"Roan, you take care of these worms! I'll try to grab the corpse!" Ravine shouted.

  "Got it!"

  Roan dashed toward a worm at high speed, opening fire with his assault rifles. The bullets ricocheted harmlessly off the creatures' hides. The smaller worms gave chase as he flew further away, drawing their attention from Ravine.

  "Damn it, the bullets are doing nothing!"

  One of the worms burrowed into the ground, then erupted beneath him. It wrapped around his mech's leg and dragged him down toward the sand.

  "Damn it, it's got me! Ravine, they're on me—the big one is all yours!"

  Ravine glanced at him and nodded just as she blocked an incoming attack from the massive worm. Its chainsaw-like teeth ground against her mech's arms as she held it at bay. She groaned with effort, then shoved it back and fired a rocket into its face. The creature fell back, screeching.

  On Roan's side, he aimed down at the worm holding him and shot it in the head. It exploded in a spray of gore. When I aimed at their bodies it bounced off, but the heads didn't. This is going to be annoying for sure.

  The smaller worms attacked in unison, but he launched multiple rockets around himself to scatter them. He grabbed one and pressed hard against its neck until the head separated and fell off, the body thudding onto the sand as black blood splattered across the dunes.

  Another one down.

  Back at Ravine's fight, she was engaged in an aerial dance with the giant worm, dodging and weaving as its attacks grew increasingly ferocious.

  Neither rockets nor bullets work on it. How can I make this work? She swirled and dodged another strike, then thrust back to gain distance. I doubt my piercing slashes will be of any use here, nor override mode. She looked toward Roan. But maybe he could.

  Roan was still battling the smaller worms when two of them grabbed his mech and dragged it across the sand, diving in and out of the surface. This can't go on. I've got to stop this before the mech takes serious damage.

  He tried to grab one, but it coiled around the left arm of his mech and tore it clean off.

  "This is what I was trying to avoid. Fuck."

  He thrust high into the air, activated his laser sword with the mech's remaining hand, and spun to split one worm in two. It crashed to the ground in pieces.

  "Serves you right."

  The last small worm tried to enter the mech through the missing arm socket.

  "Ravine, let's switch! I've got an idea to kill that big worm!"

  Ravine looked at him. "What is it?"

  "No time! Just trust me!"

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  She nodded. "Okay, I trust you."

  He pressed the Sphere of Grace, and in an instant he was outside his mech at Ravine's previous position. He activated his bat wings as the system announced: "FLIGHT MODE ACTIVATED! DURATION: NOT DETERMINED!"

  "Doesn't matter." His left arm transformed into a massive railgun, red energy beginning to charge. The system displayed: "RAIL GUN OPERATIONAL! ENERGY CHARGING UP!"

  He flew circles around the giant worm to buy time. I just have to hold on until it finishes charging. Let's see if that upgrade was worth it or not.

  "CHARGING ALMOST DONE!" the system notified.

  He accelerated toward the worm just as its tail whipped forward and stabbed through his back, pulling him toward its rotating maw.

  He smirked. "You're making it even easier for me."

  Ravine, who had just finished slashing the last small worm into pieces in a bath of black blood, shouted, "Roan! Be careful!"

  "Oh, I'm gonna be careful, all right." He smirked at the worm as the system chimed: "CHARGING COMPLETE!"

  "Good timing." He thrust his railgun-arm directly into the giant worm's mouth. Even as the teeth shredded his arm, he released the full charge.

  The blast tore through the creature, erupting from the other side of its head. The recoil sent Roan flying backward. Ravine quickly maneuvered her mech and caught him in its arms as the giant worm's body crashed into the sand with a thunderous impact, sending a massive wave of sand radiating outward.

  "Roan! Are you all right?"

  Roan laughed. "I just blasted a giant worm—I'm feeling awesome right now!"

  Ravine looked at his missing arm. He shrugged. "Oh, this? It's fine. We'll get Zhon to repair it, right?"

  "When did you get that railgun?"

  "This was one of my first upgrades. I saw it and knew I had to have it. No regrets."

  Ravine sighed. "Just be more careful. Your mech is done, so you're going to have to stay on my mech's back."

  "Sounds good to me. I deserve that break. Anyway, where's Nix's body now?"

  Ravine pointed toward the remains of the giant worm. She approached with her mech and climbed out. The moment she exited, the desert heat hit her like a physical force. She flinched slightly, then composed herself.

  She found the body and carefully turned it over. Nix's eyes were closed, his long brown hair damp with perspiration or blood. He looks so peaceful. Perhaps he is in a better place now.

  "You believe in that stuff?" Roan asked through the comms.

  "I don't know, but for such a horrible death, for him to look so at peace... he must have seen something good on the other side, right?"

  "Eh, I don't know. Either way, now he gets to rest with dignity, not dragged around by that creature."

  Ravine nodded. "You're right."

  She knelt and searched through his armor's pockets, finding an ID card belonging to a scientist named Quabli Namar. "I got the ID. We can go now." She stood and started walking toward the mech, then stopped and turned back to the body. She shook her head. "No. He deserves a burial."

  "A burial? For what?"

  Ravine's expression softened as she looked at the body. "Well, it's partly because of him that we have a better chance of success. It's because of him that we'll be able to move forward. He deserves that much."

  Roan paused. "I guess in a way you're right." He sighed. "Fine then. Let's do this."

  He dropped down from the mech's back and joined Ravine. Together, they dug a hole with their hands and gently placed Nix's body inside before covering it with sand. They planted a piece of his armor as a marker for where he was buried.

  "You know," Roan said, "this was a very human thing to do. You didn't have to do this, and yet... you did."

  "He was one of us, after all." She turned around. "Let's get back to the mech and report to the others."

  Roan shook his finger. "Uh uh uh. Aren't you forgetting something?" He pointed at a brown orb lying near the creature's remains.

  Ravine's eyes widened. "But you defeated it. You take it."

  "Well, I could, but I feel like it's getting to the point where I'll get all the cool stuff and you'll get none, so... yeah, take it."

  Ravine shrugged. "As you wish."

  She picked up the brown orb. Two notifications appeared: "YOU HAVE ABSORBED A COMRADE'S INVENTORY AND ABILITY SLOTS! MAXIMUM SLOTS INCREASED!"

  Another message followed: "ABILITIES UNLOCKED! RAZOR ARMS UNLOCKED! TRAVERSAL SKILL UNLOCKED: SAND SLITHERING."

  Ravine smirked. "On second thought, Roan, you keep the mech."

  Roan turned around. "Huh?"

  "I'm going to have some fun."