"Clang." Just after Tohka had taken down another squad member, she felt someone slash at her back. Instantly, she swung her weapon behind her, catching the attack on the blade.
"Tch, it's you again." Blocking the strike, Tohka spun around and kicked. Origami Tobiichi jumped back just in time to dodge the blow, and Tohka turned fully to face her.
"You again—why are you always getting in my way?" Ignoring Tohka's reaction and the state of her equipment, Origami charged straight at her.
"Who knows." Tohka glanced over at the Four Lolis, who were now facing much less pressure thanks to her sudden appearance distracting the AST. She didn't hesitate any longer and went to meet Origami head-on. The two of them collided in midair, while the other AST members resumed chasing the Four Lolis.
"Hey, how long do you plan to keep this up?" While Tohka and Origami were fighting, the Four Lolis finally managed to shake off their pursuers. The AST really were persistent—after all this time, they hadn't even touched a hair on the Four Lolis' heads. Now all the troops had regrouped around Tohka, surrounding her in the middle. But because Origami was too close to her, they couldn't open fire.
Standing in the center, staring down a circle of black gun barrels, Tohka felt a bit nervous. She wasn't sure she could block that much firepower, especially in her weakened state.
"Forget it. If I keep showing off, something's bound to go wrong." Muttering to herself, Tohka decided she'd had enough. She swung her sword with all her strength, sending Origami flying backward. Then she charged the squad member behind her. The soldier hadn't even reacted when Tohka was suddenly in his face, staring down at him with her sword raised.
"Ah!" He let out a miserable scream as Tohka smashed him down to the ground, breaking the encirclement in the process. She immediately flew out of the gap.
"After her! Don't let her escape!" Ryoko Kusakabe ordered as soon as she recovered. All the AST members—except Origami, who'd just been knocked away—leveled their rifles at Tohka, and in the next instant, a torrent of bullets rained down.
"Hmph." Letting out a cold snort, Tohka dove into a nearby building. Gunfire tore into the walls behind her, but she wasn't hurt at all. To avoid getting surrounded again, she smashed through the other side of the building and burst out, flying low along the exterior toward the distance.
"Damn, I wonder if the sewers here are as convenient as New York's." But as she fled, Tohka found herself missing the New York sewers—back there, all kinds of villains used them for hideouts. In another timeline, there had even been four turtles and an old rat living down there.
"Hey, Kotori Itsuka or whoever—you can pull me back now. I've finished my part, and I'm not in the mood to keep playing tag with these AST people." She had no intention of fighting them any longer, so she slipped her mask over her face and contacted the warship above.
Tohka landed on a rooftop and stood still. A beam of light immediately swept her up, pulling her out of sight. The AST troops didn't even have time to react—they just stood there staring as she vanished.
"Damn it—what the hell was that? We couldn't even capture 'Hermit,' and now we couldn't even stop the Princess after she appeared out of nowhere. Damn it!" Ryoko Kusakabe was furious. They hadn't managed to capture Hermit, fine. But Tohka showing up in armor was basically a slap in their faces. They all knew—this wasn't even her full power. And yet, they still couldn't do anything against her weakened state. Let alone if she were fighting seriously.
"You—how the hell did you hack our entire system?" Meanwhile, Tohka had just stepped off the teleport pad in her armor when Kotori's furious voice hit her ears. Only now did Kotori realize the entire main screen was plastered with Tohka's giant face.
"You bastard! Stop standing there—turn it off! With this on, we can't see anything else. None of our instruments can detect anything!" Kotori kept shouting as Tohka stared blankly at the huge screen.
"Ah... hahahaha, sorry about that." Seeing the whole bridge staring at her giant face, even Tohka felt a little embarrassed. She fumbled for her remote, pressed a few buttons, and finally disabled the hacking system she'd used to hijack the car earlier. The displays returned to normal.
"This armor of yours—this isn't a projection device. How does it have so many functions? Its performance is even better than the AST suits." Just then, a voice spoke up behind Tohka, making her jump. She turned to see Reine Murasame, who had somehow appeared right behind her without making a sound.
"Hey—are you a ghost or something? How did you sneak up on me like that?" Tohka was visibly startled. But Reine didn't reply. She just focused all her attention on Tohka's armor. From the way it worked, this was no ordinary projection device. What's more, it had incredible infiltration functions; it had just hacked their entire system, and they couldn't undo it right away.
"Tch, what are you staring at?" But this was Stark Industries tech—Tohka wasn't about to let them study it. A flash of light rippled across her body, and the armor disappeared. She wasn't sure if Tony's armor was stronger than her spirit gear, but from what she'd seen so far, each had its own strengths. Either way, she wasn't interested in letting them figure it out.
"That armor—is it spirit equipment? No, it's definitely something else." Watching the armor vanish, Reine fell silent again. As the First Spirit, she knew spirit powers inside and out. But this—this wasn't spirit armor at all.