Suzaku heard screams coming from all over Mikado City.
Legally, this qualified as property damage.
The vertical-oriented transport truck had been run across Mikado City until it slammed into the bridge-shaped archway.
It hit. It tried to break through. No...
...It's slicing through!?
The truck dug into the bridge like a blade.
Everyone shouted and looked up to see fragments glowing and scattering in the sky.
It had to have been moving at around 60km/h and it was plenty big.
Shortly after hitting, it took half a step back and produced another loud crash.
It sounded like all sorts of metal crashing together to create a great roar.
The archway groaned and shook.
This was as close to an earthquake as a relegated area could have.
Meanwhile, Suzaku confirmed that several defense barriers had appeared overhead. Border members and the others had to be collecting the fragments.
Also...
Mi-Kon: "Suzaku-kuuuuun!"
Umi: "Um, Murakaaaaaami!"
Black Wolf: "Kushikage-saaaan!"
Still Got It: "My, my. I wasn't looking where I was going."
Almost Everyone: "Take this seriously!"
Still Got It: "But it seems to be caught on something up top, so... take this, and this."
She slammed the transport truck against the archway like she was beating a futon, causing a great rumbling and shaking.
Rugby Man: "Um, I hate to interrupt, but this is the greatest threat to the area since its construction, outside of any Neighbor stuff."
Umi: "Listen, Yukicchi's sister! You can't just push! Try pulling a little. Sometimes it's important to take a step back and think things through!"
Demon Child: "Says the boy who did exactly that so much that he never ended up doing anything."
Umi: "I-it worked out all right in the end! Anyway, you need to stop pushing, Yukicchi's sister!"
"Fine, fine," said the Valkyrie. "I'll try your plan."
.
Suzaku and the others saw the results while they ran toward the Forbidden Zone.
The 16m transport truck pulled back.
It tilted backwards like a lever being thrown.
"Yes! It's moving away! Yukicchi's sister can be reasoned with!"
Suzaku clenched both fists in celebration.
Still Got It: "You were saying I need to pull it back to build up speed, right?"
The truck swung rapidly forward to crash into Mikado City's bridge-shaped archway. Defense barriers opened, but most of them were too slow as the transport truck made its physical collision.
"Ahhhhhh!"
Suzaku raised his right hand amid the shaking and rumbling.
Umi: "I-in my defense, no one could have predicted this!"
Shinoda: "Who was it that suggested we give the city an endurance test when we have the time?"
Rugby Man: "In my defense, no one could have predicted any of this."
Shinoda: "A director who always goes out to see others is responsible for those same peoples' behavior, Karasawa. You know that, don't you? To be clear, that does not apply to my position of overall director. Oh, Sawamura-kun, can you get me some tea?"
Kinuta: "Shinoda, you can't just ignore what is happening here? And Karasawa! Deal with this before the damage spreads even more!"
Rugby Man: "Excuse me, everyone? Could you perhaps move on to the next area now?"
Still Got it: "Take this, and this."
"Ahhhhhhhhh!"
Several defense barriers appeared in the air and one of the Snipers contacted them.
Pokari: "Kind of impressive that the greatest threat to Mikado City is one of our final exams and not like the large-scale invasion or the attack on the base."
"Torimaru, things look pretty bad with that group right now. Any idea what's going on?"
"Right, Konami-senpai. According to the message they sent out earlier, this is a final exam for some of our upperclassmen."
"How in the hell!? Hyuse, do you understand this!?"
"Why would I!?"
Kushikage tilted her head at the stubborn obstacle up top.
"Hmm, this is going to be a challenge."
She raised her weapon, tilted her body to the side, and then made a vertical tornado strike.
"How about...this!?"
.
The next hit to the surface was very different from the previous ones.
The transport truck was pulled back as far as the hole allowed and then slammed forward with full strength. It had enough force behind it to harness the transport truck's full length.
"...The end...!" shouted Shobu.
Sure enough, water vapor exploded off the side of the transport truck.
That bursting sound was followed by the roar of the air being parted as the transport truck flew toward the archway.
"––––!"
Everyone continued running as they watched saw the transport truck suddenly rupture just before impact.
"What was that?"
A body was moving from up above.
It was a squad captain from one of Border's branch offices. Everyone recognized the attack that had ruptured the attacking truck.
"Kotowari!"
.
Takeshi flipped around in midair.
This type of high-altitude dive was recently taught to him. It was used when moving between buildings over large distances or to save yourself if you fell, but...
...I need to do this much to keep up with everyone!
Toby had already known this kind of movement, so the two of them were now dropping toward the ground near one of the buildings.
Izumo: "Suzaku-senpai! Please handle the procedure for allowing us to enter in on this training too!"
Umi: "Don't worry! You already have a free pass by being Akasora-sensei's former students!"
[It's cool, it's cool. By, directors.]
The Border directors had apparently decided that it was fine to allow him to join, but that meant they also understood that this test was needed. That meant...
...I need to make up for last night.
"Toby."
Just then, his vision went dark.
.
He had dived in front of the building that towered over the transport truck he had blasted through.
He twisted around from his diving descent to bring his feet down below him.
He had built up a lot of speed, but his Trigger allowed him to activate something to descent at a safer rate. However...
"We need to finish this in an instant. Taking too long would put the city in danger."
"Yeah. Then let's do it, Take."
"Of course," he replied as he kicked to the side. His foot clanked against the large building's wall to adjust his descent. He sent himself down the side of the large building.
"Time for the next round."
An orb of trion formed from the emptiness directly ahead of his fall.
...This should destroy the rest of the truck down to the ground.
He concluded the wide-range destruction of his Trigger's explosion could defeat the Valkyrie.
.
Takeshi had leaned during his fights during the B-Rank Wars that not even someone on the level of Yuki could do much to some of the older Border members alone.
That was of course partially because they would set things up when given time, but even their base abilities were abnormally high. Especially someone like Yuki's older sister.
And in a short-term battle like this, failure was not an option.
Takeshi could not afford to miss.
That meant a wide-range attack.
Not even Yuki's older sister would be able to withstand something akin to a warship cannon blast in the from of Meteroa. So...
...A surprise wide-range attack should be more effective if I'm attacking at close range!
Yuki's older sister was on the ground right now.
The ground was littered with buildings that turned from wide blocks to long blocks, so it could be difficult to navigate. She might head upwards to the top of buildings, but Takeshi accepted that as a calculated risk.
