Generil's Blue-stocking Blade sprinted in combination with soaring across the rooftops of the neighboring sibling city known as Alyi while the warm sun was gracing its light over its bustling citizenry. "Thank Eirala for escaping that wench's presence!" Ember had thought to herself as she performed a side flip over a gap between two tall Alyi buildings. There was only one other person on her mind within the following moment, her recent pal she was journeying to visit. A peculiar looking man was strutting in a dark blue robe and white earmuffs out of her friend's work building in alyi, she couldn't help but unapologetically stare confusedly as she passed him by on the sidewalk outside of her pal's research laboratory.
Generil's Blue-stocking Blade had entered the local laboratory yet was greeted by its hefty and bulky security first. "Let me in, big men." Ember commanded the dynamic duo. The guard with the drop fade dramatically gasped as he moved himself and his partner away and turned towards him. "That's the one that was caught defeating that snakey knight who attacked downtown, Goeffrey!" The drop fade guard squealed moments prior. The guard with the bulky dreads nodded enthusiastically. "She's flipping in the lab on our shift, Kenneth!" The dreaded guard followed his partner's lead as they excitedly squealed together. Ember shook her disappointingly as she pushed past the two. "Keep it professional, fangirls. There's a possibility that the Gen Oath you blush over had been defeated by devious shapeshifters." Generil's Blue-stocking Blade kept a serious tone as she smiled while continuing to saunter through the corridor to Chen Baozhai's office. She heard a heavy gulp behind her.
Generil's Blue-stocking Blade immediately sprinted upstairs to Alyi's explosive Brilliance and burst through her office door enthusiastically when she arrived. "Ms.Chen, what's on the menu for podcasts today?" Ember called out as she looked around but her pal had been nowhere in sight. Alyi's explosive brilliance smile widened after she had heard her in another room and wasted no time retrieving her phone. Ember recognized her communicator notifying her of a message. "In the utility room real quick, come on!" Ember read after she unlocked it. Ember didn't see any utility room but swiftly took notice of an uncanny bookshelf. "This lady has an affinity for hidden self-defense, not reading." Generil's Blue-stocking Blade reminded herself before making her way over to inspect the recent addition to her pal's office. Ember removed a few books from the shelf before figuring that a bust of a historical poet had been for the lever of the secretive entrance. "The philosopher twin has mechanical know-how as well and installed this for you?" Ember asked curiously as she admired the paintings on the wall behind Baozhai. Alyi's explosive brilliance grinned and nodded. "He is this lab's local maintenance manager. All of my siblings are in some S.T.E.M field." Baozhai replied afterwards while fiddling with a queer box on a table in the secretive room. Alyi's explosive brilliance's pal peeked at the project yet had another thought appearing on her mind. "Office Aesthetic and commission completion?" Ember wondered aloud. Baozhai smiled as she acknowledged her work was almost finished. "Bingo, girlie!" She shouted avidly before holding her project towards the ceiling. Generil's Blue-stocking Blade refused to move her eyes away from the cube her best friend had held up yet held a confused expression on her before asking.
Baozhai carefully and slowly returned the metallic glowing cube to her desk. "There's no use being honest with her since this'll never be used, it'll work as a decoration for now." Baozhai kept to herself as she smiled towards Ember as she had a lethal glare trained on her. Ember moved away, her facial expression screamed out shocked, flabbergasted. "You were ambitiously and excitedly speaking about creating the strongest explosive a while ago so please promise me that's not—?!" Ember loudly questioned as she stepped back. Baozhai deeply gasped as if she were betrayed after realizing what she thought she was guilty of by her question. "R-UY explosion absorbing walls courtesy of the nerd of the decade." Baozhai warned Ember, while bragging a little bit as well. Ember sighed in relief before following her lead with a gasp and being ashamed that she sounded like the guards she met earlier. "Who does he know that has access to R-UY material?!" Ember asked in her thoughts.
