Hello again people! Here I am with eighteenth chapter. I made it quite fast this time, though maybe I just like making action-packed chapters…
Now, some talk with those who wrote a review.
Imperial-samaB, Darkkon27, Alex2909: thanks for support people; 'Archangels' will be explained further, have no doubts about it.
kristoper21, TheUniverseCrosser: I know, I know, though it's not a romantic story I still promised that some elements of romance will be here… and they are still not here. But your wait's almost over…
meirmamuka: yeah I thought it's most natural way to bring Natasha back into the story.
BrokenLifeCycle: yeah, sorry, that's probably the price for being hasty when writing…
reptoholic, Many thanks for reviewing every chapter. Of course, pairing stated in description will remain as such.
And for all who was waiting for something intimate – next chapter's about Ichika's birthday, I think this is the right place for the first 'lemon' in the story.
Chapter XVIII – Inquisitor
…
October 1st, Sunday, 9:27 A.M.
Cannonball Fast event day. The grounds are saturated with people, and the sky is filled with fireworks that were letting out thunderous claps. Though, since large number of I.S. industry related personnel and government related personnel also came, many of the spectators are just guards for aforementioned people. But even leaving that aside, to have this many attendants assembled, it's another reminder about the fact that I.S. still has a lot of attention on it.
Today's program is, first, the second-year student's race, after that, it will be the first-years with personal I.S. race, followed by the first-years training unit race. And then, it will be an exhibition race from the third years. By the way, this is the first time when personal I.S. pilots got their own, dedicated race, because here's so many of them this year (only first year personal I.S. owners got their dedicated race).
"Ummm… seat № F45… F45…" Gotanda Ran, a girl who got invitation ticket from Ichika, was walking while looking downward, checking her seat number on the map at her hand.
*Clap!*
"Kya!?" Girl yelped. Because she was walking while looking for her seat and not looking where she was going, sure enough, she bumped into someone.
"Huh?" She heard female's voice.
Ran hurriedly regained her composure and bowed her head, "I... I'm very sorry."
"Oh, it's okay. Don't worry about it," The other party was an older woman with fluttering, beautiful blond hair, who releases her overflowing adult's charm.
'Ouch… what a beautiful woman…' Ran thought as she looked at person she collided with. She should be around the latter half of her twenties. Her body, which is covered with a gorgeous red suit, is the figure of a woman at her peak. Her eyes were covered by sharp model sunglasses.
'Such voluptuous breasts, slender waist, and tight hip would attract people's eyes regardless of their gender…' Ran compared her own figure to that person's, and she shrank, thinking about her inferior body.
"Are you hurt?" Beautiful woman asked.
"N… No. I'm sorry," Ran bowed again, apologizing.
"Is that so, I'm glad. Then, please be careful," The blond woman advised as she slightly waved her hand.
"Y… Yes… Thank you…" Ran replied as she slipped past her through the side.
Just before they passed each other, the gold earrings on woman's ears slightly shone.
'Just… Just as expected from an I.S.-related event. People from all over the world have come to this event, haven't they?' Ran unintentionally looked down to her chest. 'I'm still in my growing period so it should be okay… right?'
Ran, who had finally found her seat around 10 minutes after that, sat there and excitedly waited for the start of the race.
'To think that I'll be able to see Ichika-sama's figure in an I.S., live! Furthermore, today, there's also the birthday party after this event!' Ran forgot about her usual Student Council President self, who puts on a cool and calm front, and her heart bounced around just like a child waiting for a circus show to start.
Speaking about the circus…
All first-year girls with personal I.S. units already were in the pit. Cecilia already deployed Blue Tears with high-speed maneuver package, Strike Gunner, installed. Right now she was watching over fellow England's representative candidate, 2nd year student Sara Welkin. "She doesn't have a personal I.S., but she's an excellent pilot. I also learned some piloting skill from her," Cecilia commented.
However, by now it was already obvious who's going to win that race – a girl with short blue hair, piloting an I.S. with butterfly-like wings made of clear water.
Beside Cecilia, the other participants for next race – Houki, Rin, Laura, and Charlotte – were already waiting in the pit.
Rin seemed quite confident. She also had her high-speed maneuver package, Fēng, installed. Besides the ion thruster that looks like 4 expansion thrusters stacked together, there's also the additional chest armor that extends forward. Possibly, it was made specifically to allow the pilot to ram into others using that… The Impact Cannons are facing the sides, seemingly they're configured for interference fire. That package really is up to Cannonball Fast's specifications…
In that regard, Rin probably do have the largest advantage among her peers.
Cecilia's package was originally designed for breaking away from a raid, and the other girls' frames have a makeshift high-speed maneuver specification. Rin, the only one whose I.S. is completely tuned for the Cannonball Fast specifications, is one step ahead of them.
"Huh. I'll teach you that a battle is not solely decided by the weapon that is used," The one who said that cool line was Houki. She was the only one who didn't do any modifications to her unit – because she has no need to. Only thing she has to do – wish for an additional thrust and Crimson Camellia will do the rest, reconfiguring Fold Out Armor. That's the 4th generation I.S. for you. Or rather, that's the theory. By now, it seems that Houki will be dealing with the energy insufficiency by manually controlling the Fold Out Armor thrust. Despite some progress she made thanks to Ichika, her unit reactor's energy output is still quite insufficient to continuously supply her Fold Out Armor when it's at full power.
"A battle is all about the flow. The one who takes control of the flow will win," Laura, who equipped 3 additional thrusters on the back joined in the conversation. Even if it's not personalized equipment, she seems to also have some confidence in the race since the new thruster model is pretty good efficiency-wise.
"Everyone, let's go all out on the fight," The one summing it up by saying that was Charlotte. Before the race, she seemingly detached both Wyverns independent weapon platforms. Since she only got that new equipment a couple of days ago, controlling Wyverns by now takes too much of her concentration, she won't be able to handle that during high-speed battle-race. Instead of them, she equipped three additional thrusters, two on her shoulders, one per each (on Wyverns' mount points) and one on her back, between them. Though those three thrusters were just spare parts, which weren't made by Ichika, they were just 2.5 grade thrusters, but still they are increasing the total thrust output.
In other words, all five girls were in high spirits and ready for battle. However, clear favorite of this race is Ichika – equipped with powerful SPE thrusters, Demon Queen could accelerate up to 4 Mach (though acceleration to full speed requires about 90 seconds). However, the aforementioned person still wasn't here… "Where's Orimura-san?!" Maya Yamada asked again, she seemed pretty nervous.
"Well, he never comes beforehand…" Houki tried to calm down the green-haired sensei.
