Koukaku no Regios

Information came piece by piece to Felli.

The Psychokinesists in Grendan with Elsmau as their center were still giving their a.s.sistance. Though they were currently using all of their power to regroup the Psychokinesists of the City Collective, in this period they still worked hard to gather information.

The flame that the beast released was still spreading its area, as if continuously expanding like a wave.

The method by which the flame spread wasn"t a slow, circular expansion, but rather it became more focused into a single location the farther it was from the beast.

But even so, the part of that range that was a problem now was that there were gaps in the s.p.a.ce between those waves.

(Captain definitely entered through those gaps.)

Putting her entire mindpower into Psychokinesis would mean that moving her body would become extremely annoying. So, Felli used the flake even to talk to Sharnid next to her.

"Our Captain wouldn"t just charge into someone else"s flames without saying anything, right?"

(That"s not for sure.)

"It is Nina, though."

Sharnid spoke up, having thought of things that had happened in the past.

"Speaking of which, can we speculate a definite path of advance?"

That kind of thinking was hard to imagine, and from the voice that came to Layfon from the other side of the Psychokinesis flake, he could feel a bit of coldness.

Right now they were running on the ground, chasing after Nina.

Thought they hadn"t had the time to ready themselves completely, they didn"t have time to be concerned with that either. Probably the only fortunate thing was that Harley had prepared so many Dites for him.

(I"ve noticed traces of high speed. If we put these traces and the movements of the flame together it may be possible to find a specific path.)

"In that case......"

(But, whether or not we can find a specific path is still an extremely difficult problem.)

"Eh?"

"Nina"s a lot faster than we who have to speculate here, that"s the problem."

"Is, is that so."

(That"s not the only situation.)

Sharnid had spoken correctly, but there were still other issues.

(Because the flame could have obstructed the Captain"s advance in the first place.)

"Yeah...... you said before that this wasn"t an ordinary flame."

(After all, those were only my speculations.)

In the end, the current distance between the Psychokinesis flake and the flame was still insufficient to investigate the flame, and moreover, even if they drew closer to the flame, the flake wouldn"t be able to get close because of the heat.

Finally, the flames were strong enough to melt the ground, so the Psychokinesis flake couldn"t get close so easily.

"If there are no obstructions, about how long would it take to go there directly?"

(Are you talking about Captain?)

"Yes."

Felli thought for a bit about Layfon"s question.

On a motorcycle meant for the wilderness, the distance between the beast and Felli would probably require two days of riding.

But, right now they didn"t need to mind the presence of pollutants, and Military Artists could use their highest speeds.

In that case, the necessary time would change surprisingly depending on the Military Artist"s power.

(With Layfon"s current speed there will probably still be two hours.)

"About the same as what I thought, It should be about that much time based on my body"s feelings.

Then, what about Nina?"

(To be honest, I don"t know either.)

Felli told Layfon plainly.

(I have no way to ascertain that person"s current strength. She seemed to have something hidden in her fighting power just now.)

"Speaking of which, why is that? Why would there be such a huge change in her power?"

(I fear that it"s because of the Haikizoku.)

Felli replied to Sharnid"s question.

"Right, it seems like I heard some similar things recently. It"s possessed Nina"s body? Maybe there will be more mercenaries coming around that want that thing." [1]

Sharnid shook his head, having thought of something bad from the past.

In the events concerning the Haikizoku, one of Sharnid"s good friends had fallen into misfortune, which was why Sharnid would show that kind of expression.

(All we know is that there was only one Haikizoku possessing Captain"s body, but right now that might have changed.)

"Right, that Electronic Fairy just now also said similar things, and I felt like that thing had the presence of someone important."

(Right.)

"Possess whatever possible, strengthen as much as possible, and then become a legendary hero...... something like that?"

(It"s something similar.)

"Ha, that"s really a method that Nina would like, that person likes duty the most."

(But, if that goes on then Captain won"t be able to return.)

"Right, she"ll self-destruct this way. Aah, d.a.m.n. Oh, right."

(What is it?)

"It"s really ironic. The legendary hero defeats the demon lord, and the story just ends there, hooray hooray. But no one knows where the hero goes after that, and no one pays any attention to it either. The most important thing is only that peace is restored to the world, and no one cares what the hero becomes. Because wasn"t he just one of the things creating the peace? That"s what people arrogantly believe."

(......In other words, the situation becomes meaningless?)

"That"s right. Ah, though this is just a meaningless word game."

(But, Captain also believes in those word games.)

"Spoken a bit rougher, the hero is actually just a weapon against the demon lord. The use of a weapon is to strike the target, and no one expects her to do anything else."

