Strife turned away. His long coat trailed behind him, catching the fading light in its folds. Then, with a single sparkling step, he vanished—slipping through a temporal tear as if reality itself had never contained him.
"You awake, Fallice?"
A groggy yawn answered as the small, red-haired girl blinked her bleary eyes open. "Ugh... what time is it? Why are you being so loud? Just give me—ah!"
Her sentence cut off in a squeal as Ben pinched the back of her hand. She jolted upright, suddenly alert, and without hesitation, kicked the oni-man squarely in the face.
"That hurt!" she snapped, fully awake now.
"At least you're up," Vex muttered from his perch above them, already tense. He turned to his captain. "Ben, we need to move!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, keep your pants on." Ben rolled his shoulders lazily before turning toward me. "So, rabbit, when do you think you can fix our ship?"
I barely restrained a scowl at the nickname. "My name is Clara," I said through gritted teeth. "And as I already told you, I need to see your ship first."
"Just guess! How hard can it be?"
My fist clenched before I could stop it. "You wanna die?"
Before I could make good on the impulse, Sifo Ren stepped between us, pressing down my arm with mechanical precision and effortlessly lifting me onto his shoulder.
"What are you doing?!" I demanded, kicking my legs.
"Planetary security is en route to this sector. We need to evacuate." His voice was unbothered, cold. His heavy, metal heels thundered across the tarmac. "If you want to avoid prison, I suggest compliance." Compartments opened on his back, unleashing a burst of fire as his jets roared to life.
"She's with me," he declared flatly, glancing over his shoulder at Ben. "Port three-C. Section Formuda. Two minutes until the crackdown." Then, with a blast of air and fire, we shot into the sky.
From above, the city was chaos—police vehicles swarming in like a nest of hornets. Down below, the black market alley where we'd just been had already erupted into panic. Officers moved in on the wounded and the dazed, rounding them up like livestock.
"Approaching destination," Sifo Ren warned. "Brace."
The descent was brutal. We rocketed through a hangar bay and landed with a metallic slam onto a hexagonal platform. He gently set me down.
I didn't need to ask. The ship was there, hulking in the hangar, half-dismantled and wholly miserable.
I pulled out my diagnostic tablet, but the moment I raised my eyes to the vessel, I physically recoiled. My stomach twisted.
"This is the ship?" I breathed. "This... wreck?"
I activated the scan, and the hologram flickered to life, showing the data as clear as day. "What kind of ancient junk is this?!"
⸻
Hours later, I was elbow-deep in the ruins of the vessel. Half of it lay torn open across the hangar, a graveyard of outdated parts and scorched wiring. The fact that this heap hadn't imploded on atmospheric entry was a miracle—and probably an accident.
Half of it's outer shell needed to be replaced while almost all of its internals had to be dragged and replaced with temporary solutions. As of now this spaceship is more a garbage can that can fly than anything else. if it were anybody else beside me repairing it I doubt it would have even lifted from the floor again.
A hiss echoed from the far side of the hangar. Sifo Ren turned, tracking the sound with eerie stillness. "Clara," he called, "your clients are here."
Peeling off my welder's mask, I poked my head from the gutted cockpit that was now a patchwork of fixed parts. "Clients? You mean these idiots?"
Ben's voice cracked as he entered. "The Vallast! What did you do to the Vallast?!"
"I put it out of its misery!" I shouted, leaping from the hatch and sliding down the spaceships hull. My boots slammed onto the hangar floor, and I marched straight up to the so-called captain, jabbing my finger into his chest. "The wiring's shot, life support's barely hanging on, and the thrusters? I wouldn't trust them to power a scooter! The only thing still working on this disaster is the coffee maker!"
"We had a coffee maker?" Vex asked, blinking.
Fallice and Dante exchanged confused glances.
I nearly lost it. "Are you all brain-dead?!"
Right as I was about to leap at them, Sifo Ren intercepted me mid-air with a single arm, holding me in a vice-like grip. "Do none of you even know how this ship functions? The logs say you've been patching broken systems with duct tape and blind hope!"
