Hello Fanfiction readers! Ashbel Longhart finally back for some more Faiz! So sorry I haven't updated in so long but I had to work on my react story which I had put off for too long. But I'm back and ready to deliver more on Faiz Haru's adventure with the girls. Cue disclaimer!

(Disclaimer: I do not own Senki Zesshou Symphogear G or Kamen Rider Faiz. I also don't own any songs that appear in this story either. They all belong to their respective owners. All I own is this story and my OC's. Please Enjoy.)

Last time, Haru was out an about looking for any info on the new Smart Brain Riders when he got attacked by said Riders. Luckily for him, he got some unexpected assistance from both Psyga and Orga. They managed to one up the Smart Brain Riders but were unable to finish them as they were stopped by Kirika and Shirabe. Once the bag guys had escaped, Orga left while leaving behind a warning to Haru.

Now that we're all caught up, let's get into the story! Open Your Eyes For The Next Faiz! Let's Ride!


Kamen Rider Faiz: Song of Paradise

Second Verse

Song 4: Assault


(Last Time)

"He knew about the Gears."

"So who are these new Riders?"

"The red one is called Neo-Alpha, the blue one is called Pyron, and the green one is called Seeda."

"From how they spoke, we can confirm that they're all from different countries."

"Smart Brain has stations outside of Japan. Which means there are more Orphnochs out there in the world."

"From what we saw, it's safe to assume that Maria's group and Orga seem to know each other. If we can somehow find him then we might be able to get some answers about their objective."

"Who the hell are you?"

"Me? I'm Psyga."

"Whoever kills you first gets to fill in for Mr. J's seat. AKA, the first to kill you gets to join the Japanese Lucky Clover."

"Our fight won't be anything like how it was with Inui Takumi and Yuji Kiba."

"…Is it wrong to think that I'm proud I'm worth this much?"


(Now)

"Swan Song!"

"Combination Arts!"

"Cent Harmonics!"

Up on the screen, the video of Hibiki, Chris, and Tsubasa performing the S2CA Triburst is shown up on the screen. The watcher? The purple haired woman who was providing support for Maria and her group from afar. The one Maria called 'Mom'.

'By singing their Swan Songs in harmony, they not only magnify their destructive powers, but also alleviate some of the strain from the imperfect synchronization between body and Relic.' The woman thought in her head as she watched the week old video. She'll admit, the technique was both genius and dangerous because of the threat it could pose to her kids.

'According to the Sakurai Theory, Armed Gears may transcend through their limits through the Swan Song. The ability to link hands with others could be considered Tachibana Hibiki's Swan Song. There's no doubt in my mind that if they were the ones to destroy the fallen piece of the moon, they would have used their Swan Songs and return safely. A triple cantation of Swan Songs is unimaginably powerful. It produces a tremendous amount of phonic gain.'

Pressing a button, another screen appeared on the monitor displaying some sort of fetus-like creature.

'I used that to awaken 'the giant that fell from heaven', Nephilim.' The woman thought as she brought up another screen showing a creature hidden in the shadows of a cell. The creature's figure was hard to make out but the sounds of eating was clear to hear.

'It won't be long now…'


(Insert masterpiece by Mami Kawada)

(Intrumental) The song starts as blurry images play at high speed appear. While some images were hard to make out, the image of a fire and ruins, the Relics, the Rider Gears, the Wolf Orphnoch's hands covered in blood, and then the caged Nephilim could be made out before the title appears.

(To aru nichijou wa parallel world ikusen mono jikan ni) The scene shows Hibiki in class, staying after school, but to her surprise, she wasn't the only on there. The camera expands outward to show that with her in the class is Tsubasa sitting next to her right Chris sitting next to her left, and sitting in the back in the far corner is Haru looking out the window.

(Onaji mono nado nai masutaapiisu de orinasu jikuu e) We then see the hooded man leaning against a display window of a random store. He lifts his head up to reveal violet colored eyes before the scene changes to the Crane Orphonch up on the roof a building, looking ready to jump and take flight before the scene changes again to Psyga in the air, flying around.

(Kakinagutte hakushi no shinario ni pensaki ga kooru) The scene then changes to the 2nd Division's new submarine base as everyone else worked on monitoring the data and info in front of them while Ogawa stands next to Genjuro who had the Delta Gear in a brief case in hand.

(Originality mezase! douse kono michi o yukun dakara) The scene then changes to the hidden base of the organization, Finé. Professor Nastassja, in her wheel chair is seen monitoring the Nephilim, Shirabe and Kirika are seen together as their Relic necklaces shine under the light. Maria is seen holding a damaged Relic piece in her hands as she thinks about her late sister and a certain boy that held a special place in a heart. Finally, Dr. Ver is seen grinning madly wielding Soloman's Cane as a shadow of the Nephilim is seen behind him.

[Shinjite] (Kakenukete) [Tooku made] Haru as Faiz and the girls in their armor are seen with their weapons drawn. Across from them is Maria and the others, donned in their armor with their weapons out and ready as behind them were the Kamen Riders Neo-Alpha, Pyron, and Seeda.

[Kanjiru] (Daichi o kette) [Daichi kette] Both groups stare off at one another before both groups move and attack.

(Nanika no tame ni kogare, ikiteru kanshoku wa kitto) Chris is seen facing off against Kirika who throws scythe blades at her while she counters with bullets from her gattling guns. Meanwhile, Hibiki is seen facing off against Shirabe who throws saw blade at her while she punches and kicks them away.

(Darenimo makenai chikara ni Naru) Tsubasa and Maria are seen clashing weapons until they are broken apart by the sudden appearance of Orga who pushes Tsubasa back before he turns to look at Maria before clashing weapons with her as the Crane Orphnoch and Psyga are seen facing off against Dr. Ver and the Nepilim.

(Shiawase tte tabun kono shunkan onore ga shiru) [When I believed it] Haru is seen facing the three ene my Riders by himself until Kanade and Genjuro as Kaixa and Delta appear to help him, each Rider taking on another Rider.

(Kono kandou o atarashii peeji ni kizamu) [I can go to the next stage] Explosions litter the entire area as Haru was pushed back only to bump into Orga and Pysga. The three Riders look at one another before they all jump up and kick forward towards their intended targets; Haru at the enemy Riders, Orga at the Nephilim, and Pysga at Maria and her girls.

[It's only my thing, 'highest masterpiece!' hoo] Everyone looked up at the three kicking Riders as their kicking feet glow brightly, blinding everyone until the camera moves to show off the moon surrounded by the ring of rubble of its broken piece before the song ends.


(2nd Division Headquarters)

All was quiet in the headquarters of the 2nd Division. The only sounds that could be heard were the typing of keys as Genjuro and the others worked to find anything on the whereabouts of Maria and her group.

"It's been one week since the declaration of war at the concert." Sakuya commented as he continued typing away.

"Yeah. And in that week nothing has happened." Genjuro said as he kept his arms crossed.

