Generil's Blue-stocking Blade sprinted in combination with soaring across the rooftops of the neighboring sibling city known as Alyi while the warm sun was gracing its light over its bustling citizenry. "Thank Eirala for escaping that wench's presence!" Ember had thought to herself as she performed a side flip over a gap between two tall Alyi buildings. There was only one other person on her mind within the following moment, her recent pal she was journeying to visit. A peculiar looking man was strutting in a dark blue robe and white earmuffs out of her friend's work building in alyi, she couldn't help but unapologetically stare confusedly as she passed him by on the sidewalk outside of her pal's research laboratory.
Generil's Blue-stocking Blade had entered the local laboratory yet was greeted by its hefty and bulky security first. "Let me in, big men." Ember commanded the dynamic duo. The guard with the drop fade dramatically gasped as he moved himself and his partner away and turned towards him. "That's the one that was caught defeating that snakey knight who attacked downtown, Goeffrey!" The drop fade guard squealed moments prior. The guard with the bulky dreads nodded enthusiastically. "She's flipping in the lab on our shift, Kenneth!" The dreaded guard followed his partner's lead as they excitedly squealed together. Ember shook her disappointingly as she pushed past the two. "Keep it professional, fangirls. There's a possibility that the Gen Oath you blush over had been defeated by devious shapeshifters." Generil's Blue-stocking Blade kept a serious tone as she smiled while continuing to saunter through the corridor to Chen Baozhai's office. She heard a heavy gulp behind her.
Generil's Blue-stocking Blade immediately sprinted upstairs to Alyi's explosive Brilliance and burst through her office door enthusiastically when she arrived. "Ms.Chen, what's on the menu for podcasts today?" Ember called out as she looked around but her pal had been nowhere in sight. Alyi's explosive brilliance smile widened after she had heard her in another room and wasted no time retrieving her phone. Ember recognized her communicator notifying her of a message. "In the utility room real quick, come on!" Ember read after she unlocked it. Ember didn't see any utility room but swiftly took notice of an uncanny bookshelf. "This lady has an affinity for hidden self-defense, not reading." Generil's Blue-stocking Blade reminded herself before making her way over to inspect the recent addition to her pal's office. Ember removed a few books from the shelf before figuring that a bust of a historical poet had been for the lever of the secretive entrance. "The philosopher twin has mechanical know-how as well and installed this for you?" Ember asked curiously as she admired the paintings on the wall behind Baozhai. Alyi's explosive brilliance grinned and nodded. "He is this lab's local maintenance manager. All of my siblings are in some S.T.E.M field." Baozhai replied afterwards while fiddling with a queer box on a table in the secretive room. Alyi's explosive brilliance's pal peeked at the project yet had another thought appearing on her mind. "Office Aesthetic and commission completion?" Ember wondered aloud. Baozhai smiled as she acknowledged her work was almost finished. "Bingo, girlie!" She shouted avidly before holding her project towards the ceiling. Generil's Blue-stocking Blade refused to move her eyes away from the cube her best friend had held up yet held a confused expression on her before asking.
Baozhai carefully and slowly returned the metallic glowing cube to her desk. "There's no use being honest with her since this'll never be used, it'll work as a decoration for now." Baozhai kept to herself as she smiled towards Ember as she had a lethal glare trained on her. Ember moved away, her facial expression screamed out shocked, flabbergasted. "You were ambitiously and excitedly speaking about creating the strongest explosive a while ago so please promise me that's not—?!" Ember loudly questioned as she stepped back. Baozhai deeply gasped as if she were betrayed after realizing what she thought she was guilty of by her question. "R-UY explosion absorbing walls courtesy of the nerd of the decade." Baozhai warned Ember, while bragging a little bit as well. Ember sighed in relief before following her lead with a gasp and being ashamed that she sounded like the guards she met earlier. "Who does he know that has access to R-UY material?!" Ember asked in her thoughts.
