Despite waking up so suddenly, the young men and women quickly suited up into their uniforms and rushed to the place where their gear was stored.
They numbered only fourteen young soldiers, as they were a part of the squadron that had been granted educational leave along with their Major. What remained was just a fragment of the original force.
In the hallway, a soldier hopped around as he tried to fit one of his legs into his pants. "Dammit! Now that I'm finally pursuing my education, this shit happens!" he yelled in annoyance.
"Shut up! Can't you feel it?" someone a bit older than them responded. He had a look of worry and fear on his face.
"Feel what?!"
Another wave of the putrid essence engulfed all of them, which made quite a few stop in their tracks in horror.
Nuriel floated close to the ceiling. Somehow or some way, he didn't wake up in his physical body but rather near Yevdokiya. Despite the strange occurrence, he could still use his abilities and hid himself the moment he realized something had gone wrong.
This was no longer a dream. He didn't know what could affect him, so he had to be more careful.
He imagined the issue to be caused by the entity that was disrupting the scepter network.
'Could it be the unknown entity from before?' he dwelled on the possibility.
In the armory, which was out in the open and only covered with a roof, Nuriel watched Yevdokiya equipping her gear.
It was a metal pole that was suspended horizontally on the floor. It had a sort of thruster device on one end, and in the center top was a flat rectangular pedal that Yevdokiya stepped on with her right foot and fastened.
The pedal could swivel around, although in a limited way, but her left foot was free to move.
The device hummed to life, and she floated near a rack where she grabbed a rifle.
Before she could fly off, Nuriel floated closer to her and grabbed her by the shoulders. But she did not react to the touch.
While thinking about why she didn't react, Yevdokiya suddenly accelerated into the air like a bullet being shot into the sky.
He could feel his blood rushing to the back of his head. He momentarily blacked out and lost his grip, but he was quick enough to grab ahold of the metal pole at the exact time he regained consciousness.
Nuriel looked below his feet to see the ground getting smaller and smaller.
'Did she just leave her squadron behind?' Nuriel shot his head up and saw Yevdokiya, who had a cold look on her face.
He was surprised at Yevdokiya's sheer speed, as in under a minute, they made it close enough to the disaster scene that he could see the raging firestorm and the tall smoke far off in the distance.
The fire had spread far enough that it started affecting other institutes.
Although he was high in the air, he could faintly hear some screams and wails amongst the crackling of fire.
Nuriel could only watch the scene grow more chaotic until he was suddenly jolted by Yevdokiya's next burst of acceleration.
He looked at her again. To his surprise, she was focusing on the massive smoke pillar that reached the clouds while she grabbed a long bayonet that was sheathed on her thigh.
She then placed it near the tip of her rifle and securely attached it.
One second, two, three. The smoke pillar grew larger and larger as she continued increasing her speed.
'What is she doing?' Nuriel pulled himself up and securely hugged her from behind.
If the entity was here, then it was clear that Yevdokiya somehow knew its location.
But the bayonet puzzled Nuriel.
'She's way too reckless... you have a gun, use that instead!' He thought of directly saying that to her, but he wasn't sure if she could hear him. He wasn't even sure she knew he held onto her a while ago.
Whether she chose to ignore him, Nuriel didn't want to distract her.
The black fog engulfed them. Nuriel couldn't see anything. The heat and smoke made him involuntarily close his eyes and bury his face in her shoulder.
He could feel the torrential firestorm and its strong winds that almost seemed to ignite everything it touched.
Then he heard and felt a large impact, followed by a screeching noise that muffled the chaos around them. Despite his closed eyes, he saw flickering lights that grew stronger as they passed through the massive smoke pillar and into the clear sky.
Nuriel knew they had stopped to a halt, but the screeching and flickering continued.
As he retreated his head from her shoulder, his eyes immediately locked onto a figure that was face to face with them.
He couldn't tell what creature it was. It looked human, but it felt like a mere mimicry of it—not in a way that it paled in comparison to the real deal, but rather, it was devoid of the imperfections that makes up a human.
Whatever it was, it had pale and grey-like skin but without the pinkish hue that signified blood and life. No pigments were observed in its eyes and hair as they were pure white.
It seemed to take on the form of a human woman—naked, although there was a distinct lack of protrusions or cavities that you would expect in a body.
Other than that, there seemed to be multiple fabrics that grew out from her back. Acting like tentacles, they spread out and converged to the point of impact of Yevdokiya's bayonet.
The flickering emerged from that point of contact. Yevdokiya's shield was faintly revealing itself in the form of a spherical shape that covered her entire figure. But it was most prominent in the impact area, as it radiated essence and blue sparks.
The thrusters on her metallic broom were still spewing out large amounts of pushing force, but the entity did not budge.
[Scepter Fragment Nearby]
Nuriel blinked. 'That thing?!'
Before he even had the idea of reaching out—
It spoke.
It slowly dragged its eyes to Yevdokiya. Despite its pure white iris, she could tell that it was looking directly right at her.
"It's you?" it said.
Bang!
The fabric-like tentacles were ripped apart from the blast.
Yevdokiya shot again.
An orange streak spewed out from the barrel of her rifle. There was no muzzle flash or any sign of smoke, it was a projectile purely made from condensed essence.
It didn't react to her shots, nor did it react to the gaping hole in its stomach. The large wound made it drip an oozing black liquid that flowed on its pale skin.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
The kinetic force from each shot knocked it away for a few meters.
Left shoulder.
Right leg.
Head.
Despite the mortal wounds, it still didn't react and kept floating idly. Yevdokiya paused to analyze the damage, but she realized it wasn't enough as it regenerated its injuries in mere seconds. It was as if it didn't get shot in the first place.
Yevdokiya gathered her essence and shot a more lethal projectile.
BANG!
A tiny streak of orange light made its way towards its chest, penetrating the skin before detonating and turning the thing into fine matter.
. . .
What was left of it was now black liquid, however.
They stood still in the air before the liquid reformed into the same spot it was once at.
As if nothing ever happened.
It idly floated as it stared at Yevdokiya with its white iris.