Hayato and Sakura, who returned to the cabin in the place where they got off from the taxi from the viewing platform were at a loss.
Even though there was a taxi rank, there wasn’t a single taxi waiting there.
– If that was the case, then that taxi should have been waiting for us.
That taxi is the one they were using until now.
Sakura mutters like it’s not a big deal for her the amount of money for being waiting for them.
When she looked at the watch, her manager Souffle said she must come back before 18’ o clock——she has one hour left.
Even after waiting for 5 minutes, the taxis didn’t come, not even a single car passed by.
The sky is already dark. She’s troubling about what to do.
– Should I look for a taxi company on the cybernet or call Souffle and get a car arranged?
When Sakura takes out the PDA, a bus comes and stops nearby.
As they approached the bus stop and looked at the route map, they found that it stops near the live venue.
It requires 30 minutes to get there.
Even if they call a taxi, it will take quite a while to get to such a remote place.
And if she asks Souffle, that won’t change the fact that Hayato will have to ask the President no matter what.
On the other hand, the bus leaves in about 5 minutes.
Therefore, Hayato and Sakura decided to board it. They thought that this method was more reliable.
They shit on a two-seat chair side by side.
The passengers who were only two at the beginning also increased slightly at the time of departure.
But none of them noticed that Kirishima Sakura is there, because she’s disguising herself by wearing sunglasses and a thick hat.
Whether it’s to avoid chaos the moment her identity is exposed, he wasn’t receiving a conversation from Sakura.
– Hmm…?
It was around the time when the bus started moving.
There was a weight on Hayato’s shoulder.
Sakura is leaning on it.
The sweet aroma unique of the girls came floating, the fragrance of her hair tickles his nose.
– Hey, don’t get so close.
Even when saying so, there’s no reaction.
Hayato noticed that Sakura was breathing particularly when a person is sleeping.
– Nn…
While sleeping, Sakura approaches her head even more.
(This is embarrassing, what do I do…?)
There’s a rehearsal, that means she has to sing after this.
She’s going to use her Hundred too.
Her body got tired from going and returning through the slope that took more than enough, so now, there’s no mistaking it that it’s better to take a rest.
But, to be honest, this situation is pretty exciting.
It’s mentally too bad as they seem like a pair of lovers.
But, concluding that it would be better to leave it as it is, Hayato closed his eyes.
Trying as much as possible to not care about Sakura, aiming to… shake off wicked thoughts.
Before he became aware of it, the bus was approaching precisely in the middle of the live concert and the big canyon.
– Uwaa!?
Suddenly, a violent explosion sounded, the bus shook heavily up and down.
Hayato’s butt floats around 10 centimeters, screams are escaping from the surroundings.
Sakura, who was sleeping next to Hayato, as a matter of course she also awoke, screaming 「Kyaa!?」and asked a question.
– What on earth happened?
– I don’t know, but——
He felt something unpleasant.
In the middle of that, the bus stopped, and the shaking ceased——immediately after, an explosion sounds again.
The air shakes violently, the bus shakes with *rattle* *rattle*.
(As I thought, it’s a Savage, huh?)
Hayato is hanging out from the window of the bus and tries to check the situation of the surroundings.
Dark wilderness it’s visible to his eyes.
He saw a dim light there.
Fluorescent colors that move together.
There’s no doubt, it’s a Savage.
Looking from the bus, it’s diagonally ahead to the right.
Its size was around the same as the normal type that fought before.
With the light which started to gather at the head that was just opened, its full-length portrait is exposed.
Of course Hayato knew that it was the signal of a bombardment.
– Everyone, get down!
Hayato puts his body back in the bus and shouts to the passengers.
At the same time, a violent explosion occurred, and the bus rolled over.
Echoing in the interior of the bus are numerous screams resounding, and the sounds of glasses breaking.
– … are you okay?
*Cough*, *Cough*, although he coughed violently due to the cloud of dust that arose, Hayato asked Sakura.
– Yeah, I’m okay but, the bus is…
Looking ahead of her line of sight, there’s a big hole in a part of the bus when it rolled over.
That part was probably melted by the heat of the beam of the Savage.
They were very lucky that they were touched lightly this much, because if that was a direct hit, then the people in the bus, including themselves, might not have been saved.
They were lucky to barely escape from death.
– Hayato, what are we going to do?
– … first of all, we will be contacted.
When a Savage appears in the vicinity, all members of Selections in a battle-ready state are obliged to enter a standby state even if they are in the middle of their vacation.
In that case, an emergency alarm should sound from their PDAs.
But still, his PDA isn’t sounding.
That means that Little Garden doesn’t seem to grasp information on the appearance of the Savage.
And that also means that this Savage didn’t come from space.
Because Hayato was taught that air traffic control is unlikely to miss.
(In other words, this is a surviving Savage…)
Hayato took out the PDA from his pocket and decided to contact the Student Council room.
However, the phone is in a transfer call state.
Now, the members of the Student Council aren’t in that room.
Maybe they are in the usual holiday house.
『Kisaragi Hayato, why are you calling desuno?』
Finally, he was connected to the president.
The transfer destination seems to be her PDA.
– A Savage suddenly appeared in the wilderness, the bus that we were riding rolled over——
『What did you say? Report it calmly, Kisaragi Hayato. Where is the place, and who is with you desu!?』
– South area… of East Island.
Calming down this time properly as Claire told him, Hayato replied.
– I was attacked by a Savage on the way back from the Zwei great canyon to the livevenue by bus. The fellow travelers are the escort target person Kirishima Sakura, the bus driver——and around ten bus passengers.
『The information that you found the escort target person has been included from Souffle Clearrail, so that means that… Chris, check the exact coordinates of Kisaragi Hayato right now』
Following Chris’s reply from the PDA, and then a few footsteps——the voice of Erika is heard from the other side of the PDA.
『Claire-sama, it seems that the Savage have appeared in the southeast part of the Zwei Islands. Right now, emergency calls are——』
『Erika, please wait. We have already recognized the matter of the Savage masu. Kisaragi Hayato is already in contact with the Savage and the escort target person now desu』
『Wha…』
『What did you say!?』
The surprised voices of Liddy and Erika reached the ears of Hayato.
The footsteps earlier were those two people. Following them, Chris informs.
『The location of Hayato-sama is now identified. As Hayato-sama said moments ago, they are in the southern part of the east island of the Zwei Islands——that is, 15 kilometers southeast away from the venue where the live will be held the day after tomorrow』
『Kisaragi Hayato, first be sure to evacuate the escort target person Kirishima Sakura, and the civilians to a safe place. Meanwhile, we will contact the Slayers nearby and send a relief request masuwa. Until they come, please gain time try to reduce the damage as much as possible. Of course, armament deployment is permitted masu』
– … Roger. Will you be calling the Slayers from the venue?
『I can’t do that masenwa. Depending on the situation, there is the possibility that the Variable Stone will be pillaged again arimasu』
It was robbed at the time of the previous Savage raid, so they guessed that there is a possibility that it will happen again this time.
『Kisaragi Hayato. I will be praying for the safety of you, the escort target person——and everyone else masuwa. No, if its you, you will surely cut your way through desu. No, you are going to cut your way through, OK desuwane? Then, I will hang up for a moment masuwayo』
– Roger.
When Hayato did a solid reply, Claire disconnected the call.
If it comes to this, then he has no choice but to decide himself.
(First of all, evacuate everyone, right…?)
Hayato ruminates the instructions from Claire in his head, and tells the driver and the ten passengers in the bus.
– Everyone, please go and hide on the other side of that cliff!
There was a cliff about 2 meters high at the point indicated by his line of sight.
If they go down there and hide as if sticking to the cliff, they must be safe even if the Savage bombarded.
Even so, no one tried to move.
——Is it really okay with that?
——Isn’t it safe to hide in the shade of the bus?
He can hear such voices appearing out of nowhere.
If they don’t move properly, they probably think that they will be targeted by the Savage.
Because of that reaction, Hayato was taken aback.
Now, he noticed that he wasn’t wearing the uniform of Little Garden.
It seems that it can’t be helped since they are thinking that this is nothing else but a prank of a child.
The panicking Hayato also has a student proof, and when he tries to take out the PDA, the voice of Sakura sounded.
– Hayato, that!
The head of the Savage, indicated by her fingertips, just opened and light began to gather on it.
Judging from that direction, there’s a high possibility that bombardment will hit this place.
(Kuh… what do I do?)
From the amassing view, it seems that the bombardment isn’t going to be in a straight line, but it will be released like a laser for a few seconds over a wide range instead.
If so, even if he deployed his armament quickly and put up an E barrier, he may not be able to protect everyone here.
– … however, there’s no time to escape.
(At any rate, I’ll have to take the chance and do it…)
To begin with, if he doesn’t deploy the Hundred, then it’s no use.
It was then that Hayato laid his hands on the red-brown ore on his chest.
– Leave this to me.
Sakura took a step towards the Savage, saying that full of confidence.
– Leave this to me you say? Sakura——you don’t have the ability to fight, right?
– No, I don’t. But my ability is the space control type——if it’s something like the bombardment of a Savage, then I can drown out it with a barrier, a created defense barrier.
She grasped tightly the Hundred that took out from her chest and shouted with her right hand pushed up her head.
– 《Deploying Barrier》HUNDRED ON!
Immediately afterwards, four emerald green wings appear on her back.
Subsequently, a gigantic magic square, covering the entire bus, was deployed on the ground and shone in emerald green.
– This is…
– An N barrier——a wide area defense barrier by neutral barrier. With this one, you should be able to protect the bus.
– How can you do such a thing….?
– Charlotte taught me a long time ago. In case something happened. However, when I use it, fears appear…
Saying that, the Savage fired the bombardment as Sakura put out her tongue, feeling embarrassed.
If it comes to this, he has no choice but to trust her.
And, as Hayato imagined, the bombardment of the Savage is similar to a drawing folding fan with the head as its origin.
The front of his eyes turns white, the earth shakes like an earthquake and a cloud of dust rolls up furiously.
However, Hayato and the others weren’t struck with the beam on their bodies, nor did they suffer damage in their eyes with the cloud of dust.
Sakura’s wide-area defense barrier played a brilliant role as a barrier.
Shouts of joy are raised from the passengers.
Sakura, who undo the barrier and was taking a breath with a *Fuu*, throw away the hat, and removed the sunglasses, then turned around to the passengers.
– … Kirishima, Sakura?
One of the male passengers raised his voice.
– She’s really Kirishima Sakura.
The woman who stood next to him also raised her voice.
– Everyone, don’t listen to my words, listen to his words properly.
Saying so to the noisy passengers, Sakura pointed out Hayato with her index finger of her right hand.
– He’s one of the Slayers who saved us——and Zwei Islands in the event of the previous Savage raid. There’s no mistake in what he says. So, as he indicated before, please run away below that cliff!
Hayato muttered unintentionally, looking at the passengers running towards below the cliff in response to the words of Sakura.
– As one would expect, of someone who’s a popular idol…
The effectiveness of those words is outstanding.
– You saved me, thank you.
– This much is nothing. More than that, Hayato, deploy your Hundred quickly. Even though I can defend, I don’t have the ability to attack, you know.
– Yes, you are right.
Depending on the situation, there’s a possibility that the bombardment of the Savage will reach the town that is faintly seen in the distance or the live venue.
And, to be honest, they weren’t in a situation where they could wait for reinforcements, and the president also said that they should avoid making damage as much as possible… but, there was one concern.
– What is it Hayato, deploy it quickly.
Sakura hurries Hayato, who’s holding the Hundred taken from his chest in his right hand.
– Actually, I have never deployed the Hundred without my Variable Suit. Even Sakura seems to be able to do normally, seeing the wide area defense barrier that you spread some time ago.
– Wait a moment, I’ve been using the Hundred for years, but everyone has experiences like this only once or twice, you know.
– It has only been a little over a month since I got the Hundred.
– No way, so the fight like before…?
It was Sakura who had an unbelievable expression on her face, but she quickly consented, then laughing with a *Fu”,
– As expected of a Variant.
– Well, that may be the case…
– If it’s Hayato, then you’ll surely should be able to manage it somehow. Whether you are wearing the jacket or not, but when deploying it, it’s not related at all.
– I see, then I’ll give it a try.
Hayato grasped tightly the Hundred in his right hand.
– Hundred On.
A red light begins to overflow from the skin of the fingers, and eventually creates a one large black sword——Hien, in his right hand.
However, there’s no armor attaching to his arm as usual, And also, in case of Hayato’s Chevalier type, it’s a basic attack type.
Without wearing a Variable Suit, the power of the E barrier should also be weaker than usual.
(If it becomes, then I can’t just be running from place to place, I have no choice but to hit it)
It would be best if he could defeat it before reinforcements came.
While Hayato injects energy into Hien while staring at the core which shines in the fluorescent shelter, the engraved pattern emits a glow with a red light on the blade.
(Then, I just have to destroy it with this…)
Hayato glared at the core of the Savage, but before that, there was something he had to tell Sakura.
– Sakura, run away. You can hide behind that cliff.
– I don’t think so.
Replying instantly, Sakura continues.
– I’m going to stay by the side of Hayato. I’m also a person who can use the same Hundred. Besides, you know that I can defend myself properly, Hayato.
– But, if Sakura got hurt and coldn’t do the live, then what are you going to do? The fans, even everyone on this island will be sad, you know.
– Well…
– If you understand that, then escape.
But, Hayato. It’s impossible now. The Savage is about to fire a bombardment.
As Sakura said, the Savage that was only moving its antennas to the left and right until moments ago, was beginning to gather light again on its head.
Moreover, not only Hayato and the others are included in the range, as it seems that they are being targeted.
(… what do I do?)
