Chapter 11: White Knight (?) VS Battle Maiden
Both pilots floated in the air facing each other once they reach the center of the arena. It is obvious from Lafter's wide grin that she's excited for the fight. It has been a while since she had a worthwile opponent and it has been a lifetime since she last had a friendly match with Mikazuki. To have Mikazuki as an opponent once again, she would be worried if this is a life or death battle but in a friendly match, she couldn't have asked for a better opponent.
The devil of Tekkadan floated in front of her with his IS, the Byakushiki. It is armed with a single sword and looks to be built for speed, which is not exactly suited to how Mikazuki fights. Though that wouldn't stop Mikazuki from being dangerous. He was a living legend back then, being the only person to beat a Mobile Armor after the Calamity War and he did it singlehandedly. If he possesses even half the capability he had back then, this will be the toughest fight in her life.
"So, should we start?"
Lafter asked. Mikazuki nodded, and the match began. Both units charged at each other with their sword. Yukihira Niigata met the Valkyrja double blade for a single instant before both units disengaged and then clash again. No words were exchanged as both pilots who knew each other well focus all they have on their fight.
The two of them use simple moves of charging, slashing, and disengaging once their blades met for a brief moment. Both are still warming up. They are getting a feel of each other's capability. They started off with normal speed but gradually their clash became faster and faster and their attack pattern started to change, becoming more complex as time goes.
Both know that they are not facing a greenhorn who is in over their head. Not pilots who have only experienced simulation and mere competitions or even just small skirmishes. No, both of them, Lafter and Mikazuki, are seasoned veterans who had become intimately familiar with battles. Their skills have been tested and they are some of the best there was in their old life. Even if their instruments of war are different, their spirits are still that of soldiers who had lived and died in violence.
Mikazuki suddenly increased his spit using ignition boost and kicked Lafter on the head, causing her to stagger and he followed up with a slash. But Lafter activate the shield attached to her shoulder binder, creating a beam shield that absorbed most of the damage. It depleted a few points of her shield energy due to the power consumption and force of the attack but it is nothing compared to if she received the attack full force.
Lafter grabbed the hilt of her Valkyrja double blade with her left hand and slashed at Mikazuki. The devil's instinct warned him fast enough to fly upward and avoid a hit. Mikazuki saw that the double blade had separated into twin swords. Lafter follow up with a slash using her right hand sword but Mikazuki had already brought up Yukihira Niigata to defend. He used the force from Lafter's attack that sent him backward to make some distance between them.
It was at times like these that Mikazuki really hate Byakushiki. He has completely no option for ranged combat. Not like it was any different with Barbatos but at least he could equip Barbatos with guns when he needed to. Even Lupus Rex has an option for ranged attack, even if it is only the tail blade. Yukihira Niigata is also too light to allow him to use his favored fighting style.
Suddenly Mikazuki saw the underside of Ortelinde's wings moving. A gun attachment revealed itself and started shooting at Mika. The devil easily evades the shots from the two mini railguns but it is still annoying. It got worse when Lafter's swords rotated downward and a part of the sword's reverse side slid up, revealing a submachine gun. Lafter is a good shot and with four guns aimed at him by a skilled pilot, Mika knew he is in trouble.
While the railguns with their lower rate of fire are easily dodged, the submachine guns are another matter. Their firepower might be lesser but they are harder to evade due to the higher rate of fire. Added with the fact that Byakushiki cannot maneuver like Barbatos and is not as responsive simply adds to the difficulty.
"You really are a troublesome machine."
Mikazuki muttered as he increase his speed and circle closer towards Lafter. He deflected several shots with his sword while simply accepting the rest that he cannot dodge. When he got close enough, he slashed at Lafter who quickly switch her weapon from gun mode to sword mode. She parried Mikazuki's slash with her left hand sword and slashed at him with her right hand sword.
To her surprise, Mikazuki quickly spun in the air and kick her blade away. The devil of Tekkadan then held his sword in reverse grip and slashed her when she's open. Lafter grunted as she was pushed back. That was the first clean hit she received from Mikazuki and she knew he'll immediately follow up with another attack. Without looking, she deployed her energy shield.
Just as she had thought, Mikazuki indeed followed up with an upward diagonal slash. The positioning of her shield is bad though as her shield is in a position to receive attack either from the front or above. The upward slash broke her defense and Mikazuki got even closer.
