A certain accelerated delusion

by Luxon123

When dragged into the accelerated world for the first time he thought everyone was way too attached to fight over it. But getting out can be harder than getting in, especially when you have no clue what started it all and running away would mean abandoning people who rely on you.

2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer - I do not own either Toaru Majutsu no Index or Accel World etc etc

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Yeah this chapter took a while and my beta ended up rewriting half of my dialogue so thank you beta.

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Kamijou approached the exit to the school gates dejectedly. Eight 'O' clock. His date was definitely gone. Lost forever. He would have to apologise, maybe even grovel and beg for forgiveness for standing her up for so long. Turning on his neurolinker he stepped past the school gate connecting to the global net. "Burs-."

An expansive desert replaced his vision even before he had finished speaking. He had only just entered the global net and someone was already challenging him? The signs denoting names came down immediately as the bars filled and? Was that 'Sheltered Princess' name on the matching board. It looked similar at least.

Bringing out the guide cursor he headed off in the direction it pointed. The same way he would have headed if he were going home in fact. About two thirds of the way there he found his quarry.

It had been 'Sheltered Princess.' She seemed really nervous as he walked into view and greeted her. "Sheltered Princess sorry some things came up that I couldn't get out of I really didn't mean to stand you up".

"No, it's fine." She beamed up at him, a complete 180 switch. "Sometimes things like this happen, You just got out of school and I failed to give you any method to contact me so really we were both at fault." He hadn't mentioned school with that statement. A slight uneasiness at how things could have gone so well began to form. "And anyway this was better for me as well as it gave me time to set up a room close to yours that I could use to enter the unlimited zone from."

"I thought we would be using a library or something." He would ignore that uneasiness. He couldn't have been so careless as to raise a 'Stalker' flag. "And I might have to delay a bit more to get food before the shops close."

"Ah well I couldn't meet you in person at this point in time. I haven't prepared myself for it yet. So it would be best if we entered from different rooms." Kamijou was not sure how to respond to that statement. "But if it's okay I shall prepare some food and leave it for you."

"Well do you even know my room number it would be rather awkward if you handed the food to some random stranger." She did know his room number and recited it back to him.

The skulking stalker flag crept into the periphery of his mind again. A vague warning from Aogami sprang to mind about his non-existent harem and the Yandere option echoed behind his hearing.

Such misfortune. Of course it could never just be simple.

---

The food sitting in front of him on the table was definitely ominous. It was nothing to do with whether it looked edible, in fact it looked better than anything he made for himself. She'd used better ingredients than he could hope to afford and no matter how he sniffed he could smell no strange chemicals. There was nothing to suggest she was trying to drug him... He resolved to try it. Just a bit. It did smell good after all... It tasted divine and did him no harm that he could note. What was ominous was that it was on the table at all. It had in fact been on the table when Kamijou unlocked his room and stepped inside.

An email came in over his neurolinker from somewhere he didn't know. Opening it he was presented with a countdown labelled over a squiggle 'unlimited burst' with 17 minutes 28 seconds remaining. Only two choices existed.

He could eat the food, and succumb to whatever his stalker may have done to it. Or he could not eat it and face an upset stalker who could break into his house. This route would also end with him starving as the timer left him nowhere near enough time to make it to a shop and back for food.

But then considering he was going to be entering the unlimited zone if she actually wanted to do something to him while he was absent from his body he couldn't do anything about it in the first place. And he was really hungry. Tucking into the food Kamijou observed his room once again to see if there were any obvious cameras that had been placed to record him. His games had definitely been moved, they were much neater than anything that happened when he was done with them. His kitchen had been cleaned too. Had she used his own kitchen, he pitied his stalker for a moment, with how frequently it malfunctioned someone used to better equipment must have found that a nightmare. Nothing else really seemed out of place. He absolutely avoided checking his collection of older girls, a stalker would watch him returning just to make sure wouldn't they. Especially as they had made it so blatant that they had been in his room.

Finishing up his meal quickly he considered if he needed to check anything else today.

Ah gas, checking his kitchen nothing seemed to have come loose yet and no weird smells were coming from his kitchen. He was probably going to avoid waking up in hospital with some unfair news story playing about spending too much time on computers while suffocating due to his own carelessness.

The timer had almost finished counting down. He still hadn't found out what was going to ruin his day when he stopped playing. Maybe he would be kidnapped and wake up in some strange place and have to fight his way out? Maybe someone else's kitchen had sprung a leak and the whole building would be aflame by the time he got out? There were just too many options for what could go wrong but, he supposed, they were out of his hands... Regardless he had promised to go.

Clicking the button on the email to pronounce it said a bunch of strange words which he presumed was the activation command. the clock hit zero. "Unrimite" he choked on the strange word for a second before trying again "unlimited burst."

The world fell away shifting from his apartment complex into the interior of a massive cathedral, a brief moment passed where he was pulled downwards to the ground. Glancing around 'Sheltered Princess' was sitting off to the side surrounded by turrets and tapping away at some keyboard. Upon seeing him though she instantly closed it, walking over and smiling "ah your here."

Considering he flubbed the words he was really late again. "Ah yeah so whe-" a thunderous crash resounded through the cathedral as the ceiling broke away and a bizarre creature descended from the rafters. It looked like a wheel with the outside decorated with strange eye patterns while a second ring covered in blades rotated around it. Internally Kamijou cursed his misfortune. Shifting the wheel suddenly spun faster and moved. Kamijou was already moving arm stretching as he pushed 'Sheltered Princess' out of the way, And then it hit, a blade passing through and severing his arm instantly. A brief moment of pain coursed through his arm as he was thrown across the room but faded almost instantly.

Looking up the outer wheel was facing away from him as the inner wheel started spinning on a different axis. A moment of horror as a blast of light erupted from the eyes on the wheel and then the world around him faded to grey.

Glancing around 'Sheltered Princess' had not run away. She had retreated but only as far as her turrets, they did not seem like a very good defence. The enemy charged again and he moved to intercept, it went straight through him. Ah. He was dead wasn't he? A crash sounded behind him as the creature slammed into the wall. The princess was actually unharmed, was she surprisingly more competent now. Her turrets were actually managing to fire at it while it was stuck. Kamijou swore she hadn't been this powerful! Had she?

And then 'Sheltered Princess walked up to check, Kamijou cringed, not a good plan. The Monster started spinning again and immediately took her head off as it backed out of the wall.

A few moments later she reappeared with him in this greyed out world and dropped to her knees clutching her neck. Kamijou could only look away guiltily, he should have been faster and dragged her out. A moment of dread filled him as he watched the monster begin moving again. Yes this Kamijou had experience with these things, next it would start pacing around his corpse until he respawned, hunting him again and again. It completed a first circuit, and then a second. "'Princess I don't suppose you know how we log out of this area do you?" She remained huddled on the ground and started crying. Approaching he carefully asked again "How do we log out, I mean if we leave for a few minutes and then come back several hours will have passed and it might be gone." They were only fox words. Kamijou already knew the enemy would still be waiting, his bad luck would never allow it to be resolved so easily.

"I was supposed to be the cool onee-sama type character." She had gone through his collection. Was nothing sacred to a stalker flag? "Now both of us are going to run out of points."

"If you're low on points I don't mind giving you some." He felt like he was missing something, it was only a game there really wasn't anything to get that worked up about.

"You can't log out." She sobbed. that was clearly untrue. "or at least not without a portal." Ah. that was a problem.

"I don't suppose there are any portals near us are there." He already knew there were not. A lucky chance covering for one of his failures to check something was impossible.

She searched through the menu for a bit before answering. "The nearest portal is half an hour away by the station." Was this place bigger on the inside as well, the station was really 10 minutes at the most."

"Such misfortune."

---

The timer finished counting down. Kicking off the ground instantly he closed with the enemy. Stopping its movement would be impossible. Retreating before 'Sheltered Princess' respawned was unacceptable. But in that spot right next to the wheel it could not turn to hit him it would be forced to retreat before it could attack him he would have a chance.

The moment it moved he was off, a slow jog to keep an eye on the enemy even as he headed toward the pillar closest to where 'sheltered princess' had fallen. Three seconds left. The rings came loose, and Kamijou leapt to the side, he had to have gauged it right. They locked at a ninety degree angle once again, that stupidly powerful beam of light firing from every edge of the inner ring as it rotated on its axis. It lanced past Kamijou missing him entirely, he could do this.

A crash resounded through the room as the ceiling came loose and 'Sheltered Princess' respawned. Push forward, grab Princess, through the damaged section of the wall and out into the street. Left.

With the direction it was facing it would burst through the wall facing right, and it was faster than him. If he could just turn the corner before it came out through the wall he had a chance to get away for a moment. So of course it wouldn't work.

