‘This is bad… this is truly terrible!’
Upon seeing the shadows of the aircraft, Salome shivered, then exchanged a glance with Cassandra.
“Everyone, retreat quickly! Those are the Human Revival Council’s ‘Stormbirds’! They’ve arrived!”
“The Human Revival Council?” Shirley murmured, still largely unfamiliar with this world and having only heard Salome mention the name once before.
“Is that some kind of… political organization?”
“Yes, it was once the organization we belonged to… but that’s in the past now,” Salome whispered, picking at her fingers.
“Now, they are our enemies. Even you, Mama, are considered a ‘defector’ by them, so it’s best not to fall into their hands.”
As the two spoke, the ‘Stormbirds’ had already begun their assault.
These aircraft, equipped with two sets of ducted lift engines and enormous cabins, bore a striking resemblance to the combat shuttles of the Colonial Marines from *Alien*.
They boasted significant firepower and were capable of transporting a considerable number of personnel and supplies.
After emerging from the clouds, they immediately unleashed a barrage of guided rockets, blasting the remnants of the parasitic legions on the ground into disarray and causing them to shriek in agony.
Immediately afterward, over two hundred figures leaped directly from the open cabins.
The ‘Stormbirds’ were hovering at an altitude of roughly fifty to a hundred meters, too high for rappelling but too low for parachuting, making the descent akin to jumping from a skyscraper.
However, these figures, clad in highly flexible full-body armor, activated jetpacks located on their backs shortly after leaping, rapidly decelerating their fall.
Upon touching down, they didn’t even curl into protective postures; instead, they landed upright, like celestial beings or angels descending from the heavens in ancient legends.
“It’s X-Force! At least two companies!” Cassandra gasped.
“That’s far too many!”
“Hoo… if I hadn’t expended so much power, even two companies would be manageable,” Salome hissed, drawing a sharp breath between her teeth.
Despite having previously traversed spatial rifts with reckless abandon, slicing targets to ribbons, a clear weariness now showed on her face.
“This situation is precarious… and Cassandra, you’re not exactly a fighter.”
“Indeed, if Anastasia were here, she could take out these guys by herself,” Cassandra nodded.
“Even Bifang, Persephone, Medea, or Chiba could certainly handle them. Mary could too, with the right equipment—”
“But they’re not here now,” Salome waved her hand.
“Get everyone moving quickly! While those damned bugs can still buy us some time, we need to leave as soon as possible!”
Perhaps spurred by the distant sounds of battle, though unaware of the full situation, the gathered students and faculty of St. Lian Girls’ Academy immediately rushed into the faintly glowing spatial rift.
Following them, the Holy Maiden squad providing cover, and Cassandra herself, retreated inside.
“We’re going ahead; you must follow quickly!” Cassandra called out, holding Xia Hua’s hand just before entering the spatial rift.
“Don’t worry, just give us a little more time…” Sweat beaded on Salome’s forehead and temples; clearly, her power was nearing its critical limit.
Meanwhile, two of the Holy Maiden mechanics were frantically repairing Shirley’s ‘Huntress’ mech, attempting to restore its mobility.
Though operating the machine would cause Shirley continuous pain and discomfort, there was no other suitable means of transport, leaving them with no better option than for it to walk on its own.
As Shirley remained unable to move, the four members of ‘Pink FM’ also chose not to enter the spatial rift, opting instead to stay and provide protection alongside Salome’s personal guards.
The Holy Maiden warriors, clad in black bodysuits, thoughtfully handed them extra ammunition… with Yurizumi being the sole exception.
Having run out of arrows and refusing to use firearms, she could only heft her chainsaw, ready to battle any approaching enemy.
Naturally, Yurizumi was not afforded such an opportunity: caught in a pincer attack, the remaining parasitic legions quickly disintegrated and scattered.
Before fleeing, however, they did not forget to send a few larger insects to retrieve the hybrid girl who lay with a broken leg, crying out “Kill me,” thoughtfully granting her the glorious chance to continue contributing to the hive.
Even as the insects steadily retreated, Shirley suddenly detected a buzzing sound from the nearby sky through the ‘Huntress’ mech’s highly sensitive acoustic sensors.
“Everyone, could you please hurry a little?” she asked, taking a deep breath, addressing the Holy Maiden mechanic performing emergency repairs.
“I have a bad feeling something is coming.”
“Please be patient, it will be ready soon,” one of them replied.
For some reason, their voice bore a striking resemblance to Salome’s.
“Patience is a virtue.”
“But not at this moment,” Shirley instinctively bit her lip as two ‘Stormbird’ multi-role gunships, emblazoned with the conspicuous ‘Rising Sun and New Sprout’ insignia on their delta wings, suddenly dove.
“Enemy attack! Seven o’clock!”
“These bastards! Attacking us so soon?!” Salome strained to spread her wings, their pristine white feathers beginning to shimmer with a faint, molten-gold aura.
Subsequently, several narrow spatial rifts tore open in the air… yet only one managed to slice through the skin of a gunship, inflicting merely minor damage.
The pilots of both gunships were clearly prepared for such an assault; upon seeing Salome’s initial move, they had already executed extremely precise evasive maneuvers, successfully dodging her seemingly unstoppable attack.
