Sky Striker Princess, but the swan song of Valkyrie.

"It is said that Adam once fought against Miss Zero and gained a great advantage in the battle. However, in the end, it was because of the armor with the ability to teleport that Miss Zero possessed that he was unable to completely defeat despite his great advantage."

"However, during the battle you just described, Miss Tsubasa, I did not hear of any armor with similar functions to what Adam described. Even the power that Miss Zero showed at the end was far from what Adam described."

"Therefore, I believe that Miss Zero may have used methods you are unaware of, taking advantage of the explosion as cover, to successfully extricate herself from your sight."

Under the expectant gazes of the people present, a nervous Elfnein conveyed her doubts and deductions to them in as steady a tone as possible.

"The jet-black armor... I know about that. I once had my memories intertwined with Zero's, and there, I saw her use that jet-black power to escape when facing a powerful enemy."

Following Elfnein, Kohinata Mirai, reminded by Elfnein, suddenly remembered that there really was such a thing.

"But Zero's Sky Blade is here. Even if Zero wanted to run away, she wouldn't abandon such a precious relic that is so important to her."

Although she had largely accepted Elfnein's explanation, Hibiki Tachibana still had some doubts.

"The lost Flash Blade... No, the loss of the Flash Blade is not conclusive evidence of her death. This happened before during the previous battle when she attempted to fake her death to achieve a strategic objective."

Feng Mingyi shook his head in response.

In the past, when fighting Finney, Zero had already used this Stand technique to try to make Song, who was then in Section 2, misjudge the situation.

Ultimately, it seems that the exposure was due to the inherent nature of this complete relic.

In other words, being temporarily separated from Sky Blade might not be something Zero needs to worry about.

"So, that guy might not be dead?"

As if grasping at a last straw, Chris drew the conclusion that ignited hope in the hearts of everyone present.

It's like discovering an oasis after traveling for a long time in a dry desert, only to find it's a mirage, and then, just when you're about to despair, you turn on your phone and find there's a signal.

A sense of hope, like embers rekindled, rose in the hearts of everyone present.

"Wait, if Zero isn't dead, does that mean we helped her escape Death?"

However, before everyone could rejoice for long, Xiaoqiege, suddenly realizing something, raised a fact with some concern.

"Cut sauce...it seems that's indeed the case."

Upon hearing Xiaoqiege's reminder, Yuedu Diao paused for a moment, then, after thinking for a while, reluctantly agreed to her conclusion.

“…”

Silence descended upon the musician, a sense of despair akin to turning on a phone in the desert, discovering a signal, only to immediately see a weather forecast predicting an impending sandstorm.

Indeed, if Lingyi really didn't die, things don't seem to be any better.

"To find her, we must first find Zero-chan; we can't let her escape!"

With this thought in mind, Hibiki Tachibana was eager to find the girl who might still be alive somewhere.

"Wait a minute, Tachibana, even if we were to search for her, how could we possibly find someone as skilled at hiding as her?"

Stopping Tachibana Hibiki's reckless actions, Kazanari Tsubasa raised the problem they needed to face.

In terms of combat alone, they might be able to put up a fight with Zero to some extent, but when it comes to searching and hiding, the gap between them and Zero is something that cannot be bridged by effort alone.

In that case, let's leave it to the professionals.

Just when the people present were at a loss, a deep voice came from their Symphogear's built-in communicator.

"Master?!"

Hibiki Tachibana realized the source of the sound.

[I'm sorry I only arrived at the last minute. We couldn't move freely until Zero's control was lifted. I'm sorry to have put Tachibana and the others in such a heavy responsibility.]

The temporary headquarters houses all the scattered SONG members that Kazanari Genjuro could still contact immediately.

Under Zero's control, the members of SONG, though unable to put up any resistance, were always ready to regroup and provide support should the opportunity arise.

So, almost at the same time that Rei's dominance was disrupted by Tachibana Hibiki and the others' S2CA ultimate move, Kazanari Genjuro reorganized SONG's old troops.

"It's alright. By the way, Master, what kind of help are you referring to?"

[We have a general understanding of the situation from the communications. You successfully defeated Lingyi, but she escaped. Someone I trust will come to assist with the search.]

"Well, is that so? Then I'll leave it to you, Master."

During the brief exchange, the task of searching for Lingyi's whereabouts was handed over to the reorganized SONG. That was the only option, since none of the people present were particularly skilled at this kind of work.

"Phew, since that's the case, let's go back and rest first, at least to get rid of our fatigue. We can leave the rest to the commander and the others."

After everything was settled, Maria spoke directly, a point that was agreed upon by the others.

