The Ether Conflict
Chapter 33: Preparing the Stage
First of July, 2 Y.A
Approximately two hours after leaving St. Gloriana, nearing Kuromorimine
"We'll be arriving at the carrier shortly," the co-pilot announces as she points at the horizon.
Miho, who is now standing between the pilots' seats, squints her eyes and indeed, a few kilometers away from the shoreline they quickly approach, she spots a massive carrier, firmly anchored in place as indicated by the two, massive chains that begin from two holes in its bow and dive below the water's surface. In the shore, several buildings made of wood stand, while there are one or two made of concrete. Like in St. Gloriana, there is a wall surrounding the structures that probably function as an outpost, but there is no gate. Instead, there is an opening at the wooden wall and two box-like, metal structures at the sides of it; Miho thinks they look like tanks, but she can't be sure because of the distance.
"I thought the carrier had been beached," Miho asks confused.
"It technically is," the co-pilot answers through the intercoms, then turns to look at Miho. "The plan was to run it on the beach, but we ran aground a few kilometers away because the sea here is very shallow. It is a miracle the ship didn't keel at its side."
"Didn't it get damaged?" Miho asks and the co-pilot shakes her head.
"Thankfully nothing serious. Mostly paint-scratching and a few crooked steel plates, but no flooding."
"I see," Miho answers back, then asks another question. "How did you manage to survive these past two years?"
"You mean if we had enough supplies, or in general?" asks the co-pilot.
"Both."
"Well, thanks to the hydroponic farms and the desalination plant the carrier has, we have enough food and water to at least not die from starvation and dehydration. The only disadvantage to this is that most of the power the solar panels and wind turbines generate go there; at night the lights go out to converse energy in the batteries."
"What about other essentials, like medicine?" Miho asks and the co-pilot sighs lightly.
"For simple things, like gauze, or toilet paper we trade with the few settlements that have popped near the carrier. For things like antiseptic or more complex products, we procure them from scavenging, though in these two years, we have scavenged almost every abandoned city that is near us."
"It must be hard."
"It's nowhere near as hard as it was the first few months," the pilot says, and both Miho and the co-pilot turn to look at her.
"Why do you say that?" Miho asks with a curious tone.
"Has your sister talked to you about the port incident?" the pilot asks and Miho nods her head.
"Good, that makes things easier to explain. After one of the Panthers and its crew were left behind during the refueling of the carrier, it seems the Senshadou club didn't like it that much and promptly took action by "throwing" the principal of the carrier in one of the lifeboats and having Maho assume total control of it." Before she can continue, the co-pilot speaks.
"Good riddance to him, I say," she spats disgusted, a sour expression forming on her face.
"Amanda, while I do understand how you feel, his decision was right. If the carrier had waited any longer, there could have been even more casualties. Even the Maus can't stop an RPG warhead from the front."
"But if the carrier had waited a few more minutes, Aoi, they could have saved them!" the girl named Amanda grumbles, looking away with a sad expression.
"Amanda? Are you a foreigner?" Miho asks in surprise, but Amanda shakes her head.
"No. My parents just loved foreign names."
"At any rate, this little stunt your sister pulled didn't sit well with some of the girls. Tensions rose so much that people got divided into two groups; those that supported Maho and those that opposed her. Thankfully, because of your sister's actions and good will, tensions became almost non-existent and everything was peaceful for some time." Aoi ends her sentence with a heavy sigh that carries an ominous tone.
"Why are you sighing, what happened?" Miho asks with concern.
"It was around two months after the port incident that the left-behind Panther appeared in the gate of the outpost."
"They survived?" Miho gasps, but both pilots shake their heads slowly.
"Not all of them. The commander and the gunner were dead, both the loader and radio operator were barely alive, and the driver had a really nasty gash on her right shoulder," Amanda says slowly. "In the end, only the driver and the loader survived."
While the pilots visibly express their sadness, Miho can't do anything but feel a tiny bit of pity. Nothing more, nothing less. With how many people she has seen fall, both by her hands and her orders, it doesn't shock her anymore.
It seems my in Blackout has changed me a lot, she sighs mentally, waiting for Aoi to continue.
"Because of that, things got really turbulent again, people getting divided once more," Aoi sighs once again, glancing at the helicopter's instruments to see if everything is working as intended. "From the survivors, we learned that some bandits had set up camp about fifty kilometers to the West, so some people wanted to attack them, especially some of the girls from the Senshadou club, while others were against this idea."
"Your sister decided against an attack, saying that it would leave the carrier vulnerable, not speaking about the scarce supplies we had at that time," Amanda continues as Aoi gets in touch with the carrier to inform them of their arrival. "Pravda dealt at some point with them, but this did little to calm down things."
"And with the last battle and the losses Kuromorimine got, the tensions must be really high between everyone," Miho says with a worried expression, which becomes even more worried when Amanda nods.
"Yep. You could say that we are in the brink of a coup d'etat or a "civil war", Aoi says after having finished talking to the carrier, making air quotes with her right hand on the phrase "civil war". "Some of the girls really want your sister to step down from her position, saying that she can't make the right decisions."
"Let's be honest, even if these dimwits took her place, they'd probably make things worse," Amanda scowls, looking at the ever-closing carrier. "They really don't understand that some times sacrifices must be made. Unfortunately, you can't gain without giving first."
"In the first place, everyone that participated in the battle knew the risks; the whole force was completely made by volunteers," Aoi scoffs as the helicopter flies over the outpost. "Sure, it is tragic that so many lives were lost, but they signed up for it."
"People will just use anything for their own purposes, however much they have to twist it," Amanda says, waving her hand dismissively. "But that's human nature in a nutshell. Anyway, for how long will you be staying here?"
"Eh? Ah, I'll be staying for a few days," Miho says after a moment of silence, having been caught off guard by the sudden theme change.
"If only we could get some vacation time too," Aoi sighs, causing Amanda to slightly glare at her.
"But we barely fly anymore. Most of the time we just stay in our rooms or walk around in the carrier," she says dryly at her co-pilot, who conveniently ignores her.
"Can't talk now, I'm landing the helicopter."
As the helicopter gently shakes to indicate it has touched down on the landing pad, Miho turns around to go and grab her duffel bag, but before she can take a single step, Amanda speaks up.
"It's really good to have you back," she smiles, and Miho returns it with a smile of her own.
"Thanks!"
As the two pilots start flipping switches to power down the helicopter, Miho grabs her duffel bag and goes to the sliding door. Opening it and jumping down, she finds two girls waiting a few meters away from her.
