A faint noise rang out.
The air split open and the space crackled as black tendrils shot out form the growing black sphere.
The black sphere expanded and contained to do so until it reached above the surrounding buildings. Those buildings, the road, and the light poles around it were crushed and destroyed by the black sphere.
"A Gate has been detected! Distance is 400 to the Northeast! There are multiple radar readings! This appears to be the planned Neighbor invasion!"
Sawamura relayed the information in front of her. To her left was Fuyushima Squad's captain - Fujushima Shinji. Behind her were the directors of Border, some sitting, some getting to their seats, and one standing tall.
"There are only thirty minutes until the nighttime B-Rank Wars start. The planned matches are one in the top tier… Then another in the middle tier." Sawamura continued on without batting an eye. "If we're going to carry this out as planned, those six groups will not participate in Defense Duty. What are your orders, sir?"
The one standing tall was the one she had been referring to.
It was Shinoda Masafumi.
"That's not a problem. The Ranks Wars will proceed as planned." Shinoda spoke with only certainty in his voice. "Jin's Foresight tells us that it's unlikely, but if they do come after the agents, then we will suspend the Rank Wars and the squads will enter battle. Azuma will take command of them. Kazama Squad, Hatohara Squad's Kobayashi and Yagura's Taiyōko are on hall security. Inform them and the two commentators."
"Understood!"
"Consider the possibility of a diversion and leave one squad on the west and one in the south!"
"A large trion soldier army is approaching!"
It was about to begin. The attack from Galopoula.
No…
It has already begun.
Border had prepared ahead of time for this attack and would respond to it in their own way.
That's a lot of Idras… Must be Rhodokrhoun's trion soldier army.
Hyuse thought to himself as he moved towards the door.
Behind him was a sleeping Yōtarō atop a similarly sleeping Raijinmaru. Laying on the side of Raijinmaru was the other boy that had recently become friends with Yōtarō. He was also sleeping soundly like his friend.
Considering the movements agents as of late, there will definitely be a large battle.
Making his way through the Tamakoma Branch, Hyuse remembered the day's simple events. The time Jin and Konami had told Yōtarō to watch over him.
At the time he had seemed like nothing was wrong, that was only amplified as the day went on his new friend had gone to the branch office. This was likely done specifically after everyone else had left though, that way there would be no worry with another child there.
Hyuse himself had found the new boy to be fine enough with his well behaved attitude that kept Yōtarō from doing anything rash.
Having reached the location he wanted, the training room of the branch, he thought more about those two boys.
As well as the boy he had fought and helped before.
"…"
He let out a sigh with the shake of his head.
There was something else he had to focus on.
Where's Lampyris?
…I suppose they wouldn't keep it somewhere that would be easy to find…? It's possible Jin has it. I should've taken it back after winning the bet…
"Oh well…"
Hyuse grabbed a normal Trigger, activating it easily.
I'll have to reserve Lampyris when I get back home. I need to prioritize not wasting this opportunity to meet with a retainer nation.
Tamakoma's Muscle: "This is Kizaki. Snipers are in position."
Isa: "This is Tōma. We're ready over here."
Atop the border building, a multitude of snipers were lined up on two sides.
With the high vantage point they were able to see what was coming towards them. Even without their scopes to their eyes, they could see the mass that were trion soldiers moving forward.
What the mass consisted of had been a surprise.
"Humanoid…trion soldiers!?"
Idra.
The human-like soldiers moved in mass, each walking forward with their programing moving them ever so closer to each other.
"This will be difficult," Hokari commented from next to his teammate. "The targets are too small."
"And there are so many. It's gonna be hard to handle."
They waited for their moment.
They waited for the moment those human-like trion soldiers made it within their range.
"Approaching firing range…"
Once they were within range...
"Engaging the enemy."
Each with egret in their grasps, they began their onslaught of sniper fire. Their aims were spot on and the bombardment began without any sort of mercy.
And yet…
"!?"
Their slow movements towards each other had created small groups of Idras that had continued their march.
Upon seeing the sniper fire raining down on them, each one opened their defenses while combining them with the ones around them. This created multiple sturdy shields that simple attacks could not break through.
Power was what was needed.
"Oh? That's a neat trick. Pretty smart, aren't you guys? Opening several shields at once to block."
