NIKKE, When the Milky Way Blossoms

Rumble, rumble, rumble——

As the hydraulic engine of the gate starts,

The ground began to shake.

Realizing that the Tyrant-class Rachel was attempting to retreat, Maruchana, who was temporarily in command, did not actually want to pursue it.

However, it is precisely because the gate was opened that a new and broad avenue for communication between the surface and underground was opened.

Therefore, Phoenix's voice channel was automatically merged into Maruchana's squad.

"Sizzle sizzle sizzle... sizzle..."

Despite the intense interference from the Evira particles belonging to Lecher, Nikki, a student from MMR Affiliated High School, could faintly discern the Commander's voice amidst the noisy electrical current.

The commander is right beneath this gate?

This was an utterly outrageous idea, yet it inexplicably lingered in the minds of both teachers and students.

Given this, how could Maruchana possibly not have the idea of ​​pursuing them?

Without her even giving an order, the students unleashed their full firepower in the blink of an eye, attempting to break all four of Lecher's tentacles in a short time.

Only Tia, who had run out of ammunition, stood there dumbfounded, her pretty face full of anxiety and grievance, not knowing what she should do.

"Die! Die!!!"

As Secret Material H used a spherical force field to withstand a large amount of firepower, it was about to completely submerge underground.

Bestie, having reloaded a small amount of ammunition into the missile container, narrowed his eyes menacingly and maneuvered the container to launch the last few air-to-ground missiles at the top of Lecher.

boom--! ! ! ! !

Several bursts of intense heat finally became the last straw that broke the spherical force field. While exhausting the force field's energy, the shockwave from the explosion successfully struck the core.

In an instant, Secret Material H, like a cockroach struggling in its death throes, frantically waved its last remaining, tattered tentacle and plummeted straight down into the ground.

Clang, clang, clang—!

The steel structure, weighing over ten tons and without any cushioning design, fell nearly twenty meters before landing, the terrifying impact nearly smashing it into pieces on the spot.

Phoenix!!!

Faced with this unexpected turn of events, Phoenix, who was hiding on the sidelines, never imagined he would have another chance to appear on the field.

So, amidst Anik's almost screaming, distorted electronic music, the man had no choice but to grab the submachine gun he had picked up while dodging and grit his teeth as he ran toward the core of the secret ingredient H.

There is only one chance,

However, there are two possible endings.

or,

He smashed the core of this Lecher.

or,

Lecher used his tentacles to kill him.

You'd better think about what you should do in the future...

Snapped!

Marian's submachine gun spat fire again, and the armor-piercing bullets, just as Phoenix had expected, embedded themselves in the bulletproof glass of the Lecher Core.

Immediately, the man raised his right arm, arching his entire body like an executioner, and used his prosthetic arm to smash the bullet's tail.

[...How are you going to thank me later?!]

Bang——! ! !

When the man crouched down and slammed his upper arm into the bullet's tail, the already deformed armor-piercing bullet successfully penetrated Lecher's crimson core.

boom!

The tattered tentacles that had just been raised fell limply to the ground before they could even make a move, raising another cloud of dust.

The scene then returned to a quietude where only the man's breathing could be heard.

……

Survived?

……

After waiting a few seconds and seeing no further movement, Phoenix sat down heavily on the metal corpse of Secret Material H and breathed a sigh of relief.

survived.

[Anik? How are things on your end? Can you help me find Ningya's location?]

【…】

[Anik?]

【…】

The inability to summon artificial intelligence caused Phoenix, who had just relaxed, to frown again.

【Ani…】

Sizzle—sizzle sizzle—sizzle—!

suddenly!

Before the man could finish pronouncing the artificial intelligence's name, a large number of blood-red rectangles suddenly flashed in his previously dark vision.

Three-dimensional, two-dimensional, rectangular, square...

The dwell time for each rectangle is no more than half the time required for a blink.

Within ten seconds, visual fatigue and pain forced Phoenix to subconsciously close his eyes.

Unfortunately, the eye is merely a medium for converting light signals into electrical signals.

Even with their eyes closed, the person could still see countless blood-red rectangles flashing in front of them in their "vision".

what happened?

He's not Niki, so how could a virus that corrodes flesh be effective against it?

Who...are you?!

Just as Phoenix began to doubt himself, a sweet and innocent girl's voice rang in his mind.

Then, Anik's long-absent electronic music also appeared.

[Shut up!!!]

Sizzle—sizzle sizzle—

The crimson image instantly coalesced into a woman with an elegant figure, and then quickly transformed into countless horizontal lines that scattered to the left and right.

Sizzle—sizzle- ...

The next instant, Anik appeared in the same way as the woman, and was also dissected by fine vertical lines.

Sizzle, sizzle——

Then came Mihara, Anis, Yuni, Yinhua, Labi...

Familiar women are uncontrollably reassembled in Phoenix's "vision".

Some he recognized, and some he didn't. But that's not all; after the characters come the scenes, and after the scenes come the memories…

The increasing amount of information and images tormented Phoenix's poor carbon-based brain. Not only that, but he also gradually developed an unbearable burning and stinging pain in the cervical spine below his occipital bone.

The stimulation, comparable to torture, is like a crowbar trying to pry open a man's teeth.

pain,

It hurts a lot.

It felt as if an excessive electric current was stroking the areas of the brain that are used to perceive pain.

They bypassed the transmission of pain signals, gradually showing Phoenix the limits of pain that the human brain can withstand.

……

……

"Captain, can you hear me, Captain?"

On the ground, Emma, ​​standing on the rooftop, called out in a voice message, a bitter smile lingering on her lips.

"Has the situation changed?"

The captain's belated response, filled with background noise, finally came through the headset.

"The Lecher troops are encircling us from the outside, about 1.5 kilometers away. As for their numbers..." The girl carrying the Vulcan cannon glanced around hastily before continuing:

“I don’t know… five hundred? Or six hundred? There are Lechers everywhere… I can’t estimate the approximate number.”