Sympho-Saber: Song of Swords
GX:SP – An Unknown Stage Draws Near
Miku hummed as she was currently finishing up cleaning some dishes. She had to admit that living on her own with Hibiki at an apartment was odd but satisfying in some aspects. One of those was doing chores that involved more than the usual cleaning found at dorm rooms.
"Hmm… I wonder if the others are busy today," she mused as she finished putting up the dishes to dry before thinking a bit, "I know Hibiki has that trip with Rintaro and the Commander…" she went to make sure her hands were dry before placing a hand at her chin, "I don't think Touma's busy… there's also Chris, well if she wants to. I know she's busy with Kirika and Shirabe… and there's no telling if there's a mission today…"
DING-DONG!
Miku was broken out of her thoughts when she heard the doorbell ring, a bit surprised by hearing it suddenly. She knew that no one was coming over, so she wondered if one of the others decided to take initiative. Deciding not to waste any time and figuring she had waited too long to speak up, she hurried over to the door and opened it.
To her surprise, the one who had visited her apartment was Daishinji.
"Miku," Daishinji said as he went for a slight bow, currently carrying a binder with him.
"Eh?" Miku stared in surprise, "D-Daishinji?"
"I'm unsure if I'm interrupting anything, so apologies, but…" Daishinji apologized before trailing off, trying to figure out how to word his next sentence, "I was wondering if now would be a good time to talk."
"O-Oh no you're not interrupting anything," Miku said as she waved her hands in front of her, "Talk about what, though?"
"Some important details regarding your future involvement in SONG," Daishinji admitted as he entered the apartment, deciding to be somewhat upfront. He quickly cleared his throat, "You're not in any trouble mind you, and it's just well… it might be best if you sat down for this."
"Oh alright," Miku said as she closed the door, a bit caught off guard by the nature of the talk but also noticed that Daishinji was a bit nervous about it, "Would you like some tea?"
"That would be nice," Daishinji replied, "If it isn't too much trouble of course."
"Given we rarely see you outside the base, I'd say it isn't," Miku smiled before going to get everything prepared. "Do you think you could pull out the table for us?"
"Of course," Daishinji said as he went to set the binder down and taking a deep breath before exhaling to calm his nerves. While he knew what he needed to ask, it was still a very big ask and he didn't know what Miku's reaction would be.
Touma was currently at SONG's mobile headquarters, having been working on getting permission from the Commanders to tell his mother about SONG, the Symphogears and Riders. Of course this was because his father had prompted him to though he wasn't against it since his mom had a high chance of getting involved in a mission by accident. But he knew his parents were heavily professional, and he used that in his explanation to Genjuro and Sophia.
Thankfully the two were pretty lenient and were willing to allow it in this case since they'd rather not have another on the fly explanation like with Hansuke. Though of course, any affairs involving that today was merely Sophia letting Touma know that the proper paperwork would be taken care of to where he could arrange a meeting between his mom and them.
So that left Touma to just wander around when it came to the mobile headquarters. He wasn't exactly sure what he was going to do since he thought the trip was going to be a lot longer. So he decided to stop by the workshop that Elfnein and Daishinji now ran together to see if anything curious had popped up.
"Huh," Touma said in surprise as he looked around, "Normally Daishinji is on the bridge, in here, or out on the field as a Rider. Feels weird to not know where he is."
"Oh, hello Touma," Elfnein smiled as she looked up from a current project she was working on. She was currently modifying what looked to be a head brace device of sorts, "How are you today?"
"Pretty well actually," Touma admitted as he walked over, "I was stopping by to see if anything interesting had popped up though it looks like Daishinji isn't here."
"He said he needed to run an important errand," Elfnein admitted, unaware of where Daishinji actually was, "So it's just me for today."
"Ah I see," Touma said as he put a hand to his chin in thought, "It must be really important if it's not Rider Work."
"I assume so," Elfnein replied, "And given progress on deciphering the data chip we obtained is fairly slow I thought I'd work on my pet project."
"Huh I see," Touma said as he looked curiously at the headset she had, "What is-"
He was suddenly caught off guard by a sudden glint shining in the corner of the room. It was coming from a desk with some equipment that Daishinji had pushed to the side, Gatrike Phones, Blank Books, and various other trinkets.
The Book Gate was the culprit, a sudden glossy shine overtaking it all of a sudden.
"Huh?" Touma looked over in surprise as he began to approach the corner, "Did he just get finished polishing that before he left? It looks spotless from here."
"I'm not sure he did. He wasn't in here long before he left…" Elfnein admitted as she had a bad feeling about the Book Gate's sudden shining. She stood up from where she was, "Touma, maybe you shouldn't…"
The Book Gate's sudden glossy shine turned green tinted, the Ride Book opening up as a giant open book projection suddenly manifested in front of Touma. The room began to grow dark as a result of the sudden activation and unleashing of the projection, it starting to glow an eerie green as it grew larger.
"Whoa," Touma stepped back in surprise before feeling a hot sensation, drawing out his Swordriver and Brave Dragon Ride Book. Both the emblem of Kaenken Rekka and Brave Dragon began to flash a soft red light, "Is it resonating with my-"
[BOOK GATE!]
The Ride Book's announcement rung out as the open book projection suddenly slammed shut, trapping Touma within the pages before it shrunk down while spinning before vanishing.
"E-EH?!" Elfnein quickly hurried over to where Touma vanished, "Touma? Touma?!"
In a forested area near a waterfall, it was fairly serene. Well aside from the sound of several shockwaves going off as they came from fairly strong punches. The area that this was coming from was a small clearing in the dense forest with the culprits being Hibiki and Genjuro. Both had transformed and entered a sparring match.
Hibiki was always up for more training when it came to honing her skills, and Genjuro was one who would gladly accept. Though he figured given their strength levels and tendency to go farther than most others, they'd need a remote location for sparring. Luckily they were able to find just that, with both Sakuya and Rintaro tagging along.
Sakuya was there to mostly record data on the Gungnir Symphogear alongside Kamen Rider Buster. He admittedly had to keep his distance since even he had to admit that for a spar the two were going further than most would. Of course Buster wasn't exactly at full power as Gekido had been set aside, the commander of SONG having wanted to play fully into his wheelhouse. It also meant he could match Hibiki without seeming unfair since her fists were her primary weapon while using Gungnir.
Hibiki and Buster both shouted, the two exchanging several punches with each other. They blocked, batted away, dodged or countered with their own physical moves at a rapid pace.
"Jeez these two are insane," Sakuya admitted though he recalled some records he had read on the commander in particular, "Though it looks like the Commander is holding back."
Hibiki and Buster shouted out as they punched at each other, reeling back their left arms before letting their fists fly forward. Their punches clashed against each other, the two giving yells before they quickly pulled back and hopped away.
"This is great!" Hibiki admitted with a smile, clearly having a great time with the match thus far, "Thank you for agreeing to this, teacher!"
"It would be a waste to not use this armor to further train my star pupil," Buster chuckled as he flicked his wrist and got in a defensive stance, "Now come at me!"
"Yes sir!" Hibiki gained a more serious expression before crouching, soon launching forward at Buster who raised his arms in defense.
"Looks like everything's still normal," Sakuya said as he looked at his mobile setup before giving a light yawn, "Should have brought some coffee…" he muttered before looking over in the direction of the waterfall, "Wonder how Rintaro's doing given he decided to branch off from them after the run."
Rintaro himself was in the same area though currently at the waterfall, training with Nagare by going through the various motions to keep his speed and reaction time sharp. Of course once that was done he stared at the waterfall itself, holding up Nagare but also Jackun to Domamenoki.
He scanned the book against his sword before swinging it at the waterfall, launching out green bean-like projectiles coated in water, the projectiles striking through the waterfall and causing brief holes in it before the water kept running like normal.
"Hmm…" Rintaro scanned the book again, swinging at a horizontal angle and managing to focus his intentions better, a wider array of projectiles forming and striking the waterfall, briefly 'cutting it in half' before it continued to run. This resulted in the Swordsman of Water smiling at the results, "There we go."
CRASH!
"O-Oh jeez…" Rintaro turned in surprise in the direction that Hibiki and Buster were in, "I know this is a remote area but they really are going all out, huh?" he shook his head before chuckling, "Of course they are… though I suppose I should join in soon. Knowing the commander he's only training his fists for Hibiki's sake, so I should encourage him to train with Gekido more."
Unbeknownst to Rintaro however there was something watching him in the shadows, its eyes on the Ride Book that he held.
