Chapter 49: Aftermath

Kanako stared at the screens, aghast, as the hulking specter of the Neo Granzon blotted out the light.

"…am I the only one here who would like to know what the EVER LOVING HELL that thing is?" Suwako said, her tone almost conversational. "I mean, I'm seeing a LOT of screens saying 'Warning' or 'Danger', and a lot of other very bad things, so, y'know…just thought I'd ask."

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" A green blur ran past, yelling, and dove out the nearest window.

Suwako looked in that direction for a moment.

"…That was Sanae, wasn't it."

"…yes, I believe so." Momiji replied, her tone carefully controlled.

"…running AWAY from the giant robot."

"…yes."

Suwako was silent.

"Well, I am officially freaked out now."


"You said you knew this thing."

Beowulf's gaze flicked sideways, to find Sakuya there, speaking out of the corner of her mouth, equally unwilling to take her eyes off of the dark blue colossus.

"…unfortunately." He replied guardedly.

"Can we fight it?"

When silence greeted her, she risked a quick look, to find the blue Alt Eisen Riese staring at her with something close to sarcasm on its masked features.

"…I thought as much." She sighed.

Further conversation, however, was forestalled by the Neo Granzon's right hand emerging from the rift. Apparently content to leave its lower half floating in oblivion, it had stopped emerging, and while everyone refused to lower their guard…the sight of what was IN that rising hand didn't improve matters any.

"You know," Shu Shirakawa said thoughtfully. "Why is it whenever I travel with you, the locals never seem particularly welcoming?"

"Oh I wouldn't say it's aaaaall my fault." Yukari Yakumo chuckled, clicking her fan open. "You certainly have your own fair share of people being upset with you."

"A fair point." He conceded. "Though as we are, after all, on your home ground, perhaps you should make the introductions. It does tend to be rather difficult to talk when people like that young woman are throwing arcane spears at you."

"FLATTERY WILL GET YOU NOWHERE!"

There was a momentary pause while Remilia mentally tallied up the number of times someone had actually acknowledged her as something other than small, cute, a child, or anything else particularly demeaning to her actual age.

"…OKAY IT MIGHT GET YOU SOMEWHERE." The somewhat less aggressive reply came back. "BUT I'D STILL HAPPILY PUT THIS SPEAR THROUGH YOU OR THAT TRAMP SAGE GIVEN THE CHANCE."

"Charming." Yukari rolled her eyes and extended her hand. Accepting it graciously, the two master manipulators vanished into one of her portals, stepping easily out of another one onto the ground a few meters away from the other youkai, AI and ex-Einst.

"Oh, put those away." She frowned. "For once, I'm just here to talk."

"You usually are." Sakuya said testily, lowering her knives only slightly. "Then someone ends up hoarding all the spring, or a hell raven attempts to blow up the planet."

Yukari raised an eyebrow, and the maid tensed.

"Enough, Sakuya." Remilia landed, holding out a hand to stop her…but her eyes never left the two apparently carefree individuals standing across from them.

"…of course, milady."

"What do you want, Yukari?" The vampire said guardedly, before a slightly more acerbic tone entered her voice. "I assume it's not to apologize for the almost total destruction of my home twice in the last two weeks."

"…ah." The boundary sage at least had the grace to look embarrassed. "That…yes. Well. To be fair, that was not entirely my doing."

"Nor was it mine." Shu added easily, "Though I freely admit I played a much larger role than my companion here, at least for today's… 'festivities'."

"Festiv-mphmph?!" Daiyousei's outraged cry was hastily cut off by Cirno dragging her down. Turning to look at her best friend, the green haired fairy tried again.

"Cirno, you died today! How can he-"

"Yes, but I got better." Cirno cut her off again, then looked meaningfully across at Hustler. Following her gaze, Daiyousei gasped, as she saw his condition.

The hardlight projection was fading fast. He was fighting it, but with each passing minute, his image was degenerating, static shooting through it. For a moment, she thought he even staggered, but then the image glitched again, and it was gone.

Staying here was hurting him, she realized, and it probably had been the entire time he'd been fighting Beowulf.

And it wasn't just him either.

Sakuya's eyes still glowed red from Remilia's borrowed power, and there was a faint tremor in her knives that hadn't been there before.

