When Valkyrie had formed the perimeter, they didn't think anyone would have the gall to walk out of Arius so easily. And yet, much to their surprise, especially Kanna's she saw a group of students walking out of the catacombs.

"Freeze!!"

Guns were raised, but the students from Arius seemed in disbelief, with a girl in a bob cut and bandages peeking from her shoulders under her disheveled uniform in front, raising her arm and waving it.

"Stand down, stand down!! I am Zenpou Amaya, Nocturne Squad leader of new Arius. Arius Squad can confirm it for us," she claimed, the barrel of her assault rifle facing down to the ground. "We're not here to fight you, that I assure. We just have students with us that can't fight as well as we do, and require immediate attention."

"That can be arranged," said a familiar voice, one that they were very close with, as said voice appeared before them.

"Instructor Shun!" They all called out collectively, before Amaya made a gesture. In no time flat, a dozen students poured out, with several more carrying injured students with their own halos dangerously flickering.

The medical clubs of various schools came about to help in the matter. From Serina of Remedial Knights of Trinity to Sena of Medical Emergency Club of Gehenna, it was a collaboration Arius didn't expect, but welcomed all the same.

"Did... Arius Squad tell you of us?" Amaya asked Shun. As if on cue, Saori appeared behind her, clutching her rifle in a state of readiness, despite her current state of slight injuries.

Arius faced worse. This, she was more than willing to fight against. Especially the schadenfreude of taking down Beatrice, if possible, once and for all.

"We did." Atsuko reached towards Amaya, gently touching her arm. "Thank you, for leading them out."

"I... Couldn't save them all..." Amaya sniffed, and slowly, Atsuko pulled her into a hug.

"Did they fight?"

"Till... The end."

"Then their life had a purpose. We shouldn't waste it."

"......." Amaya nodded, the tears that welled up being the only tears that left her tear ducts.

"Kize-Sensei is in there too. So it's a double pronged mission for all of us," Saori stated, stepping forward once as she slowly reached to her left ear, pressing a device that was on said ear.

"We've confirmed survivors. Seems like that's all of them."

"Perfect," Nagisa's voice called out from the other side. "Now, this may be an intrusive question, but before we begin, what do you think of your former member, Azu--"

"She wants to be in Trinity, let her stay in Trinity."

"Doesn't mean she won't help, correct?"

"..." Saori couldn't help but smile. "Fine. Let her do as she's needed to."

"Already is on GSC's choppers." A beat passed, before the communication seemed to reach to multiple teams at once.

"Shall we prepare the creeping barrage?"

"..." She glanced at Amaya. "What did we lose?"

"Everything."

"Then we lose nothing." She took a deep breath, and left out a shaky sigh.

Even as President, it was still a burden she didn't think she could bear. But she had to. For Arius. For him.

"Fire away."

"Very well. Artillery, fire!"

"YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE!! ARTILLERY, FIRE!!" Makoto's voice was a sudden pitch of distress, but considering their rivalry, perhaps they just wanted to one up each other.

A faint explosion was in the distance, followed by the visuals of smoke trails overhead, followed by a coalescent roar of compressed air onto the district. Every single member of the coalition loaded and prepared themselves.

"Arius Squad, ready!" Proclaimed Saori.

"Hyakkaryouran, ready!" Nagusa declared.

"227, waiting!" Nodoka called out.

"SRT, on our way!" Yukino and Miyako declared simultaneously.

"Abydos, on our way~" Hoshino cooed.

"Iroha--"

"And Ibuki--!!"

Then, simultaneously.

"Rolling out from the main entrance!!"

"Seminar and Millennium, waiting!" Yuuka responded.

"Engineering Department, deploying counter jammers!" Utaha declared, followed by various Valkyrie and Engineering Department students crowding all across Arius's perimeter, holding onto their gizmos to counteract the jammers placed around Arius.

By all accounts, the artillery strike should be enough. But they learnt from Kize the best.

Better be safe than sorry.

Overhead, another barrage of shells fired off, and this time...

"Vanguard, move out!!" Called out Sensei from the comms. And so rushed in the students, armed, ready and tellingly, willing. Arius Squad was just about to move, before Amaya took hold of Saori's arm.

"We'll fight with you."

"You're hurt."

"And you're not? President, this is our district. If we die here, we're at least going to make sure we die for a purpose. ISN'T THAT RIGHT, ARIUS?!!"

A collective shout.

"YEAH!!!"

"....."

They've come a long way since then. From that girl with bandages around her arm, believing thoroughly that she didn't deserve kindness, to that girl who looked up to Kize for simply being there under the shards of glass with her.

And to all the other students of Arius. Those who actively antagonized them in their return, only for the so called 'Replacement Sensei' to practically turn their life around.

Her grip on the rifle trembled, as she slowly pulled down her cap to not let them see how her tears began to form. Soon after, she was flanked by both Atsuko and Hiyori, clinging onto her gently and tightly respectively, with Misaki watching, almost bemused.

Hoisting her Stinger missile, she looked at the rest of the still standing Arius members.

"So you wanna fight? Then let's go."

As if on cue, the helicopters flew overhead, right into the district alongside the advancing barrage of artillery.

"Remember, everyone," Sensei called out in the comms. "Arius's primary target is KZ. According to our tracker, he's in the basilica."

"Quick question," Yuuka interjected. "How exactly was he able to bring a whole smartphone with him and not get caught?"

