Swarms of monsters were threatening to overwhelm the soldier line. Millions of soldiers kept their stand, trying their best to defeat the monsters that threatened everything they held dear. Each fighter was trying so hard to win, not just for themselves but for their kids, parents, friends, siblings. They were all fighting for their hopes and dreams. They were all fighting for the hope that one day, the war would be over and they could see the dawn of a new day. One man was being pushed so hard that he had fallen over and was lying on the ground, waiting for his fate to come. The Chomper loomed over him, getting closer with every second. Suddenly, a stranger flew out with a flaming scythe and slammed the blade straight into the Chomper's skull. 

The stranger was Attie but she looked different than what she usually looked like. Instead of regular armor, she was wearing silver Canelux winged armor.  The wings attached to the armor were cosmic instead of white. On her hands were a pair of silver gauntlets that had little etchings in blue, pink, and orange. Her feet had boots that started with a bright red and faded to orange at the top. The most striking thing about her outfit was the mask. Her mask went from her forehead to her chin, covering her entire face. The colors of the mask were the colors of the dawn. Attie had gotten the Canelux armor and force gauntlets from a fashion designer who demanded that in exchange for the items, Attie had to wear the outfit the lady had made. So Attie did. 

The flaming scythe was just something she found while exploring an ice temple a while back. Attie hadn't used it until now due to the fact that she was tired of running out of mana. She needed to rely on more than just her magic, as her mana had been holding her back during battles. Attie had learned this during her last battle with Trafalgor. She could not let her mistakes repeat again. But there were times when her magic was needed. Attie held out her right hand which started glowing red. 

"Explosion." She whispered. 

Suddenly there was a massive explosion among the Eldritch beasts, sending their flesh flying through the air. This gave the soldier line a chance to move a bit and regain some of their strength. Attie took her burning scythe and flew towards the beasts, hitting them with her blade and watching as they burst into flames and burned to the ground. There were so many monsters, Attie knew that she couldn't take them all on. But that was why the rest of the army was there. Attie slammed her scythe into one of the Chomper's skull before moving onto the next monsters. There was so much fire that some of the Eldritch beasts' corpse were burning, resulting in the fire spreading to the alive monsters. Attie spotted a rhino in the ground and knew that it had to be taken out before it reached the line of soldiers. On her own, she wouldn't be able to take it out that well. But if she had somebody to help her….

The Void, it was time to strike at the heart of this mess and try and stop it here and now. Sharifa had been ordered from escorting of the wounded to full on offensive mode to help in the Void. At the moment she wasn’t that far from Attie, not that either knew the other was there at the moment, fighting as hard as she could along side the soldiers. Some of them had given the Wasp woman a few side glances when she had first arrived, perhaps some left over animosity from the invasion. But that cooled down once Shar started to fight along side them, and that some of them recognized her from fighting in other locations.

Sharifa’s chitinous armour was battered and cracked in places, she’d need a full new set after this was done, if not before. She was down to one tonfa hanging off of her hip, the other broken and cast aside. She still had one full stinger rapier, the other’s blade broken but she had that still since it would repair itself in time. Shar was out of throwing stars to, and only had two daggers left of the four she normally carried. Her bow was on her back to, but her quiver was empty of arrows unfortunately. So, at the moment, the Wasp held one stinger rapier, two sapphire swords and her small sun’s kiss shield.

Shar could see the fires that Attie was creating from where she was, and spotted the rhino at about the same time. Knowing the threat those things possessed Sharifa buzzed into the air and flew over. Her wings buzzing furiously Sharifa raised her top right hand pointed the sword she was holding in it at the rhino. A bolt of lightning cracked out from her hand and struck the beast before it arched off of the rhino and to some of the surrounding twisted. The thunder clap that followed was deafening but in that moment Shar spotted Attie, though she didn’t recognize the young woman because of what she was wearing and the scythe she was holding. ”Strike it now, while it’s stunned!” Sharifa called and dropped from the air to help attack the momentarily stunned rhino.

