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Radio names:
Valkyrie-01 Isumi Michiru
Valkyrie-02 Ichimonji Takahashi
Valkyrie-03 Hayase Mitsuki
Valkyrie-04 Munakata Misae
Valkyrie-06 Fukui Kukiko
Valkyrie-07 Fukui Ryuuseiu
Valkyrie-09 Kashiwagi Haruko
Valkyrie-13 Shirogane Takeru

Chapter 36 – Breaking Point VI

Storm Vanguard One

(Valkyrie-01)
03, now!

(Valkyrie-03)
Right!

On the captain's mark, I shifted all my weight unto my shield for one mighty heave against the enemy Shiranui.

Michiru at the very same instant would've disengaged Lt. Takahashi from the low ground, meanwhile Kukiko would have taken advantage of his TSF losing its balance and ideally finished him off in one fell swoop.

This would've been the sequence of events had the tides been in our favour.

Which—it hadn't.

Before I continue narrating how it had instead taken place, there's something about Lt. Ichimonji Takahashi that deserves mention.

No, I'm not scrambling for an excuse for why I've yet to catch up to him.

There's little need for me, Storm Vanguard One, Strike Force Ace that I am, to stoop so low.

If it isn't from me, you'd hear it from someone else eventually, so.

So—I'd better beat everyone to the punch.

I mean, hrmm—best hear it from yours truly.

Here goes.

Just between us, what I'm about to spill is popular hearsay from our mechanics team—

They all absolutely hate Takahashi-chui.

I mean, they despise him with a vengeance.

And I might still be downplaying how notorious the LT is among their group.

Apparently, every time Takahashi-chui returns his TSF to the hangar (be it from missions or plain practice sessions), his mech is guaranteed to be a flaming wreck.

Junkyard vehicles have been rumoured to be found in better condition.

Their troubles are not, however, unfounded. There is a good reason for the lieutenant's infamy.

Takahashi-chui's reputation stretches as far back as his roots in the Imperial Royal Guard, and there's always been an aura of esteem about him that carried over to his tour in our Special Task Force.

Even the late A-01 colonel, Col. Teiichi, was often known to seek his counsel in missions of urgency.

Without dispute, Ichimonji Takahashi has no equal when it comes to the mastery of a Tactical Surface Fighter.

Disregard the piloting skill and combat doctrine mastery for a moment—the newcomer Shirogane Takeru is in the running for that crown.

Alongside moi, naturally.

This isn't a matter of brute force or raw instincts, might I add. In terms of brainpower—when it comes to sheer familiarity with every sheet of metal, every strand of wire, every nut and bolt in the TSF anatomy.

Sorry, Shirogane.

Takahashi-chui is leagues ahead in this department. Not even I am near the same depth.

I've yet to witness anyone else exploit these bipedal machines as extensively as him.

Exploit isn't even the right description—more like abuse, really.

Even saying that he 'becomes one' with his TSF would be but a half-truth. His is a mindset not limited to the fighting styles meager humans are capable of.

To illustrate, off the top of my head.

It is second nature to Eishis that Tactical Surface Fighters can move, bend and turn similar to humans, though their range of motion far exceeds ours. Joint areas, concretely, are much more flexible than their human counterparts.

Think in terms of a contortionist. Easily capable of 360 degree spherical rotation.

Anyone could, for example, snap their TSF's arm in a straight line behind them without pulling a shoulder muscle. Useful for firing at targets to the rear if one would rather sustain their current position.

The rotational mobility extends to the elbows, knees and waist. Twisting the body only from the waist up is a scene straight out of a horror film, but for a TSF—perfectly commonplace operation.

One could even endlessly spin the wrists like a helicopter rotor!

There are other elements that would take more pages to touch on, and I had never claimed to be the authority on the topic so I'd rather play this safe and not spread misinformation, though this should be plenty enough to get my case across—

That Takahashi-chui abuses this and more in a TSF, everything short of breaching the hard-coded safety operational limits (these bypasses require higher permissions in addition to a passkey and an emergency-like pushbutton).

Forget second nature, he has that as well as a sixth and seventh sense! And—to make matters worse, he uses a swordstyle of an ancient noble house to boot!

Witnessing him in the climax of combat is—something else.

Not so much when you're on the receiving end of it, but that's beside the point.

I wonder what it must be like to be in his seat.

To achieve maximum efficiency.

