AN: I am currently making a replica of the Stormslayer Susanowo (which, small but not unexpected spoiler: will be fighting in this chapter) to the best of my abilities! I'm not an incredibly advanced modeler, but I will do my best to finish it soon and post a video of it on my YouTube channel, please look forward to it! Subscribe now! XD
Begin
"Mao-dono. Good morning. Did you sleep well?"
"As well as I could." the Kyoto resident smiled cheerily. "And you, Kas-Al-han?"
"Well enough." The reluctant cosplayer glanced at a very sick Ricardo Fellini, the Italian dandy and representative of Italy who was suffering a bad case of a hangover. "Who is this unsightly drunkard?"
Mao choked back a laugh.
"Who you calling a drunk, brat?" Fellini glared at the Arian grumpily.
Even when hung over, he had his pride.
"You obviously have not glanced at a reflective surface this morning. You're so hung-over that I smell the alcohol over your perfume."
"It's cologne! Urp!"
Kas-Al eyed the man distastefully.
"Point proven."
"Ano… that's Ricardo Fellini, the Italian representative and a tournament veteran. He helped Reiji-han train for the World Tournament." Mao told the knight.
"...I hope he was sober."
"I WAS! URPPPP!"
Kirara, the Gunpla Idol, who was the tournaments image character that year, announced that the first round of the tournament would be a four-player knockout match. Last fighter standing would walk away with four points and the last to fall would gain one point.
This suited the Arian just fine.
He looked around.
Sei and Reiji were missing.
He hoped that they weren't oversleeping.
If they did, they'd have to learn to keep track of time for themselves. They were old enough that he shouldn't have to hold their hands for this.
Kas-Al didn't pay attention to most of the fights, only paying attention to anyone that seemed that they would provide a challenge. He was in the very last set of four and according to Mao none of his enemies would be particularly note-worthy.
The French and Russian representatives that he had talked to the night before got through easily enough, as did Mao who didn't even need to use his satellite cannon. The purple Abigorbine, the gunpla of the Thai representative Luang Dallara caught his eye though as it defeated its enemies with minimal movements and brutal hand to hand combat, going as far as to rip the cockpit out of a modified Zaku II with one smooth strike of its hand.
Fellini managed to impress Kas-Al in the end, as he fought with amazingly smooth and elegant piloting skills. Though a bit on the flashy side, the Italian's Wing Gundam Fenice, the only asymmetric gunpla in the World Tournament suited the flamboyant man's flashy swordplay well.
Kas-Al still thought him a drunk, though.
It was the match after his that caught his eye the most, however.
The Finnish representative Aila Jyrkiainen, who had apparently defeated the previous world champion, Carlos Kaiser, to qualify for the World Tournament. Her original Quebeley Papillion spread its wide shoulder armor as her opponents seemed to be obliterated by an invisible force.
His eyes had caught the glimpse of tiny clear funnels that had simply gotten really close to the enemy gunpla before firing at point blank range to minimize the beam flare which would not be seen in the following explosion which would also destroy them, making them untraceable.
Kas-Al smiled.
He had the perfect counter already in his Susanowo's systems, although he knew she would be no pushover regardless.
The announcers chattered in amazed tones as they were unable to explain the phenomena that had occurred before them, the crowd cheering like mad.
Though not as much as expected from such an overwhelming victory.
Flashy battles were a bit of a staple of Gunpla fighting, after all.
However the next set of four would include the Sei and Reiji duo and the two were still nowhere to be seen.
Kas-Al sighed.
Perhaps he should have woken the boys up?
"...the Chinese representative Chang Xiao Ping! After them is, representing the Kanto region of Japan, Iori Sei and Reiji the Japanese 3rd block representatives!"
There was a tense ten seconds before the screen showed the two boys running for their lives, following a tournament assistant.
"Finally, they show up! They're very late! Five more seconds and they would have had to suffer an embarrassing forfeit for their first match!"
Kas-Al wasn't sure whether to sigh in relief or berate Reiji, who was likely the cause of the duo's lateness if his embarrassed smile was any indication.
Fellini, who had finally sobered up, couldn't help but laugh.
"Jeez, this is what I was talking about! You should have gone to bed early!" Sei panted out as Reiji set down the GP Base.
