Zetsubo no Senki: Symphogear if/Part 3

**Table of Contents**
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One-off: Symphogear if: Shooting Out of Hell

The robotic drone of the man on the other end of Tsubasa's line of communication coursed anger through her brain. The former idol who dazzled atop the brilliant stage as one half of Zwei Wing could not help but grind her teeth in response to the question asked of her.

It had been three months since the incident that brought into the public eye the existence of the Custodians–an ancient, extra-dimensional race of beings who created humanity in their image–and the Symphogears–powerful sets of armour powered by the songs in the hearts of the women who can don them.

One of the girls who could don a Symphogear was now locked in battle with an army of beings known as the Noise. Tsubasa Kazanari, with a long sapphire-coloured ponytail that hung off the side of her head, carried in her grasp a shining silver blade–the relic known as Ame no Habakiri; the same sword that was said to have been used by Susanoo-no-Mikoto to slay Yamata no Orochi in famous myths. Shards of this legendary sword were used to craft the Symphogear that Tsubasa now donned, and the use of its official designation by the navigator that now spoke from afar–SG-r01–indicated to the swordswoman that she is the one being spoken to.

If it had been the previous team that acted as her support staff while fighting, then Tsubasa would be addressed by name. But now, Tsubasa was nothing more than a tool to be used–a sword to be used to cut down whatever enemy may stand up to harm humanity. In a way, the new staff who acted as her commanders reminded the wielder of Ame no Habakiri of the twisted John Wayne Vercingetorix, who performed many cruel experiments on many girls and even successfully fused the power of relics with the bodies of the tragic Miku Kohinata and the resurrected Serena Cadenzavna Eve.

Her previous support staff would have also been aware that, as the Symphogears draw out songs to power up their wielders, Tsubasa was too busy singing her own battle leitmotif to respond vocally. The dedicated–but eternally overworked–Sakuya Fujitaka and the responsible and incredibly professional Aoi Tomosato would not have asked if Tsubasa could hear them. No, they would have simply held trust in Tsubasa Kazanari and the others who could wield Symphogears.

The powerful blade in Tsubasa's hand sliced through a group of four Noise, shattering the monsters from another dimension into a snowy shower of white light. Her hands trembled slightly as the blade stopped against an invisible wall–the barrier of stress that forced her muscles to tense up. Luckily, these were the final four enemies that stood against Tsubasa, so now the former idol could relax for just a moment.

"Yes. I copy." As the silence surrounded Tsubasa, she let out a calm grunt. These three words carried an abundant amount of different emotions that the man on the other end of the headset erroneously believed to be targeting the Noise.

"No more Noise signals have been detected. You are free to return to base."

No 'thank you,' no 'are you okay.' The man did not care about Tsubasa, about any of the Symphogear wielders. Though Tsubasa did not mind being treated as a sentinel who lived only to protect humanity, it did upset her to see her few remaining companions be treated the same way.

But she was bound by the shackles of the ways of the world. Tsubasa had no other choice but to obey these heartless fools if she wanted to continue using her songs to help others. Closing her eyes to calm her sprinting heart, Tsubasa spat one word as an answer. "Understood."

. . .

Two days after the fight against Dr. Ver, Genjuro Kazanari summoned everyone to the ruined submarine that had acted as Sector Two's base for only a short time. Despite being brightly lit by the sun shining above, the air in the ship's command room was dark and heavy.

Genjuro had a sad expression on his face as he stood, looking down on the girls in front of him. Miku Kohinata, Yumi Itaba, Shiori Terashima, Kuriyo Ando, Chris Yukine, Tsubasa Kazanari, Kanade Amou, Maria Cadenzavna Eve, and Shirabe Tsukuyomi all looked up with curious eyes, wondering what new threat had arisen to call everyone–even those who could not make use of a Symphogear–together again so soon.

"I have some..." Genjuro sighed as he tried to find the words to explain the news he had been given two days earlier.

Seeing the stress in his stance, Tomosato–who had already been given the news–pushed a chair behind the large red-haired man, who quickly collapsed into it with a slump. Pushing his strong fingers against his temples, he finally addressed the confused girls before him.

"As of today, Sector Two has been disbanded." With a deep exhale, the man awaited the outburst that he was sure would follow.

"Wait, are you serious?" Chris was the first one to speak up. The white-haired girl with two long tails that draped down her back shook her head. "You're joking, right?"

"It's not a joke." Tsubasa, standing beside her, shook her head. She could tell that her uncle was completely serious from the atmosphere around them.

"What? But we did it! We captured Ver!"

"And that is commendable," Tomosato bowed her head as she stood next to Genjuro. "Unfortunately, the higher-ups are not entirely happy of the fact that we had you fight against F.I.S. after the Americans pledged their support to them and the pressure that they have placed on them since."

"With the appearance of Frontier, the Americans are now pressuring us to release the information we have on Symphogears, and they have already done so." Fujitaka, crossing his arms as he sat on the opposite side of Genjuro from Tomosato. "Basically, we've become the scapegoats."

"So what will happen to us?" Kanade had a fire burning behind her one uncovered eye that matched her blazing hairstyle. Though her tone was calm, the way she clenched her fists gave away to those around her that she was not confused nor sad–she was mad that they were being tossed away.

"The Symphogear program is going to be taken over by another team. You all will continue fighting Noise and any other threat that may require your strength, just as you did under us." Genjuro crossed his arms.

"But we'll have tight collars hindering our movements." Tsubasa could sense where Genjuro was going as he had spoken. "The government will have far more control over us than before."

"Yes. To put it bluntly, your Symphogears–and by extension, you–will officially be government property. Fujitaka will be joining you as well, though it's unlikely he will continue to act in the same communicator role as before." Tomosato gaze landed on Tsubasa. "I will be joining your father's division. Because of the knowledge that she holds, Itaba may also join us if she would like, as Ogawa will be working with us as well. He's currently in a meeting regarding our transfers."

"My brother, Shibata, and I have been trying to work out deals for the two of you–Terashima and Ando. The government is not happy that we brought you–and Itaba–on board, but now that you have knowledge of our operations, they don't want you to potentially leak information." Genjuro had his eyes closed now as he continued talking. "The best we could manage for the two of you was a probation. You will technically be let go from your roles here and go back to being normal girls, but my brother's team will be keeping an eye on your actions for the time being."

Fujitaka finally stood up now. Taking his cue from the fact that their situations had not yet been addressed, the spiky-haired man strolled over to Maria and Shirabe.

"So, you really are going to arrest us?" Maria looked down with a silent argument as Fujitaka placed a white brick around her wrists. Beside him, Tomosato did the same to Shirabe.

"The two of you–as well as Akatsuki, once she awakens–are the only public figures to have declared war on the world. The Japanese government would like to question you. For the foreseeable future, you be treated strictly as criminals despite the assistance you provided." Genjuro explained with an apologetic nod. "I am sorry."

"I guess we do deserve this for what we did." Maria said remorsefully.

"Fortunately, your sister will have complete freedom once she regains consciousness. We managed to convince the higher-ups that, despite the familal connection, she was a complete victim in this."

"You told them the truth." Shirabe's eyes were locked on the block that bound her hands together, not even looking up for a moment as her quiet words rung through the room.

Fujitaka chuckled darkly. "You would be surprised how little they care about what the 'truth' actually is."

"So that just leaves the Symphogear wielders. As I said, your operations will be taken over by a new team. You will report to their office beginning tomorrow; Fujitaka will take you there tomorrow. Kohinata, you are being treated the same as Terashima and Ando are, as we managed to convince them that the experiments performed on you and Serena had no permanent effects."

Miku's eye twitched at that comment, but only the man with the pointed red beard noticed the spasm. With a distant look in her eyes, Miku turned her gaze away. "If only."

With a long exhale, Genjuro finally finished his lengthy explanation for the future of their team, leaving out one important detail–what was happening to him. But no one dared ask that question, for they all had an idea of what terrible answer they would receive. Instead, a silence hung in the air as everyone digested the news.

"Yeah I'm not going to do that." Chris waved her hand. With her other, she angrily gripped tight the red crystal that hung from her neck and pulled with all her might. It was very easy for her to snap the chord that it was attached to, and she held the Symphogear pendant out in front of her with an open palm. "Consider this my resignation too."

"I had a feeling you would do this." Despite the sad tone, Genjuro smiled. With his hand that dwarfed the one reaching out towards him, he plucked the red jewel out of Chris's pearly palm. "I'd already handed in a report regarding your dismissal. Tsubasa, Kanade: I have similar reports written up for you, should you wish to do the same."

"No. I am a sentinel. My entire life, I have trained to protect people with my songs and the power of the Symphogear." Tsubasa unconsciously clutched the Symphogear that hung from her neck. "I will continue to do so for the time being."

Kanade was a little more hesitant. With a sigh, she scratched the back of her head, ruffling her already-messy orange hair. "Someone's going to have to keep Tsubasa in line. I guess I'll stick by her side."

"So that's it, then? We're just... done?" Kuriyo cocked her head. "We're all going our separate ways, now? That seems a little sudden."

"No need to worry." Yumi pulled her friend in close with her elbow. "Friends walking away from each other is a common trope in anime openings. And at the start of arcs that will eventually bring them all back together."

"You're a little more optimistic about this than the rest of us." Shiori rested a hand on her cheek as she looked over the confident Yumi. "Is it because you've still got a job?"

"'Art imitates life,' right? Well I think the opposite is true, too. If anime casts all get back together eventually, then we probably will too. I just know it."

"That sounds a bit childish." Chris's deadpan echoed Shiori's puzzling look.

"I agree, but I do like the optimism." Tsubasa smiled.

"I'm sure, in time, all of you will be together again." A sad, but hopeful, look crossed Maria's face. Though she was still comatose right now, Maria had managed to magically be reunited with her sister after she had died six years ago. It truly went to show that anything was possible in this crazy world. From the way she stoically nodded from Maria's side, Shirabe seemed to agree.

"Shall we consider it a promise?" Yumi excitedly threw her hand forwards, holding it out as if waiting for someone to place their own on top.

Kanade was the first to understand what she meant by the action, and slowly placed her palm atop the roof of Yumi's right hand. "Sure. Lets all promise to fight together again."

"Maybe we should promise to just continue to be friends." With a bit of hesitation, Shiori gently placed her own hand on the pile. "After all, I don't think we should be hoping for more excitement like before."

"Yeah, some peace would be nice." Kuriyo joined in now, too.

"If you'll have me as part of your team, then I'll be willing to join you as well." Maria, unable to join the promise with only one hand, snuck the brick encasing both of her hands beneath Yumi's hand.

"Very well." Tsubasa's small smile continued to cross her face as she placed her hand atop Kuriyo's.

"You guys are crazy." Chris shook her head. "But, I guess it wouldn't hurt to see you all again at some point. Maybe." With that, she joined the group and placed her hand upon the pile as well.

Shirabe, silently, placed the brick that encased her wrists atop Chris's hands.

That just left Miku, who everyone turned their gazes toward. "Well?" Chris prompted, but Miku just scoffed, her face still looking away from the group whose attention she attracted.

"Don't get me wrong, it's not that I dislike you all. It's just that..." Miku finally turned towards her friends, revealing the very sad look in her eyes.

Next to perhaps Chris Yukine, Miku Kohinata had suffered far more than the rest of the girls in the room had, and only over the past year and change. As a survivor of the Zwei Wing Tragedy that resulted in over twelve thousand deaths, Miku suffered as the world turned against her and her parents eventually ended up committing suicide after being crushed from the stress. The injuries she suffered that were near-fatal and caused shards of the Gungnir relic to be lodged within her body, to the burns she suffered after falling to Earth, and the experiments that Ver had performed on her had scarred her body permanently, and the pain of having been the one to rob the girl she loved of her own life–albeit while brainwashed and under the mad doctor's control–tainted her mind.

The girl was tired. She wanted nothing more than to find some kind of peace–something she had hoped to grasp when she pledged to protect Hibiki Tachibana all those many months ago. But she had failed that. She still had other friends by her side, but the guilt that ate away at her heart hurt far too much.

"I..." The pleading eyes of Yumi, Shiori, and Kuriyo also took bites out of Miku's shattered soul, and she stammered as she tried to find the right way to decline. "I just want to do something. To atone for what I did to Hibiki."

"So what will you be doing, then?" Kanade asked with a tense expression. "I hope you haven't forgotten–"

"'Don't give up on living.'" Miku cut the other half of Zwei Wing off with a sigh as she recalled the words that had ingrained themselves within her brain during that fateful concert. As Kanade's expression softened slightly, Miku continued speaking. "No. Dying would not do anything. I need to find some way to apologize to Hibiki, and I don't know how long that will take. I may never find the right answer. And I don't want to keep you waiting."

"Boo." Yumi cried, half-mockingly. "Way to ruin our moment, Miku!"

Yumi's half-serious complaint brought back a bit of energy to Miku's eyes. She cracked a weak smile. "Fine." Slowly, Miku placed her hand, which had been melted by the heat and cooled into a red, malformed version of the once-fair skin that had covered her limb, atop Shirabe's handcuffs. "I don't know if I'll be able to keep this promise, though."

"I didn't think the day would come when someone would be edgier than Tsubasa." Chris chuckled with a playful look in her eye. But a bit of a blush creeped over her cheeks as the girl warmly looked up into her friend's eyes with a more-serious expression. "I'll always be willing to help you, Miku. If you ever need to talk..."

After the party that Yumi and Shirabe had put together for everyone, Chris had let Miku stay over at her place–considering Miku had lived with Hibiki, she knew that the painful memories that would surface at her home were likely to do more harm for Miku than good at the moment. But instead of falling into the deep sleeps that their bodies desperately craved for, Miku spent hours sobbing into a pillow as Chris comforted her.

Both girls knew pain, both had taken lives, both had been corrupted by the evil priestess known as Finé, and both had their families–their own futures–stolen from them under tragic circumstances. Chris felt as though she was looking into a mirror when she saw Miku, and Chris wanted to be the hand that tethered her to reality that she only managed to grasp when she reunited with Genjuro several months ago.

Miku nodded, a stern determination in her eyes. "Chris... Yumi, Shiori, Kuriyo... Everyone... I will be back eventually. That's something I will promise you."

"Good to hear it." Yumi shouted and threw her hand–and thus the hands of everyone but Maria–up into the air with a cheer. "It shouldn't be too long until we get back together. I look forwards to seeing it."

. . .

In the three months since that promise was made, Tsubasa had only seen Kanade on more than one occasion, as the two still worked together daily. That is not to say that she couldn't see the others, but it was fairly difficult for her considering the strict orders she had since been forced to follow.

Maria, Shirabe, and Kirika–who had awoken several days after her friends' imprisonment–were under constant watch, and Tsubasa had only managed to see Maria by chance when she had been ordered to assist Ogawa with some of his work. Tsubasa technically was not able to see these girls–she did not have permission to visit them at any point–but she could do so with Ogawa, or Yumi's, help if she asked.

She had technically graduated from Lydian, which had moved to an old Catholic school after some renovations were completed, so Tsubasa had no reason to see Yumi, Kuriyo, Shiori, or the school's new transfer student, Chris Yukine–in fact, she had not yet even seen the new building that now housed Lydian Private Music Academy.

Miku was the outlier. As far as Tsubasa knew, the only person to have seen Miku since that day was Chris–and that was only a rumour that Kanade had passed along to her. No one knew where Miku had disappeared to, but Tsubasa had steeled herself long ago and learned to push aside any doubts or worries that may interfere with her duties. Tsubasa had no time to worry about Miku's whereabouts at the moment; the Noise had begun appearing more and more frequently over the past week, and she suspected that there was a reason for it–though her new superiors would never dare let her in on anything they may know.

"R-Zero-One, report. We have detected more signs of Noise within your vicinity. R-Zero-Three is already en route." The man who acted as Tsubasa's new communicator–she did not know, nor care, for his name–spoke again into her earpiece.

"Understood." Tsubasa raised the blade of Ame no Habakiri again.

Tsubasa Kazanari was a sentinel. It was her duty as a sword to fight endlessly–and fight she was going to continue to do, just as she had done all this time.

#### GX Chapter 2

The world seemed eerily still and quiet to Tsubasa as she ran through the city streets. Tall buildings loomed over her, looking down upon the blue-haired swordswoman as if judging her for the choices she had made. No, it was something beyond the steel giants that surrounded the girl that had her on edge.

"Tsubasa, you there?"

Slicing through Tsubasa's brain and cutting away the thoughts that she was being watched by a figure–or figures–from afar was the voice of the girl she was closest to in the world: Kanade Amou. When she had been an idol performing as part of Zwei Wing, Kanade had always been the one to push away the doubts that Tsubasa had before lives; even on the day of that concert that brought despair to so many, Kanade had helped calm the steel swordswoman's nerves. The voice of the former idol, even now, had a soothing effect on Tsubasa that she did not completely understand–and she did not want to keep that voice waiting.

"Kanade? Is something the matter?"

"Yeah, the Noise over here are acting odd."

Kanade stood on the roof of a skyscraper, gazing down into a lake of beings known as the Noise. These creatures come from another dimension, their technicolour forms distinctly alien (and almost as if they had been lifted from anime) as they contrasted the modern-day setting around them.

Noise were feral creatures who were drawn to humans–though this was not an attraction born of curiosity. These extradimensional beasts had the power to disintegrate organic matter, and would transform humans into a pile of carbon dust within seconds of making contact with them.

But the Noise that Kanade looked down upon did not act as typical Noise do. The monsters did not spread out, chasing after the lingering scents of the humans that had been evacuated earlier. Rather, the strange beasts simply stood still, patiently waiting for some unknown reason. The multicoloured mob that the monsters formed was hypnotic as their bodies shifted colours in a way that Kanade had never seen before.

The Noise were oddly peaceful–and that was what unsettled her more than anything. With hesitation, she spoke into the headset she wore and relayed her gut feeling to Tsubasa on a line that only the two of them shared–the heartless suits they worked for would not approve of them speaking like this, but Kanade did not care about that.

"The Noise are just standing around?" Tsubasa repeated as she began to ponder the implications of what Kanade had just told her.

Kanade knew the first conclusion that Tsubasa would come to–but both of them knew it would be incorrect. Not wanting to have to waste time with that idea, Kanade instead flipped the unspoken question around. "Solomon's Cane is in storage, but there must be some other relic capable of commanding Noise."

"You said they were changing colours?" Tsubasa brought that detail up, recalling the brief comment that Kanade had made during her explanation. "Is it possible they aren't Noise?"

That was a thought that had not occurred to Kanade. "I guess it's possible?" She said this statement more as a question than as an answer.

The creatures looked like Noise–their strange appearances, while distinctly alien, were also familiar to Kanade outside of their shifting colours. She recognized the different kinds of Noise that she had grown to know quite well through their many encounters: humanoid beasts with what looked like two speakers atop their heads and green coffin-shaped panels where a face should be; stout, spherical creatures with fat tails and skinny human-like limbs that looked out of place on the tadpole-like creature's body; large slug-like beasts that had eight white tendrils protruding out from its body on the sides of the green stripe that acted as its face; and–Kanade's least favourite–tall pole-like monsters that had dotted spheres for heads, from which beaks protruded to match the similarly bird-like feet that let them waddle across the ground.

But it was the way that these creatures changed colours that kept Kanade from dismissing the suggestion out-right. Despite the wild ways they looked, the Noise were always consistent in their colourations: the humanoid ones were orange, the tadpole ones were blue, and the ones with the beaks that Kanade affectionately called 'spitters' were mostly red–of course, the green screens with grid patterns that acted as their face was the staple of Noise, and that remained static even now despite the rest of their bodies shifting through the spectrum.

Kanade pushed away the questions that would be impossible to answer for now. "I'll wait for you before I start fighting."

"Alright." Tsubasa nodded a curt acknowledgement as she ran. Though Kanade could not see the action in person, she could picture in her mind's eye the response she had seen first-hand far more times than she could count.

But the Tsubasa in Kanade's mind had a strained expression. Ever since the concert that ended with the death of over twelve thousand people–a day that was now referred to as the Zwei Wing Tragedy–the two of them had endured more hardships than they had before. Though Kanade only fought initially to avenge her parents–archaeologists who were killed by Noise that appeared when they had unearthed, and subsequently lost the Shénshòujìng relic–she had since formed bonds. Bonds stronger than most tethered Kanade to Tsubasa, to her friends of the former Sector Two, and her lust for vengeance eventually transformed into a righteous desire to help others; and Kanade knew that Tsubasa, despite her claims to just be nothing but a sentinel, also wanted nothing more than to save lives.

Now, however, some of their bonds had been broken. The two girls rarely saw many of their friends now–Sakuya Fujitaka, one of their former communicators, was the only one they still worked with, and Kanade could count on one hand how many times both Kanade and Tsubasa had seen any of the others they had befriended. She was worried that the change in organization, the bonds that Tsubasa had forged and had torn away from her, were starting to wear down Tsubasa just as they had begun to tear at Kanade's mental state.

"Hey, by the way Tsubasa–how are you holding up?"

"I'm fine, Kanade." The curt tone of the answer Tsubasa gave and the speed at which it had come told Kanade that she was, in fact, the opposite. But, she was aware that Tsubasa did not like to talk about herself or her feelings, and, for now, was willing to let the sidestepping answer pass.

"We'll talk later, then."

. . .

"Man, this is so boring!"

A deep sigh came from the white-haired girl who stood with her arms on her hips. The room she was in was crowded with people, who all spoke fairly casually despite the events unfolding outside the room. This was a shelter designed to hide people away from the Noise whenever they attacked–in theory, anyway.

"Don't worry, Chris, you get used to it." One of the girls near the girl named Chris Yukine spoke with an awkward smile.

Chris Yukine was a former member of Sector Two, and one of the few girls in the world capable of naturally wielding a Symphogear without the use of the LiNKER substance. Because of her abilities, Chris had always been on the front lines of the fight against the Noise ever since she had entered a semi-normal life, and before then had never been in the care of people willing to protect her from the rainbow of monsters from another dimension.

Over the course of two weeks, Chris had now spent almost a total of two days' time locked in these shelters. She had resigned from Sector Two as it was disbanded–an act that drew ire from the government and still caused her to often be followed by men in dark suits and sunglasses–and no longer carried the pendant that allowed her to call upon the Symphogear known as Ichaival. Essentially, Chris Yukine was completely 'normal' now, though her memories of tragedy would prevent her from ever fitting in with others.

The people in the crowd around her were not aware of Chris's past as a Symphogear wielder, however. Though the existence of the powerful music-based weapons had been made–with great reluctance–public by both the Japanese and American governments, the only three people whose names were published as Symphogear wielders were the ones who declared war on the world: Kirika Akatsuki, Shirabe Tsukuyomi, and the famous superstar who won the hearts of millions, Maria Cadenzavna Eve. Of the people who had been crammed like sardines into the shelter around her, the only two who were aware of Chris's past were other former members of Sector Two: Kuriyo Ando (who had been the one to reassure her earlier) and Shiori Terashima.

"I hope Yumi is okay." Shiori ignored the distressed look on Chris's face, lost in her own worries for their missing friend. Unlike the three of them, Yumi Itaba was still employed by the government and often missed school because of it. They rarely had any idea where Yumi was, but they knew she turned in schoolwork because she still managed to get high marks.

"Eh, she's a tough one. I'm sure she's doing fine." Chris waved her hand. She had not actually gotten to know Yumi all that well–it was Shiori and Kuriyo whom Chris had interacted with most–so her impression of the anime-obsessed girl mainly stemmed from what Shiori and Kuriyo had told her.

"I'm sure Yumi would probably jump in and grab one of the Symphogears if worst came to worst." Kuriyo smiled. "You know she'd love to imitate her favourite characters if she got the chance to."

"That's why I'm worried about her, though." Shiori cupped her cheek. In the fluorescent lights that hummed above the girls, Shiori's blonde hair instead looked a pale white as it reflected the cold artificial bluish glow.

"Chris, so that was you!"

Chris did not have time to react as she was jumped upon from behind. A girl with messy dark green, almost black, hair tied into a ponytail hugged the girl as she knocked her over. "Wha-?" Was the only thing Chris was able to gasp out as her brain struggled to comprehend what was happening to her.

When the girl's ponytail flopped into Chris's view and she heard the sounds of two more sets of footsteps approaching, that was when she understood who had leapt onto her. "Godai? What are you doing?"

"Godai? You know you can call me Yuki!" The girl who Chris wore as if she were a turtle's shell smiled with a wink. "You don't need to be so formal with me–or any of us, you know?"

"Oh, so that's where you ran off to, Yuki." Between gasps as she tried to catch her breath, one of the two other newcomers spoke. This girl, who had chocolate hair held down by a band the colour of sunshine, was Komichi Ayano. "Sorry Chris."

Beside Komichi stood her bespectacled friend with lighter brown hair Otome Kaburagi. Together, Komichi and Otome pulled their friend Yuki Godai off of the struggling Chris.

Like Chris, Kuriyo, and Shiori, these three girls wore the white and grey uniform of Lydian Private Music Academy. They were, after all, Shiori and Kuriyo's upperclassmen–some of Chris's own classmates. Much to Chris's initial chagrin, these three girls were trying to bring normalcy to her life despite not knowing anything about her past; though she had come to get used to their comedic routine over the few months that she had been attending the school, and part of Chris felt as though she should respect them like friends. After all, there was no reason for her to distance herself any more; she was no longer a Symphogear wielder, nor did she need to stand up against any threats that may arise. At some point Chris had unconsciously decided to give being a normal girl a shot, and Yuki, Komichi, and Otome had been the ones to drag her down into that reality.

"Someone's popular." Shiori chuckled, her worries for Yumi's safety dissipating as she found entertainment in the scene of Komichi and Otome struggling to pull Yuki off of a flailing Chris.

"Not like I want to be!" Chris retorted.

As the words left Chris's mouth, she felt her foot lose its grip on the ground. She fell forwards, taking her three classmates with her as they collapsed into a heap. Kuriyo couldn't help but giggle alongside Shiori as the salad of limbs on the ground groped the air trying to understand what had happened–and this caused Yuki, Komichi, and Otome to start laughing too. "What are you all laughing for?" Chris blushed, holding back her own enjoyment of the comedic scene she was forced to be part of as she tried to pull herself together.

Despite the harsh memories that confined themselves within Chris's mind and scarred her soul, she found as though this peaceful life she lived was a miracle gifted to her by fate. She was finally living a life free of torture, not being degraded mentally or physically as Chris had been since her parents died all those years ago. That said, she was not entirely sure this was how a 'normal' schoolgirl acted; she had been homeschooled by her parents, and had not received any schooling after their death–but it felt more 'normal' to her than the trials she had faced thus far in her relatively short life.

As Yuki, Komichi, and Otome finally began to collect themselves and help each other (and Chris) stand up, Shiori's cell phone began to ring.

"Yumi?" Shiori answered the phone quickly, recognizing the name that had been displayed next to the number. "Oh, good, you're safe!"

"I'm safe? Yeah, I guess you could say that. I'm standing over a giant pit though. This Frontier place looks like a supervillain's lair." Yumi laughed loud enough for Kuriyo, who stood next to Shiori trying to listen in on the conversation, to hear even over the grumbling and apologies coming from Chris and her classmates. "Oh, hey, listen. This is going to sound a bit weird but Ogawa wants to test a theory. Any chance you could get some people to head over to Frontier?"

Frontier, the giant spaceship used by the Custodians that travelled to Earth from another dimension, still floated above the hill near the city, over the ruins of the former Lydian Private Music Academy that had been destroyed by both Finé's Red Dragon of Revelations and the emergence of her cannon that had laid dormant beneath it, Kadingir. The fact that Kanade and Dr. Vercingetorix remained the only two people who have been able to grasp the complex control scheme for the artificial island meant that it was stuck in place until the government decided it was worth moving–and, considering their desire to research it, they decided it was optimal to leave it in its current position.

"Right now?" Shiori tilted her head. "We're kind of locked in a bunker right now."

"Ogawa and I will be at Frontier all day. Come over whenever you can. Bring Kuriyo, Chris, Miku–whoever you can find!" Yumi was about to sign off before she paused for a moment. Though Shiori was not privy to it, she could tell that Yumi was speaking to Ogawa on the other end of the phone; something she would confirm only moments later. "Hey, Shiori, can you put Chris on for just a sec? Ogawa wants to talk to her."

"Hm? Yeah, alright." Shiori held out her phone to Chris with a straight arm. "Ogawa wants to talk to you."

"Huh? If this is about..." Chris caught herself, remembering who now stood around her–she couldn't mention Sector Two in front of Yuki, Komichi, and Otome. Thus, Chris reluctantly grabbed hold of the phone and placed it to her ear, watching as Kuriyo and Shiori crowded around her trying to hear. "What do you want?"

Ogawa chuckled through the other end of the line. "Come on Chris, is that any way to talk to an old co-worker?"

"Couldn't you get in trouble trying to pull civilians into your work?" Chris glared uncontrollably, aware that she was simply making a menacing expression towards her three classmates, who shrunk back in confusion.

"Yeah, I'm definitely taking a risk here. That's why everything I mention in this call–to you, and to Terashima–is off-the-record."

Chris was a little impressed with the ninja. She was well aware that he had many contracts and hidden skills, but Chris had assumed that, with the reorganization of the former staff members of Sector Two, he'd be monitored non-stop just as she, Shiori, and Kuriyo seemed to be. "If that's the case, *friend*, then what can I help you with?"

"I mentioned this earlier to Terashima, but I want to repeat myself to you as well: I want you to come to Frontier later today. We've been investigating the control mechanism for the spaceship and I've come up with some theories regarding why only certain people may be able to grasp the control scheme... Not to mention, I want to show *you* something."

The last comment piqued Chris’s interest, but her hatred for the politicians that fired Genjuro and broke apart Sector Two overpowered that curiosity. "And why should I help you, Ogawa?"

"You never did get a chance to talk with Finé like you wanted, correct? If you help, then I'll try to get you an audience with Akatsuki–as difficult as that may be." Chris's eyes lit up at that.

"Fine. You just want me to show up at any time?"

"Yes, any time works–my team will continue to be investigating Frontier for the foreseeable future, so even if you can't make it today then tomorrow's always an option." Chris was waiting for Ogawa to end the call, but silence hung between the two for a few moments before the brown-haired man continued. "I also have one another small favour to ask of the three of you as well; I'd be appreciative if you could pass this along to Terashima and Ando as well."

"Now what?"

"I want you to find Kohinata. If my theory is correct, then her presence would be..."

"Yeah I'm going to stop you there. None of us have seen Miku in months. She stopped by my place a while ago, and then disappeared. You'd probably do a better job tracking her down than we would."

"I'm not so sure. After all, Terashima and Ando–and Yumi, here–are probably the people who know her the best,"–the silent now hung between the two for a moment before Ogawa continued.

"You owe me–us–for this, though."

"Yeah, yeah. A visit with Akatsuki, for sure, and we could come up with more terms later."

"Fine."

With a huff, Chris ended the call and held out the phone for Shiori. "He wants us to find Hina, huh?" The tanned and sandy-haired Kuriyo mused the idea, having been listening to the conversation over Chris's shoulder. Her nickname for the girl–Hina–came from part of Miku's family name, Kohinata. "Our best bet would be checking out the places that we visited before, right?"

"Once we're allowed out of here, we've got a lot of work cut out." Chris sighed but did not lower her head. Instead of making a defeated expression, she turned to the incredibly confused girls who had no knowledge of the secret lives the three girls they stood next to had lived for several months. "Sorry about that, girls."

"We'll help you find your friend, if you'll let us." Otome pumped her fists with a wide smile across her face–she, just like the two girls flanking her, was determined to do anything to help Chris for reasons she was not entirely sure of.

Of course, Chris knew that it would be bad for her to drag into Ogawa's plans people who had not been part of Sector Two, but that was a trivial matter. They had no idea where Miku could be, so six heads were far better than three. Turning to Shiori and Kuriyo, Chris asked them a question in response. "You got a picture of Miku? It'd help if they knew what she looks like."

Having not yet put her phone away, Shiori began to shift through the images she had stored within its memory. As she found one with Miku, her large golden eyes lit up and then immediately clouded over in sadness–Chris had an idea of why.

"The girl with the black hair, wearing the white ribbon." Shiori held her phone out as she sadly spoke to her three upperclassmen. "That's Miku."

The image on Shiori's phone screen was one from a very different time. Four girls smiled into the phone's small camera, while another gazed longingly at the ghost that had been leaning over her shoulder.

Yumi, flashing two peace signs, stood on the far left, with Kuriyo leaning out of the way to dodge her out-stretched hands; followed by Shiori peacefully watching them with a kind smile on her face. Kneeling on the ground was Miku, her eyes torn away from the camera as she stared at the awkward smile of a sandy-haired girl who peered over her shoulder.

That girl's name was Hibiki Tachibana, who existed as nothing more than a memory to all of the other girls who stood around her in the image. Through a miracle, they had met a comatose girl who had been brought back from the dead–and every girl who crowded around her back then wished now that the same miracle would be bestowed upon Hibiki by the whims of fate as well.

"Okay. We'll help you look for her!" Yuki smiled, flashing a peace sign with her own fingers as if to mimic Yumi's pose in the image she had just looked at. "You can count on us."

"Thanks guys." Chris said with a genuinely warm smile on her face.

Though it would have been a charming way to begin their adventure of the day–an adventure far less dangerous than those that the girls had grown accustomed to–Kuriyo felt the need to point out the obvious fact that they were all forgetting about. "We still need to wait until they lift the lockdown order."

. . .

Tsubasa stood up on a balcony next to Kanade, looking down at the multicoloured sea below them. "I see what you mean, now. They really are abnormal Noise." The blue-haired swordswoman had just climbed up next to the lower platform that Kanade had descended to from her initial rooftop perch, and now stood with her Armed Gear by her side.

Kanade had been musing the situation for the past few minutes as she waited for her partner to approach, but no answer to her internal question had yet to come to her. She had no idea why these Noise might be different from the others they had fought, and only knew that they clearly were from their shifting palettes.

"Hey Tsubasa, Kanade. Can you hear me?" Both girls flinched in surprise as a more friendly voice echoed into their brains through the earpieces they wore. The voice was not the monotone drawl that both girls had been forced to get used to, rather the more friendly–albeit tired–voice of one Sakuya Fujitaka, a former member of Sector Two.

Before Kanade or Tsubasa could answer, Fujitaka continued speaking in a hurry. "This is a one-way line, I won't be able to hear you–just listen up for a moment, okay?" Kanade stifled a reply as the man kept speaking. "I've been reading the reports of the scans from your area, and the results are very... interesting, I suppose?

"The Noise there are giving off a unique signal. It's similar enough in most areas that the idi... *team* back at HQ likely overlooked the differences or don't care enough. But the data I'm looking at is very strange. I worry that your Symphogears may not be as useful against these Noise as the ones you usually fight. So, I wanted to warn you–be careful."

"Thanks Ogawa." Kanade gave a reply to his information on reflex.

"I hope I've been helpful. Anyway, I've got to go." Ogawa signed off, and the buzzing from the low-quality signal that Fujitaka–who had not been at base earlier and thus had likely patched himself into their line hastily from a remote location–spoke over disappeared in an instant.

"Our Symphogears may not be as useful?" Tsubasa shook her head. "Do you think, if a relic is involved here, that this could possibly be a trap for us?"

"Yes. Definitely. But if we don't throw ourselves in there soon, we won't hear the end of it from the brass later. So I guess we're going to spring it." Kanade shrugged. "Hopefully it won't be that dangerous."

. . .

A small girl sat in a large throne, staring down at a robot who posed elegantly below her. The sapphire-coloured dress, headband, and shoes that this automaton had dressed in contrasted her snow-white skin just as well as her short black hair did, creating a beautiful model that the young girl parallel to her looked down upon proudly. Or, rather, that was how the girl normally looked at the robot and her three 'sisters.'

The young girl's annoyed eyes narrowed as she glared at her creation. "So tell me, Garie, what were the orders I gave you?"

The robot–whose name was Garie Tūmān–bowed respectfully, lowering herself from the tip-toed position she had held as if a ballerina. "Master, you had ordered Leiur to trail Elfnein–whom we allowed to 'escape' with the shard of Dáinsleif you gave her–and pretend to attack her periodically as if trying to hinder her attempts to make contact with the Symphogear wielders.

"Phara was given the task to lure out our enemies, which she has attempted to do so by creating an army alchemical Noise replicas. I have been told that Phara has found the Symphogears, but they have yet to engage with her trap."

The girl to whom Garie reported all this to simply sighed. The innocent expression that Garie wore on her mechanical face was hard for most to get mad at, but her creator was one of the few exceptions. After all, she had created Garie using a fragment of her own memories; no one knew Garie better than her creator–and no one hated the cruelty that laid just below her cutesy facade better than her as well.

"No, Garie. I specifically wanted you to tell me what the orders I gave *you* were." The girl leaned forwards as she yelled at her creation. As she did so, the long pointed witch-like hat that had been perched on atop her golden crown fell off, dancing down through the air towards the mechanical marvel.

Catching the hat with a fast, albeit still elegant, hand movement, Garie cracked a cruel smile. "Master, I am fully aware of the orders you gave me. You ordered me to collect memories so that we could power both Micha and the true functions of the Château de Tiffauges that you have spent so many years constructing."

Garie tossed the hat back up to her creator, who snatched it out the air as it approached her at a fairly high speed. Placing the black spike back atop her head, the young girl let out an annoyed acknowledgement. She then began to speak in a very calm tone. "So tell me, then, Garie..." As if a switch had been flipped, the girl let out an angered scratch. "What are you still doing here?"

Replacing her crude pointed smile with a soft one in order to restore her facade of innocence, Garie pointed at her cheek with wide eyes. "Oh you needn't worry about me, Master. I've got something planned." With a regal curtsy, Garie nodded her head. "It shall give us far more power than my previous methods."

As a red pentagon appeared beneath Garie's feet, her creator just shook her head. She watched as the automaton sank below the ground, disappearing as the alchemical warp activated to send her to places unknown.

Placing her hand against her forehead, the young girl exhaled deeply. "I truly do despise that her annoying personality comes from somewhere within me."

#### GX Chapter 3

*Shosen wa kemono to kawaranu no ka? Sabi ni ore yuku no ka?

Mayoi madoi tsukinu hibi yo saredo ima wa

Gedō ni ai no issen wo "aku, gyō, soku, shun, satsu"

Garō no hikaru kiba wa mizukara wo mo kowashi messu moroha no yō

Hagishiri nagara chi wo fuku koto mo shiriete nao mo kū

Tsurugi wa tsurugi to shika yobenu no ka? Chigau, tomo wa tsubasa to yobu

…Waga na wa "yume wo habataku mono" nari*

The sparkling sword of Ame no Habakiri glistened in the silver sunlight that shown down upon its wielder as she fought. Singing all the while, the girl with the long blue hair flew around the street at a high speed, cutting down every Noise in her path.

Tsubasa and her partner Kanade had been doing this for twenty minutes already, yet the number of their enemies had yet to diminish even a single percentage. Every time their Armed Gears would pierce through the vibrant flesh of the alien beasts around them, the Noise would simply be replaced by another in a moment as if regenerating.

"R-Zero-One, R-Zero-Three–what are the two of you doing? Have you not yet engaged the enemy?" An annoyed man cawed at the two Symphogear wielders through their headsets. "We have detected no decrease in Noise within your vicinity. Engage, now!"

"Shut the hell up." Kanade snapped, pulling back the giant spear that had just cut down a Noise. A dark shadow clouded her eyes as she glared through the monsters that surrounded her. "We're trying over here, but they just keep regenerating! Maybe you should do your jobs and give us some ideas!"

"R-Zero-Three, we will not tolerate–" The man on the other end of the line was furious, his face likely red, but neither of the Symphogear wielders he spoke to cared at all for his emotions.

Tsubasa pulled her blade away from the army and jumped back to safety as she sent a signal to Kanade. In a very cold voice that would send chills down the communicator on the other end of the line, the former idol let out a report that was–comparative to both other parties involved–incredibly calm as she stifled the song in her heart.

"Command, what Kanade stated is the truth. Every time we cut down Noise, they simply regenerate as if our Armed Gears had no effect on them." An orange Noise waddled its way towards Tsubasa as she spoke, and the girl sent it flying with a simple kick. "What's more, these Noise only seem to be targeting the two of us specifically. Are there any deviations in the signals you are receiving from these Noise, or..."

The angry man inhaled sharply. "R-Zero-One, remember that we are the ones in charge here. While there are slight differences between the signals of these Noise and others that you have fought, they are within ranges that we would not consider abnormal. If this is an attempt to skip out on work..."

"Shut the hell up, you asshole." Kanade spat. "We're the ones putting our lives on the line out here day after day to protect people like you who can't fight the Noise. Do you really think we'd come up with a lie to get out of keeping people safe!?"

"R-Zero-Three..." The man started, but the rest of his thought never came.

"I suppose that may be my cue."

Tsubasa and Kanade readied their weapons as their attention turned towards the group of Noise. The voice that had spoken to the two warrior girls was unfamiliar, but more so it was uneasy; the Noise can not speak, and neither of the Symphogear wielders would have ever imagined that the voice that would come from the extradimensional beasts would be that of an elegant woman.

"Who goes there?" Tsubasa yelled into the rainbow sea in front of Noise, awaiting a response.

. . .

Fujitaka scrambled as he ran back to the office. Though he was the only member of Sector Two to be able to continue working with the Symphogear wielders, the government had pushed him aside and made him work beneath even the lowest rung of the ladder; Fujitaka was a no one to many of his peers, now, despite being the most knowledgeable among them about both Noise and the Symphogears.

Today of all days, Fujitaka had been asked to play the role of a delivery boy. Delivering a package of reports to their superiors–a package that, by all means, could have been sent digitally. Perhaps the managers of the new Symphogear program had been aware of the fact that Fujitaka's knowledge would be useful today and did not want him to curry favour with the rest of the team.

Still, as a member of the project, Fujitaka had been receiving reports just as all of the other members, but his experience told him that something bad was going down. Now, he rushed through the massive compound, running back to his office.

Fujitaka was not an optimistic person by nature, but even disregarding that, he felt as though there were many things wrong with everything around him. The fact that he had been called out of the office, the strange signals that his peers were disregarding–those he could chalk up to the penalties that came with the dissolving of Sector Two and his replacement's inexperience in this field.

Some other worries bubbled up within Fujitaka as he ran through the large halls of the government labyrinth in which he now worked, but the biggest problem that stood out in his mind was the fact that he had not seen any people since he entered this building.

Descending down the dark grey steps two at a time, Fujitaka felt his heart pumping at a dangerously high speed as he threw open the door to the monitoring room...

...and his blood ran cold.

"Oh, there you are. I've been looking for you."

A girl with short black hair stood in front of him, licking the tips of her bone-white fingers. Fujitaka could tell that the girl was not human–barring her milky skin tone, the sing-songy mechanical whir of gears could be heard with every one of her elegant movements. Fujitaka's lungs were robbed of air as he stared at the Autoscorer named Garie Tūmān–a robot who seemed to know who the man named Sakuya Fujitaka was.

The man with tired eyes looked around the room in horror. Disregarding the strange automaton and her mysterious words, Fujitaka's gaze darted about the many bodies littering the ground. He did not see any blood, nor any external wounds, but he could tell that they were no longer among the living–and he feared that he would be next to join them.

"You're the member of this useless group with the most knowledge of relics, right?" Garie had a sweet smile on her face as she spoke like a young, innocent child. The wide sapphire eyes that gazed at Fujitaka chilled him to the bone. He detected no malice behind the jewels, and that was what scared him the most.

Fujitaka tried to take a step backwards, to escape the girl's stare, but his feet were frozen. Looking down, he noticed that his feet were indeed frozen–literally, ice covered his shoes, locking him down to the ground like an Antarctic prison. His face immediately snapped back up to the girl at the realization that he was a goner.

"Oh, no need to worry." Garie's smile began to morph into a cruel crescent as she bared her spiked teeth and a murky evil corrupted her eyes. "I have no intentions of harming you–for now."

Garie stomped the ground, and the ground trembled. The girl's fancy blue shoe sent out a shadow of ice that snaked its way towards Fujitaka as if it were a beast chasing its prey. "My master would like to poke your mind a little bit."

The serpent of ice opened its fangs and snapped down upon Fujitaka, trapping the man within a frozen crystal. In seconds, Fujitaka went from being able to move his entire body–sans his imprisoned feet–to only being able to blink as his fearful expression was literally frozen upon his face.

Seeing the gift to her master thoroughly wrapped up in her signature wrapping paper, Garie clapped her hands in satisfaction. "Now to have a bit of fun, myself." She muttered, ignoring the panicked blinking of the man she would be taking with her during her escape, Garie turned to the console behind her.

A microphone was planted on the desk beneath a large monitor that currently showed an overhead map fo the area. Several dots littered the stage like chicken pox, which Garie presumed were likely the Noise her master bestowed upon the Autoscorers the ability to create.

Bending over slightly, Garie tapped onto a nearby keyboard, her fingers delicately dancing upon the letters. The girl did not even look at what she typed, her eyes remained static as she gazed up into the monitor. From the data she inputted, the screen changed to show a view of the situation surrounding Tsubasa and Kanade–judging from the camera angle, it was likely taken from a camera implanted within the Symphogear of the latter.

The two warriors stared at the image of Garie's older sister, a scene that Garie could not help but shake her head at. "Dear sister," Garie sneered with a glare. "You may have gone a bit overboard with the amount of those beasts you summoned."

. . .

The sea of Noise in front of Tsubasa and Kanade parted, and a girl in a mountain blue dress and turquoise vest stood in front of the two Symphogear wielders. The dark khaki-coloured hair that draped over her shoulders in thin braids that showed off the green highlights that ran through her hair like emerald thread.

"And who are you?" Kanade, her blood boiling from the disrespect she faced from the team back at their headquarters, snapped with an angry look. She had no patience for the elegant figure standing before them.

"Apologies for my rudeness, Kanade Amou." The woman spoke with a calm demeanour, her words like a powerful wind that cut through the two Symphogear wielders like a hurricane. "My name is Phara Suyūf, one of the four Autoscorers that my master so lovingly crafted. A pleasure."

Kanade lowered her weapon, a defeated sigh escaping from her mouth. "Oh, so she knows who I am. But at least she's treating us with more respect than our allies."

"What do you want from us, Autoscorer?" Tsubasa barked, preferring not to use the name of the enemy who appeared before them.

"A battle, preferably, sword girl. And, please, give me everything you've–"

Phara's words were drowned out as a loud noise echoed out around them. The Autoscorer, Tsubasa, Kanade, and even the two icy figures viewing the scene on a faraway monitor–all figures turned their focus to the remnants of the fiery explosion that lingered in the air across the city.

"Was your plan to lure us here so one of your allies could act elsewhere?" Tsubasa's steely glare changed target, again piercing Phara like a dagger. "You did mention there were four of you Autoscorers."

"No." Phara mused. "That... was not in our plans. As I said, my goal here is to test the strength of the Symphogear wielders–to see the power that mother of alchemy created."

"The mother of alchemy? Finé?" Kanade shook her head. "Somehow I'm not even surprised."

"Now, as much as we are all curious about the cause of that explosion, I would like to once again offer to you my request." Sliding her hand through the air, Phara revealed in her grip an emerald sword that sparkled as it crossed through reality. "I wish to duel you–the wielders of the Symphogears Gungnir and Ame no Habakiri."

Tsubasa raised her blade. "Very well."

. . .

Garie shrugged as she looked at the remnants of the lingering explosion off in the distance. "Whatever could my sister be doing over there? Ah well, that's none of my business."

Spinning on her heels, Garie turned her focus back to the man locked in a frozen prison behind her. Looking him up and down–and confirming that Sakuya Fujitaka was still alive–Garie raised her hand.

And as the room was engulfed in a fuchsia light, the girl and her frozen friend disappeared.

. . .

The cause of the explosion was a figure clad entirely in red. Black veins darted about underneath the blood-coloured armour, an accursed look in the glare that looked down at the damage their attack had caused.

Unfortunately, the target that they had actually been aiming for stood still in the dark smoke that still spread out through the streets. "That was quite a forceful impact." The figure said in a deep feminine voice, dusting off their clothes. "And an unexpected one at that."

No response came from the figure in red that stared at the silhouette of the Autoscorer named Leiur Darāhim, or the small child that hid behind the crimson killer with fearful eyes. The Autoscorer, knowing that she was trying to hold a one-sided conversation, adjusted the cuffs of her golden shirt. "Very well."

The two words that Leiur spoke were her farewell. Before the smoke had even cleared completely the Autoscorer disappeared in a flash of pink light, leaving behind the red warrior and the child clutching to their back.

"Um... thank you." The young girl with pale green hair squeaked her timid appreciation like a mouse. The black and purple hood draped over the child's head obscured her face in shadows, but her saviour did not seem to care about their identity. No, the warrior said nothing at all.

Just as fast as they had appeared, the red figure flew up into the air and quickly disappeared from the young child's sight. The girl known as Elfnein watched the sky with eyes just as blue, still clutching a small black trunk to her chest.

The realization slowly donned on Elfnein as her arms trembled from the fear that had coursed through her as she ran from Leiur. "I... couldn't even give this to her..."

#### GX Chapter 4

"Miku?"

Chris had been entering her room, a navy blue bag slung over her shoulder as she prepared to relax after one of the first few school days in her life, when a girl approached her from behind quietly. The amethyst eyes of Chris Yukine widened as she took in the dirtied visage of the girl she had not seen since the disbandment of Sector Two, two weeks ago.

Miku Kohinata had her wavy black hair tied loose, her usual white ribbon no longer keeping it held back. It had grown out in the few months since the appearance of Kadingir, and now draped down past the shoulders that her hair once could not even reach. The girl's fair skin, scarred red in areas that had been burned, was also covered in a thick layer of grime and patches of dirt remained glued to Miku's face with features that had sunken in from hunger. More over, her clothing–a large hoodie and sweatpants–were even more of a wreck, being torn in areas and stained in others.

"What happened to you?" Chris gasped, her mind running through the many possibilities as to how she ended up such a mess. Miku was a tough girl with a broken soul–Chris could only imagine what sort of circumstances could have lead to her current look.

But Miku's hollow eyes and sad expression did not falter. Chris waited for some sort of explanation, but a cool wind blew through their conversation as Miku side-stepped the question. "Can I use your shower, please?"

Have you not been home in two weeks?" Chris realized how stupid a question this was as it had left her mouth–of course not. If Miku had been somewhere expected, her whereabouts would not have been a mystery for the past few weeks. Chris shook her head. "No, that's a dumb question. Yeah, you can take a shower.

"I owe you for so much." Miku gave a polite bow.

Once Miku had showered, scrubbed clean to her sparkling natural state and now wearing some of Chris's (slightly too-large) clothes, the two girls sat around a small table. "How are you doing, now?"

Miku sighed. Pulling her new shirt up, Miku turned around and bared her back to Chris, who made an involuntary sound in response.

Miku's back was by far the most scarred part of her body. The melted skin twisted like a whirlpool over the bones beneath it, which were marked by a pyramid as her skin sunk in around her spine. Presumably from the experiments that Dr. Ver had done to her, Miku's back was also dotted with precise incisions, her back looking more like a jigsaw puzzle than part of a human body. But what really drew the embarrassed Chris's attention was the black stain that rose up from her hips like a plague of shadows.

As Chris stared in shock at the mark, Miku continued talking as a gloomy atmosphere spread out through the room like a poisonous gas to suffocate the two girls. "This mark spreads whenever I use the... Whatever Ver did to me. And I think it's going to kill me."

"Stop using it, then!" Chris shouted, slamming the table with so much force that it knocked over the empty cup of tea that she had on the wooden platform.

"I can't! I need to do something–I just... can't leave Hibiki in the state that she's in. Especially because..." It's my fault. Chris finished silently, watching as tears welled up in Miku's eyes.

With her mind under the command of the malicious Dr. John Wayne Vercingetorix, Miku had taken the life of her best friend with the weapon that the doctor had forced into her body–Lancea Longini. But Hibiki was not normal; her body had shards of the Gungnir Symphogear embedded within it, and they continued to resonate with Kanade whenever she made use of her own Symphogear. When Hibiki was killed, Gungnir surrounded her body in an impenetrable orange crystal–even now, scientists working with the government are still trying to analyse the substance and find some way to allow the girl from getting a proper burial.

"Is it really worth sacrificing yourself to–"

"Yes." Miku's voice was a confident shout. But that confidence quickly faded. Looking down at her trembling hands, the girl continued in a shaky voice. "I was the one who killed Hibiki. Even if I couldn't command my body, I was in there–and it was my body. I need to do everything I can to take responsibility for my actions."

"So what have you been doing, then? Where have you been?" Chris had so many questions for Miku, but every one she asked just generated new worries. "No. I need to slow down. Miku–are you okay? That's the most important thing right now."

"No, of course I'm not okay!" Miku closed her eyes, and only now did Chris fully recognize the dark grey bags beneath them. "Every time I try to sleep, I'm overwhelmed by memories. What Ver did to me... that's just a nightmare compared to remembering the face Hibiki had when I...

"I killed Hibiki. I killed her, Chris. She's never coming back. Hibiki was my sunshine, she was always there for me, and I was the one who killed her." Miku's body was shaking uncontrollably as she clutched her arms tight.

Chris couldn't stand the sight of the sad girl and, though she was not truly sure of what it meant to be 'gentle,' hesitantly moved to Miku's side and hugged her. On the night of the party, before Sector Two had been broken up, Chris had tried to comfort Miku the best she could, but the idea of a hug had never come to her. Now, seeing Miku in such a state, Chris's body seemed to move on its own as it remembered a memory from happier times.

Post-traumatic stress disorder–Chris knew it well. Even now, Chris found herself unconsciously shying away from all adults, and especially men. The only adult she trusted was Genjuro Kazanari, and only because her parents had done the same all those years ago. Especially now, after Ver had brought so much pain to Miku, Chris found herself mentally cursing the cruel world they lived in.

But even more so, she found herself empathising with Miku. Like her, Chris's body too was marked with a patchwork of wounds that would never heal–both physical injuries and mental ones. When she had been sold into slavery after her parents died, there was no one willing to reach out to her as Chris was abused in every possible way; Chris wanted to make sure the same didn't happen to Miku.

Embracing the crying Miku in a warm hug, Chris knew that these memories of pain would never truly fade–you just became strong enough to carry them alongside the good ones. "I'm so sorry, Miku."

It had taken some time, but eventually Chris managed to console the sobbing Miku enough so that she could get some answers out of her. So Chris once again asked Miku where she had been, as she dropped two new cups of tea down on the table for both of them.

"I've been going everywhere." Miku took a long sip of the warm tea. Chris's glass scalded her hands as she touched it, but Miku did not seem to mind the pain that came from the leafy lava quickly flowing down her throat. With a slow exhalation, breathing out a stream of fiery air, Miku began to speak again. "I've been travelling the world, looking for something that could help Hibiki."

"Miku, I know how much you care about Hibiki, but you need to take better care of yourself." Chris couldn't believe the words coming out of her mouth. No one took good care of her since her parents, and even now Chris's dorm was filled with piles of clothes and discarded food scraps. Miku, too, seemed to realize the irony of this as her eyes slowly scanned the room.

Noticing the judgemental gaze, Chris flared up as her face turned a flustered pink. "At least I'm not killing myself!"

This froze both girls, and Chris immediately leapt to her feet as she realized what she had said. Miku, on the other hand, remained seated, staring blankly ahead as the words echoed into her soul. "You're right. I am doing that, aren't I?"

"Miku, I..."

"Kanade told me to never give up on life, but that's exactly what I've done." The girl looked up at Chris's concerned face. "Hibiki would never forgive me for throwing myself away."

Chris sucked in her breath as she recalled the last thing Hibiki had ever said to her. "Do you want to die?" Chris had asked back then, to which Hibiki responded with a startling "Yes" as she threw herself into battle against Serena Cadenzavna Eve.

"Miku, I think... Hibiki would want you to take care of yourself." Chris shook her head. She did not know what Hibiki would want, nor did she know the right thing to say in this situation. But she was trying, and that's more than anyone had ever done for her. "I think she would be disappointed, seeing you in this state."

"You're right, but... I'm doing this for her." Miku clutched her fist and, for the first time, looked directly into Chris's eyes. "I've been travelling the world, Chris. I've been looking for something–a relic, or some power–to save Hibiki. I've done everything I can in these past few weeks to find some hint. And I think I may have found something.

"Yumi mentioned to us that she thought that Ver was working with the Illuminati, so I've been looking for their eyes. You'd be surprised how difficult it is to avoid their gaze, Chris. They're planning something."

"What do you mean?"

"I broke into an American facility to–"

"Whoa. Wait, hold on. You did what?"

Miku held up her arm, which became engulfed in a black ink. After a short moment, Miku's hand was replaced with a large pink saw blade, which spun on its own as she showed it to Chris. "I can access the power of Lancea Longini without singing, or using a Holy Chant. And, from what I've tested, I seem to be physically immortal."

"You're saying a lot of stuff really quickly here." Chris held up her hand, showing the flat face of her palm to Miku as if telling her to stop. "You broke into an American facility... can you even read English? No. More importantly, what did you mean by immortal?"

Miku's face turned pale. "Chris, I went to America and broke into a top secret government facility. I was fired at by so many guns, and I did not get away unscathed. But I'm completely fine. My body was torn apart but... I'm alive." She held out her arms by her side. "Whatever Ver did to me... he made me into something inhuman, Chris. I want Hibiki to live the best life she can, but even if I can save her, I don't know if I'll be able to live beside her."

"Miku... you're human." Chris grasped one of Miku's hands with her own. "I need you to stop seeing yourself as inferior to anyone. We've gone through a lot, Miku, but we're stronger because of it.

"And I want you to know, Miku... I care about you. We all care about you. Your classmates and I, and I'm sure Tsubasa and Kanade, too.. We've been worried about you since you disappeared. We want you to be safe."

Light began to spark behind Miku's clouded eyes. Over the past few times that they'd seen one another, Chris had noticed an inconsistency in the strength of the fire that burned inside Miku, but this was different. For the first time ever, Chris noticed a genuine hope well up within the girl, who once again had tears in her eyes. Miku smiled. "I... I'm sorry I've worried you all."

"You better be. No more breaking into Area 51, you got that?" Chris had a dark glint in her eye as she leaned forwards. "I'm serious–maybe just stick to Japan for now. It's not like you can even understand any other languages."

"Yeah. You're right. Maybe I got a bit too ambitious in my search." Miku wiped the fresh tears of hope from her eyes with a trembling finger. "Thank you, Chris. And I promise: I'll be more careful from now on."

~ ~ ~

Over the next few months, the deterioration of Miku's body had increased at a rapid pace. The entirety of the skin covering the young girl's legs had turned jet black, and the curse stretched up her back and around her arms like a backpack. Veins of black stretched out, clawing shadowy marks upon her face with their twilight claws.

Yet Miku did not care. At first, the strange darkness burned her body freezing cold–a paradoxical pain haunted her. Even now, though the stain continued to assault Miku's brain with awful sensations, she had learned to block it out and thus become numb to the plague's effects. But she was still no closer to finding any way to undo its effects.

Miku soared through the air with the power of Lancea Longini. The girl's long black hair, now tied into a thin ponytail, blew in the wind like a flag waving homeland pride. She had a dour expression on her face as the winds buffeted her face, forcing Miku to squint as she tried to navigate.

In her investigation into relics, she came across many references to the Bavarian Illuminati and many of their eyes–Miku had long lost count of the pupils she had seen etched into walls, jewellery... anything. The lone eye trapped within a pyramid seemed to be everywhere, and Miku knew that there must have been a reason for this–but that reason eluded her.

As she flew back home, hoping to pay Chris another visit after so many months, a sharp pain flared up in Miku's leg, and she winced. Ever since the darkness had eaten her lower body, random flashes would strike Miku's body like a thousand knives piercing her skin simultaneously. The pain was unbearable–especially at first–but Miku had learned that this pain subsided in only a few short moments.

Not realizing that she had been holding her breath in wait, Miku exhaled as she slowly descended towards the ground. "This body of mine is a mess." She growled, kicking at the ground with the foot attached to the source of her current strife–a mistake, as the injury only flared more intense. "Damn it."

"Hey, you!"

Miku's focus was torn away from her cursed body by two small hands. She scanned the horizon for the source of the small voice that seemed to be a desperate exhale, but saw nothing.

"Over here!" The voice called again, and this time Miku's attention snapped to the direction of its source.

In the shadows of a building burnt white by the sun, Miku saw a small figure shaking. Clutched tight to their chest was a black box, but that drew Miku's curiosity less than the attire the small child was wearing.

A black hood with purple trim connected to a robe that the child seemed to wear as a vest–long sleeves ran down their arms and ended at their fingers, but their bare chest was exposed to the elements as they wore nothing underneath. The child wore no pants but instead a black strip of cloth resembling bikini briefs, a revealing choice that contrasted the long blue boots that hiked up their legs.

Miku, put simply, was quite confused by their appearance. She could tell that the figure was a child, but they looked androgynous to her–no, Miku realized that the child wasn't entirely human. They looked human, but at the same time they looked almost robotic, almost fake. Not due to the androgynous nature of their appearance, Miku's deduction came from the fact that they seemed to lack any sexual characteristics, and the small navel they possessed on their stomach looked more akin to a torn piece of paper than an organic error.

"Help me! She's coming!" Miku did not know what the small child was referring to, but she could tell that they were not lying–they truly were in danger.

As if a switch had been flipped within Miku's brain, her sense of pain completely vanished as she attentively scanned the area. But she did not see anything of note...

Miku jumped out of the way as a large golden coin fell like a hydraulic press against the ground, crushing the cement that the girl had just been standing on. The young child hidden in the shadows let out a yelp as a metallic clang reverberated between the tall buildings around them.

Miku entered combat mode in that second. Though she knew no long-lasting harm would come to her, that did not mean Miku was willing to have to bear the pain that came from having her bones broken and muscles blown apart–again.

In her struggle to find answers to her questions, she had had many run-ins with unsavoury individuals. Miku had been stabbed, shot, and struck, yet none of those injuries had left a mark on her body–they only gave the shadows that crawled along it more power. But being crushed by giant gold coins could potentially destroy her skull and harm her brain, and that was a risk Miku was not willing to take.

Especially since she promised Chris that she would be careful.

"A flashy dodge. You're quite the spectacle."

Miku saw the figure who spoke land atop the gold coin. It was a woman, yet Miku could tell that she, too, was inhuman. Though she did possess a feminine appearance, the pure white 'skin' of Leiur Darāhim was clearly artificial and robotic. Yes, it was that trait which caused Miku to realize that she was fighting something inhuman.

And, if she had learned anything from dealing with Finé, Miku knew that monsters posing as human were far tougher than they appeared. She did not need to hold back against the enemy that stared at her.

"Ichaival." Miku commanded, and in that moment her golden armour turned a horrific crimson like the blood that would be shed if her enemy was a normal human.

The girl, having forgotten that a small meek child continued to shake within the shadows nearby, kept a stone-cold expression as her arm transformed into a long cannon. She continued to say nothing as, from this cannon, she shot a missile straight up into the air...

...And caused an explosion that, though Miku would not be aware of this fact, many of her friends would see first-hand.

With an ever so slight nod of acknowledgement, Miku accepted the thanks that the small child–a homunculus named Elfnein–offered with her uncertain voice once their enemy, Leiur Darāhim, had made a pronounced exit.

The appearance of two figures of unknown origin left Miku with a strange thought that ate away at her mind like a mouse nibbling on cheese; though, Miku could confess that the confusion in her mind may have been linked to the darkness that now ate up more of her fair skin.

As she leapt up into the sky, Miku decided to make a detour–her plans to reunite with Chris and her friends could be put on hold. Instead, she flew over the city in the opposite direction from where Tsubasa and Kanade were currently locked in battle. Her goal was to reunite with someone she knew she could trust to help sort out the tangled web of ideas and worries that made up her brain.

. . .

The woman in green laughed haughtily with wide eyes as she swung her blade over her head in a crescent–the opening move in the battle that set Tsubasa Kazanari and Kanade Amou against Phara Suyūf.

Though the attack should have been useless, considering it's skyward target and the distance between the Autoscorer and the two Symphogear wielders, yet the latter party was still forced to dodge as a tornado of energy the same green as Phara's dress flew towards them at a high speed.

Tsubasa used her dodge as a catalyst for her to launch an attack against her enemy, bouncing away from the wind at an angle that let her push off the ground to dash towards Phara. With the Armed Gear of Ame no Habakiri, Tsubasa stabbed forwards with her symphonic sword, putting the full weight of her strength behind this single attack.

But Phara effortlessly swung her own blade down and blocked the approach in a second. The Autoscorer didn't even flinch as Tsubasa's blade prodded, and subsequently bounced off of, the shining silver sword that Phara gripped by its teal grip.

Unfortunately for the Symphogear users who required songs to power themselves up, this made stealth attacks quite difficult. Kanade, who tried to follow-up from behind with her spear, had her strike elegantly dodged by Phara as if she were not on a battlefield but instead the floor of a ballroom. Instead of slicing through the robotic woman, the large Armed Gear of Gungnir instead bisected nothing but air.

"I had been under the impression that you and your associates were far bigger threats than this." Phara teased, ducking as Tsubasa's blade aimed for her glaring eyes. "Though, now, your movements are somewhat clumsy."

Tsubasa lit up in a sapphire flame as she swung her Armed Gear again and again. Every time, however, Phara would simply spin out of the way at the last second, the blade cutting nothing but the ghost of where the Autoscorer had once stood. The taunt tore away Tsubasa's layer of cool, her eyes lit up under a cloud of volcanic ash.

Kanade backed up to watch the zig-zagging path the two girls made as their song and dance continued. "Tsubasa!" She shouted. "Calm down!"

But the words never reached Tsubasa's ears, as she shut the cries of her partner out as the blood pumped through her ears. "Tsubasa!" Kanade repeated, her screams getting more intense but still only targeting the nothing around her as they bounced around the city's streets.

Resolved to calm Tsubasa down, Kanade made a decision. Waiting for Tsubasa to back away from Phara for just a moment, Kanade dashed into the gap and blocked Ame no Habakiri with her own Armed Gear–an act that forced Tsubasa to open her eyes wide in shock at the situation. In contrast, Phara wore a confident smile as she calmly looked down at the spear in front of her.

"Tsubasa!" Kanade screamed at the girl frozen in shock. "Calm down for a moment!"

The cloud covering Tsubasa's mind lifted as Kanade's plea finally reached her brain. The taunt–not particularly a great one–had infuriated Tsubasa far more than she wanted to admit, and she backed away from both her enemy and her partner.

"You are still weak." Phara looked down upon the blue swordswoman with a glare that froze the very air around them. "We shall finish this duel another time."

Kanade kept her spear held up, blocking Tsubasa from approaching Phara, as the Autoscorer began to teleport away in a pink flash–and all of the Noise around them disappeared at the same time. When Tsubasa tried to approach at the last moment, Kanade adjusted the angle at which she held her weapon.

"Tsubasa. Calm down. This isn't like you." Tsubasa's eye twitched as she realized the truth in Kanade's words. She finally stood down, backing away from Kanade's spear. "Good."

"Kanade... I... Sorry, that was unbecoming of a sword."

"No, Tsubasa. You're not a sword–you're a human. Humans feel emotions–it's natural. But you need to control them." Kanade finally lowered her weapon, shutting down the Symphogear armour that she wore–and Kanade finally felt the pressure that had been pushing down upon her brain disperse. She sighed in relief. "But I do understand why you're on edge."

The reason why Phara's comment that they were not as tough as their reputation preceded them struck Tsubasa's heart in such a way to make her lose her cool stemmed from a variety of reasons–but it was that they had been told the same thing time and time again over the past three months.

Tsubasa would not readily admit that she had been particularly close to Hibiki Tachibana or Miku Kohinata, but neither would she claim that she was apathetic towards them. But the death of the former in particular got to her: Tsubasa had not been able to fight Miku at the time, instead being locked in battle with Serena at the time, so the claws of guilt gripped her heart at her inability to assist her in any way. She blamed herself for being unable to protect Hibiki, nor save Miku from Ver's torturous experiments.

Phara telling Tsubasa that she was weak just confirmed the doubts that Tsubasa held–she believed that she was no longer fit to fight as a Symphogear wielder. She hung her head at the thought as her white and blue armour transformed back into the navy blue dress that she had been wearing before donning the weapon. "I'm sorry, Kanade. I am a failure."

"If you're a failure, then so am I." Kanade smiled as she hugged Tsubasa close. The taller Kanade closed her eyes as she leaned her head against the dark blue sheet of hair atop Tsubasa's head. "But we're only human–we just do what we can."

Tsubasa could feel Kanade trembling slightly as she hugged her. She suspected that the stress that the Symphogear put on Kanade's body was increasing with time–likely a result of the fact that they were running out of the LiNKER that Ryoko Sakurai (Finé) had concocted and the subsequent arrest–or disappearance–of all other parties who might be able to make more, namely: John Wayne Vercingetorix, the mad scientist who had experimented alongside Finé as a member of F.I.S. but was now locked up; Nastassja Sergeyevna Tolstaya, one of the world's top heretical engineers who, similarly, worked alongside Finé, and has since vanished off the face of the Earth; and Kirika Akatsuki, who now housed Finé's memories and thus, in theory, might be able to create more of the special elixir should she be let out of the prison that she and the other F.I.S. members had been confined to.

"Kanade..." Tsubasa reciprocated the hug that was trapping her in the spot. She wanted to comfort Kanade in some way, just as she had done for Tsubasa so many times before, but the words didn't come.

The two girls instead just continued hugging silently in the empty street as the cool wind blew around them like a whisper.

. . .

"Garie, what is this?"

The small child who sat upon her royal throne glared down in a mix of confusion and anger at the blue doll who stood at the bottom of the steps leading up to her. It was not the sudden appearance of Garie Tūmān that shocked the blonde-haired girl, but rather what she appeared with: a man frozen in an iceberg.

"This is the plan I mentioned earlier, master–my plan to gather strong memories capable of powering the Château de Tiffauges." Garie spoke with a sweet smile on her face, as if an innocent little girl, but her master knew that the act would drop momentarily.

"Tell me, Garie, how exactly does... no, hold on." The young girl hopped off her chair and flew down the steps with grace. Circling around the block of ice, she took in the sight of the man tinted blue trapped within it. "Is he alive?"

"Of course, master. You don't think I would kill indiscriminately, would you?" Garie poked her cheek and stuck out her tongue like a young child teasing a friend, a stark contrast to the dark words she had spoken.

The shorter girl just nodded in response–she knew for sure that Garie would, but held her tongue. "Interesting. No, I understand now what you may have in mind." Turning her back to the popsicle that was Sakuya Fujitaka and the Autoscorer who stood beside it, the young girl began ascending back up towards her throne. "I had planned to simply get rid of the Symphogear wielders so that they would not hinder my plans, but making use of them as tools would be far more beneficial."

With a nod, the young girl took her rightful place at the head of the grand hall, looking down at the four pedestals–three of which were currently filled with the figures of Micha Jawkān and the recent returnees Phara and Leiur. But that confident look upon her face faded into a scowl as a sudden realization passed through her mind.

"I'm going to need to talk with them again, aren't I?" She placed her hand against her head. Inhaling deeply, the young girl released her breath in a huff. "Garie, don't do it here, but I want you to release that man. Leiur, keep an eye on him. I will have use for him."

"Aye, master." Leiur spoke with a confident nod, and Garie simultaneously made a similar acknowledgement.

Hanging her head, the young girl then turned her gaze to Phara. "But first, Garie: I want you to pass some memories to Micha. I... am going to need to be alone for a little while."

The four Autoscorers did not know who it was that their master disliked speaking to, but they knew that giving her solitude while she did so was for the best. The last time the young girl had spoken to the girl she called her 'friend,' Garie recalled that one of the large bronze gears that was part of the room's boundaries had been knocked loose–an act that had set the construction of their base and super-weapon, the Château de Tiffauges, back several months.

Garie still remembered the injuries that she had sustained working to reincorporate the gear into the large mechanisms of the Château with a dire expression, and the curt, annoyed orders that her lovely master spat out as she worked.

"Understood, master." Garie nodded.

#### GX Chapter 5

Chris Yukine stretched her back out as she deeply inhaled the fresh air of the evening. She and her five companions–Shiori Terashima, Kuriyo Ando, Komichi Ayano, Otome Kaburagi, and Yuki Godai–all sighed in relief as they had finally been allowed to exit the underground shelter that they had been confined to for most of the day.

Though hundreds of people chatted around the group as they slowly returned to their every day lives, Chris's loud sigh managed to overpower the calamity of the many conversations being held around the six girls. "Alright!" She pumped her fist into the air, a wide, confident smile crossing her face. "Let's go look for Miku!"

"Isn't it getting a bit late? We have school tomorrow." Kuriyo mused, earning a cautious smile from Shiori beside her.

"If Ogawa wants us to find Miku, then something important is going on. School can take a back-seat for now."

"If it's for Chris, then we're up for whatever!" Otome nodded with a large grin, and Yuki and Komichi both bobbed their heads in agreement.

Yuki continued Otome's thought. "From what it sounds, this girl has a tendency to move around a lot. If she's around here, then we've got to act fast!"

Shiori and Kuriyo both sighed. It was not as though they did not want to find Miku–quite the opposite, however–but they had been looking for Miku in their free time for the past few months and so far had no results to show for it.

The blonde-haired Shiori leaned towards her friend as she had a realization. Lowering her voice to a whisper, Kuriyo noticed Shiori wanting to talk and leaned in to hear what she said. "Chris is really fired up, huh? You can't help but admire her optimism."

Kuriyo tried to draw her mouth into a grin, but it ended up being nothing more than a crude scribble. "Maybe, with more of us, we'll have better results?"

"We can only hope."

"What are you two whispering about?" Chris popped up between Kuriyo and Shiori. "We need to work fast! We don't have much daylight left."

"Do you have any ideas for where Hina is?" Kuriyo asked, pulling Chris off her cloud of positive thoughts for just a moment.

"I think we should split up. You two know Miku the best, so you can hit up the places you might think she'd be. Otome, Yuki, and Komichi–you guys don't know Miku, so you might be able to figure out some places she might be if Miku is intentionally trying to avoid us." Chris held up her phone. "We could keep in contact with a group chat as we look. And if we don't have any luck today, we could come up with a new plan for tomorrow."

"I can't help but notice that you left yourself out of that split." Ayano pointed out. "Can we assume you have a plan of your own?"

Chris winked. "I'm going to enlist help from a friend."

"A friend?" Shiori tilted her head. In her head, she began to list off all possibilities: Yumi was with Ogawa, and they that the two of them were likely incredibly busy investigating Frontier; Shiori believed Fujitaka was likely busy with work, unaware that he was currently encased in a block of alchemical ice; Tomosato, too, was likely busy with work; Maria, Shirabe, and Kirika were still locked up in prison and no one was allowed to visit them. That left one possibility: "Genjuro?"

"You know it. Even if he's too busy to help, I'm sure the old man will have some weird ideas that might help."

. . .

"Now this is certainly a surprise, getting a visit from you."

Genjuro, wearing a yellow track jacket and still sweating from his long and strenuous workout, looked down in surprise at the girl who had appeared at the entrance to the large, traditional-styled house in which the Kazanari family lived. Since the dissolution of Sector Two, Genjuro had only been visited by two of his former co-workers, namely Fujitaka and Ogawa–and each had only visited him once. The fact that someone else had gone out of their way to visit him was a shock on its own, but he never would have expected one of the girls he had thrown into war to now be standing at his front gate.

"Would you rather I leave?" The response was cold, but, to Genjuro, it also felt pained–as if he genuinely did not want her to visit him.

"No, no. That's not what I meant." The large man sighed as he wiped his forehead with the light green towel that had been draped over his shoulder. "What can I do for you, Kohinata?"

Miku stood with her hands shoved into the pockets of the baggy hoodie she wore. Long, similarly loose, pants covered her legs, and the hood had been pulled over her wavy black hair to partially obscure the face that she had carefully applied concealer that she had–though Miku would never admit this to Genjuro–stole from a shop that had been temporarily abandoned while everyone was hiding from the Noise. Miku took every precaution to make sure Genjuro would not find out about the dark virus that crawled up her body, and, on first impressions, seemed to have worked successfully.

The young girl tilted her head. "We need to talk about the Illuminati. I've been doing a lot of looking into them." Her response caused Genjuro's eyes to widen for a moment in surprise, and he ushered her into the compound immediately.

"You know I'm not part of the government any more, right? I can't actually do anything official, now." As the large wooden door swung shut, Genjuro threw an angry look down at Miku–though she was fully aware that her anger was not directed towards her. "Not to mention, you really should not be putting yourself in danger any longer. You don't need to, Kohinata."

"No, I want to. I need to do something–to find some way to help Hibiki." Miku shook her head. "But that's besides the point. The fact that you're not with the government is precisely why I'm talking to you now."

"Now you have piqued my interest." Genjuro raised his eyebrow.

The man with the red lion's mane stroked his beard as he thought about the implications of what she had said–the Illuminati likely had connections to the Japanese government if she specifically wanted to speak with him now. But he could not ask for more details, as both he and Miku turned their heads to the wooden door that began to open once more.

"Ah, brother. Welcome back." Genjuro's intense expression was quickly replaced by a jovial smile as the figure of his brother appeared in the doorway.

Yatsuhiro Kazanari looked at his younger brother with tired eyes from behind his black glasses. Upon noticing Miku Kohinata by his side, he stiffened slightly–being one of the most well-informed members of the Japanese government, he was fully aware of who Miku was and what she had gone through. But her presence now worried Yatsuhiro. "Brother, if you're trying to do something reckless..."

Genjuro waved his hand. "You've got it wrong, Yatsuhiro. Kohinata just came for a friendly visit, to catch up. Ah, speaking of which." He turned to the girl beside him now to introduce the new man who had just entered the property. "Kohinata, this is my older brother: Yatsuhiro Kazanari. He's a national security specialist, and also Tsubasa's father."

Upon hearing that last point, Miku bowed politely. "Nice to meet you. I'm Miku Kohinata."

"Ah, yes. I've heard a lot about you, Kohinata." He returned her bow with his own, before turning back to address Genjuro. "I hope this 'chat' of yours goes well. You know how disheartened Tsubasa would be if something were to happen to you." Miku could sense that there was more to that sentence that went unsaid, and Genjuro could clearly the end of his brother's sentence in his mind: *She always liked you more.*

"Oh, Yatsuhiro, you know..." Genjuro trailed off with a grunt; it was evident to Miku that the two had had this conversation many times before. She was partially curious about what was going on in this family, but more Miku was beginning to grow impatient; Miku had hoped that this would be a short visit.

"Before you go, I should tell you something." Yatsuhiro cracked a small weathered smile, something that seemed unnatural upon his stony face even to Miku. "The girls from F.I.S., I just got out of a meeting with the brass. Not much has changed for Akatsuki and Tsukuyomi, but we managed to finally strike a deal regarding the release of Maria."

The mention of Kirika Akatsuki caught Miku's attention. It wasn't so much that she cared about the young girl so much, but rather the brain within her. Kirika had absorbed the memories of the eternal priestess Finé, who had once possessed Miku's body as well. If anyone were to have further information on relics capable of helping Hibiki, or even on the Bavarian Illuminati that seems to be lurking in the shadows, Miku suspected it would be Finé.

"Yatsuhiro Kazanari, sir." Miku found herself addressing the grey-haired man professionally before her mind had even caught up to her mouth. "Is it possible to arrange a meeting between me and Akatsuki?"

