Dozens of meteors were currently hurtling towards Fukuoka and the surrounding region. According to Avalo, they were bits of debris that had broken off from a near-Earth asteroid. It’d been revolving around the sun for several days, but now that their orbit had overlapped with Earth’s, they had become full-fledged meteors. The gravity of the planet’s surface pulled them closer.
But this deadly yet highly unlikely astronomical phenomenon was only made reality by the hand of an archmage—Quldald of the Whirlwind—and a certain mystical item.
To combat this threat, the Nayuta group was currently gathered at the base of Hakata Port Tower—a one-hundred-meter-tall construct supported by red steel beams, very reminiscent of Tokyo Tower. It had, in fact, been created by the same architect, and it was a decorative staple of the port itself.
“I-I did what you said,” Kaji reported to Nadal. “I asked everyone I know by commlink to help us with your anti-meteor shower strategy or whatever. Apparently the government said they’d cooperate!”
“As expected,” the sage replied placidly. “They lack any sort of air or antiair capabilities, not that it would do any good against a barrage of what essentially amounts to extraterrestrial artillery. I imagine they would grovel in the mud if it meant us granting them the help of both of our Asura Frames.”
“And Scary Eyes?” Natsuki asked. “Think we’ll get a third Frame for the plan?”
“That...has yet to be seen,” Kaji said awkwardly. “I’m about to get in contact with him myself. No one in the government or military’s going to be able to get him to do anything.” She sighed. “I’m pretty much his caretaker at this point.”
“Ohhh, Tough Guy’s soft on you, eh?” Natsuki teased. “I’m impressed. That kid looks like he’d bite your hand off if you got too close.”
Kaji smiled stiffly. “I wouldn’t say he’s ‘soft’ on me. There’s just a trick to him that I’ve figured out.”
“Wow, look at you. The Queen of the Mixers is coming out of retirement!”
“Literally how do you even remember that?” Kaji waved her hand, and a gray window appeared in the air. “Anyway, I’ll give it a shot.”
Her bodily nanomachines activated, functioning much like the wearable, motion-controlled computers the elves often wore on their wrists.
“Leo,” she called out to the blank hologram. “Leo! It’s an emergency! Pick up!”
“What?” the boy snapped, his less-than-pleased face appearing in the window. The commlink had connected.
“Don’t ‘what’ me. You see the data I sent you, right? That satellite thing says there’s a bunch of meteors heading straight for us! It’ll destroy Fukuoka and all of—”
“I saw it. That means there’s an archmage somewhere throwing magic around.” Leo grinned ferociously. “I’m about to go crush them. Nice job, Kiriko. Your reports aren’t typically this useful.”
“Okay, time out!” Kaji shouted. She pulled up a data window and started glancing to the side to read from it. “The, uh, something satellite estimates a total of...seventy-two extraterrestrial bodies. To, er, break the atmosphere at about...sixteen hundred hours. Sizes ranging from fifteen to twenty meters across.” She returned her attention to Leo and looked him in the eyes. “So you and the Mark VII should go way up into the stratosphere to burn up the meteors before they get here! Like, you know, a forward in soccer or basketball! You’ve gotta get them all before they break through!”
“Oh yeah?”
“Meteors usually all, uh, evaporate? Vaporize? Whatever, they burn up in the atmosphere, so if you speed up the process with the Mark VII, everything should work out! Right? It’s all up to you!”
“You know, Kiriko,” Leo said coldly, “this seems way too logical to be a plan you came up with. Who’s the mastermind? I know it can’t be one of those idiots from the government.”
“Wow, rude! I can strategize and stuff!” Kaji vehemently insisted, her eyes swimming. Natsuki, Shiba, Sakuma, and Ijuin were staring holes into the true instigator. Nadal, however, only listened intently with his trademark stoic expression.
“It’s the people from Nayuta, isn’t it? This sounds like something that old elf would come up with.”
“God, fine, you caught me.” Kaji’s demeanor suddenly shifted. Her stern expression and firm tone softened, stark professionalism transforming into the gentle attitude an older sister might take with her feisty younger brother. “Listen, we’ve got a bit of a truce going on. Not that any of this is my fault, of course. That’s all you.”
“Whatever. It made me stronger.”