"True," Rin agreed, "But I think this time he's going overboard. There's only a few minutes until our race…"
"Girls! Look!" Charlotte suddenly exclaimed as she pointed somewhere upward. There was a screen that just switched to "In the next race" data display. And it was only showing five people's data – Houki Shinonono, Laura Bodewig, Charlotte Dunois, Lingyin Huang and Cecilia Alcott. No word about Ichika or sixth participant at all…
"What's the meaning of this?!" Cecilia asked indignantly, "What's going on?!"
Answer to that question came together with Ichika's elder sister, who just entered the room. "Orimura-sensei, where's Ichika-kun?!" Maya asked just as Chifuyu entered the room. Instead of an answer, elder sister just showed the screen of her smartphone, there was an opened SMS: "Emergency assignment, I'll miss the race, level 5 priority." That was all. Thanks to shocking content of the message no one paid attention to the fact that massage came from the contact named 'My dearest brother'…
Chifuyu hid her phone in the pocket, "His entry for the race was already annulled, without any procedures, so seemingly that order came from the very top." Though that seemed obvious, since level 5 priority was the highest possible one. "But that didn't change anything for neither of you," Orimura-sensei added, "Show everything you've learned!"
"Yes, Orimura-sensei!" All five girls replied in unison.
"Everyone, are you ready? Please move to the starting line," Yamada-sensei's voice, which has become a little discouraged, resounded. And despite all the girls still were confused, under searing gaze of Orimura Chifuyu they had no choice but to comply.
October 1st, Sunday, 10:18 A.M.
"JDS Kaga" helicopter carrier, Tokyo Bay, 10 miles away from Yokohama, about 16 miles away from Tokyo I.S. Arena (Cannonball Fast was happening right there right now), 13 miles away from I.S. Academy.
Ichika was here, floating about two miles above the aforementioned ship, with his both magnetometric and LADAR-based sensor arrays continuously scanning surrounding airspace. The reason for all that was a top-secret intelligence report – they were sure that criminal organization named 'Phantom Task' is going to commit a diversion during Cannonball Fast. For some reason, intelligence was sure that enemy will use I.S. units, and that attack will be launched from Yachimata's side (i.e. from the east).
Exactly because of that Ichika got a top priority order to forget about Cannonball Fast, and instead be ready to intercept the enemy. Honestly, Ichika wasn't sad at all – he thought that using machines made for war (i.e. I.S.-es) to make a circus show is just an idiocy. Besides, intelligence information seemed quite trustworthy – Phantom Task became very bold during last few months, so attack on Tokyo I.S. Arena may be quite possible.
Only last part of intelligence report seemed strange – why they decided that Phantom Task will attack openly, and from the east? That, most likely, was just a supposition. Much more likely that they will come via civilian transportation network, and then deploy their units near the Arena. Nevertheless, Ichika decided to not argue with Minister of Defense, in the end, with Demon Queen's speed and acceleration rate, and considering his current position, he will be on Arena within one minute, give or take. Besides, his presence on arena really could be a distracting factor for other I.S. pilots. There are military representatives on arena right now, so in case of troubles Ichika will be informed immediately. On the other hand, if intelligence was right after all and enemy will try to assault openly – Ichika will be able to intercept them above less populated areas than Tokyo City's center.
"Now, the first year personal I.S. user's race will begin!" The loud announcement echoed over the arena. All girls reached starting positions, and began to ignite their thrusters. Over the center of the full-house audience, the signal lamp lighted up. "3… 2… 1… Go!"
Cecilia rushed out first. In the blink of an eye, the first corner was passed, and Cecilia managed to gain the lead.
"Cecilia, I'm going in!" Rin, who said that, suddenly started a fight.
"H-Hey!" Cecilia exclaimed.
"I got you, Cecilia!" The Impact Cannons, despite being faced sideways, actually were directed forward and continuously shooting. Cecilia rolled to evade those shots. With that movement, Rin used an explosive acceleration to overtake her.
"Kuh! Not bad!" Cecilia shouted with very competitive tone.
"Hehen! Too slow!" Rin teased blonde.
"…how naïve…" Cold voice interrupted her.
"What!?" Rin noticed the immediate danger too late.
Matching her timing with Rin's acceleration, Laura, who followed her right behind, came forward. It seems she used the slipstream, created by Rin's I.S., to wait for a chance.
"Damn it!" Chinse girl shouted.
"Too slow!" Laura's voice was calm and cold as ever.
Although Rin tried to aim her Impact Cannons hastily, Laura's large caliber revolver cannon was fired a bit faster. It wasn't a direct hit, but in a high-speed maneuver state, being shot at, got Rin strayed quite far from the course line.
Furthermore, Laura's diversionary fire reached Houki as well, forcing her to made some weird maneuver, "Kuh! Just as expected, Laura is really strong!"
"Sorry, but I'm going first!" Soft but confident voice announced
"Hey! Charlotte, even you too?!" Rin sounded quite annoyed.
"It's because timing is the most important thing in Cannonball Fast. Well then," Charlotte, who further increased her thrusters' output power, closely pressed Laura.
And just when Rin and Cecilia focused all their senses, trying to catch up with those two, still fighting between themselves, a red laser jumped in.
"This is – Houki!" Rin exclaimed.
"I'm sorry, but could you let me through!?" She asked with quite an impudent voice. Until now she was following behind everyone, trying to avoid being dragged into the fight, but seemingly she decided to act from here.
"As if I'll let you do that so easily!" Cecilia taunted her.
Crimson Camellia's katana, which can be used for both short and long range, released lasers while Houki closed in on both girls, increasing Fold-Out Armor's thrust output.
Cecilia and Rin added their attacks to hers, and all that turned an everyone-for-himself battle royal.
*Don!* *Clash!* *Bam!* The Impact Cannons' bullets, Blue Tears cannon's energy charges and Lunar Rain's lasers hit the shock absorbing wall and exploded.
"Out of my way!"
"The race is not over!"
"The real race has just started!"
From the beginning, when girls just have learned that Ichika won't be participating, they were discouraged a little. But when race started, they've suddenly realized one thing – one of them can actually win! Winning Cannonball Fast was a very important for representative candidates, as bad results definitely won't please their superiors. It was important for Charlotte either, if she wants a job after graduation, she needs to show herself from the best side. For Houki it was probably less important, because anyone will gladly hire her just because she has a 4th generation I.S., built by Shinonono Tabane herself… But still, if she, the owner of Crimson Camellia will lose to less advanced units – it will greatly hurt her own pride, and, no doubts, that defeat will lower Ichika's opinion about her, at least she thought so (not without reason).
The climax of the battle race was approaching. And when it entered the second lap, an incident occurred. Suddenly, an I.S. that came flying from the sky shot at Laura and Charlotte, who were on the lead.
"What!?" Charlotte sounded shocked.
"That's… Silent Zephyrs!" Laura recognized the aggressor.
Without even directing his gaze at Laura and Charlotte, who went off course due to sudden attack, the aggressor's lips curved upwards to reveal a smirk.
