Flower of Damocles

by VoyeurTheNinja

Nearly 5 years have passed since the defeat of Shem-Ha Mephorash. In the wake of the battle against the Great Surgeon, S.O.N.G. has maintained its vigil against paranormal threats, culminating in the development of a next-generation Symphogear. But when the prototype SG-r04 is stolen, the Adaptors soon find themselves facing a threat from beyond their dimension.

15. Will You See the Morning Sun?

The joint operation began on the stroke of midnight.

With a shattered moon now shining between the December clouds, Symphogear Team-04 waited inside their van for further orders from the head of the operation, all while preparing themselves for anything they were about to uncover within an elusive Illuminati hideout. Clan Hida designated Team-04's target location as "Site-4", and their investigation into it was about to be the group's first ever mission with their newest field operator, Shinonome Aiko. While Komichi, Lanfen and Aiko quietly sat inside the inert vehicle with its windows all armoured up through deployed steel plating, Yuki relaxed in the driver's seat, a can of coffee held in one hand as an opened suitcase rested on her lap.

Yuki could hardly complain when Tsuchiya suddenly requisitioned her a full case of Clan Hida's regularly-issued equipment. In addition to granting her a full restock of smoke bombs, the latest model of the Clan's half-mask rebreathers, and about a dozen of Hida's newly-designed kunais, Tsuchiya went out of his way to gift her one particular item that Yuki never thought she would ever see herself owning: a vial of revivification.

Gossip surrounding these vials always circulated within S.O.N.G. and Clan Hida alike. As the rumors tended to describe them, a single vial of this translucent liquid could reinvigorate a person from the brink of death while simultaneously boosting their physical capabilities, allowing one to pull off feats which only regular humans could ever dream of doing. The ingredients required to make this particular miracle juice were completely unknown. But Yuki sure as hell knew that Clan Hida was capable of manufacturing about four complete vials in total within a single year. Putting her vial safely aside for now probably sounded like a good idea.

While Yuki began strapping on her new ninjutsu equipment alongside a standard-issue firearm, Komichi sat in the passenger seat beside her, still occupied with tying up her hair into the practical shape of a bun. On the other hand, Lanfen and Aiko were in the back, quietly exchanging sweet-talk with each other about whether or not Aiko's S.O.N.G. uniform suited her. Just like Yuki herself, Aiko had chosen to don the masculine variant of the organization's navy blue outfit. It was a decision that left Komichi as the only person among the four who decided to forgo a decent pair of pants. Komichi would - of course - never show regret over her choice to prioritize style over practicality.

After concealing her twentieth-or-so kunai within the confines of her uniform, Yuki placed her empty coffee can and suitcase aside before hauling her butt off the driver's seat, letting the woman slowly make her way over to the conversing pair in the van's rear. She couldn't help but notice how different the 'vibes' around them were lately. "Ai', 'Fen," Yuki called them as she deposited herself onto a seat right next to their Adaptor, "are ya both ready for tonight?" Her casual question prompted an eager nod from Aiko while she sat in front of the van's large terminal. In contrast, Lanfen only responded with the slightest of shrugs.

"I shall do my best to not disappoint," Aiko promised them with one pale hand held over her chest. The large fringe of silver that concealed half of her face couldn't do anything to hide the flickering excitement within Aiko's golden eyes. "As long as we rely on each other, I'm sure we will be able to fulfill our objectives without any issues."

Yuki couldn't stop herself from lightly smirking at Aiko's enthusiasm. Typical of a newcomer, she thought to herself. Still, Yuki was always grateful for any optimism to be had during a mission, so she wasn't about to go out of her way to dim it down so quickly. While Yuki heard Komichi subsequently answer an incoming transmission at the van's front, she shifted her pupils over to a leather pouch on Aiko's belt, and wondered if her essential intake of daily medicine was anything to worry about during a situation like tonight. Before Yuki could think any further about this, she switched her attention over to the group's lone Adaptor, and quickly noticed the way Lanfen's purple eyes were gazing at Aiko. Her concerns for their new teammate's safety were completely unspoken, and yet, completely obvious all the same.

Lanfen was easier to read than a children's book sometimes.

Out of a small attempt to calm down the Wielder's worries, Yuki lifted one arm from her side before playfully bumping her knuckle against Lanfen's shoulder. The brief gesture visibly yanked the brown woman out of whatever thoughts she was previously preoccupied with. "No need to start overthinkin', 'Fen," Yuki tried to tell her with a thumbs-up for good measure, "unless we receive any orders to escalate things, all you and Ai' have to do is sit tight and leave things to Komi' and I. Got it?"

Lanfen answered with a curt nod after briefly fiddling with the ends of her braided hair between two gloved fingers. "Right." She then cleared her throat and rested one hand on her hip. "Just... keep your eyes open out there, Yuki."

S.O.N.G. wouldn't be deploying them both if they weren't capable of a few nasty tricks or two, Yuki mused within her head. Even though Aiko was the most vulnerable one out of their little quartet, Yuki had already made the quick decision of providing her with a stun-pistol before they arrived. If Aiko's ability to learn was as good as her files implied, then the lessons Komichi provided her in the shooting range just this afternoon should keep her perfectly safe. S.O.N.G.'s stun weapons were perfectly non-lethal too, so there wasn't any need to worry about getting Aiko's hands dirty if she actually needed to pull the trigger.

A loud clap of the hands suddenly arose from the van's front. When the trio at the back all turned their heads towards it in perfect unison, they noticed Komichi finishing up the motions of dismissing a holographic projection from her wrist device. "We've just received the order to head out," the brunette formally declared, her hair all neatly tied-up now. "Let's finish this quickly, shall we?" Komichi added with a cheeky wink. "Every maiden needs her good-night's rest, after all."

Everyone kicked into gear without a wasted second.

Aiko focused her attention on the van's built-in terminal while Lanfen remained in her seat as both Komichi and Yuki squeezed past them on the way to the van's backdoors. After taking a moment to prepare themselves for the freezing temperatures outside, Yuki swung open the back, allowing the descending snow beyond it to immediately flow into the van before they even disembarked. Surrounding the inert vehicle were the towering trees of a pitch-black forest. The nearest city was kilometers from where they were and multiple scans from S.O.N.G. confirmed the absence of any civilians within the vicinity. Once both Komichi and Yuki had their legs knee-deep in the forest's snowy floor, they closed the doors behind them, letting the van return to a perfect hiding state which was provided by the stealth-field its outer walls generated.

The sleek night-vision visors they swiftly donned made their surroundings appear as clear as day before their eyes. A swift hand signal from Komichi afterwards conveyed the order to get moving. Following their memorized procedures, the first thing the departing pair did was to make their way towards a marked location on their wrist devices' holo-maps. A pair of floating camera drones that had been deployed by the van accompanied the two women from behind on rings of experimental hover-tech. The snow beneath them made simply walking a tedious task, but both of them had faced far worse during their earlier missions with S.O.N.G. anyway. Playing the role of an Adaptor's support team was - if anything - a reprieve from their previous duties.

By the time they arrived at the marked location, the cloaked van was a 10-minute trek away, giving Yuki the cue she needed to announce their presence by letting out a short, distinct whistle between her lips.

The soft tune gently slipped out of her before it proceeded to float through the rustling branches of a snow-covered forest.

Komichi had one hand placed on her firearm's holster the entire time. Yuki was prepared to instead rely on her new kunais if things suddenly turned south.

While a blanket of silence continued to drape itself over their goggle-lit surroundings, light from a shattered moon peeked through the forest canopy, shining what little luminance it could onto their snow-peppered uniforms.

The eventual arrival of a second whistling noise eased up Yuki's grip around the hilt of a concealed weapon. Clan Hida was here.

Within the span of a single second, a shrouded figure dropped down from a nearby tree branch, causing no noise at all even when they landed on the forest floor. As Komichi continued to keep one hand on the holster of her firearm, Yuki sheathed a drawn kunai, and slowly lowered her head in acknowledgement of the approaching figure. Yuki could recognize the hooded garb, steel headband, and half-mask of Clan Hida even from a mile away. So, when the arriving Hida operative returned her formal greeting with the exact same gesture, Yuki lifted her head back up before waving a hand for Komichi to take it easy.

"I'm pleased to see that you two have safely arrived on time," the Hida operative respectfully began, his voice audibly muffled by the shadowy uniform he donned. "You may call me 'Kamashiro'. Accompanying my presence are five warriors of Clan Hida, all of whom you may know to have already deployed ahead of us. We look forward to cooperating with you, Symphogear Team-04." Once Kamashiro's formal report came to its conclusion, the man held out one hand, and showcased an open palm that was carrying a pair of prepared comm beads.

While Komichi returned the pleasantries in Yuki's stead, Yuki curiously glanced at the man's waist and noticed a distinctive one-handed blade which was currently tied to his belt: a Hida-type wakizashi. Such a weapon could sever human limbs without much trouble and were rarely permitted to be fielded on missions unless the situation necessitated it. They really weren't sparin' any expenses tonight, Yuki mused to herself, taking one comm bead for herself after Komichi had taken hers. A quick tap on their worn beads subsequently linked up the pair to the current head of the country-wide operation.

"AG-4-1. AG-4-2," Yuki recognized the incoming voice from this afternoon's emergency meeting. "This is Kagami speaking. I will be issuing orders for tonight's joint operation. Therefore, I am hoping that your team will be able to provide us with acceptable results despite SG-r04's recent track-record."

