"Crosses time and again demolished everything around, accompanied by the shamisen playing. The girl in the kimono waved her fan, delivering cross-shaped strikes. One ship after another crumbled, but she did it very methodically and unhurriedly. As if she thought that no one would come to these ruins.
Hundreds of projectiles aimed towards the girl, but the same stroke, which left huge crosses behind, stopped some of the projectiles that could hit her. Yet suddenly, a dozen more projectiles flew towards her from the other side. When they too were stopped, she heard strange metal footsteps. Looking, she saw a peculiar robot. Two blades, each about sixty centimeters long, protruded from its hands. These blades were adorned with a hundred small, barely noticeable purple lines.
"Hello, guest, and sorry for the delay," Zigfaer bowed.
The girl simply covered part of her mouth with the fan, and the monsters raging behind her turned to the guardian robot, Zigfaer. He merely smiled. The entire defense system of the battleship was under his control, or more precisely, everything in this hangar began to obey his commands.
He stepped towards a five-meter creature that moved like a snake. It approached him, but when it got very close, the robot sliced its flesh with his swords, like a hot knife through butter. Then, he headed towards the girl, his sword passed near her cheek, but she stepped aside and remained unharmed.
"May I know the name of such a beautiful lady?" - he bowed, delivering a few more strikes.
"We have such similar eyes, don't we? Are you also a robot?" - the gates suddenly closed. The hole through which the monsters had entered was sealed with a huge wall, creating an Eden Shield from both sides.
Zigfaer was suddenly thrown back, aided by the fan in the girl's hand, while the sound of the shamisen reached him. He had long been trying to find the source, but this play seemed to simply overwhelm the space. As he stood up, he spread his arms, as a huge creature approached, trying to devour him along with the spaceship behind him. However, a huge metal hand crushed the monster. Behind Zigfaer was the entrance from which a huge mech - a Gvario-class titan named Dali - had entered the hangar.
"Well, if you don't want to introduce yourself, I'll do it!" - he politely said, jumping onto the mech's arm, which had just crushed the head of a large monster.
"I am the highest officer of the Treon Order, Zigfaer, and your guide to prison!" - he waved his hand.
"I expected titans from this place, but not another highest officer," - she covered her mouth with the fan, speaking in Alliance.
"Oh, I didn't expect that we speak the same language... In that case..." - Zigfaer's eyes began to glow even brighter in purple. - "You won't leave here!" - other mechs appeared beside Dali, and Lefions began to take off. Zigfaer controlled everything.
The girl smiled and suddenly approached the mech. Two cross-shaped strikes, leaving distinct marks in space, did nothing to Dali. The titan stood as motionless as ever.
"Oh, you've taken on too much…" - he shrugged. - "Soon an army of knights from the Order will be here, so I suggest you surrender, dear girl!"
"Yui," - said the girl in the kimono. - "That's the answer to your first question, Zigfaer," - she covered herself with the fan.
The monsters began devouring each other, transforming into something incredibly huge, filling the entire hangar.
"Pleasure to meet you, Yui," - Zigfaer touched the titan's face, and it slowly merged with him.
"Shall we start our dance?" - Zigfaer slightly bowed at Yui's question.
"Of course," - Zigfaer's titan replied, pulling out a huge sword from behind.
Here, in the hangar, the height was about thirty meters to the ceiling, the titan itself was about eight meters tall, and the monsters in front of them occupied the entire height of the hangar...
**
The violinist stepped into the battleship's wiring, her legs feeling the Eden Shield, which she compressed with her Melody. It was enduring extreme stress, which it could handle now... Somewhere in the distance, a hatch opened, and a strange figure emerged. A helmet covering the entire face, a black uniform, a cape, and in hands, a sword with hundreds of black lines. The monsters immediately rushed towards this person, but a couple of swings tore the monsters apart. The violinist moved forward, but now she seemed to ascend as if climbing stairs. Each of her steps left a strange wave altering the space. Like a drop of water, her legs created ripples on a calm lake.
