Gaston had been in fights. He liked to hammer it inside his head like a nail that he didn’t enjoy. What kind of person enjoys it? Despite the natural strength that had formed inside of him. He did not find joy in it. There was no superiority.

He did not think of himself better than his peers. Perhaps it was all the discipline in the army that made him the way he was. Growing up into battle. Only knowing so little of the peaceful world. He had spent years fighting — what in God’s name he would want more?

Perhaps it’s because of this that he didn’t raise his hands so easily. The great power was so isolating that it took years to refine his control. Every enhanced human has always been talked to in disciplining their bodies for better control.

He had reached a level of control that allowed him to feel like he was just a human. Gaston wondered if thinking that way was arrogance by itself. But he just couldn’t fathom the thought of showing off his muscles or bragging about his feats.

That military discipline from childhood still holds him up. There were only a few people in this world who could convince him to let go of that chain. Janna was one of them. He liked telling her to keep that emotion beaten down like a dog. Janna listened because she knew what that rage was.

Seven years as a Freelancer. That seven years of partial freedom was something that Gaston had been enjoying. Ever since young when they got him and Janna to fight. Where they fought even as kids to help the peace around. It was not an unusual case when the split-realm era began. Many children became orphans.

And those orphans were recruited into becoming soldiers. Some of them became gifted, while the others became miserable, unable to keep up with their enhanced peers. Gaston and Janna were one of those average soldiers who showed nothing. It was only later that they realized that Gaston Hardy and Janna Forster were natural freaks.

In the current time and year they were considered obsolete by the breaker standards. But the years of training and discipline made them refine that deadliness into strength. For twelve years they fought hard for an old European alliance. And for twelve years Gaston and Janna made themselves as people who follow orders.

It was only after twelve years that they became free. They were freed to become assets to another organization. The United Earth Defense Force. Anti-Entity Task Force, and Otherside Research Institution. They have been doing work for these organizations. Janna had the knack so she was regularly becoming used to the internal politics of the UEDF’s council. Gaston was more suited to field duties so he became a ‘freelancer’ working for the other branches made by the Earth Defense Concord that allowed the rise of these organizations. Gaston had always tried not to fight. Who wouldn’t get sick of twelve years of fighting?

But he wasn’t a pacifist either. When the time comes he knows when to fight back. And Gaston knew when to stop holding back. He knew that his job was to manage the affairs of the Babaika Lions and the Earthside Consortium. For seven years he had worked as a Freelancer. There were only two times that made him feel like holding would be detrimental to his survival.

And as he stood in the battlefield. Gaston Hardy pulled on the slide of his multi-function weapon. The half-mask that he wore had fully covered his face.

Janna, who had been watching his back, stared at him. A trace of sadness covers her beautiful face. She looked at Gaston as if she found his look disturbing.

“I hate it when you look like this.”

Gaston didn’t reply. His exoskeleton made a humming sound as energy entered in his body. There was a layer of translucent glow on top of his skin. Static electricity ran across his clothes and made him spark. On his band the multi-function weapon that he was holding was releasing a solidified plasma in form of a blade.

Gaston took a step. He spotted a GOLIATH-class monster surrounded by SPAWNS. Then made a simple sweep of his plasma sword to cut the back of the GOLIATH in one swoop. A TYPE-3 monster tried to bite him, but he simply twisted his body mid-air and landed a kick on the monster, sending it down. The monster then met the sharp and heavy edge of Janna’s blade.

She wielded her buster sword as if it was weightless. Gaston fought like a maddened beast. They were defending Imperial Palace territory. It had been long since the battle started. They have been lost in battle. And yet there was no trace of exhaustion to Gaston and Janna. They weren’t the only ones who were doing well despite the hell around them.

The loud thunder of artillery, guns, and multi-function weapons. The smell of corpses mixing with the stench of gunpowder made it unbearable to walk without a respirator. Gaston shoved a TYPE-4 beast with his shoulder before landing his plasma sword on it. He spotted a FLYER sweeping the air. He pointed his left hand’s trigger finger at the beast and fired a beam of concentrated plasma at the head of it. One of the TYPE-5’s who were hiding fired a blast at him. Gaston pointed his palm at the beast and created a solidified plasma that he used to dodge out of the way. He pointed his MF-weapon at the beast and fired two rounds of concentrated plasma before Janna slammed her buster word on the monster. She pulled her sword out of the corpse and made a round sweep before leaping back to Gaston.

Gaston’s dark red electricity mixed with Janna’s blue electricity. The two leaned on each other’s back as they pointed their weapons at the horde of enemies. It was a Corps-sized STORMING event. They were surrounded and many districts were lost already.

