Chapter Text
It was an almost uneventful day in Val Verde, and the people as a whole didn’t yet know that something had happened. A large white rocket with red tip flew over the city, and Chris jumped down from it. She entered her Caduceus duorelic and landed in the central square. Seeing their savior ready for battle, the people retreated into their houses. Hibiki and Tsubasa appeared next to her, thanks to Elfnein’s teleportation feature, and all three headed to the opera house.
“Don’t worry, Chris,” Hibiki said, “We’ll find her.”
“Of course, dummy,” Chris said, “But I’d prefer if we find her sooner, rather than later.” The trio reached the building, where several S.O.N.G. agents already waited for them. Chris snatched the incident report from one woman’s hands and read it.
“Where should we start?” Tsubasa asked, and Chris looked up from the clip board.
“There,” Chris answered, handed the clip board back to th woman, and walked over to a supply closet. “She went through the relics here, so there has to be a trace.” A small black cat walked up to her, purred, and moved around her ankles.
“Look, a kitty,” Hibiki said and reached out, but the cat hissed at her.
“Yeah, cute,” Chris said without taking her eyes off the various items scattered on the floor. She paused, sighed, then picked the cat up and handed her to Hibiki. The S.O.N.G. agent handed the clip board to Tsubasa.
“According to this, another agent also went missing,” Tsubasa said.
“Then you can go and find them,” Chris said. Tsubasa handed the clip board back and looked around somewhere else. Hibiki looked at the cat, and she jumped out of her hands and ran over to Chris again.
“She really seems to like you,” Hibiki said, and Chris rolled her eyes.
“Then she can help find Sonia,” Chris said, and turned to the agents. “Do you have anything of hers here?” The agents looked at each other, and one stepped forward.
“N- no, sorry,” the man said, “But we can get a pillow from her house.” He was taller than the Wielders, since his family was from Norway, and had light blue eyes and blond hair. The Wielders saw the resemblance to someone else, but none mentioned it.
“Okay, do that,” Chris said, and the man turned around. “Actually, wait. Here, take the cat to her house, it’s faster.” She picked up the cat and handed her to the man.
“Alright,” the man said. He took the cat and walked away, while the cat tried to wriggle free from his grip. Chris sighed and turned back to the items on the ground. Hibiki walked around the opera house’s basement and looked for anything that could be a clue. She moved some heavier items, and found a secret door.
“Hey, guys?” Hibiki asked, contacting the support staff over radio, “Do you know where this leads?”
“No,” Aoi answered, “Be careful.”
“Of course,” Hibiki said and opened the door. She found a long tunnel, and decided to follow it. She quickly reached an opening, which was covered by vines and bushes. As soon as she stepped outside, a bird swooped down and landed in front of her. It had green chest feathers and a red mass around its eyes.
“That is… a Japanese green pheasant,” Aoi said, “But… they don’t live in Val Verde.”
“Don’t tell me we have to take down animal smugglers, too,” Chris said, clearly annoyed.
“For now, I’ll just bring this guy to the agents,” Hibiki said and reached out for the bird. He let her pick him up, and she walked back into the tunnel, where another agent took the bird. Then, she saw something glisten, and went over to Chris.
“Hey, I’m already looking for clues here,” Chris said, “And you’re dragging dirt all over.”
“Sorry, sorry,” Hibiki said and reached for a rod on the ground. “But what is this thing?”
“We don’t know,” one of the agents answered.
“Aoi, what do you think?” Hibiki asked, and Aoi ran the image through the database.
“It’s not in our database,” Aoi answered, “But it’s definitely a relic.” Suddenly, the cat came running back, and the agent followed her, although he was out of breath. Hibiki focused on the rod, and heard a song. The cat meowed, and the bird called out.
“Quiet you two, I’m trying to listen,” Hibiki said, then realized something. “Unless… let me try something.” She tapped the pheasant’s head with the rod, and a green light filled the room.
“What is going on?” Tsubasa asked and came running back. When the light faded, everyone looked at the pheasant, who had turned into a S.O.N.G. agent the man carrying him was knocked down by the sudden increase in weight, and both ended up on the ground.
“Finally,” the man said and got up. “Sorry.”
“It’s… fine,” his colleague said and got up as well.
“Then… that means,” Chris said slowly, as realization settled in. Hibiki held the rod toward the cat, and another green light filled the room. When the light faded, Chris looked around, and her eyes landed on Sonia. She hugged her without thinking, and Sonia returned the gesture. The others gave them some space, and by the end of the day, the relic was placed in a safe container and stored aboard the Skidbladnir.
While the Wielders were on missions, Elfnein decided to try and make some friends online. She looked for alchemists, and found a part of a website where people discussed various techniques they used. She made an account, and decided to join them. She looked through several posts, most of which showed pretty good skill, when she saw something alarming.
