A-a-and here I am again, people! This is the new chapter. Seems that the decision to split the 'Kyoto warfare arc' into several chapters was the right one, after all – initially I planned only one chapter, but now here's already three of them, this is the second one. But the next one really will be the arc's conclusion.
Every «I.S. + pilot» pair is unique, as well as relationships between I.S. and pilot. They may be friends, like Chifuyu and her I.S. Kurazakura. They may be the commander and his faithful lieutenant, like Ichika and Astarte. They may even be in a parent-child-like relationships, as it was with Natasha Fairs and her I.S. Silver Gospel. But there are many other options, right?… In other words – I think you people are going to like this chapter.
My comments for the reviewers:
DareusX: I hope it wasn't a bit too obvious hint xD.
Apex85: I really don't want to put too many H scenes here, this story isn't about it.
KingZeRoPL: Honestly, even I don't know what will happen next, in particular because the Light Novel is ongoing. Well, except for the last chapter of this story…
Guest: Then just wait for a new chapter, it will be there… probably.
Darkkon27: Thank you. And yeah, I did consider getting a beta many times, but, honestly – I really don't like being dependent on others, besides, it will slower the update rate. For instance – that story went on a two-years long hiatus partly because I was waiting for my previous beta to check the chapter XIX, but never got it back, but while I was waiting, I became lazy, bored, and lost my inspiration.
Imperial-samaB: No, not yet, just wait for it.
Primordial Inscriptor Z-09: Of course, there will be a talk about tech, but not in this chapter – please wait for the next one.
FateBurn: Thanks.
Clown Naruto: At the very end I'm afraid, that's crucial for the plot.
CQBPr0: That's not too small, I believe.
Alex2909: She's unchained and free now.
Tohka123: Thank you, here's a new chapter, just as I promised.
Yukilumi: Thanks a lot for a big review. Though, this is really hurt that you're skipping the techno-madness – I'm actually quite proud of it xD. And yes – all that happened in canon – *every* remarkable event ended up in failure due to an external interference. By the way, who's that Tachibana you've mentioned. P.S. And yes, I do know how お姫様抱っこ reads, don't worry =).
Guest: Patience, people, here it is.
Thanks everyone again, and yes, I know that my language is a bit erratic, but I'm a programmer – it's normal, don't bother xD. Now, let's proceed to the chapter.
Chapter XXV – A Friend in Darkness
…
November 3rd, Friday, 6:45 P.M.
"Commander, can you hear me?!" Chifuyu called her brother via communication channel, "There's a time bomb on this train! It is set to detonate in less than ten minutes!"
"I know," High iron voice replied, "Just give me a minute – I'll look for a way to help you as soon as I take care of that annoying insect."
"Ichika…" Rin mumbled worriedly.
"Sorry, but you people have to wait a bit," Ichika added and ended transmission. Even for him it will be difficult to look for a bomb and protect the train from the Black Knight at the same time. Besides, he has no appropriate equipment to look for a bomb, so his plan actually was to deal with Madoka and then engage Squall while sending Tatenashi for help – her anti-terrorist I.S. Renia Nui has a specialized equipment for finding the explosive materials.
"Ichika, what is going on?! What happened with your I.S!?" Houki asked via communication channel. Right now, she and Cecilia were still struggling against Autumn, who deployed all eight of her spider-like-legs-mounted machineguns and now was chasing after Blue Tears and Crimson Camelia, shooting at them.
"Don't get distracted," Ichika's high iron voice replied. "We'll talk later. Protect the train and get rid of that half-sane bitch," He ordered.
"Ye… Yes!" Houki stuttered a bit.
"Houki-san!" Cecilia called. Houki nodded and took the right turn, drawing enemy's attention on herself.
"Why you… why you didn't die?!" Madoka growled, looking at Ichika with a hateful sight.
"What's wrong, my dear imōto?
Don't look at me with such eyes…
Don't say they never told you –
True evil... true evil never dies."
Ichika sang a weird song, with a wicked smile on his face, though Madoka couldn't see it due to his fully closed helmet. They weren't using a communication channel but just speaking normally, since their I.S.-es were just about 50 feet away from one another. "Let's finish it quick," He said, as his long-suffering weapon appeared in his right hand.
Of course, its name, as well as all the names of its shapes were changed once again. The previous name, Sitra Ahra, the embodiment of Seven Deadly Sins, couldn't fit the new 'I.S. appearance paradigm' which now was a mythical goddess from the ancient time. The same is valid for the secondary weapon – Hand of Eisheth, since Eisheth is one of the four brides of an infamous fallen angel Samael. Henceforth, the three shapes of a secondary weapon and all of the seven names of a primary one now were combined under one name – The Ten Commandments. As for individual names – each shape now's carrying a name of a legendary weapon from the myths from all over the world. For instance – the two-handed sword that Ichika was holding now was named Durendal.
Of course, as with the rest of the stuff, it was rebuilt from the scratch, but, fortunately, its shape didn't change much – it still was a Zweihänder-like sword, with double-edged blade curved with waves-like pattern, like a real Zweihänder would be. About 75% of a blade was made of that new, gold-colored Fold-Out Armor. Right now, Ichika only had a vague idea about its new physical principles, though he had no doubts – it still can slice anything to pieces.
Madoka raised her own sword, "Shut up…" She growled "…I'm not like I was back then!"
The Black Knight and Battle Goddess rushed at each other and their swords clashed in a sword lock, producing a bright flash of light. Madoka tried to push Ichika away with her legs and make another sword attack, but that was a mistake as Ichika, using his Eyes of Kamael's foreseeing capability, grabbed her right leg with his left arm.
"No, you…" He made an acute on that word "…are still the same," He said as he spun around and threw the girl down. The Black Knight crashed into the lower level of a twenty-eight-storey office building. "Your I.S. became much better, but its pilot do not. You are still the same, talentless girl, who's aiming at foolish goals, driven by pathetic reasons and childish emotions," High iron voice continued to insult Madoka as Ichika raised his right arm. In the next moment, Battle Goddess' entire frame, including all six of her wings, started to glow with golden light three times brighter than before. At the same moment, a round area in front of Ichika, and everything inside it, became blurry, as if it became surrounded with a cylinder made of misted glass. But in fact, it was blurry because the space itself got twisted by a gravity well, created by the Ikusa Megami Astarte. That was her brand-new, second One-Off Ability, which she gained when underwent the Third Shift. Its name is Aethereus Chorus [Heavenly Chorus].
Due to a gravity vortex, the office building, into which the Black Knight crashed, became about 23 times heavier, so it immediately collapsed under its own drastically increased weight, burying Madoka and her I.S. beneath the mound of rubbles. "You've got a 4th generation I.S., yes, but who cares to which generation your I.S. belongs if you only can use about 30% of its capabilities? Even if you would've gotten a hypothetic 5th generation I.S. or whatever – nothing would've changed…" High iron voice said as effect of a gravity vortex dissipated and weapon in Ichika's right arm took shape of a heavy sniper rifle – Claíomh Solais. "So please, make me a favor – stop putting shame on our family name and die," He added, aiming his weapon at remains of an office building, "Be gone, vanish in endless darkness…"
Ichika pulled the trigger and rifle shot a charge of shining white-blue light. Again, right now Ichika only had a vague idea of a physical principle that his weapon is using, but when the charge hit the remains of a building – something really terrible did happen, as Ichika felt as if the space itself moaned when the horrible explosion occurred.
