Enough.
But this world, Terra II—this haunted, cursed land—offered no illusions of peace. This was a place plagued by horrors beyond comprehension and nightmares that walked the same soil as the species of Terra. Here, there were no happy endings, only survival bought in blood.
As the first K9 lunged toward her, its teeth bared and claws extended, Seraniti's expression remained unchanged. No smirk, no rage—just those tired, dull grey eyes that seemed to see straight through the noise around her.
She flicked her wrist, and Svalinn shot forward with precision, slamming into the K9's chest with a sickening crack. The force sent the creature tumbling backward, its body convulsing as it choked on blood.
Her other hand moved almost simultaneously, her motions sharp and practiced. She aimed ZeroTwo and ZeroThree toward a cluster of approaching enemies. The apparatus on both cannons spun faster, building potential as they hummed ominously.
Fwoom—BOOM!
Twin Lavoisier rounds exploded in the distance, lighting up the open area like the First Year. The shockwaves rippled through the ground, throwing two K9s off their feet and scattering debris into the air.
"What?" she muttered under her breath, her voice barely audible over the echoes of the explosions. "You think I'm wasting my hands on five nobodies?" She snorted faintly, but there was no amusement in her tone.
This is no game.
Dust and smoke swirled around her as she moved forward, her boots digging into the ground to steady herself. She reached the first K9, the one she had pinned with Svalinn, its body convulsing as blood poured from its mouth.
Without hesitation, she grabbed the handle of Svalinn and yanked it free. The screen retracted slightly before she slammed it down onto the K9's chest with brutal force.
"AU!" The K9 yelped, its dog-like head jerking upward as its eyes widened in panic.
Seraniti didn't stop. She grabbed its snout with both hands, her red-stained fingers clamping down like a vice. With a grunt of effort, she drove her knee upward into its jaw, the force sending another sickening crack echoing through the air.
The K9 whimpered, its body twitching as she pulled its head back and slammed it against her raised knee once more.
"Shut up you useless fool." she muttered, her tone flat and unyielding. She tightened her grip on its snout and lower jaw, her muscles straining as she began to pull. The K9 thrashed beneath her, its claws scraping at her arms in desperation.
Her feet dug harder into the ground as she yelled, the effort of tearing through its sinew and bone testing even her enhanced strength.
The other K9s were recovering now, shaking off the effects of the explosions. Their howls filled the air as they charged toward her, their movements chaotic but purposeful. "Hang tight, Marshall!" one of them barked, calling to the K9 within Seraniti's grasp.
Seraniti didn't even glance up. Her focus remained on the K9 in her grasp as she pulled harder, the sound of skin tearing and bones snapping filling the air like a macabre symphony. Her hands burned with exertion, but she didn't falter.
The others reached her, their arms—guns fueled by bullets—blazing as they opened fire. She shifted all her weapons telekinetically, the cannons weaving around her like extensions of her consciousness.
Svalinn intercepted the bullets with its body, deflecting them with metallic clangs, while her cannons returned fire, their apparatus spinning as more Lavoisier rounds loaded into their chambers.
"
Not even a second later, another K9 lunged at her, claws aimed for her throat. Seraniti shifted her weight, planting her feet firmly as she ducked to the side. Her right hook slammed into the K9's face with a dull thud, the force sending it stumbling.
She wasted no time, jamming the spinning apparatus of ZeroThree into its open mouth. The cannon's hum grew louder, and the K9's eyes widened in terror.
Boom!
The shot tore through its skull, sending chunks of flesh and bone scattering. The smell of blood mixed with the acrid scent of burnt gunpowder, making the air thick and nauseating. Seraniti pulled ZerThreeback, tilting it downward as it began its reload cycle. Her breathing was labored now, her arms trembling slightly from the strain of the fight.
Two more K9s approached cautiously, their movements more coordinated now. They weren't fools—they had learned from their fallen comrades. Seraniti could hear their snarls, low and deliberate, as they circled her like wolves stalking prey.
Behind them, the handler stood silently, his gaze sharp and calculating. He wasn't cocky; he knew better than to underestimate her.
"Let's see how long you last, banshee." one of the K9s sneered, his claws glinting as he flexed his hands.
Seraniti didn't respond. She adjusted her grip on ZeroThree, her grey eyes fixed on the two K9s in front of her with the same dull, exhausted look she always wore. Her feathers bristled ever so slightly, stiff and sharp as the tension in the air thickened. The smell of blood and death hung heavy around her, the ground slick beneath her boots.
Seraniti didn't respond. She adjusted her grip on her box, her grey eyes flicking between the two K9s. Her expression remained dull and exhausted, the weariness etched into her face betraying no fear—only irritation.
