Sthénos was the first to detect the attack by Mouri-03 and her four teams.
Up in the air, she spotted them coming from the west.
…Not good!
Her immediate response was to use some trion to erase the trion from inside her. She could not escape the autonomous trion soldiers' auditory detection, but this was better than letting them see her and her location clearly. And at the same time…
"Yuki-nii!"
While combating the enemy forces on the left, Oshiro used Dummy Beacon to confuse the trion signatures from him and Yuki.
That left only one thing to do.
Yuki would charge in on Mouri-01 or Mouri-02 and take them hostage.
Retreat was not an option for them.
…We can't let the enemy get close to Mei-tsan!
They did not know what the older Taiyōko sister would do if they made an appearance, but they had to get Mei to her to either buy time, fight, or negotiate.
Currently, Mei was asleep in the Yagura Branch Office. A building that was too close to them for comfort.
It was also a place that seemed to be attracting these trion soldiers not from Galopoula.
Her body's desire to heal itself had brought on this sleep.
Sthénos knew that human bodies could not recover like her own, so this sleep would likely heal any injuries from the beating she had taken.
…So…!
So they could not let these pursuers approach her.
Sthénos also knew they had reached the final stage of the plan she had put together with Yuki and Oshiro.
It all hinged on whether Yuki could capture Mouri-01 or 02.
Yuki's charge was a risk to his remaining on the battlefield, but they could manage if he succeeded.
So to support him, Sthénos put some distance between them and then removed the reduction of her trion signature. She held an Asteroid in her hand and prepared to fire. It probably would not hit, but it would draw their attention.
"Eh?"
However, the trion cube in her hand would not move.
She saw the rear half of the enemy's central unit slowly turn toward her and speak in unison.
"Is something the matter?"
…What is this?
It was the gravitational control that had affected Yuki's Idōgetsu.
…But why is it all the way over here!?
Her answer came in the form of a figure on a branch next to her. It was Mouri-03.
Sthénos realized what the autonomous trion soldiers turning toward her and Mouri-03's approach meant.
"They can see me without issue?"
"Could you not run away?" Mouri-03 smiled. "I locked my gravitational control's position on you using my master setting, so even if you completely vanish, I can still track the traces of gravity to see that ninja's approach and everything else. Also…"
Sthénos understood. Her weapon would not move. It was like pressing down on a child from above.
And just now, the front firing line had turned around.
Yuki's Shikifuku blade was trapped in the pointed spires and she could not use her own weapon, so…
…Sorry!
She gave an adlibbed instruction.
"Oshi-yan!"
But her instruction proved meaningless because Oshiro was already on the move.
"Yuki-nii!"
He did one thing to handle this situation.
"The blades of Shikifuku can resist the trion soldiers' gravitational control!"
.
While Yuki revealed his form and ran, he reached a hand out toward Oshiro.
He did the same toward him and threw Shikifuku to him.
Once it reached him, he would rush to the enemy and attack. That was his decision.
…Because we can't let the enemy reach Mei or get within Border!
Sthénos and Oshiro were here because they understood that, so he no longer worried about the danger this put them in.
He also had a further thought in reference to Oshiro.
…Shiro is more or less family, so worrying about him comes last!
That was an outrageous and somewhat conceited statement he could not say directly to him.
…But before fighting, he said he was prepared to do what it took to make things work!
On the battlefield, the time to save someone came at the very end.
And currently, Oshiro had given him his weapon which left him with only his basic White Triggers.
He looked him in the eye.
Oshiro smiled and mouthed the words "do your best".
Inu is definitely not worthy of Shiro!
He prepared to take the sword and immediately attack.
But in that instant, his hand was knocked upwards.
…!?
It was a wall. A wall of earth had quickly and forcibly risen up between the two of them.
This was Mouri-02. Her sudden gravitational control had raised the wall.
"…!"
Unable to withstand the burden of the gravitational control, Mouri-02's right arm audibly burst.
