The violent crash made every single one of them, freeze in the face of an entirely new danger.

Vesta and Sezel, their brief internal battle discarded like a useless trinket, snapped their attention toward the gate. The epicenter of the blast was somewhere in that direction, now obscured by a roiling, angry cloud of dust and debris.

Sezel's puppet had not yet retreated, and the world through its eyes was a chaotic, swirling mess of brown and grey.

From behind the dubious safety of the bushes, the three of them watched as the dust cloud, instead of settling, seemed to rise.

"What was that?" Vesta whispered, her voice a taut wire of tension. Her eyes were fixed on the mess.

"Felt as if something just fell from the sky," Shiki intoned, his knuckles white as he ground his teeth.

Sezel looked between them, a cold knot forming in his stomach. He hadn't been paying attention at all, lost in his own head, and the suddenness of the event had caught him completely off guard.

And this is actually bad, he thought, the master of understatement. I mean 'bad' is this realm's default setting.

They waited for the dust cloud to settle down. They needed to see what new horror had descended from the heavens.

Sezel ordered his puppet to remain on standby; sending it into that churning blindness without any knowledge of what waited within was not a smart move, and he'd had his fill of not-smart moves for the time being.

But before the cloud could dissipate, a new sound began—a barrage of heavy tremors, as if something gargantuan were hammering against the ground. This was followed by the high-pitched, grating screech of metal being tortured by hard chitin.

Fuck, this is beyond bad.

The puzzle pieces clicked into place with horrifying clarity. The thing that had descended from the sky was another one of the ant monsters. And indeed, they could fly. There was no other way it could have come from above.

He glanced at Vesta. Her expression was dark, her jaw set. She had realized it too. The dying ant's last, desperate scream had not been a cry of pain, but a call for friends. Or, for them, more problems.

"We need to move," she spoke, a reckless flame glowing in her ruby eyes.

Sezel looked at her, bewildered. Has she gone insane? He had to admire the sheer, beautiful stupidity of it.

Clearing his thoughts, he voiced the obvious. "And how, precisely, do you plan to get out of the grasp of that… thing?"

"This is the best time to run away," she explained, her logic simple and terrifyingly sound. "While the beast is busy fighting with the other Slayers and its vision is affected by the dust It will be easy."

From the look in her eyes, Sezel knew she was going to do it, no matter what he said.

That is absurd, but… I think she can do it. The thought was both an admission of her strength and a resignation to his own current predicament.

Sezel sighed and nodded. "Take Mari with you."

Vesta didn't wait for another word. In a single, fluid motion, she scooped Mari up into a princess carry and pressed her legs down on the earth. Cracks spiderwebbed from her feet as she launched herself forward, practically vanishing into the chaos.

A small gust of wind was the only evidence she had ever been there. Before Sezel could even blink, she was lost inside the dust cloud.

Hmm. I need to go, too. But… A grin, appeared on his face as his hands found the large sniper rifle on his back.

I think I'll check what is happening around the factories first. A little recon never hurt anyone. Much. He slung the sniper open, ready to find a vantage point.

I don't even need to go back to check. I can do it from here. This thing is a good friend to have, if we don't include its weight.

As he was about to set up, it clicked. Oh, how can I be this stupid? Of course, he wouldn't be able to see a thing from the ground, not with the sea of tall, dead grass obscuring everything. He needed height. The nearest hut was his best bet.

"Hey, Shiki, mind helping me climb the hut?" he said casually, turning.

But no answer came. The space where Shiki had been standing was empty. Sezel slowly turned around, and his worst fears were confirmed. Shiki was not there. He was gone.

That damn bastard.

He peeked from behind the bush again and saw him—a lone, foolish figure running headlong towards the dust cloud, which had now almost settled.

The heinous beast was visible, locked in a furious battle with the two remaining Slayers. The red-haired girl was standing a bit behind, her posture defensive.

Vesta was no longer visible; Sezel was sure she had already made it through the gate. And Shiki, the brave idiot, had just crossed the threshold into the fray.

Okay. I am left behind. He looked back towards the distant factories. He wanted to confirm the situation, to gather information, but a new, more pressing thought took over.

Let's get going. I don't want to associate with this cursed place anymore.

He slung the sniper rifle onto his back once more and exhaled sharply before launching himself into a sprint.

Here we go.

But as he took his first explosive step, a scream tore through the still air. It was sharp, filled with agony and terror, and it stopped Sezel's legs instinctively.

The dust cloud had finally settled, and the vicious beast of green and black chitin was now visible in all its grotesque glory.

And then he saw it. The full, horrifying tableau. The red-haired girl was on her knees in front of the beast, her face a pale mask of shock. One of the boys was barely standing on the other side, his body a bloody mess, his expression one of mind-shattering terror.

The other boy, however, hadn't been so lucky.

His small, broken body hung from the spear-like front arm of the beast, the razor-sharp edge of the creature's limb piercing clean through his torso, a gruesome trophy.

This is not great. Sezel's thoughts were utterly devoid of humor.

And, as he suspected, the next scene of the tragedy played out just as he'd imagined. The beast, its victory assured, attacked the red-haired girl on the ground. The surviving boy was frozen.

But the attack never reached the girl.

In a flash of steel and crimson flame, Vesta stood between the beast and the girl, her sword held firm, stopping the monster's deadly arm at bay.