Alyi's explosive brilliance's vexation grew thicker as she thought further about what Ember had in mind. "I'm the only one that'll get blown up, Embs, don't worry though. Carelessness isn't even in my vocabulary, as a researcher climbing her mind to the top 100 most brilliant in Josue's metropolis trio, mysterious kingdom of low crime rate, I've created the strongest explosive I've ever made in the safest workshop by the most brilliant maintenance man!" Baozhai boasted as she stared at explosives on the workshop desk as she rested her hand on her shoulder, "So yeah, what brings you all the way here though?" She finished after silence butted into the back and forth.
Generil's Blue-stocking blade chuckled with a slight nervousness. "Our handsome and fashionable leader gave us the day away from work and said he'd take care of things with a mixture of boredom." Ember answered after clearing her throat. Baozhai returned a glare from earlier after hearing her reply. "You actually only came to visit because you were bored?!" Baozhai asked with an upset tone as she stepped closer and Ember realized she had hefty sounding steps, suddenly Baozhai broke out in hysterical laughter and snorkeling, "Hopefully— I can get that all cured up for ya, Emb and Emb." Alyi's explosive brilliance replied after she calmed down.
The device that sat on Baozhai's work desk began glowing its shade of blue abruptly noticed by the friends moments before they began feeling as though they were suffocating and with each gasp of air, the friends moved away from one another.
-
Ember and Baozhai woke up inside a drab and unproductive version of their beautiful city Alyi that had resembled an apocalyptic age rolled through. Generil's Blue-stocking Blade recovered from the rubble infested ground. "How long were we unconscious?!" Ember asked herself as stretched her arms and legs. As the two opened their eyes near the same time, it left the researcher and swordsman duo speechless at the sight of the city's destruction. The researcher of explosive brilliance became downtrodden as she gazed upon the wreckage of her beautiful home. "Oh no, no, no, no, no, no!" Baozhai repeated with the volume of her voice decreasing with each word, "My device was not an explosive." She shouted at the top of her lungs as she had fallen to her knees.
Generil's Blue-stocking Blade stepped closer and softly padded Baozhai's shoulder. "She definitely would not have kept an explosive this capable in her room— far from brilliant enough to create one capable of blowing through an R-UY reinforced workshop." She kept to herself before surveying the aftermath of a mystery they stood in. The researcher of explosive ambition wiped her tears away when she recalled the same detail as her friend and realized the impossibility of her being at fault. Generil's Blue-stocking Blade gasped as she took notice of details that brought a revelation. "Listen— listen, Bao, our city has been ravaged by war and feuds. Care to come clean regarding that device of yours?" Ember informed and questioned her with lowered volume as she helped her back to feet.
Baozhai didn't hesitate to let Ember lead her when she recovered yet hesitated and thought about it for five minutes as they moved away from where they awoke. "I encountered a blueprint for that cubic device on my workshop desk nearly a year ago— don't know where it came from or why it was there but then the whispers of a nasally voice appeared in my head if I moved too far from it. I've enjoyed the challenge that comes with working on the device but I want this voice to stop." Baozhai confessed as she held tighter to her shoulder bag as they moved quicker across their war torn streets. Ember thoroughly observed their surroundings after glancing at the fear in Baozhai's eyes. She observed their surroundings for any clues of the warring parties that made Alyi the aftermath of a battlefield that they woke up in.
After finding a building which appeared safe, the swordsman and researcher duo decided that it'd work as their shelter that would give them a moment to think of their next steps. Baozhai sat on a thick piece of debris clasping her hands together as Ember laid on the flat ground next to her resting her sore shoulder. "Huh— that building was the research center so I'm dead weight if we encounter trouble." Baozhai averred as the photo that she glanced at earlier appeared in her thoughts.
