Book 3: XDR Rising

Chapter 3: Alliance

Last time, our heroes arrived at Kanade and Serena's homeworld, the world of the Symphogears, to arrange a meeting with Kanade's commander Genjuro Kazanari about Gjallarhorn and its last location. However, the heroes were forced to take action when the city was suddenly under attack by beings known as the Alca-Noise, and the unexpected appearance of the Red Gates that spawned the grunts of the Chimeras called the Abberation. During their mission, they met up with fellow Symphogear Users, Hibiki Tachibana, Miku Kohinata, Chris Yukine, Kirika Akatsuki and Shirabe Tsukuyomi, who were already deployed to battle the creatures. An alliance was formed with them along with their organization called S.O.N.G; formerly known as the Special Disaster Response Team, as they worked together to protect the city, and to destroy the Red Gates that spawned the abberations. So far, the heroes are gaining the upper hand, but a mysterious floating humanoid with red eyes, black skin and wearing a dark armour, silently observed the entire battle on a rooftop and searched for its next target, until it gazed its eyes upon a girl with a pair of crossbows, and a boy with a gun and shield. Will they be able to overcome this mysterious new threat?

Symphogear World - Tokyo, Japan

City Area

Daytime

Meanwhile back at the city, Geiz and Vent are almost at the location of the center Red Gate as they rode the Time Mazine as quickly as they could. "I see the next Red Gate just a few metres ahead!" Vent informed as he saw said gate at a distance, along with a few air and ground abberations guarding the gate.

"Alright, same tactic as before! Hit hard and hit fast while me and the Legion destroy the gate with no problems!" Geiz said.

"Got it!" Vent nodded back as he prepared his ZX Buster once more while charging up its energy.

When they arrived at the gate, Geiz fired beam vulcans and homing lasers from the Time Mazine while Vent fired rapid and charge shots from his ZX Buster. All of the attacks quickly destroyed the abberations as Geiz called forth the Axe Legion from his Legatus and materialized the astral chain. The Legion quickly circled around the gate before crossing over with Geiz as the chain began to bind it. And with one final chain pull from Geiz and the Legion, the second Red Gate is destroyed as Geiz then ride off towards the final Red Gate where Zi-O and Aile were located and were also busy fending off the abberations that came out of said gate.

"Two down, one to go!" Geiz said.

"Better hope we don't keep Aile and Zi-O waiting!" Vent added, but then he heard noises coming from behind, prompting him to turn around as he saw a few more ground abberations on pursuit. "Uhh... Geiz? I think we missed a few!"

"Already taken care of!" Geiz smirked before turning to the Axe Legion. "Give them a going away present for us!"

The Axe Legion nodded back as it flew behind the Time Mazine and planted a holo-copy of its large axe on the road, set to detonate upon close range of an enemy. And when the abberations got close to the holo-copy, it detonated into a large explosion, completely eliminating all them. With its job done, the Legion disappeared back into the Legatus while Geiz activated the Time Mazine's boosters and quickly sped off.

"You have got to give me one of those if you can make more." Vent said while pointing at the Legatus.

"Only if you have a high enough aptitude to use one." Geiz replied.

"Hey, Chosen Mega Man, remember?" Vent smirked back. "Same thing as how you became a Kamen Rider in the first place."

"Touché."

(Play BGM: Waikyō Shénshòujìng by Miku Kohinata)

Meanwhile back with Kanade's group, she, Hibiki, Miku and Gunvolt continued to assault the abberations and the Alca-Noise. Kanade unleashed several burning slash waves towards several abberations and Alca-Noise with her spear before finishing off one large Alca-Noise with one powerful burning lunge attack onto its chest.

STARLIGHT∞SLASH

She delivered one final burning side-slash before jumping away from the large Alca-Noise, just before it exploded. She then noticed a few more abberations and Alca-Noise when she turned around. In response, she twirled her spear before stabbing the ground, causing it to crack as it traveled towards the creatures until it crushed them, though some of them survived but are still trapped within the rubble.

SATURN∞BREAK

"Hibiki-chan! Care to follow up?!" Kanade shouted to her successor with a grin.

"Hai, Kanade-san!" Hibiki complied as she arrived from the air and punched the ground with her large war gauntlet, unleashing a bigger earthquake that finished off the remaining trapped creatures with an explosion.

"Nice job there, little kouhai!" Kanade praised as she moved her spear over her shoulder.

"Thanks, Kanade-san!" Hibiki smiled back as she dispersed her war gauntlet. "I never thought that I'd get a chance to fight alongside you."

"Heh, likewise." Kanade grinned before she and Hibiki saw another group of abberations and Alca-Noise approaching them. "Geez... these Noise and Chimeras are getting relentless..."

"Actually, those are the Alca-Noise." Hibiki corrected. "Wait, Chimeras?"

"That's what those creatures are called, though the ones we fought earlier are just the grunts called the Abberations." Kanade explained, but then blinked for a moment when Hibiki mentioned another type of Noise. "Wait, Alca-Noise? Did I miss something during my absence?"

"Well... you missed a lot." Hibiki replied. "But I will say what happened to the original Noise; last year, the portal to their homeworld was eventually destroyed, ending the Noise threat forever."

"So you and your friends managed to put a permanent end to the Noise?" Kanade asked.

"Mhm." Hibiki nodded. "Though it was actually Miku who closed the portal, and that was without her Symphogear."

"Wow, your friend really is something, huh?" Kanade remarked as she briefly glanced at Miku unleashing a barrage of lasers with her Armed Gear onto the approaching abberations and Alca-Noise, destroying them before they could even reach Kanade and Hibiki. Miku gave a nod and a smile to them before moving onto her next targets.

"Yeah, she is my sunshine, after all!" Hibiki smiled.

"Your 'sunshine', huh?" Kanade smirked with a raised eyebrow. "The way you said it makes me think that you and Miku are more than just friends."

"Eh?"

"No need to hide from me, I can already tell just by looking at you two earlier." Kanade replied to Hibiki's response with a wink, while also making her blush.

They then saw Gunvolt shooting down the abberations and Alca-Noise with his Lightning Leader with rapid and charged shots, while the ones that survived were tagged instead. In response, Gunvolt quickly rushed towards the tagged targets with a lightning flash-step and sliced them effortlessly in half with his electrified Armed Gear sword. Hibiki was in awe at the power and skill of Kanade's partner. "Wow... GV is really strong, maybe even stronger than Tsubasa-san..." Hibiki commented.

"You think so? GV recently got his Faust Robe, so he's got a long way to go before he can master that power." Kanade replied.

"Wait, a Faust Robe?!" Hibiki exclaimed and earning a confirmed nod from Kanade. "So when did you first meet GV?"

"Just a few days before he obtained his Faust Robe." Kanade answered. "Her friend Quinn found a pendant and gave it to GV as a gift. But boy were we surprised that later on, said pendant turned out to be another Gungnir fragment!"

"Wow... and I thought Maria-san and yours were the only ones who had those fragments..." Hibiki responded before looking around the city and noticed that less abberations and Alca-Noise are appearing. "Is it just me, or are there less enemies coming to attack us?"

Kanade grew a smile in response after she briefly looked around. "I think I know. The other teams are cutting off their reinforcements by destroying the Red Gates, the source of where the abberations are coming from."

"What?! You mean there are others besides you and Serena arriving to help us?!" Hibiki asked, earning a confirmed nod from Kanade.

"You'll meet them soon enough." Kanade assured as she prepared her spear again. "Now come on! Time to help GV and Miku clear off the last remaining enemies so we can meet up with the others!"

"Right behind you, Kanade-san!" Hibiki nodded back before they quickly rushed towards Gunvolt and Miku for assistance, until another group of Alca-Noise and abberations suddenly intercepted in front of them. "Grr…! You're not getting in our way!" Hibiki growled as she materialized her war gauntlet on her right arm.

"Then how's about we send them flying with a hurricane?" Kanade suggested with a grin. "Think you can pull it off with your fist?"

"Let's find out together!" Hibiki smirked back as she reeled her right arm back as the gauntlet's turbine began to rapidly generate energy while Kanade pointed her spear forward. And when she punched forward, she unleashed a powerful tornado towards the creatures. While at the same time, Kanade also unleashed a tornado with her spear, combining the two attacks into one very destructive hurricane that instantly shredded the creatures to pieces.

LAST∞METEOR

Meanwhile, Gunvolt was doing well eliminating the abberations and Alca-Noise when he unleashed his lightning slash-waves, Dragonspheres and Crashbolts, until he was suddenly surrounded by them in a circle.

"I think you've gotten a bit careless there, GV." Joule told him.

"Actually, this is what I want them to think." Gunvolt replied with a smirk as he energized his Armed Gear. "Oversurge, Azure Striker!"

And when the creatures began to lunge towards Gunvolt... "Voltaic Chains!" He quickly responded by stabbing his sword onto the ground, summoning numerous chains below him as they trapped the creatures before they could even reach him. He then teleported away in a lightning flash before appearing a couple of metres away from the chained creatures. After that, he began to electrocute the chains, dealing massive amounts of damage to them. "Miku, care to help me with the finishing touch?!" Gunvolt requested.

"Okay, GV!" Miku responded as her jaw-like headgear became a visor, the knee plates on her armor fold down and connect to the cables on the armour's back, and summoned several small floating mirror bits as they home onto the trapped abberations and Alca-Noise before firing at them with continuous purple laser beams. After that, the mirror bits surrounded them in a circle before they all fired one more laser beam at the same time, while Gunvolt assisted by raising his energized hand forward and unleashed one more powerful Crashbolt, completely finishing off the creatures in a combination attack.

Liànyù (Purgatory)

With her targets destroyed, Miku reverted her armour back to normal and landed beside Gunvolt while the mirror bits also dispersed. "So that's Shénshòujìng's power, huh? That's pretty impressive, Miku." Gunvolt complimented her with a smile while he holstered his Armed Gear.

(BGM End)

"Thank you, GV." Miku smiled back and bowed. "Though I am curious about your power of electricity. Is it because that you learned alchemy?"

"Alchemy?" Gunvolt raised an eyebrow.

"Basically control of the elements, kind of like magic." Miku explained.

"Ah, I get what you're saying." Gunvolt understood. "Though my power is actually called a Septima. I'm an Adept, a person possessing the power of a Septima. And mine is called the 'Azure Striker', allowing me to generate and manipulate all forms of electricity from my body."

"An Adept? That almost had the same meaning as an Alchemist." Miku responded.

"I take it that you and your friends have encountered alchemists before?" Gunvolt asked, earning a confirmed nod from Miku.

"The alchemists are one of our dangerous enemies Hibiki and the others had to face, but thanks to Elfnein's help, we were able to defeat them." Miku explained.

"That's good to know. But who's Elfnein?" Gunvolt asked.

"Oh, she's a good friend of ours who is also a scientist and an alchemist." Miku answered.

"Is that so?" Gunvolt raised an eyebrow before smiling. "Good to know that there's some good alchemists out there that would rather protect the innocent and to help people. I wouldn't mind meeting her if I get the chance."

"Maybe someday, GV." Miku smiled back before they saw Hibiki and Kanade arriving. "Ah, Hibiki! Kanade-san!"

"We've just finished up the group of abberations and Noise. I don't see any more of them coming for us." Gunvolt informed the arrivals.

"Really? That's great! We can finally breathe for a bit." Hibiki responded with a smile.

"Though actually GV, those are called the Alca-Noise." Kanade pointed out. "Hibiki-chan and the others already finished off the original Noise, with Miku-chan closing their portal for good, and that was without her Symphogear."

"So that's what those types of Noise are now called?" Gunvolt asked, earning a confirmed nod from Kanade and Hibiki. "And you're the one who saved the day and ended the original Noise threat forever without your Symphogear, huh? If that's not courage and bravery, then I don't know what is." He praised Miku with a smile.

"Well... I had to do something when Hibiki and the others were exhausted after fighting a powerful enemy." Miku stated.

"Yep, and that is why Miku is Hibiki's 'sunshine'." Kanade said with a smile, and unintentionally made Miku blush with embarrassment.

"Her what?" Gunvolt tilted his head in confusion.

"Hibiki, you told her about that?!" Miku scolded.

"Ehehe... oops..." Hibiki chuckled nervously while rubbing the back of her head.

"You're not very good at keeping secrets, are you?" Gunvolt asked.

"...Sometimes." Hibiki admitted. "Anyway, we need to help Chris-chan and the others to deal with the remaining abberations and Alca-Noise."

"Ah, speaking of Chris, Serena and her partner Copen are with her." Kanade informed.

"Copen's also a friend of mine and another Gear User." Gunvolt added.

"Then let's get moving." Miku declared as they head towards Chris's team's location, but then a large red pixelated wall suddenly appeared and blocked their path. "What the... where did this wall come from?!" Miku exclaimed.

"Did the Alca-Noise do this? Or an Alchemist?" Hibiki guessed before she tried punching the wall, but it didn't leave any cracks. Not even Miku's laser beams, Gunvolt's lightning nor Kanade's spear strikes left a dent on the wall.

"Damn it... that is one very sturdy wall." Gunvolt muttered as they stopped attacking the wall that took no damage from the attacks. "I don't think it's either the Alca-Noise or an alchemist that did this."

"If it's not them, then who did it?" Kanade pondered, while everyone else began to ponder as well.

"Hmm... is it alright if I come out and investigate something about this wall?" Joule suddenly spoke, gaining Gunvolt and Kanade's attention and surprising Hibiki and Miku.

"Eh?! Who said that?!" Hibiki asked, looking around to find the source of the voice.

"Ah, that would be Joule, GV's partner. She's over here." Kanade answered as she pointed the source of the voice onto Gunvolt's relic crystal on his chest.

"Your relic can talk?!" Miku exclaimed at Gunvolt.

"Actually, it's more than that." Gunvolt replied before turning to his relic crystal on his upper chest. "Joule, come on out."

"You got it, GV. Stand back, everyone!" Joule responded before everyone stood a few steps back. Joule then appeared before them in her Idol Form, making Hibiki and Miku glance at her on how beautiful she looked like. "My name is Joule, it's very nice to meet you Hibiki Tachibana, Miku Kohinata." She greeted with a bow.

"O-Oh! It's nice to meet you too, Joule!" Hibiki greeted back with a bow.

"You look like some kind of idol." Miku added with a comment.

"Well, that's because I used to be one." Joule replied. "Like GV, I'm also an Adept with the power of my Septima, 'The Muse'. My songs can support my allies, giving them a power boost and also restore their stamina."

"The power of song...?" Hibiki repeated, until her eyes widen in realization. "Wait, that almost sounds like...!"

"Our Attuned powers when we sing our songs while fighting, right?" Kanade finished Hibiki's sentence. "Yeah, and I soon realized that her songs can also generate Phonic Gain. Also, Septima is basically a term for superpower."

"Wow..." Hibiki responded with awe. "Wait, an Adept? That sounds somewhat identical to an Alchemist."

"Is that so?" Kanade raised an eyebrow in response, while Gunvolt gave a confirmed nod to her. "Huh, the more you know."

"We'll share our stories later, but right now I need to inspect this red wall over here." Joule stated as she walked in front of said wall and move her hand forward without touching it. She began to focus in order to uncover the what kind of energy the wall is generating, and when she finished as she lowered her hand, she turned to the others to reveal the results. "Guys, you're not gonna like about who made this wall."

"Just give it to us straight, Joule." Gunvolt requested.

"The energy from the red wall generated the same energy as those abberations, but much stronger." Joule revealed.

"Much stronger energy, huh? Let me guess... it's a Chimera, isn't it?" Kanade guessed with a sigh and earning a confirmed nod from Joule.

"A chimera created this wall?" Miku questioned. "I wonder what kind of chimera would have an ability like that?"

"We'll have to ask Geiz. He knows more about those chimeras than we do." Gunvolt answered.

"Geiz? He's also one of your allies, right?" Miku guessed, earning a confirmed nod from Kanade, until she suddenly noticed Hibiki pondering about something.

"Something up, Hibiki-chan?" Kanade asked.

"Well... I was wondering if we can somehow find the chimera causing these red walls and destroy it, maybe it will make the walls disappear." Hibiki pondered.

"Hibiki might have a point there." Miku agreed. "Though the problem is where to find that chimera first."

"Let's find Geiz first since we can't find a way to get past this wall." Joule declared before disappearing back into Gunvolt's relic crystal.

"Alright, Geiz should be near the Red Gate by now, so we'll follow the same route the abberations took. Hopefully a red wall doesn't block that path too. Let's move!" Gunvolt declared as he ran towards Geiz's location with Hibiki, Kanade and Miku right behind him.

