Infinite Stratos: Truth Be Told
A/N: I'm thinking of changing the rating on this chapter, but I changed my mind when I felt that the story is progressing too fast. So I may change the rating on chapter 9 or 10. I'm now back on re-reading the light novel and re-watching the anime for inspiration. This chapter will introduce some new IS units, forgiving some crappy technical explinations.
Disclaimer: I don't own Infinite Stratos, it belongs to Izuru Yumizuru.
Chapter 8:
"Sorry that I'm late."
Ichika smiled as he scratched his head apologetically, but the girls especially Houki, Laura, Cecilia and Charlotte stared at him like they saw a ghost.
"Ichika…weren't you supposed to be-"
Suddenly, Houki was interrupted by Chifuyu's loud, thunderous voice.
"ORIMURA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"
Ichika was nearly blown to the wall by his sister's angry voice.
"Ah…..but…..I was better already I thought I should-"
"WHAT NONSENSE ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT! GET BACK TO THE INFIRMARY!"
Chifuyu's overwhelming presence left Ichika at a loss for words.
"Bu-"
But before Ichika could finish his words his big sister suddenly appeared behind him,yanked him by his sleeve and dragged him out of the room.
"Ah!...w-wait Orimura-sensei….I'm better now…so there's no need to drag me back to the infirmary. I'm already w-"
Ichika's resisting seemed to have ticked off Chifuyu and she suddenly stopped pulling her little brother.
"Do you know the extent of your injuries?"
"Uh!"
Chifuyu suddenly stopped dragging Ichika.
"Did you know that you nearly died because of blood loss, did you know that your shoulders nearly got torn off and did you know that…"
Chifuyu didn't finish her sentence and just stood quiet.
"Chifuyu-nee….."
Ichika knew that he made his sister worry again, he lowered his head apologetically.
"Chifuyu-nee, I'm sorry."
Chifuyu turned to her brother who was now depressed. She looked at him for a while before releasing a sigh.
"You always did excel in making me worry, ever since we were young."
Ichika thought his sister was still scolding him and got depressed even more. But he suddenly looked up when his sister ruffled his hair affectionately.
"….."
Ichika was puzzled at his sister's gesture.
"Don't look at me like that; I'm your sister so it's natural for me to worry about you."
Chifuyu turned to the side while blushing a little. This caused Ichika to again look at his sister in a mystified manner.
"Did you eat spoiled food sis?"
Chifuyu smacked her little brother lightly at his rude remark.
"Shouldn't you be saying "thank you"."
Chifuyu's cool attitude returned.
"Well…sorry sis and thank you for always looking after me."
Ichika gave his sister a smile, a very honest and heart-felt smile.
(What is with this guy's smile?)
Luckily, Chifuyu was able to contain the dangerous feelings that surfaced on her chest before she could do anything that would ruin her "cool sister" image.
"What is it Chifuyu-nee? Are you having a fever, you're kind of red?"
Ichika worriedly leaned at his sister and placed his hand on her forehead
"…..Orimura….."
Chifuyu closed her eyes and…
(Smack)
"Ouch!"
Chifuyu smacked her brother's head but a bit lighter than usual since she knew that her little brother still had some injuries, very serious injuries.
"I'm still your teacher here Orimura, so show the proper respect."
"Uhm, s-sorry then Chifu-I mean Orimura-sensei."
Ichika smiled knowingly when he noticed what made his sister snap back to her old self. When he looked around he saw some students peeking at them from the classrooms with suggestive stares.
"Students should remain inside their classroom during class hours…..SO ALL OF YOU GO BACK TO YOUR CLASSES!"
The booming sound of the legendary teacher of the IS academy scared the hell out of the eavesdropping students and made them go back to their classes.
(Chifuyu-nee never lost her touch.)
Ichika smiled at his sister's passion for her work.
"What are you standing around for Orimura, let's get a move on!"
Chifuyu commanded her little brother in a strict voice and Ichika happily smiled and obeyed his sister.
"Hai!Orimura-sensei!"
Chifuyu turned and walked on but smiled slightly when she remembered her little brother's smile.
(Ichika, I'll always protect you.)
She then turned serious as she thought of something or someone.
(Scene Change)
"You did well on your mission Commander Yuuko. Now we have a concrete idea of our target's power."
One of the council members of [Phantom Task] applauded Yuuko. But Yuuko doesn't seem to be hearing the compliments she's being showered with but instead she just stood in front of the council as her mind drifted to somewhere else.
"Commander Yuuko?"
"What is it? Ahhh! You're so annoying I can't even hear myself think with all of you jabbering there."
Yuuko said in an irritated manner as she finally snapped out of her daze.
"Uhm! Anyway what can you tell us about the target?"
One of the council members said with a lot of curiosity.
"Hmmm…Well at first he's just normal boy but if he's pushed to some point his powers gradually surfaces. But his true power arises when he is protecting something, proof of that when he fought me on equal footing just because I threatened one of his friends. But it's a big shame that his power is only triggered when protecting, unlike all of us."
