"Mikhail, get ready!"

Something laced on my belly, pulled me out of the explosion range. It pulled me swiftly, right behind a giant derpanzer ruin. Behind the massive Union's junk, the smiling face of Uriel welcomed me with his usual smile.

"Busy day," He commented as the explosion happened for the third time. I hold the junk on its place when the shock wave hit. "Now you know why I called you over here."

"Yes." I frowned, showing a great dislike at how he talked and how he reminded me of a delayed mission from Azrael. "Still not a good reason, Uriel."

Uriel snorted. "Stiff."

"Not stiff." The explosion ended. I removed over the gigantic junks. "It's reckless. And the one who caused me to delay such an important mission, is a fool."

"Grumpy." Uriel replied calmly.

The smoke obstructed my vision, but the helmet didn't. Thermo-vision in my visor scanned the area, ripped through smoke and flames, locating every living sign.

"Nothing," Uriel spoke. "How disappointed. I thought we could get something interesting since this is last piece of Yemen we should get."

"Not the last." I corrected. "We still have one more countries in this United Middle-East."

"Right. That good-for-nothing country." Uriel sighed. "Sweep this area! We take no survivor!"

"Yes, Sir."

I was about to take my leave as well when suddenly, something stopped me. My head snapped to Lohengrin that still struck down below. It was vibrating.

Frowned, I pulled out that sword, let that weapon turned into a pistol. For a moment, I thought it was coming from the ground, but Lohengrin still trembled.

"Hey, Mikhail." I turned to face Uriel.

He had stopped too and took a glance at his spear. That weapon was trembling as well. Two weapons made from alterium, trembled like a hummingbird.

"Weird" was all Uriel was saying, but I knew something played in his mind.

Alterium is a living thing. They reacted to certain elements in this Earth. I commanded the visor in my helmet to check any anomaly in these environment. I ignored the heat and polluted air.

"Nothing." I said, as I grabbed the weapon as tight as possible. The tremble wouldn't stop.

"Yes." Uriel said. "This is the first time."

My helmet suddenly gave a warning signal with a buzz distracted it every three seconds. But the warning was clear. Something going on this way. "Split!"

All of us evaded the raining bullets that fell from the sky. Scattered and split up, w found coverage on our own.

Except me.

My feet stuck, stumbled upon a stingy pain, one that I didn't see it coming. Puzzled, I looked down upon my armored trousers.

Black substance leaked from my sliced armor, right at the area where that Human stabbed me with a knife. My hand tore that armor suit, only to reveal an injury that looked as fresh as a new one.

A wound. My mind tried to process it. A wound on a body that wasn't supposed to get hurt by human's weapon.

"Mikhail!"

Faraway, I could hear Uriel's voice. He always sounded too loud, almost like a Human. That voice often annoyed most of us, including his own troop. But this time, he had a good reason.

I barely heard him. This helmet that supposed to be our communication means, turned to nothing but a hindrance when that high pitched sound reverberating through the air.

Then, the plasma turrets rained all over me.

***

The shock wave sent me two yards away.

Dust covered my suit. I got up pretty much easily, but the wound sting too much. It bleed again.

Ignoring that anomaly, I checked the other body parts. No serious injuries. But the outer layer of this suit was destroyed. Something stung me, under my knees and elbows. I touched those areas ad felt the pain, but no blood detected.

After made sure that none of my feet or arms lost, I stood. Around me was another area of forestry; the little remained of what used to be a large canopy of greenery in Vanier.

Another explosion crashed the ground. I looked up, jets and planes of Union swiftly passed while bombarding the entire area. No doubt, they tried to separate me from Uriel.

One of the turrets send his flame ball to me. They already detected my living sign. Pulling out Lohengrin, I pointed that jet to cut that shot in half.

But Lohengrin didn't reacted to my nerve. It still on passive-mode.

It was still shaped as a gun.

***

Frowned, I looked at the gun in my palm. I tried to move it again, but the gun remained the same.

Another explosion hit the ground.

The shock wave threw me off the track. My body hit a tree, cut the air from my lungs as I fell helplessly to the ground. My helmet signaled some warnings but the ringis that echoed in my ears wouldn't bulge.

Faraway, I could see sparks flaming those jets. Something shot at those jets. Uriel made a move. The first good thing he ever done.

Reaching out my gun, I loaded it and wait.

The bullets on my gun were the middle-range. And the one who bombarded me just now was the Whale-Class bombarding planes of Union. As big as the plane's body, the Whale-class planes couldn't levitate too high in the sky. Their altitude and the design of the planes itself wasn't permitted to do so.

It was a plane suited for suicide attack and now they got me, almost. The plane moved from south, right at me. I looked up and pointed at it. And shot.

But the backfire was a shock.

My back hit the tree and slumped to the ground. The pain that stung all over my body was getting worse. I tried to get up, but the pain grounded me. I looked down, witnessed firsthand how black liquid trickled down, wetting my suit with unpleasant impulse.

The sudden ban rang. I looked up and saw a gigantic fireball of a Whale-Class plane fell to the ground, the plane I just shot. It fell too close to me. I was on its explosion perimeter.

Shit.

Quickly, I pulled in Lohengrin back to its holster and got up. The pain successfully made me groaned for the first time in a very long time. Without further ado, I got off the perimeter as far and as fast as I could.

But I was no match for a falling airplane.

Shock wave never felt this strong. In old days, it felt barely like a punch on the back, even when I was within the perimeter. Nothing broke permanently.

But this time, it wasn't just a simple punch on my back.

It was a truck, hit me with full force and speed. The sheer force alone broke my limbs into pieces and contorted my spines spirally. My blood burst as the wave pushed me, rolled me all over the ground, before hit a rock and stopped.

The taste of blood fulfilling my mouth. My mind went blank as my head spun around.

No. Not here. The last piece of my mind tried to struggle, to no avail. The fog swallowed the rest of my mind like a fog that sweep across the fjord when winter comes. I no longer able to move. My power drained by the exhaustion and shock, no doubt about that.

When the strange blackness arrived at the end of the trail, I punched at what I remembered as the ground.

I feel nothing.

Not at a time like this ... there is still....

The memories of the past suddenly moved in fast speed in my sight, showing me everything I haven't yet achieved: the mission, the battle, the victory, the Earth, the foolish Humans, our vision, and...

I stopped thinking.

***