Kitty Killer Isn't Very Cold

Seeing Elva look around as if she genuinely wanted to confirm her subordinates' safety, Theresa, who had been following beside her, made a gesture. About twelve people—a standard full Sarkaz combat squad—then emerged from the shadows.

A group of fierce-looking Sarkaz carrying weapons and dressed in all manner of mercenary gear stood behind Amiya, leaving Elva staring in stunned disbelief.

Fortunately, the young woman was still a gang member, and she was used to gang life where appearances could be deceiving. She froze only briefly before leaning back slightly with a shocked expression.

"How should I put this... no wonder your people couldn't get into the shelter... If it were me, I wouldn't let you in either... Couldn't you at least wear your company uniforms?"

"Ahaha... well... We came here on vacation at first, so everyone only brought personal belongings... But I can guarantee that nobody here is a bad person! Come on, hold out your hand!"

Watching Little Bunny drag the nearest tall, brawny Sarkaz under Judgment into a miserable handshaking game, Elva still found the sight overwhelming, but she also sensed a touch of absurdity... and sorrow...

"They really are good people. Elva, if you shake hands with them, you'll know... Everyone's palms are so warm..."

Seeing that Elva remained unmoved and seemed unwilling to believe her, Amiya felt a little hurt. Clearly, Amiya had gotten the point entirely wrong... Fortunately, the Sarkaz understood. A female Sarkaz beside them sighed and removed her combat mask.

"...Lady Amiya, please don't force the captain... What if she loses control and hurts someone? Let me do it instead..."

As she spoke, the Sarkaz formerly codenamed Blunt Arrow, now Rhodes Island's Meteorite—and one of the few Sarkaz with a build close to that of an ordinary person—removed her glove and extended her hand toward the gang girl.

"Hello, I'm Meteorite... Sorry for causing you trouble at a time like this. In exchange for allowing us to take shelter here, we'll help with the evacuation work as well... You can leave the heavier supplies to us."

"...Thank you..."

A gang girl who had struggled to survive in the Infected district since childhood, once a child laborer... and a mercenary who had survived in war zones since she was young, clasped hands just like that...

From their expressions, it was clear that both found the sensation unusual.

"Thank you. This is the first time an outsider has been willing to shake hands with us... Aren't you afraid of Oripathy?"

"Hah, who here doesn't have Oripathy?... Anyway, with your help, everyone in the block can feel more secure. Most of us are ordinary Felines, so our strength is... ordinary..."

"No problem. I saw the residents piling supplies along both sides of the street earlier. Once everyone has taken what they need... and stocked up for themselves, we can carry as much of the rest as possible... After all, we don't know how long the Catastrophe will last."

Just as the two reached this agreement, Matilda, who had been waiting for ages nearby, grew a little unhappy.

Little Cat tugged at Amiya, who had just let go of her.

"Amiya, so... we just need to move all that stuff back, right..."

"Ah... yes!"

Seeing her friend assign a task like that, Matilda looked at the trainee officers and the gang members wearing gang armbands as they began helping the others... Their expressions reminded Little Cat of a priest.

"...Mm... Helping others... isn't... wrong..."

She stretched out both hands. Under everyone's stunned gazes, Little Cat slowly rose into the air. Then great heaps of supplies slated to be abandoned were lifted by invisible hands, and Matilda guided the goods through the sky with her fingers like the leader of an airborne march.

"Over... there... Hm?"

Perhaps she had not yet reached the moment when she could accomplish everything herself. When she realized she did not know where to put the supplies, Little Cat grabbed Bunny first, then grabbed the open-mouthed, dazed Elva. The gang girl even forgot to struggle.

"Where should the things go?"

Once Elva pointed out the direction, Little Cat perked up her ears with determination.

"Okay... I'll move everything over there!"

"Huh? Wait, hold on... Hey—!"

As the voices gradually faded into the distance, Theresa watched supplies blot out the sky, flowing across the heavens as though pulled by a "train." She shook her head... She nearly laughed out loud. Why was it that, despite this being such a serious situation, that little cat could turn it into something so ridiculous?

"Um, Your Highness... What about us..."

"Amiya has already arranged everything, hasn't she? You're Sarkaz mercenaries hired by Rhodes Island now... Isn't it obvious what you should do?"

"Help with the evacuation... But... do they really need us?"

Looking at how nearly everyone gave the Sarkaz a wide berth, Meteorite voiced her question.

The princess did not answer. Meteorite's gaze eventually fell upon her palm... upon the warmth she had felt when shaking Elva's hand.

Just as Amiya had said, there was fundamentally no difference in the warmth of their palms...

With a sigh, Meteorite instinctively wanted to put her mask back on, but after thinking about it, she gave up on hiding her face.

"Anyway... let's give it a try..."

PS: Waaah, kitty kitty.

PS2: At last, all the actors are in place and the chain of cause and effect has been explained... History begins to change here. It's coming: an unprecedented saturation rescue operation across this land.

