Author's Note: WARNING. There will be spoiler alerts in the story, ones of which had not been posted as of this chapter's upload. Please, save your confusion and don't question them in the review section. But otherwise, please enjoy the story, leave a review, and get America working again!
(Previously…)
Just then, their coms activated, and Genjuro shouted, "Everyone, get back to S.O.N.G Headquarters! We have an intruder!"
The alert threw the team off-guard as Tsubasa demanded, "What did you say?!"
"We identified it as one of the people who you encountered!" Sakuya alerted, "It's the lavender-haired girl known as Tears!"
"Oh, no…" Hibiki said in a scared voice, fearing the lives of those at the headquarters.
"Genjuro, sir. Where is she heading?!" Philia demanded, trying to figure out Tears's actions.
"We have a visual!" Aoi answered for him, "Based on directions…she's heading to the Detainment!"
"Detainment? Is that like your prison cells in your headquarters?!" Filia questioned Tsubasa, who nodded.
"But why is she heading there?!" Tink asked, "What's there?!"
"Not what. Who!" Tsubasa gasped.
"No… Maria! Kirika! Shirabe!" Hibiki exclaimed, "They're in trouble!"
(Insert 'OVER THE TOP' , Mikutan ver.)
One Dream One Wish
(In a dark environment, with a treasure chest in front, something glowing within it from the grooves. Flair & Samson appear first on one side during 'One Dream', followed by Hinata on the other side during 'One Wish')
If you want it, gotta go
Over The Top
(Philia approaches the chest from the center, producing her Keydagger, slamming the tip onto the top of the chest, unlocking it and opening it up, causing the environment to be blinded by the golden light.)
(Music intro)
(As streaks of color fly by through the golden light, the symbol of SAKIII appears, with the name 'Sword Art Kingdom III: Heart Sisters'. This is followed by the Heartiel Gummi Ship flying into the screen, shifting to the back-view of the ship as it flies through deep space, with multiple worlds beyond the horizon, before igniting its boosters, and flying towards the worlds.)
Settin' sail, and heading for the unknown
(In front of a light blue background with her name in bold lettering, Philia is throwing her dagger up before catching it and holding it in a pose. Shifts to a magenta background with Flair & Samson's names, as the former twirls a cap on her finger, before getting snatched and eaten by Samson.)
Cuttin' through the winds and waves as I go
(Shifts to a pale green background with Hinata's name, who holds her hands behind her back, as she smiles innocently as she looks from one side to the screen. Shifts to a yellow background with Tinker Bell's name, as she flies close to the screen, writing down on an unrolled scroll of paper, before raising her pen and winking at the screen.)
Gotta keep it up, never stopin', no
'Cause I'm aiming to get there first, yeah
(Mistress Gretinal's hologram appears on the bridge of the Heartiel, pointing the girls towards their destination. Tink dives into Philia's clothing as the trio touch the bubble that contains the Star Shard, which shines brightly, transporting them to the new world.)
It's all or nothing, no to worry
Do it later, right now I'm livin' free
(Images of characters from other worlds flash across the screen, like Lightning and Snow, Vaan, Balthier and Fran, E. Gadd and Palutena, shadowy images of characters of other worlds, ending with the six main series heroes, with Sora, Donald & Goofy appearing together.)
When your foes look like they will overwhelm you
It means your heart's saying 'This is what you can't do'
(Philia stands opposite side to PHox, who points his cleaver at Philia as he makes a malicious grin. She responds by looking at a Chain of Memories card containing the picture of Castle Oblivion, frustratingly looking at it before closing her eyes, as a shadowy image of a dark version of her appeared behind her.)
Despite all that, to run is not an option
(In Gretinal's study, the Keyblade Master stands at her desk, with her SeHa Girls assistance, and her students, standing on the sides in front of it.)
One step closer, feel the satisfaction
(In an underground facility in the Realm of Arrival, Astro Boy is in a sleep state as he is cocooned in a machine, before his eyes flash open.)
You think I'm rude? Here's my appreciation
(In the main lab of Dr. Tenma, the said doctor stands there, in front of the dark machine gathering Dark Data from all the worlds, with Maleficent, Pete, Tears, and four shadowy figures right behind them, with intimidating glowing eyes.)
When things are gettin' tough
Just gotta smile
(Swarms of Cyber Heartless stand on level upon levels of stone, glaring down at the Heart Sisters, with Philia's eyes shadowed, before she looked up with a grin. She, Flair and Hinata ready their weapons, before charging at the Heartless.)
If you are goin' on your way
And your looking for a fresh brand new day
Than, make sure your only thought you have is 'Yes I Can!'
(The trio of girls demonstrate their skills in combat, taking out the Heartless with their teamwork. This is followed by Samson grabbing Philia, and tossing her into the sky, who made her Keydagger shine as Tink worked together with her to perform a boosted Airstepping technique that shot her at a larger Cyber Heartless.)
As you're on your way, marked maps will be made
Yes! With every step that you will take
(Tears suddenly appeared, grinning eerily as she swung her claymore at Philia, who blocked with her Keydagger, but got sent crashing back down towards her friends. She grimaces as she struggles to get back up through the dust cloud. She suddenly saw a hand, and looked up to see Sora appear next to her. She blushed, but smiled as she took it, while the rest of Team Keybladers joined around the Heart Sisters, before charging forward at Tenma's leading enforcers.)
Just lookout all you've been through
Look ahead a new horizon in view
(Hinata, Donald and Asuna gang together as they fight hard against Widowmaker & Reaper, matching magic and melee with their firearms and combat equipment.)
Shining brightly, oh who knows what's waiting for you.
(Flair, Samson, Goofy and Kirito burst through their fight as they deal with their own fight against King Boo and Painwheel, their finishing attack creating a massive explosion of energy.)
'Dream livin'' that's the way make like a hurricane
(Philia, Sora and Yui fly right out of the smoke of the explosion, coming at Tears, who points her claymore at them as a dark meteor comes down towards them. Sora unleashes a Keyblade beam, Yui unleashes a cyclone with her tessen, and Philia enters Soul Burst: Sora, unleashing Ragnarok from her Kingdom Key Keyblade.)
Now! Gotta make your mark today
(The attacks collide as one against Tears dark meteor, creating a shockwave of light and darkness, as the scene fades into white.)
One Dream, One Wish
Your dreams don't run away
Go for the knock out
(In Saitama/SAO world, a somber Kotone Takemiya is walking along the street, carrying her school bag. She stops as a light hits her eyes, as she looks up to see the back of Philia, as the screen focuses on her. She turns and smiles back at the screen.)
Over the Top
(She jumps and lands between her friends, striking a pose with her Keydagger raised high, with Tink above her, and Team Keybladers and Gretinal standing behind them, and deep space in the background.)
S.O.N.G Headquarters, Detainment
Racing along the corridor, the trio of Symphogear Users led the Heart Sisters through the complex path to the detainment center. However, even if the girls didn't lead them, the pathway was rather clear, what with the slash marks, bullets holes, and scorch marks along the walls and floor. This also included several security members who had fallen by the hands of Tears, Reaper and Widowmaker, most of which didn't live to explain what happened.
"Remind me who in the world is in detainment center?!" Samson demanded as they ran.
"They are three girls who were once enemies of S.O.N.G, and are all Symphogear Users." Tsubasa explained, "However, they were able to come around and aid us a short while back, and helped us stop the Noise threat. They are currently imprisoned here for their crimes."
