"Six wizards...five dolls," Origami said quietly, counting the signals displayed on the sensor projected onto her retinas.
Eleven targets left. Which meant that she had dropped two-thirds of the original number that were here.
"..."
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the corpses of the mechanical dolls she had just attacked plunging to the ground. She exhaled.
Massive arms on slender frames. Legs that bent backward, as opposed to forward-facing human knees. A smooth head that resembled a full-face helmet. And the CR units affixed to those bodies in key locations.
She had seen these machines modeled after people before.
Two months ago, when they went to Arubi Island for their school trip, Origami had tried to go after Shidou when he went out in the middle of a storm, and the same model of robot had blocked her way forward.
She was surprised when these dolls-Bandersnatches or whatever they were called-had shown up with the DEM wizards, but now they were a piece in a puzzle that was starting to make sense to Origami.
Mechanical dolls that used Realizers. Equipment that supposedly couldn't be activated unless connected to a human brain. Back on the school trip, she'd wondered if they belonged to DEM Industries, given how far beyond the normal technological standards this was, and now she was certain of it.
She had learned the reason why these dolls appeared on her school trip and also why there had been zero investigation into countermeasures when she reported their existence to her superiors.
"I won't let you lay a finger on Shidou." She clenched her teeth and issued orders in her mind.
She set her sights on the wizards and dolls in her field of view and deployed limited point Territories. The precision was low because she had deployed a line of more than ten of them, but even so, they would stop her enemies for a moment or two. She opened up numbers five through eight in the container and launched missiles at her targets.
The wizards all escaped their restraints and just narrowly dodged these, but one Bandersnatch took a hit in the head and another was struck in the torso, and both dropped out of the sky.
"Dammit! Dammit! What the hell are you?!"
Naturally, Jessica and the other DEM wizards still in the air were opening up with whatever weapons they had at Origami.
But Origami wasn't the sort to simply sit there and let it happen. She fired the high-output thrusters equipped below the weapon container and moved the enormous bulk of White Licorice through the air at a seemingly impossible speed.
Attacks she couldn't evade, she defended against by either deploying a point Territory on the anticipated trajectory or bestowing defensive capability for just a moment to the Territory in the location where the missile hit.
As flesh and blood, Origami hadn't been able to do anything up against the Bandersnatches. But with White Licorice, it was a different story.
Drones that used Realizers. This was indeed amazing and menacing, but in her assessment, they didn't begin to compare to the human wizards in terms of simple battle power. They were an order of magnitude worse than the wizards at fine operation and Realizer control. And now that Origami boasted the firepower of an entire squad all on her own, they were great targets.
"Shoot! Go!"
The wizards pressed the attack. Enough warheads to fill her field of view closed in on her.
Even Origami in her current state wouldn't be able to completely evade this many missiles. She shifted the Territory enveloping her body to defensive mode. It wasn't a huge amount of force. She could take several hits and still-
"...?!"
The world shuddered abruptly.
Her Territory was momentarily disturbed, and several of the warheads ripped into White Licorice's armor. The incredible impact rocked Origami, and a slight nausea came over her.
"Ngh!"
She scowled slightly, fired her thrusters, and moved away from the spot for the moment. She stopped when she had a view of all the remaining wizards and got her breathing under control.
"Hmm?" Watching Origami suspiciously, Jessica raised her eyebrows. "Oh. Ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha-ha! I get it. Is that it?"
Even though her face had been drained of color until that very moment, Jessica suddenly began to laugh cheerfully and pointed at Origami. "Looks like your time's just about up. Little miss master wizard!"
Origami narrowed her eyes. And then she felt something wet by her mouth. Without taking her eyes off the enemy, she wiped it with a hand. And discovered blood. Apparently, her nose was bleeding.
For an instant, she thought it was because of the previous impact. But that wasn't it.
"This is...," Origami groaned as excruciating pain exploded in her head and she was assaulted by dizziness.
This was the first time she'd experienced this. It was the activation limit.
"Pfft... Ha-ha-ha! And you were so close. You really were. But now that you're at your limit, this is the end for you."
Several silhouettes appeared in the sky behind Jessica. Bandersnatches.
There wasn't a single mark on them. These were apparently not the machines Origami had dispatched earlier, but reinforcements sent from somewhere.
Perhaps having confirmed the arrival of backup, Jessica smiled victoriously.
"Heh-heh. The tables have turned. You really did a number on me, so don't think you're getting off scot-free."
"Ngh." Origami gritted her teeth, her head splitting with incredible pain and her vision steadily growing hazier.
◇
The first day's performers were lined up on Tenguu Square's central stage. They were all holding their breath, looking nervous as they waited for the MC to speak.
And this only made sense. The performances were done, the votes had been cast, and they were about to announce the top schools.
"Third place in the performance division-Senjou University High School!"
The room erupted in cheers and applause, and the Senjo performers onstage cried out with joy.
They were the jazz group that had been on before Shidou and the Spirits. Shidou clapped his hands together politely.
They had to have played pretty well to be voted into third place. Shidou's own recollection of their performance, however, was pretty hazy. Although he'd been listening to them extremely close-up, he'd been so nervous for his own performance that hardly any of their playing actually made it into his ears.
"Second place!" the announcer shouted as if to curb the cheering.
The audience was eager to hear this result. All their yelling and clapping and whistling quickly gave way to silence.
There was no doubt that there were only two names in everyone's heads at the moment: Rindoji, eternal champion, with an overwhelming performance from the actual idol Izayoi Miku. And Raizen High School, with their last-second miracle.
These two performances had obviously been special. That was clear for all to see. Maybe it was because of some aura the Spirits had.
The MC paused, seeming slightly nervous, and then took a breath before continuing: "Falling just short of the win! Raizen High School!"
"...!"
The moment he heard this name over the loudspeaker and saw the results on the large monitor onstage, he felt time stop.
A beat later, deafened by cheering and applause, he opened his eyes and caught sight of Miku's face twisted up in a grin.
And of course she was grinning. Because the fact that Shiduo and his band had come in second meant...
"And taking the crown of first place in the performance division!" the MC called, and a spotlight flickered to life, centered directly on Miku. "They really are powerful! The queens, Rindouji Girls' Academy!"
"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" The earsplitting cheer shook the venue itself.
"Sh-Shidou...," Tohka said, eyes on the ranking displayed on the monitor. Her face was flooded with anxiety, and her fingers shook slightly. "W-we lost...? I-it's because I sang..."
"N-no! It's not your fault, Tohka!" Shidou protested, but Tohka still looked like she was about to burst into tears. It was almost like she couldn't even hear what he was saying.
"Hee-hee! Hee-hee-he-hee..." He heard Miku chuckling behind them.
"Miku," he said.
"Seeee? It went just like I said, didn't it? This is what haaaappens when you count too much on those friends of yours."
Treating the still-speaking MC like background noise, Miku walked over to them, smirking. She stopped in front of Shidou and nudged his chin up.
"Either way, a promise is a proooomise. You and the two Spirits whose power you sealed are all mine as of todaaay, Shiori."
"Ngh."
"Hee-hee-hee. Please don't look so scared. I'll spoil you lottts-"
"And so!" the MC called out in an even louder voice, drowning Miku out. "First place overall on this first day of the Tenou Festival goes toooooo...Raizen High School!"
"...What?" Miku widened her eyes in blank amazement.
Shidou and Tohka did the same. He honestly had barely been listening to the MC.
"This is a surprise. In the performance division, Rindoji did take top place with an unbeatable and overwhelming performance. But it seems they just weren't up to snuff this year in the exhibit and booth divisions."