"Isn't that how repairs work?" Fallice asked, tilting her head.
"For boats! On water! Not spacecraft!" I thrashed in Sifo Ren's grasp, elbowing his metal arm and instantly regretting it. Pain shot through my bones. I groaned. "...Please tell me someone here knows how to fly this thing?"
Dante sighed and tossed a handful of scrap to the floor. "We've been looking for a pilot. And a mechanic. And, uh... a navigator."
"You're missing the three most important positions?!"
Fallice grinned. "I'm the doctor! Ben's our captain. Dante's vice-captain and our survival expert. Vex handles security. And we've got a cook! She's just... not around right now."
"Probably ran screaming from this madhouse," I muttered. "Sifo, put me down."
"You'll attack them," he said without emotion.
"If you don't, I'll start unscrewing your armor plates!"
He sighed and dropped me onto the floor with a loud thud.
"Owwie~. You should be kinder to fragile humans!" I muttered, dusting myself off. Then I tossed Ben a tablet. "Here."
He passed it to Dante, who squinted at the screen, then blinked again. "What is this?"
"Your repair bill. And an estimate if you want to bring this junker back from the dead." I crossed my arms as Dante's jaw dropped. "To fix this even remotely, I had to rebuild the entire frame from scratch. The spine's cracked in three places. You'd be better off buying a new ship. the best I managed to do was make it capable of space flight again and some short journeys."
Ben's face twisted with disbelief. "Why? We just need a few parts. We can get--"
"No," I interrupted firmly. "You need miracles. The structural damage alone makes it a ticking time bomb. You might squeeze seven more slip-space jumps out of it. Tops. After that? Once the atmospheric generator finally collapse's, It's space dust."
BOOM!
The entire hangar shuddered. The doors blew off their hinges with a deafening crack, spiraling across the room—only to be caught mid-flight by Sifo Ren's steel arms.
A moment of dizzying silence followed as my eyes and ears struggled to cope with the unexpected explosion echoing within the hanger. Ben and his crew members were all disoriented just like me but we all recovered quickly enough to witness what happened next.
Shouting filled the hanger from the dozens of officers that stormed in, armed and shouting commands. At the steel robot standing in their way to us.
Without hesitation, Sifo Ren raised his arm. At first it was only a small spark above his wrist but then his flamethrowers truly ignited. And a river of fire burst forth, forcing the incoming police squad to scatter and retreat back where they had came, overwhelmed by the searing heat.
"Why are the CGA Rangers here?!" I asked, aghast.
Sifo Ren halted mid-flame attack and turned to face us. "They must have followed them from the black market. We need to leave before I'm recognized in this body, Clara. Say whatever you must—quickly."
Bullets ricocheted off his iron frame. Before he could retaliate, Ben darted forward, fists ablaze in mustard-yellow fire.
"Go away!" he roared, releasing a burst of flame that sent the rangers flying.
"Stop resisting!" one ranger shouted. "We have footage linking everyone in that hangar to the massacre at the black market!"
Ben answered with a punch to the ranger's jaw, sending the man skidding down the corridor. "Bring me someone who can actually fight!"
As he worked out his frustration over the news I'd just delivered, I turned to Dante, slipping a silver card from his coat.
"Your ship's flight-ready. Should get you off-world to a proper mechanic station. Once you lose the rangers, promise me you'll get someone who actually knows how to operate it."
Dante narrowed his eyes. "Uh, what are you doing with my credit shard?"
Tapping it to mine, a soft ding followed. The number 20k glowed on my screen.
"Taking my payment for fixing your ship—plus a little tax." I stuck out my tongue and tossed the card back. "Vex! Thanks for the food earlier. Try to keep your captain out of trouble next time!"
Vex peeked over Sifo Ren's armored shoulder, exasperated. "Yeah, uh... might be a little late for that. Ben's really gone and pissed them off now."
As if on cue, a plume of yellow fire exploded across the hangar. From within it came Ben's panicked shout: "Look out!!"
