“Gah…” Jack let out, clutching his left eye while down on one knee as his blood dripped upon the ruined paved road beneath him.

Before Jack, was the shadow knight, standing tall despite almost half his body missing. However, contrary to Jack’s expectations, the knight wasn't facing him, but rather away, his back turned to Jack to take on the brunt of Excalibur’s unique properties that had melded with Roland's anti-army skill to cut through Jack’s and Sahaqiel's hurricane.

The knight wrapped in black turned his head slowly, clearly struggling with such a simple movement until his green eyes settled on Jack.

“H-h-hey... kiddo,” Mike shakily said, Roland’s attack shaving off the helmet he wore that obscured his face, revealing to Jack the specter he had been fighting against all this time was…

“M-mike?” Jack whispered incredulously, his eyes shaking as his uncle smiled with crimson ichor flowing freely from his lips.

“I’m so proud of you,” Mike whispered before hitting the ground with a loud thud that seemed to echo in Jack’s mind.

“Mike?” Jack whimpered, his head cocked to the side, disbelief in his voice as his lips quivered.

Away from Jack, almost a yard, Roland faired no better, the man’s enchanted gear ruined as he lay imbedded in the earth.

“MIKE?!” Jack screamed, falling to the side before rapidly crawling over to the body despite his healing disrupted by Excalibur and his shoulder bleeding profusely. “No! Nonononono!”

Jack turned the man over, his lifeless eyes gazing out to nowhere as Jack reached down, his first instinct to drain the man to try and-

“No,” Sahaqiel said, she and Lilith materializing along with Ruby to stop Jack from attempting to take Mike’s soul.

“No?” Jack whispered, “NO?! Sara! H-h-HE- I-!”

“Your body can’t handle another ego!” Sahaqiel reasoned, the tears flowing from her face reflecting Jacl’s emotions, “Any attempt like this would shatter everything we’ve done to repair your core. It would kill us, worse! It could turn us into a nest! STOP!”

Jack attempted it anyway, yet despite his hand placed down on Mike’s chest, Gehenna didn’t answer his will.

“Did you forget where your power comes from?” Lilith shook her head as her hand, Sahaqiel’s hand, and even Ruby’s latching onto Jack’s body to pull him away.

“B-b-but-How? Why? WHY?!” Jack could only scream, the shock of his uncle's death to-

The vibration of heavy machinery landing nearby took Jack’s attention.

It was the Damocles, Tangerine’s mechframe cutting through the Solarius’s valkyrie force to land beside Jack.

“It, it is time to go sir,” Tangerine said, the black armored mechframe scooping up Jack in its massive metal hands who was too comatose to react. “Packaged secured, egressing to friendly lines.”

The boosters of the mechframe ignited it, its metal chassis ascending into the air with its CIWs engaging in all directions to repel the Valkyrie pilots attempting to intercept it.

However, against his new type of machine, one of pilot melded with AI and metal, the mechframes of old were akin to relics, their machines falling short against the pinnacle of Selfian titan technology.

-Sir. Five GEN-3 and Two GEN-4s have us locked on- Damocles reported as Tangerine’s hands danced across the controls of his mechfame. He didn’t actually need the AI’s report, it already told him what the sensors on his mechframe fed him, still, its voice was a comforting reminder that despite being surrounded three-dimensionally, he wasn’t alone.

“Deploy chaff,” Tangerine ordered, shifting his flight gear to avoid the incendiary hail of bullets tracking his machine.

Flare after flare fired from Tangerine’s mech, the strips of metal confusing the missiles that detonated upon reaching proximity.

Tangerine’s eyes darted to his HUD, with his hands occupied protecting the King Consort, he was left with only the two Close in defense weapons mounted on his back and the rocket systems attached to his thigh and shoulders. Still, this didn’t mean he was done for, the Damocles was more than enough to handle relics of the past.

“Shields to rear and prepare FFBC,” Tangerine ordered, the Damocles routing power from its auxiliary obsifitor generators to the Forward Facing Beam Cannon mounted on its chest, a weapon that would momentarily deplete his reserve energy.

