Chapter 1 - Resolve
"Better to fight for something than live for nothing." - ?
Azusa stood at an exit leading out from Kivotos. Taking one last deep breath she steeled herself for the road ahead. The white haired angel stepped forward to leave the city but not before turning around to take one last look at it, as she might not be seeing it for a while
The trinity student like other denizens of Kivotos were mostly unaware of what lay outside the city and the potential dangers that lurked ahead.
Azusa followed the road out of the city. The environment outside of Kivotos was filled vegetation as there didn't seem to be any civilisation nearby so the trinity student had to continue walking until she would hopefully find a nearby town
As she did her mind thought back to the conversation that set her on this path in the first place
Yesterday Afternoon
"Forgive me Azusa-san for calling you up here so suddenly"
Nagisa apologetically said as she sipped a cup of tea
Azusa sat opposite of Nagisa at the Tea Party table who offered her the various sweets on the table to consume at her leisure but the white haired angel politely declined
"It's not a problem, if there's an issue that needs to be dealt with I can handle it"
"Thank you Azusa-san as what I'm about to ask you to do will require someone very capable and who better than the one who personally defeated Arius's leader" Nagisa started "And of course I couldn't possibly ask Hifumi-san for help, not after how I treated her"
"You're schemes affected everyone in the Make Up Work club as well not just Hifumi-san" Azusa was also speaking for herself as someone who was in that club "So if that's your reasoning for not asking Hifumi-san why ask me?"
"Because I know you've been worried about them, after all they were your former classmates." Nagisa took another sip of tea "The Arius squad has disappeared from Kivotos, my Tea Party forces are numerous and have enough to cover and surveillance the entire city, but for them to disappear like this…It must mean that they've left the area"
Azusa remained unfazed that Nagisa accurately deduced her concern for the disappearance of Arius Squad and instead sought to cut to the chase
"So what's this mission you wish for me to do?"
"Always so eager and hard working, it's a trait I've always respected about you…but to answer your question there's been an anomaly located outside Kivotos I don't know what it is however it's nothing like the Mystic energy we all produce and I've spoken to Seia-san about this, while her premonition from dreams is lost she still retains her Keen Senses and has deduced that something ominous is headed our way"
"Just a recon mission then but it also provides me an opportunity to search for Arius Squad, you've thought this through Nagisa-san"
Azusa had to admit that Nagisa played her cards well so that Azusa would accept her mission
Naturally the white haired student nodded in agreement
"Then I guess I better prepare for tomorrow"
Azusa got up and started walking off and Nagisa had one last thing to ask the former Arius student
"Will you bring your Make Up Work club members along, you don't have to do this alone"
Azusa paused before giving her answer
"Hifumi-san won't like my decision but I'm going alone, it's too unknown outside of Kivotos so I won't risk harm to befall my friends…I'll just be sure to write them a note before I take off early next morning"
"If that's what you believe is best then I won't question it"
Nagisa ended her conversation by taking another sip of her tea as Azusa made her exit, her footsteps could be heard due to how quiet it is at Tea Party, especially when Mika isn't around
Azusa recalled from Nagisa that she was to head west from Kivotos to investigate and she even kept her phone out and used the Maps app to make sure she continued walking in the right cardinal direction
It didn't take long for Azusa to spot something peculiar, from, in the distance she saw what appeared to be a large black crystal formation, it looked like several spikes protruding out of the ground. Perturbed by this Azusa picked up the pace and headed towards this strange formation
(This must be the anomaly Nagisa-san spoke about) Azusa thought to herself
Her pace rapidly picked up and Azusa was moving quickly covering plenty of ground to reach the black crystals that continued to loom above her as she got closer
The Trinity student finally made it to the strange formation so much so it's crystalline features became more pronounced, her own reflection could be seen
"A curious thing to see all the way out here ain't it" a voice that Azusa didn't recognise was heard causing her to become alerted
Quickly turning around Azusa pointed her gun at another girl who stood nearby, she had short silver hair, red horns, wore black clothes trimmed with red, and had a grenade launcher on her back as well as several explosives that lined her belt
Azusa recognised that this girl was armed to the teeth but what stood out was that she didn't have a halo. Well it shouldn't be a surprise seeing as Azusa is currently in the unknown territory of beyond Kivotos and she had heard it's denizens don't have halos like the students do
Another detail that caught Azusa's eye was that the girl with the grenade launcher had a devilish smile so malicious it could pierce the hearts of the most pure individuals
The horned girl that Azusa was staring at began to speak
"Hey now aren't you a little trigger happy? You shouldn't point those around so frivolously, they can hurt you know"
She said in a very sarcastic way as if she didn't mean any of the words she said
"Anyways let's start over, I absolutely wouldn't want any harm to befall an innocent soul such as yourself" The horned girl took an exaggerated bow and introduced herself like everything was just a joke to her "I'm called W, you?"