Near zero wasted movements—each action he takes is deliberate and with purpose. Like a perfectly conducted orchestra, he maintains instantaneous control over the entirety of his surface fighter.

From head to toe, the second he takes over, he turns every single gear in perpetual motion. I mean to say, they'd never stop turning until mission completion.

And picture this in extra-fast-forward speeds!

I don't even feel the least bit of guilt that he effortlessly thwarted the three of us as we attempted our counter-assault.

Setting that aside—all this is why there is little love for him in the repairs division, and it's no fault of theirs.

The herculean strain he places on these machines is mind-numbing.

Not to mention there's no such thing as holding back in the world of Takahashi-chui. His earnest sense of obligation simply would not allow him to give any less than a hundred percent.

It would not allow him rest until his task meets its end.

In fact—there's no pulling him 'out' once he's 'in' it.

Once he's in the zone, in full Eishi mode, you won't 'see' Ichimonji Takahashi again. Not until he either fulfills his duty or dies trying.

Virtually each and every TSF he brings home has to be overhauled!

I've a poor grasp on currency because I've never had to need it, but that must surely cost thousands of yens! Think of all the meal tickets that could've gotten me! I might have even finally gotten to taste gourmet food!

Er-hrmm.

In any case.

Have I spent too many words on Lt. Takahashi?

I haven't really been paying any attention to the clock.

He is, after all, the Eishi I've always aspired to surpass. And I'm not alone in this opinion—he has been a role model to many before me.

Mark my words: I will someday steal the handle of Valkyrie-02!

Right now however.

Back to the present.

Or a smidge before the present.

As I was saying.

As I was bracing myself for my mighty Spartan shove, Valkyrie-02 must've sensed the change in the atmosphere's vibration, for in the comma between Michiru saying '03' and 'now!'—

Not a breath after I'd laid a finger on my toggle—

He bounced off of Capt. Michiru's shield (what is she, a trampoline?).

Hurled his leg at collar height and roundhouse kicked my shield.

And finally, one sword still locked against both of Kukiko's, he unwound the other and hammered at her, forcing her a foot back.

And I had hardly finished that same breath.

Inhumanly swift for us to anticipate, though not for Valkyrie-06.

Sure, she was last to be attacked so she had a wider time frame to work with. Even so, to her credit, Kukiko reacted and defended herself in kind. As though she had prepared knowing that would happen all along.

It was I who had been knocked off my center instead, and Michiru bustled to reclaim a foothold, all the while Kukiko wasted little time and went to town on Takahashi-chui, and the two hacked and stabbed at each other as though tomorrow didn't exist.

I didn't realize it then, but being momentarily rocked by my shield's own weight was actually the best I could've hoped for. It had given me the space to draw out my PB Blades, so, making the best out of a bad situation—

(Valkyrie-03)
Captain!

I tossed my Type-92 Supplemental Armour at Michiru and bolted at the enemy, who unsympathetically had his hands full with Valkyrie-06.

This might be a poor choice of time for this remark; still, all I was doing was jetting forward, so I'll spare the while to rant—errr, admit—the following.

That although I've yet to bring myself to come to terms with Takayuki's former squadmates, I must however confess that I do on occasion feel envious that she and her twin brother had been trained by the ex-Colonel of the IRG. That they'd long witnessed firsthand his piloting prowess.

And that, for better or for worse, as allies on the battlefield, they're a force to be reckoned with.

Full stop.

That's as many words as I could afford to spend on the subject.

Excuse my rant.

So anyway, en route to the enemy Shiranui, I had to make a few pauses on the way, due to him somehow finding the temporary, narrow windows in between slashing at Valkyrie-06 to fling his arsenal of PB Knives in my direction.

However—he hadn't simply launched the daggers in my approximate vicinity, otherwise I'd have shirked them without giving them so much as a second glance.

They all came at my TSF with pinpoint accuracy; so frighteningly accurate that I judged I hadn't the time to entirely avoid them and had to resort to batting them aside as best as I could with my halberds.

I suspect that had I left any one of those daggers to run its course and dent me, I'd have been out of the game then and there.

My TSF made it to his intact, at any rate.

If the two on one handicap had fazed him any, he had done a spectacular job at keeping it from showing. Though I'm more inclined to presume that whether there had been two or twenty foes wouldn't have made a difference to Lt. Takahashi.

