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Silence. Words were supposed to come out from her mouth, but nothing did. Her orange eyes felt like they’d expanded as high as that colorless, now hollow sun which loomed over the sky.
Naturally, that means her relic lost its form, turning her specialized valkyrie armor back into a high school uniform. Realization of what had happened set in quickly, not even needing to look down to confirm her reversion. Although she had already leapt toward the three foes, the relic’s death had taken her momentum with it. Just like that, the girl had fallen onto the beach’s now grayed-out sand.
Everyone else followed suit almost immediately afterward. The reaction among all six of them spoke to each of their individual characters.
The one wielding her swords suddenly felt their absence, as the grip they’d etched into their very being into had collapsed in on itself—now causing her to form fists.
The explosive foreigner, who’d been aiming their sights at one of the three’s necks, had pressed the trigger and watched the arrow disappear in real time.
The emerald green scythe user and the pig-tailed mechanical doll had not looked down to confirm their states, but at each other to confirm the other’s safety.
The iron princess had felt the incoming loss of her sister’s relic before it had even occurred, causing her to cry out for her comrades to get back as if it would prevent the inevitable.
In the distance, a laugh could be felt. Not heard, as there was no more sound, but felt. The dismayed Hibiki Tachibana looked upward to see the three reptilian sisters now merged into one being—the true Gorgon. They’d accomplished their goal; a silent world—one free from hate, free from discrimination, free from worship of those corrupt God-like beings which ruled in times long bygone.
The Greek alchemists, whom of which had abused their wisdom, ruined everything for the three—especially Medusa. Not only falling victim to a pompous alchemist but being punished due to a lack of communication, Medusa and her sisters were given snakes for hair and repugnant eyes which indiscriminately caused others who gazed upon them to freeze in place. Of course they’d be detested as monsters, but the Gorgons didn’t detest the race which they once belonged to. They didn’t even detest the alchemists that were responsible for their form after all of the years they’d spent hiding away underneath the Earth. Instead, Medusa, Euryale, and Stheno all collectively detested, no, loathed, no, ABHORRED one thing—communication.
Treacherous lies, half truths, hurtful remarks, nonsensical squabbles—humans may as well have had daggers at each other’s throats. It drove them insane just by listening, so much so that they all came together with a plan to erase the world’s language. After generations worth of conspiring and devising against contingencies, the truly monstrous sisters had a perfect little fantasy—but now it was a reality.
As for Earth’s singing warriors, they’d gotten into two separate jeeps to head toward the mysterious relic reading out on the beach. While the sun just about reached its peak, they entered into a tunnel. Hibiki was texting Miku at the time about the circumstances of the mission. She recalled Genjuro’s words during the briefing as she tapped her screen.
“Although there was a relic reading in the area, our satellites have yet to pick up anything. If we could at least see it, Elfnein-kun might at least have some clue about its identity—but we have nothing. That’s where you all come in to investigate.”
As if troubled, Genjuro looked down. “Truthfully, we sent some of our crew in before we called you all here. I just hope they’re all enjoying ice cream somewhere and choosing not to respond.”
“Oh come on...” Hibiki groaned as her signal vanished. Even the song which had been playing on the radio turned into static noise.
Chris, who had been sitting next to her in the back row, looked over at her friend’s abrupt moan. Taking a glance at her phone screen, she’d pieced together the context behind it. Having no one to text of her own, she silently rolled her lilac eyes back to the window they were on previously, annoyed.
With no hopes of regaining signal, the orange pair of eyes turned their attention to her right, looking to start a conversation.
No opportunities there...
Not giving up, she turns to the fair-skinned woman driving the vehicle. Her hair clips stuck out past the seat’s headrest—from Hibiki’s angle, they almost resemble butterflies. Besides that, she had no idea how to start a conversation with the girl almost six years older than her.
Ah right, six years!
“Your birthday is next month, right Maria-san?”
Maria, who had witnessed the entire scene from her rear view mirror while checking up on the jeep behind them, was caught off guard from the question directed toward her. “That’s correct. You remembered it?”
“I try to remember everyone’s birthdays!”
