at the teams' positions outside the city would become disorganized and that the surrounding net would crumble.

Though she was worried, Nina still had to deal with this thing right here.

Nina believed in the training of her teams and increased her Kei flow.

The countless eyes on the black gaseous body looked at Nina. The sound of the teeth became more intense, a sign of hostility.

"Isn't it about time to say what exactly your goals are?"

Nina tried asking jokingly.

Of course, the black mist couldn't tell her the answer.

Year nine of the New Earth Calendar.

During the creation of a new international society, a certain nation carried out an experiment.

The National Coalition was currently dealing with the aftermath of that experiment, but the start of it all was the contraption of a scholar who had made a nation into his puppet.

That scholar had been unable to forget the miracles shown by the Erdhart Gate, so he had used the funds of his puppet nation to carry out a plan.

That plan, which had been called the 'Severed Space Investigation Plan', had been a journey to realize the other side of this world.

The goal of that experiment was to reach the other side of the rift in the sky that appeared between night and day. Unfortunately, that experiment had succeeded. With its success, cracks appeared in the space and the Aurora field, which could be called the other side of the world, appeared.

However, it wasn't traces of the Erdhart Gate that appeared there.

In place of it were nightmare that named Searchers.

That scholar was the one to name the nightmares, but no one ever heard about the origins of the name.

The Searchers' goals were unclear to this day. They would sometimes appear randomly and attack humans, and sometimes they would gather in a place to scheme things like this.

Were they watching something in this world like their name implied, or was that name just a mistake that had become mainstream?

No matter what the answer was, this nightmare endangered humans.

"That's why I'll defeat you!"

The black mist started changing.

The Searcher separated into countless ribbon-shaped bodies that attacked Nina.

Nina retreated backwards while pouring Key into her hands and deciphering the movements of the ribbons.

The moment a ribbon lunged towards Nina, Nina would release the Kei gathered in her hands at where she was standing and then retreat back.

External Kei variant - Untouchable Beast King.

It was a dense Kei, unlike the thin Kei that covered Nina. The Kei compressed to its limits in her palms created gravity and drew in the surrounding objects towards it.

The ribbon-shaped mists that tried to bite Nina were all absorbed by the ball of concentrated Kei and slowly crushed inside it.

The Searcher continued approaching Nina, unconcerned that a part of it was being eliminated by the compressed sphere. Even if it was aware this was a trap, its attack patterns were very monotonous.

No, were they monotonous or not?

Or did it just think that it wouldn't matter whether they were monotonous or not?

This could be because the Searchers had already filled the entire abandoned city.

Nina changed her route without confirming the presence that came from behind her. She released the compressed spheres of Untouchable Beast King one by one on her path of retreat. The compressed spheres didn't maintain their gravity for very long. Even so, they ought to be accurately whittling away at her opponent, but her opponent looked unconcerned.

Maybe the Searchers didn't have an organism's nervous system for self-management.

"That's why it's easy for me to lay a trap."

Nina, who moved while floating as if gliding over the ground, suddenly stopped her horizontal movement.

Vertical movement.

Nina stopped her floating and leaped upwards.

Even if her movement methods were quite rapid, the Searcher still closely pursued Nina with its gaseous forms.

Her leap carried her past the vine-covered tall buildings and also passed the air filter that had once been there, continuing to bring Nina towards the sky.

The Searcher chased Nina.

From the center of the abandoned city, from the gaps between buildings, from every alley, from every window. They passed through the cracks in the ground, through the shattered glass, through the spaces between vines, and constantly rose from where Nina would land while blotting out the entirety of the Sky Spider City Terachda.

"They've all come out, huh."

Nina didn't fight with those tremendous numbers. Rather, she continuously spun the Kei she was keeping compressed.

She let the Kei spin.

Compressing it further.

External Kei Variant - Double Untouchable Beast King.

She pushed the two compressed spheres in her hands together.