With all our might, with all we had, we 'tangoed' with the LT (okay, I borrowed Kukiko's words there).

In the hierarchy of the Valkyries circle, I have the upper hand over Fukui Kukiko when looked at from the grand scheme. Although, a side by side analogy would be somewhat akin to comparing mangoes to pears.

I'll give it a whirl anyway, otherwise it'd be easy to fall off-track.

If this were a dance (though when I really think about it, combat is in its own way a dance—a dance between swords), the two of us have entirely different rhythms.

I, and overall the majority of Eishi initiates, have an even two/four beat. She on the other hand has an odd time signature, let's say five/four.

And while the braindead BETA can't tell the two apart—hold up, even humans might not be able to tell one from the other. Not until you're right next to her, front and center, that is.

Put as simple as I can in broad context, for every two actions I take, Valkyrie-06 performs five in the same span of time.

It'd be ugly, wouldn't it. Watching a foxtrot between off-step partners.

I don't feel sorry for Takahashi-chui right now, having his tempo disrupted by my Strike Vanguard.

Before the wrong idea pops up, this isn't an issue of speed. You could arrive at the same finish line whether you take five steps or two.

I don't have to answer her every blow with an equal blow, for instance. Raising my shield, if angled just right, could counter five of her moves, even ten.

I'd like to think that it's also because I place a lot more thought into my decisions before making my move, much unlike her, who relies heavily on her primal intuitions.

Whatever the case, what's worth attention is that it upsets our inner biorhythms.

Like how they say an inch of difference in one step in a flight of stairs would trip up most people.

It brings about an unnatural feeling that throws us off our game, and in a contest where every little advantage counts, could either make or break the outcome.

Let loose, she's our very own glass cannon.

But it's not that she's reckless. She has the least risk tolerance that I'd ever witnessed.

She's not overconfident.

She's just too—trusting.

That she's the way she is, that she trusts me as much as she does after her brother left my Takayuki for dead, leaves me rather conflicted, to tell the truth.

I've had to set such emotions aside, however.

Foremost, as a soldier.

As a Valkyrie of the Special Task Force—I've to swallow my pride.

At least, only for as long as we wear the UN uniforms.

I don't have to pretend to get along with them in my pedestrian attire.

Setting myself aside—I suppose in her defense, Ryuuseiu would under normal circumstances have her six (and as much as I hate to admit, her brother is one of our more reliable rearguards, with a frustrating unheard-of spatial awareness that rivals even Lt. Takahashi's), allowing her more freedom to go wild on her offense without worrying about her cover.

Though at the moment he's on the opposing team, making my case rather moot. Not that she's shown any hint of slowing down or holding anything back—I can't cover you as well as him, that stupid girl.

Whatever.

That's a little bit of background as to what Fukui Kukiko is like as an Eishi, in any case.

There hadn't been much else to talk about anyway.

We were still all this while swinging our PB Blades at Lt. Takahashi.

Just imagine whatever fight scene you want in the meantime. Whatever it is you imagined—it's extremely likely that it played out that way.

I must say, despite my depiction of Kukiko, Takahashi-chui had yet to make a single mistake. Not a single gear of his had lost its momentum even with two of us versus one of him.

Maybe I'd spoken for myself when I'd said she throws me off my groove. Though it's to be expected, I will submit. He's likely gotten accustomed to her off-tempo cadence, what with them being Dellingrs along with Takayuki and Shinji...

My efforts, on the other hand, had been a bit more conventional. That is to say, I attacked, got attacked, countered, got countered, retaliated—you get the picture.

Don't for a second think it was a dull exchange, however. Our fight had simply happened at a rapid pace it'd take a full novel to narrate every minute detail. (Matter of fact, that's the very reason why I'm laying down my thoughts in the past tense. It would be mayhem were I to narrate everything as it goes along!)

As an example—nearing the end, Kukiko had surrounded his right flank and I his left. After deflecting us and giving some back a number of times (I lost count after three, though if you really want a number it would be something greater than eighty), I aimed my right sword at his arm and my left sword at his leg.

To my surprise, he didn't bother parrying me at all. He had withdrawn and tucked in both his left leg and arm closer to his core. As though he'd been holding up an invisible shield.

My weapons—actually connected.

I finally got a clean hit in.

How wrooong I was.

In the guarded position he was in, curled up as he was, he had purposefully made it so that my halberds would connect with the most durable segments of his TSF. Where reinforced metal was at its toughest.

