The three remaining Tsukiko Squad members continued with their high speed on the rooftops.
They were rushing into the final battłe of the invasion.
They had their orders from their captain; they would carry out their orders to the best of their abilities and assist where they were needed.
Leading the trio was Kotowari Takeshi.
"Since HQ is currently unsafe, Suzume-senpai, you should find a good spot to snipe. Toby, when we get to the spot, go all out from the beginning and get rid of the new models. Even if we need to defeat the enemies, remember that the C-Ranks' safety is also important. We have to make sure that no more gets captured."
"Right!"
"And Suzume-senpai, if another humanoid appears, we'll need you to find their Rhythm as fast as you can. Even if there will be A-Ranks there, that doesn't mean we'll have the advantage."
"That's fine and all but... What's with that honestly weird flying fish?"
"Flying fish?..."
Looking over, Takeshi saw a large amount of fish speeding down in one direction and found the source to be a single man.
"Another one..."
Trion orbs quickly appeared by Takeshi's head, letting out beams of light that branched out and went to split up before going for the man.
The man spared a short glance at the beams before a wall of fish surrounded him.
The three watched in shock as cubes of trion fell to the ground at the man's feet while a clunk.
Suzume, who already had Bagworm on, quickly jumped behind a building so that she would not be seen by the new opponent.
Takeshi and Toby made their way over to the crowd of people and landed just in time to see Midorikawa Bail Out and Yoneya get punched away.
Izumi was still standing there, looking back at the two new arrivals.
.
"Kotowari, Awdry! I thought I recognized that move."
"Izumi-san, what's going on right now?"
"Right now, we need to deal with this Exciting Animal Bastard. You're perfect for the job."
"Right. Toby, go help Torimaru-senpai out." Takeshi saw someone from the corner of his eye and looked over. "Mikumo?"
"Hey, Megane-kun, take the girl and run!"
A cube of trion appeared in front of Izumi and spilt up into smaller cubes.
"Hound!"
"Asteroid."
While Izumi shot out his trion bullets at the oncoming birds, Takeshi shot out his laser-like beams.
The attacks from the Shooters quickly turned into cubes of trion and landed in the ground with a soft thud. The only difference was that the beams from Takeshi were relentless and continued to take down one bird after another.
Honest Sister: "Take, look at your feet!"
Hearing the Sniper's voice yell at him, Takeshi did as he was told and quickly jumped up as lizards walked onto the ground he was standing on.
Izumi wasn't so lucky and lost the use of his legs, making him fall to the ground.
"High firepower. Nuanced trion control. Befitting of one who exchanged fire with Ranbanein," the man said as he walked closer to Izumi.
Just as Takeshi was about to let out more beams, he saw Mikumo off to the side with a large cube of trion in front of him.
The glasses-wearing boy shot out a large number of Asteroid towards the humanoid Neighbor. The attack didn't do much since they were quickly turned into cubes that fell to the ground.
What the hell was he thinking?
The orbs let out more beams as Takeshi saw birds start going for Mikumo and Amatori.
"...Then this."
The beams clashed with the birds again along with the small dust-like shots Mikumo had let out. This caused a chain explosion that made it hard for Takeshi to see what was going on.
When he could see through the smoke again...
"Damn..."
Amatori was turned into a cube.
While he was a little shocked by that, Takeshi regained his composure and let out more laser-like beams that stopped the next round of birds.
They were not the only things to hit the birds as Izumi's shorts also hit.
"Don't just sulk there, idiot."
"Megane-kun, you can save her if you get her to the base!"
The two could see that Mikumo was thinking and regaining his own composure. He seemed to gain his resolve and stand up with the cubed Amatori under his arm.
"I'm going to the base! I need cover fire, please!"
The orbs were back by Takeshi's side and a cube of trion was by Izumi's side. The two got ready to let out a barrage of bullets and beams to cover for their fellow Shooter.
"I gotta score a return hit on this guy or it won't sit right with me."
Takeshi ignored the comment from Izumi and focused more on attacking and keeping track of Mikumo.
