Hello, people. Here's the new chapter, I hope it's soon enough.
For those who wrote their reviews:
ZenithTempest, megakdre100, Imperial-samaB, Telron, DarkBladerZX, ARSLOTHES, Sacchin: Thanks for your support people, it's really encouraging.
Sacchin: I agree, she has an unusual character, and, knowing Ichika's character in this story, I'm guessing how their first interaction will be…
New Universe Returns: Yes, it is.
Sajuuk: There's no point for Ichika to 'scan' Charlotte's weapons as they're just guns, of larger caliber, to match I.S.-related purpose. As for Laura's railgun – it uses the same principle of EM-acceleration as Ichika's plasma weapon, only it fires solid shells instead of plasma charges.
berilium: That you will get =)
JamboGolem324: Well, I'm not of 'most people' xD I know a lot of things…
Chapter V – Dark Blood
…
June 5th, 11:18 PM.
One of dormitory's rooms. It was dark in there. In this heavy darkness, a person was staying there, all alone. She didn't know when she started to become like this, but when she was born, she knew the blackness of darkness. It's said that humans will see light when they're first born, but this girl was different. She was brought up in darkness, born amongst the shadows, and this fact hadn't changed. In the room that was without light, her silhouette lurked in the darkness and the red eye was shining darkly.
'Laura Bodewig'. She knew that it was her name, but at the same time, she didn't understand the significance behind it. But there was one exception, that was when she was called by the instructor – only when she was called by Orimura Chifuyu, only then she felt that her name had a special significance, and that was lifting up her spirits. 'That person's existence... that unrivaled strength has always been my goal, and my reason to live...'
It was like a ray of light. When she first met Chifuyu, she was stunned by that indomitable power. Fearful, moved and delighted, the feelings reverberated within her, making her feel hot. She then made such a wish.
'Ahh, I really want to be like her. I want to be like such a person,' That was Laura's dream.
The originally empty places within Laura were quickly filled up, forming her everything. And Chifuyu was her teacher and also had absolute strength. She was the complete incarnation of Laura's ideals.
That was the only existence, to be 'like her'.
So she can't forgive those who aren't complete.
'Orimura Ichika – the person who caused the instructor to be blemished...' Laura clenched her fists. Insolent and indifferent, she can't agree with that person's existence. 'I must eliminate him, no matter the means...'
With burning dark will, Laura silently closed her eyes and merged with the darkness as she sank into a slumber without dreams…
June 10th, 9:44 AM.
Sitting in the classroom and staring into the window, Houki was thinking about this month's tournament. Ah, no, Ichika was careful, so no one but he and Houki were aware of his promise to take Houki for a weekend-long date, but still, before that, there were two problems…
First, there's no way that everyone would remain oblivious about the fact that Houki was on two days long date with Ichika. To be honest, Houki thought that 'the secret relationship that only they know' fits her agenda, and she always had this goal. However, feelings went amok on a 15+ year old girl who's growing up, and nobody can blame her. Even if her tone's more traditional than normal and others don't think that she'll do such things, Houki's wishes aren't any different from Cecilia, Rin, or most the other girls. And that's why this is a problem. Ichika is like the saint here, so almost entire 'blame' for that date will be on her.
'An-Anyway, I've got to do this! It'll be alright once it's done! It won't be like that time. It's alright, it's alright...I guess,' She thought. And that's where the second problem lies…
Tabane… Since Houki's elder sister invented I.S., her entire family was put under VIP government protection. Because of that she had to forfeit national kendo championship, to leave her school and, probably, her only real friend behind. Yes, Houki knew that Ichika actually was more interested in her sister's company, but still she was considering herself Ichika's friend. And after that he also went far away… Ever since that day, Houki never liked Tabane. Or rather, she hated her.
Then, before she realized it, she was forced to stay apart from her parents, and the culprit behind this, Tabane, gone missing. As her older sister was involved, Houki had to undergo many invigilations and investigations, and her heart and soul crumbled, unwilling to go on. It was good thing that she didn't know about that, unlike Houki herself, her elder sister, Tabane, was in contact with Ichika this entire time or her hatred would have burned her down from inside…
In those days, the only thing she hadn't given up was kendo, for she felt that kendo was the only thing that was linking her to Ichika. But even though she won the national championship a few months ago, it didn't really satisfy her. The reason is fast and simple. That's because kendo was 'just a way for her to blow off steam'. She just wanted to beat anyone down into the ground.
That's right, that was what she thought. However, the blade is a mirror that will reflect her expression, and once that extremely ugly look of hers heavily struck back to her, she was so mortified that she felt like she wanted to leave the prize award ceremony.
And what drew her into deeper despair was when she saw her opponent crying after losing to her in this state. 'What was I doing...' Houki thought guiltily. Her actions were just violence, not strength. Strength doesn't refer to this, and she knows of this... very clearly – that's what she thought.
She again shook her head. It would be great to dump the adhesive-like memories away, but the human heart can't do such a simple thing. 'This time, I will... I should be able to win without misunderstanding of meaning of the word 'strength'... No, I have to win! For myself. To get back my old self!'
However, winning this time was impossible. He will be the winner, no doubts. But, that's not the problem this time. Even meeting with him in final would've been enough to fulfill her promise. Problem is that, this time, she has no clear-cut advantage. In contrary, this time she's at disadvantage. Cecilia… Rin… they both will be participating and they both personal I.S. owners. That girl from class 1-4, Sarashiki Kanzashi (though Houki never saw her on arena with her personal I.S.), it is known fact that she possesses a personal unit as well. And now, these two newcomers – Charles Dunois and Laura Bodewig, both with personal units.
As far as Houki knew, their grade has 32 (1-1) + 31 (1-2) + 30 (1-3) + 31 (1-4) students, 124 in total. Which means that tournament net will be looking like that: 124 → 64 → 32 → 16 → 8 → 4 → 2 → 1 participants, in other words, to win the tournament you have to win seven battles (six, if you're very lucky, since here's 124 students, not 128, four lucky girls will skip the first round).
Including Ichika, their grade has six personal units' owners. Houki had some confidence in herself, in the end, among those who wasn't a personal unit owner she was the most experienced, as she trained with Ichika several times, so, most likely, she can win against any regular student in her grade. But what to do with personal units' owners? All of them are much more experienced (they all are representative candidates for a reason). Their units are more advanced, while regular students like Houki will be using standard 'Uchigane' and 'Revives', both 2nd generation units. Besides, pilots with personal I.S. have much better synergy with their machines.
'Do I have a chance against personal unit owners?' Houki asked herself. Situation looked really grim. Of course, there's a chance that all personal units' owners will eliminate each other and Houki won't have to fight any of them (except for Ichika, of course), but depending on such luck… that's not Houki's way of doing things. 'Damn… It won't be easy…'
Suddenly, Ichika's words popped up in Houki's head: 'For the absolute majority of people in this world, getting personal I.S. is simply impossible even in their dreams. However, for Shinonono Tabane's sister it's extremely easy. All you need to do, Shinonono Houki, is to step on the throat of your stubbornness, and make a call.' Houki closed her eyes and clenched her fists. 'No way!' She vowed. Relationships between her and Tabane were too complicated.
*PANG!* Houki got hit by the attendance book which was as hard as ever. "Shinonono, if your thoughts are more important than that what I'm saying, would you mind to share your thoughts with us?" Chifuyu asked. Seemingly, Houki was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't even notice that entire class has already gathered and HRS has started.
June 21th, 7:57 PM.
About 8 PM. Ichika was walking back to his dormitory room, today was just a routine training on 1st arena. Approaching the dormitory, Ichika suddenly heard quite a loud yell from behind the corner. "Why are you a teacher here?!" No doubts that was Laura Bodewig.
"What a headache..." Irritated voice replied, and that one belongs to Chifuyu for sure. "Don't let me repeat this again. I have my duties to perform, that's all."
Ichika wasn't interesting in listening to that conversation, in the end it was his sister's affairs, so he simply continued his way towards his room. Seemingly, there was nothing else that could cause the ice-like transfer student Laura Bodewig to be so agitated. From what they're saying, Laura seems to be expressing her discontent about Chifuyu's current job… and her idol worshiping-like emotions towards Ichika's elder sister.
"What kind of duties can you possibly have in this small far-east country!?" Laura was so carried away that she didn't even notice (or simply ignored) that someone's approaching her and Chifuyu. "Please instructor. Please come back to Germany to guide us. You can't even show off half of your abilities here."