"Are these cooperative type soldiers...?"
"Let's just honestly take them out."
Seeing that the power from a single agent using a single Trigger was not enough, they began their next attack.
One that held the power they needed.
"Concentrate fire on one of them at a time and destroy them!"
"Ok! Starting from the left!"
"Then I'll start from the right."
Egrets were exchanged for Ibis. Each sniper began to focus their attacks on singular shields of the grounds, powering through those shields and shattering the armor of the Idras.
The rain of sniper fire had turned into a high power light show for anyone looking.
Light that reached from the sky to the ground crashed into the shields.
This shields and armor shattered, shattering even more light across the marching mass.
It did not take long for the light show to expand even further than simply from the sky or the shattering space.
"Back up the Snipers!"
New light reached the shattering lights from the front of the Border base.
Attacks fired from guns were released towards the shattering lights in front of them and the solid lights they could see in front of them.
The entire space from the sky to the ground was covered in lights.
"They're whittling down the Idra! So they were waiting for us!"
"Miden squads are converging. What should we do, Captain?"
"We'll keep going. Keep the guys on the roof busy for one minute."
"Roger."
An explosion of smoke.
Then rain.
That had been what the Border Snipers had seen as they continued their fire onto the Idras.
Small, sharp-looking objects began to come down onto them like rain falling from the sky.
In response, one of them raised her voice.
"Ah!"
A flutter of clothes could be seen to the side.
No one had to guess who it had been.
"We just honestly need to make sure not to be hit, right? Heh heh heh. This just means we need to divert them instead of fully block them."
The sky was filled with shield panels in an instant. Arms were raised up and moved to the side as the rain came down.
The objects coming down them crashed into the shield panels, shattering them and scattering the light above them all.
But it did more than that.
Each object, seeming to be on the path to hating some of them, forcefully stabbed into the roof after having their paths diverted from the sky by the shield panels that were nothing but shattering lights.
Some of the snipers responded to the action with their own shields, not trusting in the girl, while others only continued to fire, knowing her well enough to trust her.
"…That was honestly weak. So that only means-"
A crackling sound could be heard near her feet.
One of the strange and sharp objects had landed in front of her after having shattered one of the shield panels.
The crackling sound was familiar to her. It was a sound she would not forget and a sound that she did not enjoy.
A black tendril began to come from it.
Her response was to cut it. Using a Scorpion blade from her foot, she cut through the sharp object with a harsh glare.
Before she could say anything, that same crackling and could be heard all around her. In every location that the sharp objects had stabbed into.
Black tendrils sprang from the sharp objects as black sphere opened in the spaces above the sharp objects.
"Gates...?"
"Something is coming out!"
Dogs.
Trion soldiers is the likeness of Earth's dogs sprang from the small Gates that came from the sharp objects. Each one moved forward to make room for even more coming through.
This was the counter to the snipers.
And yet...
"Heh heh heh."
"!"
They did not reach any of the snipers.
Three movements were made the instant the Dogs had emerged from the small Gates.
The first moment was one from a blade. It cut through two of the Dogs in an instant before being held out in preparation for the next attack.
The second action was a quick step dance. A small blade wrapped around a finger stabbed through the cores of the Dogs as the body it was connected to moved on light feet.
The third action was simple. A punch. But it was effective in crushing the heads of the Dogs.
"Whoa! The three of the best close ranged Snipers!"
"How reliable~"
Those were what was used to take out multiple Dogs that were crossing through.
"These things don't bite, right? I hate dogs."
"I guess I should not use something so small. Hey, Narasaka, no complaining her, got it? I honestly need to do this."
The one who had used this fist wasted no time in commanding the ones below them.
"Ordering the agents below to repress momentarily. Without the cover from the Snipers you will be overwhelmed by their sheer numbers!"
"Roger!"
"This is bad…"
Shinoda was quick to turn to Amō.
Due to the nature of his Side Effect,he had been held back from the battle going on and was to watch from within the same room as the rest of them.
And what he saw was…
"Among all the humanoid trion soldiers, there are a handful that are different colors."
"What…!?"
The moment that single word came out of Shinoda's mouth, it was placed by the sound of Sawamura's shouts in front of them.
