TEAM THEME OVERRIDE:~Haruka's Theme (Voile The Magic Library)~~Simuna's Theme (Crystalized Silver)~~Victoria's Theme (Magia)~~Evridiki's Theme~~Kamakiri's Theme (Full Force)~As the hawk monster flies towards Simuna, the sniper becomes resigned to her fate for the briefest of moments.
For a moment, the battlefield stops. Penelope, Idou and everyone else running towards her stop. The hawk stops. Simuna Valkoinen, at last, feels the same fear that her victims did, for the briefest of moments, before her well-placed shots ended their lives. At last, the White Death faces her own, not at the hands of some enemy soldier, but from the flames of an inhuman monster. She could feel the heat emanating from it. The flames melting away the snow her device had brought.
She clings to thoughts of the homeland, in the hope that that would be enough to help her escape. To avoid the fire. To avoid death like she had done so many other times.
And then she hears the loudest Russian cursing she ever heard. And time resumes.
Yamal is suddenly in front of Simuna, taking the hawk's talons on the chest dead-on. The shipgirl feels the talons pierce her skin, but her bulk is more than enough to tank the attack. Victoria is second on the scene, jumping up behind it and pelting it with lead shots, inducing screeches of agony. Yamal latches on to its leg, hurling it onto a nearby statue, hurling it over the Puella Magi who ducks in time to avoid being caught by it. The statue shatters under the impact, and is further broken as Wilson's grenade throws aside the monster into the Russian icebreaker's path. Seeing an opportunity, Yamal decides that she isn't done yet. With the rage building from her injuries, the icebreaker slides behind the beast and picks up the hawk monster from behind, holding it up!
Victoria, Haruka and Wilson then unload as much ammunition into it as possible, as gunlances, crossbow bolts, plasma and laser shots empty themselves into the hawk. It struggles to blast its attackers with heat, but with its wings pinned by Yamal, it's unable to do anything but struggle as Asuka unleashes a multitude of slashes into the monster, Parov Stelar's powers boosting the rapid speed.
Asuka immediately moves aside to watch Evridriki impale the beast on her saw, the medic's strong hands thrusting the blade straight through. The hawk screeches at her face, but Evridiki is unfazed, until it kicks her in the gut, shoving her aside to attempt to escape, only for-
"Sealing Gate: Aphid Swarm!"Thousands upon thousands of tiny aphid appendages grab the hawk's limbs from midair, as the mantis Rider glares at it, pointing one of her weapons at it. They nod at Simuna, who takes aim.
One.
Two.
Three.
Bang.
The shot lands this time, the ice spreading from the point of impact and freezing the creature solid, cutting off its final cry. The appendages pull it away into some unknown fate, leaving its destiny unknown.
The last mooks are handled as Contagion finishes one more, and the black mist fades into the wind.
Battle over.
Everyone who participated gets 25XP.
Finally, the journalist returns with his roommate. The man looks pretty unassuming; small, scruffy beard, a white shirt and black jeans. He adjusts his glasses.
"......you guys here about some imitation belt, right?"