A few seconds earlier.
"Warning! Electromagnetic distortion detected, unknown I.S. has been spotted!" Naamah immediately informed her master as soon as an unknown 'dot' appeared on scanner's screen. Until now Ichika could only see five blurry 'dots' – that were girls participating in race. Despite very high angular resolution of Demon Queen's new magnetometric sensors array, 'dots' were blurry because girls were inside of shield-covered area of the stadium. But a new 'dot' was clear, and it was approaching the stadium from the north-east. Seemingly, intelligence was right after all, though they weren't quite accurate with presumptive attack direction. But for Ichika that was just a small setback.
"Plot the intercept course," Ichika ordered as Demon Queen ignited all her thrusters and began to accelerate. At the same time, Ichika raised his left arm, with his Second Shift weapon, Hand of Eisheth, being in torpedo launcher mode.
"Valid lock. Torpedo's away," Naamah reported as Ichika's left arm launched a ball-shaped sphere that was shining like a star, made of dark violet light, its speed was about 2660 knots (actually, torpedo's speed = Demon Queen's speed during launch + 1650 knots).
Shape-shifting plasma weapon in Ichika's right hand, Sitra Ahra, took shape of a sniper rifle, Superbia. 'Damn, at such speed I can't shoot precisely without first Archangel's abilities… Oh, well, I hope with the help of my new implant and I.N. support I'll be able to last long enough, without severe consequences…' As he thought that, his eyes began to shine with pure white light as he raised his rifle and shot.
"Kyaaa!" Someone's scream could be heard. Because of the sudden turn of events, the tournament's organizers were left not knowing how to react, and panic began to spread through the audience.
"Calm down! Everyone, calm down and go to the shelter!" The staff's voice reverberated, but no one listened to the transmission.
Ran was among those panicking people. From the very beginning of the race, she was confused and disappointed, because she didn't see a person, she was mostly interested in. Of course, right now she was interested in most I.S.-related things and persons, but still, mostly she was interested in Ichika. She still had some hope that he will still show up in another race or something, but now, in chaos that suddenly erupted, thinking about that was really beside the point. "Ouch...!" Ran was bumped by someone's arm and knocked off balance.
About to fall, her body was caught by a gentle hand, "Are you okay?" Untimely sprightly, female's voice asked.
"Y-Yes…" Ran replied, stuttering. She looked up and saw an older girl, with relatively short, light-blue hair and gentle smile. Ran recognized the owner of supporting hand – she won the I.S. race (second year) just about ten minutes ago – her name was Sarashiki Tatenashi.
Today, Ran's heart throbbed to an older beauty twice. 'Uhh, she's so cool…' Ran unwillingly thought.
"Geez, this is really troubling. For now, until the chaos subsides, it's better to stay away from the pathway. Come here," Having her arms naturally pulled, Ran followed Tatenashi. She was led to a staff room beyond a door that could only be opened by authorized people. "Well then, onee-chan has a little something to do so please stay here for the time being."
"Umm…" Ran murmured indistinctly.
"If someone comes, please explain to them that the I.S. Academy Student Council president told you to stay here," Tatenashi advised.
"S-Student Council president…" Ran repeated like a parrot. She's a Student Council president herself, but clearly unlike that young lady, who can make a clear distinction on what's important in front of her, Ran was very nervous and unable to calm down.
*BOOM!* Suddenly, Ran heard the sound that definitely was produced by a powerful explosion, but, surprisingly, no one felt the shockwave. Was it thanks to arena's shock absorption shield?
"Oh, seems the Angel of Death has arrived…" Tatenashi said with mysterious face expression. "Okay, I have to go, see you!" She waved to Ran and closed the door.
'That throwing finger pose she made looked so cool…' Ran was dumbfounded for a while after Tatenashi left, and was unable to move. "…What's going on!?" Ran finally cried her question, though here was no one to answer. She remembered the moment where the offender trespassed into the race and began firing its cannon toward participants.
'Everything should be okay, right?... Ichika-sama, where are you?…' Along with the hands that grabbed each other tightly, just like a prayer, a wish has been made.
A few moments earlier…
"Are you okay?! Laura, Charlotte?!" Houki immediately moved to the side of those two, who had crashed into the wall, and extended her Fold Out Armor on maximum angles. In the next instant, attacks from the BT rifle were raining down.
"Kuh…!" Most attack were blocked by Fold Out Armor, made of crimson energy, but few managed to pass. Though, Crimson Camellia was a Gladiator-type unit, she possesses pretty thick shield, so that wasn't too bad.
"Houki-san! Leave that I.S. to me!" Houki heard Cecilia's determined voice.
"Cecilia!? Hey!" Rin interfered but Cecilia ignored her.
"Blue Tears Mark II unit, Silent Zephyrs…! This time surely!" Not heeding to Rin's call, Cecilia headed towards the assaulter – Silent Zephyrs – alone.
But, unlike a normal operation, Cecilia's unit was equipped with the high-speed maneuver package, and so, her BiTs' shooting ability had been sealed. Some reduction in the firepower of that large BT rifle, Blue Pierce (also known as Starlight Mark III), that also seemed to be intended, was also something that shouldn't be ignored. A more powerful version of Starlight Mark III, a heavy sniper rifle Stardust Shooter, wasn't included in the package at this time, to divert even more power to thrusters.
"Houki! I'll depend on you for defense!" Rin hastily followed Cecilia, who had just left towards the Silent Zephyrs.
Cecilia's Blue Pierce beam rifle shot, and Rin's Shockwave Cannons aimed and fired at once towards the enemy. "You're not getting away!" Cecilia seemed quite worked up.
But, Silent Zephyrs didn't even try to evade the attacks, and a defiant smile surfaced on the pilot's face. Right when the attacks made contact, an umbrella-shaped shield surfaced.
"Kuh! Just as expected, a shield bit… Rin-san! Let's do a multi-directional attack!" Cecilia ordered.
"Don't boss me around! Geez, I'll do it anyway!" Rin suppressed her defiant spirit and agreed to do as Cecilia said. But then…
Rin and Cecilia, as well as Silent Zephyrs' pilot, all three looked somewhere aside. Seemingly, their I.S-es informed them about incoming attack. Like bewitched, they were watching at approaching dark-violet sphere that was shining like a star. Though all three girls were warned, that sphere definitely was targeting Silent Zephyrs. Pilot realized that as she immediately repositioned her shield BiT.
"Rin-san! Get back!" Cecilia shouted, but that was unnecessary as Rin also realized what it is and what's going to happen next. When she saw that both Rin and Cecilia fell back, M got worried, but she had no time to rethink her actions anyway as dark-violet 'star' was approaching too fast.
