After escaping the sewer and walking for about 5 minutes, a scene unfolded that made me understand why Himari and Rion named this place the Submerged Zone.

The urban street, reminiscent of an apocalypse 100 years later, was partially sunken, and true to its name, water covered everything around us.

“Himari-chan, my feet are wet…”

“I’m truly sorry, but my wheels are completely soaked too. Still, since we’ve figured out the approximate direction of the signal we’re tracking, it’s fortunate we don’t have to wander aimlessly, don’t you think?”

“Hey, I’m curious about something. Um, do you like swimming?”

“No.”

“I think you would. No, you actually do. Right? Why are you lying?”

“I don’t like it, Mikan-chan. So could you please take your hand off my shoulder? I’m way too delicate to roll around in this cold water, and I might wither away quickly.”

Someone is having their sneakers and socks drenched, feeling quite unpleasant, while she sits on her wheelchair, somehow boasting about being dry. I decided against teasing Himari more and held back.

More than anything, the eerie silence here felt strangely unsettling. It was an unpleasant kind of quiet that felt ominous.

In this city right now, is it just me and Himari who are alive and moving? The sense of unease came from the fact that all I could hear was the sound of water splashing and our conversation.

“Hey, I don’t think we can go that way.”

“…Wait a moment. I seem to recall that the water level was a bit lower when we initially mapped out the entry path… For now, let’s adjust our route toward the higher ground.”

“Yeah… huh?”

I froze for a moment when I suddenly heard a sound from far away. In the eerily silent city, the sound, although small, was quite clear.

“What’s wrong?”

“Himari-chan, did you not hear that sound just now? It sounded like water splashing…”

“I didn’t—”

Splash!

“—Oh. Now I hear it.”

The sound, which was louder than before, confirmed to Himari that an unknown entity was nearby.

“First, let’s consider the presence of hostile entities nearby…”

Clang—Splash—

Just as Himari was about to say something, an even larger splash echoed, along with an unknown mechanical sound.

Brrrroooom—Swoosh!

Before long, a four-legged machine, about the height of a three-story building and the width of a parked bus, appeared before us. As it emerged, the water that shot up into the sky fell back like rain.

It resembled a spider with legs attached in an X shape, multiple machine guns mounted on its body, and a square-shaped halo floating above the turret.

Undoubtedly, it was Keter, the prophet of the Decagramaton, taking a form akin to a mobile turret, and it immediately aimed its gun at us.

“A new encounter with a prophet… It looks like it’s trying to block our way…”

“No, this isn’t the time to be talking so leisurely!”

“Kyaa?!”

I quickly scooped up Himari and dodged. Himari wrapped her arms tightly around my neck, but since she was so weak, it didn’t feel like much of a help.

Running with water rising up to my ankles felt a bit awkward, but…

Thudding noise—as we ran!

That was enough to escape immediate danger, so I figured it was a good thing.

I briefly glanced over my shoulder, just in time to see the rain of bullets turning the spot where Himari’s wheelchair had been into a honeycomb of destruction.

“Himari-chan, high ground! Which way should we go?!”

“W-wait! Give me 30 seconds… no, just 15 seconds!”

Following Himari’s request to buy us half the time she originally asked for, I ran toward a derelict building to use it as cover.

I didn’t think taking on that pile of scrap was impossible, but first, I had to ensure Himari’s safety. Plus, it’d be nice to gain mobility by getting to a high ground where water wouldn’t rise.

Thud, thud, thud—

I held tightly onto the gun behind Himari’s back and kept moving forward. With every step I took, water splashed everywhere.

“Mikan-chan, take a right here! Keep going straight, and after two blocks, there should be stairs. The area above should likely NOT be submerged. Well, unless this place disregards the normal laws of physics!”

“Okay☆”

First, I needed to drop Himari off in a safe spot before figuring out what to do about that tin can.

At least I was relieved that it wasn’t something like Vina that I couldn’t even think about tackling head-on.

Without a doubt, that prophet was significantly weaker, making any comparison with Vina downright unfair.

