It wasn't just one or two, four ice wings had been sliced. It was obvious that this wasn't a random coincidence. But if so, this formed a question. How could Kanzaki manage that against such a Trigger?

On the other hand, Kanzaki looked rather casual.

"You believe that I am just a simple agent, and that is the beginning of your mistakes."

Kanzaki confidently explained.

"I am now an A-Rank agent who has maintained her skills. I had not moved up until recently because I had not been part of a squad, and not because I did not have the skills."

It wasn't that she didn't want to be on a squad, but rather it was all because she didn't want to disappoint a squad she would be on. She would try her best, and even win with just her alone, but that was the issue. Since she was so strong, failure was not an option for her. She would be held in high regard and would easily be seen as the squad's ace, which meant that there would be pressure put on her.

She was too kind and respectful to allow others to see her fail.

In other words, since she was such a person, she didn't want to join any squad asking her to join. She wanted to make sure her squad was one that could hold their own without her many styles of fighting. That also meant...

If aggressive attacks wouldn't work, she'd use speed attacks.

If speed attacks wouldn't work, she'd use defensive attacks.

If defensive attacks wouldn't work, she'd use aggressive attacks.

She was an agent who could take out a B-Rank squad by herself by switching from one form of attack to another in an instant. She made up for every weakness she could.

Misó of Aftokrator looked frozen. Three ice wings came swinging over the left and right.

But the ice wings were still easily sliced by Kanzaki's sword flash.

"Trying to beat me while not feeling the worry or wary of my attacks is pointless. I have trained with our top agents in both a trion body as well as my real body. Someone who has not even seen my best fights, regardless of what Triggers they have, cannot hope to understand what is going on. It took even people like Ikoma-san and Tachikawa-dono a while to get what was happening."

Kanzaki deliberately stroked Kōgetsu.

"Thus, it may be hard for a Neighbor with only general images. In my real body, I train using a nodachi. It weighs more than Kōgetsu, so quick and powerful moves are easy to deliver."

Kanzaki Shizuka said that casually.

She was declaring to the Neighbor that this wouldn't be a one-sided battle.

"..."

Misó stared at the enemy silently. Absorbing new water, the sliced ice wings were restored to their old shape and size.

But for Kanzaki, she didn't need any preparations. She just needed to use her fingers to lightly stroke the hilt of the trion-made sword at her waist.

Silence.

After a few seconds.

The Neighbor from Aftokrator and the A-Rank agent of Border started their duel with a few things on the line.

A roar could be heard.

The Neighbor sent a twelve-meter-long ice wing sliding down from above, and it was sliced in half by Kanzaki, who was 10m in front of him.

But the Neighbor didn't mind. No matter how many ice wings were cut, he could repair them. This time, the ice wing swung over from the left, trying to use the time Kanzaki was undefended while she was sheathing her sword.

After Kanzaki sliced this attack, the next attack from the right was aimed at Kanzaki's back.

Misó and Kanzaki were about ten meters away from each other. The Neighbor seemed like he wanted to maintain that distance and continued to attack Kanzaki with the ice wings to prevent Kanzaki from getting close.

Kanzaki spun her body and turned her head around, slicing the ice wing behind her with one slash. Seeing this, three ice wings of the Neighbor from Aftokrator attacked from the air, each with a slight time interval between them.

Even though there was a time interval, the difference was measured by only a few seconds. An ordinary person couldn't really sense that kind of speed. A human needed 0.18 seconds to process the command from the brain to the fingers, so there was still some time between the commands and the attacks being dealt.

"!"

The first ice wing of the trio was slashed by Kanzaki's Senkū.

Before the next second arrived, Kanzaki had already sheathed the Kōgetsu and prepared for the next attack.

Too easy, Kanzaki smiled in that time, but at that moment...

The second ice wing actually exploded by itself.

Numerous blades that looked like small broken pieces of glass were fired at Kanzaki.

"What...?"

Just as Kanzaki was trying to deal with the torrent of blades, the third ice wing rushed over at a speed faster than the torrent of blades.

