Inside the bridge, Magi was carefully observing Hyoubu's battle with Kaoru.
"It's just the queen?" he muttered. "Where are the other two?"
But no one knew, as everyone just stared at one another, shrugging.
"No idea, Magi; we haven't gotten any reports at all." The man behind the wheel replied, rubbing his temples.
That's when Senzo, Sophie, and Yugiri, with Momotarou on her head, casually entered the room.
"Don't worry, I've sent those two back. And they shouldn't be able to relate to what happened to me."
Senzo mentioned, a reassuring smile on his face while he looked at the battle that was still ongoing outside.
"Impressive, to be able to go toe-to-toe with Hyoubu for that long."
"That's right, these guys are The Children; they come from Babel." Magi suddenly shouted, looking straight at Senzo.
"And you sent two of them packing just like that? Without even using any of your psychic abilities, they know?"
"Well, I did use them, technically speaking, but they probably won't realize it's me?" Senzo said, scratching his cheek awkwardly.
Magi now also started rubbing his temples; this guy and the major were way too careless when it came to things like this. But at least Senzo stayed behind to help them, unlike their so-called major.
"Fine, just keep an eye out for the other two and Tsubomi. When you see any one of them, please immediately intercept them; we need time to reorganize after their surprise assault."
Magi requested with a deep bow; even though he was technically higher in rank, he had always carefully observed everything about Senzo—his mannerisms, behavior, and personality.
And after an extended period of time, he had come to the conclusion that he was trustworthy and deserved his respect.
Senzo's mouth fell open upon seeing Magi bow before him in front of all the others. "Please raise your head, vice-captain! Of course I will do that."
"Thank you." Magi said with a smile on his face. "Please position yourself at the forefront of the deck and use any means necessary to keep any intruders off the ship!"
His resolve hardened; even though the major said to only use him when necessary, he had no other choice. If the children were here, that meant Tsubomi was likely here as well; the same goes for Sakaki, so he had to do everything he could to keep the members safe.
"Understood, let's go, Yugiri, Sophie. And no matter what, listen to whatever I say!"
While ordering the two to make sure nothing would happen to them, the three vanished from sight and reappeared at the front of the deck. On the way here, Senzo had also grabbed three lounging chairs and placed them neatly next to each other.
"You need to stay on that chair until I say so, okay?" he said, looking around to make sure no other intruders were approaching the Catastrophe.
"Nnn!" Yugiri said, jumping straight on the chair with enthusiasm.
"O-okay!" Sophie remarked, a little more shaken by everything that was suddenly happening around her.
One moment she had been enjoying her time exploring the ship, and the next, they were under attack by Babel. Was this the life of espers?
"Don't worry, Sophie, with me here nothing will happen to you, but I need you to stay on the chair until I say you can leave. I need to focus now."
Sophie just nodded her head and also took a seat on the lounge chair; seeing all the sparks and explosions flying around from high in the sky left her stunned and frightened at the same time.
But she felt like this was a good opportunity to get to know the espers better and make sure they and normals could peacefully coexist at some point in the future.
***
Inside a large helicopter flying over tens of ships, all with the Babel logo on them, Shiho and Aoi suddenly appeared, gasping for air.
"Haah! W-What was that?!" Shiho exclaimed, falling straight to her knees right in front of Minamoto and Fujiko.
"I don't know, Shiho-chan, but I refuse to go back to that ship!" Aoi resolutely stated, as sweat kept dripping down her forehead while she was breathing heavily.
"What happened? Shiho, Aoi? Please quickly explain what the hell happened!" Minamoto interrupted the two girls that had suddenly appeared in front of him.
Even though he had given orders to teleport back to the main helicopter if they saw him, it was also only if they met that guy. Why would they be this terrified of him? It made no sense.
"Uh, so a weird and terrifying monster suddenly showed up the moment we were about to succeed in inserting the hacking device." Shiho explained, her hands going wild through the air as she tried to imitate the abomination they had seen.
"Yeah, like Shiho-chan said, it was so creepy, and the moment it locked eyes with us, we couldn't move anymore! Nobody ever informed us about anything like that being aboard their ship!" Aoi added, looking straight at Minamoto for an explanation.
But he was alarmed by what they said—they couldn't move? They weren't just normal schoolgirls; these two were some of the strongest espers on the planet.
"What do you think, Tsu... Fujiko?" Correcting himself mid-sentence, Minamoto just rolled his eyes at the woman seated across from him.
"Has to be him, and I guess that monster has to do with his currently unknown psychic power? But what could it be?" Fujiko muttered, and then she turned toward the two little girls with a serious expression.
"Please tell us every little detail about that so-called monster. I know this might be hard on you too, but this is crucial in completing this mission."
The two girls looked at one another, and without hesitation, they both stood up and nodded their heads vigorously.
"Understood!" They exclaimed simultaneously.
Then a moment later Kaoru suddenly appeared next to them.
"Huh? Why are you two here? Did you complete the mission already?"
"Quiet now, Kaoru; these two have found some crucial information." Fujiko said, putting a finger in front of her mouth without even sparing her a glance.
Kaoru pouted and turned her head toward Minamoto, hoping he would scold the old lady.
But he just shook his head. "Just listen for now; this is super important," he whispered.
"It looked like something straight out of a horror movie; it wore a disgusting mask and had weird, misformed arms and legs. But the scariest part was its crimson eyes; the moment those eyes locked on me, I couldn't control my body anymore. It felt like I was a lamb in front of a wolf." Shiho said, hugging herself tightly.
Aoi stood so close to her they were practically hugging, but that was necessary for them to be able to explain what they had seen; the experience was so traumatic they never wanted to remember nor talk about it, unless absolutely necessary, like now.
"Ah, and another thing is that it was real. The hamster we were following to get the special key stood on its shoulder. And the esper guy we had captured didn't seem bothered at all?" Aoi added, her eyes kept jumping between Fujiko and Minamoto, who were both deep in thought.
Kaoru was just quietly listening to their explanation, but she just cocked her head to the side; she couldn't understand it. Aoi and Shiho were completely paralyzed? How is that possible? Not even Hyoubu would be able to do that with his telekinesis.