The first action came from the rushing Ōji. A sudden barrage of shots aimed at the two girls.
The reaction from the two was immediate, but lacking. The stances they had been in prevented them from dodging the shots with Obishima moved back and Hoshi moving forward. Both had their bodies leaned in one direction while Ōji was moving towards them.
The space between them was only a few meters away and Ōji was aware that he could cover that distance easily.
If the two girls managed to dodge the shots then it would give him a chance to decide on who he would be focusing his attention on. If they blocked it with either Shield or their blades, he would know that they could not defend against another sudden attack.
In response to this sudden attack, one of the girls began to twist her body while the other continued moving forward.
In the current state of things there would be no chance for them to get out of this two-pronged attack without taking some damage.
That is, if this was all there was.
As the shots came closer to the two girls, small shields appeared to block the way of the incoming shots.
Each shield was shattered upon impact, as if they had been quickly made and without any thought to actual defense. Even so, they had done their job as the shots that had been fired vanished when crashing into the shields. The shattering light reminded him of the girl who was a distance away.
The attempt at keeping points from the monster above them had taken up Ōji's thoughts to the point of forgetting about that dancing girl. It did not stop his charge in the slightest.
Close range combat and long range combat would be fine enough after having seen what both Obishima and Hoshi could do. Neither seemed to be lacking when it came to ability, but it still did not compare to the rest of them at the moment.
The appearance of the dancing girl only gave him information on how to attack.
Obishima was the only one to react to the shields as well.
The twist she had started began to change into a full rotation that moved backwards and to the side instead of just backwards. If more shots went her way then this would help to control where she went, even if it was a bit unstable.
For her part, Hoshi seemed to only notice what was happening and continue to move forward.
The step she took towards Obishima became wider as a way to go with the twisting motion she had started. Her focus made it look like she had not even cared about the shots or the shields that had shattered them.
Ōji responded to their action by pulling out his Kōgetsu from hip, mentally preparing to create new Hound shots should the two girls move in a way he liked.
Once he was within range, he began his swing towards them.
The twisting girl was stuck within her motion while the forward moving girl could not stop her momentum.
Again, they could not escape the damage even if they did manage to get out of this.
"Heh heh heh."
A slight laugh rang through the area, making two of the three fighters realize who else was there.
Ōji reacted by turning his gaze over to where the laugh had come from. In the distance he could see the dancing girl looking down at them from atop one of the many tall buildings.
The first thought he had was that she would either fire on him or use another shield to block his blade.
Because of his own attack, he was now in a similar situation to the two girls. There was no chance of him moving away now that he was already mid-attack. Only a shield could protect him now from her shot, but that would leave him with no chance of firing Hound shots.
Obishima noticed that her twisting was beginning to finish. She would not be able to move away from Ōji's attack, but the twisting at least let her drag her two opponents to a more optimal spot so that she could not be fired upon.
In that single moment, three actions were made.
The first action was made by Ōji.
He switched the position of his blade so that it would only target one of the girls. At the same time, he focused his attention to the side so that he could create a shield.
The green defense appeared in an instant.
The second action was made by Obishima.
She stomped her foot down on the ground to force herself to stop from her twisting motion.
Because of the momentum carried by the twisting, she had started to lose some balance. That did not matter once she saw how Ōji was moving his blade.
She could not push back against Hoshi so that she could take the hit instead.
The third action was made by Hoshi.
During this entire time of moving forward, he had noticed the way her two opponents had been moving. Their actions had been focusing on offense and defense respectively, but now it seemed that they were working in tandem with each other.
Obishima had kept her in place for Ōji to come in and do damage to her.
The damage she would take form a head-on attack would likely be fatal.
That is, if it truly did hit her head-on.
"! My apologizes, Obishima-san!"
The action she took was a sweeping one using her forward momentum.
Instead of taking the final step to reach Obishima, she extended her leg out as her foot slid across the ground.
Due to the twisting she had been doing, Obishima's balance was not the best at the moment. This gave her the chance she needed.
Hoshi pushed her foot forward, crashing it into Obishima's. It sent the smaller girl forward while pushing her side forward and ahead of the rest of her body.
She twisted her foot that was left behind so that it faced the opposite direction as before. It anchored her foot to the ground for only the moment while her other side moved forward.
"Almost there!"
To finish her own action, Hoshi began lowering her upper body towards the ground.
Her body spun as she released the anchor on her foot so that she now moved forward starting with her side and her upper body curving in a downward motion.
She sailed by the falling Obishima while the blade from Ōji went over the both of them.
"What the…!?"
She gave them no time as she leaped back, a cube of trion now above her.
Launching it forward, she pushed herself even further back.
.
"Heh heh heh. Good job there, Hoshi-chan."
Suzume watched with a smile as Hoshi performed her own movements. They were elegant in the way they moved but they lost some points in her book for how forcefully they were executed.
Prince-san, don't get us wrong here. She is still our support around here. She does like to support in a very different way. The moment you noticed me over here, your attack was a failure. You gave her enough time to support Yukari-chan.
Her smile turned bitter once she saw the head of red moving across the rooftops.
She was proud of her teammate, but that red was a bad omen in more ways than one.
There was no more fighting between her and the other Sniper around and she had figured out why. That head of red had taken out Tonooka, leaving her as the only Sniper within the area.
Since he could not find her due to Bagworm, she knew that he was safe.
The same did not apply to her teammate.
Honest Sister: "Hoshi-chan…"
Prototype Star: "Do not worry, Suzume-senpai! You may go now, before you are actually found out. I appreciate your care here, but this should be the end of this battle."
Honest Sister: "Oh honestly… A girl like you should be cared for dearly. But I guess you're right here. I honestly feel bad for leaving you like this though."
There was no saving Hoshi once that head of red reached her.
Suzume had heard of the things Taichi had said about that head of red and found no way around his great offense.
I can hold off with my dances, but that bad luck is honestly annoying. Since he does not have it active at the moment I could probably go the entire song's length though. Even so…
This was a different situation.
