e.

– .. umm, Emilia.

– What?

– Behind you.

– ..eh?

The facial expression of Emilia who looked over her shoulder, became stiff. The?Trenta?was right behind her and it was raising its scissors.

– Good grief, you guys!

Claire released?energy?shots consecutively from?Buster Cannon?that she had in her arms.

*DON* *DON*, explosions occurred on the head of the?Trenta. For a moment, the movement of the scissors ceased and?Trenta?turned its face to Claire. But immediately turns to Hayato and Emilia, and swings downward the scissors once again.

– Please leave this to me― <<Chains of Absolute Fate>>?Everlasting!

Erika who created a pink chain in her hands shoots it and wraps it around the arms of the?Trenta.

– Claire-sama, shoot it as I am containing it now! Emilia and Hayato, please escape immediately!

– I know masuwa! With all my strength, this is the end!

Claire pours?energy?into?Buster Cannon. An alert sounds and shows that?energy?is almost already depleted, it’s an opportunity for Erika to do it even if it takes a lot of effort. This is not the place to care about that. If they defeat this?Trenta, everything will be over. Even if her energy is zero, she must hold it there.

– ..h, kuh!

Erika’s expression is distorted by pain. Due to the?Trenta?showing resistance, her arms with chains were approaching their limits. But Claire’s?Buster Cannon’s?energy?filling rate is still seventy percent. It’s no way enough to destroy the core of the?Trenta?with its defensive barriers.

– Kyaah!?

At seventy five percent, the limit finally arrived for Erika.? She, who lost before the power of?Trenta’s?arm, her body was lifted together with her chain, and immediately was knocked down hard to the ground.

– Kuah!

Cracks enter to the lens of the glasses, they hang to further being crushed. But she is still keeping her state of armament, her body moves twitchingly, it can be said that she was spared. It seems that she is trying to contain that body. The?Trenta?extends the scissors to the body of Erika.

– Stop it!

Claire aims at the large build of her enemy and released the beam. To that extent, she couldn’t pull apart Erika from the?Trenta. It was possible to break through the barrier developed on the surface of the steel shell, but it did a mere scratch on it.

– Kuh..!

Claire shows a regrettable facial expression. The scissors of the?Trenta?touch Erika and lift her body.

– Erika-san!

– Erika!

Hayato and Claire. One can wonder if she regained her mind with the sorrowful screams of the two of them.

Erica’s eyelids opened. It seems she finally grasped the situation.

– Kisaragi Hayato and.. Claire-sama..? I am.. kuh..!

Erika develops an E barrier around her body so that the scissors won’t crush her. On the contrary, she tries to open the scissors with the power of the?energy?as it is, but she couldn’t do that. Her body is lifted in a position higher than the head of the?Trenta. And the head of that just opened. What can be seen inside is a muzzle.

(Don’t tell me, its intention is to shoot to Erika-san?)

However, it was not that. The muzzle starts to morph and changes its shape. Sharp teeth appear, and something like a tongue is shown.

– That thing, no way..

Claire is in a state of bewilderment. The scissors in its arms transformed into gun-like things, and she knew that it was rare for a Savage to change from a turret inside the mouth to a?gatling gun.

And so she heard that among them there were those that turned something into a tongue inside their mouths. So that means that those are individuals who eat people. In this situation, one of them have appeared―.

At that time, Hayato remembered something.

(That’s right, at that time too..)

It was in Gudenburg, ten years ago. The Savage which captured Emilia at that time, he remembered that there was something like teeth, a mouth and a tongue instead of a muzzle on the head.

– Ah, aaah...!

Emilia was trembling next to Hayato. The?Trenta?keeps approaching its head, in order to eat Erika.

– Ua, ah..aaah..

The voice continues to leak bit by bit from the mouth of Emilia. Becoming aware of that, she crumbles down to the ground from her knees.

– Hey, Emilia, be strong! If you aren’t, we will not be able to save Erika-san!

– ..tsu, sorry, Hayato.. if you move from here, I may not be able to stay as me... So, Hayato..