The violinist observed the figure while playing the violin and accelerating the Melody. Suddenly, she ascended high enough to notice how the space around the figure began to distort from the battleship. She realized it was Eden. There was so much of it, compressed to a degree that her violinist's 'ordinary' eyes could perceive.
This aura not only engulfed the swordswoman's immediate vicinity but expanded further, gaining new power. It was as if a spark fueled by the human force within it.
"You will die for two reasons: first, you prevented me from meeting my beloved, and second, you attacked the battleship!" - Eden expanded even more. It was the influence of her weapon, not her strength. Lucy drew her sword, while the violinist abruptly halted her performance.
"Not a single 'fragment' from that side can possess such power... This is a problem," muttered 'Do' to herself.
**
The enormous sword cleaved the flesh of the strange creature that filled the hangar. Some Lefions that managed to take off actively supported it with fire, as did dozens of other weapons integrated into the floor, walls, and ceiling.
Dali was not the only titan, although three other titans were several classes below. Unmanned titan control was energy-consuming, and Zigfaer couldn't currently utilize all the computing power of his processor in the form of the huge Eden Crystal in his chest.
Yui attacked other titans and Lefions, not touching Dali. She realized that the damage to the Gvario-class titan was too negligible. She aimed for the knee joint, where old Alliance titans had a gap in defense, designed to offload pressure from the titan when its pilot used Eden. Currently, however, the crosses created by her fan were destroying these joints from within.
According to Zigfaer's observations, the crosses themselves didn't stay in their full form for long. After delivering two strikes, forming a cross with two lines, there appeared a strange rupture. It couldn't damage Dali but easily annihilated deactivated Lefions.
"The problem: if she continues to rage like this, Lucy will be angry at my carelessness," thought Zigfaer to himself. His mind was incredibly humanized, derived from a single individual, once one of the founders of the Treon Order.
When Yui changed position again, Dali struck with a huge sword. The titan's speed with the pilot was no less than the speed of the pilot without the titan. They were mobile and strong. When the blade was very close to Yui, she attempted to dodge but couldn't.
One of the humanoid masks protected its mistress. Small for the titan, like an ant for a human, the mask managed to stop the sword, which had enormous mass and initial speed. A crack across the entire mask caused Yui's purple eyes to widen. Two strikes formed a huge cross.
Zigfaer still didn't understand how or why they appeared, although he perfectly saw the correlation between them.
"The girl can control force, absorb, or repel," Zigfaer had already previewed all the surveillance cameras in the hangar. Even now, continuous recording was ongoing from both the cameras and Zigfaer's own eyes.
Suddenly, one of the masks flew towards the girl. She covered her face with the fan. A moment later, her previous face was flying around her, while another was on the girl. Strange drops of blood fell on the iron floor, creating a strange hissing sound. Zigfaer observed her while the titans tore apart the monster. From another part of the hangar, the steps of dozens of people - knights of the order - began to be heard.
"I don't know your goal, but it's time to end this!" - the suddenly open hangar was now made up of various blocks. Walls fell from the ceiling, creating a closed space with the girl and the titan.
Zigfaer saw her change. Even the melody changed its pace, clearly not for the better. He climbed out of the titan in hopes of drawing attention to himself and started running. The titan and the robot ran towards the girl from two sides. Her attack was predicted by Zigfaer: one cross towards him, the other towards Dali. Because of this, she was seemingly trapped in her own crosses. A strange thread emerged beneath her feet, swiftly attaching to her leg. Slowly, it enveloped her entire body.
But at that moment, Zigfaer received a cross-shaped strike that damaged the Crystal in his chest, while Dali remained unharmed.
"Victory!" - Zigfaer smiled, struggling to stand up. What had just enveloped the girl's body was Lucy's invention. The more the criminal tried to break free, the stronger the thread bound them. Throughout the battle, Zigfaer, from the eighth level of the battleship - the workshop, through the supply system, carried this thread here...