Logic Gate, while still invisible, flew around in circles above the tower as Elora sobbed in grief inside it. The sight of the bombardment was too much for the young girl to emotionally handle, and her synchro rate dropped, first to 80%, and then to 75%, until it settled at the 71-72% range. She then started losing altitude, and almost crashed into the side of the durable structure before she opened her eyes and pulled up as a learned reflex.
She first opened up the command channel to speak, but then remembered the exact reason why most of her squad was shelled, and linked the squad channel Ariin created between them. "I-I'm sorry. I should have realized the eavesdropping sooner. Please forgive me."
She winced when Harold started screaming to her, but not as much as one may have assumed; she was more glad that Harold was still in a good enough condition to use his lungs that much, and in a bizarre way, she was happy to be yelled at for that one instant. As soon as he was finished giving her the order, Sigma pointed the units to her, and she in turn marked them as blue dots in addition to giving the map coordinates to Ariin. "R-Roger! Sending coordinates..." She then read the message Zero sent, and forwarded it to to everyone else before she began screaming in the command channel: "Eeeehhh! Retreat to zone A! Retreat to zone A! KIYAAAAAAA!" Elora didn't have to work much to fake a panic as she was still in something resembling one, though her choice of screams left something to be desired.
While Elora was providing fabricated communications to the enemy, Sigma proved herself to be the fastest gunslinger in Solaire, and took a shot right through the exotic Framewerk's chest where its core was located. Instead of a scream like with the other enemy pilots, this time it was a grunt of pain as the Frame dropped its rifle and went to its knees. It lifted an arm towards Sigma with outstretched fingers before it finally fell down. Then she delivered a kick to the other Frame who stood up in reaction to it's comrade's defeat. The Frame managed to activate its plasma shield before the attack connected, but it was enough force to send it careening deep into the earth. However, the Frame seemed to be more tenacious than the others, and grabbed Eiswolf by its ankle, dragging it also into the pit.
The two hit the bottom with a crash; Eiswolf suffered major damage to its thrusters, torso and one leg, while the silver Framewerk's was crushed, an arm ripped off from its shoulder and its legs bent at an awkward angle. For a moment, it seemed it was the end, given that the female pilot screamed, but the cannon-carrying construct managed to slowly crawl up and growled in a metallic tinge, not unlike the Frame that Serah faced off. It activated a plasma blade on its forearm, about to lunge into the downed sharpshooter before it stopped. It looked down, and Sigma saw a purple glow emanating from its torso in the shape of a sword. The sword then sliced upwards, and split the Frame vertically like it was made of butter, causing the two halves to fall separately. Sigma then heard a very familiar voice from a private channel that popped up in her comms: "I told you to stay out of my way, Delta. You were one of the better ones...but not as good as our little Siggy." Sigma attempted to use her jetpack to escape, but before she had a chance to act a black, robotic hand suddenly closed over Eiswolf's head, with a grip strong enough to crush it if any more pressure was applied. "Well, as much as a faildoll can be. That little drama play you put out was quite amusing." Sköll emerged from the shadows, and craned its neck, lowering the head right up to Eiswolf's and mimicking Irina's body language as if the pilot herself was the Framewerk, down to the smallest twitch of its limbs. While it held onto Eiswolf's cranial part, Sköll then activated its thrusters, and rose up from the Abyss. "I first thought to ambush you guys using a tunnel since Dental went mental, but this is a lot more fun. I'm gonna take you to your pals, and let you spectate as I make scrap metal out of them! HAAA HA HAA HAAAA!"
Rooney managed to keep Yeager under control through learning and willpower, and took up position at the shores of zone F, designated as the Lake of Rage. Black Star also pulled through, and reached it just in time for the enemy forces to land. The vast blue pool of water formed waves as Framewerks advanced both under and over it; the floating Frame had the appearance of a heavenly being, with a pristine engraved exterior and tendrils of electricity sparking from it. A Frame resembling a rose crawled up the wet sand, while another that took the appearance of a humanoid sword leaped out, and shot a shotgun blast that rent Black Stars Armor Wings, causing one of them to fall off, but didn't pierce the rest of the body due to the Frame's distance. Black Star swung its Thermal Scythe in response, but the unwieldy weapon missed completely, causing the black Frame to slam into the sleek Frame and cause it to fall backwards into the shallow water with enough power to make it sink into the sand as it's pointy legs flailed around. While this was happening, the electric Framewerk charged up a lightning boltlike spear of electricity in its arm, and threw it at Yeager, only to be intercepted by a black and wiry Framewerk with a katana; the pilot didn't seem to pay any attention to its surroundings, and exploded from the impact of the energy blast, causing it's parts to scatter all over the place as a female scream once again rung in the command channel. The rose Framewerk shot out a thorny whip at Yeager, causing it to coil around its torso. vine then both extended spikes into Frame to tighten its grip, and grinded the armor with spinning segments; Yeager was unable to escape, and another lightning bolt was charged by the Frame that seemed to stand over the lake's water.
Meanwhile, at the destroyed Forest of Pillars, Caretaker successfully unearthed Dynasty, a billowy cloud of dirt and dust sprayed over the two as the Frame lifted its way out of its momentary imprisonment.
While Katya was giving support to Lora, a battle raged in the Mystery Zone. Atty launched an energy sickle that was parried by the glowy sword-wiedling Frame. Serah then attempted to charge at the pistol-wielding one, but was too slow to make another attack; the white Framewerk shot at Atty, and hit its thruster wings, but the kinetic shots were more designed for piercing armor than an energy barrier, though a glanced shot almost pierced the Frame's torso. However, it never had the chance to take another shot as it was utterly wrecked by Paladin's Pompey, causing all of its limbs to rip apart and its torso to shatter into countless tiny pieces. Paladin then attempted to close in on the sword-wielding Frame, but it's imposing size was a detriment when it came to movement, only able to slowly walk after an attack despite Ariin's attempts at hastening it. The sword-wiedling Frame charged at Atty, about to swing its blade and split the red Frame in two when rescue came from an unlikely source: Harold unleashed a hail of bullets, and in response the Light Frame activated a red hexagon field in front of it. At first Rostosov's kinetic attack was absorbed, but the field overloaded from the sheer volume; the pilot's scream was abruptly cut off by the detonation, causing the Frame's chest to cave in and it's head to blast off.
The two heavy Frames finally reached the battlefield, but their efforts turned out to be less than stellar; the black one activated it's massive gun, but missed despite shooting at Rostosov, the most easy target around. The white Frame on the other hand seemed to be more successful as it gallantly charged with its sword stabbing the sky, but then tripped, causing a loud thump as it's wide body hit the ground.
The battle was now turned around thanks to the efforts of Squad Sigma, but the enemy only kept becoming bolder, not to mention the ultimate foe, who was cackling at the scene of destruction while keeping Sigma in her claws.
