While Lenore faces the monster, I run up to Ayane and as I reach her, I see how disturbed she seems.
"Ayane!" I help her up, noticing how her body is trembling. She wasn't ready to see something like this, just as her hands are shaking with fear, mine are trembling with rage.
An impulsive rage that I can't control. I've never felt this before, and it's really hard for me to control, but I need to focus.
"I-I...I'm s-sorry," she apologizes for the small mistake she made. She's very shaken by this.
"Don't worry, it wasn't your fault. It's normal to be afraid and make mistakes. I'm also afraid, Lenore is afraid, we all have fears! And we all make mistakes," I tell her as I help her up, blood dripping from her body due to the blood on the floor.
'She lacks determination...' This has been obvious to me from the beginning. This Ayane has no support from anyone, so she is emotionally more fragile and less determined.
"Ayane, I know you're scared, but you need to be brave! The lives of those girls depend on us!" I try to use the still-living girls as motivation for Ayane.
'I need to be quick...' I'm not good at encouraging someone in a strange situation like this, and Lenore won't hold that monster for much longer.
"I-I know, I know I n-need courage, but this...t-this is too much," she says with tears threatening to form. I can only wonder how she managed to have the courage in the past to be a magical girl when now she is so frightened.
Does having someone as motivation really make that much of a difference? I don't know. I've always been determined to save Ayane and help her as much as possible, so I can't understand what it's like not to have that.
"Ayane, if you need courage, then think of all the people we can save together! Think of all the happy things we'll do after this is over and have a clear conscience knowing that we are heroines who saved innocent lives."
"If not for them, then try for something smaller that you can do. I'll protect you! I'll be here protecting you from the monster, so please get up and go save those girls."
"I swear by my life that I will defend you from everything, even if I have to sacrifice my life," I say impulsively, a promise I always make to myself at every moment, to defend Ayane at all costs.
"O-Okay, I'll try...I-I promise to have the strength...I can do it," she firmly holds my hand and then starts running towards the still-living girls, promising to have the strength to continue.
Meanwhile, I hide behind the pillars and watch her while keeping an eye on the monster and Lenore, looking for any opening to shoot. Blind shooting won't do.
This monster seems pretty smart. It doesn't speak, but its movements are not those of something stupid, and it's being careful with all of Lenore's attacks. I'm not sure about the limits of Lenore's powers, but if she can't just crush it once, there must be rules to using her power.
The monster notices Ayane and then stretches its arm to try to grab her, but it receives a shot from me that pierces its arm, opening a gap for Lenore to crush the monster's leg against the ground.
Ayane just runs, scared. Her fear makes her not very fast, but she still tries to run, even stumbling a bit.
Bang, bang, bang
I fire three more shots at the monster as it tries to grab Ayane again, but this reveals my position and causes the monster to break a concrete beam and hurl it at me.
I dodge the huge rock by a narrow margin while starting to run between the beams, looking for a tactical position to provide support to Lenore, who continues fighting head-on.
If I got closer and focused only on supporting Lenore, it could be easier, but if I do that, I won't be able to defend Ayane and fulfill my promise to protect her.
Lenore starts levitating objects and hurling them at the monster, which dodges most of them, while I fire a shot in the monster's leg, breaking its balance. During this time, Ayane reaches the girls.
Ayane seems to be trying to talk to them, but they are too horrified to listen to reason.
"AYANE, CARRY THEM!" I yell at Ayane while firing 5 shots at the monster. My gun theoretically has infinite ammo and doesn't need to be reloaded as long as I have magic, and I take advantage of this now.
I also hit precise shots on the shackles of the girls that are connected to the floor and walls, freeing them.
Ayane looks at me nervously, but understands, so she grabs the two girls by the waist and lifts them, immediately starting to run while carrying them.
"!!!" The monster gets irritated with Ayane advancing towards it and ignores Lenore and me.
'Tsk, vile wretch.' I kick one of the severed arms on the ground with extreme force, hitting the monster's face and destabilizing its charge.