One or two instances of Lanfen disobeying orders were apparently all it took to gain a 'reputation'. Not that Yuki actually agreed with it, that is. Kagami always came off as a stick in the mud in her opinion. And it wasn't as if everyone else in S.O.N.G.'s Adaptor Corp were compliant little soldiers either. "Sure, sure," Yuki responded with an exaggerated shake of the head which she directed at both of their awaiting camera drones, "but if ya got time to worry about 'Fen, then ya got time to get things done. Let's just get started already, yeah?"

As Komichi silently sighed in response to Yuki's transparent disregard for communication etiquette, Kamashiro voiced his silent agreement with a hand signal before wordlessly taking the opportunity to lead the way towards their target location. To none of Yuki's surprise, the Hida operative required no form of gadgetry to navigate through the pitch-black darkness around them.

The ensuing trek beneath a shattered moon went on in complete silence between the operation's commander and the actual boots on the ground. The only sounds being made came from each crunching footstep that Komichi and Yuki took on the forest floor. With Kamashiro strolling right ahead of them alongside a pair of camera drones on his flanks, Yuki gazed past them with her night-vision visor and used its binocular feature to get a better look at what lied beyond the forest edge. There, she could see a large manor slowly coming into view, providing them with the first visible building in the past hour or two. Its complex architecture wouldn't look out of place in most prefectures, but when situated in the middle of nowhere like this, it practically radiated a suspicious energy which only a top-secret hideout could emit.

"AG-4-1, this is your stop."

Just as Kagami addressed Yuki by her designated number, the traveling group halted in their approach, all while two additional figures quietly slipped out of the darkness in the same black garb of Clan Hida. After revealing their positions wholesale, the newly-arrived duo gestured over to a circular, metal hatch that was built into the earth's soil under the cover of the forest floor's accumulating snow. Everything about it matched the estimated structural layout which Team-04 went through the trouble of memorizing.

"I'm guessin' that we're splitting up?" Yuki said into her comm bead.

"Affirmative, AG-4-1," Kagami continued. "I want you, Yaguruma and Kageyama to investigate the lower levels of the hideout and report your findings. Meanwhile, AG-4-2 and Kamashiro will rendezvous with three other operatives to infiltrate the manor from ground floor." The redhead's following words were as sharp as they could've sounded over Hida's secured transmission line. "Nobody is allowed to engage the enemy until I give the order to do so. Have I made myself clear?"

Yuki shared a small raise of the brow with Komichi beside her before the ponytailed woman approached the nearby hatch with Yaguruma and Kageyama right at her side. If she was remembering things correctly, the two operatives were an almost inseparable pair who were more talkative outside of a mission rather than during one. "Affirmative," Yuki responded with one hand on her comm bead, "just don't be surprised if communication gets difficult underground." While Kagami began relaying the rest of her orders to the operatives around them, Yuki looked over her shoulder and shot Komichi a two-fingered salute. "Stay frosty, Komi'," she said with a smirk, "I'll see ya on the other side."

Komichi replied with a momentary stick of her tongue and the usual wink of her eye, "You are always so dramatic."

Now that their next move was confirmed, Yuki's momentary tag-alongs got the underground hatch open by slicing through its thick metal using the blades of their pristine wakizashis. None of what came afterwards was anything Yuki hadn't seen before. The short years she spent training with Clan Hida made everything almost mundane, if anything. With one floating camera drone assigned to Yuki's group, the separating trio headed down a long, metal ladder which descended deep into the depths of a cramped, dirty shaft. Aiko's controlled drone was the first to head down. Yuki was next, followed by Yaguruma and Kageyama. The clacking of footwear against the ladder's metal steps almost felt like it was going to go on forever until Yuki eventually found her footing on the floor of a large, spacious tunnel.

There was only one visible path to go down next and it was right up ahead.

No detected life-signs so far, judging by the lack of any alerts over their comms.

Once both of Yuki's companions had their feet off the metal ladder, Yuki slid out a kunai into each of her palms and approached the far end of the tunnel with silent footsteps. Her nostrils could pick up the distinct stench of exhaust fumes in the air and nothing about the tunnel gave off the impression that it was marked in any way with the Illuminati's usual security measures. It was admittedly boring to see, but the organization was practically a shell of its former self at this point anyway. The only thing left to worry about the Illuminati were their recent murders, and Yuki sure as hell didn't need any of that in her mind when the Distortions were already a problem for everyone.

Approaching the end of the large tunnel, Yuki stopped in front of the metal double-doors before them so Aiko could begin running an environmental scan of what lied beyond the secured exit. They waited for exactly five seconds and Aiko's voice soon came over their comm bead's secured lines. "No hostiles detected. You may proceed with caution, Yuki."

Yuki tapped on a nearby, dirt-caked control panel and the double-doors silently parted, revealing what looked to be an enormous, underground vehicle bay with multiple cargo transports all lined up in perfect order. Stacks of metal crates could be seen no matter where they looked, providing the trio with plenty of cover to hide behind as they skulked through the perimeter underneath the cover of shadows. Since the bay was partially lit by means of a few flickering floodlights, Yuki switched off her night-vision visor before peeking out of her cover to examine their surroundings with a camera drone floating beside her. Judging by the warning signs that were plastered all over the crates, each and every one of them contained secured pods of Alca-Noise shards.

Breaking open a box wouldn't immediately release the engineered weapons. But that didn't erase the mere danger the Noise posed to regular humans.

The distinct hiss of an opening door was soon heard. Yuki and the others slid back into the shadows and kept their ears open while Aiko's camera drone hid between Yuki's legs. The clacking of footsteps rang out. And then, voices. Yuki counted at least four arriving hostiles.

"Once we've emptied out the main database, we're leaving," a deep voice declared. "Lady Lotte is providing us only an hour to bring whatever we can carry. I suggest you finalize your decisions with haste."

A shrill voice responded afterwards. "But what about the others? Surely, she doesn't actually intend to-"

"They are a necessary diversion, Acolyte," another voice chimed in. "We'll be long gone before they even notice anything. And if S.O.N.G. is already in pursuit, then we will require whatever we can use to make our escape possible."

"It would not be the first sacrifice that Lady Lotte has made us carry out," a fourth voice added. "The price we pay for our salvation will never come cheap."

Twirling her readied kunais within the palm of her hands, Yuki reached for her wrist device, and began inputting a message in the form of Morse code. A tap of a holographic prompt soon after relayed the detailed report of their current situation all the way back to the van. Yuki then waited for ten agonizingly-long seconds with Kageyama and Yaguruma both ready to spring into action until Kagami's voice eventually came over their comms again.

"Secure the area with extreme prejudice, AG-4-1," she steadily commanded them. "We require only one person for questioning."

A nod from both of Yuki's tag-alongs confirmed them having received the same exact orders. The hostiles in the area were still conversing without any hint of alarm in their voices. The kunais in Yuki's hands were perfectly ready to spill iron across the walls. And she could only wish that she was simply relaxing back at her hometown underneath a warm blanket with Otome. As Aiko's camera drone continued to float between Yuki's legs, the ponytailed woman signaled Kageyama and Yaguruma to get into better positions before they carried out their little ambush. In the blink of an eye, the duo slipped out of sight, and Yuki waited for them to reappear while she remained where she hid.

But as Yuki felt a bead of sweat slowly trickling down her cheek, her eyes caught a blur of azure moving within the corner of her vision.

She immediately swung her gaze over to her right and caught the glimmer of a glass object which soon fell to the floor just a few meters away from her.

Before Yuki could even react, her hearing caught the sudden shattering of a single Alca-Noise shard.

---

"No hostiles detected. You may proceed with caution, Yuki."

For every second that flew by within the safety of Symphogear Team-04's concealed vehicle, the hands of the pocket-watch which Lanfen held in one palm would move in perfect sync, giving the Adaptor something other than the terminal's screens to fixate her attention on while the others carried out the operation. This was a situation that called for the surgical precision of an infiltration team, and it was an aspect which Lanfen could never really associate with a Symphogear, let alone the Sword of Damocles. Nonetheless, anything could happen during a mission. And until a severe threat actually reared its head, Lanfen kept herself preoccupied with the gift that Aiko had granted her just this morning.

Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

When a distinct 'itch' slowly manifested within Lanfen's sword-hand, the Adaptor clicked her tongue, and closed up her pocket-watch before placing it back beneath her monochrome undershirt. Now that Aiko's Christmas gift took the very same place where Lanfen's pendant used to hang from, the ruby-like crystal which encased her relic shard currently sat within the metallic buckle of the Adaptor's belt, ready to be deployed into her hands through the mere tap of a small side-button. As Lanfen tried to contain her persistent thirst for a bit of action by biting down on her chapped lips, she glanced at the field operator sitting in front of her, and saw the way her pale hands weaved across the terminal's control panel.

Her fingers danced at speeds faster than even Komichi could pull off. And even though Aiko bore the task of constantly relaying information back to the head of the operation, the vigilant nature of her duties could not distract Aiko from controlling the flight paths of the infiltration team's deployed camera drones.

She was a complete natural at this, and to the eyes of a stranger, her actions would probably give no impression at all that her first night in the S.O.N.G. uniform involved the very organization who once deemed Aiko to be 'discarded equipment'.

