Shobu advanced through the raging wind. The Shiraishi employees raised armor panel shields around him.
"Border Representative!"
"...Right...!"
He answered their question by pointing his finger.
He indicated where the falcon's power was weakest. But...
...Where they can reach...Ruri-san.
"...Do your...best!"
"Sure thing!"
They all held their armor panel shields forward to part the wind, but the wind had the force of water now and each step forward was like trudging through a bog.
It was bad enough for Shobu under all their protection, so how much greater was the pressure for them outside it? He mostly knew the answer thanks to the devices around his neck, but...
"Please...!"
They had to secure Ruri. If the Fakcon came out and took her away, it would all be over.
Chisato and Ikoma were also trying to grab Ruri if they saw an opening, but...
"...Watch out...!"
The Falcon would abandon its attacks in other areas in order to protect Ruri. Its current of trion pressure, its screech, and its trion attacks from the "flapping" of its wings which were taking form all mercilessly assaulted Ikoma and Chisato when they tried to get close.
That meant Shobu and the Shiraishi employees had to do it.
Their plan was to split into three groups once they were within twenty meters of Ruri. Chisato and Ikoma would support them, and...
...W-we see who can...get there first...!
They continued on.
"Hurry! Chisato-san is protecting us!"
That was exactly right. Ikoma and Chisato had already arrived near the Falcon and were dodging attacks. The Falcon used trion as a pressure, screeches, and trion attacks, while those two...
...Cancel it out with their lances and slashes!
They likely intended to secure some level of safety before Shobu's group arrived within the violent wind.
Ikoma's Senkū slashes and shields shattered the pressure and trion attacks and Chisato created several trion lances in quick succession to shatter and slice any that tried to circle around.
As for the Falcon...
"...!"
It pushed everything away with a screech and tried to move forward. But...
"A cool as hell voice! But you can screech louder than that, can't you!?"
Ikoma broke through the falcon's screech and trion formed pressure with a slash from his Kōgetsu. The pressure burst in every direction like a popping bubble and it tore into the ceiling, floor, and walls. But...
"Everybody, thank Sekai and Kiyoshi for this!"
Ikoma placed shields in the explosive trion pressure.
The shields were carried away by the wind, something that Ikoma must have commanded, but they were sturdy shields that included a good amount of trion which prevented them from being torn by the bursting trion. To Shobu's senses, they felt like pieces of wood that were not shaken by the wind.
By letting them ride the violent pressure and trion, they were placed to the walls, ceiling, and floor. And...
...They're staying...?
Their surroundings were indeed "set" in place without Ikoma having to pay attention to it. The crumbling joints were repaired and solid footing appeared.
Ikoma had used a similar countermeasure when the Falcon had destroyed the main garden the night before. Since the falcon would destroy its surroundings with its mere "flapping" wings, no one would be able to fight back unless they fought it away as soon as possible. But...
...This puts a big burden...on Iko-sama...doesn't it...?
Just as Shobu thought that, something rose up in front of him as he tried to advance through the great pressure.
It was one of Chisato's trion lances.
The three meter lance was not being used to attack. Several of them were stabbed into the floor and ceiling. And...
...It's hardening...the floor...?
That was the same as Ikoma's shields. Ikoma's was a Border method while Chisato's was a Shiraishi one. The trion lances revealed their power through spreading as more and more of them were stabbed into the hall like fasteners. They were primarily placed in front of Shobu, as if to create a path to the Falcon.
After the previous night's battle, Chisato had likely put together her own countermeasure against the Falcon. And...
...They are similar...
Shobu could not guess why Ikoma had prepared this when he was an outsider, nor could he guess why Chisato's was so similar to his.
But it did tell him that nothing that had happened had been for naught.
His group was about to reach the twenty meter mark.
And just as he was thinking they needed to prepare to split up...
"Get down!"
Chisato's shout reached them via a device that hung around Shobu's neck. And a moment later...
...Wah...!
Shobu's devices sensed a storm. It was thick and primarily made up of horizontal trion beams and raining shots, something that made him think of Takeshi's attacks mixed with a normal Shooter's attacks.
It rushed in.
.
More than gather together, the trion attacks created a multi-layer curtain as they swept across the hall.
As the Falcon's screech cascaded out, the vibrant green trion rushed out from above Ruri who sat unconscious in the chair.
It instantly formed several dozen side-by-side rows and collided one after another with anyone who approached Ruri.
