From the moment Saya came to Deckstoru’s central beach along with Iziya to help Graid and Zoran, she knew her son was in a lot of trouble. He was in for the scolding of his life, his violent nurse of a mother only looking for the right opportunity to get to him and start preaching. Graid was going to get plenty chewed out, too, for having allowed Hikaru and the others to join the fray in the first place, but as his eldest sister believed it was every mother’s duty to scold her son, she would leave the greater portion of his scolding to Rose.

Hikaru’s grandmother had split off from her two daughters just after reaching the beach as they saw that most of the Martian girls were missing, figuring out their homeroom teacher had sent them after the deva suppressor chip controller. They were going to need all the help they can get, after all, even when being led by Neana Ilre who Zoran shared he had dispatched to aid the girls upon reuniting with Saya during the sky battle.

Taking a moment to look at how her son and the rest were doing on the ground in the present, however, Saya realized even with all those strong ladies’ powers combined, they wouldn’t be able to deactivate the controller in time. At least not in time to ensure the survival of the fighting force left on the coast. Hikaru and co. had run into many deviant soldiers all of whom had just entered overdrive mode if one were to judge by the amount of pale green energy emitted by their bodies. Even if all the eight hot heads pushed their devas to a 100%, they wouldn’t be able to match their opponents’ power level while at the same time going so far beyond the output they were currently able to use would cripple them for the rest of the battle.

The ones who most definitely needed to survive this battle were the young ones as they were this country and this world’s future. And considering the strategy the enemy had put into play right now, there was only one way to save them. The old dogs would have to take the burden meant for the pups upon themselves at the risk of breaking beyond repair and abandon the plan to hold off the villains in the sky, thus risking the further loss of civilian life. If the brats were kept safe until the controller was deactivated, however, they could protect everyone later on.

Having made up her mind, the head of the Summerbolt family used a hundred solar flame arrows formed from the fiery angel wings she had now created on her back to destroy the black hearts and silver waspers ahead of her. Flying through the ensuing explosions, she reached her brother first to give her latest orders.

(Saya) ‘-Graid, get out of here! Go and find mom and the Martian girls and help them! They’ll need your speed to get to the chip controller faster!!’

Seeing as how confused Graid was by her words, he clearly hadn’t taken notice of the state of his nephew and his friends on the beach. His reaction was an annoying reminder for his sister that she sometimes needed to clear things up for him so he could understand.

(Saya) ‘-Hikaru and the others are getting killed down there! The rest of us will save them, but no matter how many of these bastards we take out here, we won’t last long without our full output! You’ve got to take out that controller and you’ve got to do it now! Right now!!! GO!!!’

Graid only glanced at the beach battle for a moment, by the time his eyes shifted from there back to his sister’s face, his shock and concern having transformed into the firmness of a true soldier ready to follow any order without question. He said nothing more, simply darting downward like a ray mixing jungle green and scarlet, Saya wasting no time to admire his grit and teleporting on the back of Zoran who had just set a couple of three-rotor helicopters on fire.

His breathing already sounded heavy, meaning fighting at an output which Mrs. Summerbolt estimated was about 60% for him at the moment was taking too much of a toll on his body. Taking drastic measures would only worsen his condition, but there were no other options left and she was certain he was willing to risk as much as her for his students’ survival.

(Zoran) ‘-Thanks for coming over to my side, Saya! I could use a little back-up right now!’

(Saya) ‘-I’m afraid that’s not why I came, Zoran! We need to go down and help the brats as they’re up against a lot of deviants in overdrive mode!!’

As she also shared the information about the initiated overdrive for the enemy deviants with Sunbird’s former headmaster, his surprise was much greater than Graid’s when he heard her, his stare immediately shifting to the beach under them. The fiery mom’s attention turned away from him as well, seeing that Iziya had already flown down to help the hot heads, having noticed their dire circumstances in her own right.

(Zoran) ‘-And Graid? I don’t seem him around anymore.’

(Saya) ‘-I sent him off to help mom, Neana and the girls. Iziya’s already gone down, so we should get going, too.’

(Zoran) ‘-How are we going to handle this exactly?’

The two old friends’ eyes met those of the other, Saya smiling at Zoran in a way that she knew he was all too familiar with and the meaning of which he would understand right away. It was time for another mad and extremely dangrerous stunt the likes of which these two hadn’t performed together for many years.

(Saya) ‘-I say we go old-school on them.’

One could almost see the sparks in Mr. Lawell’s eyes after Mrs. Summerbolt’s answer and it wasn’t just because of his deva. The same mix of excitement, nostalgia and fear she felt had come over him as well. Right after that the phoenix-morph smiled in a manner similar to the fiery mom as they shot down together.

(Zoran) ‘-Overdrive theft, then, right?’

(Saya) ‘-We won’t be racing to see who steals more this time, though. It’s all about protecting the kids!’

