"We easily forget that we live in a harsh world. I was very scared when I came here on the roaming bus. We were extremely uneasy without any equipment. I was relieved when we safely arrived at the school. I once saw a city destroyed by the filth monsters. A city called Blitzen. I didn't know what that city was like. I was scared, thinking that the fate of Blitzen might befall us one day."
"Nina looked regretful. I think at that time, she realized how useless she was."
"But after arriving at this city, I forgot about it. Forgetting...It's more like I didn't believe that would happen to us. The greatness of a mobile city......But it isn't perfect. And that imperfection is now before us......"
The filth monsters were attacking Zuellni.
"Will we survive? Nina, everyone, me, and you......"
"Of course," Layfon nodded. Harley lifted his face. Layfon nodded again to wipe away the doubt on the other's face.
"I'll definitely protect this place."
Layfon began to run again just after saying that.
"Where are you going?" Harley called.
"To someplace high!"
The highest place in Zuellni......Was the command tower next to the Student President's dormitory.
He headed for it.
There was some distance between the outskirts of the city and the Student President's dormitory. He could have ridden a tram, but its route wouldn't have taken him directly to the place he wanted. Instead, he used Internal-type Kei and flew along the rooftops to his destination.
And landed in front of the dormitory.
Intending to head for the tower, he saw a girl standing at the entrance.
"Senpai......"
It was Felli.
She stood there, lonely and without purpose. She wasn't surprised to see Layfon. Her lips trembled lightly.
"Senpai, why are you here?"
"No reason......"
He could guess what was happening, looking at her lowered gaze. Perhaps she was overcome. He studied her closely and saw her cheeks were slightly pink.
"Does it have something to do with the Student President?"
"It's unrelated."
She turned to leave, and he quickly grabbed her delicate wrist.
"......What is the meaning of this?"
Her eyes narrowed. He hadn't the time to shrink under that gaze.
"I need your help."
A shiver ran through her body.
"What do you want?" She shook off his hand, her glare sharper than ever.
"Do you so want me to use psychokinesis? I don't want it. Isn't it fine to not use it? I don't need this ability. I hate it enough to toss it to someone else. Do you still want me to use it?" Her voice was calm, but every single word was reproving him.
"I thought you were the same as me. You didn't want to use your power, but I was wrong. You......"
"I also don't want this power."
Layfon talked, seizing his chance to speak without interruption.
"I'm only using what I possess. Perhaps I've never liked this ability."
But Leerin didn't think so. He thought he was only using it to reach his goal, but perhaps deep down inside, he truly liked wielding the katana. He couldn't be sure. It was already in the past, and he didn't feel that he liked Military Arts in the present. In reality, he had such painful memories because of the Arts of the Katana.
Even if he had used it wrongly.
"Besides this, the current situation needs us. This can't be helped."
Displeasure showed in Felli's eyes.
He said solemnly, "I don't want anyone to fall victim. I want to eliminate every single filth monster, and I need senpai's power to achieve that. I need your help. Please!"
He bowed. Looking at her feet, he had no idea how she would react. Her feet remained still, and Layfon kept silent.
"......Even I know this isn't the time to be willful," she said. "But I still don't like being used. I hate it."
"If you don't use your power, people will die," he said still bowing his head. "I also want to find a future without Military Arts in this city, but for that purpose, this city must live. I've already failed once in my life. I don't want to fail again."
(And also......)
"And also, I don't want the people here to lose their futures because of today."
Mifi, Naruki and Meishen were here. Their dazzling lives made him dizzy. He didn't want their futures to be dashed.
He only fought for his survival back in Grendan, but that wasn't enough. The world of Regios allowed people to live with dreams. The Electronic Fairy, the little girl Zuellni protected them and gave them the chance to have dreams. In that case, this time, let him fight seriously for his goal.
To keep on living and fighting for the satisfaction of living.
And for that purpose, he would not allow Meishen and her friends to meet a tragic end. They gave off so much light and allowed him to look forward to a dream.
"......You really are a good person, beyond help."
He heard her sigh.
And then Layfon looked up after hearing the sound that followed.
In Felli's hand was a Restored staff.
"What do I have to do?" she asked lightly.
Layfon bowed to Felli again.
Her face reddening, she turned away from him.
Droplets of sweat rolled down from her forehead and wet her eyebrows. Nina wiped it away with her sleeve to prevent it from seeping into her eyes. Absorbing the sweat, her sleeves turned heavy. Impatience sent Kei flowing through her entire body, and the Kei blew off some of the sweat sticking on her. With her iron whips, Nina kept striking the larvae that had lost their legs and couldn't move.
"Tsk!" she called out at the result of her attack.
Internal-type Kei strengthened her body and she struck the larva with the force of External-type burst Kei, and all that did was make a small dent on its shell.