The light never faded, the screeching never ceased, and countless light sources shook the hall as they burst endlessly. The shields the Attacker had placed in the gaps had already shattered away and the Valkyrie's lances were mostly broken.
As a result, the hall lost most of its fastener.
"—!"
The Falcon's voice shook the hall like a physical blow.
.
White Rock's hall was permeated with vibrations.
The stone walls shook and began to crumble.
"Stop that, stupid!"
After Musashi's shout, a straight line of armor panels stopped it. They were fine-tuned for the trion racing through the floor, ceiling, and air, so the distorting room snapped back into shape.
The distortion began anew due to the Falcon's screech, but...
"These panels are limited to 'Kotowari' and can stop half of it! So go!"
Defense panels, vibrations, and trion collided along every surface and in the air. It all burst into light, but they were all immediately replenished for another collision.
Every last part of the hall was filled with scattering light.
But two people were breaking through that light.
In the trion-filled air, Ortlinde and the Attacker were protected by multiple defense panels like they were heavy armor. The Valkyrie drew several trion lances and the Attacker continually pulled out the Kōgetsu blade that was meant to create slashes.
"How are you even pulling that out so fast?"
"I'm kinda just awesome like that. You didn't know that by now?"
The Attacker calmly answered the Valkyrie's question and raised the trion Kōgetsu blade with both arms. And...
"Lil' Dragon and the others've made it down below. Let's end this."
"As an offensive man, can't you ask your directors to lend us a hand?"
"I could, yeah. Listen up, everyone!" said the Attacker. "We're more than capable of handlin' this without doing that."
"—"
"Don't you have somethin' to say?"
He received a response from below.
"Right! We are more than capable of handling this!"
"True," agreed the Valkyrie. "I'll at least remember to thank my parents."
"Right, right. Your parents've helped us out a good amount too. ...Now, let's go."
The Attacker took a light step in midair using a shield.
He stepped to the right.
At the same time, Ortlinde stepped to the left.
They both lightly raised a hand.
"Okay."
With that, they used their second step to clash with the Falcon at full speed.
.
Shobu advanced.
He had been walking forward this entire time. His body had been wrapped in tension, his breaths had been deep, and he had focused on keeping his legs moving. But that was about to change. From here on, he was not following a path forward. He was following the path to approach Ruri.
"Oh," said someone nearby. "Ohh," replied someone else.
The Shiraishi employees had split into three groups and each one approached the chair along a different path.
But the Falcon was right in front of them. It was screeching. The falcon had likely been screeching in anger ever since it first became self-aware.
That did not matter.
It had nothing but power. It did not know what to do about its own existence. It thought it could overcome anything just by wielding its power and it screeched. But they only had to restore it all to Ruri by destroying it.
There was no need to sympathize with the falcon.
After all, that falcon had somewhere to go: Ruri.
The night before, Ruri had taken Shobu's hand and pulled on it.
She had looked up at the cherry trees surrounded by fireflies and told Shobu all about the colors she perceived.
So if the falcon could be restored to her, she would surely be able to look up at the falcon and tell Shobu all about the person who made it.
So Shobu advanced.
Two powers clashed with the Falcon up above. As Shobu and the employees worked to retrieve Ruri, Ikoma and Chisato prevented the Falcon from coming out into the hall. And they did it by...
...Colliding with its wings...!
Ortlinde and Ikoma each slammed their weapons into one of the Falcon's frontal wings.
Like blades locked together, sparks and a grinding sound scattered and the two attackers were knocked back several dozen meters.
"...!"
They also blocked the Falcon's frontal wings as it occasionally swung them like fists instead of just pushing. Each time, a sound filled the hall, but...
"Ohhhh!"
The two of them spread the Falcon's frontal wings to the side, leaving Ruri undefended in the center.
"Hurry...!"
Shobu moved forward. He moved forward along with the others. At the bottom of the wind, they charged into the center of the Falcon's power.
He arrived at the bottom of the dais. He was only a few more steps away from Ruri who sat slumped in the chair.
"—"
That was when Shobu sensed the Falcon's frontal wings spread to either side.
Ikoma and Chisato had definitely pushed them back, but the action was more like opening its chest and...
...Charging...up...?
It was the lead-in to an attack of explosive pressure. Shobu remembered when this had been fired again and again in the main garden the night before. Instead of a mere wave of trion, this trion attack was the Falcon's own trion laser beam.