"Just set the Gunpla! Hurry!"
Iori pulled out a beautiful original Strike that looked like the old Build strike with a new booster unit, rifle, and shield, though the last two were reminiscent of its previous loadout.
"So that's Iori Sei's gunpla, huh?" Fellini grinned. "It looks strong."
"I can tell!" Mao excitedly leaned closer to the screen, "Though it looks the same, it's completely different!"
The screen showed the data for the four fighters as well as their gunpla for a few seconds before the match began.
"GAT-X105B/ST Star Build Strike, huh? Interesting." Kas-Al grinned.
Sei finished the OS boot up and smiled with excitement.
"Reiji, it's done. Let's go!"
"Okay!"
"Battle Start!" The Gunpla Battle machine declared systematically.
"Star Build Strike!" Sei cried.
"Here we go!" Reiji finished as the white gunpla shot through into the field.
The Strike did a barrel roll to avoid an asteroid before shooting forwards into the space field.
A Zaku F2000 piloted by the Chinese rep spotted them, following intently to strike the white gunpla down.
"Take this!" the pilot fired a set of three missiles from the shoulder pod, only for the white gunpla to evade two and shoot the third one down with its powerful star beam rifle.
At that moment an artillery based Strike Noire snuck up from behind with an original beam bazooka as it fired at the Star Build Strike.
The white gunpla brought up a shield to attempt to block the beam which would have overcome it, but the yellow particle beam suddenly flashed blue as it was erased from existence.
This caught the attention of every competitor in the tournament.
As the other representatives expressed their shock, the battle continued as a red Geymalk fired a hyper mega particle gun stored in its torso at the Strike Noir's rifle, the blinding beam blowing up the heavy weapon and sending the Strike Noire flying with a moderately damaged right arm.
The beam continued onwards to the Star Build Strike as the same phenomena happened again, the yellow light fluttering and fraying as it ceased to exist.
Attentive eyes would reveal at a camera close up that the shield had opened and close with the beam.
"Absorption? I see… he took it a different route than I. How interesting." Kas-Al smiled, muttering softly to himself.
Though his was more of accelerated infusion.
"I knew it was new equipment!" Mao grinned excitedly, hands balled into fists.
Fellini smirked.
"They've sure amazed us." he said, gears turning in his head.
The green and gold custom painted Super Zaku F2000 chased the Star Build Strike intent on the prestige of shooting it down, only for Reiji to strafe behind a large asteroid and come out in a different direction than expected, sinking a beam rifle shot into the cockpit from the gap between the helmet and torso armor.
The crowd went wild as the announcer declared the defeat of the Zaku F2000.
The red Geymalk's pilot, the representative from Monaco let loose its two Mother Funnels which dropped fourteen Child funnels each, as she skillfully commanded the smaller Child Funnels to shoot at her remaining two foes.
The Strike Noire made a valiant effort, but the pilot was not skilled enough to compete against the small, yet powerful weapons as he was quickly shut down, his shield unable to save him from destruction.
The Star Build Strike on the other hand evaded the shots skillfully, but was slowly being overrun now that the Strike Noire wasn't there to split attention from it.
Reiji growled as he shot down the odd funnel here and there, but nowhere near quickly enough.
"This is never-ending! Dammit! Sei, how's the charging?"
"The converting's just completed. We are at a hundred, ready at full power. Punch it, Reiji!"
"Finally! Discharging!"
He opened up the special weapon slots and selected the Discharge: Speed Mode.
With that the clear red pieces on the Star Build Strike's Universe Booster began to glow before emitting a wave of Plavsky Particles before creating four three cornered 'stars' of yellow light that formed a gate, the opening holding a massive amount of glittering Plavsky Particles.
The Star Build Strike flew into the Universe Gate, the particles clinging around the portion where the Universe Booster connected to the torso's shoulders like a cape before it rippled and blasted outward forming Plavsky Particle wings.
"The wings of the North Star Emperor…" Kas-Al's eyes widened in shock.
How had Sei pulled that one off?!
The weapon of the untouchable spirit of the Arian mythos! Did Reiji even know what a legendary event Sei had triggered?!