Suddenly, a familiar face caught Attie's attention. It was Sharifa, her old teacher! It had been so long since they had seen each other. Attie had learned so much since they had last seen each other. A bolt of lightning struck the rhino right on its back, stunning it. Attie didn't take any time before she struck the rhino with her burning scyth directly in the monster's skull. She could smell its flesh burning as she pushed the blade further in. The blade melted through it skin and crushed through the skull, destroying its brain. If it wasn't for Sharifa, she would have never had enough time to destroy the creature. The Rhino fell to its feet, its mind completely melted. Attie flew towards Sharifa with her cosmic wings and stopped in front of the wasp woman. 

"Thanks teach." Attie said lifting the mask, "Did you recognize me?"

Attie didn't expect her old teacher to recognize her as her fighting had changed a lot since they last met. A stalker was flying up behind the wasp woman, Attie quickly flew towards it and sliced it in half with her scythe. Its flaming corpse fell to the ground. Attie looked to the monsters and spotted a Banshee in the distance. The ghostly beast was powering the other monsters. 

"See the Banshee?" She asked Sharifa, " It's powering and healing the monsters near it. I'll keep the monsters off your back and you can take the ghost out."

She looked to the wasp lady to see if she wanted to do the plan. If they could take out the banshee, it could help give a boost to their side. 

Shar watched as the hidden fighter with the scythe carved open the rhino’s skull with her flaming weapon. It was dead and Sharifa wasn’t even needed to help it was over that quickly once it was stunned. But that same scythe wielding figure soon came within view of the Wasp on wings of her own and the voice and words spoke made Shar’s head snap around to look at Attie. There was a two second pause as Sharifa studied the slightly older face than she had known before and a smile came to the Wasp’s face. ”It’s good to see you again, Attie. Well done, by the way and nice weapon, rather unexpected to.” Shar grinned. ”You’ll have to tell me how you came to be using it another time I’m rather curious, scythes aren’t weapons normally seen Onnen.”

As she ended Attie flew past her and cut down a stalker that had been creeping up and Shar grinned, proud of Attie for learning so much so fast. Attie pointed out the Banshee within the horde and Shar nodded. ”Sounds like a plan to me.” With a buzz Shar took into the air again and made sure to keep an eye on the Banshee. Wishing she had an arrow in her quiver but alas, it was not meant to be.

Zipping around Sharifa created a ball of lightning in one hand and nose dived towards the Banshee. Shar was close when it turned to look at her and she hurled the ball of lightning just as the beast was about to scream. The lightning shocked it long enough for Sharifa to swoop it, cut it down with two quick sword swings and get out of there. Just as Shar was getting into the air again she wobbled a moment as something from below just managed to scratch her leg on her way out.

She moved back to Attie again and dropped to the ground, but she was favouring her left leg as blood oozed from a new gash from some claws. Shar was about to say something when not too far from them the ground exploded out from under some of their allies as a Centipede burst from below. It broke a gap in the lines before diving back under the ground again taking some warriors with it. ”That thing is trying to create a hole for more twisted to come through within our tanks.” Sharifa informed in case Attie hadn’t encountered one of them before. ”Be on your guard for twisted to come out of that hole!” Sharifa called out to the troops around her to inform them.

Attie felt inner joy as her old teacher praised both her weapon and her fighting abilities. She looked up to Sharifa as she was both a great fighter and a strong person worthy of respect. But there was no time to waste on pleasantries as there was a war going on. Following Sharifa, she flew towards the Banshee and prepared herself to protect her teach from as many monsters as possible. Two chompers were reaching up, trying to catch the wasp lady with their jaws and claws. Attie's wings folded in as she dived straight for the pair and she sliced the first in half with her scythe before plunging the fiery blade into the other beast.

She spread out her wings to catch herself and pushed herself upwards, towards a group of stalkers who were flying straight towards her old teacher. Holding up her hand, she used her force gauntlet to push one of the stalkers into the group, knocking them over. Taking her scythe, she sliced across each Stalker, causing them all to burst into flames as they fell to the ground. Turning around she noticed that the Banshee had been defeated but Sharifa had been injured.