Yuuko at first was smiling as she elaborated her experience in her recent mission but later turned serious or rather angry when she uttered the last sentence. Her sickly aura started to leak out of her slender figure as her eyes turned to that of a demon.
"You seem to be pissed off about something."
One of the council members asked in a shaky tone.
The council members have a lot of power and control over the [Phantom Task], but despite of their power there are still things that they fear and one of those are their operatives Chigusa, Chisaya, Saya, Misaki and Yuuko. The five are the most valuable assets of the organization but also one of its most unstable weapons, because of their own powers they often disregard orders and do things on their own and also they often get into fights with each other and if this happens, horrendous damages are always the obvious outcome. And the only one who can stop the operatives from killing each other is the leader of the organization but their leader itself is also unstable more so than the operatives. So when one of the operatives is having a bad mood they always keep their distance from them since there is no predicting their actions.
"You must still be exhausted from your mission Commander, I think you should rest and recover your strength before the next operation."
"Hmmm? I can go on fighting for weeks without any rest. But you may be right, for once."
Yuuko's angry face disappeared and was replaced by a disrespectful sneer. She then turned around and just disappeared in the darkness.
"That could have gone worse."
One of the council members sounded relieved when Yuuko finally left the dark conference hall.
"They would be more efficient operatives if they're more stable mentally."
"That can't be helped; all of them are from "that" bloodline. If they don't acquire the target then for sure all of them will descend to insanity."
"All of them are valuable as they are powerful but they are nothing more than unstable warheads that may explode anytime."
The council members glanced at each other seriously.
After leaving the conference hall, Yuuko made her way to the Japanese fortress hidden deep within the base, where are all her peers are waiting for her. The moment Yuuko entered the Japanese fortress, she was greeted by her peers' sneering faces.
"Here comes the victorious "thief of lips"."
Saya sarcastically sneered at Yuuko.
"It's a prize for winning."
Yuuko glared back at Saya.
"Was it necessary for you to do that, I can't begin to grasp how furious Chifuyu must be right now."
Misaki said in an emotionless voice. Chigusa and Chisaya on the other hand just plainly stared at her but their gaze seems to be carrying a lot of rage and jealously.
"Yuuko, how do you find his powers?"
Their leader spoke in a sudden.
"Magnificent, but the only drawback is that it only awakes when he is protecting."
Yuuko said with a lot of disappointment in her tone. The other four seem to share her sentiment as they also put on a slightly displeased face.
"Chifuyu must've done everything in her power to impede his potential, seeing how frail and weak he is now."
Chisaya's eyes flared with anger.
"But she did train him right?"
Misakishowed a little emotion as she spoke.
"The training that she placed on him is meant to suppress his power, also the kendo training that he learned from his childhood friend also helped smother his power and add to that the environment that he grew up in."
Yuuko said in a very irked tone.
"Why don't we just kill Chifuyu and take Ichika?"
Chigusa nonchalantly brought up a topic that took the attention of her peers.
"I know that you don't like her that much but to kill your own sister is a bit extreme don't you think?"
Saya questioned Chigusa's decision.
"It would be better to remove her from the equation permanently."
Chigusa meant what she said as her face dropped all sorts of emotions.
Yuuko, Chisaya, Misaki and Saya also turned serious when Chigusa started leaking out her aura, the four also released their auras.
"Don't tell me you plan on moving by yourself again."
Chisaya aimed her demonic glare at Chigusa and the latter also returned the same.
"What? Are you gonna stop me?"
The two started throwing mocking voices at each other, the other three started also started to join the would-be bloodbath.
"Could you two be anymore petty?"
Misaki made a condescending tone.
"Says the girl who had a frozen face."
Saya mockingly smiled at Misaki.
"A slutty butcher shouldn't join a civilized conversation."
Misaki retorted on Saya's remark.
"Heh! Everyone's really cranky today, your belligerence are becoming more feral as the years pass."
Yuuko insulted the four already enraged vipers.
"Feral? Don't start with that, Yuuko."
Chigusa nearly roared.
"Hmm? Is that jealously in your tone?"
The civilized and calm atmosphere a while ago disappeared like a bubble. With only a slight change in their tones their absolutely short tempers go up in smoke. The tension now between the five women have risen to a very frightening level, their extremely wicked auras now crowd the air, it is only a matter of time before a cataclysm transpires.
"Was it a bad time for us to enter?"
Squall said in a slightly scared voice. Squall and Autumn couldn't have picked the worse time to make an appearance. Speaking of the two, Squall was carrying a few sheets of paper while Autumn was carrying a tea set.
"…."
The hooded figure ignored Squall as it merely looked at the five vipers giving each other death glares.
"Squall, is it safe to enter here?"
Autumn whispered to her lover in a slightly terrified voice.
The hooded figure held out its hands to Squall.
"…Here."
