"Don't worry about me," Alasea said, bringing her hand back up to her head, which was now glowing pink. She let the Healing Palm trick she learned from Riul work its magic. "I'm fine. I have infinite energy, you don't. So don't waste yours."

Another explosion sounded, rocking them. "Get moving, people!" Richter shouted at them as he and the other soldiers began to move. "We can't waste more time here!"

"Right, let's go!" Alasea said, looking at Matt as she began to move.

===

The Phase Blade slashed down and tore into a thick, bulging arm of a horrific looking monster, something that had gigantic cannons grafted over the hands, and a disgusting television set grafted into a crude-looking head, its screen depicting a horrific view of human teeth unnaturally sharpened and the skin and lips torn off the gums. Pushing off as if he was lighter than a feather, R.D. activated his hip cannons and punched a pair of golden rounds into the Bruiser's pale gut.

Jared cut through, Will Knife drawn and flashing out across the cannon scores, tearing into hard flesh. The creature made a distorted scream and readied both cannons, firing a volley of energy blasts. R.D. brought up his shield and took one shot head on, the explosion tearing through the armor and shattering it upon impact.

Jared cleared out from the smoke with the Trikeros shield held out in front of him, a shortened energy bayonet emanating from it. He swung with it and cut into the Bruiser's neck, then stabbed the Will Knife into the TV-screen, blinding it. As the smoke cleared, R.D. readied all five of his cannons, and fired as Jared cleared out of the way. The blasts struck head on and caused another devastating explosion, killing the monster within the flames.

Sector V-9 Storage/Medical Fall Back Point

Blood, blood and screams. Wounded dragged into corners to be treated with, those who were able to hold a gun were given one and told to shoot at anything that wasn't human. The entire human count in the room was barely three dozen, with more than half wounded. The ammo was good considering where they were, but it would run out without much time to spare...and with the attacks coming from literally all angles, they'd have to move on soon again...and leave those unable to walk with their fates. This was the position Colonel James Patterson had behind him...what was before him was a door, sealed shut with a flamethrower and several boxes in front of it. Under the screams of the dying was the rhythmic bangs of the imps trying to get in.

"Sir...if they figure out they can't get in they'll come from underground again." Patterson turned to Sergeant First Class John Wilkins. Patterson's face seemed gray in depression, grim in defeat.

"We just have to take down as many as we can and-" Patterson was cut off when there was a particularly loud scream that cut through the air like a bayonet. More followed and the men turned to see the imps carving the men from under the ground. It was a gruesome sight. The boxes then flew through the room, banging against walls as the imps had made their way through the door. Patterson made a snap decision.

"Those able to walk come to the front lines, get your guns from where ever you can, be it the wounded, dead, or storage. Grab as much ammo as you can, we're breaking through the door!" Patterson ordered as gunfire began to crack through the air. Two heavy machine gunners worked on clearing the door while the shotgunners and subs worked on holding the ones from the holes back. The riflemen covered those who needed it.

In a matter of five minutes those who could walk made it through the door. With only about ten men with him Patterson made his way through the halls, intent on breaking through the sectors all the way to C...it would be a long fight.

Matt dismissed his aura and drew his energy blade, running after Alasea.

R.D. aimed and fired his cannon, blasting out the rubble from where the Bruiser had been killed, freeing up the pathway.

"There we go. Time to find that elevator," he said.

"How'd you do that?" Jared asked, looking at the amnesiac's back, where the Nova Reactor spun idly.

"Don't know," R.D. said. "Don't care. If it benefits me, then it can stay."

The comm unit in Jared's armor went off. "Jared, do you read me?" some voice said. "The General has ordered for reinforcements to meet up with Colonel Patterson. He's currently trapped in Sector V-9."

"Understood," the cyborg replied. "I'll rendezvous with the reinforcements and break through the siege."

He turned back to R.D.. "You're on your own from here, looks like," he said. "You gonna be alright?"

"I'm fine. Get going, I need to get to the surface."

===

Imps began running after Richter's squad as they got closer to the elevators. It didn't take them long to catch up, and their fireballs quickly downed one of the soldiers. Turning around, Alasea aimed her sword and concentrated, willing a pure sphere of energy to well up at the tip of the blade. It fired a thick beam of energy that ripped into the Imps, incinerating them as death took hold.

Ahead of them, a door exploded open, and a new Megademon stormed out of the wreckage, a fang-shaped blade in hand. With a yell, Richter opened fire, firing bullet after bullet at the demon as it barreled forward and raised its sword up to attack Matt.

Matt ran at the Megademon, twisting down and bringing his blade up at an angle, slashing at its vulnerable midsection.

