RM Vol 3: For a World without Boundary – Chapter 46-1: On your feet, soldier! (Part 1)

RM Vol 3: For a World without Boundary – Chapter 46-1: On your feet, soldier! (Part 1)

Yuki is, for a lack of better words, exasperated. After quickly grilling Sirin for the important bits that she has to know, Yuki has gleaned enough information for her to exhale a heavy sigh. Sirin, on her part, has the mind to scratch her cheek sheepishly, having been interrogated by Yuki about her wrongdoings.

So here's what Yuki's dealing with. For some reason, for some mind-bogglingly stupid reasons, Nicolae, a powerful Shoggoth, is unable to open a clean-cut portal inside that blasted dome. Yet, Sirin, a girl who has been in captivity mere hours ago, has been semi-successful in her own attempt. The only reason why she failed was because her mana pool ran dry, thus infringing upon her not-yet-recovering stamina. Honestly, Yuki is both surprised and confused as to how Sirin managed to pull that off. She understands the theories behind it, yes. But if Nicolae has been hampered by the will of the planet Gaia then why wasn't Sirin affected? Might Sirin be the loving child of the planet or something? Questions for later, Yuki supposes. Now though, time is running short and if Sirin's method is anything to go by, Yuki may be able to build something around that. The only thing missing would be something to fuel Sirin's portal, and Yuki may have a battery handily lying around that.

Herself, basically.

"You got that?"

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"Yeah, I got that." Yuki answered to, well guess what, herself. The grin that suddenly appeared on her face didn't escape the notice of Bryn, who had been dutifully by her side ever since this fudged operation. Without the Valkyrie as her adjutant, Yuki would have been swamped with task delegation and battlefield management.

"Has there been a new development with the Overseers, Marshal?" Bryn, having struggled to familiarize herself with Yuki and her clones, instantly picked up on who Yuki had been talking out loud to.

Yuki grins at that. "I can just count on you to identify the voices in my head." She jested, earning herself a wry smile from Bryn, before saying with all seriousness. "ETA till the synchronized strike?"

"Twelve minutes and counting, Marshal." Bryn replied. Having known Yuki for a long while, Bryn knows what to ask next. "I dare say that you have learned something that we can use?"

Yuki nods without much fanfare. "That would be the case, I have something that can get Outlaw 2-6 out of there before the bombs drop. Though we're on a tight timeframe with this one. Patch me to Erika, please."

Bryn nods before connecting Yuki to the chief of her personal bodyguards, who have followed her aboard the Parseval. "You're patched through."

Yuki thanks Bryn before speaking to the mic. "Erika, do you read?"

"Five-by-five, Marshal, send it." The voice of Erika could be heard from the other end.

"Gear up. Bring your team and meet me at the armory." Yuki informed them.

"Roger that, Marshal. We'll meet you there." The call then disconnected.

Bryn takes the chance to ask. "You heading out there, Yuki?"

The girl in question nods. "Overseer will take the lead. I'll be staying here to oversee the sync attack." Yuki then looks at Bryn with a light smile. "The I right here won't be going anywhere in case you're wondering. However, it's best if we clear the flight deck of the Parseval till further notice. We will also need a marine detail for security and a medic crew on the deck."

Yuki sighs, nodding. "That I can understand quite well."

"Right. However, I think we should... portalling now?" Sirin asked, earning an affirmative hum from Yuki. "How should we do this, sister Yuki?"

"You just repeat what you have been doing earlier. I will handle the cost for you."

"Ok, sister." Sirin answered. "Well, here goes nothing then."

Like earlier, Sirin starts finding a spatial connection to Outlaw 2-6's position. However this time, Sirin pushes for the complete formation of a two-way portal. A part of Sirin instinctively dreads the feeling of her barely recovered mana being drained, only to find that a soothing hand has been placed on her shoulder. Sirin comes to see that the hand belongs to Yuki. From the Marshal's hand, a stream of mana is injected into Sirin's body, thus paying the transfer cost for the portal Sirin's forming. Soon enough, a purplish vortex appears inside the marines' perimeter before it stabilizes into a screen of static.

Still with a hand on Sirin to pump her with more mana to maintain the portal, Yuki gives the hand signal for her guards to move ahead. Erika acknowledges the order, commanding the guards to form two firing lines in front of the portal. A few seconds later, the static screen fades away, it's slowly being replaced by the view coming from the other end of the portal. It's a scorching wasteland, one with dangers prowling and waiting for them. From the look of it, the portal has been opened inside the garage 2-6 has been hiding in.

Wonderfully done, Sirin.

With Sirin receiving enough mana, judging from the young girl's nod, Yuki then flips open her tablet. "Five mikes!" The Marshal announced their time limit.

Erika nods at the information. "Lock and load people!" The Captain said, prompting all of them to disable the safeties on their weapons. "Lola! You're up first!"

The dwarven lady nods with a wide grin. With one hand holding up her MP9 fitted with 60-round casket magazine, Lola motions for her unit to push up first. "Team 1, on me, let's go slap some senses into those white butts!"

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Albrecht wakes up, startled. Looking around, all that the crew chief can see is ashes, ashes everywhere. The moment he notices that Albrecht starts coughing hoarsely, biles and blood intermixing his spits.

"Fuck..." Albrecht cursed. "You got the number plate on the truck that hit me, Carl?"

Albrecht rolls onto his arms and feet. "Carl?" The man called out to his friend once again, only to receive no reply.

Regaining his bearings once more, Albrecht tries to rouse his friend up. "Carl?"

Fearing the worst, Albrecht looks around, only to see Carl sprawling on the floor, his chest barely rising up and down.

"CARL!"