Rose's eyes traced through the air and matched the direction of the laser beam. At the end of her sight came a man standing upon a vehicle, watching and directing his army from a vantage point.

'Walker,' She thought as the beam slammed against an invisible mass.

Blue flickered and the air lit ablaze in that unique glow of mana. Two powers pushed against each other. Walker held his hand forward, rings twinkling, teeth gritted, and the air in front of him turned into a wall of condensed mana that blocked the advancement of the beam.

His suit of black flapped with the wind and his arm trembled at the pressure of the attack. In front of him, the air cracked at the contact point of the laser-beam, lines running like broken glass.

"Fuck," He cursed as the beam moved an inch closer to him and his eyes stared at the blinding light of blue. When in the hell did they get a weapon like that?

It wasn't exactly an attack that came from a turret like in the case of his now broken vehicles. No, the attack had a strange ability to slowly eat and pierce through mana. His hand quaked simply at the fact that his armaments, the three rings on his fingers, were being overloaded and could explode at any time. He was pushing the beam away from him. At the same time, he was also summoning mana down upon it to block its path and advancement. Finally, he was pulling it, counteractively, towards him—at-least a part of it in an effort to break it apart.

Yet, the high intense laser did not die out and did not lose its steam. When he narrowed his eyes, he noticed the revolving core at its center, a particular place where the blue was deeper and mana rolled around more chaotically. It was no wonder his armaments had no grounds to face it. It was an attack composed of mana, feeding on any mana. It was an attack, separate from the weapon it was shot from, that had a Mana Core of its own. He had never seen or heard of something like that before. And, as a slum lord, that was a dangerous fact.

'It's a test weapon.' With those ideas lined up, seeing no other shot coming his way, and knowing they wanted him dead fast, Paul Walker came to that conclusion. 'Alos gave them a beta-armament. No. Alpha at best.'

Paul Walker was no idiot. In fact, he was rather smart.

The city of Alos was a technological marvel. It was, without a doubt, the most technologically advanced city upon the planet—The Tower not included. If it wanted to test a yet-to-be-fully-developed-weapon, this 'small' skirmish was a perfect opportunity.

'Fighting with the support of a city and you call yourself a slum lord?' A tch fell from his lips.

In the distance, a good chunk of the slums was being destroyed as lightning and explosions moved about. He couldn't tell whether Brian or Liz was winning, all he knew was that none of his men had advanced upon the castle of iron and that blood and corpses littered the ground.

To add insult to injury. . .he now knew he had been betrayed. Where he failed, he didn't yet know.

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"Father!" Chase's yell brought Rose's attention back into her battle as her eyes zoomed out from the distance.

The water-dragon around him leapt to action. In seconds, its jaws opened and it crossed the air, racing towards the beam of mana in the distance.

Yet.

"I'm sorry."

A sword left its sheath and sliced as blue shuddered upon its edge.

The male with azure hair moved his arm in a speed incomparable to regular humans and completed a full, three point attack. A v with a line crossed through it was carved into the face of the dragon as the male's feet touched the ground.

The creature of water exploded into pure mana and Samuel looked forward, an armament with the ability to slice through mana, dispersing it, within his grasp.

"Keep him away from his father!" Samuel Gardner showed a rare moment of anxiousness. "Kill him before he can get to Walker!"

The sound of pulses teared through the air and blue rained towards Chase.

Anger crossed the young man's face.

"Why you—you ungrateful traitor!"

Water exploded from the ground and surrounded the boy in its cocoon., working around him and morphing into the head of a dragon.

"So, we're working together, now?" Elsa balked from within her mecha. Half-part surprised.

"Just shoot." Lilias said.

"Wow, we have quite a group here." Mare grinned.

At some point, the three figures now stood by Rose. The homunculus blinked her eyes then squinted them at her foe.

Lilias was the first to move.

She took her crimson swords and slashed without a word.

The familiar twin blues that once crossed the desert came into the world. Glowing as they sped forward.

Rose watched and sighed.

Her blade pierced into the ground.

She wasn't angry at the male but she desired to enter Alos. And, thus, her role was needed. There were no bad guys in war, only winners and losers. If he stood in her way, she would fight. And that fighting came all too easily for her as her core hummed.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, her desire aflame.

Rose pulled her burning sword from within the earth and slashed.

The cry of a phoenix rang across the battlefield.

A bird made of flames flew forward.

In seconds, it was behind the twin dragons made of mana.

"How dare you betray father?!"

The mouth of the water dragon chomped down with Chase's yell. It was as if his gear was powered by his devotion to his father.

Yet.

Lilias's twin-dragons exploded within, sending splashes into the air.

A gap was made and Rose's phoenix leapt within.

Steam filled the place and water rushed from Chase's sword, replacing the crumbling dragon. He couldn't move. If he moved, even momentarily, his weapon would lose access to the mana within the earth and he would burn from the flames that currently danced around and burned at his cocoon of water.

"Die, would you?" The dragonian pointed her crimson sword, mana rolling through its innards.

A beam of blue laser shot forwards.

Besides her, the sound of pulses rang as Elsa's mecha unloaded all it had.

"Traitor? I betrayed no one." Samuel slashed.

A net of vibrating mana followed after Elsa's bullets.

Watching that onslaught go, Rose merely slashed her weapon once more and a familiar bird's cry rung.

The crimson thing flew across the space.

Their attacks combined and, to no surprise, the boy was ripped apart. Mana exploded atop him, ripping through what little amount of water came to protect his figure. A net of mana blades passed through him, and a storm of pulses fell upon him. Then, flames consumed him.

His scream tore through the air.

"Y—y—tra—tors!"

No matter how strong a gear he had, it became nothing under such an assault. Rose could not burn through his water, but Lilias's explosion created a gap for everything else. He was merely a human that wielded a gear, not a dragonian, nor an homunculus. There was no natural healing for him and his body tore apart as Rose's phoenix devoured him.

"I'm sor. . .failed you. . .er."

A fog of white clouded the area as his water became steam.

His battered body crashed down.

He was dead.

His last words incomprehensible.