It was a slow day on SONG's bridge, especially since they had cut their main crew in half. Aoi while annoyed at Sakuya from time to time had to admit it was a bit lonely as the only main operator. Sophia meanwhile was trying to pass time by working on getting everything ready to explain to Touma's mother since there wasn't much in the way of activity.
At least until the lights suddenly dimmed as they received an Alca-Noise alert.
"Alca-Noise detected!" Aoi shouted as she got straight to work, "It's looking like a small grouping too, just barely reaching the double digits."
"Do you think it's the Megid?" Sophia asked.
"The only other option is perhaps one of Carol's crystals ended up falling into someone else's hands and they're using it now," Aoi replied, "There is also Master Logos after all. Since if it is the Megid the question is why they're revealing themselves to us?"
"True, they do have the advantage in how their signals work compared to the Noise," Sophia admitted as she thought on this, "Either way we need to send word to our Riders and Wielders."
"Already on it," Aoi said as she began opening up sound-only communications with Kanade, Chris, Kirika and Shirabe, "We're through."
"Hey, what's up?" Kanade asked.
"Let me guess," Chris spoke up, "Megid, right?"
"Dess!" Kirika cried out, "And here I thought they'd let us enjoy our summer!"
"I don't think that should be our concern now Kiri," Shirabe sighed.
"It's actually a small grouping of Alca-Noise," Sophia spoke up, "Though given our only likely choices in who it is are either Master Logos or the Megid… it's concerning to say the least."
"So you want all four of us to deal with it, right?" Kanade asked.
"Seems easy enough," Chris boasted, "Hell I'm pretty sure we only need me and the rooster but I guess more backup couldn't hurt."
"Hey hold up," Kanade spoke up, cutting Kirika and Shirabe off before they could even protest Chris' words, "Who are you calling a rooster?!"
"Uh, you duh," Chris remarked as snickering could be heard from Kirika and Shirabe's lines, "I mean with that hair you have it's pretty accurate."
"I feel like that's an insult to my phoenix aesthetic," Kanade admitted.
"Please head over to the coordinates we're going to give you," Sophia interrupted with a sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose, "Understood?"
"Roger!"
With those words, the communications line was cut as Aoi let out a sheepish chuckle.
"Oh that's right," Sophia soon realized, "I forgot to mention that Saber will be joining them since he's our remaining free member."
"Daishinji isn't available?" Aoi asked.
"No," Sophia shook her head, "He has a very important task to take care of."
"I see," Aoi said before realizing something, "Wait, shouldn't Touma have already been here by now? The submarine isn't that large when it comes to the standard areas and we know he was still lingering around."
"You're right," Sophia said, "I'm curious as to-"
She was cut off by the doors opening, both her an Aoi turning and expecting to see Touma only to see a heavily panicked Elfnein.
"Elfnein what's wrong?" Aoi asked in concern.
"It's Touma!" Elfnein admitted as she quickly hurried over and look between the operator and commander, "He disappeared into a book right in front of me!"
Aoi's eyes widened in surprise, "Wait, what?!"
"Please explain what happened in more detail," Sophia said as she knelt down and put a hand on Elfnein's head to calm her down. She was concerned but she knew she needed more information so that she could figure out what exactly happened to Touma.
"Huh?" Aoi looked on her screen as she received a notification sound, "This alert…" she muttered as she began to key in on it. She was quick in typing in a few passwords to override safety locks as she honed in on a restricted section of the base that was locked down. Her eyes widened as the notification was the monitoring on a particular Relic recorded as it was acting up again, "This is…"
At a fairly used pedestrian bridge, fires began bursting into life in random spots as people began to scream and run away from the Alca-Noise. A father, mother and daughter had ended up tripping and falling all over each other, the group cowering as a few Alca-Noise began to approach them.
[BATTOU! ETERNAL PHOENIX!]
A fiery phoenix launched forward and immediately pierced through the Alca-Noise, burning them to a crisp before they could even harm the family. The phoenix landed in front of them and burst apart to reveal Falchion who gathered the dispersed fires from her entrance around her blade. She swung forward, unleashing a wave of fire that cut and burned through the remaining Alca-Noise with ease.
"Get going," Falchion glanced back at the family who nodded, the three hurrying off. The Rider then turned to look around when she realized something was off, "Huh… no more Alca-Noise?"
Of course spying further it could soon be seen that the Alca-Noise weren't the only culprits in the area. Upon closer inspection there were two Megid that were in the area too.
One of them seemed to be a plain Wolf Megid, having thick grey fur on their arms, shoulders and chest with a fairly standard wolf's head that held bright red eyes.
The other was more intricate, their arm and chest armoring being that of dozens of different sized matchsticks all attached together. The armoring went so far as to have matchstick styled skirt armoring around their waist. The tips of the matches that would light aflame were all blackened and pointing upwards. Meanwhile the head was the most interesting, various dark orange flames overlapping on each other with bright white eyes and a mouth to form a face, yellow flames spreading out from the top and acting like curled hair. Last but not least was a blue shawl that was draped over their shoulders.
"Two different Megids this time," Falchion remarked as she began to run towards the Wolf and Matchgirl Megids, "Fine by me!"
"Ah!" the Wolf Megid began running towards Falchion, "Kamen Rider!"
"Come here!" Falchion grinned underneath her helmet and ready to slash only for the Wolf Megid to raise its hands, "Huh?"
"Protect me!" the Wolf Megid shouted in a near cowardly tone while passing the Rider.
"What?" Falchion asked in a near abrupt voice as she turned in surprise.
"Out of my way Kamen Rider, I'm only after the traitor!" the Matchgirl Megid shouted as fire erupted from the burnt spots on its armor began to light on fire. It then gathered the fire before launching out multiple blasts towards the Rider.
Falchion gasped as she was bombarded by the fire blasts, being forced to take a step back, "Okay, things are getting weird…" she quickly brandished her sword before rushing towards the Matchgirl Megid, "How about no!"
"Then burn!" the Matchgirl Megid called out before gathering more fire and launching blast after blast.
It didn't take long for Chris, Kirika and Shirabe to soon run onto the scene, and thankfully they didn't have to deal with evacuations as everyone had basically taken off by this point.
"Where did the Alca-Noise go?" Shirabe asked.
"That rooster must've hogged the horde for herself while we took our time getting here," Chris remarked before noticing something, "Hey wait, two Megid?"
"Dess! That second one's heading straight for us!" Kirika pointed.
"Get ready," Chris said as she grasped her pendant, taking a deep breath.
"Please, save me!" the Wolf Megid shouted as it got on its knees and clasped its hands, sliding near them as it began to bow profusely, "Please, please!"
"…what?" Chris had a dumbfounded stare as she looked at the Megid bowing in front of her.
"I second that question," Shirabe admitted as she peaked out from behind Chris.
"Third it, dess," Kirika nodded a few times as she peaked out from behind Chris as well.
"I'm tired of the Megid! They think I'm just a brute but I want to be so much more," The Wolf Megid explained, "But when I tried to run after I was summoned they sent that other Megid after me."
"Do you really expect us to believe this?" Chris raised an eyebrow.
"Please, I don't want to fight!" the Wolf Megid quickly entered a dogeza stance before smacking its head several times against the hard concrete, "PLEASE!"
"Jeez, okay, okay," Chris backed up before looking at her juniors, "Hey, keep an eye on him. I'll help the rooster and wrap things up fast, alright?"
"Are you sure?" Shirabe asked.
"You two can handle him if he tries anything fast, right?" Chris asked.
"Of course," Kirika reassured, "You can count on us, dess!"
"Good," Chris said before quickly rushing past the bowing Megid and drawing out her pendant, "~Killter Ichaival tron~"
{SG-r02: Ichaival}
In a flash of red she transformed into her Symphogear form, noting the new robotic chime as well as implementation of her Armed Gear now flashing its identification number and name. She chalked it up to Daishinji further managing their Gears, likely trying to incorporate a bit of Rider flare into them.
Falchion slashed at the Matchgirl Megid, the Megid quickly dodging out of the way before unleashing another burst of fire to parry a follow-up slash.
"I've got you now," the Matchgirl Megid said as it held its hands close, fire forming between them as it formed a giant fireball, "And now-"
An energy arrow was launched forward at high speeds, piercing through the fireball and striking the Megid in the chest. Sparks flew as the fireball destabilized, exploding and sending the Megid skidding back.
"Huh?" Falchion turned to see Chris hurrying over, "Oh hey, good timing!"
"Figured you could use help against a ranged one," Chris said as she brandished her crossbows, "So what's the deal with the Wolf?"
"Not sure, all I know is that this fire Megid is after it," Falchion replied, "A bit weird if you're asking me."
"Yeah," Chris agreed, "Normally the standard Megid aren't smart enough to break off."