"What...? What...?" Miku shook her head from side to side, as if she couldn't understand what was happening.
"And it looks like Raizen scrambled past to take the top seat after getting second place in the performance division. They received an amazing number of votes for their maid café! There was some criticism during the judging, but the passionate push of the staff there gave them the edge they needed!"
"Ha-ha..." Shidou laughed helplessly. He never dreamed that Ai-Mai-Mii would end up saving the day.
"Shidou!" Tohka flew toward him, an entirely different expression on her face.
Kaguya and Yuzuru also threw their arms towards eachother and clapped them together in sync.
"Kah-Kah! With the yamai sisters, victory is assured!"
"Conformity. That is correct. No one can beat Yuzuru and Kaguya."
Shidou finally felt the reality of it spread out in his heart.
"We won. We won."
Against Miku. Against Rindoji.
"All right. We'll now proceed with the award ceremony. Representatives, please step forward," the MC urged the three groups of performers.
But.
"...Please be serious. What is this-?"
He heard Miku's trembling voice from behind.
"This is strange...? There's no waaay I can lose..."
"Uhhh, Izayoi?"
Miku ignored the MC and staggered forward. "I'm...Izayoi Miku, you know? I'm... I'm..."
"...Miku," Shidou called softly. He put a hand to his chest to calm his pounding heart and walked toward her.
But Miku jumped away.
"Stop... I-I won... I clearly won! They... Those girls didn't do anything right!"
"You can't say that," he told her. "The students at Rindouji, they did their best."
"I-I don't care! I don't care about that! I... I won..."
"Oh..." Shidou scratched his cheek a little awkwardly.
And then well aware that he would sound like a total cornball, he said, "It's...that whole...counting on your friends thing, y'know?"
"...Fr-friends...," Miku murmured with disgust and scowled.
"Yeah." Shidou nodded exaggeratedly. "It's true that we couldn't compare to you when it came to singing. But the students who worked on the maid café and our other exhibits made up for the areas we lacked in."
"Wh-what...is that? Please be serious... Friends...? Ha-ha! Mere humans couldn't possibly be..."
"But mere humans built the bonds that were able to beat you."
Miku was speechless.
"Hey," he said. "Humans are...pretty interesting. So, Miku, you-"
"...lesson."
"Huh?" he asked, unable to catch what she said.
"Friends? Bonds...? I will teach you a lesson. All that is meaningless before me!"
Miku's hanging head shot upright, and she spread out her hands.
"Gabriel!" No sooner had she shrieked the name so loudly that her voice echoed through the entire venue than waves were radiating outward from the space at her feet.
A massive block of metal rose up from the rippling concentric waves onstage. It had a curious form, with several long, slender silver cylinders extending from the thick torso. It reminded him of an enormous church pipe organ.
The audience seemed to realize that this was not some kind of performance, and the crowd was soon awash with worried whispers.
But Miku ignored them and swept her right hand out from left to right. A belt of light appeared there, a hazy glow following the trajectory of her hand.
No. Maybe it was a mistake to call it a belt. The light curved to wrap itself around her body, and several faint lines ran across it, turning it into something like a piano or organ keyboard.
He didn't know her purpose in calling this Angel. But he could easily imagine that it would be a destructive situation for the human beings in the venue.
"Miku! Stop! Listen to me! I-"
"Croon, chant, sing! Gabrieeeeeel!"
But Miku wasn't interested in listening to him. She spread out her hands and hit the keyboard of light surrounding her.
Vwwwwwmmmmmm!!
The massive Angel in front of Miku began to emit a terrifying sound. It reverberated within the silver cylinders that were arranged at regular intervals before emitting in every direction. The air in the room snapped and shuddered, and he felt the vibration from the noise in his entire body.
"Unh...! Gah...?!" Unconsciously, he covered his ears.
But this wasn't enough to stop the tremendously loud sound. It traveled through the air and rattled Shido's eardrums as it sank into him, eating into the core of his mind. Yes. It felt like Miku's "please" made a thousand times stronger.
A minute or so later, after ripping through the venue like a storm, Gabriel's sound gradually softened before disappearing completely.
"...! ...!"
He nervously pulled his hands away from his ears. They were still ringing a little, but he couldn't see any other change in his body.
But he quickly noticed something weird.
Even after the ringing stopped, he couldn't hear any sound. This many people were crammed into the venue, and yet there wasn't a single whisper or footfall.
Maybe this attack had stolen his hearing? This worry passed through Shidou's brain. Given that the Angel a Spirit possessed was a "miracle made manifest," it wouldn't be a surprise if it could do at least that much.
"Wha...?"
But that wasn't the case. Shidou could very clearly hear his own cry of confusion as he looked around. And gasped.
There were still thousands of spectators in the venue. And they were, without exception, standing perfectly straight and looking up at the stage, not moving a muscle.
"Wh-what is this...?"
A well-trained army unit wasn't this precise. He felt like he had stumbled into a mannequin factory.
"Miku, you didn't actually...!" he shouted in disbelief as he turned his gaze on Miku.
"Hee... Hee-hee... Hee... Friends...was it? How beautifuuuul. How woooonderful." Miku laughed loudly, like a broken doll.
"To think they were so fragile."
She began to play her keyboard of light once more. Like a call and response, the spectators all dropped into an at-ease stance.
"Hee-hee! Whee-hee-hee! Now aaaaall your friends belong to me, you know? Say, Shiori, those booonds you were talking about turn into nothing with just a tap of my fingers, hmm?"
"Ngh..."
A tortured look appeared on Shidou's face, and Miku laughed happily and pressed her fingers to the keyboard.
The performers on the stage swept behind Shidou to grab both of his arms and hold him firmly in place.
"Wha...? Hey! Let go!" He struggled, but his captors didn't so much as flinch.
Watching this with satisfaction, Miku parted the keyboard of light and strolled over to him.
"Our contest doesn't matter anymore. Our promise doesn't matter. Because anything in this world that does not happen in accordance with my wishes cannot be allowed to exiiiiist." With a bewitching smile, Miku ran a finger along his body.
"Eee...?!" he shrieked.
"Hee-hee! Shiori, you, your Spirits, everyone, you all are mine-"
And then. Miku froze when she reached his lower body.
"...Hmm? Hmmmm?" She cocked her head to one side, took a step back, and clenched the hand she'd been touching him with. "That sensation... N-no, it can't be..."
Miku furrowed her brow doubtfully and snapped her fingers again. "P-please check!"
Two of the students onstage appeared on either side of Shidou and, with no expression on their faces, yanked up the skirt of his maid costume to reveal the unflattering shorts he was wearing underneath.
"Whoa?! Wh-what are you...?!" Shidou shouted, his face turning red, but that was not the end of it. Another girl stepped forward and yanked the shorts down along with his underpants.
"Aaaaaaah!" He screamed and kicked and flailed and finally freed himself from the students holding him back. He hurriedly pulled up his underpants and shorts and returned his skirt to its proper position.
But it didn't stop there.
Miku had run away from him at some point, and now she looked as though she were seeing the end of the world as she turned a shaking finger and shocked eyes on Shidou.
"Shi-! Sh-Sh-Sh-Shiori... You... You're...a-a-a-a-a-a...man...!"
Her eyes wavered, and her face lost all color.
"M-Miku! Calm down! I-," he called, trying to bring her down somehow, but it was in vain.
"Eeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" she shrieked, and the floating keyboard of light danced back over to her.
Miku began to play once more.
But Shidou didn't have the luxury of being lost in this melody.
The moment she began to play, the other performers onstage, the MC, and the audience members all began to run toward him as one.
"Gaaaaaaaaah?!"
