"Typhi-ssu?!" I exclaimed with a startled tone of bewilderment.

Why was Typhi-ssu attacking us?

"Typhi, what's going on here?" Gilmos angrily questioned.

Typhi's blank expression did not alter as he caught the slicer back with his hand and changed his weapon into his double blades. My senses caught an incoming landing from above and I gazed up finding Trux, Dryp, and Saek soaring down from the buildings altogether with the same apathetic expressions.

"Do you know what's going on with Typhi?" Gilmos questioned once they landed on the ground.

Both Gilmos and I stepped back when all of them pointed their guns at us especially Trux who was aiming his grenade launcher at us.

"This isn't a good joke, stop this at once! We are all in a mission and we can't afford to play tricks on each other!" Gilmos snarled at them.

Saek scoffed at Gilmos' statement. "We're done following you around Gilmos. All you do is for your own glory and now we want our share of credit," Saek coldly spoke in defiance.

"Saek-ssu please, this isn't the time to fight over such shallow things. You wouldn't have any credit at all if planet Aecha becomes succumbed in rot!" I begged.

"Shut up lowlife! You don't know how we feel. We've been slaves under him for too long and we've agreed to do one thing now!" Saek snarled at me.

I have never thought that Trux, Dryp, Typhi and Saek were these kinds of Aecheans. Well Saekhad some potential of doing so but the other three? They have started as humble Paragon trainees and they have stayed as humble citizens despite their fame in the arena tournaments. This wasn't like them at all.

"Aecha, I want you to run and continue our main mission," Gilmos spoke. "You remember our secret code right? I will find you after I deal with them..." He added firmly.

"Will you be okay Gilmos-ssu?" I asked him with concern. They were four powerful and skillful Paragons against one powerful and skillful Paragon. I did not want to leave Gilmos alone in this fight but our main mission was a priority.

Gilmos looked back and grinned. "I will be alright. I have taught them everything I know about winning and this time...I'll teach them everything I know about an agonizing defeat..."

"Heh, you think we'll let your little pet leave here alive?" Trux asked. Gilmos shrugged.

"I could ask the same thing about your status...Traitors..." Gilmos hissed.

A red circular light expanded from Gilmos' position which then formed intricate lines and symbols. "Move Aecha!" Gilmos ordered and I took that command as a cue to sprint away from the future site of a large explosion.

I need to find the major cronie but where do I even start?

I abruptly stopped at an intersection having my feet scratch the ground before twisting to the other way and continuing to sprint. I had my eyes zoom in when I could perceive something ahead of me rampaging towards my direction. There were a group of rhinos heading my way. They didn't seem to be infected but I would be trampled down if I meet them halfway in their condition of panic.

I gazed up to one building and saw several broken windows in which exterior sill I can hold on. I leaped up and grabbed onto the sill grimacing when I felt shattered glass puncturing through the palm of my hand. I waited for all of the rhinos to pass through this street before letting go of the handle. My palm automatically pushed out the shatters of glass so that it can begin the healing process.

While I watched my hand heal itself, I began to formulate a plan in my head. I need to start somewhere and I need to start now if I wanted to finish early. Where could the major cronie reside in this abandoned city?

My train of thoughts stopped when I felt the ground slightly tremble. Were the rhinos coming back? I looked to where the rhinos headed but I didn't see any of them. I snapped my head to the other side and discovered a troop of warrior lobsters charging ahead.

The lobsters came from the artificial ocean. Maybe that was where the major cronie was. Warrior lobsters wouldn't usually venture into this part of the city.

I repositioned myself back onto hanging on a window sill and letting the warrior lobsters pass before I headed for the artificial ocean. There I have noticed that the water had lost its pinkish color and gained an inky hue with a stench of death.

I gazed at the stagnant ocean trying to catch anything that was even more unusual. I opened my scanner to determine any movement under the deep waters and when I saw a blue figure signifying a humungous figure underneath the ocean, I was determined to catch its attention not because I did not leave my stupidity in the dormitory but because my stupidity shall never leave me.