She flew towards Sharifa and dropped to the ground to meet her. Guilt ran through Attie's mind as she realized that Sharifa's leg had been injured. Before Attie could apologize, a centipede burst out from the ground then it dove back into the ground, taking a few soldiers with it.  Attie reached into her pocket and pulled out a small bottle with a pink liquid inside of it. The bottle was small and there was only enough for one person so Attie handed it to Sharifa. 

"This should clear up that injury of yours." Attie explained, "As for the hole…I have an idea." 

Her wings spread, preparing for take off and she soared off into the sky without further explanation. Attie's eyes locked onto the hole as she took off the gauntlet from her left hand and held her towards the hole. A bright red light began glowing from her palm while at the same time, a bright orb of light was growing at the entrance of the hole. 

"EXPLOSION!" Attie shouted

Suddenly the orb erupted into an explosion and monster flesh was sent flying. The force of the explosion pushed Attie back a few feet. Fire and rocks began to fall into the hole as the entrance was half destroyed. Attie frowned at the sight, as she intended to block the entire hole. But as great of an explosion as she had created, it could not seal up the hole entirely. She flew back towards Sharifa. 

"The hole was too big for me to seal up. I managed to get half of it but monsters will still be able to come through." Attie said a little more tired than before. 

This was why she was using all of this additional items. Her magic still drained her too much and caused most of her mana to be gone quickly. Relying on magic was like relying on pure strength to win a fight. It didn't work. 

Shar smiled at the offered bottle from Attie but gently pushed it back into her hands again. ”It’s not as bad as it looks, just stings at the moment, it’ll pass. Besides, I can fly, please save it for yourself or someone who needs it more desperately then I do.” Shar replied just as the new threat in the form of the centipede appeared from the ground and dragged some fighters down with it.

When Attie took to the air Sharifa stared at her for a moment, confused as to how Attie had grown wings since they last met. After that moment’s confusion Shar took into the air as well, following the young human and watching as she created the explosion near the entrance to the hole created by the centipede. The explosion, however, didn’t cave the full hole in, as Attie explained once she came closer to Shar again.

The Wasp, wings buzzing, did some mental math before moving towards the hole. ”I can’t fill it in, but I can try and block it for a time.” Flying over top of the hole Sharifa hovered and threw out her hands again as a magical spider’s web formed in the air and dropped over the hole. It was fifteen feet around as it covered the hole and Sharifa created another and then another, overlapping them and changing their orientation as best to cover the hole.

Already the web was being pushed on by whatever was trying to come up out of the hole. Sharifa, now also looking more tired from the spending of her magic, called out to the troops. ”Get the sappers up here and get that hole filled it! We’ll take care of that ugly beast!” Shar ordered and then turned back to Attie again. ”Well, let’s take care of that thing, shall we?”

A look of surprise appeared on Attie's face as she did not know that her old teacher had that kind of magical ability. She knew that her teacher had some magic but she had never seen that particular one before. Perhaps Attie was not the only one to have learned since the last time they both met. Suddenly, Sharifa called out to the troops then turned to Attie to explain the plan. It was fairly simple, they needed to take care of the giant centipede thing. Her mind raced as she tried to think of the best way to take care of the beast. She had heard from a few fellow soldiers that the neck was the weakest part. But she didn't know how to keep it there. Suddenly a thought hit her like a truck. It was dangerous but it just might work. 

"I have an idea." Attie said, "I can paralyze it with a spell and you can go for its neck. That way we won't be wasting time trying to get it above ground. But I'll be relying on you teach to take it out while I keep it still." 

She believed that Sharifa was able to handle it. This was a lady who could accomplish anything and was much better at battle than anybody else there. Attie was more concerned about her own abilities. It was a new spell that she hadn't been able to master fully. But it was the only spell she had available that would do such a thing. Her cosmic wings spread out and she began to soar to an area where the ground was breaking. The centipede broke through the earth and was about to drag a few soldiers down but Attie held out her hand caste the spell before it could.