If the enemy moved too far away, Takeshi could handle it with his Laser Shooter's anti-Neighbor attack.
That shockwave destruction was most effective in a closed place like a narrow street.
So Takeshi readied his Laser Shooter by syncing its movements with his right hand.
"Meteora!"
Just before he fired, he heard a voice in his ear.
"Well, damn. The transport truck will collapse if you destroy its base."
.
Toby did not hesitate.
Yuki's older sister was on Takeshi's other side and behind Laser Shooter.
He did not question how she had gotten there.
Taking time to think about that would get him killed. Who had he been training with to learn that lesson?
With Yuki.
So he acted on reflex instead of thought. He aimed his malleable blade Trigger Scorpion toward Yuki's older sister and attacked.
Takeshi was along the path its blade would take, but that did not concern him. His neck was aligned with Yuki's older sister's neck, but Takeshi was turned to the side and Yuki's older sister was looking head on. An attack from the front was harder to dodge.
Takeshi reacted.
Crouching down to lower your head would be the normal response, but not for Takeshi. He gently pulled back his chin to evade with the smallest possible movement and to Yuki's older sister's view.
That was all he did.
The blade jabbed right in front of his neck on its way to Yuki's older sister's neck.
Toby knew what would happen next.
The tip of the blade provided him the tactile feedback of hitting something hard.
...That large Trigger!
A small silver box popped up from in front of her.
The process was the same as the description Mei had given them. So...
...I won't let you do the rest!
A solid sound rang out as it fell.
Scorpion was accelerating and the tip of its blade pushed hard against the large Trigger. The silver box touched her as she pulled back, effectively jabbing her.
"Oh, wow."
She was pushed away from Laser Shooter.
He let Takeshi's two actions take care of the rest.
First, he placed his right hand on a newly formed Shield.
And second...
"–––––"
He placed his chin on Scorpion's blade. Then he lowered his chin as if nodding, pressing Scorpion's freed blade against Shield.
The acceleration of the blade stood Shield up.
He then spoke even with the blade at her throat.
"Meteora."
It was now directed upwards.
"Tear into her."
.
Takeshi and Toby shot downwards.
That put distance between themselves and Yuki's older sister.
The echo of the skyward shot was soon left behind above them.
Firing Meteora straight up had increased his falling speed.
Toby was with him. By passing Scorpion's acceleration to Shield, he stuck with it.
Their relative positions remained unchanged. The blade touched his neck and occasionally dug into his skin, but he did not mind. They interacted in that way all the time, so if he did lose his head, it would mean he had lost his edge and deserved to die.
So it was a lot easier to keep going like this.
He loved a lifestyle that made him feel so free. But at the moment, they were taking their final exam before going into high school.
"Asteroid."
He created two green trion orbs. They were aimed upwards.
The enemy was pursuing them.
Yuki's older sister had kicked off the destroyed frame.
...Did not expect her to keep up with Laser Shooter's flight speed.
How fast would that feel in a surface battle? Takeshi belatedly decided he needed to ask Mei how much skill it had taken to fight this woman...and how exhausting it must have been.
But right now it was his turn. So...
"Tear into her."
Takeshi repeatedly fired Asteroid without slowing his fall speed.
Shobu heard a noise as he arrived at the border on Kitazoe's shoulder.
A laser was firing.
The transport truck remained upright by leaning against Mikado City's bridge-shaped archway. Its front had split wide open, so from Shobu's perspective, it functioned like a giant megaphone. All of the noise reverberated up its length before leaving the back as a great roar.
Based on the sounds it was picking up, Takeshi was firing on Yuki's older sister.
That was a 100m fall from the building.
Takeshi had likely done little to stop his descent. That would be why he had asked Suzaku about the entry procedure. Doing nothing to alter his descent meant he would not need to worry about damages just in case.
Those two had been prepared to go this far when they began this battle. But...
...How will...it end...?
Shobu did not know. Because of another sound he had started to hear.
He could guess what the metallic noise was.
"...Yuki-san's sister...is defending against the shells...with her Trigger..."
Takeshi knew the standard form for a descent was legs first.
It was harder to attack with your feet in the way, but it was easier to ready a projectile weapon because you could lay it along the length of your body. More than that, your boots' sole armor and your feet themselves would shield you against the enemy attacks.
However, your speed would drop because you would receive increased air resistance. That was why it was standard practice to descend feet first to slow down enough to land safely when moving into an enemy territory.
But at the moment, neither he nor his enemy were following that standard practice.
Yuki's older sister had her large Trigger raised like an umbrella, but she was falling headfirst.
She was also kicking off the transport truck's interior frame to constantly accelerate.
She was more running down the building than falling.
Meanwhile, Takeshi would have been overtaken with a feet-first descent. Instead, he made a headfirst descent and kicked off the wall to run down while firing back toward Yuki's older sister.
...I can't believe this.
He knew this was insane.
But it was no more than a more extreme version of what he normally did and his enemy's movements were no different.
He could handle this. He just wanted their movements to be as accurate as possible.
It reminded him of the underground when the two of them had fought a large Neighbor with no advance information on it. Back then, he had calmly responded to the challenge of someone who could instantly avoid their attacks.
He had to keep cool.
It would all unravel if he allowed any heat in. That was an ugly side of him he would try to hide away from everyone else. So...
...50 to go.
They were approaching the midpoint. From here on, it would come down to a series of instants, so he sent an instruction to the Laser Shooter floating alongside his left hand.
"Tear into her! Asteroid!"
.
Kushikage did not hear the roar, but she did see the air splitting in the shadow.
Kotowari Squad Captain Kotowari Takeshi's trion orb expanded to a size larger - or wider - than her large Trigger.
Since it could fire at long and shot range, it was also more versatile than her large Trigger. And...
"He can slam it into you too!?"
She knew what was coming.
...The path ahead is a lot narrower.
That continuous Trigger had hollowed out the transport truck. The truck lacked a combat frame and the back of the truck was used for cargo space, so the trion orb had easily blasted open a pathway through the truck.
Earlier, the trion orb had fired a shockwave blast at the top and then returned to Takeshi as she charged in from the side.
Kushikage had caught up and moved them up again, but she had made sure to check on the structure of the hollowed-out truck in the process.
Her memories told her the back had been widely blasted open by the shockwave.
But the trion orb had lost its penetrative force just before that, so it had been less effective at destroying the frame. That had narrowed the path through the truck.
