As each of his newfound companions introduced themselves, Sento chose to keep quiet and nod his head so as to allow everyone their piece. Once the last had finished, the physicist brought one hand to his chin and thought for a moment before furrowing his brow.

"Right, so we've got a ninja, two high schoolers, a civil servant, and a clairvoyant employing said civil servant...?" he trailed off before moving to scratch the back of his head. "One heck of a team we've got assembled here, but I suppose everyone's got something in their back pockets if we got pulled for something this important."

With that, Sento clapped his and together and nodded.

"In any case, this is no time to judge a book by its cover," he said before glancing back towards the building next to them. "I think this place is big enough for all of us to get our own room if we want, so I'm going to go ahead and take a room on the first floor. If the fate of multiple worlds is at stake, I'd like to have the space to be able to rebuild the things that I didn't have on me when I got pulled here."

After throwing another glance—this one a bit less certain—towards the shinobi (or, more specifically, the insects that he was showcasing), Sento walked up to the nearest apartment door and looked it over. There didn't seem to be anything special about it at a glance, and the doorbell system seemed to be paired with what seemed to be a touchpad of some sort.

"Huh. For a futuristic city, this seems comparatively mundane," he remarked before giving the doorknob a slight twist and a tug. The door in front of him smoothly swung open, and with no hesitation he strode into the room. A brief glance around indicated that the rooms and their sparse furnishings were in near-pristine condition. Beyond that uncanny oddity, they seemed to be no different from a 2LDK back in Tokyo.

"It's... Pretty ordinary, honestly," he remarked as he stepped outside, making sure to close the door behind him after he and any others who had followed him in had stepped out. "A bit barebones, but I've definitely seen worse."

Having said his piece, Sento turned towards Shino as he slipped his hands into his pockets.

"It'd probably be a good idea to check all the rooms out like you suggested, though. Figuring out where everyone's going to set up shop would also be a good idea, since I don't think we're going to be the only ones worrying about customizing the place if we're stuck here," he added before gesturing towards the other members of their group. "Does certainly feel like we're househunting, though, which is certainly not the thing I'd expected to be doing here."

Hibiki gave the room a curious look, then ran out and looked in the next apartment – and the next, and the next, and then after the fourth came back to give an enthusiastic report: "They're all the same!"

… or, in other words, it didn't really matter which apartment any of them picked – maybe one on a corner of the building was ideal for the ninja who wanted extra window, but aside from that, it didn't really matter. No one apartment had a different layout from any other, and the facilities seemed pretty much the same as the last two places she'd shared with Miku… more cramped than their current accommodation, but less than the dorms after Lydian's original buildings were destroyed.

There was also a spare room, which Hibiki supposed was technically a step up from a bunk bed you were only using half of, but she couldn't see her and Miku needing that at any point. Not unless she really messed something up again…

"Is there any reason for us to pick now?" the black-haired girl wondered after her girlfriend's announcement. If all the apartments were the same, then there was nothing they needed to set up, was there?

"It's not like we brought luggage to unpack." Hibiki added, nodding along. She was ready for whatever was going to happen.

???

---

Shino sends the bugs out to have a quick look at all the other buildings. What they found confirms the blonde girl's claim, they are really the same. He wonders if it is the white hair woman doing or are the world’s population just naturally like to live this way.

‘I supposed we will never know’

“It is often recommended to secure the resting spot first before jumping into action. Why? We might be too tired afterward to think about dividing the rooms, not to mention injuries.” He did find it rather odd that most people claim to have some experience in fighting, yet they lack most of the common sense even genin possesses. Maybe the other world doesn’t have a mission structure the same way his world tends to do things?

Yet another thing he has to adapt to.