"Now, repent! How dare you deceive me!" Miku's voice rang out above the roar of footfalls.
"Ngh...!" Shidou frowned and clenched his hands into fists. He had nowhere to run. He would without a doubt be swallowed up by this wave of spectators in a few seconds.
Now that it had come to this, there was only one path left open to him.
"Dammit!" He braced himself and ran straight ahead- toward Miku.
He would hit Miku, the person controlling everyone. The odds of this working were extremely slim, but there was no other option left.
However.
"Wha...?!" he cried out in confusion. Right before he could close in on Miku, the temperature around him dropped abruptly, and a wall of ice appeared between him and Miku, blocking his way forward.
"What...? No way!" His eyes flew open in shock, and then he heard familiar voices from behind.
"Mmm. Heh-heh. Pretty dangerous. You can't go doing that, hmm?"
"I... I will protect...Miss Miku."
He turned back and found a large rabbit puppet with a throaty voice and Yoshino plastered to its back in a partially unlocked Astral Dress.
"Yoshino?! Why would you-?" he started and then clamped his mouth shut. Yoshino had just said "Miss Miku." That was what Miku's fans and the Rindoji students called her. And Ai, who had been "asked" by Miku.
"No way. Not you..." A terrible realization dawned on him.
In the next moment, an explosive gust of wind blew through the venue. "Ngh...!" The powerful wind knocked him onto his backside, and he heard a bold laugh from above.
"Keh-heh... Fool. The fact that you would attempt to deny Miss Miku shows that you lack wisdom."
"Affirmation. A thoughtless and reckless act. I will not allow you to lay a finger on Miss Miku."
Kaguya and Yuzuru danced down lightly and stopped in the air above Miku. Both were adorned in the bondage gear that was the limited manifestation of their Astral Dress, and Kaguya held her enormous lance, while Yuzuru had her pendulum weapon.
"E-even you...?!" Shidou groaned in despair. It seemed that the sound that Miku's Angel produced had also placed the sealed Spirits under her control. He heard Miku laughing.
"You're just awful, aren't yooooou, Shiori? To think there were this many Spirits here! And each of them is just my type! Aaah... This is good. This is amaaaazing!"
She squirmed around as if she could hardly stand it.
"Now... I at laaast have no use for you anymore. I'm going to get rid of you and spend my time playing with the Spirits. Please do it!"
Miku pounded on her keyboard of light, and Yoshino and the Yamai sisters turned eyes full of animosity on Shidou.
And then the situation got even worse.
Tohka stepped forward from the group of performers, dressed in the same limited Astral Dress as Yoshino and the sisters.
"N-no way, not you, too, Tohka... You're kidding me, right? Stop-"
But no one was listening to him. Yoshino released a torrent of cold air, and the Yamai sisters unleashed a mass of wind pressure at Shidou.
"Unh! Gaaaaaaah?!" He curled inward, bracing for impact.
But what came over him next was not a painfully icy chill or a crushing wind but a soft and curious floating sensation.
"Huh?" he yelped idiotically and discovered that his view had shifted from the stage to the catwalk that ran along the ceiling.
"Shidou, what is even happening...?"
He heard a familiar voice. He looked over and saw Tohka in her limited Astral Dress. Apparently, just before he'd been swallowed up by the wave of spectators, she had leaped up to the rafters with him in her arms.
Which meant that Shidou was currently being held lightly in Tohka's arms. In layman's parlance, he was being carried "bridal style."
"..."
The fact was she had saved him, but his face stiffened with a complicated mix of emotion.
But this was no time to worry about that. Shidou got to his feet on the catwalk and said, "Thanks, you saved me. But, Tohka... Why are you totally fine? Yoshino and them are all being controlled by Miku, but you're..."
"...Mm?" Tohka cocked her head curiously to one side before clapping her hands together like she'd just remembered something. "Oh!"
She put her hands up to her ears and popped out her ear monitors. She'd apparently had them in ever since their performance.
"You...Those are..."
"Mm-hmm." She nodded. "I felt off-balance with just one, like I wouldn't get a feel for the rhythm."
"..."
For a brief instant, he wondered if the tambourine really required that much focus, but he left that unsaid.
"So what's happening, Shidou?"
"Miku's probably controlling everyone." Tohka looked down at Miku on the stage.
Miku glared up at Shidou after his escape to the catwalk and changed the movement of her fingers on the keyboard, shifting the nature of the sound coming from Gabriel.
"Shidou!" He heard a masculine voice just to his side. There was a exit door just to the right. Two familiar figures came barging in. The two of them seemed unaffected by Miku's please.
"Lucas! Tokisaki!" Shidou shouted. "We need help, Yoshino, Kaguya and Yuzuru are-!"
"What-?!" Unconsciously, after hearing the name of the twin sisters, he faced the same direction as Shidou did just a moment ago. Towards the stage.
"Kaguya-Yuzuru?!" Lucas shouted. But he knew words wouldn't reach them. They were clearly under Miku's control right now. No doubt about it. So he rushed in, flying into them.
"And who are yoooouuu?" Miku asked, snapping her finger. At her command, Yuzuru and Kaguya stepped infront of her and shot out a blasting wind attack.
"How dare you try to attack Miss Miku?!"
"Insolence. Begone, you disgusting piece of trash."
"Tch!" Lucas gritted his teeth. The last thing he wants to do now is attack the two girls. They were precious to him, there is no way he'd harm them.
"-!" With a quick air maneuver, Lucas slid just right above their attack, just barely getting a scratch on his suit. At some point, he had changed into his suit. With the first attack out of the way, the route to Miku was basically empty. But as always, things aren't as simple as that.
"Oh myyy. Just what or who are you?"
"As if I'd answer thar. Release them, now!" Lucas demanded. Landing on stage, infront of Miku.
"Hmph!" She scoffed at him, and snapped her fingers again.
"Freeze to death!" The huge rabbit shouted, and blasted a huge wave of ice out of it's mouth.
"-!" Lucas didn't have enough space to evade this attack. Even if he moved, Kaguya and Yuzuru were just to his side and could easily attack him immediately.
So instead of evading, he covered his face with both his arms and braced for impact. The cold and ice surrounded his entire suit, and mask. He felt like he got frost bumps all over his body, which might not have been wrong at all.
"That's beeeetteeeer! Please stay dead from now on! Your presence alone defiles the good reputation of the staaaage." Miku said, happy at the good work of the Spirits.
"Lucas!" Kurumi shouted from the catwalk. From outside, Lucas became a huge block of ice. And since the ice was almost entirely clear, his body was completely visible to the outside. His body was not moving in the slightest. He was solid like a rock.
Kurumi was about to jump down to the stage as well, but before she did, the ice suddenly started cracking. Krks.
"W-what?" Yoshino frowned at the noise. Krks. Krks. Krks.
"No way..!" The rabbit she was riding cried out when the noises started repeating and getting louder
The reason was simple. Cracks started opening from every angle on the block of ice. Eventually, the entire block crumbled in on itself, with Lucas standing freely. "You won't get me this easily...!" As soon as Lucas was free, he launched himself at Miku again.
"AAAAAH!!" Miku cried out a ear splitting scream.
"-!" Lucas was taken a back by this. His body was hit by an invisible force, and he flew back uncontrollably into the wall just a little above Kurumi, Shidou and Tohka.
"Sh-Shidou!" Shidou cried. The wall was smashed into pieces, and a whole was ripped through it. Lucas' body didn't move as he laid on his back.
"Ngh...!" His body twitched a little. It took a bit, but the pain from the impact suddenly rippled through his entire body, making him shake. He slowly stood up, and fell down to the catwalk. (Not on purpose.)
