"Oh Gods! Oh Gods!" A young halfling man with big, round glasses rushed over to Sebastian and his party, Hero turning around first to look at them. "Guys! It's bad!"
"Another wave!?" Hero rushed on over, looking ragged from all the fighting they've been doing. "I swear, we locked things down, how a--"
"N-No! Worse!"
"What's worse?!"
"THE Hunter is here!"
"What does that mean?"
"Tierre O'Kelly! He's on a rampage, and he looks pissed!"
"O'Kelly...? Is it Emma's dad?"
"I'm pretty sure he's her Uncle."
"Oh!" Hero paused, "He's here!? That's great!"
"Did you forget what I said!? He's pissed! That's really bad!"
"How? Isn't a legendary Inventor like him being mad a good thing? Especially if they're an ally?"
"I would say that but... he's the most notorious--"
A man in hulking armor cuts off the Halfling, loud, heavy stomps echoing throughout the Academy halls as Tierre slowly reveals itself, the helmet receding to show its face. "You." He pointed at Hero. "You know Emma, don't you?"
Hero nodded. "Uh... yes, sir."
Sebastian finally noticed what was going on, taking a couple of steps back, and for the second time that day, concern appeared on his face, and Caspian noticed.
Tierre scanned the party for a moment before looking back down at Hero. "Where is she?"
"Emma? I-I don't know. I'm sorry. Currently, we, along with the higher-grade classes, are trying to clean up and locate whoever may've survived this attack. Actually, at the moment as well, we've begun housing any su--"
"I understand, but that isn't what I asked. Where is Emma?"
Sebastian stepped up. "She should be in the noble pavilion of the school right now."
Tierre looked at the young man. "Why do you know that?" He then pointed at Hero. "When he doesn't know that?"
"Emma and I had a discussion earlier today in the noble pavilion, that is all."
"A discussion? You of the Agnesta family are all about your 'discussions', aren't you? I may have been allied to your family at one point, but if I go there, and something has happened to her, I will be taking it straight to your father, or worse." Tierre growled, the pressure coming from this one middle-aged man being enough to make everyone's knees buckle.
Tierre kneeled low before firing off into the air just as Caspian gained the gall to say something back, cut off by the sound of boosters blaring through the air. Caspian growled in frustration, "Where does he get off saying things like that?"
Sebastian shrugged. "He has all the excuse he needs, actually. I don't like it either, but it isn't possible to justify what our family did to him."
In mere seconds after arriving, Tierre slid straight into the noble pavilion. Bodies and the injured were lined up here, including Emma's party, who stood at alert as Emma rested, unconscious in her bed. Tierre looked over to them, Qicy having her glaive pointed at the Inventor, whilst Viana prepared to run.
Tierre approached, and the others in the pavilion did not seem very alarmed by his presence. Qicy soon read the room, putting her glaive down, Viana relaxing.
Tierre stopped just above Emma's bed, hovering over her with a solemn look on his face. "What happened?" In an almost demanding tone, directed at Viana.
Viana hesitated before speaking. "We fought a strong foe. She got injured badly during the fight... not like I can talk either." She showed her leg, which was put into a cast. "She fought admirably. If it weren't for her, we would've lost, I believe."
Tierre scanned the pavilion. "Where is that girlfriend of hers?"
Qicy raised a hand. "Dahlia? Is that who you're asking about?"
Tierre nodded. "Where is she?"
"Well... Emma was worried about it earlier since she wasn't responding to her texts. I don't really get what happened, but apparently, some man was threatening their lives?"
"Then I'll look for her and bring her back here." The helm fell back over his face, and he was gone, flying straight off campus. He sighed as he reached the dorms, thinking it would provide him with a lead. The place was overrun by the undead or fiendish creatures of the night. "A purge it is." He growled.
In the span of a second, most of the undead at the entrance of the dorms were annihilated almost instantly, having no time to react before being torn apart through mechanized fire and ion blades. One room after the other, destroying monsters, escorting people outside of the dorms, and directing them to the Academy.
After 2 minutes had passed, Tierre had reached the end of the Academy Dorms. Spawn littered the halls, some of them moving in to check on their injured comrades. How they were speaking made him believe that Dahlia had to have still been alive, and that if he had been a moment too late, they would've gotten to her first. "Hey!" Tierre shouted, catching the attention of the various Vampires that littered the dorm halls.
"What the fuck!?"
"Is that a mech?"
"State your intentions and surrender. If you do not comply, I will show no mercy." Tierre demanded.
"The hell is this guy saying?" One of the Spawn whispered to themselves.
One of the Vampiric Spawn grinned. "Are you alone!?"
"I am."
"You came here alone!? It's not a good idea to underestimate us, y'know!? A group is always better than one! Unless y'know, you go covert and shit, right!? But here you are, announcing yourself to the world!"
"I find no need to keep myself hidden from creatures lower than myself. I only see it as discourteous not to do so. So I say again. State your intentions, and surrender!"
