BOOM!!
A thunderous crash echoed through the wreckage-strewn battlefield as the Guard Chaser slammed onto the ground. With a twist of the throttle, it roared forward into the fray—
Charging toward hope.
Flames spat from the muzzle of the Cerberus, its triple barrels spitting fire as bullets poured down like rain, tearing into the Antimatter Legion soldiers surrounding them.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Though Voidrangers were composed of negative particles, the impact of each round was still followed by the sound of something meaty being hit.
Because G3X didn't use ordinary ammunition. Its bullets were specially modified neural disruptors, developed to destroy unidentified lifeforms—namely, the Gurongi—by triggering a secondary explosion inside the body after impact. (Yes, canon, TV-analyzed tech.)
And against the Voidrangers, that same principle worked: their seemingly impervious negative-particle bodies were being shredded.
The sheer firepower made even the cloth-wrapped alien glance at Sora's weapon in surprise.
This old-school ballistic tech… had once been all the rage on her homeworld too.
But once the galaxy was connected through the Pioneer system and foreign tech became widely available, such low-efficiency weapons were gradually abandoned.
Yet now, seeing G3X in action, the strength it displayed had completely exceeded her expectations.
Good. The stronger their firepower, the better their chances of escaping.
Shaking off her surprise, she clamped her legs around the bike and aimed her high-tech rifle at the Voidrangers closing in from behind.
Blue light surged—and a focused beam lanced out like a spear.
It sliced clean through one enemy after another. The beam never faltered, cutting through their torsos like a guillotine of light.
Had that beam struck G3X earlier… it would've pierced the armor in an instant.
But right now, it was their enemies facing that fire.
Robin was in the middle. Sora drove. The cloaked survivor brought up the rear. The three of them punched through the chaos, carving a bloody path through the Legion ranks.
Sora targeted the flanks while the cloth-wrapped alien focused fire ahead. Together, they surged forward through the press of enemy bodies.
Even though the Guard Chaser was bearing the weight of three people, its power never faltered. Dust and heat trailed behind them as the wheels tore across the ruined earth.
In no time, they had pushed far beyond the crash site.
"Watch out!!"
The warning came from the cloth-wrapped one—Sora's instincts flared at the same moment.
Incoming.
An arrow.
On a battlefield ruled by beam weapons and plasma, an arrow—a relic of a primitive age—shot through the air.
Its shaft shimmered with violet-blue, wrapped in negative particles. Its head burned with golden heat as it tore through the sky—
—and aimed straight for Sora's skull.
He didn't hesitate.
The bike skidded hard, veering into a sharp drift.
The arrow screamed past his head.
Fwhoosh!!!
The whistling wind of death rushed by, but Sora had no time to marvel at how close it had come.
Because right in front of him—
Stood a massive centaur-like figure.
Bow in hand. Calm. Ready.
The one who had fired the arrow.
"Trampler."
Sora muttered the name grimly.
He had chosen this route carefully based on AI analysis, hoping to avoid heavily clustered Legion forces.
So yeah, fewer Voidrangers—
But instead, he got a surprise miniboss waiting at the end of the road.
Youth-Version Empyreal Archer General, aka: Trampler.
This was way earlier than when he was supposed to show up in the storyline!
But now wasn't the time to complain.
Sora gritted his teeth, gunned the throttle.
VROOOOOOOM!!!
The engine howled. Tires kicked up storms of dust as the Guard Chaser bolted sideways, breaking away from the direct line of fire.
Charging straight into a Trampler was suicide. Evasion was the only option.
The Trampler watched calmly as he moved—then notched a new arrow.
Negative particles coalesced midair into a glowing shaft.
He drew the bow taut and took aim once more at the circling rider.
The moment the arrow solidified, it would fire.
"Mr. Sora—there's another! To the left!"
Robin's voice rang in his ears.
Sora snapped his head around.
Sure enough—his brief slowdown had allowed more Trampler units to catch up.
Four hooves really are fast…
Now they had him surrounded.
One. Two. Three. Four.
Four Tramplers, bows raised, arrows drawn.
Voidrangers closed in from all directions.
Their glowing arm-blades shimmered with lethal light—enough to slice steel like butter.
"Mr. Sora, what do we—"
"Don't panic. We've got one more move."
"…Huh?"
Robin stared at him in disbelief. Even the survivor behind her looked stunned.
They were boxed in on all sides. This was a deathtrap.
How was there any way out?
"Heh… let's bet it all on one more play."
Sora whipped the bike around—and charged straight at the closest Trampler.
It was the riskiest move yet. But if his hunch was right—
He might just pull it off.
His focus sharpened to a razor's edge.
Rat-a-tat-tat!!!
Cerberus roared again, but this time the bullets bounced harmlessly off the Trampler's reinforced body.
It didn't even flinch.
The arrow it was holding began to solidify—negative particles flowing into it like a river of death.
When that arrow fired, the story was over.
But then—Sora did something strange.
He aimed not at the enemy—
—but at the ground.
BANG BANG BANG BANG!
The neural disruptor rounds exploded across the terrain, kicking up massive clouds of dust.
A smokescreen.
The Tramplers lost visual on him immediately.
All except the one directly in front of him.
That one never looked away.
It still sensed movement through the dust. The enemy was closing in.
HUMMMM…
The arrow crystallized, glowing a deep orange-red at the tip.
TWANG!
FWOOSH!!!
The arrow tore forward, so fast it left a vacuum in its wake. The wind tunneled through the smoke, revealing Sora's silhouette.
The Trampler could see him now.
Charging. Focused.
So was the arrow.
The two were on a collision course—
And then—
CRACK!
The arrow struck armor.
Negative particles roared across the impact point.
G3X's chestplate dented violently, nearly piercing through.
But the Trampler sensed something wrong—
Why was his target's speed… slowing down?
Then it realized.
Sora's hands had left the handlebars.
The motorcycle was coasting on inertia alone.
He had already moved.
"CAST OFF!!"
With a shout, Sora activated G3X's emergency detachment protocol—originally designed by Hojo for retreat.
Now it was a lifeline.
BOOM!
Compressed gas erupted from his suit, blowing the chestplate away just enough for the arrow to skew off course—
Ssssht!!
The projectile still grazed him, carving a bloody gash across his chest.
But it didn't kill him.
And in that instant—
"GO TO HELL!"
The spinning Destroyer—revving at millions of RPM—crashed down on the Trampler's front leg.
SCREEEEEE—KRANG!
The sawblade chewed through the armor, shredding the limb at the joint.
The beast stumbled forward, roaring in pain.
It tried to recover, but then—
Green eyes flashed from the smoke.
Robin's Harmony washed over it.
The last of its strength withered.
And just before it could even fall—
A blue beam lanced straight through its skull.
"[Kaname]!!"
The fabric-wrapped survivor fired the shot.
The Trampler's massive body shook—then crashed to the ground.
The dust began to clear.
All that remained—
Was a fallen Trampler.
And the bike, still racing toward the horizon.