Annie and Katie had tried to take him out before he could warn the others but the barrier around him was preventing them from doing so. The former had made a mistake. They were meant to hide the body in the bush and wait for Ace to get there so they could all take down the second soldier together since they weren't sure if he held a weapon. But now they were sure.
Reacting to his announcement, more soldiers began creeping into the area. It was clear that they had to engage them head on now but instead of the rest of them to come out and fight, only Raten and Ace had stepped forward while the others had a different task.
"They can take care of the soldiers on their own. Let's take care of this Force User, shall we?" Force was a type of Zen which was possessed by the soldier with the sledgehammers.
Annie and Katie took on the soldiers that had arrived themselves while Raten and Ace stood in front of the Force User, readying themselves in fighting stances.
The Force User acted first, slamming both hammers on the ground simultaneously, generating a tremor that reverberated through the ground and was moving in their direction. Ace jumped in the air, manifesting a Hover Disc to stand atop while Raten leaped a great distance away.
"Needle Storm!" Raten attacked, forming nearly hundreds of needles at the same time but the forcefield appeared and blocked all the attacks, somewhat absorbing them even.
"Ha!" The man exclaimed as a small barrier formed around his hand and he hurled it at Raten like a baseball player in an instant, creating a barrier around his opponent.
Ace swung his arm diagonally from above, trying to strike him but the Force Soldier dodged completely. 'So he can't use the barrier while the one around Raten is still active. Interesting.'
Metal formed around Raten's arms and condensed. He threw them out, punching and punching the barrier without relent. He could feel it even through the metal that his knuckles' or the flesh around it was being traumatized by the impact but he pushed on. With a shattering sound, the barrier had been destroyed, mimicking the breaking of glass. "You're going to regret putting me in that BOX!" He enclosed his arms in more steel, extending it outwards and creating a 3 inch thicker steel hand. He lunged it at the soldier who had formed yet another barrier around himself.
"Try if you can break this one!" The man taunted.
Raten was finding it difficult to compress and destroy the new barrier. Meanwhile, Ace landed on the ground a short distance away with his feet beginning to spark with power, charged with Energy. He bolted, becoming faster than normal due to the enhancement until he arrived in front of the barrier.
"Nii Blades!!" The enhancement on his feet disappeared and was replaced by the two blades he had manifested, attempting to slash the barrier from behind but it wasn't workin either.
"Enough!" The Force User slammed the hammers again, this time producing a sonic pulse through the ground. This stumbled the duo for a second, causing Ace to tremble and fall, putting him in a tight spot since he was right in front of him.
The smile on Ace's face disappeared as the man turned to him and was about to slam the hammers down on him. Ace realized he had been too reckless and was about to face the consequences.
Raten recovered from the geoshock and saw what was about to happen. The Energy User closed his eyes, hoping only one of his limbs would be lost from the strike but the attack never came. Instead, the hammers were held in the air as Raten used metal-enlarged hands to grab onto them, saving the spiky haired teenager.
However, a barrier was produced around both hammers, forcing the metal enlargened arms away with such potency that it sent Raten crashing into a building. The Force Soldier turned his attention to the boy on the ground beneath him but he was nowhere to be seen.
Ace was yet again behind him, sticking his hand out like a gun and building up energy in his index finger. "Bang." After gathering energy at the tip of his finger, he shot off a laser-thin, highly condensed attack right through his heart, killing him. "Raten!"
He ran over to the building his fellow soldier had been knocked into where he was lying. He dusted off the debris on his body and noticed he was alive and he was incredibly relieved, though he hadn't been spared completely as there were still some trauma wounds on his chest that had gone through his protective clothing.
"I just learned..." Raten spoke between labored breaths. "I don't... have a lot of endurance." His statement prompted Ace to let out a light chuckle.
Annie exclaimed, sticking her hand out after throwing a punch and shooting a fire beam, piercing right through a soldier's head. "And that's the last of them!" She remarked, pounding fists with Katie before they headed over to Ace and Raten's current position. "Is he alright?" Annie appeared next to Ace, seeing him holding the injured Raten.
"He will be in a moment." Ace's hand began to shimmer. He touched Raten's body, his chest specifically which had the most injuries and began to heal it. New skin cells grew over the wounds but a fading scar still remained on the chest. Even at that, Ace felt a little light headed since he had healed a lot more than he was used to.
Raten stood up, touching the fading scar with a scrunched up face. He was livid, not at anyone else but just himself for being so easily taken down. For some reason, he felt that the Force User shouldn't have taken him down because he was much stronger in terms of pure power. 'I can feel it. My body's being held back. I'm not even using half of my true power.' He thought.
Meanwhile, Nalia and Florian had returned from their task and reported to Ace. "Damnit! They're not here. I had them check all the buildings that the soldiers guarded but Squad Rose wasn't in any of them!" Ace explained to them with a sign of frustration while coming to a conclusion. "We need to catch up to Vice Captain Raldin and the others. All the stronger soldiers must be on their end and they might need some back up."
The six teammates set afloat on his Hover Disc together.
Nalia, the other girl was fidgeting as she stood next to Raten. He remembered when she had accidentally bumping into him on her way to the Research Facility and he had almost impaled her. He seemed to have forgotten or at least was acting like it didn't happen.
It was now safe for them to fly higher in the air now since they had cleared most of the area. But what they saw from above was more grim than they could have ever imagined as they reached the end that Raldin and Squad Passion had arrived at.
To their surprise, the Vice Captain and Squad Passion could be seen battling soldiers but there was something more. There were these Beasts that looked too dark to be normal Taikons.
They were all so sharp-edged and bloodthirsty that they couldn't be Taikon Beasts, resembling creatures form a shadow dimension whose only goal was to wreak havoc and bloodshed.
There was also a tower at the far end and was being guarded by Black Spirit soldiers.
"I think I've found our allies," Florian stated, his eyes fixated on the tower.