An earsplitting screech woke Eila up a few inches off the floor of her room, followed by a large pain in her shoulder as she hit said floor. As soon as her body fully came to rest, it was thrown into the air again by a furious tremor, before striking the ground. While she didn't give off much more sound than a hiss, her back screamed in pain.

By the time the screeching and tremors ended and she could think again, Eila felt absolutely battered and exhausted. Just when she was about to check if anything had been broken, a red light flashed from the window. Right then, the tremor resumed and threw her into the air again.

This time the unlucky Suomi was deposited on her stomach, but positioned so that her eyes faced the window. And then she saw several Witches fly by, closely followed by missile-like Neuroi. As soon as they left her vision, she saw another, vastly sized Neuroi, which catapulted an unbelievable number of beams. The wake of the attack threw up dust and scattered Witches in random directions, as well as caused yet another tremor.

Eila began to stand up so she could get to the hangar to help, but no sooner had she gotten on one knee than she fell back onto her face. What the hell?! My body…it won't move like I want it to…! That and…I feel like I've got no strength left…

This was probably the result of exhausting herself yesterday. Eila couldn't even stand now, much less use her magic. And somehow, she knew Sanya was still out there in the worst possible danger. How Eila knew she wasn't quite sure; maybe it was just instinct. Grabbing onto the bedpost, Eila forced herself to her feet and began to head down the hallway, using whatever she could as a handhold. This would be the most risky battle she had ever fought.

Another Neuroi entered Minna's senses a few kilometers away. As it was impossible for her to do anything to warn everyone else without the radio, she simply turned to Mio and shouted for her to take over supervising the group while she got the attention of a few more Witches and hurtled at the Neuroi. As the Neuroi had disabled all radio communications, the fight was getting harder and harder.

Due to the sudden appearance of a mothership-class Neuroi, most of the momentarily-created preparations were absolutely useless. A mothership-class could spawn thousands of small, missile-like Neuroi that overwhelmed the Witches in sheer numbers. Also, it could call upon large-types, but in much less frequency. That being said, it had so many beam panels that one had to wonder how none could be visibly seen outside of combat, and its armor was absolutely monstrous. Only heavy artillery could hope to penetrate a mothership-class, but it had taken the precautions of striking down those first, while most of the ships were preoccupied with the large-types harassing them.

Probably every single Witch capable of combat on Fuso was fighting this horrendous hulk of a Neuroi right now. And without communication, a coordinated assault could not be launched. It was an absolutely laughable mess.

Minna's gun flared as she started the attack, and the other Witches' weapons followed suit. Multiple parts of the armor cracked, but the Neuroi scattered their numbers in a heartbeat with its own attack before any severe damage could be done. Everyone had struck different parts of its body, and the Neuroi's regenerative power rendered it all useless.

Seeing every single bullet hole disappear, Minna clenched her teeth in frustration. If only I had a way to coordinate our attacks better… She tried shouting out an order to the others, but they were suddenly attacked by Neuroi missiles, keeping them from noticing or understanding her.

Attacked from all angles by Neuroi, the inexperienced Witches who still hadn't learned much from the previous day's attack milled about in panic and disorder. Working with them was impossible; they weren't able to even land a hit on the mothership.

In the midst of all this, however, Minna could see that one Witch was still mercilessly attacking the mothership without abandon-it was Trude. Her two machine guns burst through the missiles easily, and as soon as she was clear of them, a hand went to her belt and raised an anti-tank missile on a simple, straight handle. Squeezing the handle to activate it, she launched it into the side of the mothership with a violent burst of smoke. The attack left a small hole in the armor, which Trude pounced upon immediately, flying straight at the hole and gunning into it with as much as she could. Just as the hole began to close, she pulled out her second missile and fired into it before continuing the assault.

The attack was going much better than the other Witches' attempts, but Minna didn't feel convinced at all. It seemed too reckless; she had left her back completely open. Incidentally, as soon as Minna thought this, several Neuroi missiles jetted towards Trude from behind without time to spare.

Ignoring the Neuroi behind her which had switched to its defensive configuration, Minna flew towards the missiles and gunned them all down from behind. When struck from this angle, the missiles were virtually useless. Trude didn't notice at all, but her attack could go uninterrupted, at the very least. Feeling relieved for the moment, Minna took her eyes off the lone attacker for one moment-and was greeted with a sight which completely baffled her.

