Fifty

The car moved against the tide of people as smoke filtered into the air. Even before they advanced past a few meters, Rose could already hear the sound of fighting. When they came closer, they could see it more clearly. They passed by the closed sword dojo and soon stopped a street away from the commotion.

"That's. . ."

Men attacked a large, three story, building—one of the few in the slums. The structure was both tall and wide, there were hangers at its bottom and, currently, pulses of blue flew and surrounded its cuboidal figure. Parts of the building had already been blown away.

They were at the front of the assault.

'They came very prepared,' She thought.

The men attacking the building wore metallic armor. It was a surreal sight as this was the first time she saw the utilization of metal against pulses, but it was extremely effective.

She could hear only dents being made upon their armor and black clad individuals being pushed back closer to the building—many falling as their Mana Shields gave way to pulses.

Finding their shots meaningless, a yell came from the building.

"Front guards switch to melee! Everyone else switch to burst! Snipers, hunt them down!"

Following that order came sparkling blue, sporadically hopping through the area. Swords clashed and there were instances where a blue spark came from a window and a man fell. Yet, that wasn't enough as the armors of the individuals still gave them an advantage. It was a chaotic situation where it didn't look like either side had the upper hand.

"Let's go," Chase said, a weapon appearing in his hand.

She nodded, yet sooner stopped her steps as the wind in the air rushed and a vroom reached their ears. Many eyes glanced up and hers widened.

"What, what are those. . .?"

Two mechanical machines, both circular, hovered in the air with mana rolling around them. There was an opening on their silver figures revealing two turrets on each like the deadly fangs of beasts.

"Fuck, again?! Retreat!"

Multiple vrooms broke the air.

Four radiance of blue flew in front of the metal clad individuals and ripped into the group of hurriedly retreating black.

They were like ants under the assault.

The bodies splashed and piled along with the screams.

The machines hovered in the air, raining a hailstorm of lasers down upon the men, shredding them and coating the streets with red as the intense heat of the weapons burned the asphalt road—the blue beams moving to follow the men.

It took a couple seconds before they stopped, hovering in place as the metallic individuals rushed forward like a small wave, their feet clicking upon red.

"Drones," The boy beside her said, running, "Destroy them before they fire again."

He came behind the men, a wave of water swirling and coating his weapon as he slashed up.

It was like a whip.

His slash sent a line of water across the air. In no time, the line pressurized and bisected into the contraption, slicing it into two and sending both halves to the ground.

Rose blinked her eyes at the sight, her weapon appeared in her grasp, and she wondered, 'Compressing water to increase his range and cutting power while also controlling it at the same time?'

It was a simple but effective technique. <Igris> relied on fire but she still smiled as she clutched its blade.

She walked in light steps towards the commotion as the second drone turned towards her. She could see a gleam of blue within it and an azure energy already packing into the two barrels attached to it.

Her weapon burned and orange flames consumed its blade.

She struck into the air in one swift motion.

Her slash disappeared in a faint trail of flames.

The thin line of fire ascended through the sky and, when it made contact with the machine, exploded in a burst of flaming blaze that devoured the thing, bringing it down from the air as a charred husk of metal.

"Not bad. . ."

A homunculus who wielded a Gear was truly frightening, Chase thought. She had copied his exact motions in one single glance, and she had made it her own brand. He shivered slightly, realizing why his father did so much to bring her to their side.

"Mhmm." Rose nodded. "We've attained their attention."

Rose twirled her blade and faced the men in front of her. When her eyes rolled over them, she could see their tremble as the guns turned to the two's direction.

"S-shoot!"

The pulses came and she slashed with her burning blade.

A slice of fire raged and floated across the street like a beam, devouring the pulses that met it and reaching to meet the group.

An explosion sent some of them crashing, armor melting into their bodies as her attack ate away their mana shields. Their defenses were useless. Even after the explosion blew them to bits of metal, the fire came after to eat them alive.

What followed was a wave of water that rose high into the sky with an upward swing, then climbed back down to follow a blade's descent, crushing the men under its weight.

"My flames. . ." She muttered, eyeing her partner through a furrowed brow.

Still, she clutched her weapon tighter.

'If it listens to my desire. . .I simply need to be more intelligent with my wishes.'

Simply put, she had acquired a way to fight effectively at an extended range.

She stared ahead and the two nodded at one another, advancing forward.