Chapter 2

## Caught In The Middle

**Caught In The Middle** (挟 (はさ) まれる人 (じん) 類 (るい) , *Hasamareru jinrui*?) is the 2nd chapter of the *Versus* manga series.

## Summary

Kayla asks Zaybi and the rest for help. Surprised, Zaybi and Panepane guess that "help" must be a way to greet in their language. Kayla receives information that Stun's squad has returned and requires medical attention. She goes to help the men and informs them that the 'Interdimensional gate generator' was successfully activated. She also tells them that their world has connected to a parallel world, and the people from this world are helping them. Hallow is surprised, noting that they planned to summon people from a parallel world to help them, but, in reality, those people also need help.

After helping out the injured, Kayla introduces herself as the commander of the Anti-Machine Frontlines. Zaybi does the same and introduces himself along with his sorcerer subordinates Wally and Freen, Hallow, and Panepane. Zaybi states that Kayla came from the summoning circle, but the latter tries to correct him, commenting that they actually came from the interdimensional gate. They realize that both sides asked each other for help, which resulted in the worlds' merging.

Hallow asks Kayla about their enemy, and she explains it to be Robots. The people of her world had created artificial intelligence, but it evolved and turned against them, conquering 80% of the world. AI has created weapons and devices that humans cannot comprehend, but for people who fight mindless creatures, it would be tough to understand their power.

Feeling offended, Zaybi states that their enemies are there Demons, powerful creatures with magic by their side, and Kayla won't be able to fight them. An argument sparks between the two about which enemy is worse. Curios, Panepane asks about the machine guns they used to defeat the demons, but Kayla states it to be useless against the robots.

Suddenly, they hear a loud Bing sound, and Kayla realizes the robots are coming, telling everyone to hide. Robots show up, announcing that they are there to help the people and not kill them. It proclaims that it will protect and provide hot meals and warm places to sleep and asks the people to stop resisting and show up. Kayla explains that the robots are constantly evolving and are trying to bait people to come out so that they can kill them.

The robots find a heat source and confirm it as a living organism. It immediately activates destruction mode and targets where the people are hiding. Kayla's squad comes out and fires at them, but the robots have adapted to the human laser weapons so that the lasers do not affect their armor. The crew then uses a special armor-piercing weapon, which still does not affect the robots.

Unable to stop them, the robots get close, but Zaybi uses **Earthquake magic, Earth Tremor,** destroying the ground and immobilizing the robots. Wally then uses **Supreme class, Ice magic** on them, resulting in the robots switching to **Alert level 2** but shutdowns due to the lower temperature. Zaybi explains that every living thing has magic in them, but as the robots are just scraps of metal, magic spells are more effective on those that don't have magic.

Impressed by how easily they defeated the robots, Kayla proposes an alliance, about which Zaybi says he has also been thinking. Kayla and her squad agree to fight the demons, while Zaybi and his friends will fight the robots. That way, they may save both of their worlds. Hallow is impressed by his brother, who didn't lose hope in such a crisis.

Panepane smells demons coming, and suddenly a large demon group appears. Kayla's squad wonders if there is a secure place for them to retreat, to which Zaybi explains that it's too far away. Freen explains he can use the flying magic to get them there in half a day, but he will need five minutes to cast it. At that moment, the robots reactivate, and the humans end up surrounded by robots and demons. Zaybi orders Freen to keep casting his spell and not stop for anything. Zaybi's side starts fighting the robots, while Kayla's the demons.

As they fight, the robots adapt, turning into a Dekuno-Bot, and creating a magic barrier to defend themselves from the magic attacks. At the same time, a higher-ranking demon appears and captures and kills Sasuma, Kayla's teammate. The Demon introduces himself as Kiva, the captain of the 11th division of the Demon King's army and a loyal servant of Jachi, who is here to kill any of the 47 Heroes. Kayla's squad opens fire at Kiva, but he easily blocks it while wondering who they are as they use unfamiliar weapons and armor. Stun uses the special armor-piercing weapon, but Kiva, with ease, flicks his finger and returns the bullet at Stun. Kiva sees the robots, but as he doesn't feel any magic from them and sees them attacking the humans, he guesses they are not enemies and ignores them.

Jyuu drives a truck at Kiva, but the latter effortlessly grabs it and throws it at Kayla. Hallow jumps in, creating a blade of light from his broken sword, and cuts the truck in two. He yells that he is one of the heroes for drawing out Kiva's attention, but as he prepares to fight him, the light from his sword disappears. Kiva states he tried to squeeze the last bit of his bravery, but he couldn't hide his fear of the demons. He comes at Hallow, who knows that he can't fight the former, so he throws his sword at the Dekuno-Bot, saving Zaybi and trying to bring its attention to himself.

Kiva gets behind Hallow and prepares to kill him, but Dekuno-Bot notices Kiva's massive energy and attacks him. Angry, Kiva extends his arm, piercing the Dekuno-Bot, and drags it to him. He notes that he intended to leave him, but that's no longer an option, asking about the tribe from which the robot is. Dekuno-Bot then turns Kiva into their priority target.

Freen finishes his spell and casts **Multi-target flying magic: Fly-away**, causing everyone remaining human to fly up and towards the fort. Kiva extends his hand and grabs Hallow by the leg, not intending to let him run away. However, the Dekuno-Bot shoots Kiva's arm, freeing Hallow. Angry, Kiva decides to go all out and fight Dekuno-Bot, who switches to **Alert level 8** and activates all systems to fight the former.

Later, Hallow wakes up at the fort and sees Zaybi by his side. He blames himself for being weak, but Zaybi tells him that this is due to everyone's efforts, not just his. Hallow wonders what they would do as now they also need to fight the robots, but Zaybi tells him the situation is even direr. He takes Hallow outside and reveals that it is not just their and Kayla's worlds that merged, but many others were also in danger of being destroyed, and as they opened the gates, refugees from other worlds came here looking for help.

## Characters in Order of Appearance

1. Kayla
2. Wally
3. Freen
4. Hallow
5. Zaybi
6. Panepane
7. Jyuu *(Debut)*
8. Stun *(Debut)*
9. Jachi *(Mentioned)*
10. Sasuma *(Debut)*
11. Kiva *(Debut)*
12. Dekuno-Bot *(Debut)*