So, despite some lingering concerns, the musicians returned to their logistical quarters to await the results of their SONG companions' search.

......

Just as the musicians realized that Zero might still be alive and asked the reunited SONG to help search for Zero's whereabouts, the distance between them and their location...

Immediately afterwards, a girl wearing a tattered military uniform and with burn marks on her stockings fell out of the portal.

Furthermore, after coming out, the girl got up without any hesitation.

After briefly glancing at the sky to confirm her direction, she headed straight toward her pre-determined goal, moving forward as quickly and resolutely as possible in silence.

P.S. Good afternoon.

Chapter Fifty: The Situation Temporarily Delayed

Opening the door concealed by heretical technology, Lingyi staggered into the dark safe house. The tension she had been feeling was finally relieved, and she was able to temporarily put aside her anxiety.

Turn on the lights to illuminate the location, find the safe, and after confirming there are no signs of tampering, open it and take out the nutrient solution inside. Then, double-check that the seal and packaging of the nutrient solution are intact.

Finally, after everything was confirmed, Lingyi's tense nerves relaxed by half.

She slowly sat down on the bed, leaned against the edge, and gently bit open the outer packaging of the nutrient solution with her teeth. She then put the contents into her mouth and silently sucked to replenish her nutrients.

【boxed{ω}·}rangle{ω}}{ω}】

[…Hmm, have they discovered I escaped?]

Just then, as Lingyi relaxed on the bed, the news that the musicians had discovered she was missing rather than dead appeared in her mind.

The source of the information was, of course, the complete relic that no one would guard against—the black and red blade that Kazunari Tsubasa was still holding.

【o(ε^{*})】

[I understand... Wait, don't come any closer! I'm not feeling well right now and I don't have any weapons. If you come any closer, you'll give away my position!]

After confirming the message and feeling the emotions surging through her mind, Lingyi quickly tried to persuade her overly affectionate weapon to prevent it from ruining her plans like it had done last time.

Yes, Zero wasn't worried at all about anything going wrong with her weapon.

She knew very well that as long as she was alive, no matter how far or how many obstacles she faced, this blade would come into her hands, an inseparable bond that was even stickier than taffy.

Rather than worrying about the possibility of separation, it's better to worry about whether the clingy nature of the other person will ruin your plans and cause things to fall into an unnecessary and terrible situation.

【(all)】

Okay, okay, I understand. I won't keep you waiting too long. After I've rested, I'll head to the backup base. Once I'm basically armed there, you can come back.

The resentment and cries that came from her mind gave Lingyi a headache, so she had no choice but to set a time limit that she could only tolerate.

【O(≥口≤）○】

"Okay, I promise, so stop fooling around, I need to rest... phew."

After spending some time calming down the AI ​​agent connected to her mind, Lingyi, who had nothing to compete with for the time being, finally entered a more relaxed state.

Fortunately, the escape was successful; using the thrusters was the right choice.

The nutrient solution, which didn't taste very good, flowed down her esophagus. While replenishing her energy, the relaxed Lingyi aimlessly recalled her escape process.

To be honest, in XD mode, the player's speed and strength far surpass those of Zero, who has already broken free from the [Sky Striker = Zero] state. Even something as simple and quick as opening the gates of the Babylonian Treasury could be caught up by her.

Therefore, in order to successfully escape and protect oneself, one must make all the pursuers give up their pursuit. And the best way to do this is obviously to make them believe that they are already dead.

Death is the best form of protection. As long as you put yourself in a state of death from the other person's perspective, no matter how strong your emotions or intentions are, they won't linger on a dead person for long.

Based on this premise, Zero began her operation. First, she chose to sacrifice the complete relic Nephilim and summoned the bulky and practically useless armor [Trial Sky Striker Princess: Amatsu].

This mecha contradicts Zero's original combat philosophy, is extremely energy-intensive and bulky, so it could only be sealed in the Flashblade as a prototype until it gained some practical value through Neferi's power.

Creating this mech would be ideal if it could defeat the musicians.

If not, then confront the performers with the greatest possible force, exhausting their energy and causing their judgment to decline as their strength is depleted.

As expected, the final result was similar to what Lingyi had predicted. Tianjin, whose stats were far from sufficient, fell into a disadvantageous position in the battle against the Qin warriors and was soon defeated.

Next, Zero's goal became to convince the musicians that she was dead.

Thus, by utilizing the characteristics of the mech created by Nephilim, it began to fulfill its original function as an energy multiplication reactor, ultimately transforming that enormous energy into a most artistic explosion in the Babylonian vault.

