19 Echoing in Unison 2

Pursued.

Immediately after breaching the Lombardia-class battleship *Rea*, Mio sensed the presence of a pursuer.

Too soon. Even with her speed advantage, it had been mere minutes since she began moving.

“That can’t be…”

It meant the two who had bought time with their distraction had been overrun in such a brief span.

She did not wish to believe they were dead—

she wanted to believe they were merely incapacitated.

But there was no way to confirm it.

—No.

The connection with Edelweiss had been restored.

Therefore, she could sense the other’s condition.

Mio felt the light dimming, growing dull.

The one who had called herself Edelweiss—always watching over her.

In childhood, Mio had unconsciously relied on her countless times, as if she were a sister.

No — if she truly came from the same parents, then she is a sister.

Few words have passed between them.

Still, trust remained. Not just in her character—though that term is uncertain—but in her capability.

After all, she once led an army that invaded the Third Fleet and inflicted massive damage.

An enemy to fear, but a comrade beyond reproach.

Even if Mio could no longer remain in the human world.

She believed, enough to feel some peace, that she could still go to her.

And Jin.

Her strength—something known from countless accounts.

Mio herself had seen it many times. Indeed, just moments ago.

At first, she thought the sharpness of her movements might wane with age—but instead, they seemed stronger than ever, more precise than before.

The one most trustworthy.

Her ability.

Her feelings toward Mio.

After all, she had chosen her.

She chose this side over the world where his wish should have been fulfilled.

Not just with words—by discarding his own desire with his own hands—he chose to save Mio.

Her presence here is proof.

Shou showed Mio a path forward.

Edelweiss revealed the end beyond that path.

Jin has proven to Mio the happiness of the present.

Thus, Mio finally recognized her misunderstanding.

She had believed herself to be feared most, so she assumed others felt the same.

But that was wrong.

She could—she could be here.

A future lies ahead, one where paths will inevitably diverge. That will not change.

Yet until that day arrives, they may walk the present together.

They may inscribe their footsteps, deeply.

She had only just come to believe this.

And yet—

Three who allowed Mio to choose to be here.

Mio raged—three who had told her it was enough as she was, gone now because of Harold Byron.

"But—!"

It hurt beyond tears.

Unbearably bitter.

She had only just begun to understand the weight of their care.

To have that taken away—unbearable.

At the same time, she realized.

Changing the past meant erasing the accumulation of such feelings.

New feelings might emerge in their place—but surely many would vanish without trace.

"Sharon..."

Why had she never considered how she might feel about this altered world?

No—perhaps she had simply refused to notice.

She had only wanted to flee.

To look away from a future with no shape.

To sulk, helpless, in the absence of a place to stand.

So she had wished it all erased.

Trampling the longing of someone chasing after the memory of a mother who never existed.

"...Are they angry?"

They probably are.

But I can think, without bitterness, that they're probably worried too.

I want to apologize.

I don't know if they'll forgive me, but I want to apologize.

To Jake.

To May.

To Emisa.

To Ya.

To Mamoru.

To Edelweiss.

Most of all, to Jin.

I want to apologize for my foolishness.

Apologize.

I want to tell them my true self.

"So—don't come over here!"

The location was on their side.

The Lombardia-class corridor allowed space for several assault frames to pass side by side.

Even so, it was a confined space.

There, Mio could maximize her abilities.

Her hair lengthened.

A wire that shook space itself at super-high speed.

Its extension was supported by nanomachines.

If Mio cuts her own body, she can extend her hair infinitely. She can also bundle multiple strands into a single, elongated wire.

That way, she can stretch wires across passages like a spider’s web.

(That’s how it was, I think.)

The zoo Jin had taken her to.

Creatures that once lived on their home planet—the star now reduced to dust.

Referencing the structure of a spider and its web, Mio quickly assembled a makeshift trap.

A net woven from ten layers, twenty layers of wires.

Attempting to force a breach would cause the wires to vibrate simultaneously, pulverizing anything they touch.

Of course, it’s conspicuous. Mio lacks the technology to conceal something this large.

But visibility doesn’t matter. The objective is not destruction—only delay.

If she can buy time until Mio reaches Laitera and destroys it, that will be enough.

……Good!

Mio exults as her legs grow sluggish.

Her expression eases slightly, unbidden.

That buys her several minutes.

She will destroy Laitera within that time.

The link between Mio and Laitera remains intact.

Therefore, ether is still being generated.

Most of it is being used for transmission to the past—directed at Laitera itself—but some is allocated to Laitera’s defense.

The Stalt reactor linked to Mio maintains its output at ten thousand lammy.

Mio calculates internally: Laitera uses less ether than that in practice.

The result is 0.00178 seconds.

Approximately two thousand lammy are being redirected to the ether coating...

Can it be breached?

No—she must succeed.

She doesn’t want to choose a place where she no longer exists.

She wants to live in the present and future she was taught.

Mio has a plan.

It’s the same principle as before—expansion.

Using her own hair stretched like a net, she will strike the interior with maximum vibrational wave.

It will take time to prepare. She must decide how to weave it.

“Knots… never thought they’d be useful.”

The game May taught her as a child.

Fingers manipulating strings, shaping them into patterns like magic.

Mio grasped the sequence instantly, leaving May far behind—deeply disappointed at the time.

She recalls it now and smiles faintly.

Stretching the wire.

The problem remains: whether Mio’s nanomachines are sufficient.

She’s already used many for the delaying trap.

Since that one hasn’t been breached yet, she can’t retrieve them.

She might have to completely reconvert all of her hair—worst case scenario.

She extended the wires, hesitating slightly.

Almost complete.

"...Huh?"

Antares Prime’s response, felt from a distance, surged toward her abruptly.

No reaction from the trap laid in the corridor.

This route—

"Impossible!"

The wall shattered open. A green-colored unit burst through.

Mio absorbed the knee strike mid-charge, blocking it with her chest.

Her torso caved inward, slammed into the wall, rebounded several times before finally stopping.

"Agh...!"

The wires, still in deployment, snapped apart.

Without Mio’s power supply, they unraveled and fell.

"Destroy the interior...!"

That thought hadn’t occurred to her.

The Lombardia-class was a heavy warship.

Being large meant there were undoubtedly many humans within.

And Harold could not have been expected to avoid them while charging in.

"Who do you think you are, treating people like that!"

'You know, it's strange to be lectured on humanity by you... If the Laitera Project had succeeded, none of this would have happened. So clinging to such notions is pointless, wouldn't you agree?'

But this was Mio’s mistake.

All those involved in the Laitera Project operated under that same belief.

Mio herself had thought the same.

She should have anticipated the consequences of dragging others into her plans.

'Then, this time, I shall extract your limbs and rip off your head—until the moment of completion. I'd prefer not to waste any more energy.'

Saying this, Harold extended the Etherdagger toward Mio’s collapsed body.

"Oto-san..."

What she had intended to say next.

An apology.

A plea for help.

Whatever it was, the voice failed to form words and dissolved.

‘…………Who are you, you?’

A black shadow suddenly cut between the two.

An unfamiliar机体.

A pitch-black armor blending into the void of vacuum.

An almost knightly design—slender, yet conveying no frailty.

A Long Sword that blocked the Antares Prime’s Etherdagger with no sign of yielding, its strength unbroken, its blade defying the attack.

The glow of its camera eyes—crimson and azure.