‘Damn.’ Hazeel cursed. ‘How are we supposed to even get close to that thing if we can’t teleport to it?’

‘Well, that’s simple enough.’ Vanessa replied. ‘He just has to inch closer. We’ll get there eventually.’

‘Are you insane!?’ The wood elf replied. ‘Did you see the projectile it just fired!? Just one of those would kill Leo!’

‘No, it wouldn’t.’ Vanessa said with the vocal equivalent of rolling her eyes. ‘He can sense the trajectory, just like us. It’s only a matter of being fast enough to dodge them. Besides…’

‘Besides what?’ Hazeel questioned, calmness slowly returning to her. ‘Surely you can’t be thinking of going along with that Leo, it’s going to get you killed. There has to be another way.’

I shook my head as the two continued to bicker, and I stared up at Maria, who hadn’t made a move since Leresa dodged her first attack a few minutes ago. Vanessa, I think she’s the core.

‘Well no shit, Leo. Have your senses been dulled? She’s lit up with so many photons that she may as well be a damned Christmas tree!’

I sighed, and motioned for Katherine. The Valkyrie unit had also been at a loss on what to do, torn between fighting and possibly causing the monster to resume its attacks, or standing still and leaving the threat alone.

She heeded my summons, and floated down to stand next to me. “She’s the core, Katherine. We’re going to have to engage her in a fight to end this regardless, so let’s make sure we’re all prepared.”

Katherine opened her visor and nodded, and looked back up at her unit. “We’ll need a couple minutes to get everything into position, but we’ll be ready to resume combat after that. Can you tell Leresa to standby with you?”

“Of course. Just make sure you don’t use any AOE devices. Firstly I don’t want either myself or Leresa getting caught in anything. Secondly, I don't think you could even scratch whatever this is made out of.”

Katherine grimaced. “Roger that. Anyway, please relay the information to Leresa.” She flew back up to her unit, and they immediately started fiddling with their jetpacks.

I walked up to the Silver princess, who had sat down and was taking a much needed breather.

“We’re going to do a coordinated attack in a few minutes, and I want you to stay out of the way. We don’t know how it’ll respond, and I’d rather you be there to heal our wounds if we need it.”

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She didn’t take her eyes off of Maria, even as she responded, “Sure thing. Let us know right before you make the attack though. Rexir’s photon abilities may still be able to buff you if he uses mana instead.”

“Thanks.” I smiled and sat down next to her. We sat in silence, punctuated by the lack of wind, even this high up. The only sound was that of the Valkyrie unit seeming to arrange a super weapon, one that each of them carried a piece of.

‘Kind of reminds me of transformers.’ Vanessa said with a chuckle. ‘I wonder how many of those kinds of weapons they have?’

‘Tran- transformers?’ Hazeel was confused, causing a chuckle to escape Vanessa.

‘Don’t worry about it. We’ll have plenty of time to expose you to Earth culture when this is all over. Isn’t that right, Leo?’

I nodded, albeit absentmindedly. I was more so paying attention to the large cannon that the Valkyries had assembled.

“Leo, they’re signaling us.” I looked over to where Katherine was floating, and saw that she was waving to me.

I stood up, and returned her wave. I then pointed to myself, and tapped on my wrist like I had a watch. Hopefully the meaning was clear to her: ‘On my count.’

She gave me a thumbs up, and the five Valkyries combined held their cannon steady. I waited for Leresa to stand before doing exactly what Vanessa wanted me to do: charge straight in.

Dantae laughed in triumph as I ran down the skull, straight towards Maria. Her head reacted to my movement, and she opened her mouth, gathering photons to prepare another strike.

Fortunately, it never came to that. The moment I saw that she had immobilized herself, I jumped backwards and shouted at the top of my lungs, “Now!”

Maria began to close her mouth, but it was too late. Katherine and the Valkyries shot the cannon, and a silver beam punctured the tentacle connected to, and Maria’s body.

The creature let out a groan of pain, but I had prepared this time by covering my ears. The Valkyries got in place to shoot once more, but it soon became clear that something was very wrong.

‘Leo-!’ Vanessa could barely get a warning out as I was pressed flat to the ground, with no discernable way to get off my feet.

Gravity control!? I watched in horror as it spread the effects to the valkyries, and they began to fall from the sky, one by one.

“Katherine!? Damn it!” I switched my gaze back towards Maria, who’s beam had nearly finished coalescing.

My eyes widened as I realized what was about to happen. We lost. We had run straight into a fight that we weren’t ready for, and we had paid the price.

“Scales of Tirania!” Leresa’s voice cut through my thoughts, and she stood in front of me, right as the photon laser fired at me.

“Haaaaaaa!” Leresa was taking the full brunt of the force, and using Rexir to absorb the energy.

‘Leo, move! It’s redirected the photons keeping you locked in place to its attack!’ I was so surprised that it took me a moment to register Hazeel’s comment.

I scrambled to my feet, and ran to the left. I turned back to thank Leresa, only to watch in horror as the beam broke Rexir, and pierced her chest.