"Damn, just how hard is this thing?"
She retrieved the iron whips and jumped aside. Another larva landed in the spot she was in just a moment before.
The number of larvae showed no sign of decreasing.
The larvae that were hit by Sharnid's team crashed down onto the ground, and instead of flying once more, dragged their bodies towards Nina and her platoons. The students had been attacking these larvae for a long while now.
It felt like a long while.
Nina couldn't tell just how much time had passed. Usually, she had no problem measuring time with her biological clock, but that failed her today.
"Damn!" She knew she was tense because of her inexperience. She would have gotten used to the fight soon enough if her opponent was human.
But not to these larvae. None of the students had fought any non-human targets in mock training.
Nina attacked the larva beside her with Kei, managing to destroy a compound eye and tear open the red veined muscles. The larva continued to sway forward and then stopped, blocked by a fence. The high voltage electricity flowing through the fence lit up the larva in green light. The larva ceased struggling, as black smoke rushed out from beneath its shell.
Perspiration dotted Nina's forehead.
Fortunately, the movements of the larvae were clumsy and repetitive. All the larvae did was move in a straight line. If they didn't fall flat on their opponents, pressing down hard, they couldn't use their jaws.
What Nina had to look out for was the horn that extended out from beneath the shell. All of the Military Arts students were working hard to incapacitate the larvae, aiming for the shell.
But without much of a success.
The problem was obviously the huge number of enemies they were facing.
"This never ends......"
Sharnid's team kept hitting the flying larvae as Nina's troops continued to eliminate the larvae that had landed. They kept repeating this strategy, but the combination of air and land combat was nothing compared to the larvae's advantage in number. The larvae had the absolute upper-hand
in this fight.
"Ha!"
The shouts diverted Nina's attention away to where three Military Arts students were fighting against one larva.
"Ah......"
Nina watched, forgetting the fact that everyone else was also fighting.
The three fought with a female student as the center. The color of that female student harness showed she was in first year. It was a tall and awe-inspiring looking female. A badge of the City Police was on her baton. This explained why she was on the battlefield, even though she had not yet obtained an arms permit.
A speedy rush took the female student to the side of the larva, and she kicked out at one of the joints in the leg. It looked like she hadn't yet trained in External-type burst Kei, but the Internal-type Kei sustaining her was amazing.
The larva howled in pain and changed its direction, charging towards its attacker.
The girl retreated back while increasing her distance with it.
And while that happened, the other two students struck the larva with their Kei, causing a crack to appear on its shell.
The larva wanted to again change its direction, but the girl kept on distracting it.
Their repeated strategy had destroyed one larva after another. A number of larva corpses lay strewn in their vicinity.
What a brilliant plan, to fight three against one.
But what attracted Nina's attention was the girl who acted as bait. Her movements were deft and skillful.
"I've seen her somewhere," Nina muttered.
She had no time to dig further into her memory, as another larva approached her. Nina would learn later that the girl was called Naruki Gelni.
A small mountain had piled up at the edge of the city, made of the larvae that Sharnid's team had hit with their cannons. As the larvae couldn't reform their attacks, they had given Nina and her troops a chance to keep on fighting.
The shooting team took out that mountain of larvae. The larvae scattered to fall onto the ground.
A larva suddenly came close and Nina bent down to avoid its horn, flicking out her whips to strike at its head. She rolled back, narrowly escaping the fate of being trampled by other larvae, but a larva was already waiting at the spot where she would roll to a stop. The tension and pressure in her head made her act reflexively. Her External Kei burst out, and using that momentum, she widened the gap between her and the larva.
She regained her fighting stance and entered the fight once more. As a shell covered the larva's body, the larva's head was the easiest target. Nina's strike was off by a few millimeters, and her whips broke one of the larva's forelegs. The larva shifted its movement, and headed left.
What a close call.
She relaxed a little.
"Captain!"
Whose angry voice was this that came through her transmitter? Sharnid?
Without the time to determine who the owner of that voice was, she instinctively leaped to a side. A presence kept closing in from behind, and pain flared in Nina's shoulder. Her body flipped through the air.
She crashed onto the ground, the things in her vision spinning. Her wound brushed against the earth. Bearing that intense pain, she stood up.
The wound was on her left shoulder. Muscles had been torn apart from her shoulder and arm. The iron whip fell from her numb hand. The larva that rushed past her had crashed into another student. Blood and pain gushed out from Nina's wound, staining her tattered sleeve scarlet, and her wrist turned numb.
(No!)
The loss of blood took away the vitality of her Kei. Her body felt heavy.
(No, this isn't good......)
Anxiety halted her steps and made the iron whip heavy in her right hand. The spasms running through her left fingers irritated her.
Her consciousness was starting to fade. No. She must move......Despite her thought, her knees refused her order and could only tremble. The exhaustion that she couldn't feel thanks to her Kei now overwhelmed her.
