Chapter 35 - HOLY GRAIL
...
The day after Rin's announcement of Sensei's disappearance, a group of students gather around a group of heavily armed helicopters on a helipad on a roof near the General Student Council building.
These students all have made a resolute decision.
They're going to save their Sensei.
He has made an impression on each and every one of them, thus they will repay his kindness.
Rin, the black haired GSC member, walks to a specific helicopter. Around it are three girls from the Engineering Department of Millennium, welding a large harpoon gun to the helicopter, having removed the large doors on the side.
"How is it?" Rin asks.
"We're almost done welding the gun to the helicopter." The dog girl, Hibiki reports.
"We should be done in a few minutes." The purple haired girl, Utaha says.
"And you are absolutely certain this will work?" The elven girl asks.
"Of course." The blonde haired girl, Kotori says, waving off her concerns.
"Are you certain?" Rin asks with narrowed eyes. "I am aware of you three girls... proclivities in regards to making changes to technology you've been commissioned."
The three Engineering Department girls shift nervously. "Not this time." Kotori begins, losing all jesting tone. "We can easily see how important this Sensei guy is to you and a bunch of other people, so we've made exactly what you asked of us. No unnecesary changes or additions. Just a harpoon gun, a harpoon with a bomb strapped to it and a remote to detonate it."
"And the remote will work?" Rin asks.
"It will cause the bomb to explode within the hundredth of a second after pressing the button." Hibiki confirms.
"...Excellent. Good work." Rin says with a small smile, before walking off.
"Haah... She's scary..." Kotori whines, letting out a breath she likely didn't know she was holding.
"Let's just finish this, Kotori." Utaha says with a small chuckle.
"Oh, all right." Kotori says with a smile, as the trio return to work.
A short, pink-haired girl wrapped in various bandages walks through the hallways of the GSC building. Her steps are light, yet focused, the pain of her injuries having dulled significantly. Not just from the painkillers and the treatment of Trinity's own Remedial Knights, but also from her own history of fighting while injured.
This is one thing she and her Sensei have in common, their immense pain resistance, which isn't natural. It's a byproduct of a torturous past, one filled with pain and grief.
Her classmates told her of what their Sensei told them. Of his former lover, of his friend who betrayed him. She doesn't know what happened after, but it clearly was more than enough to harden the man.
A man... she has grown to care for a great deal.
"Hoshino." A quiet voice calls out. The pink haired girl turns to it's origin.
"Hina." She says, looking at her new... friend(?) who is standing next to a corner in the large hallway.
"Are you okay, Hoshino?" The white haired prefect asks.
"Of course. I've been through worse." The heterochromatic girl waves off the other's concerns with a smile. "Plus, they've got me hopped up on pain killers, so I can't feel a thing."
"I don't mean physically." Hina says with full seriousness, causing the other girl's smile to disappear instantly.
The short, pink-haired girl sighs. "I don't know... But... I will be when we rescue Sensei."
"And if we don't?" Hina asks, causing the other girl to glare at her.
"We will. I'll make sure of that." Hoshino says, her multi-colored eyes boring into Hina's purple ones.
The tense moment of silence that ensues is broken by a small, soft chuckle from Hina, as a small smile appears on her face. "Then let's go save him."
Hoshino's glare disappears as her eyes widen slightly in surprise, before closing them as she shakes her head with a chuckle. "Yeah, let's go rescue that dummy."
The two girls, side-by-side, walk towards the helipad.
"Hey!" Hina cries out, as Hoshino wraps her arm around her neck, pulling the white haired girl into a sort-of hug.
Their visions are fixed upon their goal.
There will be no error, no mistakes. Not this time.
"Hmm?" Rin hums to herself, receiving a message on her phone. "This is...? His location?!"
Yeah, those are helicopter blades! They're kinda far off, but I can hear 'em! Sounds like they're touching down nearby!
I begin to jog in the direction of the sound. It's on the other side of this ruined 'town'.
After less than a minute of jogging, I come around a corner to see a helicopter having landed, with a few familiar faces standing in and around the craft.
I especially take notice of Hoshino, who's covered in bandages from head to toe.
A smile creeps its way onto my face. "Yo!" I shout, drawing many head's gazes to swivel over to me.
"A-Aruji-dono...?" Izuna asks.
"Sensei?" Iori asks.
"Miss me?" I ask with a big smile, arms wide.
"SENSEI!" Hoshino, of all people, shouts loudly, practically breaking the speed of sound as she dashes towards me and embraces me in a tight hug. Slowly, due to my surprise, I reach my hand out and pat her on the head softly. "I'm glad you're okay." She says.
