Chapter 64 Limbless. (Part One)

Zero five dived toward the six diamond shaped Calamities. Gathering the neccessary momentum she abruptly turned her propellers off, spinning around herself and swinging her halberd with everything she got.

The results were unexpected as the blade bounced off the Calamity, the recoil freezing Zero Five for just a fraction of a second.

The target began spinning, turning its pointy end toward the Valkyrie. Red particles gathered to form a small light sphere that gradually grew in size.

[Five!]

Hearing Nine's voice Zero Five moved out of the way just in time for a bullet to collide with the red light sphere. A small explosion blew the diamond shaped Calamity away but did the same to Zero Five.

The other five monstrosities were on the move as well, two of them surrounding the ponytailed Valkyrie while the remaining three retreated into the red grounds followed by the first one while came out of the explosion unscathed.

[This doesn't look good!] Zero Three spoke. [I'm going in!]

[No!] Five shouted back. [Stick to the plan.]

The initial attack might've failed, however the battle had just began. Five charged her force field to its fullest capacity causing her whole body to glow with a faint blue color that spread to her weapon as well. The energy blades of the halberd extended growing larger and sharper.

The Calamities were going through a change as well, twisting around themselves like a strange jigsaw puzzle and splitting into smaller shapes.

As one of them opened up revealing its insides for just a moment, a line of blue light passed through the black sphere surrounded by the moving shapes. The Calamity stopped moving all of a sudden, losing its color before falling toward the ground.

"One down!" Nine exclaimed, looking at the scene below through the scope of her sniper rifle with a huge grin on her face.

[Nice one, Nine!] Zero Three praised in an excited voice.

Sadly the second calamity didn't fall as easily, splitting parts from its main body and using them to deflect the bullets.

That didn't work all that well for it though as its attention was drown away from Zero Five who was already in the process of swinging her enhanced halberd.

The Calamity split more parts using them to block the blade which cut through although with a bit of difficulty. That created a big enough gap for Nine's bullets to pierce the black core destroying the second Calamity.

"Hmm… going by their sturdiness I would say they're C class at most." The blond Valkyrie commented.

[That's an overstatement, Nine. They are your average E class, considering they have next to no fire power.] Zero Three said with a sigh. [Maybe there really is no need for me to interfere.]

"Don't let your guard down, there are still four left." Five said, turning to face the remaining enemies.

She had kept an eye on them even while fighting the other two, because of that she felt the need to be on guard as the four diamond shapes didn't attempt to shoot her down while she engaged with the other two.

The Calamities spread out keeping an equal distance from each other forming a square, they then turned their pointy ends toward their center and fired four red beams that collided creating a sphere of light that became bigger by the second.

[I don't think it's good idea to let them do that!] Zero Three stated the obvious.

Zero Five quickly moved out of the way, but although the sphere of light had reached the border drawn by the diamond shaped Calamities, nothing came out. The Valkyries had expected some sort of beam to be shot out of the large red sphere however it retained its shape for a while and nothing happened.

"Somethimg is forming at the center." Nine said.

As if feeling a really bad premonition Zero Five turned to the gauntlet on her right arm and began typing commands. A couple of seconds later something emerged from the sphere of light.

[What in the world…]

The other two shared Zero Three's bewilderment as they watched the thing that appeared before them.

To put it in the simplest of terms, it was a woman. Though it was nothing but a torso and lacked all four limbs from the curvy form and full chest, thin waist and wide hips one could tell it had a feminine shape. It was white in color, and not in the sense of a human skin. It was the kind of smooth white paint one would see on inanimate objects. Its head was bald and lacked any facial features which added to its uncanny and horrifying nature.

"THREE!" Five shouted.

[ON IT!]

The Valkyries had no way to ascertain how dangerous a calamity is which is why they have to engage them first before coming up with the right countermeasures. In this case however all three agreed that the new one must be destroyed before it could make any move.

The metallic boxes floating behind the young Valkyrie collapsed into smaller parts forming new pieces of equipment that attached themselves to her armor.

Large glowing blades extended from her back forming green wings and a long thick pole appeared in her hand. The moment she grasped it three long triangles appeared along its shaft forming a large three bladed lance.

Zero Three pointed the tip of her weapon toward the strange new calamity. Her wings spread followed by a large halo forming under her feet as she crouched down preparing to launch herself.

"GO!"

,m Following Five's signal a loud explosion resounded followed by a shockwave that threw Nine off balance.

Zero Three flew toward the strange Calamity surpassing the speed of sound with no intent on slowing her acceleration. The friction caused her armor to turn orange from the heat and in a fraction of a second her lance reached the Calamity.

Another large explosion sent a shockwave throughout the surroundings.

As she covered her eyes with both arms Zero Five tried to get a look through the gaps and what she saw shocked her.

Zero Three was suspended in the air with her spear still extended as if something was blocking her advance. The air around the Calamity pulsates and the barrier came into sight. Half transparent white hexagons spread out from the collision point before disappearing into thin air.

It was an invisible barrier strong enough to block a charge from Zero Three's second armor. That was all they needed to know to realize how bad the situation actually is.

Nine fired several bullets but they all collided with the invisible barrier getting deflected in random directions.

[This thing… is hard…] Dspite how futile it looked Zero Three continued to push trying to penetrate the enemy's defences. She had hoped that the female torso was putting everything it had into blocking her attack, but sadly it seemed to have more than enough power to focus on other things.

A mouth like gash opened in the Calamity's head revealing two rows of sharp needle like teeth and a black darkness inside.

"THREE GET OUT OF THERE!!!" Zero Five shouted.

The young Valkyrie had no way of killing her momentum so instead of trying to back away she tilted the angle of her weapon causing herself to fly toward the ground like a bullet that had been deflected by the invisible barrier.

A moment after Three moved out of the way the Valkyries heard a strange melodic voice.

"Laaaa~~~"

Though it was invisible, each one felt the soundwave as it spread out from the strange calamity like a dome that grow in size until it engulfed a large area with it at its center.

"Wha… what was that?"

"NINE!!!"

The blond Valkyrie was in a daze for a moment, coming back to her senses through Five's call only to notice the danger she was trying to warn her about.

A purple arm with a clawed hand appeared out of thin air and was swinging down toward her.

Although she moved just in time to avoid a direct hit the claws collided with the long barrel of her rifle and as if it wasn't made from one of the strongest alloys created by humans the barrel was sliced off.

"Laa~~~"

Another melodic voice resounded followed by the appearance of six arms all comming down at Nine before she could comprehend was was happening.

"NINE!!!"

An alarm rang through the forty sixth Resistance base. Having received Zero Five's quick report warning of the appearance of a potential A class Calamity along with multiple C class near the border and a request for the rest of their equipment Alice decided to announce a state of emergency.

Several unmanned drones were launched in a matter of seconds to deliver the requested equipment as fast as possible while the rest of the soldiers moved into their positions.

"Shit, this doesn't look good." Sam grimaced as he made his way toward his lab. Once inside he picked up his tablet checking the emergency announcement along with Five's report. Shock overtook him the moment he saw the strange limbless female figure and without thinking much about it he sent the commander a message asking her to request help from the other bases.

"Let's hope it's unnecessary." He muttered, his anxiety rising as he waited for the next report to arrive. "How did we not notice it till now?"