"So are they good or bad?" Philia asked.
"Well, they were acting villainous, but they had good reasons to be so… it's complicated." Chris answered, "What matters is they are not bad anymore, okay?! We can't get into details now!"
Hibiki wasn't talking, but was running faster so she could go to the aid of those three girls. To her, they were friends she wanted to protect, especially since she recently became friends with them.
They finally made it to the detainment, where they found none other than Genjuro standing there, his shirt torn here and there, but somehow still in one piece. With him was a young lady that looked older than any of the girls, may early 20s, with an hourglass figure. She had cyan eyes and long pink hair that flowed down to her hips, the top styled in two horn-like curls, with blue flower-like accessories on each curl. She had on a white and black-trimmed prison uniform, with belts and silver buckles around her neck, above, and below her chest, and looked recently damaged. She wore the same mechanical handcuffs on her wrists that the Heart Sisters had on before.
"Maria! Uncle!" Tsubasa called out to the two, drawing their attention.
"Tsubasa." The girl named Maria addressed her back, adding, "Hibiki, Chris." She saw the others, and an expression asking who they were came across her face.
"Thank you for arriving in time." Genjuro greeted the group.
"Master, Maria, are you okay?!" Hibiki asked, seeing the condition Genjuro was in.
"Don't tell me you fought Tears and the others alone?!" Philia questioned.
"I did, and nearly caught them." Genjuro answered, shocking the Heart Sisters, "Unfortunately, the sniper used a poison gas bomb to stop me in order to escape."
"Are you okay after that?" Tsubasa asked, worried about the poison.
"No worries. I managed to dissipate it." He answered, looking to a piece of the metal floor, which he pried out. His mind recalled using it as a fan to blow it away while he held his breath.
"Just how strong is he?" Samson asked, looking rather shook.
"Tsubasa, just who are these people?" Maria asked the blue-haired girl.
"They are assisting us on a matter that is connected to whoever assailed you." She answered, "Don't worry. They are allies."
"What happened to you guys?" Chris questioned, "Where's Kirika and Shirabe?"
"They're in there." Maria answered, pointing to a plexiglass that showed a room. Hibiki rushed over, as did Philia, looking inside. They saw a group of security members at the door, as well as a medical team. There were two other girls, both in their mid-teens, wearing the same prison uniform as Maria. One of them on her feet, while the other was unconscious. The former was a short girl with green eyes, which were in tears, short blonde hair with an X-shaped hair clip on the left side, and had a decent hourglass figure. The latter's eyes were closed, but she had long black hair, styled in pig-tails, held by pink and purple ribbons, and had a petite figure.
"Shirabe!" Hibiki exclaimed, seeing the state of the the unconscious one, and attempted to race into the room, only to get stopped by the security, warning her not to enter at this point. Philia could only look to her, then to the crying girl, before curling her fists. She was frustrated that she couldn't arrive on time to help save the girl.
"Explain what happened to us?" Tsubasa asked Maria and Genjuro.
Maria looked down, recalling the assault that happened only moments ago. "We saw a young lady around my age with lavender hair enter in, with a hooded and masked man and a blue-skinned woman at the door. Without our Symphogear, we were vulnerable to them as she easily took us down. She then took Shirabe, and took something from her."
"What did she take?" Hinata asked.
"I'm not sure, but it looked like she took some sort of energy from within her." Maria answered, "Before she attacked her, she did say, 'So the soul seems to be hidden deep within you. I'll take that darkness and use it for something better'. She nearly dealt the killing blow before Genjuro arrived to fight all three of them."
"I'm shocked you are able to fight them, considering they aren't even of this world, either." Flair told Genjuro.
"Even if they are of a different world, they are no match for my spirit and the lessons I learned from martial arts movies." Genjuro responded, "I only wish I could stop them before this."
Philia joined back with the group, hearing Maria's story, before asking, "So if I am hearing things right, Shirabe had a soul within her, and Tears took it out of her."
"Will she be okay?" Chris questioned, "I mean, she is gonna be fine, right?"
"As long as her soul wasn't damaged by the extraction, then I'm sure she'll wake up eventually." Philia answered, "We've seen this happened before."
"But that doesn't explain whose soul it is." Samson spoke up, "If you guys know who it is, then you'd better tell us!"
Tsubasa and Chris looked to each other, wondering if they should answer Samson, before Maria spoke up, "If she is, or rather, was still existing, it would most like be Finé."
"Finé?" Philia echoed, the name drawing Hibiki's attention at last from the scene of the crime.
"Who is that?" Hinata asked.
"An adversary we faced once before." Tsubasa answered, looking to Chris, who was looking down as she had her mind thinking on things, "Our relationship with her was...rather difficult to explain, but her end goal was to destroy the moon in order to break the Curse of Babal, which is the cause of all the multiple languages throughout the world, and rule the world. Hibiki, Chris and I all stopped her, even as she gave her own life in order to achieve her goal."
"So she was an enemy, huh?" Samson understood, "That makes her soul being stolen more understandable."
"If she gave up her life, though, why was her soul in that girl's body?" Flair asked.
"Because every time her body dies, her soul gets transferred to a new vessel, specifically a descendant of Finé herself, taking over their soul instead." Maria spoke up, "Kirika, Shirabe and I are children of Finé, so if she were to reawaken, it would've been in one of us. As it turns out, Shirabe was that vessel. However, at that point, Finé decided not to take over Shirabe's soul, thanks to Hibiki's words to her before she died before. She decided to let herself disappear instead."
"So, she wasn't completely a bad person." Philia understood.
"She wasn't." Hibiki answered, getting everyone's attention, "Ms. Ryoko was a really nice person. She may have done some horrible things, but that didn't change the fact that I was able to carry on her dream; to create a world where we all can truly understand one another, through the power of our song."
"Wait, Ms. Ryoko?" Hinata echoed the name, looking to the Symphogear Users.
"That was Finé's previous reincarnation." Chris answered, who had a glare in her eyes.
"Are you okay, Chris?" Philia asked her.
"I'm fine. It's nothing." She answered, the tone in her voice saying that they shouldn't prod the topic further.
"In any case, we should probably get back to the topic at hand." Genjuro told the group, "If they have Finé's soul, what do they plan to do with it?"
"Extract the darkness from it, I guess." Philia answered, "Regardless of her change, if she was that big of a villain, she must still have a palpable amount of darkness in her. What's more, Tears and her cohorts have control over the Noise in this world, so they are extracting as much darkness and negativity as they can."
"But there is one thing we should be thinking about." Tinker Bell spoke up, pulling out her special scroll, which was basically the same as Jiminy's Journal, "Apart from that soul, Tears was also looking for fragments of an armor she wore. I bet she's still around, searching for it."
"That would be the Nehushtan Armor." Genjuro understood, "It was a complete relic that she used before."
"Hold on, that relic turned to dust along with the rest of her!" Chris recalled, "There shouldn't even be any traces of it left!"
"That might be the case, but it isn't stopping Tears from trying to regain it." Tsubasa pointed out, "Though, we have never took the effort to find the fragments of the armor ourselves, that doesn't mean they don't exist."