"Me too. You had it rough too, eh? You practically look like a mummy." I joke, causing her to laugh as my shirt becomes slightly wet. Is she... crying?
"Aruji-dono!" Izuna shouts, embracing me as well.
"Hey, Izuna." I chuckle.
"Sensei. You're okay." Iori says, clearly relieved.
"Yup. Not a scratch." I joke.
"Okay, now THAT'S a lie." Hoshino says, breaking the embrace as she looks at me accusingly.
"Okay, fine. Maybe some scratches." Hoshino's gaze doesn't let up, neither does Iori's. "Okay! Maybe I dislocated my arm."
"Dislocated?!" Izuna shouts, inspecting me.
"Maybe I relocated it." I shrug. "I'll get to a doctor after we leave."
"Yeah, let's-" Hoshino begins, but is interrupted by the ground shaking.
"Not again, dammit!" I shout, annoyed.
"Girls! Binah is approaching! Have you found Sensei?" A voice asks over the comms...
...is that "Rin?"
"Sensei? Good, you're safe. Everyone, you all HAVE to evacuate, NOW!" She shouts, surprising me.
"Come on, then." I say, as we all rush onto the helicopter. Within is Hina and Tsurugi, whose faces perk up upon seeing me.
"Sensei!" Hina says.
"Kyaakh! You're safe!" Tsurugi says, eyes wide.
"No time!" Hoshino shouts, before turning to the pilot girl. "Get us outta here."
I step inside around the strange mounted gun as the helicopter's blades spin faster.
In the distance, I see a trail of dust moving towards us. "Fuck."
The helicopter begins to take off, but the thing is too slow.
All of our eyes widen in shock and horror as Binah suddenly leaps from the sand and over the ruined city, straight at us.
The pilot jerks the craft to the side, causing the now-airbone prophet to miss us. The beast is smart, however, and it twists its whale-like tail around, hitting the helo directly. The back and middle of the craft smashes to pieces as we're all sent flying, falling downward.
After a descent of a few meters, at least, we all smack straight down upon the hard ground. The wind is knocked from my lungs, as I, and many others cough, attempting to acquire more oxygen.
"Everyone okay?" I ask with a groan.
Bits of the helicopter rain down a bit away from us, as does the cockpit of the craft, which lands rather softly, all things considered. I hope the pilot girl is okay.
"I'm fine." Hoshino groans, sounding just as tired as ever.
"Izuna is alive." Izuna calls out.
"Geeeeeehhhhh..." Tsurugi moans.
"This is... nothing." Iori says, still holding onto her pride.
Hina coughs a few times. "I'm alright." She says, quietly.
Standing up slowly, I observe my surroundings. The other girls are downed, the helo was torn to shreds, or at least the back of it. The cockpit rests a bit away from here.
I idly notice the gun that was mounted on the side is destroyed, but its ammo, a strange harpoon thing, is intact. At least, it resembles a harpoon. It looks very thick, almost too large for my fingers to wrap around. It looks as though it is made of and filled with technology. Is it an explosive?
"Sensei? Girls? Are you all right?" Rin asks over the comms.
"We're fine, as is the pilot. Binah's disappeared again, though." I report.
"What about the gun?" The elf girl asks.
"The one mounted on the helo?" I ask.
"Yes."
"It's gone, but the harpoon thing is still okay." I say, walking closer to it to observe.
"That's good, but not perfect." Rin says with a sigh.
"Whaddya mean?" I ask.
"This was our plan for Binah. The harpoon would be fired into one of its eyes, then Head Prefect Hina would press the remote's button to detonate it." Rin explains.
"That's a good idea." I say, before turning to the girls, having started to pick themselves up. "Hina? The remote okay?"
"I believe so." The head prefect says, handing me the remote. It has a glass case over the button like an emergency nuke button or something.
"Good. Then I've just gotta jab this thing in the eye? Easy." I say, picking up the harpoon.
The rumbling returns.
"Right on time." I say with a grin.
"Sensei, how are you going to harpoon its eye?" Hoshino asks.
"Are you good at spear throwing?" Iori asks.
"Nope. Never thrown a spear before. I'll just have to stab it in the head." I say, simply.
"What?!" Iori asks.
"That's sounds incredibly reckless." Hina says, crossing her arms.
"It's too risky. I wouldn't want you to get hurt, Sensei." Tsurugi says with a blush.
"You're tough, Aruji-dono, but don't be dumb!" Izuna shouts, running up to me.
"They're right, Sensei. You mustn't risk your life for this." Rin chastises me over the comms.
