22 Enemy Reinforcemen

Upon reaching the edge of the runway, Sousuke still saw no sign of Kurz. Meanwhile, the transport planes began to taxi, meaning they couldn't be boarded. They would have to wait for the helicopters that would come for the Arm Slaves. 

But would anyone notice that they were there? No, it's impossible. The fire and smoke made the chances of someone being able to see them from the air nearly nonexistent. 

A handful of shells flew in from the east, landing here and there on the base. One of them exploded just fifty yards away from Sousuke and Kaname. 

"What?" 

"Enemy reinforcements," explained Sousuke, wiping the sweat from his forehead. They ducked low and hid behind a building. 

Now that the enemy's backup had arrived, the helicopters that had come for the Arm Slaves would be under too much fire to wait for them. They had to do something. 

One of the jets roared past them. 

"Ah! There they go." 

"It can't be helped." 

Like a cloud, the dark truth of their situation hung over them, reminding them of their failure to rendezvous with their allies. 

Swaying and shaking, two C-I7s rattled along the torn-up runway. 

Small pebbles clucked against the fuselages, the wings trembled, and the engines shrieked. There was an explosion about a hundred feet away from the plane. 

Everyone screamed. 

"Remain calm! Stay seated! " shouted a soldier. 

Most of the students were too terrified to get out of their seats, anyway. The only one who wasn't holding his breath was Shinji Kazama, whose cheeks were damp from large tear drops. 

"Are you scared, Kazama?" inquired Kyouko, somewhat out of the blue. 

"No, I'm just so ... happy," he explained. "We got to see M9s in action, and we're riding in a C-I7. I can die a happy man now." 

With a sudden increase in speed, the aircraft reached VR-the speed at which liftoff was possible-and ascended. Following suit, the second plane took off, as well. 

From the ground, a soldier fired an anti-aircraft missile at the second plane. When the plane turned on its ECS, however, the missile went awry and flew around wildly before crashing harmlessly into an unoccupied corner of the base. 

While the planes traveled deeper into the western sky, the VTOL fighters kept close to protect them. 

"So much for the hard part," muttered Mao, watching them go.

"The party's over," said the pilot of a large helicopter that landed nearby. "A large opposition force is incoming." 

"Time for me to show up"

Kuroko walked bypass the soldiers on the plane. He went to the back of the plane and took parachute from there.

He opened the door and jumped.

In the cockpit

"Someone opened the back door"

"Ask one of the soldiers to close it"

....

"One of the students is missing, his name is Tetsuya Kuroko"

They rushed toward the back of the plane and then became dumbfounded.

"Reporting, the missing student jumped from the plane"

...

"This is my first time for air sport" 

Kuroko made some style in the sky. 

"This is so fun"

Then he opened his parachute. 

Everyone in the ground became dumbfounded.

They saw a student using a parachute appeared on the battlefield.

"Sorry, everyone. This is my first time doing it"

They did not know and focus battling, this is the legendary passive ability: Misdirection. 

If Kuroko ability could affect the parachute, maybe he would not be detected by everyone.

He took off his parachute bag to system inventory and began vanished again.

"What? The man and his parachute vanished"

From somewhere in their blind spot, Kuroko took Arm slave from system inventory. Then he entered it.

"Time for battle"