Part 4:
Through Many Tears, The Reality of Your Fate is Shown.
Chapter 6:
The Missing Piece.
Serena and Kana's POVs:
S.O.N.G. Helicopter
After the alert went off for the Alca-Noise, Tsubasa and Serena arrived at Hibiki, Chris, and Kana's location to bring them to the battlefield. Once they were picked up, the five wielders were quickly escorted to the battlefield, but along the way, however, Kana noticed her sister was acting strange. "Serena? Is everything alright?" Kana asks.
Serena snaps out of her train of thought as she hears this question. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine..." She says.
"...You're worried about Maria and Elfnein-chan, aren't you?" Kana asks.
Serena stays silent for a moment... But she eventually nods her head. "I know I should just have faith that everything will turn out okay and Elfnein-chan will be able to finish the LiNKER without fail, but just sitting there and not being able to do anything for either of them... How could I not feel completely powerless?"
Kana lets out a sigh. "I know how you feel, Serena. That feeling of watching someone you care about risking their life for their beliefs and you're forced to just watch and hope for the best... It hurts like hell." She says. "But you know what? Even if it seems like you can't do anything to help in that moment, there will always be a way for you to do so."
"What do you mean?" Serena asks.
"Well... As corny as it sounds... Having faith that everything will work out just fine for the ones you're most worried for is a far greater power than any weapon could hope to provide." Kana says. "So by keeping your faith in what they are doing, you are giving them the strength to carry on."
"Those are some wise words, Kamui." Tsubasa said.
"Thanks! My brother told me those words when I was younger." Kana says, reminiscing on the day she said it to her.
Flashback:
Castle Gyges
"Papa? Mama?" A much younger Kana shouted as she roamed about the halls of Castle Gyges. "Where are you Papa? Mama?"
"Kana?" A teenager with neck-length light blue hair asked as he walked around the corner, hearing the girl's shouts.
"Big brother Shigure!" Kana cheered as she ran over and gave the boy a hug. "Do you know where Papa and Mama are, Shigure?"
"I do, but I'm afraid they're busy at the moment, Kana." Shigure said.
"...Are they doing more of that adult stuff again?" Kana asked.
"I'm afraid so..." Shigure answered. "Thus is the life of ruling a country."
Kana started to tear up. "But they've been doing adult stuff all week. I've barely had any time to play with them."
Shigure, knowing that Kana was on the verge of crying, quickly came up with an idea. "Say, how about you and I play together, then?" He asked. "It's been a while since we've been able to play together, right?"
Kana looked at her brother with tears still forming in her eyes. "Y-Yeah... But, don't you have to do that adult stuff, too?"
Shigure shrugged. "I'm sure that stuff can wait until Mother and Father are done to be taken care of." He said. "Besides, I don't think I would be able to focus on that adult stuff if I knew that you were sad while I was doing it."
Kana's tears of sadness turned into tears of joy as she gave her brother another hug. "Thanks, big brother!"
"You're welcome, Kana." Shigure said, kneeling down so Kana could take a ride on his back to her room. However, on their way, the duo heard a crashing sound nearby. Curious, they turned the corner and saw a woman with pink hair in a maid's dress on the floor. "Are you alright, Felicia?"
"Oh! Lord Shigure!" Felicia gasped. "I was just on my way to find Lady Kana to see if she was okay and she wasn't in her room. I've tried looking all over the castle for her, but I can't find her anywhere!"
"I'm okay, Felicia!" Kana said, peeking out from behind Shigure's back. "Sorry if I made you worry..."
Felicia let out a sigh seeing Kana. "It's alright, Lady Kana. I'm just happy you're safe." Felicia said. "Well, now that I know you're okay, I'll go back to the kitchen to help Jakob prepare Lord Corrin and Lady Azura's tea." Felicia bows respectfully before heading back to the kitchen.
Once she leaves, Shigure let out a chuckle. "You sure do have a knack for making people worry about you, huh?"
"I didn't mean to make Mrs. Felicia worry!" Kana shouted.
"I'm only joking, Kana." Shigure said with a laugh. "Still, you shouldn't run off like that without letting someone know where you're going."
"I know..." Kana pouted.
"But I digress. Let's go play, shall we?" Shigure asked, which made the young princess very happy.
Making it back to Kana's room, the two siblings spent the next hour or two playing Kana's games that she and her parents would play together. Shigure may not have known entirely what he was doing for some of the games, but he still played them because it made Kana happy, and that's all he really cared about seeing at the end of the day.
After a while, Kana became exhausted from all of the playing and started getting sleepy. Seeing this, Shigure carried his sister to her bed and tucked her in, staying in the room until he was certain she fell asleep. However, while she was still awake, Kana asked her brother something. "Shigure? Are Mama and Papa okay?"
Shigure looked at his sister with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"It's just... I know the war between Uncle Ryoma and Uncle Xander's kingdoms ended just before I was born, but they're still fighting battles to keep us safe." Kana said. "I guess... I guess I'm just scared that they'll get hurt out there and I won't be able to help them no matter how strong I get. I feel like I'm letting them down by being weak..."
"Hey, you're not weak, Kana." Shigure said. "As a matter of fact, you're probably the strongest child I've ever seen."