The compressed spheres that were forced together changed, and the impact produced sent Nina flying.

On the other hand, the compressed spheres interfered with each other and unleased powerful gravity on the surroundings that couldn't be compared to that from earlier.

The powerful gravity caught all of the Searchers crawling out from the city, pulling them together towards the compressed spheres.

That was Nina's goal.

The black, gaseous forms of the Searchers were captured by the gravity from the compressed spheres and tangled together in the sky.'

Still safe from the gravity waves released form her Kei technique, Nina preemptively escaped from its effective region.

The place she went just happened to be the bottom of the big hole where the Searcher had hidden itself.

"Hah!"

After landing, Nina restored two iron whips in her hands and gripped them firmly.

"It's over."

In that moment, Kei shot out from her entire body.

The light of Kei drove the darkness away from the deeply-dug hole, becoming a pillar of light and shooting towards the city.

The light of Kei only filled the city for a moment. The swelling light of Kei focused inside Nina's body, circulated, rotated, and transformed, and then flowed into her two iron whips.

The step she took crushed the rubble.

Electricity ran through the surrounding air and exploded with sparks.

The breath she exhaled was filled with electricity. Nina sprinted at lightning speed at the same time as she swung her iron whips.

Combined internal and external Kei variant - Raijin.

The two released strikes of lightning sped towards the compressed sphere.

Lightning ran from the ground to the sky, splitting open the black mist of the Searcher and burning them with its heat.

The iron whips she swung shattered the compressed sphere.

The sphere, which had still been effective, collapsed onto itself from the gravity released when Raijin destroyed it. The energy produced became a shockwave that tore open the sky.

The Searchers that had been pulled into the air by the compressed sphere had nowhere to escape.

An explosive sound drowned out everything, so no one heard the wail of the Searchers.

After escaping the black mist and the purple lightning that covered the sky, Nina once again stepped on the ground of the Sky Spider City.

(....C....Commander!)

A voice sounded from the Psychokinesis flake.

"You can get through now?"

(Commander! Are you safe?)

"Yeah, but I let some enemies get away. Tell the teams not to let them escape and to investigate whether there are still enemies lurking inside the city."

(Understood.)

After cutting the communication, Nina returned her Dites to her weapon belt.

The smell of the battle's aftermath and the withered vines filled the area.

A different stench also rose up through the air stirred up by the battle. A putrid, dry stench filled the abandoned city, and judging by how it leaned more towards the cry side, she could infer that this abandoned city had spent a very long time like this.

"Don't destroy the city too severely and you'll get good luck."

Nina had listened to that proposal, but still didn't know what it meant. Nina herself hadn't destroyed anything, but what about the things the Searcher had destroyed? Nina started becoming restless when she thought of that.

She thought of the other thing Eri had said.

She said they would return.

She could understand why there were Searchers here if they were returning. Since the Searchers had also come from over there.

However, even so, why would they stay here? Did they have some kind of plan? Or were they just feeling the presence of the other side and gathering here like flies?

There were still many mysteries about the Searchers.

They still hadn't gotten any information about the people who had been on the other side - Airen, Saya, and Nelphilia.

"We'd be able to learn the truth if they were here."

But Nina couldn't just complain. Battles against the Searchers would still continue in the future. They couldn't discover the true identity of the Searchers just by sitting back and waiting for those people to take care of everything, since they didn't even know whether they were still alive.

That was why the plan was still going on.

The Severed Space Investigation Plan.

The scholar who had first thought of that plan had single-mindedly wanted to reach the other side of the world, but the National Coalition had stolen that plan from the scholar's hands in order to discover the truth of the Searchers.

However, they still hadn't gotten any results.

The travelers who had headed to the other side for the second repeat of the plan still hadn't returned.

"Will they really come back?"

Though Eri had said so, Nina was still unconvinced. She hoped to herself that it was the case.

But a resigned feeling that it would be impossible also hid in Nina's heart.

