Ch 7: Brave New World
"What in Blanc's name...?"
As Rom looked down at the scene before her, she wondered if she perhaps should have been more specific when asking for something interesting to happen. Not to say that what she was currently looking at was not interesting. After all, very few people would have found a full-scale battle raging before them to be dull.
The sheer chaos and destruction being wrought upon the snowy plains was something that would not have looked out of place from the great Console Wars of old. To the west, an endless horde of monsters spilled out from the distant forest and barreled across the open battlefield. On the opposite end were a group of humans dug into a series of long-running trenches as they fired everything from rifles to artillery to anti-air guns to prevent the monsters from overwhelming them. And several miles behind these defenders was a large town that appeared to be in the process of evacuating its citizens in multiple airships.
Rom, of course, had been sensible enough to immediately cast an invisibility spell on herself the moment she had gotten within vision-range of this massive battle. With her presence safely concealed, she risked flying closer to examine the conflict in more detail. Hovering just above the reaches of the airborne monsters and the anti-air guns that the defenders were shooting them down with, Rom magically enhanced her vision and surveyed the battle in full.
One of the first things she immediately noticed were the groups of villainous thugs that were charging towards the defenders alongside the monsters.
So the ASIC is the one responsible for this attack, Rom concluded with a frown. I suppose that shouldn't be all that surprising considering this time period but still...
As she observed the ASIC thugs charging across the no man's land though, she picked up an odd sense of desperation coming from them. Based on the few ASIC thugs she had encountered in her own past (really just Underling and Warechu), she would have expected the villains to display some form of perverse sadistic glee while attacking a town like this. In contrast, however, the thugs she now saw were fighting more like cornered animals as if their very lives depended upon taking control of the town.
What's so important about this town? I don't remember there being anything important all the way out-
Rom's musings about the ASIC's motives were cut short when she looked over at the defensive trenches. Or more specifically, the soldiers protecting said trenches.
The fuck?!
Mowing down the swarms of monster and ASIC thugs with their rifles (and Rom had to blink her eyes and recast her vision enhancement spell multiple times to make sure she was seeing this correctly) was also a group of ASIC thugs. Or at least, that's what they looked like. The men and women were all clad in stereotypical ripped leather outfits, spiked collars, and sporting various punk hairstyles that were identical to their invading counterparts. The only difference though was that the ones in the trenches were all wearing matching black headbands.
As if this was not confusing enough, the headband-wearing thugs were working side-by-side with a bunch of uniformed Lastation soldiers as well. And judging by their ease of presence around each other, it appeared that the two groups were quite used to working together. In fact, Rom actually saw one of the thugs gun down an approaching Pixelvader before sharing a fist-bump with the soldier next to him.
...okay, I knew that rice ball tasted funny, Rom thought numbly. I'm probably just hallucinating due to some really bad food poisoning and-
Her thoughts were interrupted when a cacophony of loud howls suddenly broke through the battlefield. Turning her head, Rom saw a trio of Fenrir boss monsters appear out of the forest. With bloodlust gleaming in their eyes, the enormous wolves charged towards the trenches with unbridled ferocity.
The defenders were quick to respond as all of their artillery were turned to focus on this new threat. As Rom watched, two of the Fenrirs were quickly blasted to pieces by the concentrated firestorm. However, the third one managed to run through the explosions relatively unscathed as it rapidly approached the nearest trench line. The defenders inside desperately fired every last bullet they had at the enormous beast but found themselves barely making a dent in the oncoming monster's HP. With a savage roar, the Fenrir leaped into the air as it pounced upon its helpless group of prey.
Just as Rom was about to step in and discretely blow the monster up, a large shape suddenly charged in from behind the trench-lines. As this newcomer intercepted the beast with a giant flaming sword, Rom felt her mouth drop open in surprise as she recognized the large robot figure.
What in the-?! Is that... CFW Brave?!
Despite the sheer absurdity of it all, there was no mistaking the identity of the large knightly robot. And as bizarre as it all was, he was clearly aiding the defenders in protecting the town from the forces of the ASIC.
"Alright, what the flying fuck is going on here?!" Luckily, the din of the battlefield managed to hide Rom's outburst as she continued on in an incredulous rant. "Why is there a battle taking place here? Why are there ASIC thugs fighting on both sides? And why the fucking hell is Brave protecting a town from the ASIC?!"