Alyi's explosive brilliance's vexation grew thicker as she thought further about what Ember had in mind. "I'm the only one that'll get blown up, Embs, don't worry though. Carelessness isn't even in my vocabulary, as a researcher climbing her mind to the top 100 most brilliant in Josue's metropolis trio, mysterious kingdom of low crime rate, I've created the strongest explosive I've ever made in the safest workshop by the most brilliant maintenance man!" Baozhai boasted as she stared at explosives on the workshop desk as she rested her hand on her shoulder, "So yeah, what brings you all the way here though?" She finished after silence butted into the back and forth.
Generil's Blue-stocking blade chuckled with a slight nervousness. "Our handsome and fashionable leader gave us the day away from work and said he'd take care of things with a mixture of boredom." Ember answered after clearing her throat. Baozhai returned a glare from earlier after hearing her reply. "You actually only came to visit because you were bored?!" Baozhai asked with an upset tone as she stepped closer and Ember realized she had hefty sounding steps, suddenly Baozhai broke out in hysterical laughter and snorkeling, "Hopefully— I can get that all cured up for ya, Emb and Emb." Alyi's explosive brilliance replied after she calmed down.
The device that sat on Baozhai's work desk began glowing its shade of blue abruptly noticed by the friends moments before they began feeling as though they were suffocating and with each gasp of air, the friends moved away from one another.
-
Ember and Baozhai woke up inside a drab and unproductive version of their beautiful city Alyi that had resembled an apocalyptic age rolled through. Generil's Blue-stocking Blade recovered from the rubble infested ground. "How long were we unconscious?!" Ember asked herself as stretched her arms and legs. As the two opened their eyes near the same time, it left the researcher and swordsman duo speechless at the sight of the city's destruction. The researcher of explosive brilliance became downtrodden as she gazed upon the wreckage of her beautiful home. "Oh no, no, no, no, no, no!" Baozhai repeated with the volume of her voice decreasing with each word, "My device was not an explosive." She shouted at the top of her lungs as she had fallen to her knees.
Generil's Blue-stocking Blade stepped closer and softly padded Baozhai's shoulder. "She definitely would not have kept an explosive this capable in her room— far from brilliant enough to create one capable of blowing through an R-UY reinforced workshop." She kept to herself before surveying the aftermath of a mystery they stood in. The researcher of explosive ambition wiped her tears away when she recalled the same detail as her friend and realized the impossibility of her being at fault. Generil's Blue-stocking Blade gasped as she took notice of details that brought a revelation. "Listen— listen, Bao, our city has been ravaged by war and feuds. Care to come clean regarding that device of yours?" Ember informed and questioned her with lowered volume as she helped her back to feet.
Baozhai didn't hesitate to let Ember lead her when she recovered yet hesitated and thought about it for five minutes as they moved away from where they awoke. "I encountered a blueprint for that cubic device on my workshop desk nearly a year ago— don't know where it came from or why it was there but then the whispers of a nasally voice appeared in my head if I moved too far from it. I've enjoyed the challenge that comes with working on the device but I want this voice to stop." Baozhai confessed as she held tighter to her shoulder bag as they moved quicker across their war torn streets. Ember thoroughly observed their surroundings after glancing at the fear in Baozhai's eyes. She observed their surroundings for any clues of the warring parties that made Alyi the aftermath of a battlefield that they woke up in.
After finding a building which appeared safe, the swordsman and researcher duo decided that it'd work as their shelter that would give them a moment to think of their next steps. Baozhai sat on a thick piece of debris clasping her hands together as Ember laid on the flat ground next to her resting her sore shoulder. "Huh— that building was the research center so I'm dead weight if we encounter trouble." Baozhai averred as the photo that she glanced at earlier appeared in her thoughts.