Yuugi, though arriving last, didn't look in particularly great shape either, but then she was an oni, so that was a very vague frame of reference even on a good day.

And even Beowulf, the monster that had terrorized them up until a few moments ago, and now seemed like a polite, if somewhat socially awkward mechanical creature, was listing slightly.

Not to mention his missing arm.

In other words, nobody here was in any condition for a return to hostilities, save perhaps Remilia, and even if they had been able to support her, Daiyousei had serious doubts that would make a difference against the two in front of them now.

As if reading her mind, Shu went on.

"Rest assured, however, that neither of us have come here to fight you. At least," He smiled, "Not today at any rate."

"Doctor~!" Yukari chided, giving a light giggle behind her fan.

"Sorry, sorry." He shrugged easily. "Old habits are hard to break, after all~"

His face turning serious again, the master of the Neo Granzon looked back at the gathering.

"Nonetheless, I do mean it when I say we are not here to fight." He went on. "I do believe there has been rather enough of that for today, and indeed, further conflict would risk jeopardizing our long term goals far too much."

"Precisely." Yukari added, "And as a show of goodwill, I'll even throw in a promise of restoration for your entire mansion, and all damage incurred over the last three weeks."

She clicked her fan shut, eyes hardening.

"We do not have time for further arguments, vampire."

For a moment, only tense silence remained, Remilia matching stares with the enigmatic border youkai as the battered fighters at her back waited to see what would happen.

Until the silence was, surprisingly enough, broken by somebody else.

"Er…not to interrupt…" Beowulf said weakly, raising his hand slightly, "But I…think I may have lost…slightly more blood…than is strictly healthy for me."

Everyone turned.

Though it had dwindled to a trickle, there was a steady dripping of black liquid from the stump of Beowulf's missing left shoulder. Though it had reverted to proper mechanical construction, joints and bolts and linkages instead of the more…organic construction favored by the Einst, it seemed as though even the blue Alt Eisen Riese still possessed some basic level of organics.

…and there was an awful lot of that black blood pooled at his armored feet.

For one brief, glorious moment, Remilia considered just letting him finish bleeding out, as penance for everything he had caused today…and then she shut her eyes, reminding herself that no, she needed to leave him alive, if only to get one over on the top-heavy mountain goddess. Still…

She looked across at the spectral, distorted image of Hustler One, still fighting to remain present.

"…Truce?" She asked.

For a long moment, Hustler One simply stared at Beowulf, a myriad of calculations running through his mind.

Then, with the digital equivalent of a sigh, he nodded.

"All right then." Remilia lowered her hand, and Sakuya staggered as the effects of her power faded, exhaustion hitting her like a tidal wave.

"Milady…?"

"All right, Yakumo." The vampire sighed, resting her hands on her hips. "Speak your piece."

Squinting at the sky overhead, she added, "But let's take this inside, I think it's about to clear up out here."

There was a crackling, hissing sound, and everyone turned to see a battered, equally glitching Lana Nielsen standing where Hustler had a second before. Steam poured off of the Administrator as she wearily raised a hand to tilt her glasses back into place, sparks visible even through her weakened hardlight body.

"…Should I prepare the main dining room, then?" She coughed up a faint gout of smoke, then cracked a weak smile. "I am still technically working here, after all."

A sharp bark of laughter answered that, hastily turned into a cough as Sakuya saw the looks she was receiving.

"A-ahem." She cleared her throat, straightening up as best she could. "I…agree, Milady. As your maids, we do have a duty to ready the mansion for your guests."

Neither maid said anything else, but for now, there was a definite, grudging mark of respect between them as they cast a brief glance at each other..

There was a loud, earthshaking thud.

"…hello, floor." Beowulf said weakly.

Remilia sighed.

"No, that won't be necessary." She said finally. "The fairy maids have been slacking off lately anyway, it'll be good for them to get some actual work done. Besides, I think you two have earned your break for today."

Moving towards the mansion, a clear signal for everyone else to follow, she called over her shoulder.

"And get someone to patch up that blue pile of scrap metal!"

"Naaaaaah, don't worry about that." Yuugi added cheerfully, and with a lot of clanging, hefted the facedown Riese over her shoulder. "He'll be fine! Just lemme find someplace quiet for him, and he'll sleep it off. We oni are tough like that."

