Akane commanded Hari to charge forth. The armored tiger growled and lunged toward Midori. Suddenly, Akane could feel the castle's concrete roof vibrate under her feet, and Gakutenou emerged headfirst from the ground between Akane and Midori to impale its oncoming enemy. However, Hari was able to use its remarkable agility to leap over Gakutenou's blade and use the red creature's armored hull as a platform to pounce at Midori. Midori blocked the attack with her halberd hilt, then quickly lifted her arms in the air to catapult Hari off the edge of the roof using her immense upper body strength. The mighty cat disappeared in the air and safely returned to Akane's GEM upon leaving the energy transfer range of Akane's nanomachines, and Akane made her own charge forward while Midori was open for attack. Midori was able to block this attack with the handle of her halberd as well, and she quickly staggered Akane's tonfa out of her hands and locked her shorter opponent in place. Akane's back was against Midori's chest, and she struggled to remove the iron bar of Midori's halberd with her Robed hands while it was firmly held horizontally across her neck. With her feisty opponent neutralized, Midori spoke tauntingly into Akane's ear.
"So, you can already use our weapons when you're in your Robe, huh? Since Rad's gone and there are still a few Otome protecting this place, we'll have to make use of you."
Akane pondered these words in fear as she was abruptly overcome in blackness. Midori had pulled her REM-bearing fist back and, with one hand still holding Akane in place with her halberd hilt, quietly incapacitated her catch with a swift punch to the temple. Midori then threw Akane's limp form over her shoulder, brushed the white ribbons of Akane's Robe out of her eyes, and commanded Gakutenou to fly back to Aswad's base after she called back the invasion forces. Upon arriving, Akane was quietly delivered to a medical camp in the heart of Midori's village. When Aswad's doctors assessed Akane's GEM was continuing to function under the new power source they connected it to, they went about their desperate plan.
As Akane was kept anesthetized on an operating table in her Robed form, the surgeons began carefully operating on her with special equipment and mummified her lithe body in bandages of electrical cables. Her heart was replaced by a small generator, her lungs were replaced by a cooling system, and a metallic shell was grafted to her Robe and skin. All that remained of Akane's internal organs in this abomination of flesh and machinery were her Robe-protected bones, central nervous system, and brain; the last of which was effectively destroyed when Aswad's A.I. program was installed. The Pure Heart Malachite suddenly disappeared from history when the helmet and glowing visor of Akane's new body were permanently fused to her sleeping face.
Not much is known about the second time Aswad raided Garderobe and Castle Windbloom during the Columns War. The King of Windbloom and all of his remaining defenders were slain, and there were few survivors left to tell the tale. What little is certain from the accounts of terrified onlookers is that most of the slaughter was caused by a new weapon that had appeared in Aswad's ranks. It was a cyborg knight, much like Aswad's usual attack force, dressed in yellow and gray armor. However, this warrior had a noticeably diminutive and feminine look compared to its tall and bulky comrades. Its metal skin proved to be impervious to all forms of weapons, and it could attack with short bursts of flight in addition to charging on the ground.
As a result of this bloodbath, the barbarian leader Midori took the throne of Windbloom by force and the war quickly ended. Midori claimed Windbloom in the name of the deceased Queen Mashiro and restored independence to the kingdoms the Columns had conquered.
THE END.