Out of the corner of my eye, I see a mass of gray approaching me at insane speeds. I duck just in time, the gray mass so close I could feel the object graze my hair. It slams into a nearby frost oak, embedding itself at its base. A metal spike? It has to be as long as me and a foot or so wide at its thickest. If that had hit me, I would have been pulverized.

I look in the direction it came from and grimace. It's a Turt. Fifteen to twenty feet long and maybe ten to fifteen feet tall. It looks just like a tortoise, but all its skin is covered in metal plating, and its Shell is made up of massive spikes. Two blade-like tusks stick out from its bottom jaw, extending at least three to four feet into the air. Zack throws his spear at its head, and the weapon bounces off it harmlessly. The creature roars and swings its tail at Zack, who nimbly dodges as it slams into the ice, cracking it and sending ice shards everywhere.

I run up to Hearon as he bangs his hammer against his shield, "Over here." The Turt swings its massive head in the direction of the noise, black eyes burning with fury. The monster opens its maw, and Hearon slams his shield into the ice, spikes unsheathing along each side of the metal wall. With a loud clank, each edge of the shield falls off, slamming into the ice.

"Get behind me!" He yells at me. Without another word, I dive behind his imposing frame as a screeching can be heard, like metal grinding against metal. With a loud bang, something slams against the shield. Hearon slides back several feet and takes me with him, massive gouges appearing in the ice from the spikes embedded within. I peek over his shoulder to see the same spike that almost killed me lying on the ice, steaming.

"Holy shit." I shudder. Such destructive force. Azu yells something to Zack from her perch on one of the ice pillars. I can't hear what she says as another spike embeds itself just below her spot at a speed I can barely see, completely blowing it off in a shower of ice and powder. She lands gracefully behind me, a bow in her hands.

"This thing is super aggressive, something must have pissed it off." Silo flashes through my mind. The two events are convenient. It's almost too convenient.

"How do we kill it?" I ask as another spike blows up a frost oak near us.

She shakes her head, "With our current ability, it'll be difficult. The weakest point is the underbelly. So much energy is provided to create the spikes on the Shell that the underbelly must be sacrificed." She frowned, "But we do not have the leverage to lift it, nor the firepower to blow it up from the inside. Not unless Zack takes this seriously."

Zack laughs maniacally in the background, the Turt roaring in response. Guess he won't be taking it seriously. We need leverage. I finger my sword's hilt. Maybe that could work.

I tap Hearon on the shoulder. He grunts but doesn't look away from the beast as it fires a spike at Zack, who causally paries it into the ground, ice exploding everywhere, "I need you to throw me."

This catches his attention, "What?"

"Trust me, throw me over the left or right side of the Shell. I have an idea on how we can flip that living soup bowl."

"Want to share with the class," He replies.

"We don't have time." Hearon and Azu share a glance before he nods. Without a word, Azu makes a beeline for Zack, firing several arrows at the Turt's eyes.

"Alright kid, run onto my shield." He turns to me and slants his shield. He's going to boost me. I take a deep breath. If I can't fight these things head-on, I'll need to find alternative ways to kill them. Nebula slides out of the sheath. Alright, sword, please let this work. I run onto Hearon's shield, and with a grunt, he rises, boosting me way higher than I had anticipated. I've got to be a good thirty or forty feet high.

I sail over the turtle-like monster and, with as stable hands as I can muster, point my sword down at it. As I cross over its center to the right side, I release the weapon. "Nebula, get as light as air," I murmur to it.

I release the sword just over the creature's right edge, and to my surprise, the sword floats, not moving an inch. I grin as I feel a massive sense of accomplishment, but that is soon drowned out by gravity. With a yelp, I fall toward the hard, ice-covered ground. Maybe I should have thought this through first. Just as I'm about to slam face-first into the ground, Zack catches me princess-style, my terrified face staring back at me in the reflection of the ice.

Zack drops me and deflects another spike, the sound of his spear and the spike letting out a massive metallic bang. I stand wobbly, my ears ringing.

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"Damn, how is your sword doing that? Doesn't that ignore like a dozen laws of physics?" Zack yells as he grabs my chest plate, jumping a dozen feet back or so from the Shell.

"Yes," Azu states without hesitation from the other side of the Turts shell.

I glance up at the sword. There it hangs, completely still, not so much as a wobble or tremble.

"So, what's your plan now?" Zack asks as we crouch behind a pillar.

"Well, I was hoping that if my sword could get insanely heavy, then why can't it get just as light? I never tested if it could do that, but now we know."

Zack nods his head a few times, "Okay. Cool. So now what?"

"Uh...make it heavy? Hopefully, It can get heavy enough to flip the thing on its side or at least give you a shot at its belly." I glance around the tree to see Azu and Hearon annoying the Turt, baiting it into ignoring us.

