Hello again people! Here I am with tenth chapter. Seems I'm still on the roll, though this one's just a prelude before next one, which will contain the real battle.
Now, some answers for those who wrote a review.
Imperial-samaB, DarkBladerZX, Gordaime, FateBurn, Funny-Little-Cute White Fox, Guest, Heliosion, aGoldenLion: Many thanks people, I promise – I'll do everything that depends on me to make the final battle against rogue I.S. as epic as possible.
Moonless Night of Peace: Thank you for your concern, and for your review. As for that guy… I really don't mind some constructive criticism, I may agree to that or not, but it helps make story better anyway. But some flame, written under 'guest' alias… I won't even read that, so don't waste your time on people like those writing 'you suck' or whatever.
Sajuuk: rest assured – Ichika will get a lot from the battles ahead… but everything has a price.
He who is AWESOME: You right, some phrases from LN just as good as they are, this is why I mentioned it as my primary reference point. As for Ichika's character – it's only the tip of the iceberg.
cra0007: Well, consider that scene as a mere preview, that's my advice. As for Tabane reaction – it's just a mere game yet.
meirmamuka: Under 'limited harem' I meant two, maximum three women in full-scale intimate relationships, and simple flirt with others. As for 'True love'… Man, such a thing simply incompatible with harems – 'True Love' can be one and only. As for ranking during emergency situations – in such cases Chifuyu and Ichika are from different organizations, none has legal authority over another. And about Chifuyu's I.S. – Kurazakura – even in NL it's shrouded in mystery. But I'll make something of it, rest assured
Now, let's proceed.
Chapter X – Vicissitudes of Fate
…
July 10th, 10:15 AM
"Now, let me explain the situation," Chifuyu started to talk. The room full of teachers and personal I.S. pilots, are all gathered inside the deepest banquet hall of the resort, the Kachihana Room. The room with the lights still off has a large screen floating in mid-air. "There is news that 2 hours ago, the Silver Gospel, a 3rd generation military use I.S., which was conjointly developed by United States and Israel, went out of control in the test facility, located in Hawaii, and left the surveillance facility."
As he already knew all that, instead of hearing Chifuyu's explanation, Ichika was silently observing other people's reaction. All of them were looking pretty serious, no one seems scared. Everyone here, other than Houki, are official representatives of their respective countries, so maybe they've received training for this kind of situation. Laura's eyes were looking exceptionally serious. Well, just like Ichika, she's a military officer, with the rank of captain.
"After that, through satellite tracking, we found that the Silver Gospel is heading towards our airspace, which begins just ten miles away from here. That will happen in approximately 1 hour 20 minutes from now." Chifuyu calmly said on. Then she looked at her brother.
"Despite this incident directly concerns Japanese national security, our government decided to give I.S. Academy full authority to deal with situation," Ichika gave short version of his conversation with his superiors. "JSDF [Japan Self-Defense Forces] have been ordered to be on standby, providing support only in case of necessity," He added.
Chifuyu nodded, "Thus, according to the Academy higher-ups' jurisdiction, we have to deal with this situation." However, what she said next came quite unexpected. "All Academy staff members, please use the Academy's training suits to seal off the air space and sea. The main operation will be done using personal I.S. units." Her words could mean only one thing – that rampant military I.S. will have to be stopped by academy students.
"Next, we'll begin the planning of the battle. Anyone who have questions, please raise your hand," Chifuyu announced.
"Yes," Cecilia immediately raised her hand, "Please explain the specs and data of the target I.S."
"A reasonable request," Chifuyu nodded. "But these are the highest military secrets of those two countries, so specific details definitely can't be revealed. Once the data's revealed, the parties involved will be court-martialed, and they have to take at least two years of probation," She reminded about consequences, explaining why only limited amount of data are available. All available data appeared on the screen.
"I understand," Cecilia nodded seriously. As Ichika continued to apathetically watch over the situation, everyone present, including Cecilia, were already discussing about data they just received.
"It's a unique long ranged type that's designed to clear the area... It seems that it can launch a full-scale attack like my I.S." Cecilia expressed her opinion.
"That frame has enhanced attack and mobility. That's tough. And the specs are better than my Shenlong," Rin said, "So the opponent has a slight advantage..."
"This unique armor seems to be tough to handle. My country sent a few Revive defensive equipment over, but I do feel that it's tough to defend against them consecutively," Charlotte shook her head.
"And looking at these figures, its fighting capability is still an unknown variable. The technology it uses also unknown. Can't we investigate it anyway?" Laura asked.
"Nothing special," Ichika said, still sitting in his corner with that apathetic look on his face. "It has 36 wing-mounted, first-generation plasma cannons, or plasma throwers, to be more precise, as it uses pressured air instead of electro-magnetic accelerator to launch plasma charges…"
Everyone in the room, aside from Chifuyu, were now looking at Ichika with their eyes wide open. "Ichi…" Laura quickly corrected herself, "Commander Orimura, how do you know this?" Despite there were no data about rogue I.S. armaments, Ichika seemed quite confident.
"Oh, come off it…" Ichika sighed tiredly. "We all are looking at the same image, aren't we?" He pointed at right half of the screen, where Silver Gospel's external view was displayed. "Look at these apertures on Gospel's 'wings' – they definitely have magnetic deflection covering. It's only purpose to protect 'barrel' from direct contact with plasma. On the other hand, there's a certain limit of magnetic accelerator's length-to-diameter ratio, and here this ratio has definitely been violated. According to barrels' angle and wings' width (barrels were perpendicular to wing's plane) – those 'barrels' are simply too short. Use of compressed air to push plasma charge out of barrel is an acceptable alternative."
As everyone continued to stare at him with saucer-wide eyes, Ichika continued to explain, "As for plasma itself – it is also made of compressed atmospheric air, heated to state of plasma. However…" He added, looking somewhere aside, "Even if it's just a first-generation plasma weapon, it doesn't mean you can relax – it is powerful enough, and, as I said – there are 36 of those plasma throwers…"
"You… you've learned all of that just by looking at that I.S. image?!" Charlotte exclaimed as ability to speak finally returned to her.
