Ranius deftly barrel-rolled and twirled past the barrage of plasma the Cruxi sent in the way of Devors, the veteran pilot clearly showing off to Elise as she saw the action from further away. When he released the bomb with a skilled turn of the Framewerk, it flew through the void with great speed. Due to the lack of atmospheric resistance, the bomb reached the middle of the oblivious CWMS before it blew up, the napalm spreading like a sphere and catching the three machines in it. The liquid combined with the hot plasma generators on their arm cannons and combusted, causing them to explode from the strong reaction.
Elise saw everything, and blushed in awe at seeing Devors destroy an entire unit without breaking a sweat, only to pout when she heard his gloating over the comms. "Good job Ranius, but stay focused, as we ain't done yet." Prometheus held out an open hand, it scraped lightly on Ranius's wing as it flew past the Frame; to an outsider it seemed pointless, but the two knew it was a ritual of hers to swap out, like a slap at a relay race. The Frame charged into the midst of the burning wreckage, her orange fire glowing past the green fires like a beacon in the darkness. "HIIAAAHHH!" She screamed, and with her attacks took down another unit as well as the lone straggler, 4 kills in total. However, the constant high-yield energy attacks had her sweating profusely, her breathing heavy as the system took it's toll on her vitality and health.
She heard Zim and Jason request status updates, and nodded to the pilots out of reflex. "Acknowledged. Check-OW!" She screamed upon hearing the absolute aural torture that happened upon them, and immediately shut off the channel that connected to the infiltrators. "They are in deep shit! We gotta get rid of these defenses and head in to help them ASAP!" Elise's breath grew harder as she had to make a decision on the fly. "Alright, you're approved to begin charging once the crystal cracker's down, but hold it until I give the signal to fire; I can trust Katya and the rest to make it back, I just know it! Meanwhile, you guys continue kicking Cruxi ass!"
Sigma piped in: "Relocating." Eiswolf then dashed to D10, reloading her weapon and sending the spent shell launching into the void. Despite her confident tone, Elise shivered in her place from fear; she had witnessed crazy, insane stuff from the Cruxi across her battles, but never anything like she heard inside the station; it was like the scream tore at her very connection to her Framewerk, as she noticed the heavy dip in Synchro status, slowly returning to normal. She knew time was running out and they might need to resort to destroying the entire space station, but she hoped that they would make out before it happened.
Zim's words seemed to echo in Black Star, and the machine clanked deep inside; he felt the same feeling as in Leviticus, back when he spoke to the machine. But at this point, the pilot was sure it was not caused by high stress. Even though his Synchro was not as high, he could feel the clank in him as well, but only faintly.
Black Star rushed through the tapestry of distant stars with blaring motors, scythe held to the side as the machine began to spin around.
Zim could feel the intense g-forces pull on his body the spinning grew intense, him unable to stop due to something urging him to move faster and faster inside, making him sick as his stomach acids rose to his mouth, but he held on. His experience carried him through with the maneuver as like a buzz-saw of death he ripped through the CWMs, their retaliating shots glancing off the spinning Frame uselessly. By the end of it, the enemy squad was all torn asunder, and Zim vomited on his controls, his Synchro dropping by 10%; it was an effective maneuver, but with a cost to his personal well-being.
Roger took advantage of the distraction provided by Zim, and steered Yeager right past the destruction with the kind of finesse only close bonds forged in the fires of battle could give. Yeager then let loose with his machine gun, and let the infinite-propulsion bullets turn another CWM to swiss cheese, causing it to activate it's self-destruct mechanism and blow up. The remaining CWM shot back at Yeager, but was intercepted by Black Star; the damage was taken on the Frame's leg, causing it to turn charred and malfunction.
Paladin switched targets from the crystal congregation to the distant sniper with a strained turn, the embedded heavy crystals causing metal around them to creak, until the cannon was turned and fired. The shot missed the target, but it caused the sniper to flee, dashing backwards into the safety of the space stations's battlements.
Then the Frame went to work on removing the shards impaling it, pulling them out one by one like a proud, unrelenting knight would remove arrows from his flesh. As a result, he had removed half of the shards stuck in him, increasing his mobility considerably from the almost immobile state it was in before.
