---

No doubt that was a direct hit, but it can't have inflicted as much damage to the stricken enemy as Raphel would've liked. On top of that, the invader had made its counterattack way too quickly; almost as if it knew exactly where Raphel was hiding. Raphel evaded being caught in the blast with ease, but had to resort to hiding behind the base of the tree in place of among the leaves, as they had been completely vaporized by the invader's shot. Dismay was plastered all over Raphel's face as he was forced to re-strategize.

It was at this point that the team Linker, Hiro Valentine, had arrived with a fully functional "map" displayed on his drone. An overview of the terrain was always helpful to have on hand regardless of the undertaken mission, especially to a designated sniper such as Raphel. There were also plenty of benefits in having a second person to exchange deductions with.

"You're right, Hiro; we'll certainly have to tread lightly going forward. It appears as though remaining stationary at any point of time would be an unacceptable strategy as well. We face ourselves with quite the adversaries, here; that much is crystal clear."

Raphel looked around the tree to get a view on what the enemy was doing. It had prepared another shot, but aimed it at a completely different direction from last time. It was possible that someone else was under attack, by the very same creature that Raphel had engaged seconds earlier. He quickly looked through the data that he'd compiled earlier to see if there was anything on them that he could use.

"We really need a means to down that behemoth in one shot," Raphel said as he stifled through the data, "It's all good removing its offensive capabilities. Crippling its legs so it can't move. Even so much as blinding the curse-... Hmm. Come to think of it, I never did like those eyes..."

Raphel got to thinking. Was he supposed to try and get to the brain through the eye sockets of all things? Attacking headlong like that would be risky at best and downright reckless at worst. Hell, it could even be considered suicidal if one went about it with neither the right plan nor the right support. Then again, if these things were supposed to be the creme of the crop in terms of invaders, it would make sense that their weak points would be at the very least hard to get to, if not well protected.

"In any case, I'll continue to provide covering fire while we devise an appropriate plan of attack, but it'd be wise for us to begin moving some Strikers into position as well," Raphel put his PDA back into his pocket and resumed his battle stance, "We should primarily focus on applying as much pressure on the enemy as we're able."

After her somewhat explosive entrance, things seemed to escalate quickly. Explosions here, bigger explosions there. Trees getting uprooted and entire ruins crumbling under the constant assault of metal and energy-like attacks alike. A cacophony of destruction that Rin-Rin seemed to enjoy nonetheless. Being her first field deployment, it was exactly how she imagined it. Nonstop action and chaos without a moment of respite and order. The raven-hair couldn't help but smile.

"Muhahahaha!" The Linker girl simply laughed without fear, even as a bunch of Invaders were charging right at her and Falk. "You better give up your effortless struggle! The good guys ALWAYS win!" Absolute confidence, or just pure stupidity in the face of danger? The answer to that mattered little, as moments later Yui arrived right next to her (and Falk) in exploding fashion: Quickly taking care of that threat. "Good Job, hotshot!" Gosh, melee people were so cool! Why was she a Linker again?

With the other teams now slowly gathering all at the same spot, and the small fries running away, Rin-Rin couldn't wait to witness that big effin' something that was apparently moving closer and closer onto their position in person. Nonetheless, as it turned out, Rin-Rin actually had a moment of peace and time to prepare.

"Oy, Falky!" She called out to her explosive friend. "Explosions are great, but y'know what's better? Bigger explosions! And today's finally THE day for Rin-Rin's super special pimp-my-bomb service!" Considering Falk's tendency to go a little bit overboard in the practical exercises, the raven-hair had been explicitly forbidden from using her power on Falk's bombs. But right now they weren't exercising.

"Show me one!" She commanded Falk before her red eye started to glow once more. Increasing the power of one explosive? Easily done! Not even taking two seconds, Rin now went on her knees in pain as she coughed up more blood. "Goooo!" Her head throbbed strong enough that it drowned most of the other noises around her. Yet, not enough that she couldn't hear the majestic roar of their adversary.

Looking up, despite the pain, she could once again do nothing but smile.

A blast from not far off had been shot towards their direction as retaliation form Raphael's initial shot. It wasn't taking any chances, it quickly deduced their location and without warning the two were forced to move. Their feet carried them a couple ways away from its sight, preparing its next attack towards another team. "Damn it, we're really in a bind right now. That thing doesn't seem to show any signs of a visible weakness." Hiro sent the drone on flight, hovering above their head, getting an eagles view at the scenery. Many teams were under fire, others deemed it reasonable to reduced the number of the grunts, while others were attempting to fight the monstrosity head on. "If only we could hit them all in one." Pondered the silver haired linker, fingers grasping chin, trained on the image Gungnir displayed on his wrist monitor. "You're right Raph, we can't just sit here. Sadly, I wouldn't last a second without a striker out there, and I need your eyes on the target. Leaves me no choice then." Gungnir flies down, Hiro places his palm on top of his as power began to fuse the two together into a single using, except, Gungnir was absorbing power from Hiro's psychic drive, fatigue began to swallow up his essence, a meter began to fill up on Gungnir's side, soon beeping upon completion. A sigh escaped Hiro, releasing the tether from his drone. "I'm sending Gungnir ahead. I'll tether with you whenever you have injuries so you can continuously keep pressuring them. If we had a striker on us, this would be made easier, but we have to make due."