"It's not that hard if you know just where to look," Ichika shrugged. "Besides, don't forget that plasma weaponry is my specialty."
Chifuyu was the only one who wasn't speechless. She was well aware that her brother's insight is peerless and he's a brilliant engineer… but she also knew about the power of emperor's eye, which he no doubts used to examine the rogue I.S. unit with exceptional details.
*CLAP!* Orimura-sensei clapped her hands to divert everyone's attention from Ichika and make people once again focus on current situation. "Thank you for your explanation, lieutenant-commander, however, it's armament isn't our main problem," She said. "This machine's still moving at a supersonic speed. The maximum velocity it has is over 1350 knots, so we need to stop it from first attempt."
"From first attempt... Then we have no choice but to face it with the unit with the most offensive power…" Maya Yamada guessed.
After hearing Yamada-sensei's words, everyone turned to Ichika. "Orimura-san, you must take it out with your Paradise of Darkness!" Cecilia exclaimed.
"It seems to be the only way," Rin nodded.
"That's the case, but… Yeah, problem is – how are we going to get Ichika there? It'll be hard for us to succeed if we don't focus on the attack, but how are we going to cover the logistics?" Charlotte wondered.
"And we have to catch up to a fast-moving I.S. Also, the high-definition hyper-sensor will also be needed," Laura added.
"Ladies," Ichika interrupted four girls' discussion, "Before you continue to discuss a strategy, built around me, I'd like to remind you that all JSDF [Japan Self-Defense Forces] personnel were ordered to be on stand-by but not interfere without extreme necessity. It may be not obvious, but that includes me as well," Ichika informed, simple as that. "And that order came from Prime Minister of Japan himself, violating such an order is too much, even for me…" Ichika said, before adding with barely hearable voice "…yet."
Everyone looked at him in shock… even Chifuyu seemed surprised, though she quickly removed that surprised look from her face. Noticing his elder sister's gaze, Ichika nodded towards hall's door, "Orimura-sensei, can we have a few words?" Elder sister nodded and both siblings left the hall.
"What's going on?" Chifuyu asked as soon as door was closed behind them. She seemed quite irritated, but not with Ichika – with that situation in whole.
"Political powerplay, nothing more," Ichika shrugged. "Remember how I received a call from admiral when we just learned about I.S. going rogue?" Elder sister nodded so Ichika continued, "Well, it seems that I.S. Academy higher-ups contacted Prime Minister and convinced him to let them resolve this situation without external help, so minister of defense got the order to keep our military forces on stand-by, but do not interfere without emergency. That order was translated to all military personal. I'm pretty sure they've formulated that order like this intentionally, to make sure it will also affect me. They wanted your best pilot to be excluded from possible operational group that Academy might assemble…" Ichika made a small pause, "No doubts they want to remind the Academy that, despite they are under direct UN jurisdiction, at the same time they are still under our Ministry of Defense patronage, they don't want academy to be too independent…" He shrugged again "…well, that part is just my speculations, of course."
"What a kindergarten…" Chifuyu swore silently, no matter what she would say on public to 'keep her face', she was well aware that Ichika really is the best pilot available right now and his I.S. is the one most suited for the task.
"Listen…" Ichika said with sigh, "I know it's not my busyness in current situation, but… I don't think it's wise to send those girls to intercept that I.S. Neither of them has any experience to work as a team, even captain Bodewig… or should I say 'especially captain Bodevig'…" Ichika shook his head. "Besides, they all consider themselves 'rivals in love', as you could say – no doubts they'll turn that battle into a competition…"
Chifuyu didn't reply anything – of course she knew that herself as good as Ichika, and now she was considering her remaining options. Calling for backup from the Academy wasn't an option – they have not enough time. And no way Academy will ask Ministry of Defense to let Ichika participate in this operation. Not only they'll admit that they can't handle it themselves… there's more. Asking for Ichika's help is just like admitting outright that they can't handle anything without him. And he already got quite a lot of influence and independence, probably it was already disturbing, from Academy's higher ups point of view…
As such, there are two remaining options, first – use academy instructors to intercept enemy I.S. instead of students. Instructors are pretty skillful, but their units are just 2nd generation Revives and Uchiganes. Rogue I.S. is much faster – it can easily avoid battle and escape. Second one – let personal I.S. owners handle it. But then things may go just as Ichika described it – it may turn into a real catastrophe…
*Sigh* Ichika sighed deeply. Chifuyu was very good at hiding her emotions, but here were only two of them for twelve years, even without special eyes Ichika could see through that mask of equanimity on his sister's face. "Listen, I really want those idiots from Academy and JSDF to play their idiotic game themselves." Ichika's eyes flashed, "I don't give a damn about Academy, that's not a big secret, if they became less independent from JSDF – for me it's even better. However, in our current situation… either Academy's forces simply lose that rogue I.S. and it begin to rampage on Japanese territory, or those Hetare girls get themselves injured or killed in battle with that I.S.… we both know who will be a scapegoat – my only sister. I refuse to allow that to happen…"
Chifuyu narrowed her eyes. No, of course it was very touching that her brother cares about her well-being, but she didn't like that he doesn't care about anyone else… But still, putting aside the fact that all what Ichika just said was true, and of course Chifuyu don't want to become a scapegoat, and even putting aside all personal feelings – if he knows how to get a permission to participate in the mission, by all means, he should do it. "You want to say that you know how to get a permission?" She asked.
"I think so," Ichika nodded confidently.
'No, he's not counting on occasion. He definitely has something in his sleeve…' She thought, looking at her younger brother.
"Onee-san, have I ever failed you, even once?" Ichika asked, looking at elder sister with his glowing eyes.