Frankly, he was in a pinch, but it was also a chance.
The Savage can’t move right after a bombardment, in the same way as Fritz’s bombardment in the sham battle last week.
So, there’s a possibility that he can destroy the core of the Savage with one hit if he stabs it in that gap.
– Hayato, I’ll stop that one again, so…
– Understood. I’ll entrust the defense to you. I’ll try attacking the core, aiming at the gap that is made after the bombardment.
– Ah, that’s right. If you want to make a chance, then I have a plan. I can create a number of illusions around me in the wide area barrier that I made.
Saying that, Sakura made a stuffed bear near the side of her right cheek.
– How about making lots of this and use them as a decoy? By the way, I can make something with the shape of Hayato.
With a pop, she creates an illusion that looks like Hayato.
– Uwa, it’s kind of disgusting… please make it disappear.
Saying so, Sakura immediately vanished it.
– I don’t know if there’ll be any effect, but we surely have to give it a try.
– If so, let’s take our chances.
– Yeah, it looks like it’s almost time.
– Yup, the strategy begins!
Nodding, Sakura pushed out her right hand that grasped the Hundred towards the direction of the Savage.
– 《Deploying Barrier》HUNDRED ON!
The Hundred shines and feathers appear again on her back.
However, what she deployed before her eyes is different from the previous defense barrier. It may be because the bombardment of the Savage is pinpointing them.
The bombardment of the Savage collides with the 《magic square》barrier in front of them, scattering to all sides, then disappears.
Together with the hat of Sakura that flies high due to the welled-up wind, Hayato started running
He’s not wearing his jacket now, so he can’t accelerate nor do a high jump.
But——
– Now here I go! 《Deploying Wide Area Barrier》HUNDRED ON!
He felt the surrounding air changed with the voice of Sakura reaching his ears.
He guesses that she deployed a wide area barrier
– And then——create decoys!
Following those words, *POP*, *POP*, a lot of stuffed frogs and stuffed bears appear around the Savage.
(Thanks to Sakura, I was saved…)
He saw that the Savage, whose rigid state after the bombardment has finished, began to move and started attacking towards the decoys with its antennas and arms. If hadn’t been for them, there’s no doubt he would be targeted.
(The rest is up to me!)
Hayato reached near the Savage and struck Hien loaded with energy against the ground.
The body of Hayato rises high in the sky.
Using the reaction of the energy to jump high——that was the strategy of Hayato, it was magnificent, and a success.
If this keeps like this, he can aim for the core of the Savage.
– This will decide it!
Hayato struck Hien that was charged with energy towards the core.
– … kuh!!
The reaction that fell into his hands is huge.
But without losing it, Hayato puts more strength on his arms.
(A bit more, a bit more…!)
Hien destroyed the shelter and the tip of the blade touched the core. Hayato injects energy as much as possible and tries to shake off his arm.
– Haaaaaaaaaaa————!
The core broke into pieces with the screaming, fluorescent color liquid flied off in all directions.
– Hooray!
Sakura gave a cheerful voice, looking at the appearance of the Savage that collapsed towards the ground with a muffled voice.
Then, rushed to Hayato who breathes heavily at the side of the Savage that became a corpse, and clung tightly.
– As expected of Hayato, my future danna-sama*!
– Wait what!? Also, if they see us like this, they’ll get a weird misunderstanding! I’m telling you, get away!
– I don’t care if they misunderstand! Hayato was really cool. I watched you so many times on the cybernet. I really fell in love with you again!
Immediately after Sakura said that.
*BOOM*! They felt that the sound of a bombardment sounded, and that exploded on the nearby ground, raising a cloud of dust.
– ————!?
A Savage was in the place where they looked back.
Its size isn’t large like the one of a Trenta, but its body is larger than the one of before.
– Now I get it, these are the Savage who have gone missing, and this is the other one…
Hayato’s cheeks became stiff.
The Savage has already begun gathering light on its head.
– I’ll stop it!
In a hurry, Sakura tried to spread a defense membrane——a wide area barrier, but the head of the Savage wasn’t aiming at Hayato and Sakura for some reason.
It seems to be looking somewhere far.
– Don’t tell me——
There’s only one thing that can be seen beyond its line of sight.
The live venue of Sakura.
– No way…
The eyes of Sakura became cloudy in hopelessness.
But, in this situation, she can’t do anymore.
The bombardment of the Savage was almost in a horizontal direction.
A few seconds later, following the explosion that reaches the ears, sparks dye the night sky red, and black smoke starts to soar.
– That can’t be…
Sakura collapses from the knees, her voice and body tremble.
Still, she cannot afford to be watching the situation motionlessly like this, she can’t be dumbfounded.
Speaking of Savage’s current state, it’s only moving its antennas, but there’s a possibility that it will open its head and bombard again.
If that happens, the damage will only spread further.
(What do I do…?)
At that time, the PDA sounded again.
It’s an emergency call from the president.
『Kisaragi Hayato, do you hear me masuka? What on earth is the situation there desu? There’s an incoming information of a bombardment at the live venue masuwayo!』
The shout of the president is heard from the PDA.
– Actually, I defeated one, but then another Savage was appearing, so the bombardment is——
『What did you say!?』
– Is the live venue okay!?
『Although it seems that there was damage in some dressing rooms and the like according to the information just now, the good news is that the stage is safe and it looks like there are people with only minor injuries desuwa』
– I’m glad…
Sakura mutters as if she was relieved.
『Now, the report desu. Now we are sending 5 Slayers from Little Garden as reinforcements. And——』
– President, please wait a moment. The Savage will bombard again!
『What did you say!?』
– But, please be relieved, as it’s aiming at us. Sakura, can you manage it?
– Yes, I’ll spread a wide area barrier again!
Sakura turns the hand that grasped the Hundred towards the Savage.
He was wondering if the exchange was being heard by Claire.
『Kisaragi Hayato, don’t tell me that you are letting Kirishima Sakura fight desuka!?』
Such a loud voice came back.
– Umm, I’ll talk about that later!
The Savage is going to fire the bombardment at any time.
This is not the moment to give an explanation.
– 《Deploying ba——》HUNDRED——
There, Sakura stopped shouting.
*BOOM*, a bombardment sounded, and an explosion occurred on the head of the Savage.
– Eh…?
– What…?
Sakura and Hayato turn their eyes to the point where the bombardment was sent from. The distance is around 100 meters, but the familiar figure of a man was there.
– Fritz!
Without thinking, Hayato shouts the name of the man.
Even though he is in his civilian clothes, he can see that he deployed his armament and the Long Shooter type rifle in his arms.
– What’s up, Hayato. I’m glad that you are okay.
Fritz smiled and winked.
Behind him, there was a sports car.
The one he saw with Emilia in the fashion building.
It seems he has come as a reinforcement.
So that means——
– Of course I’m here too!
The next thing he heard is the voice of Latia.
There, Hayato notices that she’s at the feet of the Savage.
Even though she was in civilian clothes and with simple armament like Fritz, Latia had deployed her Martial Arts type Hundred on her hands and feet.
The Savage recovered from the damage without a moment’s delay and set her as its objective, swinging downward its big arm.
– Uh-oh!
And Latia, who dodged it by leaping horizontally, kicked the ground with a *tap* at the same time as she landed; her hair sways like a flickering fire and runs up onto the arm of the Savage while raising a loud voice, running up to the head in one go.
– If I can destroy the core with this, then I’m also a full-fledged Slayer!!
She lowered her eyebrows in frustration and moved away from the moving Savage as she landed on the ground.
Latia glares at the arm of the Savage approaching there with an upward glance,
– Such a thing, eat what I have here!
And, she hits the ground.
Then the ground shook like a wave and the Savage seemed to have lost the balance of its body since it’s not attacking with its arms.
What was resonating there is the voice of the childhood friend who can trust in Hayato, and the one who came running in assistance.
– Latia, thank you for making a gap!
The owner of that voice stands on the hill——looking at the figure of Emile, Hayato was truly relieved.
Unlike the date, she tied her hair and is wearing her uniform, and around her body, of course, the Innocence type of ever-changing appearance of Hundred, Arms Shroud, is deployed.
Emile changed one of the deploying Hundred into a short, yet sharp-edged sword like a Falcion, and jumped towards the Savage.
– Teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!
Shouting, the remnant line drawn by the swung downward sword drops one of the arms of the Savage onto the ground.
– One more!
Emile, who landed on the ground, threw the sword and extinguished it.
And then, she made a huge scissor-like thing with Arms Shroud, similar to the one she was using in the previous battle, and rushed over to the Savage.
– Latia, what’s left is the thing we discussed a while ago!
– Got it!
Shouting, Latia head towards below the objective, then stood up and launched a kick towards the body of the Savage who was ready to attack.
The Savage, as a matter of course, was unperturbed, and although can fight back with the remaining arm, Latia evades that, and as a proof that she’s doing according to plan, she, with her mouth,
– Now, Emile!
– Okay!
Putting the arm of the remaining Savage between the two widely opened blades, *Shing*, the arm falls.
While a fluorescent liquid disperses, the enemy raises something like a screaming and begins to act violently as if it was raging.
But there are no arms to raise overhead anymore.
Like having been waiting for this moment, Fritz aimed at the shelter and released a mass of energy from the rifle of his right arm.
– Eat this!
It hits the shelter splendidly, and creates a big dent on it,
– Yes!
And, Fritz revealed a satisfying smile. Then,
– The next is to destroy it for sure!
Followed by Latia who began to go after the Savage.
She flew high using sense energy, concentrating the sense energy on her right foot, trying to fall down with all the weight of her body while aiming at the core.
– How about this, huh!?
As a result, her leg went through the shelter, making a fierce destructive sound, but it didn’t lead to the destruction of the core.
– Tch, I couldn’t destroy it, even with a direct attack!
Latia spat out in frustration, then distorted her facial expression in an unpleasant way and separated herself from the Savage.
However, that doesn’t mean that the series of attacks have ended.
– Then I’ll deliver the final blow!
The shouting Emiile had no longer a scissors in her hands. She was grasping a white bow instead.
Of course, it was created by Arms Shroud.
For the bow being held in the left hand, she tensions the blue bowstring with energyand creates a blue arrow in the right hand, deciding to aim at the Savage.
However, an unusual phenomenon occurred there, and the first one who noticed that was Latia, who was near her.
– Wait a moment, Emile!
With the voice that shouted instinctively, Hayato also notices something unusual.
The core of the Savage began to emit a red light in the dark, repeating the illumination in a short and repeated way.
– … is it going to bombard?
At first they thought so, but it didn’t show any behavior of opening the head.
(What the heck does that mean?)
Of course Emilia also noticed the unusual phenomenon, but she didn’t know what’s happening.
But there’s no doubt that something is going to happen.
(I hope I can set aim quickly to not let it shoot…)
She was feeling impatient, and that disturbs her concentration.
Her arms tremble, the center of the sighting device is hardly set at core.
Even so——the aim was finally fixed.
– Teeeeeeh!
Emile fires the blue arrow.
The trajectory seized the core with the gap of the shelter being destroyed.
All developed exactly as planned.
However, there was a situation that they hadn’t predicted there.
– Wha…
Emilia, who just lowered the bow, is amazed.
– That’s a lie, right…?
Hayato and the others are the same.
While the arrows are about to approach, the severed arms were regenerated in an instant, so their reaction was comprehensible.
– Impossible, right…?
Hayato muttered, since he saw something unbelievable.
At any rate, when thinking that a lot of insect-like things are squirming on the severed part and extend a thread-like thing in an instant, and just like the silkworms make cocoons, the Savage created an arm with the form of pincers.
The arrows of light are repelled by the arms and vanishes.
– Perhaps that’s a regenerator?
With a trembling voice, Latia mutters.
– That seems to be the case, since it has the regeneration ability.
Hayato has already been given knowledge of the Savage in lessons of classroom lecture. The self-repair function type Savage——aka regenerator.
As its name suggests, it’s the type that regenerates the parts that have been cut, like the tail of a lizard.
– But surely, if we destroy the core, then it won’t demonstrate that ability, right…?
– That’s right, because the core is accelerating the regeneration ability. Other than that, it has no difference from a normal type.
Following Latia who replied, Emilia continued.
– Then I’ll try to drop its arms once again as I did a while ago. Even though the shelter is slowly regenerating, Hayato should be able to destroy it.
– In short, Hayato’s going to finish it off?
– I want to emphasize certainty here. Latia, can you disturb the Savage as you did before? Aiming at that gap, I’ll cut off its both arms again.
– Got it.
Latia nods.
– Hayato can you? Do it too?
– Umm…
Hayato points his eyes to Sakura.
Going to attack means that he has to leave her by herself.
– Hayato, I’ll take care of Kirishima-san. Because I’m not suitable for close combat, I won’t move from here. And although the armor is thin because of these clothes, E barrier can be stretched, and if something happens, I’ll protect her even if it costs my life. So, you do what you ought to do.
– Exactly. Because I’ll be handing over the best thing.
What he must do is to defeat the Savage.
And the best thing is, to give the finishing blow.
– Got it.
Hayato, who received the thoughts of those two, had no choice but to nod.
– Are you okay with that, Sakura?
– Mu….. Hayato, did something happen with Kirishima-san?
– Why are you saying that?
– I feel that your mood is strange.
– This is not the moment to be saying that, you know. I understood the strategy, so let’s start right away, okay? We don’t know what that Savage will do.
– Muuu, you are right but…
– Okay guys, cheer up coz’ here I go!
While laughing at the interaction of Hayato and Emile, Fritz directed the rifle of his right arm to the Savage.
– You ready?
– Of course.
– Yeah.
– … okay.
Hayato and Latia, and even though she looked disappointed, Emilia nodded in succession.