The group paused for a while, before Genjuro spoke up, saying, "In that case, we must do some research into the remnants of the Nehushtan Armor. We still have previous records of it, so we should be able to see if we can't create a way to track them. My team and I will work on that. Meanwhile, Heart Sisters, I figured that while you are here, we might as well have you and our girls train together, so that we can find a way to deal with the Heartless and Noise as one."
"Right. Especially if they plan to throw those Dark Hybrids at us again." Tsubasa pointed out, recalling the fusion of the darkness of Heartless with the Noise, and the struggle of the fight they had to deal with.
"Maybe we can do something like what Philia, Flair, and Samson did to defeat them." Hibiki suggested, recalling the attack they did.
"You mean Team Attacks?" Philia understood.
"It would be a great plan." Hinata answered, "Fusing our capabilities to defeat the Heartless with their ability to destroy the Noise could help us contend with those enemies more easily. It might even help them and us defeat Cyber Heartless, too."
"Then it is settled." Genjuro understood, "Your task is to create your Team Attacks, while we research the Nehushtan Armor." The team nodded in understanding.
Tsubasa looked to Maria, who remained quiet and merely listened to the conversation. "Maria, I know you want to help us, but..." She started.
"No, it's okay. I can't leave this area, anyway." Maria answered, "I have to look out for Shirabe and Kirika. Besides, I still need to atone for my sins, even if you forgiven me."
Tsubasa looked sympathetically at Maria, before Hibiki took Maria by the hand, placing it between her two, and answering, "Don't worry about it. Leave it to us to deal with this. And afterwards, when we finally can rest, we'll come back to check up on you guys. I still want all of us to be friends, okay?"
"Hibiki..." Maria muttered, before smiling at her, "Yes, we'll await for your return."
The Heart Sisters watched the scene, and could tell one thing; Hibiki was truly a kind person who wanted to extend a hand out to those who accept it. They were already aware of her kindness when they first met, to how she was with them afterwards. She was even trying to reason with Tears and her cohorts, which was baffling to the Heart Sisters. In fact, it was that very thought that caused Hibiki to look crestfallen as she pondered on the harsh denial she was given by Tears and her allies.
"Hibiki?" Maria asked, causing the said girl to realize she was still in front of her. Hibiki shook her head, before smiling as she answered, "Everything's okay. We should get going." With that, she reunited with the other girls, and walked towards the training center, leaving Maria to watch them leave, before looking at Kirika and Shirabe, hoping the latter will wake up soon.
Moment's later, the team of girls entered into the training room, which was large, with lights and machinery built into the wall. There was a separate computer in the corner where they could set up scenarios for the room.
"Right, before we get started, I would like to ask you about a couple things." Tsubasa started, turning to the Heart Sisters, mainly at Philia, "Mainly the three other powers you displayed before."
"Which three powers are you referring to?" Philia asked.
"The ones you called 'Soul Burst' and 'Soul Armament', as well as the one where you called forth that girl with those living weapons."
"Oh, those things." The treasure huntress understood, "What would you like to know about them?"
"I'm curious as to their nature, if Hinata and Flair are able to use them, and if you are able to use more than the powers you unleashed then?" Tsubasa questioned.
"I'm pretty curious, as well, too." Chris admitted.
"Same!" Hibiki agreed, "You said it was a power you gained from bonding with friends, right?"
"In a way, yes." Philia answered, "Unfortunately, I am the only one of the group that can use it, but only because I can use the Key-Dagger."
"It's true." Hinata followed up, "While we do fight as a team, I have to admit that Philia is by far the strongest and more versatile out of all of us."
"But it doesn't bother us." Flair defended, "After all, we're able to do things she can't, and Philia does need us around."
"More than she can admit." Samson finished.
"Hey, I do admit I need you guys around!" Philia retorted, "I may not say it as much, but you guys are special to me." Hinata, Flair, and Samson grinned in response to those words.
"Alright, keep the mush-fest to yourselves." Chris huffed, blushing a bit at the scene.
"Right, sorry." Philia realized they were going off topic, before continuing, "Anyways, I'll start with my Soul Burst and Soul Armament, since they are pretty much one and the same. I actually have access to five different Soul Pacts, though I can only use three of them during a battle. And since I maxed out my connection to each pact, I have access to each Soul Armament they give me."
"So it's sort of like resonating with our relics, in a way." Tsubasa understood.
"So who are the ones you have forged friendships with?" Hibiki asked.
"Well, you already saw my Soul Burst with Sora." Philia reminded her, "He was a dear friend of mine that I traveled with in the past, and he has access to the Keyblade, the original version compared to my Key-Dagger, and with a far different style of combat. I also have a Soul Pact with myself back when I had access to different skills, though I still used a dagger back then."
She then thought of all the characters she forged Soul Pacts with, starting with the beautiful martial artist and spear-user, "Next is Jade, a princess from a kingdom who is a master in wielding a spear and martial arts. She also has a secondary form that is a bit more devilish, using more powerful martial art skills, as well as her feminine wiles to charm and defeat opponents."
She then thought of a young blonde boy with a tail, carrying twin blades, "Then there is Zidane, a thief who is kind in nature, as well as skilled with twin blades. He also has an alternate form where he unleashes his inner powers for more powerful effects."
She then thought about a small orange T-Rex-like character, along with a fluffy brown-haired boy with goggles, "Finally, I have two souls in one, being Tai and Agumon, a young boy and a species of digital monster called Digimon, where I have access to the latter's power and attacks, even gaining access to its evolved form's attacks."
"So, you basically have standard attacks, followed by more powerful forms and attacks later on." Tsubasa understood.
"Exactly. I can't access these more powerful attacks instantly, but use my Soul Burst a lot before entering my Advance Burst forms." Philia summed up.
"That makes sense." Chris understood.
"So, what about that other power? The one where you summoned that girl?" Hibiki asked.
"That was one of my Summons, an ally I can call into battle for a temporary amount of time." Philia explained, "Each summon is rather unique, and I have five of them. The one you guys saw was Peacock and her gang, who is from the same world as Flair and Samson."
"Again, a total weirdo." Samson repeated what he said before.
Philia ignored this as she pulled out the medallions that she used to summon her allies, holding one that had a familiar figure, with sparkles around her, "This is actually a Summon medal to access Tinker Bell's full potential. She basically allows me to fly around, unleashing all kinds of attack with the power of her pixie dust, among other things." "That's right." Tinker Bell declared, popping out of Philia's pocket, "Plus, I keep her healthy and prevent her from dying out there on the battlefield. She is hopeless without me."
"Not totally helpless, but you are an amazing benefit and friend to have by my side." Philia admitted, putting the medallion away and holding up one that had a metal eyemask on it, "Next up is Queen, a girl who is also a Phantom Thief, who has the power to summon a Persona that takes the form of a bike. Basically, she drives around, using her aikido and nuclear attacks to devastate enemies with me."
"Another thief?" Chris questioned.
"She only steals from other criminals, making them admit their crimes." Hinata defended.
"Although, she does sound like a girl I would like to meet." Tsubasa suggested.
"Maybe in the future." Philia responded, switching to another medal, which had a raccoon face with a gold cane crossed in front of the face, "Next is another thief, but a gentlemen thief, named Sly Cooper. Like Queen, he only steals from other criminals, and he is more my stealth master, since he the more traditional thief, including stealth attacks and item gathering."
"You certainly have access to a lot of thieves." Tsubasa pointed out, her expression showing some concern, "Are you sure they can be trusted?"
