Ingrid's right arm was easily separated from her body. Kizuna once again changed her armor and now, wielding a white proton blade she sliced the arm off in one go.

 

"……!?"

 

Ingrid who was acting that calm and composed before was put in disorder. And then she was staring at her arm dancing in the air with disbelieving eyes.

 

Kizuna reversed the tip of the sword she swung up and swung it down at the defenseless left arm.

 

The right arm fell on the ground, followed by the left arm slightly later. It was a defense and offense that happened in only the blink of an eye.

 

"-……aAaAAAAaAuUaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!?"

 

Ingrid raised a never before heard scream.

 

"Give up already. I don't want to take your life, but I will if you are going to be stubborn."

 

"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

 

Along with Ingrid’s shriek, several streaks of ice were fired from her back. Her right eye that she always kept closed was opened now and emitted a bright light. The entire area around here was covered in ice. The hot sand was turned into cold ice in just seconds.

 

"What the…!?"

 

The ice strakes pierced Kizuna before she could finish her sentence.

 

"Guh……!"

 

The destructive power passed through Kizuna’s body and blew away even the armor supporting her chest.

 

"aAAAAAH……Kuh!"

 

The impact wasn't lethal but it did make Kizuna shed blood and drop to her knees.

 

"So you still have that kind of trump card left…… I guess I should praise you for damaging me to this extent. You cannot be dealt with so simply."

 

Even if Kizuna was acting composed inside, she was scared. She noticed that Ingrid's arms have instantly regenerated. 

 

"Yes, thanks to the power sealed in my right eye, every damage I take is instantly recovered. You will only get weaker by fighting me while I grow stronger. 

 

And my Northern Lights will automatically discover the enemy unrelated with my own will and shoot them down. It’s irrelevant how strong or weak they are. It will sweep away all the enemies. That includes your comrades behind you."

 

Ingrid let out a crazed smile and walked towards Kizuna. 

 

──’I was barely able to defend against those lasers. But, this shield too will reach its limit soon. If I got hit by that...No, rather than that──,’

 

Kizuna took a side glance at the figures of her comrades.

 

They wouldn’t hold out. Those strakes have probably over 100% defense penetration. 

 

"With this I’ll be able to climb up the stairs of evolution in one go! By using you all as sacrifices! Now, it’s the end of this!"

 

"I won’t let you! Drive Shift: Disruption Armor!"

 

As the powerful blasts of the Northern Lights were ready to fire off…

 

"Absolute Cancel!"

 

Right before Ingrid’s light reached, a dome expanded from Kizuna engulfing Ingrid. The attack… was cancelled. It was a unique skill that prevents the opponent to use any skills or PA for a very short amount of time.

 

"GUOuh!"

 

"What……? This can't be… what did you do?"

 

Since the limit was short, Kizuna didn't want to waste it because Ingrid's regeneration was now cancelled as well. Now was the time to end this.

 

Kizuna yelled towards her own armor.

 

"It's over. I'll show you a glance of my true power. Drive Shift: Cross Armor!!"

 

A Differential Frame was instantly created on Kizuna’s back.

 

"UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!"

 

Golden light attacked Ingrid along with that war cry.

 

A powerful leap to the side allowed Ingrid to escape the blast of the powerful lasers.

 

"Then! Drive Shift: Taurus Blight Armor!!"

 

Kizuna stretched her right arm right to her side. It was a giant hammer shining black. Inside it possessed a small black hole that swallowed everything. An anomalous hammer. It's worth noting that Kizuna can also only partially equip armor, but the stamina drain is increased.

 

"NUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"

 

Taurus’s hammer and Ingrid's Balmung clashed. Enormous gravity sucked in the energy of her sword, before creating an explosion forcing Ingrid to retreat.

 

"This is… it feels like I'm fighting an army."

 

"Not done… Drive Shift: Herculean Armor!!"

 

Kizuna instantly suffered an increase in physical strength and quickly chased Ingrid, without giving her time to recover. She tasted a sensation as though her whole body became a sharp blade.

 

"It's over. DEYAaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"

 

Kizuna’s fist struck into Ingrid's stomach . Ingrid’s armor was cracked and it burst apart.

 

"A, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

 

A terrific impact assaulted Ingrid. She was blown away backwards. And without her regeneration powers, strength left her body as she took one final glance towards Kizuna.

 

"Destroyed……this me?... Kizuna Amun Ra… this fight… was worth it. You are truly a supreme being… I can't reach."

 

With those words Ingrid slammed into the ground and lost consciousness. With no doubt, the battle was over. It was Kizuna's win.

 

------

 

~Kizuna’s POV~

Oof. That did it. I’m tired as hell and sweating like a pig. My feet feel so wobbly after that display that I just want to crash down on the ground and spread my arms and legs. Consecutively using Drive Shift drains stamina like hell. And no matter how strong I am, even my stamina isn’t infinite.

 

But I gotta stay on my feet. I can’t just let them see me on the verge of collapsing. But I will admit, it was a tough fight. I mean the hard part was restricting my attacks so I wouldn’t kill her. Strength like that can prove useful for me. I mean if I would have fired off some of my big moves I would have probably erased even her ashes.

 

I turned towards my girls once again. Dang. Now that I look at it, Shiro is really in a bad state. I’m going to have to pray that Molly can fix her. Looks like the med bay is going to be put to the test this time.

“Kitty, don’t stand there like a scaredy cat. Move your ass over here and take Ingrid aboard the ship. She’s harmless now.”

“Nya!! Yes! Right away!”

“As for the rest of you, you did well to hold out like you did. And since you’re all in tears, let me state that I won’t punish you. You faced a strong enemy. You need to learn from this experience and just become stronger yourselves.

But keep in mind the most important thing. Without my permission, you are not allowed to die.”

“Ojou-sama…” (unison)

“Molly, Shiro is the most injured. Can you fix her?”

“Of course I can! No matter how complex a machine is, I can instantly make a blueprint in my head. She’ll be as good as knew even if I have  to rebuild her by ear.”

“Gratitude: Thank you, Molly. And you too, ojou-sama.”

“And Alisha, please take care of Yuri and Misha. They got hit really bad as well.”

“I’ve already administered first aid. They’re life isn’t in danger.”

“Good. We can continue this conversation on the ship. Everyone could use some rest now.”

Especially myself…