Blood spilled out of the grievous wound Matt inflicted on the monster, and the Megademon staggered, screaming. Ramirez aimed his ZF-1 at the monster's head, and two panels extended from the sides of the rifle. With a pull of the trigger, ten poisonous darts embedded themselves into the demon's face. With a groan, it collapsed.

"Good work!" Richter said, motioning for the others to move on ahead. "Keep moving, keep--"

As Alasea and the other soldier passed by, a nearby door exploded, cutting off Richter's voice for a moment. Another Megademon exploded out, bearing down on the man. With a grunt, it thrust its sword forward, impaling the man in the stomach. His eyes bulged in pain, and his gun clattered to the floor as he convulsed, blood spilling from his mouth with a cough.

"Richter!" Alasea screamed in horror.

"R-run!" he called out as the monster attempted to pull its sword from the dying man's body, only to growl in frustration as the blade wouldn't release from the metal door. A ringed pin fell to the floor. "Run!"

Alasea's eyes went wide in shock, and the grenade in Officer Richter's hand exploded, consuming both him and the demon in a hellish fireball. The shockwave threw Alasea onto her back, and she slid across the floor as the area around Richter collapsed on itself.

Matt flipped around, shielding himself with a barrier as Richter's final grenade detonated. "Damn it!" The smoke cleared to reveal the rubble now burying Richter's body, along with the Megademon.

Matt ran over to Alasea and bent down. "Come on, kid, stay with me."

Patterson stood by a door pushing the last of his remaining forces into it. He quickly then closed the door as an imp foolishly rammed its head against the heavy door. It cried in the pain on the other side but then tried again. As it did so the men began to reload their weapons. They were down to eight now. They had just gotten out of V-5, slowly making their way back to the artifact.

"Is anyone hurt?" Patterson asked, they all shook their heads. The door then broke a bit, the imp's claw swinging wildly as it tried to get whatever was on the other side. Patterson pointed the shotgun that was in his hand at the claw.

"We're in V-5 now men, remember stay tight and keeps your wits about you. This one of the smaller sections they may overwhelm us faster here. If you see or hear anything, say something, got it?" Patterson briefed the men responded accordingly.

"Hoo-rah." Patterson said simply and shot the claw finally, making it explode against the door. They moved out, running down a narrow, three man wide, hallway. The steel sidings weren't any comfort however as the imps could claw their way through in no time flat. As they ran the Imps came again, men shouting out directions where they were coming from. They were quick to pick off the attackers before they even exited the halls, but the imps were just as fast at reinforcing themselves. Things were looking dim.

Numbly, Alasea nodded and pulled herself up. Taking one last look back at Richter's grave, she ran, following Matt, Ramirez, and the other soldier to the elevator.

===Sector F-4 Corridor, Aube===

This area of the Aube military facility had darkened considerably--the lights had dimmed, and flickered at irregular intervals. The power to this section of the base must have been damaged during the attack.

Ileyna reluctantly pushed off of Helena's back as her power manifested, causing her aura and wings to spring up around her. The blue light illuminated the area, allowing her to see better. Somewhere up above, an explosion hit the base, causing the sector to shudder. The sounds of gunfire and screaming were muffled here.

"Did we lose them?" Ileyna asked hesitantly as she looked around, her aura making hollow, melodic sounds as she hovered in the air between Helena and Hugo.

"I hope so." As the chamber in Hugo's pickaxe clicked back, the G-Stone aura around him shrank. "I need to cool down for a while. You'll need to cover us, Helena."

She wasn't paying full attention, keeping an eye what was ahead. Hugo walked past the weredragon. "Come on."

Almost immediately after Hugo began walking, orange light flared within glowing magic circles at either end of the hall, and dark figures dropped down. The Imps turned multiple eyes on them and screeched, quickly scurrying down the halls towards them.

"Shit!" Hugo fired his chaingun. "Helena!"

The weredragon fired a gout of flame that ran down the hall at the monsters.

Even as the flames and gunfire blazed through the Imps, more came coming, scurrying and screeching. Some stood and generated fireballs, flinging them down the hall at the others.

Cyan light blazed within magic circles at the opposite end of the hall: instead of the usual Imp, a different, multi-limbed creature fell down onto four of its limbs. More followed, screeching with skull-like faces and elongated heads, and soon there were nearly a dozen Vulgars creeping down the hall towards Helena and Hugo.

"Look out!" Ileyna shouted, pointing at them with her right hand.