@FujiwaraPhoenix @VitaVitaAR @Rune_Alchemist @Raineh Daze

????
@FujiwaraPhoenix@Raineh Daze@FujiwaraPhoenix@Cmmelody

---

"Gotta agree with Shino here." Qingque chimed in. "It'd be better to get us a place to rest before we go do anything." Entirely mostly because once everyone else picked it'd be easy enough to choose a room for herself to give her maximum slack-off time. Actually...if they -were- all the same...nah, that'd be too troublesome. "I'll take a room on the third floor, preferably away from the stairs. Actually, can I call dibs on two rooms? For...civil servant reasons."

???

---

I cannot say that I am pleased by the sparseness of the rooms, but they are hardly poor accommodations at the same time. Given the situation, being dissatisfied with the decorations is not exactly a valid complaint to make.

Still, I do have a few requests. To begin with, this situation is far too important to permit a certain subordinate of mine any time with which to neglect anything they should be doing.

Which is to say, I can't allow Qingque to slack off.

That's not my only reason for my current thought process, however.

"Qingque, you and I both originate from the same branch of the tree," I begin, turning to face her, "In the event that something happens, I think it is pertinent to keep this fact in mind. Besides, you will take any opportunity to shirk duties assigned to you. We'll be sharing a room."

With the knowledge that the rooms were identical in hand, Sento found himself somewhat less pressed to immediately pick a room for himself. The discussions continued for a bit longer, but ultimately the choice of location fell to personal preference for necessity for most of them.

Most save Qingque, at least. The physicist could only imagine how rough it would be to share a room with your direct superior.

When the group had finished speaking on the matter, they reconvened once more where Wynn was standing by. The white-haired woman's gaze swept over the group and, after taking a quick mental roll call, nodded her head.

"I presume this means that you are all ready to depart, then," she said before another gateway opened behind her. "Right this way, please."

Past the portal was a large and seemingly-empty circular room. Once the group had passed through, Wynn turned back around and gestured around her.

"This is the Room of Crossroads—an old name from an older era, but a fitting one nevertheless. I'll be connecting you to your destinations from here going forward. I will divide you into two groups in order to handle this matter efficiently."

After Wynn waved her hand in the air in conjunction with her last sentence, a pair of virtual screens—one on each side of her and both large enough for the group to see—opened up behind her.

"The one on my left here is another version of Earth," she began, looking briefly towards Sento and Hibiki, "but has since fallen to interstellar invaders who intended to turn them into no more than resources for their empire. In having done so, various linchpin existences of that time have fallen, leaving eventual collapse all but certain. Fu Xuan, Qingque, you two will be handling this matter. Compared to the technology of the Xianzhou, it may seem a bit lacking, but I'd like if you could retrieve components for repurposing on our end."

After a brief pause, though, the woman continued.

"As for the one on my right... A cataclysm consumed this world, rendering over 98% of the population deceased. In their place, monsters—both organic and not—roam the land, which has since been reclaimed by nature. Mr. Kiryu, Ms. Tachibana, Mr. Aburame: I'd like if you could recover some more organic materials for our systems here. The less we have to process to turn into usable synthesis material, the better, so please be prudent about what you recover."

With that, the woman gestured towards the group, creating a number of bracelets that floated in front of them.

"These devices will allow you mark and transfer whatever it is that you plan to move over here. There is an upper limit that you will be able to move, denoted by the gauge you'll see here when you open up the menu therein," she demonstrated with a bracelet of her own. "This will also act as a communications terminal to our location here, so you can notify me if you're at capacity and are ready to return."

Having stated her piece, Wynn lowered her hand and panned across the group.

"If you have any questions or concerns, please state them now before I connect these locations here."

@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist@Raineh Daze@Cmmelody

"Won't this be destroyed by the Symphogear?" Hibiki asked, the first to reach out and seize the bracelet, turning it over as if the mysterious magical technology would make any more sense to her after being studied (it really, really didn't). That wasn't to say her concern was unfounded: the gear's materialisation energy would destroy anything the user was wearing and recreate it after. While their usual support staff had no problems interfacing or communicating after that, it was possible those were built into the Symphogear directly…

Or maybe it did just use her phone or any other communication device? You needed Elfnein for this sort of thing, or maybe Chris or Maria might get it. Hibiki certainly didn't.