The wall stopped, but it was already as tall as Yuki and cut him off from Oshiro's smile and Shikifuku.
He heard the Black Trigger collide with the earth wall on the other side.
The Trigger had not reached him, and…
"They're going to fire!?"
He ran with the wall to his right and a volley of gunfire came from the left.
Mei heard a voice that sounded like a scream.
She wondered what it said, but her mind was too light and unclear.
…I need to sleep.
Yes, she needed to keep sleeping.
After all, she was currently half asleep. She was in a state of exhaustion that made it easy to tell herself to go back to sleep.
…That voice…
It was actually the person's will that reached her. The tone of rejection in the voice reached her more than the voice itself.
And she somehow knew why that was.
She had once cried out in that same tone of rejection before.
…Stop.
That word summed it up best.
Stop.
Please stop. I am telling you to stop.
"…Stop…"
But that word did not get through, so it eventually changed to something else.
…Please.
And…
…I won't do it anymore.
That was it. Yes, that was definitely it.
If they would not stop, she would stop on her end. She would stop doing what she had been doing.
Yes.
Stopping yourself as a sign of rejection only happened when you made someone angry by doing something. And the person scolding you would not stop even when you told them to.
They would only stop once you swore to never again do what had brought on the scolding.
She had once sworn that.
She had been horribly reluctant and had resisted, but the overwhelming difference in strength had prevented her from doing anything more, making any other choice, or even thinking. The difference in strength had ultimately made her make that promise.
That was what had twisted her.
When someone was left in a shameful, worn-down state, others showed no mercy.
Those close to her had been worried, but even that had felt like pity and grown distorted in her mind.
After all, while there were some who would take her side…
…The other people were far more numerous.
So she had ignored those close to her and opposed those more distant. Eventually, that had gone beyond just playing around.
But…
"…"
It doesn't matter, she thought.
Back then, she had promised to redo everything, but here she had not even noticed that she had lost the sign of that promise.
And she had been unable to stand up to the person who had caused it all back then.
She had seen speed as her own weakness, but that had not held true for her opponent. The memory of that opponent demonstrating the speed needed to dodge Kanzaki's cutting attack was still fresh in her mind.
She could not stand up to her, so there was no way she could reach her loved ones.
…So it doesn't matter.
She tried to go to sleep because there was no point in fighting anymore.
But…
"…"
That distant voice of rejection would not stop ringing in her ears.
.
"Kh."
What am I doing? thought Mei.
She was trying to gather strength in her body and recall the shape of that body.
…You idiot.
What am I doing? she thought again. Why am I trying to move?
"Nn."
The painkillers were in effect, so her body was heavy and it creaked as if forcing it to move would strip the flesh from the bone. However, she tried to move regardless.
…Wait.
What was she doing? Why was she getting up?
She had a somehow distant sense that her coworkers were fighting and she understood why they had left her here to sleep.
The scent reaching her nose told her she was surrounded by plants. Oshiro had likely used special scents to try and let her relax. He had always been that way after all. And within this building she knew she was in hiding.
She might not be found even if Yuki and the others lost. They were telling her to sleep, recover, and continue on to the right place after the enemy finished.
…So wait.
Why was she trying to get up?
Stubbornness? Regret? Or was it pride or a show of courage?
She had lost the proof of her promise, so she felt she had no right to get up.
And she knew who that voice of rejection had belonged to.
…It was Oshiro.
Then what did it matter? She had kept her distance from that B-Rank for some time now. Oshiro would not expect her to come save him, so what reason did she have to go?
She had no reason to help and they did not want her to help. And yet…
"Nn."
…Wait.
Why? she asked herself. Why are you trying to move and get up?
And because she did not know…
…Wait.
No, that was wrong. That was the wrong word.
…Stop.
Stop.
Please stop. She was saying to stop and yet…
"I won't…stop."
She understood. She really did. The part of her heart telling her to stop was saying something.
…Please.
Please what?
