Only 5.5 miles of distance left to the Loading Docks.

Thanks to the Speed Mining Suits, which covered them from head to toe, Neither Guila nor Ariel had to worry about the smaller insects anymore. The helmet also granted Ariel night vision, which allowed her to better protect Guila from the rear. Even better was the suit's physical augmentation and compensation effect which allowed them to run with minimal strain, and keep up with Hiiro despite having no training with it.

However, the only reason they managed to get this far so quickly, was Hiiro himself.

All the insects, especially the Oozers, targeted him primarily, and he dispatched nearly every single one - tearing through the sea of black integument like a shark's fin with his spear and massive, armored body. He didn't stop for anything, either. If there were shipping crates or rubble ahead, he'd jump up to crush it underfoot and make it easier for them to follow.

Five miles left.

So close.

They were already so close.

Then, Ariel saw the most terrifying sight she'd seen yet up until then.

As soon as they exited into a slightly open area, seven Oozers leapt out in sync, attacking him from an arc formation. With her hearing and smell drowned out by her surroundings, there was no way she could warn him either.

But, as if he had expected it already, Hiiro fired his last shoulder-mounted grenade at the one right in front of him, then used his thrusters to slide forward, cutting another one lengthwise.

“Hiiii!” Guila shrieked as the remaining ones crashed into the floor and shipping containers near her. Then she flinched and practically froze in place. But before the things could recover, Hiiro killed a third, while Ariel buried her spear in the nearest fourth.

Then, the fifth died to Hiiro.

The sixth to Ariel.

And, just as the final one tried to leap for the two women standing close to each other, Hiiro threw his spear and skewered it in place - allowing Ariel to finish it off with a thrust between its antennae.

[“That was some great movements there, Ariel.”] Hiiro’s voice boomed from the suit's speakers,cas he retrieved his weapon, to which she could only respond with a bashful nod. A fact that Guila did not miss, even with less than half of her normal vision.

‘I'm glad she's warming up to him, already. It must be their warrior's spirit.’

[“Are you okay, Guila?”] He then called out to her. Though, there was only a few meters distance between them, neither he, nor Ariel wasted time regrouping with her. Since, she was the most vulnerable of the group.

It was then that he took notice of her trembling knees. Surely, Ariel must've noticed it too. So, he turned to the small Vulpina and asked. [“Can you carry Guila and leave the fighting to me?”]

“Eh?” She stared up at him, before bringing her gaze back to Guila. Then, she finally picked up on the noblewoman's ragged breaths underneath her helmet. But, she was apprehensive. She wanted to fight. However, she also wondered if it was selfish of her to refuse, even though…

“No, no.” Guila shook her head and waved both arms at the suggestion. “We made a promise, Lord Hiiro. I can run on my own. Please, don't burden Ariel.”

[“What?”] Of course, this confused him. Ariel was, no, a vatgrown Vulpinae was meant to support their creator. Guila trying to be considerate made no sense to him, especially in this scenario. [“Look, Guila you-”]

“SIR HIIRO!” Ariel suddenly yelled at the top of her lungs. Only then did he and Guila notice the figure that was clinging onto his shoulder-grenade launcher. A burly and grotesque, half-man, half-insect abomination, with a missing right arm and a clawed left arm.

He immediately tried to stab at it, piercing through the empty launcher as he did so. But the thing managed to leap off and landed several feet away with a thud. Not wanting to waste any further time, Hiiro practically tore the useless shouldermweapon apart in order to regain a proper stance.

Doing so, elicited something what seemed like laughter from the creature.

‘Did the thing… plan that?’ His instincts immediately raised red flags about the situation. But then, its existence, contrary to Ariel who was afraid and Guila who struggled to comprehend it, actually reassured Hiiro.

Finally, he found the reason why the insects gained coordination. And… he found the abomination that put his little brothers, the Count and Lin, in a stretcher. The caked blood around its mouth and claw were surely theirs, and he was going to get his pound of flesh.

