"So… many… goddamn… stairs…"

Rui was still stuck in the catacomb maze below the main building. She was running up a large flight of stairs that she hoped would lead her to the exit. Getting to the top, all she was greeted with was a stone door that blocked her way. Grimacing, she kicked down the wall, pulverizing the stone with all strength.

Only for the wall to come down and reveal more corridors, all with more stairs.

"Are you freaking kidding me…?" She groaned.

Meanwhile, outside, Tsubasa was still dueling Chris. She had summoned her massive broadsword, and used it to deflect the bullets Chris fired

"Haah!" She swung down the weapon, unleashing a blade of energy that hit Chris dead on.

But Tsubasa knew this wouldn't keep Chris down, and it was proven right as Chris jumped out of the smoke skywards and aimed her guns once more.

"Dammit!" Chris shouted, firing several more bullets.

Tsubasa brought up her blade and cut one of them in half, before deflecting the others. As her broadsword morphed back into a katana asked the question that hung in the air.

"Why are you doing this, Yukine?!" She demanded.

Chris said absolutely nothing, as she tightened the grip on her gun.

"Do I have to take your silence as an answer?" Tsubasa asked. "Because I promised Rui that I would beat the answer out of you for her."

Chris rushed forward, and Tsubasa swung at her. But the white-haired wielder jumped over her before blasting again. She landed, and brought her gun up to block Tsubasa's sword, entering a deadlock with her.

"What are you trying to achieve?!" Tsubasa asked, before the deadlock broke. She leaned back to avoid more shots, as Chris grit her teeth.

"I won't let others carry my cross any longer!" Chris shouted.

"What…?" Tsubasa asked, before she narrowed her eyes.

There was a blinking collar on Chris's neck. She only saw it for a split second, as Chris's next shot sent her flying.

"What do you mean by "while you're still yourself?"" Shirabe asked, as she and Kirika stopped fighting for a few moments and stared each other down.

"...I think that Finé's soul is close to awakening within me." Kirika said, planting her scythe into the ground. "I'm one of the receptor children brought together by the facility. There's always been a chance it would happen."

"In that case, I will try even harder to stop you." Shirabe said.

Kirika gasped, as Shirabe's buzzsaws started to turn again.

"I can't allow my dear Kiri-chan to be tainted any further." She declared.

"Don't call me dear!" Kirika said, aiming her scythe at her. "I love you even more! That's why I'm fighting to protect the world that holds the people I love!"

"Kiri-chan…" Shirabe muttered, before using her weapon to start hovering.

Emergency Phi Style: Twin Moon Karma

"Shirabe…" Kirika whispered, as her shoulder pauldrons sharpened into blades.

Sealed Strike: Pinocchio

"I'm telling you… that I love you!" They both shouted at the same time, rushing at each other and clashing.

Back at the base, Genjuro and Ogawa hopped into the jeep that SOUL normally uses. Genjuro had his arms crossed.

"I can't believe how much trouble my pupils have caused me." He said.

"Shouldn't you be happy they're providing you with opportunities?" Ogawa asked, as he put on his seatbelt.

Genjuro chuckled at the comment, before they both received an alert.

"Commander!" Fujitaka spoke.

"What is it?"

"Look at this before you scramble!" Fujitaka said.

Ogawa pulled up a tablet, which had Maria on the screen.

"I am Maria Cadenzavna Eve. In an effort to minimize the damage that would be caused by the fall of the Moon, I impersonated Finé."

"It's a video broadcast from the Frontier to all over the world." Aoi reported, as Maria continued speaking.

"What are the FIS planning to do now?" Ogawa asked.

Genjuro only creased his brow, as the announcement to the rest of the world continued.

"The Moon? With my song?"

"The Moon is an observational device created by the Custodians to disrupt the unified language of mankind." Nastassja explained. "While the Lunar Attack damaged some of its functions, if those functions are restarted, it can be returned back to stable orbit-"

Nastassja violently coughed, spitting up blood.