"Impossible." The older man replied immediately. "Because of her connection to Finé, the government refuses to see Akatsuki as the child she is, and is approaching her situation with the utmost caution. It would be difficult for even I to visit her...

"Is what I would say to someone normal." He turned to Genjuro, and the two shared a knowing glance that seemed to be a mutual understanding. "Considering the power of the weapon you wield, I doubt I could stop you from doing what you wish. Moreover, considering you, too, had been temporarily possessed by Finé, I may be able to use that as leverage against my superiors' complaints. But... not today, please. I just got out of a ten hour-long meeting regarding the status of Maria Cadenzavna Eve–I'm going to need a break for now."

"Please, have a good rest, brother." Genjuro smiled. "You deserve it for all that you've done."

"For all that he's done?" Miku asked, and Genjuro just patted her on the shoulder in response.

"Come on. Let's go have that discussion, now." Genjuro led Miku away from his brother–whom he gave a farewell to via a curt wave–and into the mansion, finally giving the two shelter from the midday sun.

Several hours after Miku would leave, Genjuro would again find himself reconnecting with a former Sector Two Symphogear wielder.

. . .

"Prelati."

"Carol."

Two girls stared at each other with their own suspicions in their glares. Carol Malus Dienheim sat upon her throne in the dimly-lit chamber of the Château de Tiffauges, her vision focused on a tear in reality as she absent-mindedly toyed with the long golden braid that was longer than her own, childish body.

On the other side of the gap that had ripped the air apart in front of her, another young girl looked at Carol with unimpressed eyes the colour of violet, glancing over the top of glasses with green, hexagonal frames. Prelati had black hair that she tied into two messy drills that hung down just past each of her shoulders, with a large burgundy beret sitting atop her crown. She spoke in short, curt sentences as she addressed the girl with cruel eyes through the tear in reality. "And to what do I owe the pleasure."

"I see your associates are not with you at the moment." Carol mused, trying to make small talk. While she did not like to converse with any of the boorish alchemists of the Bavarian Illuminati, Carol would readily admit that Prelati was the most sensible of them. Thus, she would always take the time to butter the girl up in hopes of getting more information out of their rare conversations.

"We've had to split up for the time being to speed up our search." Prelati's annoyed expression did not change, but Carol could see Prelati shift the large green toy that she clutched to her chest as she spoke.

"Oh right. Your ever-so-secret treasure." Carol did not know what Prelati and her associates had been looking for, only that it was important to the plans of the Bavarian Illuminati–though those were of no interest to Carol. She had her own goals, which would render the Illuminati's moot should they succeed.

"Enough about me, Carol. I take it you require something from me? Have your plans for the Château changed again?"

"No, Prelati. We are nearing completion on the Château de Tiffauges. Your assistance in its development is invaluable. No, today I require information."

"Information, huh?" Carol could see Prelati's eyes wander. She had lost interest–not that she had had any to begin with.

"The Bavarian Illuminati is well-connected to different government agencies, yes? What do you have on the Japanese government–namely, their weapons known as the Symphogears."

"Ah so you've met them, hm?" Prelati's eyes did not move back to gaze at Carol, but the latter could see her eyes light up slightly at the comment. "Was my warning that they could be dangerous true?"

"No, actually. My Autoscorers have informed me that they seem... preoccupied. And substantially weaker than your previous reports have suggested."

Now Prelati's pupils lined up with Carol's as a surprised expression crossed her face. "Is that so? That is honestly quite reassuring."

"However, I wish to know more about those girls. We've managed to capture one of the men that worked alongside them, but I doubt we'll be able to get useful information from him. What do you and the Illuminati have on the different wielders that I could use to bring them to my side."

"Bring them to your side, you say? Even after dismissing them as weak?" Prelati looked down at the large frog plush she held in her hands, nodding at it as if she had just had a telepathic conversation with the toy. "No. Considering how valuable your late father's knowledge has been for both of us, I know better not to question your methods."

"My father established many of the alchemical theories that serve the basis for what both of us use today, so it's a wonder that it's taken so long for you to believe in me." Carol scoffed. "But the theory that I have is one I came up with all my own–although I must admit my father's work does act as a backbone."

"Oh, in that case I take back what I said." A shadow was cast over Prelati's face as her mouth cracked into the eerie crescent of a grin resembling that of the Cheshire Cat. "After all, a young girl like you relying on her own theories? That could only end in failure."

*There it is.* Carol frowned. Prelati was a cruel person at heart, and yet she was still easier to deal with than her strange associates–the cold Saint-Germain and the overly perceptive yet always (and, in Carol's opinion, annoyingly so) bubbly. Though Prelati's lazy personality often pushed down her crude remarks, so, by comparison, Carol saw her as the most 'normal' and thus the easiest to get information out of.

But these remarks often hit Carol in very precise ways. Her eyebrow twitched as she focused on the idea of Prelati calling *her* young. "Bold of you to call me young, considering I'm your senior of several hundred years."

Yes, despite the fact that Carol and Prelati both looked like girls whose ages might have–at oldest–barely dented two digits, in truth both of them were several centuries old. The power of alchemy could be, despite being based entirely in science, considered magic to the average person–even stalling the act of physical aging was not impossible for alchemy.

Neither girl would dare share their true age–should they even remember the number–both knew that Carol was indeed the elder despite her more childish mannerisms. Prelati had been born in the fifteenth century, and Carol's wisdom stretched back even further.

"Now, I'm on a time limit, here, Carol. So let me move on." Prelati waved her hand away, pushing the conversation forwards.

"Fine with me." Carol sulked in her chair, though tried her best to prevent the girl–whose location in the world was completely unknown to Carol–from seeing the anger on her face. "The information you have on the Symphogears. I require it."

"Very well. As you said, we all owe your father a great deal for his research. I see no reason to hide this info from you." Prelati reached somewhere and seemed to grab something. "I'll send it over to you momentarily."

Carol's face twisted in annoyance as Prelati brought to her lips a weisswurst on a bun, topped with all kinds of different sauces and toppings that Carol thought looked nauseating. "You're busy, huh? Seems to me like you're just enjoying a festival."

"We all have our vices, Carol. You're in no position to judge."

"Very well." Carol shook her head. "But you could have waited just a bit longer, no?"

Still chewing on the mountainous mess that she held up in front of her, Prelati spoke with a full mouth before cutting the conversation short. "I'll send the information to you soon."

The tear in the air sewed itself shut, finally leaving Carol in silence. She groaned as she grabbed her head with both of her black gloved-hands. "That girl always gives me a headache." Shaking her head, Carol shouted towards the four empty pedestals below her. "What kind of person decides to eat food while in the middle of a conversation?"

Slumping back in her chair, Carol stared up at the dark ceiling above her. "It would be beneficial if I could power the Château without needing to sacrifice the Autoscorers." She muttered, still gripping her head tight as her brain pounded like a drum. "As annoying as Garie can be, I still prefer her to that idiot."

. . .

As night encroached upon the sky, Genjuro looked down as another familiar face stood at his doorstep. She was hunched over, her hands on her knees as she gasped for air that her lungs refused to clutch.

"Chris? Are you okay?" Genjuro had a concerned look as he looked down at his new visitor; he was alert, however, keeping his senses trained on the darkness that drew shadows on the surrounding streets. He was surprised to see her, but the sorry state that she was in took precedent over the confusion at her sudden visit. "Is something wrong?"

Chris held up one hand. "I... W... Ho...ld...." She shook her head and collapsed down to the ground in a huff. "Ho.... hold... on...."

Seeing Chris take a comfortable(?) seat on the ground, Genjuro realized that his worry had been for nothing. Chris was safe–she was just out of breath. He exhaled the breath he did not know he was holding as he crouched down beside her.

Still panting heavily as sweat dripped down her forehead, Chris managed to finally relax her body enough to say a full sentence without needing to pause between each word. "I'm looking for Miku. Can you help?"

"Kohinata? She was here a couple of hours ago." Genjuro wondered if Chris had known that Miku had visited him earlier in the day or if his meetings with the two today was purely coincidental.

As Chris groaned in anger, falling onto her back, Genjuro assumed the latter. "Of course she was." A mixture of annoyance, anger, and fatigue flashed through Chris's eyes as she looked up at Genjuro. "Do you know where she went?"

"Today? No. But she will be back here tomorrow–Kohinata wants to work with my brother to set up a meeting with Akatsuki."

"Greeeeat." She sighed as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. Chris's face was lit up in blue as her phone's screen flashed to life, and the girl began checking the many messages she had ignored as she ran across the city–far further than she had initially expected–to meet Genjuro. "What time? I'll be back then."

"Don't you have school?"

"Ogawa wanted me to find Miku, so that means something important is going on." Chris finally pulled herself back into a sitting position. "Besides, my grades are good enough that I'm sure I can skip a day or two and be fine."

"Your grades?"

"Yeah, turns out I'm really good at this whole 'school' thing." Chris wore a confident smile on her face. Genjuro was both confused–Chris had never before attended a normal school and had not had any education since her parents' death, so by all accounts her grades should not be that high–and yet also proud of the girl. He smiled.

"Good work, Chris."

"Thanks. But PE is not my strong point." Chris sighed. Then, realizing that she would now be forced to run back to school–and potentially not get any sleep tonight–she groaned extremely loudly. "Shit. How am I going to get back?"

"I'll give you a ride, and the details of Kohinata's meeting."

"Thanks, Genjuro. I owe you another one."

"Just wait here, I'll bring the car around." Genjuro pulled keys out of his pocket and walked back into the compound, slamming the wooden door closed behind him.

Scrambling to her feet, Chris suddenly took in the fact it was nighttime–and that she was alone. Afraid of the ghosts that might jump out of the shadows at her (but not wanting to admit it), Chris leaned her back against the wall beneath one of the large white lights that illuminated the area around her.

"Maybe I should just learn how to deal with the trains." Chris sighed, pulling out her phone. Thirty-two messages had been posted to the group channel that she had set up to record their progress on finding Miku, but none of them had good news. More recently, all of the girls decided to call it a day as the sun set, knowing that it would be difficult to even recognize the girl named Miku Kohinata in the darkness.

Not sure if any of her friends were still awake, Chris tapped the news she had been given into the channel: [Miku visiting Genjuro tomorrow. Will meet him again.]

"On second thought, Chris..."

Genjuro's sudden voice made Chris jump, and she tossed her phone into the air. The small device, its screen face-up, slid across the ground a short distance away, disappearing into the shadows as the screen turned off due to–as Chris hoped–inactivity.

"Don't scare me like that, old man!" Chris flared up in anger, her face a fiery red.

"Sorry about that. I was going to suggest you stay over tonight instead–considering how difficult a trek it was for you to get here." Genjuro had an apologetic smile on his face as he held up his hand. "Although I don't approve of you skipping school, I know you'd do it anyway."

"Like I said, Miku's far more important than school right now." Chris smiled. "I'm still mad that you scared me, though."

Genjuro chuckled loudly. "Sorry, sorry. I'm surprised you didn't hear me open the door, though, considering..." With his large hand, Genjuro pulled the wooden door open at a fair pace. As he did, a loud screech as the rusted hinges strained to act accordingly rang out; Chris now recalled that she had heard this sound, now, three times. "I really should do maintenance on this."

"Yeah, sorry. I guess I was really focused on my phone."

"Umm... Here's your phone..."

From the shadows came an unfamiliar voice, one that froze Chris's blood cold. She did not see the person who spoke, and immediately dashed up into the safety of the now battle-ready Genjuro.

"Ghost!" She screamed, cowering behind Genjuro.

But then they heard a squeak. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!"

The figure slowly walked towards the light, and Genjuro dropped his fists as he realized that the voice belonged not to someone threatening the two but instead what appeared to be a young child wearing a robe.

In one hand, the girl held out Chris's phone with shaky fingers; under her opposite arm, she clutched a black chest. "Umm... My name is Elfnein... I'm looking for the Symphogear wielders."

#### GX Chapter 6

Yumi Itaba stared up with tired eyes at the sparkling stars that poked holes through the black void of the night sky. She sat, legs extended outwards comfortably, on the artificial island that floated high above the ground and doubled as a spaceship: Frontier.

Though her eyes focused on the stars behind it, Yumi held up a mysterious black stone with her thumb and index finger. For the past few months, Yumi has carried it everywhere with her and let very few people know of its existence–Genjuro Kazanari and her current superior, Shinji Ogawa, were the only other two aware of it. The small shadowy mineral was no average rock, even if one were to ignore the shining orange gems that protruded from it. Yumi called this small, alien piece of gravel the Twostone–a name derived from its most peculiar quality: though it was a three-dimensional object that Yumi could feel with her hands, the rock appeared to be an image drawn onto reality. No matter what angle you viewed the stone and its gems from, you would only be able to see it from one angle; in a way, it was something both scary and beautiful.

Yumi rubbed her eyes as she stuffed the stone back into the pocket of her black pants. Taking after the secret agents from anime–and Ogawa's own appearance–Yumi had started to wear a professional ensemble while on duty. Only the white collared shirt shone from beneath the suit and tie that were both the colour of the darkest shadows. Though it was night now and thus useless, Yumi also had a pair of sunglasses perched atop her forehead.

She was, to be completely honest, living her dream life. Yumi was a giant nerd–the biggest otaku any of her friends knew. Manga, anime... Yumi indulged in as much as she could during her free time. Being pulled into a world that most people could only dream of; being one of the only three people in the world privy to the existence of a stone that defies all physics; being one of the few human beings to ever stand on a giant landmass that alien gods had once created–Yumi had never felt happier in her life. The bubbly girl with the reddish-brown twintails felt a warmth in her chest that she had never felt before in her sixteen years of life.

But, at the same time, she felt somewhat lonely. Her friends had all gone separate ways–Kuriyo and Shiori were deemed 'useless' to the government and thus went back to normal lives, Chris left the government's care on her own, Tsubasa and Kanade now worked in a different sector altogether, and she had no idea where Miku was.

To make matters worse, one of her friends had died–something that the government would not let her forget, considering her corpse, which was still encased in an impenetrable orange crystal, was being kept and researched upon in the same office that Yumi technically worked out of. It was hard, seeing Hibiki's face frozen in fear every day.

"You don't look so good." Yumi tilted her head back to get a view of her boss, Shinji Ogawa, as he approached. He had a kind smile on his face but, just as Yumi assumed she did, dark rings under his golden eyes.

The two of them–or more specifically, Ogawa–had been put in charge of researching Frontier due to its assumed connection to the technology used by the Symphogears and their knowledge of the weapons. They had been working on the island now for almost fifty days; the two basically lived on Frontier, as a small workshop had been set up for them. Their division had made some progress in trying to learn more about the so-called Custodians that built it, but the government was not interested in that.

What the government cared about was the technology powering it, and they were not alone: every country in the world was interested in the strange spaceship that had risen out of the ocean. But, on that front, Ogawa and Yumi were stuck. All of the technology that they had encountered was far too intricate for them–for any human–to make heads or tails of. Kanade and Dr. Ver had both managed to pilot the ship, but the former wrote it off as her getting lucking and the latter was unwilling to share his knowledge.

But the government's insistence that they find anything to reverse engineer was crushing them. And thus Yumi and Ogawa had now been up for almost two whole days, attending meetings and investigating Frontier. They were both at the ends of their ropes.

"I could crash for four months." Yumi sighed, collapsing onto her back. As she took on a horizontal position, she immediately felt her eyelids grow heavy–sleep was beckoning her.

"You can't fall asleep now, Yumi. We've still got–" A yawn escaped Ogawa's mouth. "Work to do." Though he was her boss, the two of them had grown very close to one another over the three months that they had worked under Yatsuhiro Kazanari–they were so friendly with one another that many of their associates assumed that they were family members.

It probably didn't help that Ogawa was also teaching Yumi some of his family's ninja techniques on the side.

Ogawa gave into his own tiredness and laid down beside Yumi, staring up at the sky just like her. They both wanted to say something to one another–the same thing, most likely.

They had placed their hands on the control mechanism for Frontier for the first time today, and been assaulted by visions of runes they could not understand and unfamiliar, alien faces. But there were some notable things that they recognized, and both wanted to theorize about what they meant.

But they were simply too tired.

"Hey, Ogawa..." Yumi didn't know how long the two had been laying there in silence, but neither of them had said a word. Eventually, she felt awkward and wanted to break the silence. "The Custodians... where do you think they came from?"

"Who knows?" He muttered. "Maybe they're Noise."

"Chris told us that Finé's goal was to 'reunite with her beloved,' right?" Yumi recalled, her sleepless brain fried and now jumping from thought to thought with no pause. "If she was talking about a Custodian, then I wonder what they were like."

"Crazy." Ogawa answered immediately. He had been awake longer than Yumi, so the young girl fully understood why he was speaking only in short slurs. If Yumi's brain was being grilled on a stovetop, Ogawa's had been overbaked and deep-fried; it was a wonder he was even still awake.

"I'd like to meet one, eventually."

"We have enough insanity to deal with here on Earth. I think..."

Ogawa seemed to be trying to say something else, but Yumi heard his steady breaths as the arrow of sleep finally found its mark on his brain. She chuckled lightly under her breath as she open the gates to dream land, herself.

. . .

Genjuro led the sleepy Chris and mysterious Elfnein into the traditional mansion that sprawled across a massive compound, checking his cellphone several times on the way. The room they stopped in, which was draped in shadows as no lights permeated the room with a large television embedded within one wall, was small and fairly cool; Chris shivered as she sat down on the large black couch that faced the screen.

"Alright." Genjuro turned on the lights and plopped down with a huff beside Chris. Elfnein, still clutching the black box as she shook with nervousness. "Normally I'd be a little more cautious around someone so mysterious, but I can tell from your body language that you're not a threat."

Chris brushed some of her hair on her head. "Hey, I've got a question for you, kid: what kinda name is Elfnein? No family name?"

As Genjuro shot the girl beside him a quick look, Elfnein trembled under Chris's curious glare. "Umm... my name is Elfnein. I am a homunculus that was created by an alchemist named Carol Malus Dienheim. My name... it's German, I believe."

"A homunculus?" Genjuro and Chris repeated the word simultaneously, with very different inflections. Genjuro said it calmly as he thought, while Chris shouted it in surprise. The latter then continued to follow-up, asking another question. "So you're, like, a robot? Is that why you're wearing... that?"

"No. A homunculus is essentially just an artificially-created human. I am essentially just as alive as you, just... I wasn't born traditionally. As for my clothing, that was my creator's decision." Elfnein's eyes wandered as she spat out information, but they eventually snapped back to Genjuro's face. "W-wait! That's not important! I need to find the Symphogear wielders, and I know you're one of them! I need your help!"

"Hold on, there, Elf." Chris waved her hand. "I'm a former Symphogear wielder, and this old guy's the former commander. We've both been kicked out of the government."

"Whaat?" Elfnein screamed in surprise, almost dropping her chest as she flailed in shock. "Then, why am I here?"

"Well, the two Symphogear wielders that are still active do live here." Genjuro pulled out his phone. "Speaking of which, they just got back. I let them know to come here."

"Oh, I didn't know Kanade lived here, too. She wasn't around when I stayed here before." Chris had wide eyes, but they narrowed as she had a realization. "Well, I guess Tsubasa didn't even come home for those few days."

"Brother, do we have more company?" Genjuro's elder brother Yatsuhiro Kazanari walked into the room. Seeing Chris give the older man a wave–the two had been acquainted when Chris stayed at the Kazanari residence before–he nodded before taking in the appearance of Elfnein. "And who do we have here?"

"Your next enemy, I guess." Genjuro replied quickly. "Or, rather, the homunculus servant of them."

"Homunculus, hmm?" Yatsuhiro walked through the room and crouched down to look Elfnein within the eyes. The small child shrunk back slightly in discomfort as the old man studied her. "Pardon me, miss. Considering my group took over most of the data that Sector Two had, I've become familiar with the limited amount of information we have on alchemy.

"Now, I apologize if I'm saying something incorrect here, but from what I've gathered all alchemical elements need a theory as a base. I assume that would be the same for the creation of a homunculus, yes?"

Elfnein's eyes widened in surprise at the man's question–more, she was shocked that they had any knowledge of alchemy to begin with. She nodded after a beat of silence passed. "Yes. Most homunculi are created to act as servants, but I was created for a different purpose–I was born to house a copy of my master's memories."

Chris shuddered–she did not want to carry all of the memories that existed within her brain already, so the thought of forcing copies of them into another living being felt like a form of torture.

"A copy of memories? For what purpose?" Genjuro asked, leaning forwards. At the same time, Yatsuhiro stepped back from Elfnein.

"Carol devised a way to sacrifice memories in order to strengthen her alchemical abilities. I know you all probably don't have too strong a grasp on alchemical theory, so I'll try to put this in a way you all might understand." Elfnein tilted her head in thought for a moment. "In the same vein that the Symphogears draw out songs in order to power up their wielder. Though, the fact that she destroys her memories grants her an even greater increase in strength than the Symphogear users should gain."

"So basically the Symphogears are the karaoke machines that we sing into, while this Carol person is the karaoke machine and uses memories instead of electricity. That makes sense." Chris summed up with a nod. Though she stated that she understood the idea, and wore a cocky expression to match, Chris's eyes showed that she was still somewhat confused.

But Elfnein looked at her in surprise. "Yeah, basically. I think you understand."

"So, why do you need the Symphogear wielders?" Genjuro raised his eyebrow, just as Yatsuhiro did behind him. From her position, Elfnein could see the family resemblance as the two mimicked each other's facial expression.

"Oh, this!" Finally, Elfnein thrust the small black box in her hands out in front of her. "Carol's alchemy would probably be impossible for the Symphogear wielders to fight on equal ground in their current state."

"Hold on. Go back a few steps." Chris lowered her eyebrows as she took the black chest in her own hands. "Why do you want... Tsubasa and Kanade to fight your master? Shouldn't you be against that?"

"Ah! I apologize!! This is the first time I've spoken to anyone besides Carol and the Autoscorers! I should have straightened out my thoughts better! Sorry!"

Genjuro shook his head. "Alright, Elfnein, let me handle this conversation. Once Tsubasa and Kanade get here–"

"We're here." Tsubasa's voice rang out as the door opened again. Chris leaned her head over the back of the couch to look at the blue-haired idol standing in the doorway, who had a surprised look on her face.

Tsubasa's body was stiff as she tried to avoid looking towards her father, who stood beside her and tried to slowly shrink away, but her gaze was stuck on Chris. Kanade, who peeked around the blue ponytail hanging off the side of Tsubasa's head, had a wide smile as she saw Chris. The two members of Zwei Wing called out the girl's name–Tsubasa addressing Chris more formally than her red counterpart–in surprise: "Yukine?" and "Chris?"

"Yo." Chris greeted them with a smile. "Long time no see."

"Huh? Those two are the Symphogear wielders?" Elfnein tilted her head in confusion as Tsubasa and Kanade entered the room; the whole time, Kanade stood in-between Tsubasa and her father, who remained silent.

"Tsubasa Kazanari." The blue girl nodded as she introduced herself. "My uncle sent us the basic information. Genjuro–uh, and Yukine–what information have you gathered from this..."

"Elfnein." Chris shrugged. "And no. She seems pretty scatterbrained. It's best if someone else leads the conversation."

"Hey, then, Elfnein." Kanade pulled out a strand of her orange hair that had been caught underneath the eyepatch she wore across her face as she took on the same investigative position that Yatsuhiro had been in earlier. "Why were you surprised that we are the Symphogear wielders you were looking for?"

"Well, there was another girl. This afternoon. She had red armour and–"

"Either someone used Ichaival." Chris looked over at Yatsuhiro, who shook his head at the suggestion. "Or you met Miku. I wish that girl would just, I don't know, get a phone or something!"

"Miku Kohinata is... a unique case." Genjuro sighed, his voice sad. He still regretted not being able to help her more, but he knew that giving her the space to grieve Hibiki was the right decision for the moment. "She isn't technically a Symphogear wielder... no, wait. She was always a unique case."

"We believe that Ver's experiments did not overwrite Kohinata's ability to access the Gungnir Symphogear, so she would technically would be a Symphogear wielder," Yatsuhiro explained. "But considering the state of Tachibana, it is for the best that we do not acknowledge that in her presence."

"That's enough, everyone. Let's get information out of this girl." Tsubasa curtly shot down the irrelevant conversations that kept sprouting up from the many different figures in the room around her. With her arms crossed in annoyance, Tsubasa walked up to Elfnein.

"I'm going to ask you questions. I want you to answer them truthfully, and with as few words as possible."

"Uh... Understood, Miss Kazanari!" Elfnein nodded.

"First question: who are you?"

"Elfnein." At the same time, Chris also supplemented this answer by further explaining that she was a homunculus.

"Do you have ties to Finé?"

"No. Though I believe she is the creator of alchemy as a whole, so by technicality I suppose I might."

"Who do you serve, then?"

"My master's name is Carol Malus Dienheim." Yatsuhiro cupped his chin in thought at the mention of Carol's full name.

"Was this Carol responsible for the deaths of our support staff today?"

This question shocked everyone else in the room–outside Kanade, of course. Genjuro shouted. "What? Everyone is dead?"

Kanade sighed. "Every member of the Symphogear program was found dead today, with the exception of Fujitaka. He's currently missing, so the brass does have their suspicions of him at the moment considering the security footage is coincidentally missing."

Tsubasa continued. "But we know Fujitaka does not possess the malice to do that on his own. Not to mention, ice was found in the command room that is likely alchemical in nature considering it has yet to melt."

"If there's ice, then that means Garie is likely the one you're looking for. She's one of Carol's four Autoscorer–uhh, Autonomous Doll–servants." Elfnein explained.

"Autonomous Doll?" Kanade finally backed away from Elfnein, straightening her posture. "That sounds a lot like that green woman."

"Green dress and wind powers?" Elfnein asked, earning a nod from Kanade. "That would be Phara, another one of Carol's Autoscorers."

Clearing her throat, Tsubasa continued with her interrogation. "In that case, what is Carol's goal."

"Carol wants to complete her father's work."

"She wants to turn some lead into gold? If she can make a homunculus, then that should be pretty easy, right?" Chris had a suspicious look on her face, then sank back into the couch. "No, if you need their help then her goals probably involve world domination or the destruction of the moon, right?"

Elfnein shook her head. "Carol's father was one of the most prolific alchemists ever, but he was executed after stopping a plague because the villagers thought he was a witch."

"I don't think that really answers my question, but I can sympathise with that part." Chris looked down.

"As he died, he asked Carol to continue analysing the world... but she misunderstood. She has been under the false belief that her father was condemning the village for all of these years when it was actually the opposite."

"So, let me guess, she wants to analyse the world by cutting it in half or something, right?" Chris had an annoyed tone in her voice as Elfnein continued dodging her question.

"Ah... that's... yes, basically."

"Well at least the moon won't be involved, for once." Chris sighed.

"Excuse me, Elfnein." Yatsuhiro, who had been silent since his daughter walked into the room, finally spoke up again. "Carol's father, what was his name?"

"His name was Izak Malus Dienheim."

"Izak..." The man repeated the name. With a nod, he turned to leave the room. "That name seems familiar to me. If you'll all excuse me."

Yatsuhiro silently exited the room and the tension immediately exited Tsubasa's body–something everyone, barring Elfnein, noticed. Tsubasa's stiff posture immediately dropped into a slight hunch as she pinched the bridge between her eyes.

"What's the deal between you and your dad, anyway?" Chris asked as silence filled the room. She was fiddling with the small chest that Elfnein had handed her, shifting it around in her palms without thought as she looked between the others in the room.

"My brother isn't exactly good at showing how much he cares." Genjuro stood up and went to Tsubasa's side, putting his hand on her shoulder. "And, after his wife died, he threw himself entirely into his work and pushed Tsubasa away. Needless to say, Tsubasa doesn't have too high an opinion of him."

"And, like I keep saying, I don't think he doesn't like you, Tsubasa. I think he's just..." Kanade tried to comfort Tsubasa, but even Chris could tell that this was not going to be an easy feat–and they had likely tried before, judging from Kanade's words.

"Um. Can we get back on topic, please?" Elfnein fidgeted. "Not to be rude or anything but construction on Carol's weapon is almost complete, so we likely don't have too much time..."

"You really should have led with that, Elf." Chris glared at the child, who shrieked an apology as she jumped back. Finally remembering the chest in her hands, Chris looked down as a slight embarrassed expression crossed her face. "Speaking of which, what's in this box?"

"Oh, yes. If you'd allow me, I'd like to modify the Symphogears. That box contains a shard of the relic known as Dáinsleif–a cursed sword that would theoretically be able to power you girls up enough to fight Carol's alchemy on equal footing. Should you be able to control it."

Chris suddenly stood up and ran out of the room, the box still in her hands, without a word. "What is she doing?" Kanade tilted her head. "Does she even know her way around this place?"

"Eh, she'll be fine." Genjuro sat down on the couch again, and this time the wielder of Gungnir joined him. "She seems surprisingly capable of finding her way, considering she walked here from the other side of the city without any directions."

"She really wanted to see you, huh Chief?" Kanade had a sly smile on her face as she looked at her former boss.

"Enough about that. She just took the shard with her." Tsubasa put a hand to her forehead. "Hopefully she'll remember to bring it back with her."

The girl with the white hair returned a moment later. While she had the small box tucked under one arm, everyone had their attention on what hung from the fingers of her left hand: four red jewels hanging from grey strings. "Alright, let's get an army together to save the world." She said with a smile.

"How did you get the Symphogears?" Genjuro stood up. "I thought–"

"They were locked away? Yeah, I may have asked your brother to swap them out in case of emergency. Believe it or not, he didn't exactly have a high opinion of your replacements."

"That makes three of us." Kanade said with a smile. "Good riddance."

"How did he get his hands on them?" Tsubasa asked in shock. "No, furthermore–when did you even contact my father?"

"I haven't just been sitting on my ass these past three months, you know. Your dad's spies have been tailing me this whole time, so I just had them relay a message. Asked him to meet one day, and he obliged–on all accounts."

"My father did that?"

"He and I have been doing a lot of secret behind the scenes work, Tsubasa, in our own ways." Chris smiled, swinging the four Symphogear pendants in her grasp. "Alright, Elfnein. Do whatever you need to these ones: Ichaival, Igalima, Shul Shagana, and Airgetlám."

As if the four precious jewels–masterpieces that merged lost technology of relics with alchemy and, allegedly, the remains of some of the Custodians that created humanity–were nothing more than a simple baseball, Chris lobbed the crystals at Elfnein. The homunculus clumsily fumbled for the jewels, snagging them out of the air and clutching them close to her chest. "Umm... okay, I will. But you still have the chest."

"Oh right. As for Miku, she'll apparently be coming over tomorrow. So, just hang around until then... I guess."

"Seems as though you've become quite the leader." Kanade was impressed, and she happily praised the girl who had once been her enemy.

"I may have been trying to get stronger so that..." Chris's smile waned for a moment as a sadness crossed her eyes, but she did not elaborate on that. Instead–leaving the sorry states of Hibiki and Miku unmentioned–Chris put on the look of a jester. "You guys see me as more than just transportation."

"Yukine... perhaps you're the strongest of all of us." Tsubasa whispered with a small smile on her face. No one heard her praise of the girl–just yet another person Tsubasa pushed away. Realizing that Kanade and Genjuro were the only people she had actually let reach out to her, Tsubasa asked something to the room. "Is this the strength I've been lacking?"

"You're still hung up on what the emerald lady said earlier?" Kanade scratched the back of her head–Elfnein, quietly huddling away from everyone else, quietly threw out the name of the woman to which Kanade was referring, but was completely ignored.

Kanade wanted to say more, but a loud gurgling sound echoed out through the room and interrupted her train of thought.

Genjuro turned to Chris, but she shook her head. "Wasn't me."

The two looked towards the next figure: a girl with a face as red as a tomato as she blushed in embarrassment. The identity of the one whose stomach roared loud enough to overpower a conversation caused even Kanade to chuckle. "It's not like you to skip out on lunch, Tsubasa."

Tsubasa turned her head away in embarrassment. "I was hoping to get some food after work but everything that's happened has kind of stopped those plans. Besides, aren't you hungry, too?"

Kanade laughed happily. "Yeah, I guess I am a little peckish."

Genjuro sighed. "I suppose you can't save the world on an empty stomach. Alright, I'll whip something up for all of you." He turned to Chris, who nodded happily, then to Elfnein. "Elfnein, do you..."

"Like I said I..." Elfnein's squeaky voice was interrupted as her own stomach rumbled loudly, and she too blushed as she covered her exposed gut with her arms. Genjuro laughed loudly at the sight of the flustered girls who have been embarrassed into silence.

"Alright, let me whip up some dinner for everyone."

. . .

On the other side of the city, Miku Kohinata's stomach, too, screamed for sustenance. Unlike with the girls at the Kazanari residence, however, no one was around to offer Miku food.

Wearing her bland tofu-coloured clothes that had been stained with all kinds of substances and torn in so many places, but they were also darkened as water was absorbed into their threads.

Miku shook her head in disgust as she sat on the cool stone ground. Not wanting to burden Chris or any of her other friends, and not wanting to have to face the memories of Hibiki, Miku had taken to making a sewer into her own personal space. She had 'customized' a small dry area by setting up an old, holey tent she had picked out the garbage–this is what passed as her residence nowadays–and in it, she kept the small amounts of food she could scavenge or steal.

But mainly, Miku survived day-by-day drowning out her sorrows with beer. The source of Miku's haul of alcohol (that she should not possess) sat up against the wall next to her tent: the decaying body of a yakuza member who had found Miku and attempted to do some unsavoury things to her. The yakuza member had been carrying a crate of beer–Miku didn't know why or to where–but she was now going through and making use of his leftovers.

She popped open a warm can of beer and took a long swig of the liquid within. The alcohol scalded Miku's throat as she downed her third can of beer today. Though she had only killed the man a couple of weeks ago, she only decided to begin consuming his stash as the pain from the darkness bruising her body heightened a handful of days ago. Miku had sixteen cans to begin with–with this can, she had now opened five in total.

"God damn this body of mine." Miku shouted as she finished the can. Tossing the aluminium cylinder against the wall with a crash, Miku began sobbing.

Miku's body was in so much pain that she could barely stand living. Every waking moment of her life, Miku felt as though iron heated in the flames of the sun was being pressed up against her body–but the seemingly-random bursts where it felt like knives were piercing her muscles was what truly brought her strife.

But now, as alcohol filled her veins, Miku felt as though her brain was melting, too. It drowned out the feeling of the dark flames engulfing her body by attacking her mind directly, but Miku found that it did, somewhat, help. She clutched her head as tears streamed from her eyes.

"Don't give up on living." She muttered sadly, rocking back and forth. "Don't give up on living."

Bile rose up into Miku's throat, and she felt as though she was about to spew out the disgusting thorns that pierced her heart on a daily basis. Miku turned to the waterway that ran through the sewer, reading to heave into it, but nothing came out besides the sad moans. "Hibiki... I'm so sorry..."

Had Hibiki still been alive, Miku was worried that her sunshine would not even recognize the corrupted form she now took. All the way up to her chin, Miku's body was now entirely black; and onyx veins criss-crossed around Miku's facial features like a tartan. Miku had once worn her shorter hair tied back with a white ribbon, but now the black wavy mane hung loose past her shoulders. The hollow look in Miku's eyes was terrifying; even before she had decided to indulge in the poison of alcohol, Miku had a vacant look that made her like a haunted doll.

As she sadly cried out for her friend, her thoughts all tangled from the beer she had downed at a high speed, Miku held on to the slight hope that Finé might have the answers that she was looking for.

. . .

Carol's gaze flipped from the paper in her hand to the tear in reality in front of her face. "This is utterly depressing." Her tone was deadpan as she acknowledged the sad state of the scene she was viewing through the gap in the air. Miku's tearful cries silently echoed towards Carol, who looked back down at the report in her hands.

"'The girl demonstrated immense mental strength, capable of keeping the spirit of the eternal priestess Finé at bay to retain her original persona as a second personality. Her physical strength is beyond abnormal, evident by the fact that she had managed to survive highly-invasive experiments performed upon her by John Wayne Vercingetorix.'" Carol read the notes aloud, shaking her head. "Seems to me like she's a sad girl with a hole in her heart."

"Master, if I could remind you, that girl seems to possess an incredibly powerful weapon that may even surpass your alchemy–or so says Leiur." Phara stood on one of the four pedestals down below Carol; she was one of the two Autoscorers currently in the room with their master.

"Master... why don't you just let me go out there and have fun?" The other Autoscorer whined like a small child, but the implication her words held were far more cruel.

This Autoscorer was Micha Jawkān, the first of the Autoscorers that Carol had created. Unlike her successors, Micha was not capable of draining normal humans of their memories, though that was not her initial purpose. Micha was originally built to be Carol's bodyguard–every aspect of her design stemmed from her use as a weapon.

Micha carried inside her a fragment of Carol's personality, just as all of the Autoscorers. For Micha, she kept part of the childish whimsy that Carol had held as a young child, while her father was still alive. The personality made her unpredictable in battle, and her large bear-like paws made her impossible to combat without extensive fighting experience. She was a killing machine... if you ignored that she acted like a child of single digit age.

"As Leiur told us before, Micha, that girl's powers seem to be comparable to neither Symphogears nor my alchemy. That means she falls into the category of the unknown–a god." Carol waved her hand and the image in the air dissipated. "I wish to study her before killing her off. Otherwise, I would never be able to face my father as an alchemist."

"But masterrr~" Micha cried out sadly.

"Enough, Micha. There is no room for argument here."

Phara sighed from her own pedestal. "Master, while I understand the interest in this subject, I fail to see why you care to learn about the other Symphogear wielders."

"Tsubasa Kazanari and Kanade Amou." Raising her hand, Carol formed another image in the air. While she could stalk Miku due to Leiur having the foresight to focus on her mana during their short encounter, Carol possessed a telepathic link with Elfnein and thus could see through her eyes as if they were her own. Or, as she was doing now, Carol could also project said vision into the air.

The two idols whose names she had spoken appeared in her vision. Elfnein shakily held the sides of a warm bowl of ramen, but her head was jumping between each of the different people at the table. From the reports that Prelati had given Carol, she recognized all of them: Chris Yukine, the wielder of Ichaival; the two aforementioned idols, who sat together in front of Elfnein and thus were the main figures in her sight; and Genjuro Kazanari.

"I had hoped," Carol's eyebrow twitched. "That she would have already been able to integrate Dáinsleif into at least one of the Symphogears by now. But this is ridiculous! She's having dinner?"

Carol put her hand to her forehead as she took in everything around her. "Sometimes I think Leiur is the only person I can ever count on among you. All of you seem so..." She punched the arm of her throne in anger before hanging her head in defeat. "If you want something done right, you may as well do it yourself."

She flipped through the reports that had fallen onto her lap as she madly raised her fist. "This one would probably prove most useful as an expendable tool." Though she was several hundred years old, Carol still used a child's body; she only had so much energy. With a yawn, Carol hid the documents away in a pocket dimension she created with her alchemy and stood up.

"Phara, Micha–do not leave the Château until I give you the order. If Garie attempts to leave the premises, do anything in your power to stop her–I feel as though she will likely be more of a hindrance if she tries to work without my orders." Carol slowly began to walk down the steps at the base of the plateau on which her regal chair sat. "For now, I am going to get some much-needed rest. Tomorrow will be a busy day."

"Understood, master!" Micha happily shouted a response.

Phara, too, nodded in acknowledgement at the order. "Have a good sleep, master."

#### GX Chapter 7

**Content warning:** Sexual assualt.

The chillingly white room was fairly large, but almost entirely empty. A small toilet sat against one wall, and a cot folded out of another; none of the furnishings were acknowledged, however, by the one figure huddled far away.

"Death. Death. Death."

Kirika Akatsuki clutched her legs tight as she rocked back and forth slowly. Her eyes were dilated as red cut through the white sclera and encroached upon her heterochromatic pupils. Kirika's short blonde hair had grown out in the past three months; messy from lack of care, Kirika's hair now extended down past the length of her neck.

"Death. Death. Death. Death."

The young girl just repeated the single word over and over–it was the only thing her mind could focus on. Gone were thoughts of her beloved found family; Kirika had nothing but anxious fear pounding her fractured brain.

After all, her mind had been completely shattered.

The eternal priestess known as Finé possessed the power to take over the minds of others. Upon her death, Finé would automatically transfer her ancient soul into the body of one of her descendants; Kirika was the latest of the hosts that she clung to like a parasite.

Kirika's situation was much different from the other bodies that Finé took over, however, and that was thanks to the advice of Miku Kohinata. While Finé had completely controlled the mind and utterly transformed the body of her hosts into her own, she refused to do so for the girl named Kirika Akatsuki. Instead, Finé simply transferred her memories to Kirika in order to grant her use of the near-invincible alchemical shield known as Asgard.

But that had many unintended effects. Combined with the tragic past that the girl had already possessed, the thousands of years that Finé had lived through crushed Kirika's weak soul. She had already been forcing herself to smile through the pain, but now that was simply impossible.

Finé had lived many lives, too many to count. One of the first humans created by the godly race of aliens known as the Custodians, Finé had dedicated her entire life to undoing the curse that had broken apart humanity–the Curse of Balal. In pursuit of her goal, Finé had cast aside all walls that had been placed in front of her; nothing would stand in the way of bringing peace to Earth.

To this end, Finé had done so much–and so much had been done to her, in turn. The priestess had manipulated, tortured, and killed anyone who tried to stop her, and forced herself upon men in order to ensure that she had the successors needed to continue reincarnating through the eras. In order to ensure her survival, Finé would go so far as to kidnap the children that carried her genes and do absolutely anything to ensure their survival.

But, in time, that had been twisted somewhat. No longer did she care solely about ensuring the survival of her future vessels; Finé eventually desired to possess the power that she felt was lacking. The strength that Finé believed she needed to fully shatter the chains that the Curse of Balal had placed upon her. This wish was what caused her to fixate on the enigma known as Miku Kohinata; a decision that eventually led to a change in mentality.

That desire for power, however, also led to her creating both allies and enemies–and she had been killed by both.

Kirika Akatsuki now possessed every single one of those memories within her mind, and the strain was far too much for one child. She felt every sensation as she sifted through the millennia that Finé had forced into her mind. The feeling of being stabbed, shot at, and straight-up executed–the visceral memory of being murdered even once placed a strong toll upon a human brain, yet she had many, many memories of death in her mind.

And, worse of all, Kirika's new memories of death were somewhat preferable to those that she had possessed before Finé entered her body. Such terrible memories were pulled to the surface of her mind, overpowering the sensations of pain, by the sterile and bleached walls that blinded Kirika like freshly-fallen snow.

Sensations of death both not her own yet so, and the tragic life that the girl now known as Kirika Akatsuki had been forced to live fully destroyed her mind. She was, in every way, just a zombie. Forever clutching her legs and muttering a single word–Kirika could barely be considered 'alive' in this state.

Perhaps the company of others might help her situation, but the government was terrified of her new existence as 'Finé;' Kirika had been kept wholly separate from her former F.I.S. allies, who shared a cell of their own and worried for their lost friend.

"Death. Death. Death." The girl's weak whimpers continued to echo through the chamber.

It was a sad sight, yet the guard who walked past did not care. With a stoic face, he slipped open the small letter box-like opening on the incredibly thick door–stealing a simple glance at the girl cradled in the corner, but his stoic glare did not falter–as he attached a small metal tray to the door. A gross, pale curry with no taste sat in a dull bowl on the white platter–Kirika's dinner, being given to her in the dead of night.

The guard huffed as he backed away. "Food." He ordered before exiting, leaving the girl to mutter to no one once again.

Never once did Kirika's eyes move from the spot on the ground in front of her, nor did her repetitive moans ever halt.

~ ~ ~

The Federal Sacrist Research Institution of America–F.I.S.–was an official government organization fully committed to the research of heretical relics and the powers they possess. Before they were an official institution, however, F.I.S. was an underground team of American scientists that Finé had gathered to create the so-called 'perfect' vessel that would allow her to achieve her goals and protect the Receptor Children in which she could be reborn.

Six men and women clad in solid white coats looked down at the girl who was barely four years old. The figures looked like giants to the young girl with a short crown of very light brown–almost the colour of biscotti. Her eyes were empty, hollow; she had lost everything, including her ability to speak.

"She has no familial connections or past; she suffers from global aphasia, though her actions imply that she also possesses some form of amnesia. A completely blank canvas: the perfect subject for our research." One of the men spoke clearly, his dark eyes focusing on his peers around him from behind a large pair of glasses. "Should anything happen to her, no one would be worried for her."

"An excellent find." A woman with short black hair nodded at her colleague's words.

"That does leave the question, though." The shortest of the scientists, a man with a high voice and a small scar above his left eye. "How should we refer to her in the presence of... our leader?"

"Subject A?" The first man spoke again. "Is it necessary for us to give her a proper name? She told us that she fully replaces the consciousness of her vessels, so there really is no need to learn any unique names. Besides, she has no records–even if we wanted to call her by her birth name, it's impossible to know it."

"Doctor, you said she's Japanese, correct?" A lanky man with perfectly combed silver hair spoke slowly. "Allow me to suggest the surname Akatsuki–a name meaning 'dawn,' and thus perfect for our very first subject."

The burliest man with a dark red moustache chuckled slightly. "I hope there were no... personal influences in that decision, Dr. Akatsuki."

The short scientist put his hands up. "Now, now, it doesn't matter what we call this girl. Akatsuki works regardless. As for a first name..."

The final scientist, a man whose eyes had been locked on a clipboard throughout this entire conversation, finally spoke up at the prompt. "Kirika." He lifted his gaze for just a moment to look at Dr. Akatsuki across from him. "I'm not entirely knowledgable in the readings of Japanese characters, but I believe these characters are read that way."

The main tore off the page on his clipboard and showed it to Dr. Akatsuki. A memo to the scientist written by the group's founder, the page was a mess of different languages all cobbled together into their orders. The only two kanji characters on the page were circled in blue ink: 切 and 歌.

Dr. Akatsuki shook his head. "In the context of these sentences, they would be separately pronounced as 'setsu' and 'uta,' but Kirika is not an incorrect reading of them put together."

"Very well, Kirika Akatsuki." The moustached man stroked his one defining feature as he crouched down to meet the meek little girl staring up at the adults in confusion. "May you survive to see the world you will help create."

"I don't understand your care for this child." The woman with short black hair curtly shook her head. "She's nothing more than a subject to us. Completely disposable."

"That may be true." The man admitted, standing back up. "But, consider: should this girl survive to see the new world she... no, we all create..."

"She won't." Several of his colleagues cut him off with a simultaneous hiss.

"Perhaps I am a tad optimistic."

. . .

The now-blonde-haired girl screamed out as electricity coursed through her entire body. She was six now, and far from the only Receptor Child who had been found possessing Finé's DNA. Still, however, Kirika remained the favourite of the stoic men in the monochromatic clothing–she was their first subject, and surprisingly resilient despite the many tortures they put her through. Some of her successors had since been disposed of, but Kirika was still existing in the chrome-white laboratory of the secret organization.

"Increase." The woman with brown hair tied into a beehive and decorated with a purple butterfly pin ordered those around her with a cruelly emotionless expression. "Her body can take more."

"Understood." The man at the giant silver system pressed up a large red lever. This man was the same Dr. Akatsuki who had gifted his surname upon the girl he was still torturing, but now his eyes were hidden behind a pair of blue-framed glasses not unlike the red ones the woman by his side wore.

Kirika screamed, veins bulging from her neck. In the roughly two years since she had been brought into the government's blank lab, she had been able to reclaim the voice that she had once lost. No, rather she was forced to recover it for the sake of research.

"Now, stop." The woman, whose name was Ryoko Sakurai, spoke with a calm tone that was a stark contrast from the painful cries emanating from the girl just a short distance in front of her. Even as the giant generator slowly fizzled into silence, the girl strapped to the machine still screamed in pain as the phantoms tore her body apart.

Between Kirika Akatsuki and Ryoko Sakurai was a small pedestal with a bony fossil perched upon it. This was one of the rarest kinds of objects present on Earth in the 21st Century: a complete relic. Unfortunately, the relic was in its inactive state; it was essentially worthless unless a song–or, as they were testing now, the powerful screams of pain–born from the depths of a person's heart could power it.

The Nehushtan Armour had been recovered by the Japanese government earlier that year and passed to the relic-centric division that Ryoko Sakurai also worked with, Sector Two of the Special Disaster Response Team. Having snuck it out from right beneath the noses of her superiors, the girl now stood in an American lab hoping for just a hint from the relic.

"I wonder if it even hears the songs?" Ryoko wondered aloud as she admired the relic.

Kirika, panting heavily right behind her as her body tried to adjust to the lack of electricity being forced into it, just listened in silence, though Dr. Akatsuki spoke up to present an answer. "We don't have extensive knowledge of complete relics like this, however I do have a theory."

The idea sparked Ryoko's attention, and she lifted up from the bowed position she took on to more-closely admire the relic's attention. "Anything is possible when it comes to relics like these. Shoot."

"Considering all of the data we have on the awakening of relics comes from incomplete relics, it's possible that the process is completely different to the awakening process of complete ones..."

"Impossible. Songs are the universal language. Even if you can't understand the meaning of the words, even a relic can connect with the emotions put into one."

"In that case," Dr. Akatsuki adjusted his glasses. "Is it possible that a complete relic requires multiple subjects' songs to awaken?"

"Hmmm...." Ryoko cupped her chin as she began to walk. She circled the giant device where the sweating Kirika continued to gasp for breath as she thought about the idea. "It's certainly a possibility."

The woman sighed as she returned to the side of the Nehushtan Armour, tapping her chin with her right index finger. "Regardless, I should get this back to Japan before they realize it's gone."

Dr. Akatsuki saluted. "Understood, ma'am. I'll inform the others of our progress here–or lack thereof–in our report."

As Ryoko Sakurai took the relic in her hands, she briefly glanced at the girl whose chest rose and fell at a high rate. It was a brief glance, but in that one second she managed to imprint the girl's face in her brain. She turned away quickly, looking to Dr. Akatsuki instead and giving a silent nod.

Once Ryoko Sakurai disappeared, Dr. Akatsuki approached the girl strapped to the device. As he slowly undid the braces that locked her to the giant machine, Dr. Akatsuki took note of the many injuries that he and his associates had burned into the skin that he could see. Around her wrists were dark red rings from where the machine's claws dug into her skin, and various scars danced down her arms.

But Dr. Akatsuki did not feel even a single pang of emotion for these. 'Exitus ācta probat,' of Ovid's Epistulae Heroidum–from which the common phrase of 'the end justifies the means' is believed to originate; the philosophical phrase that justified all of the insane actions that Dr. Akatsuki, Ryoko Sakurai, and all of their colleagues schemed.

Instead, leaving the girl to drop to the floor as she desperately reached out for the light of consciousness, Dr. Akatsuki turned and returned to the console he had been standing at. From upon the table beside it, he picked up a sea foam green hospital gown; Kirika wore a similar hospital gown now, albeit one now soaked in sweat. "You can change into this." He tossed the garments to Kirika, who did not move as the gown fell onto the ground in front of her.

This was a regular occurrence for the two. Kirika and her namesake had gone through this exact routine just the day before as they had attempted other experiments upon the girl.

Even though she was almost always surrounded by several other people, some of whom were her own age, Kirika was completely alone in the world. Yet she wasn't sad about this existence; it, literally, was all she had ever known.

. . .

"The Noise possess a unique ability to perpetually shift between planes of existence, simultaneously acting within multiple timelines of our world and the pocket dimension from which they originate. Because of this–and, as you are aware–conventional weaponry that humans have developed can not harm them." Ryoko Sakurai explained to the bevvy of scientists around her. "The Symphogears I developed possess the power to temporarily drag Noise into our dimension by essentially 'tuning' the frequencies of their existence with the frequencies of the song from the wielder's heart."

The scientist with the once-red moustache–which was now as white as the walls around them–stroked the large bushy beard that had grown over his chin in the past four years. He nodded as his eyes focused not on the scientist in front of him, but the now-eight year old girl standing behind him in silence. "LiNKER can allow essentially any female to don the armour, correct? However, even should we conceive a way to mass-produce this technology, it would still require a host to provide a song."

Ryoko nodded. "Correct. Unfortunately, that is an undeniable truth. Additionally, the original three Symphogears I created–Ame no Habakiri, Ichaival, and Gungnir–make use of technology that would be near-impossible to obtain more of, thus it would be almost impossible to replicate the power required to destroy the Noise's Phase Contact Barrier, especially on a large scale."

With a confident smile, Ryoko held up a small silver box that she and her team–now officially an agency affiliated with the American government–had been supplied by their new benefactors. "I plan to use the relics we recently required to develop more Symphogears, though in order to do that we will require a way to replicate the technology of the original three using new materials."

"You theorize the Curse of Balal's source is on the moon, correct? Or that it may, perhaps, be the moon in its entirety?" One scientist prompted. "In that case, we could have NASA supply us with some lunar samples that they had brought back to Earth."

"The moon was a creation of the Custodians, who similarly hail from an extradimensional region." Ryoko nodded as she took in the idea fully. Her eyes lit up as she did the calculations, jumping between the tangled threads of ideas, and eventually came to a conclusion. "Yes. That could work."

"Now..." The moustached scientist turned to Kirika Akatsuki, who stood silently in the corner. "Regarding the child."

"Yes," Ryoko sat the silver box down and reached into one of the deep pockets of her snowy lab coat. Pulling out a small red crystal with an innocently playful chuckle, she held up the jewel in her slender fingers. "Sector Two has a database of Symphogear candidates, but I was curious as to whether any of my future vessels may also harbour the ability to wield the weapons naturally."

"Ah, so you wish to test their compatibility with the Ichaival Symphogear?"

"That's right. Even should none of these girls reach the required compatibility levels, it's highly likely that one or two may come close enough where a dose of the LiNKER I am working on may make it possible for them to use it–at least temporarily."

A younger man with a calm face and short silver hair adjusted his glasses. "Hopefully our test subject, here, will be able to don it. Being able to analyse an active Symphogear would be a great help to us in trying to replicate it."

"I agree, Dr. Vercingetorix." The moustached man nodded. "Though that aspect is above my head, being able to analyse even just the energy that an active Symphogear releases would be beneficial to most of our endeavours."

Ryoko, ignoring these men, turned to one of the scientists that have stood around her in silence. "You. Take this chest to Dr. Tolstaya for analysis."

The younger woman placed her hands against the cool metal of the chest that reflected the fluorescent white room in its shining silver coat. "Understood ma'am." Picking it up with the utmost care, the girl hastily exited the room.

"Now then," Straightening the purple butterfly that fluttered out of her chocolate brown hair, Ryoko Sakurai lowered her eyebrows. "Bring in the other Receptor Children as well."

"Useless. Of course the girl's useless. Useless, useless, useless! All of these children are worthless! Useless tools like them deserve death. Death, death, death, death!" A cranky man shouted as he repeatedly pounded the desk in front of him. Fire burned in his eyes as he glared at the group of children nearby.

"Calm down. Not all of them have proven completely useless." Ryoko Sakurai looked at the notes that they had taken. All eleven of the Receptor Children that had been brought in to the lab had been brought in and ordered to sing for Ichaival, but only one had any sort of connection to them. Ryoko's gaze fluttered to the small girl with blonde hair standing amongst the crowd now flinching back from the mad doctor's rambling–the one girl who managed to actually connect with the Ichaival Symphogear in any form, albeit only briefly.

The doctor with hatred in his eyes finally cooled down as he looked over the children with a renewed sense of clarity, and a cruel smile crossed his lips. A certain sin invaded his mind as he had a realization. "Although, they are all women, so perhaps... they could have another use?"

"Enough." Ryoko cut the air with her hand just mere centimetres from the man's face. Had she infused alchemical powers into her palm, she could have cut his face open as if she had been wielding a blade; the man gulped in surprise as he realized that he had just narrowly escaped death.

"Girls, return to the main room now." Dr. Ver ordered, seeing the expression on Ryoko's face flit from its neutral calm into one of annoyance. Even his own rope for some of his colleagues was nearing its end despite only being with them officially for a short time. "Your work for today is complete."

As the sun set on the world outside of the halls of the F.I.S. research facility, the Receptor Children were huddled in a large dark room–the small area closest to the thing they could call their 'home'. For the most part, the girls were all spread out in the room, claiming their own small square of the cold ground for themselves. Some girls huddled together for warmth in the cold room, but many just shivered alone.

Suddenly, a light exploded into the room as a grumbling man threw open one of the doors–it was the same scientist that had called the girls useless earlier. "I'm sure I'm not the first to have these thoughts." The lecherous man licked his lips as he looked around the room, his eyes falling on one unsuspecting girl who was far away from her peers.

"Useless, useless, useless." He whispered as he snuck through the room–his stealth techniques were useless, however, as none of the girls had even been asleep to begin with. The girl he targeted, the man believed, was the most useless of all–she possessed potential, but wasted it in the final moments.

As he reached the girl, he saw her large green eyes in the shadows staring up wide at him in confusion and fear. His crude smirk let out a windy chuckle as he threw himself down upon the girl before she had the chance to even move.

With his large hands that eclipsed the weak arms of the eight-year-old girl, the scientist pinned the girl's back to the ground. As she tried to flail about under the old man's weight, her head bounced upon the ground as he forced his mouth down towards her own. "Quiet." He hissed, a saliva trail connecting the two's lips.

"No." The girl was terrified. She struggled with what little might she had filling her malnourished body, but it was completely useless as the man began to disrobe himself. "No!" She cried again in horror, tilting her head now as she looked to her fellow Receptor Children for help.

None of the other girls in the large room moved towards her; rather, every Receptor Child gave the two a wide berth. Their eyes were filled with horror as well, more so for their own safety than that of the girl named Kirika Akatsuki.

"Let me go!" Kirika cried, but the only response she gained was a chuckle. She closed her eyes, waiting for the nightmare to end...

...and then it did.

A light flared on above her, and the man's shadow draped over Kirika like a loose curtain. The man was equally as surprised as she–and the other children–was, and he spun his head towards the door he had entered through earlier.

"Dr. Stinson." Though she could not see the source due to the man looming over her, Kirika immediately recognized the boom as the voice of the moustached scientist–perhaps the only scientist among the team that she held any minor amount of respect for.

"Ugh. You." The crude man–Dr. Stinson, whose name Kirika would hear now for the first and only time–finally let go of Kirika, and she instinctively covered up her exposed chest. It did nothing, however, to erase the lingering feeling of the man’s rough fingers pinching her chest.

Dr. Stinson stood up clumsily, his tan pants dangling around his feet. Luckily, his grey boxers covered his genitalia; the worst had yet to happen to Kirika, and she was grateful for the moustached man's sudden appearance.

The larger scientist who had invaded the moment of molestation marched across the room and grabbed Dr. Stinson's arm before he had even been able to pull up his denims. Sparing Kirika a short glance and a quick apology, the moustached man then dragged the (waddling) cursing abuser out of the room.

Kirika continued to lay on the ground in silence. She did not fix the thin hospital gown she had been wearing, nor did she attempt to even sit up. Kirika just simply stared at the ceiling with dark eyes as the lights above her faded to black. The young girl was not conscious of the fact that she was crying until she was unable to see the dark grid that creased between the ceiling tiles, everything blurring into a dark mass.

None of the other children dared approach the sobbing child–Kirika knew that she would not approach if any of them had been the one attacked instead. All of the Receptor Children were loners–they were forced to be. They all lacked pasts, and at any time they could be killed by the scientists' insane tests just as several already had. Better not form relationships that could be severed than mourn the death of one of the only people that these girls knew they would ever see–this was a motto they all, silently, held.

As Kirika's sobs transformed into snores, she questioned this status quo aloud with a gasp: "Is that really for the best?"

She realized that staying apart, being lone islands in the horrific sea of torture in which they lived, was their greatest problem. Kirika, the young girl with no memories of the world beyond the walls she was trapped between, had a realization as she fell into the world of dreams: the girls could not communicate with Ichaival because they could not even communicate with each other.

If she wanted to be useful, to never again suffer a similar torture as she had that night, she knew that she needed to do everything in her power to be seen as anything other than useless.

When Kirika was thrown awake the next day by the loud horn that blared through the compound once every 24 hours, she strangely had a smile on her face. "Good morning!" She shouted into the room as she stood up, startling both the girls who shrunk away from her and the blue-haired woman standing in the doorway.

"Umm... yes. Good morning." The old woman responded in confusion. This was the first time she had been the one to greet the Receptor Children in the morning and thus she had no idea that this was unusual. Nastassja Sergeyevna Tolstaya was not in the same division as the scientists that usually performed the experiments on the children–until today, that is–and thus she had no knowledge of the events that transpired the night before nor the personality of Kirika Akatsuki.

But she still sensed unease as she looked at the trembling girls huddled on the other side of the room. Though, again, she was unfamiliar with the relationships that may exist (but did not) between the girls, so simply just assumed this was completely normal to some extent.

Clearing her throat, Nastassja barked an order to the small figures that dotted the mostly-empty space. "Please shower and dress in the clothing provided. From today onwards, you will be under my care as we ready you all to make use of different relics."

A week later, two new girls would be brought into F.I.S.–orphans from a different country that Kirika had never even known the existence of. Their names were Serena Cadenzavna Eve and Maria Cadenzavna Eve.

"I'm Kirika. Kirika Akatsuki!" She shouted with a wide grin across her face. The girl who was meek and distant, the girl who was weak enough to be taken advantage of in the night–this Kirika was gone. No, now she was one who wanted to build relationships, create walls to protect herself from the horrors that surrounded her.

She wanted to be useful.

And when the scared pink-haired girl took Kirika's out-stretched hand, she felt as though she finally was starting to be.

. . .

"Attention." Nastassja held a riding crop in her hands–a familiar sight to the girls with wide eyes, as they would often be 'disciplined' with the black object. Nastassja's face was stoic, tense, but her eyes conveyed a much different emotion. "We have recovered a new Receptor Child. She will be brought in later today."

That was how the day started, and Kirika leapt to her feet. In the few months since Maria and Serena joined the program, more and more Receptor Children were brought in at a rapid pace. They expanded from eleven to over twenty-five–and Kirika had tried to befriend every one of them. Most refused to open up and those who had seen her original persona still tried to avoid her–the two sisters who sat against the wall beside her were the only ones she had managed to connect with, but every new addition was a new opportunity.

A few hours later, a quiet girl with long black hair and ruby-red eyes was marched into the white room, and Kirika immediately sprung to her feet to meet her. "Hello!" She waved, almost tripping over herself as she rushed to introduce herself.

Though Kirika could not see them, Serena let loose a lively, but silent, chuckle while Maria just planted her palm against her face.

When Kirika reached the newcomer, she took the girl's small hand in her own and froze for just a second. There was something different about this girl, she could tell immediately. She was not shaking in fear or confusion, not trying to back away. This girl just stood completely still, her eyes staring straight ahead.

Kirika bent down–the girls had been given new types of clothes, actual shirts and pants as opposed to hospital gowns, and on them came tags that printed each girl's name. The now-cheerful girl with emerald eyes tried to read the name printed on the newcomer's small white plaque, but could not figure out its pronunciation.

"Hey, how do you read that name?" Kirika asked with a curious little smile on her face. The black-haired girl tilted her head in response, and Kirika's smile only grew as she pointed to the name tag.

The new girl was surprised by this girl's reaction, and her eyes lit up in acknowledgment. Not so much scared of the girl but instead shy, she tilted her head away as she gave her answer. "They told me... Shirabe Tsukuyomi."

"Shirabe..." Kirika let go of the girl's hand and backed up slightly. Shirabe wondered briefly if that was the extent of this girl's curiosity, but her thoughts were invaded as Kirika's arms flew outwards. "That's a cool name! It's like a samurai or a toy! Or a samurai toy!"

With very limited knowledge of the outside world, Kirika did not actually know if her assessment was accurate, but she believed it was and that's all that truly mattered to her.

But Shirabe hung her head low in response. "I don't know if that's my real name. The scientists gave it to me because of the things I had." That stopped Kirika's heart for just a fraction of a second–it confirmed the thought that had been brewing in the back of her mind.

Kirika bounced towards Shirabe again and grabbed both of her small hands tight, swinging them up towards her own chest. "That means you're like me! I don't know my real name either. They call me Kirika Akatsuki, and my birthday is April 13th, because that's the day they brought me in."

None of the other girls, who silently watched the exchange, knew that about Kirika–in fact, very few even knew that she had been the first Receptor Child discovered. To most of them, Kirika was a distant figure who faced trauma and emerged a different person. Hearing even a small amount of Kirika's past stunned a lot of them.

Frankly, the remaining children that had been around for that terrible night believed Kirika had gone insane, and her new personality was born from whatever delusions played out in her mind like a theatre.

But Kirika's focus was squarely on Shirabe's wide eyes. "You're... Kirika Akatsuki..."

Kirika nodded with a cheerful grin on her face. "Yes. Let's be good friends Tsuko... Tsuki... Uhh... Shirabe!"

"Okay. Kirika."

Maria and Serena walked up to Shirabe, introducing themselves to the new girl as well. For the first time, a lively atmosphere filled just a small section of the chilling room, warming it ever so slightly.

The light that these four girls glowed would not last for long. Exactly one month after Shirabe met the girls that she would eventually call her found family, they would all learn together that Serena Cadenzavna Eve had died.

~ ~ ~

The ghostly projection of Finé that existed within Kirika's mind swam through these memories. By transferring her memories to Kirika without taking over her body, Finé had essentially split her soul in two and sacrificed her ability to converse with the girl's mind. To do so, she would need to forcibly extract Kirika's consciousness and steal away control of her body.

That meant that Finé had been only able to watch helpless as her memories, compounded upon Kirika's own, destroyed the young girl's brain. Not only for the sake of her own sanity, Finé wanted to genuinely help Kirika; she had not realized what effect her memories would have on the girl, and not wanted to atone for the pain she inflicted.

She could not speak–she technically did not exist–but Finé wished desperately that she could enter one of the memories she flew through and try to speak to a past version of Kirika–rearrange the bank of thoughts in a way that created more positive experiences that could mend Kirika's broken heart.

Of course, just as her plan to destroy the moon, Finé had also neglected to consider the consequences of that plan and how the manipulation of memories might both erase precious ones or simply worsen her condition as Kirika struggled to make sense of the differences.

Regardless, the eternal priestess's spirit was unable to go through with this plan anyway.

Crowded in the depths, beneath the terrors of the torture that Finé had–both directly and indirectly–put Kirika threw, she found the sparkle of light that she had been looking for: a treasured memory.

Theoretically, alchemy could be strengthened by sacrificing memories, but the issue was that a human brain unconsciously buries good memories–the ones that would generate the most power–in order to preserve them, like a chipmunk would bury food for the winter.

Finé placed her spectral (and non-existent) palm upon the shining memory. This was the one most treasured by Kirika, whether she knew it or not.

One certain April 13th reflected out into Kirika's soul.

. . .

Kirika's heart twisted in pain, and she let go of her knees to instead grip her chest. Her face contorted as the strangely warm affliction that welled up within her body.

"Why... am I crying?"

For the first time in months, Kirika's mouth released words other than the five-letters that she had been muttering excessively to the ghosts that lingered in the air around her. Ignoring the burning of her heart, Kirika touched her sunken face and was shocked as her hand came away wet.

The despair that had clouded Kirika's mind began to fade, and she suddenly took in some of the smaller details around her. The white room she stayed in was not actually white like the laboratory she had been forced to live in, but rather a very light, and pale, yellow; her memory had replaced the colour as the traumatic experiences resurfaced.

The cot was nicer than any that Kirika had ever slept in before–of course, she had only ever been given a bed when Nastassja took her in and forced her to be a member of a terrorist organization, so there was honestly little competition.

She stood up, feeling the tiles against her feet. Unlike those in the F.I.S. research lab, they were not chilling. Sure, they were slightly cold against her bare skin, but Kirika found the ground far warmer than any she was used to. With unsteady movements, her legs trembling from disuse, Kirika slowly made her way towards the tasteless goop that had been placed out for her several hours before.

"Death." She muttered, addressing no one but herself. The clouds had parted for a moment, and she had seized the chance to reach onto the small pinprick of hope that reached out.

Kirika could already feel her depressive thoughts creeping back in, the memories of tragedy flooding over this weak warmth she had been afforded, but she tried her utmost to push them aside. "Death!!" She shouted the word again as she shovelled the food into her mouth.

In order to survive, Kirika had eaten small bites of the food given to her, but never had she ever deigned to totally devour the meal. As she ate, Kirika realized just how hungry she had been...

...and then she felt the need to vomit after eating so much so suddenly. But she kept the bile down, knowing that this food–this uncomfortable feeling–was a new treat; anything to keep her mind preoccupied so she did not spiral back into madness, this was the only thought that Kirika focused on.

"Thank you." Kirika found herself saying as she finished eating, pushing the herself across the ground with a stomach nowhere near full but definitely satisfied. She tilted her head in confusion as to whom she thanked, realizing what she had said.

But the answer came to Kirika as a brief image flashed through her mind: the calm smile of the golden-eyed priestess that lived within her. Realizing that the sunlight of hope was thanks to the woman who had caused most of it, Kirika nodded another thanks despite the conflict welling up within her.

Finé had tried to kill her so many times, whether on purpose or not, yet the priestess had now saved Kirika twice. The mess of emotions she felt in response to this gave her a headache–though the lack of sleep was likely another cause for this.

For the first time in three months–no, for perhaps the first time in her entire life–Kirika closed her eyes and had a peaceful sleep. Her mental batteries began recharging past their absolute as she descended completely into a calm she had never before felt.

As Kirika drowned in dreams where she lived a normal life with Shirabe, Maria, and Serena, she was completely unaware of the chaotic air that filled the rest of the institution. There had only been four prisoners in this maximum security government prison, yet somehow one had magically disappeared as the sun crested above the horizon on a brand-new day.

#### GX Chapter 8

Chris Yukine rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Still at the Kazanari household, she had been lent a small futon to sleep on for the night, sleeping in a room alongside Kanade–who slept on a bed that she had apparently usurped from guests that did not visit–and Elfnein, who was rustling in the sleep that Chris was shocked to learn that she needed.

Neither Kanade's loud snores nor Elfnein's flailing was what woke Chris, however. No, what pulled her into the land of the waking was the sound of Yatsuhiro Kazanari's panicked voice from another room. Taking a quick glance at the small red numbers that burned upon the screen of a digital clock (which read 4:44, as if it were an omen), Chris bounced up to her feet. Slowly, she crept to the sliding door and cracked it open as quietly as she possibly could.

"When did this happen? Did the cameras pick up anything?" Yatsuhiro's voice was both low as to not awaken the others in the house, yet it felt as though he was yelling in shock.

A pause, presumably because the person on the opposite end of the phone was answering his questions. Chris could not hear Yatsuhiro sigh during his apparent-subordinate's report.

"Is it possible that..." Another pause. "No, that's not likely. Alright, I'll be there as soon as I can."

Chris panicked, not knowing what to do as she heard Yatsuhiro's footsteps approaching her. She wanted to close the door, but at the same time she wanted to confront him and learn what the context of his call was.

"I know someone's awake." Yatsuhiro's calm voice echoed from the opposite side of the wall, and Chris stiffened. Her breathing stalled as she hid behind the wall, the shadow of her form likely invisible to the man on the other side.

"And what was that about?" A voice unfamiliar to Chris sounded from somewhere down the hall, though she could not see the source. It was a powerful boom, though distinctly aged as well.

"Father? So you did hear that." Yatsuhiro seemed disappointed in himself as he replied to the man–whose name, though Chris did not know it at this point, was Fudo Kazanari.

"Both of you have been complete disappointments, continually ruining the work that I had put into this program. Though I suppose your failure, here, is less disastrous than your younger counterpart."

"Father, you know Genjuro..."

"Enough. You know as well as I that he does not deserve defence." Chris could now see Fudo somewhat as he finally reached Yatsuhiro. She flinched back at the man's long, snow-white hair that resembled a cross between Tsubasa's long locks and Genjuro's short style; they were certainly all family. "He alone tore down all that which I had created. He's lucky that I did not disown him completely."

Fudo muttered under his breath just loud enough for both Yatsuhiro and Chris to hear if they strained their on-edge ears. "Tsubasa is the only one of you that has any worth."

Yatsuhiro did not respond as Fudo seemingly walked through his son like a ghost. The old man's glare turned towards Chris for less than a fraction fo a single second as he sensed her presence, and he huffed as he realized they were being listened to. "It seems our conversation has awoken one of that useless man's guests. We're done talking for now."

Both Chris and Yatsuhiro stood in silence for a couple of seconds as the footsteps of the phantom Fudo Kazanari echoed into the darkness. Yatsuhiro sighed eventually, breaking the tense silence that hung between them. "Please, Yukine, come out. You're doing a poor job hiding yourself."

Chris chuckled quietly as she slid the door open and stepped out into the hallway, barely even turning around as she silently sealed the room with the two sleeping figures behind her.

"What are you doing?" Yatsuhiro eyed her suspiciously.

"Couldn't sleep, I guess. I heard you're having trouble."

"Yes." Yatsuhiro shook his head. "It's likely that we will have to postpone our attempts to visit Akatsuki. Though I worry how that may go over with..."

"Miku?" Yatsuhiro began to walk away, but Chris followed as she provided the man with the name of the girl he was thinking of. "I'm sure she'd understand the difficulties of what she was asking for."

Yatsuhiro nodded as a small smile crossed his face; Chris could swear that he was chuckling silently, albeit not happily. "It's more that I'm worried about what she might try to do in response."

Chris closed her eyes as she imagined the scenario.

"Sorry, Miku, we can't go visit Akatsuki." The imaginary Genjuro announced to the black-haired girl, who harrumphed and turned the other way.

With her face pushed down into a cute little pout, Chris imagined the Miku within her mind robotically sing the Holy Chant of Lancea Longini that she had heard only once before–Kara Lancea Longini zizzl–before glaring back at the tall, handsome figure with red hair. "Fine. I'll go see her myself." She muttered before blasting off into the air, not letting Genjuro get another word in.

Chris blushed as she realized the ways that she would describe her mental images of Genjuro and Miku, and shook her head to push her dream away.

"Something the matter?" Yatsuhiro asked from his side, oblivious to the internal struggle Chris was now having about her possible feelings for the apparently 'handsome' Genjuro Kazanari and 'cute' Miku Kohinata.

"Nope! No! I'm fine! Every-thing is..." Drawing out the last syllable slightly, Chris's sentence transitioned into a deep inhale. She then concluded her thought, exhaling to–hopefully for real this time–clear her mind. "Great."

But Yatsuhiro was somewhat sceptical, and raised an eyebrow at her panic. Seeing this, Chris hurriedly tried to move back to the topic at hand. "So, what's the problem?"

"Oh, yes. You, Yukine, are technically a civilian, so I shouldn't be sharing this with you, but considering your... unique circumstances and connection to the girls, I imagine I can trust the two of you with this information."

"Yes, you... wait. The two of huh?" Chris flailed her head around searching for the apparent second figure who Yatsuhiro was aware of. She did not find it on her own however, as it was only when they began speaking again did Chris finally make out the shadowy figure lurking in the courtyard that the two were now overlooking from one of the mansion's many exits.

"I was hoping you were not as sharp as Grandfather." Tsubasa grunted, stepping out of her hiding place and into the moonlight. For the first time, Chris looked at the blue-haired idol without her hair put up into a ponytail; Tsubasa's long blue locks flowed down the length of her back freely, swinging side to side as the swordswoman walked towards the two who had just exited the building. "It seems I was mistaken."

"Wait. How long were you waiting there?" Chris wondered aloud. "I thought you went to sleep?"

"That's none of your concern." With an annoyed grunt, Tsubasa turned her frustrated glance into a cool glare as she faced her father. "What is the problem?"

"Before I tell you–both of you–I want you both to promise me something. Especially you, Tsubasa." Yatsuhiro returned his daughter's glare not with one of his own, but instead sad eyes that told Chris that he genuinely cared for the girl he was looking at–and who blatantly ignored these feelings. "At least wait to act until we have the full details."

"So I take it Elfy's master's done something?" Both Tsubasa and Chris had picked up on the subtext of Yatsuhiro's words, but it was the latter who asked the question aloud.

"Assuming what that Elfnein said was true, then our enemy would out-number us at five to three–" Chris briefly chimed in to readjust the second number to 'four,' counting the currently-absent Miku, but Tsubasa did not halt her analysis of the situation. "Plus we currently lack extensive knowledge on their abilities–barring what Kanade and I have experienced first-hand. It would be suicidal taking them on directly in our current state."

As a beat of silence passed between the three, Chris leaned in towards Yatsuhiro and whispered something. "I think that's the closest you're gonna get to a promise, old man."

Yatsuhiro responded silently with a slow nod and a sigh, then finally took the time to reveal the situation he had been hiding. "The girl named Shirabe Tsukuyomi has gone missing. Given that she and Maria Cadenzavna Eve share a cell and only one of them has vanished, we can rule out a traditional manner of escape. More than likely, she was kidnapped by this Carol."

"Wait, why do the two of them get to share a cell? What about Akatsuki?" Chris ignored the fact that one of the girls mysteriously disappeared–and the many gruesome possible fates that she may have faced at the hands of a crazed alchemist wanting to destroy the world–and instead focused upon the off-hand comment about the separation of the girls. This surprised Tsubasa to some extent, who expected a more fiery result from Chris Yukine.

"The residence where they are being kept was only designed to house up to three prisoners at once due to..." He cleared his throat, cutting that issue short and instead got straight to the point. "The government's wariness of Finé prompted them to put Akatsuki in her own cell."

Tsubasa tilted her head. "That seems counterintuitive. If Akatsuki's mind has been fully usurped by Finé, leaving her completely alone would only allow her to concoct new plans. It would have made more sense to keep all three of the F.I.S. women in one cell in order to prevent any planning."

"I agree, but I'm ultimately not the one making the decisions." Yatsuhiro took off his glasses and, with a white cloth he produced from somewhere within the green yukata he wore, began to clean the smudged lenses. "Back to the problem at hand: the security footage of the moment that Tsukuyomi disappeared appears to be edited out, but no alterations have been made to the footage."

"So you have the moment of her disappearance on camera?" Chris asked. "You wouldn't..."

Placing his glasses back on his face, Yatsuhiro reached once more into his yukata and pulled out a large tablet–where he kept all of this, Chris and Tsubasa were both unsure. Before Chris had even fully formulated the question, Yatsuhiro handed her the small device.

"Oh so this is it, then?" Chris tapped on the static image that was present on the illuminated screen and a partial circle appeared within it. As this icon spun for a moment, Tsubasa slipped in-between Chris and her father in order to see the footage for herself.

The video began to play, and both Chris and Tsubasa were surprised to learn that the security team at the prison recorded both visual and audio data; though, as the scene they watched for a couple of seconds just showed Maria and Shirabe sitting on the ground with their backs to the wall in sleep, there was little sound but the dull hum of electricity.

Suddenly there was a very soft noise–what sounded like a large coin hitting a metal flooring in a silent room. It was barely audible in the footage, but Tsubasa and Chris both assumed that it must have been louder in-person as both Maria and Shirabe instantly woke up. The two girls were on their feet as their fight-or-flight instincts took over.

"What was that?" Maria asked. Her voice was hoarse–a far cry from one an idol should possess–and all parties noticed that both of the F.I.S. girls looked far more frail than the confident terrorists they had fought both against and with three months ago.

