Sky Striker Ace, but Symphogear

Wearing the Bronze Serpent Armor, Chris muttered to herself as she listlessly sat back down in her still-warm seat.

"Ah, yeah, once this guy gets caught, everyone else will be back."

Thinking this, Chris Yukine glanced at Tachibana Hibiki, who was still trying to struggle but Hibiki Tachibana was tightening the more she struggled. Realizing that she was definitely not going to break free, her attention became slightly distracted.

"Really, I don't need to worry at all. Everything is getting better, isn't it? Next, I'll focus on my own things, achieve my goals, and then concentrate on investigating what exactly happened to Raye."

For some reason, despite not being able to vent her emotions on Fusion Case No. 1 as she had hoped, Chris Yukine still felt that her mood had improved.

After her mood improved, Chris found the previously unpleasant, empty basement to be more agreeable.

The smooth, steel-cast walls were pleasing to the eye, making the desserts brought by the Raye on the table Change of Heart more delicious, and the indoor lighting was just right to maintain visibility.

"Guahoo, Miku!"

The occasional howls, like those of wild beasts, added a touch of nature to this somewhat cold underground prison.

"...

"Roar!!"

"!!?"

Wait, where did this wild animal come from in the basement?!

Hearing the sounds coming from beside her, the relaxed Chris Yukine suddenly realized that something seemed wrong. Besides her, the only other living being in this basement was that Fusion Case No. 1.

Where did that eerie beastly sound come from?

Souyao

"Roar... Ugh----- Eee...

Before Chris Yukine could react, a violent whooshing sound, accompanied by an undeniable energy fluctuation, accompanied by a pitch-black human body rushing towards her at incredible speed.

"What the hell are you?!"

Shocked and enraged, Chris Yukine unleashed the power of her Complete Relic, the Bronze Serpent Armor, and engaged in a Hibiki Tachibana battle with Tachibana Hibiki, who was radiating a wild and destructive impulse.

P. S. I had a slight writer's block before.

P. S. Good evening.

Chapter 90 - Chapter 7 Changes

While the girl wielding Snake Armor battled the berserk girl, in another place, equally inaccessible to ordinary people, beneath the ground, in a space also blessed by damp air and biting cold, an event arising from a completely accidental encounter briefly caused Raye some trouble.

"Hmph... I say, don't you have some misunderstanding about your current situation, Kohinata?"

Feeling the intense tightness coming from her hands, Raye sighed and turned her gaze to the girl who was holding her hand.

"So, are you really Raye?"

Kohinata Miku asked again, but although it was a question, her tone was incredibly certain.

Even though the environment was dim and she couldn't see clearly, the familiar voice, the long platinum blonde hair reaching her waist, and the black and red blade in her hand gradually overlapped with the figure in her memory to whom she always felt guilty.

"... Ah, yes, I am. So what are you planning to do now, Kohinata? How are you going to treat me, a terrorist who drives monsters like noise and threatens your friends with your life?"

Sensing the certainty in the other person's words, Raye readily admitted her identity, then asked Kohinata Miku, who was holding her hand, in an emphasized tone.

"..."

Kohinata Miku remained silent for a moment.

At Raye's urging, the image of what the girl in front of her had just done flashed through her mind. From her perspective, although she didn't know the specific reasons, it was clear from the surface that it was an act of evil.

[Raye, have you really become a bad person? Like those other bad people...? Because of me.]

After understanding it, such sorrowful thoughts, mixed with unspeakable memories, appeared in the mind of this intelligent young woman.

As this mixture of emotions and memories swelled in her heart, Kohinata Miku's expression grew increasingly sorrowful.

"Hmm, it seems you've figured it out. The person you remember who would waste energy on meaningless things no longer exists. Now, all that's here are villains who will commit evil deeds without hesitation for their own desires."

Looking at Kohinata Miku, who was silent and had a sorrowful expression, Zero felt that she understood the current situation to some extent and realized that the only correct solution was to submit to her and beg for mercy. Raye pressed her advantage and stated the facts.

"Now that you know this, let me go, otherwise I can't guarantee your safety."

Finally, feeling that she had done enough, Raye said this in a cold, emotionless tone, and then prepared to withdraw her hand to do her own work.