(Is Captain being tricked?)

Was the Electronic Fairy named Schneibel tricking Nina?

If she requested that Nina lend them her strength for world peace, how would Nina respond? Maybe she would hesitate a bit.

But, in the end she would still lend them her strength.

Nina wouldn"t go back to think about things like what the true thoughts of the other side were, and unfortunately she would probably just think about whether or not she could truly do it while telling them that she would lend them her power.

Even without being told that outcome, Felli definitely believed that she would still do this. If it were that person, it was possible.

"I don"t know. It"s also possible that she just charged out like a bullet after seeing something troublesome happening before her."

There was also that possibility.

In any case, that was a possibility if it were her.

"......The things in Captain"s body could be her great-grandfather"s Haikizokus."

Layfon said this.

Layfon ran rapidly over the ground.

On the always-dry ground, the sensation coming through his feet made it feel like he was running on a giant piece of stone. The dust covering the surface was blown away by the wind produced around his body before floating into his eyes.

Before him was a vast land and a sky clear enough to make one surprised, along with a flame that wanted to paint all of this a single color.

It was only a matter of time before this entire scene was painted over by flame.

(What do you mean?)

Felli raised a question to Layfon"s words.

"I want to focus a bit."

But, right now it seemed that he didn"t have the energy to explain in words. Layfon strengthened the awareness he directed towards his Kei in order to increase his speed again.

There were many Haikizokus inside the body of the great-grandfather who was known as Gildred, and what if those had all become Nina"s things?

Layfon thought of this.

If it were truly like that, then that also explained why they couldn"t see that old man at this kind of time.

"Because that person only did those things for the kind of situation today."

Thinking carefully, maybe that old man had only come near Zuellni because Lævateinn...... because Vati had been there.

Gildred had come because he knew Vati"s true ident.i.ty.

But, if that kind of battle happened in Zuellni, then in the end there would be huge damage.

Had he not told Nina anything because he worried about this? Speaking of which, what had Vati been pursuing for her to come to Zuellni?

Though the situation had already developed this far, there were still many things that he didn"t know.

But, even so, he couldn"t stop running right now, and he didn"t have time to go back and confirm these things.

The giant destructive power of the wave of flame before him drew nearer stop by step.

If they were simply engulfed by this wave, then Grendan and the other cities behind him would end right there.

Had Nina set out in order to resolve this crisis?

Or had Nina done this in order to defeat that beast of flame?

Perhaps, just like Felli and the others had said, Nina was only being fooled by Schneibel?

"......Captain."

Layfon rapidly advanced.

Continuously running with Nina as his target.

From what time had he not been able to speak properly with her?

After that time in Grendan, Layfon had closed off his heart, and from that time Nina had begun keeping her own secrets.

The opportunities for platoon activities had slowly decreased.

Their living areas had changed, and though the distance between them should have decreased, the distance between him and Nina had become longer and longer.

And in that period of time when they hadn"t been able to talk, the distance between the two had somehow already been pulled that far apart.

"......d.a.m.n!"

That distance made Layfon feel that the s.p.a.ce between him and Nina was like a wall that had been built up by time. It was hard to bear.

For the first time since everything had begun in that battlefield city manipulated by Nina"s great-grandfather, Layfon saw the things that had come between the two of them.

"d.a.m.n! d.a.m.n!"

Regardless of how he made angry sounds, he couldn"t increase his speed to the next level. His current speed hadn"t reached the limits that he could achieve.

But, using all of his strength before the battle started was meaningless. And precisely because of that reason, he could only raise his speed to this level right now.

Layfon felt angry at his hesitant self after thinking of this. His mood was so impatient that he thought of tearing himself apart.

(Please don"t be that anxious.)

At that time, Felli"s voice entered Layfon"s ears.

(Even if our goal is to save Captain, if you can"t strike our final target, then we ultimately won"t be able to stop it. Conserving your power is a very necessary action.)

"......You"re right."

Felli"s words made his thinking that had been about to be crushed to pieces return back to calmness. His breathing that had become slightly agitated also normalized.

(......Do you want to save Captain?)

"It doesn"t even need to be said."

Layfon was surprised at Felli"s sudden question.

(Hmm.)

"What is it?"

(......What do you think about Captain?)

"Eh?"

(I"m directly asking, do you like Captain?)

"Wuaahhhhhh!?"

Because Felli had suddenly said this, Layfon almost fell over while advancing.

"That, that kind of thing......"

(Could it be that you wanted to go save her without any of those kinds of emotions?)

"F-Felli is also doing that, and Sharnid-senpai and Harley-senpai......"