Generil's Blue-stocking Blade held a brow upwards and one lowered as she sat up. "It's alright. I've got the training necessary to protect the staff of the pentagon without requiring reinforcements for success. You just need to go right if that's my order." Ember replied as she rested, laying her head on her forearms. Baozhai calmed her breathing. "Yep. No hesitation, no questioning, follow your lead. You can count on me." She responded with a lowered tone as she calmed her breathing, "Wait— what's going on with your left shoulder?" She questioned as she stood up. Ember recovered from the ground and cracked her knuckles because she enjoyed the crunch. "Otherworldly wooden golems ambushed me some time ago. They took my arm but I was able to nab their heads." Ember informed her friend. Baozhai was taken aback. "How did being sent through five of the world's fourth most durable trees feel?" Baozhai asked curiously as she loved the shine that she had noticed from her friend's gear.
Ember grabbed her helmet off the ground and dusted it. "The days back then— to be truthful, words can't describe it. It took me months to recover." Ember responded before a short time of silence struck, "It's safe enough here. Stay in this place while I go scouting. I'll return with safety, food and answers." She finished before equipping her helmet. The researcher of explosive ambition nodded understandingly filled with gratitude that was visible on her face. Generil's Blue-stocking Blade journeyed out of the building they formed into their makeshift safe house. She recognized the street and headed towards the nearest grocery store from memory. "This might have been easier if Bao came with me as a navigator." Ember thought to herself as she looted cans of food into a bag from a few isles away. As she ambled through the isles, the feeling that she was being watched suddenly appeared. As she turned her head to figure out from where, she caught sight of a mysterious person in unfamiliar crimson and turquoise gear tightly keeping grasp of a rifle scope staring at her from outside of the store's grand window. While she slowly stepped forward, the person in gear urgently backed away retrieving something from the utility belt he wore. As the smoke cleared, she acknowledged that the person in the crimson shaded gear had seemingly vanished. Ember retrieved her cans and on the journey to return to Baozhai's hip, had collected clues which furthered a theory she was carefully crafting about the situation they woke up in. She walked in and took notice of materials her pal was twiddling with that she could only have acquired by leaving and engendering the possibility of leaving the duo exposed which left Generil's Blue-stocking Blade sighing. Baozhai tried to swiftly hide it before just as quickly realizing that it was by reflex and pointless since she saw the gun. "You'd make one hell of a mom with those eyes and expressions, Lady." Baozhai commented after a minute of being pressed by her friend's mein. Generil's Blue-stocking Blade crossed her arms. "Wouldn't waste my time— I've already got plenty of duties." She replied before she stepped closer, "My mind's been multitasking, I think I managed to rationalize a working theory about our situation." Ember finished yet with an uncertain tone. Baozhai's eyes glowed with wonder. "I've been dying to know!" Bao shouted with a tone sounding like relief.
Ember began to pace back and forth as she took a moment to recollect the clues and puzzle them to fit a cohesive narrative. "A battlefield has a certain atmosphere to it that stays around lingering for a while like fog, for most folks in this world— the atmosphere of a genuine battlefield practically can't be felt nor recognized." Ember enlightened Bao with a saddened tone. Baozhai gently nodded as her expression matched her curiosity. "Okay, so you feel this strange atmosphere then—?!" Bao asked with a confused tone. Ember sat on the same piece of grand debris as her friend earlier. "I barely paid attention to the mentor that taught us the ability because I was under the impression that it was a waste of time and thought about my sword mentors and their techniques but it's overwhelming me. Sadly— Josue's forces stood no chance." Ember revealed with a worried expression. Baozhai gasped as she covered her mouth as the horror dawned on her. "You think the others are any alright— my brother, Lyle, Artus and the oath members of the other squads?!" She asked with obvious sorrow behind her tone with a hint of terror heard. Ember frustratingly groaned as her pacing ceased. "Let's just find some place with better security, I'll tell you my thoughts on the way to safety, I'm getting a feeling that danger's arriving." Ember replied with her uneasiness able to be heard in her tone.
Before their very eyes and any further steps, four dozen minatory soldiers raided the very abandoned building from every angle and were surrounded with guns that were unfamiliar to the researcher and swordsman duo, they decided to comply with the order that was heard and repeated. Ember held her arms above her as was shouted yet as she surveyed the crowd of ominous soldiers dressed in crimson gear, she recognized one of them had been the one from earlier. "Damn— exceptionally trained. It's been a year since the last trail tossing lessons." Generil's Blue-stocking Blade noted and thought to herself.