"According to our government sources, the terrorist organization known as Finé hasn't attempted to threaten or negotiate with any countries since then." Aoi said from her side.

"Which means we still have no idea what they want." Genjuro said.

"They certainly made a name for themselves with that ostentatious performance." Sakuya said. "Luckily, that afforded us at the second division the opportunity for swift countermeasures."

"Hardly typical behavior for would-be revolutionaries. But perhaps this is what they wanted all along." Genjuro said before asking, "Still no signs of Tatsuya and his group?"

"None." Sakuya shook his head. "We've tried to contact them multiple times and went as far as to locate their location via satellite. Both came up negative. Something has definitely happened to them."

"Could they have been captured by Smart Brain?" Aoi guessed. "It would explain their lack of communication and disappearance."

"Hmm…" Genjuro hummed to himself. He agreed with Aoi and that Tatsuya's group may have been captured by Smart Brain. But if that was true, said group might not even be alive anymore.

'Smart Brain has seeds planted all over the entire world. Sooner or later, we might be looking at a great big war in the future.' Genjuro thought, worried. He was then brought out of his thoughts when a communication line came through.

-Commander Kazanari.- The voice that came through belonged to Ogawa.

"Oh, Ogawa? How's it going?" Genjuro asked.

-I had a look into the origin of the abandoned trailer we found near the auditorium.-

-You little asshole!- Suddenly, a different voice spoke up from where Ogawa was and the sound of fighting was soon heard but Genjuro and the others did not show the least bit of worry as they were confident that Ogawa was fine. And as if to prove it, Ogawa was still talking.

-I traced it back to a certain company and in their records, I found some large-scale purchasing orders to fictional sources for medical and measurement equipment as well as medical supplies.-

"Hm? Did you say medical supplies?" Genjuro asked.

-Yes. The dates on the records extend back two months. It would appear these anti-social gentlemen were laundering money.- It should be noted that the sounds of fighting have soon stopped as Ogawa continued speaking as if nothing had ever happened on his end of the line. -Don't these records pique your interest?-

"Hmm...it does seem worth looking into." Genjuro admitted. "What about your search for Tatsuya's group? Any luck?"

-As a matter of fact, I was able to dig up something though it isn't much.- Ogawa said as on the other line, the sound of shifting paper can be heard. -According to eye witnesses, Tatsuya and his group were last seen at an airport trying to leave the country. It was around 12 o' clock when they disappeared.-

"I see." Genjuro rubbed his chin in thought. He can pretty much guess that Tatsuya's group was leaving the country in order to get away from Smart Brain. If he had to take a guess, someone from Smart Brain must have stopped them. This of course brought nothing but worry to Genjuro.


(Lydian Academy)

Now some would think that after the incident at Lydian with the enter school building getting destroyed in the Noise attack that the students wouldn't have to attend classes until the school building would be repaired. But that's not what happened. With some help from the government, the entire school body was moved into another which would now act as a new building for Lydian Academy. Compared to the last building, some would say the new building was old in comparison, but as it turns out, the students and staff loved the new building.

The brick building with vines and moss decorating the walls, the entire campus was surrounded by nature with trees acting as a line between it and the rest of the city while a lake was neighboring the school building. The campus was pretty big too so students had no problem moving around and finding spots they could hang around at with friends. The classrooms too matched the age of the building with 22 decks accompanying a single classroom with extra seats and a few boxes sitting in the back of a classroom.

In one such classroom, we find one of our heroines, Tachibana Hibiki, looking at the window lost in her thoughts.

'So there are two Gungnir Symphogears. I guess I shouldn't be that surprised that she too has something to fight for.' Hibiki thought as her mind thought back to the incident at the concert.

I just want to help everyone who's in trouble! So...!

That's why you're a hypocrite!

Hibiki lets out a sigh, unknowingly getting the attention of her best friend, Miku, who was sitting next to her.

'What am I fighting for? I swore I never lie to myself, and yet...'

I told you already, didn't I? I promised to protect you no matter what.

Suddenly, Hibiki thought back to the words Haru spoke that night, the same promise that he made to her back then when she got out of the hospital and the people...

Hibiki shook her head to get rid of those thoughts before sighing again. 'And just when I convinced Haru-kun that I'll be fine on my own...'

"Hibiki! Hey, Hibiki!" Miku whispered to her friend to try and get her back to paying attention to class but it was soon too late as the teacher had approached their decks.

"Tachibana-san, is something troubling you?" The teacher asked.

Still out of it, Hibiki replied, "Hai(Yes). Something really important."

"Well, it is Autumn after all." The teacher said as if that explained everything. "I guess you have a lot on your mind right now. Much more important that paying attention to my class, it seems."

"Huh?" Blinking, Hibiki finally snapped out of her stupor and turned to look up at her teacher. "Eh? Wha-?"

"We just moved into the new school building, and the culture festival is three days away. Everyone's still getting used to living in the new environment, but it seems you've already integrated yourself quite nicely since you're acting as if you've never changed schools, right?"

"Gh!" Hibiki felt something akin to a stab through the chest at those words. While her teacher was much nicer than her last teacher(and that wasn't saying much since said last teacher was an Orphnoch that killed her friends and wanted to kill her), the woman had a way with words that made anyone feel guilty.

"S-Sumimasen(I'm sorry)..."

"Baka(Idiot)." Miku muttered under her breath at her best friend.

And thus, school life continued on like this.


(Unknown Location)

The sound of water falling from the showers made little echoes throughout the bathroom as taking a shower were the Symphogear users of Finé, Shirabe and Kirika.

"So I went down to that guy's stand again and he was making something called a Karaage Roll! It was Karaage Chicken wrapped in Bánh xèo(Sizzling Cake) and it was absolutely delicious! It tasted even better with this special sauce he made himself with Hot and Fish sauce with lemon juice and holy moly was it out of this world!" Kirika ranted on, telling her friend about her trip to the stand run by Yugo.

Ever since the Hujiao Bing she got from him, she went back a few days later to get some more when to her surprise, the man was cooking different kinds of food! She could still remember that Egg Benedict he cooked and from that point on, she made trips there everyday with the excuse of 'passing by' to eat the different kinds of food the man was making. Everyday he was making something new so there was always something to look forward to and because of that, the stand had gotten pretty popular at the shopping district. Even workers from other stores would visit when it was time for their breaks.

"And the best part, it only costs 500 yen! We gotta go there again, Shirabe! If we hurry over, we can still get some before the day..." Kirika soon stopped her ranting when she noticed that her friend was clearly thinking about something. And she could guess what that something was.

"Are you...still thinking about her?" And when she said 'her' she meant Tachibana Hibiki.

"That girl...she carries no burdens of her own. I can never bring myself to think of her as a hero who saved mankind." Shirabe said as she glared at the wall in front of her, imagining Hibiki's face right now as the target of her glare.

"Well, technically, it was that Faiz guy who saved the day, but I see where you're coming from." Kirika said as she turned away. "There are some things that need to be done, no matter what. We have to shoulder these necessary evils despite knowing that they're wrong."