Eila was flying up into the fight beneath her. Her shoulders were sagging, and the gun looked like it was about to drop from her hands. She swerved erratically, and at times her Strikers even failed and caused her to drop, but she still continued to press on. What confused Minna was how she was able to do that after the events that happened the previous day. The Suomi should have expended all her magic to the point where exerting herself in such a manner should have grounded her in a heartbeat. So why was she trying this anyway?

While she was wondering this, Eila pulled up next to her. "Minna…where's Sanya? Were you able to…find her?"

As she spoke, the Suomi's shoulders were heaving up and down, drawing in ragged breath after ragged breath. This sight only served to pile upon Minna's worry. "Eila, it's dangerous for you to be out here in this state!" she chided.

"That…doesn't matter…" Eila's hands clenched even tighter around her gun. "I can't rest…knowing that Sanya is out there…while the Neuroi is invading!"

Before Minna could give a suitable reply, however, the mothership slid back much of its armor to reveal its blood red beam panels. Sensing for the worst, both Witches withdrew as the crimson light lanced out. Minna, however, saw that they hadn't been the only ones that were attacked. Some of the other panicked Witches had been hit and were spiraling out of control, while others had blocked with their shields but gotten struck by some other attack. No one had been downed, but eventually their luck would run out.

"Argh…I was going to check on Sanya and come back, but I guess I've gotta reverse my priorities, huh?" Eila's mouth twitched into a wicked smile as she turned back towards the Neuroi and pointed her weapon, getting ready to fire. Of course, Minna couldn't help but notice at times that it looked as though the propellers on Eila's Strikers were slowing to a halt repeatedly.

Not too far away, Mio was getting chased by some Neuroi missiles. She couldn't turn the gun mounted on her plane around far enough to retaliate, and no one really was paying attention, either, so they couldn't help. However, when Minna noticed and got ready to take action, the missiles suddenly peeled away back towards the mothership, which was glowing the familiar blood red of the Neuroi. The missiles arranged themselves in rings around the mothership and proceeded to fire away at the Witches, as well as letting themselves get struck by Eila's attacks so the mothership would not get hit.

Beneath the chaos, Minna glimpsed some hastily-assembled flak cannons being loaded with artillery shells. With so many Witches in the air, and the Neuroi so close, however, it was evident that their side would not get out of this plan without taking a good amount of damage. Are they really going to go this far?!

As if to answer her, the cannons discharged a deluge of acrid smoke as they hurled their payloads upon the Neuroi. The shells burst into clouds of shrapnel as they made contact, but that same shrapnel not only lodged itself in the missiles nearby, but also rained down on the cannons. Taking notice, the mothership let out another pulse of red, and the missiles launched beams towards the flak cannons, blasting them to mere scrap.

Minna did a quick check for if anyone else had been caught up in the failed attack, but to her relief even the rookies had known to shield themselves. On a darker note, the mothership had taken minimal damage from the anti-air weapons. The remaining missiles were sent back out to individually pursue the Witches, having fulfilled their role as shields.

Eila let out a few vibrant curses in Suomi which Minna didn't really want to know the meaning of. "No matter what kind of pounding any number of us give it, it won't take any damage! And the moment it attacks, we're practically all done for! How did things get this bad?!"

"It gets worse…" Minna's eyes locked upon the peak of Enzousan behind them, where a large Neuroi tower had run amok a few moments ago. The problem was, that place was where Sanya, Erica, and Miyafuji all were supposed to be. She didn't want to even begin to contemplate whether it had been destroyed or it was simply moving to its next target. "More and more Neuroi are spawning in. At this rate, no place on Fuso will be safe from their rampage, and we'll still be dealing with this hulk."

As she spoke, more missiles began to shoot out of the holes in the hull. "Hey, why don't we try and find a way to reduce the number of Neuroi we need to deal with?" Eila suggested, indicating those same holes. "That'd sure help a lot!"

"...do you seriously expect either of us to do that on our own? Trying to get these greens to organize is practically impossible!" Minna felt a little bit guilty about how harsh that final part came out, but she was too frustrated to restrain herself from such language.

"Of course I can! Don't you remember my ability?" With this said, Eila turned around and got ready to charge.

