- Where are you going— Hey!

Kituhn did not listen to Kaide's words and ran out of his Faction. Na approached the Kemono cook and swallowed loudly.

- Are we really being attacked...?" he asked, not feeling very well.

- ... I don't think it was a joke.

So that answered Na's question. He touched his hands and looked down. Salida had told them that the horde would come much later, yet...? So why were they already here? They must not have been ready for such an attack and the way Kin had spoken... He was anything but reassured. He looked at Kaide and she smiled at him.

- Everything will be fine. The Kemonos are not weak!

Her air reassured him, but he couldn't get the stress off his chest. They might have been prepared, but the horde's attack had come so suddenly... How could this happen? Kituhn hadn't said anything and had just left, probably for him to go fight. He didn't know how powerful he was, but Na was sure Kituhn wasn't weak. He could defeat Longers, that was for sure. Sheerah was still not there, so Kituhn was the only one who went to fight, in the Faction... Ronaa and Kaide were still inside while Hushimao was gone to take care of the wounded if needed. Na could do nothing but wait, hoping that they would win quickly.

He knew that the Kemonos were not weak, he would never say otherwise. However, he had seen the strength of a Longer... True, it had been a level 6, but Bibi had almost lost to it. There were more of Kemonos in the Federation, but there were also more Longers... What if there were too many? What if the Kemonos weren't strong enough against them, what would happen to the Federation? How many dead would lie on the sands of the Justice desert...? Na looked down and bit her lower lip.

- AAAAH!!!

With a scream of rage, Salida sliced through the Longers in front of her as she charged into them. Backed by Nivea, the dragon Kemono with the ferocious right fist, she had already defeated hundreds of Longers and yet the fight had only been going on for ten minutes. She took a few steps back and gritted her teeth.

- There are too many of them..." she said.

Nivea heard her, but he didn't respond. He struck out in front of him and the giant fist that accompanied him sent them flying away. He came back and stood next to Salida and watched the fighting raging on all sides. The Longers were very numerous, but the strength of the Kemonos fighters was to be feared. Even the weakest fighters could defeat dozens, if not hundreds, of Longers like this.

- There are only low-level Longers…” he thought.

The horde was gigantic and their numbers were frightening, but none of them could do anything against the Kemonos. Even though it would take time, they would win easily.

- Nivea!

A Kemono approached him and Salida began to listen, even as she continued to defeat the oncoming Longers.

- We've got a big problem, Longers have arrived from the east side too!

- …

- East side...?!

Salida shouted and threw her trident into the body of a Longer before approaching the two Kemonos.

- Wait, so there's more than one horde?

He nodded and Salida made a terrified and surprised face. She had noticed the ocean moving strangely, but already this horde seemed far too large, having a second one seemed unimaginable... Something strange was going on.

Or maybe…

- ... Nivea.

Kemonos began to defeat the approaching Longers and the sound of battle raged all around them. Nivea turned to Salida and squinted at his expression.

- What?" he asked.

- ... It's possible that what we noticed in the sea…

She gritted her teeth.

- Is not even the hordes.

Panthana hit a Longer in the head and rocks formed, killing it instantly. While not all of them died from losing the use of their "brains", the weaker ones lost their lives more easily. Panthana felt a chill run down her back and shielded herself from a violent attack with her metal fist. The force was so great that she was thrown further, but a Kemono caught her in his arms before quietly placing her on the ground. Panthana quickly recognized the person in front of her and smiled.

- There are many of them…” Panthana admitted.

The mute Kemono nodded and opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Panthana got to her feet and clenched both fists as she watched all the Kemonos charging at them. The Kemono with the zebra-like attributes opened her eyes wide and with her mouth still open eradicated the approaching Longers in a long line in front of her. An impressive laser came out of her mouth and its force was destructive. However, some of the Longers had avoided her and charged at the Kemono. Panthana hit them with her metal fist or her feet and protected her. She landed on the ground and the Kemono behind her stroked her hair in thanks. Panthana smiled and cracked her neck.

- Even against so many Longers, we will win!

The zebra Kemono nodded and opened her mouth again. Panthana ran towards the Longers and some Kemonos came to her side to fight with them. She smiled and hit the ground in front of her to form rocks that blocked the feet of some of the Longers and the Kemonos killed them without a second's hesitation. Panthana looked up and saw Gloriae's laser fly by just inches away from her and killed more Longers. Pieces of Longers flew into the air and the Kemonos sliced, slashed, punched; in short, killed every one of them in their path. Gloriae, the mute zebra Kemono, took a step back and swallowed hard before opening her mouth again. Just as she was about to shoot, a Longer came out of the sand in front of her and hit her in the face. She recoiled from the blow and the Longer ran at her before hugging her tightly. She couldn't even let go of her cry of pain and her back hit the sand with an unpleasant crunch. She opened her mouth again, but the Longer hit her again. He was one from a level higher and his blows were jaw breaking... He was powerful! She opened one eye and tried to use her Power, but the Longer was ready to hit her again. Every blow was there to kill her, she was sure of it.

