Six's base of operations, hours before the raid.
"After today, (yawn) I'm ready to go to bed." Toyotama yawned entering the bedroom with the twins behind her.
Before entering the room the trio took a shower and changed into their night clothing. Toyotama wearing one of her white tank tops and dark blue panties.
Hikari dressed in similar, however, wearing only a dark purple T-shirt and panties, while Hibiki is much more modest compared to both of them, wearing a nice violet nightgown.
"Same here," Hikari replied with a yawn tired from the training, she and her sister did earlier today and welcoming their new bonded sister.
"let's rest up then, we have another day of training ?" Hibiki said getting in her futon.
Hibiki nodded and got in her futon, Toyotama did the same. However, she carefully laid on her side since the wound on her back still hurt.
The three of them laid there, trying to fall asleep, however, none of them since there was one thing missing.
"It frustrates the hell out of me that he never comes to bed with us," Hikari said which was on everyone's mind.
Toyotama and Hibiki rolled to their sides, in Hikari's direction.
"We've been with him for a week and not once have we slept with each other, instead he chooses to stay up guarding the place all night," Toyotama replied with a hint of depression.
Hibiki nodded and replied," I would be lying if I didn't say it didn't aggravate me either. All three of us ... four now ... not having a chance to sleep together as a couple, more importantly, as a flock."
Toyotama and Hikari nodded agreeing with her.
"Out of all the men in the city. We had to get the one unusual Ashikabi who doesn't wanna sleep with us." Hikari tiredly complained, sharing her sister's frustration.
Don't forget about his armor either," Toyotama reminded. "He said that he couldn't remove it just yet, so, unless you wanna be crushed by it..."
Hikari gave off an annoyed sigh. "I know. Still, I wished he could just lean against the wall or something so that we're all sleeping in the same room."
"As much as I share your, frustrations. What worries me and hopefully you two have noticed too. Is his lack of rest." Toyotama said.
"now that you say it, I don't think any of us have ever seen him rest," Hibiki replied, her brows furrowing
Toyotama nodded," Even the most powerful of us have to sleep at some point. I just wonder what keeps him active when he barely even sleeps."
"Probably something in his genetic alterations that keep him going, and even if we asked no doubt, he would just say his favorite word 'classified,' the oldest twin said, emphasizing the last word.
" Well then, I guess that means he'll be fun in bed then once we get him out of his armor." Toyotama humorously joked.
Hikari and Hibiki chuckled at the greenette's joke. A moment later, all three of them started blushing, each of the women wondering what it would be like to make love to him.
"Toyotama, did you get the clothing we ordered from Uzume?" Hibiki asked.
Toyotama paused for a moment, a frown forming. "Oh shit," she muttered, "I completely forgot about them. I must have left them at the construction site where me and Uzume battled those two southern sekireis. Dammit!"
"It's alright. Saving Uzume was more important than clothing away," Hibiki said in a reassuring voice.
Toyotama raised a hand to her chin, thinking it over. "Maybe sometime tomorrow I can head back to that site," she wondered aloud. "I hope those bags are still there."
"If not, we can always ask Uzume to make more for Six," Hikari suggested.
Toyotama nodded, relaxing a little. "Right."
After that things, quieted down. The girls tried to fall asleep, however, there was something on the oldest twin's mind.
" Now that you mention his armor, there's something I can't get my mind off of," Hikari spoke, drawing everyone's attention.
"What about, sis?" Hibiki curiously asked, tilting her head slightly.
Hikari closed her eyes for a moment gathering her thoughts before reopening them. "Something's been bugging me for a week, and it's been driving me crazy. Remember when we asked him why he's always in his armor?"
The girls pondered her point, reflecting on it. Six had told them that he didn't have the proper equipment to remove the armor due to it being quite complicated to put on and off.
"Yeah, he told us he doesn't have the means to remove it. What are you getting at?" Toyotama replied, wondering what the oldest one was trying to say.
"It's just…. how does he go to the restroom in that thing?" Hikari curiously wandered out loud.
The moment those words were uttered, the three of them found themselves in deep thought, only to viscerally shiver in revulsion at what that implied, the mere thought making the feel sick.
"Once we get him out of that armor, we are immediately taking him to the shower right away," Toyotama said with a cringe, already planning to give her Ashikabi quite the scrub down.
"Agreed!" The Twins immediately said at the same time, having similar thoughts.
Putting those thoughts aside, Toyotama yawned again, " Well I'm ready to fall asleep. Good night, girls."
"Good night."
With that last utterance, the girls drifted off to sleep, dreaming of Six's smile.
Sometime later...
The girls peacefully slept in their futons, blissful and unaware as they dreamed.
BOOM!
Darting up in alert, Toyotama snapped over to the Twins, their eyes wide with alarm as they all looked around in confusion.
"What the hell was that?!" Hikari screamed as she and the others scrambled out of their covers and onto their feet.
"I don't know, it sounded like a damn explosion," Toyotama replied, her face damp with sweat. "It sounded awfully close."
"Let's check the windows," Hibiki suggested. "Maybe we can see something."
The girls nodded in agreement, proceeding cautiously toward the window.
Peering through one, the girls squinted as they all glanced around, eying everything carefully.
"I don't see anything," Hibiki spoke up, seeing nothing out of the ordinary.
"I can't see a damn thing," Hikari complained, a frown forming.
"Well if you can't see anything here, let's try the roof," Toyotama replied. "We probably can get a better Birdseye view up there."
"Good idea. Hopefully, we can get our answers up there," Hibiki nodded in agreement.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go see!" Hikari said eagerly, wanting to know what disturbed her sleep.
Toyotama opened the window to their bedroom, and all three of them climbed out and jumped to the roof.
They looked in every direction, their eyes searching for the source of the explosion.
As Toyotama glanced around, she suddenly paused, noticing something.