"The bracelet will survive," Wynn fortunately had the answer, "We can consider more integrated solutions in future."

With that, the brunette slid it up her arm, stopping further up than might seem entirely necessary, but while it might survive the transformation, she didn't want to see it buried underneath Gungnir.

"What should I do?" Miku was the next to ask a question, seeing that she had been – thankfully, despite her worry at Hibiki being off in danger again – left out of any missions. That didn't mean she wanted to do nothing; it was her world at stake too!

"Maybe you could help with communications for the other team?"

It seemed Wynn had recognised that it was a bad idea to have Hibiki and Miku on the same line.

@FujiwaraPhoenix

????
@FujiwaraPhoenix@Raineh Daze@FujiwaraPhoenix@Cmmelody

---

"S-sharing a room!?" Qingque wasn't able to stop herself from vocalizing utter surprise, quickly managing to pivot to a much less displeased tone and words. "I-I mean I don't know if I deserve the honor, Master Diviner. I mean...yes, we're from the same world. Probably so your logic is sound..." That was it. This was some heliobi induced nightmare or something wasn't it? That had to be it. that was the only way this all made sense. Another one had followed her from Xianzhou to Penacony. "A-are you sure? I snore really, really, loudly but I can't really refuse if you're certain."

....sigh. It wasn't all bad she supposed. Since they didn't have divination commission work to do, what kind of work would there be to do really? And at least having Fu Xuan around meant she probably wouldn't get dragged into anything bad like that time she almost got scammed by a Pepeshi Cult. And well, Fu Xuan wasn't really bad company to be around...

"Ugh, lets get this over with. Sooner we can be done sooner I can go back to playing Cel-ahem-doing very important divination commission work." Following Wynn and the others, Qingque was silent for the most part through her explanation. Earth? A planet of some kind she hadn't heard of likely. Curious. She had to wonder what kinda games or entertainment they had. Interstellar invaders though? Was it the Anti-matter legion again? Regardless, the Xianzhou knew how to handle those types of things very well.

"Okay, sounds easy enough." Qingque began as she took the communication device from Wynn. "Interstellar invasion is nothing new. Sounds like the Anti-matter legion or heck, some Abundance Abominations. I've dealt with one of those before. So if uh, Miku was it? Wants to help us I don't have any objections."

The room of crossroads

@FujiwaraPhoenix @VitaVitaAR @Rune_Alchemist @Raineh Daze

---

A mission.
Finally, something familiar.

The grey hooded teenager listened to the briefing with full concentration, his brows folded for a millisecond when the white hair woman said they have to split up. Less manpower means more risk after all, especially when the mission involves raw fire power.

And then there is the detail of this mission.

“Pardon me for asking, but what indicates a good ‘synthesis’ material? Can you give a little more concrete example of what is considered usable versus what is not?”

Maybe it’s obvious to the others, but Shino has no idea at all. And if you have no clue about the mission target’s criteria, then that’s a big trouble waiting to happen.

Still, he reached out for the bracelet, carefully checking the device out of habit more than anything. It’s not like he would know if there is something unusual going on in there, he has no clue how any of this works in the first place. After turning it two or three times, the teenager finally put the bracelet on his left wrist

???

---

Curious. The summary provided by Wynn is as Qingque notes, rather comparable to Abominations of Abundance. Ravaging, all-taking creatures who embrace the curses of the Plagues Author, abominable and twisted creatures warped by the overflow of the Abundance. It's hardly unfamiliar, but given what we have already been told---

Could it really be Abominations of Abundance? Or perhaps it is some new threat entirely, simply parallel to such beings?

"These conquerors may be something entirely unfamiliar to us, Qingque," I say, glancing towards my subordinate, "We cannot rely on prior knowledge when entering this new world, regardless of how familiar a story it may be. To assume otherwise would be to walk blinded by our own prejudgements, especially given the nature of this space prevents successful divination."