Just as she was about to take another powerful blow, a Kemono screamed and charged at the Longer. She hit it hard and the enemy flew away. Gloriae rolled in the sand and coughed before she saw the Kemono jump over her. Her eyes lit up, but before she could blink, the Kemono was already on the Longer. She hit it furiously, but the Longer had protected itself with one of its many arms and rocks formed on it. Panthana frowned and kept hitting it, but it was still protecting itself with the same arm. It used one of its other arms to hit her from the side, but she raised her leg and blocked its blow with her knee. She used that same leg to strike the arm and pin it to the ground, making the Longer lose its balance. She hit it with her other leg and hit it again with her metal fist. Rocks formed on its body, but the Longer made a sharp noise before hitting her with its head. Panthana took a step back, which freed the Longer's arm and it used it to grab her left leg. The Kemono was lifted into the air before being violently sent to the sandy ground. She closed her eyes in pain, but she knew she had no time to think about what she was feeling: the enemy in front of her would not accept it. The Longer showed its sharp teeth and aimed at Panthana's face, but she hit it hard in the face, forcing him to back away.

And then a laser eradicated his face.

Panthana blinked and Gloriae offered her hand with a smile. The Kemono smiled back and took her hand to get up. She touched her back with a groan and took a deep breath of air.

- It looks like more powerful Longers are approaching…” she noticed.

The Longers they were currently fighting were below level 3, but the one she'd just faced was a 4, maybe even a 5. Were the more powerful Longers further back in the horde? If so…

- So their plan is to tire us out before sending the big army...?” she wondered before running.

So it was possible that level 6 Longers were waiting for them at the end of this fight. It was not very reassuring.

- Ah! Yah! Aaah!

Ambre aimed her water jets at the Longers and killed them in one shot. They were low level Longers so this was far from complex. She hadn't even taken the time to get dressed to come, so she was missing her long scarf and her shoes. She had run when she heard Kin's call and had not hesitated two seconds to come.

Unfortunately, Maxia had not been able to join the fight.

She hadn't been able to rest enough since her last fight, so using her Power, as powerful as it was, would probably make her lose her mind in a few seconds. Ambre had come, but the others had stayed behind. Well, except—

- Ambre!

A Longer jumped on her: Ambre hadn't seen it in time. It sent its sharp claws towards her, but its hand met a surface of water that pushed it back. Ambre used this same water to form a powerful and fast jet that eradicated the head of the Longer. She smiled as she looked at the Kemono behind her.

Panthera, the one who was in her Faction.

Even though she didn't like fighting, she too could use water to fight and could even create water. She could defend Ambre with this Power and Ambre could use it to attack the Longers in front of her; a perfect combo.

- Die, die, die!!!

Like all Kemonos, Ambre hated Longers: seeing them shrivel up pleased her immensely. With her Power, she killed five, six and seven more. She grabbed one of the bottles waiting in her pocket and drank it in one go. After all, even though she was using the water Panthera was using, she was also using water from her own body so that her tiger-eared friend wouldn't use up all her Power too quickly. In short, Ambre used the water of her own body to form the water jets. She threw the bottle towards the Longers and one of them took a bite without hesitation. This made her smile and she made more jets appear at her side. Panthera formed water around Ambre and stood guard to protect her.

And it was at that very moment that a Longer collided with Panthera.

Colliding with her at full speed, the Longer fell and rolled on the desert floor with Panthera, but it was the one that got up first. The Kemono blinked and felt claws digging into the skin of her shoulders.

- AaaAAAAH!

She screamed in pain and closed her eyes because she was feeling it. Ambre had not even seen the Longer colliding with her so much it had been fast. She turned around forming jets at her side and shouted sending them on the Longer with big wings.

- Aaah!

The jets raced towards the Longer—

— but another one stepped in and sacrificed itself, using its own life as a shield.

- !!!!

Ambre recreated some, but the Longers came too quickly. She gritted her teeth and used her Power to save herself from the oncoming Longers.

- A-Ambre!!!

Panthera screamed and Ambre looked at her with big eyes.

The winged Longer flew into the air.

- PANTHERAAAAAA!!!

Ambre ran and drank another whole bottle. She threw it violently at one of the Longers who had tried to catch her and threw dozens of jets at the flying Longer; in short, everything she could. They all ran towards the winged Longer, Panthera still at its mercy…

But the Longers jumped and sacrificed themselves, serving again as a shield for the Longer.

- FUCK!!