"Alright," She sighed, "You have ten minutes, lieutenant-commander. Do whatever you like, but if you won't get permission, we'll have to start operation without you." Chifuyu turned around and touched the door handle, but before opening the door, elder sister turned back and looked at her brother, and smiled slightly, "Ichika, I'm counting on you…" She said before returning to banquette hall, which was temporary turned into an operation planning center.
"Don't you worry, onee-san," Ichika said, summoning his communicator. "I know you wouldn't like that what I'm going to do, but sometimes, to deal with the scum like our higher-ups, we should use their own methods…"
July 10th, 10:34 AM
Seven minutes have passed since Chifuyu returned to the planning room, but Ichika still didn't come back. Everyone was quiet, moving their sights to screen with data about Silver Gospel's current position and back to Chifuyu. When she returned after her talk with Ichika she didn't say anything, only announced that they have to wait ten minutes.
"Orimura-sensei…" Maya tried to say something but Chifuyu just shook her head. She gave Ichika ten minutes and she was intending to wait just as much. One more minute has passed. *Clank* Hall's door opened and Ichika returned to the room.
"We have a green light," He informed as soon as he entered. "I've got a special order to provide all necessary assistance to I.S. Academy forces."
Several people let out sigh of relief. Ichika proved his abilities many times, and his I.S. was perfect for that mission, so chances of success just rose up drastically. Only Chifuyu was looking at her brother a bit suspiciously. No, of course she was glad and even proud that her brother fulfilled his promise, but – personal order? That was just too good – with who he was talking just now? However, she could think about that later.
"Very good. Now, let's discuss the battle plan," Chifuyu announced.
"I'm afraid that right now we have quite limited number of options," Ichika said, "But here's my plan: I'll plot the intercept course to go ahead of the enemy unit and then I'll attack it head-on. Even if I won't be able to take it out with initial assault, it'll force Silver Gospel to change its current course, which now leads to a heavily populated area. The only problem here is that if we want to end that quickly my I.S. have to be in assault mode…"
"Understood," Chifuyu nodded, "Then you need a wingman with highly maneuverable unit to block any attempts of rogue I.S. to get away…" She touched her chin. She knew that Ichika's I.S. loses significant part of its agility when it goes to assault mode. She turned to personal I.S. owners, "Amongst you pilots, who has the fastest speed and maneuverability?"
"My Blue Tears," Cecilia raised her arm as she quickly perked up. "It just so happened that the special package Strike Gunner, which England just sent over for testing, contains improved thrusters, and high-resolution, long-range sensor equipped with it as well."
All second generation and newer I.S. units have what's called Package of switchable equipment.
The Package includes the weapons, additional armor and/or boosters. There are all sorts of varieties to them. The I.S. unit's capability and nature will change drastically according to the currently installed package, as such I.S. can be tuned for all sorts of combat. On a side note, all the first year personal I.S. pilots, excluding Ichika (who has no package at all), have semi-customized packages, except for Charlotte, whose package is fully customized, or, to be more precise, it is completely custom-built package.
"Alcott, how long have you been training under supersonic mode?" Chifuyu requested clarification
"20 hours," Cecilia reported.
"Hmm... Alright, that's indeed suitable. Then, let's proc…" Chifuyu got ready to end this planning, only to be interrupted by a super energetic voice.
"HOLD ON, HOLD ON! STOP WITH THAT STRATEGY!" And the voice came from the ceiling. Everyone looked up to see Shinonono Tabane's head appearing upside down from the ceiling.
"...Yamada-sensei, please forcefully escort that person out," Chifuyu gave order immediately.
"Huh? Ye-Yes! Ah, Professor Shinonono, please get here down first," Maya said, though she seemed a bit scared as it definitely wasn't an easy order.
"O-OH!" Tabane flipped a somersault in mid-air and landed. That gentle movement is something even an acrobat from a circus has to admire. How far is this person would go to show her cards like that... "Chi-chan Chi-chan, my brain's now printing an even more brilliant plan! Oh my… is there any printers out here?"
"...Get out," Chifuyu growled as she pressed against her head. Though Yamada-sensei wanted to follow order and escort Tabane out, Tabane easily slipped away from her.
"Listen to me, listen to me! This is *deefiiniiteelyy* the time for Akatsubaki's debut!" Tabane announced excitedly.
"What!?" Houki almost jumped.
"Look at Akatsubaki's specs! It can fly at supersonic speeds even without additional packets!" Tabane's eyes were shining. As if responding to her words, screens appeared around Chifuyu. "Adjusting Akatsubaki's Fold-Out Armor... change this, change here, change everything! See? The speed will be great now!"
'Fold-Out Armor? What's that?' Ichika could read that question on several people's faces in this room. Just when spectators were puzzled about that strange name, Tabane was already standing beside Chifuyu and explaining it to public, as she even took away the main screen from Ichika's sister. What was an image of the Gospel's position and speed is now switched to Akatsubaki's specs.
"Let me explain. Here it comes! This so-called Fold-Out Armor will be the 4th generation frame's equipment that this genius developed for the 4th generation I.S!"
"Fourth...?!" Several voices asked that at the same time.
"OK! Now, the kind-hearted Tabane-san will start explaining!" Tabane announced joyfully. "Hehe, are you happy yet? Since the beginning, the first generation frames were aimed to 'complete the I.S.' The second generation was about to 'diversify I.S. roles according to the different equipment'. Next, the third generation are units that 'carries unique weapons that're controlled by the pilot's imagination', including air-compressed weapons, BiTs and AIC. And the 4th generation are those 'all-purpose frames that don't need switchable equipment packages'. Right now, it's still on the planning phase. Okay, do you understand now? Sensei loves the outstanding students best!"
"You really like the sound of your own voice, are you?" Ichika asked.
"LOOK WHO'S TALKING!" Several voices shouted at the same time, including Maya Yamada.
"Wait… Hol… Hold on a minute," One of academy's instructors, who was present in planning room, asked uncertainly, "All the countries finally managed to enter the 3rd generation phase after so much experimenting. Why have we jumped all the way to the 4th generation now?"