"Oh?" Chifuyu looked at Laura coldly.
"Basically, the students over here aren't worth teaching!" Laura exclaimed.
"And why is that?" Chifuyu asked, and her voice sounded with the same indifference as Ichika's when he's uninterested in something. They're siblings, no doubts.
"They aren't prepared enough. They have too little sense of danger, they think that I.S. is just a trendy thing, those low-class people…" At that moment Ichika passed by Laura and she immediately stopped talking and stared at him with cold hatred. Ichika, however, passed by in silently, right now he has nothing to say to his sister, at least while strangers are around.
"End of the line, little lady," Chifuyu stated coldly, reverting Laura's attention back to herself.
"Ugh...!" German girl gulped, as she was forced to forget about hated Ichika for now. Chifuyu's voice had a terrifying presence, and even Laura seemed to be afraid of the huge intent hidden in the voice as she didn't try to argue anymore, simply unable to continue.
"To think that you believe you're rather good after we haven't met in a while, is it? Just 15 years old, and you think that you're superior to others. I'm impressed," Chifuyu simply crashed all Laura's enthusiasm.
"I, I'm..." Girl's voice was trembling now. She probably felt terrified… well, that's to be expected. What else she could feel in front of that overwhelming force?
"Alright, it's already late. Get back to your room," With Chifuyu voice reverting back to normal, Laura left quickly and silently...
June 22th, 2:44 PM.
Thursday's afternoon. "So, you are going for special training today?" Charlotte asked as she (still in male disguise) and Ichika were walking down the corridor side by side after classes.
"Well, yes," Ichika replied, "However, as far as I remember, arenas are closed due to preparation to IDT [Individual Division Tournament], the only arena that still can be used by students is…"
"The 3rd arena," Houki's voice intervened into their conversation.
"Wah!" Charlotte jumped up in shock as she heard an unexpected voice; Ichika, on the other hand, showed no reaction, as he noticed Houki long before she spoke out.
"...Is there a need to be shocked? That's rude," Houki frowned.
"Who got shocked?" Ichika asked indifferently.
"Sorry, I got shocked. It was too sudden," Charlotte apologized politely.
"Ah, no, I'm not blaming you..." Seeing Charlotte bowing down properly, even Houki's momentum got cut by half. And then, seemingly feeling like she lost face, Houki deliberately coughed a few times to change the topic. "Anyway, let's head to the 3rd arena," Houki suggested, "I heard that there will be very few people using it today, so if there's time, I should be able to carry out some mock battles, I finally secured a permission for training suit…"
"That's what we were planning to do from the beginning," Ichika said as Charlotte nodded. By the way, she decided to get rid of her disguise right after tournament's end. She said that people will splash out most of their emotions during tournament, and truth about her won't cause too emotional reaction. Ichika had to admit that there was some logic in her plan…
As three were heading towards the arena, they found a lot of tension over there, and there were a lot of students running around in the corridor. It seems like the commotion happened at the 3rd arena.
"What's wrong?" Houki wondered.
"What's going on? Should we check it out?" Charlotte asked as she pointed at the gate to the spectator stands. To learn about situation, it's much faster to go there than to go through the hangar, so Ichika nodded his head in agreement.
Going there, they overheard voices of two girls, which were running the same way, one of them said, "It seems like there're people having a mock battle, but the situation seems to be quite harsh!"
Few moments later, just as Houki, Charlotte and Ichika entered the stand and arena itself became visible, sudden explosion happened right above the middle of the field, and two shadows flew out of the smoke like they were cutting through it.
"Rin? Cecilia?" Ichika recognized the I.S. units, which were thrown away by the explosion. Both pilots looked hurt as they gazed directly at the center of the explosion, and standing over there was Laura, who was piloting the pitched-black I.S. Schwarzer Regen. Looking closely, Rin and Cecilia's I.S.-es were severely damaged. There were damage marks all over the frames, and a part of the I.S. armor was completely broken. In contrast, Laura's unit, thought wasn't completely unscathed, the damage was relatively light compared to those two.
"What are these two doing?" Ichika asked with somehow disappointed voice. After looking at Rin and Cecilia, he turned to look at Laura. Though it was a 2 vs 1, the ones in trouble were Rin and Cecilia, who, logically, should have been in an advantageous situation.
"Take that!" Rin's I.S. Shenlong opened its shoulders. Docked on them were the Shock Cannons, which use shells made of compressed air, the maximum output weapons of the Shenlong. If it were a training machine, one shot would definitely wreck it, but Laura wasn't avoiding them at all.
"That's useless against the absolute barrier of Schwarzer Regen!" Laura stated as invisible shots of the impact cannons were aimed at Laura, but the attacks never landed on her. Ichika noticed what happened – shells made of air simply stopped at some distance from Laura, as if caught by an invisible net. Laura only reached her right hand out, and the impact cannons attacks were completely nullified.
"Che! To think that you can hold me off like that..." Rin hissed in frustration.
Laura shot out blades from her shoulders at Rin's I.S. As both blades were linked to the main body by electronic cables, she was able to let them fly out in complicated paths to avoid the direct shots and thus grabbed Rin's right foot – they seemed to be weapons that were a mix of blades and cables.
"Do you think I'll let you do as you please so many times!?" Trying to cover Rin, Cecilia attacked and launched her BITs at Laura.
"Hah... I don't know if Blue Tears is said to have the highest mobility in theory, but treating that design as a 3rd generation unit? That's a joke," Laura replied with derisive voice.
Cecilia used accurate sniping and the BITs to launch attacks from all over the place, and Laura continued to dodge and then she stopped, extending her arm out, just like before. This time, she seemed to grab something in front of her while she was folding her arms, and the moment she did that, all the BITs stopped.
"Your movements are sealed!" Cecilia shouted, pointing her rifle at Laura. Seemingly, Laura couldn't move with her force field in use.
"Yours too," Laura replied, charging her own shoulder-mounted railgun. Two girls shot at each other simultaneously, negating each other's shots. However, Laura wasn't wasting time as she threw Rin, who she caught just now with blades-cables, at Cecilia, who intended to continue firing. It was a theory of using cables to swing down in a clockwork manner, simple, yet effective.
"AH!" "UGH" Two girls screamed as they been smashed into one another. Facing the two of them while they lost their orientation in mid-air, Laura launched her attack. Her speed could be compared to a bullet as she closed in within a second. No doubts, that was the Ignition Boost.
"Good doggy, she learned well," Ichika commented, as he was watching the battle, carefully grasping every Laura's move with his eyes. At this point there should be no doubts that she was Chifuyu's trainee.
At that moment, Laura deployed the plasma blades from her sleeves and hacked at Rin with them. "Ah You...!" Rin growled.
While Laura was moving forward, Rin backed away and increased the distance, dodging a few blows in the process, skillfully using the shape of the arena to move and forcing herself not to get into any dead ends. However, Laura's cable blades attacked again, the two on her shoulders and the ones on both sides of her waist, 6 of them in total. They all attacked in three dimensions as Laura continued to use her plasma blades to attack viciously. Even if it was Rin, who was so used to fighting, it was too difficult for her to deal with all the attacks adequately.
"Heh!" Rin again deployed the impact cannons and gathered the power there.
"How naive! Using pressurized-air weapons that need time, in this situation?" As Laura said this, her railgun destroyed the impact cannons before they could shoot. "Got you!" Both Rin's shock cannons were damaged and disappeared. As the armor on her back got shot off, Rin's body lost balance and Laura used this chance to stab the plasma blade into her chest.
"I won't let you!" At the last moment, Cecilia rushed in between Rin and Laura and blocked her attack with her own blade, Interceptor. Seemingly, her training with Ichika wasn't in vain. After blocking the sure-kill attack, she shot the missile type BITs on her waist at Laura.
That was almost the equivalent of a suicidal close-ranged rocket attack as the explosion caught Rin and Cecilia, causing them to tumble on the floor.
"That was reckless of you..." Rin mumbled.
"Save the complaints for later. But really, that should have done some damage…" Cecilia stopped as she spoke. As the smoke scattered, standing over there was Laura. Even though it was an explosion at close range, she was still floating in mid-air, just with few minor scratches.
"Is it over? Well then, it's my turn now," She smiled evilly. The moment she said that, she used the Ignition Boost to glide down to the ground, first kicking Rin and then shooting at Cecilia with a cannon. Then, Laura used the cabled blades to grab their bodies and drag them to her. After that, one-sided violence ensued.