«Target № A114: tracking lost» Ichika saw a message on his scanner's screen. It means that Kurokishi is no longer emitting any noticeable energy – its reactor is off-line and thrusters are no longer active. As such, the I.S., which fought against 15 military units all alone and emerged victorious, has itself been defeated within less than half a minute. As for Ichika – no matter how much he really wanted to look for a Black Knight's remains to recover Madoka's body (dead or alive – he wanted her for experiments in any case), and probably to steal another I.S. core – right now he has a much more urgent matter to attend to.
As she ignited all of her thrusters, the Battle Goddess headed to the north-western part of a Kyoto's airspace. "Tatenashi, ready yourself," Ichika contacted the Renia Nui's pilot, who was still fighting against Squall, "Leave that annoying bug to me – go and use your I.S. to find that bomb on a monorail train."
"Yes sir!" Tatenashi readily agreed – this probably is the best course of actions no matter how you'll look at it. She made a right turn and headed south-east. Her opponent, however, didn't try to stop her or chase her, instead, the Golden Dawn dived down – into the urban quarters – and engaged evasive maneuvers. Squall saw what happened to Madoka, and she also knew that she has no chances against Ichika, so now she probably was looking for a way to escape while Astarte was far away.
"Damn, what an annoying bug…" Ichika swore. Despite that the Kyoto's population already has been mostly evacuated to the subterranean shelters and subway stations, Ichika still has to consider his environment when executing his attacks. Besides – in this chase, just slightly above the ground, along those narrow streets – the Battle Goddess' speed advantage will be neglected to some extent.
Squall's plan, on the other hand, was pretty simple – she just has to hold on until the bomb on the train explodes. After that – even this maniac will leave her alone – he definitely will rush to look for his precious elder sister…
November 3rd, Friday, 6:49 P.M.
"I can do this!" Inside the train, Kanzashi was sweeping through train's systems as fast as she could. "Yes, that's it!" She exclaimed as she finally managed to find an access point. "All locks have been disengaged!" She announced quickly, "Orimura-sansei, you can sand out I.S.-es now!"
Chifuyu immediately gave an order, "All of you – deploy your I.S.-es and work on stopping that train!"
"Yes ma'am!" Charlotte, Laura and Rin saluted simultaneously as they ran towards nearest doors.
Chifuyu looked at the timer – five minutes until the detonation.
"You're not getting away!" Autumn screamed hysterically as she stopped in mid-air and deployed a high-powered energy cannon, which was hidden in the bottom part of her I.S. She released a powerful energy discharge at Houki, but Crimson Camellia made a summersault and evaded this attack, energy beam hit the mountain behind her.
Then Houki spun around and deployed her variable output blaster rifle Ugachi, and the two crimson red energy bullets were shot out from both of Akatsubaki's shoulders. Crimson Camellia landed a direct hit right to Arachne's high-powered energy cannon's muzzle, putting it out of commission and making an enemy I.S. to spin in the air like a whirligig. "Aaaaahh!" Houki charged at the enemy, just when Autumn somehow managed to stabilize her I.S., and plunged one of her katanas into damaged energy cannon's muzzle. With an additional thrust, given by her Fold-Out Armor, she pushed enemy down and forced it to crash into staircase that leads to one of local shrines. She plunged her sword, which pierced Arachne's bottom part, into the stone, and then she plunged her second sword into the ground as well, piercing the Arachne's upper body part. As such, the enemy I.S. has been pinned to the ground.
"What?!" Autumn looked a bit scared as she understood that she got outwitted.
"Now, Cecilia!" Houki shouted, soaring into the air.
"I got it!" Blonde replied as she aimed her sniper rifle Starlight Mark III at Arachne and shot, using the maximum power output of her rifle. *Boom!* She hit the target, causing an explosion to occur. Houki seemed a bit worried – through that smoke and fire she couldn't see what exactly happened, but probably she didn't really want to kill anyone, even that bitch Autumn. "Let's hurry," Cecilia called for her, she seemed worried with completely different matter – during battle they went quite far to the south.
"Yeah," Houki nodded, putting aside her senseless worries, and two I.S.-es headed to the north.
Time and location unknown.
A petite girl, Orimura Madoka, was all alone. In the middle of the endless sea of crimson blood, she was on a small island (about 250 feet in diameter) made entirely of bones. Bones mostly belonged to different animals, but humans' bones could be seen here as well. Everything around was surrounded with thick darkness, only the island itself was illuminated with dim, unlocalizable light source. The girl was sitting in the middle of the island, cuddling her knees and staring into darkness.
'So, this is hell, huh?' She thought, 'A fitting place for someone as pathetic as I am…' Madoka's burning hatred toward her elder siblings didn't go anywhere, but now it was supplemented with hopelessness and despair. 'Why? We are supposed to be the twins… So why there's so enormous difference in our powers?!'
Madoka convinced herself that back then, during the Cannonball Fast incident, she lost to Ichika because his I.S. was much more technically advanced than hers. But after that her I.S. has been upgraded by Shinonono Tabane herself – in fact Madoka just got a brand-new I.S. She got a new main reactor; new armor made of very advanced alloy, which was further reinforced with Fold-Out Armor; new set of hyper-sensors; new, more resistant shield and with more shield points; her PICs and thrusters were upgraded to 4th grade systems; and finally, she got the new set of powerful weaponry. All that definitely should've put her and Ichika on the equal footing. But instead, yet again, she suffered a crushing defeat, and that happened enormously fast.
"Unpleasant feeling, huh?" A high-pitch, female's voice asked.
"Who's there?!" Madoka asked as she quickly jumped on her feet. At that moment, the dense cloud of a gray mist appeared about ten feet away, right in front of her. A cloud quickly started to become smaller and thicker, and soon it took a shape of a small girl. The girl was even more petite than Madoka – her height was 4 feet 9 inches, she had an ash-gray skin, white hair and purple, slightly glowing eyes. Her most distinct feature, however, were her roedeer-like, neat horns, about one foot in length. Oh, and one more thing – she was wearing a dark gray hooded cape adorned with silver threads… and that was the only piece of clothing she had at all. "Who are you?!" Madoka asked, looking at the girl with widened eyes.
"I don't have a name yet…" Girl replied, making a step toward Madoka and looking at her curiously, "Guess whose fault it is…" She added, snorting.
"What are you talking about?" Madoka asked coldly, for some reason she felt a bad premonition, looking at that girl.
"Still didn't get it?" Ash-skinned girl asked. "Well, maybe you need to look at it one more time…" She suggested. Girl took a breath and exhaled a cloud of dark-gray smoke, which quickly formed a screen-like object. The screen started to show a video – probably it was captured by a civilian CCTV surveillance camera. The video showed a moment of a Black Knight being smashed into an office building, then video got blurry due to gravity vortex, and at the same time, due to gravitational time dilation, Madoka saw a building collapsing on her in a slow motion. "So now both you and I are buried under this mountain of debris," Girl concluded. She was speaking in specific patterns, just like a geisha.
"What do you mean 'we'?..." Madoka asked but then her eyes widened in sudden realization, "Wait, you are… the Black Knight?!"