"I know that Serena and Copen can take care of themselves, but aren't you feeling a bit worried about Chris and your friends, Hibiki-chan?" Kanade asked while running.

"Heiki, hecchara! (I'm fine, it's going to be okay!) Chris-chan, Kirika-chan and Shirabe-chan can also handle themselves in a fight. They'll be just fine!" Hibiki replied with a smile.

"Heh, good to know, my little kouhai." Kanade smiled back.

(Play BGM: Dareka no Tame no Hikari by Serena Cadenzavna Eve)

Meanwhile back with Serena's group, she, Copen, Chris, Kirika and Shirabe are still dealing with the abberations and Alca-Noise. Serena took out a group of Alca-Noise and abberations with her throwing knives while briefly floating with her fairy wings on her back. Then she took out another group of airborne creatures when she spun herself around while throwing several knives in a circle. She finished off one more group of creatures when she threw her knife above them before it quickly descended onto them and created a large explosion, instantly destroying them.

XANA†TEARS

As for Kirika, she quickly dodged a few attacks from the abberations and Alca-Noise before countering with several slashes with her scythe, and unleashing one more attack by generating two extra blades from her scythe and hurled at them as boomerangs, cutting them to pieces.

Kill Juliet

Kirika then saw another group of abberations approaching along with one large Alca-Noise. In response, she summoned another scythe from her hand and combined them into one large halberd.

Opposite Scythe: Rapunzel

She began to dash towards the creatures using the boosters on the back of her armour, and proceeded to slash them with several swings of her halberd, with the large Alca-Noise being sliced in half with one powerful upward slash. As for the remaining she missed, she transformed her halberd into a large scissor and cut them all in half.

Twin Cutter: Cinderella

As for Shirabe, she quickly dodged the oncoming energy arrows from the aerial abberations with her skating skills before countering with her pair of yo-yos which revealed to have razor blades, slicing them into pieces. She then began to high jump and unleashed hundreds of small saw blades onto a group of Alca-Noise and ground abberations from her armour components.

Alpha Style: 100 Saṃsāra

After she landed on the ground when her targets are eliminated, she suddenly saw another large group of abberations along with one large Alca-Noise. In response, Shirabe quickly dashed towards the creatures, dodged the attacks with her skating skills, and used her yo-yo strings to entangle the large group before stopping behind them. And with one pull from her yo-yos, the strings instantly sliced the creatures to pieces.

Beta Style: Prison Thread Dance

As for the large Alca-Noise, Shirabe quickly jumped away from its double-axe handle strike and countered by combining her Armed Gears into a massive buzzsaw and sliced the Alca-Noise in half with one strike.

Beta Style: Giant Saw Judgement

"Shirabe! Kirika! Let's finish off the last group together!" Serena called her teammates.

"Hai!/Dess!" Shirabe and Kirika responded with a nod as they prepared to perform an all-out attack with Serena onto one more group of abberations and Alca-Noise. After surrounding the creatures, Shirabe started off by jumping into air before throwing her Armed Gears towards the creatures, creating a web trapping to entangle them.

Final Beta Style: Slashing Steel's Web

Next up, Kirika summoned another scythe from her hand, jumps into the air and rapidly twirled her weapons above her head, unleashing twin cyclones with multiple slash-waves towards the entangled creatures.

Violent Kill: Mad Hatter

Lastly, Serena threw two knives above the creatures as they flew up in a spiral until it began to circle around and formed a magic circle. And then it unleashed a storm of light arrows towards the entangled creatures.

IGNIS†FATUUS

After that, Shirabe pulled the strings once more, finishing off the entangled creatures as the strings sliced them open before they all exploded to nothingness, ending the all-out attack.

(BGM End)

With their targets eliminated, Serena, Kirika and Shirabe regrouped, dispersed their Armed Gears, and cheered as they gave each other a jumping high-five for a job well done. "That was great, dess!" Kirika cheered.

"Mhm!" Serena nodded. "It's great to fight alongside the both of you."

"Likewise." Shirabe agreed. "Maria will be so surprised when she sees you again."

"Ah, speaking of Maria-neesan, where is she?" Serena asked.

"She's having a concert tour in London with Tsubasa-san, so she won't be back here for a while." Kirika answered.

"Sorry, Serena. Your reunion will have to wait for a bit longer." Shirabe apologized.

"That's alright, I can wait for a bit longer." Serena assured with a smile.

"So when did you first meet Copen?" Kirika asked Serena as they glanced at said person quickly air-dashing around the battlefield and firing at the abberations and Alca-Noise with his gun and his Armed Gear shield, with his bits supporting the attack with the Broad Circuit Ex-Weapon; a wide-scale flurry of green data lasers that pierced through the creatures before exploding. After that, he dashed forward to deal with another group of creatures.

"Just a few days ago." Serena answered. "He didn't have a good first impression when we first met, but he eventually opened up and became friendly."

"And where did he get his Symphogear?" Shirabe asked.

"Oh, you mean his Faust Robe? Her sister Mytyl found a pendant and gave it to him as a gift, though we later found out that said pendant is actually a fragment for Airgetlám." Serena answered.

"Airgetlám?! Faust Robe?!" Shirabe and Kirkia exclaimed in shock at the familiar relic and Gear System.

"He's still learning how to use it until he can master it." Serena stated. "Oh, and his relic is actually called the Crimson Airgetlám."

"Crimson.../Airgetlám..." Shirabe and Kirika repeated the name of Copen's relic.

"Mhm." Serena nodded in confirmation.

"Hmm..." Shirabe suddenly began to ponder with her hand on her chin while looking around, earning their attention.

"What's the matter, Shirabe?" Kirika asked.

"Is it just me, or are there fewer enemies appearing than earlier?" Shirabe questioned, prompting the others to also look around and saw no abberations and Alca-Noise appearing.

"Hey, you're right!" Kirika realized. "Did they stop coming for us?"

"I think I know why." Serena said with a smile. "There's another team besides us. They're destroying the Red Gates in order to stop the abberations from spawning."

"Really?! Can we meet them?" Kirika asked.

"Only after we finish dealing with the enemies first." Shirabe reminded. "Let's help Copen and Chris-sempai with the clean-up."

"Shirabe's right." Serena agreed with a nod. "Alright, let's go help them out!" She declared as they head for Copen and Chris's location to provide assistance.

Meanwhile, Chris continued her assault and destroyed more abberations and Alca-Noise by firing several homing arrows from her crossbows. She then saw Copen quickly dashing away while being chased by a large group of aerial creatures, while his support bits continued to shoot them down with its homing lasers, but its still not enough as more of the creatures kept chasing him. In response, Chris combined her Armed Gears into a large crossbow-like sniper rifle, activated the targeting scope from her headpiece and aimed at the creatures chasing Copen. She locked onto multiple targets before firing a powerful energy arrow that began to split apart and shoot down the creatures.

SPREAD ZEPPELIN

Copen suddenly stopped dashing to briefly turn around and saw that his pursuers were eliminated. He then turned to Chris who was responsible for shooting them down thanks to her combined Armed Gear, which impressed him with a smirk.

"A crossbow-like sniper rifle?! As if gattling guns and missiles aren't enough!" Lola remarked with disbelief.

But then Copen's eyes widen in shock when he saw the abberations and Alca-Noise suddenly surrounded Chris. "Tch! These creatures know how to be relentless...!" Copen mentally muttered, until he briefly glanced at his Armed Gear and his handgun. "I wonder... If she can do stuff like that with her Armed Gear, then maybe I can too." Copen holstered his handgun, brandished a sword from the back-end of his shield and attached it to the front-end of the shield while it formed into a crossbow. He aimed his Armed Gear above the surrounding creatures, charged up its energy and fired the attached sword to the sky, till it began to rain down a storm of homing energy swords that destroyed the surrounding creatures without hurting Chris. Chris looked around in surprise that the surrounding creatures were easily eliminated before turning to Copen who landed in front of her.

"You alright?" Copen asked.

"Hmph, I can take care of myself, thank you!" Chris huffed while dispersing her Armed Gear and slightly looking away. "You really know how to show off, huh?"

"Says the girl with the gattling guns, missiles and a gacking sniper rifle." Copen smirked back with his arms crossed.

"Don't underestimate Ichaival." Chris proclaimed. "And what's your relic called?"

"Crimson Airgetlám."

"...Excuse me?!" Chris exclaimed in shock at the name of a familiar relic. "Where the hell did you get that?! I thought Maria is the only one with that relic!"

"Hence why mine is called 'Crimson' Airgetlám. I got that relic pendant as a gift from my sister Mytyl after she found it a few days ago." Copen answered.

"You have a sister?" Chris questioned with a raised eyebrow and earned a confirmed nod from Copen.

"Before I became a Gear User, I was a scientist, creating weapons and gadgets to protect myself, my sister, and my guardian maid Nori." Copen explained.

"I see. Are you fighting the Noise during that time?"

"No, I was fighting a corrupt organization that's subjugating humanity."

"Oh... that kind of organization." Chris sighed at Copen's answer. "Me and the others had our fair share of trouble besides fighting the Alca-Noise."

"Alca-Noise? There's another type of those creatures?" Copen questioned.

"A group of alchemists called the Bavarian Illuminati created the Alca-Noise using alchemy." Chris explained. "And let me tell you, the first time we fought those Alca-Noise, they're so strong that they can destroy our Symphogears."

"What?!" Copen exclaimed at what the Alca-Noise can do.

"Luckily thanks to our scientist and alchemist Elfnein, she was able to upgrade our Symphogears to fix the problem." Chris continued. "Now we can deal with the Alca-Noise with no problem."

"I see, that's good to know." Copen replied. "Elfnein, huh? I wouldn't mind if I would get the chance to meet her."

"You'll have to take it up with Old Man Genjuro if you wanna get that chance." Chris replied back. "Oh, and if you wanna know what an Alchemist is, it's basically someone who has the powers of magic."

"That sounds like an Adept... So this world even has those kinds of people. Good thing Elfnein is one of those rare alchemists that would rather help people, just like Gunvolt as an Adept. Though I never thought the Bavarian Illuminati would do something that horrible to innocent people. What the heck were they thinking?!" Copen thought before asking Chris a question. "So what happened to the Bavarian Illuminati? Are they still roaming around?"

"Only small remnants are now left after we defeated their leader, Adam Weishaupt. It's only a matter of time till they're completely finished." Chris answered.

"Adam Weishaupt, huh?" Copen repeated. "Either way, glad you and your team managed to defeat him."

"Technically, Hibiki was the one who was able to finish him off after we gave her some of our last remaining energy." Chris pointed out. "Even the three top brass alchemists defected from the Illuminati to assist us."

"Is that so? I guess even they had enough of his crap." Copen remarked. "Do those top three alchemists have names?"

"Prelati, Cagliostro, and lastly, Saint Germain." Chris answered before she became sad. "Unfortunately, they've sacrificed their lives after trying to stop a nuclear missile from killing us."

"A nuclear missile?!" Copen exclaimed in shock. "Who's the idiot that approved firing that superweapon?!"

"It's a long story." Chris sighed. "Maybe Old Man Genjuro will fill you in on the details once we're finished dealing with the abberations and the Alca-Noise."

"...Fair enough." Copen agreed as he briefly looked around the city, and surprisingly, none of the creatures showed up. "Though now that you mention it, I think we just did. I didn't see any abberations or the Alca-Noise approaching."

"Huh?" Chris responded in confusion before she also looked around the city. "Weird. I was kind of expecting more of them to show up and attack us. I wonder why?"

"I think I know the answer to that." Copen replied with a small smile. "Me and Serena were not the only ones who showed up. The Guardians sent another team to deal with the Red Gates, the source of the spawning abberations. They might've already destroyed a gate or two, hence why we don't see any more of them arriving. After we regroup with Serena and the others, how's about we join the other team and assist flushing out the last remaining abberations?"

"Copen! Chris!"

"Ah, speaking of which..." Copen said after hearing Serena's voice, as he and Chris eventually saw Serena, Kirika and Shirabe arriving.

"Well... you three know how to take your own sweet time showing up." Chris said to the arrivals. "Me and Copen just finished cleaning up the remaining abberations and Alca-Noise in this area."

"Myself, Kirika and Shirabe also finished cleaning up our area too." Serena informed. "And Copen, I've already been told about the Alca-Noise and the alchemists from them while we're on our way here."

"Good to know. Chris already explained to me about them as well." Copen replied. "Now then, it's time to meet up with the other teams and finish this mission."

Unfortunately they weren't able to get far, as several large red pixelated walls suddenly appeared and blocked all of the routes, trapping them inside. "Dess?! Where did these walls come from?!" Kirika exclaimed as everyone felt shocked that the red walls suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"Even worse, the walls even blocked all of our routes. We're trapped!" Shirabe added.

"Damn it! I should've expected this when those abberations and Alca-Noise stopped appearing!" Chris frowned.

"No matter. These are only walls, so we'll just have to break them." Copen declared as he materialized his Twintail Bunker EX-Weapon with the support bits. "Serena, you might wanna stand back. I don't think your Armed Gear can break them."

"Understood." Serena nodded as she took a few steps back.

"Chris, Kirika, Shirabe, let's focus on breaking one wall that leads to the other team." Copen advised, earning a nod from them.

Kirika extended the blades at the tip of each shoulder pauldron into a scythe blade as they take a configuration resembling devil wings, giving her four additional blade arms.

Sealed Strike: Pinocchio

Shirabe unfolded her Armed Gear twintails with each compartment splitting into two, revealing four saw blades.

Reverse Gamma Style: Reckless Swastika Finish

Copen raised an eyebrow in surprise when he saw Kirikia and Shirabe's Armed Gears. "Okay... did not expect you two to have that many weapons concealed." He remarked.

"It's because of the Gear System, remember? I thought you're already used to seeing that." Chris stated.

"Hey, I've just started using this system a few days ago. I've got a long way to go if I wanna master this." Copen replied.

"Whatever you say, Copen." Chris shrugged as her side armours opened up, revealing missile racks that are armed and ready to launch. "I'm gonna start blasting the wall first, and then you three will do the rest."

"Very well./Understood./Okay, dess!" Copen, Shirabe and Kirika nodded back as they prepared to destroy the red wall.

"Fire away!" Chris shouted as she launched all of her missiles onto the wall.

MEGA DETH PARTY

As all of the missiles struck their target, Copen's Twintail Bunkers and Shirabe's saw blades began to rapidly spin. "Now!" Copen shouted, signaling the attack on the wall with his drills, Shirabe's saw blades and Kirika's scythe blades.

A few seconds later however, the red wall was still standing with no cracks in sight as they stopped attacking and dispersed their Armed Gears and weapons. "How sturdy is this wall, dess?!" Kirika complained.

"This is no ordinary wall if it managed to block our weapons." Shirabe remarked.

"Tch! Not even my Twintail Bunkers can pierce through them." Copen muttered.

"I am SO gonna kill the bastard who made this wall." Chris said.

"So we're stuck here until help arrives?" Serena asked with worry.

"We'll find a way out, I promise." Copen assured. "But first, I need to figure out what kind of wall we're dealing with." He then turned to his relic crystal on his upper chest. "Lola, gonna need your help to examine this wall."

"Right away, Boss!" Lola replied as she appeared in front of Copen in her Idol Form, surprising the group (except Serena).

"Eh?! Who in the world is that, dess?!" Kirika exclaimed in shock while pointing at Lola.

"The name's Lola, Copen's partner! Nice to meet you, Kirika Akatsuki! Shirabe Tsukuyomi! Chris Yukine!" The idol cheerfully greeted with a wink and a two-finger salute.

"Your other partner was inside your relic this entire time?!" Chris exclaimed to Copen while pointing at his relic crystal, and earning a confirmed nod from him.

"Is she some kind of cyber fairy?" Shirabe asked.

"Well... I originally built Lola as a combat pod as support for my missions." Copen explained. "But during one of my missions, she became like this after absorbing a Septima."

"A... Septima?"

"It's basically some kind of superpower, like gaining the power of fire or thunder for example." Serena explained. "People who has a Septima are called Adepts. Lola gained the power of a Septima called 'The Muse', the power of song. Her songs supports her allies, enhancing their abilities and restoring their stamina. Sounds familiar?"

"That's... how we fight as Attuned!" Shirabe gasped in realization, while Kirika and Chris' eyes widen in shock.

"It's a long story, so explanations have to wait. Now excuse me while I go and examine this wall real quick." Lola replied as she went in front of the red wall, moved her hand forward and focused her energy. And once she finished her examination, her face went pale as to who created it. "Oh crap... you're not gonna like this." She turned to the group to report.

"Care to tell us why?" Copen asked.

