What's up, guys. Looks like summer has kicked in but for me, it is working time. And that is what I have been doing for a while now.
Also, removed the omakes to their own fic. I think that is better for my story. So I have a cutback of about six chapters till we get back to Chapter 19. Not a bad thing cause I got an idea of a prequel. Which will come out later.
Body is tired but up there, things are going with me. So each day about a thousand words, that should work for me. I hope I can do it on the other works I got planned.
Ichika hadn't expected himself to be in the arena again so soon. Yet, here he was, yet again in his machine with his opponent, one Lingying Huang, better known as Rin. And her machine?
Shenlong.
Now, there was a very good reason why Ichika was fighting against Rin. Due to the matches for the spot as Class Representative, everyone in Amaterasu had shown his or her machine to the extent of power.
Houki was the exception as she was not a member of Amaterasu, yet. She, Ichika, Chifuyu, and Reiri knew that she would be a part of their little group rather sooner than later. And for now, that was something else.
She and Cecilia were a bit worried for Ichika up there in the sky. They had seen the weapons on Rin and had no idea how Ichika would do. Joel was less worried about the whole fight and instead of paying attention to it, he was listening to a Russian Cover of To Hell and Back. Mattheus had him in his lap and was just looking halfhearted to the upcoming fight.
Sparing a glance, he could look down.
"Neh, Kizuna. Maybe we can do a Heart Hybrid here. My count is rather low." Leave it to Yurishia to have the idea of having sex in a public place.
Joel had hammered the girls down and Kizuna had collapsed when the Punk Told Yurishia was just fine with anything but from what he could tell on the interactions, she would like it if Kizuna took charge.
Aine was embarrassment so that is why Reiri didn't want to close the curtains. It was only harder for Aine to reach full charge when Joel did. She was also into Kizuna.
"Farandole-san, you do know there is a pecking order, right? I am going first." Aine said like she had stated a law.
The twitch of the eyebrow told Kizuna he was in a minefield with no way of getting out. He could ask for a mercy shot of Mattheus.
As for Hayuru. She was shrieking like a banshee. That her voice wasn't hoarse yet was a miracle. Not just with Kizuna. For some reason, she was also after Ichika. Just because he got friendly with Cecilia, Houki, and Rin.
The latter two were not that weird to explain as they were old friends (and love interests) from Ichika and neither Houki nor Rin were going to let things get cold.
Weirdly enough, neither of the girls were going to fault the other for wanting the same thing. Rin had known of Houki when Ichika had told her about him (AN. I know it is weird to put this here but come on. If Rin visited his place and they looked at photos, Houki had to pop up)
With Houki, she hadn't done that yet but she could feel that she and Rin were getting along, especially cause they shared the interest of cooking. Houki's own upbringing and Rin's restaurant. A mix made in heaven if there ever was one.
Cecilia had apologized and she felt she was lagging behind on Ichika in regards to the two girls.
With his character, she had warmed up to him damn fast and it felt weird to see Ichika like that. Especially after she saw the fight with him and Mattheus. Guys weren't weak. Those two fought like hell.
But back to Hayuru. When the stick would be gone, there would be more room for something else. How he should remove it, that was up to Kizuna.
Joel's suggestion. Learn and adapt.
There would be more girls and unless he was in a tighter spot, Kizuna could take things a bit easier.
He was happy that he didn't have to fight Rin but in hindsight, he would rather be up in the air.
His counterpart as Mattheus had dubbed the two (they looked pretty similar) would say the same thing. He'd rather be down on the seats with Cecilia and Houki fighting over him.
Wait, why did he think about them like that?
He wasn't going to be some hapless harem MC who was blind to all the girls in front of him. In his case, he would have to be extremely dense or at least, pretending to be, to avoid getting killed.
But on the other hand, he wasn't sure why things worked out so fine like this. He would have to ask someone out there. Maybe his sister to help him with this or Mattheus. Although the older guy was fine with how things were now. For himself. He had learned to think out the box a while ago.
Mattheus wasn't looking around for a girl in the student body.
That was just it. The Student Body.
The teachers were a very different story.
Not that it was really serious but large parts of the teachers were like the students. Never been into three feet of a male.
And here was a guy who was their age and who had an easy chat. Mattheus had also found loopholes galore in the Student Rules. He had to wear the sweater from the school but underneath, there was jack shit said about the shirts.
And like now, he was wearing the shirt of one of Sabaton's latest albums. The Great War. He had bought the normal one instead of the "What's so Fucking Great about it?"'
It was a reminder to some that World War 1 wasn't so damn long ago. And what is all brought with that War.
He sat out there and just waited until the fight would begin.
"So can you explain why you picked me to fight, Rin?" She smiled at Ichika and yet, he wasn't calmed down by that smile.
It had a very opposite effect.
"I had to pick someone to fight against. So I hope you're ready for this."
Luckily for Ichika, Joel had already looked up what sort of heat Rin packed.
She had two blades which could become one spear and a shoulder cannon.
Strategy? Avoid getting blasted to hell, make sure you get close and take down her on superior close range fighting.
Sounds simple?
Cause it is.