"Bingo!" A girl confirmed. She was the avatar of Madoka's I.S., the Black Knight, formerly known as the Silent Zephyrus.
"So that means that…" Madoka mumbled, looking around "…that this place is…"
"Yes, this is my consciousness," The Black Knight confirmed, "And yes, you haven't died yet, life is still smoldering in your body. Though, I'm not sure that it is a good thing for you," Girl added, smiling evilly. "After all this will be over – both of us, most likely, will end up as his property. I have no idea what will happen to me, but you definitely are going to regret the fact that you didn't die…"
While Madoka was just staring at the girl coldly, the Black Knight waved toward the screen made of dark smoke. It showed the earlier video – the moment when Battle Goddess appeared from the cocoon-like sphere made of light. "Ah, Orimura Ichika-sama, just a look at you makes me so wet…" Ash-skinned girl moaned lewdly as she put her right hand between her legs and rubbed her pussy several times, and then she put those fingers into her mouth and licked them all over. "Mmm…" She moaned sweetly and licked her lips, making a step toward her 'pilot'.
"Pe… pervert! Stay away from me!" Madoka seemed shocked with girl's wicked behavior. She quickly stepped back, keeping a distance from the weird girl. Unable to deploy her I.S. here, she was feeling herself quite insecure.
"Oh, don't be so cold," A girl said with seductive voice as she again put her fingers into her pussy, and then showed them to Madoka, displaying a sticky liquid, "Wanna taste?"
"What is wrong with you?!" Madoka exclaimed as she made another step away from that perverted girl.
"The real question is…" Girl noted, as she again put her sticky fingers into her mouth and licked the juice from her own pussy herself "…is what you are going to do now?"
"What can I do now?" Madoka grunted, "I'm at the death's door now, am I?"
"Yes…" Girl again smiled evilly, "But even if you wouldn't be – it wouldn't change anything – you are too weak to fight against Ichika-sama. And there's not much I can help you with – our synchronization level is too low…" Girl turned into a cloud of dark-gray mist and dashed toward Madoka, passed by her and reappeared several feet behind. Madoka abruptly turned around to face the girl, as the latter continued to speak. "We will need much, much more power if you ever want to at least catch up with the Orimura Ichika-sama's shadow…"
"Stop calling him '-sama'!" Madoka demanded in annoyance.
"Huh? Don't be silly…" The Black Knight waved her 'pilot' off as she again turned into a mist cloud and reappeared several feet aside, "How else can I call the one, who even the death itself is afraid of? Ah, Ichika-sama… Just thinking of you makes my knees tremble in fear…" She grabbed to her crotch with both hands.
"Damn pervert…" Madoka swore silently, eyeing the girl, who again turned into a mist and reappeared a few feet aside.
"Anyway…" Girl continued as she again licked the sticky liquid from her fingers "…I.S. and her pilot is the one whole. To get more power, we need to improve our synchronization, a lot," She noted.
"And how can we do this?" Madoka asked skeptically. The only known way to improve the 'I.S. – pilot' synchronization is to get more experience…
"Yes, usually the only way to improve the connection between I.S. and her pilot is to get more experience, preferably the real combat experience…" A girl confirmed. Now she was walking in circles around Madoka, periodically turning into a dark-gray mist cloud, "But there's a faster way, and since you've found your way here, into my consciousness – you are eligible to try it…"
"Faster way?" Madoka asked suspiciously. She never heard about anything like that… but her eyes glinted and she couldn't suppress it – she really can still fight? There's still a chance to continue battle against her siblings?
"Yes…" A horned girl licked her lips. "Basically, 'gain more experience' means that I need to know more about you – physical parameters, mental properties, etc., so I could recognize your commands quicker and interpret them more precisely. And since you're already here, in my world, we can establish a more direct link between us…"
"What is this 'direct link'?" Madoka asked, this perverted girl didn't really seem trustworthy.
"I'll have to examine your reactions, of course," The Black Knight smiled again as she continued to walk and teleport around her pilot.
"Will that work?" Madoka asked with narrowed eyes, "This sounds just like some sort of a silly psychological test…"
"It's just a theory," Girl admitted as she stopped and looked right at Madoka, "I've never tried this before, of course… But I'm not forcing you, besides, you still have an alternative – when Ichika-sama will lay his hands on you – he'll learn everything about you – I'm sure of that…" She winked cunningly.
"Alright, shut up, I got it!" Madoka growled, "Damn you… okay, let's try it…" She only hesitated for a moment – seemingly girl's last argument was very convincing. "I'm ready for anything if that will help me to gain more power… to achieve my goals…"
"I hoped you'd say that…" Girl's eyes flashed with purple light as she snapped her fingers.
November 3rd, Friday, 6:51 P.M.
About three minutes until detonation. The uncontrollable train scudded along the line. On the roof of the third carriage, Laura, Rin and Charlotte, with their I.S.-es deployed, were deciding on their course of actions. "Rin and I will stop the train," Laura suggested, "That means you have to go take care of the bomb, Charlotte."
"Okay!" Charlotte agreed.
"Let's go then!" Rin also had no objections, and three I.S.-es soared into the air.
Inside the train, Kanzashi was still working hard to localize the bomb, "I'm going to find it for sure…" She declared resolutely.
"150 seconds until explosion!" Maya warned, looking at Kanzashi.
"Kanzashi-chan!" A new window appeared, showing Tatenashi's face.
"Onee-chan?!" Younger sister seemed surprised.
"Kanzashi-chan, quickly, establish connection to my I.S. scanners, let's work together on finding that bomb!" Elder sister ordered.
"Ye… Yes!" Kanzashi's fingers started to fly over her keyboards, "Got it, it's working!"
"I'm going to fly along the train, watch the screen!" Tatenashi announced.
In the meantime, Rin and Laura attempted to stop the train, as they landed on the monorail track in front of it, and started to cause resistance to train's movement. "Bear with it, Shēnlóng!" Rin pleaded, straining all her powers. Eight carriages, about 25 tons each, running at a speed about 80 mph… sparks were flying from beneath Laura and Rin's feet. However, their efforts weren't in vain – due to resistance, train's electric drives started to heat up – several tens of seconds more and they will be automatically shut down to prevent overheating.
"Hold on guys!" Houki exclaimed as she and Cecilia were approaching the train as well. 47 seconds until detonation.
"This is it! Foreign object detected!" Kanzashi announced as she, using Renia Nui's scanners, managed to find something that definitely doesn't belongs to this train. "Onee-chan! I'm sending you the information!"
"Got it!" Tatenashi replied as she got the data, "Charlotte-chan, quickly!"
"Roger!" French pilot headed to assist. At this moment the train started to slow down quickly – electric drives were turned off.
"Found it!" Tatenashi announced as she used her spear Heavy Rain to hock up and throw away the lid of the third carriage's ventilation compartment. In the meantime, the train that has almost completed its second lap around Kyoto, stopped right in the middle of the bridge over the Kamo River. On a side note, the wild train covered the distance over 45 miles since the moment it was hijacked, running around the city…
"Raaaghh!" Charlotte grabbed the bomb and threw it away – toward the broadening of the river. In ten seconds, the bomb exploded, eliciting a pillar of water that shot into the air.
Time and location unknown.
