He launched himself high into the air, lightly vaulting over the monster's attack. Raising the Guardian Sword overhead, he brought it down in a powerful slash. The red warrior's figure seemed to stutter through the flow of time, leaving the monster completely behind. His extreme speed even made his movements look like someone had manually removed frames from a video.
Golden light blazing with energy streams flashed repeatedly. Several more huge wounds appeared across the Doomsday Monster's body, and it finally lacked the strength to support its enormous frame. Its battered body dropped to one knee.
It no longer even had the strength to roar. Gravely injured, the Doomsday Monster could only wail loudly where it stood. Ash stood still with one hand on his hip and raised the V-Commander on his wrist. The prompt sounded at precisely the right moment.
"Final Mode DV Re-Freezer Stand By."
"Now You Can Press Freezers."
"Compression freezing? There was clearly no need for that. Whatever, I'll see this through to the end. DV C—!"
"Wait!" Nono Hana, who had watched the entire battle from the side, interrupted Ash's voice command. Having recovered a little strength, she forced down the intense pain still wracking her body, summoned the Melody Holy Sword, and slowly walked toward Ash step by step.
"The Doomsday Monster needs to be dealt with using the Melody Holy Sword—"
"Bang! Bang! Bang!!!"
Her answer was three sudden gunshots. Smoke produced by the beams rubbing against the air rose at her feet.
Ash did not listen to Nono Hana. Instead, he switched the Guardian Sword back into the Vulcan Gun and fired three shots at her feet.
"Don't come any closer when you're this useless. Otherwise, no one knows who the next shot will hit." He raised the Vulcan Gun's barrel level with Nono Hana's head.
"But!!"
"No buts. I hate people telling me what to do. And tell that bunch over there to get farther away. If they don't have the strength, they shouldn't crowd around here looking for excitement. I'm not in the mood to collect their corpses."
All the cheers and encouragement stopped abruptly.
The crowd fell silent, looking at Ash with puzzled, baffled expressions.
They had not heard Ash and Nono Hana's conversation, but they had seen Cure Yell walk over to that mysterious red warrior and say something. Then the red warrior had fired three shots at Cure Yell's feet?
Was he stopping the battered Cure Yell from continuing to fight, or had the two of them gotten into some kind of conflict?
As confusion spread, they heard Ash speak.
Their confusion turned to anger, and soon someone began speaking up for her.
"Why are you calling Yell useless? She protected us!"
"Exactly! She's been working so hard to protect us! What do you know?!"
"Bang!!" Another shot struck the ground at his feet. The man immediately fell to the ground in fright, scrambling backward while glaring at Ash with fear and anger.
That shot ignited the crowd's anger. Their voices grew louder as they collectively condemned the man who wanted to hurt them.
Ash answered them by pulling the trigger again and again.
Every shot landed precisely at their feet. Every gunshot made someone cry out from shock and fear.
After a burst of gunfire, the entire area fell silent.
Apparently satisfied that they had shut up, Ash nodded.
"I really hate trouble."
Still... heh. They actually took the initiative to defend their hero. That was better than the useless trash in other worlds who liked to blame the victim instead.
But when he looked at Cure Yell, utterly stunned by what he had done, and saw the miserable state of her battered body, an intense feeling of disgust rose within him again.
She had always been protecting them, huh? Heh. What a bunch of worthless people. Couldn't they see what state their guardian was in—! Forget it.
For someone like him, whether it was good or bad did not matter anyway.
"Good. Keep your mouths shut and run out one by one. Run far away, and don't come back until you've recovered. Don't make a sound."
"That includes you."
"Doomsday Monster!!!"
The Doomsday Monster that Ash had knocked down earlier had regained some ability to move. Driven by its instinct to destroy, it pounced at the nearest group of "spectators."
"Ahhhhh!!!" The voices that fear had silenced rose again out of fear. The Doomsday Monster's black arm smashed down toward the crowd. It seemed impossible to stop now. Everyone—even Nono Hana—cried out and reached forward, instinctively closing their eyes, unwilling to see the coming tragedy.
The gunshot rang out again.
The helpless people waiting for death did not die. When they opened their eyes, all they saw was the Doomsday Monster, one arm severed, howling in pain as it struggled to stand.
"That's why I said I hate trouble."
What a bunch of useless idiots.
Ash blew on the smoking muzzle, switched the Vulcan Gun back into the Guardian Sword, and called out a command to the V-Commander on his left arm.
"DV Change, Final Mode!"
After pressing the red button on the weapon, Ash swung the blade forcefully to his side. A cold blue glow coated the dancing blade.
Whether it was Nono Hana or the watching crowd, they could all feel the icy chill on that cold blue blade, as though it had come from the underworld.
"Pretty handy." He casually struck several poses, quite satisfied with how well the weapon fit his hand.
Ash charged at extremely high speed toward the Doomsday Monster, which was still struggling to rise. In an instant, blue light flashed past its side and sliced across its waist.
"Doomsday Monster!!!" Even its voice conveyed unbearable agony as Ash turned around again.
"DV Re-Freezer!!!"
Leaking energy flared behind Ash like a fiery backdrop. As he called out the attack's name, he slashed the sword in his hand downward, tracing a perfect V-shaped path.
Two more blue flashes streaked out. Ash raised his weapon and turned his back, holstering the reverted Vulcan Gun at his right thigh. Explosions and light burst from the Doomsday Monster's body, and then, amid a miserable scream of pain, it met its end.