So, my attempt at slicing him in half.

At the angle I drew my swords at, at the height I had them raised to.

It had dug no deeper than an inch into his arm and leg, scarcely leaving a mark.

After which he flicked the PB Blade on his wrist, and the cuff promptly spun clockwise like a helicopter rotor and—

Lopped off my left arm, crippling me from the elbow below.

I had fortunately retreated and jump-boosted back in time, which was all I could do to avoid his halberd from further reaching my chest, shutting me down for good in this simulated world.

Some other battle had been waged at the same time on Kukiko's front, though I'd only caught the tail end of it, when one of her halberds went flying out of bounds.

She likewise retreated at the last second.

(Valkyrie-06)
Oi Aniki. You might wanna help out your teammates, you know? If they're still alive, that is—

I then made a mad dash at Valkyrie-02.

I wasn't hoping he'd be the least distracted by Kukiko's prattling (something she'd been doing all match long). Nothing in existence could break his concentration, nothing but accomplishing his mission.

If he had his own chapter right about now, it'd be roughly a thousand pages. All filled to the brim with countless foreign, alien symbols and equations (but not the type the BETA could understand).

His battle mode is beyond comprehension...

Myself—as I rushed at him, I set my sights on: his power core.

A venture easier said than done.

The only way to get to it from a frontal attack (there's no way I could get him from behind) is to sink my PB Blade through his Shiranui dead-center.

With one arm remaining, it's not as though I'd been crippled to uselessness. Even if I had lost both arms, I'd still have feet.

Anything and everything in a TSF can be made into a weapon. Thus, so long as a TSF was still online, death is the only allowable excuse for a pilot to quit piloting.

Seeing me advance at him, he charged in my direction in response.

I—

I blundered, here.

It should be mentioned that by now Capt. Michiru and Kukiko had dashed at Takahashi-chui as well. Michiru, having finally regained her ability to move (as it turns out, the lieutenant had done more than just pounced off her shield. He had done so in such a way that the sudden and immense pressure had incapacitated all her joints, so her hydraulic systems had needed time to cool off and recover), called for a joint-effort unified attack.

We were to pincer him in from three sides.

Not to be a copycat, but in the same manner that Valkyrie-02 had gotten the better of me, as I jetted at him and watched him jet at me, I tried to weigh in my head a method to receive whatever attack he might dish out with the least amount of damage.

I'd turn the tables on him, I naively fooled myself thinking.

Kukiko, Valkyrie-06, was farthest away, having taken off from Lt. Takahashi's far side.

As it stood, he, the captain and I would've made first contact, altogether approaching each other in a receding Y formation.

(Valkyrie-01)
03, don't!

How the captain had come to realize what I was thinking, I could not tell.

Aiming my lone sword-arm at his power source (or anything vital that I could get my hands on, at this point), I stole a quick glance at the trajectory of Takashui-chui's halberds.

It was as though time had frozen then.

As though I could see and analyze the whole scene in still.

I could see my PB Blade inches from my mark.

I could see Valkyrie-02's halberds.

One pointed beneath my neck, the other at my lower torso.

I could easily dodge the blow to the neck with a sharp detour. While the blow to my hip—

I could swerve this way and.

I could take this hit.

I could take the hit and walk away with it.

Then I'll drive this halberd through him.

I only need to time this—perfectly.

However.

Milliseconds before impact, Capt. Michiru suddenly shouldered me out of the way. Right before I was blown out of Lt. Takahashi's line of fire, I noticed that he had already repositioned the tip of his weapons, now pointed at the captain.

He stabbed Michiru where I couldn't see and—by the time I finished a full blink, he had drawn it back.

A swift in and out execution.

Valkyrie-01 landed, upright, in one piece.

Still on its feet—however defective and dysfunctional it had now become.

(Valkyrie-01)
You walked right into that one, Hayase.

Sighed Michiru.

Her transmission line hadn't been disconnected just yet. I crossed my fingers Haruka wouldn't notice.

(Valkyrie-01)
You should've known better than to take a direct hit from Valkyrie-02.

(Valkyrie-03)
Heh—

I laughed a weak laugh.

(Valkyrie-03)
I wasn't thinking straight.

(Valkyrie-01)
Clearly, your frenzy got the better of you—*click.

Oops.

I jinxed her.

