Ah! A new chapter again! Awesome! Now, I like to again deeply thank all of my readers and followers for supporting my story. You guys are just the inspiration I need to write this all. Also, as a special mention, RWBY VOLUME 3 IS JUST RIGHT OVER THE HORIZON! WOO-HOO! Sorry about that. I'm a huge fan of Monty's series and it was just hell to wait for the new series to arrive and I was especially saddened and depressed when Monty died (God bless him). I just hope he is in a better place. Well anyway chapter 10 is here and the next one will be the episode everyone will be waiting for (hopefully).
Special Thanks to painfulldarksoul, deathmask83, the renegade soldier, WriterAdam, Rigged Bomb and edboy4926 for their reviews. I'm grateful for it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Armored Core or Gate: Thus The JSDF Fought Here except for my own ocs.
*** 10th Episode: Friends and Hostiles***
"So let me get this straight, you are willing to pay us 15,000,000 credits if we manage to trash your new project today?" Michael Helos asks the woman with dark brown skin and long black hair that's tied in a bun whose face is currently displayed on the screen of his AC, a white and gold colored mediumweight reverse biped NEXT named Dominion.
"30,000,000 actually if you manage to end it within 10 minutes or less." The woman clarified as she adjusted the thick rimmed glasses on her face "We only need enough combat data to test the limits of its abilities so you and your friends don't have to hold anything back."
"I never thought that earning money will be this easy." Michael chuckled
The woman smirked "Don't worry. Our new project will make sure that it will be quite difficult for you. However, our company will not be held liable if you or any of your companions ever gets gravely injured in combat or even… die in the process."
In the back of his mind, Michael snorted at her statement. Sure, he and his entire squad may just be newly formed a few months ago and that they currently only have 4 members at the moment including him but at the same time, Michael was pretty confident that he and his squad can beat anything the lady could throw at them. All of Michael's fellow members have scored at least above average during combat training and some of them are actually famous on their own right. Hans Thurmond, the heavy weapons expert of their team, was a veteran LYNX pilot who survived through the Economic Wars using only his quick wit and the superb firepower of his NEXT, Fafnir, a heavyweight quad legged AC packing more firepower than most other ACs he knows. Roxwell Voss, the sniper of their team, once took down two Arms Forts that were hijacked by a group of terrorists on Mars all by himself and he did this by precisely shooting down their main weak points with the sniper rifles of his NEXT Cold Sleep. The remaining member of Michael's team and only female, Lumia Elros, was one of the few LYNXs to have reached the semi-finals of last year's NEXT combat championship tournament with her NEXT Apparition due to its extreme speed and agility in close range combat. Michael himself was no slouch in combat and he once went toe to toe against Surtr Squad's infamous leader Kagari Vermillions herself though he may have lost that battle, he made sure to at least give Kagari a very difficult time in defeating him.
"Don't worry, the only thing getting gravely injured here will be you if you don't manage to pay our checks." Michael casually replied
The woman smiled as if she was seemingly amused at his statement. "Don't worry, my employers always keep their words on the matter. You should be more worried about the foe you will be fighting against. But until then, I wish you and your friends good luck Mr. Helos."
The woman's image zooms out of his screen and Michael begins relaying the mission briefing to his companions on the comms of his NEXT.
"Alright guys, here's the short version." Michael began explaining "Our current employer wants us to test the combat abilities of their secret project and they promise to pay us 15,000,000 credits for doing so. Now, I don't know what it is but I think it might be a new NEXT model or weapon they might have recently just developed. If we could smash that thing within 10 minutes or less then they will pay us double for our efforts."
"15,000,000?!" Roxwell Voss exclaimed in surprise and disbelief "That's higher than any kind of mission reward that we have ever seen!"
"And double if we beat it in 10 minutes or less?" Lumia Elros said out loud "Man, these guys must be pretty confident if they are willing to pay that much of an amount to us."
"Even so, this smells very fishy to me." Hans Thurmond mumbled in suspicion "I mean, 15,000,000? 30,000,000? Are these guys really serious about paying that large of an amount to us?"
"Our employer's secretary told us that her boss always keeps his word on it. However, if she is lying then we can always make these guys regret double crossing us." Michael assured
"Well I hope you're right cause I still have a very bad feeling about this." Hans grumbled when the large door at the far end of the steel, hexagonal shaped testing room suddenly began sliding itself open and a single NEXT slowly stepped forth from the entrance.
"What the…" Lumia said as she squint her eyes in order to get a closer look at the image of the enemy NEXT displayed on her screen.
The enemy NEXT was a simple middleweight biped AC sporting a red and black color scheme. From its appearance, it seems to be wielding a pulse rifle in one arm and a laser blade in the other which is nothing special really since a lot of LYNXs uses such weapons. The most notable feature of this AC however, were the two oversized compartments on its back resembling a combination of thruster engines and wings.