The wall exploded between him and the corner as the enemy ripped through the wall, twisting upwards so it could float above the battlefield. Kamijou paused for half a second slowing to take in the street. A heavily overcast sky hung above a city of tall spires and ornate stone buildings that had replaced the concrete Academy City he was used to. But if you ignored the architecture and looked only at the layout it looked sort of like the streets he was used to, 'Sheltered Princess' said that it was a visual overlay of the real world right? Backalleys then, he could lose it in the twists and turns just like a group of delinquents. Glancing up to get a read on his opponent.

Kamijou lunged right as the blade came down and severed his left arm like a guillotine the wheel immediately throwing itself forward along the street to evade a counterattack. Kamijou ignored this, with this strength difference attempting a counterattack was meaningless, thus his only option was to continue forwards.

"It's stopped." Glancing back to confirm 'Sheltered Princess' warning but the angle it had split off at was all wrong. It wouldn't hit him. It was about to lock in place aiming at a slant that would go completely over his head. Tracing the angle of the blast in his head as he turned back around-

-it was going to drop the building on him again wasn't it. That beam would slice upward through the walls of the building such that it would all come crashing down and block the entrance to the alleyway. this was way too misfortunate for just having started playing. Couldn't he at least get a false sense of security before everything went to hell.

Putting on a last minute spurt he raced against the clock to get there first. The beam flashed out crossing the distance in an instant, the walls collapsed.

He was through.

He had made it into the alleys. A resounding crash followed in his wake as the building slid down to block the path they had come. But there was no way he was going to stop running over as minor an obstacle in the path of his opponent as that.

First exit on the left, second on the right, would the park be a good place to escape? how much cover would be carried across? A tearing sound came from the direction they had come. Park it was. Even running all out the tearing was coming closer, punctuated by massive crashes as it struck the walls around it, it wasn't slowing down at all.

First right for a long straight line to the park, second for a series of back and forth paths. It already knew where they were by the sounds of things so second it was. "Paralyse," could he rely on his teammate to at least slow the enemy a little to buy more time to get out of the alleyway?

"No special gauge." He could not, there wasn't enough room to dodge to the side here when it reached them, if he was going to have to respawn would it be better to at least throw 'Sheltered Princess' further away? Glancing back as the tearing reached the entrance to the alley he was running down and oh.

The crashing sound had not been the enemy banging against the walls as it turned corners.

The enemy was turned on its side, for while it shouldn't be able to fit in the small confines of the alley like that it had merely solved the problem by cutting straight through the walls of the alleys as it passed. That crashing sound must have been the now unstable buildings collapsing into the alleyways behind it. If he continued running he would be sliced in half, if he hit the ground to dodge it he would be crushed when the buildings collapsed.

It shot forward like a rocket. "Hold on." letting go with his right hand he readied himself. Dive, twist, right arm up... now, hand close. A claw locked into place grabbing onto the middle ring as it passed above him. And the world turned into hell.

His arm was immediately ripped into the wall, his skin ripped off as his body scraped against the rough brick as the enemy continued. A scream resounded through his ears, and a full moment passed before he realised it wasn't his own. Teeth gritted Kamijou clung to the inner wheel of the enemy as it dragged him down the alleyway to freedom. For a moment that lasted an eternity he remained helpless as pain coursed through his body.

The pain stopped. Even as he struggled to tell what was happening around him, the world a mass of fuzzy colours, he continued spinning. He realised this and relaxed.

And let go.

And slammed into the ground, tumbling through a mass of vegetation before rolling to a stop.

Pushing himself up with his right arm Kamijou glanced around, 'Sheltered Princess' had let go at some point in the flight and he needed to find her before it got back. The park was overgrown in this world, Thick grass reached up to his waist with even larger trees that towered over the surroundings, For the future task of hiding from the monster chasing them it would be perfect, free range of movement, lots of hiding places. For the task at hand it was like searching for a needle in a haystack, he couldn't even remember when she had let go.

In such a situation this Kamijou could only see two options.

First he could sneak around carefully searching the area until he found 'Sheltered Princess.'

Second he could call out revealing his location to everyone nearby and trust that she would be able to find him.

Kamijou wanted to pick one, two was an obvious dead end where the monster attacks right after the protagonist reveals his location and brutally murders him before he would be able to react. But it finding him was still a much better option than the it finding her. He could at least try to fight back rather than be massacred instantly. And if he died first he would also respawn first, giving him another chance if he failed, whereas she could be killed endlessly unless he survived a full hour to be around again when she respawned.

"Princess are you there." Only an ominous silence greeted him. No swinging blade tearing through everything in its path, no giant laser that vaporised him in a single blast. No 'Sheltered Princess' either.

Cautiously glancing around again he searched out looking over the expanse of grass before moving closer to the street again, he couldn't see any sign of her. Had she fallen off before they escaped the alleyway and been crushed when the buildings had collapsed. Was this reprieve merely a chance for him to realize he had failed before the game resolved to kill him. The idea left an unpleasant weight in his stomach. He had definitely failed again.

Even upon reaching the edge of the undergrowth he could see no sign of either her or one of the rotating cursors that would signify his failure. He took a last look around to before abandoning all cover and then he saw it.

The wheel hung about twenty metres straight up above the entrance to the alleyway emanating a pale yellow light. As though sensing his gaze it turned towards him, yet merely remained hanging there. A silent executioner, standing by, ready to kill him the moment he turned his gaze away yet content for the moment to let him survive. Was it camping a corpse like earlier? If it was then he had failed to protect her.

Edging over to see if he could look further into the collapsed alleyway for some sign of the spinning resurrection marker he instead noticed something else.

The grass at this point bent inwards as though it had been crushed. But then if 'Sheltered Princess' hadn't died why was it remaining stationary at that point? Regardless the most important thing was to find 'Sheltered Princess.'

Tracing along the 'path' until he met a bush Kamijou immediately pushed through He felt a weight lift from his chest.

And instantly redouble. For while the avatar curled up out of sight was definitely alive the fact that she was clearly shaking and sobbing was proof enough that he had failed to protect her at all. He had been trying so hard to protect her just to fail again.

But then he couldn't let that show at all. Inviting sympathy from someone he had failed to protect was out of the question. Regardless of whatever expression was showing on his face the important thing was to reassure her so she could smile again.

"'Princess' are you okay." She was clearly not.

"Is it gone?" She clearly wanted him to reassure her. That everything was right in the world and that no more monsters would come out of the darkness to hunt her down again.

The correct answer to this question was obviously no. Kamijou knew that the enemy would come crashing down and attack them again at any moment. "Yeah it looks like we lost it."

If the point was to reassure her then surely fox words would be enough. Perhaps he would suffer some consequence for lying to her later but that was fine. If the truth could not wash away her tears so she could smile again then he had no need of such a useless reality in the first place.

Reaching out to pat her head to soothe her she suddenly pushed up, arms wrapping around him.

This was all wrong.

A girl was embracing him. He had reached up another stair on the stairway to adulthood. This was like getting a rewards for a quest that you had failed. The people of the town celebrating your accomplishments even while you knew the demon army was marching towards it.

The hard metallic surface pressed up against him.

Truly this was an appropriate punishment for his lying to her. Girls were supposed to be soft weren't they. Was this place going to give him a glimpse of his dreams just to ruin it.

Now that the world made sense again he could focus on progressing.

"Yeah it's gone for the moment so just rest for a bit until you feel better." He pushed on with such a basic lie without hesitation. Even if that sword of Damocles above his head was about to fall there was no need to let it worry her.

He would have to convince her to leave soon. it would attack him again long before he could reach the portal. Yes after she calmed down he would send her off and use himself as bait to distract it.

"Next time if I'm not there you should probably try to head to the portal yourself." Yes being near him was certainly going to cause her more hardship he always brought nothing but trouble to the people around him. "I mean next time a monster turns up just retreat and I'll lead it off so you can escape." Next time would probably be quite shortly, but there was no need for her to know that.

"Rejected." His hope that she at least would get away was dismissed instantly.

"Wouldn't it reassure me if I already knew you had gotten away."

"If I'd left you would have stayed searching until you died." Her grip became even tighter as she said that. He wanted to refute that statement, it made it sound like it was all his fault she hadn't gotten away. The idea that someone would wait expecting him to come even to the moment that they died. He was nowhere near good enough to live up to those expectations. Relying on him... that much would just get someone killed.

"I'm pretty strong so I'll be able to handle it." This kind of blatant lie would be seen through instantly. It wasn't even worth trying really. How pathetic did he look really to be claiming he could win on his own after that fight where he had been utterly helpless to protect her.