I pause for a moment, my attention turning towards the girl named Kohinata. By her admission, she cannot fight, and while my typical role is not in direct battle that means I am still far more suited to it then she is.

"Given the situation, I would accept such assistance."

Having quietly taken the bracelet he had been given and giving it a brief once-over, Sento slipped the device into his wrist as Wynn calmly split them up into teams. The few questions he had in mind had already been asked by the time he had finished his brief prodding, but only Shino's remained unanswered by the time he had decided to refocus on the white-haired woman standing opposite the group.

"The materials in question can be anything from flora—be it the wood of trees to underbrush—to the fauna you may encounter and otherwise be forced to engage with on site," Wynn replied. "More complex compounds derived from biological specimens would provide a higher return, but former sustenance crops that have evolved to survive in these environs—or otherwise have been within these locales to begin with—should be a higher priority if possible. You could also opt to hunt the local beasts since we could also process their corpses, but I'll leave that to your discretion."

After saying as much, Wynn equipped a bracelet of her own to her right wrist and motioned to demonstrate.

"A simple interface should appear with a gesture like this. From there, you should be able to either transfer the target to storage or request an analysis. The total capacity is shared between your teammates, so consider coordinating as to what you should bring back," she added before giving those present another glance over. "If that is everything, then I'll open the gateways now. I wish the best of luck to you all."

As she snapped her fingers, a pair of gateways opened up behind her, one in front of each screen.

"The gates will close after you've all departed, but you can contact Ms. Kohinata and I through your bracelets once you've finished on your ends."

"What a multipupose tool," Sento mused to himself before glancing at the other two by his side. "As the oldest here, then, I'll take point. Let's see how bad this 'cataclysm' really was," the scientist said as he stepped through the portal with his usual confidence.

@Raineh Daze@Cmmelody

---

---

After passing through the portal, the two Xianzhou girls would find themselves in a slightly wooded area under the cover of night. The faint stars in the skies only emphasized what little shine the pallid reflection of the single moon hanging overhead could provide. At a glance, this place seemed to be no more than a normal forest with naught out of the ordinary.

There would be a brief pause before Wynn's voice would call out from their bracelets, just loud enough for the two to hear.

"I'm confirming your position near the facility in question now. Your target should be to your north. There are multiple entities—all armed with plasma firearms—currently patrolling the area relative to your current position. Miss Kohinata, can I trust you to take things from here? I'll need to monitor the other group a bit more closely," she said as the faint glow of a helmet could just barely be made out in the distance by the two.

@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist

Alien Facility

---

The sensation of being transported is weightless, my vision obscured only to reemerge in---

Ah.

The sight of a forest is not unusual. Far from it, but the sky is something different compared to the simulated skies of the Xianzhou fleet. It's not as if I have no experience with ordinary skies, though I am not normally able to leave the Luofu and the fleet as a whole, but it is still a less common site for me as far as experiencing it in person.

'Earth' then. A planet I had never heard of, likely from a branch of the Imaginary Tree far removed from our own, plagued by invaders. The atmosphere feels far less stilted then the timeless world we just departed from, and despite the unfamiliarity it feels normal, for the moment.

But that moment is unspeakably brief.

Indeed, the faint glow is an immediate sign of a potential threat, and therefore---

I stretch out my senses, a dull throb running through my forehead as the omniscia responds. It is an ache I am entirely accustomed to.

I'll stretch my vision to the future, raising my hands as I place my fingers together gently. Of course, in this situation I am unable to see great distances into what is to come. But I will be able to see the approaching figures' next movements with perfect clarity, and thus plan accordingly.

@FujiwaraPhoenix@Rune_Alchemist

---

Ruins

---

After passing through the portal, the trio arrived in what appeared to be an almost idyllic scene.

Birds could be heard calling loudly to one another. The floor was composed of thick, soft grass, which grew sparser out from the center as taller plants extended upwards, ferns and shrubs of various sorts. There was the sound of running water nearby, and dew clung to leaves and various surfaces. The air was pleasant, not cold but slightly cool in the same manner as an early morning on a day promising to be an ideal temperature.

