Slick Girl: "Welcome to the second round of the B-Rank Wars. I will be your commentator for this match. I am Hiyami from Ninomiya Squad. With me today is Suzaku Kasumi from Suzaku Squad and Ema Yuzuru from Kageura Squad."

Yuzu: "Hello."

Umi: "Hey."

Slick Girl: "This match will be featuring Kotowari Squad, Nasu Squad, and Kakizaki Squad. After having lost and scoring no points in their last match, Kotowari Squad has been pushed down to the mid-tier group."

Umi: "That was a rather harsh reminder that Yucchi was what held their squad together. Without him around, I doubt they will be able to do much."

Yuzu: "They have a slim chance. If Misaki-senpai and Awdry can work together, they should be able to score some points. They managed it in their last match. Well... As much as they could that is."

Slick Girl: "Kakizaki Squad's usual style of fighting is to group up and attack together. If they do that here then it would give them a bit of an advantage against Awdry, who can't work too well under extreme pressure."

Umi: "Word around the base is that his father has come here to sponsor Border. That might also be putting pressure on him. What's more is that Na-chan is not a pushover as a Shooter. She can also put a good amount of pressure on both him and Kakizaki Squad. If she works with her own squad then they will probably be the squad best off here."

Yuzu: "I have a feeling that Kotowari will be targeting Nasu-senpai. It seems like something he would do."

Umi: "Under the right mindset, that's true. But now... Kotowari is a wild card that no one can trust after their last match."

Slick Girl: "It looks like they are being transported in now. With every fighter being spread out at an even distance, this fight can do either way."

"Is something wrong, Rei?"

Nasu looked up to see her squadmate looking directly at her.

Nasu Squad was about to enter their second round match of the B-Rank Wars against Kakizaki Squad and Kotowari Squad. They understood what they had to do against Kakizaki Squad but were still unsure as how to handle the unstable Kotowari Squad.

I can't tell them that it's nothing. Telling them what Yuki-san had asked of me will also be important here.

Looking at each member of her squad, Nasu started to speak.

"I was just thinking. Yuki-san had asked me to see how Kotowari-kun is really doing in this fight. He had apparently spoken to him after an incident yesterday and wants to see if it had help any."

"So are you going to..."

"Even if he had asked me to do this, I won't be making it my top priority here. I think he understands that. That is why I would like to either take out Kotowari-kun first or last. The former would be best, seeing as how his own squadmates don't seem to be working with him. The latter would give us a nice chance if Kakizaki Squad goes after him as well."

"So assuming we go with the former, we would need to still be mindful of the others. Even if they aren't backing him up, Toby and Misaki will be trying to get points. That means we are still targets for them. If we go for the latter, we would still have to fight those two, as well as rely on Kakizaki Squad to weaken him."

"That is right."

From her position at her computer, Shiki spoke up.

"I think going for him first would be the best option. Regardless of what Tsukiko-senpai asked you to do, Kotowari-kun is currently a major problem. His long-range attacks can be an issue for you all. He can just tear down any obstacles in his way and continue on attacking."

"Even putting him out of the situation, I would be the best option to take on Awdry-kun. His Side Effect is troublesome for Kuma-chan alone. Even if Akane-chan helps, we would need Kakizaki Squad again. Suzu-chan would be the best target for you two without much help."

"How do you want to deal with Kakizaki Squad?"

Nasu looked over each member of each squad, examining everything they knew.

It was no secret that, even if they were currently in the mid-tier rankings, Kotowari Squad had top-tier members. They had been the focus of the conversation, but were not their only opponents.

"Kakizaki Squad likes to keep together and attack as a squad. It is most likely that they will be doing that here as well. If that is the case, I will handle them myself. Akane-chan, you can provide extra offense against them. They will be trying to defend against me, so that should give you some places to shoot."

"Got it!"

Nasu nodded her head at the enthusiasm coming from her young teammate.

That left them to decide on their plan of attack and any back-up plans.

Kakizaki furrowed his brows as he looked over everything concerning Kotowari Squad and Nasu Squad.

His squad, being the lowest ranked, was the one allowed to pick the location and any extra conditions. Having seen the previous match for both squads he found it rather difficult to pick any one location. It had taken his squad's Operator kicking his butt into gear for him to come up with something with his squad.