…I won't do it again.
Do what? What won't you do?
"I…"
It came back to that cry of rejection.
She felt that her former choice had been wrong. That was why she had corrected her rejection.
But what about this voice that still rang in her ears?
Was there a rejection that could be allowed and that did not need to be stopped?
"I won't lose anyone again."
That was what her important people had wished for.
…And I made a promise.
She had once made a promise. She had made up her mind and used that as a basis for her decisions.
So…
"—!"
.
Mei awoke. She tried to gather strength in her body.
…Kh.
But she could not get up. Her mind had cleared, but her body could not keep up.
The cry of rejection still rang in her ears.
…Kh!
She clearly told herself to get up. She willed it and trembled with effort, but her body was sluggish and refused to move.
…Why?
She wondered if the hang-up was Oshiro. Did this last bit of hesitation hinge on whether she would rescue the boy or not?
…As for Yuki…um, what am I supposed to say? But maybe I'm being too harsh. Although this is a completely different issue.
She had noticed a question in her thoughts when that boy came up.
That had not happened since they had gone by different names.
At any rate, she had definitely concluded she had no reason to rescue them.
She truly did have no reason. That was a fact.
…But that cry of rejection is still ringing in my ears!
"…!"
Oshiro had given the same cry she once had.
…So move!
But despite that, she could not even clench her teeth.
Just as she wondered what to do, a new scent reached her nose.
"Eh?"
It was something that should not have been here.
"…!?"
Her entire body sprang up in surprise.
Yuki had not given up.
The earth wall to his right had blocked Shikifuku's path, but he made a short dash up onto the side of the wall.
He then twisted his body downwards and kicked off the wall.
…Jump!
He would perform a midair side-flip over Mouri-02's head.
He would be upside down once he reached Mouri-02 and he would remove and throw her head with his hands.
He would go for a midair decapitation throw.
He quickly enacted that plan.
He twisted around in midair and threw his body into empty air while stretching his head downwards.
He saw Oshiro for a brief moment. He was deflecting bullets with Raygust in Shield Mode, but knowing he was safe was enough. Right now, he had only one thing to focus on.
…My target!
He jumped over Mouri-02's head.
She had no way of attacking after losing her right arm and the gunners to the left would be unable to keep up with his sudden movement.
He used his full mobility as a nimble agent. He was confident that only someone at the level of an upper A-Rank agent could keep up with his speed.
But below him, he saw Mouri-02 bring her left hand to her own head.
However, that hand did not stay there.
She pulled back her hand to remove the head.
As her head tilted back and fell behind her, it looked up into the sky and at him.
She was not smiling, angry, or even sad. She was completely expressionless as she had her headless body jump up at him.
It could not reach him and it was too slow, but…
"…"
It exploded directly below him.
.
"Yuki-nii!"
Oshiro saw the blast envelop him.
Shikifuku had been quickly grabbed after hitting the earth wall, but an attack was already coming from ahead.
Several headless trion soldiers were rushing in to self-destruct.
He gripped Raygust, but it was too late to use it as a shield.
As soon as he realized he could not avoid this attack, the three directly in front of him spread their arms as if welcoming him.
"Thank you very much."
They produced three explosions in quick succession.
.
"Please confirm the situation."
Mouri-01 used her high-speed thoughts to communicate through the scattering heat of the blast.
An autonomous trion solder's high-speed thoughts could divide a second into nearly a million parts, so the surrounding motion almost seemed to stop as she made her decisions about the battlefield.
So far, a total of twenty-two trion soldiers had self-destructed and eight were otherwise damaged.
Mouri-02 was one of those who had self-destructed, but all of their cores and memory devices had been recovered.
On the other hand, the enemy's solo A-Rank agent…
…Um, what was his name again?
Whatever. We can worry about that later.
Regardless, the enemy's solo A-Rank agent had been caught in a blast, Oshiro Hogo who was on the level of an upper B-Rank agent had also been caught in a blast, and Unknown Trion Soldier Sthénos was being attacked.