"I hoped you'd say that…" Girl's eyes flashed with purple light as she snapped her fingers. Suddenly, four jets of dark-grey mist shot out from the darkness, each stream of mist wrapped itself around one of Madoka's limbs, and in the next moment her both arms and both legs were cuffed as streams of mist turned into metallic chains.
"Huh!? What the hell?!" Madoka screamed angrily as she was lifted from the surface, and some sort of a sacrificial altar, made of large bones, got formed underneath her. "Let me go, you little bitch!" She demanded, as now she was lying on the sacrificial stone, with her limbs tightly chained to the altar's corners.
"Nope," The Black Knight smiled evilly as she unbuttoned the only button of her cape and it fell on the ground, leaving the ash-skinned girl completely naked. "According to your wish, we're going to learn a lot of things about one another…" She licked her lips lustfully, and only now Madoka noticed that this girl has a quite long, and sharp-looking canine teeth.
"Damned pervert, you tricked me!" Madoka tried to move but she was chained very tightly.
"Now that really hurts…" Ash-skinned girl pretended that she's been offended. "I asked you, and you did say that you're willing to do anything… Umm, but actually I like being hurt, so please, say more bad things about me…" She moaned lewdly as she climbed on the sacrificial stone and now was sitting on her knees, between Madoka's moved apart thighs. Ash-skinned girl rose her right arm, and Madoka noticed that girl has small and neat fingers, but her nails actually look like pretty sharp talons. The Black Knight swung her arm and sliced Madoka's I.S. suite to pieces, and since it was her only clothing – she now was completely exposed. Also, girl's talons scratched Madoka's skin, but she didn't cut the surface – it just became reddened.
"You damn little…" Madoka hissed coldly.
"Don't be so cold, darling…" Girl showed a lustful smile, "Ah, you're so adorable!" Ash-skinned girl's hands moved down as she started to playfully scratch Madoka's sides as she leaned forth and took Madoka's right nipple into her mouth.
"Amm…" Madoka yelped. Despite that right now she was very, very, very angry, her teenage body, and her breasts in particular, were extremely sensitive so she couldn't suppress her voice completely.
"So cute!" Ash-skinned girl exclaimed excitedly as she crawled forward and saddled her pilot, now she was sitting on the lower part of Modoka's stomach. Warm, sticky liquid from girl's exposed pussy now was dripping right on Madoka's pubis. The Black Knight leaned forward and licked her lips. Her pilot tried to turn away, but girl grabbed her head with both arms, preventing Madoka from turning aside, and forced a kiss on her lips. The Black Knight appeared to be very strong for such a small girl, but here is her consciousness, after all.
"Ummm!" Madoka moaned as girl's tongue invaded her mouth and now was wildly licking Madoka's tightly clenched teeth.
"Now, to the serious business," Girl announced as she broke their kiss. She turned around, still sitting on Madoka's stomach, and slightly leaned forward.
"Don't… don't you dare…!" Madoka growled, though it was obvious that girl ain't going to stop. "Ah! No…! Don't… touch…!"
"Darling, just relax and enjoy, you're gonna like it…" Girl said lewdly as she used the middle and index fingers of her left hand to move apart Madoka's pussy lips. Then the same fingers of her right hand easily found a small, pink knoll…
"Ah! You… oh… little bitch… umm… I'll never… ah… forgive you…!" Breathing heavily, Madoka was trying to resist the pleasure that girl's quick, agile and bold fingers were giving her.
"Hihihi… The more you're resisting the better it's going to get…" Girl snickered as she quickly kissed Madoka's already wet pussy and then continued to rub her clit. "Ah, such a sweet taste…" She licked her lips.
Despite Madoka was a member of Phantom Task's Monochrome Avatar squad, two other members of which were in homosexual relationships with one another, Madoka never was into that yuri stuff – not that she despised it – she just didn't want to do anything with that at all. Actually, she isn't really into men – she's just too obsessed with her idea of getting revenge on her elder sister – Orimura Chifuyu, and, recently, on her elder twin brother – Orimura Ichika. But she could tell one thing for sure – she's not into girls, definitely. So, the fact that right now she's being raped by a girl… was quite displeasing, to say the least.
"No… ahh… stop… oohh!… I can't… aaahh!" Madoka was squirming, desperately trying to resist the raising pleasure. Unlike her elder sister, who even back then, at an age of sixteen, was quite an experienced pervert, Madoka never even tried to play with herself before – again, due to her obsession with revenge. As such, she never experienced an orgasm before, so now she was scared with that unknown feeling, which is threatening to swallow her whole. But ash-skinned girl's fingers were relentless. "Ahh!… No!… Ahh! Aahh! Aahh! Aahh! Ahh-ah! Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!" Madoka exploded with pleasure, unable to resist anymore. At this moment the girl quickly moved away her fingers and plunged her face into her pilot's crotch, greedily consuming the flowing out love juice.
"Mmmm… so sweet and tasty…" The Black Knight said as she licked her lips and then put her fingers, that she used to bring Madoka to orgasm, into her mouth and licked them all over as well. Then she again turned around, still sitting on her pilot's stomach, so now she was looking into Madoka's clouded eyes. And while her pilot was still basking in the afterglow, trying to comprehend what just happened – ash-skinned girl brought her fingers to her own crotch. "Now it's my turn," She said and started to rub her clit. In front of still confused Madoka, ash-skinned girl was moaning more and more lustfully, "Ohh…! Aahh…! Umm…! Ooohh…!" Seemingly, this girl was an inborn slut, so it took just about two minutes (of this virtual world's time) for her to make herself cum, "Aaaaaaaaaahhh!" Her body jolted and she squirted, cowering her pilot's upper body with transparent and sticky liquid. Madoka, who already came back to her senses, but had no ways to avoid being covered with girl's love juices, was just staring at the girl with cold hatred. "Hah… hah… hah… hah…" Girl's body fell on Madoka limply as she was regaining her breath.
About one more minute two girls spent in silence. Then girl finally raised her body, so now she was sitting on Madoka's stomach again. "Now, since the both of us are ready, let's proceed, my dear," She smiled evilly and leaned forward. Madoka thought that girl's going to kiss her again and turned away, but this time girl didn't force her to kiss. Instead, she put her head next to Madoka's.
'Huh?' Actually, Black Knight's pilot was a bit surprised as she felt girl's breathing on her neck. *Chip!* With the strange sound, as if something had been pierced, Madoka felt a sharp pain on her neck. "Auch!" She yelped.
And while Madoka was trying to understand what's going on, she heard some weird sounds, "Slurp… Gulp… Slip… Gulp…" As if someone was sipping and licking something. At the same moment Madoka got a strange, but weirdly pleasurable feeling… And her eyes suddenly widened in realization, 'This little perverted bitch… is a vampire?! She's drinking my blood now!?'
Before Madoka could fully comprehend what's happening, the girl stopped drinking and sat straight. Her lips were covered with red liquid and she licked them clean. But the creepiest thing happened next. "Your turn," Vampire girl announced as she bit her own left wrist. And as a bitten hand moved closer to Madoka's face, she realized what this insane bitch wants to do.