From atop a building, Takeshi could see some of the Rabbits going towards Mikumo at a high speed.
Honest Sister: "Leave the flying one to me."
Werewolf: "I'll distract the one Shun freed up!"
From some direction, a shot was fired that easily destroyed one of the Rabbit's core, making it fall to the ground.
Another Rabbit was stopped when it had to block an attack from two hard blades created by an agent.
That left the last one.
One that was able to fire a laser beam.
"Crap. I have to keep this guy at bay..."
Wisteria: "Takeshi-kun, see if you can spare one to help Mikumo-kun."
"Easier said than done, Mei-san. This guy is a hassle by himself."
Takeshi let out a sigh as changed the direction of one of the beams to where Mikumo was.
"Gimlet."
As he let out the laser-like beam, a powerful shield came between Mikumo and the Rabbit in front of him, letting the beam piece through the Rabbit and not hit the other B-Rank.
After that, one of the orbs disappeared.
Damn. I'm really using up my trion here…
Toby got between Mikumo and Replica in time to stop them from getting hit by a punch from the Rabbit and was able to stall it long enough for Suzume to get a shot in and destroy its core.
"You okay, Osamu?" Toby asked with his back to Osamu. "And what's that black robot thing?"
"I'm fine, thanks to you and Kotowari. And this is Replica. He's on our side."
"I figured that when he defended you. Nice to meet you, Replica. Too bad our meeting couldn't be on better grounds."
"[Agreed. And thank you for helping out Osamu.]"
"You guys are headed for HQ, right? Mind some company? I'll be your personal bodyguard."
"Ah! That would be really appreciated!"
"That cool with the rest of you? I know I was supposed to stay and help, but... This guy really needs me."
Honest Sister: "Yeah. Just make sure to actually protect him."
Colors: "Just go. Suzume-senpai, I need you to focus on the guy now."
Honest Sister: "Sure thing. And make sure Chika-chan gets well too."
Toby turned around and gave Osamu a thumbs up.
"I was given the ok. Now, let's go."
With that, the three started to leave while the battle continued.
They made sure to stay out of direct sight of the humanoid Neighbor with the strange Trigger. Running the risk of being taken out by those birds was something none of them wanted.
As they ran, Mikumo looked over at Replica.
"Replica, if you're here... Is Kuga going to be alright!?"
"[He will be just fine. I will prioritize your and Chika's rescue. It is what Yuma decided for himself.]"
"Kuga...!"
"[Hurry. According to Jin... The future crossroads hinge on whether you and Chika get to the base.]"
"Good news is that Mei told me that Suwa Squad was able to lock the HQ Raging Neighbor in a training room. That place is currently safe, and as long as I'm here, you'll make it to your destination."
"All right! Let's go!"
"Why is this guy so annoying?"
"Just focus on stopping those attacks."
Both Izumi and Takeshi continued to counter each attack made on them.
Seeing that birds were getting nowhere, the man changed the animal forms into bees. They sped towards the two in different directions and were almost completely stopped by the shots fired at them.
The few that managed to slip past Izumi's shots were quickly gone by Takeshi's beams.
"What's wrong? Weren't you going to pay me back?"
"Don't play it cool, Exciting Animal Bastard. I'm starting to figure it out," Izumi retorted. "I'm guessing your Trigger... Only works against trion. Meteora!"
Explosive shots were fired at the buildings around, making Takeshi jump down next to Izumi to avoid being collateral.
The buildings and surrounding poles started to fall on the man, making dust fly into the air.
This battlefield is left to Suzume-senpai, while Mikumo is left to Toby... Damn it all.
Takeshi could see the man walking up to them through the dust and let out a sigh.
"Attacks without trion." He looked at the two. "Good idea, but... It would take more rubble than that to bury me."
"Sheesh... I wish there were more buildings on this block... Just kidding."
From three different directions, shots were fired, going right through the man's defense and taking part of his side and part of his leg.
"What!?"
Looks like it worked.
Takeshi and Izumi stared down their opponent as they saw the holes that were made in him by the Snipers.
