Hyoubu stood still as his eyes refocused on the present. Andy was still there, hand on Ihachigo, mouth moving, saying something Hyoubu couldn't hear over the roaring in his ears.
But that voice. That voice on the intercom triggered a primal rage inside him.
"It's clear that we won't be receiving your cooperation. Then we shall also respond appropriately," the voice over the intercom said confidently.
And a moment later, hundreds of drones and aircraft flew straight toward the Catastrophe, launching all kinds of rockets and explosives.
"Wha—!!"
Andy exclaimed as the Catastrophe shook violently.
"A direct attack!? But they weren't supposed..."
But Hyoubu wasn't in the right mind to listen to anything, as he was muttering to himself.
"That voice... It couldn't be..."
Gritting his teeth and staring at the wall, Hyoubu suddenly teleported above the Catastrophe, leaving Andy all alone next to Ihachigo.
Above the Catastrophe, Hyoubu was floating there all alone; he was surrounded by drones and fighter jets on all sides, but he didn't care.
"Unmanned machines, huh..."
He had a grave look on his face, but he couldn't keep his cool.
"How disgusting!!" he screamed while he wiped out tens of drones with a singular swing of his arm.
Then he charged straight at the drone in front of him with a manic expression on his face.
"Who is it!?"
He ripped the thing to shreds with his bare hands and stood on it.
"The one who controls you... Who the hell is it!?"
The rage was consuming him as he couldn't keep a cool head at all; he needed to see the person who was talking over the intercom now!
***
Meanwhile, Senzo had seen enough, but he was unsure what to do next.
Do I leave Sophie and Yugiri here? Or take them with me? If the man behind the intercom is that guy, it'd be better to keep them safe with me, but is that plausible in such a large-scale battle? His mind was doing all kinds of calculations, and he was thinking of plans so he could keep the four of them safe while helping the crew.
"Fuck it," he muttered, and without hesitation, he formed a small cube where he put Sophie, Yugiri, Shiho, and Aoi without any explanation or warning.
"Stay in there and do not come out; if you cannot watch anymore, just tell me and I'll change the scenery."
"!?"
"Senzo, what's going on!?"
Sophie and the two girls were looking at Senzo with wide eyes; Yugiri, on the other hand, was completely calm, almost like she saw this coming.
"Sophie, let him do his thing; I think Major and the others might be in trouble." Yugiri whispered in Sophie's ear while she glanced at Senzo, who was rushing somewhere at high speed.
"Heh."
He couldn't help but grin; after hearing what Yugiri had just said, it seemed like she was smarter than he expected.
"It's just like Yugiri said, don't move and stay in there, or I cannot guarantee your safety."
"..."
While Sophie still wanted to question him, she decided to just trust him for now, so she took a seat and looked around, admiring the beautiful scenery of the city.
Shiho and Aoi were both looking at one another, unsure of what they should do next. At first they were told that they were going to explore the city and couldn't follow after Kaoru, and now they were being taken to the place they needed to keep Senzo away from.
"Let it be, Aoi; we cannot do anything right now," Shiho said with a defeated expression on her face.
Aoi just nodded as the two of them leaned against the wall with somber expressions.
Senzo just kept his mouth shut and kept going toward the other members of Pandra who were still entangled by Babel.
"Tsk."
He was very annoyed currently; after all, he thought he had everything perfectly under control, but it looked like he didn't remember everything that had happened, and with him added into the mix, the events that he had read about could always completely change after all.
"I was cocky, and it's come back to bite me," he muttered with a sour expression on his face.
When he saw the helicopters flying with EMCs attached, his annoyance turned into rage, and with a single snap of his fingers, three cars were launched straight at the helicopters.
Bang, Bang, Bang! Massive explosions suddenly erupted, stunning Minamoto and all the others.
***
"Wha!?" Yo exclaimed as he saw the helicopters that were carrying the EMCs go up in flames.
"Looks like help has arrived," Magi stated with a sigh of relief.
Somewhere close by, Minamoto was looking around frantically, trying to find the culprit who had messed up their plans like that.
"Report! What is going on?" he ordered.
But before anyone could answer, he saw who had done it himself. Senzo was floating between the Pandra members and everyone from Babel.
"Are you all alright?" he asked Momiji and the others without turning his back to Minamoto.
"Senzo? Why are you here?" Momiji shouted back, but a moment later she saw Sophie, Yugiri, and two other girls floating next to him.
"I saw you all were in trouble, so I decided to intervene. But Hyoubu's currently also in trouble, so can you all finish things up here while I go help him?"
"Major is?"
"The old man!?"
"Wha!?"
"Go, Senzo, we will take care of things here!" Magi shouted as he unfurled his black wings.
Yo and Momiji had also come out of hiding and were now staring straight at Minamoto and all the other Babel agents with confident expressions.
"How do you know about that!?" Minamoto suddenly interrupted, holding a large satellite phone.
"I used my abilities, you know," Senzo said with a shrug.
"How about this: we will let you return on one condition. Leave the two girls here, and please protect Hyoubu."
"Huh?" Yo, Momiji, and Magi looked at one another with wide eyes upon hearing Minamoto's proposal, but Senzo didn't even look surprised in the slightest.
"Sure."
Then Shiho and Aoi suddenly sat beside Minamoto, and the next second everyone from Pandra was gone.
"Wow..."