Comparing the losses of powerful Trigger users, the autonomous trion soldiers were winning. They were of course losing if the total numbers were compared, but a powerful Trigger user was not comparable to a normal warrior in any nation.
…This is a difficult judgment to make.
She decided to leave that judgment to their nation and to simply do her best here.
She slowed her thought speed to match the outside world and her surroundings sped up. After checking the trion reading of the explosion that had caught the enemy's solo A-Rank agent, she realized something.
"Miden's A-Rank agent is gone!?"
.
Oshiro was the one who realized where Yuki was.
…Eh?
He had supposedly been caught in an explosion, but he was now seeing the night sky.
From the inner part of the first of buildings, he had only been able to see that sky between the glass, but now someone held him in their arms and he looked to the right to see who.
"Yuki-nii!?"
Mouri-01 was baffled.
Why were the solo A-Rank agent and Oshiro unharmed after those explosions? And how had the solo A-Rank agent managed to reach Oshiro?
A few different phenomena did not fit together. They went beyond her statistical, causal, and predictive reasoning, so she had difficulty understanding what she was seeing.
The battle was still ongoing.
She double-checked the facts. The enemy was unharmed, Oshiro had been taken away by the solo A-Rank agent, and they had both moved to the left end of the battlefield.
That was all. Mouri-03 was attacking the unknown autonomous trion soldier, but…
"Big sister!"
A sound suddenly reached her from directly ahead. It was the sound of an object slicing through the air in a straight line.
"A projectile!"
Mouri-01 shifted her thoughts into high speed. She switched back and forth between auditory and trion detection, added that on top of her visual information, and even amplified the light in that information.
The processing of the visual data was heavy enough for her to drop some frames, but the data she did get informed her of a definite truth.
"We have a new enemy!"
Mouri-01 ignored the earthen spikes surrounding her and raised her right hand. She swung the hand as if rolling her shoulder and a row of new spikes formed in front of her. A total of thirty-two earthen spikes stood in a line stretching out in front of her. The hardened soil rose like a wave, but they were immediately destroyed from the other side.
The flying projectile loudly smashed the spikes.
Twenty of them broke in an instant, six more followed, four bent, one broke, and the final one stopped it.
However, the projectile simply stopped in midair. It did not fall to the ground.
This was not gravitational control, so Mouri-01 checked visually.
…It's wrapped in wire!?
Wire was crudely tied around the projectile - now that she could see it, it was actually a broken off piece from a trion soldier - and it extended back into the darkness.
With a tug on the wire, it returned. It moved so quickly that it seemed to shoot back.
The projectile returned to the newcomer who had likely been the one to retrieve the ninja and Oshiro with the wire projectile.
"From what we got off of Aftokrator… You are Lady Mei Takato, a top tier Trigger user of Miden!"
.
Oshiro saw the Kotowari Operator from Yuki's arms.
Mei stood halfway up the slope, she was not wearing her Border uniform, and she still looked very exhausted.
But when she caught the projectile in her right hand, her stance showed her intent to move forward.
…She is not going to run.
The wire on her shoulder was the wire Oshiro had spread out throughout the battlefield, but…
Sthé-chan: "Mei-tsan, how did you get up here!?"
There was no response through the chat.
That gave them another clue as to what body she was using.
Sthénos asked again, this time out loud.
"Eh? Oh, um, how should I put it? My pride as a combatant, I guess."
The fact she had put that as a question did not go unnoticed.
"Wow, real warriors are awesome! I mean, I went a little crazy on the painkillers cause I figured you could handle it, but you still managed to get up! You're like a…lion! A really strong lion!"
"You had better remember this later! That really wasn't easy! But…"
Mei glanced over at Oshiro and held something up in her left hand.
…Ah.
It was a rice ball.
"I'm surprised you had this with you. Someone else made this, didn't they?"
