Switched

A Brush With Death

Chapter 26

No one moved for several minutes after the aliens disappeared behind the barrier. Even the snow had stopped howling around them, so when Vincent's phone rang, it made several of them jump. All eyes were turned to him when he picked up. When his eyes widened Sephiroth took a few steps closer. She was able to make out part of the conversation and didn't like anything that she could hear. Vincent's face was grim when he finally hung up and turned to explain. "Cid just received a report from the other three ships. Hundreds of monsters are pouring from the barrier on all sides but this one. From the initial count, our troops will be outnumbered at least four to one and the wave has not stopped. They have already started to deploy the WRO troops to stem the tide, but some of the monsters have already taken wing. They are shooting them down as fast as they can, but due to sheer numbers, some have already made it out of the crater."

Sephiroth cursed under her breath. "We will head back so we can assist. If the monsters' goal is to leave and attack villages then we need to stop as many as possible here while we can. If any have escaped, tracking them will have to be our second priority. The numbers are too high for us to leave."

While she spoke, she had already mounted the board and was started back up to the ship when a cry caught her attention. She looked back to see Zack pointing toward the barrier. Her eyes widened again when she saw the three males leading at least a hundred monsters like the ones she and Genesis had faced. She immediately headed back down and called out her orders loud enough for everyone to hear. "Focus on the monsters first unless you are forced to engage the aliens. We cannot let them escape!"

Everyone had already started moving before her shout, so they were quick to engage. As soon as she was on the ground she raced to Vincent and pulled him aside. Thankfully he had stayed back a short distance and was providing cover and picking the monsters off. She grabbed his arm to get his attention and kept her voice as low as possible, so it wouldn't carry over the noise of the ongoing battle. "I know Cid will be sending the rest down to assist. Before he does let him know to have several of the men put on helmets, including Cloud. If they are using this as a tactic to draw him out, we don't want to make it easy on them." Vincent's eyes widened slightly before he gave her a nod and pulled out his phone. She didn't stick around long enough to verify; every one of them was needed to keep the monsters from leaving the crater.

She quickly evaluated where everyone was before she engaged two of the beasts. They had started to take off, so she leapt up and landed on the back of one, cleanly driving the Masamune through its head before she jumped across to the other one and used her momentum to slice it neatly in two. When she landed, she was almost instantly attacked by another one. She mentally thanked Genesis for his foresight in casting protect and shell around them all before they started. It helped to mitigate some of the damage from the breath attack she was caught in.

It wasn't long before her mind switched to battle instincts. The only thought that kept coming was the slight worry that none of the aliens had moved to engage anyone yet. They were standing by the barrier and watching the monsters be slaughtered. It had already occurred to her that some of the beasts could be the remaining scouts, but she tried not to think about it. If they had been changed then killing them would be a mercy, besides, they could not afford to hesitate. All of humanity could be at stake if they failed.

She was thankful when she saw an explosion take out two of them at once. She glanced back quickly and found the rest of Avalanche and the Turks were already on the ground, including Rufus. The sight shocked her so much that she barely managed to dodge another breath attack. Once she was focused again, she was able to make quick work of the monster that had tried to melt her.