Perhaps at first glance, it would be difficult to believe that such a location could possibly have been the site of some great cataclysm that wiped out nearly all of the human population.

But the very borders of the clearing, past the taller, thicker vegetation, were strange. A flat, sheer surface covered in vines and moss, dripping with moisture and continuing upwards towards a large opening through which the sunlight poured.

It was some sort of enormous, destroyed structure, though its exact nature was difficult to discern from within it. there was a gap through the thick, clingy foliage, through which more light could be glimpsed. Thus, it was likely that this was some form of exit.

From outside, there was a heavy, thudding sound, but apparently this was not enough of a disturbance to disrupt the calling birds.

@FujiwaraPhoenix@Cmmelody@Raineh Daze

"This doesn't look so bad…" Hibiki said, following behind Sento with a distinct lack of apprehension or concern. It was an odd attitude for a schoolgirl to be having amongst ruins…

But then, neither of them knew that she had a rather large amount of experience with ruined structures. Creating them, mostly, but 'peaceful and being reclaimed by nature' wasn't much of a stretch. In isolation, it even seemed quite nice? At least compared to something completely desolate like the concert venue or the lunar ruins…

Whatever the case, the threat level so far was too low to prompt her to transform.

Earth — Alien Facility
@FujiwaraPhoenix@Raineh Daze@VitaVitaAR

---

What she was expecting when walking through the portal again was not this serene forest.

"...hm. I was expecting something a little more...action packed." Qingque responded as she'd look up to the stars. Vastly different then the ones she knew back on the Fleet, or Penacony for that matter. It felt...peaceful, all things considered. Like she could just lay down here and take a nice, peaceful nap.

"To the North? See anything, Master Diviner?" Qingque asked, turning her head towards Fu Xuan. "And also...plasma...weapons? Do we have any kind of other information on these invaders?" Plasma weapons, eh Some kind of energy based weapons then.

While the change in scenery was not particularly surprising given what he had already experienced that day, Sento found himself quietly staring at the nature-laden scenery they had been transported to. At a glance, the abundance of greenery left the place feeling less like the result of an apocalypse and more like they had just arrived in some sort of deeply-forested area.

Said assumption was promptly thrown out the window once the composition of the region was taken as a whole. The unnatural structure in front of them quickly told Sento that nature had long since claimed this region for itself; the skeleton that it was built on top of was simply obscured from their sight.

For what it was worth, that also meant that scrounging up whatever they needed to keep themselves afloat might not be the worst of jobs. While the exact nature of the plants growing in the region would be nebulous with the who-knew-how-many generations of iteration between the world's end and now, surely there had to be some things here that were close enough to what he was familiar with.

The steady rumbling of the ground underfoot was enough to pique his interest, though; if the smaller wildlife wasn't acting up because of it, then maybe it would be safe enough to get a closer look at the type of fauna that would've come about after—at the minimum—centuries of evolution.

"I think that the word 'cataclysm' was doing a lot of heavy lifting in Wynn's explanation," Kiryu remarked as he began to make his way towards the exit. "Going to be honest, I expected a lot more fire and lava at first, but I'm not going to complain about this."

@Raineh Daze

---

After a brief moment of prescience, Fu Xuan would find that the helmeted figure in the distance would, in a few seconds, catch sight of the pair of girls and, provided they did not resolve the issue in time, begin to open fire upon them. The ensuing noise would naturally draw the attention of others present nearby, and if the two managed to handle the oncoming waves unscathed, then it would only be a matter of time before more enemies would join the fray. The window of opportunity to change that future was shortening, but the fact that it existed was enough to make a decision on how to proceed.

In that brief period of time, Miku's voice would come through the bracelet, though slightly less certain than Wynn's had been.