"Yes. Sthénos-chan brought it to your room, but it seems they got messed up during the move. They had lost their shape and, while we rested, Yuki-nii expressed his concern about their state."
"Oshiro." The lion took a bite of the rice ball and swallowed it. "Oshiro, you use a lot of herbs, don't you? They have a bit of a strong scent."
"Eh? Oh, sorry-…"
"It is not a bad scent. …I am familiar with it from mixing perfumes."
As she spoke, she raised the projectile and lifted her left leg for a right overhand throw.
"Take this!"
She threw the projectile into the enemy group.
.
Mouri-01 made a split-second decision. She used her gravitational control to break the surrounding spikes at their base and free everyone. At the same time…
"Spread out!"
She gave her command to the others and swung her own arms forward.
Those two arms directed her gravitational control and pointed the broken spikes forward.
"Please have these!"
The broken spikes were fired toward the lion as if they had been kicked forward.
.
The spikes were made of earth and packed as hard as stone, trion was then used to allow them to break through everything. Those several dozen spears sliced through the air as their paths crossed.
But Mei did not panic in the face of what looked like countless deadly attacks. Her mind was still unsteady and her breathing rough, but…
"Like this, right?"
She twisted the thumb and forefinger holding the forcefully extending wire.
This swung the projectile and changed its path to a quick arc from left to right.
The movement was unthinkable as simple physical motion, but…
...This will work!
This wire was what Oshiro had used to set up this location. Oshiro had made them long, so now that Mei had stretched them out, it was a long piece of wire made out of trion. It was weak, but...
"This is no different from back then!"
.
That was how the Spider wire allowed the projectile to change its path in midair.
It shifted to a gouging arc toward the group of spikes.
And it struck.
It pierced straight through the center of the flying spikes from the side.
The sound of destruction reached Mei.
She tugged on the wire to return the projectile and smash the spikes again from behind.
But she was too slow. She had torn several holes in them, but the density of flying spikes was still too high.
"Oshiro!"
Mei forced the projectile back to her with pure strength, but she did not catch it. It passed by her and she let it fly behind her.
"Wrap it in Shikifuku!"
"Right!"
Bluish-white light and a dark pink light wrapped around the wire along with a flexibility that seemed to push out from within.
…Such great strength!
Mei wrapped the wire projectile around something behind her.
"That building!"
She tossed the last of the rice ball into her mouth and moved just as she started chewing.
She tugged on the wire with both hands.
With the sound of snapping fibers and a great roar, the lion uprooted the building behind her.
She went on to carry it forward.
"…!"
And she chucked the thirty meter or taller building into the group of spikes.
All of the spikes were smashed, the branches scattered, and the leaves flew about. After confirming the result, Mei roared.
As if swinging her hair around, she lowered her arms to her sides and raised her throat to the sky.
"Uu…"
The roar continued with an extended "oh" and a reverberating "nn".
She then bent her entire body forward and lowered down almost to the ground.
"Here I go!"
She began to dash. In an instant, she shot below the falling building and grabbed a thick flagpole.
"Right!"
She threw the building to the left. She had made a verbal feint, but she saw nothing wrong with that small level of cruelty.
The building stirred up the wind, broke through some trion soldiers, and cleared a path down the center.
She stood the building in the dirt as thanks, and prepared to face those on the left. She could leave the right to Yuki and Oshiro. She could already see Yuki's Shikifuku blade returning after being freed from the spikes, so…
"Third throw!"
She threw the projectile toward Mouri-01 who stood forty meters ahead.
However, someone got in the way: the autonomous trion soldiers making up Mouri-01's unit. They moved forward and raised earthen walls.
But…
"Go!"
The wire moved. She was not simply controlling it with the movement of her fingers. It arced up like a snake raising its head and twisted around to tear into the enemies behind the wall.
It moved just like in the past.
.
Mouri-01 realized what the lion's weapon was. It was not wire or a projectile.
…Is it a thought transmission Trigger!?
The Trigger sent her intention to an object and had the object move accordingly.