...If he fights back there, he'll have an easier time of finishing me off since my movements will be too restricted.
Once the pathway narrowed, she could no longer move to the sides to dodge attacks.
That meant Takeshi's attacks would fix her in place.
And what would happen then?
What would arrive then?
"That orb!"
The green trion orb flew in as a giant striking weapon.
She had very little room to dodge, so it seemed guaranteed to hit. However...
"–––––"
She altered her orientation just before it did.
She had been falling headfirst before, but now she flipped around. By kicking away a destroyed and torn piece of the truck's internal frame, she caught her foot on the thorny cylinder created by the damaged frame and stood horizontally from it.
"Here I go!"
She took off running with a burst of speed.
The narrower pathway meant a higher concentration of possible footing, so she used all of that to run on.
"––––––"
She used her large Trigger - Brynhildr - as a shield as she swung her full body to run straight down.
Gravity was irrelevant.
She let her speed determine her path and accelerated directly toward the approaching green trion orb.
When she had footing, the flying trion orb was no more than an obstacle.
The narrow path limited the possible trajectories for such a strange flying object. It also limited her own.
A head-on collision was the only option, so...
"I just have to power through it."
Kotowari Takeshi fired from beyond the tiron orb. He was probably trying to limit Kushikage's movable space so the trion orb would hit.
She approved of how the boy continued to fight right up to the last second.
Kushikage herself crouched low and used the green trion orb itself to shield herself from the green blast.
The laser-like beam's sparks decorated the other side of the green trion orb.
The green trion orb even seemed to accelerate slightly.
"I saw that!"
Just as the trion orb flew toward her, Kushikage thrust out her left hand to touch its tip.
Their relative speeds made it hard to say she had "grabbed" it, but she definitely heard the high-pitched sound of something straining from where she touched.
She had stabbed her fingers into it.
A second later, the green trion orb popped like a balloon and the valkyrie ran below it.
.
..."Still Got It" is right!
Kusikage used her stunt-like footing to touch and deflect the next flying trion orb just enough for her to slip past it. How could she call herself a Yagura Branch member, much less their strongest, if she could not do that?
"Hee hee."
She recalled long ago when she had crushed the people attempting to defeat her. A lot of fighters and other people hoping to make a name for themselves had wielded fancy attacks like this, thinking they could fully eliminate a member of the Taiyōko family.
She was only here to fight now because she had crushed every last one of them. Looking back, using their fear to make them her servants before tossing them aside them seemed inelegant, but at the time, she had been proud of it as a warrior.
...I really have changed.
But right now, she was still moving.
She used both power and speed to push in toward her enemy instead of just catching up.
She had the battles she had fought since coming back and the fun she had had with her brother's girlfriend and her friends to thank for this. She was moving much better than during her debut in the Forbidden Zone.
She could really move.
The green trion orb grazed and tore at her long coat's left shoulder.
That was fine. She had let it graze her because she knew it would do no real damage.
She bit at the torn cloth with the side of her mouth and fully tore the sleeve away as the trion orb passed her by. The tearing sound combined with the windy roar as they passed each other by.
"–––––"
A moment later, she realized the true battle would begin here.
So she took another action.
She activated her Brynhildr with her bared left arm and aimed its cannon behind her.
She did not need to look back.
...Because I already know.
The green trion orb had been in anti-Neighbor impact mode when it passed her by.
She had learned that when she touched it earlier. That was why she had touched it.
She had wanted to know if the trion orb had begun shifting.
She had touched it with her fingertip and fingers. Letting her fingers remain with her real body nerves in them helped. She had used her fingers as a sensor to search the interior of the object. Its vibration had told her what he was going for.
It had begun shifting before it even reached her.
The anti-Neighbor impact laser had been set.
Why had her opponent been so eager to get that done?
...That's obvious enough.
To attack while still in range as she passed it by.
So she fought back by activating the large Trigger in her left hand.
"Show her what you look like, Valkyrie Sfyrí. No... That's right. I changed the name."
So...
"The one renamed Brynhildr."
She launched a short-range cannon against the green trion orb's impact laser.
Kanzaki was held on by Trochískos, something she had never before experienced. She had initially thought that was how Trochískos declared herself the winner, but...
"Ha ha. I am glad to see you are doing well. Do you know what it is you did wrong?"
Kanzaki got the sense that she did not need to answer that question.
...This is his way of showing he likes me.
It has been a long time since anyone hugged me like this. In fact, this is a new experience for me. My father was never the huggy type, nor was my mother. And the only person who has hugged me lately is...
...Shitokei-dono when she tried to throw me without noticing.
You can always count on Shitokei-dono to be manly. That must be why her former squad liked her so much. And speaking of her former squad...
"Hm?"
Kanzaki heard a familiar sound. Or she thought she did.
I half-thought I heard this a few times before, she thought, but this one confirmed it.
This was definitely Kotowari Takeshi's Laser Shooter firing.
She remembered the sound very well after having Shitokei fire it for testing several times and shoving her face between them to dodge. However...
"Kotowari?"
The sound came from within the transport truck that had been banging against Mikado City's archway.
"Oh?"
Just fore of center, the truck violently ruptured.
Trion light scattered and burst as the sounds from within grew clearer. They were no longer as muffled as before.
Kanzaki did her best to speak with her face being smooshed together and her head rubbed by Trochískos's hand.
"Kotowari seems to be doing well."
So much so that he got his opponent to start climbing up the building again.
After the trion light explosion hit her in the back, Kushikage accelerated downward.
The force of the impact was very clearly pushing at her back.
She could tell the green trion orb had been launched upwards in the same way.
That meant she only had to pursue the prey below her.
She made a vertical dash.
She kicked off the bottom of all the frames to leap and dance through the forest of destroyed metal.
I see. So maybe backing down as a valkyrie is fine. So long as I replace it with something else.
Beasts, trees, night birds, and bugs.
"I am your queen."
She accelerated.
"I determine the path of my innocent forest."
She could see her prey. The Kotowari boy was falling and kicking off the frame to make back steps. He was obviously the type who could conquer his fears. So...
"What if I use my strength?"
Kushikage accelerated further.
The boy fired, but the laser-like beams did not belong in the forest's night. Kushikage could sense their location just like anyone was keenly aware of anything that did not belong in their body.
So she dodged them.
...He does have good aim.
Takeshi likely had a number of possibilities in mind. Such as...
"He dives into the larger hollow up ahead and aims for the moment I follow after him."