_{@Spike@Burger@Skyswimsky}

Gungnir was the sent to flight mode, directing it's way towards the teams before them. Firstly, the members of Yui Gang who seemed to be the one who needs help the most. Traversing above the skies and over the building, before Gungnir sees the mess in which the team had placed themselves on. Through his glasses, a image of Rin began to surface, her body seemingly loosing its strength before she let out blood from her mouth. A barrel exposed itself, the drone aimed and a flash of energy shot towards Rin, Yui and Falk, enveloping them in its shimmering light, before absorbing such onto their bodies, healing them from a safe distance away. The comms begin to ring, before his voice comes through "Can't let you guys fall on me, don't get overboard just because Gungnir's there. He has a couple bullets left, try not get hit, ok?"

"Let's go Raph, I have a couple vantage point we can abuse so you can have a clearer view of everything. The enemy seems to have spread throughout, but it's not that they're relenting, perhaps they're trying to pick us up one by one. We have to give way to the other teams so they can converge in a safer spot, from there, we have to create enough of a force to down that monster."

The chaos had gone on for what seemed like forever. Or, rather, enough time for most of the other teams to arrive. Alistair had drawn his rapier, Judicium, at the beginning of the conflict. It seemed as though they were perpetually surrounded. The arrival of Rin had boosted their chance of survival and the arrival of the other teams had further boosted it.

Al parried a bladed appendage sweeping toward his body. Ducking under the his blade as it guided the attack over him, he brought his blade to bear, piercing the invader’s body, it crumpled to the ground. This went on for a few more minutes before Al spotted a familiar drone in the sky, launching healing energy throughout of the battlefield. That’s Gungnir… That means Hiro’s arrived! Now that Hiro and Raphel were both present, they had a full team.

He swung his around, looking for the two. They would certainly need his support. He had already felled seven foes in the last few minutes of battle and he knew he could fight on. He spotted them trying to find cover in what used to be brush. The quadruped invaders had been routing by that point. He made his way with slow progress. Sidestepping passing attacks and the occasional engagement meant progress wasn’t as fast as he’d have liked.

He was just about one hundred meters from his companions when an invader stepped in his way. Holding Judicium at the ready, he glanced behind him to see many of the other teams still engaged with the invaders and the really rather large invader. He also noticed that two other invaders were closing in on his back. He turned back in time to react to the first invader’s lunge. He stepped forward and off to the side just slightly. Bringing his rapier up and guiding the attack to the side, he kept advancing piercing the invader twice in the course of less than a second. He spun around, sheathed Judicium, and activated his psychic drive.

The world suddenly was moving in slow motion. His eyes and brain were processing information at a very increased rate, he moved to avoid a projectile attack. As he did, he drew Taiyō, the bright crimson blade shimmering into existence. By this time, the invaders were slow motion launching for attacks. Al pivoted around the attack and slowly slashed through the second one’s body, cleaving it in two. The third received an upward slash which didn’t cut deep enough to part it, but was indeed deep enough to kill.

Deactivating his drive, he made his way the rest of the way to his team. Panting just a bit as he arrived, he sheathed Taiyō, its curved blade disappearing once more into the ornate white hilt. “Hey there, I didn’t think you were going to show up.” He turned back to the giant invader before he said, “What’s the plan?”

Falk Fukuzawa

Falk shot out one of his strings, yanking one of the hounds towards him just in time for him to hit it in the side of the face with a roundhouse kick, before cutting the wire and sending it flying. He turned to face Rin when she said his name, just in time to watch her red eye glow. "Thanks. I'll make it count." He said, thumbing one of his bombs into the slot on his gauntlet. One of the pink ones.He looked up at Hiro's drone as it bathed him in glowing light, reinvigorating him. He inclined his head slightly towards Al. "I'm going to nuke his ass."

"Sorry, Yui!" He said, before sticking one of this strings to Rin's drone overhead. He pressed a button on his helmet, checking the map as he ascended. Even slinking below the treeline, he had a map with the big guy on it on his visor. He turned on the comm to broadcast a message, just to be safe. "Stand clear, I'm hitting him with heavy ordnance." Satisfied that he wasn't likely to hit anyone they knew, he took aim, then breathed out as he fired, going for a bodyshot.

