Part Twenty-Three: Let's Do This

One day remains.

...

"Today's the day, man," Tamashi informed his Echo, holding back excitement, "Our biggest mission yet."

'Shut up man, I'm gonna get nervous if you put it like that,' Nozomi groaned, getting out of bed and rubbing his eyes, 'It's weird. I barely got any sleep last night, but I feel more energized than ever.'

"You're determined, Nozomi," Tamashi grinned, "You really don't want anyone to die, don't you?"

'Of course not,' Nozomi shook his head, 'The thought of it terrifies me.'

"You're kind hearted to a fault, you know that, Nozomi?" Tamashi sighed, "You better not go kicking yourself if someone dies out there. Such things happen in battle."

'You're one to talk, Tamashi,' Nozomi rolled his eyes, cracking a small grin, 'Didn't you say you told Ayame you wouldn't let anyone die today?'

"Well- that's…" Tamashi stuttered before letting out an exasperated exhale, "You got me there. I guess I pulled one from you."

'You should really stop stealing my lines, man,' Nozomi said with a smug smirk, 'I know I'm a genius and all, but seriously, come up with your own material.'

"Genius? Please, if you were a genius, you would've asked Roboco out by now," Tamashi teased, "It's clear as day she likes you, my guy."

'Honestly, the Roboco teasing is getting old,' Nozomi shook his head, 'You need to not only come up with original material, but fresh material too? Oh man, poor Tamashi…'

"Y-you know what?" Tamashi stuttered, unable to think of a comeback, "Just get ready for work."

Nozomi grinned due to his victory as he complied, preparing his green kimono for wearing. As he did this, he glanced over at his sword. Walking over and unsheathing the blade, he looked at the engraving. The kanji for "pearl" and "samurai" adorned the bottom of the steel.

"Any story about this?" Nozomi asked Tamashi.

"Not particularly, to be honest," Tamashi chuckled, "The sword's hue was pearl-like and it reminded me of a samurai sword, so I thought engraving those kanji into the blade would make it look cooler."

"Well, it certainly does…" Nozomi agreed.

...

"Woah, you look just like a samurai when you swing your sword like that!" a girl with long black hair and circular glasses said eagerly, "I wish I looked like that when I used my staff!"

"H-hey, Ahmya!" Tamashi stuttered, his jet black hair glistening in the moonlight, "Father would kill you if he saw you up this late!"

"That's true, I suppose," Ahmya said, grinning, "Still though, how do you do it?"

"The Pearl Sword is special," Tamashi explained, "It allows you to transfer your energy to its steel. It almost becomes a part of you when you use it."

"So, it's just a trick with your blade then?" Ahmya gave a smug smirk, "Why don't I try it, then?"

"It's not just the sword," Tamashi rolled his eyes, "Believe it or not, I'm quite competent. It takes quite a bit of skill to use this sword, and as such not many have made use of the blade's power."

"Well, ain't you just a special li'l snowflake," Ahmya cheekily said.

"Shut up and get back to bed, Ahyma, I need to practice," Tamashi sighed, "I'll be back in an hour or two."

"Whatever you say, Mr. Chosen One," Ahyma teased and began heading elsewhere. Tamashi smirked and closed his eyes.

"What a dork."

...

Nozomi made his way to the Cover Corporation offices, with spades of people crowding the entrance. Looking around, he found tons of people he recognized. Looking towards a small group of people, he found Suisei's friends.

"Hey guys," Nozomi waved, "I'm glad you could make it."

"Of course!" Lupinus smiled, "It honestly sounds pretty exciting!"

"Exciting?" Ran sighed, shaking her head, "I feel like I might throw up…"

"Either way, we're glad to be here," Toko interrupted the two, smirking slightly, "We can't just let our fellow v-tubers die, now can we?"

Nozomi grinned as the doors to the Cover Corporation offices opened. Taking a deep breath, he entered the office with a determined look on his face.

...

"Hello, everyone. My name is Motoaki Tanigo, CEO of Cover Corporation. And today, we will be performing the largest-scale risk Cover Corporation has ever taken," YAGOO began his speech, "And that would be the rescue of Hololive members Ninomae Ina'nis and Airani Iofifteen from the clutches of those corrupt enough to trap them inside the Mirror. This will be our greatest challenge yet, so if you are not ready, please prepare yourself now."