Only one of the jets managed to make contact with the Longer, but it wasn't enough to bring it down. Ambre felt parched and didn't have time to drink another bottle, especially since she only had two left. She kept running to avoid the Longers who wanted to kill her, but she knew she couldn't run for long. Besides, Panthera was flying higher and higher in the air, still clinging to that winged Longer.

- I have to find someone— Aaaah?!

As she ran toward one of the Kemonos fighting near her, a Longer jumped on her and knocked her to the ground. Her bottles rolled to the ground and away from her. She punched the Longer furiously and managed to get her fist through its small body, but others came and jumped on her. She managed to roll to the side and avoid some of them, but unfortunately not all of them. She struggled to keep them from hurting her and screamed, asking help, needing someone to save her.

And her call was heard.

With an electric noise, a Kemono ran. From one Longer to the other, at the speed of sound itself, she killed them one by one and arrived on the mass of Longers who were trying to eat the one who had shouted. In one swift move, she killed them all and arcs of lightning passed through their bodies, but Ambre was not touched by them. She opened one eye and looked at the Kemono who had saved her — or rather, she tried to. The Kemono ran towards other Longers and smiled.

- Here I... gooOOOOOO!!!!

With her long katana, she pierced the body of one of the Longers and made several turns on herself while laughing.

- AHAHAHAHAAAAAAAHHHH!!!

She stopped suddenly and the sand around her moved away from her with a sound like thunder. Her eyes were focused on one Longer in particular and she threw her blade towards the sky, the one where the body of the Longer was still lying. The trajectory of the thrown katana left arcs of lightning covering it. The winged Longer noticed the blade coming at him and ducked to avoid having his head cut off... and he succeeded.

- !!!

Ambre gritted her teeth, thinking that the Kemono had missed, but she quickly realized how wrong she had been.

For the Kemono was up there with the blade in her hands.

The Longer barely had time to understand what had just happened when his whole body broke down in arcs of lightning and his blood flowed to the ground and onto Panthera. Panthera fell, but the Kemono who had saved her caught her and went to the ground with her.

- Hihi~!" said the Kemono.

As she fell to the ground, though a fall of more than thirty meters, the sand flew high into the air and in all directions, away from the Kemono and Panthera. Ambre shielded her face with her forearms to keep the sand out of her eyes while squinting.

- Yooo, Ambre!

The Kemono put Panthera on the ground and approached the Kemono with two fox tails. Ambre recognized this voice directly, even if in reality, they did not really know each other. She blinked and observed the Kemono in front of her.

The one with the ears and the ponytail, the one who was forbidden to fight.

- !!! What are you doing here, Asus?!

The Kemono touched her hair and let it fly with a smile.

- I'm fighting, hehe!

- ... But—

- I saved you, so please, a little appreciation!

She pointed at the Kemono with the tiger-like attributes that were approaching them.

- I saved your friend too~!" Asus said.

- ... Thank you.

It was a real “thank you”, but seeing her here was surprising. She who was not allowed to leave the Federation or even fight... Had she taken advantage of the chaos to come here? Panthera grabbed Ambre's arm and was on the verge of tears, her shoulders bleeding. The Kemono looked for her water bottles and saw them nowhere. When Asus had landed with Panthera, it was quite possible that the bottles had flown further away... Ambre was so thirsty.

- Looking for this?

Asus held out both hands — in which her bottles were.

- ... Thank you…

Ambre drank one in one gulp and put the other in her pocket. She made jets of water, but this time, it was to heal Panthera. Panthera closed her eyes and let the leader of her Faction heal her. Asus stretched and played with her katana before observing the scene before her.

- I'll cover you while you heal her?” asked Asus with a smile.

Ambre did not even have time to hear the end of her question that she had already left to exterminate the Longers who were coming towards them. Ambre sighed, but she did not retort. Of course, Asus had no right to be here, but at the same time, without her, who knows if they would have survived…

- I'm not used to fighting without baby…

By this cute nickname, she was talking about her girlfriend, Maxia. They almost always fought together or against far fewer Longers. She had never faced so many monsters…

- This horde seems endless, moreover…

Ambre did not understand why they were attacked in this way. It was impossible to think that it was a random attack: there were far too many Longers.

- Have they been planning this for a long time...?” she wondered.

An attack of this magnitude must have taken time to plan. Besides, she remembered well that Maxia had told her that the fight should take place in a few days, not already today…

This was all very strange.

- KIIIIIIIIN !!!!!

Nano shouted her friend's name before jumping off the Federation walls. With her weapon in her right hand, she put it behind her back and threw it at Kin with impressive speed. Unfortunately, even the Kemonos who were close to him didn't arrive in time to save him from the Longer, which tore off part of his shoulder. Nano's weapon hit the Longer in the head and iu fell to the ground and stopped in the desert sand. One of the Kemonos there grabbed Kin and helped him up while the others began to fight. Nano landed on the desert sand before running towards Kin.

