FROM THE STARS SHE CAME

(Meanwhile in the control room) 

"Crash!" a huge hole is torn in the wall of the control room. 

Ariel and Nanami are thrown out of the hole, landing on the railings outside with a loud thud. 

"Oww…" groaned Ariel.

She didn't have long to recover, for in a split second Kronos came jumping at their position. The 2 quickly rolled out of the way, missing the attack by inches. 

Nanami launched her ascension cables, rapidly pulling herself to Kronos' back, deploying the energy saw in her left gauntlet.

Kronos deployed his tentacles, tearing off a huge floorboard and swatted Nanami away. 

"Pathetic," sneered Kronos.

Ariel opened fire with all of the firepower she has, duel wielding her AUG A3 SF rifle and CZ P07 pistol, as well as firing all of her shotgun shells and grenades.

Her magazines soon locked empty, barely scratching Kronos' blue Cosmic Energy shield.

"That's it?" yawned Kronos.

Ariel threw her guns aside.

"There's more," she said. 

A huge fireball suddenly appeared under Kronos' feet, catching him by surprise, destroying his shield and burning him. 

Kronos yelped, quickly moving away. Seizing the opportunity, Ariel threw a chain of flames. Kronos swatted it aside, only for more fire chains to suddenly pop out, attacking him viciously. 

"Her magic potential is really strong," he thought to himself. "Fortunately she is not able to tap on it completely, otherwise I will be in trouble." 

He generated a red shield in front of himself. Ariel attacked it with a series of quick rapid fire punches, breaking the shield, sending Kronos flying. 

Ariel attacked again, suddenly, she coughed up blood, stopping halfway, panting in pain. 

"Damage reflection," muttered Nanami, who had recovered, helping Ariel up. 

(Outside) 

"Spectre" deployed another blade on his sabre, turning it into a double edged weapon, increasing his attack angles and defensive area. 

He attacked Aya, who defended against his lunges expertly using her plasma blades, dodging and parrying the slices. 

Seizing an opening in "Spectre"'s attack, she struck, only for "Spectre" to reveal that it was a deliberate misdirection, causing her torso to be exposed to the cold barrel of his CZ BREN 2 assault rifle. 

He pulled the trigger, the bullet hit Aya in her Exo-suit, sending her staggering back into a ditch, the 2 are separated by vegetation. Returning the favour, Aya grabbed her L119A2, firing back at "Spectre". Both of them took hits, but neither is able to kill the other. 

"Spectre" raised his rifle, vanishing and the suddenly appearing in front of Aya. 

"SH*T!" cursed Aya, as she hurriedly deployed her reinforced shield to block the blasts. The CZ BREN 2 soon locked empty, giving Aya time to get herself back together. 

"Spectre" then raised a Glock 18C fitted with a compensator and extended magazine, the machine pistol rained bullets on Aya. Aya moved quickly among the trees to throw off his aim, and once "Spectre" stopped to reload, she raised her L119A2, firing at him. 

"Spectre" fell from the pain of the bullets impacting his body armour.

Not detecting movement, Aya carefully approached "Spectre"'s position, ready to shoot again. 

To her shock, she came face to face with an empty clearing. "Spectre" then suddenly swooped out from one side, swiftly disarming her of her rifle. She drew her FN 5-7 pistol, which is also soon knocked out of her hands, though not before she also disarmed him of his MR-73 revolver. 

"Spectre" drew his sabre again, and Aya countered him with her plasma blade, using her tail pincer channeled with Cosmic Energy to outflank him, attacking from 3 directions. "Spectre" managed to use his intricate movements to cause Aya to accidentally tangle her tail in a cluster of bushes, rendering her immobile and without her extra limb advantage. 

"Spectre" then moved in for the attack, slicing at her belly. Aya quickly deflected the slice aside, which then cut away the bushes, freeing her. She then counterattacked, and soon, a strap of "Spectre"'s mask is cut, inches away from his eyes, while Aya is cut in her knee by "Spectre"'s attacks. 

"He is a very strong fighter," she thought to herself. "The easiest way to finish me off just now is to simply aim for my neck, yet he aimed for my belly, which will be super easy to deflect, that is such a low level mistake not on par with his capabilities. And why did I feel like he deliberately cut away the bush instead of it simply being my deflection of his attack?" 

Aya looked at the figure who had now distanced himself away, bewildered. 

"Spectre" smiled, withdrawing his sabre. He gave her a sword salute and a bow. 

"I am afraid that we have to call it a day my dear lady," he said with a tone of regret. "I'd suggest you quickly go pull out your buddies before the station blows in about 20 minutes." 

"Till next time," he bowed, and then disappeared in a thick smoke generated by the smoke grenades he threw. 

"You alright Big Sis?" asked Atsumi, missing her left hand as she staggered over. "Vera and Albert are taking care of the wounded. No casualties." 

"Yeah..." muttered Aya, still confused by her strange assailant. "Let's go help the others, can you reach them on the radio?" 

Atsumi shook her head. 

"Then we have a problem!" exclaimed Aya, limping in the direction of the reactors. "Get Albert and Vera, we are going in!" 

(Near control room) 

Nanami leveled the floorboards, throwing them at Kronos, distracting him, then rapidly sneaking up on him. She summoned her tentacles, attacking Kronos using Cosmic Energy attacks. 

She managed to land a few blows on Kronos, but it did not faze him. 

"It didn't do anything?" muttered Nanami in shock. 

"You are fighting technique and physical strength are superb," commented Kronos, "too bad, an artificial abomination like you will never be on the same par as me, a proud aristocrat of the the Dynasty! Magic rules above all!" 

