Chapter 175
Nodding, Takina, though still seemingly dazed, appeared to instinctively reload both weapons.
Looking at the girl's appearance, the black-haired Feline tapped the Halo above her head, and the gentle white light slightly dispelled the black mist... Despite the strange scene, Takina didn't find anything strange about it.
Is it because being held makes you feel safe?
'Ghost' is different from those red-clad girls who throw themselves into battle alone... or who are unwilling to act alongside others... If it is her, then she is indeed, as that person said, the best companion!
"Let's talk about this after we get to Rhodes Island... Takina, we have to go back now."
Looking at Nana's smile, although her heart was still pounding wildly as if it would burst out of her chest when she was about to be killed, Takina no longer felt uneasy.
Whether it's death, the longing for the red dress, or the loss and disappointment brought by the past... none of those things matter anymore.
"Yes, please allow me to continue my task."
Inoue Takina greatly admires her superior, whose gaze never leaves her. Being with her allows her to fully utilize all her abilities as Blue Lycoris.
Why are you holding on like that...? Is it because of this special space?
"I do hope you can behave yourself a little..."
Takina pretended not to hear what he said.
"Okay, three, two, one!"
It felt like weightlessness, but after she came to her senses, Takina realized that the scenery was moving downwards, and she had just been sinking in Nana's arms. But after returning to reality, it felt like she was being thrown upwards.
After the initial surprise, Takina, with her excellent vision and searching skills, spotted the shattered green crystal and the three-headed crystal monster surrounding it.
"Is that thing dead?"
"Judging from the light, it doesn't seem to be working yet; it's still trying to heal itself... Once it loses its activity, these monsters should turn completely black."
Even carrying someone, she couldn't land easily. Now, standing at the highest point of the mall ruins, Nana, having put down the girl with long black hair, drew her WA2000, which still had two magazines left.
"However, being able to render them immobile is a breakthrough... If they aren't attacked from behind as well, these monsters are just agile targets. Suppress them!"
Upon receiving the order, they pulled the triggers. The two Firearms Arts dealt with the enemies flanking from both sides, causing their offensive to lag behind the main attack. Meanwhile, the one aimed at the monster in the center was the halo of the three- Halo star, which turned incandescent, and the Light Wings seemed to be surging and Nana like a burst of water.
"May my rain of bullets extinguish your suffering..."
Once again, Jaeger saw what appeared to be naval gunfire... a beam of light descended from the sky, even tearing apart Catastrophe Cloud, rootless flowers were blown about by the gale, and even the Black Snow stopped falling.
With the help of a telescope, Jaeger saw two girls confronting a monster.
At that moment, a phone call from his superior made the uncle somewhat irritated:
"Hey, this is Jaeger... What?!"
The sudden communication made Jaeger frown. After all, although he knew that the sheriff had always been an ICA supporter who had never tried to hide it, this was the first time he had so openly asked everyone to act with him.
[I said, the government has confirmed a state of emergency. Now the police and National Guard should help people evacuate as quickly as possible! Remember, don't hide in city shelters, go outside the city!]
[Atlas suddenly resumed firefights with Lycoris, this time ignoring even the Continental Hotel. Large numbers of refugees were thrown into chaos by the fighting in the city... Listen, I know many people took money from the lab, and I don't expect you, without your usual high-intensity training, to fight against fully armed Mercenaries. But I order you to immediately establish a command structure to organize the evacuation of civilians. 911, the police department, and the Rapid Response Force will all be under your command.]
[This is the most basic job of a policeman! If anyone tries to evade me, I'll fucking kill them under the pretext of emergency martial law!]
[Get moving right now!] Mio
PS: Waaaaa, little cat!
I changed the ending a bit and it ended up being 6,000 words... a bit difficult to manage... Oh well, consider it a bonus for automatic subscriptions... two thousand words for free!
PS2: I've made a slight correction to the issue of misremembering Inoue Takina as 'Inoue no Ue Takina'... Did I confuse her with Yukinoshita? (scratching head)
5th Laytonson's Ghost Assassin: 191 What is 'normal'?
When did I understand that?
He had never used his 'full strength' in battle.
After all, as long as the actions were carried out step by step, the goal could be achieved. In addition, with the agent's combat philosophy of "do not increase the physical body unless necessary", "Ghost" never realized that there was anything different about him.
After all, he had been telling himself that he was just an ordinary Feline... But after being taken by Kal'tsit to see the Doctor and his Halo received a strange boost... This battle against the so-called "Artificial Angel" was probably the first time he had ever gone all out.