Generil's Blue-stocking Blade held a brow upwards and one lowered as she sat up. "It's alright. I've got the training necessary to protect the staff of the pentagon without requiring reinforcements for success. You just need to go right if that's my order." Ember replied as she rested, laying her head on her forearms. Baozhai calmed her breathing. "Yep. No hesitation, no questioning, follow your lead. You can count on me." She responded with a lowered tone as she calmed her breathing, "Wait— what's going on with your left shoulder?" She questioned as she stood up. Ember recovered from the ground and cracked her knuckles because she enjoyed the crunch. "Otherworldly wooden golems ambushed me some time ago. They took my arm but I was able to nab their heads." Ember informed her friend. Baozhai was taken aback. "How did being sent through five of the world's fourth most durable trees feel?" Baozhai asked curiously as she loved the shine that she had noticed from her friend's gear.
Ember grabbed her helmet off the ground and dusted it. "The days back then— to be truthful, words can't describe it. It took me months to recover." Ember responded before a short time of silence struck, "It's safe enough here. Stay in this place while I go scouting. I'll return with safety, food and answers." She finished before equipping her helmet. The researcher of explosive ambition nodded understandingly filled with gratitude that was visible on her face. Generil's Blue-stocking Blade journeyed out of the building they formed into their makeshift safe house. She recognized the street and headed towards the nearest grocery store from memory. "This might have been easier if Bao came with me as a navigator." Ember thought to herself as she looted cans of food into a bag from a few isles away. As she ambled through the isles, the feeling that she was being watched suddenly appeared. As she turned her head to figure out from where, she caught sight of a mysterious person in unfamiliar crimson and turquoise gear tightly keeping grasp of a rifle scope staring at her from outside of the store's grand window. While she slowly stepped forward, the person in gear urgently backed away retrieving something from the utility belt he wore. As the smoke cleared, she acknowledged that the person in the crimson shaded gear had seemingly vanished. Ember retrieved her cans and on the journey to return to Baozhai's hip, had collected clues which furthered a theory she was carefully crafting about the situation they woke up in. She walked in and took notice of materials her pal was twiddling with that she could only have acquired by leaving and engendering the possibility of leaving the duo exposed which left Generil's Blue-stocking Blade sighing. Baozhai tried to swiftly hide it before just as quickly realizing that it was by reflex and pointless since she saw the gun. "You'd make one hell of a mom with those eyes and expressions, Lady." Baozhai commented after a minute of being pressed by her friend's mein. Generil's Blue-stocking Blade crossed her arms. "Wouldn't waste my time— I've already got plenty of duties." She replied before she stepped closer, "My mind's been multitasking, I think I managed to rationalize a working theory about our situation." Ember finished yet with an uncertain tone. Baozhai's eyes glowed with wonder. "I've been dying to know!" Bao shouted with a tone sounding like relief.
Ember began to pace back and forth as she took a moment to recollect the clues and puzzle them to fit a cohesive narrative. "A battlefield has a certain atmosphere to it that stays around lingering for a while like fog, for most folks in this world— the atmosphere of a genuine battlefield practically can't be felt nor recognized." Ember enlightened Bao with a saddened tone. Baozhai gently nodded as her expression matched her curiosity. "Okay, so you feel this strange atmosphere then—?!" Bao asked with a confused tone. Ember sat on the same piece of grand debris as her friend earlier. "I barely paid attention to the mentor that taught us the ability because I was under the impression that it was a waste of time and thought about my sword mentors and their techniques but it's overwhelming me. Sadly— Josue's forces stood no chance." Ember revealed with a worried expression. Baozhai gasped as she covered her mouth as the horror dawned on her. "You think the others are any alright— my brother, Lyle, Artus and the oath members of the other squads?!" She asked with obvious sorrow behind her tone with a hint of terror heard. Ember frustratingly groaned as her pacing ceased. "Let's just find some place with better security, I'll tell you my thoughts on the way to safety, I'm getting a feeling that danger's arriving." Ember replied with her uneasiness able to be heard in her tone.
Before their very eyes and any further steps, four dozen minatory soldiers raided the very abandoned building from every angle and were surrounded with guns that were unfamiliar to the researcher and swordsman duo, they decided to comply with the order that was heard and repeated. Ember held her arms above her as was shouted yet as she surveyed the crowd of ominous soldiers dressed in crimson gear, she recognized one of them had been the one from earlier. "Damn— exceptionally trained. It's been a year since the last trail tossing lessons." Generil's Blue-stocking Blade noted and thought to herself.