@Burger @Melkor @Skyswimsky

Oh. The smaller ones were running away.

"Nevermind then," Tian-Gui said, his awkward laugh sounding incredibly menacing when amplified and reverbrated by his helmet, "Guess we'll just mop up the big boi and call it a day, Mavis."

And, just like that, the golden titan dashed off, heavy steps propelling him through the landscape with an explosive burst. Large as it was, the invader's predatorial gait only allowed the armored striker to close the distance on time, enabling Tian-Gui to intercept the trajectory of its second energy shot just in time. Leaping up into the air, his Flamestone shield deflected the initial impact of the blow while his Final Red absorbed the scattered energy next, scarlet lines on the armor glowing vibrantly. Landing with only faint scratches on his armor, Tian-Gui gave a two-fingered salute towards Mila before dashing off again.

A Striker was meant to draw attention, after all, and as heroic and glorious as his armament was, one could not question how eye-catching gold and red was, from a metropolis to an overgrown wasteland. As Falk's face emerged from the explosions that rocked its form, Tian-Gui discarded his fractured shield and took the halberd in both hands. Running up the slope of a fallen building, he vaulted off his constructed polearm at the very edge and launched himself straight into a flying kick at the invader.

What did heroes say in this scenario?

Things had gone swimmingly at the second sensor. Akari had taken the backpack up to change the battery while Lucia and R.R. had stood watch, and nothing had happened. Not a single invader in sight, not even an incidental wandering one. It had been quiet and easy. Eerily so, in fact. And it was bothering Lucia. True, the mission was meant to be a simple and direct one, but given the invaders they'd fought off earlier, for there to be no presence at all here... something wasn't right. She had no evidence toward that, but her gut was rapidly pressing the notion upon her.

"R.R, do you suppose-" she started to say, before a large explosion in the distance tore her attention away. Within seconds she was switching to the global comm channel. "This is Lucia of Team Novae, what just happened?!" A dozen seconds passed, with no sign of an answer coming in. Now she was beyond concerned. Something had DEFINITELY gone wrong, and if her ears weren't mistaken as she trained them in the direction the faint, but continuous noises of explosions, impacts, and plasma fire indicated it was still going wrong.

“Holy shit, whatever that is, it sounds like it has fucking power!” R.R. said with a grin. It didn't take much to guess what she was going to do.

There was no time for doubts. "And our help may be needed against it. Allons-y!" she declared with a look around at her team and their guest before turning and taking off at a full run in the direction of the explosion. As she ran, Lucia recalled the map of the sensor range; based on the direction and volume of the blast they'd heard, she had to guess it was one of the more distant beacon sites from them. It would take time to get there; she only hoped it wouldn't take too much. Sounds of active combat grew louder and louder as she moved, and eventually she started running past, around, and occasionally through a fleeing invader scrambling to go the opposite way. Eventually, however, she started to get a glimpse through the trees she was traversing of what the commotion was; a more powerful Invader had happened upon the operation site, larger than the small fry and much more aggressive, and most of the other teams had converged to try and deal with it.

Fashionable lateness it was, then.

As she cleared the tree line to bring the entire field of combat into view she turned her attention to what the other teams were doing. Particularly Falk, who'd indicated he was using heavy ordinance, and anybody else who was throwing wide area attacks. While they commenced their barrage, Lucia turned and bounded up some exposed girders in a destroyed building nearby. Once she was atop the roof she looked down to double check her bearings, watch for a gap in allied fire, and try to get a read on the BIg One's movements. When she saw a chance to strike she long jumped over the edge with her sword drawn, and with a burst of energy from her boots she was flying toward the Invader from above, her sword poised to plunge straight into it!

“Welp, things got really crazy, really fast,” Mavis said to herself as the battle devolved into complete chaos almost as soon as she finished speaking with Tian and— “Oh, what are you doing in a place like this, Riyame? Also, now that you are talking about her, where’s Reddy?” the redhead said as soon as she noticed the dark-haired gunner, over the sound of explosions and gunfire.

“We’ll have to leave the chat later, Mavis. This isn’t looking good. Everyone is doing as they please with no coordination. I’ll try to get the Linkers to form a united plan. You go there and make sure Mila doesn’t get caught in the crossfire,” Subaru said over their team coms, bringing Mavis’ attention back to the matter at hand. As soon as she was done making sure that her team was already, she turned to the open channel again. “We need a unified strategy if we want to get out of this without any unnecessary damage. If all the Linkers can come up with a coordinated plan, we may be able to maximize our combined strength while avoiding friendly fire. Let’s do this as if we were all a single squad,” she said, addressing everyone else.