"Oh? And what plan do you all have to do this? Because if we make this thing angry, it's gonna throw another sandstorm at us, and that's it. Game over." I say, seriously. The girls remain silent, unable to meet my gaze for a long while.
"Sensei. At the very least, wait until our backup arrives." Rin says, hoping to placate me.
I let out a reluctant sigh. "Fine. But if the backup can't help, I'm stabbin' the thing's eye out."
"...Very well." Rin says.
Almost as if on cue, the rumbling returns. The ground shakes ominously once more.
"Girls, get ready. And don't hold a damn thing back." I order, placing the harpoon on my back.
As one, the girls behind me nod in affirmation.
Kicking up a massive cloud of dust, the white whale bursts from under the earth. It coils around itself, like before, and lowers to stare at our small group.
"Remember me, asshole?" I ask loudly with a smug grin, eliciting a growl from the beast. "Rin, ETA on reinforcements?"
"About a minute." She says over the comms.
"All right, then." I say, observing our surroundings. Once again, we're in a small, ruined city. Plenty of rubble and buildings to use as cover. "Iori, Hina. Get to the roofs, one of you to the left, the other right. Focus on its eyes. Hoshino, Tsurugi. You two are in front. Izuna, you're with me in the middle. Break on my mark."
The all nod and make small sounds of affirmation.
The beast roars. "Now!" I shout. Iori breaks left, Hina right, both towards the buildings. Tsurugi and Hoshino rush forward, the former un-holstering her twin shotguns, the latter pulling out her riot shield. Izuna and I ready our weapons.
Binah slams its head into the ground violently, knocking us all of balance for a moment. "That's new!" I shout, regaining my balance in time to see the beast shooting a round from its mouth at Tsurugi. The pink haired girl rushes forward, using her shield to block it, barely, as it knocks her back a bit.
The beast then takes two small impacts between its eyes, one from Iori and another from Hina. I soon see why Hina's seen as the strongest at Gehenna as she pelts the beast with a large amount of shots, each one glowing purple like her halo. Iori's shots are much slower and much less powerful, unaffecting the beast, whereas Hina's shots are noticeably causing the beast to flinch and shut its eyes in annoyance.
Izuna and I take up positions behind the shotgun-wielding girls and fire at the beast as well.
The beast growls, shaking its head in an attempt to stop being hit, as it rears back slightly, before rushing forward. "MOVE!" I shout, moving to the side as it's head flies forward, mouth open. Its jaws then bite down right where the two shotgun-wielding girls were. Both of them dodged to the side. The pink haired girl runs up and blasts the beast in the side of the head with her shotgun, whereas the Justice Task Force leader fires both of her shotguns at once, pelting the other side of the beast's head with a slew of pellets. It roars and slams it's head into Tsurugi, who gets knocked back, and Hoshino, who is sent flying as well, but unlike Tsurugi, she blocked it with her shield.
Tsurugi took the full brunt of the attack, but despite that, she gets right back up and rushes the creature, faster than I expected from her as she jumps up and fires her shotguns point-blank at one of it's eyes, on the side opposite the still-cracked eye from our last fight.
The creature roars, thrashing as it backs away from us, and opens its mouth menacingly as the familiar energy appears within. "LASER INCOMING! GET BACK!" I shout, as everyone panics.
Soon enough, it fires off the laser, cutting through the ground as it swings its head in a wide arc. The four of us on the ground dodge it as Hina and Iori fire at its mouth, the former causing the laser to destabilize, as it fizzles out, the energy disappearing.
"Huh...?" I ask in surprise. That energy is super volatile, huh?
The beast is similarly shocked as it still for a moment, before opening its maw again to charge up. "INCOMING!" I shout.
However, before it can fire, the beast is struck in the mouth with a missile, causing the building energy to explode along with it, knocking the beast's head to the ground.
In surprise, I turn around to see four helicopters behind us, each armed with rockets on the side.
"Reinforcements have arrived, Sensei." Rin happily tells us.
"I see that. Awesome." I say with a happy smile seeing not only four helos, but also who's in them.
Each helo has a group of students I've helped prior to this.
The Abydos girls, some from Hyakkiyako, Cherino and Spec Ops, the rest of the Prefects and even Eimi.
"Stuff like this really makes a guy feel special." I say with a chuckle, as I hear a quiet growl. Turning back around, I see the beast pull itself back up, it's mouth charred black a little.
...That gives me an idea.
But before that becomes necessary, let's try out the new stuff. "All right, then. Aim for the eyes and, if the chance pops up, the mouth. Got it?" I ask the girls in the helos, receiving a group of affirmative calls. "Good. Then GIVE 'EM HELL!"
