"That was a wonderful meal, Lala. I'm impressed by how much you improved."
Tesla had just finished an American style breakfast that Lala had cooked up. She had shown a lot of improvement thanks to Rui's assistance.
Perhaps programming wasn't the issue, maybe Starlit and I were not fit to be cooking teachers. Tesla thought.
"Thank you." Lala said with a nod. "Lala knows it's not as good as Amelia could make, but-"
"None of that." Tesla patted Lala on the head. "You are your own person. I have long since accepted this."
"Thank you, Tesla." Lala smiled. "Lala is happy she can spend time with you."
"Likewise." Tesla chuckled as he stood up, looking at his phone. "The others are probably waiting for us."
"Did you call them before breakfast?" Lala asked.
"Yes, they're… probably a bit annoyed that they had to wait for some time with how early in the day it is. I only hope they're not too miffed considering my latest breakthrough." Tesla said.
"Latest breakthrough?" Lala asked.
"I'll explain once we get to the briefing." Tesla said.
"Uuuggh… why so early…?" Forte grumbled, as they waited in the meeting room.
"Not a morning person?" Rui asked.
"It usually falls upon either myself or Lala to drag her out of bed." Starlit said. "On rare occasions, Tesla will have to do it; usually with an electric shock or two."
"Those sting like a mother fucker!" Forte yelled.
Rui didn't smile at the outburst, as Tesla and Lala entered the room.
"Sorry for the wait." Tesla apologized. "Lala has already improved quite a bit with her cooking. We appreciate you helping her, Rui."
"Don't mention it." Rui said.
"So what did you call us for?" Starlit asked. "You mentioned a breakthrough?"
Tesla nodded, as he tapped a device on his wrist to project an image of Carol's ruined Château. "I had done some more research, and the relic that can help us succeed is located here, in the deepest storages of the Château de Tiffauges."
"That place, huh?" Rui said, remembering how she and the others had fought Carol, less than a month ago.
"There's a certain relic known as Gjallarhorn that Carol had obtained from a third party." Tesla pulled up images of the relic horn. "We can use this to further our plans."
"What does it do?" Forte asked.
"While this is merely from rumors I've read from various sources, there's a chance that it can connect to other worlds." Tesla said.
"Other worlds…?" Rui repeated.
"How's that going to help us?" Lala asked.
"That part, I'm still fine tuning." Tesla said, as the projections disappeared. "You, Lala and Rui will go. You'll have to make the jump right outside the Château in order for it to work, as the area inside interferes with the gateway technology."
"Got it." Rui said.
"Good luck, the three of you." Tesla said, as he created a portal for the three of them.
Once they were gone, Starlit turned to Tesla. "Will this Gjallarhorn really be the key to reaching our goal?"
Tesla crossed his arms. "If it works as I believe… our dreams will be realized soon enough."
"That's… good…" Starlit's eyes started to close. She nearly fell over, if not for Tesla catching her.
"Starlit…" Tesla gently picked her up to take her to the medical room again. "Just hold on a bit longer. I will save you, and we will repay our debt to Rui Tachibana together."
The portal had opened up near the ruins of the Château, as Rui, Lala and Forte stepped out of it.
"So this is the place, huh?" Forte said, kicking at some of the debris. "Never got a chance to get up close."
"It's beautiful… in its own eerie way." Lala said.
"Come on, let's go." Rui walked in.
"Hey, you're not the boss!" Forte said. "Why do I have to-?!"
"SONG made a quick map of the place from a few of the agents' recollections for archival purposes." Rui said, thinking of Maria, Kirika and Shirabe. "So I know the way down to the relic storage. They've been moving them out here and there, but big ones are tougher, especially with the booby traps."
"Booby traps…?" Lala asked as they walked down one of the halls.
"Or thought to have been inactive security measures like those."
She pointed down to the various cracked walls, where Alca-Noise were flooding in.
"You two keep them occupied, I'll break through and nab it." Rui said. "Got it?"
"It's a good plan, but…" Lala looked at Forte, who had an irritated expression on her face.
"What? I can compromise when we have to." Forte said. "I'm not a total idiot to let anger blind me."
"Could've fooled me." Rui said.
"Screw you!"
The three of them held up their bracelets.
"Elekleid, switch on!"
Electricity filled the room as they transformed, knocking all the Alca-Noise back.
"Alright!" Forte slammed her axe on the ground. "Let's go-!"
Rui had already sped forward in a blur, tearing through several of the Alca-Noise.
