Chapter 37 Proton Canon.

With the three Zero Five clones in the way, Nine had no hope of shooting the giant eye.

The purple light that washed over them performed some sort of scan copying the abilities of the Valkyries and incorporating them into the creations.

The new versions were able to stop Nine's bullets, and looking at the pose they took as they did so, they might even be capable of using the force field to its full potential.

"Five!" Zero Three shouted, igniting her propellers and spreading her wings. "Get the cannon! We will slow them down!"

The young Valkyrie was quick to deduce the right course of action. If they want to win against this Calamity they needed to do so before it gets a complete reading on their abilities.

Three new clones appeared, this time they were modeled after Nine. Hiding behind Five's clones they pointed their rifles and fired. The bullets came out as thin laser beams that were much faster than Nine's bullets, however Zero Three dodged them easily without lowering her speed.

Back to her senses the blond Valkyrie began providing cover fire, glancing at Zero Five telling her to go and leave things there to them.

Five was hesitant for a few seconds before turning around and taking off at top speed.

Up near the giant purple eye Zero Three was about to engage with the clones. Seeing their hollow eyes and expressionless faces up close was quite disturbing, however that feeling was pushed aside as she charged her protective force field, spreading it to her equipment enhancing its capabilities.

One of the clones came forward to block her way, however for some reason it didn't equip Zero Five's halberd, reaching out with both hands instead.

"NOT GONNA WORK!"

The young Valkyrie shouted as a maniacal smirk spread across her face. Stopping her propellers for a second she spun around herself avoiding the clone's hands before swinging her dual swords.

The energy blades, enhanced with Three's force field, struck the clone in the neck slicing through it like melting butter.

No cries of pain or agonized screams came from the clone. It remained expressionless even as its upper half got separated from the lower one. Seeing that distracted three for a fraction of a second, however her propellers ignited once more as she moved away letting three thin laser beams penetrate the clone in her stead.

Nine's clones had their guns pointed at her. The young Valkyrie ignored the explosion behind her as she moved to the next target. As expected, the clones modeled after Zero Five focused on defense while those modeled after Nine stayed at the back and used ranged attack. While cutting the former, Zero Three felt much more resistance than she did when destroying the previous versions, even if it wasn't enough to stop her blades.

The two clones on the defensive were quickly disposed of, however new ones began to appear, some a bit smaller than the others equipped with a sword in each hand. Seeing them ticked Three off, but she kept her eyes on the ranged clones and let Nine handle the rest.

"I'm starting to believe that eye doesn't have such a good memory." Three said, slicing another ponytailed clone. "Those things have very limited abilities."

[Your observation is correct.] Nine voice came from the communication device. [Their numbers have dwindled compared to before as well. It might be that the Calamity has to limit their numbers in order to create the detailed copies.]

The clones focused on a single set of moves, either blocking or attacking. Those made after Five as she covered for Nine were much sturdier but didn't deal any damage, while those modeled after Three and Nine were capable of dealing damage but lacked sturdiness.

"Hey, doesn't that mean it would be really bad if it limits their numbers even further?"

Just as the young Valkyrie asked that question, the eye in the sky moved. Knowing what's coming she turned to the left and blasted off at maximum speed, a moment later the purple pillar of light came down.

Three managed to avoid being scanned, but the pillar wasn't stopping chasing after her and refusing to give up the chase.

[Nine, get them while you can!]

Hearing her voice, the blond Valkyrie resumed firing taking out her clones one by one. The light pillar didn't bother with her as the patterns of her attacks didn't change. The only problem was Zero Five's clones who quickly formed to stop any bullets from reaching the eye.

"If I knew this was going to happen I would've brought the second set." Nine said, letting out a sigh as she looked down at her sniper rifle.

[Nothing we can do about that.] Zero Three's voice rang in her ears. [Those things consume way too much energy. The humans dont have enough resources to allow us to use them frequently.]

Still being chased by the light pillar, Zero Three was losing patience. She glanced in the direction Zero Five flew in wondering when she would be back, it was then that she noticed a faint glint in the distance.

"Nine! Let's clear a path!!" The young Valkyrie took a sharp turn, still managing to avoid the light pillar somehow.

Accelerating once more she closed in on the clones then held her swords over her head turning herself into a flying spear that pierced right though the clones.

Picking up on what she meant Nine stopped bothering with the aim and shot bullets in quick succession forcing the guards to move far from each other letting Zero Three pick them one by one.

Such a complicated maneuver led to the pillar catching up and the young Valkyrie got swallowed by the light. However that didn't really matter as their ace in the hole had arrived and was ready to go.

A short distance away from the location of the battle Zero Five was on the paved roads preparing to activate her special weapon. Her equipment was different from before having changed to a more bulky armor designed to provide her with enough weight to withstand the recoil from the weapon she was about to use.

Her legs were fixed to the asphalt and a tail like mechanical arm extended from her back holding her in place. On her right shoulder she held a cylindrical object three times her size from which multiple tubes extended connecting with a large vehicle parked a short distance away.

"Charging complete." Zero Five said, looking at a screen showing a zoom in on the purple eye. Seeing Zero Three getting out of the way, every part of her body tensed as she spoke the word. "Fire."

Pressing the trigger, a loud boom shook the entire city as a blue beam shot toward the sky. The buildings turned orange before melting as the blue light passed between them.

Zero Five had her force field at its full output but still found it hard to withstand the heat. The ground around her turned into a pool of lava in a matter of nanoseconds, even so she did her best to not lose balance until the target was destroyed.

Seeing the blue beam heading its way the giant eye conjured thousands of hands forming a shield to protect itself. It didn't have the time to form entire clones so it opted to create layers of the sturdiest part according to the previous scan, but sadly that would never be enough.

The layers of intertwined hands melted away in a second and the beam passed through penetrating the giant eye at the center of its pupil. There was no explosion or resistance. No sounds were heard. After a couple of seconds the black veil covering the city shattered and the star filled sky above it was revealed.

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