"I apologize Ki, " I murmured.

I brought out this electric bomb that Imosthy had given me from my storage crate and flicked the little switch in the control panel of the bomb. My eyes calculated the distance of the seen figure and the amount of power that I should exert in my arm before finally tossing the bomb into the ocean. The bomb showed its effectiveness with the visible electrical currents running along the surface of the ocean and the agitation of my target. After a short while, my target started to move slowly and extended its full length as it swam above to the surface. My eyes caught the surface of its darkened shell.

I brought out my laser beam and aimed on hitting its shell to further catch its attention. The lobster swam towards where I shoot and I halted my attacks when it finally got to the shore.

It was an infected warrior lobster with a height of sixteen feet. Its cloudy eyes moved as it snapped its pincers at its sides. Its rounded-toothed mouth opened and closed and I observed for its behavior.

There was one thing I have noticed from this potential major cronie and I was questioning it.

Why was it still here instead of venturing into its dimension and why was it staying stagnant in one place when it would usually move around infecting the non-infected?

The warrior lobster stayed in its place showing no apprehension and my suspicion rose. Its behavior was really different from the regular major cronie. I would take advantage of its behavior and put my arm in its mouth to purify it but then...Ki asked me to bring all my common sense which was preventing me to do so.

A call notification was shown in my system from an unrecognized code and I picked it up while putting my guard up against the quiet lobster. 

Maybe it was a friendly lobster despite its rotting characteristics.

 I slapped myself when Ki's voice resonated in my system.

No, I must push aside the stupidity that I was born with.

"Yes?" I answered.

"This call is brought to you by Jolt: Have an amazing and energized morning Aechean!" A rather female-like voice which may be computer-generated spoke. Why do I get advertisements in such a dire situation?"Hey, is this Aecha Ecgtheow?" a man's voice questioned.

I blinked at his rather strange question and the rather awkward situation I was in. "Yes, who are you if you don't mind me asking?" I asked.

"Oh sweet, I got the right code! Ehem, this is your friendly neighborhood assassin giving you a life advice to never put in any body part yet in any hole as of now-"

"Come back here!" someone who was must be with assassin-ssu angrily cried out before an explosion occurred in the other line.

"Ah, assassin-ssu, are you alright?" I asked.

Some panting was heard in the other line before my assassin spoke again. "Hahaha sucker! I'm alive you're not boohoo~"

"Um..."

"Oh yeah, I'm still talking to you. Sorry, I just betrayed the organization I was working in and now they're hunting me down. No biggie though."

I believe it was a rather big situation that needed big resolutions. 

"Ah yes, please be careful," I told him. "And assassin-ssu, I'm not sure I can accept a life advice from a person who wants me dead," I explained apologetically.

The assassin scoffed and snorted. "Hey despite my job I can still give life advices you know?"

"But you have attempted to kill me thrice," I pointed out as politely as I can.

"Huh?" My assassin questioned. "My first time was when your buddy had some mumbo-jumbo dream. The first two must be another assassin. I'm telling you, you're really adored kid."

My ticker fell in its place when I discovered that I had two assassins which meant that I had made two enemies without knowing it. How can I do something so shameful without noticing? I must have hurt their feelings in some way.

"Just do me a favor and stay alive will you? I'm heading over there," he told me before ending the call.

What a strange assassin...He must be nice.

I gave my cheek another slap to remind me of Ki's words of wisdom. I must not fail him.

I looked around the seashore and left the well-behaved cronie as I looked for more clues for the real major cronie. The major cronie should be moving around and it should be hostile and that goes the same for the well-behaved cronie but it wasn't as what I expected it to be.

As I walked through the seashore and closer to where Team Ske got out from the factory of the annihilators, I found a mutilated pincer with the sand under it soaked in some slimy bacterial growth. I gazed at the circular tunnel leading to the underground factory and headed inside.