===Aube Airspace===

Two Nine-Breakers swooped in towards the towering Mass Driver and landed on its rails, per Raven's orders. As the two Dylandy brothers readied their mechs for defending the Mass Driver, their radars alerted them to incoming enemies. In the skies, the Devil Dragons were swooping and diving, ready to attack.

"Look out!" Johann said, turning the Nine-Breaker towards the incoming enemies. The missile pod moved up into a horizontal position and locked on, and the missile ports opened up and fired an array of missiles up at them. The skies were covered in explosions, killing many of the incoming creatures, but more broke through.

A second volley from Berenson's Nine-Breaker cleared them out. "Keep me covered!" he shouted to his brother as he switched over to his Nine-Breaker's plasma beam cannon. The barrel unfolded and connected over the machine's shoulder, while the Nine-Breaker dropped down into a kneeling position. It lifted up its free left arm to steady the weapon as Berenson found his target.

"C'mon, ya scaly bastards!" Ronin roared as his Nine-Breaker was pursued by a wing of Devil Dragons, each of them firing repeatedly with their green heat beams. "Ah ha ha ha ha ha!"

Angling his machine around, he took aim with the KARASAWA rifle and pelted the enemies with laser beams, killing a few and angering the rest. A warning light went off on his monitors, and he immediately angled his machine to fly upwards. The Devil Dragons, surprised, flew straight past, only for a powerful wave of plasma fired from Berenson's plasma cannon to impact against the heart of them and explode violently.

"Ah ha ha!" Ronin laughed, looking down as various charred pieces of Devil Dragon was strewn through the air. "Aw, looks like they'll have to glue you back together! IN HELL!!!"

"Force Option!" As the Option threw back Vulgars, Hugo swept his guns around the room, joined with Helena's blasts of fire, to keep the monsters at bay.

One Vulgar got particularly lucky, having gotten through the Force Option and propelled by it towards the group. With orbs of plasma in its claws, the demon screeched as it attacked the weakest link of the group: Ileyna.

The girl seemed freeze as the creature made its terrible cry, and her eyes widened in horror. Suddenly, her eyes snapped shut as she threw out her hand in reflex.

"Ahhhh!"

As if moving on its own, Ileyna's hand made a sign; her middle and ring fingers curling and her thumb, index, and little finger extended, palm out. And just as suddenly, a beam of intense blue energy lanced out from her palm, slamming hard into the Vulgar's face. With a screech, it fell back and landed hard on the ground, squirming to get back up.

Ileyna's eyes snapped open. "What?" she said uncertainly, looking at her hand. "Did I just do that?"

"What the-" Hugo glanced back at Ileyna. "Whatever you did, keep doing it!"

"A-ah, o-okay!" Ileyna stuttered, pushing her hand back out. She concentrated, trying to remember how exactly she did it, and another beam shot out from her palm, skewering through the air to slam harmlessly against the wall near the incoming Vulgars. Startled a bit, she steadied her aim and tried again--this time, the beam struck a Vulgar squarely in the face.

It was far from lethal, and did little damage compared to Hugo and Helena's attacks--but it was something, at least. Biting her lip, Ileyna pressed on, firing again and again.

As a Vulgar leapt too close, Helena's jaws snapped, tearing into the demon's flesh. She repelled it with another blast of fire.

The pathway was cleared with the last creature slain.

"Let's get going!" Ileyna cried, looking back at them. She didn't have to feel so afraid, now, now that she knew how to defend herself.

Hugo ran ahead, with Helena in tow. The Mettaur kept his guns out, ready for anything else that might jump them.

The room shuddered again, much greater than before. The war outside was getting worse. Ileyna whimpered slightly, growing more and more alarmed.

===Aube Airspace===

The mountain-side turret exploded violently as a massive wave of energy bombarded it from seemingly nowhere. The explosion caused numerous Devil Dragons to whip into a frenzy, flying faster and harder. Soon, the Falkens were being hard-pressed to keep the winged monstrosities at bay.

Behind Raven's Nine-Breaker, a fellow Nine-Ball exploded as three Devil Dragons unleashed their heat beams on it from different directions. Gritting his teeth within the cockpit of the revolutionary machine, Raven turned and activated his laser blade, slashing at an incoming Devil Dragon. Two more flew in from behind, jaws agape in vicious roars.

"Look out!" shouted the voice of Razgriz-2, Ashley "Éclair” Bernitz, through the comm-speaker. Azure rays of energized death flew down through the air, piercing both monsters as she dropped down from above. The volatile chemicals that made up their flaming breath ignited as the energy seared through their organs, causing them both to erupt in a violent fashion.

"Thanks for the assist," Raven said, communicating through a vid-screen in his Nine-Breaker.

