Story and art by Ryuko Azuma
See the original pages at Web NewType here
Narrative reads right to left
On the surface of Earth, Linne’s ship rockets upward as the Mark X (and the heart of Nirvana itself) is shattered.
“Events are beginning to happen that are not in the scenario…Maybe the 49th universe will be…”
Chapter title: The Strongest Seireness
Over the damaged lunar base, the Topness pilots race around in battle against the invading Seireness giant. Linne reports in:
“That starfish bastard has been taken care of! There will be no Mark X attack! I’m heading up to the moon base now!”
Nina answers that everyone is still safe, but the moon base has taken damage and their offense is starting to crumble.
“Full throttle in 730 seconds,” Linne responds. “Everyone hang in there until I arrive!”
The Seireness executes its instantaneous time-jump again, reappearing above the base and hurling another round of explosives at it. Marina’s ship is right in the line of fire, but dodges just in time.
The impact throws a massive cloud of lunar dust into the combat area, cutting off their view. They all wait as Nina shifts her Second Sight drones into search mode, then she looks up, startled.
Right side: the Seireness is right above her, striking her ship hard.
Left side: Aisha announces that she’ll fly in to quickly repair Nina’s ship and asks Malina to cover her. But radar signals are blocked and she can’t collect any data.
Right side: the Seireness teleports in to ambush Hugo, pelting his ship with energy beams and destroying its main engine.
Left side: Hugo’s ship goes out of control, crashing into the bottom level of the lunar base.
Right side: Still alive, Hugo looks up but curses the dust cloud for blocking his view. Aisha shouts at him to cover her with his Thunderstorm attack while she races to help him.
Left side: Yu spots the Seireness as it speeds up behind Aisha. He flies between the two, firing at the enemy, which dodges his salvo. But too late; the Seireness has struck Aisha’s ship.
Right side: Aisha plunges into the damaged base, careening off the edges of torn levels. Malina launches her Frost Aster shield just in time to cushion Aisha’s crash.
Left side: Aisha is unconscious in her cockpit as Abbey calls for her. Aisha’s ship is dead in the water, but a rescue team of Mifune robots manages to pull her out. Nina fumes. “Hugo…then Aisha. At this rate…”
Right side: Nina shouts for Linne to hurry up. She’s still 280 seconds from full throttle. Nina then orders Malina and Yu to dive into the base and set up a defensive line at the bottom level. But…
Left side: the Seireness has appeared again, now firing a point-blank volley at Nina’s ship. It’s a direct hit. Abbey screams Nina’s name.
Right side: Nina’s ship slams into the lunar surface, but her core ship breaks free; she’s still alive. Malina yells at her to hurry down to relative safety in the base. She then looks up…
Left side: …and sees Yu’s ship floating above the base. He’s not coming down with them. “Yu! What are you doing? I can’t fire Frost Aster!”
Right side: “No,” he answers, “this is fine. At this rate, the defense line will be broken immediately. I’ll be on top of the defense line to intercept.”
Linne listens, still outside the battle zone, as Malina shouts at Yu to get down out of the combat zone.
Left side: Yu says he can’t concentrate and disconnects.
“That idiot,” Malina says as she activates Frost Aster. The shield covers the base, but Yu’s ship is above the shield, still vulnerable.
“Linne, hurry up,” Malina yells. “Yu is on the defensive line!”
Right side: Linne races ever forward. “I know…it’s okay…140 seconds to base. Blow off the regolith with a shield bash…”
Left side: Yu returns fire on the Seireness as his ship takes damage.
Right side: Yu’s ship takes devastating blows from above as Linne speaks to him. “Get in position. Get back on your feet. And then…”
“Yu…sorry…”
Left side: “I can’t find a way to win…”
Linne’s ship starts to disintegrate. On the lunar base, a controller says Mark 7’s space-time crystalline body is collapsing.
“No,” Abbey protests. “I thought she defeated Mark X…”
Suddenly, the sky above the moon is filled with a burst of light. On the base, they watch it take on humanoid form.
“No way…antimatter giant?”
“No! Wormhole is not confirmed!”
Linne appears within the burst of light. “Seireness…”
Right side: “The original is here!”
Yu is shocked. The burst of light is Linne, the original Space-Time Crystal in human form.
Linne converts herself to pure energy, obliterating the Seireness and shaking the lunar base.
Right side: The light floods the surface of Earth. The Nirvana hit man has crashed his car under an overpass as he stares in disbelief.
“No way…a cocoon of intelligence…”
Left side: He glances up to see the overpass come crashing down on top of him.
Resting on the lunar base, Nina’s core ship is bathed in the light. “Abbey! What the hell is going on?”
Right side: “Huge gravity source over the moon,” Abbey says. “Probably a black hole. Everyone stay where you are!”
She then spots Yu’s ship on her monitor, flying free of the explosion.
Left side: “Yu? Get back here! What are you thinking?”
Nina can only watch helplessly as Yu charges into the light, shouting Linne’s name.
TO BE CONTINUED