'If I hurt myself physically, I'll have problems.' Healing capabilities are rare and not very efficient in general among magical girls, from what I've seen in the papers I signed at the magical girl base.
For example, if I break an arm, it will probably take 3 to 7 days to fully heal it, but I don't care about that when I see that Ayane has become the target. I advance towards them as fast as I can, reaching in time and standing between Ayane and the monster.
Ayane just runs in fear while I shoot at the monster, which dodges some shots but is hit by others.
'Why does one weapon make such a difference from the other?' My sniper would kill this monster with a well-placed shot, so why does my pistol have so much trouble causing damage?
The monster attacks me with a strong punch, hitting me in the abdomen, and I feel a very serious pain in the area, but Lenore comes to help me with her magic, hurling an iron bar at the monster's body, which pierces it.
"GHARHAHHRRRR" The monster lets out a shrill scream while holding the iron bar, trying to pull it out.
"Are you okay, rookie?" Lenore speaks to me in a way that is not really concerned.
"Totally, do you have any idea how to beat this thing?" I ask while I see Ayane going up the stairs with the two girls. Without her here, everything will be easier.
"Yes, this monster seems to have no organs, so impacts and perforations are not the best way to kill it," when Lenore says this, I think about how this thing can be alive.
Monsters are really bizarre beings. Not having organs means this thing doesn't have a brain or a heart, and yet it's here causing problems.
"So it's either inflicting major damage to the body or crushing it," I say, arriving at the solution.
"Exactly," Lenore agrees.
"If I can hold the monster for 30 seconds, I can make the entire upper floor collapse on it," she says, showing that she is much stronger than what she previously showed.
'She's holding back...but...is it just because there were innocents here? Or...because she doesn't care if we get hurt...' I don't have time to think.
"30 seconds is easy," I say, advancing towards the monster, which throws the iron bar at me, but I dodge it, shooting at it.
The monster delivers a horizontal blow, but I dodge it by sliding under its legs, taking advantage of the lack of traction caused by the blood on the floor, and shooting it in the back.
I notice Lenore doing something and releasing a purple aura while the pillars and ceiling have the same glow, but much lighter.
I start luring the monster as far away from the exit as possible. I'm faster than the monster, and if I use that well, I can get out of here quickly, leaving the monster behind.
I dodge a punch and shoot its arm, avoiding another blow, but having approached the walls has given me the disadvantage of losing space to fight. The monster uses strange, flexible, and stretched attacks using its strange, twisted flesh.
'15 seconds...' I dodge more and more punches from the monster, but the punch I received earlier is really affecting me. My stomach hurts a lot, and each of the monster's punches breaks the floor and walls where it hits, creating small craters.
The monster seems quite angry and is very strong. If it at least had eyes, I could try to blind it, but the monster has no eyes and the lighting in this place is made only by old lamps that barely illuminate.
'5 seconds...' There are 5 seconds left. I need to get out of here, so I stop shooting, which makes the monster stop dodging and advance towards me. When it strikes, I jump over it with a somersault in the air and run quickly towards the exit, taking advantage of the momentum.
"He's all yours, Lenore," I say, cutting the distance quickly. The monster, momentarily distracted, couldn't keep up with me.
"Of course," Lenore just says that as I quickly climb the stairs to the upper floor and then exit the building.
I hear the sounds of stone and impact. What Lenore probably did was break all the support beams of the underground floor and then press the upper floor down with her telekinesis.
Soon I see Ayane, who is lying on the ground near the girls. She seems to have fallen to the ground from running too fast and not paying attention. I approach her.
My stomach still hurts a bit, but I think nothing is broken. It was a strong punch, but with manageable damage.
'I need more power...and...I need to test something...' As soon as I'm done with this, I need to test something urgently.
"S-Setsuna, I did it," I hear Ayane speaking softly, as if she can't believe it herself. I look at her with a smile.
"Yes...you saved those two girls by yourself...you did very well," I praise her, satisfied. For her, who is a normal and altruistic person, this must have been horrifying.
"Y-Yes, I saved them," she says with a happy smile on her face. She's still scared, but she's taken a step forward that has certainly helped her a lot.