"Intrusion alert! Humanoid Neighbors!"
While the Border agents were busy with the trion soldiers, the humanoid Neighbors continued on with their plan. Four of the Neighbors that had been disguised as Idras made their way to the wall of the base and created a hole to go through.
Once the four made it into the base they took off their disguises and started to make theirs way through the base.
"Everything is going according to plan. This'll be done in ten minutes."
The four began to run.
When they did, they noticed that deadends were being made in the halls, making them have to change their directions at times.
"They're inside. Updating the building's layout data. I'm sending you the directions to our target."
"We'll take the shortest route," Gatlin said. "Avoid engaging enemies if possible. If anyone comes after us, Wen and Shi will stop them."
"Roger, Captain."
"R-right…"
"Rata and I will destroy the target."
"Roger."
"Regi and Koskero, draw Miden soldiers to you."
"Roger!"
"Understood."
"Kigisa, go from behind and take out some of the soldiers."
"Okay~"
"Yomi, you're there for overall support. Make sure to stay out of Mouri's sight once they begin though. The same goes for 'Mochizuki Chiyome'."
"Yes, Sir."
"Captain Gatlin," Ratarikov started. "I just wanted to confirm one more time. If we come across a captive from Aftokrator in this base... The order is, 'we don't need to rescue them. We can dispose of them if they interfere.' Is that right?"
The others waited for the answer.
They waited to hear what would need to be done.
"That's Aftokrator's official position, yes... We have a recording of the conversation as well."
Before they could continue talking, Ratarikov noticed something from the corner of his eyes. The other three were quick to notice as well.
That something was the Elite Agent known as Jin Yuuichi with the Black Trigger Fujin.
The four running stopped when they saw him make slashes along the ground, never seeming to get any closer to them. They could see the slashes running across the ground and walls.
The first to react was Shi Muon.
"Kipourós!"
From the object on her back, vines sprang out.
The vines moved as fast as the slashes coming from the walls and floors.
The vines extend out while wrapping around each other in a way similar to sewing thread. One they had stopped, the threaded vines moved in the way of the slashes, each taking a hit.
The threaded vines each got cut from the slashes running along the walls and floor, yet they did not cut all the way. It had been safe for them now.
"Mr. R-Rata!"
Moving to one of the walls, Ratarikov placed a device on the wall. A hole was made in an instant, allowing for them to escape.
The four had managed their escape.
"They're after the away ship. Send a defense team to cut them off!"
That had been what the ones in the command room heard after the failed attempt of an attack by Jin.
Both Shinoda and Kinuta expressed the same sentiment at what they had been told.
"If the away ship is destroyed, our plans would be set back at least a year!"
"They're using Triggers to slip through walls…! There's no way to defend against them!"
"If their tunnel Trigger were that versatile, they would snuck in directly. But they didn't." Fuyushima turned his head to look back at the directors while maintaining what was in front of him. "That means there's a limit to their ability. We can intercept them at strategic points. Right, Director?"
"Yes, stop them! Don't let them have the run of the place!"
.
Amō continued to stare at the screen in front of them all.
Every part of the battlefield was on display for him to see. Each participant had their colors shown to him.
It was all laid bare in that sense.
"The enemy humanoid trion soldiers aren't that tough. I bet individual Marmods would be tougher. Color-wise, they're similar to lower B-Rank agents. But their color changes when there's a bunch of them together. They seem to be a hassle. The doglike ones are weak, but there's a lot of them. Their color suggests they're mainly there to distract us. The intruders…all have nice colors. A-Rank or above."
His attention turned to the ones they could see running throughout the building.
"The bearded guy in particular is similar to Shinoda-san in color. I think he'll be a tough opponent."
Everyone who heard him turned back to the large screen before them.
This was just another part of their fight they had to take into account.
"Should we call back the squads from outside? I could warp them over no problem."
"No… There's a chance of letting more intruders in if things go badly outside. Then our situation would deteriorate even further. We can't reduce our outside forces. The four intruders will be countered by personnel already inside. We know that one of them has a defensive Trigger with them, so it turns four unknowns into three. Getting overrun outside is the worst-case scenario. Regroup and push them back! Send order to the agents outside!"
"Roger!"
A small sound came through before a new voice could be heard.
