"DING! DING! DING!"
The bells marking the end of the 20-minute planning period rang loudly throughout the mall. Without wasting a single moment, we all moved into action, heading to carry out our own respective parts of the strategies. Alice remained within the mall, unable to leave until after the 15-minute period. She would be accompanied by Blade and his summons.
Dashing out of the mall and into the open air, I slowed down, just marveling at the size and beauty of everything. The entire area was massive. From the entrance of the mall alone I could see the massive peaks of high-rise skyscrapers reaching for the clouds. I could see the rows and rows of houses and apartment buildings, plazas, and roads that made up the town.
On the complete opposite side of the mall, I could see the massive condo that must have housed the other team. I tried to use my mana sense, but I could barely make out any useful information from this range. That was just how large this island was. Just beyond the large condos, I could see the shimmering blue ocean. It looked dazzling under the radiant light of the sun.
As I was taking in the scenery, I noticed massive walls of gold descend upon areas of the map. A total of 4 descended in total, covering up 4 sections of the map. They were barriers created by Aven. They served as an information system to convey which sections were currently a mana dead zone. Every so often, around two or three minutes, Aven would drop down these large walls upon the 8 sections of the map. If they landed without a problem, the area was fine. But if they disappeared or didn't appear at all, that meant that area was a mana dead zone.
Not only that, but it also served as a way to hinder the progress of the other team. The barriers took up multiple city blocks of space, so taking a detour around them would mean traveling all the way around, and that would slow them down as much as possible. Of course erecting such massive walls took a ton of focus and mana, so Aven was sitting inside of one of the buildings, hidden away from sight.
He was accompanied by one of Blade's summons, which took the form of a pterodactyl. That way, if the area he was in became a mana dead zone, he could quickly relocate.
But Aven was just the safety net of Alice's whole strategy.
The whole strategy was reliant on clearing a path for Alice and Blade to make it straight towards the center, all without running into any obstacles. A simple goal, but the strategy devised to get there was far from 'simple.'
There were three main parts. The first would be having people clear the way to the center and devise the most optimal path to get there. That was all up to Hikaru. She had the ability to use her mana to create a perfect mental map of anywhere she was in, and she had used it during the siege on Theta to effectively maneuver and connect help to the areas that needed it.
She would move quickly and essentially create a live map, different from the one inside of the mall. That map only showed the area in general. But Hikaru's map would take into account destruction of terrain, locations of allies and enemies, as well as areas that have been compromised or blocked. That live map would then be communicated to Alice as soon as the 15-minute wait period was over, and she would use it to deduce the best route.
The two would stay in constant communication, adapting to changes that arose as the map's terrain changed. That would be important because the other team possessed abilities that would allow them to move quickly and set up traps and deadfalls even quicker.
The second would be having a few of our members contest the center. That was the main goal of this whole test, so it would be stupid to not aim for it. That job was left up to Nova, Luka, and some of Ayung's own creation. She had managed to find many materials within the mall to build with, and she was able to create a small force of automated machines. Not very durable or strong, but they would serve as distractions for the two main brawlers, as well as buy Ayung time while she worked to create something stronger.
Nova's ability allowed for her to take up a role in the center of the action, buying time and hopefully forcing back whoever Masayoshi sent in to occupy space. Which would most likely be Yuri along with Erika. In terms of a physical strength match, they were even.
Meanwhile, Luka's ability, [Shadow Garden], allowed for him to summon large amounts of warriors made from shadows. The more time he spent focusing, the stronger the shadow soldier would be created. He could even copy enemies techniques and turn them into shadow soldiers. A shame that it wouldn't get to be used because of the fact the center would always fully nullify mana. Along with Ayung's robots and Nova's firepower, they would make a perfect squad to hold things up in the center and create enough chaos for others to slip through.
And that left the most important part of the strategy. Alice had predicted that Masayoshi would make use of Misa's portal ability in tandem with Seele, Touka, and Myra. The three of them all together functioned like assassins, and on their own they were already a nightmare to deal with. But give them the ability to be teleported all around the map, and it would become impossible to deal with them. Of course, there was also Clyde. Alice believed they would make use of his destructive power to control the battlefield and force our movements into the sectors where their assassins could do work.
It was a match made in heaven, so in order to counter them, Alice wanted to use Aven's ability as a counter to Clyde's. Any time Clyde would try and create a massive storm to alter the battlefield, Aven would box off its path, using the information he was getting from Hikaru's live map to send it into an area where it would do more harm to their team than good.
