After many hours at sea, constantly vigilant, they had finally brought the Catastrophe as close to the mainland as possible.
"Haaah," Magi heaved a sigh of relief as all the tension left his body all at once.
"W-We actually made it!" Yo exclaimed, raising his fist in the air.
And a moment later, both of them felt all the strength leave their legs, and they fell to the ground.
"Let's catch our breath for a short moment, and after we'll get everyone the medical care they need," Magi said, while looking at the Major, who was barely conscious.
He wanted to rush out right now, but that was impossible; they had been on guard for many hours, and they needed a minute to calm their nerves and recompose themselves.
"Yeah," Yo stated, while nodding his head.
That was when Momiji appeared back inside the bridge with a smile on her face.
"Great job, you two. Now let's get them the help they need."
But right after she said that, she saw their current condition as realization dawned upon her.
"Ah."
"Sorry, Momiji, but can you start already? Yo and I need a minute to calm ourselves down and recharge. Please teleport with Hyoubu right now before he loses consciousness, and then we'll help you with the others."
"Understood!"
Momiji shouted with a salute and made her way toward Hyoubu.
"Are you alright, Major?" she inquired.
But she got no answer; Hyoubu was just sitting in the chair trying his hardest to stay awake so he could be teleported onto the mainland after all.
"Never mind, let's go then."
Momiji then quickly grabbed his hand, and the next moment, both of them had disappeared from inside the bridge.
"Let's go, Yo; we can rest once everyone is on their way to the hospital," Magi ordered as he slowly hauled himself upright.
"Understood, Magi, but after this I want at least a month to relax."
"Hahahaha, sure, that's fair, and I will need a long time to relax as well."
While bantering about what they'd do after everyone got help, they slowly made their way back to the deck with great effort, meeting up with Momiji once more.
***
"How long can it take to get here?" Momiji said, as she glared at the two of them. Her hands were on her hips while they supported one another to avoid falling.
"Sorry, sorry, we know you must also be super tired, but right now we can barely stay standing, so please forgive us just this once."
Magi explained with an apologetic expression, pressing his hands together in a pleading gesture.
"Haah, it's fine; just stay close to the others, and I'll transport you all to where he is waiting."
After she said that, Momiji ignored the two, as she now needed to focus to safely transport everyone from the Catastrophe to the mainland; this was the final stretch, and then the others would take over.
I can do this!
She smacked her cheeks lightly with both hands, a determined expression on her face as she patiently waited for Magi and Yo to arrive next to Sophie and the others.
"Sophie, could you please try to keep everyone as close together as possible, together with Magi and Yo?"
When Sophie suddenly heard her name, she turned her head toward her and had a puzzled look on her face.
"Why?" she inquired while caressing Senzo's hair.
"I will be transporting everyone at once, and the closer you all are to one another, the less power I will need to use; that means I can focus more on arriving on the mainland faster."
Sophie's eyes widened slightly when she heard that. "Finally, I can do something for them!"
She nodded her head vigorously. "Yes, just focus on getting everyone there as fast as possible. I will make sure they're all super close together."
"T-Thanks..." Momiji muttered with a slight smile on her face, which she hid from Sophie by turning her head away.
Sophie hadn't heard her as she carefully placed the still unconscious Yugiri on top of Senzo and placed Andy right next to them.
And finally, Yo and Magi had also arrived, stumbling.
"What can we do?"
Magi asked, but Momiji just shook her head with a wry smile.
"Just stick as close to Sophie and the others as possible, and make sure to grab hold of each other tightly so I can focus mostly on speed while moving toward the mainland."
"Understood. Now then, let's quickly go!"
Then, without further ado, Sophie, Magi, and Yo surrounded the three wounded people in a triangular shape and firmly grasped each other's hands.
"Ok, I will be lifting you all up now, so even though it might be hard, please do not let go under any circumstances."
The three just nodded their heads, with determined expressions as they grasped each other's hands even more firmly.
Then Momiji carefully lifted them all from the deck, and once she felt like they were stable enough, she also lifted herself up.
And off they went; without hesitation, Momiji increased their speed to the maximum she thought she could handle while still keeping them as stable as possible.
"It will take around ten to fifteen minutes; I know it will be hard, but please just bear with it."
After she warned them one last time, she shut her mouth and fully focused on using her powers as optimally as possible.
"Ugh!" Sophie grunted as she felt the cold air hammer against her skin.
But she gritted her teeth and kept her focus on keeping Senzo, Yugiri, and Andy safe.
Magi and Yo weren't faring any better, as they were barely holding on. But they knew how important this was; if they failed here, they would no doubt bring everyone into danger.
As the minutes slowly passed and they got closer and closer to the mainland, the three of them were feeling more and more miserable by the second.
"Haah, haah."
Magi was barely holding on as he was trying to calm himself down, but the cold air was constantly whipping against his face and ravaging his lungs.
That's when he suddenly had an idea as he formed two black wings behind him and carefully wrapped them around everyone.
"Hooh, that's much better, thanks Magi," Yo said as he heaved a sigh of relief now that the cold air tearing past them had been severely limited thanks to Magi.
"Uh, I don't want to sound ungrateful, but why did you not do this from the start?" Sophie asked, tilting her head slightly to the right.
"..."
Magi could only avoid eye contact, as he had no proper answer; he had just been too exhausted to think properly, and only after almost reaching his limit did he realize he hadn't used his esper ability this whole time.
"Hahaha, cut us some slack, please, princess; we've been under an immense amount of stress and tension for hours on end now."
"Ah!" Sophie's eyes widened as she just remembered the hours-long ship ride they had just been on.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it, and let's just finish this safely."
Magi stated, a smile on his face.
"Yes!" Sophie exclaimed.
Yo could only smile just thinking about what great comrades he had found.