Sky Striker Princess, but the swan song of Valkyrie.

Shinji Ogawa briefly explained to the three dolls the results of the questions they had raised during their previous conversation with SONG.

"Then, let's discreetly return to your submarine. Our master will discuss further matters with you there... um!"

The most composed Leia nodded, but before she could say anything, her attention was drawn to a certain phenomenon.

About a block away, a colossal fire tornado rose from the ground and shot straight into the sky. Along with the fire tornado came Mika's doll head, which was thrown over like a kite with a broken string.

"Hey, Mika is a combat specialist. I fed her a lot of memories. You're kidding me to believe she only lasted this long."

Looking at the burning doll head on the ground, Garly was slightly incredulous.

“That’s normal, Garly. She’s the kind of person who could still defeat the enemy head-on even when surrounded by five people including Director Maste. Rather, it’s more accurate to say that Mika has done a great job in delaying them for this long.”

Compared to the unbelievable Garly, Rhea, who had seen the other party in action before, was not surprised by the current outcome.

“Leave this to me. My ‘sister’ and I will do everything we can to stall for time. You escort Elfnein and the others to escape.”

Immediately, two protective staffs appeared in Leia's palm, and she took on the task of further delaying Zero's progress after Mika.

"Ah, I got it. Good luck, Leia. And little brother, don't just stand there. Don't let Mika and Leia's sacrifices go to waste."

"I understand."

Without saying much, Gari understood the urgency of the situation and, while preparing to make a further escape, reminded Ogawa Shinji, whose attention was drawn to the extremely impactful burst of flames.

The eighth early pursuit and the second interception

"Then, I'll take the lead in quietly stalling for time."

Watching the black luxury car drive away with Farah riding on the roof and Galie waving and smiling at her, Leia gripped the two protective staffs in her hands, preparing for battle.

Soon, just as the car disappeared from sight, Zero, clad in heavy armor, appeared from the horizon, surrounded by flames.

"So, now that you've lost your master, what exactly are you alchemical automatons doing all this for?"

As the surrounding environment burned, Zero approached step by step, asking Rhea, who stood before her with a somewhat confused expression.

“The master is dead, but her clones also have the value of protection, and we will follow her will and help her as well.”

Seeing that the other party did not attack immediately, Leia did not mind chatting for a while longer.

"A clone, ah, that android named Elfnein?"

Lingyi didn't sense anything wrong with the information Leia provided, mainly because she didn't really understand the AI ​​thinking behind these dolls.

"That's right. In accordance with her will, I will also stand here and block you from crossing the threshold."

Spinning the protective suit in her hand, Rhea said this.

"Fine, whether what you say is true or false, as long as we break through all obstacles... Hmm? This is trouble."

Too lazy to consider whether her words were true or false, Lingyi planned to quickly defeat Leia and then continue the pursuit.

Just as she was about to continue her fierce attack in her red form, she noticed the surrounding environment, scanned it, and stopped the flames on her blade.

Their gaze wasn't on me, it was looking somewhere... nothing at all. Was there something in this direction I hadn't noticed?

Leia was a little puzzled by Lingyi's actions. She followed Lingyi's gaze slightly, but found nothing except for ordinary commercial streets and ordinary city buildings.

"Alright... With a burly body and immense strength, I can shatter even solid rock. Close-quarters combat mode, X-005 Armored Armor? Quesnai, requesting to be equipped."

Without saying much to Rhea, Zero pondered for a moment and, after considering the requirements, decided to use a different type of armor for combat.

Soon, the crimson flames dissipated from the surrounding area, and the solid, heavy rocks enveloped Lingyi's body, transforming into shimmering, earthen-yellow pumice.

Energy accumulated continuously until it reached its limit, then exploded from within the heavy rock. The scattered rocks burst open, revealing Zero, who was encased in yellow armor with four mechanical arms attached to his back.

"A new form?"

Seeing Zero's change in demeanor, Leia decided to test the waters first. She held a handful of coins in her hand and then fired them at Zero like a machine gun.

But soon, the coins were easily scattered by the armored arm on Zero's back, and then the other two mechanical arms exerted force, like a heavy construction vehicle, and Zero ran over Rhea and slammed the mechanical arms heavily towards Rhea.

boom

Not daring to take the blow head-on, Leia leaped to the side to avoid the devastating attack that destroyed the road, but as she dodged the attack, she was met with a punch from another mechanical arm.

bang——

This time she couldn't dodge. She barely managed to cross her arms and defend herself with her staff, but the heavy punch shattered her staff and arms into pieces.