That goody-two-shoes Haruka must've read my mind. Not that I'd admit that I was secretly relieved I'd gotten away from a scolding from Michiru.

I'd need reminding to apologize to Capt when I get the chance.

As Kukiko re-engaged the enemy, I in the meantime raced to recoup my footing.

Michiru was right, though—what was I trying to pull?

It might've seemed like I could take the hit—but.

But that's precisely what Takahashi-chui had wanted me to believe.

And to really drive it home, the stationary remains of Michiru's Shiranui stood before me. A cold, towering monument now decorating this virtual forest.

In pristine condition still.

It seemed as though it might move any moment. That it's yet alive, and I'd have believed so had I not heard it wind down as it slowly drained out of power.

He wanted me to dodge.

He wanted me to swerve.

He made me maneuver the way I did.

He made me believe my own decisions had been my own, when in fact I'd all along been primed to dodge his thrust at my neck. He had me convinced that I could take and soften the hit to my lower hip.

But as Michiru had said.

Any direct hit, from a scratch to a cut, from Valkyrie-02 might as well be a killing blow.

He had near-instantaneously turned his sights toward Michiru the moment I'd gotten out of his range.

And.

With surgical precision.

He severed one of her central power cables.

In, out.

I had hardly seen his PB Blade move, lightning fast as it had been.

He threaded a needle as though it were an everyday humdrum task.

It's little mystery he has millions of confirmed BETA kills to his name.

That truly was—a masterstroke.

The sensation I had, with those PB Knives he flung at me a while back. I hadn't imagined it after all.

Had any one of those daggers found me, I would've been shut down on the spot.

(Valkyrie-03)
Hang in there, 06!

Unvexed, feeling my equilibrium come back to me, I made my way once more to reenter the fray.

Grinning through my teeth, probably like a lunatic, I couldn't help but grin even wider.

My heart was pounding like mad—and.

I loved it.

I couldn't get enough of the intoxicating feeling.

There's a world to learn from taking on challenges much, much greater than myself.

Takahashi-chui, just you wait.

I will, without a doubt in my mind, one day unseat you.

(Valkyrie-03)
Duck, 06!

Lt. Takahashi might be good, but I'm not too shabby myself, in case I'd given off the wrong impression.

Trudging the path toward Kukiko and the LT, I had made the conscious intention to stay clear of his line of sight—not by coming at him from his six, however.

On the contrary, I had led a full frontal assault.

I was still outside his field of vision, though—since I'd been purposefully pursuing them while remaining in Valkyrie-06's rear.

Hidden in the open.

Like how the sun hides behind the moon during a solar eclipse—urk! What a poor simile! The sun is a whole lot larger than the moon so there's no way it's actually being hidden and—

I'm losing my chain of thought here.

Anyway.

Upon arriving, with momentum on my side, I swung my PB Blade at the back of Kukiko's skull, and once she ducked (she had ducked the same second I told her to. Honestly, she's too trusting), Takahashi-chui's head then popped up.

*Clang.

He deftly blocked me from the top.

And bounced to evade Kukiko's dig at his feet.

Mid-air, he pivoted sideways and, in that diagonal position he was in, drove down his halberd into me.

A slanted spinning top of death was hovering toward me.

My reflexes had by then already lifted my PB Blade skyward with both hands to defend myself.

The impact rocked my cabin, while my TSF keeled and was forced backward, hauling dirt along its feet.

But that wasn't the end of it just yet.

He hadn't even completed a full rotation.

His Shiranui resumed its spinning course, and his other sword got its turn at pummeling me. The second collision rocked me and shoved me further back as awfully as the first.

Valkyrie-02 landed, only to again pounce not a split second after. As his airborne Shiranui rotated as before, I fastened myself and my PB Blade for another round of impact.

My cabin shook even harder this time.

Damn these new and improved simulators! Do the haptics have an off-switch?! Turn mine off, Haruka!

I would've braced for a third go-around (though I was beginning to worry my PB Blade would snap at the rate things were going). However, the third round never saw the light of day.

I could tell he had considered going for it, but instead, still kneeling after having freshly landed, Takahashi-chui abruptly withdrew both swords to cover his back.

'Ptang!' went the air as metal screeched against metal.

Kukiko had tossed a PB Knife at the center of his back—at his power source—for which he had to swat with his halberd.