"You're just saying that to make me feel better..." Kana sighed.
"I'm serious, Kana." Shigure replied. "I was twice your age before I could even properly swing a sword, yet here you are, at the age of seven, and you're making it look so simple."
"But what if that's not enough to help Papa and Mama?" Kana asked. "What if, even if I was the best at fighting with a sword, it wasn't enough to protect either of them?"
"Then you protect them with your strongest weapon, Kana: Your faith in them." Shigure answered.
Now it was Kana's turn to be confused. "My faith in them?"
Shigure nodded. "Having faith that everything will work out fine for the ones you're most worried for is a far greater power than any weapon could hope to provide you."
"Even Papa's sword?" Kana asked.
"Especially Papa's sword." Shigure answered. "By keeping your faith in them, Kana, you're making them so much stronger than they ever were before. And the same can be said the other way around with them making you stronger with their faith in you."
Hearing this, Kana looked down at her hands. "A weapon far greater than any weapon could hope to provide..." Kana mumbled to herself, before nodding and smiling. "If having faith in them is all I need to be strong for them, then I'll have enough faith to make Mama, Papa, and everyone I care about the strongest they can be!"
Shigure chuckled. "I know you will."
Two years later
After finishing up packing, Kana ran to the front of the castle to meet up with Lilith and Enki. However, she stopped in the hallway when she saw her older brother. "Shigure!"
"Mother told me that you and Lilith were heading to a new world." Shigure said, before letting out a slight chuckle. "You never cease to amaze me, you know that?"
Kana chuckled nervously in response. "I know I'm probably getting myself in over my head by doing this... But all the same I can't allow myself to be too scared to try and help others, even if they're a world apart from my home."
"Regardless of how nervous you may or may not be, I'm happy for you, Kana." Shigure said. "And you don't need to worry about Mother, Father, or myself. The three of us will be cheering you on through thick and thin from here."
Kana smiled at her elder brother's words of encouragement. "And I'll be doing the same for you all, wherever I am!"
"I know you will." Shigure replied. "Well, I probably shouldn't hold you any longer than I already have. Besides, we'll have plenty of time to catch up when you come back. I'm sure you'll have a lot to talk about when we meet again."
"And I'm sure you, Papa, and Mama will have lots to share too!" Kana said before giving her brother one last hug goodbye. "I love you, big brother."
Shigure chuckled. "And I love you, little sister."
Letting out a sigh, Kana turns to see both Hibiki and Chris giving her a shocked look. "What's with the looks?"
"You have a brother?!" Hibiki and Chris shouted in shock.
"...Yeah?" Kana says, confused by the question. "Didn't I ever mention him to you guys before?"
"Why the hell else do you think we're both surprised by that little tidbit about your family?" Chris asks in return. "Hell, considering how close you and the idiot are, I'm surprised she didn't know that."
Kana started to blush in embarrassment upon hearing that. "I guess I just assumed that Lilith told you everything when she mentioned that we were from another dimension..." Kana chuckles nervously.
"Oh, now I have to know what this brother of yours is like, Kana!" Hibiki said. "Is he nice? Is he older or younger than you? Can he become a cool dragon thingy like you, too-"
Chris smacked Hibiki on the head, knowing that Hibiki was bound to ask more questions sooner than Kana would be able to answer them. "At least let her speak before you drown her in questions, you idiot."
"Right... Sorry, Kana..." Hibiki chuckled nervously.
"You're fine, Hibiki." Kana says. "But to answer your questions: My older brother, Shigure, is one of the most kind-hearted people you could ever meet. He was actually born before the war in my world ended, so thanks to a place my parents called 'the deeprealms' he's older than me by nearly a decade, despite being born 3 years before me."
"Wait, how could he be nearly a decade older than you if he was born 3 years prior to you?" Tsubasa asks. "Did something happen to him in these 'deeprealms'?"
"I'm not entirely sure what happened there, to be honest, but I think Papa and Mama said that time is a lot faster in those places. Since I was fortunate enough to be born after the war ended, I didn't need to grow up in a place like that." Kana answers. "But in all honesty, I don't really care if the age difference between us is bigger than it should be, I still love my brother all the same."
"I can't wait to meet your family some day, Kana." Hibiki says.
"And I can't wait for you to meet them, either." Kana replies. "And I especially can't wait for them to meet you, Chris."
"Yeah, yeah." Chris says, slightly blushing from the way Kana said it. "But before we schedule your family reunion, how about we make sure we don't have to schedule any of our funerals first, yeah?"
Everyone gives Chris a deadpan glare. "Now, why did you have to say that..." Kana sighs.
Kirika and Shirabe's/Maria and Elfnein's POVs:
S.O.N.G. HQ/Maria's mind
As the Wielders head off to face the Alca-Noise, Kirika and Shirabe arrive at HQ and head straight for where Maria, Elfnein, and Aoi were. "We'll watch over Maria and Elfnein-chan dess!" Kirika exclaims.
"You should go to the command center." Shirabe adds. "The commander is calling."
Aoi nodded. "Thanks you two. Please, take care of them-" Just before she could leave, Nastassja arrived at the room. "Dr. Nastassja!"