Hoshi had to fight against Obishima as well as Ōji before that head of red even reached them.
To add more to it, she could not even dance in this fight or the coming ones. Narasaka had forbidden her from doing so, even if that was her greatest strength.
She had slightly broken that rule already, but not to the extent where she would get in major trouble with the Miwa Squad Sniper.
Colors: "Senpai, you know what to do now."
This time it was the voice of her captain telling her the it was fine to leave.
This was all she could do in this fight now and the rest would be left up to her teammates.
Honest Sister: "You guys are honestly outgrowing me here, aren't you? Maybe I should just take a break from Border for a while."
Colors: "Senpai, please stop joking while in the middle of a match."
"Heh heh heh."
Suzume lowered her brows while her bitter smile lowered into a sad one.
Silly boy, who said I was honestly joking?
Pushing the thoughts aside, she looked back down at the trio in the open area between buildings. One was her teammate, another was someone she very much enjoyed being around, and the last was someone she could say she tolerated. Above the three of them though…
"Yes, a new monster here. Our own mutt has gone ahead of us and turned into a beast. That simple Gunner has long since become a Gunslinger. The only other threat to our beast had been taken care of right away."
And yet.
"Here we honestly are. With a new monster. Or would it honestly be better to say a body of destruction? Either way, this is coming to and end soon and I honestly won't be much help here. Might as well survive so that no one gets these survival points."
She shook her head at the words that came to mind.
Toby had spoken to them after Takeshi had lost to Senshi and told them what possibilities could come from the remaining combatants. Those different possibilities include the one that she was seeing right now and what had been confirmed by Nakagami when it had been mentioned.
While not comparing to the seemingly endless possibilities that Mei could see, there were enough to show just why Toby was considered a genius.
Obishima was unsure what had happened in the moment before her body hit the ground, but she wasted no time in rolling away from the two who were close by.
The shots that had been fired from a distance crashed into the ground as she rolled. From her position on the ground she could see Ōji move back so that he would not get hit by the shots as well.
She jumped to her feet with a push of her arms. The shots had missed their target and separated her from the stronger opponent. Now she could see both Taiyōko and Ōji easily from where they stood.
Ōji wasted no time in rushing her again. This time it seemed like a focused attack on her alone unlike the one sent to both her and Taiyōko only seconds ago.
...No, just give it a moment.
Instead of bringing up a solid defense, she began to move back once more.
Retreating was her main priority at the moment. Without anyone to help her, fighting against Ōji along with Hoshi would have been too difficult for her. It was a simple difference in experience that she knew she couldn't overcome right now.
Ōji was the most experienced on this battlefield, but Hoshi was very adaptable from what the logs showed. Fighting these kinds of opponents were too much to handle for someone lacking in either of those and without support.
So instead of fighting a losing battle she would focus only on retreating.
.
There was little time to finish the fight. There would be less people to focus on if he managed to take out these two girls. That would have made the overall fight easier for his squad considering the points, but it would mean that he would have less people there to gain the attention of the monster that was getting closer.
That may have been why he was making more mistakes than what was considered normal. There was no doubt that he would be chewed out by some people by the end of this match.
Even worse…those guys will probably go for the throat from the start and only escalate things.
He could already imagine all of the things that would be said about him. Ones like Inukai, Jinsei, and Kunichika would be hardcore teasing while others like Arafune, Yuki, and Kaegura would likely be hardcore complaints.
If I can get them to move to Kurauchi's loss today then I might be safe.
Or the damage would only spread. Either result was terrible and the only one to win out of all of this would be Senshi.
That bad luck boy would be gaining a win no matter the results due to how many people liked him or felt sorry for him. It would be the complete opposite for him whereas Ōji was sure that he would get a lot of flack from everyone else.
Now that I think about it, I'm probably going to get some nasty looks after this match. I'm fighting two pretty pure girls. Obi-nyan has Yuba-san to glare at me while the princess has a lot of glasses' to do that. If that monster comes over here and I manage to take him out, I'll be getting it from Taichi and some others who like him. I was really put in a terrible position here. I guess I need to end this quickly then.
There was no escaping what was to come, so the best he could do was move right into it and face the challenges that would come from the current match.
He did so with his next move.
.
Ōji fired Hound shots behind himself while rushing Obishima with Kōgetsu. The Hound shots were scattered about and less accurate then usual. The difference between then was a terrible reminder that he was limited on time at the moment.
With the Hound shots scattered about behind him, Obishima became the current focus.
Instead of pulling back his arm for a full swing, he moved it forward with a hasty swing. The power behind it was minimal and inaccurate, but enough that it would catch Obishima.
Or it should have.
"!?"
As his arm swung forward in a hasty manner, something landed atop his shoulder before a new weight appeared on top of his swinging arm.
The first thing that had landed on his shoulder had been a delicate foot that had not lost any balance. That same foot had connected to the leg and body that connected with the weight on his swimming arm.
To his side, using him as a step, was the girl he had fired the Hound shots at.
Hoshi had gotten around his attack and made her way to offset his attack on Obishima.
The entire thing seemed like she was moving forward to help Obishima against him, but that was proven to be wrong when she swung down her own Kōgetsu at the same time she shot Asteroid shots straight down.
With his balance ruined due to the entire body on top of him, Ōji knew that he wouldn't be able to completely dodge the attack.
In an attempt to even the score, he lowered his arm along with her falling motion to offset the new balance she had found.
It worked well enough that she had to begin a strange landing while he moved backwards.
Something that caught his attention was something that was actually not there. It should have been close to the girl, yet it was nowhere to be found.
Until it came forward.
The light rain of Asteroid came down just as the pack of Hound rushed from behind. The target for the former was Ōji, yet it scraped Hoshi. The target for the latter had been Hoshi, yet to take Ōji's swinging and lowering arm.
The two different attacks had met somewhere along the line and hit their intended targets for minimal, but noticeable damage.
Ōji was the first to react by turning his backwards motion into a new rotation.