– So, let’s go!
Fritz fired a shot, then another one, aiming at the shelter with his rifle.
Along with that, Latia started to move.
Following her, Emile also starts to move.
Speaking of the collaboration, it’s fruitful and perfect than before, as Emile was quickly cutting through the arms of the Savage with scissors again created by Arms Shroud.
– Hayato, we’ll leave the rest to you!
– Sure!
Hayato responded vigorously to Emile, runs in the same way as he did with the first one, and jumps with Hien loaded with sense energy
All he has to do is to destroy the core.
Hayato injects sense energy into the raised overhead Hien.
The red shining blade and its decorations——up to now everything goes as planned, but the fact that there are no illusions of Sakura also had its influence.
The Savage aimed at Hayato, and opened its head.
The heart of Hayato, which recognized that it was a bombardment, beat fast in a big way.
(This is——)
The usual thing that occurs when he has been on the verge of a critical situation.
He could do it even in the sham battle with Fritz, so if the ability of the Variant awakens, he’ll probably not lose his consciousness now.
If that’s the case, and when the N barrier automatically deploys, it doesn’t mean that the bombardment——won’t do nothing.
Because he’s not wearing his Variable Jacket now.
And it looks like it’s impossible to go full armament like he did until now, so Hayato couldn’t make a decision as to whether he could deploy a N barrier under such conditions.
If he remembers correctly, the President was saying that such thing wasn’t programmed in the Hundred.
So even if full armament is impossible, the N barrier may be deployed…. Although, of course, there’s no confirmation of it.
Having said that, this is not a situation to dodge the attacks of the Savage.
Now, the only thing that he can do——the moment Hayato resolved himself to swung downwards Hien, he kept his self in order to not lose the consciousness due to the ability of the Variant.
– Stop!
At the same time as the sorrowful cry of Sakura jumped into his ears, an incredible thing happened.
The Savage undo its bombarding stance, and started to turn its head towards the direction of Sakura.
(It reacted to the voice of Sakura…?)
At that moment, he suddenly remembered what he was talking to Sakura at the canyon.
The fact that the children who got inoculated with the body fluids of the Savage responded to the songs of the Variant Sakura. In addition, Sakura said the songs convey people’s feelings.
That is to say, her cry, saying 「Stop!」was supposed to have the intention of 「Don’t bombard!」regarding the Savage.
Perhaps, the thought might have be understood by the Savage, or maybe it just reacted to the voice of Sakura.
Of course Hayato doesn’t know the true meaning of it.
For a moment, he thought that the eyes of Sakura were shining in golden color.
But this is not the place to think about minor details.
He can’t miss this opportunity.
– Uooooooooooooooo————!
Deciding to destroy the core of the Savage in this gap, Hayato brandishes Hien in a big way.
In an instant——
A boy appears from behind the Savage.
Black hair and dark brown skin.
That boy is wearing a jet-black Variable Suit that melts in the darkness and has something like a spear in his hands.
(Who’s this guy…?)
What the boy has is, of course, not just a spear.
There are blades on both ends of it, he’s holding a thing like a handle in the middle, and what he’s holding from the middle is——what is called, a twin sword weapon.
– I thought that a Savage appeared, but I was able to see interesting things——
The mysterious boy moves his mouth and jumps high, kicking the head of the Savage.
That meant he used sense energy——
– I’m sorry Nii-chan, but I’m gonna make it our prey!
– Wha——
In one go, the boy who approached the front of the eyes of Hayato hit with the twin blade the abdomen of Hayato who swung Hien.
– Kuhaa…!
The body of Hayato collapsed in the air.
– Guh!
With another blow from overhead, Hayato’s body was beaten down on the ground.
– Hayato!
A cloud of dust soars violently.
Sakura rushes to the side of Hayato who collapsed on the ground in a prone position and stopped moving.
– Hayato, are you okay, Hayato!?
Sakura keeps calling him in tears, believing in the safety of Hayato who’s exactly as he fell.
Her feelings were transmitted——with a twitch, the hand of Hayato moved.
– Hayato!
– I’m fine… and more importantly…
Hayato stood up, raising his body and taking Hien that rolled near, then looks towards the Savage.
– Eh…
There was a girl with similar skin and hair color of the boy just now.
She doesn’t have a weapon in her hands, but she’s wearing a Variable Suit whose fluorescent color emerges in jet-black like the boy.
And the right eye of the girl who looked back was covered with a black eyepatch…
As she looked towards Hayato, it opened automatically all the way.
– … 《Deploying Copy》Hundred On.
The eye that came in sight from the other side of the eyepatch releases a shining golden color——
Subsequently, when the girl looked up at the night sky, a pillar of light extended, and a big black sword appeared, resembling Hien of Hayato.
The girl stares at the Savage, taking it in one of her hands and raising it overhead with her arm.
Without a moment’s the Savage strikes with the pincers, but the girl who dodge it quickly leaping horizontally, then bending over and jumping like a spring, flew high in the sky.
And, pierces the core of the Savage with the tip of the sword in her hands, facing downward.
It was superb, she destroyed again the shelter that was in process of regeneration, but it didn’t reach the core.
The tip of the sword stopped at the surface of the core and couldn’t go further.
However, the girl didn’t give up there——on the contrary, she didn’t even distort her facial expression.
The girl just muttered two words, with a consistent lack of expression.
– … 《Ability Unleash》Limit Out.
One of the eyes of the girl shone noticeably intense.
Then, the blade of the sword in her hand also glows in the same golden color, the tip is penetrating into and through the core.
Fluorescent color liquid gushes out of the core, its brightness disappeared.
The Savage fell in the sandy soil while raising a muffled voice.
– You guys, what do you think you are doing…?
Hayato asks the girl standing on the corpse of the Savage.
However, the girl never answered, and after she glanced at Hayato, she moved her eyes to the body of the Savage and swung up the sword grasped tightly in her hands.
*STAB*, The tip of the sword sticks into a position slightly out of the core.
Hayato thought that she removed it, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Because the girl never showed a worried attitude due to the lack of expression, she stabs the edge of the core of the Savage with the pointed end of the sword again.
*STAB*. *STAB*. *STAB*. *STAB*.
Like tracing the circumference of the core, the girl keeps stabbing the pointed end of the sword.
*STAB*. *STAB*. *STAB* *STAB*
– Huh? What is she doing…?
Sakura, who was looking at the creepy scene, muttered while trembling.
– I don’t know…
Hayato answers.
Emilia and the others are also perplexed.
Everyone was looking at the girl who was stabbing the sword against the corpse with surprised eyes.
*STAB*. *STAB*.
Every time she stabs the sword, Savage’s body fluids scatter and dye her body in a fluorescent color.
– Hey, stop it! If you get covered in a lot of body fluids, you’ll get infected with the virus and you’ll go crazy!
– ……
As the voice reached her, the girl stopped moving, and tilts her head, looking with curiosity at Latia.
What are you talking about? Asks her gesture.
But she doesn’t speak.
On the contrary, the girl turned her eyes to her hand, then gazed motionlessly at the sticking fluorescent color liquid——*Licks*, she licks it with her tongue.
– Wha…
Looking at the disgusting scene, Latia becomes speechless, but as the girl doesn’t care about them, the girl starts to stab the sword again in the Savage.
*STAB*. *STAB*.
– Dammit! I’m telling you to stop!
If she doesn’t listen, the she has no choice but to make use of force.
Latia kicked the ground and tried to approach the location of the girl, but something got in the way.
– Hey, you. Don’t disturb Nesat!
Along with that voice, another girl is approaching from the front with two large rings in her hands.
OF course, that’s not her normal speed.
She’s using acceleration by energy.
Moreover, the girl threw one of the rings held in her hands towards Latia, and knocked her body against the ground.
– Kuh, what the hell are you guys…!
Latia stands up and stares at the figure of the dark brown girl who caught the ring that came back like a boomerang.
The color of the hair holding the bands on the left and right is a little brighter compared to the boy who set an attack on Hayato and the girl who killed the Savage, but wears the same jet-black Variable Suit.
– Don’t get in the way of Nesat. That’s the only thing I’ll say to you.
The girl with the rings declares, turning her eyes to the girl who stabs the sword in the Savage.
– Answer my question!
– What are you going to do if I say no?
Making fun of Latia, the girl laughs.
– In that case, I’ll get information out of you by sheer strength!
Latia accelerated by kicking up the ground, then launched a hit to the girl of the rings.
– Ha, bring it on! With that, I’ll let you say nothing, and I’ll tell you nothing! And you’ll be in trouble if you try to disturb Nesat again!
The girl also kicks the ground in the same way, and uses the rings to attack.
Of course the ring has an advantage, as the reach of the girl is longer.
Although she was struggling with that much, Latia continued to wait for an opportunity to come while continuously dodging the attacks with the rings, using her characteristic nimbleness.
– Aa dammit, you dare to have the nerve to move non-stop like that!?
While the girl shouts looking irritated, she greatly brandishes the rings, slashing at her.
A big gap with that much.
Latia, who jumped and dodged the attack, launches a kick to the body of the girl as she is, falling on her backside.
– Damn, I won’t be defeated by the half-baked armament of yours!
As she grasps the grit of the ground while standing up in frustration, the girl picks up the ring that fell near and throws it towards Latia.
– … uh-oh!
In an instant, Latia evaded the ring that was approaching while rotating furiously. However, when using the ring on the other hand, the girl cut at her vigorously.
– Die, you moron!
After rapidly getting closer using acceleration, the ring is approaching with a momentum that cuts the air horizontally.
Latia jumps high and attempts to dodge it while doing a backward somersault,
– … ngah!!
Immediately after kicking the ground, dull pain was running on her back, crumbling down to her knees as she was.
Because the other ring that came back hit her back.
– Ha, stupid bastard. I was aiming for that from the beginning.
Looking at Latia who falls towards the sandy soil, the girl of the rings was showing an accomplished expression to the girl.
Then approached the side of Latia who’s lying face down on the ground, and kicks her body.
– … s-stop!
Fritz shouted looking as a demon and turned the muzzle to the girl of the rings who’s trying to kick the body of Latia again.
– Too slow!
And, the girl throws the ring.
It hits magnificently the body of Fritz, he couldn’t fire the bombardment.
– Dammit, but, one more time…!
However, Fritz wasn’t collapsing. Once again, he tried to load energy into the rifle of the arm and,
– As if I’ll let you do as you like!
– Wha——
The girl, who accelerated and got closer, cut at the body of Fritz with the ring she had in her hand.
– Guah!
As his clothes are cut off from the front, Fritz is falling from the knees.
Emile, who was looking at his state, moves.
– … Hayato, I’ll deal with that girl!
He can’t see the scissors she had in her hands until a while ago.
With two daggers created with Arms Shroud, Emile accelerates to the position of the girl.
The opposing girl of the rings readied the weapons of both hands, looking towards Emile.
– You are the next, huh? Do you think those small daggers can be a match to my 《Pair of ringed weapons》Dio Varga!?
The rings manipulated by the girl and Emile’s daggers collide with each other, letting a high-pitched metallic sound be heard many times.
– The best thing that the lowly losers of Little Garden can do is to stop the blows like this!?
As the girl says so, in the eyes of Hayato, Emile was desperately trying to block the rings.
His body still hurts a little, but there’s no mistake that this is a critical situation.
But now both Latia and Fritz have collapsed.
There’s no one who can protect Sakura.
(What should I do…?)
When thinking about it, he figured out a possibility.
Hayato takes out the 《N Tranquilizer》of his coat pocket and aims at the girl of the rings.
(If I shoot at the girl with this——)
He heard that the bullets loaded in this gun have the ability to neutralize and pierce E barriers and to destroy the balance of energy.
In that case, he may be able to stop her movement.
– I won’t let you shoot Nakri!
– Kuh!
Hayato reacted to the voice on his back, and turns his line of sight towards the body.
What is visible to him is the figure of the boy who’s setting an attack with a twin blade in his hand.
Hayato, who’s becoming disconcerted, pulled the trigger, pointing the muzzle of the 《N Tranquilizer》to the boy.
– Don’t you dare to think that I’ll receive that thing so easily!
The boy stops the bullet with the twin blade and sets off an attack as he is.
– Damn!
Hayato shoots《N Tranquilizer》again, but the result is the same.
For a moment, the twin blade bent its shape, but it didn’t lead to its destruction.
It looks like the maneuverability of is energy is that high.
If that’s the case, he can’t rely on the gun.
There was no choice but to stop the blows of the twin blade with Hien.
*CLINK*, fierce metallic sounds resound.
– Ha——I’m surprised that a guy like you can stop my 《Double Edge of Rebellion》Ohrthrus Liberio.
It was Hayato who stop the blow of the twin blade, but the boy smiles calmly.
– … kh, what’s your objective? Were you the guys who stole the Variable Stone from the live venue before!?
– If so, then what? See if you can catch us, dog of Little Garden!
The young boy shouts, bringing down the twin blade once again.
Hayato parries it again with Hien, but his body shakes due to the heavy attack.
(… kh, damn!)
Two times, three times in succession, the boy brings down the twin blade.
The best that Hayato can do is to parry it.
– Hayato…
Sakura is leaning in close to him, raising an uneasy voice,
– I’m sorry, I’ll come down.
Immediately after she was saying so, she kept her body away.
– Hmm, pretending to be the prince, huh…? But, you are unlucky. Even if you were normally armed, a simple armament of that degree would be at its limit, you know? At any rate, I still haven’t poured sense energy into my Orthrus Liberio yet!
*Shudders*, chill runs through the body of Hayato.
His black eyes shone golden and the blades of the weapon also shone in the same golden color.