"...God she pisses me off so much!" Forte yelled, smashing one Alca-Noise to bits with her weapon. "I'm not gonna let her show me up!"
"C-Calm down please, Forte…" Lala said, as she blocked a few Alca-Noise before blasting them with electricity. At least she's trying to work together with Rui...
"Where did it go…? I know I left it here…!"
Hibiki was searching through her room, turning everything upside down. She was causing enough of a ruckus that Shuri entered to see what was going on.
"Hibiki-san, what are you doing?" She asked. "Your room looks even messier than before."
"It's gone!" Hibiki said. "Gungnir!"
Shuri widened her eyes. "What?"
"Gungnir! I don't have it! I left it on the table where I always do, and now it's gone!" Hibiki said, a bit of panic entering her voice.
"Calm down, Hibiki-san." Shuri put her hands on her shoulders. "It can't be far, we can find it."
"B-But what if an attack happens or something?" Hibiki said. "I need to go out there to help!"
"If something happens, we can handle it." Shuri reassured Hibiki. "Besides, I don't believe that-"
The alarm went off, and Shuri mentally cursed.
"Everyone, to the bridge!" Genjuro said. "We have a situation!"
"We'll find Gungnir later." Shuri said. "We should go for now."
Hibiki nodded, but looked back at her room one more time to see if she could spot it.
There were no signs at all.
Everyone had arrived in the bridge. It was clear that several of them had just woken up, but they were on alert thanks to the recent situation. Tsubasa was talking to them through a video call that connected to her hospital room.
"What's the situation, Commander?" Tsubasa asked.
Maia turned away, not facing the screen with Tsubasa on it. No one noticed her as Genjuro started to speak.
"We've discovered that TEC has resurfaced." Genjuro said. "We'll be sending you to attempt to apprehend their members."
"How did you find them, dess?" Kirika asked.
"Elfnein and Aiba analyzed and managed to get down the signals of the Elekleid units." Genjuro said. "We've made a scanner from the satellites in order to triangulate their positions when activated."
"Where is Elfnein?" Maria asked, noticing she wasn't with them.
"She's putting the last minute touches on a certain project." Genjuro said. "But, as for where the enemy is
… bring up the footage, Fujitaka."
Nodding, he typed away to pull up the place on the screen. This sent surprise throughout the others.
"Carol-chan's old chateau…?" Hibiki recognized.
Genjuro nodded. "We believe they're trying to obtain something there, so we need to beat them to the punch. Every other time we've fought, they've had the advantage and initial strike, with a trump card in the back. This time, we'll make our preemptive move."
"With a clearer mind too." Shirabe added.
"We'll send four of our wielders first. The others will be backup for the time being." Genjuro said. "We need to play our cards carefully, as we've shown enough of our hand already… and one of their allies know our deck."
"I'll go with Kirika and Shirabe." Maria offered. "We need to try talking Forte down… let her know that we do want to help her."
"I'm going too." Chris said. "I gotta help knock some sense into Rui."
"Alright, be careful." Shuri said. "I recommend that you hold back on using Ignite from the start. Find an opening to take advantage of before activating it."
"Gotcha." Chris nodded.
"In the meantime, we'll prepare as well." Shuri said. "Once they've been worn down enough, we'll be the next wave of attack."
"Sounds like a plan." Maria said. "Let's go!"
No one had realized Maia had slipped out of the room earlier.
"And… it's finished."
Elfnein put up her goggles, as she held up in her hands, a polished and restored Kagutsuchi.
"But… I still don't believe this is a good idea, Maia-san." She said, handing the weapon to her. "Do you really think that Rui-san will snap out of it once she sees her old weapon?"
Maia stared at the repaired belt, the one that had been Rui's partner in battle ever since the fight against Finé (ironically, provided by Finé's host herself).
"If it doesn't work, I'll make it work." She promised, before reaching into her pocket. "Elfnein, can you hold onto this for me?"
She dropped a USB into Elfnein's hand.
"What is this?" Elfnein asked.
"Just hold onto it for now. You'll know what to do. You always do." Maia smiled.
"Is that all these guys can do? They're pretty weak!"
Forte was leaning against her ax, having embedded it into the floor. All the Alca-Noise had been destroyed, leaving nothing; not even dust.
"This isn't as difficult as Lala was led to believe." Lala, surrounded by flames from the damage she dealt.
"How the heck SONG were having issues with these chumps is beyond me." Forte agreed.
"If you keep badmouthing them, you'll regret it later." Rui said, stepping out with Gjallarhorn under her arm.
"What, you gonna put me in my place or something?" Forte scoffed.