With his free hand, Mika punched her in the face and got another slash in. He was about to follow up with a kick but Lafter decided to drop her left hand sword to catch his kick. She deploy her wing mounted railguns and blast Mikazuki at near point-blank range. The point-blank shot caused Mikazuki to fall but Lafter did not let her guard down.
As she thought, Mikazuki had readied his next attack. He throw his sword at her which she easily deflected but that distraction gave him enough time to use ignition boost to close in on her and… slash her with another sword? Lafter's eyes widened when she saw Mikazuki now wielding her own sword, the one she dropped earlier, and use it against her. Sparks flew from the point where the two identical blades met as the two pilots stare at each other.
Lafter pushed Mikazuki with all the strength her machine could give her… and one sword flew from someone's hand. Lafter's eyes widened. She shouldn't have pushed. Mikazuki had just let go of his sword and got closer even at the expense of some of his shield energy when her blade struck his left arm.
Mikazuki grabbed her shoulder and kneed her in the stomach followed with a punch to the face. While the absolute defense field prevented damage to be done to her body directly, she still felt those attacks. She swung her sword at him in an attempt to make him let go. He did, but he ducked under her swing and got behind her. He then ripped Ortelinde's wing to disable the railguns, starting from the left wing.
While he ripped her left wing, Lafter deployed the right wing railgun and shot him. point-blank again. From the smoke created by the blast, Byakushiki's left arm appear and grab hold of the railgun's barrel. Mikazuki then kicked Lafter from the back while simultaneously ripping away her remaining railgun.
Despite losing her wing-mounted railguns, Lafter is grinning. Mikazuki really is an opponent unlike any other. He took shots head on if it meant he could rip his opponent apart. He did not flinch, he did not hesitate, he simply fights. Like an untamable wild beast you should never even dare cross.
His fighting style is the most brutal she had ever seen. Not even Akihiro is that brutal. The Devil of Tekkadan tears his enemy apart limb from limb, a true killing machine unlike any other. That is why he is the undisputed strongest in Tekkadan. So with a grin on her face clear for all to see through the cameras, Lafter charged at Mikazuki with her remaining sword.
If anyone were to see Mikazuki right now, they would see the edge of his lips slightly curve upward. Fighting Lafter had been fun. It's been a while since someone can challenge him in single combat. Even without weapon, Mikazuki respond to Lafter's challenge head on. Byakushiki and Ortelinde clashes once again while their respective pilot are grinning happily at the challenge each other poses.
Chifuyu and Maya are speechless at the scene they are seeing. These two are definitely not normal. Both Lafter and Ichika are fighting with the intent to kill. Their attacks are brutal and it looks more like two soldiers aiming to kill each other instead of teenagers fighting in an IS. And both of them are smiling.
While Lafter doesn't fight as brutally as Ichika, she is still merciless and took any chance she got to attack. There is no posturing or unnecessary dialogue, only two people trying their best to take each other down. Even when Ichika ripped off her wings Lafter still fight and was not stunned by his brutality like Cecillia was. She even seems to have expected it.
These two are not normal. They are more like real experienced soldiers than teenage pilots. The question is, are they?
She feared to know, she doesn't want it to be true, but it is a big possibility. After all, Ichika was sold when he was young and she never knew where he went. Child soldiers are common in several parts of the world. All things she saw about him point to that conclusion. But just thinking about it made Chifuyu tighten her fist.
Humans can really be rotten when they want to.
"…how much shield energy do they have left?"
Chifuyu asked, trying to steer her thought away from where it's heading moments ago. Maya enlarged the screen to show the older Orimura the two units' remaining shield energy. Both are in the red already. Not surprising considering all the damage they have dealt on each other.
"Ortelinde and Byakushiki's shield energy have both reached two hundred. It will be over soon enough."
Mcgillis is sitting on a bench in a nearby park after he finished his meeting with Kudelia. It was brief and he knew that the young woman doesn't want to spend too much time around him. At least they have concluded their business on a good note. Despite Kudelia's dislike of him, Mcgillis trusted her much more than all his business acquaintances put together.
After that, the two of them went their separate ways. He was then contacted by Akira not too long ago to inform him that Mikazuki's match had started and she managed to hack several cameras in the academy so he can watch it. For the past ten minutes, Mcgillis had been watching the match between Mikazuki and Lafter. He is impressed that the girl could last so long against Mikazuki. But if she is one of the Turbines from their past life like her name implied, then it's not much of a surprise.