The other soldiers cleared a path in an orderly fashion for the commander who wore the most protective gear and held a Walkie. The commanding soldier shook his head disappointingly as he caressed Baozhai's face with a sick grin, he turned on his Walkie. "This is one of the only buildings that's gone unsearched and nothing, yet instead there seems to be two unidentified females in here." He informed the deep voice that was on the same channel. "Secure the perimeter and be sure they're comfortably broken mentally. On my way." The researcher and swordsman duo heard from the commanding soldier's communication device, one showed worry and the other kept her calm. The commanding officer with the heavy gear stepped closer to Generil's Blue-stocking Blade and began caressing her face soon after he was finished with Baozhai. "One does resemble the female resistance fighter that we chopped though— sir!" The commander enlightened the owner of the disembodied voice. The researcher and swordsman duo heard the disembodied voice on the commanding soldier's Walkie bursting into hysterical laughter. "An impossibility. I left an axe empowered to ensure the most agonizing death in her back myself." They had heard from the disembodied voice, Baozhai gulped from nervousness. The commanding soldier began shaking and Ember noticed. "Indeed your greatness, your excellency, embodiment of the great Lemon chiffon essence!" The commander informed his boss. Generil's Blue-stocking Blade searched through the crowd for the weakest link nearest her range. "The gear and equipment look like it belonged to Josue's armory, as my proficiency is now, any sword I can engender would be like trying to break a pipe with a wooden stick." Ember noted in her thoughts as she held her hands up and saw Bao being surprisingly calm. The commanding soldier that leads the soldiers nodded approvingly as he turned towards his underlings. "The hoes are coming back to base with us!" He ordered his vigilant fellow soldiers around him before pocketing his Walkie and deviously grinning towards Ember's glare.
Everyone present heard a fiendish voice echoing and rippling through the building. "No—!" Leaving every soldier in anticipation and silence alongside the researcher and swordsman duo themselves as they kept their eyes open. Each of the guards were eyeing each corner of the complex yet the person belonging to the echo hadn't been seen. The ceiling began being filled with a grand and thick cloud of smoke, the soldiers took their sight away from the duo and had their guns trained above their heads. The soldiers began to take notice and many commented on symptoms that resembled a disease, suffering headaches which forced many to drop their guard, aching in their bones which forced many to drop their guns, coughing so excessively that their focus was taken away from the ceiling much like the others. The researcher and swordsman duo noticed an unfamiliar purple wrapped glaive soaring through the abandoned building decapitating the remaining soldiers that stood on their feet. "Uhhhh..." Bao sounded as the shock from the scene she witnessed left her paralyzed, "That was—?!" Ember had been left speechless by the quality of the mysterious sword she witnessed almost appear as a blur. Suddenly as she refused to move but kept her bastard sword tightly gripped, two mysterious figures wearing tattered hoods seemingly dropped from the ceiling Baozhai was staring at and hugged both of them unexpectedly. Ember shoved the one hugging her closest away then hopped away, still lost and dazed about the important details they're missing.
The tattered beige hooded figure only exposed his grey eyes slightly as he surveyed the area after the shove. "Understandable. Reaction." The hooded figure commented. Ember lowly gasped as she had a revelation regarding the figure's identity. "That whispery voice— Little brother?!" She asked as she inched closer squinting upwards with as ecstatic of her tone as ever. The towering figure next to Baozhai removed his hood and cleared his throat. "Shannon Lewis is the most incredibly overrated musician of his time." He opined as he glared into Ember's eyes. Generil's Blue-stocking Blade returned the look with an expression of disgust. "Was that an identity check— you wanted me to threaten your life for insulting the most gifted and brilliant pianist of our lifetime?!" Ember with a tone that matched her reaction. The two figures who saved them backed away slowly until five meters of distance was made as they held their own puzzled meins while staring in each other's direction. Baozhai gasped seemingly out of the blue when she recognized the figures that saved them. "Did— my brother survive whatever took place here?" She questioned with a worried tone. The towering figure's expression didn't make her confident that they'd give her the answer she wanted. The slate gray eyed figure abruptly squatted down as he shut his eyes tight and the duo heard a low growl from him. "Reinforcements. Arriving. We're going to have to face six dozen on our own if we don't regroup with the others. Let's go!" He noted and informed the researcher and swordsman duo with urgency heard in his tone. Baozhai and Ember determinedly nodded before sprinting headed into the unknown, following after him.