"Hikari, Hibiki." She spoke up, getting their attention. The twins stopped what they were doing and looked towards Toyotama as the latter pointed, "Over there."
Looking over to where she indicated, the twins froze. In the distance, they could see smoke in the moonlight sky.
"Now we know where the explosion came from," Hikari muttered, walking up to Toyotama with Hibiki not far behind her.
"That's only a couple blocks away from us too," Hibiki said softly, standing in quiet awe with Toyotama.
"I wonder what's going on?" Toyotama wondered aloud.
What had caused all this destruction?
"Could be a sekirei battle," Hibiki suggested.
"Perhaps," Toyotama replied, still looking at the smoke in the distance.
"Should we go over and check it out? I'm curious to know what happened over there. I'm hoping it's a sekirei battle, though - I would LOVE to test out some of those fight moves our Ashikabi taught us! Right, Hibiki?" Hikari eagerly said, looking over to her sister.
Hibiki hesitated, shifting in discomfort.
"...I think we should ask our Ashikabi first before we make a move," she said slowly. "Just to be on the safe side."
Her twin let out a groan. "Oh, come on, Hibiki! You make it sound like he's our dad or something!"
"I don't know about you, but I still remembered the last time when we disobeyed his orders... do you want to go through that ordeal again?" Hibiki pressed.
Hikari opened her mouth to respond, only pause, the girl blinking before letting out a despondent sighed. "Good point, I guess."
"Now that you mention him. Where is Six?" Toyotama pondered.
The mention of the Spartan got the attention of the twins right away.
"...That's a very good question, actually," Hibiki said slowly.
"Yeah, you think by now he or Athena would have come tell us what's happening," Hikari replied.
Hibiki nodded in agreement with her sister.
"He usually patrols the factory grounds during the night, so he has to be somewhere around." Toyotama peeked over the edge of the factory, her searching along with the sisters by her side.
Even though it was dark out, the moon was bright enough that they could still see the ground below. Despite their efforts, they couldn't find any sign of Six anywhere.
"I don't like this. Let's split up," Toyotama suggested. She then pointed ahead, "I'll look over in the left section while you guys check the opposite end."
"Hey! Who died and made you leader!" Hikari interjected.
"Don't you remember? Our Ashikabi made me his second in command. So you have to follow my orders as if they were his own," Toyotama smugly said to her romantic arrival.
Hikari gritted her teeth and then remembered something as a smug look appeared on her face, puzzling the green-haired woman.
"What's with that look?" Toyotama questioned.
"Oh, nothing. I just remembered that you were no longer his second in command when you made fun of us. And when he forced you to do all those sit ups and push-ups after!" Hikari replied, shouting the last part.
Toyotama growled, balling her hands up into fists.
"Can you two fight later? Finding our ashikabi is more important!" Hibiki spoke, diffusing the situation.
Hikari and Toyotama looked at the youngest twin for a moment before turning their attention back to each other, the two huffing at one another in indignation.
"Fine," The two both said at the same time.
Hibiki gave a sigh of relief, glad that she was able to stop them from fighting again.
"Now," Hibiki continued, "if you two are done glaring at each other, let's go find Six, alright?"
With that said, the three split up, searching the factory grounds for six. After a few minutes, they found no sight of him anywhere around the perimeter.
Regrouping, the girls then decided to go into the factory, hoping to find him inside as they turned on all the lights in every room and office cubicle.
After a couple of minutes of searching, the girls turned up with nothing. Feeling discouraged, the girls then decided to regroup back at their room to discuss what to do next.
"No luck either?" Toyotama asked as she and the twins approached each other approached before stopping in front of their bedroom door.
Hibiki shook her head. "No, we couldn't find him anywhere inside."
Hikari gave off a frustrated groan, saying, " Where the hell has he gone to? You would think a seven-foot-tall guy in futuristic armor would be easy to find, but no."
"True, but don't forget he has that device or whatever that turns himself invisible," Toyotama reminded.
"Hm. True," Hikari replied remembering six's active camouflage.
"Since we can't find them anywhere around the factory," Hibiki said slowly, "why don't we call him?"
Toyotama nodded. "That's what I was about to suggest next," she replied, opening the door to their room and walking in.
The girls went to their phones, taking them off their chargers as they started to check to their messages.
Nothing.
No text messages, nor any calls.
"...Of course he doesn't leave a message," Hikari said in annoyance.
"Well, then I guess we just have to call him then," Toyotama said, going to her contacts.
"How? He didn't exactly give us a number or anything," Hibiki responded. "He usually just has Athena contact us."
"You think after being with him with a week he would've given us a contact number," Hikari muttered.
"Exactly. Athena luckily left a way for me to contact her on my phone." Toyotama then brought up her text messages and found the channel Athena had been texting her on.
"Really?"
Toyotama nodded. "Yes, now let's see." Before she could even push call, her phone started ringing, the sound almost causing her to drop it.
"Is it him?" Hibiki excitedly asked.
"It's always you he seems to call," Hikari said in annoyance, wishing Six would at least call her or her sister sometime.
Toyotama just gave her an annoyed grown before just ignoring it, looking at her phone. Blinking, her brows furrowed in confusion.
An unknown caller?
Deciding to answer it, she lifted the phone to her ear.
"Hello?" Toyotama froze when she heard a familiar voice on the other end.
"Toyotama, it's me. Uzume."
"Uzume!?" Toyotama blinked in surprise, not expecting to hear a call from her.
"Uzume?" Both Hikari and Hibiki repeated.
"What does she want?" the latter curiously asked.
Toyotoma shushed them as she put the phone on speaker.
"Uzume, it's good to hear from you," she said slowly. "I thought you said you lost your cell phone?"
"I'm actually calling you from my home phone," Uzume replied. Her tone then took on a more serious note as she continued, "Is everything okay with you guys? I heard a loud explosion around here."