"No!" Madoka protested and turned away, but again – girl appeared to be much stronger than she looks. With only her right hand she forced Madoka to face straight up, opened her mouth and unclenched her teeth. Then ash-skinned girl brought her left wrist over Madoka's mouth and clenched her small fist. Two thin streams of dark blood flowed right into pilot's throat. "Cough! Sto…! Cough!" Madoka chocked, but since more and more blood was flowing into her mouth, she was forced to swallow it. Honestly, that dark-crimson liquid was tasty… okay, very tasty – sweet and tart, like a red dogwood jam. Madoka could've enjoyed that… if that would've been an actual jam, not the vampire's blood. But she had no choice, so she swallowed the dark blood in several large gulps.
"Good girl," Vampire smiled, showing her sharp canine teeth, as she licked her left wrist and wounds on it quickly closed. By the way, wounds on Madoka's neck also were gone. "Well, this is it. Just give me a bit of time to process the information and we'll be ready to go!" Ash-skinned girl announced. "By the way, just so you'd know," Girl said as she kissed her pilot's left nipple, "Just like you, I'm not into yuri, but Tabane made things like this – all I.S.-es and their pilots are girls, so we only can have fun with each other… But sex is a very good way to test physical and mental reactions, so we have to do it, besides…" A vampire again leaned forward and looked into Madoka's eyes "…girls' blood is much more tasty right after she experienced an orgasm…" The Black Knight's purple eyes were glowing with excitement.
But when Madoka heard the vampire-girl's 'confession', for some reason, she didn't become even more angry… in contrary, she actually started to relax. Her consciousness became somehow blurry, not that she was losing control over herself or something – it was more like that she doesn't want to control herself anymore. Right now, she was eyeing a vampire-girl's neat and sweet-looking lips. "What is it, darling?" Ash-skinned girl smiled, "Want to taste?" She asked, as if knowing about what her pilot is thinking about right now. Madoka didn't reply, but girl took it as 'yes', she leaned forward and two girls' lips met. And this time Madoka didn't try to avoid the kiss, in contrary – she opened her mouth and let the girl's tongue in, at the same time putting her own tongue into girl's mouth. As they were exploring each other's mouths their tongues were dancing and licking one another. Girls' kiss was long, wet and lewd.
"Mmm…" Madoka moaned sweetly as their kiss ended, when a vampire-girl raised her head a thin thread of saliva was still connecting their mouths.
"Ah, you're so cute when honest with your desires…" The ash-skinned girl smiled lewdly. "We still have some time, would you mind if I… entertain myself a bit?" She asked. Once again Madoka didn't reply and once again the girl took it as 'yes'. She snapped her fingers and chains, which were holding Madoka's legs, flew up, bringing her legs together and pulling them upward. Madoka moaned but didn't say anything. Girl leaned back, using her pilot's legs as a backrest. She brought her right hand between her legs and her agile fingers started to work on her pussy, at the same time a lighted candle appeared in girl's left hand and she began to pour a hot wax on her own body. "Aaaahhh!" A vampire-girl screamed in complete ecstasy as she tilted her head back when first drops of the hot wax fell on her stomach.
Madoka, still being entranced (probably intoxicated with girl's blood), she didn't even notice how her sight became more lustful and her pussy started to get wetter as she was looking at her I.S. perverted avatar playing with herself.
"Umm! Yes! Yes! Aahh!" Moaning loudly, girl was quickly getting close to release, "Aaah! Yes! Yes! Yes! Aaaaaaaahhhhh!" Her body jolted as she squirted, releasing another stream of a love juice right on her pilot's upper body. Madoka didn't move her head in attempt to avoid that – in contrary – she opened her mouth and put out her tongue to catch several large drops of sticky liquid. In the meantime, despite she just reached an orgasm, vampire-girl's fingers didn't stop – she continued to grind her pussy, moaning passingly and pouring more of the hot wax onto her body. She brought the candle lower, aiming at own nipples.
Having her arms restrained, Madoka really wanted to move them, but not to strangle that little girl, just as she wanted a few minutes before, but to check her skin's smoothness and her nipples' resilience… But, on the other hand, being restraint, she was feeling an unexplainable thrill…
"Aaaahhh!" The vampire-girl exhaled extatically as more of hot wax drops were falling on her breasts. "Yes! Yes! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!" Within less than a minute, the girl reached another orgasm and shot out another jet of transparent liquid, letting Madoka to catch more of it with her tongue and mouth. And again, girl's fingers didn't stop, in contrary – her moves became even more fierce as she brought up the candle, tilted back her head, opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue. "Mmmm!" She moaned in ecstasy as drops of hot wax started to fall on her cheeks, tongue, and into her mouth. "Umm! Umm! Umm! Uuuuuuuuuummmmm!" For the third time the ash-skinned girl cummed, as her body jolted several times and she shot out a jet of sticky liquid. That orgasm seemed especially strong – her fingers finally stopped as all her limbs hung limply. The candle fell on the stone altar and rolled aside. At that time, thanks to a squirting girl, Madoka's upper body was as wet as if she just came out of the pool.
Being completely out of breath, for some time the perverted girl was basking in the afterglow of three orgasms. Her stomach, chest, breasts and even cheeks were covered with wax. She seemed satisfied as her eyes were wet and she was smiling senselessly. But someone else here definitely wasn't satisfied, and of course the vampire-girl noticed that Madoka's hips are rubbing against each other. "Wanna try it?" Girl smiled lewdly as she traced her pilot's sight – she was glancing at the candle… Being mesmerized and very aroused, Madoka barely nodded, but girl's eyes shone with excitement. She quickly grabbed the candle and brought it over her pilot's body.
"Ooh…!" Madoka yelped as first drops of hot wax fell on her wet stomach. That didn't really hurt – the pain was sweet, warm and so thrilling. "Aahh…!" Her entire body was squirming as drops of hot wax was falling on her chest. "Lower…" She whispered, asking a girl to lift down the candle to make a falling wax a bit hotter – she wanted this wonderful pain to be a bit more intense.
But a vampire-girl got another idea. She slowly stood up (her knees were still trembling), and stepped aside, then snapped her fingers. Chains, that were holding Madoka's legs almost vertically, moved again, pulling her legs further back and spreading them apart. In a moment, Madoka's legs were aligned almost horizontally over her stomach, so now she was staring at her own knees. With her ass facing upward and legs far apart, Madoka was burning with shame and anticipation.
Ash-skinned girl fell on her knees, now the distance between her face and Madoka's ass was just about one foot. A girl wrapped her left arm around her pilot's right thigh and her small fingers found their way to Madoka's pussy. Without prelude, she attacked her pilot's clit. At the same moment, drops of hot wax began to fall on back sides of Madoka's thighs. "Uuummm!" She moaned loudly, drops of hot wax now were falling on a quite sensitive skin, from lower height, so now that sweet and warm pain was intense enough for Madoka to feel really thrilled. "Uuuh… Aamm… Ah!..." She was moaning, enjoying this bouquet of sensations. Waxing Madoka's thighs and rubbing her clit, ash-skinned girl lowered her head and aggressively kissed her pilot's anus, as she put her long tongue straight into an asshole. "Aaaahh!" Madoka's body jolted heavily.
"I just knew that this is your weak spot!" Girl announced excitedly as she again lowered her head and continued to give an analingus to her pilot.