Everyone wanted to save Nina, and he definitely wasn"t the only one thinking that. Even Dalshena who hadn"t been able to come here had said "I leave it to you" to Layfon and the others. However, she had held a strongly pained expression on her face for being unable to go.

(Captain and I are companions, so it doesn"t matter.)

But Felli still went on.

(There"s nothing good to say about the other two. Sharnid likes anyone who"s a female, and Harley is a childhood friend. Ah, he"ll probably do something like this even if Captain looked at him like he was an alien.)

"Why is your a.s.sessment of Harley-senpai so harsh?"

(Those things don"t matter right now.)

Layfon"s question was easily killed.

(The problem is with you. What do you think?)

"......Hasn"t something similar happened before?"

(I would do the same thing no matter how many times.)

Hearing that kind of resolute reply, he couldn"t find any other excuse.

(Hurry and say it, what do you think?)

The pressure transmitted by the Psychokinesis flake made him feel like Felli herself was there, and Layfon was speechless.

Right now wasn"t the occasion to talk about those kinds of things, and clearly he could resolve everything by saying a few words, but right now the reason he couldn"t say those things was because of himself.

Perhaps, talking about this topic might have been able to alleviate Layfon"s tension.

Looking at it from that perspective, he might be seeing some of Felli"s hidden tenderness.

"Well...... The burden on my shoulders has been lightened a lot. Right now I still want to focus a bit, so could we interrupt this topic for now?"

(Really, alright then. Then, why don"t you try breathing deeply again?)

"Eh?"

(Hurry.)

"That......"

Guess he should just breathe deeply and see.

Breathing deeply as he rapidly advanced over the barren earth towards the monster that wished to burn the entire world...... he couldn"t do that kind of thing.

Even so, he still tried challenging the deep breath to complete Felli"s request. The wind blowing around him blasted away the impurities in the air, and the sounds produced reached his ears...... in the first place, it wasn"t a situation where he could leisurely breathe deeply, but the pressure of the Psychokinesis flake still told Layfon that he had to do it.

"This......?"

(Have you calmed down a bit?)

"I guess I was a bit confused."

(Really? Then, please tell me the answer to my question.)

"It"s still not over!?"

(Of course it wouldn"t end so simply......)

The premonition that this topic wouldn"t be resolved that he felt when Felli said this sentence disappeared after he felt an abnormal sensation.

Other than the sound of his running, the air that he had felt abnormally quiet...... became even more silent.

That kind of feeling was very like the tense feeling before a swordfight, and moreover that kind of feeling seemed as if it had solidified in the air.

"Something...... is coming!"

At the same time as Layfon said this, changes happened.

That report quickly came to the Military Arts heads of the City Collective.

Of course, that included Alsheyra.

(A change has occurred.)

"Is the situation bad?"

Elsmau"s voice sounded extremely tense.

Alsheyra stood in the outskirts of the city.

So, she had already caught the changes that Elsmau spoke of with her extraordinary vision.

(The wave of flames closing in on this place has changed.)

"Nn?"

(They have split into the appearances of organisms.)

"Can we clearly see their formation?"

(Yes, we can.)

"I feel that it"s better to let the Heaven"s Blades that can act stand in the front, and the other Military Artists follow behind. Even if there"s a limit for how long we can stay here, we can just let the Heaven"s Blades charge out, and I will also follow."

(Is that alright?)

"What do you mean?"

(I mean the work of guarding the city.)

Elsmau"s sentence had already revealed the thing she was worried about.

Alsheyra"s command didn"t have half a trace of worry about the half-demolished city. If something happened, then the city could be completely destroyed.

"Most of the residents have already gone to the shelters, do you think there"s anything else we need to protect?"

(Could it be that you don"t have any feelings for Grendan?)

"I can"t do anything about things that have broken. Moreover, I think that right now we don"t have the energy to think about what happens afterwards, right?"

(......Understood.)

"Then our resting time should be about over."

After saying this, Alsheyra"s feet stopped on the outermost portion of the outskirts, and she leaped out.

There was a person who saw the flame"s changes from a very close distance.

Of course, that person was Nina.

The only sounds surrounding Nina who was rapidly advancing were the sounds that she produced.

There was no Psychokinesis flake, nor was there Schneibel"s voice. The Haikizokus blazing with Kei inside her also kept silent.

During the process of her silent advance, Nina saw the change.

In front of her advancing path, there was a wave of flame.

The flames that covered the ground as it drew closer had the pressure of a giant animal.

So Nina was sensitive to small changes.

Though Nina had chosen to avoid the advance path of the flame in front of her, after she noticed that change, she slightly adjusted her course.

Nina adjusted her course towards the flame, charging straight into that giant clump of heat.