Pleased by her response, Maria smiled to herself—but only for a brief moment. The subject of birthdays made her think about Hibiki’s, which she’d never bothered to remember. Heck, she didn’t even remember Tsubasa’s birthday, and they’d been working together for the past few months. The more she pondered on it, the more she felt like an outcast—no, an extra—among the six of them. Everyone else had likely remembered each other’s by heart. Maria wanted to ask for Hibiki’s birthday at that moment, and any other moment she would have, and yet she couldn’t bring herself to bring up the topic. After all, she thought she might come off as more distant than she already was...
Disrupting her train of thought, Chris yawned to herself. “Are we there yet? What a long ass tunnel...”
Unbeknownst to her, she’d freed Maria from her negative train of thought. Any longer and she might have gotten depressed from such a simple topic like birthdays.
How silly, of course I care for them...
Maria smiled to herself and shot her revitalized cyan eyes back to the road ahead.
“It really is a long ass tunnel.”
Both Hibiki and Chris glanced at each other, eyes shot wide open to process the sentence which the previously-considered responsible adult had just uttered.
After a long wait, the end of the tunnel was finally in sight. A bright light filled the empty, barely-illuminated darkness which surrounded them—or that’s what they should have been greeted by. Instead, it was but more darkness. It could be described as a night’s sky, but that would be doing it a disservice. Of course, the clear sea would also reflect this unnatural blackness. What was supposed to be veridian trees and gold sand were instead grayed out shells of their former selves.
“...W-What the hell,” the usually explosive one said.
It’s as if the world is reshaping itself because of what Maria-san just said, Hibiki thought to herself, trying to justify the environment.
Turning her astonishment away from the sky, Maria looked back onto the road and saw a still figure on the road. She slammed onto the brakes, causing her two passengers to dart forward. Maybe it was due to the lingering of the negative thought from before, but she realized she pressed too hard onto the brakes after the fact.
Naturally, the jeep behind her followed her example and came to its own screeching halt. One of their doors had shot open as the now grayed-out musical note came through to fully absorb their newfound environment.
Everyone else naturally followed in suit, except Maria, who’d gone to check up on the person standing in the street. Only they weren’t a person. It was a stone in the shape of a man, seemingly shrieking in terror from something unknown. Confused, she ran back to the vehicle to attempt communication.
“Is anyone there!?” Nothing but static noise had responded.
Hibiki looked back to her phone—still no signal. “So it wasn’t because of the tunnel, but something that happened over here.”
“Something’s up.” Tsubasa held her relic in front of her, deciding she had to take charge of the situation to prevent the loss of more people. “Everyone transform and stick together, we’re surveying the area!”
Although Maria had reservations about taking charge before receiving orders, she nodded and took out her relic.
Voicing their relics’ holy chant, the crew was to transform into their suits and explore—but they were interrupted by a sudden presence. Each one of them turned to the beach in unison. Standing barefoot on the sand was one of the Gorgons—Medusa. At her side were her siblings, Euryale—gazing upon the sky so as to turn the watchful satellites to stone—and Stheno—gazing upon the rest of the surroundings.
Uttering a word to the newcomers would go against everything they stand for, so she chose to let their motions do the talking. Medusa lifted her frilly jet black dress and bowed. Her snakes tried their best to calm themselves, but nonetheless lusted after the maidens.
Kirika was the first to notice this, turning to everyone else and asking, “I-Is she telling us to continue-dess?”
Medusa smiled in confirmation, sensing her panicked movements through her shut eyes. It had sent a noticeable droplet of sweat down Tsubasa’s left cheek.
“I don’t think we’re after a relic. I think she is the relic...” she said.
Hibiki turned toward her, confused as to what she meant. “Tsubasa-san?”
“Snakes for hair, closed eyes... it’s her. Medusa.”
“A myth in the flesh,” Shirabe added, as if petrified herself. She and her other half had learned of Perseus’ legend in the White Orphanage, so they knew just how capable of a threat she could be.
Hibiki, after seeing her friends in shock, started her chant once more as if to inspire them to follow. And so, the others did. They all transformed in their own, unique ways into the suits which have protected the Earth time and time again from threats. And yet, could this lady really be a threat? Hibiki thought to herself that they didn’t know the first thing about her, and yet, they were ready to combat her.