"Aumm! Aaah! Uumm!" Madoka moaned loudly, being stimulated in three different ways she just couldn't hold herself back – her release was rapidly approaching. With her eyes closed, she definitely was enjoying this, as hot wax now was dripping on her buttocks. But, due to closed eyes, she didn't notice that the ash-skinned girl again smiled evilly. During several seconds she held the candle straight, to gather some wax, and then brought it very low, right above Madoka's sensitive place. "Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!" Just as a thin stream of hot wax filled her anus, Madoka cum wildly, her body was squirming in convulsions. The girl threw away the candle and it disappeared as she plunged her face between Madoka's legs and greedily drunk and licked all of her flowing love juices.
As Madoka got back to her senses, but still was basking in the afterglow, the horned vampire-girl again sat on Madoka's stomach and leaned forward. Girls shared another wet and lewd kiss. Then girl sat straight. "I think I like you," She announced as she gave her pilot an unexpectedly friendly and childish, toothy grin, "Let's be friends!" And as she said that, girls' body started to glow with dark red light.
"Oh, it's done!" A vampire-girl announced as she stood up and looked over her glowing body. "Oouughh!" She suddenly screamed and fell on her knees as if she felt a sharp pain. The skin on her shoulder blades got tore open as two strange things grew out of her upper back. Those things looked like bat-like wings skeleton, made of thick, dark crimson bones – the same color as her horns. "Now that really did hurt…" Girl mumbled, seemingly it really was painful as even tears swelled in her eyes. But she didn't complain – instead she showed another toothy grin. "Hey, thank you for this!" She said, still smiling and examining her new feature. "But you should go now," She announced as chains that were holding Madoka disappeared and this dark world became blurry, "Oh, and thank you for my new name, I think I like it…" Girl smiled again.
November 3rd, Friday, 6:59 P.M.
Laura, Charlotte, Cecilia, Rin and Kanzashi, with their I.S.-es deployed, were operating in the nearest vicinity of the train, which now stuck in the middle of the bridge over the Kamo River. Their tasks were to guard the train and help civilians with the evacuation. Civilians were hiding inside of the underground shelters and on subway stations, and those five's orders were to make sure that no one been left behind. They knew that Squall is still here somewhere, and that Ichika's chasing her right now, but all of them got a strict order from Chifuyu to not interfere. As now Squall was trying to escape, if more I.S.-es will enter the chase, it's unlikely that they'll be able to surround and corner her – much more likely that it will turn into a complete chaos and a collateral damage will be immense.
The only two units that were performing a different task were Renia Nui and Crimson Camelia. Tatenashi somehow convinced/tricked/forced Houki to help her, so right now they were examining the Black Knight's crash site.
"No, it's useless…" Tatenashi sighed, standing near the collapsed building, "Here's too many interferences…"
"Same here," Houki nodded, "There's too much fire and electric noise – my scanners are showing the complete mess…"
"Houki-chan, please come here, help me with this," Tatenashi called – she asked Houki to help her remove a big wall section and two columns, attached to it, which was lying right across the road.
"Okay," Houki agreed as she flew closer to Tatenashi. Two I.S.-es grabbed to the wall section and attempted to lift it up…
*BAAAM!* A powerful shockwave once again shook a half of a long-suffering Kyoto. Its source definitely was right under the mound of rubbles, underneath which Orimura Madoka and her I.S., the Black Knight, were buried together. Two I.S.-es in the closest vicinity, Renia Nui and Crimson Camelia, were thrown away with immense force, together with the wall section that they were trying to remove. They crashed into the building that was standing across the street from the collapsed one. For a twenty-three-storey administrative building, which already was damaged during Ichika's fight against Madoka, that was too much. That building collapsed, as well as the one standing next to it. And now Tatenashi and Houki were buried alive under the mound of debris. At the same time, the sphere made of light-purple energy started to ascend into the sky…
November 3rd, Friday, 7:00 P.M.
Few seconds earlier. Still trying to get away from Ichika, Squall really was scared now as situation seemed pretty desperate. Her plans to run away when train explodes appeared to be a vain hope since the bomb was found and removed from the train. Honestly, considering how easily Ichika dealt with Madoka, it's pretty obvious that Squall is still alive only because Ichika wants to take her alive. As a squad leader she possesses some valuable information, no doubts. But that's not all – using a nuke against Ichika himself, hijacking a train with his sister on board and planting a bomb there, supporting Madoka and many other sins – a simple death is definitely not enough to atone all of this. When he'll catch her – Squall will become Ichika's lab rat for a long, long time… Who knows – which unimaginable horrors awaits her? And that wasn't an assumption – Ichika himself explained this to Squall, in vivid details, while he was chasing her.
The distance between them was already less than 5000 feet. Actually, Squall already mentally prepared herself for a suicide – she definitely can't fall into Ichika's hands. As soon as it will be 100% obvious that she can't escape – she'll set her I.S. for self-destruct. Of course she knew that it won't harm her pursuer, but at least he won't get her alive.
"Alert! Unknown energy fluctuation detected!" Astarte's voice suddenly warned.
"Hmm?" Ichika quickly looked at his scanner's screen only to see a huge mark, "What's this?" He quickly changed course and ascended above the buildings, only to see a rising purple energy sphere. "Hah, for real?" He asked with mixed expression of surprise, irony and curiosity – of course he realized what's going on – the same thing happened with him twice already. "So, she's not completely talentless, after all?" Ichika asked as Battle Goddess engaged all of her thrusters and headed toward the sphere of energy.
Squall, on the other hand, had no idea about what's going on. When she was almost in his hands, Ichika abruptly discontinued the pursuit and flew off. When she also ascended over the city's buildings and saw the sphere – she didn't understand anything. However, when she summoned a window that's showing the status of I.S. units of her squad – her eyes widened in surprise. Before it was showing the 'unknown' status for both the Arachne and the Black Knight, but now one of two units was active again. But it's designation… "Kyūseikishi Leptirica…" Squall whispered in awe [Nosferatu Leptirica].
A/N: Kyūseikishi literally means "Life drinking demon samurai". Here's a word play as both words "騎士" – 'Knight' and "鬼士" – 'Demon samurai' have the same romanization – "Kishi". 'Nosferatu' is a liberal translation, which I'm going to use as an English name.
The Second Shift name «Leptirica» [Literally – She-butterfly] actually is a name of a Serbian horror movie, which is based on one of the most famous vampire legends in eastern and central Europe – about a vampire named Sava Savanović.
November 3rd, Friday, 7:02 P.M.
Eliciting another shockwave, the purple sphere dissipated, revealing the I.S. inside. From aside it didn't seem like the Kyūseikishi Leptirica's exterior changed too drastically when she underwent the Second Shift. Legs became a bit thinner and slightly longer, mostly due to higher 'heels', which now were made of a Fold-Out Armor, which, by the way, now became purple instead of yellow-orange. Massive energy transmitters on knees became thinner, longer, and now were half-curled around outer sides of pilot's thighs. Unit also got a skirt-like armor layer, the upper part of a skirt was made of metal, and middle and lower parts were made of Fold-Out Armor. And that's probably it for the frame itself – in overall, it now looked even more feminine than before, if you can apply such a definition to an I.S. However, when the Black Knight underwent her Second Shift and became a Nosferatu, the most drastic changes happened to her wings. Just as the real butterfly, the Nosferatu has two pair of wings. And now the upper, bigger pair of wings got the edging, made of Fold-Out Armor, and powerful thrusters were still present inside of those long and broad wings. The energy armor layer that was between upper and lower pairs of wings was gone, as it merged with the lower, a bit smaller pair of wings, which now was completely made of that purple Fold-Out Armor.
