The tide of reinforcements finally gave us some respite and I took it. I didn’t collapse, but I very well could have at this moment and as I looked around, some of my allies were doing just that.

Others began to regroup towards the knight line, but I stayed put for a moment and looked to the ground.

Corpses. Everywhere.

Now would be the best time to do this in the midst of all the commotion so I leant down and cut off the arm of the Drakoshi before feeding it to my armour. After that it then took twelve full corpses and a bunch of metal weapons before my armour was back to its peak.

I contemplated re-joining the effort, but if I was supposed to be in a siege tomorrow, I definitely needed some rest, plus the rest of the company were now all fallen back, so I went to join them and once I was close, I realised they were a lot worse off than I originally thought.

Almost everyone was wounded. I even saw four dead. I didn’t recognise three of them, but the fourth was Greg, the healer. A stray bullet had hit him right through the eye. There are a lot of bullet wounds a normal person can recover from, but one like that is unlikely.

Everyone looked worse for wear. Skaja’s golden armour and wings were caked in blood, Lena had been stabbed in the torso, again. Willow and Rhea were cut all over and Gabrielle was... ’Oh she is fine. Though she looks a bit frantic.’

Everyone else had some form of aggressive injury beside Nerissa, Gabrielle and Morrgan, whom upon looking at him, met my gaze and flashed a cheerfully innocent smile and waved at me.

As I began to walk over, Gabrielle then suddenly turned around, her frantic searching stopped and her eyes showed so much relief. "Oh I just knew you were fine! When the others came back without you at first I felt my stomach lurch, but I knew you were fine! I just knew. And then when you and Nerissa appeared over the ridgeline. So much relief. Oh, I am so glad to see you. You did so well today." She proceeded to hug my armour tenderly and I began to stroke her back.

"Heh, thanks Gab, Skaja should have brought you with us though. Though having someone as strong as you holding the rest down was a smart decision." I then turned to my left as Skaja approached nursing her torso that had been wounded.

"We saw the weapon fall from the distance. How did you finish the mission? Tamara informed us you did not use all the charges as they were used elsewhere?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I fucked up. It’s why I stayed behind. I then pushed the weapon off its remaining supports. It’s probably still intact, but it won’t be usable during the siege. I’m pretty sure it destroyed a massive hole in one of the walls as well, so yeah. Sorry. I learnt my lesson. Don’t improvise with strategic assets."

Skaja stared at me for a moment and I thought I was going to be reprimanded, I deserved it in my opinion, but instead her face suddenly twisted into shock. "I’m sorry, what the fuck? I knew you were strong, but to push that weapon and break its supports? That’s got to be... Fuck me..."

Gabrielle giggled hearing that and hugged me tighter. "Hehehe, that’s Apollo for you. So full of surprises and capable of the impossible!"

I chuckled and felt slightly embarrassed. "Alright, alright. Enough fluffing up my ego. How is morale?"

"High despite losses. We achieved a massive blow today. With the Boomstick down and the Drakoshi leadership eliminated, we should be able to take that fortress tomorrow, even if our current battle will draw in reinforcements from the Drakoshi."

I nodded hearing that before I felt the need to commend Skaja as Nerissa also walked over.

"I have to say though, even with Nerissa’s strength, I’m surprised you managed to kill that forty foot mech so quickly. That thing gave me the chills."

Nerissa and Skaja then looked between one another before Nerissa asked, confused. "What forty foot mech?"

"That’s Warlord level mech classification. If a Warlord was in that base, we wouldn’t have gotten out without taking casualties. Are you sure that’s what you saw?" Skaja asked, her face turning grim.

"Yes, ask Willow and Tamara, they will tell you the same thing. The mech’s hand nearly crushed me as we were climbing the wall." I clarified.

"Shit..." Skaja barked at herself before wincing from her wound. "It would appear that we failed our mission then Praetorian. Though we must have taken out the leaders’ chain of command. Hopefully that is enough of a blow for tomorrow. At least you and Iilr’s squad finished their missions so it was not a total failure. I need to go report this to the higher ups before you take command. Oh, good work Apollo."

Skaja then walked off and I suddenly felt Gabrielle’s energy change. Looking down at her, I met her eyes and a wide grin as she asked. "Did she just say you were taking command?"

Before I could confirm, Gabrielle picked me up and began to shake me back and forth. "Hahahahahahahahaah! I am so proud of you! Eighteen, a sentinel and now in command of local forces? I am so happy!"

In response I began coughing violently at which point Gabrielle put me down. "Apollo? Are you alright?"

I nodded and took off my helmet, revealing my incredibly pale face to spit out blood. "Oh yeah, there’s still some bullet inside of me. The shaking around... Not a good idea. Can you go get Francesca?" I then set my armour into standby mode.

Gabrielle suddenly turned pale. Purple tears began to stain her cheeks at what she was seeing. Her son... She was glad he was, but how was he alive? ’He shouldn’t even be standing!’ She screamed internally seeing literally bullet holes all over her baby’s torso.

She could see his organs only being held in by the almost net like pattern of his wounds.

Nerissa’s eyes went wide. ’Was he this bad the entire time we were fighting?’ She had not even noticed.

"Gabrielle." I spoke with a strong voice. The pain was great and my blood was low, but with my enhancements I knew I was going to survive, as long as I received some form of medical attention in the next hour or so, or I ate... Preferably both.

My voice pulled Gabrielle out of her emotional fluctuation and she ran off screaming ’Medic!’

I chuckled as she ran, making my guts make a squelching sound before deciding to ignore that as I turned to Nerissa. "Hey, I lost you in the melee. Are you alright? I got worried a few times."

Nerissa tossed her weapon to the side and rushed to me. She removed her gauntlet, exposing her green hand, though it instantly became red, and began to infuse her life energy into me. "Am I alright? Seriously? You are asking me if I am alright when you look like this?"

"What? I got lucky. The bullets only hit my fleshy bits. I don’t even have one broken bone. Pretty lucky right?" I said and then proceeded to spit up some blood directly onto her helmet.

"Oh... Sorry about that." I apologised, but Nerissa wasn’t having it.

"You don’t apologise to me. Ever. The sacrifice you have put your body through for this mission... Apollo, you are incredible."

"Don’t make me blush, you big softy. I don’t have enough blood to spare for it hehe."

*Thud!*

I suddenly jolted. It was like a drum just sounded coming from directly inside of me, and judging from Nerissa’ sudden pause of movement, she also heard that.

"Apollo? What was-"

"-No idea, but it felt good. Keep doing what you are doing." I stated and Nerissa nodded and continued to heal me. A few seconds went by and once again.

*Thud! Thud!*

Nerissa then gasped and dropped to her knees in front of me.

"What?" I asked as she pressed her head against my torso holes. "Its my blessing? I don’t know what it’s doing, but something is happening."

Hearing that, I grabbed Nerissa by the shoulder. "Well don’t stop now then. Continue to fill me up with your stuff."

Nerissa seemed reluctant to do so, but she resumed healing me and the thudding became louder and louder, drawing the attention of people nearby.

Gabrielle had run over with Francesca Tamara, Willow and Rhea but even they paused upon hearing the loud drum like noise clearly coming from inside my body.

The Knight order had stopped their duties and began to look over to the source of the thudding and as if all the attention wasn’t enough for me. I suddenly felt the thudding within my Mindspace, being mimicked by my Origin. The sphere began to thud loudly before it began to glow a warm white and the moment it did I began to rise from the ground without the use of Gyrokinesis. I could then begin to feel something happen to my body and Mindspace, but the weird thing was, whatever was happening did not feel like normal Psionics.

’It feels more... Intimate?’