"...Ugh!"

Kanzaki was barely able to slash that unexpected third wing, but Kanzaki didn't have enough time to sheath the sword. If she sheathed it, she wouldn't be able to deal with the torrent of blades that were coming at her. Kanzaki gave up on that Trigger and used the drawn sword to deal with the torrent of blades.

But it was impossible to block all the hundreds of the blades with a sword.

Seventeen of the blades landed around Kanzaki (Though being able to knock them all away was already an unbelievable skill on its own). The noise caused a shockwave like explosion, and the dust and debris surrounding her whipped up.

Her vision was completely taken away by the wall of dust and debris, like a storm.

At that moment, the ice wings attacked from the left, right, and front right direction, ripping through the sand wall like paper doors.

At that moment, the trend for the battle was set.

Kanzaki and Misó were ten meters away from each other. In other words, Kanzaki couldn't attack Misó, but Misó could attack Kanzaki.

And under the quick attacks of the Neighbor, Kanzaki didn't even have time to put her drawn sword back into the sheath. She couldn't use Senkū, so Kanzaki could only swing her sword desperately. Anyone could tell that Kanzaki was at the disadvantage there.

Kanzaki gritted her teeth.

She was as skilled as an A-Rank agent.

In Kanzaki's time in Border, the number of times she had lost in a one on one matchup wasn't that high. And also, the 'one-on-one' didn't just mean B-Rank verses B-Rank. Most of the time, it had been A-Rank vs. B-Rank.

But such a record seemed like it was going to be tested heavily today.

The record that could be easily counted seemed like it was not going to be enough.

However...

There was a huge question mark over whether the battle against that Neighbor, who had an unknown and powerful Trigger, should count.

"!"

Every second, there would be four or five ice wings sliced apart in sparks.

The Neighbor didn't want to give Kanzaki any time to rest. He continued to swing the ice wings at a terrifying speed, intending to let the battle become a battle of attrition and wear Kanzaki down to the point of having no more trion. Kanzaki didn't even have a second to rest. The numerous ice wings seemed like creatures with a life of their own as they attacked Kanzaki with all sorts of angles, directions, speed and time intervals.

At that moment, there seemed to be something in Kanzaki's hand under the sunlight.

With the sound of the cement being pierced, multiple wires shot out.

Spider.

Of course, facing the ice wings that were thoroughly infused with trion, mere wires wouldn't work. Even though they were wires that not many used, made of trion of course, they would be easily cut like a real spider web.

But the moment the wires were cut, the speed of the ice wings would decrease.

Even though the feeble resistance would only cause the ice wings to slow down by a second.

However...

In this battle, that instant was enough to give another four or five blows.

"Tsk!"

Misó rolled his eyeballs. He got careless and cut the wires, causing the ice wings to slow down. Of course, Kanzaki wouldn't let that single second gap off. She raised her sword horizontally and quickly dashed forward-

-But at that moment, Kanzaki's legs lost their balance.

...?

The Neighbor used that time to readjust his attacks and swung out three consecutive ice wings attacks, but Kanzaki still managed to slice them with terrifying speed and accuracy. But at that moment, Misó realized something.

Kanzaki was wavering, if only just a bit.

Even if she was considered someone with A-Rank potential, having to face such an opponent on her own was putting a sort of mental burden on her. The best she could do was wait for backup to arrive, but that seemed hard on its own when there are other Neighbors running around.

Misó continued to attack mercilessly with the ice wings as he stared at Kanzaki's face. The hand that was holding onto the hilt of the sword was trembling a bit.

Misó continued to swing the ice wings as the effects of this battle were finally showing. If it kept the battle going, Kanzaki would mentally wear herself out. Under the fast and slow attacks of the Neighbor, Kanzaki's body finally started to waver.

Misó ordered the ice wings behind him, intending to deal Kanzaki the final blow.

But Kanzaki stared at the Neighbor with such sharpness in her eyes.

"...TOO SLOW!"

What was supposed to be the last ice wing released by the Neighbor was hacked in half by Kanzaki.