"Secure the area with extreme prejudice, AG-4-1." Kagami's orders were loud and clear over the terminal's speakers. Just like her doubts about Lanfen's own capabilities. "We require only one person for questioning."

The Bavarian Illuminati. Aiko made it quite clear that she had no interest in finding out who she once was. But a part of Lanfen always desired to uncover the reason behind Aiko's circumstances, let alone how and why she came to be inside that Illuminati pod to begin with. And if an uncovered recording of the secret society was anything to go by, it was also the Illuminati who could first be pointed at in order to understand why the Distortions arrived on their world. With almost nothing concrete to actually show - both to the public eye or any paranormal task force - circulating rumors on the internet were starting to insinuate the idea that the Distortions were man-made constructs instead of the interdimensional monsters they appeared to be. Lanfen could only find the whole thing to be completely idiotic.

A high-pitched alert subsequently blared from the terminal's speakers.

Lanfen felt a twitch instantly jolt through her entire sword-hand at her side. After the Adaptor got off her seat so she could focus her full attention on the multiple screens before her, Aiko held a hand to her headphones to swiftly relay a report back to the head of the operation. The trepidation within her words betrayed just how new Aiko actually was to her current duties.

"Command, sensors are picking up a surge of energy from within Site-4!" she exclaimed, all while overlaying the terminal's screens with sensor readings and numerous data reports. "I am unable to contact AG-4-1 and I have lost connection with Drone No.2. I repeat: I am unable to contact AG-4-1 and I have lost connection with Drone No.2!"

The blooming signatures they were suddenly picking up practically engulfed their sensors to the point of obscuring everything they else could be seeing. Nothing about it matched the tell-tale appearance of a Distortion rift. As Lanfen's sword-hand subconsciously tightened its gloved fingers around her metallic buckle, the Adaptor pursed her lips and waited for Aiko to provide additional information about the situation. Things were occurring faster than Lanfen anticipated. And it only took several inputs into the control panel for Aiko to bring up a visual feed coming straight from the van's other available drone.

The field operator immediately drew in a sharp breath. "That's...!"

While the terminal's calculations went on to match the detected signal pattern, the drone which accompanied Komichi and the rest of the Hida operatives provided the pair with a clear look of the massive, translucent half-sphere that was steadily expanding from within Site-4's estimated perimeter. It was an eldritch construct their database's archived information eventually identified without any chance of a mismatch: an Alca-Noise Barrier. Though rarely utilized by the Illuminati because of the experimental nature behind the Alca-Noise responsible for generating it, S.O.N.G. knew from pure experience that escaping from one was utterly impossible without a Symphogear.

"Command!" Aiko exclaimed again after calming herself down with a single deep breath, "I am now detecting heat signatures rising within Site-4! Sensors confirm it to be a single Illuminati vehicle that is about to make its way out of the area!" Her fingers clacked onto the terminal's control panel, bringing up a readied input which would cause the van's backdoors to swing open the moment they received the permission to deploy. "Alca-Noise presence confirmed! Command, please state our next recommended move!"

Every second that went by without an immediate response from the head of the operation made the twitching in Lanfen's sword-hand increasingly difficult to ignore. When Kagami finally responded, the redhead's words made the Adaptor grit her teeth. "SG-r04, divert your attention away from the Alca-Noise Barrier and prioritize on apprehending the escaping Illuminati craft." There was no sense of disregard behind Kagami's orders, only the cold touch of a final conclusion. "We can't afford to let them leave without whatever they may be carrying. Therefore-"

"I can't just leave Yuki and the others!" Lanfen spat in response, even if she was now speaking completely out of turn. The mere thought of turning a blind eye towards endangered people was enough reason to profess second thoughts. "Command, please reconsider focusing on the infiltration team first," she tried to argue. "If I'm quick enough, I should be able to keep up with the Illuminati before they can even get away!"

"Negative, SG-r04," Kagami coldly replied, "you have your orders. The danger the Illuminati could continue posing to the public is a risk too high for us to take. Apprehend the escapees first and then we'll consider a solution for the Alca-Noise. The rest of the infiltration team are already preoccupied with engaging Site-4's hostile occupants." There was a brief pause in the middle of her commands. "Remember, SG-r04, what happens next will reflect greatly on your records." Before either Aiko or Lanfen could debate with Kagami any further, the audio transmission cut off, leaving the pair completely to their own devices.

The knuckles on Lanfen's sword-hand immediately pounded against the van's inner walls with a thunderous clang. She could not be serious, Lanfen screamed within the back of her mind, fully realizing that she would have to abandon her own teammate if she was going to be a compliant member of the Adaptor Corp. It was unbelievable. Even though Kagami currently held the reigns of the ongoing joint operation, Lanfen could not - in good faith - call herself a Symphogear-Wielder if this was the path she was about to walk down. Lanfen wouldn't be able to look at Kaburagi in the eye again if she did so.

"Lanfen," Aiko gently called out to her, prompting the Adaptor to glance over her shoulder until she could see the field operator slowly taking off her headphones. Through a few inputs into the control panel, Aiko temporarily shut off the van's audio-receivers, preventing anyone from possibly eavesdropping on them. "... What do you intend to do?" The piercing gaze which accompanied her one question felt like it was staring right into Lanfen's aching chest.

When the Adaptor met those golden eyes with her own purple pupils, she felt the twitching within her sword-hand begin to cease, even the briefest of moments.

In the end, her decision was obvious.

On the day Lanfen broke into a rampage across Yamaku City, it was both Komichi and Yuki who defied their orders to try and save her. It was an act that Lanfen would never stop blaming herself for. And now here she was, faced with the opportunity to settle at least one out of many debts to her friends. Whether or not her relic pendant would answer to her song in a situation deprived of Distortions, the Adaptor could not know, but she still needed to try. Even as the designed "Symphogear-Destroyer", the Sword of Damocles was the one power in her hand which could turn this whole situation around. It was just like what Yukine had advised her on the day before Christmas.

"Even if we can't figure out why someone gave ya that thing... What matters in the end is what ya do with it, right?"

Lanfen fastened her grip around her belt's metal buckle and slowly drew in a practiced breath. When the stiffness in her shoulders slowly faded away, the Symphogear-Wielder put on the smallest of grins, and witnessed the soft, understanding smile that Aiko now wore. No words were required to actually say anything. Both of their feelings were clearly understood without misconception and misunderstanding.

"Good luck, Lanfen. I'm counting on you."

Aiko's gentle words heralded the confirming ring of an inputted command.

The van's armoured backdoors swung open to reveal the pitch-black forest outside.

Lanfen's combat boots subsequently pounded its soles into the forest floor and falling droplets of ice melted against her brown skin, all while the Adaptor clicked a single button on the side of her belt buckle. Underneath the gaze of a shattered moon above, Lanfen parted her lips, and gave herself in to a power she hesitated to even wield right until this very moment.

"Valtorah Damocles sen zizzl."

In response to the ringing hymns of her transformation chant, a crimson light enveloped Lanfen from head-to-toe. Black-and-white fibers then wrapped themselves around her physical form, all to the exhilarating howling of trumpets and saxophones. As a glimmering, three-point crown slammed itself onto her head to connect with her headphones, Lanfen thrusted her arms into a pair of dark gauntlets, granting her the physical strength to turn back an entire army. Armoured boots soon encased themselves around her legs, automatically locking into place while the chess-piece pauldron on Lanfen's right shoulder powered to life with a deep roar. The electro-swing Jazz which then flowed out of her armour's speakers began blaring without restraint, declaring the full formation of the Sword of Damocles.

The second footstep Lanfen made across the forest floor was made with an armoured boot constructed of pure heretical technology.

Even when she was still far from the forest edge, the crowned warrior could clearly see the distant Alca-Noise Barrier shining like the light at the end of a long tunnel.

Black-and-white flashed before Lanfen's eyes. The steel letters in her vision slammed onto a cracking chessboard, declaring the name, "Queen Quicksilver."

Armour slid forth from her headphones' casings, forming a sleek, blank mask over her face with a large pair of circular, compound eyes. With a few audible clicks, her face-shield docked itself with her three-point crown as the Queen chess-piece on her right shoulder followed up by emitting a powerful thrumming noise. The power generators stored within the pauldron soon kicked into life, sending a wave of revitalizing energy throughout the Adaptor's entire body.

Falling snow halted mid-air all around Lanfen. The howling, winter winds froze in place. And the briefest of seconds stretched into the time span of a dozen pounding heartbeats. With speed beyond Lanfen's understanding now within the proverbial palm of her hand, the crowned warrior's white mask projected a holographic timer in the corner of her narrowed vision.

Ten seconds.

The soles of her armoured boots pounded into the snow, sending chunks of flying white onto the trees nearby while Lanfen proceeded to blitz through the entire stretch of the forest in the form of a black-and-white blur. Descending crystals of snow exploded spectacularly upon contact with her rushing body, harmlessly bursting into pieces against her Symphogear's protective barriers. By the time Lanfen sped out of the forest edge and onto the perimeter of the Illuminati manor, the half-sphere Alca-Noise Barrier had reached its full size, swallowing up a full-half of the entire manor estate.

Eight seconds.

The crowned warrior stampeded into the giant, translucent dome without a second thought. There was only one way to get inside and it was through a straight path right into enemy territory. And as Lanfen practically threw herself against the glowing surface of the Alca-Noise Barrier, the Adaptor felt a tidal wave of stinging energy engulf her entire form, causing Lanfen to grit her teeth beneath her deployed face-shield.