Her mind raced through possibilities, her thoughts as sharp and calculated as the sequences she wielded. She extended her palm toward the two K9s, her fingers curling slightly as the ΜΙСΛ on her right wrist chimed softly. The sound was accompanied by a faint glow, and in an instant, a complex sequence formed beneath the K9s. The intricate pattern—lines, symbols, and shifting numbers—burned brightly on the ground.
Fwoom!
The sequence erupted in flames, engulfing one of the K9s in a torrent of fire. The creature howled in agony, its form thrashing as the flames consumed it. The second K9 leapt to safety, its claws scraping against the ground as it dodged the attack. With an animalistic growl, it jumped toward a nearby wall.
A sequence formed beneath its feet as it began to run along the vertical surface, its movements unnaturally quick and precise.
"Persistent little shit." Seraniti muttered under her breath, her eyes darting upward to track its movement. But before she could react, a sharp force slammed into her back, sending her sprawling forward. Her body hit the ground hard, the impact forcing the air from her lungs.
"Fu—!" she wheezed, her words cutting off as she rolled into a stack of crates. The wood splintered under the force, sharp edges digging into her side as she struggled to catch her breath. Her hands scrambled for purchase as she pushed herself up slightly, glaring at the figure standing a few meters away.
The handler had finally entered the fray. His stance was steady, his gaze cold and calculating. "Didn't think I'd let them handle you alone, did you?" he asked, his tone sharp but measured.
Seraniti coughed hard, her body trembling slightly as she wiped a streak of blood from the corner of her mouth. "Tch. Thought you were smarter than to fight me head on." she shot back, her voice raspy but defiant.
Before he could respond, a sharp whirring sound filled the air. Her eyes widened slightly as an aerial vehicle loomed overhead, its shadow casting an ominous silhouette over the battlefield. "No, no, no…"
She muttered, her frustration mounting as the craft descended. The vehicle's thrusters kicked up clouds of dust and debris, forcing her to shield her face momentarily.
The AV landed with a metallic thud, its doors sliding open as reinforcements poured out. A squad of guards—fully armed and outfitted—leapt from the craft, their movements precise and coordinated. They wasted no time, spreading out in formation as their weapons locked onto Seraniti.
"Fucking great!" she spat, her irritation boiling over. Her grey eyes, usually so dull and tired, began to change. A faint circle with a missing piece formed in her irises, glowing faintly as her frustration grew.
She rolled behind the splintered remains of the crate, her fingers twitching slightly as she reached for the Minié ammunition stored in Svalinn.
The apparatus spun faster as the cannon loaded the first round. Minié ammunition—compact but devastating—allowed for precision and rapid fire.
"Let's get this over with." she muttered, crouching low as she gestured sharply. ZeroThree tilted into position, its frame adjusting to line up with the approaching guards.
BOOM!
The first shot rang out, the minié round tearing through the air. One of the guards was thrown backward, his armor splintering under the force. Another moved to retaliate, firing a burst of bullets, but Seraniti shifted svalinn telekinetically, the box deflecting the projectiles with a sharp metallic clang.
Sequences formed rapidly beneath the guards, glowing with eerie precision. Each one was a labyrinth of lines, numbers, and letters that defied logic, their incomprehensible patterns reminiscent of a language not meant for understanding. One of the guards hesitated, his gaze fixated on the glowing symbols beneath him.
"What the hell are these—" he started, but his words were cut off as the sequence activated. A shockwave sent him sprawling, his weapon skidding out of reach.
Why in the name of
Seraniti moved with purpose, her actions fluid despite the chaos surrounding her. Her flames erupted once more, coating her hands in a searing inferno as she grabbed another guard by the arm.
The man screamed as the heat burned through his armor, the smell of scorched flesh filling the air. Without hesitation, she slammed him into the ground, the impact reverberating through her arms.
"Keep coming, you bastards!" she shouted, her voice raw with exertion. Another guard lunged toward her, but she ducked low, delivering a powerful right hook to his ribs. The force sent him staggering, and before he could recover, she jammed the spinning apparatus of ZeroThree into his torso.
BOOM!
The round discharged, throwing the guard back with enough force to shatter his chest plate. Seraniti winced as the cannon tilted downward, signaling its reload. "Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up!" she muttered, already repositioning herself behind another crate as bullets whizzed past her.
The K9s regrouped near the handler, their snarls growing louder as they prepared to charge again. Seraniti's feathers bristled, her body trembling slightly from the strain. She tightened her grip on Svalinn, the tired yet fierce look in her eyes never wavering.
Seraniti jumped behind another crate just as the one she had been using for cover was sliced cleanly into pieces. Shards of wood and metal scattered around her as a relentless storm of ammunition and the sharp whine of beams from drivers rained down.