Squall carefully handed the papers to their leader. Meanwhile, the five angry women were still quietly staring at each other but their auras already filled the entire chamber. The dreadful silence was like a foreboding to a coming storm.
Misaki was tapping her fingers on the table.
Saya was quiet while crossing her arms.
Yuuko started tracing circles on the table.
Chisaya leaned back as she closed her eyes.
And Chigusa looked up on the ceiling as she let out an eerie laughter. Soon the other four laughed as well.
"This is scarier compared to when they were silent."
Autumn moved closer to Squall after she shakily placed the tea set beside their leader, fear was evident on her face. Squall also put on a terrified expression. The hooded figure merely signaled Autumn to pour her a cup of tea and the slightly terrified Autumn did so while trembling like a child.
"What is it with these women?"
Squall mumbled with dread but was shocked when the hooded figure answered her with a demonic voice.
"You shouldn't worry about their aura Squall."
Autumn and Squall nearly jumped upon hearing the sudden and dreadful voice of their concealed leader. But the two understood what their leader meant and slowly turned to the five warheads laughing eerily at each other. Soon the five stopped laughing and the battle started.
(SWOOOSH)
Chigusa deployed her broad sword in an instant and swung it, aiming to cleave the heads of her four the only thing that Chigusa's broadsword cleaved was the wall behind, the four vanished before the giant blade could chop their heads off.
"Always so impulsive."
Chisaya said as she suddenly appeared from above with the bow of her IS ready to fire at Chigusa. With a quick flash, a wide explosion blew off the roof of the base as countless energy arrows impacted the ground. But Chigusa suddenly appeared behind Chisaya with her IS in full deployment and swung her broad sword down to Chisaya's throat but the latter also deployed her IS and pulled out a slim beam saber at her waist and stood ready to fight to Chigusa. But…
(FLASH)
With a sudden flash of crimson dust, Yuuko appeared in front of them and blocked both of their attacks with six of her BITS.
"Heh!"
Three BITS blocked Chigusa's broadsword and three BITS also blocked Chisaya beam smirked and the BITS aimed at Chigusa and Chisaya. But before the BITS could release their beams a towering tornado crashed down from above and separated the deadlocked women. From the smoke of the tornado emerged Saya with her IS in full deployment, Saya brandished her long spear and a torrent of strong wind currents surrounded the weapon.
"Bring it on!"
Saya taunted as the thrusters of her IS unleashed a stream of yellow dust. Yuuko took the challenge as her IS released a torrent of crimson particles. Chigusa's IS unleashed a burst purple particles and Chisaya's IS released a stream of sapphire dust that took the form of hazy energy rings.
""""COME ON!""""
The four women used accelerated and lunged against each other. But the last IS joined the fray.
(WHIRRRRRRRRRRRRR)
A huge spherical barrier appeared in the middle, effectively blocking the attacks of the four IS.
"How uncivilized."
Misaki said in a haughty tone as she appeared with her pitch black IS in the center of the conflict, the palms of her IS were held out on both sides as she erected the powerful energy barrier. Her IS released a pulse of grayish particles as the barrier exploded, revealing the entire base to the world.
(BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM)
Meanwhile, Squall and Autumn was thrown aside because of the strong explosion, but the hooded figure doesn't seem to be fazed at all as it was not even moved by the strong explosion.
"It's happening again."
Squall said in a dead-panned tone.
"Squall we should leave before we get caught up in this."
Autumn hurriedly scurried to her lover's side, but before the two could even take one step away, their leader called them both.
"You two, come here."
Although unwilling, still the two swallowed their fear and obeyed because if they didn't something even more dreadful will happen to them. The two made their way beside the hooded figure.
"What is it Leader?"
Squall said in a slightly scared tone.
"Are you afraid?"
Squall couldn't answer. Although she tried to act tough, her fear can be seen clearly in her eyes. Sensing her quivering soul, the hooded figure smiled inside its robe.
"It is perfectly normal to feel fear especially when you're in the midst of bloodthirsty killers but you should get over it now because you two will be working closely with them."
The hooded figure merely sipped its tea, but the two nearly fainted at what their leader just said.
(To work with those demons is suicide!)
Autumn cursed in her mind.
(I've seen a lot of killers in my days here, but those five give the word a new meaning.)
Squall grimaced in fear.
"Hahahahahahahahaha!"
Their leader let out a demonic laughter as if it heard what they just thought.
"…"
"…"
The two could only look fearfully at their leader.
"You two shouldn't worry about getting killed by them, just obey their orders and DON'T get in their way when they are fighting. Remember those and you will have a long existence ahead of you."
Their leader assured the two. At first, Squall and Autumn were still hesitant to salute back but soon did because they have to, because they have no other choice.
"Understood, leader."
Squall saluted while quivering slightly. Autumn also did the same.
Their leader soon made a soft chuckle as it stared at the five IS floating on the air.
"Leader, if you don't mind me asking. What are those units the commanders are using?"
Autumn asked while shivering a little not because it's cold but because of their leader's eerie presence. The hooded figure turned slightly at Autumn.
