Bodies littered the ground, blood spewed everywhere. Followed by the sounds of metal hitting metal, Ashten's sword slashed at the Floating Spider's mandibles, curving his blade as he scraped its head, cutting its eyes, his next hit delivering the killing blow.

He kicked its wriggling body and jumped atop the head of the River Whale, hacking at it with the sword. After three hits, the sword bent in an awkward shape, turning brittle under the influence of all the grime and Essence of Frenzy it had soaked upon.

Ashten threw the hilt and picked up the mandible of a nearby Floating Spider, using it to form a long gash on the River Whale, causing its blood to spew out in large volumes. He retreated from the spray and proceeded to attack the other River Whale, alternating between the two until he finished off the two of them.

Thanks to the corrosive property eating away at their flesh from within, Ashten's job was easier. A second after he had killed the two River Whales did their Frenzy Parasites drill out from within.

But, unlike the other Frenzy Parasites, they wriggled around, as if gasping for air before suffocating, quickly dying. Despite his mind clouded by rage, Ashten hadn't lost his reasoning. The moment all the enemies had been killed, his mind cooled down to controllable limits.

He frowned, looking at the behaviour of the Frenzy Parasites, 'Strange, now, and the Frenzy Parasites from before quickly died. Even though they would die soon after leaving the bodies of their hosts, it wouldn't be this fast.'

He looked at Jyorta, 'It is clear that Jyorta is the cause. Thankfully, it helped us greatly this time. Otherwise, we would have spent even more time fighting against their Frenzy Parasites. As expected, the heir of an Aristocratic Family has plenty of methods at their disposal, like Jyorta, and like Dalna Doppler.'

He walked towards Jyorta, extending his hand, "Can you get up?"

"Thanks," Jyorta shook his head, barely retaining enough clarity to make things out. He then felt something sticky, noticing Ashten's hands fully covered by grime, retracting his hands in reflex, "That's dangerous."

He unleashed his psychic arms, cleaning the grime and other substance over them quickly, taking less than 10 seconds, "It is thanks to a contraption I learned from the Tier 3 Artifact, Wave Formation."

"Espers sure have plentiful helpful methods," Ashten clenched his hand, wincing in pain, "I probably fractured some…many things."

"We can't relax yet," Jyorta frowned, pointing above. Ashten followed his gaze, cursing in reflex, "Dammit. Just how many of these bastards escaped from the academy?"

Flying a fair distance away from them were River Whales, numbering around 20. There existed 4 Tier 2 beings in them, with one of them being an Esper. The duo also heard the buzzing of the Spindle Bees originating from somewhere else.

"Let's go," Jyorta urged, taking a step forward before he lost balance, his body not cooperating with his decisions. He calmed himself, taking a couple of seconds to gather his bearings before beginning to run. He used his weaker psychic arm to stop the bleeding in his thigh while coiling his stronger psychic arm around the Spindle Bee hovering beside him.

Of the two Spindle bees he controlled, one took a spindle for him, dying in the process. The remaining one, though tired was still useful. To conserve and use the remaining aura he had, Jyorta coiled his psychic arm around the Spindle Bee's head, transmitting his aura personification through it.

This conserved and minimised the expenditure of his aura, allowing him to maintain it for longer durations. After a moment of calculating, Jyorta sprinted alongside Ashten, "I can manipulate it for 15 minutes at most. I won't be able to support you in any other way, so we'll have to rely on you to fight."

"I can still hold on," Ashten gritted his teeth, his forehead filled with sweat, his eyes expressing his hatred as he looked at the actions of the River Whales. "I'll kill all those bastards."

Suddenly, the surroundings brightened to the extent they had to close their eyes and shield them with their hands. "What's happening?"

"No idea, but this is definitely not from our enemy."

The blinding light continued for almost a minute before dying down. The ground tremored many times under its wake, their balance collapsed as a result. The duo fell down, wincing in pain as the wounds they had sustained ached, transmitting piercing pain through their receptors.

"We have to hurry," Jyorta and Ashten shouted simultaneously as they stood up and began sprinting towards the River Whales, their faces distorting from the pain, beyond what they had expected.

"Thank you," Followed by a whisper that echoed in their ears, the air cracked as a Ground Controller flew past them, heading towards the River Whales. His psychic arms flashed once before the 20 River Whales dropped down like flies, instantly dying.

Vapour cones were created all over the sky as numerous Espers flashed to and fro, swiftly annihilating all the Frenzy Beasts, taking charge of the situation. Some of them protected the buildings from the vapour cones, some unleashed their domains to sense the situation, while the rest hurried towards the rescue of their children.