(Commander, the remaining enemies have been finished off. We've also inspected the abandoned city. There aren't any Searchers still there.)

"I see."

(There's still the problem of our time limit here. It's about time to withdraw--)

"Wait."

Nina stopped the Psychokinesist's words.

"I'm going to wait here until I can't wait anymore. Things can't end like this."

(But....)

"Prepare to withdraw."

(Understood.)

Nina ignored the Psychokinesist's questioning tone and wandered the city on her own. She had no goal, she was just walking through the roads because she couldn't stand still and do nothing.

But nothing changed.

She was just mindlessly wandering through the tranquil abandoned city. Nina even started feeling like she was ridiculous for doing this.

No, was that all?

"........Damn."

Nina had forgotten something.

Eri only talked about things she deemed important.

What had Leu said?

She had said the two nations fighting over Nairomiro had both been eyeing this abandoned city.

Why were they focused on this place? Leu said that they seemed to know that something would happen here.

Why were they still eyeing this abandoned city that had long since been abandoned and which had now become a nest of Searchers?

Why were the Searchers here?

Were the three of them all focused on the same thing?

Then, was something really going to happen here?

(Commander, time's almost up.)

"Yeah, I know."

Nina nodded at the Psychokinesist's words.

Even if there was the possibility, Nina couldn't ignore the promise between Nations and stay in this location.

(Actually, we received information that two nation's armies have invaded this buffer region.)

"What?"

(They're still avoiding conflict right now.)

"Ugh...."

As expected, there was something here, but there was no time.

Just as Nina decided to withdraw despite her worries.

A change happened.

A nearby building split open.

"Uh...."

Even Nina, the high-ranking Military Artist High Booster who had fought hundreds of battles, couldn't help but be surprised at the scene of a tall building suddenly becoming two halves.

In other words, there had been no signs at all that this was going to happen.

No, more accurately, there hadn't been anything that a Military Artist could detect with her senses.

It wasn't a rift cut open in the physical dimension.

"Are they coming?"

It wasn't the building that split, but rather space itself.

"An abnormal situation has occurred. All teams prepare for battle. But there's no need to force yourselves, withdraw at your own judgment."

Nina was also very concerned that the two armies that had infiltrated the buffer region would do something.

(........)

"Tch!"

No response. Was the communication broken?

As Nina was about to pull away to observe the rift, she noticed something else.

The rift wasn't only in front of her.

There were also rifts in other areas.

Rifts had appeared in every corner of the city. Colors seeped from them into the darkness and then slowly vanished.

What was happening?

Would the Searchers appear again?

In some sense, that way of thinking was accurate.

The difference was their shape.

Something appeared from the first rift she had noticed.

It was so huge that Nina didn't know what it was at first.

It was a hand.

A giant hand peeked over from the other side of the rift.

The hand was black. That pure-black hand pushed open the rift and showed the face it belonged to.

Occupying the other side was a darkness that would be prominent even in the dead of night. Perhaps that was its entire body.

A giant eyeball occupied half of the space on its head.

The rift continued being pulled open to its limits, and the giant body was dragged to the world on this side.

The giant's body was almost the same as a human's. It had two hands and two feet, along with a torso to support them. The different part was that the giant only had one eyeball, and its size.

Its contour swayed gently, as if it were stretching.

"As I thought, a Searcher."

Nina concluded after seeing that figure.

This darkness was probably a thicker form of the thing that had formed the gaseous bodies from before.

Would that kind of thing turn into this if it solidified while hiding in a city? No, Nina felt like it wouldn't turn into this.

In that case, did it mean that this single-eyed giant appearing before her was even stronger than the one before?

Many such things were appearing here.

Giants jumped out from the other rifts in addition to the one in front of her.

This itself wasn't unusual.

"Honestly, how did things become this way?"

That was why Nina murmured this.