“You name it, Subs!” Mavis said as she plunged into the fray, blocking spray of bullets that could have hit any of the Gunners behind her. “Actually, I do have a plan to end this thing but it’s a little, erm… unorthodox,” she said over the open link. “If you guys wanna know, just say it,” Mavis added after she tried to bull rush one of the alien’s paws in an attempt to shake its balance.

---

---

'There must be something we're missing, here,' Raphel furrowed his brow, still trying to figure out the one snag in all the plans that he'd attempt to devise thus far; how to get past the invader's defenses. Judging from the failed snipe that he made earlier, he knew that it was well-armored. Possibly from head to toe. That was the main reason that a Striker was necessary, as they were the only class that could really inflict the damage necessary to try and break it apart.

Thankfully, Raphel and Hiro had one Striker that was assigned to him team in Alistair Thorne, and while he was supposed to be assisting another team for this main mission, he was here now and ready to be put to use. However, just before he could relay to Alistair what he was thinking in terms of a plan, a transmission came in on an open channel.

"Actually, I do have a plan to end this thing but it’s a little, erm... unorthodox. If you guys wanna know, just say it."

It was a girl from one of the other teams... and she sounded rather confident. Did she figure out something Raphel overlooked? Was he trying to attack the problem from completely the wrong angle? Curious to know what this girl was thinking, Raphel wasted no time in picking up his receiver.

"Well, I myself was considering having our team attempt to behead the enemy," Raphel told the girl, looking over to Hiro and Alistair as well as he spoke into the receiver, "Hiro's Tethers can grant more than enough speed for Alistair here to deliver the necessary blow, and I can keep the enemy still for him through the use of my Psionic Lockdown. My main concern is whether we can apply enough force to break through that armor; and to that end, we may need more Strikers than we even have available. If your plan would better address the issue that I'm having, now would be the time to enlighten us."

...

Of course, Hiro and Alistair were welcome to suggest their own additions and/or alterations to Raphel's plan as well. They were his teammates, after all.

---

“I could ask you the same thing Mavis. On both fronts.” Riyame kept firing shots into the crowd of Invaders, but soon enough the targets had dispersed. It left her enough time to pass a comment towards the other girl, but not before Mavis was leaping off to be a hero again. She held back a sigh, noting someone trying to get a message through on the general comm links. It sounded like…another girl and before she could answer back, she saw Team Novae arrive on the scene.

Plus R.R. The redhead was straggling a little, caught off guard by Lucia’s rallying charge into war, but there she was all the same. However, Team Chaotix would have to meet up later; now there only lay just Psychers and the Big One. On all sides, the different teams were beginning their attack. While Raphel and Hiro were conducting a plan with Mavis, lending healing support to their allies on the frontline, the more offensive Psychers had begun their assault.

Beefed up explosives came from Falk’s direction, powered by Rin-Rin’s enhanced capabilities. Likewise, physical strikes came from the heavens as Tian-Gui and Lucia both delivered attacks from the air. The Big One halted firing in Mila’s direction, bringing its tail reeling towards its body. Its slits for eyes glowed just briefly before the barrage of attacks landed.

Falk’s bombs would hit first, making direct contact and sending a plume of energy spreading out from its explosion. It would do nothing to inhibit the visions of Lucia and Tian-Gui as they dived in immediately after, slamming into something large and dense from their moves. Yet as the cloud of dispersed energy cleared for all to see, the Psychers would find their target had other tricks for it to rely on as well.

A translucent barrier surrounded the Big One, gleaming right back at Tian-Gui, Lucia, and even Mavis, held by the Invader’s metallic paws. If the creature could smirk it would have because soon the shield collapsed upon itself, leaving the two Strikers nothing to hold them in the air. Not that it mattered because flickers of light revealed the dispersing shield were tiny explosions, each one rippling right back into the three Strikers.

From the force of Falk’s bomb and their own strikes, the result of the collapsing shield explosion would send both flying away forcibly. The Big One snarled, eyes fading lightly before it began to fire its machine-gun and laser tail at random. Was the shield on a time limit? Either way, Tian-Gui and Lucia were airborne again, this time in the opposite direction.

“Holy shit!” R.R. said, scrambling where she was to catch one of them. It was only natural since one of them was hurling right at her like a bullet. As for Mavis, she too was sent hurling away. Like a missile, she would land roughly near Team Yui Gang’s position, albeit worse for wear.

---

A reactive barrier? It mattered not!

Launched back by the explosion, Tian-Gui grit his teeth and clenched his fists again, as scarlet lines raced up his golden armor. The power he had absorbed was sufficient, and his heroic spirit was never something to be smothered by a singular failure! Jets of flame burst from his legs as he shot himself towards the Invader once more, the recycled energy of past attacks now allowing him to continue the onslaught. Linkers and Gunners can come up with their plans, their tactics, but the role of a Striker?

