[color=00FFFF]It's eating the other viruses!?[/color] Ciel was relegated to watching the monster consume its kin, still struck with the shock of sudden cannibalism. And beyond simple healing, the beast looked as if it were preparing something nasty for their feeble entourage. The abomination almost appeared to be charging some kind of attack, but the executable charged faster. As Aki still fumbled with her chips in a weak attempt to ready herself for the navi's next order, Ciel unleashed her guardian saber against the thick skin of the creature. The one-weapon-army blade of light sailed true to its target: the vulnerable neck of the cannibal software. And for a hopeful, wasted moment, the sword sunk deep into the flesh of the biomechanical fiend. Aki didn't have time to celebrate. By the time realization reached the now-widened eyes of Ciel.exe, the eldritch horror had torqued the saber with a flex of its shoulders. The weight of the goliath's gesture sent grim fissures spiraling throughout the brilliant aquamarine edge as if it were nothing but rock candy to a violent child. The crevices crawled to the hilt of the blade and dematerialized the broken lifeline into the ghostly vapor of its underlying voxels. Before Ciel had the prayer of a moment to reorient herself, the ogre swatted the navi aside like a bee with a blunted stinger. A painful [i]clack-thump[/i] preceded a newly-formed crater in the surface of the digital earth. [color=FF7276]Ciel!![/color] A thousand thoughts bombarded Aki's mind at once. Was Ciel alive? Could any of them win this? Even if they did, would there be more? Were... were they all going to die? Her anxiety didn't have a chance to catch up to her fears. An injured, beaten hand erupted from the crater and levered its attached body out of the makeshift tomb. Ciel was still alive. Weakened and badly hurt, but alive. [color=00FFFF]Aki...[/color] A barely-perceptible metallic twinge scratched at the corners of her voice. But Aki didn't careā€”the navi owned her full attention. [color=00FFFF]Holy Panel...[/color] Aki couldn't afford to hesitate. With the zeal of a veteran, she ripped the battlechip out of her pack, marked by a red square surrounding a green hexagon, both encapsulated by the curve of a spiked blue circle. The battlechip slid cleanly into her Expanse Caller. [color=FF7276]You've got it! Holy Panel, battlechip in, download![/color] The data instantly reached its destination in the form of a prismatic plane about twice the width of the navi's shoulders, a perfect square that shifted colors depending on how Aki looked at it. And in a move that probably surprised everyone else as much as it stunned Aki, Ciel didn't attack the colossus. Instead, she planted her feet firmly into the ground and hooked her arms upward between the virus' triceps and torso, carefully positioning its feet a step outside of the panel below her. [color=00FFFF]Now!![/color] The navi shouted at the caravan of allies, her voice still tinted with battle damage. Her eyes lingered a moment longer on Fefnir and his flames. [color=00FFFF][i]Kill it!![/i][/color]