Right before the impact, torpedo dived down, and then hit the shield BiT upward, diagonally. Under Ichika's order, Naamah was controlling torpedo 'manually', so shockwave would spread upward, as Stadium defense shield definitely wasn't designed to withstand such a force, and half of the stadium could collapse.
Returning to Silent Zephyrs, its shield BiT was obliterated by a direct hit, and semi-directional, half-sphere-shaped shockwave sent the enemy I.S. flying away head over heels. Silent Zephyrs' shield didn't take much damage, but, as it was said, torpedo wasn't designed to do direct damage to begin with.
Finally, after she flew off for several tens of meters, M managed to stabilize her I.S. She couldn't understand what exactly just happened, but she had no time to think about that anyway as her I.S. again warned her about incoming attack. By executing an emergency maneuver, M managed to avoid direct hit, but plasma fireball exploded right below her, and that was quite painful for both M and her unit.
And that wasn't all – M still couldn't see the enemy who was shooting at her, which means that he's still quite afar (more than ten miles away). In turn, that means, despite plasma fireball's immense speed, it was shot more than ten seconds ago – before torpedo exploded and threw M's I.S. away, but still fireball was heading straight at her. That means that enemy somehow knew exactly where she will be after the explosion. How's that even possible?!
But M had no time to think about that, another plasma fireball was already incoming. At the same time, she managed to see the enemy – an I.S., which was glowing with dreadful dark violet light, was approaching from the south at very high speed, now there was about seven miles between them.
When she saw first plasma fireball – M already knew who's shooting at her – she was dodging the same fireballs while trying to evacuate Autumn. In the next moment she got confirmation. As she barely managed to avoid second attack, she heard cold, low, echoing voice via I.S. public channel, "Nice dancing… Now try to dodge this." Approaching his target, weapon in Ichika's right hand took shape of heavy plasma machinegun, Luxuria, as Hand of Eisheth took shape of a rapid-firing particle cannon, and Ichika opened fire from both weapon.
Hail of energy charges fell on M. 45 shots per second from heavy plasma machinegun Luxuria + 15 shots per second from particle cannon Hand of Eisheth = 60 charges were shot towards M each second. Silent Zephyrs' pilot hastily deployed all her remaining shield BiTs (one was destroyed, five remained), but even that wasn't a panacea. Even controlling the shield BiTs and executing maneuvers at the same time, M couldn't avoid damage entirely, plasma and antimatter charges were still exploding all around her, while shield BiTs' energy was rapidly decreasing; in the meantime, enemy I.S. was still approaching at high speed.
All this time neither Rin nor Cecilia dared to approach Silent Zephyrs or interfere with any other way, they were just afraid to be caught into this firestorm.
When distance between Silent Zephyrs and Demon Queen shortened to approximately 500 feet, M sent almost depleted shield BiTs right at approaching enemy and set them to self-destruct. BiTs flew towards approaching enemy and exploded, producing powerful shockwave.
"Ugh!..." But, to her surprise, Demon Queen easily evaded all explosions, as if pilot knew exactly where and when they will explode. M quickly deployed energy cannon BiTs, but that was already too late as in the next moment Demon Queen's left claw-like hand literally grabbed M by her throat. I.S. shield can't prevent physical contact between two units. "…Argh!" M let out a choked moan.
Using full power of her powerful thrusters, Demon Queen flew down, dragging Silent Zephyrs in front of herself, still holding its pilot by her throat. *BOOM!* With loud noise Silent Zephyrs crashed into the ground. But that wasn't all – with another crushing sound Ichika slammed his I.N's right fist into M's face. Silent Zephyrs' shield partially softened that blow, but, as it is very well known – I.S. barrier isn't perfect. Force of the blow was big enough to damage M's mask-like visor (it cracked all over). Not that M gave up, just before Ichika hit her, she aimed all her BiTs at him and was about to shoot, but due to force of the blow M got the brain concussion. Her I.S. helped her to recover, but, just for a mere second, she lost control over her BiTs. That was more than enough for Ichika. Sitra Ahra already took shape of a large, double-edged plasma sword, Invidia, which immediately began to shine as bright as sun, illuminating the entire stadium with that ominous dark violet light – Ichika activated Paradise of Darkness barrier-void ability. With only one third of her shield remaining, M definitely will be beheaded. When, during their previous meeting, Ichika promised to get her head, by no means he was joking…
A few moments earlier…
"Ara ara, it seems this one's too much even for M…" Even here, behind arena's barrier, she could feel shockwaves from explosions around Silent Zephyrs. While looking at the intruder, at M, and at the one who attacked her, beyond her sunglasses, the woman narrowed her eyes as if she was carefully examining the course of battle. Looking at her clearly, it's the lady that bumped into Ran earlier. "Even so, it seems that technical gap between two frames is just too big. That glowing I.S. is just like a monster…"
"You think so? In fact, I think that the one controlling that I.S. is as much of a monster as his I.S. itself, or even more…" Behind her, a voice called out for this lady, who just sighed in response, the lady didn't even turn around. She already knew whose voice called for her – Sarashiki Tatenashi. While being I.S. academy Student Council president, she was a 'genius' who has already attained the right of freely choosing her nationality while still being a student. She's currently the Russia's representative. Not a representative candidate, but a full-fledged representative, with a corresponding regular salary.
"Hmm… Moskovski Gustoi Tuman [Moscow's Dense Mist] isn't it? Your unit's name?" Lady asked.
"That's its old name. It's called Mysterious Lady now," Tatenashi noted.
"I see," The woman replied lazily as she turned back. In an instant, a glistening knife was thrown.
"A woman without manners isn't attractive, you know," Tatenashi, who deployed her I.S. in an instant, repelled it using the whip sword Rusty Nail. And then just like that, she used that sword which bends just like a whip to aim at the woman.
"You too, aren't you quite rude to someone you've just met for the first time?" While taking off her sunglasses, the woman deployed the arm part of her own I.S. and blocked the whip sword's attack with it.
"'Phantom Task', what's your target I wonder?" Tatenashi asked casually.
"Ara, there's no way I'm gonna tell you ain't I? Since we finally managed to make a good situation too," Woman replied with the same casual voice.
"Then I'm going to hear it even if I have to force it from your mouth," Tatenashi smiled charmingly.
"I wonder if you're up to the task? Sarashiki Tatenashi-san?" Woman asked calmly.
"I've already said I am, Squall," Sarashiki replied, letting go of the whip sword, she called out her spear at the same time. That thing which has a 4-barrel gatling gun inside of it, made some kind of formation and fired at once.
Tatenashi managed to accurately grasp her opponent, but there was no leeway in her face. Squall's figure was encompassed by a yellow cocoon, and not even one bullet managed to reach her. "How about we stop this?" Woman named Squall suggested, "Your unit won't be able to break through mine. You also know this, right?"
