on the pedals the engine began to hum loudly as we exploded onward into the sky. Crashing through the roof of the hangar we ended up way above the school now gaining a view of what was going on below. The clawed Eidolon had still been fighting several other Revenants in the area but he was backed by four others. Gaining their attention and holding it long enough was the objective. I wasn't even sure I could take them all out at all. Aiming for the clawed one first I barreled downward toward him aiming the twin rifles downward. I guess he hadn't expected to have a hail of bullets dropping on top of him because he only raised his defenses after the first volley. I wanted to take him out first since he was doing the most damage to the ground troops.

As I continued to descend a warning alarm flashed in front of my eyes. Turning left I noticed a shell was headed straight for us. Pulling back on the control yokes I managed to stop us mid-flight and dodged to the side. There'd been a second enemy on the ground. It sported two cannons both aimed directly at us. It looked just as wicked as the clawed Eidolon though it looked completely different. A bipedal heavy-armament type and one with a giant horn.

Another warning flag popped up this time from above. As I looked up there'd been a black slender-looking Eidolon armed with a longsword coming down on top of us. "Talia, I'm giving you control of the remote weapons." Pulling back again on the control yokes we boosted backward and I aimed my rifle directly at the incoming Eidolon. It stopped midair and swung its blade horizontally at us but this time the blade seemed to separate into small blades now heading directly at us. Hearing Talia furiously typing in the back the notification of the remote weapons being active flashed. From the wings of Bahamut, six individual parts separated and began flying toward the small projectiles. Firing beams at the projectiles the remote weapons managed to intercept their trajectory.

"Not bad little boy," mused a woman's voice over the com line. "But you're forgetting something."

Another warning signal this time from below. Before I knew it something caught hold of Bahamut's legs. There were two floating arms dragging us down to the surface. Holstering one of the rifles I shoved Bahamut's fist straight into one of the arms. Focusing all of my energy I created a burst of white flames that blew a hole straight into the mechanized arm causing it to explode allowing me to get free.

The situation was getting worse by the minute. I managed to spot the fourth enemy which was another bipedal type. It had multiple limbs that could seemingly disconnect as the other arm retreated to its owner. Landing on school grounds wasn't the best idea but it was better than these guys shooting at the school. The Clawed Eidolon and the Whip Eidolon rushed me with a flurry of attacks. The only thing I could do is guard and retaliate where I could. Talia tried her best to keep the multi-armed and heavy artillery Eidolons at bay with the remote weapons but the longer the battle drew out the more of them she lost.

Andrew ended up being right, this was completely insane to even keep up with. On top of that, there was a fifth enemy somewhere that hadn't even shown its face yet.

"Where are you looking prey!?" The Clawed Eidolon bellowed as it rushed me again with sweeps from its claws. It was a rather crude-sounding guy. "Come on, aren't you supposed to be the great Solomon Xenthos!" From the right came the whip again and this time it managed to catch me long enough for the Clawed Eidolon to catch Bahamut straight in the abdomen.

The burning pain from the feedback caused me to scream and I tried my best to channel that all into anger. Before I could retaliate, however, two projectiles made an impact from the rear causing us to tumble forward but not before the Clawed Eidolon caught us again and slammed us into the main school building.

"Urgh... Are you alright Talia?"

"I'm alive for the most part," She responded. "We can't keep taking any more hits like that."

We'd been surrounded now. Each of the Eidolons now looking down on us, and to be fair, they more than earned it.

"That's quite enough," said another voice over the line. It'd been the very same voice I heard right before I fell unconscious." From above a single Eidolon appeared. It'd been the same one from the attack just a few days ago only now I could see it a lot better. Its blue armor shined brightly underneath the sun and I could feel the overwhelming malice in its gaze.

"My comrades... You have done a wonderful job displaying your overwhelming might. However, our objective is complete."

When I looked around I noticed the wreckage from the school. There were many dead Peacekeepers as well as the destroyed husks of a few Revenants around. I hoped I was able to save at least a few of them.

"Now then... Solomon, I do not know how you managed to return. But please surrender to us."

I knew it was a bit of a bad idea to openly communicate with the enemy. But I still needed to buy more time for the military to get here. "Talia put us on an open channel."

Though she was reluctant, Talia did as she was told. I tried my best to swallow the lump that was forming in my throat.

"I don't know who you are, but I'm not Solomon. If you've got what you've come for then leave."

There was a moment of silence after my answer. The seconds between my request and his answer were so excruciating I feared I might've made a mistake. Then a display appeared in front of me with the same symbol from my subconscious when I was talking to Solomon. The woman holding the world in her hand. Afterward, it changed, now displaying a live feed of a man with golden hair and deep blue eyes. His appearance was just as I remembered it. He smiled as he took a long look at me.

