Sky Striker Ace, but Symphogear

"What the hell is that?"

Chris sounded panicked.

The moment bloody mist rose from the words, the Singers tried to back away, but the room was too cramped. They could not dodge the terrifying crimson in time.

"Words are appearing all around us too, Death!"

Akatsuki Kirika was just as frightened.

She saw three-dimensional words floating beside her, identical to those on the computer screen. Every one of them read [I don't want to die] or [I want to live], as though streaks of blood ran through them.

They carried an obsession beyond words, a terrifying conviction magnified at the boundary between life and death. It seemed to reach into the depths of the soul, branded deep into its owner's very being.

"Hold hands! Don't get separated!"

Hibiki Tachibana reached out and grabbed the companion beside her. The other Singers did the same, and all five huddled together in fear, waiting for the phenomenon to pass.

At last, it vanished. But so did the room—and the ground beneath their feet.

"Aaaaaah—"

In the darkness, they clung desperately to one another's hands as their bodies plunged into a free fall that seemed impossible to stop.

Good evening.

Chapter 4: Fighting to Live, Going to Die

Falling. Falling without end.

Hibiki Tachibana felt a suffocating sensation of falling that seemed to come from deep within her nerves.

I can't let go.

From the moment they began falling, she could no longer hear her companions. Her only conscious thought was that she must not release their hands.

Surely the fall would end soon. She had to be ready for the impact at any moment.

Time passed slowly beneath the cover of darkness, too subtly to perceive.

A minute passed...

This is taking so long. How high up were we?

They kept falling. Hibiki