Pulverize the foe right before you!
Did the Invader have another shield up? Who cares?! He could do this all day!

There was much to think about, much to understand... The members of the team relied on the Linker's specialties to formulate a plan, yet there was so few they understood of the current threat. It's resistance, it's power, it's overall skeleton was like punching through a granite with you bear hands. The teams were hammering on its forces, one attempted to make the panther-like invader meet its maker, which resulted on the destruction of one of the sensors, on top of that they needed to realistically attempt to reduce damage to the structures around them, but that monster had no intentions of relenting, of demonstrating any sort mercy. Of course, this is to be expected. Think... Think... Falk explosive didn't dent the creature, Raphael's bullets were swiped away with awe striking simplicity. It was capable of large quantities of energy, exuding such into a blast which can capture a whole team in a single swipe of it's tail. But absolutely no weaknesses whatsoever. Everyone seemed to have devised the same alternative, hit it harder and harder until it falls and breaks.

Raphael presented his idea forward, utilizing Hiro's tether as a means of energizing and overloading the weapon's capacity and the user's parameters beyond the scope to deliver a fatal, conclusive blow. However, wouldn't such just lead to more of the same. Unorthodox isn't something Hiro wanted to gamble on, Falk was readying a powerful blast which similarly seemed to convoke the principals of Raphael's plan. Hands began to type upon a holographic surface, the multiple equations and parameters began to surface upon his glasses, a targeting system locking on to several targets, all quadrupeds, light on their feet with the panther demonstrating ferocity in its size. Around 6' feet tall, not to angular. "We need to corner it."

Finally spoke the platinum haired youth. A reactive barrier exposed itself, it had far too many trick up its sleeve, but it was running out of space. I could sustain itself for a a time, but it couldn't expose itself to do multiple task as once. So, there needed to me more strikers willing to clobber it simultaneously, and Hiro thought there was a way to do so. "I think I'm starting to understand that things patterns." Hiro bit his lip, attempting to underline the map and formulate a distraction. "I don't really know what your plan is, but I do have something in the mean time. All teams need to converge on this thing, however. Adding to Raphael's plan of action, I believe it'll be frugal to continue a direct assault individually. Gunners, you need to pincer it from all directions, make it so it uses up all of its shielding, I'm certain it can't keep it up forever. Don't relent, in the meantime, the strikers need to be between several 100 feet away, since the moment it finds itself cornered it will have to call for support, we need to clear the adds for such time. Our drones can provide basic support throughout. I will personally have Gungnir around for such. There's still some vision, if we can pin him down in this area, Falk can assault one of the abandoned buildings nearby, causing the structure to fall upon it."

Gungnir turned once more into it's flight mode, and surge of power began to surface on Hiro's persona a grit of his teeth before his aura began to manifest, an area of effect surged and the wind began to pick up, energy began to transfer indefinitely towards his teammates, Alister and Raphael, successfully Tethering the two to his power. "It should keep it busy enough at least. Whatever unorthodox plan you have you better say it quick!" He began to feel himself weaken, in exchange for rejuvenating his allies, Gungnir began to travel across the battle field above them. "I'm useless in battle, but now you two are in your primes. I don't know about you, but that things face reminds me of something unpleasant." A grin perhaps had peered slightly across his lip, he pulled his hair back and released a heavy sigh. "We're on a count down now, fellas. And I'm starting to get really tired of fighting pests. Have at you"

---

Taking care of the second sensor went without any issues, and Kuni was glad for it. But before she could start examining their way back to the rendezvous point, a large explosion had occurred. Lucia was faster than her, immediately asking over the comes what had happened, and after a brief exchange between her and R.R., both went off with their top speed. Giving Akari a brief nod, she started making her way as well, following Lucia and R.R.'s footsteps.

On their way to the site of the explosion, Kuni instructed Dee to rise, going up to the top height it can and moving forward, towards the crash site. She finally managed to see the destroyed sensor through Dee's camera, and also the large invader that was there. As it was clear that people were already engaged with it, Kuni started to already study the movement patterns of the large invader. The faster she could try and help formulate a plan, the better.

Arriving at the site, Kuni went and found herself a relative safe spot and begun lowering Dee, while also instructing it to prepare its guns. As she was about to give further instructions to Dee on her tablet, Kuni caught site of how several individuals were sent flying away, with Lucia being among them. While worried, she quickly spotted R.R. moving in to catch her teammate. So at the very least, Lucia's brief flight would be cushioned to some degree. Having seen that, she moved her full attention back to giving instructions to the drone, while also listening to the ongoing conversation between the different people that were in the area.