He had yet to tell any of his squad about the incident concerning Takeshi. Yuki had told both him and Lukas that they could do as they like with what had happened, but he could not bring himself to say anything about it. There was just a feeling that had stopped him from doing so.

Wagner seems to have not said anything either. If he did, it didn't reach the directors. That is both a relief and a worry. Because of what happened, I probably have a major target on my back that Kotowari will be seeking out.

The Laser-Shooter Trigger had been specially made for Takeshi due to reasons unknown. Those reason did not need to be known when the only thing that mattered was knowing what the capabilities of it were. Something that was learned because of that incident was that it would only be getting more dangerous the longer Takeshi was in his current mindset.

Kakizaki looked over the information on Takeshi once more, directing his words towards his teammates.

"This match... We will be continuing with our usual way. Group up as soon as possible. After that, we can take in the others. Nasu's Viper will be trouble to get around, but we should be able to handle it until she is taken out. Disregarding Kotowari... I'm sure Misaki and Awdry will want to get rid of her as soon as possible so that the latter can fight however he wants."

"What are we going to do about Kotowari-kun, Awdry-kun, and Nasu-senpai? Kumagai-senpai and Hiura-chan should be easy enough if we attack them together, and Misaki can only handle close-range fights well."

"The remaining three are major opposites. Awdry-kun is best at close-range combat, but is difficult to hit from a distance. His speed is also something to keep in mind. What's more is that Kotowari Squad all have Teleport."

It was the truth.

If they went with Gunner-type Triggers, Toby would be almost untouchable. If they went with Attacker-type Triggers, they would get cut in a small amount of time. Due to the boy's Side Effect it provided a problem for them to deal with.

"Then there are the Shooters."

The opposite side of that spectrum.

"Nasu with Viper is terrifying in its own right. Then we have Kotowari with his Laser-Shooter. But concerning him..."

Kakizaki took in a breath before continuing to speak.

He knew that he had to say something about Takeshi. It would only help them.

"Kotowari will either be going after me or Nasu."

Teruya, Tomoe and Ui were quick to turn to their leader.

He could see the clear confusion on their faces and responded accordingly.

"Nasu, because she is probably the best against him in this match. And he will probably go after me...because of something that happened the other day with Wagner from Hatohara Squad."

"So..."

"So, I will split off from you guys if we cross Kotowari. I will test out what his target is. If he goes after me then you two will continue on together. If he continues to attack you two, we will take him on as a squad."

It was unlike him, he knew that.

Kakizaki knew that it was going against what he always wanted. Instead of staying with his squad he would be going off alone and leaving to fight.

This opponent was that intimidating for him.

Unlike others, Takeshi would have a focused mind depending on the situation. This meant that he would be able to use that single mindedness to give his squad time to get some points for their squad.

"Right. Let's get started."

There was a terrible silence in the room.

Mei looked over the three Combatants before her. Toby and Suzume seemed ready enough to fight, having already agreed to help each other, while Takeshi stood a good distance away from them.

As soon as they had met up he had said who he would be going after so that his two teammates would not interfere with him.

Yuki had supposedly spoken to Takeshi at some point, that she knew, but she could tell that it had little to no effect on the boy in front of her. This meant that both she and Yuki had tried getting through to the boy.

There has to be some other way to get to him. Even with all the calculations, I can't find a good solution to this. I didn't want to bother Jin with somethings concerning my squad but...

There was no longer a choice.

Jin was the solution to this problem. His foresight and her calculations would lead to a future where this would be resolved. A future where her squad would be happy once more. A future where she did not have to worry about them as much.

Until that time came, she would have to continue to watch the three of them hurt.

She checked the time and saw that it was a minute before they would be transported in for their match.

All she could do was let out a small breath and hope for the best.

Slick Girl: :All the participants have been sent in now. Kakizaki Squad was the squad that chose the area."

Umi: "It looks like they chose an industrial area with no particular conditions. This is both a good and bad choice. They tried to keep everyone in mind, but had to choose between Shooter and Attacker for this."

Yuzu: "They picked the wrong option. They chose this to combat Awdry, giving Nasu-senpai and Kotowari the perfect chance to score points. Even Misaki-senpai is highly likely to score points."

Umi: "If we are talking about a regular match, that would be true. But given everything we know, I like Zaki-san picked the correct location."

Slick Girl: "Could you please elaborate?"

Suzaku nodded his head with a tired expression.

