New Game+

With the alignment shifting to aid the Commander formerly known as Drake, the entire Kraken moved.

Water was entering the Kraken, but the Empress immediately gave her instructions. After entering a specific series of commands within the Command center, several parts of the Kraken began to close up. As such, the breach in the buoyancy chambers was immediately resolved.

Chase gave his orders and directed the groups to defend the specific spots and redirect the guard forces where the Admiral made some of the platoons watch, fearing that it was all part of his ploy.

The Commanders in the Command center were now fully supporting Chase.

Sammy was listening to the commands, but his expression was strange.

"I was wrong! I should have known better! I can't believe that the WGP would leave a secret Konami Code that could close those breaches! And here I thought that only the Emperors could command the Kraken to close those breaches!" Sammy ranted away, making Roselyn and Stanley give him a weird expression.

"Will this be a problem?" Stanley asked.

"No problem. I was just wrong with my deduction. Anyway, quiet down. I'm still listening to the commanders and Chase."

"The Admiral sent a platoon to guard this choke point. Why would he do that?" One of the Commander asked and was broadcasted towards Chase.

"While it looks like that the Admiral wants to protect the missile silos, its possible that the original target is this path! The one that leads to the control panel! Maybe they are looking for a way to open those flood gates."

"Right! It seems logical. The Admiral will want to open as many ports to send water in. Have them move and intercept the enemy!"

The orders were sent, and the platoon moved. A suspicious soldier was on watch and immediately panicked as it ran towards the control panel.

The soldiers chased the man and shot, but he managed to move inside.

More gunshots could be heard, and the lifelines of these platoons were quickly disappearing.

"Send more men! The enemy is here! The enemy is-" The Platoon leader wasn't even able to finish his sentence when he died.

The Commanders scrambled to send more teams, and the choke point soon only had a few soldiers left. The explosions on the other side grew louder and louder.

Chase continued to give his orders to the group. He was now granted full access and control of the video feeds of the Kraken. He gave orders to hide his location in case the missing Admiral would find him. The Commanders immediately followed and even changed the frequency of their communication.

The platoons and teams were moving from one place to the next. If the teams were almost on standby, now no team remained stationary. They all moved in synched, and the Commanders were now able to create a guarded perimeter that assumed traitors were among them. This organized set up would limit the casualties and allow each group to support and attack each other if necessary. 

Some of the Commanders focused just on that and would relay several suggestions to Chase. Chase would either agree or modify the commands. Slowly, every Commander treated Chase as the Admiral.

Chase's team was stationed near the Kraken's top levels and was assigned to prevent anyone from escaping. No one questioned this as Chase affirmed everyone that there are no traitors among the team he formed.

But while he gave his orders, another group of people was intently listening to the broadcast. But their focus was not on Chase's words but on the supersonic sounds that Roselyn would send out.

Tyler and his team found a small vacated room that Chase made for them. The group sat there and rested. The battle with the Ninjas was the most brutal one yet. It was even more terrifying than the fight against the Golems. Even Tyler had several wounds and stabs on his body. 

The room that Chase emptied had several medical facilities. Yet, for the Unlock, the medicines in this room could quickly help them recover.

The ones who had the least wounds were Gardo's team. They were the ones dressing the wounds of Tyler's team, and the trio teens.

"You alright?" Jane asked Tyler as she began to treat Tyler's wounds.

"I'll live. You were pretty good back there."

"Not good enough if you had to protect me." Jane laughed.

"We were practically useless until the very last second."

"Understandable. You were given an experimental drug designed to put you in the Unlock state temporarily. I'm guessing it was only when you guys thought you were going to die that you managed to see how to move and perceive faster than normal." Tyler smiled.

"You guessed correctly. But among my team, I'm probably the best at it. And I could only do so much."

"Don't beat yourself up. Me and the boys had months of training."

