Date A Mysterious Being

Chapter 37 - The Great Fall

Not long after Natsumi went missing, Lucas returned to the surface, running around and jumping from building to building. Naturally, in his suit to hide his identity from the public. His mission was to look for Natsumi. His senses are more precise than Ratatoskr's measurement devices, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't sense a trace of Natsumi. But he had hope. He wasn't alone on this mission. Kurumi, using hundreds of her clones, is searching around all of Tenguu City for Natsumi as well.

"Kotori. Have found anything yet?" Lucas said into his earpiece. Not too long after, a high pitched voice came through the speaker.

"Not really. Honestly, just where did she run to..?"

"Dunno. I have a place where she might be though." Lucas jumped off the rooftop with a gentle hop, flying to the south coast of Japan.

"Huh? Where are you heading, Lucas? I don't think Natsumi would be that far off to the outskirts of Tenguu City."

Yes. Lucas was heading to a place far in Tenguu, far away from where they are now. This place was-

"Shizuoko. Her home." Shizuoko, a place on the south coast of Japan. To be exact, to the small playground high up the hill. That place was the last time Lucas saw Natsumi as a human being. Before...everything crashed apart.

The playground was empty, as expected. No one would be up here, especially not at this time of the day.

"Natsumi! If you're here, please answer!" Lucas shouted, loud enough to be heard around the entire place.

..A few moments have passed without any answer.

"...Doesn't seem like she's there, huh?" Kotori said, frustrated. Without any words, Lucas' body lifted itself slowly from the ground, and he flew back the way he came. This was the last hope he had of finding Natsumi. They searched every corner of Tenguu, but haven't found anything. It was also likely she had transformed herself into an object or a person, but given that she is injured, her transformation shouldn't last that long.

Suddenly, a loud siren suddenly set off.

Vwnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnmmmmm

"-?! Spacequake? Now?!"

"No, that's not it. We're not registering any spacequake fluctuations in the area."When Kotori told him, Lucas paused for a brief moment to stabilize his focus. There really was no sign of a spacequake around.

"This is either a malfunction with the most miraculous timing, or the work of someone who wants to pin the ensuing damage from the falling satellite on a spacequake." Right. He remembered Kotori mentioning a satellite is falling onto Tenguu.

"Pinning it all on a spacequake?" Lucas gasped. "But who would-?!"

"DEM probably," Kotori said through what sounded like clenched teeth.

But Lucas frowned. "Hang on a second. DEM? It couldn't be them, could it?"

"I very much doubt there's another organization out there that could do this or are in the condition of having enough screws loose to actually carry it out."

"Kotori, Lucas. Can you hear me?" A male, familiar voice interrupted their chat. It was Shidou. "Just now, Ellen-" Shidou went on to explain to Kotori and Lucas what had just happened to him. How Ellen had been here when Shidou got home. And how she had run out of the house in a panic.

"Ellen Mathers? That is odd. If this was a plan to take out the Spirits in one go, then there's no way she wouldn't have known about it. And before that even..." Kotori groaned to herself. But then she no doubt realized that this was not the time for sitting in contemplation. She pulled herself together and continued. "Anyway! It's definitely dangerous for you guys to stay where you are. Fraxinus will pick you up. Shidou, go outside."

"Right." Lucas nodded. "What about Kurumi and the others?"

"No need to worry. They're getting ready now to leave the underground facility. Once we grab you, we'll head over there."

"Okay. So then-" Lucas was about to respond when he stopped and cocked his head to one side. "'Leave'? Isn't that facility strong enough to act as a shelter?"

Kotori paused before responding. "It is. It'll almost certainly hold up fine against anything up to a B-rank spacequake."

"Hang on. Then-"

"Normally, there'd be no problem. But something's worrying me," she said.

"Worrying you?" he asked.

"Mm-hmm. It's faint, but we've detected a magic signal from that satellite."

Lucas and Shidou frowned. "So what does that mean?" Lucas asked.

"I don't know yet. But it's hard to imagine that DEM would forcibly down the remains of your run-of-the-mill satellite. It might even be possible that they're punching through the atmosphere somehow. We have to prepare for the worst case."

""The...worst case,"" He and Shidou repeated in sync.

"Yes. The shelters that were deployed around the world thirty years ago were mainly envisioned with spacequake damage in mind. And because the majority of spacequakes are measured above ground, above sea, and in the air, the idea is that there's a good chance you can avoid injury just by hiding underground. But," Kotori said, continuing, "things are different in this case."

"So you're saying if that satellite fell directly onto a shelter, the people inside would be doomed?!" Shidou cried.

"I told you, I don't know the details yet. But you have to understand that this is a possibility."

"What the hell?!" Lucas shouted, clenching his hands into fists. "They'd do all this just to get at the Spirits! That's...!"

Kotori groaned again. "We don't know that yet."

"Huh?"

"DEM knows we have an airship," she explained. "I find it hard to believe they would use a method this uncertain if they were targeting a Spirit, or even you."

"So then what is this about?" he asked.

"I can't say anything at present. Either the people at the top are idiots with poor judgment, or they've finally completely lost it. Or they have some other objective."

"'Objective'..." Lucas stopped in his tracks. What "objective" was worth achieving at the costs of potentially tens of thousands of victims?

"I get how you feel, but you have to hurry," Kotori said impatiently. "While we're here chewing the fat, we're losing time before impact."

"H-hold up a minute. Can't we do something?! I mean, even if we make it, the people of the city will-" Shidou tried to speak, but was cut off.

"Both of you, hear me out. I'm not over here thinking we should watch everyone die. We've already got a plan."

"What's the plan?"

"It's simple. Before the satellite crashes, we shoot it down with Fraxinus's weapons. Then even if the explosive magic is activated, there might be blowback and chunks of satellite hitting the ground, but the shelters underground should be safe... Above ground might be a hell of a sight, though, but that'd be the same as with a spacequake, and we're golden if people are just grateful for their lives at least. The SDF recovery division will have to pick up the pieces for us after that. Alternatively, you can shoot it down yourself, or at least try to reduce the debris."

""Roger."" Lucas and Shidou nodded.

"So you're on board?" Kotori asked. "Then get a move on."

Lucas readied himself to be transported to Fraxinus, but stopped in the middle. And neither did Shidou move out of his house to be transported either.

"What are you two doing? We don't have time-"

""Kotori,"" Lucas and Shidou said simply.
Kotori cut her impatient speech short. Perhaps picking up on something from their tone, she asked dubiously, "What? Something going on?"

"Yeah. I have a favor to ask," Shidou said. "Could you go get Tohka and them first?"

"Huh? Why? Ohhh, is it like get them to safety before you? You don't have to worry. We can definitely grab everyone."

"No. There's something down here we still have to do."

"What?!" She cried out angrily. "Do you not get that this is an emergency?! I don't know what this thing you have to do is, but your lives come first! Of all the-"

"It's Natsumi."

"...!" Kotori was at a loss for words.

"You haven't found her yet, right?" Shidou said.
If she was still above ground, she was in serious trouble.

A normal person would run for a shelter when the spacequake alarm went off. That was only natural. But he didn't know whether or not the Spirit Natsumi would obey that alarm. He couldn't imagine that she would be particularly eager to go into an underground shelter when she'd been locked up in an underground facility.

"That's...," Kotori protested. "But Natsumi's no fool! Shelters and all that aside, it's possible she's long gone from this place. And even if there's an explosion and chunks of satellite start raining down, she's a Spirit, okay?! She should be able to avoid all that stuff, no problem!"

"Maybe," Lucas agreed. "But she's still not completely healed from Ellen's attack. The worst case is possible here."

"Please," Shidou begged her. "Let us look for Natsumi until the very last minute? It might be pointless. Actually, it's almost guaranteed to be pointless. But given that Natsumi might be in danger, I can't just sit back and watch," he finished, clenching his hands into fists.

"Shidou's right."

"Aaagh," she groaned finally in exasperation. "Fine. Or more like, you guys wouldn't listen even if I did tell you not to. Then go! I'll have the rest of the autonomous cameras searching for Natsumi, too. Don't get your hopes up, though."

""Roger!""

◇

The people had mostly evacuated by now; he saw basically no one on the road. It was a curious silence with just the air of people having recently been there lingering. He had walked through more than one deserted area in order to talk with a Spirit, but no matter how many times he experienced this strange isolation, he could never enjoy the bizarre feel of it.

But this was no time to be wondering about this. As he jumped from buildiny to building, Lucas took a deep breath and called out loudly, "Natsumiii!!"
His voice echoed throughout the unnaturally quiet neighborhood. But of course, he got no response. From far away, he could hear a faint voice, calling for the same name. It was Shidou who was searching for Natsumi alongside him.

"Anything, Shidou?" Lucas said into the earpiece.

"No... Absolutely no response." Shidou said, breathing heavily. He must have run at a good pace for a long period of time.
Their shouts reverberated through the streets of the residential area and faded away. And there was, naturally, no answer.
But they didn't believe his doing this was a waste of time.

They didn't know where Natsumi was. Maybe Kotori was right, and she had already run off to some other place. Or maybe she had mixed in with the residents of the neighborhood and slipped into an underground shelter.
But if she was still above ground and in the city of Tenguu, then they had to assume it was at least somewhat likely that she was hiding somewhere, watching them in order to get back at them for locking her up underground.

"Natsumi! I don't care what you think of us! Just go hide in a shelter with the other people or get out of town as fast as you can! Or even...you could escape to the parallel world! But you're in danger if you stay here! You have to get out of here!"

◇

"Natsumi! Please! If you can hear me, answer me!" Shidou cried out for the nth time as he raced through the deserted city.

"..." Natsumi listened silently.
Most likely, Shidou thought that the escaped Natsumi was still in this area and that she was somewhere she could observe him. And he was exactly right.

"Natsumi! Natsumi! Are you there?! Natsumi!" he called, his voice hoarse, and he was panting hard. He was a pathetic sight.