Shirabe's glare suddenly intensified as she went and punched the image of Hibiki in her mind as her fist struck the wall in front of her, making Kirika look at her friend in worry.

"But why? She just said she wanted to help people in trouble. As if it were that easy!"

Kirika continues to look at Shirabe in worry. She could guess what she was thinking right now when those last words came out of her mouth. No doubt she was thinking about him.

As gently as possible, Kirika grabbed Shirabe's arm, removed it from the wall, and held the girl's hand with care.

As the two were having their moment, a naked Maria soon entered the room and turned on a separate shower as the water struck and rolled off her smooth skin.

"Whatever happens, all we can do is fight for the ideals we believe in." Maria said, having heard the girls before she came in. "We can't afford to question ourselves, to stop and reconsider. There's no time for that."

"Maria..." Shirabe said before suddenly, an alarm goes off and the sounds of gates shutting echo throughout the building.

The one who did this was the purple haired woman who was still at the computer. Up on the screen, the words 'LOCKED' flashed red before the screen switched to a viewing monitor of the Nephilim which was still eating...whatever it was eating.

"So this is the legendary hunger that drives them to even consume their own kind." The woman throught out loud as she simply watched the creature with a calculating gaze. "The Nephilim really is an uncontrollable-"

"An uncontrollable legacy of an ancient civilization?" Suddenly, another voice spoke up to interrupt the woman. The woman glances behind her and coming right out of the shadows was the one and only missing Dr. Ver.

"Please don't think of it that way." Dr. Ver said as he walked over to the woman's side.

"Dr. Ver."

"Even if we humans cannot control it, does that matter if it can become a heroic figure for us all?" Dr. Ver said with a non-threatening smile that gave off a friendly vibe though said vibe was absolutely fake.

Suddenly, one of the doors to the room opened and Maria and the girls cam running in with the former wearing nothing but a bathrobe and the latter girls wearing whatever they could grab and put on quickly before running over here as their still semi wet hair told that they had rushed out of the bathroom without properly drying.

"Mom! What was that alarm!?" Maria asked as soon as she and the others ran in but stopped once she spotted Dr. Ver.

Dr. Ver and the woman turn towards the girls with the former bowing a little while speaking.

"The next flower is still only a bud, so I wish to handle it carefully."

"Thank you for your concern, but we are all right." The woman assured the girls. "The Nephilim just went a little wild. I closed the blast doors and provided it with food, so it should calm down soon."

*BANG!*

Maria and the girls gasps little when the whole building shook from a sudden impact. No doubt it was the mentioned Nephilim, Maria guessed.

"Mom!"

"The appropriate measures have already been taken. Don't worry." The woman assured the girls again.

"More importantly, isn't it time for your inspection?" Dr. Ver suddenly brought up, addressing the woman when he spoke.

"The Frontier is a key element in the execution of our plan. It is necessary to keep a close eye on it to ensure operations begin smoothly." The woman said as the spared a look towards Dr. Ver, sending him a silent message. He responded with a smile that no one liked.

"Please don't worry about me. I'll hold the fort while you're gone and procure some more food for the Nephilim while I'm at it." Dr. Ver assured the woman.

"Then let me leave Shirabe and Kirika to serve as your bodyguards." The woman insisted.

"I wasn't planning on getting into any fights, so that shouldn't be necessary." Dr. Ver said. "It might be better for you to keep our forces as your personal guard, Miss Nastassja. After all, the one you call Orga and his little group are after you and your girls."

The woman now known as Nastassja narrowed her eyes at the man but relented as he had a good point. "Very well. We shall return at the scheduled time. I'll leave the rest to you." And with that, she and the girls took their leave, leaving Dr. Ver all alone in the room. Once he was alone did he take out a phone, dial a number, and waited until the one he was calling picked up. After a few seconds there was a click, signalling his call got through.

"This is John Wayne Vercingetorix here. Is everything ready on your end?"

-Yes, everything is ready for tonight. But the question remains...-

"Yes, will our prey take the bait?"


As usual, the streets of Tokyo were bustling with activity with cars moving about and blaring their horns at each other while people crossed the streets, hurrying to work or with their noses down in their phones. Yet in contrasts to the entire city, a regular dry cleaning business with nothing out of the ordinary about it was quiet as could be. The only one inside the building was a single worker yet with no one coming in to do their laundry or asking for any services, the worker who was dressed in a blue apron was actually just chilling at the front desk with his legs propped up and a magazine over his face. The slow rise and fall of his chest told that the man was napping on the job.

This is what Kanade walked into when she drove over here and found said man. Of course, she knew who the man was.

"Oi, Haru-san. Wake up." Kanade said a bit loudly in order to wake the man up.

There was a grumble before the man grabbed the magazine covering his face and lifted it up to reveal that it was Haru just like Kanade had said.

"Oh, it's just you." Haru said as he threw the magazine onto the desk and swung his legs off said desk.

"Do you talk like that to all customers or is it just me?" Kanade said, placing her hands on her hips. "And should you really be sleeping on the job?"

"Lay off, barely anyone comes here and I was up all night last night." Haru said, rubbing his tired eyes before shaking his head.

"Late night patrol?" Kanade asked, already guessing why the Rider was up so late last night. The Rider responded with just a nod.

"So, what brings you here? I doubt it's for laundry since I don't remember telling anyone about this job." Haru asked.

"I came here to inform you that we might have found the place Maria and her group are hiding out at." Kanade said, getting to the point before she let out an exaggerated sigh that was filled with mental tiredness. "Do you know how hard it was to find this place? I went to you place only to find your dog so I called the girls to see if they knew where you were, but turns out they don't know either. So I had to call old man Genjuro to pinpoint your location via your phone."

"Wow, you really went through all that?" Haru asked with a small amount of amusement in his eyes.

"Yeah." Kanade said as she slumped down a little in exhaustion. "Seriously, why the heck are you so hard to find when we need you?" Haru just gave her a shrug. "Okay, then mind telling me when you started working at a dry cleaning business and why? I thought you were Tsubasa's personal photographer?"

"Just because I'm her photographer doesn't mean I take pictures of her 24/7."

"But don't you make tons of money even when you're not taking pictures?"

"I put all that money in my bank account."

"All of it?" Kanade asked, brows raised.

"All of it." Haru said. "I don't trust myself with that much money in my hand so I sent all that dough to the bank. I'm just working for money to carry around."

"Can't you just withdraw some money then?"

"Nope. That money's staying in there in case of emergencies."

"Normally I would ask what kind of emergencies, but after working with you for a while, you'll probably end up in some kind of trouble." Kanade said as she can imagine Haru getting into trouble which would then require massive amounts of money to get out of.

"You make me sound like a magnet for trouble." Haru said as he took off his apron and hanged it up on a nearby rack.

"May I remind you that you have a massive bounty on your head." Kanade said before asking, "Seriously, what the hell did you do to them before you joined up with us?"

