The air over the beach smelled of ozone and scorched silicon. The Crustacean-Beam turned its massive, heavy body with terrifying efficiency, its eye-stalks whirring as they tracked Yui’s every movement.
"Yui! Redirect the beam!" Konone shouted, launched herself forward. She slammed a flaming fist into the crab’s side, but the thick, heat-treated shell merely hissed. "I can't dent the armor without your ice to make it brittle! Hit the joints!"
"I... I’m trying!" Yui cried out.
She lunged forward, her silver rapier glowing with a faint, flickering cyan light. But every time she prepared to strike, the image of the dark, thorny rapier from the library flashed in her mind. Her grip loosened. She was afraid that if she channeled too much power, she’d slip back into that white-eyed void.
"Blizzard... Slash?" Yui whispered.
Instead of a mountain-shattering wave of frost, only a light dusting of snow puffed out from her blade. It didn't even slow the crab down. The monster let out a metallic roar, its mandibles snapping inches from Yui’s face.
"Oh, dear," Eza sighed from his rocky perch, swirling his drink. "It seems the little snowflake has a crack in her. How can you protect anyone when you’re so afraid of yourself?"
The crab’s eyes glowed a deep, murderous crimson. It stopped tracking Yui and turned both lenses toward Konone, who was currently mid-air, preparing for another strike. Konone was vulnerable, her back turned as she maneuvered through the steam.
"MAXIMUM OUTPUT DETECTED," the crab’s mechanical voice droned.
"Konone, get down!" Yui screamed.
The twin lasers fired—a massive, combined beam of pure destruction. Yui’s heart stopped. She knew her thin ice shields wouldn't hold. There was no time to think, only to act.
"NO!"
Konone, seeing the beam at the last microsecond, twisted her body. She managed to dodge the center of the blast, but the sheer heat and pressure caught her left shoulder. Her red armor cracked and melted instantly. The force of the explosion sent Konone sprawling across the sand, her transformation flickering as she gasped in pain.
"Konone!" Yui scrambled across the sand, sliding to her friend’s side.
Konone’s breathing was ragged. Her shoulder was scorched, the red plating gone, leaving her skin red and blistered. She looked up at Yui, her violet eyes clouded with pain but still fiercely determined.
"Don't... don't look at the injury," Konone coughed, pushing herself up with one arm. "Yui... the target is still active. Focus on the mission."
"I did this," Yui whispered, tears finally spilling over. "Because I was scared, you got hurt. I’m not a hero, Konone. I’m just a liability."
The Crustacean-Beam let out a victorious screech, its lenses beginning to pulse again, preparing for a final, point-blank execution. The shadow of the massive mechanical claw fell over them both, and for a moment, the sun felt very, very far away.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTsX4lJNDa9
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