*BOOM!* At the same time, both Squall and Tatenashi have heard a loud sound of crushing metal. Through dust cloud they saw what happened to Silent Zephyrs.
"Damn! We can't afford loosing this unit now!" Squall shouted. It was unclear – does she care only about I.S., and M's life means very little for her, or it was just a bravado, but in an instant, she fully deployed her I.S., Golden Dawn. Both she and Sarashiki saw Ichika raising his sword and activation of his One-Off Ability, capable of nullifying energy barriers. Even from here Squall could feel Ichika's murderous intent. Without delay, she opened fire from both plasma machineguns, mounted on her arms. That were common 1st generation plasma machineguns, and according to charges' white-yellow glow, its temperature was about 3300 – 3600 Kelvins.
Sudden appearance of another I.S. distracted Ichika for a moment. That moment was enough for M to regain her control over BiTs and she also attacked Ichika. Being attacked by two I.S. at the same time, even Demon Queen's pilot couldn't ignore it. Ichika soared into the air and engaged evasive maneuvers. "Alright…" He said with echoing voice full of scorn "…I'll start with you then…"
Silent Zephyrs also stood up and then flew up, using her BiTs to attack Ichika. But neither she nor Squall managed to land a direct hit. Ichika's maneuvers weren't just so precise and elegant, he could easily predict enemies' attacks. "All units, status report!" Ichika broadcasted his request to all personal units' owners on the field.
"I'm still unable to enter the battlefield directly. At least I'll give some fire support with my cannon," Laura reported first – as expected of a military trained officer. Seemingly, her thrusters and weapon systems were operational, but PIC was damaged, so she couldn't fly.
"The thrusters completely died off. I can still fly using the PIC, but against that unit I won't be able to catch up." That report came from Charlotte. Her situation seemed somehow opposite to Laura's but in the end, both could only give some fire support, and only within limited part of arena's airspace.
"My unit suffered light damage, but all systems seem to be operational," Cecilia's voice reported.
"Same here, all systems go," Rin's report came.
"I… I'm fine as well," Houki reported last, and her report was the most unintelligible, definitely it came from a person lacking military training.
"Alright, Cecilia, Rin, Houki – you three – shoot down that enormously big and annoying mosquito," Ichika ordered, no doubts he meant Silent Zephyrs. "Do not relent, lethal force authorized. And I'll take care about that irritating bug," Ichika looked at Golden Down. He decided that, even despite their lack of abilities, three girls will be able to handle Silent Zephyrs, which already lost two thirds of its shield.
"Hey! Don't you dare ignore me!" Ichika heard resentful exclamation, voice belonged to Tatenashi. Right now she was chasing Squall, who, in turn, was completely ignoring her, focusing her attacks on Demon Queen.
"Cecilia!" Houki shouted.
At the last moment, thanks to Houki's warning, Cecilia managed to dodge powerful beam attack that came from Silent Zephyrs's BT rifle, Star Breaker. But, Silent Zephyrs – who had just done that – used the Flexible BT attack. The beam flexibly bent in its path and locked on to target once again. Cecilia still got indirect hit, and crashed into the wall on her back because of that.
Seeing her wide open, Silent Zephyrs didn't let the chance go. "Die…" M hissed, she was boiling with fury – all she wanted is to rid from all these annoying girls and join her forces with Squall to destroy Demon Queen's pilot, who humiliated her so many times today. BT rifle was aimed at Cecilia, using its maximum power. The electrical discharge shaped energy that overflowed from that rifle was released in her direction.
"Kyaa!?" Girl's scream sliced the air.
"Rin!?" Cecilia exclaimed in shock. Rin, who just received Silent Zephyr rifle's maximum power attack, was fiercely blown away. "Mo… Moron! Why are you covering for me… Hey! Rin!"
"You're so noisy… It's because you're so stupid…" Rin, who took the blow in Cecilia's place, faced her to punch blonde, and then lost consciousness. It was probably because the Absolute Defense Field ability of the I.S, that makes the pilot lose their consciousness when it receives a critical damage, activated. Honestly, it was quite tough.
"Rin! Damn it!" Cecilia looked at enemy furiously. She raised her body, but then once again, Silent Zephyrs' attack was aimed at her.
"I won't let you!" Right before it could fire, this time it was Houki who comes in the space between Cecilia and Silent Zephyrs. Furthermore, it was not to become a shield, instead she made use of 4th grade thrusters and Fold Out Armor thrust output to do a body ram attack. She knocked Silent Zephyrs away. "Cecilia, you're alright?!"
"Houki-san, use this chance to go and check Rin-san! I'll take over this place until then!" Regaining her determination, Cecilia soared as if to pin down Silent Zephyrs, that was recovering from Houki's body ram attack. Just like that, Cecilia pushed M into the arena's shield barrier. Firing her thruster to rush at the shield as if to crash the enemy to it for many times, the barrier finally broke during the fourth charge.
"Damn you…" M growled.
"This Blue Tears Mark One's power, I'll show it to you to your heart's content!" Cecilia shouted, from the crevice of the broken barrier, two Blue Tears units flew out. Accelerating together at once, they flew to the town area.
"Wait Cecilia, it's too reckless!" Houki shouted, but her words fell on deaf ears.
In the meantime, when Rin, Cecilia and Houki drew attention of Silent Zephyrs, dodging the remaining enemy's attack became a real child's play. But still, Ichika was thinking about what to do with Golden Dawn's external barrier. Of course there was a simple way – just apply excessive force. Beam plasma cannon Ira was designed just for that and from this range, double-barreled automatic scattergun Avaritia also could do the trick. But using it here may result in enormous collateral damage – stadium itself, highways and even buildings around it will be damaged. If so, Ichika could activate his second Archangel and use Eyes of Kamael to find some flaws in that shield, but using two Archangels at the same time is very taxing. Though, there was another way…
"Enemy's shield analyses completed," Woman's voice reported. Yes, for cases like that Ichika has A.I. Naamah. "This is static plasma field, projected by twenty-four emitters."
"Any flaws?" Ichika asked.
"Each emitter connected directly to the main power distribution system," A.I. added.
"Oh, is that so?" Ichika smiled, "Then you know what to do, right?"
"I am ready, Adonai," Naamah reported.
"Damn, what is with that shield?!" Tatenashi swore, she couldn't get through that golden cocoon-like shield. She probably could try another method, her strongest attack – combination of her nano-machines infused water and maximum power spear attack – Lance of Mistilteinn [Actually, Mistilteinn, also known as Mysteltainn, was a sword from old Icelandic saga], but using this attack at such a high speed would be very difficult, even for Tatenashi. Suddenly, she heard a message via private channel.
"Sarashiki, get away from her," She heard Ichika's cold, echoing voice.