"Well... this wall radiates the same energy as the abberations, but at a much stronger level. I think all of you can pretty much figure it out who did it." Lola informed.

"A stronger energy level... did a chimera do this?" Serena guessed, and earned a confirmed nod from Lola.

"So we'll just have to find this chimera and destroy it so that all of those red walls will disappear, right?" Kirika stated.

"The problem is finding that chimera first. And since we're all stuck here, we can't even look for it." Shirabe sighed.

"I'm gonna contact Hibiki and see if she can look for that chimera for us." Chris said as she began to contact her teammate via her headgear.

"Good idea." Copen agreed before he took out his Zikan Phone. "I'll contact Geiz if he and his team could also find that chimera."

"You do that."

"What kind of phone is that?" Shirabe asked as she noticed said phone.

"That's a Zikan Phone. Copen made it himself after he borrowed from Geiz." Serena answered before she briefly took out her own Zikan Phone. "I also got mine from a friend of his."

"Wow..." Shirabe responded with awe. "I wonder if I could get my own Zikan Phone?"

"Maybe you can ask him after this mission, okay?" Serena replied.

"Hey, don't forget about me too! I want one!" Kirika said.

"Oi! If you're done talking about phones, then could you three at least keep an eye on us in case the chimera chose to go after us instead!?" Chris told them.

"H-Hai!" They responded as they prepared their Armed Gear and began to patrol the area.

"Let me join in on the patrol too!" Lola said as she joined the patrol team.

"Oi, Hibiki! We got a problem." Chris contacted her teammate.

"Ah, Chris-chan! Everything okay on your end?" Hibiki responded.

"So far so good. After we finished the last group of the Alca-Noise and those creatures, they stopped coming. Unfortunately we're trapped since those damn red walls blocked all of our routes."

"What?! You're trapped?! Are you still okay?!"

"I'm fine, dumbass! I still have Kirika and Shirabe with me, along with two new allies from the Guardians."

"The Guardians? Ah, Miku and I are with two of them as well!"

"Wait, seriously?! Where are you now?"

"I'm on my way to find Geiz and his team since he knows about those creatures than us. We tried to destroy the wall to reach you, but it didn't leave a single scratch on it."

"I see. Not even me and the others can break those damn walls." Chris sighed. "Right then, hurry up and find Geiz! And if you somehow find the one responsible for those walls, take it down!"

"Roger that, Chris-chan! Stay safe, okay?" Hibiki responded.

"And don't take too long!" Chris replied back before she ended the call.

"Geiz, this is Copen. What's your status?" Copen contacted via voice call on his Zikan Phone.

"Doing okay so far. We've just destroyed two of the Red Gates and are on our way towards the last one." Geiz informed.

"Nice work." Copen smiled at the good news.

"What about you? Are you, Serena and the others doing alright?"

"For the most part. Unfortunately after we've dealt with the creatures, a chimera created a bunch of red walls that blocked our routes, so we're basically trapped."

"Damn it... Alright, hang tight. I'll see if me and the others can find that chimera while we deal with the last Red Gate."

"Understood, we're counting on you." Copen replied before ending the call and put away his phone. He then turned to Chris to inform a bit of good news. "Well Chris, Geiz told me that his team already destroyed two of the three Red Gates. He also said that his team will try and search for the chimera while dealing with the last gate."

"Well, good riddance for them stopping those abberations, at least." Chris replied. "Hibiki, Miku, and two of your Guardian allies are en route to meet up with Geiz. So at least the other team will have more extra hands to destroy that gate and to find that chimera."

Chris and Copen turned to the others to report. "Girls, there's something we need t- What the?!" Copen exclaimed as his and Chris' eyes widen in shock when they saw something on the rooftops. A dark floating humanoid with red eyes, no legs, wearing a black armour with red accents, and a glowing red core on its chest, was preparing to fire an energy arrow with its large spike bow, ...and it's aiming for Serena?! "Serena, look out!" Copen yelled as he quickly bolted towards her partner with his boosters on his back and legs.

"Eh?" Serena turned around and saw Copen dashing towards her while the humanoid began to fire the arrow. Thankfully, Copen managed to grab Serena out of danger in a bridal carry as the arrow missed its target and struck the ground instead. Enraged at what Chris had just saw, she transformed her Armed Gear into a double tri-barreled gattling gun and fired at the humanoid on the rooftop.

ASSAULT MAIDEN

However, the humanoid quickly flew around the area and evaded the bullets while it transformed its arms into a pair of crossbows and fired a barrage of energy arrows at Chris. "Tch!" Chris muttered as she quickly ran and dodged the arrows while transforming her Armed Gear again into a pair of crossbows and fired back.

Meanwhile, Copen regrouped with Lola, Kirika and Shirabe as he safely landed on the ground before putting down Serena gently. "That was far too close, Serena. Are you okay?" Copen asked.

"I'm fine, but what happened?" Serena asked back.

"Looks like something sets its sights on us." Copen replied as he and the others turned to the battle of the humanoid and Chris as they fired arrows at each other while dodging.

"That's not an Alca-Noise, dess!" Kirika exclaimed in shock.

"Is that an abberation?" Shirabe guessed, before her eyes narrowed to take a closer look at the humanoid. "No wait, it's different. And it's wearing some kind of armour."

"Armour?" Lola responded as she also narrowed her eyes to have a closer look, before they began to widen in shock when she found out that the humanoid is wearing a very familiar armour, just like the Axe and Sword Nemesis. "Oh crap, and Geiz is not even here to see this."

"What do you mean?" Copen asked.

"That's not just a chimera that attacked us, that's a Nemesis!" Lola answered, making Copen and Serena's eyes widen in shock.

"A Nemesis?! Here?!" Serena responded with worry.

"Frick...! And Geiz is not even here to capture this Nemesis since he's still busy dealing with the last Red Gate! Maybe I should've built another Legatus sooner!" Copen mentally muttered while frowning.

"What's a Nemesis?" Shirabe asked.

"It's a special chimera that has lost some self-control." Serena explained. "In order to fix the problem, we need a device called the Legatus to capture the chimera to revert it back to its normal and controlled form called a Legion."

"Unfortunately, Geiz is the only one with that device, and he's busy using it to destroy the Red Gate." Copen added.

"Capture... a chimera?! We can make it join to our side?!" Kirika exclaimed, earning a confirmed nod from Copen and Serena.

"And the both of you have met that kind of creature before?" Shirabe added. "What have you two been up to lately?"

"Let's just say... a lot. But we'll explain when all of this is over." Lola answered before turning to her partner. "I'm gonna go back into the relic now, Boss. I do NOT want to get an arrow to the knee."

"Go ahead, you're better off safe inside me for the time being." Copen responded, prompting Lola to nod back as she disappeared back into Copen's relic crystal. "You better let me and Chris handle the Nemesis since it's a ranged fighter. Kirika, Shirabe, I'm leaving Serena in your care. Keep her safe for me, okay?"

"Got it./Okay, dess!" Shirabe and Kirika nodded.

"And Copen, you and Chris better not destroy that Nemesis until Geiz arrives. Remember, Legions can have feelings too, just like humans." Serena said, reminding him of the times she and Copen saw Geiz and his Axe Legion fought in sync with each other.

"I understand. We'll see if we can make it unconscious or lose its stamina, at least." Copen replied before he dashed towards the battle to support Chris. And when he arrived, he fired his gun and Armed Gear shield at the Nemesis, making it dodge the attacks before it floated down to ground level. "Need some help, Chris?" Copen asked as he stood beside her while they glared at the Nemesis.

"Yeah, for now." Chris replied. "How's Serena? Is she okay?"

"She's fine. Kirika and Shirabe are keeping her safe, which leaves us to deal with the Nemesis." Copen replied back.

"Nemesis? Is that what that thing is called? Because that does not look like an abberation."

"That's because it's not. It's a chimera, and a special one that can be captured."

"Wait, that thing can be captured?! How?!" Chris exclaimed.

"With the device called the Legatus, which unfortunately, Geiz is still using it to close the last Red Gate." Copen answered. "Until he arrives, we'll have to lower its stamina or make it unconscious."

"Do you have another one of those devices?" Chris asked.

"No, Geiz is using the only one. And I have yet to make another one to make our job easier." Copen shook his head.

"...Well that sucks."

"Yeah. But until then..." Copen began as he and Chris prepared their weapons to fight the Nemesis while it does the same thing and began to growl. "...It must survive! Including ourselves!"

Guardian Base, Command Center

"And that's the story so far, and here we are assisting you and the rest of your operatives." Prairie finished her discussion with Genjuro about the events that has happened so far.

The looks on Genjuro and the rest of his operatives at S.O.N.G HQ speaks volumes as they were completely shocked and speechless at what Prairie had revealed. The existence of other worlds of the multiverse, the Dimensional Quakes, the Neo Time Jackers, Kanade and Serena's revival, the adventures in Gunvolt's world along with meeting with the Guardians, and last but not least, Finé, also known as Ryoko Sakurai, of all people, revealing the identity of the Dimension Fragments from a relic called Gjallarhorn. And Genjuro was one of those people who were involved with Finé's Gjallarhorn project a long time ago, alongside Kanade Amou.

"Genjuro? Are you still with us right now?" Prairie asked, making Genjuro snap out of his shocked state.

"O-Oh... Sorry. It's just... hard to process all of this information you've told us. Though I never thought that Gjallarhorn would be the sole reason for this entire mess." Genjuro responded.

"I understand." Prairie nodded. "Still, that unknown third party made a risky choice to break apart the Complete Relic and scatter them all across the multiverse to prevent the Neo Time Jackers from stealing the entire relic."

"Well, it's better than them stealing the entire relic."

"Speaking of which, do you know where's the last known location of said relic before it was broken apart?"

"Sadly, no. Ryoko-kun, or Finé in this case, is the only one who knows its exact location."

"I see." Prairie replied before taking out a small USB Drive from her pocket. "It's a good thing Gunvolt received this USB Drive from Finé before he gave it to me. It contains the last known location of Gjallarhorn. Unfortunately, while our scientist Dr. Fleuve tried to examine the USB Drive, it was encrypted in a code he could not decipher. So maybe some of your operatives can fix that problem?"

"You can leave that to me, ma'am. I'm Elfnein, a scientist for S.O.N.G." Elfnein introduced and stepped forward. "I should be able to solve that problem and reveal Gjallarhorn's last known location."

"You can put your faith in Elfnein-kun's talents despite her age, Prairie. She was also able to help the other Gear Users with upgrades that can combat the Alca-Noise." Genjuro assured.

"Alright then. Once this mission is over, I'll have Dr. Fleuve assist Elfnein with the encryption when we arrive at S.O.N.G. HQ." Prairie approved.

"Thank you, Commander Prairie. I won't let you down." Elfnein bowed.

"Right then, back to the mission." Prairie said as she turned to her operators. "Status report on the teams."

"Grey and Ashe are still holding the line, though the abberations are getting lesser, so they should be done soon before they can regroup with the others." Tulip reported.

"Geiz and Vent have successfully destroyed the second Red Gate and are en route towards the final gate, where Zi-O and Aile are still hanging in there, cutting off the abberation reinforcements outside the gate." Gardénia reported.

"Gunvolt and his team are also on their way towards the final gate for additional support after clearing their area from the abberations and the Alca-Noise." Marguerite reported.

"So far so good." Prairie replied to their reports before turning to Kohaku, who's feeling worried at the moment. "Kohaku? What's wrong? Did something happen to Copen's team?"

"Well... you're not gonna like this." Kohaku reported. "One: Geiz and his team are trapped within several red walls that appeared out of nowhere. And two: They're fighting a Nemesis right now."

"A Nemesis?!" Prairie exclaimed in shock. "Isn't that the special chimera you and your sister saw back at that Underground Lab in Gunvolt's world?!"

"That's correct, ma'am." Reiko nodded before she turned back to the console and pushed a few buttons to enlarge the holo-screen so that Prairie and Genjuro can see the Nemesis fighting Copen and Chris. "And it looks like another type of Nemesis, this time with crossbow arms and no legs. It also excels at speed and ranged combat."

"In order to turn the Nemesis back to its normal state as a Legion, we need the Legatus to capture it." Kohaku added. "Unfortunately, Geiz is the only one with said device and he's on his way towards the final Red Gate to use it to destroy the gate."

"Is it possible to make another Legatus?" Genjuro asked.

"Copen did say that he was going to make one with Dr. Fleuve's assistance eventually." Prairie replied. "But we never expected another chimera problem to happen so soon."

"Is it okay if I can help with the Legatus?" Elfnein requested.

"More help is appreciated, thank you, Elfnein." Prairie approved.

"Hmm..." Reiko began to ponder with her hand on her chin, earning everyone's attention. "Something tells me that it won't be just the Nemesis appearing."

"Are you saying that something else will show up to halt the progress of the other teams?" Kohaku guessed.

"Most likely, and I don't like this feeling one bit." Reiko replied before frowning at the last Red Gate on the holo-screen. "I have a hunch that a chimera or two will appear from that Red Gate to protect it."

"Aren't you feeling a bit more cautious there, Rei?" Kohaku asked.

"Hmm... Reiko-kun does have a good point at being cautious. And I don't like this feeling either." Genjuro agreed with his hand on his chin, before he turned to Prairie. "Prairie-kun, think you can deploy her towards the Red Gate? We need to be sure if a chimera or two will appear out of the Red Gate or not."

"Well, Reiko? Care to give them a hand?" Prairie asked.

Reiko took a moment turn to Kohaku for a response, who then chose to nod with approval. Reiko nodded back with a determined expression before turning to Prairie. "I accept. Time for me to give them some assistance." She accepted with a nod.

"Alright, suit up and prepare to free-fall into the city." Prairie ordered before turning to Genjuro. "Do you still have that helicopter pilot on standby? She could use a lift."

"I'll give my agent a call to provide transport." Genjuro replied.

"Thank you, sir." Reiko nodded. "But before I head for the Red Gate, I need to help out Grey and Ashe for a bit. After that, they'll board the helicopter with me before heading towards the Red Gate."

"Understood, Reiko-kun. I'll tell the agent about that too." Genjuro nodded back.

"Right then, I'm off. I'll be back soon!" Reiko said before heading out of the command center.

"Stay safe, sis!" Kohaku said to Reiko as she watched her leave.

"You think that Reiko-kun will be enough to help the other teams?" Genjuro asked.

"I may be worried about my sister's safety, but she'll be just fine." Kohaku assured. "I did see her hold her own against the Sword Nemesis back in Gunvolt's world. If it weren't for her, Geiz wouldn't be able to capture that Nemesis."

"I still can't believe that Sumeragi experimented on Reiko as a test subject using Gunvolt's DNA, only using her as a weapon." Prairie frowned, recalling what Reiko, Kohaku and the others informed about what occurred at the Underground Lab in Gunvolt's world.

"But at least Zi-O, Geiz, and the others managed to free her before it's too late. And now she's going to use those powers to protect innocent people."

"That's correct, Genjuro." Prairie smiled. "Also before the lab is destroyed, Lola managed to recover some blueprints on Project: Blade, which contained some info about the battlesuit and its weaponry. I'm sure Dr. Fleuve will make good use of those blueprints in the R&D Lab."

"Is it alright if I can study those blueprints too?" Elfnein requested.

"As long as it doesn't fall into the wrong hands, then you're free to share it with us." Prairie approved.

"Thank you, Prairie-san."

As Reiko is on his way to the Guardian's R&D Lab to get her battle gear, she saw Dr. Fleuve and Jin waiting outside the door of said room.

Dr. Fleuve is a short scientist wearing red and white goggles, a blue helmet with a yellow visor, a blue and gold-accented scientist outfit, black sleeves over a pair of white gloves, and a pair of blue boots on his feet.

Jin is now wearing an indigo shirt with a loose collar and elbow-length sleeves over a plain white undershirt, white shorts that stop above his knees, as well as black leggings that stop just under them, and black slip-on shoes with white soles on his feet. He is also wearing a yellow shoulder bag and also two grey buckles, seemingly attached to a belt, that resemble suspenders.

"Jin? Doctor? What are you two doing out here?" Reiko asked, gaining attention of the two.

"Ah, Reiko! There you are." Jin greeted. "Dr. Fleuve wanted to talk to you about something."

"Alright, but not too long. I need to be deployed to help the others, but I need to get my battle gear first." Reiko replied.

"Then you're just in time! With Jin's help, I've just finished doing a few improvements on your suit and your weapon with enhanced strength and energy." Fleuve informed.

"Really? Thanks Jin, Doctor." Reiko smiled. "So where's my gear now?"

"That's... the other surprise I wanted to give you." Jin replied as he took out a very familiar gadget that made Reiko's eyes widen in shock.