“You might not want to do that,” Elfnein wrote in her comment, “The metal symbol is improperly aligned, and might destabilize the whole thing.”
“And what makes you an expert on that?” The account owner, Abraham, responded.
“Decades of study,” Elfnein responded, “If you power up that transmutation circle, there will be problems.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” Abraham responded, and promptly blocked her. Elfnein stared at the screen in shock, not sure how she should proceed. If she did nothing, people could get seriously hurt, but the website’s rules forbade her from making a second account to bypass being blocked by others. She combed through the terms of service and international treaties, trying to find a way to help that man.
“There has to be something,” Elfnein said to herself. She wrote an algorithm to help her scan the extensive texts, when she suddenly received a reply after hours of reading.
“You were right,” Abraham wrote, “Sorry, I guess I just got cocky.”
“Getting cocky is how alchemists die,” Elfnein replied, “But I’m happy you’re fine.”
“Thanks,” Abraham wrote back, “So, how do I actually do this?” Elfnein opened a drawing program and fixed Abraham’s transmutation circle, then sent the finished project as an image reply. They discussed the circle some more, and after a few hours, he decided to actually do it. Elfnein leaned back in her chair, satisfied with herself.
A distress call came in from a town in northern Germany, and Sakuya read through it, then contacted Kuriyo, Shiori, and Yumi. Once they activated their Symphogear, he entered the coordinates into the teleportation feature, and sent them on their way. The trio appeared in front of a large apartment complex.
“Okay, we’re here,” Shiori said. “What’s the problem?”
“The doors and windows,” Sakuya answered, and the trio looked at the building.
“We don’t see any,” Kuriyo said.
“Exactly,” Sakuya explained, “Somehow, they closed off. There are still people inside.”
“And you couldn’t send us to them?” Yumi asked.
“No,” Sakuya answered, “Something about it blocks our teleportation. Now hurry, and get them out.” The trio began to sing, and Kuriyo manifested a sledgehammer. She swung it and broke down the wall, but just when they were about to enter, the edges of the hole glowed yellow, and the wall closed again.
“This is… sub-optimal,” Shiori said. Kuriyo made another hole, and signaled for her friends to get inside, while she kept the hole open. Shiori and Yumi rushed inside and looked for the people, who ran outside as soon as they saw the girls.
“Not good,” Yumi thought when she saw a woman with a leg in a cast. “Don’t worry.” She threw several shuriken at a wall and picked up the woman, walked over to the wall, and turned her back to it. Her shuriken exploded, and she shielded the woman with her wings, then jumped backwards through the hole. The woman screamed, but Yumi landed safely and handed her to one of her neighbors.
“Thank you,” the woman said, and Yumi stopped singing for a moment.
“No worries,” Yumi said, and the woman looked down a little.
“I… know this is inconvenient for you,” the woman said, “But it was nice to see you put in the effort and not let me see you panic.”
“Well, what can I say?” Yumi asked. “When saving people, it’s important they don’t panic, so I gotta look like everything’s fine.” She continued singing and flew back up, then threw more shuriken at the building to make another hole, and looked for more people.
“Wait, it says this building has a basement,” Sakuya said after looking over the blueprints once more. Shiori escorted some people outside and created two large tower shields to keep the hole from closing, then swapped places with Kuriyo.
“On it,” Kuriyo said and brought her hammer down on a part of the floor that had wooden splinters sticking out of it. The floor caved in, and she fell into a large open area, where a boy sat in front of a transmutation circle. The air flowed in, and the boy took a deep breath, then turned around.
“Hurry!” The boy rushed over to her as soon as he heard the ground start to move, but the basement closed up again.
“What’s going on here?” Kuriyo asked, and stopped singing.
“I tried to fix the house,” the boy answered, “My name’s Marko, by the way.”
“Well, looks like it worked a bit too well,” Kuriyo said. She swung her hammer sideways and created a large gap in the edge of the wall and ceiling. Fresh air flowed in, but the hole closed up again.
“I know,” Marko said, “The circle is unstable, and my laptop is in my room, so I can’t go and ask for help.”
“Let me take a look,” Sakuya said, and Kuriyo walked over to the circle.
“And?” Kuriyo asked, and Marko looked over to her, but saw that she wasn’t talking to him.
“There’s no limitation,” Sakuya answered, “It’s just meant to maintain the walls, floor and ceiling, without accounting for windows or doors. First things first, you need to remove the power source.”
“Got it,” Kuriyo said and turned to Marko. “What did you use as power source?” Marko paused for a moment, but Kuriyo cleared her throat, and he jumped a little.