"Yeah, we heard it too," Hikari replied. "It was so loud that it woke us up from our sleep."
"Is everything okay? Was anyone hurt?"
"We're fine Uzume," Hibiki assured. "We're just trying to figure out what happened."
"You wouldn't know what's going on, would you, Uzume?" Toyotama queried.
"I have no idea, to be honest," Uzume replied. "From what I heard, somebody attacked an MBI base."
The girls eyes widened, their attention now fixed on the cellphone.
"WHAT!?" The twins exclaimed at the same time.
"It's true. According to a source that I have, an MBI base filled with weapons had been ransacked, and right now their forces have been deployed and are on full alert. I've also heard that the discipline squad is being sent to investigate what happened."
The moment she mentioned, the discipline squad, the girls paled in dread, especially Toyotama as she recalled Karasuba's bloodthirsty grin.
Toyotama shook off her stupor, recollecting herself. "So, does MBI know what had happened?"
"From what I heard, no," Uzume answered. "Apparently their surveillance feeds never caught anything. Neither their observation satellites, nor their surveillance equipment in there, it was like they were attacked by a ghost."
As the words left her mouth, Uzume felt an air of unease. During her conversation with Matsu, she remembered Athena saying that she was hiding Six and the others from MBI surveillance. She almost wanted to ask if Six did it, but didn't say anything.
Toyotama and the twins all looked at one another with uncertainty, as if they were all slowly coming to the same conclusion.
"Now that I ask, where is Six?" Uzume queried.
Toyotama turned her attention back to the phone, answering, "We were actually just looking for him now, but we couldn't find him anywhere around the factory. We were just about to call him."
"...I see. Perhaps I should call back after you've gotten the chance to speak with him, okay?"
Toyotama nodded. "Sounds good. Talk to you later."
"Stay safe, Toyotama."
"You too, Uzume."
"Bye."
With that, both hung up.
Toyotama then turned her attention to the twins.
"You don't suppose Six… could be the one responsible for the attack?" Hibiki spoke first.
"If so, that was a group decision he made for all of us!" Hikari growled in irritation. "Remember last week, how after he stopped us from terminating number 88, he was saying that we should take the fight to MBI? Now thanks to him the discipline squad is gonna come and kill us!"
"We don't know that. Let me call him and hopefully we can get a clear answer." Toyotama then started to looked for Athena's channel, the green-haired girl silently praying that Six had nothing to do with the explosion.
As she dialed the number, the phone rang for a few seconds until.
"Hello?" Six answered.
Toyotama let out a partial breath of relief. "Six, where are you? We went looking for you and we couldn't find you anywhere!"
"You don't need to worry," Six assured. "I am fine. As for where I am...that is classified."
Hikari growled, her patience worn thin as she screamed out, "THAT'S BULLSHIT!"
Hibiki spoke up, cutting off her sister, "Six, what's going on? MBI is mobilizing both their forces and the Discipline Squad are their way. Where are you?!"
To the girls' growing frustration and dread, the Spartan didn't answer, the phone unnervingly silent.
"...Six, I need to ask," Toyotama spoke up in anxious tone. "You didn't...have anything to do with that explosion, right?"
The caller remained silent, not uttering a word.
"Six? Six you there?"
"...I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to call you back," Six repiled.
Hikari screamed again, "NO, NO, NO! SIX DON'T YOU DARE HANG UP ON..."
Before she could even finish, the line went dead.
"DAMMIT! He hung up on us!" Hikari right now she was so pissed electricity started forming all around her, the girl growling, "Ohh, he's gonna get quite the ass-kicking later!"
"Sis, let's try to calm down for a moment?" Hibiki raised up her hands as she attempted to placate her sister, even though deep down inside she was just as upset as her.
"I'm gonna try to call him again, and he better damn sure answer," Toyotama muttered, not hiding the anger in her voice as well ready to chew out Six herself.
Before she could even call again, a message appeared on her phone. "Huh?"
"What is it now?" Hibiki asked.
"I just got a message from Athena," Toyotama said slowly, opening up the message.
"Really? What does it say?!" Hikari demanded, still angry.
Toyotama start reading the message, "Hello, girls. Six doesn't know that I'm sending this message out to you, but I'll make this quick. Right now, Six is trying to rescue another Sekirei from Mikogami.'"
"What?! That brat is after another ….!" The oldest twin didn't finish when Toyotama held up her hand to get her to stop talking to continue reading the message.
"'I'm sending you this message because I don't know if he can handle the situation. Mikogami has brought four of his sekireis with especially his most powerful one, number five Mutsu!'"
The twins' eyes widened in alarm.
"Is he out of his mind?! Facing the South by himself, especially a single number?!" Hikari exclaimed.
"We've never took on a single number either before, so this is new for us," Hibiki shook her head slowly.
Toyotama's eyes widened as she finished the rest of message. "Athena's sent us coordinates for where they are! It looks like they're at some type of park that's not too far away from here!"
"Then what are we waiting for?! Let's hurry up and back him up!" Hibiki exclaimed.
"Yeah! Six has some explaining to do too!" Hikari nodded, cracking her knuckles.
Toyotama nodded in agreement.
"Okay, I'll just quickly call Uzume and tell her what's going on." Toyotama said. As the twins nodded and started getting dressed into their S&M uniforms, the green-haired woman remained on the line, the phone ringing for a few seconds until she heard a click.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Uzume? It's Toyotama!"
"Hi Toyotama! Did you hear from Six?" Uzume asked.
"Yes. I got no time to explain, but our Ashikabi needs our help right away!" Toyotama said with urgency.
"Why, is he in danger?!" Uzume asked, now sounding worried.
"Yes, he's up against the south again, only this time, he's up against four other sekireis, one of them being a single number! I'll send you the coordinates that Athena's given me. Get a pen and paper."