[Aspect: Iron Ant Queen - iron shield]
[Skill: Laser - shoot]
Sifo Ren's palm lit up with a brilliant beam, cutting through the firestorm and dispersing most of it. What little remained was absorbed as a swarm of mechanical ants erupted from the ship, assembling themselves into a towering, eight-foot-long iron ant. Its thick abdomen formed a heat-shield that protected us from the blast.
When the flames faded, the ant collapsed into fragments, revealing Ben surrounded by half-scorched ranger bodies. He let out a relieved sigh. "Phew~. You're okay."
"Watch it, dumbass! We're lucky these two are here!" Dante shouted, his white oni horns aimed directly at his captain.
"Sorry, sorry! Hehehe..." Ben snickered, unapologetic—until a bullet shaved a line through his hair. His tone snapped. "Hey! That was an accident, stupid Dante!"
Dante lowered his revolver with a nonchalant shrug. "Sorry. My finger slipped."
"Can you two cut it out?!" Fallice shrieked. "We need to leave! If you still want to compete in the tournament tomorrow, get on the ship!" The tiny sprite zipped inside the barely functional spacecraft.
"She's right. The longer we wait, the messier this gets." Vex smacked Ben's head on the way past. "I'll pilot us out. Just give me time to warm the engine."
"This asshole's driving? We're doomed," Dante grumbled.
"My sense of direction's better than yours, whitehorn!"
"Say that again, blue-haired bastard!"
"This isn't the time! No wonder your ship was in pieces!" I barked. "Get on board—now! Sifo can't hold them off forever."
My voice broke through their bickering, and Fallice gave the pair a push toward the ramp. Moments later, the battered ship lurched into the air, sputtering and smoking as it ascended toward the stars.
I rubbed my forehead and sighed. "And here I thought only Thorn and Wukong combusted when paired."
"What does that mean?" Ben asked, clearly confused.
"Doesn't matter. Get on your spacecraft now, boy," Sifo Ren cut in as he stomped toward us. "My radar's picked up a divine presence closing in fast. An Exalted is en route to support the rangers—I can't fight him in my current form."
"Then we can't waste time." I was about to move when I spotted a man with a rocket launcher at the far end of the hangar. He didn't shout or warn—just fired.
"Sifo!"
Reacting instantly, Sifo Ren swept both Ben and me into his arms and bolted. The rocket smashed into the side of the ship just as he grabbed us, shielding us with his frame as fire engulfed the hangar. The explosion hurled the ship forward, its engines trailing smoke as it stumbled out of the bay.
"Hold on!" Bullets peppered Sifo's back as he broke into a sprint, leaping through the shattered wall and into the sky. His thrusters kicked in, and we soared above the city skyline.
"Kyaa!" I screamed, clutching tight to Sifo's chest. "What are you doing?! How will we reunite Ben with the others?!"
Far ahead, the ship carrying Ben's crewmates was spiraling, drifting beyond city limits. It would crash somewhere in the forest if it didn't break apart first.
"We'll figure it out!" Sifo shouted, trying to stabilize his flight. "But that Exalted's fast. My sensors—wait..."
A warning beep echoed from inside his helmet.
Before we could react, a figure appeared mid-air directly in our path—cloaked in a black cowl lined with golden raven embroidery and feathers. His boot ignited in green flame as he kicked forward, unleashing a concussive blast that struck all three of us.
"Ahh!!" The street rose up to meet us. Green-white fire exploded around us as Sifo twisted midair to take the brunt of it. We tumbled down the road, skidding through shattered glass and crumpled metal.
Sifo Ren smashed into a pile of wrecked cars, shielding us to the very end.
Ben landed atop a cab with a groan, miraculously unharmed. I coughed and dragged myself upright, body aching, ears ringing, blood dripping down my forehead and arms. Across the intersection, Sifo was already trying to rise up from the ground lifting up a car he was caught under before dropping it.
Then I saw him.
Our attacker strode through the wreckage, calm and deliberate. In each hand, a golden dagger glinted under the city lights.
A chill ran down my spine. "...The Zorain of Gold?!"