"So what do you think?" Falchion asked as she got on guard, noticing the Matchgirl Megid was starting to get up, "On second thought…"
"I think we need to be careful after we take care of this one," Chris said as she began to shift her crossbows, "I'll give you the cover you need."
"That would be appreciated," Falchion grinned underneath her helmet.
The Matchgirl Megid meanwhile began to observe the situation, noticing that Kirika and Shirabe were near the Wolf Megid, "I'm ending this now," it said before spreading its arms out, unleashing numerous fireballs from the burnt matchstick tips to launch at the Rider and Wielder.
"Funny," Chris smirked as her crossbows became stacked on top of each other to add more energy bolts to her arsenal, "That's what we were thinking!"
{QUEEN'S INFERNO}
Numerous arrows pierced the fireballs before they could even get close, multiple explosions occurring as smoke began to cover the area. Falchion used this chance to launch through, slashing only to suddenly stop and stagger in surprise.
"Huh?" Falchion's attack had entirely missed as the Matchgirl Megid had completely fled, "Was that 'ending this now' thing a bluff?"
"Is it hiding?" Chris asked as she hurried over while keeping an eye on the situation.
The two began to look around for a good while before realizing that the Megid had indeed fled, the two dismissing their transformations.
"So what do we do now?" Chris asked.
"I'm calling command for cleanup," Kanade said as she brought out her communicator, "I'm a bit concerned they weren't overseeing our fight just now."
"You really think they weren't?" Chris asked.
"Usually one of them speak up, but we haven't heard a peep all fight," Kanade reminded.
"Well there's only half of them there from what I recall, but whatever you say," Chris said with a shrug before walking towards the other Wielders and the Megid, "Just let me know what they say, I need to make sure our wolf 'buddy' is alright."
"Sure," Kanade said before she soon got a hold of SONG, "Ah there you guys are. What happened?"
While Kanade began conversing with Sophia and Aoi, Chris finally approached the Megid alongside Kirika and Shirabe.
"So this isn't some trick, right?" Chris asked.
"N-Not at all…" the Wolf Megid said as it was now sitting on its knees, "Not all of us Megid really want to hurt people."
"I can think of one that sort of fits that bill but he's a lot more special than you," Chris remarked before looking up at her juniors, "What do you two think?"
"Well dess…" Kirika thought a bit, "I think we should hear him out."
"He might have information we could use against the Megid," Shirabe added, "Though of course we should proceed with caution."
"I suppose you're lucky," Chris said as the Wolf Megid perked up at that. She narrowed her eyes however causing it to whimper slightly, "But the final decision is going to go to our friend once she gets off call with command."
"I understand," The Wolf Megid nodded.
"Alright," Kanade said as she walked over, "Something came up and I'm needed back at base."
"What did they say about our Megid issue?" Chris asked.
"You're in charge," Kanade said, "They also gave you somewhere to lie low. There's a secure isolated warehouse that SONG owns should another attack happened."
"Convenient," Chris said as she received a buzz on her phone, "Guess that's the location info."
"Yep, so don't wait up for me," Kanade said before turning and heading off.
"Alright," Chris said as she looked at the Megid, "Come on and get up, we've got somewhere where we can discuss this more privately."
"Thank you, thank you," The Wolf Megid clasped its hands and shook its head gratefully.
Kirika and Shirabe both looked at each other, the two suspicious like Chris but also wondering if they could give the Megid a chance.
"Take this!"
"Like it'll be that easy!"
Hibiki had flipped forward and kicked out with her right leg, slamming her armored boot against Buster who had blocked with his forearm, a powerful shockwave occurring.
Sakuya yelped as he was nearly blown away by the shockwave, stammering a bit as he held his laptop close to him.
"Jeez, you'd think this is an actual fight at times," Sakuya muttered.
"Nice job," Buster said as he watched Hibiki kick off and land near him, "I think we can break for now before we do the tests that Daishinji suggested."
"Sounds good," Hibiki nodded before pumping her fists close to her, "But that was really cool!"
"I must admit it is exhilarating," Buster chuckled, "This armor does indeed have its benefits."
"We should really see if the others want to join us next time," Hibiki admitted, "I'm sure at least some of them would get a kick out of this."
"Maybe, though I'm surprised Rintaro decided to join us," Buster admitted.
"I guess he just wanted to stay on his toes since the Megid are still around," Hibiki said before looking around, "So is he still at the…"
"Wait what?!" Sakuya interrupted with a shout as an alert popped up on his computer, "I'm picking up a Signal… wait this is weird…" he trailed off as he got a closer look at what was being picked up, "It's just Jackun to Domamenoki?"
"What do you mean just?" Buster questioned as his head immediately snapped towards the communications officer.
"Wouldn't that just be Rintaro using it to practice?" Hibiki asked.
"But that's the issue… I'm not picking up any diagnostics for Kamen Rider Blades," Sakuya said before noticing the signal was starting to move, "Uh… uh! It's coming right for us now?!"
"I need an ETA!" Buster said as he quickly moved towards the sword he set aside.
"Literally less than six seconds!" Sakuya shouted in a slight panicked rush as he got up and began looking around to try and find some cover.
Hibiki felt a chill as she quickly turned and leapt back, something crashing into the ground where she was. She quickly landed and squinted to try and see beyond the smoke that had kicked up, "Huh?"
"What is…?" Buster had quickly grabbed Gekido and lifted it out of the ground, holding it forward with both hands.
The culprit… was a Megid?
It seemed like a Megid at first glance as the general body structure seemed similar to the Megid themselves though the chest armor, shoulders and forearms were all blank and not decorated. In fact it had a blank face as well, looking similar to the Shimi Megid, though the various eyeholes shined a soft yellow.
Of course that wasn't the strangest part as despite looking fairly standard like a Megid, its color palette was inversed entirely. Any black on it was a grey-ish white and anything that was a grey-ish white which included its armoring and padding was a pure black.
On its chest was Jackun to Domamenoki, the book embedded into it and shining a bright green as suddenly various green thorny vines began wrapping around the Megid's chest and arms.
"This is…" Buster muttered as he stared at the Megid for a long while, "Fujitaka…"
"Yeah, this looks exactly like what Kanade described back before we first lost her," Sakuya admitted with a slight shiver, "Except it's got some additions now."
"Huh?" Hibiki looked over in surprise, "What does Kanade have to do with this?"
"The most you need to know for now is that we're dealing with something we classified under the name Phantom," Buster admitted as he kept a steady grip on his weapon, "In reality however… it appears that it would be appropriate to call this a Phantom Megid."
"A Phantom Megid…?" Hibiki asked before realizing something, "Wait but if it has Jackun then what happened to Rintaro?"
"More…" the Phantom Megid hissed out as it began to lumber forward, "More Relics…"
"At least it only got Jackun, meaning Rintaro managed to fight it off," Buster said, "For now we need to make sure it doesn't hurt us."
"Right," Hibiki said as she got in a defensive stance.
The Phantom Megid yelled out and slammed its palms into the ground, various black vines erupting from the ground and launching towards the two.
Buster yelled out as he rushed forward, swinging his sword horizontally and completely tearing through the vines via his swing and the force behind it, "Hibiki!"
"I'm on it!" Hibiki roared out as she sped forward as she enlarged and enhanced her right gauntlet with its usual boosters, but instead of pulling out her usual punch she sped forward with great speed, becoming a gold fireball that struck against the Phantom Megid and bounced up into the air.
The gold fireball broke apart as Hibiki adopted a kicking stance, the fire wrapping around her right leg as she used her boosters to launch downwards, "Hibiki Style: Star Stream Spear!"
The Phantom Megid quickly launched vines out, only for them to be torn away by Hibiki who shouted further. An explosive burst was released as she tore through the Phantom Megid before landing on the ground while skidding out of the explosion.
"Did… was she able to do it…?" Sakuya asked as he peaked out from behind a tree.
Buster however kept his sword up as he narrowed his eyes beneath his visor, "I figured…"
"Huh?" Hibiki turned before her eyes widened, "EH?!"
The Phantom Megid had lost most of the right side of its body, as a fair chunk of its chest, its thigh being torn up alongside missing its entire arm could be seen. Despite this the Megid's open wounds began to bubble before it could be seen fully regenerating its lost pieces.
"Kanade said it was a harrowing fight and mentioned this…" Buster muttered as he stared at the Phantom Megid who began to shift its body to where it could see both Hibiki and Buster, "But this level of regeneration…?"
"Okay we should be safe here," Chris said as she looked around, the warehouse having various crates and boxes stacked up and giving plenty of room for hiding, "I'm sure you understand we can't take you back to our base immediately."