And the one about to be released was most likely especially powerful.
"Get down...!"
Then it arrived. The Falcon was clearly focused on him and the others standing in front of it.
"—!"
The beam exploded.
.
The air in front of the Falcon dissipated in an instant. The elements in the air broke apart, electrical discharges and fog appeared due to the still open Gate, and that very moisture was entirely scattered by the shockwave.
All of the motion was controlled by trion. The Falcon's beam was a lot like a trion cannon and it spread a wave of impacting trion across a fan shape in front of the falcon. Everything that existed there was hit.
The Falcon's target was the people who had arrived at its tail.
They were too close.
They could not escape a direct hit. And that seemed to be why the Falcon flashed its core even more, as if to catch everything in the blast and erase it all.
"—"
It screeched and fired.
That firing collided with and destroyed everything.
At the same time, something stood in front of the Falcon. It was not a person. It was larger and only a head shorter than the Falcon.
But it was not a Trion Soldier.
"Hey...!"
It was a collection of defense armor panels. They were designed to block impacts rather than trion. They had also been remade to reflect those impacts, they were stacked thickly together, and they formed a giant humanoid shape.
Musashi had constructed this humanoid defense armor panel barrier.
.
The humanoid defense armor panel barrier slammed its right arm straight into the explosive beam. The defense armor panel barrier arm was shaped like a rectangular pillar and it shattered when it hit the explosive pressure, but...
"I'll block this...!"
"Musashi, you asshole! That's my Hildr you're using! Stop putting Ōi-nee's Thrúd under so much pressure!"
"It's fine, Yosh-chan, it's supposed to be destroyed anyway! ...But I prefer that we make it to Ruri before that happens!"
The beam split apart. The trion pressure burst as if devouring the humanoid defense armor panel barrier. Of course, the one arm was not enough to cover the entire blast, so it struck the surrounding floor and walls. But"
"Diiiive!"
Just as the arm fully shattered, the humanoid defense armor panel barrier jumped right into the explosive pressure.
There were as many sounds of impact as there were defense armor panel barriers and they grew into a downpour of blows. The great number of defense armor panel barriers burst into light and the explosive beam was scattered in every direction along with it. As a result...
"...!"
The core of the explosive beam was consumed and erased.
"Yes!" someone shouted. Now they could move forward. They could reach Ruri. But...
"...Watch...out!"
Right after Shobu's shout, the great blue and gold form pulled its tail out from the Gate.
The Gate closed behind it.
The Falcon had made up its mind. It would no longer run away and it would settle this here. It had decided to make Ruri its own.
With its mind made up, it shook the floor as it flew forward. It forced its way forward after being pushed back with its frontal wings spread outwards.
The falcon screeched and placed its tail on the air.
"...!"
The Falcon swung its frontal wings to knock the Valkyrie and Attacker away. Sparks flew and wind blew as those two bodies of resistance were torn away. And...
"—!"
This time, it took a true flight.
.
The Falcon saw its master down below.
That was the source of its power as well as the master meant to use its power. To acquire that person and complete itself, the Falcon thrust its wings forward.
Its movements were awkward as it sliced through the wind to forcibly grab Ruri, but it still tried to grab its master in an embrace as if that were the only way.
In that moment, the deflected Valkyrie raised her voice as she was slammed against the wall.
"Rusu-san!"
With that yell, the hall transformed.
The front wall of White Rock was torn away by an explosion.
The night sky came into view and Rusu, White Rock's control system manager, spoke.
"Emergency purge of external wall and internal armor complete!"
.
Ikoma thought the hall's air had exploded.
The falcon's beam and the influx of trion had increased the hall's internal pressure, but now the external wall had been removed. The difference in air pressure and trion density threw everything outside.
They had planned for this, so it was not a problem for them. They had wind-resistance shields and this much wind was well within what a member of Border could handle. Even if someone was blown outside, they had fall assistance in place.
The Falcon was no different. It was a massive Trion Soldier and it had the strength needed to resist the explosive pressure.
However, the Falcon had just leaned forward to grab Ruri.
The forceful torrent of air knocked the Falcon forward a step. And that caused it to fly over Ruri.
Ikoma decided this was an opening, so he raised his voice.
"Shobu! Go!"
.
Just before Ikoma urged him forward, Shobu had not understood his current situation.
He remembered that the Falcon had come out and there had been explosive pressure. But at the moment...