Despite the best attempt of Tyler to comfort Gardo's team, the team felt utterly helpless. Unlike Jane, who managed actually to do something useful, most of them weren't. 

Efren glanced at his wounds and could not help but sigh. He only received a few stabs and already had a hard time walking. Yet Tyler had a lot more injuries, and however, they seem fine. Worst was one of the teenagers who received several stabs but didn't even flinch.

It was there that Jane, Efren, Brent, and Archie managed to move in the speed that an Unlocked could. But the timing of their attacks was all off. Only Jane managed to adapt to that scenario.

Efren continued to patch the many stabbed parts of Hank's body. But Hank didn't even flinch. He and the two other Cliff's team members were all carefully listening at the broadcast that Chase was doing.

Jane had a peculiar expression as she pondered just how they managed to survive.

"Their bones are different. The attacks that those ninjas did couldn't penetrate through the ribs. Our bodies are also modified to be harder like theirs, but our bones were lighter. Those three kids have double our weight and density. So while it looks like they are more injured, we are more damaged since me, Scribbs, and Earl are standard soldiers that emphasize mobility. Those kids are designed to be hard hitters given the techs that they have." Tyler summarized.

Jane was silent and waited until suddenly, the eyes of Scribbs, Zidane, and Earl opened.

"The path is open! We can proceed with the mission," Earl announced.

"Let's put on our gear and leave. Roselyn said that the ninjas ought to be escaping, so there probably won't be any more enemies that can threaten us. Still, let's be careful." Earl explained what they heard.

"I can't believe that we managed to pull this off! We'll be using the Kraken's missiles to blow itself from the inside-out! It sounded impossible... But now the way to those weapons room is open! That guy called Sammy sure is smart." Scribbs praised in amazement.

"I'm sure this was all according to the plans that Seeker and Arthur had made. That's why our instructions were vague." Tyler laughed.

"Let's move. The route towards the weapon chambers should be accessible within the next five minutes!" 

The group immediately prepared to move out.

The route they were to travel no longer had any soldiers as Chase moved them because the Kraken detected the Ninjas. 

A platoon of soldiers, composed of several troops were already massacred. The camera feeds in the Command center show a group of men who had the attire that looked like a ninja.

The moved with incredible speeds and utilized incredible weapons that used shurikens and other primitive blades. 

But these weapons were flying and could even move on its own. Added with their outstanding agility, the team managed to move and easily evade the bullets' barrage that the platoons used to shoot them.

The rage of the ninjas poured out in massacring these soldiers. Their attacks were brutal and aimed to kill the soldiers and Exoskeleton in the most gruesome way possible.

"Faster! Trace the signal of lord Rai!" 

"Who are those warriors?! They nearly wiped us out!" One of the Ninjas complained. 

"You didn't notice? They could but didn't! When we were retreating, those pilots could have still fought and shoot us! But they refused too!" Another cursed out.

"My blades couldn't pierce through their bones! I stabbed several times and thought my last attack would stab through that pilot's heart, but I failed!" Another complained. 

The ninjas couldn't understand how they were defeated. The first three exoskeletons were like walls. It was as if they couldn't move past through them because as long as they were near them, any of the three could sense where they were. As such, some of them received ambushes from their blind spots because the other Exoskeleton would attack or deflect their attacks! 

Still, some of the Ninjas were able to bypass the enemy believing that the ninjas that stayed behind could finish the job. But the next three Exoskeletons that faced them were just as troublesome. 

The group moved with such excellent synchronization that they would even shoot their allies randomly. But with just a tilt of the body, the attacks that one of the Exoskeleton would make would barely miss the other and hit a ninja!

The remaining soldiers positioned further back from the six exoskeletons managed to gain momentum as the battle progressed. The ninjas realized that there was a high chance of killing each other. Normally, they would have allowed this. But then the explosion happened, and the signal of their lord disappeared.

As such, they retreated and prioritized finding their lord.

