I would have really liked to blame God for this shit, but honestly? In hindsight, I was taunting Murphy. I'd been taunting him a bit too aggressively. Flipping Murphy off while mooning the man was never exactly a good choice.

  Still, that didn't change the fact that I was still going to have to deal with this mess. At least the projectiles stopped flying now, so I didn't have to deal with that. I didn't know if it was because they didn't want to risk shooting their commander by accident, or if Brave ordered them too.

  Probably a mixture of both. Infuriatingly, Brave always had some measure of honor to him. No matter how badly his loyalty is misplaced. That was the worst thing about Brave. Loyal to a cause that certainly wasn't loyal to him, and being too damn stubborn to pull his head out of his ass.

  "You know this isn't going to end well for you, right?" I glared at him. "Even if you do defeat me here, which is frankly a pretty damn solid if, you're still going to have to deal with Purple Sister. And given how she carved up Judge like a Thanksgiving Turkey, do you really believe you have good odds?"

  Sure, Nepgear hadn't been overflowing with power like she used to. Even if she hadn't, Magik would likely have still cleaned our clocks. But she'd be more than enough to handle Brave largely on her own. At this point, all I needed to do was play for time.

  It wouldn't be a fun process, but it was likely just the correct play.

  "She'll be busy trying to break through the force field," Braves glared back at me. "Let's see if you fight better when you aren't frothing at the mouth. Or without any backup to cover for you."

  I scowled as Brave rushed forward, as I blocked his swing with my bow, muscles groaning in protest. Grabbing an arrow, I jabbed it forward. Brave twisted his head to the side moving backwards. A few more jabs got him to disengage momentarily.

  "And would tell you that I'm going to put my foot so far up your ass that you'll be tasting my toes with your mouth," I growled back at him, eyes narrowing as I notched the arrow. "Then I remembered that your head is so much of an obstruction that my foot wouldn't have any fucking room!"

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  Nepgear gritted her teeth, pressing against the barrier with all her might. It didn't budge, or give any sign of giving way.

  Quickly flying up she avoided the blast of lightning that came from the serpent's mouth. Sparks came off its body as it continued to wrap around what had to be the generator.

  Uni's rifle as well as Rom and Rams magic were just as ineffective against the force field as her sword was. It wasn't showing any signs of weakening. It wasn't showing any signs of major damage in the first place.

  It was no closer to buckling or even strained since when they started. Yes, the metal monster the ASIC either found or made was imposing, but it was the force field that was the issue.

  Uni spun around another blast, firing her gun, only for the laser to impact the barrier harmlessly. This wasn't working.

  Worse yet was the sounds of fighting coming from the other end of the intercom. It was a fight.

  Nepgear didn't think it was one Hinum was winning.

  There had to be some way out of this. But the door had slammed shut behind them, and it would take a long time to break through. And the force field extended along the ceiling. So they couldn't just drop the building on top of the monster and the generator.

  Unless.

  Did the force field extend to the surface? They had to be under something.

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  "A little busy at the minute!" I did my best not to growl into the mic. Nepgear wouldn't be trying to talk to me if it weren't for something that she didn't find important.

  Tink! Tink! Tink!

  Yeah, that was the sound I didn't want to hear. Freaking bastard. Judge hit like a truck and could take hits like a tank, but at least he was slow most of time! Brave? That rat was the perfect blend of speed, power, and durability. He could bounce my quicker attacks, as they wouldn't have the strength to punch through his armor. Anything I could throw at him that could punch through was far too telegraphed to even have a chance to connect.

  And that was if he gave me enough time to fire in the first place. Brave was more than fast enough to get into a space around me that I absolutely didn't want him.

  Bloody bastard. I'd complain about unfair boss design, but this was real life, not a damn video game.

  "I know, but we need you to blow something up! It'll let us come help you!" I heard on the other end of the line. Which wasn't a bad idea.

  "Going to need to know what or where you want me to blow up!" I weaved around a swing, gripping the bottom of my bow, managing to clip Brave in the head as I used the weapon as a club.

  Because frankly, I had no idea where they actually were by this point. Underground, but I was not in a position to indiscriminately carpet bomb the arena. Plus, that wouldn't exactly be smart.

  Plus, I was trying to be quiet. Even with the wind screaming around me, I didn't want to risk Brave hearing what I was plotting. But, with said screaming wind, I had to be heard over it.

  Second largest pain in my ass right now.

  Rocketing downward, I shot a few more arrows at Brave. Hopefully, giving myself more breathing room would help Nepgear to have a plan.

  Still, that was an interesting laser coming out of the ground for a moment there.

  Wait a minute.

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  "Uni, aim up towards the edges of the room!" Nepgear shouted, dodging another lightning blast. "I'll keep you covered!"

  Uni grumbled but did as requested. The force field didn't extend to the room's corners, allowing Uni's shots to burrow through the ceiling, and rock and dirt above it.

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  That was brilliant. Unsubtle, as anyone with a brain cell could figure. But it still got the message across. I was being given a target. A single laser wasn't much, but.

  Oh, look, there was another one.

  Both were at an angle, but I could work with this. I immediately started to climb, rising into the sky as steep as I could go.

  Of course, it wasn't going to be that easy. Brave took another swipe at me with hair sword, as I raised my bow to block it with a growl.

  "What are you planning?" Brave snarled behind his mask as a third laser erupted from the earth. That was enough to at least largely triangulate the position. Roughly, anyway, geometry was usually not my strong suit.

  "It's called improv. You may have heard of it if you hadn't spent so long licking your hypocritical taint," I shot back, glaring at him with the force of a thousand suns.