-
A resistance fighter guarding the perimeter cultivated his lemon chiffon essence as the rain fell over the ruins of Josue's famed armory that he patrolled. Artus and Lyle's bearded expressions conveyed their genuine shock.
Lyle stood perched on a thin platform of smoke. "Art. I don't see any clues implying she's one of his illusions or transformations. She seems to certainly be— our Ember." He informed his brother as he allowed a couple of tears to flow from his right eye and down his cheek. Artus stepped away and forward eventually forward for a hug so tight it almost halted her breathing. "H-how on Eirala's continent is any of this even possible?" He asked with a puzzled tone before letting her go, "How are you alive?" He asked a moment later as he brushed his beard and inches away, "Holy peepers and that's genuinely Bao with you, Embs?!" Artus finished keeping the rest of his questions to himself. Everyone else unmasked themselves after the announcement of the two of the four dead resistance fighter's return and were amazed by their youth. Ember wasn't sure of the other resistance fighters yet Baozhai recognized Alyi's Gen-Oath squad remained though currently appearing older than she imagined them to be without their helmets though she asked herself where the fourth member were. Lyle glanced at his sister's expression before figuring something. "Time travel I think. Twenty-nineteen, I guess." He shared with Artus before he nodded approvingly. Ember and Bao drew nearer one another, feeling and visibly uncomfortable having everyone including Lyle and Artus with their eyes trained on them like they were spirits. Eventually everyone returned to the tasks they usually perform and the moment of reunion felt over.
Baozhai overheard whispers that caught her interest from the two most unfamiliar resistance fighters as they stood in front of a monitor together. She caught Artus sipping on his warm coffee by himself. "Why were those other guys repeating something about BxM?" Bao yelled furiously and genuinely frustrated with how dumb she felt at their teasing. Generil's Sharpshooter sat it down with one brow raised. "Crackin' jokes over the disaster of your relationship with a pal." Artus answered then asked Baozhai as she sounded sincerely ignorant to him. Bao momentarily scratched her head as she wondered if she wanted to know more.
Generil's Blue-stocking Blade encountered an unfamiliar combatant a few hours later yet decided to walk past him in search for her brothers. The resistance fighter stopped after she passed by and looked in her direction. "It's— you in the flesh, Ember?!" He asked with a baffled tone as he stepped nearer. Ember's natural glare before she responded forced him to recollect their fond times. "My brothers vanished before they told me anything, what happened to me— this city at the time we were unconscious for apparently thirty something years and how did we survive?!" Ember questioned the helmeted resistance fighter with a blunderbuss that caught her attention. The blunderbuss wielding resistance fighter sighed as he continued recollecting the fights. "Either scouting and scavenging or they've caught wind of a survivor in need of their rescuing, Ember." The resistance fighter informed her. Ember continued staring daggers into the unfamiliar gen-oath member. "Focus, guy— and before you ask, start with the city then get to mine and Baozhai's deaths." She demanded as she materialized a bastard sword hilt. The unfamiliar Gen-Oath member stood in silence for an entire minute. "The protogé of Josue's toughest opponent sought revenge on him for the humiliation of his master and the ruin of the cities is something that the scumbag that's responsible for all of this blasts about as his success. He targeted and managed to kill the strongest— leaving the weakest defenders of Josue's Megalopolises, the Gen-Oath, left alive to try to preserve their legacy and make things right. His forces managed to decimate ours in the other cities, yet they failed to take out Alyi's forces under the police chief's command. He turned the other cities against us, we're still hanging onto this one with our lives." The unfamiliar blunderbuss wielding Gen-Oath member enlightened and satisfied her questioning, Ember had remained speechless, "Wish to hear about how you were taken out now—?" He asked with a downtrodden, intending to make the moment not as awkward as it had felt to him, she responded with a thumbs down, "Welcome back, Jenny, welcome back." He finished before walking away leaving her puzzled by the fact that he's aware of her real name.