Laura's fists clamped down hard on their arms, legs and bodies, causing their defenses to drop lower than what the machine maintenance warning zone permitted. But Laura didn't stop as she continued to beat and kick Rin and Cecilia, ripping their I.S. armor apart. If the damage kept up, their I.S. would be forcefully removed. After that, if Laura won't stop, she may simply kill them.
Seeing Laura's usual emotionless face actually smile for a moment due to delight, Ichika narrowed his eyes. Obviously, for Laura, these two girls weren't co-students, they were more like enemies, and she was treating them accordingly. 'I guess we're not that different, are we? No mercy for the wicked…' Ichika thought. "Still, if she kills them, that girl will be punished severely, maybe even incarcerated, and that will make teaching her a lesson quite troublesome… It seems I have to interfere…" Ichika was talking to himself.
White light engulfed his body, as Ichika quickly deployed his I.S., Messiah, and immediately drew out his weapon. Ragnarök quickly took shape of three-barreled shotgun, Arbiter. Ichika's I.S. began to glow, drawing light from surrounding area, as pilot activated One Off ability – Paradise of Darkness. Ichika shot right in front of himself. Triple plasma blast, empowered by Paradise of Darkness, which can destroy anything that uses energy, made quite a hole in the arena's protective shield, allowing Ichika to enter the battlefield. At the same time, Ragnarök switched to sniper rifle form, Ambassador, as Ichika's I.S. extended the Fold Out armor on its wings downwards, activating 'weapon overload' mode, thus directing additional plasma into weapon's plasma compression chamber. As he entered the arena, Ichika shot without delay.
Due to Ichika's fast actions and plasma charge's very high velocity, Laura couldn't avoid that attack. She got a direct hit into her back, as powerful plasma blast made her and her I.S. to fly head over heels until she smashed into the arena's opposite wall. Too bad that Ichika had to deactivate Paradise of Darkness, or that one shot probably would be enough to devastate Laura's shield completely, thus forcing Schwarzer Regen to activate absolute barrier and render it harmless. However, because Rin and Cecilia were too close to Laura, with Paradise of Darkness active, the blast that could defeat Laura also could simply fry both girls as their shields were almost depleted. Still, even without Paradise of Darkness, that empowered with assault-mode shot from Ambassador burned down about 290 points of Laura's shield and completely wrecked armor on her back. Actually, the pure damage potential of such a shot is 320 points, but it was partly dispersed thanks to shield's field modulation.
Unfortunately, that blast still was powerful enough to also nullify both Shenlong and Blue Tears' remaining shields points, and since both frames were severely damaged it caused force removal of both I.S., and now two girls were lying defenseless on arena's ground. "Charlotte," Ichika called for French pilot via private channel, "I'll take it from here, you take care of these two losers." Though, Ichika's words were needless as Charlotte already deployed her I.S. and entered the arena, heading straight to Rin and Cecilia.
At the same time, Houki was helplessly watching at what was happening inside the arena. Yes, she also got permission to use I.S. for training today, but, unlike personal unit owners, she couldn't deploy it right away – she had to go to Hangar and equip it manually. It would take about 7-8 minutes at least – definitely she won't be able to help now. "Damn! If only I had a personal unit, too!" She exclaimed desperately, clenching her fists. "Is watching the only thing I can do now?!"
In the meantime, Laura came back to her senses. She got up, and now was looking at Ichika with all-devouring hatred. "Oh, nice face," Ichika commented, "Sorry to interfere but that was too tempting to wipe out that smile of yours… And don't blame me for attacking you in the back – as they say – à la guerre comme à la guerre…" Too bad that Ichika was wearing closed helmet and no one could see his face. "Still, doggy, you actually fought not that bad, definitely better than Chihuahua level, so hereby I'm officially promoting you to Dalmatian…"
"SHUT UP!" Laura roared, seemingly Ichika infuriated her to the limit. She bent forward, preparing to execute Ignition Boost, at the same time shooting all six cable-blades at Ichika.
Ragnarök quickly switched to dual pistols form, Ebony and Ivory, as Ichika's I.S. reversed the Fold Out armor on its wings, extending it upwards, directing plasma into thrusters instead of weapon. With his dual pistols, Ichika shot down five out of six cable-blades that Laura launched at him, and easily caught the last one with his left hand. "Now, come to me!" He said. Using powerful thrusters of 4th generation I.S. to maintain his position, Ichika began to tow Laura along stadium, towards himself.
At that moment, Charlotte approached Cecilia and Rin.
"Ugh... damn..." Rin moaned.
"I let him... see me got embarrassed out there..." Cecilia mumbled.
"Don't talk..." Charlotte said before opening private channel to Ichika, "Ichika-san, they're still conscious but seemingly injured. Can you handle her by yourself? I'm taking them off arena, they need medical attention."
"Roger, do it," Ichika replied, as he continued to pull Laura towards himself. Charlotte carried Rin and Cecilia away through arena's gate.
'Damn… what the heck with this thing?!' Laura was very proud with her I.S., and seeing it to be so easily overwhelmed with raw power was quite shocking for her. She directed her railgun at Ichika and shot, but while her cannon was charging, Ragnarök switched into sword form, Redeemer, and Ichika sliced incoming shell in half, continuing to drag Laura to himself. Ragnarök changed its shape once again, now turning into five-barreled heavy plasma machinegun, Equalizer. Ichika was planning to test his plasma weapon against Laura's AIC [Active Inertia Canceller] – energy field, which was making Laura virtually invulnerable to most of Rin and Cecilia's attacks. However, just as Ichika was about to open fire…
*CLANG!* The sound of metal could be heard, and figure of someone appeared between Ichika and Laura. "...My my, it's because of little things like this that I grew tired of handling kids..." Chifuyu's voice said tiredly as she sliced Laura's cable that Ichika was using to pull her towards himself.
'Of course, who else but my sister could be insane enough to jump in between the railgun and plasma machinegun?' And she was still wearing her normal clothes. There were I.S. here, and she wasn't even wearing an I.S. suit. She was holding onto an I.S. sword easily, and that was a huge sword that was 67 inches in length, all without the use of an I.S. frame. No matter how to look at it, she's definitely not an ordinary human.
"It's fine to have mock battles, but to the extent of destroying the barriers of the arena? As a teacher, I can't stand by that. You can finish this battle at the individual division tournament," Chifuyu stated and that sounded like an order.
"Since instructor says so..." Laura nodded in obedience and got rid of her I.S. Her armor scattered into particles of light and disappeared. No matter how much she was infuriated, she couldn't dare to disobey Chifuyu Orimura. When she removed her I.S., it was possible to see that backside of her I.S. suit was severely damaged…
"Orimura, is that fine with you too?" She looked at her brother.
"No objections," Ichika replied as his I.S. also scattered into particles of light and disappeared. "If not for some circumstances, I'd not have participated in this circus to begin with," He added.
Hearing Ichika say that, Chifuyu again addressed everyone in the arena, including those on stands. "In that case, until the individual division tournament, all personal battles are forbidden. Everyone, dismissed!" Chifuyu forcefully clapped her hands, and it sounded as loud as a bullet being shot.
It's been an hour since what happened at the 3rd arena. Rin and Cecilia have completed their treatment, and now they were lying on beds, bandaged all over, and staring away in different directions.
'It would have been alright even if you hadn't saved us!'
'We could have won if it had continued!'
That was what they probably wanted to say, but, right now, they couldn't even dare to raise their heads and look into those dreaded heterochromic eyes, which were glowing in the rays of sunset. Trying to act tough right now would only make them look even more miserable.
"You two… Oh well, at least you don't look injured too badly. Just rest a bit…" Ichika said, even he couldn't scold two girls in such a miserable condition, despite he had a few things to say about their very poor performance in battle against Laura.
"These injuries are nothing… OWW!" Rin wrenched in pain.
"It's really meaningless to lie down here… EEKKK!" Cecilia screamed.
Ichika just sighed deeply, and both girls again lowered their heads. It's understandable that their mood right now was below plinth. It was their third defeat in a row, that was publicly acknowledged. Each of them lost their official matches against Ichika, then Maya Yamada used them as an example of bad pilots in front of two classes, and now Laura crushed them, while at least a hundred of students were present on arena's stand.
And that isn't a joke – if they continue like that, their respective governments may learn about their bad performance, and, in worst case, deprive them of representative candidate status, and take away their personal I.S. units. Unlike Charlotte, these two girls have many things to lose in their countries, so they probably won't dare to hide behind I.S. Academy rules.