  Then I kicked him as hard as I could. Not the greatest idea, as I grit my teeth as my foot buries into Brave's armored stomach hard enough to send him tumbling back. I bite my lip, close enough to draw blood to keep myself from shouting from the pain. Had I broken something?

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  Shit, I didn't have time to focus on that right now. Brave was already righting himself after my kick sent him tumbling through the air.

  "You might want to find some cover!" I shout through the com as a fourth laser emerges from the earth, as power begins to swirl around my bow. Locating the rough center of the box Uni had drawn out for me wasn't hard. The building was surprisingly large. Not the largest by any means, but still, it at least stood out.

  "Stella!"

  I released the arrow, sending it screaming through the air like a rocket. Brave turned from me, tracking the arrow's movement, but it was too fast to stop, even if he tried. However, the moment he realized what I had shot at was a moment I'd cherish for the rest of time. Provided I survive the retaliation from Brave and oh dear lord I think he's actually pissed off now.

  Rocketing upwards, as I try to create as much space as possible. I was not in the mood to see if Brave could handle my fallout as well as I could. Thankfully, I wasn't looking down when the arrow hit home. The explosion roared, blasting away the building with ease, no doubt damaging whatever it was that Nepgear needed me to hit as well.

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  "That was, something."

  It was indeed, something. A something of never asking Hinum to blow up something again, no matter how effective it was. The force field seemed to work in their favor, channeling the explosion into the generator that powered it, down into the double. Hinum hadn't so much have dropped the ceiling on the monster's head, and more force-fed it a building-leveling explosion.

  They could even see through the hole in the roof, which was crumbling without the force field to support it. They could see a green light streaking erratically across the sky as if locked in combat with some unseen foe.

  "We should try to help the person who doesn't seem to know what restraint is," Uni grumbled, brushing the dust out of her hair as Rom and Ram were already flying through the hole in the ceiling.

  "Yeah, we should," Nepgear nodded, following behind Rom and Ram. If the current shouting coming through her earpiece was anything to go by, Hinum needed all the help she could get.

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  At this point, trying to keep ahead of Brave just wasn't worth the effort. Partly because opening the range just didn't have the same benefits now that reinforcements were on their way.

  That, and things were quickly taking to some sort of all out brawl in the sky. I managed to have Brave's sword arm in a death grip, beating him over the head with my bow, before he finally broke through the clanging of metal on metal to punch me in the face.

  That was enough to make me let go of Braves arm as I spun before righting myself. As he charged at me again, I brought both my hands to my bow to smack him across his armored head.

  "Get a concussion already!" I shouted, trying to rain down as many attacks on his head as possible. Take more brain damage, damnit! Brave only growled at my repeated blows to the head, pulling back his fist again.

  Only for fire and ice to bloom along his back.

  That is where I took the opportunity to grab hold and just throw him away, firing off another arrow for good measure. This one actually connected if the small explosion was anything to go by, but I was already distracted by a more pressing matter.

  "Thanks, I needed that," I float down next to Rom and Ram, ruffling the two younger girl's heads.

  "What happened to your foot?" Rom asked, and while she was shouting a bit, there was a clear worry in her voice. I gave it a look, and while it certainly didn't look great, it still could be much, much worse.

  I think.

  Probably wasn't going to want to put too much weight on it once this was done.

  "Kicked him," I admit, rubbing my head. Now that I took the time to focus on it, I started to realize that yeah, this hurt. This hurt quite a bit. Still, what was done was done. Not going to be able to take back the clock now.

  "Nepgear wasn't kidding, you really do look like you could use the help," Uni teased as I rolled my eyes. It wasn't like any of her solo fights against Brave had gone any better. But I kept it to an eye roll as Brave broke free from the smoke cloud, only for Nepgear to knock him back, sending him tumbling through the air.

  I glared at him, hoping at least a little bit that he would finally be able to pull his head out of his ass and think a little. It was a forlorn hope, as there was no way in hell he would, but the idea of Brave forgetting any loyalty to the ASIC was always appealing. If any of them could do it, Brave was the one.

  But it wasn't going to happen. I could tell Brave narrowed his eyes beneath his helmet, glaring up at us. This was a fight that Brave had no chance of winning. Part of me liked to think he knew that, too. That he was choosing to go out swinging, rather than surrendering.

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  The fight, from there, wasn't exactly a long one. To his credit, Brave didn't retreat, not one bit, nor did he surrender. At the moment, I was hanging back. Brave and Uni seemed to have a connection with one another, even if I didn't exactly get it. I was still more bitter towards the man than anything else. So much wasted potential. Could things had gone better if I had just kept my cool the first time we met?

  Undoubtably. But I hadn't, so here we were.

  So I was keeping my distance for the sake of not putting my foot straight into my mouth. That, and as it turned out, my foot was in far worse shape than I thought it was. I tried to stand on it, and to say it didn't go well was an, understatement. Not helping that broken bones, if that is what it was, weren't exactly what I would call a familiar pain. It was going to happen eventually, but the timing was piss poor.

  I floated off further to the side, staying out of the way of the emotional moment as I felt my phone ring, before checking it. I normally wouldn't, but there was a feeling in my gut. Chika wouldn't be reaching out to me if it wasn't important. She knew what we were planning on doing tonight.

  Answering the phone as quietly as possible, what I found Chika was contacting me was concerning. Almost concerning enough that I nearly dropped my phone, and missed the sudden power spike from Uni in the process. Because my mind was focused on a completely different problem.

  It was caught early, but my temper was boiling, almost reaching a fever pitch. The lunatics. The absolute madmen. They were actually doing that? Despite all the butt-whoopings I'd given them, they were still willing to pull off a stunt like this? I was beside myself. But beyond me being beside myself.

  I was pissed. Off!

  They dare! They dare to attack my country! Again! I was going to make them pay!