"Mom? Mom!" Maria shouted in concern.

"...save the world with your song!"

Nastassja's words rang in Maria's ears as she continued to speak.

"I harbor no illusions that you'll be willing to trust the words of a liar like me. But I want you to at least see the truth… that songs can become strength!"

Maria took a deep breath, before singing her holy chant.

"Granzizel bilfen Gungnir zizzl~"

Once again, in front of the whole world, she transformed into her Symphogear armor.

"I can't stop the fall of the Moon alone!" Maria said. "Help me! I need your songs!"

Ta ga tame ni kono koe nariwataru no ka?

Soshite ta ga tame ni kono uta wa areba ī ka?

Serena saved my life. Maria thought as she sang. So now, I'll use this life to save others. This way, Serena's death won't be in vain!

Hibiki was still running alongside the others at the fastest pace she could muster. The massive stairs weren't a problem for them.

Everyone's doing all they can… I can't settle for any less! The only thing I can do is press forward!

They all received a notification on their earpieces, as Aoi spoke.

"Ame-no-Habakiri and Ichaival have disappeared from our radar." She reported.

"What?! How?!" Maia shouted.

Tsubasa-san… Chris-chan… Hibiki thought.

"I have it covered." Shuri said, pulling out her phone. "In the case of something like this happening, I had tracking chips installed into our phones."

"Quite the prepared one…" Jeanne said.

"That's the leader of SOUL for you!" Hibiki smiled.

"There are two blips away from the rest of us." Shuri said, looking at the screen. "I'm positive that's Tsubasa-san and oneesama."

"Where's oneesan?" Hibiki asked.

"There's another blip close to us, I'm going to assume that would be her." Shuri said.

"So my partner's on the right track. That's good." Maia said.

"You three keep on going." Shuri said, stopping. "I'll backtrack for Tsubasa-san and oneesama."

"We won't let you down!" Hibiki declared, as they continued running.

Maia said, giving a two finger salute. "Bring back that dummy sister of yours. And make sure she gets ready for one of Rui's hooks!"

Shuri nodded, before turning around and sliding down the slanted cliffside. She was going to bring her sister back, no matter what.

Kirika and Shirabe had finished another long and hard clash, landing on opposite sides.

"Kiri-chan… why won't you back off?" Shirabe asked.

"If you want me to step down, then make me, dess!" Kirika shouted.

Kirika tossed something forward, and Shirabe recognized it as a LiNKER needle gun.

"LiNKER?" Shirabe asked, as she picked it up..

"If your feelings aren't understood, then you've got no choice but to force your way through." Kirika said, aiming an injector of her own at her neck. Pulling the trigger, the dose of LiNKER was delivered into her body, as she began to sing a certain song.

Gatrandis babel ziggurat edenal~

Shirabe herself had finished injecting her dose, as she joined Kirika in singing it.

Emustolronzen Finé el balal zizzl~

Kirika had powered up significantly, as her body was now glowing with a green aura.

"The Superb Song of Igalima is a blade that reaps the very soul of the opponent!" Kirika shouted, slamming the blade into the ground as it grew in size. "But this time, I just want to graze off a little bit of your fighting spirit!"

She rose to the sky, riding her now-massive weapon.

"You don't understand…" Shirabe said, taking off to the sky. "The world of which I dream can't exist without you!"

Shirabe's buzzsaws increased to an absurd degree, before her legs and arms were enveloped in armor that practically resembled a mech suit.

"I don't want a world that forces solitude on people!" Shirabe shouted.

Kirika charged at Shirabe, but the girl deflected the enormous scythe with her massive sawblades.

"I'm gonna protect you, even if I get taken over by Finé's soul!" Kirika declared.

She stepped on a trigger, causing an engine to fire up in her weapon. She became a whirling green blade of death.

"Those few you manage to save will feel the doctor's way will feel the same pain I do!" Shirabe argued.

She tried to deflect Kirika's attack, but it shattered one of her saws.