Now properly suited up, the valkyries of S.O.N.G. looked up at Medusa—but now, she was frowning in disgust. Before anyone could question the source of her anger, the youngest Gorgon Sister had seemingly vanished out of nowhere. Registering her sudden disappearance first, Tsubasa looked around to see where she’d gone, only to find her towering over Chris. She’d been much taller up close than at a distance. No one else could move or even DARED sing the lyrics to their songs yet.
“H...uh?” Chris stared up in disbelief.
The monster lifted her hand and softly traced her finger down the gap between the silver haired girl’s breasts, as marked by a dark red line left behind. She raised her hand right when Chris would have normally started singing the vocals to her song, and almost immediately, a torrent of blood shot out. The crimson rain splattered all over the closest thing to it—Medusa’s black dress, leaving a messy line of red right down the middle.
In the ambience of instrumental songs overlapping one another, a scream surfaced. “CHRIS-CHAN!”
As Hibiki remembered to sing, she’d felt power flowing through her like never before. Was it rage? Sorrow? Regardless, she now recognized the monster before her as a foe.
Chris jumped up, seemingly unphased by the blood leaking down her chest, and aimed her tri-barrel batlings straight at her assailant’s head.
[BILLION MAIDEN]
Everyone else leapt away immediately so as to distance themselves from the shots—all except the target in question. Medusa looked straight at the barrels, as if inviting them to hit her, and Chris complied. She rained thousands if not tens of thousands of arrows in a second, creating a dark cloud from the debris.
“Not yet!”
Not giving her the chance to breathe, Chris’ bow morphs itself into a sniper rifle.
[RED HOT BLAZE]
Without even waiting to properly line her shot up due to the aching pain, she fires her arrow at where she thinks its head is. The force from said arrow cleared the smoke immediately, revealing her shots doing nothing. Medusa’s snakes were holding Chris’ arrows by the mouth, sucking the energy from them until they dissipated. Noticeably pleased by Chris’ surprise, Medusa’s smile had returned to her.
Instead of waiting in shock like her peers, Maria runs straight at Medusa blade in hand. Placing the dagger on her elbow, she bolted forward.
[SERE†NADE]
The dagger had reached its target, but not cut through it. Her reptilian skin had a texture which resembled that of steel, even going so far as to cause sparks when Maria clashed with her.
Things more or less went the same with each protector of Earth. Each one would try to battle the monstrosity while it stood still, waiting to be even pushed back. After watching them struggle in vain, the villainous Gorgon sister waltzed toward them. After about seventeen steps, an orange blur flew past everyone.
Just like that, Hibiki was thrown onto the beach. Confused as to how she’d ended up airborne in the first place, she was still able to break her fall.
“Hibiki!” “Tachibana!” “Hibiki-san!” All distant calls for her, as each of the valkyries rushed down to the beach to group up. Although, that wasn’t her priority. Right now, Hibiki was looking for the once-more vanished foe. Turning a whole one hundred and eighty degrees, she spotted the youngest Gorgon approaching her sisters. The three of them stood together, turning their focus away from their respective tasks and looking upon one another for what would be the last time.
Euryale smiled grimly at Medusa while Stheno was trying her best to hold in tears. Even Medusa herself didn’t want to let her emotions cloud her from the next step in their plan. Tsubasa and the other Symphogear users looked at them confused as to what they were planning, but Hibiki stood there dumbfounded.
Why were they sad?
In an instant, Medusa stabbed her siblings straight through their chests so as to reach for their hearts, and in the next, an alchemic circle formed around the three. They adopted the very thing responsible for their hideous forms in their plan. To obtain the power needed for this feat, they must sacrifice something of equal value—themselves. By offering each of their lives, worth generations of alchemical and relic knowledge, they fused into a being capable of turning even concepts into stone.
And thus, the present is the end result. The lone Gorgon laughs to themselves in a world without friendships, oppositions, romances, break ups, introductions, goodbyes, accords, or discords. While only having one head, each snake instead had the same powers as a Gorgon. All of them were trained onto one thing—that being the world’s language. While the head was active, communication would no longer exist, and thus, no longer would the Symphogear’s songs.
Finally opening its fictitious eyes, the thing gazed upon the six high school girls who faced it and froze five. The monster now had control over its targets, which she’d tested out by leaving the hesitating one alone.