(Don’t tell me, that…)
Hayato remembered the story he heard from the president about a month ago while trying to parry the attack unfolded from the arm raised overhead. At the time of the duel with the president, his eyes shone in golden color.
The same phenomenon is happening right now——
(Impossible, this guy is also a Variant…?)
If so, then no matter how you look at it, the situation is even worse.
– …kh!
Hayato loaded Hien with sense energy similar to Orthrus Liberio, and parries the twin blade.
His body shakes violently.
Hayato intends to put strength on his two legs and endure it, but the man immediately launched a kick there.
– Guuh!
Emile shouted, after seeing the body of Hayato flying backwards.
– Hayato!
– Don’t look away!
The girl brings her hand forward to attack Emile once more.
– … kuh!
Emile caught the attack of the girl at the last moment, but she was pushed by her power, and the daggers fall from her hands.
– That happens when you don’t concentrate on the battle, you stupid!
Then the girl tried to flick off the body of Emile with the other ring.
Emile grinned and loosened her mouth there.
– You are the one who’s looking away!
The falling dagger changed its shape to a floating battery and mercilessly shot a beam to the girl of the rings, as instructed by the brain wave of Emile.
– Wha!
The body of the girl shakes violently.
– It looks like a dagger, but it’s originally a battery.
Emile vanished and threw away the dagger that she was holding in the other hand and rapidly changed to something like a stick with Arms Shroud, sending the body of the girl flying, then turns the pointed end of the stick towards the boy who was exchanging blows with Hayato.
– And——this one was a rifle, you know.
– … unh.
He may have noticed the signs of light bullets that Emile fired.
The boy stretches his right hand and deploys an E barrier, making disappear the approaching light bullets, then glares at Emile in detail.
– … the form of your Hundred changed? It looks like your ability seems to be special, to the point it couldn’t beat my little sister.
– What are you looking for!? Why are you attacking us!?
Emile asked, but the boy ignored her and turned his eyes towards the girl standing to the side of the corpse of the Savage.
Then, the color of his eyes return to the original black.
– Looks like nee-chan has already finished extracting the core.
– ……
The girl nodded as she was, in silence.
When they noticed it, the eyepatch shone in a golden color, and the sword she had disappeared from her hand.
Instead of that, she had a thing of 50cm. diameter in one hand and another of 80cm. diameter in the other hand——she was carrying two cores of the Savage.
– Okay, it’s time to flee.
– Hey, wait a moment! Nesat has already finished the work. If it’s the three of us, then we can destroy them in a matter of minutes and steal their Hundred. Besides, that woman has a strange voice——
The girl of the rings raises her voice towards the boy.
– Calm down, Nakri. When you do that, you’ll find that reinforcements from Little Garden are getting closer.
The girl called Nakri closed her eyes——and opened them wide in surprise.
– … … what Krovahn is saying is completely true. A lump of energy is coming this way.
Saying that there’s no choiceif that’s the case, the girl clicks her tongue.
– Alright, I’ll do as Krovahn says. We were able to get two cores. And Vitaly’ll get mad if we get caught here.
– Vitaly you say…?
Sakura reacts to the name Nakri mentioned. Hayato is the same.
That name is the name of the doctor who made Sakura an artificial Variant.
– Hey, you. You know Vitaly?
Nakri wrinkles up her eyebrows and stares at Sakura.
– Nakri, take it easy. Remember that we have to flee.
– Ye-yeah…
– Nee-chan, give me one of the cores.
The boy said so to the eyepatch girl, stretching his hand to Nakri*.
Then she threw the bigger core to the boy.
As he caught it, Krovahn, the boy, jumped high and moved to the top of the cliff.
Nesat, who carried the other core, left in silence, following him.
– Haa, you better think that you barely escaped from death in this place today!
Nakri said so, and went after Nesat who moved to the top of the cliff.
– Hey, why are you carrying the cores!?
It was Latia who shouted. Then, Nakri looked back in midair and answered as if to despise them.
– … you really seem to not know anything, losers of Little Garden.
Leaving those words with them, the three people who wore black Variable Suits disappeared beyond the cliffs.
– … what do we do, do we go after them?
Fritz asks while looking at the cliff where nobody is there.
– No, let them go.
It’s Emile who answered, shaking her head.
– There’s no point going after them, besides we are exhausted with this much.
– You are right.
Fritz it’s not the only one who nods, since even the uniform that is wearing Emile is dusty and with cuts here and there.
– Hayato too, even though you finally bought your own clothes.
Emile’s bashful, regretting it.
– Then we have go shopping again. At that moment, you’ll be choosing them.
– … okay
Nodding, Emile continued.
– About this matter, I’ll discuss with the Prez about the rest. Even if it’s about chasing them, let’s leave it to the reinforcements from Little Garden.
After the battle, Hayato and the others were protected by the staff of Warslan who came to pick them up and returned to Little Garden in a large medical treatment bus.
However, only for Sakura it was different.
She joined the guard of the members of Selections who came as reinforcements, and went to the live venue.
Although she consumed energy deploying barriers, she insisted that she wasn’t hurt and that it wasn’t a problem for her.
It’s because she wanted to quickly ascertain the condition of the live venue.
She got information from Claire indicating that the venue didn’t suffer that much of a damage and that it might be repaired by the day of the live show.
Then, in the Student Council room where Hayato and the others, Claire and the members of the Student Council, Chris, Charlotte, and Mei Mei.
– Which reminds me, why were you guys the reinforcements?
Having finished reporting to the point where they defeated the first Savage, he remembered that he hasn’t asked that yet, so Hayato asked that to Emile.
– Actually, I immediately contacted Fritz after the emergency alert rang. Hayato knew it too, that’s why you happened to see it in the city and stayed nearby, right?
– Yeah, I saw you two together.
In other words, Emile got in touch with Fritz and Latia then she joined them and asked them to drive to where Hayato and Sakura are by car.
Claire sighs when hearing the conversation.
– It was the greatest miscalculation that the member of Selections closes to Kisaragi Hayato was Emile Crossford deshitawa. After she listened the emergency alert, despite the fact that we didn’t issue any orders, she confirmed the data without permission and finally, involving classmates to head to the site——
– But, thanks to that, the damage of the Savage was kept to a minimal, so I did well, isn’t it?
– That’s not the only problem, since there are a lot of problems arimasuwa. Next is, about the three people that appeared after you joined masuka. It’s inevitable to keep worrying about that matter desu.
The facial expression of Claire becomes severe.
Claire seems to be very interested about the three people.
After that, Hayato and the others started talking about the mysterious three Slayers.
– They’re probably 《Poachers》Hunters desuwane.
As Hayato and company finished talking, Claire mutters with a worried expression.
– Hunters? Why is that?
Fritz only offered doubts, and Hayato didn’t know anything about the hunters.
That also applies to Emile and Latia.
The four people are waiting eagerly for the reply of Claire and the others.
– Unlike the Slayers that belong to a country or a Private Military Company like Warslan Company, they belong to those organizations that aren’t approved by the United Nations or are a group of unaffiliated guys.
It’s Erika who answered.
– What’s left is, I remembered, I was telling to Kisaragi Hayato that in fact there were three Savage who had been missing during the previous raid. The rest of them have been discovered earlier in the wilderness as corpses. And they looked like the cores were gouged out-
– That means that those guys did it?
– If they are the poachers, then that possibility is high, don’t you think?
Erika replied to the question of Latia, correcting the glasses that slid with her fingertips.
– But, why steal the cores? I can understand if those guys are members of an organization that isn’t approved by the UN or are unaffiliated Slayers that went after our Variable Stones but…
– That’s right, Emile. Because the cores of the Savage have almost the same shape of the molecular structure of the Variable Stones.
– Wait, Charlotte. This conversation isn’t for general students——
– But, if it becomes like that, the conversation will be inevitable. All members that are here are already involved in this, you know? Or do you say that this isn’t related to children, just like your father or elder brother?
– That’s…
Claire falters.
– Then, I will let you continue.
– Umm, that means that the core of the Savage can be processed as a Hundred?
It was Fritz who presented a question before others.
– Yes, you are correct. The technology has already been established. Therefore, the fight for them is actually taking place among member nations as well.
– Wait a moment. Why does scrambles for it happen then? I thought the Hundred are for the sake of subjugating Savage. If the member nations are between themselves, shouldn’t then the UN manage and distribute them properly like they do with the Variable Stones?
– Without a doubt, the Hundred were created for the sake of the subjugation of the Savage. However, we can understand when seeing Kirishima Sakura that the technology isn’t used for that purpose now.
That is to say, like in Kirishima Sakura’s live, that the Variable Stone is used for purposes other than armaments——except for the Savage subjugation.
– Its usage method will be expanded from now on and there’s a great possibility that it will penetrate daily life. Therefore, hereafter, the monetary value of Savage’s core will rise and there’s a possibility that it will be treated as gold or platinum. Even if it has been decided that the UN will manage it, there are many countries and organizations that want to secure as much as possible now. If the Savage are exterminated from the universe, and there’s not even one of them on the earth, then there’s also the possibility that it will become a rare material, which will make it harder to acquire than it is now.
– Just because the core of the Savage might be used in our everyday lives…
It’s somewhat disgusting…
Latia was showing an expression on her face as if she wants to give her opinion.
– What are you saying? Even the dyes of the clothes you are wearing are taken from insects, and the fur is taken from the animals, you know? The petroleum as well, since is by nature, the corpse of an animal. It’s no different from that.
– I guess you are right…
Nevertheless, Latia is showing an unsatisfied expression on her face.
Hayato also has the same feeling.
– Anyway, if mankind can achieve further evolution using the core of the Savage or Variable Stones, just like mankind uses the fire, then mankind will make use of it, and their monetary value will increase as well. At any rate, if you think what you can make, then you can make Hundred as well.
– Then does that mean that our Hundred are made of the core of the Savage?
– Please relieve, all of your Hundred are original, okay?
– Is that so…?
When listening to Charlotte’s answer, Latia shows a relieved look.
– One last thing. I believe that of course you know this as well but, the Hundred technology progresses every day, and the power of one Slayer has become more like an aircraft rather than a tank. This will also change the power balance of the countries.
– … basically, the Hundred and the Slayers will become tools of war between people.
His eyes narrowed, Fritz spilled with a serious look.
– In the past, there were periods when mankind was thinking that if common enemies appeared, then the world should become one. However, that didn’t happen in reality, the disputes between nations, including the disputes over who has the hegemony after the annihilation of the Savage, aimed at the collapse of the power balance.
– In any case, this conversation is still confidential. Anyway, it is good to know that everyone was fine desuwa.
At the same time Claire says so, her facial expression became affable.
– One more thing, Kisaragi Hayato. You don’t have to keep doing the escort duty of Kirishima Sakura.
– … yes.
He anticipated that order.
Even though there are two more days till the live, but because Hayato’s sense energywas considerably consumed due to the resistance of today, he thought that it wouldn’t be possible to guard her when something happened.
Besides, there’s the thing about Kirishima Sakura’s 『voice』.
The three people seemed to be interested in the『voice』of Sakura who stopped the movement of the Savage.
There may be a possibility of planning to kidnap Sakura, and also probably aiming at the Variable Stone of the live venue.
Because he can’t deal with those situations in this state.
And, about the『voice』of Sakura, it was decided that Charlotte will investigate it with Mei Mei and Souffle Clearrail.
The same goes for the identity of the three individuals.
Regarding the two points, since neither Sakura nor Souffle are there, the conversation didn’t turn into a deep one.
The relation between the fact that Sakura is a Variant and her『voice』and the relation between the three individuals and Dr. Vitaly are worrisome to Hayato, but there’s no way he can speak of those things in front of everyone, so he kept silent.
That would be the same for Charlotte.
– Well then, we are breaking up for today desuwa. It was nonsensical for an operation, but everyone was safe desu. However, Fritz Grantz, Latia Saint-Émillion. Despite being incited by Emile Crossford, having entered the battlefield without permission is an equivalent act of abandoning your life desu. We were worried, so reflect on it.
– Ugh…
For a moment, it was Latia who makes her eyes shine when her name as called by Claire, but as soon as she heard those words, she felt dispirited.
Looking at them, Claire unintentionally smiled,
– However, since it was a response of a state of emergency, there won’t be punishment.
– Thank you very much.
Following Fruitz who bowed his head when saying so, Latia also bowed her head.
– … thank you very much.
– Following them, Emile Crossford will receive 30% less salary as a member of Selections for the period of one month masu.
– Huh? Why only me!?
– Because you did something on your own accord, and because there was also the possibility that the lives of two people could be lost desu. Reflect on that.
– Okay…
And then Emile gazed at Latia, who was sighing towards the carpet on the floor and asked her a question.
– Aren’t you glad that there’s no punishment for you?
– After all, she was expecting to be invited to Selections. That’s why she tried hard on combating with the Savage.
Fritz said while smiling, and placed his hand on the head of Latia.
– Shut up!
And, Latia flares up at Fritz, baring her teeth vigorously.
Looking at the situation, Claire smiled as if she was amazed,
– As for your entry to Selections, I will consider them at a later date masuwa.
– Eh…
Latia stopped moving, she had a sort of taken aback facial expression.
– Of course, I know that your reactions are high, as well as the results of your recent sham battles masu. On top of that, you fought the Savage with simple armament. That should be praised desuwa. Depending on the decision of 《LÍZA》, it’s a safe bet that before long, you will join Selections, don’t you agree? OF course, you will be granted a dedicated, and also customizable Hundred masuwa.
The expression of Latia who heard those words turned bright in the twinkling of an eye.
– Awesome!
Even if Fritz is stroking her head again, she doesn’t flare up at him like she did a few seconds ago.
On the contrary, while showing a really happy face, 『Yeah』, she nodded, showing an exceptional smile.