The rotation brought him back to his Kōgetsu that had been lost due to the loss of his arm. He grabbed it with his working arm and began a new attack.
Hoshi was slower to react. She had been unprepared for both of the attacks to hit her in some way, so her leg had become effectively useless with holes littering it from her knee down.
Upon seeing Ōji begin his rotation, she slid across the ground to move away from him while leaping back into a fighting stance.
From the corner of her eye she could see that Obishima was quickly reaching a point of retreating safely.
The two attacks that Hoshi and Ōji had tried to make had allowed her to reach that new safe zone.
But she had still yet to reach that zone.
"!"
Upon taking the final step needed to reach that safe zone, Obishima went wide eyed as a light flickered for a moment before she fell backwards.
The three fighters watched in surprise as Obishima's leg fell to the ground.
While there was no actual sound from anywhere around them, all three of them could internally feel that someone was currently giving them a "Heh heh heh" some distance away.
The terrifying thought was pushed aside in favor of costing on the fight.
Obishima had been kept from that safe zone and the two attackers were missing limbs. Only a few feet stood between all of them and the two attackers were already moving.
This would be the moment that decided the fight.
Obishima tried to fix herself before she hit the ground.
Ōji was already mid-attack while trion leaked from his now missing arm.
Hoshi was the furthest from them, but she moved forward while disregarding her now useless leg.
But…
.
There was no time to react as something had appeared in the middle of the triple reactions provided by Hoshi, Ōbishima, and Ōji.
To say it had landed in front of them would have been wrong. As would saying it pushed its way through to reach that point. There had been no movement after all.
All three of them had been moving in ways that would make it hard for anything outside of their fight to push through without being noticed.
So it left only one option.
If it had appeared without warning and none of them had noticed, it meant that a Trigger had been used.
Two of the three fighters understood immediately which Trigger it had been.
"Teleport!"
Hoshi and Ōji gave the same shout as they realized they were far too in with their attacks to be able to stop.
The oncoming blade was merciless to all three of them.
.
Senshi wasted no time in joining the fight that had been ready to reach its climax.
Using Teleport to reach them without any noticing had been the way to go for his assault. The sound made by the Trigger happened just before activation and there was one there to see where he would be teleporting to. It was the perfect Trigger to use against unsuspecting people.
That may have been why Yuki enjoyed using it so much.
Senshi did not push the thought aside, instead saving it for a later note.
Once the activation and location had been set, he had to determine how he would go about his assault. Two of his three opponents would be rather inexperienced while the remaining one would be well versed in how to counter his attack. All three of them had an injury of some kind and two of them looked ready to attack.
Attacking one of the two attackers while they were attacking would get him a point while likely giving a point to the one he did not target. What is more, he would need to begin his action the instant he landed on that battlefield. If he stalled for even a moment then it could give any one of them a chance to realize what was happening.
This had been where his training with Yuki came in.
The sickly boy was a master when it came to Teleport. His usage of the prototype Trigger had gotten him a small reputation among some of the better Border members. Senshi was sure that his reputation and its showing would have been even greater if he had gone into more solo matches than he currently has. That never seemed to bother him though, so there was never a need to bring it up.
With that sickly boy being as good as he was with Teleport, Senshi thought that it was only reasonable that he try to ask for help in learning to use it properly.
At the time it sounded like a good idea. But once it had been brought up, Yuki had gone on a tangent about the "greatness that is an amazing Trigger that lets you move anywhere instantly". They had gotten some strange looks for that.
Once he had been done with his fanboying, Yuki had instantly shown him just what could be done with Teleport.
Even with his Side Effect turned off temporarily, Senshi had a rough time trying to catch the boy. Besides the use of Teleport, his slim body and quick feet had allowed him to move out of any of the attacks coming at him.
Those kinds of movements could not be done with the amount of bulk that was on Senshi, but he had been reassured that spearlike that was not necessary to properly use Teleport.
The conversation they had during that time came to mind each time he prepared to use the Trigger.
"Something to always remember is the weaknesses of Teleport," Yuki began. He held up one finger as he spoke.
"The first is the sound. Using Teleport creates a sound before it actually sends you anywhere. Usually it doesn't matter too much, but more skilled opponents will definitely use that against you.
"The second is the location. You need to see where you want to go. You have to face at some point and determine that that is where you want to go. This is the troublesome part since it gives Snipers a chance to check the location beforehand. Against Attackers it isn't too much of a drawback and against Shooters…"
He had a wicked grin on his face at the same time a shiver had run down his spine.
"If they aren't completely morons and airheads, it could get you into some trouble. It works against the more impulsive ones for sure. But it is also an easy escape against any that will be keeping a very big gap between them and you."
He had nodded to himself as if remembered just who those people were.
"The third weakness is the time it takes between teleports. You need to remember that the greater the distance, the more trion you use. Something else is that there is a small gap of time where you can't use Teleport. That is also dependent on how far you are traveling."
Senshi had known all of those things the moment he decided to take up the Trigger. It was always important to know the strengths and weaknesses of each Trigger used.
He had said nothing though since it was never a bad thing to go over the basics again. A reminder was always a good thing, especially when you will be learning something new.
"And the fourth weakness…"
Wait.
"Four?"
Yuki nodded his head without any hesitation.
"It isn't really a weakness with the Trigger itself, but it's something that comes up. For you it might actually be something to work on, given your body size."
"What does body size have to do with it?"
"You see how slim I am and how little muscle I have to work with?"
Normally speaking about Yuki's loss of muscles and body fat was a sort of taboo due to previous events. The fact he was bringing it up now as casually as any normal conversation meant that he was taking this lesson seriously and was trying to help Senshi.
So with that knowledge, he nodded his head just as casually, yet seriously.
"Once the teleportation ends, the user needs to decide how to move afterwards. Because of the nature of the Trigger, you need to quickly get your bearings and figure out what to do right after. That becomes harder the more body mass you have because you then have more to move. I have very little body mass, so I don't have much to move in the first place. Something else to note is the situation you are using it in. Compare the way I use it to someone like Arashiyama."