...I'm...standing...?
No, it was more accurate to say he was being supported while floating in midair. He felt something on his back.
"Are you okay, Border's representative shota? ...Oh, I-I-I-I-I am White Rock Corporation Secretary and S-S-Security Manager Kotowari Musashi! S-sorry, it's just so rare for me to talk with a boy who isn't always wrong that I'm getting really excited! B-b-but I'm not weird. Right? I'm not, right? I'm not weird at all?"
He seems pretty strange, he thought, but compared to everyone in Border...
"...I guess you're...pretty normal..."
"Eh!? Normal! Yes! I'm glad I confessed! Did you see that, guys!? Jealous, aren't you!? Border's representative just certified me as normal! Normal! I'm normal! That means I don't matter! Ha ha! I'm a worthless human being who doesn't matter... What are those pitying looks for!? ...Anyway shota, what a worthless guy says is worthless, but listen up!"
"...Wh-what is it...?"
"Well, can you see up ahead? Can you see Ruri up on the dais?"
He could not see it, but he could perceive it. Ruri was there. The Falcon had lost its balance and flew forward, but...
"...I...can..."
Shobu tried not to view things only with his eyes, but Ruri had pulled on his hand and freely talked to him.
He had been told the reason for the color Ruri's hair, clothing, and eyes. So with his senses...
"...I can...see her...!"
"Good, then let's do this! You should be able to see the wind. You can tell where the attacks are coming and everything else. So I'll tell you how to get through there. ...Shut up, all of you! I'm not gonna say a word about his lovely armpits! Not a word about that or how tight they could squeeze something!"
...Oh...that sounds like the things...they say during the executions when...Yuki-san invites me over... thought Shobu. That helped calm her a little.
"Nn."
So he took a step forward.
"...Thank...you..."
It was likely thanks to Musashi's instructions that he could remain safe. He instructed the people around him and they protected him. So as everyone collapsed and tried to get back up, he did his best to show them he was safe as he boldly walked forward as a representative.
"Please."
Shobu pleaded with Musashi.
"...Let me go...straight toward her..."
.
Shobu began to walk.
He walked forward as if across a windless and dustless plain.
There was a slight waver in his stance and in where he placed his feet, but each step allowed him to break through the occasional blast of trion attacks while only tilting his head a little.
His hair whipped above him. The falcon screeched as it tried to regain its position overhead. It produced more wind with its "flapping", but...
"...Nn."
Shobu broke through it. Musashi's instructions, his senses, and the devices he wore were all used to set everyone in motion as they walked straight ahead.
He placed a foot on the dais.
"Nn."
He climbed up onto the first step.
Then he continued directly on up to the next step.
.
Ikoma resumed fighting while confirming that Tenryū was making progress.
The Falcon was moving.
After its large flight forward, it had to recover its position. But allowing that would put Tenryū in danger. It would also let Ruri be taken. So...
"Chisato!"
He simply called her name and then collided with the Falcon.
As the Falcon tried to recover from its flight forward...
...The side!
He made a strike from the side to knock it off balance.
This feels unfair as hell, but you gotta love these speed Triggers!
His Grasshopper-powered collision targeted the Falcon's frontal wing on the right side. He raised his weapons as a shield, and...
"...!"
He hit.
Chisato hit at the same moment.
A moment later, the force passed through the Falcon and they felt a loosening sensation, so they put their hips into it.
"Time to carry you away!"
The Falcon lost its balance.
It leaned back and tilted to the left. If it collapsed, they would gain plenty of time.
...And have the perfect openin' to hit it on the neck again!
That was Chisato's job, so he had to do the heavy lifting here. But...
"...!?"
Ikoma saw something out of the corner of his eye. As the Falcon leaned back, it did two things.
First, it moved the wings on its back instead of its wings on the front to forcibly regain its balance.
Second, it used its backwards leaning position to throw an attack with its tail. And it was targeting the person behind its right frontal wing.
"Chisato!"
.
Chisato heard the impact.
Then she felt herself flying through the air.
...I was hit!?
The Falcon had used its right wing to hide the attack made with its left.
It had been too sudden for her to use her instantaneous and consecutive defenses. After a certain sound, her vision began to spin, but...
"...Eh?"
She was unhurt. She had spun once through the air, but she had also escaped the Falcon's attack range.
She was not even scratched. That fact was not because she was now in a trion body. Instead...
