"Just a greeting," Patra said, raising a finger. The prow of the Meseket, the Night Sun Ship she was on, began to glow with light and heat. With a flick of her finger, the light became a beam, a strike called Uraeus, the serpent that slays serpents. Its target was, of course, the torpedo we were in. This wasn't a bluff; Patra had our location completely pinned down.
"Ngh!"
Sensing the attack, I had already hit the eject button before the beam was even fired. A moment later and I would've been cut in half. The beam pierced the water below, slicing through the surface. The torpedo was severed in the middle, and a massive explosion of the torpedo's contents and superheated steam from the ocean erupted, pushing the surface of the sea upward.
Looking around, everyone seemed to have escaped safely. It was a good thing I put Kokkoro and Yukina in the same torpedo.
"Exia!"
Blue armor pieces flew out and attached themselves to my body. A distinctive GN Drive was on my chest and back, releasing green particles. I was equipped with a GN Shield on my left arm and a stowed GN Sword on my right. With aerial mobility, I was able to take a moment to survey our surroundings.
"Well, well..."
In the sky, there was Ozymandias's Sphinx-type Noble Phantasm, the Abhol Sphinx. On the beach, there were the dog-men who had appeared at the party venue. Deep in the forest was the shining pyramid, the Ramesseum Tentyris, our target. If we flew, the Sphinx would destroy us; if we approached from the ground, the dog-men would endlessly swarm us. What a pain.
But our two allies had already reached the beach: Tsukasa and Woz.
"Henshin."
<
Tsukasa became Decade.
<
<
"Henshin."
<
<
<
Woz transformed into Woz... This is getting confusing!
The two Riders took out their weapons and immediately began fighting the dog-men on the beach. Neither was outmatched; they were taking them down one after another.
"Senpai!"
"Got it!"
I retrieved Yukina and Kokkoro and landed on the beach. Thanks to Decade and Woz's rampage, we were able to land safely in the middle of the beach.
---GYAAAAAA!!!
A Sphinx swooped down to attack, but...
"Sekkarou!"
Yukina stepped forward. The spear unfolded from its case, a magic circle glowing faintly at its tip. It effortlessly sliced through the leg of the attacking Sphinx. The God-Slaying Vibration Wave Drive Formula, which nullifies all magic, worked mercilessly on a Noble Phantasm. No, it worked even better because the Noble Phantasm was a concentrated mass of magical energy.
"Haaah!"
Yukina didn't let the dazed Sphinx escape. Her Sekkarou easily pierced the Sphinx's torso. The damage must have exceeded its limit, as the Sphinx disappeared.
"That little girl's got some guts."
Jugglus had appeared nearby without me noticing.
"So do you," I replied.
Behind him, several dog-men were lying on the ground. He had cut them all down silently.
"Thanks. So, what's it gonna be? Up or down?"
"Up, I think..."
We had to get to Patra. We needed to decide on a route, but... if we went low, we'd have to hide through the forest. That would be exhausting with all the trees, and Patra might get impatient and attack us with the Meseket. And even if we reached the pyramid, we'd still have to climb up to the floating Meseket to fight Patra. It would be better to just fly from the start. Of course, going up meant we'd be easy targets.
"Kokkoro, I'm counting on you."
"Leave it to me, my lord."
She began to use her Princess Knight ability to strengthen everyone present.
"Huh?"
"This is..."
Decade and Woz's movements became noticeably faster. With a single slash or punch, they took out multiple dog-men at once.
"Oh? You had this kind of power?" Jugglus was also surprised by his sudden increase in strength.
"Yeah. We need to move fast..." I said.
This situation of everyone being grouped together was bad. All the enemies would concentrate their attacks on us. Even as I spoke, I used the rifle mode of my GN Sword to keep the dog-men at bay. The biggest burden was on Yukina. She was single-handedly dealing with the attacking Sphinxes.
"Haaaaaaah!"
With a burst of energy, Yukina once again pierced a Sphinx's torso. For now, her Spirit Vision gave her the upper hand, but if the Sphinxes learned how to counter her, that balance would be broken. They were immortal thanks to the Ramesseum Tentyris. A battle of attrition was meaningless against an enemy with infinite power. So we had to move before that. Kokkoro was the key.
Kokkoro's wind spirits gathered leaves from the forest, weaving them together to form a glider for us to make a big jump. It would take a little more time to complete.
"Yukina! We'll do a combo!"
"Yes!"
The Sphinxes were starting to realize the properties of Sekkarou. They began to maneuver to avoid touching its blade. But they were only wary of Yukina's Sekkarou. I used Exia's mobility to charge at a Sphinx that was gauging its distance from Yukina.
Crack! My right hand touched the Sphinx, and I felt its magic being destroyed. Right after, the Sphinx disintegrated. My Imagine Breaker had erased it. The Imagine Breaker was even more vicious than the Sekkarou because it erased things just by touching them.
"Next!"
I immediately made a sharp turn and touched another Sphinx that was about to attack me, erasing it. After taking out a few more, I was no longer able to get close to the Sphinxes. They must have realized how dangerous I was. But I had bought enough time.
"My lord! It is complete!"
Looking at Kokkoro, a glider just big enough for all of us had been completed. Made of leaves, it was all green. It probably wasn't very sturdy. The dog-men and Sphinxes were starting to show interest in the completed glider. We had to take off before they destroyed it.
"Alright! Everyone get on...!"
I instinctively raised my shield. The next moment, a tremendous impact sent the shield flying. We all tensed up. The sea of dog-men parted, and a figure appeared.
"Kana... no, Kinichi Tohyama...!"
In his hand was an old-style revolver, from which a faint wisp of smoke was rising. Kinichi, who had used a Class Card to Install Billy the Kid, stood before us. He looked at what Kokkoro had prepared behind us.
