The Saurian beast stood, roaring into the night sky, illuminated by the moon and the light emitted from its summoner.  Helix stood, frozen in place, shaking his head in despair.  One by one, he watched Elite angels change their targets to the risen beast, their fire, their bolts and their swords proving of little to no effect whatsoever.  It was unlikely that the Chulathi were going to be able to rescue them this time.

The beast swayed its head from side to side, knocking bolts away with ease.  With a swipe of its arm, it knocked the oncoming dozen or so angels aside with immense ease, before focussing on its target.  One single soul.  A young, fresh, pure source of energy.  One with unconditional love for her home, her friends and absolute respect and loyalty, the likes of which knew no bounds.

The sword in her hand gradually heated as she wielded it, the green stone in its handle glowing.  It started as a dull glow at first, becoming brighter as the sword heated up.  A piercing roar came from the Saurian, as Yuri turned around, catching its gaze aimed squarely at her.  Fear coursed through her being, as she ran in the opposite direction, hoping to increase the distance between herself and the monster.  It charged towards her, its heavy legs pounding on the ground, its thick thighs causing Angels to scatter.  The light followed it, feeding it, basking it in energy from the Fallen agents.  Yuri turned her head to look behind her, seeing the beast closing in on her.  With her lapse in judgement, she tripped and tumbled on the ground, still clutching onto her blade.  In seconds, the beast gave a victorious roar and loomed over her.

‘This is it,’ she thought.  She cowered as the beast raised its claws high above its head.

Scores of arrows flew through the air at the beast, distracting it from its prey long enough for Yuri to make her escape.  She clutched her pendant and focussed on the Kingdom of Heaven.  It was the safest area she could think of.  She never wanted to retreat, but she couldn’t stay.  She focussed hard, running away from the creature.  She focussed harder, with all of her might, feeling her weapon heating up.

“Yuri,” Taeyeon called over the earpiece, “get your gorram out of there!”

Yuri opened her eyes, hearing the Saurian roar once more.  She was still close by, not moving an iota from her spot.  She ran, swerving from one side to the other, turning back towards what little sanctuary she had.  Angels with crossbows fired bolts at the brute to distract it and divert its attention.  Blaster bolts joined in the melee.  Nothing slowed the animal down enough to escape her.

“Yuri!!!” a voice called.  “Get out of the way!!!”

Yuri looked up, seeing Jessica standing right in her path.  To her left stood Lemley and two other angels.  To her right stood Chen, Yoona and one other.  Their crossbows were aimed squarely at the monster, locked onto their target.  Each crossbow held three arrows, all primed to hit the target.  Yuri threw herself onto the floor and rolled out of the way as the archers let their bolts loose.  Quickly, Jessica loaded a single bolt into her bow, as did the other archers.  In quick succession, scores more bolts left their sources at the beast.  Still nothing caused it too much difficulty.

The gem grew brighter as Optimus, Pegasus, Tiffany, Taeyeon and Seohyun all joined in the foray, firing rifle rounds in the same direction.  Yuri scrambled to her feet and ran, oblivious to the growing light from her sword.  Not all of those fighting were so oblivious.

“Your sword, Yuri!” Seohyun called, bringing her comrade’s attention to the heat in her hand.  She continued running towards the monument as she looked at the glowing stone.  Without warning, Pegasus charged at her, snatching the blade from her hand, running far away from the cadet.

The Saurian followed him.  It left Yuri behind, charging after the commander.

“It’s … it’s the stone!” Yuri cried.  “It wants the stone!”

She clutched her pendant and willed herself to return to Heaven.  Immediately, the light that should have appeared did so and she disappeared into the air.  As quickly as she arrived, she made her return to Earth.  She sighed, mildly content in the knowledge that she was safe, as long as she did not hold the sword.  But something came from that thing.  Something the alien creature wanted.

“Sunny!” Yuri shouted through her earpiece.  “Get to the monument.  We need to get rid of this thing!”

“Already working on a plan, kiddo,” Sunny reported, before looking towards Helix with pleading eyes.  The pair were crouched close to the hole in the centre of the monument, from whence their monster had been freed.

“I can’t allow this,” he declined.

“Sir, it’s the only way.  It’s what it wants.  We can use it to our advantage.”

“I can’t allow you to do it.”

“Sir, I have to.  Nobody else would be prepared to do it.”

“It’s insane!  We could lose you!”

Sunny lifted her head confidently.  “You wouldn’t, Sir,” she affirmed.  “I would live on.”

“No, Sunny!”

“Sir, it’s our only hope!”

“No!!!”

“Sir!!!”

Helix glared at his subordinate, finding her gaze fixed, unblinking at him.  He had never seen such confidence and belief in any of his cadets since he had taken command of the Academy many aeons ago.  No other angel, not even from Elite would have considered doing something so reckless.  Yet here was a cadet proposing to do that very thing.  Something that could cost her very soul.

“Sir, I can do this.”

Helix sighed, relenting.  He called down his earpiece.  “Get that sword to the monument.  I don’t care how, just do it!”