Chapter 48: Defending Tokyo

-with Kotori and Natsumi-

"Kotori, are you sure you'll be fine handling those 2 by yourself?"

Natsumi asked with a worried expression as they walked towards the site where they along with several promoters will defend one side of the city while wearing their full astral dress.

"Don't worry about me, Natsumi. I told you I can handle them myself... I'll be using Meggido to attack them from a distance, but I need to get close eventually if I want to deal with Aldebaran. Just help the promoters and the army in fending them off... also... Natsumi, did you hide them?"

Kotori asked, remembering the cursed children's they took in their care.

"I already disguised their appearance and hid them inside the city, so we don't need to worry about anyone finding out about them"

"That's good"

Kotori smiled as both of them arrived at the location near monolith 32, finding several cursed children and promoters scattered across the wide plaza while all of them stared at the two of them with varying expressions on their faces.

"Kotori-san, you two finally arrived!"

Rentaro waved his hand at them with Enju following him from behind, glaring at the two of them, trying to be intimidating but ultimately failed.

"Well... we did sign a contract after all, but... I want our side of the deal fulfilled after this"

"Of course, everything was already settled by Kisara, so we only need to defend the city and survive"

"If we survive?"

Kotori asked as she stared directly at his eyes.

"Yes... We need to wait until the pair that was sent to the [Ladder of heaven] to activate it and fire a shot towards the Stage V Gastrea..."

"In other words, we need to stall the army of Gastreas... is what you're saying?"

"Yes, we need to stall them until the Stage V is taken down"

"... That's basically saying that we'll be a meat wall to the Gastreas until they do their task"

Kotori says as she looked at him with a strange expression on her face.

"Indeed it is quite a suicidal task isn't it? Kotori-san"

A deep voice says as a pale, lean man, with slicked-back, grey hair; reaching to the back of his neck wearing a white mask that covers his entire face walked up close to them in an elegant manner.

"Who?"

Kotori asked as she stared at the man walking together with short blue haired little girl wearing a small dress with many intricate designs in the middle areas, connected to a bottom skirt that covers her entire lower body with two katana hanging on both sides of her waist.

"Kagetane Hiruko, it's a pleasure to meet you"

He introduced with a bow before kissing the back of Kotori's hand.

"Oh, so you're 'that' person that Rentaro was talking about in the past"

Kotori muttered as she gazed at her comical white mask, hiding his facial features.

"Are you here to stop us?"

"Oh no, I'm here to help, isn't that right Rentaro-kun?"

Hiruko says before turning his head towards Rentaro's direction causing Enju to immediately assume a defensive stance to protect him if anything happens.

"... It seems like they don't trust you that much"

"Indeed, it is quite saddening to see them like this"

"I don't blame them since... you killed a lot of promoters in the past"

"Isn't that the same for you, Kotori-san?"

Hiruko asked as she leaned closer to Kotori who was crossing her hands on her chest, staring directly at the small holes of his mask without flinching from his imposing aura.

"Don't lump me in together with you"

"Hahaha, that really pains me to hear, Kotori-san... when we share the same goal"

"I know you're not that kind and emphatic to share the same goal as me, Hiruko-kun"

"Hmm... It seems like you don't trust me at all, Kotori-san"

"I doubt I'll trust anyone who wears an outfit like that in a daily basis"

"It's quite distasteful to judge someone by their sense of fashion, Kotori-san"

He says as both of them continued staring at each other, trying to pry more information about each other.

"But... I like you, since you're not as blind and delusional as Rentaro-kun"

"I'm flattered"

Kotori answered with a fake smile on her face, causing the surrounding promoters to move away from the dangerous vibe that they felt from the two of them.

"Kotori, don't fight him... it's not worth it. We still have to deal with the invasion"

Natsumi intervened while pulling Kotori away from him to prevent any possible fights between the two of them, since they'll need to be at full strength during the invasion.

"We need to preserve our energy and mana, Kotori. Don't waste it on him..."

Natsumi whispered close to her ear as she stole some glances at the lean man in front of them, trying to convince her to calm her down.

"... but it is strange for him to help us... Does he want to fight Aries?"

She asked while remembering how Rentaro described him from the past. He was merciless and ruthless, a person that not hesitate will kill just to achieve his goal while having a strong desire to fight stronger Gastreas/Humans for his entertainment.

"That's the only explanation on why he is here... I don't think he helped through the kindness of his heart that's why we still need to be wary of him even if he is on our side"

"Understood"

Natsumi nodded her head in understanding before releasing her from her grasp before looking at the little girl by his side, staring at them with a creepy smile on her face.

"Like father like daughter... I guess?"

She commented as she removed her gaze from both of them, staring at the remains of monolith 32 from afar while adapting a serious expression on her face.

"With him here, the chances of driving the Gastreas off and surviving will be much easier than before..."

"Use every resources available to you, huh? You sound like Lucias Natsumi"

"Do I? Hehehe"

Natsumi shyly scratched the back of her head causing Kotori to unconciously smile before a familiar voice of a female appeared behind them.

"You're finally here, I thought you ditch us when you find out that we're fighting a Stage V Gastrea"

Kisara says as she arrived in front of them with a katana hanging by her left waist with Tina following her from behind.

