Erich and the other survivors did not wait long aftering to a n of action, they immediately set out from their cave, and cautiously made their way back to the city, where the enemy lie in wait for them.


    It was not the easiest journey, as Erich and hisrades had to descend a mountain, while avoiding terrifying monsters such as Ice worms and therapods. But after arriving at the outskirts of the city, Erich looked at hisrades and said his farewells. There was a solemn tone in his voice, as if he was beginning to regret his decision.


    "If I am not brought back, make sure to tell Erika and Ayumi that I love them both... You guys will do that for me, right?"


    JT did not say a word. What was going through his head? Only he knew. Ultimately, it was Echo who confirmed that he would indeed inform Erich''s wife and fiancee about hisst words, by grabbing hold of the man''s shoulder and nodding his head.


    With this said, Erich sighed in relief, where JT then looked at him, before asking the question on his mind.


    "So, what exactly are you going to do?"


    Erich looked over at Echo, who had Heavy''s grenadeuncher slung over his back, before asking the man to hand it over.


    ''Echo, give me the grenadeuncher. I am going to go cause some unecessary trouble. You guys will have at most five minutes to get this done. So once you have finished, get the hell out of dodge, you understand?"


    Echo silently handed the grenadeuncher over to Erich, while nodding his head. After doing so, he pointed in the direction of themunications tower, which boldly stood in the center of the city. Roughly a kilometer away. This was a distance that was easily traversed by a WRAITH. And thus, Erich did not need to fear that hisrades would fail in their mission.


    With this said, Erich began walking away. Where he said what might very well be hisst words to hisrades.


    "Alright, look for my signal. You will know what it is once you see it...."


    JT and Echo silently said their farewells to Erich, while steeling their resolve for what needed to be done. As for Erich, he began to rush through the city in search of the reactor, which was undoubtedly the primary source of power for the city.


    Erich carefully made his way through the city, while avoiding detection to the best of his ability. Until he finally stumbled on the facility which held the reactor. It took little effort for Erich to infiltrate the building and dispatch the guards in his way, which he did silently with his sma knife.


    After all, the guards appeared to be the so-called allies of the Svartalfheim Federation, and not their elite special forces who hid in the shadows like ghosts. Once inside the facility, Erich quickly located the reactor, which he targeted with the grenadeuncher, but not before saying what he believed were hisst words.


    "I guess this is the end of the line..."


    ---


    A massive explosion urred within the city. Though Echo and JT did not know how Erich had managed to aplish such a feat, they witnessed the bulk of the city''s security rush to the area. And could even hear the sound ofbat urring.


    Knowing that this was indeed the signal they were supposed to look for. JT tookmand of the situation and ordered Echo to follow him to the Communications tower.


    "Quickly! We don''t have much time!"


    JT rushed forward at breakneck speeds, while Echo followed shortly behind him. The entire city and its garrison were in a state of chaos, as they rushed to put out the fire, and to deal with the intruders who had caused the explosion. They were entirely unaware of the figures which zoomed past them like a bat out of hell.


    It did not take long for JT and Echo to arrive at thems tower, which was seemingly abandoned. Something which made JT feel a bit uneasy. But he ignored his gut feeling, and instead quickly located the terminal which controlled themunications tower.


    It took all of his effort to slice into the terminal, and bypass an advanced security system like that which belonged to the Svartalfheim Federation, but JT was just skilled enough to do so. He just needed time. Luckily for him, he had Echo watching his back. Or so he thought.


    However, for the third time in JT''s life, Echo spoke up. Despite the fact that he would not normally speak, unless it was the most dire situation, his words themselves were not rming.


    "How much longer do you need?"


    Having briefly forgotten that it was Echo speaking to him, and not another member of his team. A wide grin formed on JT''s face as he proudly boasted of his abilities.


    "Give me thirty seconds and I will have ess to the terminal. From there, all I need is another thirty seconds to send the message to the Alfheim dominion. Don''t worry buddy, in about a minute we will be in the clear!"


    Just when JT was about to type in thest digit, which would grant him ess to the terminal, he felt a burning pain inside his chest. As an energy de of unknown origin cut through his advanced power armor like butter, and in doing so, incinerated his heart.


    JT had just enough time to look behind him to see Echo as the wielder of the de. Where his final words were a simple question of his existence.


    "Why?"


    Echo then withdrew the de and deactivated it. While JT''s corpse crumpled to the floor. Though his expression could not be seen behind his visor, it was one of pure contempt as he finally spoke his thoughts about his so-calledrade.