"Jin...! Is that...?!"

"That's right." Jin nodded. "Your very own Zikan Phone, in blue and white color. Your battlesuit and weapons are already stored inside this phone and ready for use."

"How were you able to make this?" Reiko asked as she took the phone from Jin and glanced at it.

"Copen took the time to visit the R&D Lab and asked if I was able to make another one of these Zikan Phones. He even gave me a blueprint of the one he made himself, along with giving me some of the spare parts he stored in his phone." Fleuve explained.

"So that's how. I'll have to thank Copen later." Reiko said as she placed her new phone inside her pocket. "Right then, I'd better get going. I should be able to figure out how to use it. Thanks again, you two!"

"Anytime, Reiko! Good luck out there!" Jin replied.

"Try not to break it, okay? We've worked very hard making that phone!" Fleuve added.

"I understand!" Reiko replied back as she quickly head for the Loading Bay to begin deployment.

Guardian Base, Loading Bay

"Ah, Reiko!" Silure greeted when he saw her arrive. "All set to go?"

"Yeah, time to open the door." Reiko replied as she head for the loading bay door.

"Uhh, you sure you don't need a parachute or something?" Silure questioned.

"No need. I've got my own landing strategy." Reiko gave the mechanic a confident smirk before she turned back to the door.

"Whatever you say." Sliure shrugged before pushing the button. "Opening the doors now!"

As the loading bay doors began to open, Reiko took out her new Zikan Phone and use it to materialize a large white rectangular field in front of her. And when the field went through her, she was immediately donned in her battlesuit, along with her sheathed segregated HF-Sword and the five scabbards hanging on her hips, three on each side. Thanks to Jin and Dr. Flueve, a new addition was added to the suit; a blue angular visor and a grey faceplate. Once the loading bay doors are open, Reiko began to quickly sprint until she jumped off the airship and began to free-fall towards the city.

"Blade has been deployed and is en route towards the city to support Grey and Ashe." Kohaku informed.

"Blade?" Genjuro raised an eyebrow.

"That's her call sign when she's deployed for missions." Prairie answered.

"Ah, I understand. So we're calling her Blade for now. Anyway, our helicopter is also on its way towards Grey and Ashe's location."

"Hopefully Blade will reach the location first before your helicopter does. Don't want to risk getting shot down by the abberations." Prairie stated.

"Fair enough."

"In the meantime, I'll contact Geiz about the Nemesis Copen and Chris are fighting against." Kohaku said.

"Go right ahead, Kohaku." Prairie approved with a nod.

"Geiz, we've got ourselves a problem." Kohaku contacted.

"Problem? What do you... Ah, I get it. If you're talking about Copen's team being trapped, don't worry. He already called me about the problem." Geiz assured. "After I deal with the last Red Gate, I'm gonna find that chimera that created those red walls and exterminate it."

"Yeah... about that chimera... Copen and Chris are fighting a Nemesis right now."

"Say what?!" Geiz exclaimed. "What does the Nemesis look like?!"

"Well it has no legs, very agile, and has crossbow arms." Kohaku described.

"...Crap, that's the Arrow Nemesis they're fighting! And now that I think about it, that Nemesis created those red walls in the first place!"

"What?! The Nemesis did that?!" Kohaku exclaimed.

"Don't worry! After I deal with the last Red Gate, I'm heading straight for that Nemesis to capture it! I just hope they or the Nemesis don't perish before I arrive!"

"I'll keep an eye on them, just in case! For now, please hurry!" Kohaku said.

"Roger that! Geiz out!" Geiz replied before ending the call.

City Area

Meanwhile back with Grey and Ashe, they are still eliminating more abberations that are approaching them during their distraction while in their A-Trans state as Bifrost and Vulturon.

Bifrost-Grey continued to unleash his ice breath to freeze the groups of creatures before destroying one group with a tail swing, and another group with a powerful bite. For Vulturon-Ashe, she continued to unleash several sonic booms onto the creatures with her guitar. As for the aerial abberations that got close to her, she retaliated by smashing them with her guitar. Once done, she regrouped with B-Grey, only for their A-Trans to time-out, reverting them back into their Base Forms.

"Sorry guys, but I'm out of energy! It's gonna take a while for it to recharge!" Model A reported.

"That's okay, Model A. You did just fine." Grey replied as he and Ashe took out their hand cannons again. "So how many abberations are we dealing with right now?"

"Hmm... by scanning their energies, I'd say a bit less than we expected."

"Then it looks like the strategy was a success." Ashe deduced. "Once we're done dealing with the remaining abberations in our area, we're regrouping with Geiz and the others. You're not tired yet, are you Grey?"

"I can still keep going, Ashe." Grey nodded as they stood back-to-back as the abberations began to surround them in a circle. "What about you?"

"Heh, it'll take more than that to stop me!" Ashe smirked. "Well then, let's take them down!"

"Yeah!" Grey nodded back as they begun to resume their assault on the abberations... until a powerful blue lightning bolt from above crashed onto one group of the creatures, destroying them upon impact, which also generated a powerful electrical shockwave that also destroyed more creatures around it. That powerful attack surprised the two Mega Men.

"A blue lightning bolt out of nowhere? Is GV here to help us?" Ashe guessed.

"Wait, he's still busy with Kanade, Hibiki and Miku." Grey answered. "And if I remember what he told us earlier, then this lightning bolt must've come from...!"

And sure enough, said lightning bolt turned out to be the appearing Reiko in her battlesuit with her sword stabbed onto the ground. She slowly stood up, pulled out her sword and sheathed it before glaring at the remaining abberations. As the creatures began to lunge towards their new target, Reiko quickly flash-stepped past them before appearing behind them with her sword being slightly unsheathed. And when she fully sheathed it, the creatures were immediately shredded to pieces as they were already hit by lightspeed slashes when Reiko dashed past them. The aerial abberations began to fire their energy arrows towards Reiko, only for the shots to be easily blocked by her when she quickly pulled out her sword and spun it in front of her. In retaliation, she extends her sword and whipped the creatures to pieces, and then launched the sword fragments on to the remaining creatures, finishing them off. After that, the sword fragments retracted back before she sheathed her sword.

The Mega Men were in awe at Reiko's power and skill. She may have the same Septima as Gunvolt, but her style is far different from his. "Since when did you decided to drop in, Blade?" Ashe asked as she and Grey holstered their guns while referring to Reiko's call sign. "Also, nice visor and faceplate."

"Thanks. Well I had a hunch that something is about to go wrong during our mission." Reiko replied as she approached them. "And one of them came true when a Nemesis trapped Copen's team before it began to fight them."

"A Nemesis showed up?!" Grey exclaimed. "That can't be good. Where's Geiz right now?"

"He's on his way towards the final Red Gate. My sister should be contacting him about the Nemesis right now." Reiko answered.

"Really would've been nice if we had another Legatus to make our chimera problems easier." Ashe remarked.

"Yeah, and Copen was planning to make one along with Dr. Fleuve's help." Reiko agreed. "Well there's no point thinking about it right now, because we have a mission to complete. Time for us to head for the final Red Gate to provide support for the others."

"Don't tell me we're heading there on foot..." Ashe groaned. "We'd use A-Trans to travel to that location easier, but Model A ran out of energy that it needs to recharge before we can use it again."

"That's okay, because someone else is here to pick us up." Reiko smirked.

"And that someone is...?" Grey asked, until they heard helicopter noises coming from above, prompting them to look up as they saw the same white helicopter that dropped off the other Gear Users, land in front of the group as the door began to open. The helicopter also had a S.O.N.G logo on its sides.

"Are you the ones Commander Genjuro mentioned to give you guys a lift?" The pilot asked, making the Mega Men's eyes widen in shock when he mentioned a familiar name Kanade told them about earlier.

"Commander Genjuro?!" Ashe exclaimed.

"T-That's the one Ka-mmpf!" Grey was suddenly interrupted by Reiko when she quickly covered his mouth.

("Don't mention Kanade's name yet! We don't want the agents to know about her revival.)" Reiko quietly advised, prompting Grey to nod before she released her hand and turned to the pilot. "Yeah, that's us. We need to head for the Red Gate immediately."

"Alright, hop in!" The pilot complied as the group quickly boarded the helicopter and closed the door before it began to lift off the ground and flew towards the location of the final Red Gate.

West Red Gate

Meanwhile, Zi-O fired more beam vulcans and homing lasers from his Time Mazine onto the abberations that spawned out of the Red Gate. "Tch! I'd better give this bike a rest, I don't wanna risk it from being destroyed!" Zi-O muttered before he landed the hoverbike onto the ground, activated the auto-recall function and jumped off the bike before it began to lift off and flew back towards the Guardian Base to refuel. As more abberations began to spawn out of the gate, he moved his hand forward and summoned his weapon.

=ZIKAN GILADE! KEN!=

"Right then..." Zi-O began to twirl his weapon before pointing it forward. "Come and get it!" He began his battle cry as he ran towards the abberations and slashed through them left and right, upwards and downwards. He then delivered a backward stab on the creature behind him. He then quickly dodged the energy arrows fired by the aerial abberations while he switched his weapon to ranged mode.

=ZYU!=

Zi-O then fired rapidly back at the aerial abberations with his gun before finishing the remaining with a charge shot. After that, he moved onto the next group of creatures.

As for Aile, she dodged several attacks from the abberations before countering with several slashes with her ZX Saber, following up with one powerful charged slash onto one group of creatures, destroying them in one blow. The aerial abberations began to fire more energy arrows, prompting Aile to dodge before jumping towards them and countered with an aerial rolling slash, and then following up with a downward saber crash onto one group of abberations on the ground, destroying them upon impact.

After that, Aile regrouped with Zi-O as they stood back-to-back when the abberations began to surround them as more of those creatures continued to spawn out of the Red Gate. "I don't know if we can take much more of this..." Aile remarked.

"Yeah, me neither." Zi-O agreed. "Maybe Copen should've built another Legatus a lot sooner so that one of us can close that gate instead."

"I agree with you." Aile nodded before sighing. "Would be nice if I had the other four Biometals right now instead of them being stolen."

"And I should've brought some of the other Ridewatches with me instead of leaving them back at the Zi-O Liner." Zi-O also sighed. "The only one I have right now is the Kaixa Ridewatch."

"So your Ridewatches allow you to switch into another armour?" Aile asked, earning a nod from Zi-O. "That would've been cool to see. But for now, I think you'd better use the one you have at the moment."

"Yeah, that would be wise right now." Zi-O agreed as he pulled out the Kaixa Ridewatch from the Ridewatch Holder on his wrist, turned the dial and pushed the button.

=KAIXA!=

But before he could attach it to the belt, some of the abberations were shot down by beam vulcans, homing lasers, and several charged buster shots. Zi-O and Aile quickly turned to where the shots are fired from, and saw the arriving Geiz and Vent on the Time Mazine as they continue to fire their weapons onto the creatures. After that, the Time Mazine stopped right in front of the two. "Sorry we're late!" Geiz apologized to them. "You two hanging in there?"

"Just barely. Thanks for coming, man." Zi-O replied as Geiz and Vent got off the hoverbike. "So I take it that the two Red Gates have been destroyed?"

"Yup." Vent nodded before they stared at the final Red Gate. "Only one gate remains, and this mission will be over."

"Phew... finally..." Aile breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, let's get this over with. Geiz, we'll cover you while you and your Legion do your work!"

"No need to tell me twice!" Geiz complied as he summoned his Sword Legion once more and ran towards the final gate to destroy it.

"Aile, Zi-O, let's go!" Vent said as he rushed towards the spawning abberations with his ZX Saber ready.

"Right behind you!" Aile complied as she ran after Vent with her ZX Buster ready.

As for Zi-O, he briefly glanced at his Kaixa Ridewatch before placing it back onto the Ridewatch Holder. "...Maybe later when things go south." He commented to himself before running after the Mega Men.

Geiz quickly ordered the Legion to circle around the gate once more, but suddenly, something large spawned out of the gate and sent the Legion flying with a powerful swing of an unknown weapon. "What?!" Geiz exclaimed in shock as he watched his Legion crash into a nearby building, taking heavy damage that forced it to disappear back into the Legatus to recharge with the device's blue light turned off. Geiz quickly turned to one responsible at the gate, and saw a large humanoid with red eyes, a white samurai horned helmet, a demonic-looking red samurai armour, clawed feet, and wielding a large burning glaive. "Tch! I was wondering when a chimera would eventually spawn out of the gate... And it had to be Diomedes, huh?" Geiz mentally scowled at the one responsible for knocking out his Legion.

The others quickly regrouped with Geiz and gasped in shock when they saw the chimera's appearance. "Geiz... is that a chimera?!" Vent asked.

"Yeah, and this one is called Diomedes. I'd be careful about that large glaive of his." Geiz replied with caution.

"What happened to your Legion? Is it dead?" Aile asked.

"Not dead yet. Diomedes completely knocked out the Legion, forcing it to return to the Legatus to recharge." Geiz replied.

"In other words, he can't summon any of the Legions until the recharge time is complete." Zi-O added.

"Damn it! Without it, that gate can't be destroyed." Vent frowned.

"Guess we'll have to fight that chimera until the Legatus finished recharging." Aile said before turning to Zi-O. "And Zi-O? Didn't I tell you to use that Ridewatch of yours to switch into another armour?"

"Already planning on it since this annoyance showed up!" Zi-O complied as he took out the Kaixa Ridewatch, turned the dial and pushed the button.

=KAIXA!=

"Let me join in on this!" Geiz added as he took out the Faiz Ridewatch, turned the dial and pushed the button.

=FAIZ!=

The Riders then inserted the Ridewatches onto their belts, slammed the tilt button and gave them a 360 turn, triggering their Form Change.

=ARMOUR TIME!=

=COMPLETE!=

=FAIZ!=

=KAIXA!=

Soon after, Zi-O is now in his Kaixa Rider Amour, while Geiz is in his Faiz Rider Armour. "...Why are there cell phones on your shoulders?" Aile questioned when the Mega Men saw the Rider Armours.

"It's best not to question it too much." Zi-O answered as he prepared his Zikan Gilade Ken Mode and his Faizphone X Blaster Mode.

"What he said." Geiz added as he prepared his Zikan Zax Ono Mode and X-Baton Baton Mode.

"Oh well." Vent responded as everyone glared at Diomedes, who began to roar with its burning glaive ready, along with several more abberations spawning out of the Red Gate. "Here we go!" He declared as the group began to charge towards the chimera.

S.O.N.G HQ, Command Center

Everyone was in deep shock at what they saw on the large monitor; a large creature spawned out of the gate and took out their only hope of destroying the gate and capturing the Nemesis.

"This isn't good! That unknown large creature just took out the Legion!" Sakuya fearfully informed. "How is Geiz supposed to destroy the Red Gate now?!"

"He won't be able to capture the Nemesis either!" Aoi added.

"Sakuya, Aoi, calm down! The Legion is not dead yet!" Prairie replied from another monitor. "According to Geiz, if the Legion took too much damage, it will be forced to return back into the Legatus to recharge. Until the recharge is complete, he's unable to summon any of his Legions."

"So the Sword and Axe Legion share the same energy?" Elfnein guessed.

"Correct." Prairie nodded. "That's one of the downsides of having multiple Legions inside the Legatus."

"Damn it! I guess that means they'll have to stand their ground until the Legatus recharge is complete." Genjuro frowned.

"I'm afraid so. And I can't figure out how long the recharge time will take."

"Hmm..." Genjuro pondered as he glanced at the large creature with a burning glaive on the monitor. "From the looks of that creature, it's definitely not an abberation, so it must be a chimera. Guess Reiko-kun's hunch came true."

"That's a chimera? It looks like a very demonic samurai from the Sengoku era." Sakuya commented.

"Well, all chimeras come in all shapes and sizes. The one chimera that Gunvolt, Copen, the Riders, and the Symphogears fought before had a sword and shield." Prairie stated.

"Interesting..." Elfnein responded.

"I see." Genjuro also responded before turning to the operators looking at their monitors. "Sakuya, Aoi, how's the progress on the other teams?"

"Our helicopter has already picked up Blade, Grey and Ashe, and it's on its way towards the Red Gate. ETA: 3 minutes." Aoi informed.

"Copen and Chris are hanging in there with their fight against the Nemesis. Kirika and Shirabe are keeping an eye on Serena for safety." Sakuya also informed. "Still can't believe that Serena is Maria's younger sister. How did we not know about that?"

"Perhaps we never asked or it just slipped past our minds." Genjuro replied.

"And as for Gunvolt's team, they're still en route to- Huh?" Kohaku suddenly stopped mid-sentence when she saw something on her console. "Ma'am! I've detected a large energy reading heading straight for Gunvolt's team! And it's the same reading as a chimera!"