"Hello, Kotori-san, Natsumi-san"

Tina greeted in a quite voice with a light smile on her face as she looked up to face the two of them.

"Are you two joining the other promoters?"

"Yeah... also, I thought you said you had a plan to lessen the casualties on our side?"

"I do but... it might not  make it since... they're already quite close to us"

Kotori says while pointing at the 500m tall Gastrea, a deformed creature crawling on all fours as bundles of thread like substance surrounding its body, creating a protective shell around its body, a gew kilometres away from them as several types of Gastrea roamed around its location, not minding how it stepped and killed several Gastreas beneath it's foot.

"To think that it's already here..."

Kisara muttered as she gripped the hilt of her katana while Tina took off the sniper rifle on her back.

"Kisara... Is it possible to bring a late slingshot or a cannon here?"

"Huh? What do you need that for?"

Kisara asked with a confused expression on her face from their choice of weapons.

"Yes or No"

"... I guess, yes? But it will take some time before it arrives here"

"How long exactly?"

"About... 30 minutes?"

"... *Sigh* Then let's stick to plan B, Natsumi"

"Got it"

Natsumi saluted before flying towards the top platform in their area while Kotori raised her halberd above her head, confusing all the bystanders from their actions.

"Natsumi, you ready?"

Kotori asked while injecting her mana on her halberd as intense heat and flames to cover the area around her causing the nearby people to move away from her scorching fire.

"Yes"

Natsumi answered causing Kotori to smash the ground below her, creating a massive crater on the plaza as she threw a large boulder of stone that she carved out of the concrete floor below them up in the air, firing her flames at the giant boulder to launch it towards the upcoming Gastreas.

Natsumi who saw the boulder immediately used her angel to cut the boulder into boulder into pieces before turning them into Varanium, creating a rain of fragmented pieces of Varanium towards the army of Gastreas.

"This is..."

Kisara muttered in shock as the fragments of Varanium pierced hundreds of lower grade Gastreas before crashing on the ground, creating a pile of dust that covered the army of Gastreas.

"Natsumi!"

"Hai!"

Kotori shouted before throwing another large boulder up in the air as Natsumi shattered the rock into pieces before transforming them into several fragments of Varanium, raining down on the Gastreas as Kotori repeated her actions from before.

"This will be much destructive if we had proper equipment"

Kotori muttered as she threw another large boulder up in the air.

"ROOOOAAAAAARRRRRR"

Aries let out a loud cry, shaking the ground below them due to the intensity produced by its cry as the other promoters held their ear to block the deafening noise from entering their ear as it immediately charged at them with minimal speed.

"Here goes nothing..."

Kotori muttered before transforming her angel into a large cannon, Meggido before firing a massive beam of flame towards Aries, pushing it back from the explosion caused by the beam upon contact, killing the nearby giant flying insect close to it in the process.

"It's a good thing it works but... that cost me a lot of mana"

Kotori muttered as she felt her mana immediately being drained as soon as she shot the attack.

"That's quite impressive, Kotori-san"

Hiruko praised, clapping her hand in applause while walking closer to her.

"Don't disturb me"

Kotori coldly cut him off, ignoring him completely before firing more beams of flames at Aries, pushing him back as the other Gastreas ran at them at full speed.

"Everyone get ready!"

Rentaro shouted causing the promoters to position and fire their guns at the approaching Gastreas without regards to where they hit due to the massive amounts of Gastreas charging at them.

"Natsumi now!!"

Kotori shouted causing Natsumi to nod her head as she used her angel to create several small spikes on the ground before transforming it into pure Varanium as Kotori sliced the spikes from the ground, launching it at the army of Gastreas, but to her surprise the Stage I Gastreas moved to block the spikes with their own body from reaching the Stage II and III Gastreas behind it.

"Tch... This is tricky" (Kotori)

"What do you mean, Kotori-san?" (Kisara)

"Aldebaran is using the Stage I Gastreas to block the frontal impact of our attack to keep the stronger ones alive" (Kotori)

"What should we do, Kotori" (Natsumi)

"I'll take care of Aries, Natsumi try and defend the area as much as possible while I try to find Aldebaran or possibly kill that monster"

Koori answered before firing a beam at the army of Gastreas, burning hundreds of them in a single attack as a massive explosion of flames engulfed their location while Hiruko charged at the army of Gastreas head on.

"[Maximum Pain]"

Hiruko snapped his finger, creating an invisible field of magnetic waves around him, pushing the Gastreas out of the way before crushing them against the nearby building while his daughter sliced the surviving Gastreas that her father pressed against the wall into pieces with her two katana.

"How fun!"

She excitedly smiled while slicing a spider type Gastrea in half through its face to its rear before jumping up in the air, spinning her body around to cut the flying wasp like Gastreas charging at them.

Hiruko quickly catched her in his arms before taking out an pistol from his waist, firing several bullets at the incoming waves of flying Gastreas approaching them.

"Good girl, Kohina"

He patted her head before throwing her towards a crowd of stage I Gastrea causing all of them to pounce at her without hesitation.

Kohina immediately spun her body around, slicing a deep wound on the Gastreas that jumped at her, killing most of them in a single attack.

"This father and daughter pair..."