Distraught, Maria stood around the statues in the shape of her friends. Her and the monster in front of her were the only two entities remaining. Halting its silent laughter in exchange for a haunting grin, the monster walked toward the frightened pink haired girl. Even though she was wearing her S.O.N.G. uniform, she may as well have been naked to them.
She started running in the sand, much to the Gorgon’s amusement. Knowing it could catch up and slaughter her at any moment, the monster intentionally slowed itself to a walk. Maria was trying to think of a plan of action, but couldn’t. That thing was after her life.
What should I do? No, what can I do? Where do I go? Is she chasing me? Where is my voice? Where is Airgetlam? What happened to everyone? Is that going to happen to me? How can I save them? HAVE THEY DIED!?
She was supposed to be the mature one, and yet, her thoughts had been scrambled all over the place. The idea of her friends dying without even having learnt their birthdays terrified her.
Amused by her reaction, the lone Gorgon decided to play with her food. Maria tripped on the sand, seemingly over nothing—until she looked down. Her left leg had been petrified. This didn’t stop her, as she still stood up and attempted to drag the leg around with her. After observing Maria’s delicious struggle, it had turned the other leg to stone. Maria started crawling away, now dragging two literal dead weights. Eventually, she gave up on running, accepting her fate. Maria knew there was only one way out of this.
The monster’s grin came to a halt as it realized the toy had broken. After all those years hiding underground, it thought this would be a small taste of the jubilation to come—yet it was boring. Now that their victim was giving up, she had to grapple with that truth.
Ready to potentially give up her life, Maria looked down and thought about her friends for what she thought would be the last time, unsure whether or not the idea she managed to form would work. Gazing slowly up from the monster’s feet to its chest, she closed her eyes and calmed her breathing, yet still felt her heart pounding regardless of her efforts. Serena’s bloodied figure had popped in her mind—Maria understood the severity of what she was about to do.
Taking a deep breath, she sang not a song from her mouth, but from her heart. A song which all Symphogear candidates knew instinctively. She had no idea whether this would work outside of her gear’s form, but had to try it regardless. Nothing else would work at this point.
“Gatrandis babel ziggurat edenal; Emustolronzen Finé el balal zizzl; Gatrandis babel ziggurat edenal; Emustolronzen Finé el zizzl...”
There were no words spoken, let alone noise, and yet, there was a response. Going up in a ball of light, Maria engulfed the surrounding area including the monster. After the explosion, the iron princess had found her previously rock limbs now broken free, as well as the sky back to its proper color. Her valkyrie’s armor had returned to her once more—including the ignite form, despite it not being manually activated. Thousands of ideas had been forming in her mind as she heard the tides against the sand, and yet, the Gorgon remained—albeit stunned.
There was no time to examine the monster or wait for her to regain her senses. She sprinted past the monster even faster than she ran from it before, this time to run to her friends. Or at least, that was her idea.
Around half the distance, her insides collapsed in on themselves. The consequences of the superb song had caught up to her, causing blood to stain the golden grains beneath her. She looked up at her stonecast peers, wondering if she’d ever get the chance to remember their birthdays. At this rate, the only thing she’d remember would be their dates of death. To make the situation worse, the sky was starting to lose its color once more. Despite her throat coughing up blood seconds before, she had to try speaking.
“...U—*cough* use the... u...se THE *cough* SUPERB—”
That was all she could utter. She wasn’t even sure if they could hear her from that distance, let alone through the stone, and yet, it was all she could utter. The sky went back to its prior state and voice had died once more as the Gorgon turned toward Maria. It had tears in its eyes—whether from the song itself or the light blinding her is unknown. The one thing that was known was that it had to make sure to kill this lady. In an instant, it vanished once more and grabbed Maria by the hair. As the Gorgon formed a blade with its hand, a similar sensation from before emerged. This time, five of them.
“Gatrandis babel ziggurat edenal; Emustolronzen Finé el balal zizzl; Gatrandis babel ziggurat edenal; Emustolronzen Finé el zizzl...”
