Chapter 146: Time for a Fierce Battle

Nakamura tells Karma her plan is to bull into blue territory behind Terasaka, Yoshida, and Muramatsu as living cover, bluntly noting that shielding her is all they are good for. Over on blue, Okuda pinpoints Mimura's scouting nest and Isogai fires him out of the fight. Hara, busy resetting the trap she used earlier, is picked off by Hayami's rifle.

Itona tinkers with a combat drone near Hayami before judging it too unwieldy to fly. Hayami's suppressive fire narrowly misses Maehara but locks the rest of blue in place, and she is ordered to pin or thin them so Nakamura's group can seize the blue flag against weakened defenses.

Isogai calls on his surviving teammates to drop their defense and rush Hayami, which cues Nakamura's push. Okuda falls in the storm of paintballs, and Isogai goes down soon after. Yada risks a desperate shot and finally connects with Hayami before Itona hammers her, and Maehara knifes Itona and sets his sights on Karma. The red advance then falls apart: Nagisa springs out on Nakamura's four-man party and wipes all of them at once. A stunned Karma works out that Nagisa had been tucked behind Karasuma the whole time, waiting for the ideal instant. Maehara lunges at Karma from behind but is stabbed before he can land a hit.

Terasaka remarks that Nakamura, usually so carefree, is the most single-minded student in the class once a fight is on. With everyone else eliminated, only Nagisa and Karma remain, and Karma steadies himself for a one-on-one showdown. The chapter appears in Volume 17.