The docks where the Anomalies had first landed effectively became the front lines, but because water and air weren’t the only means the enemy had of transporting troops, the fighting had spread to all over Nayuta, from the outer block to the central one. Teleportation magic could send fresh meat all the way from the portal-keep to anywhere in the city. It could be cyclopes; it could be half-man, half-cow minotaurs with axes and clubs; giant, three-headed Cerberus dogs; or even five-story-tall bronze golems—constructs with literal molten bronze for blood that would scald anyone who managed to put a crack in them. Anything could appear without warning.
But they all shared one thing in common—no mere human could stand up to them. Not even in groups. The enemy was that overwhelming.
Such was the force threatening the residents of Nayuta. They shouldn’t have lasted as long as they had. A dozen or so random people with a few guns didn’t stand a chance against the behemoths, Anomalies that could have taken a tank head on, maybe even two. And yet, somehow, they did.
The droids cleaned up the invincible enemies with casual ease. Ten thousand MUV Chakrams turned the Anomalies’ flesh and bones into strips, the spinning blades dredging up fountains of blood. And although the MUV Clay-Dolls lacked hard firepower, in groups they could make ant tunnels out of their foes or paralyze them with stun guns. All the while, the three thousand arms of metal with talons like swords—the MUV Crow Gauntlets—acted with the Mark III’s own might. Slicing, crushing, shooting. Wherever they went, many fell.
“How quaint. The apes have learned to fight.”
Scullchance sat in her chamber. Not on a chair, of course—on her golden-maned lion. The beast dozed, its eyes drearily narrowed like a house cat with a full belly. The archmage, too, had her eyes closed, though not for an afternoon nap. She was watching over the battle with senses unnatural, by the ways of Kanzeon, the hearer of a thousand voices.
“Our forces are looking rather low,” she mused. “Spirits, go. Tear them asunder.”
The mage did not deign to even open her eyes to cast the summoning spell, or to deliver the order. Ijuin would have been in awe. She could do in a thoughtless second what he needed the nanomachines to do, and even then only with immense focus. Beneath the archmage’s eyes, images flitted by, delivering developments on the field. Within her ears, she could hear the voices of the settlement.
“We could really use a few more good guys on our side!”
“Aaargh!”
“Is that...Three?”
“You’re twice the warrior you were before.”
“I may not be there to save you again, but I’m glad I was this time.”
“You’re back.”
She could feel his presence. She could see him. The warrior approaching her transient castle at speeds beyond sound. The one who witnessed the truth, in all his black and gold splendor.
“I knew you could not resist, wielder of the Shroud! Come to me, oh Vajra One!”
Never would she speak that dreadful name of his—Devicer Three. Though dishonest she would be if she were to claim not to be exhilarated by his arrival. Why else would she have prepared such a special guest, if not to see the masked warrior meet a dramatic end at the hands of the bringer of Ragnarok?
Scullchance roused her lazy body and made for the top of her palace, where she could watch the spectacle with eyes of her own.
“Hey, it just me, or are our friends changing tactics?!”
“No, it’s not just you, Volonov!”
“They’re sending reinforcements that our guns don’t work against. We’re gonna be in deep shit before long!”
Shiba and the Russian man had met up again around the warehouses of the harbor, where the fighting was still the most violent. Ein was with the executive, because despite his lack of nerve, he was the closest thing they had to a commander.
The elf girl pricked up her ears, listening for the wind’s movements. “The Chosen Dharva are clever tacticians,” she said. “They can adapt to changes in the battlefield as naturally as they breathe.”
“Wish we had some of that on our side,” Shiba griped.
The wind whipped by. It was picking up, and it wasn’t a mere ocean breeze. Just then, a soldier was swept into the air by a spiraling gust. He ascended quickly, screaming as he did, before the wind suddenly dropped him. When he landed, the screaming stopped.
The gales were an army of air elementals—spirits of the wind, whirlwinds with a conscious will. Against a foe with no corporeal form, guns were useless, and they were swirling all around the settlement. The creatures flung trolls and goblins with no regard for friend or foe as they snatched everything up, then let them fall to a most gruesome death. This ironically made the droids’ jobs somewhat easier, but the dragons, troublesome as they were, flew unhindered by the tempests.
They had to stop those elementals.