As for the three assassins, the plan wasn't to deal with them alone, in one-on-one battles, because that's exactly what their abilities and kits excelled at. Instead, the plan was to deal with their supporters, Mis and Clyde, first. Ayung was working on something that would directly be able to hamper Misa's ability, and Aven was countering Clyde. By shutting those two down, the three assassins' mobility and threat level would go down.
But in order to get to that point, we would have to hold off the assassins first. That job was left up to me and Blade. I and his summons would essentially act as bait. I would have complained about the fact that I was once again given the punching bag role, but this time I was actually looking forward to it. Credo would be watching, and this was my chance. If I could show off the extent of my abilities, it would be perfect. I took a deep breath in and then out, clenching my blade, rubbing my finger over the heart inscribed at the top.
I then pushed off of my feet and dashed through the empty roads of the city, accompanied by nothing other than the chirp of birds. My goal was a skyscraper that was located in a dead zone on the north side of the map. It would give me the very best look over everything. That way I could scout out where to go. Unfortunately I hadn't been provided with my own travel pterodactyl because, according to Alice, "I was clearly fast enough."
But that was when I used electrification. I wasn't sure if I wanted to pull something like that out so early. If anything, I wanted to save it until I and Myra ran into each other.
Overhead, a raven flew.
For a brief moment, in this illusory world, there was a moment of pure calm and peace, a serene and beautiful atmosphere.
That was the last moment of calm and peace.
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Hikaru dashed through the neighborhood buildings, constantly scanning things with her eyes and making mental notes. She was in her first steps of creating a viable live map. Currently she had already done the sector where their base was located and the two adjacent ones. That was 3/8. Currently 4 sections were under mana nullification, and those were the sections on the side in which Masayoshi's team started. Hikaru was thankful for that, because it allowed her to get the closest things to her done instead of having to backtrack later. She only had 15 minutes to build a map of as much of the area as she possibly could, so she had to be quick and efficient.
After she finished with those three sections, she took a path that would bring her closer to the center. The island was large, and moving through it was taxing, so wasting time on bad routes was not the kind of deadfall they wanted to fall into. Of course she had fully memorized the layout of the 3D map inside, so she had a nice idea of what the whole map looked like. That would help her in making sure she took the best route in building the map, and it also served as a failsafe just in case she couldn't get to a section.
Her plan would normally have been foolproof, but that was under the assumption she didn't run into a single person on her way there. And she would have to perform a pretty wide circle around the map, so that would be impossible. She did have one of Blade's summons accompanying her, but if possible she wanted to avoid combat, because that would hinder her ability to make the map.
The closer and closer that Hikaru got to the center, though, the more and more the weight in her chest seemed to rise. It was as if someone had set down a slab of stone onto her chest that was getting heavier and heavier by the second. Breathing became more difficult, and Hikaru could feel her speed and clearness of mind decreasing as well.
It was not a pleasant feeling, and Hikaru hoped she would be able to avoid something like that for as long as possible. Cutting out of a residential area, she arrived at the plaza. From what she remembered, she was about halfway towards the center. The plaza was large, home to multiple shopping stores, a pizza place, and a few bookstores. Going around would take too long, so she had decided to cut right thr-
As soon as she stepped through the threshold of the library, she felt the aura of death approach her. Reacting as quickly as she could, she bent backwards, avoiding the tip of a scythe that would have cleaved her face off. The scythe just barely landed a small scratch on her right cheek.
Hikaru flipped onto the checkout counter, landing on one knee. Blood slowly dripped from the cut on her face.
The person in front of her was Seele. Long purple hair and bright purple eyes. She wore the boy's school uniform, blazer and pants. It was decorated in jewels of different colors.
The most noticeable part about her, however, was the massive scythe she held in her hands. This wasn't just a regular farmer's scythe either. It was so long that holding it vertical caused the top to scrape the edge of the roof. It had a much wider curve than a regular scythe, the blade nearly forming a semicircle. The entire blade glowed a deep purple like a nebula in the sky.
A small drop of blood rolled its way down from the tip of the spear, splashing against the ground. She held the scythe horizontally at her side.
From where Hikaru stood, she shivered as she realized just how quickly Seele had gotten here. If Misa's Quantum Tunnelscape could reach out this far, then they were seriously in trouble.
She didn't have time to waste taking this battle. Just outside, Blade's summon was waiting. She would call in the summon to hold her off and try to break free. She couldn't get caught up so early.