Kanzaki didn't stop.

With such savage and suicidal intent, she continued to hack at the ice wings one by one, not letting up.

Kanzaki Shizuka was holding off the Neighbor's attacks, getting closer to Bail Out.

If she continued to fight like this, she would get mentally tired and fall apart. Her trion body wouldn't feel the fatigue but her real body would feel the brunt of that fatigue once she left that trion-made body.

There was no way to know how long Kanzaki could last. If a single attack landed, Kanzaki would Bail Out.

"But-"

Kanzaki gritted her teeth, ripping the two ice wings that attacked in a tornado like manner.

"-So what?"

Kanzaki continued to swing the sword like a storm, slashing numerous ice wings.

She definitely couldn't let the traitorous Neighbor get through.

She just had to wait for someone - anyone - to come and assist in any way possible. Whether it was an army of B-Ranks, or the best A-Ranks, as long as they got there soon.

She definitely couldn't let Misó get through.

She slashed the ice wings from outside. Even if she was scarred thoroughly, Kanzaki still gritted her teeth and held onto the sword, making numerous slashes every second when it was supposed to be impossible; she was slashing the ice wings multiple times within a few seconds and preparing for the next attack.

"-Ha, AAAHHH!"

Kanzaki exhaled, and the sword swung out, slicing two ice wings. The retracted blade lashed out again and attacked a third ice wing. After defending against numerous attacks, Kanzaki was gradually beginning to feel that this battle would not last for long.

Kanzaki would most likely lose. Even though she had managed to keep up with these attacks, she couldn't possibly remain unharmed through the vicious attacks of the ice wings.

But Kanzaki wouldn't give up that easily. The moment she slowed down, the ice wings belonging to Misó would slow down. If she used that chance she could deliver a solid hit to the Neighbor.

"Kanzkai-san..."

Shige-ko: "You worried about your upperclassman?"

Mitsuteru looked over in the direction he had heard Kanzaki was fighting in. Since his whole squad could not gather together he had been placed on evacuation duty alongside the only squad member he could get in direct contact with.

Shigenaga Naki had been his friend for some time now, so he felt like nothing was wrong with her harsh words. Even as he watched the distance where the large ice wings were moving, he knew that Shigenaga was speaking to him because of his slip up.

Shige-ko: "You know they aren't the only ones who are fighting right now. The other two are also fighting out there to make sure everything ends up fine."

"I know that, but it's still pretty hard to believe that they would lose. I guess that's just what happens when a normal guy ends up with such crazy people. Even if it was for a short amount of time, I realized just how far behind I was when compared to them."

Shige-ko: "You weren't behind, you idiot. Those guys were just too far ahead. Now look at their situations: fighting tough opponents because they got ahead of themselves and went ahead of the rest of us."

"Are you really one to say that, Shigeko? You tend to go ahead of the rest of us too. But Shinichi-kun can keep up, so I guess you aren't alone up there."

Shige-ko: "I would prefer to have you or Captain with me, but you two seem cozy behind us."

Mitsuteru gave a laugh as he lifted Ibis up and aimed.

His target was a Bambster a good distance from where his group was moving.

Taking in a breath, his shoulders tensed and his back pushed in.

He fired.

The shot reached the Bambster's core, destroying it and causing the large Neighbor to fall to the ground.

He released his breath. The tension he built up had disappeared with his shot.

Shige-ko: "But this isn't about me, so stop trying to change the subject."

"Still harsh, aren't you?"

Shige-ko: "I'm going to go ahead and ignore that. Now then, tell me something."

Mitsuteru raised a brow at this.

For Shigenaga to say something like that it meant that it really was something she needed him to answer.

Shige-ko: "Do you think that girl will lose?"

"Kanzkai-san, you mean?"

She confirmed that was who she had been talking about.

Hearing the question, Mitsuteru thought more about it.

There were many things to think about when it came to the girl and the other two who were fighting, but if he had to boil it down then there was only one answer for him.

"No. She won't lose."

This really is not good...

That was all Kanzaki could think as she continued to block and dodge the large wings of ice that were aimed right at her.