Nanami's frown turned into a grin. 

"Now darling, you think that I would rely completely on a gimmick like Cosmic Energy Magic? How cute," she cooed. 

She rapidly summoned and pulled back a tentacle, on its end a grenade pin. 

"You b*tch!" cursed Kronos, finding a grenade at where Nanami had hit him earlier. He swatted the grenade off. 

"Here's a reminder to your next incarnation sweetheart," said Nanami, "mingle with the masses more, you have no idea how exciting we can be!" 

Kronos turned around, finding out that the grenade is connected to an C4 charge that Nanami had somehow managed to plant on the back of his chestplate. Without the grenade to hold the wire in place, the C4, which is enough to blow open a thick concrete wall, is going to explode on his back. 

Kronos sneered, deploying a green shield, standing calmly. 

To Nanami's shock, the explosion simply phased through Kronos' body, only destroying his set of armour. 

"Your attacks are utterly useless!" gloated Kronos, blasting Nanami and Ariel with a huge blast of Cosmic Energy. 

Just as it is about to hit them, a spinning wheel popped up in front of them, deflecting the blast back to Kronos, which Kronos quickly dodges, obliterating the objects behind him. 

A 2.40m tall female figure landed gracefully next to Nanami and Ariel. She is wearing an advanced suit of powered exoskeleton armour, its design so sleek and fanciful that it makes Exo-suits look awkward and cumbersome in comparison. It is also fitted with all sorts of fancy gadgets that one cannot find in any piece of human technology, for it is of alien origin, just like its user. 

"Charlotte!" said Nanami, recognising the figure. 

"That's her?' exclaimed Ariel, surprised that she will be able to see the infamous Bethorian instructor of Spades International face to face this way, the one Louis fears. 

"Save your thanks, we still have a battle to fight," she replied coldly, focusing on Kronos. 

The spinning fan came to a halt, revealing itself to be 6 energy "swords" connected at the hilt. It split up into individual "swords", which are in fact floating autonomous mini plasma cannons, an iconic feature of the Bethorian Spec Ops power armours. 

"A Bethorian," remarked Kronos. "Now things are interesting," he said, shooting an energy ball, which is intercepted and blown up by a projectile before it even reached Charlotte thanks to her armour's active defense system. 

Unrelenting, Kronos launched whip like constructs infused with electricity at Charlotte, so fast that they are a blur. Charlotte laughed it off, activating the built in jetpack of her armour, flying forward while being subjected to G levels unthinkable to humans and Sellardraxians from the sheer speed and sharp turns she make as she dodged the blows. 

Charlotte upped her speed further, closing her gap with Kronos, raising her heavy handheld plasma blaster, firing multiple bolts that are sped up by her own kinetic energy. 

"Without his suit of Draxian steel armour, he cannot defend himself against my blaster bolts," she thought. 

Kronos switched to the green shield, causing Charlotte's attack to simply pass through him harmlessly. He then did a counter charge at Charlotte, his entire body infused with Cosmic Energy. 

Charlotte quickly formed a carbon wall in front of her using nanobots generated from a slot on the back of her armour, but it simply delayed the inevitable, and Charlotte is sent flying back to where Nanami and Ariel are. 

She caught herself before landing, stabilising her self midair with her jetpack, hovering down, panting. 

Nanami, who has been observing the battle and recounting that of hers and Ariel's, came to a realisation on how to beat Kronos. 

She called out to Charlotte using the public radio frequency, calling out to Ariel too. 

"Mommy got it now," she said playfully. "This a**hole's main defensive mechanism is his shield, which has 3 modes, the blue energy shield, the red one that reflects damage and the green one that makes his body incorporeal." 

"We need to keep our distance away from him and not be hit by his powerful magic strikes. Each of his shield modes can only last for 5 minutes tops, and he cannot use the same shield mode back to back. When he is using his green shield, we don't attack. When he is in blue shield, Ariel and I will break his shield. When he is in red shield, Charlotte will use her flying cannons to deflect HIS attacks back at him, doubling the damage he receive." 

Charlotte and Ariel agreed, readying themselves. 

Kronos attacked. Nanami and Ariel quickly moved out of the way with their ascension cables, while Charlotte flew aside. 

Charlotte opened fire with her plasma blaster and hovering cannons, peppering Kronos with plasma bolts. Kronos quickly activated his green shield, and Charlotte promptly disengaged. 

Once the 5 minutes is up, the 3 attacked again, and Kronos deployed his blue shield. 

"Leave it to us!" said Nanami, instantly freezing Kronos' limbs and then using telekinesis to pin him against a pillar tightly. Ariel charged, her arms and in flames and with an aura of flames around her. 

She attacked, breaking the shield, and the concentrated blast soon sent Kronos flying, slamming against a wall with a thud. 

Nanami and Ariel pressed on their attacks, and Kronos switched to the red shield, while firing a huge bust of lightning at them. Nanami and Ariel immediately stopped their attacks and jumped out of the way. 

Charlotte deployed her hovering cannons, forming into a spinning energy fan, deflecting the lightning back. 

"F***K!" cursed Kronos as he is zapped with his own lightning at twice the intensity, painfully rolling on the ground. 

He got up, disoriented. Seizing the chance, Nanami fired a projectile from her Exo-suit gauntlet, hitting his neck with a mini drone carrying a syringe, injecting him with dampeners that will cut off his use of Cosmic Energy for the next 30 minutes. 

Charlotte, Ariel and Nanami then walked up to Kronos, cracking their knuckles.