It was also very likely that this thing was the insect's King. Which meant…

He used his thrusters for another frontal charge, then he twisted his hips and let loose the fastest forward thrust he'd done with the suit. The thing had absolutely no chance. It was pierced right through the sternum and out of its hunchbacked spine.

[“You don't get to run this time.”] His voice boomed once more. But, as if it understood him, the creature's malformed mouth… grinned. Then, faster than he could react, it swung its claw at his helmet - blinding him by cracking the glass visor.

Neither Guila nor Ariel could have known it, given the angle they were watching from, but they knew something had gone wrong. Because, the creature kept struggling, kicking and slashing at the suit's front side, while Hiiro wasn't moving. That was, until he let go of the spear and crushed the thing with both hands.

[“Smart. But not smart enough.”] He tore the thing in two at the abdomen and tossed both halves aside, before turning back to Guila and Ariel. While doing so, he activated another feature of the suit. The damaged visor possped out of his helmet and replacement slid into place from inside the forehead.

A process that only took a few seconds. But by then, he was stunned silent by what he saw.

Guila and Ariel were both held by the throat and flanked by four more abominations.

“Lord Hiiro…” Guila's distress reached him through his comms systems, her chin held by the woman abomination's claw.

By now, he knew exactly where these came from.

‘... the cocoons.’

The insects placed people in the cocoons, in which they were slowly morphed. But though he did not know the process, he knew that it had been rushed for these four, and probably for all of them. Because there was no way that such ugly, misshapen things were the desired result. Even for a disgusting species like these insects.

“They…” Guila's voice reached him once more. “They're only taking us… hostage… they said.”

“They'll let us go if…” He watched as the female abomination pressed its claws against Guila's throat, while the man slowly clenched its mandibles onto Ariel's shoulder.

If she was the only hostage, Guila would've told him to leave her and escape on his own. Because, in every metric, Hiiro was far more important than she could ever be. But Ariel… Ariel who never let go of her spear, even as she feared for her life… she couldn't…

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“Lord Hiiro… please…” Guila knew that if Hiiro was given the choice, he would kill the one holding her hostage, and let the other insects kill Ariel while he ran over to secure her. He would very well succeed too.

But she couldn’t sacrifice Ariel. Not anymore.

Guila had to bet on the option that gave all three of them the most likely chance of surviving. So, she had to be the one to choose for him…

“... Please exit the suit and face them… They'll let us go if you do. Please…!”

She had to bet that her Knight would win.

Of course, Guila dreaded his refusal. A refusal that could very well consign her and Ariel to death, because there was no doubt that Hiiro also knew the true extent of his own value. There was absolutely no way that he would sacrifice his own life for them. Not as an Imperial, not when-

[“Very well.”] His words caused her to cry even more, while Ariel yelled for him to stop.

“You can still save Guila! Just throw your spear, Sir Hiiro!”

But it didn't matter anymore, because the suit's hydraulics hissed, and Hiiro walked out. However, contrary to what Guila expected, Hiiro had a grin on his face. He then grabbed the spear from the suit's hands and swung it around. Passing it between his hands, as if it didn’t weigh 18 kilograms.

“Well, I’m out now, freaks!” He roared, approaching nonchalantly with an arrogant look in his eyes.

However, mentally, his brain was quickly trying to assess the situation. There was no doubt now that the insects viewed him as their primary threat. After all, no similar news had reached him yet from the other groups.

But, he also knew that these things were at least originally people. Which meant there was a second, even worse possibility. Being that the insects wanted to turn him into one of them. The mere thought of which, caused him to spit at the floor.

The insects were cowards, but if they were once people, then they’d also know that reneging on their deal now, would be their doom. He had to commend Guila once more, since she’d arrived at the same decision he did.

Because, while a person can be ruthless, and an insect is reckless, the abominations before him were nothing but cowards. Fearful of him, not just as the Emperor’s Strongest Spear, but as the insect’s most prolific killer.

Playing along was indeed the best course of action. No matter how beneath him, his enemies were!