"I take it they already told you about the commander calling for you?" Nastassja asked.
"Yes." Aoi answered. "I was honestly going to ask if you could come back and supervise Maria-san and Elfnein-chan."
Nastassja chuckled. "Funny how it all ended up working out then, I suppose."
"Either way, thank you." Aoi said as she left.
Once Aoi was gone, Kirika and Shirabe smiled at Nastassja, who did the same in return, knowing they were all equally concerned for Maria's life. Speaking of, their moment was interrupted by the sound of Maria's pained groans. "Dr. Ver..." She said. "You were supposed to be dead..."
Hearing that name again made the three former members of F.I.S. concerned. "I don't know what's going on..."
"But something about this definitely seems wrong." Kirika says, finishing Shirabe's sentence.
Meanwhile, Maria and Elfnein deal with their own set of problems in the former's mind: The return of the late Dr. Ver. "You know, I'm pretty sure that I know what this is!" Ver exclaimed. "I get to shout in the heart of Maria! This is the best!"
"I don't remember him ever acting like this..." Maria sighs.
"That must mean that this Dr. Ver was created from your impressions of him as well as your other memories." Elfnein states. "Or at least that's my theory."
"If that's the case, then I really need to give my memories a good talking-to..." Maria says.
"Perhaps your subconscious is pointing to the part of the brain that the Symphogear connects to." Elfnein says.
"Airgetlám is guiding me?" Maria wonders. "Then why did it have to be Dr. Ver of all people? I feel like Serena would've been a better choice, seeing she also uses it."
"What it's showing is something directly linked to your memories of Dr. Ver." Elfnein explains. "Which can only mean..."
"A researcher of relics and a genuine hero. A man larger than life. Larger than the extra-large food challenge at a local restaurant!" Dr. Ver exclaims in a very stand-offish way. "That's right! I've always told you nothing but the truth! Never once did I lie!"
"Then tell us!" Maria shouts.
"If you've forgotten, then you need to reach out and pick it up yourself. Down in the deepest, darkest depths of your memories!" Dr. Ver continues. "I'm certain you will find it there!"
Suddenly, the void the three were in started to get consumed by a mysterious fog, which made the Wielder and Alchemist worry. "Maria?"
"Elfnein! Stick close to me!" Maria shouts as she grabs Elfnein's hand and starts running.
The Wielder's/S.O.N.G. Command POVs:
The battle against the Giant Alca-Noise
"Balwisyall nescell Gungnir tron"
(Makenai Ai ga Koko ni Aru Begins to play)
Arriving at the scene, the five Wielders jump from the helicopter and transform into their Symphogears. As they fell, Chris created three rockets for everyone to use as platforms while Kana flew close to them with her draconic wings. "Their sudden appearance has me concerned." Tsubasa says in reference to the Alchemists. "We should play it safe and face them without Ignite."
"I don't have the slightest clue what they could be planning, but I'm not about to sit around and find out whatever it is!" Chris replies as she brings out her gatling guns and opens fire on the airborne Alca-Noise.
BILLION MAIDEN
As for the others, Hibiki and Kana fly around and fight the Alca-Noise while Serena stays back on Chris' Rocket and levitates several daggers, tossing them at the Alca-Noise that approached them from behind.
FAIRIAL†TRICK
"What makes me a Wielder isn't blood, but a passionate heart!" Tsubasa says as she flies her rocket right into one of the bigger Alca-Noise, jumping off just before it connects. After this, she activates the thrusters on the blades attached to her legs and uses them to spin and propel herself through the air, taking out all of the Alca-Noise in her path before she would land on Hibiki's rocket.
Reverse Rakshasa
Back at HQ, Aoi reaches the command center and quickly gets to her station. "Alca-Noise are down 68% compared to their original numbers." She reports.
"But there's no sign of the Alchemists..." Sakuya adds.
After swiftly lessening the amount of Alca-Noise in the area, the Wielders approach the giant 8-headed Alca-Noise who was simply hovering in place as it spawned more Alca-Noise. "So this is the one who's controlling the rest of them?" Chris asks.
"Looks like it." Kana states.
"Then that is where we should strike!" Tsubasa adds.
"Let's tear it apart!" Hibiki shouts. "Tsubasa-san, Serena-san, you two lead the way!"
Nodding in agreement, the three girls leap from their rockets and down towards the Alca-Noise, all of them readying their weapons to strike. "Let's show them true power!" Tsubasa shouts as the trio pour every ounce of power they had into their weapons, slicing the Alca-Noise into pieces.
"And we'll clean up the leftovers!" Kana shouts as she quickly activates her Ichaival augmentation to boost Chris while simultaneously charging her attack.
"I'll make sure there isn't a single trace of you left behind!" Chris shouts as she brings out an entire arsenal of rockets, letting them loose at the exact same time Kana fires several small blasts from her hand that quickly fly towards the fractured Alca-Noise before exploding.
MEGA DETH INFINITY
Shining Yato: Ichaival Dragon Shot
The five Wielders watch as the giant Alca-Noise splits into pieces and begins to fall to the Earth below. However, just before the Wielders could catch their breath, the Alca-Noise started to not only regenerate, but regenerate in a way so that it formed four two-headed copies of itself. "Impossible!" Tsubasa gasps. "Did we fail to take it down?"
