Standing beside a decrewed anti-ship cannon, Jack stood on the tip of his toes, groaning as he pushed up against the barrel of the weapon.

“There's gotta be a better way to do this,” Jack hissed whilst Ruby fought off an imperial mage officer attacking her with a scythe.

Finally the metal of the tungsten cannon began to groan, the barrel bending as Jack winced from the sparks from a nearby ricochet.

Just need to bend it a bit more!

Jack huffed, surveying the battlefield as his eyes picked up a flurry of cores.

Two greens, an indigo, a blue and several cyans. Imperial mages using flight gear to traverse towards him.

At least one named… and model four MECHFrame reinforcements.

Jack frowned, dealing with running infantrymen and awakened were one thing, but fighting a MECHFrame was another. While he could drop the air pressure and choke out soldiers at a whim, reaching into a full-sealed machine to attack the operator wasn't something he could quite do… yet.

There was also the problem of the machines initially being anti-demon weapons, constructs with armyrethium lined blades and heavy weaponry. If these were anything like Damocles, or Lovelace, Jack would be pressed.

Eight awakened and three mechs, Jack listed them off before his eyes settled in place on the blonde woman leading the charge.

“Colette…” The name leaving Jack's mouth as the bob-cut woman's armored boots touched the ground.

“Halt, under the wartime law, we offer you this one chance to surrender peacefully,” Colette said, the words that left her mouth stinging Jack in a way he wasn't accustomed.

Jack took in the mother of his child fully, at five-four, the knight was short and stocky with an athletic body honed by war with red armor that brandished her affiliation.

“After all these years, that's the first thing you say to me?” Jack said, his tone almost resigned as the mage officers and GEN IV MECHFrames spread out to flank him.

Blue. Jack noted, his eyes focused on Colette's core that was indicative of her hard work over the years.

“So am I to take it you won't surrender?”

“No. Not today,” Jack replied before turning his head to a nearby cyan core. “I would like some space to talk in private please.”

The mage opened his mouth to speak, yet all sound was drowned out as the wind began to pick up, the awakened nearby feeling their strength waning as Jack began siphoning them.

Immediately the MECHFrames reacted, shifting their weapons upon Jack as he closed his eyes.

Sahaqiel.

The ground exploded, a wind storm rising with Jack at its epicenter.

The MECHFrames were pushed back by the strength of his wind currents, the awakened sent scattered into the air as those aboard the Selfian air carriers observed Jack with awe.

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Wide-eyed, Colette could only gawk at the man floating from the ground, exuding power that shouldn't have been possible in a mana dampening field.

For the common mages, they could utilize their basic skills, conjure up mana barriers and release attacks to repel assailants but nothing like what Jack was doing!

Colette could feel the wind blowing past her like a stream, a raging ocean of air formed at a whim that made her simultaneously terrified and in awe.

Aboard the SIA: Fuck You Roland, Admiral Skirita rose from his command chair, watching with shaking eyes at the storm that had suddenly swelled up within the Roland lines.

“Admiral! The wind spike is threatening to pull us in!” Lieutenant Harper reported.

“Full throttle, pull us back six hundred yards and have General Oliva hold her assault,” Skirita commanded, pursing his lips as he tried to make sense of what was going on below.

Jack opened his eyes, the might of the wind at his beck and call, the energies swirling around him in a vortex of mixed mana as his body seemed to be overcome with the sensation of weightlessness.

A hurricane began to form, tropical level winds picking up with the energy of the two anti-army skills reacted to Jack's command.

Through Jack, Sahaqiel called, and nature answered, wiping away Roland cannons, and drowning out screams.

At the center of the storm, Jack stood before Colette, the two face to face for the first time.

“You can't win Colette, Roland is a lost cause,” Jack said, standing firm amidst the storm. “It's time to come home.”

“Is this what you think this is about?” Colette spat, drawing an armyrethium blade from her scabbard. “My allegiance is to House Light, not that shortsighted bastard. So long as they require, I shall be their stalwart blade. And nothing, not even you, will dissuade me from my duty as a knight.”

“Not even your daughter?” Jack glared, stepping towards Colette whose face twisted with rage. She swung her blade, striking Jack who didn't react to the weapon stuck in his collarbone. “Feel better?”

“Tch! What do you know?! Don't look at me like that! You filthy dimmie!” Colette hissed, ripping her weapon from Jack's body. “You were dead! Dead!”

Colette’s body hummed with lightning, the woman summoning a whip of manifested lightning, an impressive feat given the mana dampening field.

The knight went to swing, yet this time a black chain stopped her, Ruby appearing from behind and binding her wrist whilst Jack caught her blade.

“I’m here now,” Jack assured, his hand attempting to guide Colette to release her weapon. “Celeste's waiting for you.”

“No! You can't come back into my life after all these years! I forgot you! I left you behind, I gave her up so I wouldn't have to be reminded about what you did to me!” Colette spat, grinding her teeth as lightning sparked from her body.

“Did to you?” Jack replied, caught off guard by the outburst.

“You dimmie bastard! Did you forget? You twisted my mind! Made me fall in love with you and then-!”

“Colette…” Jack took the woman’s callous hands, holding them as Ruby disappeared. “I’m sorry. That's all I can say. You know I never intended this to happen. I never wanted to hurt you… I never wanted to hurt anyone… These powers, this strength. I never wanted this.”

Jack's eyes were downcast now, shoulders slumped as the pair stood there amidst the storm.

“How is she?” Colette whispered.

“She's doing well. She's going to school-”

Colette looked up, eyes wide with fear.

“-for an education to be something other than a soldier. Other than a killer like you and I,” Jack continued, this time getting to one knee. “Colette, you can be a part of our daughter's future. Be a part of-”

“I can't!” Colette snapped, freeing herself from Jack's grasp. “Not when the fate of House Light is at stake. Even if we surrendered we'd be assassinated, punished, hunted by the Bell familia for the crimes we committed. I won't allow my family to die.”

"Your family? Celeste is your family!" Jack spat, "She is your daughter who deserves a mother not rotting away in a dungeon or a corpse on a field!"

"You just don't get it," Colette raised her mana, “They gave me everything. Adopted a worthless girl like me and gave me purpose, gave me a home! I can't let them die! I won't! As a Knight of House Light, I will cut a path through any obstacle that stands in their way! Even you!”

Jack rose to his feet, “I see. I'm sorry Colette.”

"I... I have to do this, I..." Colette put on a fake smile, tears flowing from her face as she held her sword aloft, sparks radiating from her body. “Please protect my baby.”

“Goodnight Colette,” Jack sighed as he held his palm outstretched. “And forgive me for what I'm about to do.”