The shot continued from not only Tsukiko Squad's Sniper, but from the roof of the Border Headquarters as well. The shots were blocked, but did a good job at taking out some of the defenses.
This opened up more areas for Izumi and Takeshi to land their own attacks.
"All right. Let's see who has more stamina."
Two cubes of trion formed in Izumi's hands.
"Asteroid!" the two said as they attacked.
.
The shots and laser-like beams were let out and hit the fish moving around. Like before, this left cubes of trion falling to the ground, but also let some spots open for the snipers.
The snipers gladly took the opening and were able to get Hairein's arm twice and part of his leg.
If the Snipers got the fish then the Shooters would be allowed to hit.
If the Shooters got the fish then the Snipers would be allowed to hit.
Facing this kind of attack proved to be the main issue for Hairein at the moment with many long-ranged attacks coming from multiple angles.
He had been able to easily handle any close range fighters and managed to take out Izumi's legs, but having both Izumi and Takeshi firing relentless shots and laser-like beams while also having to block any sniper shots from snipers seemed to be a bit difficult.
.
"They can hit him!? Our snipers are unbelievable!" Izumi grinned from his spot on the ground.
"That goes without saying."
Takeshi saw that his opponent seemed to be talking to someone and let out more beams.
Can't let him contact his comrades...
It took a few seconds for the two Shooters to notice that now only one shot was being fired by the Snipers.
That meant...
"They took out the Snipers."
"Not all of them. One is still on the move and she can take care of herself."
Another shot was fired, taking a part of Hairein's other leg.
"Oh yeah. I forgot about her."
"A single sniper is left... You two think you've won, right?"
The two Shooters watched in mild shock and irritation as strings started coming out of the cubes of trion on the ground. The strings started to gather in the egg-shaped Trigger Hairein had been holding and using.
All of the injuries his trion body had healed up.
"You fought well. Though it was a wasted effort."
Hairein looked down at Izumi then up at Takeshi.
"Hey now, isn't that a bit too much? Using that kind of cheat is against the rules isn't?"
One more...
"Begone."
"Gimlet."
Multiple fish started coming out of the egg-like Trigger once more.
The remaining trion orbs that Takeshi frequently used surrounded the Neighbor leader and fired a single laser-like beam each. Each laser-like beam started to have another laser-like beam branch out until it seemed like a barrage.
Trion limit Exceeded. Bail Out.
The barrage of laser-like beams turned into cubes of trion that fell to the floor without doing anything to the Neighbor leader.
Hairein watched as the two Shooters sped off to the Border Headquarters in flashes of light.
"Too bad. They would have been useful if captured."
"Sorry, Yuki-senpai. I wasn't able to help out as much as planned."
Takeshi gave a bow before heading over to stand behind Mei's chair.
"It's fine, Take-kun. And he's asleep right now, so try and keep quiet," Mei answered as she kept her eyes on the screens and hands on the two keyboards. "Suzume is still out there, and now we know that he can absorb any of the Trion cubes left around."
"Toby, make sure Mikumo makes it there. There won't be anyone to help you out. If you need to, just Bail Out and stay out of the way."
Werewolf: "I know. I wasn't planning on anyone helping. Besides, unlike you, I have a good amount of trion left. You see, I'm actually skilled when it comes to these kinds of things."
"After this, I'm gonna kick your ass and blast you full of holes."
Werewolf: "You can try~~ It'll be at least entertaining."
"Both of you, stop. Takeshi, you just go relax and watch Torimaru at work."
"Huh? He's using that?"
Takeshi fixed his scarf as he leaned on the chair.
I guess I don't have anything else to do.
200 seconds until Bail Out. Begin countdown.
It was not too hard for Karasuma Kyōsuke of the Tamakoma Branch to dodge the punch from the large Rabbit near him and slice the head, bringing it down.
"Yoneya-senpai, the escaping trainees are heading to the base via a detour. Several agents that got cubified are on the street. Can you retrieve and protect them? I won't be able to go help them anymore."
"Okay. After you Bail Out. Let me have some fun too. I'd hate to pass up a Black Trigger."
