An oni reaching out and grasping for her was met with a punch that shattered the bones in its arm, before about blew a hole through its chest. Another kicked in the head hard enough to crush its face into the concrete. Yet another was subject to an hammer-like blow that nearly snapped its entire body in half.

Around Hoshiko, the circle of dead Warped was widening. Their numbers were steadily thinning. That was what she was here for! To take the heat off the Japanese military, permanently. As long as she was doing her job, that meant they were facing drastically less risk of being killed, or worse.

So she was going to throw herself at it harder and harder.

As her fist obliterated the chest cavity of another oni, impact rocking up through her arm, a piercing shriek seared through her ears. Wincing, the brunette had to step back, out of the range of immediate attack. While it didn't leave her ears ringing, it was a painful sound that had come entirely out of no-where.

Casting her gaze skywards, she was able to locate the source. An enormous, black-feathered bird, resembling a huge crow, bearing down on Pyra. Its body released a wave of razor-like gusts of wind, tearing through many of the remaining oni Warped and the scenery around them. Feeling air rushing towards her, Hoshiko sprang to the side, feeling a razor gust rip through the spot she had just been standing in.

With the combined assault of the oni hurling stones from below, and the tengu rushing towards her...

Hoshiko had to do something! She couldn't let Pyra try and take that on by herself!

Taking a deep breath, powering on the thrusters on her armored feet, Hoshiko crouched. With a roar of both rockets, a flash of flames and light venting behind her, the frame pilot was propelled into the air. It whipped past her, errant strand of hair wavering in the rushing wind as she hurtled upwards. Feet meeting a flying piece of debris, she sprang off it to another. Then another. Then another. Using the debris in the air as stepping stones, Hoshiko made her way up towards the avian monster, raising her right fist back and preparing to bring it down as soon as she reached the Warped.

She was going to hit it as hard as she could!

[@PKMNB0Y][@Izurich]

[hr]

The centipede-like creature seemed unperturbed by Norika's evasion. It let out a strange sound, something like a chuckle that ended in a rattling gag, as the many arms streaming from its mouth stretched longer. They twisted in a manner impossible for arms with normal bone structure, widening their reach in an attempt to cut off the petite pilot's escape routes. In full, the creature was at least thirty meters, with the arms extending from its split head offering it considerably more reach as they stretched unnaturally.

[@PKMNB0Y][@JDubs]