"It must be quite embarrassing for you two to show such an awkward side to the person you like," Charlotte said. She bought the drinks and came back. Ichika heard her as well, but he pretended that he didn't, because Rin and Cecilia just blushed and started to rampage after hearing what she just spoke out.
"W-wha-what are you talking about!? I don't understand at all!" Rin screamed.
"I… I wasn't trying too hard! It's uncomfortable hearing when you're making guesses like that!" Cecilia shouted.
Both of them continued to get flustered as their faces turned extremely red... 'Oh Charlotte… you really have a too long tongue…' Ichika thought.
"Here, Oolong tea and a red tea. Drink something to calm down, okay?" Charlotte offered the drinks as if nothing happened.
"H-Humph!"
"I'll accept it reluctantly then!"
Rin and Cecilia seemed displeased, they snatched the drinks Charlotte served up and opened the bottles, gulping them down in one go.
"Well, sensei did say that you two should recover pretty quickly, you just need to rest for one or two days…" French girl (still disguised as boy) said with kind voice.
Anyway, back on topic, Ichika looked at Rin and Cecilia and asked what he initially wanted to ask, "So why did you two fought against Laura so zealously?"
"What, nothing, that's, well, because..." Rin suddenly stuttered.
"Eh, well, how should I explain this... because we females got our pride hurt," Cecilia replied reluctantly.
"Hmm?" For some reason, it looked like both of them just couldn't swallow it. Seemingly, one side started battle after a taunt, but as representative candidates of different countries, isn't it bad that they can be taunted that easily?
"Ah, don't tell me you started that fight because she badmouthed Ichika?" Charlotte again couldn't keep her mouth shut, as Ichika rolled his eyes.
"Ahh! You're being a loudmouth, Dunois!"
"Tha… That's right! Really! That's so right!"
Two girls grabbed her and quickly stopped her from saying anything else. Charlotte's mouth was cupped by those two as she struggled painfully.
"An… anyway, that's not over yet!" Rin suddenly announced.
"That's right! I will have my revenge at the tournament!" Cecilia agreed, as they were still holding Charlotte's mouth shut.
"No, you shouldn't," Yamada-sensei announced her sudden arrival with such words. Rin and Cecilia blinked, stunned by an unexpected statement. "I've just confirmed the state of both your I.S. units. The damage level sustained by both of your frames have exceeded phase C. If you don't focus on recovering, there will be fatal problems later on. Take it as rest for your I.S., I won't allow any of you two to participate."
Can the two representative candidates with burning will accept this? Probably not, but...
"Ugh, ku...! I… I got it…" Rin lowered her head.
"I'm not willing... not, not at all! But I'll withdraw from the tournament..." Cecilia also agreed.
And that's it. Seemingly even in their current mental condition they can understand that there are things that simply shouldn't be done.
"Sensei's happy that you can accept it. If you use the I.S. past the limits, you have to pay the price. It'll be bad if you lose the chance at the opportune time, and sensei doesn't wish for you two to become like that…" For what reason Maya said that pretty senseless phrase – Ichika didn't understand.
"Yes..."
"I got it..."
Though both of them looked like they can't accept Yamada-sensei's serious lecture, at least they recognize that they can't participate in the tournament. "Ichika-san, what's the third point of gaining experience in I.S. basic theory?" Maya asked.
"The I.S. unit will evolve together with its pilot as they gather experience, especially during battles. However, if the I.S. is damaged past phase C, that can and will cause uneven, irregular experience gain, which will later cause many… inconvenient consequences," Ichika replied, looking into the window.
"Yeah, that's right," Maya said a bit uncertainly, "Though, that's not exactly how it is written in a book…"
"My knowledge about I.S. lies far beyond books," Ichika replied, still looking into the window. There was no arrogance in his voice – it was just the truth. "For instance, Hetare Ichigō [Looser №1] got her unit's PIC projectors damaged…" He looked at Cecilia "…and Hetare Nigō [Looser №2] unit's auxiliary power contour is no more," Ichika further explained the situation about Cecilia and Rin's frames. Though, fact that ichika somehow aware of exact condition of Blue Tears and Shenlong didn't cause any reaction, unlike his other words…"
"W-What?!" Cecilia's face became red once again.
"Hetare Nigō?!" Rin's ponytails swung around as she abruptly turned her head towards Ichika.
"Those are your nicknames until the end of the week," Ichika explained as if it was obvious, "Hetare Ichigō, who can't keep herself at proper distance from her enemy, despite her unit possesses highest speed among all 3rd generation units in this academy; and Hetare Nigō, who can't manually control her PIC to prevent herself from being tossed around like a ragdoll."
Now even Cecilia's ears were red, not just her face. Rin was staring at Ichika with her eyes wide open, unable to say anything. "Um… Ichika-san…" Charlotte mumbled uncertainly, thinking that Ichika went a bit too far.
"What is it? You want a nickname too, Hetare Sangō [Looser №3]?" Ichika wondered?
"Ah… no… hahaha…" French girl laughed nervously, "I think I'll pass…"
"If you don't like your nicknames, just try to avoid me until designated time," Ichika shrugged. "Anyway, I have to go," He turned towards door, "Hetare Ichigō, Hetare Nigō, get better."
"Ichika-san!?" Cecilia screamed with cracking voice, as if she was on verge of tears.
"Stop calling me Hetare!" Rin cried angrily. But Ichika already left the room.
"Haha…" Charlotte laughed, "Ichika-san's really is a remarkable person." She was smiling for some reason.
"What's so funny?!" Cecilia snapped, she was already vexed more than enough by now.
"I understand that being on receiving and of such a treatment ain't that funny, but you shouldn't take everything that Ichika-san says to the letter," French girl explained.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Rin looked at Charlotte with narrowed eyes.
"Well, Ichika-san told you to avoid him until weekend, and best way to do so is staying here," She replied, still smiling, "So, virtually, he told you to stay put in medbay and get better quickly instead of wandering around."
"Oh?" "Um?" Both Rin and Cecilia now seemed confused, they didn't think about Ichika's words that way.
"They really are alike…" Maya Yamada mumbled to herself, comparing Ichika to his elder sister, who also was quite reluctant about expressing her thoughts directly. Certainly, Ichika wasn't that heartless to just insult two wounded girls without any reason…
June 23th, 8:54 AM.
Saturday. About 9AM. This is the last weekend before IDT. Ichika returned to the city and came to his and Chifuyu's home, now he was in his room. He was looking through some files, seemingly that was a quite sensitive information, so he was unwilling to use any computer inside I.S. academy, even his personal terminal in his dorm room. Actually, these files were data logs about his own weapon usage. In addition, he acquired records of Thursday's battle from 3rd arena's cameras, and he was intending to analyze them, as he was interested to learn as much as possible about Laura's AIC.
"Ichika, are you there?" He heard the voice of his sister, though that question was unnecessary, of course she knew exactly that he's there. Without asking for permission, she entered his room.
'I'm wondering… for her students she's an idol, Brunhilde, invincible warrior, incarnate of power, and so on, and so forth… what will they think if they learn that she can't sleep if she isn't completely naked, and after she wakes up, she's not always can find her underwear…' Ichika thought '…guess they'll be excited.' That thought came to him not by accident but because his sister now was braless, wearing panties only, thanks to his 360-degree field of vision, Ichika noticed it without even looking at Chifuyu directly. And, seemingly thanks to that Chifuyu was still sleepy, she didn't 'hear' his thoughts.
Without saying anything, Ichika pointed at his own bed (it wasn't used tonight, Ichika spent night in the academy), black bra was lying there. By the way, it's needless to say that Chifuyu's exposed breasts were perfect, like the rest of her body. Curves were ideal, and the size just as it should be. Even Ichika, who already got used to it long ago, couldn't avoid making a note about his sister's beauty. "And I'm not going to ask what it's doing there," He added with slight smile as Chifuyu saw what she was looking for.
"Humph," Chifuyu snorted as she retrieved the upper piece of her underwear and begun to put it on herself. But don't get it wrong – she wasn't doing any perverted things in her brother's room, she was just an inveterate slattern. "Why are you here, by the way," She asked.
"Here's quite sensitive data," Ichika replied, nodding towards display, "As long as I have a roommate, I can't work with it in the academy."
"It's just paranoia," Chifuyu shook her head. "Anyway, she will be leaving your room soon enough," Elder sister informed.