-
Hours flew by as the lost and confused duo regrouped in the resistance base lobby.
Suddenly, Ember recognized a familiar voice sounding from behind her belonging to whom she had loathed. "There's enough scattered food to last our rebellion for a year if we carefully ration but it'll take the time from at least five of us to retrieve it!" She heard the woman shouting when Ember turned around to realize that it was Alyi's Blacksmith in her thirties and equipped with unfamiliar torn up and raggedy gear. Everyone else wore a different suit. Fury possessed Ember in that split moment, the fury one feels that compels them to risk everything.
Ember momentarily had blasted away into thought afterwards having an important revelation. "Eugh, I knew I felt a third hug earlier, invisible slime!" Generil's Blue-stocking Blade was swift to materialize her bastard sword and dash on the attack, but she then speedily took notice that Livia had been much swifter herself than ever as she had easily slipped through each blow before having the Blue-stocking blade appearing to be clumsy, Ember fell flat on her face.
Livia turned around towards and finally grasped her own blade. "I know precisely what time she's from fellas— before the beginning of the invasion forced us to reconcile and began our friendship. This one's a child." Livia stated as she let her guard down "Stubbornness and resentment, the idea of personal growth with age is the last idea you believed was real." Livia finished as she held her hand out to assist Ember to her feet. Ember looked up toward Alyi's ragged Bladesmith. "We're the same age or we should be— how did we actually travel into the future?!" Ember angrily disagreed before questioning as she dusted her leg gear. Artus and Lyle nodded to one another as along with them, the resistance members each stepped away allowing the armory lobby to be their arena.
The Bladesmith scavenger hesitated to unsheath her sword as she glared towards the youthful image of her late friend. "From the days where we had so much growing left to go. This won't be fun for either of us. I'll give you a moment to decide if this childish route is actually where you want to travel?" Livia commented before warning with no h feeling in her tone. Ember recollected the past sparring they've engaged in and straightened her back as she calmed herself. "If this is the future— I might've found myself a win sometime before my passing but—?!" Ember pondered at that moment. Livia's brow shot up to her shock. "From a time that's a few months away from the genesis of the invasion and our reconciliation and you're already defeating what's holding you down." Livia Burr responded proudly, the ragged Covert Champion applauded.
Ember was quick on the dash, sword materialized and tightly grasped as she sprinted toward her with a determined glare. Livia just stood idly by until her resurrected friend was in slashing range. The ragged scavenging Bladesmith knocked Generil's Blue-stocking Blade off of her balance after their swords clashed after Livia blocked with perfect timing. The ragged scavenging Bladesmith shamefully tsk-ed as she returned eyes which gave Ember chills of her own. "I guess you somehow figured me throwing you on your butt as luck, somehow—?" Said Livia as she squared up with her sword expecting another round.
Generil's ragged Sangfroid Paragon cleared his throat before he stunned Generil's Blue-stocking Blade and the ragged scavenging Bladesmith where they had stood. "Hopefully it's now out of your system. There's no more time for friendly fire." Said Lyle as he disrupted his sister, Ember noticed her younger brother's tone resembling their mentor as she turned her eyes onto him. He thinned his smoke around the ragged Bladesmith. Livia lifted her paralyzed left arm as she flared her lemon chiffon essence while the remaining resistance present watched slate gray ashes slowly rain down. "Warmth incoming, babe." Said Livia as she urgently responded and sprinted to Lyle's hip. The ragged Bladesmith and roughed up Paragon vanished into thin air. Ember noticed her younger brother's face grew thin in an instant after he collapsed, filling her with countless worries as she covered her mouth. Baozhai comforted her pal as she held a thin expression of horror after witnessing the same scene as her.