"Eila, wait-" Whatever was about to happen, Minna suddenly had the feeling it wouldn't end well. Not when it seemed as though the amount of magic energy Eila had…

As soon as she thought this, the Neuroi slid back its armor again to launch another barrage. It was clear Eila was already seeing where the Neuroi would strike, and preparing to fly out of the way…but then, a blue pulse of light flashed from her Strikers, and the propeller blades slipped back into the tips of her Strikers. The shocked Suomi let out a cry of surprise and panic as her black fox ears and tail disappeared from sight, and her body began to topple. Just as Minna feared, she had run out of magic energy.

Impulsively, Minna tried to rush in and save Eila, but it was too late. Several beams lanced into the Suomi, who couldn't provide even the slightest defense for herself, and at the same time, crashed into the weakening shield that the Wing Commander was barely able to bring up.

As Minna's shield broke and two beams crashed into her midsection, she glimpsed Eila spinning out of control, well out of reach, towards Enzousan. She didn't have the strength to scream, not after having taken a hit, but her despair deepened yet another notch as Eila became a speck of light blue against the green trees and finally disappeared from sight. The Witch whose ability nearly amounted to invincibility had just been shot down, and she wasn't able to prevent it in any way.

That wasn't all that had made her day get worse, though. After suppressing the pain as much as she could, Minna looked back towards the Neuroi and noticed that even Trude, who was still fearlessly striking at close range, had been struck by the attack. Suffice it to say that Trude's shield had been doing just as badly as hers. As if this whole thing hadn't been going so terribly already...

It pained her to think like this, but Minna was almost on the brink of giving up.

Brighton, Britannia

Smoke violently jetted from the sniper rifle as a high-caliber bullet lanced out. Raising her hand to a small, ball-tipped lever without really thinking of it, Lynnette Bishop was already aiming her next shot.

The enemy before her was one of the large-type Neuroi that had the ability to switch between offense and defense-based configurations. They had been making frequent usage of these for a while, and it seemed they were even learning the Witches' tactics; neither of Lynne's bullets even struck as the Neuroi changed to offensive form and barrel-rolled out of the way before firing a beam.

A well-timed shield should have blocked the beam…for any other Neuroi, but Lynne knew better now and kicked her legs to the side, moving just a few hairs away from the beam. Even as this happened, her now-unbraided hair was blown backwards as though an intense wind accompanied the laser, and she felt an intense heat on the side of her neck, reminding her of what would happen if she was hit.

The Neuroi was now coming closer. Knowing the sniper rifle wouldn't be good for much longer, Lynne fired the shot still inside the chamber, then stowed the rifle on her back. In its stead she took out a MAT-49 submachine gun, though it was missing the rear sights and the clip was much smaller. Her eyes carefully marked the Neuroi's progress, and her right finger pulled the trigger, sending small bullets hurling in its direction. Despite the fact that the offensive configuration was less armored, however, the bullets couldn't even scratch the armor.

Taking the clip out and putting in a new one with god-like speed, Lynne had to backpedal quickly for fear that the Neuroi would crash into her. But the submachine gun had just proved itself ineffective, even when she had magically enhanced the bullets. And she couldn't pull out her sniper rifle at this close range; the time to reload and aim would kill her. It was a situation in which she was effectively trapped.

Suddenly, from the Neuroi's port side came several bolts of blue lightning, arcing into the armor of the Neuroi and shattering off several portions. This was followed by several rounds from a machine gun lodging smashing their way into the weakened armor, causing the Neuroi to divert its attention elsewhere. Lynne took the moment to stow the SMG onto the holster on her back and take her sniper rifle out, squeezing off another shot that punctured into the hull where it had been struck earlier.

The one who had distracted the Neuroi for these precious seconds was Perrine H. Clostermann, the Gallian Witch who had spent the previous months with Lynne while repairing her home country. However, because of the Neuroi's second furious assault, all of their work had been completely ruined. How that made the young noblewoman feel was something Lynne really didn't want to consider; even though Perrine pretended to be completely fine, Lynne noticed she was actually quite moody and irritable. On some days it was so bad that she was utterly splenetic and might end up tearing anything in the vicinity to shreds if you made the slightest mistake.