Extra Case File 5: Clashing Flames
Flames shot into the sky. The hot wind lifted Nono Hana's bangs, and the blast's aftershock even reached the surrounding spectators. Amid their cries, Nono Hana was the first to plunge the Melody Holy Sword into the ground and channel energy through it. Light overflowed in every direction, restoring the damage from the battle and dissipating the explosion's shockwave.
"Gurgle, gurgle, gur—"
Pretty Cure's sharp hearing allowed her to hear a strange freezing sound from the cellular level. Her sharp eyes spotted a small black object radiating cold where the Doomsday Monster had stood.
"Press Freeze Completed."
The sensation of having all the energy drained from her body caused the pain she had suppressed to return. Nono Hana gritted her teeth and endured it until the warm light calmed everything left by the battle.
It was over. So next—
Nono Hana casually wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and forced her nearly collapsing body closer to him.
Who... are you?
"Time Fire."
"Huh?"
The red warrior approached her with crisp footsteps. The translucent helmet over his faceplate flowed with streams of data, reflecting Nono Hana's surprised expression.
"Time Fire."
"That is my name... Heh. Never heard of it?"
"No..."
Hana answered honestly. If she had ever heard such a strange name, one clearly different from Pretty Cure naming conventions, she definitely would have remembered it.
"I see. Looks like this world doesn't have Super Sentai."
Nono Hana opened her mouth, wanting to say something else, but before she could speak, her words were stopped. Literally stopped. The man's gloved fingers pinched the girl's chin and tilted it upward, leaving her unable to speak.
"Mmph..."
Being forcibly made to raise her chin and look into his eyes was not a pleasant feeling for Nono Hana.
"How dare he treat Miss Yell like that? Unforgivable..."
Ignoring the resentful whispers from the crowd, Ash seemed to be playing with a toy in his hand, casually moving her little head around as he appraised Miss Hana's currently miserable face.
"Precure... Pretty Cure? Heh, interesting."
After casually releasing her, he crossed his arms over his chest. Meeting the fiery goggles where his eyes could not be seen brought immense pressure upon Hana.
"You know, Cure Yell." He remembered the name he had heard from those fleeing pedestrians and spoke in a strangely meaningful tone. "This is all your fault."
"Huh?" Hana had never expected him to say something like that.
"You protected them too well. That's why this is your fault."
"I—I can't agree with that! Isn't that far too cruel?!"
I'm only doing what I should be doing. Pretty Cure protect people who lack the strength to protect themselves. If they can't do it, then I'll do it for them. What's wrong with that?
Are you saying I should stand by and watch people die? Unforgivable!
"Hmph, who knows."
"You!"
The tall man and the shorter girl stood locked in a standoff. The people nearby, having learned their lesson, hid behind buildings and did not even dare breathe in such an atmosphere.
"This city is called Nursery City, right?"
The man raised his wrist provocatively. The DV Defender in his hand struck the V-Commander with a crisp sound.
"I'll be taking it."
"W-What?"
It sounded exactly like something a villain planning to rule the world would say. But on second thought, Time Fire really had acted like a villain, whether by attacking the crowd or humiliating Pretty Cure like this.
"What do you mean?" Nono Hana's hand gripping the Melody Holy Sword trembled, her knuckles turning white from the force.
"Exactly what I said. Look at you. You're already this useless. That Doomsday Monster wasn't even that strong, yet it pushed you into such a difficult battle. Do you really still have the ability to protect these people?"
"I... I'll give everything I have... I'll protect everyone!"
"Will that help? In your current state, even risking your life won't be enough. Didn't you nearly die just now?"
As Nono Hana's expression worsened, Ash raised a finger and poked her forehead again and again.
"You can do anything, you can become anyone... You should've kept dreaming about that in middle school, idiot~"
"You!!" Even the gentlest person would get angry after hearing someone deny all her efforts. Nono Hana pointed the Melody Holy Sword at Time Fire.
"Clang!" The blade was still sharp, but the one wielding it no longer had any strength. The Melody Holy Sword was easily blocked by the Guardian Sword. No matter how desperately she squeezed her body for more strength, she could not move another step forward.
"Heh." With a mocking snicker, he shoved her hard. Weak Yell could not even hold on to her holy sword and was pushed to the ground.
It hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt so much!!! Every part of her hurt like hell, as if every bone in her body had been smashed apart and fragments of bone had embedded themselves in her muscles.
She struggled to get up, but this time she really seemed to have reached her limit. Her several attempts only made her collapse again.
I won't accept this. I won't accept this...
She struggled to lift her head, then let it fall again.
Tears dripped down in little drops.
"Oh? What are those tears for? What, have you finally realized you're useless and can't protect anything anymore?"
"..."
Nono Hana remained silent.
She did not want to admit it. What this guy said was complete nonsense and sophistry.
But... he was right. Was it because her wounds hurt too much that she could not think? Time Fire's words felt right. Her current self...
"I..."
"You bastard!!!"
A furious roar from the distance jolted Nono Hana's nearly broken spirit awake.
It was a pink-haired girl wearing a middle school uniform. Her face was red with anger as she gritted her teeth and glared at the red warrior who had left Hana utterly helpless.
"Hm? So you didn't leave."
What was this? There was actually someone with guts among that bunch of cowards.
Without even sparing her a proper glance, Ash continued looking down at Nono Hana as though the ordinary person who had summoned her courage did not exist at all.
"What right do you have?! Big Sister Yell has always protected us! She has never backed down!!!"
"How could some guy who just appeared out of nowhere possibly understand?! You're just a bastard who looks down on everyone because you have a little strength! What right do you have to lecture a real hero like Yell?"
Before you continue