One of them has short, dark brown hair and dark brown eyes, while the other girl has long, light blonde hair and light blue eyes. Both of them wear Kuromorimine's student uniform and have a hair clip at the left side of their head; the one in the dark brown haired girl's head has the shape of a Tiger I tank, while the one on the blonde girl has a Königstiger shape.
"Welcome back, Miho," the dark haired girl says with a soft smile.
"It's nice seeing you again, Sister," Miho says with a beaming smile, then turns to face the blonde girl. "It's nice seeing you too, Erika."
"Likewise," Erika responds with a stern face.
It seems some things never change, Miho giggles in her mind after seeing Erika's serious attitude.
"How was your flight?" Maho asks as Miho puts her duffel bag down next to her.
"It was fine. Thanks for flying Annabelle and Odysseus to St. Gloriana."
"Don't mention it. Say, did you eat anything during the flight? I know it's a little late, but would you like to have lunch together? I haven't eaten anything since breakfast and I'm getting a little hungry," Maho asks and Miho immediately nods with a bright smile.
"Yes!" Miho says with excitement, so Maho turns to Erika.
"Erika, can I leave things to you for a few hours?" she asks and Erika nods.
But I, too, want to eat with you! she yells inside her mind, but another answer leaves her mouth. "Of course, commander!" she says with a stern and determined voice.
"Thanks, Erika. Inform me if anything happens that needs my attention," she says and turns to Miho.
"Uhm... Where should I leave my bag?" Miho asks hesitantly.
"Erika will take it at your dorm room," Maho answers and eyes Erika, who in response nods.
Now I'm a luggage carrier too!? Erika fumes mentally, but as instructed, she takes Miho's bag and starts walking towards the dorms, while the two sisters towards the school's mess hall.
Half an hour later, School's Mess Hall
It had been around twenty minutes since Miho and Maho had reached the school's mess hall, by which time it was almost empty; you could count the remaining girls that were eating with the fingers of both of your hands. But upon their arrival at the school, like during their walk to it, Miho drew a lot of curious gazes because of her uniform. Though, because of Maho's presence next to her, everyone was hesitant to approach them and ask her about it.
Right now, both sisters sit in a table opposite of each other, slowly eating their food and enjoying their time together.
"Mmm!" Miho hums dreamily as she eats yet another bite from her food, placing her left hand on her left cheek.
"You seem to be enjoying the food," Maho comments with a smile and Miho nods immediately.
"Yes! It is so much better than that in Blackout's base," she immediately responds and takes one final bite from her food, before putting her chopsticks next to her plate. "We can cook ourselves, but we almost never have the time to do it, especially these last few weeks."
"You were busy with work?" Maho asks curiously and Miho nods once.
"Somewhat. Blackout created a new branch recently, and the Director put me, along with Odysseus and another girl, in charge of it."
A new branch? She must mean the Ether Force. Seems like Darjeeling's information was very accurate, Maho thinks, though she waits for Miho to continue speaking before asking her about it.
"So there was a lot of paperwork that needed to be done and we still had to take missions to at least earn enough money to cover our expenses," Miho sighs a little. "Thankfully my friends helped with it."
"If you don't mind me asking, what's this new branch called?" Maho asks hesitantly.
"It's called Ether Force. In short, it is a unit comprised of people who can use Ether, or are using Ether-related equipment, who are tasked with dealing with Ether-related issues," Miho immediately answers, not hesitating even a moment in answering her sister's question.
"What about the rest of the Ooarai teams? What happened to them?"
"We hired them in the Ether Force," Miho says with a tiny amount of sadness mixed in her voice. "It wasn't the best result, but it was our only option for the girls to stay with us."
"Couldnt you have them stay in one of the schools? I'm sure no one would have a problem in accommodating them," Maho says, but Miho shakes her head.
"Most of the girls wanted to stay with us, so we didn't have that many options," Miho giggles awkwardly, then widens her eyes in surprise as she remembers something.
"Oh, I just remembered! In a few days I'm leaving for America," she says and Maho looks at her surprised.
"A mission?" she asks and Miho nods.
"I can't say much, but we were "hired" by Blackout to find and eliminate some spies that have infiltrated their american branch," Miho says quietly and Maho nods.
"You'll be gone for a long time?" Maho asks and Miho makes a difficult face.
"The Director said we'll be gone for at least two months, maybe even more," she answers back, causing Maho to look at her with a worrisome expression.
"Please be safe, Miho," she says and Miho smiles at her.
"I'll be fine, Sister," Miho reassures her, though her smile quickly fades away as she procures a small, blue cube and places it on top of the table. "But there is another reason why I'm going to America."
Maho takes the small cube and starts rotating it around, scanning its every side.
"It has to do with this cube?" Maho asks as she spots a small indent with a familiar shape, so she runs her fingers against it to she if she can remember it.
"Yes. I...used my power to make the key to open the cube; the indent where the key is supposed to be placed seemed to me very familiar." Miho retrieves a small object from her pocket and settles her closed fist over the table. Opening it, she reveals a small necklace shaped like a wing settling on her open palm. "Does this remind you of anything?"
Maho takes it with one hand and brings it closer to her, looking at it carefully.
"I remember Mother had gifted an exact same necklace to me when I was thirteen," Maho says as she puts the wing in the cube's indent, causing it to glow briefly with neon blue lines all over its body. "She was really upset when I told her I lost it."
Opening the top part of the cube, Maho finds nothing inside of it, causing her to slightly raise her brow in confusion. "It's empty?"
"No. It had this inside," Miho says and passes her sister a piece of paper. Maho takes it and reads what's written on it.
If you want to know the truth, seek a woman named Ghost in the city of Los Angeles. She will tell you everything.
"Where did you find this cube?" Maho asks with a stern expression.
"When the Director of Blackout found out I was involved with the Serum experiments, he sent a team of mercenaries to our house to retrieve any information they could find relating to them, and they found this cube hidden in Mother's office," Miho answers and sighs slightly. "I think Mother wanted for you to learn about something or to search for her in case she ever went missing, like now."
"And why should I?" Maho says a bit harshly, though she barely raises her voice. "After everything she has done to you, why should I follow her orders?"
"I believe...there is more to this story than what we truly know. Mother would never do anything that would hurt us; she must have had some kind of reason."
"Can you say this even when she tried to disown you?" Maho asks disgusted, and Miho, albeit reluctantly, nods.
"Yes."
Before Maho can retort, the doors to the mess hall open and a slightly panting Erika enters, quickly making her way towards the two sisters.
"Commander, a situation has developed," Erika quickly says and salutes, causing both Maho and Miho to look at her with worried looks.