I hope she's okay today, Lynne thought as she loaded another armor piercing bullet into the sniper and lifting it to her shoulder. Another shot burst from the sniper, this time shredding one of the points on the ring. It didn't seem to have been a very effective shot, though; the Neuroi's assault on Perrine didn't stop.

Speaking of Perrine, she was wildly dancing through the sky, just out of the Neuroi's attack range. While it seemed like a silly thing to do, in reality it was giving the Neuroi a difficult time, trying to keep up with her motions and not being able to do so. Meanwhile, Perrine attacked at every opportunity, blasting away armor here and there. Going against a Neuroi solo was one of the most unrecommended actions any Witch could have done, and yet Perrine was doing it gloriously.

Dodging slightly under a beam and deploying a shield to dodge another, her hand flashed and sent a burst of lightning into the nose of the Neuroi as she passed by it. Lynne took that as her cue to blast that same spot, but her shot missed and instead struck it in the midsection. Meanwhile, Perrine's machine gun lanced its way into the armor, inevitably some shots striking the Neuroi in that same spot. And then…a flash of red crystal.

"The core!" Lynne shouted this out to practically no one, but she felt her heartbeat quicken slightly, as she primed for another snipe. However, the Neuroi was turned away from her, so she had to make an approximation unless it turned around quickly. Otherwise, it was up to Perrine.

The Gallian darted around the Neuroi, once again only firing a few bullets at a time. Then a red pulse of light zoomed over the Neuroi's body as it transformed into its defensive configuration. Lynne was about to groan in frustration…but then she saw Perrine stow her machine gun in the few precious moments where the Neuroi wouldn't attack. Instead, she pulled her secret weapon from a long sheath at her hip.

Just as the Neuroi began to spring into action, Perrine rushed it head-on. Shields quickly flashed for a moment's defense as she practically bounced between the attacks, until she was right in front of the Neuroi's hull. Her right arm, bearing a silver rapier, drew back into a familiar stabbing motion as she twirled her entire body around once counterclockwise. As blue lightning crackled down the blade's length, Perrine thrust it into the hull with overwhelming force, shattering the hull with one strike. But her attack didn't end there, and her hand flew back behind her shoulder for another strike.

Into the Neuroi's armor the rapier went again, shattering it with precise yet devastating incisions. One couldn't hope to follow Perrine's actions, instead only able to notice the holes after they appeared. The Neuroi had taken three hits before it tried to counterattack, but Perrine put up a moment's shield, ducked low, and gave two fierce slashes which intersected with the holes she had forced in earlier, sending even more armor flying off. Two more jabs blasted a shower of sparking hull fragments past either side of her.

To elaborate, Perrine's magic attack, Tonnerre, used magically produced lightning to inflict damage. During their time in Romagna, however, it was accidentally discovered during a "treasure" hunt that she could use conductive materials to help channel it. By focusing Tonnerre in her weapon of choice, the rapier, she could use it to inflict even more damage than before, though at a limited range.

This was enough, though. With one final effort that had enough force to send her arm flying backwards wildly, Perrine launched her eighth consecutive thrust, shattering the armor around the core. Knowing this was the real cue, Lynne's eyes narrowed as she got ready to make the killing attack…at that point, that black plane which should have been in the middle of her sights disappeared.

Lynne was so startled, that she accidentally pulled the trigger and wasted her shot. The bullet almost struck Perrine, who had still been 500 meters away, right next to the Neuroi, when it disappeared. A raging noblewoman was the last thing on Lynne's mind, though…Where did that Neuroi go?

Her eyes scanned the horizon carefully. Surely enough, the Neuroi had disappeared into thin air without a trace. The only thing that could be seen was a moonlit sky, ocean, and shore. This seemed like a victory, but Lynne didn't feel right. It couldn't just be this simple…

Just as she thought this, she suddenly noticed a shadow above her…and then, the screeching of the same Neuroi. For that instant, suddenly every emotion she knew she had was replaced with that terror when the slightest hope turns to despair. By reflex, Lynne turned around just in time to see the Neuroi inevitably charging many, many beams. Her face went absolutely white, her vocal cords froze, and her numbed hands almost dropped her empty weapon. There was no time to retreat, and putting up a shield against that attack was useless…

A shield. Inspiration struck just as she thought that. Lynne's hands reached out and created her shield, but instead of trying to put more power into it, she instead surged towards the Neuroi, who, in its defensive configuration, was charging its attack directly in front of its nose. Just as it got ready to fire, she struck that energy head-on and caused it to explode, sending her flying and causing the Neuroi to screech as it was violently knocked back. The armor was immediately regenerating, of course, but Lynne had bought herself just a bit of time. While making sure nothing had been damaged beyond repair by doing that, she quickly reloaded and raised the sniper to her shoulder once again.