It was the same type of Trigger as one used by a certain other nation. While that Trigger distributed Trion to a great number of people, this was a heavier Trigger that converted her thoughts to any trios-made object she touched with her hands.
Mouri-01 had then noticed something she could not have seen until now. The black object around the lion's wrist that was connected by a pink rope.
"…!"
It had not been something as special as a thought transmission Trigger. When she thought back at the data she had, it was something so simple that no one could have understood unless told otherwise.
Reinforcement.
It had been that simple.
"!"
The wall raised by Mouri-01's subordinate trion soldiers was completely ignored. The projectile flew past it and swept them away.
But it did not end there.
There was more. The lion prepared her left hand for an underhand throw.
She held a projectile tied to the opposite end of the wire draped over her shoulders.
"Fourth throw!"
It broke straight through the wall.
What a powerful strike, thought Mouri-01. I must stop this.
She searched for any way of intercepting it in the current situation, but the answer to her question quickly arrived from outside.
"Big sister!" shouted Mouri-03. "I'll stop it!"
.
Mei saw a small form jumping above the tree branches.
She swung down her hand which was connected to her fourth throw.
At the same time, Yuki raised his voice after lowering Oshiro to the ground and catching his Shikifuku blade.
"Mei!"
She already knew from the message that Sthénos had sent her.
…So that's how Mouri-03's gravitational control works.
"She can freely set an enemy as her master to stop their weapons!"
By repeatedly switching between people with the high-speed thoughts of an autonomous trion soldier, she could artificially hold multiple "masters" at the same time.
And so Mei gave a shout with the same volume as her roar.
"Stand back!"
.
Mouri autonomous trion soldiers obeyed orders from their masters.
However, that fact held little meaning for Mouri-03. She could freely switch between masters, so she could switch to another master and switch back after ignoring the order.
She did the same here. To stop the enemy Black Trigger User's weapon, she had set the lion as her master. The lion had told her to stand back, but that only meant she had to set someone else as her master.
…Eh?
But the enemies she had intended to make her master had vanished. Both Oshiro and the solo A-Rank agent were gone.
She had removed the tracking lock using her gravitational control back when she had thought they were defeated in the explosions, so…
…I'm in trouble if they've hidden themselves with a camouflage Trigger and ninja technique!
If she could not see them, she could not set them as her master.
But a Mouri autonomous trion soldier needed a master.
If she removed her master setting, she would lose her reason for existence as a trion soldier, her abilities would be restricted, and she might even cease to function altogether. Also, it was impossible to set another trion soldier as her master.
…So I need to set another enemy as my master!
"Where's the enemy's unknown trion soldier!?"
She started to turn around, but…
"Right here."
Someone tapped on her right shoulder from behind and she turned around to find someone whose trion had scattered from gunfire.
"The unknown trion soldier…"
"You really shouldn't hesitate. If you hadn't, I probably wouldn't have caught up."
A speedometer now hovered above her right shoulder. There was no escape. The girl grabbed her shoulder to press a cube of trion against it. Not even gravitational control could stop this.
But…
"Doing it like this will damage your hand too!"
"Oh, don't worry about that."
The enemy unknown trion soldier smiled.
"Your master has guts."
.
Mouri-01 heard something fired overhead.
Mouri-03's right arm flew through the air while the rest of her used her left arm to grab at a building ledge to the upper right.
"Sorry!"
And she fell.
Mouri-01 determined there was nothing to apologize for. In fact, she was the one that needed to apologize. She had been the one to set up the battlefield on the assumption that the enemy's more important agents would not take part. Or at the least not in their battle.
That was why Mouri-01 decided that she should take responsibility.
…So I will win this!
She raised both her arms.
The ground below her hands was rapidly torn up and quickly transformed into a projectile.
She had to hurry. Her gravitational control excelled at bursts of strength, but creating and firing this high-density projectile was still a difficult task. She compensated by raising her power output above normal.