"Lucas, are you alright?!"
"Aah.. I think I'm fine." Lucas slowly stood up, patting his ribs. "No bones broken or organs damaged. Damn it. What's with that power?" He thought, but he didn't have time for that either.
The spectators all changed direction and marched into the wings. Most likely, they were going to come up the stairs in the back to the catwalk. Some of them, for whatever reason, were trying to climb the walls to get to them.
But the real issue was Yoshino and the Yamai sisters. They still had sharp eyes turned on them as they guarded Miku. As long as they were here, none of them would be able to get close to the idol.
"Ngh..." Shidou scowled and tapped his earpiece.
He realized this wouldn't fundamentally solve anything. He knew that he couldn't just leave things as they were. But his only choice now was a temporary retreat. He was up against four clearly hostile Spirits. He might have had Tohka, Lucas and Kurumi on his side, but there was no way they could win here. Miku has an entire army just a few meters below them.
Before long, he heard a familiar voice in his earpiece.
"Hey, what's going on?"
With her autonomous cameras, Kotori would have known how much danger he was in, and yet she sounded cheerfully carefree.
"Kotori...?" He frowned. "Things are really bad here. We're going to get outside, so pick us up with Fraxinus!"
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
His concern turned to despair.
"The idiot who disobeyed Miss Miku better go get made into mincemeat right now."
"Ko...tori...?" Shidou could only stammer his sister's name, dumbfounded.
"...What...on earth...?"
After returning to Fraxinus, Reine frowned the moment she set foot on the bridge. Something was strange.
She'd gotten a message that Kotori wanted a detailed analysis of Miku's mental state after seeing Shidou and the band perform, so she'd left Yoshino with another Ratatoskr member and returned to the airship. Which was all well and good. But it appeared that something had happened in the time it took her to walk from the transporter to the bridge.
"Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! You iiiiiidiot! It's only natural you'd have to die after tricking Miss Miku like that, you know? Die! Hurry up and die already!"
"How dare you try to touch Miss Miku with your dirty hands, you mad beast!"
Shidou was clearly facing real danger on the main monitor, and in front of that, Kotori was laughing and yelling while seated in the captain's chair- no, on the back of Kannazuki, who was down on all fours.
The rest of the crew were in similar states, swearing at Shidou and Lucas as they raised middle fingers or turned-down thumbs.
"A-Analyst Murasame!"
In the midst of all this, the only one who appeared to be panicking was Nailknocker Shiizaki. Her face brightened when she saw Reine, and she came running over to her.
"You have to help! Everyone's acting really weird!"
"...What happened?"
"I-I don't know! I was checking the sound from the stage when everyone suddenly...!"
"...Mm-hmm." Reine turned her eyes toward the main monitor.
She could see Shidou, Tohka Lucas and Kurumi cornered at one end of the venue; Miku onstage, having manifested what appeared to be an Angel; and the spectators, Yoshino, and the Yamai sisters, who were apparently obeying her orders.
There was no doubt that Miku had done something. They had to help them right away, or else things would get very, very bad.
"...!"
"Huh?"
Reine and Shiizaki both furrowed their brows at the same time. A shrill alarm had begun to ring on the bridge. And it was not to signal the bad humor of a Spirit or to let them know of the approach of an external enemy. It was-
"Basic Realizer parallel operation. Commencing magic charging. Readying convergent magic cannon Mistilteinn. Target: Tengu Square's central stage," a mechanical announcement played over the speakers.
Reine and Shiizaki both turned their eyes toward Kotori, who was cackling as she bent over a console, and Kannazuki receiving her kicks with a look of pure ecstasy on his face.
"C-Commander! What are you doing?!" Shiizaki cried out, stunned.
But Kotori simply waved a hand, so carefree that it seemed impossible that she had just activated a destructive program.
"Ha-ha-ha! What are you talking about, Shiizaki? That place is full of fools who disobeyed Miss Miku, you know? The best thing here is to turn them all to ash in one fell swoop."
"What?! V-Vice Commander, this is no time to happily be a chair! Please stop her!" Shiizaki shouted.
Kannazuki's face snapped into serious mode. "What on earth are you prattling on about? I've finally found it. This is my utopia."
"You're actually in your right mind, aren't you?!" But perhaps realizing that this was not the time for that argument, Shiizaki made a dash for the console at the captain's chair.
However, Kawagoe came flying out from the left to tackle her and bring her to the ground.
"Ow! K-Kawagoe?! What are you doing? Let go of me!"
"I could ask you the same thing, Shiizaki. So you're another one of the people who deceived Lady Miku, hmm? Perhaps you should reflect on your crimes with them?"
"Wh-what...?" Shiizaki looked at Kawagoe like she was seeing some impossible creature. But he simply smiled beatifically.
"..."
Reine really couldn't let this happen. She also took a step forward to try and stop Kotori. But Minowa grabbed hold of her arms, having come up around behind her at some point, and pinned them behind her back.
"Where are you going, Analyst Murasameeeee? That's a no-no. You can't interfere."
"...Ngh. I don't know what happened to you, but you have to wake up."
"Wake up? Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Oh, I'm awaaaake. I'm wide-awake," Minowa said with clearly unfocused eyes while a maniacal grin spread across her face.
Kotori glanced at the captured Reine and Shiizaki before turning back to the console. A corner of her mouth slid up, and she held out a finger.
"Setting complete. Now I just have to push this button, and...boom!" she shouted and threw her arms out as if mimicking the explosion.
Shiizaki's face drained of color. "Y-you're kidding...right?"
"Ha-ha-ha! You say the funniest things, Shiizaki. Of course I'm serious here," Kotori said, laughter in her voice, and threw her arm up into the air.
"...Ngh." Reine glanced at Minowa behind her before turning her eyes on the pinned-down Shiizaki.
If they didn't do something, Kotori really would fire Fraxinus's main gun at Tenguu Square.
And then she heard a certain sound. The sound of the bridge door opening. The sound of feet dashing across the floor. And then...
"Hnngah?!"
...came the sound of Kotori passing out after being punched in the solar plexus by the person who suddenly appeared.
After thrusting a fist into Kotori's stomach, this person held Kotori up as she slumped over, stomped on the back of Kannazuki's head to knock him out, and then scratched her head in annoyance as she spoke.
"...Honestly, what is with this alarm? I was finally almost getting to sleep. Could you maybe be a little quieter?" a very particular and unique voice said.
Standing there was a girl about the same age as Kotori. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, and there was a notable beauty mark under her left eye. She looked somewhat like the cross-dressing Shidou.
Takamiya Mana. AST Second Lieutenant and DEM dispatch personnel. And the girl who called herself Shidou's biological little sister.
"...Also. When I was listening from outside the door, Kotori sounded like she had lost all her marbles, so I visited her with an attack. Was that okay?" Mana cocked her head to one side in a comical gesture.
"...Yeah." Reine nodded. "...That was a nice play. I'd be grateful if you could knock out the rest of the crew as well. Besides us, of course."
"Well, yeah, I got no probs with that," Mana said and set Kotori down on the floor. In the blink of an eye, she had rendered the rest of the crew on the bridge unconscious.
"Phew... Guess that about does it." She brushed her hands together and turned her gaze on Reine. "So...what happened, exactly?"
"...Not confirmed yet, but most likely a Spirit attack. Some kind of 'sound' with Spirit power to control anyone who hears it."
"Uh-huh... That'll be a bit of trouble," Mana said, nonplussed, as she turned her eyes to the monitor and then gasped.
"B-Big Brother?!"
Her attention had been so totally focused on the bridge that she hadn't noticed what was happening on the monitor. She ran over to it and stomped her feet.