"A coin?" Shirabe tilted her head as she gave her answer, scanning the very dimly-lit room. Unlike Maria, Shirabe's voice sounded normal to the girls, though they wondered if the fact that she always spoke quietly managed to mask any sort of weakness. "I don't see anything." Shirabe reported after a moment.

"We both heard it, so it couldn't have been our imaginations." On shaky feet, Maria walked over to the door and pressed her ear against it. "I don't hear anything on the other side."

When Maria turned her gaze back to Shirabe, both the pink-haired girl in the footage and the two girls now looking through this window in the past all wore shocked expressions. Shirabe had been in mid-step, walking towards Maria, when she disappeared. There was no noise, no flashy effects. It looked as if someone had simply deleted her from existence.

Tsubasa recalled footage she had seen in the past–when Finé had taken Miku away through alchemical teleportation. "Finé's teleportation powers seemed to have a sort of charge up mechanic. The effected parties would slowly sink into the ground as a rune appeared beneath them, if I remember correctly."

"So that's not alchemical?" Yatsuhiro shook his head, as if answering his own question.

"Maybe it's just, like, super-powered alchemy?" Chris prompted. She tapped the screen and dragged the slider that denoted the video's current position back a few short moments; on the screen, Shirabe's random disappearance replayed once more. "I don't know a lot about alchemy, but Finé always relied on man-made tools whenever she could. Her pink shield... thing, and teleporting were really the only times I ever saw her use any mystical magic shit. And that dragon thing, I guess." Chris scratched her head, pulling back the time slider as her hand dropped back down.

"So, what you're saying is that Finé was a poor alchemist?" Tsubasa asked, not really sure what Chris's point entirely was.

"No, her shield thing was pretty strong. She'd used it to..." Chris looked up with a weak smile and sad eyes that told Tsubasa that she did not want to say any more. "I don't think Finé was a bad alchemist, I just don't think she was a great one–like she was just imitating others."

"So the teleportation spell Finé used back then may have been an attempt to recreate this technique." Tsubasa nodded, watching as Shirabe continued to disappear from the footage as Chris replayed that moment.

"There's also the possibility that she wasn't teleported, I guess." Chris suggested. This time, as Shirabe disappeared, Chris instead paused the video instead of dragging the slider back. "If this Carol person can create a homunculus, a couple of robots, and something that could destroy the planet, then who knows what she could do. I mean, doesn't this seem weird to you, besides her disappearance?"

"Weird in what way?" Yatsuhiro asked, very interested in Chris's ramblings.

Now, Chris's slim finger dragged the footage back once more. Instead of pressing play, she instead tapped on the period key to go through the video frame-by-frame. "Keep an eye on Tsukuyomi, right." Chris tapped quickly until the frame after Shirabe's disappearance. Then, with the comma key, she backtracked two and pointed under Shirabe's feet. "Look at that."

"I don't see anything." Both Kazanari family members made the exact same comment simultaneously, annoying both Tsubasa and the one trying to make a point.

Chris backed up one more frame. "Okay, you can see the ground here, right? White tiles?" Then she went back to the frame that she had pointed to before. "Now the ground seems to be slightly more grey in this frame... and then back to white in the next one."

Neither Tsubasa nor her father could tell the difference, so Chris went back and forth between two frames really quickly several times. Sure enough, Tsubasa eventually made a noise as she understood. "Incredible. Yukine, how did you notice that at normal speed?"

"Huh? I don't know. It just looked weird to me."

"Is it not possible this is just an issue with the footage?" Yatsuhiro brought up the same question that Tsubasa had wanted to ask–once again frustrating the blue-haired girl who disliked how similar the two of them seem to be.

"No, because then we'd be seeing similar spots in other frames." Chris shrugged, handing the tablet back to Yatsuhiro. "So I've got two ideas: one, the darkening of the tile was a shadow of something the video couldn't record; or the teleportation rune that Finé used appeared under Tsukuyomi, but disappeared so quickly that the footage couldn't capture it in time."

"Both of those theories are also possible..." Tsubasa sighed, but then pointed out something that Chris had been overlooking. "But nothing you've suggested has explained the sound that woke them up, or its source."

"Huh? I think that was just a bolt falling out of that bed. I don't know why they weren't using it, but it's probably good that they weren't."

Yatsuhiro played back the footage, this time focusing on the bed. Though Shirabe had scanned the room, the low lighting coupled with the bolt falling into the bed's shadow likely caused her to overlook it. Even looking under the bed during the entire clip, Yatushiro had a very difficult time seeing the bolt–but it was certainly there. "Incredible. It's actually there." The old man marvelled Chris's attentiveness. "How did you notice that?"

"If I wasn't good at picking up small details, do you really think I'd be standing here right now?" Chris had a cocky smile on her face as she said this...

"Even though you couldn't sense my presence at all earlier?"

...Before Tsubasa's words pierced her heart like a thrown knife. Chris's smile faded, replaced in an instant by an angry scowl as her face was lit ablaze. "Listen, I'm good at seeing what's directly in front of me, okay! That's more than I can say about you!"

"Enough, you two." Yatsuhiro curtly cut in-between the two girls. "I need to go assist in the investigation."

"I'm coming with you." Both girls turned their hostile attention to the man and shouted at once. Yatsuhiro just nodded in response.

"I knew you'd try to, regardless of my answer. Come on, let's go."

The car ride was completely silently–in part due to the fact that the compound they were driving to was top secret and thus Chris and–to her surprise–Tsubasa both needed to be blindfolded for the duration of the trip. With no way to comment on the scenery around them, that left the socially awkward trio to all turn to their inward thoughts.

Though she would never admit it aloud in their company, Chris was genuinely quite uncomfortable with the silence that had suffocated them throughout their roughly hour-long trip; from Chris's experience, silence always preceded terror.

"We've arrived." Yatsuhiro eventually announced as the car's low hum silenced. Before Yatsuhiro's next sentence exited his mouth, Chris had already reached up to her face and groped at the white cloth tied over her eyes. "You're free to take off your blindfolds now."

. . .

Kirika was startled awake by a sound she never expected to ever hear: the jingling of metal as the thick door of her cell was unlocked. Not sure what to do, Kirika's instincts told her to scurry back away from the cell–though she should have been happy, her fractured mental state told her something else was wrong.

And she was quite right.

The heavy door slid open with a loud groan as the hinges adjusted to being useful for the first time in three months. Without even a moment of peace, a burly man stomped through and pushed his way through the cell's stale barrier towards Kirika. "What the fuck did you do, Finé?" He grunted in a burly voice as he closed in on her.

Kirika did not understand the question, and stayed completely silent. She involuntarily shook in confusion and fear at the sudden appearance of this yelling man, looking up at his face with questioning eyes.

When the young girl offered no answer to his question, the man's already-angry face exploded red as his impatient fury only heightened. With his large hand, the man grabbed Kirika's collar and roughly pulled her up.

Already unable to breathe as the man's grip choked her, Kirika's vision spun as her body was pushed against the wall. Her head bounced against the wall, hard, and dots poked holes in the image of the man's angry face as he barked at her. Even though he spat in his face as he asked questions, Kirika could not hear the man's cries.

Realizing the situation that she was now in, Kirika's body tensed for a moment as she remembered the angered cries of the lecherous Dr. Stinson, and what came later that day. Her heart began palpitate wildly as a mixture of fear, anger, and hatred overcame her.

She was no longer a useless little girl: Kirika was a Symphogear wielder; she possessed the memories of the woman who has existed throughout the entirety of human history; and, above all, she was Kirika Akatsuki. She had a family now–a family she would do anything to see once again.

Before she realized what she was doing, Kirika saw Finé's impenetrable barrier–Asgard–appear in her vision. The red wall of light separated the limp Kirika from the man who had–now previously–held her up...

A man who was now screaming in pain.

Kirika's unconscious use of Asgard formed a wall only millimetres from her face, which sliced right through the man's arm as he held her against the wall. The man's hand and the stump of bloody flesh attached to it splashed to the ground, and even Kirika flinched back in shock.

"What the fuck did you just do to me, bitch?" The man called. His remaining hand was being washed by a waterfall of blood as he gripped the side of the stump that was once attached to a part of his body. Kirika almost vomited as she saw the muscles and bone in the hole that she–She!–had cut through his body like a guillotine.

The man did not wait for an answer, instead limping out of the room as he groaned in pain. "I'll remember this, you asshole." He cried back towards Kirika as he disappeared.

But he did not close the door.

Composing herself, and wanting to ignore the gore that now covered the floor in front of her, Kirika took in a deep breath of air tinged with the iron scent of blood. As she exhaled this large intake of air, Kirika slapped herself on the cheeks and pumped herself up–as bad as it was, she knew she needed to take advantage of the situation offered to her. "Let's get going, death."

. . .

"Sir! Sir!" As he entered the facility, Yatushiro was immediately swarmed by the people who worked within it. Chris and Tsubasa were pushed aside as the crowd of subordinates flooded around their boss, hounding him with every possible question regarding their current situation.

"Hey, Tsubasa..." Chris whispered. "Think we should just go?"

The girl with sapphire eyes nodded, but pointed towards a nearby door. "It seems we're on the same page, Yukine, but I doubt we'll get too far. It seems many of these doors possess card..." Tsubasa sighed, placing a hand to her head. "You stole a card already, didn't you?"

Chris turned her head away. "What do you take me for? A thief?" Despite her response to the accusation, she had a smile on her face. Revealing the hand that had been hiding behind her back, Chris twirled a white card in her fingers. "But, yeah. Some guy bumped into me and I just happened to catch one as it fell off his coat."

"I must admit: you are quite incredible, with your crafty nature and perception."

"I'm glad you're finally seeing how great I am." Chris waved the card around. "Now let's go."

Chris crept to the door on quiet feet, and slid the card over the reader. Waving Tsubasa over to her, the two girls dashed through the now-open entryway and it hissed closed behind them.

"Oh right." Chris reached into her pocket and pulled out a small red crystal–a Symphogear pendant. The girl with the red hair tossed it to Tsubasa. "Elfy finished her work on your Symphogear."

Tsubasa caught it out of the air with a determined look in her eye, and Chris nodded as she slipped her own Symphogear pendant over her neck. "It's a good thing you were the one awake." Chris chuckled, breaking the serious atmosphere. "Elfy fell asleep before she could finish Kanade's."

The two girls ran through the labyrinth of hallways. They had no idea where they were going, but they had a goal in mind: they wanted to find Maria and Kirika. Though not every door required the card that Chris had swiped, they learned quickly that Tsubasa's initial thought was correct–they would not have travelled far without the pass, as most of the doors that weren't locked simply led to other hallways where every door was.

But every hallway looked the same to them. "How big is this place, anyway?" Chris sighed as she came across another locked door. "I thought your pops said it was only built to house three people?"

"Knowing him, he likely told us only a fraction of the truth behind this building." Tsubasa looked around. "What's very curious is the lack of personnel."

"Oh yeah, you're right." Chris realized as she pulled out her card key once more. Her gaze glued to their surroundings, she kept a vigilant watch for the people that they have yet to run into. "We haven't seen anyone, huh?"

As Chris unlocked the door, she turned to run through the opening. Tsubasa let out a noise, and Chris saw a panicked look cross her face for a moment before she realized why.

"Hey, watch out, death!"

"Akatsuki?"

Kirika, who similarly was not watching her surroundings and would likely have just run into a locked door if not for Chris, had collided with the girl with white hair and now the two sat on the ground in confusion; behind them, Tsubasa had her hand on her head as she looked down in disappointment.

"Wait, what?" Kirika blinked as she realized who she had run into. "What are you doing here?"

"Better question: what are you doing? I thought you were imprisoned." Tsubasa countered, not offering an answer of her own.

"Yeah, I may have just cut off a guard's hand, death."

"You what?" Chris pulled herself to her feet and–grabbing Kirika by the shoulders–literally lifted her up to her own. "Why?"

"Never mind that, death! What's going on? This guy burst into my cell and started screaming at me and now no one else is around."

"I feel as though you left out some crucial details." Tsubasa shook her head with a sigh. "Akatsuki, do you know where Maria is being held?"

"I've been looking for someone who does, death. Most of the doors are locked. But if you can open them up, then we should be able to find her, death! And Shirabe, too!"

Chris sucked in a cold breath through her teeth. "Right. About that..."

. . .

Maria sat in a wooden chair across from a thin man in a dark blue suit. She leaned on her hand, looking at the blank wall silence as the man sighed beside her. "Alright, again, I need..."

"Like I've told you, I have no idea what happened to Shirabe. Her disappearance is just as shocking to me as you." Maria shot a glare at the man, and he stiffened in his seat. He was not threatening, nor even too pushy; he was a weeny little man doing nothing more than annoying Maria.

The silence that fell upon the two was quickly torn asunder as the door flew open. A man with only one hand–the other now mummified with slick red bandages–stomped in, a sword-like look piercing Maria. The man who had been interrogating the pink-haired idol stood up in protest at the newcomer's appearance, but a single look forced him to sit back down.

"You, bitch." He kicked the table, knocking it forwards a short distance to nudge Maria. "One of your friends disappears, another cuts off my hand. What the fuck is wrong with you crazy freaks?"

At the mention of Kirika being the cause of the man's recent injury, Maria stood up. "What did you do to Kirika?"

The man let out a cursed chuckle and licked his lips. Maria noticed a lusty look in the man's eyes as he looked the pink-haired woman up and down; a look of utter disgust crossed Maria's face as she seized the man up. "I was going to let her feel my wrath, but now I'm going to force you to... appease me, in her place."

"Now, hold on there!" The weeny man held his hands up. "Now's not the time to fight! We're not going to–"

"Shut the fuck up!" The man punched the one beside him with the stub of his right arm, red blood painting the interrogator's face as he stumbled back towards the wall behind him. With him out of the way, he turned his gaze back to Maria. "And you..."

But Maria was not letting him have his way. Leaning over the table, she mimicked the same motion that she had just watched and slugged the large man across the face. Unlike the weak interrogator–who now slumped against the ground–the large man just spat towards Maria as he absorbed the blow. "You really are a bitch." He growled, raising his hand above his head.

"Get away from her, death!"

At the familiar voice, the man spun towards the door with wild eyes. "You!" He cursed under his breath at the sight of Kirika running down the hall towards him, Tsubasa and Chris hot on her heels.

"If you do anything to Maria...!" Kirika leapt into the air and transitioned into a kick, landing straight against the man's chest. Taking the full weight of the weakened teenager, the man stumbled back and tripped over the man sitting on the ground.

"Nice kick." Tsubasa remarked, catching up to Kirika–without Ame no Habakiri's agility boost, she was surprised to see that the younger blonde girl was faster than her.

"Thanks, death." Kirika, who had fallen to the ground after bouncing off the man, slowly pulled herself back up. Her opponent was doing something similar, trying to steady himself by grasping the wall with his one remaining hand.

"Let's get out of here." Maria hopped over the table and gave the order to her friend. Turning to the man, who was still righting himself, Maria threw another punch–this time embedding her fist into his gut. She immediately followed up by kicking his groin, forcing him to collapse to the ground.

"Damn." Chris and Kirika said in chorus, though the latter added her trademark word to the end of her remark. Tsubasa let out an impressed chuckle as she just smiled.

Maria, however, was less patient, knowing that the man likely wasn't out for good. "You two have a lot of explaining to do." Maria said to Chris and Tsubasa as she pushed her way towards the door. Getting a nod from the white-haired girl, she responded with her own as they all ran off.

"Alright." Tsubasa's one word replaced the pitter-patter sound of four sets of feet as the girls all ran through the halls. "Do you remember which way we came from, Yukine?"

"Nope. But I've got a plan for our exit." Chris clicked her tongue.

"Don't tell me..." Maria realized immediately what that meant, and Tsubasa understood as the other idol vocalized her (unheard) complaint. Before Maria's words even fell upon Chris's ears, she was already singing.

*Killter Ichaival tron*

"Oh no." Maria, Tsubasa, and Kirika all stopped in their tracks as the white light of the Symphogear engulfed Chris's body. They took a step back together as the cocky girl immediately readied the missile launchers on her hips.

"Duck, death!" Kirika shouted, but her cry was too late. As the final syllable entered the air of the hallway, it was immediately drowned out by the explosive burst of rockets being shot towards the wall in front of them.

#### GX Chapter 9

 “Welcome to my abode, the Château de Tiffauges. Bow before the might of the all powerful alchemist, the murderer of miracles, Carol Malus Dienheim!”
Carol stood on her throne with her arms crossed, an angry expression on her face as she looked down her nose at the confused girl with loose black hair who was being held in a block of ice at the base of the steps. Shirabe looked up at the smaller girl who held her captive with a bored expression on her face, a stark contrast to the doll in a blue dress behind her, who was trying to stifle her giggling.
“Master, you’re so powerful~” Garie managed to squeak out, a wide smile plastered upon her face. Upon realizing that Garie had been playing her in forcing her to act all high and mighty, a blush crept over Carol’s cheeks as she took her seat.
Shirabe, not having any idea of what was going on, just blinked in silence. She was not scared–as if she had blinked, Shirabe suddenly found herself in a large dark room and was immediately encased from the neck-down within a frozen crystal. Now, with this child lording down upon her, Shirabe couldn’t help but be more confused than anything.
But the girl’s introduction–and the doll’s subsequent comment–told Shirabe some important bits of information: Shirabe was trapped by an alchemist named Carol Malus Dienheim; locked in a place known as Château de Tiffauges; and the doll served this Carol.
“This girl doesn’t seem as scared as I expected her to be.” A voice came from Shirabe’s left, but she couldn’t see the Autoscorer named Phara Suyūf from the position she was trapped in.
“She looks bored, just like me.” A different, higher-pitched voice that reminded Shirabe slightly of Kirika, rang out from her right. “Master, can I kill her yet?”
“Silence, all of you!” Carol, a vein bulging out of her forehead, thrust her hand out over the room before her, immediately ending all of the dolls’ chattering. Then, leaning her head over her shoulder as if bored, Carol sighed. “Shirabe Tsukuyomi, I’ve brought you here to make you a proposition.”
Shirabe blinked, still remaining silent. When Carol did not get any response–such as the question of how she knew Shirabe’s name–she glanced down at the smiling Autoscorer who stood by the iceberg’s side. “Garie, you didn’t freeze her vocal cords, did you?”
“No, master. As you asked, I only froze her in place. She’s remaining silent of her own accord.”
“Hmph. Very well. Since you seem to lack interest in your current situation, then surely this will make you more willing to engage with me.” Carol snapped her fingers, ripping open a tear in reality in front of her face. In the window that appeared, everyone in the room could see Sakuya Fujitaka tied up with Leiur Darāhim flipping a golden coin as she kept an eye on him from a short distance away. “I have trapped here one of your Sector Two associates. Surely you would want to ensure his safety, no?”
Shirabe tilted her head. “I don’t know who that is. I don’t work for Sector Two.”
Carol’s face transformed into a cherry once more, and she slammed her hand on the arm of the chair she sat in with enough force to dent the wood. “What? You mean that idiot child provided me with false information?” Cursing under her breath, she leaned forwards. “You are a Symphogear wielder, correct?”
“I suppose so.”
The so-called ‘murderer of miracles’ pinched her forehead with the entirety of her left hand, but said nothing. After a moment, taking a few beats to think as the Autoscorers looked at each other in confusion, Carol finally let out a deep breath. “Kirika Akatsuki. The two of you are close, correct?”
Shirabe said nothing, but the name of her friend caused a light to flash behind her eyes. Carol noticed this and leaned forwards. “So that got your attention, then.” She muttered under her breath. Then, raising her voice, Carol shouted into the large room. “Shirabe Tsukuyomi, your friend–no, your sister–now harbours the spirit of the heartless, heretical miracle Finé. What if I told you that, with my help, we can destroy that part of your friend and return her to how she used to be.”
Shirabe’s heart twitched.

~ ~ ~

 “Maria... I...” Shirabe whispered, but chose not to continue her thought.
The two sat in their cold cell, locked away from the outside world. A series of dim lights hummed overhead, just as they had every day for the three weeks they had now been locked here. Back to back the two Symphogear wielders huddled, staring at opposite walls as they were locked in their tangled thoughts.
“You’re worried about Kirika, right?” Maria could tell what she was thinking easily–she, after all, was also worried for their missing friend. But as Shirabe’s back stiffened at the mention of Kirika’s name, Maria had second thoughts.
Slowly, Shirabe pulled herself away from Maria with just her legs, before kicking at the ground to spin herself around. Maria tilted herself onto her side so that the two could speak face-to-face. “Can I admit something to you?” Shirabe fiddled with a thin strand of her long black hair that was no longer being tied into twintails.
“Of course, Shirabe.”
“I’m scared of Kirika, now.”
That shocked Maria to some extent, but she also felt as though she understood why. But, to confirm the reason, she felt the need to ask. “It’s because of Finé, right?”
Shirabe’s head shook, and Maria now noticed that the girl’s shoulders–no, her entire, small body–was trembling slightly. Reaching out with her own long arms, Maria took hold of Shirabe, pulling her into an embrace as she patted the girl’s black hair. “It’s okay. She’s Kirika–the Kirika we’ve always known.”
“Maria... I can tell you’re saying that for your sake, not mine.”
Her hand froze and her eyes widened; Maria realized that she, too, was fearful of the woman who had been responsible for her sister’s death and her potential influence on the girl she considered family.
“Finé’s eyes... they’re terrifying.” Shirabe admitted. “And now Kirika has one. It makes me want to...”
“Find some way to bring her back to normal?” Maria finished the idea. “You know, Shirabe, when Kirika was able to throw out information that she shouldn’t have known, even I felt a bit shaken.”
“It’s weird, knowing you’re human too.” Shirabe smiled.
Maria was confused at her words, and a bit of anger boiled beneath her skin. “What do you two see me as?” Maria cried out in surprise, not realizing how loudly her voice had been until Shirabe flinched at the shout.
“Maria is Maria, just like Shirabe is Shirabe.” Shirabe smiled. The girl closed her eyes, and her smile shrunk into sadness. “But I don’t know if Kirika is Kirika any more.”
“Shirabe... I think the Kirika we care about is the Kirika that still exists inside. She’s just got...” Maria tilted her head. “A little more going on, now? I guess?”
“You’re not good at this.” Shirabe chuckled.
“Let’s try to have this conversation again once we get some actual sleep, okay?” Maria’s own giggled echoed in chorus with the girl whose head she hugged close to her chest. “I think we just have to trust in Kirika for now.”
Shirabe wanted to agree, but she did not feel as though she could. It wasn’t as though she didn’t trust Kirika–the girl who had reached out her hand to her in a monochrome world where everyone shrunk away from each other; it was that her fear and distrust of Finé was just as strong. For all Shirabe knew, the Kirika she knew was totally gone, and what remained now was just the priestess playing a role on the stage of life.
Maria pet Shirabe’s head again before singing a song.

*Ringo wa ukanda osora ni…*
*Ringo wa okkochita jibeta ni…*

*Hoshi ga umarete uta ga umarete*
*Ruru ameru wa waratta tokoshie to*
*Hoshi ga kisu shite uta ga nemutte*

*Kaeru toko wa doko deshō…?*
*Kaeru toko wa doko deshō…?*

*Ringo wa okkochita jibeta ni…*
*Ringo wa ukanda osora ni…*

~ ~ ~

 “So, Shirabe Tsukuyomi, what do you say? Would you care to work with me, to achieve our respective goals?” Carol reached out her hand and Shirabe felt a strange sense of nostalgia. The scene of Kirika doing the same for her replayed in Shirabe’s mind, and she felt the urge to take the alchemist’s hand.
“Can you really help me turn Kirika back to normal?” Shirabe’s voice was small and quiet, though the girl several metres above her seemed to hear the question perfectly.
“My goal as an alchemist is to analyse the world and destroy the miracles that only serve to bring pain. If I wanted to face my papa once again, what good would it do to leave a heinous beast like Finé, whose very existence in this modern age is a miracle, to her own devices?” Garie shook her head from beside Shirabe, and Carol realized that maybe she had done the opposite of convincing the girl by revealing her goals. “I aim to murder miracles, not the ones who are hurt by it. In severing Finé from your friend, I promise I will do everything in my power to keep Kirika Akatsuki perfectly safe.”
Shirabe closed her eyes as she pondered the deal.
“Ah right, you’d probably be useless in such a state, anyway.” Carol flipped her hand. “Phara, retrieve the Shul Shagana Symphogear. It is likely that words alone are not enough to convince this girl.”
“Understood, master.” Phara bowed and promptly disappeared; Shirabe was completely unaware of her teleportation, however, as it was silent and the girl was out of her limited range of view.
“Now, as for those other ones.” Carol muttered under her breath. “Shirabe Tsukuyomi, you said that you do not care for the members of Sector Two?”
Shirabe’s eyes shot open in surprise. “Huh? I suppose not.”
“Very well. Micha, you’re free to go fight those two Symphogear wielders now–Chris Yukine and Tsubasa Kazanari. In order to assist in exorcising Finé, we will require their power.” Carol was about to send off the eager Autoscorer, who hopped up into a clap at the mention of her name, but paused for a moment first. “But remember–do not harm the friends of our new ally, only the two I mentioned. The ones with blonde and pink hair must remain safe at all costs. And take Leiur with you; we have no need for that man any longer.”
“Okey-dokey, master!” Micha smiled happily and performed a salute with one of her large bear paw-like hands. While Phara teleported out of the room with alchemy, Micha instead bounced towards the door as her arms flailed behind her. “Leiur~ we have orders!”
“What will you do with him?” Garie questioned, a shark-toothed grin eclipsing her cheeks as Micha’s cries for Leiur disappeared into a quiet echo. “Shall I dispose of him?”
“No, he is worthless to us. Remove all memories of his time here and send him back to work. As you said before, the memories he possesses would generate little power for our cause. Any unnecessary deaths should be avoided.”
Garie sneered at that last comment–she knew it wasn’t true, and only something her master was saying in order to make her seem more righteous in the presence of a tool she wished to sway to her side, but it struck a nerve with Garie. “Fine.” Then, with a snap of her fingers, the icy prison that held Shirabe to the ground crumbled away into nothingness, and the girl who had been floating within it slumped to the ground in shock. “Then, I suppose I’ll be going too, master.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Carol waved Garie away, who disappeared into nothingness as the hall fell back into silence.

 Shirabe sat on the ground, looking around in confusion as she tried to seriously consider the deal that had been proposed to her. She knew, of course, that it could be disastrous to place her trust in an alchemist–Finé was one, too, after all–but this Carol seemed to generally have good intentions to some extent.
Though Shirabe was aware that she was likely being used for some greater purpose, the idea of turning Kirika back into the girl she loved overpowered any doubts she held.
“No offence, but you look pathetic.” Carol broke through Shirabe’s thoughts with a cruel growl. “Didn’t those Japanese idiots feed you at all?”
Shirabe did not want to mention that Carol looked barely any more filled out than she did, but bit her tongue. The food that they had given her in the prison was apparently designed specifically to provide essential nutrients, but it did not seem to provide enough nor did it have any taste or texture; rarely was Shirabe able to stomach more than half of it.
It was something, Shirabe noted, that the food that she had been given was worse than that F.I.S. provided her growing up. Heck, she even preferred being a terrorist for that short period of time, when they were living off decades-old MRE’s (Meals, Ready-to-Eat) that they had taken from the American government.
Her stomach grumbled. “You must be hungry.” Carol sighed, acknowledging the noise that had made Shirabe unconsciously grip her belly.
What Carol wasn’t mentioning was that she, too, was hungry. Her body was still human–halting the ageing process kept her body just as physically weak as the child she had been all those years ago–though she could usually satiate hunger with alchemical nonsense. Still, Carol did need to eat every once and a while; and her stomach growled, too, as she thought about it.
Shirabe looked up at the alchemist, who drummed the now-dented arm of her throne with her fingers. Carol begrudgingly poked the air and spoke into a small hole that appeared at the end of her finger. “Garie, pick us up some food.”
“You know, I still haven’t decided whether I’ll take you up on your offer.” Shirabe pointed out, and Carol narrowed her eyes at the comment.
“Should you reject my offer, then the two of us would likely become enemies. However, for now, you are not yet a friend or foe. I have nothing to lose by feeding you.”
Shirabe was shocked at the ways of this girl. Even should Shirabe eventually become an enemy of hers, Carol was still willing to go out of her way to provide sustenance–or have one of her servants do so, at least; and for someone she had just met, no less.
‘Human’ is the word Shirabe wanted to use to describe Carol’s actions, and it was an adjective that she would never have even considered giving to many of the people she had met before. Nastassja and Ver forced Shirabe and her friends into their service; and Finé and her scientists performed experiment after experiment on them, as well.
“I could cook us something.” Shirabe offered. “If you’d let me.”
“Considering how little I trust Garie to actually get us anything edible, I’d love to take you up on that offer. But, unfortunately, I built this structure solely to further my goals; it doesn’t have a kitchen.” Carol placed her chin upon the hand she balanced on the elbow that rested upon the chair’s arm. Then, whispering so that Shirabe couldn’t hear, Carol exhaled a short comment. “Besides, you wouldn’t be as good a cook as my papa, anyway.”

. . .

 Phara stood face-to-face with Leiur, her eyes wide in shock at the sudden appearance of two of her fellow Autoscorers in front of her. “Hello there.” The green woman composed herself with a greeting.
“Phara! Phara! Master’s letting us fight!” Micha hopped up and down a short distance beside them, her giant, sharped claws protruding from her massive hands splayed out with no care in the world.
Phara smiled. “Ah, have fun, then, Micha. I’m sure you’ll do splendid.”
“Remember Micha.” Leiur turned to the shorter girl by spinning upon her heels. “Our only targets are the wielders of Ichaival and Ame no Habakiri.”
“Oh, that’s...” Phara muttered, becoming the centre of attention in their misshapen triangle. Exhaling with a slight nod, she continued. “The two of them just left, alongside a man with grey hair.”
Leiur put her hand to her head. “In that case, we must find out where they intend to go.” She glanced over her shoulder at Phara, expecting her associate to provide an answer to that.
“The prison that our master took interest in earlier, I believe. The man they left with seemed to be in charge of that operation.”
“Leiur! Let’s go! If we run fast then we could catch up to them!” Micha pushed herself up to Leiur, who took a step back instinctively.
“No, Micha. Let us go set up a trap for them, first.” Seeing the flash of disappointment cross Micha’s child-like face, Leiur continued. “It would make our battle all the more... fun, I suppose.”
“Ooh! Okay!”
“Well, then, I bid you two farewell.” Phara nodded with a wave of her arm, walking past the two Autoscorers towards the walls of the mansion they stood outside of. She had her own goal to achieve for her master, and she was going to see it through.

. . .

 “Yukine.” Maria eyebrow twitched as she struggled to keep her cool and stifle the anger welling up within her. The tone of her voice gave away her true emotions, and the two girls standing beside her–Tsubasa Kazanari and Kirika Akatsuki–took a step back.
Chris Yukine stood in front of them, looking through a newly-carved tunnel of destruction that she created with her missiles. Luckily, none of the people working in the facility were harmed, but she could see some poking their heads into the destruction as they assessed the situation.
“That was a bit stronger than I was expecting.” Even Chris was surprised at the chaos she caused.
“That was extremely dangerous. Even disregarding the fact that you could have harmed others, the structure may have collapsed on us if you destroyed any load-bearing elements.”
“Regardless.” Tsubasa put her hand on Maria’s shoulder, and the blue-hair idol noticed now just how weakened the confinement had made both Maria and Kirika. “She gave us an exit. Let’s go before anyone tries to stop us.”
Maria sighed but could not disagree with the idea. “Yes. Let’s go.”
The group all dashed through the debris that Chris’s flurry of bullets and missiles had created. Each girl separately noticed how strong Ichaival truly was (or how poor the construction had been) through their cautious marathon; the weapons had torn apart the building like the enforced walls were made of paper, utterly obliterating so much of the labyrinth that the girls had dashed through earlier.

 As they reached the end of the corridor, the four girls were all stopped in their tracks by a familiar voice from behind. “You bitches better stop right there.”
Kirika was the first to turn around, and she was glad she did. Her eyes wide, she threw up her hands and projected the pink wall of Asgard just as the guard with a single arm fired upon the four Symphogear wielders with a small pistol.
The bullets–of which there were five shots–all collided with Asgard and stopped dead immediately, as if the alchemical wall had glued them to the air. “Son of a bitch.” The man spat, tossing the gun aside as the bullets bounced to the floor and disappeared into the debris around them.
“What’s this guy’s deal?” Chris shouted, turning to face the man head-on. She was the only one of the four with her Symphogear currently equipped and had planned to use her weapons until Tsubasa shot her a look telling her not to.
“I’ve been given the orders to make your lives hell, girls. And I aim to please.” The man glared down at the four as he slid a full-on tactical knife out of his pocket. “You’re just lucky I couldn’t convince the chefs to poison your gruel.”
“Orders? From whom?” Maria asked, earning a sneer from the man. He pointed his bloodied stump of an arm forwards at the pink-haired idol’s words, as if telling her that she was his first target.
Indeed, the man kicked off the ground and raised his knife up as he flew towards Maria. Kirika, thinking faster, ducked in-between her friend and her attacker, throwing up a wall of protecting. “Just break another hole in the wall, death!” She shouted at Chris over her shoulder, who obliged with a nod.
“Leave it to me, this time.” Tsubasa shot a glance to the wielder of Ichaival.

*Imyuteus Ame no Habakiri tron*

 Raising up the blade of Ame no Habakiri as it appeared in her grasp, Tsubasa quickly chopped through the wall that stood in front of her. Despite Maria’s original lecture to Chris, Tsubasa did not take any care in destroying the wall, herself.
As a hole opened up, revealing sunshine as they broke through to the outside world, Kirika pushed her Asgard wall forwards to knock her opponent off balance. “Maria, let’s go, death!”
What happened next was complete chaos.
As Kirika shouted to Maria, the man shouted in confusion at the scene happening behind his targets. Simultaneously, the youngest girl saw out of the side of her vision as Tsubasa was knocked back, flying past both her and the man with a knife as a girl with long red hair (literally) clawed at the powerful blade she held.
Chris, facing the opposite direction, was the only one able to fully question what was happening around her as she looked at a woman with dark blue and orange hair. “What the hell?”
“I’m so glad I finally get to fight!” Micha Jawkān cheerfully cried as she sliced at Tsubasa, knocking the swordswoman back through the corridor that she and her friends had just run through.
Every time she took one of the Autoscorer’s attacks, Tsubasa was forced to readjust her feet as to not be knocked over by the debris littering the ground; she was so focused on not giving her surprising foe an opening that Tsubasa was not able to get in her own attacks.

 “You two!” Seeing Kirika and Maria wanting to assist her, Tsubasa shouted to the two who currently lacked their Symphogears. “Get out of here! Find my father, he’ll take you to safety.”
“As if I’m going to let you escape.” The man between Tsubasa and the other two girls clicked his tongue. Raising the knife in his grip again, he charged towards Kirika but was once again blocked by Asgard.
This time, Maria was not going to let Kirika play defence alone–she was going on the offensive. Looking down to the ground, Maria searched for a piece of debris that she could use as a weapon.
When she found a sharp fragment of concrete that appeared to be somewhat durable, Maria raised it over her shoulder. “Kirika, on my command jump out of the way.”
Kirika did not know what Maria was planning, but she trusted in the older girl she considered her family. “Got it, death.” She wanted to nod, but had to keep focus on Asgard as the man with a feral look in his eyes continually tried to break it apart with his dagger.
Getting her balance, Maria cut through the air with the piece of concrete as she tossed it forwards like a powerful dart. The shard spun as it flew straight forwards towards Asgard. “Now!”
Kirika jumped to the left, lowering Asgard as commanded. The piece of concrete continued flying, crashing straight into the man’s eye and knocking him backwards.
The man dropped his knife to the ground, his fingers groping for his eye as blood began to fill his vision. “Damn you whores!” He shouted, turning around to get medical treatment–again.

 Meanwhile, Chris did not even deign to converse with the mysterious Autoscorer that stood before her. Judging from the attacks Tsubasa now took, she was only sure that Leiur Darāhim was her enemy. Thus, Chris lowered her crossbow and began to fire at the woman.
Leiur, however, only lazily flipped her gold coin up into the air, causing it to grow to a massive size. The magical crossbow bolts fired by Ichaival collided with the golden wall, dispersing into sparks as they dissipated. Like Chris, Leiur said nothing through this.
Lifting her leg up, Leiur planted a powerful heel-kick against the giant gold coin, sending it flying towards Chris. The girl let out a startled cry as she leapt up into the air, crossing over the projectile in a single bound. Behind her, Chris heard the sound of the coin bouncing off of Asgard as Kirika created a shield to protect herself and Maria from the attack.
“Quick thinking from all of you.” Leiur smiled. “You’ve left quite an impact.”
“Gee, thanks a lot.” Chris grunted, readying the missile launchers on her hips. Leiur, however, noticed this and narrowed her eyes as she took in the preparation.
As the missiles began to eject from their canisters, Leiur timed her own ranged attack to interrupt their movement. Indeed, just as the heads of the pointed projectiles peeked out of the cannons, Leiur fired coins towards the missile launcher from her finger. The explosion that resulted from these two different attacks’ collision engulfed the closer Chris, sending her flying backwards into the facility once more.

 Tsubasa finally saw an opening as Micha reared one of her large claws backwards and took a chance. With perfect timing, Tsubasa spun her leg into the side of the Autoscorer, launching Micha into a wall nearby.
But Micha only laughed. “You’re stronger than I thought! This will be fun!”
The Autoscorer kicked off of the wall that she had just bounced off of, flying at Tsubasa like a fighter jet. As she cut through the air, Micha put her claws together and her entire body became engulfed in flames; she spun like a molten drill, transforming into a missile akin to that which Chris would fire.
Tsubasa met Micha head-on, attempting to parry the fiery claws with her own sword, but the Autoscorer was just too strong for her. Micha’s weight overpowered Tsubasa, and the blue-haired girl was launched backwards as the drill knocked her off-balance.

 Chris and Tsubasa were launched backwards towards each other, their spines colliding as they bounced into each other and crashed to the ground. “These guys are strong.” Chris noted, transitioning into a crouch.
“Indeed. We should make use of our new abilities, then.” Tsubasa nodded, and Chris did as well.

. . .

 “I thought you weren’t going to harm Kirika and Maria.” Shirabe eyed Carol suspiciously. The two girls sat on the ground together, watching the battle unfold through a gap in the air that hung in front of them like a television.
“That man? He’s not one of my servants.” Carol waved her hand as she bit into a hamburger she held up to her mouth. Then, with her mouth full of food, she continued. “He’s worth keeping an eye on, though.”
Garie had returned with hamburgers and fries from a fast food place–Carol knew she likely just stole some poor patron’s food–and now the two girls were chowing down on food neither of them were used to consuming. As she swallowed part of the burger, Carol commented on the taste with a suspicious glare. “I don’t understand the palate of modern people.”
Shirabe was chewing on fries as she watched the battle. “Your robots are quite impressive, though.”
“Autoscorers.” Carol took another bite of the burger after the correction.

 The two girls watched, just the sounds of their chewing echoing through the room as they watched the silent scene play out in front of them. Both Tsubasa and Chris gripped the pendants on their décolleté areas as they shouted something neither girl could hear–though Carol, capable of reading lips, knew they were shouting the word “Ignite!”
“What are they doing?” Shirabe wondered aloud upon swallowing an incredibly salty fry that tasted only moderately better than the paste she was fed for months.
“So Elfnein managed to successfully integrate Dáinsleif into their Symphogears.” Carol smiled as she took the final bite of her meal. In her hands she still held the greasy paper that the burger had been wrapped in, but it disintegrated into ash as she released flames from her palms. Swallowing the end of the food, Carol continued by thinking aloud. “Perhaps I should have waited until she modified your Symphogear as well.”
But Shirabe shook her head as she watched with wide eyes at the scene appearing before her.

. . .
Tsubasa and Chris became engulfed in darkness as they activated the Ignite Module that Elfnein had explained to them the night before. Before they could comprehend what was going on, the only thing their brains could focus on was the sharp pain of thousands of needles stabbing their hearts and minds simultaneously.
But they needed to bear through the pain.
Chris felt the darkness consuming her, and bared the fangs that had grown as the shadows altered her body. Slamming her teeth down against each other as she clenched her jaw, Chris was only acutely aware of the world around her, just as Tsubasa was beside her.
Tsubasa, likewise, felt the evil transform her body. Her eyes felt as though they were melting out of her skull, and she closed her eyes in hopes that they would not leak out. Unbeknownst to her, they were glowing a villainous red as blood streamed from her eyes; the same was true for Chris, as well.
Their screams tore through the compound, chilling even their two Autoscorer enemies in place.

~ ~ ~

 “The Ignite Module: this is what I propose.” Elfnein had said over dinner last night. “Dáinsleif is a cursed sword that mythology says can only be sheathed once it has claimed a life. By integrating a shard of the relic into your Symphogears, you could likely channel this curse into your body and give your body and songs a massive increase in power.”
“Likely?” Kanade had asked as she leaned over the table to eye the small homunculus. “Does this mean the Ignite power can only be ended if we kill someone?”
“No. That part of the curse has been rendered moot already as most of the sword has been destroyed. Dáinsleif’s reputation, however, has caused the relic to become what alchemists refer to as a philosophical armament; a weapon that has been granted supernatural powers due to wide scale public perception.”
“So what you’re saying,” Chris stopped messily shovelling rice down her throat for just a moment to question Elfnein. “Is that the sword is magical because everyone thinks it is?”
“To put it in extremely simple terms, yes.” Elfnein nodded.
“So, could anything become a psychological argument?” Chris asked.
“Philosophical armament.” Tsubasa and Kanade both corrected simultaneously from their own seats.
“I’m not entirely aware of the whole theory behind philosophical armaments,” Elfnein fidgeted in her seat. “But I believe they need to possess some sort of innate power to begin with. Then, that power has to willingly open itself up as a funnel, with the intent of transforming its nature.”
“So you’re saying relics are alive?” Chris picked off a grain of rice from her cheek, ignoring the many more scattered around her mouth.
“Not necessarily. Their power seems to be sentient to some extent, but it’s not as if they are living things.” Elfnein tilted her head as she thought. “You could think of them like incredibly advanced artificial intelligence, maybe? The power can evolve and change but only based on what it was previously programmed to do.”
“Regardless of how it works,” Tsubasa folded a napkin and placed it on the table beside her; unlike Chris’s area, which was a total mess, Tsubasa had managed to not let even a speck of food drop onto even the plate in front of her. “Dáinsleif’s power, should we choose to activate your ‘Ignite Module’ or not, is essential to combating alchemy, correct?”
“Yes, that much is clear. As it stands now, Carol’s alchemy is designed to destroy what she calls ‘miracles’–and the Symphogear could be considered such.” Elfnein explained. “You said before that you went up in battle against Phara? If you had made even a single mistake, it’s possible your Symphogears may have been totally destroyed.”
“Then it’s a good thing she left when she did, I guess.” Kanade muttered. “Alright, Elfnein. I honestly should be a bit more weary of you and what you’re saying, but you seem pretty trustworthy. I’ll let you mess with Gungnir if it means we can help more people.”
Tsubasa sighed. “I suppose you could modify Ame no Habakiri as well.”
“I should mention though. Activating the Ignite Module will likely be incredibly painful the first time, as both your body and the Symphogear will reject Dáinsleif’s power. You’ll need to keep focus so that the curse doesn’t fully consume you.”
“What would happen if it does?” Tsubasa asked, cutting Chris off as she began to ask why Elfnein did not bring this up sooner.
“This is purely hypothetical mind you, but you’d likely enter a berserk... no, perhaps more aptly, bestial state.” Elfnein looked up as she began to think, but Kanade twitched at her words. “You’d likely lose your consciousness–albeit only temporarily. But if you fail to push back the curse then your Symphogear would likely suffer heavy damage.”
“A berserk state, huh.” Kanade’s one eye narrowed as the friendly look on her face dropped into one of seriousness. She closed it as her head turned to look away from the other three at the table with her.
Then, with a long exhale, the jovial Kanade returned with a yawn. “Alright, I’m hitting the hay. It’s been a long day.”

~ ~ ~

 “So this...” Tsubasa felt as though the words clawing their way out of her throat were flames burning every bit of flesh and muscle within her. “Is the curse of Dáinsleif.”
“Not as bad as I was expecting.” Chris shouted, straining to keep her vision from fading completely.
And then, they felt as though they were at peace. The shadows that had been consuming their bodies dispersed almost as quickly as they had appeared, and the two girls stood side by side with new attire hugging their bodies.
Their armour and weapons were no longer sleek and pure, instead now being jet-black and edgy. The accented colours that corresponded to their relics shone out from beneath the darkness, enduring the corruption just as Tsubasa and Chris had been forced to.
Both girls let out a sigh of relief as they readjusted to their normal selves.
“Alright, let’s continue.” Tsubasa lowered her dark blade as she met the cheerful gaze of the ecstatic Micha Jawkān, whose clothing was being burned away as the flames she had surrounded herself in faded away.
“This is going to be so much fun!” Micha cheered, though a murderous look was all Tsubasa could see in the Autoscorer’s eyes.

. . .

 Miku Kohinata’s eyes slowly opened. Her eyelids felt heavy; she had no idea how long she had been sleeping for, or even when she had fallen asleep. As she became aware of the area around her, Miku felt as though her head was being crushed under the weight of a hydraulic press, though the pain coursing through her skull was nowhere near as devastating as that she felt throughout her entire body at all times.
Taking stock of the world around her, Miku noticed one thing immediately: she was out of beer. Considering she had only drank four before last night, that meant she had gone through twelve cans the night before. “No wonder I feel like shit.” She realized, glancing at the scattered litter of crushed aluminium that sat around her.
Shielding her eyes, Miku poked her head out of the entrance of her tent. Just as the thought, it was daytime; sunlight streamed in from a grate in the ceiling not too far away. “Guess I should go meet Genjuro.” She muttered as she crawled on all fours out of the small opening.
As she stood up, Miku noticed two things wrong: the hoodie she was wearing was stained now with all sorts of new colours–beer, vomit, and blood among them. The source of the blood was the second thing she noticed: a man wearing a dark red suit sat limp in a pool of blood beside the rotting corpse of the man she had taken beer from. “That makes three, I guess.” Her death count was increasing, and that made her sick.
Looking down at her messy clothes, Miku shook her head. “I guess I should get something else to wear.” She turned back to the fresh corpse not too far away. His red blazer was open, and the colour would make it hard to notice the blood staining it. But it was far too large for her small body, and she clicked her tongue at the realization. “Guess I need to go shopping.”
Miku looked down at her jet-black hands; no colour of the fair skin she had once had remained on most of her body, and she felt as though she was literally becoming a shadow of the girl she had once been.
“Shadows are supposed to hate the light.” She chuckled darkly, remembering both that the sun was high in the sky above her and the shining star that she, herself, had snuffed out. “And here I am continually chasing it.”
A tear fell down Miku’s cheek as she pulled her hood up.

#### GX Chapter 10

 It was not the morning sun cresting the horizon that awoke the two figures laying on the mysterious island floating high above a forest, but rather the loud sound of two cell phones screaming at the simultaneously. Yumi Itaba and Shinji Ogawa scrambled to their feet as they were thrown roughly out of the realm of dreams, patting themselves down to find the source of the deafening rings.
Upon finding his phone, Ogawa lifted his phone to his ear as he answered the call; Yumi did the same a second later as she composed herself, smoothing down the left side of her hair that had been pulled out of its usual tail while sleeping.
“Hello?” Yumi asked. She had forgotten to check the name of the caller, but with so few work-related contacts of her own, Yumi was not entirely surprised to hear the voice of Kuriyo Ando on the other end. Instead, what made her eyes go wide was what her friend screamed at her.
“Chris is on TV!”

 “A break-out at the holding centre? And the media is there, too?” Ogawa wiped his eye as he quickly responded to the report he was getting. “Do we...”
“The Symphogear wielders seem to have gone rogue–they’re the perpetrators of this.” The curt woman’s voice was full of disgust–disgust focused not on the situation but on the Symphogear wielders themselves, something that was commonplace in the other sectors of the government that Ogawa often worked with.
“Have all of those being detained escaped?”
“No. Tsukuyomi mysteriously disappeared beforehand–a matter that is still under investigation. Furthermore, Doctor Vercingetorix is still detained, and plans are already underway to transfer him to a new facility.”
Ogawa sighed. “Am I to assume, then, that Chr... Ichaival is among the wielders working to break the two out?”
“That is correct. Ichaival and Ame no Habakiri appear to be the only two on-site at the moment. They are currently locked in battle.”
At the mention of Ame no Habakiri, Ogawa silently groaned as he realized now that his plans to eventually have Tsubasa and Kanade return to the stage as Zwei Wing were now likely impossible.
But the mention of a battle intrigued Ogawa; with their Symphogears, Chris and Tsubasa would not have any issue breaking anyone out of a prison. “Who are the two fighting? Surely the team there has not decided to fight them?”
“Their opponents’ identities are unclear; we are still looking into who they are fighting. What we do know–both from our own reports and the media’s coverage of the battle–is that the ones engaging the Symphogear wielders in combat are inhuman and using supernatural techniques.”

 “They’re fighting robots?” Yumi screamed in surprise. Both Kuriyo and Shiori’s voices were screaming into her ear now, telling her every detail of the battle that now unfolded on the screen they were watching. “Wait, no, go back. These robots are alchemists?”
“There’s a girl who can control earth and a girl who can control fire.” Kuriyo explained in the most simple of terms, her breathing heavy as she excitedly spoke into the phone.
“Chris and Kazanari did some sort of new... technique. Their armour became black!” Yumi could hear Shiori cry from behind Kuriyo. “They look a lot stronger now?”
“How did Chris even get Ichaival?” Yumi wondered aloud, astonished at the very premise of the events she was now being told about. “It should have been back at HQ.”
She shook her head. “Guess we’re going to need to postpone our meeting over here for a bit.” Out of the corner of her vision, she saw Ogawa sigh as he pulled his own phone off his ear. With a nudge of his head, Ogawa urged Yumi to finish up her call as well. “Anyway, I have to go. Ogawa’s waiting.”
“If you’re going over there, be careful!” Kuriyo cautioned, and Yumi could hear Shiori shout her own well wishes as well. She did not even have time to respond, though, as Kuriyo cut the connection beforehand.

 Turning to Ogawa as she lowered the device, Yumi asked her boss what their next plans were. Ogawa’s expression, with lowered eyebrows and a clenched jaw, told her that their ‘orders’ were not what the man expected them to be. But it would not be the first time that he went against the commands given to him, even since Yumi had started working with him; he was simply too skilled and important to receive punishment.
“You should go–”
“Not happening.” Yumi cut him off with a wave of her hand. “Chris is apparently on TV right now? Fighting alchemists? This might have something to do with the Illuminati. And, more than that, my friends are in trouble right now. I want to help.”
Ogawa smiled. “I didn’t expect you to go home, anyway.” Adjusting his tie, Ogawa continued. “The brass ordered us to find some way to cover up the media’s coverage, but...”
“Easy. Just say that the news misunderstood the filming of an anime PV for an actual fight.” Yumi crossed her arms, a confident glint in her eyes. “If we say the ‘special effects’ are all the work of holograms, then that should push suspicions away from the fight, somewhat. Of course, then the government would actually have to fund an anime series based on the Symphogears.”
“Did you come up with that all on the spot?” Ogawa asked after a moment. When the girl gave him a wild nod in response, he chuckled. “Impressive. Alright, I’ll send the plan to the top.... Got a name for it?”
“The Amazing☆Singing Hood! With a star in the middle.” Before she had even finished saying the title that had popped into her mind, Ogawa was already tapping an essay into his phone with rapid movements. While she waited, Yumi brought up her own phone and sent away a message–one that was far shorter than Ogawa’s.
“Alright,” Ogawa said after a moment, sending away the proposal that Yumi had single-handedly come up with in seconds. “Now, then. Let’s head over to Chris.”
Yumi agreed cheerfully with a nod. But worry flashed across her face a moment later. “But, uhh, you didn’t happen to see where my other hair tie went, did you? I don’t want to give up my trademark twintailed look!”
The very casual question shocked Ogawa, and the ninja could not help but laugh out loud at the sudden change in topic. As chuckles fell out of his mouth, the man slowly shook his head–he had not.
“Guess I’m going for a different look, today.” Dissatisfied, Yumi grunted as if she were offended at the fact that she now needed to change her appearance in a ‘drastic’ way.

. . .

 “Oh, it’s a message from Yumi.”
Kuriyo had just put her phone in her pocket when Shiori’s blinked to life in her hand. The two of them had had a race to see who could call Yumi first about the battle that their eyes were glued to–Kuriyo, of course, won that competition.
Tapping the screen of her phone, Shiori brought up Yumi’s words in front of her. Kuriyo, curious, peeked over Shiori’s shoulder and read the email aloud for both of them. “Going to investigate. If you can, go to the Kazanari residence.”
“Well, we probably shouldn’t skip school, especially after the Noise attack yesterday.” Shiori sighed. A smile crossed her face, though; worry or confusion were neither of the emotions weighing on her mind. “But... I’m really curious about what’s happening.”
“Then lets head over there, now!” Kuriyo grabbed Shiori by the arm, almost causing the girl with the golden hair to drop her phone as she was pulled towards the exit of the room. The phone did not tumble out of her hand entirely, and she managed to safely put it away while staggering.

. . .

 Maria and Kirika were both breathing heavily as they ended up in the lobby area where many people were gathered–three months of little exercise had totally destroyed their reserves of stamina. Their entry into the room sucked all of the air out of the conversations that had been happening, and both girls immediately became the centre of attention.
“Oh, right. We shouldn’t be here, death.” Kirika whispered to Maria, shuffling slightly backwards towards the door they had just entered through.
“That’s correct. You two shouldn’t be here right now.” An older man with grey hair slid up to them, his tired eyes glaring down upon Kirika from behind his glasses. But he did not seem angry at them; Maria sensed that the man was more tired than anything.
Maria recognized the man as Tsubasa’s father, Yatsuhiro Kazanari–he had introduced himself as such to her during her first interrogation here in the prison. That was the only other time she had seen the man, but the experience stood out to Maria in that it was the only time she was questioned by someone who she saw as sane.
“Kazanari, Tsubasa told us to find you. They’re fighting...”
“Robots! Magical robots, death!” Kirika, hearing that the man was the one they were looking forwards to, perked up and offered her idea of what was going on. Clear to both Maria and Yatsuhiro was the lack of any influence of Finé in the comment.
“So that’s what those explosions were about.” Yatsuhiro cupped his chin in thought, but both of the girls stiffened up in front of him to deny that accusation. Knowing there were only two other options, he sighed. “Or they were my daughter and Yukine getting tired of running around aimlessly.”
“If it makes you feel any better,” Maria smirked. “I think the... magical robots probably would have done the same amount of damage.”
“Magical robots.” Yatsuhiro repeated, taking off his glasses to put pressure upon his eyes with the side of his hand. Shaking his head, he turned away from Maria and Kirika and addressed the crowd of people looking at the three. “Alright, listen up everyone.
“On the record: Kirika Akatsuki and Maria Cadenzavna Eve escaped on their own during this battle. They had no help from me nor the Symphogear wielders, and their current whereabouts are unknown. If anyone reports otherwise, you will be asking for repentance once I am done with you.” Slowly casting his stony gaze over the crowd–a look that some of the people in the room recognized as being incredibly similar to that of the elder Kazanari–Yatsuhiro inhaled deeply waiting for any protests. When none came, he exhaled. “Good.”
“Wow.” Both Maria and Kirika gasped under their breaths at the way that Yatsuhiro had taken command of the situation. The man had immediately earned the respect of both of the girls–though as he turned around to face them again, both found themselves unconsciously flinching back in fear.
“You two, come with me. We’re getting you to safety.” Kirika nodded obediently, and both she and Maria followed Yatushiro as he began to strut away with powerful footsteps. The entire room was silent as every person watched their exit.

. . .

*Aisatsu nado muyō tsurugi mau zange no jikan*
*Jigoku no okusoko de enma dono ni hirefuse*
*Hitotsu me wa utsu futatsu me mo utsu*
*Mittsu yottsu mendokusē …kizuna*
*Nameru de nai!*
*Namen ja nē!*

 Tsubasa and Chris were singing a song in tandem as they fought draped within the black armour of the Ignite Module. The two took turns, switching off targets in order to cover the other. Though the darkness felt as though it was suffocating them originally, now it had opened their minds and gave them a new outlook on the situation unfolding around them.
Swinging her blade with full force, Tsubasa sliced through one of Leiur’s giant golden coins in half–something that shocked even the Autoscorer that had been using it as a shield. The attack did not harm Leiur though, as she leapt back as soon as the blade pierced her weapon. “Impressive.” She admired, an annoyed look in her eye.
Contrasting the troubled Leiur, Micha had a giant, wide-toothed grin on her face. “This is fun!” She shouted as she used her invulnerable claws to slice out of the air the hell storm of Chris’s bullets that travelled towards her.
Micha’s excitement overtook her, and she forfeited her more-cautious, defensive tactic to instead go on the offensive. Deciding to take brunt of Chris’s fury, Micha bounced forwards with her claws ready to strike from an under-handed position.
Chris, however, was ready for this, and launched a kick into Micha’s chest as she drew close enough and launched the Autoscorer back with ease. Even as she flew through the air and, afterwards, collided with a wall, Micha had a merry grin as she enjoyed every moment of the fight.

 Leiur, however, was far less amused. Stomping the ground to send up a golden crystal beneath Tsubasa, she grunted as the Symphogear wielder leapt away with ease. “I am far less amused with this turn of events than Micha is.”
Tsubasa, in the air, swung out her sword to her side to cut through the wind. Leiur watched in surprise as, around the blue woman, swords created out of pure energy appeared around Tsubasa and began to rain down upon Leiur.
Knowing that Ame no Habakiri could slice through her coins, Leiur had no choice but to dodge the attack. Firing coins at the ground in front of her, she launched herself flying backwards and far out of the range of the swords’ storm. Landing in a handstand, Leiur clicked her tongue as she spun in a breakdance-like kick before jumping back up to her feet.

. . .

 “They’re not doing so well.” Shirabe noted as she watched Leiur and Micha’s fight against Tsubasa and Chris.
“No, the power of Dáinsleif is far deadlier than even I had imagined.” Carol bit her thumb as she analysed the footage that was playing through a tear in reality. “That said, Leiur and Micha are doing just as they need to. Drawing out the power of Dáinsleif is essential for me.”
“You don’t care if they destroy your friends?”
“Hmph. The great Carol cares not for the lowly insects she created! They are nothing but servants to me.”
Shirabe’s eyes narrowed as she stared at the girl with the flowing braid beside her. Vocalizing the action she was currently performing, Shirabe slowly leaned in towards Carol in order to draw out the truth that she was sure was being hidden beneath her ego.
It worked.
“Fine. Truthfully, I’d rather not any of the Autoscorers be destroyed. But, unfortunately, I require power for my plans, and the best way to collect that would be through the destruction of my servants. In the worst case scenario, I could always repair them given the time.”
Shirabe could somewhat understand the idea–she was, after all, quite apathetic towards most people outside of her small found family. But the Autoscorers should have been Carol’s family, Shirabe thought; even if they weren’t human, she thought that Carol would have been a little more protective of them.
Unless...
“Carol, what are your plans, exactly?”
“Did I not tell you? I plan on completing my papa’s work–to analyse the planet just as I have spent centuries analysing humanity and their actions.” When Shirabe again began to put pressure on Carol (in the exact same way), the alchemist flinched back. “Get back, you!”
“You just want to make your father happy, don’t you?”
Carol blushed at Shirabe’s–correct–guess, and couldn’t help but turn her head away to avoid Shirabe’s icy gaze. “You’re surprisingly more perceptive than I had anticipated.” Readjusting her sitting position, Carol continued. “Fine, yes. I admit it. Everything I do is for my papa’s sake! I just want him to be proud of me when I meet him in heaven!”
“I don’t remember my parents, so I can’t entirely relate.” Shirabe admitted, causing Carol to flinch in surprise–that had not been in the notes that her associate had given her. “But I understand the feeling of wanting to see the people you love happy. Seeing the smiles of Maria and Kiri warm my heart more than anything.”
“Even though you lack a family of your own...” Carol grunted, her face turning red as the thought of helping Shirabe unite with her parents briefly crossed her mind. She did not know why she cared so much for this girl who was so unlike her, but Carol could not bring herself to dislike Shirabe, nor even see her as the bug she saw other humans as.
Shirabe realized something and slid a short distance away from Carol as she straightened her posture. “Dr. Ver might be able to help you, actually.”
“Dr. Ver?” Carol dove into her mind to bring up the information she had on this ‘Dr. Ver’–the name was familiar to her, so she knew something was trapped within her brain.
“He...” Shirabe’s words trailed off into sadness, and Carol knew not to push further on the subject. What the alchemist did not expect was for the small black-haired girl to make a very shocking remark afterwards. “Dr. Ver found a way to bring people back to life. With a relic, probably.”

 The world pulsed for Carol as the colour drained from her surroundings. Her heart stopped, yet the blood pulsed crazily through her body at the same time as excitement gripped every facet of her being. “Bring people back to life?”
A warm, kind smile that Carol had not seen in centuries appeared for a second within her mind. It was the caring visage of her beloved papa, the one who the world shunned for the miracles he created. For a moment, she was back to being a normal girl, standing in a field with her small hand encased by his large, worked fingers.
“No. That’s impossible. Insane.” Carol shook the memory out of her head and wiped the tears of hope that began to well up in her eyes. “Even alchemy can not do something as powerful as restoring the dead to life.”
“I never got to see her body, but Maria said once that Serena’s corpse had no head. But she still fought against us after Ver revived and brainwashed her.”
Punching the air to access her extradimensional storage unit, Carol pulled out the notes that Prelati had sent her. She flipped through the small pile in a hurry, eyes darting over each word as Carol’s mind took them in at insane and inhuman speeds. As she reached the end of the pile, she confirmed her initial thought.
“If what you said is true, then my source left out some very, very important information from their report.” Carol blinked. “Where is this Dr. Ver now? And the one he resurrected?”
“I think Ver was in the same prison we were kept in.” When Carol brought up the second question again, Shirabe shook her head and shrugged.
With a new look of determination on her face, and a flame of hope burning in her heart, Carol stood up from her crossed-legged position on the red carpet. “You, remain here for a moment. I’ll be right back.”
Before Shirabe could say anything else, Carol was already gone; it was the same instant-disappearance technique that had brought her to the Château de Tiffauges she now sat in, alone.

. . .

 “Master?” Micha shouted in surprise as a figure appeared in-between her and the blue girl with a sword she was running towards. Both people on either side of the newcomer stopped short of attacking Carol as her physical form interrupted the battle. A short distance away, even Chris’s appearance was stolen away from Leiur at the mention of the ‘master’ appearing.
“Micha, Leiur, enough of this. I have a new goal for you.” She waved her hand. “Find the man named Dr. Ver! I have questions to ask him.”
“Understood.” Leiur immediately obliged with a bow and leapt away.
Chris, not understanding what was going on, shouted at the Autoscorer as she bounced off and abandoned the battle they had been engaged in.
But Tsubasa was a lot more calm. She raised her blade up to the back of Carol’s neck, ready to pierce it. “So you’re the one in charge of these alchemists.” The idol’s voice was like a freezing wind as it blew against Carol’s body. The blonde girl did not even turn around, nor attempt to move, at the comment.
“You needn’t worry about your so-called friend, Tsukuyomi. She is perfectly safe. And fear not as, for now, neither of you two–nor your other friends–are targets of mine.”
“But master~! I just want to fight more.” Micha whined, tears welling up in her eyes as her grin transformed into a weeping frown–and Carol was surprised that Micha was even able to cry.
“Enough, Micha. As my new friend made me realize, I was not thinking of your safety in this battle. And I apologize. Dáinsleif is too strong for you to take on in your current state. You’re coming back to the Château with me, Micha.”
Only now did Carol turn her gaze over her shoulder to address Tsubasa somewhat-directly. “As for you two Symphogear wielders–you did quite well in this fight; you far surpassed my expectations for you. I only do what I must in order to achieve my goals.”
Though Micha continued whining, Carol snapped her fingers and the two of them disappeared into nothingness to leave Tsubasa’s blade pointing at nothing.

 “If you weren’t so close to her, I would have fired a missile at her before she left.” Chris announced after a moment of silence. At that, Tsubasa righted herself and lowered her blade as she fell into a crouch–she had not realized how heavy her body had become.
“You too?” Chris took this moment to confirm that Tsubasa was not just weak. In fact, she did the complete opposite; Chris collapsed to the ground in a huff, landing on her chest as her Symphogear dispersed into a white light. “Guess this Ignite thing does a number on us, huh?”
“We should go after them.” Tsubasa stood up as she panted heavily, but Chris just placed her cheek against the ground as she relaxed.
“Why? Ver’s an asshole. I think we should let them do whatever they want with him.”
“His knowledge is invaluable, Yukine, we can’t afford to–”
“Akatsuki’s got Finé’s memories, which I’d say are just as good... if not better. Besides, she just said that Tsukuyomi’s safe, and we’re no longer her targets; if anything she just gave us a break.” Chris pulled herself up into a sitting position with a yawn. “Now then, I want to go back to bed.”
Tsubasa yawned too; she had not realized how tired she had become after not getting any sleep the night before. Staying up for multiple days in a row or for long periods of time was not something rare for Tsubasa, and she assumed that the Ignite Module’s effects must have made her fatigue worse.
“Also, Tsubasa...” Chris pointed up into the sky. “How long have they been there?”
Tsubasa slowly turned her head to see three white drones flying above them, each with fairly large cameras embedded within their frames. “I guess we must have attracted the attention of the media.” She sighed. “I wonder how my father will deal with this mess.”
“We’ve got a plan in place for that already.” A chipper voice called from within the compound that was largely destroyed now. Their battle had forced Chris and Tsubasa outside, and they both stood a short distance from the several holes in the wall that had been created since. So, they were surprised when they saw the girl who spoke standing among the wreckage with her boss.
“Yumi?” Chris shouted in surprise. “When did you get here?”
“Just now. I came up with the plan to have an anime made based off you guys, to help cover this stuff up.” She grinned and flashed a peace sign with one hand. “You don’t have to worry about them.”
“Well, assuming the brass approve of the idea.” Ogawa added from beside her as he admired the damage.
“What are the two of you doing here?” Tsubasa asked, now walking towards the two. “I thought you were investigating Frontier.”
As Tsubasa reached Ogawa, the man lightly karate chopped the idol on the top of her head. “We were worried about you, y’know. Our superiors think you’ve gone rogue and are having a lot of fun painting you guys as the villains of this situation.”
“Sorry!” Chris shouted, having not moved from her position on the ground.
“Now then, we’re bringing you back to your house; our new base of operations, I suppose.” Ogawa held up car keys. “You guys are probably not going to be getting off scot-free from this, so we’re going to have to find some way to deal with this whole mess.”
“I called the others to your house, as well.” Yumi held up the message she sent to Kuriyo and Shiori earlier. “You said Miku would be heading to the Kazanari residence too, right Chris? We’re having a reunion.”
“If Kohinata shows up, I suppose.” Tsubasa added.
“We’ve got a lot to talk to you about, too. All of you.” Ogawa added, jingling his keys. “Now, then. Your father, Akatsuki, and Maria are on their way back already. We wouldn’t want to keep them waiting now, would we?”

. . .

 Miku, wearing a fresh hoodie and pants that she ‘legally purchased’ (read: stole) from a store, walked down the street. Her face–which was covered now with even more black veins than before–was blanketed in the shadows of the hood that covered her head.
Walking down the street in silence, Miku cursed under her breath as a man bumped into her shoulder as he passed. “Watch where you’re going.” The man had grunted, even though it was he who went out of his way to collide with Miku.
“I guess I should head over to see Genjuro.” She looked up into the sky, though there was no way for her to tell what time it was from the sun’s position; all she knew was that it was not noon yet.
As she marched down the cement path, trying to find somewhere where no one would see her transform into the armour of Lancea Longini, she passed by a convenience store with a television in the front window. “Magical Girls Exist?” The headline on the news read, with a still of what appeared to Miku to be Chris and Tsubasa, both clad in their Symphogears, doing battle against two figures. She clicked her tongue.
“Guess I don’t need to hide my powers from a bunch of strangers, then.” She realized, but Miku did not move. It was no longer the television screen that was attracting her attention, rather something behind it. When she recognized what that something was, she cursed under her breath.

 The man mopping the floor of the convenience store was the sandy-haired father of Hibiki Tachibana. The man who, on the same day that Miku found her two parents dead in her house, abandoned the Tachibana family and cast away his name.
As she recognized the man, Miku felt anger boil up into her throat, but swallowed it down. “No. It’s not worth it.” She spat, spinning on her heel and turning away from the window.
Miku hurriedly walked down the alley next to the convenience store, unaware that the man named Akira Tachibana had seen Miku. He felt as though some part of his brain recognized the scarred girl looking sadly towards him, but the distant look felt completely foreign to him.
Akira shrugged as he continued with his work, doing an incredibly sloppy job as he poorly mopped the cold tiles. As he turned his back to the window, he missed the sight of Miku flying away over the street in front of the building he worked in.

#### GX Chapter 11

 As the wind pelted Miku’s face, she felt a sense of dread in the pit of her stomach. An uncomfortable feeling twisted her insides as she flew through the air, trying to run from the enemy hot on her heels: hunger. The girl clicked her tongue as her stomach growled for food, realizing now that she had not eaten since the morning of the day before.
“I’ll...” She began to mutter to herself, but stopped. For just a second, Miku felt as if the world below her tilted–or perhaps she had been the one to rotate on an axis.  Halting her movement, she looked around, confused. “What?” The one word escaped her lips as her vision began to blur. Putting a single, shaking hand to her forehead, Miku’s eyes widened. “Am I really this hungry?”
Her meeting with Genjuro would have to wait–it would be best if she did not burden someone who was going out of their way to help her any more than she needed to. What Miku needed right now was food, that was something both her mind and body were crying out to her.
Slowly, Miku began to descend...
...and then her consciousness faded completely.

. . .

 Shirabe stood at attention beside Carol in the dark room at the centre of the Château de Tiffauges. Her stiff posture was not one that manifested out of respect; no, Shirabe felt an incredible sense of unease and the girl beside her sized up the man whose arms were being held back by the Autoscorer that had just returned.
“John Wayne Vercingetorix.” Carol said the man’s name with a cruel inflection. “It seems as though you have knowledge that I desire.”
“How humiliating this must be for you.” Ver ignored the glare of Carol and instead spat towards Shirabe. “The age of the people you take orders from only seems to decrease each time. Next, are you going to be following obediently behind a newborn chick?”
“Silence!” Carol stomped her foot. In her hand, she produced a green rune that sparkled through the air–this caught Ver’s attention, and he did as ordered, silently drawing a wicked grin across his own visage.
“Apologies for the wait, master.” A new voice sounded from behind Carol, and the ‘master’ in question turned towards the green woman who had appeared.
Phara stood in a hunched posture, grabbing at her left side with her right hand over her now-torn clothing. Out-stretched, her left hand held a red jewel. “I underestimated that Symphogear wielder and her senses.” She groaned–both from her mouth and her mechanical joints. “She managed to sense me even while half-asleep.”
“You’re all right, and that’s what matters.” Carol snatched the crystal out of Phara’s hand and shoved it roughly into Shirabe’s own. “Phara, go get Garie to perform maintenance on you.”
“U...understood, master.” Phara stammered out of shock. She was not expecting any verbal answer–just a grunt and perhaps a comment about her uselessness. As she spun around, Phara suspiciously eyed Shirabe before slowly beginning to walk out of the room to look for Garie.
“Pathetic that you must surround yourself with robots. You couldn’t even convince other humans to do your work for you?” Ver cackled.
“Shut up.” Both girls roared at different volumes, simultaneously. At that comment, Carol created a second rune above her hand–this one orange–but had no chance to use it as Shirabe acted quicker and embedded her fist deep into the man’s stomach.
“Very well.” Ver chuckled as he coughed up a globule of red liquid from his innards.
“Now, Ver, if you do not wish for death, then you will answer my questions truthfully.” Carol glared down at the smiling man drooling blood from his mouth. Shirabe, likewise, stared at the man with a look more pointed than even the sharpest dagger.
“The relic you used to resurrect a girl from the dead... where is it?”
Ver eyed the small alchemist with suspicion. “You seek the Rod of Asclepius? Then you, too, must be part of the Illuminati.”
Carol snorted. “So those hacks did know about the relic.” She muttered, turning her gaze away for just a second. Then, raising her voice to a shout, Carol continued, closing the gap between her and the doctor in a single step. “No. Those fools and I have a... unique relationship, though I am not a member of their little club. I seek that power for my own goals.”
“Your own goals, then?” Ver turned to look at Shirabe with a cruel glint in his eye. “What, did your two friends die or something?”
Shirabe, of course, launched another punch into the man’s gut at the idea of Maria dying. The thought of Kirika’s life ending also caused Shirabe’s heart to tense up, but in a different way–she would be sad about losing Kirika, no doubt, but the fear of potentially being Finé’s next vessel terrified her more.
“Enough of that, Tsukuyomi” Despite the order she gave to Shirabe, Carol had no interest in actually protecting the man–in fact, she fully understood why she hated him so. “If you hurt him too much, he may not be able to give us the information we need.”
“The relic.” Carol repeated as she floated up into the air. Grabbing Ver’s collar, she lifted him easily off of his feet and off the ground. “Where is it?”
“The Rod of Asclepius... currently does not exist.”
“What?” In shock, Carol lowered Ver back down to the ground.
“Have you ever heard of the Caduceus? The staff of Hermes from Greek mythology. As an alchemist, I’m sure you know of it.”
“The Caduceus was said to be able to return the dead to life, yes. It is also the symbol of mercury–the planet and the element.” Carol’s fist still gripped the doctor’s shirt tight, though his feet remained firmly planted upon the ground.
“In America, the Caduceus is often mistaken for the Rod of Asclepius and vice versa–this is because they are the same relic. The Caduceus is simply the rod’s complete form.”
“I’m not sure what you’re getting at.” Carol held back the desire to slap the man as she continued questioning him.
“The Caduceus serves as the symbol of Hermes, young girl. The herald of the gods and protector of humanity. When you use the Rod of Asclepius, it bonds with the one who is brought back to life and forces them into the role of a psychopomp.”
“So, you’re saying that the girl you revived now carries the relic within her.”
“You choose to ignore that last part, then? Very well. Yes. The Rod of Asclepius exists within the girl at the moment. Be warned though–even I am not sure what will happen should they be separated.”
“Some things are worth the risk.” Carol clicked her tongue as she threw Ver away like a piece of trash.
The alchemist gently lowered herself to the ground and spun to face Shirabe. “As for you–do you wish to aid me in my goals?”

 Shirabe looked down at the crystal in her hands. “I don’t want to make Maria sad...” she muttered as she turned her gaze up to look into the teal eyes of Carol Malus Dienheim.
The eyes that Shirabe looked into were familiar. The slightly sad and distant look hidden behind a mask of power that Carol wore reminded the black-haired girl of the similar eyes that looked at her innocently all of those years ago. Her heart felt pained as the image of Kirika leapt into Shirabe’s mind–an image that had since been corrupted by the soul of Finé.
Remembering what Kirika had said as her introduction, Shirabe held out her hand to Carol. “Let’s be friends, Carol... You have a cool name.”
“Huh?” Carol muttered, shattering the touching moment in an instant. Ver, collapsed on the ground a short distance away, did not bother to stifle his laughter, too.
“She does, doesn’t she?” The voice belonged to Micha, who stood on her pedestal in a strange pose: standing on one foot as if taking a giant step forwards, the Autoscorer held her hands up–one extended out in front of her, and the other up, pointed forwards, by her ear. Her mechanically-white body was bare, stained only with some leftover ash from when her clothes burned away.
“Oh, right. I forgot you were here.” Carol grunted. At that, she turned her gaze to the other Autoscorer in the room–Leiur–who had been holding Ver until Carol snatched him from her grasp. “Can you get her some clothes, or something? It’s still uncomfortable seeing her naked, even if she is inhuman.”
Leiur let a small smile cross her face as she chuckled. “Very well. Micha, come with me.”
“Okay!” The red-haired Autoscorer leapt off her pedestal, performing a front flip in the air, and landed with a giant, playful grin on her face.

 “They’re funny.” Shirabe noted once the two Autoscorers exited the room. “But I can see why you’d still be lonely.”
“Lonely? Me?” Carol seemed genuinely surprised at Shirabe’s comment, flinching back.
“You look the same as Kiri did back then.”
“Kiri, huh? You seem to flip-flop on what you call her–you know that?” Carol sighed. “Very well. Shirabe Tsukuyomi, together we shall revive my father and exorcise Finé from your friend.”
This time, it was Carol who extended her hand out towards Shirabe, who took it without hesitation. The latter girl smiled. “Let’s be good friends.”
“Friends...” Carol repeated, a slight blush creeping across her cheeks. As she felt the warmth of embarrassment, the alchemist turned her head away quickly. “I have no need for friends. Only allies.”
Shirabe said nothing to that, but noticed the slight smile on the face of the girl in front of her.

 “Awww... how cute.”
Their touching moment was cut short by the cruel voice of Dr. Ver. Both girls turned their gazes to the man at the sound of his mocking tone, shooting him dark glares that hid none of their annoyances.
Letting go of Shirabe’s hand, Carol quickly formed a red rune in her hand at–from Shirabe’s perspective–threw it at the doctor on the ground. His clothes ignited into flames, and he began to roll around as he panicked.
“We still need him, don’t we?” Shirabe asked Carol. The eyes belonging to these girls were glued to the pathetic form of the grown man rolling about quickly, a somewhat cathartic–but still bitter–look on both of their faces.
“Most likely.”
“Unfortunate.”

. . .

 Though the car driven by Yatsuhiro Kazanari had left the compound before Shinji Ogawa’s, the two managed to reconvene at the front gates of the Kazanari residence only moments apart.
“What happened here?” Chris asked aloud as she climbed out of the stopped car, her eyes wide as she stared up at the large hole that now carved through the tall wall looming over here.
“This doesn’t seem good.” Maria added, as she and the two others who had been in the car with her walked up to meet Chris, Tsubasa, Ogawa, and Yumi as they arrived.
“You don’t have to worry. Kanade took care of everything.” The group of seven turned towards the voice of the woman who walked around the corner to greet them.
“Tomosato. It’s been a while.” Ogawa greeted the newcomer with a smile that seemed both business-y and genuine.
Like Tsubasa Kazanari, Aoi Tomosato could be described in the most simple terms as ‘blue.’ The woman–a former member of Sector Two like Chris, Ogawa, and Tsubasa in front of her–had short dark blue hair that did not even reach her next. With lighter blue eyes, Tomosato almost exclusively wore a blue suit and skirt combination, both of which had two thin cyan lines that ran down the front. The cyan lines matched the tie she wore beneath her blazer and atop a pale yellow dress shirt. Right now, she clutched a black clipboard to her chest.
“Yeah, it’s good to see all of you again. Though, I do wish it could have been under different circumstances.” Tomosato greeted her old comrades with a kind smile.
“Tomosato, what happened here?” Yatsuhiro asked, dropping any sort of pleasantries. “I received no reports on this.”
“We were just informed about this roughly...” She checked her watch. “Ten minutes ago. So we’re still putting the report together regarding what happened.”
“Understood.” Yatsuhiro nodded. “Continue.”