In Mattheus mind, thinking out large and intricate plans. Do that when you really need that.
From the control room, besides Maya, there was another woman. Like the green-haired teacher, she was petite and she wore glasses.
Shikina Kei, an old friend from Reiri and one of the smartest minds on the HHG. Besides Nayuta then but Reiri wasn't going to complain.
It had taken a lot of effort to get Kei in this place but for now, she was ready to help out.
[Are both sides ready?] The mics shouted.
When a nod came, the timer hit zero and both Rin as Ichika began moving their machines. They launched themselves at the other, Ichika used Yukihira and Rin used Souten Gagetsu in her spear as the two clashed at each other.
Although soon it became clear that Rin was on the offensive here as she had a longer weapon than Ichika and was more used to it.
When she let the two swords go, Ichika relied not on blocking the attacks but avoiding them. Chifuyu and Reiri weren't too worried although the same couldn't be said about Houki and Cecilia.
They were just looking at the fight and cheers from around came out. Joel had found one old lady in the special seat. When he was sure that she was looking, he flipped her the bird.
Ichika had to avoid getting hit by the attacks of Rin yet he wasn't sure if that was good. Unlike Mattheus who relied on long-range fight and for who Ichika's swordplay was a pain in the ass, Rin could fight both close range and long range.
He found that out as he tried to build distance between her as from her shoulders an attack was launched. Joel had seen it before.
With a quick search, it turned out to be a Canon from China that could make the barrel and projectile invisible. It had a short range though and was more powerful.
It was state of the art, his ass. That sort of shit canon was thought up by his father in his spare time and they abounded the project cause it was too idiotic to implement on this.
You had to be in a real sweet spot for this piece of shit thing to work.
But for Ichika, it was still an annoyance and pretty damn painful as he was hurled to the floor. His energy was going down as he couldn't avoid the attack.
Joel didn't blame him as his machine wasn't made for that. The punk was impressed that he could avoid the next attack. Still, it was cheating as you couldn't see the bullets.
He wasn't really looking forward to using that thing yet.
But he gritted his teeth.
He had an ace up his sleeve.
Flashback.
In the training area, he was just there with his sis and when he deployed the weapon and held the sword in his hands.
"You aren't going to tell me that this Yukihira Two weapon is the only one that I got, right?" Chifuyu sighed and with that wooden sword, she looked a bit dangerous. When it left her hand, she looked at him in a pretty rough way.
"I didn't need anything else to win. So that's all you need!"
Raising an eyebrow, he was going to agree with Kizuna. Both their sisters were batshit insane. He sighed as he turned to her.
"Listen, big sis. You can't put me on the same place as you are. You had years to train with the Infinite Stratos as Tabane pretty much designed the things for you. So I can't fight this thing alone."
When her sword hit the ground, chills ran down his spine. Damn, this woman was scary.
"Come on. A greenhorn like you won't survive in a firefight. Recoil absorption, projectile trajectory calculation, distance estimation, rapid stops, absolute turns. You also have to consider projectile characteristics, atmospheric conditions and opponent characteristics. I can continue this list. Can you all do that?" Chifuyu had now intensified her glare at Ichika.
"Sorry to say but this is nothing but your typical difficult word usage just to avoid difficult shit for yourself." Turning the one person (scratch that, Chifuyu had more people on her list who would talk to her like that than she liked to admit) who dared to talk to her like that, she saw Joel. He was wearing a long trouser with a short shirt on it and looked to her with a grin that she hadn't seen on too many men. Especially in her presence.
"You can go all in techno blabla or you can work on other stuff. There is no need to go over weapons and make it difficult. Mattheus' Chasseur works on the same way that World War One Era Bolt Action Rifles worked. It is easier to use those and maintain, less likely to blow up in your face, a lot cheaper also regards to ammo, more accurate in longer ranges. If I went for semi-auto on making Chasseur, larger calibers would make it impossible for me to work with him."
Ichika looked at Joel with a raised eyebrow. Chifuyu was also a bit more surprised.
"You want him to focus on one thing and that's cool but a backup plan is never lost. So if you allow me, we can get a bit more bang for your buck." Joel said as he jumped up and worked on something new.
There was one thing for sure. Ichika could count his blessings that he had Mattheus. And that he got a reliable punk around.
End of flashback
'Barrier invalidation attack. Yeah, let me keep that for later.'
Ichika just pulled back a bit until in his hands, a second weapon was formed. It was a beautifully crafted weapon. It was made of the same material that Byakushiki had although the barrels was pretty big on it.
It had some details worked on like some drawings you usually see. Even so, the weapon was simple yet it was beautiful to look at.
Mattheus raised an eyebrow and he just looked down to the punk in his lap.
"This is your work. You made him a gun." Joel just smirked as the group looked at him.
"Chifuyu said that it was impossible to make a second weapon attached on Byakushiki. Right." Joel just looked smug for his age.
"You had to think out the box. The ammo is next to his arm. He can blast the barrels in succession and blow the shit out of everything. I like to see others react to this."
Houki was not sure why this boy refused to be called a genius as he most certainly was one. This guy was one of the most brightest humans on the planet.
