"Operation Ihachigo recovery complete! Begin transport!" one of the soldiers suddenly shouted.
But when Andy heard that, he couldn't help but grunt; this whole operation was fishy. He hadn't heard anything about using this much force against children or any of the other unethical methods they would be using.
"Kuh..."
But he could do nothing about it, so he just quietly followed behind the soldiers who had already left the room with Ihachigo.
While he was walking behind the soldiers carrying and guarding Ihachigo, his ears were ringing from all the explosions, and he could barely stay standing; that's how bad the Catastrophe was shaking.
Is it even necessary to attack this much...!? This operation's only supposed to be about recovering Ihachigo...
Thinking about it made him grit his teeth so tight it felt like they would break, and he was glaring at the ground as if that would change anything.
"Hey, you're familiar with the ship's structure, right?" one of the soldiers suddenly asked.
Andy was caught off guard a little, but he just nodded.
"Lead the way," the soldier then added.
"..."
Andy stood still, his eyes glued to the soldiers and Ihachigo.
"Hurry up."
"This is a part of your job too."
The soldiers were getting impatient seeing this half-monster take so long.
"Fine..."
With his hands in his pockets, Andy casually passed them and started leading the way.
***
Meanwhile, Senzo had finally arrived at Hyoubu's side, but it wasn't looking good; the major was fighting like an uncontrollable animal consumed by his trauma and rage.
"Get out here, you bastard, and show me your face!" he screamed while destroying one drone after the other.
Sometimes he just smashes them with his telekinesis, and other times he completely squashes them; it was basically impossible to reason with him right now.
"What should I do now?"
Senzo muttered to himself as he looked around at all the unmanned drones; most were focused on Hyoubu, but a couple of them were also bombarding the Catastrophe.
"..."
Senzo's eyebrows twitched at the sight of the Catastrophe being bombarded just like that, and just the thought of Yugiri or the others being caught in one of those explosions made him mad.
With a wave of his arm, he blew all the drones that weren't focusing on Hyoubu to smithereens.
"Fuuh."
Now that that problem had been resolved, it was time to try get through to Hyoubu.
"Oi, Hyoubu, are you okay? Can you hear me?"
Senzo started by trying to grab his attention by just shouting his name and flying around him. While casually avoiding all the drones and destroying the ones in his way, he was trying to get Hyoubu to see him.
"Hello?"
"Get out here, you bastard!"
But Hyoubu just kept on screaming and wreaking havoc all around him without a care in the world, like he wasn't the captain of the Catastrophe and supposed to protect it.
"Dammit, seems like that won't work..."
Senzo clicked his tongue in annoyance; it looked like he had to use force, but was that even plausible in the current situation?
Even though he wasn't in his unlimited transformation now, I already have my hands full with just protecting the Catastrophe from the bomber drones; to try and restrain the captain while facing hundreds more drones is definitely impossible.
But even though he knew it was impossible, he had to do something, or Hyoubu would ruin himself.
Then Senzo took a deep breath, and with a single swing of his arm, he hit Hyoubu right on the head, hoping that would wake him up.
"Wake up, you bastard! Look around and focus on what is more important!" he screamed, hoping this would at least reach him.
"Huh?"
Hyoubu muttered, feeling blood drip from the corners of his mouth.
"Senzo? What are you doing here? Didn't I send you away with Yugiri and the princess?" Hyoubu asked, looking around with unfocused eyes.
Senzo heaved a sigh of relief once he heard the usual Hyoubu once again.
"Long story short, the USEI is attacking, and I came back with Magi and the others to rescue the children and you," Senzo explained with a serious expression.
"!!!"
"What have I been doing as the Major..." Hyoubu muttered as he looked around, and what he saw left him angrier than ever. But this time he didn't lose himself to it; instead, he used it as fuel.
"How about it, Major? Let's do this," Senzo asked, a smile on his face.
"Hehe, I do like you, Senzo. And yes, let's do this!"
After he said that, the two of them flew toward one another, and with their backs to each other, they both started to decimate the unmanned drones one after the other.
Bang! Boom! While covering for each other's weaknesses, Senzo and Hyoubu were practically invincible as the number of drones dwindled so fast that to the naked eye it looked like it was raining scrap metal.
"Hmph, even though it is probably you, I will never again let myself be influenced like this, after all." With a relaxed smile, Hyoubu looked at the Catastrophe with a fondness in his eyes.
"I have more important things to protect right now!"
"Now that's more like it, Major. Always live by those words, and it will help you tremendously."
Now they were both smiling, while still destroying drones left and right, one after the other. Senzo kept rerouting them into other drones, while Hyoubu went for a more destructive approach, straight up blowing them up after gathering tens of them together.
"Huff, huff, any idea how long this will go on for?" Hyoubu asked as he felt a sharp pain in his chest suddenly.
And before he could do anything about it, he lost his balance and plummeted out of the air.
"Shit!"
But Senzo was quick to react, and before Hyoubu had even fallen more than a couple meters, he formed a platform by freezing the vectors below him.
"T-thanks..."
Was the only thing Hyoubu could utter as he grabbed his shirt so tightly he almost tore up the fabric while he lay there in a fetal position shivering from the pain.
"This is not good..." Senzo muttered, looking at all the drones now focusing purely on Hyoubu; they weren't even trying to hit the Catastrophe anymore, and they all rushed straight for the major.