We are not helpless in the face of Catastrophes...

It's just... what will the price be...

The Mystery of the Second Medic: The Sword That Cleaves Catastrophes

For the Sarkaz, what did it feel like to watch crowds enter underground shelters under the threat of a Catastrophe?

Just as night had always been a friend to the Sarkaz throughout their protracted holy war with the Sankta... the dark clouds overhead seemed to be nothing more than a slightly oppressive backdrop to Princess Theresa and her subordinates.

Neither the howling winds nor the thunder bothered the Sarkaz amid the Catastrophe... Compared to human malice, natural Catastrophes were as gentle as a cat being stroked along its fur... As long as you did not deliberately anger "It," you would not be hurt.

"OK! We're finished here!"

After checking the last building, the trainee officers waved to Elva, who was hanging in the air from Matilda. On the other side, Theresa, who was flipping through a magazine at a newsstand, exchanged glances with her subordinates before waving upward as well... Amiya, responsible for watching that direction, naturally noticed the gesture.

Amiya tugged at Matilda. After confirming that everyone had started returning to the meeting point, the three commanders finally descended once they were sure no one else was still coming.

The Sarkaz mercenaries were counting heads to see whether anyone had gone missing, while the three trainee officers had remained together the entire time. After being busy for half the day, they finally had a rare moment to drink water and rest, their constitutions inferior to those of the Sarkaz.

"The civilians in this area have all been evacuated."

"It went much more smoothly than expected. Amiya, and all of you Sarkaz mercenaries... thank you!"

Seeing Elva's clear, bright smile, Theresa smiled as she held little Amiya in front of her, as if to say, "This was all Amiya's doing."

"Next, should we go back?"

Just as Little Cat, whose feet hung off the ground and limbs dangled naturally, asked Amiya in a posture that made her seem as if she were lying atop something, a tremendous sound and shockwave suddenly rang through the entire mobile city block, making everyone with sensitive hearing grimace in pain.

The Sarkaz mercenaries instantly raised their weapons and aimed them around them, while the young officers reacted far more normally.

"What was that?! What's that sound—?!"

"...Artillery fire?"

"Um, Xia, this isn't a war zone..."

Seeing the mercenaries' misunderstanding seem to worsen, Elva rubbed her ears and explained.

"That was the sound of city blocks being forcibly disconnected... The municipal government probably couldn't wait for the internal circulation switch anymore..."

"Then that means..."

Elva nodded, confirming Amiya's deduction.

"The Core City is about to start moving... Fortunately, Thunderstone has already arranged for people to handle this in advance. The mobile city beneath our feet will start moving soon too."

Seeing how optimistic Elva was, Amiya swallowed back the pessimistic guess that had reached her lips... But unlike Bunny, who was considerate of her companions, Matilda had always believed in speaking her mind.

"...More importantly, doesn't that mean the Catastrophe has already reached the point where the Core City can't wait any longer...?"

As soon as Little Cat finished speaking, the crackling sound of an object falling nearby caught Amiya and Elva's attention.

"What is that—?!"

"Active Originium?!"

Rain began to fall amid a chorus of crackling pops. While the gang's half-trained Catastrophe Messengers and the trainee officers fell into chaos, most of the mercenaries calmly put on masks. Meteorite even followed Theresa's instructions and took out spare supplies to hand to the children amid their cries and shouts.

"Originium Rain brings Active Originium. During its fall, some pieces with differing levels of activity will explode, while more will shatter directly into Active Originium dust... Cover your nose and mouth, put on a mask, and if possible, protect your eyes with goggles as well... That is the only way to reduce the risk of Oripathy as much as possible."

Matilda was not really listening to Theresa's explanation. She merely sensed the other woman's goodwill in wanting to care for her, so she obediently let Meteorite put all those uncomfortable things on her...

Looking at the sky, Matilda narrowed her eyes slightly. When she noticed the mercenaries raising shields or tearing down door panels and other sturdy objects to cover their heads before leaving, Matilda looked toward Amiya, who was so frightened that she was tugging at Matilda's ears.

"...Amiya, are you very scared?"

"This is also... my first time seeing extreme weather like Originium Rain..."

"Don't be afraid. I'll protect Amiya... and everyone else."

As she spoke, Little Cat imitated the mercenaries and used her ability to lift a table over their heads. Once she realized it worked, she enthusiastically pieced together roadside vehicles, trash cans, and every object that seemed capable of blocking the Originium Rain above everyone's heads.

At least at that moment, Little Cat truly fulfilled her promise...

But for the mercenaries, the gang girl, and even the trainee officers, having massive objects that looked ready to fall at any moment floating over their heads while Originium Rain fell farther away instantly turned the scene into hell... It was the sort of terror where either choice got you killed.

Sensing everyone else's feelings, Amiya could only laugh helplessly and ask Little Cat to stop... There might be places later that needed their strength even more.