“I… I used the people’s wishes,” Marko answered. “Specifically, everyone’s fear that the house was falling apart and they would be homeless, and their anger towards the landlord.”
“Alright, then I’ll try to arrange temporary housing for everyone,” Sakuya said, “Once the people are far enough away, the circle should run out of energy quickly, and then we can fix it.”
“Got it,” Kuriyo said.
“Am I… in trouble?” Marko asked.
“Well, you almost suffocated a bunch of people in their homes,” Kuriyo answered, “So, I’d say yes.”
“Okay,” Marko said and let his head hang. Kuriyo created another hole, grabbed Marko, and jumped out before the wall closed again. Later that day, S.O.N.G. rented a whole hotel in the area, and the people from the house moved there for a few days, while Sakuya came by to fix the transmutation circle. However, when he got there, Marko had already fixed it himself.
After S.O.N.G. got a distress call from the Spanish government, Maria, Kirika and Shirabe were sent to investigate. They appeared in front of the facility and looked around, and were met with Clara, who wore her Faust Robe. The brown bodysuit resembled leather wrappings, two golden scales pushed up her chest, and two more covered her lower torso. Golden gauntlets and sabatons covered her hands and feet, and the gauntlets revealed her fingers. Her golden headpiece extended into a snout.
“Hello, glad you could make it,” Clara said. “Please, this way.” She led the trio into the facility and showed them to a control room.
“So, what’s the situation?” Maria asked. “The reports said something about a dragon.”
“That’s the best estimate we have,” Clara answered and pressed a few buttons on a keyboard. The large screen at the front of the room came to life and showed extensive damages from both claws and fire.
“Looks bad, dess,” Kirika said. Clara showed several more images, including reports made by eye witnesses, and ended with a satellite picture.
“Any ideas where it came from?” Maria asked.
“Unfortunately, no,” Clara answered.
“The Shield of El Cid,” Shirabe said, and everyone looked at her.
“What do you mean?” Clara asked.
“It had a chunk missing,” Shirabe answered, “Maybe something ate it.”
“That is a possibility,” Clara said, and brought her left hand to her chin. “But the chances of something being compatible enough with any given relic to create a stable fusion are incredibly slim.”
“But not zero,” Shirabe said.
“Well, alright,” Clara said, “Let’s go with that theory for now.” Suddenly, an alarm went off, and the screen changed to a map of the area. A red dot pulsated near the facility, and Clara gasped.
“Noise?” Shirabe asked.
“No,” Clara answered, “Our mystery creature. Let’s go.” She rushed outside, and the Wielders followed her. Outside, they saw a dragon, whose head was the size of a bull, perch atop a boulder. Its scales shimmered with a golden hue, and its horns curved backwards. Bone spikes ran along its spine and culminated in a large spike at the tip of its tail.
“Let’s go,” Maria said, and the trio began to sing and rushed the creature. It exhaled a stream of fire, which manifested in front of its snout. The trio dodged the attack, and it swung its massive tail. Maria blocked the strike with her energy shield and extended her whip.
“Careful,” Clara said and rushed after them. The dragon exhaled more fire at her, and she blocked it with her shield. Kirika blocked a tail swipe with her scythe, but the impact sent her flying. She released her shoulder blades and used them to pin the tail down.
“Kirika!” Shirabe called out and rushed over to help her girlfriend back up, then manifested two yoyos and she and Maria restrained the dragon’s head and wings. The dragon roared and hissed, and tried to burn the Wielders, but Clara blocked the fire with her shield as she approached the creature.
“It really is a dragon,” Clara said, awestruck. Suddenly, the rocks Kirika’s blades and Shirabe’s yoyos were stuck in broke, and the dragon hurled the two Wielders away.
“Kirika, Shirabe!” Maria called out to her friends and lost her footing, and the dragon threw her into the water. It flapped its wings and knocked Clara back, then flew away. Clara rushed over to help Maria, but she came out of the water already. All three had stopped singing, and went back to the facility.
“Okay, good news, we know what it is,” Clara said once they got back to the facility and met with her colleagues. “Bad news, dragon.”
“Strong dragon,” Shirabe said.
“No, the ground was just weak, dess,” Kirika said.
“In any case, we need a way to track it,” Maria said.
“Already on it,” one researcher said, “Your Airgetlám picked up its energy signature when you grabbed it, so we’ll be able to program our satellites to look for it.”
“Good,” Maria said, “Let me know if you need anything else.”
“Will do,” the researcher said. Clara sat down on a chair and let out a defeated sigh, and her Faust Robe turned back into its shield form. Maria, Kirika and Shirabe sat down on nearby chairs, and waited for instructions from the headquarters, since the support staff was busy with other problems at the moment.