However, before she could even think to initiate that strategy, she felt a sharp pain in her body and felt her limbs freeze up.
Seele was smiling while she stared at Hikaru. "I could feel the gears in your head turning. I don't know what you're up to, but it's better I stop it now, no?" She spoke condescendingly, a sly smile growing on her face.
"W-what did you do?" Hikaru asked through gritted teeth. In truth, she didn't need Seele to explain. She could feel the foreign mana floating through her body. Seele had already activated her ability.
"Red Phantom. I'm sure you've heard about it. Right now the blood in your body is under my control."
Seele spun her scythe around in her hands. "Give up. It's already over."
Hikaru gritted her teeth in frustration and narrowed her eyes as her mind began to work desperately, trying to find a way out of this situation.
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Touka leaned against the railing of the billboard. Her hair flowed wildly in the wind. She scanned the ground below her using mana sense, all the while flipping and spinning the knives that were in her hand.
Her role didn't start until the fifteen-minute timer had begun, so for now, she would find someone to play around with. Her eyes continued to dart over the large cityscape below her, desperate to find any sort of prey. And that's when she spotted them.
Making his way towards the outskirts of the map was none other than Raiden Chisaki. He moved quickly, almost too fast for her to track with her eyes. Smiling, she pushed herself off of the railing, falling headfirst.
Seconds before she connected with the ground, she spun and gracefully landed on the hood of a massive truck, right in Raiden's path.
Raiden slowed down, sliding to a stop a few feet away from the car. His hand rested on his blade.
"Fancy meeting you once again, Raiden."
Raiden's eyes darted around the surroundings as if he was searching for something. He then turned his gaze back to me. "You actually came alone?" He seemed shocked.
"What about it?" Touka asked, slowly pulling out an array of knives and kunai from her belt.
He then smiled cockily. "Unfortunately, you're going to need way more than that to beat me."
Touka's expression showed shock at his arrogance. She then shook her head and smiled right back at him.
"I like confident guys, but this is just arrogance." In one swift movement she launched her knives straight at him, watching as they clashed with Raiden's blade.
Alice leaned over the table, watching the glowing dots on it move with great interest. What she had not noticed when she had checked out the map was that it provided colored dots that showed the location of each and every one of her teammates. When they engaged with an enemy, their dot would appear on the map as well.
At first everything was proceeding smoothly. Until Hikaru's dot stopped moving, and that of an enemy appeared. Wasting not even a second, she reached out for communication.
"Hikaru? What's going on over there?" She managed to keep her voice calm despite the significant panic she was feeling. Hikaru was a key part of this strategy. If she fell, they would most definitely lose.
"I've r-run into Seele."
That was the worst possible news that she could have gotten. If she had run into Seele in an ambush, there was simply no way that she could escape. She would be locked there for a while, and that live map would be too incomplete to be any sort of useful.
Alice's eyes scanned over the map once again, desperately looking for how she could remedy this. If Hikaru was already caught under Seele's ability, then in order to break her free, they'd need someone to take up a majority of Seele's focus or defeat her. She didn't want to pull Nova from the front lines, as the brawl there would start at any moment.
She then noticed Raiden's dot had engaged an enemy.
"Chisaki! Who are you up against"
On the other side she heard grunts and the sound of metal on metal contact.
"Touka!' He shouted between the loud clangs of metal.
Alice nodded, a smile forming on her face.
If he hasn't engaged with Misa yet, then...
"Begin leading your opponent towards the central district, specifically the plaza! I want you to meet up with Hikaru and distract Seele enough for her to get away!"
"Understood."
Breathing out a sigh of relief, she sat back down. And that's when she noticed it in her peripherals.
The storm that was slowly brewing in the ocean, not too far away from the island.
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Masayoshi watched over the battlefield, yawning. If he was being honest, he still didn't want to be in this position; however, he couldn't lie—he liked the power it gave him.
He looked over the dots on his table, watching their movements closely. Seele and Touka had already infiltrated enemy backlines. Myra was lying in wait, prowling around in search of Aven. And Misa had managed to find a supreme position in the map, which allowed her to use portals to save or aid teammates. In all honesty, it felt nice.
Looking over everything and being in absolute control. He then pressed the button for his communication device. "Hold on A bit longer, Clyde. I want to see how this all plays out. When the time is right, you and Misa will go in."
Masayoshi leaned back when he got Clyde's confirmation of understanding, smiling to himself.
T-10 minutes until captains are released.