Was this something that Yuki really wanted answered or not? At times it was difficult to tell with him.
Senshi decided to wait for a few seconds to see what he should do.
This seemed to be the correct response as Yuki let out a sigh while lifting the hair from his eye.
"Arashiyama uses it as a simple transportation. Normally he places himself away from his opponents, so he ends up with enough time to get his bearings. In all honesty, that is probably how you are supposed to use it. Just something that can move you around the battlefield."
"But that isn't how you use it."
"That's right," he chuckled out. "I get right up in my opponent's face or appear around them. It all depends on who my opponent is and if I think I can move in time. So with that being said…"
Senshi raised an eyebrow at the two outstretched hands Yuki was showing him.
"How do you want to do this? Do you want to use Teleport as a form of transportation or do you want to use Teleport to fight your opponents?"
This time it was clear that he was looking for a vocal answer.
Still unsure what the two hands meant, Senshi looked up and directly into Yuki's eyes. The answer was obvious from the start.
"I want to use it to fight my opponents."
Yuki's response to this was to grin. Unlike the fake one she had seen around Border, this one was a sly one that must have been Yuki's way of showing him that he was happy with the choice.
At times he was confused by this smaller boy, but there had never been any bad blood between them, so he let it go.
"Great. In that case, we can go over the counters to the two most troublesome weaknesses of Teleport. Those being the location placement and having to move your body after teleporting."
.
He really is obsessed with that Trigger if he found these ways of using it through trial and error.
Even with his criticism, Senshi could not be more happy to find out the best way to use Teleport for fighting.
Because of his completely offensive style, it was the perfect Trigger to compliment his bulk and weight in a way that Grasshopper and Idāten could not.
Moving his body so quickly after teleporting is because he has little body mass. Doing something like that for me would be difficult because of my bulk. But we found a way around that.
If someone small began their attacks after teleporting then it meant that someone large would have to start their attack before teleporting.
It had taken many training sessions to reach this point, but there had been growth each time. While not at the level of Yuki's teleporting attacks, Senshi was sure that he could accomplish multiple attacks using teleport and his blade.
That had been the reason for his decision to appear in the middle of the three fighters.
Because of his attack having already started before teleporting, he had no reason to get his bearing as quickly as usual. His blade was already in motion and he only needed to follow that moving blade.
The first thing his Raygust connected with had been the forwards moving Ōji who had his blade in a sideways swinging motion. His positioning was off, likely due to having started a rotation, so Senshi took the chance.
Instead of coming from above or from the side to meet the Kōgetsu blade, he began to drag Raygust in a diagonal fashion starting from the bottom to the top. His own body had already been in a rotation, so the moment those two rotations clashed, they would cancel each other out.
That was exactly what happened.
Ōji's body had suddenly stopped while Senshi still had some spin left since his body was bigger and held more power behind the attack.
Because of this built up power, his swing connoted for a moment more, placing him directly in the line of fire from Hoshi's Asteroid.
"…"
Instead of panicking, he only looked at the shots fired at him as the girl moved forward. It seemed that she was also unable to stop herself from her previous attack and decided to just add on to the attack.
This all meant nothing to him.
Increase the size. Activate Thruster.
Homerun.
Senshi held nothing back as he began a swing. Raygust quickly changed in size, becoming a blunt blade that covered a wider area.
The swing mixed with the wide blade had batted off the Asteroids easily enough, none seeming to even get passed the Attacker Trigger.
Next came the girl.
While he was still in the motion of signing the large blade, she was no real threat with the way had a dead leg to work with and a sloppy form for attacking at this angle.
Stopping his motion in order to counter her would have wasted too much time, so he did the next thing that he thought would work.
With his upper body moving quicker because of the swing, he used his lower body to increase the speed of the Thruster even more. He brought up one of his legs while continuing.
The bottom of his foot quickly met with the blunt side of Hoshi's Kōgetsu.
Using it as a springboard along with Thruster, he was sent backwards. Towards Obishima.
.
The backwards moving Obishima could only widen her eyes as she watched her two opponents be batted away with little effort.
The attacker who had done so was now rushing her at a speed that surpassed Hoshi and Ōji while they had working limbs.
Retreating had been her priority and she had thought she could make it to a safe zone, away from her opponents.
That plan had been a failure the moment she had her leg taken out.
Suzume had stayed before to take the shot at her and prevent her from moving back any further. That was now coming back to her even harder as Senshi moved closer to her while she could only fall backwards.
Yuba Squad would be losing a point because of her.
"Please do not give up yet, Obishima-san!"
What was with this girl?
Obishima was completely confused by the voice that rang out as Senshi got closer.
The voice belonged to one of her opponents, but it had been encouraging. Even in this situation of absolute loss, she was being sent words of encouragement.
"Please move to the side, if possible!"
This was a loss either way, so what harm could there be in listening?
With a thought like that in mind, Obishima tried to force her body to the side.
With her leg taken out, it was rather easy, all things considered. Her body already had a sort of tilt to it while she was falling, so all she needed to do was put more weight onto that part of the fall.
When she did…
"!?"
Asteroid shots passed by her as Senshi disappeared from sight.
What was that…?
The answer came soon after.
.
Hoshi felt the need to apologize to her teammates for her actions.
Now is not the time for that. But…I most certainly do need to do that after this match.
She had just saved an opponent. An opponent who was just about to be taken out.
Unlike what Ōji was trying to do, she had not done that in order to gain another point. The reason for her attack had been simply because she did not want to see Obishima lose.
When compared to the two boys here the two girls were very inexperienced and would not have a chance to win even if they teamed up. It was just a simple fact of this battle. But the moment she saw Obishima accept the loss, she felt the need to help.
The younger girl had tried so hard the entire time, even going for an escape when she had lost her support. It was all something that struck Hoshi. It was very different from how Katori had reacted and it was not as forceful as Kumagai. This girl was very different from the two of them who had seen her as someone new to the battlefield but held potential.