"Of course," the Wolf Megid said as it looked around before going to sit on a short crate.
"So we just hide out here for now?" Kirika asked.
"It would appear so," Shirabe nodded.
"For now anyway, I'd like to take care of that other Megid sooner rather than later," Chris admitted as she went to go lean on a tall crate, "So I think we should get started."
"Get started…?" The Wolf Megid asked with a tilt of its head.
"Why exactly did you decide to run away from the Megid?" Chris asked.
"Well as you can see I'm an animal Megid," the Wolf Megid explained, "But I'm more than just the mindless beasts that Zooous send out. I wanted to be more than just another piece of fodder. I wanted to actually live after being locked up for so long. And so I just ran before they could even try anything."
"But you're still bound to them, right?" Chris asked as she wanted to address the elephant in the room, "Because they have your book."
"Wait, really dess?" Kirika asked.
"Desast was similar though he was a lot more special than the average wolf over here," Chris explained, "As a reminder that was why I joined up with FIS briefly back during Frontier, to help keep attention off of him so he could get his book back."
"Ah," Kirika gave a bit of an embarrassed smile, "Right, right, that was why you joined back then, dess."
"So we'll need to take it back if you really want to be free, right?" Shirabe asked.
"Actually I managed to snatch it away before I left," the Wolf Megid admitted much to the shock of the three Wielders.
"Seriously…?" Chris asked, "So you're just a free Megid now, huh?"
"Kind of but I'm not exactly at a high combat level like Desast is," the Wolf Megid admitted, "So I was kind of screwed when they sent a hunter after me."
"Kind of…?" Shirabe asked, picking up on the first words the Megid spoke, "What do you mean by that?"
"Oh… I was able to stash my Alter Ride Book somewhere since I didn't want it stolen from me during a fight," the Wolf Megid admitted, "So I'll need to get that back soon. My priority was trying to get protection of any kind."
"And so you were hoping that we'd stumble across you," Chris said.
"Yeah, but then the Megid chasing me brought out those Alca-Noise things," the Wolf Megid said before giving a sigh, "Guess they really wanted me dead."
"But they did tip off your location," Chris said as she crossed her arms, closing her eyes and thinking as something wasn't exactly adding up, "So that's all you want then, freedom?"
"Of course," the Wolf Megid nodded, "I feel like there's more out there for us, you know?"
"Reminds me of an acquaintance then," Chris said.
"Oh please, we're nothing alike."
Everyone looked around before Desast dropped down from the ceiling, landing perched on a barrel as he let his arms hang.
"Yo," Desast said as both Kirika and Shirabe got in defensive stances while the Wolf Megid visibly flinched, "Oh come on, I'm not that big of a boogie man."
"Was wondering when you'd bug me again," Chris sighed as she looked over, clearly used to Desast's antics by this point to where she was still relaxed in her posture, "What do you want?"
"Here to warn you all of that no good Megid," Desast remarked, "You're being strung along by him."
"H-Hey now," the Wolf Megid spoke up with clear offense lining his words, "I'm not trying to do anything! I just want to be free, like you!"
"Please… you have an awful stench," Desast barked back, "You'd just ruin everyone else's lives with your continued existence."
"And what makes you think we should trust you, dess?" Kirika glared.
"You aren't exactly the friendliest face," Shirabe agreed.
"I've helped you out a few times before, haven't I?" Desast asked.
"And yet you go after us anyway," Chris pointed out, "I seem to recall you fighting Touma back on Tsukuba."
"Saber had a fun new toy alright?" Desast defended before putting a hand to his chin, "Admittedly I was hoping he'd be around so I could fight him again. That was getting fun before it got interrupted…"
"What, you don't want to face any of us?" Chris asked, "Pretty sure we all got new toys too, especially me and Senpai."
"The Sword's first one doesn't particularly interest me, and the second requires the phoenix," Desast mused, "And you… well, I owe you so I'd rather not stir up some bad blood by fighting you."
"You're really weird, you know that?" Chris asked with a bit of a smirk.
"What can I say," Desast chuckled a bit.
"This is weird, dess," Kirika whispered to Shirabe.
"Agreed," Shirabe nodded, the two not used to Desast and Chris acting more casually than they should really given the chimera Megid was occasionally their enemy.
"So what are you going to do?" the Wolf Megid asked nervously.
"I'll leave it to my best buddy to decide," Desast said before looking over at Chris, "Well?"
"Just leave," Chris replied, "I can handle whatever happens."
"I hope you can," Desast chuckled darkly before hopping down and walking off, "Though given how you are, I shouldn't be worried."
"Y-You guys trust me, right?" the Wolf Megid asked.
"Trust is a strong word," Shirabe said, "However we're willing to see how this proceeds."
"Yeah, dess," Kirika nodded.
"Exactly, which is why you're going to lead us to your book" Chris said, "That'll help us trust you more."
The Wolf Megid did a double take, "R-Really?"
"Yeah, really," Chris nodded, "If you are telling the truth then it'll make trusting you even easier."
"Y-Yeah you're right…" the Wolf Megid nodded, "Just uh… give me a bit. This whole thing is kind of crazy for me so I'd like some time to just gather my thoughts."
"Take however long you need," Chris said before kicking off the wall she was leaning on and walking to another part of the warehouse.
Buster yelled out, stabbing Gekido into the Phantom Megid's stomach before slamming the pommel of it with his free hand. This resulted in a shockwave that sent the Phantom Megid flying backwards.
"Hibiki Style…" Hibiki trailed into a yell as she dropped down from behind while bringing her right leg down, her armor's power jack's extending out as she slammed her leg into the Phantom Megid's back, the armor retracted at high speeds and caused an explosive burst, "Sky Hammer Kick!"
Buster watched as Hibiki leapt out of the explosion before landing near him.
"Did that do it?" Hibiki asked.
"…" Buster stayed silent before seeing the smoke clear, "No."
The Phantom Megid while damaged once more, yet again began to regenerate and heal itself with little issue, even if it wasn't as sudden as prior regenerations.
"If we need more power then Ignite will do," Hibiki said as she clicked her pendant and held it forward, "Ignite Module, Bakken!"
The Phantom Megid took a step forward, suddenly honing in on Hibiki's activation of the Ignite Module.
{Dáinsleif}
The Pendant shifted into its sharper form before stabbing into Hibiki, however as it did the Phantom Megid's eyes shined a bright red at this, a dark aura surrounding it.
Hibiki's eyes widened as she screamed out, the transformation into Ignite not being as instant and effortless to tame like it was before.
"Hibiki!" Sakuya shouted as he quickly began typing on his laptop to access Hibiki's diagnostics while noticing the change in the Phantom Megid as well, "Could it be?"
Buster turned in surprise, "Hibiki!"
"This…! These dark feelings…!" Hibiki choked out through her screams before gripping her hands tight and shutting her eyes, trying to take a few deep breaths as she thought of her friends, recalling it as an emergency impromptu deactivation should Ignite somehow become too much. Her thoughts soon shifted to that of Touma and Miku, relief coursing through her as she found a way to force herself out. She let out a loud gasp as she fell to her knees, a bright burst of light being released as a result. She was still able to maintain her Gear but had the wind knocked out of her from the failed attempt, "What… what was…?"
"This didn't happen before," Buster said as he knelt near Hibiki, "What happened?"
"I'm not sure," Hibiki admitted with a shaky breath as she began to breathe heavily, "Normally I can push down past the dark feelings that the Ignite Module draws out. But there were more this time than usual… like someone else's were flowing into me… it was starting to overwhelm me…"
"Commander, I think the Phantom Megid is the cause!" Sakuya shouted.
"I see," Buster said as he turned towards the Phantom Megid, noticing a dark aura that quickly faded though the eyes kept their bright red shine.
The Phantom Megid roared out and charged forward, wrapping vines around its arms and sharpening them like drills as it planned to go on the offensive.
[TANSAN BURST!]
Two heavy pressurized bursts of water were launched out and struck the Phantom Megid, slamming into it and forcing it to roll away from Buster and Hibiki.
"Huh?" Hibiki looked up and smiled, "Rintaro!"
Blades hurried over to them in King Lion Daisenki, "Sorry I'm late."
"As long as you're safe that's all that matters," Buster replied, "What happened?"
"I got blindsided and lost the Ride Book you lent me," Blades said, "I managed to retaliate and scare off my attacker, and as soon as I recovered I hurried back."
"Luckily you made it just in time," Buster said.
"Just what happened here?" Blades asked as he went to kneel near Hibiki.
"I failed using Ignite," Hibiki admitted as she began to pick herself up, "But I can still fight."