Maybe nowhere near her sister or Nayuta. But besides those, who could beat him?
Mattheus wasn't too won over by the whole concept. Joel hardly did anything for others unless he was asked or had an ulterior goal.
The older guy was the only exception.
Ichika blasted those barrels at Rin and the Chinese girl was blown away by the huge force of the shotgun.
"So how do you like this?" While avoiding her attacks, he was holding off and he fired the gun. Enjoying this, it was simple, yet awesome.
Not to mention effective.
"You gotta admit that he is playing correctly." Yurishia looked at the fight in a dreamy fashion while Joel shook his head.
"Not at all. He is chewing through his ammo supply like mad. That box I attached to him only got about four hundred shells." His disagreement shook the group as they had no real idea on how things all worked.
Their shocked mouths had even a better effect as Rin was starting to use her own supply of weapons. Ichika had to use better tactics than just that as Aine looked at him.
"He doesn't rely on that. He has something else in mind." And it turned out to be right. By his extensive firing, Rin was too focused on avoiding the pellets which ate away her shield points, Ichika managed to get close enough to her.
'Checkmate.' Cecilia thought as Ichika got close enough.
But before that could happen, the ground shook like an earthquake had hit the arena.
Everyone shielded themselves from the impact that crashed into the arena. A huge cloud of dust and fire came out from the two.
They could see the fire coming through.
"What the hell!" Kizuna shouted. Not only cause he was worried for Ichika and Rin but also, because this was supposed to be a place where attacks couldn't hurt him.
Joel held onto Mattheus who just looked over the place.
"Wat gaan we nu krijgen (What is going to happen now?)"
"Ichika!" Houki had no real idea of what was happening right now.
"Looks like we got some visitors." Mattheus just commented yet his body was ready to get rocking. And like that, Chifuyu veered up and shouted in the mic.
"This match is over. Orimura. Huang. Get the hell out of there!"
In case of emergencies, the place was ready to be on lockdown.
The two in the arena could only look down to the place.
"What is going on? Sis. Joel. What is this?"
"Orimura. We are currently under attack. You and Huang need to get out of there."
When he looked over it, the things he was looking at weren't reassuring.
"An unidentified IS?" Ichika wondered aloud as he looked over the stuff and Joel just shook his head.
"Whatever is there, that is not just an IS. Specs are through the roof on this thing and from what I can see, someone mixed a few things up on this. If this was someone else, I would say it is ludicrous but from what I can see here and guess, this thing is a mix between an Infinite Stratos and a Heart Hybrid Gear. So you guys are in one tough spot. Get out."
They just could see the thing coming out of the clouds.
"Hard to do that. This thing is locked on me." Mattheus put Joel out of his lap.
"Joel. Can you open a door for me?" The tone he had was just cold as he was ready to fight.
"Adjzof, what are you planning?" He heard over the earpiece he was carrying.
"Principal Hida. This thing is too strong to take on for Ichika and Huang alone. So I'm going to help them out."
"That is impossible. Currently, everything is on lockdown. We are hacked from an outside party." Cursing something about state of the art place his ass, Mattheus turned to the remaining member of Amaterasu.
"Our teammates are in problem. I'm going to help them out. Anyone want to join?" To no one's surprise, the group veered up.
In the arena, they could see the machine coming out. It was big with orange colors on it like a giant. The weapons just rang out. And yet, it had a head. A skull set on a permanent grin.
Both Rin and Ichika decided to make evasive moments, just hoping to get out of the way of their enemy.
Ichika had shouted for answers until Joel pipped up. "Ichika. Don't bother. There is zero life in that thing. When the others get at your place, blow it to pieces. Mattheus. You and the others, get to the door closest to you. I'm going to hack it open."
"Pearce. You can't. This is from an outside party and." Cutting off Chifuyu, a habit he could get used to, he grinned.
"That makes two of us. You guys worry about getting the students out, I'll worry about getting them in this place. You'll see when things work out at the place." Joel just grinned and when Mattheus shot him a grin that just spoke of carnage and mayhem, Joel was sure they'd make it out.
Working over the keyboard, he had been rerouting stuff on this school from day one.
The school really had to ask him to be a white hat hacker.
Hacker.
Funny.
Kizuna, Cecilia, Aine, and Hayuru ran after Mattheus who forced a door open, using his handgun.
Houki veered up as she wanted to go after the group but felt a strong yet small hand wrapped around her wrist. She turned to see Joel who shook his head in a calm notion.
"Let me go, Pearce." She shouted as she saw the others passing by on the place.
The Irish boy just shook his head in a calm fashion. And he was calm if his voice was anything to go by.
"No." His voice was devoid of any emotion. Hell, it was the same with Mattheus. Like all what they had talked about before just washed away.
"But."
"We don't have weapons. You think we would form any sort of assistance in this fight." Houki looked at Joel who shook off his cold mask and gave her a friendly smile. She had to agree with that logic.
"We can't. We would get in the way and get them hurt. So stay here with me and get a front row seat to see how they are going to wreck shit up."
That was enough to keep Houki down as she sat next to the part. One door opened already where the gang ran through as they just were making to get to the next side.