"Oh," Ichika said, "It's finally 'she'? So, Charlotte finally talked to you…"
"Yes," Chifuyu replied with displeasure… "Dealing with kids is stressful enough, but dealing with elders, who behave like kids…" She probably was referring to Charlotte's father.
"True enough," Ichika agreed. "By the way, that German girl you were training, she still didn't ask for medical attention?" No doubts that Chifuyu also noticed that yesterday, during classes, Laura had troubles keeping her back straight, despite she tried her best to look as if everything was just fine. Seemingly, those were the consequences from that empowered-mode shot from sniper rifle when Ichika intervened into Laura's battle against Rin and Cecilia. That shot not only wrecked backside armor of Laura's I.S. and burned her suit, it also damaged girl's back as well. As it was said many times – I.S. shield isn't perfect, as a proof, Rin and Cecilia had to spent rest of the Thursday and entire Friday in sickbay.
"No idea," Chifuyu replied, looking around, as if trying to find something.
Ichika sighed. "Onee-san, your stockings are on sofa in living room," He said as he understood what she was looking for this time.
"Oh, thanks," Chifuyu said and left Ichika's room.
June 25th, 8:42 AM
It's now the last decade of June. I.S. Academy had already gotten into the individual division tournament mode, and the panic far exceeded what was expected. It was about time for the 1st round, and all the students were still settling the admin matters, clearing the arenas and guiding the guests in.
The students who finally gained their freedom frantically headed into the changing rooms in each block, and the boys' changing room was still as large as others, and still occupied by 2 people, despite one of them actually was a girl. It's really generous for academy's administration to give entire changing room to Ichika and Charlotte, but the other changing rooms has to accommodate twice the capacity of the room, so the situation's rather serious.
"But this is what you could expect..." Charlotte said as she looked at the state of things from the changing room's television screen. Government officials from all over the world, researchers, enterprise representatives and other people were all gathered here. "There will be people scouting the third years and others checking the progress of the second years after their training. Though the first years shouldn't be affected, I guess they will be noticed if they get the top few positions in the tournament."
"Then you should try your best, aren't you?" Ichika asked, also looking at screen.
She chuckled, "Don't worry, I'm really looking forward to it, I'd like to meet you again, in official match, Ichika-san. It will be different from the last time!" That probably was truth, maybe she won't be able to win anyway, but at least she was planning to hold on longer, at least for about five minutes. This time she knows that she's against 4th generation I.S. and its very skilled pilot. "Though, I guess that you mostly want to fight against Bodewig, right?"
"No, I'm not really want to fight her or anyone else in this tournament, I just want to get over with it. But still, a have a few things to 'discuss' with that person. It was personal for her from the very beginning, and… well, I won't say that it became personal for me as well, but I want her to learn her place, and, most importantly, I want her to leave my elder sister alone…" Ichika replied.
As it was said, Rin and Cecilia couldn't take part in the tournament, they had to forfeit. It would have been alright if they were ordinary students, but they're representative candidates of their countries, who have their own personal machines. Yet they can't even participate in the tournament, let alone getting a good result. This would drastically affect their circumstances, just as Ichika thought.
"It must be hard for them to be unable to test themselves," Charlotte also remembered about two girls beaten by Laura. However, 'avenging' them was not among Ichika's motives to fight against German pilot.
"Alright, I'm ready." Ichika said as he finished changing into his I.S. suit.
"Same here," Charlotte replied as she seemed like she was checking her male I.S. suit (at least the outline was made like it).
"The schedule should be out now," Ichika looked at screen. Actually, schedule had to be announced yesterday, but due to some system malfunction it was only finished an hour ago.
"Those in the first round who got into first few groups are really lucky," Charlotte noted.
"Hmm? Why is that?" Ichika wondered.
"Because we won't be standing around thinking. This momentum is important. Problems can be settled once they come, it's better to enter the finals decisively," She replied. Ichika just shrugged, he couldn't say that it is really important for him – he had no doubts about his victory anyway.
"Ah, it seems like we have our opponents," Ichika switched the screen to the schedule, looking intently at the words on the screen. "Oh, looks like you're lucky," He said as he looked at Charlotte with some maniacal smile, which made her to take a step back.
Indeed, first pair of opponents were two girls from classes 1-2 and 1-3, second pair – a girl from Ichika's class against a girl from class 1-4, and next battle will be Charlotte's, and her opponent will be no one else but Houki. But, more importantly, fourth battle will be Ichika against Laura, which means that if Charlotte defeat Houki, she's going to fight a winner of Ichika/Laura match!
Located in the opposite corner of the arena, there was another air-conditioned changing room that was overcrowded. Two certain girls were present there. One of them was Laura Bodewig, and the other was Houki Shinonono. Both of them were giving off a weird presence, seemingly covering all the heat that was generated.
But if Laura was just sinking in her own bloodlust, Houki's thoughts were completely different. Though she closed her eyes, her heart was still wavering.
'This is bad, this is the worst-case scenario…' Just what Houki was afraid of – she's going to fight the representative candidate with personal I.S. And she was well aware of that, despite that boy, Charles (she still thought so), suffered crashing defeat at Ichika's hands, that wasn't because he's a bad pilot, not at all. Charles was just caught by surprise, in a manner of speaking.
When yesterday Houki learned about that Rin and Cecilia are not going to participate in the tournament, she felt a great relief. Yes, she felt herself ashamed a bit because of such thoughts, but she just couldn't help it as her chances to actually get to finals rose up. Besides, according to rumors, girl from class 1-4, representative candidate for Japan, Sarashiki Kanzashi, is not going to use her personal I.S. for some reason. If these rumors are actually accurate, that means that, among 1st grade students, will be only three people with personal I.S. units – Ichika, Laura and Charles. 3 out of 120, her chances to meet one of them in first round was 1:40! And yet…
'Am I cursed?!' Houki thought angrily. But that was even worse, she's not only going to fight representative candidate with personal I.S. in first round. Even if she'll miraculously win, her next opponent will be the winner of Ichika/Laura battle! 99% it will be Ichika, and then tournament for her will be over. But Ichika promised to go out with her if they'll meet in final, but second round…
While Houki was thinking, she didn't even notice that first pair of combatants finished their match, and now second match has started. Her match against Charles will be the next one, she was already called to hangar. 'Oh, come that may,' She thought, 'I just have to fight with everything I got!'
"Okay, it's my turn," Charlotte said as she was called to hangar. "Wish me luck," She smiled to Ichika a bit sadly, French girl was sure that Ichika is going to cheer for his childhood friend. If only she knew one certain thing…
"Good luck," Ichika waved to her as Charlotte left the changing room, leaving Ichika alone. As soon as Charlotte left, Ichika took out his phone and called for someone.
"Hi! Hi!" Energetic female voice replied to his call.
"Everything's going as planned," Ichika said, "In best case, you'll receive a call tonight…"
"I hope so!" Tabane replied, "It's already became dusty… oh my, from where that dust is coming from!?" As they continued to speak, things were becoming more and more clear.
Malfunction in academy's system, which caused delay in tournament net's announcement, was due to external interference, someone hacked the system. Tournament net, which was formed, was actually a setup. Tabane modified the tournament net, making Charlotte to be Houki's first opponent. That was the final part of Ichika's 'merciless' plan to break Houki's heart, and finally force her to ask elder sister for personal I.S. Everything, starting from his promise of weekend-long date, was leading to that moment (though, he didn't tell Tabane about that promise). Initially, plan was to make Houki fight Rin, but since latter fell out from the tournament, Charlotte fit just fine. Ichika was pretty sure that French girl will win, thus delivering the final proof that it's not possible to win against a personal unit with only a training suit.
Elder sister and childhood friend, plotting such a thing… from aside it definitely looks nasty. But Tabane wanted her sister to have personal I.S. (for not completely clear reason). Though, even more unclear were Ichika's reasons to help Tabane. Even if they're friends – let alone 'that I.S. involving incident', being dragged into other family's affairs usually was at the very end of Ichika's 'wish-to-do' list. Yet he agreed to help, and even devised a plan how to do it. No doubts – he also has some plans for Houki or her I.S… or for both.
"I'm sorry, Shinonono-san, but I really have to fight Ichika one more time, so I'm not holding back!" Charlotte announced with somehow bloodthirsty smile as she and Houki stood against one another on the arena. "For you, tournament ends here!"
"What?! Don't you dare to look down on me!" Charlotte's taunt certainly made Houki's blood boil. She was using Uchigane-type, close combat, defensive frame.