"What?!" She asked, but instead of answer she only heard a countdown:
"…Three …two …one…" Ichika was already holding sniper rifle Superbia, aiming at Squall's I.S. At the last moment, Tatenashi managed to get away.
Squall also noticed Ichika targeting her, but seemingly she decided that her shield will be able to withstand that attack as well. That was a big mistake…
*Clash!* Ichika landed a direct hit. But instead of a 'normal' plasma blast, Golden Dawn was enveloped with some sort of electro-storm – it looked like a dense blue cloud, made purely of electricity. Electric cloud existed for about ten seconds. When it dissipated, Tatenashi saw Golden Dawn, without its shield and unmoving. A moment later it began to fall, as if all its systems turned off, including ion thrusters and PIC.
…Actually, that's exactly what happened – all of Golden Dawn systems have turned off. Instead of using normal charge, Naamah loaded Ichika's rifle with electro-plasma right from her own main reactor. After being shot, all that enormous amount of energy, through target's own static plasma shield emitters, was grounded on enemy's I.S. power distribution network and, through it, on Golden Dawn's main reactor itself. Due to massive overload, it was automatically shot down. Squall's I.S. fell on the ground, completely paralyzed.
"…Ugh… What… happened…" Squall moaned with hoarse voice, looking at two I.S-es, which landed in front of her. One of them was Tatenashi's Mysterious Lady, and since she has no helmet, Squall could see her face – her expression was something between pity and curiosity. Demon Queen landed nearby. Through his fully closed helmet Ichika's face couldn't be seen, but Squall could easily imagine his arrogant expression.
"See?" Cold, echoing voice asked. "Every design has some flaw… if it's not my design, of course…" Ichika leaned down and grabbed Squall by her throat with his right claw-like hand and lifted her up. With her I.S. powered down, Squall looked like a rag-doll. Since Phantom Task's I.S. suits were more revealing than common models, Ichika could see a lot of Squall's skin… curves of her body looked very nice. But Ichika was looking at her face… its expression was quite defiant.
"You… you will regret this!" Squall shouted angrily… but Ichika ignored her.
Demon Queen's left claw gently touched Squall's head. "Ah, you can't imagine how much I want to tear off that empty head of yours… Each time I see pathetic members of your pathetic organization, it makes me feel especially vindictive…" Talon-like metallic fingers slipped down and grabbed Squall's chin. "But, unlike that little bitch, you probably possess some valuable information…"
"You really think I'll talk even if you'll manage to capture me?" Squall asked with narrowed eyes. She possesses an enviable equanimity.
"Oh, you won't talk…" She heard Ichika's response, "…You will sing, sing like a nightingale…" And, it was said with such a friendly voice, that, just for a mere moment, Squall's face was distorted with fear. But Ichika ignored that, "But, right now, we have more pressing matters. First, we need to brand you, as a reward for giving threats that you can't back up…" As Ichika said that, he began to carve something on Squall's forehead with Demon Queen's talon-like finger, making deep, bleeding wounds (he was still holding her by throat with his right arm).
"Ichika?! What are you doing?!" Tatenashi cried as her eyes widened in shock. Of course she knew that he's a sociopath, but what he was doing now… Is he just a cruel sadist who like to hurt, torture and humiliate people? But worst of all, she, Tatenashi Sarashiki, she knew that she has to stop him… but actually she was afraid to do so…
And Ichika ignored both her exclamation and her internal struggle.
"Flowers of evil, steadily bloom, with an array of colorful doom…"
"…as for the weeds like you, who feels that they want to stay…"
"…you all just die and feed me all the same anyway."
Silently singing some weird song, Ichika carved three symbols on Squall's forehead: "כֶּ" "תֶ" "ר" It were symbols of Kether [The Crown] – first, topmost sephira of three of life. While Ichika was doing it, Squall stoically endured pain and humiliation (or she just wasn't feeling pain?), but Ichika could see burning hatred in her eyes nevertheless.
"Ichika, why are you doing this?!" Tatenashi was still shocked.
"Sarashiki, calm down," Ichika said casually, and his voice actually sounded without those outworldly notes – he was speaking normally. "Can't you see I'm putting a signature on my trophy? She's not a prisoner of war but a banal terrorist, the Geneva Convention does not apply to her, so its fine," He stated.
"That has nothing to do with this!" Tatenashi exclaimed indignantly.
"That has everything to do with this," Ishika objected, "I think it's quite an adequate treatment for people who dares to take children as hostages."
"Ugh…" Sarashiki grunted, actually it was quite difficult to find proper words in this situation – as a next head of her family, she actually was aware about roots of grudge between Ichika and Phantom Task, deep roots…
"I hope you're not expecting some civilian justice, with lawyers and other trashy stuff?" Ichika asked as he glanced at Squall. "Expect only a drumhead court martial. You will regret that you didn't accept the solace of death you've been offered once…"
Squall didn't reply anything, but hatred in her eyes was still burning as bright as before. But Ichika couldn't care less about what she feels. Probably due to lack of action, or by some another reason, just as he finished carving those symbols, Ichika came out of his Archangel mode… Right now, looking at Squall's face, he was well aware that what he just did was quite an explicit example of an antisocial behavior… Even though he was using only one of his Archangels, he still was affected… but really, who cares about that bitch.
Ichika never was merciful, but with Archangels active, he couldn't help it but look at his enemies as if they're insects, especially when he was using powers of first Archangel, Yahoel [It's one of seventy names of Metatron]. Well, maybe this is how sinners should be treated like, in the end he got two most militaristic beings, and these beings not only provides him with exceptional combat abilities, but also amplifies Ichika's inborn vindictive nature – 'Phantom Task' will never be forgiven…
Having absolutely no desire to further discuss his actions, he decided to take care of a pressing task. "Alright, now we need to extract it from the I.S.," Ichika said, pointing at Squall. "Come, use your water veil, if we'll manage to return this frame to owning country with minimum damage, compensation will be bigger. Don't worry, I'll give you an honest share…" He assured Tatenashi.
Of course, a chance to steal Golden Dawn's core would've been much better, but right now there were no such possibility – Tatenashi's here, besides, arena's automatic cameras are still working, so Realizer isn't an option as well. So right now, most profitable thing Ichika could do – return Golden Dawn together with its core to original owners for compensation.
Since she still was quite displeased with Ichika previous actions (disfiguring of Squall's face), Tatenashi didn't even notice that his voice returned to normal, and of course she couldn't instantly comprehend what he wants from her.
"Hey, come on, come help me here, even if you're from the rich family, it doesn't mean you shouldn't care about money at all," Ichika urged her. A vein popped up on Tatenashi's forehead due to indignation.
In the meantime, outside of arena.
'Kuh! Just as expected, she's strong…!' While keeping her pace with her enemy, Cecilia directed the high-output long BT rifle Blue Pierce towards Silent Zephyrs. But, as if carefully aiming for that attack timing, the distance between them opened again due to the obstruction from the barrage of energy shots from enemy's own BiTs.