Krista and Jason joined forces despite their encumbered states, and delivered high-intensity cannon shots at the mini-mist through strained steering and hard-grit teeth. However, the effort did not bear fruit, as it was surrounded by crystals, and the large shards intercepted the shots, causing two shards to be broken.
In return, the mini-mist shot out one of the two shards remaining at Hou-Yi; it ripped straight through Krista's cannon destroying it, and sent the entire Framewerk spinning out of control in space, causing her to feel sick in her stomach as well, her Synchro dropping by 15%.
Jake contacted NOAH, and Ritsu's voice could be heard amidst the garbled sounds. "Base here, what is happening down there! Our readings are showing zero to negative values! Pull out of there immediately!" However, before she could continue, Jake noticed that one of the Cruxi mechs charged, attempting to close the distance to him, but Weisritter was in position and easily shot the mech down, having been prepared. The remianing CWMS continued their blindfire around the corner, keeping Jake still.
In the round chamber, the situation got out of hand at an alarming rate. The Cruxi Ace seemed to enjoy the results of Elora's psychic attack, as the loudspeakers broadcasted the terrible voices again, but with a tone of glee, resembling laughter. Serah was the one who took the most damage to her mind; AA-XOTRY's display showed a big CULLING message in red, and the young girl lost control over her Framewerk as the Synchronization levels dropped, revealing a dark, horrible truth about the Framewerks to light; they were not mere machines to be driven around, but beings with their own wills. And Atty was one being that showed nothing but pure, condensed rage. It's insides groaned and ground, sounding like a guttural roar as it brought its arms to bear, and attacked both ally and enemy in it's blind fury.
The slash directed at the Elite Cruxi proved surprisingly effective, as the mech only barely managed to block the attack with the blade floating beside it, floating backwards from the impact as the blade was charred black from the intense energy of the attack. The other attack caused Caretaker to trip from the impact, causing it to fall backwards. The attack drones launched prior to the beginning of the troubled situation then assumed firing modes on autopilot, firing on the source of the attack on Caretaker; Atty. The combined firepower of the drones was enough to cause Atty's remaining barrier to be destroyed, and for the Frame's armor to be breached. As a result, it stumbled and hit the wall violently, causing electricity to crackle from exposed machinery.
But the situation wasn't completely hopeless, as Mai had prepared for something no other member on squad Sigma could have; a tactic of psionic quality. While still having sensible control over the Frame, Neo Angel made a quickdraw, and shot the Cruxi Ace with with its Magnums, still reeling from the blocked energy attack. The attack didn't seem to be effective at first, as the first shot was blocked by an invisible force, but the second one pierced through the protectivbe energy field surrounding the mech, causing the hexagon-segmented barrier to visibly break, sending the Cruxi Ace also slamming backwards into the door; Jake heard this, and now knew that there was a battle going on.
Then, Mai made a hard choice, and charged straight the modified Logic Gate with it's engines fully activated. Logic Gate responded by extending it's arms to intercept the charging Framewerk, but the arms could not hold against the sheer mass, and they broke apart as the egg-shaped Frame was rammed hard against the wall, causing it to also break and reveal more broken circuitry spewing a small pool of fire into the floor; deadly for a human, but a mere ember for their size.
Elora's screaming stopped from the impact, and the infiltration squad instead heard a low groan of pain from Elora in their minds, followed by crying; the young pilot didn't seem to understand what happened to her, and the mental shock was enough to send her into a catatonic state. The psychic attack stopped there; Katya and Mai saw how their Synchronization levels would return back, and it rose by 30% for the both of them. The Cruxi Ace took an offensive pose with it's sword, and threw it straight through Neo Angel, impaling both the Framewerk as well as Logic Gate. Mai read that Angel had sustained major damage and was stuck to the partially broken wall, bound to Logic Gate that seemed to turn limp and unresponsive. At that moment, Mai, and only Mai, heard Elora's voice in her. Unlike the other times, she now spoke with a deep sense of sorrow and grief, almost whispering. In her mind's eye she could see Elora standing before her, reaching a hand out to her. "Mai...I...Understand your pain...I have also been put through that hell...To be programmed into nothing but a soldier, a weapon...Please, listen to me...Don't let it control you...Don't be a part of Seven...Let Seven be a part of you..."
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