After all, as a renowned character from a certain classic robot anime once pointed out: no matter how potent an attack, “it’s useless if it doesn’t hit.”
“Tch.” Compared to her previous unhurried demeanor, Salome now clearly showed signs of being overwhelmed.
Her wings and arms trembled violently, and her small chest rose and fell rapidly, as if she had just completed an entire triathlon.
The ‘Stormbirds’ in the sky, naturally, did not let such an opportunity slip by.
After swiftly maneuvering into optimal firing positions, a massive volley of rockets immediately launched from the missile pods mounted beneath their stub wings.
“You’re seeking death.” Despite her profound exhaustion, Salome forcefully summoned a colossal spatial rift, positioning it directly in the path of the initial rocket barrage.
Then, much like the energy blast that had been reflected back at the hybrid girl earlier, these rockets all reappeared behind the ‘Stormbirds’!
Unfortunately, the two gunships once again demonstrated exceptional maneuverability, successfully evading most of their own launched munitions like dragonflies dodging a kestrel’s strike.
Only one rocket detonated near a gunship, its shrapnel tearing apart a significant portion of its V-shaped tail fin, forcing the ‘Stormbird’ to wobble precariously out of the fight.
However, two more ‘Stormbirds’, having already deployed their assault troops, quickly joined the fray.
More alarmingly, the X-Force operatives they had previously deployed had already cleared out the remaining parasitic legions and were now beginning to encircle them from the ground!
“You lot, hurry up and go!” Salome, her exhaustion undeniable, glanced at the remaining group.
“I can barely maintain the spatial rift. If you don’t leave now, you’ll be trapped here!”
“Are you asking us to abandon Shirley?! That would be an insult to the ancient and glorious house of Fujiwara Ason Shijō Yurizumi!” Yurizumi immediately protested.
“Exactly! I would never abandon Shirley!” Alice shouted.
“Me too…”
“Enough!” Shirley declared, as several small green icons flashed across the edge of her vision.
Although the two Holy Maiden mechanics couldn’t fully repair the ‘Huntress’ at the moment, they had fortunately managed to temporarily fix the cooling system and successfully restored the walker’s built-in auxiliary power.
While it would still take a little more time for the auxiliary power to provide enough energy to fully operate the mech, Shirley considered this a minor issue.
“You go on ahead; I’ll cover your retreat!”
“Um…” Eileen muttered softly.
“That sounds suspiciously like a death flag from those trashy light novels, are you sure it’ll be fine…?”
“Do you not trust me?” Shirley asked.
At that very moment, the countdown for the auxiliary power to fully activate stood at thirty-five seconds.
Having gained some confidence from the previous battles, she believed that enduring for this short period wouldn’t be too difficult.
“Uh, of course we trust you, Shirley.” Put on the spot, the others could hardly insist otherwise, and they rushed into the spatial rift, whose edges were already trembling and seemed on the verge of collapsing.
The remaining Holy Maiden guards beside Salome also retreated.
Finally, only Shirley and Salome remained outside.
“Um… please allow me to… uh… apologize once more,” Salome began, seeing no one else around.
“While I would never apologize to my original ‘Mama,’ Dr. Irmindada, I understand now.”
“I understand that your amnesia is real, and you truly have become a completely different person.”
“Furthermore… uh… in truth, you are the mother I’ve always dreamed of having…”
“Eh?!?” Shirley’s face flushed crimson.
‘Ideal mother’? What exactly was Salome talking about?
“Well…” Salome shrugged.
“In the past, I always wished for a mother completely unlike Dr. Irmindada—a mother who could protect me, love me, and offer me comfort.”
“And I’ve seen how you protect everyone else in the school, especially your friends, and I’ve witnessed the love you all share.”
“If only… if someone had done that for me back then, if only… *sniff*…”
“Hey, hey, Miss Salome, don’t cry!” Shirley instinctively reached out to pat her shoulder, only to remember an awkward truth: her hands had been severed by Salome.
Fortunately, the countdown in the corner of her vision had reached five seconds.
Provided no further mishaps occurred in these final moments, they too could withdraw from the heavily damaged school and reach safety.
Yet, an unforeseen event transpired precisely within those last five seconds.
As Salome succumbed to uncontrollable emotional turmoil, her already profound exhaustion caused her to lose control of her powers prematurely.
Though the ‘Stormbirds’ in the sky hesitated to fire indiscriminately, wary of her abilities, the spatial rift behind her genuinely collapsed!
Even worse, Shirley’s sensors informed her that at the exact moment of its collapse, a powerful energy pulse erupted from its former location!
Thus, the instant the mech came back online, Shirley’s first action was to maneuver the ‘Huntress’, using its mechanical body to shield a terrified Salome.
“Mama, why—”
“If you consider me an ideal mother, then I should at least fulfill a mother’s duty,” Shirley stated.
After the intense thermal shockwave violently struck the ‘Huntress’, she felt an unbearable, scorching pain that stole her breath—a torment horrific enough even without being amplified by the overly sensitive bio-interface system.
“At least, this much I can… do…”
Then, as the agony reached its peak, Shirley’s brain initiated its final self-preservation measure: it shut down all sensory input, crashing completely.
For the first time, Shirley realized that the ability to simply pass out could be such a joyous relief.