"So my brother truly is dead. He was so intelligent I thought he might've cloned himself. No one else could've possibly been using that Animus otherwise." He cleared his throat and sat up a little straighter in his seat.

"I apologize for how rude my subordinates were to you. They've been trained so well that they know how to quickly dispatch any enemy that comes their way. I'd like to make it up to you by at least introducing ourselves."

I didn't answer. The only thing to gain by talking to him now was time for reinforcements to arrive. I had to remain on guard in case they would pull a fast one on me.

"I am Lucian Fowl," the man continued. "Leader of the Arcana Order and one of the three ruling heads of Arcadia. I wish to welcome you into the Order as one of its new leaders."

Fighting Butch in the hallway, that's normal. Almost getting killed by the guy, ok maybe it's a little weird but it was predictable. Getting a big beam saber and using white flames, was a little out there but manageable. The crap this guy was spewing had been the most insane thing I heard all day.

"What makes you think I wanna join you after all you guys have done?" I spat, trying to make sense of everything. "You put my friends and family at risk and have tried to kill me."

The man shrugged his shoulders though he seemed to understand my gripes. "Well, Faux-Solomon, as it stands I have ceased my aggressions toward you. Given how you've referred to these lesser beings that taint our planet with their very existence as "friends and family" it stands to reason that you're just confused. You are an Arcadian. We are more your family than anyone on this planet."

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The term "lesser beings" struck a nerve so hard I had to stop myself from shooting him on the spot. "I need to buy more time," I kept thinking. "Firstly, the name is Soran," I corrected. "Secondly There's no way in hell I'd go along with anything you want me to. Especially since I know you're the one who killed Solomon."

Lucian rubbed and tapped a finger on his temple seeming frustrated with my response. "I know you must believe I am a monster," he said. "My past mistakes are my own and I'll admit that. But you are a new life. A new generation of Arcadian. I only ask that you join us so that we may rewrite the wrong I've committed." This time seemed different, his tone lowered as he spoke. "I wish to revive the Arcadian Empire by any means necessary... I do not wish to fight my new brother."

Alright, nope. I can't take any of this anymore. Not only was this guy insane he was calling me his brother. Solomon did say he modified my DNA to have some of his traits but I hoped I wasn't related to this guy. Looking past our enemies I spotted a large cruiser in the distance approaching the academy with an army behind it. I'd successfully bought enough time and now this guy was finished.

"Sorry... There's no way I'm going to join you. Besides your goose is cooked."

Lucian looked puzzled but then he turned to see the army approaching us. He sighed and his Eidolon turned back to face us once more. As he looked into the screen I could see he wasn't even looking at me anymore. "I sense the presence of another Marker... Is there another of our kind aboard with you? No... Wait... That's impossible."

His expression twisted into fury and before he seemed to lash out he took a few deep breaths. "It's no matter... All of the Markers will be in my possession soon enough. I will have you join us Soran. But first I must demonstrate the real power of the Markers."

The screen disappeared and his Eidolon began to ascend high above the school. I tried to advance to stop whatever it was he tried to do but two of his subordinates rushed us and pinned Bahamut to the building. He unlatched the rifle on his back and aimed it carefully at the approaching army. As I saw energy charging from the barrel I tried my best to shake loose from the grip of Lucian's subordinates.

"Stay still and peep the light show fake Solomon," spoke the Clawed Eidolon.

My heart sank as everything began to fade into the background and I heard a single click.

A spirling red beam fired from Lucian's rifle as it shot out toward the cruiser coming in and in an instant, every single fighter and revenant was wiped out. The cruiser itself exploded in midair and debris from the wreckage began falling onto the city below. All the while I could see exactly what happened. There'd been no energy coming from the rifle at all. At the center of Lucian's Eidolon, a massive amount of energy was being focused on the weapon. Lucian had destroyed an entire fleet of fighters and a cruiser with just his power alone.

As he turned back to face me I began to feel my entire body quake in fear. If anything made sense now, it was the fact he didn't want to fight me. I wasn't aware of his presence at all during the earlier fight meaning if he wanted to he could've shot us both out of the sky.

"Convinced of my motives now?" He asked as he descended to his original altitude. Admitting this now would only serve to put all of my eggs in the wrong basket. He'd just killed scores of soldiers without a moment's hesitation. That made him my enemy through and through.

Given my lack of response, this allowed him some time to think. Then he reestablished his live feed with me again. His smile though friendly, gave me the coldest chill I'd felt in my life. "Perhaps I was being too unreasonable... Asking you to abandon those you've known your entire life is asking a lot. Considering you have one with a Marker on board the Bahamut with you. I shall allow you to spare all the ones you care about. The ones with Markers will serve us better alive rather than dead."

Even though I could hear every word Lucian was saying. All I could feel was this sickening pit forming in my stomach. Something in me was crying out to take this guy holding me down out and rush him. But Talia was in Bahamut with me. There was no way I could put her in that much danger.