Kushikage would lose her footholds when she dived into that larger hollow.
Takeshi could shoot her all he wanted then. But the same was true in reverse. So...
"There is a simple solution to that. I dive into the hollow even faster than he does."
Then she could catch up in midair. Even if she was fired on, she could use the large Trigger to deal with it. So...
"I know what happens next." Kushikage readied her renamed Trigger, but she held it behind her. "Any person would pray for his partner's safety and success."
A metallic clang came from the renamed Trigger when she swung it behind her. Someone had caught up to her while the sparks flew. His footsteps rang loud as he ran alongside her.
"The Falling Wolf!"
.
Another weird nickname!?
Toby used his Headfirst Fall acceleration Trigger to its fullest.
"I finally caught up!"
He had used Scorpion to follow after the previous trion orb.
She might have noticed him, so Takeshi had started the shifitng early so Yuki's older sister had to respond to that.
She appeared to have noticed the shifting, but...
...She overlooked me following after it!
He was lucky they had passed by at such high speed. Not even her natural soldier abilities could detect him that quickly. From there, he had needed to make it past the blast from the two powerhouse Triggers and catch up to her. But...
"–––––"
He had pulled it off.
He had correctly chosen to race alongside the blast rather than try to break through it.
Partway through, it had pushed on his back, increasing Headfirst Fall's acceleration.
From there, he had to keep the Trigger going with each step he took. Now that he had caught up, he only had to throw on a burst of speed, but...
...How is she so fast without any kind of acceleration Trigger!?
He recalled that his former squad Operator was the same. She too accelerated himself with bursts of speed and he was pretty sure she only used a strength boosting specialized Trigger to pull it off.
And this was her mentor.
"––––––"
He showed no concern, hesitation, or fear as he made his attack.
He allowed himself to wish that it would hit. Because...
...Take is below!
If this opponent was allowed to continue, Takeshi would be caught in the hollow below. He needed to delay their opponent until Takeshi could land and prepare to fire upwards. That required buying a mere second and a half of time.
Scorpion made several accelerated jabs, but...
"Well, well, well."
Lights flew and the blade was deflected by the large Trigger.
These were not light impacts. Each one pushed in toward him and pushed down like they were trying to bring him to his knees.
It was a lot like a beast pinning down its prey and snapping its jaws down on them. He could feel a great weight bearing down on him.
"...!"
He shifted his position and struck at an opening, but he was always deflected by the large Trigger coming in from a seemingly impossible angle such as below the arm or above the elbow.
She really was a beast.
He had heard that she thought herself to be akin to a valkyrie, but things may have changed since he heard that.
She did not follow set kata like other Attackers. She reacted from moment to moment on reflex and instinct.
Toby sensed great danger in this. He realized she would be a particular threat for Takeshi. Because...
...She's all about adlibbing and adaptability!
Yeah.
...Just like me!
.
Kushikage could tell her speed was rising.
She appreciated this opponent. He could keep up no matter how much of her bestal side she let out. And he would keep up while maintaining his human sensibilities.
Her former student had done the same thing in their battle. That girl had combined her human skills with her beast-like ones to use the kata while also adapting to the situation.
This opponent was similar. He would use human skills in an animal way to adapt to her attacks.
Fighting him was fun. So...
"Take this."
She gave him a small gift.
She let him have 0.2 seconds.
That would not be enough to prevent her from catching up to Kotowari Takeshi, but it did allow her to do something.
"Ha ha."
She closed in on him and jabbed Brynhildr down to free her hands.
Then she used the 0.2 seconds to ready both hands' claws - something a true beast would do.
"Ha."
She laughed as she sent her strength at him in a flurry of attacks.
.
Toby felt strength.
But not the strength of a strike, a blow, or a push.
This was a strength that eliminated all else at a touch.
Nothing would remain and that was the entire idea. Claws were swung with the force of a sword.
"Ha ha"
Just like a playful animal, her timing managed to catch him by surprise even when he was waiting for it. There was a "pause" before the strength rushed in, forcing him to block it whether he wanted to or not.
If not for his Side Effect, he knew he would have been the one devoured instead during this fight.
When a large animal decided to use its size and speed to play like a puppy, was there any way to avoid it? And if all else would be destroyed from that play...
"..."
Toby began his evasion.
He kicked off the wall he was using for footing, hoping to block the way to Takeshi.
But the beast leaped.
She twisted her body and made a light jump with the seemingly innocent timing of a pet pursuing its owner.
Instead of hunting him down, she was grabbing at him to capture him. And...
"...!"
It was accompanied by a flurry of attacks.
Her claws tore through the air with a high-pitched scraping.
The wind was pierced and the ends of her claws occasionally glowed like sparks.
The light and sound showed the paths of the beast's scratching claws.
But this was not one long arc at a time.
More and more long arcs all appeared at once, some moving out ahead of him or circling above and below him.
It was a pack.
One far greater than he had ever been able to produce.
If he twisted around and tried to descend, he would be repeatedly torn by the claws.
He was thrown into that flurry of motion in an instant.
...I see!
He understood what made ghosts and aggressive animals so frightening. The way they tried to cling to and capture you had the same innocence as a child or small animal.
There were no worldly thoughts there.
There was no hesitation, only the enjoyment of the act.
That was what pursued him now. So...
"How about I play along!?"
He used Headfirst Fall. But unlike before, he activated it on his stepping feet and moving arms.
"––––––"
He ran on top of Yuki's older sister's attacks.
.
Takeshi saw it happen while he ascended before descending a bit.
He could tell Toby was buying time for his proper descent, but during that 0.2 seconds...
...They are picking up speed!
Both of them were running on the wall while using something else to accelerate.
They used each other's attacks to fuel their acceleration.
Yuki's older sister used Scorpion's blows to her claws to help pull her arms back.
Toby predicted the path of her claws and used that for Scorpion's acceleration.
Whenever they had an opening, they would also use their feet.
"–––––"
The two of them repeatedly twirled in the air amid the lights and minor sounds of impact.
But not because any attacks were landing. They were using each other's attacks to move themselves.
...Toby!
Reacting with his reflexes was his Side Effect. People often laughed it off as an acrobatic stunt, but how else could you explain him using Kiyome to step on Yuki's older sister's claws now? And...
"He's moving forward!"
He kept Laser Shooter at the ready while he noted that he was now using Yuki's older sister's attacks for footing more than the wall. He jumped off her claws, arms, and attacks to close in on her.
