Sky Striker Princess, but the swan song of Valkyrie.

As her powerful punch struck the ripples of the Zero Void Armor, the ripples of the military air armor acted like superglue, gripping her fist and entangling her entire body.

Ultimately, unable to move or offer any effective resistance, Hibiki Tachibana's armor disintegrated after her entire body was enveloped in a greenish-blue electric current, and she collapsed helplessly onto the water's surface.

"Gungnir, retrieve."

Soon, Zero pulled off the Gungnir pendant from Hibiki Tachibana's chest, put it away, and ignored Hibiki Tachibana lying on the water platform created by the military air armor, slowly walking towards the remaining six armored personnel.

Now that the war has begun, Lingyi decided to take back all the holy relics on the wearers as well, so as to save them from causing her trouble later.

"Hibiki... How could this be? Just one glance?"

At this moment, the remaining fighters had not yet reacted to Tachibana Hibiki's defeat and could not believe that their most explosive opponent had been defeated so easily.

"Maria, let's break through head-on together! Chris, cover us from behind! Coordinate with Kira and provide flanking support! Hinata, please unleash the power of the Divine Beast Mirror!"

The first to react was Kazemikaze. After realizing that the initial tactics were ineffective, he quickly took command and arranged a new offensive strategy.

Immediately, Feng Mingyi expanded the blade of his sword, and a flash of Azure Sword Qi slashed smoothly towards Lingyi. He then leaped into the air, and the giant sword of Heaven's Reverse Scale slashed down towards Lingyi from above.

"useless."

The sword energy struck the ripples without causing a ripple. When Feng Mingyi's ultimate technique, Heaven's Reverse Scale, struck the floating shield of the Zero Void Armor, it slipped and did not cause any impact. Instead, Feng Mingyi was unable to adjust his posture and fell onto the sea.

"Wing! Damn it, if a frontal attack doesn't work, then let's try binding."

Seeing Kazanami's defeat, Maria changed her approach, transforming the blade in her hand into a long chain in an attempt to restrict Zero's movements.

"The idea is good, but the skills need improvement."

Zero commented on this, and then, as the long chain approached the ripples, it was attracted by the adjusted frequency of the ripples. Then, it directly pulled Maria, the other end of the weapon, onto the armor along the chain, and then…

"AirgetLAm, recycling."

Under Maria's pained gaze, Zero pulled off the pendant from Maria's neck.

"Maria! Damn it, the iron wall is so strong! In that case, let's close in and attack to force them to surrender!"

Unexpectedly, even his special skills failed to work. After falling onto the sea, Feng Mingyi got up and tried to get closer to Lingyi to bypass the impassable ripple barrier.

"You've lost your chance."

With her gaze shifting to Feng Mingyi, Lingyi decided not to let her continue being so active.

"What is this? Trapped in a quagmire, gurgling..."

Immediately, Feng Mingyi felt that she could not move her feet. Looking down, she realized that her foot armor, which was floating on the sea surface, had been soaked by the seawater that was shining with a bluish-green light.

Moreover, these turquoise seawater, like cool tentacles, climbed up Fengmingyi's legs and extended upwards, instantly enveloping her entire body and turning her into an inescapable water prison.

"Ame no Habakiri, retrieve."

Picking up the red pendant from the water, and looking at the unconscious Kazami, who had already suffocated, Zero slowly announced her defeat.

"Senior! Damn it, what on earth is this barrier? Why can't we break through it at all?!"

Seeing Kazanari and Maria both defeated, Chris was eager to provide support, but she had been doing this since the very beginning.

However, no matter whether it was missiles, longbows, machine guns, or sniper rifles, they couldn't penetrate the ripples that stood between them and Zero. Even Tsukuyomi's dodge and Akatsuki's cheka's detour were blocked.

She simply couldn't understand how there could be such an incredibly hard iron wall.

"Chris, let the Divine Beast Mirror try it out."

At that moment, Kohinata Mirai had just finished charging up the beam of the Divine Beast Mirror in mid-air. The mirror was aimed at Rei on the sea surface, and the beam of light that could destroy all sacred relics was bombarded towards her.

"Flash Blade Technique? Disruption Ripple".

However, the four shields formed the four corners, and the green ripples formed a hemispherical shield, while the crimson beam of light was guided to scatter in all directions upon contact.

"Even the Divine Beast Mirror is useless?"

Mako Hinata Mirai, who unleashed her ultimate technique using the Divine Beast Mirror, was somewhat surprised by the meager results.

"Isn't this a matter of course? I have a clear record of the magic-breaking beam of the Divine Beast Mirror. How could I not take precautions against something similar?"

Lingyi said matter-of-factly.