"Why would you do this?" Natsumi nearly said, and stopped herself just in time.
It wasn't that she thought Shidou would figure out where she was if she spoke. It was simply that even without speaking the words, she knew the answer.
Why?
It was obviously to save her.
Debris from a satellite was going to fall in this area. Most likely, Shidou and Lucas were telling the truth. From what she'd seen of the people in the area evacuating, there was no doubt that some kind of disaster was on the way.
Of course, if it was just that, she could imagine that the organization backing Shidou and his friends was sounding the alarm to draw her out. But the chat between Shidou, Lucas and Kotori that she'd overheard before ruled that out.
Shidou and Lucas had stayed in the city alone, exposing themselves to danger for the sole reason that Natsumi might have still been around.

"Ungh..."
When she had this thought, that curious feeling spread through her chest again. Warm, fuzzy, swirly, spinny, dizzy. Sick.
When Natsumi had first manifested silently in this world, not a soul had looked at her. And she had hated that so, so much. She had wanted someone to talk to her, pay attention to her, accept her so badly that she could hardly stand it. So she had remade herself with the power of Haniel.

Everyone was nice to Natsumi when she transformed into a beautiful young woman. Everyone fawned over her and did whatever she asked.
But after a few rounds of this, Natsumi's heart was still unsatisfied.
In the end, no one was actually looking at her. In the end, no one was actually accepting her. The more they cozied up to her, the stronger that feeling got.
But the person Shidou and Lucas were looking for now was the real Natsumi no one else had accepted. They were trying to find the Natsumi whom everyone had ignored.
"...!"
She flashed back to everything that had happened so far. Shidou, Lucas and the others rescuing her when Ellen attacked her. Him and his friends giving her a makeover. Making her think she was cute. Accepting her the way she was.

"No way. I..." She didn't need to think about it any longer.
Natsumi didn't want them to die.
The fact that they had seen her secret had at some point stopped mattering without her realizing it. What was more important now was that she had someone who really saw her, a fact that delighted her beyond words.

"Natsumi!"
"...!"
Shidou called her name, and for a second, she nearly cried out in response.

It wouldn't have been a big deal if she had spoken up. Shidou would have surely found her. They could have escaped to some place safe together.
But Natsumi didn't know what to do with these feelings she was experiencing for the first time.

"I-it's okay. You're okay," she murmured, too quietly for Shidou to notice.
Whatever else, Shidou would evacuate when chunks of satellite started to fall. In the worst case, whatever organization he belonged to would definitely pick him up or something like when they saved Natsumi. However, Lucas wasn't a frail being such as Shidou. He would risk everything he had, to the last second on impact if it meant saving Natsumi.

Chanting "It's okay, you're okay" as if to reassure herself, Natsumi prayed that Shidou and Lucas would give up their search for her right this second and evacuate to a safe place.

"Tohka and the other Spirits have been recovered from the D3 underground facility!"

"Recovery of thirteen accompanying personnel complete!"

"Closing facility bulkheads via remote operation!"

Approximately twenty minutes after accepting Lucas's proposal and setting out into the deserted city, Kotori listened to her crew's reports on the bridge, then spoke. "Excellent. What's Shidou's current location?"

"Shidou is currently running north along the main street in Sanchome. It appears he is heading toward the high school."

"And Lucas?"

"He's currently on top of the Tenguu Square building."

"Any sign of Natsumi on the cameras?" Kotori asked.

"Unfortunately, we have no confirmed sightings," a member of her crew replied.

"I see," she answered briefly. She had never thought they would find Natsumi that easily anyway, not when she had the power of transformation.

"Commander! The satellite has begun to fall!" Minowa cried out from the lower deck just as Kotori was about to give her next order, and a red icon on the monitor began to flash.

Normally, when an artificial satellite fell, it gradually strayed from its orbit and slowly lost altitude as it spun around the earth, due to the effects of air friction and gravity, before plunging into the atmosphere and burning up.
But the icon displayed on the monitor was dropping straight toward the earth from its orbit, as if being yanking down by a vertical rope. This was clearly out of the ordinary.

"Here we go." Kotori licked her lips, threw a hand up, and barked orders at the crew. "Calculate estimated point of impact now! Activate AR-008 numbers three through five and be ready to fire Mistilteinn at any moment! After recovering Shidou and Lucas, we move to the intercept point and destroy the target!"

Normally, it would have been extremely difficult to accurately predict the point of impact for a falling satellite. But with the calculation capabilities of the AI installed in Fraxinus, it was possible to estimate a location within a margin of a few kilometers. All the more so if it was dropping straight down as if shooting toward a target.

"Roger! AR-008: three, four, five, magic generation start!"

"We have the estimated point of impact! The satellite is aimed at an area in east Tenguu!" Mikimoto reported.

Kotori clicked her tongue. "Tch! Surprisingly close to Shidou's location."

The transporter device on Fraxinus could only be used when the ship was directly above the target with no obstacles blocking that line of sight. In other words, if they were going to collect someone from the ground, they had to position themselves directly above that someone.

That said, however, given that there was the risk that the explosive magic would activate at the same time as they intercepted the satellite, it wasn't particularly advisable for Fraxinus to get too close to the target. After picking up Shidou near the predicted impact location, they would have to move away from that point once more and prepare to intercept the satellite. Lucas was not a big worry since he isn't a frail creature as a human. An impact like this is easy for him to evade.

"How much time do we have to get away after recovering Shidou?" Kotori demanded.

"Approximately...five minutes and thirty seconds!" a crew member replied.

"Not much time considering preparation to intercept." Kotori bit her lip. "Let's hurry it up."

"Yes, sir!"
The low rumble of motors engaging echoed through the airship, and Fraxinus began to move from its fixed position in the air.
Kotori confirmed this before issuing another order. "Open a line with Shidou."

"Roger." Nakatsugawa tapped at his console.
On one side of the monitor, a video feed of Shidou running through town searching for Natsumi was displayed.
She brought the mic at hand to her mouth and sent her voice to Shidou's earpiece. "Shidou, can you hear me?"

The Shidou on the screen looked up and stopped.

"Y-yeah...I can...hear you...," Shidou replied, pressing a finger to his earpiece as he panted for breath. His voice was raspy like when he had a cold. It appeared he'd been calling out to Natsumi nonstop while running.

Seeing him like this made her hesitate to continue. But she couldn't let him keep looking for Natsumi. She shook her head slightly to get herself back on track and spoke into the mic. "Sorry, but time's up. We're coming to get you, so stay put."

"Wha...?!" he said pleadingly. "All...ready...?! Please, just a little more-"
"No. You promised."
"B-but..."
Kotori bit into her Chupa Chups with a crack. "Don't make me tell you again. You have to include yourself on the list of the lives you're trying to save."

Shidou fell silent for a moment before letting out a short sigh. "Fine. Sorry for being selfish."

"No probs. Used to it," Kotori said, waving it away with a hand, and turned her eyes to the monitor again.

In that instant, a buzzer to announce an emergency situation began to sound over the speakers set up on the bridge.

"What?!"

"I-it's..." A crew member from the lower deck gasped. "The speed of the satellite's descent is increasing dramatically!"

"What did you say?!" Kotori frowned as the satellite in question was displayed on the monitor. A square body with solar panels on both sides. Some kind of awkward round object was affixed to the top, half embedded in it. This addition appeared to be acting as makeshift thrusters. This was clearly no ordinary satellite.

"Ngh. What is that?!" Kotori's eyes flew open, and a bead of sweat ran down her cheek. Did this mean they wanted the scale of damage upon impact to be bigger? Or had they anticipated Fraxinus being in the air above Tenguu and were on guard against interception?

Either way, there was no doubt that this was not a happy situation for Kotori and her crew. Slamming a fist down on the armrest of her captain's chair, she stood up and yelled down to the lower deck of the bridge. "Update the estimated arrival now! How much time do we have?!"

"I've got the new estimate!" came a call from below. "W-with these numbers, unless we immediately move to intercept, we'll be too late!"

"Ngh!" Kotori screwed her face up into a scowl. But she set her mind to work immediately and calmly assessed what it was she had to do in the moment. "Sorry, Shidou," she said. "Change of plans."

"Huh?"

"We can't come pick you up. But if we intercept the satellite, the damage shouldn't reach below ground. Evacuate right now to the nearest shelter."

"Okay, got it. Don't worry about me. You just take care of this," Shidou replied without asking any further questions. He had likely guessed at the situation from Kotori's tone.
Kotori kept her voice from shaking as she said, "I will," and then disconnected.

"C-Commander?" a crew member asked hesitantly.

"No problem here," she said. "Let's hurry and get ready to intercept. We are going to take this thing down."

"R-roger!" the crew shouted, and got to work.
Fraxinus changed course and headed toward the estimated location of impact.

"Ngh." Kotori gritted her teeth and balled her hands into fists.
She had made the right decision here. If she prioritized picking up Shidou, Fraxinus wouldn't be able to intercept the satellite, and as a result, an enormous number of people would lose their lives. But...

"Commander!"
After she'd been lost in thought for some unknown amount of time, Shiizaki's voice pulled her out of her reverie.

"We have arrived at the point of impact!"

"The target will pass the designated point in thirty seconds!"

"AR-008 magic generation complete! We are ready to go!"
The voices of the crew reverberated on the bridge. Kotori shook her head to clear away any extraneous thoughts and then stared at the monitor.
She started to count down in her mind along with the timer displayed in a corner of the monitor, and the moment the target came onto the screen, she cried out, "Mistilteinn! Fire!"
An incredible stream of magic jetted out from Fraxinus's armaments.
The vast amount of magic produced by the large Realizers equipped on the airship was sucked toward the target displayed in the center of the screen.
Their timing was perfect. There was even one crew member who struck a victorious pose before the hit was confirmed.
However.

"Wha...?!" Kotori cried out in confusion, a look of disbelief on her face.
But this, too, was only to be expected. The focused beam of magic had twisted the slightest bit when it was on the verge of touching the target and merely pierced a solar panel and part of the thruster before disappearing into the sky.
The satellite continued to fall even as it wobbled, bouncing back from the magic gun, as if pulled down by gravity.

"Wh-what was that?!" Kotori shouted.

"A Territory...most likely." It was Kannazuki standing next to her captain's chair who replied thoughtfully, a chin on his hand.

"A Territory?!" Kotori cried, as she noticed a suspicious point on the satellite on the screen.
A familiar face was peeking out from inside the round object that had been shot through by Mistilteinn.
"That's...a Bandersnatch?!"