"Is everything alright, Erika?" Maho asks immediately.
"We received an SOS signal a few minutes ago, around forty nautical miles to the southwest from our position," Erika says.
Maho turns to Miho with an apologetic expression. "I'm very sorry Miho, but we'll have to talk later."
"Its okay," Miho reassures her with a smile, so Maho stands up from her chair.
"Is the signal still transmitting?" she asks as she starts walking towards the exit with Erika on her side explaining the situation.
"Yes, but the transmission is in Korean. We are searching for a girl that can translate it as we speak."
"Have you tried contacting them?"
"Yes, but we have received no answer."
Leaving the mess hall, Miho is about to stand up and leave herself, when she hears a familiar voice calling her from behind her back.
"Miho!"
Miho immediately widens her eyes, turning instantly to face the person that has called her name.
"Koume!"
At the same time
Forty nautical miles away from Kuromorimine
Guided Missile Destroyer, Sejong the Great
"Captain, you should remain in the bed! You are in no condition to assume command!" the infirmary nurse shouts as the whole ship shakes violently, the sounds of explosions, water splashes and cannons/guns getting fired fill the air.
"And who will command the ship? The commander is in death's door and most officers in this vessel have no combat experience," the captain shouts back harshly and motions with his bandaged hand at the bed next to him, where the unconscious commander lies, his whole body and head wrapped in white bandages and a monitor showing his really slow heart rate.
"Still, you need to rest! We were barely able to treat the burns in your right arm and face!" the nurse shouts back, but he is having none of that.
"Stand down, Lieutenant! That's an order!"
Albeit reluctantly, the nurse stops talking, grumbling something incomprehensible under her nose. Standing up from the bed he had been lying for almost a day, he quickly grabs his spare uniform's shirt and jacket one of his men had brought upon his request, wears them and quickly makes his way out of the infirmary, which is bustling with injured crew. Making his way to the Operations room as fast as he can, another violent explosion shakes the ship, causing the captain to lose his balance and land on his bandaged arm on the floor of the narrow corridor, his wounds immediately flaring up with pain.
"Aww fuck!" he curses as he quickly stands up, grabbing his arm with a pained expression. Reaching the Operations room, he opens the sealed door and enters inside, closing and sealing it behind him.
"Captain on deck!" one of the nearby officers yells and everyone inside turns to face him and salute him, before quickly continuing with their assigned tasks.
"What's the situation?" he asks as he approaches a big table at the center of the room, which projects a map of the surrounding area. On the center of the map are two green dots, while a bit further from them are four red dots. Over each dot there is a square with various information, such as unit name, condition, coordinates and more.
"Sir!" a man who holds a PDA approaches the captain and salutes him, before starting his report.
"We have four enemy destroyers currently pursuing us, with one of them being the destroyer with the unknown laser weapon that attacked us yesterday. The other three have either being disabled or have disengaged for unknown reasons."
"What about our ship's and Busan's status?" the captain asks and the man slides with his finger a few times at the PDA's screen.
"Our ship is at 75% structural integrity, with the last few shots against us having destroyed the helipad and breached the mess hall, but thankfully there were a few non-fatal casualties. On the other hand, Busan is at 49% structural integrity, with multiple fires on its main deck and superstructure, and multiple penetrations at its stern; unless we do something about the pursuing enemies, they'll most likely not make it."
"How about the distress signal?"
The man makes an annoyed expression for a moment, swiping the PDA's screen a few times.
"Us and Busan have been transmitting for about twenty hours, but we've yet to make contact with anyone; we suspect the enemy might be jamming our communications."
"What the hell's going on? We should have had made contact with at least someone until now," the captain mutters under his breath as he looks at the holographic map with a thoughtful expression. "What is the military doing?"
"Captain, we've made contact with someone!" the communications officer yells from his station, so the captain immediately rushes to him. "They are speaking in Japanese."
"Please be the JSDF," he whispers as he snatches the man's headset and puts it on his head to speak.
"I repeat, this is Maho Nishizumi, overall commander of Kuromorimine Girls Academy and the school carrier Graf Zeppelin. We have received your distress signal. What's the situation?" he hears a voice saying, so he immediately starts speaking.
"This is Captain Nam Se-yoon, captain of the Korean Navy's Guided Missile Destroyer, Sejong the Great. We are transporting a girl from a school carrier named Chi-Ha Tan and are currently being pursued by Institute destroyers. You need to inform the JSDF that we need immediate assistance," he says loudly and a few silent seconds pass before the girl on the other side of the line speaks.
"We are sorry, but this cannot be done. Japan as a nation is no more, and so is the JSDF."
"What!?" the captain nearly yells and everyone turns to look at him. "What do you mean they are no more?"
"After the earthquakes, Jap...and th...while the JSD..."
"Dammit,the enemy is jamming us," he curses as he can only hear static noises coming from the headset, so he hands it back at the communications officer.
"Captain, we have enemy fast movers coming from West, Northwest, probably aircraft!" the radar operator announces and in the holographic map three red dots in a V formation appear, quickly approaching them and Busan.
"Ugh, they really want us dead, don't they?" he scowls. The sound of the anti-air weapons opening fire fills the air as they desperately try to shoot down the airplanes. As the three red dots pass over the two green dots, a weak explosion sound echoes inside the Operations room and Busan's green dot disappears.
"Captain, Busan has been critically hit and is flooding water from multiple points! The engine room has been destroyed and the superstructure has been completely obliterated!" one of the officers inside the room says and the captain merely sighs.
"Good men always die first, huh?" he mutters as he remembers the words of one of his superiors when he had just graduated from the Naval Academy. "Then I guess...either our time has run out or a miracle will save us," he whispers as he watches the three red dots turning around and finalizing their approach for a strafing run on his ship.
"Huh?" Miho utters as she looks in the horizon, a strange feeling washing over her whole body, causing her to shiver unconsciously.
"Are you okay?" asks Koume who is next to her and Miho nods.
"Yes, everything is fine," she responds back with a smile, and Koume smiles back.
"Come on, I can carry at least that much, Satsuki!"
"You'll strain yourself again! Just let me carry them, Ritaiko!"
Turning to look behind them, they spot two girls, one with short brown hair and light brown eyes, and another, shorter girl with black hair tied in a side ponytail and black eyes. The girl with the short brown hair is missing her left leg from below the knee, supporting herself with two crutches while holding a couple of plastic bags on her left hand.
"They are at it again," Koume sighs at the bickering of the two girls, now being the third time they had been fighting for the same thing.
