The Millennium coalition was brought to a halt in their attempt to save Kize and Rio. Usage of bullets, stray tech, and even nanotechnology brought nothing.

Aris was the first to suggest her railgun, but that was quickly shut down. For good reason.

A railgun was going to do more than just make a hole in the wall. But it was strange that her railgun, and to an extent, Aris herself, was still operable.

That halo must be doing the heavy lifting.

As Utaha cradled her sentry, just hoping that it could come back to life, the ground began to shake. Like an earthquake preparing for the inevitable.

"Uhhhh... Is that supposed to happen?" Momoi questioned, before pulling the charging handle of her G3A3. She was ready for the inevitable clash of robots again.

The rest were more uncertain, what with trying to recover their technology (mostly on the part of the Engineering Department), stumbling on their feet and all. They all collectively blinked, any means of communication effectively severed due to the EMP inflicted by Kaiser.

"No," was Utaha's blunt response.

She's seen this before. No. All of Millennium had seen this before.

"It's Kether again..." A collective groan from the Engineering Department erupted, before they heard the sound of flak cannons fired off.

"MOVE!!"

—

Himari heaved a sigh, watching as the blips of Millennium student dispersed, before the 3D rendition of the buildings around them collapsed by a projectile that blew up. Eimi's skin sizzled, staring at the screen as well, before picking up her Spas-12. The building Kaiser once resided began to crumble, and then, it crashed onto itself into a pile of broken glass and concrete.

"Suppose we're supposed to wait until the GSC acts?" She questioned.

"They have to. My genius shouldn't be doubted. After all, even you saw the distress signal."

"Seeing and acting are two different things."

"Well, you can simply wait outside, then. The world doesn't wait for heroes to be made."

A sigh. And then, with a pump of her shotgun, Eimi made her exit, picking up a pair of headphones on the way out. Himari's wheelchair whirred, before she reached out towards another pair of headphones. Chatter rang through her ears the moment she put it on, leading to her slowly leaning back against her wheelchair.

She loathed her body's weakness. But it was in spite of her frail body that allowed her to progress far beyond the normal limits.

The halo, meant to protect her against ammunition, served its purpose, but it didn't make her any stronger than she already was.

She tapped her headphones, focused intently in the radio wave frequency of Nanagami Rin.

"We have detected the distress signal. All units, prepare."

Himari cleared her throat, finding the frequency so efficiently and quickly.

But of course, she was a genius, after all.

"Hello, GSC Acting President. You've seen it haven't you?" She asked.

"We did. We've sent Black Hawks in... Among others."

"Among others?"

"Apparently, you're not alone in that discernment. The distress signal was picked up by plenty of the other districts."

Silence came to be between the two. And then, as if like a hushed whisper, Rin spoke again.

"Kize-Sensei never said he was needed. But they know him better than himself."

"... Who would even--"

"Kufufu~" The bratty giggle of an Asagi Mutsuki tickled her ears, as an additional interference, or rather intervention of another frequency, came about. And already, Himari felt her left eye twitch in annoyance.

"Why are PS68 being a nuisance here?" Himari inquired, nearly slamming her face against the interface keyboard. She was only stopped when her hand supported her face, effectively stopping her from falling from her own self-inflicted grace.

"Because," interjected a prideful Aru from the comms. "Kether isn't the only one awake."

"..... What?"

As soon as that was declared, the alarms all blared together. Himari blinked, and then noticed a swarm of cube shaped robots coming directly towards the coalition, all sourced from a single factory near the outskirts of the ruins.

"....... Chesed....."

"That's right~" Mutsuki cooed. "And it's exactly why Abydos came to help. Oh, also. Arius came in droves when we mentioned that Kize-Sensei is involved."

Once again, Himari forced herself to cringe at the mere sound of Mutsuki's signature smug giggle.

"They really love him, don't they?"

"What do they even see in him?" Himari questioned. That was the paradox of the ghost.

Detached, but beloved.

Distanced, yet so close.

Cold, but... Was he caring?

Maybe he was. After all, he did a lot for the students, never for his own sake. Out of obligation, out of camaraderie.

Himari couldn't care less.

With another heave, she leaned back against the wheelchair, observing once more the pulsing signal that came from the ruptured building.

Kize and Rio, trapped in a building.

Whatever will they do?

—

The darkness was palpable, but Kize had always greeted it like an old friend.

Or perhaps more closely, an enemy.

