Chapter 20

241231

> 11:37 - CHOMADA

> 2362 KM SOUTH OF New Comound

> FIRST MISSION OF THE ANTI-AKURYUMA TEAM

"Report, 17 Infected down." Reported a young man, his turquoise hair blowing in the freezing wind of the area.

A landscape of ice stretched across the street. The walls of houses and vehicles were frozen, a thick layer of ice had settled over everything. Large ice pillars stood scattered on the street in which human figures seemed to be stuck, even on the ground they seemed to have fallen victim to the sudden onset of winter.

Amid the icy landscape stood another young man, his hand wrapped in a glowing magic circle. His black jacket blew in the wind created by the sudden drop in temperature, revealing the body armor he wore underneath. A heavy gas mask marked his face, revealing only his blond hair and yellow-gold eyes.

Around him stood two others. One of them wore the same equipment. The other, however, stood out clearly; he was considerably taller than the other three and wore heavy full-body armor and a helmet that completely covered his head.

"Well done Fire Team Three. Next target is Sector A4, then on to Sector F4. Any clues of origin?"

"Negative." The girl looked around.

"Roger that, Team Four will take over recovery."

"Roger that command. Keep moving forward." Confirmed the boy before jumping off a frozen car roof.

"Good job, Zane." Nathan ran to Zane, who was still standing in the middle of the ice field and seemed to be looking around.

"Good job." Praised the girl. "But be careful not to freeze the drones." She looked skyward at the drones that accompanied them.

"Good job." The armored member of the unit also agreed.

The girl with short red hair was Cara, who carried a massive sword on her back. She fulfilled the close combat part in Fire Team Three. The armored giant was S1-736, that was all Zane knew of him, his badge number. He spoke quite little, so Zane had only learned through Nathan and the others that 736 was an old super soldier from the Siegfried 1 Series. 736 took care of the heavy equipment, carrying a large caliber rifle himself.

Nathan, along with Zane, took over the mage part while Nathan was also assigned to reporting.

"Let's keep moving." Said 736 before trudging toward the next sector, his eyes always on the buildings and side alleys.

"Roger that." Followed Nathan and Cara as Zane also pulled his hand out of the ice that had spread from his hand. His hand shook slightly before he clenched it and followed the others.

They advanced slowly. House corner after house corner was checked. They looked down every alley. Danger could be lurking around every corner.

On the holographic screens that surrounded Nathan, he received the signals and images of the drones that accompanied them. These flew through every alley, no matter how small, and allowed them an optimal overview.

A 3D holographic model of the city appeared above Zane's wrist, live images from the drones and the ship hovering over the city supplemented the map in real time. Symbols were visible in several places on the map. Some marked the position of each team, while the others indicated various targets or enemies already detected by the drones.

"Four hundred meters to go to the origin of the spike." Reported Zane and the tension within the group visibly increased. "No sign."

"Roger that, continue to advance as planned."

"Roger that." Nathan confirmed the order.

"What's the situation in the city?" Inquired Zane.

"The evacuation of civilians and the sector lockdown are almost complete." Reported the operator assigned to Zane's team.

"Thank you, continue to advance." Zane reported back.

"Roger that. Good luck." The voice fell silent.

Suddenly, a distress call sounded on the military channel.

"This is Evac Team 17, need urgent assistance!"

"This is Fire Team Three. Where are you?" Zane asked immediately, before Command could respond. "We are on the edge of zone E4 to F4. Our convoy has been attacked; we're stuck."

"Hold position, we're coming." Replied Zane, hurrying ahead.

"Please hurry." Sounded the soldier in exasperation.

"Hey Zane, you can't just..." Cara complained as Nathan walked past her.

"Sorry, Zane's a little hasty sometimes." He hurried after him, and 736 seemed to follow as well.

"Clueless is more like it." Cara looked after the two. "We better follow them." Cara hurried after Zane and Nathan and 736 also started to move.

In a flash, the group covered great distances. With each jump they covered several dozen meters, vehicles and others posed no obstacles for them.