"Fuck off!"
Before the Vampire could even react, the fist of Tierre's mech was shoved straight into the mouth of this creature, head blown off within milliseconds of doing so, spraying their gore across the entire hallway. They all reacted at the same time, and before they could even coordinate an attack, shots fired out from the suit, creating holes the size of golf balls into the bodies of these monsters, and whoever had survived was rended asunder by Tierre's gauntlets, torn to shreds as if a beast given human form had torn through this hallway on their own.
Finally, he reached the remains of Dahlia's dorm room, watching as she sat down, ready for a fight. A cold sweat came over her body as she saw Tierre, attempting to take a stance but falling back to her knees. Her body gave out on her a long time ago.
Dahlia was almost about to accept that this was the end for her before the helm on Tierre's suit retracted, revealing his face. "U-Uh! T-Tierre!"
"You remembered my name..." He sighed, holding a hand out. "Come on, let's get out of here." Dahlia took Tierre's hand, struggling to stand up. Before she could say anything, Tierre threw her over his shoulder and rocketed out from the broken roof of Dahlia's room, flying back to the Academy's noble pavilion.
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Month of the Dark Moon, the 28th, 2024. 6:30 am.
Parties involved in the clearing of monsters were provided their own private rooms in the form of the various classrooms left behind by some of the teachers of the Academy as they left to deal with the forces the city was presently up against.
The number of student casualties: 286.
The number of citizen casualties: To be estimated.
The number of those revived: 273. Those whose bodies were too far gone were unable to be revived, but most of the student casualties that have occured from the 27th to the early morning of the 28th have been circumvented in some ways. Unfortunately, if revival is repeated too soon after one's previous demise, the consequences will only intensify until they become irreversible.
More experienced forces have completely taken over any operations in or outside of the Mars Adventuring Academy's reach.
A sense of soreness shot through Emma's body as her eyes pried themselves open, looking up to see Dahlia lying down with her in a bed large enough for the two of them. Emma attempted to blink the drowsiness away, but failed, sighing to herself as her body gave in to Dahlia's warm embrace.
Dahlia stirred awake not too long after Emma came to consciousness, looking down at the more petite red-headed girl in her arms with a smile. "Hey..."
Emma stared for almost a minute before reaching up to Dahlia's face. "What happened...? You weren't answering my texts..."
"I was ambushed... but I made it out." Dahlia chuckled. "If it wasn't for Tierre... I-I think it would've been a different story."
"Tierre was here?"
Dahlia nodded. "Yeah. He saved my life. Also..." Dahlia thought hard about what she was going to say next. "I think I may have an ability similar to yours, now."
"What do you mean?" Emma groaned, propping herself up to get a better view of Dahlia.
"I... I was close to dying earlier, and... suddenly I could summon these javelins into my hands. I think they called them Aspects?"
"Champion Aspects." Tierre cut off their conversation, leaning against the entrance of the classroom they were resting in. "That's what they're called—special abilities given to a special sort of people. Dunno what activates it in others, or what makes others not be able to use them, but they're special abilities given to a select few in the world. I'm not one of them."
Emma sat herself upright, looking over at Tierre as they hovered by the door. "Unc... what are you doing here?"
"Protecting the city I raised you in. Simple as-- Well, no, the initial reason was to protect you, but you get the point."
"Shit!" Emma attempted to stand, but failed, Dahlia catching her just before she fell. "Damnit!"
Tierre crossed over. "Calm down, you aren't in any state to be doing anything right now."
"Simon, that fuckin' bastard, Simon! He said that we had until Halloween, but..."
"The Prince already told us everything we needed to know, and we're working to stop it right now, okay? So..." Tierre gestured to Emma. "Rest. Let the... well... you're technically an adult, but let the older adults handle it."
"What did you always say about my Mother, Tierre?"
"What do you mean?"
"How did she die?"
Tierre sighed through his nose, standing up. "Wait until this is over. I'll tell you everything."
"Why did you lie to begin with?"
"Because. Just like it would've been for your mother... It's better you never knew about your real family."
"Are you not my real family?"
Tierre's face became pained at the question. "I am... more than you'd ever understand at the moment." He nodded before leaving them be. "We'll live through this, and I'll tell you everything." And with that, he was gone.
Emma fell into Dahlia's chest, looking up at her with a listless stare. "So... we're just forced to sit around now?"
"I don't know if it'll be that simple."
"I don't want it to be."
"What do you mean?"
"I want to kill, Simon." There is a short pause before she continued. "I want him dead. It's a principle at this rate... I want him gone. We've already gotten this far. No reason to stop now..."
Dahlia's eyes searched for a better answer, but after a moment, she just held Emma close, burying her face in Emma's hair. "Alright."
"Sorry if it sounds grim..."
"No... I agree. I don't want to, but I agree." Dahlia paused. "I don't like all of this... death. But... sometimes, what must be done has to be done, right?"
"Yeah."
Three days until Halloween.