"Failed to use Ignite, but how?" Blades asked as he and Buster went to stand as well.
"We don't exactly have any solid information to utilize," Buster admitted before pointing at their opponent, "But the theory is this Phantom Megid is likely the cause of her being unable to do so."
"Phantom Megid… I knew it seemed familiar after it ambushed me," Blades said as he finally got to fully stare down their opponent, "Just what is going on?"
"Explanations can wait for now," Buster said, "Right now we just need to keep piling on damage."
"Ignite would have been useful," Blades admitted.
"We do have one other option for Hibiki," Buster continued, "One that doesn't involve Ignite in the slightest and something we were planning on testing while here either way."
"Wait, we…" Hibiki paused before snapping her fingers, soon taking out a yellow Ride Book, it being labeled, 'Daiyokozuna Kinzaburou', "That's right, we were going to test out Gungnir's Ride Gear form!"
"Exactly," Buster replied, "So how about we do so now?"
"Sounds good to me," Hibiki said as she gained her second wind, quickly holding the Ride Book forward while opening it.
[DAIYOKOZUNA KINZABUROU!]
[The yokozuna screams "dokkoisho" when a certain bear falls in the ring!]
Both Blades and Buster backed away from Hibiki as she scanned the Ride Book against her pendant, the Phantom Megid getting up and tilting its head.
{Wonder Ride Sync}
Just like with Chris and Tsubasa, Hibiki gained a driver-buckle on her waist in which she slotted the Ride Book into. Her left hand shined a bright red just like her pendant as she quickly slammed it down onto the button of the buckle, "Henshin!"
{Ride Change}
The Ride Book on the buckle opened up as a gold fist erupted from the ground before clasping itself around Hibiki, it morphing into a bright light that shined over her. The light soon shattered as if being made of stone, soon revealing her modified form.
Hibiki gained a collared and sleeveless yellow colored open long coat over her Symphogear Armor. It was tucked beneath her buckle and had black stripes running through it. The coat had armoring on her chest and rounded yellow shoulders with red shield-like armoring over them. The biggest changes were her arms, having large gold gauntlets with mechanical hands over her forearms , various paneling all over the gauntlets as if they could shift and move as well. Last but not least Hibiki had a white face mask that covered her mouth, it having glowing gold lines on it.
{Kin-no-Gungnir!}
Hibiki took a deep breath before pumping her fists near her waist and exhaling as she stared down the Phantom Megid.
"Whoa," Blades muttered in awe.
"Looks like Daishinji was right in regards to the compatibility," Buster said, chuckling a bit at seeing the enlarged gauntlet fists, "Let that thing have it Hibiki!"
Hibiki simply nodded before taking a few steps forward, letting the Phantom Megid hone in on her and her alone.
The tactic worked as the Phantom Megid got in a fighting stance, completely focused on her as the vines it used for armoring began to budge.
Hibiki meanwhile kept her calm, already knowing that she'd need a single decisive blow to start her counter attack. She kept focused and stared at the opponent ahead as she just barely raised her arms, "Hibiki Style…" she just barely whispered as she stared forward.
The Phantom Megid took notice of this before rushing towards the Wielder. The vines on its body were now unleashed outwards to try and strike at multiple angles while it lunged forward with its vine-like drill arms.
Hibiki launched forward at the exact same time, reeling back her right arm before punching forward with a heavy amount of force, a gold flash occurring as the shockwave from her punch easily tore through the vines, allowing her to nail the Megid directly in the stomach, punching a hole in it.
"…Gold Storm!" Hibiki yelled out as the Phantom Megid staggered back from her attack.
The Phantom Megid managed to find its footing while regenerating the stomach injury it received. The vines began to grow back as it shifted them, soon a large fist made out of vines on its left arm as it charged forward.
Hibiki held up her left arm to block the punch, easily shoving the Phantom Megid away into a stagger. She then rushed in now that she had an opening, the paneling on her right gauntlet fist shifting on both sides. Axe-heads suddenly emerged from the open paneling, Hibiki slamming her right arm into its stomach.
The Phantom Megid let out a low screech as the axe digged deeply into its stomach.
"Hibiki Style: Iron Cutter!" Hibiki shouted as she pushed forward before cutting past the Phantom Megid.
"Now that's the spirit!" Buster called out with a laugh.
"What incredible power as always," Blades commended.
Sakuya meanwhile noticed that while the Phantom Megid managed to regenerate again, it did so at an even slower pace than previously.
"Everyone, keep it up!" Sakuya shouted, "Its regeneration is getting slower!"
"It looks like Kanade was right on how to beat it," Buster mused, "A war of attrition."
"Wait, Kanade fought this before?" Blades asked.
"Like I said, explanations can come later," Buster answered, "Right now we just need to make sure this thing dies."
"Understood," Blades nodded.
"We can do this," Hibiki raised her right arm and clenched her fist while retracting the axe-heads, "Let's go!"
"Alright I think we've rested enough," Chris said as she walked over to the other Wielders and the Wolf Megid, "Considering that other Megid hasn't found us we should get going while we have some element of stealth."
"Really…?" the Wolf Megid asked, "Are you sure we shouldn't stay here any longer?"
"While a good hiding spot there's a chance it'll be discovered," Shirabe noted.
"Yeah," Kirika agreed, "We'll probably want to move and then inform Kanade, dess."
"Alright then, I'll try and lead you to the book as best I can," the Wolf Megid replied, "Admittedly I was in a rush, but…"
"Well, well, to think the wolf was a rat!"
It wasn't long before fireballs were launched all around, small explosions happening as flammable barrels had been hit as well. The fires began to grow larger and wider as the three Wielders were cut off from the Wolf Megid.
"Did you really think I'd let you all run and hide for long?" the Matchgirl Megid questioned as it was at the far end of the warehouse, having burned a hole through it.
"Oh great," Chris growled as she, Kirika and Shirabe readied their pendants while backing away from the flames.
"Like I'll give you all a chance to do anything," the Matchgirl Megid launched more fireballs forward only for the Wolf Megid to run through the flames, unleashing several clawed strikes that broke apart the fireballs but ended up spreading the fire more.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?!" Chris questioned.
"I'll hold her off!" the Wolf Megid shouted as it took a step forward, "Get out of here while you have the chance!"
"Don't be stupid, we'll-" Chris was cut off by the fire spreading further.
"We need to get out of here," Shirabe said as she covered her mouth, "We won't be able to sing like this and our only escape route is starting to grow narrower."
Kirika looked back to see that they had a clear path to the exit that was growing thinner by the second, "We need to get moving, Dess!"
"Fine," Chris relented before quickly covering her mouth and hurrying out with Kirika and Shirabe.
The Wolf Megid meanwhile gave a yell as it rushed towards the Matchgirl Megid, the fire based Megid unleashing more fire to add to the currently burning warehouse.
It didn't take long for Chris, Kirika and Shirabe to make it far enough away from the warehouse.
"Jeez," Chris winced a bit at how bright the warehouse was due to the fires, "How strong is that Megid's fire?"
"Very strong, dess," Kirika said, "What do you think Shirabe?" when she got no response she looked over to see Shirabe on her communicator, "Shirabe?"
"Thank you, we'll take care of the Megid," Shirabe said before hanging up.
"What was that all about?" Chris asked.
"I called command to let them know about the fire," Shirabe explained, "Kanade's on her way back already so all we need to do is deal with the Megid and then emergency services can focus on cleanup."
"Sounds good to me," Chris said.
"While my mission was to deal with the little wolf, I figure Master Storious won't mind if I deal with you all," the Matchgirl Megid said as it walked out of the burning warehouse, "After all we don't need Wielders, we need Riders."
"Yeah like we're letting that happen, let's go you two," Chris said as she brought out her pendant with the others, "~Killter Ichaival tron~"
"Right," Shirabe nodded, "~Various Shul Shagana tron~"
"Of course," Kirika nodded as well, "~Zeios Igalima rizen tron~"
{SG-r02: Ichaival}
{SG-i01: Shul Shagana}
{SG-i02: Igalima}
The three Symphogear Wielders stood alongside each other as the Matchgirl Megid meanwhile spread its shawl out to unleash numerous burnt matchsticks that grew in size. The burnt matchsticks exploded into bursts of ashes that formed into numerous Shimi Megid.
"Numbers won't help you!" Chris called out as she began firing at the small army with her crossbows, Kirika and Shirabe rushing in to help clear their numbers faster.
The Matchgirl Megid meanwhile began to rushing towards Chris, deciding to go for a more direct approach by lighting its arms and hands on fire.