Little Cat also sensed the sudden fear rising in everyone else, but she did not understand it... The young child could not help but begin to think.

"...So why is everyone afraid?"

[No one is afraid of Matilda... Everyone is just afraid of those stones that can make people sick.]

Amiya's Mind Link answered Little Cat's question that way. After tracing things back to their source, Little Cat finally fixed her gaze on the seemingly boundless Catastrophe Cloud in the sky...

"Everyone is afraid of that?"

Once Little Cat locked onto her target, the vehicle she was "holding," its glass dented and riddled with holes from the Originium Rain, suddenly sank inward in midair before being hurled high into the sky...

The sudden violent gale made everyone nearby cover their noses and mouths, as if an entirely new storm had blown from the earth toward the heavens.

Little Cat watched the vehicle's metal shell get stripped away and pierced by Originium explosions in midair. Soon, its battery caught fire amid the explosions of Active Originium... The vehicle, which had merely suffered damage to its outer shell, became a faintly glowing smoke bomb in the sky before vanishing into the heights.

"Didn't reach it... And... it was too soft..."

Having summarized the experience, Little Cat moved another vehicle through the air. Before Amiya could stop her, she kneaded the car into a ball first this time... Even the well-traveled Sarkaz mercenaries were so startled by how effortless the action seemed that they instinctively took two steps back...

Then, Little Cat hurled the metal ball she had "kneaded" solid enough at her "target" again.

This time, Little Cat used more force than before. A gale powerful enough to alter the trajectory of the surrounding Originium Rain rose from the ground. A person-sized mass of twisted metal collided with fragments of Originium along the way, and a chain of explosions rose in a straight line as if piercing the sky.

Little Cat was very satisfied with the "feel" of this throw. Unlike the "soft iron" that had been torn apart in the sky before, this iron ball flew straight into the Catastrophe Cloud...

But it was nothing like what she had imagined... nothing like the attacks in comic magazines that pierced through the heavens, forcing even dark clouds to part and flee.

The Catastrophe Cloud above did not change at all.

Steel moving fast enough to pierce a Landship had no effect on the Catastrophe itself... Enveloped by Catastrophe Clouds measured in hundreds of kilometers, Little Cat had not realized that beneath those clouds, she did not even count as a single pixel.

The real Catastrophe remained silent and wordless. Only the steady patter of "rain" urged everyone to leave.

"...Attacks don't work... Amiya, can't Catastrophes... be killed?"

"...Ordinary attacks are useless. Our Arts... can't kill a cloud..."

Amiya shook her head and took the hand of Little Cat in the air.

"Let's go. From here on, we have to rely on the mobile city... As long as we start the engines and leave the Catastrophe's range, it'll be fine."

Just as Amiya was comforting Matilda, Elva suddenly cried out from the front of the group.

Looking up, they saw loose-textured crystallized Originium clicking together in the sky. The Active Originium that had previously been only fist-sized... head-sized... perhaps even person-sized, now seemed to have combined into something as large as a house.

As the enormous dark clouds loomed over the moving group and the more timid among them began screaming, another gale surged upward... Before everyone's eyes, the embodiment of the Catastrophe, the destroyer of cities, the massive Active Originium, was suddenly split in two.

A "sword" suddenly appeared amid the dark clouds overhead... It had originally been a stretch of concrete road from the surface of Ticarondo's Fourth Block.

After Little Cat "picked it up" and gave it a little "shaping," the girl harbored doubts about her best friend's claim that it could not be killed, and she put those doubts into practice.

The heavy stone sword swept across the sky with a howl even more terrifying than the Catastrophe's. Like a dull blade cutting dough, it took effort, but if you cut down hard enough, you could always slice something away... The huge meteor split into two in midair, then two into four... But as she watched, Little Cat felt like every stone she cut above their heads was falling toward them, so she puffed out her cheeks and turned the "sword" sideways, violently swatting at the stones in the sky as though she were killing mosquitoes at home.

Amid the horrifying sound of Active Originium being crushed and deformed, explosions, shockwaves, and intense heat swept away some of the "raindrops"... Little Cat smiled at her dumbfounded friend.

"See? It doesn't seem like it was completely... useless..."

As the enormous Originium, still huge even after being cut into four pieces, fell in the distance beyond the city...

Roars, thunderous crashes, twisted steel, and people's screams followed one after another... Floating in the air and looking at the city that had suddenly become ruined without her noticing, Little Cat saw the true nature of her ability for the first time.

And... the "nature" that even such tremendous power could not change...

A hundred kilometers from District Four of Ticarondo, a sharp crack suddenly rang against the porthole of a Columbia Homeland Security Bureau intelligence ship.

"...The Originium Rain has begun..."

As soon as Nana spoke, Originium began exploding against the glass in rapid succession...

As the white-haired first officer, who stood beside the captain at all times, calmly gave the order to close the shutters, armored plates outside the glass slowly sealed shut, trapping Active Originium dust and fragments between the glass and armor.