There was no response from Beowulf.

"…and maybe get that half dead mage of yours to take a look at him." She added hastily, and quickened her step. "J-just to be safe."

As the small party headed towards the mansion doors, the Neo Granzon descended once more into the void…most likely due in part to Remilia demanding Shu to 'get that hulking metal mountain off her damned lawn', leaving two exhausted, battered maids standing alone in the middle of a ruined courtyard.

Silence fell, broken only by the wind blowing past, and the distant creaking of settling masonry.

"So…" Sakuya said eventually. "What's it like, playing host to something like Hustler?"

"Barbed wire, sandpaper and broken glass." Lana replied gloomily. "You?

"…I would hardly consider milady's power as such a terrible burden."

"…" The Administrator stared at her for several moments, until Sakuya eventually looked away.

"…rusty needles, sawblades and poison ivy." She admitted grudgingly.

"Huh." Lana said thoughtfully. "My sympathies."

"Likewise."

More silence.


"Okay, standby!" Kanako yelled, "He's coming back in 3…2…"

The colossal frame of Nineball Seraph bucked in its restraints, back arching as its claws dug into the reinforced supports.

Every screen in the room flashed a multitude of codes in languages the war goddess couldn't begin to translate, the terrible, crushing pressure and heat doubling in intensity, almost driving her to her knees.

And then it was over, Nineball dropping back into its seat as gouts of steam burst from every vent and seam, computers going dark as every one of Hustler One's connections disengaged. A dull, metallic creaking filled the air, metal groaning as the stresses on it finally lifted.

"…everyone alive?" Suwako's cautious voice rang out.

"I've ruined this shirt." Hatate groused from somewhere off on her left. "But yeah I guess so?"

"Oh shut up, at least you got your scoop." Nitori snapped, two mechanical arms emerging from her backpack as she shoved fallen debris off herself.

"I am well also." Momiji replied as coolly as ever, dropping down to land next to Kanako as the war goddess pulled herself up to the console again.

"Same." The goddess added, gaze already flitting over the readouts. A chorus of other, answering groans came a moment later as the assorted kappa engineers also began picking themselves up, welcoming the rapidly cooling air in the hangar.

Finally, Kanako turned, looking up into the empty, black visor.

"Moment of truth now…" She muttered. "Hustler?"

Silence.

Then, after a few moments, golden light flared, the visor bursting to life anew as the great red and black head slowly raised, Nineball Seraph groaning with the effort.

Muzzily shaking his head, Hustler One grimaced in the darkness of cyberspace. Everything felt so...wide open, and spacious. His HUD sprang to life after a few tries, and other than a few anomalies in his cooling systems, everything seemed as it had been before he, well…

The ancient AI slowly looked around, seeing the chaos of the hangar. That…definitely had not been like this before. Cables lay strewn everywhere, huge extractor fans pounding away overhead as they continued to lower the ambient temperature of the cavernous space, tools and debris lying scattered everywhere…and a lot of nervous faces, all looking at him.

Including those of Kanako, Suwako and the less-familiar Momiji, all hovering just in front of his armored head, wearing a range of emotions ranging from exasperation to annoyance to studied indifference.

"I think," The war goddess began carefully, "That we…MAY have been a bit too, er, generalized, when we first explained Gensokyo to you over the last two weeks."

"The word you're looking for is 'specialized', actually." Suwako glared at her companion, arms folded. "Because while he doesn't know even the most basic information about fairies, or rather, DIDN't know…I get the sneaking suspicion he knows almost everything about the 'greatness' of Moriya Shrine."

Kanako wilted.

"I…I admit that um…might have been my fault." She admitted sheepishly. "I can't help it if I only like to talk about things I find interesting!"

Suwako raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, that might have been worded a bit better." Kanako coughed. "A-anyway, the point is, I think we…MAY need to give you a bit of a more detailed guide to Gensokyo."

"Might I suggest Akyuu no Hieda?" Momiji chimed in. "She IS the historical chronicler of Gensokyo, after all.