Unlike Jin's assisting one, this one sounds much more exasperated than anything.
White Fox: "Uh, I had Fukushima-san patch me in through the latter part of that. And have something to say."
"Yuki!?"
A small cough came through, but no one worried about it. He was in his trion body after all.
"What did you want to say?"
White Fox: "You just said one of them has a defensive Trigger, right?"
"Yes. They use vines as a defense. It likely has offensive capabilities as well, meaning distance attacks with it are possible."
"Great." Yuki's voice sounded oddly drained for not having fought yet. "Then you can send Mukuro to attack them. His Trigger is made for something like that. Distance and power are one of his strong suites. As well as pinpoint precision. Defense is not the best against him."
"Yuki, are you-"
White Fox: "O-oh! But you should also send some help in case he gets too tired and starts slacking off."
With that, the line was cut off.
Shinoda stared at the large screen for a moment before letting out a reserved sigh.
"Kobayshi will be sent in to assist Taiyōko. And I take back a portion of what I said. There will be someone from outside that we will be bringing in as well."
A sound of rushing wind was heard for the Snipers.
The three offensive Snipers moved across the small battlefield, taking out the Dogs as they came to them. Two of them moved swiftly from one to another while the third continued to move through them as if dancing atop a stage.
Lights could also be seen as the other Snipers tried to assist in any way they could.
This battlefield had only been made moments ago and the one who noticed a sudden change to it had been the dancing girl.
"Heh heh heh. Looks like we get some help up here."
The Dogs around them were cut through by new blades as she spoke these words.
Two new rushes of air had come from above, both with the intent to assist the Snipers.
"Hey! It's Tsuji!"
"Shun!"
Kizaki acknowledged the two Attackers who had made their way onto the small battlefield.
He then gave his next instructions.
"The Attackers, Arafune and I will take out the Dogs! Misaki, keep going too, but switch to defense instead of offense! Everyone else aim down below!"
The light show began once more.
This time the light show began from atop the tall building with much more to it.
Blades moved through the air with the intent to take out the targets.
Shield panels formed as rhythmic steps were taken. Each shield panel moved around the battlefield, never one getting in the way of the Snipers and always seeming to stop the Dogs in their tracks.
A system of offense, defense, and support had now been made at the beginning point of the light show.
The quartet running throughout the Border base remained alert even as the end ends continued forming before them.
As they ran, lights began glittering behind them.
The first to react was Wen Sō.
Bringing up her arm, she activated a shield to block against the glittering lights moving towards them.
The glittering lights ran into the shields, disappearing once they failed to break through.
"Shots from behind," she informed the other three. "They're after us."
"Can we lose them?"
Wen Sō took a quick looked behind as the four turned a corner and entered a large, open area.
She didn't see anything as she moved. Just as she was going to inform the other three as much…
"!?"
She brought up a shield to defend against the new set of glittering lights.
She didn't think the shots would be so accurate.
She didn't even think they would be able to turn the corner.
In the end, it didn't matter to her as she stopped and spoke.
"This is annoying. I'll stop them here."
"I'll leave it to you."
"Be careful…Wen!"
Completely turning to face her opponents, Wen Sō put her arm behind her back in preparation for her fight.
You idiot. Don't focus one me when I'm busy worrying about you."
Multiple sharp objects stabbed into the ground behind her as two girls ran through the opening into the area.
"Neighbor in sight. Three of them got away."
Wen Sō didn't back down in the slightest when facing these two girls.
She faced the two while multiple Dogs came through small Gates.
She would do as she said and stop the two girls.
"Come on. Little girls."
.
Nasu and Kumagai watched as Dogs came from the small Gates around Wen Sō.
Nasu had managed to fire Viper at them within the tight space of the hallway, but now they were in an open area.
The added space gave her more breathing room to attack, but it also fit as a place for the opponent to move around.
Even with that being the case, they were still the ones here.
They were the ones who needed to accomplish this.
This was their fight.
"Engaging enemy!"
"Don't worry about her."
Shi Muon blinked before lowering her head.
She was moving behind both of her teammates.
No, they were not her teammates. They were just the ones in charge of her.
"Right… I will focus on the mission. My apologies."
"Don't apologize. Just make sure not to worry about Wen."
