Chapter 17: Alcanoise and Alchemy

Today's concert was a huge event. While it mainly focused on Tsubasa and Maria, it also marked Kanade's return. I felt like I was in a supporting role for the three of them, although the support I received was comparable to theirs.

Thinking about it now, many things have changed because of me. Serena and Kanade are here, and Miku is now a Symphogear user, meaning she can fight alongside Hibiki. Whether Hibiki will allow Miku to fight is another matter entirely. Also, while the three of them can now join the fight without LINKERs, they aren't always able to, so the only active ones were me, Hibiki, Chris, and Tsubasa. However, if I'm near them, I can let them transform without a LINKER, thanks to my relic's power.

Even now, I still don't know the holy chant for my other relic. While I can use its power while using Aegis, apparently the power is weaker compared to using the relic directly. Fine mentioned this, and Genjuro told me never to use this relic under any circumstances. I understand their concern; they said it's a relic of such a dangerous level that I would be hunted for the rest of my life if its existence were exposed.

That's understandable because healing is a rather special ability, and I've never seen any other Symphogear user with that kind of power. Besides, that form probably has almost zero fighting power. However, I could probably brute force it, since the Symphogear system is very loose in terms of what it can do. As long as it adheres to the core principle, you can essentially "bullshit" your way through.

For example, Gungnir was originally a spear, but Hibiki never once used it as a traditional armed gear, even though she has a full crystal relic she got from Maria. She can still use it her way because she utilizes Gungnir's core principle: to pierce everything.

The same goes for Ame no Habakiri. In the third season, Tsubasa was defeated by enemies with a special weapon called a sword breaker, which nullified any sword. However, Tsubasa used her wing sword to slash the sword breaker, defeating her enemy because she used it not as a sword but by applying the principle of slashing giants.

So, basically, as long as you uphold the core principle, you can "bullshit" your way through with a Symphogear. Just like how I use my Aegis to divert and tank damage for others, I can probably "bullshit" my way through using my other relic, the Holy Grail, in a similar way. That means it's not completely devoid of fighting power.

Still, I need to focus on today's show. It feels weird that I'm doing a solo performance, too, because I thought only Tsubasa, Maria, and Kanade would do solo performances, since they're more famous than me. This probably has to do with the songs I recently released.

Before the show started, I released another group of songs. Funnily enough, I never named the album; the fans decided on it themselves, calling it "Reborn." What's more, the album sold so fast that people asked if I would make a music video out of it, which made me incredibly awkward.

The next three songs I released were "Radiant" by Mary Clare, followed by "Burst the Gravity" by ALTIMA, and lastly "The Everlasting Guilty Crown" by EGOIST. Singing these songs inspired the album name, "Beginning and the End."

Ironically, the quartet song we're doing is the same as the anime, "Galaxy Cross." Then we mixed up the teams: Tsubasa and Maria, me and Kanade, me and Maria, Tsubasa and Kanade, then Maria and Kanade, before finally me and Tsubasa. Somehow, Tsubasa got really fired up on that last one. We finished it up with a special remix, "Gyakkō no Flügel," which is "Nijiiro no Flügel."

Well, that was fun, but this three-song stamina challenge is terrifying.

"Oh, what's wrong, Mei? Already out of breath?"

"I think you need to train some more, Mei."

"I'm still a normal person, okay?"

"I'm sorry, Mei. I got a bit hyped up earlier and forgot that you're still not good with your stamina."

"Tsubasa, it terrifies me how much you change the moment I don't see you."

"Tsubasa, I never thought of you as that kind of cold girl."

"Wait, why are you guys ganging up on me?"

"Just forget it. But by the way, Maria, your ride is here."

As I said that, Maria glanced to the side, and two men in black suits and black glasses came through. Seeing them, Maria let out a sigh before following them. Kanade, however, was making a serious expression.

"Somehow, I have a bad feeling about this."

"Heh, surprisingly, you're rather sharp in a weird way, Kanade."

"Is there something going on, Mei? Is something going to happen in the future?"

"Yes, this is one of those things. But for now, Tsubasa, how about you start following Maria? If things go as I know them, she'll probably be attacked. As for you, Kanade, you can do what you want—either come with me and ask Shinji for more information and probably help, or go help Maria. As for my information, I'm fine, so I suggest you go with Tsubasa."

"Well, you're the girl from the future, Mei, so I trust your judgment and will go with Tsubasa. I feel like I can go all out there."

"Sure, then be careful, you two. As for your special warning, don't hold back since the enemies aren't human."

Leaving with that, we separated. I headed to Shinji, who was talking, though he'd already taken off his glasses, which meant he was probably talking to Genjuro right now.

"Shinji, perfect timing. Since you're off management duty right now, that means a call from Genjuro, right?"

"Yes, apparently there's an attack going on right now."

"Oh, don't worry, this place is going to be attacked soon as well, though they're probably aiming for Maria right now."

"What? She doesn't have any Symphogear right now. We need to help."