 “It seems as though this house was attacked by–according to the testimonies–a robotic being known as an ‘Autoscorer.’ This Autoscorer was targeting the Symphogear crystals.” Tomosato eyed Chris, who looked away guiltily. “Unfortunately, it managed to steal one of them–Shul Shagana.”
“They stole Shirabe’s Symphogear?” Maria asked.
“A bartering tool?” Yumi offered a possible explanation as to why. Cupping her chin, she continued to ramble on theories. “Or perhaps they plan to brainwash her through alchemy? Considering what Ver did, it doesn’t seem too far-fetched.”
“Tomosato: is Kanade okay?” Tsubasa cut Yumi off, sliding in front of the woman she was addressing.
“Yes. Kanade did not suffer any major injuries. She’s resting right now; considering our current lack of LiNKER, the Symphogear did put a massive strain on her body.”
“Oh, I can help there, death!” Kirika threw her hand up into the air. “Finé invented LiNKER, so I think I could figure out the recipe.”
Chris instinctively took a step back at the name of her former mistress. Tsubasa and Maria, however, had shocked expressions on their faces. “I did not even consider that.” The former muttered.
“Actually, we’ve been trying to arrange a meeting with Kirika explicitly about that for almost two months.” Yumi whispered to Chris in deadpan.
Clearing her throat, Tsubasa began to walk away. “I’m going to check on Kanade.”
“Why don’t we all go in?” Ogawa suggested. “Now that we’re all together, it would be best to get everyone on the same page as to our current situation.”

 A few moments later, everyone marched into the Kazanari estate. Luckily, the actual mansion sustained only minor damage; the wall surrounding the compound had taken most of the attacks.
Kanade was sprawled out on a couch, with Kuriyo Ando and Shiori Terashima by her side. Genjuro stood with his arms crossed in the corner, looking over the shoulder of Elfnein as she worked to integrate Dáinsleif into the remaining two Symphogears–Airgetlám and Igalima. With the exception of Kanade, who had her arm crossed over her face, the others all turned to look at the large group as the door entered, and made room for the eight new people who filed in, joining them in the large–but now cramped–room.
“Look at this, it’s a party!” Kanade grinned as she sat up. “We’ve got the whole gang together, now.”
“Well, almost.” Chris added. “We’re missing Miku, and...”
“Shirabe, death!” Kirika cut Chris off, though that was not the name that the white-haired girl was going to say. Everyone else silently filled in the unstated identity of the girl who was no longer among the living.
“Come to think of it,” Shiori prodded her chin. “This is the first time we’ve all been together since that party from a few months ago, right?”
“It’s like Sector Two was never disbanded.” Genjuro chuckled.
“I’m surprised you are so lively considering the destruction outside.” Ogawa commented with a wry smile at his former boss’s grin. “Not to mention a Symphogear was stolen, and two of the girls under your watch just disappeared in the middle of the night to visit a prison.”
“I heard your conversation.” Kanade turned to Tsubasa and Chris. “So I filled them in on where you went.”
“You didn’t want to come?” Tsubasa tilted her head.
“Nah. I knew someone should stay back just in case someone decided to target our new friend over there.” Kanade gestured with her chin to Elfnein, whose head was down in her own work. “Probably a good thing I stayed too, even if I wasn’t much help.”
“Speaking of your new friend over there,” Maria started. “What exactly is going on?”
“Right. Let’s explain that first.” Tsubasa crossed her arms.
“Should we not wait for Miku, first?” Kuriyo asked.
“We could explain it to her later. We don’t know when she’ll be showing up, anyway.” Genjuro shook his head.

 “Okay. Some alchemist apparently plans to destroy the Earth in order to analyse it, or something. Elfy over there said those robots that we fought are called Autoscorers, and that there are four of them.” Chris offered a very short–but not incredibly detailed–explanation for the current events. “Elfy specifically wanted us Symphogear users to stop her creator’s plans, so that means that the alchemist was aware of us and considered us a threat. But she appeared back there, and said that we’re no longer her targets, which... might mean plans have changed.”
At the mention of Carol’s appearance, Elfnein turned her attention to Chris with a surprised look on her face, though she did not say anything.
“She also sent one of her Autoscorers off to find Ver.” Tsubasa reminded Chris, whose eyes lit up in recognition of the fact that she had forgotten that. Both Maria and Kirika beside them flinched at the name of the doctor who had used them as pawns previously.
“So, Ver’s in play, again.” Yatsuhiro sighed. “Unfortunately, our interrogations with him did end up painting a very... bold picture of the man, but we were never able to decipher his intentions, or specifics on how he obtained the relics that played a part in his experiments on Kohinata and Maria’s sister.”
“Did you ever figure out who he was working with?”
Maria had asked Yatsuhiro, but it was Yumi who answered the former-idol’s question after getting a nod of approval from Ogawa beside her. “We’re pretty sure that he was being backed by the Bavarian Illuminati. That’s actually what the bulk of our work has been about for the past few months.”
“The Illuminati, hmm?” Genjuro shook his head. Then, turning to Ogawa, he continued. “So, that video you had sent us was connected to everything after all.”
“Unfortunately.” He shrugged with a smile.
“Back up. What video?” Chris looked between the two of them quickly, but then settled on targeting Yumi. “And what do you mean the Illuminati? Do you mean that Illuminati-Illuminati?”
“The Illuminati, death?” Kirika’s inquiry fell on deaf ears as everyone focused on Chris’s surprised reaction.
“Carol had a contact with the Illuminati.” Elfnein offered quietly, cutting a knife through the chaos behind her. “Though she wanted to be left alone whenever she spoke with them–not even the Autoscorers were allowed in the room. But considering how powerful she is, I can’t imagine her needing help from them.”
After a beat of silence, Yumi sighed. “Let’s see here: we have Ver getting help from the Illuminati, who had a vampire kill the American scientists that had been part of the F.I.S. before it was shut down by the government. Then we have an alchemist threatening the world’s destruction who is also in contact with the Illuminati, and may in fact be supplying them with information.”
“I’m sorry, did you say vampire?” This time it was Maria’s turn to be confused, though most people in the room had the same uncertain look on their face.
Ogawa clapped, stunning everyone into silence. “Let’s focus on the main matter at hand, here, alright?”
“Now would likely be a bad time to bring up what we’ve found at Frontier and the status of Maria’s sister, then, right?” Yumi muttered under her breath, but everyone heard it clear as day.
“Let’s all sit down and try to organize our thoughts.” Yatsuhiro suggested. “After all, we have over three months of information we need to explain to some people. We could be here all day, jumping from subject to subject, if we lack structure.”
Almost as if the wheels of fate were purposefully mocking the man, a loud crash sounded from outside and echoed through the mansion. Thus, another subject was added to their ever-growing list of topics to speak about. “That’s probably not good.” Chris sighed.
“I’ll go check it out.” Tomosato exited the room, and Chris followed behind her silently, sure that she knew the source of the noise.
A moment later, a shriek of disgust rang out from the direction that the two ha disappeared from, followed by a shout from Chris. “Miku?”
That caught the attention of the group inside, and the three former classmates of Miku Kohinata–Yumi Itaba, Shiori Terashima, and Kuriyo Ando–all peeked their heads out into the hall. The latter two pulled their heads back into the room with wide eyes filled with terror as the sound of footsteps neared them. Yumi, instead, just gasped a curse as she saw the figure of Miku Kohinata standing in the courtyard just outside.

 Miku Kohinata was covered head-to-toe in gore. Blood soaked her clothes and chunks of meat clung to her skin and hair. She had a distant, vacant look in her eyes as she stared directly at the horrified eyes of Chris Yukine in front of her.
“Chris...” She muttered. “I need you to kill me.”
“Miku?”
Miku stepped forwards at the whisper of her name. Her expression was tense, but she was clearly scared of something–and judging from her appearance and words, Chris assumed that she was terrified of herself.
“I need you to kill me.” Miku repeated, this time louder.
The words could be heard by the group inside the house, too, and now more than just Yumi crowded around the entrance to the room that they had been inhabiting. Chris’s eyes drifted to them for a moment, then back to Miku.
“What do you...?”
“Chris. I am a monster.” Miku dropped her hood, revealing the shadows that crawled across her skin. Chris flinched back at the sight of Miku’s face, now half-covered by darkness that enveloped even her eye. The sclera and pupil of her right eye were both solid black, blending in with the void that had overtaken her skin.
But what really got to Chris was Miku’s mouth. It was large, inhuman–yet somehow familiar. Her teeth had grown out at strange angles, pointing into sharp knives capable of tearing through any substance with ease. Her appearance reminded Chris–and Maria and Kirika far behind her–of the living relic known as Nephilim.
“I need you to kill me. I can’t control my body any more.”

 ~ ~ ~

 Miku looked at her dark hands in shock. She had no memory of the past ten minutes–one second she was falling out of the sky, and now she was here. Down on her knees, Miku sat in a pool of blood. She gagged violently, but the iron taste of gore caught in her throat.
In front of her were a pile of bones, covered entirely in red–blood and guts clung to them as if glued on tight. The sight was disgusting enough, but the crumbs of meat that littered Miku and her clothing were even more disgusting.
She had no idea what was happening, but she knew one thing for sure: the empty pit in her stomach that was growling for food had been filled. In its place sat a whirlpool of nausea as Miku realized what had happened. She bent over and from her mouth came a torrent of red-stained vomit from within her.
Miku had killed and eaten a human being.
Thinking back on it, she realized that the taste of the gore staining her tongue was not unfamiliar to her; a terrifying thought, but Miku believed it was not the first time she had consumed another human. Her newfound, monstrous appetite might have led her to downing all of the beer that she had the night before, and when she awoke she saw a fresh corpse in her ‘home.’ Though she hadn’t examined it closely, the blood that had covered her clothes then might not have been from when Miku ended that person’s life but rather from when she had decided to dine upon them.
But now, she had proof. Miku gagged, trying her hardest to release all of the remains that she had consumed, but her body refused. Even if she had devoured another human being while in a mind not of her own, Miku’s body desperately clung to the nutrients that it provided her.
“Why? Why does all of this keep happening to me?” Miku cried as blood dripped from her mouth. Tears fell into the rusty goop that pooled around the hands that held her up like a table. “I’ve been tortured by everyone... I killed Hibiki...”
Throwing herself back with wide eyes, she realized something. “I’m in a crime scene. I need to dispose of the evidence... I can’t help Hibiki from prison.” She stood up in shock as she looked around the scene.
“Ichaival.” She commanded in a panic, transforming the armour that she wore into a colour that matched her crimson surroundings perfectly.
With wide eyes, Miku fired a giant missile from the cannon that devoured her arm at the mention of the relic it was born from. The missile travelled straight up into the sky above Miku, and the girl flew away before gravity even had time to pull its nose down back towards the ground.
As Miku flew away, she heard the massive explosion in the distance behind her. “That should take care of the evidence.” She groaned inwardly, her stomach still churning from the disgusting meal she had consumed.
Narrowing her eyes, Miku silently flew through the air towards the Kazanari residence and towards the meeting she had asked to arrange.
“I need to get someone else to help Hibiki.” She realized, her gaze hollowing out as the horrific thought tip-toed into her mind. Miku knew now that she could not control her actions completely. At the rate she was going, she might soon hurt someone else she cared about.
“I don’t want to go through that again.” Her distant eyes grew wide. As Miku flew through the air, she realized that her body was trembling uncontrollably–and not because of the wind (that she couldn’t feel) that whipped at her body.
“I’m a monster.”

~ ~ ~

 Inside the Kazanari residence, Kanade clenched her jaw. She remained in the room alongside Ogawa, Genjuro, Yatsuhiro, and the wide-eyed Shiori and Kuriyo, still laying across the couch, and thus could not see Miku directly, but she could tell from the reactions of Miku’s friends that she was not well.
With a sharp inhale, she placed her feet against the cool ground.

#### GX Chapter 12

 “Alright.” Carol marched back and forth across the red carpet laid out upon the wooden floor of the Château de Tiffauges. Her hands were clasped behind her back as she dug a trench in the ground with her repeated loop. “First, we must locate the girl known as Serena Cadenzavna Eve. Attempting to find some way to remove the relic within her would be useless if we are unable to determine her location.”
The alchemist flipped back her long golden braid, dropping it over her shoulder as she turned to look at the two humans nearby. Shirabe Tsukuyomi stood with a calm expression on her face, watching Carol pace over a path, while Dr. John Wayne Vercingetorix sat on the ground clutching his stomach as blood dribbled from his mouth.
“You two have no idea of her current location, correct?” She glared at the doctor crumpled beneath her.
Shirabe shook her head. “I was locked up for three months.”
“Likewise.” Ver spat out.
Shirabe’s stone gaze turned briefly towards Ver before moving back to Carol’s figure in front of her. “According to Maria, she was comatose when we were put in captivity. If she hasn’t awoken, then she’s probably in a hospital or in the government’s care.”
“Assuming those interesting fellows of the Illuminati haven’t taken interest in her.” Ver chuckled cruelly. “Or worse.”
Carol pondered on their words for a moment, cupping her chin as she looked down to the ground. “There are several hundred hospitals in the area that she may currently be in. Furthermore, the Japanese government may be holding her in any of their many facilities–secret or otherwise–and perhaps even in other areas.”
Standing up straight, Carol shook her head. With a quick snap of her finger, she called out a single word: “Autoscorers.”
Immediately, the four Autoscorers appeared atop their respective pedestals in colourful bursts of light: Garie was awash in a blue glow; Leiur sparkling gold; green energy danced around the injured Phara; and a red explosion released Micha.
Garie cracked a crooked smile. “And what could we do for you, master?”
“Phara, as you are injured at the moment, you are to remain here and keep an eye on this–” Carol gestured to Ver “–insignificant fool. Surely you still possess the power to threaten him should anything arise.”
“Very well, master.” Phara bowed.
“Garie, you procured the memories of several government officials, correct?”  Carol turned to the blue Autoscorer. “Only you possess the ability to actually read the memories you collect.”
“That I do, master. You created me specifically to focus on the collection of memories, after all.”
“Did any of the government officials know the location of the girl named Serena Cadenzavna Eve?”
Garie closed her eyes for a moment as she looked through the vault of stolen memories within her. “Serena, Serena... Sorry, master, the name doesn’t ring a bell.”
“Perhaps I shouldn’t have had you let that other man go...” Carol shook her head. “No. I doubt they let a fool like him in on sensitive information such as this.”
“If I may, master,” Leiur began to speak as she sensed the annoyance on Carol’s face. “Elfnein may be able to lure the information you need out of the government officials she was looking for.”
“Currently,” Carol closed her eyes. “Elfnein is engaged entirely in her work–the modification of the Symphogears. Absorbing the power of Dáinsleif may not even be necessary any more, should we be able to separate the relic from the comatose girl, so her work is essentially useless as of now.”
Carol possessed a one-way psychic connection to Elfnein, and could connect the homunculus’s senses with her own through alchemy. The ability was limited to only observing, however; Carol could not take control over Elfnein’s body through this connection, and thus the ability was only useful in specific situations–such as determining Elfnein’s location.
“Carol, I have an idea.”
Shirabe spoke up, placing the red crystal that was the Shul Shagana Symphogear around her neck. “I could try and draw out the information for you.”
“Though you did accept my proposition to help me, Shirabe Tsukuyomi, it may be difficult to recover you if you simply walked in and asked for their assistance.” Carol stopped for a moment, tapping her chin. The idea was not bad, nor was it a perfect one.
“What if we just pretended she was enchanted by master’s charms?” Micha asked innocently.
Carol had not taken notice of it at the time, but the red-haired Autoscorer was not dressed in her usual garb, nor was she fully dressed. Instead, she wore only a large, oversized, pink T-shirt depicting the image of Nara’s mascot, Sento-kun: a bald, fair-skinned young boy with giant ears and the brown antlers of a deer protruding from his head.
“What are you wearing?” Carol asked in deadpan, completely confused by the choice of clothing that Micha now wore.
“Isn’t it cute, master?” Micha tugged at it. “It’s very stylish!”
“Yeah, sure, whatever.” Carol turned away from it and focused her attention away from the chuckling Garie who made the same realization as the alchemist who created her–Carol used her own personality as the basis for the four Autoscorers’ consciousnesses, so if Micha finds something cute then, surely, so does Carol.
“What Micha suggested is quite an interesting proposal.” Leiur spoke up, bringing the conversation back to its original topic. “Pretending that your new friend has been brainwashed through alchemy may be enough to stir them into wanting to protect their allies from suffering the same fate.”
“Unfortunately,” Ver laughed heartily as he climbed to his feet. “You chose one of the Symphogear wielders most unfit for battle. This little cretin can only fight for a short time without a supply of LiNKER.”
“Thank you for your wonderful explanation, doctor.” Carol rolled her eyes as she sarcastically addressed the man. “I’m well aware you’re just attempting to trick me into doing you a favour in exchange for nothing but a so-called ‘promise’ that you’d secure some LiNKER.”
Ver’s face soured as he cursed under his breath, and he collapsed back to the ground.
“But this begs the question–what, exactly, does LiNKER do?” Carol asked the entire room this question, not just Ver. Shirabe shrugged at the response, however, and the doctor refused to answer. Carol narrowed her eyes as she sent a threat towards Ver. “Just a reminder, doctor, we could simply have Garie drain the memories out of you and turn you into an empty vessel.”
“Oh, master, that would be delightful~” Garie leaned forwards, her music box-like joints chirping happily like the smile upon her face. “Truthfully, I’m not sure why we haven’t done that anyway.”
“Because, Garie, you have a habit of doing whatever you want and ignoring my orders.” Carol whispered under her breath, so quietly that not even the closest person to her–Shirabe–could make out the words entirely.
But Shirabe was preoccupied with her own thoughts and the memories of the experiments that had been forced upon her, transforming her–as well as Kirika and Maria–into the Symphogear wielders that they are now. She shuddered slightly, something that Carol noted.
“Very well, then, alchemist. Allow me to give you the simple run-down on LiNKER’s effects.” Ver announced, using his hand to wipe away the blood that had run down from his lips. “Developed by Finé, the serum was designed to forcibly raise compatibility between a subject and a relic to an acceptable level...”
“Enough. Your mention of Finé was enough.” Carol waved her arm. “Finé is credited as the originator of many alchemical techniques. Replicating the science behind this LiNKER should be relatively simple for someone such as I.”
“You’re so cool, master!” Micha cheered, raising one of her large claws above her head.
“But it is yet another small bump in my plans.” Carol sighed. “Perhaps it would have been more simple to just go with my original plan.”
Shirabe kept her eyes glued to the ground, forcing out the words of those around her. The mention of LiNKER–that she was unfit to use the Symphogear–really drove a stake into the delusion that she had been living in.
The desire to free Kirika from Finé’s influence? Shirabe couldn’t even use the one weapon at her disposal properly.
She never could.

~ ~ ~

 “With the loss of the only one of you girls who was naturally compatible with Airgetlám, we will need to run tests to determine who among you is the next-most capable subject for our tests.”
A doctor in a long white coat looked over the crowd of Receptor Children that sat scared in the brightly blank room of the F.I.S. institution. Beside him, Nastassja Sergeyevna Tolstaya, with a fresh eyepatch, sat in a wheelchair, a disgruntled look upon her face.
Nastassja was the next to speak. “We have been provided by Finé with a serum she has dubbed ‘LiNKER,’ developed with the intent of allowing even those without innate talent to become potential candidates.” Sucking in a tight breath, she finished with a chilling warning. “Some of you may not survive.”
The small hand gripping Shirabe’s tightened. Connected to her was Kirika, who also held the hand of Maria Cadenzavna Eve–the girl didn’t even have time to grieve for her sister before being thrown back into the torture. Despite the fear that Shirabe sensed from Kirika’s trembling fingers, Shirabe saw a caring smile creep across the blonde girl’s face when she looked at her.
“It’ll be okay!” Kirika assured Shirabe, but she felt otherwise.
Even in the few months since Shirabe was brought in to F.I.S., the number of Receptor Children had both increased and–especially lately–decreased, fluctuating wildly. Even now, Shirabe glanced around the room at a number of girls with scared wide eyes–most of the faces around her had not been here when Shirabe was first brought in.
But, even with the deaths of many Receptor Children, never before had they been warned that they may not survive. That was what worried Kirika most of all, and Shirabe could sense this emotion bubbling with her friend.
Her small fingers twisted into an embrace as Shirabe silently reassured Kirika. But the warmth that filled both girls’ hearts quickly faded as the man at the front of the room barked names. “Subjects Maria Cadenzavna Eve, Kirika Akatsuki, and Shirabe Tsukuyomi. From our initial tests, the three of you possessed the highest compatibility coefficients–thus, you three will be the first to undergo these new tests.”
“What?” Maria squeaked. “After what you did to my sister?”
“Silence!” The man screamed, walking over to the three. In his hand, he held a riding crop that he swung through the air.
“No!” Maria yelled, but this was a painfully normal sight for all of the Receptor Children. The man brought the weapon down, beating Maria’s arm as a loud crack filled the air–a red mark thus blighted the young girl’s fair skin.
Two more scientists filed into the room behind Nastassja, making their way towards the group of three terrified girls in silence. The man who had just beaten Maria took the arm of his target in his grasp, roughly pulling Maria to her feet as tears clouded her vision. Kirika and Shirabe, knowing the same fate awaited them, slowly climbed onto their own, unsteady legs and followed the scientists out of the room.

 The three future-Symphogear wielders were marched through the cold hallways of the institution, with only the sounds of their footsteps echoing across the metallic tiles accompanying their trek. Kirika, Shirabe, and Maria were all well familiar with the path they were forced to follow, and the destination it led to: the room with the electrocution machines that the Receptor Children were sometimes strapped to.
Indeed, the girls felt themselves tense up involuntarily as they laid their eyes upon the large machines in the cramped room–even Maria, whose mind was elsewhere, instead focused on grasping for the fading memories of her beloved sister.
The three children were given no explanation as the men in laboratory attire hurried off to retrieve similar objects. Shirabe was the first subject of this test, it turned out; the men returned, choking Shirabe with an iron collar that stifled her ability to breathe. Embedded within the metal claws that gripped at Shirabe’s throat was a small red crystal–the Shul Shagana Symphogear.
“Test zero-one-one; Shul Shagana.” One of the scientists reported from his place at a large metal machine–the console that controlled the torture device. While he spoke emotionless, two of the others lifted Shirabe up and pressed her up against the torture device that all of the girls had become adequately familiar with.
As Kirika, who watched with wide eyes, knew–and reported to Shirabe and Maria–the goal of using the electrocution machine was not to bring pain, but force the girl strapped to it to use their voice–and thus force them to assist their work.
“Begin.” The man who had reported the test name acknowledged one of his associates’ command. With more care than had been given to Shirabe in her time during her time in F.I.S. custody, the man at the console gingerly pulled a lever down.
Shirabe immediately braced herself, expecting the burning volts of electricity to course through her body, but it did not come. Instead, the lever he had pulled caused a new device–one unfamiliar to Shirabe–to lower from the ceiling. One of the other men quickly rushed to meet it, and open the orb-shaped storage container.
Though she could not see him retrieve the device, as he did so from the side opposite her, Shirabe’s eyes fell to the large vial filled with green liquid that the scientist held with care. Again, she realized, the inanimate objects were treated better than the humans they tortured.
“Shall we begin with a maximum dosage?” The scientist with the vial looked to Nastassja, who, up until this point, had remained beside Kirika and Maria in silence.
The old woman nodded slowly, but it was the man at the console who vocalized the opinion she shared. “We have ample supply; there is no need to hold back.”
“Very well.”
Shirabe’s eyes followed the scientist in front of her as he strolled around to her side. As he walked, the man pulled off the end of the vial to reveal a long, thin needle; Shirabe felt fear grip her chest at the sight of the pin.
“Inject her.” The man at the console ordered, and the orders were then carried out.
As the needle broke through the skin of Shirabe’s arm, stabbing deep into a vein and injecting the mysterious green liquid, she felt her entire body wanting to convulse–but, as she was strapped to the machine by both her wrists and ankles, Shirabe instead just flailed her chest around like mad.
The pain was excruciating: every cell in her small body felt as though it were expanding into the size of an apple before exploding out into a nuclear warhead of sharp daggers. Shirabe vomited up a torrent of blood, expelling it out onto the ground with such force that it splashed up to mark both the base of the machine and Shirabe’s feet.
Not helping the situation at all, the man at the console then slowly pulled a different lever, and Shirabe felt the familiar pain of being torn apart by electricity. The combination of these very different sensations tore Shirabe’s brain apart; focusing on the worried face of Kirika, that she could barely see through the tears welling in her eyes, was the only thing keeping her from passing out.
But there was something else. A pink glow emanated from the collar that was hugging Shirabe’s neck tight, and only now did Shirabe realize that her lungs were burning from the screams escaping out from beneath the pool of blood that sat in her mouth.
“It’s working!” The scientist who had injected Shirabe full of the green liquid had backed away, but now leaned forwards to look at the crystal strapped to Shirabe. “It’s resonating with the subject.”
But Shirabe could not hear the man over her own screams. Furthermore, there existed a series of dark tendrils that creapt across her consciousness–the eldritch beast of shadows that crawled over Shirabe’s brain was a stranger, yet it felt oddly comforting.
“Now.” The scientist at the console slammed a button, the claws keeping Shirabe against the machine letting their grip loose. Shirabe’s eyes widened as she found gravity pulling her to the ground, but her brain wasn’t able to focus on the concept of steadying her landing.
Before Shirabe’s feet touched the ground–despite being only mere centimetres from the Earth–she found herself doing something unbelievable. A song welled up from Shirabe’s heart and escaped her lips, a fiery warmth encapsulating her entire body.

*Various Shul Shagana tron*

 “Doctor, your theory was correct!” The third man, who had remained stationed beside Nastassja, had his jaw hanging low as a concoction of awe and surprise reflected in his eyes.
“Naturally.” The man at the console adjusted his glasses before running his hand through his pure-white hair.
“I’m quite impressed, as well.” Nastassja commented for the first time. “Your theory, Doctor Ver, that a raised emotional state would be required for LiNKER to take effect on its first use seemed unfounded at first. Truly I underestimated you.”
Shirabe looked down at her body. A dark black and pink jumpsuit hugged her skin tight, transforming into a dark skirt around her hips. Large pink and white devices extended out from her hair as if they were twintails, and similar coffins encased her legs from the knees-down. Most surprisingly, Shirabe found that her feet were not touching the ground, yet the effects of gravity were not pulling her down to the Earth; by stomping her foot, she found that a small wheel attached to her foot–even though Shirabe had no memory of ever roller-skating, she found herself able to balance on the sphere perfectly.
The excruciating pain that Shirabe had been forced to endure was now out of her mind, replaced by a curiosity for her new attire. Of course, the scars of the endeavour–both mental and physical–would forever linger upon her young mind.
“We have successfully created one Symphogear candidate, and on the first attempt, too.” Dr. Ver cracked a smile. Then, turning his attention to the other two girls flanked by scientists, he continued. “Now, to see if these two will bond with Airgetlám and Igalima, as well.”

~ ~ ~

 “Frankly, master,” Leiur spoke. Though she had been lost in her own thoughts, the fact that the Autoscorers and Carol were still mulling over possibilities told Shirabe one of two things: either she had not been distracted for long, or they were getting absolutely nowhere in their plan to determine the location of Serena Cadenzavna Eve.
Shirabe cut Leiur off. “Why don’t we just kidnap someone who would know?”
Carol turned to her new friend, the girl with the long black hair and ruby eyes. “A simple proposal. I like it.” The young girl spoke with a smile, which then transformed into one of disapproval as she spun to face Micha. “The four of you should learn to be more direct.”
“To tell you the truth, master,” Leiur sighed–which made Shirabe wonder if the Autoscorers needed to breathe. “I have been trying to suggest that very thing for the past five minutes.”
“Well.” Carol turned away in a huff. “Then, you needn’t learn anything, Leiur.”
“But where are we going to find someone to help us?” Garie asked with innocent eyes. These clouded over as the Autoscorer then cracked a crude grin. “Shall I go out hunting again?”
“No need, Garie. Elfnein has provided me the answer. She currently resides in the residence of the Kazanari family, alongside several influential figures who would likely be aware of our target’s location.” Carol pointed at Leiur, then moved to draw a triangle between the yellow Autoscorer and her blue and red sisters. “The three of you are to bring me the grey-haired man named Yatsuhiro Kazanari.”
“Understood, master.” Garie and Leiur acknowledged with elegance.
Contrasting them, Micha held her paw up above her head and cheerfully shouted. “Okay!”
“A two-on-one battle likely would have ended in your failure, Micha. Considering Phara reported only a single Symphogear wielder–one who has since been weakened–then the three of you should be more than sufficient for this operation.”
“I’m glad you care so much for us, master.” Garie smiled happily.
“Sure. Now, go.” Carol ordered with a confident thrust of her left hand. At that command, the three Autoscorers disappeared, fading into a pink glow.
“Now, then, let us watch this altercation.” Carol sighed, ripping apart reality to project the scene of the Autoscorers appearing outside of the Kazanari property.

. . .

 Kanade threw herself off the couch, landing on her feet with no effort. Like a ghost, the girl seemingly walked through the group crowding around the doorway, passing with quiet steps as she marched towards the courtyard.
“You, come with me.” Her hand touched the slick red oil that covered the arm of Miku Kohinata, and she gripped the limb tight. Lowering her eyes into a serious glare, Kanade addressed Miku with her own resolve. “Even a monster deserves to live their fullest life.”
“Kanade. Chris.” Miku shook off the hand and took a step back away from both her and Chris Yukine. Her body was shaking violently, and she grabbed her head. “I... there’s something...”
Miku’s eyes were darting about as she fumbled for words. “Miku. It’s okay. You can talk to...” Chris tried to reach out, but Miku pushed her away with a shout.
“No! Chris! I ate someone!”
That startled even Kanade, and a heavy air began to suffocate the three being burned by the sun above. “Miku...” Chris began to try and comfort Miku, but her arm froze in place, somewhat out-stretched away from her.
“There’s something wrong with me. When I get hungry, I just... lose control. My body moves on its own. I...” Miku clutched her arms as she collapsed to her knees. Her body still quaking, Miku looked down to the earth beneath her and whispered quietly. “Hibiki... I need to help Hibiki... But...”
“Miku! Miku! Calm down!” Kanade yelled, and forcefully grabbed Miku by the collar of her shirt.
Pulling her up like a sad bag of potatoes, Kanade looked into Miku’s dark eyes and did something she did not expect herself to: Kanade’s hand made a loud smack as she slapped Miku hard across the face. “Listen up, Miku. We’ll find some way to turn you back to normal.”
“I don’t deserve it, though.” Miku did not even react to the slap beyond her face being violently pushed to the side for just a moment. “I killed Hibiki... I’ve killed more people since... I’m a cannibal... I... shouldn’t live...”
“Shut up, Miku!” Kanade screamed into the girl’s face. “What would Hibiki think if she saw you like this?”
“She’d... hate me.”
“No, she’d want to do anything in her power to help you.” Kanade hissed. “She would never want to see you in a situation like this.”
“Besides,” Chris smiled, walking up next to Kanade. Placing her hands upon Kanade’s, she forced the orange-haired girl to let go of her grip on Miku’s collar–a fairly simple task, considering both Miku’s clothing and, now, Kanade’s hand were slick with gore. “I don’t even think that idiot was capable of hate. I think... no. She wanted to do anything to protect you–she even told me once that she was willing to die just to see you safe. Even if you were a monster, I think Hibiki would be right by your side, doing everything she could to try to make you smile.”
Chris’s words poked Miku’s heart, and her eyes flooded with tears. “Hibiki... Chris... I...” She collapsed to her knees again as her sobs echoed out into the courtyard.
Though she was somewhat disgusted by the gore covering her friend, Chris knew what she had to do–something she had desperately wanted from Finé, or anyone, for so many years. Kneeling next to Miku, Chris pulled the girl into a hug. “It’ll be fine, Miku.”
“Chris...” Miku whined, clutching Chris tight and coating her clothes red with blood.

 Neither girl was aware of time as they sat on the ground. Miku’s cries were the only thing that the two took in–the world beyond their bodies did not exist. At least, that was the case until Tsubasa walked up to stand next to Kanade.
“Kohinata.” Chris looked up over her shoulder at the blue-haired girl, but Miku kept her head against Chris’s chest as she wept. “I got a change of clothes ready for you. You should take a shower, and we’ll all work together to help you.”
“What’s this? Even the stone-cold sentinel wants to help?” Kanade mocked with a large smile on her face, aggravating Tsubasa.
“I’m not heartless. I’m just...”
“Not good at expressing yourself, I know. We really need to do something about that.”
Maria and Kirika slowly made their way over to meet the group as well, the former carrying a black towel in her hands. When their path ended in the spot beside the former idol duo known as Zwei Wing, Maria held out the gift in her hands. “We’ll need to dispose of those clothes, too.”
“Even after all you’ve been through, Miku,” Chris patted the crying girl’s head. “You’ll always have people to return to.”
What Chris left off was the comment of how true that had become for her. Years of experiences she would have paid to forget–and a mistress who cared so little–had taught Chris Yukine that pain, both emotional and physical, was the only sensation that connected humans. Yet, as she learned when Genjuro had returned from her memories and reached out to her–and continued to experience since with her new friends at Lydian–the power of hope, of simply having a shoulder to lean on, was always a greater strength. She had crawled out of the hole that fate had dug for her, and now Chris wanted to help Miku do the same.
“Come on, Miku.” Chris whispered with a warm smile, like that of a mother speaking to her child–even though Miku was only a single year younger than her. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
An explosion rocked the air, shattering the peaceful moment into shards of a distant memory. The wall behind the group–which had already been broken apart once by the battle between Phara and Kanade–crumbled away, and a large gap appeared as debris flew towards the six girls. This noise caused even most of those who had remained inside–Ogawa, Genjuro, Shiori, Kuriyo, and Yumi–to come running, though they remained at a distance as they saw the figures cross over the rubble.
“Sorry to interrupt your touching moment.” The cold voice of a pale girl in blue spoke, sending a chill down the spines of the Symphogear wielders before her. “But our master has ordered us to find someone of interest.”

. . .

 Carol yelped in surprise. “What are they all doing there?”
Shirabe just lowered her eyebrows, as if asking ‘seriously?’ “Did you forget? The man you wanted them to bring back–Maria and Kirika went off to find them. If he was at the mansion, they obviously would be too.”
The small alchemist rubbed her head, messing her shining hair up as her fingers forced the golden locks in every direction. “To overlook something so simple...!” She grunted, ignoring the maniacally-mocking laughter of the nearby Ver.
“Three-on-one would have been easy. But they stand no chance in a six-on-three battle, even if some of those Symphogears have not yet been imbued with Dáinsleif’s power.”
“Then, while they’re fighting, why don’t you go down there and bring him back?” Shirabe tilted her head.
“You’re suggesting I use the Autoscorers as distractions?” Carol glared at the girl. “Even if my original plan was to sacrifice my creations in order to collect the power necessary to power the Château de Tiffauges, it would be insane to simply toss them away now without reason.”
“Without reason...?” Shirabe whispered. “So, you care about the Autoscorers, then? Why do you feel like you’re alone?”
“Alone?” Carol whipped her head back. “I suppose, I must have become lonely in all of these years. With no one but that... Bavarian fool as my occasional contact.”
“You don’t count the Autoscorers as friends?”
“They’re... their personalities are based on my own brain, so I can’t really classify them as anything traditional. It’s like talking to different versions of me... but, not.”
“So in the end, you just want to protect yourself.” Ver laughed from afar. “You’re only viewing those robots as an extension of your own ego.”
“Perhaps that may be the truth. But, no longer.” Carol threw out her hand. “Something stirred within me, speaking with you, Shirabe Tsukuyomi.”
“Are you sick?” Shirabe innocently asked with the wide eyes of the child that she was.
“No! I... screw it. Never mind.” Carol stomped the ground, and silently returned her focus to the scene that was playing out across space.
She angrily mumbled as she began to formulate a plan to assist the Autoscorers–extensions of herself–blatantly unaware that the girl who stood beside her wore a smile on her face.
“Master.” Phara spoke up from her position beside the mad doctor gleefully writhing around on the floor. “Shall I go assist the others in their mission.”
“No, Phara. You’ve sustained too much damage for now. I’ll need to repair you, later. Just, keep an eye on the doctor.” Carol didn’t even bother to glance at the green-garbed woman, who merely bowed courteously in response.
“You have changed, master.” Phara noted after a few beats of silence, meeting the eyes of the black-haired girl whose gaze turned towards her. She offered a nod to Shirabe, aware of the source of this new Carol Malus Dienheim.
“No, I don’t think I have.” Carol quietly added. “I think I’ve just... become more like the me I was before the miracles birthed by my papa took his life.”

#### GX Chapter 13

 A young girl was bent over the beautiful sea of emerald blades that stretched endlessly beyond the horizon and only interrupted by the odd tree sprouting out of the ground. Where the sky began to touch down towards the ground, mountains poked up as the stone that had been birthed in ancient times to craft the delicate marble of Earth reached up towards the heavens.
This young girl had a short braid, more akin to a tail of a hog than a traditional weave of hair, protruding from her golden crown. Her jade eyes sparkled like the dew on the grass around her in the morning sun as she hummed a song her father had taught her from long ago.
In her hands, she held a bouquet of flowers that she had collected from the field around her. Multifarious colours and shapes sprouted up from the green stems in her grasp, tickling her chest as she worked to find the most beautiful shades among the petals that occasionally broke through the grassy meadow.
“I think papa would like this one.” A large grin tugged up over the girl’s cheeks as she held in her opposite hand her latest find: a peony, the colour of the coral that hugged the mysterious ocean depths that she longed to see.
Satisfied with the collection she had acquired, this small child of single-digit age stood up like a spring that had just uncoiled. With bouncy steps, she turned back towards the direction she had come and towards one of the very few structures blocking the view of the mountains that encircled the valley she lived in: the house that she and her papa lived in.
Instead of running towards the dark oak door that stood out among the pale wooden walls around it, the girl instead circle around to the side of the small lodgings. “Hello mama.” She said, though no human being stood around her.
Who the girl addressed was the brown mound that was dug into the ground, a white cross marking the head of this loved monument. On the symbol that stood up out of the ground was a simple, crudely-chiselled descriptor: ‘mama.’
“I brought you another flower, mama. I hope you like the colour of it. Papa told me you always liked running through the fields, so I found a green one that matched the grass!”
Though she should have been sad, the young girl had never met her mother–the woman had died in childbirth–and thus was nothing but a word to her. Regardless, the young child loved the ‘mama’ she never knew, and would often lay upon her grave different tributes: today’s was a brightly-coloured, chartreuse zinnia, whose face of petals shone up to mirror the warm smile on the gift-giver’s face.
Silence engulfed the girl as she paid her single moment of respect. Normally she would want to clap her hand once and say a prayer, but today she held many more gifts for her father and did not want to dirty them by placing them on the ground around her.
The quiet calm did not last long, however, as a loud noise boomed through the peaceful meadow. The young child’s eyes went wide, but she was not worried; this was commonplace. After all, she knew that it meant her beloved papa was working hard to create a new miracle. Explosions and messes were not mistakes–according to the genius alchemist that was her father, these were simply signs of progress.
With her flowers clutched to her chest, the girl spun away from the grave of her mother with a small wave and headed towards the entry of her home. “Papa, did your new experiment work out?”
Her question had been yelled out before she had even entered the house, and the man inside only heard it through the open window beside the door. Should she had opened the door first, the girl realized that she would not have asked that question as she looked out upon what should have been the living room of the house.
Then, she burst out into hearty laughter. “Papa! You look so goofy!”
The old man she addressed–her papa–chuckled as he removed his glasses, which only made the young girl laugh harder. He–and the area around him–was covered in some mysterious pink goop that smelled of strawberries, but the area that had been protected by his small circular glasses were left unstained, making a mask of fair skin that encircled the eyes his daughter inherited. The man smiled, and could help but join in on the laughter.
“No, I don’t think this experiment worked out.” The man’s grin and kind eyes matched those of the girl who looked at him with a mixture of awe... and a look that told him that she was not excited to help clean up the resulting mess. The man opened a nearby drawer and removed a small cloth, which he then began to use to clean himself off.
“You’d think I would be better at baking.” The man wondered aloud, the pink substance now smeared equally across both his face and the towel he held. “Maybe your uncle really was right about me.”
“‘When it comes to the unknown, you’re the summit of knowledge. But you’re nothing more than a fish out of water when you face the known.’” The girl quoted with a knowing glint in her eye. Her so-called uncle wasn’t the only one who noticed that her father was almost completely useless when he wasn’t working in the field of alchemy.
“Ah, those are some pretty flowers.” The man, with his face now clean enough, began to approach the young girl. “Were you going to give those to your mother?”
The girl shook her head with an audible noise. “No, these ones are for you papa! I thought your workshop might need more colour.”
“Ah, thank you. You’re such a good girl...” The man reached out for the flowers but then stopped as the girl pulled back the flowers–his hand was still covered in goop, so he’d just ruin the palette she’d chosen.
 Seeing the disapproval on his daughter’s face, the man returned to the drawer and grabbed another cloth, this time to clean off his hands so that he would not dirty the gift that his daughter so innocently gathered. “Let’s find a vase for these, shall we?”
The child nodded happily–she knew where the vases were, but her father would always forget. She ran off down the hall that stretched out from the living area down to her bedroom, careful not to slip on the mess that had covered the room.

 “Let’s see here. Which of the vases should I use today?” She asked herself, pulling open the large closet that a man in town had carved the year before and gifted her.
In the closet were a number of carefully folded dresses that she had collected over the years. Some were presents from people in town, others had been sewn by the girl herself–and her most cherished one, a mess of unwearable cloth that was her father’s one attempt at making clothing.
Below the shelves carrying her wardrobe sat three multi-coloured pots that she and her father had made and painted several years ago. The girl had made one–the nicest of the three, though it appeared to be a mangled tube that most would hesitate to call anything close to elegant–while her father had struggled to make the other two.
As she was trying to make her decision, the flowers still flopping about in her hands, the girl heard a knock on the front door followed only moments later by the sound of it opening.
“Ah, hello there.” She heard her father greet the visitor with a kind voice, but the response frightened her.
“You’re coming with us, witch.” The visitor’s voice was familiar–it belonged, the girl knew, to the kind man who had whittled the piece of furniture she was now crouched down in front of. But the tone he used was strange, unfamiliar; it was like the growl of a beast.
Knowing something was wrong, the girl rushed to the door. “Papa, is something wrong?”
“Stay back, child. Your father over here is a demon.” The man yelled. His once-kind face was twisted into a scowl, with dark rings tugging on his eyes, and his normally-coiffed moustache a frenzy, as if the mangled bristles of an old paintbrush.
“A demon?” The girl wondered, taking a step forwards. “My papa’s not a bad...”
“Carol.” Her father spoke her name in a serious tone, and the young girl froze in the middle of her step. “Stay back. Papa’s going out for a while. I don’t know when I’ll be back.”
Carol’s father had his arm grabbed by the woodworker, who simply grunted in disapproval at the words chosen by the man opposite from him. Seeing the glare on his face, Carol’s father continued. “Don’t follow me, Carol. Stay here. Promise me.”
“But papa...!”
“Enough!” For the first–and last–time in her short life, Carol heard her kind father raise his voice into a bark, and this caused the girl to flinch backwards and dropped the flowers that she had been clutching.
“Miracles are things that should never exist but do, and it’s my job to create them.” Carol’s father lowered his gaze. “Carol, you know more than anyone how much I want to analyse the world, to find a way to bring about a miraculous world free of hatred or illness... but others have not been so receptive to this.”
“A world free of hatred or illness? Bah.” The other man tugged the arm of Carol’s father, pulling him out of the house. “Your so-called ‘medicine’ is nothing but you spitting in the face of Our Lord, defying the trials He has set forth for us to climb over.”
The man pulled Carol’s father away, and he stumbled out of the small abode that had been built with care. Pink footsteps from the strange goop–that was apparently food-related–trailed out into the verdant green beyond.
But Carol did not want to let the man take her father away. Running over the flowers she had taken great care to collect over the past few hours, Carol dashed out of the house. “Papa!”
“Don’t follow us, child. You will regret the sight that you will see should you do.” The moustachioed man shouted a warning. “Or you could join Izak...”
“No. Carol has nothing to do with my work, and you know it.” Carol’s father, Izak, interrupted him. “At the very least, let her live out her days in peace.”
“Hmph. Very well.” The man pulled Izak towards a wooden carriage attached to a horse sat upon by a skinny man that Carol vaguely remembered seeing in town before. The rider averted his gaze from Carol’s as the woodworker pushed Izak into the carriage.
“Carol!” Izak shouted through the wooden bars. “Please, go. See the world and all of the natural miracles that it has to offer!”
“Papa!” Tears flowed down Carol’s face as she screamed for her father. She wanted to run towards the carriage that entrapped her father but her feet did not listen to the cries of her brain. Instead, she just shouted for her father again and again. “Papa! Papa!”

 Before Carol had engrossed herself in the realm of alchemy, she had been living as the child of one Izak Malus Dienheim–an alchemist in his own right, who would often go out of his way to aid the small village they lived near. Just a normal, kind girl, Carol’s peaceful life was ripped away from her in an instant as she watched the men her father had helped again and again take him away.
Though Izak had ordered Carol not to follow them, she did not obey. The girl had snuck into the town once she regained control of her body, and made it there by nightfall.
The sight she saw, then, was forever burned into her mind.
“Even in the next life,” Izak shouted over the crowd of angry townsfolk encircled below him. “I will continue to bring about hope. I promise to create for everyone an existence of miracles!”
Those were the final words of Carol’s father. The young girl watched with wide, terrified eyes as flames exploded out from beneath the genius Izak Malus Dienheim and slowly devoured him.

 But Carol’s heart twisted. With tears in her eyes and the red glow of fire paling against the blue flare of hatred exploding from her mouth, Carol Malus Dienheim denounced that which her father dedicated her life to making.
“You wouldn’t have to suffer like this if...” She shook her head and shouted from afar towards the crowd that cheered for death, though not even one person glanced in her direction. “Papa... I hate your miracles.”

. . .

 “Maria, Kirika! Get back! You don’t have your Symphogears, so get everyone out of here!” Kanade shouted as she threw out her arm to the side. Though her words addressed the girls behind her, the gaze of Kanade Amou was glued to the three new figures that had broken open the wall of the Kazanari estate.
Chris, on her own, pushed away from Miku. “You should go, too. You’re in no position to fight right now.”
“Let’s go, death!” Kirika tugged the hands of Maria and Miku, both of whom she knew were about to protest, and dragged them away. Ironically, Kirika, wielding the Asgard ability she inherited from Finé, was likely in a better condition to fight than the already-fatigued Kanade, but she bit back her own complaints as she guided the two other girls.
“None of you are the ones we’re looking for.” Leiur commented, looking down at the three girls clad in the Symphogears of Ame no Habakiri, Gungnir, and Ichaival. “Move aside.”
“Not a chance, robot.” Yukine shouted back. Recognizing the appearances of Leiur and Micha, she took aim with one of the crimson crossbows in her grasp. “Let’s finish our earlier duel.”
“Hmph. You learned nothing from our earlier encounter.” Leiur scowled. “Very well. Garie, you...”
Garie, however, was already skating towards Kanade, ice generating beneath her feet as she elegantly dashed towards the orange-haired wielder of Gungnir. Leiur sighed at the sight, then turned to see Micha already leaping towards Tsubasa to continue from where they had been forced to end earlier.
“Really. This was supposed to be a simple mission.” Leiur shook her head, casually stomping her foot to send up a crystalline wall that protected her from Chris’s incoming attack. “Very well. Let us deal with these miscreants first, I suppose.”

 Kirika ushered everyone who couldn’t fight the powers of the Autoscorers–which consisted of Maria, Genjuro, Ogawa, Yumi, Shiori, Kuriyo, Tomosato, Yatsuhiro, and Elfnein–further into the Kazanari abode, while Miku slowly trailed behind her. “Everyone, stay here, death.” She ordered.
Elfnein squeaked up at the command. “I was almost done modifying Igalima.”
“No, work on Airgetlám first.” Kirika lowered her gaze as she threw up a pink wall between herself (and Miku) and the crowd within the room. “I’ll protect you all right now, death. We don’t know who they’re after, so it’s best if you all stay together.”
Maria was about to complain at the suggestion, but Elfnein’s fierce nod interrupted her. “Okay. It shouldn’t take long to finish work on both Symphogears.”
“Ko... Miku.” Kirika turned to the mess of a girl still sulking as blood stuck to her entire form. “We’ll be defence.” Miku’s hollow, tear-filled gaze offered no response, but she slowly nodded in acknowledgement a moment later.
Beneath the gore glued to her body, Kirika noticed the form of Lancea Longini still active upon Miku’s body. “Can you even deactivate your weapon?” She wondered aloud, though had intended for the question to remain silent. The answer scared Kirika, who only watched as Miku’s head slowly shook from side-to-side.
Then, almost as if a switch had been flipped, Miku took a battle stance and her body began to glow blue. “Shrivatsa!” The girl’s voice ripped through Kirika’s mind, and a moment later she found herself–and Miku–encased within a blue orb. Less than a second later, before Kirika had even registered the shield going up around her, she heard the sound of a metallic scream as something outside attacked the impenetrable shield.

 “Stay away from them.” Tsubasa ordered as she threw herself through the corridor of her family’s home. Her sword pointed out in front of her, she literally glided across the ground as she aimed to pierce the form of the Autoscorer clawing at the shield created by Miku.
“But you’re so weak~” Micha whined with a tired glance. “That girl looks like she’d be a lot more fun to fight.”
The Autoscorer put in little effort as she kicked off the blue orb of Shrivatsa, propelling herself through the wall behind her... and the wall behind that... and the wall behind that. She landed out in the courtyard in a feral stance, glaring at Tsubasa while still wearing her large playful smile.
“Weak, huh?” Tsubasa jumped through the hole in the architecture that had just been torn open and her Armed Gear collided with the sharp claws of the Autoscorer.
Though only a second–or perhaps even less–had passed between her acceleration and subsequent collision, Tsubasa was shocked to see that Micha had not only met the blade of Ame no Habakiri with enough force to block the attack, but enough to knock even Tsubasa off-balance. The blue-haired girl clicked her tongue as she backed away from her freaky opponent.
“Weak, weak, weak!” Micha teased, her clown-like expression never fading.

 Kanade panted as she thrust the giant spear of Gungnir towards Garie, but it cut only through the wind by the Autoscorer’s side as she twirled out of the way.
Garie was barely even trying to combat Kanade, instead doing nothing more than playing with her like a small child. Instead of attacking, she danced literal circles around the Symphogear wielder, pirouetting around any strike that came close to even scratching the dress her master had designed for her. All the while, Garie had the innocent smile of a young woman plastered on her face, as if unaware of the strife she was causing the former idol.
Gungnir cut through the air once more towards Garie. This time, however, Kanade was ready for Garie to dodge out of the way, and had a plan to counter it: slicing the air at an angle, she continued to send the pointed arrow-like head careening into the ground, shattering the ground where Garie had once stood.
“You missed~” Garie teased happily, but the chuckle that escaped Kanade’s lips gave her pause.
The attack was not aimed for Garie. Instead, she spun the head on her shoulders around as she elegantly twirled on her icy platform, watching as flaming debris broken off from the earth sailed towards Leiur from behind.
“I’m getting nowhere with you.” Kanade growled. “So I may as well help my friends.”

 Chris saw Kanade’s attack, and knew that Leiur was not expecting one from behind. Thus, as she waited for the bits of stone and dirt to close-in on the Autoscorer she was facing, Chris guided her into place and stole away her attention with her magical arrows.
As a result, Leiur only had a bored expression upon her face as she stomped the ground and flicked coins at the projectiles that targeted her. Not one came anywhere close to hitting the Autoscorer, being stopped with ease through her golden shields.
But, as both Kanade and Chris expected, she did not anticipate an attack–or, rather, a distraction from behind. Leiur was completely oblivious as the stones were hurled into her back, causing her to stumble forwards without sustaining any injury. This, however, was just enough for Chris to take advantage of, launching a missile with perfect timing, giving the Autoscorer no time to dodge or defend herself.

 Confusion registered in Kanade’s mind before the pain of being assailed by the explosive power of Ichaival’s missiles. She found herself flying through the air as the might of Chris’s attack launched her flying.
“What happened?” She heard Chris yell, showing that even she had no idea of what happened. The response, though, was lost to Kanade as she collided with a section of the Kazanari mansion and, as if it were nothing but a thin bush, fell through the old wooden exterior to the abode below.
Kanade coughed from the dust that kicked up from the collapsing of the building. “I have no idea what just happened, but I don’t want it to happen again.”

 Chris, however, did hear the explanation straight from the mechanical lips of Garie Tūmān. The girl skated over to Leiur’s side as her partner righted herself, her polite mask dropping into its maliciously true form.
“A simple trick, really.” Garie snapped her fingers as an explanation, transforming herself and Leiur into a series of bubbles. As quickly as their physical forms had popped into liquid lighter than air, they reformed back into the Autoscorer enemies that Chris recognized–in opposite positions. “Just a little something I’m good at.”
“Well shit.” Chris readied more missiles, but stopped. She was brash but far from stupid–if they could essentially teleport each other, then teleporting her missiles would be far from a difficult task.
Thus, with a click of her tongue, Chris Yukine did something she hated–she turned and ran away. With a shrug, Garie followed.

 “Switch.” Tsubasa heard, and caught two figures running towards her from the corner of her vision.
Not bothering to respond vocally, Tsubasa flipped through the air and over the moving Chris, landing by smashing her sword down into Garie’s hand... or so she thought. Instead, a large icicle protruded out from the Autoscorer’s hand, stopping Ame no Habakiri’s blade in place.
But Tsubasa was not worried about that. “Burn!” She shouted, and the blade was instantly surrounded in bright flames the colour of the very ice that Garie aligned herself with. This caught the alchemical marvel off-guard, who spun backwards on her own icy platform in order to dodge the attack, staggering for just a moment.

 Behind Tsubasa, Chris was managing to combat Micha far better than she had before. As Micha excelled in close-range combat, Chris kept her at a distance by hounding her with projectiles that the Autoscorer had no choice but to block with her own claw swipes.
“Aren’t you a cowar–” Micha was about to say from her position, but was cut off by something that shocked even Chris–the form of Kirika, with Asgard surrounding her fist, punching Micha in the back and sending the Autoscorer flying towards Ichaival.
Taking this advantage, Chris launched missiles at the confused Autoscorer, who could do nothing as she clumsily fumbled through the air. “This is it!” Chris shouted, expecting to see her enemy’s defeat as the missiles exploded against their target.
Instead, however, Chris saw the golden shine of Leiur’s coin, which crashed to the ground in Micha’s place. The Autoscorer of Earth descended, too, landing atop the coin with only a single foot to balance her, despite cradling Micha in her hands. “Where did you even come from?”
“As I said before,” Leiur looked down her nose at the girl in red. “Move aside.”

 Tsubasa’s blade sliced at Garie with incredible speed, and the Autoscorer had no choice but to block it with the icicles she sprouted and back away immediately thereafter as flames chased her down. It was a crude dance–and one that Garie was getting tired of.
But Garie had the upper hand in this battle–or, rather, the lower hand. Tsubasa had been too distracted by Garie’s speedy defensive tactics to notice that the girl had been drawing rings of ice on the ground around her.
Tsubasa took a step forwards onto this ice, and immediately lost balance. Garie’s ice was not normal, as obvious as that was from the fact that it did not melt even in the summer heat–the molecules that made up the alchemical surface bounced at such a high speed as reality rejected their very existence that it was near impossible for most to claim any balance–the Autoscorers being among the few exceptions.
The girl with Ame no Habakiri immediately began to slide on the ice, slipping as she lost her balance. Kicking at the air, the idol flopped down onto her back as her foot was unable to keep the rest of Tsubasa’s body up against the pull of gravity. Seeing this as her chance to counter, Garie spun towards Tsubasa and kicked the idol with all of her might, sending Ame no Habakiri’s wielder crashing threw the air and towards her friend.
Chris had not seen Tsubasa coming, and thus was surprised when her ally involuntarily tackled her from behind. Their limbs tangled, the two girls tried to pull themselves together as the three Autoscorers looked down their noses at the web of Symphogear wielders that had been spun upon the ground.
“These fools are who our master was so worried about?” Garie commented. “They’re pathetic.”
“Fighting them like this is no fun.” Micha agreed with a happy nod from her position in Leiur’s arms. Then, throwing herself out of the princess-like position she had been laying in and landing on the ground at the base of the coin, Micha shouted. “Come on! Do that thing again! The... shadow... thing.”
“Not a chance.” Chris grunted as she climbed to her feet. “We can take you on well enough just like this.”
“No you can’t.”
Chris turned around to see the shadow of Miku emerging from one of the many new tears in the walls around them. “I’ll take them on. Instead of killing, for once I’ll be the one to protect.”
“Miku... you don’t need...” Chris wanted to stop her, but the fire that burned in the one eye not overtaken by darkness stopped her.
“Hibiki would want to help you now, so I’m doing what she can’t. Go find Kanade.” Miku did not even wait for a response from any party before she flew at supersonic speeds towards where the three Autoscorers had gathered.
Tsubasa, Kirika, nor Chris could keep their eyes trained on Miku as she flew. It was as if she had teleported–one second she stood among the rubble of the mansion, and the next she had launched the golden coin on which Leiur stood sailing sky-high with an uppercut. Garie and Micha, who were just barely out of her path, just watched in surprise as their sister flew away.
“Now this,” Garie’s shark-tooth grin widened.
“Will be fun!” Micha finished, readying her claws.

. . .

 “What’s with that girl?” Carol shouted in surprise as she watched Miku’s first attack play out through a gap in reality. “She’s like a living deus ex machina!”
The cruel chuckling from the doctor that laid on the ground forced the alchemist to turn her annoyed glare back towards John Wayne Vercingetorix. “My greatest creation–Lancea Longini! A perfect fusion of human and relic, a beast capable of utilizing the power of every relic I had the ability to analyse at the time.” Though he was sitting on the ground like an obedient schoolboy, the mad doctor’s wild eyes flew open as he strained under the weight of an invisible globe that had been dropped onto his shoulders, and he threw his arms out as if giving a passionate speech. “A being that surpasses even the ancient gods! Truly the very definition of a ‘hero.’”
“You seem to think very highly of this creation despite the fact that you have absolutely no control over it.” Carol muttered in deadpan.
“My greatest creation,” Ver explained, wagging his index finger at the young girl. “But not perfect. And I was this close, too, to stripping away her personality. If only those damned Symphogear wielders hadn’t managed to dredge up the memories I thought I sealed away.”
“Your Autoscorers aren’t doing so well.” Shirabe commented, ignoring the conversation happening around her.
“No. To think even one enemy would prove too much for three of my greatest creations.” Carol thought aloud, but then focused on the image before her of Micha dressed solely in a Sento-kun T-shirt. “Well, three of my creations, at least.”
“Master, shall I go assist them?” This was the voice of Phara, the fourth of the Autoscorers, who remained on standby to watch over Ver.
“No. Not yet.” Carol’s eyes were focused entirely on the images of the battle that raced before her. She was analysing every single frame that passed by her, memorizing every moment, looking for a way to turn the tables. And, in doing so, Carol came to a realization. “I don’t think that’s necessary, Phara.”

. . .

 Miku was taking on the three Autoscorers with ease as her armour switched between weapons at the mere thought. Her eyes focused on Micha as her claws swiped at her body, Miku’s spun the thick blade of Ame no Habakiri around to launch the red-haired girl flying, transferring the momentum of her attack into a spin as Ichaival’s crossbow replaced the sword in her hand and fired upon the encroaching Garie. Leiur, who had returned to the ground without harm, simply stood back–an act that Miku was weary of.
Garie popped into bubbles, dancing into the sky around Miku, who fired at each and every one with the weapons normally only usable by Chris Yukine. As the correct bubble was popped and Garie fell to the ground, Miku did not even bother to follow-up on that as Micha stepped in with a red beam extended from her palm, ready to slice Miku in half. The half-second between the bubble being popped and Micha’s appearance, however, was far more than enough time for Miku, whose brain was running overdrive as the power of the relics within her took command, to counter with a kick.
This was when Leiur took action, catching the launched Micha in her arms and, with a spin, tossing her back towards Miku as she launched herself forwards by forming a crystal beneath her feet. The two Autoscorers flew like missiles towards Miku, but they were unable to do anything as she hid within the shield of Shrivatsa and waited for them to bounce off.
Though this should have given them an opening, Leiur and Micha both retreated as their instincts told them not to approach. Indeed, instead of disipating as before, Shrivatsa instead transformed into a giant version of one of Shul Shagana’s sawblades, and the Autoscorers were all barely out of the range of the pointed that would have torn them apart like paper.

 “She’s good, death.” Kirika marvelled.
“It’s terrifying, what that doctor did to her.” Tsubasa noted, her expression dark.
Despite being ordered to find Kanade, Chris, Tsubasa, and Kirika all watched in awe as Miku took on the three Autoscorers all on her lonesome. Together, Chris, Kirika, Tsubasa, and Kanade had only managed to do as much damage to each other as they did to the Autoscorers, and yet Miku had yet to sustain even a single blow from them.
“I don’t think she can hold out for much longer.” Chris, however, noticed otherwise. “Miku’s movements are getting more desperate; she’s taking longer to react and doing so in ways that don’t make sense.”
Leiur fired golden coins from her finger at Miku. Though the attack should have been easy to counter in a number of ways, Miku instead proved Chris’s point to the others as she formed the spear of Gungnir in her grasp and used it to drill down into the ground–Leiur’s terrain. The Autoscorer noticed this and created a subterranean crystal with a powerful step, though what followed was the ball of Shrivatsa being launched up into the air as if a game of pinball were beginning.
“Either that, or she’s showing off.” Kirika added.
“No. I think...” As Miku revealed herself once more, the shell of Shrivatsa falling away, Chris strained her eyes to see if her idea was in the realm of possibility before speaking. “Whatever’s happening to Miku... I that darkness spreads more whenever she uses her powers.”
“Now that you mention it, her left eye has been slowly darkening, I believe.” Tsubasa, too, strained her eyes to see Miku as she rushed about at high speeds. “She must want to end this fight before...”
The rest of what Tsubasa said was lost to Chris, who ran up to get closer to the battle. “Miku! Stop fighting!” She yelled. “You’re only hurting yourself.”
“I know that!” While still fending off Micha, Miku shouted back to Chris. “But I’m doing what Hibiki would.”
“How many times do we have to tell you to–!” Chris began to yell, furious that Miku was still putting her own safety after everything else, but was cut short.

 “Yukine!” Tsubasa yelled.
Beside her, Kirika’s lungs screamed from air as she exhaled into a scream. “Chris!”
But Chris’s confusion was only compounded as she stared deep into Miku’s wide, equally surprised, eyes. “Mi... ku?” Chris had not registered pain until she tried to speak, and coughed up blood in doing so.
“Oopsie. Guess your hand slipped.” Garie’s voice rang out from somewhere beside Chris. “Sorry about that~”
“Sorry...?” Chris tried to repeat, and then realized what had happened as she looked down.
Garie could switch the positions of others by transforming them into bubbles... or something. As Chris saw the shaft of Gungnir protruding into her chest, blood pooling out from the wound that Miku’s hands made, she realized that she had been the target of this alchemical technique.
“Not again. No...” Miku muttered, looking at Chris. Her hands, which were still wrapped around the imitation of Gungnir born from her heretical, experiment-ridden body, were shaking involuntarily. Her breathing was rapid and heavy as anxiety, grief, and stress overtook her mind.
The sensation of killing Hibiki in the same way, sending her best friend falling into the ocean below–Miku felt the same thing now as she looked at Chris Yukine, skewered on the end of her weapon.
“No!” Miku screamed, freeing her hands for just a moment before grabbing her head.

 It was then that Miku Kohinata died.

. . .

 “Nephilim truly was an interesting relic.” Ver mused as he watched the scene unfolding elsewhere from a distance. “It was neither inanimate nor a living creature. By fusing it with the Nehushtan Armour, it would have been fundamentally invincible.”
“What did you do?” Shirabe was the one who question the doctor, stomping up next to him. Forcefully grabbing his collar, she leaned in to spit in the man’s face. “Whatever you did will definitely harm my friends.”
“Oh, that’s not the only thing that little monster over there is going to harm. Like I said–I fused data collected from every relic I had access to. The regenerative powers of the Nehushtan Armour, the ferocity and might of Nephilim, the weapons that birthed the Symphogears, Shénshòujìng’s ability to dispel curses, the connection to the Treasury of Babylonia offered by Solomon’s Cane...”
“And the ability to raise the dead.” Carol finished. “You combined them all to create a beast that could destroy and rebuild the planet in a way that would conform to your twisted vision, correct?”
Ver did not offer a verbal response, instead just cackling into Shirabe’s face as she looked at the man, disgusted.
“The power of those Symphogear wielders will be utterly useless against my hero of justice! Even those Illuminati freaks wouldn’t be able to stand up to it!”

. . .

 Miku roared–it was not her voice that escaped her crooked lips, but instead a deep, feral cry that sounded like an ancient beast. The cry caused the version of Gungnir that she wielded to disintegrate, allowing the bleeding Chris to fall onto the ground like an abandoned doll.
Flames of darkness enveloped the girl that was formerly known as Miku Kohinata. The Lancea Longini that she had been fused with merged with the shadows that devoured every minute particle that made up her being.
She was a human no more. Instead of standing only one and a half metres tall as she had before, Miku Kohinata’s body expanded as she transformed into what could only be described as a demonic presence. The three Autoscorers, not to mention Tsubasa, Kirika, and–though struggling to remain conscious–Chris, could only watch in horror as the dark form began to grow and, within moments, towered high over them.
From less than two metres tall to almost fifteen in mere seconds, all as her roar screamed towards the heavens.

. . .

 “Rise!” Ver commanded, climbing up to his feet. Phara held out a blade to stop his approach, but he completely ignored it–and she did nothing else to halt him. He stumbled towards the vision of his creation.
“Destroy this accursed world, Batara Kala!”

. . .

 Though she could not hear the insane words of Dr. John Wayne Vercingetorix, the beast now known as Batara Kala responded with a feral cry.
A beast whose body was pure black–a living shadow–the monster appeared to be a version of Nephilim that stood on two legs as opposed to four. A crooked mouth filled with teeth just as dark as the rest of her body, claws that each exceeded the length of even the tallest human’s height, and burning flames for eyes that slowly cycled through the entire colour spectrum: this was the monster that Ver dubbed Batara Kala.

 Kirika looked up at the beast that loomed over her. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to fight that, death.”
But Tsubasa wasn’t concerned about that. “First, we have to provide medical aid to Yukine.” She rushed over and took the bleeding girl in her arms, who had lost consciousness but had a light pulse, still.

. . .

 Shirabe looked at the doctor before her with an icy cold glare that could freeze even lava. “You’re truly insane.”
“To be sane means to be blind to the greater truths of the universe.” Ver snapped back. “I want to bring about a world of justice–one where heroes reign supreme. Is that truly insane?”
“Through these methods?” Carol asked, then answered her own question. “Yes.”
“Like you have any room to talk, child.” Ver scoffed. “Little Miss ‘I’m Gonna Dissect The Earth.’ You’re worse than me–you’re just a hypocrite. What I’m doing... I’m turning our very existence into one of miracles.”
Carol froze. It was not being called a hypocrite that struck a nerve, nor was it him pointing out that her plan to dissect the world was just as mad as the plan she was now criticizing. Her eye twitched at the final word he spat out towards them.
The small alchemist chuckled. “An existence of miracles...?” The fires that burned her father alive resurrected within her heart, within the eyes of the self-proclaimed ‘murderer of miracles.’ “How dare you twist my papa’s words into this insanity!”
Runes appeared around the figure of the small girl in a diamond shape: the fiery red burned at the top, with the gold of the earth, green of the wind, and freezing blue succeeding it in clockwise order. Then, around these four runes, Carol formed a golden ring–the fifth element of alchemy, silver.
“Come! Dur da Blá!” Carol commanded, punching off to the side and through reality itself.
“Did you just say...?” Ver trembled not at the sight of the magical symbols hovering in the air around Carol, but at the name of a relic he had not yet catalogued: Dur da Blá, the divine harp that was spoken about in Celtic mythology.
Carol pulled from her dimensional pocket a purple and gold object that looked almost like a gothic bow, but the musical strings that filled the curved design of the device confirmed it to be a harp.
Shirabe sidled up to Carol, as if an invisible threat had pulled her towards the alchemist she had befriended. As Carol strummed the harp’s strings, Shirabe strummed the Holy Chant of Shul Shagana, and the two were simultaneously wrapped in white as their bodies were imbued by the relics’ powers.
“Die.” Their voices overlapped even before the light faded from their bodies, but Ver could see their shining silhouettes thrusting their palms into the ring of elemental symbols before them.

 The last moment of Dr. John Wayne Vercingetorix’s life was filled with agony no human could ever hope to imagine. The crazed man was simultaneously torn apart by blades of wind, melted by ice so cold it felt warmer than the sun, scorched by the fires of hell, pelted by the asteroids that sailed through the cosmos above, cooled by the mysterious light of molten silver, and the completely eradicated by sawblades of energy from Shul Shagana.
Nothing remained–of John Wayne Vercingetorix, or the Château de Tiffauges.

#### GX Chapter 14

 Tsubasa’s eyes widened as she took a step forwards. Suddenly, it was as though the world had disappeared around her and the unconscious Chris Yukine in her arms. As if the curtain had fallen on her stage, she was surrounded in a void of complete darkness.
“Tsubasa? Chris? What happened?”
And she was not alone. Running towards her were the panicking shapes of Yumi Itaba, Shiori Terashima, and Kuriyo Ando, worried about the bleeding figure barely breathing in her arms. Kuriyo had been the one to raise the question, though the other two had equally as-worried expressions plastered upon their faces.
Behind the three high school students, Tsubasa noticed everyone else walking towards her: Maria, Ogawa, Tomosato, Genjuro, Yatsuhiro, and even Elfnein. Looking around in the other directions, it took her only a few more seconds to find Kanade and Kirika approaching from the vast ocean of darkness as well.
Yumi, Shiori, and Kuriyo ignored Tsubasa and their current situation and instead crowded to look down at Chris.
“Tsubasa, what happened to her?” Yumi asked, her voice surprisingly calm despite the hectic look.
The idol did not know if she should answer truthfully, and just tilted her head away as she pondered the situation. The three girls, however, were surprisingly perceptive; it was Yumi, in particular, who voiced her suspicions of the meaning behind that quick aversion.
“Miku?”
“One of the Autoscorers teleported Yukine in front of Kohinata’s blade, using her as a human shield.” Tsubasa decided that they did deserve the truth, regardless of how bad it may have hurt them.
“And, might I say, it was a brilliant decision on my part.”
The voice of the Autoscorer responsible for Chris’s current condition resounded, shocking Tsubasa as she hurriedly searched for the source of the echo that seemed to reverberate out throughout the entire realm they now lived within.
“What do you want, death?” Kirika shouted up into the inky sky, and it was then that Tsubasa realized that the source of the cry came from up above rather than on the same plane as she.
“Don’t look at us.” Leiur shrugged from her position on high. Though, relative to Tsubasa and the rest, she was ‘floating,’ Leiur and the other Autoscorers appeared to be standing on solid ground. “This was not our doing.”
“But master could do something like this!” Micha shouted. Her eyes then narrowed a little before springing back into her overly-happy expression as the Autoscorer’s large claw began to flail above her head. “Hi Elfnein!”
“Um... hello, Micha.” The homunculus squeaked, surprised by the greeting. As Micha kept up her wild wave, Elfnein decided to respond with her own, albeit far smaller and reserved, motion.
“So, then,” Maria asked out to the never-ending room. “What are we doing here?”

 “My apologies for the abrupt summoning... and for keeping you waiting.”
Just as Micha had speculated, the voice belonging to Carol Malus Dienheim bellowed as the alchemist in question sparkled into existence. She floated in the air, landing on a plane in-between the three Autoscorers and the group from the Kazanari residence, with Phara and Shirabe by her sides.
“Shirabe!” Kirika cried out as her friend materialized beside the form of the one who she believed to be her enemy, but Shirabe did not even glance in her direction.
“Are you hurt?” Maria followed up with her own worries, and this elicited a response from Shirabe.
“I’m fine.” Shirabe smiled down to her pink-haired friend, keeping out of her sight the golden eye of Finé attached like a parasite to the small frame of Kirika Akatsuki.
“Shirabe Tsukuyomi, we have more pressing matters to attend to at the moment.” Carol cut the reunion short with a curt comment, throwing out the order to silence like a knife.
“First, Miss Carol, two questions. Where are we?” This came from Yatsuhiro Kazanari, who stood beside his brother. “And, what have you done with one of our men?”
“To answer that second question,” Carol’s eyes turned to Garie above her. “I had ordered one of my Autoscorers to let him free once we determined he was of no use to us.”
“And that I did. I left him on that floating island, just in case I missed any memories of our glorious time together.”
“Are we to assume he is unharmed?” Yatsuhiro inquired further.
“Yes. He should be, assuming my orders were followed.” Carol confirmed. “Now, an answer to your first question: we are in the Treasury of Babylonia, or, rather, closer to that dimension than our own. I needed to transport you all out of that realm for the time being.”
Leiur thrust her fist into her hip as she looked down at her tiny master. “Master, why, then, are we not using our base of operations for a meeting of this scale?”
“We blew it up.” Shirabe answered curtly. This caused Carol to flail her arms about flustered, as if telling the girl beside her to shut up. “Ver was getting annoying.”
Carol sighed. “Yes. I admit that we may have gone a bit overboard.”

 Genjuro cleared his throat, drawing back the attention of those bickering above to the larger issue at hand. “We have a dying girl here, and need to give her medical attention. If you could make this quick...”
“Yes. Right.” Carol shook her head.
Slicing a hole in reality with her finger–one large enough to expand out through all three invisible levels of this dark void–she revealed the image of what was now happening back in Japan. Some of the girls at the bottom of the totem pole of this realm gasped as they saw the carnage that a giant black beast was now committing as it marched through the city.
“What is that?” Maria was among those who were shocked, though she was far from the only one.
“Kohinata.” Tsubasa offered no other explanation.
“According to our late mutual... acquaintance,” Carol began.
“Ver.” Shirabe clarified, cutting the alchemist off for a moment.
Brushing that brief interruption off like a speck of dust on her shoulder, Carol continued. “His experiments on the girl named Miku Kohinata were to lead to this result: a pure, destructive amalgamation of relics–including Nephilim, Solomon’s Cane, Nehushtan Armour, and more–that he dubbed Batara Kala. His goal was–though he had hoped to be commanding the girl as opposed to her rampaging without care–to destroy the world and recreate it in a way that mirrored his twisted form of justice.”
“Carol... is that not what you wanted to do?” Elfnein’s voice was quiet, but it echoed out into the infinity of this new reality so that each and every soul could hear it clearly.
“No. I merely wanted to analyse the Earth, Elfnein. Its destruction was an unfortunate side effect.” She glared down at the small, timid clone of herself. But her expression then softened. “However, those plans have changed with the new knowledge I’ve acquired.”
“Chris is still dying. Hurry it up!” Yumi snapped, screaming at the alchemist floating above her.
“Right. The being that Miku Kohinata has become is too strong for our two factions to fight separately; that’s what I have determined from a cursory glance at the beast.”
“So you called us here to form a treaty?” Tomosato offered up the meaning behind her words, earning a small nod from the girl looking down upon them.
“You want to kill Miku?” Shiori asked, disgust in her voice.
“Should you wish, I will do everything in my power to revert her to a human form.” Carol crossed her arms. “Additionally, to prove my willingness to assist you all, I will also save the life of the girl my Autoscorer decided to sacrifice despite my order simply to locate and extract one of you.”
“Yes! Please!” Kuriyo pleaded.
“Please save Chris!” Shiori shouted, too.
“Yes, saving Chris would be preferable.” Genjuro looked up at the image of Miku–or, rather, Batara Kala–as she bent down to pick up, and subsequently throw, a car. “We lack time right now, so we can’t exactly work on a detailed agreement, but I do need to request some answers from you regarding your motives, here.”
“Go on.” Carol hissed.
“You sent your Autoscorers out to locate one of us here, why?”
“I seek the relic known as the Rod of Asclepius, and I believe the man beside you,” referring to Yatsuhiro, “knows of its current location.”
“My apologies. I–”
Shirabe cut him off. “Ver said it’s inside of Serena.”
“Serena?” Maria yelped.
“Serena Cadenzavna Eve has remained comatose since the time when she was recovered.” Yatsuhiro explained. “Considering her physical injuries have mostly healed, we assumed she remained unconscious due to a psychological reason. However, it’s entirely possible that the strain being placed on her body by both that aforementioned relic and Shénshòujìng could be to blame, instead.”
“No. It’s likely her unconscious state is due to a mental limiter.” Carol glanced to Phara by her side. “Though, obviously, I have not been able to analyse the girl myself, it’s probable that her brain is simply confused–she is alive yet her brain remembers her own death.”
“Yeah. Remembering a moment of your own death can be pretty traumatic.” Kirika added darkly. Sending a chill down the spines of those on the same plane as her (and Shirabe), Kirika’s voice sounded unlike her own–it was almost a perfect blend of the tones of both Finé and Kirika. The girl who spoke shuddered beside Maria as those very memories bubbled up to the surface, the light gone from her eyes.
“That is why I believe my Autoscorers, with their ability to plunder memories, may be able to wake her. And, that, would prove beneficial both to the current situation of the world and your personal lives.”
“In exchange for your help,” Ogawa clarified. “You want us to let you keep the relic capable of resurrecting the dead. For what purpose?”
“To resurrect my papa.” Carol stated quickly, blurting out the answer she had not been willing to share consciously like the young child that she resembled. Clearing her throat, she signalled that they all wipe that weakness out of her mind.
“Your father... may that perhaps be Izak Malus Dienheim?” Yatsuhiro mused quietly. When Carol’s eyes lit up in recognition, he gave a small nod of confirmation that he knew of the connection. “No. We don’t have time for this at the moment. On behalf of the Japanese government, I agree to your terms, Carol Malus Dienheim. For now, let us work as one unified party.”
“Hey,” Kanade, who had been silent up until now, slowly waved up to the alchemist before pointing over to Kirika. “Two things I want to know. Do you have any way for the blonde reaper over there to cook up more LiNKER?”
“You know the recipe for LiNKER...” Carol mused. “Yes, I have a second workshop–well, I suppose it is my primary one, now–that you could make use of.”
“Good, because I’m at my limit here.” She wiped the cold sweat off her forehead, as she felt the blood within her body boil over from the stress the Symphogear forced upon her. “Secondly, I assume you just teleported every person who was at the Kazanari residence, yes?”
“Yes. I did a large-scale teleportation around your abode. Everyone present at that building should be here.”
Tsubasa, Yatsuhiro, and Genjuro all understood now what the implications of Kanade’s question and the subsequent answer were, but the orange-haired idol just threw a smile up as if dismissing it entirely. “Alright. Good to know, thanks.”
“Now.” Carol snapped her fingers, destroying the three separate levels that the groups stood on and merging them into one plane. She stepped away with light steps from the side of Shirabe Tsukuyomi–who was immediately surrounded by Maria and Kirika as they reunited–to approach Chris Yukine. “I’ll be taking her. For now, the rest of you should gather as much intel on our enemy as possible.”
“Understood master.” Leiur bowed. Likewise, her three sisters did the same beside her.
As Tsubasa cautiously let the small alchemist take Chris in her own hands, the alchemist turned her head to meet the gaze that was drilling a hole deep into her spine. Shirabe’s cold stare ignored the two girls relieved to see their friend–nay, their sister–safe to instead silently remind Carol of the deal that they had struck before.
Carol nodded. “I will now be dropping most of you back at the mansion I plucked you from. Do not die before I have time to return.” Then, she turned her head to look around at the group assembled around her.
“Kirika Akatsuki; government official.” Her eyes fell upon the figures of Kirika and then Yatsuhiro, who both froze under her gaze. “The two of you will be joining me at my workshop alongside this girl in my arms. Phara, considering your current state, you will be coming with me as well so I can repair you.”
“Very well, master.”
“Aww, but I wanted to play with Shirabe, death.” Kirika whined.
“You have an important task, Kirika.” Maria reminded her. “You’re the only one here who knows the recipe to LiNKER, so we’re counting on you.”
“Oh... before you go...” Elfnein ran up to Kirika and Maria, holding out two red jewels. “I finished work on your Symphogears. Both of you should be able to fight alchemy now, though...” You may not need it.
Maria smiled. “Thanks.”
Together, the two girls took their Symphogears in hand and gingerly placed the grey strings they were attached to around their heads. Elfnein, however, did not move. “Umm... I still need to modify Shul Shagana...”
Shirabe shook her head. “I’ll be fine for now.”
“If... you say so.” Elfnein squeaked, clearly not convinced.