Unlike the restrained feeling everyone had when interacting with 'Gray Hats' and 'Emperor's Blades', Nana even felt like she was 'breathing' for the first time when fighting against 'Artificial Angel' and the so-called [Sacred Remains].
In high-intensity combat, one can clearly feel the new abilities one has gained after the Halo upgrade. After all, the scythe's slashes penetrate defensive spells without harming oneself, but rather accumulate in the Halo as a kind of 'fatigue'—the feeling of 'something being consumed' is very clear...
Although Nana didn't know how to describe it, she could certainly describe her current state with precision down to one decimal place... What was rather strange was that she could even trace back to her state six months or even several years ago.
[75.3% available capacity, continuously being depleted.]
[Offline, Armament unavailable, 1 friendly unit within communication range, hostile targets... Ignore as currently in unarmed mode.]
[Initiating a self-check of the system log. Due to confirmed information Collapse, the following content may be out of order.]
[Deleted or corrupted files, sorted by system time by default ↓]
[Time server not found. Starting to reorder by machine time.]
[Log date, unknown chronology, June 1093--]
'Command System offline status canceled, signal good.'
'Command authority confirmed for' Doctor,' granting permission for custom modifications to the AMa-77.'
'Self-discipline system in operation. Autonomous action capability and emotional resonance level confirmed to be at abnormal thresholds. Initialization initiated... Cancelled.'
'System self-check... Detected network Terminal genetic permission, level eight.'
'Modifier ID on file -- Doctor.'
'The new name of the mecha, modified by the' Doctor,' has been confirmed— Nana Ivy.'
'Starting to upload the new name and register it with the Command System.'
Registration successful.
So, now, looking back at ourselves, what exactly are these so-called 'ordinary' and 'taken-for-granted' things?
[Log date, unknown chronology, December 1094--]
[Fire control and support requests detected.]
[Permissions confirmed, payment initiated.]
The deafening gunfire shattered the enemy, taking away all their doubts in the process.
Ultimately, for Nana, even if she is not considered 'ordinary', her purpose in using her power will not change.
Since I am extraordinary, I will use this extraordinary power to protect the ordinary lives of others.
Looking at the words that appeared before her, which were probably the result of the Halo becoming more active, Nana could only marvel at her own 'extraordinary' mystery.
[Confirmed Nana Ivy's update to the corrupted dictionary... ▆▆ replaced with 'mysterious'.]
[Currently, Nana Ivy's 'Mystery' available capacity is 70.4%.]
"... Is this mysterious thing what 'Judgment' consumes?"
['Judgment' -- Confirmed as an invalid search. Military personnel are urged to refrain from feudal superstition and illegal beliefs.]
Although she didn't understand what the Halo that granted her new abilities meant, Nana inexplicably felt looked down upon.
Nana, who rarely expresses her emotions, was momentarily speechless when she tried to respond to 'He'. It wasn't until the crystal monster in front of her shattered into several pieces that Nana finally managed to find the words to express her feelings.
"Truly mysterious..."
"What did you say, Nana- senpai?!"
As she spoke, an invisible hand pulled back the bolt, ejecting six spent cartridges and detaching the magazine... As the two guns in her hands were locked in place, seeing the monster rushing towards her from two directions, Takina immediately crouched down, covering her head, and then the red-clad chief used the momentum to her advantage.
"I said, this makes it the second one."
After resetting the gun, Nana noticed the [Stress Load Alarm] warning light on her WA2000 displayed in red on her Halo. Slightly annoyed, she slung the rifle back onto her backpack.
Just as Takina took out a new magazine for her AR15, Nana switched to a shotgun... This gun didn't just have six rounds, but eight.
Nana had never tried using 'Judgment' repeatedly before, because in 'common sense', this was a 'special technique' that would come at a heavy price for an ordinary Sankta to use even once.
However, now that the Halo has provided her with detailed, data-driven information and she knows the exact cost of using 'Judgment', Nana calmly took out her second spear—and then, sunlight poured down.
As the sound of gunfire, like that of a naval cannon, rang out, the muzzle flashes swept across the slope ahead, and the projectiles turned into beams of light that gathered together and blasted the crystalline monster that had rolled into a ball like a light cannon.
The unfortunate guy who stood in front of the gunfire was predictably blown to pieces... and at the same time, the warning arrived as expected.