It had really just clicked for her upon meeting Obishima at the start of this match.
They had exchanged greetings - something she did not think would be a two-way thing here - and fought each other as best as they could and with the support they had. Although in Hoshi's case it was her who was the support.
That had been the reason for her current actions.
She liked this girl, thought of her as an actual equal, if not someone better than her, and so wanted to provide some support for her. Even if she was an opponent.
I will not be giving her a point by losing here, and I will certainly attack her if I see a chance, but I do not want her to simply give up like that. Um… Would it be bad to say that I wanted our fight to continue just a bit longer? I sincerely hope that is fine. I think I will ask her once this match is over.
For the time being, she would continue to fight until she was properly taken out by one of these two experienced boys.
Raising her Kōgetsu in preparation for the next bout with them all, she spoke up with no worries in her voice.
"Shall we move on to the next stage?"
.
Ōji could not believe what he had seen.
The monster known as Senzai Senshi had finally made an appearance and all three of them were still standing.
He had expected himself to remain alive during the confrontation, and maybe one of the girls, but he did not expect for all three of them to survive the attack.
What had made it even more strange was the fact that the reason one of these girls was still standing was because the other girl had helped her. Instead of running away or attacking him, she had decided to attack Senshi in order to prevent him from taking out Obishima.
That would not have been weird if not for the fact that she seemed to warn Obishima beforehand, as if to say that she would be supporting the younger girl with the attack instead of attacking her directly.
That entire family really is strange. And they want my squad to join that branch?
Their decision would be put on hold at least until the end of the B-Rank Wars. That was what was agreed upon between Ōji Squad and the Yagura Branch.
But…
It may just be fun if they are inexperienced as this girl.
Smirking to himself, Ōji moved forward for his next attack.
There was a new determination to get some final points before the monster known as Senzai Senshi would target him.
.
Senshi put his knowledge into his actions without any hesitation.
His training sessions with Yuki had built up knowledge within him for time like these. Times where he could go all out and not worry about his Side Effect trying to take over the area around him.
The first thing he had been taught to do was attack before teleporting. It was something that a large person could do in order to prevent any lag in their movements once they had teleported.
As for the second thing…
Prevent your opponent from seeing where you will be teleporting.
It had been a counter to the other major weakness to using Teleport.
Among the four weaknesses that Yuki had mentioned, this one seemed rather impossible to pull off with no preparation. But there were ways around that.
Yuki does this by using his hair that is over his eye. When he wants to really go all out, he closes his visible eye and relies on his covered eye. He can still see through his hair while his opponents will have no chance to see beyond it. Snipers will have a hard time since their scope can't look at something so specific. As for me…
His hair was not long enough to cover his eyes. The red hair that sat atop his head had length to it, but it was more on the sides and on the back than it was the front. It made it nearly impossible to use this hair for something like that. But it was not the only option he had.
The option open for Senshi was also atop his head.
My goggles.
They may have been more for aesthetics, but they still had a tint to them that made it hard for others to see through them from the outside.
It was exactly what he could use to cover for that second big weakness.
That was why he wasted no time in lowering the goggles on his head so that they covered his eyes.
I should make this quick.
.
Senshi disappeared.
He did so before any of them had a chance to react. The sound that came form Teleport rang out for a moment before he was gone.
It did not take longer for him to appear again.
The problem they found was the fact he had appeared directly in front of Ōji.
"So I'm the first target…!?"
Ōji's response was followed by him bringing up his Kōgetsu, trying to block the attack directly in front of him.
The sound of the other two moving towards them could also be heard, but he thought little about them since the monster had appeared in front of him.
Having fought against Yuki before, he was aware of how someone could use Teleport to attack. But the same weaknesses for that Trigger were being countered by Senshi at the moment.
"You really did learn from that damn fox…"
Another, and very familiar, sound reached his ears as he managed to divert Senshi's attack towards the ground. Letting the heavy Raygust lean on his Kōgetsu forced it to move towards the ground instead of spreading the force along the open area around Kōgetsu.
With the force now bringing him down, Senshi was in a downward motion as Hoshi appeared above him and Ōji prepared a counter.
Swinging the Kōgetsu in his hand, the blade was coming down on Senshi's neck.
From his position, Ōji could see Hoshi appear directly above Senshi, bringing down her own blade along with some Asteroid. Obishima was lagging behind from missing a leg, but it looks like she would make it in order to attack either him or Hoshi.
"…"
Or that should have been what happened.
"…Thruster."
In a single movement, Ōji found himself being sent back after having to make an awkward movement with Kōgetsu.
The fast moving Raygust had been thrusted to the side as the optional Trigger for it pushed it to the side. The force of the attack had shallowly reached his body, pushed him back, and was now forcing a full rotation form Senshi.
Hoshi was the next one to feel the force of the attack.
With the momentum from his downward movement, Senshi had more momentum from turning upwards like a pendulum. With Thruster pushing him even more, Senshi made the 180 degree turn before her attacks could hit.
The end result was a hard hit from Raygust to her side, only managing to push her back after she had thrown Kōgetsu to the side as a makeshift shield along with her arms. The shots she had fired vanished quickly as they were also stuck with the great force.
Obishima was the last one to be hit by the attack.
Since she was at the tail end of the attack, she had been the one to get hit the hardest with it. The pushing momentum from the attack cracked the Kōgetsu and Shield she had used. A moment later, the entire blade shattered with the end of the blade being sent flying.
The single attack from the Raygust and Thruster combo had sent Ōji, Hoshi, and Obishima all flying.
Their attacks had been swatted away and shattered.
Yet even with this outcome, Senshi did not relent.
"Keep it coming, Thruster."
Instead of stopping the attack, he only continued to push further. The next rotation began the instant he made a full 360 degree rotation. This time his body moved in a single direction, still being pulled by the Trigger that now tore through the air. The target?
Hoshi.
The instantaneous speed coming from Thruster got him to her in the same time it would take to Teleport there. The difference was the fact he had built up speed and power with his strike.