Even as he came about, feeling a weight above him that was too light to be concrete slabs. What, or rather, who the one above him was, was unquestionable on the matter.

The sensation of her breathing, soft, shallow, right onto his left cheek was one that simply conjured an expression of indifference.

He shouldn't care.

"Time unconscious: 5 minutes. Welcome back, Sensei."

Plana clinically called out from the Shittim Chest. Strange, he thought it'd have been longer. Would have conserved their energy as well.

"Signal?" He managed out, while trying to move the weight above him to the side. The darkness does not help matters whatsoever.

"Sent. Pulsing. No guarantee of back up, however."

He clicked his tongue. In this claustrophobic elevator that stopped in its tracks, the relentless darkness that screamed at nothing, and now with what he hoped to be an unconscious Rio on him, her body pressing down onto him, he could only wish things were better.

With a grit of his teeth, one of his arms wrapped around her waist, and the other right behind Rio's head, before slowly rolling to the side. The metal clang of the thermos in his pocket against the elevator's floor echoed emptily, as he hissed.

She's not awake yet.

Good.

His hands slithered away from her body, before dusting himself off of concrete dust. His lips parched, he uncapped his thermos and took a sip.

Warm. Sweet.

Just like Shun...

He immediately slammed his fist to the elevator wall.

Stop.

His brain indeed stopped.

But then it brought another memory instead.

The way Miharu clung onto his shirt, the faint smell of her sakura blossom perfume wafting up to his ear while she kept clinging onto him in the dark forest.

He was supposed to just be a chaperone for the student's excursion, so why was he forced by the students to be involved in this test of brav--

His head immediately slammed into the elevator wall, only to realize it was concrete he slammed into, followed by a contained scream, devolving into a growl. Both for his own physical damage, and to his mental state.

"S-Sensei...?" Rio's voice called out in the darkness. His head pulsed painfully from where he snapped his towards, an ache he tried to ignore.

"Sensei, your head is bleeding!" Arona called out. Kize didn't say a word. He didn't even try to hold his hand to his head to confirm.

As if in immediate urgency, Rio's flashlight came about, shining against his face. He flinched, squinting his eyes soon after, before covering his face.

Rio ignored this, coughing out the concrete dust that settled around them, before shining towards Kize's head.

She stiffened. The faint smell of blood, and that reddish liquid that began dripping down his sandy orange hair was all the indicator she had to take from all this.

"Sensei. You are illogical," Rio concluded. "You inflict pain to yourself. And for what?"

"For nothing," Kize hissed out, before leaning against the elevator wall. Another rumble above the surface commenced.

"... Must be the Prophets fighting against them," Rio stated. Kize didn't reply.

How should he, anyway? There was no incentive for such a thing.

Suddenly, light pierced from above. A sizzle, with the smell of burnt concrete hung in the air. Kize prepared to move out of the way, while Rio aimed her handgun in preparation, as they soon noticed the burning appearance of the concrete and steel above their heads.

Was it Chesed's controlled robots?

Was it Kether's minions?

The answer was underwhelming, to say the least.

It split open, revealing a singular drone of some sort. One that Kize remembered and recognized.

The same one that Shiroko Terror shot down in Abydos's rooftop. The Stranger's.

"............."

Kize knew better than to say a word, as it gazed towards him. Slowly, the drone turned around, staring at Rio. It zoomed in, accessing her features, her body, everything, before slowly hovering out. The hole it made was enough for both of them to get out of.

"Sensei. I think that's our rescue," Rio stated, perhaps slightly hopeful.

"No." Kize stood up slowly, picking up his thermos and the Shittim Chest. "That's the Stranger's. Whatever intent he has here, it's more than certain he's wanting to make sure I don't die here."

"... Isn't that a good--"

"So he could probably kill me himself."

"........" Rio gripped the hems of her trench coat.

"Sensei. Do you perhaps know this stranger? Why he's doing this? It had to be because of your past, wouldn't it?"

"..." He didn't answer her. He couldn't. He wouldn't. Not because he shouldn't.

"If it was, then I don't even recognize him."

That moment in the PMC base where they first met... That Stranger in the balaclava...

What was the ordeal this time?

The searing ache on his bleeding temple filled ever so slightly, before he took the initiative and climbed out of the elevator.

They shouldn't be staying here for long.

—

The four legged being of weaponry known as Kether fired off its flak cannons again. Its sight had always been prepared to defend, but from what, only the Super Phenomenon Task Force knew. Even then, they never told anyone anything, apart from Sensei, SCHALE, GSC or Seminar.