(Zoran) ‘-Then Izy had better teleported those eight far enough by the time we get there!’

The two fire-using warriors crashed in the midst of the enemy deviants’ ranks so fast that none of the villains was given any time to respond, their attention also being preoccupied by Iziya’s minityphoons. The moment the duo landed, she sent those typhoons at them with one hand, using the other to teleport all eight hot heads near her aside with more winds, most likely having already caught on her sister’s plan. Saya and Zoran set the sands and all the debris around ablaze, the bright yellow solar and pale red-orange phoenix flames first mixing with each other before making contact with the dense pearl-blue typhoons.

As the three elements mixed, a mighty firestorm manifested on the beach, the initial amount of heat and ruin it brought being only the beginning of the torment the three veterans were going to put their enemies through for what they had done to the youngsters. Soon enough many mini-phoenixes were shaped out of the chaos by Zoran, Saya crafting minisuns and Iziya – crescent moons, the three types of three-element attacks being launched at the undead simultaneously.

The purpose of the barrage was not to kill anyone, of course, but to serve as a distraction. At one point the makers of the suns/crescents/phoenixes would switch with one of their creations that passed through the soldiers, taking from them the tool used to achieve overdrive mode. That tool were syringes filled with a particular drug which allowed the user to reach a 50% increase in output for ½ minutes and 25% for another ½ minutes before wearing off. The consequence of using these drugs was that one’s deva output would be limited to about 50% or less for one to two minutes after they wore off.

Logically, one could further increase their output by injecting themselves with a couple of syringes at once, the side effects of the drug increasing in a direct ratio with the number of syringes used. Given the overall power level of these soldiers was much lesser than Saya, Iziya and Zoran’s when on even terms, all they needed to do was get enough syringes to allow the free use of an output just above 100%. That would allow them to take care of all the surrounding threats in one fell swoop.

Once the issue at hand was dealt with, however, all three would be unable to use their devas almost at all for up to 5 minutes with the added strain they had experienced prior to the overdrive. During that time, the brats they were planning to save would have to in turn defend them, so one could say this whole strategy was based on the quid pro quo principle.

(Iziya) ‘-I think they’re distracted enough. Let’s go!’

(Saya) ‘-We regroup where the brats are at, don’t forget. The moment the drug wears off, we’ll need to be close to them or some ordinari could easily take us out.’

(Zoran) ‘-I think getting to them in the first place will be a problem! (he pointed at something amid the firestorm with worry on his face, the Summerbolt sisters instantly turning to look in that direction) The diversion may not work as well as we thought!’

A blanket of white energy had spread all around while the violent nurse had been thinking up her team’s plan of action, causing her and the others’ creations to falter and vanish one by one along with the whole firestorm. While angered by this turn of events, someone as experienced as her did not need long to recognize what that energy was.

It was Goroid, a member of the pair renowned as the two strongest among the eight energy compounds. This white-colored energy with a very slight tinge of silver was one that purified all things evil and violent. For example in combat it was able to purify any attack that had malicious content behind it, in short any attack at all, acting as a partial neutralizing agent. Using Goroid in such fashion could not completely nullify any technique, but it could greatly weaken it to a level where it would inflict the least amount of damage.

A very thick version of that energy that the allies of the user usually welcomed because of its benevolent feel now filled the air all around the firestorm makers, for them foreboding a great complication in their original strategy. But Saya had little time to worry about complications because her son was in danger.

(Saya) ‘-You two handle the rest. I’ll deal with the neutralizer!!!’

As if sensing what she was planning to do, Zoran shouted as loud as he could after her to make sure he was heard.

(Zoran) ‘-It’s not a race to see who steals the most syringes, Saya, don’t forget!’

Her old friend’s concern for her was more than touching, but he seemed to have overlooked the most important difference between the two in his worries. Zoran had not yet become a parent and as such could not fully understand the force that drove Saya forward against all caution and reason.

Switching with one of her minisuns, Mrs. Summerbolt went on her hunt for syringes through the firestorm that was breaking apart under the influence of the Goroid masses, reaching a female soldier and spotting two of the items she needed on her belt. Thinking she was just another construct, the villainess tried disintegrating her with a point-blank range roar that had a brilliant pink color, Hikaru’s mother using that attack as cover to move around her opponent and take the syringes off her.

By the time the undead warrior realized what was happening, her secret weapons had fallen in Saya’s hands, moving on to another target that had just shattered a number of wind crescents with a ring of harlequin green energy formed around him. The minisun hit that deviant in the back, a calculated swing by Mrs. Summerbolt managing to yank free the two syringes attached to his belt, the total number of four the fiery mom possessed now supposedly being enough for the present task.