"Roger. Stick with me for three minutes."
Karasuma had speed on his side, so he used it.
He ran forward with the intent to land a strike on Hairein. He was not arrogant enough to go for a single finishing blow, so a few strong hits was his best option.
Hairein saw the attacking coming and released more fish from the egg-shaped Trigger floating in the palm of his hand.
"-!?"
The fish seemed to have hit something as they fell to the ground as cubes of trion instead of chasing Karasuma as intended.
Karasuma looked forward to seeing threads fall to the ground after having lost parts of them from the fish.
That was Kanzaki-san, wasn't it?
As he looked off to see the girl moving past them, he noticed that more flying fish had come out towards him.
The released fish were fast, making Karasuma react while using his momentum to his advantage.
Karasuma jumped from a building, to a pole, to the ground, and continued to dodge and cut buildings down to try and bury his opponent. None this seemed to work as Hairein just moved out of the way from all the falling buildings.
But that's not all he had to dodge.
Seeing that the Neighbor was distracted by Karasuma, Yoneya used this chance to launch some broken concrete at the opponents head. This helped to scatter the fish that was around him.
Likewise, from her hidden spot, Suzume took another shot and got a hit on his leg again.
Seeing his chance, Karasuma got behind Hairein with his blade ready to strike. He made the attack, but noticed something when he made contact.
His sword was missing the end of it.
Looking ahead, he saw small bees under Hairein's cloak.
He jumped back to dodge the swarm of bees headed for him.
Less than a minute left. A little longer and Osamu will...
Karasuma tried to come up with something to do about the current situation. He knew that sooner or later they would get to Suzume as well, making it that much harder with no long range support.
"Captain Hairein."
Both Border agents went wide eyed when they saw a portal open up next to the Neighbor and a woman was shown to be the one who opened said portal.
The wormhole woman! Isn't she fighting Narasaka right now?
The man stepped into the portal with a final glance at Karasuma.
Apparently the two had been talking about something and came to a conclusion.
"I will stall them no longer."
The portal started to close up as Karasuma rushed forward once more.
Karasuma felt something hit his back and turned to see another portal behind him with fish coming out of it.
He started to turn into a cube of trion like everything else had once they touched the animals that came out of the egg-shaped Trigger.
"Skilled. A well thought out plan. You have the power to fight. But the outcome...was decided beforehand."
One shot.
The portal started to close.
Before it could...
"I refuse that outcome!"
Multiple wires came from a direction and shot towards the closing portal.
Before it could close, the wires wrapped around Hairein to pull him out by force.
The portal was forced wide open as Hairen was tossed to the side by the one pulling the wires.
"If our fate is to lose to you... I will save those who have resigned themselves to that fate!"
.
Kanzaki knew that what she was doing was even more reckless than her previous fight.
Misó had been someone she could fight due to his attacks being completely physical ones that she could cut.
This was different. The attacks could not be cut and the opponent was much more skilled in using his Trigger than the other one was.
Even so, there was a small chance that she could stall out for everyone else to move where they need to be. After all...
Spider works wonders when used correctly. Only a few other people can use it like this, and I believe they are not on the battlefield.
Each wire could easily be turned into a cube of trion from this man's attack. At the same time, those animals made of trion could not touch her directly due to the use of wires.
"You seem like someone who could hold their own if we actually fought. Another pity. I have no time for you right now. You will have to excuse me."
Kanzaki reacted quickly to those words by using more wires to wrap around the man before anything else could happen.
They did not reach.
Pieces of the wires turned into cubes of trion that fell to the ground with thuds.
The man in front of her started to sink into the ground.
No...
He was falling into one of the portals.
She did not even have a chance to stall the man.
Toby, Replica, Mikumo, and the cubed Amatori continued to make their way to the Border base while staying alert in case an enemy came from somewhere.
"[Torimaru Bailed Out.]"
Mikumo and Toby looked at Replica as they continued to run to the Border Headquarter.
Mikumo looked a bit surprised at the news while Toby only clicked his tongue and muttered a few things under his breath in English.
"[About 100 meters until our goal, the base.]"
