Episode 7: The Flying Gods of Death

The moment he launched from Aether, Kazumi tried not to think too much about his performance and focuses on the task at hand, which is synchronizing his movement with the other Delta members. The moment Walkure touched down and began to sing, Kazumi finally got a front-row seat on one of Walkure's waccine live concert.

Ichidou dake no koi nara

Kimi no naka de asobou

Wagamama no kiss wo shiyou

Kazumi and the Delta members got into formation as each fighter releases colored smoke and the show began. Kazumi had to admit that this whole airshow thing is much harder than he thought, mostly because he's used to flying alone all these years that he somewhat forget how to fly in a squadron. There's also the spec difference to think of which makes him have to be careful when controlling his VF or he would've ruined the formation by being too fast or too slow.

Hira hira to maichiru kono hana wo

Mada kazoetarinai hoshizora wo

Kazumi watch as all five members of the Walkure sing and dance together, his eyes instantly trained on Mikumo. This is the first time he see her perform in a live concert and there is just something about her that makes her, no, makes all of them seem to shine brighter than the stars once they are on stage and they are just starting.

Subete ga kimi no sei dato namida koraetemo

Darenimo ienai munesawagi

Kazumi is trying hard to maintain formation. All he had to do is follow Arad's lead. Sometimes he envies Hayate. Combat skill aside, the young pilot has a good sense in this kind of thing. There is passion in him, a passion for flying that he had lost somewhere along the way. He is enjoying it, especially with Freyja and Mirage by his side. The three of them are the most solid team in the group. But…

(todoke) kowareru made

(todoke) habataku made

Maybe he can find it once again, the joy that he had lost all those years ago.

(toki no) mune no oku ni

(hate ni) himeta inori wo

As he did another stunt with his fellow pilots, Kazumi's eyes turn again to Walkure, to be specific, to Mikumo, his charge who is known as the Star Singer. He had heard her sing many times before whether it is during practice or personally, it is always impressive to hear her sing as she has a beautiful voice, which is a stupid thing to think about. Of course she has beautiful voice. If not, she wouldn't be Walkure's ace or even the star singer. But…

Kanjiru mama shinjiru mama

Nanimo kamo tobase

GYUN GYUN GYUN

But… it's different this time. There's a certain vigor he did not find in rehearsals and only a little when she sings to herself. This Mikumo is different from the usual Mikumo he had come to know. She's much more… alive. She's more lively than usual and Kazumi could feel it through her voice.

Ichidou dake no koi nara

Kimi no naka de asobou

Hikari yori hayaku kiss wo shiyou mattete ne

'Just like a pilot's feeling can be seen through his wings, a diva's feelings can be felt through her song huh?'

Mikumo said that to him on that day he first truly became a part of the Delta Flight. This is Mikumo Guynemer in her purest form, and she shines brighter than any star he had ever seen. Kazumi's lips slowly curled into a smile, now more determined to get better in his air show so that he won't be the one to mess up her stage. He will never forgive himself if that happens.

Wasurekaketa karada mo

Tada kikoeru kokoro mo

Yume no naka no shigarami nante tobikoete

Hora saratte shimatte kono mama

As the song came to an end, all Delta Flight units transform into battroid mode and landed behind the Walkure. Kazumi was sweating a little and now he breathe out a little in relief, glad that everything went nicely. Now that he's getting used to it, the air show is not so bad. A few more and he might even find it enjoyable. But for now, he'll be focusing on doing good enough to not get chewed out by his charge.

Speaking of his charge, Mikumo is truly different from her usual self. Is this the true Mikumo Guynemer? She is quite different from the other diva, that's for sure. Perhaps he's only saying that because she's his partner but then again, not anyone could claim they could subjugate the galaxy with their voice alone. But Mikumo is not a weapon, she is her own person and Kazumi understands that very well.

Meanwhile as the show foes on, near the planet's orbit, the six black VFs are approaching the planet's atmosphere. As they're about to descend, the lead unit open up communication with her subordinates.

"Thanatos 5 and 6, I want you two to stay in orbit for now. The two of you are still new, just observe for now."

""Yes ma'am.""

Thanatos 5 and 6 replied as the four original members began their descent down to the planet, finally revealing their units. Four pitch black custom VF-29 with Super Pack. While descending, Thanatos 4 carefully watches the Delta Flight that they will soon engage, specifically, a crimson unit with the emblem of a raven on its back.

Thanatos 4, a woman in her mid twenties with shoulder length curly brown hair and a burn scar on her right face around the eye that actually made her look dangerously beautiful instead of deformed, stare at the crimson unit for a few moment without showing any expression but Thanatos 1 who knew what she's doing also knows that inside she is feeling a myriad of emotions that threatens to burst out at any moment. So she decided to give her a warning.