Kas-Al shook his head as the Star Build Strike flew through the swarm of Child Funnels, the residue particles causing the weaker plastic to overload and disintegrate.
The Geymalk's pilot grimaced as she fired off with the Mother Funnels, twenty eight beams of light twisting and bending and chasing like a complex, six dimensional game of snake, trying to hit the white gunpla that just blurred about as if the beams moved in slow motion.
To think Reiji's affinity with the Fay Tears were so high that he could so easily pilot the gunpla that had reached the pinnacle of what could only be called offensive speed magic…
The knight bit his lip as his pupils dilated, his blood calling out to go fight and crush the Star Build Strike. He bit down hard enough to draw blood, almost piercing his lip as warm crimson liquid ran down his chin.
The Star Build Strike almost lazily pumped two shots into the Mother Funnels before weaving through all of the powerful shots from the panicking Geymalk's pilot.
It only took one from Reiji to finish her off.
Kas-Al quickly covered his mouth as he used the Fays Tear to quickly regenerate the damaged tissue, breathing deeply as he calmed himself.
He only had to wait one more round before he could fight.
If he could hold in that bloodlust everything would be fine.
He knew one thing though.
He could never report this to the King of Arian.
Though a man of justice, he was still a king and would not hesitate to use Sei to unlock the powers of the Fay Tears to increase the powers of the Arian militia and knights for the good of his people.
He would never betray his friends like that.
Not now and not ever.
The buzzer rang as the female announcer spoke.
"The winners of match thirteen are, Iori Sei and Reiji, representing Japan's 3rd block."
The duo looked at each other with beaming smiles before exchanging high fives.
"Sei-han! Reiji-han! Congratulations! That was astounding! Truly amazing!" Mao gushed as the duo walked into the waiting room, not noticing the wary glances shot their way.
"Thank you!" Sei grinned, still hyped up from the high of victory.
"Sorry for missing your matches." Reiji apologized, "We'll look at them later, we promise."
"You haven't missed everything." Fellini smiled. "Your rude chibi friend is in the final round and PPSE's works team is up next."
Kas-Al was too worked up to retort and although under normal circumstances the others would have noticed his strange lack of response, they were too antsy to realize something was strange with the Knight-Captain.
"PPSE?" Reiji had a confused look on his face.
"The creators of the Gunpla Battle system, my liege."
And the company in charge of the Plavsky Particles, the knight noted in his thoughts.
"They're the ones that know the most about the Plavsky Particle." Mao continued before recalling the Sinanju Armoire's reaction with the particles from the fight by at the beach inn. "Probably."
"And the one piloting their gunpla is the Meijin." Fellini turned to the screen. "The third generation Meijin Kawaguchi."
"Third generation?" Kas-Al asked in confusion.
"Meijin…" Sei's eyes were glued to the screen.
"...Kawaguchi?" Reiji finished.
Yuuki Tatsuya was dressed in a blue PPSE battle costume with matching high-tech sunglasses mask, his hair pulled back, which he only did for gunpla battles.
"But that's…"
"It is…"
"Yuuki-sempai… but what's he doing here?"
Kawaguchi approached the battle system with powerful strides before turning to the camera with a stance of absolute confidence and victory.
The announcer gave some information about the Meijin in the shameless self-advertising ways PPSE was known for before Meijin Kawaguchi turned to the battle system and set down his GP Base.
His supporter and the designer and builder of the PPSE gunpla, Allan Adams smiled at the Meijin, handing him his gunpla.
"The Kampfer Amazing, an accumulation of all the data and knowledge of PPSE's works team. This is its first battle so let's show them how 'Amazing' it is, Meijin."
The third Meijin sighed.
"You've been waiting for days to say that, haven't you?"
"Weeks." Allen replied with a small smirk, getting into position. "I'm hoping for battle results worthy of the Meijin's title."
"Then there is no need to hope." Mejin Kawaguchi stated, setting down his gunpla. "For a Meijin… victory is just the absolute minimum requirement."
The blond man smirked at hearing that.
The Kampfer's eyecam glinted with a powerful, deep pink as it launched into the tundra stage, its thrust kicking up the powdery snow.
A blue F91 Harrison Martin custom was the first to spot the original version of the Kampfer.