"They are the IS reversed engineered from the rabbit's original plans."
Autumn and Squall widened their eyes in shock.
"Yuuko managed to acquire a device that belonged to the rabbit that contained the plans in creating the IS, especially the core."
The two became even more shocked.
"Tell me are you two curios about those units?"
The hooded figure asked in a slightly playful tone.
"Well we have seen the units when their being developed but we never got a good look on the details yet."
Squall became interested.
The hooded figure handed Squall a thin metal tablet that soon turned out to be a small holographic projector. Autumn leaned closer to Squall and also peeked at the projector.
"Know it well."
Their leader sipped the tea again.
The projector soon activated and a robotic female voice revealed the first IS unit.
[New variant Infinite StratosUnit 5, the [Exelhion]. A speed type and a long range bombardment type IS. Two dense particle disk thrusters [Sphare], mounted on both shoulders are capable of achieving outputs that far surpasses any known IS without the use of [Ignition boost].The [Sphare] has two special abilities; first one is [Quasar]. It allows the [Exelhion] to create visible after-images of itself that fool sensors and the naked eye when in acceleration. The second ability is the [Nexus], the two thrusters concentrate its particles and form a strong barrier around the IS that can absorb most attacks. The weapons of [Exelhion] are the energy bow dubbed the [Skyfall] which is capable of releasing from powerful single-shot beams to wide spread annihilation attacks. The firepower of [Skyfall] also depends on the output of the [Sphare]. Six beams sabers dubbed the [Aurora] are mounted on the back skirt of the IS, the six sabers can be combined to form a star-like boomerang dubbed as [Sirius]. [Exelhion] is piloted by Chisaya Orimura.]
The [Exelhion] is cladded with pure white armor without the presence of any other colors. Its armor fully covers Chisaya's body unlike most IS that usually leaves uncovered parts on pilot's body, its armor doesn't have any spiked ends, all edges of the armor are slender and curved perfectly. Its fingers are abnormally long, resembling flensing knives and its feet bear a resemblance to claws of a dragon, the purpose of this is for a last resort in a battle. From the back, the six sheathed beams swords constitute the skirt armor of [Exelhion]. The two [Sphare] engines mounted sideways on both the shoulders are a new technology exclusive only to [Phantom Task]. The [Sphare] engine creates and manipulates plasma particles;the plasma particles that the [Sphare] engine produces envelop [Exelhion] entirely. This provides added protection and is vital in activating the [Quasar] and [Nexus] special ability of the engines.
"Let's ride [Exelhion]!"
Chisaya declared as her IS unleashed violent sapphire rings.
Sqaull and Autumn looked in awe but their attention was snatched back when the holographic projector revealed the second IS.
[New variant Infinite Stratos Unit 4, the [Zerstörung]. This unit is a speed type and a power type IS that relies on its speed and brute force to overcome its enemies. Its special feature is its [Heavy Particle Disruptor Engine] which releases a vast amounts of [Override Variable Particles] which can be utilized as a speed enhancer that allows [Zerstörung] to accomplish high speed movements or severely disrupt enemy radars and sensors, it is also able to create an extremely tough particle shield capable of absorbing a lot of punishment. Its weapons are two heavy beam swords [Klinge], mounted on the hips.[Zerstörung] has twelve multi-purpose BITS mounted on its back, six of the BITS are mobile beam cannons that can fire high powered beams, the other six are mobile daggers capable of cloaking themselves pass enemy radar and can pierce enemy shields and barriers. In conjunction, the BITS can create high focused mega beams by combining with each other and in the same time increasing their speed and cloaking ability. The [Zerstörung] is piloted by Yuuko Orimura.]
[Zerstörung] has a pure dark scarlet armor with a lot of spikes in contrast to [Exelhion]. Its shoulder plates that resemble the shoulder guards of samurai warriors are more pronounced that extends a little to the side. It also has less bulky armor, the arm armor was less thicker that it resembles a gauntlet that has a spikey exterior and a long spike at the elbows, the fingers are also abnormally long like the [Exelhion]. The leg armor has spikes that lines the side and a claw-like spike mounted on the knees meant for CQC. The feet are also made to be abnormally long and talon-like due to its functions. The twelve BITS are mounted at the back of the IS which encloses the [Heavy Particle Disruptor Engine]. The BITS are positioned in a circular manner, like the petals of a flower. But when in battle the BITS fly off and circle the back of [Zerstörung]. The [Heavy Particle Disruptor Engine] mounted on the back of [Zerstörung] which functions as the main thruster and also a special weapons is another breakthrough of the [Phantom Task] in IS technology. The [Heavy Particle Disruptor Engine] generates sub-atomic particles called [Override Variable Particles] that can penetrate through energy or physical barriers and disrupt the sensors of their enemies.
Yuuko pulled out one of her beam swords as [Zerstörung] unleashed a stream of crimson particles.
"Destroy them, [Zerstörung]."
Yuuko and her IS glowed like a red torch.