"All I did was kill Orphnochs. Apparently, they didn't like that very much." Haru said before taking out his phone and dialing a number. "Anyway, just let me call my boss and then we can go."

"But aren't you technically still working? The operation goes on tonight so there's no rush."

"The guy who owns this place is a super nice guy, a bit too nice if you ask me." Haru commented before he finally got the line through and left to talk in private.

"Then I guess I'll just wait outside." Kanade told the Rider before doing just that. Going out and closing the door behind her, Kanade waited by her personal Rider Machine, the SB-913V Side Basshar. And as she waited, she looked up at the building Haru was working at and wondered out loud:

"Why a dry cleaning business?" Out of all the places to work at, why did the Hero of the Lunar Attack decide to work here?


(Meanwhile, at Lydian Academy)

The school bell rang, signalling the end of school as the sun was beginning to set over the horizon and the sky went from blue to blazing orange.

Among the school campus, someone is seen running down the halls with all her might, trying to escape her pursuers. She was so caught up in running that she wasn't looking where she was going so when she turned a corner. she had bumped into someone. And that someone was...

"If you're going to run, you can at least look where you're going." Tsubasa said, rubbing her behind before looking to see who had bumped into her and was surprised to see none other than Chris. "Yukine? Why are you in such a hurry?"

The white haired girl, who was wearing a Lydian Academy uniform herself to show that she was a student herself here, albeit said uniform is loose-fitting due to her large bust and smaller stature and the cuffs of her sleeves are occasionally seen to go past her wrists, groaned in pain before she quickly got back up to her feet.

"They're...They're after me! They'll be here any moment!"

"Nani(What)?" Tsubasa looked at the girl in confusion who suddenly pushed her back against the wall and peaked around the corner. The pop idol looked around as well and all she saw were a trio of running girls. "I don't see anyone suspicious."

"I see. I guess I managed to shake them off then." Chris said as she relaxed a little.

"Who are you talking about? Who was chasing you?" Tsubasa asked.

"Oh its just these girls who keep trying to find ways to drag me into participating in some school event." Tsubasa looked at her in surprise. That's it? That's all that it was?

Tsubasa then reminded herself that Chris didn't exactly had the best if lives and was probably still trying to get used to things around here. Her surprise was then replaced with amusement as she smiled at the girl who didn't notice and just continued speaking.

"Did you forget we were attacked by those mysterious militants known as Finé? Not to mention that we have bounty hunters going after Haru-san's head from around the country. We don't have time for this." Chris said until she saw that Tsubasa was picking up a bag of supplies, having had it on her when she bumped into her earlier. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm preparing for that school event those classmates of yours tried to drag you into." Tsubasa said.

If one were to look outside the campus right now, they would have been treated with the sight of students all working together on setting everything up for the upcoming school festival which was just three days away from now. A many variety of stalls were being set up around the school as students were either helping others set everything up or working on decorations.

"You should help too, Yukine." Tsubasa said, having collected everything she had dropped.

"Nande da(Why)!?" Chris exclaimed. Did her comrade not just hear what she had said earlier? They did not have time for this!

"Once you get back, you'll get dragged in whether you like it or not." Tsubasa said and Chris couldn't retort for the blue haired Symphogear user had a point. "Why not tag along with me for a bit? You've got to do your share of helping out."

Chris simply growled but nonetheless, she tagged along with Tsubasa and entered an empty classroom where they then proceeded to make paper flowers and connect rings of paper. They have been working like this for a couple of minutes now so Tsubasa spoke up to start some small talk.

"Still having trouble getting used to life here?"

"Like I want to hear that from you." Chris said. "You stand out like a sore thumb."

"Touché." Tsubasa said. "But, Yukine-"

"Ah, Tsubasa-san! There you are." Before Tsubasa could fnish what she was about to say, the door of the classroom they were in opened and when the two turned, they saw a trio of girls Chris did not recognize but Tsubasa did. They were her classmates after all.

"Ah, Takasaka, Ōki, Sabe." Tsubasa addressed the girls by their last names from right to left. "What are you girls doing here?"

"We were looking for you." The one known as Ōki Ako said as she and the others walked in. "You never came back from your supply run. We were so worried that we were about to send out a search party."

'Isn't that a bit overboard?' Both Chris and Tsubasa both thought.

"But I see we needn't have worried." The one known as Sabe Tōko said, turning to Chris. "You even snagged a cute junior to help you."

"Didn't you girls go home already?" Tsubasa said.

"You seem to think that it's your fault that the fair's preparations are behind schedule." The one known as Takasaka Ayumu said.

"So we thought we'd help you out." Ako said with a smile.

"Help...me?" Tsubasa said, surprise filling her tone.

Chris couldn't help but smile teasingly as she turned to Tsubasa and said, "My, my, aren't we popular?"

Tsubasa didn't dare respond back as the girls all grabbed a seat and proceeded to lend their assistance like they said, making the work much faster than before. And as they worked, they talked amongst one another.

"Tsubasa-san wasn't this easy to approach back in the days."

"Yeah, yeah. They called her the Nightingale of the school. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

"But it was like she was in a whole different world to us."

"After all, she's a celebrity. A pop star!" Tōko emphasized.

"But then..." Ayumu began and Tōko nodded, knowing what her friend was talking about.

"When we worked up the courage to talk to you, we found out you were just like us!" Ako said to Tsubasa.

"Girls..."

"We've been thinking about this a lot lately." Ayumu said for her and her friends.

As the girls were speaking, Chris spared a glance towards Tsubasa to find her smiling.

"Well, it certainly sounds like you're doing well."

"I'm sorry. Did I offend you?" Tsubasa asked.

"Oh yeah, I'm so offended." Chris said before saying, "But I guess I can put a little more effort in as well. Just a little."

That got Tsubasa smiling. "Sounds good."

"Then let's all put in a little more effort!" Tōko said as she got back to work.

"Yeah! Let's hurry up and wrap things up!"

"Yes, let's." Tsubasa said as she and Chris shared a look and got back to work. They had a lot to do tonight.


(Nighttime)

Hours have passed and the orange sky had turned into the color of night with stars littering the sky and clouds still floating about.

Hiding around the corner, the girls Tsubasa, Chris, and Hibiki were looking at the hideout of their enemy, an abandoned hospital.

-Listen up- From a communicator in Tsubasa's hand came Genjuro's voice. -You girls will enter the building on one side while Haru and Kanade enter through another route. We need to put an end to this tonight.-

-Sorry we had to call you girls out so late on a school night.- Came the voice of Ogawa.

"Don't worry about it." Tsubasa said. "This is our duty as sentinels."

"So those girls had their hideout right on the edge of town?" Hibiki said, surprised that the hideout was a place like this.

-This hospital has been abandoned for quite a long a time, but various supplies have been flowing in, little by little, over the past two months.- Shinji explained through the com. -Unfortunately, that's about all we know, so we're basically heading in blind.-

"Well, if they haven't slipped up yet, we'll see what we can do to change that." Chris said before she took off running ahead. Tsubasa soon followed after her as well as Hibiki though the latter had a worried expression on her face, no doubt still thinking about what Shirabe had said to her.