It was only a second after Replica had said that that the three slid to the stop.
Something was on a nearby roof.
More accurately, it was someone.
"[This is the final obstacle. Let's push our was through, Osamu, Toby.]"
The three hid behind a building and went over what their plan was going to be.
Deciding it was best to let Toby hold off the opponent, they got ready to run with Replica sending a small clone of himself ahead of them.
That was when they saw some birds flying towards them.
Thinking quickly, Replica put up a shield - that quickly got turned into a cube - as Mikumo and Toby jumped back.
"A cubing Trigger!"
"[Torimaru said that those bullets only work on Trion.]"
Damn! I'm only good at dodging long range attacks like these when the pressure is really put on! That's not mentioning this guy is putting so much pressure on me by beating Take, Kōhei, and Kyōsuke!
Toby clicked his tongue as he thought about how his Side Effect seemed rather useless in situations like these.
"If we use the buildings as cover..."
"[That would take too long.]"
Replica turned to one of the buildings and made an entry way for them all to go through.
"[This way.]"
"You guys can go. My job is to keep any enemies at bay for you," Toby said as he brought out a blade.
Wisteria: "No. Go with them, Toby-kun."
Thinking it was better to talk while running, he followed the two into the building.
"But Mei-"
Wisteria: "It's fine. Someone is headed your way to help. Not only that, but a certain someone is close by as well."
"Who!?"
"[We should proceed through the buildings. They will not see us from above either. Be careful not to get locked in.]"
Hairein was as calm as ever. He did not worry about his opponents or that he still had to get through the glasses-wearing agent and the hat-wearing agent.
They would both fall and be defeated in no time at all.
"Mira. Leave it to the Rabbits there and come down. It shouldn't take much longer."
"Oh-ho~! What shouldn't take much longer, exactly? Keeping secrets from a teacher isn't welcomed, you know? By the way, you're targeting one of my students and his friends, right? No can do."
Something flew past Hairein's head, scattering the fish around him.
He turned around just in time to get a hard punch to the face that sent him smashing to the ground and creating a crater.
On the building Hairein once was stood Akasora Chishi. He was no longer in his trion body outfit; instead he wore his regular clothing. What was more, he now wore a black bracelet that seemed to just float around his wrist like the rings of Saturn.
"I'm sure you can guess that I'm here more to stall you than actually beat you."
He lifted his arm and looked at the bracelet at his wrist.
"I haven't used this thing in a while, so I doubt I could actually beat you before you got any back-up. Lucky you, right? If it was my nephew though... Let's just not go there, okay?"
Another Black Trigger? How did we not know about this?
"That's because only a handful of people actually knew this one existed. It's not been in use for a long while, and I made sure Masafumi kept it off any records. That means that even that traitor Misó couldn't know about it."
Akasora saw Hairein narrow his eyes a little and smirked.
"It's ability isn't telepathy or anything. It's just written all over your face. You're actually a pretty easy guy to read, you know?
"If you had a Black Trigger then why wait this long to use it? You could have saved-"
"True, true. But, you see, the thing is that this little Trigger is a bit...difficult, in that it's actually made up of three parts. Each part was given to different people, so I needed to drag myself all around to find the last two people. It didn't help that one of them was my B-Rank nephew who had been trying to get away from one of your soldiers with the others."
"..."
"Speaking of which..."
Akasora glared down at his opponent with a look that made Hairein unconsciously move back a little.
It took him by surprise that a simple look could manage to make him move back. The feeling he had when getting hit had started to build up. It was not fear, but it was something that could have easily led into that.
He was intimidated.
"I need to pay you back for all of this."
Not wasting any more time talking, Akasora jumped from the buildings and, with a powerful kick, rushed at Hairein at a high speed.
He's faster than the last one!
It did not take a speedometer to know that the speed Karasuma had been going when facing this opponent was nothing compared to what Akasora was doing.
It was a bit difficult to tell if the fish could keep up with him or not.
.
Already having information on his current opponent, Akasora kicked up some rocks and made sure to use them to mess up the fish floating around.