Something was going to happen that she had no choice but to face.

Nina felt this way.

"..................Um."

Afterwards, she noticed that her feeling was correct.

The violently approaching cl.u.s.ter of flame shook for a moment, trembling while splitting into pieces.

Not long afterwards, it had become four-legged beasts wrapped in flame.

The group of beasts focused their fiery gazes on Nina"s body, and attacked.

Wordlessly, Nina readied her iron whips.

Though she was running rapidly, Nina"s breathing was regular. She continuously controlled her Kei, limiting it from exploding inside her.

A portion of it flowed into her two iron whips.

The iron whips that she had received from Zuellni completely absorbed her Kei.

And then, she struck.

The iron whips that had silently been swung out were propelled forward, and Nina"s figure disappeared amidst light, tearing the surrounding air.

Combined Internal and External Kei variant - Raijin.

The Kei technique that she unleashed blew away the attacking beasts of flame in an instant.

After they flew out, they were run through by the iron whips.

But, not all of the flame beasts had been fended off.

The raging flame was still drawing closer, as if it had been released from a bow, or suddenly shot out from a gun.

That continuously stretching flame divided endlessly, becoming similar flame beasts that leaped out, running on the ground.

Nina"s Raijin wanted to pierce that endlessly dividing cl.u.s.ter of flame.

The flames that would make others shudder upon seeing them were continuously blown away by Nina, who had become lightning. Perhaps her confrontational strength looked extremely minor.

But, the effects it brought about were indeed intense.

Nina"s lightning split the flame, blowing away one by one the flame beasts that a.s.saulted her.

The flame beasts were crushed, and their flame scattered and dissipated formlessly.

The lightning continuously advanced without stopping its momentum, and finally smashed the main body of flame.

Nina stopped her Kei technique, and her figure appeared from the dispersing lightning. She didn"t slow down at all, but immediately continued running.

She didn"t turn around.

At the same time, she didn"t look left or right.

She only looked ahead.

Only at that giant beast that wanted to burn the entire world, even now still constantly releasing flame.

"If I defeat it, everything will be over."

In order to keep from disturbing her breathing, Nina spoke quietly.

Nina didn"t know how she could use that sincere determination housed in her body, and only continued to run.

The released flame had all become flame beasts.

(Their speed has increased.)

Felli who was constantly observing quickly noticed that fact.

(The flame beasts have a certain heat when they split off. The heat for each one is lowered, and there should be many more Military Artists who can endure that heat.)

"Rather than that, an explosion occurred quite far ahead."

(Yes.)

Felli confirmed Layfon"s words.

(Yes, it was Kei-produced light just now. It should have been Captain who did it.)

"Let"s go there."

(Understood.)

After confirming that Layfon had gone silent, Felli gathered information while thinking.

If this went on they wouldn"t catch up.

The situation didn"t only depend on the speed between Layfon and Nina, but the obstruction of the flame had also pulled open the distance between the two.

As if seizing the opportunity to act, the flame had begun spreading to its surroundings.

Every move they took had the result of dying the s.p.a.ce directly between Layfon and Nina red.

If the power of the two were similar to a degree, and if the speed at which they destroyed the divided beasts wasn"t too different, then the distance between them wouldn"t shorten.

And however he thought, Layfon couldn"t have a similar power to Nina who had several Haikizoku inside her.

Nina was fighting, but Layfon was just running without fighting.

If that state could be continually maintained......

"But, things won"t develop that smoothly......"

Felli whose mind had sunk deep into thought let those words slip out without noticing. They weren"t through Psychokinesis, but rather were spoken directly from her mouth.

"What is it? Is something troublesome?"

Sharnid hadn"t missed those words.

"I"m only thinking of how to a.s.sist Layfon well."

After being irritated for a while, Felli verbally described the current situation. She didn"t use Psychokinesis because she feared that if Layfon heard their conversation, it would produce unnecessary worry.

"That"s really troublesome."

Sharnid shook his head with a distressed expression.

"......I guess if they arrive at the same time it should be fine. The opponent won"t force Nina to self-destruct before he sees her power, I think."

"Even if Layfon himself can"t do it, can you send a Psychokinesis flake to Nina first?"

Harley spoke.

"If you tell the situation to her, I think even Nina will want to form up with us."

"Maybe that could work. But to actually do that kind of thing......"

Sharnid suddenly stopped halfway.

"What is it?"

Seeing Sharnid"s change, Felli raised the question.

"Is it enough as long as we send it over?"

"What way do you have?"

"Well, there"s only one thing I"m able to do."

Saying this, Sharnid gestured to his own restored Dite.