"However, even so, the cost of guarding against your Divine Beast Mirror is still too high, so let's leave here."

Then, the two shields detached from the military air armor and flew in circles toward the future of the little sun in the sky. She tried to dodge, but before she could, a sudden surge of water from the sea swallowed her from behind.

"Mythical Beast Mirror, to be recycled. Sorry."

Retrieving the pendant of the Divine Beast Mirror from the ocean current, and looking at Kohinata Mirai, who had disintegrated and fallen after being sandwiched between two shields, Rei expressed a slight apology.

"Then, Chris, it's been so noisy on your end since just now. You haven't given up yet? You should at least understand that this is not something you can break."

After retrieving the Divine Beast Mirror, Zero turned her gaze to Chris, who had been making useless noise non-stop since the beginning, and asked helplessly.

"None of your business. I'd like to know how you managed to create such a tough, turtle-shell-like shield, Zero!"

Despite verbally criticizing Zero's new equipment, Chris didn't stop unleashing the firepower of her own gear.

"Sigh... If you're really curious, I'll tell you about it when I have time, but only after you've been defeated."

Watching the fireworks exploding on the defensive wall, he sighed. The shield that had previously knocked Kohinata Mirai unconscious flew towards Chris, hitting her squarely in the abdomen and causing her to disintegrate for the second time today.

"Magic bow, retrieve it. Alright, the appetizers are done, now it's time for the main course."

Reaching Chris's side, she cut the noose around her neck, took the magic bow pendant back into her hand, and looked at Tsukuyomi—the soul of Finni.

Ultimately, Symphogear's wearer, Zero, never took her seriously from the beginning. In her eyes, the most dangerous enemy was always the undead Finni from the prehistoric civilization.

"Everyone, they've all been defeated by Zero! Ugh, ugh! I told you I couldn't win! I don't want to keep fighting Zero here! Death!"

Just as Zero's gaze fell upon Tsukuyomi, Akatsuki Kirika seemed to be so frightened by Zero's strength that she broke down emotionally and began to run away from Zero, completely ignoring Tsukuyomi.

"Um? "

Seeing Xiaoqiege fleeing in panic, Lingyi didn't think much of it. The water flow controlled by the Zero Void Armor crashed into the fleeing Xiaoqiege, causing her to disintegrate and pulling her pendant back with it.

“Emerald Scythe, retrieval, a plan? But I won’t forget who the key person is, and I won’t let my guard down against you, Finny, just because I’m chasing after the escapees.”

After easily defeating Xiaoqiege, Lingyi looked at Tsukuyomi, who was also trying to escape but was trapped in a cage by her shield.

"Sister Lingyi, I'm sorry..."

Tsukuyomi did not respond to Zero's statement, but looked at Zero, who was wearing azure armor, with a hint of apology in her purple eyes.

“There is no need to apologize. After all, Finney has lived for so long, so his verbal skills are probably better than I expected. So, all we need to do is separate Finney out.”

Ignoring Tsukuyomi's intentions, the cyan ripples flickered, and after struggling for a moment, Tsukuyomi, trapped in the cage, also had her armor disintegrate, collapsing limply to the ground.

"Saw, recycling."

Thus ended the battle between the seven Symphogear users and the Zero Suit. The final result was a complete victory for the Zero Suit user, who only used the Zero Void Armor. All Symphogears were recovered, and the users no longer had the ability to resist.

"Now, I can finally focus on dealing with you, Finney."

After retrieving the last Symphogear, Zero breathed a slight sigh of relief, then squatted down and placed her armored hand on Tsukuyomi's forehead, preparing to pull Finny's soul out of the other's body.

"……strangeness."

However, one second, two seconds, three seconds, several seconds passed, and a hint of doubt arose in Lingyi's heart.

She didn't understand why, no matter how she tested, there was only Tsukuyomi's unique soul inside her body.

Then, Lingyi turned her gaze to Tsukuyomi's inorganic pupils, looking at the other's expression of complete surrender, as if she had handed everything over to someone else.

"No!"

Then, Lingyi thought of Xiaoqiege's unusual behavior just now, which seemed to be due to fear as she abandoned Tsukuyomi and ran away. She looked at Xiaoqiege, whom she had just defeated.

Just as she had her worst fears, the blonde girl's body had vanished from the submarine and disappeared without a trace.

The matter is quite clear. Although it is unknown how they did it, it is obvious that Tsukuyomi's side is the bait, while Akatsuki Kirika is the one who truly needs to be protected.

"A wonderful magic show, buddy. It seems you've truly mastered what I taught you before."

Rei, whose spirits had plummeted, praised Tsukuyomi's approach, especially considering she had once been his teacher.