"Huh?" Chris looked over in surprise before yelping as she dodged past several punches, trying to fire at the Matchgirl Megid with her crossbows only for them to get batted aside. She just barely avoided the flaming punches, quickly leaping back as she shifted her weapons to smaller SMG's before aiming and firing.
The Matchgirl Megid easily braced with its arms before moving in closer and punching again, forcing Chris back on the defensive.
"Uh oh," Kirika called out as she sliced through a few Shimi.
"Do you need one of us to tag in?" Shirabe asked as she spun around, her skirt becoming a sharpened saw that allowed her to easily slash through the Shimi she was fighting.
"No don't worry about me!" Chris called out as she leapt backwards again before bringing out Daishogun Momoichirou. She held the Ride Book up to her pendant to form her buckle before slotting it in place all while avoiding another fiery punch. She then brought out her crossbow again and took aim, "I've got just the form to deal with this, Henshin!"
The Matchgirl Megid tried to punch only to get shot by a multicolored energy bolt, the Megid staggering back as the bolt bounced off of it and split into four.
The four single colored energy bolts launched back and struck against Chris, bathing her in light that faded to reveal her Ride Gear form.
{Ride Change: Ichaival Sanjo!}
"So that's the Ride Gear form," Shirabe said, as this was the first time she had seen one.
"That's so cool, dess," Kirika pumped her fist, "But I'm kind of jealous that we don't have one yet."
"I'm sure we'll get ours soon enough Kiri," Shirabe reassured.
"A new form won't help you," the Matchgirl Megid said before charging forward, still planning on going close range against Chris.
Chris began dodging with ease, using the monkey-like agility her form granted her to easily keep up with the Matchgirl Megid's movements. She then brought out only one of her crossbows and shot a singular energy bolt at the Matchgirl Megid's stomach, it instantly forming into a projection of a dog head that bit down on the Megid's waist.
The Matchgirl Megid cried out as the dog head jerked to the side and threw her backwards, sparks flying.
"Come on, is that all you've got?" Chris taunted.
"Let's see how you like this!" the Matchgirl Megid launched several fireballs towards Chris, hoping to catch her off guard with the change of tactics.
Chris simply aimed forward and shot out another spectral dog head, it biting down dispersing the fireballs before ramming straight into the Megid.
"You were saying?" Chris asked with a raised brow.
"Phew that was a close one," the Wolf Megid gave a grunt as it shook the soot from its fur, currently on route to get away from the area where the fight with the Matchstick Megid was taking place, "Got to admit that the little match girl certainly knows how to make a big warehouse fire," it then chuckled as he started to get lost in its own ego, "Alright, so once the fight is over I'll pop up and be like 'Don't cry, I managed to survive!' and they'll be more willing to trust me. Then I'll easily slip into their base once enough trust gets going and figure out what's going on for Master Storious."
"Pretty good plan."
"I know, right?" the Wolf Megid asked as it was clearly not paying attention as to who commented, "I'm a pretty good actor if I do say so myself, though I suppose my natural tendency to lie helps out a lot."
"I mean, I'm not sure if you had us completely fooled but you definitely put on a good performance."
"Well of course I…" the Wolf Megid paused before turning, soon seeing Kanade sitting on a stack of pallets. It could only back up with a gasp, "Oh uh… hey there!"
"Hey there," Kanade smiled before her friendly face turned into a sneer as she narrowed her eyes, "So, I figured you were rotten but to think you were that egotistical that you'd gloat out loud."
"Hey, hey, there's no need to get hasty!" the Wolf Megid called out as it held up its hands though it suddenly began to go into a panicked ramble, "I'm just a wolf who likes to lie a lot! Just like I was totally lying right now with that gloating. Yeah, right, that gloating was totally a lie!"
"Yeah you're really not helping yourself," Kanade said as she stood up while preparing her Bladriver and Eternal Phoenix, "Though I suppose that fits your stereotype. When a liar like you gets caught you just completely break down."
"I uh… I won't let you unveil my secret!" the Wolf Megid shouted as it ran forward.
"See that'd work if you were any big threat," Kanade drew out Kyomu from her driver before slashing forward, "Henshin!"
[BATTOU! ETERNAL PHOENIX!]
Kanade leapt down, becoming a fiery phoenix that launched straight towards the Wolf Megid, striking past it as Falchion reformed and landed on her feet.
"Crap," the Wolf Megid gasped out as it had fallen to the ground thanks to the strike, picking itself up as it held its chest, "This isn't good…"
"Little lying wolf, you're in for a world of hurt," Falchion said as she slotted her weapon back into her Bladriver and held up a fist.
"Like I said, you aren't revealing anything!" the Wolf Megid called out before leaping towards Falchion. It tried to pounce on her only for the Rider to grab him and force it back down. It landed on its feet and tried to grapple with her only to get punched a few times.
Falchion backed away only to watch the Megid leap at her again. She dodged to the side before performing a side kick, slamming her foot into its gut and sending it to the floor.
"It's over," Falchion said as she initiated her Driver's finisher.
[HISSATSU MOKUDOKU!]
Falchion crouched before kicking out with her right leg, a burst of orange energy occurring as she slammed directly into the Wolf Megid without much flare.
[FUSHICHO MUSOU GEKI!]
The Wolf Megid yelled out as it was launched backwards, exploding mid-air as Falchion landed on her feet.
"That takes care of that," Falchion said before turning towards the sounds of fighting nearby, "Sounds like they're wrapping up soon. I might as well see if they need help."
As Falchion walked off, she was unaware that Desast was in the area. The chimera Megid had seen the entire confrontation and had to keep quiet or else he'd reveal himself. And while he was one for fighting, in this case he just wanted to observe the situation to see how it was handled.
"You always did have the loudest mouth of us Megid," Desast said in a low voice before chuckling once he saw Falchion was far enough away. He then turned and walked off with a whistle, "Glad to see that the phoenix completely snuffed him out."
The Phantom Megid shouted as it gathered vines around its vine free arm, forming a large fist-like protrusion to match the other as it punched forward.
Hibiki shouted as she held her arms up, bracing against the punch without budging an inch. She kept her ground as the Phantom Megid began to punch with both hands in rhythm against her defenses. She was still holding strong however thanks to her Ride Gears defensive and strength based properties.
Buster yelled out as he slid in from behind, using the Phantom Megid's focus on Hibiki to easily move around. He slammed Gekido into the Phantom Megid's back, roaring out as he began to dig into the Megid with his raw strength, "Rintaro!"
[SPECIAL! MM-HM-HMMM!]
"Of course, leave it to me!" Blades shouted as he closed in and had scanned his Booster with his Seiken. He ducked forward and slipped between the Phantom Megid and Hibiki, the Wielder backing away once he did so. He stabbed directly into the Megid's chest and unleashed streams of water. The intent was clear however as he had stabbed directly where the captured Ride Book was.
"No… need more books…" The Phantom Megid hissed out as its vines began to grow in size slowly but surely.
"Rintaro, Teacher!" Hibiki shouted as she backed up.
"Like we'll let you do anything else!" Buster roared further as he drew Genbu Shinwa out of his Seiken and pressed it against the finisher slot.
[GENBU SHINWA! DOGON!]
Gekido's blade began to shine brightly as it dug in further, energy building within the blade as Blades stabbed further into the Phantom Megid's chest.
[KANZEN DOKUHA ISSEN!]
Blades yelled out and slashed once he had dug in deep enough, completely cutting out Jackun to Domamenoki out of the Phantom Megid as the splashes of water from the attack launched the Ride Book away and sent it clattering against the ground.
[GEKIDO RANDOKUGEKI! DOGON!]
Buster yelled out as he fully slashed down, an explosive burst occurring as the Phantom Megid's back was completely torn through.
Blades quickly hopped away once the finishers went off with Buster doing the same.
"Hibiki, end the fight now!" Buster shouted.
"You're all clear!" Blades agreed.
The Phantom Megid had ended up stunned by the removal of the Ride Book, the vines on its body shriveling up and drying out before breaking apart and off of it. It now had a hole in its chest and a giant gash in its back that it used its regeneration to slowly close up. But now, even more so than before, its regeneration was stalled heavily.
"Right," Hibiki said as she held her left arm out, the gold armored gauntlet hand breaking apart into energy projections that freed up her hand. She then used her free hand to initiate the finisher before the projections reformed into her gauntlet hand.
{Hissatsu Dokuha: Kin-no-Gungnir!}
"Hibiki Stlye…" Hibiki started as she held both of her arms forward, the mechanical fingers of her gauntlets curling tightly into fists. Soon enough, the forearm portion of the gauntlet began spinning rapidly. She then yelled out as she launched the fists forward, the two rocketing off with tornado-like wind following from behind, "…Vortex Rocket Punch!"