The Neuroi switched to its attack form and instead opted to ram her. Figuring it wouldn't be good if that happened, Lynne lowered the sniper for a moment and got ready to dodge…it was at that moment that the Neuroi chose to fire all its beams towards the lone sniper. Suddenly, just when she thought she was clear of an attack, now Lynne found a cage of death waiting for her. She had no choice but to let the attacks make contact, lancing through her right arm and torso painfully.

The sniper stabilized herself, but she just knew she was prolonging the inevitable now. Something in her right arm was broken, meaning she couldn't even use her sniper rifle properly now. And with Perrine still quite far away, she had no way of winning against the Neuroi now…

Egyptian Desert

No matter who fired bullets at it, the heavy-type Neuroi wouldn't even take a scratch, and retaliate with beams stronger than any flying Neuroi could provide. None of the Witches flying about had heavy weapons on them, and the squadron of Land Witches would be there for a good 30 minutes. Combine that with the fact that there were 6 of these tank-like Neuroi, and it was pretty obvious that Francesca Lucchini's day was going absolutely terribly.

These Heavy-types were rather rectangular, looking very much like real tanks, except that instead of rolling with treads, they merely floated a few inches off the ground. When they fired the colossal main cannon in the center, which was large enough to fire 80 mm shells-well, needless to say, whatever that thing fired, you didn't want to be there.

The machine gun like weapons on either side of the cannon weren't as powerful as normal beam panels, but the numbers in which they were fired would cause anyone to get mowed down too fast. If this wasn't enough, there were five-barreled mortar-like weapons attached to the "treads", which occasionally shot out black shells which would explode into a shower of beams. All in all, a terrifying foe.

Getting in close was absolutely out of the question now, and by extension, Lucchini's signature heat and light attack. Not having any explosives or magic that could turn the situation around in the desert; they were in a really tight fix. The idea of failure would have shaken Lucchini a lot more, but the same experience had repeated itself so many times now that she didn't really feel any great disappointment.

It was definite that Francesca Lucchini, fighting alongside the 31st Joint Fighter Squadron-the Storm Witches-wasn't really the same as Lucchini from the 501st Strike Witches. Her black hair now fell in a wild disorganization down to her waist, the white ribbons that bound it into twintails neglected. An emblem styled after the Romagnan flag-green and red sections divided by a white cross-was displayed upon her shirt's chest area, but this patriotic symbol looked absolutely out of place after her shirt had discolored into beige due to the sands constantly blowing about. Her bust size had increased, but while Lucchini from the 501st would have made a great deal of excitement about it, this girl did not.

The childish, immature demeanor that she once possessed had eroded away as well, and now she just had fallen into apathy towards her mission. Romagna had been struck down first by the Neuroi, so what did it matter to her now? Even staying alive had started to feel hard for Lucchini. It was a downright depressing change. Even the Storm Witches, who had met her at least once before, were questioning how much the Neuroi invasion had degraded her emotional health; it was even worse than the despair that other Romagnans and Karlslanders they knew had experienced.

Lucchini had not tried to become close to the other Witches at all. While she usually came to interact with them through her "measurements", now the only thing one would expect to see was her staring dazedly off into the distance with a forlorn look. Some wondered if it was because the Liberion Witch who she had depended on for a substitute mother had been called swiftly back to her homeland following the victory in Venezia, leaving the still-young Romagnan in Venezia alone, confused and upset.

Then the Neuroi had smashed their way in, and no Witch who had participated in any of those battles would deny that their confidence had been well and truly shattered. But for someone as young as Lucchini, a crushing defeat such as that which marked the Neuroi's return-directly into her homeland, no less-broke down every bit of hope there had been. And it only got worse with subsequent battles. There was no joy of achievement anymore; each victory felt shallow.