Meanwhile, Rin and Ichika were getting worse shape by the minute. Whatever this thing was, it was damn strong.
Ichika was right to let Rin shoot at him with the huge canons of hers. He was staying out of the way. It would have been dishonorable but at least, he would breathe. The machine, however, was fixed on him and Joel's shotgun saw extensive usage Ichika fired the barrels time and time again when the thing came too close.
He really had to look for a longer range weapon.
"Orimura. Orimura. Come in. What is your status?"
Relieved to hear some coms coming in, he sighed.
"Getting worse, big sis. We have been trying to keep this thing off but so far no luck. Where is our support?"
Despite this, he was getting desperate. How much longer he would have this machine off, he would be dead.
"We're currently busy with the lockdown. Everyone in the audience is trapped so we have been trying to get them out first. You need to hold them off. Maya and Shiina are working on it."
Ichika wanted to curse his big sis out on not focusing on those who were actually in danger.
"Ichika. Ichika. Do you copy?" Hearing the voice of Joel made him a bit more focused. He couldn't answer just yet as avoiding the attacks coming through from the machine.
Those deadly lasers were no fun to avoid as he had been practicing evasive maneuvers.
Adding Battlefield 1 to his list to let Mattheus borrow him, Ichika made some distance.
"Joel. Yeah. I copy. Any bright ideas?" Ragged breaths made clear how much of a drag this was.
"Besides not dying, Ichika, hold on. What is forming Amaterasu is out there and luckily, Kizuna had asked me to link up your machines. Due to our invasion, that link went dead. Boosted up a revive. Patching you through."
When Kizuna came through, Ichika was relieved to hear him.
"Ichika. Listen to me. Currently, I and the others are at the door. Try to hold this thing off and we will help you out soon. Joel. How far are you with your progress?"
Joel cursed under his breath. This was harder with the shockwaves going through the school and the loud screams of the girls who were not in danger.
"Not great. This is a bore. Kizuna. How far are you before you reach the arena?"
"Just one door but I don't…"
He was cut off by Ichika was now getting too familiar with that skull who was now in front of him.
Rin's warning came too late and turned into a scream as he was thrown to the side by a metal claw which nearly ripped through his body.
Before crushing was even the death he would get, the fist on the other side punched him.
While seeing stars in some way was great, now, Ichika felt dizzy by the pain. He just tried to look back at the thing as he saw Rin moving towards him.
He was sure that tears flew by.
"Let him go, you big ugly thing." She screamed as her spear was embedded in the chassis of that creature.
Still, that was not enough to make this thing even budge. It just turned to Rin as it tossed her aside.
"Rin." Ichika had no time to worry about himself as Rin was just crashed into the ground. "You little." He said as he wanted to use Yukihira but found himself impossible to move his arm as the machine had his shoulder crushed.
Could this get any worse?
An explosion from the gate turned his attention to that.
Was there a second attack?
"I still say that this was excessive." Cecilia's voice sounded condescending as she looked to Yurishia.
The bustier blonde just smiled at the Brit.
"Am I hearing complaints about someone? It was Joel-chan's idea to blow the door open. Kuros was very well needed to do the job. Not my problem if you're a little bit lacking."
Cecilia just sent daggers to her. "It still is vulgar to have that much power. You need to cover it up." Mattheus sent a bullet out to make it clear now was not the time.
"Keep the innuendos when this battle is over and I'm not around. For the love of." Damn, he was sure that some part of his body told him how very much he appreciated the view. Were those suits meant to protect the user?
Cecilia and IS pilots, sure. But those suits of the HHG. They were just showing too much skin.
"Can you girls focus? Aine. I want you to get Ichika out of that being. Get moving." The silverette nodded and made her way to Ichika.
"And keep him alive." With a little bit less vigor, she moved to Ichika. With one fist, she punched him but kept Ichika intact.
By using her other arm, she could keep him there.
Sending her one grateful look, she nodded and the two moved back as this Golem was still acting.
"You're kidding me," Aine said. "I punched him with all I got."
"Don't worry. I can still fight." Ichika said as he was ready to use Byakushiki's full strength. Reiraku Byakuya.
"Ichika. Before you use that, wait. We need to wear this thing out first. Yurishia. If you please." The smile of the blond was something as she launched hundreds of rockets to the thing.
Ichika wondered what was wrong with those girls. They were not in a dead zone. They needed to keep the others alive.
Sharing a look with Aine, she sent one back. Sighing, it was clear they had the same thing in mind.
"I think I did enough damage," Yurishia said in a confident tone.
"This Golem is… not… coming…" They could see the burning but the machine was still out there. "Back."
"Cecilia. Mattheus. You have full permission."
"Rock and roll," Mattheus grunted as he fired the gun as fast as he could. Cecilia's shots were great to distract the being while his bullets just tore through the air. It wouldn't kill this thing but the damage was not something to scoff at.
"Keep this up. Aine. You need to go before the Golem. Make sure you're not in Mattheus' fire line. You can do that right?" Kizuna ordered her as he stood back looking over it.
He was not strong but he had wits. And now, he was more than ready to use those. He overlooked the fight and it was turning their way.