"What, that biased little twerp?" Suwako snorted. "I wouldn't use that 'Chronicle' to wipe my-"

"ANYWAY," Kanako interjected a bit more forcefully, "Since you probably know everything important about Moriya by now, I'll see if there's anyone else I can get ahold of who might be able to answer all the questions you might have."

Steam hissed as Hustler One sighed, nodding in approval. That would be HIGHLY appreciated, given the considerable problems he had no doubt caused earlier today. Not to mention that 'Beowulf' as well…definitely a mechanical being, but with far too many anomalies to be just that. A visit to this so-called Underground might well be in order.

"What about the were-hakutaku in the human village?" Momiji suggested. "She masquerades as a teacher and a historian, does she not?"

Kanako winced.

"Masquerade is a bit of a harsh word to use…but yes, I think she'd be a good choice." Brightening up, the war goddess snapped her fingers, before immediately slumping again with a frown. "Though, given her proximity to the firebird, it's only a matter of time before that Lunar Princess finds out."

Momiji, Suwako and even Hustler One stared at her. Then, as one, they all turned to glare at Hatate, who was flitting all over the hangar in manic glee, phone camera snapping away.

"…point taken." She felt a bead of sweat roll down her neck, and gave a nervous chuckle. "I'll get right on that, then…"

As she turned to go, there was a dull creaking, and the gigantic hand of Nineball Seraph moved to block her.

"What the…" She turned in surprise. "Hustler?"

The great steel head shook from side to side, a grim look in that visor. Suwako jumped, as the screens next to her came to life…and then several more, all showing different images, different angles and different renditions of the same things.

The Neo Granzon.

And Beowulf.

"…ah." Kanako's face hardened. "You want my help to analyze those two?"

The armored head nodded.

"I…well…" She frowned. "I can try, I suppose, but I can't promise much. Neither of them are like anything I've ever encountered before."

"So was this guy." Suwako jerked a thumb over her shoulder at the incomplete hulk of Nineball Seraph. "And yet here we are."

"I…suppose you're right." Kanako admitted, embarrassed. "What about Keine?"

Seeing Hustler's puzzlement, she clarified, "The hakutaku historian we discussed earlier."

The artificial intelligence seemed to consider it for a moment. Then he looked up, and around, taking in the damaged hangar, and the chaos he had caused. The cause of this incident, he decided, was just as much his fault as theirs.

He did not properly understand this world, or the creatures that dwelled in it…and likewise, they, save perhaps Cirno, did not truly understand the world of the Armored Cores, or the being called Master of the Arena.

Theirs had been an error of omission, but his had been one of caution.

He had begun to trust them, over these last weeks in this hangar…but he had not trusted them enough, it seemed.

More screens flickered to life, as the images of the Neo Granzon and Beowulf were pushed aside.

Armies of mass produced Nineball models marched across a burning field, littered with the wreckage of enemies.

Massive, towering skyscrapers clawed at the skies, the emblems of the corporations vying for dominance over a war torn world.

Ravens charged into battle, energy blades, rifles, grenade launchers and more flashing and firing as they tore sparking chunks of armor out of each other.

Armored Cores were built, fought and destroyed, over and over, engines of destruction that blazed brilliantly during their lives, before inevitably being bested by newer foes stronger than them.

Through it all, the Nineball units marched on, an endless, elite tide that crushed all in their path. For every one of them that fell, destroyed, another stepped forward to take its place.

And the same, cold, calculating intelligence burned behind each one, as a colossal, steel angel lay waiting in the dark, for the day an enemy that surpassed all others finally arrived to face it.

"What…are these?" Kanako whispered, taking a step back, shocked to her core at what she'd just witnessed. The scale of such destruction, and the weapons and technology used…she turned to stare up at Hustler One's impassive features. "Are these...?"

The screen blinked again, words forming.

BRING YOUR HISTORIAN, they said, as Nineball Seraph settled back into its hangar cradle. A TRADE OF INFORMATION IS OFFERED.

"Oh." Kanako said, and her eyes widened. "Oh. Um…wow. All right then. Keine it is, I guess?"

She turned to look at Suwako, who shrugged helplessly.

"Don't look at me, I won't be going anywhere for another hour at least. Too much of my magic is holding this place together as is, I need to stay here until the kappa can finish repairs."