She slightly turned her head to see Ratarikov giving her a look of sympathy while Gatlin continued to face forward.
"You know how good she is. There's no need to worry about her when you already know she is going to win."
Those were only words to get her to focus and not make her worry. The three of them were aware that it was all a coin toss since they did not know too much about Miden and Miden knew even less about them.
And yet she decided to believe those words.
This was a mission and she would have to focus on it to succeed.
"Right. In that case…"
With a single step, she had moved in front of both of her teammates.
The vines coming from her back extended out and began threading together to form a solid wall in front of her.
An impact reached those vines as both Gatlin and Ratarikov ran around the plants.
"I will handle this opponent!"
The girl with blue hair who had made a physical move against them in the hallway reacted upon seeing the two of her teammates.
The girl with blue hair used the threaded vines as a step while seeming to reach out for Ratarikov, who was to her left.
"I won't allow that!"
The threaded vines quickly became undone and moved along the sides of the girl.
The girl retracted her hand as the vines ran along the hall, creating a small path for her teammates.
"I will be your opponent!"
.
Hisoka gave no reaction to her opponent's declaration.
An emotional opponent, is it?
In that sense, this Neighbor was both a good and bad matchup for her personality.
She had been sent to assist the Taiyōko boy who had met with her parents earlier in the day, but there had been no sign of him as she came in contact with the Neighbors.
Moving back was not an option anymore and pushing them all back seemed like too much.
Tight spaces like the hallway were rather advantageous for her, so that had been an upside to this.
But the way her opponent had used her Trigger showed her that it was also an advantage for her as well.
This meant they were on even ground when it came to area advantages.
But I still need to hold her off since I can't break through that defense myself.
All she had to do was wait for the power hitter to make his way to her for this fight.
"Oh. Spotted a Neighbor."
"Target confirmed."
Miwa and Yoneya took action the moment they had spotted their target.
Their job had been a simple one assigned to them by Arashiyama: find the one who had been sending the Dogs.
Once they had seen their target with other trion soldiers, they chose to rush him.
This of course had gained his attention.
A defensive stance had been what they were met with.
Yoneya leaped from the roof of one of the houses and went to stab at their opponent. He was blocked and jumped to the side so that Miwa could fire some shots from his gun.
One of the Dogs jumped in front of the shots.
The Neighbor responded by giving his own attack that only seemed to move Miwa from his position.
Yoneya moved in for another attack by lifting his arm up along with his spear.
.
Koskero anticipated the attack easily enough by raising his arm to meet the blade.
No command was needed as he activated his Trigger - Nikokyra.
The jellylike substance that came from his Trigger began to cover the blade of the spear.
The chance for an attack had been made and now he would use the Idras to close that chance.
Yoneya moved back from the pincer attack while shifting his body to strike with his spear.
But…
"What the…?"
Koskero could only give himself a mental nod. His Trigger was a rather easy one to figure out once it was in use, but that did not lessen the danger it posed.
A Trigger like this was perfect for him.
A Trigger like this was perfect against this kind of opponent.
Seeing Yoneya toss his spear to the side, he could only nod to himself again. A blade was pointless once it's blade became unusable.
Koskero watched as the Idras moved in for their next attack.
With the spear's blade being useless now, it gave them a new chance to attack.
Their forward change was met with bullets from Miwa.
With a defensive pattern set into them, the Idras brought up their shields to defend against the shots.
"…"
Those shields had meant nothing as the shot moved through the shields as if they were not there to begin with.
"Anchors" had appeared on every part of their bodies that had been hit by the shots.
With those "anchors" keeping them in place, it gave Yoneya time to move around the shields with a new spear to stab through their heads and cores.
Koskero brought up his arm to defend against the swift attack that had been a followup for Yoneya.
"!"
He moved back after getting his leg cut off by a sparse attack from Yoneya's new spear.
His Trigger had been bypassed and he had taken first actual damage.
"Yomi. Can you change the attack patterns of the Idras? There's someone with bullets that can pass through shields."
"Roger. Should I go in too?"
"No, I'm fine here. Watch over Reghi. The Miden soldiers are gathering."
Looking at his opponents, something came to mind.
The meeting he had before this entire attack had been made.
Now let's see if Mochichiyo was able to get Mouri to actually join us after all.