"—"
Someone had been slammed into the wall to the left, breaking the stone.
It was the Attacker.
Chisato knew what had happened. He had taken the Falcon's attack and knocked her out of the way.
That was all.
...You idiot...
She had a number of thoughts and several emotions filled her chest, but the Falcon was getting up.
In all this time she had been noticing a related stack of messages coming through from "Red Sky" that seemed to connect to the a Trigger she was us using as well as the devices around the Border representative's neck. The most prominent one was the latest one which said...
Red Sky: "RB07 is on his way! Just hold out for a bit!"
She looked to the Falcon after that message came up and saw it was trying to fly back so it could capture Ruri. So...
"I'm counting on you! ...RB07!"
A moment later, a straight-line collision reached the Falcon from outside.
It was the heavily-armored rhinoceros beetle named Pyrínas.
.
The collision only lasted an instant.
As the Falcon tried to lean over Shobu and Ruri, a giant rhinoceros beetle had flown in through the hole in the wall behind it.
The rhinoceros beetle was unarmed and it simply collided with the Falcom to hold it back.
"...This will be my ego showing that younger models can fight as well! ...Be calmed, you obsolete model!"
The breaking and cracking armor sounded like a hit to a brass instrument.
Beyond that refreshing sound, the Autonomous Trion Soldier and the Falcon crashed into the back wall together.
But the falcon pushed through even that.
It tensed its body, lowered its tail, and then let its wings and sides shoot up to slam the beetle against the floor.
It screeched.
This screech's reverberation really did begin the collapse of the hall.
But as it screeched and turned around, something had been accomplished.
"Nn."
Shobu had arrived in front of Ruri.
He took Ruri's hand.
.
Shobu realized Ruri was regaining consciousness.
When he grabbed the girl's hand and held it tightly, Ruri reacted like she was plagued by nightmares. Her voice soon left her lips and her eyelids moved.
"Ah..."
"Ruri-san!"
The situation was approaching its conclusion. The Falcon's crazed actions were trying to settle this by force.
But Shonu did not fear the approaching Falcon.
Ruri faced him and asked a question.
"Who-...?"
Before she could say "are you", Shobu raised his voice.
"Don't!"
Shobu did not even find this odd.
"Don't lie...! Don't forget! You haven't...forgotten, have you...?"
"Forgotten what...?"
"The past! You haven't forgotten the sad things, the unpleasant things, and the...painful things, have you...?"
"What are you talking about!?"
Ruri raised her eyebrows. With the Falcon approaching behind her, she tried to pull Shobu's hand off of her own.
But..l
"No...!"
Shobu refused to let go. He grabbed on with both hands and held on tight.
"Ah..."
When Ruri felt that strength, her own grip loosened.
That was why Shobu tightened his grip further. He wanted to get through to her. He wanted to return what it was Ruri had told him through her own grip, so he held on tight.
He sent new strength back to the girl. And...
"You remember...don't you? Last night...in the main...garden...I was surprised when you...touched me without warning..."
"I-I don't know what you're talking about!"
"Don't lie! When we...danced before...you took my hand!"
Shobu remembered. He remembered it clearly.
"It was the...the same strength as when...you pulled on my hand! When you pulled on my hand...on the bridge yesterday...and told me the colors...of the fireflies, the flowers, the grass, and the trees...! Everything you want to see...!"
"—"
"Don't say you...forgot about that!"
He knew Ruri had a painful past. He could not blame the girl for wanting to forget about it.
...But... thought Shobu. ...She can't forget it... After all...
"...If you forget...you really will...lose him..."
She had already lost someone important to her, so what would happen if she forgot that? Even if he could live on in her heart...
"You aren't in the present!" shouted Shobu.
Shobu knew someone who had never forgotten the precious person he had lost and continued to think about them even in the present. He had held great remorse, but he had looked to the present and...
...I finally got to see him again!
"What's wrong with...remorse?"
Because...
"It's the...proof that...you chose the present!"
"But...!"
Ruri's face twisted. Her voice did as well and a breath escaped her lips.
"That doesn't change the fact that I let Shuryō get taken!"
That did not matter. Shobu already knew the answer. He knew what to do about someone who was trying to quit indulging in the past and instead arrive at the starting point for living in the present.
That was...
"...Nn."
He pulled back her hand. Ruri was leaning toward him, so the boy lost his balance.
"Ah..."