[New variant Infinite Stratos Unit 3, the [Yasha]. The [Yasha] is an agile assassin IS that solely engages in close combat. Its unique feature is its [Quadruple Cyclone Drive] that allows [Yasha] to accelerate in different directions without stopping or delay that most IS usually suffer from. [Yasha] utilizes a different movement ability called [Ignition Surge], where the [Quadruple Cyclone Drive] releases an unstable amount of propulsion energy that can continuously boost the speed of [Yasha] in long amounts of time without any burden on its energy. The armor of [Yasha] is basically thinner than most IS but its armor BITS (2 on both shoulders, 2 on both arms, 2 on the thighs and 4 covering the thrusters) can be deployed instantly to block or even reflect incoming attacks. Its weapons are all melee-oriented, a long spear [Sky Piercer], four beam sabers stored on the back, high tension chains mounted on both hands, knee beam blades, elbow beam spikes, foot talons and two cleaving axes [Twin Tigers] hidden in the back. The [Yasha] is piloted by Saya Orimura.]
Yasha possesses the thinnest armor among its sister units, but it boast as the fastest among the five. Its armor bares resemblance to a cheongsam turned into armor. So it has no shoulder guards, less armor on the torso, it has no skirt armor but only torn cloth-like armor and slim armor parts on the hands and also on the thighs down to the feet. But the lack of armor is compensated by the armor BITS positioned around the IS's body. It has no additional thrusters but has the [Quadruple Cyclone Drive] to provide more than enough speed. The [Quadruple Cyclone Drive] is yet another breakthrough made by [Phantom Task], is mounted in the back of [Yasha]. This unique thruster can't initiate [Ignition Boost] but is able to perform [Ignition Surge], an even faster movement skill that causes no burden on the unit's energy, thus can be sustained for a long time. It weapons are stored on its back, like traditional warriors used to. [Sky Piercer] diagonally lines on the back, the twin axes are located right under the drive, and the beam sabers behind the hips are diagonally positioned.
Saya spun her [Sky Piercer].
"We'll slice you into ribbons."
[Yasha] released a stream of yellow energy.
[New variant Infinite Stratos Unit 2, the [Crystal Gale]. The [Crystal Gale] is a unique defensive type IS that possesses a number of unusual abilities and boasts the toughest defense among its sister units. Its special feature is its [Leirac Drive], an omnidirectional generator that allows the [Crystal Gale] to teleport in any location not exceeding its 50km radius limit. The [Leirac Drive] often creates a dragonfly-like wings effect whenever it is used. The [Leirac Drive]'s forte however falls on defense rather than speed since it is capable of creating a strong negation barrier known as [Stained Glass] that is able to render most attacks useless against it in exception to attacks that carry a lot of power or energy piercing capablilities. [Leirac Drive]'s most powerful ability is the [Curtain Call] where the [Crystal Gale] releases unbridled amounts of Electromagnetic waves that either pull enemy IS towards it provided they are inside the [Crystal Gale]'s teleportation range or violently push enemy IS away, by activating the [Curtain Call] the [Leirac Drive] emits a powerful EM field that stops live ammunitions and beam attacks similar to how AIC stops attacks. Its weapons are two Multi-phase energy cannons [Abyss] mounted on both shoulders, [Gearbreaker] cannons that masquerades as the [Crystal Gale]'s fingers, [Fall] two high intensity arching beam emitters located on both palms of the [Crystal Gale]. The [Crystal Gale] is piloted Misaki Orimura.]
The [Crystal Gale] boasts the toughest armor among its sister units. It has pitch black armor with two spheres that acts as shoulder guards and also houses the [Abyss] cannons. Its armor covers the entire body of its pilot, it's less slender but not bulky with the complete absence of spikes and jagged edges. The arms and legs are enlarged on purpose to effectively block off attacks if ever the enemy gets close enough or gets pass its barriers. Its [Leirac Drive] is another unique feature of this IS which is mounted on the back of the [Crystal Gaze]. This engine produces Quantum particles that allows the [Crystal Gaze] to teleport from one place to another in a flash but is effective only inside the 50km effective range of the Quantum particles.
With a silent threat, Misaki and her IS emitted a dazzling sphere of grayish energy.
[New variant Infinite Stratos Unit 1, the [Asura]. The [Asura] is a pure power type IS that can single handedly overpower any IS. Its special feature is its [Rupture Drive] that provides tremendous power to the IS and also releases a great output of energy to enhance the [Asura]'s speed. [Asura]'s defense is one of the toughest among its sister units, second only to the [Cyrstal Gale]'s. The [Asura] possesses a balanced array of weaponry; the [Mantra] a large broadsword that can cleave through IS with ease, it can be strengthened by fully activating the [Rupture Drive] and will turn into a beam broadsword, once in this state the broadsword develops amazing barrier piercing capabilities. A heavy [Siegfried] cannon stored on the back and a long beam scythe [Hell Spike]. The [Asura] is piloted by Chigusa Orimura.]