Once she finished providing the information, Toyotama heard Uzume clear her voice. "Okay, I know where that place is. I should be down there in a few minutes. I'll meet you girls there."
"See you there."
As they hung up, Toyotama quickly replaced her pajamas with her regular clothes, grabbing her staff.
"Ready?" Toyotama asked, looking at the twins who are now fully in their S&M outfits.
Hibiki simply nodded.
"Yeah, we were just waiting for you," Hikari replied patiently.
"Then let's go."
Toyotama then moved towards the window with the twins behind her, climbing out one at a time before then jumping high into the air.
Moving quickly along the rooftops, the girls headed towards Six's location as fast as they could as in the dark of night, hoping that they weren't too late.
Meanwhile, back at the park...
The two combatants charged toward each other. Just as Mutsu was about to slash at his head, the Spartan bent his knees as low as he could, leaning backwards as he evaded the strike, sliding along the ground before quickly turning his body around to face his opponent, running toward the latter.
With a flick of his wrist, Mutsu turned his sword on the other side so his back hand faced the ground, the Sekirei swordsman spinning his blade as he tried to cut through Six from shoulder to shoulder.
Dodging each strike, Six leapt high over his opponent with a front flip. Twisting midair, the Spartan quickly drew his pistol out and fired, watching as the Sekirei effortlessly deflected the bullets easily thanks to his fast reflexes.
Landing six feet away, the two fighters stood back to back before the both of them quickly turned, with Six aiming his pistol at Mutsu's head. Before he could pull the trigger, Mutsu used his sheath to smack the Spartan's left hand that held his pistol, causing the weapon to go flying away with a clatter.
Shit.
Thinking quickly, Six used the momentum of Mutsu's oncoming slash to throw the swordsman off-balance, throwing him to the ground with a grunt. Twisting on his heel, Six switched his knife from his right hand to his left hand in a reverse grip and tried to stab his opponent in the shoulder, but Mutsu quickly rolled out of the way just as the knife dug into the concrete.
Pushing himself off the ground mid roll, Mutsu was able to get back on his feet before he lunged forward at Six. The Spartan dodged a couple of slashes and stabs coming from Mutsu, Six knew that there was no way Mutsu would allow him to get his pistol which left him with his combat knife and his free hand. So Six decided to use his knife hand for defense blocking or deflecting Mutsu's blows. When Mutsu went for an over head slash, Six block the attack and redirected the blade away from him. Leaving Mutsu wide open for a sharp jab into his stomach with Six's free hand.
Mutsu felt the air escape his lungs and almost doubled over, but he was able to keep himself on his feet. Yet Mutsu was still bent over from the blow giving Six a couple of seconds to deliver a high kick to Mutsu's face. #05 backed away from the spartan a few steps due to the powerful kick, but he still stood strong. Six then moved in to close the distance between them thinking that he was still stunned from the last two attacks, Six was mistaken as when he was close enough to land another jab, Mutsu quickly brought up his sheath and smacked the last member of Noble Team in the skull. While the shield and helmet protected Six from the worse parts of the impact, the spartan still felt his brain rattle a little in his skull stunning him for a few seconds.
Mutsu then moved forward and delivered a diagonal slash to Six going from the right shoulder to the left hip, but the sword-wielding Sekirei saw Six's body light up in a yellowish light as he dragged his katana across Six's body. Before Mutsu could go for a stab in the chest, Six recovered and used his free hand to grab Mutsu's sword hand before headbutting him in the face. This gave both combatants some space to breath as the headbutt caused Mutsu to back up several steps as he nursed his aching head and a broken nose.
Mutsu and Six stopped to catch their breaths as Mutsu had to breath through his mouth as he couldn't get air to go through his broken nose, and Six was still shaking the stars from his view. Mikogami and Taki were shocked at the course of the fight "How...… how can a human be able to keep up with a single number Sekirei? This should be impossible." Mikogami said. Taki looked at her Ashikabi and then back at the fight "Mikogami-sama. Are we dreaming?" Mikogami couldn't answer as this shouldn't happen, Mutsu told him about his past as a Discipline Squad member. So Mutsu should be unbeatable when it comes to fighting a human, yet not only was this Noble Six character able to keep up, but was even able to give Mutsu a broken nose.
Mutsu looked at Six and smiled "I know I hit you, but it looks like you weren't cut. Just like your fight with Yomi, if I had to guess you must have some sort of shielding technology in your armor, right?" Six didn't say anything to either confirm or deny this question, the spartan was thinking on how to end this fight quickly.
Mutsu sighed "That's okay you don't need to answer. But if I'm right that means that your shield must have a breaking point, if not then why would you dodge some of Yomi's attacks yet charge through the others." Getting into a stance with his katana in front of him and his sheath behind him in a reverse grip "So that mean your shields not only have a breaking point, but they are able to recharge as well." Six held his knife in front of him while he had his free hand opened palmed behind his weapon.
"This Mutsu is smart, not like the others you have fought, Six. Be careful." Athena warned him.
Six began going over what Athena showed him about Mutsu's attacks and abilities when he was a Disciplinary Squad member. Mutsu's powers are based on Geokinesis, but every time the Spartan saw Mutsu use his powers it was always with his sword hitting the ground. Not knowing if his powers needed either his sword or his sheath, Six decided to disarm Mutsu of both weapons. Six believed that once Mutsu was without a weapon Sekirei #05 would be easy to take care of in hand-to-hand combat.
Six analyzed his opponent, since Mutsu is duel-wielding Six knew he would have an easier time in disarming him of one of his weapons since Mutsu wouldn't be able to combat his grappling techniques effectively with both hands preoccupied. Yet the spartan also knew Mutsu would fight tooth and nail to prevent being disarmed of his katana, so in Six's mind that left going after the sheath first. Since Mutsu would use it more as a defensive off-hand weapon the spartan thought that the former disciplinary squad member would be less focused on that hand than the one wielding the katana.