Azusa hesitated for a moment before answering, not liking the vibes W gave off
"Azusa."
W snapped her fingers "Ah! Azusa-chan then~"
"I'd rather you didn't call me that…"
(Only Hifumi-san can call me that) Azusa thought to herself
"Oh aren't you a buzzkill…well whatever" W shrugged her shoulders
Azusa simply shot a glance at W before looking back at the crystal wondering what it could be.
As she stared at her own reflection Azusa felt like she could sense something from it. Some kind of energy but it was completely unfamiliar to her.
*pop*
It was a sound Azusa recognised, the sound of a grenade launcher being fired
Turning around Azusa saw the shell headed her way and raised non rifle holding arm to shield herself realising she didn't have enough time to move
A loud explosion occurred as the assailant who fired the grenade, W, simply chuckled at her shot however that was quickly cut short as she noticed her left arm was bleeding from being grazed by a bullet
(Shit! She wasn't even ready for my attack yet she managed to get a shot off shortly before the explosion, fuck me these kids sure are troublesome) W thought to herself
Looking back up W saw Azusa emerged from the smoke with bruises all over her from taking a grenade launcher shell head on. Azusa was panting before recomposing herself
W smirked and began speaking
"You know you shouldn't trust a stranger so easily I'm surprised how easily you let your guard down"
Azusa didn't reply but acknowledged W's words
(…I did become too relaxed) Then Azusa's own thoughts was interrupted by another memory
"Azusa….being with those girls has made you soft" Saori's voice rang through her mind, those were the words she spoke when Azusa was effortlessly defeated in their first fight
(Was Saori-san right after all….Tch I need to focus!)
Azusa lifted her rifle and returned fire, W evaded quickly and got behind a rock as Azusa leapt back to do the same, both girls now found some cover between them
(Even though she has a halo there's no way she's a sankta, you don't walk away from an explosion with minor bruises like that otherwise) W pondered as waited for an opportunity to poke her head from cover as Azusa laid down suppressive fire
Then a window came, W seized that opportunity to fire to blind fire her grenade launcher in Azusa's general direction. Lucky for W it landed near Azusa's cover forcing the trinity student to leap away as her own cover was blown up
On cue with the explosion W jumped over her rock cover, pulled a pin from a grenade using her mouth and threw it anticipating where Azusa would run to next after evading the grenade launcher shell
From those two successive explosions W pulled out her pistol concealed underneath her skirt and began firing into the smoke, looking for the figure of Azusa as her target and her other hand quickly putting her grenade launcher on her back and pulling out a claymore mine, setting it up near her before moving way
W kept moving to the side as she expected Azusa to return fire from the smoke and as she predicted, that's what precisely happened a moment after that thought
They both ran parallel to each other firing shots off. W landed some shots on Azusa from her pistol and saw that the bullets merely bounced off her skin with no penetration.
(Is it the halo? They look very different to the ones sanktas have...) W continued to wonder how Azusa could be partially bulletproof
On Azusa's side no doubt it still stung really bad being hit with bullets however unbeknownst to the white haired student, she was headed right in the direction where W had set up a claymore mine earlier. W smirked seeing Azusa move into her trap
The trinity student couldn't respond in time to move and took another explosion head on. W lowered her pistol and charged forward instead
(If ballistics aren't going to work then maybe…)
Azusa quickly recovered and fired another round from her rifle which W moved to the side of well before the bullet fired and now in melee range the sarkaz with her own fist knocked Azusa's gun out of her hand then W followed it up with a knee to the student's stomach
The impact caused Azusa to stumble forward in pain as W grabbed her throat and pushed her into the ground. Now on top of her W with her other hand pulled out a knife and held it to Azusa's neck, it's sharp blade was felt by the angelic student as she breathed. The blade was so close to Azusa's skin that it slightly cut her causing light bleeding
"Heh look at you~ An inch away from death and you're eyes still look as determined as ever, you one of those that don't fear death at all? Well no matter I admire your resolve at least"
W then adjusted herself into a causal seating position, with her legs crossed and using Azusa's chest as a makeshift chair. While W no longer had her knife at the student's throat, the weight of her body was keeping Azusa pinned down anyway so she couldn't do anything
"Now I just want to ask for a few questions and we can all be on our merry way" W started "First off what even are you, it's not everyday I encounter some kid that's partially bulletproof and secondly I can sense some sort of energy from you but it ain't a Sankta's Arts that's for sure"
(Arts…? Sankta…?) Azusa wondered to herself what these unfamiliar terms could mean, well she was outside of Kivotos so it shouldn't be too surprising that everything is new to her
W twirled her knife and said "No answer? Well no matter I think I'll just find out on my own"