The [Asura] is the top unit among its sister units in terms of brute force. It resembles the [Byakushiki Setsura] but has a darker bluish color instead of white and the wing thrusters behind are in the shape of large bat wings. The skirt armor is consisted of eight feather-like plates. The [Rupture Drive] is mounted on the back of both shoulders that looks like two spikes on its back. The [Rapture Drive], unlike the special core engines of its sister units focuses its effects in strengthening [Asura], it circulates energy throughout the [Asura] to increase its already impressive strength.
Chigusa pulled out her broadsword and [Asura] unleashed a burst of purple particles.
The introduction finished, Squall and Autumn could not even begin to believe that [Phantom Task] was capable of such feats in IS creations, they just beaten the countries that entered the IS race.
"No need to be that dazzled, you haven't seen what those IS units can really do."
The hooded figure interrupted the daze of the two women.
"What do you mean by that leader?"
Autumn carefully said her words.
The hooded figure let out a small demonic chuckle.
"You know of course that the power of an IS depends on its synchronization with its pilot right?"
"Y-yes."
Autumn became nervous as she was now exchanging words with the deadliest person in [Phantom Task], if she's not careful of her words, there's no telling what may happen to her.
"Those five have already surpassed the maximum rate of synchronization with the IS, so….."
Their leader said with a lot of mischief in its voice.
"They have surpassed their current limits."
Autumn answered carefully.
"Very smart, so take a good look at their battle right now so you can see glimpses of their true capacity. If you're lucky you might even see their [One-Off Ability]."
Squall and Autumn are now curious and a little bit excited to see the special abilities of these powerful IS.
Above, the five IS units released a lot of particles, the air was almost clouded by the different glows of the energies the five IS have released. The atmosphere was already crackling as the particles became unstable, varied colors flared on the air as their respective IS started to concentrate more energy.
"…."
"…."
"…."
"…."
"…."
Chigusa, Chisaya, Yuuko, Saya and Misaki stared at each other for a while, their eyes glowed intensely as they lost all traces of humanity and then their auras flared like a raging wild fire.
(CLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH)
Chigusa swung her broadsword and a giant shockwave erupted. The other four flew in different directions to evade the giant wave from pulverizing them.
"Always the first to strike."
Chisaya appeared behind Chigusa and fired a relentless rain of energy arrows. Chigusa used her wide broadsword as a shield from Chisaya's attacks while she sped towards her.
"Heh!"
When she got close enough she spun and aimed an overhead smash on Chisaya, but the latter pulled out one of her [Aurora] beam sabers and effectively block the extremely damaging attack. The clash of the two weapons created a large shockwave in the air. The two got stuck in a deadlock but was forced to disengage from each other when a rain of high powered beams came flying from below.
"Don't hog all the fun!"
Yuuko accelerated up and used [Ignition boost] to separate the two. She then pulled out two of her beam swords and clashed with Chigusa and Chisaya.
"""AHHHHHHHHHH!"""
The three let out a battle cry as they their inhuman three way duel commenced. Chigusa made a 360 turning slash, Chisaya backed away to evade the attack and aimed her energy bow at Chigusa. But before she can release her attacks, six daggers BITS appeared behind her, ready to stab her to clean. But luckily she cartwheeled to the side and completely avoided them, but now the BITS are headed to Chigusa.
"Troublesome things!"
Chigusa pulled her [Hell Spike] and spun it like a blender and deflected the dagger BITS away. She then lunged at Yuuko and threw a vicious swing at her. But the dagger BITS quickly appeared to block the massive broadsword.
"Two birds, one shot."
Chisaya appeared above Chigusa and Yuuko as she released an unusually large energy arrow. But the arrow was intercepted by a huge tornado coming from above. As the two attacks collided a wide burst of energy erupted in mid-air. From above Saya came speeding down with her [Sky Piercer].
"Hahahahahahahaha!"
She then activated her [Ignition Surge] and literally vanished due to her now abnormal speed. Soon yellow glowing chains appeared out of nowhere slicing the very air.
"Tch!"
Yuuko deployed her cannon BITS and fired at the nearly invisible attacks. She was able to hit some of them but many soon started to hit her.
"Annoying…"
Yuuko's IS released a huge burst of [Override Variable Particles] that nearly covered the entire sky above the island. Saya was no longer hidden since the movements she makes are now being revealed by the mist.
"There you are!"
Yuuko BITS combined into a huge cannon and fired a focused beam at Saya.
"Heh! Not bad!"
Saya evaded the massive beam effortlessly she spun her spear and descend down on Yuuko while spinning. Yuuko took the challenge as she readied her beam swords and speed up towards Saya.
(WOOOOOOSH)
A fast moving star-like weapon flew between Yuuko and Saya effectively stopping the two from clashing, soon the weapon returned like boomerang to its owner, Chisaya. She then fired a flurry of arrows on both.
"""Hmph!"""