The other soldiers cleared a path in an orderly fashion for the commander who wore the most protective gear and held a Walkie. The commanding soldier shook his head disappointingly as he caressed Baozhai's face with a sick grin, he turned on his Walkie. "This is one of the only buildings that's gone unsearched and nothing, yet instead there seems to be two unidentified females in here." He informed the deep voice that was on the same channel. "Secure the perimeter and be sure they're comfortably broken mentally. On my way." The researcher and swordsman duo heard from the commanding soldier's communication device, one showed worry and the other kept her calm. The commanding officer with the heavy gear stepped closer to Generil's Blue-stocking Blade and began caressing her face soon after he was finished with Baozhai. "One does resemble the female resistance fighter that we chopped though— sir!" The commander enlightened the owner of the disembodied voice. The researcher and swordsman duo heard the disembodied voice on the commanding soldier's Walkie bursting into hysterical laughter. "An impossibility. I left an axe empowered to ensure the most agonizing death in her back myself." They had heard from the disembodied voice, Baozhai gulped from nervousness. The commanding soldier began shaking and Ember noticed. "Indeed your greatness, your excellency, embodiment of the great Lemon chiffon essence!" The commander informed his boss. Generil's Blue-stocking Blade searched through the crowd for the weakest link nearest her range. "The gear and equipment look like it belonged to Josue's armory, as my proficiency is now, any sword I can engender would be like trying to break a pipe with a wooden stick." Ember noted in her thoughts as she held her hands up and saw Bao being surprisingly calm. The commanding soldier that leads the soldiers nodded approvingly as he turned towards his underlings. "The hoes are coming back to base with us!" He ordered his vigilant fellow soldiers around him before pocketing his Walkie and deviously grinning towards Ember's glare.
Everyone present heard a fiendish voice echoing and rippling through the building. "No—!" Leaving every soldier in anticipation and silence alongside the researcher and swordsman duo themselves as they kept their eyes open. Each of the guards were eyeing each corner of the complex yet the person belonging to the echo hadn't been seen. The ceiling began being filled with a grand and thick cloud of smoke, the soldiers took their sight away from the duo and had their guns trained above their heads. The soldiers began to take notice and many commented on symptoms that resembled a disease, suffering headaches which forced many to drop their guard, aching in their bones which forced many to drop their guns, coughing so excessively that their focus was taken away from the ceiling much like the others. The researcher and swordsman duo noticed an unfamiliar purple wrapped glaive soaring through the abandoned building decapitating the remaining soldiers that stood on their feet. "Uhhhh..." Bao sounded as the shock from the scene she witnessed left her paralyzed, "That was—?!" Ember had been left speechless by the quality of the mysterious sword she witnessed almost appear as a blur. Suddenly as she refused to move but kept her bastard sword tightly gripped, two mysterious figures wearing tattered hoods seemingly dropped from the ceiling Baozhai was staring at and hugged both of them unexpectedly. Ember shoved the one hugging her closest away then hopped away, still lost and dazed about the important details they're missing.
The tattered beige hooded figure only exposed his grey eyes slightly as he surveyed the area after the shove. "Understandable. Reaction." The hooded figure commented. Ember lowly gasped as she had a revelation regarding the figure's identity. "That whispery voice— Little brother?!" She asked as she inched closer squinting upwards with as ecstatic of her tone as ever. The towering figure next to Baozhai removed his hood and cleared his throat. "Shannon Lewis is the most incredibly overrated musician of his time." He opined as he glared into Ember's eyes. Generil's Blue-stocking Blade returned the look with an expression of disgust. "Was that an identity check— you wanted me to threaten your life for insulting the most gifted and brilliant pianist of our lifetime?!" Ember with a tone that matched her reaction. The two figures who saved them backed away slowly until five meters of distance was made as they held their own puzzled meins while staring in each other's direction. Baozhai gasped seemingly out of the blue when she recognized the figures that saved them. "Did— my brother survive whatever took place here?" She questioned with a worried tone. The towering figure's expression didn't make her confident that they'd give her the answer she wanted. The grey eyed figure abruptly squatted down as he shut his eyes tight and the duo heard a low growl from him. "Reinforcements. Arriving. We're going to have to face six dozen on our own if we don't regroup with the others. Let's go!" He noted and informed the researcher and swordsman duo with urgency heard in his tone. Baozhai and Ember determinedly nodded before sprinting headed into the unknown, following after him.