Usually Tabane would ignore some unknown people, but seemingly she couldn't lose the chance to praise herself once more, "Fufufu, this Tabane-san isn't just an ordinary genius! This is just an appetizer from me!" An appetizer. That doesn't sound nice for some reason... "This was already used on the Yukihira Niigata [Snowflake Type II] of the Byakushiki. I installed it to try it out!"
"""Huh?""" What she said caused every personal I.S. pilot, excluding Ichika, to be stunned. But it was truth, to be honest. The base construct when activating the Reiraku Byakuya of the Snowflake Type II was actually the so-called Fold-Out armor. If that's the case, Byakushiki itself could be considered a 4th generation unit already. But both Byakushiki and Snowflake Type II were long gone…
"Wait, Ichika-san, does it mean…" Charlotte tried to ask but Ichika interrupted her.
"Of course not," He replied as he already knew what Charlotte wanted to ask. "Though it bears the same name, we actually talking about completely different things," Now was Ichika's turn to explain. "The truth is – Fold-Out armor is just a generic name, which generally can be applied to anything that folds-out from I.S. main armor layer."
"Ik-kun's Fold-Out armor is an electron flux field, made to contain and control plasma," Tabane explained with cunning smile. Indeed, Redeemer's blade projector and barrels of other Ragnarök's forms were made of Fold-Out armor type that Tabane just described. By the way, it seems that she said this just to remind Ichika that she's quite aware of his tricks.
"Indeed," Ichika nodded. "On the other hand, Tabane-san's Fold-Out armor is a frequency-modulated static energy field that can deflect or emit energy, so it can be used as weapon, additional armor layer or even a thruster," Ichika quickly repaid his debt, disclosing Tabane's concept.
"That's right! And because the development went well, Akatsubaki's entire armor is made of Fold-Out Armor! When the system will achieve its maximum ability, the specs will double!" Tabane announced joyfully.
"Ho… hold, hold on a minute. Huh? Whole body? That means..." Houki herself seemed shocked.
"Yup, it's invincible! Anyway, it's the strongest!" Tabane replied.
Everyone present were dumbfounded. The only two who doesn't seem shocked are Chifuyu and Ichika as everyone else here's just dumbstruck by what this Shinonono Tabane in front of them just said.
However, this conversation revealed absolutely different approach to Fold-Out Armor usage by Messiah and Crimson Camellia. I.S. Messiah, remade by Ichika, was using Fold-Out Armor only as an auxiliary instrument to control plasma, which was an actual all-purpose thing. In contrary, Crimson Camellia's Fold-Out Armor was the all-purpose system by itself.
"Also, just as Ik-kun said, Akatsubaki's Fold-Out Armor is of the instant configuration type, so it can change to attack, defense and mobility along the way! This is the aim of the 4th generation frame, a multi-type frame!" Tabane announced joyfully, "Fufufu, I prepared it a long time ago. Hohoho~"
Everyone's silent.
"Huh? What's wrong? Why is everyone looking like they're keeping vigil at a funeral? Who's dead? That's strange," Tabane seemed surprised.
Well, honestly, that's not something that can be described with the words "that's strange". All the countries and alliances invested money, time and talents in an arms race to develop the 3rd Generation I.S. frames... And all that was actually meaningless. Right now, these two are actually discussing whose paradigm of Fold-Out armor is better, i.e. they're virtually discussing whose approach to 4th generation I.S. is better. How, how can there be such a ridiculous thing!?
"I told you before already, Tabane. You overdid it," Chifuyu sighed heavily.
"Really? Hehe, I got too into it accidentally…" Tabane-san seemed to have finally realized why everyone here stay silent, after Chifuyu explained it to her.
"Ah, but you see, Akatsubaki's still incomplete, so don't show such an expression. Seeing you people look so down-heartened, this Tabane-san really doesn't want to play pranks now," Tabane seemingly tried to defuse the situation… not too successful. "Well, about that, that's when Akatsubaki's at full power. Finishing this mission is just a warm-up before dinner!"
"But that's not all, Tabane-san, right?" Ichika said as his eyes suddenly flashed. "And that is strange as you forgot to mention your most interesting invention."
"Oh, am I? Really!?" She asked, still maintaining that innocent attitude.
"But of course," Ichika nodded. "You've mentioned Fold-Out Armor, showed us quite a sophisticated weaponry… but you forgot to mention why all these very energy-consuming things actually can operate longer than a few moments. But all that became possible thanks to the new heart of Crimson Camellia, the Akirai Nigata [Crystal Well Model Two], second generation power source, which uses not Tokamak-type MCF [Magnetic Confinement Fusion] thermonuclear reaction, but Direct Drive-type ICF [Inertial Confinement Fusion] laser-sustained fusion reaction. That's the real breakthrough you've finally achieved."
And when Ichika said that, just for a moment, Tabane's face changed – she seemed surprised or even worried. Though, that happened just for a moment – it was clear that she didn't expect Ichika to notice that as well, at least not that easily. But then her careless smile quickly returned to her face.
On a side note – entire planning room again became as silent as graveyard. Second generation power source? No, that's definitely was too much… Until now, all I.S. units were using one or another variation of Akirai [Crystal Well] power source, created by Tabane when she just introduced the Infinite Stratos, ten years ago. Even though Tokamak-type was the most developed type of fusion reactors, making it compact enough to be installed on I.S. – that was simply unbelievable feat. Since then, different science groups created several variations of Akirai, but mainly it was still the same technology. Even Ichika's I.S., Messiah, uses heavily modified version of first model Akirai. And yet, she's gone and done it again, developing a really new reactor type, ahead of the whole world.
"Speaking of which, about new techs and that rampant I.S. incident, it reminds me of that White Knight Incident ten years ago!" Tabane suddenly changed theme as she chuckled away, and beside her, Chifuyu gave an 'uh oh' look.
