Sinon

They can't hear voices from the tournament, not unless the unseen devices acting as cameras get closer to the players, but Sinon doesn't need to hear Pitohui's voice to know she's excited about her plan working. Her blue-beamed Muramasa F9 lightsword cuts through the thick wires holding the rescue boats like a superheated knife through butter as she runs along the starboard side of the ship. MMTM's former leader races along the port side, using a red blade to cut the metal frame that holds the wires in the first place.

Her teal-blue irises wander to the screen where Crimson Squad watches in shock. Sinon believes they knew Pitohui would be a problem, but they didn't expect her to act so soon. Jaymes is barking orders to each person, being very animated with his hands, then points at M. The big man takes aim at the ship with the M14 EBR and fires five times. Llenn and Fukaziroh burst out the grass first, followed by Kureha, Jaymes, and M.

SHINC reacts first to M's shots, then one of them does the same to signal the other teams. MMTM, ZEMAL, and DEVA respond by going on the move to the cruise ship. This advance doesn't go unnoticed by the lady at the ship's mast, the betrayer of DEXA. Binoculars in hand, and three hundred feet above the deck, she has a 360 degree view of the boat's surrounding.

"The finale is coming," she whispers to herself, interlocking her fingers. "Pull through, Joshua." She bows her head, praying for the impossible that her words reach him. She can't communicate with him from outside the tournament, and of course he's somewhere not in Tokyo. That's the extent of his location while he's away working on Project ALICE with Rath.

In the middle of her silent prayer, a beep enters her ears - the notification that she recieved a message. Reading the notification, she finds out it is a email from the real world, not a in-game message. For some reason, Kotone has sent Sinon a LINE email. Isn't she watching the tournament right now? She can look at the message later.

Then another one comes from Kotone. Then Nijika sends one. Those two are always together, but why are they messaging her simultaneously? If they're looking for Strea, she's not in GGO that Sinon knows of.

Well, can't hurt to take a peek at Kotone's emails. "...What?"

xxxxxxxxx

Jaymes

Once he and I are about 750 yards from the ship, M takes a moment to go prone and shoots at the ship. He must've seen one of the betrayers and tried taking them out. I can't tell if he hit or not, but I look back to see M getting up and running after me.

Three hundred yards ahead, Llenn takes the lead, drawing the attention as usual. She was running in a zig-zag pattern as instructed towards the prow of the ship. With the other entryways blocked off, this must be the one she sees open.

"We can do it!" the Pink Devil calls out with rare confidence. "I'm gonna rush straight for it!"

"Stop! Pito's aiming at you!" M warns immediately. I can't see Llenn's reaction, but I do see a storm of bullet lines come from the ship to the grassy field close to Llenn's position. I can see the poor girl spinning in place three times.

"Ooh, that was cute," Fuka chuckles.

"Pito's done shooting, but someone else is picking up the slack!" Kureha's assessment plays out right before my eyes as we all come to a halt. Llenn's targeted by a new person, which means either M missed his shot or someone else is with Pitohui. All Jaymes could tell is that the shooter is near the ship's prow.

"Shit! I can't get any closer! Fuka? Can you get a shot onto the ship?"

Fifty yards behind Llenn, Fuka says, "Hmm, it's still a bit far. They'll drop right in front of it. And the thing is, wasted ammo doesn't really suit me."

"Can you come up a bit farther, then? I really think you're the kind of lady who shines at the front stage, Fuka!"

"I appreciate the attempt to flatter me, but that's not happening. I'm not as fast as you, Llenn, so I could get shot before I get that chance to shine."

"Ugh... Hey, Jaymes, could you help me out?"

Hyper Awareness would solve Llenn's issue, but that's easier said than done. For one, Llenn's already under fire; as soon as I come in contact with a bullet, my body will warp from one spot to another at a max of ten feet from my original position. I can control the general direction, but in a space as open as a field, I cannot judge how far I'll travel or where specifically he'll reappear. I can't even say I'll be able to reach Llenn who is two hundred and fifty yards away without drawing fire to myself. "Sorry, but you know how unreliable it is under heavy fire...and I bet Pito is baiting me to do so. The other option is using my sword to deflect the bullets', but it seems he's spraying and praying, not intentionally aiming at you. So that's a wasted effort."