"Yeah you are." How pathetic he must have looked that she was actually indulging his ludicrous claims. "But that's why you'll end up pushing yourself too much again. I've always been safest near you anyway." Her hands reached out to grasp his arm, one even entwined its fingers with his own.*

Whatever was left to say was cast aside however as a tearing sound rang out across the clearing. He lunged, grabbing 'Sheltered Princess' again and immediately pushing off to get as much of a head start as possible.

It still wasn't a place where he could fight the monster chasing them but at least here in the foliage he would be able to track it by the sound of destruction, while the forest around him left plenty of options for him to at least distract or slow it down.

Weaving in and out of the trees it wasn't going to be enough to stay ahead. Sure it was also slowed down having to tear through them as it moved but the extra time it took him to turn and weave through the foliage made up for any difference that would make.

It was still gaining on them easily. The sound of whirring blades and splintering trees coming closer with every passing moment. He needed to time this right to have any chance.

As he passed the next tree he slammed his foot down into a root poking out of the undergrowth, forcing it to absorb as much of his momentum as possible.

With the tree between them the wheel continued on unable to see his actions even as it tore into the tree cutting through it as only a minor hindrance.

Pushing off the root on the ground for a moment he came to a dead stop. And then pushed off at an angle, almost back the way he had come. A sudden course change of over ninety degrees. While it was faster than him if he could just turn faster in this place.

The tree barely slowed it at all but it was enough. That extra moment as it tore through was enough that he could move out of its path, and with only a limited route through the tree torn open it couldn't turn to catch him.

It had overshot, passing him by as it shot off into the foliage.

The gap was actually increasing, he had no hope that it had lost sight of them, the actions in the alleyway proved that it could sense them somehow even without line of sight. But even being able to remain a single step ahead was better than where he was previously. Rather than being completely at its mercy he had a chance again.

It would not actually solve the problem, he would run out of woods with some distance still remaining before he could reach the portal. At that point he would have to cover far too much ground out in the open, completely at its mercy. But for now he could stay one step ahead of it and progress. He had actual breathing space again.

Yes truly the world was just that bit brighter already.

Crashing out into a clearing for a moment he paused. It was a large clearing, crossing it before the enemy got back would not be possible. It was also perhaps worse that it was an inhabited clearing, a group of four avatars already occupied it already, no two groups, one of three and another guy on his own.

Such misfortune.

"Run."

The one at least followed his advice, turning to flee into the undergrowth even as Kamijou himself continued forwards.

The three did not, turning to face him instead weapons ready. The nearest already moving forward a giant purple one handed scissor blade swinging toward him as the owner prepared to take his head.

And the foliage behind him exploded, a rotating buzzsaw that would surely tear him apart if it connected. Between the possible death in front of him and the certain death in front the choice was easy, pushing onwards into the midst of them.

The blade swinging at him redirected its course. aiming to save its wielder from the new important threat that had emerged. As the giant scissor blade came up a faint trail extended through the air in front of it. Thin and frail looking like a spiderweb about to be brushed away that faint line crossed paths with a blade that should have instantly torn it apart. It held firm.

The wheel didn't stop spinning but its forward momentum was stopped in that instant it hit the thin line, forcing it upwards into the sky over the purple avatar even as the line faded from existence. The wheel slowed as it rose, preparing itself to fall once more upon whoever its target was.

The purple avatar nodded to herself. "Retreat." A clear voice that carried with itself surety as an order that would be followed designed to carry across the battlefield. She immediately followed her own order sprinting back the way he had come from without hesitation to get away.

Did he need to attract its attention again. It was his responsibility considering he had brought the enemy with him into their midst. Leaving someone else to get attacked when the monster was originally after him left a bad taste in his mouth. However this was both a meaningless worry and a choice he couldn't make. For the monster merely ignored the girl as she retreated and focused on him once again.

Pushing forward it turned out the remaining two had were setting up a diversion to help gain distance to escape.

For the yellow avatar had emitted some kind of smokescreen from all over its body. "Through here I'll distract it." Pushing forward into the smokescreen a sweet metallic scent flowed into his nose. It awoke an old memory of an Anti Skill demonstration several years back where they went over supposed gun safety. Kamijou had been shot seven times during that training session. A quick glance right caused a dawning confirmation of his suspicion. The light purple avatar who was the third member of that group was standing waiting with a long nozzle in each hand pointing towards them leading back to a large canister attached to his back.

The enemy ploughed into the smokescreen.

Kamijou twisted putting as much of his body between the flamethrower and 'Sheltered Princess' as possible.

And the fire rushed over him in an instant. It didn't burn. A measure of force slammed him pushing him away, the enemy rushing heedlessly through to the location he would have occupied. But there was no heat. It was a surreal experience, rationally he knew he should be burning, The flames continued for a second before fading, all of the fuel burnt away as he hit the ground.

Glancing up the wheel had passed by him through the flames.

Swinging round in a massive arc it prepared for another run, and suddenly slammed to the side.

No it had been struck.

A large, very light blue, almost white, knight like avatar holding a massive lance had struck it in the side as it turned.

Its attempt to retreat turned into a rout. A relentless barrage of blows as the knight kept pace, constantly knocking it off course before it could get up enough speed to escape.

Second, third fourth each blow connected at an almost inhuman speed, Kamijou could hardly track his movements with his eyes alone but... then...

The eighth missed entirely. Swinging in as those before it and yet inexplicably slowing at the last moment. But the break in the chain was enough for it to escape.

Turning to run once more, bracing himself to move out of the way as it returned.

The sudden clash of striking metal behind him was more mocking than relieving.

It had turned on the knight instead of resuming its chase of him.

He could escape.

He could make excuses about it if he wanted to.

He was making sure 'Sheltered Princess' was going to get away. He was too weak to intervene and would only get in the way.

He had run away from fights often enough in the past.

But the fact that this was all the fault of his own misfortune and he had merely left someone else to clean up his mess was something that he couldn't stand.

That knight had stepped in when he was in trouble hadn't he? How could he do nothing after that.

Yes, looked at like that the answer was obvious.

As much as he wanted to use this opportunity to run away there was no way he would forgive himself if he didn't turn and go back. Setting 'Sheltered Princess' down he implored her "Run off for a bit. I'm going back in."

"That's just like you to not abandon them. Very well I'll be waiting." And with that faint smile backed away into the foliage. Really as someone who had kept failing to protect her throughout that kind of trust felt truly out of place. It was something he had done nothing to deserve and yet she was so sure he would come out fine. It unnerved him. The fact that someone had that much faith in a failure like him really unnerved him.

Charging back the way he had come he took a moment to survey the battlefield. Flamethrower and Smoke had still not left the fight, with Smoke randomly attacking the trees at the edge of the clearing while Flame stood between him and the monster.

The 'Knight' was the one who held centre stage although he had lost the initiative from when he had entered the battle and was now being driven back..

A storm of blows was exchanged between the two as they fought. For while the lance wielder who had intervened was being driven backwards he always managed to deflect a fatal blow. But human endurance was not limitless and an AI had no need for rest. Eventually it would corner him, or he would lose his footing and the enemy would end the battle in an instant.

He could not take that role, blocking it himself would be impossible. Earlier when it had struck him it had cut cleanly through his body with no resistance whatsoever. If he met those blades head on the result would be clear.

As such a small threat he couldn't even draw its attention back, there was no reason in a fight to concern yourself with someone who couldn't interrupt in any way. Its obvious choice of action would be merely to focus on the one active threat first and then kill everyone else once that was annihilated.

No that was wrong. Even if its attacks were overpowering, even if it couldn't be blocked it needed a long charge to make them. It couldn't just move in close and rain attacks repeatedly until the defender was torn apart but instead had to wait either for its opponent to slip up or for them to be broken down by damage taken from incompletely blocking those charges.

The objective wasn't to stop it. Merely to ruin that charge for an instant so that the 'Knight' could retaliate.

A step forward. He couldn't keep up with its movements at all. But then he didn't need to, as long as the distance between where they would clash was small enough for him compared to the distance it would have to travel he could get there first.

Charging past the knight at an angle he prepared himself, turning, turning. There.

The wheel shot forward aiming past him for the actual threat to its existence.

And as it passed he swung his right hand in once again to grab at the inner ring.

It did not stop it. No matter how much he had braced the wheel outmassed him and was moving far too quickly for the result to be anything other than slowing it down. But as his arm was wrenched almost out of the socket the path of that wheel changed. It may have only been a tiny amount, a few degrees at most. But at the distance it covered in the few seconds that small alteration made an opening.

The lance swung round, and what would have been a deflection turned into a solid blow against the side of the wheel.

As his hand came loose the wheel changed direction almost instantly rocketing up into the sky. Climbing twenty metres in just under a second before hanging in the air out of reach.. The inner wheel and outer wheel separated once more preparing for the blast of light again. Kamijou threw himself out of the way of where it was going to attack.