After having witnessed Maria’s example, five lights emerged from the stone. Their brightness had blinded the snakes like before, turning the sky back to its original color, but the monster remained intact due to not being caught in the explosion. The reawakened valkyries had thirty seconds to give the Gorgon their best shot—even less if they factored in the superb song.
Everyone looked not at each other, but toward the threat at hand. They needed to act in unison if they wanted to live. Having awakened to their superb song states, Kirika and Shirabe wielded their enhanced weapons and ran toward the Gorgon. Tossing the incapacitated Maria to the side, it ran toward the two—underestimating the strength of the Dainsleif when combined with the superb song. Kirika had aimed for a lower strike which had threatened to separate all three of the Gorgon’s souls.
[Massacre Judge: Gothel]
For the first time in the entire battle, the monster had dodged this by jumping upward—sensing it to be instant death. As for Shirabe’s mech, she’d tried to cut her across the waist using buzzsaws formed from its limbs.
[Λ Style: Twin Blade Cross]
As it wasn't nearly as threatened toward the pink girl’s power—combined with her not being able to dodge while midair—the reptilian monster took the blow. To her surprise, it had managed to cut open her skin, although admittedly shallow. Instead of confirming the hit with blood, nothing had come out—seeing as it had all been sacrificed along with the alchemic ritual.
Not waiting for the monster to hit the ground, Kirika uses her scythe’s jet to propel herself upward to slice her from midair. Death was imminent for the monster this time—had it not been for the superb song’s side effects kicking in for both girls. Kirika’s momentum was retained due to the scythe’s boost, and yet, she was unable to continue her attack or defend from the monster’s wound up claw.
“KIRI-CHAN!” Shirabe exclaimed, not caring that she was falling toward the ground.
It had formed a blade with its hand once more and prepared to stab the green girl’s heart—but nothing. Despite the song’s consequences, she still had its power; the valkyries would not be defeated that easily. Even its eyes, which were working overtime to petrify the foes, had not been working due to an interaction with the Dainsleif. It became clear to the Gorgon that it would need to wait for its snakes to regain their consciousness to finish off anyone. As luck would have it for the monster, that wouldn’t be too long. The sky was already going back to its black tint, as reflected by the sand also losing its color. And yet, there was a vibrant aurora—one which it hadn’t noticed before. To the monster who had lived underground for generations, it was nothing less than blinding.
A few seconds remained, yet only two had been dealt with. Where were the others?
“S2CA TRIBURST!”
The Gorgon had known from the first superb song that it wasn’t a force which could be brushed off. Not only were the sword and bow ladies fine, but their song had been harnessed into a single fist. Even from a glance at the spinning barrel, the monster knew that it would spell its doom if it hit.
If it could hit, that is.
The Gorgon knew that it was already much faster than the valkyries sent to slay it. All it had to do was run away for the handful of seconds which remained and it would win! Knowing exactly what it needed to do, it prepared to vanish once more and hide in the forest over the road—but it just wasn’t possible. It looked around to find the cause of its inability to move, only to see a sword stabbing the head of its shadow; the trap likely being set in the aftermath of the green and pink girl’s onslaught.
It could hit after all—no, it will hit.
“This is our...”
Hibiki flew forward, sending the sand that was at her feet airborne. Despite having victory at their grasp, she never lost sight of her target for a second—the one which had threatened her friends and everything they’d stood for up to.
Tsubasa looked straight toward the target as well, preparing for anything it might attempt. Chris was blinded by the sand which Hibiki sent her way from dashing forward. Kirika and Shirabe, who were lying next to each other, had front row seats to witness the moment. Maria, who had been conscious the entire time, looked at Hibiki and everyone else with a heartfelt smile. If not for the blood already pouring out of her eyes, she could very well burst into tears from the emotions she’d felt over the past couple of minutes. These were the people she’d previously felt alienated from—proudly fighting for her well being.
Of course they’re my friends. From here on out, I have to dedicate myself to knowing them better.
“...swan song!”
For the monster who had received the blow, things were over in an instant. All those generations worth of planning gone to waste, as they disintegrate instantly from the blow. Even the humans who’d called them terrible names during their reawakening earlier had their bodies reverted. The three sisters' souls had been separated once more from the impact, and as they ascended toward the sky, it was quiet. All three of them had the exact same thought during that moment of solace.
How boring.