There're only 5 seconds till the start of the battle. Four! Three! Two! One! Start!
Houki immediately charged at Charlotte with the sword, in the end her swordswoman's skills were polished during almost ten years of kendo training. However, her opponent was well aware of that, so she was prepared to counter.
*KLANG!* Charlotte used the close-ranged knife Bread Slicer to block Houki's sword, and then, while maintaining the position, she quickly equipped .62 caliber auto shotgun Rain of Saturdays into her left hand and aimed it at Houki. This was where Houki made a mistake. Uchigane was a defensive-type frame, and it was equipped with physical shield. But as a conscientious kendo trainee, Houki was holding sword with both hands. And as she was holding sword for a high swing, she just had no time to use her left hand to raise that shield, and it was impossible to dodge the shot at this short range. It was too late for Houki as she went pale, and Charlotte squeezed the trigger.
The impression that Charlotte gave was that she's really strong at shooting, but actually, the biggest advancement of her tactic was 'flexibility'. With her unique rapid switch skill, once the opponent feels that she wants to fight it out with melee style, she can suddenly switch onto guns, like .61 caliber sub machine guns Garm, to shoot, and once the distance is pulled apart, she can close in to close combat range again. As far as Ichika could remember, this tactic is called the 'Desert Mirage'. She can maintain a certain distance and attack in motion whether the opponent's near or far away, and her attacks and defenses are great. In other words, she was a pilot with quite balanced set of skills.
Ichika couldn't continue to watch over Houki's battle against Charlotte, as he was summoned to hangar for preparation before his battle, but according to what he was seeing just now, French pilot was going to win easily.
When Ichika reached the hangar and could look at the screen there, battle was already over, in overall it lasted about 6 minutes. At the side of the arena, he saw a very unhappy looking Houki, who was in a moderately damaged I.S. with 0 shields and kneeling on one leg. According to final results screen, Charlotte only lost 112 shield points, so it was an overwhelming victory.
Honestly, that was only natural, in the end Charlotte was a test pilot for two years, maybe unofficially, but still… Houki, on the other hands, had less than three months of experience with real I.S. In fact, she did even better than Ichika expected – she lasted for more than 5 minutes and scratched Charlotte for those 112 shield points… Seems that those several training sessions with Ichika weren't for nothing.
Hangar's gates opened and Charlotte flew in. "Congratulations," Ichika said (without using comm channel) as she approached.
"Thanks," She smiled, "I'm looking forward to our fight after tomorrow."
Yeah, they won't be fighting tomorrow, and there's the thing. All participants from each grade were divided into four blocks – A, B, C and D. First day was the most packed with action, as first round's battles for all 1st and 2nd grade students should be completed today. Battles were carrying out at four arenas simultaneously, one arena per block (5th arena was in reserve for finals).
But even so, that means that today up to 32 battles will happen at each arena (16 for 1st grade and 16 for 2nd). Because of that, time for each battle was strictly limited to 15 minutes, with only 5 minutes break between matches (even like that it will be more than ten hours of continuous battles). Second day will be completely devoted to 3rd grade students (since they're the most interesting for scouts and officials, time limit for their battles was extended to 25 minutes). And third day will be the day for second rounds for all grades (with the same time limits though – 15 minutes for 1st and 2nd grades, and 25 for 3rd). For further days, time limits will be extended.
It was good thing that, unlike three other 1st grade blocks, block A was complete (it has 32 participants). Since other three were incomplete, there were two girls per block who will skip the first round (only 30 participants per each, because there are only 124 first-year students, plus Rin and Cecilia fell out, making it 122). Because of that, tournament net was a bit messy for other three blocks. On the other hand, other blocks had no personal I.S. owners, so they are much more fair than block A.
In any case, thinking about all that was a bit inappropriate right now, as gates to arena opened again and it was time for Ichika to go out. No doubts, among all 1st grade matches today (maybe even among all today's matches) this one was the most anticipated. Not only it was the battle between two personal I.S. units, most importantly – it was battle with Orimura Ichika involved, the rumored world's only male I.S. pilot.
Right now, Ichika and Laura were standing on arena's ground, facing each other, there were about 70 yards between them. Despite all her hatred towards Ichika, during their little clash a few days ago, Laura realized that fighting him won't be a simple task, so she decided to do the homework.
Because of her demeanor, she couldn't just ask other girls about Ichika's I.S. and weapon, but regardless, she learned a few things. Now she knew that Messiah is a 4th generation frame. And, despite the fact that sword, which Ichika now was holding in his left arm, was Messiah's only weapon, it's capable of shape-shift, so in reality he possesses an entire arsenal of highly advanced, diversified plasma weapons.
One of Schwarzer Regen's advantages was its pretty thick shield – 700 points. However, Laura remembered that with one shot from his sniper rifle Ichika burned out almost 300 of her shield points (and her back was still a bit hurt, by the way). 'Two direct hits from that damn thing, and a few glancing hits, and I'm done for…' Laura thought darkly. She didn't know that that shot was made in weapon overload mode, which grants 160% of weapon's normal damage output, but this mode only available when plasma generators on Messiah's wings are switched to assault mode, which means that all additional plasma is directed into weapon's plasma compression chamber, thus making wings-mounted plasma thrusters inactive. If Ichika needs full thrusters' power, speed and maneuverability of 4th generation unit, he has to switch plasma generators into propulsion mode, but weapon will work at its basic capacity.
One minute until match's start. In any case, despite Laura's learned quite little about Ichika and his I.S., she was still confident in her victory. "Sure, saves a lot of time, meeting in the first round," She said with unmasked bloodlust in her voice. And, though she didn't hope for it, she heard Ichika's response.
"Doggy, I'll reveal one huge secret to you," He said. "That incident, which happened during second Mondo Grosso, that wasn't just biggest, that literally was the only failure in my entire life. Both me and my sister suffered the consequences, hard to say who among us two suffered more, but that was entirely my fault, no reason to argue with that. I'm not going to mention that if that incident wouldn't have happened, Chifuyu would have never become your instructor in the first place, because, if you don't understand that, then you're simply an imbecile. If she would've won that Mondo Grosso, then she would took the cup, the reward, and returned back home with me, you and she would've never even meet."
"Ugh…" As she heard that, Laura betrayed her feelings, as she was slightly shocked. She actually never thought about that – no one ever told her why exactly Chifuyu Orimura became her instructor in the first place. Could it be that she actually was paying some kind of debt?
But that wasn't all what Ichika wanted to say, he wanted to shatter Laura's mental attitude completely. "I'm not here to explain some obvious things to you, like the fact that everything that happened back than in Germany concerns only me and my sister, I just want to warn you that the likes of you have nothing to do with it, and if you dare to mention it ever again you'll pay dearly for it. Right now, however, it doesn't matter, I'm here just to show you the difference in our social standings. I am absolute, your defeat is inevitable. Bow your head…" As he said that Ichika closed the channel, as time for talk was over.
There were only 5 seconds till the start of the battle. Rin and Cecilia were on stand, waiting for battle to begin. Houki also joined them, but not Charlotte, seemingly she decided to wait for Ichika in the hangar. Four! Three! Two! One! Start!
Fold Out armor on Messiah's wings extended upwards, switching plasma generators to propulsion mode, activating plasma thrusters. Then Ichika immediately dashed backward, as Ragnarök quickly switched to dual heavy pistols form, Ebony and Ivory. Just as Ichika expected, Laura started battle, trying to quickly close in with Ignition Boost, at the same time launching all six cable blades in attempt to bound Ichika. However, Ichika easily shot down all six blades, and managed to keep his distance from Laura.
From the very beginning, Laura was planning to engage Ichika in short-to-middle ranged combat, her goal was to bind him with cables and then find the moment to utilize her AIC to completely immobilize him. However, everything went wrong even before the battle has begun. She made her first mistake when contacted Ichika via private comm channel. With first part of his speech in reply he confused her, and with second part – enraged her. Due to that Laura lost significant part of her concentration, because of that, moves of her cable blades became easier to predict, and timings for her own moves worsened.
Seeing an opening, Ichika, without changing weapon's shape, opened fire at Laura from both pistols. And, as he expected, Laura immediacy stopped and extended her right arm forward, deploying AIC field. And all plasma charges were caught by Laura's field.
"Ha! Useless!" Laura shouted. She wasn't trying to mock Ichika with that shout, she needed to say that, trying to regain her momentum, ruined by Ichika's speech.