It did not matter if him fell. None of it mattered.
There was someone to support him from behind. First, Musashi's voice spoke.
"Future Boss!"
Then the employees ran over. Shobu stood out in front of them all as they supported him.
"Don't...worry."
He caught and embraced Ruri with the others.
He did not let go. It was more than the hand now. He used his entire body and arms to awkwardly but definitely convey his strength and let the girl know he was here.
"If something...painful happened...then you just have to...make sure that lots...and lots more happy things happen..."
Just like they had.
"You need to...accumulate plenty of happiness...on top of the pain."
.
Chisato heard someone crying in the blowing wind.
It was Ruri's voice. The inheritor of the business divisons and connection to the falcon was bawling like a baby in the arms of a smaller fighter boy who was supported by the others.
"Ah...!"
It's over, thought Chisato. My greatest reason to remain with the business is over, she realized in her warrior form.
The Attacker had yet to move from within the collapsed wall behind her, but she decided to trust that he was fine. She also decided to thank them. And on top of that...
"We will settle this soon."
Chisato understood that when she saw the Falcon approaching Ruri and the others.
She had to go at this with everything she had.
She would attack on the left side from her perspective. She could use either hand, but that was the safest position since she was mostly right-handed. So she held a trion lance in her right hand on the left side of the Falcon.
There was wind and there was a screech. Where there was pressure there was a current. But...
...It's been disturbed.
The Falcon was attacking within that disturbance. However...
"Chisato-san!"
Her comrades resisted atop the collapsing floor. They hardened the floor with armor panels from Thrúd and fired projectile armor panel with Hildr toward the Falcon.
She had no idea how useful that would be, but this was the end.
This "ending" would determine Shiraishi's future.
"That's right..."
Chisato's heart grew clear.
Even the Border agents had made the correct decision.
Their 6th Ranked Attacker understood what was fair, so he had made the go,lowing judgement: Settling this was a job for the Shiraishi daughter.
So Chisato stared at the Falcon.
She had long since forgotten fear for Neighbors.
At first, she looked straight at it. And...
"I'll be going now."
She spoke to all of Shiraishi and then raced through the air.
.
Chisato accelerated.
The Falcon noticed her and leaned its head forward to hide its throat.
"...!"
It screeched and spread its wings.
...It's going to produce its attacks here!?
Ruri had already regained consciousness, so control should have mostly shifted back to her. But some power must have built up inside it. The falcon was attempting to retrieve Ruri with its own actions.
It was a lot like a child desperately trying to take back a confiscated toy.
But its power could not be denied.
"Ohh...!"
Chisato held a trion lance up toward the Falcon and used its shaft to smash the explosive pressure.
There was a steam explosion and several wispy clouds appeared in the air like white lines. As trion fired through those, Chisato charged in with a focus on evasion.
She approached the Falcon and prepared to make her attack as she flew around it and dodged the lightning like a dance.
She twisted her body and – as dozens of trion shots approached – she removed her arm armor panels and leg armor panels while creating a path of panels.
"Kh...!"
She searched for the best striking point, slipped between the trion shots, spun around, approached, and passed over attacks.
"...!"
She arrived. She was in front and a bit to the left. From there, she could accelerate and attack simultaneously.
She could do this.
She could pierce the falcon's throat.
But the Falcon turned its face toward her. It opened its mouth to snow another core, and...
"—!"
It released an explosive screech.
It was the greatest sound yet. It immediately passed the audible range and would soon sweep across the walls, ceiling, and floor as a shockwave that glowed with green trion light.
And its nearby right frontal wing had drawn and raised a trion "feather".
The explosive attack had stopped her and the right trion "feather" would act as a counterattack.
"In that case...!"
Chisato flew straight in, intending to break through the screeching attack as well as the throat.
A moment later, something changed before her eyes.
The explosive screech attack suddenly vanished.
No, it had not been annihilated. It concentrated, narrowed down, and left the falcon's core in a different form.
"A concentrated beam!?"
The trion-based concentrated beam was formed from the same explosive pressure and it fired in a straight line.
.
All the sound in the air is gone, thought Shobu.
...The Falcon changed...the attack coming from its core...
...Is that...?
He understood. The Falcon was trying to protect Ruri. To take her back now that she was trying to leave the past behind, it knew that fighting as a single program would no longer work.
...So it's fighting like the true...Autonomous Trion Soldier it's supposed to be...!?