She and Miho had decided to take a stroll through the carrier, talking about what had happened to each other these past two years when they met the two girls bickering, and since Miho wanted to ask how they were doing, they all stuck together in the end.
"Why don't you just split them?" Koume asks and takes half the bags Rotaiko is holding and hands them to Satsuki. Both girls stop arguing, but they don't seem content with the solution.
"You know, I could easily carry them," Ritaiko pouts and looks away.
"You'll strain yourself again," Satsuki grumbles, looking at Ritaiko with a scolding expression.
Hmm... I could ask Mannheim to make a robotic implant for her; I'm sure he wouldn't have any objections to it, Miho thinks as she looks at Ritaiko's missing leg, but suddenly, a feeling of fear and dread washes over her whole body, forcing her legs to start trembling.
Spinning around instantly, her eyes change color to red for a moment, scanning her environment fearfully.
"Where is it?" she whispers quietly, though Koume who has returned to her overhears her.
"Where is what?" Koume asks, though she gets no answer. "Miho?" she asks in concern when she sees the ends of Miho's hair turning gradually from brown to black. "Is everything alright?"
"Something's wrong," Miho finally answers and breaks into a sprint, completely surprising all the girls.
"Wait, Miho! Where are you going!?" Koume shouts and runs after her, leaving Ritaiko and Satsuki to look at them with perplexed expressions.
"What just happened?" asks Satsuki confused.
"I have no idea," Ritaiko answers, watching the two fleeing figures with a clueless face.
"Wait, Miho! What's gotten in you all of a sudden?" Koume shouts as she tries to catch up with her brown haired friend. Miho doesn't respond back and continues to run towards the side of the carrier.
"Please Miho, stop running!" she pleads as she starts panting, her stamina slowly reaching its limit.
Miho doesn't respond on her pleads, continuing running as fast as she can. Taking a right on a small road, she completely vanishes from Koume's vision, who in response grits her teeth and pushes herself to run faster in order to catch up with her. Rounding the corner into the small road, she is greeted with the sight of Miho vaulting over the deck's safety railings and falling into what's seems to be certain death.
"Miho!" Koume gasps in shock and terror, her eyes widening as much as they can. "NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!" Running at the safety railings from which Miho has vaulted over, she looks down from them, only for something fast to fly in front of her, causing her to yelp in surprise and fall down on her butt.
"Ouch," she groans as she painfully stands up, only to freeze in place. "Mi...M-Miho?" she stutters in shock as she finds Miho hovering a few centimeters above the safety railings, two big wings made of some kind of red crystal floating behind her back, her eyes having changed from their normal brown to red with the pupils being slit, while her hair are now black.
"W-What is this..." she asks slowly, but Miho offers the next as an answer.
"I'll explain later, but now I have to go," she says and flaps her wings once, shooting towards the sky. Reaching a sufficient altitude, she levels herself parallel to the ground and shoots forward with a speed of four hundred meters per second, breaking the sound barrier in the process.
Koume presses her hands tightly against her ears, as the sonic boom nearly deafens her, and looks at Miho's shrinking form, her face full of confusion, cluelessness and fear.
As Miho keeps flying a few meters above the surface of the sea, a lot of questions and possibilities start passing through her mind. First of all, the energy that washed over her felt awfully familiar, like Mannheim's, though it was different in a way. She can't exactly understand how different they are; she just has this nudging feeling that Mannheim's energy signature and this new one have some basic differences.
Second of all, while she can't sense the origin of the energy any more, whoever did this, they clearly wanted to get her attention.
Third of all, the person who released this wave, is extremely powerful. The moment the wave passed through her, she could feel the potency of Ether it had over all her body, making her feel like she was going to suffocate.
Whoever this man, or woman, is, they'd probably beat her to a pulp in mere seconds. But then, why is she flying towards this person? Is it out of simple curiosity or something more?
*Vzzzzzzttt*
Hearing a sound that reminds her of an electric motor, Miho snaps out of her thoughts and barely manages to perform a barrel roll to avoid numerous rounds fired upon her from her left which miss her and harmlessly fall in the sea, splashes of water marking where they fell.
Looking next to her, she spots a beat-up warship painted gray in the distance, its superstructure being scorched and melted at the place where the bridge once stood, while a few small fires have sprung on its deck. Scanning her vicinity, she spots four ships on an uneven V formation, painted white with green lines running all over their hulls.
"Those markings," she says to herself as she instantly recognizes the camouflage of the ships. "So the Institute has ships? But why are they chasing a lone warship?"
Changing her direction towards the lead ship in the V formation, more and more fire start raining all around her from the enemy's AA guns, but Miho has no problem evading them. Reaching five hundred meters away from the ship, she drops her speed considerably and crashes through the bridge's side windows, folding her wings behind her so that she'll be able to move freely in the confined space and lands in the middle of the room. Before anyone can react, Miho materializes two black spears and stabs them on the floor, causing everything inside the room to start vibrate violently. Almost instantly, everyone except the captain of the ship drops dead, red blood oozing through the slots and cracks of their helmets.
The captain, a man that wears a white uniform adorned with blue tron-like lines and a helmet that has two slits dimming blue light at the place where the eyes are, immediately draws his pistol and aims it at Miho, but before he can fire, a black wolf materializes behind him and bites his hand, dragging it away from its master.
Miho disengages [Resonance], just in case she loses control and it starts affecting the captain, and grabs the man from his neck with one hand, lowering him on her level and looking straight in the dimming slits.
"I'll ask you only once, so you better answer me. Why are you pursuing that warship?" she asks and points at the gray warship in the distance which is getting hammered by enemy shells.
Miho waits a few seconds for an answer, but the man refuses to speak. As she tries to think of a way to make him talk, an interesting idea pops in her head. Miho raises her left hand and ignites it in red, semi-transparent fire.
"Mannheim once said that Ether can warp reality, meaning that everything is possible," she says as the fire engulfs the whole gauntlet and starts shining brightly. "Let's see if I can read your memories."
Placing her hand on the man's helmet, she immediately starts seeing before her very eyes the man's memories, like they were her own in the first place. After a few seconds, she removes her hand that is now devoid of any flames and stumbles backward, grabbing her head with one hand as a very strong headache grips it. The captain falls to the floor unconscious, the shock of the memory reading being too much for him.
"Ugh... Kuro, deal with the rest of the crew in the ship; I'm sure they'll notice there is a lack of communications with the bridge and come to investigate," she says as she sits down on the ground, closing her eyes and taking a few deep breaths.
"Are you okay, Master?" Kuro asks as she materializes next to Miho, sitting on her hind legs.