The gauntlets flew forward though the right fist picked up more speed, punching straight past the Phantom Megid and tearing up its body further. The left fist meanwhile finally closed in, coming in at an angle as it slammed into the Phantom Megid, performing an uppercut as it carried the Phantom Megid high into the air. It shined with a bright gold energy before exploding, catching the Phantom Megid within it and completely obliterating it.
{Issatsu Geki!}
"Did that do it?" Blades asked.
"Wait for it…" Buster said as he eyed the thinning smoke caused by the explosion, only to relax when there was nothing in the air, "It's finished."
"Oh thank goodness," Sakuya relaxed as he slumped and sat against a nearby tree, watching as everyone slowly but surely dismissed their transformations, "I suppose we can hopefully call this training session done for the day."
"Of course," Genjuro gave a nod, "We need to get in contact with our main base immediately."
"Teacher…" Hibiki muttered, seeing a clear worried look on the commander's face.
"What exactly was that?" Rintaro asked.
"What I'm now classifying as a Phantom Megid," Genjuro replied, "I'll tell you details once we can gather everyone but… it doesn't bode well for the future."
Unbeknownst to the four there, something had been watching the battle. That something was strange eyeballs that had numerous bladed wings and two tendril-like protrusions. They simply turned and flew off deeper into the forest without a sound.
At a mountain that was in the same area as where Hibiki, Genjuro, Rintaro, and Sakuya were, there was an individual. They had a thin but neutral body type, wearing white slacks with matching white shoes, a black long sleeved button up breaking up the pants, though it was covered by a white vest. The most striking thing about their appearance was their rounded featureless pure black head, with only a singular eye jutting out from the center of it. The only accessories this entity wore were white gloves and a white fedora with a black feather that rested snugly on their head.
The entity was staring at the sky, while letting out a hum, revealing a deep male's voice. He continued to hum as he kept gazing forward, but more specifically where the Phantom Megid had been fully destroyed.
The strange eyeballs soon flew up from the edge of the mountain, circling around the entity before he held out his hands, allowing them to rest in his palms. In an instant the surfaces of his palms warped and the eyeballs sunk into them as he closed his singular eye.
He stayed where he was for a long while until his eye suddenly opened wide, immediately grasping inside his vest pocket and pulling out a recording device. He held it up to where his mouth would be, clearing his throat before pressing record.
"Gaze's Log," he said with a pause before continuing, "It would appear as though our kind has been given a name, Phantom Megid. An amusing title, but accurate given the base descriptors that apply to those who can barely grow. However this confirms my suspicions that this world has the means to easily connect to others. My next experiment will have to be taken after careful consideration… however the data I have been given will prove beneficial should I have to confront this group in the future."
With a click of a button, the recording was ended and he turned to walk off without another word.
The Shimi all yelled out as they were knocked into each other with some slamming into the ground and exploding. Despite there still being some that remained, they were now all grouped up.
"Let's finish up, dess!" Kirika called out as she was on one side of the Shimi.
"Right," Shirabe nodded as she was on the other side.
The two leapt up into the air, Kirika retracting the pole of her scythe and kicking against the blade, it combining with her leg armor as she kicked towards the Shimi. Shirabe kicked out as her leg armor extended outwards and formed a massive saw blade.
{Wicked Leg: Gulliver}
{Sigma Style: Giant Blade's Fall}
The duo cut into the center of the Shimi horde at opposite angles, an explosion occurring afterwards as the two slid out of the explosion with little issue.
"Dess!" Kirika gave a thumbs-up, "That was a Grade-A Ride Kick!"
"Better done than our last attempt," Shirabe agreed with a smile.
"Stay still!" the Matchgirl Megid shouted as it launched fireballs into the air.
Chris had used her armor's pheasant ability to project energy wings, allowing her to easily fly and dodge past the projectiles before firing off a few more spectral dog heads at the Matchgirl Megid.
The Megid could only shout out as sparks flew, the heads having rammed into it and sent it rolling.
Chris landed and initiated her Ride Book's finisher, "Alright, time for you to burn out."
{Hissatsu Dokuha: Ichaival Sanjo!}
Chris held her hands forward and pressed her palms together, she spread her hands out while keeping her thumbs and index fingers connected. The result was her forming a peach-like shape within the gap of her fingers. The peach jewel on her headgear began to ping and pulsate as she spread her arms out to her sides, the jewel catching the Matchgirl Megid in its visage.
The catching was literal however as the area dimmed and it was revealed the Matchgirl Megid was currently trapped inside of a pink peach projection.
"Huh?" the Megid looked around in surprise before banging on the projection's walls, "What's going on? Let me out!"
"Yeah… how about no," Chris held out her crossbow as the totems on her armor began to shine with energy before launching out towards her free hand, forming an energy arrow that flashed between brown, blue and yellow. She loaded it up onto her crossbow before taking aim, "Eat this!"
Chris pulled the trigger, launching out the arrow which turned into a blue energy pheasant, with a brown dog and a yellow monkey riding on its back. As the pheasant flew forward Chris gathered pink energy in her hand and formed a pink arrow, loading it on her crossbow as she took aim again.
The pheasant flew up high into the air and all around before diving down, it and the other companion animals becoming balls of light. The light balls struck the peach one time each, cracking it further and further until a piercing pink arrow shattered the cracked portions and struck through the Matchgirl Megid.
{Issatsu Geki!}
Chris had fired off the arrow once the other attacks had gone off, turning so that her back faced the Megid as the energy began to build and build before exploding in a vibrant display. She held a confident smirk as she blew on her crossbow as if blowing on a smoking gun.
"Yeah I think I can get used to this," Chris said as she retracted her crossbow back into its armor state.
"Whoa…" Shirabe muttered.
"Whoa indeed, dess," Kirika nodded before hurrying over, "That was so cool!"
"Nothing to it," Chris said with a confident smirk.
"Sounds like you all cleaned up pretty well," Kanade called out as she began to walk over, "I just got here and you all are already done?"
"Surprised it took you this long," Chris remarked as she looked over, "You're losing your touch rooster."
"Sure I am," Kanade said in a sarcastic tone with a light eye twitch but recomposed herself, "If you must know I had to take care of our little Wolf Megid."
"Wait, he survived?" Kirika asked.
"What do you mean by take care?" Shirabe asked.
"He was lying, right?" Chris asked, already guessing that's what Kanade had meant.
"Yep," Kanade replied, "Seems you weren't really fooled by him either."
"It'll take a lot to get me to trust a Megid," Chris answered, "And that one was nowhere near close to getting me to trust it."
"Huh…" Kirika muttered, wondering just how Desast was able to earn Chris' trust, especially given how relaxed the Ichaival Wielder was around the Megid.
"That's a shame," Shirabe admitted, "This would have been a good chance to gain information on the Megid had it been a genuine attempt to betray them."
"Yeah, that's the annoying part," Chris sighed as she ruffled her hair a bit, "Seems like this mission was a bust."
"Well what's done is done," Kanade said.
"So what exactly took most of your time anyway?" Kirika asked.
"Oh, uh…" Kanade realized she'd have to inform the group, "Well it's about Touma actually. He kind of disappeared suddenly and we think we might know where he is."
"Wait, the bookworm's been missing all this time?!" Chris questioned, "How was that not something we needed informing of?!"
"Because a lot of it is technically classified," Kanade replied.
"It's classified but you know about it?" Shirabe raised an eyebrow.
"Ouch," Kanade held her chest as if an attack had pierced her, "You really think I'm that low on the totem pole?"
"Kind of… dess…" Kirika chuckled nervously.
"Well not in this case," Kanade grinned as she held up a finger, "In fact this is so much of a different case that not even Tsubasa knows."
"Wait, what?!" Chris asked in shock, "Not even her?"
"Nope," Kanade said before hearing sirens before turning and gesturing to follow, "Now come on, let's head back while our guys take care of this."
"Have there been any reactions from the restricted area yet?" Sophia asked.
"Not yet," Aoi said before a ping was heard, receiving a message as she looked through it, her eyes widening as she saw this, "No way…"
"What's the matter?" Elfnein asked.
"So the Commander, Hibiki and Rintaro may have run into something related to Touma's disappearance," Aoi admitted, "He said he'll explain more once he arrives but it has to do with the restricted area."
"I take it that it has to do with the Relic in the restricted area you mentioned," Sophia said, "The one which Kanade was involved with, correct?"
"Correct," Aoi said before receiving another alert, "Ah, this is…!"
"What is it?" Sophia asked.
"Its signal is growing more active again," Aoi said.