"... No, I don't want to."

However, Kohinata Miku did not do as Raye said after hearing Raye words.

"If you're going to do something Raye, I absolutely cannot let you Raye."

She simply raised her head, speaking as she gazed at the familiar yet unfamiliar girl before her with her already moist, blue-green eyes.

"... ha?"

Feeling the even stronger, more intense grip on her hand than before, as if it were trying to hold her tightly, Raye felt her head start to ache again.

"Hey, you don't actually think I won't kill you, do you, Kohinata?"

With a calm and indifferent tone, Raye emphasized this again, raising the black and red blade in her other hand as a threat, and while threatening, she used a little force to try to pull her hand out again.

"That doesn't matter."

Then, amidst Kohinata Miku's words, Raye failed again because her fingers were tightly bound by the other person's hands, making it impossible for her to pull them out without injuring the other person.

[The old Raye, who hated such terrible things, then, because of me, Raye suffered so much pain and left me.]

Kohinata Miku recalled her first encounter with the other person and their final parting.

[So it must be because of me that Raye has become the unfamiliar person she is now, and now, it is also because of me that my friend has to sacrifice herself.]

Then, this thought occupied Kohinata Miku's mind for a short time.

I don't understand. These are all very important things, so why do I always cause these precious things to be lost one after another...? No matter what, I don't want to lose anything more, even if the price is my life.

Sadness welled up in Kohinata Miku's heart as she looked at the girl in front of her with gentle but firm eyes.

"It's all because of me that Raye did such a thing, so even if I die, I don't want to lose Hibiki, and I don't want Raye to continue making mistakes."

Kohinata Miku said this, "Rather than being soft, it is strong."

At this moment, guilt and sorrow, determination and fearlessness—countless complex and rich emotions flowed through the black-haired girl's heart.

Under such emotional turmoil, Kohinata Miku's feather-light body now felt like a heavy chain, dragging Raye's steps.

[This is terrible, how am I supposed to get out of here?]

Seeing Kohinata Miku's fearless attitude, Raye a little annoyed.

She said she hated people who were fearless and unafraid of death because it meant that conventional threats were ineffective.

Should we threaten her life to make her let go, like getting noise near her?

Raye thought that, after all, even among those who are fearless in the face of death, there are those who are actually afraid of it.

[No, no, what if she really doesn't give in at all? That would be a problem. I can't possibly kill her over something like this; that would be incredibly disgusting.]

However, Raye soon abandoned this highly uncertain method.

[Ah, how come I never realized Kohinata was such a troublesome guy before...]

Looking at the determined girl in front of her, Raye felt helpless but showed no emotion on her face.

[Phew, anyway, let's try to fool them with acting skills for now.]

In the end, Raye chose the safest method: to escape discreetly without revealing any flaws.

Thinking of this, Raye stared at the girl in front of her for a moment, her face showing disgust.

"You're disgusting. Even if I kill a brainless creature like you who doesn't even value his own life, you'll just leave my Sky Striker stained with something that's hard to clean."

With a tone filled with intense disgust, Raye said this, and at the same time put down the Sky Striker in her hand.

"Oh, Raye, what's this?"

Looking at Raye, who was showing her an expression she had never seen before, Kohinata Miku's thoughts briefly came to a standstill.

[Image: Am I performing a Nuo ritual?]

P. S. Good evening.

Chapter Ninety-Eight: Seeing Through?

Kohinata Miku was confused.

She had assumed that no matter how Raye reacted, she would be prepared, and wouldn't be surprised if she were to actually take her life.

But now, for some reason, the other party's reaction made her feel a very strong sense of unease.

"Life should be lived well in order to prolong itself. Creatures that do not cherish their own lives are impurities that violate normal rules and order, and you are such a repulsive impurity."

"It's disgusting, it makes me feel terrible. Wasting time on worthless junk is like wasting my life."

"Ah, what a joke! Even just glancing at it makes me feel like my existence is being devalued, yet it's here before me, polluting my very being."

"You must disappear from my sight, and when we get back, I'll have to eradicate this hand three times!"