"I don't care if you're on the works team or not!" the pilot, a male representative from one of the smaller eastern European countries, roared as he fired his beam rifle.
The Kampfer glided to the side, eyecam glowing and leaving a trail in the air before it came to a powerful and almost immediate stop, raising its rifle to take aim at the F91 which raised its beam shield and when not fired upon it was emboldened, dropping altitude as well as the shield to fire again.
It was what the Meijin had expected as it simply hopped out of the way and countering it with its own rifle's powerful green beam, shutting the machine down as its momentum carried it beyond the dark navy Zeon mobile suit, exploding into a stack of fire and smoke.
A GM Cold Districts Type arrived to see the F91 get downed as it drew a beam saber, about to charge in for melee combat, only to be surprised by the Kampfer to dash out of the smoke, a heat combat knife, aka Amazing Knife, burying itself in the GM's head causing a systems failure.
The Kampfer Amazing took a step back removing the blade and fired twice with its rifle, leaving almost nothing left of its torso.
A lavender painted GN-X oversaw this with a sense of fear, before the fighter threw all caution to the wind detaching its GN rifle's long barrel attachment for rapid fire capabilities only to be shot down before any of its shots could even hit the snow.
The battle system ended the match.
The viewers went wild with the Meijin's skill as they roared out with praises and cheering.
"That was absolute perfection!" Allan laughed, getting a nod from the Mejin.
In waiting room B, Mao stared intently at the screen in surprise.
"His strength is like a monsters." he jokes weakly.
"He fights as if he only cares about being the champion." Fellini rubbed his stubbly chin with excitement, "Reiji, how would you…"
"My liege and Sei-dono left as soon as the match ended."
"Huh? Why?"
Mao turned to the closing door.
"Reiji-han! Sei-han! Where are you going?!" he cried out to deaf ears.
"It can't be helped." Kas-Al stated as he turned to leave as well. "I do not presume to know what the title Meijin entails, but that man was also once Yuuki Tatsuya, Sei-dono's friend and Reiji's rival."
As Kas-Al left to head for the stage for his first fight of the World Tournament, Fellini sat back and laughed.
"The Crimson Comet, huh? Hope he doesn't mind you seemingly take the wind out of his old title, phantom-kun."
"This will be the final round of the first period of the Seventh Gunpla Battle World Tournament. Now presenting your fighters. Presenting the Irish representative, Jason McDougal, the Celtic Bezerker and his gunpla, the MSM-08 Zogok. Presenting the Dutch representative, Amalia Bosbrouwer, no title, and her gunpla, NZ-666 Kshatriya custom, the Kshatriya Hailflower. Presenting the Nigerian representative, Christos Eze, the Big Sun, and his gunpla, the XMXG-01SRX3 Sandrock Crossbone. And lastly representing Japan's fourth block, Kas-Al Biaggi, the Red Phantom of Zeon, and his gunpla, the GNAK-Y903FT Stormslayer Susanowo."
"Please set your GP Base." the machine intoned.
"Beginning Plavsky Particle dispersal."
Kas-Al rolled his neck and cracked his knuckles.
If he had to wait any longer he might just go crazy.
"Field 5: City. Please set your gunpla."
Mao watched from his seat with serious and focused attention.
"As I thought. His second gunpla was a custom Susanowo after all, judging from the changes to the model type and number, I can tell it's got original parts and changes to it."
The screen showed the four reps place their gunpla down, a beautifully made Zogok with additional armor and thrusters, a Kshatriya with an ice blue paintjob with an original design for the four funnel holding 'wings', X-3 Crossbone with Sandrock limbs and both machine's weapons, and Kas-Al's hybrid Susanowo/Brave with original armor changes and touch-ups, painted in a metallic red with black accents, the white portions of the original Susanowo as it was.
"Is that… the Brave's two GN Drive Taus alongside a GN Drive?" Fellini marveled. "How did he get that to work without the gunpla overloading? Interesting…"
"Battle start."
"Kas-Al Biaggi! Stormslayer Susanowo! FOR THE GLORY OF HOUSE ASUNA!"
The crimson and black gunpla shot forward, flying faster than the launch pad from a standing stance.