-
It was Artus Aluin, her goofy and immature younger brother that she shoved off of her unknowingly. She couldn't believe it at first because he was looking around his early forties, he was bald with a beard growing in and an ear missing when he removed his helmet. She didn't hesitate or wait a single moment, upon realizing he was alive, she hugged him immediately back even stronger, "Wait, how and where's Lyle?!" She Immediately asked soon after the hugs.
"How's any of this possible? How are you alive? How are you so young? Holy peepers, Bao's alive too?!" Artus asked so many questions with a tone filled with astonishment faster than she remembers he could, so many people present couldn't answer, couldn't believe what they saw, including herself for another reason than their own.
Everyone else unmasked themselves at the realization of the two being alive and young, they were Artus, older Livia, and another few that neither recognized as well unmasked. One almost as tall as Artus and another that wasn't quite, both that greeted them like they were close. They seemed a bit older than Artus and Livia.
Another rebel dropped from above landing after a flip that was extra she recognized.
"We're safe and sound for now, I couldn't sense any more of his soldiers in the area than these ones." The Rebel informed Artus before turning around and seeing Ember young and alive. She knew it was Lyle from the way he didn't say a word, he pulled her closer and hugged her like they have 18 years to catch up on.
Ember and Bao felt weirded out seeing everyone, including Lyle and Artus staring at them like they'd just seen phantoms.
"We have to get going, one of them already called for reinforcements, Ember's name was mentioned too, he'll send 40 or 80 more men to secure her if he has to, let's go!" Said the final figure who never unmasked himself with an ancient Khopesh.
Artus hugged her and was looking even more ridiculously stunned and brotherly than usual as they walked to their "Rebel base" as one of her saviors she was unfamiliar with put it, she was sure these weren't her same brothers.
Everyone returned to another old and abandoned building far from their spawn but it was far worse, it was also getting reclaimed by the earth but it was the best they could do for now. They had a low budget digital map of the city on a screen.
"Why were those other guys repeating BxL!" Bao yelled furiously and genuinely frustrated with how dumb she felt at their teasing.
"You and Lyle dated briefly sometime after we first arrived but you don't remember…?" Artus answered then asked Baozhai as she sounded sincerely ignorant to him. Bao looked at Lyle but he was in the front and was quiet.
"OKAY, Nevermind that!" Ember yelled out irritatedly, "I WANT TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!" Ember finished with the same irked tone.
"Ages ago Josue defeated this dude that called himself a hero but then his "prized" protogè as he calls himself took revenge after he figured out he murdered him, he seized the cities, murdered all of Josue's men and some of his resources while he was still weak from the previous battle with his teacher for control of the world, he killed Josue while he was in his coma, we're the last of Josue's troops." Artus informed Ember, with not a single ounce of humor in his tone.
"He killed everyone else?!" Ember asked with a hopeless tone, "Aleph died in the first year with a bulk of the troops at his side in a tricky attack that failed horrifically and left the city ravaged." He replied first "Conyrol was used as an example for the rest of us in the second year." He continued with a dire tone "Alyssa almost killed him but he had a trick up his sleeve or something...she was incredible." The older Sanguine Sharpshooter filled her in further "Fitz rallied the other nations to fight beside us in the third year when our troops were running low but now he has an army." Her little brother finished with a tear running down his eye.