As an attempt to defend against the attack, Hoshi brought up a concentrated shield as well as her Kōgetsu.
They shattered.
The high power swing from Raygust shattered the shield starting from one end before reaching the middle, where it came in contact with the Kōgetsu. Upon reaching the blade, it tore through the trion keeping the mold of the blade before snapping it as easily as it had Obishima's. Once it reached that point, it continued to shatter the remainder of the shield.
.
Ōji did not hesitate to fire Hound towards the two fighting to the side.
He had been able to visually keep up with Senshi, but his reaction time was lagging in comparison to that.
Glad he didn't go after me.
The way Senshi had torn through Hoshi's defenses had been a bit of surprise, but he did not let that get to him. Obishima could not do anything else due to her broken Kōgetsu, and now Hoshi was the same. The two girls were nothing more than targets at this point.
That had been why he fired in that direction without any thought about the outcome.
If he managed to hit Senshi then it would be something that could slow him down. If he managed to hit Hoshi, it would likely take her out and give him the point.
What happened instead made him click tongue.
Senshi had retaliated by continuing his new rotation, cutting through the Hound shots without stopping for a moment.
I need to stop that momentum. But it's built up so much that a standard shield won't be much. In that case…
From directly in front of him, the spinning mass of red continued to tear through the air as Hoshi tried to back away.
Moving away at this point meant nothing since the speed at which that red terror was moving would catch up in no time at all.
But…
"…!"
Ōji found his chance in the form of shots.
Instead of just falling back, Hoshi had fired her own attack. Asteroids filled the sky behind her as she tried to move away on the single working leg.
He could see that she was prepared to hit herself as well once she fired all of the shots. As if to add to the massive amount of attacks, she grabbed the broken blade of her Kōgetsu as well as the remaining portion of it and threw the both of them towards the spinning mass of red.
Once all of those attacks got in range, Senshi reacted by swatting each one away as if they were insects. The shots fired at him could not reach him as his feet moved along the ground to continue the momentum he had built up to this point.
That was when he saw it.
Four broken blades were stabbed into the ground.
Two ends of Kōgetsu were placed in front and behind the mass of red while two ends connected to hilts were stabbed into the ground on either side of the mass of red.
They were there to stop the mass.
It made sense for two of those to be placed in the ground since Hoshi had thrown them, but what about the other two?
Obi-nyan.
Obishima must have noticed what Hoshi was doing and resolved herself to mimic the action. Her own escape had been lost long ago and she seemed ready to Bail Out, so this was a last ditch effort to provide something to the battlefield she was on.
Feeling bad for the two girls, Ōji began to move once he noticed the way the mass of red was now moving.
.
Seeing the blades on the ground had made the mass of red realize that, should he come in contact with them, his feet and legs would be torn apart from the momentum he had generated this whole time.
So instead of colliding with them and losing his legs, the mass of red took a leap into the air, still rotating from the momentum he had built up.
Now in the air, instead of using close range attacks, the mass of red threw his own attack. Specifically, he threw Raygust.
The thrown blade tore through the space and forced the air aside. The built up speed and extra speed from Thruster made it a deadly weapon with speed that the people on the ground could not keep up with without preparations.
But one was prepared.
Ōji appeared before the flying blade with a multi-layered shield and his Kōgetsu at the ready.
The previous experiences had shown him that something this simple would not be enough to stop a blade with that much force behind it. Something so quickly made would shatter and be torn apart and only result in slowing down the blade for the moment.
But that is if they were quickly made.
Like the times before, the blade shattered the multi-layered shield. Instead of cutting through them all, it pierced through them in a spiral fashion resembling a spinning spear. This resulted in each layer of the shields to have a clean-cut hole in it before cracks began appearing starting from the inside before stretching out to the ends of them.
Once it reached the final shield, the thrown blade had lost some of its spin and was now simply a thrown blade with great power behind it.
For his part, Ōji began his next action.
With him in the air, directly behind the shields he had made, he brought up his Kōgetsu with his remaining arm. Behind him was Obishima, trying to figure out what to do in this situation.
As things stood, Ōji's Kōgetsu would be torn like Obishima's and Hoshi's before continuing to his body. From there it would pierce through his body, slowing down the blade even more. It's final target would be Obishima, who currently could not move well due to having lost a leg. The blade would pierce through her before stabbing into the ground.
From there it was clear that Senshi would teleport to reach his Raygust to finish things off with Hoshi.
That was how Ōji's mind played things out as he moved his own blade.
The reality of the attack?
"…!"
It was different.
Instead of tearing the Kōgetsu blade like the other two, it clashed with it for a moment.
A certain noise came within that moment.
That same moment was when Ōji twisted his remaining arm.
Instead of taking the attack head-on, he made a forceful push upwards.
Not using just his arm, Ōji used his entire body to push upwards.
"Making me do something that damn fox showed me a long time ago…"
Moving along with his arm, the Kōgetsu forcefully pushed as well. The thrown blade began to move along the upwards blade, sliding along its side and towards Ōji's head.
Before it could reach him and pierce through his forehead, the thrown blade was forcefully ejected into the sky by the upwards blade.
"It kind of makes me mad."
With the thrown blade now spinning in the air and his upwards face being weaker than it had been before, Ōji began to finish his mid-air flip.
With his body upside-down he could see the battlefield one more.
Senshi, also still in the air and barely coming for a landing, seemed ready to go for his thrown blade.
Hoshi and Obishima were the last ones to move, both going and reaching for their discarded and torn blades stabbed into the ground.
"I don't think so."
Releasing his Kōgetsu, Ōji completed his flip.
Using the remaining force from his flip, he slammed his foot down onto the downward facing Kōgetsu. The falling blade straightened out before plummeting to the ground like a stake.
.
Obishima found herself lagging behind.
She had just seen something amazing, but it had also taken most of her attention. Once she realized what was going on, she began to move towards the broken Kōgetsu she had used to limit Senshi's movements alongside Hoshi.
