Chapter 66 Limbless. (Part Three)

The Valkyries waited patiently for he initial effects of the explosion to die down.

Of course it would take quite a long time for all of it to go away, with the explosion being nuclear and all, however for the armored Valkyries a little bit of radiations wasn't much to worry about so they planned on moving once the dust settles.

"La~La~Laaaaaaaaa~~~"

Sadly it seems their break didn't last long. Hearing the melodic voice the three grasped their weapons and prepared themselves. A second later the limbless Torso suddenly appeared a small distance away from them.

[Telepo-]

Before she could finish the word the Calamity opened its gash like mask and sang once more.

"LA. LA. LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

unlike the previous times the voice that came out was shrill and ear splitting causing the Valkyries to feel a kind of pain they never knew they were capable of feeling.

[LOOK OUT!] Zero Five warned, drawing the other two's attention to the plethora of arms that began to form around them.

The purple arms swung their claws at the three Valkyries but before they could reach any of them they suddenly hit a light blue barrier shattering into small pieces before disappearing.

[Nice save, Five!] Zero Three cheered excitedly.

Zero Five had used one of the special properties of her second armor to deploy a force field that surrounded all three Valkyries. The force field had the same properties as the one created by the Valkyries, however since it didn't have the weapons' internal battery it couldn't be used for too long.

"LA~~~~LA. LA. LA. LAAAA~~~!!!"

The limbless Torso continued singing, creating one wave of clawed arms after the other. Each time Zero Five activated her barrier for just a fraction of a second making if look like she's sending out pulses that disintegrated the purple arms the moment they made contact with them.

[Five, We can't keep doing this…] Nine noted the obvious. [Should I hit it with another blast?]

[No.] Five replied, her eyes locked onto the Calamity. [The first one didn't leave any scratch on it.]

Nine's atomic cannon was capable of harnessing the energy of an entire nuclear reactor releasing it in a single blast. The beam had the power of twenty atomic bombs concentrating them on a single minuscule point further enhancing its destructive power, however the limbless Torso was able to come out of it unscathed.

[We need to look for an opening.] Five said. [Three, wait for my signal.]

[Understood.]

The Calamity's singing voice had turned into shrill cries and screams as if to show the the level of rage it had reached. While it's true that atomic cannon did little to damage it, the change in its attack pattern and voice made it clear that Nine's attack was at the very dangerous enough to cause the monstrosity to lose its temper.

[Now!]

On Zero Five's signal Zero Three launched herself using one of her drones as a platform. The plan was the same as before; hit it again and again as fast as possible until an opening shows itself.

Halos appeared one after the other surrounding the Calamity as Zero Three's figure glowed a light blue color. She bounced from one drone to the other accelerating herself before charging at the Calamity who kept on creating clawed arms in an attempt to stop her only to get shattered the next second.

[How long will this last?] Nine asked, letting out a sigh. [Not being able to deal any damage is quite stressful.]

Five said nothing, continuing to observe the Calamity trying to figure out how to counter it.

"Laaaaa~~~~~"

At some point the limbless Torso seemed to lose its rage regaining the beautiful singing voice from before. At the same time the number of clawed purple hands it created decreased drastically with only a few appearing in Zero Three's way.

[Strange…] Five muttered. Just then an idea hit her and she immediately began the execution.

First she created more drones from the metallic boxes that came along with her armor. She then spread them all over the place surrounding the Calamity just like what Zero Three did with hers.

[Three, retreat.] Five instructed.

[Alright.] Three replied.

Bouncing off the Calamity's invisible barrier the young Valkyrie allowed herself to fly away followed by her drones.

Seeing the target of its attacks moving away the limbless Torso began singing once more.

[Hm?] Seeing that the gash like mouth had opened Nine and Three began to move in an attempt to avoid the upcoming attack, however to their surprise the singing voice never reached their ears and the purple claws didn't appear.

Looking toward the enemy they noticed that the purple arms did appear, only that they stayed at a distance clawing at a light blue screen.

[It's the sound.] Five said. [I tried to isolate it using the force field. As expected, the arms can only appear in places the soundwave reaches.]

It was an impressive discovery, however soon enough it was clear that their initial problem was yet to be solved.

[This is good and all, but as long as we are unable to penetrate that damned barrier there is no way we can win.] Said Zero Three, sighing inside her helmet.

[And it's not like we can keep the barrier up all the time.] Nine added.

The clawed hands were dangerous but compared to the other Calamities they weren't much of a threat ss long as they're avoided. That led to the conclusion that the limbless Torso is more focused on defence rather than attack.

They had fo find a way to penetrate that invisible barrier, otherwise their efforts are completely pointless. That said, they still have no idea on how to do it. Their only choice is to keep hitting it until something change, however if nothing happens then they would be wasting their scarse energy and soon enough it would be their loss.

[First of all, we need to move it out of her.] Five said.

Inside her helmet a small window appeared showing the spread of radiations from Nine's atomic canon. While it didn't reach the base they were cutting it close and couldn't risk using another blast at such a distance.

[Easier said than done.] Zero Three commented. [That thing wouldn't budge at all.]

[We can use a second blast to push it away, but what would we do when it teleports…]

Nine went silent for a moment, speaking in the next as if she had just realized something. [If its teleportation is linked to the sound as well…]

[Yes.] Said Zero Five. [It won't be able to return here.]

But then again it still doesn't solve their problem. What they needed is a way to destroy the monster, not one to isolate it.

[We have no other choice but to use that again.]

The proton cannon was their only hope. If that isn't enough to destroy it then it would be beyond what their base if equipped to handle.

[Three, your job will be to destroy the other Calamities while Nine and I deal with the Torso.] Five said, the huge drone carrying her proton cannon having just arrived.

[Understood.] The young Valkyrie saluted as she said.

The three Valkyries prepared themselves each intending to fulfill her role to perfection.

Nine flew downward before pointing her atomic cannon at the target intending on blasting it further than the last time by changing the angle of the shot.

Zero Five took off toward the spot she chose to fire her proton cannon from. It took a couple of minutes for the weapon to charge, which was quite the delay especially in such a battlefield. The Torso continued singing and creating clawed arms, its frustration growing at the barrier blocking its singing voice.

[Nine, I'm removing the barrier.] Said Zero Five.

[All preparations have been completed. Ready whenever you are.]

[Understood.]

At the same time Zero Three was crouching down on the halo of one of her drones with her lance at the ready.

[NOW!!!]

"Laaaaa~~~~"

The melodic voice resounded following Zero Fives signal indicating that the barrier blocking it has been removed. Zero Three launched herself at the diamond shaped Calamities while The drones quickly moved out of the way as Nine squeezed the trigger of her atomic cannon painting the surroundings in the light of the beam that shot out.

Same as before the Calamity managed to block the blast with ease but this time Nine had no intention on giving it any time to adjust.

[Releasing first and second limiters.]

Following her statement two of the four halos surrounding the barrel of her cannon shattered followed by the blue beam swelling to four times its previous sized releasing electric sparks into the surroundings as if it was about to go out of control.

Faced with the force of the blast the limbless Torso was once again sent flying. Left with no time to retaliate it focused everything it got on protecting itself, however unlike before the attack didn't end with the first blast.

[Fire.] Said Zero five in a calm voice.

Another beam of light short out of the proton cannon enveloping the limbless torso blasting it toward the horizon.

[First phase complete.] ZeroFive said, tossing the large cannon toward the drone so it could be cooled down in preparation for a second blast. At the same time she gathered her drones creating a second force field around herself as she prepared to go after the Calamity.

[Beginning second phase.]