Within the depths of SONG's storage hold was a special room, it being fairly plain but having a singular circular platform that had a green light shining down on it. Within the light a strange green horn-like device with yellow and red accents floated.
It began to shine brightly before a book projection spun into existence, it opening up as Touma stumbled out of it, having his Driver on as he looked around.
Touma could only look around in confusion before his eyes stopped on the strange horn he saw before him. He was so enraptured by it he wasn't aware of the door to enter the room had opened up.
"Just what happened?" he asked.
"You traveled to a parallel world, more than likely."
"Huh?" Touma turned to see Aoi at the door, "Tomosato?"
"I know what happened was likely a strange experience," Aoi said as she walked over, "But I need you to tell me everything that happened."
"Uh sure," Touma nodded as he was a bit confused but he could use the answers.
Storious was currently staring at the two Alter Ride Books on the table that he had utilized. They were Machine Uri no Shoujo and Usotsuki Wolf respectively.
"Looks like your tricks failed," Zooous remarked as he looked over at his ally.
"That's what you get for using your old toys," Legeiel remarked as he was observing the new blank book that Storious had crafted, "Should've used your new one."
"I was hoping to possibly get more information out of SONG," Storious admitted, "There's something off I feel but I'm unsure. However it's not a complete loss."
Zooous raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"
"I've made a false first move," Stoirious smiled as he held a hand up, "SONG has no idea what we're planning, and when we start… it'll be too late to stop us."
"Very true," Legeiel smirked, "So how about you all give me the first go?"
"By all means, go ahead," Storious smiled, "We will hopefully follow or surpass your lead."
"Funny," Legeiel sneered as he watched Zooous give a mocking grin. He gripped the new blank book tightly, "I'll show you a legendary first outing."
"Wait, what?!"
Touma winced as he heard Chris' loud shouts. He was currently in the cafeteria of SONG, Aoi, Sophia, Elfnein, Kanade, Chris, Kirika and Shirabe all around him.
"It's like I said," Touma said as he had a bite of the sandwich he had ordered, swallowing before he spoke up again, "I'm pretty sure I visited another world?"
"How could you tell, dess?" Kirika asked.
"Well aside from the dreary landmark I was plopped into, the moon was shattered… but in a completely different way from ours," Touma explained, a deafening silence occurring once he mentioned the second fact, "It looked like most of it was torn apart with the chunks just floating within that broken point."
"That's uh… different," Kanade admitted before pausing while blinking a few times, "Wow, feels weird being used to our moon given how recent that is."
"So what exactly happened?" Shirabe asked.
"Well I think I was dropped into the middle of a fight," Touma replied, "Specifics are fuzzy since even I didn't know what was going on. Seemed like this girl and a friend who were likely Riders were ready to face off against a quirky miniboss group. I offered to help out since they seemed to be in a rush and defeated the enemies while she and her friend went on ahead."
"That's it?" Chris asked.
"Yep," Touma nodded, "Once I finished the fight another gateway opened up and I was brought back here."
"Huh, that's interesting," Aoi admitted as she put a hand to her chin, "Well I can at least confirm that you did indeed go to another world."
"So what even is all of this?" Shirabe asked, "What exactly does Touma going to a different world mean?"
"I'd more be asking how that's even possible, dess," Kirika admitted.
"It's a bit shocking but it's true," Kanade confirmed as she crossed her arms, "Though this is something we need explained when all of us are gathered. So when the old man gets back from his training trip is when we can schedule a meeting or something to properly explain."
"So how many of you all know about this?" Touma asked.
"Myself, Fujitaka, Kanade, and Commander Kazanari," Aoi confirmed, "We weren't exactly sure if it'd become an issue again. There was a bit of worry after the Cinema incident but after everything went silent we assumed that was just a fluke."
"I can only imagine that this was a pre-Logos Sector merger issue," Sophia said, "So I wouldn't know about this."
"I only just got here," Elfnein pointed out, "Even I'm not familiar with all of our facilities and acquired Relics."
"Don't worry, we'll make sure to clear everything up," Aoi reassured, "Though adding to what Kanade's said, we'll also need to make sure Tsubasa, Maria and Ogawa are free so that they can be informed as well."
"Man that's going to be one heck of a wait," Chris said, realizing it'd likely take a couple of days to get everything ready. And that was a problem because she had so many questions already.
"I'll admit it wasn't that bad despite it being sudden," Touma spoke up, "It almost felt like I was a cameo in another person's story. It was kind of exciting in that regard."
"Of course you'd think of it like that," Chris let out a groan.
"Well hey, at least he's taking it well," Kanade shrugged, "Just be glad that this is probably the last internal surprise we'll be hearing of anyway."
"What?" Miku finally asked as she stared in shock at Daishinji's words.
It had been quite a while since Daishinji had dropped the news, and Miku had just stared in silence for the longest time. She had only found the words just recently to finally speak up, and it was more of a question for clarification than anything else.
"It's as I said," Daishinji replied, "I want you to be the next wielder of Raimeiken Ikazuchi, the next Kamen Rider Espada."
"I don't understand…" Miku said as she looked down at her tea, "Am I really that compatible with the sword? That attack against Sabela wasn't anything special I thought."
"Someone who has no practice with a Seiken bringing out its elemental properties upon first use is unheard of," Daishinji replied, "There's also the fact that I've been carefully listening."
"Carefully listening?" Miku asked.
"The reason I wanted you to work as my assistant was because I needed to see how your presence would affect Ikazuchi," Daishinji explained, "When you touched Ikazuchi briefly back when we first lost Kento I could hear it cry out in joy after its dulled silence."
"Wait, really?" Miku looked at the Swordsman of Sound in surprise.
"As the Swordsman of Sound I've trained my ears to hear more than one normally would," Daishinji replied as he tapped near the back of his ear, "I've attuned myself to the voices of the Seiken, and I know what I heard."
"This is…" Miku looked down as she continued to think on the situation that had been presented to her.
"You don't have to answer now," Daishinji said as he took the binder before excusing himself from the table and heading for the door, "Please take your time. I know that it's a big undertaking, so I don't expect an answer immediately."
"…"
"I'll be taking my leave," Daishinji said as he grabbed the doorknob only to hear the scraping of a chair against the floor, "Hmm?"
"I'll do it."
Daishinji stayed silent as he turned, locking eyes with Miku's hardened gaze. All it took was one glance and he knew her look was genuine.
Despite this he stayed silent for a short while before speaking up, "You will?"
"I will," Miku said as she didn't look away, "I'll become the next Kamen Rider Espada."
To Be Continued… in Sympho-Saber: Song of Swords RXU
Community Interaction:
We're three seasons deep into SoS at the moment and have covered a lot of ground. So I figured I'd do my own special behind the scenes chapter like I've done in the past for my other major story Roze from Remnant. I'll be going into the process and decision making, but if you all have a question you want answered about certain chapters, decisions, etc, in the past, I'll see if I can answer it. Reminder that if a question is very much a "Hey so what happens next?" spoiler bomb, I'll probably not answer it.
You can PM, Comment, Review, or even Tweet at me your questions, as I'll likely be making a main post about it on Twitter soon enough. Use your preferred method, I don't really mind. The BTS Chapter will likely be posted sometime in January, so I'll give you until December 31st to get your questions in.
Author's Note: Now I'm curious to see how many people I caught off guard with this little swerve. Behold the birth of the original season, Sympho-Saber: Song of Swords RXU (Ride aXross Universes). Did you really think I was going to leave the Gjallarhorn stinger at the end of the G Movie sitting for that long
As it stands I knew I'd have to do some kind of extended set of interlude chapters due to the fact I stretched Saber Q1 across three seasons. AXZ and XV aren't big enough to handle the rest of Saber and their own plots, so an intermediate season is needed. Originally it was supposed to be a short couple of chapters which spiraled into a further season when I got the idea to turn Miku into Espada. While she's not joining the battle immediately, this season will have her training to be Espada be a focus alongside letting me do a bunch of other fun things.
But let's talk about the chapter, which was actually really fun to structure. I basically had the idea to make 4 different plot points that were all their own individual stories/mini-stories that hardly connect to each other. There are two main plots that connect to the main story, the Lying Wolf/Matchgirl Megid and Phantom Megid plots. Then there's the minor running plot which was Touma's disappearance, alongside an opener and closer in the form of Miku and the setup for her role next season.
This is why I'm also taking the three month break alongside Roze. This is an entirely original season that is only inspired by XDU and it's something that is going to take a lot more work than the usual seasons. If you want updates, remarks, memes, etc, please follow me on Twitter using the (att) ZeroEnchiladas, it's under the name "Zero's Workshop". That being said, thanks for reading and following along for the year, and I'll see you all next time.