“We’ll never stand a chance without the King of the Storm or his Holy Shroud,” Ein said, biting her lip in frustration. “But Yu and his allies are fighting battles of their own. We have to manage by ourselves.”
She took shelter behind one of the warehouses, carefully keeping away from the violent winds. It was all she could do, and it aggravated her.
Volonov, hiding nearby, clicked his tongue. “Yeah, I can see that thing from here. Kid’s got his hands full.”
The glowing, red colossus off the coast of Nayuta was hard not to notice, even with half its body submerged. The lava giant’s viscous torso had to measure a hundred meters by itself alone.
Ein could feel him—Devicer Three—hovering before the enemy. This was his battle.
“It’s right here, Natsuki! Mystery Weapon X, straight out of the Three Kingdoms!”
“You’re right. That wheel looks just like Yu’s!” Natsuki pointed to the bottom end of the weapon Aliya had brought down to the tower’s entrance. Apparently, she’d hacked the security system with her nanomachines, cracked open the case, and carried the Green Dragon something-or-other here all by herself.
Problem was, the thing was ridiculously heavy. She’d had to get an anthropomorphic support droid to even lift it off the ground.
Natsuki took the weapon from the droid—“Oof!”—and then promptly almost dropped it. Her nanomachines enhanced every muscle in her body, and every muscle meant every muscle. With a punch, she could launch a grown man a solid seven meters, eight if she was motivated. But this single weapon was her match.
It took everything Natsuki had to keep it in her hands. “So, uh, how much does this thing weigh?! A hundred kilos?! Scratch that, three hundred! Final answer!”
“It’s that bad?!”
“I mean, cool weapon and all, Aliya, but I’m not sure how useful it’s gonna be!” It was unprecedented for Natsuki to throw in the towel. She inspected the weapon. Its blade, curved like a scimitar, was about as long as her katana. The shaft was even longer and evocative of a naginata, but on a closer look, she noticed that it was made of metal, not wood. At the very end, where the ferrule would normally be, was a wheel. “You said this is the same as the one Yu has?”
“Something about it makes me feel...restless,” Aliya said. “It’s like I can feel people inside it. Praying something.”
“A wheel of prayers, huh? But hold on a minute,” said Natsuki. “I thought these mini Prayer Wheels were only used in the twelve Asura Frames.”
“R-Right. Which would mean...”
Before Aliya could finish, a dragon landed hard on the ground in front of them, wings spread wide. A fleshy, red gash stood out where its right eye should have been. It glared down at Natsuki with its remaining left, a gaze filled with acidic vitriol.
“Oof, yikes, this is awkward,” she said. “That was definitely me.”
“D-Do you think it wants to get even?!” Aliya stuttered.
“I don’t know why else he’d be here!” Natsuki exclaimed. “Get inside! I’ll handle this!”
“You can’t! You said yourself that your sword’s not enough!”
Natsuki tossed aside the strange weapon and unsheathed the monomolecular blade on her back, pointing it at the beast. At the sharp end stood a monster of fifteen meters in length, magnified by its vast wingspan, and on the other was a samurai girl one-tenth its size, yet no less ferocious.
Aliya quickly knelt down and held her hand out towards the Prayer Wheel at the end of the fallen Green Dragon Crescent Blade. If she was right, if that generator was the same source of power that the Mark III drew from, then it had to be one of the Asura series.
“Please, do something!” she cried. “Whatever iteration you are, you have to awaken!”
They’d spent days and days doing this exact experiment back in Maizuru, and now it was all she had. She transmitted the awakening signal from the nanomachines in her right hand, expecting it to fail, expecting this to be it.
“What...?”
But then, it began to spin. Aliya listened to the whirring in disbelief. When the noise reached Natsuki, she broke into a wide grin, threw her sword away, and opened her palm towards the ground.
“If you’re feeling up for it, I could use some help!” she yelled.
A fraction of a second later and the dragon was bringing its leg down on the girl, claws glinting and bearing all of its crushing weight. But another fraction later and its foot was arcing through the air. Blood sprayed from the monster’s amputated ankle, and it roared in agony.
“Yeah, I’m actually a bit of a pro when it comes to naginatas and polearms,” Natsuki gloated. “Unless you wanna call my bluff, lizard.”
Natsuki flourished the Green Dragon Crescent Blade and cracked a haughty smile at her new best friend.