I'd been getting the same alarms Michiru earlier had. My hydraulic systems were approaching dangerous temperatures, so I considered myself lucky that Kukiko had interjected in time.

(Valkyrie-06)
You're trying to figure out if you could off Anego before I reach you, aren't you, Aniki?!

'Too slow! Your half-second is up!'

(Valkyrie-06)
Let's dance!

Having lost her second sword, she had now armed her other hand with a PB Knife and blitzed at us. Takahashi-chui must've judged the same as Kukiko had taunted, for he then turned on her by way of a jet-boosted slide kick.

Valkyrie-06 rolled out of his way with ease, ending up right next to me.

Takahashi-chui in the meantime got back on his feet and reassumed his fighting stance.

(Valkyrie-06)
He's a stubborn one, this guy. No wonder Hakase couldn't put up with him.

Her head then turned toward me.

(Valkyrie-06)
Waddaya think, Anego?

'I think we need to get a hold of Onii-chan,' she suggested.

(Valkyrie-03)
We're on the same page on that one, but.

'We haven't heard from Shirogane in a while.'

And stop calling him your big brother!

(Valkyrie-06)
Yeah... I'm sure he's killing it on his end though. But Ryuu-nii's still standing, too.

'Ackh—I'm confusing whom to root for!'

That's what she'd been worrying about? I really don't get her at times.

(Valkyrie-03)
Kukiko.

Huh—that was the first time I'd called her by name during an operation. I'm slipping on protocol.

(Valkyrie-06)
Eh?

(Valkyrie-03)
I have a plan, but things might get ugly.

(Valkyrie-06)
Oh? Lay it on me, Anego!

This clueless girl... she makes hating her so difficult... If only you and your brother had brought my Takayuki back with you...

(Valkyrie-06)
What else could go wrong? You've got one arm left and this longsword-shortsword feels weird to me.

'We've both been crippled, in a way,' she giggled after hearing me out.

(Valkyrie-03)
Haa? Crippled? How are you crippled?! You're hardly crippled!

(Valkyrie-06)
Hoh—really? Sure feels that way, if you ask me.

Tch.

(Valkyrie-06)
Oh, I know! Here, I'll trade my knife for your halberd—

(Valkyrie-03)
How does that make our chances any better?!

She asked me to bring a knife to a swordfight!

(Valkyrie-06)
Well, it'll help mine.

She frowned.

That was a losing argument I've yet to make sense of. I was getting nowhere, bickering with her.

'Let's go!'

Valkyrie-06 and I together jet-boosted at the foe for yet another, last-ditch effort. We'd made no strides with the previous formula, despite having the numbers on our side, so it was high time to take a different approach.

To take down a freak like Lt. Takahashi, we'd need all we have left.

Drastic foes call for drastic measures.

Even if we might not make it, we ought to take him out of the equation and give Shirogane one less opponent to worry about.

Although—a three for one exchange could hardly be called helping Shirogane out.

Thus did I propose to Kukiko an arguably Hail Mary assault plan.

We had already attempted something similar, not that long ago. When we consented to act as shields for Shirogane, so that he might've reached striking distance of the enemy flight.

They'd seen through that, however.

Kukiko smirked in reply, 'We'll make it out of this in one piece, Anego.'

(Valkyrie-03)
I only said 'might'.

'We 'might' not make it,' I stressed.

In fact, our chances aren't half-bad!

(Valkyrie-06)
With that attitude, we really might not!

Where does she get her optimism from...

We diverged in opposite directions and widened our distance, our trails almost forming a circular pattern, then re-converged on the enemy Shiranui.

Takahashi-chui remained in his position, stayed in his stance.

Ever observing, ever calculating.

Looming like the final boss in a TV show.

Except he didn't roar nor pound his chest in a show of might.

When we descended on him from both corners (we'd coordinated the timing so that Kukiko would engage him sooner than me)—I felt a little bit of pride swell, having surely caught him somewhat unawares for once. Instead of trading blows like we'd always done, Kukiko, having made first contact, immediately proceeded with the plan.

Her role was to keep him from using his weapons.

Not by occupying him by dancing yet again, but by literally keeping his weapons still. We would've ideally disarmed him—that'd be but a pipe dream, however. The more realistic option would be if Kukiko could somehow keep him in deadlock.

And that's what she did.

LT had naturally braced for another round of exchanges, but Kukiko managed to keep it to a minimum. After three touches of their halberds, Valkyrie-06 succeeded.

