Fifty-Nine

[The present]

"Didn't I tell you not to fucking die?!"

Rose picked up the explosion of pulses in time to move. Even with her haggard, bleeding, body, the homunculus managed a jump away from the storm as did those around her. The countless blue shattered the ground below, missing them entirely, but there was still chaos as the blair from beneath Elsa's mechanical fists echoed.

In the midst of her leap, Rose's emerald eyes danced around her immediate area, fifty meters wide, as data flooded her brain. She took in everything. The people. The weapons. The attacks. The situation. With a Core powering her brain, her processing was beyond a human.

In front of her, Samuel had seemingly grabbed Lilias and forcefully tore her away. Then there were two figures, Chase and Mare, who only just now managed to descend as the ground ripped from under them with bright blue. The world seemed to slow as her eyes narrowed on the twitch of the young boy's right hand, clutching his Gear, he was already in the midst of a slash towards the dark elf.

'Elsa found and entered the mecha, good. Then there's Chase chasing Mare. . .? And, Samuel stopped me and Lilias from killing each other and talked as if she wasn't supposed to fight me in the first place? The two have always been suspicious. . .' Rose's mind ran fast and she momentarily closed her eyes. 'Either way, I need to stop Chase's attack first, then help Mare.'

As her feet landed, she reached to her back hip and unhooked the singular mana orb attached to her belt, gripped it in her right hand, leaped forward, and swung her sword with her left.

Two blades clashed and a spark leapt into the air as Rose maneuvered her elbow and gently pushed Mare back.

"Ah—"

She breathed, her mind ringing, her right hand clutching the orb as mana lines fed its energy into her, and she stood before Mare with <Igris> raised against the boy.

"Hello, Chase," She muttered.

The boy provided a dry laugh, "Hello Rose. . .I noticed my gear did not produce its usual. . .power?"

The boy tilted his head in pure curiosity. It was as if he did not recognize he faced a foe. Rose did not blame him, however. Her broken right hand was still in the midst of healing as she clutched the orb, along with the rest of her body. Her charge lingered at 8%, refusing to climb back up as the more energy she took in, the more she expelled—she was still using mana channeling but it mainly worked to heal her.

The best opponent against a Geared was another Geared but everything within her core screamed that she was not in normal operating conditions. In essence, she wasn't very confident she could take on the perfectly alright Chase.

"No duh," Mare spoke up behind her before she could, smirking, dagger flipping as she caught it right back, "She burned the mana around this area. Completely. It'll take awhile before it refills."

Mare's dagger still vibrated thanks to the mana core it held. Rose supposed she learned one of the weaknesses of a Gear, no mana equated to nothing, as she too could not summon her flames.

"You're kidding, right?" Chase asked, raising a brow.

"She's correct," Rose said, watching her body continue to repair itself as their conversation continued.

"I see. . ." The boy shook his head and stabbed his weapon into the ground. "Father said I should capture her, but I suppose it can't be helped, I can only forfeit and retreat."

"That's rather. . .unexpected?" Rose tilted her head.

He shrugged and scratched his cheek, gripping the handle of his weapon. "Well, I suppose we can still fight?"

The boy's sword shuddered.

"Oh oh—" Mare's eyes widened and she yelled, "Dodge!"

With her words, the ground rumbled as the homunculus leapt backward, a wave of water erupted and blasted through the broken asphalt and shot into the air from where her feet just left. The blast radius alone sent the two figures slamming back.

In the wake of the burst, a dragon's head rose—followed by a slithering body—made completely of water and swam around Chase's standing figure. The area deserted in mere moments with the quick shuffling of feet but Rose spotted a mecha along with two other individuals far behind the boy.

Rose groaned as she and Mare staggered to their feet, both clutching their respective weapons and glaring at the male encircled in water, hand upon the handle of his impaled blade.

"What was that?" Rose asked the girl besides her, emerald eyes staying on the boy. "How did he make that?"

"I'll give you this info for free," The info-broker spoke with a grim grin. "Most people in the slums might not know, but mana runs within the world as well. As long as a Gear reaches a place with mana, it'll work just perfectly. I bluffed him, thought he didn't know, but as you can see. . ."

"He knew and used the flow of the conversation to set up a surprise attack?" Rose nodded.

"Yup." The dark elf nodded.

"I let my guard down."

"You sure did."

Chase sheepishly smiled at the two's conversation. He shifted on his feet, holding his weapon as the water dragon rounded him, then mouthed, "Are you two done? Could you bring her over gingerly or will we have to fight?"

Yet.

Just as he finished speaking.

The sound barrier shattered and the air ripped apart.

Every participant of the war looked up.

A beam of deep blue crossed the sky as mana shuddered around it.

Lucy Chaz, the Dark Elf, smirked as her weapon exploded to pieces. "Gotcha."