"Reiter, keep your calm. Remember our objective.

"I understand, Mary. But can you leave the Bloodraven to me?"

Thanatos 1, codenamed Mary, simply nodded before cutting off the comms. They have entered the planet and by now the Delta flight had noticed them. Opening a line to her two other subordinates, Mary gave them their order.

"Stasis, Supplice, you know what to do. Focus on the mission."

"So Reiter called dibs on the Raven? Then I shall take on that Immellmann boy."

"Roger that commander."

Thanatos 2, codenamed Stasis, and Thanatos 3, codenamed Supplice, replied to Mary. Both of them are male in their early thirties, just five or six years older than Mary herself and had known her the longest as the three of them are what made up the original Thanatos squadron while Reiter joined up around three years ago.

Meawhile on the Delta Flight's side, Chuck's unit that specialize in recon and electronic warfare detected the Thanatos squadron's descent and alerted the rest. Hearing some incoming unknown units, Arad groaned.

"Again? Last time we faced unknown units it is the Aerial Knights. Are you sure it's not them this time?"

Arad asked.

"No, it's not the Windermere's Drakens. This is… VF-29!"

"What, the 29!"

Arad is honestly surprised. The VF-29, a limited production unit that became the base to YF-30 which was the prototype to the VF-31 they are using. Those units are reserved for Ace pilots and special organizations. What people could be using them and appear here in Voldor at this moment? Are they even people from NUNS?

As the four VF-29 got closer, Kazumi could finally identify them by himself. Appearing on his monitor are units in pitch black color. His eyes almost jump out from its sockets due to surprise but after another moment of observation he noticed that those are not Harvamal units as they don't bear the now defunct special force's insignia. In fact, they don't bear any insignia at all, neither of NUNS or any organizations.

"Ohh shit, everyone disperse!"

Kazumi shouted through their shared channel.

"Huh?"

Hayate dumbly stated and it almost cost him when one of the four units opened fire with its twin-barreled beam cannons. Only Hayate's own quick reflex managed to save him from a direct hit courtesy of Stasis.

"What the hell!"

"Those black units, I bet you my lunch for a month that they are black ops team. They have no insignia at all. That means either they are privately owned units or black ops operative!"

Kazumi informed. He almost forgot that fact and only remembered earlier. Only outlaws who managed to obtain a VF bears no insignia. That or people who doesn't want to be identified. Kazumi dare bet his lunch for the next month that this is the later as outlaws won't dare attack a well-known unit like the Delta in the open. Now he just need to be sure if he's right and a good way to determine that would be to engage them.

"Major!"

Kazumi turn to Arad. The leader of Delta Flight nodded.

"All units, engage the unknowns with caution! Protect the people and Walkure!"

"""Roger!"""

Everyone replied simultaneously and went to battle with Kazumi in the lead. All Delta units deploy their drones to protect Walkure. Kazumi saw the rearmost VF-29 suddenly charging ahead from the others and it's aiming for him. Kazumi pull his control back and his VF start ascending followed by the 29 targeting him earlier.

It was only briefly but Kazumi managed to saw that the four black units do have a unique insignia each on their back, a personal emblem. The lead unit before the rearmost one came at him bears a red rose with its two wingmates respectively bearing the emblem of a red scythe and a blue flag. The flag unit went after Hayate while the scythe unit went after Mirage. Arad and Chuck took on the one he believes to be the lead unit with the rose emblem.

His own enemy also bears a personal emblem and it is the emblem of a brass sword, and from how this one is flying, Kazumi could tell that they're good, especially since both the machine and the pilot could keep up with him even when he had been trying to shake off his pursuer. If anything, this just proves that the four units are black ops operatives instead of some random people. Now to see what they want, although Kazumi already has an idea about that one.

"Is this why I was sent?"

If his suspicion is right, he must keep an eye out on the Walkure, especially Mikumo. For now though…

"Very well, let's see how you would fare."

Behind Kazumi with her hands hovering on the trigger is Thanatos 4. Reiter concentrated on her target right in front of her. Finally, she had been waiting a long time for an encounter with the Bloodraven and now she's finally fighting him. She had been waiting for this since that day, the day he betrayed them.

"Finally… I finally found you Bloodraven, no, Kazumi!"

The moment she got a lock on Kazumi, she unleashes all her weapons at the ace pilot from her beam cannons, rifle, to all the missiles she could fire at one time.

"What the hell! Going all trigger happy already!"