Back at HQ, everyone was equally as surprised as the Wielders. "The giant Alca-Noise has divided into multiple, independently-moving copies of itself!" Sakuya reports. "There's four altogether!"
"They're all going in different directions." Ogawa states.
"Are they trying to split up the Wielders?" Genjuro wonders aloud.
"Commander! Incoming message from the Iruma base!" Aoi reports. "They say they'll send reinforcements if necessary."
"That would only slow us down!" Sakuya says. "The Air Self-Defense Force's equipment can't even delay a single Alca-Noise. At worst, they would just increase the amount of casualties."
"No." Genjuro interjects. "Request Iruma to deploy Code 814."
Aoi looks at Genjuro in surprise. "You want them to send in Harriers?" She asks, receiving an almost immediate nod in response. "Understood, Commander."
Back with the Wielders, having seen the separate entities go in their own directions, the five split up to chase after them. "Even if they're trying to split us up, we're all more than capable of dealing with the smaller sizes on our own!" Hibiki says.
"It should be easy as long as we only need to take down one each." Chris adds.
"You may be right, Yukine. But we still shouldn't underestimate what they're capable of." Tsubasa says.
"If anything goes awry on your guy's ends, let me know and I'll come provide backup." Kana adds as herself and Serena chase after their own copy, the former of the two carrying the latter.
"It looks like it's slowing down." Serena states. "Let's strike it down quickly!"
"Way ahead of you!" Kana replies, suddenly speeding up and dive-bombing the Alca-Noise. Once they were close enough, Kana let go of Serena and let the younger Airgetlám Wielder fly towards the two-headed giant.
"Take this!" Serena shouts as she perfectly slices off one of the two heads. She smiles confidently as she watches the head fall, but suddenly, it starts to regenerate its own body. "I was afraid of that..."
"Not on my watch!" Kana shouts as she fires another massive Dragon Shot at the regenerating head, stopping its regeneration, but Kana wasn't going to let it off easily. "And for good measure!" Kana flies towards the head and slices it perfectly down the middle just before landing next to her adoptive sister.
"Thanks for taking care of that before it became a problem." Serena says. "You can leave the other head to me. Go give the others a hand."
"Gotcha." Kana says, nodding in agreement to Serena's idea as she begins to fly off. "Good luck!"
"Same to you!" Serena replies as she watches Kana disappear in the distance, only being brought back to the Alca-Noise in front of her once it screeches and spawns a batch of smaller Alca-Noise. "Even with only one head, this thing will still probably be troublesome... But Maria and Elfnein-chan are probably dealing with something much worse... But I can't let my worries drag me down." Saying this, Serena raises her blade and charges at the horde of Alca-Noise before her.
Serena hacks and slashes through the horde of Alca-Noise with relative ease, dealing with them as fast as she could so she would be able to face the copy without any interruptions. Once that was done, she faced the giant Alca-Noise copy and leapt skyward, holding her dagger high above her head. "Maria and Kana believe in me, so I'll keep believing in both of them, no matter what!" She says as several sparks of light appear behind her as she raises her other hand above her head. "Take this!" shouting this, Serena throws both of her hands down, unleashing a barrage of dagger-shaped projectiles that obliterate the giant Alca-Noise, as well as any smaller Alca-Noise in the immediate area.
WARM†LUNALIGHT
With the Alca-Noise cleared out, Serena lands back on the ground, taking a moment to catch her breath. "Looks like I greatly overestimated how difficult that was going to be..." Serena chuckles to herself. "I just hope the others aren't having too much trouble... Especially Maria and Elfnein-chan..."
Kirika and Shirabe's/Maria and Elfnein's POVs:
S.O.N.G. HQ/Maria's mind
As the fights were unfolding outside, Shirabe, Kirika, and Dr. Nastassja watched over Maria and Elfnein, who seemed to be struggling, which only made the three of them worry, two of which visibly showed their worry as they held onto the unconscious duo's hands to try and support them. "Hang in there, you two..." Shirabe says.
"Everyone else is doing the best they can dess!" Kirika adds. "So please, don't give up!"
Meanwhile, Nastassja quietly watched from the console as she could only helplessly see the duo struggle. "Maria... Elfnein... Be strong..."
Meanwhile in the Airgetlám Wielder's mind, herself and Elfnein found themselves in a place unlike anything they've seen before. It was almost as if they were in the middle of space, but they didn't feel weightless. "What is this place?" Maria wonders.
"It doesn't look like something your mind created..." Elfnein states, equally as confused as Maria, but they wouldn't have to wait long to find out what this new place held.
Suddenly, with a flash of light, a mysterious floating object appeared before them as the room's multi-colored space started to become a mostly blackish-purple.
"I want to be strong."
A voice called out from the object, which surprised the duo. "Was that... My voice?" Maria asks.
"I don't want to let them see me being weak."
Another voice, similar to the first one, called out as another flash of light appeared. However, this light was not the only one that began to speak.
"No matter who I have to lie to, even if it's my own heart."
"But I don't really want to lie!"