Having only one leg to work with had made the whole thing difficult. She could not run and had to to rely on hopping to that spot that seemed so far away now. A spot she had been at when fighting Hoshi and had the backing of Tonooka.
But I should reach it! One last attack on one of them! I can at least-
Her mind stopped the moment she saw a Kōgetsu stab directly into her foot. It was now impossible to move with her remaining foot held in place.
She began to fall forward, onto the Kōgetsu, because of the forward momentum she had due to hopping.
"Sorry, Obi-nyan, but now I am kind of mad."
The voice in front of her reached her ears before the blade stabbed into her foot and ground came up. It had started from the ground and reached the top of her shoulder.
She had lost.
Trion began to leak from her body as well as the part that had been cut off from her body.
Ōji was quick to turn his back on her and move towards his next target.
Her body began to glow as the lines of trion covered her body.
Bail Out.
.
Hoshi had seen the entire event and could only feel sorry for Obishima as she reached her broken blade.
The sound of a teleport could be heard nearby, but that had not been what was on her mind at the moment.
I hope Obishima-san is fine after this… Should I check up on her after this match is over?
Resolving herself to do just so, Hoshi focused back on the match that was still going on.
There was very little she could use now. Fujin would not work due to the broken blade and her trion was now reaching the limit. Both of her opponents were much stronger and more experienced than she was. So what was left to do here besides simply lose?
With the shot moment she had before being attacked, she thought,
Toby-kun is out of the question since I cannot move too well and my blade is broken.
Suzume-senpai is also out of the question since I need mobility for that too.
So that just leaves Takeshi-kun.
So at a time like this he would…
Bombard the area.
She prepared her last bout of Asteroid while taking a final leap backwards.
Ōji was now coming forward at her while Senshi had begun to move towards them as well.
Holding out her arm, she forced a cube of trion to appear. With no time to focus on splitting it up, she fired it as is.
The single shot moved through the air, but it was easily dodged by the moving Ōji.
A moment later she could see her own body as her head flew through the air.
Senshi did not have the time to reach her, so the one who got the point was clear without even looking at who it was.
I suppose I should try better next time.
Bail Out.
.
That had been the final point he could take.
Ōji was aware that there was nothing else he could do now that both Hoshi and Obishima had been taken out.
I guess I should be fine with getting those two points. The opponents I had to get them from will be giving me indirect trouble afterwards, but I did manage to get us onto the board here.
Kurauchi and Kashio had both lost without getting anything for them. But he had managed these two points.
No, that's not right. Kurauchi got us some good information on Kotowari's dog. I would say that was pretty useful for later on.
He could do nothing with that information at the moment, but it would come up during the next time they fought. It would give them some advance thoughts about what to do with that beast.
But for now…
I might as well see what happened here.
He felt rather irritated with himself for giving up like this, but it was a simple thing that did not escape him. This next point would be one he loses to the monster of red that was now coming towards him.
So instead of committing to a total loss or the thought of winning, he fired his last Hound towards the monster of red that was now coming for him.
As he did so…
"—"
A flash of green flew through the sky in the distance.
Ōji raised an eyebrow towards it, realizing that someone else had just Bailed Out.
The moment he turned to the sky, he heard a voice.
"Ah. I guess it's back."
Looking back at the monster of red, he saw something amazing.
Shingai could only curse at her current situation.
The case she had been having with Yuba had come to an abrupt end the moment all of his shooting had torn apart the tall building they were in.
He had been quick to find her and now she stood before him, Lighting at her side.
The distance between them was well within Yuba's range and sounds of the building falling apart could be heard all around them. Their sides faced the destroyed window with glass littering the floor and some even embedded into the columns holding up the building.
At this point only one of them would make it to the broken window to jump out. The other could be shot down before they could take their next step.
If she had her Side Effect active, as accursed as it was, then she was sure that she could easily escape this situation. In fact, it would have been guaranteed that she would not have been in this situation at all.
But that is not the case here.
The current situation was against her and she did not have her good luck to fall back on. Yuba was merciless with his attacks and took them seriously. Relying on some sort of pride complex or foolishness from him to escape was unthinkable and even her speed could not save her when his speed matched hers, if not being barely under. His firing rate was also higher with his smaller guns than hers even with Lightning.
"So I end up in this shoot out. Of course I do."
She smiled bitterly to herself as she saw Yuba prepare for his next attack.
She did the same.
Usually, I can fire my bow as swiftly and easily as breathing, Lightning is not too different. Actually it may even be easier. But this time, for some reason, it feels slow and heavy.
The pressure that was usually free from her shoulder built up as she dragged her arm up to fire her shot.
…Right. I see. I guess I take my own Side Effect for granted too much to be natural. Is this a way of getting back at me for that?
…No, I do not think that is it. I think it is much easier to say…
"You can shoot first…"
Shingai looked towards her opponent at the moment he fired his shots.
As a hunter who relied on her speed, she could mentally and visually keep up with it, but her reactions were not as quick to do so.
"…because I'm faster."
The unspoken, "Fire!" Rang out in their minds as Yuba shot three times from his gun before Shingai was able to fully pull up her Lightning.
Shingai let out a sigh through her nose as lines of trion began forming all along her body. The three holes made by the shots hit the perfect places to make sure she would lose.
Looking back towards the Gunner, she saw as he gave her a quick wave before jumping from the building.
Her loss was guaranteed, so she found no reason to go after him. Instead, she focused on placing her hand to her ear as the lines of trion reached her face.
Archer: "Sthénos, feel free to attack if you want. Just make sure to keep a distance from him."
Sthé-chan:"Roger, roger!"
With that, Shingai was overcome with light before flying out of the, now collapsing, building.
Bail Out.
Senshi knew the instant his bad luck came back.
All of the pressure that had left his shoulders quickly came flooding back all at once.
The feeling of something wrong happening came over his entire mentality and the feelings of strength in his movement seemed like it would only lead to something he would not want. Everything that expressed his Side Effect came back to him in a single instant.
That instant was all it took.