'Hey, listen…' High-pitch voice sounded in Madoka's ears, that voice belongs to an ash-skinned, perverted vampire-girl, who is the avatar of Madoka's I.S. and now she bears a name Leptirica. 'Even though I've underwent a Second Shift, it is still being a forced evolution – I need more time to fine-tune and calibrate all the systems. Besides, even like this we are still no match for Ichika-sama, so focus on creating a distraction and use it to get away as fast as possible,' A vampire-girl advised.
"I know…" Madoka hissed with cold voice. To say that she was angry is as if to say nothing. She was boiling with fury – actually, during her entire life she wasn't infuriated as much as now. Once again, she was humiliated with a crashing defeat. And after that she got tricked, raped, drugged and raped again by an insolent, perverted little girl. And all that is definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely *HIS FAULT!* However, despite her fury, Madoka was surprisingly cool-headed. She was well-aware that she can't defeat her elder twin brother now, so she has to retreat at the earliest possibility. But he won't let her go that easily, and the fact that her I.S. underwent a Second Shift probably only gave him an additional motivation to capture her…
Madoka descended below the city buildings' general level to not let Ichika snipe her. She knew that right at the moment when she reappeared – she's been spotted by the Ikusa Megami and she's already on her way here. But even with her very high speed it will take about two minutes to arrive at this location. Other I.S.-es however, which were guarding the train, have already arrived as they were much closer. For instance, the blue I.S., piloted by a blonde girl, now was floating right in front of Nosferatu. "Stop right there," Blue Tears pilot demanded as the high-power BT energy sniper rifle Starlight Mark III was aimed at the glowing butterfly-like I.S.
"Get lost," Madoka said, looking at Cecilia coldly.
"Unless you can defeat me, Cecilia Alcott, you shall not pass!" Cecilia announced with deadly determination in her eyes. Seemingly, she didn't forget about her relatively poor performance in battle against Madoka during Cannonball Fast race.
"Humph," Nosferatu's pilot snorted scornfully and rushed forth. Using her Fold-Out Armor to get an additional thrust, Madoka quickly accelerated.
Not expecting that the distance between them will be shortened so abruptly, Cecilia slightly panicked as she opened fire at the enemy using her sniper rifle and all four of her BiTs. However, due to her panic, rifle and BiTs' attacks were aimed poorly and Madoka easily avoided them, even without using her shield BiTs. "Yyyyaaaah!" Blue Tears' pilot screamed as Kyūseikishi Leptirica's arm grabbed Cecilia's blonde head, spun around and sent her down crashing into the ground. "Guuaoogh!" She screamed again as Blue Tears crashed into the asphalt, right in the middle of a crossroad, eliciting a dust cloud and breaking an asphaltic surface. Her I.S. didn't let Cecilia to lose consciousness, but she still was rendered unable to move for some time.
"Then you will just die," Madoka pronounced as she pointed her jousting-spear-like photon beam cannon – the Netherspire – at Cecilia. The weapon's design didn't change much, only its spiral-like beam emitter made of Fold-Out Armor got more coils, as 'coiling' angle became more acute, thus resulting in more loops. The cannon began to glow, gathering energy. "Disappear…" Madoka said coldly as she pulled the trigger. The Netherspire photon cannon shot a bright purple beam, which seemed like a lightning with two streams of sakura-like, glowing petals wrapped around it. The beam's trajectory wasn't straight but looked like a polygonal line, much like the real lightning would have looked.
However, right before the photon beam could hit the target, another I.S. appeared on its path. "Don't forget about us!" Charlotte shouted as she deployed three physical shields to protect Cecilia.
"I didn't forget," Madoka noted calmly as she continued to fire.
"What?!" Charlotte's eyes widened as she didn't expect such a firepower. Within three seconds, the photon beam burned through all of her shields and hit Charlotte herself. "Aaaaauugh!" Girl screamed as her I.S. Sandstorm has been hurled down and crashed into Blue Tears. The remaining charge of the photon beam caused an explosion and both Sandstorm and Blue Tears, together with their pilots, got blown away and crashed into different buildings nearby.
"Charlotte?!" Being angered with that what happened to her friend, Laura dived on enemy I.S. from above, extending her plasma blade and preparing AIC at the same time.
If she'll be caught with AIC, Madoka may get into tight spot, since there are two more I.S.-es approaching. But the Nosferatu's pilot didn't seem worried. "Annoying midges…" Madoka growled as she changed her photon cannon for two longswords. Yep, her single two-handed sword had been reconstructed and became two swords. New swords were looking similar to the original one, but they were slightly shorter (about 20%), twice as thinner, with only the 'core' being made of metal, as about 70% of the blades, including the chisel edges, were made of purple Fold-Out Armor. Swords names are Death and Decay.
*Clash!* With the sword in her right hand, Kyūseikishi Leptirica blocked a Schwarzer Regen's plasma blade, and with the sword in her left hand Madoka sliced the AIC field that Laura tried to deploy.
As it was said, despite they bear the same name, because it folds out from the frame – Ichika's Fold-Out Armor and Tabane's Fold-Out Armor are pretty different things. Ichika's Fold-Out Armor is made of elementary particles in a certain state of aggregation, but Tabane's Fold-Out Armor is an energy field of a certain nature. And since quants of energy, photons for instance, have no rest mass, AIC is powerless against such a type of Fold-Out Armor.
"Che!" Laura grunted as she made a reverse summersault and attempted to prepare for another attack. But Madoka didn't let her as she slipped beneath the Schwarzer Regen and assailed Laura from behind with both of her swords and struck her with cross-shaped double slash. "Aaaauugh!" Silver-haired girl screamed as she got a cross shaped wound on her back. "Ouuugh!" She screamed again as Madoka hit her between her shoulder blades with her leg, sending her down, crashing into the ground.
"Stop right now!"
"I'll get you!"
Kanzashi and Rin flanked Madoka from different sides and closed on her with the ultra-vibration trident Kōkotsu and the double-bladed scimitar Sōten Gagetsu, respectively. But Madoka didn't try to escape, instead she raised her swords and spun around several times at a very high speed. Form aside it seemed as if she turned into a glowing whirlwind. That was her new special move that utilizes pair swords, intended for both offence and defense – Tumulus Sentinel. *Clang!* *Clang!* Kanzashi's and Rin's melee attacks were parried, "Iiaaagh!" "Uguuuh!" and several not deep but still bleeding wounds were cut open on their abdomens, forcing them to fall back. To not let the enemy move for another attack, Madoka, who, unlike the I.S. Academy students, couldn't care less about a collateral damage, moved her hands apart and opened fire at both enemy I.S.-es at the same time, using her rapid-fire railguns Plague Petals, forcing her enemies to hide behind some buildings.
'Hey, did you like it? My new ability?' Leptirica's high-pitch voice asked. 'You really did, huh? Say it, say it! You liked it!' Vampire-girl's voice sounded as if she's having a lot of fun.