'Yosh. We can keep this up. We need to have a heavy hit on this thing. Mattheus rifle can't cover that. But in that case.'
"Aine. Join Mattheus and Cecilia. You two move along."
"Hai."
"Noted."
"Kay."
When he got that confirmation, he turned to Yurishia. "Yurishia. Use concentrated attacks, coming from different points. You and the snipers need to switch up. One is a distraction, the other is hitting the thing. Okay?"
He didn't wait for confirmation. "Ichika. Join Hayuru and take the left flank of the snipers. Aine. You take the right side. We are going to squeeze this thing like a vice."
After he saw that Ichika did what he asked, he shared a look with Hayuru who nodded.
"Wait for my signal. In the meantime, you guys with firearms, go wild."
Which they did.
The three were glad as both Cecilia and Yurishia unleashed the fire upon their foe. Mattheus was a bit more patient as he waited until he got the thing in his sights before he pulled the trigger.
Kizuna was sure to keep them switching. They had the advantage in numbers so the Eros Pilot made sure to use that.
He was also the only one not fueling on adrenaline.
In the skies, it was clear how much those who were fighting were just pure on that drug as they just tried to follow the orders.
And have fun with that. Cecilia couldn't see Mattheus face as he wore a mask over his normal relaxed look. The face was just serious as she was somewhat shivering over the idea of fighting him.
Mattheus was just not that shaken by the attack. He keeps track of Ichika and Hayuru on his left. Lifting his head up to see Yurishia. When he heard her voice "Time to switch the roles", Mattheus made a mental nod as the two diverted their fire as the heavy barrage was launched.
"Try to keep that down a bit." Cecilia spoke over her coms to Yurishia. The American wanted to retort but found Mattheus voice cutting her off.
And the steel he had in that voice made her hold her breath. "She is right. We need to destroy that thing. And keeping those in the stages alive is not an extra."
Yurishia looked up and one thing was clear. The stages were still guarded but she had put some serious dent in them. Mattheus hoped that his bullets weren't piercing through.
Shit, he should have thought about that way sooner. But for now, he could worry about that later. "Kizuna, how much longer till we can the close combat fighters?"
"Just a few more minutes. Ichika, I want you to use Ignition Boost. But hold that off till the last possible moment."
Kizuna hoped that he wasn't wearing them too thin. They had not been in a scripted fight and now, here they were, fighting a thing that was so much more powerful than them.
Ichika gulped. "Okay, but what if I fail to kill it? That thing will tear me to shreds if I don't get it stopped." He wasn't ready to die just yet.
"Aine, I want you and Himekawa to attack to provide occasional backup. Make sure that if Ichika doesn't kill it, you two will." Kizuna ordered them.
The Japanese Ace turned towards Ichika and nodded. She was ready to tear that thing to pieces. Aine was waiting until she got the okay.
She was quiet and it wasn't a good sign.
"Yo sis. Any help we can get?"
"Kizuna, hold this pace. We still are in the process of evacuating the VIP's and students. It is up to you to keep this thing down." His need for an outlet came up as Kizuna wasn't sure how this would go.
"Do you have more on this thing? We are kinda improvising and so far, we don't know if this will blow up in our faces."
"Nothing yet. As I said, we are busy." Cutting off that link, he was happy that they got someone to rely on.
"Joel."
"Working on stuff here. I am here with Houki in the place. Haven't moved as much as an inch. From what I can get, Kizuna. Your enemy isn't just a drone. It is even worse. From what I read, it has grade A weapons on it and no core. Good news is you can kill it without repercussions. The bad news is that this, how weird it might sound, this thing is a mix of Heart Hybrid Gear or something similar." Joel paused as he wasn't sure what he read.
"And Infinite Stratos."
That caused the group to gulp. A mix of those machines. Best of the two worlds. For them, the worst they could get.
"So far, Kizuna. You need to keep up your strategy as it is the best way. Fara, you need to keep your fire concentrated as you can hurt others. Alcott. You and Mattheus both have different tactics. So far, keep this up. But Kizuna, don't wait too long. I would suggest a shock tactic."
Thanking Joel for his help, Kizuna looked it over.
"Shock tactic? What do you mean?" Kizuna wanted to ask before a shockwave went over them as their enemy had turned towards Mattheus and Cecilia.
"Scatter!" Mattheus shouted as both he and the Blue Tears went separate ways. But when they had their back turned, the machine didn't go after them.
The position of them was higher up in the sky so when it reached them, it descended. And it had an opening to the one person who didn't have a weapon.
Kizuna couldn't get away soon as he was crushed in the same way as Ichika.
Through the shock, he could barely register anything. Besides the pain of course.
His body was thrown up by the machine and was smashed around.
It was as a ragdoll that was thrown around. If the Life Saver wasn't the one thing that his machine had, he would have been dead. And the machine had no intention of stopping.
"Yurishia! Don't fire! You might hit him!" He could hear Mattheus' desperate shout. The Hunter had his sights set but couldn't pull the trigger. This would kill Kizuna if his bullet connected to the Eros Pilot.
And just when things couldn't get worse, Ichika felt the machine cracking through the stages.
What were the odds that he would land within two centimeters of Houki and Joel?