It wasn"t...... a sniper rifle. It was the modified gun Harley had created that he had used to send the Dite to Layfon.

"Use this guy to shoot it out."

"Can it reach?"

"In any case, just relying no the movement speed of Psychokinesis can"t catch up to Nina, right?"

"Though that"s indeed true."

Right now the front-line situation was being gathered through the Psychokinesis flake with Layfon.

Even if it couldn"t catch up to Nina, as long as they could increase the number of Psychokinesis flakes on the frontline, it was something to be thankful for.

(We on this side will also help with that battle plan.)

At that time, Elsmau"s voice joined in.

In order to share information, Felli took her flake.

"You still have the energy to listen to us talking here?"

(Though I don"t have much energy, I listened for a bit because I don"t know where a chance to win might be concealed.)

Elsmau"s tone of voice was still serious as always, seeming as if she never joked, and it couldn"t be figured out whether she was truly listening to the battle plans of every Military Artist nearby.

Even Felli felt a headache just thinking about it.

(It"s also our desire to have a large quant.i.ty of Psychokinesis flakes on the frontline.)

Elsmau said lightly.

"What are you preparing to do?"

(We"re also preparing a launcher to use Kei bullets to send the Psychokinesis flakes out.)

"In that case, do as you wish."

If they were just taking the plans that this side had thought of, they could do that however they liked.

Felli"s problem was that she wanted to establish contact with Nina, or get Layfon to catch up to her.

(We will do that. Also, if there"s something that we here can unite for, please tell me, and maybe we can help you.)

"Eh?"

(If you want to send a Psychokinesis flake to your companion, we can utilize one of the Heaven"s Blades.)

"That......"

(If it"s Barmelin-sama, I believe that she has a higher possibility of sending the flake than your group.)

"......No, it"s alright."

(Is that okay?)

"Thank your for your offer, but you should already be extremely busy on that side. So please don"t worry about us."

(Understood.)

Elsmau retreated surprisingly quickly, completely surpa.s.sing Felli"s expectations.

(But, if you need something, please do not be concerned, and say it.)

(This is a battlefield, and there is no battlefield to neglect one"s allies.)

"Thank you very much."

There was a weight that could be felt in Elsmau"s words.

But, even so......

"Hey, isn"t that way better? Felli-chyan."

As Elsmau"s Psychokinesis flake was keeping silent waiting for a reply, Sharnid opened his mouth.

"......Are you not confident that you can send it?"

"To be honest, I can"t do that kind of thing."

"But, right now there"s only you."

"But that"s not the only way."

"If other people have that energy, I"ll also try them."

"But didn"t the other side propose that themselves?"

Felli wasn"t able to hide her own anger towards Sharnid"s negative att.i.tude.

"Only we can save Captain. Isn"t that why you"re here?"

"I understand that too."

"Hey, hey......"

At that time, Harley inserted himself into the tense atmosphere.

"Right now we can still try and see if we can increase the flight distance."

"......Please don"t spend too much time."

"I know."

After Felli shot a glance at Harley who took the Dite from Sharnid and took out tools, she once again began focusing on Psychokinesis information gathering.

How could they send it to Nina?

Or, how could they get Layfon to catch up to Nina?

There were only those two questions in Felli"s mind.

"Hey, what"s up with Felli-chyan?"

Sharnid spoke quietly next to Harley who was squatting down, working.

"Nn......"

Harley could only show a wry smile.

"I think that she"s being impulsive."

"For what?"

"To save Nina, and to become Layfon"s strength."

"Hah?"

"Because of those two things, her mind isn"t turning very well."

"Tch."

Though he understood the meaning behind Harley"s" words, Sharnid still shook his head and made an expression as if he were unable to accept that.

"Does she unnecessarily believe that only we can do this because she knows about too many things through Psychokinesis?"

"Maybe it"s like that."

"We really lost to her. We don"t have that kind of superhuman strength, right?"

They had seen Layfon"s battles in Zuellni, and before that they had seen the battles of Heaven"s Blade successors in Grendan.

Sharnid was already very clear on what kind of beings Military Artists who had honed their Military Arts to the extremes were.

Even if they all bet their lives on this battle, Sharnid didn"t know how much he and the others really do.

To save Nina, he had to go do what he could.

"But, I don"t think it"s right that we don"t need any help."

"I also understand that. In order to reach our goal, we shouldn"t actually care so much about the means."

Though he said this, Harley"s hands still hadn"t stopped, and in order to raise the functions of the Dite in his hand as much as possible, he kept applying any methods he could think of.

"But......"

"What?"

"If we can, I also want to do it just relying on ourselves. I also understand that kind of feeling very well."

"You......"