 “Take care everyone.” Yatsuhiro said. Though a wishing of good tidings, his stone-faced expression and narrowed eyes seemed to indicate it was more an order than a simple platitude.
“Likewise, brother.” Genjuro smiled.
Though the man was not sure if his words reached Yatsuhiro as, next he blinked, he stood in the summer light outside of the Kazanari residence.
“Right.” Tsubasa looked down at her blood-covered hands as she clenched them into tight fists. “Let’s get started.”
“I’ve got to say,” Kanade sighed. “Once this is all over with, and we’ve got her back to normal, we really should keep a closer eye on Miku. This is, what, the third time her brain’s been hijacked?”
“To make light of your friend’s current status...” Maria worried about Kanade’s joking tone.
“She sounds just as clumsy as Kirika.” Shirabe smiled, joining in on Kanade’s attempt to lighten the air around them.
But clearly it wasn’t working. “I’d appreciate it if you took this a bit more seriously.” Shiori glared at the three girls–even though Maria was not at fault. “Chris is fatally wounded. Miku is rampaging because of brainwashing–again.”
Shiori collapsed to her knees. “I’m so exhausted of this.”
“Well,” Yumi smiled. Her eyes told Shiori that she understood the pain she felt, though, and that the cheerful grin was only a mask to cover that. “Ogawa and I have something that might be able to refresh you. But it’ll have to wait, of course.”
“Oh yeah, I keep forgetting. That’s how this whole thing started, huh? You wanted us to find Miku.” Kuriyo reminisced about events that had taken place only the day before.
“Well, I think some version of these events would have happened, regardless.” Ogawa supplied. “Sorry to get you girls involved.”
“I may be complaining,” Shiori stood up, throwing her fist out in front of her and almost punching Yumi in the face as she did so. “But I do enjoy being involved in this. I’m just tired of being worried for the well-being of my friends.”
“All you’re doing is supplying them with some kind of normalcy–a life to return to.” Tsubasa wiped the blood off her hands on the legs of her Symphogear, marking the white and blue suit in crimson. “I’m sure, even if they won’t say it aloud, the two of them are both incredibly grateful for your care.”
“What are you talking about?” Yumi jumped onto Tsubasa, launching a surprise hug on the girl. “We’re worried about you, too. And Kanade. All of you.”
“That’s great and all, but get off me.” Tsubasa struggled–both to remove the girl who was now clinging to her with more strength than glue, and to hide the warm smile that crept over her face.
“Even though we haven’t known each other for long,” Kuriyo turned to Maria. “I want to get to know you all better as well.”
“We are fans of yours, Maria.” Shiori smiled.
“Oh. Well, uhh...” A blush paved over Maria’s face as she fumbled for a way to respond to that comment. “It’s... nice to meet some fans, I guess?”
“You’re not a great idol.” Tsubasa commented deadpan, Yumi still clinging to her.
“Truthfully, I do enjoy singing, but I was only working as an idol as part of tests for F.I.S.. I had no personal stake in actually playing the role of someone people can look up to. I prefer more behind-the-scenes work, anyway.”
“Wow. You’re just Tsubasa.” Kanade blinked after a moment.
“What does that mean?” Both girls seemed to take that as an insult and freaked out at the comment, their faces red with anger at Kanade’s words. The orange-haired idol, as well as Shirabe, Yumi, Shiori, and Kuriyo, all laughed at their display in response; though this only flustered the two even more.
“Sorry to interrupt your moment.” Leiur’s voice pulled the girls back to reality. “But you must all realize that your friend is, as we speak, currently destroying the city–and will likely continue rampaging until the world is no more, correct?”
“Master ordered us to get to work!” Micha flailed. “Why are we standing here and watching this!?”
“In our master’s explanation of the beast known as Batara Kala, she mentioned that Solomon’s Cane was among the relics integrated into the creature’s body.” Leiur explained to her childish sister. “If that is the case, then it can likely generate true Noise–something which only we can not combat.”
“Our bodies wouldn’t be destroyed by the Noise, but our minds might.” Garie said sadly. “But our alchemy likely wouldn’t be able to harm them, anyway.”
“Oh. So we need to rely on these freaks to fight them? That’s boring.” Micha sulked.
“Even I can see the irony in you calling them freaks, Micha.” Leiur shook her head.

. . .

 “Kirika Akatsuki, the workshop is down the hall on the right. You should have everything you need there to create LiNKER. If not, speak with Phara–she will procure it, or anything else, for you.” Carol addressed Kirika (and her Autoscorer) in a commanding tone, to which the girl just nodded confidently. “As for you, government official, I wish for you to tell me about the state of this Serena Cadenzavna Eve while I operate.”
“Very well.” Yatsuhiro nodded, subconsciously recognizing the similarity here between his response and that of her Autoscorer creations.
At his words, Kirika dashed off.

 The place that Carol had transported them to was a small wooden house of only a single storey. A large, wide-open area was the entryway, connecting a living room space to a kitchen. The hallway that Carol had instructed Kirika to pass down contained only three doors: two on the left, which Kirika noted were both bedrooms; and the largest room on the right, being the workshop.
“Is this her house?” Kirika wondered aloud.
“I don’t know, truthfully.” Phara answered from behind. “Master does not wish to speak of this location often.”
Brushing off the unknown, Kirika opened up the door to the workshop. The room was a strange mesh of modern, futuristic, and ancient technology, some of which even foreign to the many years’ worth of memories belonging to Finé. Lining the walls were cabinets, containing vials filled with a rainbow’s worth of both solid elements and various potions.
“Wow.” Kirika couldn’t help but marvel at the sight, just as the Finé looking out from within her did as well.
“Alright, Finé, let’s see if you can help me out again.” Kirika muttered. “And, thanks, for keeping me company.”
Rolling up the white sleeves of the outfit she had been forced to wear while imprisoned, Kirika walked up towards the large desk at the back of the room. Finding a band on the desk, Kirika pulled the blonde hair that had grown down to her shoulders over the past three months back and tied it into a ponytail to keep it from potentially falling into her work.
“Now, death! Let’s get to work.”
Though Finé’s spirit was unable to speak to Kirika any longer, the eternal priestess smiled as she felt the heat of determination flare up in the girl’s mind. The orange flare of these positive emotions burned out from behind the wall of positive emotions that she had been forced to build in order to keep this girl’s mind from collapsing under the burden that Finé had forced upon her.
“Your name is Phara, right?” Kirika looked at the woman in the green garb. “I’m going to search for the ingredients I need. Can you find the largest jar in the room, death?”
“My master ordered me to assist you, so your wish is my command.” Phara bowed, though a scowl crossed her face for just a moment.

 Meanwhile, Carol laid Chris down on the oak table and the red and white tablecloth draped over it. The girl’s breathing was unsteady, her chest falling and raising only the slightest as she clung onto life.
The Symphogear of Ichaival had been forcibly deactivated when Miku had stabbed Chris, and thus the girl wore the now-bloodstained uniform of Lydian Private Music Academy. Yatsuhiro turned away as Carol crudely tore open the uniform, revealing the grisly wound she had suffered–and the light fabric that covered up the young woman’s otherwise-bare chest.
“So, government official, where is the girl being held?” Carol was only eyeing the wound for now, but her eyes did not even deign to glance in the direction of Yatsuhiro Kazanari as she inquired.
“Serena Cadenzavna Eve... she is a foreigner who has no documents relating to her arrival in Japan. Furthermore, an official death certificate from the United States was issued for her. Additionally, her body contains advanced technology connected to a relic whose existence was undocumented by our government. Because of this, we had to transfer her to the most top-secret facility under close watch.”
“Get to the point, government official.” Now Carol had begun her work by forming a red rune atop the girl’s body–a flame, to keep her body warm and cauterize the wound.
“Right, my apologies. She is located in the remains of the old Sector Two headquarters, in the deepest vault where we had stored all of the relics.” Yatsuhiro explained. “She–and Hibiki Tachibana–are both being kept at the base of Kadingir.”
“Hibiki Tachibana.” Carol pondered that name as she worked, pulling tools out of thin air as she attempted to perform surgery on Chris. “That name popped up in the information I had been given, yes. Like this Miku Kohinata girl, she could be considered the first example of a human-relic fusion.”
“The information you had been given.” Yatsuhiro repeated. “May I inquire as to how you came about this top secret intelligence?”
“I’m sure you’re quite aware of the organization my acquaintance belongs to.” Carol mumbled. “Though I would even hesitate to call her an acquaintance.”
“The Bavarian Illuminati.”
“Correct.”
Chris’s body convulsed as Carol worked, and the alchemist put a hand over her face as if to hide her vision. Almost as if on cue, the girl fell to sleep–likely a work of the magical science that Carol was versed in.

 “Tell me something else, government official.” Carol hissed. “How do you know of my papa?”
“Izak Malus Dienheim.” Yatsuhiro simply spoke the name, and Carol nodded in response. “His name came up in our research into the Illuminati.”
“Into alchemy, more likely.” Carol corrected, but–though she could not see him–Yatsuhiro shook his head.
“Both, actually.”
“Both? My father died before the formation of the Illuminati.” Carol was surprised, but her reaction was subdued by the fact that the whole of her concentration was focused on trying to make good on her promise to save Chris.
“Adam Weishaupt established the precursor to his secret society, the Illuminati, in 1776–the Perfectibilist–alongside four of his law students. However, one report about the group from one of the students’ journals described the group’s members as six at this time–counting Weishaupt, only five are known to history.
“Additionally, each of the Perfectibilist members took on different aliases: Weishaupt became Spartacus and his four students became Ajax, Agathon, Tiberius and Erasmus Roterodamus. However, the same journal also references an ‘enlightened soul without a name or face, whom Spartacus said climbed up from the fires of hell.’”
“A member without an alias.” Carol clarified.
“The journal, of course, was heavily aged and had several pages missing; what remained had been in the care of a European museum, and one of my men went out personally to read its contents.”
“And you came to the conclusion that my father was this man? Despite his earlier death?”
“Your father’s... death is catalogued in history.” Yatsuhiro continued. “If we were to take these words at face value, then...”
“A man who defied a death at the hands of scorching flames.” Carol was splitting her focus between this conversation and the girl before her, though she truthfully only wanted to focus on the former.
“There is more.” Yatsuhiro continued. “Something that truly establishes a connection between this unknown man and your father.”
Carol raised her eyebrow. “Go on...”

 Gritting her teeth, Carol stood back, ending that conversation with a silent gesture. It had been some time now since she began trying to keep Chris from departing into the realm of phantoms, and, while the girl’s condition had bettered, she was still being dutifully watched by the eyes of the grim reaper.
“This...” Carol clicked her tongue with a whisper, then spoke loudly. “Garie’s work here is certainly making my life difficult. I worry that this girl may not survive, even with my work.”

 “I’m done, death!”
Some time later, Kirika ran into the room with a sparkle in her eyes and a large smile plastered over her face. “I even managed to make it stronger than the original! I think.”
Phara followed close behind, a jar of shining orange liquid in her hands.
Yatsuhiro turned towards the small girl with a nod as she pulled out the band holding her hair back. “Excellent work. Unfortunately, work here is still ongoing.”
Carol pinched her lips tight as she looked down upon the body laying on the table. Most of the blood from the surrounding area had been cleaned up, but her chest was still drowning in a crimson sea. When she turned to face Kirika, the chilly glare in the alchemist’s eyes caused the other girl to flinch back.
“I’ll send you back.” Carol spat. Then, eyeing Yasuhiro, she continued. “Shall I send you to the others, as well, government official?”
“Yes. I suppose our conversation has ended. If your Autoscorers are capable of travelling to this place...”
Phara interrupted. “We are.”
“Then, Autoscorer, would you accompany me on making good on my end of this deal of ours? To bring Serena Cadenzavna Eve back to this location.”
“That would be appreciated.” Carol yawned before matching Kirika’s eyeline. “As for you, Kirika Akatsuki, I would like to speak with you again in the future. You possess the knowledge of a figure well-known in the field of alchemy, after all.”
“Um. Okay, I guess.” Kirika did not know how to respond entirely. “I want to talk to you, too, death.”
“Death.” Carol mumbled as she lowered her brow. “What an interesting verbal tic.”

. . .

 Kanade stood next to Leiur on the roof of a building. She was not clad in her Symphogear at the moment, and instead binoculars hung from her neck. Below her, in the destruction left in the wake of Batara Kala, Tsubasa was engaged in an army of Noise that the beast released whenever she roared.
Yumi stood on another building a short distance away, with Garie by her side, keeping an eye on Shirabe as she, too, combated more of the technicolour beasts. Maria was also down in battle elsewhere, being watched from on-high solely by Ogawa.
“I must admit, their techniques do leave quite an impact.” Leiur commented from her position beside Kanade.
“You guys aren’t half bad yourself.” Kanade muttered, remembering the techniques that the Autoscorers used against her.
“If only our master had imbued us with the power to fight Noise. As it stands...” Leiur cupped her chin, falling silent.
The Autoscorer pondered for a second before leaping off, jumping down to a nearby building and quickly rushing up over to her icy blue sister. Kanade, from her perch elsewhere, could obviously not hear the conversation that they engaged in, but Yumi seemed quite interested.
“What are they doing over there?” Kanade wondered aloud.
“Everyone, can you hear me? Tsubasa, Shirabe, you too?” Yumi’s voice cackled through the headset that she was wearing. She gave no time to answer, however, as she continued to speak. “The Autoscorers are going to test a theory. Can you attempt to pull together your groups?”
“What kind of theory are we talking about?” Ogawa’s voice crackled.
But Tsubasa seemed to catch on to what they were getting at. “Their imitation Noise, yes? They want to see if their Noise can touch the real thing.”
“That’s right!” Yumi’s smile was visible even from a distance.
Shirabe’s voice cut in. “Very well. Kazanari, I’m heading your way.”

*Futatsu musubi no rondo oshioki no sutāto*
*Barabara ni shite ageru no*
*Seigi no inisharaizu*

*Miseijuku na hāto-goto butsuketa tekitaishin*
*Ikiba no nai borutēji kakushita tiāzu*

 Shirabe encircled herself within a large pink wheel as she cut through the crowd of Noise that only continued to expand out through the streets–and the remains of collapsed buildings–like a multicoloured sea.
Holding small pink yo-yos in each fist, Shirabe drove the wheel off of a piece of debris and flew into the air. As the wheel disengaged during her flight, Shirabe threw out her bladed yo-yos down towards the ground to tear up the ground–and the Noise–waiting below her.
Crashing into the ground like a pink meteorite, Shirabe landed on the cement with a shock, her head rattling as the impact sent waves throughout her entire body. Tsubasa, seeing her descent, appeared in the same area, cutting through the Noise in her way with a tornado of blades as she spun like a top.
“Excellent work, Tsukuyomi.” Tsubasa nodded upon uniting with the fellow Symphogear wielder. She had managed to survive throughout an onslaught of Noise despite three months of inactivity and a Symphogear that had not been upgraded–that was something that Tsubasa couldn’t help but praise.
“We’re doing well.” Shirabe smiled, responding with her own praise.
“Alright, we’re coming down now~” Garie’s voice screeched in the girls’ ears, and they couldn’t help but cringe at the shrill sound stabbing their brains.
“Give me that.” They heard, albeit quietly, the voice of Yumi, apparently trying to wrestle back the headpiece that the Autoscorer had taken from her. The chuckle of Garie then resounded through the speakers as she tossed the technology back to its rightful owner.

. . .

 Genjuro watched from a monitor back at the submarine he had outfitted to be used by Sector Two before its disbandment–and since repaired after the events of three months ago. Kuriyo and Shiori sat at the stations that Tomosato and Fujitaka would normally be manning, though the former was currently en route to rescue the latter from Frontier via helicopter.
The monitor in front of them was split up into multiple different camera angles. Miku–Batara Kala–was front and centre, with the battles being fought by Tsubasa, Maria, and Shirabe–and now the Autoscorers–surrounding it. The fifth spot in this collage showed what remained of the Kazanari residence, in case Yatsuhiro and the others returned.
“If I’m reading this right,” Kuriyo tilted her head. “It seems like the amount of Noise just increased again.”
“Those are the Autoscorers’ Noise.” Shiori added, glancing up at the monitor to confirm her suspicions. Indeed, Leiur and Garie now danced among the crowd of Noise around Shirabe and Tsubasa, their Alca-Noise able to damage the real things.
“Poor Maria, though. She’s been separated from them.” Kuriyo tapped on the keyboard in front of her, and a map was brought up on the small screen glowing onto her face. “But where do you think Miku’s going?”
“She does seem to be rampaging about randomly, yes.” Genjuro agreed.
In the twenty minutes since they had reached the submarine, Batara Kala’s path seemed to snake through the city in a zig-zag, but that was more a result of the terrain than anything else. Originally they had assumed Kadingir or Frontier to be her destination, but currently she was walking in the opposite direction.
“It’s almost like she’s confused about what’s going on, too.” Kuriyo muttered.
“Carol said that the relics inside of her have the power to destroy the world.” Shiori nodded. “But, outside of summoning Noise, she hasn’t seemed to use any of their powers.”
“Is it possible she can’t?” Ogawa offered a solution. The group had been, of course, broadcasting their entire conversation to their allies in case anything came up unexpectedly.
“Even using one Symphogear can put a large amount of strain on your body.” Kanade chimed in. “But she’d been using Ver’s armour effortlessly this whole time–or that’s what it looked like.”
“There must have been some power source...” Tsubasa wondered aloud.
“Memories.” Shirabe offered, sucking the air out of the conversation. “I believe the Autoscorers and Carol mentioned that they were using memories as a power source.”
“So she was trading away her memories to make use of the different relics?” Kuriyo was shocked.
On the screen above Shiori and Kuriyo, Genjuro saw Shirabe rip off her earpiece and hand it over to Leiur. A second later, the Autoscorer’s calm voice echoed into the submarine.
“In the most simple terms, the human brain logs and vaults many memories within their subconscious, often to free room from your consciousness in order to create new ones. As you also create copies of old memories every time you remember one, you can see how difficult it would be for your brain to keep track of so much data all at once.” She spun out of the way as a frog-like Noise descended from the air, only to explode as one of Shirabe’s sawblades cut through it. “Your friend may have been sacrificing her memories without even being aware of it, as she didn’t sacrifice any recent or important ones.”
Garie’s voice cut in on the conversation. As she had disappeared from the monitors, it was safe to assume that she had returned to Yumi’s side and procured the girl’s headset once more. “Those memories don’t generate much power though–the electrical currents they provide are weak, basically useless. The stronger, more emotional a memory is, the more useful it becomes. So there’s a very high chance that she was only using the bare minimum strength of her power by sacrificing memories removed from her waking mind.”
“Which, in itself, is quite impressive.” Leiur nodded. “I took one of her attacks, and only barely managed to protect myself from it in a way that left me unscathed. There’s no doubt she possessed the power of a nuclear warhead, at the very least.”
Kanade hummed as she thought about the theory being presented, but it was quiet enough that it did not get picked up by the microphone. “This is all assuming your theory is correct, though. Not to mention, it doesn’t exactly explain where she’s heading now.”
“No, it does.” Leiur tapped her chin as she threw out coin walls to block incoming Noise. “If she needs to use up memories to power the relics within her, then she may be trying to dredge up the strongest one she has in her subconscious–or, just any emotional ones that she is willing to sacrifice.”
“Smells are especially useful for that.” Garie pushed her palm into a complaining Yumi’s face to keep her away, though this battle over the headset was an unknown event to the others. “Tastes, sights, sounds... really, anything can be used to help someone remember.”
“Emotional memories that she is willing to sacrifice...” Genjuro closed his eyes, thinking back to the file he had read on the girl even before he had met her.
“Her parents.” Shiori’s eyes flashed open. “She mentioned before that her parents died. She could be looking for the house she lived in with them, though might be a bit confused because of her current condition.”
Kuriyo didn’t seem convinced though. “If I were Miku, what would I want to forget...” She drummed her fingers on the console in front of her as she found the answer. “Oh... of course.”
“Yeah, I think I know what you’re getting at.” Shiori put her hand to her mouth.
“The scene of Hibiki Tachibana’s death.” Genjuro nodded.

 Tsubasa cut down a Noise in front of her. “Getting Kohinata to the ocean would be preferable as she’d have little else to damage.” She grunted, though, knowing the downside to that plan. “Though we’d have no way to combat her effectively.”
Maria, breathing heavily as she struggled to fight alone against the enemies that kept appearing around her, finally decided now was the right time to engage in this conversation. “So we need to stop her before she reaches the ocean.”
“Considering her current path...” Kuriyo muttered. “It’s impossible to tell which coast she wants to get to. She’s moving away from the nearest one, now.”
“Ideally,” Ogawa added. “It’d also be best to keep her away from Frontier. Just in case.”
Gesturing back for the headpiece she lent out, Shirabe re-affixed it to her ear as Leiur tossed it to the wielder of Shul Shagana. “Can we have the SDF distract her?”
Genjuro’s eyes went wide at the suggestion. He had been wondering why they had yet to engage the monster threatening the country, though he imagined the Noise it generated may have been part of the reason.
“We could always just use what we have at our disposal.” Kanade smiled. “After all, there’s a perfectly good cannon that Miku’s got some strong memories of. If we, instead, lure her there...”
“Kanade,” Tsubasa’s curt voice cut through the girl’s enthusiasm. “The idea is to keep her generating the theorized power source.”
“Oh, sorry, guess I forgot to mention my other theory, then?”
“Yes.”
“If she wants to cling onto any memories, they’re probably ones of Hibiki. So, if we just have her use up the strong ones–protecting the world from harm–until those are the only ones left, then...”
“Are you aware of what you’re suggesting, Kanade?” Genjuro and Tsubasa both shouted.
“Yes, I do. Living with trauma can make you stronger, but that’s not a rule. Miku has only suffered time and time again for all of these years. I think, if forgetting will finally bring her some sort of peace, then it’s what’s best for her.”
“I agree.” Shiori slammed the console. “Though it pains me to admit it, I think having Miku forget is the best course of action. I know, for sure, she won’t forget Hibiki–or the rest of us–in the process; I believe we’ve etched our names in her heart by now.”
“If you say so.” Kuriyo muttered. “I don’t know. It seems like a gamble.”
“Either way,” Garie chuckled. “It’s not like we can turn her back to normal until master returns. Buying time’s all that we need to do right now. If it works, it works. If not, then we’ll have to try something else.”
“You all do realize you are just casually putting the planet on the line, here, right?” Maria sighed, though it was impossible to tell whether it was due to her reaction to the others’ decisions or a result of the strain that Airgetlám was placing upon her. “Very well. Let’s try it, I suppose.”
“Right.” Tsubasa agreed.
“We’ll need someone to continue combating the Noise while we attempt to figure out how to activate Kadingir.”
“I know how to.” Maria gasped. “And I desperately need a break.”

#### GX Chapter 15

 The first thing that Yatsuhiro Kazanari realized was that he and his two associates were now standing in the summer heat, the sun scorching them and the ruins of the Kazanari mansion they now stood within equally. The second thing that the government official realized was the sound of his cell phone’s ring, which seemed to begin crying out at the exact moment they had been teleported from Carol’s abode.
Once Yatsuhiro fished his screaming device from the coat of his blazer, he placed it to his ear. Before even a greeting could escape his lips, the loud voice of his brother boomed through the device’s small speaker.
“Brother, we need that LiNKER ASAP. I’m sending a helicopter over to bring you and the others to Kadingir.”
“Kadingir? What a coincidence, that’s just where I needed to go. How did you know?”
Genjuro made a strange noise, as if confused. “Uh? No, we’re planning on using the cannon to keep Kohinata focused on a single location and limit further destruction.”
“Of course.” Genjuro shook his head, ashamed of himself for thinking that his brother had managed to see into the future and read into his plans.

. . .

 Their breathing steady, the hearts of Tsubasa and Shirabe were beating in sync as they focused on their targets. They had rescued Maria and escorted her to safety; though Shirabe, too, was struggling under the stress of the Symphogear she was not naturally capable of using, the small girl asserted her desire to help despite the risks–and protests.
Cold sweat boiled upon Shirabe’s forehead. Though her chest was rising and falling at a natural rate, every breath that the young girl felt as though she were breathing through a murky soup, water filling her lungs as she tried to focus on killing the Noise that Batara Kala was releasing at an increased rate.

*Kono michi wo kake agaru wake*
*Tatoe gyakufū ga purotekuto shite kitatte*
*“Kanade au” koto wasurezu susumi yukō*
*Ushinatte kara kidzuku namida wa mujō no kiwami dakara*

*“Dokomade mo yukeru mienai tsubasa ni kidzukeba”*
*Ten ni matta kotonoha tachi*
*Uketsuide mae mukō*
*Kabe wo koe sono saki no yūki ni tsunagō*

 It was like a dance as the two Symphogear wielders spun around each other, their Armed Gears slicing through the multicoloured beasts that encroached upon the opposite girl. Gliding over the misshapen earth, Shirabe’s yo-yo curled around Tsubasa as the latter flew like a thrown dart through lines of enemies.

 The two were not alone on this battlefield: the golden Autoscorer, Leiur, fought alongside them. Or rather, the alchemical Noise clones she created–Alca-Noise–wrestled with their original counterparts, pushing each other around as they, likewise, took on damage. Tsubasa and Shirabe did not care–nor were able–to distinguish between the two types, and instead only worked to cut down any foe in their way. Leiur did not care, however, summoning more whenever her goons shattered into light.
However, Leiur, being the only one of the three not needing to sing during battle, also served another role for the other two girls.
“We’ve rendezvoused with Yatsuhiro’s team at Kadingir. Tomosato is en route to your location now, and will be ready to extract you once we activate the cannon.”
Leiur now served as the only one of the three who was able to retain contact with Genjuro Kazanari, who served as the leader of this operation. She wore the headset that Shirabe had been given before–meaning the wielder of Shul Shagana could not receive the information–while Tsubasa’s had been damaged by a Noise’s attack.
“Understood.” Leiur replied. “I’ll pass along the inform–”
The rest of Leiur’s comment was lost as a loud scream pierced the skies. It was not uncommon to hear Batara Kala screech out–they had learned, over the course of the battle, that she did so whenever more Noise was spawning–but it was still jarring to each of the combatants every time. Part of the reason why was that the roar disrupted both the technology that the humans used to communicate, and the internal systems keeping the Autoscorers active.
Leiur grunted as her focused returned to the situation at hand. “I’ll tell them.”

 Stomping the ground to release a crystal beneath her, Leiur launched herself into the sky. Transforming into a flip, the Autoscorer summoned Alca-Noise around her as she began to descend. The rainbow storm descended upon the kaleidoscope of similar beasts below, beginning their attack to give Shirabe and Tsubasa a short moment of respite.
Leiur landed in the spot that had been cleared by her minions, and the two Symphogear wielders immediately flocked to her side as they knew her appearance meant new information.
“Once Kadingir is activated, we’re to be extracted by helicopter.” Leiur announced for the two warriors to only nod in response as their singing refused to cease.

 The roar of Batara Kala hounded their senses again, but this time the three stopped. It was not the same bestial cry that they had heard countless times before. No, this sounded more distinctly human, like a demon screaming out in anger.
While Leiur’s words did not elicit a verbal reaction from either of the Symphogear wielders, the two were unable to keep the song in their hearts from pausing momentarily.
“That sounded...” Shirabe muttered with wide eyes. “Human?”
“Do you suppose,” Tsubasa, not pausing as she slashed her blade through the forms of Noise. “That Kohinata found something to stimulate the memories she needed?”
“I wish to confirm something.” Leiur commented coolly, her gaze lowering. “It was only speculation on our part that your government had ordered an evacuation, correct?”
Shirabe and Tsubasa’s eyes bulged out of their skulls as they glanced towards each other in horror. They had been fighting under the assumption that the streets were clear because everyone had evacuated in time–a mistake, given the flood of Noise filling every possible crevice.
“You don’t think...”

. . .

 A man with sandy hair looked up as fear gripped his heart. The siren that warned of a Noise attack had sounded, calling for evacuation, though he had not expected to see a giant black beast lumbering through the streets, pushing holes in the buildings that towered up to pierce the sky around him.
He was a worker that hung on to the lowest rung of the corporate ladder, living on nothing but the crumbs that he had been the one to drop for others several years ago. The sad man’s life had been thrown into chaos after a certain event that rocked his entire family, and he had yet to set order.
And, because he had to do everything in his power to appease those who lorded over him, the man was forced to lock up the convenience store he worked at, as if there was no threat literally looming over him.

 “You!”
The dark black visage of the giant beast looked down upon this man and screamed. Despite it looking like a beast, the cry that emanated from its crooked mouth filled with onyx stalactites was distinctly human.
As the sharpened claws of fear as cold as space itself gripped at this man’s heart, he knew that the monster was gazing at him intentionally and that its cry was meant for him.
The sharpened claw of the monster reached down for the man, but his feet felt heavy. He wanted to move his legs, to dodge out of the way, but he could not as the sludge of fear glued him to his spot.
His clothing felt warm, particularly in the chaps of his pants, as the giant palm cupped itself around the man who began to scream for his life. He struggled, but the strength of the monster overpowered him tenfold.
“What do you want from me?” He cried in vain. Though the monster’s cry sounded human, he worried that it was not able to understand the Japanese he shouted.
“You!” The beast roared again, but this time it felt desperate instead of angry.

 As the beast’s hand crushed the man’s bones, he felt no pain despite the popping of bubbles he felt ripple through his body. Every bit of this man’s attention was focused on the fear he felt as he looked into the black void that was the monster’s face.
Then, to pierce his body with an even more deadly terror, the beast screamed once more as its body began to glow. No longer did the man stare into a black void, the glow seemed to creep into the darkness and, in seconds, eyes appeared to stare back at him.
The eyes that the man looked into were vaguely familiar. The large, teal green eyes that appeared before him seemed to belong to a girl he had forgotten about when his family pushed him away.
“Your eyes...” The man remembered the name of the girl who they reminded him of. “Kohinata, right?”
The beast screeched, its voice high and shrill. Though no words were discernible, the man could tell that the monster was confirming his suspicions. As the loud voice was carried up to the heavens, the mask of the eyes that had appeared on the monster’s face dissipated like fog, the murky darkness replacing it in seconds.
“Hi...bi...ki...” The monster slowly bellowed out three syllables, struggling to speak with the twisted mouth it possessed.
“Hibiki?” The man’s eyes lit up in recognition. “So... it is you, Kohinata.”
The man recognized the name ‘Hibiki,’ of course, for he had given it to his daughter sixteen years prior. The young girl, whom he had not seen in over a year now, had been friends with a girl just as kind as she–a girl whom she had been inseparable from–named Miku Kohinata.
As a young child, his daughter had worn a goofy smile as she always ran about. The reckless child very rarely thought about the consequences of her actions, and she would often come home roughed up–with her worried friend by her side, chastising her nature.
The man had forgotten those memories over the past year, replaced with the dark glare of disgust that she had given him in the last seconds he possessed the right to address himself as her father, Akira Tachibana.
“Hibi...ki...” The beast that Akira Tachibana–now Akira Morisaki–identified as Miku Kohinata repeated the name of her best friend. Though she lacked eyes, he could sense a burning hatred behind an unseen glare pointed in his direction as she continued. “Dead.”
“Dead?” Akira was taken aback. “Hibiki’s dead?”
The beast seemed to nod slowly, though Akira was not able to tell what the motion was as he, too, was shaken around in the beast’s hand. He stifled the vomit rising from his throat as dizziness claimed him.
“I... kill...” Miku screamed at Akira, his eyes growing wide despite the sickness growing in the pit of his stomach.
“You... killed... Hibiki...?”
Miku screeched again, seemingly affirming the thought that he had had.
“You killed my daughter?”
This time, Miku did not scream a response. As Akira’s blood ran cold, he saw a colourful glow surround the monster again, this time even surrounding the man. The freezing of worry that the man felt overpowered the fear from the situation and the pain from his shattered body.
“Daugh...ter?” Miku’s monstrous voice rumbled. Then, she repeated the word, clearly angry. “Daughter?”
The glow seemed to surround Miku’s head, transforming it into the familiar face of the girl whom his daughter had been close friends with. He gasped, seeing the entire appearance of the girl he had pushed out of his mind, a strange sense of nostalgia bubbling within him.
Then, from the fake face before him, came a very clear voice–the female voice of Miku Kohinata that he remembered. Her hollow glare focused on Akira as she tensed her fist harder, and only now did the man feel the pain filling his body. “Don’t call her your daughter!”
The shrill voice echoed out into infinity as the mask faded back into the black void. Akira felt nauseous as the fist trapping him shook heavily.

 In the next moments, Akira felt a weight being lifted from his shoulders–or rather, a weight being lifted from around his entire body. As his gaze was cast downwards, Akira no longer saw a black claw ensnaring him, but rather the ground rushing fast beneath him like a treadmill.
“Wha...?”
Akira looked back towards the monster, who was quickly disappearing as he passed below the horizon. The girl–Miku Kohinata–was now flailing about, a powerful red glow encompassing her like a cocoon, as she seemingly swatted at flies.
The man, the father of Hibiki Tachibana, was now flying away having been thrown by the giant creature who hailed from his memories. Wind batted Akira’s face as the ground ran below him at a high speed, but, contrarily, his mind was completely still.
He had no idea that he had been thrown by Batara Kala, the beast that Miku Kohinata had become. No, Akira’s brain was still trying to comprehend what the monster told him.
Hibiki was dead. His daughter was dead–killed by the friend who was always by her side.
“What?” Akira’s voice was hoarse as it was lost to the sound of air slashing at his ears.
Even as he began to descend, the ground growing larger in his vision, the man felt only confusion. The emotions that should have been invading his brain–fear, sadness, anger, pain–were nowhere to be seen. His heart had been toyed with in a malicious way over the course of mere minutes as he first feared for his life, then felt the confusion and despair of learning about his daughter’s death.
As the small human bug smashed against the shield of the earth, the man did not completely comprehend the situation unfolding around him.
In his final breath, Akira called out the name that he had bestowed upon the girl he called his daughter.

. . .

 Yatsuhiro, Phara, and Maria marched down into the depths of the old Sector Two headquarters. A year ago, this had been the most closely-guarded secret–a research laboratory located beneath the site of Lydian Private Music Academy–but it had since fallen into disrepair after Kadingir destroyed it.
“This is ‘the most top-secret facility?’” Phara asked the official she walked alongside. Looking at the number of corridors blocked off by rubble, the Autoscorer had a hard time imagining that this even fit the definition of ‘facility.’
“So you heard that?” Yatsuhiro sighed. “This facility did fit that description, some time ago. Its destruction by the rise of Kadingir is actually the reason why we chose to keep the two here.”
Maria picked up on the insinuation. “No one would think to look in a decrepit, clearly-abandoned facility, even if they did manage to find its location.”
“Indeed. Luckily, the vault even further beneath the ground was mostly undamaged, so we managed to keep a connection secure to keep an eye on the small research team we had stationed there.”
“There are still people working down here?” Maria asked, flabbergasted.
“We send supplies down here weekly, and allow any workers who may be suffering from claustrophobia to return to the surface and be replaced with others. We treat our employees as well as possible, even in situations such as these where others may see work such as this as a punishment.”
“I suppose,” Maria shook her head, utterly astonished about the conditions that the people working under Yasuhiro had to work in. “I should at least be grateful to them, for keeping my sister safe all of this time.”
“Save such emotions for my master,” Phara cracked a sinister grin. “Once she awakens the girl, that is.”

 Yatsuhiro shook his head. “Are you sure you don’t wish for us to assist you?” He asked Maria, who began to walk down a separate corridor to the one that he and Phara were planning to go down.
“If you’re worried about me running away from this situation, or my past connections to the American government and a terror...” Maria sighed as she began to ramble, but Yatsuhiro quickly shot them down.
“No. Truthfully, had it been up to me, the three of you would never have even been imprisoned. To me–and to my brother, I’m sure–you and your friends are nothing but young girls who have been through much trauma.” Yatsuhiro smiled, one filled with sadness. “I care about you–all of you Symphogear wielders–almost as much as I do my own daughter.”
Maria flashed her own small grin in response. “I’m glad to hear that, sir.”
“So, again, are you sure you do not wish for us to accompany you, at least, to the control panel of Kadingir?”
“No, it’s fine.” Maria held up her hand as she began to spin around. Though the action did make Yatsuhiro think that she was determined to help to the best of her abilities–and as soon as possible–the true reason for Maria hiding her face from view as so that her two allies could not see the fear that loomed in her eyes. “I’ll see you both, and my sister, soon.”
Not waiting for a response, the woman began to walk away from the government official and his Autoscorer companion. She did not hear his footsteps for a few more moments, not until her own had echoed exclusively for several minutes.
Maria had the path to her destination memorized, despite only walking it once before. In her mind, she sang a familiar song long passed down the history of her family, not aware that the words were quietly being hummed beneath her breath.

*Ringo wa ukanda osora ni…*
*Ringo wa okkochita jibeta ni…*

*Hoshi ga umarete uta ga umarete*
*Ruru ameru wa waratta tokoshie to*
*Hoshi ga kisu shite uta ga nemutte*

*Kaeru toko wa doko deshō…?*
*Kaeru toko wa doko deshō…?*

*Ringo wa okkochita jibeta ni…*
*Ringo wa ukanda osora ni…*

 The intent of the song was to calm the nerves shaking her heart like a maraca, but this tune did nothing of the sort. Of course, the fear came not from the surroundings nor the weight of the incident that Maria Cadenzavna Eve now found herself a part of, but for the way that Kadingir was activated–or, more specifically, the secondary function of the particle ion cannon that Finé had developed over the centuries.
In order to activate the secondary function, one needed to imbue the weapon with an incredible amount of power–a power that the Symphogear wielders could gain access to in exchange for their lives.
Asking Kirika not to accompany her, and shooing away Yatsuhiro and Phara may as well have been suicide to Maria, as the use of the Superb Song almost guaranteed her death.
But she had a feeling that she would be fine. The faint light of hope burned in the chest of Maria Cadenzavna Eve. She had finally been reunited with Kirika Akatsuki, and her beloved sister soon would be back by her side. Alongside Shirabe, the four girls would finally be able to be together, free from the chains that had been binding them all this time.
The peace that Maria had been hoping for–that they all had been desperately reaching out towards–was finally within reach.
She could not afford to die now, and she had no intention of doing so.

. . .

 “Auto... no, Phara, do you perhaps have some way of peacefully incapacitating people? Without harming them, I stress.”
As Yatsuhiro and Phara reached the elevator, the older man’s voice raised a sudden question, breaking the silence that had hung between the two since Maria’s departure. The sudden ask piqued Phara’s interest, and she did not hesitate to provide an answer.
“Naturally. Although I possess the ability to hide my presence so I rarely do so.” Phara smiled as the elevator door opened. “Do you wish for me to knock out the scientists working below?”
“Yes. It would be incredibly difficult to explain to them why their boss is kidnapping one of the two people he stressed should never be mentioned to anyone.”
“Ah, but a kidnapping from a third party would make far less trouble for you.” Phara understood. “So I take it you’ll remain up here, out of sight?”
“I’m glad you understand. I do wish to check up on Maria, after all.” Yatsuhiro shook his head. “Something in her expression weighs on my mind.”
Yatsuhiro reached into his pocket to retrieve a card. Seeing this, Phara held out her hand as a wild grin spread across her face. “No. If you wish for this to be a genuine ‘kidnapping,’ then we’ll need to dress up the scene.”
“Just... don’t destroy the elevator completely. We will need to extract the team, after all.”
Sending Phara off with a wave, Yatsuhiro felt a chain of worry constrict his brain as he began to walk away, the sound of a loud crack exploding in his wake. “I suppose I must come up with a Plan B, then.” He muttered with a sigh, retracing his steps to where he had separated with Maria.

. . .

 Phara had been sent on the task of retrieving Serena; Garie had left with Tsubasa and the others to travel to Frontier; and Leiur was fighting alongside Tsubasa and Shirabe as they now made their way away from the area that had been assigned to them, and instead towards the giant lumbering form of Batara Kala.
The fourth Autoscorer was a red-haired, battle-hungry girl named Micha Jawkān, whose actions were uncontrollable. Even though she knew she was unable to actually combat the Noise that appeared before her, Micha was the first to experiment with the idea of having Alca-Noise fight on her behalf–something she greatly disliked–while she focused her attention entirely on Batara Kala.
Watching the beast reach down towards the ground and pick up a human, Micha dashed between the monster’s legs. She had no interest in the sad, sandy-haired man who had been taken by the shadowy claw, and rather saw his capture as an opening.
Batara Kala had not even once acknowledged Micha’s desperate attempts to attack the large form–its bellowing out of Noise, which Micha had assumed was her fault at first, ended up being related something that the monster just randomly happened to do.

 As the large hand lifted the man up to its eyeline, the Autoscorer jumped up and latched itself to the beast’s leg, stabbing her knife-like fingers into the dark skin; and, again, the monster did not react.
“Fight me!” Micha screamed as she attempted to scale the beast. “Fight! Me!”
Her cries were desperate, like a child wanting the attention of a parent, but Micha’s tone was harsh. More than anything, she wanted to see the giant beast’s skills in combat–that, after all, was the sole reason for Micha’s existence.
Digging the claws of her opposite hand into the beast’s leg, the attack once again was completely ignored by Batara Kala. Frustrated, Micha stabbed her arm into the monster again and again, the same cry escaping her lips desperately.
“Oh?” Micha’s annoyed tone fell away for just a moment as the beast finally reacted–though the Autoscorer was not aware the reaction was not her fault.
The beast’s body began to glow, if only for a short moment, and Micha immediately felt glee well up in the mechanical heart that sat within her heart.
“Finally! Finally, you realize I’m here!” Micha was ecstatic–completely unaware that Batara Kala’s reactions were a result of Miku’s hatred for the man in her grasp peeking through the clouds that now suffocated her mind.
The knives that Micha cracked through the beast’s skin stabbed once more, the rate of which increased as excitement exploded through her. “Come on! Fight me, monster!” She chanted.
Again, the body of the monster began to glow. The sight should have been beautiful, but Micha had not a single worry in her mind as the faint light even swallowed her up–to the excited Autoscorer, Micha only took this as a sign that her attacks, as weak as they were against the giant, were working.

 Her emotions invading and usurping logic, Micha was shocked as she suddenly found herself pulled away from the monster. “What?” She wondered aloud, her eyes wide as the girl’s mechanical body flew back towards the ground.
Micha had been completely blinded by her passion for battle that she had failed to hear her name being called out from below, or the rope being tied around her. She looked down in surprise now at the sensation of the thin string digging through the large pink shirt she wore.
“So you finally realized we were here.” That was a voice familiar to Micha–it belonged to her sister, the second-eldest of the four Autoscorers (after her): Leiur Darāhim.
“Leiur! What are you doing?” Micha cried out, ignoring the two who stood by her side. This included Shirabe, the one responsible for trying the Autoscorer up with one of her yo-yos.
“Your attacks are not making an impact upon the beast’s hide, you realize.” Leiur said with narrowed eyes. “Or, am I mistaken about that?”
“But she was glowing!” Micha protested as she crashed down onto the ground in a huff. She shook her arms as Shirabe’s yo-yo string let her go, a childish fury crossing her face.
“Yes. Her head... it was changing form.” Tsubasa glared at the girl. “It appears that Kohinata’s mind may not have been fully usurped–at least not yet.”
“Poor man.” Shirabe said. Despite her sad words, her tone was completely deadpan; not a single hint of emotion poked through the blank veil she wore.
“Yes...” Tsubasa clicked her tongue, looking to the side. Contrasting the stone-faced look of Shirabe, Tsubasa only wore a mask of intense anger–a hatred for her inability to act. She clenched her fist tight as she continued. “If only Yukine were here... we may have been able to save him. I hate being unable to help others. Again.”
“Yes, it’s a shame that unidentified man lost his life.” Leiur brushed the comment off, making it clear that her true thoughts about the incident were the opposite. “Although we can be thankful that he kept the beast’s attention long enough. Everyone else seems to have escaped–and the Noise seems to have stopped appearing for the time being.”
“Well!” Micha stood up, clacking her metallic claws together as if sharpening them. “I just need to attack her more, then!”
“Your attacks are doing nothing, Micha. We must find some better way to damage this beast.” Leiur cupped her chin. “A weak spot, perhaps.”

 On the hill overlooking the city, the image of Kadingir piercing up through the clouds like a spear began to glow a bright white light. At the same time, the girls on the ground looked up to hear the loud sound of a helicopter dancing about the sky.
“Seems like our ride is here.” Tsubasa commented.
Batara Kala–Miku–did not, however, simply just watch the helicopter’s approach. The vehicle tried its best to stay away from the beast, of course, but Batara Kala reached out towards it. Her large foot lifted up, to close the distance between her large black body and the helicopter... and up over the group on the street below.
“Move!” Tsubasa and Shirabe shouted at once, and they all scattered in opposite directions. Leiur teleported out of the shadow that loomed over them, Micha dashed away on all four limbs like a wild animal, Shirabe skated away elegantly, and Tsubasa hopped away like she was performing track and field events.
All four figures, they cleared the area just in time for the foot to crash down upon the ground, sending up a shockwave as Batara Kala stomped her foot against the cement. The force was strong enough to send Micha, the one who had the closest brush with death in that moment, flying, and she crashed through the glass of the nearby convenience store window.
The helicopter descended slightly before moving back, out of Batara Kala’s reach. Leiur, who reappeared within the store by Micha’s side, placed a hand to her ear as she received new information from the pilot of the vehicle above.
“We’ll need to escape this monster’s reach, it seems.” She commented, grabbing Micha by the arm to pull her to her feet. This, however, was a mistake, and the arm just disconnected from Micha’s body.
“That’s not good.” The red-haired Autoscorer commented, though still had a cheerful grin on her face. With her other claw, she reached up towards her arm, and grasped it (loosely) with the paw that lacked proper fingers before reattaching it to her torso with a loud click.
“I’ll make note of that.” Tsubasa appeared by the Autoscorers’ sides as she hopped into the building. “That your limbs can attach and reattach with ease, apparently.”
“It seems we are missing one.” Leiur looked around at the group present in the store.

 Outside, Shirabe surrounded herself in a giant wheel as she raced up the back of Batara Kala with ease. Her head felt pained, as if it were being beaten like a taiko drum, as she focused only on the idea of distracting the monster long enough for Tsubasa to escape.

*Wakaranai kotobatachi atatakai kotobatachi*
*Purotokoru koto natta A.I. no kakusa*

*Shokika shita kanjō wo horiokosu gizensha-tachi*
*Saigo no sekyuriti sae mo nukumori ga hakku suru*

*Arāto mitaku mune utsu nanika*
*Tokuntokun to jama na kurai*
*Mitaiken no hazādo*

 Yet, still, Shirabe sang. Despite the immense pressure her body was feeling under the effects of the Shul Shagana Symphogear, Shirabe felt completely determined to do her part–to protect her friends.
Batara Kala’s large claw flew back as the monster attempted to smash the hot pink bug crawling upon her shadowy skin. Though her hand could not reach Shirabe at her current location, Shirabe still felt the need to slow down in order to safely avoid any threat.
Knowing that distracting Batara Kala was her goal, Shirabe continued to scale up the beast. Now, with yo-yos in her hands, she threw out her weapons to the side, driving the small pink wheels in opposite directions–towards both of the monster’s arms. As a distraction, it worked–Batara Kala’s attention turned away from Shirabe to smash at the areas that Shirabe’s yo-yos ran across. The annoying sense of Shirabe’s attacks continuing, showing that the monster missed her target, Batara Kala roared in frustration.
Shirabe’s sole focus was on distracting Batara Kala–right now, her idea of going through with this was simply to crawl about on the beast’s body, to drive her attention away from the helicopter flying about.
The monster’s arms flew about, trying to smack down upon the Symphogear wielder cutting a trench in her skin with her sawblade wheel. She tried again and again, but every time, Shirabe would just roll her yo-yos out to spread around the sensations and dodge out of the way when the large claws approached.
“Shirabe!”
The voice that called out sounded familiar, causing Shirabe to lose her focus for just a moment. Currently, Shirabe was not wearing a headset, and the helicopter’s blades would have cut off all attempts for someone in the vehicle to shout out to her; thus the voice came from somewhere around her–and somewhere very close.
The voice of Kirika.
The very slight pause was detrimental to Shirabe, as it distracted her long enough for Batara Kala to get the hold she needed.
Shirabe’s eyes widened as the large fingers gripped tight the wheel that Shul Shagana’s wielder had been riding around in, and lifted it off of the gigantic body over fifteen times Shirabe’s height. It startled her–both losing grip on what she was using as ground and the voice of her friend.
And then, she found herself feeling dizzy.

 “Tsukuyomi!?” Tsubasa found herself screaming in shock as she climbed into the helicopter that had landed upon the ground.
Tsubasa, the helicopter’s pilot (Aoi Tomosato), and the two Autoscorers looked on in horror as the pink blade was tossed easily like a disc, cutting through the air as Batara Kala had thrown her towards Kadingir.
“Shit.” Tomosato uttered. “We have to make sure she’s fine.”
“Yes, let’s.” Tsubasa nodded.

. . .

 “Maria!” Yatsuhiro gasped as he made his way to the scene.
What he had found at the control panel of Kadingir was the pink-haired woman, collapsed onto the ground. From her eyes and mouth were thick streams of blood that painted her fair skin.
Yatsuhiro bent down next to the girl, propping up her head. “Are you okay, Maria?”
“Yes.” She gasped, her body trembling slightly. “Kadingir requires power so...”
“You used the Superb Song.” Yatsuhiro nodded. Ignoring the crimson streams coming from her face, the older man slowly pulled the girl up onto his back. “Come on, let’s get you medical attention.”
“Allow me.”
Phara’s voice shocked Yatsuhiro Kazanari, and he very nearly fell over at the sight of the green girl teleporting in beside him. His heart was pounding heavily as he steadied himself, hoping not to let the girl on his back fall to the ground.
“Please,” Yatsuhiro shook his head, exasperated. “Be a little more respectful. You very nearly–”
“Gave you a heart attack?” Phara cracked a crooked smile. Confidently, she gave a suspiciously fake apology, before continuing on. “Let’s get you to my master, girl.”
“Very well.” Yatsuhiro sighed. “If you insist. Though I worry about...”
“Her work on that other girl? Yes, my master’s operation on her is almost complete, I believe.” Phara nodded. “Now then, we’re leaving.”
And once again, Yatsuhiro found himself standing in the entryway of a quaint little cottage.
“You again?” Carol glared at the man who had just appeared, furrowing her brow as she grumbled at the sight of him. “What do you require now?”

. . .

 Shirabe landed in a crash, her sawblade allowing her to soften the impact by cutting into the ground. She was stopped, sticking into the earth like a shuriken in a piece of wood.
The wheel–and the Symphogear–consequently disengaged, and Shirabe found herself collapsing to the ground. Her breathing was shallow, her sweat dampening her entire body. She was confused, dizzy, and increasingly exhausted; her body felt heavier than a blacksmith’s new anvil.
“But what...” Shirabe put her hand to her forehead, feeling her slimy skin beneath her shaking forehead. “Why did I hear Kiri...?”

#### GX Chapter 16

 The helicopter flew high above the city, the roar of the spinning blades echoing as the sound waves bounced around between the buildings below like a tennis ball on a court. Tsubasa Kazanari hung out of the side of this militaristic vehicle, with Leiur by her side. Both of these two looked down at the giant beast lumbering after them, chasing the helicopter they rode in–Batara Kala.
Tsubasa affixed the new earpiece she received from the helicopter’s pilot, allowing her to now hear Aoi Tomosato as she spoke to the two whose eyes were glued to the shadowy monster behind them.
“I believe Tsukuyomi descended around here.” With a glance over her shoulder, Tomosato then continued. “But I don’t think I’ll be able to land safely.”
“Continue to Kadingir.” Leiur ordered. When Tsubasa opened her mouth to denounce that idea, the Autoscorer than continued speaking. “My master took a liking to the girl. I shall find her.”
Tsubasa nodded, satisfied with that outcome, and the robotic woman reciprocated with her own. The woman dressed in gold dove out of the helicopter, head-first and without a parachute, and Tsubasa watched as she quickly flipped around and landed on the street several metres below with a slow flip.
“Sis is a show-off.” The mutter of the red-haired girl whose bored eyes looked out the other side of the helicopter was barely audible to Tsubasa, but she still sensed the disinterest in the posture of Micha Jawkān–the Autoscorer whose only desire was to fight.

 Leiur narrowed her eyes as she stood up out of the crouch she had been forced into upon her landing. Her balance had been shaken slightly, presumably due to the stomping of Batara Kala rumbling the ground around her, and thus Leiur’s landing was far less impactful than she had planned.
“Now then.” The Autoscorer mumbled, scanning the ground.
Signs of destruction followed behind Batara Kala wherever the monster went, but right now Leiur Darāhim was ahead of the monster. The city streets had been evacuated, and now emptied of life; finding a lone girl, who had been tossed like a frisbee, should be a fairly simple task until Batara Kala were to reach Leiur. She had a time limit, and she was going to make use of every second.
The Autoscorer tapped the toe of her pointed black shoe on the ground, sending out small, very weak shock waves that could be compared to mini-earthquakes. Through the power of her earth alchemy, Leiur could essentially transform herself into a reverse-seismograph as she emulated echolocation techniques through the impacts she made; Leiur could sense the objects that absorbed the waves she sent into the earth as if the ground was nothing but a glass window for her to look through.
Leiur closed her eyes to take in the full extent of the scene around her. Making use of this technique was difficult in her current situation as Batara Kala’s steps interrupted her own, but Leiur was still able to make out a small figure laying not too far away from her current position.
“Tsukuyomi.” Leiur nodded, opening her eyes.
She had found her target, but Batara Kala was closing in fast.
Leaping off the ground (and flipping through the air again, elegantly), Leiur rose up onto a nearby building in a single leap–something that would not be physically possible for a human. Doing it again, this time to rise up to an even taller structure that stood tall by this store’s side, Leiur got an aerial view of the destruction that Batara Kala had caused by throwing Shirabe quite a far distance.
A giant slash, like a claw mark, had been carved into the side of a building, shards of glass littering the ground at its base. This mark extended partially into another two, before Shirabe had landed upon the ground. The base of the third building and the road in front of it had been heavily damaged–it was as if a bomb had gone off–and laying in the middle of a spider web of cracks was the unconscious Shirabe Tsukuyomi.
“It is quite lucky that she managed to survive that.” Leiur admired from a distance, before she began to make her way over to her target.

. . .

 “So, you were interested in this, too.” Yatsuhiro nodded, looking at the scene he had been teleported into.
Chris was still sprawled out over the table in a pool of blood, but her chest was rising and falling at a more normal pace than before; but that was not surprising to Yatsuhiro, considering the proposition Carol had given him some time earlier.
Maria, too, was now laying on the ground next to Chris. Her condition was stable, she only required rest at the moment and thus Carol gave her only the minimal amount of attention now. Yatsuhiro had wiped the blood away from her face, but the red traces of life still stained her fair skin slightly.
But Yatsuhiro’s attention was primarily focused on two new objects that Phara had teleported into the room while he backtracked to find Maria. The first of these objects was a bed, in which a girl silently slept. Serena Cadenzavna Eve’s pale skin, sunken in from lack of exercise or actual nutrients beyond an IV drip, shone slightly in the orange lamplight burning down right onto her face, but the girl’s expression was entirely peaceful and undisturbed.
That, however, was not what Yatsuhiro Kazanari had commented about, despite Carol now looking at the small girl’s form. Behind the alchemist was the second object: a giant orange crystal in which a girl wearing a pained expression; like an insect fossilized within an amber stone, Hibiki Tachibana’s frozen grimace stared by at the man.
“Yes. A human-relic hybrid alone is quite fascinating,” Carol commented, her gaze not raising from Serena’s calm face. “But this girl was trapped in a crystal generated seemingly entirely from a relic’s power. That is something I wish to study–and, I assume, you would like some answers to its existence as well.”
“You would certainly be correct, there.” Yatsuhiro sighed. Turning his head, he now focused on Carol as she studied Serena. “Do you think you’ll be able to wake her?”
“It is just as I suggested before,” Carol moved around the girl’s bed slowly, looking down at the sleeping figure. “Her current state is a result of emotional distress. We will need to alter her memories.”
“Do as you must,” Yatsuhiro stepped back. Casting his gaze down to the sleeping pink figure on the other side of his room, a small sad smile slowly spread across his face. “I trust you, Maria, will be okay with that.”
“Understood, then.” Carol backed up. “Phara! Analyse her memories. Her death occurred six years ago; remove the exact moment of her death, and only that.”
The green Autoscorer cracked a smile as she bowed. “Very well, master.”
Phara Suyūf made her way to the spot that Carol had just occupied a moment ago. Putting one of her cold mechanical hands upon Serena’s forehead, Yatsuhiro noticed a small pale light glow from beneath the Autoscorer’s hand. After a few seconds, Phara nodded.
“I have found the memory, master.”
“Good. Remove it.” Carol glanced over to Yatsuhiro. “It’d be best if you do not look at this... intimate moment.”
Yatsuhiro was confused as to the meaning behind the alchemist’s words, but obliged to her suggestion. He slowly placed his hand over his own eyes to block out the scene in front of him, though, as he only held his hand in front of his glasses, he could still see a pulse of green light flash from in front of him.
What he did not see, however, was the incredibly embarrassed young girl whose burning red face turned to the side as Phara’s dark grey-green lips touched down upon those of the sleeping girl. This was how the Autoscorers manipulated memories; in order to steal specific ones, they passed alchemical currents into the brain to bring the desired thought to the front, only to–literally–suck it out as energy.
For the Autoscorers, memories, like that of Serena being crushed by heavy debris, were comparable to food; that was how they remained ‘alive.’
Satisfied with the amount of power that the devastating–yet small–memory produced within her, Phara cracked a small, mischievous smile as she savoured the taste. “Delicious.” She muttered, happily.
“I...” Yatsuhiro lowered his hand while shaking his head. “Will ask no questions.”
“That, government official, is for the best.” The blushing alchemist huffed.
Carol made her way back to Serena’s side, switching positions with Phara. “Now, normally it would be best to let her sleep–assuming that memory was all that was preventing her from waking–but I believe that Shénshòujìng’s power may be beneficial to defeating the current threat.”
Just as Phara had done several moments ago, Carol now placed her (much smaller) hand upon Serena’s forehead. This time, Yatsuhiro noticed a different glow appear from beneath Carol’s palm; while Phara’s had been a pale yellow, Carol’s was an icy blue.
“Now, we may want to wake her sister.” Carol muttered, backing away from the bed as the blue light subsided. “It would be best if their reunion happened now, and not in the midst of battle.”
“Yes, I suppose that’s true.” Yatsuhiro–who still did not fully comprehend the ‘magic’ that the alchemists and her robotic minions described as ‘science’–nodded, silently trying to understand what those lights’ purposes were.
Carol now bent down over Maria, placed her hand upon the woman and, once more, emitted the blue light that temporarily stained the girl’s forehead. Unlike Serena, who still remained asleep, Maria’s head flew upwards as soon as the glow faded. Smashing her skull into Carol’s hand as the alchemist pulled it away (and leaving a red mark upon her forehead), Maria winced as she hastily looked around in confusion.
“Welcome back.” Yatsuhiro offered a kind smile, but the curt words were muttered by the small girl who marched over to his side. “Seems as though you sleep far lighter than your sister.”
“What? Where am I?” Maria just uttered questions in response, her brain spinning as she tried to understand what was going on. She placed her hand up to her eyes, wondering if blood was still dribbling from her eyes, but she only touched the red glue that remained after Yatsuhiro wiped the rest away.
“My workshop.” Carol announced, turning her gaze back to Serena. “Your sister should be able to wake up, now, though she seems to be quite slumbersome.”
“My sis... Serena?” Maria climbed to her feet, almost stumbling as her limbs clumsily flailed while trying to pull the former idol to her feet. Her attention spun right around, first landing on Chris (whom she did not acknowledge for more than a pregnant moment), then on the large medical bed that seemed out of place in the rustic cottage. “Serena!”
At the sound of Maria’s loud cry, the eyes of sleeping beauty finally cracked open slightly. “Oh... good morning...?”
Serena was clearly out of it–and still lethargic, as she just turned onto her side instead of acknowledging her sister.
“You’d think she would be a little more confused,” Phara wondered aloud. “Considering her final memory of her sister is from six years ago. She looks quite a bit different, now.”
Maria had tears in her eyes, and stifled the desire within her to suffocate Serena in a large hug. Serena looked small and frail–a result of both Ver’s mistreatment of her and the three months since where she had begun to rot away while drowning in a sanitized bed.
But the fact that her sister was back–alive, again, and just as she remembered–usurped her logical analysis of the situation. Explaining the six-year gap in Serena’s memories could come later, Maria thought as she pulled the tired girl’s head up into her chest.
“Huh? What?” Serena flailed about, screaming questions at the unfamiliar body in an unfamiliar room now clinging to her as she laid in an unfamiliar bed.
Yatsuhiro chuckled. “A touching scene.”
Carol kept silent, though. Carol knew that, if she could just extract the Rod of Asclepius from within the recently-awoken girl, she would likely lose control and pull her beloved papa into a very similar embrace. She had no reason to judge Maria’s actions now, or the confused panic that arose from beneath Serena’s eyes as she realized who was happily hugging her.

. . .

 Tsubasa stepped out of the helicopter and onto the ground of Frontier, pushing aside the loose blue hair that whipped into her face as the blades above her still pushed around the air. So much had gone on today that Tsubasa had forgotten to tie her hair up into a ponytail–and being blinded by her azure mane now caused her to regret not doing so earlier.
The roar of Batara Kala from behind brought her back to the situation at hand, and she turned to the five who approached the party getting out of the military vehicle. At the same time, Leiur, with Shirabe Tsukuyomi in her arms like a sleeping princess, teleported in to her side.
“Shirabe? What happened?” Kirika, one of the aforementioned members of the approaching party (alongside Garie, Genjuro, Kanade, and Elfnein), yelled as she began to run and reunite with her friend being carried by the golden Autoscorer.
“It was cool!” Micha had stars in her eyes. “She VROOMED up the back of that monster and then there were SMACKS and then the monster did a BLAAAHH and PIIIIIP and then the girl went WOOOOOSH.”
“Thank you for the illuminating commentary.” Garie snarled as she came to a stop. As if to punish her (ironically, elder) sister for her absurd description of the situation, the icy woman flicked Micha upon the forehead with her index finger.
“Someone please be more coherent.” Genjuro pressed his brow down as he glared, annoyed, at Micha. Despite being built for combat–and a robot at that–Micha shrunk under the large man’s gaze, her fighting spirit all but extinguished.
Tsubasa took that as a cue for her to speak up. “Kohinata plucked Tsukuyomi up off her back while she was running distraction, and threw her like a disc.”
“You needn’t worry.” Leiur smiled, looking at the worried Kirika who had tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “She is alive, just unconscious from the impact.”
“On that note,” Kanade bent over to get a good look at Shirabe’s form–or, rather, what hung from her neck. Ripping the red crystal off of Shirabe’s neck, she tossed the Symphogear over to the small homunculus who was timidly hiding behind Genjuro’s body. “Do your thing.”
Elfnein fumbled to catch the crystal, earning a sigh from Garie, but did not drop the powerful object. “Umm... yes! I’ll do just that!”
“What happened to the others?” Tomosato noticed the lack of several characters joining their party here, and felt the need to question their absence.
“Inside the main spire; Ogawa and the girls are getting Fujitaka up to speed on the current situation. I want everyone unable to fight to remain there for the time being.” Genjuro explained. “We’ll head over there now.”
“You can leave Kohinata to us.” Tsubasa cracked a rare, albeit still small, smile. “We’ll do everything to save her.”
“Look at you, Tsubasa, being all heroic.” Contrary to the tiny smirk upon the face of her blue partner, Kanade wore a wide, cheerful grin. It then faded as she looked off into the distance, at the massive black beast steadily approaching. “She’s been through too much. We need to bring her some peace.”
“Yes, death!” Kirika pumped her fist from her position at Shirabe’s (and thus Leiur’s) side.
“About time I get to do some fighting!!” Micha shouted, mimicking Kirika’s enthusiastic pose and earning yet another disgusted glare from Garie.

 “Micha, you really must calm yourself sometimes.” The entire group spun to the source of the voice–Carol Malus Dienheim. Alongside Yatsuhiro, Phara, Maria, and (the still somewhat confused but also informed) Serena, the alchemist faded into existence a short distance away from them.
“Master.” Leiur and Garie both greeted their creator respectfully, but their elder sister with long red hair just pouted at the commented aimed towards her.
“Maria!” Kirika held her arms up at the appearance of her friend. “And... wow you look exactly the same as I remember, Serena.”
“Apparently I’m a zombie.” Serena chuckled sweetly with a tilt of her head. “And you look very similar, too, Kirika.”
“Yup. I kept my appearance the same in case you rose from the dead.” Kirika flashed a peace sign at the girl whom she had only known for a short time but quickly befriended. “I knew this day would come, after all.”
“You knew your friend would be resurrected from the dead by a mad doctor, forced to fight you, fall into a coma, and then be awakened by the world’s most powerful alchemist?” Carol lifted her eyebrow in suspicion as she muttered this question more to herself than anyone else.
Clearing his throat, Yatsuhiro brought everyone back on topic. “We have little time until that beast reaches this island. I know you girls haven’t been able to rest long, but...”
“Don’t worry.” Maria smiled. “We’ll still fight. We have to.”
“Good to hear.” Kanade threw her arm around Tsubasa’s shoulders, throwing her stern expression into disarray as her larger friend knocked her off-balance. “Zwei Wing will do our part too.”
“My Autoscorers will need to fight on my behalf for the time being, unfortunately.” Carol sighed. “I still have a procedure I must complete.”
“How is Chris doing?” Genjuro asked with intense force, implying that he had been biting back this question he had desperately wanted to ask since Carol first appeared.
“Fine. She’ll live... for now, at least. I’ve stabilized her condition, though she is suffering from many internal wounds. But, as I promised, I will return her to you, alive and healthy.”
“She outlined her plan to me for doing so. I was a little worried about the abundant use of alchemy, but...” Yatsuhiro sighed. “It seems as though she has little chance to survive, otherwise.”
“I see.” Genjuro lowered his gaze.
“Carol Malus Dienheim, the greatest alchemist on this planet, does not break a promise.” A blatant lie, and Carol knew this as she said it. “I will perform no miracles for you, but I will do everything in my power to make good on what I said.”
“I wish you good luck, then.” Genjuro nodded, though the weight crushing his heart clearly remained.
“Leiur, Phara, Garie, Micha...” Carol pronounced the last two names with added emphasis, the latter with even more than the third. “The four of you are to follow the orders of this team as you work alongside them without question.”
“Understood, master.” Leiur and Phara replied earnestly, while Garie just grunted the same response in disgust. Micha, however, nodded like a child as she kept her pouting mouth scrunched closed.
Batara Kala’s roar as she closed in on the floating island cut through the air, and Genjuro’s eyes opened wide. “We should get to safety, brother, Tomosato.”
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to keep an eye on Carol while she operates on Yukine. The alchemical processes she uses are very interesting–I’d like to learn more.”
“Oh, a budding alchemist, are you?” Garie chuckled. “Maybe we should be wary of new Autoscorers joining our little band, here.”
“No I doubt I’d ever become an alchemist, myself. I just wish to learn more about it.” Yatsuhiro defended himself, holding his hands up in front of him. “The rest of you should focus on the battle about to happen, now.”
Genjuro walked up to Leiur, who then placed Shirabe in the giant man’s clutches. Despite his giant, intimidating frame, Genjuro handled the small girl extremely delicately; his touch even softer than Leiur’s.
“Tomosato, let’s go.” He nodded to his former subordinate. “Good luck, girls. The fate of the world is in your hands.”
“No pressure.” Kanade whispered, getting a smirk out of Tsubasa beside her. “Alright, girls, let’s suit up! We’ve got to save Miku–or at least buy enough time for Carol to join us.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll do my best.” Carol waved her hand as she and the man beside her began to slowly fade away into red lights. They disappeared a moment later, those being her parting words.
“Sorry to make you do this, Serena.” Maria commented with a worried smile.
“Don’t worry, Maria, I...” Serena plastered a wide grin on her face, but it instantly shrunk again as she looked her sister up and down. “Wow you’ve grown really tall. It will take some time to get used to this.”
“Is this really the time?” Tsubasa curtly poked herself into this conversation. “We have work to do, both of you.”
“Oooh... you guys made Tsubasa angry, death.” Kirika teased, likewise sliding up in-between the two girls, only to then shrink away as Ame no Habakiri’s wielder cast her cold glare in her direction.
“You all are quite carefree.” Leiur remarked. “Despite the situation.”
“If you wallow in despair all the time,” Kanade crossed her arms as she walked over to the Autoscorer. “Then there would be no reason to being born in the first place. Every life deserves a chance to make a mark upon history–to cast a light and warm the hearts of others.”
“‘We’ll make history with a light even God doesn’t know of.’” Maria commented. “That’s part of your famous song, right?”
“‘When we’re together, our singing hearts become wings.’” Tsubasa offered another lyric as the annoyance that had crossed her face earlier dissipated into a calm gaze.
“When we’re done, you guys have to perform again, death!” Kirika flailed her arms about as she (literally) jumped into this new conversation. “Shirabe and I really enjoyed listening to your songs!”
Serena leaned in to Maria, a look of concerned confusion twisting her face. “Should I know who she is?” She whispered.
“Don’t worry about it.” Kanade waved her hand, ignoring the surprised look that the thirteen-year-old girl flashed towards her at the realization that she had heard her quiet comment. “I’m guessing your sister’s going to have a lot to catch you up on.”
Batara Kala’s bellow–the loudest, by far–interrupted this.
“You girls do seem to lose focus easily.” Phara commented. “I thought the ‘fate of the world’ was at stake.”
“Right.” Tsubasa nodded. “Let’s do this!”
Removing the crystal from around her neck, she held the Symphogear above her head. Seeing this as the sign that their battle was now beginning, the other wielders put their hands on their own Symphogears; Serena, lacking her own red jewel, instead just placed her hand upon her heart as she searched for the power of the relic within her.
Then, all at once, the Holy Chants of four Symphogear wielders overlapped in a chaotic harmony.

*Imyuteus Ame no Habakiri tron*
*Croitzal ronzell Gungnir zizzl*
*Seilien coffin Airgetlám tron*
*Zeios Igalima raizen tron*

 As the white light that engulfed the four girls faded, they all turned their attention to the remaining wielder, whose hand was still pressed against her chest. Serena, seeing this, closed her eyes and then slowly began to sing her own Holy Chant–one unfamiliar to the rest.

*Shénshòujìng Leimpya Zizzl*

. . .

 “Tell me a little bit about this girl,” Carol cupped her chin as she stared into the burning orange crystal before her. “Hibiki Tachibana.”
“Truthfully, I do not know too much about her life; it had been Sector Two who looked into that.” Yatsuhiro shrugged. “She was among one of the survivors of the Zwei Wing concert that ended with almost thirteen thousand deaths, and for...”
“I meant more about her status as a relic-human hybrid.” Carol cut the man off. “And how she came to be in this state.”
“According to theories, the shard of Gungnir that had been embedded within her body began to resonate with the ‘true’ Gungnir that Kanade Amou wielded, and slowly began to merge with her body; orange crystals began to sprout from her body. When she was stabbed by Kohinata–under the command of Vercingetorix–these crystals seemed to explode out and surround her entirely.”
“So it is just as I had assumed, then.” Carol poked at the crystal. “And you said none of your attempts to even crack the crystal have been successful... yes, I don’t see any scratches in the substance here.”
“I’d like to tell you more about her situation, but truthfully I explained a majority of our knowledge of it. We’re not even entirely sure if she’s dead or in suspended animation; the relic’s power interferes with our equipment, so we have not been able to even check for a heartbeat or any other signs of life.”
“Incredible. I’d love to be able to recreate this kind of crystal.” Carol shook her head. “No, that’s for later. Right now I need to begin work on this other project.”
The small alchemist sighed. Rolling her shoulders, she walked towards the table on which Chris Yukine laid unconscious. “I do, now, regret destroying the Château de Tiffauges in my fury. If I had not been so blind in that moment, I would have already completed the procedure by now.”
“Honestly, I only spoke with the man a couple of times, but I do understand how... aggravating he can get.” Yatsuhiro admitted. “Still, he was the foremost authority on relics confirmed to be alive. His knowledge was useful.”
“Yes, it was. A shame that such a nuisance possessed a library of knowledge.” Carol shook her head. “Though I do not regret *that* action, in truth.”

 Carol raised her hand, creating a large yellow rune in the air above her like a halo. This circle slowly expanded, growing to encompass a large area as it devoured the air that had been in its place a second ago. In a few short moments, Carol, Chris, Yatsuhiro, and the crystal containing Hibiki were all sheltered by this golden light, which the two conscious people looked up at.
“Now, let us fully analyse this girl–inside and out.” Carol snapped her fingers together, and the rune descended fully as gravity pulled it to the earth.
As the yellow light hugged Yatsuhiro’s body, he felt a strange chill run through his bones. Shivering, he kept his eyes glued on Carol, taking in every action that the small alchemist performed with a mixture of fear and awe brewing behind his eyes.

#### GX Chapter 17

 “The hard part of this battle will be getting close to Kohinata.” Tsubasa called out behind her as she dashed towards the cliff that marked the edge of the island, which Batara Kala was quickly approaching. She was not making full use of Ame no Habakiri’s abilities, allowing all of her allies–the other Symphogear wielders and Carol’s four Autoscorers–to keep up at a steady pace.
“You can leave that to me.” Phara smiled back. “I am well-versed in wind alchemy, after all.”
Above the group consisting of Tsubasa, Kanade, Kirika, Maria, Leiur, Phara, Micha, and Garie flew Serena. The girl was clad in jet-black armour from head-to-toe, her appearance matching that of the beast she was readying to engage in combat. Despite this, she could hear the words that her allies spoke clearly, as if she were running beside them; Serena wondered, as a result, what the extent of Shénshòujìng’s powers–or Ver’s experiments upon her–were.
But she was not focusing on those below her. Among the figures now nearing the end of the path, she had only really been acquainted with two–Maria and Kirika–and she was still very confused about her situation.
Shaking her head, Serena focused on the monster in front of her. As the beast she had learned was both a girl named Miku Kohinata and an abomination of relics named Batara Kala approached her, Serena felt electricity literally course through her veins. It did not hurt, however, despite the purple flash that exploded out around her body as the violet lightning leapt from her skin to her metallic armour shell. Her head remained calm as she raised her hand out in front of her and released the full power of the energy she had generated out of her palm.
The purple beam of light was like a weapon out of science fiction. The burst travelled at a high speed, colliding easily with the giant beast and ripping a small hole through its body.
“Wow.” Serena heard Kirika say from below her, but brushed off the compliment.
Serena’s eyes remained focused instead on the hole that she had cut into the beast’s body. Just as she had imagined based on the intel she had been given, the jet-black skin surrounding the hole began to cave in, and within seconds her body had been repaired.
“Never mind, death.”

 Thanks to Phara’s alchemy, the seven grounded enemies all took to the skies–though she was forced to reside on the ground as a result. Tsubasa kicked off of the air below her as if it were the earth, and found herself navigating within this new system easily after a short moment.
Tsubasa took no time to marvel at her hidden knowledge, instead focusing on the spot on Batara Kala that Serena had damaged. As it regenerated, she counted in her head the seconds that it took to fully recover. “We have three seconds.” She uttered aloud.
“That’s how long it takes to regen, right?” Kanade bounced up next to her with a clumsy smile. “It’ll be tough, but we can make it work.”
Maria climbed up to the same level with an angry scowl upon her face. Saying nothing, the woman with the pink hair ran her hand down the length of her small blade, engulfing it into silver flames at it expanded out into a bladed chain.
“If we hit the same place repeatedly...” Tsubasa noted, seeing the new form of Airgetlám’s Armed Gear.
“The issue for you, then,” Leiur joined the four, eyeing as Kirika led Micha on a frontal, and incredibly reckless, assault beneath them. “Would be making sure your rleics are not destroyed by the light of Shénshòujìng.”
“I’ll be careful!” Serena’s cheerful comment echoed as she flew over the team, her suit glowing once more as she charged up a second attack. The young girl did not, however, have a chance to fire this blast, as she instead dropped her altitude at a high speed to catch Kirika as Batara Kala’s large hand launched her away.
“Thanks, death!” Kirika smiled as she bounced out of Serena’s grasp and flew back towards her enemy to repeat the exact same strategy. Though neither acknowledged it, both Kirika and Serena heard the sighs of Tsubasa and Maria as they both watched Kirika raise her large scythe up over her head.

. . .

 Unlike her current allies, Garie Tūmān had no interest in engaging in battle. Instead, she remained beside one of her sisters, Phara, with a disinterested scowl marking her face.
In front of her, Garie watched as the group of four that had been analysing the situation around them–Leiur, Tsubasa, Kanade, and Maria–split up in order to surround Batara Kala, while Micha and Kirika were launched flying once more as the beast slowly threw its large hands around.
“Pathetic.” Garie sneered in disgust.
“A beast that could regenerate from any attack... it’s quite formidable.” Phara shook her head. “Though it pains me to admit it, I can understand their hesitation.”
“I meant this whole situation.” Clicking her tongue, Garie turned her head to look away from the sight of Micha being launched by an attack–and then subsequently plucked out of the air by Serena as she dashed about. “Why do we have to assist these idiots in saving their foolish friend? What is master thinking?”
“You should know not to question our master. She has...”
“Her methods? Despite her power, we all know she is still just a child at heart–one who refuses to grow up and move on from her grief.” Garie spat the words out as if they had left a sour taste on her tongue.
Beside her, Phara was shocked. The Autoscorer physically recoiled at the fact that her sister was speaking ill of the one who created them. Garie, ignoring this, just continued speaking.
“To throw away the centuries of research and decades of work that went into constructing the Château de Tiffauges in a single moment–one born out of an infant’s tantrum.” Garie shook her head. “Our lovely master may be a great alchemist, but not a leader worth respecting.”
“Garie, to defile the name of our...”
“Shut up, Phara.” Garie yelled, stomping the ground. As a rink of ice formed around her, Garie spun around on her toes. “I refuse to help her any longer. With plans so flimsy and a personality that could give birth to Micha’s blind love of combat, I don’t trust the judgement of the girl that created us.”
The blue Autoscorer skated away, leaving a chilled silence behind as Phara wondered where the girl’s thoughts–which should have been patterned upon those of Carol Malus Dienheim–had crawled out of.

