Emerald winds swirled through the air, encircling the blue-haired girl at their centre.
Upon confirming the enemy could use Concept Entanglement, Chisato and Takina immediately received retreat orders.
"Though that may be the case..."
Chisato Nishikigi glanced warily at the girl floating in mid-air, her eyes hollow and lifeless, her expression grave with vigilance:
"But the other side doesn't seem inclined to let us go."
"Save the small talk for after we escape."
As Takina Inoue spoke, the space behind her seemed to split open, revealing a massive five-metre-wide fissure.
Within that fissure, a gigantic metallic hand gripping a silver knight's sword was slowly retracting.
Seizing the opportunity as the great sword cleaved through space to open the dimensional passage, Chisato Nishikigi and Takina Inoue leapt forward, about to plunge through and escape the battlefield.
Yet in that instant, a swift wind arrived belatedly yet first, striking the space-rending silver greatsword like an invisible hammer.
Black-red lightning erupted! A dense shower of sparks scattered everywhere.
The tremendous resonance resembling ceremonial cannon fire and the wind howl akin to missile detonations sounded simultaneously.
Before Takina could even react, the Skill Demon God Silver's arm was struck by the invisible attack, fracturing with an ear-splitting crack into palm-sized fragments.
In the blink of an eye, the spatial passage closed, vanishing without a trace along with Silver's shattered remains.
"...Too fast!"
Only after Silver's destruction did Takina register that the enemy had launched an attack.
"You've got to be kidding me."
Witnessing this, Chisato's heart jolted with shock as she exclaimed:
"I knew Wind Arts were among the fastest techniques to activate, but that speed just now... it exceeded sound, didn't it?"
At precisely this moment, Kurumi, observing from the shadows, had already maxed out IS's cognitive and movement assist functions before transmitting through the Divine Pantheon network:
[Be careful, you two! Against a speed-type Demigod like this, a moment's inattention could mean instant death!]
"Trying my best here!"
Chisato Nishikigi glanced upwards as she spoke, raising her gun and firing eight consecutive shots at the wind-controlling girl in midair.
Thanks to her exceptional eyesight, all eight bullets were aimed precisely at the girl's chest - the largest target area. At less than fifty metres, her shots were devastatingly accurate.
The specially crafted bullets left the barrel at triple the speed of sound, outpacing even their own sonic boom as they streaked towards the airborne girl.
In that split second before impact, an invisible wind coalesced into blade-like whips. A flash of white light shimmered before the girl.
Chisato's sharp eyes clearly saw the intangible wind slicing every approaching bullet cleanly into quarters, the fragments tumbling uselessly through the air. Her jaw dropped:
"Oi oi... that's just cheating..."
No longer a novice to the mystic side, Chisato had completed Natsuki Minamiya's technique courses. She instantly recognised this wasn't the girl's active control, but an automatic counter-technique.
Meaning if she'd chosen close combat instead of firearms, those swirling winds would have diced her into eight pieces upon approach.
Truth be told, Chisato had zero interest in testing whether her IS defences could withstand those Wind Blades - even if her Black Iron was a melee-type Skill Demon God.
"Takina! No close combat! Ranged attacks only!"
"Understood!"
The words barely left Takina Inoue's lips when her expression froze in shock at the blue-haired girl who'd suddenly materialised before her.
From her peripheral vision, Takina realised with horror that nearly half the girl's body had dissolved into emerald-green gusts of wind.
A clone? No - instantaneous movement using wind itself?
No time for strategy. The blue-haired girl's hand already rested against Takina's chest - the slightest pressure would end her life.
Even with IS-enhanced reflexes, Takina couldn't evade this point-blank assault.
In that instant, black-red lightning erupted across Takina's body.
BOOM.
Concentric rings of dark crimson electricity exploded from her chest, catapulting her backwards into the wall with enough force to create spiderweb fractures in the concrete.
"TAKINA!!"
Chisato's eyes widened. Without time to assess her partner's condition, she immediately summoned Black Iron.
As the sound of madly spinning gears filled the air, Black Iron's gravity manipulation clamped down on the still-outstretched hand of the blue-haired girl.
The sudden gravitational shift seemed to momentarily restrain the girl's movements - but within seconds, she effortlessly broke free.
Yet Chisato gritted her teeth:
"Not done yet!"
Golden flames of Death Qi erupted from the ring on her right hand.
This vitality-enhancing fire temporarily supercharged Chisato's life force.
With this temporary boost, Black Iron's gravitational pressure suddenly doubled in intensity!
At the same moment, the four blue funnels equipped on the IS mech unleashed a frenzied barrage of laser fire.
Green lasers swept towards the blue-haired girl's position as if they would never cease. Black smoke billowed instantly, followed by a series of dense explosions.
Right then, Takina Inoue, who had been embedded in the wall, pried herself free and glanced down at the IS chest armour on her torso.
Seeing the flickering black-red sparks dancing across the breastplate, Takina shuddered with lingering fear:
"That was too close."
The primary function of the anti-Demigod tactical IS wasn't actually to engage a Demigod in one-on-one combat to the death.
Rather, it was designed to counter a Demigod's conceptual killing methods, preventing the wearer from being instantly eliminated to buy time for resistance.
This capability was achieved through the Concept Counter System - a joint creation combining Mukuro Hoshimiya's Sealing Power, Aya Tokoyogi's technique designs, and Tabane Shinonono's IS technical support.
The basic principle involved sealing the Demigod's conceptual power within the IS frame, then using programmed techniques to create an auto-trigger mechanism that would activate Concept Entanglement cancellation when attacked by a Demigod's conceptual assault.
This was an extravagantly expensive system only possible for the Hidden Management Department, which boasted seven Demigods, including a unique existence like Mukuro Hoshimiya.
After all, only an organisation with numerous Demigods could sustain such a system requiring continuous power infusion.
It was precisely thanks to this specialised system that Takina had survived the previous attack.
"Energy reserves down to 72%. At this rate, three more hits will probably exceed the IS's defensive limits."
There was no time for further contemplation. Seeing the blue-haired girl who had already broken free from the gravity suppression, Takina shouted:
"Chisato! Use that!"
"I know! I'm doing it now!!"
Chisato Nishikigi roared in response. She understood perfectly well that given the Wind Arts Demigod's speed, she could be struck at any moment.
After temporarily restraining the enemy with gravity, she immediately retrieved a blank white page from her storage ring.
But the instant the blank page appeared.
A breeze gently brushed past!
The blue-haired girl materialised like a phantom behind Chisato, slowly raising a single finger.
The slender, pale finger now pointed delicately towards Chisato's forehead.
Black-red lightning began spreading from the fingertip.
At that precise moment.
A hand reached up from below, grasping the slender arm clad in blue sleeves.
The next instant.
Luo Shu's voice, laced with amusement, rang out:
"Can't let you keep bullying my subordinates like this."
As the words echoed, a fist wreathed in black lightning made intimate contact with the girl's flat abdomen.