DEM's mechanical doll, Bandersnatch. More precisely, this was a device that closely resembled that doll, an autonomous DEM weapon that could use a Realizer to deploy a Territory without the intervention of a Wizard.
It had affixed itself to the satellite.

"I never imagined...!" Seeing this, Kotori understood the intent of this device in an instant.
DEM had likely launched a customized Bandersnatch from the ground and had it dock with a satellite scheduled for decommissioning. And although the satellite would have been orbiting at tremendous speed, a machine equipped with a Realizer could have indeed caught it.
And the fact that the Bandersnatch was attached to the satellite meant that it would be possible to deploy a Territory around it.

"So that's it, then. That has to be why the satellite made it through the atmosphere without a scratch!" Kotori clicked her tongue in annoyance, then heard Reine fiddling with her console.

"...This is not good. The impact from a satellite this size falling while maintaining its mass, the high-level DEM explosive magic, and the Territory of a Bandersnatch to amplify everything else..."
There was the sound of keys clacking, and then numbers were displayed on the screen.
"...I don't know the exact numbers, so these are just rough estimates," Reine said. "But I doubt the impact would be less than that of a tactical nuclear weapon."

"...!!" Kotori gasped. She thought she'd envisioned the worst-case scenario, but this situation far surpassed anything she'd imagined. If this thing dropped, the city of Tenguu itself would be vaporized.
In the midst of all this, Kannazuki alone was calm, stroking his jaw with a complicated look on his face. "It's curious, isn't it?"

"Wh-what is?" Kotori demanded.

"Oh, I simply find it hard to believe that the Territory generated by a Realizer of the level equipped on a Bandersnatch could knock Mistilteinn off course," he responded.

"So then what exactly-?" Kotori started. "No, whatever. Right now, taking that thing out comes first! Regenerate magic! We have to do something before that satellite hits- Eeah?!"
The bridge of Fraxinus rocked from side to side.

"What the-?!" Kotori cried.

"A-an attack!" came the crew report. "Territory has shrunk by fifteen percent!"

"An attack?" She gasped.

"I've got video!" Minowa cried out, while a video feed of the sky was displayed on the monitor. Who knew when it had appeared, but floating there was an airship even more enormous than Fraxinus. The hull was composed of straight lines, and yet it had a somehow organic form to it. And Kotori could see in it an unsettling element shared with DEM weaponry.

"Is that...DEM's?!" she cried. "Ngh. So that's what's knocked our shot off course."

Kotori gritted her teeth in frustration. Most likely, Ratatoskr's attempted interception mission had been anticipated.
She didn't know the detailed performance specs of the enemy ship, but it was clear that it had a Territory able to deflect Mistilteinn and the ability to generate this Territory at random points. Until the Fraxinus did something about this enemy ship, they wouldn't be able to shoot down the satellite. But if they took on the ship, the satellite would crash into the ground before they had the chance to stop it.

"Commander!" her crew called out, a shiver of fear coloring their expressions. This result here was easy to picture.
However.
Kotori sighed with the utmost calm and sat back down heavily in her captain's chair. "Get in line with Lucas right away."

"Roger!" The crew said, and Kotori brought her mic to her mouth. "Lucas. Emergency action. You have to take down the Satellite."

"Huh? I'm pretty sure I made Mistilteinn powerful enough-"

"No. There's a Territory around it. Mistilteinn isn't able to destroy it. We calculated it's impact power, and it's similar to a nuclear-powered bomb."

".....Got it. Be careful though, this might affect you guys too. Please set your Territory to the defense and get further away."

Lucas began flying closer to the falling satellite. Although his Alpha Technique is more powerful than Mistilteinn, he doubted it would be enough to destroy the satellite entirely. "...!" He pushed harder and his speed accelerated ten fold. He had to destroy the satellite outside his range, so Shidou doesn't collapse like he did on Arubi Island.

To be more detailed about his motive: What can stop a Nuclear-powered bomb? Of course, any regular human being can't answer such a question since it's not realistic, but to Lucas, it's as simple as adding a positive number to a negative number. To stop a nuclear bomb, the only thing that can cancel it out is another bomb on the same scale.

Having reached closer to the satellite, Lucas readied himself. He was right on the route of the satellite's fall. He only had a few seconds to act before the Satellite would collide with him.

"Fuu..." Lucas quietly exhaled. He closed his eyes and put together his hands. Even though not even a second passed, in Lucas' mind, it felt like minutes. He concentrated a huge amount of magic into his palms, to the point they could shatter any second.

They were shaking ever so slightly, until the pressure became exponentially rose up. His hands expanded a few centimeters apart, and a red sphere appeared between his hands. The space around it was distorted, and twisted as if that sphere was a black hole that sucked in everything around it.

"Maximum output. Omega." Lucas muttered, and threw the sphere at incredible speed at the satellite. After he released <Omega>, he put his arms across his chest, and created an invisible shield.

KABOOM!!!!

The moment the Sphere collided with the satellite, an ear-shattering, thunderous roar reverberates throughout the sky, so loud that it will shatter any normal humans eardrums.

Lucas felt the intense, bone-rattling Shockwave in his chest, and throughout his entire body. Luckily, he was far away from the point of explosion, and came out with only a few scratches.

The sphere hit the satellite dead-on, and the Territory around it flared to life to try and knock it off course like it did with Mistilteinn. But <Omega> pushed back against this meager defense and annihilated the satellite falling towards Tenguu, leaving not a trace of it behind.
Explosive magic. Countless fragments. They'd vaporized the satellite without a trace of the damage they'd anticipated with this single, simple super-high output technique.

"Target destroyed! We have succeeded!" The voice of the crew member came through his earpiece, and Lucas lowered his altitude.

"Haah...haah..." Lucas breathed heavily. Keeping so much magic in such a small and tight space. He didn't know how he managed to pull that off when Kaguya and Yuzuru were fighting, even if it wasn't as powerful as this one. This was the reason why Lucas couldn't use the absolute fire power of <Omega> as often as <Alpha>. It takes a huge burden on Lucas, and also effects those around it. The magic that's used explodes and scatters kilometers around. It's similar to the effects of radiation, though on a shorter span.

Because of this, he could only risk using this technique at truly do-or-die moments. At some point, Lucas' feet touched the top of a high building below. Being on surface level again, he could breathe normally. The thin air at that level of height made it that much more difficult. And then he heard the voice of Kotori over the earpiece.

"Nice work. But we can't slow down now. The enemy ship-"
A shrill emergency alarm rang out suddenly, as if to interrupt her.

"What is it?!" she cried. "Is the enemy coming at us with something new?!"
"N-no! That's not it! I-it's-," a crew member cried, as a radar image was displayed in part of the screen showing the scene in the sky.

She looked at the signal shown there and gasped. "Wha...? There's...another satellite?!"

Yes. A signal exactly like the one they'd just destroyed had appeared in the sky above Fraxinus once more.

"It can't be... The one just now was a decoy?!" Kotori screwed up her face in annoyance. "Lucas! Can you go one more time?!"

"...No. If I do, my body will explode in the process. It's too much of a burden." Lucas said with unsteady breathing.

Kotori gritted her teeth. "If that's how they want it! We'll use Gugnir!"

Her crew visibly flinched.
"...Are you sure, Kotori?" came Reine's voice from the lower deck.

"Yes. I'm not saying we'll go whole hog or anything. We don't have any other choice, after all," Kotori replied, and looked at her second in command. "You better not miss, Kannazuki."

"I will take care of everything," Kannazuki said, still standing tall.
Kotori nodded, satisfied, and set her palm down on an authentication device affixed to the edge of her console.

The captain's chair, where she sat, slid downward like it was being swallowed up by the floor, and a few seconds later, Kotori came out into a circular space about six meters across.

Because events outside were projected onto the smoothly curving wall in real time, she had the sensation that she was floating in space.

But Kotori couldn't afford to simply enjoy a lighthearted walk through the air at the moment. She jumped down from her captain's chair, stood in the center of the circle, and breathed deeply to calm her mind.

"Now, shall we begin our battle?"
The sensation of reeling in a thin thread from inside the cage of her consciousness. The image of incandescent flames enveloping her body.

Eventually, this picture was imbued with reality, and flames had no sooner started to swirl around Kotori than they were forming a fantastic robe. The fire crawled up her hair to manifest demon-like horns on the sides of her head. Astral Dress. The absolute armor covering a Spirit.

...Kotori, the little sister of Shidou, the Commander of Fraxinus...was a Spirit all along?! But this Astral Dress... it's not identical to a full Astral dress. No... This is a limited Astral dress.

"Camael," she said quietly, and the flames concentrated in her hand to transform into an enormous battle-ax.

In that moment, an explosion echoed from somewhere, and the airship rocked slightly.

They had probably suffered a hit from the enemy ship. It seemed that they were still defended by a Protect Territory, but if she dawdled here, Fraxinus might take some serious damage before they could bring down the satellite.

Brandishing Camael, Kotori spoke. "Megiddo!"

Camael stretched out into a cylindrical shape and equipped itself neatly on Kotori's arm. It looked almost like a cannon. A massive weapon affixed to her right arm, seeming very out of place on Kotori's small body.
And at the same time, a device like a large connector descended before her. When Kotori touched the end of Camael to it, there was a quiet electronic beep, and Camael and the device were firmly connected.

"Here we go, Kannazuki," she said.

"Any time you're ready." She heard Kannazuki's voice in response over the speaker.

If the concentrated-magic weapon Mistilteinn could be knocked aside, then they had only one course of action left to them. It was plain and simple. They had to attack with even greater power.
The Spirit power weapon, Gungnir.
Just as its name implied, this was the most powerful weapon on Fraxinus. It converted the power of a Spirit (or Lucas' Magic), amplified it, and released a lethal blow.

Lingering bits of Spirit power crackled like sparks around her body as Kotori narrowed her eyes sharply and shouted, "Now! Spirit power weapon Gungnir!"

