Chapter 12: Eien No Tairitsu
Anatolia seemed calm for once in a couple dozen years. No combat, no conflict. Just a group of Lynxes calmly sleeping in the multitudes of destroyed or damaged buildings. All was calm in the dead of night. No wind to spread the deadly Kojima particles into the peaceful dead city. No whir of a NEXT's engine, not even a movement in the clouds high above. For once, the darkness was not pierced by the greenish blue shine of a booster. Nothing could go wrong to end this peace, or at least, that's what all the sleeping Lynxes hoped.
Suddenly, the perfect night was ruined by the roar of an ignition from an Overboost soaring down the valley leading to Anatolia. The silence was now broken. The perfection had been shattered, and all of Anatolia was awake.
Silver was the first in his NEXT and first on the battlefield. His eyes scanned the field for the source of the sound from before. Nothing was visible on the radar or optics.
"Everyone, keep your eyes open. I know it's late, but something's out here, and it probably isn't friendly." Silver called out. Just as he finished, the entire perimeter lit up a bright blue and green mixture. The once motionless NEXTs were now visible on the radar. Four enemy NEXTs were on the radar, but they all were moving in a circle around the small group of Lynxes who entered the battlefield in a timely manner. Among them were Silver, Wynne, and Mark, with a few other pilots that joined them earlier that day.
"Huh. Circling us like wolves for the slaughter. We won't be the sheep, will we?" Wynne scoffed, aiming her rifle at one of the NEXTs, firing ahead of it. The NEXT boosted forward, brandishing a white energy blade. The NEXT was a lightweight, definitely an Akvavit remnant NEXT with some Rayleonard parts. Wynne side boosted, firing off a shot at the NEXT. It quickly boosted away from the shot and backwards, avoiding the rail gun bullet. Wynne boosted backwards, eyeing the fast enemy.
The second NEXT launched forward viciously at one of the new pilots. Obviously the pilot was not expecting the attack to be that ridiculously fast, so he didn't react in time. He let out a muffled gargle as blood boiled up in his mouth, his lower half incinerated by the white-hot energy blade. The quad-legged NEXT boosted backwards as the poor Algebra Lynx's NEXT burst into flames and erupted violently, the highly reactive generator being pierced as well.
"Huh… looks like he wasn't much of a challenge." The smug pilot remarked, turning to Silver. "Your turn, weakling." He uttered as he launched at Silver.
Silver was not going to stand still and take such an insult. He boosted backwards powerfully, launching into the air. The enemy NEXT barely missed him, the blade just barely avoiding scraping the Aaliyah build foot of Silver's new NEXT. Silver and the enemy's NEXT looked at each other within a spilt second. Silver's NEXT rushed downward, blade activated. The enemy NEXT quickly boosted to the side and turned to face Silver. Silver glanced over at his opponent as he rushed at him with his blade at the ready. Silver boosted sideways and forward quickly, avoiding the attack, then quick turned towards his blade to face his opponent again. Both pilots stood still, glancing at each other.
The entire battlefield had gone silent and inactive. It seemed this was the true intent of this confrontation; to battle Silver. No one else was a target.
Silver's NEXT's golden optics glowed in the night, as did his enemy's green optics. Both were locked in a mental and physical war.
"Seems like you're our target… Silver. My name is Nemilos. I am the leader of the ORCA's blade squadron. You're the leader of these warriors, correct? Well, seems right for two leaders to fight."
Silver scoffed. "I'm anything but a leader. More of a fountainhead for what remains of Collared." He responded. "Everyone makes up Collared, one man or woman cannon on his or her own."
"Sure, whatever." Nemilos rolled his eyes, tightening his grip on his blade. "I feel that one man can make the team stronger. You're that one man. Malzel wants you dead for a reason. It's apparently because you're more than a simple figurehead for these people." He grinned. "So… My mission is simple enough; kill the man who's the strongest." With that, he launched at Silver, blade at the ready.
Silver prepared to parry the attack, blade held in a defensive position. "No one person makes a team strong, but if there's one bad apple, the entire team is weak." Silver retorted, activating his blade as his enemy drew near. When the blades clashed, the entire area lit up with energy and sound. The two NEXTs had their engines at full, trying to push each other back more than the other. "Though one person cannot be stronger, one person can change the tides of the battle!" With a quick flick of his wrist, he quick boosted toward his enemy, adding a great force to his tense slash, bypassing his decent stability of the quad legs' arm's stability. The NEXT moved sideways just in time to avoid damage to the actual NEXT itself, but the Moonlight energy blade was cut clean off its locking system.
The quad boosted back quickly, stopping when it was far enough away. He waited for his teammates to take down Silver if he moved towards him, but Silver never moved from his spot. He simply straightened up and deactivated his blade.
"What's this? No finisher?" Nemilos seemed quite confused. "I heard you're ruthless, violent, destructive… and you do nothing now?"
"I only fight with honor. Attacking a man who cannot fight back is not honorable. Leave now, before my teammates start to think differently." Silver's NEXT rose it's head, as if giving the squad a condescending look.