"If I didn't trust them, do you think I would forge pacts with them?" Philia asked, "Besides, none of them are evil. They just aren't completely with the law. Anti-heroes, basically."
"Understood." Tsubasa responded, "Though I will be cautious with each of them."
"Okay." Philia pulled up the final medal, with had a sniper rifle right on it, "Finally, there is a master sniper user named Sinon. Apparently, she comes from the same world I am from, and plays a virtual reality game where she is a sniper. Her skills cannot be denied, and she is very handy when dealing with Widowmaker."
"You can say they are sniper arch-rivals to one another." Samson compared.
"I would really like to meet all of them!" Hibiki stated.
"You idiot! Did you forget why we came here?" Chris questioned, "We're here to form Team Attacks to defeat those Heartless-Noise fusions."
"Right." Tsubasa understood, "Besides, it would be more resourceful to understand what you have in combat. Time to set up the program." She and the others walked over to the computer on the wall, and after typing in a choice training program, turned to see the room to suddenly glow, before the team found themselves in a city street environment.
"What happened?!" Flair asked.
"A sort of Genjutsu?" Hinata asked.
"Not to worry. It's just a programmed environment for us to fight in." Tsubasa assured them, before seeing the programs summon up the Noise monsters, including some Heartless, "We don't have a full understanding on how the Heartless work, but we do have their movements programmed into the system."
"Pretty intense technology." Philia stated, her team producing their weapons, "Let's get to it!" The Symphogear girls immediately followed by singing their songs to transform into their Symphogear.
The six girls started to work together, the Heart Sisters subconsciously dividing themselves among the girls; Philia with Hibiki, Flair with Tsubasa, and Hinata with Chris. The Noise were not ones that caused burns to the foreign heroines, but they were programmed for the girls to at least feel a glow from touching them. Meanwhile, the Heartless were programmed to be dealt with less damage from the Symphogear girls. All in all, this simulation was rather accurate to the team.
"Are any of these combinations we're doing count as Team Attacks?" Chris asked as she fired off her 'BILLION MAIDEN' alongside Hinata's Fire Twin-Lion Fist.
"Nothing as of yet. It's more of a deep feeling that will rise up." Hinata answered, "You'll know when you feel it."
Just as she said this, both Tsubasa and Flair felt something, seeing a group of Heartless approach. "Right on time!" Samson stated, also getting the feeling.
"Same. Let's go, Tsubasa!" Flair called out.
"Roger that!" Tsubasa answered, shooting up to the sky above. She then produced a gigantic blade from her gear. Flair leapt up and raced along the blade, reaching Tsubasa, as Samson released all his tendrils, grabbing the grip of the blade. Tsubasa gripped the blade as well as she stood next to Flair, and with a combined roar from the three characters, they swung the blade over and down onto the enemies below, created a massive slice along the ground, and the shockwave of the impact to deal massive damage to the Noise and Heartless alike. This was their Team Attack 'Heaven's Guillotine'.
"Nice!" Hibiki cheered, seeing the combined attack.
"That was some serious power!" Chris exclaimed.
"And it dealt a great blow to the Heartless AND Noise." Philia pointed out, noticing the amount defeated, "Let's keep it up, guys!"
Another wave of Heartless and Noise appeared for the team as the six continued their fight. Hibiki was excited most of all, really wanting one of her attacks to spark one of the Team Attacks, and kept herself close both to Philia and Hinata, hoping one of the two were triggered as well. It did throw her off a bit being too focused on them, Tsubasa was quick to harshly point it out, telling her to just focus on working together with the others and coordinate fighting skills with them.
Right after this situation, Hinata and Chris both felt a surging feeling, the latter saying, "Whoa! Is this the feeling we're suppose to find?"
"It is!" Hinata answered, "Let's deliver the fire power!"
Hinata and Chris came together, back to back, with Hinata producing fiery lion heads from her palms. "Time to destroy everything here!" Chris declared, as she summoned a missile launchers from the waist part of her Symphogear. Hinata then concentrated, before shooting the two fiery lion heads upwards, causing them to grow in size and stop right above them. Chris fired out the two dozen missiles upwards into the lion heads, each consuming a dozen each. Then, they spun around and fired off the missiles, enflaming them as they did so, causing pillars of flaming explosions from them, while the pair of girls calmly watched it take place around them. This was their team attack, 'LION INFERNAL PARADE'.
"That's...a lot more destructive than I imagined." Philia stated, looking at the damage they did with slight bemusement.
"That was so amazing!" Hibiki exclaimed, "Hinata, Chris, you both rock!"
"Hehe, that wasn't too bad, Hinata." Chris told the kunoichi.
"We make a pretty destructive team." Hinata admitted.
"Okay, let's see if I can't get a Team Attack going, too!" Hibiki told Philia, who nodded in agreement, and the team continued the fight.
With the pairs seemingly set up at this point, they each started to find coordinated attacks while fighting the enemies. Hibiki's anxiousness was starting to increase again, but Philia was there to calm her down, stating, "It's best to think on what you can do in the moment, instead of thinking on what you want to happen. Let it come to you naturally."
"Right." Hibiki understood, taking up the suggestion rather quickly. Going along with this, she decided just to focus, like everyone else, on coordinating her fighting with Philia. Her adaptability to changing her way of fighting was rather impressive, in the treasure huntress's case.
After a few minutes from this suggestion, Philia and Hibiki had the stirring feeling like the others had, and Hibiki was the first to notice as she exclaimed, "I feel it! I feel it!"
"Yep. Let's see what our combination can deliver!" Philia told her, focusing herself into the Team Attack.
Philia and Hibiki made a long backflip, aways from the group of enemies. "Time to unlock your limits!" Philia called out, the two raising their gauntlet and Keydagger together. Philia tapped her weapon onto Hibiki's gauntlet, and it started to glow with magical sparks. She pulled her fist back as the gauntlet as it produced rocket boosters.
"The fastest, shortest path!" Hibiki started, before launching herself forward, the boosters igniting to carry her forward, "Steady, straight ahead!" Philia activated her Airstepping, which was enhanced by the Team Attack, and she followed in Hibiki's slipstream, amplifying the cone of magic energy surrounding them. They zoomed right past the swarm of monsters, destroying any that Hibiki's fist made contact with, followed by the shockwave of magic energy that came from their attack, destroying all the Shadows and Noise that were nearby. They came to a halt together, Philia making an extra leap over Hibiki to stop herself from sliding into her. They then raised their fist and Keyblade high, giving a victory pose from completing their Team Attack, 'Hibiki Style: Spear Key Strike'.
"We did it!" Hibiki cheered.
"We were like a comet shooting through those Heartless and Noise." Philia compared, "Bet we can do even serious damage to Tears and her cohorts with that move!"
"Y-Yeah..." Hibiki answered, realizing that it wasn't just the Heartless and Noise they were having to deal with, but those who were controlling them. The vocalization of her hesitation was not unnoticed by Philia.
Just then, the enemies vanished before them, as the scenery vanished, reverting back to the training room they were in. "That's enough training." Genjuro's voice called out, and the team turned to see him, along with Miku, standing at the computer.
"Miku!" Hibiki greeted, waving to her, "Did you see that Team Attack?"
"Yeah, it was really great." Miku answered, wandering over to her with a sports bottle and a towel.
"Seems like the six of you were able to figure out your Team Attacks." Genjuro stated as the Symphogear girls had their armor removed, reverting them back to normal civilian attire.