"Is this... Your own inner cosmos?" Elfnein wonders, looking over to see Maria shivering.
"The darkness hidden away in my heart... From when I was too scared to accept weakness and refused to bond with anyone." Maria says. "Back when I thought Serena was..." Maria stopped herself as she became choked up with tears.
"Maria-san?"
"If I wanted someone to hold my hand, I had to be the one to reach out to them." Maria continues as she covered her face with her hands. "But... What if they pushed my hand away? What if they couldn't accept someone who failed to protect those she cares about?"
As Maria had these lingering doubts surface from her childhood, the cosmos around the duo started to become darker, unknowingly absorbing the two of them into said darkness. Once she noticed what was going on, Elfnein let out a gasp. "Maria-san!" Elfnein shouts as she tries to reach out for Maria, who didn't so much as flinch at the encroaching darkness. "Maria-san! Maria-san!" She tried again to reach out to Maria, but there was still no luck as the two started drifting apart before being completely absorbed in the darkness...
"Maria-san!"
The Wielder's/S.O.N.G. Command POVs:
The battle against the Giant Alca-Noise
Back on the battlefield, each of the Wielders kept holding their own against the Alca-Noise copies and their smaller reinforcements. Thanks to Kana's help, Serena was having an easier time than she would have had, but as for the others, their situations were varied in difficulty.
For Hibiki, her copy ended up going right where a group of civilians were getting on a plane to travel, but the giant Alca-Noise arrived just before they could take off, forcing her into a situation of having to fight off the Alca-Noise and protect the civilians as they evacuated. At first, it was very challenging to focus on both her foes and the civilians... but luckily for her, backup would arrive just before any one the Alca-Noise could reach the people.
"Need some help?" Kana asks right as she sends down a barrage of blasts to destroy the approaching horde.
Dragon Shot Barrage
"Kana! Boy am I glad to see you!" Hibiki cheers. "Wait, what happened to Serena's copy?"
"We were able to get rid of one of the heads, so she asked me to go lend you guys a hand." Kana answers as she cuts through a line of Alca-Noise. "All things considered, you seem to have the bigger workload compared to them. So leave the evacuation to me and you can deal with the big guy."
"Gotcha!" Hibiki replies, agreeing to Kana's plan while holding her fist out for a fist bump. "Good luck!"
Kana chuckles. "I think you're gonna need it more than me, Hibiki." She says, returning the fist bump while simultaneously activating her Gungnir Augmentation for Hibiki. "If you need backup, let me know."
"Right." Hibiki replies as the two Wielders face off against their opponents.
On Tsubasa's end, she followed her copy to an industrial zone. For the most part, she had little to no trouble fighting it, that is, before it split. After that, she was forced to dodge and weave between the copies' tendrils until she was able to get a big opening from above. "Now!" She shouts as she calls down a barrage of blades that tear through the copies, destroying them both.
One Thousand Falling Tears
Watching as the Alca-Noise burst into dust, Tsubasa lands on a nearby rooftop, watching as one of the copies spit out a blob of goo before dying, sending out one final horde of Alca-Noise. However, before she would go to engage the final wave, the swordswoman stopped to catch her breath. "I knew they'd try for a war of attrition... But this is rough..." Tsubasa says as she gets back on her feet and charges into the horde.
Meanwhile on Chris' end, she managed to split her copy into two as well, which made things slightly more irritating for the gunslinger. Despite this irritation, she was still prepared to finish off her foe, readying a pair of rockets and her Gatling guns as she zeroed in on her targets. "I won't miss either of you! Take this!"
MEGA DETH FUGA
Chris fires her rockets and they connect with the copies of the giant Alca-Noise, killing them both instantly. However, thanks to all of the power it took just to deal with them up to that point, Chris was also very exhausted. "Hah... Hah... It can't multiply now that it doesn't have anything left to regenerate." She chuckles while staring out at the remaining horde of Alca-Noise. "Now all that's left is to deal with the cannon-fodder."
"Care if I lend a hand?" Serena asks, appearing beside Chris and offering her a hand up to get back on her feet.
"What happened to yours and Kana's copy of that multiplying annoyance?" Chris asks.
"Thanks to Kana, my workload was a lot less than what you and the others had to deal with alone." Serena explains. "Besides, you look like you could use the assistance."
"Normally, I'd laugh at you for saying something like that, but I'll gladly take whatever help I can get right now." Chris chuckles as she transforms her guns down into crossbows. "Let's do this!"
Back with Hibiki and Kana, both Wielders were having little trouble keeping up with the Alca-Noise, with Hibiki even managing to reduce the amount of heads on hers before it could multiply, and she was ready to finish off the other one without hesitation.
"You can multiply and divide yourself as many times as you want... But it won't stop me from taking you down all the same!" Hibiki shouts as she kicks away the Alca-Noise's remaining head before destroying it with her gauntlet. However, just before Hibiki could let out a sigh of relief, the Alca-Noise's tail split off from the body and flew away before it could be destroyed. "No matter how many..." Hibiki felt the exhaustion of the drawn-out fight getting to her as she stumbled slightly.
"Hibiki!" Kana shouts as she rushes over to her friend. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah... I'm fine..." Hibiki says while she catches her breath. "But we need to hurry before that thing gets too far away."