. . .

 Maria threw out the chain sword that was Airgetlám’s Armed Gear, which slithered through the air like a snake as it flew towards Batara Kala’s claw. Coiling around the hand, and protecting Micha from an incoming punch, Maria strained every muscle in her body as she pulled back the other end of the chain, freezing the monster’s attempt to attack.
Seeing this as an opening, Kanade followed up. Flying through the sky like a bullet, Kanade slammed the spear of Gungnir into the beast’s shoulder. Tsubasa, too, dashed in from the opposite side, slicing a downwards trench parallel to that Kanade was now digging.
Batara Kala roared out in pain, throwing her arms back as fury took over her body and pulling Maria with her. One of the monster’s arms batted Tsubasa upwards, straight into Serena’s waiting arms, while Maria shook violently as the chain began to lose its hold on the limb.
“Whoa-oh!” Maria cried out in shock as nausea gripped her. Her body was being whipped around at a high speed as Batara Kala tried to force the former idol to let go of her weapon. Finally, the chain’s hold on the arm gave way, and she was sent flying as confusion and fear gripped her heart. She closed her eyes.
“Look out!” The cry of her sister snapped Maria back to reality, and she then felt small, cold arms ensnare her body–Serena, just as she had been doing throughout the battle up until now, had flown at a high speed and stopped the careening Maria with her own body. “I’ve got you, Maria.”
“Thanks, Serena.” Maria nodded, a warm smile crossing her face.

 Now that Maria’s chain had let Batara Kala go, Leiur took this as her chance to attack. As Kanade and Tsubasa’s injuries quickly began to heal, the Autoscorer created a giant gold coin in the air below her and dropped it upon the beast’s limb. The beast, however, saw this attempt and grabbed the coin out of the air... unaware that Leiur was only drawing her attention away from the approaching Micha.
“Take this, beasty!” Micha screamed in glee as she pierced Batara Kala’s chest with a red-hot crystal protruding from one of her claws. As the weapon broke through the beast’s skin, Batara Kala’s torso exploded into flames as the monster staggered backwards.
Batara Kala roared. The feral cry echoed through the city, tearing at the ears of all of the girls engaged in battle against it. Maria, who had just pushed herself out of her sister’s grasp, could barely keep her eyes open as it felt like the scream pierced her brain like a knife.
Through the tears that formed out of the pain, Maria saw something incredible: red veins of energy criss-crossed against the shadowy form like a volcanic stone glowing out from within. As the scream faded into nothing, Maria finally managed to crack her eyes open fully, letting the tears stream down her face as the pain subsided.

 “Move!” Leiur cried out, jumping in-front of Micha and throwing up a large golden coin. Though Tsubasa, who had regrouped with Kirika a short distance away, was confused, she and the wielder of Igalima did just as they had been ordered.
A second later, the sky around them exploded.
“What the hell, death?” Kirika shouted, her ears ringing as she bounced up away from the flames that now expanded out through the air she had just been inhabiting.
“What was that?” Maria and Serena dashed up next to the other Symphogear wielders, just as Kanade descended down from above.
“Ichaival.” Kanade guessed, looking to see if Leiur and Micha had survived the blast. She turned her gaze to Tsubasa as she saw Leiur’s golden coin still floating in the air, the two Autoscorers crowding behind it.
“It seems like she’s finally realized how to make use of her new body.” Tsubasa sighed.

 “Look out!” Kirika shouted, cutting off any further conversation.
With her giant scythe, Kirika slices through the air in a crescent, meeting a giant blade that Batara Kala swung; none of the other girls had noticed this giant sword–a copy of Ame no Habakiri–appear within its grasp, or that the red veins had changed to an icy blue.
Knowing that Kirika’s strength would not be enough to fully counter the incoming attack, Kanade and Tsubasa flew down to attack the beast’s hands as Maria joined behind Kirika with her own small weapon.
Kanade and Tsubasa crossed between each other as their respective Armed Gears sunk deep into the single claw that Batara Kala had around the handle of the blade. The monster screeched as Kanade’s spear dug through and cut off one of her fingers, the blade falling out of her grasp in the process.
“Sorry about that.” Kanade apologized, hoping that Miku’s finger would be fine should they manage to return her to her human form. She needn’t worry any longer, though, as Kanade watched as an appendage that wiggled about like a worm began to regrow in the finger’s place. “That’s disgusting.”
As the sword collided into the ground, kicking up natural debris as it sliced through the forest below, Serena unleashed a blast of purple energy into the beast once more. This time, Batara Kala dodged out of the way of the attack, knowing that it was the only attack capable of doing significant damage to her.
In response to Serena’s attack, Batara Kala’s veins began to glow a snowy white as she threw out her undamaged hand. Just as Airgetlám’s Armed Gear had before, Batara Kala’s fingers extended out like chains, whipping through the air in an attempt to grab hold of Serena.
The girl was shocked that the beast’s movements could out-speed her attack, so this counter caught her off-guard.
“Serena!” Maria shouted, hoping to urge her sister to move.

. . .

 Using her alchemy, Carol had created a window to Japan within her small abode, allowing both herself and her current assistant, Yatsuhiro Kazanari, to watch the battle unfolding against Batara Kala through the eyes of Phara Suyūf.
Carol had had her head down as she flew about the room. Chris Yukine’s breathing had grown shallow again as her body was slowly drained of life, and the alchemist knew that she was running out of time to complete her operation. For this reason, her attention had been mostly diverted from the battle, though Yatsuhiro’s was glued to the image whenever he was not performing any assistance that she required.
But a certain sound caused even her attention to be ripped away from her patient. As Yatsuhiro gasped in horror at what unfolded within the image hovering in the air before him, Carol could not help but spare a glance for herself.
Her eyes went wide at the sight that penetrated her child-like eyes.

. . .

 A loud clang rang out through the air as the metallic appendages clacked around themselves, crushing the girl who had been unlucky enough to be its target.
“What?” Serena gasped, backing away from the fist that was just centimetres from her body. Her figure trembled slightly as she realized that she–despite being the intended target–was completely unharmed.
Batara Kala’s grip held another girl; one whose appearance was completely unexpected to all around her. Everyone’s focus was on the massive, silver fist; their eyes haven flown open in surprise at the scene they saw...
...and at the loud noise that followed.
The sound of bones snapping like dried twigs crackled out from within the beast’s large hands. A silver prison trapped the girl, completely hiding her from sight as the monster’s intense strength slowly destroyed the girl’s body.
“No.” Kirika whispered, darkness filling her vision.

 Shirabe Tsukuyomi had, at the last moment, appeared before Serena Cadenzavna Eve. Clad in the Symphogear of Shul Shagana, she had dashed in front of Batara Kala’s incoming attack and let herself be ensnared by the silver fingers that shone in the sunlight.
Fingers that were now oozing crimson out from within.
“Shirabe!” Maria cried out in despair as she finally realized that her friend was being killed by the monster’s giant hand.
Sensing the anger and sadness behind her sister’s words, Serena began to charge up the energy required to fire a blast from Shénshòujìng.
“You fool! You’ll destroy her Symphogear!” Leiur cried out from afar.
“I need to save her life!” Serena countered. Letting go of her hesitation, Serena pushed out the air in front of her and released the largest blast of energy from her palm yet.
The explosion that her hand produced was devastating. Utterly destroying the hand that had crushed her friend. In the process, however, the armour covering Serena’s own hand–and much of the arm it extended from–also shattered, the dark black shards raining down to the ground below just as Shirabe did.
Serena clutched her arm as the pain from the recoil engulfed her senses. She tried to move, to help Shirabe more, but her body refused.
But no one else moved either.
Even the giant Batara Kala watched in horrific awe as Shirabe’s limp body tumbled through the air slowly, her limbs all bent at strange angles and her body wearing a coat of blood.
It was not the result of Serena’s attempt to save Shirabe, nor the damage she sustained, that captured everyone’s attention, however. As her figure was pulled to the earth by gravity, pink lights danced around her body–the remains of Shul Shagana, still trying to grasp at the song in Shirabe’s heart that had since ceased.
Shirabe’s mouth slowly moved as she tried to force out her final words on this mortal plane. “I’m... sorry... Kiri... I was... useless...”
And then, she was gone. As if she had faded out of existence entirely, the pink orbs danced around Shirabe’s body, and continued to do so even as her body dissipated from this reality.

 “Shi...rabe...?” Kirika was the first to break the silence. Two waterfalls of tears dribbled down her cheeks from eyes that had clouded over with the darkest of storm clouds. She just watched the pink orbs descend to the ground and fade away, just as Shirabe had done a few seconds before.

. . .

 “You weren’t useless.” Carol replied to the still air, her eyes wide as she forgot about the girl dying in front of her.
Though the girl’s head was turned away from Yatsuhiro, the elderly man could tell from the briefest of glances that the young alchemist that had grown close to Shirabe Tsukuyomi over the past little while was crying as well.

. . .

 Tsubasa’s face twisted into an expression of shock as she turned her attention towards a sound that was not fitting, considering the circumstances: laughter. Maniacal, insane laughter.
The source of this rancorous, cacophony of giggling was none other than the sad Kirika Akatsuki. Her wide eyes turned up to the sky as her brain completely shattered apart; the glass windows that were her mental state could be heard being destroyed by rocks as the other girls all stared in shock at the girl.
And, just as suddenly as she began to laugh, she fell back into silence.

 “Kirika...?” Maria slowly began to fly towards her friend, but Kirika’s arm shot out as if to tell her to stop.
“Stay back.” A foreign voice from Kirika’s body hissed, though none were unfamiliar with it. Every Symphogear wielder–barring Serena, who still clutched at her self-injured arm–flinched at the tone they had pushed down out of their memories; they should not have ever heard it again, after all.
“Finé.” Tsubasa announced with a scowl.
“Yes. It seems like Akatsuki retreated into her heart in order to cope with... what had just happened. And, in doing so, I was pulled out.” Finé sighed, her attempts to hold the large scythe of Igalima clearly failing as she struggled to get a good hold on the weapon.
Batara Kala roared, rocking Finé–and the other girls–out of their thoughts. This scream felt sad to all that heard it, and the bestial roar vaguely sounded like the name of the recently-deceased girl. It was almost as if...
“Miku’s clearly struggling.” Kanade acknowledged the roar. “I think she’s fighting her own battle, from within that thing.”
“While I will not judge you all for not trusting me, considering my actions,” Finé said as she floated up to meet Tsubasa and Kanade; as she did, both girls noted the fact that both of Kirika’s eyes were now gold–Finé’s influence had completely usurped the original personality. “I do, genuinely, want to help Mi... Kohinata, just as you do.”
“So you can possess her again?” Tsubasa grunted.
“I’ll have you know, I did leave her body of my own accord, before.” Finé snapped back. Then, in a softer tone, the girl looked at the black beast standing before them. “I’d like to think that we made amends... Well, in any case, she did change me somewhat.”

 “Finé...” Maria shoved her way into the conversation, a look of red-hot anger over her face. “What the hell happened to my friend?”
“Ah yes, Tsukuyomi.” Finé studied Batara Kala, who seemed to be grieving the girl she murdered by standing stock still, looking at the ground. Mimicking one of Kirika’s mannerisms, Finé then turned to face Maria with a big smile on her face. “No idea, death!”
“Don’t give me that you...” Maria reached out her hands, ready to grab Finé by the throat, but stopped short. Harming the priestess in any way would, in turn, harm Kirika; with Shirabe gone and Serena already having died once, Maria would do anything in her power to make sure her friends remained safe.
Sensing the conflicting emotions swirling like a hurricane within Maria Cadenzavna Eve, Finé returned to her original self. “It is the truth, what I said. I have never seen something like that before. Granted, this is also the first time I have ever seen a Symphogear get completely destroyed, as well.”

 One of Batara Kala’s sad roars rumbled the earth. As her monstrous scream ripping the thoughts of the Symphogear wielders away from their conversation, the two Autoscorers raised their arms as they returned to the battle.
“Right. We still need to save Kohinata.” Finé put her hand to her forehead. “Regardless of whether you would like it or not, I am offering my assistance to you.”
“Can I say something?” Serena asked, still rubbing her now-bare arm. The small girl had remained quiet since watching Shirabe dissipate into dust, but her expression now did not imply that she had been mourning. “Our attacks have been mostly useless. I think it would be best to accept any help.”
“Yes. I’m with you on that point.” Tsubasa sighed. “Finé... and Maria, too. We have greater problems at hand.”
Kanade pointed her spear at the bellowing beast that was attempting to swat at the two flying Autoscorers using the giant copy of Ame no Habakiri. “Miku Kohinata, Shirabe Tsukuyomi: we will bring you both peace. I swear my life on it.”
“That makes it sound like you’re planning on dying here.” Finé curtly pointed out. In response, Kanade flashed the eternal priestess possessing the young Kirika a determined smile.
Though Finé could not read her thoughts, she could see within Kanade’s eyes a strong, burning resolve–her words were not a lie, Finé knew; Kanade would do absolutely anything to save Miku in this moment.
“I do feel the need to avenge Tsukuyomi, in some way.” Kanade admitted, seeing Tsubasa begin to worry for her friend following Finé’s comment. She ignored that look on the blue sword’s panicked face–and the implications that this action brought–and turned to Maria. “I like...d Shirabe. She’s like me, in a way.”
“I can’t imagine you knew Tsukuyomi all that well.” Finé shook her head. Though she did not want to admit it, Tsubasa nodded slowly in agreement.
“Didn’t you ever wonder where I disappeared to after work sometimes?” Kanade shrugged, leaving that brief comment for Tsubasa and Finé to ponder.
The wielder of Gungnir flew off, dragging Maria by the arm in order to force her away from Finé for now; Serena, thus, followed behind her sister, trying to concoct a plan to remain useful despite having destroyed part of her armour.
Though the two remaining Symphogear wielders knew they should follow Kanade’s lead and get back to fighting the beast threatening them, neither Tsubasa nor Finé moved. They hovered in place, stoic looks on their faces.
“She never visited Akatsuki.” Finé said after a pregnant pause.
“Kanade must have been visiting them while I was writing up reports.” Tsubasa realized, her comment following right after Finé’s.

~ ~ ~

 Shirabe Tsukuyomi had awoken while in the arms of Genjuro Kazanari. She was sluggish, her mind barely managing to get a grip on the spinning world around her. Not sure what was going on, Shirabe decided to feign sleep in order to listen to the conversation occurring.
“Their attacks aren’t doing much.” A woman’s voice shouted from nearby. Shirabe did not recognize the voice of Aoi Tomosato to her right. “Shénshòujìng managed to deal the most amount of damage, but Kohinata regenerated the damage immediately.”
Another voice that Shirabe did not recognize–this one the timid squeak of Elfnein–chimed in next from somewhere to her right following a deep sigh. “So, are you saying that their attempts to stop Batara Kala are hopeless?”
At that, Shirabe’s eyes snapped open, and she threw herself out of the large arms of the man carrying her. As she did not feel the small red crystal bounce against her chest, Shirabe’s gaze scanned the three figures who looked at her in surprise for her Symphogear.
“Do not call them useless.” Shirabe hissed, snatching Shul Shagana out of the hands of the girl she both recognized as Carol Malus Dienheim yet felt like a stranger.
Ignoring the deep voice yelling at her, Shirabe’s legs carried her away from the three. Her heart was beating fast as anger infected her blood like a plague. The word ‘useless’ struck a chord with Shirabe–just as she knew it did Maria and Kirika–and desperately hated the insinuation that her friends had no worth.
Deep down, however, Shirabe knew that the FIS scientists who had called her useless for so many years weren’t entirely unfounded. She could not use a Symphogear natively, nor was she entirely smart or strong–that’s what Shirabe believed. With no memories of her childhood and the traumatic memories she had experienced since that filled her brain like an overflowing sink, Shirabe had long ago pulled her heart into the shadows. She lived for no one other than her new ‘family’–Maria and Kirika had far more worth than Shirabe believed she ever could.
Knowing the risks that came with using her Symphogear again so soon, and without LiNKER, flames seemed to shoot out of Shirabe’s mouth as she sang the Holy Chant that welled up within her.

*Various Shul Shagana tron*

 Shirabe reached the green Autoscorer standing on the edge of the cliff. Phara did not even turn her head at the sound of Shirabe’s song, only acknowledging the girl with a nod as she passed.
Despite not knowing that she would be able to fly through Phara’s alchemy, Shirabe held the belief that she would be fine should she just jump off of the cliff before her.
“I’ll make sure they’re happy.” Shirabe yelled, though her cry was drowned out by the roar released from Batara Kala in the same moment.

#### GX Chapter 18

*Dokomade mo tonde yukeru*
*Ryōyoku ga soroeba*
*Yatto tsunaida kono te wa*
*Zettai hanasanai*
*…Hanasanai!*

 With renewed determination, four of the remaining five Symphogear wielders activated their Ignite Modules. Tsubasa and Kanade had no issue activating their’s, having done so previously in their battles against Micha and Phara respectively; Maria and, especially, Finé-Kirika, however, floated in the air a distance away, screaming as the darkness tried to drown their consciousnesses. Clad in black armour, the wielders of Ame no Habakiri and Gungnir flew threw the sky as they worked in sync to slow Batara Kala’s movements.

*Sangeki to itami no*
*Ienai kioku wa*
*Yume demo umeku hodo*
*Mune wo sasu yō ni*

 Their song, one born from the hearts of the idol duo known as Zwei Wing, passed up through space and past the moon as their Armed Gears effortlessly blocked and parried any of the intense attacks that their large opponent threw at them.
Batara Kala wielded a copy of Ame no Habakiri, which it swung around with enough force to cleave even the oxygen from the air around them, but Tsubasa and Kanade–with Phara’s assistance–had no issue dodging their attacks, even remaining in perfect form even as the winds of the attacks tried pulling the two girls to the ground.
Tsubasa lifted her sword above her head, summoning a barrage of energy swords around her. Batara Kala roared at the sight of the weapons appearing, and Ame no Habakiri subsequently disappeared from her large claw as the spears rained down upon her.
They were not worried about harming Miku Kohinata–though they did want to see her return safely, even the boost in strength that the Ignite Module granted them was not enough to deal substantial amounts of damage; though it did take the beast longer to recover from these wounds than their earlier ones.

 “They’ve grown quite strong.” Finé smirked through the shadows trying their best to suffocate her.
Sweat beaded upon the forehead of Kirika Akatsuki–who was temporarily controlled by Finé–and the red glow that flashed from behind her golden eyes was terrifying, thought Maria, but the smile on her friend’s face reassured her.
Despite everything, it would all work out fine; that’s what Maria believed right now. Her sister had defied all odds and come back to life–she would absolutely see a reunion with both the Kirika and Shirabe she loved as sisters being a possible future.
Maria smiled at the thought, which pulled aside the black sheet that had been shrouding her body and soul. Then, pointing her small blade towards Batara Kala, she spat words from the side of her mouth at the girl who was still struggling beside her.
“Pathetic that one who lives in an eternal moment can’t even push aside a simple curse.” A sinister look in Maria’s eyes told Finé that she would never forgive the priestess for the hell that FIS had put her–and her friends–through at her command.
Finé chuckled. “Don’t blame me,” despite the shadows that crept around her body like chains ready to tear apart the body of Kirika Akatsuki, the priestess inhabiting it casually shrugged. “I’m just a collection of memories; Akatsuki’s the one who’ll decide my fate.”

. . .

 From within her own mind, Kirika stared out through a blurry window at the scene of Batara Kala. The two green eyes that shone like emeralds upon the figurative face of her mental avatar were hollow, clouded over by a despair that Kirika was overly familiar with.
“What’s the point?” The girl posed the question to no one, and the words echoed out through the vast void of the vault of memories she possessed.
Sights, experiences, sensations; both those that belonged to Kirika and the many different incarnations of Finé floated around her, but Kirika paid no mind to any of them.
“Shirabe.” She muttered, tears falling from the cheeks of her mental avatar. Then, she cried louder, “Shirabe!”
At the scream, all of the memories that had been floating past her and the image of the outside world all blinked out of existence in a single moment, replaced with a silent black void.
“Fitting.” Kirika remarked with a huff. “Without Shirabe...”
At the third mention of her friend, a new memory bubbled up in front of her. Kirika’s blank eyes stared at the memory, one that seemed strange compared to even the many that she inherited but had yet to sort through.
The sphere that represented the memory in this subconscious field she created for herself was completely black, and yet it did not blend in with the void around her.
Kirika’s brain felt heavy, as if filled with mud; similarly, her limbs felt as though they were made of concrete. Yet the curiosity that resulted from seeing this strange orb glued just a few shards of the girl’s cracked psyche together.
Slowly, she touched the circle in front of her, and a memory painted itself onto the canvas of Kirika Akatsuki.

~ ~ ~

*The ghost of Finé–a mere collection of fragmented memories stitched together through Kirika’s desire to be useful to others–swam through the swamp of thoughts that belonged to her current host.*
*In the months since she had fused her consciousness with that of Kirika Akatsuki, Finé noted a drastic change in the girl’s brain–it began to deteriorate rapidly, falling into disrepair like an abandoned warehouse.*
*The eternal priestess, of course, knew the reason for this–an immature brain like hers was fragile enough, but the fact that Kirika possessed strong memories of her own that overpowered even Finé’s strongest thoughts caused a schism within her soul.*
*For the past three months, the priestess had been attempting to fix this–both for her own sake, as a ghost living within, and the sake of the girl she burdened. By collecting Kirika’s strongest memories, Finé had been working to build a wall, one to separate the two sets of memories from each other in such a way that would not harm the girl or cause her to forget those she created over the years.*
*And she finally found the final piece to the insane jigsaw puzzle she was crafting. A simple memory, one that Finé could sense came from a date very important to Kirika.*

*This girl lacked a birthday of her own; no one knew anything about the identity of the girl that existed before she was taken in by FIS and given the name Kirika Akatsuki. Her entire identity was fake, manufactured for the sole purpose of having an identity in case Finé decided she was not fit to be a potential vessel. The name was concocted in seconds by a handful of scientists (many of whom Kirika still, all of these years later, did not know the name of), and her date of birth was simply the day that FIS declared her their property.*
*But, even if she despised the origins of her entire being, she kept these small things close to her heart. After all, Kirika Akatsuki–or the girl she had been, once–was a psychological mess; even before Finé had raped the girl’s mind and forced in her own memories, the eternal priestess had found many a repressed memory that even she was unable to examine properly–and yet, very few of the ones Finé had been able to properly view had been anywhere within the vicinity of ‘pleasant.’*
*The idea of having a birthday, anything that made it clear that the girl now named Kirika Akatsuki really did exist, was important to the girl, and Finé now understood why as she pulled her hand away from one window.*

 The date was April 13, 2043.
Following the destruction of a relic research laboratory and loss of all of its data–an event that the girls present would later learn was the work of John Wayne Vercingetorix–the American government had declared (in private) that they no longer had any reason to work with Finé following her disappearance from Japan since she had not been reborn within any of the three remaining Receptor Children. Thus, The Federal Sacrist Research Institution of America was closed down.
The three orphans–the only test subjects who had survived each and every cruel experiment forced upon them–were ushered to a new facility. Considering the value of the knowledge they had held, allowing them to enter society as normal girls was believed to be too dangerous; as Maria also had the reputation of being a celebrity through her idol activities–which FIS had forced her to participate in for research purposes–the American government believed that it would be very easy for her to curry favour with politicians in other countries and spill all of the knowledge she had collected over the years.
For the first time in her life, Kirika Akatsuki lived in peace. A large, peaceful smile crossed her face, as she realized what the day was.
“Happy birthday Kiri!” “Happy birthday Kirika!” Shirabe and Maria clapped, wearing their own happy expressions.
This was the first time in Kirika’s life (that she remembered) that she had ever been able to celebrate her birthday.

 The three girls lived in a small facility very similar to that which they had been held captive in as guinea pigs for FIS, but the people who surveilled Kirika, Shirabe, and Maria were far more friendly. From what they had gathered, most of the people working at the facility had been informed that they were related to people who died in the destruction of the research lab, and thus Kirika and Shirabe now orphans who knew too much about relics to be let into society; Maria, though she was old enough to live on her own, had also learned too much about the relics for the government’s liking, and she also refused to be separated from the two younger girls.
Even if the situation as to why they were being held in this new facility was a lie, the people all treated them with care. They had a small living area–with beds! Neither Shirabe nor Kirika had any memories of sleeping in a real bed, so that alone was cause for celebration.
In the midst of Kirika’s life turning around for the better–and the weight of depression finally being lifted from her shoulders–she had completely forgotten about the current date.

 Kirika sat at a small wooden table within a large white room. Like Maria and Shirabe, they also pushed themselves down against a fluffy pink rug that the government officials had decided was “homey”-enough for them.
The government agents weren’t around too often, so it was difficult for them to get anything from the outside world, but Maria and Shirabe had somehow managed to get what the three girls could only consider a banquet in comparison to the meagre amounts of slop that the horrible scientists who tortured them before had called ‘food.’
Clearly purchased from a convenience store, the table was crammed full of bags of potato chips, chocolate bars, and sodas–a junk food lover’s paradise, but also food that Shirabe and Kirika had never before tasted. In the middle sat a small white box with a red ribbon tied around it and into a bow that sat atop its pearly surface like a crimson bush: Kirika’s first-ever birthday present.

 Seeing the work that Shirabe and Maria had put in to make sure she could celebrate her first birthday, Kirika couldn’t help but tear up. The large grin she wore wavered as the beginnings of sobs worked their way up her throat. “You guys...”
“We really had wanted to do something a bit larger for you.” Maria smiled.
Kirika shook her head, the small droplets of water pooling in her eyes flying outwards at the violent movements. “I’m... so happy. Thank you!”
“We got this for you.” Shirabe held up the small box. Kirika’s hands slowly took the present in her grasp with shaking hands, ignoring the fact that Shirabe and Maria had not been allowed to leave so her words weren’t entirely truthful.
Pulling the bow apart, Kirika quietly pushed open the top of the gift that her friends had worked to get. A bed of white paper shielded the actual present within the immediate view of the girl looking down into the newly-opened box, so Kirika pushed her fingers through the clouds. The tips of her fingers grazed something cool just beneath the surface, and she pulled it out with a curious gasp.
In her fingers, Kirika Akatsuki held a small black object. As her emerald eyes looked down upon it, Maria chuckled as she realized that Kirika could not work out what the X-shaped object was.
“It’s a hair accessory.” Shirabe added happily, touching the ribbons that held her long black hair into two twin tails. Maria’s hands unconsciously, too, lifted up, and she poked the blue flower-like decorations adorning her hair. “Now we can all match.”
“Oh-yo-yo?” Kirika made a goofy noise that sounded somewhat cheerful, and her friends couldn’t help but laugh aloud at her vocalization. Kirika, though, took the time to clumsily clip the black X into her hair.
Her laughing subsiding, Shirabe leaned forwards. “Kiri... you forgot this.” She put her hand up to the new accessory that Kirika wore and, though the blonde-haired girl could not see what Shirabe was doing, she heard a tear.
“Oops.” Shirabe said, clumsily. “The sticker.” She held out part of the sticker that had been attached to the decoration and stuck it to Kirika’s out-stretched finger. The sticker advertised the manufacturer’s name, but it had been torn in two as Shirabe had only been able to pull off half of it in her first attempt.
As Shirabe fumbled to try and remove the rest of the sticker, Kirika looked at the sticker on the tip of her index. “Odess...? Death?” She mumbled, trying to make out what her part of the sticker said. As excitement filled her eyes, she realized something. “Death!”
“I don’t think randomly shouting death means anything.” Shirabe commented.
“It’s catchy, right? Death!” Kirika repeated, a glee-filled expression filling her eyes.
As Shirabe–and Maria, from a shorter distance away–tried to figure out what Kirika’s thought process here was, the small black-haired girl was interrupted as her friend pulled her into a big hug.
“Thank you! Shirabe, Maria... I love you both!”

 A couple of days later, the nightmares of her time in FIS would push themselves back into her life; but, for now, Kirika Akatsuki was at her happiest moment.

*Even from outside of this memory, Finé could sense the furnace of happiness burn up from within that version of Kirika Akatsuki.*
*No, the sensation she felt was like a bonfire. The warmth generated from this one memory–the one that Kirika Akatsuki treasured more than any other–was intense; to the ghost of Finé, it felt as though she were in the depths of an active volcano.*
*What the eternal priestess did not know was that, at this very moment, the real Kirika Akatsuki would also feel the same power swell up within her. The girl who, for months, had cradled herself in fear as depression and suicidal thoughts crept into her lonely, broken mind, finally felt a spark of an emotion that she had forgotten the sensation of.*
*Upon realizing this, Finé–or, rather, the formless collection of memories that called itself a ghost–found herself forming a smile.*
*“Perhaps it is time for me to atone for all that I have wrought.”*

*The ghostly whisper did not exist beyond a thought, but the Kirika Akatsuki of the present sensed the meaning of the priestess’s actions in her unconscious mind. Her heart, her soul, and her logical mind all rejected Finé–for obvious reasons–yet the emotional part of her brain found itself grasping for the woman’s non-existent hands.*
*What could only be described as a tangled web of thoughts and emotions surrounded the girl’s young heart. Kirika was desperate for any reason to live at this point. She had had her entire life stolen away from her thus far; from her very first memories, FIS had been scarring her body and mind in as many different ways as possible...*
*Kirika’s brain pulled at the messy yarn ball, only to tangle its intangible fingers within the web. She knew that the priestess was the reason for all of her trauma, the reason why she was separated now from Maria and Shirabe, and the reason for her brain’s inability to focus on even the spot in front of her face...*
*So, then... why...*

 The Kirika Akatsuki in real life clutched her chest as this mess of emotions pulled her apart. The pain of her heart filling with emotions for the first time in three months ached as if she had been stabbed straight through, and yet she did not feel angry nor did she feel wholly sad.
Welling up from the tangled web of emotions was a strange sense of happiness.
“Why... am I crying?”

~ ~ ~

 The ghostly image of Kirika that existed only within her consciousness touched the metaphysical representation of the gift that she had received on that day. “That... was my memory... from Finé’s perspective.”
Kirika shook her head. “Shirabe is gone, but if Serena could be reborn, then...”
With her non-existent arm, Kirika slapped her non-existent cheeks as loud as she possibly could. Defying all logic–as one does within a realm of their own consciousness, bound by no rules–a sound tore through the darkness that encroached upon her, and all at once Kirika saw the world around her light up.
The void that the ghostly image of Kirika had been floating in exploded, transforming from the darkest night into the brightest day in an instant.

. . .

 Kirika opened her eyes.
“I’m going to bring Shirabe back, death.” She shouted, the dark shadows that had been suffocating her physical form dissipating in an instant.
At the familiar tone of her friend, the woman floating beside her, Maria, recoiled in shock, with wide eyes. “Kirika?”
Kirika turned towards Maria with a wide grin, showing off her heterochromatic eyes–a signal that Finé’s influence still existed within Kirika Akatsuki, but now her original conscious was back in control...
“Well...” The girl’s mouth moved, but even Kirika was surprised at the mutter.
“Wait.” Kirika held her hand up to her face, and then quickly moved it from side-to-side.
Her eyes narrowed. “What are you doing?”
To Maria, it looked as though Kirika were talking to herself. As if she were performing some kind of rakugo act, Kirika’s tone shifted from her normal, excitable one to one that seemed smoother, more mature.
Maria pinched the bridge of her nose as she put her confused thoughts together. “So Kirika’s in charge of the body, and Finé’s... grown strong enough to be able to speak out through Kirika’s body...” She sighed.
“Seems like it, death.” Kirika replied. Immediately afterwards, in the tone that Maria assumed was Finé speaking out from within her friend, the girl said something else. “We... may need some time to figure out what exactly is happening here.”

 Batara Kala opened its mouth, firing out a giant pink sawblade akin to those formed by Shul Shagana. Its target–Serena Cadenzavna Eve–held up her one armoured hand and released a blast from her palm, cutting the weapon in two and forcing the energy-based projection to disappear into nothingness.
The monster responsible for this attack screamed in fury, and quickly performed an uppercut that Serena dodged with ease. As she readied another blast of light, Tsubasa and Kirika cut in front of her, slicing the raised claw off of the beast’s girthy arm with seeming ease.
Seconds later, black tendrils began to rise from the stump, recreating the missing hand as if the oily liquid was defying gravity and being poured into an upside-down mould of the amputated limb.
Tsubasa clicked her tongue. “Even with the Ignite Module, we can’t do anything against this.”
Completely ignoring the three Symphogear wielders–and the fact that the beast was regenerating its hand–Micha flew down from above with a feral look on her face, clutching the sides of one of Leiur’s giant gold coins. “Here I come!” The Autoscorer screamed with glee.
As Micha neared the partially-reconstructed hand of Batara Kala, her shining platform ignited in flames. The two objects collided with a heavy clang, releasing a pulse of hot air that knocked even the nearby Tsubasa and Kanade back a fair bit and forcing them and Serena to all close their eyes.
When they opened their eyes, Micha had disappeared.
“Just like I thought.” Leiur’s calm voice assessed the results of her and Micha’s combined attack. Though the Symphogear wielders were surprised at her sudden appearance, the Autoscorer just coolly continued speaking without acknowledging it. “The beast’s body appears to have the qualities of a liquid substance–and it appears to act as such when regenerating as well.”
Kirika and Maria flew up to match the others, just as confused looks upon their own faces. “Oh!” Kirika vocalized cheerfully, before her tone dropped into that of Finé. “You think Kohinata exists as a human somewhere within this beast.”
“I’m not even going to question what that’s about.” Kanade muttered her acknowledgement of Kirika-Finé’s new existence. Then, wearing a smile, she pumped her fist. “But if all we’ve got to do is get her out, then that’s a lot easier than taking this thing down.”

 Micha flew out of the stomach-area of Batara Kala, and the beast roared in pain as a torrent of fire surrounded the Autoscorer. “Woohoo!” The red-haired girl flew out, holding her claws out above her head like a superhero as she flew out of the creature.
“Well, Micha, did you locate the girl?” Leiur called to the approaching girl, who shook her head in response.
“I found a purple thing, though.” Micha smiled. Her happy expression quickly darkened into a sad frown, as she continued explaining. “But I couldn’t break it.”
“That’s likely where Kohinata is,” Finé nodded. Kirika’s smile then replaced Finé’s emotionless expression as the young girl added her catchphrase, “Death!”
“Where was it?” Tsubasa turned to the small Autoscorer, who flinched under the swordswoman’s icy gaze.
“You remind me of Garie when she’s mad.” Micha pouted. Stretching out her large claw, she pointed at Batara Kala’s neck. “It was in there, I think.”
“You think?” Maria raised an eyebrow.
“I tried to attack it, and then all of a sudden I didn’t see it any more. So I launched myself out of the black goop.”
“You exited through her stomach...” Leiur cupped her chin. “Perhaps, as some sort of defence mechanism, your friend can teleport her attackers away from her.”
Serena nodded. “If that’s true, we’ll need to figure out what the range of that ability is. I could attack it from a distance, if we can expose it.”
“Alright, everybody!” Kirika clapped her hands twice. “I’ve got an idea.”
“You do?” Her own mouth moved, shouting its own objection. Maria, too, voiced the same question simultaneously.
“Yes, death!” Kirika’s eyes sparkles as she looked at the group before her. “I’m gonna need all of your help, okay?”
“We’ll do it.” Kanade smiled. “We’ve gotta save Miku, no matter what.”
“Alright, then!” Kirika raised her hand.

. . .

 “This is a dumb idea.” Tsubasa narrowed her eyes.
“We all agreed to it, though. What does that make us?” Maria asked with a wry smile.
“Fair point.”
Tsubasa and Maria stood on the edge of Frontier beside Phara. In front of them, a short distance away, Kanade and Leiur were distracting Batara Kala, who countered their attacks with ease using her Symphogear mimicry.
The blue-haired idol held out her sword, which she had extended out into a massive size. Phara had used her wind alchemy to lighten the weapon’s weight, allowing Tsubasa to hold it out in the air in front of her as if it were just a piece of paper.
Atop the blade stood three figures: Serena stood near the tip in a crouch; Micha, attempting to copy the girl whose back she stared at, took on the position of a bestial crawl a fair distance behind Serena; and Maria stood, balancing as if riding a surfboard, only a short distance from Tsubasa. Kirika-Finé, the last remaining member of this team, stood behind Tsubasa.
“You should have expressed your doubts when you had a chance, Tsubasa.” Finé teased the girl in her strange, almost-deadpan (yet fully emotional) voice.
“I don’t want to hear anything from you, *Ryoko*.” Tsubasa spat over her shoulder.
“Alright everyone!” Finé’s expression disappeared, replaced by Kirika’s wide eyes. “Activate: Operation Cake, death!”
“That’s the one part of the plan I don’t understand.” Maria sighed, shaking her head, addressing the name of the operation. Finé was the only one beyond Kirika who understood why she had named the plan ‘cake,’ but had she not shared a vessel with the girl, even the priestess knew she would not have any idea.
Their plan was, conceptually, fairly simple. Assuming that Miku was still in the beast’s neck–or head–their idea was to attempt to create a guillotine using Tsubasa’s giant sword. Micha would use her alchemy to light the blade on fire as it flew, while Maria would use the shield that Airgetlám could generate–something she was not aware she was capable of doing until Finé and Serena explained how to–to protect Tsubasa from the flames. Serena, throughout all of this, would attempt to channel a weak version Shénshòujìng’s power into the blazing sword, essentially creating a red-hot guillotine that should be strong enough to slice through Batara Kala’s body.
In theory, anyway. Kirika decided not to answer any questions regarding the exact details of the plan, or how she planned to have Tsubasa get launched into the beast.
“Ready, Tsubasa?” Kirika shouted from behind the girl.
“I suppose.” She answered with a sigh.
“Good luck.” Phara smiled.

 Kirika reached down into her pocket and produced a needle she had been hiding–a vial of LiNKER.
“Oh, so that’s your plan, is it?” Her own mouth asked Kirika, who just nodded in response.
The syringe she held carried her solution of LiNKER. It was just a small dose, but combined with what she had taken before, it should be more than enough for her plan to go through without issue.
“Theoretically.” Finé muttered with a sigh, finishing the thought that had crept into Kirika’s mind. “I won’t stop you.”
“I knew you wouldn’t.” Kirika winked, then stabbed the syringe into her neck.

*Gatrandis babel ziggurat edenal*
*Emustolronzen Finé el balal zizzl*
*Gatrandis babel ziggurat edenal*
*Emustolronzen Finé el zizzl*

 As Maria and Tsubasa turned their gazes back in shock, what they saw was Kirika–blood beginning to dribble from her eyes–stabbing the ground with Igalima’s giant scythe.
Straddling the blade, Kirika smiled as she imagined herself like the witches in fairy tales. “Let’s go, death!
The blade of the scythe, which was pointed backwards, away from Tsubasa and the others, exploded out into a burst of green light. Throwing one hand out in front of her, Kirika generated a shield of Asgard in front of herself before she collided with Tsubasa.
“What--?” The swordswoman could only let out a surprised yelp as she was tackled by the Asgard wall that was being thrown through the air by a blast generated by Kirika’s Superb Song, which she had channelled through her Armed Gear.
Tsubasa’s eyes widened as she realized that the group was now airborne, and a mixture of shock, impression, and fear welled up within her as their plan commenced. Simultaneously, Micha and Serena channelled their abilities into Ame no Habakiri, but Tsubasa did not remove her hands away as Maria formed a small wall in front of herself to block off the flames from the two of them.
“This is insane!” Maria cried as the group flew through the air at a high speed, straight towards Batara Kala.
“But it’s working, death!” Kirika replied, barely holding on to the waking world. Though she wore a wide smile upon her face, the excited grin was corrupted by the eeriness that came with the sight of blood streaming from her eyes.
As the blast shooting out of the head of Igalima’s scythe finally weakened, Kirika sighed. Dropping Asgard, she waved with one hand to Tsubasa.
“Alright. I need to sleep now.”
With that, Kirika fell to the ground. As she descended, she looked up with blurred, crimson vision and an excited sparkle in her eye as her plan succeeded–the blade, just as she had hoped, sliced straight-through the beast’s neck, lopping off its head in a single moment.
Before she lost consciousness, Kirika saw Batara Kala’s head roar despite being separated from its body. “Good luck, death!” She weakly called up to her friends.

#### GX Chapter 19

 “I’m surprised that worked.”
The words slipped out of Tsubasa’s lips as she looked at the head of Batara Kala slowly tumbling down towards the earth. Despite being separated from its body, the head still appeared to be ‘alive,’ however: the mouth continued to emit a powerful roar.
“Huh.” Kanade realized. “I guess it can’t summon Noise without its head.”
Tsubasa turned her gaze away from the head as it smashed into the trees below them, creating yet another blemish in what, only months ago, was a beautifully natural field of trees. Her eyes instead looked to the beast’s neck, where she saw Micha diving in through the black ooze that seemed to be streaming upwards.

 Leiur reappeared on the cliff of Frontier, next to the figure of her green sister. In her arms, the golden Autoscorer held Kirika Akatsuki’s body. By overdosing on LiNKER, Kirika’s body had managed to negate some of the recoil damage that her Superb Song dealt to her, though she still winced in pain as she tried to focus on the spinning world around.
“We did it...” Kirika muttered, trying to be happy. Her tone, however, was more confused; she was primarily focused on trying to ground herself.
“I’ve got to admit,” Phara said, not looking away from the girls floating around in the air before her. “You’ve got a much better head on your shoulders than I first thought.”
“I think I’ve got two...?” Kirika clapped her hands against her cheeks. Her vision was still blurry–both from the blood streaming from them and the damage that the Superb Song dealt to her consciousness–and the area around her spun, but Kirika was trying her best to get herself back into the game.
Suddenly, her tone shifted. The voice of the girl switched from one that was slurred and confused to one that was more down-to-earth and serious in an instant. “And the others? How did they fare?” Finé asked.
“Micha’s gone inside of the beast again.” Leiur shook her head, though her eyes searched the skies for the remaining members of their taped-together team. “The Symphogear wielders all appear to be fine, as well.”
“I’m glad. I would have hated for them to die before I had a chance to properly apologise to them.” Finé muttered.
Kirika’s consciousness usurped Finé’s, and the girl muttered something to the second being that lived within her: “What about Shirabe, death? You put us through hell, too.”
“That’s...” Her own lips replied, trailing off as the priestess’s spirit fell into silence.
“Right.” Kirika wiped the blood out of her eyes and pushed herself out of Leiur’s grip. Landing on unsteady feet and nearly falling over–an incredibly dangerous action considering their distance from the edge of the floating island–Kirika put her hands on her hips. “Guess I’ve gotta go help them, death.”
“Good luck.” Phara nodded. Beside her, Leiur’s head also bobbed as she disappeared in a flash.

 Serena flew over the large onyx-coloured stump where Batara Kala’s head had been. Like tar, the black beast’s neck bubbled as it attempted to re-form the missing chunk of its body–something that Serena was determined to not let happen.
Maria smiled as she watched her younger sister fire small bursts of light from her armoured hand, slicing up the shadowy tendrils that reached up towards the heavens.
“Move!” Maria heard Tsubasa from her right, and quickly leapt up at an angle without a second thought. Where she had just been floating in a trance as she watched Serena’s attacks, Batara Kala’s large fist then flew threw the air; the pink hair on the idol’s head whipped around into her face as the breeze the limb whipped up smacked her.
“Now’s not the time to get distracted.” Tsubasa narrowed her eyes as she descended down to Maria’s side. “We still need to find Kohinata.”
Maria nodded. Running her hand down the silver blade, the Armed Gear in her grasp transformed from a small dagger into a sparkling chain sword, extending like a snake out into the air around her. “Any ideas?”
“If Kohinata can move about the inside of the body...” Tsubasa mused, tilting her head. As she thought, her eyes were tracking the movements of Batara Kala’s arms–right now, they were focused on Leiur and Kanade, who flew about on the opposite side of the beast. “...Then I suppose we’ll just need to limit the locations she can travel to.”
“Brilliant idea, Einstein.” Maria smiled. “Cutting off all four limbs at once while still leaving enough firepower to break your friend out is above us right now, surely.”
“I’ll take the legs, death!” Kirika cheered from behind them, startling the two girls. Before they could respond to her cry, both Tsubasa and Maria watched as Kirika tumbled downwards towards the beast’s thighs.
With a sigh, Maria conceded defeat. “I’ll take the right arm, then.”

. . .

 “Those girls are quite incredible, coming up with a strategy like that.” Yatsuhiro nodded approvingly at the vision of the battle that stretched out in front of him like a television screen. “Remarkable.”
“Yes, your country seems lucky to have such... creative weapons.” Carol grunted, looking down at the girl before her.
“Ah. You did it again.”
“Did what?” Carol sneered, her eyebrows pointing downwards as she asked the question.
“Do you not realize it? Odd.” Yatsuhiro shook his head. “Ever since you began your work, you have been stealing quick glances at Tachibana. Are you that interested in examining the crystal?”
“No, there’s...” Carol shook her head. “I don’t know why you’re prodding so much into my business.”
“Yes, I suppose it’s not my place to ask.” He sighed, turning back to the wall that protected the fight currently happening in Japan. Yatsuhiro’s gaze followed Kanade as she ducked under a punch sent from Batara Kala’s left arm, only for Tsubasa to stab down into the limb with her own Armed Gear.
Carol had ceased the audio transmission from the projection once Shirabe faded away, explaining with the excuse that she needed to concentrate. Because of this, the house was silent as Carol went about her business and Yatsuhiro his own.
The pregnant pause was burst when Carol finally sighed. “The truth is... this girl. She looks familiar to me, though I can not place why.”
“Hibiki Tachibana.” Yatsuhiro nodded. “She had been a normal girl up until that Zwei Wing concert a few years ago. After that, Kanade put in many requests to have her and her friend put under government care. Though,” Yatsuhiro stole a glance over his shoulder at Carol. “I can’t imagine you had been attending that event.”
“No, no. I’ve lived far longer than you can imagine, government official. For me to forget something means that it must have been a small, unimportant memory from when I had been young, myself.”
“Ah... Yes, I suppose that would make sense.” Yatsuhiro turned back around. “In that case, I doubt there would be another person alive who could help you remember.”
“Elfnein...” Carol shook her head. “No, unlikely.”

. . .

 A loud thud echoed across the world as more of the forest was crushed under the weight of inhuman appendages. Batara Kala’s left arm joined the beast’s head upon the ground, though a celebration could not be held for the occasion as the black ooze immediately began its attempts to recreate it.
Maria clicked her tongue as she dodged out of the way of a quick slash of Batara Kala’s arm. Ever since its head had been removed, the beast had yet to summon any of its imitation-Armed Gears, so its attacks had become much easier for the girls to dodge and predict.
Throwing out her chain blade, Maria ensnared the monster’s right arm, just below the shoulder. Pulling with all her strength, Maria forced the monster to raise its arm upwards to point towards the sun.
Kanade and Tsubasa, seeing that Maria was having trouble amputating this limb, both raced over at a high speed. Together, their songs ignited a fierce fire within Maria, who watched as the two members of Zwei Wing stabbed through the monster’s armpit and sliced straight-through the entirety of the limb in a single moment.
“Now we just need Kirika...” Maria began to say, only for her eyes to go wide.

 From her position beneath the monster’s legs, Kirika swung her giant scythe into the limb to her right, the blade sticking within the thick skin. Using this as a distraction, Kirika threw out her hand in the opposite direction, forming a wall of Asgard like a platform.
The pink platform of energy extended out through all matter in a single moment, cutting through the monster’s opposite leg with ease. As Kirika saw the second arm tumble to the ground before her, she withdrew Igalima’s Armed Gear from its position in the monster’s left leg and spun it around herself.
Flying out in front of Batara Kala, Kirika smiled as she spun the weapon around herself. Her pauldrons releasing bursts of energy, Kirika rotated like a powerful spinning top as she rocketed into the beast’s one remaining limb–and then travelled straight through it as she sawed it off.
Batara Kala’s entire body buckled, falling apart as all of its limbs were torn off. From somewhere below her, Kirika could hear the beast’s detached head release yet another roar as it screamed out, seemingly in pain.
“Now we just need to get Miku out.” Finé’s voice interrupted Kirika’s song.
“Right, death!” Kirika nodded, watching as the beast fell apart and collapsed to the ground below.

 Like a swarm of vultures racing to claim a carcass, the Symphogear wielders (and Leiur) descended down towards the puzzle pieces of Batara Kala’s body. Each section of the beast’s body was sprouting black goop as it tried to regenerate, but, with so much to rebuild, nothing was actually being created.
Micha burst out of the beast’s chest alongside a torrent of flames, flying up into the sky to meet her teammates. “Here I come!” She screamed, her claws open as if ready to give any of the people above her a hug.
Unfortunately, no one opted to accept that gesture. Even Leiur floated out of the way, letting the ecstatic Autoscorer sail right past the ground.
“Micha, did you locate Kohinata?” Tsubasa glared at Micha as she began to pout, sad that no one caught her.
“Yeah. The purple thing is in the stomach.”
“Good.” Kanade smiled. “Let’s end this!”

. . .

 A vast void of darkness stretched out in all directions, filling the sole source of light–the being casting the shadows–with an eerie sense of loneliness and dread. Sadness, hatred, anger, and, above all, fear; these emotions pushed down upon the lone figure from all directions, yet the weight they put upon her heart were far from the strongest pain that the girl felt at the moment.
Miku Kohinata floated in the nothingness on her back, her face twisted in pain. She had no idea what was going on in the outside world, and could only anxiously imagine what chaos her body was sewing without her consciousness to guide it. How many more people had she killed–this was the main question that ate away at Miku’s brain like termites chewing away at wood. She was sure that her kill count now had risen–no, the amount of strange sadness that had filled Miku’s body at one moment proved that she had at least hurt someone she knew.

 What the young girl was unaware of was that she was the one in control of Batara Kala’s actions–she was a puppeteer toying with the world she despised through a doll she moved subconsciously.
The murder of Akira Tachibana was an event she caused through her immense hatred and recent memory of the man, and her attacking the Symphogear wielders was born from a twisted desire to atone for the sins she caused–she did not believe that she deserved to be saved after all she had done.

 But Miku was unaware of all of this. The large teal jewels inset within her face stared up into the nothingness that surrounded Miku, who ignored the searing pain that the shadows caused to her body. This was nothing new to her, this pain; it had been omni-present for some time now.
So, she wondered, why was it that only now did she feel like the pain was eating away at her soul?

 Miku hazy eyes were unfocused as she instead stared inwards, at the memories playing out in her mind. She remembered that, for the past few months, Miku had been entirely alone; after she had killed Hibiki, she shut herself away from the world, using only Chris as her tether to reality...

*Chris....*

 Who truly was the girl named Chris Yukine?
This was the question that Miku thought about now. She knew that Chris had had a tough life, but the specifics were lost to her. To Miku, right now she was the moonlight that had begun to glow after Miku forced the sun to set over the ocean.
Was Miku using Chris Yukine as a way to fill the hole she had created in her heart by murdering Hibiki Tachibana, or did Chris actually want to reach out her hand to Miku just as Hibiki did so many times before?
More than anything, Miku loved the girl named Hibiki Tachibana... but now she wondered if the light that Hibiki had radiated was a trait unique to her. Chris had gone out of her way time and time again, offering a shoulder for Miku to cry on, yet she had never done the same.
No, what she ended up doing was the exact same thing she did to thank Hibiki for all of the times that she had anchored Miku with her smile: kill her, in cold blood.
Miku Kohinata’s body shuddered. For the first time, now, she closed her eyes, hiding the salty sea that began to fill the craters of her eyes. “I’m a monster.” Miku moaned, throwing her arm over her face.

 It was years ago–an entire lifetime–now that Miku had won two tickets to a Zwei Wing concert in a lottery. She remembered that day happily, as she clutched the tickets to her heart once she got them. The Miku from that time blushed as she closed her eyes, happily imagining the smile of her best friend as the two were embraced by the powerful songs that emerged from the hearts of Tsubasa Kazanari and Kanade Amou.
Never had she ever imagined that that concert would be the end of her life.
It was supposed to be the best day of her life–what Miku subconsciously wanted to call her ‘first date’ with Hibiki–but the Noise had ruined it. Monsters descended from the sky, destroying the atmosphere that the girls’ first song, Gyakkō no Flügel, had generated in a single second.
As Miku and Hibiki ran for safety, the two detoured in order to get away from the crowds being mauled by Noise and the panicked feet of other Zwei Wing fans–they learned later that they had possibly made a better choice by doing that, as many of the people they had avoided never made it out of the stadium. In doing so, they climbed up to the top row of seating... but this just made them easy targets for the Noise.
Miku knew, deep down, that everything was all her fault. Had she not won those tickets, she would never have gone to that concert. Kanade would be able to see clearly through two eyes; Hibiki would have never been thrown into the chasm of despair that ultimately cost her her life; Miku would never have become a killer; and the world...
The thought made Miku sob. She was the one responsible for so much of the tragedies that had occurred over the past few months. Becoming Ver’s toy and fighting her friends–twice–and murdering so many innocent civilians alone made Miku the world’s greatest threat. If she had just never won those tickets, the world could possibly be more peaceful.
That is what Miku thought, though she knew, in her heart, that it was a lie.
Finé would have still tried to destroy the moon–an action that Miku stopped. Ver would have still attempted to kill the Symphogear wielders in order to bring about the end of the Curse of Balal–Miku had only been one of that scientist’s weapons. Kirika, Shirabe, and Maria would have still been brought up in a torturous environment, and one of them would have had their consciousness fully usurped by a Finé who likely would have not given up on her goal of destroying the moon.

 None of those possible timelines mattered to Miku, however. She lived in this world–a world where the girl named Miku Kohinata was a murderer, a cannibal, and a monster. None of those had been by choice, but she was still wholly responsible for the actions of her body regardless of who controlled her mind like a video game.
Miku wished she had never won those tickets; that she had never killed Hibiki; that she had tried to talk to Chris more; that she had properly thanked Tsubasa and Kanade for saving her and Hibiki...
...but...
“The only thing I want to do...” Miku screamed into the void that swallowed her, but the rest of her sentence refused to leave her lips.

 “Don’t finish that thought!”
Miku pulled the arm off her face at the voice that cried out. It was familiar, yet not one that she had ever expected to hear again.
The black void had been shattered apart, leaving only a vast empty plane of pure white. Descending down towards Miku, with wings sprouting from her strong back, was a beautiful valkyrie with her arm out-stretched.
“Ah. I must be dying.” Miku smiled, the tears in her eyes sparkling now as she realized her one want was being fulfilled.
“Like hell you are.” The figure of Chris Yukine smiled as she floated down to meet Miku. The valkyrie gingerly put her arms around Miku’s back, bringing her close into a princess carry. “After all the work that Carol put into saving me and the others put into saving you, you better swallow any desire to die.”
“I don’t...” Miku shook her head. “Why do you all want to save me?”
“Because you’re our friend, idiot.” Chris’s sparkling grin shone in the bright void around her. It was not as warm as the sun that was Hibiki Tachibana, but, in a different way, Chris’s cool smile was just as comforting.
“Even after all I’ve done?” Miku squeaked out, her eyes wide.
“I’ve lost too much already, Miku.” A sombre look crossed Chris’s face. “I never had a chance to make friends before... you guys are all I have. No matter what you do, Miku, I’ll always be there to save you.”
“You...”
The image of Hibiki Tachibana flashed through Miku’s mind as a memory from many years ago popped to the surface. “You don’t have to worry!” Hibiki had said at that time with the same happy look that had burned itself into Miku’s soul. “No matter what happens, Miku, I’ll always be there to save you.”
“Hibiki...” Miku, in the present, muttered.
“I know I can’t replace her, but I can at least help you grieve.” Chris’s smile disappeared as she sadly closed her eyes. “I never got a shoulder to cry on. I don’t want anyone else to suffer like I had to.”
“Chris... I’m... so sorry.”
The white-haired girl who cradled Miku was silent for a few moments. A surprised look crossed her face briefly as she digested her friend’s words, but she bit down any response to it.
As she began to fly upwards, back to the heavens that she had descended from, Chris finally whispered something else to break up the silence.
“Come on. Let’s get you to safety.”
Miku leaned her head, cuddling up to the girl that held her. Closing her tear-filled eyes, she smiled. “You’re cool, Chris.”

~ ~ ~

 “Let’s end this!” Kanade had shouted.
“Yes. It would be prudent to save your friend before any more people have to suffer.” Carol’s voice echoed from around them. She had not yet appeared in the sky around them, so most of the combatants flinched at the alchemist’s high voice.
The small girl then appeared in a pink flash, but she was not alone.
“Yukine?” Tsubasa’s eyes were wide.
“In the flesh!” Chris smirked, floating beside Carol. Her expression dropped down into one of scepticism after a second, as she shrugged. “At least, I think it’s flesh.”
“Yes, it is.” Carol sighed.
“I thought you were...” Tsubasa tried to ask, but was cut off by Carol.
“Your friend, here, did die. What you see before you is a homunculus that houses all of her memories–her personality might be slightly different, but, for the most part, this is your friend, just as you knew her.
“You know,” Chris crossed her arms. “I’m glad you decided to make this body look exactly like my original one and all... but couldn’t you have made me taller?”
“Everything about this homunculus was crafted based wholly on the data I gathered from your body. Had your original body survived, the new scar that you possess upon your chest would have eventually formed as your fatal wound healed.”
Though she usually tried to avoid looking at Chris’s more voluptuous aspects, Kanade now forced herself to look at the cleavage that Ichaival’s armour revealed. Indeed, spreading from her right breast was a large scar; it was as if a star had been carved into her porcelain skin.
“So you’re... Chris, then.” Kanade just wanted to confirm. “Chris Yukine. The same one.”
“I think so. I do feel a little different, honestly.” Chris shrugged. “But I think it’s just going to take a bit used to this new body.”
“If I may ask...” Maria slowly pushed herself up towards the others, a meek look on her face.
Her eyes rolled about in her head as she searched for the right way to phrase the question she wanted to ask, but, after a few seconds, Kirika decided to interrupt and ask Carol the same question straight-out. “Can you do something to save Shirabe?”
“Unfortunately,” Carol looked down, a darkness clouding her gaze. “I can only remove memories from a living body. It was just luck that this girl managed to survive long enough for me to completely copy her thoughts.”
“You mean...?”
“No.” Carol’s focus turned to Serena. “With the power of the relic that revived you, we may be able to resurrect Shirabe Tsukuyomi.”
Serena opened her mouth to speak, but the sound was drowned out by the cry of Batara Kala below them.
“Right. Let’s deal with that thing, first.” Carol shouted, throwing out her arm. Chris, who was right beside her, was slapped in the stomach by the movement, and crumpled in the air as she took the full force of Carol’s surprising amount of physical strength. The alchemist, however, just continued speaking without acknowledging Chris at all. “Let us save your friends–both of them!”

 Together, their hearts beating as one, a sound began to echo out through the skies. The Symphogear wielders–all of them, including Serena, with her unique gear–resonated with each other’s singing, their hearts all connecting as one.
For the first time for all of the Symphogear wielders–barring Kirika–they achieved the ultimate forms that their relics allowed them: X-Drive.

 As Batara Kala’s body convulsed on the ground, trying to regenerate into a humanoid form, the three Autoscorers joined the six winged Symphogear wielders and their master.
“As one!” Carol shouted, creating a large yellow rune in the air. The Symphogear wielders all lifted their Armed Gears to the sky as well, while the Autoscorers, too, sent their power into the alchemical creation that expanded above them all like a large halo.
Letting out a loud cry, the ten girls all threw their arms downwards in a single motion and the yellow circle exploded out into a beam of light. As if trying to carve through the earth just as Carol had planned to, the ray sliced down into Batara Kala’s flailing body, utterly decimating it in a single moment. The dark strands of energy faded into nothing under the golden sparkles, leaving behind only a purple orb on the ground and the remaining parts of the legs and arms that were outside of the attack’s range.

 “Why couldn’t we just do this earlier?” Maria asked, wide-eyed, upon realizing what they had just done.
“The only reason that attack was strong enough to destroy the body,” Carol explained, looking over the new white armour that the Symphogear wielders all donned. “Was due to... this new armour. The combination of all of your songs resonating with one another, your hearts connecting as one, I imagine.”
“Now, then.” Chris shouted. “Let’s get Miku out of there!”
In her hands, Chris transformed the guns she held into a single giant cannon, and aimed it down straight at the glistening amethyst that sat in the sun. “I’ll be right there, Miku.”

#### GX Chapter 20

 Chris, with Miku in her arms, slowly flew up into the sky, now burning amber as the sun began to set beneath the horizon, after breaking through the barrier of the purple orb that was Batara Kala’s heart. She looked at her allies–specifically the six other human girls who were breathing heavily and sweating.
What particularly confused her was the fire spreading across the ground beneath them, which Tsubasa stood over with her hands on her hips and a satisfied smile on her face.
“What happened to you all?” Miku asked upon seeing their tired states.
“You...” Kirika glared at Miku. “Really should be grateful to us, death.”
“That purple... heart thing...” Maria grunted. “Did not want to break at all.”

~ ~ ~

 Chris channelled the entirety of her song’s energy into the large red cannon she held tight within her grasp. The weapon sparked with a pink energy, and a blast of white light fired out of the firearm like a spear of lightning, colliding into the purple orb with a loud crack.
But, as the light faded, Chris gasped in shock. “Not even a scratch?” She shouted, her voice a mix of confusion and utter surprise.
“Yeah, my claws didn’t do anything either.” Micha pouted, puffing her cheeks out like a squirrel filling their face with food for the winter.
“Interesting...” Carol mused, looking down at the ball. “A cocoon crafted of an unknown, highly resilient element. The work of a relic, no doubt.”
“Now that you mention it,” Kanade spoke up. “One of the powers she had used before was a spherical shield. What was it called? Shrivelessa?”
“Shrivatsa.” Tsubasa nodded. “Yes. This may be a byproduct of that. Perhaps it fused with another one of the relics that Ver stuffed within Kohinata.”
“In that case,” Chris separated her large weapon into two small pistols. “We’ll just have to hit it with everything we’ve got.”

 “She seems very determined, death.” Kirika whispered, deadpan, as she glanced over to Maria beside her.
“She’ll do anything to save her friend.” Maria smiled. “That’s something we can also relate to.”
“True,” This time it was Finé’s voice that escaped Kirika’s lips. “But there’s a fine line between acting heroic and acting stupid.”
“Didn’t you want to blow up the moon?” Maria’s narrowed gaze pointed deep into Kirika’s golden eye like a dagger, but the young girl did not flinch–her body, after all, was being controlled by someone who agreed wholeheartedly with Maria’s assessment of the irony being spilled. “You do realize how dumb that plan is, right? Even if you thought–incorrectly–that it would remove the Curse of Balal from humanity?”
“Yes... I suppose I’m not one to talk.” Kirika nodded, and opened her mouth to say something. Instead, however, Finé’s voice escaped her lips. “Wait–incorrectly?”
“According to Ver, anyway.” Maria shrugged.

 “Hey, the two of you!” Chris shouted over to the two former-terrorists. “Are you going to help or are you just going to sit there and talk?”
“Yeah, we’re coming, death!” Kirika smiled, floating away from Maria’s side.
Maria, however, just watched. Her sister was mimicking Chris’s earlier moment, firing a burst of energy into the orb from her hand, but it, too, did nothing to crack the exterior; the light simply splashed off the exterior of the purple shell, as if the purifying light of Shénshòujìng was nothing more than a weak spray of water.
“Wait.” Maria’s eyes flashed as a spark of realization lit the candle in her brain. “Serena, do that again... but weaker.”
“Okay!” Serena gave her sister a thumbs up with one hand as the opposite, the one covered in black armour, began to spark with purple lightning. Pointing out just one finger, another beam of light shot out towards the ball on the ground, which promptly disappeared on contact.
“Ah, I see now.” Kanade looked to Maria, and both girls nodded. Kanade then continued, “It looks as though the orb swallowed the light.”
Confused, Chris fired a missile at the orb from Ichaival’s missile launchers. Straining her eyes, Chris focused on the missile’s path as it cut through the air and soon smashed against the purple orb. At first, it looked as if it had exploded as normal, but as the smoke began to fade away, Chris realized what she meant: the smoke, instead of flowing up or outwards, appeared to be lightly vacuumed into the orb, like it was being slowly poured inside of the sphere.
“Oh.” Chris and Kirika both vocalized their understanding simultaneously.
“Nephilim.” Maria guessed. “Its power apparently grew as it devoured relics, but I don’t remember seeing it ever being fed.”
“That is to say,” Leiur looked to the girl who had just spoken. “Your Symphogears may not be so useful in destroying this.”
“But Leiur...” Micha looked up at her sister. “My claws couldn’t scratch it either.”
“Right...” Leiur cupped her chin.
Carol shook her head. “If both your relics and our alchemy will not work against this mysterious shield, then we will need to get creative.”
“Do you have an idea, master?” Phara asked her creator with an upwards tilt of her chin. When she did not get an answer, the green Autoscorer levelled her head.
“I think I might have an idea.” Tsubasa muttered, an excited smirk slowly spreading over her face. Coupled with the angled eyebrows and a mischievous glint in her eye, Tsubasa looked even more devious than some of the villains that the girls had faced previously.
“I don’t like that look on your face.” Kanade, in comparison, had a grim expression on her face. Sucking in her lips, Kanade looked straight at Tsubasa with her one eye as if trying to silence her friend.
“That just makes me even more curious, death.” Kirika, on the other hand, had a curious sparkle in her eyes as she looked between the two members of Zwei Wing.
“I’ll be right back.” Tsubasa blasted away into the distance at a high speed, leaving the others confused as to the details of her plan.
“Though I may not be one to talk,” Carol eventually commented. “That seemed a little out of character for your stoic friend.”
“Yes, she’s... an odd one, alright.” Kanade nodded with a smile.
“Odd is putting it graciously.” Maria sighed.

~ ~ ~
Miku looked down, sad–once again, she had caused problems for others. Seeing the look on her face, Kanade offered Miku a smile. “It’s good to have you back. Well, most of you, I guess.”
The frame of Miku Kohinata was still covered in shadows, albeit far less than before. As she was bare naked, the shadows drawn over her pale skin were clear. Spiralling out from her heart, these marks drew rings around Miku like a snake coiling around her body; from her chest to the tips of her toes, Miku seemed to wear a strange, black outfit.
Miku was not entirely unharmed, however: her left arm was completely missing, with what looked to be black flames rising up from the stub remaining attached to her shoulder.
“Considering your circumstances,” Maria looked up at Miku, wiping the sweat off her brow. “You seem to be far more... sane than Tsubasa down there.”
The girls all took a moment to take a glance down at the blue swordswoman, whose stiff, confident posture remained unchanged despite the fire spreading around her.
“Do I want to ask?” Miku looked up to Chris with eyes that reminded the latter of a puppy.
Micha waved her arms around at the suggestion to bring up the events that had just transpired. “We made a motorcycle fly through the sky!”
“Aaaaand that’s all we’re going to say about that mess of a plan.” Maria promptly cut the red Autoscorer off. “If you could even call it a ‘plan.’”
Miku could only guess what kind of plan regarding a flying motorcycle would cause the girls to become so exhausted. Judging by the expressions on the humans’ faces, however, she knew better than to ask for more details.

 Carol tilted her head away, embarrassed on the girl’s behalf upon realizing she was without clothing. Cracking a smile at their master’s childish reaction to seeing Miku, Leiur and Phara both looked to each other for a moment before teleporting away. They returned, less than a second later, with a white robe for Miku to wear.
“Before that.” Carol stopped her Autoscorers from covering up the girl in front of them. Turning to Serena, she then addressed the recently-resurrected thirteen-year-old. “You. Use the power of Shénshòujìng to eradicate the curse that plagues the girl. If you don’t, it’s likely that she will transform into another one of those beasts.”
Serena turned to Miku. “Are you okay with that?”
“I’m...” Miku sighed. “So tired.”
“I think that’s a yes, Serena.” Maria gave her sister a go-ahead.
With a bit of a timid hesitation, Serena then approached Chris and Miku. “Hopefully this won’t hurt you.” Serena gave a bit of a small smile as she tried to reassure her safety, but Miku just sighed in response.
“I’m used to pain by now.”
“That’s not a good thing.” Both Serena and Chris snapped together.
“I know.”
Serena placed her metallic hand upon Miku’s chest, and Miku flinched as the cool armour sent a chill down her body. That cold instantly disappeared when a purple light flared up around Serena’s hand.
Miku gritted her teeth, stifling a scream welling up within her. Contrary to Serena’s hopes, the light of Shénshòujìng was extremely painful as it coursed through her body. Her brain screamed out, crying for respite–but the ink that had painted her body slowly began to disappear.
After a few moments, the purple glow faded, and Miku’s tense expression softened as she was offered the first sense of peace in months. Breathing heavily and with a forehead drenched in sweat, she looked up at the smiling face of Chris above her.
“I’m glad you’re okay, Miku.”
Miku blushed, turning her head away now just as Carol had done before. In doing so, her vision landed upon the group of people surrounding her. “Chris, can I ask you something?” She muttered after a short pause.
“Yeah?”
“Who are these people?”
“Huh?”
“I mean, I know Tsubasa and Kanade. And there’s you, of course. I also recognize...” Miku’s eyes lingered on Maria for a moment. “Pinky?”
“Maria.” The former idol offered her name up at the comment.
Miku’s gaze then turned to Serena. “And I... think I recognize you from Ver’s lab?”
Serena cocked her head to the side. “I’m sorry. My memory’s a bit hazy–apparently I...”
Chris cut the small girl off with a cheerful laugh. “It’s a long story.”
“I guess we’re going to have to get you all caught up on what’s been happening, huh?” Kanade chuckled, too; the girls could not help but crack smiles at the notion that Miku had been–literally–in the dark when it came to the entire situation regarding Carol.
“Can that wait?” Miku sighed. Looking down at the spot where her left arm should have been.  “My... stub is killing me. And I’m exhausted.”
Leiur and Phara finally approached Miku now, draping her in the robe they had acquired. Once they had dressed her, Miku’s eyes barely staying awake throughout the clumsy ordeal, Carol nodded. “Leiur, take her to my hideout. Have the government official watch over her, for now.”
Leiur nodded, and she took Miku out of Chris’s strong arms with a brief acknowledgement of the Ichaival wielder’s desire to keep the girl safe. “See you in a little bit.” The Autoscorer commented before she, and Miku, disappeared.
“Now that she’s gone, I need to say something.” Kanade’s head was tilted down towards the earth below. “Though I do think Miku had some influence over that thing...”
“You believe that monster was actually controlling your friend. Yes, I agree.” Carol nodded. “That’s why, we must make sure the rest of it is eradicated.”
“Now that you mention it,” Kirika’s eyes lit up. “What happened to its head? Operation Cake was a success, but I heard it roar afterwards, death.”
“Our first order of business, then,” Maria began, “Is to locate the head.”
“Phara, Micha–” Carol turned to her two remaining Autoscorers. Just as she was about to give her orders, Leiur appeared at her sisters’ side. “And Leiur: I want the three of you to collect some samples of the beast from the remnants here–and destroy the remainder of its legs and arms. Put out the fires, too, while you’re at it.”
“Understood.” Leiur and Phara nodded.
“As for the rest of us...” Kanade began to shout an order, but Carol held up her hand as if to say that she had more to say. As such, the orange-haired girl shut her lips.
“Taking down the head should likely be an easy task. Therefore, I would like to request that you,” Carol pointed at Serena. “Come with me for a short while. The Japanese government promised me that they would cede the relic that resurrected you to me.”
Serena’s eyes widened for a moment, but then she slowly nodded with a smile. “You helped us out, so I suppose it’s my turn to repay the favour.”
“That said,” Maria flew in-between her sister and the alchemist, a glare pointed directly at the latter. “If you do anything to harm her well-being, I will end you.”
“Yes, yes.” Carol waved away the threat, knowing that Maria was completely incapable of actually harming her to a great degree. “Now, then. I will see the rest of you in time–with my papa in tow, I hope.”

. . .

 “What are they doing now?” Tomosato asked out to the room, though she expected no answer.
The woman’s eyes were glued to a pair of binoculars as she stood on the stone platforms that acted as windows for Frontier’s control room. Elfnein, Shiori, Yumi, Kuriyo, Ogawa, and Fujitaka were around her, either staring through their own pairs of binoculars or straining their eyes to see the battle a great distance away from them; Genjuro had climbed down to the shrine that hung in the middle of the room below them, where he was now speaking on his phone to someone.
“Checking for Noise? Putting out the fire they started?” Kuriyo wondered aloud. She was one of the few people to currently be in possession of binoculars, so Tomosato could only truly rely on her (and Elfnein, who had the other pair) for potential theories. “Or, maybe something else happened?” She added, handing the binoculars to Shiori.
“Ah, there go the robots.” The blonde girl immediately commented as the looking glasses pressed up against her face. “
“Oh, do we know what happened to Garie yet?” Elfnein’s voice squeaked out from her position a short distance away from the others, who had largely forgotten that she was with them until this point.
“Garie... the blue one, correct?” Fujitaka shook his head.
Ogawa continued from where he left off. “I had some of my men trail her from a distance, but she teleported away. As of now, we haven’t received any reports about her whereabouts since.”
“I’m worried...” Elfnein whispered. When she saw the look of confusion flash across Fujitaka’s face, the small homunculus explained further. “The Autoscorers’ AI were all patterened after Carol’s memories and aspects of her personalities. Theoretically, they should all share her goals, wishes, and dreams, so...”
“The fact that one has abandoned the others is suspicious.” Ogawa noted.
“Of course, that’s just hypothetical. They all possess different parts of Carol’s brain, so it’s possible that whatever memories or personality traits that Garie was given would cause her to develop rebellious tendencies.” Elfnein raised the binoculars back up to her face and looked away, signalling to the two men beside her that it was time for this conversation to end.

Yumi, whose eyes still shone from having watched the chaotic plan to save Miku that Tsubasa concocted, sighed happily. “Do you think they could do that motorcycle thing again?”
“I hope not.” Ogawa narrowed his eyes at his assistant. “Especially now, since there does not seem to be any more immediate threat.”
“Where did she even get that motorcycle?” Kuriyo asked. “Didn’t the mansion get destroyed?”
Ogawa smiled, his eyes actually cheerful. “Despite the tragedy that occurred over a year ago, the Zwei Wing name is still fairly prestigious; Tsubasa and Kanade still get requests for work, all of which they turn down. Some day, though, I intend to convince them to continue their work as idols.”
“That didn’t answer the question, boss.” Yumi mirrored the same expression that Ogawa shot her a moment ago. “But, if I had to guess, they probably still make a lot of money from royalties. Knowing Tsubasa, it wouldn’t be surprising if she bought garages or apartments to use as secret hideouts.”
“That doesn’t sound much like Tsubasa to me.” Shiori shook her head, handing the binoculars back to Kuriyo.
“She may seem kind of... aloof,” Yumi scratched the back of her head. “But I think she’s a massive dork beneath that cold exterior.”
“You should have seen her before, when she and Kanade were getting ready for their lives.” Ogawa smiled. “Even on that day, Tsubasa was huddled in a corner, incredibly anxious. Kanade would always do whatever she could to cheer her up. It was sweet–and why I want them to continue their idol activities. Their songs brought hope to so many people, and to each other.”

 Their conversation was interrupted by a loud war cry that ripped through the air. Even though they were a great distance away from the edge of Frontier, and thus even further from the site of the battle that had taken place before, the group inside of the massive command room felt as if the source of the roar was in the room with them. Kuriyo and Shiori placed their hands on their ears as the loud scream continued to echo around them, battering their ears with its power.
“What was that?” Yumi pulled the binoculars away from Shiori’s lap and excitedly lifted them to her eyes.

. . .

 The loud roar knocked Tsubasa out of her trance, and she looked up into the sky. In a moment, her eyes went from sparkling with satisfaction to cold and focused–nothing else mattered in this moment, other than getting ready to combat this new threat.
From a short distance behind her, using her wind alchemy to extinguish the flames around Tsubasa by removing the oxygen in the air directly around the fire, Phara raised her voice as the scream finally began to quiet. “That... sounds like something we’ll need to fight.”
“Oh yeah!” Micha cheered. “More fighting!!!”
With the X-Drive’s wings that were tied like a bow around her back and extending away, downwards, from her hips, Tsubasa leapt up into the sky with her Armed Gear drawn.
Her eyes went wide as she saw the figures of Chris and Maria being launched upwards, spiralling out of control as they were thrown away with an attack. “What?” She asked herself.
“Tsubasa, look out!” She heard from above her...
...and then, in the next moment, Tsubasa was laying with her head against the scorched ground below her. She did not even feel pain–the only thing lingering in Tsubasa’s mind was confusion.
“Are you okay, death?” Kirika floated down to meet her. Putting her arms around Tsubasa’s waist, the small girl pulled Tsubasa up from her crumpled position, forcing her to her feet.
“What just...?” Tsubasa’s eyes were wide, her mind fumbling for an answer she had absolutely no idea how to even go about finding. Turning her head to look at Kirika for help, Tsubasa saw the answer staring right at her from the other side of the pink barrier of Asgard.
The head of Batara Kala floated above the ground, looking down upon her like a crooked moon. Rings of energy coursed through the entire figure, in all of the seven colours of the Symphogears’ armour sets: orange for Gungnir, blue for Ame no Habakiri, red for Ichaival, green for Igalima, pink for Shul Shagana, silver for Airgetlám, and purple for Shénshòujìng. Cutting through these rings that lit the black flesh of the head were two horizontal, pure-white lines; it was as if the monster’s head had been ripped apart at two seams.
Kirika’s legs buckled as she strained to keep the shield up above her. Knowing that the girl would likely be overpowered if she did not help, Tsubasa lifted up the Armed Gear of Ame no Habakiri in front of her.
Seeing the fire of action return to Tsubasa’s eyes, Batara Kala’s head bounced away from Asgard, which promptly faded as Kirika lowered her hand. “That thing’s fast.”
“Too fast, yeah.”
That voice came from Kanade, though Tsubasa was not entirely sure of where her partner was. Quickly turning her head around wildly, she eventually saw the flaming bush of Kanade’s mane tangled among the leaves of nearby trees, with Kanade strung up between several branches.
Seeing Tsubasa’s worried face, Kanade smiled and flashed a peace sign with her fingers. “Yo.” She casually commented, ignoring her predicament.
“How are we going to take it down?” Tsubasa looked to the ground. “We could always...”
“We’re not doing the motorcycle thing again, death.” Kirika spat. Then, Finé’s voice replaced the younger girl’s. “It is essential that we slow it down somewhat.”
“Yes.” Leiur teleported beside the two girls, throwing up a large coin as Batara Kala’s head suddenly appeared before her, clanging as the metallic projection disintegrated under the immense force. “And I have an idea as to how we could do so.”