"I'm fine, Kuro. It's just that the memory reading strained me a bit, that's all," she says back, so the wolf stands up and goes away to hunt the rest of the crew. Miho takes this chance to review what she learned from the captain and starts recalling the read memories.
"So, they were tasked with hunting down and sinking a Korean Navy warship that is transferring a VIP named Inui Ai, a member of the Chi-Ha Tan Academy. Seems Chi-Ha Tan and Jatkosota are docked in Busan, with Institute forces trying desperately to take over the town and secure the carriers,"she says and makes a pondering expression. Why would they want the carriers so much? They don't hold any strategic value, unless they can somehow weaponize them. Maybe they want the Senshadou teams? This wouldn't make any sense either. The girls might be very skilled, but they'd still need time to be retrained to another, more modern tank. Also, how come they know so many things? Probably spies or moles within the Korean Army.
Sighing in relief, a gentle smile forms on her face.
"It doesn't matter right now. At least we know where more of our friends are; I only hope they are alright."
Feeling much better now, Miho slowly stands up, but when she looks in front of her, she finds a muscular man wearing a white uniform made of metal with red, tron-like lines all over it. His helmet has six red, LED lights in a hexagonal pattern on its front, while his hands are covered in metallic gloves.
An Executioner!
Before she can react, the man punches her in her guts with so much force that she passes through the bridge's console and out of the front, leaving behind destroyed electronics and deformed metal. Falling down on the deck, she painfully rolls a few times and comes to an abrupt stop when she collides with the back of the ship's frontal turret. Rubbing her back and sitting up on the ground, she finds the Executioner in front of her in midair, falling down to punch her once more.
Miho immediately unfolds her crystal wings and uses them to block the punch, generating a small shockwave on impact. The Executioner punches again, and small chips of red crystal fly everywhere, with Miho groaning in response. Using sheer force, she pushes the man back with her wings and materializes several red spears all around him, then clenches her fist and causes the spears to fly towards the man and impale him from every imaginable angle, giving him a gruesome death.
"Master, are you all right!?" Kuro asks as she materializes next to Miho, looking at her with a tilted head.
"Did you deal with the rest of the crew?" Miho asks as she stands up, wincing a little bit as she rubs her bruised belly a little, though her injuries quickly heal thanks to her power.
"I sensed you were in danger, so I stopped my hunt to come and assist you," the black wolf responds.
Miho simply raises her hand and several black spears form in the air above her, before clenching her fist and letting the spears get lodged in the ship's deck.
"I see. At any rate, let's get out of here; we still have to destroy the rest of the ships and protect the gray warship," Miho says and flaps her wings once.
"Understood, Master," Kuro responds and bows her head once, before disappearing in a cloud of black smoke.
Miho flies upward as the black spears start exploding one by one, completely destroying the bow of the ship and condemning it to slowly sink to the abyss.
Reaching an altitude of around a hundred meters, she takes a moment to survey the battlefield, watching the rest of the enemy ships continuing their pursuit, firing round after round at the gray warship in the distance, which can only return fire with anti-ship missiles, which get destroyed by the lazer defence system once they reach a hundred meters away from the Institute destroyers. The AA guns start firing on her, so she puts a barrier in front of her, the rounds hitting it and bouncing harmlessly off it.
Several massive spears made of red Ether start forming above her, forming a crude cylinder with a diameter of around ten meters. As they start spinning, an energy orb forms at the center of the cylinder. Miho places her hands as if she is holding an imaginary bow, and slowly pulls the imaginary string back, causing the spears to start rotating faster and faster.
"Hmm?"
Miho develops a perplexed expression as she starts feeling Ether concentrating on one of the ships, and sure enough, she finds a rather futuristic weapon turret aiming itself on her, its barrel glowing an eerily familiar green color. Pulling the imaginary string as much as she can, the spears start rotating so fast that their forms become hazy and the cylinder constricts so that it only has a diameter of one meter, forcing the orb to take the shape of a really crude spear made of what seems to be lightning.
Having charged completely, the futuristic turret fires a beam of Ether energy at Miho, who still keeps her imaginary bow trained in the middle of the enemy's formation. Clashing with her barrier, the beam slowly but surely starts cracking it, though it has nowhere near enough power to pierce through it.
"[Railgun: Chain Lightning]," Miho says and releases the imaginary string, letting the lightning spear get launched out of the cylinder and into the middle of the enemy formation in under a second, generating a sonic boom from breaking the sound barrier.
The moment the spear touches the water, it disintegrates and multiple arcs of red electricity jump out of the contact point and into the enemy destroyers, coursing through their hulls and electrocuting the crew, while igniting anything flammable or explosive.
As the Institute's destroyers lay in pieces and burn brightly in the evening sun, their deformed hulls slowly sinking under the surface of the sea, Miho sighs, putting down her barrier.
"So the Institute also has ships," she mutters to herself a second time, watching the sinking ships for a few seconds. "I need to confirm the warship is indeed transferring Ai, so-"
Before she can finish her answer, she hears something akin to a rocket motor from behind her, so she turns around only to find a missile hitting her in her chest at great speeds, then fire and smoke engulfing her completely. As she exits the fireball and starts falling to the ground, she spots three jet planes in the distance coming towards her, their fuselages painted white with blue tron-like lines on them.
Using her power to regenerate her broken wings that have been shattered, she spins once around herself so that she hovers in the air standing, then materializes two energy spears behind her and an energy dagger on her right hand. Twirling it once, she flaps her wings and starts flying towards the jets at incredible speeds, reaching them instantly and stopping in front of them. Swiping her dagger horizontally, a thin layer of Ether gets launched in front of her.
The jets try to dodge the thin layer, but two of them get hit by it, with one getting cut in half horizontally, while the other tries to turn away and gets its left wing cut. As both jets fall to their deaths, Miho tracks the third one that has successfully evaded her attack and the two spears that now hover besides her start solidifying, turning black with a red mark that is an arrow hitting an archery target.
"Sorry, Odysseus, but I'll have to borrow one of your tricks. [Gunner's Sight: Target Mark]," she says and a red mark appears on the last jet plane, which consists of a circle made of Kanji letters that rotates clockwise, and a hexagon that contains a smaller circle on its center and rotates counterclockwise. Launching her black spears, they start pursuing the jet like homing missiles with such maneuverability and speed, that despite the pilot's best efforts to throw their aim off, they strike the aircraft square on the mark, passing through the fuselage and completely destroying it in a massive explosion.