As usual, the Devil of Tekkadan is brutal. But his current opponent is also skilled and could put up a great fight. It is much more interesting to watch than that match with the british representative candidate, though he also noticed several problems in Mikazuki's moves. He also remembered that Mikazuki had once commented about how much he dislike Byakushiki because it's a troublesome machine.
Well, he could get some ideas on how to improve his current design for Barbatos by watching this fight. First off is definitely equipping the new Barbatos with a ranged weapon, even if it is only as a sidearm. Then maybe some shields. Mikazuki does tend to charge forward without care. And of course improved responsiveness…
Mcgillis was thinking about what more can he add to Barbatos when Akira contacted him, automatically closing the video file. It's rare for Akira herself to contact him personally so this must be important.
"Akira, what is it?"
"An unknown IS unit is approaching the IS academy fast. We don't know where it come from and it's only luck that we managed to detect it."
"An unknown?"
Mcgillis frowned. That is worrying. An unknown is never a good thing and it is heading to the IS academy. Is it a terrorist attack? Phantom Task maybe? But then a thought came to his mind. This might also be a blessing in disguise.
"I'll intercept it in the Bael."
Took some time but I finally got round to writing this. I was stuck on what to do with Lafter's fighting style but in the end I decided to just screw it and go with whatever I want. Lafter's style with her old units cannot be incorporated much with the Ortelinde anyway since it's a close combat unit. Ohh and I changed the weapon a bit. Ortelinde's valkyrja double blade is now equipped with SMG mode which can only be used when the blades are separated. It's like Gundam Harute's rifle mode. I figured this gave more option to Ortelinde and Lafter on top of adding wings equipped with railguns based on Strike Noir's Noir Striker.
Lafter and Mikazuki are evenly matched, sorta. Of course, Mikazuki is the overall superior pilot considering what he could do and what he had done in the IBO series but this fight is relatively equal because Byakushiki is not suited for Mika and is hindering him from fighting like he did with Barbatos. This gave Lafter a chance to fight Mikazuki as an equal. This fight shows a bit how Byakushiki actually hinders Mika and thanks to this, Mcgillis got more idea for Barbatos Nero, Mikazuki's next unit.
Next chapter will be the conclusion of the match while Mcgillis would brutalize the unmanned IS with Bael. Yes, we can finally see Bael in action! Of course, Bael will receive some upgrades like extra armament because Mcgillis had learned from his previous fights that Bael is not tailored for him as it is for Agnika. Actually, what if I added Agnika Kaieru himself in this story as the next natural male IS pilot? Just a thought, not something I'm gonna do unless it is actually a good idea.
Now, I see some people asking about Kudelia's unit. She will get one, and it will be a devil. Originally I was going to use Gremory but that was before Gundam Gremory's official appearance and since its design would not suit Kudelia, I have changed her unit into something else. Just wait for it. Ohh and Atra will return soon enough and she will meet Kudelia.
Czar Joseph: It's not like Mika is good with swords. He's only on the level of knowing how to cut his enemies instead of himself. Basically, his skill only extend to the level of 'stick em with the pointy end' and the rest is supplemented by experience and instinct. He won't complain as much if his only weapon is a mace though. As for Kudelia, yeah well, Mcgillis did start the whole mess so no matter how nice Kudelia is, she would have a bit of a grudge, just not to the point of being vengeful. Mika won't get a mace until he gets Barbatos Nero though and it will be a sword mace like Barbatos Lupus.
JameyoftheMegaCosmos: I'm actually considering that and I already have several options.
epikphael: Mcgillis can do a lot with only 4 IS. Besides, there will be more than that anyway. So far, his faction will have Bael, Barbatos, Kimaris, Agares, Gremory, and maybe Gusion and Flauros. But I understand that he'll need an army and yes, I might use that bit MS idea. After all, not only do I have Haro I also have Akira and Mcgillis can get a lot out of that unmanned IS drone. Bad move by Tabane.
GBF93: Mcgillis' plan involving Kudelia is not militaristic in nature... for now. We'll see what it is after this story arc when Kudelia can speak with Mika.
AGundamFan: Thanks. Anyway, I didn't have the opportunity to include the general audience's opinion but there is Chifuyu at least. And she noticed things and is scared of the worst.