They expected to lose half of their forces in that retreat, but the Exoskeletons didn't attack them for some strange reason!

"Quiet! We don't know if these video cameras can pick up audio. Move faster! Our lord is nearby!" One of the Ninjas shouted to stop the others from talking.

The group reached a large open space that was used as a warehouse and repairing center.

As they entered, they immediately sent attacks to kill the remaining soldiers that were escaping. 

Suddenly, a person appeared out of thin air.

The moment this person appeared, he immediately stumbled.

The Ninjas noticed this and rushed towards him. They no longer chased the retreating figures but gathered around the man that appeared.

"My Liege!" One of the ninjas exclaimed with great relief.

The man who appeared was Rai. Blood was trickling down his mouth as his body had strange burns. He barely managed to teleport his way out when the massive bomb exploded. His attention was focused on the Admiral, and was about to kill it that he didn't detect the bombs hidden under various compartments of that room.

If it weren't for his quick reaction, he would have been dead.

He used his teleportation skills to blink out of the fire.

But as his path is treading between the third and fourth dimensions, the explosion still managed to reach the dimensions he walked into.

As such, Rai was burned and faced the force of the explosion when teleporting. It was a risky move, but it was the only option he had. The space he walked on was collapsing. In his experiments concerning the mystery of teleportation, he knew that most fire could not breach the dimensions. But a particular type of heat could breach it. And that was fire generated from sulfur.

The previous explosions weren't enough to harm him, but this was his weakness. Aside from the sulfur, the bomb was so intense that even as he treads in the fourth dimension, the space within that area was collapsing.

Rai managed to escape, but only as one who ran through the fire.

He was drained as he forced his cells to stabilize the collapsing world of when he teleported. If it weren't for the fact that his subordinates could track his location, he wouldn't have risked it.

"My Liege! Are you alright?"

"We must leave." 

The ninjas nodded and carried their leader as they escaped.

The entire scene was caught on the videos as the large hallway. It was finally captured on camera, and the Commanders were stunned.

"What was that? Cloaking? Was he there the entire time?!" One of the Commanders shouted in shock.

"Probably. Perhaps his cloaking disappeared as his attire gave way! Look at is a figure! Our troops must have wounded him! We don't know just how long that man was cloaked! Who knows! He must have someone that was in here, in this very room reporting to the Admiral!"

"No use discussing that! I want two commanders to analyze the possible actions that his cloaked warrior you mentioned could have made! It must have been him who destroyed the other buoyance chambers. Tell all forces to be alert and inform them of the enemy that has a strong cloaking tech that could defeat our own!' Chase intruded and gave his commands.

The Commanders agreed and began to relay the information.

But then, many of the Commanders grimaced as they noticed that the ninjas were no longer moving in secrecy. Instead, they rushed out as fast as they could, and forcibly attacked and killed their way.

"They are heading for the top level!" A Commander noticed.

"We have to kill them! We need that information! Killing at least one of those could give us an idea of who they are! They might even be one of the traitors!" One of the Commanders concluded. Several disagreed, but Chase waited patiently.

"We have to try! They look like they are planning on escaping. Those technologies couldn't be cheap. Maybe they only have one Cloaker while the rest are just here to support. Did you notice that they only began to move wildly when the Cloaker was injured and could no longer maintain his cloak?" Chase gave his suggestions.

"Commander Drake is right! That should be the main team of the traitors! I recommend sending our forces to intercept and kill them! They could lead us to the missing Admiral!" Another Commander shouted.

"Agreed!" Several others no longer hesitated and accepted Chase's analysis.

And so, the soldiers focused their attention on chasing and killing the escaping ninjas. This allowed Sammy to command the Covenant and Tyler's group to move into the specific weapons facilities and pilfer the needed weapons. As such, the entire group was now approaching the last mission objectives that Seeker bestowed towards Sammy.

All that was left was to send Roselyn and Stanley to their respective positions, and Sammy's mission would be over.