– Ah..!

Hayato noticed that Emilia’s eyes are dying in golden color.

(Maybe, the ability of the Variant is running wildly?)

*DOKUN*, the heart of Hayato throbbed.

Even himself, if he awakes the Variant now that is in an exhausted state, it may run out of control. But still, they need to save the Vice-president―.

– Kisaragi Hayato, Emilia Hermit. In the case that you want to use the power of the Variant, then I will do it masuwa.

With that voice, Hayato is taken aback.

Last summer, <<Operation: Bird in the cage>>. When Hayato shared the Variant’s power with a kiss.

– With the power of the Variant, even though the strength goes beyond the limit and the energy is temporary, you will be able to withdraw, don’t you agree? And thereupon, I will punch the body of the Savage, and save Erika masuwa!

– No, what are you saying, President!? It is dangerous to do such a thing. To begin with, the power of the Variant is dangerous..

– Erika, I promised something a long time ago. As long as I stay by your side, no matter what happens, I will absolutely save you. For that reason, I will do whatever it takes masuwa. This, you will not die. That is my promise to Erika. So, kiss me to―

– Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Hayato was surprised to that voice, which suddenly jumped into his ear. The same is true for Claire who was talking, and for Emilia who was running out of control.

– That voice of now..

Hayato turns his line of sight towards the voice approaching from afar.

Hem with a black sword in her hand, he was able to see a little girl who dashes through the ground while shaking her ponytails like a flame.

– Why is she, here in this place..?

– Hayato, do you know that girl?

– Ah, uh huh..

Touka jumped high with the huge?Trenta’s?corpse as a foothold, and slashed from above to the arm of the?Trenta?that seizes Erika.

If it is an ordinary sword it will definitely be broken, and if it is an ordinary slash, the hand will be numb or it will be bounced back. But what Touka is holding is the sword that Hokuto, the father of the girl made, and a slash practiced and worked out by Ryūsei that she released. So even though she couldn’t cut the arm, it seems that she managed to loosen its strength. In that gap, Erika puts effort on both arms and opens the scissors of the?Trenta.

Erika’s body falls to the ground. And almost at the same time. Touka, who landed first, stood in front of the?Trenta?and held the sword high in the sky.

– Take thiis!

The sword once again swung down swiftly, and knocks down the large body of the?Trenta?backwards.

– Kisaragi Hayato, don’t tell me that girl’s..

It seems like Claire, who had already been told about Touka, have felt something.

Hayato shook vertically his head as if it were that.

– Hayato, that!

– Huh?

As a result of Emilia screaming loudly, Hayato suddenly notices that Touka, who was trying to pursue the?Trenta, is holding her shoulder, and falls to her knees.

The wounds of the wild dog that attacked on that occasion seemed to throb.

– Hey, are you okay!?

– Shinshishō! Don’t worry about me. Leaving that aside, use this―.

Touka threw the sword that she had in her hand to Hayato.

– This is..

Hayato received the sword that the father of Touka made, a sword that he forged.

– I’m afraid to say that I’m not able to fight any further. However, Shinshishō can still move. So, I leave the rest to you.

– That’s, is it possible for me to do the?Zaneizan?with this sword?

– Of course!

The blood begins to blot on the bandage and while pressing the right shoulder with her hand, Touka continues.

– If it is Shinshishō, he will definitely be able to do it. At any rate, Shinshishō is, my Shinshishō!

Hayato unexpectedly smiles to those things that she said, and he doesn’t know whether if she has persuasive power or not.

– Fine. I’m gonna try. About why you are here, you will tell me later, okay?

Hayato readies his sword, and glares at the?Trenta.

(This feeling, it’s been a long time ago)

Although he is wearing a Variable Jacket*, and his?energy?is nearly exhausted, in the end Hayato is not a normal human being. He can neither accelerate nor jump by using?energy.

(But, there is no other way!)

Hayato kicked the ground. He jumped with the corpse of the Savage as a foothold, just as it was done by Touka.