"Who would want to live on in a world like that?" Shirabe asked, tears starting. "I can't sing for that ideal!"

"But that's the only way! There's nothing else we can do!" Kirika cried. "I have to, even if you end up hating me for it!"

Her scythe grew even further, shattering Shirabe's other buzzsaw. But instead of panicking, she was starting to get wracked with grief.

"Kiri-chan… you mustn't fight any longer!" Shirabe said, the tears falling. "Don't take the Kiri-chan I love from me!"

The plea fell on deaf ears, as Kirika slashed down. Shirabe held her arms out in a fruitless attempt to defend herself…

...only for a pink energy shield to manifest.

Kirika's scythe crashed against it, knocking it out of her hands. The blonde could only stare in shock once she landed, as her weapon crashed into the ground behind her.

"W-What's this?" Shirabe said, confused, as the hexagonal patterns on the shield flickered.

"It was you… Shirabe?" Kirika murmured, slumping over. "You were Finé's vessel all along, and yet I almost…"

"Kiri-chan…?" Shirabe asked.

"I just wanted you to be happy, but all I could do was make you cry." Kirika sobbed.

She raised her hand, as her scythe flew upwards and started to spin.

"I'm such a bad friend." She said, hew own tears flowing. "I just want to disappear forever."

The realization hit Shirabe all at once, as she rushed forward. "No! Kiri-chan!"

She pushed Kirika out of the way, but they weren't able to move enough. Shirabe gasped in pain.

"Shirabe…?"

The tip of the scythe had plunged into her friend's back.

"SHIRABE!"

Maria was left breathing heavily, as her song finished. She awaited the report from Nastassja, only to receive the worst news she could've expected.

"The Lunar Ruins remain silent." She said.

Maria fell to her knees. "So my song can't save anyone… Serena..."

Shuri slid down a rock cliff into a cave. She followed the trackers on her phone.

"Where are you two…"

"Right here."

She looked up to see Tsubasa and Chris walking up to her. Both of them looked damaged, but were okay.

"Could you two report what happened?" Shuri asked.

"Turns out, Yukine had a goal in mind the entire time." Tsubasa said.

Shuri raised a brow, before noticing the relic that Chris was carrying.

"Solomon's Cane?" Shuri asked.

"I had to get it back. It was my responsibility." Chris said. "Sorry I worried you."

"But how come you both look like-?"

"Yukine and I had to fight a bit. Ver had attached a collar bomb to her." Tsubasa explained. "I managed to get it off in time."

Shuri walked forward and put her hand up to Chris, gently tracing the cut on her neck.

"It'll go away soon enough." Chris said dismissively. "Not that senpai would harm me or anything."

"So… you're okay?" Shuri asked.

"Yeah."

Shuri smiled.

"Good."

Tsubasa winced as Shuri delivered the mother of all haymaker punches straight at Chris's gut. The older Yukine managed a wheezing gasp as she was sent rolling from the hit, barely managing to keep her grip on Solomon's Cane.

"Why…?" Chris squeaked.

"That's for doing things like that without telling us." Shuri said, expression unchanging. "And you know that Rui-san has one ready for you too."

"Fuuuuuck…" Chris cursed, holding her gut in pain.

"Normally I'd argue that striking your older sibling is disrespectful." Tsubasa said. "But this is an exception."

"Is this payback for earlier, senpai…?" Chris groaned.

"Perhaps."

"Oh, and you're calling Tsubasa-san "senpai" now?" Shuri noted.

"Ah yes, she is." Tsubasa said, smiling. "It took a moment of life and death, but she finally started to call me that."

"You can tell me all about it as we regroup with the others." Shuri said, as she turned and started to walk. "Oh, and would you like me to call you "senpai" as well?"

"It's fine, Shuri." Tsubasa said. "Likewise, I'd rather not call you "Yukine" and cause communication issues."

Chris groaned and stood back up, gently massaging the spot that she got punched. She sighed, before smiling and following the two.