"What?!" Prairie and Genjuro exclaimed with their eyes widen.

"Can you locate the chimera?!" Prairie asked.

"Negative! I can't find it anywhere on the monitor, and it's not coming from the air either!" Kohaku informed.

"Sakuya! Aoi! Any luck on your end?" Genjuro asked.

"We can't find it on our monitors either!" Aoi responded.

"...Hold on." Sakuya suddenly saw something strange on his monitor. "There seems to be a small rise on the Richter scale. And it's coming from Hibiki's location."

"A small tremor? Here in the city? ...Wait a minute." Genjuro pondered for a moment, until his eyes widen in fearful realization. "The chimera! It's about to ambush Hibiki-kun and the others from behind and from underground!"

"What?!" Everyone in the room exclaimed.

"An underground ambush from behind?!" Prairie also exclaimed. "How is that possible?!"

"Sakuya saw a small rise on the Richter scale. A small tremor is happening from Hibiki's location, which can only mean that the chimera is burrowing from underground!" Genjuro stated in a grim tone.

"Gunvolt! Hibiki and the others are in trouble! Look behind you and prepare for a chimera ambush from underground!" Kohaku quickly contacted.

"What?! A chimera from underground?!" Gunvolt exclaimed when he heard about Kohaku's warning from his Zikan Phone, making him stop running and quickly turned around, until he began to feel the tremors on his feet.

"It's already here?!" Joule exclaimed.

Gunvolt quickly put away his phone while running towards his teammates. "Girls, get out of there now!" He yelled.

"Eh?" Hibiki, Kanade and Miku responded while they continued to run, but was too late, as a large creature behind them burrowed out of the ground and is about to smash them with its fists.

Gunvolt's eyes widen with fear as he quickly ignited the boosters on his back, generating a pair of azure-blue energy butterfly wings, moved his energized right hand forward, and bolted towards the chimera. "Oversurge, Azure Striker! Astrasphere!" He yelled as he intercepted the creature's fists with a large lightning sphere before it could even touch the girls.

The girls quickly turned around and saw Gunvolt blocking the creature's fists with his lightning. "GV?!" Hibiki gasped.

"What is that?!" Miku exclaimed as she pointed at the creature in shock.

The large creature has a gorilla-like build with light purple-grey and dark purple-blue skin, a triangular armour piece on its forehead, dark eyes, a wide mouth with exposed teeth, small legs with clawed feet, and very large stocky arms with five fingers. This creature, is a chimera called Briareos.

"That's definitely not an abberation, that's a chimera!" Kanade frowned before turning to Gunvolt. "GV, hang in there!"

"I'm trying!" Gunvolt responded while blocking the attack with his large lightning sphere, but then saw the chimera converted his fists into a pair of large spike maces and proceeded to smash his barrier with more power, completely shocking him and the girls. "This chimera can do that?!" He exclaimed in shock.

"Hold on, GV!" Joule prayed.

Briareos continued to smash onto Gunvolt's lightning sphere as it began to grow weaker and weaker. "Not good! I'm losing ground fast!" Gunvolt grunted.

"GV! Your Armed Gear! Can you use it?!" Hibiki asked.

"I don't think my sword or even my gun will do any good in this situation!" Gunvolt answered.

"It's not just your sword! Your whole body can be an Armed Gear! You need to concentrate!"

"Hibiki's right!" Miku agreed. "You saw what my Gear can do, so maybe you can do the same to yours!"

"Don't ever give up on living, GV! You've got a lot to do when this is over, so keep pushing forward!" Kanade supported.

"Believe in your Gear and your Septima, GV! It's the only way you can win!" Joule added.

"Hibiki, Kanade, Miku, Joule..." Gunvolt whispered. They are right about one thing, he can't give up just yet. He still has plenty of work to do after the battle. The Neo Time Jackers, meeting Tsubasa Kazanari, and using his powers to protect not only his world, but the multiverse as well. He slowly glanced at the relic crystal on his chest before turning to his energized right hand. Finé gave him the power of the Faust Robe, so he must not let that power go to waste. He then turned to the chimera before closing his eyes and concentrating his energy. His right hand clenched into a fist as it transformed into a large war gauntlet that looks identical to Hibiki's Armed Gear, with the only difference being that its colored azure-blue, black and white. "Oversurge..." Gunvolt opened his eyes with a determined expression as his war gauntlet's turbine began to rotate rapidly, surging with energy. "GUNGNIR!" And then shouted as his war gauntlet ignited its twin boosters and pushed back the chimera's mace hands before connecting with an uppercut to its jaw, sending it flying into the air in a few hundred metres before crashing into the ground with a large electrical impact. Gunvolt safely landed in front of the girls with his energy wings before dispersing, and glanced at his war gauntlet with surprise and awe.

"GV, you did it!" Kanade cheered.

"I knew you could do it!" Miku smiled.

"That's... that's my Armed Gear!" Hibiki gasped in surprise when she glanced at Gunvolt's gauntlet.

"Yeah." Gunvolt nodded as his gauntlet turned back to normal. "I had to concentrate on my Faust Robe to make it happen. It feels like the power of the Gear System is limitless if I can master it properly."

"Meaning that you'll also have to use your imagination to make it happen, if you know how to use it." Joule stated.

"Yup! My Armed Gear can transform into all kinds of weapons if you can put your mind into it." Hibiki said as she glanced at her fists. "And besides, you have something to protect, right GV?"

Gunvolt thought about the friends he made so far; Joule, Quinn, Xiao, Zeo, Gaius, Kanade, Serena, and even Copen, Lola, Mytyl and Nori. He also wanted to use his powers to not only protect his world and his friends, but to help understand that humans and Adepts can co-exist without the need of fighting. It will be a difficult road for him, but as long as he has support from his friends, it's not as impossible as he thought. "Yeah, I do." Gunvolt smiled.

"Not only that, you're gonna use those powers to help understand that humans and Adepts can live peacefully." Kanade said. "I know you have my support."

"Humans and Adepts living peacefully?" Miku questioned. "What have you and Kanade been up to lately?"

"It's a long story." Gunvolt, Kanade and Joule answered.

Suddenly they heard a roar from a distance, prompting the group to turn to its source, and saw that Briareos is quickly rushing towards them in an angry tone. "Uhh... I think he's not too happy about your uppercut." Hibiki commented to Gunvolt as everyone prepared their Armed Gears once more, while Gunvolt decide to use his fists instead and prepared his fighting stance.

"Gonna use your fists this time?" Kanade questioned Gunvolt.

"Well I did materialize a war gauntlet earlier, so I'd better learn to master close combat first. Good thing I learned a bit of martial arts." Gunvolt replied.

"You learned martial arts?! Which one?" Hibiki asked.

"A style called Chatan Yara no Kusanku." Gunvolt answered.

"Ah, that one of the karate styles Master mentioned during training!" Hibiki realized.

"Your master?"

"That would be Genjuro-san. He's an expert at martial arts." Miku answered.

"Oh, well that explains Hibiki's fighting style. Kanade did told me about how Genjuro trained her in martial arts to fight the Noise." Gunvolt noted.

"Maybe you could ask him to train you. Trust me, the results will be worth it in the end, if you can handle his training sessions." Kanade offered with Hibiki nodding.

"...Alright, I'm game." Gunvolt smirked.

"Don't blame any of us if you have too many broken bones in your body during Genjuro's training sessions." Joule warned.

"I'll be fine, his training can't be that intense, can it?" Gunvolt commented, while making Hibiki, Kanade and Miku chuckle nervously. "Why are you three laughing at me like that?"

"Nothing~"

"...I'm gacking screwed, aren't I?"

"Yup." Joule bluntly answered, making Gunvolt sigh.

"Oh well." Gunvolt said before they turned to the approaching chimera with determined expressions. "Okay girls, here it comes!"

"Right!" They nodded as they prepared to fight the chimera.

Back at the battle with the Arrow Nemesis, Copen and Chris are firing more energy arrows with their Armed Gears at the speedy Nemesis that quickly flew around, dodging their arrows and retaliating with its own energy arrows, prompting the two to dodge. "Tch! This is getting nowhere! It kept dodging our attacks!" Chris muttered.

"Then we'll have to split up and attack. I'll handle the front, while you attack from behind." Copen advised.

"Worth a try!" Chris complied as she ran in another direction while Copen dashed towards the Nemesis with his boosters.

But when he tried to tackle the Nemesis with a Bullit Dash, it created a small floating red wall in front of it, forcing Copen to brake. "It created a red wall?!" He exclaimed.

"Well, at least we know that this Nemesis is the one creating those large red walls in the first place." Lola stated. "If we take down its stamina, those walls should be able to disappear."

"True, but the problem is that I can't get close to it since it can create walls to defend itself!" Copen replied.

"Copen, above you!" Serena shouted, prompting him to look up and saw a rain of energy arrows that's about to hit him.

He quickly raised his shield to block the arrows, but failed to notice the Nemesis from his side as it's about to fire an energy arrow from its spiked bow. Luckily before the Nemesis fired the arrow, Chris managed to score multiple hits on the chimera from behind by firing homing arrows with an enhanced rate of fire on her crossbows.

QUEEN'S INFERNO

This prompted the Nemesis to turn its attention onto Chris and fired a barrage of arrows with its crossbow arms. Copen quickly went in front of Chris, raised his shield with his Flashfield active, and blocked the oncoming arrow barrage. "Thanks!" Chris said.

"Don't thank me yet! We're not done!" Copen replied as he kept blocking the arrows.

"Do you want me to attack it from behind again?" Chris asked.

"I would, but it might be smart enough not to fall for the same trick twice. We have to try something else." Copen replied.

"Why don't you use your shield so that I can fire a laser at it to deflect the shot and strike at the Nemesis' back?"

"That would be a good idea, but I only have one Armed Gear!"

"...Don't tell me that you never knew about summoning a copy of your Armed Gear?"

"Wait... I can do that?" Copen questioned.

"Of course you can, dumbass! You're using a freaking Gear System, remember?!" Chris answered.

"Now that you mention it..." Lola pondered at what Chris had just said. "Boss, didn't you usually see Serena summoning numerous copies of her Armed Gear to perform her techniques?"

Lola's reminder made Copen's eyes widen in realization. When he saw Serena fighting, she was able to summon several copies of her Armed Gear as throwing knives and for her special skills thanks to her Gear System. If she was able to do it, then maybe Copen might be able to do it as well. What's the point of Finé giving him a Faust Robe if he doesn't know how to properly use it? The question is though: How to summon a copy of his Armed Gear? He briefly glanced at his Armed Gear, closed his eyes, and began to concentrate. And in a few moments, a copy of his Armed Gear appeared on his other arm. When he opened his eyes, he saw in surprise that a copy of his shield is now attached to his other wrist. "Whoa... it worked..." He remarked.

"Took you long enough to figure it out." Chris smirked. "Now, ready to try that idea of mine?"

"Let's go for it." Copen smirked back as he detached his second shield on his wrist and onto his hand while also blocking the energy arrow storm with his first shield. "Make it count, Chris!" He then threw his second shield forward like a flying disc while Chris transformed her Armed Gears into a crossbow-like sniper rifle and aimed at the shield. Once the shield flew far enough, Chris fired a powerful laser at it, causing the laser to deflect the trajectory towards the Nemesis' back, and dealt heavy damage upon impact, forcing the Nemesis to cease firing its arrows and crashed into the ground.

RED HOT BLAZE

Once done, the shield circled back onto Copen's hand and attached it back onto his wrist. "Now that, felt really good." Copen remarked as he glanced at his Armed Gears before turning to Chris. "Good shot, Chris."

"Heh, I always know how to make my mark." Chris smirked back as she converted her Armed Gear back into a pair of crossbows before they turned to the Nemesis that's slowly trying to stand up. "And it looks like my shot completely grounded the Nemesis. It won't be able to fly far for a while."

"Still have to watch out for those red walls it creates if we go close combat." Copen reminded as they prepared to fight again. "If only we could figure out how to break them."

"We're bound to find a weakness eventually. It's not invincible, after all." Chris stated.

"True." Copen nodded. "Lola, time for you to sing. We're ending this battle, here and now."

"You got it, Boss!" Lola complied.

"Your partner's gonna sing?" Chris questioned.

"Aren't you forgetting what Lola's Septima is?" Copen reminded.

"...Oh right, 'The Muse' Septima. Well Lola, show me the power of your song!"

"Trust me Chris, you will not be disappointed!"

(Play BGM: Stratosphere (Luminous Avenger iX ver.) by Lola)

As soon as Lola sang her song, Copen and a surprised Chris radiated with a powerful glowing blue aura that boosted their abilities and rose their Phonic Gains rapidly. "Whoa... My Phonic Gain... its rising immensely! And I feel a lot stronger too! This is the power of 'The Muse'?" Chris commented with awe.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Copen smirked as he and Chris prepared their Armed Gears and glared at the Nemesis. "Now then Nemesis, get ready for your requiem!" He declared before they rushed towards the Nemesis that also rushed forward to clash once more.

Kirika, Shirabe and Serena are watching the battle at a safe distance, and were feeling surprised from hearing a song from out of nowhere. "Dess? Who's singing this song since I don't see Chris-sempai singing?" Kirika questioned.

"Wait... that voice... is that Lola?! And not only that, I can sense Copen and Chris-sempai's Phonic Gain rising!" Shirabe's eyes widen in realization, earning a confirmed nod from Serena.

"This is the power of her Septima. With the power of her song, I think Copen and Chris can win this fight!" Serena stated. "I just hope they don't overdo it since we need the Nemesis alive so that Geiz can capture it."

"Agreed." Shirabe nodded.

"Go get 'em, dess!" Kirika cheered for Chris and Copen while they continued to watch the battle.

S.O.N.G. HQ, Command Center

"Sir, we've detected a massive increase of Phonic Gain! And it's coming from Chris and Copen!" Sakuya informed after what he just saw on his monitor.

"I've never seen a huge increase like that before! And it's only from one person singing!" Aoi added as everyone saw with surprise at Chris and Copen's power boost on the large monitor.

"Prairie-san, is this the power of 'The Muse' Septima?" Elfnein asked.

"Correct." Prairie nodded. "'The Muse' was originally from Joule, but she gave some of her power to Lola, granting her the same abilities. This is also why the power of 'The Muse' allowed access to Gunvolt and Copen's Faust Robes."

"Amazing..." Genjuro responded with awe. "And if Joule-kun and Lola-kun sang a duet together, then their power will be doubled, making those that received the power of their song gain a massive boost."

"That's right."

"Then there's no need to worry about them. They've got this." Genjuro grinned before turning to the other teams on the monitors. "We may be caught off-guard in the beginning, but we're not so easily defeated! We can still win this battle!"

"Agreed. With this alliance, it will take more than that to stop us! And we're going to keep moving forward to protect the multiverse and stop the Neo Time Jackers!" Prairie strongly agreed.

West Red Gate

During the battle with Diomedes, the group were split up with the Mega Men fighting the chimera, while the Riders took care of the abberations spawning out of the gate while they wait for Geiz's Legatus to recharge so that he can close the gate. For Zi-O, he continued to slash through the creatures left and right with his Zikan Gilade Ken Mode, and following up with one charged slash to destroy another group. He quickly used his Faizphone X to materialize his Kaixa Shot knuckle duster on his right hand and used it to send one creature flying towards an enemy group with one punch, detonating into a large explosion with a Kaixa symbol when it struck the group.

For Geiz, he threw his Zikan Axe Ono Mode towards the aerial abberations like a boomerang, slicing through its path while he continued to eliminate the ground abberations with his X-Baton Baton Mode before quickly switching to Gladius Mode and delivered a powerful overhead slash onto one creature, crushing it in one blow. Once the Zikan Zax circled back to his hand, he converted his X-Baton into its Blaster Mode, fired a charged shot onto one group of creatures, and followed up with a 'X' slash-wave with his Zikan Zax, combining into a powerful projectile that easily destroyed the group.

"Take this!" Vent and Aile shouted as they unleashed a double vertical slash-wave towards the chimera, who proceeded to block the attack with its glaive before swatting it away to the side. It then countered by unleashing a large burning shockwave towards the two Mega Men, prompting them to quickly jump over the attack as it traveled through the road instead and left a long mark on it. The Mega Men then performed a double rolling slash onto the chimera, who quickly blocked the attacks by spinning its glaive in front. Diomedes then sent the Mega Men flying with one swing from its glaive that also unleashed a burning horizontal slash-wave, sending them crashing into the ground. The Mega Man slowly stood up from the counter, but took heavy damage.

