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Standing in front of the unfamiliar enemy, Kazuki did not feel an ounce of hesitation. He had just given it his strongest shot moments ago and sent it staggering away from his childhood friend.

It finally sunk in after striking something more than those small fries from the lower floors.

He finally had the power to make a difference. A power that he subconsciously desired yet had given up on for years.

He cannot help but smile as he admired the shield on his left arm.

In between feelings of satisfaction and amazement came the feeling of relief. It was good that he made it in time. Another couple of seconds late and who knows what would have happened to Amagi?

Hearing the screeching sound reminded him of the situation he just thrust himself in. The scorpion he just hit turned its attention towards him, and it raised its pincers in a show of strength.

Kazuki raised his shield.

What did I get myself into?

After the initial burst of momentum thanks to his heightened emotions, Kazuki felt the reality of the situation at hand.

Eyeing the scorpion enemy, he saw that his attack that easily crushed those humanoid Nullities barely had any effect on this one.

It was caught off-guard and unbalanced by the impact from the shield, but its black carapace showed no sign of damage. Not even a scratch registered on the fortified armor, and that thought sent uncomfortable implications.

There was no time to think, as a wave of tremor-inducing steps signaled the incoming attack.

"Guh!"

Magical energy spread from the edge of his shield. Sparks flied as he parried the first attack.

So much for acting uncharacteristically brave, huh?

He gritted his teeth, only to see the second pincer heading in his direction from the right.

I can't block it all!

Realizing his mistake too late, he braced himself for the incoming hit. He stood his ground, praying that the attack would at least not kill him in one blow.

Like a blur, a sword danced through the air along with its wielder, coming down in a crescent arc and hitting the arm of the scorpion.

Kazuki heard the sound of blood splattering out, and in a split-second, the scorpion loosened the pressure on the other pincer. This act freed Kazuki from the force pressing him down.

The next thing he knew was being tackled and landing on his back just as the ground shook thanks to a powerful missed attack by the scorpion's tail.

"What were you doing, attacking the Class B on your own?!" scolded Uehara. "Have you no combat sense?"

Left speechless, Kazuki could only nod sheepishly.

"You do not even know what your Armament does, then you just had to charge right in on an enemy far stronger than the ones we have dealt with."

Facing the scorpion, she bent her knees and entered a battle stance.

Left sitting, Kazuki cannot help but admire the poise she displayed. The girl was perfectly still, yet he sensed an air of danger from all over her body.

She did not wait for the scorpion to approach.

She took the initiative and grabbed the first move, quickly moving in front of the enemy. Seeing her, the scorpion reared its pincers up. Just like before, she nimbly slashed in an upwards motion.

Hearing the swishing sound of her strike twice, Kazuki turned to look at the recoiling scorpion.

They had fought together for a little close to fifteen minutes already, but Kazuki had never seen her move that swiftly and gracefully yet.

There was simply no need for such intricate moves against trash mobs that can be disposed of in one hit.

Seeing a break in the action, the teen got up and headed for Amagi.

The unconscious girl lay several meters away, and the sight of her sprawled body all but strengthened Kazuki's resolve. He gently put his right hand on the back of her head and spoke.

"Amagi..."

He turned his attention back to the fight taking place. So far, his classmate seemed to be doing fairly well on her own as she deftly dodged the attacks while striking back with short, swift strokes.

However, the enemy was showing no signs of slowing down. Eventually, not even someone as skilled as her would be able to win in a battle of endurance.

Perhaps there is something that he can still do.

Looking at his shield, an idea came into his mind.

Could it be that my Armament's ability is...

He thought about it for a moment.

In a lot of game settings, shields have this ability to attract attention, or as games called it, "aggro." Being the equipment of choice for tanks meant to attract attention, perhaps his Armament would have come with such an ability.

Despite never having tried anything like that before, it was worth a shot at least. This way, he could take the heat off his classmate, try to block the attacks to the best of his ability, and maybe open up the way to victory.

Making sure that he was a far distance away from Amagi, Kazuki placed the shield in front of his body and yelled out. He channeled all his emotions and felt them pouring into his shield with each second of his sustained yell.

Nothing.

Nothing to his expectations really happened. No demonic energy surging through him, no runic markings appearing on his shield, and no malicious energy meant to drive all enemies toward him.

He knew it was a dumb thing to try from the get-go.

To his surprise, the scorpion put down its pincers that were trying to crush and trap the nimble girl, and it turned towards him.

In a sense, what Kazuki tried to do did work.

Now that it worked, he found himself facing the question of how he was going to deal with this incoming barrage of attacks once again. He barely survived the first wave. Now what?

He barely caught a glance of his black-haired classmate with her jaw open and a look of astonishment and frustration on her face.

He's gonna get an earful afterwards... if he survives this.