(Meanwhile, with Haru)

Like Genjuro had said earlier, while the girls were entering the building through one way, Haru along with Kanade were entering through another route which was really just the back door. Both of them had their respective Gears strapped on them in case they had to transform at a moment's notice.

When the two got to the back door, instead of being sneaky like picking the lock, Haru brought out his Faiz Phone, put it in Blaster mode, and shot the door handle, destroying it and unlocking it as well.

"Don't you think you could have been a bit more discreet?" Kanade said as she and Haru entered the building.

"If this is really their hideout, then they probably already know we're here. No use trying to be sneaky like a ninja." Haru said, turning his Faiz Phone back into its phone form and put it away in his trench coat.

'Does this guy ever go shopping?' Kanade couldn't help but think that as Haru was dressed in a trench coat over a white shirt, faded blue jeans, and brown dress shoes.

Kanade and the other girls couldn't help but notice that Haru tended to wear the same clothes a lot. Besides seeing him in a leather jacket, Haru didn't really have much in terms of clothes.

'Maybe I can set up a shopping trip for Tsubasa with Haru-san.' Kanade thought, smiling at the thought that her best friend might think of the trip as a date and go red in the face.

"Why are you smiling?" Haru, seeing Kanade smile, asked.

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking to myself." Kanade said as the two made their way through the halls of the abandoned hospital in silence and with caution. Since this was the enemy's hideout, there was a possibility of traps being set around.

"You know, to be honest, an abandoned hospital isn't really what I expected the hideout of a group bent on taking over the world to be like." Kanade commented but quietly.

"What did you think their hideout was going to be like? Some high-tech facility hidden in the mountains?" Haru said as they stopped at the corner. He peered around and saw nothing out the unusual so the two continued walking.

"Well Finé's hideout was exactly that so either our so-called terrorists are poorer than we thought, or they've got something important hidden in here that they don't want others to see."

Haru hummed in thought as he thought about the possibilities Kanade had brought up and out of the two, the latter seemed to be the most likely. Question is, were they hiding something here? And if they were, what is it that they're trying to hide?

Haru placed his thoughts back for later as he spoke up. "That's enough talking. We've got company."

"Oh, so I wasn't the only one who noticed." Kanade said as stepping out from the shadows that lead further down the hallway were a group of Noises.

"Watch yourself, Kanade." Haru said, taking out his Faiz Phone and dialed: 555.

STANDING BY

"Don't worry about me. This power hasn't come close to killing me yet." Kanade said as she took out her Kaiza Phone, swung it open, and dialed the transformation code: 913.

STANDING BY

Closing their phones, the two held their respective phones in their own way, Haru thrusting his into the air while Kanade held hers in front of her an an angle before they shouted one word.

"Henshin!" They both then inserted their Phones into their Gears and pushed them down into place.

COMPLETE

Red neon Photon Veins appeared around Haru while yellow Photon Veins appeared around Kanade before in a flash of red and yellow, Kamen Riders Faiz and Kaixa stood in their place. And in the darkness that filled the halls, their Photon Veins and visors lit up.

"Yosh(Alright)!" Kanade pumped herself up before she ran ahead of Haru and rushed in at the group of Noise, punching and killing Noise one after another with her fists and kicks. Haru flicked his wrist before he quickly followed after her to back her up.

With a single punch, Kanade punched a Noise square in its face or what could count as a face and killed it instantly as the Noise turned into carbon. She spun around and roundhouse kicked a Noise that was coming at her before continuing her spin and kicked back another Noise into a group of other Noises. She then reached down to her Blaygun, pulling the hammer back and then pushing it back down to initiate Burst Mode before drawing it and shooting down the group of Noise as each shot of Photon energy killed them upon impact. Kanade then felt something wrap around her other arm and looked to see a Noise had extended its arm in order to grab her. Unfazed by this, Kanade grabbed the tentacle and pulled the Noise over to her where she then struck it with her Blaygun before firing a shot at it at point-blank range, killing it. Kanade then went to her Kaixa Phone and pulled the Mission Memory out before inserting it into her Blaygun.

READY

A blade of Photon energy soon formed from the bottom of the Blaygun, said blade glowing in the dark like the rest of her body. Setting her sights on a group of Noise ahead of her, Kanade charges towards them, swinging her blade around and slicing any Noise she came close to.

With Haru, he was holding his own just fine. Flicking his wrist first, Haru threw a punch and destroyed a Noise. Haru kept walking forward and kept throwing punch after punch, knocking down Noise and leaving behind piles of carbon on the ground. Flicking his wrist two times, Haru decide to get a bit more serious and took off running towards more Noise. They all saw him coming and turned into bullets to attack him but the Rider jumped up to dodge the Noise bullets which reform back into bodies once they struck the ground. They turn around to face the Rider only to met with a roundhouse kick that destroyed all of them. Haru then turns and kicks an incoming Noise, sending it crashing against another noise which kills them both before Haru runs in and uppercuts one Noise before punching another with his other hand. He spins around to deliver a spinning heel kick before leading into a roundhouse kick before finishing off with a spinning thrust kick; the combo destroying Haru's share of Noises.

"And that," Kanade slashes one last Noise before continuing. "Takes care of that."

"Don't relax yet. We've still got company." Haru said as the sound of clapping can be heard form the shadows and out stepped was Jack followed by Xiao Li and Armel.

"Civilians? No, wait, foreigners?" Kanade said, confused at the trio's appearance.

"Those aren't civilians." Haru said, spotting the familair looking belts on them.

"They say third times the charm. Let's see if that's true." Jack said as he held up what appeared to be a buckle with the Smart Brain logo on it. There was a slot on his belt and he slid the buckle into place while the others pushed down the buckles of their belts.

"Henshin." Despite the fact that they weren't Japanese, the three spoke the magic word before red, blue, and green lines surrounded their bodies as Kamen Riders Neo-Alpha, Pyron, and Seeda stood in their places.

"Oh not these guys again." Kanade whined but nonetheless got into a stance.

Haru said nothing, merely snapping his left arm out before he and Kanade charged at the three Riders and vice versa.


(With the girls)

Over with the girls, they have successfully infiltrated the building and were now doing their best to stay hidden. But it seems the enemy has already been alerted of them for what appeared to be red smoke came from different parts of the halls such as the vents.

"Wow, they're really setting up the whole 'Abandoned Hospital' atmosphere from one of those horror movies." Hibiki couldn't help but comment.

"What's wrong? You scared?" Chris taunted the girl.

"T-That's not it!" Hibiki denied. "The air just feels so heavy..."

"The welcoming party got here quicker than I thought." Tsubasa said as down the hall, she and the girls spotted a group of Noise heading their way. They all looked at one another nodded. Time to do what they do best in a fight: Sing.

"Balwisyall nescell Gungnir tron..."

"Imyuteus Ame no Habakiri Tron..."

