While Jack prepared to confront the group, Ryzen arrived at Barry's place of confinement with Amber and Kreuger.

"So, this is the place, right?" Kreuger wondered. "It's rather quiet, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is," Ryzen responded. I can sense energy signals inside the building. It must be a trap. Well, I already knew that.

"Oh, look! Reinforcements are coming!" Amber stated as she pointed down the block. Upon gazing in the direction, Ryzen and Kreuger noticed hoards of military vehicles approaching.

"Oh, great, a bunch of weaklings are showing up in an area with potential S-Class criminals," Kreuger sarcastically remarked. "How annoying..."

"Hey! That's not very nice!" Amber retorted. "They can be helpful in their way!"

"No, Amber...he's right," Ryzen said. The energy residues on the inside seem quite deadly to most. I'm not going to babysit these regular soldiers. "Let's hurry up and enter."

"Alright," Kreuger and Amber agreed. Without hesitation, the trio entered the abandoned building. Almost immediately, they were greeted by the restrained Barry.

"W-What!? Mr. Barry!" Amber called out as she stepped inside.

"Mmpf!!! Mmpf!!" Barry, whose mouth was covered by the duct tape, uttered muffled noises. He also frantically shook his head to the sides.

Before Amber could get close, Kreuger suddenly grabbed her left arm.

"W-What?" Amber uttered in surprise.

"You shouldn't hastily enter the building, ya moron," Kreuger advised. "Why don't you take a look around you first."

Listening to Kreuger, Amber gazed around. Much to her shock, Amber saw the trap Zack had left. The interior of the building was filled with tiny explosives, turning it into a makeshift minefield.

"W-What...is this!?" Amber uttered.

So, this is what they did, huh? Ryzen thought. How fun.

* * *

A few city blocks away, Nathan and the crew hid. They still occupied the armored vehicle Nathan had materialized to drive away, with Zack strangely looking through a pair of binoculars.

"Tch, why am I even entertaining this?" Nathan questioned. Of course, Lilith was his passenger princess, sitting in the passenger seat. "Instead of getting as far away as possible, you want to do this for some reason, Zack."

"Come on, Nathan. It is for the best," Zack responded. "We can't just waste precious explosives, you know."

"Tsk, of course, you're thinking of using them. At least we're in a military vehicle so we won't get annoyed by those troops in the distance," Nathan said. "Wait...are you thinking of using the explosives on them?"

"Wait...I think I see some people far better to use them on!" Zack responded.

"And who would that be?"

"Remember that guy who beat you up and stopped Jack from killing that Amber girl?" Zack asked. "Well, he's entering the house with two other soldiers."

Nathan's eyes widened from shock in response.

"Wait...are you sure it's that Ryzen guy?" Nathan questioned.

"He's the only one in the world with red rings around his pupils and strange glowing red spots on the right side of his face," Zack responded as he described Ryzen's physical attributes. "It's him, bro."

Silence filled the car as Nathan thought of what to do.

"Um...I-If we're going to...kill him...we should hurry up...with it," Olivia muttered. "Jack's...alone and...we need...to help him."

"I'll go with whatever you say, Nathan," Lilith assured.

"T-Thanks, Lilith...I guess," Nathan responded. Do we have to kill the Chief? He didn't do anything to me in particular. Nathan pondered. But this would be the chance to murder someone as powerful and annoying...as Ryzen. Sigh, if it comes to our survival...I'll do anything to protect Lilith.

"Sigh, do what you want," Nathan relented.

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"Nice," Zack simply said.

* * *

"I can't believe they'd boobie trap the place like this..." Amber remarked. "Even though poor Mr. Barry never done anything..."

"Hmm, how should we go about freeing him now?" Kreuger questioned. "It's going to be a pain in the--"

Amid Kreuger's statement, the trio noticed the explosives glowing in radiance.

"W-WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW!?" Amber yelled in extreme panic. "ARE THEY ACTIVATING!?"

All the explosives in the room began to glow, and so did the ones in Barry's mouth. They were so bright that the glow was visible through the duct tape on his mouth.

"Tch! Shit!" Kreuger uttered.

Well, damn. Ryzen internally stated.

BOOM!!!

In an instant, the building exploded. The yield of the explosion not only leveled property, trees, and vehicles but any military troops that were relatively close were destroyed. Of course, this resulted in immediate casualties and even more as the explosion affected multiple city blocks.

"W-What the hell was that!?" A soldier who witnessed the explosion from far away questioned. "Was that near to where the Chief's been kidnapped!?"

* * *

"Man, that was a beautiful firework..." Zack remarked as he relished in the destruction.

"Yeah, yeah...we're leaving now," Nathan stated as he started the vehicle. The spectacle of the explosion turned the heads of any surviving military troops, so Nathan used that opportunity and drove off.