Turning her gaze to the beat up warship, she flies towards it. Looking at it more closely, she can see a lot of holes on its hull, a destroyed helipad on its back and a superstructure that is on fire, with a substantial part of the bridge missing, the metal that remains clearly indicating it was melted by something.
Landing on the bow of the ship, several men armed with submachine guns or pistols exit on the deck and aim at her.
"Please don't shoot. I'm not an enemy," she says, though she doesn't deactivate her power, just in case any of the sailors become trigger happy.
"Then identify yourself," a man, whose face and right arm are covered in bandages, says, his uniform being the flashier of the ones Miho can see at the moment. Behind that man is another man, who is clearly worried and is whispering something to him.
"Please, Captain, you shouldn't be here! It is very dangerous!" Miho hears the man whispering, but the person who is presumably the captain of this ship simply ignores him, instead waiting for an answer from Miho.
"My name is Nishizumi Miho," she responds and the captain slightly raises his brow. "I'm the one that dealt with the Institute ships and aircraft that were attacking you."
"I see... Men, lower your weapons," the captain says and the sailors, albeit reluctantly, lower their weapons, so Miho deactivates her power, making a lot of the crew blink in confusion. "I assume there is a reason for you being here, but let me asks you something first," the captain says and makes his inquiry. "What exactly are you?"
"It's a long story," Miho sighs as Kuro materializes besides her, scaring some of the men and causing them to raise their weapons again. "Don't worry about her, she is friendly," Miho says as she pats Kuro.
"Well, I'm sure you can tell us a thing or two under this voyage. Now then, come. I assume you will guide us to the Kuromorimine Girls Academy and your sister?" the captain asks and Miho widens her eyes in surprise.
"How do you know about them?" she asks and the captain smirks.
"We got contacted by her, responding to our distress signal. We had another ship named Busan with us, but it got sunk by the Institute not long ago," the captain says as most of the crew starts going inside the ship to inspect its damages, help with the field repairs and extinguish any fires, or man their battle stations in case the enemy decides to attack again.
"I have to say, you seem awfully calm for seeing a person with wings using a power that seems like magic," Miho says and the captain chuckles.
"Hah, I always was a guy that is difficult to be impressed. Plus, you aren't the first person I see using this weird magic thing. Ever heard of Executioners?" he asks, though he quickly follows up with another question. "At any rate, why are you here?" he asks as Miho walks besides him and both start heading inside the ship to the Operations room.
"I'm here to see if you have a girl named Inui Ai."
Several kilometers away from the Guided Missile Destroyer, Sejong the Great
In the calm surface of the sea, two figures stand on it and slowly walk, looking in the distance.
"It seems the battle has ended," says the male figure at the female one, swiping his hand and erasing a white translucent panel with a video feed that floats in front of him. The man looks to be around thirty years old and is one hundred and eighty-eight centimeters tall. He has black, messy hair, light green eyes, a scraggly beard and a goatee. He wears a crinkly, black suit, along with black dress pants and black dress shoes. The man tries to fix his messy hair, but the moment his hands leave his head, they return to their original, messy pattern. "Dammit. Why can't I fix my hair?"
The female figure turns and looks at him with a bored expression. The woman looks to be around her late twenties, around one hundred and seventy centimeters tall. She has medium length, pink hair tied in a bun, ice pink eyes, and a scar that runs over her left brow all the way to her left ear. She wears a plain, white shirt that exposes her midrif with a short, brown jacket that is open and a belt on her waist that has pouches to hang knives. She wears blue jean shorts and white sports shoes, with the laces being pink on the left shoe and green on the right one.
"I. Am. Bored!" whines the woman at the man angrily. "Augustus, you said there would be fighting! That's the only reason I came to Earth with you!" she pouts, turning away from the man huffish.
"Come on, Milly. All I did was to utter the word fight and you immediately jumped through Tal' Kim's gate with no hesitation. It's not my fault you didn't ask for clarification," the man says and smirks slightly when Milly starts hitting him with her fists.
"That's unfair! You cheated!" she cries out, causing Augustus to chuckle slightly. "Anyway, what will you do now? You know, since the Korean warship wasn't stopped?"
"It doesn't matter that much. It's not like there'll be any serious deviations from my plans," Augustus answers, but Milly doesn't look so sure.
"You know, challenging the Queen wasn't the brightest idea. There is a reason why she rules all of us," Milly says worried, but Augustus simply waves his hand uncaringly.
"I'm very powerful too, Milly. Don't forget, who won his first training match against the Warden of the palace?" he smirks and Milly starts fuming.
"That was thousands of years ago!" she shouts, her face red in anger. "And you cheated back then, too!"
"Just admit you lost fair and square."
"Never," she says and crosses her arms over her rather small chest. "Just out of curiosity, couldn't we disguise ourselves and go and fight that candidate girl?" she asks and Augustus immediately shakes his head.
"No. The Queen has ordered us to observe them, and while we could learn a lot of things by clashing with her, we'd ultimately defeat her; she is not powerful enough yet to stand besides us," Augustus says and Milly nods in response, getting the gist of what he is saying.
"So the data would be inaccurate?" she asks and Augustus nods. "You seem somewhat displeased," Milly points out.
"That's because I expected for the blonde girl to be here as well. I even let a fraction of my power to leak out in order to draw her," he explains and Milly develops a sultry face.
"Hoo~ Are you perhaps interested in her~?" she teases the man, but Augustus turns and looks at her with a flat expression.
"No," he bluntly responds. "But I am interested in her power and how it works in conjuction with her mental instability." Augustus develops a thoughtful expression, and after a few moments of looking at the surface of the sea, he looks up to Milly.
"Say, do you still control the religious fanatics in America?" he asks and Milly looks at him in surprise, then develops a devilish smile.
"Yeah. Their leaders think God speaks to them, so they do whatever I tell them! And their followers obey them blindly!" she chuckles darkly, then winks at the man. "Don't tell it to anyone, but I even bestowed three of their followers with powers. It will be a lot more fun to watch the whole civil war when it erupts!" Her face suddenly develops a cringy expression. "Though…these old men have a lot of creepy fetishes and rituals. They have been sacrificing "purified" girls to me for the last few months. It makes me wanna vomit. Disgusting humans," she mutters disgusted. "Anyway, why do you ask?"
"I want to see if the blonde girl's power is directly connected with her mental instability and emotions."
"And how will you do that?"
"She has a redhead girl that she treasures above everything else," Augustus says and Milly immediately develops a dark grin.
"It would be pretty bad if something happened to her. Ehehehe..." she chuckles darkly, then turns to Augustus. "I'll see what I can do. Do you mind if the girl dies?"