"Attention!" 736 warned barely 100 meters before reaching zone F4, and everyone came to a stop to take cover. Immediately, Nathan also checked his displays and acknowledged 736's warning with a nod. They followed the direction 736 pointed and spotted a group of people who seemed to be walking aimlessly as gunfire could be heard in the distance.

"Confirm, five zombies at one o'clock." Reported Cara as they turned in the direction of the sounds of battle.

The Zombies were an Infected class and got their name from their appearance as they more closely resembled corpses or skeletons with their scrawny extremities and sunken eyes, the hairless skull also reinforced this impression.

"They're going to the evacuation team!" Shuddered Zane. There was something trudging up behind the Infected.

"Damn!" Cara looked at the behemoth that had appeared from behind the corner of the house. "Reporting class two Infected in sector E4. Increased danger to evacuation team!" Cara immediately reported to the operator.

"Acknowledge. Reinforcements are already on their way. They'll need a few more minutes, though."

"They don't have that much time!" Zane interrupted the conversation and Cara looked at him, annoyed.

"Sir?" The operator turned from Fire Team Three to General Pearce, who was standing above the operators.

The control room for the mission had been specially set up. A wall full of screens broadcast everything in real time; every move the fire teams made was watched and documented.

The general looked thoughtfully at the transmission.

"This is General Pearce - permission granted, but hurry." Gave Pearce the order.

"Thank you General." Replied Zane and immediately gave the next order. "Fire Team Three we are assisting the evacuation team. Let's go." Zane stormed toward the Infected, who had their backs turned.

"Do you even have a plan?" Cara called after Zane.

"Sure thing!" Shouted Zane to the rear. "Saving people!" He grinned.

"Wow..." Groaned Cara as everyone got ready to fight and Nathan just nodded at her as if to apologize for Zane.

"There's more coming!" Shouted one of the soldiers to his officer, pointing into the distance.

"Damn that's a big one!"

"Where are the reinforcements?" Shouted another.

The group of soldiers was protecting a bus full of civilians that had crashed into an overturned military vehicle, blocking the road. The soldiers were left with only a truck and an armored vehicle. The road in front of them was littered with bullet holes and the decaying remains of zombies lay in the dust everywhere.

"Open fire!" Yelled the officer. Immediately, the gun on top of the military entity started firing at the colossus. The sound of the gun was deafening, the civilians on the bus had taken cover behind the seats and were cowering behind the windows. The bullets pelted down on the Kollos, but the gun could not stop it. The bullets penetrated it but the wounds closed again immediately.

The next moment a car came flying at them, the gunner frantically took cover in the vehicle before the car hit the military vehicle and demolished the gun.

"Damn!" Cursed the officer.

"We're running out of ammo!" Roared another, and the panic in the civilians' eyes became more apparent. One woman hugged her child with tears in her eyes, others cowered behind the seats.

"What are they doing? They're supposed to be protecting us!" Said another in despair on the bus, when the colossus was already in front of the soldiers.

The accident had left them vulnerable and the subsequent massive onslaught of Infected had backed them into a corner.

One of the soldiers took another step backward to gain distance from the colossus when he felt a truck at its back.

"Get out of the way!" Warned one of his colleagues, but the colossus was already taking a swing. A hail of bullets from the surrounding soldiers came at it, but the latter did not break off its attack when its fists also came down on the truck and the soldier.

Distorted with fear, the soldier squeezed his eyes shut as it grew cold around him, and a muffled sound was heard.

"Are you all right?" The soldier suddenly heard a voice and opened his eyes.

Zane had his back to him and was smiling. A wall of ice had opened up in front of Zane, stopping the colossus' blow even before it could gain enough momentum.

"Thank you." Said the soldier with shining eyes as another yelled out.

"Look out!" The fists of the colossus bounced against the ice wall again and a crack was formed.

"I guess it couldn't get any thicker in a hurry..." Zane saw the cracks appear in his ice wall. Meanwhile, the colossus lunged again and shattered the ice wall Zane had erected. The colossus lunged for a follow-up strike, but it was hit by a wall of water before the blow could reach its target. The wall of water hurled the Kollos several feet away before it came to an abrupt stop against a wall.