Hayato and Sakura, who returned to the cabin in the place where they got off from the taxi from the viewing platform were at a loss.
Even though there was a taxi rank, there wasn’t a single taxi waiting there.
– If that was the case, then that taxi should have been waiting for us.
That taxi is the one they were using until now.
Sakura mutters like it’s not a big deal for her the amount of money for being waiting for them.
When she looked at the watch, her manager Souffle said she must come back before 18’ o clock——she has one hour left.
Even after waiting for 5 minutes, the taxis didn’t come, not even a single car passed by.
The sky is already dark. She’s troubling about what to do.
– Should I look for a taxi company on the cybernet or call Souffle and get a car arranged?
When Sakura takes out the PDA, a bus comes and stops nearby.
As they approached the bus stop and looked at the route map, they found that it stops near the live venue.
It requires 30 minutes to get there.
Even if they call a taxi, it will take quite a while to get to such a remote place.
And if she asks Souffle, that won’t change the fact that Hayato will have to ask the President no matter what.
On the other hand, the bus leaves in about 5 minutes.
Therefore, Hayato and Sakura decided to board it. They thought that this method was more reliable.
They shit on a two-seat chair side by side.
The passengers who were only two at the beginning also increased slightly at the time of departure.
But none of them noticed that Kirishima Sakura is there, because she’s disguising herself by wearing sunglasses and a thick hat.
Whether it’s to avoid chaos the moment her identity is exposed, he wasn’t receiving a conversation from Sakura.
– Hmm…?
It was around the time when the bus started moving.
There was a weight on Hayato’s shoulder.
Sakura is leaning on it.
The sweet aroma unique of the girls came floating, the fragrance of her hair tickles his nose.
– Hey, don’t get so close.
Even when saying so, there’s no reaction.
Hayato noticed that Sakura was breathing particularly when a person is sleeping.
– Nn…
While sleeping, Sakura approaches her head even more.
(This is embarrassing, what do I do…?)
There’s a rehearsal, that means she has to sing after this.
She’s going to use her Hundred too.
Her body got tired from going and returning through the slope that took more than enough, so now, there’s no mistaking it that it’s better to take a rest.
But, to be honest, this situation is pretty exciting.
It’s mentally too bad as they seem like a pair of lovers.
But, concluding that it would be better to leave it as it is, Hayato closed his eyes.
Trying as much as possible to not care about Sakura, aiming to… shake off wicked thoughts.
Before he became aware of it, the bus was approaching precisely in the middle of the live concert and the big canyon.
– Uwaa!?
Suddenly, a violent explosion sounded, the bus shook heavily up and down.
Hayato’s butt floats around 10 centimeters, screams are escaping from the surroundings.
Sakura, who was sleeping next to Hayato, as a matter of course she also awoke, screaming 「Kyaa!?」and asked a question.
– What on earth happened?
– I don’t know, but——
He felt something unpleasant.
In the middle of that, the bus stopped, and the shaking ceased——immediately after, an explosion sounds again.
The air shakes violently, the bus shakes with *rattle* *rattle*.
(As I thought, it’s a Savage, huh?)
Hayato is hanging out from the window of the bus and tries to check the situation of the surroundings.
Dark wilderness it’s visible to his eyes.
He saw a dim light there.
Fluorescent colors that move together.
There’s no doubt, it’s a Savage.
Looking from the bus, it’s diagonally ahead to the right.
Its size was around the same as the normal type that fought before.
With the light which started to gather at the head that was just opened, its full-length portrait is exposed.
Of course Hayato knew that it was the signal of a bombardment.
– Everyone, get down!
Hayato puts his body back in the bus and shouts to the passengers.
At the same time, a violent explosion occurred, and the bus rolled over.
Echoing in the interior of the bus are numerous screams resounding, and the sounds of glasses breaking.
– … are you okay?
*Cough*, *Cough*, although he coughed violently due to the cloud of dust that arose, Hayato asked Sakura.
– Yeah, I’m okay but, the bus is…
Looking ahead of her line of sight, there’s a big hole in a part of the bus when it rolled over.
That part was probably melted by the heat of the beam of the Savage.
They were very lucky that they were touched lightly this much, because if that was a direct hit, then the people in the bus, including themselves, might not have been saved.
They were lucky to barely escape from death.
– Hayato, what are we going to do?
– … first of all, we will be contacted.
When a Savage appears in the vicinity, all members of Selections in a battle-ready state are obliged to enter a standby state even if they are in the middle of their vacation.
In that case, an emergency alarm should sound from their PDAs.
But still, his PDA isn’t sounding.
That means that Little Garden doesn’t seem to grasp information on the appearance of the Savage.
And that also means that this Savage didn’t come from space.
Because Hayato was taught that air traffic control is unlikely to miss.
(In other words, this is a surviving Savage…)
Hayato took out the PDA from his pocket and decided to contact the Student Council room.
However, the phone is in a transfer call state.
Now, the members of the Student Council aren’t in that room.
Maybe they are in the usual holiday house.
『Kisaragi Hayato, why are you calling desuno?』
Finally, he was connected to the president.
The transfer destination seems to be her PDA.
– A Savage suddenly appeared in the wilderness, the bus that we were riding rolled over——
『What did you say? Report it calmly, Kisaragi Hayato. Where is the place, and who is with you desu!?』
– South area… of East Island.
Calming down this time properly as Claire told him, Hayato replied.
– I was attacked by a Savage on the way back from the Zwei great canyon to the livevenue by bus. The fellow travelers are the escort target person Kirishima Sakura, the bus driver——and around ten bus passengers.
『The information that you found the escort target person has been included from Souffle Clearrail, so that means that… Chris, check the exact coordinates of Kisaragi Hayato right now』
Following Chris’s reply from the PDA, and then a few footsteps——the voice of Erika is heard from the other side of the PDA.
『Claire-sama, it seems that the Savage have appeared in the southeast part of the Zwei Islands. Right now, emergency calls are——』
『Erika, please wait. We have already recognized the matter of the Savage masu. Kisaragi Hayato is already in contact with the Savage and the escort target person now desu』
『Wha…』
『What did you say!?』
The surprised voices of Liddy and Erika reached the ears of Hayato.
The footsteps earlier were those two people. Following them, Chris informs.
『The location of Hayato-sama is now identified. As Hayato-sama said moments ago, they are in the southern part of the east island of the Zwei Islands——that is, 15 kilometers southeast away from the venue where the live will be held the day after tomorrow』
『Kisaragi Hayato, first be sure to evacuate the escort target person Kirishima Sakura, and the civilians to a safe place. Meanwhile, we will contact the Slayers nearby and send a relief request masuwa. Until they come, please gain time try to reduce the damage as much as possible. Of course, armament deployment is permitted masu』
– … Roger. Will you be calling the Slayers from the venue?
『I can’t do that masenwa. Depending on the situation, there is the possibility that the Variable Stone will be pillaged again arimasu』
It was robbed at the time of the previous Savage raid, so they guessed that there is a possibility that it will happen again this time.
『Kisaragi Hayato. I will be praying for the safety of you, the escort target person——and everyone else masuwa. No, if its you, you will surely cut your way through desu. No, you are going to cut your way through, OK desuwane? Then, I will hang up for a moment masuwayo』
– Roger.
When Hayato did a solid reply, Claire disconnected the call.
If it comes to this, then he has no choice but to decide himself.
(First of all, evacuate everyone, right…?)
Hayato ruminates the instructions from Claire in his head, and tells the driver and the ten passengers in the bus.
– Everyone, please go and hide on the other side of that cliff!
There was a cliff about 2 meters high at the point indicated by his line of sight.
If they go down there and hide as if sticking to the cliff, they must be safe even if the Savage bombarded.
Even so, no one tried to move.
——Is it really okay with that?
——Isn’t it safe to hide in the shade of the bus?
He can hear such voices appearing out of nowhere.
If they don’t move properly, they probably think that they will be targeted by the Savage.
Because of that reaction, Hayato was taken aback.
Now, he noticed that he wasn’t wearing the uniform of Little Garden.
It seems that it can’t be helped since they are thinking that this is nothing else but a prank of a child.
The panicking Hayato also has a student proof, and when he tries to take out the PDA, the voice of Sakura sounded.
– Hayato, that!
The head of the Savage, indicated by her fingertips, just opened and light began to gather on it.
Judging from that direction, there’s a high possibility that bombardment will hit this place.
(Kuh… what do I do?)
From the amassing view, it seems that the bombardment isn’t going to be in a straight line, but it will be released like a laser for a few seconds over a wide range instead.
If so, even if he deployed his armament quickly and put up an E barrier, he may not be able to protect everyone here.
– … however, there’s no time to escape.
(At any rate, I’ll have to take the chance and do it…)
To begin with, if he doesn’t deploy the Hundred, then it’s no use.
It was then that Hayato laid his hands on the red-brown ore on his chest.
– Leave this to me.
Sakura took a step towards the Savage, saying that full of confidence.
– Leave this to me you say? Sakura——you don’t have the ability to fight, right?
– No, I don’t. But my ability is the space control type——if it’s something like the bombardment of a Savage, then I can drown out it with a barrier, a created defense barrier.
She grasped tightly the Hundred that took out from her chest and shouted with her right hand pushed up her head.
– 《Deploying Barrier》HUNDRED ON!
Immediately afterwards, four emerald green wings appear on her back.
Subsequently, a gigantic magic square, covering the entire bus, was deployed on the ground and shone in emerald green.
– This is…
– An N barrier——a wide area defense barrier by neutral barrier. With this one, you should be able to protect the bus.
– How can you do such a thing….?
– Charlotte taught me a long time ago. In case something happened. However, when I use it, fears appear…
Saying that, the Savage fired the bombardment as Sakura put out her tongue, feeling embarrassed.
If it comes to this, he has no choice but to trust her.
And, as Hayato imagined, the bombardment of the Savage is similar to a drawing folding fan with the head as its origin.
The front of his eyes turns white, the earth shakes like an earthquake and a cloud of dust rolls up furiously.
However, Hayato and the others weren’t struck with the beam on their bodies, nor did they suffer damage in their eyes with the cloud of dust.
Sakura’s wide-area defense barrier played a brilliant role as a barrier.
Shouts of joy are raised from the passengers.
Sakura, who undo the barrier and was taking a breath with a *Fuu*, throw away the hat, and removed the sunglasses, then turned around to the passengers.
– … Kirishima, Sakura?
One of the male passengers raised his voice.
– She’s really Kirishima Sakura.
The woman who stood next to him also raised her voice.
– Everyone, don’t listen to my words, listen to his words properly.
Saying so to the noisy passengers, Sakura pointed out Hayato with her index finger of her right hand.
– He’s one of the Slayers who saved us——and Zwei Islands in the event of the previous Savage raid. There’s no mistake in what he says. So, as he indicated before, please run away below that cliff!
Hayato muttered unintentionally, looking at the passengers running towards below the cliff in response to the words of Sakura.
– As one would expect, of someone who’s a popular idol…
The effectiveness of those words is outstanding.
– You saved me, thank you.
– This much is nothing. More than that, Hayato, deploy your Hundred quickly. Even though I can defend, I don’t have the ability to attack, you know.
– Yes, you are right.
Depending on the situation, there’s a possibility that the bombardment of the Savage will reach the town that is faintly seen in the distance or the live venue.
And, to be honest, they weren’t in a situation where they could wait for reinforcements, and the president also said that they should avoid making damage as much as possible… but, there was one concern.
– What is it Hayato, deploy it quickly.
Sakura hurries Hayato, who’s holding the Hundred taken from his chest in his right hand.
– Actually, I have never deployed the Hundred without my Variable Suit. Even Sakura seems to be able to do normally, seeing the wide area defense barrier that you spread some time ago.
– Wait a moment, I’ve been using the Hundred for years, but everyone has experiences like this only once or twice, you know.
– It has only been a little over a month since I got the Hundred.
– No way, so the fight like before…?
It was Sakura who had an unbelievable expression on her face, but she quickly consented, then laughing with a *Fu”,
– As expected of a Variant.
– Well, that may be the case…
– If it’s Hayato, then you’ll surely should be able to manage it somehow. Whether you are wearing the jacket or not, but when deploying it, it’s not related at all.
– I see, then I’ll give it a try.
Hayato grasped tightly the Hundred in his right hand.
– Hundred On.
A red light begins to overflow from the skin of the fingers, and eventually creates a one large black sword——Hien, in his right hand.
However, there’s no armor attaching to his arm as usual, And also, in case of Hayato’s Chevalier type, it’s a basic attack type.
Without wearing a Variable Suit, the power of the E barrier should also be weaker than usual.
(If it becomes, then I can’t just be running from place to place, I have no choice but to hit it)
It would be best if he could defeat it before reinforcements came.
While Hayato injects energy into Hien while staring at the core which shines in the fluorescent shelter, the engraved pattern emits a glow with a red light on the blade.
(Then, I just have to destroy it with this…)
Hayato glared at the core of the Savage, but before that, there was something he had to tell Sakura.
– Sakura, run away. You can hide behind that cliff.
– I don’t think so.
Replying instantly, Sakura continues.
– I’m going to stay by the side of Hayato. I’m also a person who can use the same Hundred. Besides, you know that I can defend myself properly, Hayato.
– But, if Sakura got hurt and coldn’t do the live, then what are you going to do? The fans, even everyone on this island will be sad, you know.
– Well…
– If you understand that, then escape.
But, Hayato. It’s impossible now. The Savage is about to fire a bombardment.
As Sakura said, the Savage that was only moving its antennas to the left and right until moments ago, was beginning to gather light again on its head.
Moreover, not only Hayato and the others are included in the range, as it seems that they are being targeted.
(… what do I do?)