The attack was as sharp as a thrusting spear as it swept through the air.
Two pairs of eyes saw White Rock sliced through from the upper front to the center front. They belonged to Seikai and Nakagami who had just run out of the ramen shop where they were eating dinner.
It looked like a trion cannon had sliced through the night sky from a distance of about three kilometers. But...
"Have you ever seen a laser beam that can continue firing long enough to look like a solid sword!?"
"You mean other than the one right in front of me here...?"
The two of them walked out with the Kitakata ramen bowls in hand, so they had to nod back toward the manager as he shouted for them to bring back the bowls before baling at what he also saw now.
"Damn."
"What is it? ...Oh, you can have my pork. I'd just gain weight."
"Sure thing. It's just that...maybe we should have stayed in there longer."
"Yeah. ...I can feel my extremely cold blood burning. They're definitely making history in there."
"It's unbearable, isn't it?" Seikai smiled bitterly, drank the soup from the bowl, and looked away. "We need to make sure we eventually do that too."
Shobu could tell the explosive trion beam had bisected the top of the hall.
The power was essentially following the Falcon's gaze as it swung its head. And it was turning toward Ortlinde as she charged straight toward it.
The ceiling was beginning to fall, but Shobu ignored that to look up at Chisato.
"...Watch out...!"
Shobu sensed a stone piece of the ceiling falling along Chisato's path.
And the Falcon was swinging its head beyond that falling stone.
Normally, the Falcon would not have made it in time, but the falling stone was in the way. Whether Chisato avoided or broke the stone, the Falcon's attack would gain enough time to reach her.
Shobu did not know if the Falcon had predicted that when it released its attack.
But he noticed Ruri stirring in her arms.
"...Yes."
The girl spoke quietly.
"I caused you all a lot of trouble. So...I will begin writing some history that can accumulate happiness."
.
A girl stood up with tears in the corners of her eyes.
The wind was blowing, the falcon's pressure swept through, and the night sky was exposed in case she felt like stargazing. In that place, she slowly gathered strength in her legs and turned both her eyes toward that night sky. And...
"Thank you."
She spoke to the falcon behind her.
"You were created to protect and save me all the time. ...I'll show Shuryō my thanks by rejecting this too."
So...
"As a mutual vow, I'll acquire what it is we lack!"
With that, she pulled something out from her pouch.
It was an armor panel that was the size of both her hands.
"Take this as proof from your best friend!"
She threw it upward.
.
Ruri's action caused the Falcon's right sight device to be destroyed.
"...!"
The Falcon leaned back its head and its right trion "feather" stopped moving.
It was receiving something from Ruri's actions. That showed how much trust it had in her and it also revealed the weakness created on its throat.
"Here goes."
Ortlinde created 37 trion lances and jammed them all into the falcon's throat.
It was a direct hit.
This blocked up its throat and left the explosive trion cannon with nowhere to escape, so the Falcon's chest exploded.
The Falcon had lost.
.
...I did it...
As she fell, Chisato used her rear vision to see the Falcon breaking up starting with the "feathers" on the wings.
The Falcon had been annihilated. It no longer had cores to supply trion to it and the frame of it had cracks running all along it.
Things go would be very different now. Ruri would no longer be weakened and trapped in the past and the Falcon would no longer hold her down as a remnant of Shuryō.
And Chisato saw something else beyond the great quantity of scattering trion light.
...Ruri.
She could only see the girl's back, but Ruri appeared to be crying.
However, she was actually roaring into the emptiness. Blood dripped to her clothing like tears as a scratch mark was seen on her head, likely due to some debris hitting her, and was swept away by the wind.
"I am Abe Ruri, a candidate for leadership in the Shiraishi family's business...!"
The girl spoke clearly and loudly.
"This ends my testing period as well as acts as my quitting!"
That announcement said something about Shiraishi's future.
...After all of this, we've chosen a future with Border...
With that thought, Chisato simply let herself fall. Ortlinde gauge had already reached the red danger zone and she could see her trion body breaking apart. She would hit the floor and be unable to move in a few seconds, but the crumbling Falcon and falling ceiling would hide her exit. So...
...I want to get some rest. Maybe grab a cup of something or other and some grilled chicken...
She felt a smile on her face.
...Triggers really are amazing. Even after all that moving, I only feel mentally exhausted. My body feels nothing of the sort.
"...Eh?"
But then something odd happened.