"Thanks Nathan." Zane grinned at him, who had just come running.

"You can't just charge at it." He admonished Zane.

"Sorry." He scratched his head.

"I think you'd better apologize to Cara."

"I think she's busy right now." Zane looked over at her.

"Move out the way!" Cara shouted, sweeping away several Infected rushing toward her with her massive sword. The sword was large, if not larger than she was. Mechanical devices were attached to the back of the blade, and the sword was also quite thick and armored in other ways, making it seem very heavy. However, Cara twirled it around as if it were a twig. The Infected that were not directly cut by the blade flew several meters into the air before hitting the ground.

At the same time, Infected fell to the ground around Cara in the distance. 736, who was slowly walking closer and closer with his rifle at the ready, was taking out one of the Infected with each shot.

"Wow..." Said the soldier Zane had just rescued, and hope seemed to be rising again among the civilians as well.

"Show them what you've got!" Shouted a little boy from inside the bus.

"You bet!" Replied Zane to the boy, sticking out his thumb with a big grin. "Nathan, can you take care of everything?" Zane sprinted off again, just as 736 joined the soldiers as well.

"Where are you going?"

"I'll take care of that one!" Nathan followed Zane's running direction and saw the colossus he had tossed aside earlier.

"Don't push it!" Nathan called after him. "Good luck..." He looked after Zane worriedly as 736 reminded him of the civilians with a simple finger point. "OK, let's take care of them."

While Nathan and 736 took care of the few Infected still rushing towards the soldiers, Zane ran towards the colossus which had already started moving again.

"Cara?" He looked at her, who suddenly ran beside him.

"Are you going to fight that thing by yourself?" She inquired, somewhat annoyed.

"Thanks." He looked forward again. "Look out!" Some debris that the colossus had ripped out of the building came flying towards them.

Immediately the two jumped to the side as a car also came flying. While Zane ducked under it, Cara jumped over the car and used it as a steppingstone to catapult herself even higher into the air.

Zane, meanwhile, skidded along a rink he had created toward the colossus. The latter saw him and took a swing. But Zane slithered past under the giant's fist, freezing it in place, before standing back up and coming to a stop a few feet behind the colossus.

"Cara!" Zane shouted into the air, where she was still in free fall.

The colossus stared upward, his fist and legs still frozen to the ground, as Cara hurtled toward him with her sword over her head.

With difficulty, the colossus managed to free its left arm from the icing, ripping out part of the ground and stretching his arm toward Cara with the intention of protecting itself.

"Haaa!" Roared Cara as her sword slammed into the colossus' upper arm.

Cara's sword penetrated the colossus' arm but after a few inches it seemed to end.

"I'm not done yet!" Cara activated her sword and from the mechanical parts on the back of it energy flowed, pushing the sword forward and making the blade penetrate further into the arm.

In the next instant, the colossus' arm flew through the air.

IT shrieked as it tried to strike Cara with its other fist. But in the next instant, a massive icicle pierced through the colossus' chest and the light in its eyes went out.

"Phew done..." Zane said in relief as he looked at the lifeless colossus that had crashed to the ground. "I wonder how many were there..." He looked at the colossus somewhat sadly.

"Hey Zane!" Cara stomped to him.

"Hey Cara, thanks for the help!" Zane grinned at her.

"You may be the leader, but you can't just run at it." She began to scold him.

"Sorry." He said scratching his head before turning to the soldiers. "Let's check on the civilians." He walked over to Nathan and the others.

"Hey, I'm not done with you yet!" Cara called after him.

"You okay?" Zane inquired to the officer.

"Everything is fine, we have two injured but nothing serious." The officer looked around. "Thank you for coming. I don't know how long we would have lasted."

"No problem. That's what we're here for."

"We're not!" Cara stood behind Zane, annoyed, as Nathan also joined in.

"As soon as the way is clear, we can continue the evacuation." Reported a soldier who rushed to the officer.

"How long will it take the reinforcements?"

"A few minutes, they said."

"Can you hold out that long?" Zane asked.

"Should be fine." The officer replied as they heard a loud screech in the distance.

Suddenly, the way was clear. 736 had simply kicked the overturned truck away.

