The Ascension Age

"We're done. Let's move out! Now!" Sera yelled as she immediately began to run away. Aire, Altina, and Kymei didn't waste time and followed her. Just as they were running away, Kymei fired behind him, delaying the other Riser following them. Not long after that, the Stellar Beast noticed that the Riser on its side was closer than Aire's group, which ran away, and changed its target.

"Fuck!" the guy cursed out loud before he defended against the Stellar Beast. In the end, Aire and the others made sure to keep the Stellar Beast at bay but didn't defeat it. With it, this strategy showed its effect. 

*Roar!*

Not even three seconds went by before more Stellar Beasts began to appear in the area. Nevertheless, Sera found time to check the map and everyone's position. Sure enough, her team wasn't the only one taking advantage of the chaos. Juana and Wallace's groups now had more Stellar Bubble Energy, thanks to it. 'Well, the more they have, the less of a target we become,' Sera thought for a moment.

However, she soon noticed other Risers heading in their direction. "Altina, Aire, Kymei, we're charging back into the Stellar Beast horde again."

Altina and the others didn't understand why she wanted to do that, but they knew that Sera wouldn't ask for it if it wasn't necessary. In the end, there were quite a few Risers in front of them and some Stellar Beasts at the back. That being said, it was easier to deal with mindless animals as long as they weren't ambushed. 

And just like that, the time passed. Less than 30 minutes were left when the Stellar Beasts appeared. Besides, the fact that they defeated another Riser meant that their timer was reset once again. One must not forget that every thirty minutes without defeating an enemy meant losing 50% of the team's whole Stellar Energy reserves.

Eventually, the last five minutes arrived, and things got really heated and crowded. The Stellar Beasts didn't stop appearing.  At this point, tactics didn't matter anymore since anywhere one went, one would find Stellar Beasts or perhaps a struggling Riser.

With that said, Aire's group was now completely focused on defense. 

*Bang, bang, bang!*

"Aire, protect Kymei," Altina said as her arm shone with silver light before punching a Stellar Beast. The Stellar Best fell into the swamp and began to struggle to come back. However, Altina's expression didn't improve as she thought to herself, 'I'm running out of Stellar Energy.' Before, she was able to dispatch a Stellar Beast with a single attack while using the Stellar Suit Arm, but now she couldn't even knock them out cold. 

Without any other choice, she touched her defensive bracelet and began to extract Stellar Energy from it to replenish herself. Of course, that bothered her since it was quite a waste compared to using that Stellar Energy for training. 

Aire, who had received the order, immediately moved to where Kymei was, who was just about to be surrounded. He didn't hold back and activated his Stellar Suit Arm as well, sending one of the beasts flying. Simultaneously, Aire grabbed Kymei by the arm and used the gap left by that same Stellar Beast to flee from the encirclement. Of course, he didn't forget to turn off his Stellar Suit Arm as soon as he pulled him away.

"Hey, dead weight, fire back," Aire said while carrying Kymei.

"What the hell do you think I'm doing?" Kymei was indeed shooting. It's just that Aire was annoying him.

"Hahaha! When we started this mission, it was you bothering me that I couldn't do anything. How about now?" Of course, Aire wasn't stopping any time soon.

"Hmph! All you know is thanks to your grandfather right here. I, your benevolent grandfather, was there to protect your back with my Stellar Rifle." Kymei didn't back down either.

Sera and Altina didn't know whether to laugh or cry while listening to the two. Their situation was as bad as it could be, so how the hell do these two find time to annoy one another? "Just ignore those idiots. At least they're faring well."

Both women nodded in agreement to those words and focused on their own job. 

Little by little, one Riser after another was saved by the protective gel. However, it was quite useless now since no one had the time to obtain their Stellar Bubble Energy... or so they thought. The smart ones simply grabbed those Riser's bodies and ran with them while trying to move away from the competitors and the Stellar Beasts. While doing so, they also absorbed the Stellar Bubble Energy from those defenseless competitors.

"Here's another sheep!" Wallace shouted as he headed back to his team encirclement with another gel-covered body. Sure enough, there was an advantage in having one member with most of the Stellar Suit parts. They could risk more.

Altina didn't consider doing the same thing, though. By now, she wasn't crazy enough to risk all their Stellar Energy.

Only one minute was left when out of nowhere, Sera was attacked from three different positions. Aire was protecting Kymei, while Altina was a little too far from her, fighting a stronger Stellar Beast. 

"Fuck!" Sera cursed as her bracelet shone, ready to activate. However, Sera wasn't going down so easily. At the very last moment, she jumped towards one of the Stellar Beasts charging at her. With that, her bracelet activated, covering her body in a protective gel before it hardened.

*Bang!*

The Stellar Beast then slammed into Sera, making her body fly in Altina's direction. That was her final effort. Since she couldn't escape, she might as well make it easier for her group to catch her body and absorb the Stellar Energy in her bracelet. One must remember that the total Stellar Bubble Energy for the team will be shared equally at the end of the mission. As long as they absorbed it before time was up, there wouldn't be any losses.

Altina's eyes lit up as she kicked the Stellar Beast in front of her and jumped back, catching Sera's body. At the same time, Aire and Kymei arrived. Aire then put Kymei down before saying, "Absorb everything. Altina and I will keep the beasts as busy as we can."

"Alright!" Kymei immediately nodded in response as he touched his bracelet on Sera's. 

Aire and Altina looked at each other before nodded. After that, their Stellar Suit Arms appeared as they began to fight back. This time, it was all or nothing. Even if they passed out, they wouldn't take the Stellar Suit Arm off.