That was when the bracelet started to glow a faint color as a sort of beam of trion appeared in the air. The beam started to form what looked like a blade.
Once it was done glowing, Akasora held a trion sword in his hand that looked like it was around two meters long with no hilt.
Akasora ran forward with his body low to the ground.
Before he got within striking range for his blade, he noticed movement from underneath Hairein's cloak and reacted accordingly.
He twisted his foot and spun around as if twirling.
He used his momentum from his speed and spin to move in before any sort of animals could be made to sever one of Hairein's arms. With that same motion he pushed off the ground and jumped back in order to dodge the flock of trion-made birds heading for him.
The bracelet now started to glow a faint shade of pink.
Akasora tightened his fist and ran up to a nearby pole.
He punched the pole, making it fall to the ground. He grabbed the pole and threw it at Hairein.
The attack missed its target, but it was enough to distract Hairein for a few seconds.
Akasora jumped up into the air. He went for a heel drop and saw some fish headed towards him.
The bracelet glowed yellow before a yellow wall appeared under his feet and turned into cubes as the fish came in contact with it.
The glowing completely stopped, giving Akasora the chance to go right through them all and straight for his actual target.
Or that was the plan at least...
The teacher went wide eyed when a hole opened in front of Hairein and took Akasora in it.
Damn! Too late!
.
Hairein watched as the man he had been fighting was sent to a different location.
The entire time he had been feeling a strange sense of intimidation that did not stop building up. The man had been moving smoothly into each attack and had managed to incorporate everything around him into his attacks.
That would have been to be expected if not for how they seemed to have come in contact with any of the other Miden fighters.
It was all too natural for him to do something like that. Then there was his Black Trigger.
There had been many Black Triggers that had different effects, but this one had been different. The abilities had all been different ones with nothing correlating between them. Then there had been the fact that it was split between three parts instead of it being a single object.
It was new.
And yet...
Those Wanderers could also come up with something.
There had been a strange group who had shown themselves before that could definitely do something odd like that.
But now was not the time for those thoughts, he knew.
Holding himself up, he faced his comrade as he began to walk into the wormhole she had created.
"Let's go, Mira."
"Yes."
Wisteria: "Be careful you three. Akasora-sensei got warped somewhere. The enemy will now be targeting you again."
"What!? It hasn't even been that long!"
Toby let out a sigh as he and Mikumo ran through another house while Replica floated by them.
Colors: "Just make yourself useful and be a distraction for Mikumo, would you?"
"What!? (Screw you!)"
"[We'll reach the base in four or five more houses.]"
The three stopped when they saw a hole open up and multiple fish come through it. Not thinking too long on the matter, they went to a different room, but did not notice the trap laid out for them.
The two humans ended up stepping on jellyfish that turned their legs into jelly. They quickly destroyed a wall and landed on the street.
"[Get up. Just a little further. I'm done analyzing the door.]"
"Well then let's go for one last rush."
"[Not good. The other humanoid showed up. She has a Black Trigger that makes wormholes...and is staking out the entrance.]"
The three heard a thud and turned to see Hairein standing there with birds flying around him with no injuries to be seen.
Toby quickly cut his jelly-leg off before standing in front of Mikumo and Replica with another Scorpion in hand.
"[Either we shove her out of the way and force our way into the base...head to another entrance...or run away and wait for Yūma or Jin to arrive. We cannot fight them.]"
While Replica continued to speak, Toby had something else on his mind.
If Mr. Akasora was the 'someone,' then who is the 'certain someone'?
Footsteps could be heard coming up from behind them.
Acting quickly, Toby turned his body half-way around to see that the one coming up with the 'certain someone' that Mei had mentioned.
"I've confirmed the target... I'll handle it."
"Shūji!"
"Feh... You insist on using me! Jin!"
"Miwa-senpai... Please... Take Chika! She's a trainee on my squad who's been cubified! We'll stop the Neighbor here! Please... Take Chika and save her!"
Toby turned back around while taking a side glance and shook his head. He heard the sound of a kick connecting and let out a small sigh.
"I don't care. Don't depend on others."