Jack and Charles, I've done my part. You guys better make sure to do yours, too. Nathan thought as he drove. I'm not dragging myself too much into this. This is your fault, Jack.

* * *

Jack stood off with the Enlightenment Program's forces and waited for them to make their move.

"What? You buggers were talking big about killing me here and creating a grand performance or whatever," Jack commented with a smirk. He then went into his coat and took his durability negators out. Seeing this, everyone became alerted. "I don't know if you're getting cold feet, but I ain't waiting! I'll go full speed right off the bat and swiftly execute you, buggers!"

As Jack prepared to charge at them, Aiden instantly stooped and placed his hands on the ground. Jack dashed but almost immediately noticed something weird-he had lost his footing.

Huh? Did I trip? Jack wondered as he was plummeting to the ground. How the hell did I trip?

Simultaneously, Ariel charged at him. She had removed a katana that was sheathed behind her back. The broadsword didn't seem too out of the ordinary other than the blade having visible claw marks and the hilt decorated with what looked to be the fur of her dead partner, Shadow.

She sliced at him, but Jack parried with one of his dura-negs while falling. A strange occurrence happened after Jack blocked; Ariel's broadsword flashed blue and released seemingly blue energy in claw strikes.

Although it was one blade, it was like being swiped by a dog's claws.

Much to Jack's surprise, this left deep cuts in his chest and forearm. Jack couldn't counter-attack, as he immediately slipped and fell on his face after blocking.

"My, my! If it isn't the woman with the mutt I murdered!" Jack taunted as he looked up at Ariel. I got cut even after parrying!? "It looks like you've got something new!"

Ariel did not respond to him but looked down at him with pure hatred in her eyes.

Sariel took out several metallic Rubik's cubes from her combat suit and tossed them around the area. As Sariel's special eye began to cycle through different Roman numerals, the cubes quickly morphed into large turrets.

Jack, who healed himself from the wounds, tried to push himself back up. That was a futile attempt, however, as his hands he used for leverage, immediately slipped and caused him to fall again.

Huh, I can't get up. Jack pondered.

Although Jack was unaware of the fact, the cause was none other than Aiden, who removed the traction that Jack could form with the ground.

I never relied on this technique the last time we fought this monster. I was too prideful and never wanted to relegate myself to support. That stupid decision caused unfortunate casualties. Aiden thought. But I will not make that same mistake. I'm glad I have sustained all these serious injuries...because of that, I must be the support. If I have to do this the whole time to keep Jack from moving, then so be it!

"Well, if anything happens, there is that thing I got from Kreuger..." Aiden muttered to himself as he began to reminisce.

As Aiden reminisced, he recalled talking to Kreuger on the training grounds.

"Huh? What is this?" Aiden questioned as he held up a transparent vial with crimson liquid inside. "Why did you give me this?"

"I heard the instructors might use your technique to support them," Kreuger explained. "So it might be necessary."

"Huh?"

"It's unlikely that you will fight him, but if you do, Jack may want to kill you first," Kreuger continued. "I have created that liquid from my blood blessing. If you sustain lethal injuries, you can drink it, and your blood will quickly clot and stop you from dying of blood loss."

"Ugh! Gross! Why the hell would I even drink this?" Aiden questioned. "This is pretty much your blood, isn't it!?"

"Sigh, quit your damn crying and take it," Kreuger ordered as he rolled his eyes. "Who knows, it may save you from death."

"...Tch, whatever," Aiden relented.

* * *

As much as I felt jealous of Kreuger and Amber getting along, he's right. Aiden thought. If it'll help me keep fighting, I'll take anything to help Amber!

Sariel conjured another Rubik's cube, and it morphed into highly cyberpunk-looking boots around her feet. She charged in tandem with Ariel at Jack and delivered a powerful kick to his face as he lay on the ground.

This lifted Jack into the air and lined him up perfectly for another slash attack by Ariel. Three claw-like slashes appeared on his chest due to the strange attribute of her broadsword.

"Cough*, Haha," Jack laughed after coughing from the attacks. Not only did Ariel's sword damage him again, but even Sariel's kick caused slight bruising on his face.

Jack had no time to counter-attack again, as he slipped and fell on his ass.

Hehe, whatever these buggers are doing...it's pretty freaking annoying. Jack thought.

"Good, excellent my soldiers! You've shown that you can help me with this performance!" Trixie commended. From her pack, a card floated out and went into the hands of Trixie. "For this grand performance...the destruction of the campus might occur. I've been dreaming of a performance like this since I was a kid!"

Hearing this, the soldiers looked at her with frowns and cringing expressions.

"...Heh, you sound pretty insane, love," Jack commented as he stared at Trixie. A smirk formed on his expression after making that remark. "Not that it's a bad thing."