Of course, the plan has always been for him to serve as distraction while Uehara would finish it off from behind.

Kazuki saw the scorpion raise both pincers at once before hearing the crunching sound created when the full force of the attacks met his shield head on.

He was immediately driven down to his knees. Those knees of his burned as they were rubbed across the ground by the sheer force of the attack.

He looked past his shield to take a look at his enemy when he saw an even more worrying sight.

The tail of the scorpion was raised, and it was getting ready to strike. With his shield and body being pinned down to the ground, he would be easy pickings any moment now.

"Raagh!"

The female battle cry was followed by the sound of a slash resounding in the air. Kazuki next heard the sound of blood rupturing, and his eyes followed the tail of the scorpion as it fell off and crashed on the ground.

Recoiling in pain, the enemy loosened its hold on the shield. It moved back, but it did so all too late to prevent the long-haired girl from flanking it.

Uehara went at it from the side, and with another slash in a downward crescent motion, lopped off the right pincer.

Kazuki struggled to regain his breath and remained in place as he eyed the gigantic pincer that dropped to the ground with a thud.

He heard another yell.

He looked on and saw his classmate continuing the assault. However, something felt off.

After cutting off the pincer, she drove her sword into the scorpion's body repeatedly, yelling with each stab. Kazuki felt the impact of each blow, and it was a far cry from the dance that he saw at the start of the battle.

"Not this time! You fiends have done enough!"

Something consumed her, and she fought wildly, brutally driving her sword repeatedly into different parts of the monster to a symphony of screeches and her own screams.

He found his muscles numb and barely responding as he continued watching the spectacle. Nevertheless, he knew that he had helped tip the scales... for good.

The sword glowed for a few seconds before its wielder drove it right into the scorpion's now exposed face.

The monster twitched and writhed in place, letting out even more piercing screeches. At any moment, it could swing its remaining pincer wildly and hit the girl, but it seemed to have lost control of its body at this point, quickly collapsing into a heap and slowly fading away.

Kazuki tried to take it in, and with feeling returning to his body, he began getting up when he was stopped by the sound of his classmate swinging her sword downward, spilling blood to the floor.

Still with her back faced to him, she looked back, and Kazuki immediately felt as if daggers pierced him from the classmate's glare alone.

"What do you think you're doing?" she said coldly.

"I..." Words failed to immediately escape Kazuki's mouth. "..Was trying to help. I gave you the distraction you needed to finish the thing off, didn't I?"

For a second, he actually felt proud of himself for coming up with that plan that ultimately ended up in the giant Nullity's defeat. All of that evaporated the very next moment when he felt the front of his shirt being pulled forward abruptly.

"You nearly got yourself killed out there!" shouted Uehara. "Just because you became an Awakener, you are not some invincible hero. You don't even know what that thing on your arm really does!"

She followed with a stomp of frustration. "In the first place, how dumb of you to jump in ahead of me! And against a Class B, no less."

"You know that if I was a second late, Amagi would have been in far worse shape right now," Kazuki did not back down and answered bluntly.

The next thing he heard was a sigh, and the grip on his shirt loosened. When he looked to face Uehara, her eyes had closed, and she began walking away.

"I suppose you're right. Fine."

That's it?

Kazuki wondered when he noticed that Uehara was not walking towards Amagi, but further away. After she had passed the brunette, he noticed that there was another unconscious person in the area.

"H-hey, that's –"

Kazuki needed to only walk a bit closer before recognized the other person in a snap. He was certain that he saw that guy before in Aria Alley.

Speaking of, he now remembered that he had sensed four presences inside this Fragment.

Amagi. The blonde guy. Uehara...

Kazuki narrowed his eyes and looked at his surroundings.

The fourth presence was gone.

Turning his attention back to his classmate, he saw that her sword had evaporated into particles of light and that she had begun picking the unconscious blonde up.

"What are you gonna do with him, Uehara?"

"I haven't told you why I'm here, have I? Let's just say that I followed this guy for... reasons."

She supported the blonde on her shoulders and walked towards the center of the wide rooftop.

"Okay, we should be in a safe zone now."

With her free hand, she drew a circle repeatedly in the air. While she was doing so, she began chanting something, and light materialized at the tip of her finger.

Soon enough, a ringing sound filled the air, and a portal, very similar to the one he entered with, materialized in front of her.

"Wha—" said the surprised Kazuki.

"Really? You expect us to walk all the way back there with two bodies weighing us down?"

Kazuki swore that he heard a mildly amused chuckle out of his classmate. Uehara, bringing the blonde guy with him, stepped into the veiled portal without another word.

"I guess even if I did make it to Amagi, getting her out would have been far more troublesome." Kazuki shrugged.

"I'm lucky to have run into her."

Carrying Amagi, Kazuki followed his other classmate through the portal back to the human world.