"Don't worry, I already sent Kanade and Tsubasa there, though without LINKER, Kanade will probably only fight for a short bit. Still, for now, we need to evacuate the people since these enemies are troublesome."

"Sometimes, Mei, I wish you could just tell us all the information about the enemies."

"Sorry, can't do it, Shinji. It's not that I don't trust you all, it's just I'm not confident in myself to trust everything will go okay. Even now, because of my actions, Maria got taken as a sacrifice since they've taken Nastassja and are holding her hostage."

"It can't be helped. From what I remember, you said the alternative was she died, right? If you gave those options to Maria, she'd probably choose that Nastassja is alive as well."

"Well, but because of that, she got separated from her little sister... You know what, just forget I said anything and just focus. Besides, if it's Maria, she'll probably notice that the enemies are after Tsubasa and only going for her as bait, so Maria is probably planning to use that to get away from the residential area."

"Which means?"

"Yes, they'll probably go outside but will get held up by those annoying black suit men."

"Then I will hold them back."

"Yeah, I'll leave it to you since I will join them in front."

So I ran straight to the exit, and just like I thought, some black suit men were waiting in front of the car. Luckily, I already learned some tricks from Shinji, the one where you can pin someone's shadow to make them can't move. At least it's good that anything that can dig the ground can do well.

"Fuu, damn, Mei, I never thought you had that kind of skill."

"Just go in the car, Kanade. Besides, this is the reason I became an idol in the first place."

We slowly rode in the car, with Maria driving and Tsubasa at her side, while me and Kanade were in the back. Tsubasa looked at me.

"So, will you give any hint about what that Autoscorer is all about, Mei?"

"Well, in simple terms, the enemy is an alchemy master, and the thing you are facing is basically one of her creations."

"Can you tell me why she was aiming at Tsubasa?"

"Well, I can tell you, but seriously, with how my actions have put more shackles on Maria, I'm rather afraid to mess up with the future again."

"Mei, I already know that you are from the future from our talk. And besides, shackles? If I can save someone important to me by wearing them, I will wear as many as needed, so don't worry about it."

"Yeah, while I'm not good at thinking, I can at least help you clear the trouble away."

"Please trust us a bit more, Mei."

"Maria, Kanade, and Tsubasa... Fine. But basically, their aim is to destroy our Symphogear, but not completely; rather, they want to make it so we can't fight, so they can achieve what they want."

"Which is?"

"To destroy the world."

Hearing my words, the three of them fell silent as Kanade stared at me with a serious face.

"And the reason you're not telling us?"

"In the normal route, even with only six Symphogear users – Hibiki, Tsubasa, Chris, Maria, Shirabe, and Kirika – they manage to prevent it from happening, though one of the biggest reasons is because the enemy is—"

"What is it?"

"Tch, everyone ready to jump off."

Just like in the anime, Phara Suyūf, the green Autoscorer, was already waiting on the bridge. Well, with their teleportation abilities, I'm somehow not surprised that she's already waiting for us. Just like that, Kanade and I got out of the car as Tsubasa and Maria lowered their seats to the back and dodged Phara's slash before finally jumping off from the car.

"Imyuteus Ame no Habakiri tron."

"Custodire Welt Aegis Zizl."

Now we're facing against Phara. It's rather hard for Tsubasa, as she's still using Ame no Habakiri as a sword, so her attacks are useless against Phara. Though I see Kanade was reaching for her relic, but I stop her.

"You already changed, right? So no, you already reached your limit. Let me and Tsubasa handle this."

Then Phara proceeded to throw some crystals with a red glow inside of them. As they broke, Alca-Noise appeared.

"Noise?"

"Nope, Maria, that wasn't normal Noise, but alchemy-created Noise, which is Alca-Noise."

"What's the difference?"

"Well, let's just say it has special powers compared to regular Noise, and at the same time, they have the ability to break normal Symphogear."

"WHAT?"

"Tsubasa, be careful of their attacks, as they can break our Symphogear."

"Looks like someone knows about us, doesn't it, Mei Ursula, a user of Aegis."

"Well, looks like someone has done their homework, Phara of wind Autoscorer."

"Apparently, you are going to give me a good fight."

I was killing Alca-Noise left and right as Tsubasa was focused on defeating Phara, which is fair. Though now I'm curious, if I used my shield ability, would I manage to divert the harm from their attack to Tsubasa's relic?

And just like that, I almost got hit, but seriously, even Aegis can't block their attacks, as they start to disassemble my shield. With each of their attacks hitting my shield, I keep spawning more and proceed to kill them, but apparently I let my guard down as one of them managed to get a sneak attack toward Tsubasa, wounding her relic in the process.

Although Tsubasa appeared unharmed after her forced transformation reverted, the same couldn't be said for me. I was now suffering the backlash from the forced detransformation, having let my guard down, which allowed them to wound the relic in my chest.

Unimaginable pain washed over me, so intense that I couldn't even scream. I slowly collapsed, my body glowing as consciousness slipped away. The last thing I saw was Tsubasa's panicked expression and the other two running towards me before I finally blacked out.