The sarkaz then stopped twirling her knife and held it to Azusa's left arm. Then did a quick slash causing the student to wince in pain
"That's for the shot you landed on me earlier"
Now both Azusa and W had matching injuries. Feeling satisfied at W got off Azusa and dusted herself off
"Just so you know I did mean it when I said I admired your resolve" W said as she put her knife and pistol back in their holsters "Better to fight for something than live for nothing"
With those oddly profound words W began walking away however she stopped like she was just about to forget something
"Ah right, you might want to have this"
W procured something from her pocket and threw it at Azusa, it was a laminated card of some sort with a string tied to it
Looking closely as Azusa deftly caught it it was a student ID card, and then she saw the Arius logo on it making the trinity student more focused on it
"I got no clue if she's your friend or not but if you keep heading west you'll find her in some shitty run down town, better hurry though it doesn't look like those girls are the kind to stay in one place for long"
Azusa listened to W's words as she looked at the ID card she held
It read 'Joumae Saori'
"One last thing…" It still seemed like W had more to say and so Azusa listened "Your fighting skills ain't half bad but you're a little rough around the edges, keep at it who knows one day you might be able to best me"
W waved her hand goodbye as she walked off
Azusa contemplated about going after her but decided against as there was more important matters to attend to. The angelic student picked up her rifle and noticing the blood running down her left arm. Azusa ripped off a piece of fabric from her skirt to use as a bandage for the wound
Then Azusa pulled out her phone and made a call to Nagisa to tell her about what she found referring to the peculiar crystal formation as well as her encounter with W
Somewhere in Kivotos
In an alley slept a young girl with shoulder length gray hair who appeared to be huddled next to the cold metallic steel of a trash can
It was midday and the girl slowly woke up, feeling some sense of comfort opening her eyes to a trash can
Of course there was only one person who had an uncanny obsession with the trash can and it was Stelle of the Trailblazers
Stelle got up gave the trash can a pat on the head as if it was person and said "Thanks for sticking with me"
Afterwards she began stretching her body before walking out from the alley she fell asleep in and out into the streets of Kivotos
(What's with all the halos above their heads, are they angels, did I die and go to heaven…? No that can't be it…I hope)
Stelle continued to walk around with no particular direction in mind as her first thought was reuniting with the rest of her team of Trailblazers due to an unfortunate incident that caused them to be separated
Looking about as she walked Stelle spotted another trash can and instincts told her to go rummaging inside of it, maybe she'll find something useful
The trailblazer excited skipped towards the trash can and lifted the lid to find something that would normally surprise a normal person
But Stelle wasn't normal and she found a young student with long black hair and blue clothes inside the bin. It was Miyu of SRT who let out a yelp as her place of sanctity was currently being violated
Stelle had no reaction to seeing Miyu and merely nonchalantly pulled her out, plopped her on the pavement and continued looking inside the trash can for anything useful
Miyu rubbed her backside in pain from being roughly handled but perked up as she heard a familiar voice
"Miyu-san! So that's where you were"
A girl with white hair tied in a ponytail called out to her fellow platoon member.
Miyu looked in her direction
"Oh…hey Miyako-san…" the sniper of the platoon spoke in her usual depressed tone
Miyako walked up to Miyu and was about to question where she had been but her attention was caught when she looked at Stelle rummaging through the trash can like it was the most normal thing in the world
The captain of the platoon inquisitively examined Stelle noticing her lack of halo. However before any one could form a thought or talk to each other a loud explosion could be heard
Miyako and Miyu shifted gears wondering what was happening as they heard the screams of civilians running away. Even Stelle was alarmed as she stopped searching through the trash and looked in the general direction of the explosion
Miyu gave out a whimpered response to the ensuing chaos
"More…gang violence…I suppose"
"Yeah let's hope that's the case" Miyako said as she readied her SMG and checked her explosive wheel robots on her belt to be ready to go at a moment's notice
Unfortunately luck was not on the rabbit squad's side as out from the corner of the destroyed streets one person walked in their direction however this one person was considered to be the most dangerous person in all of Kivotos
The black flower patterned furisode, the black custom bayonet sniper rifle and her iconic fox mask that hid her face gave it all away
"It's Kosaka Wakamo" Miyako cursed her luck to be running into the most dangerous criminal
Miyu saw that Miyako wasn't backing down and urgently called out to her
"W-wait! We can't fight the Fox of Misfortune, we have to run and-"
"We can't! Look around, Valkyrie isn't here yet so we need to hold her off until they arrive"
Miyako armed one of her robots ready to throw at Wakamo and while Miyu wanted to run at first she knew just as well as Miyako did what had to be done