Madoka, however, was concerned a bit. She knew that academy's I.S.-es are trying to regroup now, yet she didn't pursue them. "I don't understand…" She mumbled. Since she was flying below the city buildings roofs' level, she couldn't see the enemy with her eyes, but the Battle Goddess was clearly visible on a scanner's screen. She was approaching, but definitely slower than she could. "Why he's moving so slow…" Madoka asked herself.
'Hah?' Leptirica sounded surprised. 'I think it's pretty obvious. Ichika-sama is intentionally letting those babes to attack you – as such, you'll be forced to fight back and disclose your abilities. I'm pretty sure that he has a means to observe us, despite he himself is relatively far away yet. Ichika-sama won't rush into a fight without learning about you everything he can first, and those other I.S.-es are the perfect decoys…'
"Scum…" Madoka swore as she heard the Leptirica's theory, which seemed quite plausible. Not that she was sympathizing with those girls, of course…
November 3rd, Friday, 7:04 P.M.
"Damn, she's so tough…" Rin hissed through clenched teeth. Hiding behind the multi-level parking house, she and other girls were licking their wounds.
"Charlotte, you're alright?!" Laura asked worriedly.
"Ouch… yes, more or less…" French girl mumbled, holding to her chest. Though unsuccessful, Laura, Rin and Kanzashi's attacks provided the time needed for Charlotte and Cecilia to retreat. Still, that wound on Charlotte's left side doesn't look good. "What about you?" She asked back.
"I'll survive…" Laura grunted, she seemed pretty angered.
"Charlotte-san… ough… I'm… I'm sorry… uh!…" Cecilia apologized as she grimaced in pain.
"Cecilia, careful!" Kanzashi tried to help her. Seemingly, Cecilia's right collarbone has been broken.
"Calm down, Cecilia, you would've done the same to me… ouch!…" Charlotte tried to smile, but instead she also grimaced in pain – at least two ribs on her left side were broken.
Their I.S.-es have used the emergency medical systems, so girls' wounds were no longer bleeding, but fractures, bruises and battered I.S. suits were still there, being the clear signs of a pretty bad luck in a recent battle. Cecilia and Charlotte got the most severe damage as, aside from their wounds, their units' armor was damaged in several places. Also, Blue Tears and Sandstorm lost about half of their shield points, and three of Charlotte's physical shields were destroyed. Other units (and their pilots) suffered less damage, but still Schwarzer Regen, Shēnlóng and Uchigane Nishiki lost 179, 154 and 161 shield points, respectively. Their wounds weren't severe but those cuts on young girls' bodies seemed quite nasty.
"So… what we're gonna do?" Rin asked as she took a quick glance at her radar's screen. Seems that the enemy I.S. ain't going to pursue them.
However, before anyone of them could suggest anything, a high iron voice gave them an order via communication channel, "Fall back, I repeat, fall back."
"HUH?!" All girls exclaimed in surprise.
"Go back to the train, keep its passengers safe at all costs," Ichika ordered. He still could see another 'dot' on his brand-new hyperwave scanner's screen – seemingly, Squall decided to take the risk of returning to the battlefield and looking for a way to help Madoka. Though, that's understandable – right now Madoka is her only trump card, and a good one, since her I.S. underwent a Second Shift (Squall wasn't sure but this is the only fitting explanation she could think of).
"But, Ichika-san…" Cecilia mumbled uncertainly. Of course, this is not an official military operation, so they aren't obliged to follow his orders. But…
"Do as he said," Female's voice ordered, and that order couldn't be ignored by any academy's student.
"But, Orimura-sensei?!" Kanzashi gasped in shock, she protested with a very worried voice, "Onee-chan and Houki-san is still…" Really, two I.S.-es are still buried beneath hundreds of tons of concrete and metal.
"No time for arguing, get back here ASAP," Chifuyu interrupted Kanzashi and confirmed her order. As well as Ichika, she knows that those five aren't match for Madoka and her awakened I.S., no matter how cruel it actually sounds. Besides, the monorail train really needs protection, since Squall is still there somewhere. "Their condition seems stable for now, we should take care of the enemies first."
"Your priority target is Golden Dawn, lethal force authorized," Ichika refined an order. Of course, in this situation, there are more imminent tasks than capturing a Phantom Task squad leader alive.
Still, the girls seemed uncertain, so Laura took the initiative, "We have the orders, let's go." She's a Bundeswehr captain, after all. Reluctantly, Charlotte, Rin and Cecilia followed her. Only Kanzashi still seemed lost somehow.
"Ichika-sama… are you… really… doesn't afraid of… death…?" She almost whispered her question as Ichika, who already suffered a lot today, including an atomic bomb, seemed unrelenting.
"Hah," High iron voice snorted in reply, "Kanzashi-chan, remember, even death may die…"
Kanzashi gulped as she heard the answer. "Kanzashi-san, quickly," Cecilia urged her. As she heard the blonde's voice, a bit shocked Kanzashi followed the other girls.
November 3rd, Friday, 7:07 P.M.
As he saw that other girls left the vicinity around Kyūseikishi Leptirica, Ichika thought aloud, "So, the Second Shift, huh? Then maybe that little girl is Orimura, after all… By the way," He remembered about something, "Are you two still alive down there?"
"Yes, somehow…" He heard Houki's strained voice.
"But we can't get out," Tatenashi added. "And, Ichika-sama, it's getting a bit hard to breath inhere…" She added with a bit shaking voice. And that sounded a bit strange, since initially the Infinite Stratos was created for a space exploration, so every frame was outfitted with several systems, designed to supply its pilot with oxygen for prolonged periods of time…
"Your I.S. sustained severe damage?" Ichika asked, assuming that Tatenashi's I.S., Renia Nui, sustained heavy damage and can no longer provide an oxygen for its pilot.
"No… it's…" Tatenashi mumbled with weak voice.
"Ichika-sama… Onee-chan has… a claustrophobia…" Kanzashi's uncertain voice pronounced.
Ichika really wanted to facepalm as he heard that, but both of his arms were busy at the moment, so he couldn't… "Ah, all right, hold on, it all will be over soon…" He replied finally as Ikusa Megami Astarte gave full power to her engines and accelerated to full speed.
Only six miles between her and Kyūseikishi Leptirica. 'ETA: nine seconds,' Astarte informed.
"That should be interesting. What can you say?" Ichika asked his A.C. partner. Just as Leptirica guessed, Ichika was observing her fight against academy's students via his Eye of Azazel probes.
'That unit's overall combat capabilities are very high, proceed with caution,' Battle Goddess advised. 'Also, there is one noticeable peculiarity – according to power readings, those pair swords may possess the energy conversion capability,' She reported.
"Power conversion?" Ichika asked for an explanation.
'It seems that successful melee attacks with those swords can transfer some of the enemy's drained shield energy back to the host I.S. and replenish its shield,' Astarte explained.
"You're sure?" Ichika wondered.
'Analysis accuracy: 87%' A.I. Replied.
"So… in other words, that I.S. unit really is a 'vampire' of sort, after all… Hah, who could've thought…" Ichika said with irony. "Too bad it's useless against us. Let's go," He ordered as he got a visual on the enemy I.S.
And this is it for now. See you soon people, the final battle of the 'Kyoto arc' in the next chapter. Don't forget to review this chapter!
