Arcadia

Capsized

This...

Isabella weakly wiped the glass pod with one arm. Her arm slowly slid down as she floated weakly within water. 

"I dragged you into all this, I must do something..!"

Isabella tried to shake the weak feeling off, but it's no good. The persisting weakness gave way and she slowly shut off her eyes once more, with an arm outstretched.

While that was going on, Yura hastily defended herself from Argo and his spinning blades, the Vortex Ripper. This was all possible due to her hasty movements and skillful usage of Lucent Heart. 

"No matter how hard you try, that scary fan of yours can't pierce through the same kind of magical weapon, am I right?"

Argo ignored her and pressed the attack. 

"It's useless, give it up! I won't be caught off guard again!" 

After managing to avoid and block the opponent's attacks, Yura swung her rod diagonally upwards. This caught Argo on the side of his head and lost him his balance.

When he got back up, he rushed towards Yura again. He slipped on his way forward, and Yura merely sidestepped to avoid him. Just as he turned around, Vortex Ripper stopped spinning, and Argo was left with his five claw-like blades out. A look of shock swept through Argo's face, followed by a smile from Yura. 

"Looks like someone doesn't have enough Rei to sustain his weapon. That thing's scary, but you'll have to try harder if you're going to beat me!"

Following her confident boast, Yura dashed towards Argo. With a quick shout, she drover Lucent Heart into Argo's chest, pushing him all the way and causing him to crash through his table. Argo screamed, and forcefully detached his weapon as it reverted back into a glove. 

Yura exhaled and deactivated Lucent Heart, putting it back inside her shorts' pocket. She flipped her hair and slowly paced around the fallen Argo, who started crawling away from the broken table.

"Jeez! You just wouldn't give up, would you?"

Argo managed to get his hand on a console that fell from his table. He swiftly grabbed it and sat up with a smile of his own. "And you're really naive, aren't you? This is the third opening you've given me since the start of the battle."

"W-what is that?" 

"Oh, you wanna know? You see, Dreadnought owns Iruka Island. Over half of the resort island is artificial, so when worse comes to worse, there's gotta be an 'emergency termination' option, ready, right?" Argo revealed a button on the console. "With one button, Iruka Island will go up in flames. Now you see why you're powerless against me?"

"You're one dirty scum!" 

"Well, well. Look who's got her back against the wall now."

Yura looked on, unsure of what to do in this situation.

~~~~~

Meanwhile, the search continued in the other parts of the base. People started scattering around, as the fixed formations of the Dreadnought cadets started mysteriously crumbling.

"Have you seen them anywhere?" asked a cadet to a fellow cadet. The second one shook his head, followed by hitting the wall.

"You know what, it's all the scientists' fault. I've been waiting to vent out my frustrations on them for so long already."

"Not them, I mean my companions! I was supposed to be with my team and after a while, I just noticed that they're gone!"

The second one scratched his head and looked at the ceiling. "It must be those girls. They are more troublesome than I expected them to be. Well, someone did find a group of people knocked out on the second level."