Their battle rang loud, but eventually the time came. A round of the battle had ended, so they exhaled in unison.
For a brief moment, strength left them.
The 0.2 seconds were over. But the very next moment, they breathed in to fill themselves with strength once more.
"...!"
They both sent a burst of speed toward their opponent to end it.
.
Toby watched Yuki's older sister's jabbing right hand.
He had accelerated Scorpion toward it when she raised her hand.
But not as an attack.
Targeting her claws now would not stop her. So...
...Her head!
The blade had just enough speed to reach her head. But...
"Ha ha."
She noticed.
And she took action. She used her raised right arm's elbow to push her long and voluminous hair backwards.
Pulling on her hair would move her head as well. Her entire upper body leaned back.
"Now what?"
The blade tip could no longer reach her.
In fact, she had now used her entire body to ready her attack.
"Here goes."
With a tornado spin, her claws flew in toward him from the outer left. And in a way that shifted herself to the side, preventing Scorpion from targeting her head.
He did not panic, nor did he take a defensive stance. He only opened his mouth.
"Take!"
He received an immediate response.
Something hit hard against the bottom of his left foot.
It was a beam.
While Takeshi descended below him, he had determined the optimal moment for support and fired Laser Shooter. The beam had been set to impact mode, so it was more like a solid than anything else.
This was only an option thanks to enduring the previous flurry of attacks while staying near his opponent.
Kicking off the beam allowed him to adjust his midair attitude and accelerate.
He moved further inward than the beast's right jab.
He could dodge it.
He had twisted himself to hit her with his right shoulder, so it looked a lot like he was leaping toward her while turned a bit to the side. That only left one thing...
...Hitting her in the neck with Scorpion!
He was aiming toward the middle on her neck.
He accelerated the blade tip toward that single spot.
In that instant, he saw the beast's attack. Her jabbing right hand's fingers had been pressed together before, but now...
"Here."
She spread them apart.
It almost looked like a blade tip blossoming like a flower and growing five fingers from within.
Her right hand's path had been stuck on a course that would miss him, but the spread fingers tore at the air. The ring and little fingers in particular.
...This path!
The raised air resistance of the spread fingers altered her hand's course toward him.
He had already twisted to the right, so he used that. He pulled Scorpion in and spun to the right to overcome this.
Just then, he sensed movement outside his vision, but the intuition that allowed him to fight someone on this level told him it was another attack.
...Her left hand!
Her right hand was meant to hit him, but it was also a diversion.
If he focused too much on that, another attack would reach him: her jabbing left hand.
So he decided to dodge again.
He used the same beam he had stepped on before. It was still in midair.
His memories told him he had pressed down and left on it with his left foot to move right.
So where was the beam now?
He knew the answer: down and to the left.
He could not see it, but it had to be there.
How could he ever lose track of a gift Takeshi had sent him?
So he forcibly shattered Scorpion in his hands before remaking it, pointing it in that direction.
Down and to the left was below the fingers sent his way, so he would essentially be sending his rightward twisting body to the left.
That would place a burden on his body, but he did not mind.
This was nothing compared to the burden that had damaged him mentally before.
"–––––––"
He used that thought to gather his resolve.
He did it.
Slipping below her fingers would take some doing, but that was a problem he could solve with his own movements.
He could finally see Yuki's older sister's left hand.
Her summer-style uniform's sleeve had been lost and the slender arm was drawing a glowing arc as it flew toward him.
It came from below for something like a smash uppercut.
The angle made it a pincer attack when joined with her right fingers. Which meant...
...Whether I kick off her right fingers or left claws, the other arm will catch me and crush me!
The word "bite" came to mind and he needed to escape from it.
"Time to go!"
.
Toby sprang through the air.
He had leaned to the side to dodge below the fingers rushing in from the left.
"Scorpion!"
He accelerated toward...
...There it is!
Takeshi's beam was partially crushed and he launched Scorpion toward it.
He accelerated toward it, but then it vanished.
He did not have time to question it. He had already locked on, so he pursued the shell.
That took him toward...
"The giant Trigger!?"
"Sorry. That wasn't very nice of me."
His opponent's right leg was somewhat raised.
She had kicked the beam away. Kicked it toward the large Trigger pushed out ahead of her.
.
Kushikage saw Toby thrown off course while his blade stabbed into Brynhildr.
The beam struck and bounced off of the renamed Trigger and the blade's tip lodged itself in a gap in the Trigger's frame.
"This is payback for what you did before," she said.
In other words...
"My Brynhildr can shift too."
Realization flashed across Toby's face.
Then the Trigger shifted by folding into a small box. But as it did so...
"It can bite."
That was exactly what happened.
The compactly folding Trigger bit at his blade.
"––––––"
The blade was deflected violently outwards.
It was now flying away from the folded silver box.
She had already prepared for a dash and he was floating where he had been knocked away.
"Again, sorry."
She collected the box from the air and ran.
She accelerated after her prey that had already entered the large hollow below.
.
Kushikage ran along the vertical wall.
If she could dive down faster than Kotowari Takeshi and catch up before she stalled, then she would win this.
So she pursued, leaping toward the starting line of this new race.
But before she could...
"Take!"
Someone passed her by at even greater speed.
She knew who it was. She had stopped his speed just a moment before, so she concluded this was his worry for his battle partner at play.
...This is the speed of his wholehearted trust. Partners in a fight can sometimes mean a whole lot more than any other partner.
She smiled, wondering how it would compare to her full strength.
She had never had her own partner to worry about her when she was already at her peak. That had been an issue of strength and this was one of speed, but...
...I understand.
There was something to look forward to in those kinds of relationships. So...
"I think it's about time I start looking for someone to be with me."
Pausing to smile had reduced her speed, so she came to a stop.
She stabbed her claws into the vertical wall and looked down from there.
There was a 20m gap directly below her. That was where the green trion orb's shockwave had erupted earlier.
The Kotowari Squad Attacker was holding the captain in his arms at the bottom of that space.
He was looking up at her.
"We got away, so this is our win!"
.
Takeshi initially spat out his breath in surprise, but then he cleared his throat and struck Toby's shoulder.
"Stupid mutt, running away is nothing to be proud of. Not to mention that I don't think those were the original rules."
After an earnest nod to him, Toby looked up at the beast overhead.
"Then...can we call this a draw!?"