Once he has Mutsu deprived of the sheath, he would be forced to go for a double-handed grip on his sword. This would increase Six's chances of using his grappling techniques to disarm him "I can't believe that technique she taught me would actually come in handy." The last member of Noble team thought with a weak smile.
Flashback.
Location: Barilia, A far off planet occupied by Covenant forces deep behind enemy lines.
Year: 2548.
Six was staring his opponent down with his combat knife in his hand, holding it in a reverse grip. As for his opponent, it was another Spartan III he was facing. This Spartan was a woman and what made this Spartan different from the others was that she was the only one Six knew of that wielded a katana in battle. This Spartan was called B036, or as she likes to be called Saeko.
Several seconds passed before Saeko charged forward with an overhead strike. Six dodged the attack and when her katana completed its arc, Six tried to slice her throat with his knife hand, but the female Spartan ducked under the attack and tried to cut Six's stomach open. Six backed up away from the blade, but Saeko wasn't going to let him get away.
Saeko aimed a horizontal slash at Six's neck, which the Spartan ducked under the blade. Six then moved to punch Saeko in the gut, but she saw this and side-stepped the attack and used the handle of her sword to hit Six in the face. Even though his face was protected thanks to the helmet the blow still stunned him for a bit. This gave the female Spartan enough time to go low and sweep the legs out from Six causing him to hit the ground.
Saeko quickly capitalized on this and turning her katana into a reverse grip had her blade centimeters away from Six's throat.
"Looks like I win." Saeko said playfully.
Six in a neutral tone said, "All I see is that you won a collapsed lung." Saeko was confused until she felt a small tapping on her chest. When she looked down she saw that Six was able to get his combat knife in a reverse grip and aim the blade between the third and fourth rib bones, a perfect place to stab her in the lungs.
Saeko looked at Six nodding, "Not bad, Mr. Lone Wolf." She then got off of Six and sheathed her sword, when Six got up and sheathed his knife "Thanks. I have to say this is the most productive babysitting job I ever had." With that mentioned the spartan saw how it got under Saeko's skin.
The female Spartan turned around and said "I really hate that you have to remind me of why we're stuck here, and after we had so much fun too." Six then replied "Well if you were able to follow orders. You and I would be out there with the rest of Delta." Saeko replied, "I can follow orders."
Six crossed his arms, "What about the time Delta and I were supposed to mark enemy locations and sniping points? Instead of doing that, the moment you found a squad of Jackals and Grunts you immediately slaughtered them all. When the Covenant found the bodies they tripled their security and the defenses of their FOBs. I remember Baird being pissed about that. There was also the time we found a scouting party of four Elites, two Brutes, six Jackals, and 12 Grunts. What Delta wanted to do was to train them in order to find where their main base of operations was, but the moment you saw a Jackal you went in and started killing everyone forcing both Delta and I to assist you and to calm you down. Then there was the time..."
Saeko defeatedly raised her arms, slumping, "Alright, Alright I get it." the female spartan sighed in exasperation.
After that Saeko looks at Six and asks "So you mean to tell me that you don't feel the same sense of anger, rage, or the thirst for vengeance when it comes to the Covenant?"
Six said nothing.
Saeko continued "You're a Spartan III just like me, a war orphan because those alien bastards took our family away from us. Are you going to stand there and say you don't hate the Covenant too?"
Even though their helmets were still on Saeko could feel Six's eyes staring back at her.
"Of course I do. There isn't a day that goes by when I think about what the Covenant did to me, my home...my family. Every time I am on the battlefield I try to kill as many of those bastards as I can get my hands on. So yes, Saeko I do feel the need to avenge my loved ones and the hate for those alien freaks. But I do not let that anger control me, nor do I let my feelings get in the way of whatever mission I am assigned. My revenge against the Covenant will be when Humanity achieves victory in this war; that will be the way I exact my vengeance and no more, no less. If you want to dedicate your life to slaying every Jackal or every alien species that is a part of the Covenant, then do so after this war is over." Six finished.
Saeko had nothing to say at that and the two of them stood there in an uncomfortable silence, at least until Six decided to break it by getting both of their minds off of what the Covenant stole from them "So, why is it you are the only spartan I've seen wielding a sword. Let alone a katana?"
Saeko looked at her sheathed weapon for a moment before she began to respond, "Ever since I was a little girl, my father taught me how to wield a sword. You could even say I was born to be an Onna-Musha, a female warrior in my native Japanese. Since my family was known to be part of the bushi, or warrior class since the Heian period of Old Earth; my father wanted to continue with the tradition of training the next generation in the way of the warrior as a way to connect the past to the present. My father saw that I took to swordsmanship like a bird takes to the skies and he trained me diligently. "
Saeko paused for a moment before adding "After I joined the Spartan III program I was able to have a scientist from ONI help me make this weapon. My father was friends with this man and he also held a highly respected position in ONI as well." Saeko unsheathed her katana and Six could see electricity running across the blade.
The scientist was able to make this sword by using the same principles behind the Magnetic Accelerator Cannons that we use on ships and space stations. But instead of having the electric current create a magnetic field around the blade, the scientist was able to find a way to have the blade itself vibrate at a certain frequency."
Saeko turned to a boulder before attacking it with a diagonal strike cutting the rock in two, Six could even see that the cut on the boulder pieces were smooth, and he saw from the way Saeko held her weapon that the blade itself was undamaged not even a tiny chip in it. It was almost like the sword was cutting through air instead of stone.
"Thanks to the blade vibrating at this frequency, my katana can cut things at the molecular level. When my blade went through the boulder there the high-frequency vibration was able to cause the molecular bonds to weaken due to oscillation."