And the lancer leapt upward spear seeking to impale through the enemy in a single hit.

The inner wheel spun, pushing the spear upwards at the point of impact and turning it away. A blinding flash of light washed away all the colour in his vision for an instant.

As his sight returned a rotating marker struck the ground nearby. 'Lancer' was dead. The wheel spun in midair to turn to face him once again.

Such misfortune.

The first clash went badly. Even pushing himself to move as much as possible to get out of the way was not enough, and the glancing blow to the side of the wheel that he got in exchange for the blade carving into his left shoulder was by no means a fair trade.

Pushing backwards to increase the distance for round two his foothold moved. A loose rock, a tree root that had gotten caught, what had tripped him didn't really matter. In that instance as he hung falling the enemy charged. Such misfortune.

A claw swung up to deflect as much of the blow as possible, he would still take damage but it would buy him time to regain his footing and was better than dying.

The blade bit into his right hand.

And the world faded into grey around him once more.

---

The world faded once again into a dull monotone as the knight appeared in his sight again, a tall imposing figure with a bulky armoured body and an ornate helm shrouding his face. "When I respawn I'm gonna be the one to kill that thing." That did not fit Kamijous assessment of how the fight had gone at all. For someone who had failed to injure the enemy such overconfidence seemed completely out of place, and yet disregarding this the pale blue avatar stood as though victory was just within his grasp. If he had such a certain victory trump card that could destroy it so easily he should have used that first. They stood awkwardly for a few moments before the knight continued. "You should have left the girl."

That was not acceptable at all. Rather than knight he was immediately downgraded in his mind, the new title of 'Lancer' replacing it. There was no way he could have left her alone and helpless, she was far too incompetent to be trusted to reach the escape portal on her own. And anyway it didn't really matter if he lost brain burst, that would merely return him to his normal life, whereas she was way too attached to this game. It mattered more that she survived. "Escaping by leaving someone else to die in my place would be no different than killing them myself."

"Really you'd be doing her a favour, she's unsuited to this game, anyone who doesn't know how to fight gets taken out sooner or later." It was not spoken as an excuse for not helping people, to the person in front of him that was just the way that the world worked. He would never accept such a pathetic reason to abandon someone as that. Someone who was so sure of their own power but only used it to sit back and watch while others suffered was not someone he could ever get along with.

"I am not going to abandon her." Yes he had already resolved himself and so anything else was meaningless. Well after he respawned of course.

"Kind of hard when you're already dead and she's going to die too... oh purple bought it."

The ghostly outline of another avatar had now joined them in this place. "Fuck I set that up perfectly! Where was Scissor? Dammit."

Ah this was about the one that left when he arrived. How to say this "She left at the beginning." That probably wasn't the best way he could have put it. That only seemed to make him more angry.

And then 'Smoke' spawned into that faded out world as well.

"Ah we got left behind didn't we." 'Smoke' was way too unsure of that statement. It was, like he thought he knew vaguely what had happened but didn't want to believe it.

Clearly he needed to interrupt before they got the wrong impression and started blaming her. "She did call for the two of you to retreat. The two of you were busy setting up your explosion though."

'Smoke' instantly relaxed, as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Flame continued clenching his fists for a moment, before taking a deep breath. "We're fucked when she finds out we got killed ignoring orders aren't we."

"We messed up but there's no way she'll hold it against us. Really it was my call anyway so I'll put in a good word for you about it if you're that worried about losing any standing with her."

"Nah it's fine I guess, I can take whatever she dishes out. I went along with it, can't let you suffer alone." The visor over the avatar hid where he was actually looking but... he wasn't looking at Smoke as he said that. As though there was someone else there the words were more meant for.

He resolved to ignore it, if it was anything like the memories his avatar brought back it was better left buried.

Two people had managed to escape but he had ended up dragging three more into the problems caused by his misfortune instead. "I'll lead it off when I respawn, you can use that opening to escape if you want." He would be imposing harshly on them for this next bit but it was the best solution. "Although I don't suppose I could ask you to look after my companion and take her with you when you head for the portal?" The question was directed at the two who attacked him earlier. That was much more trustworthy than asking someone who wanted him to leave 'Sheltered Princess' behind.

'Smoke' responded "Are you stupid or something? Did you forget we were trying to light you on fire a minute ago? You sure you ought to be asking for help from us?." He was not forgetting that at all. But then even if they were untrustworthy it would be safer than being with him. As someone not suited for combat she could escape without going back into battle with them while any attempt to travel with him would result in more wandering monsters turning up.

"Can you at least make sure 'Sheltered Princess' doesn't do anything really stupid." Like wait for someone who can't come back.

"If you get rid of it I'll see what I can do, you're gonna owe me one though." That was fine. He probably wasn't going to survive anyway and they would never meet again after this, owing a favour to Smoke that could never be collected didn't really matter.

"Not asking me?"

"No." Although even as he said it 'Lancer had stopped paying attention looking past him rather than at him.

Turning to check what 'Lancer' was gaping at it seemed 'Sheltered Princess' had decided something. She had actually moved out of the cover she was hiding behind to advance on the enemy. It wasn't bravery or the act of someone with a plan, she was shaking way too much

"It did follow... ah I know what she's doing now." That smug declaration was far too cruel a thing to say while watching someone commit suicide. The enemy turned blades spinning as she calmly continued forwards.

It cut through, a horrible tearing noise as those blades carved into her flesh again. But there was no way he could dare say anything about misfortune. Even if being forced to watch this was far too cruel it would be worse for the person being torn apart.

The act of 'Sheltered Princess' reappearing in that faded out world did nothing to reassure him.

She had committed suicide right in front of him. He hadn't been able to do anything when that happened.

How was he supposed to fix that. There were no quick fixes for such things, even if you knew someone was suicidal there was no quick and easy way to help them. And expecting him to do anything about it, he couldn't help someone like that. No. He wasn't enough to save someone like that...

But even if he was a failure could he pass that off on the other two. No the very fact that she had asked him to protect her, if he then abandoned her would that make it worse. Probably.

But then the fact that she immediately marched over to beside him to take a seat without any hesitation, he wasn't going to be able to send her away. No even if he managed it he would still have to find her again just to make sure she hadn't gone and killed herself. It looked like he was actually going to have to kill the enemy.

"Well sorry then change of plans not leading it off anymore, it seems I'm going to be helping you in killing it then 'Lancer' try not to die before I get up." Yes he could definitely ignore a minor thing such as disliking his allies to work with them.

'Smoke' looked quizzically at him for a moment but hey, he had seen far worse looks than that over his life, one more person disliking him wouldn't have any effect.

"Dragoon." He didn't really care all that much, he was still going to be 'Lancer. 'He had lost the chance to change his name the moment he suggested abandoning 'Sheltered Princess.'

The wheel had not returned to camp his corpse. Instead it had started a long meandering course away from them, edging away from the former battlefield.

"Looks like the other guy's fucked too now huh."

Could he call out to tell him to run? Would it mean anything if they couldn't be heard in this place? It hadn't even necessarily seen him, he still couldn't himself. Would that just be giving away his position?

The enemy stopped in place rings coming loose, but this time it didn't stop in the middle, a full ninety degree shift to change direction as quickly as possible. It spun, picking up speed as it crossed the short gap to a section of foliage, and tore through instantly.

A final ghostly member was added to their party.

"That was my fault wasn't it?" Letting her blame herself would only make her more suicidal that couldn't be allowed to happen.

"Yeah it was. It would be more merciful if you had just died, like this you were just dragging black over there down as well." She wilted next to him at that.

"Don't go blaming her for my choices will you? I chose to protect her so it's no more her fault than anything else I've ever chosen to do. If I get hurt I get hurt. Blaming other people for my own choices would be pretty cowardly wouldn't it?" What kind of person could watch her give up so wholeheartedly and then compound her woes?

"Oh are you taking responsibility for her setting up the new guy for death too then?" 'Lancer was mocking him there but, really, it was his fault. He had brought the enemy here in the first place, no even before that it was his bad luck that had caused it to spawn.

"Well that's why I'll take care of it and make sure they can both escape then isn't it." The confidence was a lie, but then accepting and abandoning them was unacceptable. He would just have to make sure he turned that lie into the truth for once.

'Lancer' conceded. "Fair enough I guess it would be more your fault than hers like this anyway." That was surprisingly easy. But then when he looked to the side to reassure her it turned out he had completely failed his actual objective and she was still depressed. No if anything she had shrunk even more into herself at his reassurances.

He didn't think asking her to not commit suicide again would be very effective.

Putting a hand on her shoulder, "Are you okay." It was a meaningless gesture.

