As they advanced towards the city, they found something that would slow progress by a significant amount.

"Raptures, on the left!"

On the behest of Anger, Counters let them take the Raptures by themselves. Toxina's machine gun was viciously effective at killing Raptures without much surface damage. Meanwhile, Corro was up close and personal with an acid hose. She was laughing at them as she doused them with it, corroding their thick armour in seconds.

Acidia was the most interesting out of them all. Her rocket shells were tuned to burst rather than explode. But after multiple Raptures were coated, she launched a standard shell. The weaker acid exploded and burned the Raptures to chemical slags. Counters had to move away to avoid the dangerous fumes.

After their performance, the lead Elite Rapture emerged.

"Stand back."

Chemos looked at Anger and then Shikikan.

"This has gone on for long enough."

Anger charged up her laser and pointed it at the elite Rapture. It activated and started cutting through the armour like paper. In seconds, it was dead. But that wasn't the end. Plasma residue was left wherever it touched, eating through the surrounding area. After a few minutes, it had expended its energy, leaving an enormous crater in the ground and nothing left of the Rapture. Rapi was the first to break the silence.

"What was that?"

"My weapon. The KAC Neutron Star. Each figurehead of the Five has the most advanced weapon they have created."

"What's the Five?" asked Shikikan.

"The five main weapon manufacturers. Us, Critical Mass, High Velocity Munitions, Ronson Incorporated Arms, and Heavy Independent Kill Systems." (They will be referred to as KAC, CM, HVM, RIA, and HIKS for convenience.)

"Who made our weapons?"

"Yours looks like a Ronson 65-a. Anis's is a standard HIKS 3100. Those three are a mixed bag. Acidia has a Vitriol, Toxina has a Contagion, also by us, and Corro, well..."

"Well, what?"

"Her weapon is one of the few modified to such an extent that it's classified as a Unique Gun. It's not a gun, but it was based on a flamethrower. She also gets naming rights for it."

"Heh heh heh. This is Erosion. My instrument of revenge."

"What's the difference between companies? Why doesn't the Ark just enforce one company for it?"

"For your second question, political reasons. We don't step out of line like the Big Three. For the first, we can walk and talk."