The beast roars as the helos unload a barrage of missiles at it, whereas the students within begin to fire at it from the crafts.
The missiles do little against it's armor, as it roars once more. Annoyed, the silos on its back open up as missiles fire towards the helicopters alone. All of the missiles are shot by the various students before the helo's that they're in are impacted. The missiles form Binah explode in midair as everyone continues their assault.
It stares at the helicopters angrily, before turning a bit, staring right at me. It roars and charges forward once more. "MOVE!" I shout to the girls as I stand still.
All of the girls move away from me, as I stare down the beast, grinning as it charges right for me.
"S-Sensei? Move!" Someone shouts, I can't tell who, I'm too focused.
"MOVE!" Someone shouts in desperation as the beast nears.
Just before it can chomp down on me, I leap to the side as it's jaws slam down right where I just was. I jump forward, grabbing onto the large creature's head, right next to it's eye. It then moves as I hear someone yell 'Sensei' again. The beast lifts off the ground while I hold on tightly. It thrashes, trying to shake me off, but to no avail.
"Y'know... I'm getting sick of you." I say, reaching to my back and pulling out the harpoon. "Why don'tcha just FUCKING DIE?!" I roar, impaling the beast's eye, damaged from last time, with the harpoon.
It roars and begins to thrash more wildly than ever, with me hanging on for dear life. As its head reaches the ground, I let go, my back impacting the ground moments after with a painful thud. My body bounces off of the ground as I continue to move away from the beast. When I stop, I begin to step away slowly, my back feeling incredibly pained.
The beast continues to thrash in rage and pain, until it calms. It stills, looking hatefully at me, harpoon stabbed through its eye.
I reach into my pockets and pull out the remote detonator, as I hold my arms out wide in a 'come get me' gesture.
The beast roars louder than ever, causing me to actually have to cover my ears as my body rattles.
It opens its maw wide as energy begins to build within once more, this time more violent than ever.
'One...'
Good, now I can have my plan come to fruition.
'Two...'
The energy within begins to become more violent, it threatens to escape as I flip open the glass case on the remote, my finger hovering over the button.
'Three...'
"Sensei!" Hoshino shouts as she runs to me, frantically.
'Four...'
"Sensei, come on! We have to move!" She says, desperately.
"No-"
'Five...'
"-just hold on a moment. This is my plan. Trust me." I say, with a reassuring smile.
'Six...'
Hoshino stares at me intently with her heterochromatic eyes, before they soften as a smile appears on her face. "Okay."
I turn around to face the beast, my finger hovering over the button again.
'Seven...'
I smirk and with a savage grin say, "Smile you son of a bitch!"
'Eight!'
click
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM
As soon as the button is pressed, the explosives on and in the harpoon explode. The stronger laser, which is a lot more volatile than the other, was at full charge, but the energy was far more volatile than normally, likely due to the beast's rage.
As I saw before with how Hina's shots reacted with the beast's weaker laser, I took that into account and blew the explosives, causing them to react with the more volatile than normal energy building within its mouth.
The beast's head slams to the ground, smoke pouring from within. It doesn't move for a long minute, until it begins to stir. The thick, grey smoke begins to fade as it raises its head back up to look at us.
The smoke finally recedes.
A gaping hole is left in the side of the beast's head.
The entire right side of its head, from our perspective, is gone, revealing strange circuitry and the like, constantly sparking and crackling. The circle on its forehead is half gone, but the Binah 'logo' is untouched. It's lower jaw is hanging by one side, most of it completely gone, yet unable to handle the full weight of what's left, it hangs somewhat limp. The explosion also tore a hole in its throat, a great cavity is left behind, destroying the back of its jaw, leaving it hanging by only the hinge.
It's halo is missing large sections and is cracked all throughout.
It roars, no, howls in pain, smoke still gushing from its head, albeit in very little amounts.
It stares at me for a moment, hatefully, before turning around and diving back into the desert sand.
There's nothing but silence for a long minute.
"...Confirmation of the retreat of Binah." Rin slowly says over the comms.
I look down at Hoshino, eyes wide, stuck staring in the direction of where Binah once was. Slowly, she snaps out of her trance and looks up at me, mouth still slack in shock.
I just smile in return. "Come on, let's get outta here."
After a moment, the short, pink-haired girl snaps out of it as her eyes relax and she shoots me a serene smile as she nods.
The two of us walk back to one of the landed helicopters, the others still hovering above. The other four girls that were one the ground have already reached the landed helo, which had Nonomi, Serika, Shiroko, Yuuka and Hasumi within, all of which perk up and seem to visibly relax as they see me.
