Volume 4 -A Chapter 10 (2/2)
”I wish I could say it's nothing, but it isn't Boss, know anyone who ainst you?”
—Taeko - Hear Tech - Take - Measure Distance - Hit
”Well, when ya've lived for eighteen years, ya tend to make five hundred or so enemies”
”That's too many enemies”
—Taeko - Hear Tech - Take - Determine Number of Enemies - Hit
”Don't be stupid We need to get goin' as soon as I turn around Prepare yerself”
—Taeko - Steel Tech - Take - Dragon Emperor 1st Activation - Hit
—Shoui - Hear Tech - Take - Determine Number of Enemies - Hit
”Oh, c' away?”
”Fleein' in the face of the enemy is punishable by a fatal beatin'”
”Why is everyone around me so hot-blooded?”
”Um, you mean me too?”
”No, no You're the nonconformist on this one, Takada-san”
—Taeko - Mind Tech - Auto-Take - Detect Presence - Hit
”Here they come!” shouted Taeko as she turned around
Shoui kept Takada behind him and turned a bit to the side
They both saw the sa
”A burning bullet!?”
Two balls of fire the size of a huht toward them like meteors
—Shoui - Break High/Boxing/Dodge Tech - Multi-Take - Knock Down - Hit!
—Taeko - Lightning High/Boxing/Dodge Tech - Multi-Take - Knock Down - Hit!
Two bursting sounds rang out in quick succession
A moment later, screams finally erupted from the road, but it was so sudden that the people could only express their surprise They did not have ti like that
Taeko clicked her tongue, pulled a flare from her pocket, and fired it into the sky
A blue ball of light rose into the sky in order to inforer
At the same time…
”Boss!? Look at the ground!”
When she heard the confusion in Shoui's voice, Taeko kept her attention on their surroundings while looking to the ground
The identity of the burning bullet lay on the brick path after she had knocked it down
It was a ten yen coin so hot it was s
Shoui's voice answered her puzzlement
”I don't kno, but those weren't bullets that were eh the air They were coins”
”What does that mean?”
”Who knows How about we ask the people who did this?”
—Taeko - Sight Tech - Take - Detect Enemy - Hit!
She readily found who she was looking for
As the people hid inside the nearby stores and side roads, two people walked out onto the sidewalk in front of Taeko's group
They were about a five second run away One was a tall, slender boy in a suit and the other was a girl in a blouson and with a hexagonal rod in hand
They looked to Taeko and Shoui without s but without any hostility either
”I guess I can figure out who ya are by fightin' ya,” said Taeko
As soon as she stepped forward, someone cried out from behind her
”Takahiro!?”
It was Takada
The eneave an obvious reaction to her voice
”Seigi!?” asked the girl
The boy next to her frowned a bit as he looked beyond Taeko and Shoui
The battle was beginning with a truly strange composition
2:45 PM
The battle began with both sides working to protect a single girl
The siren known as the Fourth Alar at the center of the quickly e district
A single girl watched them
Shoui orried about her
”I can't believe this”
He saw Takada holding Taroed
Instead of mouse-sized, he was now the size of a puppy
Sensing her fear, he had grown to confront the situation she was facing Shoui now understood what had happened at that scene when he had first met her
The fleeing students had been attacked by the grown Taromaru
He had a feeling he understood her fear
”Is she afraid that her own fear will hurt others?”
He saw her desperately petting Taromaru's head to calm him
But Taro from deep in his throat
The Dog God was no longer reading her thoughts
The fear of this battle that resided deep in her heart was hts
She was both trying to cal a word, she was trying to cal others
Shoui recalled the past
Yuuki had once said so his room
” 'Protect me from myself', hm?”