She had been hearing explosions going off not too far away and wanted to see what was going on. That was clearly hard to do as her current opponent was still standing in front of her.

She had yet to take a single hit, but at the same time, she had yet to make a single hit.

"What am I to do? I cannot beat him at this rate. I will have to take a bit of a risk here if I want to do anything at all."

It was all she could think of to do.

Under normal circumstances Misó would not stand a chance against Kanzaki, but now that he was using a Trigger that created large wings of ice, things were made much harder.

Kanzaki was able to defend herself and destroy the wings in a matter of seconds, but the wings would just form again in the same amount of seconds.

"Right."

Kanzaki took a single step forward.

She would draw her sword faster than before and strike down her opponent.

It was her job as a Border agent to defend Mikado City from anything that came through a Gate. She didn't know when Misó had come through a Gate but she did know that he was her enemy. That meant she would give this her all.

Just as Kanzaki took a step forward, a figure appeared behind Misó with a green blade in their grasp.

The figure moved their arms with the blade creating an arced slash, destroying one of the wings as it connected.

Kanzaki was a bit shocked at who had suddenly attacked.

She saw one of the other wings move to attack the figure and prepared herself to cut the wing before it could reach the figure.

Before she could move, an invisible force seemed to push on the wing. The same force also seemed to grab the figure since the figure just flew through the air before landing next to Kanzaki.

"What an irritation."

Kanzaki turned her head to see the captain of Hikigane Squad walking up to her while scratching his head.

"I would think you would know better than to try something stupid like that."

The former A-Rank captain didn't speak to Kanzaki. He was speaking to the figure that was now next to Kanzaki.

"You're lucky that Minoru was able to catch you when he did."

As he spoke, the figure looked down a bit as a man suddenly appeared next to the figure.

"Hah. Don't do such irritating things, Hogo."

.

Hogo Oshiro didn't say anything as he continued to look down.

Next to him stood Hatohara Minoru. He had been the invisible force that pushed the wing away and saved Oshiro.

That was when Kanzaki noticed something.

She quickly turned back to Misó and noticed that he was trying to move the wings but was unable to do so for some reason.

That was when she started to see them.

Wires.

"I see. You had been spreading out a lot of thick wires so that it would be harder for him to attack with those large wings. You took that as a chance to take out of the wings but had to get away from another free one."

"..."

Oshiro continued to say nothing and just turned to Misó.

Sekai let out a long sigh as he also turned his attention to the Neighbor.

"First we learn about what happened at the base, then we come here to help. Hah. Now we have to deal with this kind of irritation. ...Whatever. It's what we have to do right now. No use complaining about it."

"For now let's focus on this. I have to say though, I'm not really shocked that Misó turned out to be a traitor."

"Please watch what you say."

Kanzaki took a slight glance at Oshiro to see that he was still standing there.

"It's fine."

He finally spoke up.

"Minoru-senpai is right. This should have been seen right from the start. Also... I apologize, Kanzaki-san. I left you alone to deal with him."

"That is fine. I am the one who-"

"I'm his captain. That means I need to take responsibility for this and take him out. Which means... I would really appreciate it if you three would support me as I do my duty."

It was the others' turn to stay silent.

They didn't need to say anything else, though.

In an instant, Minoru was no longer visible with their eyes.

Kanzaki and Sekai grabbed the hilts of their blades.

.

As they got ready for the fight, Misó finished destroying the last of the wires and surrounding buildings. He was now free and ready to attack.

Here I go.

Oshiro ran forward.

He ran straight and fast.

As he did so, three ice wings moved in towards him, as if targeting him and him alone.

"Senkū."

Two arced slashes appeared next to Oshiro and destroyed the ice wing on the right and the ice wing on the left. That just left the middle one.

"Grasshopper."

A blue plate appeared in the air in front of Oshiro.

Oshiro stepped over the plate before placing his foot on it.

He accelerated forward at high speed while getting his sword ready to cut through his former comrade and current opponent.

The middle ice wing stabbed the ground as an invisible force pushed it down from above.

