The last chimera shrieked and faded away, leaving the battlefield eerily silent. Hikari pulled Sword back to his side and turned to scan the area, searching for the next wave amongst the red, crystalline landscape.

“Looks like that’s all of them,” Jin said, returning his Arm Legion to standby mode. “Here, at least.”

Alica dropped down from the upper level and landed in a crouch, her Beast Legion at her side. “More further in, but none of them seemed interested in us just yet,” she reported as she stood and rested a hand atop her Legion’s head. “I saw a new passage that opened up from the last time we were here. Everyone still good to advance?”

Hikari hummed and tilted his head, mentally poking at his Legions in question. He felt alright — a bit tired, a bit bruised, but definitely capable of continuing on — but if his Legions didn’t want to keep fighting, he’d respect that.

Sword rumbled at his side and raised his chin, pride-determination-confidence rippling back through their connection.

::Condition acceptable,:: came Arrow’s whispery acknowledgment.

::Good to go, let’s keep moving!:: Axe announced, flashing the impression of an achingly familiar sharp grin.

Beast howled with anticipation and glee, bouncing closer to the front and pawing at the ‘door’ leading to the Legion Core.

::Slowed, but within limits,:: Arm agreed. ::We will all need maintenance before too long, however.::

::You’ll get it as soon as I get access to a Terminal,:: Hikari assured all of them, then met Alica’s gaze and nodded. “I’m good.”

“I can keep going,” Jin said.

“Same here,” Akira said as she stepped up to his free side, her Wolf prowling around the two of them and sniffing at the pock-marked ground. She glanced over at him and raised her left arm just enough to jangle her astral chain. “Let me know when you need a breather and I’ll take point from you.”

Hikari nodded and glanced up at Sword, getting back determination in answer. “Not just yet. Another section or two, I think.”

“Alright. Just don’t push yourself too far,” Akira said with a wry smile, stepping back to stand beside Jin instead. “We’ve never been this deep in the corruption before.”

“That’s kind of the point.” Hikari smirked at his sister’s eye-roll, pleased by the tiny huff that accompanied it. Without waiting for Alicia to give the order, he strode forward towards the newly opened path, Sword ranging ahead of him.

Nothing really changed the deeper they went, it just became more complex. They’d noticed the trend early on, that everything past a certain distance from the entrance was nothing more than the same puzzles but harder: the landscape became a touch more labyrinthine, they often needed more than one person’s Legion active at a time, and any path could lead to a dead end filled to the brim with chimera.

It was no place for solo exploration.

(And no place for inattention.)

“Doing okay?” Akira asked him as he paused atop a vantage point to scan the surrounding area and give everyone a small breather.

Hikari shrugged, pulling his gaze from the strange landscape to give his sister the look that question deserved.

She laughed and raised her hands. “Had to ask!” she chirped with a smile, before letting the humor fade away. “I still can’t believe that somewhere under all of this crystal is… well… our planet, I guess?” Her mouth twisted and she gave him a look, her words failing her in the face of the vast, unending red landscape.

“We’ve driven it back a bit,” Hikari murmured, running a hand over the edge of his Legatus Unit and taking comfort in the steady presence of his five Legions. Two hand-spans of sandy beach wasn’t much but… they’d done it. They had exposed more of Earth’s original surface than had been seen in decades, and they had done it entirely because of their Legions.

“Yeah, we have, haven’t we. And Neuron’s figuring out how to create more teams almost like ours.” Akira pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest, staring down at the wide plain below them. “They can’t delve as deeply as we can just yet, but they can handle the fringes.”

“Which means we need to keep pressing deeper,” Jin broke in as he hopped up to join them, Alicia bringing up the rear. “The more of those giant chimera we kill off, the more disorganized the smaller ones become.”

“We’re probably going to be facing another one soon,” Hikari said as he gestured down to the wide plain. They’d long ago learned that the larger and flatter an area was, the more dangerous it was. It was a lesson they’d done their best to drill into the heads of the newbies, as well. “Are we ready to deal with it or should we take a longer rest here?”

“I vote we go kill it,” Akira said with a sharp grin, twisting her wrist just enough to rattle the astral chain that dangled from her Legatus Unit. “Blowgun’s been wanting a bit of sport.”

“Blowgun always wants a bit of sport,” Hikari grumbled, elbowing his sister in the side. Sometimes he really wished she wasn’t quite so gung-ho about charging into combat, but it wasn’t like he had a leg to stand on; recklessness, thy family name was ‘Howard’. “What if this isn’t a chimera he’s useful against? How are your other Legions feeling?”

“They’re all good to go, too.” She gave him a defiant look and he arched an eyebrow in return, then as one they turned to fix Jin with an expectant stare.

“Woah, hey, enough of that,” Jin said, crossing his arms over his chest and giving the two of them a dry look. “I’m not the one in charge here. Aim that look at Alicia, not me.”

Alicia snorted when the twins did just that, setting her hands on her hips and arching an eyebrow. “If the two of you are certain—” she paused only long enough for Hikari to nod before continuing— “and Jin is certain, then by all means. Let’s take whatever boss this is down.”

“All right!” Akira cheered as Wolf materialized at her side. She leapt onto Wolf’s back and shot Hikari a challenging smile. “Last one down there’s gotta make dinner tonight,” she declared with a wave, before drawing her X-Baton and urging Wolf on.

“Cheater!” Hikari shouted after his sister as he leapt from the vantage point and summoned Beast in midair. He grabbed the loop behind Beast’s head. Pulled himself onto his back. Clung tight as Beast took the expedient path down, ricocheting from tiny platform to tiny platform.

They weren’t going to let Akira and Wolf win this time!