Ashley nodded. "I told you I'd watch your back."

Another turret exploded near them, eliciting startled screams from both Maria and David in their Nine-Breakers.

"What the hell!?" Maria shouted, looking around for the fire. Above the ocean in the distance, the air seemed to shimmer and waver.

===Sector C-5 Elevator, Aube===

Alasea braced herself as the shockwave from the second explosion hit, rocking the elevator as it descended deeper into the facility.

"Things are getting bad, aren't they?" she asked, looking over at Ramirez, who just finished a communication through his transceiver.

"We lost two of the main turrets. We can't see what's taking them out; its deploying some sort of cloaking field," he said to the girl. "There's a few things that those freaks have that can deploy such a field, and none of them are good."

Matt bobbed up and down on his feet, watching the number display as it ticked down with each floor. Damn it, this was too slow. They had to get to the vault. If they really had bigger forces like Ramirez said, then protecting the Omega Essence would be a lot harder.

"Its almost like they know we're here for the Essence," Alasea mused quietly. She looked up at Matt. "Is that possible? That Ziatoch's forces are getting desperate because we're here?"

Matt folded his arms. "We can't rule that out, Alasea. We've had a string of successes so far. Ziatoch's probably heard of it by now and He's trying to get in and get out before we show up."

"I guess nothing's really changed for you guys after you first brought me to the Pillar of Dawn," Alasea said bemusedly. "I'll just have to get used to it again."

The elevator came to a stop, and Ramirez's transceiver crackled. "Lieutenant Ramirez, Sector S-17 has not been encountered any activity yet. Try to get Willard Company down to the Essence's vault as soon as you can," said the voice coming from it.

"Roger that," he said as the doors opened, revealing a thus-far untouched hallway. "Let's get moving, that status can change at any moment."

"Got it." Matt switched to a fresh stock of power-he'd use the water element for a while and see how it affected the demons.

Ramirez and his comrade led the two of them towards the Vault as quick as they could, their guns at the ready. However, when they near one hallway, a peculiar glowing light emanating from an intersection caught their attention. Halting their movement with a hand signal, Ramirez approached and peered down the hall--just as something child-sized and glowing blue zipped past. With a shocked cry, he pulled back in surprise, bringing his gun up to bear.

Ileyna halted her flight just before she passed out of sight, surprised by the sound. Spinning around, her eyes lit up in relief. "Matt, Alasea!" she exclaimed happily. "You're all right!"

"Hey!" Matt ran over to the little girl. "Are you okay?"

Hugo walked up to Matt. "She's fine. Ran into some trouble, but we took care of it."

Helena's wings suddenly cracked, and the weredragon bent down low, growling as they withdrew into her body. Damn it, she must be too tired to stay in her dragon form. Matt tossed down his sack and pulled out whatever fabric he could find, finally stumbling on one of the checkered blankets they sat on for impromptu lunches.

"This is probably the worst time to do this, kid," Matt said, draping the blanket over Helena's shoulders, ignoring her growls.

The two soldiers with them looked at the weredragon with strange expressions on their faces. Alasea lifted her left hand up to her mouth and cleared her throat, catching their attention. As the two of them turned around to her, she put a stern expression on her face and motioned with her finger for them to turn around. Her foot tapped against the metallic floor a bit.

They had the decency to give the slightest of blushes as they cleared their own throats as they turned away, making sure to look down the other halls in case of incoming threats.

"She can't maintain her form indefinitely?" Alasea asked, stepping near Matt.

===Sector G-4 Station, Aube===

The door opened, alerting all nearby demons to the presence of another foe entering the sector. As the first two Vulgars scurried to the doorway, something black and white flashed out of the entryway, swinging a blue blade--within moments, both creatures had fallen dead, gaping, cauterized wounds left in their body by the Trikeros' rifle's beam bayonet.

"Entering Sector G-4," he reported on the comm. unit, running at high speeds as he turned the corner. Seeing more Vulgars coming down the hall, he lifted up the rifle and fired repeatedly, leaving burning holes in each of the weaker demons. "Engaging incoming enemies."

"Roger that," came the reply. "They haven't managed to hack into the automated defenses in that Sector. We'll bring them online to aid you."

"Looks like she can't," Matt said. He made it a point not to stare as new hair pooled from Helena's scalp and draped her face. "And that was a benefit I would have prefered to keep."

"I'm ready to use the G-Stone again, so I can still help protect the core," Hugo said.

"You might need to stay out here and protect Helena," Matt said.

"No," Helena suddenly sputtered, like a wet cough. "I'll be fine." She gasped when her claws slid back into her fingers.