Saeko then sheathed her sword and finished with "My blade is the only one of its kind, as the high-ups at ONI thought spending the time, effort, and resources to apply this tech to other blade weapons was a waste of time." Six nodded at the information he was given "Okay that explains why that sword is great at cutting through both covenant armor easily, but you still didn't answer my question. Why use a sword when you could have easily applied this high-frequency tech to a combat knife?" Six asked once more.
Saeko didn't answer at first just staring at her sheathed katana. After a while, she began to say "This katana has been in my family for generations, from the Sengoku period all the way to today. This blade has seen many battles, killed many, and protected countless generations of my family. When my world was invaded and ultimately glassed by the Covenant, my father did his best to protect his family and killed several grunts with this blade and a combat pistol. But he was slain by a Jackal that fired a supercharged blast of plasma from its plasma pistol. The shot hit my father in the face killing him instantly, after that the Jackals rounded up what was left of my family and they... they began to rip into them eating them."
Six noticed Saeko's grip tighten around her weapon as it began to shake a bit showing how much rage she still had, and how that event truly broke something within her; Six knew that feeling all too well.
"Then one of them wrestled me to the ground, sniffing me and licking my face, I tried to reach for my father's weapon. When the Jackal wrapped its hand around my throat to choke me out I was finally able to get my hands around the katana and I quickly decapitated that beast in one stroke. I can still remember how its blood felt against my skin, how it tasted on my lips. After the Jackals turned their attention towards me, I saw what remained of my family, and after that, I blacked out the only thing that was going through my head was one thought - 'I will kill them all!' When I noticed my surroundings again the Jackals were cut into pieces. My body and my sword were caked in their blood. I still use this katana as it was the weapon I used to avenge the deaths of my family, but that is only part of the reason." Saeko said as she slowly drew her sword once again and began looking at it.
"The true reason I still wield this blade is because every time I draw it against the foe, every time I cut deep into the flesh of my enemies, every time I kill a Jackal... I can feel the hands of my father and the rest of my family members fighting alongside me. Not just my immediate family, but all my ancestors too, I feel their hands on my shoulders, hear their encouraging words, and their cry of triumph when I kill more of those alien bastards." Saeko slowly sheathed her weapon before adding "That is why I use this katana, not any other one, just this one and this one alone." she finished.
Both Spartans stood there as they remembered what they lost and why they continued to still fight in this war, even if there was no hope. They refused to give in to despair and continued to fight back.
Saeko then began to stretch before turning back to meet Six. "So should we get started with round 4?"
Six watched up as his teammate drew her katana out of her sheath again, taking a battle stance as she held the blade one handed, aiming the tip of the blade at Six's throat.
Tilting his head to the side, the Spartan gave her a questioning look. "Round Four?"
Saeko shrugged her shoulders "Well, if you are going to babysit me and I have no say in the matter, I might as well sharpen our skills while we wait for the other members of Delta to come back."
Six sighed in exasperation before bending his knees, drawing his knife out. "Well, at least this babysitting job won't be boring."
As Saeko spoke, part of him sensed her smiling. "After this round, I'll teach you some of my families martial arts techniques. Who knows, it might come in handy one day."
Flashback ends.
Six focused on his opponent, his knife at the ready.
"I really thought those techniques she taught me would go to waste," he commented to himself, smiling just ever so slightly.
Getting into a combat stance with his combat knife in a reverse grip, he carefully positioned left hand behind his right, leaving the former open.
Both combatants stared each other down for a couple of minutes before Six decided to make the first move, rushing fast towards Mutsu.
Once Six was within range, he opened with a hook punch with his knife hand, but Mutsu quickly ducked and brought his sword up in a diagonal slash to the chest in response.
The Spartan side-stepped the attack, moving toward the other side of swordsman as he narrowly avoided the attack.
Clenching his right hand into a fist, Six followed through with a downward punch, hoping to hit the male Sekirei's skull, but Mutsu was able to roll out of the way as the Spartan's fist crashed into the ground, embedding his armored fist straight into the concrete.
Correcting his position, Mutsu swiftly charged at his enemy, delivering a couple of slashes and stabs that Six either dodged or blocked with his knife.
As the two warriors traded slashes, cuts, stabs, and blows, all that Mikogami could see were quick flashes of metal.
Every strike made was blocked, parried, and/or countered.
Humming thoughtfully, the Spartan nodded to himself.
He had to admit, the swordsman was good, but compared to B036, Mutsu was mid-level at best.
When Mutsu brought his sword back and prepared to do another thrust, Six saw his chance to put his plan into action.
The moment former tried to stab the super soldier, the latter used his combat knife to deflect the coming blow, causing the sword to slide and grind against his combat knife, moving blade to the far left.
Mutsu then used his sheath to try and hit Six in the head again, but Six quickly grabbed the sheath with his free right hand and pushed the blade away, giving the Spartan enough time to sock his opponent in the jaw.
Staggering backward, Mutsu loosened his grip on the sheath, allowing Six to wretch it free from the swordsman's hand.
Taking advantage of the situation, Six kicked with his right leg at full power, striking the Sekirei directly in the chest, the force such that it caused the latter to practically through the air.
As Mutsu crashed to the ground, Six tossed his combat knife into the air and took the sheath in both hands, breaking it effortlessly over his knee and tossing the pieces aside.
Snatching his combat knife from mid-air, Six grabbed the blade with his right hand and began to charge forward.
Mutsu barely recovered as he used the double handed grip on his own blade.
Just as Six was on top of him, Mutsu went to strike at his shoulder.
Instead of hurting the former, Six tanked the hit thanks to his armor's shielding. Mutsu quickly deflected the coming strike as the Spartan attempted to slash at his neck, ducking another as he struggled to keep on top of his opponent.
Thinking quickly, Mutsu then tried to slash at Six's legs again, only for the latter jump over the blade.
A smile formed on the Sekirei's face.
Got you.
Bringing his sword up in an upward slash, he prepared to see the Spartan sliced into in two from head to groin.