"Aaaaarrrghhhh! Kill! I'll kill you all!" A rage-filled shout, suffused with blinding killing intent radiated from the building they had first entered. The shout was followed by many other shouts, the screams of hatred and sorrow of the parents that had lost their children.

The duo bowed their heads in shame, clenching their fists as sorrow washed over them, hearing the despair-induced shouts that echoed from many directions. "If only we were stronger."

"I feel helpless. If I had Regen, I could have healed our injuries. We would have been able to move faster then."

"Good job," A voice resounded in their ears before the two were lifted, soon hovering in the air beside Madam Mary. From the high vantage point, they saw smoke billowing out from many buildings, with most of them painted with a desolate feel. Jyorta was unable to spot the Two-Faced Firefly and the Spindle Bee he had controlled, his mind soon occupied with the scene before him.

Another psychic arm brought Haesha and Esina to Madam Mary as she began to fly towards the military academy, "None of us had much hope, having left behind numerous dangers when pressed for time. You Cadets did well, a lot better than we had expected…"

She turned silent for a second, "But not as everyone had hoped. The lives of children were lost, but we can't blame you. When thrust into such a situation without any knowledge of it, your actions were deserving of praise. Because of you, thousands of children survived."

"Ma'am, what was the reason everyone disappeared?" Haesha's eyes were red, puffed after crying a lot, her expression ashen after seeing the state of things, witnessing the damage the Frenzy Beasts had caused in such a short duration.

"Central Command will announce everything anyway, so I suppose I'll tell you in advance." Madam Mary sighed, relieved that she had survived to talk about it, glancing at Jyorta, "Rhachis Ancestor Parasite attacked. While the Ancestors fought against it, we had to defend Marble City from the stray attacks. If we had let up for even an instant, we would have lost a few Rings at the very least, if not the entire Marble City."

Haesha shuddered, trembling in fear. Jyorta patted her shoulder, his gaze solemn, his eyes bloodshot as he looked at the corpses of the Frenzy Beasts below. Ashten was silent, a thin stream of tears trailing out from his eyes while Esina stared at everything with a vacant gaze.

"He…" Esina spoke, "He withstood pain as his limbs were tied up while a Floating Spider gnawed at his fingers…slowly, proceeding to the rest of his body. Even though we killed the Floating Spiders, we couldn't heal his injuries. Until his final moments, he…never shouted, even while breathing his last. He was only 13 years old. Only after did we notice his younger brother hiding behind the cupboard he leaned on and was tied to. To protect his younger brother, he gave up his life, in hopes the smell of his blood would mask his brother's presence."

"…He was incredibly talented, to figure out the means the Floating Spiders used to track in the short moment he witnessed their actions. If he lived, I'm sure he would have become an amazing individual. If only…"

"I…" Tears streamed out her eyes as Esina lost control of her emotions, bawling without restraint. Spurred by her cries, the remaining three also shed tears. Madam Mary sighed and increased her speed of flight, pulling up all the students scattered across on her way.

The military academy was full of the stench of blood, with a large pile of Frenzy Beast carcasses stacked near the White Building. The lights had returned, highlighting the exhausted faces of the students that sat huddled in groups on the ground, only a short distance from the Frenzy Beasts they had slain.

They didn't even have the time to take care of their injuries, exhausted both physically and mentally to even lift a finger. Most looked at the sky with a blank stare, unsure of what was even going on anymore.

Madam Rizenne and some Ground Controllers set up a temporary tent to heal the injured while the remaining staff began to take care of the mess. Though, they only performed the work half-heartedly, their senses pried beyond the academy.

"They are safe," A staff sighed, shedding tears in gratitude. As they obtained the news, one by one, the staff expressed their relief. Though, some of them weren't fortunate, their expressions desolate. Madam Mary consoled them, telling them to take some rest in the academy's nursery.

She sure couldn't send them home, that was where the sea of carnage directed at their children lay bare. Some of the staff refused to listen, flying towards their homes, disregarding even her command.

Madam Mary sighed, not having the energy to stop them for the time being. She had to heal the students first and then worry about the rest.

Madam Mary displayed the powers of a Sky Controller, unleashing a pulse of psychic energy that inspected the conditions of everyone, emitting a flux after activating her Unranked Skill, swiftly healing everyone that only sported mild injuries.

She then healed the grievously wounded using her psychic arms, performing surgery in the temporary tent when needed. When it was Jyorta's turn, she looked at his expression, transmitting her voice through her psychic arm, "Do you still wish to obtain Regen?"

Jyorta's eyes widened, seething with rage, the nerves on his face popping as he nodded with difficulty, expressing his stance on the matter.

"Yes."

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