Dies Irae (Part IV)

[December 25th, 14:55 JST]

Tokyo Prefecture – Roppongi District Streets

The van screeched to a halt in Roppongi, Nana and Misaki disembarking first as the recruits followed close behind.

Unlike Ebisu, the evacuation here was still holding shape. JSDF soldiers moved with clear commands, directing civilians toward armored trucks and secured routes. Units advanced in coordinated groups, deliberately drawing CODA attention away from the evacuation zones.

Novium rifles fired in efficient, controlled bursts, shooters rotated with every magazine — one soldier stepping back as another took position. Those who had just finished firing were pulled away immediately, medics already at their sides checking their conditions.

“P-kun,” Misaki said through her earpiece. “We’ve arrived. Orders?”

“Get sit-rep from the field commander,” Takeshi replied. “The rest will support the evacuation.”

A brief pause before he added, quieter. “Be careful. I picked up a strange frequency here earlier. It vanished before I could analyze it.”

“Understood,” Misaki replied.

She nodded once to Nana, then headed for the JSDF formation.

Nana clapped her hands sharply, pulling the recruits’ attention to her.

“Alright,” she said, forcing her usual brightness into her voice. “Misaki-chan has her assignment. We’ve got ours.”

“Split into teams,” she continued. “Sweep buildings, cars, alleys. Anywhere someone might be trapped. If you run into a Level 3 inside my Veil, you should be able to kill it together.”

Her expression hardened slightly.

“But if it’s a pack...” She grinned. “Run to me. I’ll burn them down.”

The recruits nodded, their faces tense but determined. Teams formed quickly and scattered across the street.

Nana began to sing. Runic sigils flared in her eyes as her Cantus Veil unfolded, covering a wide stretch of the street.

She fell in with one of the teams, eyes fixed on the fog ahead.

A man among the soldiers noticed Misaki approaching and stepped forward to meet her.

“You must be from Aria Corps,” he said. “Fourth Platoon. Lieutenant Enshin.”

“Team 02. Tempesta Unit,” Misaki replied. “Atlas.”

“What’s the situation here?”

Enshin glanced back toward the street, where trucks were being loaded with civilians under covering fire.

“Evacuation is moving smoothly,” he said. “With Aria Corps support, we should be clear in thirty minutes.”

Then his expression tightened.

“I’m more concerned about Ebisu. We lost contact with the platoon there not long ago.”

“Two members of my team should already arrive there,” Misaki said. “Let me try to reach them.”

She turned slightly aside, finger brushing her earpiece—

And paused.

The fog lining the street had begun to thicken. It pressed inward, pooling low against the road as if something were drawing it closer.

“...Tch. It’s back,” Enshin muttered, already raising his voice to issue new firing orders.

“What’s back?” Misaki asked.

“We’ve been getting these fog surges since we arrived,” he said. “Comes and goes. There was an eerie roar earlier too, but nothing ever showed itself.”

Before Misaki could respond—

The sound returned.

The ground shuddered beneath their feet. Streetlights rattled violently as a low vibration rolled through the district, passing through concrete, steel, and flesh alike.

Several recruits froze mid-step.

Some clutched at their D-Mics, gasping for air. Others dropped to one knee, their voices breaking as their resonance collapsed.

Nana felt it too.

A familiar weight pressed against her chest, stealing her breath. She pushed the feeling aside, unwilling to remember where she’d first felt it.

Misaki’s hand tightened at her side.

So that was why it hadn’t appeared yet.

The roar came again, closer than ever.

It crawled into the body, sank deep and refused to leave. Some of the recruits screamed. Others couldn’t make a sound at all, mouths open as terror locked their throats.

The fog ahead split, parted like a curtain being drawn aside.

Something massive shifted within it, towering over the street. A silhouette emerged, tall enough to blot out the afternoon light. Fog clung to its form, the district dimming as if night had fallen over the streets, its outline cutting against the buildings like a moving skyline.

Takeshi’s voice burst into their earpieces. Fractured and distorted.

“...Na—na... Mi—sa... ki—”

“...Le—vel... 5... sig—na—”

“...Rop—pon—gi... re—treat—now—”

Static swallowed the channel and the comms went dead.

Sensing the shift immediately, Misaki turned back to Lieutenant Enshin.

He nodded and rushed toward the trucks while Misaki tried her earpiece again.

Nothing.

She broke into a run.

Nana was easy to find. The red-orange haze around her body was the only steady light left, a burning stain against the enclosing fog.

“Misaki-chan,” Nana called out as she approached. “Did you manage to reach P-kun?”

Misaki shook her head. “Nothing. I think our frequency’s jammed.”