It's chaotic as always, but that's why I always belong at their side.

Shirabe… please wake up! Shirabe! Shirabe! Shirabe!

Shirabe opened her eyes at the voice. Her vision was blurred, and it felt like she was falling through water. A shadowy figure was next to her.

"Kiri-chan?" Shirabe asked, as her eyes started to clear. "No, it isn't… then who are you?"

"Does it matter?" The figure asked, as she was revealed to have long blonde hair and an ancient white dress.

"Yes it does… my friend is crying..."

"Well, I hoped I could just lay low like this without taking over anyone's soul, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. I can't move on after taking a fatal blow like that."

"You're… taking it in my stead?" Shirabe asked. "But why?"

"I want you to tell her."

"Who?"

"After playing the villain for millenia, I can't just become a hero in this day and age." She said, fading away. "Those of you who live in the present should handle this."

"Tachibana… Hibiki…" Shirabe said, realizing who the figure was talking about. She could feel herself rising back to consciousness.

"It's not a ghost's place to talk about living for the future." She said.

Shirabe opened her eyes, taking in everything around her. The first thing she saw was Kirika crying.

"Wake up Shirabe…!"

"You're crying, Kiri-chan."

Kirika gasped, as Shirabe slowly pushed herself up. She was alive.

"Your wound…" Kirika said, seeing that the gash was no longer there. "Shirabe!"

She wrapped her arms around her friend and wept.

"But… how…?" Kirika asked through sobs.

"I think Finé's soul saved me." Shirabe said.

"Finé did?" Kirika asked, before Shirabe returned the hug.

"It seems like people are always saving me." Shirabe said. "So I'm going to ask for your help. Let's save Maria together."

Kirika pulled Shirabe in closer. "Okay. This time, let's save everyone together."

"Maria, try once more to restart the Lunar Ruins!"

"My song can't save anyone!" Maria cried.

"Maria! This is our last chance to prevent the fall of the Moon!" Nastassja said.

Maria stood up, despite believing this effort to be fruitless. She was about to start singing again, before she was struck in the face and knocked down.

"I can't have my way unless the Moon falls!" Ver shouted.

"Maria!"

"Eh?" Ver heard the communications. "I knew you were behind this, hag."

"Listen, Dr. Ver!" Nastassja tried to argue with the man as he activated the controls. "Use the Frontier to project concentrated phonic gain towards the Moon and restart the Lunar Ruins that sustain the curse of Balal! Then the Moon can return to its orbit!"

"If you want to activate the Lunar Ruins so badly, you fly up there yourself!"

He slammed on the panel, causing part of the Frontier to start rocketing off towards orbit.

"MOM!" Maria screamed, watching it unfold on the screen.

"Across all history, great heroes have never been able to rule mankind! There are just too many people!" Ver declared. "That's why we should simply reduce the population to a controllable number! All it took was a genius like me to come to this realization! I'll become a hero beyond heroes!"

"How dare you…!" Maria growled, standing up and summoning her spear.

"Will you raise a hand against me?" Ver asked. "If you kill me, you'll kill mankind!"

Maria was just about ready to skewer the man on the spot.

"Me! I'll be the greatest hero!" Ver shouted, laughing like the manic he was.

"Well, you already failed at that."

Maria widened her eyes as Ver turned around. The man was sent reeling with a punch to the face. Ver held his cheek in rage, as he glared at Rui Tachibana.

"You're no hero, asshole. I've had enough of the bullshit you've been spewing."

"How could you strike-?"

Rui kicked him in the face, sending him rolling even further.

"You want to know what being a hero's about?" Rui asked him. "It's not about fame. It's not about being a leader. It's not even about justice."

Rui grabbed him by the collar, and lifted him up so they were eye to eye.

"Being a true hero is about protecting those that can't protect themselves." Rui said. "And that's something a psychopathic, disgusting and pathetic shitstain like you will never understand!"