"Wh-what the heck is this?! This! Why is my brother in such danger?!"
"...The enemy he's facing now is the Spirit who uses that sound. The situation looks bleak. We have to hurry and help Shin and the others..."
After Reine gave her a quick overview of the situation, Mana said quietly, "You got CR units on this here boat?"
◇
Missiles rained down in the sky.
Given regenerative magic power through the Realizers, 30 mm bullets and micro-missiles closed in on Origami from all sides, filling her field of view.
"Ngh...!"
Gritting her teeth at the intense pain in her head, she gave commands in her mind and deployed the weapons container. She laid down a barrage of fire in a counterattack.
But she wasn't able to defend against all the projectiles. Several slipped through the smoke and headed straight for her.
She sharpened her gaze and was about to shift her Territory's attribute to defensive when fierce anguish shot through her brain and clouded her mind.
"-!"
In the next instant, several missiles hit the poorly defended White Licorice, and Origami was assaulted by powerful explosions and an intense shock.
"Ngah!"
"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! You came storming out here, and now look at you!"
Jessica's shrill laughter clanged in Origami's tortured head.
Still scowling, she turned her gaze to the left. As if in response to that, White Licorice's damage status was displayed on her retinas. The laser blade on her left, Cleave Leaf, was out of commission; the magic gun on her right, Blastalk, was similarly half destroyed; and five of the eight motors of the weapons container, Loot Box, were damaged.
She shifted her gaze to the enemy. Five wizards. At least twenty Bandersnatches.
Overwhelming difference in numbers, massive mechanical damage. And the most serious part of all was the damage to Origami's brain from continuous use of the destructive weapon. It was blindingly obvious that she soon wouldn't be able to fight in any meaningful way.
Not only that, but just continuing to maintain White Licorice's active state threatened to critically injure Origami's brain. Normally, she would have to cease battle immediately and deactivate the device.
But withdrawing here meant that Shido would be abducted by DEM. And she very much doubted that Jessica would simply let her leave after the damage Origami had done. As if showing proof of this, the wizards and Bandersnatches began to deploy to surround her on Jessica's orders.
"Heh-heh. You had your little fight, but it's over now. Truth is, I'd love to play around with here, but we got work that needs to be done. So I'll just go ahead and drop you-"
And then Jessica stopped. A sudden blast of intense sound from below drowned her out.
"What was that?!" she shouted, frowning.
Origami also glanced down toward Tenguu Square while keeping her guard up against the enemies surrounding her.
Although her vision was enhanced by the Territory, she worried that in her current condition, it would be difficult for her to make out the details of a structure so far away. But she noticed the anomaly right away.
A large hole had opened up in the roof of Tenguu Square's central stage, and an intense wind was blowing up from out of it.
In the next instant, new information was displayed on her retinal sensor with a beep. A powerful Spirit signal from Tengu Square.
Origami gasped, "Shidou..."
She had no idea what was happening on the central stage. But there was no doubt that Shidou was likely being exposed to some kind of danger. She hurriedly changed course and was about to fire her thrusters to head down.
But there was no way Jessica would allow that. Several Bandersnatches blocked Origami's path.
"Looks like something happened down there. We might want to hurry. Let's take care of her already and get going," Jessica said and pointed a finger at Origami. The Bandersnatches around her moved as one and turned the laser cannons in their right arms toward Origami.
"...Ngh."
Even if she hurried to take evasive action, her brain was at its limit. Her field of view was dyed red, and her grasp on her consciousness was tenuous.
In the end, this was no different than two months earlier. Origami's heart was filled with a sense of helplessness.
Even using the Realizer, even with White Licorice, the most powerful equipment at the garrison, Origami couldn't protect Shidou.
Power. If only I had more power.
Enough power so that no one could beat me.
"Shi...dou..."
"Wohkay. Go get her," Jessica said, and the Bandersnatches got ready to pull the triggers.
And then something shot through Origami's hazy field of view, and the barrels of the laser cannons pointed at her were neatly sliced off.
Charged to fire, the generative magic was left with nowhere to go, and the cannons exploded, sending chunks of metal flying every which way. The Bandersnatches were not surprised, nor did they have eyes that could be burned, but perhaps sensing something abnormal, they swiveled their heads around.
"Wha...? The hell was that?!"
"Wha...? The hell was that?!"
"I-I don't know! The Bandersnatches' guns were suddenly-"
A heartbeat later, Jessica and her subordinates realized something was amiss and cried out in a panic.
But that was not the end of it. A blue silhouette cut in front of Origami once more, and in the next instant, Bandersnatch heads were dancing up into the air.
"Wha-?!" Jessica cried out, baffled, while the Bandersnatches around Origami ceased functioning and fell toward the earth.
"What...exactly...?" Origami said, pressing a hand to the side of her head as if to hold back the pain.
A person clad in blue mechanical armor appeared in front of her.
She'd never seen this CR unit before. Fluid armor lines covering the limbs and body, enormous thrusters mounted on the back. And the weapons were particularly distinctive-a sword in the right hand and what looked like a wolf's maw equipped on the left.
She looked at the face of the person wearing the armor. And gasped.
"Mana?"
"It's been a while, Master Sergeant Tobiichi." The girl in the blue CR unit looked back at Origami.
There was no mistake. This was the AST member who had fought Spirits alongside Origami- Shidou's little sister, Mana Takamiya. After sustaining serious injuries in the fight against the Magician, she had disappeared from the hospital and been missing ever since.
"Why...? What are you doing here? And that equipment...," Origami asked.
Mana waved a hand to dismiss the questions. "We can talk details later. Right now, saving my big brother is the first priority, right?"
"...!"
Origami opened her bloodshot eyes wide before nodding firmly.
Mana smiled, satisfied, and shifted her focus to the stunned Jessica. "Oh dear me, I was wondering who was up here! If it isn't Jessica! What are you doing up out in Japan?"
"Takamiya Mana?!" Jessica said, her voice colored with surprise. "Why are you-? No, more importantly, do you realize what you're doing right now?!"
"I'd be wanting to ask you the same question. This huge group against one person? I mean, I don't see you for a while, and your plays get pretty mean, huh?"
"That is not the issue here! Why are you attacking us?! Answer me, Adeptus Two!" Jessica shrieked.
Mana shrugged in exasperation. "Could you not call me by my old call sign?"
"Your old... Wait. You're not actually..."
"Yup. Since you're here and all, please tell the boss. Sorry, but I'm quitting DEM. Tell him I'll take my severance pay out of his hide."
"Wha-?" Jessica and the other wizards gasped. "What are you even talking about? You're betraying Mr. Westcott?! You! Second only after Executive Leader Mathers in the glorious Adeptus numbers!"
"Well, to put it bluntly, that's what it is, uh-huh." Mana turned the strange weapon in her left hand toward Jessica. "The real ideal sitch here would be for you all to ignore me and retreat. How about it?"
"...! You've got to be kidding me! You know as well as I do that disobeying an order from Mr. Westcott-"
"Well, yeah. Guess so. But," Mana said, and then she flickered and faded like a mirage.
"...?!" When Jessica stared in disbelief, Mana appeared behind her, and the sword in her right hand flashed.
"You...!" Jessica twisted away. But not in time. Mana's blade sliced through her unit and thrusters like butter.
The fine laser edge on the surface of the blade vibrated with generative magic. Although the weapon resembled a sword, the structure was more like a chain saw.
The fine laser edge on the surface of the blade vibrated with generative magic. Although the weapon resembled a sword, the structure was more like a chain saw.