"What's this? Aren't you his ally?"
"Shut up, Neighbor. All you need to know is that I'm going to kill you."
Toby jumped back while Miwa moved forward. The former stood in front of Mikumo while keeping his guard up.
"Let's just keep going. We're almost there and I know for a fact that Shūji is probably more than enough to deal with this guy," Toby said a little forcefully. "We don't have time to watch this fight."
"R-right!"
Mikumo turned around and started to make his way to the base once again.
"But he's going one-on-one with a Black Trigger!"
"Osamu, remember that he has his Lead Bullets. Even if he didn't, he'd still be fine. Don't forget; he's A-Rank for a reason."
"[That's right. The enemy's shots...are shaped like animals, but are not solid.]"
"Exactly. Since they aren't solid...they can't block the Lead Bullets."
Toby, Mikumo and Replica hid behind a building as they saw a hole in front of the entrance. They noticed that it was linked to the Neighbor ship.
Toby held a Scorpion blade, ready for an attack to come from just about anywhere.
He was right to do so too.
Three small holes opened up behind them. It took only a second for needles to come out of each one.
Mira appeared through a fourth hole in the air.
"Target acquired."
Toby was quick enough to block two of the needles but found that he could not defend the Shooter from the third. Instead, he took the hit.
The three moved away from the spot so that they were not just sitting targets.
Replica used Bolt to distract Mira while Toby and Mikumo moved to the side.
"[Don't go out in the open. She will strike you with those spikes.]"
"Damn it! All this pressure is just stacking onto one another! Why couldn't you stay, Take!?"
"Resign yourselves to your fate," the Neighbor said as she appeared in front of them. "Futile resistance annoys me."
"And people who hurt and go after my friends annoys me."
Toby stood in front of Mikumo as he got ready to attack.
Toby lowered his stance and held the Scorpion blade in a reverse grip with his left hand while letting his right arm dangle down.
That was just for show, though, since a black Rabbit had appeared behind Mira to try and land a punch. When it missed its initial strike, it went for another.
Small holes opened up in the air around it, each shooting out a spike. The spikes didn't seem to have much effect on it, other than making a few small cracks in its armor.
Toby used the chance to teleport behind the Neighbor with his Scorpion ready to strike.
He saw a hole open up and turned his gaze to teleport again. He jumped up to try and land a hit, but it failed again.
Each time he tried to land a hit on the woman, another hole would open up.
Thanks to his Side Effect he had been able to dodge each one, although that did not mean he managed to land a hit.
Seeing an opening at last, he rushed forward on his one foot. He prepared to teleport in need, but the way she had been facing the black Rabbit would have been enough.
So he moved forward.
With Scorpion in his hand, he leaped into the air.
Just in time to see a needle come horizontally from the side.
The opening he had seen had been intentional.
Now that he was already in action, he could not move.
"...!?"
But he still felt his body move.
It had not been in response to the needle. Responding to that would do nothing and his body knew that. Instead, his body responded to something else altogether.
A shot. From the distance, a shot had been fired. With his Side Effect, his body began to move so that he would not get hit by the shot. His leg moved a bit more forward, lifting until it was above the needle.
Using his raised leg, he stepped on the needle and threw himself back.
He used the needle as a springboard, sending himself back to stand next to Mikumo.
"Damn it. This woman's really irritating. I can't get anywhere, even with Teleport."
"[Calm down. If you rush in without much of a plan, she'll send you far away. Osamu, stay close to the Rabbit or she'll-]"
Time seemed to slow down for a few seconds as Toby and Mikumo turned their heads to see Replica get sliced in half by a needle coming from a new hole.
"Like I said... Futile resistance annoys me."
A hissing sound filled the air.
.
The Neighbor moved slightly to the side as a shot went right past her and hit the ground in front of Toby.
The black Rabbit went for another punch as Mikumo picked up one half of Replica.
The two ran and hid.
They heard a crash and looked over to see Hairein come crashing through a building. Some birds could be seen flying towards the black Rabbit and turning its arm into cubes of trion.
"They're just taking it apart piece by piece!"