"The White Knight Incident." Everybody in the world should have heard of this name. Shinonono Tabane introduced I.S. ten years ago, but at the beginning, no one recognized her accomplishments. Nobody believed that it could 'surpass all current weapons'. Some of them even felt that those words 'couldn't be trusted'.
"Oh my, I never thought that this world would be that stupid. Ufufu, they wouldn't believe my ability, yet they would believe God's blessing. This so-called idol worship is simply amazing. This Tabane-san's an actual living person!" Tabane just laughed at all those who didn't believed her.
A year after the I.S. was introduced, an incident happened. Well, it would be too weird to call it an incident, since there was nothing more critical than that point. An unknown hacker targeted 2 341 missiles from all the countries in the world at Japan, making them unable to be controlled – and launched them all.
The whole world sunk into chaos and despair. At that moment, a female in a full silver and white armor appeared. As that female's face was covered thoroughly by some facemask-type sensors, nobody knew her real identity. However, how you'd put it – it was really too similar to some shounen manga plot, as it left everyone speechless.
The hero, who was dressed like some Middle Ages knight, actually slashed about half of the missiles, 1 221 missiles in total, using some sort of energy sword. That female was holding a sword no matter what, yet unexpectedly, the human actually flew at supersonic speed to slash down these modern-day weapons called missiles, so it really seemed exaggerated.
Then, as the guided missiles were a bit away from her, she suddenly wiped them out with what could be called a 'large gun, which used charged particles as killing agent'. With that, she destroyed all missiles that left. With a combat ability that's based around speed, an ability to create a large number of things through light particles and the practical usage of light weapons – no modern weapons were a match for it.
However, the entire world's not so slow as to not deal with this startling existence. The countries around Japan ignored the world's constitution and started tracking the I.S. through scout planes. The mission of those scout planes was to 'Investigate the Target. Capture if possible. If impossible – eliminate'.
At that time, all the countries seemed to have invested a lot into the latest weapons… But they were completely outmatched. Vulcan guns or guided missiles couldn't even hurt the armor of the I.S. There was even an energy shield.
First, the fighter planes couldn't turn about immediately as the human pilot can't handle the tremendous G-Force. But the I.S. was different. With the defense system guarding it, no matter how mobile the frame was, the pilot would not lose consciousness nor gasp for breath.
And according to the figures the sensors calculated, the I.S. could process calculations faster and make decisions faster. It could also change into action. Despite sinking all the fighter planes of all the countries, the White Knight didn't take a single life away. This proved the battle difference that they despaired over. Anyway, the thing was that 'It could make the opponent powerless without killing them'.
Even so, all the countries still sent in troops, yet the White Knight suddenly vanished like the sunset. It was like the VTR image of it got rewound and suddenly disappeared, as the illusion-like White Knight disappeared completely. They couldn't track it down using radar, and they couldn't identify it through their own eyes. It showed complete invisibility.
Facing the abilities that I.S. showed off – this world did lose completely. One machine was able to destroy or disable 2 341 missiles, 207 fighter jets, 7 cruisers, 5 aircraft carriers and 8 satellites. This 'Ultimate Mobile Weapon' I.S. instantly became famous in one night.
Having a machine that can overpower other countries' military capability, this fact prompted the entire world to immediately propose a constitution about I.S. to limit its use and also to spread it about. Shinonono Tabane once said that 'only an I.S. can beat an I.S.', and with the facts in front of them, the losers of this fight, the world, accepted it without disagreements – they had to.
"So, because of that, my beloved I.S. became famous! I don't care about the fact that women got special treatment, but I could be kidnapped or assassinated if I'm careless. That really felt like some other country. Ufufu," Describing it really happily, Tabane seemed to be gloating like a mother whose son just performed on stage for the first time. "Even so, I don't know… Ufufu, who was the White Knight? Who was it? What do you think, Chi-chan?"
"I don't know," Chifuyu replied indifferently.
"Hmm, I guess her bust size is about 88 cm…" Tabane tried to grab Chifuyu's breasts.
*BAAM!* A blunt sound could be heard. That was Chifuyu attendance book attack. No wait, that's the info terminal attack. That must have hurt... the info terminal is made of metal on the outside, right...
"That, that's too much, Chi-chan. This Tabane-san's brain got split in half, you know!?" Tabane cried with teary eyes.
"Really? That's good. You can take turns thinking with your left brain and your right brain," Chifuyu said casually.
"Ohh! I see! You're so smart, Chi-chan!" Tabane suddenly again became full of joy.
Ichika facepalmed. Of course Chifuyu had no choice but to hit Tabane, or, if someone wouldn't shut her up, she'd disclosed the real identity of White Knight. That could cause real troubles. Of course, after all what happened – White Knight frame should've disappeared forever. Its core, on the other hand…
Speaking about the cores… After the last frame of the currently existing 467 I.S. units were completed, there was no more core produced… officially. Strictly speaking, there should be 467 I.S. cores. In other words, no country would play around with a core.
When Tabane disappeared 3 years ago, she left behind a letter saying: 'This is the last I.S. core, not a bun. Congratulations, you people got an I.S. effortlessly…' or something like that.
The reason why almost everyone knows this is because the world aired a show called 'Shinonono Tabane's live interview with the world'. However, the mass media that went to the research facility went for naught as they only saw a letter and the last I.S. core. That image was aired directly on worldwide live TV, as brilliant-minded I.S. creator disappeared without a trace.
On a side note, amongst all the I.S. in the world, 322 out of the 467 I.S. units are used for actual combat, and the remaining 145 cores were handed over to all the countries science facilities or enterprises for research purposes. Many of the experimental frames that were born out of the researches from these areas were handed over to personal I.S. pilots.
In I.S. Academy, the I.S. are divided into teachers' use, training use and personal use. In total, there are about 30 of them. However, there seemed to be quite the anomaly this year, as amongst the 1st years, there are more than five personal I.S. pilots – In the past, there used to be only about three at the most. The reason why there are so many I.S. pilots with personal machines this year is… well, no point of guessing.