Just their luck.
He could see up and the machine's attention shifted to the two. Those two were by the way completely petrified as neither of them could move. The skull turned to them with a permanent grin on their face.
The free hand went to Houki. Her scream went through as she couldn't help it.
She was helpless. Defenseless. Alone.
She was here and there wasn't a single thing she could do to protect herself.
"Houki!" The voice of Ichika was heavenly in her ears as from the left side, the Knight had embedded himself into the machine.
The energy from his sword was a beautiful sight. Luckily for Ichika, he wasn't alone as Aine punched through the machine.
When Ichika let go, she nodded and threw the chassis or what was left of it, into the sky and when a large number of rockets hit the thing, it exploded.
"Houki!" Ichika said as he deactivated the machine and landed next to her.
There was no hesitation as Ichika wrapped his arms around his oldest friend. The Kendo Maiden had regained just enough footing to sigh and wrap her arms around her friend who clearly had been worried to death for her.
She just held close to him and sigh in his scent as she could feel how worried he was. She wasn't alone in the hug as Kizuna had wrapped his arms around Aine who was at the end. She was shocked but didn't worry about it as she relaxed in the touch.
In the sky, Hayuru had seen the scenes and wanted to shout but found Mattheus wrapping his hand before her mouth and shutting her up.
"Sssh, be quiet. We have had a tough fight and we are still kids. We need to know that we … are… okay." Trailing off, he saw that Yurishia had landed and from what he could see, she had a hard time breathing.
Landing next to her, Mattheus was worried about what was going on. The Kuros Pilot was on her hands and knees, breathing heavily.
"Yurishia, what the?" He could have a good idea of what was going on. Hoping that their earpieces would still work, Mattheus called in Kizuna.
"Kizuna. Kizuna, come on! You copy?" Turning to the side, he saw that Kizuna was breathing heavily. He sat down, no doubt on the experience they just had.
Ichika was tackled to the ground by Rin and Cecilia who also wanted a hug from him. Cursing, he motioned to Hayuru to land. She also joined the two.
"What is wrong with Farandole-san?" When she looked closer, she could guess it.
"Don't tell me."
"Low count. Yes. I'm going to get Kizuna!" Mattheus didn't wait till she was ready. He raced to the stage, tore Kizuna from the stages and pulled him along.
"Mattheus! What the!
"No time to explain! Yurishia is low on the count so you need to work your magic on her before she takes the eternal nap!" Mattheus said that as he threw Kizuna next to the heavily breathing blond.
Her chest heaved as it was clear she was in pain.
"Eh, Mattheus. You better look at the sky." Joel said as, for some reason, they weren't out the woods yet. Up there, there was an even bigger problem as they could see machine coming out of there. Looks like a robot on a dragon.
"Oh come on. You have to be kidding me." Mattheus said out loud. The moans he heard coming from Yurishia were distracting but not enough as he could see the machine coming to them.
"Eh, what is everyone's stat?"
The oldest guy asked.
"I'm out. That Ignition Boost has eaten all my Shield Points." Ichika said as he was trying to stay awake. He was on the seats and now felt the adrenaline leaving his body, tired as hell.
"I'm also on the lower end," Rin admitted. She had taken a seat next to Ichika.
"Unfortunately, I don't have the energy to fight." Cecilia was next. So from the Infinite Stratos Pilots, Mattheus could fight. But from what he could see, that thing wasn't sure where it should land. So unless it got too close, he wouldn't get it close.
"Aine, Himekawa. What about you two?" Hayuru shook her head. "I don't think I can fight right now." Her legs had given out.
Turning to the stage, Aine shook her head. Just great.
But in the meantime, Mattheus took an earpiece to the commands. "Yo teachers. Any help? Cause so far it stands, I'm the only one who can fight right now. And that is too much for me to take on."
[We are busy restoring the network. The students and VIP have been evacuated. The good news is that no one is hurt] Kei Shiina told the guy.
"That can be considered one goddamned miracle gave the fact of how much damage we did. But seriously, no backup. I'm running on my fumes here."
[No. Adjzof. You need to distract the new enemy and take it down on your own.] Mattheus had half the heart of aiming his gun at the command center. They couldn't be serious.
Right. They couldn't be.
Not that he was sure as the fear got in his brain.
"Oh, you gotta be taking a piss! We needed every last one of us to take one of those things down and you want me alone to kill that thing. You can't be serious!" He shouted through that.
"Mattheus, wait!" He turned to Kizuna who had been having the time of his life.
The fact he could touch the biggest sets of tits he had ever felt in his life was just pure bliss. Yurishia could open her eyes and see how Kizuna was focused on massaging the breasts and touching them.
He could feel the soft pressure of the tits on his hands as he felt the energy seeping out of her body. His own body was healing from the fight they just had.
The pink energy of his met the yellow of hers.
Yurishia's mouth was leaking drool, her eyes were clouded with the lust. She had felt the touch of this guy and wasn't ready to let go.
His hands moved the tits along and she could feel how rough his hands were on her, how much the pressure was.
Damn, this was great for him as well. Mattheus could feel the energy in the air.