"No, but they most likely will." Rui answered.
"They're weaklings." Forte dismissed with a wave of her hand. "We pretty much beat them every time."
"Lala would rather be more careful." Lala said. "Past incidents have shown they are very capable."
"Whatever." Forte rolled her eyes as the three of them neared the exit of the Château; one of the crumbling walls. "What's the next plan?"
"Survive." Rui said.
Looking up, they saw that several of SONG's wielders were diving towards them, having jumped out of a helicopter and transforming mid-air. Judging from their direction, they haven't been spotted yet.
"Lala, you take this back to base." Rui handed Lala the relic. "Get far enough so you're in teleporting range, and keep out of their line of sight."
"Lala understands." Lala nodded as she looked around for a separate exit to take.
"You and me, we're on distraction duty." Rui said to Forte.
"Wha-?! You're not bossing me around here!" Forte said. "I'm not listening to you when there's more of them than us!"
"I thought you called them all weaklings." Rui shot back. "You're telling me you're scared of fighting them?"
"Hell no! I'll make them all eat dirt!" Forte declared.
Rui sighed, holding her unignited blades as she and Forte walked out of the Château. The wielders landed in front of them, ready to fight.
"Rui…" Chris said quietly.
"Only four of you, huh?" Forte smirked. "Then this ought to be easy! And all three of you backstabbing bastards are here too!"
"Kirika, Shirabe, you two handle Forte." Maria said.
"You got it." Shirabe held up her yo-yos.
"We'll smack some sense into her, dess!" Kirika added.
"Chris?" Maria said.
"I'm with you." Chris nodded. "Let's get Rui back."
"You're all a bunch of idiots!" Forte gripped her axe. "You should've just stayed out of our way!"
"You're the idiot for still doing this, dess!" Kirika pointed at Forte.
"Kirika… you always were the most annoying one of the bunch!" Forte growled.
Rushing forward, she swung her axe at Kirika, who matched it with her scythe. The force of the attack pushed Kirika back several dozen feet. Forte flew towards her to continue the battle, while Shirabe chased after them to assist her friend.
This left Chris and Maria, facing down Rui. But not wanting to start fighting immediately, they questioned her first.
"Why are you helping Tesla?" Chris asked, a betrayed tone in her voice. "Why won't you come back to us?"
Wordlessly, Rui held up her hand. The projection faded away to reveal her mechanical hand.
"I'm a monster now; an inhuman freak of nature." Rui said. "You really want me back?"
"Yes! Of course we want you back!" Chris yelled.
"It doesn't matter. You're still Rui to us." Maria said, holding out her hand. "So please, come back-"
"No, that's exactly the issue." Rui said quietly, hair hiding her eyes. "You guys are fine with it… and I'm happy about that."
"Wha-? How does that-?!"
Chris was cut off as Rui chuckled, devoid of humor.
"You ever stop for a moment to think about how I feel about this?" Rui asked. "I'm more machine than human; I've lost too much of myself. You guys might be fine with it, but how much of it is just convincing yourself? Besides, I'm the one that can't handle this."
"Rui…" Maria said.
"I never asked for this, and I didn't want this!" Rui said, voice rising as she put a hand on her face. "I'm less than human now… and I can't live with this! Every single minute I'm like this, I feel less and less like myself… I just want to be normal again… and Tesla… he promised to fix me… I want to be human… I can't just live in the now… I hate it!"
"But… you can't trust…" Chris started, before trailing off.
"I'm sorry, both of you… but I'd rather die than live like this." Rui said, lowering her hand as her mouthguard closed. "So I can't lose here."
Her blades flared up, as she took up a stance. Both Chris and Maria looked more reluctant to face her now, but knew there wasn't any other option.
(Insert Gizagiza Girari Full Throttle by Yoshino Nanjo and Ai Kayano)
Back with Kirika and Shirabe, they were managing to keep Forte on her toes. Her heavy strikes dealt a lot of collateral damage as they slammed into the ground and crater walls, but they were prepared.
"ELEKLEID TOMAHAWK!" Forte swung her axe down to create a shockwave. Both Kirika and Shirabe jumped into the air to avoid it.
That moment… Shirabe noticed.
Is when we strike! Kirika realized.
The two had gone over strategies before this on how to fight Forte. Now it was only time to put it into action.
"Get back down here!" Forte split her larger axe into two smaller ones. "ELEKLEID TOMAHAWK! BOOMERANG!"
