"According to our plan, the unmanned machines have drawn his attention. We'll now begin the second phase."
On board the USEI's massive ship, Andy's superior was giving out orders left and right; right now was their best chance to complete all of their objectives. First, they could finally recover Ihachigo, and second, they could maybe even recover prototype 00.
"Groups 1 and 2, descend!! Begin infiltrating the target!
"After screaming that through the walkie-talkie, multiple helicopters took off from the massive ship and went straight toward the Catastrophe.
***
"How long before we arrive at the Catastrophe, Senzo?" Magi inquired, looking at the beautiful sea.
While they were flying at high speeds, Senzo could not go all out yet because controlling the vectors of multiple people at once while flying faster than the speed of sound was still too much even for him.
"We're almost there, and once we're there I will drop you on the ship and will go help the Major," he stated without turning his head.
"Understood, and what about Sophie and Yugiri?" Magi asked, looking at the two, who both had worried expressions on their faces.
"I'll drop them onto the ship with you all. I don't know what kind of battlefield it is currently, so it's safer to put them with you all. Please look after them."
"Of course you don't have to worry; just make sure you rescue the old man!" Yo said with a forced smile on his face.
He did his best to lighten the mood, but currently that was basically impossible; after all, they were under attack by the USEI.
"Also, if you meet Andy Hinomiya, capture or kill him immediately," Senzo said coldly, a frown forming on his face.
"Huh!? Why, if I may ask?" Momiji interrupted, raising her eyebrow.
"He's an undercover agent for the USEI; because of him, this whole operation was possible."
Well, it's also partly mine and Hyoubu's fault, but that's for later.
He could only sigh at the thought, because he had been very indecisive and taken a see-and-react approach; the current situation was very dire.
But he had learned his lesson the hard way; he would never make this same mistake again, Senzo vowed to himself.
"..."
Everyone's expressions soured immediately as they were all deep in thought. But they didn't have the chance to contemplate much as they finally saw the Catastrophe come into sight.
And what they saw surrounding it was horrifying; all kinds of large ships and hundreds or maybe even thousands of drones and fighter jets surrounded the Catastrophe and Hyoubu.
"Wha!?"
"How dare they!!"
Yo, Magi, and Momiji glared at it all, but they knew they wouldn't be of any help if they tried to support the Major, and that's also why they agreed with Senzo's plan so fast.
"I will now be dropping you guys on board the Catastrophe. Take care of yourselves, and if anything goes wrong, just shout my name, and I will immediately come."
After Senzo said that, he snapped his fingers, and the others went straight toward the Catastrophe, while he himself flew straight to Hyoubu.
I just hope everything will end well…
"Shit!" Yo shouted, looking at the helicopters that had landed on the Catastrophe; their doors were open, which could only mean the Catastrophe had been breached.
"Let's go toward the children first!" Magi ordered, and as soon as they were a meter above the deck, they suddenly felt the box in which Senzo had been carrying them vanish as they all landed on the deck, looking around for any soldiers that had stayed behind.
"All clear," Momiji spoke up, her usual playful expression absent.
"Will we stay together or split up?" Yo asked, unsure what the best course of action would be.
"Let's stay together and rush toward the children, but Yugiri and Sophie, you two should just look for a good hiding spot," Magi said with a troubled expression.
If they took the two of them with them, it would slow them down tremendously and possibly endanger them, but leaving them to find a hiding spot was also dangerous. But he had no time to hesitate; there were many other children on the ship, after all.
"Remember what Senzo said: shout his name if anything goes wrong, and please stay safe."
Toward the end of his sentence, Magi felt like the worst person alive. Leaving a little girl and a normal all alone in the current situation was most definitely not a wise choice, but he had no other options.
"Let's go, you two!"
"Understood!"
Shouted Momiji and Yo together, then Magi and Yo grabbed Momiji's hand, and they teleported toward the rooms where the children should be.
"..."
Sophie was speechless, but she understood why Magi had done it; they were, after all, a burden in the current situation.
"Let's go, Yugiri; we don't want to waste precious time."
After she grabbed Yugiri's hand, they quickly made their way toward the interior of the ship as well.
***
Inside the ship, tens of soldiers were rushing toward Andy while all the others were going around breaking open all the doors to find any leftover espers.
After breaking open a certain door, the soldiers stumbled upon a room with only children.
"They're all potential targets," one of them said.
"Let's capture them," another affirmed.
As all the soldiers grabbed a child, the children were trying to escape, but it was impossible; they were up against trained adults.
But before the soldiers could take the children out of the room, Magi, Momiji, and Yo appeared in front of them, blocking the door with Patty right behind them.
"We won't let you!"
And without hesitation, Magi's wings beheaded the soldiers, not leaving them any chance at retaliation.
"Magi-ojiichan, Momiji-nee chan!"
The children looked with sparkling eyes at the four who had just saved them.
"Are you all okay?" Momiji asked, carefully inspecting all the children, hoping none of them were missing or injured.
"Looks like we were on time, Magi. They're all here, and no injuries."
"That's good."
"Let's go; we need to get out of here. Even though we took out every soldier we saw on the way here, there are just too many of them crawling around," Magi said, and everyone nodded.
***
Andy, on the other hand, was helping with the recovery of Ihachigo in the deepest part of the Catastrophe.
But seeing all those soldiers, something felt wrong. Why were they using so much force?
"What's the meaning of this, director? I wasn't informed about the attacks from outside..."
But there was no answer; all he heard were beeping sounds from his earpiece.
"Director..."
His face scrunched up in disgust, but there was nothing he could do anymore; he had chosen his side the moment he disabled Ihachigo's function so the USEI could find the Catastrophe.