Hyoubu was observing the ongoing battle through the monitors with a smirk on his face.
"Seems like all four of them are too much even for him to handle, heh."
Magi was also looking at the battle that was ongoing. Senzo kept getting pushed back by the four; his fingers were twitching, but he couldn't do anything to help as long as Hyoubu didn't give them the order.
"Major, isn't it about time?" he asked, keeping his eyes glued to the battle.
"I know Magi, don't worry." Hyoubu casually remarked.
"We also still need to rescue everyone that was caught by The Children and is being held captive on Babel's main ship."
Magi nodded, his fists clenched tightly, glaring at the culprits.
And while they were leisurely observing the battle, Minamoto sat at the bridge of the main ship, also observing the battle, but instead of being relaxed, his whole body was tense.
Just that one guy was holding off their four most powerful members! "Sakaki report!" he suddenly shouted.
"For now the members Aoi and Shiho have caught are still being detained in that room. Hyoubu hasn't made a move yet."
Sakaki replied after asking around through his earpiece.
"What do you think Hyoubu's plan is? Why is he waiting this long while all four of them are busy fighting against a single opponent?" Minamoto asked, sweat dripping down his brow.
But Sakaki had no answer, and he just shrugged.
"I have no idea. It just doesn't make much sense to keep waiting."
But as soon as those words left his mouth, the whole ship shook violently.
"What?!" Minamoto yelped while he was flung out of his chair.
Sakaki was just as surprised and crashed into the metal wall.
"Urgh!"
Almost losing consciousness from the impact, he gritted his teeth and started barking orders.
"Report!" he barked.
"An intruder has boarded the ship! I repeat, an intruder has boarded the ship!" The reply came swiftly.
Sakaki's eyes widened; it looks like they jinxed it.
"Minamoto, call the children back. An intruder is onboard!" Sakaki frantically said, trying to stay upright.
"Alright!"
***
And while those two were trying to do everything within their power to catch the intruder, Hyoubu stood leisurely in front of a large metal door.
"Where are you, Yo?" he said, looking around the interior of the large ship.
"Major?! We are right behind a large green metal door."
"Oh, perfect."
And with a smile, the metal door was crushed like a piece of paper.
"Heya, I'll send you back to the Catastrophe now."
While he casually said that Hyoubu snapped his fingers and teleported everyone away.
"Now let's explore this ship until they show up, I guess."
With a smile on his face, Hyoubu then started exploring the ship he had just entered as if he wasn't in the middle of enemy territory.
***
"Kaoru, return immediately; Hyoubu has made his move! Leave the pivot to Fujiko!"
Minamoto's voice echoed in Kaoru's ear loudly. After they had been released by Senzo, they were waiting for anything to happen because Senzo and Fujiko refused to fight, and they couldn't understand why.
They had heard Senzo mention something about faking the fight before all sound vanished.
"Understood!"
"Let's go! Shiho, Aoi!"
And just like that, the three girls rushed back toward the main ship.
Fujiko and Senzo, on the other hand, quietly flew even higher, and Senzo, with a snap of his fingers, put an end to the illusion.
"Now we just relax and wait until everything's over," he casually mentioned, laying down on the lounge chair he had brought with him.
Yugiri's and Sophie's lounge chairs were right next to him, and the three of them were just lazily lying there.
Fujiko couldn't help but chuckle at the ridiculous sight before her.
"You know what? On second thought, you're kind of cute. How about I sit next to you?"
She asked with a teasing smirk on her face. Clearly accentuating her figure with a sexy pose as well.
"..."
"Sure..." Senzo managed to squeeze out, looking at the old lady acting like a young maiden.
"Hmph!" Sophie suddenly pouted, turning her head away from Senzo.
"Actually never mind, I'll go sit with Sophie; you can have my chair."
"W-Wha?" Sophie blurted out, her cheeks turning crimson.
Yugiri couldn't help but giggle at the sight, while Momotarou decided to stay silent.
Senzo quickly took a seat next to Sophie before she could protest and threw the last chair to Fujiko.
***
Inside the main ship of Babel, Hyoubu was casually strolling around without a care in the world.
"This is quite nostalgic," he muttered, feeling the walls and looking around, taking in everything.
When suddenly a metal door was flung at him, but without blinking an eye, the door was cut in half before it could hit him.
"Well, that wasn't a very polite greeting."
In front of him stood the three girls he had just seen fighting with Senzo.
"Hey, sorry, but I can't let you return," he said, with a smirk.
"You came, just as I thought, Kyousuke!"
Kaoru said, glaring at the man in front of her.
Shiho and Aoi stood on either side of her, all ready to face him with everything they got. After being treated like nothing more than an afterthought by Senzo, they had to regain their confidence.
"Heh, of course I would come. That guy was clearly having trouble facing all four of you guys, so the great me has to give him a hand."
Then, without waiting for a reply, Hyoubu snapped his finger and blew a massive hole in the roof of the ship and quickly flew into the sky.
The three girls quickly followed after him, looking at one another, wondering what he meant by having trouble facing all four.
Did he not see what was actually happening up there?
Kaoru shook her head, removing all the useless thoughts, and decided to focus purely on what was in front of her.
"Oh, by the way, Kaoru, are you ready to embrace your destiny?" Hyoubu suddenly asked.
Kaoru shook her head, glaring straight at him. "Never, I will not join you in your delusions ever, Kyousuke!"
"Hah, fine. I guess I'll have to beat some sense into you then."
Aoi and Shiho distanced themselves from Kaoru a little, preparing for anything Hyoubu might throw at them.
With Kaoru at the front, Hyoubu charged at her with a mad smile on his face.
The two flew around launching psychic blasts at one another, with Shiho shooting nanowires at him and Aoi teleporting Kaoru around to try and catch Hyoubu by surprise.
"Not bad." Hyoubu remarked.
While he was effortlessly dodging their relentless offense while staying mostly on the defensive.
Then Kaoru appeared behind him and in a single motion formed a massive telekinetic palm above his head.
And in one fluid motion slapped Hyoubu from above.
"Urgh!"
Hyoubu was flung into the sea by the massive palm, and the three girls flew right above the sea trying to find him.
"Not bad, not bad at all." Hyoubu muttered, flying around underwater.
He was rather impressed by the progress they had made in their teamwork; even if he was only testing the waters, to push him this far was impressive on its own.
After flying around a bit in the water, he launched a massive wave at the three girls floating above it; with an evil smirk, he also teleported back up to the surface.
"Kyaa!" The girls cried out after seeing the massive wave almost engulf them whole.
But Aoi could barely teleport them out of range of the wave.
"Great job, I must say; you have impressed me." "Hyoubu," he casually said, clapping his hands slowly.
"It's not over yet!" Kaoru exclaimed, rushing straight at Hyoubu once more.
But before she could reach him, he just waved them goodbye and vanished from sight.