"Fire!"
At the same time as Kannazuki's voice rang out over the speaker, a beam of Spirit power was launched from the enormous weapon in the center of Fraxinus.
This was not on the level of a laser or a beam. If it had to be put into words-a pillar. A giant pillar of light made of concentrated Spirit power stretched out in a straight line between Fraxinus and the satellite.
What on earth would happen to the target if it was struck by this mass of Spirit power? This would soon be demonstrated with an unparalleled real-world example.

The blow hit the satellite perfectly, and the Territory around it tried to knock it off course like the first one. But Gungnir was simply too powerful for any normal Realizer used by a Bandersnatch to withstand it's impact.

"S-Second Target destroyed!" The voice of her crew member came through the speaker, and Kotori slumped to her knees.

"Haah... Haah..."
A slight headache and some dizziness overcame her. Perhaps because she had handled the power of a Spirit, albeit only part of it, a dubious destructive urge started to flicker to life like a fire in her heart.

"Wha-?!" Lucas, who stared at the sky from below, frowned. "Th-that's. No... it can't be!" That Reiryoku...it was the Reiryoku of the Spirit of Flames. The Spirit which Sawa was forcefully turned into. "Why-" is that Reiryoku used in Mistilteinn? Lucas couldn't bring himself to end his sentence. It wasn't possible...right? Could they-

"Did they use Sawa's Reiryoku to- ?!" But before Lucas could finish, his eyes were wide, and his breathing stopped. When a person looks up into the sky, they would only see small lights, which are stars. But when Lucas noticed something in that dark sky full of stars, one light was out of the ordinary.

"......!!!" Lucas couldn't speak a single word. He was fixed in place in shock. That light- it wasn't a star. No. It was actually moving. He could see it, even though it's tens of thousands of kilometers away. This was thanks to his special eye. His perception of light has rapidly increased, and is the reason why he is able to make out such an object from this distance.

"A‐A Meteor...?!"

◇

Breathing deeply, Kotori waved her Angel away, released her Astral Dress, and sat back on the floor. And then she spoke to her crew on the bridge.

"That should be it. I don't think they would be crazy enough to throw in a third satellite...." Kotori said, panting heavily before returning to the Commander's seat. The commander's seat slowly moved upwards and locked into place when it reached it's original position.

"Any signal?"

"No. It seems to be the last one." A crew member responded, and they cheered and celebrated. Kotori snapped her fingers at Kannazuki, and he opened a small box filled with lollipops. Kotori unwrapped it, and put it inside her mouth. "Good work."

"Kotori! Kotori!" The speakers suddenly pushed out the cries of Lucas.

Kotori put the mic closer to her mouth before saying, "What is it, Lucas."

"It's a meteorite!" Lucas shouted.

"Huh?!" The entire crew on the bridge frowned at the words Lucas just spoke. "A meteorite? You're kidding, right? I mean, they couldn't possibly-"

"Do you think it's a time to joke?! Look up at the sky! 30,000 kilometers away from the atmosphere!"

"...Show me at once!" Kotori commanded, and the screen displayed a footage on telescopic scale.

"N-no way... This isn't going to hit is it..?" Kotori said, stuttering in fear. "What's the diameter of this meteorite?!"

"I-it's an estimate of a kilometer, sir!" A crew member cried.

"A kilometer?! That's enough to destroy the entirety of Tenguu!" Kotori shouted. Kotori gritted her teeth, and broke her lollipop into pieces. "We'll go again! This time, use Lucas technique alongside Gungnir!"

"...No, we can't. The burden of that caliber is too much for Fraxinus," Reine said quietly, as Kotori held up a hand to manifest her Angel once more.

There was another explosion, and the airship was rocked more powerfully than before.
"Ngh!" Kotori groaned.
The enemy attacks were increasing in ferocity. It was too dangerous to stay on the defensive like this. They needed to shift to counterattacking immediately or take evasive action.
This was the worst situation she could think of. Even though a Meteor is falling onto Japan, they couldn't use Gungnir, nor Lucas' Omega, let alone a combination of the two.

"What exactly are we-?" For a second or two, Kotori struggled to come to a decision, and over the speaker, she heard the door to the bridge opening.

"Mm... Wh-what's going on?" Tohka said in confusion, perhaps seeing the uproar on the bridge, the enemy ship shown on the monitor, and the video of the meteorite dropping.
Apparently, she and the others secured earlier had stepped onto the bridge.

"Uh. Um... What is that...?"
"Ooh-hoo! Looks like a real jam!"
"Keh-keh! Pathetic. To think that you would be disconcerted at a mere nothing!"
"Conformity. You should remain calm."
"Hmm? That videoooo, that's a meteorite, right? It kind of... I feel like it's still faaaalling?"
"H-hey, isn't everyone too calm about this...?"

Following Tohka onto the bridge, Yoshino, Yoshinon, Kaguya, Yuzuru, Miku and Kurumi spoke one after the other.

"E-everyone!" Kotori cried out, her eyes flying open.
"Kotori?" Tohka replied doubtfully. "Where are you? I don't see Shidou and Lucas, either. Where...?"

Kotori gasped unconsciously.
Perhaps sensing something in Kotori's reaction, Tohka's face grew somewhat sterner. "Kotori, what happened? Tell us. Can we help at all?"

"...!" Kotori wordlessly clenched her jaw. The Spirits were to be protected at all costs. Even by accident, she couldn't send them to the dangerous surface.
But Shidou was on the surface.
If he knew that a meteorite was still falling towards the ground, Shidou, that softhearted big brother of hers, would without a doubt stand against it.

Commander and little sister.
Caught in between those two positions, Kotori half-unconsciously opened her mouth.
"Please... All of you. That idiot... My only big brother... You have to save him!"

◇

"Time's up...huh?" After disconnecting from the call with Kotori, Shidou lowered his eyes and squeezed his hands into fists.
The idea of ignoring Kotori's order to evacuate and keep looking for Natsumi flitted through his mind. Even if the blowback and satellite chunks did rain down and seriously injure him, he would be able to recover, given that he had Kotori's blessing-just as long as he didn't die instantly.

But when he thought about this, Kotori's words came back to life in the back of his mind.
"You have to include yourself on the list of the lives you're trying to save."

"Right. Sorry, Kotori," Shidou said, rethinking things, and lifted his face.
He'd run around shouting at the top of his lungs for this long. If Natsumi was watching him, then she would have realized the situation was dire and run off already.

All he could do now was pray that this assumption was true.
He let his gaze roam and searched for a nearby public shelter.

When the spacequake alarm order was issued, electronic markers and notice boards popped up to indicate the route to the nearest shelter.

Once he had confirmed which way he needed to go, he called out loudly to the area once more, "Natsumi! I'm evacuating to an underground shelter! If you don't know where a shelter is, you can follow me!"
There was...no response, of course.

"Okay?!"

Shidou prayed his voice would reach Natsumi and ran toward the shelter.
Because he'd been running around looking for Natsumi, his breathing was labored, and his feet throbbed. But he couldn't just stop.

He didn't know how much time he had left, but if Kotori and Fraxinus had smashed the satellite, then there would be an explosion pretty soon. He had to make it to a shelter before that. And if Natsumi was secretly following him, she would get caught up in the explosion, too.

Forcing his body forward when it wanted to do nothing other than stop, he somehow managed to reach the closest shelter.

Because a fair bit of time had passed since the alarm went off, the main entrance was already closed. But public shelters like this were generally built with an emergency entrance for stragglers like Shidou. He turned his feet in that direction.

"Phew... Made it." Standing in front of the emergency entrance, Shidou breathed a sigh of relief and looked behind him.

"Natsumi! It's here! You can come in secret! Before the pieces start to fall!"
He raised his chin so that his voice would carry to make his last plea.
However.

"Huh...?" Shidou froze.
And the reason for that was simple. When he lifted his face, he caught sight of a small shadow of something in a break in the clouds.

"That's..." His eyes widened for a moment, but then he realized what it actually was. A meteorite.

"Uh, this has to be a joke?" His voice shook.
And of course it did. Because the thing falling toward the city of Tenguu at that moment was not a collection of tiny bits and pieces-it was a massive hunk of debris.

If the meteorite hit the ground like that, the shelters in the area wouldn't make it out unscathed. No.. probably the entirety of the city was doomed. He hurriedly raised his voice at his earpiece. "Kotori! Hey! Kotori! What the hell's going on?!"

He heard a static-filled voice in response.

"Shidou?! An enemy airship... Shot failed...but now-"

"Huh?! Wh-what did you say?!" he asked, but only heard something like an explosion before the earpiece went dead.

He didn't know the details. But he could see at least that something irregular had happened in the air.
The clumsy black silhouette was slowly but surely growing larger.

"Dammit!" he shouted, and started running away instead of entering the shelter.
There was no point in fleeing to the shelter if the meteorite was going to crash without being smashed first. The impact and the explosive magic would vaporize the whole area, and the people in the shelters would die.

Tonomachi, Ai-Mai-Mii, and the rest of his classmates, his homeroom teacher Tama, the neighbors he said hello to in the mornings, the shopkeepers who were always so nice to him... Too many lives to count would vanish in an instant.

"I can't...let that happen!" he cried, as he glared at the sky and raced to a spot directly below the meteorite.

He was under no delusion that he alone could do anything about such an enormous Meteor. If Shidou gave up, then his fear of everyone losing their lives would become fact. He couldn't allow that.

"...!"

That said, however, the speed of the meteorite's descent was tremendous. It was growing more massive before his eyes, and Shidou could take in the entirety of it now.

"Ngh!" He gritted his teeth as he ran.
It was hopeless. Even if he did make it to the point where the meteor would hit, it would only end with the city being blown away along with Shidou.
Power.

He needed enough power to quell with one blow the manifestation of despair that was dropping through the sky.
But Shidou was human. Just another regular-although he'd walked a checkered path in life so maybe this adjective wasn't totally accurate-human being. Normally, he wouldn't have had power like that.
But. If it wasn't Shidou's. If it was the power of Spirits borrowed by Shidou.

"Please... I'm all we've got! Lend me your strength!" he shouted, and thrust his right hand out. As if reaching for some invisible something. Or to grab hold of something.
In his mind, he pictured only his desire to save everyone.