Umi: "With how many obstacles are here, it's perfect. Sniping becomes difficult when the target can hide just as easily as them, and Awdry also has to move around the area just as much as them. If Na-chan fires her Viper at him, even better. If Kotowari tries to destroy those obstacles, he will be an easy target since he would be the starting point of the destruction."

Slick Girl: "So Kakizaki Squad really thought things through for this.

Umi: "They had to if they want to win."

.

"Ma~ The fact they got Yuzuru and Kasumi for this is actually pretty amazing."

"You would think they wouldn't do something like this."

Two girls sat while facing the large screen in front of them.

One was a blonde girl with a more foreign appearance while the other was a black haired girl with a calm expression. The two sat directly under the commentators' seats to watch the fight and hear the comments.

"By the way, why didn't Maya and Kuni want to come watch this?"

"They said they had some other things to do. I didn't ask any further since I feel like it would only lead to trouble."

"Fair point."

Asano Eri looked over a bit to see her teammate wiggling around in her seat.

It was understandable from what she had been told by the American girl.

.

Due to being friends with two members of Kotowari Squad, Shana had watched their first match and had been rather angry at the outcome. The two friends had been unjustly taken out with their third member seeming to go against them.

She had spoken to another one of her American friends at Border - Noah Shor - to get his thoughts on the situation. They had gotten to an agreement that the third American they knew would not lose like that under normal circumstances. That left them with the decision to see if they could help in any way.

That was a rather difficult task when Toby had seemed to be avoiding everything he possibly could.

They had gone to Kitora and found out the reason for that. It had not been because of the fight or the disbandment, instead it was due to his father appearing in Mikado City.

Not knowing what else to do at the time, the two decided to just watch the second round match and see what could happen.

The problem was...

"I can't believe Noah forgot he had defense duty today! We were suppose to keep track of things here!"

"Calm down. I'll be watching carefully here, so you don't have to worry."

"Oh yeah. Why are you here anyway? Do you want to see how Rei does things to get a better understanding?"

"That is one reason. Another reason is because I also want to see the current Kotowari Squad. Even if they lose this match, they will still be in mid-tier. That means there is still a chance we would have to fight them. I want to be prepared for that."

Shana nodded, understanding the reasoning.

She was going to make another comment when she noticed something on the screen.

The fighters were moving.

The moment she appeared on the map, Kumagai started to run in the direction her teammates were located. She noted how the two Snipers in this match were quick to put on their Bagworms while the others were fine without them.

It makes sense. We all want to be prepared for an attack while also being ready for a counter. Using Bagworm would just take up unnecessary trion usage.

As she ran in the direction of her captain, she noticed something interesting on her a Radar.

The spot where she could meet up with Nasu seemed to also be the direction three others were going. They would intersect almost the same moment they all reached their respective teammates.

Seeing where that intersection was she turned on her own Bagworm while continuing to move forward.

Mad Hatter: "Nasu-senpai, I can see Tomoe-kun near you."

"So that means either Kakizaki-san or Teruya are over here."

Viper: "Akane-chan, can you find anyone from Kotowari Squad from your position? Kakizaki Squad will be grouping up right now, so we can wait for a bit to fight them. Finding Kotowari Squad is a top priority here."

Mad Hatter: "I can see Awdry moving around. He's moving in a crazy way though."

"That is probably to deal with Rei's shots. He's using his ability and mobility to counter her. That means we need to-"

Kumagai noticed something from the corner of her eye and created a concentrated shield on the side of her head.

Something smashed into the defense, but was unable to break through.

"Misaki is somewhere in the southern area!"

With the general location of the opposing Sniper being found out it was likely that she would be moving to get away from where she had fired the shot.

Since the shot had come from a good amount of distance it was a clear conclusion that Kumagai would be unable to catch her and initiate a fight. It left her to continue following the line until the intersection.

Viper: "Kuma-chan, see who is closest to you. From what I can see, you would be able to catch up to the person nearest to you before we all intersect. We already know where Tomoe-kun and Awdry-kun are, that isn't an issue at the moment. We need to establish where the rest of Kakizaki Squad is."

She gave a positive response while changing her direction in the slightest of ways.

Whether it was Teruya or Kakizaki, the chances of an even match was assured. So long as it was just the two of them fighting, Kumagai knew that she would be able to handle herself well enough for either Nasu or Hiura to assist.