Miyu readied her sniper rifle and took up a position further back to support Miyako
Stelle saw the commotion and wanted to fight to but as she took a step forward Miyako raised her hand to halt her
"No you stay back, you don't even have a a halo so it's too dangerous for you"
"Wait but I can fight to-"
"It's doesn't matter one bullet will send someone like you straight to the hospital, our halos give us the protection we need to fight"
Stelle didn't quite understand what was going on but decided to leave it in Miyako's and Miyu's hands if they were so inclined
"Oh my, Two cute little rabbits I can destroy~" Wakamo said in a way that if she didn't have that fox mask on one could probably see a sadistic smile on her face
The Fox of Misfortune aimed her rifle at Miyako ready to fight
Wakamo took the first shot forcing Miyako to leap into cover behind a car then a bullet from further back down the street came right at the fox, to which Wakamo responded by raising her rifle like a shield to block the sniper round and it bounced off her weapon like it was nothing
In that opening while Wakamo's attention was preoccupied with Miyu albeit momentarily and Miyako threw her explosive wheeled towards Wakamo at high speed not allowing the fox the react in time as it blew up at right at her feet
Unsurprisingly Wakamo emerged from the smoke with very minor bruises just showing how resilient Wakamo was
The fox charged for Miyako who thought to herself "Of course one of those wouldn't be enough"
However Wakamo's offensive was cut short as she needed to step back from another bullet fired by Miyu hit right at Wakamo's feet. Had the fox been a second slower that sniper round would've hit her right on the head likely knocking her out
Then in tandem Miyako unleashed a barrage of SMG bullets requiring Wakamo to get back into cover behind a nearby car
Annoyed Wakamo, without needing her iron sights fired in Miyu's direction surprising the young sniper how little time Wakamo spent preparing that shot
The bullet from Wakamo hit Miyu straight in the head knocking her out signified by her halo retracting
"Miyu-san!"
Miyako called out reflexively seeing her friend taken out. The captain threw her other explosive robot towards Wakamo while her attention was shifted but this time Wakamo was more than prepared for this parlour trick and shot the robot before it ever reached her causing an explosion between them
With a small reprieve Miyako took the time to find different cover hoping to ambush Wakamo should she decide to go through the smoke
As the rabbit leader predicted Wakamo appeared through smoke and was heading towards where Miyako used to be but she had moved to the side so she had a momentary element of surprise
Aiming her SMG she prepared to fire but it seems the advantage Miyako had didn't matter as Wakamo managed to respond faster and without looking pointed her rifle at Miyako and fired before the platoon captain could fire her shot
The round hit Miyako's weapon knocking it out of her hand as Wakamo turned to dashed forward
Miyako was surprised that Wakamo was suddenly reacting a lot faster than before and deduced that she must be fighting a bit more seriously then she was a moment ago
In the time Miyako formulated those thoughts Wakamo had already closed the distance and kicked her in the gut causing the white haired captain to go flying into the wall of a nearby building
Miyako attempted to recover as quick as possible but she saw the blade of Wakamo's bayonet heading straight for her and reflexively shut her eyes and looked away bracing herself for the coming blow
However the blade never reached her as a loud metallic clashing was heard right before Miyako's face
Opening her eyes she saw that a metal bst had blocked Wakamo's attack and looking to who it's owner was she saw it was Stelle
Wakamo too was surprised seeing someone block her attack
Stelle's expression now looked a lot more determined and serious than the nonchalant girl she was that had an uncanny obsession with trash cans a few minutes ago. Her bat began to glow blue and electrify as she swung it towards Wakamo
Instinctively the fox decided to back off from this mysterious power that came from the bat, or does this power come from Stelle herself?
Leaping back to create some distance Wakamo realised that Stelle didn't have a halo and thus was not a native of Kivotos. The Fox of Misfortune started chuckling to herself at the absurdity of it all while Stelle remained unfazed towards Wakamo and pointing her bat at her
"Do you believe you could truly stop me? You have no halo, no mystic energy, what could you possible accomplish?" This was the first time Wakamo had ever run into someone like this, a halo-less individual that thought she could stand against the mighty Fox of Misfortune herself
"Halo? Mystic? I don't understand half the words you said but I do know you need to be stopped before you hurt anyone else" Protecting others was all the reason Stelle needed to stand up to Wakamo regardless of how strong she was, the trailblazer wasn't going to sit around doing nothing
Wakamo held her rifle against her shoulders and said "Well if you wish to die so badly then I'm happy to oblige"
Miyako while looking up at her saviour wanted to tell Stelle to get away and not fight Wakamo but her and Miyu were beaten down right now and there was no sign of Valkyrie arriving any time soon so she had to put her faith in this mysterious halo-less individual that she might be the one to stop Wakamo's rampage
Ch.1 End