This is a very reasonable approach. When facing an enemy that cannot be defeated, do everything possible to preserve the most useful manpower and wait for the situation to change before taking the initiative to strike.

This was something she had taught them during combat training; she never expected they would be able to apply it at this time.

"If we don't do this, we won't be able to defeat Sister Zero."

Tsukuyomi calmly accepted Rei's praise, without joy or sorrow.

"Without Symphogear, she won't get far."

Zero Armored Vehicles activated, and Zero Clothing prepared to pursue Xiao Qiege, while Zero Space prepared to search the surrounding sea area.

"Although she doesn't have Finney's creation to assist her, Galy, as an alchemist's creation, still possesses a little bit of power."

"Wow, I never thought they could actually create this situation, allowing me to seize this one and only moment of distraction to send them away."

However, she couldn't find it. Her control over the surrounding sea area was being interfered with by the same type of Q*UN}`鏾溜寺氿漆氵思 ability, and the person interfering with her had already appeared before her with elegant ballet steps.

"Carol's automaton... Get out of the way!"

Having no time to waste on the puppet, Zero's floating shield, carried by the water current, instantly smashed it into pieces. At this moment, Zero only wanted to catch the fleeing Finny as quickly as possible.

"Hehehe, you're getting impatient, aren't you? But I have even more gifts for you, please accept them, no need to thank me..."

However, as the doll was shattered, the doll's head, which had been sent flying into the air, uttered these words. The next moment, countless red crystals erupted from the doll's body like a torrential rain.

"Alchemy noise?!"

As the crystal shattered upon impact, a red alchemical array emerged, and countless alchemical noises sprang up across the plane.

Generally speaking, these grunts wouldn't even be able to hold Lingyi back for a moment, but at this time and place, there were things she had to protect.

"Damn it!"

Looking at the noises around her that were now autonomously searching for humans to attack, which were no longer being controlled, Lingyi's agitation reached its peak.

Zero Void Armor operates at full power, its ripples dividing the battlefield, protecting the armored warrior who lost Symphogear from the clutches of Alchemy Noise.

Then, Zero launched a full-scale counterattack, firing at these useless grunts.

"Phew—I got tricked."

The mobs were cleared out quickly, but it still wasted some of Lingyi's time.

As a result, even though she rushed to search for Xiaoqiege's whereabouts immediately afterward, she was ultimately... a step too late.

Chapter Nine: The Isolated Island

The seawater lapped against the stationary submarine. Standing on the hull, Zero, clad in azure armor, maneuvered his four wing shields as he hovered over the surface of the sea.

Although she had given up hope, she still thought that maybe the slightest clue she had missed could help her find Finney.

"Even if we expand the search to its limit, we still can't find it?"

But nothing changed; the dark seabed remained as calm as ever, offering no useful information to guide her.

"Well, it seems we really can't do any better."

Lingyi felt a little disappointed with the result, but she had nothing to regret.

After discovering the Light Society's base, he immediately rushed there to destroy the Light Society's combat capabilities to the maximum extent. Considering that his actions might cause Fini to react negatively, he came here and immediately began to set up the battlefield to capture Fini.

She has already done her best step by step within the limited time constraints.

"We still lack strength and experience; we are still too weak and need more power."

Thinking about this, Lingyi realized the only thing she lacked right now.

Currently, although she is no longer afraid of anyone in direct combat, if the opponent is determined to escape, she will find it difficult to stop them.

"Zero-chan, you're strong enough already. If someone like you isn't considered strong, then what is considered strong...?"

Just as Lingyi was reviewing the gains and losses of her actions, Tachibana Hibiki, who had been watching her for a long time after regaining her senses, couldn't help but say this.

After the battle, Zero ignored the incapacitated warriors, since they posed no threat and she didn't care what they did. So, after waking up, Hibiki Tachibana ran to her side seeking a conversation.

"...No, I have no ill will toward you. You are very strong. Don't underestimate yourselves. By strength, I am only referring to whether there is any possibility that I can do better."

Shaking her head, Lingyi indicated that she didn't mean anything by targeting the costumed characters; she was simply using it to motivate herself.

"Judging from the final result, this statement is not convincing at all."

Chris ran to Zero's side in a huff, occasionally kicking Zero's turtle shell to vent her frustration from the battle.

"No, it was indeed the right judgment to choose to retreat temporarily when facing an invincible enemy. If you hadn't insisted on running away, I wouldn't have had to keep fighting using Zero Void, which is better at binding."

"And your final, all-out battle did indeed take up a lot of my energy, which is why I couldn't spare the attention to focus on Finney's soul condition."