"Please... Sandalphon!"
A dazzling light filled his field of vision, and he felt something in his right hand.
When the light blinding him died away, he found a faintly glowing, enormous sword had appeared in his hand.
The Angel Sandalphon. The absolute sword Tohka possessed.

"I did it!" he cried out unconsciously. He'd managed to manifest this Angel a few times before, but this was the first time he'd done it of his own will like this.

"Now I can...!" Shidou's gaze grew sharper as he stopped and looked up at the falling satellite, readying Sandalphon in both hands.

He exhaled steadily and calmed his mind. He banished all extraneous thought and concentrated solely on protecting the people on the ground.
And then Shidou brandished Sandalphon.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Light spilled from Sandalphon, extending into the sky, following the line of Shidou's blade. An absolute blow from a powerful Angel.

"Wha...?!" Shidou's eyes grew round as saucers.
The attack he had launched twisted unnaturally as it approached the Meteor and shot out past the target into the sky.
The meteorite itself was undamaged. Roaring through the air, it hurtled toward the ground, ready to destroy Tenguu.

"Dammit! One more time-"

Shidou gritted his teeth and was about to swing Sandalphon a second time. But in that instant, an intense pain raced through his body, and his face twisted up as he fell to one knee.
"Ah! Ngh!"

"Stop, Shidou!" He heard the shout of a familiar voice.

Lowering his altitude, Lucas placed his feet next to Shidou. "It's useless. Such a thing- you can't destroy it. It's beyond your comprehension."

"L-Lucas!"

"Shidou. You have to listen to me. I will buy you some time. Run away."

"W-wait. You aren't planning to-?!"

"Please," Lucas said, and dashed off into the sky at incredible speed without second thought.

"I--" Lucas mustered up every last bit of strength he had. won't...let you fall onto my cityyyyy!!!" The space around him twisted, and hundreds of holes opened up. Out of those holes came spears of light. They all fired off, penetrating the surface of the meteorite. But Lucas' plan wasn't to destroy it, but to push it back. The acceleration of the spears didn't stop, and they kept pushing.

"-!" But it wasn't enough to stop it of course. Lucas, with all his might, flew directly towards the hunk of debris, an pushed against it with all his might.

"Aargh!" It burned. It pained. It hurts. The surface of the meteorite was hot, too hot. It instantly burned his hands and arms, but Lucas ignored the pain and kept pushing. He kept going, and used all his might to stop it from falling. But it simply was too big and heavy. Although he slowed it down by quite a bit, the impact would still be enough to destroy Tenguu. Not to mention, they probably deployed Explosion magic as well.

"Ah. Aaaaaaaaaaah!" Lucas screamed in agony. Power. I need...more power!

"Haaaaaaaaah!!!" His right eye began to flash, and his body gave off a bright light. His hair, which was split into two halfs, became one. His hair became completely white, and his right eye changed pupils, identical to his left one. The speed of the meteorite gradually fell, but not enough to make it harmless. It was still too much. "...!" They had pierced the clouds now, which means the Meteorite was only seconds away from destroying the very city he lived in.

"...?!" He gasped.
He felt an abrupt frigid wind blow by, an all-too-sudden chill even on the eve of winter. But he realized soon enough that he knew this particular chill.

"It's..." He tilted his head back to the sky and held his breath.
The meteorite had stopped in a position several hundred meters above the ground. Actually, to be more precise, the concentrated wind pressure of an ascending air current and a wall of ice had just barely managed to keep the satellite from firing its thrusters and charging toward the earth.

"Lucas-san!"

He heard a familiar voice from behind and turned his aching body to find Yoshino there clinging to an Angel in the shape of a gigantic rabbit puppet.

"Yoshino." He gasped. "What are you doing here...?"
"Keh-keh! Yoshino is not alone in this."
"Dissatisfaction. I wanted you to see Yuzuru in action."

He heard two more voices from the sky above. The Yamai sisters were floating there, limited Astral Dresses and Angels manifested. It appeared that Yoshino and the Yamais, combined with everything Lucas had in his power, was enough to stop the meteorite in it's tracks. At the same time, he felt reborn, as if all his fatigue was gone.

"It's not over yet, Lucas. Send this piece of junk back to where it came from!" Kurumi shot him with the bullet that reverses internal time. All his wounds disappeared, and his power returned.

"Tohka...and Miku!" Lucas heard Shidou's voice calling out for the other Spirits.

"Ngh! What the heck-?!" Lucas groaned again.
"Ah...!" Yoshino cried, and the Yamai sisters scowled.
"Keh! What now? This knave has the nerve to increase in power."
"Outrage. I do wish you'd read the room."
Apparently, the customized Bandersnatch fused with the meteorite had boosted its thruster output. This seemed like the most likely explanation for why the meteorite, which had been forced to a stop in midair, began to slowly approach the ground once more.

Miku threw out both arms and then crossed them in front of her body. "No, thaaaank you!"
A keyboard of light appeared before her as if chasing the trajectory of her hands; a large pipe organ of an Angel manifested behind her.

"Gabriel. March!" Miku shouted, as her slender fingers danced nimbly across the shining keyboard. A stirring song poured out from the Angel, and the wind-slash-ice wall combo pushing back the satellite grew significantly stronger, and Lucas felt like his output power has increased.

"This is..." Lucas quietly muttered.
"That's...amazing," Yoshino said appreciatively.
"Keh-keh!" Kaguya threw her head back and laughed. "This chanson is indeed excellent. The blood sings, the flesh dances!"
"Vigor. This is a great assist," Yuzuru agreed.
Miku's Angel, Gabriel, could manipulate sound. By playing different songs, it could cause a variety of effects on its target. Those who heard the valiant March would have their mind and body roused, allowing them to wield greater power than normal.

Feeling new strength well up inside his own self, Shidou clenched his hands into fists. "All right. So then! Tohka, help me! We're smashing that massive thing. We should be able to do it together!"
He and Tohka both had the same Sandalphon in hand. If they attacked at the same time, they would definitely be able to break through the enemy's Territory.
But Tohka shook her head, a troubled look on her face. "No, we can't."

"We can't?" he asked. "Wh-why can't we?"

"Mm." Tohka's frown grew deeper. "I don't really know why, but Kotori said we can't. I guess it's got this explosive-magic thing that'll activate if it's destroyed. So we have to destroy it way higher up in the sky."

"E-explosive magic?!" he yelled.
Tohka was right. Thanks to Lucas, Yoshino, Kaguya, and Yuzuru, they'd managed to kill the speed of the meteor's descent, but it was still a bomb waiting to go off. If they let it detonate this close to the earth, the underground shelters wouldn't stand a chance.

"S-so then how do we-?" Shidou muttered, pained.

"We'll push it back up so you can destroy it!" Lucas somehow managed to shout loud enough without loosening his strength. "
"Keh. Keh-keh... Do you not know our origins? We are the Yamais, children of the hurricane that cuts down all creation."
"Contract. Please let Yuzuru, Kaguya and Lucas handle this. We will toss it like a scrap of paper."

They sounded more than confident, but Shidou could see a faint sheen of sweat on their faces. It looked to him like they were putting on a show of bravado. Which made sense. Even with a lower-end estimate, the meteorite must have weighed several thousands of tonnes.

It might have been a different story if they could have used their full power, but Lucas had already sealed Kaguya's and Yuzuru's normal Spirit powers.

They wouldn't have been able to carry the massive lump of debris up into the sky so easily as all that.

But without a word of complaint, the sisters nodded at each other before raising their hands at the same time.

"Hey, stop wasting time and help!" Lucas shouted, not relaxed in the slightest. He was carrying the most weight after all.

"Hmph. Well then, shall we, Yuzuru?"

"Response. Ready when you are."

The wind swirling around the area increased in intensity to sweep up signs, street markers, and traffic lights, becoming a monstrous tornado.

"Ungh. Ahauuuuuuuuugh!"
"Vigor. Hi-yah!"

When the sisters threw their arms up, the meteor slowly-but surely-began to ascend.
"-!" Lucas pushed even harder than he did before. They might just be able to do it if nothing interferes.
But then small missiles flew out of the sky toward the Yamai sisters and exploded behind them.

"Hyangh!"
"Anguish. Hngh!"
"Kaguya! Yuzuru! Ngh-"

At the same time as the agonized cries of the Yamai sisters rang out beneath him, the wind slackened, and the weight of the ascending meteorite dropped down again onto him.

The lingering winds cleared away the puffs of smoke to reveal a pair of slightly charred twins. However limited their powers might have been, the fact that they had manifested their Astral Dress and had been shrouded in their winds had allowed them to survive the missile attack more or less unscathed.

"Ngh! Who is this villain that would dare obstruct us?!"
"Uncouth. This is unpleasant."
The Yamai sisters turned their glares toward the sky.

Shidou followed their gazes upward and gasped. "Wha...?! Those are-!"
Off in the distant sky, countless Bandersnatches were flying toward Shidou, Lucas and the Spirits. He couldn't tell exactly how many there were, but from the look of the swarm, there had to be at least a hundred of them. All with CR units attached to various limbs, all ready for war.

Which reminded him that there was a DEM airship up in the sky at the moment. Most likely, it had deployed this Bandersnatch squad to eliminate Lucas and his friends and keep them from interfering with the meteorite's crash to earth.

The Bandersnatches spread out in all directions. They attacked the Yamai sisters raising up the Meteorite, Yoshino helping Lucas preventing its descent, Miku amplifying everyone's strength with her song, and Tohka and Shidou waiting to strike the decisive blow and destroy the would-be bomb. They all tried to protect the main factor of this new plan's success. Lucas. Without him, the plan will undoubtedly fail.

Yoshino used her chilled air, the Yamais their wind, Kurumi used her clones, and Miku sound to create protective walls and try to deflect the attack, but more than one missile slipped past their defenses. Once one missile exploded, it ignited those around it, and the air shook as flames rolled out from the epicenter of the explosion.

"Eek!" Yoshino shrieked.
"Hngh!"
"Pain. Unnngh..."
The Yamai sisters groaned in unison.
"Hngh!"

"H-hey! What iiiiis this?!" Miku moaned.
But worse, Lucas was hit by the explosion too.

"Nghh!!" The wall of ice and wind holding the meteorite back creaked ominously, and the meteorite slowly started descending again.

