Lightning and firelight crisscrossed; facing the Drowned Dreamers' assault, a combination technique from just the two of them succeeded here in blocking it cold.
An instance of one plus one being greater than two was now laid out plainly before them.
"Now's our chance!" Just as Anby and Number 11 broke past their own limits and successfully held off the Drowned Dreamers' attacks—
Yanagi Tsukishiro keenly seized the opening left by her opponent's fatigue, and with pinpoint precision drew her blade across the throat of her own Drowned Dreamer. In this instant, the counterattack began.
After the Drowned Dreamer · Yanagi Tsukishiro was beheaded, Anby and Number 11 likewise charged at their own Drowned Dreamers.
The mightiest combatants of the former Silver Squad were, in this moment, about to show one another their true strength.
Twin blades swift as lightning, moving like thunder, slicing through the Drowned Dreamer's body with speed and ferocity, shredding it into mincemeat.
The single saber, invasive as fire, striking like a raging blaze, surging and savage as it burned its Drowned Dreamer to charred cinders before it scattered into nothing.
The lone remaining Drowned Dreamer · Trigger still meant to put up a desperate, stubborn fight, only to have its skull punched clean through by a bullet fired from who-knows-where; the next moment it toppled to the ground, returning to the most primal Ether.
"Phew~ Target cleanup complete." Trigger let out a breath; though the wounds on her body still throbbed with a dull ache, the situation now had already begun to tip in their favor.
Beside her, Yanagi Tsukishiro steadied Trigger's somewhat unsteady, swaying body; the two of them had both taken no small number of wounds, and now they leaned on one another for support.
"Once this is over, I'll treat you to some red bean buns. I know a shop whose red bean buns taste especially good."
"Heh, then I'll look forward to it."
With the tide of battle turned, the four of them, after a brief readjustment, charged off toward Geno's direction.
And at this moment Dagalle had also noticed the Drowned Dreamers' defeat, yet it didn't care; it merely silently reclaimed the Drowned Dreamers' Ether, then made ready to leave.
Its target, from beginning to end, had only ever been Geno—anything beyond that was not on its list.
"Hey! Who said you could go!"
Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice came from not far off.
Apart from Dagalle, even Anby and the other three wore looks of surprise.
"Twiggy?! What are you doing here!?"
The newcomer was none other than Twiggy. At this moment Twiggy still wore that old military uniform from her Silver Squad days, and in her hand she carried a one-handed military saber, similar to the one in Anby's grip yet subtly different.
"To save someone, of course! My man can't go getting carried off by some weird creature!"
Twiggy's expression was serious, yet the words coming out of her mouth were utterly flippant—exactly the sort of thing Geno would do.
"..." Dagalle had no interest whatsoever in Twiggy's declaration; all it wanted was to carry Geno away and bring him to the Lord it worshipped. But these people just wouldn't quit, and it truly was beginning to feel a touch of irritation.
And so the sight that followed was Dagalle, one hand dragging Geno along, leveling its other hand at Twiggy; the Filth energy in its palm condensed into a beam of light that shot out in a violent burst.
Before anyone could react, it streaked straight at Twiggy's heart.
"Twiggy! Dodge, quick!"
Anby's pupils contracted sharply; watching Twiggy make not the slightest move, her heart leapt up into her throat.
But the scene that followed left her somewhat unable to comprehend it.
She saw Twiggy mimic Dagalle's very posture, placing her palm before her chest; then that beam of light, upon striking Twiggy's palm, melted away into her body.
Anby was stunned, Number 11 was stunned, Trigger and Yanagi Tsukishiro were stunned too, and even Dagalle, the one who had launched the attack, was stunned.
Why? Why could Twiggy absorb the power of Filth?!
"The Lord's power! Why?!"
While Dagalle was aghast, Twiggy's movements were not yet finished.
Having finished absorbing the Filth power, Twiggy abruptly burst into motion and the next instant appeared right before Dagalle's eyes.
The saber in her hand stabbed straight at Dagalle's face, vowing to skewer its eyes clean through.
But how could Dagalle be defeated so easily—it gathered Filth energy before itself, and a thin yet incomparably solid protective shell materialized out of thin air, fending off Twiggy's strike.
Then with a great sweep of its hand, another surge of Filth energy swept out, forcing Twiggy back and away.
"A familiar aura, unfamiliar, a strange creature."
Dagalle sensed on Twiggy's body the aura of its own kind, yet with some slight difference.
Whatever the case, Dagalle was unwilling to waste any more time here, and prepared to leave at once, taking Geno with it.
But suddenly it discovered that the Geno it had been gripping in its hand had vanished at some unknown point.
"Like I said—I told you to let go of my man. Are your ears deaf?! Huh?!"
Twiggy slowly laid Geno down on the ground, her orange eyes now faintly flickering with a glimmer of light.
Then Twiggy, brimming with dashing spirit, rose to her feet, leveling the saber in her hand at Dagalle.
"My man—only I get to bully him! Who the hell do you think you are!"
With that, Twiggy's figure once again shot out in a violent burst, abruptly appearing before Dagalle's eyes just as before.
What followed was a practiced flurry of basic slashing combos chained into a downward cleaving cut topped with a critical hit, leaving Dagalle somewhat caught off guard.
"Nice! That's it! Strike its vital points!"
Watching Twiggy hack away with her saber, beating Dagalle into submission, Number 11 grew tremendously excited, both hands balled into fists and pumping the air as she cheered Twiggy on.
"Stop yelling! Go help her, quick! Something's wrong with Twiggy's condition!"
Compared to that hick Number 11, Anby was far more composed; in a single glance she'd spotted that Twiggy's dominance wasn't as impressive as it looked.
On the contrary, throughout many of her movements there were very obvious pauses and gasps for breath.
Hearing Anby's words, Number 11 caught on too, and followed Anby as they ran toward Twiggy.
"You've noticed it as well, haven't you."
Yanagi Tsukishiro leaned in close to Trigger, adjusting her glasses frame, the deeper meaning in her eyes veiled by the light reflecting off the lenses.
"Mm. The Ether inside Twiggy's body is steadily increasing—it already far exceeds the amount an ordinary Ethereal contains."
The amount of Ether a single body can hold has a limit, and once that limit is exceeded, a person turns into an Ethereal—this is the origin of Ether Aptitude.
And in Trigger's eyes, the total volume of Ether energy within Twiggy's body had long since surpassed the amount of Ether that a Grade 3 Ethereal like a Dullahan could contain.
"And yet, even so, she still maintains her human form."
Yanagi Tsukishiro's expression turned grave; according to the data, if things continued at this rate, Twiggy would very soon turn into an Ethereal devoid of all reason.
But what puzzled them was that, given Twiggy's Ether Aptitude, she shouldn't be succumbing to Corruption this quickly, should she? Why would such a colossal amount of Ether appear?
This question was one that Trigger and her companion couldn't puzzle out, but for Geno—still lying on the ground, unable to move—it was no riddle at all.
Because in his eyes, besides the immense quantity of Ether, there was within Twiggy's body yet another power system he knew all too well.
Filth!
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