"Speaking of which... Tabane, how long does it take to adjust Akatsubaki?" Chifuyu asked.
"O-ORIMURA-SENSEI?" Cecilia shouted out in shock. It seemed that she felt that she was the only one amongst all of personal I.S. pilots who had a hi-powered booster and could take part in the battle. "If… If it's me and Blue Tears, we'll definitely succeed!"
"Has that packet been installed?" Chifuyu wondered.
"We… Well... not yet..." Cecilia's voice immediately softened as if her foot got stepped on, stuttering at the same time.
In contrast, Tabane revealed an innocent smile as she said, "Let me add on, it'll take just seven minutes to adjust Akatsubaki!"
"Uh... I got scolded by Professor Shinonono, and I got kicked out of the team. That's too cruel..." Cecilia mumbled quietly. She really seemed very depressed, but that's quite understandable. Not that Ichika was feeling sorry for her (he always thought that feeling sorry for someone is quite humiliating), but he was a bit surprised.
Chifuyu really wants Houki to participate in this mission? Houki, who's generally unexperienced and used her new I.S. for less than half an hour? Is that all just to satisfy Tabane's whim? Or she has something else in mind? Well, again, no point of guessing, but, in Ichika's opinion, Cecilia would be better wingman for that mission. Sadly, he had no authority to choose a wingman from Academy's students, and he wasn't in mood to argue with Chifuyu.
"Okay, then this mission will be carried out by Lt.-Commander Orimura of JSDF and Shinonono Houki as an I.S. Academy representative. Everyone's to get ready in 30 minutes from now." *CLAP!* Chifuyu clapped her hands, and the teachers got ready to prepare the necessary machinery. "Those with nothing to do are to help move the equipment or do anything else they can help with. The main frontlines are to adjust their I.S. units. Don't be sloppy."
"Then let's hurry up and get Akatsubaki ready!" Tabane turned to her sister.
"..." Houki just replied with grim face expression.
"Houki-chan, you should smile more. Hey hey, you're already a member of this mission group! Isn't that good?!" Elder sister asked cheerfully.
"This face of mine was born like this," Houki grumbled.
"Hah… but well, you were a lot cuter when you were born. And you would cry too!" Elder sister smiled innocently.
"Who… Who wouldn't cry…" Houki's cheeks flushed a bit for some reason.
Tabane began adjusting of Houki's I.S. "Hmm, I'll pat here, pat there," Tabane casually added as she patted Akatsubaki, summoned by Houki. "The Fold-Out armor on the back, the legs, the shoulders seemingly need to be forcefully pushed forward, and some attack support mode enabled… and we're done. Well, let's get started!" After Tabane finished her line, the particles of light gathered around her to form something. Something appeared in front of her shoulders, two on each side, four in total. They all look like I.S. arms, no matter the size.
"By the way, this is my mobile lab! On a side note, it's called 'I'm a cat' (I don't have a name yet)," Tabane mumbled that as she flipped her index finger up. Unexpectedly, those two right-hand-styled objects followed her action... "Okay, let's start."
After Tabane said that, she used the gaps between her fingers to pick up ten different tools, including screwdrivers, chisels, Swiss army knives and all sorts of tools with unknown purposes.
"Haha, raise your right hand if it hurts!" And she added such a classic line before starting.
She used what looked like a Swiss-army-knife to cut off the joint on the I.S. arm, and then quickly used other tools to fix it in place. She then pulled out some mechanical parts and modified it. As this action was going on in five separate places, it really looked confusing… but not for emperor's eyes. Ichika was watching carefully at every action performed by Tabane. Tabane herself was working on the most critical part, and the four floating arms were working on the rest.
Each unique finger of the arms seemed to have a lot of machinery and functions, as these arms were shooting out lasers from the mechanical fingers as these got to work. And Tabane herself is looking rather relaxed as she hummed, working at a fast pace to boot.
July 10th, 11:30 AM.
The July sky is as clear as a crystal, and the strong sunlight lights the land. Standing slightly apart from each other, Houki and Ichika were on the beach. The I.S. Academy newest personal I.S. pilot glanced at Ichika.
He nodded in response, "Come forth, Messiah."
"Let's go, Akatsubaki!" Following Ichika's actions, Houki summoned her own I.S.
Their bodies got instantly covered in light, and the I.S. armors formed around them as a result.
"Prepare for departure," Ichika ordered as Fold-Out Armor on Messiah's wing extended upward, switching plasma generators to propulsion mode, activating plasma thrusters.
In terms of battle plan, everyone's task is pretty clear. Houki's task is to 'not let enemy I.S. escape' as Ichika's part is to 'shoot it down'.
"Even so, it's good that we're here. If Ichika's with me, we can do anything. Isn't that right?" Houki suddenly asked.
It couldn't be seen due to Ichika's fully closed helmet, but there was slightly surprised expression on his face. "Houki, calm down and focus on our mission," Ichika reminded her, "We're going into real battle."
"Haha, don't worry, I know what I'm doing, just look at me," She sounded quite carefreely… By the way, she's been like this since the beginning. It's understandable that she's really happy because she finally got a personal I.S. and was included into the team, which going to perform a real combat operation, but isn't she too happy now?
"Shinonono, commander Orimura, can you hear me?" Chifuyu's voice could be heard from the I.S. public channel. Houki nodded her head in response as if she forgot that there's no way Chifuyu could see her gesture.
"Loud and clear," Ichika had to reply for both of them.
"As we already agreed, the main emphasis of this plan is to take it out in one, decisive strike. We have to win in a short time," Chifuyu reminded.
"Affirmative," Ichika confirmed.
"Orimura-sensei, I just need to support Ichika according to the situation, right?" Houki asked.
"Right, but you don't have to force yourself. That personal I.S. you just got hasn't been used in combat. Maybe something might crop up," Orimura-sensei warned her.
