It had been a long time since she’d descended to the capital.
As they entered the atmosphere, Hanabi was feeling pretty good. She could look directly at the black moon now without a panic attack. All it reminded her of was the lecture the kid had given her in the water, of his kindness, warmth, and familiar scent.
The main force had been dropped five minutes earlier. A barrage of missiles scattered the mist over the capital, and their senpai dropped through the hole. The Fuji Squad would follow soon after, leading the Lunatic Order. They placed descent boards under their feet, handling the wall of fire generated on re-entry via adiabatic compression.
The DM’s full powers would activate after re-entry. As they reached the air just above the capital, the main squad would wipe out the Jave in aerial combat and seal the Gate.
Their comms were still active. Hanabi spoke briefly to Fuji and Rin, waiting for their moment to act.
Re-entry in five, four, three, two…
There was a roar and a powerful jolt from below. The descent boards and Witch Bubbles couldn’t lessen the G-forces entirely, so Hanabi, the Fuji Squad, and the other two advance Lunatic Order Squads had to endure them as they all entered the gravitational field.
The light around her reflected, all red and orange and multi-colored, and her eyes both saw and didn’t see it as she desperately waited for it to end. Comms were cut off for the entirety of the two-minute descent. Enduring pressure that seemed ready to crush her, Kuon’s face floated into Hanabi’s mind.
I’ll come back to you.
At last they were through the wall of fire, but they were still falling at terrifying speeds. They continued decelerating.
It had been thirteen years since she’d seen the capital.
Hanabi was back in the skies above her home.
It was hell.
The spectacle below her wasn’t the home she’d known. Red fleshy monsters—the manta-shaped flying Jave—were assaulting the main force. Hanabi’s senpai was devoured before they even had a chance to take up positions. The comms came back online but were filled with screams. Command was issuing orders right and left, the result a confused mess. The numbers Hanabi saw below her and the numbers on her radar were automatically added together.
The total was nearly three times the combined might of the Lunar Defense Force.
As Hanabi stared, stunned, something red flew past her at high speed; a flying manta. The Cavalleria next to Hanabi was gone. She’d been an attacker from the current rank three team, a friend Hanabi had fought many a mock battle against. Her friend’s arm fell from the manta’s mouth. Hanabi realized her friend had been eaten by a Jave, and only then did she register the alarms blaring in her ears.
They were surrounded by dozens of Jave. They circled the freshly descended Student Echelons like sharks circling their prey, then suddenly wheeled around to attack.
What…the…
In the two minutes comms had been down, the Jave had attacked. Hanabi knew that much.
“Watch your six! Form up around me! Leave no blind spots! They’re coming!”
Fuji’s orders snapped her out of it. “Form two rings around Controls! Attackers in the outer ring, Gunners in the inner! Do it now if you don’t want to die!”
The Lunatic Order Cavalleria had frozen, making themselves prime targets, but now they all snapped into action. Three Squads, three Controls, three Cavalleria back to back, three Gunners just in front of them, and five Attackers protecting the gaps. Hanabi’s friend, the sixth Attacker, was already gone.
“Lunatic Order Sagara Squad, Mitsuhashi Squad, any objections to me assuming command? Then both Controls, fire with the Gunners! Send all intel you receive my way! Attackers, they’re on us!”
Their orders had changed.
The three Lunatic Order squads led by Fuji were to rendezvous with the third wave of drop squads and assist with the retreat of what remained of the main force. Retreat was the only goal. Command had given up on attacking the Gate. A wise decision, Fuji felt. All that remained was to extract as many senpai from the center of the enemy as possible. If they could get out of the capital war zone through Tokyo Bay and reach the escape fleet on the Pacific, they might be safe. The black mist might prevent entry, but it didn’t block escape. You couldn’t even see the mist from the inside. The only barrier to escaping was the Jave themselves.
They’d gone up against ten-to-one odds before. They’d faced ten times their number and killed their enemies instantly, sustaining no damage. Now they were up against only three times their number, with eleven Cavalleria. They may have been students, but they were highly skilled.
But none of this was nearly good enough.
It was all the Lunatic Order could do to protect themselves until reinforcements dropped down from above, much less go to help the main forces.
If Kuon were here…
Fuji knew he could stop time, calculate enemy attacks and evasion routes, and share them with the rest of the squad by using Shichisei Kenbu: Mod. Tensetsu Shigure.
If only Okegawa Kuon were here, they wouldn’t be struggling against these enemies.
Why had the operation been for now? Why not a week later, even five days later? If it had, Okegawa Kuon would have been there with them. They never would have been forced to watch a friend die.
He knew it was too late and was surprised to find himself dwelling on it anyway.
Since when am I so reliant on him? On a thirteen-year-old Division 1 child?
Pathetic, he thought. No point wishing for what you don’t have. Focus on how to get out of this with what you do.
The third wave of reinforcements was coming; they would be defenseless. The Lunatic Order needed to clear the trash out of the sky for them. Keeping their formation, they began to rise.
It was Rin’s first time descending on the capital.
Unlike Hanabi, Rin was born and raised on Jogen, and had never set foot on the mainland. She’d never even done a re-entry before. Before she could catch her breath, they were in the thick of it. Rin hadn’t even gotten her bearings yet when she found herself sniping the attacking monsters. She was in a panic, her mind totally blank. She couldn’t think. Her body just did what Fuji said, moving where he told her, returning fire.
I’m getting tired fast…
She didn’t realize that until their reinforcements had arrived and they were headed to the Gate to support the main force’s retreat. Her magic was draining at nearly twice the speed it usually did. Hanabi was at the fore, shielding the others, and had opened a comm to ask if Rin was okay. How perceptive, Rin thought. “I’m a goner! Hanabi, protect me!”
“Sure, got it,” Hanabi said in a manly voice, as if sensing just how far gone Rin was. You don’t have to be Kyuu-kun to fall for that. Laughing to herself, Rin followed. She had three magic recovery capsules left. If those ran out, she wouldn’t be able to keep her DM up, and she’d be eaten by those gross, squiggly monsters.