Frankly, he was in a pinch, but it was also a chance.
The Savage can’t move right after a bombardment, in the same way as Fritz’s bombardment in the sham battle last week.
So, there’s a possibility that he can destroy the core of the Savage with one hit if he stabs it in that gap.
– Hayato, I’ll stop that one again, so…
– Understood. I’ll entrust the defense to you. I’ll try attacking the core, aiming at the gap that is made after the bombardment.
– Ah, that’s right. If you want to make a chance, then I have a plan. I can create a number of illusions around me in the wide area barrier that I made.
Saying that, Sakura made a stuffed bear near the side of her right cheek.
– How about making lots of this and use them as a decoy? By the way, I can make something with the shape of Hayato.
With a pop, she creates an illusion that looks like Hayato.
– Uwa, it’s kind of disgusting… please make it disappear.
Saying so, Sakura immediately vanished it.
– I don’t know if there’ll be any effect, but we surely have to give it a try.
– If so, let’s take our chances.
– Yeah, it looks like it’s almost time.
– Yup, the strategy begins!
Nodding, Sakura pushed out her right hand that grasped the Hundred towards the direction of the Savage.
– 《Deploying Barrier》HUNDRED ON!
The Hundred shines and feathers appear again on her back.
However, what she deployed before her eyes is different from the previous defense barrier. It may be because the bombardment of the Savage is pinpointing them.
The bombardment of the Savage collides with the 《magic square》barrier in front of them, scattering to all sides, then disappears.
Together with the hat of Sakura that flies high due to the welled-up wind, Hayato started running
He’s not wearing his jacket now, so he can’t accelerate nor do a high jump.
But——
– Now here I go! 《Deploying Wide Area Barrier》HUNDRED ON!
He felt the surrounding air changed with the voice of Sakura reaching his ears.
He guesses that she deployed a wide area barrier
– And then——create decoys!
Following those words, *POP*, *POP*, a lot of stuffed frogs and stuffed bears appear around the Savage.
(Thanks to Sakura, I was saved…)
He saw that the Savage, whose rigid state after the bombardment has finished, began to move and started attacking towards the decoys with its antennas and arms. If hadn’t been for them, there’s no doubt he would be targeted.
(The rest is up to me!)
Hayato reached near the Savage and struck Hien loaded with energy against the ground.
The body of Hayato rises high in the sky.
Using the reaction of the energy to jump high——that was the strategy of Hayato, it was magnificent, and a success.
If this keeps like this, he can aim for the core of the Savage.
– This will decide it!
Hayato struck Hien that was charged with energy towards the core.
– … kuh!!
The reaction that fell into his hands is huge.
But without losing it, Hayato puts more strength on his arms.
(A bit more, a bit more…!)
Hien destroyed the shelter and the tip of the blade touched the core. Hayato injects energy as much as possible and tries to shake off his arm.
– Haaaaaaaaaaa————!
The core broke into pieces with the screaming, fluorescent color liquid flied off in all directions.
– Hooray!
Sakura gave a cheerful voice, looking at the appearance of the Savage that collapsed towards the ground with a muffled voice.
Then, rushed to Hayato who breathes heavily at the side of the Savage that became a corpse, and clung tightly.
– As expected of Hayato, my future danna-sama*!
– Wait what!? Also, if they see us like this, they’ll get a weird misunderstanding! I’m telling you, get away!
– I don’t care if they misunderstand! Hayato was really cool. I watched you so many times on the cybernet. I really fell in love with you again!
Immediately after Sakura said that.
*BOOM*! They felt that the sound of a bombardment sounded, and that exploded on the nearby ground, raising a cloud of dust.
– ————!?
A Savage was in the place where they looked back.
Its size isn’t large like the one of a Trenta, but its body is larger than the one of before.
– Now I get it, these are the Savage who have gone missing, and this is the other one…
Hayato’s cheeks became stiff.
The Savage has already begun gathering light on its head.
– I’ll stop it!
In a hurry, Sakura tried to spread a defense membrane——a wide area barrier, but the head of the Savage wasn’t aiming at Hayato and Sakura for some reason.
It seems to be looking somewhere far.
– Don’t tell me——
There’s only one thing that can be seen beyond its line of sight.
The live venue of Sakura.
– No way…
The eyes of Sakura became cloudy in hopelessness.
But, in this situation, she can’t do anymore.
The bombardment of the Savage was almost in a horizontal direction.
A few seconds later, following the explosion that reaches the ears, sparks dye the night sky red, and black smoke starts to soar.
– That can’t be…
Sakura collapses from the knees, her voice and body tremble.
Still, she cannot afford to be watching the situation motionlessly like this, she can’t be dumbfounded.
Speaking of Savage’s current state, it’s only moving its antennas, but there’s a possibility that it will open its head and bombard again.
If that happens, the damage will only spread further.
(What do I do…?)
At that time, the PDA sounded again.
It’s an emergency call from the president.
『Kisaragi Hayato, do you hear me masuka? What on earth is the situation there desu? There’s an incoming information of a bombardment at the live venue masuwayo!』
The shout of the president is heard from the PDA.
– Actually, I defeated one, but then another Savage was appearing, so the bombardment is——
『What did you say!?』
– Is the live venue okay!?
『Although it seems that there was damage in some dressing rooms and the like according to the information just now, the good news is that the stage is safe and it looks like there are people with only minor injuries desuwa』
– I’m glad…
Sakura mutters as if she was relieved.
『Now, the report desu. Now we are sending 5 Slayers from Little Garden as reinforcements. And——』
– President, please wait a moment. The Savage will bombard again!
『What did you say!?』
– But, please be relieved, as it’s aiming at us. Sakura, can you manage it?
– Yes, I’ll spread a wide area barrier again!
Sakura turns the hand that grasped the Hundred towards the Savage.
He was wondering if the exchange was being heard by Claire.
『Kisaragi Hayato, don’t tell me that you are letting Kirishima Sakura fight desuka!?』
Such a loud voice came back.
– Umm, I’ll talk about that later!
The Savage is going to fire the bombardment at any time.
This is not the moment to give an explanation.
– 《Deploying ba——》HUNDRED——
There, Sakura stopped shouting.
*BOOM*, a bombardment sounded, and an explosion occurred on the head of the Savage.
– Eh…?
– What…?
Sakura and Hayato turn their eyes to the point where the bombardment was sent from. The distance is around 100 meters, but the familiar figure of a man was there.
– Fritz!
Without thinking, Hayato shouts the name of the man.
Even though he is in his civilian clothes, he can see that he deployed his armament and the Long Shooter type rifle in his arms.
– What’s up, Hayato. I’m glad that you are okay.
Fritz smiled and winked.
Behind him, there was a sports car.
The one he saw with Emilia in the fashion building.
It seems he has come as a reinforcement.
So that means——
– Of course I’m here too!
The next thing he heard is the voice of Latia.
There, Hayato notices that she’s at the feet of the Savage.
Even though she was in civilian clothes and with simple armament like Fritz, Latia had deployed her Martial Arts type Hundred on her hands and feet.
The Savage recovered from the damage without a moment’s delay and set her as its objective, swinging downward its big arm.
– Uh-oh!
And Latia, who dodged it by leaping horizontally, kicked the ground with a *tap* at the same time as she landed; her hair sways like a flickering fire and runs up onto the arm of the Savage while raising a loud voice, running up to the head in one go.
– If I can destroy the core with this, then I’m also a full-fledged Slayer!!
She lowered her eyebrows in frustration and moved away from the moving Savage as she landed on the ground.
Latia glares at the arm of the Savage approaching there with an upward glance,
– Such a thing, eat what I have here!
And, she hits the ground.
Then the ground shook like a wave and the Savage seemed to have lost the balance of its body since it’s not attacking with its arms.
What was resonating there is the voice of the childhood friend who can trust in Hayato, and the one who came running in assistance.
– Latia, thank you for making a gap!
The owner of that voice stands on the hill——looking at the figure of Emile, Hayato was truly relieved.
Unlike the date, she tied her hair and is wearing her uniform, and around her body, of course, the Innocence type of ever-changing appearance of Hundred, Arms Shroud, is deployed.
Emile changed one of the deploying Hundred into a short, yet sharp-edged sword like a Falcion, and jumped towards the Savage.
– Teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!
Shouting, the remnant line drawn by the swung downward sword drops one of the arms of the Savage onto the ground.
– One more!
Emile, who landed on the ground, threw the sword and extinguished it.
And then, she made a huge scissor-like thing with Arms Shroud, similar to the one she was using in the previous battle, and rushed over to the Savage.
– Latia, what’s left is the thing we discussed a while ago!
– Got it!
Shouting, Latia head towards below the objective, then stood up and launched a kick towards the body of the Savage who was ready to attack.
The Savage, as a matter of course, was unperturbed, and although can fight back with the remaining arm, Latia evades that, and as a proof that she’s doing according to plan, she, with her mouth,
– Now, Emile!
– Okay!
Putting the arm of the remaining Savage between the two widely opened blades, *Shing*, the arm falls.
While a fluorescent liquid disperses, the enemy raises something like a screaming and begins to act violently as if it was raging.
But there are no arms to raise overhead anymore.
Like having been waiting for this moment, Fritz aimed at the shelter and released a mass of energy from the rifle of his right arm.
– Eat this!
It hits the shelter splendidly, and creates a big dent on it,
– Yes!
And, Fritz revealed a satisfying smile. Then,
– The next is to destroy it for sure!
Followed by Latia who began to go after the Savage.
She flew high using sense energy, concentrating the sense energy on her right foot, trying to fall down with all the weight of her body while aiming at the core.
– How about this, huh!?
As a result, her leg went through the shelter, making a fierce destructive sound, but it didn’t lead to the destruction of the core.
– Tch, I couldn’t destroy it, even with a direct attack!
Latia spat out in frustration, then distorted her facial expression in an unpleasant way and separated herself from the Savage.
However, that doesn’t mean that the series of attacks have ended.
– Then I’ll deliver the final blow!
The shouting Emiile had no longer a scissors in her hands. She was grasping a white bow instead.
Of course, it was created by Arms Shroud.
For the bow being held in the left hand, she tensions the blue bowstring with energyand creates a blue arrow in the right hand, deciding to aim at the Savage.
However, an unusual phenomenon occurred there, and the first one who noticed that was Latia, who was near her.
– Wait a moment, Emile!
With the voice that shouted instinctively, Hayato also notices something unusual.
The core of the Savage began to emit a red light in the dark, repeating the illumination in a short and repeated way.
– … is it going to bombard?
At first they thought so, but it didn’t show any behavior of opening the head.
(What the heck does that mean?)
Of course Emilia also noticed the unusual phenomenon, but she didn’t know what’s happening.
But there’s no doubt that something is going to happen.
(I hope I can set aim quickly to not let it shoot…)
She was feeling impatient, and that disturbs her concentration.
Her arms tremble, the center of the sighting device is hardly set at core.
Even so——the aim was finally fixed.
– Teeeeeeh!
Emile fires the blue arrow.
The trajectory seized the core with the gap of the shelter being destroyed.
All developed exactly as planned.
However, there was a situation that they hadn’t predicted there.
– Wha…
Emilia, who just lowered the bow, is amazed.
– That’s a lie, right…?
Hayato and the others are the same.
While the arrows are about to approach, the severed arms were regenerated in an instant, so their reaction was comprehensible.
– Impossible, right…?
Hayato muttered, since he saw something unbelievable.
At any rate, when thinking that a lot of insect-like things are squirming on the severed part and extend a thread-like thing in an instant, and just like the silkworms make cocoons, the Savage created an arm with the form of pincers.
The arrows of light are repelled by the arms and vanishes.
– Perhaps that’s a regenerator?
With a trembling voice, Latia mutters.
– That seems to be the case, since it has the regeneration ability.
Hayato has already been given knowledge of the Savage in lessons of classroom lecture. The self-repair function type Savage——aka regenerator.
As its name suggests, it’s the type that regenerates the parts that have been cut, like the tail of a lizard.
– But surely, if we destroy the core, then it won’t demonstrate that ability, right…?
– That’s right, because the core is accelerating the regeneration ability. Other than that, it has no difference from a normal type.
Following Latia who replied, Emilia continued.
– Then I’ll try to drop its arms once again as I did a while ago. Even though the shelter is slowly regenerating, Hayato should be able to destroy it.
– In short, Hayato’s going to finish it off?
– I want to emphasize certainty here. Latia, can you disturb the Savage as you did before? Aiming at that gap, I’ll cut off its both arms again.
– Got it.
Latia nods.
– Hayato can you? Do it too?
– Umm…
Hayato points his eyes to Sakura.
Going to attack means that he has to leave her by herself.
– Hayato, I’ll take care of Kirishima-san. Because I’m not suitable for close combat, I won’t move from here. And although the armor is thin because of these clothes, E barrier can be stretched, and if something happens, I’ll protect her even if it costs my life. So, you do what you ought to do.
– Exactly. Because I’ll be handing over the best thing.
What he must do is to defeat the Savage.
And the best thing is, to give the finishing blow.
– Got it.
Hayato, who received the thoughts of those two, had no choice but to nod.
– Are you okay with that, Sakura?
– Mu….. Hayato, did something happen with Kirishima-san?
– Why are you saying that?
– I feel that your mood is strange.
– This is not the moment to be saying that, you know. I understood the strategy, so let’s start right away, okay? We don’t know what that Savage will do.
– Muuu, you are right but…
– Okay guys, cheer up coz’ here I go!
While laughing at the interaction of Hayato and Emile, Fritz directed the rifle of his right arm to the Savage.
– You ready?
– Of course.
– Yeah.
– … okay.
Hayato and Latia, and even though she looked disappointed, Emilia nodded in succession.