His eyes narrowed to a glare, as he envisioned just how brutally he would butcher these freaks that threatened those under his protection.

“Well, what are you waiting for!? Let the women go!”

The abominations glared back at him, gnashing their teeth with a palpable hatred in their eyes, before they directed that hatred at Ariel and Guila.

Only to release them, before they raced over to him with tjeir claws and teeth bared.

“Run you two!” Hiiro roared as he went into a defensive stance - his skin suit - bulging as he tensed his muscles. “I'll be right behind you!”

But neither of them could.

Guila was too distraught, on her knees and crying her eyes out as her imagination took over for her lacking eyesight, giving her visions of what would become of him. A corpse, torn apart and defiled, or worse, and they wouldn't make it far anyway. Maybe a mile? Maybe two, but they'll meet the same fate either way.

If she'd known this would happen, she wouldn't have… no. No. She would've still asked him to save them.

So why couldn't she stand up and take this chance? Why couldn't she leave him for dead?

Why couldn't she honor his sacrifice?

Ariel, on the other hand, sat frozen, gripping her spear tightly, as she viewed heroism in its purest form. None of the stories she'd been taught and shown by the Learning Pod could even compare. Not even the ones about Major Hiiro Dahl himself. The “Empire's Strongest Spear” was nothing in comparison to the man himself.

With one circular motion and a fluid sweep of his heavy, suit-purposed weapon, he deflected the two teenager's claws, breaking their arms in the process. Then, he pulled his weapon back and dodged the male abomination's bite, before using the butt of his spear to hit the woman in the abdomen, just as she was about to attack him from behind.

Then, while she was flung back by the force, and the teenagers tried to flank him, he used the spear shaft to blow the man backward, before twisting further at the hips to catch one of the teens by the blade.

‘Only the man has mandibles. But he doesn't have claws. While the others do. Not a lot of carapace on them either…’ But they were far stronger and faster than their builds would suggest, which meant that the transformation started from within. ‘Good.’

‘I might have been in danger, otherwise.’

The teenager barely managed to escape the blade, but in his haste, he slammed into the woman, which gave Hiiro enough leeway to dodge the second one - receiving only a minor scratch across his side, before throwing the spear back and catching it again near the blade.

Then he used it to shank the abomination from behind.

‘They're as fast as me, but I'm bigger, and far, far stronger.’ Not to mention the Dahlian blood which flowed through him - genes that he was born with, rather than gifted. Even without the Emperor's blood, he’d made it this far, and he was not going to be defeated by such creatures.

It was then that the woman, the other teenager and the man attacked from the front once more, since he had built up enough space between them and they needed to catch up.

The thrill of battle made his heart race. He had not experienced it once, ever since the war. Not until today.

However, the longer she watched him fight, the more that Ariel's admiration turned into jealousy. His every move was a killing blow. His every step, confident and resolute. His shoulders, a wall that protected from all harm, his expression…

He represented everything she wanted to be.

… no.

He was the person she wanted to be for Guila. He was the answer to her question. Someone far better than the absent Count.

Becoming him was the only way that she knew she could make her happy. She wanted to be the tangible strength which Guila could trust and rely on, and to despair over when lost. But just becoming him would not be enough. Surely Guila already loved him, more than she loved her. She had to surpass him, in any way she possibly could.

Then, she heard his voice again.

[“I'll lead them as far away as I can. So get your mistress and leave already. She is your mission now.”]

“... yes!” Finally, she rose to her feet and grabbed Guila's trembling hand.

By now, the Peons had already begun surrounding them. But she turned to the woman she cared about the most and pulled her into an embrace.

“Trust in him.” She whispered, standing on her toes to reach Guila's ears. “Sir Hiiro will be fine.”

“But you need to be there to greet him when he succeeds, Guila.”

Guila sobbing softened, until finally, she said. “...Okay.” To which, Ariel smiled brightly.

She didn't let the ache in her chest keep her from doing so, because there was still much to do before she could have Guila act the way she did for him.

Being sad here would just make it so much harder to achieve.