To Mutsu's shock, the Spartan met his strike with his own, using the momentum from Mutsu's attack to back away from his opponent, and landing a couple of feet away.
Staggering, Mutsu stared in disbelief at the armored being.
"What kind of monster are you?!" He bellowed.
No human should be able to move that fast, nor should any human be that strong.
Six on the other hand bent his knees and brought his arms up and turned his hands into fists as he got into a defensive boxing stance. "I am not surrendering. If you want to take that Sekirei, you're going to have to go through me first. Even if that means walking over my corpse."
Mikogami, Mutsu and Taki's eyes widened, each of them having perplexed and startled looks. "Why are you still fighting?! You have no weapons, you are injured, and my Sekirei can kill you easily. What is the point in continuing this pointless struggle?"
Six turned his head at the spoiled brat and Mikogami felt a shiver go up his spine. "Because I know what you plan to do to her," he replied. "I know the kind of man you are - all that you see her as is as a prize to be won, a piece to be used, played and disposed of once she breaks in an asinine game. I see the hurt person that she is, and I will continue to defend her with my dying breath. Besides, you haven't beaten me yet."
Mikogami's mouth curled, his expression darkening before turning to Mutsu.
"Mutsu, do whatever you have to do to remove this thing from our path," the former ordered, giving a hateful glare at the Spartan, "and get me the scrapped number. Kill him if you have to."
Taki and Mutsu exchanged wary glances at one another, taken aback by the request.
"Ah, Master Mikogami," the former said slowly, "you know that killing humans, even other Ashikabi, are against the rules."
"I don't care!" Mikogami retorted. "What should have been an easy pick up has already devolved into two of my Sekirei losing to this thing! I'm sick of waiting and I want that scrapped number now! So kill him if you have to Mutsu!"
Mutsu sighed as he turned back to Six. "Well, you heard him," the former shrugged, his eyes narrowing. "Looks like I have to kill you."
Six brought his hands up in a boxing stance while Mutsu got into a stance of his own.
"For what its worth," the latter spoke up, "I do not want to do this. I will not kill you, but you might be severely wounded."
Six smirked underneath his helmet. "This isn't the first fight to the death I have been in, and it certainly won't be the last."
Both combatants stared each other down, their forms tense. While the two combatants remained fixated on the other, Akitsu was observing them both, uncertain what to make of the two fighters.
Both of these Ashikabi wanted her, but as the fight dragged on, she became more and more impressed with the armored individual.
Never in her life could she ever recall being viewed by someone, let alone anyone, as person who needed help.
Akitsu had always been told that a Sekirei was supposed to serve their Ashikabi and that she would know who that was by her reacting to that someone. Yet, she was broken, so she couldn't rely on those feelings like her sisters; and so, Akitsu had to choose between the two of them for herself.
But what if she got the choice wrong and she picked the wrong Ashikabi? Akitsu wasn't sure what to do.
Six waited for Mutsu to make the first move, and he didn't have to wait long as the latter speed-blitzed the Spartan with an upward diagonal strike to the chest.
Six was then able to dodge the blow as Mutsu started to swing wildly at his opponent, using his armored forearms as shields against the katana attacks, effortlessly dodging as he attempted to conserve his shield.
The Spartan largely maintained a defensive position, throwing out a few punches and a couple of kicks towards Mutsu's way once he found an opening.
Most of the attacks were dodged by the swordsman, but Six was able to get a couple of jabs in, only for Mutsu to then use the flat of his blade as a shield while dodging others.
Six carefully timed his next strike after dodging and blocking Mutsu's attacks, causing the latter to stagger.
Backing away, the Sekirei swordsman quickly recovered and charged the Spartan, delivering a deadly thrust that attempted to stab straight into the heart.
Shifting his position, Six dodged to the side, grabbing the blade before Mutsu was even able to react.
Using all of his enhanced strength, the Spartan effortless broke the weapon with a palm strike, surprising both Mutsu, Taki and Mikogami as the sword shattered.
Using the momentum of his palm strike to turn 90 degrees, Six then delivered a roundhouse kick to Mutsu's chin, causing blood and spittle to fly. The Sekirei swordsman wasn't able to recover as his opponent immediately closed the distance between them, delivering ten solid punches to the face and chest in rapid succession before finishing off with a devastating haymaker, the sheer force sending Mutsu back a couple of feet.
Cracking his neck, Six dropped the pieces of the katana onto the ground, watching as Mutsu slowly and shakily get to his feet, the Sekirei breathing heavily, blood dripping from his lips.
"You are completely disarmed," Six spoke, "and from what I've seen of your files, you are not well versed in hand-to-hand combat like I am. I know that without your sword you can't use your powers, so this is the last chance I'll give you - walk away."
Mutsu smiled, letting out a low chuckle. "Looks like you did your homework. You are correct, my combat skills are mostly based on my swordsmanship. I can't take you on in a fist fight and you do have the advantage in that. But...there is one thing that you got wrong."
Six narrowed his eyes, his form tensing up in alert as he bent his knees.
Mutsu looked over his shoulder. "Taki, get Mikogami out of here," he ordered. "You might want to leave too."
Six watched as the others took the hint and quickly departed, watching the Sekirei swordsman turned back to face him, raising his hand above his head.
"You see," the latter explained, "the sword only acted as a way for me to focus my powers into a single point so that I can have better control over my powers. But, without it... well..." A grin started to form as he continued, "let's just say it causes a huge mess."
"Six," Athena spoke up in his helmet, "we need to leave now! If what he says is true we need to..."
But it was too late.
Bringing down his open palm onto the ground, Mutsu uttered a single word.
"Hasaiten!"
Six felt the entire earth around him shake and tremble as if it were hit by a massive earthquake, watching as pillars began to rise up from the ground, destroying everything in the park.