Ichika, on the other hand, showed no reaction as he saw that his attacks were blocked, actually he was expecting it. In the end, plasma charges that Ichika was using, actually were lead cells, melted, evaporated and overheated to state of thermal plasma (about 7000 kelvins in normal mode, about 18 000 kelvins with Paradise of Darkness active) and compressed into very dense sphere-like projectiles. As such, these plasma charges have mass, and AIC will stop everything that has a rest mass. In other words, at first sight, AIC seemed to be effective against Ichika's weapon.
However, there were two problems – first, since plasma charges actually just a highly compressed, overheated gas, sustaining them as they are does drain a large amount of energy from AIC field generator. And second problem – AIC wasn't designed to sustain energy levels of projectiles that was caught into it. Charges of fully ionized thermal plasma, caught by Laura's force field, began to cool down rapidly, thus releasing vast amounts of energy into surrounding space. In other words, plasma charges began to disintegrate, creating blastwaves.
One after another, all plasma charges, caught by Laura's AIC, began to explode, disrupting her AIC and even damaging her shield. Though, damage was quite little, as plasma charges shot by pistols possess relatively low energy capacity. But that was only a mere test, Ichika just was looking for a breach in Laura's 'absolute defense' aka AIC, and he found it, and Laura also realized that.
"Now, let's begin," Ichika said as Ragnarök turned into five-barreled heavy machinegun, Equalizer, and Ichika immediately opened fire, at the same time maintaining a certain (middle) distance from Laura.
Being caught into hail of plasma shells, executing unthinkable maneuvers to avoid being just obliterated, Laura suddenly felt herself cornered. With her main armament, AIC, being almost ineffective, she was left with little options. Ichika already proved that he can easily handle her cable-blades, despite Laura couldn't understand how he's predicting their trajectories so easily. Her own plasma blades for close combat… not an option, Ichika won't let her to get too close. And her only long-range weapon – shoulder-mounted railgun… she tried it several times but her shots either were intercepted by countershots from Ichika's weapon, or it were just glancing hits that didn't do much damage. On the other hand, Laura's own shield points were steadily decreasing, as it was simply not possible to dodge all that plasma hell around her.
"Wow! That's amazing!" Inside the observation room that could only be accessed by teachers, Maya was watching the battle footage as she marveled at Ichika and muttered. "Orimura-san's really amazing. He sure is talented!"
"Humph," Chifuyu snorted, "Especially he's talented with his tongue…" Maya looked at Chifuyu questioningly, so she explained, "I'm sure he told her something before the match has started, I have no idea what, but Bodewig surely lost her concentration. He knows how to hit sore spots…" Chifuyu made this conclusion looking at Laura's moves.
Seeing Chifuyu criticize her own family member like that, Maya could only smile awkwardly. "But still, his combat skill is great nevertheless!"
"Well... I guess you're right…" Though Chifuyu frowned as she answered, recently, Maya started to realize that this action was meant to hide her embarrassment, so she didn't really mind. Thinking about it, perhaps this was a 'show of protectiveness of her own little brother'.
"By the way, I've heard that academy administration was thinking about changing the format of the individual division tournament to 2vs2 team fights, because of the 'Incident' last month, right?" Maya wondered. "Though, that idea was declined after all…"
The incident that happened last month – when the unmanned machine, 'Golem', attacked. Most of them felt that it was a terrorist plot. As attacking I.S. Academy was a serious problem, and since they found out that it was an unmanned suit, the situation got even more critical. Right now, many countries were all suspecting whether they should start to doubt each other.
"I haven't heard about the specifics, but that's most likely the case. That unmanned I.S. caused quite a stir. They thought about adopting a tag team system to let the students gain more battle experience," Chifuyu explained.
"But the 1st years enrolled just 3 months ago, right? Besides, it's not that a war really happened. I guess there shouldn't be any need for mock battle trainings..."Maya said. She was correct, and Chifuyu knew that she would ask this question, which is why her expression didn't change.
"Seemingly, administration agreed with that point of view in the end. However, now that we have many freshmen who have their own 3rd generation frames, and when they're facing a mysterious enemy who suddenly appeared, what should they be worrying about?" Chifuyu asked.
"Ah, I got it! You think that team training will help them to defend themselves better?" Maya wondered.
"That's right. Forget about the pilots, we still need to protect the 3rd generation I.S. that were issued. However, we have a limited number of teachers, so the principle is to let them defend themselves, which is why there's a need for practical mock battles," Chifuyu spoke out her mind. Seemingly she was among those who thought that 2vs2 tag team battle was better idea than leaving tournament as it is – normal 1vs1 matches.
"Oh, I see!" Maya's questions melted away like ice.
That wasn't a coincidence that 3rd generation units recently began to arrive into the academy all together. Basically, I.S. technology must be revealed, but if newly developed technology would be revealed immediately, the other countries could easily use it, so this wouldn't be beneficial to developers. Besides, If the I.S. pilot is unable to familiarize herself with the important parts of the technology, the developing country would be led to ruin.
And this is the aim of I.S. Academy. Hidden amongst the missions of I.S. Academy when it was first developed was the element 'All the laws don't work here'. Of course, it wasn't that all laws were ineffective against I.S. Academy; the main point was the 'Testing the prototype I.S. Technology'.
This place allows new technology to be tested out, and they can decide on whether they want to reveal their data here. They have no need to reveal it. In other words, I.S. Academy was the only place in the world where 'They don't have to declare the data of their mock battles'. That is why China, England, Germany and other countries were sending their 3rd generation I.S. here.
Also, their another aim was to get the One-Off ability and fuse with it. As long as their I.S. could switch into second phase within three years to create a one and only unique ability, they would have no problems with revealing their technology. That was because the 'one and only unique ability' definitely couldn't be imitated… or so it was, until recently, since Tabane somehow managed to imitate Chifuyu and Kurozakura's One Off ability – Reiraku Byakuya – and install it into Ichika's I.S. original frame, Byakushiki, deliberately. Though, that ain't counts, because, aside from Tabane, only Ichika knows how she did this (since he successfully replaced Reiraku Byakuya with some similar ability). For instance, when Kuromochi Machinery Development tried to make One-Off ability accessible after first shift – they failed miserably.
Of course, the chances of achieving the second shift are very small, but with three years of piloting experience, the data gained will become a huge advantage. It's because of this the I.S. Academy students already got the latest models even though they were just representative candidates. The ones chosen to pilot these frames are definitely elites, but there aren't just one. To put it radically, anyone who fulfills the criteria can do. Thus, at the candidate state, there wasn't really a large difference.
"I really feel bad for Shinonono-san," Maya said, "She was really trashed thoroughly."
"That's what happens when you don't have a personal machine, however, in terms of character, Shinonono also is at disadvantage to Dunois," Chifuyu commented as she turned to look at the screen. On the screen, it showed Laura still fighting against her opponent despite her disadvantageous situation.
"Bodewig-san, she still didn't give up…" Maya said.
"Humph..." While Maya was really amazed, Chifuyu snorted, seemingly bored. 'She's at technological disadvantage, and her opponent can see future… besides, she revealed all her tricks to him during that mock battle a few days ago.' She definitely couldn't say these words aloud. If she says it, Maya may start saying something again.
"Oh my, arena now looks like a warzone!" Maya exclaimed. Indeed, whole field was cowered with shell-holes, smoke and fire, Ichika's new weapon, Equalizer, really possessed devastating power.
"It's always easy to make a mess if you aren't the one to clear all that," Chifuyu snorted (is she really the one to talk?). "And have no doubts – he stockpiled enough ammunition to fight a war, not to mention a mere match…"
"Here we go again. Even if you act like you care about arena more than about match's results, that attitude's…" Maya tried to say.
"Yamada-sensei, we haven't done any martial arts sparring for a long time. Now's a rare chance, so how about 10 rounds?" Chifuyu interrupted her, looking at Maya with much-colder-than-ice eyes, just like her brother's, once again clearing any doubts that they're blood siblings.
"No, no thanks! I... ahem... have to watch the students' machines!" Yamada frantically shook her head and waved her hands.
Chifuyu used a deep voice to declare: "I hate people who come up with nonsense to make fun of me the most. Do you remember that incident?"
"Ye-Yes... I'm sorry..." Maya, who was retreating and curling back, looked really pitiful, and because of that, Chifuyu patted her head gently.
"Alright, continue to watch the match. It's almost came to conclusion…" She said, seemingly without complete understanding that she's doing exactly what she prohibited others to do – she's treating Maya Yamada like a kid right now.