"I'll take that much." Yuki's older sister smiled down at them and nodded. "I'm pretty damn pleased with what you showed me here. I'll tell our idiotic boss to take that into consideration."
"Hmm, I guess a draw would be 50 points, but they did manage to impress our branch's valkyrie. Okay, Takeshi and Toby get 60 points."
"Sensei! Doesn't Kushikage-san's approval deserve more than 10 points!?"
"They can't finish the race, so they're lucky to get that."
Murakami listened to Akasora's response while running through the former residential district of the Forbidden Zone toward the the other side's border and approaching the current nature park.
He had the greater speed. He was weary, but all he had to do was hurry and run. Thanks to the distance he could cover with each burst of speed, he could move so much easier than the last time they did this.
Akasora was technically in range of the golden chains, but the distance was too great for that to be effective. He would "see" it coming like this, so it wouldn't do anything to slow him. So if possible...
Black Wolf: "Arafune! Hokari! Are you free!?"
Pokari: "Um, not really. This is a real pain."
...What's going on up there?
Murakami's unspoken question was answered in the sideways sky.
He saw a large group there.
"Eh?"
He could not believe the number of trion bullets and created shields pursuing Arafune and Hokari. Those two would sometimes fire their own attacks and blow up their enemy, but...
TetsuG: "Dammit, they don't play fair!"
Because...
TetsuG: "They recover right away even when we do hit them!"
"So that's what they're going with," said Hokari, feeling legitimately impressed with Mamiya and the others' determination.
He and Arafune had ways of defending and fighting back, but...
"We can't take them out of the fight."
"That isn't the point of this exam anyway."
"But," said Mamiya at the lead of their pursuers. "It's a simple trick, isn't it? None of us are as strong as you, but you can't beat all of us when we work together."
"How is it fair to come back after we shoot you?"
"Neighbors will have groups even larger than this. Like during the large-scale invasion or the attack on the base."
And...
"You might end up fighting in fights us lower B-Rank squads never can, right?"
"–––––"
The solution to that seemed simple enough.
"We could hit them with a wolf or throw a cannon at them."
"Or send a fire group in at them."
"You could," admitted Mamiya before the fellow goggles wearer on a created shield next to him raised his hand. That was Hata and he pointed back behind them.
"But if so, you erred in your first move. You should have sent the Trapper's abilities up towards us while you two dealt with Tsukiko-san's older sister."
"You want Snipers - even if it's me - to fight a ground battle against that sister?"
Hata smiled bitterly and slapped a hand against his chest.
"Just keep your distance and use your Ibis at the right distance together. You've done crazier things than that before, haven't you? ...Right, Koinuma?"
"Because they can never make anything easy," replied the other boy.
Arafune glared over at Hokari.
"Hokari, why do I feel like we're being lectured by people who've already lost to us?"
"Probably cause that's exactly what's happening here, Arafune."
"Hey, what's wrong with that?" said Mamiya. "Play along for a bit and we'll let you finish the race in the end."
He waved his right hand.
...Are they changing formation?
"We'll give you a few lessons in large harassment battles. Think of this as payback for always being overly harsh with our Mitsuteru-kun."
Daybreak: "P-please don't drag me into this, Mamiya-san!"
God, what a pain, thought Hokari, but he was also smiling bitterly. He placed his legs over to the next set of shields and prepared to fight.
"Once this is over, one at a time, we'll defeat you all again."
"Make it a race or whatever you want, but we'll prove our place above all of you as that guy's mentors is no joke." Arafune moved forward. "I hate unnecessary work, but I love to learn."
Murakami heard the gunfire and saw the trion light being exchanged in the air once more.
The low tier B-Rank Shooters and Gunners in Border were shouting lessons at Arafune and Hokari – "No! That's not the play there!" "You need to descend first! Why? Because that's how it's done!" – so it was feeling a lot more like a final exam tailor-made for them.
But from the look of things...
...Sniper support might be tricky.
Murakami kept that hope in a corner of his mind as he accelerated toward the color green.
That was the nature park by the Yagura Branch. They were on the other side, so this would take them to the final pathway.
It had been created as a guiding path to the branch. He thought about how much they had all changed since the branch had been created.
"Huh?"
He saw someone up ahead. Their stance was unusually uneager for reinforcements.
"Mizukami!"
.
Life: "Eh!? Satoshi's back!? Wasn't he near the outer city!?"
Shōgi Boy: "..."
Life: "Was the food good!? Did it have all the rural classics, like a candy store that sells old games and divine figurines!?"
Shōgi Boy: "..."
Life: "Satoshiiiiiiiiiiii!? Why ignore meeeeeeeeee!?"
Black Wolf: "Jinsei, he is trying to concentrate before the battle!"
Mi-Kon: "Is this like what the pope does whenever he's in political trouble! You know, where he goes into hiding and claims to be meditating!"
Pokari: "Pretty sure you're thinking of Seint Seika, where the bronze armor and gold armor fight in the papal territory."
TetsuG: "The movie compressed it all down to an hour, so they died and were resurrected about once every seven minutes."
Shōgi Boy: "Could you people be quiet!?"
.
...I feel like these people never changin' should be a good thing, but I know 'em too well.
Mizukami wondered how Border was still so restless after the everything that had been happening. But...
"I was hopin' to complete the whole race, but I didn't arrive quite in time. So instead, I'll do whatever I can."
Their teacher was running toward him. That speed was dangerous. It was well above what anyone should have been using in Mikado City.
But this was the nature park and the final pathway behind him led to the Yagura Branch, so not many people used it until needed. Which meant...
"No need to hold back."
Mizukami clenched his left hand's glove and then stepped forward.
They were 15m apart.
...If only I had Iko-san here.
Ikoma was still further back, hanging around Shiraishi. After spending the night at Takato's house and hearing some interesting things, he had thought he could put himself out just a bit more. It would help his squad, but there had been a different reason for his thinking that. But before that...
"I'd still rather not attack my former teacher."
"What makes you think you can attack me?"
"Right." Mizukami nodded. "I primarily just do backup, so let's say I win if I can stall ya just enough."
"Sure, I'll play by those rules."
They were much closer now.
The 15m had shrunk past 10 and was fast approaching 7. And...
...He's matching me.
Akasora had matched the timing of his steps with Mizukami's. And while running.
This'll be tough, thought Mizukami. Unbalancing him won't be easy.
When providing backup, you would normally unbalance your opponent by messing with their timing or something. Firing at the right time would throw off their balance.