With his mouth open, the trooper looked at 736.

"I think that's taken care of." Nathan remarked.

"Sir. The evacuation team is on its way."

"Good, send reinforcements to them anyway." General Pearce looked at the screen.

"Team Two has almost reached Zone F4." Reported one of the operators.

"Team One is almost there as well." Added another.

"Team Three is on its way." Said the third.

"Good, put all units on alert level one and send the ATBS. I don't want the first mission to be a failure."

Meanwhile, at the remains of the colossus.

"I guess that's all it was good for." A person stood in front of the remains of the colossus, which began to dissolve into dust, revealing a view of small crystals.

"This is Fire Team Three, we have arrived at Zone F4." Reported Nathan.

"Roger that Fire Team Three. The other teams are also in position."

"This is General Pearce." The General took over suddenly. "You know your orders, find the source of the Outbreak and secure it if possible. This is our first mission, no heroics. If there's an issue, withdraw immediately".

All the teams in the transmission got nervous.

"Here we go...", Zane quietly goaded himself.

"Sir, the ATBS team is in position." Remarked one of the operators.

"Excellent." Nodded the general. "Everyone ready?"

"Unit One ready."

"Unit Two ready."

"Unit Three ready."

"Unit Four ready."

Confirmed each team in turn.

"All right, begin deployment." Pearce gave the order.

Immediately, all teams headed toward the Outbreak's point of origin. The drones flew ahead and the ATBS group took off into the air.

The Fire Teams cautiously walked through the sector, ever closer to the potential source of the Outbreak.

"Fifty meters to target." Nathan looked at the map.

Zane peered around the corner; since they had entered F4, the environment had changed. Signs of the initial panic the Outbreak had caused were everywhere. Abandoned cars, shattered windows, buildings damaged by fighting. Even some military vehicles seemed to have been left behind. The streets were deserted, only black sand had collected in some places before being carried away by the wind. Not even the small ghostly Spirits that usually flew through the air or hid in the alleys could be seen.

"I wonder how many are here...?" Zane muttered to himself, and Nathan looked at him gloomily.

"Until the evacuation is complete, it's hard to say." Cara remarked as they saw a square in the distance.

"There it is." Said Nathan.

A large intersection surrounded by tall buildings opened up in front of them.

Zane looked around; it was the same picture as the street before. Vehicles left behind, broken windows, but no people. Suddenly he stepped into a puddle. Zane looked down - it was blood, but he found no victim to match.

"There are the others." 736 pointed to the other approach to the intersection.

"Sir, we've reached the origin." Reported Nathan and the other teams also confirmed.

"This is Team Four. We are in position." Reported the ATBS team.

"How long do we have?" Pearce asked one of the operators.

"Fifteen minutes, Sir."

"No problems on the vitals." Reported another, who had the units' vital signs in front of him.

"Report from the defense forces. Containment seems successful, Sir." Reported the next.

"Well, commence...," Pearce was about to formally instruct the teams to search for tracks when the readout cut out.

"SPIKE DETECTED," it sounded through the command center, and there was a warning on Nathan and the others' displays as well.

"Another Outbreak?" Shuddered one of the assistants.

"Negative. A spike inside the zone of origin."

"Why only now?" Pearce inquired.

"The concentration in the sector is elevated by the dust which has obscured the spike." Explained another.

"Look out, there's something else there!" Pearce turned to his people on the ground, who had already all moved into defensive positions.

"Where is it?" Asked the leader of the first Team as the operator relayed the position.

"It's in a building?" Wondered Haruna from Team Two, who had joined Zane. Like the others, Team Two consisted of four people, the leader Erwa, the second Haruna, Aki and Hannes, with Aki being the only Mytic on the team.

Nathan looked up at the building they were standing next to. Drones were already flying up the facade when Aki's cat ears twitched.

"Look out!" Aki yelled out, as dust suddenly shot out of one floor of the building as if it were going to explode, whereupon something came flying out.

With a huge bang, something landed in the middle of the intersection. The impact kicked up concrete debris and the black dust, which began to obstruct visibility.