Sadly, no answers were forthcoming as the battle simply continued to rage down below. By the time Rom finally managed to calm herself and look back down, Brave had already dispatched the Fenrir as all that remained of the beast was a rapidly fading cloud of black data fragments. Seeing one of the uniformed soldiers climb out of the trench to approach the robot, Rom quickly cast a specialized eavesdropping spell that allowed her to focus in on the two while muting out the deafening sounds of battle that continued around them.
"General Brave!" the Lastation soldier saluted. Rom, of course, felt another confused migraine pop up at this but forcefully suppressed it as she instead focused in on the conversation. "Thank you for the assistance sir! I'm assuming from your presence here that the evacuations are complete?"
Brave casually cut down a group of approaching monsters before giving a curt nod.
"The last of the airships have just left. All we need to do now is eliminate these invaders."
Saying this, Brave turned his eyes towards the distant forest where the monsters were spawning from.
"Has the enemy shown any signs of slowing down?" he asked.
The soldier shook his head to this with a troubled look. "No, sir. Those damn extremists must be using some sort of upgraded monster-spawning discs. It doesn't seem like they'll be running out of power anytime soon."
Rom did not get a chance to process any of this before Brave spoke up again.
"I see. Then I shall endeavor to remove the problem at its source."
The soldier looked shocked at this proclamation as he quickly shook his head. "General, I must ask you to reconsider! Even with your power, it's far too dangerous for you to charge in alone! At least allow some of us to..."
His words trailed off when Brave turned to face him with a resolute air.
"You and your men have already performed your duties admirably. It would shame me to ask you to do any more without stepping foot on the battlefield myself."
The soldier seemed to sense his superior's resolve in those words as the rest of his protests died out. After a moment the soldier slowly gave a nod as he gazed at Brave with clear respect in his eyes.
"Then we shall continue to hold the line until your task is complete, General." Snapping to attention, the soldier gave a sharp salute. "For the glory of the Empire!"
"For the glory of the Empire," Brave repeated with a firm nod.
As the soldier retreated back to the trenches to relay his orders, Brave turned back to the battlefield with his sword held high. After taking a moment to apparently steel himself, he valiantly charged forward against the hordes of monsters standing between him and the distant treeline.
And far off in the sky, still hidden from view thanks to her invisibility spell, the extremely confused future CPU of Lowee followed suit in the faint hopes of gaining some answers.
"Stand aside knaves!"
Despite the unending swarm of enemies that approached him, Brave had little trouble slicing through them all thanks to his recently upgraded body. The enhanced servos and motors he now had provided him with enough power and speed to make the vicious army of monsters feel more like a defenseless field of wheat before his devastating strikes.
Hm. I suppose I should thank Steamax for persuading me to take on these new parts.
Brave had initially been rather leery at the prospect of letting the engineers tinker around with his body but his fellow robot had eventually won him over with the reasoning that an upgraded body was going to be of more use on their missions than his stubbornness. And based on the battle right now, Brave had to admit that Steamax had actually been on point for once.
Perhaps I shall deign to look the other way the next time I find him peeking into the ladies' bath again. Of course, K-Sha will probably catch him regardless but it's the thought that-
"YOU!"
Brave was rudely brought out of his thoughts as one of the extremist thugs appeared before him with a look of pure hatred on his face. With an enraged yell, the thug brought up his rifle and opened fire against him.
Of course, none of the bullets managed to even dent his armored frame as Brave wordlessly charged forward. The thug did not even get a chance to react before he was instantly cleaved in two. Luckily, there was very minimal blood (due to meta rating reasons) as the bisected thug simply dispersed into a cloud of data fragments like a regular monster.
As the last visible remnants of the thug disappeared, Brave could not help but pause as he felt a slight tinge of regret. He knew that these extremists were no more than lawless terrorists but it still grieved him to cut down his former subordinates. Knowing his inner turmoil over this, many of his new comrades had offered to aid him on this mission but he had obstinately refused them all. Even if these ASIC extremists were no longer associated with him, he still felt that it was his responsibility to personally put an end to their destructive ways.
And put an end to them I shall, Brave affirmed with a grim nod.
Tightening his grip on his sword, he charged forward with a renewed sense of conviction. Both monsters and extremists alike were cut down with brutal efficiency as Brave showed absolutely no mercy to his enemies. The snowy battlefield soon became obscured by the continuous cloud of dispersing data fragments as nothing seemed to be able to slow down his relentless advance.
As Brave neared the treeline, however, there was a sudden change in the enemies' movement. The hordes of monsters still continued their mindless charge against him but the remaining extremists instead retreated into the northern section of the forest. A few of them stayed at the edges of the treeline however as if taunting him to chase after them.