The Spartan watched as some of the streets began to split open while various buildings began to collapse around him.
Somewhere else.
Jumping through the high skies above skyscraper to skyscraper, Hikari, Hibiki and Toyotama raced as fast as they could to reach their Ashikabi in time.
"Are we almost there yet?!" Hikari asked as they leapt from another building.
Taking her phone out from her pocket, Toyotama quickly checked the GPS coordinates.
"We're getting close," she replied. "It should be coming into view soon."
"Is that it up ahead?" Hibiki queried as she pointed at what looked like a park a few buildings ahead.
"I believe that's the place," Toyotama confirmed, quickening her pace.
"About damn time!" Hikari growled. "After we save Six, he's got a lot of explaining to do."
The other nodded in agreement.
"Let's see if he's OK first," Hibiki said.
"Agreed. He better not pull that "classified" crap again," Toyotama said in all seriousness.
"Damn straight," Hikari replied.
"Hey guys!" Shouted a very familiar voice.
Faltering slightly, the trio looked above to see Uzume In the air, landing in front of them.
"Uzume?!" Toyotama exclaimed, looking at her from top to bottom. The woman nearly looked unrecognizable, wearing a new all-white veil outfit.
"Perfect timing, Uzume," Hibiki said, seeing her childhood friend rendezvousing with them.
"I'll say," Toyotama nodded. "How did you find us?"
"Luckily as I was hopping from roof to roof here, I happened to get a glimpse of you three," Uzume explained.
"Who cares how you found us!" Hikari rudely interrupted. "Now that you're here, let's go rescue our big lug!"
Hibiki scowled, pinching her cheek. "Hikari, you didn't have to be so rude. "
Slapping her hand away, the latter rubbed her sore cheek, huffing, "Whatever. The point still stands, so what are we waiting for?!"
The four nodded, continuing onward toward their destination.
As they attempted to jump again, the building that they were on started to shake violently, causing them to lose their footing.
"What the hell?!" Hikari yelled, trying to keep herself from falling on the ground.
" An earthquake?!" Hibiki screamed.
"Where did this come from from all of a sudden?!" Toyotama shouted, using her staff To keep her balance.
"You're asking me!?" Uzume yelled as she wobbled.
For three minutes, the entire town shook. Car alarms blared across the neighborhood.
Finally, the quake stopped, allowing the Sekirei to regain their balance once more.
"Oh, thank God!" Hikari sighed, grateful that it was over.
"You can say that again," Hikibi nodded in relief.
"Is everyone all right? " Toyotama asked, looking around at the three women. "Is anyone hurt?"
"We're fine," Hibiki replied, her sister nodding.
"I'm still breathing," Uzume answered. "That certainly came out of nowhere. That had to have been a seven or something."
"A seven?" Hikari questioned, confused by what she meant.
"A seven-point-oh on the Richter scale," Uzume clarified. "Meaning major earthquake."
Toyotama frowned. "No kidding." She then pointed outward at the edge of the building, getting everyone's attention. "Look at this."
Down below, the group saw the streets in a state of complete chaos. Entire roads were cracked, with cars sinking into the ground and wandering civilians screaming wondering what the hell happened.
Into the distance, the four watched as buildings collapsed into ruin, staring in awe at the destruction.
"...What could've done this?" Hibiki breathed.
"I...I don't know," Toyotama shook her head, completely at a loss of words.
"Hey! The park, it's totally destroyed!" Hikari pointed, drawing everyone's attention.
"And that's where our Ashikabi is!" Hibiki cried out in alarm, her voice filled with worry.
"Then we gotta get moving immediately! Come one!" Toyotama exclaimed as she took charge of the group, leaping off the building as one.
All four of them now very worried for six and the raced to get to him before anything worse could happen.
Izumi inn.
Miya struggled to fall asleep. Stirring restlessly, she let out a groan. For a time, she sat up to to read a book. When that didn't work, she started to count sheep.
She had counted up to fifty sheep when her eyes started to droop.
She was mere moments away from sleeping when the house violently shook, causing Miya's eyes snap right open in alert.
"What the!? An earthquake?!" She exclaimed, sitting up.
Miya watched and felt the entire house rumble around her, causing picture frames, tables, and other objects around to clatter onto the floor.
Inside the secret room, Matsu, who had been monitoring the situation at the armory, was also interrupted when the earthquake happened.
Matsu screamed as all of her computers and hard drives started falling on top of her, almost burying her underneath them.
I like to apologize for this chapter for taking so long. like I said in the teaser message my cowriter The Son of Sparda 343 is the one that writes my battle scenes since I can't write one to save my life. I'll just say, he's been busy with things on his side, So that's why it's taking long.
The battle between six and Mutsu, this chapter was going to be longer however I decided just to end it with Matsu being buried alive under all of her computers. figuring it was a good place to end it for now and continuing what's left of the battle in the next chapter.
Other than that, I like to give a big thanks to evolution-500 for his help for editing and proofing of this chapter. If anyone has a chance, go check out his stories on his page.
—-
This message was originally posted back in May or June, can't remember: I'm not deleting chapters again. I'm actually just re-organizing chapters, I realized I made 18 chapters to cover events up to close to Episode 3 of the Anime.
So I feel like I was telling this at way to slow of a paste. So I found myself looking at certain chapters and ones that we weren't too long and combining them with another chapter.
Even though I tried to keep each chapter around 5000 to 8000 words, not too long and not too short and I realized it wasn't working that well in the long run, hopefully all of you reading this understand what I'm trying to say.
—
These were originally in the teaser: Delta squad is an original creation for the story or I should just say they are crossover characters making up the team.
Seako B036 Is based off of the Seako from High school of the dead and her sword is inspired by High-frequency blade from metal gear solid.
At some point in the future, I do plan to make more stories with this particular squad of Spartans, I wanted to use Sekirei: The lost wolf to introduce them.