Nineteen

She came upon one of the guards, who quickly dropped back. She heard the hum of a core that wasn't her own.

"Right, of course," She laughed.

The male blinked and pointed his muzzle at her as she wondered if he were even fighting out of his own volition.

"I'm sorry," She said, gripping her weapon tighter, 'I need to survive.'

Her blade sliced through the gun, she lowered herself, then swung back up, taking the head of the homunculus. There was no blood. Her hands shook and she remembered the feeling of tearing through her own kind as she rushed to the next individual with heavier steps.

'Humans fight against their own to reach their goals,' She thought, legs moving, 'I'll do the same if a homunculus blocks my path.' She did not like the feeling of being hindered by anything, not even a morality to her own race.

She stepped back and dodged a shot, part of her hair fell off at the close proximity and she spun, ending with a slash that diagonally slit a guard's throat and brought him down.

'I'll slice through anything and burn my way to my mysteries. Why was I led to 'die' for Idris? Why was I given knowledge on Cores and homunculi? Why did my creator make me like this? And how do I have a soul?'

As the questions piled, her mind calmed and she entered a state where she moved through flow and instinct. She gripped her sword, emerald eyes shining a resolute light. 'I owe no one my peace.'

<Igris> burned as its orange hue became scalding.

A barrage of pulses droned to her but her weapon ignited in flames and she swung it. Fire blazed and tore through the guards, most escaped unarmed, but their shields became wonky as they fell back, closer to the transporter. The ones that didn't fall behind lit on fire, screams resounding as they rolled upon the desert sands.

Samuel had been right, using a Gear did come naturally.

"All weapons on the Geared!" With such an unnatural weapon, she caught the eye of the guns.

"Behind me!" A voice ordered and she fell at the back of the blonde knight who took his weapon—an iron sword—to his front and activated it.

A shield propped around them and Reed stood his ground, allowing the volley to pummel the barrier. It wouldn't last long under such an assault.

"Elsa!"

A maniacal laughter preceded scattered spherical balls of iron that fell from the sky and rolled onto the sand within the mass of guards.

"What the—r—run—!"

The ground blew apart and bodies flung. At that point, only one guard remained, covered in dirt and upon the floor with a single leg remaining.

The fighting ceased and her team came upon him.

"Any last words?" Reed asked, he couldn't allow even a single person alive, that was a risk.

Rose on the other hand looked at the guard. He was human, she thought, he had been the only human, he had been the leader. The rest of the bodies strewn around him were homunculi that followed orders.

"Can't we just kill him?" Elsa stepped to her side and pointed at the man with nonchalance.

But the male laughed as if he were looking at buffoons.

"That transporter latch isn't opening any time soon and if you try to enter through another way, it's set to detonate. There isn't a single toy of yours that's prying that door open."

With that, he pointed his rifle forward as mana rolled.

A sword shot through and impaled his skull. Shaking eyes glanced up to see a pair of calm emeralds.

"Go peacefully with them," Rose said, "It's only fair you die fighting as well."

She pulled the hot blade out and the male slumped onto the floor, lifeless.

Soon, they were before the transporter. It was rectangular and made completely of iron, the side they were on had a door that was, at the moment, shut. And that door was also iron.

"Should I get the turret?"

"We can't risk firing the Pulse Rifle at it, Nicholas, even if he was lying, we could blow up the transporter along with everything inside with that much fire power." The blonde knight shook his head, hands to his chin before looking at a certain someone. "Lilias, do you think you can pry it open?"

The dragonian shook her head and spoke for the first time since Rose met her, her voice was cold and uncaring. "I'm only half-dragonian, Reed. Although I inherited their recovery rate and mana sensitivity, I did not gain their strength. I cannot open that."

"I can bomb it open!" Elsa jumped for the chance.

"No," Reed was resolute in his stance, "We can't take the chance, were you listening to a word I said?"

"A bit, sometimes, no."

He sighed.

Rose looked at the door. She was currently at 45% charge and wondered how much of that would drain to forcefully open such a thing. She should have brought the mana orbs from home but she hadn't known it would end up like this—next time, she would prepare more thoroughly.

"Are we giving up just like that. . .?" Elsa grumbled.

"No." Rose shook her head and walked towards the transporter. "I can open it."

"You?" Reed glanced at her. She might be a Geared but even they had limits, right? Hers seemed more attuned to spitting fire than physical strength.

Rose nodded, however. "I can do it."

She pierced her weapon into the door, recognizing the place that the two metal sides met. Her core hummed and she wiggled her weapon with the strength that the mana flowing through her allowed and, soon, there was a small crack big enough for her fingers to grip. When that was done, her blade disappeared and she did just that.

"Here goes nothing. . ."

Mana flooded her being as she gripped and began prying the door. It creaked, opening slightly with shocked voices but remaining unmoved.

With a final pull, the cracking of her joints, the tear of her skin, and a flickering of her core, she ripped it apart, sliding the doors to either side as her vision blurred.

"The heck, did she get a Gene Advancement?"

Voices of amazement followed that action, but the only word that rang in her mind was. . .

'Oh.'

The hum of mana left her and she fell, unconscious.