…Are they actually in a lot of trouble there?
Chisato continued producing trion lances as she was formed of the battles around her.
They were effectively divided into 6 groups at the moment.
One was the Kobayashi daughter she hardly knew and one of the Neighbors inside of Border.
Another was a duo from Nasu Squad and yet another Neighbor inside of Border.
A third one was one on top of the Border base instead of inside of it.
The final 3 were the collective agents, Miwa Squad's two members, and Chisato herself. All 6 groups could move through the battlefields and they had a clear role on the battlefield. There were a lot of other people around, but they were mainly assisting the collective agents.
Chisato guessed they would decide to change tactics once 4 of the 6 groups had been defeated.
Not when a majority (i.e. 5 or 6) of them had been defeated.
Once 5 or 6 were defeated, they had lost.
At 4, they could simply change tactics.
It's like the difference between serious damage and total destruction, thought Chisato. But…
…Those girls are fighting inside and Miwa Squad's duo is going against someone troublesome for them.
For a while now, something felt a little off whenever she drew a trion lance. That would be due to the difference between Border's Ortlinde and Shiraishi's Ortlinde. It felt like someone was gently holding the tip of the mandible sword between their fingers.
This was stagnation.
If this were affecting my entire body, she thought.
"That would be a problem."
She wished she could go support the Miwa Squad duo, but the enemy in front of her would not allow it.
That enemy was…
"'Mochizuki Chiyome' moving for her first battle."
She was a trion soldier and she fought by throwing and controlling explosions using gravitational control. The latter part had been a massive surprise at first.
Even now, fire erupted with a slight time lag after the attack left her hand.
And she threw more than one. She threw as many as she had fingers on that hand: 5.
…Eh?
Chisato sensed something amid the danger.
She only barely detected it. It was something familiar, but…
…What?
She could not remember. It felt familiar, but it was not something close by.
That hint of familiarity reached her from the thrown fire, and…
"…!"
Chisato caught the thrown explosion on a specially made trion lance.
.
One explosion led to another. The sounds overlapped as they beat the air. The girl in a white hood and tight outfit ran through the consecutive noises with a bare minimum of 2 trion made lances.
The explosions were no longer producing a lingering reverberation in the air.
That was because she caught the flying red flames on her lances and broke through them.
Chisato did that to move forward, and…
…I sensed something just now.
There was something familiar in these explosions.
Was it the setup of the powder, or was it something else? She did not know, so…
…I have to focus on the battle.
Chisato continued forward while focusing on defense.
She occasionally sent an attack toward the approaching opponent, but it was always deflected by an explosion.
With the heated blast and firelight in front of her, Chisato held the trion lances to either side of her face and viewed the enemy through the gap.
The explosive flames were growing stagnant and revealed the enemy's silhouette in the backlight.
Chisato could see her.
The skinny girl wore her black hair back and wore a compact skin clinging uniform with armor attached.
The tights coloration that covered her arms and legs showed the obvious indentations of artificial joints. And…
"This isn't good."
Mochizuki was approaching.
She was not running. She removed her leg joint, sent it as far forward as she could, and planted the heel on the floor. A moment later, she stuck her knee forward and pulled her body toward the heel planted on the floor up ahead.
It was the movement of a spider.
Sticking one leg forward and pulling her body toward it was slow going. Her speed had almost dropped in half compared to running by alternatively moving her legs forward.
But Mochizuki had a reason to move like this.
By moving one leg forward and pulling herself toward it in a half-step, her body did not wobble in the slightest and the accuracy of her explosive throwing increased. It also allowed her to immediately move her body back to lessen the shock of the blast.
Like some kind of martial art, she would throw the explosive at her enemy and immediately move back.
Whenever Chisato tried to move close, an explosion was used as a counterattack.
And when she moved away, an explosion would destroy her surroundings.
This was a troublesome opponent.
Also, thought Chisato. They're attacking from too many angles.
The attack on Border was being done in multiple areas that it seemed to be spreading them thin by having everyone take on opponents or masses.
It would have been hard to do with a single attacking force, but it was clear by their outfits, there was more than one attacking force behind all of this.
In their strategy, Galopoula could move the least, so with them as the main point, someone else would attack from outside the domain and Mochizuki moved in by herself here.
