>

The giant's original body, L?vateinn, had entered the underground there.

Heading to the place where the Queen was.

He couldn't not go.

That sentence continuously occupied his thinking.

The battle still continued, the battlefield had just changed positions.

But he still had energy.

Then right now he should quickly advance, and meeting up with the Queen and the others was an urgent priority.

That was the appropriate way of thinking.

"....It should be that way~"

Haia muttered discreetly.

As if not to disturb any explosives hidden anywhere, he spoke cautiously. Because he didn't know whether that thing would detonate because of something, he was quite cautious.

That kind of atmosphere filled the surroundings.

But, he couldn't move.

If it were just him then perhaps he might have classified this feeling as an illusion. There were many people here whose battle experience far surpassed Haia's, and following behind to act would be enough.

But, Haia wasn't the only person who didn't take action; the others were all the same.

In other words, this atmosphere told them that there was still something that would happen.

"Damn.... What's going on with this lukewarm situation~"

Haia gathered all of his power into recovery for the moment. The situation he was in right now could be said to be a lukewarm condition.

Regardless of what he thought, the battle underground couldn't have ended already. He should have decided on the battlefield he would advance to next long ago.

But his body told him the battle hadn't ended.

Others were in the same situation.

But, they didn't have any way to believe it.

So it was a lukewarm situation.

If someone said 'Let's go underground' at that time, Haia would have happily followed.

But, no one said so.

"What's going on~........"

Muttering this, Haia took note of something and raised his head to look at the sky.

Because of the battle just now, sporadic fires were everywhere. Because everyone other than the Heaven's Blade successors were pretty much all in the shelters, the things combating fire were all firefighting machines.

The fire retardant scattered everywhere was completely unable to block the flames.

So, the night sky was polluted red and black with flame and smoke.

Because of the air filter, the smoke lingered in the city air.

On the other side of the smoke, the moon could be seen.

The moon today seemed bigger than normal, as if encompassing the sky.

Yes.... it seemed extremely big.

"....What's going on~?"

A change had appeared on the moon. As time passed, the smoke above his head had become more and more dense, making it too late to observe.

Moreover, who in the world would make this into a crisis?

At that time, the people who didn't know the relations between the moon and Airen wouldn't possibly care about those things.

Haia focused attention to his eyes.

The appearance of the moon felt strange.

The exterior of the moon had countless bowl-shaped holes.

Why was the moon in the sky, and why did the moon's exterior have so many bowl-shaped holes? That was an eternal mystery.

As Haia noticed this mysterious appearance, countless cracks emerged.

It was a scene that was even less real.

Was it because of the air, it seemed like the exterior of the moon that had been imprinted on their eyes after looking through some screen, and the cracks continuously increased, as if a picture being drawn on paper, completely deviating from the moon that had existed until now.

But, they had almost no doubt that these things were happening on the moon.

"What...."

Even if he understood, if there was nothing that he could do, then he wouldn't think of doing anything.

Haia only wordlessly watched the phenomenon occurring in the sky.

The other Heaven's Blade successors behind him also noticed this phenomenon.

But, they were the same, and couldn't do anything.

Other than watch everything develop, they could do nothing.

The cracks drawn on the moon continuously emerged, extending, spreading their area, and finally covering the entire moon.

After the portion they could see was filled with cracks.... the moon began to crumble.

The spherical form began to crumble and disintegrate.

Did the moon's location not have the concept of gravity? The pieces didn't fall to the ground, but rather became small satellites, spreading in all directions.

Not to say that he didn't think of it, but amazingly, Haia didn't feel any fear of such a giant thing falling down even from the start.

The moon became many pieces and scattered out.

Then, everyone felt that the changes should have ended.

Because the next change should have needed quite some time.

However, it began from an unexpected place.

"....Eh? What?"

The first one who made a sound was Claribel.

Though he didn't know whether or not it had to do with the city's current condition, at the same time as the huge change in the sky attracted their eyes, something new had invaded and the next event occurred.

They couldn't judge the relationship between them immediately.

A shaking of the earth occurred.

"How's the situation?"

Haia asked into the Psychokinesis flake.

At the same time as he asked, all he could think of was that the battle underground had finally reached the place where the Queen was.

But, the answer he received wasn't like that.

(There are new energy responses, growing at a shocking speed!)

"What!!?"

Haia hadn't even thought of that kind of situation.

At the same time as he noticed the presence and turned his head, explosions occurred.

Blazing flames spread everywhere, revealing a figure.

"I hadn't thought you would be left~"

Something he had originally thought already defeated still remained.

Powerlessness, terror, and then tension. The bored feeling that he wanted to continue was unexpected still there even after all of this, and the two feelings strangely merged together, raising his awareness of the battle.

Flame and smoke were blown away, revealing a figure.

The thing slowly rising from the ground was long like a snake, a fantastically-shaped belt-like object.

"........Ah?"

Haia was confused.

Something was different.

The problem of the giant thing was different from the things up to now.

It had become tattered, which should be as a result of the battle up to now. But this wasn't the only reason.

Its outer appearance seemed to give an inconsistent feeling.

Roughly speaking, the appearance of the enemy in the battle up to now had a certain aesthetic, and it felt like its outer appearance had some meaning other than what was necessary for function.

But right now there was no such feeling.

The tattered thing.... It was unsightly like something that was forced to scrounge around for things in order to survive.

"It's not the same thing~?"

Haia had that kind of feeling.

But, if it were truly the case, the situation still wasn't simple.

Something else had already entered the battle. Though it had only been a short time, because of his concentration on recovery, he felt that he had already restored quite a bit of his Kei power.

"Though it can't be called a completed state~"

Though he said this.

Even if the condition of the enemy was the same as its outer appearance, if he thought about the destructive power that was necessary to break through that regenerative ability, then the state of the current Heaven's Blade successors made him feel unsafe.

That they couldn't match up, or perhaps would be defeated.

Those kinds of thoughts appeared in Haia's mind.

"Then, what should we do...."

Though he thought in his mind that it was better to act quickly, then, how could he act? He couldn't think of it.

(Do we have any tactics?)

Troyatte's voice came through the Psychokinesis flake. That question showed that he was the same as Haia, with the same doubts.

Not long after, a moment after Haia's feet took a step, a change occurred.

◇

Psychokinesis had succeeded in sensing that change.

It came from the sky.

"Who?"

In the place where Grendan's Psychokinesists were gathered, Felli unconsciously mumbled.

She didn't have enough to prove the reason of the change was a single person.

But there was something closing in on Grendan at a high speed.

Just noticing this, Felli was already convinced that the true nature of that thing was a single person.

Though it wasn't a fitting feeling for a Psychokinesist, she didn't think of denying it.

That thing became a streak of red light falling towards Grendan.

Quakes rocked the earth.

It wasn't created by the mass of the falling thing.

Rather, it was produced by the vibrations of Kei from the strike that went out at the same time as the thing touched down.

Felli concentrated her Psychokinesis on the landing area. Through the smoke and the visible red light of Kei, there was a person standing there.

It was a person Felli was very familiar with.

"Captain...."

Nina Antalk stood there.