The winter wonderland of a Japanese forest instantaneously vanished from Lanfen's sight.

In its place was now an expansive landscape of barren rocks and glowing crystals, all which laid beneath a never-ending ocean of a billion, glittering stars. No matter where Lanfen directed her attention within this subspace pocket, she witnessed hordes of Alca-Noise clambering across the deserted land, all to encircle three individuals who were visible in the far distance. The scanners beneath her white mask confirmed the ongoing life-signs of Yuki, Kageyama and Yaguruma.

Six seconds.

Lanfen fastened her fingers around the grip of her Armed Gear and drew its golden cross-guard out from her black hip armour. With a ringing schwing, the Sword of Damocles sprung forth its thick blade, ready to begin the crowned warrior's first ever encounter with the dreaded Alca-Noise. Under the effects of her Symphogear's superhuman speed, both the Noise and the endangered operatives appeared frozen where they were, stuck in the motions of an ongoing fight for their lives while Lanfen's boots pounded rock after rock with each thunderous step.

Four seconds.

A thirsting Armed Gear soon began reaping through the horde that stood between the crowned warrior and the surrounded infiltration team.

Each thrust and slash was blinding, precise, and completely without mercy.

Since a simple touch from these eldritch abominations meant a death sentence for any regular human, their immediate elimination became a top priority for Lanfen to accomplish before she even came face-to-face with her companions. It did not matter how many of these monsters stood before the crowned warrior. The Sword of Damocles dismembered whatever its thick blade met without any resistance and turned every visible hostile into another casualty. As the distance between Lanfen and Yuki grew shorter and shorter, the Adaptor quickly saw the single Alca-Noise that was standing behind her teammate, ready to impale Yuki right through the chest with a large, spiked arm.

Two seconds.

In one smooth motion, Lanfen split open one of her gauntlets to expose the wired harpoon resting inside it. Through a tightening of her first, the harpoon launched outward and combined with the pommel of her Armed Gear, tethering the sword to her left gauntlet. After taking a single, graceful step on the barren rock beneath her armoured boots, Lanfen hurled her sword toward Yuki's attacker with the force of a speeding rocket, skewering the closest thing the Alca-Noise possessed to an actual head on its shoulders.

The crowned warrior subsequently tugged on her gauntlet's extending wire, expertly retracting the Sword of Damocles so she could begin whipping her tethered Armed Gear through the surrounding Alca-Noise horde with the viciousness of a striking snake.

The gauntlet's wire wrapped and unwrapped around Lanfen's body, perfectly manipulated through a combination of momentum and the usage of Lanfen's four limbs.

Like a field of wheat beneath the blade of a harvester's crop scythe, the Alca-Noise were cut down and slain, all while Lanfen's soaring Armed Gear reflected off the crimson lenses of her pure white mask.

Within moments, the horde around the endangered operatives became nothing more than a crowded mass of severed limbs that were all frozen mid-air.

Zero seconds.

Dozens of Alca-Noise exploded into crimson heaps of fresh alkahest in perfect unison. The bladed weapons of Yuki and the two Hida operatives continued on swift attack paths only to cut into the remains of already-defeated monsters. As the loud humming within Lanfen's shoulder pauldron died out, the crowned warrior skidded to a halt in front of the trio and retracted her faceplate back into her headphones' casings. Instead of the mouthful of blood she had become used to vomiting out after using Queen Quicksilver, Lanfen only felt several beads of sweat trailing down her face along with a temporary wave of weariness. Professor Elfnein's recent improvements to her Symphogear were evidently just what Lanfen needed.

"'Fen!" Yuki exclaimed, a pair of kunais still gripped in her hands, "I'm not one to complain about being able to tell Death to kiss my fucking ass, but I think your job isn't exactly done just yet!"

After confirming the lack of any injuries on both Yuki and the two other Hida operatives through but a short glance, Lanfen brandished her Armed Gear, and turned around to see a fresh horde of Alca-Noise charging towards them from but a single direction this time. The built-in speakers of her Symphogear had turned silent. The Labyrinthian-type Alca-Noise responsible for the Barrier was still nowhere to be seen and the crowned warrior knew they could not afford to waste any more time inside this subspace pocket. Thus, Lanfen pulled up an armoured hand from one side, and slowly plucked out the ruby-like converter unit which was situated on her chest.

The Sword of Damocles instantaneously revealed a glowing, crimson slot situated right in the middle of its golden cross-guard.

Yuki was quick to flinch at the sight of the crowned warrior's memorized motions. "Wait... Don't tell me Kagami gave you the order to-?"

"... It's fine, Yuki," Lanfen reassured her in a low voice, even when she could still feel a distinct trembling coursing throughout her sword-hand's fingers, "I won't lose control. I promise." Lanfen's declaration sounded like they were aimed at herself rather than her own teammate. And yet, Yuki gave no further protest. Instead, she took a cautious step back and signaled for the confused Hida operatives to do the same. The quiet pair quickly did so after visibly recognizing just what Lanfen planned on utilizing.

The spearhead of the Alca-Noise horde was getting close enough for Lanfen to hear the indescribable vibrations their eldritch bodies constantly emitted. The same vibrations that many innocent civilians once heard before they were turned into bits of raw carbon.

Tightening her fingers around the golden grip of her Armed Gear, Lanfen inserted her detached converter unit into its manifested slot and thumbed the crystal into place, causing a curved, silver trigger to slide out of the weapon's handle.

The Sword of Damocles was reacting to her will and it awaited the final steps of the procedure with silent diligence. All communications with the outside world were cut-off as long as they were inside this space. Nobody was going to know about the S.W.O.R.D.'s utilization unless somebody here said something. But in the end, this was not a fight to satiate the proverbial fires within Lanfen's eyes. Nor was it a battle to quench her sword-hand's thirst for satisfaction. It was a mission to rescue people, and if it meant wielding the damnable blade which she had learned to dread for so long, then it was a price Lanfen was willing to give into wholeheartedly.

This payment was her own personal decision.

And it was her own will which allowed her to declare the command word that was sitting right on her tongue.

"Fall."

---

The very moment the infiltration team lost the element of surprise, Kagami commanded Komichi and the four Hida operatives accompanying her to begin cleansing the perimeter of every present hostile, all while avoiding any contact with the expanding Alca-Noise Barrier. Since Komichi wasn't one to slack behind on her duties, she felt little hesitation about drawing her firearm after months of keeping her hands clean of bloodshed. The infiltration team had arrived in the mansion's main lobby when the command to attack was given. It didn't take long after that for Kamashiro and his fellow ninjas to split up so they could initiate a hunt for the Illuminati Remnants with their blades fully-drawn.

As Komichi herself paced from one luxurious room of the manor to another, her green eyes stared down the iron-sights of her weapon, barely blinking even when her suppressed pistol took the life of whomever found themselves unlucky enough to be staring down the business end of a gun. The aesthetics and interior design of the Illuminati hideout were a visual spectacle to behold. But Komichi had her orders, so the glamorous paintings and rich furniture of the mansion were quickly stained with crimson ichor.

When Komichi instinctively sensed the departure of her magazine's remaining round, she threw herself into the nearest open door, taking refuge inside an empty room while Aiko's floating drone accompanied her from behind. The brunette then huddled against a wall and went through the motions of reloading her firearm faster than she could even breathe. From what Komichi was able to ascertain about the current situation, none of the mansion's identified alarm systems had been tripped, prompting her to wonder if the infiltration team were either very lucky, or that there was something going on with the Illuminati Remnants. An incoming transmission from Kagami interrupted Komichi's train-of-thought.

"SG-r04 has entered the Alca-Noise Barrier," the head of the operation began, frustrations barely hidden beneath a veil of formality, "the Illuminati vehicle is exiting the perimeter. AG-4-2, take immediate measures to prevent its escape."

In spite of all the scolding they were undoubtedly going to receive later on as a result of Lanfen's little stunt, Komichi gladly let out a stifled giggle upon being indirectly reassured of Yuki's safety. She expected nothing less from their valiant little junior. After casting a knowing smile at the lens of the camera drone which was soundlessly hovering right beside her, Komichi tapped into her comm bead again and hailed for the head of her ninja accomplices.

"AG-4-2," Kamashiro stoically answered, "the elimination of all identified hostiles is nearing completion. What is the course of action you recommend we undertake regarding the escaping craft?"

If everyone was solely relying on Komichi to call out their next shots, then the brunette made sure to do so swiftly. "Kamashiro, do me a favour and chase down the get-away vehicle along with your friends," she whispered, still crouching in the shadows of an unlit room completely devoid of even basic furniture. "We've already got this situation in the bag, so you can leave everything else here to me. Aiko, I want your eyes to accompany them, too," Komichi added with a glance at the nearby drone. "Kagami is most likely going to want a visual of the chase, after all."

Unsurprisingly, Aiko quickly chimed in over the comms to express her own worries. "Would that be an advisable move, Komichi? Surely it would be a better idea to have someone-"

"You can be assured of her capabilities, AG-4-3," Kamashiro told her before turning his attention back to Komichi again. "Orders confirmed, AG-4-2. I'll be conveying everything to the remainder of my warriors now. We'll be relying on you to secure the manor's archives. If the goddess of luck is with all of us, SG-r04's rescue attempt shall not be in vain."