"They took away your charismatic attitude, I sensed no sort of.... Artusness… in all of that!" Ember asked, sincerely confused, "War matures you, and we've been fighting it for a while, there's no time for stupidity these days." Artus replied almost sounding exactly like Lyle and nothing like himself that she knew.
Ember and Bao looked at one another in disbelief, "AND YOU LYLE, you're so much more grim than usual." Ember yelled aloud, confused.
Lyle looked at her, "You've been dead for over a dozen years, we've been fighting as a rebellion for over a dozen years, the genuine people we were meant to protect have been oppressed for over a dozen more, I'm not grim, I'm the same as Artus, it's time to be serious." Lyle started with his usual classic calmness, with a dash of anger in his quiet tone.
"How did I… die?" Ember asked as if she didn't want to know but her investigative nature got the best of her.
Suddenly, Ember heard a female's voice behind her belonging to whom she loathed, "We've missed you so much, Ember, how are you back alive though?" And when Ember turned around to realize it was aged up Livia burr, in her armor but it was torn up and ragged. Everyone else wore a different suit. Fury possessed Ember in that split moment, the fury one feels that compels them to risk everything.
"Ewww, it was you that hugged me earlier, it was likely YOU who killed me too, you slimy witch, I'll knock you over like a bowling pin, piece of garbage!" Ember was quick on the attack as always, but it seemed like Livia was swifter than ever, she dodged Ember's punch and tripped her putting the Blue-stocking blade on the floor, Ember fell flat on her face.
"I know precisely what time she's from…" Livia stated as she let her guard down "Stubborn and resentment, the idea of personal growth with age is the last idea you believed was real." Livia finished as she walked up closer to Ember.
Artus jumped in between, attempting to break up any confrontation nearing, "Please Artus, Let me DESTROY that airhead!" Ember asked Artus, with a sincere tone, Artus became serious over the years, he realized Livia was right and noticed the two always communicated better when they fought, he moved to let the two communicate in their own way.
"Ember, this is not an appropriate time to rehash the past, let's not do this. I forget this isn't a thirty year old you." Livia in a surprising turn of events didn't want to fight.
"Oh, look who became serious too, I think now's a wonderful time!" Ember responded as taunt to her. Livia looked at Lyle and Artus, then she shrugged, her mind made up.
"We've already done this dance, it ended with us making up and becoming best friends." Said Livia, the Capital Covert Champion, removed the torn and terribly conditioned armor besides her gauntlets that stood in great quality she had equipped before she nodded Ember's way and squared up looking unprepared.
Ember was quick on the dash, to rush her, using her speed teamed with her infamous agility to taunt her older rival, it looked like she was showing off to everyone else.
Livia just stood idly by, watching her as she hopped around the place with swiftness that paled in comparison to what she can do in the future to everyone. Her plan was to be harder to predict.
"I guess you somehow figured me throwing you on your butt as luck, somehow?" Livia responded as she chuckled after that display.
"Is this lucky?" Ember yelled when she went for an uppercut, Livia dodged quicker than she expected her to, while using her knee to knock Ember off balance, she stumbled back. Livia laughed after she heard it.
Ember regained her balance "Is that all you got?" Ember yelled louder while rushing her again, Ember went for a roundhouse kick, spinning backhand, then a double legged drop kick, none of them touched Livia. Ember rolled backwards to create some space. Ember thought it was time to summon her bastard sword.
Livia seized the moment and caught Ember into a deadly headlock, the kind learned from their old home. As Ember struggled to escape, her consecutive elbows into her side barely phased Livia at all.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Lyle yelled as loud as he could to disrupt the two, to Ember, this was a rare time he raised his voice with any negative emotion.
"You two's fighting is very unavailing, dumb, I expect that from you, Ember, but Livia, you're better than that now." Lyle finished resembling how their Mentor Dain sounded in her ears..
Ember cringed, she couldn't speak or think about anything but how ridiculous his words were though "You expect that from me?!?!" Ember yelled like she was feeling betrayed, it was a bolt out of the blue, her tone told everything she was feeling when she heard him say that to her.