Kumagai, knowing this all, was still clear in her objective. It was not to fight this opponents, rather, it was to determine who exactly it was. If given the order, or if she asked herself, she would fight them, but that had not been what was told to her.

She had one objective.

.

Kumagai continue to move towards her target in order to determine who exactly it was.

Toby and Tomoe had been found by Hiura while Suzume had already fired a shot at her. That meant the general locations of three opponents were found out. The ones they could not tell for sure were Kakizaki, Teruya and Takeshi.

Mad Hatter: "Kumagai-senpai. Awdry-kun and Tomoe-kun are getting closer to Nasu-senpai over on the other side of the area. It's a bit hard to see from here, but I think I can see Kotowari in the distance. He's more towards you than Nasu-senpai."

After that, Kumagai heard a sound. It was a low but long sound. It resembled like creaking metal and it was accompanied by movement in the western area and the arrival of a terrible smell.

Two sets of smoke began moving upwards as if to block any vision towards the sky. It had been a byproduct of the industrial area that was chosen by their opponents.

...So they will probably be fighting soon.

"Then it's about time we got ready for these fights properly."

Kumagai faced forward while getting into a relatively covered spot. She could see exactly who it was that had been her target.

Teruya was seen running along the road.

Kumagai stood up straight.

"Now, then."

She faced the direction Teruya had ran and started running parallel while staying out of sight.

At that exact moment, that main road cutting east to west through the area was annihilated by a beam of light also running east to west.

It was a direct hit.

Slick Girl: "What an amazing display of power! That beam of light was provided by Kotowari Squad's captain - Kotowari Takeshi. It seems like he is fighting with more of an intent to win this time."

Yuzu: It revealed his position... I don't think he minds that too much."

Umi: "His plan was probably to get a fight started with Kuma and Teruya. It was clear that Kuma was going to just keep distance while following her target. That could lead to a pincer attack by Na-chan and Kuma on both Tomo and Teruya."

Slick Girl: "So he was preserving points by showing Teruya that she was being followed?"

Umi: "I wonder... Yuzuru, what do you make of this?"

Yuzu: "It looks more like Kotowari just wanted them to be distracted. He could have easily taken either one of them out with his shot. A regular defense won't work against him. That is our usual reaction to getting attacked that it would be as simple as waving his hand."

Umi: "You're right. We have seen Kotowari fire off at least five of those lasers before. Attacking two people and taking them out would not be an issue for him."

Slick Girl: "Why would he want them to be distracted instead of going for points?"

Umi: "That is probably because he has a single target right now. I don't know who it is, but he is most likely going for a single person and doesn't want the other fighters to get involved. The best way to get that done is to have them all fight each other while he does his business."

.

"That guy... It really is dangerous to just let him do as he wants."

Lukas Wagner looked at the large screen in front of him with narrowed and calculating eyes.

He had not told anyone other than his squad about what had happened in the hallway. They had agreed to not say anything due to Lukas wanting to watch this match.

His goal was to see if anything had been done with Takeshi when Yuki had come by and taken the boy away.

It was clear to him what was going on. His target was not anyone on Nasu Squad or his own squad. The only other person who had witnessed anything in the hallway had been Kakizaki. Who was currently in a match against Takeshi.

"I will need to speak about what happened before he can really harm someone."

Lukas was about to leave when he heard something.

It was the clear sound of footsteps rushing in his direction.

"We are late! Oh! But it looks like they barely started! Is that not great, Tenryū-kun?"

Lukas looked forward to see a girl with a princess-like appearance and a small boy who covered his eyes standing before him.

The princess-like girl looked directly at him before letting out a quick, "Ah!" It was followed by an apology.

He shook his head as if to say there was nothing to apologize for.

"I did not know you would be here, Wagner-kun. Are you also here to watch Kotowari Squad fight? Or is it for Nasu Squad and Kakizaki Squad? All three squads are truly amazing, so I can understand wanting to see any of them."

What was amazing was how innocent the girl before him seemed to be.

"You could say that I was here to just see how things went. Minoru-nii-san sees Toby as a sort of younger brother, so I wanted to give him some information on this match."

It was not the full truth, but it was not a complete lie. His captain truly did see Toby as a sort of younger brother figure, but it was not because of that reason that he was watching the match.

Taiyōko Hoshi lowered her brows, seeming to see through the half-lie. Her lips went from an upward turn to a small and stretched out "U" shape.

