Chapter 282 53.1 Off Screen?

SHADE

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Shade didn't even have any time to react as a blinding green light suddenly engulfed any and all enemies that surrounded them. With the Princess coming to their aid, he almost wanted to cheer if not for the fact that she had just told them all to catch her for some reason.

"Hot! Hot! ARRHG!"

"It burns! AARRHHGHG!!"

The Princess's [Move] promptly decimated any and every living thing around them. Shade himself had to squint to try and see through the brightness, but otherwise, he and his group were very much unharmed.

"I-It's so bright!" Shen yelled out through the chaos. "T-This is Shizu's attack?!"

That it was, but he didn't bother saying it out loud. Instead, he focused more on their Princess's floating form. Currently, she was flying high above them in all of her splendor, her eyes glowing brightly as she seemed to flicker in and out of existence. Still, the bright smile on her face clearly told him that she was still herself somehow despite all of the power she was exuding.

That was, until it all flashed back into nothingness. The [Move] had ended, and the Princess was hurtling towards the ground without anybody to catch her.

"Princess! I shall endeavor to catch you!"

Shade had almost reared himself to move when he heard Maruki sprinting towards the Princess's location. Giving way, he decided to simply provide cover while he and Shen followed behind the tank.

"Let's move," he gestured for Shen to follow him. "She might need your help right now."

"Wha- Oh, right!"

With their path now cleared of all immediate enemies, he and Shen swiftly followed Maruki, quickly catching up to the man as he cradled the Princess's unconscious form.

"Shizu!"

Of course, Shade gave way for Shen, their healer quickly placing herself by the Princess's side as she should be. He could only be on guard as he watched the mechanic do her work, her wrench glowing over the Princess's body.

"Hang on... I'll getcha up again, Shizu..."

Shaking his head, Shade gave Maruki a knowing look before the two of them stood guard over the two females in their group. There was no other way forward now other than for them to wait for their Princess to wake up. Assuming that she would even wake up in the near future in the first place.

Shade recognized that [Move] she just did, and surely doing such a powerful attack twice in a row would be taxing even to the most powerful of Somatics. There was no telling what kind of repercussions her [Manifest] deigned to give her, but he could only hope that it would be minimal compared to what he had heard from other Somatics that had far more drastic drawbacks from their own powers.

"Shade! What shall we do now?!"

Turning to Maruki, his friend's booming voice uncharacteristically sounded comforting despite them still being surrounded by the bodies of the fallen. Looking around, most of the Marqueans had given up, it seemed, with what few of them left simply surrounding them from the sidelines just behind where the bodies of their comrades started piling up. It was a rather chilling sight, but it also showed just how powerful a Somatic could be if he or she was given the right conditions to flourish and abuse their capabilities.

The pained moaning around them also reminded him somewhat of stories surrounding the supposedly walking dead, but he knew that spirits didn't exist.

"We'll have to connect with Lady Guidance and Moriya," he replied, his gaze turning towards what looked to be a shimmering bubble right where Shizu had come from. "I'd say that they're currently fighting someone noteworthy, which means that they'll need all the help they could get."

Or alternatively, they'd need someone to make sure that nobody would be able to surround them after they were done with their fight. Shade was familiar with the so-called 'instances' that affected them whenever they went into a considerable fight. He had been in one after all, and from what he could remember, the bubble that surrounded them now was probably the barrier separating them from the outside world.

"I agree!" Maruki bellowed out. "We shall endeavor to regroup with them once the Princess has returned from unconsciousness then!"

"That it is, my friend," Shade shook his head. "That it is..."

It seemed that there was a light at the end of the tunnel after all. While their trip to Marquee had resulted in a disaster so massive that it might as well start even further hostilities between it and the Empire, they've at least managed to survive whatever the City-State could throw at them.

At the very least, they've sabotaged Marquee's efforts in creating this so-called doomsday weapon in the form of this beam of light.

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SHEN

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"Come on, Shizu... Wake up..."

Shen couldn't help but plead to her sister figure as she kept on whacking her wrench at the older woman. She didn't know how much time had passed, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't just seem to get Shizu to wake up.

She was broken, and she had no idea how to fix it.

"Why... Why?!"

"Shen?"

Her tears were already starting to fall when she looked up, Shade's worried tone only making her feel even worse as she weakly stood up.

The source of this content is nov/el/bin[./]net'

"I... I dunno what's wrong with her," she admitted, her sleeves getting soggy as she kept using them to wipe her face. "Maybe she's just tired or something, but I can't help her anymore..."

That was simply the truth of the matter. Despite all of her best efforts, nothing just worked. Even her instincts were telling her that she had already done all that she could. There was just no fixing whatever it was that Shizu's [Manifest] had done to her.

"We'll just have to carry her along with us then," Shade sighed. "Maruki?"

"Yes?!"

"Keep us from getting attacked," Shade instructed as he knelt down, his arms already wrapping around Shizu's unconscious form before he hoisted her on his back. "I'll carry the Princess with us on our way to the others."

"Of course!" Maruki declared, his shield already glowing with his power. "I will do what is necessary!"

"Shen?"

She flinched at Shade's commanding tone. "Y-Yeah?"

"You'll have to try and defend us in case there are still a few stragglers wanting to try their luck," he ordered her, his gait adjusting to having Shizu's added weight on his shoulders. "Otherwise, just keep doing what you're doing and avoid any danger."

She could do that. "Sure thing."

And with that, Shen found herself following behind the two men of her group. Making their way across the decimated battlefield, she couldn't help but look over the carnage that Shizu's [Move] had done to their enemies. Dozens upon dozens of bodies were scattered through the landscape, the light from the still glowing pillar of energy making them cast a long shadow as they lay lifeless on the ground. Her instincts screamed at her to try and fix a select few of them, possibly a few survivors that she knew she really shouldn't mess with. But still...

The moans of pain echoing around them were getting harder for her to ignore.

"Should we really just leave dem all like this?" she couldn't help but ask, her chest tightening the more she heard the anguish in their enemies' voices. "They're just... in pain..."

"We have to," Shade replied, his voice taking on a hardened tone. "They won't hesitate to try and kill us. We can't afford the risk of one of them immediately turning on us the moment they get their bearings back."

"O-Okay..."

Shen nodded, but she still couldn't help but feel bad at the sound of moaning filtering through the air. The air reeked of death, it felt like, and her own power's protests only made her feel worse the longer she tried to ignore them.

"P-Please..."

She froze as she felt a hand wrap around her ankle. Turning around, her eyes widened as she saw what looked to be a burnt corpse, looking up at her with pleading eyes.

"M-Mercy..."

Her chest heaved as she quickly took a glance at her companions. Seeing that they hadn't noticed her, Shen quickly took the opportunity to draw her wrench and aid the poor soul.

"[Fix]..."

Her power almost sighed in relief as she saw the burnt corpse, now revealed to be a slightly burnt woman, take in a deep breath as her body healed. Her [Move] restored some of her hair and skin, a bit of vitality flowing through the woman's body as she took in a relieved breath.

"T-Thank you..." the woman sobbed, her gratitude dripping with each syllable.

Shen wanted to respond, but her mouth didn't move as she found herself turning around and walking away. Following behind her companions, she couldn't help but feel proud of what she did. And hearing a few others around her, she decided to do the same to as many of them as she could.

After all, so long as she could follow behind Shade and Maruki, surely they wouldn't notice.

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