Ortlinde's fall came to a premature stop.
.
...Eh?
Chisato quickly checked the status display and saw she was 1.53m from the floor. Also...
Release: Confirmed
Trion supply: Empty
"Eh!?"
She was positioned on her back, so if Ortlinde was released now, she would fall onto her back. It would be a nasty fall too given the fact her body broke apart, reverting her back to her flesh and blood body.
But she did not fall.
Someone held her by supporting her back and knees from below.
Within the great quantity of scattering trion light and the thick fog blowing through the air, someone held her in her torn dress.
"You..."
It was not an Attacker. It was a black-haired boy. He was slender but muscular and he had a solid face. The eyes staring bluntly down at her were hard and visible.
...Eh?
When she widened her eyes and looked him in the eye, she heard a sigh.
"Hm, I guess I took that attack too lightly earlier. I don't look nearly as cool as I usually do."
The manner of speech and the voice were just like him. Chisato had no idea what was going on.
"Eh!? W-wait just a second. ...Are you telling me there was real muscle inside there?"
"How rude. You're a fighter and you still don't get it? You should've been able to understand why I was able to keep up so well without Kōgetsu despite your using of Ortlinde," he said. "I'm no slouch when it comes to my body, even if girls don't always look for that. ...Your division boss says she was sad because of losin' Shuryō when she had Ruri, but that's a damn lie right there. It would've been because she knew that, as kids, they wouldn't be takin' care of their body like an adult would. Those kids would've never been that close otherwise."
"Then the reason you took off your upper clothes...?"
"That's an accident because of that attack...but I also felt like it's better not to keep any secrets between us. I mean, I did see you pretty naked earlier..."
So...
"Which do you think is cooler?"
Chisato laughed quietly at that. And...
"I'm pretty sure someone protected me when I made my charge earlier."
"Some guys can be really capricious. Idiots don't know how to mind their own business."
"I like the idiot Attacker."
"Then we'll go with that. Which' good since I like being in the top ten of Attackers and not someone like Jinsei."
He did. He returned to his flesh a and blood body with a single breath and the usual Attacker was holding her. The sensation on her back and on the back of her knees was harder and warmer than before, but...
...I appreciate it.
That had been what informed her if the fact that he had not been standing on a shield to reach her but rather some armor panels left over.
"But...where are you going?"
"To say goodbye to the others."
"Wait... My dress is torn...and what do you mean say goodbye!?"
Ruri must have heard her voice because she turned around beyond the thinning light. A piece of cloth coming from the Border representative had been tied around her head, but she had also shifted the cloth around so that two emblems could be seen. The first was for Border and the second was for the Yagura Branch.
"Does it look-...?"
The small girl trailed off, looked at Chisato, and rephrased her sentence.
"Looks good, doesn't it?"
"Don't expect me to sympathize with you."
But Chisato felt a smile in her heart. She was certain Ruri did as well.
Then the hall's door opened, revealing everyone who had been waiting outside.
"...!"
They gave a joyous roar that was a different form of explosive.
"That settles it."
The inside of the Border base was beginning to light up more with the night growing on. But the roof of the base was lit by the pale light of the moon. Kimura spoke from the roof of that building.
"Everyone."
Life: "Huh? What is it?"
"Right," said Kimura before slowly continuing. She looked to the city and people below. "The party is ending. So with 'Part E' over, we can get started on Part F."
Mi-Kon: "Did Kimura just say something?"
Life: "Yeah, I heard it too... Ah, my strength... It's...fading..."
White Fox: "Jinsei! Jinsei! Pull yourself together! Here, I have a Kurosaki porn game!
Manager: "Take this seriously!"
Almost Everyone: "You first!"
What do they mean by that? Well, who cares. Oh, Krümel is so cute. Um, what was I trying to say again?
"Everyone. Give your final statement for Border. Our destination will be the Neighbor world. And our objective..."
Kimura raised her eyebrows somewhat.
"To support Mikado City and the world we know as humans as well as take back anything that has been lost to them. This will also be a travel, so it will all be 'experimental'."
Life: "Oh? You're ready to do this, Kawa!? So it's fighting after all!"
"Correct. Yes, that's right."
She did not feel like denying it.
"It's fighting this time. That too is a way of resolving these kinds of problems."
She was not afraid to let the corners of her lips form a smile.
"With everyone knowing what will be happening, we can have this three business meeting come to and end! We will thank everyone for their time."