Her weapons, sword and dagger, had formed the shape of a mismatched X as they leaned against each other (sword in front, dagger behind). In the focal point of the X laid both of Takahashi-chui's PB Blades, bearing down on Kukiko in a straight, vertical line.

Their halberds altogether looked like one giant asterisk (*).

We'd finally caught our lucky break.

We'd robbed him of his weapons without having to disarm him.

Tightening my sword grip, I rushed at Valkyrie-02 from his six and, with a clean shot to his power box, jet-boosted at the final step. I had held my crippled elbow in front of me and furled my sword arm, winding my PB Blade for a full-forced thrust.

Now, if Kukiko could keep him pinned for 3 more seconds, we could do him in.

Now, had Kukiko kept him pinned for 3 more seconds, we would've done him in.

To correct myself—she did keep him pinned.

The demise that followed wasn't her doing.

Takahashi-chui, in the bat of an eye, had let go of his left-hand weapon.

He outright dropped it.

But no sooner than he'd dropped it—he grabbed hold of it once more. Though when he caught it, his grasp on his sword had switched.

In the half-second that passed as his PB Blade was dropped, Takahashi-chui had spun his wrist upside down. His thumb, formerly pointing skyward, now pointed at the earth.

He had reversed his grip.

The edge of his sword was now opposite the thumb.

Why does that matter?

Because.

Revolving his shoulder joint in a way humans can't normally do, in an arc 225 degrees from its starting point (damn near a full revolution), he caught me off-guard. Though he was still facing Kukiko, his back might as well have been his front.

Lt. Takahashi had slashed his free sword all the way rearward and beyond.

I wasn't able to help but be in awe of his form and pose—his knees were slightly crouched, right foot ahead of his left, right arm and halberd still stretched to the fore in standstill with Kukiko, and finally, left arm stretched to the rear. As though it were pointing and telling me to look at something interesting at my right flank. As if I'd fall for something that lame—yeah, right.

The PB Blade in that hand had already been tucked in. Still gripped in reverse, Takahashi-chui leaned it up against his arm, fully parallel, though the tip now pointed in his direction instead of mine.

From an eagle's view, he must've been the image of a simple thunderbolt. A fancy Z or an N, depending on which vantage point the eagle looks from.

I hadn't the luxury to admire it for too long, however.

As swift and sudden as Valkyrie-02 slashed at me, he lifted and slammed his left foot forward, shoving Kukiko aback and rocking her center of gravity, putting an end to their deadlock. After which he returned his left arm to his front and had it raised at eye level, the edge of the PB Blade extending past that elbow.

By the way—why did it feel as though Kukiko and I were moving in slow-motion, and he in fast-forward?

I'll definitely be studying the control logs after this.

In any event.

Takahashi-chui planted his right PB Blade on top of his left arm to steady his sword, aimed at the off-balance TSF of Fukui Kukiko.

All but ready to deliver the killing blow.

I make it sound like there'd been a pause here. However—there was no hint of hesitation when LT plunged his halberd into Valkyrie-06.

Or rather, I again make it sound as though he did manage to stab right through Kukiko, but.

But—he might've been able to, had he not been interrupted by a third Shiranui that appeared out of thin air.

'What was I doing in the meantime?'

Fair question.

Watching it all unfold, naturally.

After all, what was left of my TSF—namely, everything below the right shoulder to under my left wing—had been rendered lifeless, beyond function.

It wasn't fun—watching my upper half fall off. All the more since Takahashi-chui didn't so much as face in my direction, like a modern day super samurai.

Yeah.

I'd been relieved. Sliced in two, from the armpit of my crippled arm to the base of my neck.

Not before I got a say in it, however.

That's right—I got a hit in!

Although, what I hit has been a heated point of contention, of which I've been arguing with that stubborn Haruka for a while now.

I swear I got Lt. Takahashi's power core.

I swear it!

But Haruka adamantly insists I got his jump unit instead.

That damn LT.

He must've maneuvered at the last second, manipulated and had me wrongly convinced, right 'til the end.

I don't like how I was finished, but.

Taking down his jump unit—isn't so bad, I guess.

I could somewhat be at ease knowing that I, Hayase Mitsuki, have pushed the one and only Ichimonji Takahashi far into a corner that—he was forced to settle for a compromise.