Even as she lost her balance, Jessica did not lose her will to fight. She pulled her laser blade from her hip and swung it at Mana.
But sadly, the gap between fighting technique and unit function was too great. Mana caught Jessica's blow with her sword and fired a lump of magic at Jessica's stomach from the weapon in her left hand.
"Kaaah...!" With a short cry, Jessica lost consciousness. At the same time, her Territory was released, so the connection with the unit she was wearing was also released, and she dropped forward.
"If you'd ever actually beaten me in a practice fight, then maybe you could go talking all hot like that." Holding up Jessica's limp body with one arm, Mana let out a sigh. "Phew. Vanargand. Not bad for your first time out."
Then she turned her eyes on the remaining four wizards.
"Now then. You can see the state your boss is in. If you're DEM wizards, then you basically know whether or not you can beat me in this fight, hmm?"
The wizards got nervous looks on their faces.
Mana moved instantaneously once more behind them and tossed over Jessica's unconscious body.
"A-ah...!" A wizard hurried to manipulate her Territory and catch her captain.
"I'm saying that I'll let you walk away," Mana continued. "This is your final warning. Take her with you and scram."
But apparently, the wizards were not wise enough to lay down their arms at this warning. They moved to surround Mana, eyes glinting sharply.
"Oh boy... That's just the reaction I was expecting, huh?" Mana sighed and then held out her arms, ready to take on all comers.
"Stop! Yoshino! Kaguya! Yuzuru! Wake up!" Lucas shouted, but none of the Spirits paused their attacks. Lucas, Kurumi and Tohka decided to engage in a fierce battle. Obviously, Shidou wasn't able to since he's just human.
"What. Are you talking about? Lucas... You. And Kurumi, Shidou and Tohka are the ones being mean to. Miss Miku?"
"Damn straight. You're the bad kids here. You need a good scolding for sure."
"Keh-heh... Lucas speaks such capricious words, hmm, Yuzuru?"
"Shock. Does he not have a conscience?"
Yoshino and Yoshinon-now transformed into Zadkiel-spoke up first, followed by interjections from the Yamai sisters.
From their words, it was clear that they hadn't forgotten who they were, nor had their personalities been overwritten or something. Izayoi Miku had simply been imprinted on them as the top priority in their worldview.
"What...are we going to do...?" Shidou's face sank in despair.
This was the worst possible situation.
Miku, manifesting her Angel on the central stage, Yoshino and the Yamai sisters controlled by her, and the thousands of spectators. All of them were attacking Shidou and Tohka, Lucas and Kurumi.
Not to mention that even Kotori up on Fraxinus had been hit with Gabriel's "sound" and lost her mind. Which meant that he couldn't even retreat and regroup. This was what it meant to be cornered.
The three of them tried their best not to harm any of them, but matter how hard they tried, they could simply never get close to Miku at all.
But not giving up, Tohka gripped the sword she had manifested-Sandalphon-kicked at the catwalk, and charged Miku.
"Aaaaah!"
Loosing a battle cry, Tohka launched a slicing attack from midair toward Miku.
But just as it was about to make contact with her, Yoshino threw up a wall of ice. And then two powerful gusts of wind flew toward Tohka from two different directions.
"Ngh!" She immediately defended with her sword, but she couldn't manage to kill the wind pressure itself. She was knocked helplessly into the air, into the same direction as Lucas just a few moments ago and flew off outside, through the same hole that Lucas created.
"Unh! Waaaaaah?!"
"Tohka!" he shouted, but there was nothing he could do. Tohka disappeared outside the building, and soon, he could no longer hear her screaming.
However.
"Hmm...?" This was not a groan of confusion or despair from Shidou, but rather an expression of doubt.
The reason was simple enough. Although it was extremely quiet, he could hear a sort of banging from above the venue.
And in the next instant.
"There!"
The ceiling of the stage was ripped away above where Miku was standing, and Tohka plummeted down at incredible speed, the tip of Sandalphon turned downward.
After being knocked out of the building, she'd come around to the stage ceiling from the outside.
"Wha...?!" Miku's baffled cry echoed through the venue.
Yoshino, Kaguya, and Yuzuru all whirled their heads around, but they were already too late. Tohka was charging Miku and her Angel with Sandalphon, ripping through the air itself. In addition, Kurumi appeared infront of Miku, holding out her flintlock. Just between Tohka and Kurumi, Lucas pointed his hand at her, with a small blue orb floating just a few centimeters away from of his palm.
But the moment the tip of Sandalphon touched the metallic pipes of the Angel, just a moment before Lucas and Kurumi released their bullet and beam...
"Aaaaaah!!"
...Miku let out an incredible shout again.
The deafening noise boomed through the closed space and made his first brush with the compelling voice seem like a whisper in comparison.
"Ngh!" Tohka let out a groan of anguish, as the actual physicality of the noise sent her slamming into the wall next to Shidou.
Since sound expands all around the direction it was send at, the shockwave also hit Lucas and Kurumi, making them fly back as well. Lucas flew a little more controlled, and softened Kurumi's impact, using his own body as a cushion. He crashed into the fence, bending it by a ton, with Kurumi's impact completely breaking it after Lucas catches her flying body.
"Tohka! Tokisaki! Lucas!" Shidou shouted and ran over to them.
"Koff-koff!" Tohka was coughing painfully and managed to stand up somehow, using Sandalphon as a cane.
"Dang it..!" Lucas shouted, frustrated.
"That was a little bit close. But it's hooopeless, you know," Miku said, glaring at Shidou and the others with angry eyes from the stage. Spectators poured in through the doorway to the stairs that connected the backstage with the catwalk. They marched toward them like zombies.
"Hngh!"
This was the end. Shidou froze.
And then.
"Huh...?" He frowned and looked up at the sky. A cross had been cut out of the stage roof, and a girl in mechanical armor was coming through it into the venue.
"Th-that's-"
For a second, he thought help from Ratatoskr had arrived.
But it wasn't Ratatoskr.
He'd seen this girl before. A platinum CR unit was wrapped around her slender body. Silken pale-blond hair swung as if toyed with by the wind inside her Territory.
"So Bailey and her squad failed," the girl-Ellen Mathers-said in a quiet voice, narrowing her deep aquamarine eyes. "Well, that's fine, really. This was expected."
Shidou held his breath. He knew this girl. She was the leader of the Bandersnatches that had come after Tohka on their school trip. Although they'd managed to get away then with one lucky break after another, her power far surpassed that of Tohka in her limited state.
"Y-you are..! Ellen!" Lucas shouted, recognizing this young women.
"Oh. Seems like you are here as well, dear Magician. No- or should I say, Kunshu Lucas?"
"..!" Lucas gasped. Did they find out about his identity? But how? Was it that Airship from back then on Arubi Island? Before he could grasp the information together-
"Hey... What's she doing here...?" Tohka had also noticed Ellen. She scowled fiercely and readied Sandalphon.
"Targets, Yatogami Tohka, Lucas and Itsuka Shidou... A girl with Itsuka's signal acquired. Proceeding to capture."
Without so much as a glance at Miku and Kurumi, she headed straight for the three figures she just named. Tohka gasped and grabbed his arms.
"We have to get out of here, Shidou!"
"S-sure, but how exactly...?" Shidou replied, panicked.
"Ngh!"
Ellen drew ever nearer.
Tohka's grip around Shidou's arm grew even tighter as she wound up and flung him toward the hole she'd ripped out of the ceiling.
"Waaaaaah?!"
She might have been limited, but the power of a Spirit was much, much greater than that of any human being.
Shidou was launched lightly out of the building.
At the same time as Mana vanished, one of the wizards remaining in the sky screamed.