"I'd have to agree with Hiro. Having studied it myself on the way here, through the eye in the sky that is my drone, I believe that cornering it will provide our best chance at taking it down." She quickly said over the comms. After doing so, Dee would begin to start shooting at the Invader, clearly trying to push it in the intended direction "I should also mention that I believe the random attack pattern it is currently showcasing must indicate that something has gone wrong with it, meaning that our best chance would likely be now." Kuni added, maneuvering Dee as she kept making her drone shoot at the invader.

With two strikers hammering the barrier and the explosions of Falk, Yui's job was to protect her nerd. Now with the nerd collapsing on the ground in pain, she extended her hand out in order for her to not be demolished by a random bullet or straggling trash mob. An offer of a temporary piggy back ride in order to protect her. With the shield-bearing Mavis landing near her, a dumbass plan began to form in her mind. One that was so extra and dangerous to her it was a bad idea. A shield was nothing more than the perfect platform to jump off of. Well, it was a solid wall that could block damaging blows, but that was beside the point.

With Raphael suggesting a strong strike to demolish the beast, Yui knew what she had to offer. Hiro had offered the idea of luring it into a building and collapsing it, but that was an immense risk. The set up time and the unreliability. People survive building collapses all the time. If they left the beast alive, it could probably cause chaos later or send a distress message to rescue it. She turned on her global comms to deliver her brutal plan.

“I have an idea if our little nerd has enough HP to cast without dying,” she said with a distressed smile. “And it's the most extra thing we can do. If I get boosted with everything we got and Doctor Nerd... Hiro heals me, I can do it all. If I use Mavis over here as a trampoline, I can probably get double speed. Combine that with my double doubling and whatever juice everyone else can feed into me, I'd become a flying guillotine. The second that shield drops, I'll destroy el biggo.” Her offer was certainly not a lie. Without any doubt, she was the strongest out of all of the strikers while she was under the effect of Ignition Engine. If she entered stage two while being healed, she would probably not almost die. Probably. It was going to suck, but it was wild. Wild enough to work.

Mila's hopes of not being noticed were soon crushed when the Invader shot two energy balls in her direction. She easily rolled away form the first one, but was only saved from the second one by Team Afterglow's Striker, the giant Tian-Gui. Around the same time, Falk's explosions were detonating a little too close for comfort, but his aim had been good enough that the ruins the purple haired girl took refuge in remained standing. The explosions were just about done when Final Red charged the enemy, almost through the smoke. He was not alone...but it didn't last.

With a yet unseen move from the Invader, all assailants were thrown back, and Mila was forced into cover by the crazed Invader's random barrage of fire. All the while, people were coming up with ideas and strategies left and right, some of which felt as if they could work. Some, she thought, were unnecessarily risky. When Mila saw - or rather heard the shouting of - Tian-Gui's charge right back into the fray, she spoke up in the comms.

"I am all out of Gravity Pulls ammunition. I can provide covering fire, and a strong, constant fire power on a localized point. If any plan is to be had, please deliver it fast. Captain Limit, you have not shared your idea yet." Her voice was unnaturally calm and composed, devoid of any...adrenaline.

Immediately after, however, Mila jumped down the building. Using what usual strategy she normally used with Mavis, she used her Gunner's speed to assist Tian's assault on the invader in order to keep it busy. Always keeping herself opposed to Tian's position, on the other side of the Invader and at a calculated and precise distance, she delivered Iron Saga's attacks in successions to the Strikers blows. Her goal was mainly to keep the Invader from focusing on one enemy only.

Rin-Rin was like a sitting duck. Kneeling in pain as if she was simply waiting for something mean to hit her. "Gosh darn... This isn't the time to be napping." She complained to herself. "Listen, oh so fragile human body that can barely contain the awesomeness that is I, Rin-Rin. I'm telling you, commanding you, to obey, so: Obey and staaaaaaand uuuppp!!!" With one quick motion, the girl actually managed to stand wobbly on her feet for a moment; just to fall on her butt the second another big explosion shook the ground. "Aaaargggh! That thing's so small it should be dead now, right!?"

Unfortunately, that was not the case. Fortunately, one of her team members actually decided to protect her from any possible future harm by turning herself into Rin-Rin's personal ride. "Is this going to be a frequent thing? It will, right? Oh please don't tell me it's going to be a frequent thing. Although... you're comfy!" Was all she had to say before getting hit by a healing flash of light, coming from Hiro's Gungnir.

"Thank you! And don't worry, I'm too awesome to die." Were words spoken over com to him in return. Easing the pain on her body, but not the mind. Nonetheless, it was a welcome gift. Right, thinking about it, they had quite a few people capable of healing, didn't they? Too bad that Rin-Rin wasn't the type of girl who'd easily ask for help.