"Senpai, you"re a bit useless, huh?"

"Aah?"

"I always feel that you want to be cooler when you"re with Layfon."

"Harley, don"t think you can preach to me."

"Guah."

Harley, whose forehead was flicked, fell over.

"If you say that, then I"ll show you - Sharnid-senpai"s beautiful performance."

"It hurts...... then, we"re counting on you."

"Alright, leave it to me!"

Seeing the fierce Sharnid, Harley showed a happy smile.

Harley"s modifications ended in five minutes.

"This gun is a slightly special gun that I had always wanted to try, but......"

"If you want to explain, then please make it concise."

Because she felt it would become long and boring, Felli warned him first.

"Nn, nn."

In the slightly disappointed Harley"s hands was an extremely long gun. The body of the gun had been split into two parts, and that was because the goal of this gun wasn"t to shoot a Kei bullet, but to shoot a Dite.

This was a gun Harley had invented in order to send Dites to Layfon.

"To explain simply, if it were a gun meant for Military Artist use, it can"t shoot a bullet without a certain amount of Kei strength, and it can"t be loaded with more Kei than that. I changed that, to where it can be filled as much as possible."

"As much as possible?"

"Yes, that"s right."

Saying this, Harley took out the clip of the gun.

The bullets embedded inside the clip could be seen.

"I"ve resolved the feeling of putting aside Kei for every single bullet. So, you can use your Kei to make big adjustments. For example, it can be used for the desired distance this time, and its destructive power when used as a normal gun can be increased."

"And then?"

"Now, how far the bullet can fly depends on Sharnid-senpai"s Kei power and technique, and it should be easier to use than before."

"Really......"

Sharnid didn"t seem very excited as he looked at the gun.

Even Felli understood clearly that he was in an extremely tense state right now.

"How"s Nina"s position?"

"We"ve already got her approximate position."

Felli used her Psychokinesis flake, showing Sharnid an image.

"So far, d.a.m.n."

Though he said this, Sharnid still stood on the outskirts, readying the gun.

"Let me first try a test shot."

"Understood."

After Harley replied, he gave the Dite to him.

A Dite in its unrestored state was loaded into the double barrel, and Sharnid could feel that the air around him became cold.

This was proof that he was entering a state of extreme focus.

Felli held her breath, and even Harley watched without moving a muscle.

The positioned barrel moved slightly, and he repeated slight adjustments, and then pulled the trigger.

The light of Kei filled the gun barrel.

Compared to the strength of the light, the sound released was unexpectedly small because the compressed air was released.

No one could follow the speed with his eyes.

But, Felli"s psychokinesis caught the trail of the Dite that was shot out.

After the Dite flew high into the sky, it formed a parabolic arc.

But the place the Dite fell was a place that still couldn"t reach Nina.

That result was displayed on the image, and after Sharnid saw it he wordlessly loaded the next Dite.

After adjusting slightly, he fired.

It still wasn"t enough.

"Good."

After he said something that seemed like that, he quickly loaded the next Dite.

His adjustment was extremely slight, and there wasn"t much of an interval until he pulled the trigger.

Wouldn"t they fail this way...... That kind of anxious feeling entwined around Felli. Never mind Nina, the two test shots up to now hadn"t even reached Layfon"s area.

Though they were test shots, if this went on they would fail when it was time for the real shots.

It seemed like Sharnid had noticed Felli"s thoughts, or perhaps he hadn"t.

What happened afterwards was as if he were teasing Felli.

He pulled the trigger.

"Uwah!"

That moment, the body of Harley next to him was sent flying, being thrown backwards.

Harley"s cry was drowned out by the sound of the shot, and the calm sound like compressed air that had happened up to now suddenly changed into a strong gunshot intense enough to hurt the ears.

"Wah!"

The giant noise that suddenly occurred made Felli cover her ears.

Even in this kind of situation, her mind was still filled with information of Psychokinesis. Tracking the path of Sharnid"s test shot.

This time it shot higher than the previous two, and then descended.

The result......

"......What is it so suddenly?"

Layfon"s voice was transmitted through Psychokinesis.

"Ah, that"s just a warmup. Use it whenever you like."

"Then, I"ll use it just in case."

Sharnid showed a smile as if the tension from before was all gone, ending the conversation with the confused Layfon.

Layfon was focusing on pursuing Nina, so right now he didn"t have extra energy to listen to their situation.

But, Felli had something that she wanted to make clear.

"Just now that was......?"

"Killing Hands, you"ve seen it before." [2]

"Ah......"

She thought of it.

When they went to Grendan to save Nina, Sharnid had wielded a power that they had never seen in him until then.

"That wasn"t just coincidence, huh."