When Origami turned her eyes in her direction, holding her aching head, she found a wizard whose CR unit had been destroyed before she'd even had time to blink.
Mana twisted around and had no sooner approached the Bandersnatch floating nearby than she was clamping its head between the "jaws" of her left hand. Krrrk! The doll's head was twisted off.
This was overwhelming from anyone's perspective. The enemy had the advantage in terms of numbers, but they had absolutely no hope of winning.
Origami had experienced Mana's strength firsthand. But...this was on another level. It wasn't just her own abilities; the performance of the unfamiliar blue CR unit wrapped around her was also of a standard that the AST's CR units couldn't begin to compare to.
In less than five minutes, the battle was over.
"...Honestly. Wasting my time like that." Mana brushed her hands briskly and let out a sigh.
There was no longer any sign of wizard or Bandersnatch in the sky. They had all been butchered with one or two blows by Mana and fallen to the ground.
That said, however, the wiring suits the wizards wore were equipped with emergency impact and safety features. They wouldn't die even falling from this height, unless their luck was extremely bad.
"Are you doing all right there, Master Sergeant Tobiichi?" Mana turned her eyes on Origami.
Origami gritted her teeth against the pain. "What. Are you...doing. Here...?"
Blood poured from her nose and eyes, and the world shuddered in her red field of view.
"Whoopsy..." Mana quickly flew over to Origami to hold her up.
Origami could no longer maintain her Territory. Held prisoner by the weight of White Licorice, she dropped toward the earth.
"You really went all out there, Master Sergeant Tobiichi... Hmm, this is a pickle. I need to go and save my big brother, but I can't leave you like this..."
And then.
"Hmm...?" Mana abruptly frowned.
"What's...wrong..."
"No, it's nothing. I just had a bad feeling," she said, but the expression on her face...
Origami felt it looked a lot like when she detected the aura of her mortal enemy.
◇
"...! Oh-ho."
Unconsciously, Ellen stopped moving at this unexpected act from Princess- Yatogami Tohka.
An instant before Ellen could reach them, Tohka had gotten Itsuka Shidou out of the venue. Perhaps she had guessed Ellen's target from her gaze and direction of movement, but to make that judgment in an instant was wonderfully clever.
However, for Ellen, whose objective was the capture of Tohka Yatogami, Itsuka Shidou and Lucas, this was extremely annoying.
"A levelheaded judgment. Worthy of praise."
"Hmph!" Tohka sniffed. "I don't need compliments from you!"
"You! What is your objective here?!" Lucas demanded answers. But Ellen glanced at him without much of a reaction.
"Why not take off that mask? Your identity is already known by us. Hiding beneath that silly mask is unnecessary."
"...!" From Ellen's comment, Lucas deliberately slid off the hood hiding his hair and took of the mask, revealing his face to her.
"I won't let you do as you wish..!" Lucas shouted, suddenly vanishing from the spot.
"Me's!" Kurumi called out, and multiple clones crawled out of the seemingly endless void under her feet.
They all charged directly at Ellen, holding out their hands to crush her in their arms. Tohka gripped Sandalphon even tighter, and jumped from the catwalk, high up into the air and launched her Sword at Ellen. Lucas suddenly reappeared right behind her, throwing a twirling kick aimed right on her neck.
Even though surrounded by countless clones, Lucas and Tohka, her expression didn't change in the slightest. Instead of being tense, she was quite the opposite. Her face was relaxed, and so was her entire body and her muscles. Raising her arm to reach out for the sword attached to the thruster on her back, she twirled around in a circle, cutting the clones cleanly into pieces. Tohka managed to slow down her momentum, and semi-block the attack, flying to the catwalk to where she jumped off at.
Lucas was more lucky. He had barely dodged that attack. "What speed...!"
Truth be told. Lucas didn't see that attack happen at all. This wizard was on a completely different level. But Lucas wasn't going to get intimidated that easily. He stopped his dodge movement and headed straight for Ellen again. With Reinforcement, he should atleast be able to hold her at bay for some time. "Hmph!" Lucas swiped his arm diagonally, creating a blade of light which flew directly at her.
"..." Without a word, Ellen swung her laser blade, dismantling that single attack. But Lucas wasn't done here. Her eyes shot up a little. Spears of lights came flying towards he at tremendously dangerous speed, treating to pierce her internal organs.
"You are indeed interesting, Kunshu Lucas. You have my respect." She said, deploying her Territory to protect her from the spears. Usually, they would be enough to pierce a Territory of an elite AST Member, even Mana's. But Ellen's Territory was more precise. Instead of keeping it out around her entire body, she minimized it and only used a small, but more condensed portion of it, enough to shield her body from the spears coming directly at her.
"Don't talk you already won...!" His voice echoed through the entire hall. She turned around to see Lucas, just a few meters behind her. When did he have time to move so quickly? She was honestly shocked that someone managed to keep up with her pace. Lucas spread out his fingers, and then pressed his thumb onto his middle finger. Just a centimeter infront of his fingers, a small, but seemingly dangerous, blue sphere appeared.
"Alpha." He said, but before he could snap his fingers.
Swoosh!
"...!" He felt a sharp, agonizing pain from the right side of his shoulder. When he looked at it, there was nothing. There should be a shoulder and an arm, right there. But it was gone. The arm he just pointed at Ellen with has disappeared.
"Kkgh..!" Lucas groaned in pain. His attack was canceled out immediately, with his arm cleanly got off from his body.
"Lucas!" Kurumi shouted, so loud that Shidou probably heard it as well. She aimed her gun at Ellen again, shooting off Bullet after bullet, but none of them could even scratch her Territory. "...!"
"Hm. You're quite disappointing, just like Princess." Ellen said, slashing her blade once more.
"-?!" Lucas tried to dodge, but the pain stopped him from doing so. He took that slash head on. The tip of the blade easily pierced through his suit, starting from his right peck muscle all the way down to the left side of his waist. This wound marked the 'X' on his chest. (Together with the wound that Origami inflicted.)
Ellen tucked her elbow in, pointing the tip of of her blade straight into the middle of the large X in his chest.
"-?! No...!" Kurumi cried out helplessly. As she cried out, despair took over her mind. Right infront of her eyes, the person she looked up to most, the person who is deeply engraved into her heart and life, Lucas, was pierced cleanly through the chest by the DEM Wizard, Ellen Mira Mathers.
"Lucas-san....!!!" Kurumi cried out, eyes bawling in tears. She felt this feeling before. That same feeling, when Sawa's half dead corpse laid before her. "Aaahh... Aaahh!" That negative feeling. Her mind was filled with negative emotions. If she would get herself under control, she might just as well go absolutely nuts right at this moment. But she learned many things in these five long years with Lucas. She simply could despair right now. Even if she has to grieve, she has to act, and fast.
"Zafkiel!" She shouted the name of her angel. A gigantic, golden clock, almost a one to one image of her eye, appeared behind her. "Zayin." She shot a bullet at Ellen. Ellen didn't react to this at all since the bullet can't pierce through her Territory anyway, but that wasn't Kurumi's intention. Even if she had a Territory, she was still going to freeze in time.
And Kurumi was right. The entirety, not just Ellen, but everything in her Territory froze in time. This gave Kurumi the chance. "Me's!" Kurumi called for her clones again. They flew towards Lucas, who's chest was still pierced by Ellen's blade. They slowly pulled out his lifeless body and carried him to the real Kurumi.
"Tohka! We have to get out of here, quickly-"
"You're coming with me, Princess."
"Wha-?!" Before Kurumi knew it, Ellen suddenly spoke. "No way..." She muttered. There's no way Ellen could move right now, considering Kurumi just froze her in place just a second ago. "You caught me off guard. But it seems like it doesn't last that long."