After confirming the receival of Kamashiro's response, Komichi switched off her comm bead and swung open the nearest room window so Aiko's small drone could hover back into the forest. Though there was nothing else coming through their comms, the brunette was completely sure that Aiko still desired to offer an alternative to their current plan. The field operator was just that sort of person. Once the camera drone was completely out of sight, Komichi closed the windows back up before continuing to huddle right next to the room's still-open entrance. The corridor outside had remained completely silent for a full minute when Komichi's ears picked up the distant sound of an opening pair of doors. Another kind of noise soon followed.

Footsteps. From multiple individuals to boot. From what her guesswork was able to pinpoint, Komichi counted at least eight-to-twelve marching bodies.

Careful as to not make any significant noises herself, Komichi tightened her hands around her firearm and peered out of the open door frame. Her green eyes then peeked in the direction of the incoming footsteps, fixing a focused gaze on the formation of armed personnel which was marching through the bloodstained corridors in perfect sync. Illuminati Auto-Droids. If the Auto-Scorers that S.O.N.G. once faced were living dolls who barely flew over the uncanny valley, then the Auto-Droids were essentially armoured mannequins who hid nothing about their mechanical nature. They were expendable obstacles to be placed whenever enemies came knocking on the Illuminati's door. And only an idiot would underestimate a machine which possessed ballistic rifles for actual arms.

When the featureless face of an Auto-Droid slowly panned towards Komichi's location, she slid back into cover and calmed her nerves by popping a pocketed piece of candy into her mouth. The approaching formation stood between Komichi and the double-doors to the manor's archives just further down the corridor. The growing noise of their approaching footsteps prompted her to recheck the status of her firearm and its remaining magazines. Fortunately for Komichi, the sensation of her first active firefight still felt like it was just yesterday. The feeling of a trigger never became a stranger. Only placed aside till it was needed again. Once Komichi made sure that the combat knife within her coat had its sheath fully unlocked, she reached into a belt pouch and drew out several bead-shaped items between her gloved fingers.

The footsteps of a marching Auto-Droid eventually resounded just close enough for her liking.

Komichi knelt down on one knee and allowed the beads in her left hand to gently roll towards the direction of the mechanical formation.

The cherry candy in her mouth softly melted beneath the touch of her sweet-tooth.

"Bang."

A cacophony of electrical crackling erupted from beyond the door frame, signaling the activation of Komichi's trusty EMP grenades. She immediately broke from cover. While the Auto-Droid formation standing down the corridor writhed in soundless agony from exposure to their one crippling weakness, Komichi aimed down her suppressed firearm's sights and made love to its trigger. The first shot blew right through the head of a target. Her second shot simultaneously struck two Auto-Droids down. Her third shot sliced through a dangling chandelier's chain, causing two more targets to be crushed underneath its immense weight. When Komichi's fourth shot made its mark, the struck Auto-Droid's weapons went off, gunning down the rest of its companions in a single uncontrolled volley of armour-piercing rounds.

Within moments, a gentle silence subsequently seeped back into the corridors of the Illuminati manor. But Komichi's finger did not leave her firearm's trigger. She would only be a fool to let her guard down so soon.

Komichi spent half a second reloading her pistol before she began waltzing over her firearm's ejected casings and the hissing remains of what used to be an enemy formation. As flashes of sparks spilled from the twitching Auto-Droids beneath her, Komichi's nostrils could pick up the scent of leaking oil and whatever else the Illuminati infused within their bodies. When a legless Auto-Droid's torso to her right made a move far too life-like for her liking, Komichi did not hesitate to pin it underneath her boot, holding it still just long enough for her to shove the entire length of a combat knife's blade right through its forehead. She then cleaned her stained blade using her uniform's sleeve and headed for the archives with her knife already back in its sheath.

"Aiko, are our sensors picking up any more life-signs within my area?" Komichi said with one finger pressed against her comm bead.

"Nothing detected thus far," Aiko swiftly stated from her end of the line. "Although the Alca-Noise Barrier appears to be overwhelming several of our sensors, I am experiencing little issues tracking individual movements within Site-4. Kamashiro and his allies have also nearly caught up with the escaping vehicle, so you may rest assured that the situation is still in our favour."

Perfect, Komichi thought to herself, now approaching the shut double-doors of the manor's archives with her firearm held in both hands. The area beyond this entrance was the one remaining room which Kamashiro and his operatives had yet to clear, and even though there was a high chance that it was completely empty, Komichi could never rely on herself to be bulletproof. After prying a single hand off her pistol's grip, the brunette grabbed the unlocked handle of one door before gingerly pushing the entrance open for her own soundless entry into a room of complete darkness. Light from the corridor was now spilling into the archive. Komichi's steady heartbeat indicated the absence of any nearby threats.

A quick tap of her night-vision visor's switch instantly reactivated the sleek headwear, letting Komichi observe the towering bookshelves and additional floors of the mansion's archives with the clarity of artificial daylight. Standard procedures normally would have made her breach the area with either one of her readily-available tools, but it seemed that lapses in Komichi's judgement were starting to arise again all because Yuki was currently in danger. After reprimanding herself with a light slap on the forehead, Komichi resumed her investigation of the area, leading her to discover something which didn't regularly exist in an archive of all places.

Blood trails. Komichi could tell that it was fresh. Silently moving between the tall bookshelves with her hands tightly holding onto her firearm again, Komichi pursued the trail of fallen ichor, bringing herself towards the farthest ends of the manor's archives while her finger brushed itself against a pistol's trigger. She couldn't hear any breathing other than her own. And whoever these fallen droplets originated from could not have gone far judging by how severe the bleeding appeared. At some point in time, Komichi found herself rounding around the corner of the final bookshelf, leading the brunette to the last of the crimson tracks.

What Komichi discovered in the archive's dead-end couldn't have been more mundane than it actually was.

After flipping on her pistol's safety with a single finger-flick, Komichi holstered her firearm in one smooth motion before crouching down next to the lying corpse of an Illuminati Acolyte. Their hooded robes marked them out to be of a lower rank and did little to conceal the fact that the person beneath the uniform was barely at the age of a young adult. The multiple Hida-type kunais embedded within the boy's arm, legs and waist also pointed to an obvious death by exsanguination. Nonetheless, Komichi took more interest in the two items which laid within the acolyte's dying grasp. The first was a standard data-pass for the Illuminati's digital terminals. The other was a tome that appeared to possess a secure lock. Such a simple security measure wasn't going to be a problem for Komichi.

Remembering to utilize her tools this time, the brunette detached her wrist device from its arm-strap and carefully positioned it right beside the bloodstained tome. Through the input of a 9-digit command, the removed gadget then ran its delicate sensors all over the thick book, analyzing it through the use of a sweeping, crimson sensory scanner. As long as nothing physically tampered with the device during this sensitive process, its scanners would be able to digitally-replicate all of the tome's pages without requiring Komichi to unlock it at all.

The S.O.N.G. agent took the data-pass off the corpse's hands soon after and glanced around this section of the archive, eventually spotting a single terminal which was built into a nearby wall. "Aiko," Komichi whispered, tapping her comm bead, "I'm about to look into the manor's database. In the meantime, I'll be transmitting about a dozen images directly over to you, alright?" She heard Aiko diligently confirm her report and promptly got to work by approaching a terminal while her device on the floor did its job.

The press of an ornate button switched on the Illuminati terminal. Komichi was obviously greeted by the request for physical identification. Such a mundane procedure was fulfilled once she inserted the retrieved data-pass into a slot underneath the a rectangular-shaped monitor. After the pass had been accepted with a confirmatory ring, the entirety of the mansion's database opened up before her, prompting the S.O.N.G. agent to run her fingers through a holographic keyboard so that Komichi could skim through all of its contents under the timespan of a minute.

At some point during her search, Komichi discovered a specific document which seized her full attention.

The press of a holo-key expanded the file and displayed the image of a familiar woman with brown skin, black hair and a pair of purple eyes.

"Cassandra Jiang Lanfen," read the sentence on the page that came up on the monitor. "Status: Alive. Currently in possession of the SG-r04, Sword of Damocles."

As Komichi furrowed her brows, she wondered if the Bavarian Illuminati had been tracking Lanfen this entire time. It made complete sense for a secret society like them. 'How' was one thing. 'Why' was another. Narrowing her eyes at the title of the displayed file, Komichi tapped her foot on the floor and slowly read the document's name out loud in Japanese. Because unlike everything else she could see in the manor's database, this specific file was written completely in standardized English. "Project... Damocles... Adaptors?" While her removed wrist device emitted a distinct ring to announce the completion of its scanning process, Komichi glanced at the corner of the document, and noticed how it was just the first segment of a multi-page file.

Upon switching to the following pages, Komichi felt her breath escape her, as her green eyes soon witnessed a stream of familiar names which were all accompanied by an image of each listed individual.

Renge Morikawa. Status: Eliminated.

Qiao Cai. Status: Eliminated.

Dora Liu. Status: Eliminated.

Juanite Josephine. Status: Eliminated.

Rachel McKeen. Status: Eliminated.

Lily Summers. Status: Eliminated.

Gina Baker. Status: Eliminated.

Natalie Dela Cruz. Status: Eliminated.

Caoimhe O'Connor. Status: Eliminated.