"We suspect you were launched into the future, you somehow time traveled and this is your future, which means you come from when we first arrived in Generil making you far more childish than your..." Lyle struggled to see if it was past or present. Ember's facial expression informed them of her reaction even though she was speechless.
"No way, NO WAY THIS IS THE FUTURE!" Bao yelled out with utter dismay, "This bleak and grim future isn't what's in store for our home, no!" She finished with dismay still intact, "I'm not a theoretical physicist, I'm research and development for gadgets and armor Josue and his team assigned to us. I'm barely intelligent enough to create a continental tier explosive let alone time travel!" Baozhai butted in as she was breaking down.
"That was just a theory, Mei." Lyle replied with a slight grin. Baozhai recognized that name as a cute nickname she's always wanted to be called by someone.
"There might be a time machine back in Alyi from a criminal we busted to get you back to the past." Artus told the team, Ember had seen the look on everyone's faces when he told that information.
"What's the point when stopping this guy that's going to attack us is hopeless?" Ember asked with a dispirited tone "Hopeless is when you stop fighting." Livia replied with a stern tone. Ember and Livia heard Lyle groan from pain, compelling them to look back where she saw Artus patting Lyle's back as the Sangfroid Paragon held his head like he caught a headache.
"I wrote a journal I'll go find that details everything since year 1 you could use to prevent all of this." An unfamiliar member with a ravaged hood, torn up medieval-like armored tunic and unique crossbow butted in with before taking off "Just hug me!" He finished sounding like he needed it before affectionately doing it. She let him even though she didn't like being touched, she got the sense they would become very close.
"Remember the one problem we have with Alyi." Said another unfamiliar member with a shotgun and Katana that Ember and Bao didn't know.
"What's he talking about?" Ember asked, confused, "What's the issue with Alyi?" Ember finished.
"Wellll, Alyi is the new Generil, it's where the bulk of all of his men are stationed even more so than Seyort and here now, his new city of operations after he succeeded in taking over the triplet cities." Artus answered her as calmly as she remembered Lyle's voice could go.
Out of the blue, the remaining members of the Gen-Oath were on high alert, hearing the windows around them break, one of them in the back was knocked out by GAS, while the others in the center got in a circle to cover all angles.
Lyle realized it was knockout gas closing in and everyone didn't have their helmets on, he was able to vanish it all and clear the air, another shock for Ember, she had never seen her brother use that ability before besides with smoke.
Artus and Ember activated their invincibility, summoned their SMG and Sabers, Kacey and Lyle prepared themselves to fight, Livia disappeared and went who knows where after she went invisible, and the others around prepared themselves as well.
"There's an army out there, handsome!" Livia told Lyle "There's an army out there!" Livia screamed urgently at everyone else as they scattered to grab on their gear.
"Since we're pinned down, we have no choice but to go out and fight, as Conyrol would have said, when there's nowhere to run, you've got to enthusiastically run towards what's blocking your path than lay down and die!!" Lyle ordered everyone "We've survived this once, we can fight together through another one!!" Lyle rallied the troops.
"You guys have??" Ember asked with an impressed tone "Well, more like one or two with slightly less men but the general fact of impossible odds, yeah." Artus answered as he summoned a Gatling gun that was the exact tech of the opposing army outside.
"I agree with Lyle, there's no other way out of this..." Artus replied with certainty.
Lyle's face changed like he was hopeless then it shifted to slight anger, the smoke from before was rising off of Lyle's upper and lower body, he and Artus placed on their helmets.
"FOR THE THREE CITIES!!" Cried another Gen-Oath member, Ember didn't recognize "FOR THE LEGACY OF JOSUE!" Everyone else cried out like this was going to be their final battle and hour of duty.
Though not nearly as armored as her team, Ember wasn't going to sit back nearby watching her team fight and possibly die "no!" Ember said in her mind. The remaining Gen-Oath members walked outside to be greeted by an army of 500 prepared and ruthless men, surrounding them from all angles, steadfast and dead set about squashing the last of the rebellion for their grieving new lord.