“Then how about you use some of that strength for us? I know you’re not interested in protecting anyone, but if you’re going out there to fight anyway, why not let it be this? You could save our lives, we’d owe you a few favors, and you’d get to show off.” Silence came. “Pretty good deal for everyone, right? I know you’re itching to get out there and try out your new power. Don’t act like you’re not. And you know how hard it’s going to be to sniff out an archmage that doesn’t want to be found.”
Leo grimaced and clicked his tongue. “Fine. I’ll play along.”
“Thank you! And just one more eensy little thing, if that’s okay? Could you maybe possibly let the Replicant lady go so she can help out the Nayuta folks?”
“Screw off. The Replicant’s mine.”
The commlink was then promptly cut.
Kaji groaned before facing the others and putting her hands together in apology. “I’m sorry, Natsuki! I really tried, for real, but I couldn’t get your friend back!”
“It’s cool, really!” Natsuki grinned. “Felt like I was watching a lion tamer.”
“I don’t know if I’d call it that,” said Kaji, smiling shyly. “You just have to be reasonable and totally upfront with him. And whatever you do, don’t push his buttons.”
“That easy?”
“Pretty much. I swear he has his moments. Sometimes I even think, hey, maybe he’s got a tiny bit of good in there. Sometimes.”
“Sounds to me like our little tough guy’s got a thing for you,” Natsuki teased.
“Yeah, right.” Kaji laughed.
As the two girls chattered and joked with each other, the youngest of them was completely silent. Ijuin didn’t want to interrupt, but more importantly, he had been tied up in a satellite call with his best friend, corresponding via text this time so as not to disturb Kaji’s negotiations.
“Actually, I think we’re A-OK,” he said, finishing up his last message. “Ein’s comin’ home! Ich— Three’s got it covered!”
✦ ✦ ✦
Leo stood on a runway of the Fukuoka airport. The Mark VII—Agni’s Photon-Frame—glistened around his body as he activated the anti-gravity lifters, rocketing straight up into the sky.
“Replicant. Gospel,” he commanded.
—Witness the truth. Envision vajra.
—See, says the Enlightened One, true strength in tathata.
—Give form to invincible serenity, flawless as the full moon.
At long last, it was here. The elf’s beautiful voice rang out, though it was flat and emotionless. It was far more a mechanical process than a song, but it was enough for Leo.
“Yes!”
The Prayer Wheel in his belt spun, quickly reaching peak velocity, and it chorused with innumerable voices, “Gate Gate Paragate! Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha! Gate Gate Paragate! Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha!”
A blanket of adaptive nanofactors diffused out from the Photon-Frame, sparkling and coalescing into a physical form reminiscent of the glowing arm he had used to repel the Mark III. However, this time, it was more than just that. A second arm, two legs, a head, and a torso all came together to give birth to a colossal puppet—a giant of light well surpassing forty meters in height. Where two eyes would be were gaping voids, and from its back sprouted two angelic wings. In place of a heart was Leo himself.
This was Agni’s most powerful of auxiliary droids, a creation Leo had only been able to construct a single limb of until now. Truly, Leo could feel the massive difference in power he could generate with the Replicant’s hymns.
“Time to put it to the test, Agni! Let’s see how many of those things we can shoot out of the sky!” he roared. “Replicant, upload as many Gospel Codes as you can! I want it all! The Doomsday Books, the droids! Unleash everything!”
Meanwhile, Yu lingered by the window of his hotel room, still fully armorized. He was not enjoying the view, however. He was examining a video being streamed to him by a MUV Bumblebee surveillance droid he had deployed.
A winged giant of light was shooting up into the sky. It was apparently a droid. With the help of a Replicant, Leo had finally obtained the ultimate power he’d so craved.
And that was Yu’s cue.
Some time earlier, his conversation with Ijuin had gone thusly...
“Ijuin! I’ve got Ein’s location! Can you go get her?!”
“Uh, things are a little chaotic!”
“I know. The meteor storm. But once Ein is safe, I can help!”
“Wait, you might not need us. I think you’re good to head there yourself.”
“What do you mean?”
“Seems like Devicer Seven’s gonna be heading out to take on the meteors. That’ll be your chance.”
Ijuin’s prediction had come true, and Leo Makishima had deployed high into the atmosphere to stop the incoming stellar bombardment. Nothing was in Yu’s way anymore.
Yu silently thanked his friend. Without his help from the satellite, Yu would have been utterly immobilized. But not anymore.
“I’m coming, Ein.”
Donned in the black and gold armor, Yu crashed through the window and shattered the sound barrier in an instant. His destination: Fukuoka Airport.