Oshiro twisted his leg as he took a step and brought his sword up.

"Senkū!"

An arced slash came from his blade and cut right through the ice wing.

Knowing that he would lose his balance if he continued forward, Oshiro let himself start to fall to the ground. As he put another blue plate was placed under him.

He extended his arm out to touch the blue plate on the ground, sending him high into the air.

He got his blade ready again and brought it down.

His attack was blocked by two ice wings.

"...!"

Seeing two more ice wings coming from the right and left, Oshiro used the two wings that had stopped him as a springboard and moved back, making the two attacking ice wings hit the two defending ice wings.

The four destroyed ice wings started to reform in a matter of seconds.

As they did so, four green blades flew through the air and struck the ends of the forming ice.

.

Kanzaki ran on the left side while Sekai ran on the right side.

The two were quick to destroy the wings that were coming after them.

Now that there were other skilled agents, Kanzaki didn't have to worry about moving forward. She didn't have to worry as much about her attacks not making it through. She could focus completely on winning and supporting her comrades.

She easily noticed that each time she or Sekai destroyed an ice wing, a green blade would come from almost nowhere and get stuck in the wings as they reformed.

So that is what we are going to do.

Nothing needed to be said.

Plans were always made before a fight, or when there was a chance to catch one's breath. That didn't seem to be the case here. These four agents were skilled enough to create a plan as they moved and didn't need to speak to each other to notice things that another person was doing.

A plan was already being put into motion and all four of them knew what it was.

Hatohara Minoru was an A-Rank agent who had his squad spread out.

Hikigane Sekai was a former A-Rank captain that would almost always improvise with his team.

Kanzaki Shizuka was a new A-Rank agent who always had these skills and who had held her own against this opponent.

Hogo Oshiro was a B-Rank captain who would gladly use himself as a shield for others.

They were all different with different skills and different ways of fighting, but that didn't mean they couldn't work as well as any team that had been together for a year or two.

It was their way of thinking that helped them figure out what was going on.

.

Deer Prince: "It's all set. Oshiro, go on and finish this."

Oshiro nodded his head, knowing that Minoru could see him from his spot.

Even while he was in the air, Oshiro managed to move around and deflect attack after attack from the wings made of ice that continued to surround him.

He was able to see Kanzaki and Sekai on the ground and saw them take a glance up at him.

Oshiro saw two more ice wings cross each other before attacking him like a pair of large scissors.

A thick Shield appeared under Oshiro and let him use it as a springboard, sending him higher into the air.

"Alright, I would appreciate it if you could do it now."

A cube of trion appeared next to Oshiro before splitting up into smaller cubes.

Viper!

The cubes of trion flew off and headed for Misó while he was trying to attack all four of them.

From his spot in the air, Oshiro could see more green lights flying through the air.

Each green light looked like it was aiming for Misó, but that wasn't true.

Each green light was actually flying around until it found the green blades made of trion that had been placed in the reforming ice.

Once the blades were hit by the flying lights, the rest followed after and proceeded to destroy the wings by having each shot fired hit the exact same spot.

At the same time, Kanzaki and Sekai used their blades to unleash arced slashes one after another so they could cut the remaining wings made of ice.

"Go."

A blue plate appeared above Oshiro.

He placed his foot on it before moving towards the ground.

He only had a few seconds before the wings of ice would reform. In that time he would deal the final blow and defeat this opponent that Kanzaki had been fighting.

.

It took only a few seconds for Oshiro to reach Misó.

The moment his blade came out of the sheath, a large arced slash cut through the Neighbor.

The moment he landed, he twisted his body around while pulling out his blade once more. Another large arced slash came from his attack with two more followed from the right and left.

Each attack had managed to cut through the ice wings, through the cloak he had been wearing, and through his own body.

It had been enough.

Misó was forced out of his trion-made body and his glass-like eyes started to show his true feelings to the world.

.

