I. The Strategy on the Ledge
The skyscraper platform swayed from the impact of the Automaton Sentinel's laser beam. As the hostile alien ships approached through the Rift, Kaguya, with impressive calm, explained the plan over the communicator activated on Erza's armor and Akiha's device.
"The tactic here is simple: surgical precision. The T-900 Sentinel is encased in a Ki absorption matrix that covers 99% of its structure. The only weakness is a small, ten-centimeter ventilation access panel at the base of its spine, which opens for a microsecond after an absorbed energy attack. It's unreachable by force," Kaguya explained, sitting in her ship's cockpit, piloting with one hand and typing code with the other.
"A microsecond," Akiha murmured, activating her Aura of Light. The timing was impossible, even for her.
"Goku. This is your job," Erza said. "You need two things: a punch that hits the front armor so the Sentinel activates the absorption protocol, and then, in less than a blink, you need to use Instant Transmission to strike the weak point Kaguya described."
Goku grinned, his dark eyes sparkling with concentration. "I get it. A decoy and a short trip. I like it! What about you two?"
"We cover you. Erza, you need to divert its attacks. Akiha, give me the 0.5 seconds I need to open the panel with my scythe," Kaguya said.
"Scythe, Kaguya? Aren't you an engineer?" Erza asked, bewildered.
"I'm an engineer who needs to defend her work. And my 'scythe' is a high-frequency plasma cutter. Powerful enough to sever circuits, not to fight armor."
II. The Dance of Distraction
The Automaton Sentinel prepared to fire. Erza re-equipped into her Adamantine Armor, which offered the best magical defense. She knew the armor wouldn't absorb the railgun blast, but she could deflect the impact.
"Now, Goku!" Erza shouted, leaping into the air.
Goku charged a punch, a tiny speck of pure Ki surrounding his fist like a diamond ring. He struck the robot's chest.
CLANG!
The orange absorption shield pulsed fiercely. Goku's blow was absorbed, and the robot staggered slightly. The ventilation system on its back flickered open.
"Thermal ventilation protocol activated..." the robot declared.
The Sentinel turned its cannon toward Goku, who had already vanished.
Erza, using the opening, launched her Adamantine Armor straight at the robot's cannon. The plasma impact was blinding. The armor shattered, but the cannon's ray was successfully deflected, destroying another building kilometers away.
"My Adamantine Armor...!" Erza gasped, immediately re-equipping to her Purgatory Armor, feeling pain from the force of the impact.
"Excellent, Erza! The robot is recalibrating the target!" Kaguya swooped in with her ship, firing bursts of plasma energy at the robot's optical sensors to temporarily blind it.
III. The Phantom Cut on the Blind Spot
While the Sentinel was temporarily blinded by Kaguya, Akiha seized the moment.
"Goku, the Sentinel is reactivating its shield matrix! Now!" Akiha yelled, sliding under the robot's leg with a speed that made her seem like a phantom.
Goku appeared behind the robot, using Instant Transmission directly to the small, open ventilation panel. The panel was so tiny that his fist barely fit.
But Goku didn't strike.
Following Kaguya's strategy, his fist only brushed the circuit. A micro-burst of pure, concentrated, non-destructive Ki struck the panel, sending an energy overload into the robot's interior.
The robot stopped moving. Its metallic voice was replaced by a high-pitched shriek of static. The ventilation panel slammed shut.
"Overload error. Central system disconnect." The Sentinel collapsed onto the platform, its massive body creating a shockwave.
"It worked! Ki as a virus!" exclaimed Akiha, landing next to Kaguya.
"It wasn't a virus. It was the Resonance Principle," Kaguya corrected, landing her ship and stepping out in her engineering suit. She quickly accessed the side panel that Goku had overloaded.
"Goku's Ki is pure dimensional energy. By concentrating it at the ventilation point, he saturated the absorption system. It's like plugging a star into a cell phone charger! It's brilliant!" Kaguya, for the first time, showed a hint of emotion, her yellow eyes analyzing the fissure Goku had created.
IV. The Neon Heart and the New Journey
As Goku, Erza, and Akiha regrouped, Kaguya crouched inside the Sentinel. She found what she was looking for: a bright, pulsing device the size of a basketball. The Techno-Core, the city's energy heart.
"I have it! The Core! It's the only thing that can stabilize the next dimensional jump," Kaguya announced, emerging with the pulsing Core in her hands.
In the sky, the hostile alien ships drew closer, opening fire. The fire was not physical, but beams of energy that dematerialized matter.
"Time to go! Erza, I need you to give me one second!" Kaguya shouted, directing the energy core toward her ship's cockpit, which immediately began to glow with an intense aura.
Erza re-equipped to her Flame Empress Armor. "Never ask me to give you a second, engineer! I'll give you a minute!"
Erza charged into the swarm of alien ships. She used fire to repel the dematerialization attacks, carving a path with her sword and incredible magical strength. Akiha covered her, using her own sword to slice the energy lasers with surgical precision.
Goku prepared himself. He focused his Ki to the limit of containment, ready for Instant Transmission if any ship got too close to Kaguya.
"Core anchored! Dimensional coordinates set! Subjects, to my ship, now!" Kaguya yelled from the cockpit.
Erza and Akiha, covered in ash and energy, leaped aboard the ship. Goku used Instant Transmission, appearing right behind Kaguya, ready for anything.
"Our destination is... an older world! Where magic and Ki won't be blocked!" Kaguya shouted, her face set in concentration as she activated the jump.
With a flash of sapphire light and the roar of tearing metal, Kaguya's ship vanished, taking the trio to a new destination.
V. Epilogue: Friendship in the Void
In the small cabin of the ship, as they crossed the interdimensional void, the silence was deafening. Goku sat in one corner, Erza in the other, and Akiha, next to Kaguya, checked the ship's systems.
"We did it," Erza said, breathing heavily and re-equipping her usual clothes.
"We did it," Akiha repeated, her face relieved. "Kaguya, that was the riskiest plan I've ever seen."
"The risk is proportional to the reward. And your 'engine,' Goku, proved incredibly adaptable. He is not just an energy phenomenon, but a tactical genius," Kaguya said, offering a compliment for the first time.
Goku laughed. "It was fun! Though I couldn't use my best punch! Hey, Kaguya, do you have any food around here? Is Akiha's A-class ramen still working?"
Kaguya turned to him, her yellow eyes shining with a mixture of consternation and fascination.
"My ship only carries synthetic emergency rations with high protein value. But... they don't taste like ramen."
Akiha laughed softly. "You'll have to tough it out, Goku. The next world, if Kaguya guides us well, will have food."
The trio, now a quartet, prepared for the next chapter of their journey. A Saiyan, a Mage, a Duelist, and a Combat Engineer. Four worlds, one single mission.
"So where are we going now?" Erza asked.
Kaguya smiled, her fingers typing the final coordinates. "To a world where danger is as old as time, and where strength comes not only from energy but from myths."