A resistance member with a "As long as he's in her hands— he'll return with his limit blown through!" Lyle struggled to see if it was past or present. Ember's facial expression informed them of her reaction even though she was speechless.
"No way, NO WAY THIS IS THE FUTURE!" Bao yelled out with utter dismay, "This bleak and grim future isn't what's in store for our home, no!" She finished with dismay still intact, "I'm not a theoretical physicist, I'm research and development for gadgets and armor Josue and his team assigned to us. I'm barely intelligent enough to create a continental tier explosive let alone time travel!" Baozhai butted in as she was breaking down.
"That was just a theory, Mei." Lyle replied with a slight grin. Baozhai recognized that name as a cute nickname she's always wanted to be called by someone.
"There might be a time machine back in Alyi from a criminal we busted to get you back to the past." Artus told the team, Ember had seen the look on everyone's faces when he told that information.
"What's the point when stopping this guy that's going to attack us is hopeless?" Ember asked with a dispirited tone "Hopeless is when you stop fighting." Livia replied with a stern tone. Ember and Livia heard Lyle groan from pain, compelling them to look back where she saw Artus patting Lyle's back as the Sangfroid Paragon held his head like he caught a headache.
"I wrote a journal I'll go find that details everything since year 1 you could use to prevent all of this." An unfamiliar member with a ravaged hood, torn up medieval-like armored tunic and unique crossbow butted in with before taking off "Just hug me!" He finished sounding like he needed it before affectionately doing it. She let him even though she didn't like being touched, she got the sense they would become very close.
"Remember the one problem we have with Alyi." Said another unfamiliar member with a shotgun and Katana that Ember and Bao didn't know.
"What's he talking about?" Ember asked, confused, "What's the issue with Alyi?" Ember finished.
"Wellll, Alyi is the new Generil, it's where the bulk of all of his men are stationed even more so than Seyort and here now, his new city of operations after he succeeded in taking over the triplet cities." Artus answered her as calmly as she remembered Lyle's voice could go.
Out of the blue, the remaining members of the Gen-Oath were on high alert, hearing the windows around them break, one of them in the back was knocked out by GAS, while the others in the center got in a circle to cover all angles.
Lyle realized it was knockout gas closing in and everyone didn't have their helmets on, he was able to vanish it all and clear the air, another shock for Ember, she had never seen her brother use that ability before besides with smoke.
Artus and Ember activated their invincibility, summoned their SMG and Sabers, Kacey and Lyle prepared themselves to fight, Livia disappeared and went who knows where after she went invisible, and the others around prepared themselves as well.
"There's an army out there, handsome!" Livia told Lyle "There's an army out there!" Livia screamed urgently at everyone else as they scattered to grab on their gear.
"Since we're pinned down, we have no choice but to go out and fight, as Conyrol would have said, when there's nowhere to run, you've got to enthusiastically run towards what's blocking your path than lay down and die!!" Lyle ordered everyone "We've survived this once, we can fight together through another one!!" Lyle rallied the troops.
"You guys have??" Ember asked with an impressed tone "Well, more like one or two with slightly less men but the general fact of impossible odds, yeah." Artus answered as he summoned a Gatling gun that was the exact tech of the opposing army outside.
"I agree with Lyle, there's no other way out of this..." Artus replied with certainty.
Lyle's face changed like he was hopeless then it shifted to slight anger, the smoke from before was rising off of Lyle's upper and lower body, he and Artus placed on their helmets.
"FOR THE THREE CITIES!!" Cried another Gen-Oath member, Ember didn't recognize "FOR THE LEGACY OF JOSUE!" Everyone else cried out like this was going to be their final battle and hour of duty.
Though not nearly as armored as her team, Ember wasn't going to sit back nearby watching her team fight and possibly die "no!" Ember said in her mind. The remaining Gen-Oath members walked outside to be greeted by an army of 500 prepared and ruthless men, surrounding them from all angles, steadfast and dead set about squashing the last of the rebellion for their grieving new lord.