"Begin testing!" A loud female voice announced and the eyes of the red and black NEXT glowed.
"Targets verified." The enemy AC stated in a cold, machine like voice "Commencing hostilities."
***XOXOX***
Besides the sounds of a hundreds arrows firing and the thundering crashes of a dozen boulders thrown inside the city's walls by a couple of trebuchets, the air was filled with the screams of hundreds of men charging at the city's walls with some holding up ladders on their shoulders in order to climb over the city's defenses.
"Forward everyone! This is for the glory that we all so deserved!" The leader of the brigands yelled encouragingly as dozens of his men climb one at a time on the ladders they set up on the city's walls only to be felled down, screaming as Italica's defenders threw boiling vats of hot water and oil on the attackers or perhaps kicking or chopping the ladders down before the bandits can fully climb them up.
"Push them back!" Pina shouted as she ordered Italica's defenders "We can break their momentum if we can keep this up!"
Several defenders began loading up the wall's mounted ballistas and began firing on several of the attackers' concentrated positions, accompanied by dozens of archers and crossbowmen who swiftly began picking off the heads of dozens of bandits who survive the ballistas' rounds.
Seeing that the defenders have won this round of the fight, the leader of the bandits gave his men the order to temporarily retreat in order to regroup and recuperate from their losses before they will eventually resume attacking the city once more at nightfall.
Once Pina saw the bandits temporarily retreating, she gives out an exhale of relief before calling to the rest of her knights who manage to survive the siege and telling them to rest for the moment before they will begin preparations for withstanding the brigands' final assault.
Though most of the defenders are worn out and low on morale, Pina assures them that if they manage to hold off the bandits a bit longer then the rest of her knights will arrive as reinforcements and save the entire city from the bandits' attacks. The defenders halfheartedly agreed though it is more of that they didn't have much of a choice in the matter.
***Later***
At Countess Myui's keep, Pina sighs as she allows herself to crash on the countess' luxurious sofa in order to release some of the stress she is feeling from leading the city's exhausting defense.
"Excuse me your Highness." The countess' butler politely expresses to her
"What is it?" Pina asks as her eyes stared at the ceiling above her "Do you want to surrender?"
"N-No, I was just wondering if there is some way to avoid more fighting."
"It's easy. We could just open the gates and let them in." Pina mumbled as she took a small sip of wine from the golden cup she picked up on the small table in front of her before setting it back. "In exchange, you will lose everything. Every man in the city will be killed and every woman raped. I bet even Italica's children will not be spared from what barbarous act those bandits are planning to commit."
The butler gulps hard while Pina continues to speak.
"I'm confident that I could remain sane after one or two had their way with me, but not after 50 or a hundred."
"Surely you jest?" The butler said otherwise
"If you don't like the sound of that, then you must pick up a sword and fight." Pina stated "As hateful as war may be, if you get too fixated on avoiding it, you'll end up losing everything you hold dear."
"Here you are, your Highness." The head maid of house Formal stated as she placed a single tray on the table that consists of a single bowl of mashed potatoes and a small serving of sweet bread.
Pina took a bite from one of the sweet breads and instantly frown in disappointment at the flavor.
"Neither its flavor nor quantity is sufficient enough." Pina complained
"If you fill your stomach with rich flavors while you're so exhausted, you will surely fall ill." The head maid chided
"You've been through a battle like this before?" Pina asks
The head maid nodded in confirmation "Yes. I once lived in the town of Rosa before. It is currently Imperial territory now."
"I see." Pina frowned
After finishing her meal, Pina told the head maid that she will be sleeping in the guest room nearby so that she will be fully rested later to lead the defense and that if any important news show up, the head maid should wake her up.
***XOXOX***
Later on, Pina was indeed woken up by the head maid after the latter dumped a bucket of icy cold water directly on the princess' face. Shooting straight up in surprise, the princess frantically asked the head maid and Gray, who was standing beside Pina's bed, if they were under attack again. The aged knight shook his head and told her that a bunch of people are outside the city's gate and he wasn't sure whether to address them as a friend or enemy.
***XOXOX***
Takeru looks through his binoculars as he could clearly see a pair of eyes peering at them from the eye slits of the city's main entrance gate.
"Bro, are you sure we have to wait for them to ask us to come in?" Takeru asks "You know you could just have Pavlova and her men blow us up an entrance right?"
"Takeru, are you hearing yourself right now?" Itami chides "You are almost starting to sound like Kagari herself."
Takeru cursed quietly under his breath "Shit. Sorry bro. I didn't think that her psychotic tendencies are actually contagious. So, how in the world are we going to show them that we are friendly?"