"Okay... never expected this chimera to be this strong..." Vent muttered while panting.

"We have to find a way to deal with the chimera's glaive..." Aile added. "If we can somehow break it, then we might have an advantage."

"Except that the chimera's technique is harder to anticipate. Would be nice if Grey and Ashe were here to help." Vent stated.

"Well the plan is working so far since Geiz already destroyed the two Red Gates, so enemy reinforcements are starting to become lesser than before, which should give Grey and Ashe enough time to come to our aid. Provided if they can still keep going and have some spare energy left on Model A." Aile added before they noticed Diomedes charging towards them with its glaive forward.

"Crap, he's attacking again!" Vent exclaimed as they prepared to defend themselves, until multiple homing lasers and lighting blasts from above struck the chimera's face, sending it stumbling back a few steps.

The Mega Men blinked in surprise before looking up and saw Grey and Ashe falling from above and landed in front of them with their hand cannons aimed at the chimera. "Miss us?" Ashe quipped to them with a grin.

"Sorry we're late! But thanks for halting the enemy reinforcements!" Grey added.

"It's okay, Grey! We're glad you both made it!" Aile smiled.

"But how did you two drop from above?" Vent asked.

"Oh, we took a helicopter ride thanks to S.O.N.G. Genjuro's the commander of that organization, by the way." Ashe answered.

"Genjuro?!" Vent and Aile exclaimed in shock upon hearing a familiar name.

"Also, there's one more person coming down to help us." Grey added as he looked up. "Ah, here she comes now!"

"She?" Vent and Aile responded before everyone looked up, and saw a blue lightning bolt crashing in front of the four Mega Men and unleashed a powerful lightning shockwave towards the chimera, pushing it back before it fell over to the ground as blue sparks surged through its body, making it slightly paralyzed. Grey and Ashe smiled at the arrival, while Vent and Aile gasped in shock at who showed up.

"Blade?!"

"I figured things would go wrong, so I decided to drop in with Prairie and my sister's permission." Reiko told Vent and Aile. "That, and I had to help out Grey and Ashe clean up the remaining creatures.

"I see, well thanks for coming though." Vent smiled.

"And thanks for helping them out." Aile also smiled.

The Kamen Riders also noticed the three arrivals while fighting the abberations. "Finally, some back-up!" Zi-O grinned before unleashing a charged slash onto one enemy group. "Though when did Blade gain a visor and faceplate?"

"Heh, we might actually have a chance to win this!" Geiz also grinned while destroying another enemy group with a charged energy arrow from his Zikan Zax Yumi Mode. But then he noticed that his Legatus on his wrist began to light up in blue, making him grin even more. "Everyone! The Legatus recharge is complete! I need some people to help Zi-O cover me while I destroy the last gate!" He shouted to the others.

"Grey, Ashe, hurry and support the Kamen Riders! The rest of us will deal with the chimera!" Reiko ordered.

"Understood!" Grey nodded before heading for the Riders to support.

"Good luck, guys!" Ashe told the three before running after Grey.

Vent, Aile and Reiko then noticed Diomedes slowly standing up and growled at them while still being affected by the paralysis. It briefly twirled its burning glaive, let out a roar and pointed the glaive forward. "Still not giving up, I see." Reiko frowned as they prepared to fight once more.

"Blade, if we can somehow get rid of that glaive, the chimera will be defenceless." Vent said.

"My HF-Sword can easily slice that weapon to pieces, but we need to make the chimera lose its momentum first. Blocking and dodging won't do any good, so we'll have to parry its attacks instead before counterattacking." Reiko advised.

"Got it." Aile nodded, until they heard music from a distance. "Wait, where did this music come from? And who's singing?"

"Hold on..." Vent began to realize when he heard a familiar voice singing the song. "That's Lola's voice!"

"A morale boost from her song with 'The Muse' Septima, works pretty nicely when we're about to fight back." Reiko smirked.

"True." Aile agreed with a smile. "It will take more than that to stop us! And we've had our fair share of difficult battles to prove it!"

"Then let's finish this battle, here and now!" Vent declared as they rushed towards the chimera as it also rushed towards them to begin their clash.

With the Legatus recharged, Geiz summoned the Axe Legion once more as it unleashed its Blue Shield skill, protecting itself and Geiz. Zi-O quickly eliminated another enemy group with rapid blaster fire from his Zikan Gilade Zyu Mode and Faizphone X Blaster Mode before regrouping with Geiz. "Good to see your Legion back in action." Zi-O remarked.

"Yup." Geiz nodded before they noticed Grey and Ashe arriving while destroying the aerial abberations with homing lasers and lightning blasts. "And backup finally arrived."

"Good to see you two made it in one piece." Zi-O greeted them.

"Heh, we've faced worse than this." Ashe smirked back.

"Anyway, we're here to cover you, Geiz. Hurry and destroy the gate! We've got this!" Grey said as they continued to hold off the abberations with homing lasers and buster shots.

"Thanks, guys!" Geiz replied as he and his Legion quickly rushed towards the final Red Gate. Once he got close, he materialized the astral chain before sending the Legion to circle around the gate. When the Legion crossed paths with Geiz, with one final chain pull, the final Red Gate is destroyed at last, permanently cutting off the spawning abberations for good. "And that's all of them." Geiz smiled with a sigh of a relief before turning to the others fighting off the remaining abberations. He quickly called forth the Time Mazine with his Zikan Phone as it arrived in front of him. "Alright, I'm going after the Arrow Nemesis! But not before giving one final send-off to Diomedes!" Geiz declared as he got on the Time Mazine and ride off towards the chimera with the Legion floating right beside him.

"What final send-off?" Grey questioned after firing a charged shot at an enemy group.

"Dunno, but it'll be satisfying to watch." Ashe grinned after firing a charged laser shot at another enemy group.

"Speaking of final send-offs..." Zi-O began as he glanced at the remaining air and ground abberations. "...How's about you two finish off the remainders with a Finish Time?"

"Oh, I see where this is going." Ashe grinned. "Model A, do we have enough energy for a Giga Crush?"

"Yup! Should be just about enough! So go crazy, you two!" Model A replied.

"Alright, let's do it, Ashe!" Grey declared.

"Let's send these creeps packing!" Ashe also declared as they charged themselves up to full power and unleashed a storm of buster fire everywhere, destroying every last one of the abberations. Afterwards, they quickly started to pant in exhaustion after unleashing the Giga Crush, but never noticed that one more abberation is about to deliver a jump attack from behind. But it was quickly shot down by Zi-O with his Zikan Gilade Zyu Mode and Faizphone X Blaster Mode before it could touch them.

"You missed one." Zi-O smirked as he lowered his weapons.

"Huh, never thought it would survive the bullet storm." Ashe commented as they watched the last abberation turned to dust.

"Well we're not done yet. There's still the chimera to deal with." Grey stated.

"Then it's time we take that thing down! Follow me, you two!" Zi-O declared as he rushed towards the chimera with Grey and Ashe following right behind him.

Back with the battle with Diomedes, the Mega Men took Reiko's advice and parried the chimera's attacks blow after blow, making it lose its momentum. The chimera is about to attack with an overhead glaive strike, but then the paralysis from Reiko's previous attack kicked in, making it unable to attack briefly. The Mega Men took this chance and delivered a double upward slash onto the glaive, sending it flying into the air and out of the chimera's hands. Reiko jumped towards the glaive and began to slice the glaive to many pieces with her HF-Sword in lightspeed, until it was nothing but dust. She then followed up with an 'X' lightning slash-wave onto the chimera, pushing it back even more. The Mega Men also supported with a cross slash-wave, adding even more force on the attack until the combination attack sent the chimera flying till it crashed into the ground, dealing massive damage.

"Nice job, you two. It won't be using that glaive anymore." Reiko praised after landing in front of them.

"All that's left is to finish it off." Vent deduced.

"Uh... guys?" Aile spoke while pointing at the chimera slowly standing up and roared in anger.

"I guess he's not too happy about his glaive being destroyed." Reiko remarked as they prepared their weapons.

But before they could clash once more, the chimera was suddenly entangled by an astral chain bind thanks to the Axe Legion and Geiz on his Time Mazine. "Feel free to finish it off!" Geiz told them before riding off towards the Arrow Nemesis' location as the Legion dispersed back into the Legatus.

"Hey guys!" Zi-O greeted them as he arrived with Grey and Ashe beside him. "The last Red Gate has been destroyed, so no more abberations or chimeras."

"Geiz us on his way towards the Arrow Nemesis to capture it, after he recently entangled the chimera." Grey added while gesturing his head towards said entangled chimera. "Hopefully Copen and the others are okay."

"Until then..." Ashe said as they turned to the entangled Diomedes, struggling to break free. "Let's put an end to this in one blow."

"I'll entangle it even more with my sword, with a dose of electricity for good measure." Reiko said with her hand over the sword handle.

"As for the four of you, a combination charge shot will do the trick." Zi-O told the Mega Men. "And as for me..." He took out his Faizphone X and pushed '913' materializing a binocular-like pointer on his right leg.

=READY! POINTER ON!=

"I'll top it all off with a Rider Kick." He finished as everyone turned to the entangled chimera while he pushed the button on the Ridewatches, slammed the tilt button on the belt, and gave it a 360 turn before kneeling down with one knee.

=FINISH TIME! KAIXA!=

"Blade, start us off!" Zi-O shouted.

"Roger!" Reiko complied as she extended her sword and entangled the chimera all over its body, following up with a surge of electricity from her sword to paralyze the chimera even further. "You're up, Mega Men!"

"Got it!" The four Mega Men complied as Vent and Aile aimed their ZX Busters at the chimera, while Grey and Ashe aimed their buster cannons at the same target. Once their weapons are fully charged, they fired at the same time, combining their shots into one massive blast and struck the chimera. "All yours, Kamen Rider!" Vent shouted.

"With pleasure!" Zi-O complied as he begun to sprint forward, jumped into air into a front-flip and lunged his feet forward as the pointer on his leg fired a yellow photon beam onto the combined blast, turning it into a multi-color cone of energy.

=EXCEED TIME BREAK!=

And then Zi-O kick through the cone with his feet, drilling through the chimera's chest before appearing behind the chimera like computer data while the attack also left a large hole on the chimera's chest. A few seconds later, Diomedes exploded with the Kaixa symbol briefly appearing. With the chimera defeated, Zi-O transformed back to his Base Form and regrouped with the others putting away their weapons while he dusted off his hands. "Brilliant teamwork, everyone!" Zi-O praised them.

"Yeah, we'd make a pretty good team together." Vent agreed with a nod.

"And your strategy paid off big time." Aile added.

"Well I had faith in your abilities since you guys fought as Mega Men for quite some time. And Blade is no slouch on the battlefield either considering she has GV's DNA." Zi-O stated.

"I can still hold my own before I had his DNA." Reiko replied.

"So, what now?" Ashe asked the Rider.

"I'm gonna contact the Guardians about our progress." Zi-O replied as he took out his Zikan Phone and began to contact Guardian Base via voice call. "Zi-O here, we've defeated the chimera and all of the Red Gates have been destroyed by Geiz and his Legion. He's on his way to deal with the Arrow Nemesis to capture it."

"Good job, everyone. However, one more chimera showed up and its fighting against Gunvolt's group." Kohaku responded.

"What?!" Zi-O exclaimed. "Do you want us to go over there and assist?"

"That won't be necessary, they've got this." Prairie contacted. "For now, we'll transfer you guys back to Guardian Base. You've earned this rest after that long battle."

"Roger that, Prairie, Kohaku. See you back at the airship. Zi-O out." Zi-O replied, ending the call and put away his phone. "Our work here is done, team. Prepare to be transferred back to Guardian Base." He told the others.

"If you say so." Grey replied.

"Finally, we get to rest." Ashe said while stretching her arms.

"Though I am a little worried about the other teams." Reiko said.

"Prairie assured that they've got this, considering Lola's still singing at the moment." Zi-O replied.

"Hope she's right about this. But since Lola's singing is boosting their abilities due to her Septima, I think they'll be just fine." Aile said.

"But for now, time for us to rest. We've earned it." Vent declared as everyone teleported back to Guardian Base in a flash of green light.

Back to the fight with Briareos, Hibiki and Gunvolt continued to assault the chimera in close combat, while Miku and Kanade supported them by attacking the chimera from a distance, unleashing slash-waves and laser beams onto it. Eventually, the chimera jumped back and began to burrow underground again to recover. "Tch! It dug underground again!" Kanade muttered as they quickly regrouped.

"Should we go after it?" Miku asked.

"Or we could wait for him to come out while dodging his underground attack." Gunvolt suggested.

"Or it might be taking its chance to recover before it could attack us again." Joule guessed.

"Hibiki, what do you think?" Miku asked her friend who was still pondering with her hand on her chin.

"Ah! I got an idea!" Hibiki said, slightly slamming her palm with her hand. "Instead of waiting for the chimera to come out, how's about we force him out instead?"

"And how exactly are we going to do that?" Kanade questioned.

"I'll punch the ground really hard with my Armed Gear, of course!" Hibiki answered before turning to Gunvolt. "But I'll also need GV's help for a little extra force."

"You think that it'll work?" Gunvolt questioned.

"Trust me, GV! I've seen this tactic once from watching that one movie!"

"...You're kidding."

"Ah, I forgot to mention another thing about Genjuro's training methods. He also made us watch some of his movies for ideas to use when performing our special skills." Miku pointed out.

Gunvolt responded with disbelief before turning to Kanade for an answer. "Yeah... he also made me watch some of his movies for some of my skill ideas. It surprisingly worked though." She admitted.

"Did I forget to mention that GV likes to pose in a cool way when he recharges his Septima or use his special skills?" Joule added, making the girls stare at Gunvolt with a dumbfounded look.

"Joule... you don't need to tell them that." Gunvolt sweatdropped, until everyone heard the sound of music. "Wait... who's singing this song?"

"Ah! That's Lola's voice! I think she's giving Copen and his team a power boost right now!" Joule realized.

"Lola is Copen's partner. Joule gave some of her Septima to Lola, granting her the same abilities as Joule." Kanade explained.

"Wow..." Miku responded.

"GV, still wanna try my idea?" Hibiki asked.

"...Alright, its worth a try at least." Gunvolt agreed with a nod after giving some thought.

"Miku, Kanade-san, once we force the chimera out of the ground, hit it with everything you've got!" Hibiki advised.

"Got it, little kouhai!" Kanade nodded before turning to Miku. "Come on, Miku-chan! Let's get into position!" She said before running off.

"Right behind you, Kanade-san!" Miku replied before running after her.

"Right then..." Once they're gone, Hibiki and Gunvolt materialized their war gauntlets, looked down while reeling their weapon arms as the turbines began to energize once more. "On three, we punch the ground together, erupting a stone pillar to launch the chimera out of the ground!" Hibiki said.

"Whatever you say, Hibiki!" Gunvolt nodded. "One..."

"Two..."

"Three!" They shouted as they punch the ground with their gauntlets at the same time, causing a powerful earthquake that shook the area, including underground. A few seconds later, Briareos was forcefully launched out of the ground by an erupting stone pillar, sending it flying into the air. "Miku! Kanade-san!" Hibiki shouted to them.

"Okay, Miku! Let's hit it!" Kanade yelled as she pointed her spear in front of her and summoned a massive fireball. And with one thrust of her spear, a powerful flame beam was unleashed towards the flying chimera.

SUPERGIANT∞FLARE

At the same time, Miku summoned her mirror bits again, forming a circle in front of her while she charged up energy on her Armed Gear, aimed towards the chimera, and fired a destructive purple beam towards it, with the mirror bits also firing on the same beam to amplify even more power to the attack.

Jiǔyuǎn (Long Distance)

Both attacks sent the chimera flying even higher while dealing massive damage before it caused a huge explosion, sending the chimera crashing into the ground with a massive impact and several metres away from the group.

"Did we get it?" Hibiki asked as she and Gunvolt looked at the chimera if it survived. And somehow, despite taking massive damage. it's still alive and slowly standing up, much to their complete shock. "Eh?! It's still alive?!"

"You've got to be gacking kidding me... how tough IS this chimera?!" Gunvolt questioned.

"There's no way it could survive a powerful combined attack like that!" Joule added.

Briareos roared loudly to the group before it began to curl into a ball and rolled forward, quickly heading straight for them. "It's rolling towards us?" Hibiki asked.

"Sure looks like it. And it won't stop until it runs us over!" Gunvolt replied.

"We'll have to use our Armed Gears again to slow it down before we could counterattack!" Hibiki said as she prepared her war gauntlet again.