"How about that?"
Mochizuki approached and threw an explosive.
After a time lag, flames flew toward Chisato from the fingers wearing a black fire-resistant glove.
"This is coal."
The fires began about the size of a fingertip, but they expanded as they approached. So Chisato swept them up and away with her trion lances.
It had to be upwards.
After all…
…The smoke is in the way…
The remnants of the explosions falling to the ground were producing smoke that blocked her vision.
But there was further trouble.
Her trion lances had their path altered by the difference in Ortlinde from Border since it was much lighter than she was used to.
Of course, she never would have reached Border if interference at this level would screw her up. And as far as she could tell, no one else seemed to even think twice about her movements at the moment.
Ortlinde: "Is it just me or are you guys being too relaxed with me taking this on alone?"
Iko: "You've too much energy most of the time. You'll stop when you've had enough, so go for it."
That was quite the strategy there.
But this difference was a problem. It meant nothing for them, but it was dangerous.
Kigisa could clearly see the Border agents that were attacking the Idras.
She herself had a few with her.
They would be used as her bodyguards while she activated her Trigger.
Her job had been to handle the agents outside of the building while her teammates went inside.
This decision had been made with more than just offense in mind. Kigisa could not go inside of the building because of her own Trigger and how it worked.
Unlike the ones that were easy to carry around for her teammates, she had to remain stationary once her Trigger was activated. It would have been impossible for her to run anywhere once she had set up her location.
"Well, I can use this chance to give them all a show."
Kigisa spilled as she activated her Trigger - Kallitéchnis.
Kigisa brought the microphone to her lips while the Idras moved to either Side of her.
Taking in a long breath, she prepared herself to let out her voice.
And when she did…
"Ah!?"
Something came for her head.
Green lights flew through the air towards her.
The Idras on either side of her moved in front of her, bringing up shields to defend her from the green lights.
The attack did not end there, she noticed.
Two blue plates appeared next to the two Idras.
The two Idras turned while bringing up their shields. One of them shattered easily as a large blade came down on it while the other one remained strong against the blade that was pushing it.
With this new person in front of her, Kigisa smiled even more.
"Rowdy fans need to…BAAAAAAAAAAACCCCKKKKK UUUUUUUUUUUUP!"
The girl who had smashed through the shield jumped back as a power sound attack tore through the area.
The closer buildings were destroyed the instant the attack came. The one just outside of the range shook violently. And the remaining ones stood their ground against the attack.
.
Shana clicked her tongue while moving back after her successful attack.
It had been successful in that she had managed to break through one of the shields.
It had been in a failure in that she had not taken out the Neighbor.
Overprotective Sister: "Was that a sound attack just now!? Do we have a more violent Suzume on our hands here!?"
American Idiot: "Don't even say that! Just think what her concerts would be like if she had that thing!"
The thought was terrifying for a multitude of reasons Shana did not want to think about.
Landing after having to move back, she looked ahead at where her opponents were.
The single girl stood atop the large Trigger while Idras surrounded the Trigger as if defending it.
Out of the corner of her eye she could see Noah land on one of the remaining buildings. But there was more than just him near the building.
Shore: "Eri, Maya, you two good? It didn't hit you two, right?"
Eri: "No. We're fine over here."
That had been a relief to hear. Losing anyone here would cause issues for them that she just did not want to deal with.
Shore: "So what are we going to do here?"
American Idiot"Noah, it's just you, right?"
Off to the side, the boy nodded his head.
Shana understood that he may have felt out of place here, but there was nothing she could do about that at the moment.
Shore: "Yeah. Prince is over with the Snipers and Minubuki is gonna be swapping out for Shinnosuke over there too. That means it's just going to be me over here."
It sounded like he was apologizing for that fact, but she held her tongue on that matter.
It would have been nice to have more people on their side here, but they had to make due with what they had. And what they had was…
American Idiot: "Alright. Let's split up then. Maya and Shana, you two go after the trion soldiers. Noah and I will take on the humanoid Neighbor. You two have better attack and work best in close combat. Noah at least as Shooter Triggers to work with here. So just leave her to the two fo us."
They had a strategist.
With a resounding sound of agreement, they all began to move for their fight.