"Killter Ichaival tron..."

(Insert Bye-Bye Lullaby)

In flashes of orange, blue, and red, each girls transformed into their respective Symphogears and as for the lead singer, Chris took the lead and started things off with a...bang.

The armor on Chris' arms slid off and turned into crossbows but they quickly changed again into gatling guns as Chris wasted no time filling Noises with holes.

Billion Maiden

Tsubasa and Hibiki instantly went to Chris' side to lend their assitance when Chris stopepd fring and turned her gatling guns back into crossbows. Up ahead, they can see flashes of green, telling them that the Noises were being summoned.

"These Noise..." Hibiki began.

"Yeah. Someone's controlling them." Tsubasa said as the trio all rushed forward. "Tachibana, we need to cover Yukine! Don't let them slip behind her back!"

"Hai!" Hibiki replied back as she rushed on ahead.

Chris pulled the triggers of her crossbows and energy arrows were sent flying through the air and decimating a great number of Noise. Behind her, Tsubasa easily took down a group of Noise with a simple slash of her sword while Hibiki sent a fierce punch to a Noise, sending it flying back. Yet something started to happen, something the girls noticed as they continued fighting.

Leaping up into the air, Chris rained down arrows after arrows upon a great many number of Noise, destroying them. Yet, when she landed back, she noticed that a few Noise had survived and were even regenerating. It happened for the others too for when Hibiki punched a Noise, leaving a fist sized hole, the parts that had turned into carbon had regenerating. Brandishing her sword, Tsubasa tried a different approach and enlarged her sword before swing it down and sending out an energy slash.

蒼ノ一閃 (Blue Flash)

The energy slash traveled straight through the Noise, leaving nothing but carbon, but to Tsubasa's disbelief, the carbon that used to be Noise regenerated back into Noise. The Noise then turned into bullets and shot themselves towards Hibiki who managed to punch and kick two Noise back before being forced to jump back to dodge the rest, landing right behind Chris back to back. The battle had just not long ago started and yet for some reason, the girls were starting to feel tired.

"What the hell's going on?" Chris thought out loud, huff and puffing as sweat was visible on the trigger happy girl. "Why can't we deal enough damage?"

(Song End)

Tsubasa was the same as the girls but mustered as much as strength as she could, holding up her enlarged sword when it suddenly went back to its katana form. And Tsubasa did not mean to do that.

That's when she realized what was going on. "The output of our gears are dropping!"

"For real!?" Chris said as she looked around and saw that the red smoke form earlier was now everywhere. "Is it this red smoke?"

"Most likely." Tsubasa said as she cut down a Noise before retreating back to the girls so that they were all back to back. Since they have all inhaled whatever the red smoke was made of, there was no way for them to stop the effects. And as much as they wanted to hold their breaths, they were all out of breath and were forced to breath in air.

Suddenly, Hibiki heard something approaching towards them. And it was approaching fast.

"Watch out!" Hibiki cried out as she reacted quickly by moving and pushing Chris out of the way before she punched whatever was trying to attack them. Said thing was sent back by Hibiki's punch, but flipped over and stuck to the ceiling before diving towards Hibiki and Chris. Tsubasa moved in fast and swung her sword, scoring a hit across its face or what she guessed was its face. But to her and the other's surprise, the monster that had attacked them was completly fine as it flipped over and landed on its hands and feet.

"You hit it head-on with your Armed Gear, right?" Chris asked.

"I did, yet it didn't crumble." Tsubasa said, just as alarmed as the other girls.

"Does that mean it isn't one of the Noise?" Hibiki said.

"Then what is that monster?" Chris said as she and the others got a good look at the thing that had attacked them.

It's entire body was stone grey and it had what appeared to be cracks on it that glowed lava orange. It had no eyes but had a big mouth with razor sharp teeth. To sum up the rest of its appearance, it looked like some ancient yet otherworldly looking Wildmutt from Ben 10. It was the Nephilim but the girls did not know that.

Suddenly, there was the sound of clapping down the halls. Looking up, the girls saw a figure step out form the shadows and they gasped at who it was.

"Dr. Ver!?" Chris exclaimed in surprise.

"It's good to see you girls again." Dr. Ver said as the Nephilim went over to a cage by Ver's side and was locked up.

"But, how? When the Iwakuni base was attacked..." Hibiki began, confused when Chris spoke up.

"I get it." Chris said, narrowing her eyes in realization. "Those Noise attacks were all orchestrated!"

"It was rather simple, I assure you." Dr. Ver said, adjusting his glasses as he explained. "By the time of the attack on the train, Soloman's Cane was no longer in its case. I had it concealed underneath my coat."

"So to steal the Cane, you pretended to be attacked and went missing?" Tsubasa summed it up.

"That about sums it up." Dr. Ver said as he took out from his coat the Relic they had been talking about, The Staff of Soloman, or simply Soloman's Cane. Using the Relic, Ver started summoning forth Noise before him while also taking control of them.

"Calling forth Noise from the Treasury of Babylonia and controlling them is something only this Cane can do." Dr. Ver said before his eyes narrowed to give him a crazy look on his face. "And the one most suited to wield this Cane right now is me! Don't you agree?"

"Like hell!" Chris cursed as summoned forth missiles to fire but flinched when she felt pain coursing through her. Gritting her teeth to bare with the pain, Chris roared as she fired her missiles towards the group of Noise, destroying a second of the building in the explosion, only to cry out in pain when another surge of pain shot through her.

"Yukine!" Tsubasa quickly went over to the girl's side and caught her before she fell over.

From the smoke, a pile of Noise can be seen before they all disintegrated into carbon to reveal inside Ver with no harm done to him. The girls stepped outside to confront him with Tsubasa lending Chris a hand in walking.

"Damn...Why do I feel like I got hit by those missiles?" Chris said as she tried to stand by herself, but was having trouble mustering the energy.

'Our lowered sync ratios are causing a greater strain on us now.' Tsubasa thought as she looked at Chris in worry. 'If we were to use such powerful techniques in this state then the recoil from our Gears might even kill us.' A scary thought, Tsubasa admitted. From now on, she and the others will have to watch how much power they use in their attacks.

"Look!" Hibiki spoke up and pointed to a Noise shaped like a hot air balloon carrying the cage containing the Nephilim. "One of the Noise is carrying that cage from before!"

If a Noise was carrying the cage that contained the Nephilim away, the girls deduced that whatever the creature was, it was important.

'That's one problem out of the way.' Ver thought before turning to face the girls. 'Now then, the others should be here any moment now...'

And just as Ver had finished that thought, another section of the hospital exploded before flying out of the smoke was Haru and Kanade as they flipped over to land on their feet and skidded across the ground.

"Haru-kun! Kanade-san!" Hibiki cried out in surprise at their sudden appearance before she saw what had sent them flying through the smoke.

"Whew! I am already loving my new toy!" From the smoke came Neo-Alpha aka Jack followed by Xiao Li and Armel.

