An unknown amount of time had passed by without the lavender haired girl's knowledge.
An explosion occurred far in the distance. But Atsuko didn't have any energy to give it any attention.
It felt like her heart had been forcefully taken out from her throat. It was tight and suffocating.
She really doesn't like this feeling.
A single sentence was constantly playing in repeat inside her head, never leaving her mind no matter what she does.
"Your voice, it's disgusting."
Even so, she couldn't give a proper response due to how shocked she was.
"My voice..." She tried to speak but suddenly, she felt like vomiting.
Covering her mouth using her hands, she gasped for air, her other hand was shaped into a fist as it held up her weight on the ground.
Her stomach churned uncomfortably before finally settling down as she caught her own breath.
In the end, all that's left for her to do was breathe in inexplicably, occasionally needing to catch her breath as she had seemed to have forgotten to intake them.
Rumble Rumble
Hearing the sounds of stones cluttering around her, she looked to see other Halos seemingly appearing on top of a few student's heads.
All of them were familiar faces.
As one of them pushed their hand down, Atsuko merely watched in silence as the knot in her throat continued to make their presence known, preventing her from speaking.
"Cough! Cough!" Misaki pushed down her body weight in order to turn her body around, not finding the strength required for her to stand.
Seeing the empty skies, she started to mutter to herself, "...So she was that strong this whole time? Damn." Clenching her fist, she covered her eyes using her forearm.
Then, as if noticing another person, she slightly turned her head, her gaze meeting Atsuko's...
"...Hime?!" Surprised by what she saw, Misaki panicked and quickly garnered enough willpower to stand and moved closer to the lavender haired girl.
The sight of the smaller girl crying has never surfaced inside any of her imaginations, this is the very first time she saw their princess in such a vulnerable state.
"U-um... It's fine! See? Does it still hurt? It's alright, we got ointments at home!" Misaki began to rub Atsuko's head in an attempt to calm her down.
'That Kasuka! At least leave Hime alone!' Thinking so to herself, she clenched her first, not knowing what had happened after she lost consciousness. "We can talk to her once she appears again. Don't worry, um.... we'll help you settle the score!"
Indeed, it seemed like even with the combat capability of all 5 Arius Squad members at peak strength seemed inefficient.
But that doesn't mean they'll just bow down in respect.
Besides, Kasuka is part of the family!
This whole thing could be treated as part of her dark history in the future if they treated things correctly.
They'll look back and realise how immature they had been, being absolutely wrecked by a girl who had a constitution that is certainly not suitable for combat.
'Her bullets hurt, though.' Surprisingly, Kasuka's weapons were extremely strong. Her bullet, which had seemed so small, had insane damage capabilities.
A single shot was enough to cause her to faint.
Hurried footsteps echoed as more people began to make their way to Hime, having woken up earlier, around a couple dozen seconds after Misaki.
Saori, Azusa, Hiyori.
All distinctly different colored hair, enough to be mistaken as people that couldn't possibly have any relation to one another.
They got near and were about to also comfort Atsuko in their own way but the girl shook her head and a hiccup escaped her lips.
The others didn't know that Kasuka's halo had been shattered.
They didn't know that it wasn't 'Kasuka' that had defeated them.
But it could also be said that Kasuka was the one that had been on top in the end.
Her destination, from the direction Atsuko had seen her gone to, seemed to be the old church that had been out of service for centuries.
For what reason could she have to visit? Perhaps it was to fulfill her end of the contract. They had prevented her from doing so this whole time. The only person that had access to that place was Beatrice, after all.
But...
Unexpectedly, Atsuko pointed in a direction, not speaking a word as her body language was enough to convey what she was trying to say.
Nobody found this weird, Atsuko was probably speechless due to the fact that Kasuka held such a large amount of firepower in her hands.
The direction she had pointed to... it was indeed the same exact direction Kasuka had gone to.
"She went that way? In that case, let's see how she's going." Saying so off-handedly, Azusa made her steps first. Closely following behind immediately were Misaki and Hiyori.
"Hime. Let's satiate our curiosity." Saori smiled as she extended a hand right in front of Atsuko's face. "We could simply ask the reasons why she had done that... though, I doubt she'd know the answer herself..."
Kasuka had been unconscious the entire time she was held back by them.
Although she seemed prone to conversations, she still effectively took them out one by one, not even giving Saori a hint of what she was doing.
That's simply how stealthy she had been, even while she was out in the open.
Maybe someone took control of her body, maybe she had always been skilled but was hiding her capabilities from them.
Or it could be another part of her personality.
That answer seemed to lean steeper on that part of the conclusion.
Atsuko hesitated on taking that hand, her eyes wavering uncontrollably as the same memories kept replaying inside her mind.
But in the end, she steeled her resolve and grabbed it.
'Kasuka is not dead. She's still... fighting.' They had no time to dawdle here, Kasuka was quickly making her way to her own goal.
Even if they were weaker than her, they would still support her wholeheartedly.