"Slow it down... Wait a minute...!" Gunvolt's eyes widen in realization as he recalled the fight with the Rhino Orphenoch back in his world. The Rider's chain strategy to slow down the Orphenoch with the chain, and then counterattacked by punching it really hard that sent it flying. If it worked for that Orphenoch, then maybe it will work with this chimera too. "Hibiki! I've got a better idea!" Gunvolt told her as he summoned a long chain onto his hands.

"You do?! Let's hear it!" Hibiki responded.

"Follow me first! I'll explain on the way!" Gunvolt replied back as he ran towards Kanade and Miku.

"Eh?! H-Hold on! Wait for me!" Hibiki exclaimed before she ran after Gunvolt as the rolling chimera is rapidly approaching.

"Wait, why are GV and Hibiki-chan running away like that?" Kanade questioned as she and Miku saw the two running towards them. But then hers and Miku's eyes widen in shock when they saw what was rolling from behind. "The chimera?!"

"What?! There's no way it could survive our combination attack!" Miku exclaimed, until they saw Gunvolt holding a long chain. "Wait, where did he get that chain?"

"Kanade! Miku! Catch this!" Gunvolt yelled as he threw one end of the chain to Kanade and the other end to Miku.

"Oi, GV! What's with the chain?!" Kanade asked as she and Miku are holding each end of the chain.

"You and Miku will use it to pull the chain and slow the rolling chimera down before launching it into the air!" Gunvolt answered. "After that, me and Hibiki will follow up with a counterattack, making sure that it stays dead this time!"

"You sure your idea will work?!" Miku questioned.

"Trust me! It worked before when me and Kanade fought a similar monster such as this and tried that idea!" Gunvolt assured.

"Wait... worked before?" Kanade thought for a moment, until she recalled the time they fought the Rhino Orphenoch in Gunvolt's world and used Zi-O's tactic to defeat it. "Of course! If that idea worked for that Orphenoch, then maybe...!" She then turned to Miku. "Miku-chan, GV's idea will definitely work! I'll head for one end of the area, while you take the other end! Once GV and Hibiki-chan pass through the chains and when the chimera gets close, that's when we start pulling the chain ends!"

"...Okay, we'll try it!" Miku nodded back after giving Gunvolt's idea and Kanade's assurance some thought. "I'll go and get ready!" She declared as she took position on one end of the area while Kanade does the same on the opposite area.

"GV, they're taking positions!" Hibiki informed after she saw Kanade and Miku moving to their locations, while they continued running away from the rolling chimera.

"We have to end this in one blow, so let's make it count, Hibiki!" Gunvolt replied.

"Hai!" Hibiki nodded back with determination as they nearly reached the chain line.

Eventually, Hibiki and Gunvolt jumped over the chain line and stopped at a few good metres away from it before turning around and prepared their Armed Gear gauntlets on their arm, both surging with energy. "Wait for it..." Gunvolt advised Hibiki as they watched the rolling chimera coming closer and closer.

"Just a little closer...!" Kanade thought as she and Miku gripped the chain ends tightly while they watched the chimera quickly approaching. And once the chimera rolled just a few metres towards the chain line... "Now!" Kanade shouted as she and Miku pulled the ends of the chain as hard as they could, slowing down the chimera when it reached the chain, and launched the chimera into the air like a slingshot, leaving the chimera wide open to attack as it stopped rolling.

"Finish it!" Miku shouted to Hibiki and Gunvolt, who then nodded back as the boosters on their Armed Gear gauntlets flared up and flew towards the defenceless chimera with their fists forward as they connected onto its chest.

"Haaaaaaa!" Hibiki and Gunvolt yelled as their fists plunged deeper into the chimera's chest until they punched though it, leaving behind a large hole on its chest with electricity surging around it. A few seconds later, the chimera was destroyed in a massive electrical explosion as Hibiki and Gunvolt safely landed on a rooftop while their war gauntlets dispersed, slowly stood up while tugging down their scarfs, and gave each other a fist-bump while looking forward with a satisfied smile on their faces.

"Well, that takes care of that." Kanade grinned as she and Miku dispersed their Armed Gears after seeing Briareos explode into nothingness, signaling the end of the battle.

"Hibiki and GV really make a great team together." Miku remarked with a smile.

"Yep, they sure do." Kanade nodded in agreement. "Come on, Miku-chan. Let's go see them." She declared before going to meet up with Hibiki and Gunvolt.

"Right behind you, Kanade-san!" Miku smiled back before going after Kanade.

Back with the fight with the Arrow Nemesis, Copen and Chris are gaining advantage over it thanks to Lola's song which boosted their abilities as they scored plenty of hits while dodging its attacks. Copen and Chris fired more energy arrows onto the Nemesis with their Armed Gears, but the Nemesis quickly summoned several red walls around itself, blocking the arrows before impact and protecting itself while it recovers.

"Tch! Not those walls again!" Chris muttered as she and Copen stopped firing. "Copen, can you fly up and see if there's an opening?"

"I would, but that Nemesis will try something to shoot me down. We need to try something else." Copen replied.

"Don't tell me we have to break those walls again..." Chris sighed as she glared at the wall. However... "Wait..." When she narrowed her eyes at the wall, it looked different than the large ones. "Why is there a small gap on that wall?"

"A small gap?" Copen questioned before he also narrowed his eyes on the wall. "Hey, you're right! The large ones doesn't have gaps like this one!"

"Not only that, there's also three lines of energy holding onto the gap." Chris added as they also saw three red energy lines in-between the gap of the wall.

"Hmm..." Copen pondered for a moment while he stared at the wall with the energy lines in-between the gap. "I wonder what happens if I sever those energy lines?" He thought before he brandished his sword from the back end of his Armed Gear. "Chris, get your missiles and gattling guns ready! I think I may have found a way to break that wall, and the key is to sever those energy lines with one slash!"

"You think that will work?" Chris asked.

"Won't know until I try it for myself!" Copen replied as he began to ignite his boosters on his back that generated crimson red phoenix energy wings.

"Then make it count!" Chris replied back as she armed her missiles on her side armours and converted her Armed Gears into a pair of gattling guns, all of them aimed at the wall that Copen is planning to break.

Copen took a deep breath as he illuminated his sword with light energy. "Ignite... AIRGETLAM!" He shouted before rocketing towards the wall. And when he got close, he slashed through all three energy lines at once, dispersing the red wall and surprising the Nemesis before being crashed into the other wall by Copen's shield bash which also tagged it. Copen jumped away from the Nemesis with a backflip, aimed at it with his Armed Gear and his Burning Divider, and fired a storm of homing and burning lasers onto the tagged Nemesis, with his bits providing support fire with their own homing lasers. At the same time, Chris unloaded every single bullet and missiles onto the surprised Nemesis as Copen hovered above her while still firing his lasers.

MEGA DETH PARTY

The combined attack from Copen and Chris caused massive damage to the Arrow Nemesis, forcing it to stop floating in exhaustion with its stamina nearly depleted. Not only that, all of the red walls that it created disappeared, including the large ones that trapped Copen's team in the first place. Kirika, Shirabe and Serena also noticed the red walls disappearing.

"The red walls! They're disappearing, dess!" Kirika said after seeing the walls disappearing.

"The Nemesis' stamina is running out, hence why the walls began to disappear!" Shirabe stated.

"That means they've done it! Copen and Chris-sempai defeated it!" Kirika cheered.

"Wait, look!" Serena pointed at the Nemesis that's still trying to recover, despite taking massive damage after being struck by the combination attack. Hers, Shirabe's and Kirika's eyes widen in shock when it began to use its spike bow again. "The Nemesis... its still trying to fight after taking so much damage?"

"I think they should really finish it off." Kirika said.

"Kiri-chan, aren't you forgetting that the Nemesis must survive so that Geiz could capture it?" Shirabe reminded before glancing at the tired Nemesis. "But it looks so tired... and yet it still wants to keep going? Such endurance... I've never seen a chimera act like that before."

"This is what I mean when I said that some special chimeras like the Legion and Nemesis could feel like a human being." Serena stated. "The poor thing... no wonder Geiz wanted to save it by capturing it with the Legatus."

"Serena..." Kirika and Shirabe responded as they glanced at Copen, Chris and a very tired Arrow Nemesis.

"No frickin' way... It's still standing after our combination attack?" Chris questioned in shock as she and Copen saw the Nemesis trying to conjure up an energy arrow despite its injuries. "I know that we're not supposed to kill it since Geiz is planning to capture it... but... this is just too depressing to watch..."

Copen nodded in agreement before he closed his eyes briefly to ponder about what to do next. After some thought, he opened his eyes and put away his weapons except his shield. "Lola, that's enough. You can stop singing now." He declared, earning a surprised look from Chris.

(BGM End)

"Wait, did you just tell me to stop singing?" Lola questioned after she stopped singing.

"I did. We're supposed to keep the Nemesis alive until Geiz arrives, not destroy it." Copen answered. "The Nemesis is too exhausted that it can't even conjure up an energy arrow properly."

"...Oh... I understand, Boss."

"Nemesis, that's enough!" Copen spoke to the chimera. "The battle is over. You don't have to fight anymore, you're too exhausted to even attack any of us."

Chris was speechless when Copen tried to convince the tired Nemesis to stop fighting, before she turned to said chimera that's still trying to fight despite the injuries. In response, she dispersed her Armed Gears and chose to wait and see.

"I have a friend of mine who can help you end your pain. He'll be arriving soon, so just put away that bow and stand down. Please." Copen tried to convince the Nemesis to stop once more as he looked into its eyes. The Arrow Nemesis continued to glare at Copen, but it's starting to slowly waver.

However, the Nemesis was finally able to conjure up an energy arrow and aimed at Copen who raised his shield in front. But before the Nemesis could launch the arrow, a blue capture ring was latched onto its neck from behind, stopping the attack as it tried to break free from the ring. Copen breathed a sigh of relief as he dispersed his Armed Gear and stared at the one behind the Arrow Nemesis. "Took you long enough to get here, Geiz!" He smiled at the Kamen Rider who'd just arrived with his Time Mazine parked right behind him.

"Sorry for the wait, and thanks for keeping it alive!" Geiz replied while he's still holding on to the Legatus on his wrist.

"So that's Geiz, huh? Well it's about damn time he showed up." Chris commented after taking a quick glance at him.

A few moments later, the capture ring fully latched onto the chimera's neck, turning it back to normal state with its skin becoming blue along with glowing blue eyes, its armour turning white and grey with green-accents, and the core on its chest turning blue. "Finally... the Arrow Legion is fighting alongside us now." Geiz declared as he transformed back into his Base Form before everyone regrouped with Copen and Chris, with the now named Arrow Legion floating beside the Rider.

"So this is what happens when its captured." Chris remarked when glancing at the Legion.

"Yup." Copen nodded. "It's called a Legion now. It won't hurt us anymore, unless Geiz says otherwise."

"Wow..." Kirika and Shirabe responded with awe as they took a closer look at the Arrow Legion.

"It actually looks really cool when it's not trying to kill us." Kirika remarked.

"And you must be Geiz, right?" Shirabe guessed.

"Mhm." Geiz nodded. "And you two must be Kirika Akatsuki and Shirabe Tsukuyomi. Serena told me about you two. Nice to meet you both."

"Nice to meet you." Kirika and Shirabe greeted back with a bow.

"Geiz, this is Chris Yukine. Gear User for Ichaival." Copen gestured to his new ally.

"What the hell took you so long to get here?" Chris asked the Rider.

"Sorry, but a chimera showed up at the Red Gate and knocked out my Legion, forcing the Legatus to recharge." Geiz explained. "But it's fine now. The device has been recharged and the Gate has been destroyed. The others should've destroyed that chimera by now."

"So that's why." Chris replied before sighing. "Never expected those chimeras to pull of a trick like that. Though that Nemesis looked so tired after taking too much damage from us. It's like the chimera is trying to act human.""

"And what about those abberations? They seem to attack like mindless beasts, just like the Alca-Noise. But for the Nemesis... it felt different..." Shirabe also asked.

"I even felt sorry for that Nemesis. I know that it didn't turn back into a Legion yet without the Legatus, but it looks exhausted but wanted to keep fighting." Serena added.

"That Nemesis really doesn't want to give up, dess." Kirika also added.

"Geiz. You know the truth about the chimeras... don't you?" Copen asked.

Geiz's eyes widen in shock when they asked those questions. "No way. Did they manage to figure out just by observing the chimera's behaviour? I really don't want to reveal the harsh truth about them, but if they were able to figure it out, then there's no point hiding it. Was hoping to tell them the truth about the chimeras when we're ready, but... oh well." He thought cautiously.

"Geiz, are you feeling alright, dess?" Kirika asked, snapping the Rider out of his thoughts.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Geiz apologized. "And yes, I do know the truth about them. But you're not gonna like the answer I'm about to reveal."

"Don't worry, I'm not angry at you for hiding the truth." Copen assured. "It's that painful, isn't it?"

Geiz nodded in response, making Copen sigh before nodding back with understanding. "I'll explain about them when we get back to the Guardian Base. The others need to know about this too." Geiz declared.

"Fair enough." Copen agreed.

"I'd never thought our reunion would end like this." Kirika remarked.

"Sorry about that, Kirika." Copen apologized. "That question kept lingering in my mind for a while after fighting the chimeras and watching their behaviour. Must've been my scientist instinct kicking in."

"Oh, well that explains why you were able to figure out those chimeras." Chris realized.

"Correct." Copen replied before noticing the Arrow Legion looking at him and Chris. "Why is the Legion looking at me?"

"It's also looking at me too. Why though?" Chris questioned. The Legion responded with a respectable bow to them, surprising the group. "D-Did it just bow?"

"Hmm..." Shirabe pondered. "I think it's trying to show respect after that battle, or maybe it's trying to say 'thank you for showing mercy'."

"Is that so?" Copen raised an eyebrow before turning to the Legion. "In that case, you're welcome." He smiled and bowed back.

"I'd do the same if I were you, Chris." Geiz advised.

"I know, I know. You don't have to tell me twice, baka." Chris replied back and sighed before turning to the Legion. "You gave us one hell of a fight, you know. And you nearly got us with your speed and determination. So..." She began to bow. "You're welcome."

"You're fighting alongside us now, Arrow Legion. We're counting on you." Geiz spoke to the Legion, who nodded back before disappearing back into the Legatus.

"So that's a Legatus?" Shirabe asked when looking at the device on Geiz's wrist.

"Yup." Geiz nodded while showing said device to the others. "Things would've been easier if we have another one though. I can't be in two places at once."

"Don't worry, I'll build another Legatus soon. And I'll also ask Dr. Fleuve for additional support." Copen assured.

"Go for it." Geiz approved. "But for now, we need to regroup to the others before calling it a day."

"Chris-chan! Kirika-chan! Shirabe-chan! Are you alright?!"

"Or they could come to us instead." Geiz corrected after everyone heard Hibiki's voice. Soon, they saw Hibiki, Kanade, Miku and Gunvolt arriving from the west. "Glad you could make it." He greeted the arrivals. "All clear on your end?"

"Yeah, no abberations and Alca-Noise in sight. They've been eliminated. Though we also had to fight another chimera in the process." Gunvolt informed before turning to Hibiki. "But thanks to Hibiki and Miku's help, we completely destroyed it."

"...Okay, I did not expect yet another chimera appearing." Geiz responded with a slight shock. "But at least you managed to defeat it without our help."

"Yup." Gunvolt nodded before briefly glancing at his gauntlets. "I'm starting to get used to the Gear System and the Armed Gears."

"Funny, same for mine as well when we fought another Nemesis earlier." Copen responded.

"A Nemesis?!" Gunvolt and Kanade exclaimed.

"Please tell me that you didn't accidently kill it." Kanade said with worry.

"Don't worry, it's still alive. Geiz already captured it when he finally arrived." Serena assured.

"Oh good..." Kanade sighed with relief. "So what kind of chimera did you get?"

"That would be the Arrow Legion." Geiz answered.

"So it's a ranged type?" Gunvolt guessed, earning a confirmed nod from Geiz. "Huh, neat."

"Chris-chan, I'm so glad that you're alright!" Hibiki smiled before hugging Chris.

"Ow! Ow! OW! Not so hard, baka!" Chris retorted before pushing away Hibiki.

"Ah, sorry!" Hibiki quickly apologized. "But I'm glad that you're not hurt too badly."

"It was nothing, really." Chris huffed before dusting off herself before beginning the introductions. "Anyway, I'm Chris Yukine. While these two over here are Kirika Akatsuki and Shirabe Tsukuyomi."

"Hello." Gunvolt greeted them with a nod. "You can call me Gunvolt, or GV for short."

"Sorry about Hibiki, she sometimes feel worried about everyone's safety." Miku apologized to the others.