Kana looks in the direction Hibiki was looking in and sees the flying tail-turned-extra-head. "Right. Grab on!" Kana says as she activates her wings once again as she carries Hibiki to chase after the new head.
Kirika and Shirabe's/Maria and Elfnein's POVs:
S.O.N.G. HQ/Maria's mind
Back in Maria's mindscape, the Airgetlám found herself falling endlessly into a mental abyss. "Am I going to drown in the darkness I created, vanishing into this abyss?" She thought to herself, losing hope on ever seeing the light of day again.
However, in her hopelessness, she heard a familiar voice...
"When it comes to Symphogears and their compatibility with their users, there is no such thing as a miracle."
Hearing that voice, Maria snapped out of her hopelessness and opened her eyes, seeing a shining light drift down to her face.
"If you truly want to make that power your own, just continue to reach out for it."
Doing as the voice of Dr. Ver suggested, Maria reached out to the light and grabbed it, causing the light to engulf the endless abyss around her.
"Maria-san!"
Maria wakes up with a gasp. When she looks around, she saw that herself and Elfnein were in a place that was all too familiar to the former. "This is... The white orphanage." Maria states. "The one that we were all taken to back at the F.I.S..."
When she looks around the room further, Maria notices four people were also in the room with them: A female scientist and younger versions of herself, Serena, and Dr. Nastassja. The modern day version of Maria and Elfnein watch as the younger Airgetlám Wielders both looked at the adults in fear. The scientist crouched down and held out a hand to comfort the duo, but when they tried to reach out to her, Nastassja slapped their hands with a riding crop, which made the younger Serena cry.
"From today onward, you are all going to start combat training. You receptor children who failed to become Finé's vessel shall contribute to this organization not by shedding tears, but through shedding blood." The younger Nastassja said, repeating the words Elfnein heard her recite before reuniting with the older Maria.
"Is that really it?"
The disembodied voice of Ver asked.
"Were your memories really only your fears of Mom?"
"Were my memories only my fears of Mom?"
Maria thought... But in that thought, she realized something. "That's right... The pain and fear caused me to seal away my memories." Maria says to herself. "But whenever she hit me, Mom always looked so sad..."
Remembering the saddened look on Nastassja's face, Maria remembers all of the other times that she chose to seal away, all the pain and suffering she went through to become the Wielder of the Black Gungnir she used to be. Even through all of the pain and turmoil herself and the other children went through, Nastassja, too, suffered having to watch their suffering in kind.
"Now I remember... No matter how many painful experiments or training exercises she made us do, Mom never let us fail." She says, before she remembered the files Elfnein found at Matsushiro. "And that wasn't all... When the existence of the Receptor Children became known, we were all taken someplace safe. She kept suffering in silence so that we could survive." Thinking about this, Maria thought back to the lady she helped save back in Matsushiro...
"The trick to raising sweet tomatoes is to put them in a harsh environment. If you wait until the last second to give them water, they gain a natural sweetness."
"A great harvest only exists after enduring harshness. I wouldn't have survived on kindness alone." Maria says. "Mom's harshness, which gave us the strength we needed to survive. And behind all of that..."
"I've told both you and Nastassja the same thing countless times: What connects a human and a Symphogear is..."
"The visualized electrical signals are showing the part of the brain that connects with the Gears... This warm and deep caring for others is the source for what connects people and Symphogears." Elfnein says. "All I need to do now is tune the LiNKER to this area!"
Back in the Headquarters, Elfnein wakes up, surprising the trio watching over them. "Elfnein?" Shirabe asks.
"How did it go?" Kirika adds.
"I'm almost there!" Elfnein says as she takes off the direct feedback system headset from her head and gently places it behind her. "Once I'm done, it's all up to you!"
With that, Elfnein bolted out of the room to work on the LiNKER. At the same time, Maria finally woke up as well. "Maria?"
Doing the same as Elfnein, Maria took off the direct feedback system headset, but instead of bolting out of the room, she got up and walked over to Nastassja, giving her a hug as tears rolled down her eyes. "Thank you, Mom."
Everyone was surprised by this sudden moment, but deep down, Nastassja knew why Maria was doing this, returning the hug once the shock of it wore off.
The Wielder's/?'s POVs:
The battle against the Giant Alca-Noise
Following the floating snake-like form of the giant Alca-Noise, Kana and Hibiki end up in the crater left behind by Carol's Alchemic Beast's explosion. But a trip down memory lane was the least of their worries as they currently had their hands full with another problem, and that problem just turned into two as the snake-like Alca-Noise split once again.
"I don't care how many times you multiply!" Hibiki shouts. "Kana! Throw me!"
"Got it!" Kana replies, stopping her forward momentum to spin Hibiki before chucking her at one of the two floating snakes.
With the speed gained from Kana's throw, Hibiki obliterated the Alca-Noise copy with ease, landing on the ground as the Alca-Noise turned into dust behind her. However, while that one was dealt with, the other copy got away. "Shoot! We need to follow the one that got away!" Hibiki shouts.
"No worries. I'll handle it!" Kana says as she begins to fly off after the Alca-Noise, but she stops once the area around them gets mysteriously dark. "What the?"