"Everybody!" Shidou shouted.

"Mm! You jerks!" Tohka, the only one who had knocked away every missile targeting her, narrowed her eyes sharply, crouched down, and then leaped into the air.
She raced forward to slice down the Bandersnatches attacking Yoshino and the others. "Now! Kaguya! Yuzuru! The meteorite - Hngh!"

But there were too many enemies for her to take on alone. She was gradually pushed back by the Bandersnatches as they closed in on all sides, filling the gaps in their ranks with micro missiles and laser cannon blasts.

"Ungh!"

"Tohka! Hnrrr-," Shidou shouted, and then leaped back. The reason was simple. One of the Bandersnatches was coming after him, brandishing a laser blade.

"Take this!" He tightened his grip of the hilt of his sword and swung Sandalphon. The Bandersnatch in front of him was neatly severed in two, and sparks sprayed out from the open cross section.
But the true terror of the Bandersnatches was their number and their coordination. With no regard for a fallen comrade and no fear of death, the dolls came charging in one after another.

"Ngh!" Shidoh dodged their attacks, deftly swung his blade, and kept counterattacking at any opening, but he soon reached his limit. His body cried out at the constant use of Sandalphon, and he fell to his knees.
Naturally, there was no way the Bandersnatches would show mercy or have compassion. The faceless death dealers closed in on Shido, not letting this favorable opportunity get away.

"Shidou!" Tohka cried.
"Daaaarling?!" Miku wailed.
But the Spirits were also surrounded by too many Bandersnatches to count. They might have wanted to come to Shidou's aid, but they were trapped themselves.
A Bandersnatch stood before Shidou and raised its laser blade.
"Dammit!" he snarled.

"Shidou!" As Tohka's voice rang out, the Bandersnatch brought its sword down toward Shidou.

◇

"Ike!"

In his suite at the Imperial Hotel East Tenguu, Westcott heard his name out of nowhere and looked over his shoulder.
There was no door to the room behind him, however-only a massive window offering an exceptional view of the city of Tenguu. Normally, he would not be hearing a voice calling to him from this direction.
But he soon realized what was going on when he turned around. Ellen had called to Westcott from the other side of a square hole in the impressive window-wall, hanging in the sky wearing a CR unit. Most likely, she hadn't wanted to waste time coming through the lobby and had flown directly to his room.

"If it isn't Ellen! Magnificent entrance, but perhaps your method of knocking could use a bit of refinement?" Westcott said, looking pointedly at the clean edges in the glass.

"We do not have time for jokes." Ellen came into the room through the hole in the window. "Please flee immediately. The rebel faction from the board meeting is planning to crash a meteorite onto your location."

"Ohhh, I heard. I got a call earlier as well." The corners of his lips turned up as he chuckled. "I honestly didn't think Murdock had it in him. Instead of sending an assassin, he uses a nearby meteorite. Such a fun idea! Ah, perhaps I underestimated him. Wonderful resource. I will have to tell him exactly that when I get back to England."

"Ike," Ellen said flatly, displeased with his delight. "At any rate, you're in danger here. I will protect you with my Territory and fly as far as possible from this place. Please gather the things you will need."

Westcott shook his head. "We'll likely be fine right here. It's not going to amount to anything serious."

Ellen stared at him for a moment before speaking. "If you are with me, then it is indeed possible to minimize the damage with my Territory. However, I am speaking of the worst case."

"Oh, no, even before that, I expect that Murdock's plan will fail," Westcott said, and Ellen frowned dubiously.

"What do you mean?"

"Tenguu is also home to one Itsuka Shidou, Kunshu Lucas and the base for those Spirits who live on their side," he told her. "So firstly, I have no doubt whatsoever that Ratatoskr's airship is here. And that they will likely take care of this situation. We are talking about the organization Elliot created, after all."

"..." Ellen scowled the moment Elliot's name came up. "I find this incredible. Is that the reason you choose to stay here?"

"Mm. Is that wrong?" Westcott raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Obviously. Do you not understand your own importance?"

"Hmm..."

"Ike," Ellen said in a reproachful tone.

"All right." Westcott sighed before raising both hands in a gesture of defeat. "Then how about this? You're right, there is a worst case here. Murdock is meticulous. I wouldn't find it hard to believe that he has a backup and another backup for that one. So..." He turned away from Ellen back to the center of the room.
A girl was standing there silently.

"...let's dispatch her to the scene," he suggested.
Ellen frowned. "'Her'?"

"Yes. This is actually the perfect chance to take Mordred out for a test run," Westcott said. Then he asked the girl with a smile, "I'd like you to see what you're made of. How about it?"

"..."
The girl, of course, remained silent and merely nodded firmly.

◇

"..."
Natsumi tried to get her ragged breathing under control.
Thump. Thump. Her heart had been pounding uncomfortably fast for a while now. The sound of it hit the insides of her ears like the footsteps of a giant.
The reason went without saying-Shidou and his friends.

For a while there, it had been going great. It seemed that Tohka and the others had been evacuated, and after a call from Kotori, Shidou headed obediently for a shelter. Everything was going exactly as Natsumi had hoped.
But then Shidou suddenly started running back out into the city and began to try and stop the massive meteor. And now he had been driven into the tightest of all corners.

When he'd tried to push back the meteorite with the friends who came to join him, a whole bunch of mechanical dolls called Bandersnatches appeared out of nowhere and began attacking them.

A Bandersnatch was pressing a blade down toward Shidou, who was on his knees on the ground. In another second, that magic-imbued sword would fall and slice right through Shidou's body.

Natsumi remembered the agony when Ellen ripped into her stomach and shuddered unconsciously.
"Ah. Ah..."
And then Shidou would definitely die. When she thought about that, Natsumi felt an even more intense pain in her heart.

"It's okay, you're okay," she murmured to herself reassuringly over and over. It would work out somehow. They didn't need someone like Natsumi to step up; there was no way Shidou would die.

After all, everything had turned out fine when Shidou was attacked in his home by Ellen. And Lucas and the others had come to save him when he was about to be crushed by the meteorite. He had plenty of friends who would come to his rescue. There was no place for Natsumi here, not now.

"It's okay... I mean, someone'll save him, right? Hurry up already," Natsumi said in a small voice, as she waited for someone to rescue Shidou.

But Lucas, Tohka, Yoshino, the Yamai sisters, Kurumi and Miku all had their hands full dealing with the mteorite and the Bandersnatches. On top of that, she felt like someone had said something about Kotori and her crew being in a battle in the sky.

"Hurry... Someone... Come on." Natsumi screwed up her face at the pain of her pounding heart, but nobody showed up.
The Bandersnatch brought its sword down on Shidou.

"Someone... Someone!"
In that instant, Natsumi finally realized that there was only one someone there.

"Wha...?!" Shidou's eyes flew open in surprise.
Right as the Bandersnatch's sword came hurtling at him and he started to give up hope, helpless as he was, something squirmed in his pocket.

For a second, he thought it was his phone. But it wasn't. The Chupa Chups he'd picked up in the underground facility leaped from his pocket and protected him from the Bandersnatch blade with its small body.

"Huh...? A-a lollipop?" He gaped.
And of course he did. A sphere small enough to fit in his palm was floating before him and holding back the blow of a laser blade, sending crackling magical energy in every direction. This was the sort of thing that caught people by surprise.

The Chupa Chups repelled the sword and smashed in the head of the Bandersnatch before beginning to glow. And then the tiny silhouette gradually grew bigger.

A few seconds later, it turned into a small girl clad in an Astral Dress like a witch's costume.

"N-Natsumi?!" Shidou cried.
Yes. This was the Spirit he had been running around town looking for.
He'd guessed that if she was still above ground, she'd be somewhere she could keep an eye on him, but he never imagined that she'd been hiding so close by.

"Natsumi, you...," he said.

Natsumi parted her lips, without meeting his eyes. "...and do it."

"Huh?"

"Hurry up and do it," she said, hiding her face with the brim of her hat, as she turned her back to him. "You're smashing that big thing, right?"

This was all Shidou needed to hear. Of course, there was the fact that he had another powerful ally in a tight spot. But more than that, he was practically over the moon that the very same Natsumi who'd steadfastly refused to open up to him and his friends had, for whatever reason, voluntarily come to him and said she would help.

"You got that right!" Shidou nodded vigorously and tightened his grip on Sandalphon.
However.

"Eeeaaah!"
He had no sooner heard Miku scream behind him than the brave March she had been playing was abruptly cut off. The Bandersnatch attack had separated her from her keyboard now. She leaped backward and began attacking the herd of Bandersnatches with her voice.

At the same time as the bolstering music faded away, cracks appeared in the wall of ice that was just barely holding back the meteorite, and pieces of the wall began to crumble as the swirling winds lost their force.

Not to mention, Lucas had been knocked away by a missile, leaving nothing in the way of the meteorite to fall straight onto the city. His body was currently held in Kurumi's arms, but she couldn't protect him for much longer. The numbers of Bandersnatches has increased by a multitude.

"Wha...?!"

No longer obstructed, the meteorite began to accelerate once more and plummet toward the ground.

"Shidou!" After slashing away the Bandersnatches in the air, Tohka descended to stand by Shidou and Natsumi. She looked at Natsumi in surprise before turning her eyes on Shidou with a gasp. "You okay, Shidou?!"

"Y-yeah... I'm okay. What's more important..."
When she saw him peering up at the falling meteorite, Tohka nodded, a hint of fear on her face.

"I know. But what are we supposed to do?!" she said, panicked. "If we destroy it here, there'll be a huge explosion, right?!"

"Hmph." Natsumi sniffed. "It's fine. Go ahead and crush it. I mean, you've got these amazing swords and all, don't you?"

"No, it's got this explosive magic-," Shidou started, and Natsumi snorted again grumpily.

"Hmph." She thrust her right hand out and shouted, "Haniel!"

The broom-shaped Angel appeared in her hand, the sweeping end opened up, and a dazzling light enveloped the area.
"Whoa?!"
"Mm?!"
Shidou and Tohka instinctively shielded their eyes.
And then when they could see again...