"What the! WHAT SPEED!" the announcer yelled in excitement as the Susanowo weaved through the many skyscrapers without losing speed. "What mobility! Are those even turns anymore?!"
Mao gaped, eyes wide.
"...How… the GN-Drives… that can't be a Tau! Those particles are green!"
"Could it be… a triple GN-Drive system… on such a small machine?" Fellini did not realize that he had risen to his feet.
The Sandrock Crossbone was the first to spot the angry red machine.
"Sorry, little boy. But you're going home to your mommy!" the Nigerian representative declared, twin swords raised.
Suddenly it found itself without arms and legs.
"WHAT?!" the pilot gasped.
The Susanowo grabbed the signature Crossbone thruster back-back before tearing it off with one arm, the other firmly grasping the back of the Sandrock Crossbone's helmet.
"Funnels! I'm taking the both of you out!"
The Dutch representative had appeared, firing off funnels from her ice-like wing binders.
The Susanowo suddenly burst with light as the black reddened; the red glowed, wispy trails of crimson orange-gold Plavsky Particles wafted off of it, the white turned a glossy reddish pink.
And shot forward with the large body of the Crossbone still in hand, a crimson streak, even faster than before, even with the additional weight crashing through the launching funnels and used the remains of the gunpla of the 'Big Sun' as a giant hammer at the wing binder's weaker connecting joints, tearing them off the Kshatriya Hailflower.
"TRANS-AMMMMMMMMMMM! AND WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT SPEED?! NOT ONLY THAT, BUT IT APPEARS TO HAVE NOT JUST ONE, NOT EVEN THE POWERFUL TWO, BUT AN UNPRECEDENTED THREE GN-DRIVES! Look at the green GN trail! That isn't a Tau drive! This is incredible!"
"Monster!" the female Dutchwoman cried out as she tried to gain grown by backing up.
Crashing into an unmoving object.
Quickly she turned her gunpla about, thinking that she had accidently crashed into a building to find that the Stormslayer Susanowo in all its Trans-Am glory
"How?!"
She turned again to see the Susanowo also where it had destroyed two of her wing binders.
Her alert system sounded again as the Susanowo behind her shattered the wing-binders directly, spearing the giant shield wings with its bare hands and grabbing the Kshatriya's right arm, crushing it with sheer hand pressure.
"No! Get back!"
And the Susanowo melted into orange-gold particles, the wing binders crashing to the ground.
"What? I don't-"
She was interrupted as a shot from the modified Brave Commander's GN-Rifle from the Susanowo floating above it melted the entirety of its upper torso, the Trans-Am quadrupling the rifle's already powerful output.
The Irish representative shook in fear.
Right as he was about to declare his forfeit, the Susanowo seemed to teleport, appearing upside-down in front of the Zogok.
He let out a squeal of fear as he backed up, only to be stopped by another Susanowo that grasped the gunpla's backpack and not budging an inch.
Two more Susanowo seemed to blur into existence, surrounding the Zogok from all sides.
As one held the struggling gunpla in place the other three drew their right arms back, the orange-gold light of the Fay Tear derivative Plavsky Particles drew into the right hands, each of them straightening into a spear hand and a decorative dragon head appeared to form over it, the eyes shining a deep purple as it gazed at the Zogok with a hungry growl.
"You're not the only one… who reached one of the Fay Tear's pinnacles… SEI-DONO!
Kas-Al's smile was absolutely blood thirsty, his vision red and blurred from adrenaline.
"Taste the power of Tas-Ur Tiazam, the spirit of infinity! The original lanceman! And his light-splitting dragon-lance, LAKSUR KAOCHU!"
As the three hands shot forward, the arena was engulfed in light and the battle machine called out the end of the match. The light died down and the crowd could catch a glimpse of the devastation right before the machine cut off the flow of Plavsky Particles.
"...The only place with buildings left were the edges of the field…" Fellini gasped.
"...As I thought… Kas-Al-han… he knows something about the Plavsky Particle that only the Second Mejin knew…" Mao gripped his hands hard.
The crowd's cheers shook the stadium, the announcer unable to make his voice heard over the commotion.
Kas-Al picked up his GP Base and gunpla before leaving the stage.
As he walked back to the waiting room he collapsed in an empty hallway, gasping for air.