Kana and Hibiki both look up and see a giant airship materializing above them. "Is that... The thing we brought down back in Val Verde?" Hibiki thought aloud.
Kana scowled at the airship. "There's only one explanation as to why this thing is here..."
Atop the airship, the Alchemist trio looked down to see all of the Wielders below, watching them stare back in a mix of shock and anger. "The Symphogears may be pretty tough in their own right..." Cagliostro says, giving the relic responsible for the Hydra-like Alca-Noise's appearance a kiss on the back of its head(s).
"But the hearts of their Wielders are easy to break, basically." Prelati adds.
"Throw everything we have at them!" Saint-Germain orders, which summons another massive horde of Alca-Noise that start going in a very specific direction.
"Alca-Noise are advancing to Sector 19!" Aoi reported to the Wielders, which shocks Kana and Hibiki most of all.
"No... Don't tell me..."
"That's where Lydian is!" Hibiki gasps, confirming Kana's worries.
"Well don't just sit around like an idiot! You and Kana need to hurry and head over there!" Chris shouts to Hibiki.
"Chris-chan?!"
"Tsubasa, Chris and I can handle things over here." Serena adds.
"But... What about..."
"We're not the ones you need to worry about! All you need to worry about right now is her safety!" Chris interjects, which Hibiki realized as to who Chris was referring to: Miku, who was currently at Lydian. "Believe in your justice and hold it tight! Or, at the very least, do what you think is best!"
"...Thank you, Chris-chan..." Hibiki says to herself, realizing what she had to do in order to save Miku from the Alca-Noise. "Kana. Hurry over to Lydian. I'll take care of the Alca-Noise here."
Kana looked down at Hibiki, seeing one of her hands slowly move up towards her pendant. "...Be careful, Hibiki..."
"I will." Hibiki replies as she puts her hand on her pendant. "Ignite Module! Dra-"
"Don't go using your last resort just yet dess!"
Kirika suddenly shouted over the Wielders' communicators as two jets flew past Hibiki and Kana and ascended past the top of the airship.
"You're not the only one who gets to be selfish here!"
Shirabe adds as the two jets eject their passenger seats, sending the Zababa duo in a free fall towards the airship, but they didn't come empty-handed...
"Various Shul Shagana tron"
(Melodious Moonlight begins to play)
The agents at S.O.N.G. HQ watch as Shirabe and Kirika land on the airship with a barrage of sawblades and scythe blades, once again donning their Symphogears with no signs of electricity sparking around them. "Shul Shagana and Igalima have engaged the enemy!" Sakuya reported.
"We really owe Iruma big time for this." Ogawa chuckled.
"Their vitals are stable." Aoi reported. "The backlash from their Symphogears are within the expected limits."
"Well done finishing it in time, Elfnein-kun." Genjuro said. "We truly can't thank you enough for your hard work."
Meanwhile in her lab, Elfnein lets out a sigh of relief now that she has finally made a successful batch of LiNKER based on Dr. Ver's design. "The last piece of the LiNKER puzzle was finding the part of the brain that connects to the Symphogear." Elfnein said aloud to herself as she looked at the monitor next to her, which held what she had been able to find in her mental link with Maria. "That part of the brain which controls altruism, a willingness to protect someone, even if it means sacrificing oneself. To put it simply, what connects the Symphogears and their users is..."
"Love!"
While the Zababa duo went to help everyone deal with the Alchemists, Maria went to Lydian to do two things: One, give Kanade the new LiNKER and her Gungnir pendant. And two, deal with what remains of the giant Alca-Noise, which she does by turning her dagger into a whip-sword in order to slice the thing in two.
EMPRESS†REBELLION
With the Alca-Noise now completely dealt with, Maria landed gracefully on the roof of Lydian. "Heh. Not bad." Kanade says, landing next to her on the roof in her Gungnir Symphogear. "Who knew all we needed to do was just let Elfnein-chan walk around in your brain for a few minutes in order to get more LiNKER?"
"You know that I was with her during all of that, right?" Maria asks.
"Well, it is your brain, so it'd be kinda weird if you weren't with her in some way." Kanade retorts. "But regardless, it still surprises me that someone as crazy as your old doc could find a way to perfect LiNKER."
"You and me both, Kanade..." Maria sighs. "We should probably hurry and meet up with the others now."
"Right." Kanade agrees. "Meet ya there!"
Maria watched Kanade dash off ahead of her as she thought back to her encounter with Dr. Ver in her mind. "Even now, I refuse to say that you are the best... Dr. Ver, you were and always will be the worst of the worst." She says to herself, before heading off to regroup with the other Wielders.
Back at the airship, Kirika and Shirabe fight off against the Alca-Noise above the airship, only for Prelati and Cagliostro to come after them seconds later. "Back on your meds already, huh?" Cagliostro taunts Kirika.
"LiNKER is more than just some medicine!" Kirika retorts.
"It's the work of the bonds we've all formed together!" Shirabe adds while fighting against Prelati.
Thanks to the help from their LiNKER, Kirika and Shirabe are able to easily overwhelm the two Alchemists, weakening them and knocking them into the same spot for the Zababa duo to meet up in the air and finish them off with a combined strike downwards. "Victory will be ours dess!"