Well, maybe Vina was just ridiculously strong, but what mattered right now was that I felt I could handle this guy alone.

Honestly, there was no real need to defeat it outright. Just like Vina, this guy might have a pattern to retreat. So I just needed to give him a reason to want to run away.

After running for what felt like an eternity, I finally began to ascend the stairs that Himari mentioned after taking a few bullets to the back.

The problem was that water was trickling down the stairs, suggesting that it wasn’t dry up there either…

Should I be thankful, or what? When I got up, it was not enough to hinder movement. It seemed all I needed to do was not slip.

…Ah. That place looks relatively decent for a fight.

My gaze fell upon the partially destroyed fountain at the center of a plaza ahead. It didn’t seem to be wet at all, confirming it was indeed relatively high ground.

And beyond that, I could see a building for Himari to take cover behind…

Clang—Rattle rattle!

I had no idea how it got up there, but Keter was now aiming its gun at us, having chased us down.

“Himari-chan, I’ll hide you behind me, so don’t move…!”

“…”

Though I didn’t get a verbal response back, seeing her nod slightly in my arms indicated she seemed to agree.

First, I needed to buy some time and gathered Shinpi in my fingertips.

…I realize now that giving this back to Mikan would be a serious loss. This Shinpi was so sacred and powerful, I’m starting to feel like giving up an arm or something.

In an instant, three clusters of stars bloomed, painting beautiful trails in the air. As I shot them toward Keter’s legs, they exploded, and I barely managed to shield Himari.

Now, as long as Keter or another danger didn’t target Himari, I could relax a bit.

“…I’m sorry.”

After a moment of silence, Himari, leaning against the wall, offered a small apology, but I didn’t think it was necessary at all.

Well, even though she hadn’t been of much help coming here and was practically a burden now, I had known she’d be useless from the start.

This was what I signed up for because I thought I was capable of handling it alone. So, Himari really didn’t need to apologize in this situation.

And honestly, if they had told me to go alone without Himari, I could have easily turned it down outright.

The problem was, I didn’t have the luxury of explaining such things in detail.

“I don’t really mind, so let’s deal with that thing first and chat later!”

With that shout, I didn’t wait for a response as I dashed back toward the plaza. The longer I took, the more likely my efforts to shield Himari would amount to nothing.

Once I bolted back out, Keter looked pretty much the same as before the explosion. However, its failure to immediately follow up on the pursuit indicated that my attack had been effective… or at least I hoped it had.

…From this point on, it was a completely unknown territory.

First, I’d start aiming for its legs and try to squeeze out any information trapped somewhere in my memory. I doubted the explosive movement originated from its legs, but I’d stick with targeting that section, as damaging those would create a landing problem.

As precisely as I could, I aimed for the unarmored section of its legs… and charged forward.

Since my firepower was based on a submachine gun, I needed to close the distance a bit more. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to load Shinpi into the bullets and unleash a proper barrage.

If I were dealing with a human opponent, I’d stick to single shots or burst fire, but against a lumbering mechanical beast like that, raw firepower was essential.

The machine gun mounted on its turret aimed right at me, but according to Kivotos logic, a high school girl just needed to run to dodge the hail of bullets. And I was more than ready to certify that logic.

Mikan’s body didn’t just have strong power; her overall physical ability allowed her to exhibit overwhelming speed.

…Sure, I might have scratched myself or gotten poked a bit. But I was determined to validate Kivotos logic. After all, I was hit simply because I made a mistake.

After securing a closer distance, I emptied a whole magazine aiming for Keter’s legs.

The bullets, landing perfectly on the unarmored sections, seemed to inflict a substantial amount of damage.

…I might need another magazine to smash it entirely, but I’d probably run out of ammo underwater before that!

However, it was only low-ranking students who wouldn’t be able to sustain the fight without bullets.

On this side, even without ammo, I was still formidable.

Pressing my body against the metal felt unbearably painful, but I needed to muster the strength for the shivering Himari.

…

I realized I wasn’t going to target the legs anymore precisely 3 minutes after that.