"This is going to be a team of 10 eccentrics vs an army of hundreds of normies, this is one problematic equation." Said another member with a hood she didn't recognize who clearly belonged to the Gen-Oath, but felt like she'd get along with anyway.
Like before, at least hundreds of the men were disarmed because of their firearms flying up into the gravity-less sky, that's when the battle began and she witnessed her brothers and the rest slaughtering the enemies including Artus, leaping higher than she had ever seen from him blasting groups below.
Everyone went charging in, except for a few who weren't exactly made for one on one combat, leaving no room for one on multiple enemies.
The fighters were fighting hard, showing these assailants why they were considered the second most elite in Josue's staff.
Within an hour of this confrontation, the 7 that were fighting head on, took out 300 before they were weakened by exhaustion then taken out one by one and Ember had to watch it all.
Ember instead had to watch her team die while fighting back, to her this wasn't any better though. Her great speed allowed her to dodge almost everything fired at her from an eccentric but the others while strong weren't as fast except for Artus, Lyle and Livia. Watching from his comfortable throne, Generil's greatest antagonist sent more to ensure the Gen-Oath's failure was guaranteed.
A beam blasted down on Artus from a UFO like helicopter, freezing him in place whilst he was fighting off and killing groups of enemies, the men closest continued to hit him, but because of his abilities lasting far longer now, he wasn't getting damaged.
The antagonist's men took him away through stasis that reminded her of another bully she knew.
The plane flew past Lyle, who looked up while fighting a large group the same as his brother, but the plane caught his attention, knowing what was done to prisoners, Lyle's pent up frustration and anger about the entire situation finally bursted out in a way Ember didn't know was possible for him.
Lyle's hair was beautified by the clean shade of white it had turned. Lyle's hair turned ghostly white, as the smoke that resonated around him flowed unbelievably more intensely, he teleported in front of the helicopter that was yards and yards ahead of him and bashed it down to the ground, successfully freeing Artus from capture. However, whatever Lyle had in mind didn't stop there. The violence and smoke that fogged up the battlefield.
Their unpromising circumstances that built up with his resentment of Nathaniel failing them resulted in this becoming permanent and his mind declining. He killed hundreds of men after saving Artus, including those he valued because he was clouded by this sense of violence combined with his need for survival he's been pushing down he's had in him since he was born that overwhelmed his will to protect them later on, and he was worried only about himself.
"That's out of his character!!" Ember exclaimed as loud as she could as she beheld the carnage that betided. When the confrontation was over.
Ember fell to her knees on a battlefield that was engendered because of someone's vengeance.
The greatest antagonist made his way over with the very little he had left, Then greeted Ember and Wei, though, heavily shocked by how they were alive and youthful. The greatest antagonist, he walked up to her and Baozhai, who were sobbing on the battlefield because of everything that happened.
He was surprisingly sympathetic, his genuine expression he wore on his face said it as well to Baozhai. He did something to Alyi's genius to where she couldn't move, not even her mouth or eyes.
"Do you want to know why this all started in the first place?" The greatest antagonist asked Ember "Why, you filthy disgusting bastard?" The Blue-stocking Blade cried out.
"Because that vile man shattered my family and from what I've heard of you, I just did what you would have done if it was reversed!" The greatest antagonist told her. Ember's eyes lit up because she couldn't deny that fact but she had no clue of who he was talking about at all. Winding up an eccentric cane with a scarlet handle and a weird symbol, he prepared to finish the job, Ember was aware but had no care anymore. Ember woke up and found herself on the floor, back in Baozhai's laboratory. She had foggy memories of the nightmare when she woke up then asked Baozhai if she did as well, Alyi's explosive genius informed her that only she was asleep and that a machine she was assigned to figure out went off suddenly that knocked her out but she couldn't wake her up, she knew it was safe and she would wake up healthier.
Ember felt like something was off.