"I see. You've chosen the sky."
"..."
I held my breath at Kinichi's words. Can we make it if we all attack him? With this group, surely even Kinichi...
"You can go. Everyone but you, that is."
Kinichi's words were unexpected. He was pointing at me.
"That right hand of yours seems to be more troublesome than I thought. I can't leave it to the Sphinxes."
He was wary of my Imagine Breaker. It was a natural conclusion after watching me fight the Sphinxes. If my hand touched him, it could even cancel his Class Card Install. He probably didn't want anything to happen to Patra. Still, for him to let us go so easily... was he trying to divide our forces? But if he was letting us go, I'd take the offer. Against Patra's infinite magic, we had to make it a speed-based battle, or we'd lose from exhaustion.
"Everyone, go!"
"Senpai!"
"My lord!"
Yukina and Kokkoro shouted, but Decade and Jugglus carried them and got on the glider. Although Kinichi said it was okay to go, the surrounding dog-men didn't seem to think so. They sensed that we were about to do something and began to concentrate their attacks.
"Kokkoro!"
"Hmph! Wind spirit...!"
Hearing my shout, Kokkoro held up her spear. The wind spirits, empowered by her Princess Knight ability, created a powerful updraft. The glider carrying "four people" lifted off and ascended into the sky.
...Wait, four people? Yukina, Kokkoro, Decade, Jugglus. Wait a minute!
"I will remain here."
Woz hadn't gotten on the glider.
"You..."
"Tohyama Kinichi seems interested in my Demon King. Therefore, as his vassal, I must clear away the swarming insects."
He cut down the approaching dog-men and bowed. To intercept the glider that had flown up, the Sphinxes' attacks had stopped. Instead, all the dog-men on the ground were now heading toward us. It was a good thing to have Woz stop Kinichi from shooting at us from the shadows of the dog-men.
"You..."
Then I had to do something about Kinichi.
"(That man Woz is... but) I have no intention of running or hiding. Besides, this is convenient for me."
"What do you mean?"
"I have something I need to confirm with you. Show me what you've got."
With that, Kinichi held up his scythe, Scorpio.
"Just what I wanted." I held up my two GN Blades.
The next moment, we clashed.
---------
"Senpai...!"
"Yukina-sama, don't lean out!"
Yukina's voice was drowned out by the wind carrying the glider high into the sky. The glider, now in the air, rose to a position slightly higher than Patra's Meseket and began to move horizontally. The wind spirits carried it in the direction we wanted to go.
"To dare climb to the same sky as me, and to even look down on me from a higher position... That is disrespectful!"
A heat beam was fired from the Meseket.
"Sekkarou!"
Yukina's spear sliced the beam in half.
"Senpai always does things like this...! Fine! If that's what you're going to do, I'll find a way to make this work without you!"
"Yes! Let us give it our all!"
Kokkoro and Yukina declared to the Sphinxes and Patra flying before them.
---------
Our weapons clashed, sparks flying repeatedly.
"Hah!"
"Hmph..."
Kinichi seemed to want to prolong the fight rather than defeat me. My slashes were easily dodged, and his Scorpio, rising from below, knocked the GN Blade from my hand. The spinning GN Blade was sent flying and embedded itself into the ground.
"Hmm. You must have fought some formidable opponents. You're bold. But you have momentum and courage, not skill."
So this is Hysteria Mode Kinichi...! The protagonist of Aria the Scarlet Ammo, Kinji Tohyama, and his family possess a special condition called the "Hysteria Savant Syndrome." Kinji calls it Hysteria Mode. It's an ability that uses sexual arousal as a trigger to dramatically enhance the activity of the central nervous system, including the cerebrum, cerebellum, and spinal cord. In Hysteria Mode, his thinking, judgment, reflexes, sight, and hearing are enhanced by 30 times. Of course, Kinji could deflect bullets with his bare hands and deliver blows faster than the speed of sound. Kinichi could easily parry my attacks.
"The world is in a constant state of flux. But the change that is about to occur is the biggest one in several hundred years," he said, casually starting a conversation. I held my remaining GN Sword in my free hand, ready for a surprise attack.
"First of all, what do you know about Iu?"
I knew some things from the original story, but since he was offering to explain, I'd listen.
"From what Riko told me, it's a school for lawless people, right? Where they learn each other's skills?"
"That's right. That's not wrong."
I remained on guard, but Kinichi was completely relaxed.
"The purpose of Iu's activities is left to each individual's autonomy, such as self-training or achieving their goals. There are no rules within the organization, and no country's laws have any meaning within Iu. It is a truly 'lawless' group."
"So you can do whatever you want to achieve your goals? Even eliminate other members if they get in your way?" That's not a group at all.
"Until now, Iu was held together by the absolute power of its top member, 'the Professor.' But his death is approaching."
A meritocracy where the top person was overwhelmingly powerful was what barely kept the group together. And that person was about to be gone.
"Now, Iu is about to be split into two. The Research Faction, Dyo, which inherits the Professor's temperament and purely seeks self-improvement, and the Main Faction, Ignis, which aims to invade the world. If the Main Faction wins the succession dispute, the world will be filled with conflict."
This world has many strong people from various stories. You might think the Main Faction wouldn't be able to take over the world, but that also applies to Iu. I might not know all the members. No, I definitely don't.
"So, what are you going to do about Aria?"
"Patra will use her to become the leader of Iu. I told you that already. She's got that kind of personality, but she doesn't want war. However..." Kinichi pointed Scorpio at me.
"At the same time, I also wanted to see your true ability. That man, Woz, said you could even defeat the Professor. I want to see if that's true."
"Then I'll be sure to show you!"
Kinichi and I clashed once more.
--------------------------------------------
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