"Wha-?" Shidou looked up at the sky, and his eyes grew round as saucers at the contrast from just a moment earlier.
But that was only natural. Whatever else, the meteorite that had been closing in on the ground several hundred meters below was now an enormous, chubby pig mascot.
This had to have been due to Haniel's transformation power. Shidou gasped and looked at Natsumi.
He recalled the first time they met Natsumi in mid-October. Just like now, she had changed the charging AST members into mascots and the whistling missiles into carrots. And even when those carrot missiles hit the ground, the explosions were nothing more than the funny kind found in manga.
Of course, given the serious difference in power and size, this wasn't exactly the same, but maybe now...!

"C'mon. Hurry and do it already!" Natsumi said with annoyance.

The enormous pig was still hurtling toward the city of Tenguu. Its power as an explosive might have been extremely reduced, but the size of it alone would still produce a tremendous impact if it hit the ground.

But that didn't change the fact that they could now destroy the target right here. Shido said a brief thank-you to Natsumi and looked over at Tohka.

"Let's go, Tohka!"
"Mm! Ready when you are!"
Shidou and Tohka nodded at each other, then brandished identical Sandalphons at the target simultaneously.
An Angel that there was normally only one of. A "miracle made manifest" that should never have faced itself.
Shidou and Tohka swung those miracles as one.

"Yaaaaaaaaah!"
"Haaaaaaaaah!"
Their glittering slicing attacks crossed in the air and ripped into the target.
But even in its new shape, the giant pig apparently still possessed its abilities as a Bandersnatch; it tried to stretch out a Territory and defend against this dual attack.

"Ngh!"
This was the blow of an Angel. The pig wouldn't be able to guard against it so easily with just a Bandersnatch's Territory. But Tohka had also been worn down in the fight with the death-dealing dolls. And due to repeated hard use, rather than the Angel itself, the person handling it-Shidou-had reached his limits.

At the last second, their attacks were unable to break through the Territory and merely closed around the pig as if pushing it forward.

"Hngh!"

A little more. Their attack just needed one last push. But they could not fill in that last little bit, no matter how they tried.
Yoshino, Kaguya, Yuzuru, Kurumi, Lucas, Miku. If he and Tohka had help from even just one of them, they probably could have broken through. But those Spirits were still blocked off by the Bandersnatches and unable to make a move.

"Like this...we-" Shidou was about to drop to his knees, a look of anguish on his face.

"Haniel!" Natsumi brandished the Angel in her right hand and cried out once more.
After seeing that Shidou and Tohka couldn't smash the pig, was Natsumi actually going to change it into something else? No. If that were possible, she would've done that to start with. So then what exactly...?

While Shidou was wondering this, Natsumi continued to cry out. "Kaleidoscope!"
Instantly, a strange color bled across the broom-shaped Angel, giving it a sheen like the surface of a polished mirror, and the broom itself was transformed into what appeared to be a lump of clay.
And then a heartbeat later.

"Huh?!" Shidou's eyes widened at what he saw in Natsumi's hand.
It was a sword. A wide blade about as tall as Natsumi. With a shining golden cross guard and a jet-black grip.
Yes. She had manifested the Angel Sandalphon.

"What are you doing to Shidou?! The only one who gets to play tricks on him...is meeeeeeeeee!" she shouted, and swung Sandalphon at the pig with all her might.

"Sandalphon!"
Light jetted from the blade and flew toward the target in a slicing attack as if following along the arc of Natsumi's sword.
The sword didn't just look like Tohka's Angel. Although it wasn't as strong as Tohka's, this was undoubtedly the same type of power as the real Sandalphon.

Shidou, Tohka, and now Natsumi.
Attacks from three Sandalphons rained down on the target's Territory. The invisible wall around the pig made a cracking sound and then shattered to pieces.

With its Territory destroyed, there was nothing left to protect the enormous pig. The aftershocks of the triple attack knocked the pig back with a funny sound effect like something out of a manga, and then countless Chupa Chups began to fall like rain.

◇

"Shidou...!"
"Aaah, daaaarling, you're so brilliant!"
After Shidou, Tohka, and Natsumi succeeded in destroying the meteor, Yoshino and Miku ran over to them, having at last defeated the army of Bandersnatches. Although they all had cuts and scratches, fortunately none of the girls were seriously injured.

"Shidou." Lucas called out his name. He was in tip-top shape, but his body was supported by Yuzuru and Kaguya.

"L-Lucas! Are you okay?!" Shidou cried.

"More or less, haha.."
"Keh-keh. It appears you've grown stronger once more, Lucas."
"Assent. You've changed again."

"Mhm.. I guess I got a penalty for this power again." Right. When he first changed, he received a penalty which temporarily paralyzed his entire body. He felt the same burden again, but not that much. Although he's the one who's injured most, he felt relieved that none of the girls were seriously injured.

"Kaguya, Yuzuru, and everyone. Without your help, I wouldn't have been able to stop the meteorite from destroying the city. Seriously, thank you."

The girls all shook their heads.

"Without you, we wouldn't have been able to do anything."
"Riiiight? Lucas' power is so much more powerful than anything I've seen!"
"We. Love...this city. Too."
"Heh-heh-heh! Dang straight. You gotta let us help this much at least."
"Heh. Well, without your presence from the very outset, we would not be here in this moment."
"Conformity. We still owe you a debt."

"O-oh...by the way, where's Kuru-" Before he could finish, his upper body was wrapped around by a warm sensation, and a wet tingle on his chest.

"K-Kurumi..?" It was Kurumi who hugged him tightly while her eyes bawled out in tears. "....Don't worry. I'm alive and well as you can see." Lucas forced a gentle smile, and patted her head.

But in the midst of this, one person alone was trying to sneak away without saying a word-Natsumi.

""Natsumi!"" Lucas and Shidou called out to her.

"...!" Natsumi jumped noticeably and came to a stop. And then she hesitantly turned back to Shidou and the others and sniffed in a some-what timid manner. "Wh-what? You gonna tell me that I should've come out before the eleventh hour? Or that it was creepy for me to turn into a lollipop and hide in your pocket this whole time?"

Shidou smiled slightly at this now-familiar negative song and dance and let out a short sigh of relief. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Yeah. I was worried to death y'know."

"Huh...?" Her eyes grew wide, and she froze in place. "Wh-what...are you talking about? I...went and hid... And you worked so hard..."
Natsumi stammered as her body began to tremble.

"And...I-I did such terrible things to all of you... So why... Why...?"
Sobs steadily made their way into her voice. Fat tears spilled from her emerald eyes, and she continued, practically shouting.

"What... What is with you...? All of you! Are you stupid, a bunch of idiots?! I don't get it...! Why would you...?!"
The last part was no longer words. Tears streamed down her face, and she began to wail.

"Ungh... Aah... Hic! AahWaaaaaaaaah!"

"Wh-whoa, Natsumi." Shidou had not expected her to cry on him. Unsure what to do, he waved his hands back and forth to try and placate her.

Tohka and the other Spirits also stepped forward to try and soothe Natsumi.
But her tears did not stop.

"I-I'm! Sorry!" she cried. "I did all that bad stuff...made trouble for everybody... I'm sorry! And you were all so nice to me... But I only ever said mean things-I'm sorry...!"

Hiccuping the whole while, Natsumi talked. She kept going, as if the many emotions that had been building up inside her were spilling out all at once.

"I was so happy when...you gave me a massage... Happy you...cut my hair...and picked out clothes... I was happy...you made me up... I was so happy...you said I looked cute!" She sniffled.

"I was so happy...but I couldn't tell you then... I'm sorry...!"
Natsumi looked at Shidou with puffy, red eyes.

"Thank...you..."

Shidou's own eyes widened in surprise, while Tohka and the other Spirits looked at one another with identical expressions of surprise.
But his face quickly softened into a smile as he turned to Natsumi. "Don't worry about it. I should be thanking you. If you hadn't been here, I don't know what would've happened to us."

"You don't have to worry about that, either." Natsumi sniffed. "You did that stuff for me first and all."

"Yeah?" Shidou said, exhaled at last, and held out his hand.

"Huh?" Natsumi stared in surprise.
Shidou felt embarrassed somehow at her reaction. He scratched his head awkwardly and opened his mouth again.

"Umm. It's, uh, you know. I promised that when this was all over, you could go wherever you wanted. And I can't stop you anyway, but if you'd like..." Now he looked Natsumi in the eyes. "Maybe you could...be my friend?"

"...!" Natsumi gasped, stunned, and looked at Shidou and the girls behind him in turn. And then very slowly, timidly, she took his hand and nodded.

"Ungh... Ungh... Ungh... Waaaaaah! Waaaaaaaah!" She started to cry once more, rivers of tears pouring down her cheeks.

"Aaah! Daaarling! You went and made Natsumi cry again!" Miku said, grinning maliciously.

"H-huh?!" Shidou jumped.

"Aw c'mon Shidou, you gotta do better than that."

"I simply can't truuuust Natsumi to a person like you, hmm? So, Natsumi, let's you and me be friends, too!"

"Mm! Shidou, you can't pick on Natsumi," Tohka admonished him. "I'll be her friend, too!"

"Uh. Um... So... M-me too..." Yoshino looked at the Witch Spirit shyly.

"Yoshinon's in! Yoshinon wants a piece of the friendship pie!"

"Keh-keh! So the danger lies in leaving the self to Shidou?" Kaguya said. "Very well, Natsumi. As a special patronage, I shall make you my retainer."

"Assent." Yuzuru nodded. "We don't know what kind of perverted games Shidou will force upon you. We should protect you carefully."

"Mhm. I'll be happy to get to know you better too!"

The other Spirits also started to crowd around Natsumi, and Shidou cried out helplessly.

"H-hey, you guys! Don't go giving her the wrong idea about me!"
The girls (and Lucas) all burst out laughing.

When he glanced over at Natsumi, he saw a new look on her face, tearstained though it was.
She was smiling very adorably.

◇

About thirty minutes after the meteorite had been safely shot down, Shidou got a message from Kotori, who had been engaged in battle in the sky above Tenguu with a DEM airship. Apparently, while the enemy ship had given them the slip, Fraxinus had made it out with relatively little damage.
But the transporter was apparently temporarily out of order, and so Shidou, Lucas and the Spirits were walking over to the underground facility before the evacuated citizens came out from their shelters.