-Sir, if I may, shouldn’t we use that energy to boost our flightpack speed?- Damocles inquired as Tangerine maneuvered himself in front of the pack of mechframe pilots.

“No, the more High Table bastards we eliminate now, the less that will chase us,” Tangerine replied, shooting down the AI’s suggestion as his console beeped green while flashing a yellow color to indicate heavy shield damage.

Despite being in lesser machines, the Valkyries lived up to their namesake, however, in the face of overwhelming power, they, just like any other soldier on the field, would die.

The young pilot reached down, flipping the ignition switch for the beam channels that made his Mechframe glow, the obsifitor particles a byproduct of his machine harnessing mana to supercharge the Cintelli-tech in his chest.

-Bogeys locked-

Tangerine narrowed his eyes, turning his controls to pivot his machine into a full one-eighty. “Fire.”

Noticing the influx of energy, Tangerine’s pursuers attempted to break off, a valiant action if not for the fact that despite being called a beam, the FFBC was less like a beam and more of a wave, unleashing a wide-range pulse of energy that simultaneously damaged the mechs and shut down their systems from the EM damage.

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-Tracking. Seven titan class enemies disabled and falling.- Damocles reported as Tangerine pivoted to take the King Consort away to report to Queen Selfia commanding from the ruins of her flagship.

“Damocles, what is the state of Angel?” Selfia demanded over the sound of disarray.

“Injured but stable,” Tangerine reported, his eyes down cast at the ruins of the city below. What remained of it at least.

“Good, the Solarus is chewing up our fleet, link up with admiral-” Selfia began but her voice was lost to Tangerine as his entire world shook.

“What?!” Tangerine shouted, alarmed as the Transpo-screen of his cockpit flickered.

-Contact! Beam rifle three hundred meters bearing forty six degrees-

“I see it!” Tangerine spat, eyes wide and glaring at the wolf-like MECHFrame soaring through the air that his sensor systems were struggling to lock onto.

The young pilot didn't need his system to register the MECHFrame as a Named, he knew its name, the same machine that had slaughtered his companions.

“KHLOROS!” Tangerine roared, his heart rate spiking so rapidly his cockpit began to flash with red lights.

Immediately the barrels of his weapons spun, the CIWs opening fire with thousands of black-tipped rounds trailing behind the mech whose erratic movements made it hard to track.

Tangerine grit his teeth, almost moving the Damocles’s arm to draw its sword. However, his package was in his palms, and judging how the man wasn't moving, Jack wouldn't be helpful.

-Sir, the Khloros is deploying drones-

“I can see that!” Tangerine replied, maneuvering his forty-ton machine away from the streams of criss-crossing black beams that coated his surroundings.

The cockpit shook, a slight graze.

-Shields at 75%

-Left bicep, minor damage.

A slight graze and it was enough to cut through the barrier that protected his mech.

Tangerine clicked his teeth, flipping switches to send all spare energy not used for his shields towards his flight gear.

“Split power between shield and boost, calculate a route to allied guns and-!” Tangerine ordered, activating the thrusters on his chest to air dash back from the gold plated claws that warped his shields.

“Damn it!” The Damocles shot upwards, soaring into the sky with the howling Khloros nipping at his heels.

As much as Tangerine didn't want to, he needed to get away, he couldn't fight the pilot with his hands metaphorically tied behind his back.

“How the hell is that thing faster than me?! Divert all power to forward shields!” Tangerine spat, cutting his engines and abruptly reversing to put himself behind the black machine.

Tangerine reached down, disengaging the lock on off his missile pods and opening fire point blank, allowing the resulting explosion to give him distance.

“Thrust! Thrust! Thrust!” Tangerine yelled, twisting his machines body to realign his thruster to a-

The Damocles lurched, alarms blaring as gold talons reached out and raked its back, sending a shooting pain through Tangerine’s mind.

-Warning! Flight System severely damaged.

Damocles was tumbling, free falling through the sky with Tangerine screaming with rage as the beastial machine latched on.