"I'm nearly done. Go to Joel. I think he needs you more now!" Mattheus nodded and in a flash, he was next to the others.
The Irish Boy didn't wait until he wrapped the arms around Mattheus' neck. The older guy had been ready for that.
"I'm okay. But fuck, what a ride that was."
Turning to the scene, Yurishia gave the last moan that echoed over the place as the energy was filling the place.
"Thank you, Kizuna." She said after she gave him a peck. "Now, don't worry. I'm going to destroy that thing."
The dragon was turning to them but before it even had a chance, Yurishia aimed at it. She was up in the sky and smiled at the Beast.
"Hell Fire!" Kuros bombardment raged to the machine as it was blown away. Ichika whistled on the sound.
"What a damn load of damage," Joel said and Mattheus had to agree. But at the damn least, they were now done.
Yurishia had landed next to Kizuna and wrapped his head in her tits. The guy blushed up a storm as Hayuru began to shout and shriek over it. Aine was now also pulling him along in the fight.
And their machines were back activated. Mattheus was wondering how much energy those girls had. Kizuna had been thrown in the mix.
Mattheus just pulled Joel in his lap and looked at the scene.
"What a trip." The three words just were enough. Turning his head, Ichika sat next to the scene. And for some reason, those girls had found a way to make things easier. He had fallen out.
Most likely his body just gave out and he had fallen asleep. Cecilia sat on his right, with her arms wrapped around his right arm. Houki had taken the left side of Ichika. She had wanted to say something but like Cecilia, she had been worried and the shock had left her body. She needed this.
As much as those girls did.
Rin had taken his lap. Like him, she was dead tired. The HHG pilots were still bickering and Kizuna just slumped down on the ground.
Turning to Mattheus who shook his head, it was clear. Like the others, he was tired.
"Shouldn't we head back?" Joel asked but found a yawn to be his brother's reply. "Yeah but not right now."
Scene break.
After the girls calmed down and the boys were rested, they made their way to their rooms. Kizuna was all the time surrounded by the girls and they were chatting openly now.
The poor guy hadn't been that great with girls and now he had a lot of things he can do with them.
Ichika had been happy that the girls left him be. Courtesy of Mattheus, he could take the first shower.
But one thing was for sure.
Every last one of them was ready to crash in their beds.
In the dark room, the two computer assistants were looking at what was left of the machines.
"As Pearce said, this is indeed an unmanned unit," Maya said as she looked over the stats. "But who in the world can make this?"
[As for the Dragon. It is closer to an HHG machine but not quite like it. It has resemblances to the machine but it is not like it.]
Chifuyu and Reiri shared a look. They had just an idea who they had to call right now, the time zone be damned.
When they called to Belgium, Kerlongsj was busy working on the last stack on paper. Looks like they had been nearly done with the most parts of his faction and the guys were now looking for new information.
It had been early in the morning, eight o clock and the Devil had been at work for a few hours now.
Without knocking, Sander walked in. "Kerlongsj." Out of breath, the fist guy just ran over to his boss.
"Hey. Any news on Nayuta?" His old friend shook his head. "No. Well, not really. Something related?"
Kerlongsj raised his eyebrow. "I got reports on the fact that Nayuta had been working on autonomous machines. I have no clue who provided her the resources as we literally couldn't track them."
That was a big concern for Kerlongsj.
"Why was I not informed of this sooner?"
"Because, boss, we have used the one thing you loathe doing." The tone made it clear that Kerlongsj knew what Sander talked about.
"Deathwatch." Deathwatch was the badly chosen name as a Hacker could use his Nanites to look through the eyes of a corpse and find out what happened to them. You could even look in their memories and find out what was going on.
The technique was nearly never used as it was taxing on the body and mind of the Hacker as the number of complications were unseen.
It wasn't so much as looking through the person's eyes, one could relive the events of what a person went through. And that could give horrible side effects as the Hacker wasn't just looking.
He could feel the wounds and damage to the body. Surely, all what the Dead man went through and it didn't kill the living man but it was nearly the same.
Some of the memories could even mix up if the technique wasn't performed correctly. That proved to be one dangerous move.
Insanity and PTSD was something that wasn't easily solved with Nanites.
"Yep. And from what I get, she received those supplies from no country. Somewhere else." Kerlongsj looked to the outside.
"I suppose that you haven't found her back." Sander shook his head with a disappointed face. "Sorry, Ker. But no. No such luck. But with this, we have the idea she got the supplies from somewhere else. Not from this Earth."
Kerlongsj cursed under his breath. This was not good.
"So what else do you have?"
"Too much time in your ivory tower, boss. It is not healthy. Look at this."
The fight of Amaterasu against the Golem was shown on the tablet Sander showed Kerlongsj. The Devil had to admit. Those kids were good.
When he looked at Kizuna and Ichika, he admitted that those boys got the same blood as their sisters. That much was clear.
"The fight was just a few hours ago. Internet is buzzing like crazy about it. Looks like the blonde HHG got her first climax and destroyed some Dragon." Kerlongsj just sighed. Those HHG were really powerful. For now, the fight was shown here.