Shidou's body, damaged by the use of the Angel, had recovered enough after a brief rest that he could at least manage to walk. Even so, a worried Tohka had pestered him to let her carry him on her back. Though there was no one around, this was still embarrassing, so he had politely declined.

In the end, Natsumi decided to come with Shidou and the others to Ratatoskr. Of course, her Spirit powers were still not sealed, and he hadn't explained that whole situation to her yet. He could easily imagine that Natsumi would not want to lose the powers of transformation she used like second nature.

Nonetheless, he was sure if he took the time to persuade her, she would come around. He glanced over at her walking next to him.

"..."

"Wh-what?" she asked, baffled. But he caught no glimpse of the harshness that had been on her face previously.

He shook his head, a smile crossing his lips. "No, it's nothing."

"Oh. Fine," she said curtly, and twisted her head away.
But before too long, Natsumi started speaking to Shido this time, in a whisper so that Tohka and the others up ahead couldn't hear her. "So, like."

"Hmm?" He raised an eyebrow. "What's up, Natsumi?"

"It's just...I wanted to ask you something. That okay?"

"Sure. What is it?" he replied, and she tugged on his sleeve silently. "Ah! Hey! What're you doing all of a sudden?"

"It's fine. Just come." She dragged him into a nearby alley. And then staring hard at him, she asked with a strange look on her face, "Hey, Shidou?"

"Wh-what?" Her unusual behavior was making him nervous.

"I..." Natsumi swallowed hard before continuing. "Am I really cute?"

"Huh?" Shidou's eyes grew wider at the unexpected question.
But when he really thought about it, it was basically the same as the question she'd posed him the first time they met. Well, naturally, the Natsumi then had been in the form of an adult woman, though.

His face relaxing into a smile, Shidou nodded firmly. "Yeah, of course. You're very cute, Natsumi."

"...!" She reddened and opened her eyes as she continued in a halting fashion. "Later..."

"Later?"

"Um... Will you...teach me...makeup?" she asked, hanging her head in embarrassment.

"Sure, you bet." Shidou nodded firmly once more. "I'm sure you'll get the hang of it right away."

"...Yeah?" Natsumi nodded, as if she was finally convinced.
And then.

"Huh?" Shidou let out a bewildered cry.
But that was only natural. Because Natsumi had abruptly reached out to yank on Shidou's collar and pull his face down.
Lips met lips.

Having somewhat recovered from the penalty of gaining such tremendous power, Lucas would finally walk on his own again. Although his body was still stiff, it was enough to not rely on Yuzuru and Kaguya anymore.

"Lucas, are you fine now?" Kurumi, who was walking next to him, asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Lucas said, placing his hand on her head again.

"...I'm not a child anymore." Kurumi's cheeks puffed a little.

"Haha. Well, it was quite the experience to see little Kurumi around. You were so tiny, and cute."

"..." Kurumi's cheeks reddened, and she turned her gaze away from Lucas.

"Oh yeah, I'll have to talk to Natsumi. Where is sh-" Lucas turned his head around, and his heart constricted. The reason was simple. The girl who had taken his first kiss- was kissing another boy. Although she had lost her memories, and although their relationship back then wasn't anything special in particular, it felt painful. "..."

"Aah!" Tohka yelped from behind.
Apparently, she had come back because Shidou and Natsumi had disappeared. Naturally, it wasn't only Tohka; Yoshino, and Miku were also standing there.

"Shidou! What are you doing?!"
"...! Uh. Um... I'm not. Looking..."
"Eek! Daaarling, you're so booold!"
And so they began to make a fuss in this fashion.
"H-hang on a sec! I didn't start this-" Shidou tried to plead his case, but the Spirits weren't having it.

◇

"It failed?!" Murdock half shrieked at the news that arrived at the conference room of DEM Industries' UK head office.
The faces of the board of directors assembled there paled.

But that was to be expected. They had participated in a failed assassination attempt on Isaac Westcott. In other words, this meant that the hatred and murderous desire they felt toward him would be returned to them as is-no, multiplied several times over.

"Wh-what is the meaning of this, Murdock?! We went along with this plan because you said it was a sure thing!"

"Exactly! How do you intend to fix this?!"

"I-I'm not a part of this! It was all Murdock, out of control!"

The middle-aged men cried out pathetically, slamming their fists against the table. It was quite the amusing sight, but Murdock was in no mood for laughing.

He was indeed the ringleader in this attempt at assassination. This was an indisputable fact. And if it reached Westcott's ears, then Murdock-no, the whole of his faction would be facing Westcott's ire.

"..."

But everything wasn't necessarily over. Murdock pulled the mic on the table toward him and spoke to the bridge of the large airship Heptameron, which had been dispatched to Tenguu.

"Not yet," he said. "It's not been decided yet, Captain. Is Heptameron all right?!"

"Yes, sir! We did engage in combat with the Ratatoskr ship, but less than ten percent of the hull was damaged."

"In that case, we still have one final Humpty-Dumpty, yes?!"

The eyebrows of the directors in the room all jumped up at Murdock's words.
Yes. The deeply cautious Murdock had readied for this mission three Humpty-Dumpty units.

The First and Second Egg, bait to lure in the Ratatoskr airship. The meteorite was the actual main component of the plan to end the life of Westcott, Meteorium. And there was one more.

The third Humpty-Dumpty had been made available in case the mission ended in a misfire. The final machine-Third Egg-was equipped on Heptameron.

Naturally, it wasn't the case that a full satellite was attached to the airship or that the ship could drop it from geostationary orbit. Compared with First and Second and Meterium, Third boasted far less power.

But even so, if they could detonate it directly above Westcott, its explosive magic alone would be enough to blow away Westcott and the shelter along with him.

"What is MD Westcott's current location?!" Murdock demanded.

"Currently...it appears that he's still in his hotel room."

"What?!" Murdock twisted his face up in disbelief. Westcott hadn't fled to an underground shelter with all this going on?

He was overcome with an inexpressible frustration. He felt like this man was sneering at the plan that Murdock had poured his heart and soul into.

But that didn't change the fact that this was an excellent opportunity. If he hadn't fled to a shelter, then it was possible that the power of Third Egg was more than enough to take him down.

"Well, then." Murdock issued his instructions into the mic. "I don't care how much of the city is destroyed. Take Westcott's head."

◇

Having been given a jacket by Shidou, Natsumi slowly approached Lucas.

"L-Lucas, can I talk to you really quick?" She asked.

"Uh..okay." Lucas nodded, not sure what she wants to talk about. He waved a hand to Kurumi to signal her to go hand. "So, what's up?"

"Uhm...well. Can you tell me what happened between us before I became a Spirit?"

"..." Lucas didn't expect Natsumi to ask about her past. After all, it's a cruel, and wicked past. After thinking about what to answer, Lucas opened his mouth

"..We were friends."

"F-Friends?"

"Mhm. Just friends." Lucas said, and turned around without any more detail. "Hmph." He sniffed to himself, and smiled. Right. He didn't want to build a love relationship between him and Natsumi five years ago in the first place. He simply wanted to see her happy.

"...?!" Suddenly, a shrill alarm was ringing through the earpiece he was wearing.

"What's going on, Kotori?!" he asked, and he soon heard her panicked voice.

"We've detected a magic signal in the sky! It's an explosive-magic signal from the airship that got away from us before!"

"What?!" He gasped and turned his eyes toward the sky.

"Mm? What's wrong, Lucas?"

Perhaps suspicious of this change in Lucas, Kurumi and the others cocked their heads to one side.
Without taking his eyes off the sky, Lucas opened his mouth. "Yeah. I guess it's not actually over, after all. Another bomb like the ones before is going to drop."

"Wha...?!"
They all grew tense. And then like Lucas, they turned their eyes to the sky as if ready to once again shoot down the embodiment of murderous intent that was about to fall from above.
But Shidou had only just sealed Natsumi's Spirit powers and her key ability of transformation, and the rest of the Spirits were completely worn out. It would be difficult, to say the least, to intercept another falling target in their current condition.

However, they had no choice but to do it. Lucas calmed himself down again the way he had before and concentrated on his right hand. Right, he still had Alpha. Now that he grew stronger, it should be enough to destroy it.

But before he could even channel his magic, an intense pain raced through his entire body and brought him to his knees.

"Ngah!"

"Lucas!" Kurumi ran over to him, worried.

But the enemy wouldn't care a bit about Lucas' condition. He heard another alarm over his earpiece.

"Commander! A Bandersnatch equipped with explosive magic has been released from the airship!"

"Can Fraxinus counterattack?!"

"It's impossible from this position!"

"Ngh! Turn about immediately! We have to do something before it hits-"

In the middle of Kotori's order, Lucas saw a beam of light in the sky, and then there was a massive explosion above the city of Tenguu. The air around them crackled.

"Wha?!" Lucas and the Spirits (and Shidou) gaped, and he heard the voices of the crew through his earpiece.

"The signal's...vanished!"
"What? Did it self-destruct?"
"I-I don't know. But immediately before the explosion, a heat source-"

A heat source. Lucas recalled the beam of light he'd just seen. Someone couldn't have actually shot down the explosive?
That line of thought did make sense. But someone who could destroy with a single shot the same kind of device that can match the strength of his output.

"...!"

He shifted his gaze to the left, the direction the beam had come from. He could see a human figure there.
"That's..."

The shadow slowly approached Lucas and the others and then stopped in midair.

It was a Wizard wearing a CR unit. And not an AST unit. A wiring suit with a design that closely resembled the one Ellen wore, equipped with distinctive thrusters and a massive magic gun.

"Wha-?" Lucas' jaw dropped when he saw her.

He was certainly surprised at a DEM Wizard attacking a DEM bomb. And at the fact that she had the power to annihilate in one blow what it had taken the absolute strongest weapon of his to destroy.

But what stole the larger part of Lucas' attention was a much simpler phenomenon.
He knew this Wizard.

"Ori...gami...?" he said tentatively.

The Wizard-Origami-looked silently at Shidou and the Spirits, with eyes just like always- No. With eyes even more unreadable than usual.