"I understand. I'll provide assistance as much as I can." Even though she sounded really calm, Houki's face seemed really happy, or rather, too happy. Ichika couldn't say he liked it.
"Commander," Chifuyu's voice came over through the private channel, and not the public channel she just used.
"I hear you," Ichika also switched over to that line.
"Shinonono seems to be a little excited. Something may pop up in that situation. If anything happens, support her," Chifuyu requested.
"She isn't a 'little excited', Hetare Gogō [Loser №5] is completely carried away…" Ichika sighed. "Your concern is noted, I'll support her as much as possible, but my top priority is to prevent enemy I.S. from reaching populated areas."
"Understood…" Chifuyu replied. Her voice sounded a bit displeased, she knew that Ichika meant exactly what he said – he won't risk his mission just because Houki needs babysitting. On the other hand – Houki agreed to this mission willingly, so Chifuyu couldn't really blame Ichika, "I'll leave it to you then…" As she spoke that out, Chifuyu switched her voice back to the public channel and gave the order, "Then, begin the operation!"
"Roger!" Ichika replied as two I.S. units started to accelerate.
Those who were in planning room could only see image from one of resort's security cameras, which was quite afar from mission starting point, but even with just that, those who were in room could say that 4th generation I.S. possesses an astonishing acceleration.
"It's much faster than Ignition Boost!" Charlotte exclaimed.
"Such an astounding speed…" Laura could hardly believe in what she was seeing now. Whitin a few seconds Messiah and Crimson Camellia disappeared from sight.
'Tabane… If this thing will fall apart right in the sky… don't blame anyone but yourself…' Ichika thought. Watching Tabane adjusting Houki's I.S. he got a strange feeling that she, despite her relaxed attitude, actually was doing everything in hurry… well, like always. Ichika would never do anything without checking it thrice. Though, his thoughts were rather exaggeration – Crimson Camellia seemed pretty solid-built. The Fold-Out Armor on Camellia's legs and back parts were spraying out powerful energy, just as intended, giving a lot of additional thrust.
"Houki, we're closing on a target, you take the lead," Ichika ordered, taking position slightly above and behind her. Since Cecilia was replaced with Houki, Ichika had to revise his plan of attack. Now it was Houki's task to catch up with the rogue I.S. and distract it, engaging it in close combat, allowing Ichika to use his long-range plasma rifle Ambassador. With his emperor's eyes, Ichika was sure that he won't hit his wingman accidentally.
"Affirmative, commander!" Houki replied. It seemed a bit strange but Houki was enjoying calling Ichika by his military rank? Doesn't matter… "Confirming the link to the intermediary satellite... Target's data verification complete. Confirming the target's current location… There it is!" The Hyper Sensors visuals show the target as if one's seeing it with his own eyes.
Ichika, on the other hand, had no need for any visual sensors… "I have a visual on the target," Ichika confirmed. As the name indicates, the Silver Gospel's covered in silver.
The strangest parts are the huge wings extending out from its head. According to the data, the silver-glow wings that are as shiny as the main body seem to have a lot of large boosters and wide-ranged shooting weapons. And, thanks to Ichika's insight, nature of those weapons was already known.
"Accelerate to attack speed!" Ichika ordered as top, largest pair of his I.S. wings began to glow, now its plasma thrusters were at maximum output.
"Understood!" Houki reported, as she increased the output of the thrusters, at the same time extending her Fold-Out Armor more, gaining additional thrust. From aside it now looked like entire Crimson Camellia was glowing with red light. "Reaching target in 10 seconds!"
"Roger that! Preparing to fire!" Ichika replied as sniper rifle appeared in his hands. Seemingly he finally found a way to summon Ragnarök already in desired shape.
"Here I go!" Houki shouted as she dived and then managed to outran Silver Gospel moving by ascending arc and attacked with her blade, Rainy Moon. As intended, it created several orbs of red light, that shot towards enemy unit like bullets made of light. But at that moment, the Gospel actually turned towards Houki at maximum velocity and backed away, gaining altitude, in preparation for battle.
That unit appeared to be quite agile, but that was expected, and, in fact, everything was going according to plan. Ichika already took right position as Fold-Out Armor on Messiah's wing extended downward, switching plasma generators to assault mode, forcing additional plasma into weapon's plasma compression chamber. And Messiah was already glowing, which meant that its One-Off ability, Paradise of Darkness, also has been activated.
"Fire!" Ichika pulled the trigger. With immense speed, plasma charge shot towards Silver Gospel. With direct hit, it will be disabled with one hit. But then… *Swoosh!* The Gospel's body suddenly swung beautifully, dodging Paradise of Darkness' plasma charge with inch-perfect precision. Even for an I.S. that has Passive Inertial Canceller, this movement's still extremely difficult to pull off.
No, in general, Ichika did everything right. Moment for shot was chosen perfectly, and his eyes were as precise as ever. But he probably was just too far – his lack of long-range firing practice showed itself, besides, he didn't expect enemy unit to react so fast… Actually, there was a lot of high output multi-thrusters on Gospel's wings, but Ichika have never seen so precise maneuvers at emergency velocity. Seemingly, those US and Israel engineers weren't getting their salary for nothing.
"Enemy suit confirmed. Switching into counterattacking mode. Silver Gospel, movement start," Suddenly, a mechanical voice could be heard from the public channel, and that sounded with obvious 'antagonistic intents'.
"Ichika!" Houky's voice sounded slightly at a loss.
"Don't panic!" Ichika ordered. He himself was a bit disappointed that his initial plan failed, but his voice sounded as confident as ever. "We're moving to plan 'B'," Lt.-commander announced, "It seems that this thing likes to dance… Then I'll let it dance… with Death Metal pace!" Ichika deactivated Paradise of Darkness, but his unit remained in assault mode as sniper rifle turned into plasma heavy machinegun, Equalizer, "Houki, Ready your weapons! This thing should not be allowed to escape no matter what!"