[Mysterious available capacity 65.1%, weapon strength alert... Additionally, command Terminal detected inability to resupply 'Mysterious' to Nana Ivy. You are consuming your own reserves. Please be aware.]
The warning from the Halo startled Nana. She had been wondering why she hadn't felt anything despite the warning about resupplying.
But with reserves exceeding half, isn't that more than enough?
Moreover, is 'mystery' really something that can be replenished?
[A: Yes... Due to the confirmed failure of the Command System's supply chain, please replenish your 'mysterious' entities locally. Alternatively, proceed to the command Terminal to collect the necessary supplies... In critical situations, you can activate low-power mode for self-recovery.]
'Leaving aside the Terminal and such, could it be that replenishing the mysterious entity on the spot...'
After just a guess, Nana saw the highlighted remains of those crystalline monsters that were still alive and seemed to be trying to repair themselves.
'What supplement... does it mean I have to eat that stuff...?'
Please use a more efficient supply method.
Even if you say that... I still don't know what to do...
Moreover, there's no time for me to leisurely research new abilities right now.
It seems that the act of instantly rendering the three 'Sacred Remains' incapacitated triggered some kind of judgment in the final monster, which had been frantically attacking Nana, now unexpectedly quieted down.
As Nana finally took out the Silver Dancer, which was filled with new armor-piercing heavy bullets, she was once again bathed in the light of day.
The dark green monster turned around and picked up its 'comrade' who was still recovering and had been blasted apart by the shotgun, and used it as a shield on the spot.
Pistol ammunition is inherently inferior in caliber and power to rifle ammunition; even with the enhancement of 'Judgment,' the muzzle flash of that shot could extend a full half meter...
But compared to the beam rifle's beam-like power, the pistol's "Judgment" is nothing more than simply adding six bullet holes to the "cover" blocking the way.
Nana was well aware that the opponent had excellent combat awareness, but what both Nana and Takina, who witnessed it all, found hard to accept was... As the last crystal monster picked up the 'cover,' the healing on the Sacred Remains that had turned into a shield was abruptly interrupted, turning into dense blue magical light.
That's SHD Defense Spell Overload Mode - Survivor Protocol.
Clearly, it was already shattered and could no longer maintain its original strength. Even with the addition of defensive spells, it was still successfully shattered by Nana's 'Judgment'.
But the last crystal monster was still alive. Its four giant scythes swept away the remaining Halo monsters. As the dark green crystal group with three Halo shot into the distance, Nana and Takina, who were somewhat disappointed because the third Judgment had not hit their target, met each other's eyes.
Seeing her senior's somewhat bewildered expression, Takina blinked and then spread her hands:
"Those monsters seem more united than that lord and the local government, isn't that funny?"
"... I can't really laugh, Takina... Let's go to the safe house below the mall right now to resupply, and then we have to keep hunting... It's too dangerous to leave that thing unattended."
"Yes."
Just as Takina said this, as Nana's 'The Dominion' dissipated, both of their communicators began to vibrate wildly as if they were going crazy... Upon opening them, a series of unread messages appeared.
Now that the conflict has ended, Takina started reading the messages from the top while chewing on an energy bar, while Nana, being more experienced, scrolled to the bottom of the unread messages, previewed the content, and then dialed the number of the person who had been bombarding her with messages.
The first person to call was Eileen, whose last message was that she had met up with Lycoris's team and planned to go to Rhodes Island for refuge.
"Eileen..."
[Master, you're finally online...]
"Sorry, that was the effect of my Collapse Originium Arts. I'm resupplying. You can report the situation directly."
[Understood... Around 5 a. m., while you were fighting Ms. Takina and the 'traitors,' Mr. Mike Shandy of Atlas gave you a warning that they would be attacking Lycoris Academy...]
[Then at 7:15 AM, the Atlas Mercenaries group officially launched an attack on the neighborhood where Lycoris School was located in the city.]
[Fortunately, Typhon's reconnaissance and early warning allowed Ms. Nagisa to effectively arrange evacuation and interception measures targeting the incoming attack... Currently, the damage is limited to property and buildings.]
[Considering that further delays would make even the Rhodes Island team's evacuation difficult, Lycoris has initiated the final evacuation protocol to transfer active-duty personnel to the ICA safe house.]
[All active Lycoris that you and Rhodes Island cannot oversee will be directly transferred to the ICA.]
[We expect to begin our journey to Rhodes Island once the children in white have reached safety.]
"So, everyone's together now? How are the pre-evacuation procedures going?"