With some refreshed vitality, and getting tired of listening to all this too-much-planning, she was happy when Yui essentially read her mind. "Now, that sounds like something I can get behind... am already behind. If it doesn't die, just hit it harder! Jeez, it's not so hard to understand." Still being carried by the other girl, Rin-Rin simply nodded. "You want full power? You get full power!"

Speed? Strength? Dexterity? Reaction time? There was so much small print she didn't understand about Re:Phrase, but concentrating on the essential and just boost physical fighting power or something abstract surely had to work, right? Right.

"You'll better take me somewhere nice to eat after this." She added before her eye flashed red. A second passed. Another one, and a third. Little by little, in an accelerating fashion, Yui could feel everything... different. Stronger. Better. The deed was done: The back of Yui's uniform now tinted in crimson.

If there was one regret Rin-Rin had right now, it was that she didn't think ahead. Saying something along the lines of 'Give it a show of the century!' when she was still able to speak. Because now, she couldn't move a single muscle in her body as she dropped to the ground from Yui's back. For the uneducated, one could even think she just died. Good thing she told one of their healers she is undeadable, right? Right.

“Forget Mavis’ idea, Mila. We all know it’s probably some insane stunt. Just do what the others are doing,” Subaru said to Mila after she asked about Mavis’ plan. The silver-haired girl’s sigh could be heard over the radio as the battle grew more and more chaotic with each passing moment. “Though, I have a pretty good idea of what she wanted to do,” she added as Neptune’s turned towards a nearby derelict crane loaded with steel beams.

“Yui’s idea may be our best shot at ending this without anyone getting even more hurt. Mavis knows it as well… don’t you?” Subaru said just as Mavis was sent through the air by the invader’s reflect power.

“Yahoo!” the redhead yelled as she was hurled towards Yui, bracing for the impact behind her shield. Mavis did a dodge roll as soon as she hit the ground, nullifying most of the force of the landing, even though her face twisted a bit when she felt a stinging pain in her right leg. “Tsc! Mom’s gonna kill me when I come back hurt again but whatever. Anyway, I guess that you are right, Subs,” she said under her breath before raising up her voice again.

“Hop on, Yui, I’ll be launch ya faster than a Major League pitcher! Just be sure to get it on the first strike, ‘cause we are not getting a second,” Mavis said as she dug her heels on the ground, steadying herself as she raised her shield, ready to throw Yui away with everything she got for one last strike.

“By the way, guys, how are we going to name this move? How about X-Love Guillotine?”

---

It didn't take long for Lucia to register that she was in trouble, but it still wasn't quick enough for her to do much to stop it. The explosive shield slammed into her with all the force of the attacks it had absorbed, and if she'd been anything but a Striker it would have certainly ended badly. She did manage to shield herself from the blast a little bit, but she was still injured and flying through the air with little in the way of recovery. Her momentum was stopped, not by the solid concrete side of a wall, but by another pair of arms as R.R. caught her and helped her to her feet.

Lucia stood shakily for a moment as she tried to get a feel for her injuries. Nothing was broken, a few places ached where she'd taken the brunt of the explosion, and she was winded, but otherwise she was none the worse for wear. Still, though... that shield was a problem. For all her finer points, Lucia knew she was on the whole a one-trick pony; she generated energy and used it to smash things. Against a defense like that, which she could only assume would come back whenever the Invader wanted, she wouldn't be much help offensively.

That didn't mean she was dead weight though.

Once she was ready to move again, Lucia started running back toward the fray, circling wide in a clockwise direction to make sure she stood in the Big One's path if it decided to go after the Gunners or the Linkers assailing it. "I'll hold the frontline," she said over the comms as she called her sword and an energy shield to her hands, "Anybody using ranged attacks, stay behind me!"

The shield was down. Now was the time to strike. With Mavis at the ready and Rin-Rin giving the lackadaisical warrior the last of her hamon, it was time for her attack. As Rin-Rin fell, Yui quickly twisted her torso and stretched out her arm to catch her head. It wasn't much, but it was better than slamming one's head into the earth. Rin-Rin was still breathing and her heart was pumping, even if raggedly.

“Haha, what a bad name... Name it afterwards,” she directed Mavis. Surprisingly, her tone was much more serious this time around. “Watch her for me. I don't want any stragglers to sneak up on her.”

She closed her eyes. A slow breath in. Her body relaxed as she began to hop in place. Then, she stopped. Her body struck a triumphant pose as all of her muscles tensed. Let it build. Like a bonfire that had accelerant poured on top, strength radiated throughout her body. Her veins bulged out from beneath her now-flush skin. It wasn't enough. No, she held the power. She fed it back to her heart. The stored power built up more and more. As though filling a balloon too much, the container that held her power burst. It echoed within her. Her skin began to crack and harden into thick scales. A large crystal began to burst through the skin on her forehead, alongside a half dozen on her spine. Suddenly, Yui's silence had been broken by an ear piercing yell as she maximized the blade's weight.