    "Absolutely pathetic...."


    After saying this, Echo looked up at the ongoingmotion and sighed heavily while shaking his head.


    "I am sure they will be able to handle Erich. But I can''t help but have this feeling...."


    ---


    Erich was currently engaged in a gunfight with the Svartalfheim Federation''s most elite warriors. He did not even have the time tounch a grenade at the reactor. For the moment he was about to pull the trigger, his sixth sense told him that he was in deep danger, and once more, he rolled out of the way of an assassin''s hidden de.


    He immediately activated his foresight and determined the exact location of the concealed enemies where he returned fire. Killing his attackers in the process before fleeing from the facility. Yet, after he had escaped to a far enough distance, another explosion urred nearby, which lit a quarter of the city ame.


    This was something that he was not responsible for, but it dawned on him very quickly that he had not been betrayed by some unknown rat. But instead by one of his ownrades. Once more, he had walked straight into a trap.


    Upon realizing that either JT or Echo was the traitor, Erich knew that the mission had failed. And there was only one way for him to send the message, and that was by doing it himself. However, he was still several kilometers away from the Comms tower, where the traitor would undoubtedly be waiting for him.


    In between him and the traitor was an army, let alone the hidden assassins who kepting for his life. Nevertheless, the Alfheim Dominion needed to know that their ns had been seen through, and thus, Erich did not hesitate to fight his way through the city.


    Erich ran when he could, and fought when he needed to, but eventually, after leaving behind a trail of corpses, he arrived at the Comms tower. Where his power armor was heavily damaged from all the shots he had taken. And then, when he stepped foot into the control room, he saw JT''s corpse on the ground, and Echo simply standing there silently waiting for him.


    Outraged over this sudden betrayal, Erich called out to Echo, asking the same question that JT had managed to utter before his life faded away.


    "You! You''re the traitor? Why?"


    Echo, however, did not exin his reasoning. He instead tossed a device to Erich. Which, upon further inspection, was one of the energy swords that the Svartalfheim assassins kept trying to kill him with. Upon realizing that Echo wanted a sword fight, Erich simply scoffed. He immediately pretended like he was bing ustomed to the weapon while using his foresight to gaze into the future.


    In each scenario that presented itself, Erich would die a brutal death in singlebat against Echo. There was only one potential situation where he could emerge victorious, and because of this, Erich sighed heavily as he cast his sma rifle a way and activated the sma sword.


    "Have it your way...."


    Echo immediately took a stance with his sword preparing for the eventual fight, which he knew for a fact he would win. The two men began to circle one another, and just when Echo was about to make a downward sh towards his unsuspecting opponent, Erich dropped his sword, and withdrew his sidearm, where he used one hand to prevent Echos'' attack by holding his wrists in the air, while using his free hand to fire multiple shots into the man''s guts.


    After the sma bolts had cut through Echo''s armor and incinerated his guts, Erich kicked the man to the floor, who was holding his burnt belly while struggling to remain alive. Erich then chuckled before scorning Echo with his words.


    "You didn''t really think I would actually engage with you in a sword fight, did you? Hand to handbat is your specialty, of course I would lose. What kind of idiot do you take me for?"


    After saying this, Erich did not hesitate to raise his sidearm, where he fired another five shots into Echo''s head, killing the man on the spot. Erich then essed the terminal, which was nearly hacked through by JT before his untimely demise.


    Realizing that this was above and beyond his paygrade, Erich quickly contacted Tia so that she could do the job for him.


    "Tia, can you ess this terminal and send a priority message to the Alfheim Dominion?"


    Tia did not hesitate to respond to this request, and before she could even finish saying the words which she had prepared, Erich had ess to the terminal.


    "Of course, Master!"


    Once the terminal was sliced into, Erich quickly typed a message and sent it to Lunaria''s personal holo frequency. The message was brief, but it contained the basic point.


    "We were deceived! Do not dere war! The Dark Elves are baiting you into a Gctic War! - Erich."


    Immediately after sending this message, Erich felt a burning hot pain inside his leg, as he fell to the floor, no longer able to stand on his own. He then felt a brutal kick, which rolled him over on his back where he gazed upon the appearance of a figure which he immediately recognized as one of the Svartalfheim Federation''s most elite warriors. Curiously enough, it was a feminine voice which spoke to him.


    "Impressive.... To think one man was capable of such destruction... I have orders to eliminate you all, but perhaps my superiors would be interested in what you know..."


    After saying this, Erich was struck in the head, which knocked him outpletely. Where he would not wake up for some time.