The dome-like building Le Morte used as their hideout was bombarded with anti-armor guided missiles from the ground. It launched from behind the white birch trees, sending ripples of shockwave after shockwave to those protected by the large base.

In the hallway leading to the underground cafeteria, Hope Domitius bit his lip as he held onto his assault rifle.

The blonde boy tapped at his mic and listened intently despite the racket.

"With how things are, it's dangerous to approach her," said Ludwig on the other end of the mic. "Ava's Aegis has lost control and she's wandering inside the base by herself."

How could this happen? Hope shook his head after Ludwig repeated the emergency to all members of Le Morte taking shelter inside the base.

"...He said Ava hurt Gawain? No... No, no, no. What have you done? Ah, wait, what am I saying!? Of course she wouldn't hurt him! Her Aegis acted on its own..."

"Hope!"

The blonde boy turned to look behind him when Beatrice pulled him into a tight hug. "Are you okay!? You're not hurt anywhere, are you?"

"Akh!" Hope pushed her, tearing himself away from her sudden embrace. "What are you doing!? I'm not a kid, okay! This is not the time for your nonsense—"

Hope trailed off when he saw Inghild standing next to Beatrice. Both of them wore a crestfallen expression as their eyes met.

Realizing he had raised his voice against Beatrice, Hope quickly apologized and then clarified that Ava's situation had miffed him.

"Don't sweat yourself over it," said Inghild as he stepped closer to Hope, "That aside, Hope, we got orders. Boss asked us to find Ava."

Hope's eyes widened when he heard this. "Then, who'll guard the civilians?"

"Someone else will switch with you, so don't worry about that. First things first, we need to find Ava. We're the first ones to made contact with her at the outpost, right? It made sense for Boss to ask us. Ludwig and Ayesha are out of the question judging from where they are right now."

Hope could not disagree with his statement. If Ava could not control her power, then the more time they took dawdling around, the higher the risk for someone else to get hurt. Hope pinned this at the forefront of his mind and quickly ran through the various routes Ava could take from Ludwig's and Gawain's location.

There were not many, but if they wanted to intercept her quick, splitting up would be the most efficient option.

"Everyone! W-We got a problem!" said Jessica through the trio's mic on their ear, "The Second Squad is fighting a... giant robot of some sort at the front gate. It's a Hybelle! Those who are available right now, please go assist the Second Squad!"

"A robot?" said Beatrice. "Tsk. Those guys are really annoying. I'll go help Vlad's Squad."

Hope and Inghild nodded, of which they then watched the green-haired woman dashed into a corridor to their left with an assault rifle in her hands. The duo looked at each other.

"Let's go find Ava," said Hope solemnly.

In the control room, a rather small tumult broke out among the members inside there. Richarde explained and ordered Jessica and others to relay his command, that those beside Hope and Inghild were to fight the giant eight-legged mechanical robot bombarding the base.

With the absence of the Third Squad and its leader, the means to take down such an enemy would require at least the fighting strength of the First and Second Squad combined.

Taking into account the dozen injured people, their chance was quite slim. Jessica pointed this out to the few who were sitting next to her and they nodded in agreement.

The blonde woman lowered her head and sighed. Not more than three minutes later, Ludwig's voice rang out through her mic and upon hearing his words, the girl's heart sunk.

"We need medics right now! Gawain is in critical condition. I'm not sure how much longer I can stop the bleeding," said Ludwig.

The girls next to Jessica looked at each other before they cast furtive glances at her.

"...What did you say?" said Jessica, her eyes opened wide as her body froze, "Gawain... Gawain was stabbed in the chest?"

Seeing how Jessica did not speak to the medics on standby, the two girls did it instead. However, Jessica raised her voice at them when they did so.

"NO! Don't call for the medics!" said Jessica, her body trembling.

"Huh? B-But..."

They had already called for them regardless, so Jessica was nonplussed for a few moments. No, Ludwig would find out about it anyway, so calling for medics wouldn't change a thing, Jessica thought to herself.

She needed to go over to check on Gawain. The blonde was overwhelmed with this thought and she stood up from her seat. She had to be there for him!

"Jessica?"

Richarde Andersson called for her but there was no response whatsoever. The woman merely stood up with her head lowered, the curly blonde hair she had covered a part of her expression.

The old man put a hand on her shoulder and called for her again. Jessica snapped back to reality and turned to look over her shoulders. Tears welled up in her eyes.

"...Boss," she said, "Gawain... He... They will find out about Gawain's..."

"I know. Ludwig must have noticed by now. He'll keep Gawain's secret to himself so don't worry. I'll ask the medics to be on standby near the entrance so that they can help those fighting the robot outside. Gawain as he is will be fine even if the medics don't tend to him. And, they won't meet Gawain if I send them away, right?"

"...Boss. Thank you."

Richarde nodded and put up a smile. "Gawain is a member of the First Squad, and naturally he's a part of Le Morte as well. Despite our past, Her Majesty accepted those willing to change their ways and that includes him. So, we need to return the favor however we can. Right?"

Jessica bit her lip and made the slightest gesture of a nod. She recalled their mission's main objective and what it meant to have Ava near them. It made sense for Richarde to split their fighting strength to get Ava back.

"That's why we need to complete this mission," said Jessica softly, "by bringing Ava Andersson to Her Majesty. That's our goal from the very beginning. So... we can't let the enemy have her."

"That's right," agreed Richarde. "Ava must be brought to Her Majesty at all cost in accordance with Her Decree."