But that was hard to do when the opponent matched the timing of your steps. When both sides took their step at the same time, their sense of timing would be simultaneously directed in the same direction, making it much more difficult to unbalance them.
And matching someone else's timing while running was no easy task.
But their teacher had done it with ease.
The normal solution here would be to step further in and sweep his opponent's feet out from under him.
But this was not someone he could approach so carelessly. So instead, he reached out his left hand and...
"–––––"
She took another step.
The rest played out from there. He could still unbalance Akasora even with their timings matched. He only had to tilt Akasora in one direction or another. Akasora stepped with his right foot, so...
...That's to the left from my perspective.
Mizukami only had to fire his shots correctly from outside that stepping leg.
That was his plan.
Akasora held his hands at the ready. The right one in front and the left one in back.
And he took his step.
At the last second, Mizukami sensed danger in the motion.
Akasora leaned forward just a bit.
...That means-
Mizukami reflexively slowed his own step, which was the correct choice.
A tremor spread from below Akasora's right foot and out across the paved path.
He had stomped his foot.
Suzaku saw Tenryū cover his ears atop Kitazoe's shoulder.
They were hurrying toward the pathway leading to the Yagura Branch. Yuki's older sister herself was working to remove the transport truck behind them and she tossed it onto the larger transport truck that had arrived to collect it, but everything had been so crazy recently that this barely felt weird anymore.
But Tenryū was not holding his ears because of that loud noise.
"Did you hear something, Tenryū-san?"
"...Um...yes... ...It's, uh...the pavement used...I think...? ...And, um..."
Meanwhile, Suzaku saw a light. Warning displays appeared all around him, all of them telling him about Mikado City's current situation.
...Oh, this could be bad.
He then heard running water. Water was spraying and geysering out from the side and surface of the pathway. The warning messages told him a few of the water pathways had ruptured.
Kinuta: "This is the worst! What is that stupid man doing now!? Someone, stop him!"
Rugby Man: "Kinuta-san, would you prefer to have some water pipes burst or be hit repeatedly by a transport truck? You get the duty to choose."
Not even the directors cut each other any slack. But the leaks were already being automatically sealed by the emergency settings within Mikado City. The government offices would be shutting off the water pipes as well. They would have to be closed off again once the stress had been removed, but...
"Is Mizu okay!?"
Mizukami was relieved to find his intuition had been correct.
Delaying his last step had spared hims a direct hit from the stomp. Rattling the ground's surface with a single stomp was extremely on-brand for their teacher, but Mizukami may have subconsciously inherited something from him since he had previously broken through some problems with excess force and dropped a power attack when one was not needed.
Anyway, he had lifted up his left leg behind him. That kept the stomp from affecting him, but...
...This's bad.
His opponent had control of when he would land and they were both ready to attack.
"Okay."
He landed on his right toes to alter his landing. By balancing just those toes, he could recover his stability no matter which direction he was unbalanced.
Then Akasora's hand moved in.
His right hand grabbed at Mizukami's left hand.
"Ha."
Once he had it, he let out a breath of laughter and worked to unbalance the boy.
He pushed.
Pushed left and down.
Mizukami did not fight it. He instead pushed his left hand against Akasora's hand.
...There.
He shoved the base of his wrist between the thumb and forefinger grabbing it.
The tendon connecting the thumb and forefinger was located between them. The muscle on the inner side of the tendon would tense when grabbing things, but there was an opening there. Push on the tendon and the grabbing muscle would bend to the side, reducing the hand's grip.
The action itself would not work against a trion body, but the thought of it happening would still end up affecting the person in question.
When grabbing, your grip would be weaker if you grabbed with the entire hand instead of holding it between the thumb and the base of another finger. Mizukami caused the same thing here.
"–––––––"
He forced Akasora's hand into that state for just a second.
Akasora's grip briefly weakened. And...
...Arafune!
A sudden light shot between Mizukami and his opponent.
Arafune had managed to get off a shot while dealing with all the Shooters in the sky.
"Get him, did you!?" shouted Hokari.
Arafune had to shake his head.
"Using a Lightning shot was a mistake!"
"Hey, eyes on your own fight, Explosion Jumper."
"Shut up," growled Arafune, before glancing down again.
Mizukami and Akasora were reading each other in something that was not quite combat. Arafune passed by overhead, but...
...I hope I managed to help.
He would be a disgrace of an mixed fighter if he failed to provide any assistance at all, so he had worked to create an opening while Hokari dealt with their primary opponents. However...
...I didn't expect the stomp to rupture the water pathways.
His shot's fast bullet was an anti-personnel variety based on speed rather than power, so it had been thrown off target by the scattering water. He did not know if Akasora had done that intentionally or not, but at the same time...
"Knowing him, I wouldn't have hit even if I shot an Ibis or Egret one."
"Ohh, way to keep a positive outlook, Arafune! ...Sort of."
He had to agree. Even if he had missed, his attack had not been entirely meaningless.
It had blocked the teacher's view for just a moment.
Mizukami had attacked.
His strike between the fingers had loosened his teacher's grip, but if he kept pushing, he would be caught again. So...
...I learned some close-quarters moves just in case! And dammit, if I ain't glad I did!
Thanks, Minoru! I'll get ya somethin' nice later!
So...
...Pull!
He pictured it as pulling his wrist back the length of a single fingernail.
Once Akasora's fingers regained their strength, he would tighten his grip to capture Mizukami again, so Mizukami moved his hand. He peeled the strength away from his fingertips and...
"–––––"
He pulled his hand out of the glove now held in Akasora's grasp.
.
Mizukami emptied him mind.
Extraneous thoughts would lead to unnecessary force that threw off his movements. So he appreciated Arafune's shot.
That bullet had briefly blocked Akasora's view. Pulling his hand from the glove was a forearm movement, but it required relaxing his shoulder. Someone as skilled as their teacher would notice the relaxing shoulder and be on the lookout for the forearm's movement.
But Arafune's bullet had prevented that.
Arafune's Lightning shot ricocheted off the ground and Mizukami made a snap of his wrist in time with the sound. He pushed down on Akasora's right wrist, which still held the empty glove.
He forced it down.
Downwards was an unexpectedly difficult direction to imbalance someone, but...
...This is my chance!
This had to be his last chance, so he tugged down on Akasora's wrist, as if catching his fingers on it and his glove. And he added a hint of an inward twist.
He unbalanced Akasora.
"Oh."
Akasora appeared to lean against him.
