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They did have protective gear on, so hopefully they would be fine, but he wanted to add a layer of quartz armor to them, just to be sure. To do that, though, he would need his materialization.

He tried again to summon it but nothing happened. His ability was still being suppressed by the Mad Demon's overwhelming soul power.

And with his movement completely neutralized, what else could be done? Nothing. He was powerless.

All he could think to do was beg.

"Morgunov!" yelled Asad over the howling wind, drawing the madman's glance. "Please! Don't let my men die in this storm!"

The man stared at him for a moment, perhaps thinking it over. "Hmm! Now that you mention it, yeah! This is pretty callous of the noble Vanguardian over there, isn't it?! Let's see how he--!"

And he kept talking, but Asad wasn't able to hear him over the raging winds. The tornadoes were so close now, threatening to yank Morgunov's robots right out of the sand despite how dug in they were.

Then, amid the increasingly dense swirl of sand, Morgunov disappeared from Asad's view. He couldn't tell where or how he'd gone, just that he'd vanished. More of the machines began to disappear, too, and again, Asad couldn't tell how. Had they dug even deeper in? Or just been yanked into the air by Miles?

He could hear faint traces of screaming, cutting in and out between the sand-riddled winds. And to his horror, he realized that it was the scouts. He caught glimpses of them, of their gear being shredded, of blood flying.

They were dying.

And all he could do was watch.

Desperate, he and Qorvass activated pan-forma, hoping that it would allow him to materialize again. But it was in vain, as they both knew it would be.