Lukas took a small glance down to see the boy with his eyes covered looking up at him. At some point one of his eyes had come out to look directly at Lukas. His body language showed how small he thought he was while his expressed something else.

This boy really doesn't believe me. He sees right through what I said.

It was an unknown fact to Lukas, but the boy trying to hide behind Hoshi was the new student of one Tsukiko Yuki.

"I see... Well... Would you like to stay with us and watch the rest of the match? I am sure that we can see some fascinating things in this match."

This girl truly was innocent. That was the conclusion Lukas had come to when she was nice enough to not question him about his reasoning for being there.

"I'm sorry. I have to get going now. My squad has defense duty in an hour, so I need to be going."

It was the whole truth.

"Ah. I see. My apologizes for keeping you then."

"Not at all."

With the final words being exchanged, Lukas started for the door once more.

.

He was unsure as to what exactly he had just seen.

The two he was just in front of had seen through him without any moment of hesitation.

The boy in particular seemed to have been judging him for even telling the half-lie in the first place.

It felt much more like he was being examined than having a conversation.

Nasu watched as the two dots rushing towards her location seem to pick up their pace.

She had been told by Hiura that it was Toby and Tomoe, two well off agent when it came to skill. One was an All-Rounder while still being rather young and the other had a Side Effect that could handle a fight against the best of agents.

Hiura had already fired some shots before hand to see if she could score some points. Once she had told Nasu that Toby seemed to be defending the both of them from the shots, Nasu had chosen to fire her own. The distance had been enough to give both time to react in time so they could doge of block the attacks.

That had been when the beam of light tore through the air with little care of the surroundings.

The direction it was sent had been where Kumagai and the other target had been.

"Kuma-chan, are you okay?"

Kuma: "Yeah. The attack missed both of us. The issues that is that Teruya now sees me since they is nothing obscuring us now. I'm not sure I can just bring her over to you, Rei."

"That's fine. We'll be changing plans now. Awdry-kun and Tomoe-kun are headed this way. Akane-chan had said that Awdry-kun is protecting the both of them from attacks. That is probably due to wanting the point for himself."

Kuma: "What!? But Toby should be able to take him out easily by now! How are they still fighting?"

"That is the byproduct of everything that has been going on. Even if Tomoe-kun is just running away, Awdry-kun would normally have no issue catching up with him. That just means we can use all of this to our advantage."

Nasu continued to move through her own area, deciding that they would not be intersecting at any point now.

She would use her chance.

I am sorry, Yuki-san, but I won't have time to check on Kotowari-kun.

"Akane-chan, back up Kuma-chan for the time being. If Suzu-chan tries anything, it's up to you to take her out or defend Kuma-chan against the attack."

Mad Hatter: "Roger!"

"Kuma-chan..."

Kuma: "Yes. I know. Leave it to me."

Kumagai removed her Bagworm while facing forward.

Teruya was now standing in front of her, blade ready for the upcoming battle.

"Yes. I know. Leave it to me."

The unspoken order was clear to her.

She needed to win this fight and make sure that Teruya would not be able to group up with her teammates. Kakizaki Squad was known for their usual tactic of fighting as a whole squad, meaning that was their weakness. They would need to group up to enact that plan.

With their Sniper backing her up, Kumagai knew full well that she would not be lossing the fight.

After all...

I told Rei to leave it to me.

.

Kumagai ran forward with the clear intent to strike first.

She went for Teruya's left, knowing that is where she would be the most vulnerable.

She herself was right handed. Being the one who indicated the attack she would be able to react against any counter or block.

That was exactly what happened as Teruya moved back while snapping her wrist so that he blade moved in a more circular motion. This had a sort of pendulum effect where, due to the initial downward swing, the blade moved faster. Also like a pendulum, the blade started to slow down as it was brought up on the other side. This was countered by using actual force to push the blade up even further.

Kumagai felt her Kōgetsu get pushed up by the opposing one from the side.

Since she had been using both of her arms for the swing of the sword, all the force and power held in the attack was forced up and to the side. It had been a full attack that could not have been changed mid-swing.

Kumagai could see the opposing Kōgetsu already moving towards her face.

There was no time to defend as she had to re-balance herself because of her first attack.

"-!"

She pushed off the ground, moving backwards as opposed to forward, as a single shot went through the two of them. It had been quick enough to where they both knew it came from a Lightning being fired.

