Though she tried her best, Ichigo was unable to keep her cleansing ability up for long. Expanding her Force Field took too much concentration and mental power, and since all she had to before was to release a single pulse, keeping the pink dome up was quickly taking a toll on her.
In less than thirty seconds, she collapsed to the ground, panting as if she was about to suffocate.
With the cleansing field gone the Fallen seemed to recover gradually, but instead of attacking the Valkyries they were already targeting their eyes turned around to the pink haired one.
Screams full of rage and hatred shook the sky for a very long moment. Feeling her stomach drop, Ichigo looked up to see more than a hundred Fallen diving down at her, their bloodied faces depicting every negative emotion one could feel toward a living being.
New weapons formed in their hands. The mad soldiers pointed their rifles at her and rained bullets without a pause. The pink haired Valkyrie tried to gather her strength and create a barrier to protect herself. It was then that she realized that her halo was refusing to form.
As her eyes widened in surprise, Ichigo immediately understood what was happening to her. She had never expanded her Force Field as far as she did this one time. Usually she would use her special equipment for large scale cleansing, but since she tried to put all of the burden on her own heart and mind, she exhausted herself in a single attempt leaving her unable to summon her Force Field, and by extension, incapable of creating Runes.
Defenseless as she was, Ichigo squeezed her eyes shut and prepared for pain to reach her body. A moment later she heard the sound of thousands of hammers striking an anvil and she opened her eyes to see a familiar back facing her.
"Not this time…" Sitta said, her hands held up as if to block the rain of fire.
Several explosions detonated on the other side of the invisible wall as the Fallen launched rockets and threw grenades and explosives causing constant flashes that blinded the orange haired Valkyrie.
"This is getting annoying…" Sitta gritted her teeth, turning away from the source of light and shielding her eyes with one arm. Of course, the light from such weak explosions couldn't possibly harm the eyes of a Valkyrie, however that didn't stop it stop it from being annoying so she reflexively tried to protect herself.
At that moment the Fallen who had created crude short range weapons reached the barrier, slamming right into it while ignoring the scorching heat from all of the explosions. Their weapons were coated in the white glow of the barrier breaking Runes and with a single strike they all pierced a hole in the invisible wall and clawed their way inside.
Without flinching Sitta slowly breathed in and created another barrier, one that surrounded the hundred or so Fallen all at once.
The mad survivors immediately struck at the box shattering its walls with ease, but new ones formed almost instantly pushing them back toward the center. Sitta kept at it, creating a new box each time smaller than the previous one. Before long the box was so small that it left the Fallen no space to move their limbs. Without enough impact force the white glow wouldn't be able to break the barrier.
With their movements restrained the mad survivors couldn't do a thing besides screech and scream. Their crooked halos moved in one direction then the other, the Runes making them constantly changing shape. Some seemed to incorporate teleportation Runes as they attempted to flee their prison only to fall silent when it didn't work.
Having used teleportation to ensure that she could reach Ichigo in time, Sitta considered the possibility of the Fallen having learned its Runes. Because of that she made sure that the barrier she trapped them in was of the anti-teleportation variety and could only smirk when her guess turned out to be on the mark.
"HASHYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"
Unfortunately, even though she was able to trap most of them in that little box, a few others were able to avoid capture and even more were being born with each passing second.
The other Valkyries tried the same trick, but since their control over barriers was lacking compared to their ginger friend they were unable to stop the Fallen from breaking them, leaving the Valkyries with no choice but to kill them to ensure they wouldn't reach the target.
"Ichigo!"
Looking up with a start, Ichigo turned to the voice and saw the Doctor running toward her holding something in his hands. She recognized the tool at first glance and understood what she had to do, and so with a bit of struggle she pushed herself up and stood on her own two feet..
"Three and Nino are placing the drones at the intended locations." Sam said as he handed her the tool. "Be ready to use your ability at a moment's notice."
Seeing the seriousness in his eyes, Ichigo nodded without saying a word. Her heart seemed to have recovered just in time and her halo began to form once more.
The tool he handed her was a white pewter staff with a long shaft. When she held it in her hands, the six rings decorating it began floating up as her Force Field spread out and enveloped the entire tool.
[Doctor!] Zero Three's voice came in through the communicators.
[We are ready!] Nino's voice followed an instant later.
Ichigo's special equipment consisted of a series of drones, each one equipped with a Valkyrie heart, although with slight alterations. They weren't the downgraded Version Wolf had created to stop the girls from accessing their halos, but they also didn't have the upgrades Sam had introduced himself.
The hearts were created for one purpose only; to create and enhance Ichigo's unique Force Field by resonating with her own.
To quicken the process, Sam had ordered Three and Nino to teleport around and place the drones at their certain coordinates. After a few seconds spent warming up, the hearts inside the drones fired up and the pink haired Valkyrie felt their presence.
"Doctor!" She called, informing him that the resonance had begun.
"Do it!"
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