"I pushed that too far." he chuckled darkly as he looked at his Susanowo.
There was a crackling noise as the right arm crumbled into plastic dust.
"So it needs to be much higher quality if I want to use that more than once… dammit… after I finally managed to make the frame be able to handle Tiazam's power…"
He winced as he put the gunpla away into his case, holding his left arm.
"Tsk. I have to wash up first." he muttered as he headed into a nearby bathroom, a trail of blood dripping from his right arm. "I can't do anything about the backlash still… And here I thought I had fixed that problem at the very least.
He was glad that although his jacket wasn't completely silver anymore, at least his sleeves were black.
He pulled off his armor and peeled back his clothing. Running warm water from the tap, he pulled a thick roll of bandages from his pockets as he dabbed at his arm with paper towels. Barely even cringing at the needles of pain that shot through his arm as he did so, he dampened more paper towels in the warm running water and dabbed at the arm before carefully drying it off, applying a salve that he always carried with him in a small container that hid inside one of his pieces of armor. Wrapping the gauze bandages around, using multiple layers as red seeped through the sterile white, he sighed in relief.
"Thine recklessness begets thee, Knight-Captain Kas-Al Biaggi."
The teen's eye widened as he turned to the bathroom door.
"...Ranger-Knight Savenne. I assume you enjoyed that display."
A platinum blonde with a short pixie-like hair cut smiled, gazing at the injured Knight-Captain with silver eyes. She was dressed in green and black clothes which clung seductively to her lithe and feline frame. Her armor was made of leather with metal crosses that criss-crossed the material, designed to stop any weapon or arrow from piercing or cutting her open and metal chainmail was discreetly sewn in to protect vital areas that the armor itself did not already protect.
"Greatly so. I was in awe as a fellow devotee of Tas-Ur Tiazam. I hath feared for an instant that thy would have reached for that power, but I was greatly pleased to see the route thy hath decided for thyself."
The boy glared as the blonde involuntarily shivered.
"I am not my father. Nor shall I ever be, no matter how much my blood calls for it."
"I understand, my lord. Thine convictions art clear to mine eyes."
Kas-Al sighed as he pulled his clothes back on and began strapping on his armor, pausing slightly as the Ranger lent him a hand.
"You should try to adapt a little more to the speech patterns of the indigenous people, Squire Savenne. Don't rangers pride themselves on their ability to blend in?"
She pouted.
"I haven't been a squire since you recommended me for knighthood, milord."
"I'm not your teacher anymore. There's no need to call me your lord."
The blonde giggled as she finished buckling the armor in, recalling how she did so for many years.
"The only other master I serve is our king, milord. Who you likely did not inform of your accomplishments. You could be a Paladin-General with what you've awakened to."
"I serve my liege. That is enough for me."
He looked at her through the mirror with serious eyes.
"So? What will you do?"
The Ranger-Knight smiled.
"I will serve thee, milord. Before the king, thy held my loyalty first, and that is true even now."
Kas-Al laughed deeply at this.
"What a terrible knight you are, Lady Savenne! Ha ha ha! However, I appreciate this. I do not wish inconvenience upon my liege or his partner, Sei-dono. Thank you, my lady." he smiled sincerely, a very rare occurrence.
"I-if thee so suddenly treat me as your equal, I find myself not knowing how to respond, my lord." the young woman blushed. "It is acceptable to refer to me as thy hath always done."
"I had no idea you were so partial to that old name."
"Savenne might be the name granted to me by the king after entering his service, but yours was my first name after saving me from the cruel streets of the Kadlien Empire, milord."
"That is true. I thank you for both your loyalty and service, Lillianne."
The blonde smiled with tinted cheeks.
Her savior looked best with a smile.
End
AN2: WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO that was fun to write.
So… NEW ARIAN and more backstory! lols. Wonder how Melinda will take the new competition?
Keep reading the Knight-Captain of Arian! Review, share, and check out my other works!
If you didn't read my first Author's Note (If you didn't realize what AN meant), I am currently working on an actual replica of the Stormslayer Sunsanowo! Once it's complete, I'll make a small video of it and post it up on my YouTube channel, so please come check it out! Or subscribe now to see it later, one or the other.
Thank you for reading!