Without wasting any time, Yui took one step towards Mavis. The second her foot touched the ground, she erupted forwards faster than anyone could anticipate. A blur of speed, the ground shattered and cracked as she flew into Mavis' shields. She landed her feet directly onto the center of the shield. Her knees bent as she pushed everything she could into the shield for the greatest impulse of all time. Every ounce of energy was transferred back into Yui, who pushed off with as much strength as her legs could muster.

A loud crack resounded throughout the decayed city followed by a small vapor cone in front of Mavis' shield. Yui was nowhere near Mavis' sight. Rather, she was already in front of the large invader. What better way to avoid random fire than to approach with infinite speed? Faster than anyone could have reacted, she had sped directly into the invader sword-first. Using her blade as a lance, she half-sworded the blade directly through the eyesocket of the invader. The beast was unable to deflect it with its innate armour. As soon as it went in, she planted her feet deep within the earth and pushed the blade in deeper, twisting as she did so. In a feat of strength, Yui pushed her attack. She spun around, gripped the hilt with both hands, and swung the blade. The invader came with it, only to be flung upwards at the top of the arc. Yui didn't stop. No, it was almost impossible to avoid things in the air. As the beast came down, Yui unleashed all of her raw strength into a brutal swing. Technique was useless at this point. Even if the swing connected, even if it missed. Yui continued her brutal assault. A never ending onslaught of brutally strong swings with a 75 pound blade. No thinking, just more and more slices.

This was Yui at her maximum.

---

“Can someone fucking decide their shit already-oof!!” Hearing the intercoms between the Psychers revealed nothing but a bunch of blah blah idly disguised as “strategy”. And R.R. was the unfortunate soul exposed to such chatter. Her verbal complaint had earned her a heavy landing from Lucia, of which she barely caught in her metal claws. Skipping in place, it took all her balance to keep standing upright before depositing Lucia. No sooner could she make a retort about it did Lucia move away to defend the Gunners and Linkers.

“Ugh, for fuck’s sake, just hit the fucking thing until it dies. I wanna rip it, rip it, rip it!” Doing more than a bit of grumbling, she bounded up next to the other Striker with claws ready, already hating her sidelined job as the defense position. Though in the case of everyone’s planning, it was dearly needed. Both Hiro and Kuni came into agreement of cornering the Invader in one place and then smashing it with whatever power they could all exert at once. With gunfire coming from Dee and steady healing provided by Hiro, the odds seemed in their favor at last.

Indeed, the Big One snarled as its metallic pelt was rained down with the drone’s attacks. Its machine gun turrets pointed up to the sky to shoot the tool down, only to have more gunfire sting it from its side. Shots from Mila’s gun and Riyame’s pistols kept up the pressure, the Big One’s tail firing off energy blasts at random towards the two Gunners. Assaulted on all sides, it was all but an assurance for Tian Gui’s continued attacks.

A metallic snarl echoed from the beast’s layered gullet, legs too slow to bound away from the shining behemoth of flaming justice. All it could do was forcibly bring up its shield yet again, the rising barrier shooting upwards. Only this time it was much slower than before, a sign that it had failed to fully recharge. What resulted was Tian Gui’s blows connecting with the barrier’s surface, shattering it on impact and triggering the same counter explosions of light. The force of this one was significantly less potent than the last, sending Tian Gui flying back with less momentum. Likewise, the Big One was slammed back just as well into one of the abandoned building walls.

Well, that was one way to pin it down. Scrambling on its side like a wounded animal, the creature’s turrets and tail had both stopped firing for a few seconds. It was plenty of time for Yui’s insane plane to be concocted and invoked, Rin-Rin buffing up the Striker while Mavis launched her forward with her shield. Like a red Oni of ancient lore, Yui was shot forward in full vengeance. Barely standing on all fours once again, the Big One roared and tried to raise its shield prematurely a second time.

Yet it was too late, pain spiking through its head as Yui’s blade stabbed into its eye socket. The metallic snarls became harsh, grinding screeches while purplish fluids scattered drops a plenty on the forest floor; so frantic was the Big One’s head shaking as it tried to wrench the blade out. Before it could comprehend what more was to happen, its legs were lifted above the ground, body spun like a wet flop of flesh before launched into the air.

As it plummeted back to the earth like the Invaders of old long ago, Yui’s final swing would bring with it speed and absolute power. Driven into the ground with impossible weight of metal, the small Striker would slice down and completely bisect the Invader. Spouts of more purple fluids shot out from inhuman organs mixed with metal, the Big One screeching in alien pain as its two halves wriggled amongst a pool of its own blood. Defeated.

“Holy shit, I want her on my team!” came R.R’s enthusiastic call from the display.

---