"What the—"

"What just happened...?"

"HQ, we suffered heavy casualties after dispatching the tango. It's a... kid."

Three more soldiers in silver gear revealed themselves to me, unveiling the cloak which hidden them from my vision. These soldiers stepped out from nothingness, previously camouflaged, into the blood-painted corridor and pointed their assault rifles in my direction. They observed me from under their goggles carefully.

"..."

Rasped breath escaped my mouth as the jutted red spikes pulled itself away from the soldiers it had pierced. Alive and moving, these incongruous objects that connected to my back pointed itself at the soldiers—the new threat.

I didn't have a word to say. No, it was more like I didn't have the courage nor the wherewithal to say anything. Having watched people dying right in front of me, all I could muster was empty stares at the dead bodies littered within my sight. The soldiers aiming their weapon at me became blurred, and in the next moment, a great sadness struck me.

"...Aaa... Aa... Hic."

Even then, only sobs came out of my mouth. I hunkered down and held my knees close to my face.

"HQ, requesting immediate backup. It looks like we can't handle this... kid on our own," said a soldier, "How do we dispatch of her?"

"Hold up! Don't engage her yet. We don't have any information about her nor do we know anything about that weapon she uses."

These soldiers, once convinced they couldn't take another step towards me, started to retreat slowly to the other end of the then-red hallway.

"...Huh? What do you mean you can't send anyone? It's—Huh!?"

"What's wrong?" asked a soldier next to the one who was talking to his mic.

"It looks like some kind of armed forces are attacking this base right now," he said grimly.

"Then we have to—"

"And leave her here?"

They were referring to me, their weapons still aimed in my direction.

"...Ah, it looks like HQ is sending her here. Fine, leave this kid to that officer and we'll provide support to the ones outside."

The three soldiers retreated ever so slowly from me and once they had reached the end of the hallway, their silhouettes disappeared into a glass double door.

"...Why are they leaving me alone here?" I said to myself.

Hugging my knees tight, I sobbed and sobbed, the coppery stench of blood filled my nose. Despite this, I no longer had any strength to move forward. My legs had given up on me and all I could do was stare at the only thing in front of me. The dead bodies and the red blood that were splashed all over the white corridor.

My only companions were the red spikes jutting out from my back. They moved and poked over and over at the dead bodies as if trying to confirm whether they were actually dead or not.

"..."

My mind was completely blank as I stared at it.

"...What are you?"

"...What am I?"

The spikes halted their movement and pointed at me.

"...Eh?"

A low rumbling sound echoed throughout the corridor. As time passed, I could tell it came from above. Ten seconds, twenty seconds, thirty seconds passed—and then it happened.

The red spikes acted as if they knew what was coming. They punctured the floor with one motion and then pushed me back to the room filled with dead bodies, when a blinding light flashed just before the corridor collapsed.

"Ugh..."

I crashed into a pile of bodies and then stared at the then-closed exit.

"..."

Despite the endless stream of questions flitting into my mind, I couldn't come up with something to say or ask to myself. My head hurt, and my vision was anything but clear. Tears didn't cease to streak down my cheeks as I looked blankly in front of me.

Clink!

Screech!

These series of sounds environing me didn't matter at that time.

"...Why am I here again?"

Crash!

The ceiling exploded and huge debris fell downward, and yet, I only stared at it. Despite having resigned myself to fate, the spikes jutting out protected me from the debris as they coiled around me. Once the spikes parted, the collapsed ceiling revealed a blue sky.

A figure dropped into the then bright corpse-filled room, sending dusts everywhere and cracked its fists.

"Oh...? So you're the one the soldiers were afraid of engaging?" a woman's voice said sardonically.

She stepped away from the shadow and revealed herself. A tall woman with a slender body equipped with what appeared to be metal pauldrons on both shoulders. A fit jumpsuit wrapped around her body, where the pauldrons were connected with a metal box behind the woman's back.

"Eh... you massacred those soldiers. And that red crystal-like thing protecting you... I see now. It made sense. But still, why is one of you here, hm?"

The dark-haired woman raised her arm upward and whistled through two fingers. In the next moment, a line of soldiers entered my sight from out of nowhere.

"Teria soldiers. Invisible to the naked eye. A military asset only used by us from the Great Corporate United," explained the woman.

"These people are under my direct order, and... hmm? You don't seem to have any life in you, little girl. Are you perhaps broken or something?"

The woman stepped closer to me, her feet kicked at the small debris underneath. She halted about a dozen meters away from me, completely aware of the spikes.

"This small base is under my direct control. We have another base set up from this one at the other end of the island, but... oh well... this kid already looks dead to me. She doesn't respond to anything I say. Hahaha."

Her laugh withered when the spikes pointed at her.

"...I've never met your kind before, but I'd heard rumors. Fast regeneration... a brutal living weapon that kills anything within sight... yes..." The woman said this while slowly raising a hand towards me. "But if I can kill you, the user in one hit, then surely I don't have to engage with that weapon of yours, eh?"

Immediately, the woman patted at the box behind her back and her soldiers readied their assault rifles. The metal box split about halfway in the middle when two round, gleaming silver objects catapulted into the air.

"Bye, bye, kid. Don't take this too personally, alright?"

Clouds of smoke gushed out from the objects and concealed everything within my sight. Like a veil twisted into a blindfold, it pulled me into a small space only I could be in, alone.

I cast my eyes left and right, trying to ascertain where I should go.

Should I even go anywhere?

"Hm!"

A metal blade cut through the air in an arc, but then one of my spikes parried it almost immediately.

"Oh...? Quite a fast reaction you have there, kid. Using your weapon with such proficiency... I must say, I'm impressed."

The woman's silhouette disappeared into the smoke, and what followed was a series of assault rifles clinked in almost perfect harmony.

"...They're about to shoot at me again..."

I didn't try to dodge or anything but merely hunkered down on both knees as if trying to embrace death.

Gunshots sounded and I closed my eyes.

But...

"...Eh?"

I didn't get shot. When I opened my eyes, the cloud of smoke was beginning to disappear, and then a sight of spikes piercing six soldiers in their hearts enveloped me. The red spikes, yet again, had killed the ones who tried to harm me, even though I didn't want or ever asked it to.

"....What the! That shouldn't be possible! They were invisible, and yet you could tell where they come from, kid!?"

I looked over my shoulders and a blade flashed.

"Ugh!"

Before the blade could connect to my neck, the red spikes skewered the woman. Her pupils dilated, she tried to pull the spikes out but the very thing pushed back obstinately, and in the end, it went through her body completely.

"G-Gakhh!"

Not wanting to lose yet, she gritted her teeth and reached out for the metal box behind her back. The box gleamed for a moment, and four thin blades like katanas popped out. As the spikes hung her body high up in the air, she gripped two of the katanas and slashed.

Ching!

The katanas bounced back the moment they hit the spikes, and then the blades' ridges broke in half. Stunned, the woman didn't move as she tried to comprehend what just happened.

"...My titanium blades had no effect...?"

The red spikes let out a screeching sound and I clasped my ears. One by one, the spikes pulled itself out of the woman's torso until only one was left stuck. Knowing what would happen to her, my red eyes glinted and my mouth let out a keening scream.

The spikes stabbed at the woman's left arm until it tore it apart from her body, and then did the same to her right arm. She screamed her lungs out before all the seven spikes pierced her heart in one flitting motion.

"...C-Curse you, kid!" she said through blood pouring out from her mouth, and then the spikes tore her body asunder.