"[Hold on.]"
A small cord came from Replica and went to the three magnets stuck in Mikumo's arm.
"[I removed the tracking beacon.]"
"Replica! Are you all right!?"
"[I switched to auxiliary systems. Most functions have terminated. But I can still open the entrance to the base.]"
"Okay... One real final rush, right? I'll be the shield while Osamu gets you to the door."
"[Yes, but... I'm not done analyzing the entrance yet. It will take about 20 seconds to open the door. Osamu will have to evade attacks in the meantime while you defend us, Toby.]"
"20 seconds, huh? I can do that. Yeah, I can totally do that. If I can't do that much, I can't face Step the next time I see him..."
"[I have an idea.]"
"We're ready to listen. Just tell us what to do and we'll do it."
"[It will take 20 seconds to open the door even if we make it to the base. It will be difficult for me to defend you and Chika for 20 seconds the way I am. Even if we have Toby protect you two for that time, he is at a big disadvantage and mostly likely will last for 10 seconds. But a Neighbor system I will be able to analyze and override instantly.]"
"Hey now... You don't really plan to..."
"[Yūma is on his way. But it will take him some time. We will not be able to escape if Miwa is defeated. The choice is up to you. But if you want to enact that plan...do it while Miwa is fighting.]"
Toby glanced over to see Mikumo let out a sigh and steal his resolve.
He let out his own sigh.
He was fine with going along with any plan they came up with. Whether he was a decoy, a main fighter, or even a wall; he would do everything he could to make sure that Mikumo and Amatori made it to the base.
That being said...
"Suzume, thanks for the shot earlier, but why aren't you out helping right now?"
Honest Sister: "I'm busy with something, what are you honestly talking about? I didn't send anything to you."
"Then who did...?"
Suzume was unable to give her answer.
"Now...!"
The two ran behind the black Rabbit.
Toby and Mikumo saw more birds headed towards them before the black Rabbit blocked the birds for them.
Part of the core had been cubified from the attack, making it fall to the ground.
Small holes appeared just above the two with spikes coming out of them.
Not all of them hit though as Toby was able to push Mikumo forward enough to where they just got his leg.
Seeing more birds go for them, Toby put up a Shield to protect Mikumo before getting hit by some birds himself.
Not done!
Before he was forced to Bail Out, Toby turned his head to where Mira was. He appeared to her right and managed to bring out a Scorpion blade to land a cut on her side.
"Bail out!"
.
Some of the birds had made it past some opening in the shield and made their way to the immobilized Mikumo.
"Trigger off!"
With that shout, Mikumo exited his trion body to run through the spikes as well as the birds that could no longer touch him.
He ran straight for the entrance with a cube of trion under one arm and one half of Replica in the other.
He could see Hairein now running at him, forcing him to add an extra step to his run.
Just before he could the entrance, multiple holes opened up in the air above him.
"Move it!"
Multiple spikes came from the holes, yet most could not reach the body under them due to the two bodies that had suddenly come from the sides. The two bodies twisted their arms to cut through the remaining spikes with their blades as they were bombarded by multiple birds.
"Ah~ This was the real reason our captain sent us here~ Bail out!"
"This is fine with me."
With solid noises, the two Hikigane Squad members who had made it outside turned into light before flying into the air.
But there was still something to do.
"[Osamu. Throw me!]"
Just as Replica spoke, three holes opened up for only a few seconds, piercing through Mikumo's side and legs.
Multiple shots could be heard coming from the top of the Border base, as well as from some distant area that they could not see.
The shots continued to rain down on Hairein, getting rid of the fish around him. The fish could only protect him for so long as countless wires came from nowhere, wrapping around the rest of the fish and turning them into cubes of trion.
Hairein thought he would be able to get to Mikumo before the shots to get him and did not notice the streaks of green on the ground.
"!?"
Slashes from the ground came up and sliced him up.
"!?"
More powerful shots hit their target, completely destroying the Neighbor leader.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
Mikumo used all his might to throw Replica into the hole and into the Neighbor ships.
"[Infiltration complete.]"