"Great, give it a go." Zack pushes me out from behind the tree, leaving me completely exposed to the monster. Thankfully, it's too busy trying to turn our companions into meat skewers. I take a deep breath. Alright. I extend my hand out.

"Nebula, get heavy." Nothing happens. Maybe I need something else. "Release." Nothing. "Drop. Become unchained. Return. Uh...please become extremely heavy?" The sword remains completely still.

"Wow...talk about embarrassing," Zack says mockingly.

I throw my hands up in frustration, "Okay, maybe it wasn't the most thought-out plan, but I don't see you doing anything. Azu said you could end this by yourself, so why don't you?"

He shrugs, "That's boring." I open my mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. The sheer stupidity of that sentence is frying my brain.

"A little help would be nice!" Hearon yells as a spike slams into his shield. Shit, this is not what I thought would happen. Do I need to touch the thing? I look at the sword and cringe. The Turt is within range, but if I don't act fast, it'll move from under it.

"Zack, throw m-" I don't even finish the sentence before Zack grabs me by the collar and chucks me at the sword as easily as one would throw a ball. I hear myself scream as I'm hurdling at the blade at breakneck speeds. I manage to right myself for just enough time to tap Nebula's hilt. I don't even think about it gaining weight, but the weapons drop at frightening speeds. There isn't even a second before it hits the Shell, but instead of it causing it to tilt, it goes straight through it with an earth-shattering bang.

My shoulder slams into an ice tree, and I feel something break. I slide down it, landing hard on my butt, more pain shooting up my back. "uggghh." Pain laces my body, only enough to impair my speech but not enough to knock me out, unfortunately.

The Shell roars in pain as a massive hole can be seen from the top down. Blood pours out of its wound, painting the ice red. It turns its gaze to me. I brace myself for the inevitable sound of screeching metal, but it never comes. Zack had jumped above the creature, throwing his spear directly into the hole. The monster doesn't even get to cry out in pain as the weapon shoots through the opposite side, blowing a massive chunk out of the left side of the spiked shell impaling itself on a nearby broken pillar.

With a loud rumble, the Turt collapses, its eyes glazing over as death takes it.

"HOOOLLLLYYY FUCK!" Zack yells, jumping onto the dead creature's shell, "You blew a hole straight through the sucker."

Hearon and Azu rush to my side. Hearon pulls out a small glass bottle filled with black liquid and downs it in one gulp. His veins turn a dark blue as he places his hand on my chest. Warmth radiates through me, and I can feel my shoulder and back mending.

"That was reckless and stupid," Hearon chides, his tone being very similar to how a father disciplines a son. I want to say something, but my mind is still muddled with pain.

Azu sighs, "You're just as bad as Zack." She feels my shoulder and back, "Good thing we got to you quick. Any later, and you would probably never walk again."

"What?" I reply weakly, glaring at Zack, who's currently inspecting the hole my sword created.

Azu notices my stare, "Don't worry, Zack wouldn't have done that if he wasn't sure you would be fine."

"Yup," he replies from the steaming corpse, "I always say the best way to grow is to experience stupidy first hand. It'll teach you faster than any lesson a teacher could preach."

I grunt. Sounds like something Blade would say. He was always fond of teaching me the hard and painful way. Hearon sits back with a tired sigh, the blue in his veins completely gone. I roll my shoulder. Good as new.

"What was the drink you took?"

"It's a Siphon booster. Very rare and very expensive." Azu responds for him. Wonder how that's made.

"Ah hah. Gotcha, you little bastard." I look up to see Zack run up to me, a dark green orb in his hand and his hands and face covered in gore. "This is yours." He tosses the blood-covered orb at me.

"Huh. is this the Neo Core?" He grins but doesn't say anything. I raise it up. It's not super dark, but it's a higher rarity than your average core. I could probably sell it for some good cash. I stand, helping Hearon up as well. They saved my life back there on more than one occasion. I don't take blood debts lightly. I'll have to find a way to pay them back.

Zack wags a finger at me, "Don't even think like that." His playful expression is gone, replaced by a seriousness I've never seen before. "I can already tell you feel like you owe us something. You don't. All we ask is that you don't leave us to die unless there is no other option. I know what kind of life you lived in Calypso. We won't betray you or turn our back. You're part of the team, and the team is always there for each other."

I stand there, too stunned to speak. That's not something I thought I'd hear from Zack, of all people. He turns and walks to the Turt, signaling this conversation over.

Hearon smiles tiredly at me and pats my shoulder. Azu puts his arm around hers, helping him limp to the MULE just a couple hundred feet away. I didn't realize he was injured. His shield arm also looks slightly swollen. A team, huh? I look at the decimated monster. Maybe it's okay for me to relax a little.