Immediately, Team Two and Three jumped back, standing closest.

"What the...?!" Cara cursed.

"What happened?" The first Team came running to them as the dust settled.

The torn remains of a colossus lay in the crater, parts of it had been torn off and it was already beginning to disintegrate.

A bulky humanoid beast stood on the remains of the colossus. Immediately, the image of Blood popped into Zane's mind.

But instead of black, the color of this beast was a dark gray, and even otherwise it was different from Blood. It did not have the red teeth reminiscent of eyes. The spikes on the back of its head and tail were missing, and even otherwise its stature was clearly different.

That's when Zane saw something hanging between its teeth, it was parts of colossus.

"It's eating an Infected?" Shuddered a member of the first team. He was a cyborg, most of his body had been replaced with mechanical parts, the massive arms standing out.

"Is that the origin?!" Erwa wondered.

"Ilana, stay back!" Shouted Cara to a girl in Team One who looked just like her, only with longer styled hair and carrying an oversized rifle.

The beast swallowed the shreds of the colossus and turned to the people standing in front of it before suddenly charging at them.

Immediately, everyone drew their weapons, but the cyborg charged towards it first.

"Not so fast!" He roared, before in the next moment their fists collided, and a shockwave rattled the ground. Neither seemed to give way as the cyborg activated his massive arm. Sparks sprayed from the arm's openings before a massive shockwave sent the beast spinning through the air.

The beast flew into a building but, instead of crashing into the building as everyone expected, the beast supported itself and held on to the wall of the building with its paw, which it drilled into the wall. The beast stared at them, seeming to wait for something.

Immediately Ilana turned to face the beast with her massive rifle. She placed the stock of the oversized gun on the ground, when the next moment a whirring sound was heard from the rifle.

"Back her up!" Said the leader of the first Team, as in the next moment the beast was already leaping towards Ilana. With a mighty leap it had catapulted away from the wall of the house and was now flying straight at Ilana.

736 and all the others grabbed the rifles or pistols they were carrying. Haruna, on the other hand, stretched out her hands and two magic circles appeared next to her, from which two massive cannons appeared.

All of them fired at the approaching beast, which changed course several times before being pushed to the ground by the fire of the guns, but hardly losing any of its speed.

"For you!" The cyborg threw a car at the beast with all his might.

The beast, however, bided its time, jumping onto the approaching vehicle and catapulting itself into the air before heading on a direct course toward Ilana, whose rifle was already spraying a few sparks of energy.

The beast's paw almost reached Ilana, whose rifle was about to fire when Cara stood in the beast's way with her massive blade.

With a tremendous bang, the beast's paw collided with Cara's blade. The blade didn't seem to cut the beast's palm, however, instead Cara's leg gave way and she buckled.

"Not so fast!" She mustered her strength and her sword's drive activated, whereupon she managed to catapult the beast back into the air. In the next moment, the beast was hit by an explosive projectile from 736, causing it to be flung away again.

"Status report!" Sounded the voice of an operator from the headsets. In the command center, only blurry images arrived due to the fast-paced combat, while some of the soldiers' displays went haywire.

"We are in combat with an Infected...Aku...no idea!" Reported the second of the first group, who, like Nathan, seemed to be doing the reporting.

Meanwhile, the fourth in the first team had rushed to Cara.

"Your leg is broken!"

"Shit!" Cara cursed.

"Cara!" Ilana looked for Cara full of concern.

"Ilana it's coming!" Shouted the chief of the first unit, bringing Ilana back to the present, whereupon she again tried to target the beast. However, it was already on its way to the group of soldiers.

"I can't get a grip on it!" Said Erwa, casting some kind of spell.

Again, he put himself between the beast and the others. Again, he took a swing and the two collided once more. But this time, the beast pierced the cyborg's fist, which shattered into a thousand pieces.

"What the...?!" The cyborg saw the beast slide through his outstretched hand.

"We need backup!" Announced the first unit's communicator as Zane and Nathan ran past him.

"Team Four is on its way." Reported the comm.

The cyborg held his shoulder, where his arm had been until recently. He turned to the beast, which had already turned to face him.