"Makes sense... M, can you snipe that guy from where you are?"

"I already did."

"Oh? And?"

"He's covered in armor. I hit him, but the bullets just bounce off."

"Oh, it's them! Or one of them, I guess!"

"That armored team Jaymes and I took out? Guess you girls got a score to settle. But if M isn't getting past that armor, none of us are."

"You did last time, Kureha. Actually, how did you shoot through their armor?"

"I had AP rounds, though they were for getting through M's shield. I didn't make any this time."

So it is T-S's traitor shooting at Llenn, huh? Those armored guys fell to Kureha and I last time. Of course, nothing can stop the photon sword's beam, but they must've upgraded their armor from last time. Yes, Kureha had armor-piercing round previously, but I would expect a sniper's bullet to penetrate the thickness of the armor. "Hmm... M, try again. If he backs off, order the girls to move forward."

M gets down again and fires twice at the prow of the ship. From five hundred and fifty yards away and tracing the bullet lines to the source, I can see a figure, but not any details of the armored soldier. I notice he did not back away, whether M's shots landed or not, and continues firing at Llenn.

"Guess not."

xxxxxxxxx

Around the ship, Team Betrayers hailed fire down on the encroaching teams, but Anni remained on the ship's mast. She only had one job, that being to rely the positions of the other teams to her new teammates. Not that she felt a sense of loyalty to them, she simply found the ensuing carnage entertaining.

For one, Pitohui has positioned Eva, David, and Tomtom to combat against their former teammates. It's a cold, cruel tactic, but for her, it's impressive. It's something an old colleague of hers would initiate many times. If Pitohui didn't need her to man the mast, Anni's sure she'd be shooting down her former teammates right now.

"MMTM has stopped to the rear left. The water is seven hundred yards away from us."

"Good job, Anni!" Pitohui calls through the comms encouragingly.

"Mhm." No need to get chummy with Pitohui. She's unknowingly being led around in conditions that suit her fancy. Team Betrayers are pawns in Anni's hands, but not because she plans to shoot them in the back and give her team the victory? No, no. Those three are on their own, but if they get eliminated, it's no skin off her back. They've played their role well enough.

She turns her binoculars to the distant north beyond the ship's aft, just in time to see three bullet-wounded bodies light up bright red over 500 yards away. Looks like the rest of DEVA got decimated by Tomtom's team, ZEMAL. To anyone else, this would be enraging, but Anni's face slips a sharp grin. "Looks like your boys got mine, Tomtom. I oughta kill you for it."

"W-wait! Aren't we against our former teams now?"

"Hehe, I know."

"Ah, your old pals got done in," Pitohui says with no empathy in her voice. "Pour one out if you must, but don't just stare at the read, or you'll die. Watch the entire perimeter for bullet lines."

"Hmph. No worries about that." With a quick glance to the port side of the ship, she barely notices a bullet line heading to her midriff. She doesn't see the 14.9 mm bullet soar through the air, but she didn't need to. Her reflexes act on instinct; the brilliant yellow beam of her Masamune G7 lightsword interrupts the path of the bullet. it burst upon contact with the sword. The strong force of the burst throws her off balance and off the top of the mast.

Not wanting to die from a three-hundred foot plummet, Anni drives her sword into the lengthy stalk that rises up to the mast. While her descent isn't stopped, it decelerates her enough to slide down and make a jumping roll to the raised deck below the mast. Relieved to be safe despite losing about ten percent of her full health, Anni gathers herself and presses her finger on the earpiece. "No more eyes in the mast, not with that anti-tank rifle in play."

"Heh. Fair enough... Awww! I guess that's the end of our defensive line." Is it? Anni takes a quick glance at the team's status, seeing that Tomtom's name and HP bar has vanished. Ignoring the chatter in her ear, she leaps down to the main level of the central deck and walks up to the starboard edge. Reaching for her assault rifle, she switches it to single-burst mode and looks through the scope towards the prow of the ship, where over a thousand yards away, Team LPFM has just been freed from Ervin's onslaught.

The little pink speedster the green bombardier, the pink-haired girl, the sniper in camo with the water at his ankles, and between the latter two is her target, pointing towards the ships prow as if commanding them to run for it.

"...Hyper Focus."

Kablam!