Attie forced the magic through her fingertips and imagined the centipede becoming paralyzed. She muttered the ancient words taught to her and could feel the pain spreading throughout her hand. The centipede was unable to move nor do anything. It fell to the ground, its entire body stiff. Attie's hands were glowing with a bright light and there was an aura of light surrounding the centipede's body. The scent of burning flesh reached Attie's nose as she realized what was happening to her hands but she gritted her teeth and kept the spell up. There were consequences to performing a spell that one wasn't ready for. Pain spread past her wrists and began to slowly creep up her arms but Attie refused to let go until Sharifa was done slaying it. 

If Sharifa killed the beast, she would drop the spell and quickly clean her eyes of any tears with her shaking hands. This was a battlefield. Having some form of pain was expected when one fought. But crying would only lower everybody else's moral so Attie would not let them see her pain. She would also hide her hands behind her back slightly since her hands were shaking. The gauntlets would hide the bright red and black that she had earned from the spell but the shaking would be giveaway. Attie tried to ignore the burning pains and instead forced herself to smile. 

"S-so what's next teach?" She asked as calmly as she could. 

Shar nodded at Attie’s words, she had an idea and it would be Shar’s job to finish the thing off when there was an opening. When Attie took into the air so did Shar right behind her, wings buzzing as she took a moment to inspect Attie’s wings, they were pretty and Shar had questions. But that was for later, for now it was about killing that centipede before it caused more damage.

The beast broke through the earth again and Attie did… something to paralyze it, some kind of spell that the wasp wasn’t familiar with. But it did the job and Sharifa dove down and landed on the back of the centipede getting her feet settled and using her wings to maintain balance. She had put her shield back at her hip again attached to her armour and in that now empty hand her stinger snapped out from her wrist. Her other hands still had her three swords and all four weapons she started to tear into the weak spot of the centipede slashing with all the blades carving away chunks of flesh. Finally it seemed she hit something vital like the spine and cut it apart to and the whole beast went still after one last attempt at a spasm.

When it was dead Sharifa stabbed it a few times for good measure before buzzing away from it to get back to Attie again. Landing close by Shar wasn’t blind to the condition that Attie had put herself in by doing the spell to hold that beast down. Shar sheathed the weapons in her top hands and used them to gently take Attie’s hands in her own. ”Next you need to get some rest.” Shar said gently with a small smile. ”Come, let’s get you to the backline and get the healers to take care of you and get you some water.” Shar wasn’t taking no for answer, but she wasn’t Attie’s mom either so if Attie resisted the idea enough Shar wouldn’t force the issue, much.

Attie realized that her charade didn't work pretty quickly. This surprised her as she was so used to holding up a fake face of happiness. Why didn't it work this time? By this point Attie had thought she had mastered the look of happiness. Perhaps it was because this time, the pain was physical instead of mental? She let Sharifa hold her burnt hands and inspect them. Everything within Attie screamed at her to continue fighting. There were so many people out there who needed help. They were important and losing them would be worse than a few injuries. And what about her teacher? What if something happened to Sharifa? Images of people dying without her flooded through Attie's mind but she managed to shove them all way. Despite everything, Attie knew that she wouldn't be much help if she was unable to use her hands. A sigh escaped her lips as she nodded to Sharifa in agreement. 

"Wait!" She suddenly said, "If I go to the healers and stay in the backline then you have to promise me you won't take any chances. I expect you to return safe and sound…Alright?!" 

She knew that if it came down to it, her honorable teacher would probably risk her life to save others. But Attie didn't want Sharifa to unnecessarily put herself in the way of danger for little reason. And…well having a dead mentor was not something that Attie was interested. Although she hadn't known Sharifa for an incredibly long time, Attie was still wanting the wasp lady to stick around. Attie stubbornly waited for Sharifa's reply before she even made a move towards the backline.