Seeing this, Brave briefly paused to consider his options. It was painfully obvious from their behavior that the extremists were trying to lure him away from the monster-spawning discs and into some sort of trap. While he was confident he could deal with anything the extremists threw at him, chasing after them would mean leaving the hordes of monsters unchecked. His men were most likely exhausted and running low on ammo at this point making him unsure if they could hold out long enough for him to dispatch all of the extremists and then double back to take out the discs. On the other hand, if he went after the discs first, the extremists were certain to use that opportunity to slip away. Considering the time and effort in had taken to force these criminals out into the open like this, simply letting them escape was out of the question.
After intensely debating this for several long seconds (all the while continuing to dispatch wave after wave of attacking monsters), Brave let out a large sigh. As much as it hurt his pride – and wallet - to do so, it seemed he had no choice but to ask for help.
With a quick mental command, he activated his built-in communicator. Less than a second later, his call was picked up by a smug female voice.
"Isn't it a bit soon for you to be reporting your success?"
Brave simply answered with an irritated grunt. To his dismay, this only seemed to further amuse his contact as she let out a loud laugh.
"Ha! I told you you'd need some back-up for this one. Looks like I won our bet after all."
"Can we please just get to the matter at hand?" Brave growled, trying to mask his embarrassment with a large dose of annoyance.
"Sure, sure. But man, everyone's gonna be super thrilled to learn that you're going to be treating us to BBQ later tonight. Oh, and just FYI, God Eater's probably gonna be real hungry seeing as how she missed lunch today."
Brave inwardly cringed as he could practically feel his entire personal savings evaporate into nothingness.
"Ugh. I shall make sure to honor our deal later but right now there's a situation that needs to be dealt with."
An amused snort was heard across the line but it seemed he was finally being taken seriously.
"Heh. Alright, what do you need big guy?"
Within the depths of the forest, the leader of the ASIC extremist faction waited impatiently for his target to appear. He and his remaining forces were currently hidden behind the nearby trees as they stared intently at the clearing that they had set their trap in. According to their scouts, their target had taken the bait and was well on his way towards the designated area.
As time wore on and the tension around the clearing grew, the leader could not help but brush his hand against his giant mohawk nervously. Even if their trap worked, they would still be left in a very bad spot. Their raid against the border town had been utterly foiled due to the unexpected presence of the Empire's forces meaning that his group was now dangerously low on supplies. Even if they managed to get away, it was doubtful they could survive another week with what they had left. Their only option now was to hope that their current plan would cause enough chaos in the Empire to allow them to sneak into another nearby border town and steal whatever supplies they could find.
The leader's thoughts were interrupted when the sound of approaching footsteps was suddenly heard. He and his men immediately tensed as they sunk further into the shadows with their guns at the ready. Soon enough, the unmistakable visage of their most hated enemy slowly came into view.
CFW Brave, or rather just Brave as he was now known, stepped into the clearing with an oddly calm air about him. He still held his sword in his right hand but other than that he seemed completely at ease despite being in hostile territory. In fact, he seemed entirely oblivious to the surrounding danger as he foolishly stepped right into the middle of the clearing with no hesitation.
As soon as he did so, a wide circle of energy emitters suddenly popped out of the ground before instantly generating a large glowing dome around Brave. The robot knight did not get a chance to react at all before he was completely sealed inside the impenetrable energy barrier.
Seeing this, the extremist leader could not help but give a crooked grin as he slowly stepped out from the shadows to make himself known.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't our traitorous former commander." As he said this, his men cautiously came out of hiding as well though they made sure to keep their weapons fixed on Brave. Feeling confident in his victory, the extremist leader walked closer to his captive with a gloating smile. "I have to say, it's rather fitting for a dog like you to be trapped in a cage."
Despite his predicament, Brave seemed strangely nonchalant as he did not even attempt to break out of his confinement and instead remained utterly motionless.
"What is it you seek to accomplish here?" he questioned instead. "If you're planning to use me as a bargaining chip, then you shall be sorely disappointed. The Empire does not negotiate with terrorists."
The extremist leader's smile widened as he waggled a patronizing finger at Brave.
"Oh, no no no. You've got it all wrong. We're not planning to use you as a hostage. We're going to use you as an example." Saying this, he pulled out a small device that looked like a remote bomb detonator. "You're currently standing on top of enough explosives to wipe out half a city," he explained. "All I have to do is press this trigger and you'll be nothing more than a pile of molten scrap metal. I'm sure that'll send a clear message to your beloved CPU bitch about-."