But she slipped her left hand up and grabbed onto his arm even as her other hand reached down to her side and clutched at nothing, spasming in place for a moment. She grimaced into a pitiful attempt at a reassuring smile.

"Yes, yes of course. I'm fine. There's no way I wouldn't be. I'm perfectly ok. I can easily overcome something like this. I mean it's only a minor setback." She was laughing by the end of it as her hand continued twitching as though trying to grab something that wasn't there.

There was really no choice but to agree with that. If he didn't she might just take it as an invitation to commit suicide right there for real this time. "Yeah, you can come back from it, sure."

"Yeah I doubt it." Inwardly he cursed his misfortune at having such an unhelpful person here while he was trying to convince her to not give up on living. 'Lancer' you are really not helping here. "Once he realizes how many points you're costing him he'll abandon you soon enough."

Really that was completely untrue. It was much more likely he was going to hit perma death by running out of points sooner or later instead.

"Night's a hero and so I trust he won't abandon me." Who? it took him a moment to realize that she had to be referring to him, having not remembered whatever he was called in this game. It was jarring, he couldn't equate the name as his own, the description was of someone other than him, but really she had to be talking about him. That kind of faith in this Kamijou was completely undeserved. It unnerved him. He hadn't done anything worth being praised like that at all, they were still just as stuck as they had been at the beginning and he had completely failed to stop her getting injured because he was weak.

"Oh a hero huh." 'Lancer now is not the time to take her seriously

"Well... Ah I've just realized I don't actually know any of your names, I am Volt Empress. The words were accompanied by a v-sign and her winking at the people present. If t was meant to make her more endearing it failed.

"Pot." The yellow guy gestured to himself, "and that's Rev ." his companion. He probably should have asked that earlier really when he had been asking a favour from the two of them. He resolved to actually remember their names for that.

"Eh they're purple and yellow, black is black, the rest of you aren't worth remembering until you do something. That's much easier than bothering to remember any names. I am of course the great and powerful Dragoon, a level 5. Take note of the colours I gave you, your expected to remember them so at least you can follow orders when I give them" He wouldn't listen to any such orders. The moment he had tried the command 'leave Sheltered Princess' the chances of him actually following orders from him had vanished.

'Sheltered Princess' didn't seem to be prepared to listen either.

"Isn't it kind of offensive to just replace people names with whatever nickname you feel like?" That statement could have just as easily been directed at him given that he hadn't stopped calling her 'Sheltered Princess' and was still using the term 'Lancer' in his head.

"You realize he's been referring to you as Sheltered Princess the entire time right."

"That's entirely different."

"Ah so when I say it it becomes something offensive but Black gets special treatment." That sounded like 'Lancer ' was missing the point. That she was someone close to this Kamijou rather than a stranger he had labeled with it when she had no chance to protest over the embarrassment of her injuries.

'Sheltered Princess'' response was immediate "You both have rotten personalities but Night comes through when it matters which makes all the difference." He did not come through when it counted. Ever. This Kamijou failed all the time. From the little things, like trying to protect people from delinquents. To the personal things, like his failing school grades, that he had given up on to the point that he didn't own a single reference book any more to help him study. All the way up to the things that he wanted to protect most. The wonders of misunderstandings made by someone who only ever watched from afar were truly terrifying.

He wanted someone to change the subject.

Instead she carried on, a list of qualities that he didn't possess that someone sounded like they had made up to mock all of his failures. And of course it ended with the most damning statement of all.

"As someone who doesn't give up despite being a level 0." Almost all of Kamijous friends were level 0s. Even if that statement was meant to be a compliment by the very end it was entirely lost. It was basically the same as calling him a failure from the very beginning who has at least meant well in the end. Sixty percent of the city, that's the number that you just outright mentioned as being failures right there.

'Lancer' had shut up at that.

How was he supposed to respond to that. Thank you for saying I'm an alright person despite my horrific flaw of being unable to acquire an esper power.

Rev interrupted that awkward silence. "So does it have any other abilities besides being fast and strong and the light attack. If we're actually going to kill it we need some sort of plan."

Yes. Thank you. This is a much better subject.

"It glowed green and hung above the battlefield for a while after it lost track of me and Princess for a bit." Well maybe it hadn't exactly lost track but the gist of it was there wasn't it.

"A sensory ability?" He had no clue what it had been doing.

Lancer laughed. "Probably healing, it had just smashed its way through several buildings."

Rev looked disheartened at that prospect. "So luring it into a building to limits its maneuverability would be a bad idea then."

"It did intentionally start dropping scenery on me while I was running away from it so yeah." It wouldn't ever be as easily solved as that.

"So open ground fight huh, I don't suppose we have anything longer range than my flamethrower to hit it as it retreats."

"I have my turrets. If I get time to set up I should be able to kill it pretty quickly at range."

He thought she didn't play very many games. "You do realize its going to turn around and attack you at that point. It will also have far more health than a player does so even if you kill them quickly it will be capable of charging right through you attack to finish you."

'Lancer' continued being unhelpful. "Ah come on if she wants to be bait let her be bait. It's far more useful than anything else she could do."

"We are not sacrificing people to distract it." This was not something he could give in on. Picking someone to be abandoned. Playground politics could be very cruel to the people who weren't part of the chosen ones.

"It'll move in a straight line for a bit. We might be able to redirect it, nothing ventured nothing gained." Yeah not if it was going to include throwing someone under a bus to get it. 'Might' was a word very like 'possibility' and Kamijou knew full well that it meant it wasn't going to happen.

She was shaking while holding him. This wasn't even at the fact of facing the enemy, it was merely in the lead up to the fact that she might be expected to. And he was expected to just sit back and watch her get thrown to the wolves? Of course not. "No."

Pot interrupted at that point. "Isn't she going to take about five minutes to get back up anyway, you both well might be dead again by that point."

But that didn't really change anything. "No even if she does get back in time you're not using her as bait."

"It would really make this easier. I mean even if she dies instantly at least it will go in a nice predictable straight line for a while. easy to interrupt like you did earlier right?"

He wasn't anywhere near that strong as to be able to guarantee he could intercept it.

"And she said she didn't want to be a burden this is just letting her die on her own merits."

No wait wasn't this a false dichotomy in the first place. A choice between losing and using 'Sheltered Princess' as bait didn't really exist in the first place.

"If the turret is that important she can attach it to me and I'll act as bait."

"Done." 'Lancer' looked at 'Sheltered Princess' "So you can be at least that useful right."

She merely sat up straighter and puffed out her chest. "Of course but really if you're going to be asking a favour from someone you should be far more respectable. Praise the fact that someone as wondrous as me will be allowing you to rely on my power." He was pretty sure 'Lancer' had already stopped paying attention.

So he answered for him. "Yes then I'll be relying on you."

"There's no need for your thanks um I mean I'm always happy to help you so don't worry about it."

"The two of you stall for time, we paralyze it, we kill it." Pot sat there pondering for a bit. "Yeah I guess I'll chuck down some smokescreens so lead it into them for Rev to detonate if you can. You're pretty resistant to fire right? We can work with that."

Kamijou nodded. They had a somewhat workable plan. Now to see how it went into action. After they respawned. That was probably going to take a while.

"Are we really leaving it at this." Rev was objecting to their plan.

The plan seemed sort of workable to him. "Sure. We'll see what happens." 'Lancer' completely ignored it and went back to checking his weapon.

"Doesn't it seem kind of incomplete. I mean the two of you have this massive period of five odd minutes where you just said you'd work things out after it starts." It's almost like he believed the plan would actually work and wouldn't be changed ad hoc throughout as everything went wrong.

"If we actually made a complicated plan it would just fall apart anyway after less than ten seconds when something went wrong. For that matter plenty of stuff is still going to go wrong even with it as simple as it is." They still had way too much time left before any

"That's not really how planning works at all, you make contingencies for how to deal with everything fucking up." There were not enough contingencies in the world for the problems that spawned around him.

"And then a new monster turns up out of nowhere and you go back to square one right from the start." How much time until everything got started then, the timer said... a long time then.

The hands gripping his arm got tighter suddenly. "That's not actually going to happen is it."

Pot answered that immediately, "The game isn't really set up that way."

Glancing around he was just supposed to wait for more than half an hour until things started up again huh.

The green one whose name he didn't know at all yet was still sitting off from the rest of the group not getting involved at all. Ah were they out of range for the limit of his movement area after dying. "Do you need us to come over there." Even if it had only been for a short while the fact that he may have been responsible for excluding someone rubbed Kamijou the wrong way.

The green avatar just collapsed in on himself "I'm not really going to be able to help I don't think. I'm only level one."

"Don't worry, I mean, I only just started too." His answer was met by silent blank stares from the other party members.