It had been the same when Ahasnahart's determination had sent the Electronic Fairies into turmoil.

It had been the same during the commotion from the alchemist ghost the research team had dug up.

It had been the same during the assassination attempt on Karian during the development of the nations, and it had been the same afterwards when the National Coalition had been established.

Almost every trouble involving Nina had been more or less the same.

Enemies would suddenly appear and show powerful fighting strength.

Nina would fight, fight, and keep fighting with these beings, which was why she had become who she was now.

"Why won't this world ever have peaceful days?"

Nina murmured gripingly as she restored her iron whips again.

Eri had made a request to destroy the abandoned city as little as possible. But with this, it seemed like she wouldn't be able to keep that promise.

"Will such a large-scale space abnormality be limited to within the abandoned city?"

Maybe the teams positioned outside the city were also in danger.

"I guess I can't keep waiting?"

Maybe she had also been looking forward to the reunion at long last.

"I have to withdraw."

After Nina decided this, a one-eyed giant attacked as if to interrupt her.

"Tch!"

Countless fangs sprouted from that hand, extending out and becoming spears.

The shooting spears wiped out the surrounding buildings as they attacked Nina.

It looked like they wanted to block Nina's path of retreat.

The spears that looked as thick as Nina's body smashed the structures as they approached. Nina jumped to avoid the spears' attacks, but afterwards a large amount of debris became a wave that fell on top of her.

Nina dug a hole in the wave of rubble with external Kei and escaped danger through it.

But after getting through that crisis, another crisis appeared on the other side.

Nina hadn't escaped the giants' surround.

The spears shot towards her from behind, being pulled back. Nina parried the debris that was still showering through the air as she avoided them and changed to levitation for movement.

Nina rose up. This was also to confirm the overall situation.

But....

"What's going on?"

After reaching a certain altitude, the sensation of being caught by something viscous assaulted Nina. The speed at which she ascended with levitation clearly slowed.

Something was covering the sky of the abandoned city.

"You don't want to let me run, huh?"

But she hadn't thought the opponents would have those methods.

"I can't underestimate them. I thought they were just annoyances."

It seemed that she would be unable to escape by brute force. Nina immediately changed her line of thought and descended to the ground.

Since she couldn't run, all she could do was fight her way out.

After Nina decided this, she started to unleash her Kei. Just then--

"This...."

A Kei flow came from someone other than her.

It was a strange feeling as if it were far away but also very close. Though its nature was different from the Keis of the teams outside the city, Nina had recollections of it.

"No way...."

Nina looked around and then noticed it.

It was a rift.

The thundering waves of Kei were spilling from its depths, engulfing the surrounding giants.

It was coming. A phenomenon occurred at the same time as her body felt this.

External Kei variant - Omnidirectional Resounding Sword.

This was a move where the user filled an area with Kei and then condensed it into a blade.

The Kei that engulfed the giants was the sword that this Kei had become.

A huge sword as large as these giants.

The sword pierced through the giants' torsos. They were sent flying in strange postures.

"Your Kei power is as crazy as always."

Nina felt stunned at the crude way they were sent flying as she looked at the ones who jumped out from the rift.

They appeared riding a beast wrapped in green flame.

"Layfon! Felli!"

Nina called out.

After hearing her voice, Layfon and Felli approached.

"Captain, how's the situation right now?"

"I want to ask you that."

"Uh, Layfon. It's about time to stop calling her Captain."

"Ahh, that's true."

The laid-back conversation put a wry smile on Nina's face.

"You're still the same as always."

Their external appearances were the same, and the conversation was too.

"Is that the way you should treat your saviors?"

"No, I didn't mean that."

Perhaps feeling displeased with Nina's way of talking, Felli spoke sarcastically:

"As for us, I just kind of turned into an immortal superpowered beautiful girl, but don't be jealous of me. After all, I've been beautiful since birth, so it's just a slight improvement. Well, it would be troublesome if you treated me as the same type as Eri. After all, that girl's completely different from me."