#### GX Chapter 21

 “Ah, so you’ve returned, as well.” Yatsuhiro greeted Carol and Serena as they materialized in the room of the small house. The older man was wetting a towel at the sink on the other side of what was a combination living room-kitchen, presumably to place on the forehead of the sleeping Miku Kohinata, who laid on the couch with sweat dampening her skin. “I must say: I’m not exactly fond of you leaving me behind.”
“Enough talking, government official.” Carol curtly cut off any compliments. “I still have questions for you, so I required you to remain here.”
“I see.” With that explanation, the man shut his lips. Strutting across the room, he placed the cool towel against Miku’s skin, and the girl smiled as the sensation of comfort filled her body.
“Now, then–you.” Carol turned away from Yatsuhiro Kazanari and instead focused on the girl only a little taller than the alchemist she stood beside: Serena Cadenzavna Eve. The curious thirteen year-old had begun looking about the room she now found herself, in awe at the combination of modern and centuries-old furniture and architecture surrounding her. Upon hearing her name, however, Serena turned back to Carol.
“Yes. I’m sorry.”
“No, you... needn’t apologize.” Carol was confused at her response–specifically, why her first instinct was to atone for acting just as an alchemist would in a new environment–but brushed it aside. Shaking her head, Carol continued with confidence. “First, we must examine your body...”
Serena instinctively covered her figure up with her hands, earning a sigh from Carol. “Using alchemy–to determine both whether or not the relic truly is inside of you and, if it is, whether it is in a physical or immaterial state.”
Blushing, understanding that the clarification was meant to assuage her fear of having to strip naked in the presence of an adult man, Serena stiffened into an attentive posture as she asked a question. “So, what do you need me to do.”
Carol glanced around the room. Chris Yukine’s original body–now a simple corpse–was wrapped up in a blanket and pushed against one wall; Miku laid on the couch with Yatsuhiro watching over her; and Hibiki remained frozen in a crystal against the far wall.
“Specifically targeting a relic–that may not even exist within you–would be difficult enough even if we were alone in this room. Considering that crystal...” She pressed her fist up to her lips for a moment before looking back up to Serena. “Stand in the kitchen, as far away from the others as you can. Government official, can you move the couch to the opposite wall?”
“Yes.” Yatsuhiro nodded, bending over to get a solid grip on the wooden frame of the seating apparatus. As he began to struggle with the weight of both the furniture and the girl atop it, Serena calmly made her way in the exact opposite direction.

 It took about five minutes for the couch to be moved as Carol readied a yellow rune in the air. Unlike the one she had used to analyse Chris’s body before, this relic was triangular in shape, and much smaller. In the centre of the design was an eyeball, one resembling the Eye of Horus; the sight of the entire icon, however, made Yatsuhiro narrow his eyes.
One point of this triangular shape–the one on the direct opposite side of Carol–touched the wall of the room, and the entire rune floated above a table. “This may be difficult, but I need you to stand atop the table, directly underneath this rune.” Carol told Serena, who offered a nod.
The thirteen year-old did as she was told, leaping up on top of the table with ease–Yatsuhiro couldn’t help but vocalize his surprise from across the room at the rabbit-like leap that Serena performed without the use of her Symphogear.
“Okay. Now, girl, close your eyes. Government official, you’ll want to do the same.”
“So it’s going to get bright, then?” Serena asked, her eyes shut as tight as she possibly could.
“That... would be an understatement.” Carol smiled.
In the next moment, it was as if the entire house had been transported onto the very sun. The heavens burned out around the figures within, bathing them in a bright, blinding light that Carol stared into with wide-open eyes.

. . .

 Kirika threw up Asgard in front of her just as the giant head of Batara Kala appeared before her. The black shape, with a rainbow of rings carved throughout its head, stopped just millimetres from the pink wall, as if knowing that continuing its journey would be meaningless. A split second later, it was gone, retreating back the way it came at unimaginable speeds.
“I... am getting tired of this... death.” Kirika put her hands on her knees, sweat coating her entire body as she breathed heavily. Using Asgard just once put a fair amount of stress on Kirika’s mind and body, but Batara Kala had now forced her to use it more than fifteen times or risk getting launched away.
“How... are you so good at figuring out where it’s coming from?” Kanade asked, her eyes scanning the area around them.
It was not Kirika, but instead Finé, who answered: “I know more about relics than any other on this planet. Estimating this beast’s approach is a simple matter for me.” Kirika cut the second personality inhabiting her body off as she spun around, throwing up Asgard once more with a grunt as Batara Kala appeared before them.
“Is that why it seems to be focused entirely on you?” Tsubasa asked.
Since Batara Kala had first attempted to attack Kirika, she remained its only target. Kanade, Tsubasa, Chris, and Maria had all been launched away only once, and the Autoscorers (minus Micha, who now ran about randomly hoping that the head would chase after her) had since disappeared in order to carry out their plan. Only on rare occasions since have they been approached by the beast, and every time it was only while they were in Kirika’s immediate vicinity.

 Maria felt bad about avoiding her friend, but the four Symphogear wielders were completely unable to even sense the beast as it moved, let alone act fast enough to defend themselves. Since Kirika was its sole target, they remained at a safe distance.
“How does it even move that fast?” Chris had a hand on her forehead as her eyes spun around trying to watch Batara Kala’s flying head.
“Ame no Habakiri, right?” Maria glanced at Tsubasa, who flinched at the comment.
Then, Tsubasa sighed. “That’s... likely, yeah.” She conceded, looking downwards.
“It’s not like it’s your fault, Tsubasa. Who knows what other relics are in that thing.” Kanade offered her friend a smile, but out of the corner of her vision saw a shadow as the beast’s head was stopped short by Asgard once more.
“Those robots have to get back soon. Kirika can’t take much more of this.” Maria’s eyes were focused entirely on her panting friend, whose movements were getting just the slightest bit more sluggish now. The millimetres separating Batara Kala from Asgard decreased each time the wall of energy appeared–it was clear that the monster’s head was only buying time until she was completely fatigued.

 Kirika clicked her tongue upon hearing Maria worry. It was not as if she did not like that the older girl cared for her, it was that she was once again proving herself to be useless.
Throwing up Asgard again and again–all this did was waste time, and both Kirika and Finé knew this, and it made the former incredibly frustrated. She knew she wasn’t strong enough to fight the monster, especially with the LiNKER’s effects quickly fading from her body, but the fact that all she could do was rely on the abilities of Finé in order to keep herself from being defeated just compounded her annoyance.
Shirabe was dead, yet she couldn’t even mourn her friend. Her brain was being crushed on all sides from anxiety and despair that crept in from behind the walls Finé had built up around Kirika’s psyche, and the darkness was only spreading further the more tired she became.
“I hate this, death.” Kirika whispered as she threw up another wall of Asgard. “Why can’t I ever be useful?”
Finé did not answer her in any form. The only response she received was the roar of Batara Kala as it began to back away once more.

. . .

 Carol exhaled deeply as the bright light faded from the room. Serena had her hands over her face, which was twisted in pain as the remnants of the holy glow still burned itself upon her eyes.
“Hm... yes. You definitely have two relics within your body.” Carol commented coolly, not even flinching despite having stared directly into the light. “Shénshòujìng is one of them, and the other must be what resurrected you. Luckily, it appears to be incoporeal, which makes our job easier.”
“It does?” Serena moaned, finally removing her palms from her face.
“Yes. If it was a physical relic, we would have needed to perform surgery and extract it.” Carol nodded. “As it seemingly lacks a physical form at this moment, all we must do is cause it to manifest...”
“But...?” Yatsuhiro could hear the ellipses Carol tagged onto the end of her thought.
“But... doing so could be detrimental to your life. Thus...” Carol sighed. “I think I’m going to need to craft another homunculus, just to be safe.”
“You’re going to put me into a fake body?” Serena had a grim expression on her face. “Does that mean I won’t age any more?”
“No. Homunculi still age, albeit at a slightly slower rate–in 24 hours, a normal homunculus body ages 23.87794 hours. You will essentially be as human as you are now, only with a body that was created through alchemy as opposed to...” Carol felt a faint blush creep across her face. “Natural... means.”
“Can you make the homunculus body look however you want?” Serena then asked.
“Yes, I... suppose I can make changes to your appearance, if you would want.” Carol muttered, interested to see where this conversation was leading.
“Well, I... apparently died six years ago...” Serena trailed off, and was immediately interrupted by Yatsuhiro.
“I’m sure your sister would be... quite appalled by the sudden change in appearance, not to mention it might be difficult for you to get used to. Perhaps a less drastic change would be more applicable?”
Serena sighed, knowing that he was right about that. “Could you then make me fifteen, at least? To at least be as old as Kirika and Shirabe?”
“I’ll do my best.” Carol nodded. “Though, girl, you will have to owe me for that extra bit.”
“Thanks, Carol!” She offered a warm smile in response, truly generous to the alchemist for going out of her way to honour Serena’s childish request. Carol’s eyes widened in admiration at the kind look on the girl’s face–it was the opposite of Shirabe’s smile, yet it welled within Carol the same kind of hope as her words had.
“Um. Right.” Carol turned her head away. “You all should be grateful to me, the world’s greatest alchemist.”
Yatsuhiro couldn’t help but let out a chuckle at the even more childish response from the centuries-old girl, who quickly turned to glare at the man across the room from her. “I’ll kill you.” She threatened, only causing his smile to grow slightly larger.
“You remind me a lot of my daughter.” He admitted.

. . .

 “What the hell was that?” Yumi screamed in horror, nearly falling over at the sight of Batara Kala’s head flying about at insane speeds. The binoculars fell from her hands, which were promptly scooped up by Kuriyo.
“Is that the head of the monster?” Elfnein commented, her tone far calmer as she looked into the distance.
“That’s going to pose some problems for our incoming guests.” Genjuro’s voice boomed from behind the group, confusing everyone with both his words and sudden appearance.
“Was that what your phone call was about, boss?” Fujitaka asked, then corrected himself. “Former boss.”
Genjuro nodded. “That was Shibata. Apparently he has urgent business with my brother and is on his way here.”
“I hope, in that case, the girls can manage to defeat it before he gets put in business.” Like Elfnein, Tomosato’s eyes were glued to the looking glasses pressed against her own face, looking at the battle raging on past the edges of Frontier.
“Do you think we could help in any way?” Shiori asked, knowing full well that she they likely would just end up being more a hindrance than assistance.

 Suddenly, Leiur appeared, floating in the space in front of Kuriyo. As her eyes were looking through binoculars now staring at the Autoscorer’s face, the girl fell over in shock as Leiur filled her vision. “Whoa!” She shouted, dropping the binoculars in the process.
“Your help would be grateful, in truth.” Leiur nodded, a smile creeping over her metallic face. “Should you be willing to put yourself in potential danger.”
“No matter what you have in mind,” Genjuro announced to the robotic woman immediately. “I will not allow those girls to put themselves in danger.”
“Once again proving that we should just have Symphogears of our own...” Yumi muttered out of the side of her mouth, earning a sigh from both Genjuro and Ogawa.
“I doubt they would be much help, unless they know how to pilot a helicopter.” Leiur countered, looking at Fujitaka. The lethargic man held up his hands and shook his head, so Leiur’s gaze then crossed over to Tomosato.
The blue-haired woman nodded. “Very well.”
Leiur’s eyes then fell onto Elfnein, who had completely ignored the Autoscorer’s presence in hopes of not drawing attention to herself. Now, though, she was being forced to participate in the conversation, as Leiur addressed her. “Your help will be required as well, Eleven.”
The original homunculus’s eyes went wide beneath the frame of the binoculars she still pushed up against her. Her body stiffened as she tried her hardest not to acknowledge Leiur’s comment, but her posture relaxed as Leiur spoke again. “You needn’t worry Eleven. You are our creator’s spare, her original creation; no harm should come to you, I promise.”
“Spare...” Elfnein whispered, then looked up to Leiur with a fire in her eyes. “My name is Elfnein.”
Leiur chuckled. “Very well, Elfnein.”

. . .

 Tsubasa sneezed. Seeing the looks of worry upon the faces of her allies, she brushed off the potential of her catching a cold. “I’m fine.”
“Apologies for the wait.” Leiur’s voice reached the four Symphogear wielders waiting among the trees before her figure manifested before them. A few moments later, Phara appeared behind Leiur–with Garie tied up beside her.
“Oh great, you brought the deserter.” Chris rolled her eyes.
“Seems as though our sister, here, might not have been in her right mind.” Leiur looked down her nose at Garie, who was kneeling on the ground. “I’ll have to tell our master about that... glitch later.”
“So, you plan on freezing the head.” Tsubasa nodded. “An interesting idea, but...”
“Please, spare your complaints.” Phara smiled cruelly. “Did you truly believe that we, the creations of the world’s greatest alchemist, had not thought through our plans to the end?”
Maria pushed her hand out in front of Tsubasa before she could respond to the taunt. “Just try not to harm Kirika.”
“Of course. You are, for now, our allies.” Leiur nodded. “I intend not to harm you, so long as my master orders us to.”
“If you’re all done talking,” Garie shook about. Being unable to flail her limbs, Garie’s attempts to escape instead just looked as though she were swaying to silent music. “Can you let me out of these ropes?”
Phara chuckled darkly. “No.”
“Unfortunate for you, dear sister,” Leiur began to explain. “You being entrapped in bondage is necessary for our plan. I hope we can rely on you to perform adequately.”
“I’d appreciate it if, next time, you could come up with an idea that allows me freedom.” Garie shouted, her face angry.

 “How can we help?” Kanade asked, slamming the butt of her spear into the ground.
“You girls will need to protect your friends.” Phara smirked. Seeing the confusion upon their faces, she pointed up into the sky, towards Frontier.
“What are you planning?” Tsubasa narrowed her eyes, seeing the target of Phara’s point.
“To do as we said.” Leiur waved her hand. “We’re going to slow down the beast’s head.”
The helicopter quickly began to draw closer, its large rotors kicking up leaves and dirt around the girls on the ground below it. As it flew above them, Phara grabbed the rope dragging behind Garie and began to fly into the air.
Still in the dark regarding the plan, the four Symphogear wielders just watched as the green Autoscorer flew up to the bottom of the helicopter and tied the rope around part of the vehicle’s landing gear. Though they obviously could not hear her, they could see Garie flailing about in anger, clearly complaining to Phara.
“And you’re confident in this plan?” Tsubasa raised her eyebrow, harkening back to her earlier–not entirely answered–question.
“More confident in it than you are, I imagine.” Leiur acknowledged her terrible explanation with a nod. “Now, if you would excuse me, I need to relieve Igalima’s wielder of duty for the moment.”

 Kirika’s eyes went wide as Leiur appeared in-between her and the pink wall of Asgard that she threw up. “You’ll be able to take a break in a few moments, girl, but first I need you to be useful for a few more moments.”
At the word ‘useful,’ a fire began to burn within Kirika’s chest. “What can I do for you, death?”
“You appear to be this beast’s target,” Leiur glared at the black beast on the other side of the pink wall. “Thus, you’re going to be playing distraction for us.”
The fire quickly faded, and disappointment crushed Kirika. “Not the kind of ‘useful’ you wished to be?” Finé asked from the girl’s own–still panting–mouth, who replied silently with a nod.
“Fear not.” Leiur acknowledged her desire to fight alongside her friends, turning to glance at Kirika with a smile on her face. “Once our plan is successful, you can fight alongside your friends again.”
“What do you want me to do, death?” Kirika asked, still dejected.
“Just go ride in that helicopter.” Leiur pointed at the black vehicle hovering in the air a short distance away. “We need this monster to target it–or, rather, to target my sister hanging beneath it.”
“I... don’t really get it, death.” Kirika shrugged. “But alright.”
“I’d teleport you, but we need to make sure that this beast knows your location. Thus, I’ll be escorting you there.”
“Got it!”

. . .

 Carol’s eyes were red and sore as she glared down at the naked girl on the table. Technically, the figure she was staring at was neither a ‘girl’ nor even ‘human,’ yet–it was a homunculus shell that she was crafting in an image of a slightly elder Serena.
The girl in question blushed behind Carol, looking out from between her fingers that were splayed out across her face. “Ahhhh I can’t believe this...” She muttered, flustered at the fact that Carol was concentrating on what–essentially–was her own naked form.
Yatsuhiro had been forced to leave the room (by Serena), and Carol was exhausted from both being worked over by these humans–humans that, truthfully, she did not care for in any way, and was only working with so that she could obtain the Rod of Asclepius–and the embarrassed complaints of the girl behind her. She grunted in anger as she worked, readying the inner-workings of the artificial body through alchemical runes that lines the older-Serena’s chest.
“There. Luckily I had the foresight to craft multiple homunculi forms when working on that first girl’s, just in case.” Carol sighed. Putting her hands on her small hips, the runes flashed away, and the alchemist took a step back.
“So... how does this work?” Serena asked, not removing her hands from her face.
“Well, we have two options.” Carol glared, holding up two fingers as she turned to face the girl behind her. “One–we simply copy your brain’s data into this form and attempt to force the relic into this realm using your living body; or two–we transfer your consciousness wholesale into body before I begin my work. The second option would be easier, as I would not have to be as careful with your original body as you’d technically be ‘deceased’, but I will leave the decision up to you.”
“Before I decide...” Serena shuffled. “I think that body should at least get some clothing.”
Carol nodded. “On that account, I agree.”

#### GX Chapter 22

 Elfnein shuffled in her seat. Since she had first been addressed by Leiur, her mind had been running at full tilt. She had run away from Carol–surely her creator would hold a grudge and her Autoscorers attempt to punish her for doing so, that’s what Elfnein thought. Yet, Leiur had treated Elfnein with relative respect, even showing more courtesy to her than to the woman sitting beside her now.
She did not understand.
Pulling the black and purple hood down further over her face, Elfnein wanted to hide her anxious self away from the world and to ignore the possibility that she could be the one to cause Leiur and Phara’s plan to fail. Her role in it was small and fairly insignificant, but she felt the crushing sense of impending failure strangling her, regardless.
Taking in a deep breath, Elfnein realized that she had not been breathing properly due to her worries, and felt her brain tense slightly as a sufficient quantity of oxygen rushed into her lungs. With an exhalation, she then took care to breathe at a steady, and normal, pace.

 Tomosato saw this out of the corner of her eye, and gave the small passenger sitting beside her a smile. “It will be okay. There’s nothing for you to worry about.”
“How can you say that? Aren’t you worried about the Autoscorers?” Elfnein had panic in her eyes as she threw herself forwards. Tomosato, shocked at the girl’s quick change in attitude, almost lost control of the helicopter she was keeping steady, though it jostled slightly as she bumped the pitch control.

 Underneath, still swinging from the chassis, Garie was shaken about at the sudden movement. Neither Elfnein nor Tomosato were, obviously, aware of the girl’s feelings, but the blue Autoscorer glared as she saw her slowly approaching sister crack a smile that told her that this was the punishment she was being subjected to for deserting her master’s orders.

 Steadying the helicopter, Tomosato sighed a breath of relief. Then, she turned her attention to answering Elfnein’s questions, though now while keeping her eyes on the controls in front of her.
“I’m surprised you didn’t see it–how much the Autoscorers seem to like you.” Tomosato began to explain. “You’re probably worried that they’re going to hate you for running away, but there’s something you’re forgetting: you were designed in the image of your master, Elfnein.”
“Huh?” The girl squeaked.
“You might have a shorter braid and differently-coloured hair, but you do look a lot like Carol. I think the Autoscorers recognize that–they probably see you as her second-in-command, and anything you do is right.
“Do you remember what happened when Carol brought us into that... void?” Tomosato suddenly asked. When Elfnein failed to answer, and instead tilted her head in confusion, the woman simply continued speaking. “The red Autoscorer–Micha, I believe you said her name was. The first thing she did was greet you, and happily at that. It seemed odd at the time, but once I saw how Carol looked, I realized that they may all want to treat you with just the same respect they’d give her.”
“But... I’m not Carol. I’m just...” A spare. A vault to keep safe a copy of Carol’s memories. A servant. Nothing. So many possible ways to finish that thought, yet Elfnein did not get a chance to use any of them.
“Elfnein.” Tomosato nodded. “You’re Elfnein. And the Autoscorers clearly don’t see you as a replacement for Carol. Leiur called you ‘Eleven,’ and quickly accepted your correction. Micha greeted you as ‘Elfnein.’ If they saw you as Carol, then they would address you far more stiffly... maybe not ‘master,’ but perhaps more with names like ‘clone’ or ‘second.’ They accept you as separate, yet they still treat you with respect.”
“But why? I’m a nobody. Carol doesn’t even care about m–”
“Carol probably cares about you more than anyone else, you know.” Tomosato smiled, though her kind expression was pointed out into the sky as she remained focused on keeping the helicopter steady. “You mentioned that you have her memories; memories that Carol clearly does not want to forget. Though, obviously I can’t speak on her behalf, I would not be surprised if she saw you more as a sister, or a daughter, than a tool that can be tossed away.”
Elfnein blinked as she took in all that Tomosato said. Alchemists were logical people–though Elfnein was not one, herself, she did have all of the memories of Carol spending years pouring over every bit of knowledge she could. Still, she found that because of this, Elfnein was logical as well, and thus she could see that Tomosato was correct in her assessment. But...
“Brains... they don’t like to accept change.” Elfnein shook her head.

. . .

 Garie glared at the two approaching figures as she swung from the chassis of the helicopter. She wanted to scream at the two, to let her free of the roped binding her, but knew that it would be futile considering the loud blades spinning overhead.
Still, anger overwhelmed the blue Autoscorer, and she let out an angry cry. “Don’t think I didn’t see you crack a smile back there!”
Of course, her words were immediately swallowed up by the booming cries of the helicopter’s spinning blades.
Phara had briefed Garie on the plan that the two Autoscorers had come up with, just as Leiur was now explaining it to Kirika as they flew towards the helicopter containing Aoi Tomosato and Elfnein. Garie was arguably the most important part of this whole idea–so it came to as a shock that her sisters would trust her to help, considering what she had done not too long ago.
But, she did owe Phara and Leiur for helping her. Garie had not been herself, something she even recognized, and it was only thanks to them that she managed to see the errors in ignoring her master’s orders.

 As Kirika and Leiur finally reached the helicopter–not before having to defend themselves against Batara Kala’s super-speed attack–Garie pushed her face into a frown. Once Leiur gave her the signal, the plan was to be put in action; Garie needed to be ready.
“Are you ready?” Leiur’s voice interrupted her thoughts–and the sound of the blades. The golden Autoscorer had teleported directly beside Garie in a way that was impossible for her to detect beforehand, which only made her more annoyed with her current situation.
“I will be once you let me out of these things. I can’t use alchemy in these dumb things, you know.”
The ropes that Phara and Leiur had used to tie Garie up were infused with the strongest alchemical element–one that only their master could make use of: Silver. Normally, if bound like this, Garie would simply turn herself into a flurry of bubbles and escape with ease; these ropes, however, forbade her from using any of her techniques at all.
Garie couldn’t help but wonder when her sisters had acquired the ropes (or, rather, when their master had crafted them), or why they still allowed Garie to remain active if they cancelled out alchemy–but these questions were drowned out at the grudge she now held for Leiur and Phara; she would get revenge, somehow.

 With a flick of her finger, the ropes were sliced apart; Garie assumed some sort of trick was at work–no way Leiur’s earth-based alchemy was capable of cutting those binds. But now she was free, and she clenched her fists together as she floated in the sky.
“Fine. I guess now I can help you.” Garie rolled her eyes, but the small smile creeping across her face told Leiur that she was glad to be of assistance, whether she knew it or not.
“You remember the plan?”
“Who do you think I am? I’m the star creation of the world’s greatest alchemist.” Garie chuckled.
“Good.” Leiur replied with a smile.

 Their plan was relatively simple–especially in comparison to the messy idea that Tsubasa concocted earlier. The idea was simply to lure Batara Kala towards the helicopter’s blades; as it only seemed to descend down onto its target, simply having Kirika wait inside of the helicopter would be a sufficient catalyst to make this happen.
Once in range, Phara and Garie would simultaneously use their alchemy to trap Batara Kala’s head and then soak it in water, which Garie would then freeze solid to slow its movements.
Should freezing Batara Kala’s head not slow its movements enough for the Symphogear wielders to take it down, then they would need to resort to Plan B: transforming the helicopter into a dry ice bomb and having Phara and Garie work together to expand the explosion enough to damage the flying beast–with the vehicle’s occupants escaping beforehand.

 “Begin!” Leiur’s voice sounded as a command as Kirika flipped her gaze to the sky.
All at once, a scream whipped out around the battlefield as the wind was kicked up and spun faster than the wheels of a speeding car. The air itself cried out in pain as it was thrown about by Phara, which was then drowned by the alchemical water of her blue sister.
The Autoscorers had begun their attacks even before Batara Kala had appeared before them, yet they knew that they had made contact with the beast. A roar ripped out from the beast and the droplets in the air began to sizzle under the pressure of the monster’s breath... that’s when it appeared, and immediately Garie’s face cracked into a cruel smirk as she knew her time had come.
Absolute cold ripped through the tornado cutting the air, freezing a blanket of ice over the flying head in an instant. For the first time, all combatants were able to see the beast without the wall of Asgard in the way.
“Now, Symphogears!” Phara commanded, screaming down to the group of girls waiting below.
“You heard the woman.” Chris smiled, aiming her guns. “Let’s take it out!”

. . .

 Miku rolled over with a start–and immediately crashed back into the back of the couch as her forehead smashed against the wall that she had been pushed up against.
“Ah, so you’re awake.” Carol’s voice muttered from somewhere behind the couch. “I wouldn’t look, if I were you.”
“What’s going on?” Miku questioned in response. She began to stir as she ignored Carol’s suggestion and tried to peek over the back of the couch. When she successfully crawled up into a kneeling position and her eyes laid upon what sat behind the wall, Miku’s eyes went wide–in confusion.
What she saw was Serena, now with a slightly more mature body, admiring her naked form in the mirror. On the table, however, also sat Serena, and it was over this childish body that Carol angrily stood with her arms crossed and a blush creeping over her cheeks.
The younger Serena–the one splayed out upon the wooden table–was laying face-down, her back sliced open horizontally. Another Miku would have been horrified to see the exposed muscles and bones protruding out from the schism made into the girl’s body, but this Miku merely acknowledged it as an afterthought.
Carol held in her hands what Miku could describe as a black Symphogear pendant, which the alchemist ran through her fingers. Her expression was stiff, her eyebrow twitching as she clenched her teeth.
Not sure what exactly she was looking at, Miku lowered herself back into a horizontal position as she laid down. Seeing this out of the corner of her eye, Carol sighed. “That warning wasn’t exactly for anyone else’s sake but your own.”
Miku collapsed with a confused huff.

 A few moments later, Miku heard Carol speak again. “Well, this girl proved to be quite useful.”
“What’s going on?” Miku asked.
“The girl possessed the Rod of Asclepius within her, which I have now extracted.” Carol spoke. “Unfortunately, I needed to butcher her body in order to do so.”
“And this new body,” Serena spun around, though Miku could only hear her feet bouncing on the ground as they readjusted them. “It’s quite incredible. I can’t thank you enough, Miss Carol.”
“Yes. I suppose this trade was worthwhile.” Carol smiled. “I also extracted the fragment of Shénshòujìng from your nervous system–here, girl. Now... put on some clothes.”
“Oh. Oh, right!” Serena cried, having completely forgotten about her nude appearance. She bowed to Carol in apology, and Miku heard the sound of fabric fluttering through the air as the alchemist tossed a robe to the girl.
“Tell the government official he is free to return to the room, now.” Carol curtly gave the order to Serena, who Miku then heard run off after a positive reply.
“Now then, Miku Kohinata.” At the mention of her name, Miku popped her head back up over the couch. Now, Carol held a small golden artefact in her left hand–one familiar to Miku–which she gripped with a tight fist. “Before I use this, I have a question for you.”
“I have no idea who you are or what’s going on.” Miku reminded the small alchemist. “But, fine. I’ll give you any answer you want.”
“Good–it is because of me that you are here right now, after all.” Carol replied. “Lancea Longini, the abomination of relics shoved within you; are you still capable of activating it, or did the light of Shénshòujìng destroy it?”
Miku tilted her head. Her hand quaked at the mention of the monster that still lingered in her body–the mess that had caused her to transform into Batara Kala in the first place. Worries immediately flooded her mind, and Miku’s teal green eyes flew open in shock. “I...”
“I understand your worries, girl, but fear not: Shénshòujìng likely destroyed whatever had been corrupting your body.” Carol threw out her right arm. “So, show me: can you make use of Lancea Longini?”
Sucking in a deep breath, Miku placed her one quivering hand upon her chest. Though she had been able to control the Symphogear before through simple thought, now Miku felt as though that tie had been severed.
Welling up within her was a Holy Chant born straight from the heart of Miku Kohinata. No longer did it feel as though the many relics crammed within her body–first the shards of Gungnir and later the experimental beast that was Lancea Longini–were parasites sucking out her life; no, now the relic whose power she called upon felt like a natural part of her body.
Miku smiled as the words escaped her lips.

 Carol smirked as the white light engulfed Miku. “As I thought.”
Miku looked down at her one arm. The golden armour of Lancea Longini was no more; instead, the girl was clad in a pure white suit–like a dress combined with a set of sparkling silver armour dotted with golden lines. Miku Kohinata literally shone, despite the dim light of the room she stood in. The one blemish on this holy Valkyrie standing in front of Carol Malus Dienheim were the onyx marks rising up from the stub of her missing right arm.
“Now then, it’s highly likely that part of that beast still remains alive.” Carol threw out her arm as a confident glint sparkled in her eyes. “Let us all go and assist your friends.”
Miku took a step forwards, but her leg collapsed out underneath her as she did. In an even shorter moment than it took for her to become bathed in a white glow, Miku was back in the thin robe that she had been dressed in by Phara and Leiur. Her face twisted into a pained wince.
“Okay, perhaps...” Carol looked down. “Such a thing was impossible in your current state.”
“No.” Miku grunted, looking up. “I’ll help them.”
Carol’s smile returned. “Good. Now then...”

. . .

 “How is this thing still so fast?”
Even with the power of X-Drive on their side, the Symphogear wielders were still being pushed to their limits in order to keep up with Batara Kala’s insane speed. Tsubasa, now, sliced the air with Ame no Habakiri, barely brushing the black flesh as it effortlessly dodged to the side as she scowled.
“Sorry I can’t be of more help, death.” Kirika sighed. Her voice emanated from the helicopter that was still zipping through the air like a large bee. The beast had stopped targeting Kirika exclusively–seeing the others as a threat now with its lessened speed–but it would occasionally turn its attention to the vehicle flying about.
In response to Kirika’s cry, the beast now flew up away from the girls on the ground–but Maria was ready. With the chain-like sword of Airgetlám in her hand, Maria cracked her blade at the beast. At the same time, Garie backed up her new ally, infusing the whip with ice that sent out a blizzard as it cracked through the air.
The weapon smashed against Batara Kala, sending the head twirling through the air away from Maria and Garie. Its chaotic course only lasted for a few minutes, however, and Batara Kala righted itself in an instant; though it focused its attention entirely on its two closer attackers, rather than continuing towards the helicopter above.
Opening its maw, the monster released a powerful burst of light–a missile of energy, born from the power of Ichaival contained within itself. This projectile, however, never reached the girls, instead scattering into the sky as Chris countered with her own firearms.

 The strange combination of clockwork warriors born through alchemy, and soldiers powered up through the mythical artefacts of old–only through this abnormal team could the unlikely allies hope to stand up against a monster born from every one of the relics that now opposed them.
Yet, still, the Symphogear wielders were only barely keeping up. Even with its movements slowed down as frost sheeted the jet-black beast, the four Symphogear wielders engaged in battle and their three Autoscorer allies (as useless as Micha was, who still bounced around the ground unable to keep up) were on the defensive. Every attack that landed upon Batara Kala only countered another, or served to draw its attention elsewhere.
Kanade realized this and sighed. “Okay, we’re going to need to slow this thing down more.” She planted her giant spear’s end into the ground as the orange-haired wielder of Gungnir began to assess their current situation.
Leiur landed beside her new ally, doing the same. “Yes. We seem to have underestimated how little our ice attack would slow it.” The Autoscorer pushed her fingers around her own chin. “Yet, I do not believe our backup would be sufficient.”
“What we need...” Kanade smiled. Leiur mimicked her expression only a fraction of a second later, completely understanding the road that her cohort was laying down before them.
Even Batara Kala was forced to hesitate at the three voices that resounded out, rumbling through the air like a calm clap.

*Various Shul Shagana tron*
*Shénshòujìng Leimpya Zizzl*
*Ayurvaed Shrivatsa tron*

 At the first Holy Chant, Maria turned her head to the sky. Kirika, too, poked her head out of the side of the steel contraption she sat in, her eyes wide in surprise at the voice.
“Shirabe!” The two girls said in unison, just as the pink Symphogear wielder smashed through the wall of reality, with the Valkyrie that was Miku Kohinata floating on one side, and the now-physically fifteen-year-old Serena on the other.

 As these three readied themselves, they were soon joined by another figure, who literally ripped apart the air with her bare hands. Before she cracked through into the battleground, the girls were serenaded with a powerful song born from the determined flames of a centuries-old alchemist.

*Ā, shūen e no “kanon” ga kaoru*
*Satsuriku no fukuin ni chihedo to chire*
*Bibunshi reberu made kaibō shite*
*Hangyaku wo eigō ni tatsuru*

 “You knew that my master would be coming, then?” Leiur eyed the girl beside her suspiciously, but the impressed smile showed her true impression of the girl.
“Just a hunch.” Kanade shrugged, but her smirk implied otherwise.
“You’re an odd one.”

 Kirika threw herself out of the helicopter, spreading her limbs wide as she dove down to reunite with her the one closest to her. “Let’s do this, death!” She screamed with a giant smile, her body now free from all sign of fatigue that Kirika had accumulated while defending against Batara Kala.
Shirabe caught her friend, pulling Kirika into a hug. “Welcome back!” Kirika literally sobbed as she embraced Shirabe, tears sticking to the small black-haired girl’s skin as Kirika used her like a tissue.
Carol stopped her song, coughing in order to pull the two girls back to reality. After a quiet apology from the girl whose free-flowing black hair draped down her back, Carol thrust out her fist at the beast before her.
“Now, Batara Kala–behold, the rath of Carol Malus Dienheim and her allies!”

 Though the monster seemed to attack however it pleased, it seemed to sense the power emanating from the newcomers. Every ring of colourful energy that spun itself around Batara Kala’s body darkened, turning into flames just as black as the rest of its body.
“You...” The monster seemed to form a word as it roared, its guttural cry shaking the earth that Kanade and Leiur stood on below.
The Autoscorer’s eye flashed in recognition. “As I suspected.”

~ ~ ~

 Garie grumbled as she skated across the trash-filled street littered with debris from where Batara Kala–when it was a whole monster–had trampled. It was a desolate scene; silence engulfed the Autoscorer as she silently danced against ice she conjured from beneath her feet.
The Autoscorer’s mind was buzzing, as if filled with a million tiny insects all trying to escape. Something was clearly wrong–her brain was being influenced from an outside source, yet whatever was at fault prevented Garie from even attempting to question it.
She was a servant to Carol Malus Dienheim, her creator, to whom she had dedicated herself to in ever way; yet Garie found rebellious thoughts creeping in through the cracks.
“Who...” Garie wondered aloud, but the question faded from her mind even as her lips fumbled for the rest of the idea that was pushed aside by the intruder within.

 All Garie Tūmān could do now was focus on the orders that were being forced into her mind from elsewhere–commands she did not understand the meaning behind.
While her real master had done inexplicable things before (such as obliterating the Château de Tiffauges that they all had spent so long crafting), Garie’s mind was based off that of Carol Malus Dienheim; she could, if she tried, comprehend how she came to whatever decision she reached.
But these orders were nonsensical–yet she was forbidden from questioning them at every step. The confusion born from her attempts to rebel did nothing but divert her attention away from anything that may distract her; nothing remained in Garie’s mind but the mission she was being forced to complete.
Thus, she did not notice Leiur and Phara looking down at her from above.

 “Just as you thought.” Phara commended her golden sister.
“When that monster began to glow, I sensed outside influence attempting to creep its way into it.” Leiur explained. “It was likely that some third party would attempt to assume control of it; and it seems I was not wrong that their target would change upon their failure.”
“So, then,” Phara smiled with wide eyes. “How exactly do you suppose that we purge our youngest sibling of this accursed one’s influence?”
“We’re all based upon our master,” Leiur chuckled. “Surely you know that there would be only one way to change the mind of such an illustrious alchemist.”
“Of course.” A cracked mirror reflected the differences in tone between the crooked smile Phara flashed and the confident one Leiur wore.

 The two Autoscorers spared only a single glance at the symbol that Garie had drawn upon the concrete with her pen of ice before nodding towards each other. With a sparkle in their eye, the two descended down in order to physically push the chaos out of Garie’s mind.
It was only once Leiur and Phara landed upon the giant eye-shaped glyph frozen upon the earth that Garie turned her attention to her sisters.

~ ~ ~

 From her fingertips, Carol unleashed invisible threads that snaked their way through the sky and quickly entangled the black beast. She expected the beast to break through them–this was merely a test to see the monster’s true strength. Indeed, the monster quickly cut through it as spikes resembling the sword of Ame no Habakiri cut through them like scissors through paper.
But Carol did not even blink. As her song continued to resonate from her heart, joined in chorus as Miku and Serena sang from their own unique hearts, Carol’s just readied runes as she hung in the air from her invisible perch.

 Miku and Serena, as if they had fought together their entire lives, danced through the sky. Purple lightning coursed through the black armour covering all but Serena’s one arm, and she fired a burst at the beast. While the beast readied its jaw, hoping to devour this attack, Miku went about her own techniques.
A chain of light sprouted out from Miku’s palm, which she used as if it were a a spear to pierce the black beast from behind. The shock of the pincer attack overwhelmed Batara Kala, who was thrust into the beam before it even had a chance to open its gaping maw.
Just as the cursed purple light splashed against the monster’s dark hide, Carol rained a litany of bolts, rainbow drops of different elements all painting the black canvas of the monster’s body. From three directions, the monster was assailed; in one instant, the three of them had accomplished more than the others had up until that point.

 “Kiri... we need to focus now.” Shirabe whispered into the ear of her crying friend. When she did not reply nor halt her passive attack, Shirabe silently stuck her tongue out, licking the skin that sprouted out from Kirika’s blonde hair.
That caused a reaction, and Kirika flew back in shock. “Death!!!!” She screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Enough, you two.” Maria’s voice cut through Kirika’s surprised cry, and she pushed her arms in-between her two FIS sisters. Then, with a smile, she turned to Shirabe. “I’m glad to see you again, too, Shirabe.”
“While it’s nice to see such a touching reunion,” Tsubasa fluttered down to meet the group. “It does look like they could use a bit of help.”
“Look who’s talking.” Finé replied from Kirika’s body.
“Can all of you just help already!?” Garie flailed her arms as she screamed up at the four girls floating above her. Like an icicle, the Autoscorer’s cold glare stabbed through Kirika specifically, who flinched away and tried to tuck herself behind Tsubasa.
“Yeah, but what about...” Kirika tried to snap back, her gaze falling upon one figure down on the ground. When she noticed that Kanade was now collapsed on the ground, her Symphogear inactive, she held her arms up in defence. “Death!”
Maria nodded. “The LiNKER’s effects can’t hold up for too much longer; not to mention, it’s getting darker by the minute.” The pink-hair idol turned her gaze towards the figures buzzing about–one of which was her mysteriously-older sister whose body was currently pulsating with light. “We need to finish this!”
Shirabe silently raised one fist, just as Kirika raised her own with a loud cry of her own: “Oooh!”

 Chris flew up to catch Miku as she dodged out of the way of the approaching Batara Kala. Sweat coated both girls’ foreheads, and their breathing was heavy. Still, Chris could tell that it was her friend who was in the worse state.
“Are you sure you should be doing this right now?” Chris asked, keeping her eyes focused on the black beast she was now firing magical bolts into.
“No, I shouldn’t be.” Miku gasped. “But this is kind of my fault, so I can’t just sit aside.”
“I know you wouldn’t believe me if I told you it wasn’t.” Chris sighed. Her expression was pained–and it had nothing to do with the fatigue starting to weigh her body down from having to fly about to avoid the high-speed beast.
“It’s good to see you again, Chris.” Miku smiled as Batara Kala’s head shook off the chains that Miku had been using to hold it in place. Then, after a pause, a spark lit up in Miku’s brain as she had an idea. “I’m home.”
The sudden touching comment shocked Chris, who stopped her barrage upon the beast. With a blush creeping across her face, Chris returned the calm expression looking at her. “Welcome back, Miku.”
Batara Kala’s roar interrupted their sweet moment, and both girls turned pointed glares at the beast. The monster–or the head, rather–flailed about as it was stampeded by a variety of different attacks. Serena blasted it with the purifying light of Shénshòujìng; Tsubasa sliced the beast’s side with the blue flames emanating from Ame no Habakiri; Phara sent sharp blades of wind to dice the beast from below; Garie crashed down upon the monster with a volley of icicle daggers; and Micha–who finally managed to catch up with the monster...
...jumped straight into its mouth.

 “What is she doing?” Phara sighed upon the sight of Micha throwing herself aimlessly in-between the sharp raven teeth of Batara Kala.
Garie clicked her tongue as she shook her head. “Being just as useless as ever.”
“No, that girl’s got a good sense for combat.” Garie flinched as Kanade, her arm thrown over Leiur’s shoulder, remarked, with blood dripping down out of her mouth.
“You look like shit, girl.” Garie commented.
“Thanks. I’ve looked worse.” Kanade grinned, an act which confused the Autoscorer before her.
“Unfortunately, the LiNKER supply has almost been exhausted.” Leiur addressed her sisters. “Only one of those other girls will likely be able to take a half-dose with the remaining amount.”
Garie shook her head as she flashed her crooked, shark-toothed smile. “I don’t know why that’s such a big issue. Our great and powerful master could take this beast out all on her lonesome, right?”
The four looked over at Carol, who was readying a series of circular patterns in the air before her. Though the girl’s eyes were closed, she still sang her powerful song as she made use of the Faust Robe woven from the stings of the harp relic, Dur da Blá.

 “Shirabe Tsukuyomi!” Carol’s eyes flew open in a flash, addressing the girl donning the black and pink Symphogear of Shul Shagana below her. When she saw the small girl’s ruby-red eyes look up at her, she continued. “Lure the beast towards me.”
The girl nodded at the alchemist’s order, and turned to Kirika beside her. “Kiri, you heard her.”
“Okay, but how, death?” Kirika sighed. “It’s not like we could just hit it like a baseball...”
Shirabe blinked. “Why not?”
“Huh?” Kirika tilted her head, but Shirabe had already moved away to begin telling others about the plan that the blonde wielder of Igalima had accidentally concocted.
As she looked around in confusion, she watched as Micha burst her way out of the monster’s flesh, a geyser of flames launching her like a rocket high into the sky.

. . .

 “So tell me,” Maria sighed, turning to her sister beside her. “How is this only the third-worst plan we’ve been involved in today?”
Serena smiled in response. “You have to admire their creativity.”
“Plus,” Kanade added from the opposite side of Serena Cadenzavna Eve, still clinging to Leiur’s arm. “As stupid as they are, they have all been successful.”
“Indeed. Though I have no clue how you all come up with these ideas, I do have to admit the impacts of them.” Leiur chuckled.
These four girls looked upon Garie, Chris, Tsubasa, Shirabe, and Miku–the four involved in this somehow-comparatively-normal plan that Shirabe had proposed on Carol’s orders: launch the monster into the alchemist so that she could defeat it.
Right now Phara, Micha, Maria, and Kirika were struggling to keep the beast from attacking either Carol nor Shirabe’s party as they all readied their own techniques, and to limit the area in which it was moving about.

 “The two of you must really like Ame no Habakiri.” Tsubasa nodded, impressed with the opinions of Shirabe and Kirika regarding the weapon she wielded as a sentinel.
Shirabe, having not been present for Kirika’s guillotine plan, just nodded in response–hoping this would be enough to side-step the conversation. “It’s useful.”
“Can we just get this over with?” Chris shook her head as she glared at the small girl with long black hair flowing down her back. “The faster we get this over with, the better.”
“We just have to wait for Carol’s signal.” Shirabe nodded.
Garie shrugged. “Eh, she’ll make it work; master always does.” Then she rolled her hand through the air. “Besides, she’s ready–has been for a while.”
“In that case,” Tsubasa held out her thin blade in front of her. “Let’s begin. Kohinata–”
“On it.” Miku replied immediately, firing a white chain out of her hand. The snake of ethereal metal danced through the sky and coiled itself around Tsubasa’s waist.
“Hopefully the next part goes well.” Chris sighed, readying the missile launchers that folded out of her body.
Garie smiled with her shark-toothed grin as she produced an icy replica of one of Ichaival’s missiles. “My alchemy produced ice far stronger than normal. You don’t need to worry about this breaking.”
“I assumed as much.” Shirabe nodded. “Micha’s attacks didn’t melt the ice you put on Batara Kala.”
“That’s...” Chris shook her head. In response, Miku nodded to the girl who was readying a complaint, and Ichaival’s wielder just sighed–now was not the time. “Fine. Load it up.”
With an elegant spin, Garie slammed her frozen rocket into the empty chamber of the rocket launcher, loading the weapon up in a second’s time. With the nose of the giant icicle protruding out from the launcher, Shirabe produced her yo-yos and tied the two Armed Gears around it as she hopped on top of Chris’s arsenal.
“All set.” Shirabe nodded.
“I guess we’re doing this, huh?” Chris sighed. Behind her, Miku leapt up to stand at Shirabe’s side–Tsubasa jingled around as Miku’s gravity-defying links gently floated her around by her side.
“Ready on you, Yukine.” Tsubasa smiled.
“Yeah, yeah.” Chris lowered her eyes. Taking a crouch, the girl steadied herself and all that protruding from the relic she donned as thin armour. “Good luck!” She then shouted, firing the icy missile as she found her target.

 Shirabe and Miku stood atop of the missile, which flew at a far faster speed than they were able to with X-Drive; Tsubasa flew behind the rocket. With her yo-yos, Shirabe steered the missile as Batara Kala was launched around by their allies’ attacks, and Miku kept her balance as she readied for her part of the plan.
“Out of the way, death!” Kirika shouted as Shirabe approached her, and all at once the girls still combating Batara Kala scrambled in all directions. At the same time, Miku flung her chain like a whip, letting Tsubasa go in the process.
Clenching her teeth, Tsubasa was thrown through the air and began to accelerate at an incredibly high rate. In a second, she was propelled at a higher speed than she had ever travelled at before–and yet the world around her felt as though it was moving in slow motion as she kept her eyes glued on the monster she flew towards.
With a brief flick of her eyes, she found Carol’s location above her, and Tsubasa smiled as she readied her attack.
Ame no Habakiri began to grow to a great size, becoming multiple times larger than Tsubasa within moments. The sword’s length stabilizes just as Tsubasa reached the beast, and she swung her Armed Gear at the shadowy creature with all of her might. Her muscles screaming out as she struggled under the weight of both her giant weapon and the beast it collided with, Tsubasa let out a scream.
Like a tennis racket hitting a ball, the giant blade of Ame no Habakiri launched the head of Batara Kala as a crack split the air apart, shattering the brains of all present as the loud sound ripped its way into their ears. Tsubasa couldn’t help but close her eyes as she began to fall away from the beast, and moments later would land amongst the branches of trees below her.

 Batara Kala was not a fully sentient being. While it had kept Miku Kohinata within its body, it had fed off of her emotions–the pain, the confusion, the anger; everything that Miku had felt while in its custody gave birth to its destructive nature. Now, all that remained was a blind fury–yet there was Something else brewing within it.
That Something felt anger engulfing it as the figure of Carol Malus Dienheim grew larger in the sights of Batara Kala. The alchemist had a confident smirk on her face as five rings surrounded her–the golden one in front of her, which Batara Kala now flew directly towards, imprinted itself upon the Something that resided within the raven-coloured monster.
The beast roared–though this was a result of its own hatred for its situation rather than the parasitic influence within it; that Something could do nothing but simply watch, as if the events playing out through the eyes of Batara Kala was nothing more than a television show.
But then, that Something was flooded with a strange, crackling glee–just as a bright white light engulfed Batara Kala.

 “That didn’t do it.” Miku narrowed her eyes as she looked up. She and all of the others had gathered on the ground–which was just barely far-enough away from Carol and the nuclear blast she created with her magical science; though the blast of white still swallowed up the darkening sky, Miku could tell that the beast was still alive.
“No possible way, death!” Kirika cried, bending forwards in despair.
“Even with that much power...” Maria was in awe of both Carol’s power and the durability of the monster whose scream now echoed out amidst the chaos of the explosion’s rumble.
“Well, now what!?” Chris groaned, running her angry hands through her white hair.
“There’s always another option.” Miku mumbled, keeping her gaze skywards.
“Yes, I think I know what you mean.” Kanade sighed. “That may be the only way, now.”
“If you guys are talking about what I think you are,” Chris’s fiery eyes flickered between the remorseful Kanade and Miku–who completely ignored her as she kept staring at the sky above. “Forget it.”
“No, Chris.” Miku’s gaze now lowered, meeting Chris’s eyes directly. “I think it’ll be the only way.”
Chris knew that she was telling the truth, of course, but worried more for the safety of everyone around her–even those she barely even knew. Chris had seen so much suffering through her life, and met so many people whose corpses she would later see being covered by blankets, but nothing came close to the deadly recoil dealt by the Symphogears’ most-powerful technique: the Superb Song.
“Fine.” Chris sighed, meeting Miku’s calm expression with a glare. “On one condition.”
Miku nodded, having already figured out what that condition was.

 Chris out-stretched her hand, which Miku took with the single arm that protruded out of her Valkyrie-esque dress. Their fingers intertwined, spinning together in a way that Chris had never before felt through her own volition; hope flared in her chest. Through all of this, the two only stared into each other’s eyes in a moment that felt strangely romantic–and quite uncomfortable for the others around them.
Maria coughed, pulling the two out of their trances. Both had been thinking about the other times in their lives when they had held hands with others–for Miku, these times were nostalgic memories of a departed loved one; but on the other hand, Chris felt nothing but confusion as an ingrained sense of disgust crept into her soul.
“If you’re doing this,” Finé’s voice escaped Kirika’s lips. The small girl produced the rest of the LiNKER–though only a very small amount remained in the glass jar. “Inject yourselves with the rest of this. It should, to some extent, lessen the impact of the Superb Song on your bodies.”
“Nah, I think we’ll be fine.” Chris shot a cocky smile. “After all, we’ve both been through hell before, we’ll climb back out again.”
Contrasting the confident girl who she stood beside, Miku’s expression was significantly darker. She then bowed, her body bending over at as close to a ninety-degree angle as she could. “I intend to take full responsibility for this mess; I hope you can all forgive me for creating this thing.”
“Like I said before, Miku,” Chris put her hand on Miku’s shoulder. “I don’t think anyone blames you for this.”
“Correct,” Kanade flashed a grin. “You’re just the victim of circumstance–again.”
A rare occurrence was then experienced by the two girls in front of the group of girls and Autoscorers as the looked at the blue-haired wielder of Ame no Habakiri: Tsubasa smiled, with a warm and genuinely happy expression. “Kohinata, Yukine... we’ll see you soon.”
“Awww, don’t go getting sappy on us now.” Chris turned her head away, hiding the tears of happiness that were beginning to swell up in her eyes. She had never had friends before–let alone anyone willing to care about her safety–yet now Chris was surrounded by people who genuinely cared for her; that, more than anything, was this entire situation feel like a dream to the Symphogear wielder.
“Chris...” Miku nodded after a moment of silence, exchanging smiles with Shirabe, Kirika, and Maria–whom she barely knew. “Let’s go.”
“Yeah... yeah! Right!” Chris pumped herself up.

 The two Symphogear wielders began to sing their swan song with overlapping voices as they blasted up into the air, aiming towards the black beast still recoiling from Carol’s last attack.

*Gatrandis babel ziggurat edenal*
*Emustolronzen Finé el balal zizzl*
*Gatrandis babel ziggurat edenal*
*Emustolronzen Finé el zizzl*

 As their song faded into silence, Chris and Miku stared at each other. Despite the blood beginning to creep out of their lips and eyes, both girls were smiling peacefully as the world around them seemed to be engulfed in a purple glow.

~ ~ ~

 Three months ago, before Miku had departed from Japan on her excursion to find any way to save Hibiki Tachibana from her crystalline prison, she sat on a futon in the small apartment that Chris Yukine lived in.
Up until a short while ago, tears had been running down her cheeks as she struggled to find a way to properly deal with the chaos that entangled around her heart. The sadness of losing her best friend–no, the girl who she truly loved more than anyone else–and the anger of having been used to murder her; those, above all, twisted the knife of despair into Miku’s already-heavily molested heart.
By her side, with her hand on Miku’s scarred back, was Chris. The two had been sitting in silence like this for far longer than the two could imagine–in reality, it was several hours, but it felt more like days to them.
“I know very well the pain you’re dealing with.” Chris whispered, her expression sombre yet masqueraded by a smile.
“Chris... someday...” Miku lifted her head, turning her eyes cracked red from tears to stare into those of the girl beside her. “I want to hear all about what you’ve been through.”
At the idea of sharing her horrible past, Chris couldn’t help but let out a short chuckle. “It’s not a happy story, but...” She nodded, her white hair bobbing as she did so. “Yeah. When you calm down a bit more, I’ll tell you about what’s happened to me...”
Miku noticed that Chris’s voice began to trail off, and she opened her mouth to ask why she was seemingly leaving off part of her thought. Before the words could escape her dry lips however, Chris sighed.
“I want to know more about you. And Hibiki, too.”
In response, Miku could not help but smile. “Okay, Chris. We’ll share our life stories once we find the happiness we’ve been looking for.”

~ ~ ~

 As Chris closed her eyes, her consciousness fading from the blowback caused by the Symphogears’ devastating song, she couldn’t help but let out a sad chuckle.

*Ironic,* Chris thought, *That we only managed to find what we were looking for now.*

 The final thing the two girls saw were each other’s smiles–the expressions of girls who, for the first times in their own eternities, were finally at a calm peace. Chris Yukine and Miku Kohinata had now, finally, found happiness.

#### GX Chapter 23

 “It’s over!” Kirika shouted.
The blonde-haired girl splayed out as she collapsed onto the ground of the floating spaceship-island known as Frontier–and around her, her various allies all took on similar relaxed positions.
“Maybe for you.” Tsubasa curtly addressed the girl as she leaned over Kirika.  In her arms was the unconscious body of Miku Kohinata; Maria, beside her, held Chris’s body in a similar position. “We still need to give these two medical attention.”
“No, I think they’re just sleeping, death.” Kirika narrowed her gaze. Even though the tone was that of the fifteen-year-old girl, Tsubasa could tell that it was Finé’s knowledge that was the source of that assessment.
“I have to agree.” Maria nodded as she gently placed Chris upon the ground. “Their breathing is... stable. They seem to be peaceful.”
Tilting her head in confusion, Tsubasa lifted Miku’s chest up higher and placed her ear in her direction. Seeing the awkward movements, Kirika couldn’t help but giggle; Maria, on the other hand, sighed as she looked on.
The Symphogear wielders were soon joined by Carol and her entourage of robotic bodyguards, who all teleported onto the island with the rest of their party of allies in tow.
“What the girl said is correct.” Carol announced, having somehow heard the conversation. “The two girls’ vitals are stable; it seems as though the power they used only affected their mental states.”
“Oh thank goodness.” Shiori cried as she breathed a sigh of relief. Shiori was just one of the many people who had been teleported by Carol and the Autoscorers–a shortcut, so that they needn’t climb down the towering ladder that leaned against the interior of Frontier’s monolithic command centre.
Shiori, Yumi, and Kuriyo all rushed over to the two sleeping girls, making sure that the alchemist’s assessment was correct. Meanwhile, Genjuro just nodded with his hands on his hips and a wide smile on his face. “Good work, everyone. I’m proud of you girls.”
“Yay.” Kanade, laying on her back, cheered in deadpan as she limply held a thumbs up into the air.
The orange-haired member of Zwei Wing then threw herself up into a sitting position as a whirring sound cut through the air. All of the wielders (and Carol) had deactivated their relics as they had landed, but Kanade still instinctively held up her fists as she searched for the source. Once she realized that the sound was only the approach of two helicopters, she lowered her hands and collapsed back to the ground.
“Oh yeah, that’s right...” Genjuro shook his head as he remembered something, then began to look around. After a few moments of only the noise of the helicopters’ blades whirring, Genjuro turned to Carol. “Where is my brother?”
Carol sighed. “Oh right, I forgot about him.” The small alchemist muttered before turning to Leiur. “Go fetch the government official.”
“Right away.” Leiur bowed, fading away before her words had fully exited her mouth.

 Everyone watched as the first helicopter landed upon the ground–this one warranted welcoming smiles from the group, as Elfnein and Tomosato promptly exited the craft a few moments later. Upon seeing Carol, however, Elfnein hid herself behind the tall woman beside her.
“It is fine, Elfnein; you needn’t worry about anything.” Carol pinched the bridge of her nose. Taking a seat on the ground (cross-legged), the alchemist breathed out in relief as she took a look up at the stars sparkling above her.
“I told you.” Carol overheard Tomosato whisper, but paid them no more mind.
“I think I finally understand what my papa wanted me to do.” Carol smiled with a quiet whisper that travelled up into the night sky.
Garie, Phara, and Micha all looked at each other in confusion, and shrugged.

 Leiur and Yatsuhiro Kazanari appeared before the group just as the second helicopter touched the artificial earth. “What’s going on?” Yatsuhiro immediately questioned his brother, who shook his head.
“Politics, I imagine. Shibata had apparently been trying to contact you.”
At the comment, the grey-haired man pulled out his cell phone and grunted in disgust; just as Genjuro had claimed, Yatsuhiro saw a flood of messages all with Shibata’s name attached to them. “I suppose I didn’t get service over there.”
“Yeah. That... no. My house technically doesn’t exist, anymore.” Carol shot out a short comment, but said nothing else as she kept looking straight upwards.
With those words still lingering in the air, the two Kazanari brothers gave each other confused looks as they then turned their attention to the side of the carrier, which began to open up with a clunk.
The snowy-haired rider of the helicopter climbed out of the vehicle with a wide grin on his face. Wearing a grey-brown suit the colour of stone, the man named Masahito Shibata began to march towards the group as he clapped happily. “Excellent work, girls. I saw the entire battle. Your techniques were very interesting.”
“That’s one word for it.” Maria muttered, but she was far-enough away from the newcomer that only the other Symphogear wielders nearest to her (namely Serena, Kirika, and Shirabe) heard her.
“Ah, Shibata. Apologies for not responding to your messages earlier.” Yatsuhiro walked forwards to meet the man half-way, greeting Shibata with a handshake as the two halted. “I was... in a unique situation, I suppose.”
“It’s alright, it’s alright.” Shibata chuckled. “I came here myself to give you–all of you–the good news.”
“The good news?” Yatsuhiro tilted his head in confusion. At the mention of ‘all of you’, Shibata had also attracted the attention of Genjuro, Tomosato, Fujisaka, and all of the Symphogear wielders around them as well.
“You girls did an excellent job today, even if there were some... hiccups, let’s say.” Shibata began to explain. Taking a quick pause, the man reached into the breast pocket of his blazer and produced a stick of strawberry-dipped Pocky, which he then stuck the end of into his mouth. “Coincidentally, a representative from the UN was visiting Japan, and happened to have a front-row seat for your girls’ fight against that... thing that showed up. He was quite impressed.”
“That’s... good to hear.” Tsubasa nodded. “But I am somewhat concerned by what you meant by ‘hiccups.’”
“So impressed in fact,” Shibata bit down on the Pocky, ripping off the tip, before pulling it out of his lips and pointing it at the blue-haired wielder of Ame no Habakiri. “That they got right down into writing up a proposition for you girls–and the United Nations.”
“Are you saying...” Yatsuhiro began to ask, narrowing his eyes as Shibata stuck the treat back into his mouth.
“Yup, and the report went all the way to the top and was approved almost immediately. If you girls are on board with it, Sector Two will be somewhat revived under the command of the United Nations; in essence, you will be part of an international association designed with protecting the world from threats like these.”

 The girls thought in silence for a moment, with only the sound of the cool wind blowing between the heads entering their ears.
“No thanks.” Kanade held up her hand, being the first one to come to a decision. “I want to help people, don’t get me wrong, but considering how poorly Tsubasa and I–and those FIS girls–were treated under your care, I don’t have high hopes for the UN.”
“I agree.” Tsubasa nodded, her arms crossed.
Maria’s face twisted in disgust. “If the choice for us is to remain in captivity or join another government organization, then I’d rather put my trust in the jailers.”
Serena opened her mouth to counter her sister’s thought, but stopped as Maria gave the girl a pointed look that told her that her answer would not be swayed.
“Actually...” Kirika squeaked out, but shut her lips. “No, Maria is right. I don’t trust the government, death!” Shirabe nodded at that.
Genjuro couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that all of the Symphogear wielders promptly shut down Shibata’s proposal. He could tell that the girls all actually did want to help people and saw the opportunity as a good one, but–even if Shibata had not been at fault for any of it–the way that they had all been chained up or thrown away by the government overpowered any rational desire to help. It was karmic retribution.

 Shibata frowned. “Genjuro, Tomosato, Fujitaka, Ogawa, and Itaba would have all been welcome to join as well; as would you, young magician.” The elderly government official’s eyes landed upon Carol at that last comment, but she completely ignored him.
Taking another bite of his Pocky, Shibata scratched his chin. “Truthfully, this is the exact outcome I expected. Once I explained how you had all been treated to the UN rep, even they said that they believed that you all would decline.”
Yatsuhiro raised an eyebrow. “So, then, Shibata... what’s the real reason you’re here?”
“Well, the United Nations really want your support, truthfully. They’re willing to do just about anything to get it.” Shibata smiled. “So, I threw my own idea into the mix.
“Instead of working under a government, I proposed you all form a government-funded, but wholly private, organization, one that will receive diplomatic immunity to engage in any... supernatural threats, let’s call them. Genjuro would be the head of this organization, of course; and he would not have to answer to anyone.”
“Is this why the SDF didn’t try to attack that beast?” Yatsuhiro raised his eyebrow at Shibata as he quietly asked this question. “They were a bit...”
“Yeah the government didn’t take too kindly to my suggestion of placing you guys outside the law. Once they heard you were on-sight already, they called off the back-up.” The other man’s response was a whisper, so that the girls behind him would not hear.
Yatsuhiro sighed. “I figured something was up.”

 Kanade slowly sat up, having made up her mind immediately. “Yeah, if Genjuro’s at the helm, I’ll do anything.”
“And I’ll go wherever Kanade does.” Tsubasa announced with a smile.

 Maria looked uncomfortable as she thought about the proposal. She did not know much about this Genjuro man, but he seemed fairly trustworthy. Likewise, she had spoken to Kanade before and trusted her decisions to some degree, so hearing the Gungnir wielder accept the proposal did help sway her.
“I think you girls should accept.” Finé said from Kirika’s body. “I don’t trust any human more than I do Genjuro Kazanari.”
“That honestly makes me want to join less.” Maria countered. “Contrary to that, I don’t trust you at all.”
“I didn’t say that expecting to sway your opinion, Maria Cadenzavna Eve; I know full-well that you girls dislike me. But hating me does not mean that one of you doesn’t trust me.”
“Let go of Kiri.” Shirabe spat, glaring into the one golden eye of Kirika.
“Uhh, Shirabe, you’re scaring me death.” Kirika flinched back under the small girl’s red gaze. “And, for the record, I hate Finé most of all, death.”
“But...” Kirika’s mouth moved, continuing the thought in the voice of Finé. “If not for me, Kirika Akatsuki would have broken a long time ago.”
“So, even if I hate her,” Kirika’s tone took over, continuing to speak to her friends as if she had been the one to speak that last sentence. “I know Finé does want to atone for what she put us through, death.”
Kirika then blushed and covered her face with her hands as she shuffled. Mumbling from behind her palms, the embarrassed girl then continued. “Besides, death. I have the memories of when they... Did stuff, death...”
Shirabe’s eyes darkened at that. “What are you making Kiri do, Finé?” Her hollow expression was like that of a doll, with her question coming out in an eerily cold tone.
Though she was not clad in her Symphogear at the moment, the air felt as if it was just about to be sliced through by Shul Shagana’s pink saw blades.
Meanwhile, Serena and Maria blushed as they understood what Kirika had meant. “Very well.” Maria whispered, turning her head towards Tsubasa. “We’ll join you as well.”

 “Yeah,” Yumi put her hands on her hips as she turned to Shibata. “I know Miku and Chris are out right now, but I’m going to have to decline on at least Miku’s behalf.”
Shiori stood strong beside her friend. “Every time something like this happens, Miku is always tormented and used by the enemy. She told us that she was taken over by Finé before, and then she was used by a mad scientist for experiments, and then she transformed into that black beast.”
“Miku needs peace–she’ll die if she keeps fighting.” Kuriyo agreed with her friends.
All three girls stood like a fence in-between the two sleeping behind them and the group of Symphogear wielders and government officials before them. They had no fear for the repercussions here; the resolve that Yumi, Shiori, and Kuriyo felt to keep their friend safe was like a flame that could not be extinguished.
“That said,” Yumi turned her head to look at Ogawa with a blush. “I wouldn’t mind still working with Ogawa...”
The man in question awkwardly chuckled at the comment, while Shiori and Kuriyo shot Yumi pointed glances as if they had personally been offended by her decision.
“What?” Yumi defended herself. “Miku absolutely shouldn’t do any more fighting, but I like working in intelligence.”
A weak grunt came from behind the three girls, and they all turned their heads simultaneously. Chris and Miku were both smiling through their blood-filled eyes as they looked up at the girls.
“Yeah. You said it, girls–I’m done getting into danger.” Miku’s lips widened into a shaky grin, but her voice was still quiet. “I want to be a normal girl again.”
“I also like being normal.” Chris muttered weakly. “But feel free to call on me if you need some extra firepower.”
“Well, I guess we did the right thing.” Kuriyo smiled. Then, turning to the rest of the people around them, she raised her voice to make the announcement. “They said they’re out.”

 “It’ll be a shame though.” Chris sighed. “I was starting to like the others’ company.”
“Oh you don’t have to worry about saying goodbyes.” Genjuro laughed as he approached them. “After all, it’d be best to keep all of you girls in one place when you’re not working.”
“Are you suggesting–” Yumi spun around to turn to the large man in the red shirt. “That everyone’s going to transfer to Lydian?”
“Well, if they were up to it, I’d definitely have Tsukuyomi, Akatsuki, and Serena start studying with you girls.”
“I haven’t been to school before, death.” Kirika smiled. “It could be fun.”
“It’s not.” Tsubasa shook her head. Holding up two fingers, she continued. “There are two types of people at schools: the ones who all want to be your friend for personal reasons, who don’t actually care about you; and the ones who find you intimidating but are still interested enough in you to watch from a distance.”
“Tsubasa.” Kanade curtly responded. “That’s probably because we were idols. And you’re not exactly the most sociable person to begin with.”
“But they might know who we are though.” Shirabe commented. “Mom wanted us to film a threat with Maria. They probably saw that.”
“Oh right, about that.” Shibata lowered his eyebrows. “Ogawa sent us a proposal, and it’ll help explain away your presence in that video... But, yeah, you’d still probably gain some sort of celebrity status from it, regardless.”
“Ah, if you mean that proposal,” Ogawa pointed to his twin-tailed assistant. “I wasn’t actually the one who came up with it.”
“What proposal, death?” Kirika asked, but Shibata only smiled in response.
“I do hope I can count on you three to help with it. Let’s call that the price for your freedom, alright?”
“I don’t like that smile you’re making.” Shirabe remarked in deadpan.
“But, if you’re not lying about letting us go free; yes, we’ll help.” Maria added.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but I’ll help too.” Serena raised her hand with a smile.

 “Nice to see that everything’s working out well for them.” Carol uttered under her breath, her eyes still glued to the sparkling holes poking through the dark sky above.
“What’s the matter, master? Are you hungry? You look hungry.” Micha, with her large claws reached down to hug Carol, but stopped knowing that her sharp fingers would do nothing but harm the small girl.
“Micha, remind me later to do something about those hands of yours.” Carol looked at her creation. “And, no, I’m not hungry.”
“You do seem to have something on your mind though, if you do not mind me saying.” Phara looked at her master with kind eyes. “Is something troubling you, master?”
“It’s regarding your father, correct?” Leiur guessed.
“Ooh, good ol’ Daddy Dienheim.” Garie gushed. “He seems nice, from what memories of him you gave me.”
“He... is nice, yes. The nicest person in the world.” Carol looked down. “At least, my papa was like that to me.”
Phara, Micha, and Garie all exchanged confused looks, so Leiur began to explain. “Before we resurrected Shirabe Tsukuyomi with the Rod of Asclepius, our master attempted–obviously–to bring her father back to life.”
“But it didn’t work. So I think...” A small drip of water dropped down from Carol’s eyes, which were still looking down at the ground. Turning to look at her four beloved creations, the small alchemist had a wide grin that was only being tainted by the sad tears welling up in her eyes. “I think papa is alive!”
Carol couldn’t help but let her emotions overwhelm her. All this time she had been working to achieve her father’s goals, unaware that he might have survived the attempted execution from the start. Carol had spent the centuries of her life analysing humanity, but clearly she only did so as well as her father would have if he could have been among the species she studied.
“Aw... it’s okay, master!” Micha ruined the emotional moment as she misread the reason for Carol’s crying and pointed out something that the alchemist had overlooked. “There must be some reason why he never tried to contact you. Or look for you.”
Phara, Leiur, and Garie stiffened at that comment–none of them had expected her to say that, nor had they even considered it themselves. The ends of Carol’s lips slowly began to fall into a concerned look as she pondered the meaning. But she did not stop crying, and Carol’s small sobs continued for a few more moments.
“Papa... who exactly are you?” Carol eventually sent the question into the aether. All this time, she had assumed that she had known the man named Izak Malus Dienheim better than anyone else, yet it was that government official who caused her to rethink this idea.
Wiping her reddening eyes, Carol let out an angry sigh. “The Illuminati.”

 “Carol.” The small alchemist turned her head at the mention of her name.
Standing above her–having somehow avoided Carol’s detection–was Shirabe Tsukuyomi. The girl with long black hair flowing free smiled as she looked down at the golden-haired Carol, her ruby eyes sparkling as the light of the stars was mirrored within them.
“Shirabe Tsukuyomi.” Carol rubbed her eyes again, making sure they were completely dry. Once she was sure that her face was no longer a mess, she clumsily climbed to her feet.
In the eyes of Shirabe, Carol just now seemed to act like the child she appeared to be.
“I wanted to thank you, Carol. For bringing me back to life.”
Carol pushed out her chest as a confident glint filled her eye. “No need to thank me, human. After all, I am Carol Malus Dienheim, the murderer of mir...” She was quickly interrupted as Shirabe grabbed the alchemist’s hand out of the air.
“And... I wanted to thank you too, for being my friend.”
“You...” The sweet smile on Shirabe’s face, coupled with the words and the crushing confusion placed upon her due to the mysteries surrounding her father, broke Carol. Her eyes welled up again, and she instinctively threw her arms around Shirabe.
“Wow. This is certainly a new side of master.” Garie snickered from behind her master.
“I suppose all this time, she was really just looking for someone to connect with.” Phara smiled. “Master... really is just a young girl at heart.”
“No, master is master.” Micha seemingly corrected. “Master’s kind and strong and really cool.”
“I don’t disagree with anything that you all have said...” Leiur began to say. “That said, we should consider stepping in now before that blonde-haired girl gets the chance to.”
Glaring at Shirabe’s back was a jealous Kirika, who kept muttering her catchphrase, “Death,” under her breath as she glared at Carol embracing her best friend.
It was a scene that Garie could not help but take advantage of. “Oh, so your relationship is like that, is it girl?” She chuckled, skating up to Kirika with a playful grin on her face. “I had you pegged as sisters, rather than lovers.”
“Shirabe is...” Kirika stopped as her face flushed red. “Shirabe is Shirabe! It doesn’t matter what our relationship is, death!”
“I think you’d get along great with Micha.” Garie exhaled a chilly breath as her playful expression faded more into one of annoyance.
“You shouldn’t be so down, young one.” Phara appeared on the opposite side of Kirika, trailing the girl’s face with her finger. This contact caused Kirika to stiffen in shock and disgust, but she did not move. “Or, are you afraid that our master will steal your friend away from you.”
“That’s... uh...” Kirika stammered, distracted by the Autoscorer’s cool finger dancing along her skin. “I’m... uhh...”
“Just join them.” Garie chuckled, pushing Kirika from the back.
The wielder of Igalima let out a yelp as she was launched into the two girls in front of her, screaming out a warning as her feet fumbled to regain balance and keep herself from moving forwards–only to completely fail and tackle Shirabe and Carol to the ground.
Carol, however, just glared up at the giggling Garie behind the two girls on top of her. But, as Shirabe stood up and both she and Kirika offered Carol their hands, the alchemist’s expression softened. “Perhaps, I’ve been going about this the wrong way.” She sighed, taking their hands.
With the hands of Kirika Akatsuki and Shirabe Tsukuyomi swallowing her own, much smaller, one, Carol took her first literal step into the new life she planned to live going forwards. An alchemist–but not one who shut herself away from the world.
“‘See the world and all of the natural miracles that it has to offer!’ All this time, I’d taken his words as those of an alchemist speaking to his pupil.” Carol recalled. “But I’d forgotten that, first and foremost, those words came from my papa.”

 Shibata walked into the middle of the crowd that was spread out wide on the stony platform. “So I take it this is official, then? We’ve got most of you on board with this plan?”
“Yeah, I guess you do.” Kanade replied.
“Good.” Pulling out another stick of Pocky from his blazer, Shibata held it up into the air. “Now, I hand command of this organization to you, Genjuro Kazanari. The Squad of Nexus Guardians–or SONG for short; that’s what we came up with.”
“Nexus Guardians?” Tsubasa asked.
“It was something we pulled from Dr. Sakurai’s reports. She described the Symphogears as ‘weapons to protect the nexus that connects humanity and the Noise’ in her initial pitch to get funding for Sector Two.”
“Politicians really like their poetry.” Kirika quietly muttered in Finé’s voice.
“I’d still like an explanation as to what happened to Kiri.” Shirabe reminded the priestess in a response of equal volume.
“SONG... I like it.” Genjuro smiled. “It’s fitting, considering the Symphogears’ powers.”
“I agree.” Yatsuhiro nodded.
“Now, to those of you who want to join SONG–we will need you to sign some contracts basically to acknowledge you as official members, but we could do this at a later date.” Shibata shook his head. “Now, though, I think it’s about time I head to the first of many meetings about... this.” The man gestured back towards the destructive path that Batara Kala had carved through the city.
Luckily, Miku and Chris had fallen back asleep, so the former did not have any chance to feel guilty for being technically responsible for the destruction.
“Yeah, I guess we... probably could have handled it a bit better.” Kanade admitted, being the only one still sitting on the ground.
“Considering your circumstances, I can’t blame you at all. My superiors might differ, though.” Shibata chewed down the end of his Pocky as he furrowed his brow. “Either way, I’m basically just locked in meetings as a punishment for this proposal, I think. I shouldn’t even be put in charge of these kinds of things.”
“I apologize for that.” Yatsuhiro gave him an apologetic smile. “But I thank you for your work.”
“Yeah, once I’m done, we’ve got to go hit a bar or something, Yatsuhiro. It’s been a hard few months.”
His associate chuckled. “Sure, Masahito. We’ll have to work something out.”

 From a distance, Serena looked at the two laughing men. “I wonder what alcohol’s like.”
“Not happening.” Maria immediately shot down the idea brewing in her mind. “Besides, you’re not old enough.”
“Oh come on, sis. I’m technically nineteen. Next year–”
“You’re thirteen, though.”
“Fifteen, actually.” Serena showed off her new body. “See, I had Carol make me this older body for me.”
“I was hoping for a bit more of an explanation than that.” Maria sighed, but her expression was soft. With a small smile and sad eyes, she looked straight at her young sister. “I missed you so much, Serena.”
“I’m glad to see you again, too, Maria.”
The two sisters embraced in a silent hug. Serena pressed her head up against Maria’s shoulder, trying to see over, but was too short to do so. Maria didn’t mind though; she chuckled inwardly as her sister comically shuffled about.
“But I need to know...” Maria eventually whispered. “The cost of being brought back from the dead.”
“Oh...” Serena felt her blood run cold. “You realized it, huh?”
“From the second you first awoke.”
Serena pushed herself away from Maria and looked up at her sister. No longer was she wearing a peaceful expression, but instead one of complete neutrality; no emotion shone behind her eyes.
“The Rod of Asclepius... when it revives someone from the dead, it can’t recreate the same electrical currents in the brain.” Serena explained.
“Yes, I could tell that you were faking your expressions. You never were much of an actress, Serena.”
Serena shuffled. “It’s not so much that I don’t feel emotion any more, rather it’s just... difficult to. I’m genuinely happy to see you again, but it’s more like... I imagine the emotion I feel is as strong as you would feel if I told you I bought you a chocolate bar.”
“So, does that mean...” Maria’s eyes avoided Serena’s empty eyes, instead wandering over to look at her two friends crowding around the small alchemist and her four Autoscorers.
“Shirabe’s likely the same, yes. But we should be fine. When I asked Carol about it, she speculated that our brains just needed to develop the emotions again with time.”
“Serena, I’m...”
“It’s fine Maria. I’m still your sister. Even if I can’t express myself properly right now, I’ll always love you just as much as I always have.” Light returning to Serena’s eyes, she threw herself into Maria again. “You’re my precious sister. This time, I won’t go dying on you.”
“I hope not.” Maria patted her sister’s head. “I’ll be the one to protect you, now.”
“No.” Serena pushed her face into Maria’s skin. “We’ll protect each other.”

 Shibata began making his way to the helicopter, the blades of which began to spin again at a high speed. As the mechanical roar cut through the air once more, he shouted to Genjuro. “Good luck with SONG, everyone. I’m looking forward to the future of our planet.”
Climbing in to the helicopter, Shibata waved to the Kazanari brothers before closing the door of the vehicle. The two brothers simply smiled, with their arms crossed, watching happily as the helicopter lifted up off the ground.

. . .