Pot broke it. "It's much more reassuring if you don't lie out of your ass. I mean at least try and make it believable."

"It turned up on my neurolinker today what's so hard to believe about that."

"Right sure it did."

A few quick clicks brought up what he thought was the status screen, it had a one on it at the very least, and turning to 'Sheltered Princess'. "Is this visible." She nodded so he attempted to prove it.

Pot had already stopped paying attention after giving his advice though and Rev was looking down trying to draw some kind of map for his extensions to their plan.

A light blue hand came down on his shoulder. "Huh so it is, only two fights isn't that interesting." Before turning away and crossing over to the green avatar. "Show me your special moves then.

"You're not using him as bait either."

He turned back to look at him for a moment. "This is me helping here. If he's that new he probably doesn't know how to use it in the first place."

The green avatar tried to hunch over even more at that, as though he could will himself out of existence. "Er well my special ability isn't any good either. I mean compared to you all... I'm not just not very impressive."

"I don't have a special at all." Well not one that did anything at least.

"Look you've got good defense so at the very least you have something going for you, being green, it's not like I'll laugh at that. Your incompetence maybe but everyone gets dealt a pretty shitty hand every once in a while."

"All it does is double the length of my arms." That, okay it was still better than his dud that didn't do anything.

'Lancer laughed at that. "Alright so you can punch people before they're in range to punch you, hell hit them hard enough and they won't even get a chance to fight back plenty of ways to use that." Twice the length how big would that be really anyway. He tried to superimpose the image of those arms twice as long over the enemy. it should reach shouldn't it.

"Would that be long enough to grab both ends of the outer wheel do you think?"

"He's getting back about when you get the turret isn't he?"

"A bit after."

"Right then, when Black here gets the turret you follow him in and lock it down okay."

He looked really intimidated at that. How to give him an out, if he stayed silent 'Lancer' would just force the position on him like he had tried earlier with 'Sheltered Princess.' "You don't have to I'll work something out if you don't".

"No I'll do it, it's something I can be useful for right?" While he had started off strong it had quickly turned pleading. This Kamijou felt like he was taking advantage of someone.

"Neither of you two have any objections right?"

Rev nervously raised the hand he'd been using to sketch things out on the ground and started scratching his head. "You're only a level one." Rev actually sounded guilty at that. "If I'd known that well uh Scissor is the one that targeted you and."

A yellow hand clamped down on his shoulder immediately, "And you went along fine with it at the time so that's that."

"That's different I mean it's like picking on someone weaker than you." Needless to say Kamijou thought that hunting down people in a group and mobbing them was also picking on people. The absolute limit a person could fight was two people so even if he'd been stronger they would still have been picking on him. "So anyway uh whatever your name is..."

"Bush Utan."

"Right Bush the thing is I thought we were fighting someone high leveled, it was a way to get points so no hard feelings right."

It was in no way a reassuring manner of addressing the subject. Bush himself seemed more unnerved by it than anything else. "I guess thats fine then er... thank you for your concern." That sounded more like a question than actual forgiveness. "I don't think I look imposing at all though."

They should probably drop this subject now that it was done

"Hey we're near the green white border I wouldn't think a low level player would be dumb enough to walk around near here on his own that's just asking to get killed." Not really, if people were attacking everyone who passed through then it was them who were in error, the person being attacked was a victim not a culprit.

Bush remained silent at that statement.

The silence in fact extended across the entire group.

How do you respond, don't turn your apologies into insults just shut up before the clarification if that's what you were going to add.

Pot broke the silence after that awkward bit. "Anyone want to play cards." Navigating his menu he brought up some app that was running across whatever server was being used. It was only sweeping the problem under the rug really. But then half of them would never see each other again after this probably so was there really a need to confront them about it?

Maybe, Kamijou really hated card games.

But he was clearly changing the subject, anything to break the silence that had fallen over them all.

The result in the end was obvious. He managed to lose every game. No he managed to come last in every game. Although there were not enough games to truly reach his record losing streak.

---

As Lancer respawned he immediately leapt into action, kicking off to put as much distance between himself and the enemy even as the lance swung cutting into nearby foliage to increase his special gauge as much as possible. In the time it took for the enemy to turn round to charge he had already braced himself against a fallen tree trunk ready to meet its charge.

The wheel spun once more rocketing forward to the point of impact, the lance swinging up to meet it and turn it aside.

And it slowed. Just before the blow would meet it it dropped off half its speed so the lance passed in front of it. Twisting the spear so that it still covered most of his body the wheel pressed in forcing an actual clash and slamming 'Lancer' back into his support for a moment. The rotation forced the lance down even as the wheel was forced upwards, leaving a blade to slice deeply into 'Lancers' left shoulder as it passed through.

Kamijou grit his teeth, right hand clenching and unclenching as he watched. As much as he'd rather avoid fighting, this in itself was much worse. Being forced to sit back and watch as someone else was attacked in front of him while he could sit back and do nothing.

The lance swung out once again at a tree and the wound suddenly glowed for an instant, before the flesh at the edges wriggled. Like thousands of worms crawling at the edges pulling the wound shut. it was thoroughly disconcerting to look at.

The next clash went without injury, 'Lancer' jumping back as it charged so when it slowed he had enough room to correct his swing.

Colour returned to the world around him.

He instantly moved forward, he had to catch up to the fight, if he didn't 'Lancer' would be overwhelmed.

Stepping out slight ahead and to the left of Lancer he waited for the right moment, it would probably try to vary its speed to cause him to mess up his timing, but trying and failing would be much better than giving up entirely.

The wheel backed away. It fled the distance between them growing larger at a rate they couldn't have kept pace even if they had wanted to as it vanished into the trees on the edge of the battleground.

There was no chance it was actually retreating.

Seeking out allies before attacking as a group was perfectly possible but they had no way to hinder it from accomplishing that. What else should he be looking out for it only had the charge and that beam...

That beam would slice through the trees without any difficulty.

The foliage here could be referred to as cover only in that it blocked line of sight. It didn't stand a chance against that beam...

Duck or jump without more information how could he choose which one would get him out of the line of fire. Choosing randomly was leaving things up to chance so of course it would hit him if he tried such a tactic.

How would he even know the timing he needed to evade it.

Even if the trees surrounding the clearing wouldn't stop that beam from carving through the clearing it would stop the flash of light beforehand that could have warned him when it would arrive.

"If you're thinking it's gone well enemies don't retreat. Ever."

The outer and inner wheels would come loose. Yes that was it. The outer wheel would have to be perpendicular to the ground that set a minimum height it could fire at if it wanted to hit everyone.

Diving into the long grass for cover himself. "It's gonna fire the laser." He hoped the others had followed suit but couldn't afford to check.

A nervous voice rang out. "I'm not seeing anything it might be gone" Rev was back.

Silence echoed through the clearing for several moments as they waited for something to make a move.

Pot respawned nearby and from the sounds of things hit the ground immediately thereafter.

He couldn't figure out what he should be doing without more information but he had no way of getting it without leaving himself exposed to an attack. And it would attack him, at the exact moment that he stepped out. It would remain calm up until that very moment where at the end by pure chance it would fire just as he left cover. Even if it couldn't see him that is how it would happen.

Or would it wait until 'Sheltered Princess' got back up and kill her instantly, would that be a worse result, to know that he had sat here waiting until she died helplessly.

He would have to go out.

He wanted to stay here until it passed but if doing so endangered her instead after he promised to protect her.

Bracing himself for a moment, yes, he would have to.

Multiple crashing sounds rang out as trees began falling again but there was no accompanying light. He had been wrong then? But if it was...

A voice from above. "It's moving again." Ah Lancer had tried jumping up into the trees to get a better view. Following the line of his hand to the edge of the clearing

It broke through the edge in an instant. Or at least it must have. The grass in a massive line towards him was torn upwards. Even watching it the sight took a moment for him to process what was happening. It must have gone down on its side again, the rotating blades acting like a giant lawnmower heading right towards him.

Pushing off the ground, jumping as high as he could it seemed far too easy to dodge. As it passed under him it was almost knee height and yet it was so close to the ground that it only made it easier to dodge.

It switched directions and it made horrifying sense. Not a long meandering arc across the entire field as it chose a new target but the instant ninety degrees change in direction it had used earlier to climb into the sky.

It flew towards Rev switching targets for the kill. The two bayonets came down digging into the ground to find purchase to stop its advance. And the enemy turned, strafing past rather than meeting him head on. The edge of the blades cutting into Rev's leg before moving past.

His feet hit the ground as it switched direction again. Even as he pushed back to gain distance it was meaningless. The tree 'Lancer' was perched on was torn apart, instantly.