The low and loud thunder-like rumble jolted Lucchini's eyes back into focus. The other Witches shouted warnings as a harsh red light blurred out their figures. Suddenly, the sticky, moist air clinging to Lucchini's skin vaporized, and she couldn't even sweat. Her throat felt parched, and her eyes stung, yet no tears could come. Every patch of skin on her body, even her legs concealed in her Strikers, felt as though it would burn. A twinge of fear echoed through her mind, and she threw herself backwards as quickly as possible.

A moment later, a thin beam of red light burst from the main cannon of the large-type in the front. Of course, it was too bright for anyone to really know about the thin part. Preceded by a rush of even hotter and drier air, it screamed through the air 500 meters to the side of Lucchini and across the barren, flat dessert. As it disappeared into the horizon, the Romagnan's vision finally returned, everything looking darker and bluer than it had thirty seconds before.

The shaken Lucchini finally was able to move her hand to raise a canteen of water which she gulped down vigorously. As it ran over her lips with a wonderful feeling, she felt a slight pain on her lip. Due to it drying out, it looked like it had cracked slightly. No matter how much water was put in or how tightly the canteen was closed, it never felt like there was enough water, especially after that attack.

The Neuroi had begun employing their "Energy Projectors", as they had been dubbed, a few weeks ago. Focused rather on heat radiation to burn away targets that scattered too quickly for their signature precise beams, it was lucky they were seen only once before. Usually, the Energy Projectors were only found in the most colossal and powerful Neuroi. That six heavy-types would have the weapon and be able to use it to its full potential was something that would probably and hopefully only be seen once within the next eight months, depending on how much territory the Neuroi gained.

Luckily, there were drawbacks suffered by the Neuroi. The biggest problem for it was that all weapons and even movement were shut off for 10 minutes after it had fired, and 30 minutes before it could fire the Energy Projector another time. Also, as heavy-types were that much weaker than the Neuroi that normally bore these weapons, three of them had to combine fire to compensate. This gave the Witches a small reprieve from the bombardment. If only it wasn't just half of them that were immobile…

As soon as she began to think this, Lucchini spotted the Gatling gun-like cylinders on the other three were spinning around. The next moment, slender crimson lasers filled the air around Lucchini, and she knew the sheer size of the volley would destroy her shield in an instant. Five small shields stacked on top of each other appeared quickly in front of her, but rather than use it to pierce the enemies as she always had, she instead backpedaled, letting each shield take the hits and shatter until the Gatling guns lost their accuracy.

By the time the attack had ended, Lucchini had lost about 1.5 km of ground, and only one of her shields remained. Normally, if a shield broke, a Witch would lose a good portion of their magic energy, as well as a short attack of nausea or something like that. Due to having shields composed mostly of heat and light with a smaller magic composition, Lucchini didn't suffer as much from having them be destroyed, but as she had lost four already…she was starting to feel a bit unsteady already.

At that moment, the mortars on either sides of those same Neuroi angled upwards, flashed red, and fired a black shell into the air from each tube-30 were fired in total. A shaky breath had just been let out from Lucchini's lips when it was sucked sharply back in as the shells soared past her, higher and higher, until they disappeared to the point where she couldn't even see them as tiny black dots. One moment later, there was a "BANG", and hundreds of red lights radiated out from where the shells had gone, cascading towards ground en masse, not afraid to mow down a few Witches in the process.

Shields hastily constructed just above Lucchini as she headed back towards the ground, catching the powerful beams and shattering almost on contact. Lucchini gasped as each one broke, sending a painful jolt of recoil down her spine. Even when she managed to block the attacks, she found herself plummeting even faster than before, and before she knew it, dust swirled into her face. She barely managed to pull up before becoming a smear on the ground.

There just was no opportunity for Lucchini to rest, however, because when she looked up, she still saw a plethora of beams shooting straight at her. How she hadn't burned out her Strikers was a question no one could have answered as she barrel rolled out of the way of one, then dodged another one by doing a right-angle turn, and barely edged past a third. And so she slowly made her way through the storm of light as she dodged each beam with no less than a 3 cm margin for disaster each time.

Just when she was almost out of the target range, though, one beam came down and sheared her through her left shoulder. Lucchini screamed from the first direct hit as she crashed into the ground, bouncing and rolling. As soon as she came to a stop, her arm felt as though it had been sheared off, and her eyes rolled dazedly about. Then she suddenly heard the familiar whirring sound of miniguns being spun-up and groaned, realizing the Neuroi were practically upon her.