Heforward
Taeko and the ene at each other from a distance
The enemy had named themselves and Taeko had responded in kind
The enemies were Tokyo's Vice Chancellor and Special Duty Officer
The night before, Shoui hadto be Tokyo's Chancellor
That meant the main force of Tokyo's Chancellor's Officers was in Osaka
Shoui did not knoas going on, but he could tell Takada knew them and that she was afraid of this battle
He walked forward and the two from Tokyo reacted
They had been entirely focused on Taeko, but now they began to focus on Shoui too
—Taeko - Mind Tech - Take - Detect Presence - Hit
As soon as Shoui arrived alongside Taeko, she took off running
She ran forward
She had won the initiative
Her Dragon Eave a roar
With that roar to su enveloped her metal arm
The enemy moved back, but Taeko did not care
She continued forith the Dragon Emperor at the ready
”Yer still in range!”
As a Steel Master, she was an all-rounder who could -distance attacks too
The Dragon Ee spread
—Taeko - Shot Tech - Take - Prepare to Fire - Hit
—Taeko - Lightning High/Steel/Shot Tech - Multi-Take - Electro Cannon - Hit!
She held forward the Dragon E around it was instantly fired forward
The electric attack ide enough to fill the road and fleard her opponents more like a pillar than a net
The wide-range attack of white light raced through the air, but…
”Leave it to me”
With a refreshi+ng voice, Aoi Hijiri stepped forith her hexagonal rod in hand
She stood in front of Ikemaru and raised the rod with awfully slow movements
She raised her head and looked to Taeko through the electric attack
She gave a slight s struck her
A great roar burst out, but the result was not at all what Taeko had expected
The white light fired by the Dragon Emperor scattered in every direction like a shattered plate
The explosion of light slammed noisily into the shops on either side of the road
The shopping district shattered from the heat and impact
After a series of explosions and a chorus of solid i
She was unscathed
”…It missed!?”
Aoi spoke without answering Taeko's question
”Like that would work, you idiot …If this is all you've got, I don't see how you can claioya won't surrender”
”…damn ya”
”Don't panic We'll take our tioya is ours”
Shoui ignored Aoi's irl
The one
—Shoui - Sight Tech - Take - Detect Enemy - Hit!
”Boss!”
He saw Ike up the sidewalk
Several bicycles were lined up there
As he walked along, he traced his bare hand along those bicycles
”Peck at your prey, you birds”
The group of bicycles flew up into the sky as if so had kicked at them
It happened suddenly
With a harentle slope no matter which way they were pointed and no matter how they were oriented
They filled the sky just like a flock of birds
They then dropped doard Shoui and Taeko
”Dragon Emperor!”
Taeko raised her voice and a he was released froon Emperor's shoulder
—Shoui - Dodge/Savate Tech - Multi-Take - Leaping Dodge - Hit!
Just as he escaped the range of the lightning, the wheeled birds crashed down into the lightning light
With a scorching smell, their metal and plastic melted and scattered
”Th-that was close!”
”Just stay quiet and get outta the way! The next one's comin'!”
He looked up to see Aoi raising her hexagonal rod
Those two had incredible coordination, so they did not give Shoui and Taeko a chance to act
There was a distance of over ten steps between Aoi and Taeko, so this attack would presuap
—Shoui - Mind Tech - Auto-Take - Detect Killer Intent - Hit!
For sonized the aura emitted by that pose
”But I've never met her before”
Confused, he raised his defenses and glanced behind him
Takada was no longer holding Taromaru in her arms
The light brown Dog God had grown to the size of a large dog and now stood on the ground
Takada said nothing as she embraced his neck and desperately tried to hold him back Without that, he almost certainly would have rushed in to join the battle
The slightest opening could settle everything here, so ould her fear attack?
The question sent a shudder down his spine, but no one could answer it
Meanwhile, Aoi made her move
She attached Words to the hexagonal rod si it down in front of her
Ah
”Kusanagi!?”
Shoui understood everything when he heard what Taeko said
Two days before, that shockwave attack had stopped the confrontation between him and Saki in the schoolyard
Aoi's attack contained the same presence and killer intent as that
If the equation was the same, the ansould also be the same
She swung the rod down until it hit the ground and shattered the asphalt
The shock broke the rod's central bolt, but the Rhythm activated
First, it created a wind
”!?”
The air shook and a shi+h Taeko and Shoui
”It can't be…!”