Just as one of the enemies landed on top of the minisun she had exchanged appearances with, being left in disbelief after seeing how it broke apart into sparks and tiny bright yellow flames, Saya returned to her true form and stuck two of the syringes in each side of her neck with a deep breath. The sensation of the overdrive was something she had forgotten – how intense and all-encompassing it was and how sweetly intoxicating the power it promised was, especially since it lifted all the limitations of the chip in her. But she could not let herself fall prey to that temptation now, needing to instead channel her newly acquired might toward one goal as quickly as possible before it further poisoned her mind – destroying the one spreading the Goroid around.

All the soldiers had already been hit by the original Iziya and Zoran who had revealed themselves in a whirlwind of flaming phoenix feathers, their eyes having burst in pale green energy that matched the color of the veins bulging on their skin, Saya’s search for her target being much easier now as no one was paying attention to her. No one except the one she was looking for, by the time she spotted the silver blond plaits of his hair moving in the wind as he drew closer to her, the moment to act having already passed.

With another Goroid-powered teleportation he appeared in front of her, preventing the injection of the contents of the other two syringes she had stolen, the adversaries’ faces being mere inches from each other in that moment as her wrath met his triumph.

(The White Lieutenant Colonel) ‘-So I finally managed to draw you out! It wasn’t why I used the overdrive injections, but what matters is the end result! And that result is my assured victory!!’

(Saya) ‘-Even if you take us out, the brats will …’

(The White Lieutenant Colonel) ‘-Please, General Summerbolt. While those eight you left to defend the beach turned out to be more of a problem than I expected, you’re the real prize here!’

She blasted his head back with a solar-flame-empowered headbutt, his white energy compound weakening the attack, the overall damage of which amounted to only a few scratches on his forehead, making his grin of satisfaction widen.

(Saya) ‘-My general days are long over, but I appreciate the attention you’ve given me! (while not managing to hurt him, the headbutt did put some distance between the combatants, Saya using this to channel a lot of her flames through the ground under the lieutenant colonel’s feet) Sadly, I won’t be able to give you the same amount of attention because I have more important things to do!!’

A massive pilar of solar fire rose all around the leader of the undead deviant force, reaching the sky where it cut through a couple of aircrafts, the explosions that followed only adding to the splendor of the destruction unleashed. Even with a 150% output, the Goroid user would still need at least a few moments to weaken such an attack, that window of opportunity being sufficient for Saya to land her finishing strike. She concentrated a great deal more of her deva in her fists toward that goal, teleporting behind the pillar to await the perfect moment to strike, but such a moment never came.

Instead of being covered in white energy and weakened as expected, a piece of the flaming pillar was carved out, a sphere-shaped emptiness being left in its place as Mrs. Summerbolt felt the air heat up and heard it crackle behind her. Turning around in the blink of an eye, she saw her target had teleported behind her along with the missing part of the fiery pillar, the look of triumph still not having left his face.

(The White Lieutenant Colonel) ‘-You offend me by using such petty tricks to kill me, Junior Solar Empress!! Face me head-on with your full might!!!’

He enveloped the flames from the carved-out part of the pillar around him in his energy, changing their color to white and reshaping them into swirling drills, all of which were shot at her, Saya trying to destroy them with her fists. The drills were so saturated with Goroid, however, that not only did none of them disappear, but they shaved off layer after layer of the flames that covered the violent nurse’s hands. The villain grabbed both those hands after that, using them to pull Hikaru’s mother to himself, crushing a knee in her jaw that was probably meant as revenge for the headbutt from earlier.

As she swallowed some sand along with the blood that had come out of her mouth due to the knee attack while having barely managed to stay upright, she felt a stinging pain in her mind as much as in the lower half of her face. First it was Ukris, now this undead bastard – all of them wanted Saya to show them the might she once had. Neither understood that was something she was no longer capable of doing, no matter how much she wanted to. In the old days when relying on her strength alone had been very convenient she could’ve dispatched an enemy like the one that now stood before her in less than a minute. But as the years had passed, she had been forced to change and put more and more thought in her actions.

Due to that, she had managed to overcome the immediate pain of the knee hitting her jaw and had used a thin string of solar fire to pull the two syringes out of the lieutenant colonel’s belt while he savored the joy of successfully landing a hit on her. Fighting past one’s prime was a teacher of many a valuable lesson, one of which being that no matter how weak a warrior, they will triumph over any enemy whose confidence is too high. If the lieutenant colonel hadn’t grown so conceited after dodging a few attacks and landing a hit of his own, he would’ve noticed the theft of the most precious items he had on him.

Having pulled the syringes in her hand, she threw one of them in the other hand, the smile of triumph simultaneously leaving her foe’s face whose overdrive form had elapsed and appearing on hers as she injected herself on each side of the neck once again.

(Saya) ‘-There’s a right time to show one’s full might, amateur boy. My right time, for example, is when your drug has worn off and you’ve got no syringes left!’