Mev & Evie

Heidemarie clawed at the ground until her hands bled. She forced her fingers into the cracks of broken concrete, scraping, digging, pushing deeper. "Khalia!! Khalia!!!" She gripped her greatsword and struck the debris again and again in a frenzy. Metal shards and stone fragments scattered, but nothing changed. Only one truth became clearer. ...She can't get her out alone. Whenever she stopped moving, the surrounding silence—like all life had suddenly gone still—felt unbearably eerie.

...There's no way Khalia would die like this. She has to be alive under this rubble. She's not the type to give up. She's still holding on. "Just hold on, Khalia...! I'll bring help...!!" In the end, Heidemarie headed toward Area A, praying Khalia was alive. Where Evie and Mev are. They'll find a way. Once they know Khalia is trapped under the debris, they'll come. But when Heidemarie reached Building A, other agents blocked her path. "I said you can't go in! Monsters are swarming...! Going in with this manpower is suicide!!" "There are still people inside...!" "You think I don't know that?! But if we die going in, what's the point?!"

Understanding the situation wasn't difficult.The choice she had to make... wasn't either. As long as Mev and Evie were inside Building A, there was no time to hesitate. Khalia is waiting. "Please move." Heidemarie said as she stepped toward Area A. "I'll go."

Heidemarie pushed past the hesitant SS Edenity agents and entered Area A alone. She cut down the monsters in her way and kept moving forward. She had never imagined she could move like this. It wasn't courage. Just desperation. She had to tell Mev and Evie that Khalia was trapped under the rubble. Ellinad Second Pioneer Base, corridor leading to the command center. In the middle of a hallway littered with bodies, Heidemarie found Evie.

"Evie!" Evie leaned against the wall, covered in blood, her head lowered. Heidemarie rushed over, nearly stumbling, and began treating her wounds with trembling hands. "Get up! Stay with me! What happened...! Evie, please...!" "...Who's that?" Evie slowly lifted her eyelids. "Isn't it our little Heidemarie...? Already done saving everyone?" The words about Khalia caught in her throat. Evie wasn't in any condition to help anyone. If anything, she was the one who needed help. Forcing a smile like she would for a survivor, Heidemarie spoke. "...Evie, we need to pull back first. Your injuries are too severe. If we wait any longer, you'll—"

"No." "...What?" Evie whispered, pleading. "Heidemarie... Mev... became bait for me. He drew the monsters deeper inside... By now... he'll be alone. Help... Mev. We have to... get out together... please..." Heidemarie silently looked down the corridor. Take Evie and escape, or go deeper to save Mev. Heidemarie whispered to Evie. "Evie, then I'll bring Mev back as fast as I can... just hold on a little longer, okay?"

Mev's Request

Deep within Area A, Ellinad Second Pioneer Base

A transmission she had sent hundreds more times while heading toward the interior of the command center.

No answer came, but Heidemarie tried persistently.

The radio signal was poor due to Chaos's influence.

The interference was getting worse.

Finally, Heidemarie pleaded into the communicator.

Heidemarie felt relief at Mev's voice and headed deeper into the command center.

Her anxiety about her dying companions far outweighed her fear of the Monsters she might encounter.

Just like with Evie, Heidemarie couldn't bring herself to tell Mev about Khalia.

For now, she only mentioned Evie.

Heidemarie froze in place, stunned.

At Mev's firm tone, Heidemarie's lips trembled.

A monster's roar echoed through the communicator.

Mev urgently sought confirmation.

Heidemarie answered through her tears.

At her promise, Mev's voice became much more at ease.

Soon after, a horrific scream rang out over the radio, then cut off to nothing.

Heidemarie, who had been frozen in the nightmare, turned around in an instant.

This wasn't the time to grieve or despair.

To keep her promise to Mev, she had to get back to Evie.

But at that moment, a monster crawled out from the end of the corridor, shaking the building.

Mev & Evie

Ellinad Second Pioneer Base, Indoor Area A

Blood flowed, obscuring her vision.

Her exhausted body trembled, losing control.

Something was wrong with her leg too, it was hard to walk straight.

Still, Heidemarie got up and moved toward Evie.

Supporting herself with blood-soaked hands, she turned down the corridor.

Where Evie should have been, only bloodstains remained.

Heidemarie's body, which had been struggling to hold on, slowly collapsed.

Her dust-covered fingers groped across the sticky pool of blood as if searching for the person who had been there,

but no answer came.

Heidemarie laid Evie's notebook before Mev's grave.

Inside the notebook was a hastily scribbled sentence.

[Mev! We're having a baby! You're in big trouble now!]

Heidemarie closed her eyes in apology.

Chloe

Ellinad Second Pioneer Base, Area B

The surroundings grew increasingly chaotic.

Before long, it became impossible to even tell which direction led to escape.

Monsters were closing in, but Heidemarie felt a strange sense of relief.

Her companions were by her side.

Chloe cut off Heidemarie and picked something up from the ground.

It was a Life Core.

Chloe said as she brushed back Heidemarie's hair.

Looking around, the Agents whose eyes met hers nodded.

Those words weighed heavily on Heidemarie's chest.

Heidemarie mustered her last bit of courage and told Chloe about their companions' situation.

Chloe's expression hardened for a moment.

After a moment of silence, Chloe pressed the Life Core into Heidemarie's hands.

Chloe's promise that she would never die in front of her.

Heidemarie nodded.

Chloe contacted the Protos mother ship. The Life Core began to respond.

In her fading vision, Heidemarie's eyes fell upon Chloe.

Chloe smiled.

Ellinad Second Pioneer Base Indoors

The report was filled with details of the personnel Heidemarie had rescued.

A record showing the rescue of over a hundred civilians trapped inside the Chaos, and the elimination of dozens of monsters including high-risk entities in the process.

It was an overwhelming achievement for a student agent to accomplish.

However, Heidemarie's eyes were fixed on one spot.

At the bottom of the document, written in small letters.

[Deceased - Agents] [...... Mev/Khalia/Evie/Chloe - Bodies unrecoverable]

Water droplets fell onto the report.

Heidemarie clutched the report and began to cry out loud.

Heidemarie placed her hand on Chloe's grave.

The Day of Reunion

Before the graves of her companions

Heidemarie spoke as she pulled out weeds growing around Khalia's tombstone.

Heidemarie brushed off the pollen that had accumulated on Evie's tombstone.

Heidemarie smiled as she looked at Mev's tombstone.

Heidemarie pressed her forehead against the grave and whispered.

She looked at her companions.

Before she knew it, tears were streaming down Heidemarie's cheeks.

Waiting for a forgiveness that would never come, Heidemarie remained before her companions' graves for a long while.