"I think I got an idea." Itami grinned
***XOXOX***
"Princess! I think I see someone stepping out from those strange metal carriages!" Hamilton informed Pina as both of them could make out the features of the young girl who got off from the vehicle from the peephole they are peering through.
"That staff she's holding… could she be a true Lindonite mage?" Pina wonders as she noticed the crystal tipped staff that the girl was holding
Another passenger stepped out from the vehicle, this time a blonde elf wearing a strange set of clothes the princess has never seen before.
"And an elf…" Pina mumbles nervously "This is bad. True magecraft and spirit magic can make up fo a very nasty combination."
The next person who came out was an even bigger surprise to the princess as the person was none other than the dreaded apostle of Emroy herself, Rory Mercury.
"Rory Mercury?!" Pina cried out in shock and a little bit of fear for seeing fearsome demigoddess herself in the flesh.
"Is that the infamous Rory the Reaper herself?" Gray asks uneasily
"Yeah." Pina confirmed though she really wished she hadn't "I saw her once before during a national religious service."
"What is the apostle of Emroy herself doing at a place like this? Could she be in league with the brigands?" Gray asks
"Knowing the church she sides with and how unpredictable their god can be, it could be. After all, the deeds of her god, to me, seem to be no more than simple whims."
"If the priests heard what you said then they would surely throw a fit." Gray remarked
"I know." Pina replied "But the words of their god are nonsense anyway."
Gray covered his face with the palm of his hand as he couldn't believe the princess just said those blasphemous words.
"What do you think we should do Princess Pina?" Hamilton asks
The princess contemplated for a while before she said "If Rory's church has truly joined forces with the brigands then we would have fallen already."
"That's true." Hamilton admitted
"But still," Pina mumbled uneasily "there's still no proof that they aren't our enemies either."
While Pina is still deep in thought about her decision, a loud knock was heard thumping on the thick wooden door of the gate itself.
Seeing as they don't have any much of a choice, Pina quickly decided on the most logical decision she has left.
"If they aren't our enemies, then we must quickly get them to our side!"
Swiftly undoing the locks on the gate's wooden door, Pina begins pushing it with all her might despite Gray's protests and when the princess has finally succeeded, she welcomed the strangers with a warm greeting.
"Welcome!" Pina yelled out when she stopped and saw the eyes of mage, the elf and the demigoddess staring at something at the ground.
Confused, Pina looked down herself and saw a man lying in the ground on his back, twitching as if he was struck with something hard on the face.
A quick realization struck Pina as she understood what just happened.
"Eh… was that my doing?" Pina asks awkwardly and all three girls gave her a quick nod.
***Meanwhile***
"No… Let her… go… Please…" Michael helplessly pleaded in a broken voice, blood dripping down the side of his face as he weakly extended his hand to the cracked screen of his AC which shows Lumia's NEXT Apparition lying helplessly on the ground, its body wrecked and broken while the remains of the other NEXTs in Michael's squad were scattered all over the floor of the testing room in piles of smoking scrap metal. At the same time, a red and black colored AC was standing over the lifeless body of Lumia's NEXT, its pulse rifle pointed and aimed directly at Apparition's cockpit.
Michael desperately tried to force his NEXT to move quickly and save his friend but seeing as how Dominion had its entire lower half sliced off and its arms blown off earlier by the red and black colored AC, it was totally obvious that Michael can't do anything to stop that AC from pulling the trigger of its pulse rifle directly on to his friend.
"NO!" Michael screamed as he watched the red and black AC fire three rounds in rapid succession at Apparition's cockpit, killing the pilot inside instantly.
Seeing his friend killed right in front of his very eyes caused something in Michael's sanity to snap as his mind fell deep into despair when the red and black AC turned its glance to him and pointed its pulse rifle towards him next.
"What… are you…"
These were the last words Michael ever uttered before the red and black colored AC pumped the cockpit of his NEXT with about half a dozen energy rounds from its pulse rifle.
After killing its final target, the red and black AC's eyes glowed again before it declared "Mission complete. All targets eliminated."
Witnessing all of this carnage, the cameras scattered all over the testing room managed to completely record the entire slaughter the red and black AC has committed and were directly feeding the entire event live to its creators.
"So what do you think? He's as vicious as a wolf in battle."
"What do I think? He's an utter failure. 16 minutes? Your creation should have killed them at least about 6 minutes earlier like you promised."
"Hustler Zero's combat algorithms are not yet 100% complete my friend. Once we have perfected it then my creation will even perform beyond your expectations."
"It better be. Our boss told us that he wants Hustler Zero to be ready ASAP. With the number of footholds the other corporations, the League and ORCA are gaining at this rate, we have to act fast if we want to establish our own hold on the Special Region."
"Agreed. Time is not a resource that we can afford to waste."
***Encyclopedia***
Hustler Zero - ? (FILE LOCKED)