"THANK YOU!" An exasperated cry came from further below, as Nitori threw in her own two cents, "FINALLY, SOMEONE UNDERSTANDS!"

"And I need to start analyzing these new units-" Kanako began, only to be cut off as Suwako stuck an accusatory finger in her face.

"No, YOU need to go get some rest." She growled, and the dirty look she shot Hustler One quickly cut off his immediate protest as well. "No, you stay out of this, you've caused enough trouble for one day."

Turning her attention back to Kanako, she glowered.

"I know you haven't been sleeping, and I know you burned WAY more power today than you have in the last week just keeping this place from bursting into flame. You're going straight up those stairs, taking a bath, and going to SLEEP for the rest of today." The frog goddess ordered. "And if I catch you sneaking down to the labs again, I'll…I'll…uh…"

She faltered.

"CONFISCATE HER BOOBS!"

"I'll confiscate your- OH HA HA VERY FUNNY!" Suwako sputtered, turning to yell over the catwalk railing. "YOU STAY OUT OF THIS KAWASHIRO OR YOU'RE NEXT!"

"BITE ME!"

"DON'T THINK I WON'T, YOU LITTLE MAGGOT!" Clearing her throat, she turned back to face the others. "The point is, I doubt the world is likely to end if you take a couple hours off."

Kanako and Hustler looked at each other, then as one turned back to Suwako-

"Don't." She growled.

"…yes, dear." Kanako said meekly, and Hustler suddenly found the ceiling very interesting.

"I will fetch the hakutaku." Momiji spoke up. When she realized everyone was staring at her, she went on.

"It is not as if I have much else to do at the moment." She gave a wan smile. "Besides, I have never been comfortable with the idea of staying in enclosed spaces for extended periods of time. I would appreciate the chance to stretch my legs for a bit."

"…well, there you go." Suwako said awkwardly. "Problem solved I guess?"

Lana coughed up another cloud of smoke, grimacing as one of her hands faded in and out of sight.

Sakuya gingerly inspected the scratches on her jaw, and adjusted the torn hem of her skirt.

"…"

"…"

"One of us is going to have to fall over eventually."

"I agree."

A tumbleweed drifted idly past.

"Look, after all that are we really going to compete over something this petty?"

"…Yes."

"…Yeah, we are, aren't we." Groaning, Lana dragged a hand down her face. "Look, let's not be children about this. On the count of three, we both fall over, and get a nice few minutes of just lying around and doing nothing before we go back to cleaning up this mess, okay?"

"That seems fair." Sakuya admitted. "I think I may actually have taken more damage in that last fight than I thought, to be honest. Your count?"

Lana nodded.

"3…2…1…"

Nobody moved.

"GODDAMMIT."


A/N: Daily reminder that Lana and Sakuya are a bunch of immature children I swear to god.

SO we're back again! And fortunately for our heroes, Shu and Yukari have decided to flip a coin and come up as 'NOT RUINING YOUR DAY REALLY BADLY FOR ONCE'!

Well, probably anyway. I think by this point we can all agree that them just talking is only slightly less dangerous than a Granwyrm Sword to the everything.

Or a train.

But I digress...so, here we are again, now potentially bringing everything together at last. Over the next two or so chapters you'll finally be getting some insight into Armored G, and how all of this insanity came about. Not to mention, of course, maybe figuring out at least part of what Yukari and Shu's master plan actually is.

But most importantly, you finally get to properly see the two different casts of our two different mecha routes finally coming together onscreen at last. What do you mean this will end terribly, I don't know what you're talking about!

Other things to note...Remilia has come a long way since the earlier, meme-spouting chapters, for sure. She's gone from Charisma Break fodder to becoming increasingly salty and done with literally everyone's crap.

Beowulf has gone back to being a dork...albeit a hulking metal one.

Kanako has tunnel vision, nothing new there, and of course Suwako is the only sane person on the whole mountain.

Nitori appears to have shaken off her nerves from earlier, and is now just as much of a lil shit as she should be...and Sanae is terrified of the Neo Granzon, as any intelligent SRW veteran should be, seriously fuck that thing SHU WHY ARE YOU SUCH AN OP JACKASS PLS STOP WIPING MY ENTIRE TEAM

That said, I hope you all enjoyed, and I'll see you in the comments!