"No, she is expendable. Thanks a lot, Milly," he says. "Since you are the friendlier of the bunch with me, I could only ask you."
"Well, in contrast with the others, I don't care what your agenda is. For all I care, you could kill the Queen and take her place. I only care about fighting." Her expression darkens considerably, something that doesn't escape Augustus. "But..."
Placing her right hand on her left side on the level of her hips, pink petals start whirling around it. Making an unsheathing motion, she draws a katana with a bright pink blade and a black handle. Slicing upwards, the sea in front of her gets split in two for several kilometers. Twirling it on her hand, she rests the blade on Augustus' neck, her eyes brimming with bloodlust. "If you decide to pick a fight with me, I'll cut you in pieces, however powerful you may be."
"You can certainly try," Augustus says and grabs the blade, slowly moving it away from his neck.
"Malliusca, Augustus."
Hearing their names, they both turn to their left and find two figures walking towards them, one male and one female.
The male figure is a man in his late twenties with wide shoulders, almost as tall as Augustus. His hair is pitch black, while his eyes are a really dark red. He wears an open, black trench coat and under it a red suit and black shoes. On his head he wears a black cowboy hat with a red headband on it. In all his clothes, red lines are mixed in.
The female figure is a woman in her early twenties, having flowing blonde hair that reach all the way to her back, piercing green eyes and tanned skin. She wears a simple tunic made of wool, leather pants and leather boots, while over them she wears flowing robes colored red with silver/platinum edges.
"Oh, the first of his kind has arrived," Milly snickers, her eyes flashing dangerously. "Hey, Arashi, long time no see!" she waves cheerfully at the man with the cowboy hat, who in response just scoffs. "Oh, not a man of many words it seems. How is Kyoto doing? I heard the city got wiped out," she says and grins when she sees the water around the man starting to boil. "Oh, did I hit a nerve? Imagining the screams of the people burning to death just by standing near you, or trying to attack you," she cackles and winks at him. "Oh how their screams filled me up with joy and pleasure! Just thinking about it makes my blood boil!" she says and points her katana at Arashi, finally showing her true persona.
"Milly, that's enough," Augustus says and physically lowers her katana. "They are not here to fight us. We already did this once and look how this world became."
"Arashi, please calm down," says the woman on his left, gently grabbing his arm. This seems to do the trick as the water around him stops boiling.
"Thank you, Mollia," Augustus says at the woman and bows slightly.
"It is okay," she responds.
"The Queen has asked for an audience with you," Arashi says, not sparing even a greeting at Augustus and Malliusca. "She wants to report what you have observed regarding the Ether Lord candidate."
"Understood. Then we'll go right now," Augustus says and turns around to walk towards a portal that has appeared a few meters behind him, when he spots that Malliusca is staying put.
"Milly?" he asks, but he gets no response.
Without a warning, Malliusca flashsteps in front of Arashi and swings her katana vertically. Arashi immediately forms a barrier that covers him and Mollia, successfully blocking the attack.
"I'm reaaaalllyyyy itching to end our fight here, Arashi," Malliusca says with a maddening glee in her eyes and swings her katana once more, cracking the barrier and generating a shockwave that disturbs the sea enough to form small waves. "Because of that bitch of a wife you have on your left and the stupid Queen, we never found out who is the strongest. I think it's time I correct this!"
The water in an one kilometer radius immediately starts boiling, hot steam rising in the sky. Arashi's eyes have gone from dark red to fiery red, and as everyone can see, he has already raised a massive, black-red pistol and is pointing its barrel at Malliusca's forehead.
"I think that's enough," Augustus says and before anyone can react, he dashes between the two combatants and summons his weapon, a sword made from a bright green, translucent metal. Using its flat side, he swings it like a club and hits Malliusca on the head, knocking her out dead cold. Seeing this, Arashi refrains from pulling the trigger.
"This girl never learns, does she?" Augustus sighs as he lifts Malliusca and puts her over his shoulder. "I wonder what punishment the Queen will give her this time," he sighs and walks till the portal, completely vanishing from the face of the earth.
"Arashi?" Mollia asks slowly, but the man says nothing at first.
"Everything's fine," he says as he dismisses his pistol, letting it vanish. The water stops boiling, though with how much water has evaporated, dark clouds have start forming in the air. Saying nothing more, he vanishes too, quickly followed by Mollia who does the same.
A few hours later, Kuromorimine Girls Academy, Principal's Office
"I'm really sorry we brought you here this late at night, but we need to know what the purpose of your transfer was," Maho says, sitting behind the principal's office. In front of it, in two chairs sit the girl named Inui Ai and captain Se-yoon, with Miho standing on their left. "But let's start from the basics. How did you and Jatkosota find yourselves in South Korea?"
"Uhm...we...we were in open sea when the earthquakes happened and shortly after that we got hit by a very powerful storm that knocked out all communications and GPS and Radar functions. We were traveling towards where we thought there was land, since the weather was very cloudy for a few days and we couldn't use the stars to navigate, but then we found Jatkosota's carrier drifting aimlessly in one of the ocean currents. It seems they had been caught in the same storm and their main engines had been completely broken somehow, so we decided to tow them. After a week and being on the verge of running out of fuel, we found Busan," Ai finishes her explanation and captain Se-yoon starts speaking before Maho can ask her next question.
"Around two months after the earthquakes, North Korean troops started amassing in the borders, so we started preparing for war. What we didn't know at that time was that they were collaborating with an organization named 'the Institute'." The man pauses and sighs a little. "At first, it was a few soldiers and vehicles here and there, but then, around seven months after the start the war, while we were on the brink of winning, they revealed the true extent of their forces. Not only did they have numerical superiority and advanced technology, but they also had certain individuals that could do things akin to magic," he says and turns to glance at Miho, then turns to look back at Maho.
Ether users, Miho instantly thinks and like he has somehow read her mind, the man nods once.
"It was a bloodbath. The army got pushed back in our original borders in less than a year, and almost two years after the war had began, we found ourselves all the way to Busan. In the sea and at the air we faired much better, though with what I saw today, I doubt we'll have this advantage for much longer.
"Then what was your plan? Why did you risk yourselves to bring Miss Inui back to Japan?" Maho asks and the captain hesitates to answer for a moment.
"We... We were supposed to transfer Inui from Busan to Nagato and ask for help from the Japanese government with the pretense of defending the school carriers and their students," he says and lowers his head. "I know it's shameful using the girls and their current position as a bargaining chip to ask for help, but we had no other choice. Though it seems this plan was a bust, since there's no Japanese government or even the JSDF."