She tossed the two axes, as they spun towards Kirika and Shirabe while crackling with red electricity. Shirabe quickly threw out two yo-yos to deflect them. She winced as the electricity coursed through the wires, but powered through. As they landed, Forte caught her weapons and turned them into one again.
"Running? Fine, then! I'll just go to you!" Forte leapt into the air and swung her axe down. The head of her weapon flew off and started shredding through the ground. Forte aimed her hand and had it start chasing Kirika down.
"Like a wheel, huh?" Kirika said as she ran. "Shirabe does it better than you do!"
Forte grit her teeth in irritation as she aimed her axe's rod, shooting a bolt of red lightning at the ground in front of Kirika. The dust cloud and lightning stopped Kirika from running as the electric axe head shredded towards her.
"Get away from Kiri-chan!"
Shirabe had formed a massive sawblade wheel around herself, as she clashed with Forte's attack head on.
Extreme Sigma Style: Forbidden Full Moon
Because the axe head was shredding through the ground, the electricity was being dispersed through the Earth, though there was still a significant shock on Shirabe's end. Gritting her teeth and powering through the electricity, Shirabe kept pushing forward as she pushed it deeper and deeper into the ground.
"Return!"
Forte held up the rod, as the axe head returned, hooking onto Shirabe's wheel and stopping its momentum. The girl was pulled over towards Forte, slamming painfully into the ground before her as the sawblades shattered.
"Hah! Didn't expect that, did you?!" Forte boasted.
"Ignite Module! Bakken, dess!"
Dáinsleif
In a flash of dark energy, Kirika had activated her Ignite Module. Her scythe grew in size, as she drew it back.
"Pulling out that crutch, huh?!" Forte smirked as she pulled back her own weapon. "I'll match it blow for blow! ELEKLEID-!"
She felt a jerk, and looked to see that the head of her weapon had been ensnared by pink wires. Looking down, she saw that her legs had also been caught.
"What the-?!"
Widening her eyes, she saw Shirabe was the source, having used four of her yo-yo wires to wrap around the axe head, as well as her ankles.
"You… you little punks!" Forte realized, recalling how Shirabe had actively gone on the offensive even after she had already negated her thrown axe head earlier. "You set this up?!"
"From the start." Shirabe confirmed with a smirk, tightening the grip on her wires. "Now, Kiri-chan!"
"You got it!" Kirika created a second scythe, combining the two into a single halberd. "This won't kill you, but it won't tickle either, dess!"
Opposite Scythe: Rapunzel
"Shit, shit, shit!" Forte cursed. "Let go of me!"
She sent electricity through the wires, but Shirabe grit her teeth to push down the pain.
"This one is for all the people you hurt with that big monster!" Kirika declared, speeding forward as her Symphogear boosted her even further.
"I'm not losing here!" Forte screamed.
With a roar, she ripped through the wires on the axe head. She swung to try blocking Kirika's attack, but that single strike cleaved straight down the center of her weapon shaft, as well as slashing into her armor. Holding her broken weapon, Forte looked down at the sparks on her Elekleid.
"Motherfu-!"
With a bright red light, Forte's Elekleid shattered. She fell to the ground, feeling the pain from the forced detransformation. Kirika and Shirabe approached Forte, the former no longer in her Ignite form.
"How's that for being an idiot", dess?" Kirika smirked.
"Screw you…" Forte muttered.
"It's not too late, Forte." Shirabe said, as she held out her hand. "You can still come back with us."
Forte wanted to spit in her face or even slap her. How dare she try pulling a stunt like this after they abandoned her?! She can take the offer and shove it!
And yet, that expression on her face wasn't that of a liar. Maybe, just maybe she might be telling the truth… could she even bring it in herself to trust others again? Should she… should she take her hand?
Though they wouldn't get her answer, as they heard a crash nearby. They saw Chris and Maria's Symphogears were pretty scratched up, with cracks on their weapons, having been forced out of the Ignite form. The two of them were struggling to stand, while Rui looked no worse for wear as she slowly approached them with her swords drawn.
"Rui-san…" Shirabe said.
"We need to help, dess!" Kirika said. "But… we can't just leave Forte here…"
Forte widened her eyes at those words.
"Maybe one of us can watch her." Shirabe said. "Then-"
"Lala will be taking her back."
Kirika and Shirabe were knocked back by two bursts of blue electricity as Lala landed.
"Are you okay, Forte?" Lala asked.
"Y-Yeah…"
"Then let's go back."
She picked up Forte and flew off, trying to get far enough from the chateau to reach teleportation range. Kirika and Shirabe got up in time to see them escape.
