Chapter 406 ( Reality Hit )

"Ugh!" - Maria continued to run as fast as she could while looking around for danger, though she let out a sigh when she noticed how there was nothing in the area - "Come on, we have to hurry!"

The woman had been running for more than 30 minutes and without stopping because she knew that the situation was constantly changing, and they were not the ones in the greatest danger, but the boys they had left behind.

Mary sped forward, but her expression changed when she felt a look on her back - ". . ."

She slowly turned around and noticed how an [Aragami] was silently watching her.

"This has to be a joke" - Mary muttered as she bit her lip. She quickly got on her guard as she carefully put Sophia down and prepared for the counterattack.

"ROAR!" - the [Aragami] roared fiercely as it leapt at its prey, but to the woman's relief, she watched as the beast flew off along with the sound of a gunshot - "AOW!"

"Okay, we got it!" - A soldier exclaimed, only to widen his eyes in surprise at the sight of the two women - "And Sophia-san along with the woman who came out along with Lindow and the others!"

A group of soldiers quickly surrounded the women and watched them in surprise.

"Help!" - Maria exclaimed as she fell to her knees wearily. Now that she knew she was safe, she could feel the strength drain from her body.

"What was it about Sophia-san?" - One of the soldiers asked as he looked at the woman.

"There's no time to waste!" - Maria exclaimed as she looked desperately at the soldiers - "Help! They need help!"

"Are you saying something happened during the mission!" - exclaimed another soldier as they looked at each other.

Maria was about to say something else, but before she could, she fell to the ground unconscious. The exhaustion had been too much for her body which was constantly on edge.

The soldiers looked at each other before deciding that the best plan of action was to grab the women and take them back to the base, then report the situation to the higher-ups.

* * *

"This is bad" - muttered the general as he looked around at those present. They had received the news about Sophia and Maria's return, and honestly did not know how to react in this situation.

"It's obvious what we have to do" - said Tsubaki with concern because she had a bad feeling - "We have to leave immediately to help Lindow and the others!"

"It's not that I don't want to do it, it's just that we don't know where they are" - replied the general while the other high command nodded - "And the only people who know what's going on are still unconscious."

"This is bad" - Tatenashi muttered while frowning - "How long do you think they need to wake up?"

"According to Sakuya-san, who is still taking care of them, a few minutes" - replied one of the higher ups of the place as he started to think - "Sofia-dono will be the first to wake up because she's not unconscious from exhaustion, but because she was knocked out"

"Possibly it was Lindow" - Tsubaki muttered while frowning because that was something his idiot younger brother would do - "But we still need to send help"

"I know, but we can't send all personnel out of the facility, that would leave us exposed" - replied the general as a conflicted expression appeared on his face - "We also have no knowledge of how many [Aragami] we are facing, their location, or how long those two have been scanning for"

Tsubaki was silent as she bit her lip, only to remember something - "Girls! You can do the recon mission with your weaponry!"

"!" - the general and the high commanders there widened their eyes in surprise as they felt stupid for forgetting this detail.

"Only Houki can mobilize" - Tatenashi replied while sighing regretfully - "My armament doesn't have such an accelerated recharge time and during the last battle it ended up with almost no energy."

"My [IS] can regenerate energy from other armaments of the same type, the problem is that this is slow" - replied Houki while sighing heavily. This was one of the problems she had discovered about her [Akatsubaki], that she couldn't regenerate her shield as fast as in her home world, and things were much worse when she tried to regenerate the shield of others.

"How much energy did Tatenashi's weaponry regenerate?" - Tsubaki asked as she felt like this was all a bad joke. The situation seemed to wish they weren't going to help their younger brother, to the point of becoming ridiculous.

"Enough to be able to fly for 60 minutes or fight at full capacity for 25" - replied Tatenashi regretfully.

"Wait a minute" - said one of the senior commanders as he gained the attention of those present - "Let's think a little."

"I don't think we have the time to do that when lives are at stake" - replied Tsubaki coldly.

"That's not what I mean, Miss Tsubaki" - replied the man while shaking his head "I mean that Lindow's group doesn't have to be as far away as we thought, remember they left not long ago."

"Right, that shortens our search range" - nodded the general as his eyes glittered slightly - "OK, we'll do this, Houki-san, you'll be in charge of doing an aerial reconnaissance while our squadrons stays in an area close enough to follow your instructions or give support to the central base"

"OK" - nodded Houki firmly as he prepared to leave - "I'm coming right away"

"OK, we'll organize everything right away" - replied the general as Tsubaki let out a sigh of relief, though her bad feeling remained present.

"Calm down, Lindow-san is strong" - said Tatenashi as she tried to calm her friend.

"I know, but this fear I feel is getting bigger and bigger" - Tsubaki replied while biting her lip - "No, I'd better go and get ready"

"I don't think it's a good idea for you to go out, not with how nervous you are, soldier Amamiya" - said the general while looking at the beautiful black-haired woman.

"I know, but" - muttered Tsubaki, only to feel a hand on her shoulder - "Tatenashi-san?"

"Take some air before you make the decision" - Tatenashi replied seriously - "And if you decide to go, then go with the mindset of the worst."

"The worst?" - Tsubaki repeated as she felt her blood freeze, after all, she knew about the risks of her younger brother's mission - ". . ."

"Tatenashi" - said Houki as she stopped after hearing her friend's words.

"I'm serious, Houki-chan" - Tatenashi replied coldly as she looked at her friend - "Even we have the mentality of never seeing Cloud again after he went out on those dangerous missions because we know that no one is invincible, and there are hundreds of variables that can make the safest mission, turn lethal."

Houki knew about this, more knowing that in the future they would go through much worse situations, but that didn't mean she agreed with her friend's words which were a cold reality check for Tsubaki.

"I know what you're thinking, Houki, but that's bad for her," Tatenashi replied as she looked at her friend firmly. They had been living in a post-apocalyptic world for years and her friend was still having such innocent thoughts - "We have to face reality, Houki, each of us can die in the next 5 minutes even for the stupidest reason! If we completely cling to our desires and don't face what's in front of us, we'll never know how we die!"

"Ugh" - Houki felt something pierce her heart, but at the same time she had to admit that her friend's words were true. She was being innocent with her thoughts and she knew that the future this would cause trouble - "I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize, after all, it's human to wish for everything to be alright even though the situation is in the deepest shit" - Tatenashi replied as she looked at her friend, then focused on Tsubaki - "I'm not trying to be a bitch to you, Tsubaki, it's just that I want you to understand that there's a possibility that everything went wrong and I don't want you to break down for seeing the harsh reality."

". . ." - Tsubaki was silent as she watched Houki leave the room. She could feel the world falling on her shoulders.

"You can always wish for the best, Tsubaki-san" - Tatenashi said as she gave the black-haired woman one last look - "But keep in mind that your wishes won't always be what happens."

"Ok, I will keep that in mind" - Tsubaki replied as she bowed her head and began to contemplate the words the blue-haired woman had said.

"Remember, think well before you decide whether to go or not" - Tatenashi said as she left the room, without looking back.

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