"Hibiki was too anxious, so she took a little longer." Tsubasa pointed out, looking to Hibiki as she wiped her forehead, while looking a bit sheepish at the slow progress she took to get her Team Attack with Philia.
"Still, we were able to figure out who can perform the attacks with one another." Hinata stated, looking to Chris, who nodded in agreement.
"That's good. We should be able to handle the new variation of Noise with those attacks." Genjuro stated, "Take a moment's break before coming to the Command Bridge. We just about have the information we need on the fragments of the Nehushtan Armor."
"Really?!" Chris asked, shocked, "So they didn't turn to dust like we thought?!"
"Apparently, not." Genjuro answered sadly, "But we'll explain more when you are ready."
"I'm ready now." Tsubasa told him, "Let's not waste any time."
"Hold on." Philia stopped her, "I could use a break, myself. Why don't you guys go ahead?"
"I could use a break, too, master." Hibiki told Genjuro.
"Okay. We'll wait for you so we can explain." he answered, and he led Tsubasa away, with Chris following suite, wanting more info on the armor.
"You girls go with them. I'll catch up." Philia told her friends, who understood and left to join the others, leaving her, Hibiki, and Miku alone.
The trio wandered over to a bench to recover, as Miku started, "You doing okay, Hibiki?"
"I'm fine. Everything's fine." She answered, "I'm just glad we got to perform a Team Attack."
"Yeah. Except I noticed you were a bit hesitant when I spoke about Tears before." Philia pointed out, causing Hibiki to look to her, before looking down, "Are you still thinking about trying to speak to her?"
Miku looked to Hibiki, already knowing the answer before she could give it. "It's just so difficult. Tears has her reasons for gathering darkness, I get it. She says she's doing it for her dad, but I don't know why she hates me so much? I want to just talk to her, try to find a connection with her, so that we can understand one another. She's not a monster like the Noise and Heartless, so we can talk normally."
"Hibiki..." Miku looked to her sadly.
"I get it." Philia understood, thinking about the people they met, from Maria and her friends, to what they learned about Finé, "You were able to find a way to reach out to those before. Kinda makes me think of Sora."
"Oh, yeah. That's the person you spoke about before." Hibiki noted, "Is he that important to you?"
"Yeah...he is very important." Philia admitted, smiling as she thought of him. The two girls immediately could see she was in love with him, before she continued, "But what I was talking about was the time when he had to fight his best friend, Riku, who had been consumed by darkness, and turned against him. No matter what Riku did, even all the betrayal he did, Sora still tried to find a way to reach out to him. Eventually, Sora was able to fight off the man that possessed him, and his heart was saved by Sora. He and I even became good friends afterwards."
"That sounds like how Hibiki saved me not too long ago." Miku stated, recalling a flashback, when she had on a special Symphogear armor that nearly made her kill Hibiki and her friends.
"But Tears is different." Philia stated, "She doesn't have any redemption in her. She was not good to begin with, at least, that's what I know. What makes you think she can be stopped through words?"
"Because I just don't see her as pure evil, like you say." Hibiki answered, "I don't know what it is...but I just feel like there's something deep within her that can be saved."
Philia looked to Hibiki, thinking on her words. Back in her previous adventure, she always found Tears as more monotonous, like a robot than anything. But this new form of her gave her more personality. Sora, Kirito and Asuna all said the same thing. Now that she thought about it, she didn't even know what Tears was like before she met her. Was she different, like the version she met some time ago named Strea? Or was her history different from that timeline? She didn't know, but Hibiki clearly believes there is something within Tears that should be saved.
"As far as I'm aware, I don't see any redeeming factors within her."Philia told her, "But even so, Tears is a mystery. Until we learn the truth, I don't know whether Tears is truly evil or not. But she is still a threat, and must be stopped. So the next time we meet her, we can't hesitate to fight her, cause she will fight back."
Hibiki looked down sadly, before refocusing herself, and looked determinately up as she stated, "I still want to talk to her, but if I can't do that, then I'll just have to use my fist to reach her! And that includes those other two!"
"Let's...just start with Tears, okay?" Philia suggested, smiling at the enthusiasm that she was delivering.
Miku also chuckled at this statement before saying, "Come on. Let's go join the others at the command center."
"Right!" Hibiki answered, bolting up straight, downing the last of the liquid in the sports bottle. Together with Philia and Miku, they left the training room to the command center.
Tink popped out of Philia's pocket, saying, "She really stubborn on trying to help that woman out, isn't she?"
"Hibiki's always tried to help out anyone she can. It's just the kind of person she is." Miku responded, "Then again, with people like Chris, Maria, Shirabe, Kirika, and even Finé, for a moment. She is able to reach out with an open hand to so many people, and they ended up taking it."
"She is sounding more and more like Sora." Philia compared, running behind Hibiki, feeling like she might be able to accomplish what she has in store.
Moment's later, the Heart Sisters and Symphogear girls reunited at the command center, with Genjuro and his team standing by.
"Now that we are all together, let's explain what we have learned about the Nehushtan Armor." Genjuro started, looking to the screen, which had a display of the town, before displaying a picture of an old relic on screen, "For those of you who are not familiar with it, the Nehushtan Armor is a complete relic found by the Japanese government during an excavation."
"Wait, complete relic?" Flair echoed.
"Right. The Symphogear we wear were created from fragments of relics." Tsubasa explained, "In many cases, a complete relic should be far superior than our own."
"However, due to a situation over two years ago, the relic was stolen unknowingly by Ryoko Sakurai, who was already Finé. The results were...devastating at the time." Both Hibiki and Tsubasa looked mournful at that moment, getting the Heart Sisters attention. Clearly, someone they knew lost their life that day.
"Later, it was discovered two years later, worn by Chris." Genjuro continued, displaying a picture of Chris in a completely different armor than her Symphogear, which had purple, lavender and silver colors, and had spikes and crystal whips from it. Chris looked away from the picture, not wanting to remember those times.
"However, it was taken by Finé. She then wielded it in the final battle to stop her from destroying the moon." He displayed another picture of a woman in the same armor, only there was more gold and maroon than lavender and silver. "However, through her last act to try and stop us, Finé ended up destroying herself and the armor. We ruled both she and the armor gone. However, just like how her soul ended up reawakening in Shirabe Tsukoyomi's body, it was possible that the fragments of the Nehushtan Armor could still be around. Turns out, we were right." This caused the Symphogear girls to gasp in shock.
"As we scanned deeply for signatures relating to the armor, we were able to detect them all over the city." Aoi spoke up, removing the armor pictures to show the city again, with red circles appearing in three specific areas, "While we weren't able to give exact locations, we were able to give a estimation as to what their areas they are specifically focused in."
"That is where you girls come in." Genjuro told the team of girls, "Now that you are able to perform those Team Attacks, it would like you to investigate each area in team. Tsubasa, Flair and Samson, you take the area close to the concert hall." The three nodded in understanding.
"Chris and Hinata, you two take the area close to the park." The two nodded in response as well.
"Finally, Hibiki, Philia, and Tinker Bell will take the edge of the city."
"Understood." Philia answered.
"Question, master!" Hibiki raised her hand.
"What is it?"
"How are we suppose to find the armor if it is in fragments?" She asked.