The cacophony of violence was unrelenting, each sound layering over the other in a deafening symphony. Above it all, the first rays of dawn began to creep over the horizon, their soft glow a cruel juxtaposition to the chaos below.
Her breath came in sharp bursts as she positioned herself, Svalibb raised defensively in front of her. One more hour of this, and I'm going to need a new spine. She thought bitterly. The ground was slick with more blood, the smell of scorched metal and flesh choking the air.
What was a driver anyway? The thought crossed her mind unbidden, her mind drifting briefly as it often did in moments like this. Simple, really. Drivers were tools—weapons powered by battery pouches filled with collapse liquid.
These pouches generated focused bursts of potential, factory-calibrated for consistent performance and precision. They were reliable, efficient, and devastating when used correctly.
And right now, she was getting a front-row demonstration of just how devastating they could be.
The hum of another driver shot past her, the heat grazing her shoulder as she cursed under her breath. She tightened her grip on her box, adjusting its angle to deflect the next shot. The screen glowed faintly as it absorbed the impact, but Seraniti's focus was abruptly interrupted by a sharp ping in her vision.
It was from Marcus.
"Oh, fucking hell." she muttered, her irritation spiking as the overlay appeared in her field of vision. With a quick flick of her fingers, she accepted the call, her voice rising over the noise around her. "I'm busy, so I'd appreciate it if you'd hurry up and tell me!" she yelled, her tone sharp and biting.
The overlapping display flickered slightly as Marcus's voice came through, calm and unbothered despite the chaos on her end. "Client's dead," he said flatly, as if announcing the weather. "Thirty minutes ago. Found with a knife in his chest."
Seraniti froze for half a second, her grip on Svalinn tightening instinctively. "Fucking hell, he ate that knife, huh?" she spat, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Her eyes scanned the battlefield as she pressed herself further into cover, her mind racing. That idiot couldn't even stay alive long enough to make this worth it.
"Yup," Marcus replied nonchalantly, the faint sound of typing in the background. "Rich or not, they're fair game, I guess. Some people just have worse luck than others."
Seraniti's jaw tightened, her frustration boiling over. "Great. Fantastic. So what about the visitor? Don't tell me—"
"Gone," Marcus interrupted, cutting her off. "Most likely left the city, for all I know. And honestly? I don't care. We're not getting paid for this anymore, so what's the point? Besides weren't you leaving this city after this?"
Her lips pressed into a thin line as her vision flicked between the overlay and the chaos unfolding around her. The sound of beams and bullets rained down relentlessly, drivers whining as another volley slammed into the remains of her cover. Splinters flew as the crate buckled further under the assault.
"Oh, fuck you, Marcus, Fuck you." she snapped, ending the call with a sharp swipe of her hand. The overlay disappeared, leaving her alone with the relentless noise and the distant rays of dawn. Her feathers bristled slightly as she adjusted her grip on Svalinn, her grey eyes narrowing.
Client's dead. Visitor's gone. Great. Just great.
She let out a sharp exhale, her frustration mounting as the sounds of combat dragged her back into focus. The K9s were regrouping, their handler barking orders as they prepared for another assault. Seraniti planted her feet firmly, bracing herself as she muttered under her breath.
"Fine. Let's finish this." Seraniti muttered, her voice heavy with exhaustion and annoyance. Adrenaline coursed through her veins as her crawl turned into a low sprint—only for her to be violently tripped by a guard's leg.
She stumbled hard, nearly crashing to the ground.
This was no game where fights were fair.
"What the hell!" she shouted, trying to recover just as a sword whistled past her shoulder, missing by an inch.
Ahhh...
Sweat rolled down her chin as a sequence formed beneath her feet. She barely had time to throw herself into a roll before a streak of lightning erupted upward, narrowly missing her as bullets and beams rained down on her weapons.
"Fuckkkk!"
Pain lanced through her arm as part of the lightning struck it—her entire limb going numb as she was kicked in the back of the knee by the same guard who had nearly stabbed her. She turned slightly, catching sight of his stance before snapping her fingers.
Both her cannons aimed and fired, but the guard dodged, the shots missing and instead striking the building behind him.
She barely had a second to breathe before her instincts screamed at her.
A K9—but we'll call the canine from now on—lunged, fangs scraping her shoulder.
I didn't even feel him!
In the same instant, she grabbed his shoulder, using his own momentum to slam him onto his back. A fireball flared to life in her palm.
The canine twisted, trying to move.
She gave him no chance.
She snapped her fingers, a dull ringing sound echoing as he froze for a second, just long enough for her to launch the fireball. She took a sharp jump backward as a hail of ice struck where she had been standing.
She didn't bother to hear his scream before throwing another fireball at him. At the same time, she willed the smaller screen—hielaman—to bash into a guard's chest, the impact sending him sprawling.