A distant crash thundered through the district.

Both of them turned.

Despite the fog parting ahead, it didn’t thin. The massive humanoid shape moving within it drew the thinner mist inward with every step, its body exhaling denser fog in return. Buildings along its path crumpled and collapsed, the sound rolling outward like delayed thunder.

Streets that had been crawling with CODA moments ago—

Were empty.

The horde had been swallowed whole by the fog.

“Gather the recruits,” Misaki said, voice tight. “This is a Level 5. They can’t stay here.”

Nana didn’t argue. She nodded once.

They split up, running through the street, shouting orders as tremors shook the ground beneath them. Their voices were repeatedly drowned out by the collapse of concrete and steel.

It didn’t take long before everyone regrouped.

Almost everyone.

“Where are the other four?” Nana asked, eyes scanning the group.

One recruit raised a trembling hand and pointed down a side street.

“I-I saw Hoshino-chan and her group go that way,” she said. “Just before the fog closed in.”

Misaki followed the direction of her finger.

A chill ran through her.

That street lay directly in the path of the advancing Colossus.

“Watch them,” Misaki said, already stepping away.

“Misaki—!” Nana shouted, but she was already running.

The closer she got, the harder the ground shook beneath her feet, even without a clear view through the fog, the pressure was unmistakable. It pressed against her chest, the ancient resonance gnawing at her resolve with every step forward.

She forced herself onward.

Collapsed buildings lined the street, concrete torn apart and scattered like debris after an earthquake. Then she heard it—a thin, broken cry cutting through the rubble.

Misaki followed the sound.

A recruit lay on the ground ahead, curled in on herself, shaking. Misaki knelt beside her, patting her back.

“There you are,” she said, keeping her voice steady. “Where are the other three?”

The girl raised a trembling hand and pointed.

Misaki followed the direction.

She froze.

Blood stained the rubble ahead. Twisted hands and legs were pinned beneath broken concrete.

She swallowed the curse rising in her throat.

Without another word, she lifted the surviving recruit onto her back, sigil circles flared beneath her boots as she began to sing, gravity bending under her steps. She pushed herself forward, faster, each surge carrying them back through the fog toward Nana’s position.

When she emerged, Nana turned sharply.

“Misaki...”

There was only one girl behind her.

Misaki shook her head.

She set the recruit down and stepped aside.

The girl collapsed to her knees the moment she was released, sobbing uncontrollably. The other recruits rushed in around her, arms wrapping right as they tried to hold her together... and themselves.

Nana’s fist slammed into the road, Fire burst from her knuckles, heat warping the asphalt as it softened and sank beneath the blow.

“This...” Nana said, voice tight. “...shouldn’t have happened.”

Before either of them could respond—

The roar came again.

Screams erupted from the evacuation site.

Rifle fire rang out frantically, shadows tearing through the fog as it surged forward.

They ran.

And what they found shattered what little order remained.

The barricade was gone. Trucks lay overturned, metal twisted and burning. Bodies littered the street—some torn apart, others half-dissolved where the fog clung too long. Civilians scattered in all directions, fleeing blindly as CODA poured in behind them.

A handful of soldiers still fought back... but they were swallowed almost instantly.

Nana didn’t hesitate. She began to sing and drove herself forward, a single punch tearing through a pack of tiger-shaped Level 3. Fire spiraled outward, reducing them to ash and clearing a narrow path. She didn’t stop.

Misaki turned to the recruits.

“Push the CODA back. Support any JSDF you find and gather them together. Nana will secure a position for you.”

She spotted Lieutenant Enshin near the wreckage.

He lay against a fallen barrier, face drained of color. His rifle was still raised, finger squeezing the trigger even though nothing came out.

He looked up at Misaki and let out a short, broken sound.

“We were holding,” he said hoarsely. “Then the fog thickened. I saw it... one moment it was far. Next—”

He coughed, blood staining his lips.

“It dissolved. Reappeared right on top of us. Black fog everywhere. No time to react.”

Misaki knelt beside him.

“Any vehicles still functional?”

Enshin didn’t answer. Then, with shaking fingers, he pulled his dog tag free and pressed it into her hand.

“Find one of my soldiers,” he said. “Show them this. They’ll listen to you.”

His hand went slack as he breathed his last.

Misaki moved immediately.

She spotted a soldier helping a civilian to their feet and cut toward them, explaining the situation quickly. He nodded grimly and told her there were a few spare trucks several streets away.

She nodded. It was better than nothing.

She pressed Enshin’s dog tag into his hand.

“Tell your brothers to gather anyone who can still move,” she said. “Bring them to one place. Move together toward the trucks.”