In Kurumi's head, just a second has passed. But in reality, it was more than fifteen. Much longer than <Zayin> and can freeze the target. Her brain was stressed out. Any more and her mind would combust for real.
"Tch..!" The situation gradually became worse. The spectators, or more like Zombies now, started moving and didn't stop. They were after them. She can't harm them in any possible way, and this meant running was the only option right now.
"Unh... Aah... Koff-koff!"
Thrown out of the venue, Shidou crashed through several trees in the area before hitting the ground. He coughed repeatedly at the impact and the pain that tortured his body.
Apparently, he'd lost consciousness for a few minutes. He whirled his head around to get a look at his surroundings.
He'd been sent flying into a corner of the park near Tenguu Square. Thanks to the trees and the soft shrubs, he'd somehow managed to escape with minor injuries. He glanced at the concrete parking lot spreading out immediately behind him and paled.
Shidou had the power to regenerate. He wouldn't have died even if he had landed on that concrete (and he supposed Tohka had done what she did precisely because she knew that), but the pain of such an impact was something he couldn't mitigate at all. He gave thanks to his own good luck and to Tohka's control.
"Right. Tohka!"
His clouded mind finally cleared, and he remembered the situation he was in.
Yes. Tohka had been left with Lucas and Kurumi in the venue.
Tohka might have had some of her Spirit power unlocked, and she was accompanied by Lucas and Kurumi, two warriors of untold power, but they were up against Ellen, someone who didn't even struggle against Tohka in the slightest. She is dubbed the most powerful wizard, but Shidou didn't know that.
And just as he did so, he saw something fly out from the roof of Tenguu Square's central stage, which rose up ahead of him.
"That's...!"
His eyes flew open in surprise.
A blond girl in a platinum CR unit was carrying Tohka, her Astral Dress gone now, and flying off into the sky.
"Tohka?!"
Perhaps she was unconscious. Tohka was slumped over, motionless.
Ellen looked around as if to confirm her surroundings before disappearing somewhere with Tohka.
Left behind, Shidou gaped for an instant and stared into the sky where Ellen had been.
"Toh...ka...?"
The whole thing had happened in the blink of an eye, and it felt unreal to him. But as the facts of the situation gradually sank into his brain, Shidou reeled. That meant... the three of them lost against Ellen. A one versus three, but she still, single handedly, won.
"Tohka... Tohkaaaaaaa!" he shouted, but his voice only echoed emptily.
Tohka had been abducted. Just like that.
And he hadn't been able to do anything. This fact made his sense of powerlessness even stronger. But Lucas wasn't abducted by Ellen, which meant atleast Kurumi and Lucas got away. But at what cost?
He heard the gates at the front of Tenguu Square open, and a sea of people plodded out. Almost as if they were looking for someone.
"Ngh..."
Most likely, Miku had ordered them to come search for him.
If he was caught now, all of Tohka's efforts would have been for nothing. Shido urged his aching body on and somehow managed to stand up and flee slowly, painfully.
◇
"Lucas, wake up..!" Kurumi cried, all alone with Lucas, who wasn't moving an inch since he was pierced through the chest. They moved to the underground base of Ratatoskr, just a few kilometers away from Tenguu Square. But the doctors weren't there, and no one of the members knew how to treat him. She suspected it was probably because of Miku's voice.
Even after using her bullet, Dalet, to rewind Lucas' time and heal his wound, there was still no sign of life in him. One more detail to mention is that his right arm was still missing, which meant it went somewhere missing in that army of zombies. It probably got stuck and can't free itself anymore, which meant Lucas was bleeding out slowly but surely. His upper body, more precise, his right side, was completely covered in bandages, which already soaked in his blood and tinted red. He was laying in a bed in the medical office, connected to a heart monitor and a constant blood supply.
His heart was still pounding, but way too slow. Maybe a beat every three seconds. His breathing was extremely faint, and his entire body became cold.
"Lucas...!" Kurumi's eyes started flooding in tears, as she pressed Lucas' ice cold hands in between hers. But to her surprise, she felt a gentle touch on her cheek. "Huh...?" She opened her teary eyes, to see Lucas awake, somehow.
"Don't cry." Lucas strained to speak. "This consciousness will fade soon. So listen well." Lucas said, very quietly. Kurumi nodded and was all ears now.
◇
How many hours passed after that?
Around the time that twilight colored the sky and the area began to grow dark, Shidou was hiding in a room of an abandoned building on the outskirts of Tenguu City after escaping the stage, thanks to Tohka, Lucas and Kurumi.
It was hard to move in the maid outfit, not to mention that it made him stick out like a sore thumb, so he'd bought some more masculine clothing at a flea market in a plaza along the way and changed. Naturally, he'd also removed the voice modulator on his throat, so he had completely exited Shiori mode.
"..."
He looked at the cell phone on the table.
A news program was playing on the screen, broadcasting live the mysterious riot in Tenguu. Tens of thousands of people wandering around the city were caught on video from a camera in a helicopter in the sky above.
The announcer offered up his personal theory and tried to clarify the cause of the riot, but it was useless. No one could have imagined that these thousands of people were simply going around looking for Shidou on Miku's orders.
It seemed that Miku had decided the audience from the festival was not enough and was steadily increasing the number of her army. He didn't know how powerful Gabriel was, but if this kept up, they'd find him sooner or later.
And apparently, Gabriel was effective even through speakers. It was a moment of true despair for Shidou when the police came to quash the riot and ended up joining the ranks of the rioters the instant they heard Miku's performance playing from a sound truck.
"Dammit!" he cried in frustration and slammed his fist against the floor. "I shouldn't be just sitting here right now... I-"
Yes. It wasn't just the Miku problem he needed to resolve. He also needed to get Tohka back as soon as possible now that she'd been abducted by a DEM wizard.
It wasn't like Shidou was particularly knowledgeable about the company. But he very much doubted that an organization providing armies and police units around the world with Realizers explicitly for killing Spirits would give Tohka a warm welcome.
He tapped his earpiece in frustration. But all he heard was static. No voice came through.
"What...am I going to do...?"
Anguish filled his face, and he slammed his fist into the floor again.
He was facing a mountain of problems.
Miku was after him.
Yoshino, Kaguya, and Yuzuru were being controlled by her.
Swarms of her minions were filling the streets of Tengu.
He still couldn't contact Ratatoskr.
Lucas and Kurumi vanished without a word or message.
And DEM Industries had abducted Tohka.
He didn't have enough of anything to deal with all these.
He didn't have enough time.
He didn't have enough resources.
He didn't have enough combat skills.
And more than anything else, Shidou didn't have enough power.
"I..." He gritted his teeth. "I...!"
The moment Shidou gave voice to this overwhelming sense of powerlessness...
"Shidou-san..."
...someone called out his name.
"...?!" His shoulders jumped up, and he lifted his face with a gasp.
For a moment, he thought his hiding place had been discovered by a Miku-controlled resident. But he couldn't see any sign of a person.
The owner of that voice soon revealed herself, however.
A shadow.
Just when he thought the shadows filling the dark room were squirming, a girl crawled forward from within them.
A dress of bloody crimson and shadowy black. Dark hair tied up asymmetrically to either side. The face of a clock in her left eye, the hands regularly carving out each second. And her countenance, so exquisite that it seemed almost manufactured, was colored with a cheeky smile that could have been read as joy or contempt.
"Kurumi...?!" Shidou's eyes flew open in surprise. It was Tokisaki Kurumi. There was no mistake.
"Shidou-san, I've come to help you."