Yuuko erected her particle barrier while Saya spun her spear to deflect the relentless attacks. Chisaya could keep this for a long while but Chisaya stopped her barrage and flew upward to elude two grayish massive beams.
"Keh!"
Misaki then appeared in a flash behind Chisaya.
"Die."
With an emotionless voice, Misaki held her open palm and it aimed at Chisaya and in just a flash an invisible force pushed Chisaya down. And it would have dealt a lot of damage, luckily Chisaya activated her [Nexus] barrier to absorb most of the attack's power.
"Guh!"
The ground below was also pushed down and a narrow crater appeared. A massive smoke cloud covered the impact site, luckily this battle took place far from their conference hall but the battle didn't go without any casualties, two armories and a lot of equipment were lost in this skirmish. Misaki stared down on the ground but suddenly activated the [Stained Glass] just in time to block Chigusa's downward smash.
"It's pointless."
Misaki glared at Chigusa but the latter just smiled as the broadsword started piercing through the widened her eyes in shock.
"No barrier can hold me down."
Chigusa pressed down her broadsword while Misaki intensified her negation barrier. But this deadlock didn't last as the other three flew out of the smoke and lunged towards Chigusa and Misaki.
"""""DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"""""
The five screamed in the same time.
Meanwhile back in the ruined conference hall.
"The base will be torn apart if this keeps up."
Squall said with a lot of worry.
Their leader, who barely even cares for the destruction the five women were causing, just sipped tea while thinking of something else. But soon the hooded figure placed the tea and said…..
"I think they had enough fun for today."
Squall and Autumn literally lost consciousness when the massive and extremely evil aura erupted from their leader. The two didn't see the robes flying off as an IS emerged and flew towards the battle. Back in the air, the five was ready for another clash but stopped in their tracks when a black IS with 12 white orbs circling it appeared in the middle of the battle.
"…."
"…."
"…."
"…."
"…."
They weren't able to back away fast as the black IS materialized a giant black folding fan and swung it around in a circle.
(ZIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWW!)
A giant black ring erupted on the sky and soon the [Asura], [Crystal Gale], [Yasha], [Zerstörung] and the [Exelhion] crashed down to the ground.
(CRAAAAAAAAAASSSSSHHHHHHHH)
The five IS crash on the ground. But the pilots weren't knocked out but they stayed down for a while as they thought of something.
(The leader actually stood up from her seat.)
Chigusa smiled while recovering.
(This is rare.)
Chisaya was somehow astonished that their leader actually stood up and did something to stop them personally.
(Uh oh, the leader might be angry.)
Saya became a bit wary.
(This is unexpected, the leader isn't going to do things like this unless…)
Yuuko smiled wryly as slowly got up.
(….)
Misaki remained silent.
The pilots then slowly got up and dematerialized their IS because they get why their leader did that. The time for playing is over.
"We're sorry we got carried away."
Misaki apologetically lowered her head as their leader quietly landed on the ground.
"Once in a while isn't bad."
Saya stood up and stretched her slender body.
Chisaya, Yuuko and Chigusa merely kept quiet but the smile of satisfaction for having been able to fight all-out once again was plastered on their beautiful faces.
"Now that all of you are have relieved yourselves of your frustrations, rest up because soon you will visit him again."
The five women grinned upon hearing the words of their leader.
(Scene Change)
(Knock) (Knock) (Knock)
Ichika was sitting on his bed while contemplating about the attack that happened days ago when the knocking on the door snapped him out of his daze.
"Uh, hang on a minute!"
Ichika hurriedly stood up and went to the door.
(Who could it be, it's 11:34pm already.)
Ichika opened the door and what greeted him is a tall brunette wearing a white corporate attire like what his sister wears.
"Uh?"
Ichika stared at the brunette from top to bottom. But soon his eyes glued themselves on the brunette's legs.
"Ichika-san?"
The brunette was revealed to be Satella Montgomery Hansenberg, the current head of the international IS organization.
"Sorry for coming here in your room in a late hour. I know you're just got out of the infirmary 5 hours ago, but I have something important to tell you."
"Ah…anyway what brings you here S-Satella-san?"
The poor boy stuttered in his words.
"I haven't left Japan yet, because I still have work here and I heard about what happened to you so I came here to check up on you."
Satella waited for Ichika to reply, but the boy seemed to have his eyes locked on her stockings.
"Are my legs really that stimulating?"
Satella said with a lot of naughtiness in her mature voice. The situation finally sank in Ichika's consciousness and the dazed boy typically went into a denial panic mode.
"W-Wait it's not what you think, I w-w-was j-just looking at some mosquitoes on your legs…."
Ichika just thought realized he just said something that made his situation worse.
(I'm dead she's definitely thinking that I'm looking for excuses to look at her legs.)
Ichika wished he had a blade right now; this would be a good time to commit seppuku.
"Now, now you silly boy, don't commit suicide here."
Satella smiled mischievously at the boy.
(What the hell is with this women telepathy and she just read my mind accurately.)