It switched again going for him. He ran toward one of the fallen trees at the border of the clearing, it wouldn't stop it but would it redirect up or just try to plow through? Either one would be better than just playing a game of leapfrog until someone slipped up.

It tore straight through, Pushing the log out from under his feet even as those blades carved it open, turning the solid wood into splinters while barely slowing down. He was already leaping away though, back toward an expanding gas cloud that POT had laid down. If it would always plow through like that though then it would be easy, slam the lance down into the inner ring before it passed and trap it even without the turret.

Glancing back as he entered the gas cloud, it was still chasing him. "Burn it."

The resulting explosion pushed him off his feet but he easily rolled with the impact and it hadn't killed him so it was fine. He pushed himself up instantly searching for another tree to try his new plan on as soon as his vision cleared. Moving towards the first one he found and glancing around to find the clearing empty. Well no, not empty, the other three were still there it's just that the enemy had disappeared.

The remaining grass at the edge of the burnt out crater swayed ominously.

"I don't suppose anyone saw where it went."

"Nope."

A breeze ran through the clearing. He had known is was close behind him when he had entered the cloud. so did that mean it had stopped before entering. Was that voice recognition software the game was using to allow it to avoid their plans or was it just learning.

If it was the latter then he should get 'Lancer' to try jumping on it rather than doing so himself. If a trick was only going to work once better that they get as much damage as possible out of it.

But then the former would mean telling him would mean it would no longer work in the first place.

For either option working to counteract it would ruin things if he was wrong. But then if he told 'Lancer' and that messed it up, he would get killed whereas doing it himself only put him at risk for retaliation. When put like that his course of action was obvious.

If it was lying in wait then clearly he needed to be the one to draw aggro back again.

A waiting game was unacceptable. As humans they had a limited attention span where you could stay at high alert. Eventually if nothing happened the stress would build up and it could attack while they were at a disadvantage.

He advanced.

Pushing onwards into the scorched territory where the flames had burnt away the vegetation he prepared himself for its counterattack.

None came.

He pressed onwards. Surely he would have some warning, the grass where it had carved through was shorter, if he limited his search to those places he would at least be able to see the back of it before getting close enough that he couldn't react at all. It even needed time to start spinning before it could move.

A whirring sound erupted to his left and he reacted instantly. Not turning to face it, a dead sprint past it to the nearest fallen tree.

Jumping up, his feet touching the bark as he twisted to turn around in time to counter.

The enemy had already changed course. It was still attacking him, but rather than aiming for the tree where he had jumped up it ignored him and was heading for the other end. Even as it hit and he was forced to jump away, he knew what was coming next. Sure he had tried to put as much of the tree in between it and where he would land as possible, but it charged forward regardless. Slicing away everything in its path it redirected itself, focusing on the place where he would land.

He hit the ground hard on his side, no bracing, no roll to regain speed, merely minimising his profile, hugging the ground as much as possible. It definitely caused him some damage, even if he didn't check the pain accompanying the action showed that it had hurt him. The enemy past over him a second too late to hit him going down, unable to lower itself while he was so close those blades failed to find their target and carve into his flesh.

He waited a full three seconds without pushing himself to get back up. He had the sneaking suspicion that if it was still nearby it would merely switch direction once again to butcher him while he was down. It was only when the clash of blades resumed that he actually pushed himself off the ground.

'Lancer' was trying to deflect it away from him, lance angled downwards to parry hundreds of small pushes as it probed at his defences. Never actually advancing it merely kept switching direction instantly without dropping in speed, Like a giant pinball bouncing off invisible walls it kept up the pressure. Moving in just close enough that 'Lancer had to block but always retreating before the lance could come down above it and force it into the ground.

A gout of flame erupted from the side as it moved in again and it backed off for a bit. moving from side to side but hesitating to close with anyone, and then shot off so that it could gain some distance again.

No it was heading back to 'Sheltered Princess's' marker. The timer on it was way too low. He charged instantly, sprinting as fast as possible to get over there. She wouldn't be able to fight it at all, even for a second. Racing against that clock for a moment that seemed like an eternity, he failed. Of course he was going to be too late. Even doubling down to rush as fast as possible after he had noticed hadn't been enough.

As it hovered there just out of reach as the clock hit down to only a second left the distance seemed so vast as he was too late.

And a spear crossed that distance in the blink of an eye. Striking out and forcing the enemy back.

Even as 'Lancer' pushed forwards against it he continued his path placing himself between 'Sheltered Princess' and the enemy. If it broke away he would need to stop it himself. No dodging, even if it just ended with him being ripped apart, his limbs hacked off he would not let it advance a single step.

But the distance between the fight and their location grew, and as the other two arrived 'Lancer' stopped giving chase putting himself between the enemy and their location as well.

He hadn't done anything or really been needed here in the end at all.

"Get the turret."

Looking back at her she seemed to have mostly recovered. But then even failing to save someone and then turning around and asking for help from them. Could he do that.

Asking for forgiveness for being too late was completely out of the question.

He couldn't really get any words out at that in the end. And she merely turned around and assaulted a random piece of greenery to get up her special gauge and err well... It was kind of embarrassing to watch actually. The bush might actually have been winning. The blows she was attempting to land on it were both clumsy and she kept almost unbalancing herself mid swing. The act of destroying enough to get her special gauge up that he had predicted to take a few seconds before he got back to the fight was looking to take considerably longer. Even her fist was wrong she was clenching he thumb held inside her other fingers.

Bush respawned next to him and came over "Are we ready then."

He waited patiently for 'Sheltered Princess' to answer before after a bit more flailing. "Yes that should be enough.

He held out his right arm and a greenish yellow disc formed when she touched it. "Just fire when I tell you and I'll take care of the rest." Like aiming, if she was that bad at hitting a stationary target he had no hopes for her ability against a moving one. Truly it was a half hearted reassurance, whether or not he could actually pull anything off in this situation was still uncertain.

He had promised her he would get her out though hadn't he, then surely that was the choice he should make, to reassure her that everything was going according to plan, that he knew how he was going to fix things. Something like asking for pity when she was the one who might lose something if he failed was completely out of the question.

He returned in the direction of the battle once more.

To return to that stalemate and hopefully be able to break it.

Except as he came level with 'Lancer' once again it seemed he had been beaten to the punch.

The enemy had charged in tilting upward as it went, aiming for Pot's head. The angle though was all wrong, It wouldn't be difficult at all to knock it off course. The side edge was moving into a position that could be easily hit to deflect it. No even before that just ducking at this point would cause it to pass meaninglessly over his head. A pit formed in his stomach at the sight of it. It was a trap. It had to be a trap.

Pushing himself onwards, jumping up.

Those hands easily deflected the enemy tilting it even further.

"Throw."

The enemy immediately reversed direction slamming back into the ground.

The lance connected with his feet, propelling him faster towards it in those frantic moments.

The inner wheel came loose once more. Clicking into place parallel to the surface of the ground.

His right arm lined up, he needed to hit this.

The inner wheel spun, light forming on the outer edges.

"Fire."

A strange yellowish blob emitted from the gun in his right hand. Flashing towards the enemy in front of him to strike the enemy.

The wheel continued spinning. Had it not been enough?

And then the light faded. The wheel slowed. Hand extended Kamijou grabbed the outer ring, letting his momentum carry him down.

The still spinning inner wheel immediately dug into his flesh, even as it slowed it sanded away his limbs as they came into contact.

Right. it was still a threat and would get moving again in a second wouldn't it.

Letting go of the outer ring he fell to the ground. Instantly pushing himself to his feet once more. Grabbing hold of the ring to hold it in place there was no doubt that it would throw him off again. But even if using his body to resist it only bought them a few more moments it could be enough. The paralysis wore off. And he was immediately forced back.

Putting in all his strength he forced the ring to slow its movement. Even if failure was inevitable he just needed to hold out long enough for Bush to reach him.

And the thick green arms grew. Massive blocky arms large enough that they could easily span the distance between either side of the outer ring, completely filling the space between them.

The inner ring would be unable to lock back into place for as long as they remained and for as long as this was the fact the enemy would be unable to move to escape. The battle was already over. Even if the enemy was not yet quite defeated the very fact that it could no longer move meant that the outcome was no longer in doubt. Breathing a sigh of relief Kamijou collapsed to his knees.

Immediately the others rushed in. No flamethrowers or AOE attacks were used, the one holding it in place almost certainly had far less health than it and so it was merely the act of a bunch of vandals beating on a machine until it broke.

The inner ring fell slack moving backward and away as it waited for the end.

And slammed back at full speed digging into those arms like tree trunks. Bush screamed. as it tore into the flesh of his arms making a path to connect the rings where his body was blocking the way. The inner ring retreated again for a moment and Kamijou lunged, pushing for his arm to make it in time and slow the next blow. The inner ring merely completed a half rotation. It simply chose to bypass his attempts to block it completely and strike at the other side of the arms.