"Hello? This is Kohinata Miku speaking now," she said in response to Qingque's question. "By the looks of things on this terminal Miss Wynn gave me, it seems that the aliens you'll be engaging have gone through extensive genetic modification. It looks like they were made for fighting more than anything else, so I don't think they can be reasoned with if what I'm reading here is correct..."

@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist

Alien Facility

---

"There is an enemy soldier. He cannot be reasoned with and will immediately alert others if he is allowed to do so, therefore the path forward is obvious."

There is no purpose in delaying. The range is close enough. I am not often a soldier, but that does not mean I cannot fight nor that I am not used to combat.

I shut my eyes.

His path has already been predetermined. He will not even be able to register what has occurred, in whatever fragmented mind remains after the severe alterations committed upon his body.

I raise my hand. The future is soldifying in my vision, other alternative outcomes falling away and disappearing into the void. Slowly, steadily, all possibilities are erased as my actions lead to only one outcome.

One more step.

The Matrix shifts as my nervous system responds, a rushing, prickling sensation running down my spine and across my limbs as I sweep my hand from right to left. A simple barrier, barely visible, merely to dull sound in order to avoid alerting the other nearby soldiers before we can examine the upcoming result.

He does not notice, and that does not matter. The outcome is predetermined.

I point.

The light flares into existence just as he crosses into the chosen spot.

Steel splits, sizzling hot at the edges of the rupture. Flesh burns and breaks apart. Bone follows. The symbol etched in the air ensures it, winking from existence mere moments after I inscribed it.

The corpse falls, head hitting the ground roughly a meter away. Whatever awareness of his death the soldier obtained, it was slim.

When I open my eyes, he has only just begun to fall, but everything plays out precisely as I had predicted. Naturally, as the Omniscia sees all.

The weapon will be useless in a few moments, thus there is no reason to attempt to take it back for the requested goal. However, it is likely important to examine the corpse.

I am rather curious of the nature of these invaders.

"He is dead, Qingque. We may move forward."

@FujiwaraPhoenix@Rune_Alchemist

---

Ruins

---

A far heavier thud resounded through the ruined building as whatever was outside moved. There was the sound of birds crying, now.

Outside the building made it clear this was not some isolated structure. They were in the midst of a heavily-overgrown city, plant life clinging to fallen structures, dirt and foliage burying the street only slightly visible in a few scant locations. Fleeing birds, and far strange creatures, could be seen. Some were strange and sinuous, with segmented bodies and wings lining their forms, similar in size to many of the birds. Others fled along the ground, mammals somewhere between a fox and cat.

And with these fleeing forms was a person. Their frame was concealed in a cloak and hood, with goggles and a facemask as they sprinted over the overgrown street. In their hands they gripped a bulky, two-handed, boxy gun of some form, and on their hip was sheathed some sort of blade that was difficult to make out from this distance.

And what was following them---

The enormous, metallic shape burst into view. A conical 'head" was mounted on a lengthy neck, segmented into five pointed 'jaws' with two purple eye-liked structures. The body was roughly rectangular, supported on ten long, spider-like limbs.

The machine whirred, claw-like feet shattered the overgrown street as pursued the fleeing figure.

The cloaked figured turned, raised the boxy gun, and fired several shots, the crack of each echoing through the overgrown ruins. In a flash, they exploded against the massive machine's form, but appeared to do little to slow it.

@FujiwaraPhoenix@Raineh Daze@Cmmelody

There wasn't time for Hibiki to respond on what counted as a cataclysm or not (not that the girl had strong opinions) before something far more demanding of their attention came into view. A cloaked figure with a gun running from an oversized machine. Not bigger than some of the things that Hibiki was regularly used to fighting but sizeable nonetheless.

Not that she had any reason to know that the robot was the actual enemy, but that wasn't the sort of thing Hibiki would overthink. People could be talked with; rampaging machines (generally) couldn't.

Which was why the girl took off towards it at a sprint, relic in hand and a nonsensical phrase on her tongue: "Balwisyall nescell Gungnir tron."

