Chapter 33: introducing firepower

Looking at the audience, who were waving yellow and purple light sticks, made me wonder why I was still popular. Even though I revealed I was a Symphogear user, I thought my popularity would decline, but instead, it rose. While I'm still not as popular as Tsubasa and Maria, I have somehow surpassed Kanade.

It gives me a weird feeling as I now look at the band scheduled to perform next. Today was a music festival, so all kinds of singers—soloists, idols, and bands—were here. At least my performance is done, so I can go back. Still, I really think Tsubasa, Maria, and Kanade are monsters since they never get tired of doing this.

Well, now I need to do a meet and greet. Other idols are doing this to promote themselves. As for

me? I was promoting Maria, Tsubasa, and, of course, Kanade because I prefer their popularity to rise more than mine. But somehow, when I was promoting them, the other idols gazed at me with respect, which just confused me, though I decided to ignore that.

After what felt like ages, which in reality was around two hours as the line was that long, I really wanted to pull Tsubasa and the other two back to help me as I started to get overwhelmed.

Well, that's that. Prelati was here, and the first thing I saw was her fighting with Carol when she got rescued. They started to belittle each other, which made me very curious why they were fighting. But then the plan was complete, and Cagliostro managed to complete the bullet faster than I thought.

After finishing the bullet that she created with the help of Fine, Carol, and Prelati, both she and Prelati wanted to go toward Saint-Germain, but I held them back as I knew the event was clearly moving too fast. Besides, I managed to convince them to wait because Adam would just go into hiding the moment he sensed something was amiss.

Well, now that the event is getting closer, I should prepare myself to take the divine power instead of Hibiki. Maybe something interesting will happen. Even with Morgan's warning, I wonder what will happen after I take the divine power since this body should be the child of a Custodian and a human, so in theory, I should be able to control divine power.

In fact, Hibiki managed to do it, even if only for a short time. Well, whatever, I'll just wing it. Because of my actions, we've already strayed from the normal storyline, after all, now that I think about it.

Glancing at my Ragna-Mail reminded me of a certain mecha named Valiancer, though what I'm interested in is the coupling system. Hibiki can resonate with others to unleash a finishing move, so it should be possible to upgrade Symphogear with that system.

Thinking that, I hurriedly went to the labs to see Fine.

"Coupling?"

"It's basically a link system, almost like resonance, but it goes deeper. When active, two people who activate coupling can share experiences, abilities, and even skills. What's more, it accelerates their minds."

"Hmm... an interesting technology, but don't tell me this is from an anime, like the Ragna-Mail."

Carol's side-eye made me slowly scratch my head, as I couldn't deny it. Fine, however, was silent, deep in thought.

"It can be done, dear, but the problem is, since you said it was deeper than resonance, the two people who are going to be coupled need to be on the same wavelength for it to work. Though this is really interesting indeed. I wonder how it will synergize with the Symphogear; maybe it will affect their song as well."

Fine was in high spirits as Carol let out a sigh, while Cagliostro showed an interested expression. As for Prelati, she was silently playing with her doll, but I could hear her murmur the word "coupling."

I wonder if she wants to connect with Saint-Germain or Cagliostro? I'm fine either way, but the Faust Robe can synchronize just like the trio did when they were deleting the nukes. However, I wonder if coupling can be activated by more than two people, as I recall even two people had a hard time with the prototype.

But if it were to work with Symphogear, what effect would it give them?

Perhaps it would make it easier for them to achieve Phonic Gain. If I remember correctly from the anime, while a synchronized Symphogear does have a larger Phonic Gain, it was harder to achieve because they needed to be in sync; the slightest disturbance could disrupt the harmony of the song.

Now that I think about it, trying to "scientize" the way Phonic Gain works seems rather foolish to me, as it's more about feeling. I mean, look at the biggest example: Hibiki. While Gungnir is indeed one of the legendary artifacts, Kanade doesn't have a lot of the things Hibiki does. Even Maria is normal compared to the things Hibiki often pulls off.

For example, while she is a human hybrid because of the accident, even after she loses her artifact inside her body, she still pulls off some logic-breaking feats, like gathering power from her allies. Even others need high synchronization to do that, but Hibiki can do that with basically anybody, as long as they don't hate her.

Well, at least now with Ragna-mail and the coupling system, they will surely have an easier time fighting that cheat of a boss, Shem-Ha. Though, now that I think about it, because of my actions previously, the Noise still exists inside Babylonia. And because the Solomon Cane is still inside that space, I wonder if the Noise will have an easier time spreading.