The quad legged NEXT hesitated for a second then stood up as tall as it could. "Fine… Malzel won't like this." The man grumbled as his squad turned and run away with their tails in between their legs.
Reiterpallasch moved up to the Retribution, glancing over at him. "They know where we are, Silver." Wynne mumbled, looking at the vanishing glints of light.
"Yeah. It'll only be a matter of time before they attack us with an army." Silver replied, turning back to the base. "When noon comes around tomorrow, training starts for everyone. I'll see if Salire, Saol and Tomari are out of critical condition tomorrow morning." He yawned wide and started heading back to the base, Wynne following behind him.
Salire's long hair swayed back and forth as she stood up and stretched her long since unused muscles. Tomari was still out due to her dislocated spinal disc, but Saol and Salire had healed perfectly within a week or so.
Silver walked into the makeshift infirmary and stopped in his tracks to see Saol and Salire on their feet. He blinked a couple times before smiling. "Good to see you two are feeling well enough to move about." He grinned happily.
"It's good to not feel like an invalid." Salire groaned as she stretched out her leg, then her back. "But I feel rusty like the tin man."
Saol nodded, stretching out her legs. "It's at least good to be able to move about though."
Silver nodded in response, and then clasped his hands together, getting the girls' attention. "Now… we have a very pressing matter at hand here. We have a couple dozen new recruits from various companies. We also believe that the opposing companies have sided with ORCA. We need all the skilled strength we have out on that field, as ORCA now knows where we are, and could strike at any moment." Silver looked at them with a stern expression. "That being said, you two need to be retrained. I will let Gerald do most of the training because I need to train Mark in using the Incandescent properly."
Salire and Saol looked at each other, processing this new information. Salire then looked at Silver with a serious expression. "Okay. I am ready for training. I will start immediately, and be ready to fight as soon as humanly possible." She smiled as Saol spoke up.
"I'll be right along side her." She grinned, hugging Salire tight, which made Salire snarl playfully at her, pushing her away gently.
This display of friendship in a serious situation brought a wide smile to Silver's lips. "Good. You two will be partners. Don't let each other die out there. I doubt that they will let up when they attack. Malzel will be on the field as well, so watch out for him. Also, keep in mind they have heavy builds and powerful Kojima technology. Avoid getting hit at all costs." He told them before motioning to the hangar. "Follow me. Gerald is waiting."
The hangar was filled with eager warriors while Gerald stood in front of them like a general addressing his platoon of soldiers. This thought amused Gerald. Gerald Geraldin, a general of Collared? Laughable, but not impossible.
"Alright! Silver has instructed me to teach you not only the basics of combat, but the nitty-gritty tactics you will need to win this war!" Gerald called out, pacing left to right, just like the general he was acting to be. "We will not be attacking each other, because we don't have the proper tools to sow your mangled bodies back together or repair a destroyed NEXT. So… we will simply have you test out your NEXT on the simulators. It's simple really. You will get in the cockpit of your NEXT, put it on test mode, and attempt to fight what is on your screen. Each opponent will be different depending on the record on your FCS." Gerald scanned over the crowd. "I cannot guarantee you will all survive the mission ahead of you. However, your help in the battlefield will be greatly effective. As Silver said last night, 'No one person makes a team strong, but if there's one bad apple, the entire team is weak.' This means we must all be strong to make our team beyond theirs!" Gerald rallied the group, grinning wide. "Now is our darkest hour, but now is also our greatest moment to shine through the clouds of ORCA!"
Everyone cheered in the hangar, his or her voices echoing throughout the city of Anatolia.
Malzel's face contorted with anger as Nemilos reported in. When he was finished with his message, Malzel growled at him to leave his sight. When Nemilos had left the throne room, Malzel slammed his fist down on the throne's armrest.
His teeth gritted together with fury. "No one I fucking tell to kill this man ever succeeds! And what's worse is our best warrior left for the Collared side! God dammit!" Malzel threw hit fit as he stood up, pacing around the room with rage burning in his eyes. "I need to get rid of him, once and for all…" He stopped in his enraged pacing to think, and then snapped his fingers. "If I can get Nineball back on our side, we'll have an ace up our sleeve…" Malzel's lips twisted into a devilish grin as he laughed maniacally, his cackle echoing through out the underground base and out the cavern leading to the base. Malzel was a man of determination, a man of power. When his laugh echoed throughout the base, everyone cowered in fear of what cataclysmic plan this demon was planning to take down the remaining Collared knights.
The Demon of ORCA is planning to take down the White Knight of Collared? This is going to be interesting, isn't it? This chapter is bringing the story to its near close. As you can tell, Collared and ORCA are training armies, and soon they will all clash with a furious explosion of power.
Also, sorry this chapter was short. Couldn't continue without getting off topic. Stay tuned, folks! The next chapter is going to be another step even closer to the epic close of Armored Core Redemption!
Another note, I may only post on weekends, and maybe not next week, since I have a friend coming over from the mainland. Anyways, keep reading and reviewing!