"Got it!" Houki replied, taking her both swords.
Ichika opened fire. A hail of plasma charges shot towards enemy I.S., but it quickly engaged evasive maneuvers. At the same time the Gospel pressed the wings forward to aim all its cannons at Ichika. At the next moment, numerous bullets of light shot out.
Those bullets were shot out with high pressure acting as the energy source, forming what looked like feathers made of light. Instead of flying straight towards Ichika, they covered some area around him and exploded at the next moment. Ichika was 100% correct, determining Gospel's armament – plasma throwers. And despite they were of 1st generation – far less sophisticated than Ichika's 2.5th generation plasma weapon – there were 36 of those things. Ichika evaded Gospel's attack with minimal damage, but his own attack also didn't do much. Silver Gospel was much more maneuverable than Golem-class unmanned I.S. that attacked academy a while ago. The problem was that while Ichika's I.S. was in assault mode, plasma thrusters were offline and Messiah's speed and maneuverability weren't that astonishing…
"Houki!" Suddenly she was called by her wing commander, "There's a ship down there! Check it!" He ordered, still engaging Silver Gospel in rapid combat.
"A ship!? The teachers were supposed to have closed off the waters!" She replied as she used her I.S. hyper-sensor to get detailed image of the ship. "I see the ship but there's no data on it! Looks like poachers… damn, during emergency like this?!"
"Poachers?" Ichika asked, "Then ignore them. Continue the operation!" Ichika had no reasons to care about criminals, whose own foolishness brought them into combat zone.
"Affirmative!" Houki replied, she was thinking the same way as Ichika – those are criminals, civilians on the shore are much more important. "I'll stop its movements, Ichika!" Houki shouted.
"Roger! But try to not get in between us!" Ichika replied. Really, getting between heavy plasma machinegun and 36 rapid-fire plasma throwers isn't something that even Crimson Camellia with her 800 shield points should do. "My eyes almost adjusted to its movements," He added, "This battle soon will be over…"
Houki attacked the enemy I.S. from aside, using her blades to stab and slash, activating the Fold-Out Armor on her wings to match up with the energy blades that were forming as she was attacking. No doubts – Crimson Camellia was made specifically for Houki, and here's also no doubts – Tabane knows her younger sister better than anyone else.
Houki was using her I.S. mobility and the Fold-Our Armor on different places at different timings, using emergency acceleration to bring herself closer to the Gospel. This wave of powerful attacks forced the rogue I.S. to defend itself.
"Press the attack!" Ichika ordered, as his machinegun turned back to sniper rifle.
Gospel tried to counterattack. The sharp sound of the machine rang. At that moment, the wing thrusters went all out blazing, 36 barrels in total, all aimed to different directions.
"Not bad...! But who's shaking you off!?" Houki dodged the rain of bullets at the last moment as she closed in on the attack – there's an opening.
Ichika again activated Paradise of Darkness. He aimed his sniper rifle. If he'll hit from that angle, the Gospel will be sent down crashing very close to illegal ship. Due to resulting shockwave, the ship most likely will fall apart… but Ichika couldn't care less. "Now, you're mine!" He said as he pulled the trigger… and nothing happened. "What?!" He tried again but his finger, or, more likely, his I.S. finger, simply didn't move.
"Ichika! Shoot!" Houki screamed, she also saw that this is perfect opportunity. But instead of shooting, Messiah unclenched its palms and sniper rifle fell down, quickly turning into light particles and disappearing. Houki's eyes widened as she saw that, "Ichika, what are you doing?!"
And, for the first time in several years, Ichika was actually taken aback, he didn't know what to reply, as he had no idea what's going on… He simply lost control over his I.S. with no apparent reason. 'What the fuck is happening?!' He thought, but right now was no time to speculate. There were no error reports from his I.S., no diagnostic messages. Everything seemed fine until now. But in current situation he had no choice, Ichika urgently opened communication channel to his wingman. "Houki! I have a critical malfunction! Prepare to retreat immediately! I repeat, unknown malfunction, we have to retreat immedia…" That was all that Ichika managed to say before communication channel was forcefully closed.
Silver Gospel noticed the disarray in enemy's attack pattern. Seeing Houki's confusion, rogue I.S. pressed the wings forward and aimed all its cannons at Crimson Camellia. Houki noticed it too late, she was hit with several bullets at the same time, and sent flying away head over heels.
At the same time, Messiah ceased to glow. Paradise of Darkness ran out, together with all shield's energy, at the same time Ichika's I.S. was still refusing to move. Silver Gospel turned to him, aiming all its cannons at defenseless enemy. "This is not over yet…" Ichika growled through teeth as he only could powerlessly look at Silver Gospel, which just sent a barrage of feathers-bullets towards him. Only thing Ichika managed to do – he somehow forced his I.S. left arm to cower his face.
"Ichika!" Houki screamed as her eyes widened in horror when she saw that Ichika's I.S. got a direct hit. With its shield depleted, Gospel's attack wrecked Messiah's armor. Ichika heard the cracking of his left arm's breaking bones, as scorching flame burned his skin. But he neither screamed nor moaned.
"ICHIKA! ICHIKA! ICHIKAAA!" Houki screamed as she rushed to catch Ichika's wrecked I.S. But with her energy also almost depleted she couldn't stop it. Messiah crashed into Crimson Camellia and both I.S. units fell down into the sea and sunk.
'Since that fucking incident in Germany… I promised my sister that never again I'll make her worry… that that never again I'll let her down…' Ichika was thinking, still trying to comprehend what happened with his precious I.S… He spent so much time trying to make it better, faster, more powerful… He spent so much efforts to make sure it will never fail him. 'Chifuyu… My beloved sister… I'm so sorry… But please, don't you worry… Even hell can't take me…' That was Ichika's last thought before his sight went dark and he lost consciousness.
And, sadly, this is it for now. Yeah, a cliffhanger… But next chapter will be ready soon, I promise.