Mad Hatter: "Kumagai-senpai, that was from me."

It was good clarification.

The attack had been the only way to protect her from the incoming attack. The direction had been a bit of a random one and the line it followed was between the two girls. Without Hiura telling her it had been to defend, Kumagai would have suspected Suzume of firing the shot.

Knowing that it was her teammate who had fired, Kumagai loosened the grip on her Kōgetsu while moving forward once more.

She took a solid step before pushing off the ground once more. This time she pushed to move forward instead of backwards.

Teruya had still been in the process of balancing herself after having to dodge the sudden attack. When she noticed Kumagai going towards her it forced her to react.

The two Kōgetsu clashed.

Kumagai, using both hands and arms, as well as being the one to attack, pushed against Teruya with enough force to cause her to lean forward. Letting up on the power would give Teruya a chance to slip though while also making Kumagai lose her balance again.

This was similar to continuously pushing down on the end of a tack with a finger instead of using the palm of a hand. It created a pinpoint pressure that left the tack to only travel forward instead of moving to the right or left.

Getting another conformation from her teammate, Kumagai made a sudden change in power.

Kumagai twisted her foot on the ground while pushing herself backwards again.

The sudden change in pressure had caused Teruya to lose her balance once more. Her upper body jumped up and her legs lowered the moment she was freed from the attack.

A quick light soured through the air.

Still trying to gather herself, she spun her moving upper body to the side, forcing her left side to go into the air. The shot fired had hit her left arm while her left leg tried to steady the rest of her.

Kumagai noticed the spin as soon as it happened and created cubes of trion by her side. She fired them off towards the spinning Teruya.

.

Teruya could see the extra shots being fired at her and made a quick decision.

She pushed herself using her right foot while still in a spin.

This made her spin even more while also being launched away from Kumagai, who had to stand behind the shots she had fired or risk getting hit by them herself.

Teruya crashed with the ground which had forced her to stop her spin.

She gave little thought to the crash and started to roll on the ground as a Sniper shots was fired and followed by extra shots from a closer distance.

Sticking out her foot, she pushed herself up and properly moved back and into a sport where the Sniper would not be able to attack her.

I can also fight from a distance. I'm sure they know that already, so why are they pushing me away instead of getting closer to me?

Teruya thought this while preparing for a shoot out instead of a sword fight.

That was when she saw it.

.

Kumagai watched as multiple shots followed a line in the direction of where Teruya was standing.

Each shot seemed to be following a sort of special trajectory that was vastly different from a pre-programmed one that most Viper users followed.

These were Viper shots created by Nasu.

Leave it to Rei to manage this with how little information and time she was given.

Kumagai watched as Teruya desperately tried to handle the Viper shots fired from a great distance.

Once she saw the last of the shots coming in, Kumagai moved forward with her Kōgetsu ready to strike.

This was the chance she needed to score a point.

Kakizaki left the building while checking his surroundings in case of an attack. He wasn't following his usual plan of grouping up with his squad. He was doing the opposite. He was trying to get as far away as he could in order to keep his squad away from Takeshi.

He was on top of a short bridge. There was a train track below it, not a river. It was one of the places where an underground line briefly came above ground.

He watched as the building he left started to fall to the ground after having its supporting pillars destroyed by him. This had been so that he could crush Takeshi under all of the rubble and meet back up with his squad.

There had been no sign of the Laser-Shooter Trigger being used to block the attack.

Kakizaki heard a whistle.

He turned to look and saw Laser-Shooter Kotowari Takeshi approaching as he crossed the small bridge.

A bad feeling started to envelope Kakizaki's body. He hurriedly ran in the opposite direction of the Shooter.

He turned around.

Takeshi was crossing the bridge a bit away. He was 20 or 30 meters away and staring at him through the different buildings. He had already singled out Kakizaki Kuniharu as his prey.

Shit! I can't get away by hiding in the buildings!

He cut through a large number of buildings and continued to run. But he soon reached the area's limit. He looked around and headed for one of the nearby buildings. He slammed open the door with a tackle, not even bothering to check if it was locked or not, and tumbled inside.

"...Damn it. What is this place?"

It wasn't a normal business building. There were plants slightly taller than Kakizaki growing all over the floor. Above his head, wires were laid out entwined with the branches. They were grape vines. Looking to the ground, he could see hydroponic containers lined up. The bluish purple illumination must have been from UV lights to promote photosynthesis.