[A heavy attack; we need to create distance...]

Having suffered a heavy blow, Rhea wanted to get away for a while to regroup, but this idea vanished when she was grabbed by a yellow claw knife with a grappling hook.

While she was bound, she received Lingyi's hospitality. One, two, three blows, she was pressed to the ground and mechanically punched one after another.

[Defense...defense is impossible, but we must at least hold out for as long as possible...]

Despite Rhea's attempts to create an alchemical shield for defense, this at best made her defense go from being as fragile as paper to being as fragile as paper folded in half. After a few dozen seconds, Rhea's doll body was completely smashed into doll fragments.

"Phew... As expected, it's not an offensive specialty, so the fight will take longer. But thankfully, the damage to the surrounding area has been minimized. Let's continue the pursuit... Hmm?"

Although it took some time, Lingyi was still satisfied with the current results, seeing that the damage was contained to a very small area.

Just as she was about to continue her pursuit, she noticed a huge object emerging behind her. It was a giant humanoid figure wrapped in bandages, similar in appearance to Rhea but many times larger.

The giant humanoid, built based on Rhea, does not have the functions of an automaton, but possesses stats that far surpass those of an automaton.

This humanoid figure, as if seeking revenge for Rhea's destruction, raised her enormous arm with sharp blades extending from it and smashed it down towards Lingyi on the ground.

"I'm getting a little irritated."

Seeing the attack that was about to cause massive damage, Lingyi felt a sense of annoyance.

She used the Quesna armor precisely to cause less damage; if this attack were to hit, it would be extremely detrimental to her mood.

"I need to vent, Lin Qi, Shi Qi Si Wu."

Facing the approaching, enormous arm, Zero controlled the Quinei armor and slowly raised one of the mechanical arms.

bang——

With the sound of objects colliding, Rhea's 'sister' was certain that her attack had hit its target. However, what puzzled her slightly was that her attack did not seem to cause the damage she had expected.

What puzzled her even more was why her arm was being slowly lifted up by something.

"Your body is large enough, but compared to this earth, it is nothing more than a speck of dust."

Lingyi's voice came from under her 'sister's' arm. Then, her 'sister' felt the force lifting her arm gradually increase... increase, until her entire massive body was flipped over.

After being thrown to the ground, the 'younger sister' tried to get up, but a tremendous force from her shoulder rendered her unable to move.

"Something as dangerous as you is better off not wandering around in densely populated urban areas. The best place for you to stay is a more open area."

A mechanical arm was embedded in 'Sister's' body. Lingyi slowly drove the mechanical arm, and the enormous force directly lifted 'Sister's' heavy body and flung it upwards.

"Let me see you off one last time. Don't feel cruel, after all, it was your fault for bothering me."

After being flung into the air, the Quena armor on Zero's body emitted an earthy yellow light. Then, the surrounding building ruins floated under the light and gathered on the gauntlet.

bang——

The enlarged mechanical gauntlets struck her from below, delivering a heavy blow as her suspended body fell. The force sent her flying high into the sky, and the impact also shattered her body structure.

boom

In the end, Rhea's 'sister' exploded high in the sky above the city, turning into a beautiful firework.

"Phew... I feel much better."

After successfully sending away the clumsy giant whose mere movement could cause destruction, Lingyi breathed a slight sigh of relief. Then, clad in her Quinei armor, she lightly leaped onto the rooftop of a building.

"Have we already run this far?"

Looking down into the distance from her vantage point, Lingyi noticed that, seemingly because they had wasted a little too much time on Leia and her 'sister,' the fleeing group was already close to the coastline.

Based on the speed difference, Zero realized that by ordinary means, it would be impossible to catch up with them before they approached the submarine that served as the headquarters of SONG.

After a moment of silent contemplation, the heavy rocks dissipated, turning into energy that flowed back to the earth, and a verdant breeze began to surge around Lingyi.

"Wow, that's amazing. I never expected that the well-rounded Rhea and her 'sister' who is far stronger than us would be defeated so easily."

At the same time, Jiali, standing on the car and looking into the distance, saw the fireworks display in the sky, and her knowledge of Ling Yilian in the database was refreshed once again.

"She is indeed that powerful, which is why we need to gather more strength to gain the right to fight her on equal terms."

Farah, who was manipulating a verdant alchemical array in her hands, was now focused on using the power of alchemy to accelerate the car.

This is why they were able to move so fast; just by using the little time that Rhea bought them, they created a distance that Zero couldn't catch up with.

"Can they really be on equal footing? It's not that I don't trust Master, but even that director suffered such a crushing defeat. Can Master defeat her on her own?"