"…" M disinterestedly repeated her attacks toward Cecilia over and over again while keeping her silence. Accuracy, overwhelming barrage speed, and to top it all, Flexible BT attack (Deviation Shot), were making Cecilia suffer.
'I will get hit sooner or later if it stays this way. Now that things have come to this…!' Cecilia summoned the close range blade Interceptor into her tightly clenching hand, and charged at Silent Zephyrs at once, "I got you!"
"Fine…" M, as if to say she'll play the game, summoned a short sword to her left hand and started a close range battle with Cecilia.
*Kin!* When the two blades hit each other, a sharp sound and sparks flew.
"Kuh…!" Cecilia moaned. Despite that she went through training with Ichika, so she could fight using melee weapon, opponent still seemed to be stronger fighter. Besides, close ranged battle at supersonic speed harshly consumes a person's mental power. But, Cecilia, as if to say that she won't lose even in obstinacy, refused to back down.
While the one-handed close quarter battle continued, M dared to decrease her speed. And then, the chasing Cecilia came almost crashing into the high-speed road's multi-level crossing point which suddenly entered her field vision.
"You!" Cecilia, who barely got out from the dangerous situation using Alley Roll [high speed rotating maneuver] was enraged at M who laughed as if to make fun of her, 'She intends to play around with me!?' Cecilia swung downward her blade once again. But, with a flash, that blade was repelled and knocked out of Cecilia's hand. "How?!" Blonde didn't even understand how exactly that happened.
"…You're already dead," It was a cold voice that can make you tremble. And then, a merciless barrage of energy charges poured down on Cecilia's whole body. "For that he did to me – you all will die…" Not that M actually thought that Ichika really cares about this or any other girl, she just wanted to splash out her frustration on someone.
"Augh!" The shield energy was gone at once, and the rifle that was in Cecilia's left hand was destroyed. Just when she thought she would get wounded from crashing to the concrete road, Cecilia barely managed to do an emergency pull-out just before she reached the ground. Situation seemed bad as, this time, Stardust Shooter, augmented version of Blue Pierce rifle, wasn't included in this package. Thus, with destruction of Blue Pierce, Cecilia lost all her handheld weapons.
"It's over," M said with cold voice. From the high power rifle that was equipped with a bayonet, Star Breaker, a blue-purple light was released.
"Not… yet. I still have my trump card!" Shouting that, Cecilia hit the trigger inside her heart. High-speed maneuver package Strike Gunner. Out of all the techniques to redirect all of the propulsion power of the BITs, it was technique that was said to be a forbidden maneuver, a technique that must never be used… "Blue Tears Full Burst!" Simultaneous shots from all of the closed cannons. A simultaneous discharge of four cannons that blew away the parts, which were used to reconfigure them. This was something that could be said to be the worst situation, dismantling a unit in mid-air. But, for Cecilia who couldn't use Flexible BT attack (Deviation Shot), this was the highest level of attack that could be said to have the timing of a finishing blow.
"This is your trump card? Don't make me laugh!" M raised her voice. And then, together with a laughing voice, she evaded all of Cecilia's shots with high speed rolls.
"Wha…!?" Cecilia seemed shocked.
"Die," Together with this word, the bayonet pierced Cecilia's two arms.
"Aaaaah!" A scream escaped due to the extreme pain.
Hearing that voice, M's lips evilly contorted.
'Please, Blue Tears…' Cecilia aimed both her pierced right and left hands, which were no longer able to grasp anything, toward M. Inside her heart, a blue drop of water fell. That drop of water that fell on the water's surface made a wide ripple. 'Ah, is that so… Blue Tears is, in a word…'
"…?" M was unable to figure out Cecilia's plan.
And, a smile slowly surfaced on Cecilia's face. "Bang!" She made a pistol shape with her hand. There was nothing fired from that fingertip, of course, but… within the next instant, M was pierced by 4 beams from behind her.
"Ugh!?" Her scream sounded quite surprised.
A technique that could only be used with a highly skilled manipulation of BT energy, Flexible BT attack (Deviation Shot). Cecilia finally managed to make that technique her own in the last moment, but her unit that lost its propulsion power in supersonic condition was unable to maintain its appearance and started to break down.
'So this is as far as I can go isn't it… But, I managed to return a blow…' Cecilia accepted her defeat with a sportsman's-like attitude. Her hands are still pierced with Star Breaker's bayonet, seemingly – this is the end… But, at the moment she gave up…
"Get your hands off her, bitch!" Another female's voice shouted. Red blade-like laser sliced the air, as well as it sliced Star Breaker in half. Crimson I.S. appeared as if from nowhere and grabbed Cecilia, whose I.S. began to fall down. "Sorry for being late, I had to help Charlotte and Laura to get away from arena…"
"Ara, Houki-san… Fufu, you're really late…" Blonde smiled weakly.
"Sorry about that!" Houki snorted, "I just… Hey! Cecilia!? Cecilia!?"
Cecilia's vital signs were sent to Houki's visual interface. It seems she just lost consciousness. 'Pushing yourself too hard, geez…' Houki found a building's roof where it seemed she could get down, and landed there. Seemingly, Cecilia's I.S. stopped the bleeding in the wounds on her arms… But, it could be bad if it's not tended to, quickly. At I.S. academy, there's a facility that's on the same level as a university's hospital. For the time being, bringing her back to the facility seemed like the best solution.
"…!" Houki, who was about to stand up and fly away, got startled and stopped her movement. Silent Zephyrs' pilot was coldly looking down at two girls with her back facing the sun. There's an icy presence accompanying that gaze, like the pressure one feel when there's a knife pointed in point blank range at his neck.
"You bastard…" M hissed.
Houki looked scornfully at M. The enemy's face can't be seen because of the visor (even though it was damaged), but the enmity she gave out should have reached the enemy. "Come down here and try me, bitch!" She shouted mockingly. Though, she already knew the response. This battle was over. Maybe Houki is a lower class pilot, comparing to that girl – but her frame, Crimson Camellia, is the real deal. But that's not the most important thing.
Silent Zephyrus was too battered. It already lost two thirds of its shield and all six shield bits in battle against Ichika, then, after Cecilia's 'treacherous' shot, only 117 shield points left, and now she just lost her high-powered rifle. No matter how good plot M was – in this condition she has no chances against fully armed 4th generation frame. Silent Zephyrus turned around, and quickly flew towards the arena.
Houki decided to not chase it – right now, Cecilia's life is much more important, besides, if it's heading back to stadium – Ichika can handle things from here – about that Houki was certain.
