“Maki-san, be careful not to get too far out! Please keep our allies position in mind at all times!”
Ruth made full use of her armor's defensive function, breaking up the enemy waves. The output of her barrier was considerably high, and by expanding it further out, she could effectively block attacks against her allies. As she did that, Ruth attacked the enemies designated as high priority by her armor's artificial intelligence one after another with her beam swords set to paralysis mode.
“Understood, vice captain!”
Maki's role was more offensive than Ruth's. Using her large blade, she effectively attacked enemies that showed an opening. Ruth prevented the enemy from advancing while Maki thinned their numbers. The two had split into effective roles and stopped the enemy's approach.
That said, since their band of knights had only just recently been formed, their teamwork was still somewhat lacking. Maki especially had little experience fighting with others as during her time in Darkness Rainbow she had been fighting alone. As such, she had a tendency not to consider her allies. Koutarou alone was one thing, but she had a hard time paying attention to all of her allies.
“Aika-san, wipe those guys out! I will protect you!”
“Kasagi-san?! Then please do!!”
However, while Maki struggled to work together with her allies, her allies protecting her was another example of teamwork. Since this way of fighting was completely different from what Maki was used to, she had a lot of hesitation. However, she firmly believed that this was her true appearance and that she was far stronger than before.
Like that, the unique teamwork of the girls of room 106 was demonstrated and the diversion team's battle was progressing in their favor. But when it came to teamwork, the Sun Rangers weren't losing.
“Let's go, Daisaku!”
“Yeah. After I charge in, please back me up, Hayato-kun!”
In the past, they had been a disordered mob, but now the five had clearly divided up their roles.
In the front was the large man skilled in martial arts, Yellow Shine, Daisaku. He dealt with the enemy's vanguard. Pink Shine, Megumi, used an automatic gun to restrain the rear of the enemy formation. Defeating the enemy was the job of the skilled shooter, Blue Shine, Hayato, who used a rifle to pick off the enemies one by one. The job of Green Shine, Kotarou, was to throw the enemy into disarray. He used explosives as his weapon of choice for this. And finally, holding a sword in his right hand and a gun in his left was Red Shine, Kenichi. He adapted to the situation and provided backup where it was needed.
“Calm down, Daisaku, Hayato! Our job isn't to defeat the enemy!”
“Kenichi is right! We need to buy time for Baron-sama and the others!”
Their teamwork was splendid and they no longer carelessly took action like they did in the past.
The Sun Rangers hadn't rolled their thumbs and done nothing these past few months. They trained to get strong, and through battle they dug up their problems, and through their efforts they had acquired adequate ability, mentality, and teamwork.
Under the command of Kenichi, the five fought a splendid battle. That said, there was a difference in equipment and their results were nowhere near that of Theia and the others. However, it was clear to anyone that they were more skilled than your average soldier.
“But Kenichi-niichan, something's strange.”
“What do you mean?”
“Take a good look. The weapons that Daisaku-niichan and Megumi-neechan photographed aren't coming to attack at all. And that robot that attacked when we were escaping isn't here either.”
“Now that you mention it...”
The experience they had piled up until today told that them there was something unnatural about this fight. This was supposedly a weapons production facility, yet none of those weapons were anywhere to be seen, despite several weapons being caught on photograph earlier in the day, nor was the robot that had attacked them shown itself. The enemy consisted solely of underground people, and their weapons were just the ones they were carrying. The Sun Rangers who had prepared themselves for a fierce fight felt like they lost their momentum.
“... If you'd like, I can tell you the reason for that.”
That was when the cold and sharp voice of a woman cut through the noise of the fierce battle. The moment that voice rang out both friend and foe stopped fighting.
“Maya-sama?!”
“It's been a while, Maki.”
The voice belonged to the previous Darkness Navy, Maya. She was Maki's master. Maya, who had approached in a grand manner, stopped and faced Maki from a few meters away.