"Uh, I got it, my mistake."

Nina deeply felt like she shouldn't talk about this kind of topic.

"Then do you know anything about this situation?"

"Uh, we pretty much know the true identity of the Searchers."

"Really!?"

"But we kind of fell into a trap."

Just like always, a dull, troubled smile hung on Layfon's face as he said this.

"What do you mean, trap?"

"Captain, you know, right? The spatial dimensions in this city has been sealed."

Felli's calm voice lowered the temperature around them:

"Even if Layfon and the Captain have become strong enough to make people question reality, you aren't strong enough to break through a world's walls with physical power. Of course, I'm the same."

"By the way Felli, you just called Captain Captain."

"....What's wrong with that?'

"Nothing."

Layfon quickly surrendered as she glared at him.

"Speaking of which, it was also Captain's fault. Why'd she have to be regarded as the captain."

"It's my fault now!?"

And even Nina was affected.

"So, what do you mean when you say the spatial dimensions were sealed?"

Nina desperately tried to change the topic.

"I mean exactly that."

"Uh, so what exactly is...."

"If you're in the same world, you can use the Electronic Fairy En to jump around, but currently there's no one who has constructed a way to jump between different worlds. Even if we used En, we would need an Electronic Fairy or assistance from one. So humans have yet to find any techniques for jumping between space. In other words, when I say I mean exactly that, the Severed Space Exploration Plan needed to condense seven hundred million gigajoules of energy into the space of one cubic centimel, so unless you can realize that kind of outrageous destructive energy, you won't be able to break through space. Incidentally, as for about how much seven hundred million gigajoules of compressed energy is...."

"My bad!"

In the end, it became Nina's mistake again.

"I got it, I was wrong. Then how can we escape this place?"

"We can't."

Felli asserted without hesitation.

"Then what do we do?"

"Wait for rescue."

"What?"

"We can do almost nothing here, so we can only wait for rescue."

"But that...."

"Eh, it's not too bad to be the side waiting for rescue once in a while, right?"

"No, but that...."

"Speaking of which, you're getting old too, so it's about time to think about how to develop your juniors."

"I don't want you to talk about my age!"

Nina shouted at the two who hadn't change at all since that day.

"Also, Layfon, why aren't you saying anything?"

"No...."

"What?"

"It's about time to think of how to deal with these giants, right?"

As Layfon said this, a giant stood up behind him. Of course, the same thing happened behind Nina and Felli.

In other words, they were surrounded.

"....If we're waiting for people to come save us, there should be people coming to deal with these guys too, right?"

"How's that possible? Even rescuers wouldn't come that quickly."

"Honestly...."

Felli spoke unconcernedly, which made Nina scratch at her hair.

"Captain."

"What!"

"What's this abandoned city called?"

"Huh? I think it was called the Sky Spider City Terachda."

"I see."

"So what?'

"No...."

Layfon spoke vaguely as he looked around as if to look for something outside of the battle.

"I feel a very nostalgic feeling, although I can't remember anything about it at all."

"....I see."

Nina didn't really understand what Layfon was saying. But from his face, Nina realized that this was what Eri's divination had been about.

Was there some kind of meaning here?

No....

"Well, let's drive them out quickly to keep from destroying this city any further."

"After that we can just lay back and wait for rescue. Yatisha will find some way to manage our lives until then."

"Oh, so you're Yatisha!"

Nina looked at the beast Layfon and Felli were riding with wide eyes.

Though she felt sorry for the attacking giants, Nina didn't have any reason to fear them.

"Though it's only the three of us, the Seventeenth Platoon has assembled. What's there to be scared of?"

"That's true."

"Yeah!"

Their two happy faces touched Nina's heart.

No matter how the enemies changed their appearance, all her fear and confusion vanished when her friends were with her.

Nina deeply believed this fact. It made her feel very happy as she ran forth.