"Aw~ Was that punishment~? I took the emotions away from that body but I could still feel the pain~ Aw~ It's leaving a tingling feeling~ Ah! I think this kind of feeling is enough for me to ejac-"

"Shut up already. I'm holding back as it is. I don't want to be pushed to the point of doing something I'll regret later on."

Misó looked up at the figure that was now standing before him.

He saw his former captain standing there, Kōgetsu in hand and scowl on his face.

"This pain... Aaaaaahhhhhhh! Truly great! Please, captain, give me more! That glare is truly wonderful from someone like you~! It means I've done everything right~!"

Oshiro lifted his blade above his head.

His eyes looked as dull as Misó had been when he was fighting against the Border agents.

"Hogo-dono, stop!"

Kanzaki was the one who shouted.

She ran forward to stop the B-Rank agent from taking any regrettable actions.

"...!?"

Before he could attack, Oshiro felt something.

He looked down to see a Kōgetsu blade piercing the area where his heart would be. In this case, it was piercing his trion supply.

That only meant...

Bail Out

Misó watched with wide eyes as his former captain turned into light before flying off in the direction of the Border base.

"Hey! Sekai! Why did you send him off!? I would have gotten so much more-"

"That's about enough."

Misó turned his head to see a hole open up in the air behind him.

Another two blade holes appeared in front of him and made Sekai jump back so he wouldn't get hit.

Standing in the large hole in the air was a woman with red hair that had a black sphere hovering above the palm of her hand.

"You're lucky. We need you for information, so we'll just be taking you back with us."

"Huh~? But Mira-"

"Oh. And make sure you have that on you for the rest of time. I'm saying this so we make sure you don't get yourself killed when we get back."

As she spoke, the Neighbor with red hair pointed to the arm that had his Trigger on it.

Misó let out a sigh as he stood up.

He looked at his arm and took a step into the hole.

As it started to close he turned back to the three Border agents.

"Tell my former captain that I had fun with him~ I'm sure he'll be thrilled~ Oh, and one last bit of info for the people who took such good care of me."

As the hole in the air started to close, he looked back to face them properly.

"If you end up being 'greeted', make sure you take them up on their offer. It'll be more fun that way."

That was all the three Border agents heard before the hole closed completely.

There was a moment of silence.

The one to break it was Sekai, who had let out a sigh.

"Alright. That's about as much as we can do. As things stand now, there isn't much we can really do at the moment. The final opponents aren't ones close-range fighters can really deal with. Hah. And before you say anything, I have a feeling that even with your Viper you wouldn't do much, Minoru."

"Thanks for the support."

"I'm just saying how it is. Your real skill is Chameleon and close-ranged combat. Hah. That means it's best for you not to go either."

Letting out another sigh, Sekai looked over at Kanzaki.

"Kanzaki, once this invasion is over, I have something to talk to you about."

"Oh?"

Wisteria: "Looks like Kanzaki did it."

Yuki nodded his head as the news reached him.

Kanzaki had been fighting against the traitor of Hogo Squad and both he and Mei had been told by Kimura that the fight had finally ended once Minoru and Sekai came into the fight. They had defeated Misó, but had not managed to capture him.

White Fox: "Looks like one of the Neighbors had come along to take him away. The one who had also taken the one Yōsuke and the others fought."

Wisteria: "That one will become a problem. I would like to deal with them, but considering everything we know - which is little - that may be too difficult."

White Fox: "Yeah, that sounds about right. There's also..."

Yuki looked over as he ran forward.

The amount of time Mei had left on this battlefield was short, so there was no wasting time. But there was still the main issue of their opponent.

The Neighbor woman in front of them had changed tactics to a more sturdy defense while keeping her distance. A clear sign that she was also waiting things out.

"Looks like that asshole Misó lost. Tch. Pathetic idiot. What did he even get done while he was here? I would have preferred to keep the other one around then him."

She was speaking to herself, but both Yuki and Mei could hear her words as she moved back.

Rocks appeared in their visions before both cut through the rocks that had yet to detonate.

White Fox: "These Neighbors really have some annoying Triggers, don't they?"

Wisteria: "This is coming from you of all people."

That was fair.