Before you ask, they told me about what happened two days after my fight with the armored person.

After the mission was over, I was taken to the hospital ward in the base, having most of the team checking up on me. Mostly Martel, due to needing to taking care of the bracelet. Following her was Martha, which felt weird, we hadn’t interacted too much until that point. Mark only visited once during my stay there. He was still very awkward to talk to, and honestly, I did not see him as being very open to us yet. And Ness never visited me, that was obvious to me. But well, let me just continue before I start getting boring. Two weeks before I woke up, the whole team got called up on a mission, almost the same as the one that got me in the knocked-out state. There seemed to be the same kind of attack on a city in the middle of Russia, but, unlike last time, various civilians were killed, cities were flattened, without any type of remains of said cities. Most of the team agreed with it, but Martha still doubted if it would be good to go without me, who she already knew, was the only one that was able to keep back a person like that. Neither the less, she went in along with the rest of the team

When they arrived, no matter where they looked, roads, stones, grass, everything seemed to be in a state of chaos, if there even was. Even the soil seemed to be dull and lifeless. The sound of explosions kept sounding all around them, as various clouds of smoke appeared in the distance. All the team walked in that direction as they spoke

-So, do we have a plan? - Martha said this with a worried tone in her voice, as she looked over in Ness’s direction – Tell me you do have a plan Ness –

- Oh, come on, we don’t need a plan. If we keep our guard, something like last time shouldn’t happen again- Ness said this with a convinced tone, laughing cockily as he walked

Martha quickly launched herself towards Ness, punching his cheek strongly, throwing him onto the ground with it -Oh, like last time, where if you didn’t have that helmet!? –

-Oh, come on! The three of us know that was a lucky strike out of him, if I had known, I could’ve probably beaten him right there – Ness said this rubbing his cheek as he stood up from the strike, looking at her – Plus, it’s not like Colin did any better. In fact, I would say he even did worse due to his current state –

- Don’t you dare speak badly of him! He was the only one of us that got to get some damage into him –

-Oh, I’m sorry, did I speak badly of your prince in shining jacket? Because up to where I know, you weren’t even there for most of the fight, frightful cat – Ness said this in a tone of anger, looking over at Martha, his eyes burning

- Oh, is the mindless child speaking up? Because that’s all I can see here- Martha shouted this at the top of her lungs as she looked at Ness, making her bow appear, pointing it towards Ness’s head

-Guys, you should probably stop- Mark said this in a monotone voice, but, seemed a bit worried as he did, his head turning up slowly

-And now the eternal wall tries to interfere in our discussion- Ness said this as his helmet slowly started to turn red.

-No, guys, I’m serious about this-

-Mark, do not interfere in this- Martha said this as she charged up her bow, pointing it at Ness’s head

-So, the team that almost got 022 was organized like this? Man, he must be our weakest member! – A female voice shouted this from afar, making Ness and Martha turn their heads toward their heads in that direction. Up in the air, a female form, fully covered in armor, holding a gigantic energy sphere over her head was preparing to attack the team – Take this! Blast of Chaos! – As she shouted this, she launched the sphere, having it travel quickly towards them, exploding as soon as it touched the ground in front of them.

After the flash disappeared, Martha and Ness uncovered their eyes, seeing Mark in front of them, covering them from the blast, his armor slightly broken, but still in one piece, his Impenetrable Defense up – I’m not always be here to save your ass guys, so you better get up and fight against the enemy! – As he said this, the smoke cleared, making them able to see their enemy, as she slowly descended onto the ground.

-So, I see that he wasn’t lying about you having a wall to save you from any attack. But… - Just like before, she quickly changed her position, appearing behind Mark, punching him quickly by the neck, with a very audible snap sound occurring as he fell. -He still went down easily… Now, how about I deal with you pieces of shit? – She then quickly pulled out a rapier from out of her boots, which had a very similar look to the SoulCrash Boots that Martha had, except, like the rest of her armor, had a darker set of colors on it. -Now then… who wants to dance first? – She said this as she lifted her rapier in front of her, turning it towards us

Ness quickly stood up and launched himself towards her, taking out a knife from under his helmet – Oh, shut up, as if you’re going to manage anything against us –

She chuckled with a cocky tone, looking at Ness as she swung her rapier at him, a gust of wind appearing from it and striking him down to the ground, to then strike her rapier down on his clothes, keeping him on the ground -Man, you ARE the hothead 022 mentioned when he returned. You were easy to deal with… now, how about I deal with your pretty, little teammate there? – As she said this, she slowly started to walk towards Martha, taking out one more rapier from outside of her boots.

Martha then lifted her bow up, pointing it toward her enemy -How about, before you start attacking, you tell me exactly who you are? – She said this with a trembling tone in her voice, trying to stand her ground

-Well, I guess it won’t matter much since you’ll all die this instant- She stopped in her tracks, her helmet disappearing from her head, showing a short bowl cut on her hair, which had a red and blue spiral color to it, her eyes having those same two colors, her lips painted black, as she turned her head towards her with a cocky look – My name is Iris Marika, and, in the name of Anima Daemonium, I will strike you down easily –

Martha stood back a little, still pointing her bow towards Iris, trying to stand her ground -Anima Daemonium? What even is that? Must be something old if you’re using a name in Latin- She said this with a cocky tone in her voice, to then start walking back towards Iris

-It might be old, but! - Iris shouted this in a low volume, disappearing almost immediately, to then reappear behind Martha, kicking her quickly on the right temple, throwing her to the left side.