"About that, Blackout might be able to help you," Miho says and everyone turns to look at her.
"How can you be so sure?" the captain asks. "If what you told me is true, Blackout is a PMC. What would they get out from helping us? And in the first place, they don't have near enough forces to turn the tide of a war."
"I never said they would do it for free, or without gaining something in return," Miho counters. "But they have their own ways to turn the tide of a battle and even a war."
Everyone looks silently at her for a few moments, then the captain sits up and bows.
"There aren't any better choices, so I'd like to meet your employer, if that's possible of course," he says and Miho turns to her sister.
"Sister, could you have the Fa 223 fly as back at Blackout's base? And I'll have to make a phone call in the morning in St. Gloriana."
At the same time
Underground Lab, Location Unknown
In a white corridor deep under the surface of the earth, two female figures walk on it.
One is a woman on her mid twenties, around one hundred and seventy-eight centimeters tall, having curly, blond hair that turn brown at its edges and light brown eyes. She is wearing a white shirt under a white lab coat, a short skirt, black pantyhose and black high heels, while holding a pen and a clipboard.
The second one is a woman somewhere in her mid to late thirties, with long, dark brown hair that go just under her shoulders and dark brown eyes. She wears a brown cloak that completely covers her body, making it hard to see what clothes she is wearing. Her expression is a stoic one, showing no emotions whatsoever.
"Hmm... So your name is Shirley Aso...," the blonde woman says and turns to look at the woman. "Nice to meet you! My name is Kiara Henson! I'm the head scientist in this lab!" she says cheerfully, then lifts her index finger in surprise. "Oh, almost forgot. If you decline our job offer, we'll have to dispose you, since you have seen a lot of confidential things." she smiles at Shiho, causing her to sweatdrop mentally.
"Anyway!" she continues, turning to look forward. "You got a really weird name and a funny pronunciation. Are you from abroad?" she asks.
"Yes," Shiho answers curtly, though the woman turns to look at her, like she expects more information. "I was on a business trip when the earthquakes happened, so I got stuck here."
"I see," Kiara mutters. "Well, if you accept this job, you won't have to worry about money or a place to stay anymore. And it is a pretty easy job too! You just have to observe and note some values from a few indicators and give me the numbers! Pretty easy, right?"
"Then why haven't you find anyone to cover this position? It seems like everyone can do it," Shiho asks and Kiara grins slightly.
"You see, Shirley, most people want to bail out after seeing in what they have to participate in. Of course we can't allow them to go back and tell anyone about our experiment, so we make them 'disappear'," Kiara says, then points at Shiho. "I hope you aren't one of these people."
Passing through an automatic door and entering a locker room, Kiara stops and points at one of the lockers.
"This locker will be yours. For now, please throw away this cloak and grab a lab coat from inside; proper clothes will be issued to you when we take your body measurements."
Doing as instructed, Shiho removes her cloak and grabs a lab coat from the assigned locker, quickly wearing it.
"Now then, let's go. The experiment is about to start."
Passing through another automated door, Shiho finds herself in a small observation room that is embedded at the side of a massive space. Descending the flight of stairs that pass between the rows of seats and reaching the glass panels that allow vision inside the massive space, she widens her eyes in awe and surprise, as she spots something breathtaking at the middle of it.
"Amazing, isn't it?" Kiara grins as she stops next to Shiho and looks at the massive orb of rainbow colored Ether, with several forcefields keeping it in place. At the floor of the massive space, several scientists and vehicles, as well Gears go this and that way, typing things on terminals or writing down numbers and formulas in clipboards.
"What is this?" Shiho asks after she recovers from her momentary shock.
"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you," Kiara says. "Classified information."
"Ah, so this is the new recruit?" asks a voice, and turning around, Shiho finds a man wearing a white uniform with black tron-like lines all over it. He has very short, black hair and gray eyes, and looks like he is a veteran of a war. Walking to Kiara and taking her clipboard, he quickly skims over everything that is written, then hands it back and looks over the window panels.
"The experiment is about to start?" he asks and Kiara nods several times.
"Y-Yes, Sir," she says, then she sees that Shiho looks at the man with a questioning gaze.
"Shirley, this is our boss," she says and the man turns to look at her.
"Eli Lawrence," he says and raises his hand for a handshake. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Shirley Aso."
"The pleasure is all mine," she says and shakes the man's hand.
"Well then, Miss Shirley, let's see if you'll be able to handle your work," he says as an alarm starts beeping and the people in the massive room start moving towards the exits, only a fraction of them remaining inside. From one of the exits, several people and a vehicle come out, stopping in front of a stasis cell that is directly underneath the orb, various cables connecting to it and a massive one rising to the orb, connecting to the flat nodes that produce the forcefield around it.
Out of the vehicle, two Gears exit, dragging a naked and bound girl towards the stasis cell.
"What is this?" Shiho widens her eyes in surprise and shock, but Eli and Kiara say nothing.
Shiho can clearly see the girl struggling to get away, but once she gets put inside the cell, the magnetic shackles on her wrists and ankles lock in certain places inside it, completely restraining the girl. Closing the front of the cell, the men and the vehicle move out, as a second alarm starts beeping. Although Shiho is fairly far away from the girl, she can clearly see the girl's terrified face as she flails her body in a desperate attempt to escape. As the machine starts shining brightly, the girl starts screaming as if experiencing excruciating pain, a strange purple aura leaving her body. The strange energy quickly travels through the massive cable and starts collecting on the orb, like it is being consumed by it. As all the energy gets consumed, the orb releases a wave of energy that washes over the room, shaking everything a little.
But as Shiho looks back at the girl, she feels her stomach churn. As the front of the cell opens and the magnetic restraints unlock, her limp body falls to the ground. A few guards rush to lift it and move it for disposal, as the personnel that had left the room enters again.
"Well, Miss Shirley? What's your answer?" Eli asks as he takes an intimidating step towards Shiho and reveals a pistol from behind his back, pointing it at her.
"Do decide quick. We don't have all day."
A/N: Yes, it took more than one month again to write the chapter! Though this time I had a lot less free time because of university exams. I hope you liked the chapter, and as the title suggests, it is to prepare the stage of what is about to follow. Also, special thanks to SeekerMeeker for sending Mollia, SuperSwanky69 for sending Augustus, Dark-Silver96 for sending Arashi and E-50MasterRace for sending two Ether Lords that haven't made their debut yet. In the next chapter, our heroes travel to America, while the Ooarai teams start their preparations to go to save the day in Busan. As always, please review the story, follow and favorite if you liked it and have a good day/night!