Tangerine’s eyes pulsed, his skin growing goosebumps as his mind was invaded by emotions not his own.

The enemy pilot was just like him, a GEN5 pilot equipped with a Syn system.

Jack.

The singular name ran through his mind, the word transmitted between the two mechs that filled Tangerine with hateful rage.

“Khloros! KHLOROS! KHLOROS!!!” Tangerine began screaming, his words laced with madness as he began yelling out the name of his attacker attempting to pry open the Damocles's hands to get at its prize.

Immediately his CIWs moved to open fire, yet the Khloros made short work of them using the serrated teeth of its wolf-like head to tear into the machiary from the Damocles.

-Sir! We're reaching terminal velocity!

“ARRRRGH!” Tangerine screamed, yanking his MECHFrame controls to the left and activating his hip and leg thrusters to flip the wolf-frame from above him to below him. “CUT SHIELDS! OVERLOAD ALL POWER TO THE FFBC!”

Damocles hesitated for a moment, the safeguard protocols running the odds of pilot safety.

“NOW!”

The Khloros’s wolf-like head opened again, biting into The Damocles’s shoulder as its chest opened up.

Damocles lifted its hands, the groan of metal against metal audible in Tangerine’s cockpit as the enemy attempted to rip his hands off in some fervor that was borderline suicidal.

“This is for Diane!!” Tangerine spat, slamming his hand down on his console that glowed green.

The enemy mech released a sickly scream, shouting as the FFBC opened fire point-blank and separated the two mechs just before they hit the ground.

Tangerine gnashed his teeth, his titanium coffin rattling as green inflatable airbags deployed, smacking him from every angle in an attempt to preserve his life.

“GAH!” Tangerine gasped, vision pulsing, breath heavy, his heart beat so loud he could only hear the singular name echoing in his mind.

Khloros.

Despite his HUD displaying multiple broken ribs, fractures, and possible concussion, Tangerine quickly took hold of the Damocles' controls, piloting it to pull itself from the dirt to face his damaged archenemy.

-Tangerine! Shields are offline and our main reactor is damaged, I suggest we-

Tangerine silenced the AI, instead unleashing a roar of rage as he charged the enemy MECHFrame still struggling to rise from its crater and recover from the EM blast.

Noticing the Damocles at full sprint, a multitude of the Khloros’s drones moved to intercept, firing beam after beam at the machine that charged through the barrage.

Damocles tackled the Khloros, pinning it to the ground and causing it to roar at the indignation. It moved its arms, talons attempted to rack Tangerine's mech but Tangerine expected the reaction and managed to grab both arms before placing the Damocles’s foot squarely onto the Khloros’s chest.

“DIE!” Tangerine yelled, pulling at the Khloros's arms until they broke free and allowed him to wrap his mech’s hands around the enemy titan's maw and chest.

Then he squeezed his palm, the action causing the Damocles to tear off the metal door of the cockpit to reveal the enemy within.

Wasting no time Tangerine hit the cockpit release, opening the hatch of his MECHFrame much to his AI’s dismay.

Tangerine fell out of his mech, landing atop the Khloros with an audible yelp of pain before scurrying to face the enemy pilot with gun in hand.

Reaching the cockpit, Tangerine could see his prey, a green-haired girl, not even a teenager strapped to a litany of wires, machines, and fleshy tendrils that ran along her convulsing body marred by patterns of black veins.

Tangerine recoiled, the innards of the machine more than he'd expected.

“Jack!” The pilot let out, her face obscured by the mechanical black mask attached to her face.

Tangerine raised his sidearm, barrel pointed at the thing that lay writhing in the cockpit akin to a nest’s home.

“For my friends,” Tangerine spat just as the girl whispered, “Help me.”

*Bang*

“Huh?”

Suddenly Tangerine was falling to the side, his worldview sideways as his body hit the smooth carapace of the Khloros and slid off the mech.

Jack lowered his gun, his eyes wide before scrambling to the Khloros’s cockpit where his sister lay.