Left, right, top, and bottom—Ollie tried looking at the photo from every possible angle.

Unfortunately, it didn't help.

It still looked horrendous.

So horrendous that his precious dinner felt like it was trying to make an emergency evacuation up his throat.

He put the tablet down with a quiet thud, face pale. "So, we're going to see that?"

Across the table, the others didn't disagree, and the slightly taller blonde wondered why life was so hard.

But maybe what really bothered him more than the photo was the information he was hearing.

Luca, for one, couldn't help but ask when he saw Xavier grimace after hearing the location.

"Um, is there a problem with Sector One Zone Four?"

Kyle sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Zone Four's a bit of an odd case," he said. "It used to be Planet Vespera—one of the old tourist planets. History claims it was a beautiful place back in the day. Long stretches of beaches, coral-blue seas, glassy water, you name it. Although we couldn't be sure about that, since most of the living would only know it as Zone Four."

The adjutant continued, realizing the two shorties wanted to hear more, "But maybe because of all that tourism, corruption managed to sneak in early. However, people didn't notice right away. While everyone else was busy looking for signs of contamination on land, Vespera's ocean was apparently already rotting from the inside out."

Luca frowned, leaning forward. "The sea was first?"

Kyle nodded. "Yeah. For a while, no one even suspected. The land settlements stayed stable, so everyone thought they were safe. However, it appears that the corruption persisted the longest in the deepest parts of the sea, and only after it devoured everything did it move onto land."

"And the takeover of the land was faster than anything recorded because it came in like a tide, and it took the land before everyone could evacuate."

"Then, Kyle, is that why there's so little information about the waters of Zone Four?" asked Luca, who D-29 told that everything he read earlier was basically all the information he could find.

And that apparently included the information held by the Military HQ!

Obviously, Luca couldn't understand how and why D-29 would have access to the military database. Still, he couldn't focus on that problem after learning that two people were currently facing that creature.

He wanted to help, so he figured he'd learn as much as possible before getting there, only to realize that there wasn't much helpful information, especially when compared to the land settlements.

Xavier decided to answer his little wife's question, "Embarrassingly enough, even with today's technology, we haven't gotten anywhere when it comes to sea exploration," he said flatly.

"We've tried multiple expeditions, but since unmanned ventures don't even make it far enough, we couldn't possibly risk people by sending in human exploration teams. Worse, even after we classified it as a Mature Contaminated Zone, we still couldn't get more information."

Luca blinked, then, with a worried expression, asked, "Then what about those stationed there? How do they deal with the waters?"

Xavier exhaled slowly. "They normally don't. Which was why we couldn't prioritize research when there were other areas with immediate concerns. Until today, Zone Four's been relatively calm. No major outbreaks, no large-scale activity—just a few mutated beasts now and then on land. That's why the military presence there was kept light."

The decision actually made sense, especially considering how resources were really stretched too thin, so it wasn't really as if they could blame anyone for the allocation.

But maybe because everyone thought similarly, they were surprised to hear Jax saying, "Then is that how the rebels managed to infiltrate Zone Four? Because there weren't enough soldiers?"

"!!!"

People stared at each other, because, come to think of it, there really was that issue!

Ah! They really need to whack someone after this!

But before that, they must first take care of whatever that was. So Luca, who realized there wasn't enough information, decided to take a reactive yet proactive response by preparing everything he could as they waited and prayed for Sir Uno's swift return.

__

But they weren't the only ones hoping for miracles, because deep under the sea, hidden inside a carved out rock, were two people who weren't sure if they would see the light of day.

Inside the cockpit, the air felt thick. The moment the shaking stopped, Nia's voice cracked through the comms, sharp and furious.

"Sera! Have you completely lost it?! What part of 'don't follow me' sounded optional to you?!"

Her body trembled slightly as if to punctuate her words. She was yelling, but the way her voice wavered halfway through made it sound more like panic than anger.

Sera, panting from exertion, tried to sound calm. "You're welcome, Sis."