"Must've smashed the phone itself, but not the whole parts," Rio's voice came through. "The GPS receiver should be intact. Might've stored it behind his coat jacket."

"Did any of you thought of that?" Sensei was heard asking the GSC members present with him. Specifically, Aoi.

"No. None of us even... Knew that... Wait, Rio, how do you even know his coat had a hole big enough for the receiver?"

"Might is doing the heavy lifting there," she clarified. "I... Honestly don't know if he had such a thing or they didn't search him good enough."

"Might be the latter," Sensei stated, before jokingly continued with, "the lack of knowledge on the male human body can be terrifying, after all."

There was silence.

"... I was joking, can't you tell?"

"Not sure if I was supposed to laugh or be silent, but now I think I found my answer and it's neither," Aoi stated. Sternly. Sensei slowly chuckled.

"Okay, back to the mission. SRT, you're set to clear Arius Satellite School first and foremost."

"Sensei~" a cheerful voice called out from the comms. "Mika has a plan~"

Once again, he remembered how she won against a cathedral's worth of Arius students.

Is... She going to do that again?

No, wait. She terrified them before. If she could do the same thing--

"Permission to follow Arius to the basilica, please?"

She was going to do that again.

"Sensei. Give her the permission," Saori called out. Sensei snapped out of his trance for a moment.

"R-right, go ahead."

"Okay~" Mika cooed, before the sound of a gun being loaded came about faintly. And then...

"Come on, Azusa. Let's take your friend's home back." There was the faintest sound that Arius Squad was familiar with.

"Okay. Let's."

—

"FOX Platoon, reporting," Yukino declared. "We've spotted--"

A loud beeping commenced. Wordlessly, their pilot swerved to the right, with FOX Platoon clinging tightly to their positions. The faint gaze of a rocket flew past them. And then another.

"Okay, since when did they have those around?!" Otogi called out, looking down to the loyalists on the building rooftops untouched by the artillery strikes just yet and without hesitation, she lifted her Barrett M82A3 anti-material rifle and took aim.

But then, something peculiar happened.

It was a faint sound at first. And then it grew louder. And louder and louder and--

Why was there electronic music that sounded like a silly gag was about to occu--

They heard a voice.

"T-TOO FAAAAAAAST!!!"

Of course it had to have been PS 68 making their grand entrance...

Wait, weren't they recovering from...

"FOX Leader, reporting!!" Yukino called out. "Loyalists are firing away RPGs! And... Who authorized PS 68 into this operation?!"

"Kufufu~" There was Mutsuki's laugh through the comms again, followed by the chopper she piloted on as she waved cheerfully.

"Villains don't need to inform you of a grand entrance!!" Aru declared, before they saw her opening the cabin door, and taking aim with her PSG-1 with one hand. The other arm now had a sling and swathe close to her chest, one that was clearly caused from that injury.

"And villains always look out for one another, don't they, Sensei?!" A simultaneously gunshot from both snipers, hitting the intended targets before the helicopters moved out of the way.

Another whistle, and then the artillery fired away to the building, shattering the rooftop until finally, the fire from within caused the whole building to cave over and completely topple itself into nothing but concrete rubble.

It was a sight that SRT was familiar with, considering how their academy was discontinued. Didn't mean it hurt any less seeing another school that was more than three months into their sovereignty be brought back down to their lowest.

"Abydos reporting," Nonomi called out. "We're 500 metres to the 5G tower. The signal jammers are getting stronger so we might have to be out cold for a while."

"Noted," Sensei reported back. A beat later, there was another voice.

—

"Iroha, Ibuki, how are you two?" Hina questioned.

"We're doing fine. Miharu-Sensei is holding onto the straps though--"

"How in the world are you both so calm..." Miharu questioned, now wearing a helmet as their heads peeked out without a hint of fear. For all she knew, there could be snipers aiming their sights down at them. Why are they so bold?

Another shot of the tank, and another building crumbles from its own weight and the flames within. Miharu slowly sighed, sinking back down as she mumbled something under her breath.

Kivotos was a crazy place to be in for a foreigner like her. The fact that Kize is either used to this or never saw this part of Kivotos makes the experience more and more of an insanity to her.

All the more reason for her to want him to be their Sensei.

A stream of bullets ricochet off the Tiger tank, while Miharu fucked again.

"Ibuki spots people! Right there!" Ibuki with her flappy jacket that didn't quite fit her pointed out the direction right after removing her binoculars, ducking just at the right time. The cannon moved, and then, Iroha open fired.

The building crumbled, bringing the loyalists down with them. And it was here Miharu noticed something off. Those loyalists, instead of simply falling like a body, ragdolled until they... Disappeared like water.

"Mimesis." Plana stated, causing Miharu to slide the tablet to her hands.

"Elaborate."

"Explanation: they are creations by one of Gematria's members, Maestro. Beatrice has made use of them via projections."

"So these aren't actual students?" Arona questioned.

"Analysis reveals that they are not, yes. Perhaps this is why Sensei orders a full scale retake. There are no concerns of students injured in the main line here."

"But you're not saying there aren't any student loyalists of Beatrice, aren't you?" Miharu interjected.

".........." Plana closed her eyes. A silent confirmation.

"W-well... They're elite. They should exist, so maybe Beatrice have them under her thumb and these are just..."

"Now that's screwed up......"