Before Taeko could take evasive action, the air cutting across the road exploded
A powerful tearing raced by
The chorus of tearing sounds sounded like an echo
The tearing wind and shockwave slaround and scattered
—Taeko - Savate/Gye - …Hit!
Taeko avoided the power rushi+ng toward her
Shoui tried to do the sa stopped him: a beast's roar
Taroi that Aoi was e
—Shoui - Mind Tech - Take - Detect Killer Intent - Hit
The killer intent growing behind hi from the front
He heard Takada's voiceless screae
The Dis-Worder released the h
—Shoui - Gym/Savate Tech - Multi-Take - Fix Stance - Hit!
He filled his entire body with strength and held his fist forward
He did not know if he could break Kusanagi, but if he failed, Takada's fear would explode
”Shoui!?” shouted Taeko
But it was too late
—Shoui - Break High/Boxing/Dodge Tech - Multi-Take - Intercept - Hit!
His aireat power
A moment later…
”What are you doing!?”
A deep voice gave a shout and the power of Kusanagi vanished before Shoui's eyes
2:51 PM
There was nothing there
Shoui looked forward as his Break High fist thrust out into empty air
”…It vanished?”
His vision tried to answer his question
The boy named Ikemaru stood in the distance
The girl naonal rod still held against the ground
At the midpoint between Aoi and Shoui, Taeko had fallen onto her butt and was looking toward Shoui
The ground had been torn up almost all the way to him
However, soht in front of him
A short man dressed like a Buddhist monk faced away from him
The air around the one
Thethe street while destroying it had utterly vanished in front of Shoui, just like when Aoi had deflected Taeko's electric attack
The Fourth Alar atmosphere
Shoui gasped for breath and heard the
”Enough i, but ould have happened if I had not been here?”
”Iba…”
The man took a step toward Aoi's quiet voice
Then he looked around the area and looked Shoui straight in the eye
”That was a reckless decision,” he said ”But it was also a brave one”
Shoui could not reply
He did not knohat had happened, so his body still contained extreme tension
But the man paid him no more heed and looked to Aoi and Ikemaru instead
”A oya's Student Council announced their unconditional surrender to Tokyo”
”Nagoya Chancellor No s to Tokyo”
”Don't be ridiculous! Got any proof of that!?”
”If you do not believe ?”
When Aoi heard the ain
Taeko clicked her tongue and looked to Shoui
”I can't believe this”
She looked behind him, so he looked back as well
The great beast the Dog God had becoer there
He only saw Takada sitting on the road and crying with Taromaru on her shoulder
Her cries filled his ears more than the siren of the Fourth Alarm
”I can't believe this,” said Shoui as well
At the same time, he heard a metallic sound
He turned toward it and saw Taeko standing up and wiping the dust from her coat
”Boss?”
”After talkin' with Saki Seiji earlier, I had a feelin' this would happen”
She shrugged and looked to the Buddhist monk
”Are ya sayin' this is the only way for Nagoya to survive?”
”At the very least, your hometown has decided so”
”Then it can't be helped”
She sighed and walked over to Shoui Aoi kept her weapon at the ready, but…
”I won't do anythin',” said Taeko as she came to a stop in front of Shoui
Her expression contained both exasperation and exhaustion
”I can't believe this, Shoui …Are ya tremblin'?”
”Y-yes I did try to do so pretty reckless”
”Hm That's convenient”
”Eh? Wh-what's convenient?”
”Well, I ended up sidin' with Osaka because ya were here”
”Is that so?”
”And now Nagoya has gone over to Tokyo's side”
”Yes, so it seems”
”That gives s Do I keep havin' fun with ya or do I protect Nagoya?”
”Yes, I understand how you must feel”
”Sorry”
”Eh?”
—Taeko - Boxing/Steel Tech - Multi-Take - Strike - Hit!
Without giving hion Emperor's fist punched Shoui
Even through his bandanna, a hit to the back of the head was effective
”Okay I'll be joinin' you along with this guy”
The Dog God expressed Shoui's thoughts in response to Taeko's selfish words
”I'ain?”
That was exactly what happened
But in so doing, Nagoya had fully surrendered to Tokyo
The power balance of japan's students was greatly changing