She stared off blankly, her consciousness slipping. She stared, and failed to move her body. In her vision was a larva, its huge body turning, its polished black horn targeting her.
The vibration in the air hit her first.
(I'm about to die......)
She accepted her impending fate as the vibration pierced through her body. This didn't feel like the Kei from the cannons, but from a normal Dite, and it rained madly down on the larvae. Who was it? Sharnid? The rain of Kei successfully destroyed many larvae's heads, but it wasn't enough to eliminate every single filth monster.
Even the iron whip in Nina's right hand fell to the ground. She watched the larva head towards her. She'll die. She'll die. Facing this reality, she could only watch it happen.
"Uh......" She let out her breath.
And murmured.
"Damn."
(What a detestable way to die, out here,) but her body refused to move. The Kei that flew out of her with her blood showed no signs of reviving. Having lost too much blood, she hadn't the strength to consider how to reactivate her flow of Kei. Perhaps that was why she could watch what happened next with hazy calmness.
All movement ceased.
Temperature lower than zero descended onto the entire battlefield. In Nina's eyes, the stirring of air particles seemed to have stopped, as if the coldness had frozen the water vapor in the larvae's bodies, halting their movements.
The entire world was holding its breath for what was to come.
At first, the scene was of it falling apart.
The larva closing in on Nina had been split apart.
Its huge body broke in two. The upper part fell off, its simple innards tumbling out from beneath the severed shell. Thick green liquid sprayed, its smell stinging Nina's nose.
And the larva behind that was also split apart.
And then the next, and the next......
And the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, was split in half and they tumbled to the ground as lumps of meat.
In the blink of an eye, the corner where the larvae had gathered became desolate.
"What......"
What had happened?
Nina did all she could to support her body and remain conscious. What was it, that could so easily break through the hard shells of the larvae?
She didn't see what it was.
But the changing atmosphere......
An indescribable feeling filled the area. A feeling of something strong, like a heart drumming. The beat of flowing blood hovered in the air.
Was it this feeling that had wiped out all of the larvae?
It didn't feel real. The haziness in her brain was reality.
Someone dragged her aside. Could be someone from her team. That person dragged her to the back and pulled her onto a stretcher.
She weakly pushed away the medical student from her.
"Retreat, you fool!" the voice of the Student President resonated through the air.
"We're entering the final phase. All Military Arts students, follow my instructions and retreat behind the fence."
Searching for the source of that voice, Nina saw petal-like things floating in the air.
"Flakes?"
They were the flakes that a psychokinesist used. The flakes could analyze information from their surroundings and transmit messages from far away.
Who was controlling the flakes?
(The Student President......) But what surfaced in her mind was his sister. Was she actually with the Student President?
"Are you all right?"
The voice came from the flakes.
"Layfon?"
"Yes. Please leave now."
"Wait. Did you do that? Just what did you do?"
"I don't have time to explain. The countdown's about to begin."
He repeated. "Listen carefully. You must retreat to the area within the fence. There wasn't time to make minute adjustments, so I might not be able to control it as well. Worse comes to worse, this could tear up even the Student President."
"Wait!" she shouted, but Layfon didn't reply.
The flakes lifted into the air and flew outside the city.
"Countdown begins," came the voice of the Student President.
Nina pushed away the medical student, hard. Her brain had cleared a little. As the person responsible for this section, she couldn't retreat into the back. She must coordinate with the countdown and make sure everyone has evacuated. Besides, she wanted to see what Layfon was about to do with her own eyes.
Because he was her subordinate.
Reproving her swaying body, she stayed rooted to the spot, watching the larvae before her.
Felli stood alone on the rooftop of a dormitory for senior students, not wanting to enter the command tower. She watched the sky with eyes closed. She hadn't lifted her head. The images from the sky surfaced in her mind, conveyed by the flakes.
Thick cloud cover floated in the north, blocking the moonlight.
And on that piece of land were Zuellni's legs, trapped in the scarlet, filthy earth, surrounded by countless numbers of larvae.
Nine hundred and eighty-two.
"That's a small number. I fought more than ten thousand larvae at Grendan once."
Layfon's voice was sober. The horror of those larvae made it difficult to breath. A breath escaped from Felli's lips.
She opened her eyes.
To her left was the command tower.
The flag of the Academy City fluttered in the wind, revealing the drawing of a girl, Zuellni, and a fountain pen.
A person stood beside that flag.
Layfon.
The dim light outlined his silhouette. All of the flakes had scattered outside Zuellni. Only one flake remained to keep contact between Felli and Layfon.
As she couldn't make him out under the insufficient light, she used the flake to confirm his location. Out of the many images overlapping each other in her mind, she plucked out the image of Layfon.
Chrome Shelled Regios Page 14