I have no idea of what was in stored for me in this facility but there were no fond memories inside of here at all especially when I have almost lost two of my arms here. I flashed some light coming from my eyes over the floor I was walking on and followed the trail of slimy substance which led me to the storage area where I fought the two annihilators.

"Someone had been here..." I murmured. Dryp-ssu and Trux-ssu did come here to investigate this place when we told them about this factory but that was weeks ago and the necron invasion just happened now.

It just happened now...

But what was this pile of chopped-up giant lobster warrior doing here and who would do this? The slimy substance that I have been following came from this pile. It would seem like it was already chopped off before it was brought here seeing that one of its pincers was in the shore.

I investigated the rotting pile of lobster by dismounting the pieces of its body from one another. Just with the first piece of body part out of the way I can already perceive something which was definitely not a part of a warrior lobster. I continued to remove the pieces of lobster parts not minding the slime which was getting on my hands until I finally took out a cylindrical missile-launcher which was similar to the dream that Won had.

This...

In Won's dream, this missile-launcher was releasing the dimension of a part of Necron. If this was the case then...someone was just recently in here. I looked around the storage area and found the security camera. It should still be functioning right?

I placed the missile-launcher down and ran towards the corner where the security camera was. I pushed a metallic box and then used it as a leverage to be able to reach it. I placed my hand over the camera and hacked through the system to determine what this camera filmed.

No way...

I saw Saek and Dryp enter the storage area while Saek was carrying the missile-launcher. The lobster was already here before their arrival. Saek placed the launcher down and activated it and there the dimension of Necron was released.

A realization hit me while watching this footage.

This was all planned.

Seven had told Gilmos and I that the next invasion would be in Zhekson and Saek opposed to that idea because he believed that the next invasion would be in Iomarbus.

But then...Saek together with the other three released this dimension of Necron using that device and for what reason? I tried to find more clues in the much older clips but it would seem that someone had deleted them already preventing me from discovering more. Why would Saek even suggest that Iomarbus will be invaded? 

I contacted Stugox who was in Iomarbus and it took me three tries for him to finally pick up.

"Aecha, what's the news over there?" he asked me.

I was trembling with anxiety, excitement and paranoia that I kept pacing around on the box I was standing on. "Stugox I'm at the annihilator factory. Gilmos and I got separated because Dryp, Trux, Saek and Typhi had attacked us."

I heard Stugox take a deep strangled breath on the other line. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" he asked in slight panic in his tone. Knowing how emotionless Stugox can be, his tone was already in the maximum panic at this state.

"Yes I am fine. I am trying to find clues about the major cronie but I have a feeling that..." I looked over the pile of lobster and bit my lip in disappointment. "That it is already dead." The major cronie could have been killed by Saek and the others. 

"We'll head over there now Aecha so please be careful," Stugox told me.

"Did anything happen in Iomarbus?" I asked him.

"The only significant thing that's happening is that the Necronies are turning against one another. Apparently one of them is a traitor and bombed the rally that the Necronies were partaking in."

That must be assassin-ssu!

"Alright then, please be careful. I shall keep my eye out for anything unusual and I will update you," I assured him.

"Roger that," he replied.

I jumped down from the box and exited the factory through the metallic tunnel leading to the artificial ocean. Once I dropped down from the tunnel, I turned my head and zoomed into the area where I left the well-behaved lobster and noted that it was already gone.

This shall not end well...

I heard some scraping of metal from behind me and my ticker sped up from anticipation. The cadmium blade that assassin-ssu gave me materialized in my hand and I abruptly turned around making a discovery that half of the lobster's body from before was now dangling over the entrance of the tunnel.

My body tensed up just as when the warrior lobster smote me with its pincer and I was sent to the shallow part of the ocean by the strength of its blow.

Hardware Damage is 11%...My system notified me.