"Though I don"t really want anyone to know about this, we can complete our goal this way."

"Then, we can send it, right?"

"Of course! It should be about time for the real thing."

Saying this, Sharnid took something from Harley.

It was a box very similar to an unrestored Dite, and the inside was filled with as many Psychokinesis flakes as possible.

"It"s alright even if we can"t send it to Captain herself, as long as it surpa.s.ses her current location, and as long as a single flake reaches her......"

"I know."

Sharnid interrupted Felli"s words, entering a focused state.

Right now all Felli could do was hold her breath as she watched the outcome from the side.

In the period of time that seemed to stand still because of tension, Sharnid"s finger pulled the trigger.

The overflowing light was strong enough to even make one wonder whether or not the special gun had exploded, and the box inside was shot out from that light. The box in which Felli"s psychokinesis had been placed drew out a line with an even smoother angle than before as it flew through the sky, and after reaching a peak even higher than before, it began descending towards the vast earth.

Beautiful.

After that path appeared in Felli"s mind, she secretly mumbled. The path that Sharnid had shot had perfectly surpa.s.sed Nina"s position as predicted by them.

The box followed along the path that Felli had predicted, falling into the battlefield where flame and beast raged.

Bang.

The shock produced from the ground made the box bounce. The box opened, and the Psychokinesis flakes flew out.

What came afterwards was Felli"s job.

The Psychokinesis flakes that flew out quickly became part of her Psychokinesis net and were strengthened.

At the same time, she searched for Nina.

Not long after, she saw her figure.

The surrounding flame swirled, filled with heat, and the beasts formed from the flame raged in all directions.

Among this, Nina fought while advancing.

The shockwaves produced by her rapid running blew away the heat and flame, and the a.s.saulting flame beasts that were penetrated by the shockwaves were then sent flying by the iron whips. That kind of battlefield seemed simply otherworldly, and when she found the continuously battling Nina, Felli felt as if her own breathing would stop.

She wondered in her heart whether Nina had become someone completely different from the person she recognized.

Perhaps because she was possessed by several Haikizokus, Nina had been altered by their Kei and might have become a monster herself - Felli considered this.

But, she didn"t have that kind of feeling.

The appearance of Nina in battle was indeed a bit frightening, but from the exterior there wasn"t any great change.

Then, what about the interior?

(Captain!)

Felli firmly positioned a Psychokinesis flake on her predicted path of movement, calling out.

Whether it was because of the sound on the battlefield or not, the sound didn"t reach, and Nina didn"t make any response. Not only this, but she still ignored Felli"s Psychokinesis flake and prepared to continue forward.

If things were like this then Sharnid"s hard work would be for nothing.

(Captain!)

Felli called out again while carrying out the next preparations.

Nina didn"t notice her.

Or perhaps, she didn"t want to pay attention.

Was she intentionally ignoring Felli, thinking that she should resolve everything herself?

(Captain!)

How can I let you do that.

Felli continued calling out, while changing the positions of her Psychokinesis flakes.

The flakes that had been positioned in the error boundary of the predicted path were all hurriedly recalled, and gathered together.

They would get here.

All of the Psychokinesis flakes gathered in the place where Nina was most likely to be.

Moreover, they didn"t just wait there, but rather they flew towards Nina.

Because there were twisting shockwaves by Nina, if normal things got close to her they would be shattered in moments.

This was the same even for Felli"s flakes. It would happen if the advancing Military Artist didn"t use their own techniques to neutralize the shockwaves, and since she couldn"t expect Nina to do that right now, Felli could only rely on herself to think of something.

In other words, she had to think of a way to neutralize the shockwaves.

Felli let the Psychokinesis flakes form a conical formation, rushing at Nina.

Of course it wouldn"t only just charge over there.

She also used her Psychokinesis to form a reflective film covering it surface.

It was a heavy reflective film, used to combat the shockwaves.

Nina had already gotten close.

She could see Nina breaking through the flame.

There was some degree of error before the information from the Psychokinesis flakes reached Felli. Though this was a very short time span, to a Military Artist in battle, it was enough of an error to become fatal.

Because of this error, the moment from when the charge began up to when the results appeared disappeared.

"Ugh!"

A meaningless noise reverberated in Felli"s mind. Felli who stood on Zuellni"s outskirts felt as if she were about to lose consciousness.

Felli maintained her fuzzy consciousness with all of her power, and she clenched her lips, the taste of blood spreading on her tongue.

How was the situation?

What had it become now?

She slowly groped for the truth in her information filled with noise.

The weak degree of Psychokinesis that came through told Felli that there were not many Psychokinesis flakes remaining. She feared that almost all of the flakes had been unable to break through the shockwaves and had been smashed.