The blinding light of the transformation made it hard to see exactly what it was doing, but her clothes were almost immediately replaced with the Symphogear's underlayer, and then the rest of the armour was quick to follow. Surely, to any sort of kamen rider, that much wasn't a surprise.

The fact that she now seemed to be a source of music with no clear origin was probably on the stranger side, or at least the more confusing to witness and interpret. What wasn't confusing was the immediate improvement in Hibiki's physical abilities… or that, no, she was indeed just running straight at it.

The reason why became apparent moments later: why not take a direct approach at the apparent enemy, ignoring the person running from it, when your goal literally was to jump at it and punch the thing? The complicated way the armour transformed into a full gauntlet over her hand and made it literally rocket propelled didn't change that… well, it was about the most straightforward plan of engagement you could get.

Earth — Alien Facility
@FujiwaraPhoenix@Raineh Daze@VitaVitaAR

---

Honestly, watching the Madam Diviner work was always a little awe-inspiring. Sometimes, maybe just every now and then it was enough to even motivate her to do a little something extra if only because it'd be good leverage so she could take a vacation later.

"Gotcha. Unfriendly. Shoot first dont ask questions." Qingque mused, a Celestial Jade tile having quickly and almost impossibly fast been pulled into her hand from her sleeves somewhere. She walked over to the corpse of the fallen soldier. This definitely wasn't really in her wheelhouse or her favorite kind of things to do, but they needed information right now. "So what are we looking for anyways? Wynn just mentioned some components? Don't suppose we hit the jackpot and this guy was carrying whatever it is..."

Qingque started walking, doing her best to keep quiet and her eyes and ears open for anything or anyone trying to jump them.

Sento let out a small disgruntled sigh as he finished trudging up towards the exit, and having been met with a city that had long since been left to nature, frowned ever so slightly.

"I take back what I said before," he said with a shake of his head. "A somber place like this feels a bit more pressing than the chaos of an apocalypse."

Not that he would ever receive a response in turn. The steady shockwaves echoing through the ruins would reveal their source soon enough—a massive metal machine that looked more like a monster than a weapon of human make. With an appearance as ominous as that, the physicist's hands moved before his brain could catch up.

As the schoolgirl beside him leapt into the fray, Sento pulled out a machine from within his coat and brought it to his waist, at which point a belt extended out from it and wrapped around to anchor itself in place. Once it was secured, the scientist pulled a pair of small bottles out from their holster—one red, one blue—and began to shake them both up and down. After a few seconds of doing so, he slotted them into the Driver at his waist in turn.

"Rabbit! Tank! Best Match!"

The voice that rang out from the Driver caused Sento to smirk ever so slightly as he began to cycle the lever nearest his right hand. A series of clear tubes and metal framework would soon form around him, paired with an enthusiastic "Are you ready?" from the device as the former filled with red and blue fluid that promptly took the form of two halves of armor.

"Henshin!"

With that declaration, the armor snapped onto Sento's body. Once the two halves were secured, bursts of steam would flare out from the vents of the armor, along with one last line from the driver anointing it's completion.

"Hagane no Moonsault! RabbitTank! Yeah!"

While Hibiki had taken the initiative to directly engage with the hulking metal creature, Sento did not fail to acknowledge that she, too, seemed to be wearing her own set of armor as he rushed into the fray after her. It was, in his eyes, far less suited for battle than his suit was...

But maybe that was just how the designers of her equipment intended? Questions to address for later.

The same could not be said about the fact that she seemed to be singing as she threw her first punch at the metal monstrosity, complete with a backing instrumental track.

"Is that gear powered by singing or something?" he muttered to himself as he bent his left leg down and caused the spring on it to coil up. In the blink of an eye, Sento crossed the space between himself and the monster that the brunette had engaged. After righting himself on the ground in front of it, Sento turned back to confirm the safety of the person who had been fleeing the machine before returning to focus on the behemoth proper.