She turned, already stepping back.

“Our recruits will follow you to cover the route and evacuate together.”

“What about you?” the soldier called her out.

She smiled faintly as she glanced back. Her violet-gray eyes glimmered with runic sigils beneath her bangs.

“Someone needs to hold this fort,” she said.

She found a nearby recruit and passed the order, instructing her to relay it to the others. Then she moved on.

Nana stood ahead, staring at what loomed before her.

The distance between them and the Level 5 had closed enough that the fog no longer mattered. Its towering form dominated the street, and beneath it the horde moved in perfect tandem, flowing with its presence like an extension of its will.

“Are you scared?” Misaki asked.

She reached for Nana’s hand, fingers tightening around hers.

“Right back at you,” Nana replied, returning the squeeze.

They raised their voices together. Sigils flared brighter across their bodies as resonance surged outward, fine cracks appearing along the light.

Circles awakened around the horde. Gravity folded inward, mist-formed bodies jerking mid-motion as space itself tightened, their charge stalling as if caught in unseen chains.

Nana surged into the compression zone, flames coiling tightly in her palm instead of bursting free. The restrained fire was forced inward as she released it, her arm cracking under the pressure of her own compression.

“Now!”

Misaki drove the gravity well tighter.

The fire detonated.

As the pressure peaked, the blaze collapsed into itself, then burst free in a violent wave, tearing through the trapped horde and vaporizing them before they could react.

The shock slammed into the Level 5.

Its colossal body lurched. An uneven tear split across its black mass, something glowing briefly within before vanishing back into the mist.

Both of them dragged in sharp breaths, scanning the surroundings.

Without warning, the Level 5 reformed near them.

Its massive leg struck the ground.

The shockwave tore toward them.

Misaki reacted instantly, forcing the surrounding gravity downward, then reversing it, hurling herself and Nana upward.

But it was too late.

The Level 5 roared, and the Cantus snapped back at her.

Pain exploded through Misaki’s body as the backlash tore inward, slamming them both into the street. They skidded across shattered asphalt before crashing into a parked car, metal shrieked on impact.

Nana groaned, trying to push herself upright.

“Misaki?!”

Misaki’s breath hitched when she tried to move. Blood spilled from the corner of her mouth as Nana caught her before she collapsed again.

“...So that’s it,” Misaki rasped. “That roar... it disrupts resonance...”

Her voice broke into a cough.

Before Nana could answer, static burst through their earpieces.

It was Emiko’s voice.

“...sa—ve... Yu—zu...”

“...fri—end...”

“...don’t... ke—ep... wrong... pa—th...”

The channel dissolved into noise.

Nana tried to speak. Nothing came through the broken earpiece. Tears spilled down her face.

Misaki lifted a trembling hand and brushed her fingers through Nana’s hair.

“Hey...” She murmured. “Focus... we can’t... let their sacrifice... be wasted...”

Somewhere in the distance, the engines of trucks roared as they pulled away.

Evacuation complete.

Misaki smiled weakly.

“I’m glad...” she whispered. “I was a Diva… with you.”

Nana’s tears kept falling, but she smiled back.

“Then let’s stay together,” she said softly. “...until the very end.”

They turned once more toward the Level 5, still rampaging through the now-empty streets of Roppongi.

Misaki forced herself upright, leaning against a broken wall. She began to sing.

Cracks spread across her skin, light bleeding through them before turning red. Blood followed as her final Cantus took shape.

A massive circle formed above the Level 5.

Gravity came down like a judge.

The Colossus staggered, its shifting form locking in place. It couldn’t phase, couldn’t escape.

Nana wiped her tears away.

Flames rose around her as she raised her voice, drawn tight to her body.

As Nana stepped forward, the fire followed her movement, towering above her like a shadow made of heat. When she raised her fist, the flames mirrored it, swelling into a massive outline that struck where she aimed.

Each step scorched the street black.

She charged.

Her fist drove upward into the restrained mass. The earlier tear split wider.

With each strike, Nana’s body broke further. The strain of over-synchro was eating her alive, but she didn’t stop.

She punched until the gravity field collapsed.

The Level 5 caught her fist mid-swing and roared.

Nana was hurled backward by the force.

Then it vanished into the fog without a trace.

She landed just beside Misaki.

Misaki was slumped where she sat, head tilted forward, her D-Mic lying just beyond her reach. Blood pooled beneath her.

Nana crawled toward her, arms useless, dragging herself forward with her legs. Her fingers stretched out, stopping just short. She exhaled once as her Cantus Veil faded, leaving them there — two girls on the shattered road, close enough to touch, too far to reach.