Pushing off the ground, she got ready to do the same backpedalling strategy she always employed around them, but as she started to move backwards, she heard the sound of the beams from the mortar shells still coming down behind her. That still hasn't ended yet?! As Lucchini panicked, she looked back towards the Neuroi and saw that they had her surrounded from three different angles, and they easily could fire upwards if they wanted. Wherever the Storm Witches were, she couldn't hear or see them anymore, so they couldn't help her. She had been lucky before, but this time it was certainly over.

I at least wanted to see Shirley and Yoshika and all the others again…but none of them can help me here. I'm alone. A single tear rolled down Francesca Lucchini's cheek as she let out a roar and charged, firing her gun for the sake of a tomorrow that she would never see.

Above the Pacific Ocean

At this point, terminal velocity probably had been reached, causing the wind to rip at her face and hair mercilessly. But Charlotte E. Yeager didn't take any notice of how dangerous her speed was getting. Her eyes were focused on the horizon. Dark clouds had gathered, but Fuso's shore was still starkly clear against the endless ocean.

I'll definitely get there before the island is obliterated, she repeated to herself for the 100th time. But even then, she didn't feel convinced. When Charlotte, better known as Shirley, heard that radio contact with Fuso suddenly had become inaccessible, she put things together and rushed as fast as she could from Hawaii where she had been prior.

Now it was just a matter of speed…but then Shirley wondered about how eager she had been to rush towards Fuso and leave behind the duties she had been called back to Liberion to do. Was she running in to save Fuso or was she just running away from Liberion?

Patriotic feelings had been thrown off into a dark, forgotten corner, she reminded herself, and put on an extra burst of speed to prove it. Even as she told herself this, though, one dark thought remained in Shirley's head about what had happened one month prior. She crushed thoughts about Liberion which would tie to that memory quickly and went on, trying to convince herself further. Yeah! I'm doing this for Fuso's sake! If they were to get defeated while I was able to help, that'd be just wrong…for it to end up like those other places…

Miyafuji always says "Don't give up" or things along those lines. It feels like I've given up on my home country when I say this kind of stuff…but I won't give up on this attempt to protect people. What happened at Liberion is my past now. This is going to happen now and there's nothing anyone can do to magically undo the Neuroi's actions. Something makes me feel like there isn't much time…I'm coming, Miyafuji…!

(Note: I wanted to keep what happened at Liberion a secret for a while, but I don't think I quite handled Shirley's dialogue right...it sounds kind of unnatural for some reason. Hard to make thoughts sound natural and at the same time hide exactly what they're thinking about.)

Ryuudou Temple

Erica's eyes were dazed and unfocused as she looked upwards. A monstrous headache rang through her head, cutting off her entire thought process. Wherever she was, it was dusty and hard to breath. Rubbing her eyes, she saw a roof of wood and red tiles, with a hole directly above her. Turning her eyes to the side, she saw the faint red glow of candles, and a blue hue dying the wooden pillars-

Then Erica snapped her eyes wide open and sat up. That blue hue was a magic circle drawn on the ground, upon which Sanya had been laid down on, looking no better than she had been earlier when Erica had seen Miyafuji cradling her outside the shelter. The fact that the bleeding stopped was only small consolation…the top ace of Karlsland would have thought more about this subject, except then she noticed something else: Miyafuji was missing as well, as was the Neuroi that she had been battling before she fell unconscious.

Pulling her legs out of her Strikers, Erica felt about her body to make sure nothing had been broken too badly. But both her weapons were missing. She definitely had both of them when she had been battling, so that must have meant…

"Miyafuji…did you fight the Neuroi?" The moment she thought this, Erica's breathing halted, and she looked around with terror. There was no sign of the tower Neuroi, so that meant she should have won, but…where was Miyafuji now?! "Gotta go find he-" she began, but then suddenly let out a scream and fell on the sharp debris lying about. A dark red liquid began to flood into her view. Erica had taken a really bad hit during the skirmish. At the very least, she wouldn't be fighting again today…

Several faint, ragged breaths came from behind. While it was a relief that Sanya was still alive, it sounded as though even breathing was causing pain to her. Suppressing her own pain, Erica struggled towards Sanya and lay down next to her, the magic circle channeling a blue glow into her body as well. "Sanya…I hope you're alri-" she began to say.