"I'll give each of you these detection devices with the unique frequency of the Nehushtan Armor." Genjuro answered, and Ogawa appeared, giving them handheld devices that looked design for detecting their surroundings, "They will let you know when you are close to the fragments. Once you find them, be sure to gather them and bring them back."
"I bet Tears, Widowmaker, and Reaper will eventually find those areas, as well." Philia told the others, "We need to strike now before they get to them." The girls nodded in agreement.
"Flair, you should come with me." Tsubasa told Flair, "I know a quick way there, so I'll drive."
"You have a license to drive?" Flair asked, surprised as they left the room.
"I'll get transports ready for the rest of you." Genjuro told the rest of the girls, "Since there are, for the moment, no Heartless or Noise involved in the areas, you should carry out this task discreetly."
"I can do that." Hinata understood.
"Says the kunoichi." Philia stated in amusement, causing her to blush in embarrassment.
"She really is a kunoichi?" Hibiki asked, "That's so cool!"
"Hey, let's get going, guys!" Chris told the others, and they exited the command center, making their way to their transports.
Tsubasa, Flair and Samson were already off minutes before the others got their rides in the same black Sedans that they came in. Tsubasa, as it turns out, drove a motorcycle, and was able to drive with Flair holding her from behind as they went along the highway to their destination. For safety reasons, they had to wear helmets, which was fine for Flair, but not so for her hair partner.
"I can't breathe here!" Samson roared inside the helmet, using his tendrils in an attempt to take it off, "Take this thing off of me!"
"Samson, just hold out a little longer!" Flair responded, "I've never rose a motorcycle before, and I don't want you to eat it before we get to the concert hall!"
"Are you kidding me?! No way can I eat this! It smells awful, and the pieces'll get stuck in my teeth!"
"It'll be a couple minutes before we can take a road off the highway." Tsubasa informed them, "Once we get there, I'm confident that you can take off the helmet without too much worry."
"Then hurry up!" Samson pleaded, flailing his tendrils, which easily looked like Flair's hair flapping in the wind, meaning it was not weird to look at by any other drivers nearby.
Eventually, they got off the highway down through less crowded roads, and Samson was all too eager to take off the helmet. Flair held on to dear life now that her face was being blown in by the wind.
"Guys, heads up!" Tsubasa called out, and Flair peered around to see something ahead of them. Off in the distance was a very large and intricate-looking stadium, which was the concert hall. However, in front of it was a swarm of Heartless and Noise, protecting the entrance.
"Looks like we're already dealing with trouble!" Samson noticed.
"Tsubasa, I'm ready to go!" Flair shouted, producing her hairpin rapier.
"Then get ready to jump off when I tell you to." she ordered, before concentrating.
"Imyuteus Ame no Habikiri tron…" Right before Flair and Samson's eyes, Tsubasa transformed into her Symphogear armor, which in turn provided a slight bit of armor to her motorcycle.
(Insert Symphogear G 'Koi no Okehazama')
Tsubasa started singing as the blades at her ankles unfolded, enlarged, and connected to the front of the motorcycle, creating a large piercing blade. They became encased in a blue stream as she unleashed 'Flash of the Rider's Blade', piercing through the swarm of Heartless and Noise in front of them. Once through, she turned her bike as they skidded to a halt, her blades retracting from her ride as both she and Flair leapt off, flying through the air.
Flair was amazed at the attack they delivered, but didn't say anything on account of the situation. Going into the hairball technique, Samson and Flair spun towards the Heartless, smashing right through them. Two Noise tried to come at her as she came out of the attack, but two katana blades shot down to slice them out of existence, followed by Tsubasa, who land down and grabbed both of them, slicing down Noise and Heartless alike. Flair and Samson utilized their rapier and tendrils to damage the force around them, mainly focusing on the Heartless, but occasionally striking down the Noise, getting burns in the process.
"We've got to clear out the swarm here." Flair told Tsubasa, as they came back to back with each other, their weapons out at the ready as they got surrounded by the monsters.
"Agreed. I'll do my best to clear out the Noise while you clear the Heartless. If we are able to trigger our Team Attack..."
"Then we'll send them to hell, where they belong!" Samson finished, and the two reengaged the enemies again.
(Song stops)
In the park, Chris and Hinata were closer to its location than the others, and were already out of the car, the device out by Chris as they were following where the location of the fragments were at. So far, they were zig-zagging around the tranquil scenery, not completely going the same direction for more than a few minutes.
"How close are we?" Hinata asked, examining the device.
"We're getting close...I think." Chris answered, examining the screen on the device, as it kept changing numbers.
"You think? Do you know how to read it?" Hinata asked.
"Of course I do!" Chris barked back, "But the direction of the fragments keep going all over the place." She slapped the side of the device a few times, wondering if it was broken or something.
"Let me see..." Hinata looked at the screen over Chris's shoulder, seeing the device show that they were minimizing the distance to the target, only for the number to suddenly increase while they were standing still, signaling the distance was getting farther.
"See, it did it again!" Chris pointed out, "Must be this stupid device!"
"Just a moment." Hinata stopped her, "I'm not an expert on this form of technology myself. My world isn't that advance. However, it is possible that the problem isn't in the device, but the fragments themselves."
"You mean...the fragments are moving?" Chris asked.
"Or someone is moving them." Hinata looked towards the direction where the last fragment was, and activated her Byakugan. Looking off into the distance with her eyes, she was able to make out a person's figure. A shadowy presence of a person that seemed to come and go about the place like smoke. "It's Reaper!" She recognized.
"How can you tell?" Chris asked.
"I can see him with my Byakugan eyes." She answered, "He's getting to every fragment before we could reach them!"
"So he beat us to this place." Chris snarled, "You guys have some crazy powers, you know that?"
"But it's our individual skills that allow us to work together so well." Hinata answered with a smile, "It's not like you guys are able to use your individual skills to work together, too."
"Yeah, that's true..." Chris agreed, "But now's not the time to talk about that! We gotta get those fragments back from Reaper!"
The two charged ahead as Chris chanted, "Killter Ichaival tron…"
(Insert Symphogear G OST 'Bye Bye Lullaby')
Chris leapt up and transformed into her Symphogear, her guns at the ready. Hinata took the lead, leaping up to the trees and leaping across them with her ninja footwork, using her Byakugan to home in on Reaper, who had just sensed their presence, and instantly turned to see them approaching from afar.
"So it seems I get a chance to play with them." he stated, "Let's play hard to get!" He waved a hand forward, and a bunch of Heartless and Noise appeared around, as he took off through the woods.
"He summoned a bunch of monsters!" Hinata called out, readying her magic bracelets. Chris nodded as she transformed her guns into crossbows, and shot a multitude of energy arrows, striking the enemies and consuming the field in smoke from her attack. Hinata followed up by seeing many of the Heartless still intact, and used her Ice Twin Lion Fist, sending the freezing lion heads to strike them and freeze them in place. This gave the pair a chance to take out the enemies in the vicinity.
"Then how about this?" Reaper asked, and before the pair's eyes, Cyber Heartless appeared before them, the Neoshadows' claws clinking.
"Not good!" Chris exclaimed, before feeling pain, her body weakening as she crumpled to the floor.
"Chris!" Hinata exclaimed, looking from her to her opponents, her palms at the ready. Now, she had to fight off the Cyber Heartless, alone. She could hear Reaper chuckling at the unfortunate situation the two were in, and had to come up with a plan, on the spot.