Together, the duo hold hands as they pull out a large sawblade and scythe on their heels and dive straight at the Alchemists. Unfortunately for them, Saint-Germain showed up at the last possible second and protected them with a barrier, but she couldn't hold it for long.
Sooner than the other Alchemists could get up to help Saint-Germain, Kirika and Shirabe broke through the barrier, but the Alchemists vanished from sight as the duo's attack pierced all the way through the airship, completely destroying it.
With the airship taken care of, the duo landed on the ground below and immediately started looking around for the Alchemists. "Where did they go?" Kirika asks.
Suddenly, Shirabe let out a gasp. "Kiri-chan! Look out!" She shouts as the Igalima Wielder hears the sound of a gun being fired behind her, turning to see Saint-Germain and the other Alchemists in their Faust Robes once again.
"Your life shall become fodder for our revolution." Saint-Germain says, watching the bullet fly directly towards Kirika. But just before the amplified bullet would strike true, Hibiki jumped right in front of Kirika, catching the bullet and nullifying its power. "What?"
"Hibiki-san!" Kirika cheers, relieved that the Gungnir Wielder arrived just in the nick of time.
"That's just wrong..." Hibiki says to Saint-Germain. "Using the lives of others as fodder is wrong! In every possible way!"
"Looks like it's three against three now." Cagliostro says.
"But her emotions basically make this fight heavily in our favor." Prelati adds.
"I'm afraid that's where you're wrong." Kana says as she lands next to Hibiki and the Zababa duo.
"Kana Kamui..." Saint-Germain says to herself while staring coldly at Kana.
"Oh big whoop, there's four of you now. It didn't make much of a difference back in Matsushiro and it won't make much of a difference now either." Cagliostro taunts, which only makes Kana chuckle. "What? Did I say something funny?"
"Not necessarily. It's just amazing how you could be wrong twice in a row." Kana says. "You see, this fight is neither three against three nor is it four against three..."
As Kana said this, a barrage of crossbow bolts rained down from behind the Wielders, forcing the Alchemists to dodge. Seeing this, Hibiki, Kirika, and Shirabe turned around to see the other five Wielders standing on the side of the crater. "It's actually nine against three!" Chris shouts.
"Everyone!" Hibiki gasps alongside the Zababa duo.
"Excellent timing, Chris!" Kana cheers, giving the Ichaival Wielder a thumbs up as she and the other Wielders join Kana's group in the crater.
"Well, you weren't exactly being subtle with that." Chris says with a smirk, earning a playful eyeroll from the Draconic Princess.
"Now then..." Tsubasa says, raising her sword towards the Alchemist trio. "It's time to talk, Bavarian Illuminati. What is your end goal?"
"You said before that you want to free mankind from its chains, but you never said who you were fighting." Hibiki says, recalling the conversation she had with Saint-Germain back in Matsushiro. "Just tell us what you're fighting for! If it's for the sake of others, then surely we can work together!"
"Work together? How arrogant" Saint-Germain scoffs. "We will use the power of the gods to break the curse of Balal."
Hearing this, all of the Wielders gasped. "The power of the gods? The curse of Balal?!"
"With their power, we shall seize the Lunar Ruins!"
A/N: And with that, we end the chapter!
So... It's been a hot minute since I posted a chapter for this series, huh? Well, if you follow me on twitter, or read my other fics, you would be happy to know that I plan to have these chapters come out a lot more frequently than before, having a chapter come out 3 weeks after either a chapter for Symphogear R or Sympho-ball. This will be the last time I update my upload schedule until this fic is completed.
But with that out of the way, onto talking about the chapter itself:
First off, the Shigure flashback. Recently, it came to my attention that I had forgotten to show how things were between Kana and her brother, so what better time to talk about that than in the chapter where Serena was concerned for her sister's well-being, right? As I mentioned in the chapter, Shigure was born before the events of Revelations ended, so he was put into a deeprealm for his safety (but if you know FE Fates, you can probably guess what happened to that...)
Regardless, in this timeline of events, Shigure and Kana are very close. (Not to say they aren't close should you decide to have them as siblings in a playthrough of Fates, but you get what I'm trying to say). As for why they are so close, it's mainly because this Shigure would always spend time with Kana while their parents were busy ruling Valla, pretty much being Kana's babysitter by choice.
Lastly, speaking of Kana, I want to clarify what was going on with the Shining Yato ability. Back in Parts 2 and 3, Shining Yato could only give special effects to her augmentation and base forms, but now, thanks to some more training and the upgrade to her Gear, Kana can combine her other attacks with the Shining Yato for special boosts.
For example: If Kana were to use Shining Yato and Dragon Shot in an augmentation of Ame no Habakiri, the Dragon Shot would end up acting a lot like an Azure Flash or if Kana used Shadow Dragon Fang with Shining Yato while in an augmentation of Igalima, Kana would practically be able to do what Igalima after a Superb Song in G could do. (Could these specific combinations end up happening in future chapters? We'll see.)
But with that being said, thank you so much for reading this chapter. I shall see you all in the next one!