At the same time, Lingyi summoned the last piece of equipment she had left to save her life, the second-level [Eagle Thruster]. With its power, she sent her body into the crack of time, heading to the future some time in the future, avoiding the explosion while also concealing herself.

As Zero had predicted, what happened next was exactly what happened. After a period of time, the musicians who had not been able to find their own music began to think that they were dead and lost their spirit. They soon exited the XD mode one after another.

Meanwhile, under Zero's prior instructions, Flashblade used the power of the Staff of Solomon that it had been equipped with to secretly gather a large amount of noise around them, forcing the musicians to leave the vault.

Furthermore, they further reinforced their impression of the fact that "Zero Clothes is dead" by cooperating with the musicians in opening the gates of the Babylonian Treasury.

Thus, once Zero Clothes escapes the cracks of time, she can use the spare vault key in a safe environment to open a new door, move herself from the Babylonian vault to the vicinity of the safe house, and complete her final escape.

The whole process wasn't particularly complicated; the only part that was a bit tricky was jumping to the future.

If too much time passes, the performers might realize they're still alive; if too little time passes, they might run into performers who are still unwilling to give up.

Fortunately, Lingyi's timing was good. Before the performers could react, she successfully completed the planned route and arrived at her destination.

In other words, this safe house is concealed by a barrier constructed using heretical technology called the Tishpina Barrier, collected from the Valverde region in South America.

[A power capable of making things appear as if they don't exist, a power that can be blocked by various detection methods including satellites—at least in the short term, they shouldn't possess the heretical technology to locate this place, given their current chaotic organizational structure.]

In other words, I can stay here a little longer and recover some of my depleted mental and physical strength... Phew, I should rest first. I'll consider the plan to start over after I wake up again.

After assessing the safety of their current environment, they threw the empty nutrient solution bag aside.

Immediately afterwards, Lingyi, who was lying on the bed, casually took off her already somewhat torn clothes and threw them around haphazardly.

Finally, after wrapping the blanket around his naked body, he turned off the lights and closed his eyes.

And so, alone in the empty, safe house, the exhausted Lingyi fell into a deep sleep.

.tumor-like I art silk si 罒moon ripples.....

After some time, the world was still in a state of shock from being freed from domination, but in reality, there wasn't much of a shock.

After all, Lingyi didn't make many changes to the original order of the world. She didn't touch the code that was still running normally. She mainly touched the code that couldn't run and kept producing garbage.

In reality, most people don't really have much of a feeling about whether or not they are in control. In fact, some areas that originally lacked order, and felt that the newly established order was good, continued to use the new order.

The current turmoil is just trouble for those at the top. The only thing ordinary people can feel is that their bosses/leaders are busy with meetings these days.

However, these matters have nothing to do with SONG, which is directly under the United Nations. Most of the affairs have not yet reached this organization, which has a considerable degree of freedom. Right now, their biggest concern is that the search for a certain girl has been fruitless for a long time.

"Search team, report on Jiu Ling?, Liu Si+? Liu 7 [Dad 2's situation today... Is that right, nothing found?"

Listening to the report from his subordinates, Kazanari Genjuro felt somewhat powerless.

By this time, 24 hours had passed since the search began. SONG members had spread out completely and were conducting a thorough search of the area around the battlefield based on their experience.

But after 24-hour shifts of searching, they found no valuable clues, and the satellite and monitoring personnel did not transmit any valuable information.

"Commander, after so much time, could Lingyi have already escaped this area?"

Ogawa Shinji, who was directly in contact with the investigation team, raised this possibility with some concern.

The other party is undoubtedly a professional in concealing themselves and escaping. The fact that they have not been discovered for so long suggests that they may have successfully escaped.

"Ultimately, we don't even know if she's alive..."

Teng Yao, who was in charge of intelligence analysis, couldn't help but bring up this idea as well.

The news about Zero's survival is ultimately just speculation made by the agents based on intelligence; they currently have no evidence to suggest that Zero actually survived and escaped.

“I know all of this, but even knowing all of this, we must do our best to continue. We must not give up before hope is completely lost.”

Kazanari Genjuro also knew that the possibility proposed by the two was undoubtedly the worst-case scenario for them.

Whether it was the person they wanted to save who died in the battle, or the ridiculously strong girl who escaped, it was an unacceptable fact for them.

"Still...no news?"

Chris, who rushed from her sickbed with hope, only to receive this news in the end, looked slightly dazed, her eyes filled with weariness and detachment, as she muttered to herself.

"Chris-chan, trust Master and the others. We... there's nothing more we can do."