After witnessing Zero's actual strength, Galie wasn't very confident that her master could achieve his goal.

"This is our mission. We must do everything we can to increase Master's chances of winning. Galli, after defeating Rhea, what's her situation? Has she caught up with us?"

Unlike Garly, who poured cold water on her enthusiasm, Farah maintained the alchemical array in her hand and inquired about Garly's situation, who was observing the distance through a telescope made of water.

"Don't worry, I've been watching her the whole time. She seems to have changed into her yellow armor again, and she's looking this way from the rooftop now. Hehe, looks like she realizes it's impossible for her to catch us now."

Kari, who had been keeping a close eye on Zero, easily saw what was going on with her. When she saw that Zero wasn't going to chase after her, she couldn't help but make a face at her.

"So it seems they've escaped successfully. There's still about a minute's distance left, and she can't catch up with them anymore."

After learning of their movements, Farah felt a little relieved.

"Indeed, she even removed that strange armor she was wearing, which means she understands... wait, no, what was that?"

However, just as the two automatons were feeling relieved about their successful escape, Kari, who had been watching Zero, noticed that the other seemed to have made a new move.

"Sniping distant enemies with storms, facing countless enemies without defeat, offensive counterattack knife mode, X-004 armor? Saten, requesting to be equipped."

The heavy rocks returned to the earth, and a verdant breeze swirled around Lingyi. Then, the breeze accelerated, turning into a gale. As the gales collided, verdant lightning was generated, and flashing sparks covered the surroundings.

As the lightning dissipated, the figure revealed was Zero, who wielded a green flashing knife with an elongated opening resembling a sniper rifle, and was encased in lightweight armor that flickered with dark green electric sparks.

"If we can't catch up, then we'll render you incapable of fighting at this distance."

Muttering to herself, Zero began to activate the armor, transforming into a sword-gun-like flash blade and aiming the scope at a black sedan moving in the distance.

Pulling the trigger, the surging bullets fired at extremely high speeds, traveling a great distance to strike the alchemical shield that Galli had desperately constructed.

"So heavy—how can it still have this much power from this distance? Farah, think of something quick!"

The shield, painstakingly constructed, was already on the verge of collapse after barely blocking one bullet. Meanwhile, Galie saw that Zero's next bullet was about to be charged, and in a dilemma, she wanted to ask her companion for help.

"I tried my best..."

Despite the sniper fire, Farah had a plan. She quickly erected a wind screen to cover the car, allowing them to be optically concealed.

“Absolutely not, Farah. That guy is still aiming here, completely unaffected.”

However, although Farah had set up a concealed wind screen, Garly discovered that Zero's aim was completely unaffected, and she fired a second shot at them.

"I'll help!"

[Ninja Art: Car Clone Technique]

At the critical moment, Ogawa Shinji, who had been paying close attention to the battle, used a ninjutsu called Car Clone, which made the car turn into a phantom and split to both sides, barely dodging Zero's sniping.

"What exactly is being used for aiming? And what else besides the path of light could be used for aiming? Wait, could it be the fluctuations of alchemy?"

Although she dodged it once, the situation was still critical. In order to change the status quo, Farah quickly thought of the reason why Zero could still carry out such accurate sniping.

Then, she noticed the emerald green magic array on her hand, which was emitting a faint glow to conceal the entire vehicle.

"Heh heh, Garly, I think I've got a clue. You keep an eye on the changes in her attack trajectory."

Once she had the idea, Farah immediately put it into action. She stopped in the car and jumped out, following behind the car for a distance while still maintaining the wind curtain that refracted light.

"Attack trajectory... Farah, the attack seems to be aimed at your smirk."

Upon hearing Farah's words, Gally immediately re-examined the direction of the gun muzzle in Zero's hand, who was wearing dark green armor, and then discovered that although it was a small deviation, it was indeed there.

According to Gally's calculations, the target that Zero's gun was aimed at after the deflection was Farah, who was moving in parallel to it.

"So that's how it is. Not only does it rely on optical aiming, but it also observes the fluctuations of the heretical technology as a reference. In that case, Garly, I'll leave the rest to you. I'll stop her bullets here."

Having understood the principles behind Zero's aiming, Farah realized how to extricate them from their current predicament.

P.S. A certain anime was too heartbreaking, so I can only forget everything by writing.

Chapter Seven: The Failed Escape

"Hehe, I understand. Good luck, Farah!"

Having understood Farah's thoughts, Galie didn't say anything more, turned around, and stopped looking back.