C-Rank Ranked Match — Sparks Fly

Niko lunged at Kurenai. They traded blows three times, then she leapt back and hurled the Boomerangs holstered at her waist, one after another.

“So that’s your angle.”

The Boomerangs weren’t aimed at Kurenai at all; they flew wide, well clear of her.

Come back!

They swept around behind Kurenai and came homing back at her spine.

Kurenai moved to fling herself aside, but…

“High-Output Mode!!”

Niko extended her Saber and cut off Kurenai’s escape with a slash, then drove straight in, tossed aside the drained Saber terminal, and struck with the Shin Sabers on her shins.

Two Boomerangs from behind. Niko from the front. A pincer. No room to escape upward, no room to dodge aside.

Bring it on. Kurenai grinned.

“Rage, Inferno!!”

Kurenai kicked her greatsword, Inferno, into High-Output Mode. No extension to its Range, but a massive spike in Power.

“Same here!!”

Niko threw her Shin Sabers into High-Output Mode too. They wouldn’t extend either, but in exchange their destructive power surged.

High-Output Shin Saber and greatsword clashed in a furious exchange, their power dead even.

Dead even is fine by me! Just hold out and the Boomerangs’ll carve Kurenai up from behind!!

The Boomerangs closed on Kurenai’s back. And in that instant…

“Purge!”

“Wha—!”

Kurenai purged the Wing unit off her back, jettisoning it rearward. The Boomerangs ricocheted off it and went spinning away in the wrong direction. At the same moment, Inferno and the Shin Sabers ran their High-Output Mode dry and dropped into recharge, their energy spent. Kurenai threw her greatsword aside and coiled the strength into her legs.

I’ve won.

Kurenai was certain of her victory. Niko had lost every means of attack, completely empty-handed, while Kurenai still had the sabers on her feet.

“Disappear!”

Not yet!!

Kurenai began to swing her leg up, but before she could, Niko hit her Thruster, closed the gap, and clamped both legs around Kurenai’s waist.

“This is—!”

Shiki’s move! Do it like this and her foot-sabers can’t reach!!

Niko balled her remaining right fist and swung, only for Kurenai to pin it easily with her left hand.

“Tch—!!”

“Comin’ at me bare-knuckle? You’re a hundred years too early!!!”

Now Kurenai’s counter. She balled her own right fist and swung at Niko.

— Zash!!!

“Wh… at…?!”

Kurenai’s mind couldn’t catch up to the sight in front of her. Before she knew it, her own forehead had been run clean through by a laser saber.

“Hah! Yoo couldn’ weed thish moob, coob yoo! (You couldn’t read this move, could you!)”

Niko had produced a saber. From inside her mouth. She’d been holding a Saber terminal clenched in her teeth, the very one her severed left hand had gripped, secretly recovered and hidden down her throat.

“A mouth saber…?!”

After clamping on with her legs, she’d worked the saber up from her throat to her mouth. Fixing the terminal in place with her teeth, she flicked the switch with her tongue, loosed the laser saber, and speared it clean through Kurenai’s forehead.

In a human body, plugging the throat with the terminal would have meant instant suffocation. Only a Space Girl’s body could pull off a feat like this.

“…You’re outta your damn mind, ain’tcha!!”

“Fanks! (Thanks!)”

Kurenai’s body broke apart into polygons and scattered. Niko spat out the Saber terminal.

“Cough! Cough! Even if it’s only a game, having something jammed down your throat feels nasty.”

The winner: Niko.

And yet.

“Nice fight.”

A new guest had appeared in the saloon, a twin-tailed Space Girl carrying six shields.

A shadow crossed Niko’s face.

Tch. Nothing I can do about this one.

Crimson Wings’ ace: Shinkai Tsubasa. An opponent she’d have less than a ten-percent chance against even at full strength. And now, wounded…

“To think Kurenai would actually lose~. Tsubasa really did underestimate you.”

“Duuumbass. You’re makin’ fun of me in real time right now, aren’t ya!!”

Niko kicked the Saber terminal she’d just spat out up into the air, caught it in her right hand, and switched on High-Output Mode.

“Oraaah!!!”

A slashing sweep with everything she had.

Tsubasa blocked Niko’s single stroke with one Aegis, swung up the edge of the Aegis in her left hand to sever Niko’s right arm, and boxed her in on all four sides with the remaining Aegises.

With both arms gone, Niko had no way out.

“Farewell.”

“…Man, it ticks me off, but — that was masterful.”

Tsubasa fired a laser round from the cannon built into her shield and deleted Niko.

Marshmallow Smile, Niko: retired. Crimson Wings, Kurenai: retired.

With that one-for-one exchange, the two teams’ first clash came to an end.