What a fool. Why did he always act without thinking? Why couldn't he make the right decisions at such important times? He had been chosen by Maslow herself to protect her, so why was he the one risking his life for the other Kemonos? That was not his job!

She ran towards the Kemono holding Kin before she saw more winged Longers charging towards them. Nano squinted and her weapon, which was in direct contact with the ground, began to electrify. The Kemonos next to them fought the Longers, but some of the winged ones managed to escape and tried to attack the Kemono holding Kin.

Nevertheless—

Snake-bodied dinosaurs emerged from the ground and crunched them with a ferocious noise.

Made of lightning and with bloodthirsty thoughts, these monsters were created by Nano herself, from her weapon that touched the ground. If it hadn't been for that, she would never have been able to make them and save the two Kemonos. She ran to Kin and thanked the Kemono before taking him in her arms. She looked at him and saw that he had lost consciousness: his wound was very serious. If the winged Longer had been a little more precise, it could have torn his shoulder out completely…

- The Longer even managed to get through his armor…

Kin's armor wasn't the strongest, toughest or most solid, but it was far from fragile or ineffective. She began to walk away from the fighting behind her: it was not her job. She wasn't supposed to be fighting the Longers, or protecting these people: she was a member of the Protection Team, and her only duty was to protect Maslow until the end of her own life. Nano had no other mission than that.

Why was Kin such a…

- Dumbass. You dumbass, Kin.

It was with a smile that she said this, but she knew he couldn't hear her. Hurt and unaware; foolish and reckless. He was her friend — or rather, her BEST friend, but he was also someone she needed to educate. He was not a Kemono who was there to protect others, but the Constable.

So risking his life like that was not right.

- Aaah!!!

Salida ran her trident through the body of a Longer before tackling it to the ground. She took two small steps back and slammed the top of her weapon into the herd of Longers coming towards them, killing several. She made her weapon disappear and took it back into her hands before sighing.

- They're getting stronger and stronger…

- And more of them are coming.

It was Nivea who spoke. He had already taken more than a thousand Longers and was continuing as if fatigue had not affected him. The fighting was still raging and it seemed to them that it would never end. The Longers were still arriving in greater numbers and they were still getting more powerful. There were some low-levels among them, but they didn't even matter anymore.

- …

Nivea and Salida were fighting together, a little further than the other Kemonos. Thanks to one of them, who was protected by his own Faction, they had more strength and were less tired; but that didn't make much difference, if they were to be honest.

- Are you getting tired?" Nivea asked, looking at Salida.

This one smiles.

- Not at all!

Even though she could feel a few drops of sweat dripping from her forehead, she could still fight and fight on. She sliced the air in front of her and her movement cut the Longers in front of her, given the nature of her Power. She played with her trident and told them to attack her if they dared. Nivea remained more calm and neutral and struck the head of a Longer so hard that it exploded. The giant fist that floated by his side did the same, killing several in the process.

The Kemonos were all fighting, alone or in teams. The Longers kept coming back, faster, more powerful and more numerous, but the Kemonos would not let them kill them or penetrate the Federation. The fighting raged on and—

WRAAAAAAGRAAAAA

Shivers down their spine, fear settled over many of the Kemonos on the battlefield; even those on the walls. Nivea quickly turned her head toward the horizon, the same gesture Salida had made. The Kemonos continued to fight, but their attention was on one thing.

The source of that noise.

- ... What the hell?

Kituhn let out these words as he killed a Longer with his guitar. He looked to the horizon and saw it, the source of the loud noise they had just heard.

- …

- ?!

- But…

- Huh?

- What the…

- ?????!!!!!!!

The Kemonos felt fear creep into them. They didn't all know what it meant, but they all knew it was a portent of danger; it was a bad sign.

The smell of death approaching.

Nivea clenched her fists and approached Salida. Salida killed a lot of them at once and gritted her teeth.

- You've got to be kidding me..." she said, looking at the horizon.

- …

Nivea stopped and squinted.

A giant Longer in the shape of an ancient Colossus was approaching them.

It was gigantic; taller than the Federation buildings. Even from so far away, they could see how it towered over them all with its impressive size. He took a step and even from miles away, the wind stirred.

- …

Nivea touched Salida's shoulder and, without saying anything, made her understand everything he was thinking. She nodded and clutched her weapon tightly in her hands.

It wasn't a Colossus, but a Longer. It was clear that it was.

And it was probably the reason, single-handedly, for the movements in the ocean.

- A level 9 Longer.

And in front of them was a monster that had not been seen in hundreds of years.