"I will hurry!"
This put a great burden on her body, so the ulna of her left forearm and the back of her right hand burst. But she did not care. These were necessary losses to achieve victory.
After all, the enemy's projectile was breaking through their walls as it flew toward them.
She had to hurry but remain calm.
"Complete."
She had created a two meter spear. It was made denser than rock, being made of trion after all, and she raised it in her right hand and flung her left hand forward.
She broke her own wall and cleared her vision.
"—"
Mouri-01 resolved herself.
She looked to her enemy, looked to the projectile that enemy had thrown, and moved to place her own projectile on the same path.
She succeeded.
.
The two attacks collided in the center of the buildings.
The sound of destruction resembled splitting stone and bright sparks lit up the reflections.
The scattershot of fragments sounded like a spray of rain as they gouged into the buildings and ground.
As for the two who had launched these attacks…
"—!"
They had already begun their next moves.
Mouri-01 raised her arms again to create a second spear while Mei began to catch the projectile in her hand as it returned to her.
However, Mouri-01 did something else to speed up the creation of her projectile.
"How about an addition?"
She severed her own left arm to use it as extra material.
The spear took form much faster with the extra part.
Meanwhile, the projectile returned to Mei's hand and she raised it overhead.
"…!"
But Mouri-01 was ever-so-slightly faster.
"Now, this one is ready."
She lifted her right hand toward Mei with the spear projectile floating beneath it.
"Here."
It shot directly toward the lion.
.
…She's using her own body to win!?
Mei's heart filled with admiration of her enemy.
She knew this was dangerous, but she had to admire the action.
This was not self-sacrifice. It was true cooperation to achieve victory.
She knew only an autonomous trion soldier could do that.
However, the level of praise she gave her enemy was also the level of danger she was now in.
She had to intercept this.
She did not have time to avoid it. Not only was it a speedy attack, but she had already raised her arm to throw.
Her only option was to stop the projectile with her projectile.
There was a single problem with that, though.
…Hers will be faster!
A projectile thrown by an autonomous trion soldier's gravitational control had a certain unique trait: the gravitational control could continue working on it shortly after it was fired.
Their gravitational control had an effective range, so acceleration of the launched object could continue while it remained in that range.
Mei had thrown her previous attack before the enemy had thrown her projectile. They had collided nearby the enemy, but that meant the enemy's projectile had yet to reach its full speed.
They had been of equal power at that point, so…
…I'll lose if hers is at full speed!
Mei was raising her stone, but the enemy had already fired.
She could not avoid having inferior speed.
At this rate, her projectile would shatter on impact and the opposing projectile would reach her.
"In that case…!"
She reached a certain answer.
…I will throw it with all my strength!
She could not dodge in time, so she simply made her overhand throw.
But even as she did so, she knew it would be slower than her enemy's attack.
"Kh."
I need speed, she begged.
An instant later, speed came to her.
"—!?"
However, it was a crumbling drop in speed.
…What is this!?
It was her calculations.
.
…No!
Her doubt about her counterattack had disturbed her focus.
Her knees gave way and strength left the arm throwing the stone.
"Mei!"
She heard Yuki's voice and saw him and Oshiro appear, but they were immediately stopped.
Mouri-03 had fallen to the ground, but she stood with her back leaning against a building and stopped Yuki and Oshiro by viewing them as her masters.
Strength drained from Mei's body and her arm swung forward.
"Kh."
She felt the projectile slip from her fingers.
But in that instant, she saw something unexpected.
After the projectile vanished from her hand, it immediately shot toward her enemy.
…Eh!?
She expressed her confusion in her heart.
It had been a weak throw that only slipped from her fingers, so what had happened?
The stone arrived right in front of the enemy's projectile.
"…!"
The instant of collision settled everything.
Her projectile attacked the hardened spear projectile just as it was about to break from its initial velocity.
The projectile scraped along the side of the spear as it passed by and its great speed caused the spear to burst from that scraped area.