No one budged. YAGOO smiled at this.

"I see, then," YAGOO chuckled, "Then we will grant you numbers. Group one will be going to the left to rescue Airani Iofifteen, group two will be going straight down to rescue Ninomae Ina'nis, and group three will be going to the right to be holding off the duplicates of Airani Iofifteen."

YAGOO began walking around, giving each person present a small slip of paper. He eventually reached Nozomi, handing him a piece of paper that had the number 3 on it.

"Looks like we're on cleanup duty," Tamashi said, "Knowing the people over there, they probably went way too overkill when it comes to those duplicates."

'What are the rest of the doppelgangers like?' Nozomi asked.

"Let's see… there's 002, who's a bit of a perfectionist, there's 004, very intelligent and crafty but actually has quite the short fuse, and then there's 006, who finds comedy in the oddest things. Some even call him a sadist," Tamashi explained, " Don't underestimate them, though. Not only are they all insanely strong, we're walking in on their turf."

'I'll keep that in mind,' Nozomi nodded, looking at the group before him. He noticed the groups had already been formed, and they were talking amongst themselves. In group one was Calliope, Kiara, Enma, Suisei, Lamy, Botan, Rushia, Ollie, Nene, Artia, Yogiri, and Oga, while in group two was Shin, A-chan, Daidou, Ayame, Amelia, Gura, Toko, Polka, Aloe, Suzaku, Roberu, and YAGOO, and finally in group three was Nozomi, J-chad, Roboco, Risu, Mio, Rikka, Izuru, Ran, Knightley, Spade Echo, Melody, and Kaoru, evening out each group's total members to twelve. 36 warriors, all with their own differences and quirks, yet all striving for the same thing… it made Nozomi oddly happy. Readying his sword and grinning, he slashed in the air, creating the largest wormhole he had yet. Looking towards the group of fighters, he put his sword up to the air.

"Let's do this, everyone!" he yelled. The rest shouted in agreement, putting their hands up in the air. Nozomi ran first into the portal, with the rest of the group following.

...

Finding themselves in the same cave Nozomi and Rikka encountered Kaoru and Oga in, Nozomi did a quick headcount to confirm that everyone was in the Mirror. Once he did this, he instructed the team to move quietly outside the cavern and head towards the stronghold. Leading the way, Nozomi pulled out his souped-up scanner. Some readings were picked up near the entrance, so Nozomi ran up and found a group of three guards. Grimacing, he pulled out his sword and dashed towards them. Before they had time to react, Nozomi had already slashed his sword at two guards. The last one, cowering in fear, began fumbling around with his gun. With a cold stare, Nozomi turned and decapitated the last guard. He then looked at the other 35, motioning them to come over. He looked at the terminal that was used to enter the stronghold.

"Leave it to me!" Melody said, quickly disappearing and manifesting within the terminal. With a few beeps and boops, the door opened. Nozomi felt like his heart might burst out of his chest. That is, until a certain middle-aged man placed a hand on his shoulder, holding an odd book.

"It's been a while since I've seen action…" YAGOO chuckled to himself, "It's good to get the mana moving every once in a while, though."

"Indeed," A-chan nodded, holding a similarly mysterious tome, "It's the same Sora-chan was unable to join us today. Even so, I will fight to the best of my ability today!"

"God, I didn't get any sleep last night…" Gura groaned, pulling out her trident.

"Gee, I wonder why that is…" Amelia giggled and pulled a rifle from her coat, quickly making Gura's face flush red.

"Woah! What happened last night with you two?!" Kiara gasped with a wide smile, "Whatever happens, the name Clara is taken!"

"You ready, Reaper-chan?" Shin smirked wildly, drawing his scythe and looking at his partner.

"Ooh, I like that name!" Kiara laughed, taking out her sword and shield, "Reaper-chan!~"

"Guh! Shut up, you two!" Calliope shook her head and blushed, taking her scythe out fiercely, "You all good, J-chad?"

"Better than good," J-chad grinned, readying her fisticuffs, "I'm gonna knock these bitches out."

"Ah, you use fisticuffs as well?" Roberu smiled, "I'm really gonna be a winning son when we're finished with this!"

"Good to see you so eager, Roberu," Daidou said, straightening his glasses and donning some brass knuckles, "How 'bout the rest of you boys?"