A slightly exaggerated way of speaking, a disdain for oneself conveyed in one's words, and an arrogant air of superiority—this is everything that Raye is currently showing to Kohinata Miku.

[This is so jarring, so incredibly jarring! It's like those incomprehensible anime plays that Yumi and the others used to perform in their club.]

As for what Raye did, Kohinata Miku's assessment was that she successfully diverted her attention from her unspeakable sadness.

"Armed Request, Widow Anchor. Feel honored, you inferior creature. For a boring impurity like you, I must expend my precious weaponry. Know that the weaponry used to touch you isn't even worth salvaging."

Then, maintaining an incongruously arrogant and disgusted attitude, Raye said this while opening something resembling a portal emitting white light that Kohinata had seen before, right beside her.

[What on earth is going on? Arrogance is something that just doesn't suit you, Rei. This feeling is as incongruous as Hibiki only eating a small bowl of rice per Raye.]

Watching the platinum-blonde girl's flamboyant performance, Kohinata Miku, well, although still harboring doubts, was completely distracted by the girl's words and actions.

"Ha, you inferior creature, you should reflect on your behavior here. If you can come up with any commendable insights from your reflection, then it won't be a waste of my precious weaponry."

As Raye spoke, a jet-black metal Grappling Anchor shot out from the Warblade Mecha beside her, firmly gripping Kohinata Miku's body.

"Sigh... um, um."

Then, amidst Kohinata Miku's confusion, she felt a slight electric shock, which caused her body to spasm briefly.

"Just stay here. Later we'll have to throw trash like you in for recycling. Letting you stay here is just polluting the environment."

After a brief spasm, thanks to her slightly stronger protection against electric current, Raye finally managed to pull her hand away from Kohinata Miku's grasp and restrict the movements of the girl who had caused her so much trouble.

After Raye took such action, Kohinata Miku's doubts deepened. She vaguely sensed that there seemed to be something wrong with her previous thinking.

Before she could figure out where she had gone wrong, Raye had already quickly walked away in a certain direction, as if she were avoiding trash.

[Phew, that should be reasonable, right? Maintaining my image while smoothing over the awkward situation from before... that should work, right?]

Having escaped Kohinata Miku's Raye, Rei thought to herself, her expression returning to its usual calm and indifference.

[Hmm, no, thinking about it carefully, my performance just now seemed a bit over the top, and I even seemed to have revealed a little bit of my true emotions... Oh well, let's just say that after not seeing each other for several years, my personality has changed a bit, that should make sense.]

Without stopping, Raye steadily walked towards her destination, thinking to herself.

She has never been particularly good at acting.

She can perfectly imitate someone when the need is clear, but when the need is an abstract feeling, she always has a hard time controlling the degree because of the lack of corresponding reference. Sometimes she even inadvertently deviates from the movies or anime series she has watched in the past.

[Ah, never mind, as long as this is plausible, that's fine. More important than that is recycling the waste generated from this operation.]

Raye shook her head, thinking to herself.

Once something is done, no amount of reflection will reveal the problem until the results are in. Compared to such meaningless things, it is more important to do the actual work well.

As Raye finished her contemplation, she arrived at her recycling work site, a pile of miscellaneous items that had been neatly stacked in advance.

"First, collect the supplies from the past few days. Then, use the Staff of Solomon to collect the noise from the surface and underground. Hmm, let's begin."

With this in mind, Raye opened the portal of the Warblade Mecha and began to methodically place the items from the pile of junk into the portal one by one, while setting the Staff of Solomon aside for later use.

On the other side, Kohinata Miku, who was Grappling Anchor and tied to the cold, muddy ground, watched Raye's figure disappear into the darkness, but her heart was filled with questions and thoughts.

Has Raye really turned into a bad person?

Originally, Kohinata Miku shouldn't have had such a question.

When Rei fought Hibiki Tachibana, her Raye -blooded attitude and her act of threatening Hibiki Tachibana with her own life were undoubtedly evil deeds.

[However, the Raye I know is not the kind of person who would willingly do evil. On the contrary, she often feels a strong aversion and disgust towards ordinary evil deeds.]

Kohinata Miku tries to recall a powerful girl she knew in the past, a girl whose actions could be described as a partner of justice.