"The Riders from Smart Brain!" Tsubasa said in alarm.

"Is...that a guitar case?" Hibiki asked in confusion as she pointed to the weapon Jack was carrying.

The weapon the alpha-themed Rider was carrying appeared to be some sort of guitar case. The appearance of it was mostly silver with Photon lines outlining it as they all traveled around the weapon until they got to where the sound hole would be as the buckle Jack had used to transform had been inserted into a slot, no doubt to give the new weapon its power. At the top of the neck part was a minigun barrel while the bottom part looked like it could open up for something.

"Okay, it's a official." Kanade said as he properly stood back up and pointed at the new weapon Jack was holding. "That thing is a pain in the ass!"

Haru didn't comment as he raised his fists up only to notice the others and Ver. "Girls! And...Dr. Ver!?"

"Wait, what!?" Kanade quickly turned and was surprised to see the sight of the supposed missing Dr. Ver.

"It's good to see you again, Faiz-san." Dr. Ver waved over to Haru before looking towards Kanade. "And I believe you were called Kaixa, am I right? I see you've already met my business partners."

"Business partners?" Haru repeated in confusion until he realized what the man meant as he looked between him and the enemy Riders. "You're working for Smart Brain?"

"Indeed I am."

"That's Soloman's Cane!" Kanade said, noticing the Relic in the man's hands. She was about to ask the scientists why he had it when she looked between the tried looking girls and Ver who didn't seem bothered by this. She also noticed the piles of Carbon around him.

"You...You faked your death to steal Soloman's Cane?"

"Technically, I've had it since the train attack but close enough." Ver said, pushing his glasses up." But you're pretty sharp to figure that out so quickly."

"I thought there was something off about you." Haru said, having a sneaking suspicion that the doctor wasn't what he made out to be since the drop off at Iwakuni base.

"Now that everyone is here, I believe it's time to bring this fight to its climax." Dr. Ver said before he pulled out a flare gun and fired it into the air.

"A flare?" Kanade said in confusion as everyone watched the flare fly into the air before it disappeared. And that's when it happened.

*VROOM!*

Suddenly, from all corners of the area, a great number Riotroopers both on foot and on bikes appeared and soon surrounded our group of heroes.

"Riotroopers!" Haru said, alarmed at the amount of Omicron Riders.

"There's so many of them." Hibiki said as she held up her guard while looking around nervously.

"Where the heck did they all come from?" Chris said as she looked around. Numbers like these weren't a problem for her, but with that way she is now, she wasn't very confident in her ability to take care of them.

"You all must be surprised." Suddenly, Jack spoke up as Xiao Li and Armel stood by his side. "Did you really think you guys had the drop on us? We already knew you'd find this place sooner or later so we had everything set up for your surprise visit."

"Dammit, they had a trap ready for us." Haru said as he looked around, trying to think of how to deal with this situation.

"Haru-san," Hearing his name, Haru turned to Tsubasa to was pointing over to the air type Noise carrying the cage of the Nephilim. "Do you see that?"

He nodded. "Yeah. What about it?"

"Inside that cage is some sort of creature that's not a Noise."

"What?" Haru was surprised. Ever since coming to this world, it's been nothing but Noise and Orphnoch.

"If we can get that cage then we might be able to get some answers." Tsubasa explained.

"Okay, what do you want me to do?" Haru asked, keeping an eye on the Riotroopers around them.

"I need you to go after that Noise and get that cage. With your Axel form, you should be able to catch up to it." Tsubasa said as she held up her sword. "I'll create an opening for you."

"You sure?" Haru asked. The girls looked a bit weakened by something and if he left, Kanade would have to do most of the work as she was the one with the most energy right now.

"You're the only one with the speed to do this." Tsubasa said before giving Haru a reassuring look. "Don't worry, we may be weakened but that doesn't mean we're a hindrance."

Haru looked at the bluenette for a while before bringing up his Axel Watch as a sign of his answer.

Tsubasa smiled, glad that Haru trusted her before she spoke to Hibiki. "Tachibana, look after Yukine."

"Hai!"

"Oi, you done whispering with one another?" Jack said before he held up a hand, signaling the Riotroopers to get ready. "In that case, Riotroopers, atta-!"

"Tsubasa!" Before Jack could even finish his order, Haru took off running and shouted, "Let your song ring throughout this entire area!"

(Insert Gekkō no Tsurugi)

Hearing Haru's words loud and clear, Tsubasa began to sing as she dashed forward. Gripping her sword with both hands, she swung at the first Riotrooper she could reach and did not hesitate to cut its neck, making the grunt Rider stumble back as it held its sliced neck. She turned around and slashed another Riotrooper across the chest before before slashing another Riotrooper with an upward slash. She then spun around again and roundhouse kicked another trooper before she threw her sword up into the air, stood on her hands, and spun like a top as her ankles blades extended out and soon, Tsubasa was a bladed top.

逆羅刹 (Reverse Rakshasa)

Seeing her friend in action, Kanade went to jump in, but first said to Hibiki, "Look after the kid, Hibiki-chan!"

"I'm not a kid!" Chris shouted, having heard what Kanade had said as the Rider jumped into the fray to help her best friend.

"Let's do what we do best, Tsubasa!" Kanade shouted over to her singing friend who nodded back and continued singing and fighting.

Seeing the enemy fighting back, Armel shouted over to the many Riotroopers, "Don't stand their gawking you idiots! Attack them!"

While only half of them understood what he said, they understood from his tone and attacked the two girls all at once.

Seeing the many grunts Riders coming their way, both Tsubasa and Kanade readied their swords before charging forth.

Using as little energy as she could, Tsubasa slashed a trooper across the chest before turning and doing the same to another trooper. From behind her, a Riotrooper on a bike went to crash into her but Kanade appeared and cut the bike down, sending its Rider tumbling down before she spun around quick and slashed five troopers at the same time as she spun around. Kanade quickly reeled her head back to avoid a shot from one trooper attempting to head shot her only for a knife to be stabbed right through its visor, said knife coming from Tsubasa who had thrown it. As a way to say thanks to her friend, Kanade pulled the hammer of her Blaygun back and shot any Riotroopers that were planning on rushing Tsubasa before she was forced to dodge incoming Riotroopers on bikes. Tsubasa went to go help but was forced back by more Riotroopers shooting at her. The bluenette took off running, trusting her friend to take care of herself as she ran to avoid the gunfire before leaping up into the air and then coming down upon an unlucky trooper with an axe kick. She then kicked off said trooper to flip back and landed on the bike of one riding Riotrooper who jumped in surprise at the girl's sudden appearance before being knocked off with a slash across the helmet. The bluenette then sits down properly on the bike to she had taken to take control of it.

The bike she had taken from the Riotrooper was the same as the one Pyron had used, a Gyro Attacker except this bike did not have a robot 'Battle Mode' to it. But that was okay with Tsubasa as she unfolds the blades on her ankles and attaches them to the front of the motorcycle creating a large piercing blade. She flinched a little, feeling the strain of her Gear but bared with it. With sword in hand and with the motorcycle she had taken, Tsubasa races through a great number of Riotroopers, ramming straight through them and slashing more nearby with her sword at the same time.