"I'm good to go," Izuru said, cracking his neck and pulling out his guitar.

"I'm glad your guitar was fixed up," Rikka said, changing his hands from standard human hands to his rifle hands, "All systems functional. Awaiting orders."

"I'm well," Suzaku said with a blank expression, unsheathing his katana, "It always feels good to do battle using Shuchomaru."

"How 'bout you, Kaoru?" Oga motioned to the pink-haired crossdressing boy, loading his large gun.

"Let's do this! Let it rip!" Kaoru grinned, pulling a red Beyblade out of his pocket while a small dragon-like creature covered in flames appeared behind him.

"My sister's sacrifice won't be in vain! I won't let it be!" Suisei said, drawing twin knives.

"Yeah, you tell 'em, Sui-chan!" Knightley cheered, revealing fangs as bats appeared behind her.

"Easy now," Ran warned lightly, summoning a deep-red trident you'd expect to find in the hands of a high-ranking devil, "These guys are tough, from what I've heard."

"I'm sure they are," Toko said, revealing claws as she gave a bloodthirsty gaze, "But we'll take them down."

"Are you okay, Botan?" Lamy asked, tugging on the lion girl's sleeve.

"I'm alright, Lamy," Botan said with a serious expression, revealing claws similar to Toko's, "After we're done here, you can stay the night at my place, alright?"

"S-sounds fun!" Lamy said enthusiastically, readying her hands for ice magic, "How about you, Nene?"

"I'm worried about Ina-chan," Nene said, preparing her odd ray gun, "But that's all the more reason to do this."

"Nenechi's right!" Polka said enthusiastically, already juggling a few balls in her hands.

"It feels good to be back with you all, Gen 5," Aloe smirked, pulling out her heart-tipped spear, "I won't drag any of you down."

"I'd be angry if you did," Enma said coldly, drawing a katana, "In and out. That's all this operation should be."

"I doubt it'll be that simple," Roboco shook her head, her hands turning to guns in a similar fashion to Rikka, "But you're right, we should do this as soon as possible."

"Hey, Risu-chan, what's wrong?" Ollie asked her senpai concernedly as she "unsheathed" her sword, ripping it from her head.

"It's just…" Risu looked on worriedly, "I'm worried about Iofi, and I'm scared of seeing her duplicates die…"

"I hear you, Risu," Mio looked on, summoning the creature known as Hatotaurus, "But this is something we have to do. If you must, play a supportive role during battle, or look away while you fight."

"I guess you're right," Risu nodded sadly, readying her forest magic.

"Ugh, I hate battle," Rushia whined, preparing her necromantic capabilities, "It gets my clothes all red…"

"Isn't there a beauty in that, though?" Ayame asked, taking out her twin katanas.

"That's… kinda morbid," Yogiri commented, swinging her baseball bat like she's hitting a home run.

"But it's kinda true, though…" Spade Echo pointed out, nodding and summoning two daggers, "Clothes dyed red are kinda pretty…"

"Such thoughts are fitting for an oni and a phantom thief," Artia said nonchalantly, two icicles appearing in each hand, making for makeshift daggers.

"It's just you now, Nozomi," Melody said, a laser-like device appearing around her arm, "Whenever you're ready, make the call."

Nozomi looked up to the sky. A yellow crescent moon shined light on the dim snow below. He sighed. It really was eternally night in this place, huh? He drew the Pearl Sword, glancing at its hilt, its engraving, its tip. Reflecting off of the steel was his face, revealing his dark glasses and equally dark hair. He looked at his reflection for quite a long time, then quickly turned to the group.

"Let's free these guys!" Nozomi yelled. The rest of the group yelled in response as they charged into the stronghold.

...

"The entrance has been breached, sir! They're here!" a man in a computer room communicated with the Nozomi-like boy in the lab coat, "Are you prepared?"

"Oh, I'll double-check," the boy nodded, snapping his fingers to test something, "Indeed, all systems appear to be working."

"Good! Let us know if something goes wrong! We'll work on it straight away!" the man informed urgently.

"Wonderful," the boy smiled, "You know, if all goes well during this skirmish, a promotion may be awaiting you…"

"Th-thank you, sir!" the man quickly began typing away at his keyboard.

"I can't wait to get revenge on that boy…" the lab coat-clad doppelganger's smile began to widen, "Come forth, other me! I'll tear you to shreds!"