Now that I think about it, why does Noise exist in that place?

While Fine said it exists because humanity created it to fight each other in wars after the Curse of Balal took place, in other universes, the reason is different, and that doesn't explain the existence of Karma Noise from the game either.

What more Noise can absorb an artifact, which is the very reason Musha Noise exists, since that particular Noise absorbed the Muramasa relic?

Could it be that while humans indeed created the Noise in this universe, they initially discovered leftover Karma Noise and experimented on it for mass production, resulting in the current Noise?

That's a possibility. However, Noise disappeared after their death. Though, it could be possible since Fine stated they were created after the Curse of Balal, but she never mentioned a precise timeline. So, it could be that the battle between Shem-Ha and Enki attracted the Karma Noise from another universe.

But if that's the case, why haven't they invaded since then? The mission of Karma Noise is to invade other universes, which makes me wonder if it's a plot hole in the original series. Now that I think about it, the universes they invaded never had a Curse of Balal. Does that mean the curse itself has another meaning?

Thinking about this won't lead to any answers since Enki is the only one who knows. He never revealed the details of that curse to anyone. Even Fine, his supposed lover and girlfriend, didn't know about Enki's fight with Shem-Ha, so expecting her to know the answer is futile.

Therefore, the only way is to go to the moon. But with the current battle, I should go after the fight with the Bavarian Illuminati, or more precisely, Adam Weishaupt. I plan to go there anyway since I recently heard from Fine that America has found traces of Shem-Ha. This makes me wonder if they've planned an insider. But we're under the U.N., so it's rather easy to sneak in some spies, I guess.

I just hope they don't go wild, especially that old geezer Fudo, who should sit still. Recently, Japan has always been the center of disaster, which is ironic since Japan has the most Symphogear users. While some other countries also have Symphogear, their quality is rather lacking. To be fair, Fine, the creator, was in Japan, so it's normal that there's a gap.

From what I hear, some countries also refer to them as "magical girls," which I find amusing. If you think about it, Symphogear does have a magical-girl-ish vibe, though the art style leans more toward shonen. For now, at least, my relic has been rebuilt with a Philosopher's Stone, so I can now basically use Amalgam form.

I was surprised by how little Phonic Gain was needed; it's basically the same as in the anime, where you gain a barrier since your gear no longer covers your body.

The good news is that the weapon is now easier to form and becomes stronger. However, at the same time, when the barrier is gone, you're still quite vulnerable to damage. I wonder if this is because I attempted to copy the original, while it was created with the help of Carol and Fine. Somehow, I feel like my power isn't comparable to the girls'.

Perhaps I lack a connection with the Philosopher's Stone, since the girls had help from the three girls from the Bavarian Illuminati. So, I decided to ask Fine and Carol for their opinions.

"So, according to what you said, the Bavarian Illuminati probably acted as an assistant in supplying the power, since from what you said, Amalgam is basically a fusion of Symphogear and a Faust Robe."

"While I did indeed create my own Faust Robe because of my work with the Bavarian Illuminati at the time, from what I remember, it was thanks to that failed experiment. If I recall, the researcher's name was Vanessa Diodati, but she was lost after the experiment, from what I heard at the time."

I almost forgot about Vanessa, the "onee-san" who managed to escape the Bavarian Illuminati with the other two girls, but they were dying because of the experiment they conducted to create the Faust Robe. It's truly an ironic story; even though the experiment did, in fact, fail, the result was what allowed Carol to create her own Faust Robe, and later, the Bavarian Illuminati as well.

If I remember correctly, they later worked with that old geezer Fudo for protection but at the same time carried out his plan to create the God of Japan. I wonder when they met; perhaps it was around this time, since the Bavarian Illuminati was busy with the ritual, so they probably found a gap to meet Fudo.

So, they lied to Carol, but remembering Carol at the time, too focused on her revenge, I don't think she even bothered to find the truth as long as the information had its use.

"Well, for now, let's try to use the A.I. we just created to test if it can act as the buffer instead. If it still fails, then it looks like we need to find some other way, but just you wait."

Saying that, Carol was humming as she walked away while Fine just rubbed her forehead and let out a sigh, which surprised me as well. But I wonder if it's because of her daily interaction with Elfnein; at least she was now warmer than her anime version, which is a good thing.

Though now that I think about it, while the girls kept it a secret from me to prove they can fight themselves, I think the time is close to the final fight, which means I should get ready soon.