Re:War (Discontinued)

Chapter 25: Citra

A HEART unit was active. Why? Thoughts raced through my mind. No one from the revolution should be here other than my group.

What was going on?

The answer was soon clear. There was a dead Sylphian on the ground, along with the bodies of a few guards. The machine, and whoever was piloting it was turning from side to side, looking for something. What was there to look for...? More enemies? Where did the Sylphian come from?

There were traces of magic around... the initial explosion must've been from the Sylphian... was he a spy? I had a bad feeling about this...

The spotlight from the machine scanned the area, lighting up the darkness of this moonless night. This was bad... if I got caught in this, it would be impossible for me to fight. Not against a machine that can tear down a building with ease.

I hid behind some crates, Fiore finally arriving with Alice and Iona. The two were notably sleepy from being woken up like this, but we had no time.

"Alice, Iona can you two detect anyone else around?"

"I hear people on the roof..."

"There's a strange concentration of mana up there.... Alice thinks it's magic users."

"Fiore, where's Citra?"

"I told her to stay at the inn. It's safer there."

"Right... in any case, this place is too dangerous, but we need to make sure we aren't-"

The spotlight suddenly shone over, revealing our position.

"-seen... screw my life."

"Who's there?! Show yourselves!!"

"Do we fight back or...?" Fiore asked.

A warning shot.

"I said show yourself!"

"That is one big hole."

"Master, the people above us have left... should we run?"

And before I could tell what happened, a blonde girl ran between us.

"Please, don't fight."

I swear, my jaw almost hit the ground.

"Citra?! I told you to stay in the inn!" Fiore ran out.

"I got worried about you..."

"That's not the point! You need to run!!"

Citra followed us all the way here... she must've used her tagging.... this was a really bad situation.

"Puppets? Boss, what do we do?"

"Get rid of them. These things are everywhere."

"Shit! Get away from them!! They're my companions!" I yelled.

"What the... he's a Tendoen!"

Oh crap.

The machine charged forwards to attack, I jumped towards Fiore and Citra, ramming them out of the way.

"We gotta run!! Alice, Iona, go!!"

"Raito! Behind you!"

It was already ready with the next attack, and it swung its arm down, trying to crush us. I had no time to-

The next thing that I could process was that Fiore and I were metres away from where I was. Only Citra stood there, black markings all over her body. She floated a little above the floor, the bandage over her eyes had fallen off, revealing a dark yellow glow from her eyes.