"Sensei!" "Aruji-dono!" They call out, walking up to me.
Hina and Iori still stare at me in... awe?
After a moment, Hina asks me something. "Sensei, how did you do that?"
"Hm? What, explode that bastard's face?" I ask, eliciting a nod from the small head prefect. "Oh, that's easy. Binah's lasers are made out of some kinda volatile energy, y'all could easily tell by seeing it charging up. I noticed when you shot it in the mouth as it was firing the laser, caused the laser to fizzle out. It's big laser is way more volatile, but since it was pissed, the energy was even more volatile than it should be, so I timed the explosion to blow right before it fired the big laser, that is to say, when the energy within was most volatile. Basically, I used it's own energy against itself." I explain.
Looking around, it seems that I've shocked them to silence once more, well, all expect Izuna.
"Wow! Aruji-dono is so cool!" The fox ninja says giddily, staring at me with stars in her eyes.
"Yup yup! Sensei really is cool!" Nonomi coos.
"Impressive." Shiroko adds.
"I suppose it was a smart plan." Iori says, tsundere as ever.
"Sensei is awesome..." Tsurugi says quietly, a blush on her face.
"All right, all right." I say, hoping to calm them down. "Let's get outta here. I've had enough of deserts and snakes for a long while. Plus... I think I cracked a rib." I say, rubbing my back.
"What?!" Serika shouts, eyes wide. "How are you so calm about a cracked rib?"
"Eh, it's not the first time I've been hurt like this." I say with a shrug. "I mean, Binah knocked me out for three days and dislocated my shoulder, but you don't see me writhing in pain on the ground."
"Dislocated?!" Serika shouts this time.
"I doesn't appear that way." Hasumi says.
"I, uh... RE-located it." I say, awkwardly, as the girls close in on me, annoyed by my carelessness, most likely.
"You're going to a doctor after we get back. All right, Sensei?" Iori 'asks', brokering no argument.
"That was the plan." I say, seeing the pilot of the destroyed helo get on board behind us. "Now, move out the way. Shoo, shoo." I say, pushing them back my motioning with my hands.
The girls and I begin to funnel into the helicopter.
The ride back is anything but quiet, the girls asking me if I'm in pain or anything like that.
It's... really nice seeing that I've got people who care about me this much...
Hoshino, despite staying quiet for the ride, seems to most relieved about me being safe.
...I think I know why.
As the other girls bicker amongst themselves, I lean over to Hoshino sitting next to me. "Hey." I whisper, causing her to tilt her head slightly to look at me. "Don't beat yourself up about what happened last time, you and I lettin' go of each other wasn't your fault, okay?"
"I know... it's just..." Hoshino trails off in a whisper.
"I'm not upset about what happened. If anything, I'm over the moon with joy seein' how much you girls care about me." I say, causing Hoshino to look at me more intently, likely about to retort against my words. "I could tell you were way more relieved than the others at seein' me safe, so... thanks, Hoshino." I whisper with a smile.
The pink haired girl just smiles with a quiet chuckle.
Before she can say anything, Nonomi moves to us. "Hey! What are you two talking about?"
"Oh? We were just talking about that aquarium that's opening soon." Hoshino says, lying.
"Oh?" The blonde asks with her head tilted.
"Aquarium?" Iori asks, overhearing us.
"Yeah. Sensei won two tickets to that new aquarium from a lottery, and we were gonna go together." Hoshino says.
"It still won't open for a while. Plus, it'll have to wait until AFTER I get outta the hospital." I say, reminding her of my injuries.
"Oh, right." Hoshino says, eyes slightly wide as she remembers.
"Whoa! I wasn't expecting you to be so bold, Hoshino!" Nonomi cheers.
"Bold?" Hasumi asks.
"Don't you get it? They're not just going to the aquarium, they're going on an aquarium DATE!" Nonomi explains, drawing wide eyes, blushes and gasps all around.
"D-D-D-Date?!" Tsurugi shouts.
"Huh?! How could it be a date?!" Serika shouts, face red.
"Yeah! Just because the two of them are going doesn't mean that it's a date!" Iori says. agreeing.
"It's a date." Shiroko says, with finality.
Hina and Hasumi stare silently with red faces at the girls.
Hoshino and I just look at each other and shrug, smiling as we ride back to the city while the others continue to bicker.
...I could use a nap.
Is that weird to say after being unconscious for three days...?
AN
And down it goes... for now.
Also, does anyone get the reference of Chapter 33 and 35's titles? If not, they're song lyrics.
Next time, Sensei ends up in the hospital lol.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and look forward to the next!