In response to the attack of Touka, he swung the sword towards the?shelter?of the?Trenta?which is currently in a forward-bent posture.

– Eat this, from my master! A sword technique created by Kenzaki Ryūsei― Secret Style Sword Technique,?Zaneizan!!

Starts with a one long sword―.

At the moment when the slash collided with the resistance of the?shelter, he once again released a second long sword.

– You did it!

Touka shouted at the sight of the?shelter?crumbling like sand. However, the core has not been destroyed yet.

Of course Hayato also noticed that.

– Then, I will do it one more time!

The ability of Variant of Hayato was coming back due to the kiss with Emilia. Those eyes shine in a golden color. At the same time the world changed into slow motion.

(I’ll do it! I can do it!)

Believing so, he draw the sword a second time, and thrust the tip towards the core. A sensation of destruction is transmitted to the hand.

(It looks like I managed to do it, I suppose)

It was a fleeting moment of feeling relieved. The color of the eyes returns to normal, and the movement of the world also goes back. Along with the collapse of the large build, Hayato’s body also fell to the ground.

– This really hurts..

Naturally, he couldn’t land properly. Claire and Emilia come closer to Hayato who destroyed the balance of his body with all his strength and falls on his backside to the ground.

– You did it, Hayato.

– Well, in a way or another, it was thanks to.. this..

Hayato got shocked by looking at the sword that he had in his hand. The blade of that was broken. Then exactly at that, Touka come along while holding her shoulder.

– That is..

Looking at the sword broken in half, her eyes are rounded.

– It’s bad, because of me, has ended up like this.

Maybe the sword technique was not perfect? Or, was it because the power of the Variant was too much? He doesn’t know.

– Shinshishō, the sword―.

To the hand that was presented, he handed over the sword. Touka looked at the broken sword in her hand, and stared to the broken sword with a sorrow look on her face.

– Surely, Chichi-ue is pleased. This sword too, it’s satisfied to be broken in battle, while protecting the earth from the Savage...

Touka crouches down completely, and picks up the broken blade.

While touching it and brushing it gently, she continues her words.

– Besides, originally, it is also my fault because I appeared in this place. So, you don’t have to worry, Shinshishō.

– Oh, you are right. You, why are you here..?

[That, I can explain it]

It is a forced communication from Charlotte.

[She awoke right after Hayato-kun jumped off the transport plane. She begged me to drop off as well. Otherwise she would have jumped off forcibly from here]

– You, why do you have to do such unreasonable things..

– Shinshishō has helped me, right? Then, if something happened to Shinshishō, I thought that I had to help him.

– So, Charlotte-san told the pilot to drop Touka?

[I told him that it was good only if she can see from the top of the cliff a bit away. I never thought that it would end up like this, you know?]

That said, Charlotte laughed.

– You must be kidding, Charlotte Dimandius. That’s the thing about you. Anyway, you anticipated this, am I correct?

[Well, rather than using you or Emilia that could run wild, and therefore use the power of the songs of Karen and Sakura, I thought that it would be nice to have the Savage defeated with her power. As a result, it was Hayato-kun, and his power who broke the sword. Finally, Kenzaki Touka―]

– Ah, yes!

[That sword, show it to me later. Perhaps repairs are possible. Only if you wish for that]

– Ah, yes!

Touka nods happily. Following that, Hayato said.

– At any rate, I’m glad everyone are safe. Because as this was called the?Third Attack, I thought that this would be more of a serious matter.

It is ten years since the?Second Attack. During that time, is it possible that the mankind have gotten stronger because of the Hundred?

Although it was too much of a hard fight, the battle of this time progressed steadily, but Hayato still has an uncomfortable feeling for some reason. ― And,

– From such a thing, I have something that I want to ask to Hayato.

Suddenly Emilia pinches his cheek, and Hayato raised his voice.

– Ouch, what are you doing!?

– Who on earth is that girl? Why in the world is she calling you “Shinshishō”? There are a lot of things that I want to ask so, won’t you begin to explain them to me?