Niamh Cosgrave. Status: Eliminated.

Natalie Clara. Status: Eliminated.

The names. The faces. Everything perfectly matched the murdered victims that Clan Hida had been investigating. But while Komichi undoubtedly felt a sense of relief upon confirming their suspicions surrounding the Illuminati's pattern of killings, a small part of her still felt that there was more to this situation than it actually appeared. The SG-r04 had been stolen from the Bavarian Illuminati before it even activated, so there were clearly still things which S.O.N.G. had yet to unveil. After taking in a deep breath to settle the deepening pit that was growing inside her stomach, Komichi noticed how there was still one remaining page left within the document, and hesitantly ordered the terminal to display it.

Komichi gave herself only a full second to stare at the screen with widening eyes.

"Komichi Ayano," read the sentence which soon came up on the monitor. "Status: Current target. Location: Identified."

Komichi immediately bolted for her wrist device on the floor and hooked it up with the terminal. The sharp input of a digital code duplicated the entirety of the manor's database into the device's storage systems. The process completed itself in the span of four extensive seconds. After yanking the device's extended wire out from the terminal's USB port, Komichi summoned a holographic prompt to transmit the copied files directly into S.O.N.G.'s archives, only to instead find herself staring directly into the projected hologram of a sudden notification.

"Communications Network - Lost."

---

When the escaping Illuminati vehicle crashed into a pair of trees as a result of being deprived of all four tires, Aiko witnessed its metal-crumpling impact through the lens and audio receptors of her camera drone. The escaping craft hadn't even managed to reach the forest edge before Kamashiro and his warriors steered it off-course using their thrown kunais. Soon, all four of the life-signs their sensors had detected within the vehicle began to fade away from the terminal's readings. If at least one of the escapees was still miraculously clinging onto life, the subsequent explosion which erupted from the vehicle's engine quickly reduced the chances to a near-zero. Aiko was simply relieved that none of its paranormal cargo had managed to break free.

"Command," Kamashiro began over their comms while the four shinobi operatives surrounded the burning wreckage, "we have neutralized the escaping Illuminati vehicle. All of the detected individuals have been accounted for and the cargo remains undamaged."

"Excellent work, everyone," Kagami responded. "You may regroup with AG-4-2 in the meantime. S.O.N.G. extraction crews are currently making their way to Site-4. Expect their arrival in 25 minutes."

Now that the joint operation was seemingly nearing its conclusion, the only concerns Aiko had left involved the Alca-Noise Barrier and the Adaptor who had charged inside the projected subspace pocket. None of their sensors could perceive just what was occurring inside it, but the field operator gladly placed her faith in Lanfen's ability to save Yuki and the others. This was - of course - the same Symphogear-Wielder who had performed a similar rescue feat for Aiko herself back when they first met. There was no sensible reason for her of all people to start fearing for the worst. It would only end up distracting Aiko from her tasks-at-hand, too.

A ringing notification from one of the numerous terminal screens in front of the field operator soon grabbed her notice. Through a brief input into the control panel, Aiko replaced the hovering camera drone's visual feed with a loading bar in regards to Komichi's data-transmission. Roughly three digits worth of scanned images had just been uploaded into S.O.N.G.'s digital archives and Aiko settled the finishing touches by organizing them into a folder for Professor Elfnein's convenience. The field operator brought up an audio transmission to confirm the received info soon after. "Komichi?" Aiko said into her headphones once the lines apparently connected. "Komichi, can you hear me?"

Bursts of audio static spilled forth from her headphone's speakers, causing Aiko to wince from the sudden assault on her ears before she reflexively pried off her equipment by its headband. She then hung her communications equipment on its designated rack, tilting her head to one side in confusion as deafening static continued to plague both of its speakers. Aiko was only able to silence this dreadful noise by simply shutting down the attempted transmission entirely.

Nothing in Komichi's introductory primer could have prepared her for what she had just experienced. There were zero alerts in relation to any possible equipment deterioration and the sensors detected only five life-signs within a hundred-kilometer radius. Komichi was one of them. The other four blips represented the remaining Hida operatives. While Aiko hesitantly donned her headphones again, she hovered one index finger over a control panel's key, intending to reattempt the transmission. However, before the field operator could actually do so, Aiko's ears picked up the sound of an urgent alert, prompting her to dismiss the transmission window and notice that her connection to the camera drone was now lost. The feed from the deployed drone would not reconnect no matter how many inputs Aiko keyed in.

It was also becoming difficult to ignore the hastening heartbeats within her tightened chest. "Kamashiro?" Aiko stammered after connecting an audio transmission between the Hida operative and herself. "T-This is AG-4-3, I would like to request a visual report of-"

Audio static. The very same ear-piercing noise she had heard just a moment ago. Aiko's direct transmission with the head of the operation was also drowned out with the exact same audio disruption.

Her palms were now beginning to sweat.

As Aiko attempted to recollect herself through a shake of the head, she gripped the control panel's edges with her sweating hands and listened on to the awful noise within their communication lines. It will surely go away in time, the field operator reasoned with herself. And yet, the audio static would not leave in the slightest. Instead, hints of another sort of sound entirely started to flow out of her headphones, slowly overpowering the auditory disruption within its speakers. Music. It was not a tune which originated from any identified Symphogear whatsoever. Nothing as complex as that, at all.

Simply put, it was a soft, chiming sound originating from nothing more than a mundane, antique music box.

And soon after, a stream of words began to accompany it in the form of perfect English. Words which were sung by a slow, sultry voice that made Aiko's skin instinctively shudder beneath her uniform.

"Twinkle, twinkle little star. How I wonder what you are..."

This unfamiliar voice was serene, motherly - and most prominent of all - coated in a proverbial blanket of sweet honey. While the unknown singer's gentle tunes continuously flowed out of the field operator's headphones completely unimpeded, Aiko could feel her heart relentlessly pounding itself against her ribcage the very moment those lyrics slithered into her ears. Her hands turned completely stiff over the terminal's holographic control panel. Aiko's breathing had transitioned into shaky gasps for air before she even realized it.

"Up above the world so high. Like a diamond in the sky..."

Aiko's sweating palms would not listen to her regardless of her wordless pleas to get them to move. Her mind could not even dictate her next proper action. It was as if every memorized procedure she had learned over the past few days were all starting to blend into a swirling, incoherent mass of words. Aiko could not understand why. The only thing she knew to be true was that every sense of danger she possessed within her subconsciousness were simultaneously beginning to flare the longer this song went on. Because - somehow - Aiko knew this tune to be an omen for only one absolute: Death.

"When the blazing sun is gone. When the nothing shines upon... Then you show your little light. Twinkle, twinkle all... the... night..."

The field operator squeezed her eyes shut.

And then, silence.

Complete, blissful silence.

The audio transmission had finally ceased, seemingly from the other end of the line.

Aiko held her quivering breath and slowly stared into her trembling palms with a pair of blurry eyes. The cold sweat which marked her pale-white skin had been dripping onto the floor for some time now.

Before the field operator could even attempt to input a command into the control panel, the piercing ring of a specific alarm made itself apparent. When the stiffness in the silver-haired woman's neck subsided enough for her to simply turn around, Aiko looked to a nearby screen, and laid her golden eyes on the displayed trackers of the deployed Hida operatives. Two of the six readings had disconnected when the Alca-Noise Barrier manifested. But now, the remaining four had taken a turn for the worse. The absence of four blips on the radar only proved what Aiko witnessed to be the truth. The heart-rate monitors of Kamashiro and his three operatives had become the distinct screeching of flat-lined readings.

Four operatives of Clan Hida. Gone before she even realized anything.

Aiko immediately slammed a command into the terminal to contact whoever she could bring up. Komichi, Kagami, the nearest Task Force Harmony outpost. Absolutely none of these provided a transmission that was free of radio static. While the field operator switched from one encrypted channel to another, her right hand grasped her headphones, ready to tear it off the moment her frustrations reached a crescendo. Komichi was alive but unreachable. Lanfen and Yuki were inside the Alca-Noise Barrier. And here Aiko was, sitting inside a concealed transport with no way to figure out just what was even happening beyond its armoured walls. At some point, her golden eyes drifted towards a strapped holster on her leg.

Inside it sat the stun-gun which her teammates had provided.

As Aiko's calculations struggled to finalize her next decisive action, the field operator hesitantly reached for the holstered weapon, and brushed her fingertips against its lock.

She subsequently drew in a sharp breath when a gentle knocking announced itself on the van's backdoors.

The radar in the corner of her eyes detected zero life-signs within a one-kilometer radius.

Everything became nothing more than a complete blur faster than Aiko could even grasp her weapon. A high-pitched ringing drowned out her hearing. Her entire body felt weightless and shards of flying metal could be felt grazing themselves against Aiko's skin. Fully-blinded by an incandescent light of piercing, glowing azure, Aiko could only watch as the entire world before her turned into a burst of searing fire, broken metal and crackling electronics. By the time her senses returned to her, the field operator found herself lying down on a forest floor of pure white, all while Team-04's vehicle laid down on its side with the rear-end entirely consumed in lingering, blue flames. Aiko's detached holster remained a few meters away from her, crushed beneath a chunk of battered metal.

Pain reverberated throughout Aiko's entire body. But she could still bring herself to move. Just barely.