– So, let’s go!
Fritz fired a shot, then another one, aiming at the shelter with his rifle.
Along with that, Latia started to move.
Following her, Emile also starts to move.
Speaking of the collaboration, it’s fruitful and perfect than before, as Emile was quickly cutting through the arms of the Savage with scissors again created by Arms Shroud.
– Hayato, we’ll leave the rest to you!
– Sure!
Hayato responded vigorously to Emile, runs in the same way as he did with the first one, and jumps with Hien loaded with sense energy
All he has to do is to destroy the core.
Hayato injects sense energy into the raised overhead Hien.
The red shining blade and its decorations——up to now everything goes as planned, but the fact that there are no illusions of Sakura also had its influence.
The Savage aimed at Hayato, and opened its head.
The heart of Hayato, which recognized that it was a bombardment, beat fast in a big way.
(This is——)
The usual thing that occurs when he has been on the verge of a critical situation.
He could do it even in the sham battle with Fritz, so if the ability of the Variant awakens, he’ll probably not lose his consciousness now.
If that’s the case, and when the N barrier automatically deploys, it doesn’t mean that the bombardment——won’t do nothing.
Because he’s not wearing his Variable Jacket now.
And it looks like it’s impossible to go full armament like he did until now, so Hayato couldn’t make a decision as to whether he could deploy a N barrier under such conditions.
If he remembers correctly, the President was saying that such thing wasn’t programmed in the Hundred.
So even if full armament is impossible, the N barrier may be deployed…. Although, of course, there’s no confirmation of it.
Having said that, this is not a situation to dodge the attacks of the Savage.
Now, the only thing that he can do——the moment Hayato resolved himself to swung downwards Hien, he kept his self in order to not lose the consciousness due to the ability of the Variant.
– Stop!
At the same time as the sorrowful cry of Sakura jumped into his ears, an incredible thing happened.
The Savage undo its bombarding stance, and started to turn its head towards the direction of Sakura.
(It reacted to the voice of Sakura…?)
At that moment, he suddenly remembered what he was talking to Sakura at the canyon.
The fact that the children who got inoculated with the body fluids of the Savage responded to the songs of the Variant Sakura. In addition, Sakura said the songs convey people’s feelings.
That is to say, her cry, saying 「Stop!」was supposed to have the intention of 「Don’t bombard!」regarding the Savage.
Perhaps, the thought might have be understood by the Savage, or maybe it just reacted to the voice of Sakura.
Of course Hayato doesn’t know the true meaning of it.
For a moment, he thought that the eyes of Sakura were shining in golden color.
But this is not the place to think about minor details.
He can’t miss this opportunity.
– Uooooooooooooooo————!
Deciding to destroy the core of the Savage in this gap, Hayato brandishes Hien in a big way.
In an instant——
A boy appears from behind the Savage.
Black hair and dark brown skin.
That boy is wearing a jet-black Variable Suit that melts in the darkness and has something like a spear in his hands.
(Who’s this guy…?)
What the boy has is, of course, not just a spear.
There are blades on both ends of it, he’s holding a thing like a handle in the middle, and what he’s holding from the middle is——what is called, a twin sword weapon.
– I thought that a Savage appeared, but I was able to see interesting things——
The mysterious boy moves his mouth and jumps high, kicking the head of the Savage.
That meant he used sense energy——
– I’m sorry Nii-chan, but I’m gonna make it our prey!
– Wha——
In one go, the boy who approached the front of the eyes of Hayato hit with the twin blade the abdomen of Hayato who swung Hien.
– Kuhaa…!
The body of Hayato collapsed in the air.
– Guh!
With another blow from overhead, Hayato’s body was beaten down on the ground.
– Hayato!
A cloud of dust soars violently.
Sakura rushes to the side of Hayato who collapsed on the ground in a prone position and stopped moving.
– Hayato, are you okay, Hayato!?
Sakura keeps calling him in tears, believing in the safety of Hayato who’s exactly as he fell.
Her feelings were transmitted——with a twitch, the hand of Hayato moved.
– Hayato!
– I’m fine… and more importantly…
Hayato stood up, raising his body and taking Hien that rolled near, then looks towards the Savage.
– Eh…
There was a girl with similar skin and hair color of the boy just now.
She doesn’t have a weapon in her hands, but she’s wearing a Variable Suit whose fluorescent color emerges in jet-black like the boy.
And the right eye of the girl who looked back was covered with a black eyepatch…
As she looked towards Hayato, it opened automatically all the way.
– … 《Deploying Copy》Hundred On.
The eye that came in sight from the other side of the eyepatch releases a shining golden color——
Subsequently, when the girl looked up at the night sky, a pillar of light extended, and a big black sword appeared, resembling Hien of Hayato.
The girl stares at the Savage, taking it in one of her hands and raising it overhead with her arm.
Without a moment’s the Savage strikes with the pincers, but the girl who dodge it quickly leaping horizontally, then bending over and jumping like a spring, flew high in the sky.
And, pierces the core of the Savage with the tip of the sword in her hands, facing downward.
It was superb, she destroyed again the shelter that was in process of regeneration, but it didn’t reach the core.
The tip of the sword stopped at the surface of the core and couldn’t go further.
However, the girl didn’t give up there——on the contrary, she didn’t even distort her facial expression.
The girl just muttered two words, with a consistent lack of expression.
– … 《Ability Unleash》Limit Out.
One of the eyes of the girl shone noticeably intense.
Then, the blade of the sword in her hand also glows in the same golden color, the tip is penetrating into and through the core.
Fluorescent color liquid gushes out of the core, its brightness disappeared.
The Savage fell in the sandy soil while raising a muffled voice.
– You guys, what do you think you are doing…?
Hayato asks the girl standing on the corpse of the Savage.
However, the girl never answered, and after she glanced at Hayato, she moved her eyes to the body of the Savage and swung up the sword grasped tightly in her hands.
*STAB*, The tip of the sword sticks into a position slightly out of the core.
Hayato thought that she removed it, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Because the girl never showed a worried attitude due to the lack of expression, she stabs the edge of the core of the Savage with the pointed end of the sword again.
*STAB*. *STAB*. *STAB*. *STAB*.
Like tracing the circumference of the core, the girl keeps stabbing the pointed end of the sword.
*STAB*. *STAB*. *STAB* *STAB*
– Huh? What is she doing…?
Sakura, who was looking at the creepy scene, muttered while trembling.
– I don’t know…
Hayato answers.
Emilia and the others are also perplexed.
Everyone was looking at the girl who was stabbing the sword against the corpse with surprised eyes.
*STAB*. *STAB*.
Every time she stabs the sword, Savage’s body fluids scatter and dye her body in a fluorescent color.
– Hey, stop it! If you get covered in a lot of body fluids, you’ll get infected with the virus and you’ll go crazy!
– ……
As the voice reached her, the girl stopped moving, and tilts her head, looking with curiosity at Latia.
What are you talking about? Asks her gesture.
But she doesn’t speak.
On the contrary, the girl turned her eyes to her hand, then gazed motionlessly at the sticking fluorescent color liquid——*Licks*, she licks it with her tongue.
– Wha…
Looking at the disgusting scene, Latia becomes speechless, but as the girl doesn’t care about them, the girl starts to stab the sword again in the Savage.
*STAB*. *STAB*.
– Dammit! I’m telling you to stop!
If she doesn’t listen, the she has no choice but to make use of force.
Latia kicked the ground and tried to approach the location of the girl, but something got in the way.
– Hey, you. Don’t disturb Nesat!
Along with that voice, another girl is approaching from the front with two large rings in her hands.
OF course, that’s not her normal speed.
She’s using acceleration by energy.
Moreover, the girl threw one of the rings held in her hands towards Latia, and knocked her body against the ground.
– Kuh, what the hell are you guys…!
Latia stands up and stares at the figure of the dark brown girl who caught the ring that came back like a boomerang.
The color of the hair holding the bands on the left and right is a little brighter compared to the boy who set an attack on Hayato and the girl who killed the Savage, but wears the same jet-black Variable Suit.
– Don’t get in the way of Nesat. That’s the only thing I’ll say to you.
The girl with the rings declares, turning her eyes to the girl who stabs the sword in the Savage.
– Answer my question!
– What are you going to do if I say no?
Making fun of Latia, the girl laughs.
– In that case, I’ll get information out of you by sheer strength!
Latia accelerated by kicking up the ground, then launched a hit to the girl of the rings.
– Ha, bring it on! With that, I’ll let you say nothing, and I’ll tell you nothing! And you’ll be in trouble if you try to disturb Nesat again!
The girl also kicks the ground in the same way, and uses the rings to attack.
Of course the ring has an advantage, as the reach of the girl is longer.
Although she was struggling with that much, Latia continued to wait for an opportunity to come while continuously dodging the attacks with the rings, using her characteristic nimbleness.
– Aa dammit, you dare to have the nerve to move non-stop like that!?
While the girl shouts looking irritated, she greatly brandishes the rings, slashing at her.
A big gap with that much.
Latia, who jumped and dodged the attack, launches a kick to the body of the girl as she is, falling on her backside.
– Damn, I won’t be defeated by the half-baked armament of yours!
As she grasps the grit of the ground while standing up in frustration, the girl picks up the ring that fell near and throws it towards Latia.
– … uh-oh!
In an instant, Latia evaded the ring that was approaching while rotating furiously. However, when using the ring on the other hand, the girl cut at her vigorously.
– Die, you moron!
After rapidly getting closer using acceleration, the ring is approaching with a momentum that cuts the air horizontally.
Latia jumps high and attempts to dodge it while doing a backward somersault,
– … ngah!!
Immediately after kicking the ground, dull pain was running on her back, crumbling down to her knees as she was.
Because the other ring that came back hit her back.
– Ha, stupid bastard. I was aiming for that from the beginning.
Looking at Latia who falls towards the sandy soil, the girl of the rings was showing an accomplished expression to the girl.
Then approached the side of Latia who’s lying face down on the ground, and kicks her body.
– … s-stop!
Fritz shouted looking as a demon and turned the muzzle to the girl of the rings who’s trying to kick the body of Latia again.
– Too slow!
And, the girl throws the ring.
It hits magnificently the body of Fritz, he couldn’t fire the bombardment.
– Dammit, but, one more time…!
However, Fritz wasn’t collapsing. Once again, he tried to load energy into the rifle of the arm and,
– As if I’ll let you do as you like!
– Wha——
The girl, who accelerated and got closer, cut at the body of Fritz with the ring she had in her hand.
– Guah!
As his clothes are cut off from the front, Fritz is falling from the knees.
Emile, who was looking at his state, moves.
– … Hayato, I’ll deal with that girl!
He can’t see the scissors she had in her hands until a while ago.
With two daggers created with Arms Shroud, Emile accelerates to the position of the girl.
The opposing girl of the rings readied the weapons of both hands, looking towards Emile.
– You are the next, huh? Do you think those small daggers can be a match to my 《Pair of ringed weapons》Dio Varga!?
The rings manipulated by the girl and Emile’s daggers collide with each other, letting a high-pitched metallic sound be heard many times.
– The best thing that the lowly losers of Little Garden can do is to stop the blows like this!?
As the girl says so, in the eyes of Hayato, Emile was desperately trying to block the rings.
His body still hurts a little, but there’s no mistake that this is a critical situation.
But now both Latia and Fritz have collapsed.
There’s no one who can protect Sakura.
(What should I do…?)
When thinking about it, he figured out a possibility.
Hayato takes out the 《N Tranquilizer》of his coat pocket and aims at the girl of the rings.
(If I shoot at the girl with this——)
He heard that the bullets loaded in this gun have the ability to neutralize and pierce E barriers and to destroy the balance of energy.
In that case, he may be able to stop her movement.
– I won’t let you shoot Nakri!
– Kuh!
Hayato reacted to the voice on his back, and turns his line of sight towards the body.
What is visible to him is the figure of the boy who’s setting an attack with a twin blade in his hand.
Hayato, who’s becoming disconcerted, pulled the trigger, pointing the muzzle of the 《N Tranquilizer》to the boy.
– Don’t you dare to think that I’ll receive that thing so easily!
The boy stops the bullet with the twin blade and sets off an attack as he is.
– Damn!
Hayato shoots《N Tranquilizer》again, but the result is the same.
For a moment, the twin blade bent its shape, but it didn’t lead to its destruction.
It looks like the maneuverability of is energy is that high.
If that’s the case, he can’t rely on the gun.
There was no choice but to stop the blows of the twin blade with Hien.
*CLINK*, fierce metallic sounds resound.
– Ha——I’m surprised that a guy like you can stop my 《Double Edge of Rebellion》Ohrthrus Liberio.
It was Hayato who stop the blow of the twin blade, but the boy smiles calmly.
– … kh, what’s your objective? Were you the guys who stole the Variable Stone from the live venue before!?
– If so, then what? See if you can catch us, dog of Little Garden!
The young boy shouts, bringing down the twin blade once again.
Hayato parries it again with Hien, but his body shakes due to the heavy attack.
(… kh, damn!)
Two times, three times in succession, the boy brings down the twin blade.
The best that Hayato can do is to parry it.
– Hayato…
Sakura is leaning in close to him, raising an uneasy voice,
– I’m sorry, I’ll come down.
Immediately after she was saying so, she kept her body away.
– Hmm, pretending to be the prince, huh…? But, you are unlucky. Even if you were normally armed, a simple armament of that degree would be at its limit, you know? At any rate, I still haven’t poured sense energy into my Orthrus Liberio yet!
*Shudders*, chill runs through the body of Hayato.
His black eyes shone golden and the blades of the weapon also shone in the same golden color.