Kazumi is surprised but immediately respond by turning to gerwalk mode and fly backward while facing his opponent, shooting down missiles and dodging the laser beams. Reiter clicked her tongue, a little irritated but had expected that he would've been able to do something about that. He is one tricky bastard after all.

Reiter had also expected that he would turn to battroid mode and went straight at her. She knows some of his moves and he is someone crazy enough to charge into an enemy base headfirst alone while under heavy fire. He is straightforward like that. In response, Reiter also switched to battroid mode and as she expected, he went in for the kill with a pair of knives. Reiter drew her own combat knife and using both her knife and shield she blocked Kazumi's attack.

"What? He saw that coming? Interesting, these guys are definitely good."

Kazumi is again surprised but by now, he understood that these people are not ordinary ace pilots and should expect them to be at top ace level or better. Of course people like these will appear if the prize is the power that could subjugate the galaxy. But he will not let them touch Mikumo, not as long as he still lives.

While Kazumi is fighting Reiter, Stasis is facing Hayate. The man smirked as he dodged another hail of bullets from the Reaper's successor. The boy is skilled as expected but he's still growing and still very much green compared to him. Stasis is playing with Hayate and the blue haired boy had not realized it yet.

"Dammit, this is like fighting the White Knight all over again!"

Hayate is getting a little frustrated with his enemy seemingly evading his attacks with contemptible ease just like the White Knight. Though there is just something about this one that grates him more than facing the White Knight. His opponent is just twisting and turning all over the place randomly but Hayate couldn't get even a scratch. The other members are not doing so well either.

Hayate and Mirage are chasing their respective enemies into the cloud. Ignoring the turbulence caused by friction with some clouds, the duo focuses on not losing sight of their targets. Stasis and Suppliece disappeared behind one of the darker clouds which made Hayate and Mirage paused while transforming to gerwalk mode.

"Where are they?"

"I don't know. Keep your eyes open Hayate, they are dangerous."

Mirage warned. Suddenly, Stasis bursts out from the cloud below them and both of them had to disperse. Stasis turned back and open fire at them with both his cannons and rifle. He alone is capable to keep the duo in check. Stasis lick his lips. He might not get to fight the Bloodraven but Hayate Immellmann and Mirage Falyna Jenius are worthy opponents.

Meanwhile down below, Mary kept evading Arad and Chuck's relentless bombardment of missiles and gunfire while using only her MDE cannons to fire back. She's just waiting for an opening so she could go straight for Mikumo Guynemer. She's constantly observing the Walkure who are still down bellow

"Commander Arad, what's happening?"

Kaname Buccaneer's face appeared on Arad's console, demanding an explanation for the sudden attack. Arad himself is wondering about what is happening so he answered her with what little he knows.

"I don't know. These guys suddenly appear and attack us without any reason. One thing for sure, these guys could be tougher than the Aerial Knights."

Hearing Arad saying that these new enemies might be better than the Aerial Knights brought worry to Kaname's heart. The Aerial Knights are already dangerous enough but if these guys are better than them then they are really in trouble and have to use all their skill just to match the enemy.

While everyone is focusing on the Delta flight facing against the unit they have yet to identify, Mikumo is trying to find where Kazumi is. She could see Hayate and Mirage fighting Stasis high up in the sky with difficulty while Arad along with Chuck are dogfighting with Mary but Kazumi is nowhere to be seen along with Reiter and Supplice.

"Where is Kazumi?"

As Mikumo wondered about where he is, the ace pilot is still fighting his enemy inside a cloud. After his opponent managed to block his two knives, the ace pilot kicked the Vf-29 and made his unit spun in the air while slashing upward with his knife, managing to cleanly cut through the enemy's shield arm and a part of the 29's MDE cannons.

Though that's also where his opponent managed to cut his right arm too but Reiter knew that it was luck on her part which was proven when Kazumi used his remaining arm to grab the 29's right cannon barrel and kneed the VF hard, causing Reiter to be disoriented. It would've been worse if her unit was not made to be durable. Kazumi then throw theVF hard down from the atmosphere.

Thanatos 4 crashed not far from where Mikumo is and the Mysterious Venus noticed that the black unit bears the emblem of a brass sword, the same unit Kazumi was fighting. Mikumo noted that it had lost its left arm and shield and one of its MDE cannon barrel was crushed. Its super pack had also been purged and there are some scratches and dents all over its body.

Moments later, Kazumi emerged from the clouds in gerwalk mode with his unit missing its right arm from a knife cut though the rest of his unit is relatively unharmed. He shot the 29 while its trying to recover with its main rifle. Reiter managed to move away in time but her rifle and right hand was destroyed and the beam also grazed her uni's right leg and cause minor damage to her right wing engine as a result of the explosion. Inside the cockpit of her 29, Reiter is not pleased at all with the result of their brief confrontation.