"It was supposed to be a match between Ichika Orimura and their last member, Lingying Huang. Didn't work out well and this is where we at. And we got even more information for you."
Showing a second map, Kerlongsj just knew that problems were just piling up.
The good news for him was that it was not on his doorstep.
The bad news was that Kerlongsj wasn't sure if the school could survive it. And Reiri and Chifuyu were going to be extremely angry with him.
Just when he thought that he could feel his phone buzzing.
"Thank you, Sander. I look things over. Keep this up. We are not going to stop looking things over until we have found what we need."
The guy nodded and left the room.
When he closed the door, he grinned to himself. He knew exactly who was calling his boss. Like the other toe-holders, which were his old group, Sander knew that the Brunhilde and the Principal of the Infinite Ataraxia Academy were his lovers.
And those were two women that he was sure of that could be a handful. So when he left, he was happy that even with all of his power and wealth, Kerlongsj was still a normal guy in some regards.
Like getting an earful.
Kerlongsj took the call as he knew better to let it pass.
The good thing was that if you knew your partner(s), you could find ways to defuse them.
He thanked the guy up there that he didn't make Chifuyu and Reiri too modern women. For those two, being open and honest was the way to transfer information.
"Kerlongsj!" The shiver went down his spine. Chifuyu could really do that.
"Before you two make a ruckus, keep it down. I know why you called me. That last attack."
Reiri pipped in.
"How do you know that?"
"Because, Reiri. I just got the information. Among a lot more. And you are not going to like it."
Ten seconds of silence. Either they were going to tear him a new one or they would listen to him.
"We listen." Making a silent thank you, Kerlongsj began to speak.
They were already pissed at him and they couldn't get more.
He hoped.
"Reiri, your mother has gone missing."
"What?" Oh, was he glad that he lived in Belgium. He knew that if he was in Japan, it would be a lot more painful. His poor Link was really going to suffer.
"Your mother is missing. And so far, we got no luck of finding her." Kerlongsj said to his lovers. Reiri was most likely blowing up.
"Kerlongsj. You're telling me that you lost her."
"Yep. And the team that tracked her, has been found dead. And as of now, I found out what she was working on. Autonomous machines." Kerlongsj hoped that they would not kill him.
"Let me guess. Like what we got here now."
"I don't have too many details but I guess so yes. When I got more information, I will let you know." Reiri sighed as she knew that Kerlongsj was right.
"Why did you wait with this news?"
"Cause Reiri, I had hoped I could find her back. Looks like we couldn't. Reiri. Keep this in mind. My organization couldn't find her. I got more things about her. I will send you the information later. Chifuyu, I got some more news for you."
The other woman got interested in the news.
"Yes."
"Chifuyu, from what I read here, Tabane has been doing the same research. She has been successful. But with her, I am used to getting rid of me. We will find her. She doesn't want to destroy the world. Just make it more interesting. She will come out of her hole. But that is not the interesting part. From what I read here, you got the third male pilot dropping by."
The pause was far less tense compared to the first time.
"Kerlongsj. You are telling me that there is going to be a third MALE Infinite Stratos pilot?"
Throwing the file on his desk, Kerlongsj relaxed in the chair. "Yep. At least, that is what I read here. But here is the kicker. Unlike Mattheus, who was simply under the radar, there is zero I can find back on Charles Dunois."
Chifuyu smiled on that part.
"So what are you saying?" If he was right, the tone was playful. Looks like they had some distractions.
"That Charles Dunois didn't exist till now. From what I can read here, there is no mention of him in any documents."
"Dunois? You mean that 'he' is"
"Related to the manufacturer of France's main Infinite Stratos program. Yes. No mention or record. The only thing that I read here is some bits of an illegitimate daughter. Something tells me that you will have a new Representative Candidate coming soon. No guesses what the ultimate goal in mind is."
Chifuyu sighed.
"Looks like Ichika is going to have his hands full."
"Like Kizuna had his hands full today." Kerlongsj snickered on the phone.
Meeting some silence, Reiri was the first to speak.
"Shut it. Kerlongsj, anything else that you should mention?" Going on his head, he was wondering what he got in mind.
"So far, I have nothing. Although there is going to be more things piling up but nothing concrete. When I got it, I'll let you know."
"Promise?" It wasn't clear who said that but Kerlongsj felt they were serious.
"Yeah. You got my word."
"Okay. Good night, Kerlongsj."
"Night, Chifuyu. Reiri." When they closed the call, the hands went over his face. Feeling the beard of a couple of days old, he was wondering how deep they were in this time.
"I just hope that I can keep my word."
And with this, I close off my chapter. Damn, I wasn't expecting it to have so many words on this chapter. But hey, at least, I can close it off.
Waving the HHG harem in this is not easy but for now, I can manage. The reason why I worked on this is that this is running side by side with Brave New World so I wanted to get Charlotte's introduction and the problems it will give to run alike. And see where it gets me.
The HHG harem is going to be a bit rockier now but when I find a pace, I can work with, they will have more moments.
As for the IS harem, I just went with one thing.
Next chapter on Brave New World will have Charlotte. After that, we got her here. And that is going to be a world of difference.
Thanks for reading and the support.
Saluut.