So this is an automatic refining plant for biological ethanol fuel... They really put detail to these kinds of things.

"What a nice place."

Kakizaki's entire body stiffened when he heard that voice come from behind him.

"You've got taste to choose a deserted facility, Kakizaki. It's best to lose alone."

Kakizaki could not help but substitute the word "lose" with "die" because of the way it had been said.

Before he could turn around, an impact hit his back.

With a loud disconcerting noise, Kakizaki's body flew a few meters before it landed. A large number of the hydroponic containers were knocked over, many grape plants were broken, and Kakizaki's body rolled even farther.

"Damn...!"

Kakizaki left the large area as if he was being chased by a demon. There was a staircase, so he headed up it. He found a large group of silver machinery that was twice his height lined up and they were connected vertically and horizontally by metal pipes. It was like the beer breweries you sometimes saw in commercials.

Compared to before, there were a lot of blind spots.

Even with that strong Trigger, he isn't invincible.

Kakizaki passed through a gap in the complicated arrangements of pipes and leaned his back up against a piece of machinery about the size of a small room. As he did, he hurriedly tried to come up with anything that gave him an advantage.

When he was attacked using that part of the building, he didn't try to destroy the building with his Trigger. And with the chase just now he went with Teleport to do anything specific instead of firing right away.

Kakizaki gritted his teeth at the different possibilities and noticed a means of getting out of this situation.

Most likely, Kotowari's power takes a certain amount of time to aim in exchange for how powerful it is. In other words, he's weak to surprise attacks. He can't deal with a sudden attack from someone.

That wasn't because Takeshi hadn't trained with the Trigger enough, but rather it was a flaw created from it being too powerful. If he wasn't extremely careful in using his power in only a specified area, he could end up getting caught up in the blast.

But he didn't really care about the reason behind it as long as it was a demerit for Takeshi.

In an area with lots of cover, Kakizaki had a slight chance of victory.

But...

"Kaaaaakiiiizaaaakiiiii."

With that one word, Kakizaki body was covered in a sense of danger.

He ignored his theory and got down on the ground and at the same time "that" came.

A rain of beams flew by.

With the boy known as Kotowari Takeshi at the center, lines of bright, unhealthy-looking light shot out in all directions. They weren't shots being fired that left trails behind when attacking. Just like other Triggers, trion powered the attack by firing it out, but Takeshi had the power to forcibly fire continuously using his Laser-Shooter Trigger.

When trion is used to make a Trigger function, they either become solid mass or create the appearance of a true object. Triggers like Escudo became solid mass in order to defend while others like Kōgetsu and Scorpion took the appearance of a true object, but they were not in the sense that they could be molded after being created. Normally, Shooter-type Triggers were just shots that took the appearance of a true object flying in the air and could not change directions after being fired, but that continuous firing that caused a dreadful amount of destructive force was being used to direct the attack to other places after being fired.

That was the Laser-Shooter Trigger.

Each one of the beams tore through the false metal like it was paper, destroyed the thick walls, and tinted everything in a shade of green for a few seconds. The attacks must have reached the containers, because small explosions occurred all over the place. Kakizaki had somehow managed to avoid being directly hit, but a metal fragment the size of a guitar pick was stuck in his left shoulder. And it wasn't just that one. There were 4 or 5 of them stuck there.

"Tch."

There was no real pain from this when he was using his trion body.

Since the areas for cover were in his way, Takeshi was just going to destroy them all. Once he had leveled everything to rubble, Kakizaki would have to face Takeshi in a hopeless situation.

"The machinery here is like that thing in the goldfish scooping games at festivals. Umm...I forget what it's called. Anyway, it won't cut it as cover against my Trigger."

A special type of Shooter.

The group of machinery that had been covering the floor just a bit before had been reduced to rubble in just one attack. Every kind of cover had been crushed and even the outer wall had been greatly damaged. Takeshi stood in the center of the destruction that could easily bring the entire building down as a dark look slowly, slowly spread across his face.

"Apparently, even in a trion body, my survival instincts keep me from putting out any more force than that, but it might also be because of how much trion I have. Well, I can't complain too much, since the recoil would probably blow my body to pieces if I actually did something like that."

Dread spread through Kakizaki's body.

The Laser-Shooter monster quietly approached him.