"Ye-Yes!" Maya exclaimed, though she didn't understand why Chifuyu was thinking that match is coming to conclusion.
'It's just impossible!' Laura thought, 'It's just as if I'm fighting against the instructor herself!' Constantly being under intensive fire, knowing that direct hit would be fatal, Laura had to put all her skills into evasive maneuvers. Thanks to that her I.S. was newer and, thus, faster than Charlotte's unit, she could better dodge Ichika's attacks, but that required her to keep highest possible concentration. And no human can stay so concentrated for long. Laura executed another maneuver to avoid collision with arena's barrier… and that was a mistake Ichika was waiting for. Executing her maneuver, Laura overturned in midair, and at that moment Ichika executed Ignition Boost, as Ragnarök turned into sword form, Redeemer.
Laura was right in the middle of maneuver, her I.S. was in almost horizontal position, facing arena's 'ceiling'. And at that moment, Ichika appeared right above her, and plunged his sword into her solar plexus. "Augh!" Laura screamed as she felt sharp pain, and, just for mere second, she blacked out. Of course, her I.S. quickly returned her senses in order, but that second, while she was almost unconscious, was more than enough for Ichika.
He made a back flip, grabbing Laura's arms from behind, to prevent her from any attempts to deploy AIC. Then he turned over, also forcing Laura's I.S. to overturn, so now she was facing down. Then Ichika flew down, using full thrusters' output of his unit. With her movements restrained, Laura couldn't break free, so in the next moment she was smashed into arena's ground, face down. Of course, she still had a shield that wasn't depleted, but that was still painful. But not as painful as what followed.
As Laura was lying on the ground face down, Ichika was sitting on her back, using his right hand to press her to the ground, and holding his sword with his left. "So, what happened to that confidence you had just a few minutes ago?" He asked as he plunged his blade into her left elbow joint.
"Augh!" She screamed, again – shield isn't perfect, that was very painful.
"Weren't you going to defeat me?" – Blow into her right elbow joint.
"Ough!"
"Weren't you going to strike me down?" – Blow into her left shoulder joint.
"Yaugh!"
"Weren't you going to dispose of me?" – Blow into her right shoulder joint.
"Uagh!"
"Didn't you want to wipe me out from existence?" – Ichika plunged his blade into her waist. This time she didn't even screamed.
"Then you have to do better than that!" Ichika leaned back and plunged his sword into Laura's right knee joint. Laura only jolted but she was screaming no longer. "Then you have to point all your weapons and all your hatred at me!" Now her left knee joint was a target for the sword attack, "Or you will be the one who will die today!"
On arena's stand, there were a lot of worried spectators.
"Ichika! Stop it!" Rin shouted. Few seconds before that she was excited. But now she was scared, helplessly watching at what was happening on arena.
"Ichika-san! You'll mutilate her!" Cecilia also was very worried.
"Ichika! Don't do this!" Houki also couldn't remain calm watching that. Of course Ichika couldn't hear neither of three girls.
Laura was lying on the ground face down, unmoving. "So, is that all?" Ichika asked as his weapon turned into shotgun, Arbiter. "So boring… very well. If you can't fight anymore, then I'm no longer interested in you. Bow your head…" Ichika aimed his shotgun into back of Laura's neck. With less than 150 shield points remaining, that shot probably not only nullify it, there is a good chance that Laura's spine will be damaged before her I.S. will apply absolute defense, and she will be crippled permanently… that still may be curable, but her I.S. pilot career will end now.
In teacher's room, Yamada-sensei was shocked. "Orimura-san! Don't! You'll kill her!" Maya screamed desperately.
"He won't hear you," Chifuyu said as she came to control panel and pushed a big yellow button, "It's time to intervene." A buzzer sounded, and then everyone heard Chifuyu's voice. "Match concluded. Victor – Ichika Orimura. Participants – power down your weapons!"
"Ah, that's too bad…" Ichika said with false regret. "Oh well, I hope you've learned your lesson…" As he said that, Ichika released Laura and stood up, his weapon dissipated into light particles. And yes, Ichika never wanted to cripple Laura as he knew that his elder sister will interfere, and he wanted her to interfere, and thus, deliver the last portion of humiliation for this annoying and useless girl.
'To think that I... I actually lost here, me...' Laura thought, lying on the ground. She could no longer feel pain, that was some sort of a pain shock. She heard the buzzer and Chifuyu's voice, that proclaimed Ichika as the victor. 'It's true that I underestimated that opponent's power, and that was a mistake on my part. But even so… How could it be!?'
'Laura Bodewig. This is my name. A code to identify myself. My earliest codename was Gene Perfection Experiment C-0037. I was created through artificial human means, born out of a metal womb. It was dark. I was in darkness. I was created, born, bred and trained to fight. That was my only purpose.'
'I only know how to attack humans. I only understand tactics on how to defeat the enemy. I learnt to fight, use guns and remember how to use weapons. I was outstanding, and in terms of capabilities, I always had the best records. But at that time, as the strongest weapon, the I.S. appeared, and my world suddenly changed. The operation to implant the Odin's Eye into me in order to improve my I.S.-related abilities caused a drastic change.'
The actual term of Odin's Eye should be a hyper-sensor package, and what it does is that it can heighten nerve processing speed and enhance brain's capabilities. The aim is to react quickly in a hi-speed combat. The operation was supposed to transplant the nanomachines into patient's eyes, and those eyes that went through this operation are called the 'Eyes that Surpasses the World'.
'There were no risks with the operation, and logically, there wouldn't be a rejection – logically. However, this operation caused my left eye to turn gold, and I couldn't control it. It couldn't shut down on its own, it was always activated. This 'incident' caused me to deteriorate amongst my peers in I.S. training.'
'I don't know when I fell from the top position. What awaited me were the mockeries and humiliations of my peers, and the mark of a 'Trash'. My world changed – I went from infinite darkness to even more darkness. And the first time I met the light, it was when I met the instructor – Orimura Chifuyu.'
"Though you look like your grades are bad, there's nothing much to worry. In a month from now on, you should be able to get back to being the strongest in your squad. You're going to be trained by me after all," Was the first thing Chifuyu said.
'Those words weren't a lie. Though I just obeyed that person's training honestly, I managed to get back to the top after I started learning I.S. However, I couldn't stay in the same situation. I didn't care about my peers who drifted away from me. I continued to admire that person greatly.'
'Strong, courageous, indomitable. Seeing her like that made me anxious. Ah, I really want to be like this, I really want to be like her. With these emotions, I talked to her when I had the time before she went back to her own country.'
'No, it's alright even if we don't say anything. As long as I could stay with her and stare at her figure, I can feel strength coming out from within. It's something like feeling of a 'Courage'. Maybe that's because she had such power.'
One day, Laura tried to ask, "How did you become this strong? What must I do to become this strong?"
'At that time – ah, it's at that time... that person, that instructor who was as strict as the devil showed a gentle smile. For some reason, it felt like my heart got punctured through by a needle.'
"I have a little brother," She replied.
"A little brother...?" Laura asked again.
"Once you see him, you'll understand, what's strength, and what's more than strength," Chifuyu was still smiling.
"...I don't understand," Laura really couldn't understand.
Chifuyu looked somewhere aside, "It's good that you remain like that. Ah, if you have a chance to come to Japan one day, maybe you can meet him... but let me give you a warning. That person…"
'A gentle smile, a fearful expression. That's… That's not right. That wasn't what I envisioned you – strong, courageous, indomitable, that's you. So – I won't forgive the person who made instructor show this expression. I can't agree with the existence of this little brother who made instructor like this.'
So… I must defeat him! Use my own power to beat that guy, that bustard… into dust! That's why, I can't give up now! That guy, that bastard... he's not just crushed me, he humiliated me! I was saved… by instructor! I won't let him go away with that! I WANT POWER!'
'Ku...' something rumbled deep inside Laura's consciousness. Then, it spoke.
"Do you wish for it...? Do you wish for a change within yourself...? Do you want a stronger power...?" Some deep voice asked.
'Of course. If I have power, if I can get it – I'll even pay for it with this hollow existence!' Was Laura's reply. 'So give it to me... give me the invincible, strongest, absolute power!'
Damage Level… 'D' – Matched.
Mind Condition... Uplift – Matched.
Certification... Clear – Matched.
All conditions fulfilled.
Valkyrie Trace System... Activate!
Okay, I'm not a big fan of cliffhangers, but let's stop here. See you soon in the next chapter!