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“Can you still fight?”

“I can. How about you?”

“Just say the word if you want to leave. This is beyond our pay grade. And even the Lions are starting to realize this surely.”

“So we’d be joining them, eh?”

“We will. But I doubt that the HELICARRIER CECIL will not act soon. You saw those harpoons already attached.”

Janna nodded. She swept her blade and blasted plasma in an arc. Gaston and Janna’s weapons were covered in plasma. And like Gaston she had fully worn her helmet. It had been long since the two wore theirs. Although they could endure the corrosion cause by the STORMING event and the field of ichor that was causing some of the soldiers to suffer. The helmet allowed them to fight freely.

Surrounded by monsters. The two showed their fangs and made their way to one of the defensive points. Some of the soldiers were already on their last breath. The rest of the Lancer Units who survived were slowly being drained of their enemy. The bioenergy shielding and supply in their generators were going to be empty.

“This is Ayumi.”

Gaston heard a channel static. He pressed on his ear.

“I am hoping for your assistance, Adjutant Hardy.”

Her voice was low and frail. Gaston switched from audio to video and saw her face. Miss Ayumi seems to have aged fifteen years since the last time he saw her. There was swelling around her neck. The emergency medical tubes connected to her back made her tragic to look at. Behind there were warning signs that said that the compartment she was in was compromised.

“I need you to bring down the generators that are connected to the defense grids. I know that it won’t do anything, but it should lessen the burden on that area. I apologize that I could not do more, Adjutant.”

“You did well, Miss Ayumi.”

“Thank you. I do apologize that your effort back then to save me would go to waste.”

“No, it’s not a waste, Ma’am.”

There was a brief silence.

“I do not want to die, Adjutant.”

She let it slip.

“No one wants to die, Ma’am.”

“Yes… that’s right. I’m sorry for showing such unprofessional sight.”

She is afraid. Her eyes were trembling. She knew what was going to happen to her. But Gaston guessed that she was more afraid of what may happen to her country than her life. She wanted to give more than she could to the point that it was killing her. The amount of stress that she must be having just to keep up. Even with artificial intelligence. The defense grid was designed around a human controller who cannot be compromised. And now that the defense grids were mostly downed. Gaston could guess that in order to keep awake she has been injected with all forms of drugs.

A flawed system. But nonetheless one that allowed her to last long. Whether she’d die of monsters or the stress. Gaston thought that he wouldn’t know.

“May you have good fortune, Ma’am.”

Miss Ayumi switched off her channel. Gaston subdued his emotions and pointed his focus on the marks. He began sprinting. His limbs emit dark red electricity as he moves in high-speeds through the field. Behind him, Janna followed while swinging her buster sword.

Gaston arrived at one of the generators that Ayumi mentioned. He raised his sword and slashed vertically. With one of the generators down he moved to another. There were enemies who tried to kill them. But they were simply cut off by Gaston or cleaved in half by Janna.

Moving from one point to another. The two disabled the defense grid generators. With the defense grid down the two moved back to the defense points. Gaston halted his step and spotted the Rook Squad and the others bunkering down.

It was then that Gaston looked up and decided to turn his bio-shield generator to max power and took cover with Janna just near where the Rook Squad took cover. An air-shattering explosion. All the floodlights went out and every vehicle in the radius halted as they brought out their shields.

When the dust was cleared there was another crater. Gaston checked on the area and found that most of the monsters that survived were those who had tough scales or had produced a bioshield around their bodies.

With the monsters lessened. The allied units in the area fought harder. There were only a few of them left, and most of the forces spread thin. This was the best they could do.

But as they charged forward, Gaston saw a familiar figure flying above the air raising what seemed like a staff. The figure was about to raise its staff when a clean shot went through the stomach of the figure. Gaston thought for a moment that was going to be it. But the figure who was floating got unclothed. On his body were life-support implants.

Then the figure continued to raise its staff upward. Then there was just a click. Gaston saw the bioenergy levels rise to the top of the scale. He felt the SPARTICLE levels around him become strong enough to make the world tremble.

“This is SPARROW. Detecting Split-realm tears. I repeat. There is a split-realm tear. All ground units are to evacuate and bunker down. I repeat there is a split-realm tear- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-”

Gaston unconsciously moved to Janna as the ball of condensed energy dangerously expanded everywhere. The soldiers who were outside of the bioshields simply mutated into that of a belua before them. Some became puddles of flesh. The rest became monsters who welcomed the expanding energy that became the second sun in the field.

Then a loud gunshot noise dispelled the silence for a moment.

Gaston turned to where the shot came from and then spotted the figure in the sky with its head blown apart. And yet even so there was no stopping the energy that was released.