With nothing there, Senshi felt himself begin to fall instead of run. As if it had been placed there to hinder him, he began to fall once something touched his foot. His footing was lost within the instant and he could see the ground coming soon.
I need to at least try.
He began taking in his body to lead into a roll the moment he would hit the ground. From there he could get up and move away. Once the instant was done he would be able to at least get his bearing and meet up with Sthénos.
For the first few seconds it seemed like it would be possible, but then it happened.
He landed on the arm.
His ankle twisted.
He could not roll to the side.
He hit the ground with a resounding noise.
The Hound that came from somewhere crashed down.
He was filled with holes.
He had lost.
.
Bail Out.
Wakamura could only hide behind the glare of his glasses as he heard the simultaneous sounds of foreheads being slapped by the palms of people's hands.
He felt that he could agree with that sort of sentiment. Some of the few who did not do such a thing happened to be the girl next to him and the girl behind him. No, they did not hit their foreheads, instead, they seemed to take to whispering to each other.
"That kind of anti-climactic ending kind of makes me feel back for Ōji."
"I know. He seemed pretty pissed with that last run against the girls, but now he doesn't look so good."
"He probably doesn't know how he won that fight."
"I would feel the same way. Something like, 'This sort of comeback… Wait, did that really happen!? I tried so hard and this guy just ran into my attack!? This sucks…' Or something like that."
"Yeah, I'm totally getting that kind of feeling from him right now."
Was it just how these two were that made them so openly pity their upperclassman without any hesitation?
Either way, Wakamura felt like he could not say that they were wrong. After all, anyone would feel like that after having just been put through hell before finding out the exit was right next to them with a sign that read "Not the exit".
It feels like the best way to describe this all. And the worst part is that I'm sure Senzai-senpai would not mind losing like this. The real loser here is Ōji and none of us can deny it.
A few seconds later, he could hear the laughter from Yoneya die down while Lukas fixed his glasses. The commentators had said nothing about the loss yet and he was curious as to what they would say about it.
It had pretty much all ended in a flash, but the fight itself was something that he took notes on.
Seeing Obishima lose the way she did had been rough due to the way she did not seem to be giving up at all. But while he felt bad for her, his attention had been on the other girl in that chaotic fight.
Taiyōko did well, all things considered. Is it bad that I feel proud of her? Maybe I shouldn't tell Tsukiko or Murakami about it. I feel like they would be happy that someone felt that way, but then get mad since it was he who had said it. But I really do want to tell her that she was great in that fight. Yeah, that's what I'll do. I tell her that she was great there with no one else around and so there won't be anyone to rat me out. It's perfect! Oh, I guess I could do the same for Obishima too. She was good there.
Wakamura crossed his arms while silently nodding to himself.
There was a plan he could use and the whispering from the two girls about him would not deter him from following through with it.
The whispering became a bit louder, but he chose to, yet again, ignore it in favor of listening in to the comments.
Grumpy Cat: "Are you done laughing now?"
Spear Idiot: "I refuse to be blamed for laughing at that."
Torimaru: "You kind of have to feel bad for him."
Grumpy Cat: "With that point being…taken. Given? With Kazuaki getting a point, this puts Ōji Squad at three points with their captain remaining. The remaining fighters after that are Kotowari Squad's Suzu and mutt, who managed to score them a point earlier, Yuba Squad's Yuba, who has gotten a single point for them, and Senzai Squad's Sthénos, who had yet to score a point but had her captain score two points."
Spear Idiot: "From the looks of things, Ōji might just be waiting out the clock now. The damage he took and the trion loss from his attacks means he won't have much juice left to fight. On the opposite side of that, everyone else, besides Yuba-san, is still pretty back with trion and have not taken much damage."
Torimaru: "The fact Suzume-chan and Awdry are still around is probably the most concerning part. Toby had gotten his squad a point early on and had saved his trion the entire time. Meanwhile, Suzume-chan has less trion form the fight before, but has no damage done to her. If those two work together then I'm sure they can handle the remaining three."
Spear Idiot: "Sthénos might also hold back due to losing her teammates. But in all likelihood, she might just go on the offensive or try to find someone to attack."
Grumpy Cat: "If we look at the map… Oh."
Spear Idiot: "Yup. That's what I thought."
Torimaru: "It makes sense."
Curious as to what they were talking about, Wakamura turns this attention from the live feed they were getting from the fighters to the map showing where they were all placed.
Suzume seemed to be moving slowly while Sthénos was loitering around an area. Ōji, as expected, was finding a place to lay low until the time ran out or more people Bailed Out. As for the remaining two…
I should have expected as much.
Destruction signaled the end of the battle and sounds of someone sighing signaled the beginning of a new one.
Of the remaining fighters in the current match, Yuba took a cautious approach to the situation.
"I should be careful over here."
Toby took note of the remaining fighters left on the battlefield. Senshi and Shinagi had just been taken out while Obishima and Hoshi were taken out only moments ago.
That was he was one of the few who had remained and was now going to his next opponent.
The moment he turned a corner he was in the center of destruction.
Toby saw the remains of a building.
…Explosion attacks are really annoying!
He took a combat stance as several explosive attacks came down on the surface like walls.
And a moment later...
"...!"
His body noticed a sudden presence and swung his head half its width to the right. The ends of his hair swayed, informing him something was approaching.
And he noticed something where his left ear had been a moment before.
...Wind!?
He noticed the pressure and heard the blowing of wind. It suddenly appeared along a straight line and passed by.
It did not fly past him. An unexpected noise had split the air.
"This is…!" shouted Toby. "A ghost!"
"It's a shot from a Gunner, you idiot!"
A tall and slender figure stood beyond the destruction to his right. They were 7 meters away and facing him.
So it's one of the captains, he realized.
…He can be a bit annoying too, can't he?
Would it help if we put a number in his name, but I feel bad if I end dup mixing it all together.
Then he spoke to him.
"I'll take you on, Awdry. I think we'll be a good match."
"Is that so?" Toby nodded. "In other words, you think we would be a good match for going at it pretty hard."