With Philia and Hibiki, the two were still being driven to their destination, guided by the map of where their destination was, and what the device was telling them to go.
"According to the device, the fragments seem to be more closer to the other side of that bridge." Philia noticed, looking over Hibiki's shoulder at the device.
"Then let's go across it, and find the fragments!" Hibiki called to the driver, and the car made its way across the bridge.
Unbeknownst to those in there, someone was already watching them from afar. Through the scope of her sniper rifle, Widowmaker was watching the oncoming car as she was laid down, waiting for them. Her special helmet had activated, and she was able to point out where Hibiki and Philia were inside based on their thermal and magic energy
"There you are, right into my spider's web." she stated, smiling at what was taking place. She had already gathered up the fragments in the location the duo were heading to, and as they guessed, they were able to detect them with their technology. Using it as bait, she was able to draw them in, unaware, until it was too late.
"Time for the best part." She told herself, her finger going over the trigger, "Au revioir, mademoiselles."
Inside the car, the two were focused on the road ahead, until Hibiki looked more towards the sky and asked, "Hey, what's that?"
Philia looked to her to where she was looking, and swore she saw a light falling from the sky in an odd way. Having a hard time telling what it was in the tinted lens of the car windows, she rolled her window side down, and looked up. She could see a green light that was almost ricocheting down from the sky, going towards the area ahead of them. "Oh, no..." she muttered, in an annoyed manner, as Tink poked out to watch, as well, "Not him again..."
Suddenly the light hit the middle of the road on the bridge, causing cars to swerve and avoid a head-on collision. The driver skidded their car to a halt, forcing the two girls to brace themselves. The light immediately dissipated, revealing a large man that was very familiar to Philia. His red hood over his kabuki-painted face. His armor red cloak attire he wore. The demon horns on his head. The naginata in his one hand.
Philia and Hibiki got out of the car quickly to approach the man, while from a distance, Widowmaker pulled away from her scope, looking surprised at the newcomer. "Now what is going on?" She asked, refocusing through her scope.
"PHILIAAAAAA!" The man roared, turning to face.
"Not again, Gilgamesh." Philia groaned, face-palming herself, "Did you really have to come now of all times?"
"Who is this weird-looking guy?" Hibiki asked, "Is he a friend of yours?"
"More like a nuisance." she replied.
"Don't be like that." Gilgamesh told her, "After all, I have been waiting a thousand years for our reunion, my eternal rival!"
"It has barely been two months!" Philia snapped back at him, "Look, I don't have time for another duel with you. We have more important matters to deal with, right now."
"No! I am not gonna let you get away again!" Gilgamesh retorted, "You and I have a score to settle. No more cowardice for you this time!"
"And as usual, you keep forgetting that YOU are the one who ends up vanishing every time." Philia muttered, but knew she could not reason with him, no matter what. Ever since that day he appeared before her in Castle Oblivion and fought her, he considered her his eternal rival. But thanks to a Star Shard he picked up and colored it green, naming it Enkidu, he would vanish and reappear in random worlds. And a few times since that day, he would appear and duel Philia and her friends. He was strong, but over and over, she would knock him back until his Star Shard activated and take him away forcefully.
"Today is the day I will take that Keyblade from you, and claim it as my own!" He declared, readying his naginata as he went into a fighter's stance.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Hibiki exclaimed, "Can't we just talk things out?"
"Hibiki, he doesn't want to talk thing out. Believe me, I've tried." Philia told her off, producing her Keydagger, "But don't worry. He's not really an evil person. He's...just persistent. So right now, help me fight him off."
"But...!" Hibiki started, but Philia argued, "There's no arguing in this! Right now, the only way he can be reasoned with is if we fight him! Think of it like a test of strength, skill, and heart. We show who we are through our weapons and fists!"
Hibiki looked worried, but decided to trust Philia's judgement as she declared, "Okay. I'll fight with you!" She then closed her eyes, chanting her song, "Balwisyall nescell Gungnir tron…" Her relic shined, and she activated her Symphogear.
(Insert Symphogear G 'Seigi wo Shinjite, Nigirishimete')
The two readied themselves as Gilgamesh declared, "You may have a new companion to fight me, but I will still claim victory this day!" He lunged forward, his naginata swinging at the two, who spread out to avoid the attack.
From the rooftop in the distance, Widowmaker stood up, shouldering her weapon as she stated, "It seems that my trap was unnecessary. With that bouffan in their way, I won't even need to wait. Time to deliver these goods to Tears." She wandered over the other side of the roof, and descended with her grappling hook.
Back to the battle on the bridge, Hibiki leapt into a reverse somersault, flowing into a kick at Gilgamesh, who took and got sent skidding backwards. This was followed by Philia unleashing Thundaga to zap the large man.
"Time to get serious!" Gilgamesh called out, before magically switching his blades for twin swords, and lunging at the pair with his twin slashes. He struck Philia and Hibiki back with the attack, causing them to tumble and catch themselves, skidding to a halt.
"Let's see what this world has for incredible swords!" Gilgamesh declared, and he magically summoned two more pairs of hands on his body, startling Hibiki, but Philia had seen this only a couple times before. He began creating intricate hand signs with all six of his hands, like a ninja, displaying many Japanese words, forming the phrase 'World of Swords, Appear'.
"Come to me, swords of the world!" Gilgamesh chanted, all six of his hands glowed, before creating a ring with all six hands, which formed a portal in front of him.
"What's going on?!" Hibiki questioned, seeing the portal.
"This is how Gilgamesh gives me and my Heart Sisters a challenge." Philia answered, "He can conjure up replicas of weapons of this world, and use them for the battle."
"Weapons of the world?" Hibiki asked, before watching Gilgamesh plunge his hands into the portal, and within a few moments, pulled out a weapon in each hand. Hibiki was shocked, as she recognized all of them. In two hands were Tsubasa's katanas from her Symphogear, and one of the hands had a crossbow gun from Chris's Symphogear. The others were a scythe, a yo-yo, and a spear.
"I kinda figured he would pull out replicas of Tsubasa's swords and Chris's gun." Philia muttered, "But I don't recognize the other weapons."
"I do!" Hibiki answered, "That scythe is from Kirika's Symphogear. That yo-yo came from Shirabe's Symphogear. And that spear..." She looked at it for a moment, and Philia, looking to her, saw the pain in her eyes, before finishing, "That spear was wielded by someone who previously used a Gungnir relic that I also used for a time. It belonged to Kanade, Tsubasa's singing partner back when they were Zwei Wing."
"Someone used the same relic you use?" Philia asked. Then, after some careful few seconds of thinking, she came to a realization, thinking back on the story about the Nehushtan Armor, and put it together. The person that died that day, when the armor was stolen, was probably Kanade.
"Interesting weapons in this world." Gilgamesh stated, looking at all of the weapons, "Still no Keyblades...well, I'll just use them to take your's!" He dismissed his hands, only using the twin katanas, and unleashing a downward slash with both of them. They unleashed blue crescent beams from them, coming at the two, who dodged the attacks.
"How can he use them without Symphogear?!" Hibiki asked, shocked as the attack looked a lot like 'Blue Flash', before she and Philia got a call through their earpiece.
"Hibiki, our instruments are not detecting Aufwachen Waveform from this new person." Genjuro pointed out, "He must be using some other form of power to utilize the weapons."