"Don't 'Sis' me!" Nia shot back. "Do you have any idea how close that was? You could've died! We both could've died!"

And how bad would that be if two instead of just one didn't make it back? Nia didn't want to imagine it anymore.

Sera smiled weakly inside her helmet. "Technically, we didn't. And you would've definitely died if I didn't do that."

"So you know how dangerous that was!" Nia's voice cracked again, this time wobbling.

Her words broke apart into a sob. "I swear, if you died, it would be impossible to find another person as good as you! Do you know how hard it is to find someone who can tolerate my brother?! How would he feel if something happened to you!?"

Sera blinked, momentarily disarmed, but this time she had a tired smile on her face. "He'd feel the same way if he lost you, so we can't just go around dying, right?"

They really couldn't. Moreover, who would want to die in a place like this?

Still, when Nia finally slumped back into her seat, folding her legs up and hugging her knees, her tears fell silently. She knew just what Sera had done just to save her. She really could've died when she could've taken the easier route of calling for help.

And it all began with the dive.

__

Sera had gone silent then, her eyes fixed on the sonar as she descended through the dark. The deeper she went, the colder it became. She was just praying the mecha's stealth attributes would hold even underwater.

Below, she finally saw it.

The creatures pulled down by the tentacles were being gathered—collected like offerings—and dropped into a pit that pulsed faintly, opening and closing like something breathing. She didn't want to believe it, but there was no mistaking what she was seeing. That wasn't a crater. It was a mouth.

And that meant Nia was likely going to the same mouth.

She had mere moments to act.

With a deep breath, she shut down all nonessential systems. The cockpit lights dimmed until she was surrounded by near darkness. Then, inch by inch, she guided her mecha closer—silent as a shadow.

When she reached Nia's trapped unit, her fingers flew over the controls. She reactivated every system at once. Power surged, flooding through her frame, the thrusters roaring to life as she swung her plasma cutter in one clean motion.

The tentacle snapped.

Nia's mecha dropped, spinning free.

"Got you!" Sera shouted, relief breaking through her chest—

Until the sea exploded around them.

Another tentacle lashed out. Then another. And another.

Sera barely had time to react before the water filled with writhing shapes. The tentacles regenerated faster than she could slice them. Each time her blade cut one down, two more coiled in its place, snapping toward her mecha's arms and legs.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" she hissed, yanking Nia's mecha backward.

It wasn't working. Cutting didn't matter. They were endless, and with her having to drag Nia's mecha, she likely wouldn't be able to keep it cutting them all up.

Then she noticed something.

One of the smaller creatures—some sort of mutated creature—brushed against a tentacle and instantly froze, its body going limp.

Her eyes widened. "So that's it…"

In a desperate gamble, she diverted power to the mecha's cryo-emitters and unleashed a cold burst against the nearest tentacle. The surface froze in seconds, the water crackling around it.

A few tentacles stopped moving.

"It works!" she breathed.

Her heart pounded as she grabbed Nia's mecha closer and boosted upward, but when they reached what should've been open water, their relief shattered.

Above them was a dense wall of tentacles—thick as trees, twisting together like a living ceiling.

Sera's voice trembled. "You've got to be kidding me."

She forced the mecha downward again, deeper into the darkness. There was nowhere else to go.

Then, through the murk, she spotted it—a massive rock formation wedged between ridges.

Out of options, she collapsed part of the rock formation, hoping to form an enclosed space to hide temporarily while she carved out a better hiding place inside the rock formation.

Finally, she shoved both mechas inside. The entrance sealed behind them with a thud of displaced debris.

Inside, the only sounds were their ragged breathing and the faint vibration of movement outside.

Sera finally exhaled. "Let's regroup and let me try to repair your mecha first. The tentacles ignored the rocks. Maybe they can't sense us."

Then, for the first time since they escaped, Nia suddenly spoke, "Sera! What were you thinking?!"

"Hello to you, too, Sergeant," Sera said with a lot of relief.

Nia scoffed, half-sobbing. "You're crazy!"

"Yeah, love you too, sis."

"Damn you, really!"