As the high-pitched ringing in her ears slowly subsided, Aiko pulled herself into a sitting position and coughed into her palm twice. But when she heard the crunching of a snowy footfall resound from right behind her, Aiko pursed her quivering lips, and hesitantly looked over her shoulder with a widening pair of golden eyes.

There stood the individual responsible for what had just occurred. Aiko had not even noticed their presence up until now. Underneath the dim light of the shattered moon above, a slender woman remained completely still, their pale-white skin visibly marked with splashes of fresh ichor while she regarded Aiko with a sharp pair of golden eyes. The blue hair that touched her shoulders appeared neat and trim, even when azure flames burned all around them. Just like the diamond symbols and bloodstains which were prominent all over their azure suit, the intent to kill was completely clear from but a single glance into the stranger's eyes. When Aiko finally noticed that her wrist device now remained in the possession of her attacker's gloved hand, the bloodied woman smiled with a pair of curvy, blue lips.

Surrounded by pieces of bruised metal and lingering flames of violent azure, two pairs of golden eyes wordlessly met with one another.

Aiko desired to run, but she could not even feel her limbs. Every part of her practically froze beneath the predatory gaze of a single ghostly woman.

"What's the matter, my dear?" the woman cooed with delight. She soon gestured with a free hand which was drenched all the way to the elbow with thick, foul crimson. "Did you not enjoy my song? Are you not going to stand up and defend your honour?" she mused, lightly chuckling. "After all, a battlefield provides little room for any form of hesitation." Without looking, the ghostly woman reached a gloved hand into one pocket, and produced several items that she proceeded to casually toss right before Aiko's trembling boots. They were all bloodstained kunais of Clan Hida with their blades completely broken off.

Aiko could feel her heart pounding harder than ever against her aching chest. Her eyes tore their sights off the bloodied woman, seeking to search for the nearest direction past the surrounding flames, and towards immediate safety. Her only decisions clashed between either jumping for her holstered stun-gun and simply getting out of here. As Aiko's attacker continued to satiate herself on the sheer terror which was writ upon the field operator's expression, Aiko sprung for the first choice her racing mind could come up with.

The moment Aiko attempted to throw herself into a desperate escape, the distance between her and her attacker closed in the blink of a golden eye. The azure woman's knee subsequently crashed into Aiko's abdomen with the force of a sledgehammer. The silver-haired woman felt all the strength in her legs completely vanish. Once she was again back on her knees - heaving and whimpering with pain - Aiko raked the white forest floor with one hand and wondered if everything was about to end just like her memories first began. Helpless in a dark, winter forest. Unable to fight back the inevitable while death's shadow loomed over her paralyzed form. Aiko wanted to believe that the others were about to save her any moment now.

And yet, only her assailant stood before her, grinning with obvious delight as they pocketed Aiko's stolen wrist device.

Tonight marked the first time she ever experienced the taste of copper on her tongue.

"I shall not ask for forgiveness," the ghostly woman gently whispered while azure sparks flickered between her fingertips. "Tis simply unfortunate that our paths ended up crossing like this, my dear."

Through a loud snap of her bloodstained fingers, a swarm of bright wisps began to gather within the grasp of the blood-drenched woman's palm, casting a dull glow which caused all of Aiko's limbs to freeze out of sheer instinctual fear. Within moments, the phantasmal silhouette of a smoking, slender blade manifested itself in a gloved, open hand. Its conjuration was heralded by a deathly wail that sounded almost like it came directly from the gaping throat of a human being. When Aiko found the physical strength to even gaze up at her attacker, her assailant licked her blue lips, and smiled from ear-to-ear before lifting a translucent weapon in both hands for a definite killing strike.

"Repent beneath the depths of the Great River, dear sinner."

Absolute resentment coated her sweet tongue.

The light of a shattered moon reflected off Aiko's golden eyes.

A translucent blade of howling mist swung down on her. Aiko could only shield herself by desperately throwing up her arms right in front of her face.

And yet, even when Aiko found herself losing her grip around the last threads of hope, the inevitable would not come, as her senses soon perceived the deafening, glass-like crackling of paranormal energy. The beating of her racing heart did not halt. Her shaky breathing continued on. When Aiko's eyes managed to open themselves again, the field operator looked past her raised arms, and begun staring in confusion at the translucent, dome-shaped field which completely surrounded her kneeling form. This glistening, strange barrier flickered beneath the halted strike of a phantasmal blade, all while clear disbelief registered across the golden eyes of Aiko's attacker.

She then felt a sensation. A pulse that came directly from the surface of Aiko's pounding heart. The mysterious implant which was directly fused into her beating flesh.

It was familiar. And yet, the mere feeling of its faint stirring brewed only fear within the depths of Aiko's chest.

A bloodstained assailant quickly withdrew herself from Aiko, creating several meters of snow between them once again through a simple backwards leap. After causing the phantasmal blade in her hand and lingering flames around them to immediately disappear with a flick of their wrist, Aiko's attacker narrowed her golden eyes, and regarded the still, silver-haired woman with a gaze of utter bewilderment. The projected shielding around Aiko then intensified into a dome of pure energy, completely protecting her even as it rooted Aiko to where she was.

"... Is this what's become of you, Proto-Zero?" the ghostly woman soon whispered with an evident tone of disdain.

Proto-Zero. Aiko could only obliviously stare at her attacker in response to their bizarre words. Her memories contained absolutely nothing related to such a name and her assailant seemingly understood that well enough without a spoken word from Aiko. Soon, the disbelief on the bloodied woman's expression transitioned back into glee, all because the stolen wrist device in her possession was suddenly starting to ring from an incoming transmission. Aiko immediately held her breath. Once the azure woman had pulled Aiko's wrist device out from their pocket, she lifted it right next to their tilted head, and answered the transmission through the slow press of a holographic prompt.

"Aiko? Aiko!" a familiar voice exclaimed from the other end of the line. "This is Komichi! I'm currently making my way back to your position! We need to contact command and tell them-!"

The audio transmission was cut short when Aiko's wrist device was crushed into pieces within the tightening grasp of a gloved, bloodstained hand. While its smoking remains sprinkled across the snowy forest floor, the azure woman shot a small smile at Aiko before she slowly spun on her heel, and strode towards the direction of the nearby manor estate. Aiko attempted to rise from the ground, but the translucent dome which surrounded her would not dissipate. Not even when Aiko started pounding her bare hands against the barrier. A sense of physical exhaustion was also beginning to wash over her body the longer the protective field remained up. She could feel her consciousness slipping away and the sight of her withdrawing attacker was growing distant with each passing second.

Aiko desired to warn Komichi. To heed her of what was coming and to tell her to run away.

In the end, Aiko did not even possess the energy to scream for someone to protect her friend.

Somebody. Anybody.

---

"And even if the power of the Symphogear may seem like a curse... a 'curse' is only a few switches away from being 'cures', right?"

Underneath the projected illusion of a starry ocean sky, Lanfen's nervous system gave in to the crimson waves of her awakened Armed Gear, bestowing her with the gift of perfect precognition while she eviscerated the Alca-Noise without relying on a single lyrical verse. Lanfen's dilated pupils witnessed every predicted movement before the Alca-Noise could even retaliate. The 'lock' which chained itself around the crowned warrior's sharpened mind transformed her mental landscape into an opening of tranquility. As a cylindrical blade of humming crimson projected itself from the Sword of Damocles, Lanfen flourished from one foe to another, conjuring clouds of fresh alkahest with each swing of her wailing weapon.

The built-in speakers of her Symphogear remained devoid of its electro-swing tune. Yuki, Kageyama and Yaguruma were all standing from a distance that kept them far away from the Alca-Noise horde, as well as the Symphogear-Wielder who was tearing through their numbers. The only sound which could actually be heard echoing through the subspace pocket was the banshee-like wail of a hungering Armed Gear.

When the surrounding horde finally dwindled down into a few lingering targets, a siren in Lanfen's headphones alerted her to the awaited presence of a particular Alca-Noise in the corner of her precognitive vision. It was the one responsible for this subspace pocket, and the eldritch beast could only be described as a floating, headless torso with swathes of feathery wings that were growing from where its arms should be. The crowned warrior made sure to extinguish the Alca-Noise behind her with a casual swing of her sword before blitzing towards the remaining Noise flying high above her.

Hundreds of incandescent spears were summoned to the Labyrinthian-type Alca-Noise's sides. An inhuman screech from its 'mouth' ordered the projected weapons to begin bombarding the incoming Symphogear-Wielder. Lanfen simply bolted through the hail of earth-shattering projectiles through a combination of perfect precognition and superhuman reflexes. Brandishing an energy blade within her aching sword-hand, Lanfen split open one of her gauntlets, and launched a single, wired harpoon right at the floating Alca-Noise. The metallic spear punctured right through a pair of veiny wings, completely sealing her target's demise.

A tightening of the crowned warrior's fist reeled in the extending wire. None of the Alca-Noise's flapping wings could fight back against a strength which was capable of demolishing an entire building. Whatever panicked screeching the monster attempted to release was only drowned out by the wailing of the blade within Lanfen's grasp.

"Checkmate."

Accompanied by the loud hiss of evaporating matter, the Sword of Damocles devoured the Alca-Noise, slicing its headless torso right down the middle with but one loathsome swing of violent plasma.