"Damn...", he saw the paw of the beast moving towards him. But in the next moment it was gone.

A jet of water shot past the cyborg and catapulted the beast into a building.

"Are you alright?" Zane and Nathan stood next to the cyborg.

"Thanks guys...that could have gone wrong." He thanked them.

"It's not over yet!" Nathan looked to the building, from which the beast was already breaking free once more.

Zane was getting ready to rush off when he heard the others shouting.

"Reinforcements are here!"

Four ATBS with flight gear slowly floated down the street before landing next to Zane and the others, their rifles continuing to point at the beast watching the new situation.

"Open fire!" Began the four ATBS firing their heavy rounds at the beast. Scattered shots brought down parts of the wall of the house behind them, while the beast had brought its arms in front of it to protect itself. Wounds opened up on the beast's skin and the feeling of success spread among everyone. Ilana also pointed her weapon at the beast.

"Now you can't run!" A virtual display appeared in front of the barrel of the gun, showing the beast in its sights.

"This is for Cara!" Ilana pulled the trigger and a concentrated beam of energy shot out of the cannon. This beam raced past Zane and the ATBS, hitting the beast full force and catapulting it back into the building. With a tremendous bang, billows of smoke shot out of it. Ilana's cannon glowed and a sort of cool-down timer could be heard as she frantically put her cannon aside and rushed to Cara, who was being given first aid.

The cyborg and everyone else had also backed off a bit to make way for the ATBS.

"Did we make it?" Asked the leader of the first Team.

Nathan and the other two communications officers frantically checked their holographic displays, but before they had a result from the surveillance, a screech sounded from the hole in the building.

A deafening, machine-like screech resounded from the hole before debris came flying out of the building in the next instant. One of the ATBS was hit by one of the larger pieces and crashed to the ground, while the few pieces that reached Zane and Nathan bounced off their magical barrier.

There, the beast stomped out of the rubble, its right arm missing and looking battered in other ways as well. Black liquid, Corrutin, spurted from its wounds.

"The levels are rising again, what's going on?!" Asked one of the operators.

"The critter survived!" Reported one.

Under the watchful eyes of Nathan and Zane, the beast slowly trudged forward. It didn't seem to be in pain but the damage to its body seemed to be making itself felt. However, something seemed different when Zane saw the beast's blood pools....

They were trembling.

A disturbance in the room seemed to be building up around the blood.

"Zane what's going on?" General Pearce suddenly turned directly to him.

"I don't know. It seems like the room is distorting...", Zane tried to explain what he was seeing.

"Distorting space?" One of the operators looked at another questioningly.

"Orders to all of you. Take out the spike like this right now!" Sounded Pearce's voice over the square.

"Understood." The soldiers immediately replied.

"Open fire!" Ordered the ATBS with the number 1 on its chassis, whereupon a hail of bullets rained down on the beast again, before a missile from one of the ATBS headed for it.

But before the missile could reach it, the beast leapt away.

"How can that thing still move with the amount of blood it lost?" Complained one of the pilots as the beast flew through the air and headed for one of the ATBS.

"Look out!" Zane sprinted towards the beast and the ATBS used its jets to put distance between itself and the beast. Zane made a large ice pillar grow out of the ground, hitting the beast and forcing it back to the ground.

"Leave it to us." The leader of the first unit, Aki, Evan and Zane suddenly stood between the beast and the ATBS.

"OK." Accepted the ATBS pilot the suggestion. "Retreat." The four ATBS lifted off. "We'll give you cover."

"A transporter is already on its way." Reported Hannes, while Nathan and the others were already moving Cara and the wounded cyborg to safety, when the fight picked up speed again.

Immediately the beast jumped towards the four. But in the next moment, it crashed into an invisible barrier Erwa had erected. Aki jumped to the same height as the beast and threw a punch. Her magic-charged blow broke the barrier, which Erwa could not dissolve in time, and hit the beast right in the face.

The beast flew a few meters backward and landed on the asphalt, where it remained for a moment. Its jaw showed signs of fracture where Aki had hit it and it seemed to be exhausted. Before it had even straightened up properly, however, it began to run away from the four of them.