"No problem, it's fine." Geiz waved off before beginning the introductions. "Anyway, I'm Kamen Rider Geiz. And these two over here are Copen Kamizono and Serena Cadenzavna Eve."

"So you're Copen. I'm Miku Kohinata, it's nice to meet you." Miku bowed.

"Likewise." Copen nodded back.

"And you must be Maria-san's younger sister, right?" Hibiki asked when she approached Serena and offered a handshake. "I'm Hibiki Tachibana, nice to meet you, Serena-chan!"

"Hehe, nice to meet you too, Hibiki-san." Serena smiled back and shook Hibiki's hand.

"Serena's also mine and Shirabe's childhood friend from the past!" Kirika cheerfully added.

"Wait, really?!" Hibiki responded in shock.

"Mhm." Shirabe confirmed with a nod before noticing the red head. "And who is this? She looks... familiar..."

"Ah, let me introduce you to her properly!" Hibiki responded before heading beside Kanade. "Everyone, this is Kanade Amou. The first Gungnir User and Tsubasa-san's partner in Zwei Wing."

"Yo! Nice to meet you, Chris-chan, Kirika-chan, Shirabe-chan!" Kanade cheerfully greeted with a two-finger salute.

"Kanade Amou... Zwei Wing... Why do those names sound... Wait a damn minute!" Chris exclaimed in shock after recalling those familiar names. "THAT Kanade Amou?!"

"Kanade was the very first Gungnir User before Maria!" Shirabe realized in shock.

"I thought she died after that fateful Zwei Wing concert!" Kirika exclaimed. "Ah! Is Kanade a ghost, dess?!"

"Umm... Kirika? If she really was a ghost, then why does she have feet, not floating, and not looking transparent or glowing like a spirit?" Serena questioned with a sweatdrop.

"Uhh..."

"Serena does have valid points there, Kiri-chan..." Shirabe sighed before turning to Kanade. "If I'm not mistaken, were you also revived the same way as Serena?"

"Yeah... pretty much. It's a very long story." Kanade answered while rubbing the back of her head before turning to Geiz. "By the way, where's Zi-O and the others?"

"Oh yeah, where are they? They should've regrouped with us by now." Geiz questioned in realization, until he heard his Zikan Phone ringing. "One moment please." He told the group before answering his phone. "Geiz here, what's up?"

"Could you turn on the loudspeaker function? I want the others to hear our report." Kohaku requested.

"Oh, sure thing." Geiz complied before turning on said function on his phone. "Alright, loudspeaker's active. Status report?"

"There's no more abberations, chimeras and Alca-Noise remaining in the city. Great work, everyone. The military will handle the rest of the clean-up now that the Red Gates have been destroyed." Prairie informed.

"Gotcha. Not only that, the Arrow Nemesis has been captured. It's now called the Arrow Legion." Geiz replied. "Also, where's Zi-O and the others?"

"We've transferred them back to Guardian Base once their area was cleared. They deserved a good rest after that successful strategy." Prairie replied back.

"Ah, so that's why. Well that's understandable since this was a very rough day for all of us." Geiz replied back.

"Dess..." Kirika let out a loud tired sigh for Prairie to hear.

"See what I mean?" Geiz quipped.

"Hehe, can't argue with that. Hibiki, Miku, Chris, Kirika, Shirabe, can you all hear me?"

The five people that Prairie mentioned had their eyes widen in shock. "You know who we are?!" Hibiki exclaimed.

"I'll get to that in a bit. My name is Commander Prairie, leader of the Guardians. And as for how we know your names, well... your commander Genjuro told me about you girls. His operators from S.O.N.G were able to establish a comms line with us."

"Eehh?!" Everyone exclaimed at what Prairie had just informed.

"How did they found out about us?!" Geiz questioned.

"You can thank Zi-O for that. Genjuro's operators were looking at Zi-O having a strategy discussion with us on dealing with the Red Gates, giving the operators a chance to trace our comms line."

"Oof."

"Yeah... But the good news is that the Guardians are officially forming an alliance with S.O.N.G."

"An alliance?!" Hibiki, Miku, Chris, Kirika and Shirabe exclaimed, while everyone else smiled at the good news. They'll need all the help they could get.

"Oh, and another thing. Commander Genjuro wants us to bring you five on board the Guardian Base before we fly to S.O.N.G HQ. So no need to ride the helicopter this time. Hope you girls don't mind."

"Wait, on board? Fly?" Miku questioned.

"Did we forget to mention that the Guardian Base is actually a large airship?" Kanade pointed out with a grin.

"An airship?!" Hibiki, Miku and Chris exclaimed.

"An... airship?!" Shirabe responded with excitement and starry eyes.

"Oyoyooooo!" Kirika also responded.

"I think Kirika and Shirabe's response pretty much says, 'Yes'." Serena contacted Prairie with a smile.

"What about you three? Genjuro's orders, after all." Gunvolt asked Hibiki, Miku and Chris.

"No problem! We'll definitely go with you guys!" Hibiki cheerfully accepted. "Right, Miku?"

"I'll go where Hibiki's going, so count me in." Miku also accepted with a smile.

"Fine... if the Old Man wants us to." Chris also accepted. "Though I am a bit curious on what your airship looks like." She began to glare at Hibiki, Kirika and Shirabe, making them stutter. "And I'm also gonna make sure that these three idiots don't try anything stupid and wreck the airship by accident."

"Did it also involve school?" Geiz guessed.

"Uhh..."

"...I'll take that as a maybe." Geiz sweatdropped at their response.

"Thank you for accepting, girls. The transfer will begin shortly, so stay still until then. Looking forward to meeting all of you. I'll see you soon." Prairie ended the call, prompting Geiz to put away his phone while they await transfer.

"Wait, did Prairie said Old Man Genjuro is the commander of S.O.N.G? What happened to the Special Disaster Response Team?" Kanade questioned.

"Well, a lot of stuff happened while you and Serena-chan were gone, Kanade-san." Hibiki answered. "The Special Disaster Response Team became the Squad Of Nexus Guardians during that time."

"Squad Of Nexus Guardians, huh? So that's what S.O.N.G is." Gunvolt remarked.

"Your old secret base is within Lydian Academy, right?" Miku asked Kanade.

"Yeah." Kanade replied before blinking a bit. "...Did something happen to it?"

"Well... both of them were destroyed by the Noise."

"What?!" Kanade exclaimed, while Gunvolt and Copen's eyes widen in shock. "Did everyone made it out okay?!"

"Don't worry, everyone is alive! A new Lydian Academy is built somewhere safe." Hibiki assured.

"Oh, thank goodness..." Kanade sighed with relief. "If the old base is gone, then where's Genjuro's new base?"

"It's a large submarine." Chris answered.

"A submarine? Interesting..." Copen responded.

"So S.O.N.G has a submarine and the Guardians have an airship. Wow, we can cover a lot of ground with those two mobile bases on our side." Lola commented.

"Don't forget about the Kamen Rider's Zi-O Liner. That bullet train also counts as a mobile base." Joule added.

"You have a bullet train as a mobile base?!" Shirabe asked Geiz with starry eyes.

"Yeah, but Zi-O's sister is using it right now. You'll have to wait until much later." Geiz answered.

"Lola, Joule, could you both come out and say hello for a bit?" Serena requested.

"Sure thing, Serena!" Lola replied.

"Just give us a moment." Joule also replied. And a few moments later, She and Lola appeared to the group in their Idol Forms, surprising the Symphogears (except Kanade and Serena). "I'm Joule, Gunvolt's partner."

"And I'm Lola, Copen's partner!"

"Nice to meet you all!" The two idols greeted with a bow.

"So Chris, what do you think of my song?" Lola asked.

"Meh, not bad. Though I am a bit curious on what your other songs sound like." Chris replied with a shrug.

"You'll get that chance another time."

"You have a really good voice, Lola-chan!" Hibiki smiled.

"Thanks, Hibiki!" Lola smiled back.

"You both really do look like idols." Miku commented upon seeing Joule and Lola.

"Well I did tell you that I used to be one." Joule reminded Miku. "For Lola however, she was originally a combat pod before I gave her some of my Septima, turning her into the same form as mine."

"You girls should've seen us perform a duet during that one battle. We gave them one heck of a power boost to kick that chimera's ass." Lola said.

"Wow..." Kirika said with awe. "Does that mean the both of you will become an idol duo someday?"

"Well... that's still up for debate considering that I retired being an idol singer." Joule answered.

"For me... well I wouldn't mind trying out this idol business." Lola answered.

"And where will you start?" Copen asked.

"Uhh..."

"That's what I thought." Copen deadpanned at Lola's response.

"Speaking of idols..." Hibiki turned to Kanade. "Now that you're back, does that mean Zwei Wing will make a comeback soon?!"

"Hibiki, Kanade-san just returned home. You don't have to persuade her on what to do next." Miku sighed. "Plus, how will the public react to Kanade's sudden reappearance?"

"Oh... Never thought about that."

"Miku-chan's got a point there, little kouhai." Kanade agreed. "Oh yeah, has anyone seen Tsubasa lately? I'm a bit curious as to why she's not with you girls earlier."

"Tsubasa-san's having a concert tour in London along with my sister. Kirika and Shirabe told me about that earlier." Serena answered.

"Those two also formed an idol duo called The Queens of Music." Shirabe added.

"The Queens of Music, eh?" Kanade raised an eyebrow before turning to Serena. "To think that your older sister would form a duo with my old partner. Fate works in mysterious ways, huh?"

"Hehe, I guess so, Kanade-san." Serena giggled.

"Still, good to be back home right, Kanade? Serena?" Gunvolt asked.

"I agree. It's good to be back home with friends." Serena replied with a smile as she turned to Kirika and Shirabe who smiled back.

"Hibiki-chan." Kanade spoke as she approached her.

"Yes, Kanade-san?"

"You've done an amazing job living up to the name of my relic. I'm really proud of you. Wish I could see you grow if I'm still alive."

"Actually, I should be the one thanking you, Kanade-san." Hibiki's answer surprised Kanade. "It's because of you that I survived the Zwei Wing Tragedy." Hibiki began to look at her own relic crystal on her chest. "You gave me this power to help people, and I've even made plenty of new friends along the way." She began to glance at Miku, Chris, Kirika and Shirabe with a smile. "Even my family knew about what happened to me, including my life as an Attuned. But even so, we managed to pull through despite the hardships." She then began to hug Kanade, surprising her even more. "Welcome home, Kanade-san. It's good to have you back."

"Hibiki-chan..." Kanade whispered while still feeling surprised, but then began to smile and hugged back, even shedding a small tear. "Thank you..."

Everyone began to smile at the beautiful moment, some of the girls even shed a few tears, while Chris tried to hide away her tears, but she was at least happy after watching the moment. A few seconds later, the two female Gungnir Users broke off their hug. "I've got a lot of catching up to do now that I'm back. Hope you don't mind if I join S.O.N.G." Kanade declared.

"Of course! Master will definitely want you back!" Hibiki smiled.

"I can still teach you a few new tricks if you want to." Kanade winked back.

"Really?! Thanks, Kanade-san! Or should I call you Kanade-sempai instead?"

"Hehe, either way is fine, Hibiki-chan." Kanade chuckled. "But Kanade-san will do just fine since you've surpassed me."

"Alright, Kanade-san it is, then!" Hibiki declared with a smile.

"Hibiki..." Miku sighed with a sweatdrop.

"She's a bit troublesome, huh?" Gunvolt asked her.

"Yeah..." Miku replied before smiling. "But that's what makes Hibiki, Hibiki."

"True." Gunvolt smiled back as they watched the two Gungnir Users having a conversation. "Kanade's got one heck of a successor."

"Yes, she does." Miku nodded. "And Hibiki has saved me on numerous occasions when I don't have my Symphogear."

"Well, she IS your sunshine, after all." Joule winked at Miku.

"J-Joule-san! I-It's not like that...!" Miku blushed.

"Your face says otherwise, though." Joule teased. "It's kind of easy to figure you out from the way you look at her." Her comment made Miku blush even further.

"Joule, you don't have to embarrass her like that." Gunvolt sighed.

"Come on, GV! I was just being curious!" Joule pouted.

"You people really need to get a room..." Chris sighed in annoyance.

"Ah, that reminds me!" Kirika said as she and Shirabe turned to Serena. "If Kanade-san is joining S.O.N.G, does that mean you'll also join us?"

"Of course, since you two and Maria-neesan are already members." Serena answered. "I still have a lot of learning to do though, so hope I won't be too much of a burden."

"No need to worry about it, Serena. We'll always be there to help you out, just take it one step at a time." Shirabe assured with a smile.

"Then that means, our team is finally back, dess!" Kirika cheered. "Let's continue to work together from now on, okay?"

"Hehe, I plan to. Thank you, Kirika, Shirabe." Serena smiled back.

"Just remember to keep an eye out for each other, okay?" Copen advised the three young Gear Users.

"And try not to cause any trouble either!" Lola added.

"We won't, Copen, Lola!" Serena nodded back.

Shirabe however... began to stare at Kirika when Copen mentioned 'trouble'.

"W-why are you staring at me like that, Shirabe?!" Kirika exclaimed.

"Let me guess, she's a troublemaker." Lola guessed with her arms crossed.

"You have no idea what kind of problems that Kiri-chan caused." Shirabe sighed. "No wonder Chris-sempai kept scolding us."

"Uhh... eheh... I-it's all in good fun?" Kirika defended while rubbing the back of her head.

"Oh really? Like the time you chose to play video games instead of doing homework last week?!" Chris reminded, making Kirika cringe.

"D-Dess?! I swear I was going to finish my work after playing my game! Honest!"

"Yeah, for THREE hours!"

"...See?" Shirabe deadpanned, making Serena and Lola sweatdrop and Copen facepalm.

"Kirika, homework first, play later. That's how I taught my sister Mytyl how to learn." Copen advised.

"You have a sister, dess?" Kirika asked.

"She was home-schooled by me and my maid Nori due to a disability." Copen replied. "But she's starting to feel a lot better now and is planning to begin her school year in a week or two."

"What was the disability?" Shirabe asked.

"She was very frail and lost her voice." Lola answered. "She can only communicate with me and Boss via a tablet."

"Oh..." Chris, Kirika and Shirabe responded while feeling a bit sorry for Copen's sister.

"But despite all of that, she still wanted to learn new things." Copen said.

"She was a very brave girl, and I've also met her. She has a very nice smile and I even read a bedtime story with her." Serena added.

"Aww...!" Kirika and Shirabe responded.

"Hm, gotta give credit to your sister for that. At least she's feeling a lot better than before." Chris remarked to Copen.

"Maybe you'll get a chance to meet her someday." Serena said. "Right, Copen?"

"Yeah... maybe..." Copen replied which scratching his chin.

"Just say 'Yes', Boss. Your tsundere is showing." Lola teased.

"Will you stop calling me that?!" Copen retorted while Serena giggled.

"Wow, and I thought Chris-sempai is the only tsundere we've met so far." Shirabe commented with Kirika nodding.

"What did you two pipsqueaks say about me?!" Chris snapped.

"Eeep!"

"Yep, I'm already enjoying this team already!" Lola smiled with her hands on the back of her head.

"Hey everyone!" Geiz spoke after hearing a message from Kohaku via Zikan Phone, and earning everyone's attention. "Kohaku said that the transfer to the airship should be happening in about ten seconds! Hope you girls enjoy the tour of the Grand Nuage!"

Everyone nodded back at Geiz in response, and ten seconds later, they were teleported into Guardian Base in a flash of green light. After that, the airship flew off towards the location of S.O.N.G HQ where they'll seek help from Genjuro and his team about the last known location of Gjallarhorn. Hopefully with their help, they could finally plan their next course of action while awaiting Akira and her team's arrival in this world.

Chapter 3: Alliance

END

Author's Note: Phew... being a fanfic writer can be a lot of work. Real life comes first though, but at least I managed to finish this chapter before February. Now then, time for a list of new members joining the team:

Symphogear series

Hibiki Tachibana

Miku Kohinata

Chris Yukine

Kirika Akatsuki

Shirabe Tsukuyomi

Genjuro Kazanari and S.O.N.G

Elfnein

Sakuya Fujitaka and Aoi Tomosato

Astral Chain series

Arrow Legion

It's gonna take a while for Akira's team to arrive at the world of the Symphogears. And another while for Kanade and Serena to reunite with Tsubasa and Maria. Plus, Zeo and Gaius are eventually gonna have to reveal the truth of the chimeras, which is pretty bad if you've played Astral Chain before. But before that, we're gonna take a quick peek at how Akira and her team are doing, including a little surprise for them. Until then, stay safe!