"I can't say the song's half bad, though...!" he said before launching towards one of the machine's leg joints with a kick from his right leg primed to land.

@Raineh Daze

---

With the sole visible soldier dispatched, both Fu Xuan and Qingque would find themselves at liberty to examine the corpse of the deceased in the scant span of time before the enemy forces realized what was happening. The angular body armor on the soldier's body had done nothing to protect from the attack that had decapitated it, leaving it clean enough to examine. When the question as to what was being sought after resurfaced, though, Miku was quick to respond from the other end.

"I don't think that anything on that dead body would be that useful. Miss Wynn said that we needed more technologically advanced equipment, and the weapon that blew itself up just now was the closest thing that they had on them," she said. "There's ammunition, it looks like, but this terminal isn't marking that as 'sufficient' for whatever's needed."

If one was to peer through the bottom of the helmet to view their decapitated, though, they would notice that while the form of the soldier appeared human at a glance, their face was most certainly not; if anything, it would appear as if their faces had been molded and stretched due to the modifications that had been mentioned prior. Their eyes, noticeably larger than a human's, were paired with a nose that seemed to be merged into their forehead. Any further examination would require removal of the helmet itself, though—a task that seemed less likely to provide useful information given the nature of their mission.

A glance beyond the nearby trees, however, would reveal an unconcealed facility in a clearing nearby. The lights positioned around the perimeter shone with a glaring starkness, beyond which other alien soldiers seemed to be standing guard. While some looked much the same as the lone patrolling combatant that Fu Xuan had taken down, others seemed far less human in appearance. Brutishly large humanoids and bipedal machinery patrolled the complex, waiting for enemies that might or might not ever arrive.

"That building over there seems to be where most of what we need is kept," Miku said. "There are a lot of hostile enemies guarding the area, so please stay safe."

@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist

Alien Facility

---

Tch.

One does not have to be capable of seeing the future to know that conflict is inevitable in this situation. Approaching this base, well-guarded as it is, is both our objective and a surefire way to begin a fight.

The creatures patrolling this base, at first glance, carry with them an air of unpleasant familiarity. Given the warped features of the soldier that I have slain, the comparison to the Abominations of Abundance is perfectly clear when combined with their warlike and invading nature. Alas, that does not provide any further assistance in composing a strategy for our assault on the base.

It is far from the first time that I have led a siege, but it is admittedly more difficult to grasp the correct future in a situation where it is only Qingque and myself. Not that I fear potential defeat against these enemies, but selecting a future in which we meet success in or objective becomes more challenging, especially given the fact my sight is limited without the greater matrix at my disposal.

My head throbs once more as the Omniscia reaches towards the future. The ideal method is to attack where their defenses are weakest.

"Qingque, we will have to synchronize an attack in order to take them by surprise," I declare, "The patrol squad on the western side of the facility will change their patrol route in roughly five minutes, leaving a gap in their defenses we must capitalize on immediately. We shall be a strike of lightning that will split the stone."

We may not have the force of the Cloud Knights, but we will still succeed.

@FujiwaraPhoenix@Rune_Alchemist

---

Ruins

---

The machine lurched from the twin impacts, nearly completely knocked off of its many feet and set hurtling sideways, slamming into the nearest ruin and causing concrete to split and tumble to the overgrown earth. It rocked for a moment, then managed to catch itself. Despite clearly having taken the blows, however, the strange robotic monstrosity seemed to have suffered no real damage, a shimmering light flashing around it briefly before fading away just as swiftly as it appeared.

Its response to the new threats, however, was immediate.

An emotionless, feminine voice emanated from somewhere deep within the machine.

"Scanning. Unknown Viral Agents detected. Sterilization in progress."

The multi-part head swung open, revealing a thin black spike. With a flash of blue light, it crackled with surging energy, feeding towards the tip and growing brighter and brighter...

The sound of the red-orange beam of light as it ripped through the air was disconcertingly like a scream.

@Raineh Daze@FujiwaraPhoenix