Now Mizukami only had to increase the twist and Akasora would spin and fall in that direction. If he took a step back, he could also imbalance Akasora's footing, making it that much easier.
He sent the twisting motion from wrist to elbow and elbow to shoulder.
He instantly had control of Akasora's entire arm from wrist to shoulder.
It was a lot like completing a series of tasks starting from the closest one. He imagined it like connecting components together to gain more length.
The shoulder was easier to move and could provide more resistance, so he gave a single tug to extend and eliminate the timing needed to resist.
The rest was simple. He twisted "inwards" as if trying to stir Akasora's right side with the stick called an arm. This was probably affecting the shoulder blade and such, but he was not sure since he was operating on pure intuition.
But once the work was complete, his opponent doubled over as if from a blow to the side. And...
"There."
His teacher let himself fall to the right.
He crouched down in that direction before Mizukami could do it. Was he going to insist it didn't count because he had made himself fall? No...
...I know what this is.
Mizukami realized he had overlooked one thing.
"––––!"
.
Murakami saw Akasora lean forward and drop onto his knee.
"Mizukami."
Mizukami suddenly tried to move away from Akasora, but Akasora pursued his hand from below.
He had released his hold on their teacher, but he did not pull away.
Murakami wondered why. Mizukami had the upper hand and Akasora's top priority had to be escaping his grasp. But...
Shobu: "...Mizukami...-sama...! ...Run...away...!"
Umi: "Mizu! The aftershock of his stomp is coming!"
The distortion corrected itself.
Suzaku was just about to reach the end of the border to the paved pathway when a large "road closed" board appeared in front of him.
The broad depicted one of Mikado City's Engineers bowing.
[Sorry about the trouble. Wait while I go speak with her. By, Engineers.]
"The Engineers are so helpful since they tend to be doing nothing at times like these."
"But the directors were the one to close the road, right?" asked Kitazoe.
The Engineer was back soon.
[Sorry. W-wait, my front teeth...really!? By, Engineers.]
Suzaku let slip a "that was fast" and everyone's silent glares were kind of painful.
"Well, um, our directors have been dealing with a lot fo things recently, you know?"
"That doesn't explain what just happened," said Inukai.
Regardless, Mikado City shook before their eyes.
Akasora had made his stomp a bit towards the front of the pathway's center. It had created one large wave and this was the aftershock. The amplitude was greatest at the front and back.
"Wow."
With the area being made on natural materials, it looked like Mikado City had just bounced upwards. It had only done something similar when Misaki performed on stage, so...
Umi: "Is Mizu okay!?"
Mizukami braced himself against the ground rising up about 10cm all at once.
The bounce had come from the bending of the ground. It was a lot like having the entire ground's surface striking back at him. And in the areas with shallower dirt, the trees and other plants were sent airborne.
Emergency protections kicked in at the residential areas, but the nature park was less protected. The loud splashing he heard likely came from the nearby stream. And...
...Not bad!
Akasora had reversed his wrist.
He was trying to grab Mizukami's hand.
I see, thought Mizukami. That explains how I managed to imbalance him so easily.
His opponent had included his stomp's aftershock in his calculations for the duel.
He had done this before, so he knew from experience that the aftershock would be coming.
Mizukami had heard about the layout of the area while eavesdropping on Oki and Ariake's conversation before and he understood how the systems responded to stress, but...
...I didn't think an individual could do this!
That lack of understanding came from his own naïveté. On the other hand, there's something wrong with him. It's not right.
But he still had to fall back here. Because...
"Kh."
His teacher grabbed his left wrist.
He twisted his hand to escape, but...
...Cloth!?
It was the glove he had removed before. It had been instantly slipped between Akasora's palm and the back of Mizukami's hand.
The cloth stopped his attempt to escape. The glove soon fell away, but by then...
"––––––"
Akasora had a solid grip on his wrist.
Oh, no, he thought. Akasora had let himself be imbalanced and dropped to the ground so he could approach and grab Mizukami's hand. He had known the aftershock would be thrusting up from below, so he had crouched low, used the shaking to stand back up, and used that to attack.
And now the shaking ground would be lowering. The current lack of motion was only a brief respite before it rapidly dropped back down like a spring snapping back into shape. Then it happened.
It was like a silence or a floating. Mizukami saw Akasora move in the horribly clear midday heat.
...He's surprisingly bad at this.
His teacher was overly tense as he imbalanced and threw his opponent.
He was not good at it, but he was still effective. He had control of Mizukami's center of gravity, as well as the ground below his feet. So...
"...!"
Akasora made him move just as the shaking reversed itself.
He performed a throw.
.
Murakami readied his sword while running along the shaking ground.
He had closed in on his quarry. And...
"Mizukami!"
That boy had been attacked, so he had to help out.
But then Akasora made his throw. However...
...Is that...?
Something flew through the air after Akasora made a throw with a reversal of his wrist.
It was a part of Mizukami's body – his trion arm.
The single trion arm had been purged from his shoulder to fly through the midday sunshine. And...
"Damn!"
Mizukami's left arm was knocked back, as was Akasora's right hand.
They had failed to fully absorb the force built up there.
Mizukami was fine, but his trion arm rolled along the ground and skittered across the stone pavement.
Murakami knew what must have happened. Just before he was thrown, Mizukami had sent all of the force into his trion arm. Then he had purged by firing a single bullet at it which keep the force from affecting the rest of him. His arm was thrown instead of his entire body.
That prevented either of their throws from working. And...
"––––––"
Mizukami's hand was forced upwards by the momentum, so he could not direct it back toward their teacher.
It was over.
Akasora nodded in response.
"Ha," he laughed before sending his lowered body forward.
He even used the next aftershock of his stomp to give himself some initial speed.
"Keep at it and you might manage to throw me next time!"
Mizukami clicked his tongue in response. He turned back toward Murakami with annoyance on his brow and nodded in his direction stiffly. That was the physical proof of his tension during that battle. Not only had he been unable to prepare any bullets, he had been outplayed in this close-quarters bout.
He sighed.
"I bought you some time."
"I will help with your martial arts training if you like."
"I'd rather stick to keeping my distance and firing my bullets. Thanks, though."
Mizukami must have thought he could win this because there was definite frustration in the way he kicked his heels off the floor on his way to collect his arm. However...
...Now it's my turn.
Murakami had his sword ready and he was closing in on his opponent. So...
"It's time we settled this, Sensei!"