"Even now…"

She grit her teeth hard and glared at the crimson Siegfried unit. The flame of anger burn in her as she felt like nothing had changed. Here she is with Thanatos that should've made her strong enough to defeat him, to kill him. But here she is on the ground, nowhere closer to defeating Shinomiya Kazumi while he looks down on her just like back then. The damage to her unit, although not fatal, had decresed its performance enough for her to know that she cannot match his unit and his skill as she currently is.

The crimson 31F aimed its rifle at Reiter once again. Kazumi's finger was about to press the trigger when three beams were fired at him. Kazumi immediately back away to avoid the dangerous shot as Supplice emerged from the clouds, guns aimed at him and landed close to Walkure's stage. Kazumi's eyes widened. He saw that Mikumo was still there.

"Reiter, you let your anger get the better of you! Fall back, you can't fight the Raven in that condition."

Supplice told the angry female pilot.

"But…"

"Reiter, you had your chance. You failed today so fall back and hone your skills. We will cross path with the Bloodraven once again so be patient and swallow your pride, that's an order."

Mary said to her subordinate in a tone that does not allow any talking back. Reiter would like to reply back but decided not to. She knew her anger and excitement was the one that cost her. She thought she could defeat him this time but Kazumi is even better than back then. For now she will fall back. But next time…

Ignoring the retreating Thanatos 4, Kazumi immediately turn to fighter mode and rush towards Thanatos 3, focusing on the VF-29 in battroid mode extending its hand towards Mikumo. Without much thought, Kazumi rams his Siegfried headfirst at the VF-29. The moment his fighter hit Thanatos 3, he jumped out from the cockpit and went to Mikumo, all the while activating his VF's slave mode using his ex gear.

Using the slave mode to guide his unit, Kazumi grabbed Mikumo who was running and snatch her from the groun, carrying her with him back to his cockpit. Luckily his machine did not suffer too much damage after ramming Thanatos 3. At least that's a relief. Kazumi gently place Mikumo in the rear seat and he took his place back at the controls. As the canopy of his fighter closes with Mikumo safely inside, Kazumi fly away.

"Kazumi."

"Are you alright Mikumo?"

Kazumi asked worriedly. Mikumo shook her head. That's another good thing. Mikumo act quickly to run away and gave him enough time to stop Thanatos 3. Now to handle the guy himself.

Kazumi immediately turn his fighter back and charge straight at Supplice. The Thanatos squadron member flew away from the stage when Kazumi came crashing, causing the water to splash. Seeing a chance, Supplice trined his rifle to the position where Kazumi roughly is… only to see a knife flying towards him and struck his rifle the moment he got it into position.

"Khh, unreal, how did he manage to do that?"

Kazumi smirked as his VF emerged from the water in fighter mode, going straight at Supplice as if intending to ram him. Supplice change his unit to gerwalk mode and try to evade. Kazumi, seeing him, activate a hidden thruster as he cut his engine, positioning his VF diagonally and at that very moment also shot his rifle stored on the underside of the container weapon in fighter mode. The shot was made suddenly with impeccable timing that it surprised Supplice.

Thanatos 3 quickly jerked his control to the side but the shot caught its right side, barely missing the cokpit but grazing the shoulder and shooting through the left wing of the unit. Supplice was about to return fire with his MDE cannons when Mary contacted him.

"Retreat, Supplice. You are not a match for him."

"But commander!"

"In a fair fight you might stand a chance but the Bloodraven, on top of being skilled also fights dirty and trickily. If you cannot match his tricks, you will be defeated, especially with the damage you already accumulate in your short skirmish with him. For now, retreat."

Supplice sighs. The commander is right. He can't fight Bloodraven as he is now. The ace pilot could always catch him by surprise using impossible maneuver and tricks. He can't match him as he is now and will gladly retreat.

Kazumi watch as the VF-29 with red scythe emblem transform into fighter mode and flew away. He breathes out in relief and decrease his speed. Mikumo must be feeling it, his maneuvers. His style is not really easy on the stomach.

"I guess I should expect such skill from someone like you, Kazumi Shinomiya."

The voice that suddenly came from an open channel alerted Kazumi of another enemy coming and this time a beam shot pierced the outer part of his left wing. He did not saw it coming but that shot gave him the location of his new opponent. Above Kazumi floating in battroid mode high up in the sky above normal firing range is the VF-29 of Thanatos 1 that bears the emblem of a red rose. Its rifle gave out smoke after sniping Kazumi's unit.

"You defeated Reiter and Supplice but let's see how good you really are."