 The man shrouded in darkness stood atop a crooked skyscraper, with a young girl by his side. His eyes tracked the helicopter that had just departed Frontier, an unimpressed look burning behind his pupils.
“Should I follow them, master?” The girl asked.
A late teenager, the girl was dressed in a black bodysuit that accentuated the curves of her body. Though some might take this to be an attempt to sexually appease the man she called her ‘master,’ the reality was quite different: she was his servant, forced to follow any order that he gave her; and that included wearing this provocative outfit.
The metallic cuffs that encircled the girl’s wrists and ankles–her hands and feet both completely bare, yet marked with many scars–looked tight, evident by the red skin lining the suffocating bands. A similar band wrapped around her neck, though this one was somewhat looser so that she could breathe.
Upon this entirely-black ensemble, the only sign of colour dotting this girl’s torso was the small golden eye carved into the metallic neck brace, which was surrounded by a pyramid. This eye image looked up from its place around the girl’s neck, staring at the man who stood beside the girl sitting in a respective crouch.
“No. Leave them be.” The man ordered, and his servant stiffened at the sound of his powerful voice. “I do not believe those girls to be strong. Should they attempt to interrupt us, dealing with them would be no more difficult than swatting a fly.”
The girl nodded. “Understood, master.”
The man scratched his chin. “However.” He paused, taking in a deep breath as he looked at Frontier. “That girl might be someone to keep an eye on.”
“Master?”
“Despite your earlier failings in attempting to control that black beast,” The man looked down at the girl by his side. “Subject RHX-Stoker, you are to watch over the one claiming to be an alchemist–Carol Malus Dienheim.”
Though she nodded, the girl did not move the rest of her body. As she stilled her head and looked down to the ground, the disgusted expression that she had been wearing this whole time returned to her face as she spat out a response. “Understood, master.”
“And one other thing, Subject RHX-Stoker...” In a flash, faster than the girl could even understand what had happened, the girl found herself falling over as pain filled her cheek. As she landed sideways on the ground, the girl realized that the man she was forced to submit to had quickly kicked her in the face.
“One more failure like earlier, and you will suffer even greater pain than this.” The man’s eyes seemed to glow like pale flames within the dark of the night as he glared down at the girl clutching her face, trying her best not to let the blood welling up in her mouth spew from her lips. “I am sure you would not like to follow in the footsteps of Subject RHX-Greifswald and Subject RHX-d’Espie.”
“Under...stood...” She mumbled after swallowing the red bile that had begun to paint her teeth. “I... will do my best to live up to your expectations, master.”
“Good. I expect great results from you,” The man cracked a cruel smile before speaking the real name of the girl whose identity he had molested over a decade of experimentation and torture. “Millaarc Cranstoun.”
Millaarc could do nothing but shudder at the use of her real name. The fact that he had forced her to throw it away, and perverted any of the positive memories she had associated with the girl her parents called ‘Milly’ forced shivers down Millaarc’s spine as the man’s cruel voice licked the inside of her ears.
“Go, now.”

 The man had already lost interest in the girl before she had even flown off with the large bat wings that protruded from her back. Instead, his eyes moved back to the floating island that hung next to the abominable tower known as Kadingir.
“Truly pathetic, those Symphogear wielders. They would do nothing but taint my Garden of Eden.” The man shook his head as he spoke words of pure disgust. “Even she has failed to live up to the low bar I had held down for her.”

#### GX Chapter 24

 It had been a week since the defeat of Batara Kala. The older men had most of their time taken up with the paperwork required to found SONG, so it took a few more days than preferred to get Shirabe, Kirika, and Serena all ready to attend Lydian Private Music Academy.
Those three girls all stood now in front of the school, their eyes wide in confusion.
“Is this what a school’s normally like, dess?” Kirika whispered to Shirabe, who shrugged in response.
“Guess you guys got lucky.” Chris smiled as she waltzed up behind the three girls. Though she wore a casual expression, her arm was stiff as she literally dragged Miku behind her. “They decided to make today the school festival, since it apparently couldn’t be held in the spring like they had wanted to.”
“Is that why you dragged me here today?” Miku wore a scowl. She had dark rings under her red eyes and her skin was noticeably pale, as if she was sick. Partnered with her long black hair hanging down freely and messily, it was clear that Miku Kohinata had had no intention of leaving her room until Chris forced otherwise.
Although, Chris also had dark rings under her own eyes.
“Well, yeah. I thought you’d enjoy having some fun today...” Chris looked away from Miku as she said that, something which the three younger girls in front of her noticed as something suspicious. Trying to cover her tracks, Chris stammered out an addendum: “B-besides, what else are you going to do? Stay in your room forever?”
When Chris met the gazes of a glaring Shirabe and Kirika–who both knew that there was another reason–she gave up with a deep, defeated sigh.
“Yumi, Shiori, and Kuriyo are performing in the singing competition, and they begged me to drag you to it.”
“Do you think we could join it?” Serena turned to her two friends. “Considering how much we sing already, it’d be a good way to introduce ourselves to our future classmates.”
“You’re a genius, Serena!” Kirika spun on her heel before sticking her hand out, the thumb poking the sky.
“What would you even sing, Kiri?” Shirabe shoved a nail into Kirika by asking that question, and her friend deflated as she tried to think of an answer.
Miku groaned. “Don’t you know a Zwei Wing song or something?”
“Oh! Yeah!” Kirika pumped her fist. “Shirabe, let’s do a duet!”
At the suggestion, Serena shuffled–she was somewhat insulted at being left out. When Chris saw this ever-so-slight gesture, she gave the brown-haired girl a chuckle. “Honestly, you’d probably have a better chance of winning if you entered alone.”
“Hey, Chris! That’s mean, death!” Kirika puffed out her cheeks like a squirrel as she narrowed a glare at Chris, an act that only made Serena, Shirabe, and the white-haired victim of said look laugh.
“So when is this competition thing?” Miku grunted, her arms crossed. “Every time I leave the house, something bad seems to happen to me. So I’d rather not be out too long.”
“Isn’t that a bit depressing, though?” Serena asked with her eyes wide. “Wouldn’t it be better to seize the time we have now before something bad happens again?”
“You say that like I’m going to cause another problem.” Miku spat.
“Oh! N-no, I apologize. I meant...” Serena stuttered as she tried to figure out the right way to phrase her thought. “They had to have founded SONG for a reason, right? So they’re aware of something going on.”
“I don’t want to think about that right now, death!” Kirika sighed. “We’re at a festival! I don’t know what these kinds of things have, but I smell a lot of tasty food we can eat!”
“Kiri, you’ll get fat if you eat too much.” Shirabe pointed out.
“Y-yeah... then I’ll pace myself and only eat what smells really delicious!”
“The competition’s in a couple of hours.” Chris put her one free hand on her hip while the other continued to grip Miku’s sole arm with an intense grip. “Let’s see what one of these festivals has to offer!”
Kirika raised her hand into the sky with a shout, alerting those nearby to the presence of a strange girl dressed in the Lydian Private Music Academy uniform. As she garnered some attention from this act, Shirabe began to notice some people beginning to whisper to others.
“Kiri, I think it would be best not to create a scene.” Shirabe pointed out, speculating that the people were whispering about two of the terrorists who had appeared in a video and declared war on the world. Granted, they had decided to wear glasses with non-prescription lenses which, when combined with Kirika’s longer hair and Shirabe no longer wearing her own in twintails, was intended to hide their identity somewhat; clearly, though, their ‘disguises’ did not work as they had hoped.
Of course, the fact that they were with Miku Kohinata–who had disappeared from school before the year began and now returned, dressed in baggy clothing and missing an arm–likely did not help their cause, either.
When Shirabe turned her gaze back to Kirika, she instead found empty air. In a panic, she scoured the crowd, only to find that she had dragged Serena to a stand selling takoyaki.
“I think she teleported.” Chris said, dumbstruck. “I didn’t even see her move.”
“Nah, she ran right after she shouted.” Miku pointed out. Then, turning to Chris, she glared. “I’ll stick around for the girls’ performance, so please let go of my arm. I’d rather not lose that one, too.”
“Oh, yeah, right. Sorry.” Chris timidly let go of Miku’s flesh, revealing dark red marks around where Chris’s hand had been locked tight.
“Looks painful.” Shirabe noted in complete deadpan.
“I don’t even feel it.” Miku sighed. “Pain in general, actually.”
Chris coughed. “Stop trying to make everything sad. You need to liven up, Miku.”
“Yeah... you’re right, Chris.” Miku slowly, and sadly, smiled. “I’m sorry.”
“You better be.” Chris reflected a confident grin in return.

 Having acquired a serving of takoyaki, Kirika dragged Serena to another stand, this one selling a variety of masks that looked custom-made by the students peddling them.
When Serena saw one of the masks hanging up on the wall, she forced Kirika to stop–simply by halting her momentum by putting all of her weight down upon her feet. In doing so, Kirika yelped, almost dropping the ball of fried octopus she was about to drop into her gullet.
“Look, Kirika.” Serena pointed. “Isn’t that...?”
Kirika grinned when she saw the object that Serena was pointing at. “We have got to buy that, death.”

. . .

 “Where do you think those two headed off to?” Chris sighed as she wandered the halls of Lydian, Miku and Shirabe in tow.
“Knowing Kiri...” Shirabe tapped her chin. “The weirdest place.”
Chris looked up as she hummed, trying to think about what that could mean. “I think one of the first-year classes is doing a haunted house.”
“There’s always got to be one, right?” Miku smirked, though her comment was lost on the other two girls–neither of whom had ever attended a school before.
“I think the class next to mine was doing a fortune telling... café... thing.” Chris scratched her chin. “I don’t actually know what they were doing, but I saw a couple of crystal balls and grills being brought in yesterday.”
“Kiri will be there.” Shirabe nodded.
“Yeah, I’m not going that way.” Chris shut down the girl’s pleading gaze to lead the way with a curt huff. “I don’t want to have to deal with anyone from my class today.”
“Because you’re skipping out on having to participate?” Miku guessed with a sinister look in her eye.
“I don’t want to hear it from someone who has skipped every day since the start of the year.” Chris shot back, but both she and the target of her cry wore smiles just as Shirabe did.
“I think I’d like to be normal, too.” Shirabe muttered under her breath, thinking of Kirika’s optimistic smile.
The comment shocked Miku and Chris into silence for a moment, broken only as the latter let out a begrudging sigh.
“Alright, fine, I’ll take you to them. But at the first sign of any of my classmates, I’m running off.”

 Chris led the two girls up to the third-year classrooms, where the apparent hybrid fortune telling-restaurant was set up. As the three weaved their way through crowds–both an easy and difficult task depending on the people around, as some stepped aside upon seeing Miku’s one arm while others curiously stood in their way.

 The three girls continued their slow trek through the crowded hallways, mostly in silence. Shirabe kept her eyes out, looking for signs of Kirika or Serena, but only a flood of unfamiliar faces filled every millimetre of her vision. Eventually, as the group neared their destination, Miku felt the need to ask. “Chris, what is your class doing, anyway?”
“That’s...”
“Chris! There you are!”
Chris’s blood froze as the familiar, cheerful voice of a classmate cried out for her. Her expression went from comfortable with her situation to eagerly searching for an escape in the blink of an eye as her shoulders tensed up.
Miku and Shirabe, on the other hand, only wore confused looks as they were hastily approached by a girl with dark green–almost black–hair that was mostly hidden just as the rest of her body was.
She wore, from head-to-toe, a colourful orange costume: a clownfish.
“Godai... I told you, I’m not wearing one of those costumes.” Chris angrily crossed her arms.
“And I told you to call me Yuki!” The clownfish–Yuki Godai–shouted in response. “Besides, we need more people to help us anyway! We’re super busy!”
“Then why are you here and not helping the others?”
“Otome asked me to get more supplies, so I was on my way there when I ran into you!”
“Somehow...” As Chris and Yuki continued arguing about whether the former would actually help her classmates, Shirabe leaned in towards Miku and whispered. “I have even more questions now.”
“An aquarium?” Miku guessed, eyeing the cold black eyes of the clownfish costume that stared straight-ahead as Yuki’s head flailed about in goofy anger.
“Or they flooded their room?” Shirabe had her own strange idea, which Miku shot down with a quick shake of her head.
Only now did Yuki take notice of the two girls standing awkwardly next to Chris. She looked Shirabe and Miku both up and down, her gaze lingering on the spot where Miku’s left arm would be for just slightly longer than the rest of their bodies. “Are you guys Chris’s friends?”
“I’m Shirabe Tsukuyomi. I was supposed to transfer in to the school today.” The smaller girl bowed politely, though her tone was somewhat apathetic as if distracted.
“Miku Kohinata.” The third member of Chris’s party introduced herself with only her name; no pleasantries, no bow, nor even a smile.
Yuki turned back to Chris. “Oh, I see! I didn’t know you had so many friends!” The girl nodded as she confidently smiled, believing that what she had just said was something very important to the conversation.
As steam escaped Chris’s ears as she frowned in annoyance, Yuki then continued. “So you were bringing some of your friends to come see what we were up to, right? Come on, then! I’ll show you guys the way.”
“Don’t you have supplies to get?” Chris raised her eyebrow.
“Oh right.” Yuki deflated, her eyes making it clear that she had forgotten about the task that brought her to Chris in the first place. “Okay, Chris. When I get back, I’ll help you give your friends the king’s treatment.”
“King’s treatment?” Miku and Shirabe both whispered, cocking their heads in unison as they tried to piece together the puzzle that was the event that Chris was skipping out on participating in.
“I’ll see you there, Chris!” Yuki began to jog in place as she spoke, only to dash off–running, literally, right through a group of people crowding around in the hallway. Shirabe and Miku were left with dumbfounded expressions as they found themselves with even more questions than before.
Chris instead scowled. “We’re not going to my class.”
Shirabe leaned in with a determined look in her eyes. “I want to see what your class is doing.”
“I have to admit,” Miku nodded. “I’m also curious.”
“No way. We have to find those other two, first.” Chris shook her finger.
“I think Kiri will be there.” Shirabe countered. “She likes fish.”
“She likes fish.” Chris repeated the words with a grunt. Pouting out her cheeks, Chris looked away in anger. “Fine, but you’re going without me, then.”
The next thing Chris felt were the three cool hands of Shirabe and Miku both grabbing onto her arms as they dragged her towards the third-year classrooms.

. . .

 “A fishy...”
“...sushi bar...”
“...and game room?”
Shirabe and Miku stared in confusion at the scene laid out before them. What Yuki had said about their class being busy wasn’t entirely true–sure, a lot of people were crowded in the room, but it seemed to be because of the blushing mermaid dressed in only a bikini top and a fake fish tail sitting at the head of the room. None of the tables set up had anyone sitting at them, and all of the games were surrounded by their annoyed, fish-costumed tenders who glared at the boys ogling their classmate.
“I can’t believe they talked me into doing this.” The mermaid–Komichi Ayano–had a bright red face, and she looked away from her crowd of followers with an embarrassed look in her eyes. The scene only made the guys around her cheer comments about how cute she was.
“Oh.” Shirabe and Miku said simultaneously, slowly sliding the door closed. As they did, the two girls’ eyes briefly locked with Komichi’s, and the mermaid’s lips moved as if to ask for help–a silent plea that was only ignored.
“Now can you see why I didn’t want to come?” Chris sighed. “Come on, let’s go to the next room.”
“Why did your class decide...” Miku began to ask, only to be interrupted by Chris.
“Apparently the original idea was to hold the festival on Marine Day, but it had to be postponed a week for some reason.” Chris explained, quickly walking away.

 As the three girls reached the next classroom, a horrible stench filled their nostrils. Chris and Shirabe couldn’t help but crumple up their faces at the smell, though Miku continued forwards with an unimpressed look, barely even realizing it was assailing her.
“On second thought, maybe Kiri won’t be here.” Shirabe had her fingers pinching her nose closed, so her voice came out nasally.
“We came this far, though. I want to see what this thing is about, anyway.” Miku shrugged, putting her hand on the classroom door.
Chris reached out with a scowl, placing her hand atop Miku’s as she looked into her eyes. “If you open that door, all you’re going to do is let that smell escape into the rest of the school.”
“Come on,” Miku rolled her eyes. “It’s not that bad.”
“It smells like... rotten milk and eggs spilled inside of a soiled diaper that a skunk took a shit on.” Chris glared at her friend. “Don’t open it.”
Miku did not need to open it, as the next moment the door slid open–seemingly on its own, as no one stood on the other side. Chris flinched, cold sweat beading down her forehead.
“A ghost!?” She cried out in a panic, which Miku flashed a playful smile at.
“No.” Shirabe said, confused. “Robots?”

 Standing in the classroom were only a handful of figures–but all of them were very familiar to the three girls.
“What are you doing here?” Chris shouted, pointing at Carol’s four Autoscorers: Phara Suyūf, Leiur Darāhim, Garie Tūmān, and Micha Jawkān.
The four Autoscorers stood at the head of the classroom, in-between two large tables. At one, Kirika and Serena sat across from Elfnein, while the other was taken up by a black tent that sat upon the wooden surface.
“Partaking in the tradition of a Japanese school festival.” Phara answered Chris’s question nonchalantly.
“Hello again!” Micha waved her shining white hand above her head. No longer did she have giant claws extending from her arms, something which surprised the three girls standing, confused, in the doorway–though what appeared to be gloves resembling them hung from her hips.
“Shirabe! Their food is really good!” Kirika waved as she saw her friend enter the room–completely oblivious to the overpowering stink filling the air. Beside her, Serena scratched her nose as she gave the new girls a small wave.
“Ah!” Elfnein almost fell over as she turned around, but was caught by Leiur and propped back up. She wore a Lydian Private Music Academy uniform instead of the black and purple robe and bikini bottom that she had worn previously; likewise, Garie and Micha wore them as well.
“Don’t tell me...” Miku shook her head as she took in the sight. “Did you transfer to this school, too?”
“Ma...” Elfnein squeaked, then pumped her fists. “Carol told me that I needed to become stronger, so I joined two days ago.”
“And our great master,” Garie said, her words oozing sarcasm as she rolled her eyes. “Told us to keep an eye on her.”
Miku turned her gaze towards the other two Autoscorers, who still wore their original green and gold ensembles. “And you wanted to see how they were doing.” She assumed correctly.
“Wait! Hold on!” Chris threw her hands up. “First off, if you’ve been attending school for two days, how come I haven’t seen you at all? And second: why are you in the third-year wing?”
Elfnein tilted her head. “I don’t know.”
Chris slapped her own face at that answer, leaving a bright red mark as the slap of skin colliding echoed through the classroom.

 “What are you doing?” As she questioned the Autoscorers and Elfnein, Shirabe took a seat next to Kirika, who was surrounded both by a plethora of treats that she had purchased from the stalls outside, a blue balloon with the image of an octopus drawn on it, and several plates with only crumbs left upon them.
“Oh, right!” Elfnein stood up. Taking in a deep breath to calm herself, Elfnein then pumped her fists up in front of her. “W-welcome to the Château de Truffles! Do you want trick or treat...?”
“I assume trick means...” Miku, still standing beside Chris at the door, narrowed her eyes as she looked at the black tent on the side opposite the room to Kirika, Serena, and Shirabe.
“Choose trick!” Kirika shouted, a wide grin on her face. Serena wore a small smile of her own.
“Like hell I’m choosing trick!” Chris shouted, throwing her hands up into the air. “I’m out of here.”
“I’ll take a trick.” Miku replied, completely ignoring–and surprising–Chris.
“Right this way, then.” Garie hissed. She smiled, as if she were a snake watching her prey close in, as she pulled back the entry to the black abode. “Watch your step, victim~”
Miku took a deep breath to calm her nerves. The totally dark room that she was about to enter drew up memories of when she had been engulfed in the shadows of Batara Kala. As her heartbeat steadied during her exhale, she climbed in to the small tent...

 ...and suddenly, Miku found herself crawling upon a red rug that stretched out into a realm of infinity. “I should have expected this.” She muttered, climbing to her feet.
As Miku took a step forwards, a plume of fire erupted from the ground before her. In a deep–albeit still feminine–voice, the flames spoke to her. “Who dares enter my dom...”
The voice cut itself off, and the fire dispersed. “Oh it’s you.” Carol said, revealing her presence in the spot where the flames had appeared from. Like Elfnein and two of her Autoscorers, the small alchemist was clad in the Lydian uniform, though Carol still wore her pointed black witch hat adorned with red cloth.
“You’re attending Lydian, too?” Miku was surprised to see the clothing that Carol was wearing, but the question only earned a sigh in response.
“That government official,” Carol grumbled, recalling the face of Yatsuhiro Kazanari. “Said that leaving me to my own devices could prove to be a hindrance to humanity, and forcibly enrolled me in your modern-day school.”
“So what was this ‘trick’ I was supposed to get?” Miku switched the topic, sensing the disdain in Carol’s voice–it was as if the small girl was only barely holding herself back from tearing apart that man with her bare hands.
Carol shook her head. “You want to do this thing?” With a sigh, she transformed back into a pillar of flames.
“For wandering into my sheltered domain, you, mortal, will face terrible consequences.” The rapturous voice that Carol put on screamed at her from every direction.
Miku then watched as the flaming pillar split into three smaller ones, and they dispersed around the girl watching this presentation. As a triangle of flames walled her in, the booming voice of Carol returned. “Walk into one wall of these flames, mortal, for they shall decide your fate. You need not worry for your safety–the flames are merely illusions hiding the true horrors you shall face.”
The three fiery walls surrounding Miku then began to change colour. One remained the same orange colour that Carol’s original pillar had originally appeared as, while the other two became a bright blue and a snowy white colour, respectively. Shrugging, Miku decided to take her chances and stepped into the flames that mimicked the colour of snow.
“Excellent decision, fool.” Carol announced.
Miku felt a strange sensation overcome her body–it was as if she were a flower being gently watered by a kind gardener, yet her clothing remained completely dry.

 In the next moment, Miku found herself standing again at the doorway of the classroom. “What...?”
“Welcome back.” Serena’s voice supplied no answer to Miku’s question.
“I don’t get it. What was the trick?” Miku kept her eyes looking down at her body in confusion, still checking to make sure she had not actually been sprayed with water.
When she looked up, she saw Chris, Serena, and Shirabe all huddled in the corner of the room, their faces pale as they struggled to hold down the bile rising up their throats.
“Oh, you’re stinky too, death!” Kirika flashed Miku a huge grin as she took a bite of a chocolate cupcake she held delicately between her fingers. Her nose was covered with the green icing that spiralled up off the top of the pastry, but Kirika was oblivious to the fact even after pulling away from the food.
“So that’s what that was.” Miku sighed.
Carol slowly marched out of the black tent that was on the table, hovering in mid-air as she stepped off the table before descending as if on an elevator. “Yes. I was instructed by Elfnein not to do anything dangerous, so these ‘tricks’ are only minor inconveniences. It will fade in time, I assure you.”
“Well that explains the smell.” Chris glared from her position in the corner, eyeing the small alchemist with disgust.
“I...” Elfnein bowed in apology. “I’m sorry! I told her to make the ‘tricks’ as annoying–but harmless–as possible.”
Serena scratched one arm. “The smell is a better option than what I got.” She gave Miku a smile. “My body has not stopped itching since.”
“The other option,” Carol crossed her arms. “Was being showered in pies. Apparently that is a common prank or something?”
“Yeah! I saw it in a manga!” Micha raised her hand, a wide smile on her face. “A clown threw a pie into a man’s face!”
“Right...” Both Miku and Carol grunted at the same time, similarly unsure of how to go about interacting with Micha’s enthusiasm.

 “Oh yeah!” Kirika suddenly shouted, with cupcake still in her mouth.
“Kiri–chew first, talk later.” Shirabe ordered, and Kirika responded by swallowing the rest of the food.
“We found this really cool mask!” Kirika smiled, reaching down into her lap.
What she held up afterwards heavily resembling Chris’s face as a plastic mask. She was stylized in a comical fashion, with eyes resembling the character for ‘no’ (の) and a bouncy mouth that resembled the number three.
“What the hell is that!?”
Seeing the crude imitation of herself, Chris rushed forwards in surprise. She threw herself over the table, but Kirika held the mask out of her reach. It did not stop Chris from trying her best to stretch her hand out towards the object just barely outside of her reach. In response, Kirika just continued leaning backwards, a cruelly confident smile on her face.
“Where did you get that?” Shirabe asked, looking at the mask from behind.
“One of the stalls outside were selling it.” Serena began to explain. “The girl we bought it from said it was supposed to be ‘that superhero from the news.’”
At that, Chris flew back onto her feet, giving up on her endeavour. “I forgot the news filmed that fight.” She shuffled her hair in frustration. “That explains why people have been whispering about me behind my back.”
“Congratulations, Chris.” Miku snickered. “You’re a celebrity, now.”
Chris blushed at that comment, while Kirika just chuckled at her victory.

. . .

 Some time later, long after the effects of Carol’s tricks had faded, the group of girls found themselves surrounded by what seemed to be everyone present at the festival as they crowded into the amphitheatre. Though Chris had been under the impression that Yumi and her friends would be singing first, in actuality the singing competition had reached its climax, and they were some of the last to perform.
Chris, Miku, Serena, Shirabe, and Kirika were joined by Carol, Garie, Micha, and Elfnein; Leiur and Phara had been told to leave so that they would draw less attention. The nine girls sat in a row at the back of the venue, taking up what had been the remainder of the empty seats.
“Like we announced earlier when the show began, the winners of this competition will be able to ask the student council for any one wish to be granted–within reason of course.” The girl hosting the event announced into the microphone clasped within one hand. She then spun around, sticking the device into the face of the participant who stood beside her.
Yumi was dressed in a cosplay of an anime character, with Shiori and Kuriyo flanking her dressed in their own goofy costumes. Shiori seemed to be a catgirl police officer, while Kuriyo wore a praying mantis costume. It was Yumi who stood in the front, with the microphone shoved up to her mouth.
“We want an anime club! A place to discuss anime and sing the songs from them!”
This earned a few laughs from the crowd. One person, whose face was lost in the sea of the audience, shouted out to Yumi. “Of course you do!”
“What?” Yumi acted offended. “You don’t like to check out anime sometimes?”
“So what are you singing today?” The announcer questioned Yumi.
“‘Lightning Detective Ban is at the Scene!’”
The announcer rushed out of the way as the instrumental began to play over the speakers.

*Kimi kara todoita hyakutō-ban kinkyū shutsudō*
*Mune ni ereki hashirinukete shibireru ze!*

*Ikaku ni todomaranai (Chaku burasutā!!)*
*Honboshi nigasanai (Sherifu wappā!!)*
*Aribai kuzusu deka no chokkan shokatsu wa chikyū*

*Yume ga kieta machi kado ni*
*Ai ga kieta kurayami ni*
*Hisomu aku wo taosu tame genchaku!*
*Bababān! Denkō Keiji Ban!*

 As the three girls sang, recreating as much of the opening sequence as they could, they earned no cheers from the crowd. Instead, most of the audience–including Chris, Kirika, Garie, Micha, and Elfnein–had erupted into hearty laughs at the goofy nature of the performance, though the two Autoscorers laughed at how pathetic they found the whole ordeal.
Suddenly the music cut out, and the announcer walked back onto the stage. “Seems like you’ve made quite an impact.” The girl giggled, wiping tears of joy out of her own eyes.
Yumi, however, was furious. “What? Why didn’t you let us finish the song? We were only just starting!?”
Shiori just sighed, and Kuriyo helped the blonde girl pull their struggling friend off the stage. “You guys have poor taste!” Yumi screamed as she disappeared off the platform.
The angry response Yumi got to having her performance cut short only served to get more laughs out of the audience; even Shirabe, Serena, Miku, and Carol all wore differently-sized smiles as they watched the scene play out.

 As the crowd began to quiet down, the announcer spoke up once more. “Now, we’ve got a special surprise for you at the end, but first: the top spot’s still open! Does anyone in the audience want to throw their hat into the ring?”
“You should enter.” Miku smirked, leaning in towards Chris.
“Like hell.” She scoffed an immediate response. “Kaburagi, Godai, and Ayano already tried to get me to enter.”
When Chris looked over to see Miku’s smirk remaining, she blushed. “W-well... maybe if you sang something too.”
Miku pulled back in surprise. “No one is going to want to see someone like me up on stage.” As she spoke, Miku wiggled the stump of her left arm, as if to prove a point.
“You never sing whenever we fight.” Chris pointed out, her face growing even more red. Feeling the warmth filling her skin, Chris looked away and whispered. “I... want to hear you sing...”
Miku’s eyes went wide. “I... am sorry, Chris.” She wore an apologetic smile.

 Kirika, however, was far more enthusiastic to the idea of participating in this event, and pulled Shirabe up with her as she rose onto her feet. “Oh! Oh! We do, death!”
Shirabe nodded. “Okay, let’s sing, Kiri.”
“Those two girls way in the back! Come on down!” The girl shouted waving Kirika and Shirabe down with an exaggerated movement.
The audience began to speak to their neighbours as they waited for Kirika and Shirabe to make their way down to the stage at the bottom of the stairs. Chris and Miku remained silent, as an awkward air surrounded the two, but Elfnein broke the silence in their row.
“I wonder what they’re going to sing?”
Garie chuckled. “Something lame, I bet. Blondie’s always going on about death and demons. It’s hilarious~”
“The Symphogear system draws out the songs in the wielder’s heart.” Carol began to explain, her brow lowered as she glared at her mechanical creation. “I don’t believe they really have a choice as to what comes out of their mouth at the time.”
“It’s a bit more complicated than that.” Serena pointed out, but tilted her head as she could not come up with the right way to continue. “It’s more...”
“You sing on auto-pilot. When you’re fighting, you usually end up forgetting that you’re singing at all.” Chris stepped in. “I couldn’t repeat any of the songs I’ve sung while fighting, even if I wanted to.”
“Hmm... interesting. It draws out your subconscious, using it as a power source by expending the songs your heartstrings sing.” Carol mused. “Not too dissimilar from my ability to transform memories into strength, it seems.”
Micha looked to her sister beside her. “Garie~ I don’t get it.”
“Shut up, Micha.” The blue Autoscorer snapped, pushing herself down into the seat as she crossed her arms.

 “I’m Kirika Akatsuki.” Introduced the wielder of Igalima, whose hair sparkled under the bright lights of the stage.
“I’m Shirabe Tsukuyomi.” Her friend continued, caught up in Kirika’s pace.
“We’ll be transferring in to Lydian soon, death!” Kirika smiled with glee. “So we’re going to show you how good we are!”
“Well, then. Let’s all give our new underclassmen here a warm welcome.” The announcer smiled as she stepped back.
“Start the music!” Kirika shouted, as she began to bow out of the way.
Miku chuckled from her seat far in the back of the theatre as the music began to play through the speakers.

*Now praying for your painful cry…*
*Fu-uh yeah …Fly*

 “What’s up?” Serena asked, eyeing the girl with a curious glance.
“Seems like they took Chris’s suggestion to heart. This is a Zwei Wing song.” Miku replied, causing her white-haired friend to pout in embarrassment.

*Ikusen oku no inori mo yawaraka na hikari de sae mo*
*Subete nomikomu jeiru no yō na yami no mashō*

*Karuma no yō ni korogaru yō ni*
*Nagedashite shimae nakute*
*Ima watash irashiku kakenukete*

*Todoke todoke takanaru parusu ni tsunagareta kono Burning heart*
*Tsuyoku tsuyoku kokoro no shiriusu wo tada mitsumeru*
*Kono yami wo koete*

 As Kirika and Shirabe performed ORBITAL BEAT, their voices resonated together as if they had sung it thousands of times before this; in reality, it was only their first time. Their powerful tones shook the audience into silence–even Carol was impressed by the strength that the two girls put behind the chant they mimicked.
When they eventually got to the end of the song three-and-a-half minutes long, the entire room erupted in applause. Kirika had an incredibly surprised expression on her face as she took in the cheers for her, and tears began to form in the corner of her eyes.
With a wide grin, Kirika shouted into the microphone. “Thank you, everyone!!!”
“Wow! You girls sure are talented.” The announcer walked towards the two Symphogear wielders. “You must sing together quite a lot.”
Shirabe nodded. “You could say that.”
“It seems that the judges have decided the current number one spot.” The announcer revealed. “Does anyone want to try and dethrone our two current champions?”

 Serena shook her head. “I don’t think I could top them. They were amazing.”
“Aw, come on. Don’t sell yourself short.” Chris said.
“No, the passion they put behind their singing was quite incredible.” Carol shook her head. “I doubt most people would be able to even come close to matching it.”
“Yeah, I thought the same.” Serena said. Miku nodded in agreement.
“Wow, aren’t you all a bunch of cowards.” Chris rolled her eyes. “I could do better than them.”
“Oh yeah?” Carol asked. “Prove it.”
“Yeah! I will!” Chris announced, standing out of her seat.
Once a spotlight landed upon her, Chris realized just what she had done. “Shit.”
“Wow.” Miku grunted, looking over to the small alchemist a few seats away. “You’re good.”
“No one can match master!” Micha threw her hands into the air with a cheer.
“For once, Micha.” Carol sighed. “Please do not sing your praises of me. You make me sound like a conman.”

 The announcer’s voice cut threw their conversation. “Is that Yukine, I see? Come on down!”
Chris grunted in embarrassment. Before she began to leave, she turned to Miku with a face a brighter red than a tomato’s skin. With her gaze lazily drifting around, she muttered quietly. “If you don’t want to sing for me... Sing for Hibiki...”
With that last comment, Chris forced herself to trudge down to the stage.
“Hibiki...” Miku’s eyes were wide.
“Hibiki Tachibana. A curious figure.” Carol muttered, though Miku was too lost in her thoughts to hear the alchemist’s comment.

 “Chris! You can’t beat us, death!” Kirika teased as Chris approached, sticking out her tongue.
“Oh yeah?” Chris just took the taunt with a confident grin. “I’m sure I can do better than you, runts.”
“Oooh,” The announcer stepped in-between the three Symphogear wielders. “Seems as though Yukine’s well-acquainted with our stars, already. A battle of best friends–exciting!”
“Best friends?” Chris shouted in surprise. Then, shuffling about on the spot, she muttered quietly with a bashful look–though the microphone amplified her comment to the audience around her. “I don’t know if I’d go that far.”
Cheers erupted from the audience. Men and women alike found Chris’s reaction to be adorable, and the wielder of Ichaival flinched at the response that she got just for appearing on the stage.
The announcer shoved the microphone into Chris’s hands with a wink, nudging with her head towards the side of the stage. “Kaburagi already told me what song you were going to sing.” The girl whispered, putting her hand over the microphone that would have caught that comment. “She knew you were going to end up competing.”
“That little–!” Chris shook her head. Following the announcer girl’s gaze, Chris looked towards the side of the stage, where her classmates–Otome, Yuki, and Komichi–waved happily. Behind them, Chris could also see Yumi, Kuriyo, and Shiori (all still in costume) peeking over curiously; the latter gave a small wave as she caught Chris’s gaze.
“Guess I’m actually doing this.” Chris sighed into the microphone.
Taking that as a sign that she was ready, a cheerful melody began to play over the sound system, filling the theatre. Chris pouted in embarrassment as the instrumental began, but once her turn to sing began, a peaceful grin erupted on her face.

*Mada minu hontō no jibun no koto ga*
*Jibun jishin demo wakaranakute*

*Dareka ni te wo sashinobete moratte*
*Itami to wa chigatta itami wo shiru*

*Monokurōmu no mirai yosōzu*
*Enogu wo sagashite… demo ima wa*
*Naze darō, naze darō*
*Irodzuku yo yukkuri to hana ga niji ni*
*Hokotte saku mitai ni*

*Hōkago no chaimu ni majitta kaze ga fukinukeru*
*Kanjita koto nai igokochi no yosa ni mada tomadotteru yo*
*Nē konna sora ga takai to*
*Egao ga ne…kakusenai*

 The passion that Chris put into her song–a story of her past told through a poetic lens–reached Miku. She put her hand up to her heart, where Miku felt a strange sensation. The icy walls that she had put up around her heart to protect herself from the pain–the pain of losing her parents, of killing Hibiki, of becoming a monster–began to melt.
Miku felt tears of joy welling in her eyes as she listened to Chris’s song.
Suddenly, with a sniffle, she stood up. “I’ll be right back.” She whispered to Serena as she ducked out of the auditorium.

. . .

 Chris looked up with tears in her eyes as the music faded, and the crowd went wild. Even Kirika and Shirabe, who stood off to the side, were loudly clapping, with the former girl shouting her name in praise.
This response only made Chris blush further, and she rose her shoulders up in a pitiful attempt to hide her flustered look.
“Chris! That was so good!” Yuki tackled Chris from behind, pulling her into a big hug. “You’re incredible!”
“Yes, she was incredible!” The announcer sang a similar praise as she walked up. “It seems someone else has managed to throw a wrench into the standings–though is she better than the cute transfer students? The judges can’t decide! It’s getting tougher and tougher to claim the top spot!”
The announcer then pointed out to the crowd. “Alright, everyone! I know it will be tough, but does anyone want to go up against these three musical powerhouses?”

 What happened next caused everyone’s eyes to grow wide as they heard the sound of the theatre’s doors slamming open. The only way to describe who stood in the entryway was by calling them a goddess.
The girl who stepped forwards was clad in pure white, her dress sparkling as the spotlights danced onto her form. The white bow in her hair shone like a halo behind her head, while her long black hair–once messy, now elegantly styled–curled down as the only shadows upon this pure valkyrie.
“I would like to sing!” Miku Kohinata shouted, a wide grin on her face.

 “What are you doing...!?” Chris had wide eyes. Of course, it was not her declaration of war that shocked Chris–rather, it was the fact that she was clad in the new armour of the Shrivatsa Symphogear that caused her to shout.
As Miku elegantly strolled down to meet her three friends upon the stage, she had a warm smile upon her face–an expression none of them, nor even her classmates looking on from the side of the stage, had ever seen from her before.
“Your song touched me, Chris.” She replied. “I’ll now sing for both of you–you and Hibiki.”
“No. I think she meant...” Kirika started to point out the fact that she was wearing her Symphogear, but Shirabe put her hand on her mouth.
“Good luck.” The black-haired wielder of Shul Shagana smiled. Kirika, unable to speak, just wildly nodded in agreement.
Chris shook her head in awe. “You’re strange, Miku.”
“Aren’t we all?”

 The announcer bounced towards the valkyrie who now took centre-stage. “So then, what will you be singing today?”
“You don’t have to worry about playing anything.” Miku smiled. “I brought my own music.”
Though that response generated some questions within her mind, the announcer just nodded. Then, leaning in, she quietly asked. “Do you want a clip-on mic? Considering your...”
“No, it’s fine. I still have one working arm for a reason. But thank you.”
The announcer smiled, handing a microphone over. “Well, then, miss–”
“Miku Kohinata.”
“Can you match the pace your friends had set? Let’s see!”

 Miku closed her eyes and took a deep breath in. As fresh air filled her lungs, the girl felt a calm wash over her that she had not felt in years. Every problem, every shadow that lingered in the crevices of her brain were dispelled as she reached down into herself, drawing out the song in her heart.
Surprising everyone in the audience, a dark wave-styled song began to blare throughout the room, emanating out from the girl whose appearance gave the exact opposite aesthetic. Their looks of brief confusion did not reach Miku; as she opened her eyes, the only scene that she pictured before her were Hibiki Tachibana and Chris Yukine’s smiling faces as they listened with happy expressions.

*(Gyōkō) …Kurushimu kimi no asu wo*
*(Eiai) …Nageku kako no namida wo*
*Terashi kawakasu yō na sonzai ni naritai*
*(I believe you)*

*Tatoe dono sekai no chigau kimi ni deatta to shite mo*
*Matteru itsudemo kanarazu*
*(I love you)*

*“Zettai yuzuranai!” to*
*Futatabi kimi ni utau*
*Mamorareru no dewa naku*
*Mamoru tame ni utau*
*(Shinjite)*

*(Seikō) …Mō nidoto nakasenai*
*(Kyōshin) …Subete wo dakishimetai*
*Donna kimi datte ī watashi ni wa saiai*
*(I trust you)*

*Kitto kimi wa kimi wo ima wa wasurete iru dake dakara*
*Tsunagu yūki wo mō ichido…*
*(I love you)*

*Donna yami ga hirogari*
*Sora wo imi tsukushite mo*
*Hidamaru tame no hikari*
*Mirai wa make wa shinai*
*(Shinjite)*

*Seigi wo nigirishime tatsu hana wo itsumo mite kita kara*
*Watashi mo dekiru…kanarazu!*
*(I love you)*

*Shiawase sore igai no*
*Namida wa nagasasenai*
*Tsurete kaeru to kimeta*
*Kono ai wo namenai de…!*

*“Zettai yuzuranai!” to*
*Futatabi kimi ni utau*
*Mamorareru node wa naku*
*Mamoru tame ni utau…!*
*(Shinjite)*

 As Miku stopped singing, a silence filled the area. The audience took in the emotions that Miku had pushed into every word of her song.
And then, Chris began to clap. “I concede.” The white-haired girl smiled, her eyes sparkling as she held back tears.
Chris’s actions only spurred on the rest of the audience, and in seconds a rapturous applause assailed Miku’s ears. She found herself pulled back into reality, out of the delusion she had created for herself with only Hibiki and Chris by her side.
“Well, I think that seals it.” The announcer appeared after a few moments, her voice barely audible over the full power of the crowd’s cheers around her. “Miku Kohinata is the winner of our competition!”
“Oh right.” Miku’s eyes widened. “I forgot this was a competition.”
“So, then, Kohinata–” The announcer approached Miku, shoving the microphone into her face. “What is it that you want the student council to do for you?”
Miku paused, looking up as she tried to think of a sufficient answer.
“Honestly? I’m good.” She said after a moment, and then happily shrugged. As the announcer recoiled in surprise, Miku saw Shiori, Yumi, and Kuriyo cheering behind her. “Maybe let my friends over there let them start their club?” She pointed over at the three girls.
“Very well, then. You heard it here first! Our winner today has graciously let her friends make use of the prize she won! A true goddess, in every way!”
Though the cheers had subsided somewhat since the announcer began to talk, Miku’s generosity caused the audience to clap once more.
“Thank you for everything, today, folks!” The announcer announced. Quietly, she told those around her to return to their seats, so Chris, Miku, Shirabe, and Kirika quickly began to shuffle back to where they had come from.
“I’m going outside for a sec.” Miku nodded towards the door, then gestured down to her clothes with her arm.
“Yeah, good idea, girl.” Chris happily replied, waving her off as well.

. . .

 When Miku returned to her seat, once again dressed in the baggy clothing she had come to Lydian in, she slumped down with a huff. Though she had not realized it until her Symphogear deactivated, just performing on stage for a few minutes had tired Miku out. As she leaned back in her chair, she felt her eyelids begin to droop.
“Now, then. We have a very special performance for you today.” The announcer was clearly every excited for this, as she bounced on her toes as she grinned wide. “You know them well, as popular alumni of Lydian and world-famous idols...”
Miku’s eyes went wide as she leaned forwards.
“Zwei Wing!”
Tsubasa and Kanade bounced out onto the stage from the sides to a combination of some confused (and concerned) looks and powerful applause. Though Kanade wore an eyepatch now, the two idols looked just as glamorous in Miku’s eyes as they had on that fateful day–they even wore the same dresses as they had, and the familiar opening notes of Gyakkō no Flügel began to play through the speakers.

*“Kikoemasu ka…?” Gekijō kanaderu mujīku*
*Ten ni*
*Tokihanate*
*“Kikoemasu ka…?” Inochi hajimaru myakudō*
*Ai wo*
*Tsukiagete*

 . . .

 “Thank you, everyone!” Kanade cheered, having finished singing their signature song. Though sweat stained her forehead, Kanade did not appear to be tired at all; if anything, she seemed even more excited more than ever before. “But we’ve got one more surprise for you today, right Tsubasa?”
Tsubasa nodded. “Yes. Kanade and I...” She took a deep breath in. “We will be performing again, soon. Please support us again, like you had before!”
This announcement earned cheers, even from Miku–who had been the one to drag Hibiki to the concert that began this second life of hers. Despite the tragic circumstances relating to their final concert, Zwei Wing was still popular; the audience went wild at the news.
“But...” Kanade held up a finger. “We’re not going by Zwei Wing any more.”
With a nod to the side of the stage, a pink-haired figure appeared. “We’re no longer Zwei Wing–a duo.” Tsubasa explained. “Starting today, the three of us–”
Tsubasa and Kanade both pointed towards the newcomer who posed in-between them.
Maria Cadenzavna Eve, with an elegant outfit that contrasted the more-flashy and frilly pastel-coloured ones of the two girls beside her, put one hand up into the air. “We are The Queens of Music!”
This announcement earned even more cries from the room, with the audience rocking the building with the force of their excitement. Maria, Tsubasa, and Kanade just waved as they took in the atmosphere that none of them had experienced in so long.

 “I can’t believe you dragged me into this.” Though she wore a wide smile, Maria aimed a blunt comment out of the side of her mouth towards Kanade.
“Don’t blame me.” She replied, not breaking her own excited expression as she waved to her fans in front of them. “They wanted some way to keep tabs on all of us easily. This was the best way.”

. . .

 While cheers erupted from the building behind her from the news of the three idols returning to work, Carol stood with her hands on her hips. Garie and Micha stood by her sides, and the three looked out from the window of the classroom they had occupied earlier in the day.
No one, not even Elfnein, had realized that they had teleported out of the auditorium shortly after Miku’s song finished.
“You two sensed it too, right?” Carol asked her clockwork soldiers.
Garie nodded. “Yes, master. The person trailing us is not an alchemist, clearly. Either that, or they’re a pathetic one.”
Micha wore a wide smile. “Master, should I kill them?”
“No, leave them be.” Carol waved her hand, a golden ripple appearing in the air before her. A window opened up in reality, and the face of a girl from Carol’s memories appeared before her.
“So, that’s the one who has been following us?” Garie asked, leaning in to look at the face of Millaarc Cranstoun.
“Though I was hesitant at first, I must admit that Elfnein’s decision to use a festival event as a chance to lure out our stalker was a truly creative idea.” Carol chuckled. “Yes–when I analyzed those who chose ‘trick,’ only four people had unnatural elements within them.”
“Those three Symphogear wielders,” Garie recalled Kirika, Serena, and Miku walking into the black tent that Carol had set up in the classroom. “And her?”
Carol nodded. “She is not a Symphogear wielder, but she has certainly been influenced by some heretical source. I do not believe her to be an alchemist, but it is likely that she holds some ties to them.”
“She looks weird.” Micha commented, looking at the girl’s pointed ears. “Is she a monster?”
“I believe your assessment is not entirely incorrect.” Carol mumbled. “I would love to analyse her, if given the chance.”
Garie poked her chin. “And, master, what are the chances of her being tied to those Bavarian fools?”
“Incredibly high–almost guaranteed.” Carol sighed. Her eyes were sad as she looked down, just below the image hanging in the air before her. “I do hope my papa is not the one who has this girl following me.”
“Don’t worry, master!” Micha threw her hands around Carol, surprising the alchemist so much that the image of Millaarc literally popped out of existence. “We’ll help you find your papa! And if he’s a bad guy now, then we’ll knock some sense back into him!!”
“Micha, you shouldn’t...” Garie glared at her sister as she hugged Carol, but her master shook her head.
“Yes. Thank you for your assistance, Micha, Garie. I truly do appreciate all you four do for me.” Carol closed her eyes, content with the new direction she had pulled her life in. “I made some incredible beings.”
“Now, then. We’ve probably left her worrying long enough.” Garie chuckled, cruelly. “Let us go and reclaim Elfnein, Micha.”
“Okey dokey! See you in a second, master!” The wild, red-haired Autoscorer bounced back away from Carol. Throwing one of her hands up to her forehead in a salute, Micha grinned as both she and Garie began to fade away.
“Those Symphogear girls, too.” Carol sighed once her two servants’ presence had faded. “They... are also quite incredible.”

### *Symphogear if: Shooting Out of Hell*

 Chris Yukine sat upon the crimson blankets draped over her bed. The girl swung her feet into the air, then back down, at a steady rhythm.
“Alright.” Chris kept her purple eyes on the ceiling that matched her lavender-white hair above her as she spoke. “I think it’s about time we do this thing.”
The girl sitting on the chair to her left sighed. Miku Kohinata had one arm, which she leaned across the backrest and placed her chin upon it as she wore a bored expression on her face. Miku’s black hair was tied back into a ponytail, which hung down past her shoulders.
“That’s fine with me, but...” She sighed, eyeing a spot on the ground in front of her.
“What am I doing here?” The third party asked, tilting her head. This girl sat cross-legged on the ground, swaying back and forth as she gripped her own feet.
Just like Miku, Kirika Akatsuki was similarly confused as to why she had been invited to attend this seemingly-personal meeting being held in Chris’s bedroom.
“I know it’s weird...” Chris started, keeping her eyes pointed away from either of the two sitting in the room with her. “But I can’t bring myself to completely hate Finé. She was the first one to reach out to me after my parents died, so... I wanted you to hear about my past too, Kirika. I wanted to tell her directly, but.”
Kirika sighed. “I’m more than just an attachment to Finé, death.” Despite her words, the small blonde girl nodded. “But I get it.”
“Okay, but I–personally–don’t like Finé all that much.” Miku narrowed her eyes, then hesitated. Turning to Kirika, she then remedied what she had just said. “No offence.”
“Again, I’m Kirika and Finé’s Finé.” Kirika had an annoyed look on her face now, and laid down onto the ground. “At least... I think that’s the case, death.”
“Yeah, I know what it’s like to have her crammed in your head.” Miku frowned. “I know how confusing it can be trying to figure out where you end and she begins. But I can’t imagine what it must be like for you, having all of her memories in your head like that.”
“It’s...” Kirika sucked in a breath. “Not fun, death.”
Miku sat up straight and looked at her arm. It was trembling ever so slightly–the memories of Finé controlling her were distressing, and she could not help but associate them with her (unrelated) time of being controlled by Ver. “I can imagine.”
“You know, it’s kind of ironic, isn’t it?” Chris chuckled darkly. “I was under Finé’s care for years, yet the two of you know so much more about her than I do.”
“Technically,” Finé’s voice slipped out of Kirika’s mouth. “Young Kirika here was under my care for most of her life, as well. Though indirectly.”
Chris flinched at the change of tone, and narrowed her eyes at the small girl. Kirika’s eyes flew wide at the knife-like glare tossed her way, and waved her hands in defence. “That wasn’t me, death! That was...”
“It’s very...” Miku rolled her cheek along her arm, which was still perched upon the back of the wooden chair. “Off-putting, whenever she decides to speak up.”
“You know, Finé, I’m still not exactly happy about what you did to me.” Chris scowled, but tears welled up in the corners of her vision. “You were the first person to ever try to help me... but then you tossed me away and I found out that all you told me were lies.”
“Yes, I do admit I was... a bit blind, back then.” Finé remarked.
Kirika’s voice took over as she muttered under her breath. “No, you’re just an asshole, death.”
“You know the saying,” Finé continued on as if Kirika had not spoken. “‘Love is blind,’ I believe? I was so lost in my idea of destroying the Curse of Balal that I believed anything should be used to reach that goal.”
“We still don’t even fully know what the Curse of Balal is.” Miku pointed out. “But we do know that, apparently, you were going about it in the entirely wrong way.”
“Enough about that, death.” Kirika pointed at her own forehead, and focused her crossed eyes on the tip of her index finger. “Shouldn’t you apologize for what you put Chris through?”
“Yes.” Kirika’s mouth moved again, though not in her own voice. “I suppose you’re right. Thanks to Miku Kohinata, here, I learned the error of my ways; though, ironically, she seems unaware of the lesson her memories taught me.
“So, Chris Yukine, I truly do apologize for what I did to you. Though I can justify some of my actions on the surface, I truly should have treated you better; to make you an actual ally and not treat you as nothing more than a tool. I am truly ashamed of my past self, and I hope you can forgive me.”
“Don’t think I didn’t catch that insult you threw my way.” Miku glared.
“Finé...” Chris, on the other hand, just stared with glittering eyes at the blonde girl before her. Kirika had a strange, awkward look on her face, looking away uncomfortably with a slight blush on her face, but Chris just wore a conflicted smile. “I... hate everything I feel about you. You twisted my heart in a way that I don’t think I could ever fix, but you still gave me a purpose. Even if you eventually just threw me away like all of the other adults that picked me up, you...”
Chris sniffled, barely keeping back tears. “I saw you almost like a new mother for a time. I genuinely loved you.”
For a long time, the three girls sat in silence. Finé did not respond from Kirika’s mouth, and Miku just awkwardly shuffled as she tried to figure out some way to comfort the crying Chris.
Kirika was in a very strange position as she did identify with Chris’s perspective–one she shared for the currently-missing scientist named Nastassja Sergeyevna Tolstaya–but she also held all of Finé’s memories. Kirika’s brain could simulate every emotion that Finé had felt back then, and replay every single scene of manipulating Chris Yukine’s mind through the priestess’s eyes. She hated it, but Kirika could somewhat understand why Finé had done what she had–and her realization of this made her stomach churn.

 “I can never be someone who helps others.” Miku eventually broke the silence that was peppered with stifled sobs. “I’m not like Hibiki, or like Chris. I don’t know the right thing to say here, but I know one thing for sure.”
Miku turned her angry eyes towards Kirika and spat out a short sentence. “You’re an asshole.”
“What did I do, death?” Kirika panicked, bouncing up to her feet immediately. “It’s not like my life hasn’t been tough, too, death!”
At this, Chris’s sobs turned into a strange combination of crying and chuckling. The strange snorting sound she emitted drew both Kirika and Miku’s attention, and the two stared at her smiling face.
“Look at us.” Chris laughed. “We’re all so broken and pathetic. But we found each other–we have friends to prop us up now.”
Miku looked down at the stub of her missing arm. The black ring that burned the tip of the flesh–and apparently prevented a prosthetic from being attached without incredible amounts of surgery. But her expression was not remorseful–Miku seemed somewhat nostalgic as she looked down at the spot that should be occupied by a limb. “No, we’re not broken. We’re just using each other as support beams–and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
When Chris opened her mouth to speak, Miku cut her off. “What is wrong is something we’re all guilty of–bottling up our emotions and putting on masks of sanity.”
As Miku spoke, she stared directly into Kirika’s eyes. “You can tell, death?” The small girl whimpered, her usually-happy-go-lucky expression fading to one of guilt.
“I ran away from everyone once; you play the fool to keep others happy instead; and Chris wears her confidence over-top her real heart.” Miku rattled off explanations. “A lot of the others have issues too, I think. Tsukuyomi and Serena seem distant, Tsubasa... is always hard to understand...”
“Maria’s been worrying a lot too, death.” Kirika pointed out. “She really does care for us a lot.”
“Kanade seems to be the only one with her shit together.” Chris sucked in a deep breath.
Kirika tilted her head. When she next spoke, her tone was slow and sad. “Apparently she visited Maria and Shirabe when we were in prison, death. They respect her a lot now.” The girl now shook her head. “But I don’t know a lot about Kanade, death.”
“Now that you mention it...” Miku mused. “All I really know about Kanade was what they put out as her idol profile. Even since we’ve met, my impression of her hasn’t really changed at all–but I also feel like I know less about her now than before.”

 “Ugh, enough about them. I don’t want to think about how fucked up we all are right now.” Chris grumbled, messing her hair by rubbing it furiously as if trying to light her head aflame.
“Weren’t we brought here to hear about how fucked up your life has been, though?” Miku asked, which transitioned into a yawn by the end.
“I...” Chris sighed. “Yeah, I guess I’ve waited long enough, huh?”
The white-haired girl clapped her hands together twice. “I guess the best place to start would be...”

~ ~ ~

*I remember being told that the building we were staying in had been destroyed by a bomb. The woman who was our family’s guide–her name was Sonia Virena–tried everything she could to keep me from running to the scene, but I ignored her pleas.*
*When I reached the site, everything crumbled around me. It felt like all of the colour had been drained out of my world when I saw my parents’ corpses amidst the rubble, their bodies being slowly chewed up by the orange flames that surrounded me.*
*All I remember about that day was the anger I felt towards the world. My parents wanted peace–they didn’t deserve to be killed for this! Some of the people in Val Verde had told us about their religion and the god they believed in, but what kind of god would want to play such a cruel trick? Two musicians just trying to use their talents to bring about peace... it was a virtuous idea that any sane god would have supported. But reality can be cruel–and I learned that that day.*
*My parents were far from the only people killed in that explosion; many children lost their mothers and fathers that day. All of us were rounded up and shoved into an orphanage immediately afterwards by the militant forces acting as Val Verde’s government; we had no choice in the matter.*
*That was when I truly learned what hell was.*

 A young Chris felt completely empty as she stood in the small room. She was told that the government was finding some way to deal with her and the other kids who had suddenly been orphaned, so she was being asked to stay in this room.
There were no furnishings other than a bed–if it could even be legally defined as such. The frame was heavily mutilated, with one of the legs fully removed; the bed sat at a strange angle and would shake at the slightest touch. It had no blankets or pillows, and the mattress was crusted in dirt and all sorts of other mysterious stains, with one rusted spring sticking out of the side.
So Chris cuddled herself as she sat on the ground. She had no light in her eyes–she felt no hope, no sadness; Chris Yukine was completely hollow. All she felt was the pain flaring up in her back and legs from sitting on the hard wooden floor for what she believed could have been days.
At some point, Chris had nodded off–yet even in sleep, she felt nothing. No dreams played out in the theatre of her mind; even her heart refused to give her some way to cope with the pain.

 “Get the fuck up, kid.”
A voice shook Chris awake, and she stiffened as her eyes slowly pulled themselves apart. Once the scene in front of her chiselled themselves into the archives of her memories, however, Chris recoiled in shock and drew her eyelids apart in fear.
Standing above her was a large man in military camouflage. He had a cigar in his mouth, the scent of which burned Chris’s nostrils, but what her brain primarily focused on was the black assault rifle pointed right at her head.
“You understand English...” The man did not lower the gun, but he did lower his chin as he glared at the small child before her. “You’re coming with us, girl.”
Even if she were only a young child, Chris knew it would be better to go along with this man’s orders instead of questioning them. So, the small child just silently nodded.
“Good. You’re submissive.” The man frowned.
The military man then reached down towards Chris and pulled her meek arms out. Giving no care for her safety or feelings, he jostled the girl about with one hand while his other groped for a pair of handcuffs hanging from his belt. After a few more moments, the two silver links were locked tight against Chris’s wrists.
Chris was ushered out of the room and ordered into the back of a van. Several other kids were already sitting within the vehicle, and, like Chris, all of them wore empty expressions and handcuffs. Only one of the children had any sort of response to Chris’s appearance: slowly, the young boy looked up at Chris before averting his gaze back down to the floor of the car.

*None of us realized that, in that moment, we were no longer humans. Once we walked into that van, we had silently agreed to a contract: our lives meant nothing; we were just tools.*
*I remember it taking hours before we stopped, and even then that was only to pick up more kids. These ones seemed to be more lively than we were, for better or for worse. I remember one girl–she had short, light brown hair and wore this really strange, orange dress–crying her eyes out as she sat down; she seemed to know more about our situation than we did.*
*When we were next allowed to step out of the van, the day had turned to night. We were ordered to exit one at a time; when we did, they put chains on our feet and tied our handcuffs to each other. We were prisoners marching in a line to our dooms.*
*What I didn’t know then is that I had already seen the sun for the last time in years. Many of us would be forced to live in that building–the underground brothel where the wealthy elite of the war-torn country let out their frustrations.*

~ ~ ~

 Miku sucked in a tense breath as Chris paused. The white-haired girl’s head was hung low, her bangs casting dark shadows over her eyes as she retold the story of her horrible past.
“Is this a bad time to tell you something?” Kirika slowly raised her hand. “Finé was the one who killed your parents.”
“Yeah, she said that once.” Chris did not raise her head, and looked like a zombie as her jaw slowly opened and closed to carefully enunciate each word. “That they were unintended targets or something.”
Kirika sadly shook her head. “That was a lie, death. I don’t know why, but Finé couldn’t bring herself to tell you the truth, then. Your parents were always her intended targets; she was looking for something, but she had wanted to bring you in as well.”
Finé’s voice spoke up. “That’s correct. I... truly do regret my decisions. In truth, Chris, I had wanted to make use of you sooner, but I got a bit... tied up. In the end, some criminals got to you first.” Kirika pouted as the priestess within her stated what she had been planning to before she could. “And after that, I lost all trace of you. Genjuro and Section Two had begun looking for you after I submitted a report about your compatibility–one that I had been planning to keep secret. Unfortunately, even their efforts came up empty, until I found you by chance that is.”
Chris clutched her stomach with both arms. “But that was years later. I spent so much time in that prison. My body... everything about me was violated for all that time. They even drugged me at times–a lot of my memories of the time are either of things I don’t want to think about, or too hazy to fully understand.”
Slowly, Chris raised the hem of her shirt and exposed her stomach. Though she had several scars lining her body–the most notable of which being the newest, which Miku had accidentally caused due to Garie’s handiwork–the one she indicated to the two girls watching her was a long slit that ran down towards her legs.
“It was for the best, then, that they made sure... that I couldn’t get pregnant.” Lowering her shirt and ignoring the disgusted look upon Kirika’s face, Chris shook her head sadly.
“Damn, Chris.” Miku muttered quietly.
Chris pointed at her breasts next. “My... growth... I imagine it’s a side effect of all this, too. For five years, I had no choice in life but to service disgusting adults in that rancid place; they used my body however they pleased.” A fire of anger ignited behind Chris’s eyes as she turned her attention to the girls around her. “I’m sure the two of you can relate to the feeling of your body being stolen away from you.”
Kirika and Miku looked at each other in silent agreement. Chris, meanwhile, just shook.
Placing her head in her hands, Chris felt tears fall from her eyes as she shook her head. “There were so many of us in that prison, but I never saw any of them after that first day. For five whole years, the only people I interacted with were those gross men that forced themselves upon me.” Her words were quiet, interspersed with attempts to choke back the crying that Chris desperately wanted to let out. “It was so lonely. And the worst part is that I got used to it eventually. My disgust turned to indifference, and then I surrendered after enough days. And I can never forgive myself for that.”

 “I’m sorry, Chris.” Miku squeaked out, not sure what else to say.
“Oh don’t worry.” Chris seemed oddly cheerful, though her eyes were shrouded by dark clouds as she looked up at her black-haired friend. “I’m only half done.”

~ ~ ~

 *One day, this man came in to the cell that was my ‘work area’. He was portly, with a dark red suit and wearing a pair of sunglasses over his eyes. Though he gave off the same aura of most of the people I was forced to... handle, I could tell from his posture that he was not looking at me in the same way.*
*Most men who walked through that door all had the same look in their eyes: they wanted to dominate me, someone they saw only as a tool to be thrown away once it had served its purpose–a purpose I was desperate to fulfil so that I would not be killed. But this man had a different sparkle in his eye.*
*He wasn’t looking at me like I was a toy. No, he looked at me like I was a house, or a car–I was something he was looking to purchase, something for him to own.*
*The next time I saw him was a few days later. I had not had anyone else visit me in that time–I was afraid that they were just going to toss me away as trash. But then the man opened his terrible mouth and flashed me this disgusting smile.*
*“From today, you belong to me.” He said, his eyes shining like he had just found a chest full of gold coins.*

*I later learned that this man was a corrupt ambassador from a foreign country. He specifically picked me out of the other girls at the brothel because I knew how to speak English–and he paid a lot of money to make sure I remained his exclusive property.*
*That man brought me to the villa that he was staying at. It was a gorgeous mansion near a beach–but, of course, I was never allowed to enjoy any of the perks of this. Going to that place felt like a dream; it had been five years since I had last seen the sun, and then all of a sudden I’m living in a room far more comfortable than that prison cell had been.*
*I had a bed! I had actual, delicious food! A personal bathroom that I didn’t need to share with anyone! For someone who had lived in a single room, being fed ‘vitamins’, with a bathroom that had three different entrances and the grossest shower imaginable... it was paradise. I was amazed.*
*Of course, my ‘duties’ still continued.*

*But then, one day, my world changed. Finally an escape from this life! That’s what I thought at the time, anyway...*

 Chris, now barely a teenager, stood in the shower. She had just finished ‘working’ with the man that she was forced to call ‘Master’ and now had her head being beaten down by a stream of ice-cold water. Her hands on the wall, and her feet spread apart, Chris bent forwards to allow her body to eject all that had defiled it.
Suddenly, she heard a sound, and froze up. It was a sound she had heard fairly commonly since arriving in Val Verde: a gunshot.
Val Verde was in the middle of a civil war, so firearms being discharged was not an uncommon sight. Even when she had been in the brothel, Chris had heard shooting coming from (she hoped) outside of the building, and explosions always seemed to echo out from the distance.
But she had never heard a sound like that so clearly before–and certainly never since being forced into the luxurious dungeon of this politician’s vacation home.

 Turning the shower off in a panic, Chris fled from the shower. She did not bother grabbing a towel–nor did she don any of the seductive clothing that had been provided for her.
With her heart racing, Chris bolted out of the bathroom and into her ‘main’ room. She had been instructed to hide under the bed should she ever hear gunshots, and wait for her ‘Master’s’ cue to leave. Not wanting to disobey the man with entire control over her life, the naked child squished herself down as close to the ground as she could and shuffled her way beneath the wooden frame.
Chris had fully hidden her sopping wet form in a matter of seconds–but she would have been found out had she taken any longer.

 The poor girl clutched her eyes shut as she stilled her breathing. Afraid that her heartbeat would alert whoever had invaded the house to her presence, she tried everything in her power to remain calm; and every attempt only quickened her organ’s drumming.
When she heard a kick at the door leading out into the rest of the house, Chris could do nothing else but hold her breath. A clock began to tick in the girl’s mind as she counted down the moments until she was free from the clutches of danger.

 One

 Two

 Three

 Fo-

 “I’ve found you.”
Chris had not heard the door collapse, nor did she hear any more beating at it. No, what she heard next was the calm voice of a woman. When she opened her eyes, only two golden specks of this serpent’s face invaded her limited view from beneath the bed.
“It’s okay now, Chris Yukine,” Finé announced with a friendly smile. “I’m here to rescue you.”

~ ~ ~

 “At some point, I had lost all sense of time.” Chris sighed. “When Finé first found me–and killed the man who bought me–apparently it had been almost seven years since I first went missing.”
“And after that,” Kirika chimed in, her own body quivering. “Finé forced experiments onto you, death.”
Chris nodded. Like Kirika, Chris was also shaking, and her eyes were darting about; it was clear to both Kirika and Miku that she was straining herself in order to get all of this out into the open.
“What Finé put you through,” Kirika continued with her own depressed look in her eyes. “Seemed to be similar to what FIS did to us, death. But with different purposes.”
“Everything I did...” Chris’s teeth were chattering now, and she raised her hands up to grip her scalp. “I did to repay Finé for freeing me from that life. She told me that she held the same wish as my parents, so I obeyed everything without question.
“I activated every relic she could get her hands on. It would take months sometimes to raise my compatibility rates high enough to do so–and every time she would electrocute me in order to force me to use my voice. She also tortured me with electricity in order to ease the effects that the Nehushtan Armour places on your body.”
“It’s incredibly frail,” Finé explained to Miku. “The Nehushtan Armour can regenerate endlessly, but it will eventually attempt to fuse itself with the wielder.”
“Turning you into an immortal being, but one capable of being damaged by even the simplest of attacks.” Miku nodded in understanding. “I experienced that; when Batara Kala was taking over my body, every attack would heal in short time.”
“Yes, I imagine that was the work of Vercingetorix.” Finé’s tone sounded remorseful, though Kirika’s expression–being controlled by a separate entity altogether–turned from sad to angry at the mention of Ver’s name.
“I hate that man, death. If Carol hadn’t killed him, I would have.”

 Chris leaned back on her bed. She initially landed with her arms spread out, but then reached one quivering hand over her head to look at it. “But, yeah, that’s basically my story. For the next few years, Finé had me do whatever odd jobs she wanted... which included killing the agents that had been dispatched to look for me, after rumours circulated that I had been located.”
Despite the news she just revealed, Chris smiled a hollow smile as she turned towards Miku. “See? You’re not the only one with blood on your hands.”
“Chris... I...” Miku shook her head. “I’m so sorry. After all you went through, all I did was burden you with my own problems. I’m sorry I never took the time to listen to your story.”
A blush crossed Chris’s face as she sat up in a hurry. “No! No! Don’t apologize, Miku! It’s fine. I... wasn’t ready to talk about it, anyway. Besides–even if I suffered for years, you had your mind controlled on multiple occasions, transformed into a monster, and killed...” Chris sucked in a breath as she let that thought burn out. “I had Genjuro reach out to help me, so I wanted to do the same to you.”

 An awkward silence filled the room again for some time, as the three tried to figure out some way to move on from the story of Chris’s life. Unfortunately, as time passed and Miku grew increasingly more worried for Chris’s well-being, Kirika couldn’t help but speak up.
“You know... I went through some similar things, death.” Kirika eventually sighed. When she realized the looks that Miku and Chris gave her were those of horror, she put her hands up. “Not exactly the same, death! I was never sold into slavery.”
“Good. I wouldn’t wish what happened to me on anyone else.” Chris exhaled in relief at the correction.
“Should I tell my story?” Kirika asked, looking down at the ground she sat on. Like before, she clutched her toes; though this time, she did so to make it more difficult for the other two girls to notice how much her arms were shaking.

 And thus, Kirika told Chris and Miku about her time in FIS–and the time when the lecherous Dr. Stinson tried to force himself upon Kirika, forcing her to change the way she presented herself to the world.

 “Adults...” Chris spat. “They should be dependable, but most of them seem to be completely despicable.”
“I agree, death.” Kirika said weakly. “I was so scared back then...”
“You’re still holding something back.”
Kirika looked up at Miku when the black-haired girl spoke. Miku’s teal eyes pierced Kirika’s heart as they met; it felt to Kirika like Miku was trying so hard to stare directly at the soul(s) within her body.
But Kirika was confused. “I... am?”
“Unconsciously, then.” Miku pointed out. “Your sudden change in personality... it couldn’t have been that instantaneous.”
“What do you mean?” Chris asked. “I think it’s possible.”
“No... it feels to me like you blocked a memory out of your head–something in-between that event and your personality change.”
“Miku is correct. Kirika has subconsciously locked away many memories, ones that even I am unable to view or manipulate.” Finé spoke from Kirika’s mouth. “I believe a truly traumatic experience carved itself into Kirika’s soul, and she crossed several memories together to try and justify this hole in her heart.”

 “For something to happen to you like that...” Miku stuck out her one arm towards Kirika, and then waved it slowly through the air to point at Chris. “I’m so sorry, to both of you. You’ve gone through so much...”
“Hey, don’t talk as if you haven’t gone through shit of your own.” Chris frowned. “Genjuro told me that the fallout from the Zwei Wing concert you went to messed up your entire life–and that was before all of this other shit happened.”
“It feels wrong, though, hearing what you two have been through.” Miku flipped herself around in order to sit on the chair properly and not by leaning over the backrest. “It makes it seem like I’m lucky.”
“Honestly,” Chris aimed a sad smile to the back of Miku’s head. “I think you’re the worst off of us.”
“You do?” Kirika immediately piped up in confusion.
Chris nodded. “Think about it: you don’t remember your parents, and mine died when I was still a child. We didn’t have time to really establish ‘normal’ lives; we suffered a lot, but we didn’t really have a chance to learn about the alternatives.” Chris sighed as she realized that it sounded as though she was downplaying her own traumatic experiences. “Miku had a normal life, though. She had friends, a family. For years–she was a normal girl. And then all of this shit happened to her at once. We had shit happening to us for years, but Miku just went to a concert one day and then a couple months later she’s fighting for her life over and over again.”
“I can see what you’re going for Chris,” Miku turned her head over her shoulder, flashing Chris a sincere look of generosity. “But I don’t really know if you’re trying to help me feel more... included, here, or if you’re just trying to make yourself feel better.”
“That’s...” Chris stiffened, realizing that she was subconsciously aiming to make the former a reality.
“Besides, it’s clear who the real loser is, here.” Miku looked down at her shaking palm.
It had been months since that fateful day, and yet Miku could not look at her hands without picturing gloves of thick crimson liquid covering her pale skin. The image was burned into her mind; she knew that no matter what she did in her life, she would never be able to atone for the few short moments that completely skewed her outlook on life.
“Hibiki...” She whined, clenching her fist tight. “I miss you... so, so much.”

 Kirika and Chris both watched as Miku began to sob. The frail girl covered head-to-toe in burn marks and remnants of scars had tears streaming from her eyes as she continued to whine the name of her best friend. Her body trembled like a cup on an unsteady table, her sad moans the only sound filling the room.
“It’s okay, M–” Kirika, surprised by this change in atmosphere, began to flail about as she tried to figure out some way to comfort her before being stopped as Chris placed her hand gently upon her shoulder.
“Just let her be. When she’s like this, Miku just needs to let it all out; she doesn’t listen to anyone else.” Chris kept her eyes on Miku as she wore a kind smile. “I know–I do the same, sometimes.”
Kirika turned her gaze away from Chris. “Does it... help?” She mumbled.
“I don’t know if it’s the best way to go about it...” Chris chuckled. “But it does, yeah.”
When Kirika turned her head back to look at Chris, she had her own tears beginning to pool in her multicoloured pupils. “Good... Because I think I’ll try it, death.” She smiled, letting the floodgates open so that rivers could run down her cheeks.
“Jeez...” Chris grumbled. “If you two are crying, how am I supposed to stop myself?”

 The three girls cried in silence, all letting out the emotions that they had bottled up inside of them. For Miku it was the trauma of killing her best friend–the girl she loved–and being used as a weapon; for Chris it was her past as a prisoner, as a girl trapped in a life with no certain future; and for Kirika it was both the experiments she was subjected to and the traumas that her mind rejected the memories of.
Their sobs were like a sad song born straight from the girls’ hearts, echoing throughout the otherwise-silent apartment. Chris, Kirika, and Miku all let their emotions flow out through their eyes, the dark fogs clouding their hearts slowly lifting if only for these few short moments.
None of the girls had any idea how long they sat within Chris’s room crying, but they continued to do so until the sky beyond the window was coated in amber–and it was only once they could cry no more that the three girls found themselves all smiling.
“Look at us.” Miku giggled, wiping the remains of tears from her red eyes. “We’ve saved the world before, but now we’re just sitting here crying our eyes out.”
Chris could not help but laugh as well, and wiped her eyes with the palms of her head. “You wouldn’t see a scene like this in a manga–the heroes sitting around coping with their traumas by crying for hours.”
“You were right, death.” Kirika chuckled, too. “I do feel better!”
In the golden light streaming in to the room of Chris Yukine, the three girls found themselves laughing at their pain, now. The sadness in their heart, the horrors they had faced–with renewed hope, the girls laughed at their traumas to show that they were determined to grow past it.

 Eventually, as the sky began to darken, Chris peacefully exhaled as she looked at the moon beginning to sparkle beyond the glass pane. “I did want to hear a bit about Hibiki, but I guess that could wait for some other day.”
“I’m sorry, Chris. I don’t think I’m entirely ready yet.” Miku bowed her head, but wore a kind smile on her face. “Just give me a little more time... both of you.”
“This was fun, death!” Kirika shouted, standing up. And then she deflated, crumpling back to the ground. “Now what?”
“Well it’s getting late.” Chris leaned back. “Don’t you have to get back to your friends?”
Kirika shook her head. “I bet Maria’s too busy doting on Serena...” Then, stuffing out her cheeks and pouting, Kirika turned her head away. “And Shirabe doesn’t need me any more, death.”
“I got the impression that you two were fairly close.” Miku asked, confused.
“We were, death.” Kirika grumbled. “But now Shirabe only cares about playing with Carol.”
Miku and Chris couldn’t help but laugh at the girl’s comment, which caused the blonde teenager to angrily scream at her friends. “Stop laughing at me, death!”
“No, it’s just...” Chris tried stifling the laughs trying to work their way out of her chest.
“Carol did bring Shirabe back to life.” Miku pointed out. “She probably feels as though she owes her a great deal.”
“But even with that, no one knows you better than Shirabe.” Chris explained. “If she is avoiding you, it’s not only temporary, but it’s also for a reason.”
“What are you trying to say, death?” Kirika mumbled, pulling her chin close to her chest. “Shirabe just likes that alchemist more than me, now.”
Miku sighed with a smile on her face and a slow shake of her head. “Kirika... you’re just jealous, aren’t you?” When Kirika’s eyes widened at the suggestion, Miku’s expression turned into a playful smirk. “I get it, seeing the person you love going out of their way for others.
“But you have to also have trust in them. If Tsu... Shirabe truly disliked you, she would probably make it clear to you. For her to be choosing Carol over you, there has to be a reason for this–and a reason that she can’t tell you, if she hasn’t yet.”
“What do you think that reason could be?” Chris asked. “Birthday?”
“My birthday... was decided to be in April, death.” Kirika shook her head.
“It’s still the middle of summer, so it can’t be Christmas...” Chris continued.
“If I had to guess–and I don’t mean to bring the atmosphere down again...” Miku trailed off for a moment. “There’s likely some drawback to being brought back to life. Shirabe probably wants Carol’s help in remedying this issue, and doesn’t want to worry you.”
Kirika chewed on that idea for a moment, and then recoiled in shock. “Do you think she wants to eat my brain, death!?” Kirika then screamed, her hands gripping her cheeks in fear.
“How...?” Chris sighed. “No, I know how you got to that solution.”
Miku shrugged–an awkward-looking gesture considering her one arm. “Ver’s experiments messed up my body a lot. I can’t feel physical pain, and my senses of smell and taste have dulled. I can imagine a lot more could go wrong when bringing someone back from the dead.”
“Wait, you what?” Chris and Kirika both shouted in surprise at Miku’s revelation–the latter girl adding her trademark to the end of the question. This got a confused look out of Miku in response.
“I told Chris once that I can’t die. Even now, I’ve done some tests and Lan... the relics inside of me are still active. I thought I mentioned my sense of smell before, too...”
Kirika shuffled her eyebrows. “Oh. You mean during the school festival, death.”
“Oh yeah, you didn’t react to Carol’s skunk attack. And you didn’t eat any of the sweets they sold–or anyone sold.” Chris tapped her chin. “Actually, now that I think about it, I don’t think you’ve eaten anything in the past few months.”
Miku shook her head. “I do sometimes drink canned coffees, but I can barely taste it. And I guess my regenerative abilities keep me from going hungry.”
Kirika had a terrified look on her face. “You don’t eat? Not even tasty treats?” Kirika recoiled back again. “You’re a monster, death!”
Miku and Chris both narrowed their eyes at the girl. “Did you forget that time I was literally transformed into a monster?” The former girl ended up asking after a second, only for Kirika to spin around as she realized the meaning of her words.
“Death!!!” She screamed as the gears finally began to turn in her mind.

 Chris stood up off the bed and slammed her hands on her hips. “Let’s keep this cheerful attitude up a bit–I’m tired of being depressed.”
Miku looked at her in confusion. “Yeah?”
“So, let’s watch a movie!” Chris shouted, pumping her fist up in front of her. In response, Kirika let out a cheer as she threw her own arms over her head.
“Mo-vie! Mo-vie!” Kirika began to cheer as she swayed from side-to-side.
“Yeah, okay. It could be fun.” Miku giggled, seeing the excitement in their eyes.
All in agreement, Chris pointed to the door. “Let’s go to the living room!” She announced, earning yet another cheer from Kirika as the two began to march out of Chris’s bedroom.
Miku just watched the two exit with a small smile. “You two... thank you.” Looking out the window to gaze at the giant satellite that orbited the planet, Miku’s eyes were glued to the moon as she let out a calm sigh. “Someday, Hibiki, I know I’ll see you again.”
“Hey, Miku! Are you coming? We found a good one!” Chris yelled from the other one.
“Come on, death!!” Kirika’s voice echoed after Chris’s. “Or we’ll start it without you!”
“Yeah,” Miku called back quietly. As she slowly stood up, putting the chair back behind the desk that she had pulled it from, Miku’s smile grew. “I’m coming.”

 As Miku left the room and turned off the light that had been burning from the corner, her eyes drifted back to the window and the moon still sitting high in the sky. The perfect sphere that was like a hole in the black sheet of the night–a satellite that she had protected once before. Tearing her gaze away from the ball, Miku slowly began to close the door.
When the hinges clicked closed, a shooting star danced through the sky as if to wave to the girl who had been watching the night.