Ver tried to grab her neck, but Rui delivered a devastating knee straight to his gut, causing him to collapse in pain, holding his sore body. Rui was left breathing heavily, as she took several steps back.

"You..." Maria said.

"Maria Cadenzavna Eve." Rui said, fixing her sleeves. "I don't think we've formally been introduced."

"If you're going to ask me to spare him-"

"Actually, no. By all means, go ahead. Don't let me get in the way." Rui said. "You're at full strength compared to the last time we fought, so I doubt I can beat you this time."

"So you aren't going to stop me from killing him?" Maria asked, tightening the grip on her weapon.

"Oh, I won't." Rui said.

Maria walked forward, raising the spear and ready to end Ver's life. Rui smirked and crossed her arms.

"But she will."

Hibiki quickly ran in front of Ver and held out her arms.

"Out of my way, Human-Relic Fusion Specimen One!" Maria shouted.

"Well, sorry to say this." Maia said, walking in, resting her blade on her shoulder with Jeanne behind her. "She isn't a relic fusion anymore thanks to the genius of yours truly."

"What took you so long?" Rui asked.

"A lot of stairs." Maia said. "Anyways, the floor is yours, Bikki."

Hibiki nodded with a smile, before she started speaking to Maria. "My name is Hibiki Tachibana, age 16! And I'm not a "fusion specimen"! I'm just Hibiki Tachibana, and I came here to talk to you!"

"There's nothing for us to discuss!" Maria shouted.

"Maria… you don't kill." Jeanne said, stepping forward. "You've never killed."

"That man killed Mom!" Maria shouted. "I'll have him pay with his life!"

Jeanne's heart almost stopped. "Mom's… dead?"

Rui tightened her fist. I was too late again...

"If I can't protect the world, I have no other reason to live!" Maria shouted, thrusting her spear forward.

"Hibiki!" Rui screamed.

But to everyone's surprise, Hibiki had caught the spear in her hand, her fingers drawing blood. Maria found herself in the same spot when she fought Rui… except Hibiki didn't follow up with an attack.

"What-?"

"You can always find that reason later." Hibiki said, before shouting. "Just don't give up on life!"

Maria gasped, as Hibiki spoke a familiar transformation chant.

"Balwisyall nescell Gungnir~ TROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!"

"What are you doing?!" Maria demanded.

To her shock, the spear in her hand dispersed into light, as did her armor. A massive light spread out from the top of the Frontier, as the sound of a heartbeat grew faster and faster. Everyone could see it from far off, no matter where they were in the world.

"What is…" Shirabe muttered.

"She's saving Maria, dess!" Kirika realized.

"That dummy's doing what she does best, huh?" Chris said.

"Mm. It's just like her." Tsubasa agreed.

"The greatest strength Hibiki Tachibana has." Shuri said. "The power to reach out and help."

"Do it, Hibiki!" Miku shouted. "You're the best!"

"She's back." Maia grinned, as Maria could only stare in shock. "It's like she inherited the power a second time."

Rui could only smile at her sister.

"What's going on?! This shouldn't be possible!" Maria shouted in disbelief as the glow started to fade. "Is this the power of your song… the song of your heart? What is your song?!"

Despite what they thought, Hibiki had done the impossible and donned her Symphogear armor once more. Finishing her transformation, she shouted to the heavens.

"PIERCING SPEAR, GUNGNIR!"

A/N: I ended up skipping over Tsubasa and Chris's fight, since that was more of a side thing compared to Kirika and Shirabe's. Didn't think I had anything planned to really expand on it, so instead I had Shuri doing the whole "silent anger" thing with her sister after the fight.

For maximum effect, when Rui first hits Ver, play "Parallel World" from Kamen Rider Decade, because yes, Rui's speech is heavily inspired by Tsukasa's when he showed up in Kamen Rider Wizard. The Rider reference train has left the station and will go into "Full Force".

A little bit on the short side around, but next time? We enter the final chapter of the G arc.

Feel free to leave a review. See you all next time.