It was white, sickeningly so, despite the despair and ruin surrounding it. It had a glowing streak all over it, with 4 yellow lines on what could have been its face. It was generously pointed out as 'eyes'.

The coalition sure as hell didn't expect the sudden emergence of not just Kether, but the appearance of sweeper tasers and goliaths out of the woodwork.

Small, cuboidal robots waddled out to the streets where they could see, followed immediately by the mass retreat of the coalition.

They should be getting Kize and Rio out. Instead, Kether became a pain in the ass.

"Shoot the chassis!" Utaha exclaimed, followed up immediately by a burst of handgun shots to her back. The Saiba twins opened fire with their assault rifles as well, a burst of 7.62mm fired in quick succession.

All hit.

The flak cannons aimed their way.

"I think we made it angry," Momoi observed. Midori only gave a deadpan stare at her sister, before an explosion flung the coalition everyone, a shot made by Kether.

Just as the robotic 'prophet' began to unload, anti-tank bullet struck against one of the barrels of its cannon. An impact so powerful, it actually staggered Kether and bent the barrel, rendering it useless.

"Hit. C&C, proceed."

Karin's input was met with silence.

Good. That means they're doing their job.

A small prick in the distance, and there goes a bunny suit Asuna, firing away at the horde of sweeper tasers. Her expression of joy and casual grin was a stark contrast to the bloodthirsty look of that of Neru, who barged in the middle and began to fire away wantonly with her dual MPX submachine guns, before kicking away a Goliath and shooting at it when it reached into the horde.

A small explosion commenced.

And then a larger one took its place.

A whole building began its dramatic descent towards the horde and Kether, with Akane's soft smile a stark contrast to the intrusive thoughts of dynamite and nitroglycerin.

Kether was temporarily crushed under concrete and rubble, only for an explosion to cause it to release fumes from its open compartments. The bent barrel had completely fallen off, only for a multitude of drones to fly in and made a complete replacement of the flak cannons barrel into a Gatling gun. It whirred in condescension, before a steady, incomprehensible stream of bullets flew across the ruins.

"Oh now we've really made it mad~" Noa cooed, much to the dismay and disdain of a groaning Yuuka, who fired off towards the remnants.

"Don't jinx us..." She managed out, before stopping in her tracks. "Everyone, form a perimeter while Kether is distracted!"

Kotori and Hibiki stopped in their tracks, with Kotori immediately seemingly analyzing their surroundings, while Hibiki kneeled down, shoving a hand into her crate while unzipping another bag to show a tube.

She pulled out a mortar shell out of the crate.

"The ruins are currently in 70% integrity with clear sign of wear and tear! Historically, we're erasing about 50% if we are fully intending on--"

"Kotori, just shut up and spin your minigun!" Utaha urgently called out, while the coalition quickly spread out and began to fire away at the crowd of goliaths and sweeper tasers--

A whistle of a missile.

And then, an explosion.

"Good job, Hibiki!" Yuuka complimented.

"..." She didn't respond. A turn to her direction, and she hadn't even loaded her mortar shell.

They realized it was somewhere else more substantial. They then heard the sound of helicopter blades spinning in a faint distance.

It didn't take long to find out who it belonged to.

"GSC!" One of the Engineering Department members called out.

"Wow, this is like the cavalry coming in like those RPG games!" Momoi declared.

"Kufufu~" the giggle of a girl they all know too well echoed from a speaker up in one of the helicopters, followed by a collective groan.

"How are you all doing~?" Mutsuki called out, right as another missile was fired into the crowd.

"Why is PS68 here..." Yuuka bemoaned.

"Doesn't matter! This means we can make a comeback, right?" Aris declared, charging up her railgun. This time, no one stopped her.

Because no one had the energy to argue against its usage this time. They could even hear Aru's monologue through the speakers for a brief second.

"Behold, the villain's arrival--"

It was immediately silenced by the lack of speakers.

"Ahem! You all hear me?" Called out another voice. This time, it was one Millennium was somewhat more intimately familiar with.

Veritas's very own Kagami Chihiro.

"Good! Because we're gonna have to do a thing. Get Kether distracted! Or like, get the ghost and Rio out of the rubble! There's another squad of helicopters coming in to shut down Chesed!!"

"... Another squad?" Utaha questioned to herself. But then, she found her answer.

Of course. If PS68 is here...

Wouldn't it be natural that SRT and Arius Squad would too?

After all, they all fight for Kize now.