Martha landed, rolling along the ground with the impact. The boot in that girl’s armor pierced her head a bit, making her start bleeding, but she somehow managed to stand up, spitting a bit to the side to then turn her head against Iris once more -Is that all you’ve got?! Then let me show you my strength! – She said this, not sure about what she was going to do, as she slowly started to pull one arrow back, charging up what was currently her strongest ability.

As she charged her bow, behind her, hundreds of tiny blue arrows started to appear, all pointing towards Iris. As the seconds passed, the arrows turned to thousands, millions, even billions, until the main arrow stopped moving. As she charged this, Iris stood across her with her arms open, she still hadn’t put her helmet on, so a smile was visible on her face, with a maniacal look on her eyes as she looked forward -HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT! COME ON, FIRE AWAY! –

Martha steadied her breath, closing her eyes for a bit to then look forward, her eyes fully on her target, as she let go of her arrow, shouting at the top of her lungs -PIERCE THE HEAVENS, SOUL ARROW! – As soon as the first arrow hit the target, the rest of the arrows followed it, crashing into Iris, making a giant sand cloud appear due to the force of the impact getting to the floor, each making a tiny crater.

Ability description

Soul Arrow

This is mostly a Sylph ability, but has traces of Hunter instinct for the force. As a bow and arrow user charges up, by using a lot of their energy, around 80% of it, they can summon many spiritual arrows behind them. The amount depends on the will of the user as they charge up the arrow, going up to a quintillion arrows. Once they’re shot, the user needs some time to calm down due to the energy consumption.

After the final arrow hit, Martha fell on the floor, holding herself on her knees and hands, panting heavily, still holding her bow in her left hand as she looked over at the gigantic dust cloud. It had slowly started to fade, showing what was left from the attack. A silhouette started to show up, and once the smoke fully cleared out, it was seen that Iris was still standing, but her armor was heavily chipped, some parts cracked, but besides that, it was complete. A laugh from her side could be easily heard, as she started to walk forward. The ground beneath her had turned into a gigantic crater, having at least a radius of 10 meters.

-Well, I’ve got to admit, I’m surprised as to how much a support piece could damage me. But you clearly aren’t strong enough to defeat me. And it doesn’t help that any of you know how to activate your armors- She said this as she continued to walk towards Martha, taking out her rapier once more as she got right in front of her, pointing the rapier towards Martha’s neck. -But, playtime’s over, and, unlike my dear comrade, I’m not merciful… DIE!- She shouted this last part swinging the rapier quickly in an attempt to decapitate Martha.

As the rapier closed in, in a split second, the whole blade of the rapier being fully broken off. After seeing this, Iris quickly jumped away from Martha, throwing away the hilt of her rapier while taking out a new one – What the hell? How did she break that? – After saying this, Martha slowly started to laugh just like Iris before, as she slowly stood on her spot.

-Now who’s the scared one you little shit? – She said this as flames slowly started to sprout around her. Her voice now had a double tone to it, one of her usual voice, but, along with it, a deep demonic voice sounded along with it – Well, now, let’s see how you deal with this! Flammam regis inuidiae! – After saying this, 3 flame pillars surrounded her, to then turn into 3 fine strips of fire, going all around her.

Ability description:

Flammam regis inuidiae (Translated: Flames of Hatred)

This is a demonic ability. The user is surrounded by various flames, depending on how much of his/her power wants to be used, the maximum being 3. These flames serve as a close-up attack, burning anyone that meets them. They can also be concentrated in one spot of the body for the highest protection, or for the most powerful attack. While they’re separated, they also protect from attacks, if there’s always a flame close to the attack. With this, if few flames are used, it cannot defend the attack fully, or may not even protect from all the attack, but, with extreme care, this can be an almost impenetrable defense.

-Who the hell are you?! –

-Oh, you don’t even want to know what I’m capable of, you’d be scared – Martha said this in a cocky tone, to then start running towards Iris, the flames spinning all around her as she got close to her.

-Oh really!? Then fight! – She said this with an excited tone, as she started pulling out various amounts of rapiers, striking against Martha. But the flames covered all the attacks, breaking all the different rapiers as they came out of Iris.

Iris quickly jumped back, taking out a cannon with 3 different outputs for missiles. – Okay then, time for you to die! – She quickly launched all the missiles, striking Martha at three different points, or so it seemed. Before the missiles exploded, the flames grabbed all of them, throwing them back against Iris. Once all the smoke from the explosions dispersed, all of the armor in Iris had been broken off, showing all of her clothes still under her armor, while still standing, trembling a bit. The only part that hadn’t broken were the boots. She hung over, her arms in front of her, with her head pointed down. As she started to laugh once more, each time in a higher and higher volume

-Now this, THIS, is the kind of fight I was expecting! – She quickly started to run towards Martha, taking out one big broadsword, preparing herself to strike down – But, playtime is OVER! –

Right before she hit, Martha (?) concentrated the flames into her right hand, to then hit Iris’s face with the concentrated flames – Phoenix Punch – as she said this, the flames burst, exploding the bit with her left eye, only that part, concaving it fully, making her fall unconscious.

She looked over at the body, laughing a bit -These are our enemies? What a fucking joke – She then grabbed her head in pain, as she shook for a bit, looking around after a bit

-W-what happened? Did I black out for a bit- Her voice was back to normal, as the flames disappeared from around her, shaking her head a bit, to then shriek a bit after looking at the body, running away slowly -W-What the hell happened here?! Did… did I do that?! – She then ran away quickly towards where the rest of the team was, seeing that the portal to return had opened. The mission was over… but, at what cost? What happened during the mission?

END OF CHAPTER 9