"No... That's my final answer..."

Lucian's smile faded and his gaze fell as he sighed seeming disappointed. "Well then... I guess this makes us enemies for now. Arjun... You may release him."

The Clawed Eidolon let go of us and fell back to his comrades. All of them except Lucian began to ascend into the sky. I wanted to believe that this had been it but the strongest of them hadn't started leaving yet. Lucian then aimed his rifle directly at us and began to charge energy once more. Every fiber of my being screamed in response to the coming danger and I wanted to dodge out of the way. But if that beam struck the school not only would everyone else's lives would be in danger, the school would fall from the skies killing thousands more. Furthermore, there was no way Bahamut's barrier would be able to hold against a beam like that. There was only one thing I probably could manage and it wasn't something I was going to like.

Keying in the ejection sequence I slammed the eject button for the co-pilot. A hatch behind us opened up and Talia's seat became encased in an Ether barrier. "Woah wait Soran!" She wouldn't be able to get another word out before being jettisoned out of Bahamut.

There was absolutely no way I could allow Talia to get killed along with me. I had to deflect the incoming beam or everyone was going to die. Concentrating all of my power I created several walls of flame to act as barriers. I didn't know if it could hold against that kind of firepower but I had to try. It could buy me a little time to try out one thing. Even though I had no idea if it would work I had to make the impossible possible.

"I hope you survive this," said Lucian. "I'd hate for you to die as easily as Solomon."

Lucian pulled the trigger and the beam fired. As it rapidly approached me it struck the barriers between us. Each barrier didn't last for more than a few seconds but it did give me enough time to gather more power. Throwing away the other rifle, flames erupted from Bahamut's hands and I tried making out the form of the beam saber that sat in front of me. As the final barrier broke I put all of my might into one swing. The beam saber disappeared and then reappeared in Bahamut's hands in the size of a three-story building. As both beams collided with each other Lucian's beam had been deflected soaring towards the sky now. The pressure from the beam was intense, I could hear the sound of warping metal all around me. I had to stand firm I couldn't falter. I had to keep reminding myself that if I failed here all of my friends... My family could die in an instant. Even though I was pushing against the beam as hard as I could Bahamut couldn't hold forever. Multiple warning signals were flagged and the entire cockpit began to flash red. Pulling back the yokes I pushed forward as hard as I could causing the boosters to go into overdrive.

The beam began to lose power but not before shredding through Bahamut's left and a portion of the torso. I'd lost the panoramic view and I could hear the Ether core shutting down due to catastrophic damage. The worst part about it all was seeing the beam so closely. It was the first time I'd felt an intense amount of heat. To my left, there'd been a gaping hole where a portion of the cockpit should've been and as I tried to reach out I'd felt nothing. My left arm had been completely erased by the beam. Blood stained the interior of Bahamut and it was all mine. Even though the beam finally stopped firing and the school didn't take too much damage. I'd succeeded in defending the school but at a high price. As I gazed outside of the opening of Bahamut I could see Lucian readying another shot and there was no way I could defend against it. Bahamut wasn't responding to any of my commands and even though I still had my sword I felt my stamina rapidly draining. Manifesting the sword like that must've taken a lot out of me.

The only thing that was keeping me awake was the adrenaline still pumping through my body. Yet, all I could do was wait for the end. Even though I did my best it wasn't enough.

Lucian fired again and as the beam descended my eyes shut tightly awaiting the end.

"You did good to hold out this long," a voice called out over the com line. Opening my eyes again a giant figure crashed down in front of me and a wall of light appeared before us. The beam had been completely deflected without breaking through. There'd been another Eidolon, one clad in white. It'd been as slender as the Whip Eidolon but it wielded a cutlass instead. From the large skirt armor attached to its waist, it drew a rifle and began firing at Lucian. The heavily armored Eidolon threw itself between the volley of beams as a shield generated around it.

"Lord Lucian... It appears the interlopers have arrived," said the pilot of the armored Eidolon. The others around them aimed their weapons at my mysterious benefactor.

Lucian lowered his rifle and held his hand up. "The Jeanne is here... Meaning that monster is close by... All units retreat. We have achieved our objective." A red light flashed from behind Lucian and his subordinates and it grew as it took on the form of a wormhole. They retreated one by one until only Lucian remained.

"Soran Xenthos... If you survive then come find me. I'll be looking for our brother."

Backing into the portal, Lucian's craft disappeared. I couldn't fight off the urge to sleep much longer. I'd felt relieved that I could at least protect the school long enough. So I thought maybe it was time to sleep. I'd been so tired. I knew I should've been feeling pain but there was nothing. I could only form one last thought, something that'd been on my mind since all of this started.

"I really hate being special..."