Just as Ichika raised his sword, preparing to cut open some parts of Golden Dawn's armor to 'extract' Squall from her I.S., he noticed that Silent Zephyrus once again appeared above the arena, thanks to his 360-degree field of vision. "What a stubborn bitch," He swore silently, though he couldn't understand what exactly she hopes for. But answer came right after.
Still floating above the stadium, M didn't send her BiTs through the hole in arena's barrier, which was previously made by Cecilia, as Ichika expected. Instead they flew above and opened fire at the bottom of huge metallic lighting tower. With half of its metallic armature being melted down by high energy rays, the tower began to fall.
That stadium, it was built for I.S.-involving competitions. As such, everything here was of corresponding size, including lighting towers. For instance, weight of each one was about 160 tons. And, worst of all, if left untouched, that huge metallic thing definitely will fall right on the control room. M really was smart – as she managed to calculate her shots precisely.
A lot of time has passed since Ichika felt such a surge of hatred, probably since he was kidnapped back then in Germany. In that control room… Rin, who lost consciousness, was there. Charlotte and Laura, whose frames were damaged, were there. Maya Yamada also was there. Probably, a few more people from JSDF and I.S. Academy also were there. If that huge thing will fall on control room – lives of aforementioned people will be in danger. The probability of anyone dying was minimal… yet, there's still a possibility of several people getting injured. But for Ichika, it was still tolerable, in other words, foredooming a few people to the treatment in hospital in exchange for 100% chance of capturing or eliminating two members of 'Phantom Task' seemed like an acceptable bargain. In the end – with current level of medicine, there shouldn't be too bad consequences. However… there was one person, who Ichika didn't want to see even scratched, let alone injured.
And Ichika knew that she's also there. Person who was honor-bound to stay here until the very end, until this crisis is resolved. Person who by no means could leave her students, even though she could do very little on her own in that situation. And no way Ichika could ignore anything that could threaten health of an only person in this world he holds dear, even the slightest risk isn't acceptable.
Tatenashi also was looking at lighting tower that began to fall. And suddenly, her whole body jolted due to sense of danger. And not because she was worried about people in control room, it was because she suddenly felt an immensely powerful aura of fury right beside herself. She, the Student Council president of I.S. Academy and official representative of a country, was so startled that she had no idea what's going on.
"Little insect… You will feel an incomparable agony..." High iron voice hissed towards the Silent Zephyrus as Demon Queen soared into the air, igniting her thrusters at full power. Too bad, but Ichika couldn't waste even a second, even to finish off Squall to make sure that she won't escape somehow. His sword turned into plasma arc projector, Cardinal Sin. Still accelerating, Ichika swung it, and crescent-like plasma charge made another breach in arena's barrier. Another swing, and another crescent-like plasma charge sliced off the top of lighting tower. Without tower, tower's top lost its lever, but still it was falling along already gained vector, and Ichika had no time to blow it up or destroy by another means. Thus, he did only thing that could be done in that situation – he grabbed the antenna, and used his I.N. thrusters at full power to nullify construct's angular speed. After that, he released the construct and it simply fell straight down, crashing stadium's stand, but control room and people inside it were saved.
Tatenashi was watching at that scene like entranced. 'Incredible power…' She thought, looking at Ichika's I.S. with saucer-wide eyes – that tower's top weight, even without the tower itself, was about 100 tons. Yet, Demon Queen managed to hold it in the air. Too late she noticed the danger. While Ichika was busy, Silent Zephyrus' BiTs opened fire at her. At the same time, Golden Dawn released emergency locks, releasing Squall. Tatenashi quickly recovered and raised her spear, just when Squall threw a knife at her.
"Such a thing!" Sarashiki shouted. The blade of water cut the knife to pieces. But, in that instant a big explosion occurred, originating from it, "What!?"
A thick black smoke enveloped her, she couldn't see a thing, but of course, for an I.S., this level of sight impediment was the same as nothing, especially for anti-terrorist I.S. like Moscow's Dense Fog – it was equipped with very advanced thermal imager. However, right now Tatenashi was forced to evade another barrage of energy charges, shot by Silent Zephyrus' BiTs. And then, Sarashiki saw a horrifying picture. From that black cloud, Silent Zephyrus soared into the air, Tatenashi didn't even noticed how it got inside. But worst of all – enemy I.S. was carrying a woman in its arms, and that woman, in turn, was carrying a white glowing sphere in her arms. That was the worst case scenario. "You won't get away!" Tatenashi rushed to chase the enemy, skillfully avoiding shots from Silent Zephyrus' BiTs.
But, sadly, Silent Zephyrus was faster than Mysterious Lady, distance between them was steadily increasing, as Silent Zephyrus was heading towards the downtown area. And when distance between Silent Zephyrus and Mysterious Lady became big enough, enemy I.S. turned around a huge trade center… and disappeared from radar.
"What?!" Tatenashi reached position where Silent Zephyrus was seen for the last time, but there were no traces of it. "How's that possible?!"
In ten seconds, another I.S. approached her. That was Demon Queen, just as Ichika confirmed control room's safety – he also chased after the enemy. "Where are they?" High iron voice asked, right now Ichika was using his second Archangel. Though, it seems that Ichika managed to get a hold on himself, as oppressive aura around him was no more.
"I lost tracking somewhere around here," Tatenashi reported. "Silent Zephyrus possess radar and optical camouflage systems, but still, to disappear so abruptly…"
"No, it's not that," Ichika said as he looked at his magnetometric scanner screen. No camouflage system can hide electromagnetic distortion, but right now Ichika could see only one 'dot' on his scanner, and according to its signature it was Houki's Crimson Camellia, it was right above the I.S. academy. As such, there was only one possibility, "She undeployed her I.S., and now they're hiding in this trade center."
That was a very bad situation. Quarters, which were closest to the stadium, were evacuated due to disturbance, but this trade center was quite far from it, so it was working normally. But worst thing – this trade center was built right upon the subway station, with direct access to it.
"We should alert subway and trade center's security!" Tatenashi exclaimed, "No way two women, wearing I.S. suits, wouldn't be noticed!"
"Already done," Ichika replied. "But I doubt they're still wearing them – clothes that Squall was wearing before she deployed her I.S. – they are still in her quantum space. As for the second one… I guess she also has something to wear." Of course, Squall's forehead most likely is still bleeding, since Ichika left his 'signature' on it, but that probably won't help, either. As such, that was it…
And he didn't say it aloud, but it was obvious without words – enemies have escaped. "Damn it… Next time – no prisoners!" Right now, Ichika was angry at himself because he didn't just kill Squall on the spot…
"Enemy lost. I repeat, enemy lost. We are returning…" High iron notes disappeared from Ichika's voice as he reported to someone. 'That little bitch…' Ichika clenched his fists as he remembered that damn girl who dared to endanger his elder sister's life '…She'll regret that she's ever born…'
And this is it for now, see you soon people.