Ichika just dropped his shoulders in defeat to this extremely accurate insight of women around him.
"Anyway, please come in."
Ichika led Satella inside his room but he soon realized the situation he's in and couldn't help but blush.
"Ichika-san, it's about the attack. I hope its okay to discuss this now."
Satella smiled at Ichika but the boy seemed to have lost his smile as the memories came back to him.
"It's alright."
Ichika said weakly almost without emotion. Satella became a little worried at Ichika's sudden change in reaction.
"Ichika-san you don't have to force yourself if you feel that you still don't want to talk about it."
Satella smiled at the depressed Ichika.
"Ah, it not that, I just feel…"
Ichika fell silent as the scenes of the battle returned to him especially the face of the pilot.
"Ichika-san?"
Ichika looked and saw Satella's face really close to him. His depression suddenly disappeared and was replaced by blushing and embarrassment.
"S-Satella-san you're too close."
"It's alright, Ichika-san."
Satella's face up close started to do weird things to Ichika's. He unconsciously started imagining some scenes in his head and his face blushed really hard. Ichika's eyes wandered down and saw Satella ample breast.
(This is too stimulating.)
"Ufufufufufufufufu!"
Satella giggled softly on seeing Ichika embarrassed reaction.
"You're very innocent, aren't you Ichika-san."
Ichika just gulped down when Satella made a cute smile.
"A-Anyway, do you want me to prepare tea for you."
Ichika turned away while still blushing.
"Sure, I'll leave it to you Ichika-san."
Satella sat on Ichika's bed while Ichika went to prepare the tea. Soon Ichika came with the tea and sat on the bedside.
"Here Satella-san."
Ichika gave the tea to Satella.
"Oh, thank you Ichika-san. You didn't put any drug here did you?"
Satella mischievously smiled at Ichika.
"I wouldn't do that!"
Ichika was flustered and Satella found the side of Ichika to be extremely cute.
"Ufufufufufu! You're so cute Ichika-san!"
Satella smiled cutely at Ichika.
(Women are very dangerous.)
Ichika had this thought in his mind as his face became even redder and started to heat up.
"To change the topic, we have information about the group that plotted this."
Satella turned serious in an instant.
"[Phantom Task] isn't it?"
Ichika lost the blush in his face and quickly became serious.
"Yes, the International IS authority made an extensive investigation of this incident and hopefully soon the answers will come."
Ichika thought of something, the pilot.
"Do you have any information regarding the pilot?"
Ichika asked in a nearly emotionless tone.
"No we don't, [Phantom Task] is careful not to reveal their best assets."
"What about the machine she was piloting?"
"We also have no information regarding the IS, but the technology used on it is way more advanced than the current technology today."
Ichika thought of someone.
(Tabane-nee. She wouldn't do that; she wouldn't provide her technology to those people. I know her.)
Ichika's grip on the cup he was holding tightened and Satella noticed this quickly.
"Ichika, do you think they are still after your IS?"
Satella asked now with a serious expression on her face.
"….."
Ichika remembered what she said, what Yuuko said. Her words still rang in Ichika's mind.
Satella knew she was pushing Ichika, so she decided to just drop this topic for now and let the poor 16 year old rest.
"Maybe we can continue this for another day; I know you're tired so you should rest now Ichika-san."
Satella put up a smile to uplift the heavy atmosphere between him and Ichika.
"Are you going already then I-"
Ichika felt all his strength left him; he started staggering and soon momentarily lost consciousness.
"What…happened?"
Ichika became conscious again after fainting.
(What is this soft feeling, wait maybe I'm in my bed? But my bed isn't this soft and its warm too and seem to be breathing. Huh?)
"Uhm…..Ichika-san are you alright?"
"I'm just feeling a little dizzy right now but I'll be alright."
Ichika answered without any idea of the situation right now but a few seconds later he finally notices.
"HUH!"
Ichika stood up in an instant and noticed that he is now pinning down Satella. When he felt dizzy Satella tried to catch him but Ichika's weight fell down on her so quickly she lost balance and got pinned down by Ichika. Now here is their current situation, Ichika is straddling her waist and he was tightly clasping her wrist.
(Okay seriously, must get off of her right now.)
He wanted to dismount her but his body isn't with him right now.
"I'm happy that you're okay, are you still feeling dizzy?"
Satella blushed slightly at their position.
"Ichika-san?"
Ichika wasn't able to reply because his mind was still jumbled up by this sudden development. But things are just about to get worse for Ichika.
"Care explaining the situation here."
The two didn't notice that Chifuyu has entered the room together with Satella's bodyguards.
"Now we know why Miss Satella so eager to come here."
One of Satella's blonde bodyguards mischievously said the other stared at the two with suggestive stares. But Chifuyu wasn't the least bit amused as her eyes flared with anger.
"I hope you have a good explanation for this Orimura."
Chifuyu's stare intensified by 99999%.
(Too bad I didn't have casket ordered.)
Ichika tought as he turned white.