(Don’t tell me, that…)
Hayato remembered the story he heard from the president about a month ago while trying to parry the attack unfolded from the arm raised overhead. At the time of the duel with the president, his eyes shone in golden color.
The same phenomenon is happening right now——
(Impossible, this guy is also a Variant…?)
If so, then no matter how you look at it, the situation is even worse.
– …kh!
Hayato loaded Hien with sense energy similar to Orthrus Liberio, and parries the twin blade.
His body shakes violently.
Hayato intends to put strength on his two legs and endure it, but the man immediately launched a kick there.
– Guuh!
Emile shouted, after seeing the body of Hayato flying backwards.
– Hayato!
– Don’t look away!
The girl brings her hand forward to attack Emile once more.
– … kuh!
Emile caught the attack of the girl at the last moment, but she was pushed by her power, and the daggers fall from her hands.
– That happens when you don’t concentrate on the battle, you stupid!
Then the girl tried to flick off the body of Emile with the other ring.
Emile grinned and loosened her mouth there.
– You are the one who’s looking away!
The falling dagger changed its shape to a floating battery and mercilessly shot a beam to the girl of the rings, as instructed by the brain wave of Emile.
– Wha!
The body of the girl shakes violently.
– It looks like a dagger, but it’s originally a battery.
Emile vanished and threw away the dagger that she was holding in the other hand and rapidly changed to something like a stick with Arms Shroud, sending the body of the girl flying, then turns the pointed end of the stick towards the boy who was exchanging blows with Hayato.
– And——this one was a rifle, you know.
– … unh.
He may have noticed the signs of light bullets that Emile fired.
The boy stretches his right hand and deploys an E barrier, making disappear the approaching light bullets, then glares at Emile in detail.
– … the form of your Hundred changed? It looks like your ability seems to be special, to the point it couldn’t beat my little sister.
– What are you looking for!? Why are you attacking us!?
Emile asked, but the boy ignored her and turned his eyes towards the girl standing to the side of the corpse of the Savage.
Then, the color of his eyes return to the original black.
– Looks like nee-chan has already finished extracting the core.
– ……
The girl nodded as she was, in silence.
When they noticed it, the eyepatch shone in a golden color, and the sword she had disappeared from her hand.
Instead of that, she had a thing of 50cm. diameter in one hand and another of 80cm. diameter in the other hand——she was carrying two cores of the Savage.
– Okay, it’s time to flee.
– Hey, wait a moment! Nesat has already finished the work. If it’s the three of us, then we can destroy them in a matter of minutes and steal their Hundred. Besides, that woman has a strange voice——
The girl of the rings raises her voice towards the boy.
– Calm down, Nakri. When you do that, you’ll find that reinforcements from Little Garden are getting closer.
The girl called Nakri closed her eyes——and opened them wide in surprise.
– … … what Krovahn is saying is completely true. A lump of energy is coming this way.
Saying that there’s no choiceif that’s the case, the girl clicks her tongue.
– Alright, I’ll do as Krovahn says. We were able to get two cores. And Vitaly’ll get mad if we get caught here.
– Vitaly you say…?
Sakura reacts to the name Nakri mentioned. Hayato is the same.
That name is the name of the doctor who made Sakura an artificial Variant.
– Hey, you. You know Vitaly?
Nakri wrinkles up her eyebrows and stares at Sakura.
– Nakri, take it easy. Remember that we have to flee.
– Ye-yeah…
– Nee-chan, give me one of the cores.
The boy said so to the eyepatch girl, stretching his hand to Nakri*.
Then she threw the bigger core to the boy.
As he caught it, Krovahn, the boy, jumped high and moved to the top of the cliff.
Nesat, who carried the other core, left in silence, following him.
– Haa, you better think that you barely escaped from death in this place today!
Nakri said so, and went after Nesat who moved to the top of the cliff.
– Hey, why are you carrying the cores!?
It was Latia who shouted. Then, Nakri looked back in midair and answered as if to despise them.
– … you really seem to not know anything, losers of Little Garden.
Leaving those words with them, the three people who wore black Variable Suits disappeared beyond the cliffs.
– … what do we do, do we go after them?
Fritz asks while looking at the cliff where nobody is there.
– No, let them go.
It’s Emile who answered, shaking her head.
– There’s no point going after them, besides we are exhausted with this much.
– You are right.
Fritz it’s not the only one who nods, since even the uniform that is wearing Emile is dusty and with cuts here and there.
– Hayato too, even though you finally bought your own clothes.
Emile’s bashful, regretting it.
– Then we have go shopping again. At that moment, you’ll be choosing them.
– … okay
Nodding, Emile continued.
– About this matter, I’ll discuss with the Prez about the rest. Even if it’s about chasing them, let’s leave it to the reinforcements from Little Garden.
After the battle, Hayato and the others were protected by the staff of Warslan who came to pick them up and returned to Little Garden in a large medical treatment bus.
However, only for Sakura it was different.
She joined the guard of the members of Selections who came as reinforcements, and went to the live venue.
Although she consumed energy deploying barriers, she insisted that she wasn’t hurt and that it wasn’t a problem for her.
It’s because she wanted to quickly ascertain the condition of the live venue.
She got information from Claire indicating that the venue didn’t suffer that much of a damage and that it might be repaired by the day of the live show.
Then, in the Student Council room where Hayato and the others, Claire and the members of the Student Council, Chris, Charlotte, and Mei Mei.
– Which reminds me, why were you guys the reinforcements?
Having finished reporting to the point where they defeated the first Savage, he remembered that he hasn’t asked that yet, so Hayato asked that to Emile.
– Actually, I immediately contacted Fritz after the emergency alert rang. Hayato knew it too, that’s why you happened to see it in the city and stayed nearby, right?
– Yeah, I saw you two together.
In other words, Emile got in touch with Fritz and Latia then she joined them and asked them to drive to where Hayato and Sakura are by car.
Claire sighs when hearing the conversation.
– It was the greatest miscalculation that the member of Selections closes to Kisaragi Hayato was Emile Crossford deshitawa. After she listened the emergency alert, despite the fact that we didn’t issue any orders, she confirmed the data without permission and finally, involving classmates to head to the site——
– But, thanks to that, the damage of the Savage was kept to a minimal, so I did well, isn’t it?
– That’s not the only problem, since there are a lot of problems arimasuwa. Next is, about the three people that appeared after you joined masuka. It’s inevitable to keep worrying about that matter desu.
The facial expression of Claire becomes severe.
Claire seems to be very interested about the three people.
After that, Hayato and the others started talking about the mysterious three Slayers.
– They’re probably 《Poachers》Hunters desuwane.
As Hayato and company finished talking, Claire mutters with a worried expression.
– Hunters? Why is that?
Fritz only offered doubts, and Hayato didn’t know anything about the hunters.
That also applies to Emile and Latia.
The four people are waiting eagerly for the reply of Claire and the others.
– Unlike the Slayers that belong to a country or a Private Military Company like Warslan Company, they belong to those organizations that aren’t approved by the United Nations or are a group of unaffiliated guys.
It’s Erika who answered.
– What’s left is, I remembered, I was telling to Kisaragi Hayato that in fact there were three Savage who had been missing during the previous raid. The rest of them have been discovered earlier in the wilderness as corpses. And they looked like the cores were gouged out-
– That means that those guys did it?
– If they are the poachers, then that possibility is high, don’t you think?
Erika replied to the question of Latia, correcting the glasses that slid with her fingertips.
– But, why steal the cores? I can understand if those guys are members of an organization that isn’t approved by the UN or are unaffiliated Slayers that went after our Variable Stones but…
– That’s right, Emile. Because the cores of the Savage have almost the same shape of the molecular structure of the Variable Stones.
– Wait, Charlotte. This conversation isn’t for general students——
– But, if it becomes like that, the conversation will be inevitable. All members that are here are already involved in this, you know? Or do you say that this isn’t related to children, just like your father or elder brother?
– That’s…
Claire falters.
– Then, I will let you continue.
– Umm, that means that the core of the Savage can be processed as a Hundred?
It was Fritz who presented a question before others.
– Yes, you are correct. The technology has already been established. Therefore, the fight for them is actually taking place among member nations as well.
– Wait a moment. Why does scrambles for it happen then? I thought the Hundred are for the sake of subjugating Savage. If the member nations are between themselves, shouldn’t then the UN manage and distribute them properly like they do with the Variable Stones?
– Without a doubt, the Hundred were created for the sake of the subjugation of the Savage. However, we can understand when seeing Kirishima Sakura that the technology isn’t used for that purpose now.
That is to say, like in Kirishima Sakura’s live, that the Variable Stone is used for purposes other than armaments——except for the Savage subjugation.
– Its usage method will be expanded from now on and there’s a great possibility that it will penetrate daily life. Therefore, hereafter, the monetary value of Savage’s core will rise and there’s a possibility that it will be treated as gold or platinum. Even if it has been decided that the UN will manage it, there are many countries and organizations that want to secure as much as possible now. If the Savage are exterminated from the universe, and there’s not even one of them on the earth, then there’s also the possibility that it will become a rare material, which will make it harder to acquire than it is now.
– Just because the core of the Savage might be used in our everyday lives…
It’s somewhat disgusting…
Latia was showing an expression on her face as if she wants to give her opinion.
– What are you saying? Even the dyes of the clothes you are wearing are taken from insects, and the fur is taken from the animals, you know? The petroleum as well, since is by nature, the corpse of an animal. It’s no different from that.
– I guess you are right…
Nevertheless, Latia is showing an unsatisfied expression on her face.
Hayato also has the same feeling.
– Anyway, if mankind can achieve further evolution using the core of the Savage or Variable Stones, just like mankind uses the fire, then mankind will make use of it, and their monetary value will increase as well. At any rate, if you think what you can make, then you can make Hundred as well.
– Then does that mean that our Hundred are made of the core of the Savage?
– Please relieve, all of your Hundred are original, okay?
– Is that so…?
When listening to Charlotte’s answer, Latia shows a relieved look.
– One last thing. I believe that of course you know this as well but, the Hundred technology progresses every day, and the power of one Slayer has become more like an aircraft rather than a tank. This will also change the power balance of the countries.
– … basically, the Hundred and the Slayers will become tools of war between people.
His eyes narrowed, Fritz spilled with a serious look.
– In the past, there were periods when mankind was thinking that if common enemies appeared, then the world should become one. However, that didn’t happen in reality, the disputes between nations, including the disputes over who has the hegemony after the annihilation of the Savage, aimed at the collapse of the power balance.
– In any case, this conversation is still confidential. Anyway, it is good to know that everyone was fine desuwa.
At the same time Claire says so, her facial expression became affable.
– One more thing, Kisaragi Hayato. You don’t have to keep doing the escort duty of Kirishima Sakura.
– … yes.
He anticipated that order.
Even though there are two more days till the live, but because Hayato’s sense energywas considerably consumed due to the resistance of today, he thought that it wouldn’t be possible to guard her when something happened.
Besides, there’s the thing about Kirishima Sakura’s 『voice』.
The three people seemed to be interested in the『voice』of Sakura who stopped the movement of the Savage.
There may be a possibility of planning to kidnap Sakura, and also probably aiming at the Variable Stone of the live venue.
Because he can’t deal with those situations in this state.
And, about the『voice』of Sakura, it was decided that Charlotte will investigate it with Mei Mei and Souffle Clearrail.
The same goes for the identity of the three individuals.
Regarding the two points, since neither Sakura nor Souffle are there, the conversation didn’t turn into a deep one.
The relation between the fact that Sakura is a Variant and her『voice』and the relation between the three individuals and Dr. Vitaly are worrisome to Hayato, but there’s no way he can speak of those things in front of everyone, so he kept silent.
That would be the same for Charlotte.
– Well then, we are breaking up for today desuwa. It was nonsensical for an operation, but everyone was safe desu. However, Fritz Grantz, Latia Saint-Émillion. Despite being incited by Emile Crossford, having entered the battlefield without permission is an equivalent act of abandoning your life desu. We were worried, so reflect on it.
– Ugh…
For a moment, it was Latia who makes her eyes shine when her name as called by Claire, but as soon as she heard those words, she felt dispirited.
Looking at them, Claire unintentionally smiled,
– However, since it was a response of a state of emergency, there won’t be punishment.
– Thank you very much.
Following Fruitz who bowed his head when saying so, Latia also bowed her head.
– … thank you very much.
– Following them, Emile Crossford will receive 30% less salary as a member of Selections for the period of one month masu.
– Huh? Why only me!?
– Because you did something on your own accord, and because there was also the possibility that the lives of two people could be lost desu. Reflect on that.
– Okay…
And then Emile gazed at Latia, who was sighing towards the carpet on the floor and asked her a question.
– Aren’t you glad that there’s no punishment for you?
– After all, she was expecting to be invited to Selections. That’s why she tried hard on combating with the Savage.
Fritz said while smiling, and placed his hand on the head of Latia.
– Shut up!
And, Latia flares up at Fritz, baring her teeth vigorously.
Looking at the situation, Claire smiled as if she was amazed,
– As for your entry to Selections, I will consider them at a later date masuwa.
– Eh…
Latia stopped moving, she had a sort of taken aback facial expression.
– Of course, I know that your reactions are high, as well as the results of your recent sham battles masu. On top of that, you fought the Savage with simple armament. That should be praised desuwa. Depending on the decision of 《LÍZA》, it’s a safe bet that before long, you will join Selections, don’t you agree? OF course, you will be granted a dedicated, and also customizable Hundred masuwa.
The expression of Latia who heard those words turned bright in the twinkling of an eye.
– Awesome!
Even if Fritz is stroking her head again, she doesn’t flare up at him like she did a few seconds ago.
On the contrary, while showing a really happy face, 『Yeah』, she nodded, showing an exceptional smile.