"Probably his magic." Philia assumed, backing off as the swordsman unleashed his blades at her, causing her to parry the attacks, "Gilgamesh is primarily a sword fighter, but he has access to magic that he can channel into his weapons. I bet he's using that to replicate similar attacks with those weapons."
"If that is the case, who knows what he might be able to muster from replications of Symphogear." Genjuro warned the pair, "Do everything you can to stop him!"
"Understood!" The two answered, as Hibiki got up from behind and unleashed a spin kick that threw Gilgamesh off. He turned to Hibiki, producing the spear in exchange for the katanas, and thrusts it at Hibiki, forcing her to back off before getting stabbed.
"Try dodging this!" Gilgamesh shouted, before making the spear glow thrusting it forward, unleashing a tunneling tornado that blew Hibiki off, replicating the 'LAST METEOR' technique.
At S.O.N.G Headquarters, everyone was just shocked and amazed at what they were witnessing. They knew Kanade's fighting skills, not to mention her Symphogear techniques. How this man was able to replicate a long-lost attack like this was stunning. But Miku was just worried about her beloved friend as she cried out, "Hibiki!"
"Uncle, we've cleared the Heartless and Noise, and are entering the concert hall!" Tsubasa spoke up, a screen showing her and Flair rushing into the concert hall. Meanwhile on another screen, Hinata was defending Chris as she tried clearing out the Cyber Heartless.
"Tsubasa is entering into the very concert hall where Kanade died, and Hibiki is being hit by the very weapon that attempted to defend her that day." Genjuro muttered, "If this is a joke, I am certainly not laughing at the irony of all of this."
Back in the fight, Philia saw Hibiki still on her feet, her gauntlets crossed in front of her in defense. She unfurled her arms, her eyes shadowed, before growling, "That weapon is not yours to use. That's Kanade Amou's weapon!" She glared fiercely at Gilgamesh as she shouted, "You have no right to have it, or any of my friends' weapons!" She charged forward as Gilgamesh leapt up, and unleashed energy arrows from his crossbow. Hibiki avoided the attacks by charging straight forward, before making a leap to the man, and unleashed a punch that sent him hurling down to the ground.
"Hibiki is pissed." Philia muttered, seeing her land on the ground, ready to continue.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Gilgamesh called to Hibiki, waving a free hand, "I surrender! There's no need to go any further! I'm sorry!"
Hibiki was taken aback by this sudden cowardice, and for a moment, she felt like believing it. She wanted to at least stop the fight. "Don't be fooled!" Philia shouted, using her Airstepping to get close to Hibiki, just as Gilgamesh pulled out one of the katanas, and swung. Philia came in just in time to block the attack, but the force pushed her into Hibiki, causing the two to fall back.
"Ha! I can't believe you fell for that!" The man chuckled, switching out for the scythe, creating more scythe blades from it, and with a swing of the weapon, sent the extra blades spinning like boomerangs. Philia and Hibiki avoided the attacks by jumping to opposites sides of the blades.
"Gilgamesh is a deceiver, as well." The treasure huntress told Hibiki, "He will do whatever it takes to trick you into letting your guard down." She glared at Gilgamesh as he boastfully laughed, and growled, "And for an innocent girl like Hibiki, that could've been more dangerous than it was."
She straightened herself as she readied her weapon, saying, "Let's bring out some courage to this fights. Soul Burst: Tai & Agumon!" From her Keydagger, the silhouette of a child with goggles and fluffy hair, and a dinosaur-like creature appeared, before diving into Philia's weapon. Her Keydagger turned into data, before wrapping themselves around her hands. The data turned into orange dinosaur claws, with red bands crossed around the wrists. She slashed the two, before huffing, expelling a bit of flame from her mouth.
"Soul Armament!" Philia followed up, her body glowing before unleashing her new attire. It composed of a silver metal armor plating in front, with orange cable-like bindings, gold shoulder guards with a spike on each one, and an orange long-sleeved thick shirt underneath. Her bottoms were also orange jeans, orange and white-soled boots, which had silver and red armor on the leggings. She also wore a metallic eye mask, with horns protruding from her sides and at the bridge of her nose.
"Is this one of those Soul Bursts and Armaments?!" Hibiki asked, seeing her new look.
"Sure is. Now to show you what it can do." Philia answered, glaring at Gilgamesh and shouting, "Nova Flame!" She sucked in deeply, and expelled a jet of flames from her mouth, shooting them towards Gilgamesh, who couldn't dodge in time, and got consumed. They could hear the man roar in pain from the attack.
"The Soul Armament, Crest of Courage, is able to boost my fire-elemental attacks, while providing immunity to Fire-element attacks and defense boosts." Philia explained to herself, "While the fire immunity isn't really useful against Gilgamesh, since he doesn't use fire mainly, I gotta utilize the other boosts this armor and my Soul Burst can use."
"You will not get away with that!" Gilgamesh shouted, as he heard Hibiki charge at him again, unleashing punches and kicks at him. Through this, though, the weapon thief switched to the yo-yo, and pushed himself back. Hibiki pursued, and that's what he was looking for, as he yanked the yo-yo at her, channeling magic into it, and creating an energy buzzsaw that spun into Hibiki. She got caught unawares, and was sent screaming back, hitting the ground hard.
Philia took this moment to get in close, and used her dino claws to slash Gilgamesh when he wasn't looking, damaging him further. She then placed her claws together as the illusion of a large dinosaur head appeared around her, with her hands as the horn on it. "Great Horn Attack!" She shouted, and she lunged forward horn-first, striking Gilgamesh and sending him flying.
"Nova Blast!" Philia followed up the attack with a massive fireball, hurling it at the airborne opponent. However, Gilgamesh flipped and summoned the katanas again, cross-slashing and eliminating the fire attack. He landed on the ground as Philia and Hibiki glared at him.
"As expected from my rival." Gilgamesh spoke up, replacing the katanas with the spear and scythe, "But I shall claim victory in this fight, and take that Keyblade!"
"You couldn't before, and I won't let you take it now!" Philia answered, brandishing her claws, "You will not win, Gilgamesh!"
"I also have a say in this fight!" Hibiki added, "After all, you are using my friends weapons, including Kanade's spear. I won't let you disgrace their Symphogear!" The two girls roared as they leapt at Gilgamesh, continuing the fight.
In the concert hall, Flair and Tsubasa stepped into the stadium itself, and stopped as they gasped at the sight of something near and on the stage; a crowd of people, their bodies seeping dark vapors, as a trio of dancers were working the stage.
"What is going on?!" Tsubasa asked, but Flair and Samson, looking at the stage, could recognize the threat of the situation.
In the forest, Hinata was almost complete with dealing with the Cyber Heartless, while Chris was backing off, slowly but surely. "Almost away from range." Chris grimaced. However, a cocking of a gun made her stop, her eyes lit up in horror. Right behind her, without her looking back, the muzzle of one of Reaper's guns was pointed right at her head. The man himself had just snuck up behind her and had her while in a disarmed position.
"Seems like you were not meant to survive this game of cat-and-mouse." Reaper stated, "Time for you to die, mouse." Chris gritted her teeth as her eyes looked behind, still effected by the Cyber Heartless in the area. Hinata was trying really hard to take the last out, unaware of the situation Chris was in.
The three pairs were in different situations. The big question was how could they overcome them. That was the question they all had.
Next Time on Sword Art Kingdom III
Unlock & Punch to Your Heart!