The First Contact in a While

Lisa was worried. She knew their leader was a tough cookie but his absence made her nervous. Also, she wasn't used to working with a huge number of support. Then there was also the warden which would be their first time dealing with. What a job to start their first day of duty.

They reached Kal-anan Area and saw the rook-rank warden that was the size of an airship. It had the shape of a bird and was flying about at a slow pace. The creature was jet black with red lines running throughout its body like a body line. Its core, which was a red orb at its belly, was protected by a swarm of pawn-rank wardens, which looked as creepy as the big one and it were roughly the size of a regular person.

"If this continues, that thing will reach the base in three hours!" Cam said through his communication device. He was placed at the rear to act as a sniper. His new-type, Nornus, has three forms; a hand held twin guns, a sniper rifle and a bazooka. "Lisa? Orders?"

"Do we bash its head now?" said Kitty on the other line.

"I don't know why, but I feel a little excited." Neri also said which was an unusual happening in their group.

If Percy wasn't around, Lisa was the one in-charge. Despite being the youngest, she was also the most mature and the one good at strategies.

"Order the regular soldiers to prioritize the evacuation of civilians. The users can help us clean up the pawn-rank wardens. If you have an opening, have a go at the rook-rank!"

"""Roger!"""

"Captain Alfafara! Major Ramos! I leave it to you!"

"You can count on us Major Canillo!" responded Major Ramos.

"I don't get why we need to listen to a kid, but we'll do our best!" said Captain Alfafara.

Lisa took that as a positive and focused in dealing with the swarm of pawn-rank wardens. There were about a hundred but she was amazed by the performance of the users, since they actually knew what to do.

"Hundreds of simulations on this one." she heard Kitty say. "It was only a matter of application!"

She heard an explosion on Kitty's side and heard her laugh. She could only sigh in disbelief.

***

Neri was excited and at the same time afraid. Who wouldn't? When one had to face a man-eating inter-dimensional creature? It was way different than dealing with the mutated animals. But he knew he had to fight. It was what he had been training for. And besides, he could feel Steron stir in excitement at the sight of wardens. It was probably happy it could kill wardens again, just like it used to... A long time ago.

He aimed at the core of the rook-rank land-based warden which was somehow the shape of a bear, but he kept missing because it could move very quickly. Its pawn-rank wardens were regular-sized wolves that were as vicious as the real ones.

"Remember to hit the cores!" Lisa reminded in their communication devices.

Neri could hear Kitty shout in glee as she fought her way to the pawn-rank wardens. Her relic, Rohi, can really pack a punch and once its gauge becomes full she could unleash a powerful strike that can even make a small crater.

"Meteor smash!" he heard her shout.

'Looks like the gauge filled up.' he thought.

He could feel the energy released by Kitty's punch then saw the wardens that were blown away. He took that chance to shoot at the creatures and turn them into piles of scrap metal.

After a warden's core is destroyed, its body which turns into a black scrap of metal becomes a very important material to produce a new-type or all sorts of weapons. First generation new-types were the basis for the latter generations. Though, he knew Cam's Normus was a first generation and he did the maintenance himself.

He knew he couldn't be distracted and went to the problem at hand; destroying the rook-rank warden.

"Kitty!" he called. "I'll make a way for you! Can you make it to the rook-rank?"

"Okay!"

Neri took a deep breath and started converging clusters of laser beams to create a bigger one. He could feel Kitty stand next to him.

"You do realize you'll disintegrate the warden metals?" Kitty said.

"We have plenty enough."

The large sized laser beam formed just above their heads. It was five times larger than a volleyball ball and Neri could feel his energy getting drained already. With one deep breath, he released the laser beam which made a wide path in front of him. It even singed the head of the rook-rank which made a very good diversion.

Kitty ran to the cleaved road the laser beam created and punched the core of the rook-rank which was on its chest. She heard a satisfying crack and the core turned black. The red lines that were running on its body also disappeared. Kitty couldn't help but smile. Her first warden kill was a rook-rank! She threw a thumb up to Neri who only gave her a smug smile.

"Looks like they're finishing up there as well." Neri commented. "Let's deal with the pawn-ranks. According to the records, without a rook-rank to coordinate them, they can easily be defeated."

***

Lisa had to save a soldier from getting snatched by a pawn-rank which almost endangered her. One of the wardens took this as an opportunity and snatched her as well. Good thing Cam was fast and shot the pawn-rank that had her in its clutches.

"This is going nowhere." Cam said. "I can feel Neri converge his energy for one big shot, how about I do that? Can you make a way for me?"

Lisa looked up and saw that only a few pawn-ranks were actually protecting the core.

"Are you sure you can make the shot?" she asked.

"I just need a clear way."

"Okay."

Lisa held out her arm and the two ends of Lux started floating upwards. The two ends started to get sharper and attacked the wardens mercilessly. She caught Cam's Normus transform into a bazooka. And with a click, a white laser beam erupted from its barrel and went straight to the core of the rook-rank air-based warden. With a loud explosion, the core broke apart and fell to the ground in pieces. The lines disappeared and the warden started falling.

Thankfully, Kal-anan Area was mostly mountainous so no property damage was done.

Lisa gave Cam a high five. But it was too early to celebrate.

From the rift, where the two rook-rank wardens emerged, another warden stepped out. It had the shape of a stallion with its red core in its head. Despite the shape, everybody knew it was more powerful than the two rook-rank wardens they defeated a while ago.

Kitty could barely breath. The pressure around them dropped and fear started clawing its way to her. Not just her but to everyone. Some fainted while some were unfortunate to have soiled their own pants.

"That's a knight-rank warden." she heard the colonel murmur on their communicator.

Pawn-rank wardens started spilling out of the rift once again. The knight-rank made a screeching sound and lasers started shooting out if its eyes.

"RUN!"