"You stay there!" Shouted the leader of the first unit, ramming his hands against the ground. "Terra Paries!" Magical energy spread from his hands and a wall of asphalt and earth shot out of the street, blocking the beast's escape route.

"Go you two!" He turned to Aki and Zane in the next instant.

"Let's go Zane!" Aki sprinted off.

"OK!"

The beast tried to clear the earthen walls.

"Not so fast!" Aki's voice rang out behind it. The beast turned around, only to let go of the wall at the last moment and dodge before Aki's fist crashed into the concrete wall.

Concrete and steel fragments erupted from the wall Aki had slammed into.

The beast had pushed off and slid backwards when it felt something behind it. A huge ice pile shot toward it and she skidded directly in its direction. It could no longer avoid the ice!

Zane saw the ice stake about to pierce the beast, as with the colossus before, but at the last moment he hesitated and changed the direction of his spell.

The ice stake missed the center of the beast and instead shot past its wounded shoulder, ripping open part of its ribcage and leaving some frozen patches on its skin. The wounding didn't seem to be a problem for the beast, but when it tried to start moving again, it realized that its legs were blocked. "Sorry, this is as far as we go." Stood Zane behind it, his hands fixed on the ground.

"Good job Zane!" Aki was already jumping towards the beast again, whose legs were frozen by Zane. A thick layer of ice had spread to its lower legs.

The beast could no longer dodge, so it decided to attack. Again, it formed a flat hand with its fingers, but suddenly it couldn't move.

"Aki I'm holding it!" Shouted Erwa from a distance, who seemed visibly strained.

The beast tried everything to free itself. The ice on its feet wouldn't give, Zane's magic kept it stable, and its upper body was blocked by whatever magic Erwa used. It could only watch as Aki gathered magic in her fist again and flew towards the beast at the same time.

The beast let out a scream before Aki's fist pierced it between its neck and chest, causing it to fall silent. Aki skidded some more and immediately turned to the beast to check if it had been enough. Her battle suit had been somewhat scorched around the fist by her own magic.

Aki and Zane looked at each other, then nodded to Erwa and the leader of the first team.

"Done." Erwan dissolved his magic and the beast fell lifelessly forward where it lay.

Zane immediately looked at the bloodstains, which began to dissolve into dust.

"Is it over?" Asked the cyborg, who had only been watching the fight from a distance.

"Seems like it." Said the second of the first team.

"Aki's really got it." Replied Nathan in amazement.

"For real." Haruna confirmed.

"Command. Spike eliminated." Reported the second of the first team immediately upon seeing his leader's confirmation.

"Well done guys." Said the leader of the first team as Aki and Zane rejoined him and Erwa.

"That was good work Zane!" Aki said, who had her arm around him.

"Isn't that a little dangerous with the bare hand?" Zane looked at her a little worried.

"No shit!" Aki laughed. "Don't you tell Zero!" She suddenly became serious.

"Don't worry." Zane laughed, looking back at the beast whose body seemed to be dissolving very slowly.

So this was my first assignment....

"What's wrong, Zane?" Asked Aki.

"Oh nothing."

"OK guys, pack up." The leader of the first team made a gesture with his fingers. "Our window of opportunity is almost over."

"VTOL is already on its way." Reported Nathan, beckoning Zane and Aki to join him.

Ilana helped Cara up, who had been given a makeshift crutch of scrap metal as the transport hovercraft was already on approach accompanied by the four ATBS.

"You all right there Zane?" The leader of Team One turned to Zane and removed his helmet.

"Stephen?" Zane looked at his former colleague, confused.

Meanwhile, in the control room:

"Sir, the spike is gone, the data is returning to normal."

"Excellent." Said General Pearce with relief, slumping into his chair. "What was that thing? If that becomes the new standard, it won't be long before we can't contain the Outbreaks ourselves...", mumbled General Pearce to himself.

"Sir?" Inquired one of the operators.

"Oh nothing, bring them home. Tell the local units they can take over from here. Good job everyone." Pearce thanked them.

A holographic screen appeared next to Peace. "Lucia, I need you."

"Of course, Sir."