Then, what about the remaining flakes?

Where were the flakes that had acted as the agents to transmit this weak Psychokinesis?

Her Psychokinesis was gradually becoming weaker, why was that?

Had they been sent flying?

Or......?

(Captain, please respond.)

Grasping at straws, Felli spoke.

"............Felli."

There was a response.

It was Nina.

The plan had succeeded.

Felli"s Psychokinesis flake had reached Nina.

(Captain, what are you planning?)

"Felli, I"m focusing right now. I"m sorry, if there"s anything then please talk about it later."

Hearing Nina let out these kinds of words with some difficulty, Felli confirmed the current situation of her Psychokinesis flakes.

There was only one remaining flake, and the damage to it was not light.

More importantly, Nina hadn"t taken that flake, but rather it had luckily caught on her clothing.

Her two hands hadn"t released the iron whips for a moment.

Perhaps the battlefield on that side was intense to that degree.

Perhaps it was truly only that?

Because of the speculation that swarmed her heart, Felli continued speaking.

(Captain, please listen, you"re being used.)

"Did you say I"m being used?"

(Yes, the Electronic Fairy is......)

"It doesn"t matter who"s using me."

(Eh?)

"Everyone would use someone else for their own means. As for how you see it, that just depends on the differences between people"s point of view."

"Hey hey, right now we"re not talking about that kind of thing."

Nina"s voice was broadcast out, and Sharnid who heard her voice let out a helpless sound.

"Right now we aren"t talking about the problems in human relationships. Listen, Nina, you......"

"Right now I have no time to talk about these things!"

"Listen, Nina, your life is in danger."

"Since the moment I stood here, I made my resolution."

"Things aren"t like that!"

Even at Harley"s words, Nina still didn"t stop.

Her stubborn att.i.tude made the atmosphere surrounding Felli and the others become heavy.

"......Captain."

At that time, a third voice entered, not from Felli and the others, nor from Nina.

It was Layfon.

"......Layfon."

"Captain, right now I"m trying to find a way to group up with you, can you wait a bit for me there?"

"I can"t do that. In order to resolve this situation as soon as possible, I must go."

"If you have me helping you, the situation will definitely go more smoothly."

"No, the battle this time isn"t that simple."

"Captain!"

"I can"t do anything relying on the seventeenth platoon!"

Not only did that sentence stab Felli, but it affected everyone else as well.

Never mind Sharnid and Harley, it was so even for Layfon.

"I can only do the things that had been entrusted to me. Things outside of that...... I can"t do them!"

(Captain!)

Felli who felt some kind of unclear premonition called out.

But, all she received was noise. Though she didn"t feel as if she were about to faint the second time, her head still felt extremely painful.

The Psychokinesis flake had left Nina"s body, and then been smashed by her shockwaves.

Felli went slack for a time.

Part of the reason was the pain created by the recoil from the Psychokinesis flake, but of course, it wasn"t only this.

The surrounding silence was definitely from the same feeling as Felli"s.

"That girl......"

The first to speak was Sharnid.

"Though, I thought long ago that things might become like this."

Harley also raised his head to look at the sky.

"It"s way too close to expectations, what a joke."

"To think it would differ by this little, how incredible."

"Incredible enough to be annoying."

It was unusual that even Layfon partic.i.p.ated in the conversation.

(There"s nothing incredible or not incredible.)

Felli who had overcome her pain with difficulty opened her mouth.

Felli also had things she wanted to say.

There was a lot that she wanted to say.

(Though, we knew long before that this idiot wouldn"t hear other people"s words at all as long as she had her own thoughts, and would charge forward single-mindedly.)

"Nn, Felli-chyan, completely merciless as expected."

(She"s always putting on a sorrowful expression along while completely not understanding our toils, that kind of egotistic style is ridiculous.)

"............Why does it feel like I"m being included in the scolding."

Though Felli also secretly wanted to say "that"s how it is" to the cowardly Layfon, she held back for now.

(But, compared to this, in her words just now, there"s something even harder to bear.)

"That"s right."

"Those words were indeed too much."

"That"s right."

Nothing could be done relying on the seventeenth platoon.

They definitely couldn"t forgive anyone, even Nina, for those words.

Regardless of if Nina had formed the seventeenth platoon, they couldn"t permit that even for Nina herself.

(Let that idiot look well at what kind of platoon the seventeenth platoon is.)

"Yes."

"Well said."

"Alright, this time let"s make Nina lower her head and say to us "Please let me be your Captain"!"

(Not a bad proposal.)

Spirits high, the seventeenth platoon once again began to act.