I quickly stood up from the shallow and contaminated water and noted the foul stench that was now fully covering my whole body. The lobster jumped down from the roof of the tunnel and then charged over to me with prepared pincers. Seeing that it had two pincers, I changed my unused blade into twin sabers and activated my bangles. Liquid metal began to cover my whole body until they hardened and became a sturdy armor and I met the first pincer that descended down towards me with my blade.

My eyes widened in disbelief when the other pincer of the lobster initiated a transformation which became a potent gun. The mouth of the lobster abruptly released a huge bullet which pushed me to a much deeper part of the ocean.

This lobster was a drone. It was planning to kill me this whole time and must have been pretending to be major cronie in order to trick me into putting an arm inside of its mouth to gain the upper hand...or pincer.

It was too dark in here and the water was too polluted to see anything. I attempted to swim above only for my ankle to be grabbed and for my body to get hauled down. I used my scanner and looked down finding the giant lobster already underneath the water with me. I shifted one of my swords into a rifle and shot the lobster with as many bullets as I can. The lobster did not release me but rather, it grabbed my other ankle and tossed me above the water surface.

I twirled my body midair and then brought out the cadmium blade. The lobster resurfaced its hard shell and I dropped down with the tip of my blade pointing downwards.

The blade pierced through the shell and I earned a metallic shrill from it. My opponent whipped around bringing me under the water once more and I pulled my blade with much difficulty from its shell.

The lobster turned around again and quickly extended its arm to pinch my neck with its huge claw. I hardened the exterior of my neck in case its claw was able to penetrate through my armor and thought of some way to escape this bind.

Lobby-ssu was not friendly. It was definitely not friendly.

I felt the pincer of the lobster clamp my neck even harder and my fear rose. I shifted my weapons into my twin handguns and I aimed for the lobster and shot it until I recognized that my attacks were ineffective against it. I switched into my laser beams and started shooting it but the lobster only clamped onto me tightly. Its other pincher grabbed my leg and I was dragged without a fight closer to its body. I felt my leg get placed inside its mouth and the lobster began to chomp around my protected limb.

The oxygen in my armor was already close to empty and I would have to use the spare oxygen in my body after that which was not much. 

The armor around my neck was now making a sound of breaking and I have no idea of what to use against this drone.

I need to survive this...but how?

The pincher of the lobster succeeded in breaking the armor around my neck and it was now clamping around my hardened scrag. Its pincer slightly withdrew before making a hard and forceful snip causing me to cough out.

Warning! Warning!

My neck can only endure two more of these snips and if I do not find a way to remove myself from this predicament, I shall perish with my body beheaded.

I shut my eyes tightly when I felt another snip around my neck and I yelped when I felt its teeth penetrate through my leg.

I didn't want to die...I didn't want to die... I had so much things to do. I had so many people to save. I wanted to meet more people.

I needed to live. 

I wanted to live!

This shall not be the end of me! 

I felt my body get overwhelmed by a wash of hot temperature and just as I opened my eyes I saw a pair of blue eyes reopen with me.

Configuration of Scion Mode...

"You wish to live?" I heard a familiar monotone voice ask me.

Launching birth weapons...

"I will help you live."

The water around us started to swirl in raging turbulence and the ocean began to get purified. It became clearer, it became cleaner and it began to get natural instead of returning back into its artificial form. My eyes widened when I saw ocean canis lupuses (wolves) swim aggressively towards the lobster. One of the lupuses chomped onto the arm which was connected to the claw clutching my neck and more lupuses followed and bit into various parts of my opponent. I found my arms transforming into a familiar weapon which I have found myself using for the second time around. They became needle-like in figure and I brought its tips close to each other and bright light swirled at its edges which grew bigger, brighter and stronger.

Commencing Annihilation...

"Because you seem to be worthy of living..." the man added one last time. 

====================================================

A/N: Aecha is special and is also considered as a child of Ictus because of the powerful weapon he was born with.