"Kill it."

The inner ring struck a third blow, and it was over.

With a final scream those giant arms fell backwards away from the monster, the inner wheel finally clicking into place once more. Desperately Kamijou held on, trying to dig his feet into the ground to stop it from taking off again. They couldn't afford for it to regain all of its health and come back for round two.

The outer wheel spun.

The result was obvious. If a human were to try and dig their feet in to stop a truck there would be no doubt what would happen. Rather than slowing it the act of grabbing it merely forced Kamijou to be dragged along, carried away by the force of its charge.

And the other members were instantly left behind. It was not a matter of whether or not any of them wanted to give chase so much as that none of them could even hope to keep up with that monster.

His arms were almost wrenched out of their sockets keeping him in position. Normally as part of a centrifuge his body would have been thrown outwards. Gravity would have kept him from being pushed into the blades but remaining in the centre of the inner ring should have been impossible. But his hands were locked into the inner layer of the ring and forced him to remain and the dissonance between where his momentum was pushing him and where he actually was began tearing his arms from their sockets. A constant pain as the pressure on his joints forced his hp down steadily killing him. But letting go would merely throw him through the nearest obstacle and then he would be stuck fighting it alone so he held on.

With a sudden impact his legs suddenly ignited in pain as well as all the flesh on the bottom of his legs felt like it was being torn away. And stopped.

It begun again a moment later. To stop again.

On the third time he realized what was happening.

It was flying low over the tops of buildings to knock him off. Falling below it as it travelled it was using the tops of the buildings like sandpaper to wear away at his body. He needed to get higher up inside the inner rings to stop it from just wearing away his body over time if he was going to survive this.

At the fourth impact he put all his strength into kicking off the top of the building, if he could just get high enough to get a foothold.

He fell short.

So on the fifth he tried again. reaching the apex of his jump again, swinging a single leg up as far as possible, it only needed to be one, if that one leg made it he could get the other up easily enough. It didn't reach.

He began falling once again.

And his tail brushed up against the top of the inner ring. Slamming it down for just that extra bit of distance. And his right foot reached. Slamming it as firmly as possible into the inner ring as he continued the left foot's path to stability he breathed a sigh of relief. He had made it.

Now he just needed to make it stop again.

As he moved his right hand free aiming the turret at it once again it put on even more speed. and he was almost thrown loose once more. Gritting his teeth and struggling, his right hand inching step by step to line up the shot once more.

And his handhold shattered. grip closing on nothings as the very object he had clung too dissolved into thin air.

As the body of the enemy faded out of existence Kamijou tried to regain his bearings. The continued spinning was a problem but he would need to brace himself to prevent himself from being one shotted by the ground. That white? floor which was advancing so rapidly, it hadn't been this bright before had it. The white barrier struck him without resistance passing straight over him without any show of force. And as it had passed the world shifted entirely from that dimly lit city to a brilliant summer day.

And the ocean unveiled itself far below him.

How high was he?

At this height it was best to spread your body like a parachute wasn't it and then only shift to legs first at the very end to absorb the impact. That sounded right but parachuting wasn't exactly something he had ever tried, it was something that his misfortune would surely have killed him for if he even considered. But the fact that water would act like concrete and make him go splat if he hit it from this height was something he knew. Did the rules of the game make this body tough enough that he could survive it? Even if not that would just leave him an hour to use before he could get back.

Kamijou looked down in resignation. This was going to hurt. Wasn't it?

His shadow raced up to meet him growing ever larger against the ocean as he fell.

Wasn't his shadow in the water way too large. With that thought the creature lurking beneath the surface lunged upwards, a giant mouth filled with far too many teeth rising out of the water. In this position helplessly falling there was nothing he could do as it closed devouring him in a single bite. "Such misfortune."

---

Celeste Dragoon stared out across the water where his... teammate? was now very very dead. That was a legendary enemy wasn't it? He'd never fought one of them before. A grin spread across his face, something like that would truly be worth fighting.

"We are going back for him right?" The girl didn't sound half as confident as when she had argued back with him earlier. But then the only one that seemed to actually like her was the only one not present. Killing her before he got back would be the more merciful choice really. Black was far too attached to her. To stick up for her like that, it would make him weaker. His boss would probably use her for leverage for whatever he had planned as well, it was a service for both of them really.

Well no, clearly the actual best option would be to just let both of them die. For a minor character to have, for whatever reason, caused his boss to take notice of him would surely end up getting him crushed.

Sitting back and just watching something like this happen bugged him though. It wasn't a conscience, he had clearly let go of that long ago. I mean he had even lowered himself so much as to become His subordinate. Wasn't that the worst betrayal he could have made?

With an excuse like a legendary turning up and eating him it probably wouldn't even be questioned, that even charging in recklessly hadn't been enough to stop it killing his new toy.

But then, if he got Black's loyalty and set it up so he messed up whatever plan was in motion, that would be much better for screwing that arrogant bastard over wouldn't it.

Yes even if it would be more merciful to let them both die, he would keep them alive for now, a weapon to screw his master over after he was done with him. He would even reward Black for it, he still needed new subordinates after the last bunch of cowards quit and gave up.

"I'll be going in anyway, I guess I'll see if I can get him out while I'm fighting it."

The purple one was looking away, cowering, while the yellow bastard was laughing. They were going to be no use whatsoever. The girl was. Black would get pissed off if he tried to use her as bait again. He really needed to at least not look like the villain if he was going to get him to trust him enough for this to work out.

Green you were useful right. He had kept pushing on for a bit through the pain and had even already stopped shaking from having his arm ripped open. "Green I'll be expecting you to look out for getting him back while I distract it okay." Yep the full working of a plan already mastered. He was an awesome leader already taking charge in this time of crisis.

The kid looked rather helpless at that so he easily reassured him. "Don't worry I'll do all the actual fighting you just need to help Black."

"Won't he just swim back himself."

No that would clearly reduce how much it looked like he was helping, it wasn't a rescue he should be thankful for if he just got out of it himself.

The girl answered that, "He can."

"Look the point is giving it more targets to focus on before we all get back to shore, so it's fine if you just swim out and look appetizing."

That did not look like it had come out as reassuring as he thought.

"I'm not saying die, but think of how much more impressive you'll look if people know you fought a legendary."

"I'm out." Well that didn't matter, I hadn't been talking to you purple guy, as someone who was way too dependent on that flamethrower you would suck in this fight anyway. "I've already seen where this kind of heroism leaves people, you're way better off leaving him. Coming Pot, Bush?" Neither of them got up to move. "I'll definitely be able to protect you from anything out there until we reach somewhere safer."

The green one at least had backed away from purple and shook his head so he was probably staying so everything was fine. No one cared if yellow or the girl left, neither of them were capable of doing anything themselves anyway.

Although the girl was probably going to stay seeing as she was Black's girlfriend.

"I'd rather wait and see what's on offer for my services." Nothing. Really you aren't useful enough to pay and you half sound like your planning on betraying us.

The purple one merely turned away at his offer being refused and walked off into the forest further up the shore.

"So. Offers." Only silence appeared as a response. "Anyone...?"

The girl finally responded after about a minute. "You're only still here because this is an island and you don't fancy your chances leaving it anyway, you'll stay with the group even if nobody gives you anything just because you have nowhere else to go."

"I could swim off."

"Not with that thing in the water you won't. But if it's really important the plan I'm working on won't require you to enter the water when we rescue Night." Volt grinned broadly. Unsettlingly.

"Sold."

It was a meaningless statement, no one was going to go through with listening to a plan from someone who couldn't fight in the first place.

Final plan of green and me swimming out to help fight our way back to shore was going ahead.

"You realize nobody was going to follow you? A plan where you stay at the back while everyone else goes into more danger, you couldn't sell that no matter what you tried."

She stuck her nose up and merely ignored it, as though the facts of life would change because she didn't believe in them. "Isn't your plan basically to swim out and hit it until it dies."

She was wrong, his plan had no such fantasy as it actually dying. He was going to hit it from multiple angles and then try and retreat. The shore would act as an unstoppable barrier to the aquatic monster. It was all thought out.

"Really are you actually going to throw away a decent plan just because you don't like me, even then it's not like your plan is hard to predict. I'd just have to modify it slightly to you acting on your own while my plan unfolds around you, even you wouldn't be so stupid as to ignore an advantage just to spite me."

He really would. But that wasn't the point being discussed here anyway. She was incompetent. There would be no need to act around her plans or ignore them, the very act of it mattering placed far more competence on her than she had shown so far.

And she explained her plan.

Yeah, he wasn't going to convince either of them of his plan to swim out and hit it after this was he?