騎刃ノ一閃 (Flash of the Rider's Blade)

With Kanade, she slashed two incoming riding Riotroopers, holding her stance as the Riders kept on riding until their rides exploded and took the riders with them in the explosion. Kanade was then forced to cover herself was she was under fire from more Riotroopers who were shooting at her from a distance. The Rider clicked her tongue in annoyance before she held her arm in front of her and charged straight towards the group of omicron Riders while shooting back at the same time with her Blaygun. Once she was close enough, Kanade swung her blade and slashed two grunts before she spun and kicked another right in its face, sending it flying back into another group f of Riotroopers which knocked them down. Now with some breathing room, Kanade pushed down her Kaixa Phone and pressed 'ENTER' before closing the Phone.

EXCEED CHARGE

A spec of light can be seen traveling through Kanade's Photon Veins before they reached her Blaygun and the blade soon glowed brighter, confirming the charge power inside. Kanade then pulled the hammer back before she fired a shot at one Riotrooper, said shot forming a constricting net around it and thus binding the Riotrooper in place. Kanade then soon took a stance as a yellow glowing Chi(X) symbol appeared in front of her which extended out into a cone as she dashed forward into the cone and rocketed forwards towards the constricted trooper, striking it as Kanade appeared behind it, her weapon swung upwards at having finished a slashing movement before she spun around and slashed a couple more Riotroopers with the still charged blade, destroying them and leaving nothing but piles of ashes.

*BANG!*

Suddenly, there was the sound of a bullet being fired. The bullet flew and struck the bike Tsubasa was rising on, causing it to explode and throwing the girl off of it as tumbled down to the ground, covered in a bit of soot and dirt.

"Tsubasa!" Kanade immediately ran over to ehr firend's side and helped her up before looking up to see Seeda and Pyron.

"You fight well." Xiao Li said, complimenting the two before he took a Bajiquan stance while Seeda held up its Photon sniper rifle. "But now you face us."

Seeing the two Riders, Tsubasa and Kanade looked around to find their leader, Jack, with Dr. Ver as the two stood before Hibiki who was guarding the weakened Chris. They mentally cursed themselves for forgetting to keep an eye on Hibiki and Chris before they each took a stance of their own, ready to face the two Riders in front of them while trusting Hibiki to stand her ground.

(Song End)

Meanwhile with Haru, he knocked down a Riotrooper with a punch before kicking back another Riotrooper with a kick before jumping up to avoid a Riotrooper on a bike attempting to ram him before using said trooper, landing on him and jumping off to boost himself forward as he removed the Axel Mission Memory from his SB-555W Faiz Axel Watch and replaced it with his regular Mission Memory.

COMPLETE

At that confirmation did Haru's form begin to change. The Full Metal Lung chest plates rise out of their recesses and rotate from the scapula to form shoulder pads and reveal the Faiz Core in the center of the chest. Then, the Photon Streams turn from red to a silver color and the Ultimate Finder visors turns red. This is Faiz's Axel form.

With the transformation complete, Haru lands on the ground and presses the Starter Switch on the watch and got ready to run.

START UP

Seeing the newly changed Rider, a few Riotroopers leaped towards him, their Axel Ray Guns in Blade mode and went to stab him to put him down and take back the Faiz belt. But just when the blades were about to stab into Haru, he disappeared right before everyone's eyes. Looking ahead, Haru had now turned into a grey blur literally moving at the sped of sound. This was the same power Haru had used during the train attack ad he was now using it again.

Running with all his might, Haru saw that up ahead, the road had been undergoing repairs and was not yet finished, meaning that there was an end. Yet despite this, Haru continued running and as soon as he made it to the end, he slammed his feet down and jumped as high as he can towards the Noise in the sky. He threw his hand out to reach for the cage but sadly, he was but an inch too far and soon fell.

'Dammit! Not enough!' Haru cursed as he fell but heard something coming from below him. That something was in fact a submarine which was also, in fact, the new headquarters for the 2nd Division.

'No matter how many times I look at that thing from the outside, it's still so goddamn awesome.' Haru commented in his head as he got a transmission from Genjuro.

-Jump, Haru! Keep going!-

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Haru said as he landed right on the tip of the rising submarine and jumped off of it just before the watercraft fell back down. Equipping the Faiz Shot to his hand, Haru easily reached up to the Noise and punched it, instantly killing it as the cage it was carrying fell. Haru fell as well as he reached out to grab the cage.

'Almost...there! Just a few more inches!' Haru thought as he was within reach to grab the handle of the cage.

But then...

*SLASH!*

"Gah!" Haru cried out in surprise and pain as something had struck him and sent him flying back.

"Haru-kun!" Hibiki, having seen what happened, cried out in worry for the Rider.

"Gh!" Gritting his teeth, Haru pulled himself together and flipped over to his feet as he landed on the submarine and skidded back. At the same time, his Axel form was about to come to an end.

3, 2, 1

TIME OUT

DEFORMATION

The Full Metal Lung chest plates returns to Haru's chest, hiding the Faiz Core before his Photon Veins flashed back to red and his visor returned to being yellow.

Getting up, Haru looks to see what had hit him and saw a very familiar looking spear that somehow stayed floating above the water. Then, the owner of said spear soon appeared, landing perfectly on the end of the spear while also catching the cage that held the Nephilim.

"It's her." Chris said as the one who had appeared was none other than Maria, donned in her Symphogear as in the back, the sun started to rise.

"Just in time, Finé." Dr. Ver said, grabbing the attention of Hibiki and Chris who looked at the doctor in both surprise and disbelief.

"Finé?" Chris repeated, looking at Ver in disbelief.

"The name means 'The End' as I'm sure you already know." Ver said as his glasses reflected the light of the rising sun. "It is the name of our organization, but that's not all. It is also the name of the girl standing before your friend.

"Wait, you mean she's..." Hibiki said as her eyes widen in realization.

"That's right. She is a newly awakened, reborn Finé!" Ver announced for all to hear.

"What!?" Tsubasa, who had her back to Kanade, gasped when she heard that.

"Are you for real?" Kanade said, also surprised as she looked over to Maria in disbelief.

With the sun slowly rising over the horizon, Maria kept her hard yet calm gaze on them. And as Haru stared right at her, he only had one thing to say right at this moment.

"Well...shit."


And...done! Whew! That was awesome! I'm actually quite satisfied with this one, especially at how the fight scenes turned out. Haru didn't have as much of an appearance in this chapter but considering he was the main focus and the girls barely made an appearance last chapter, I think this is fair. I hope you enjoyed today's chapter, my dear readers. Next time, I've got a little surprise for you guys. It's been something I've been thinking about and have finally decided to implement it into my story. Stick around to see what that is. Until then, this has been Ashbel Longhart here, signing out. Until the next ride!