“Akira, short bursts,” Zero yelled out as she lifted Yuna up to her feet. “They’ll be destroyed, but the shots are still blocked.”

Yuna wasn’t quite sure what she was talking about until Zero’s hand shot up. A bolt of energy aimed at them hit a barrier in the air. The barrier immediately shattered, but the bolt had already dissipated. 

“Yuna,” Zero said, blocking another shot. “We don’t have much time. How are you feeling?”

“I’m feeling good, actually,” Yuna replied with a frown. She really did feel fine. The pain in her leg was nonexistent. 

“Perfect. You’ll stay that way for a few minutes at most,” Zero said. “We need to take care of these things before then. Ready up.”

Yuna nodded and lifted up her blade. Zero lifted her arm and waved at Erica who had scrambled back behind cover. Zero pointed towards the guards while her other arm created barrier after barrier to halt the incoming projectiles. Erica nodded and held up her hands. With a flick of a wrist, Zero commanded the winds and ripped the spear out of one of the shield wielding robots and sent it flying back to Erica who caught it cleanly out of the air.

“I’ll support you, Yuna. Go in,” Zero commanded. She pressed her palm against the ground and a wide magic circle lit up on it.

Strength flooded into Yuna’s body, filling her with and leaving her feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. Yuna felt this before. A physical enhancement spell was put on her. With renewed confidence, Yuna charged at the five enemy robots. The rifle wielding bots raised their sights in response, but their shots were all blocked by barriers. The shield and sword wielding guards went to intercept Yuna at the same time.

She sidestepped one while striking out at the one that was tagged by Erica’s spear. Her blade snaked past the guard’s dented shield, and struck what seemed to be the bot’s sword arm. The sword cut, but wasn’t able to go through completely. She yanked it out before twirling away to avoid the shield being thrusted her way. 

As she spun, she saw Erica engaging the other guard. Her spear crackled with electricity as it flashed forward. The robot was completely on defense, holding its shield desperately in front of itself. The three ranged bots were also firing at Erica, but barriers always formed in the nick of time to intercept them.

Yuna refocused her attention on her own target. The guard robot didn’t go after her, much to her surprise. It seemed content with staying with the rifle wielding bots. Yuna was fine with that. 

She bursted forward again, the enhancements on her accelerating her. Her sword lashed out again at the guard, blocking a swipe from the guard’s massive blade. She adjusted her angle and slashed upwards. As she did, strength swelled into her sword arm and her blade cut right through the metal. The robot’s arm crashed into the ground.

Taking advantage of the momentarily confused robot, Yuna went all in on the guard. She slashed and hacked away at the bot, chopping up its various metal limbs and parts until it at last collapsed onto the ground, silent.

Then she moved on to the rifle wielders. Another crash, and Erica’s guard had fallen as well. Yuna rushed at the ranged bots, confident. Their shots couldn’t do anything to her as long as Zero was there. 

The ranged robots proved to be a far easier task than the two shield bots. Their armor seemed to be less sturdy and they had more of a focus on speed than on taking damage. They were felled within seconds. 

When the third one toppled, Yuna nearly collapsed as the strength flooded out of her. The enhancement spells were lifted and the circle on the ground had disappeared. To add to that, she noticed the leg that had been shot was beginning to throb. It wasn’t too painful, though. 

“Time to go,” Zero said quietly as she hooked Yuna’s arm. “We can’t rest yet. I promise that we can soon.”

Yuna grunted in reply and let Zero help her. Leaning against Zero, she walked forward, her gait with a slight limp to it. Now Zero had taken the lead, the rest of the group close behind. 

“A quick warning,” Zero announced as she sped towards the place they had entered from with Yuna in tow. “The alarms triggered an automatic call to law enforcement. They should almost be here by now if not already here. So we’re going to have to split up.”

“How?” Akira asked. 

“I’ll be with Yuna. The three of you will split off by yourselves. Pick a direction and go. Then route back to the rendezvous.”

“Got it. I’ll veer east.”

“I’ll take west then,” Erica called.

“I’ll wrap around then go south,” Sarah replied.

“Perfect. Now get ready to do that right now,” Zero said.

They arrived at the glass panel that they had crossed through to get into the lab. On the other side of the glass, a line of vehicles were parked side by side with their doors open to create cover for the people behind them holding weapons in their hands. Weapons that they had trained on the lab.

“That’s a lot of them,” Yuna muttered under her breath.

“Yes. They probably have this place surrounding,” Zero replied. “We’re going to need to bust through so this might be a bit flashy.”

“The flashier the better,” Akira said, peering through the glass. “It might distract them.”

“I’m planning to do some heavy lifting.”

“How about some construction?”

“That’ll be wonderful.”

Zero gestured to the glass panel with her free arm. Akira walked up to it and placed her hand on it gently. It rippled as it was liquefied, but didn’t part. 

“Should we camo ourselves?” Akira asked as she pulled back her hand.

“For a bit. Then the show. Then we split,” Zero said. “Ready?”

“We’ll see.”

Zero lifted her hand. Yuna felt an influx of mana being channeled as a circle flared up at Zero’s palm. Magic enveloped Yuna, wrapping her in what felt like a shroud. Zero looked around for a bit, turning her head as she checked something. Then she nodded.

“Time to go,” she announced.

They walked through the liquid glass, the glass barely being disturbed. Yuna watched the policemen carefully, looking at their expressions. Their furrowed eyebrows and down turned lips didn’t change. 

‘The camouflage is working,’ she thought. ‘But if I remember correctly, they should have set up a magic perimeter. Once we cross that, they’ll detect us.’

“Akira. Let’s get this going,” Zero said. 

Zero gently unlinked her arm from Yuna’s, holding her for a bit as Yuna gingerly put pressure on her leg. The pain was continuing to build within it. The spell Zero had casted on it was wearing off.

Akira walked up and gripped Zero’s hand. They lifted their free hands. The wind whipped and the ground shuddered as mana began to build around them. Yuna watched with wide eyes as the mana continued building, the air becoming thicker and thicker. 

Their eyes flashed as they brought their hands down. The wind howled as a gust blasted toward the lined up policemen. The ground rumbled louder. Then all hell broke loose. The grounding began shaking violently, through Yuna off balance. But the policemen seemed to be experiencing worse as they were thrown about. 

And that wasn’t all.

Yuna looked up and gaped as she watched a pair of tornadoes ascend from the sky. They touched down right in the middle of the line, ripping up the ground. The already disorganized policemen were now lifted up into the air as they were whipped around and around. Oddly enough, the metal vehicles stayed put on the earth.

“Let’s go,” Zero said as she turned around, the glowing of her eyes slowly dying away. She went to Yuna and lifted her up. “More will be coming.”

“How are the cars staying down?” Yuna asked as she struggled to her feet.

“Akira, that’s why,” Zero replied, her face covered by her mask. “Come on. We need to go.”

Together, the two of them went straight ahead towards the violent tornadoes. The ground had stopped shaking, but the policemen didn’t know. They were still in the air. Yuna looked back and saw Akira and the other heading off in different directions. 

She turned her head back and stared straight ahead. The wind howled past her ears as she tried to ignore the growing pain in her leg. She focused on Zero’s grasp instead, letting herself be pulled along. 

‘As long as she’s here, everything will be fine.’