Inside the underground fortress, Kagami let out a roar of defiance.
With every ounce of strength he had, he forcibly pulled his shoulder free of the Spider Worm's venomous spear.
"Bzzzt..." A dangerous shower of sparks erupted from his deep-blue TheBee armor. Panting heavily, Kagami staggered into position at the very front of the insect tide.
"It's not over... I'm still standing!!"
He stared fiercely at the dark, seething swarm of Worms ahead and the nightmarishly elegant Nogi Reiji, then shouted in a hoarse, resolute voice:
"Tendou! Lin Xiao! I'll be your shield! Find an opening and break out!!"
Passionate and tragic-a textbook example of heroically marching to one's death.
However.
The moment Kagami finished shouting those heartfelt words, he caught something out of the corner of his eye and froze.
"..."
Standing not far from him, Tendou Souji showed none of the despair of someone facing imminent disaster. Instead, he was leisurely brushing the dust off Kabuto's breastplate.
And Lin Xiao, who had just "taken the worst beating," his armor practically belching black smoke, now stretched without a care for appearances and casually rolled his neck, producing a series of crisp cracks.
Neither of them showed the slightest panic at being cornered!
"..."
Kagami stared, dumbfounded, his voice trembling. "Y-you... do you still have some way to turn defeat into victory?"
"Turn defeat into victory? Kagami, you call this 'defeat'?"
Lin Xiao chuckled and glanced down at the completely wrecked Kabuto Zecter on his waist, which was hissing and pouring out black smoke.
"Fighting monsters with a technological system certainly is a challenge, but..."
Under the utterly bewildered gazes of Nogi Reiji and the thousands upon thousands of Worms around them.
Lin Xiao casually placed both hands on his belt buckle.
"Click."
A crisp mechanical unlocking sound rang out.