The leader barely had time to register a bright flash of red before Brave's sword suddenly swung down at his neck. Luckily for him, the energy barrier managed to repel the strike but the extremist leader still recoiled backwards with a frightened yelp.
"Watch your tongue cur," Brave warned, "or you shall find my next strike to not be so forgiving."
The extremist leader tried his best to hide his fear with a laugh as he turned to face his men.
"Ha... L... Looks like the CPU has really trained her dog well."
The thugs all gave a laugh at this though there was an unmistakable air of nervousness still lingering about them. Hoping to regain control of the situation, the leader cleared his throat and walked back up to Brave.
"You can act tough all you want but it's not going to change the fact that you're going to die here." A sadistic smile appeared on his face as he slowly regained his cocky composure. "Don't worry though. All those other traitors who sided with the Empire will be joining you as well. Here, I even had a camera set up so you could watch them all be torn apart by our monsters."
With villainous glee, he activated a large holographic screen that showed the battle taking place outside. Even from the distant view provided by the camera, it was clear that Brave's forces were on the brink of collapse. All of the artillery were silent as they had most likely run out of shells as the defenders desperately tried to hold back the tidal wave of monsters with only their sidearms and bayonets. To make matters worse, a large group of gigantic boss monsters appeared out of the forest right then and began to make their way across the snowy plain.
"So much for the great Lastation Empire," the extremist leader jeered, eliciting a laugh from his men.
Brave, meanwhile, opted to remain silent as he simply continued to stare at the screen. Taking this lack of response as a sign of defeat, the leader gave a malicious grin.
"Their blood is on your hands, you know," he taunted. "If you hadn't lured them away with your traitorous words, none of them would've had to die here."
The leader did not wait for a reply as he triumphantly raised the detonator in his hand and hovered his thumb over the bright red trigger.
"Any last words before I send you to the scrap heap?" he asked mockingly.
To his surprise, Brave actually responded.
"Just two." A loud beep suddenly sounded out from Brave's head as his tone took on an amused edge. "Scan complete."
All of the extremists gathered gave a baffled look as their leader voiced their confusion.
"Scan? What scan?"
The question had hardly left his mouth before an earth-shaking sound akin to thunder suddenly echoed across the sky. Darkness immediately followed as if the sun had been blotted out. Unable to clearly discern the cause of this due to the surrounding trees, all of the extremists instead looked towards the screen showcasing the area outside the forest.
At first glance, it appeared as if someone had suddenly decided to replace the sky with an enormous metal ceiling dotted with countless house-sized turrets. It was only upon noticing the distant edges of this obstruction on the screen that the horrified extremists were able to realize that what they were actually staring at was the underside of an enormous aerial battleship. Of course, simply calling it enormous was a bit of an understatement as the triangular-shaped vessel was easily five times as long as the base of the Planeptune tower and was currently casting the entire region in its shadow. Even the monsters shown on the screen seemed to be taken aback as they all stopped to stare at the metallic behemoth that now loomed over them.
As everyone continued to stare open-mouthed at the colossal battleship, no one noticed the disembodied voice that suddenly whispered out from a nearby cluster of trees.
"Holy fuck."
"Successful warp-in to target location. Inputting coordinates sent by General Brave's scan now... Confirmed. All cannons locked onto the monster discs and remaining hostiles. We await your command Admiral."
At the forefront of the ship's bridge, Affimojas swept aside his cape as he gestured forward dramatically.
"Show these insurgents the full might of the Imperius! Commence bombardment!"
Armageddon. That was the only way Rom could describe the utter destruction taking place around her. A rain of fire on par with a fully-charged Meteor Storm spell descended upon the forest with explosive fury. She, of course, was perfectly safe thanks to the magical barrier that she had set up around herself but the ASIC extremists around her were not quite so lucky. Most of the villains did not even get a chance to scream before they were instantly vaporized by the firestorm raining down from above. The few that tried to dive out of the way were swallowed up by the explosions regardless as the entire forest seemed to transform into a gigantic fireball.
There was, however, one small area that was spared from this mass devastation. The small circle of land that Brave and the extremist leader were around went completely untouched as all of the cannon fire fell perfectly around them. Of course, this impressive display of pinpoint targeting went mostly ignored as Rom was more focused on Brave himself.