"This is going to be a team of 10 eccentrics vs an army of hundreds of normies, this is one problematic equation." Said another member with a hood she didn't recognize who clearly belonged to the Gen-Oath, but felt like she'd get along with anyway.
Like before, at least hundreds of the men were disarmed because of their firearms flying up into the gravity-less sky, that's when the battle began and she witnessed her brothers and the rest slaughtering the enemies including Artus, leaping higher than she had ever seen from him blasting groups below.
Everyone went charging in, except for a few who weren't exactly made for one on one combat, leaving no room for one on multiple enemies.
The fighters were fighting hard, showing these assailants why they were considered the second most elite in Josue's staff.
Within an hour of this confrontation, the 7 that were fighting head on, took out 300 before they were weakened by exhaustion then taken out one by one and Ember had to watch it all.
Ember instead had to watch her team die while fighting back, to her this wasn't any better though. Her great speed allowed her to dodge almost everything fired at her from an eccentric but the others while strong weren't as fast except for Artus, Lyle and Livia. Watching from his comfortable throne, Generil's greatest antagonist sent more to ensure the Gen-Oath's failure was guaranteed.
A beam blasted down on Artus from a UFO like helicopter, freezing him in place whilst he was fighting off and killing groups of enemies, the men closest continued to hit him, but because of his abilities lasting far longer now, he wasn't getting damaged.
The antagonist's men took him away through stasis that reminded her of another bully she knew.
The plane flew past Lyle, who looked up while fighting a large group the same as his brother, but the plane caught his attention, knowing what was done to prisoners, Lyle's pent up frustration and anger about the entire situation finally bursted out in a way Ember didn't know was possible for him.
Lyle's hair was beautified by the clean shade of white it had turned. Lyle's hair turned ghostly white, as the smoke that resonated around him flowed unbelievably more intensely, he teleported in front of the helicopter that was yards and yards ahead of him and bashed it down to the ground, successfully freeing Artus from capture. However, whatever Lyle had in mind didn't stop there. The violence and smoke that fogged up the battlefield.
Their unpromising circumstances that built up with his resentment of Nathaniel failing them resulted in this becoming permanent and his mind declining. He killed hundreds of men after saving Artus, including those he valued because he was clouded by this sense of violence combined with his need for survival he's been pushing down he's had in him since he was born that overwhelmed his will to protect them later on, and he was worried only about himself.
"That's out of his character!!" Ember exclaimed as loud as she could as she beheld the carnage that betided. When the confrontation was over.
Ember fell to her knees on a battlefield that was engendered because of someone's vengeance.
The greatest antagonist made his way over with the very little he had left, Then greeted Ember and Wei, though, heavily shocked by how they were alive and youthful. The greatest antagonist, he walked up to her and Baozhai, who were sobbing on the battlefield because of everything that happened.
He was surprisingly sympathetic, his genuine expression he wore on his face said it as well to Baozhai. He did something to Alyi's genius to where she couldn't move, not even her mouth or eyes.
"Do you want to know why this all started in the first place?" The greatest antagonist asked Ember "Why, you filthy disgusting bastard?" The Blue-stocking Blade cried out.
"Because that vile man shattered my family and from what I've heard of you, I just did what you would have done if it was reversed!" The greatest antagonist told her. Ember's eyes lit up because she couldn't deny that fact but she had no clue of who he was talking about at all. Winding up an eccentric cane with a scarlet handle and a weird symbol, he prepared to finish the job, Ember was aware but had no care anymore. Ember woke up and found herself on the floor, back in Baozhai's laboratory. She had foggy memories of the nightmare when she woke up then asked Baozhai if she did as well, Alyi's explosive genius informed her that only she was asleep and that a machine she was assigned to figure out went off suddenly that knocked her out but she couldn't wake her up, she knew it was safe and she would wake up healthier.
Ember felt like something was off.