The subspace pocket began to dissipate the moment Lanfen felt a cloud of alkahest wash all over her brown skin. Eventually, the illusionary landscape around them disappeared, revealing the mundane interior design of a mansion's circular ballroom. Dead bodies of Illuminati acolytes were sprawled all over the area, their corpses visibly riddled with Hida-type weaponry while Yuki, Kageyama and Yaguruma visibly took the moment to catch their breath.

Through the soft squeeze of a trigger on the Sword of Damocles' golden handle, the cylindrical blade that projected from its cross-guard sputtered loudly before dying out completely, extinguishing the red glow it had been casting onto Lanfen's monochrome armour. As the crowned warrior's wired harpoon slammed itself back into her closing gauntlet, Lanfen felt a jolt of pain coursing right into the hemispheres of her collared brain, prompting the sharp click of her tongue. It was pain which immediately summoned a procedural announcement from her Symphogear's internal systems.

"Abnormal brainwave pattern detected. Initiating S.W.O.R.D. deactivation."

A hundred performance limiters were simultaneously locked together within the paranormal internals of a black-and-white Symphogear. The crimson energies that were thrumming through it were drained of their intensity with each rearrangement of its countless circuitry. Fear. Hatred. Despair. Grief. Each of the crowned warrior's emotions were released upon the complete shutdown of the S.W.O.R.D.'s emotional dampeners. Once a cloud of hot steam had dispensed itself through her armour's many exhaust vents, Lanfen dropped onto one knee and drew the cold air into her lungs. Her grip around her Armed Gear's handle remained tight up until the bladeless handle was stowed back inside her hip armour.

"'Fen." Yuki's concerned voice could be heard coming from behind Lanfen. "Are you... alright?"

Stifling an exhausted grunt, Lanfen rose back onto her armoured legs again before turning around to see the approaching Hida operatives with Yuki in-between them. "I've been through worse," she managed to answer with a curt nod and the faintest of grins. "Is anybody injured?"

"Not one bit," Yuki responded, rolling one shoulder with a light smirk, "and we've got you to thank for that."

Steady nods of agreement came from both Kageyama and Yaguruma. Beneath the concealment of their hooded garbs and half-masks, the two Hida operatives proceeded to bow in unison in front of the monochrome Adaptor, all while Yuki crossed her arms, gesturing for a bewildered Lanfen to do the same. Unsure as to why she even deserved such extensive thanks, Lanfen awkwardly began the motions of returning the gesture in kind, only for her hands to suddenly seize up beneath the moonlight which was peeking through the ballroom's tall windows.

Gunfire rang out in the distance. It was the echo of a single, unsuppressed shot.

Neither Yuki nor the two Hida operatives apparently recognized its distant roar while Lanfen felt her sword-hand twitching at her side. The crowned warrior quickly held its fingers up to her headphones and attempted to request for a status report of the situation. But tapping onto her headgear only summoned the subsequent absence of any response from every available channel. Hand signals from Yuki, Kageyama and Yaguruma afterwards indicated that the same thing was going on with their provided comm beads. Almost immediately, the Adaptor drew her Armed Gear from her hip and extended its thick blade from a cross-guard of ringing gold.

"I'll go and investigate the source," Lanfen declared, glancing at the ballroom's lone entrance before looking back at a concerned Yuki. "Can all of you regroup with Aiko and find out what's going on?"

Once her teammate hesitantly answered with a wordless nod, Lanfen bolted out of the large room, an Armed Gear held in one hand as the crowned warrior swung upon a pair of doors for a hasty exit. The guidance system within her headphones clued her in on a rough direction towards Lanfen's intended destination. If it wasn't for her Symphogear, all of the Illuminati mansion's corridors and halls would appear identical to her narrowed eyes. Every open room Lanfen blitzed by contained only the unmoving corpses of Illuminati members and scraps of defeated Auto-Droids, but none of this - nor the silence which permeated the cold air - reassured her of the current situation even one bit.

Upon reaching her guidance system's estimated location, Lanfen found herself swinging open the main entrance of the Illuminati mansion.

White snow descended from the night skies while a shattered moon hovered between the clouds, casting its soft glow onto an extravagant courtyard that was lined with tall lamp posts of glistening yellow. A wondrous circular fountain was stationed in the middle, casting a wide shadow across the snowy grounds even when it sat completely dry of any water whatsoever. As Lanfen brandished an Armed Gear within her itching sword-hand, she slowly gazed down the wide staircase which connected the courtyard to the mansion's double-doors, and immediately felt her blood freezing up within her veins.

Komichi was lying down at the very base of the staircase's descending steps. Her flowing hair was messily strewn all over the ground and the pure snow beneath her body was dyed in the colour of dull crimson. Smoked billowed from the end of the suppressor that was attached to the pistol within her loosened grasp. Beneath the gentle, yellow glow of the courtyard's lamp posts, Komichi's wrist device could be seen scattered all over the snow-covered steps in the form of broken shards.

"Komichi!"

Lanfen descended the entire length of the staircase within a single bound. Upon making contact with the snowy earth, the Adaptor skidded to a halt, and tossed aside her Armed Gear before gently pulling Komichi onto her back using a pair of trembling gauntlets. Nothing that slipped between Lanfen's lips could pass for a coherent sentence. The sight of the growing bloodstain on Komichi's chest made any form of consistent thought impossible. And yet, when Komichi managed to acknowledge the kneeling Wielder with a slow turn of her head, and a pair of glimmering, green eyes, Komichi laughed. She weakly laughed, even when blood began to trail down the corner of her mouth. Even when barely-restrained fear was written all over her face.

It was the first time Lanfen witnessed genuine dread within Komichi's eyes.

An alert subsequently arose within Lanfen's headphones. Its sudden arrival practically snapped her back to her senses, allowing the Adaptor to answer an incoming transmission with one shuddering hand. "-Symphogear Team-04, please respond," a voice requested over the line. "This is Extraction Team A-31, we are set to arrive at your location. ETA is 5 minutes. Do you read me?"

Lanfen choked on the first few words which attempted to slip out of her throat. Grasping her headgear tightly within one hand, Lanfen was only able to respond after she locked her widened eyes with Komichi's own weakening gaze. "This is SG-r04, requesting immediate medical assistance at my current location!" The pool of crimson underneath Komichi's body was growing. "I repeat: This is SG-r04, requesting immediate medical assistance at my current location!" Ignoring the procedural responses of the incoming extraction crew, Lanfen swung her attention over to Komichi again, and did whatever she could by applying immediate pressure onto the gushing bullet wound.

Beneath the fingertips of the Adaptor's blood-soaked hands, Lanfen could feel each faint pulse of Komichi's beating heart.

"E-Everything will be alright, Komichi. Help is on the w-way..."

Despite the forced, desperate reassurance within her own uttered words, Lanfen could not ignore the severity of Komichi's wound. Neither could she deny just how much blood had already been spilled onto the white earth. But even so, the Adaptor utilized whatever she knew to stabilize the situation, all while Komichi laid across the ichor-dyed snow, gazing at the kneeling woman with tears streaming down her eyes. Any words Komichi attempted to utter were all cut off by her own pained winces. With each shuddering breath she released, the gaze she held on Lanfen began to wane, slowly weakening alongside the glimmer within her eyes. And so, Komichi evidently did the one thing she could, and slowly lifted a swaying arm from her side, eventually brushing its shaky fingertips against Lanfen's scarred cheek.

The fingernails on Komichi's hands. They were all painted in the black-and-white colours of a monochrome Symphogear.

Lanfen felt something trailing down her cheek, but she refused to tear her sights away from Komichi's tearstained face.

She refused to give up. Lanfen refused to just let this happen.

Not on her watch. Not when rescue was so close.

And it was clear from Komichi's softening expression that she appreciated the Wielder's unspoken optimism.

After Komichi visibly stifled another pained wince, her lips moved ever so slightly. Even when wracked with surges of clear agony, she pressed her fingertips against Lanfen's cheek, and began mouthing a single word. A word which Lanfen immediately understood and expected from Komichi of all people.

"Smile."

Pure snow accumulated on the Sword of Damocles as it lied across a bed of white. The familiar sound of an approaching helicopter could be heard rising within the distance, reassuring Lanfen that help was truly on its way. With her blood-drenched hands still pressing down on Komichi's wound, Lanfen bit down on her lips, and slowly nodded at what she assumed to be a simple request from Komichi. 'Smile'. Such a direct and simple word could always be associated with her, even when Komichi's fingertips slowly began to lose their grip on Lanfen's scarred cheek. Even when the beating of a heart slowed down with each passing second.

Shifting her own tearstained gaze towards Komichi's soft expression once again, Lanfen felt a familiar sense of unease subsequently falling upon her shoulders.

A pair of green eyes had their pupils directed at the Wielder. And yet, Lanfen no longer felt anything staring back at her.

"Komichi...?"

A single gaze into those fading eyes discovered nothing within them. Not anymore. Whatever heartbeats Lanfen initially felt had also disappeared entirely beneath her blood-soaked fingers. The hand which had grasped onto Lanfen's scarred cheek fell back onto the snow before she even realized it. Even so, the Wielder refused to lighten her grasp on Komichi's wound. Even so, Lanfen continued to kneel down on the crimson-dyed snow. An audio transmission from Yuki eventually arose within her headphones, but Lanfen could not bring herself to answer it. Instead, the only act she could undertake was to continue looking into Komichi's green eyes, still clinging onto the hope that the spark within them would eventually somehow return.