"Firefly Type-IV - Death Star Overload!"
Although Firefly had blasted the meteorite apart with a pure burst of energy, the fragments remained massive. If they fell, they could still devastate the already ravaged city.
Realizing this instantly, Firefly transformed into a streak of light, darting through the air between the meteorite fragments.
Despite being called "fragments," the smallest pieces were over a hundred meters long, with some approaching a kilometer in size. To prevent catastrophic damage upon impact, they needed to be shattered into fist-sized rubble.
Firefly's focus sharpened to a razor's edge as the pressure on her body intensified. Gritting her teeth, she unleashed a relentless barrage of sword strikes.
To Firefly, time seemed to stretch into an eternity, but in reality, only a few seconds had passed. On the ground, Fujiwara stared blankly at the sky, unable to spot SAM's figure amidst the ceaseless disintegration of the meteorites.
"No, no... How can we possibly defeat an opponent of this caliber?" Fujiwara's lips trembled as he frantically pulled scrolls from his robes.
"Not this one, not this one either..." Fujiwara tossed aside the precious magic artifacts as if they were worthless trash. Finally, he found a teleportation spell and tore it apart without hesitation.
But... nothing happened. Fujiwara's eyes widened in shock. He couldn't sense a trace of magic power. From that moment on, he could no longer use any of the Wizard's magic artifacts!
Bang, bang, bang, bang—
Fist-sized chunks of debris rained down, clattering around him. The silver mecha SAM landed before Fujiwara. The cyan afterglow around SAM had vanished; Firefly had immediately deactivated Full Combustion State after shattering the meteorite, reverting to her initial form.
Inside SAM, Firefly's forehead was slick with sweat, her bangs plastered to her skin. She gasped for breath, utterly exhausted. Maintaining Full Combustion for even that brief period—just long enough to shatter the meteorite and its fragments—had left her feeling like she was about to vomit.
It felt exactly like collapsing after running a 5,000-meter race back in her previous life during her school days.
Fortunately, Fujiwara had completely lost the will to fight. When he saw SAM land, he frantically scrambled backward, a dark stain spreading across his pants. His lips trembled slightly, as if he wanted to speak—to beg for mercy—but fear choked off every word.
Firefly watched this scene with undisguised disgust.
She briefly considered delivering a cool one-liner, striking a final pose, or even taunting him. But she quickly dismissed the idea. At this point, anything she said would be a waste of time.
With a flick of her wrist, a surge of flames engulfed the area, setting Fujiwara ablaze.
"Aaaaaaaah!"
His anguished screams echoed through the chamber, but Firefly felt no pity. A man who would drag an entire nation to its doom, burying millions alongside himself, deserved no mercy.
Once the deed was done, Firefly immediately deactivated her Full Combustion State. She wiped the sweat threatening to drip into her eyes with the back of her hand, then smoothed her damp hair.
"Ugh... I really want to take a shower..." Her clothes felt sticky and uncomfortable against her skin.
Exhausted as she was, Firefly's stamina was rapidly recovering after exiting Full Combustion State. She felt much better now, but the lingering discomfort and unease persisted.
But in this world, in this environment, where could she possibly find a place to bathe? She couldn't exactly ask Robin to summon a shower through the Chat Group, could she?
"Ugh, this is so annoying..."
Muttering to herself, Firefly began walking through the ruined city. Surveying the shattered buildings around her, a complex mix of emotions swirled within her.
Though she knew this was a Dimensional Rift and everything here might be an illusion, witnessing this hellish devastation firsthand still pierced her heart with pain.
Perhaps she simply possessed an unusually strong sense of empathy. Some people could watch emotionally charged films without reacting, even coldly dismissing them with, "It's all just acting anyway."
But in her previous life, Firefly had always found it far too easy to immerse herself in such stories, letting the emotions sweep her away.
Lost in thought, Firefly glimpsed a girl's figure flitting behind a cracked window in a dilapidated roadside house. It wasn't her imagination; the girl seemed to have seen her too. After a few seconds, the girl reappeared behind the glass and frantically waved at Firefly.
"?"
Puzzled but curious, Firefly slowly approached the house. Just as she reached the doorway, the door burst open. A young girl, around eleven or twelve years old, grabbed Firefly's wrist and yanked her inside.
"How could you wander around outside like that?!" the girl exclaimed, still pulling Firefly along. "Quick, hide! Aren't you afraid of those strange people who keep appearing?"
Strange people who keep appearing? Firefly paused, then quickly realized the girl was likely referring to the Sakura Nation people.
Strictly speaking, Firefly herself was one of those "strange people" who had suddenly appeared, wasn't she?
"Then aren't you afraid I might be one of those 'strange people' you're talking about?" she asked.
The little girl's body stiffened. She released Firefly's wrist and stumbled back two steps, but hesitated. "Big Sister... are you a bad person?"
"No, no, no, of course not," Firefly said quickly, waving her hands in response to the girl's dramatic reaction.
"Phew, you scared me there!" The little girl sighed in relief. Clearly, just as the Shield Hero had mistaken Firefly for a local, silver hair was relatively common in this Otherworld. The girl had likely assumed Firefly was a native for the same reason.
Led by the little girl, they ventured deeper into the dilapidated house. Firefly noticed that the furniture in the living room and bedrooms had been overturned, with belongings scattered across the floor. This couldn't have been caused by the recent rockfall; someone had clearly broken in and ransacked the place, likely searching for something.
Finally, they reached what appeared to be a storage room. The little girl pulled back a dust-covered rug, revealing a wooden trapdoor beneath.