"Dang it, dess! We should've paid more attention!" Kirika stomped.
"No time to get upset about that now." Shirabe said. "We need to help-"
"You two get Maria and Chris out of here."
Maia slid down the crater side, still in her normal SOUL uniform.
"They're too injured, so the Commander and Shuri decided they should fall back." Maia told them.
"Why not just tell it to them, dess?" Kirika asked.
"Because they probably wouldn't listen." Maia said. "You two, get them back to base. I'll handle this."
"By yourself?" Shirabe said. "That's too-!"
"I'm getting my best friend back." Maia said. "That's a promise."
Kirika and Shirabe shared a look, before nodding. Kirika went over to help up Chris, while Shirabe went to assist Maria.
"Shirabe?" Maria asked. "What are you-?"
"Commander said you two need to come back." Shirabe said.
"Bullshit, I can still fight…" Chris coughed out.
"And that's just about what we expected, dess." Kirika noted.
The two took them out of the crater, as they made their way towards the base. This left only Rui and Maia.
"Just you, huh?" Rui said. "I had a feeling you'd try doing something like this."
"Partner, I'm gonna give you one more chance." Maia said. "As my best friend, can you come back to us? Cause I don't want to have to bring you back after kicking your ass."
"There's no point in trying to stop me from leaving, Maia." Rui said. "I've made up my mind."
"You always were a bit of a moron." Maia frowned. "Don't you care about how your sister feels?"
While the words cut into Rui, she kept strong and held her ground.
"That's rich coming from you." Rui said. "Besides, your own power isn't enough to stop me. You know that Takemikazuchi isn't strong enough."
"Underestimating me, huh? Who said I only had Takemikazuchi?" She said, pulling out something else. "Recognize this?"
Rui's eyes widened, as she saw a familiar mechanical belt in Maia's hands. "Kagutsuchi…" She said, looking at her old weapon.
Maia placed it around her waist.
"Even with both of those, you can't possibly-"
"I wasn't finished, Rui." Maia said, reaching into her pocket… before pulling out two Symphogear Relic pendants.
"What the-?! You have two?!" Rui yelled.
"Tsubasa trusted me with Ame-no-Habakiri. As for Gungnir? I "borrowed" it from your sis." Maia said, not even bothering to hide the fact that she had taken it without permission. "They won't complain if I use it to get you back though."
"Which one are you going to enhance?" Rui said. "It won't matter, since-"
"Both." Maia said, inserting Gungnir into Kagutsuchi and Ame-no-Habakiri into Takemikazuchi.
"What?! Maia, are you insane?!" Rui yelled. "Your body can't take the strain of two relics!"
"Let's find out." Maia said, before slamming Takemikazuchi's inactive form into Kagutsuchi, fully injecting both Symphogear Relics into the weapons. Electricity ran all over Maia's body as she screamed in pain. She hunched over and spat out blood onto the ground.
"Maia!" Rui said in concern.
"We're getting two Aufwachen Waveforms!" Fujitaka reported.
"Ame-no-Habakiri… and…!" Aoi widened her eyes.
The words of the relic appeared on screen.
"Gungnir datto?!" Genjuro shouted.
"Gungnir?!" Hibiki widened her eyes. Why does Maia-san have it?!
The electricity stopped, and Maia looked up with a borderline psychotic grin. From the pain or the power, neither of them knew.
KAGUTSUCHI: GUNGNIR MODE
TAKEMIKAZUCHI: HABAKIRI MODE
DUAL RELIC MODE: COMPLETE
Maia raised her arms and shouted, as she was engulfed in yellow and blue lights. Rui raised an arm to shield her eyes. When the light faded, Maia stood tall. She was garbed in what appeared to be the armor of Tsubasa's Ame-no-Habakiri, with the addition of a cape-cloak on her shoulders. However, the coloration was yellow and orange, identical to Hibiki's Gungnir form. Opening her eyes, they had changed from their natural blue to orange like the Relic's armor; with a darkened sclera, black as the night.
"What the…?" Rui said, stunned.
"Heh. Looks like it worked." Maia said, punching her hand into her fist. "Get ready, Rui."
The two stood apart from one another. While Rui was still shocked, she recovered enough to raise her swords, ready to fight. Maia pulled out two curved blades, resembling Ame-no-Habakiri in shape, but with a Gungnir coloration. The skies had darkened, covered by large gray clouds.
"Cause I'm dragging you back from hell."
With that declaration, the two charged.
A/N: There will be no Author's Note next chapter. Have fun.