She charged toward another guard, Svalinn positioned in front of her as both her cannons fired—only for the shots to be swallowed by a translucent screen made of manas, the energy dispersing across its surface like ripples in water.
Her teeth clenched as she ducked, a sword whistling past her head, so close she could feel the shift in air pressure. Sweat trickled down her temple, her breathing quickening.
"Fuck off, you bitch!"
The handler.
Her ΜΙСΛ chimed as a sequence formed in front of her. The air change direction—a force slammed into her and shoved her back, boots skidding against the ruined ground just as a driver beam scorched past her, striking the wall behind.
She barely had time to react before she threw her palm to her left.
Her ΜΙСΛ chimed again. The wall ahead pulsed—then detonated.
The explosion sent a shockwave of debris and shattered concrete hurtling toward the group.
Five dodged, twisting away with trained reflexes. The remaining three weren't so lucky. The force caved them in, bodies crushed beneath the weight before their minds even registered that they were already dead.
Life waited for no one.
A sequence formed beneath her—faster than she anticipated.
Weight increased as her entire body plummeted.
The impact rattled through her bones as she barely managed to move her fingers—just enough to send Svalinn flying in another direction.
At the same moment, she forced up a screen of manas, bracing herself as enemy fire tore toward her position. Svalinn then came back towards her and smashing into the ground a few feet away—
The sequence shattered but so did her balance.
The force hurled her backward, debris exploding outward as she was flung another way.
The faintest of a hum was picked up by her ears as she jerked her gaze forward.
An operator. Like her.
She saw the charge flicker along their cannon's barrel.
They fired.
Her heart slammed against her ribs as she thrust her palm forward, magicules flooding into the air at a reckless, sickening pace.
Layers of screens erupted before her—
The shot hit.
One shattered. Then another. And another. The force pummeled through three, the last one cracking violently under the pressure before it barely held.
Seraniti gasped, vision blurring at the edges, her chest rising and falling in uneven breaths. Her head pounded, nausea curling in her stomach from the sheer expenditure.
No time to recover.
The handler had her in his sights.
She saw the glow at front of his gun shaped ΜΙСΛ—a sequence formed, stone materializing just as the opponent's own box hurtled toward her.
"Mashaa!"
The voice came from nowhere and everywhere at once.
Zora emerged from the shadows, her blade already buried deep into the defender attacking Seraniti. In one fluid motion, she twisted the weapon, yanking it free before slicing through his arm in an arc. The severed limb dropped to the ground, the defender barely registering the loss before Zora drove her foot into his chest, sending him crashing backward.
The sudden assault was enough to distract the handler. His gaze flicked toward Zora for the briefest of moments—just as the stones he had conjured hurtled toward Seraniti.
Seraniti threw herself to the side, rolling out of the way as jagged stones went through the area where she had been standing. The moment her boots hit solid ground, she sprinted forward, both cannons locking onto the handler as they fired in unison.
The shots streaked toward him, but he was already moving.
A sidestep, then another, both projectiles missing by barely a meter. His reaction time was razor-sharp.
Seraniti lifted her fingers to snap, but the handler mirrored the motion with his free hand.
They both snapped at the same time.
A sharp pulse of would be sound rippled between them as their magic canceled out, sending a wave of residual potential into the space around them. The handler took three sharp steps backward, then he pointed his ΜΙСΛ at the ground before him. It chimed before the earth split open, stone spikes bursting from below in a jagged line racing toward her.
"Now you show up, Zora?!" Seraniti shouted, her voice ragged with exhaustion.
Zora, locked in a duel of her own, barely spared her a glance. A sword sliced toward her cheek—she tilted her head just enough for it to miss by a hair.
"Do you have any idea how much I had to walk?!" she shot back which was an obvious, her voice half-laugh, half-grunt as she parried a strike, retaliating with a sharp riposte.
Seraniti had no time to curse. The stone-lined assault was nearly on her.
She threw herself to another side, dodging just before the sharp ridges burst through the ground. Her leg screamed in protest, a sharp pain flaring through her body, but she forced herself to keep moving.
She sent a pulse of magicules into her palm—a screen of manas formed before her, deflecting some of the impact, but not all of it.
The force knocked her backward, catching her breath as she slammed into the rubble-strewn ground. Dirt and stone pressed against her back, her vision swimming for a moment.
Her limbs felt heavy.
Her heart slammed against her ribs, the weight of her magicule expenditure finally hitting her all at once.
Too much. Too fast.
She tried to push herself up, but her arms refused to move. The edges of her vision blurred, darkening at the corners. Her breath hitched.
Seraniti's fingers curled weakly, but there was nothing left. She felt a hand wrap around her wrist—firm, grounding.
A voice—Zora's voice—low.
"Gotcha."
Seraniti lurched forward.
Then everything went dark.