"…she's…hurt…" Those trance-like words made Erica's blood completely freeze as Sanya began to moan in her sleep, tears streaming out of her closed eyes. "Y-Yoshika-chan… fought…f-for m-my…sake …I was…the cause…of it…Yoshika-chan…is…"

"No, no, no, no, no, NO!"Erica's voice slowly escalated in volume and disbelief as she beat the ground repeatedly with her fists. It looked sickeningly childlike for the situation.

After losing her homeland and never being able to scrape up a single decisive victory, even Erica's heart had jaded to failure, and she came to accept it as an everyday thing. One more failure didn't really feel like it would have any ground-breaking impact.

But now, the one who had just died…this was the girl who had finally lifted Trude out of her self-disregard, and the one responsible for saving Gallia and Romagna. Her appearance in the 501st had slowly coaxed the other members like Lynne and Sanya into a stronger bond with one another. And now she had just given her life when Erica was the one who was supposed to have been protecting her...

It felt as though a blade had been driven through Erica's heart, and someone was leaning on it. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry…" she sobbed, everything but her tears losing their strength. And as the two lay there, shedding their tears, every Witch on Fuso continued to suffer and despair…

Auf Wiedersehen. Goodbye.

Where am I..? Why does it feel like I'm going down a waterfall…?

Last I remember, I was fighting the Neuroi…oh yeah, that's right…it blasted me just when I got a clear shot of its core.

So… that means I'm dead…right?

The space around Yoshika shimmered with a mysterious as a mysterious liquid-like substance ruffled past her hair. Wherever it seeped into her body, that part numbed and became more transparent. Were her clothes gone, or could she just not perceive them with any of her senses? Yoshika didn't know.

Her arms and legs had faded completely. Now her torso was starting to disappear as well, and she was sure this wasn't a visual effect-it felt as though her body and mind were completely dissolving into this strange substance. Whatever was happening now, it was clear that soon Miyafuji Yoshika would be leaving this world.

But just when Yoshika finally was preparing to close her eyes for the last time, she suddenly thought she could hear some strange sound that finally shot a spark of emotion through her heart. Straining her ears hard to comprehend it over the rushing water that now began to sap away at her sight and hearing as well, she thought she could hear several voices. Some were screaming in terror, others whispering desperate prayers, and still others weeping over dashed hope. But what she did notice was that there were ten voices she heard more than any others, and she recognized all of them…

…these were the thoughts of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, the Strike Witches. Every single one of them was in deep peril, exhausted and demoralized, yet still forced to continue suffering against the Neuroi. Small dashes of hope ran here and there, but were swiftly struck down and replaced with an even deeper despair than before.

Even with her fading body, Yoshika still found tears flowing out of her eyes, and despite the fact that she had felt her hands numb and fade away seconds ago, now they balled into fists from frustration. Her mouth opened into a furious, silent scream. This suffering the Neuroi had brought upon her friends could not be forgiven. She had to get back out there and give them their retribution…

The thoughts froze as abruptly as they started when Yoshika realized just what she was saying. This was not her normal way of thinking. Getting revenge on the Neuroi would do little to ease her own sorrow if they killed her friends first. She needed to get back to them right away and protect them.

…that was what she wanted to believe, but…

I have no magic power, though…how can I help them? And this place…if it's the gates to the dead, then I have no chance anyway…

Yoshika's eyes slowly began to close, and her consciousness began to melt into the flowing waters again. As she continued to dissolve, though, she suddenly wondered what it was that eroded her body, and why as she was sublimed into it, it felt as though a familiar power coursed through her veins just before shattering them…

Ley lines…was that what they were called? The "veins" of the world through which magic energy flowed? Many led to Ryuudou Temple, and that was where I'm sure I died…then that means this place …I was pulled into the Ley line somehow? That means this "water" is actually magic energy…and all the magic energy of the world flows through here at some point.

Now Yoshika's hairs and neck were starting to disappear as well. There was not much time, and she doubted her theory could work, but she had to stake it all on this. Reaching out with her flickering consciousness, she somehow found the magic signatures of each of them in the material world.

If this is the case…everyone, I will need your help again. If I succeed, I will protect you until my life is extinguished for good.