The robot knight had leaped into action the moment the ship (which Rom noted looked like a much larger version of the one Affimojas had in her own time) had begun firing. Drawing his flaming sword back, Brave stored up his energy for a brief moment before unleashing a devastating strike. The barrier he was trapped in instantly shattered like glass as he confidently stepped out into the light of the surrounding explosions.
The extremist leader, meanwhile, had fallen flat on his ass – either from the force of the nearby explosions or just plain shock – and was in the process of picking himself up when he suddenly found Brave's sword (thankfully with its flames turned off) pointed directly at his throat.
"Sit," Brave commanded. Seeing the pompous thug obediently fall back to the ground with a terrified squeak, the normally stoic knight gave an amused snort. "Good boy. Now stay still until animal control arrives."
The bombardment came to an end soon after that as an eerie silence fell across the devastated landscape. By that point, very little of the forest remained as only a few charred stumps were left standing. The once-vibrant area had instead become a scorched and cratered wasteland as the massive ship responsible for it continued to loom ominously over them all.
Yeah... I think I've had my fill of crazy for the day.
Finally getting over her shock, Rom decided that she had long outstayed her welcome and prepared to activate her HDD. Before she could do so, however, her attention was hijacked by yet another mind-boggling sight.
Okay, I know I've already asked this a million times today but...what the fuck is going on here?!
Flying down from the ship were what appeared to be three human soldiers equipped with a modified set of processor units. Each of them wore an identical pair of leg processors that resembled a black mechanized boot which seemed to have some sort of hover or propulsion system as evident by the glow underneath their soles. The two soldiers at the sides were also equipped with back processors that were shaped like a pair of elongated, black diamond wings. The soldier in the middle had a slightly more upgraded version as it had an additional pair of semi-transparent, crystalline wings below the first set. Regardless, even with just two processor units each, it seemed these humans were able to fly quite freely as they descended towards the ground in a controlled and stable manner.
As they neared, Rom was able to get a slightly better look at the three newcomers. The one on the left was more than likely a reformed ASIC thug as he sported a large nose and ear piercing despite having a military regulation haircut and uniform. The girl in the middle had short black hair and was most likely some high-ranking officer based on her upgraded processor unit as well as her stylish military jacket. The person on the right, however, was the one that drew in most of Rom's attention.
Despite looking several years younger than when Rom had first met her in her own timeline, the girl had to be none other than God Eater. The fact that the young Maker was wearing the exact same style of clothes as in the future made it fairly easy to discern her identity even without having to get a close look at her face. In fact, the only real difference that Rom could spot about the younger God Eater (asides from her processor units) was that she did not have the large, red bracelet that she normally wore over her right wrist.
Rom was still busy filing away God Eater's presence into the overcrowded section of her mind recently labeled as 'What the shit-fuckery is going on?!' when the three soldiers landed down and approached Brave.
"You alright boss?" the reformed thug immediately asked in a concerned voice.
Brave kept his eyes fixed on his prisoner but answered with a nod. "I'm fine, 643. But some of our comrades in the trenches might require medical attention. The battle has not been easy for them."
"Don't worry Mr. Brave," God Eater chirped up. "We've already got shuttles coming down from the Imperius to pick them up." Her eyes suddenly lit up as her voice took on an excited tone. "By the way Mr. Brave, is it true you're going to be buying us BBQ later tonight?!"
Brave let out something that sounded suspiciously like a groan as he opted not to answer.
The girl in the middle let out an amused laugh to this and looked to say something when her attention was suddenly diverted. To Rom's surprise, the girl shifted her gaze directly towards her despite her invisibility spell still being on.
Too late Rom realized what had given her away. Due to her setting up a barrier to ward off the explosions earlier, the ground she was standing on was noticeably unmarked compared to the blackened wasteland that surrounded her. Brave had most likely not noticed due to being preoccupied with the ASIC extremist leader but it seemed this girl had not failed to miss this small yet significant detail.
Rom barely had time to create another barrier before the girl whipped out a pistol and fired at her. While the bullet was safely deflected, this had the unfortunate side-effect of fully alerting everyone to her presence as they all turned to face her location.
"Come on out. I've already locked onto your energy signature so there's no use trying to run."
Rom froze at this. Not because of what was said but because she recognized the voice. Sure it had been decades since she had heard it being as high-pitched as it was now but there was absolutely no mistaking it.
Without really thinking about it, Rom allowed her invisibility spell to drop. Everyone gathered showed varying degrees of shock as they slowly recognized her but their surprise was nothing compared to her own. With open-mouthed bewilderment, Rom pointed towards the black-haired girl that she was finally able to recognize.
"UNI?!"