It was utterly destroyed.
The solid sound told Mei the truth. The projectile she thought she had failed to throw had flown faster than the one she had thrown with her full strength. Not only that, it had reached her enemy.
…What was that!?
A certain memory came back to her.
When she had fought that monster at the edge of the Forbidden Zone, that monster had instantly avoided Kanzaki's cutting attack.
She had thought that the monster's speed was something she did not have, but…
…What did I just do!?
She did not understand because she was clearly not at 100% right now. So why had she been able to give the projectile such speed?
She remained confused while the projectile destroyed the opposing projectile and flew toward her enemy.
It continued on to gouge into that enemy, but…
"Now, then."
She heard a sudden voice and a loud noise from behind.
.
Mei saw the source of the noise.
It was a building. A felled tree dropped from the sky like a stake and stabbed into the ground right in front of Mouri-01.
Mei's projectile crashed into the tree. The trunk split open, but the projectile shattered.
…Who threw that tree!?
She was a little annoyed at this intervention, but she soon heard another reaction. Oshiro spoke while looking behind her.
"Oh, good evening."
Mei knew what that confused and smiling voice meant: someone stood behind her who it would be best to greet.
She sensed that monster's presence.
.
Mei felt the source of that monster's presence.
There was a scent, faint body heat, and some movement of the air. All those things told her that that monster had appeared about five meters behind her.
No one could move and they all focused on the person behind Mei.
Mei herself breathed with her gut to prevent that monster from seeing her shoulders rising and falling.
…Calm down.
That monster had likely heard about the commotion from Border's lines.
She could do nothing now.
…Nothing except buy time for the others to escape.
So she turned toward Yuki.
But the ninja in the darkness did not nod. He did not want the enemy to see him react. Taking his motionlessness as an answer, Mei prepared herself.
But…
"…"
She realized she could not turn around. She would be defeated in the time it took her to do so. If she did move, anything but a sudden action with all her strength would be too dangerous.
…So I need to move the instant I hear her approach!
It came immediately afterwards.
It came as pressure. The movement of the air, the scent, and the light sound all created a pressure that pressed against her back.
"Kh!"
I need to escape, she thought just as the presence arrived right behind her ear.
She tried to leap, but…
…Too slow!
Before her legs could sink down, she heard a breath of laughter in her ear. Or she thought she did.
Dammit, she swore.
…But I just threw that thing so quickly!
She was slow and heavy now, so what had that previous speed been? As if to take her past that question, the time for an attack to reach her passed and it was already too late to avoid it.
She realized she had messed up and wondered if she would not even be able to buy any time.
…If only I didn't have these damn calculations!
A moment later, an attack arrived behind her.
"…!"
She was not hit by fists, swung around, or jabbed.
Instead, a giant red sword fell from the sky.
"That thing isn't something Jin saw in the future!"
The massive sized blade stabbed into the ground behind her and an attack hit it on the other side.
The heavy, carrying sound was much like a bell and it shook the buildings' glass windows.
"—"
But Mei felt some wind.
That monster left. She gave a breath of laughter and ran off into the darkness.
Next, some pressure arrived overhead.
"I am an autonomous trion soldier from Pagoménos! Mochichiyo! I forbid this battle from continuing!"
Because…
"There is no longer a reason for either Pagoménos nor Mouri to assist in this attack! Any further conflict would be meaningless for all sides!"
What? wondered Mei as she looked at the trion soldier woman.
"Galopoula has lost this fight as their captain has failed in his mission, so we will now be retreating!"
He had been found.
Maki watched from a distance, Stepney safely behind him.
One of the two people they had been looking for had finally been found after help from a monster.
The issue he saw was…
"You must be from the Galopoula team."
There was someone else there.
A boy wearing, what he assumed, was the uniform for the attacking force. Doglike trion soldiers surrounded him, waiting for a command.
And all that boy could do was look at Hyuse in nervousness.
"Galopoula…"