James fell on his back with Akagi over him. She pinned his arms to the ground and prevented him from mounting a counter.
"Give up?" she asked, sitting on his abdomen.
It was the end of James' daily sparring session and this time he was facing Akagi rather than one of the maids. He managed to increase his time by ten more seconds, but she still won out in the end.
"You win," he said and she smiled.
"I'm surprised you attacked me with all that ferocity," said Akagi, still not letting go "you know, I kinda expected you to go easy on me since I'm a delicate maiden."
"'Delicate?'" repeated James "sweetie, in this scenario, I'm the delicate one. Did you forget the time when I told Wichita a joke and she knocked my arm out of its socket by accident?"
"Oh that's right," she said, recalling the event "I didn't think you'd take it that well."
"It wasn't the first time a limb got dislocated," he commented then looked either side "do you mind, letting go?"
"But I like seeing you like this," she said and hovered over him.
The mood in the area changed now. James did his best but Akagi's proximity, panting and the way the sweat trickled down her toned body made it very hard for him to maintain a level head.
Then, without thinking, he shot up catching Akagi off guard. She expected him to try and break free from her, but instead got a light kiss on her lips.
The move caught her off guard, given how she was taking a little longer to let what happened sink in. She then turned to James who flashed her a slightly cocky smile and said "guess I had one move left in me."
James noticed how Akagi's hands slowly moved closer to his face while she lowered her head to meet his.
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Before the two headed back to the base, they made sure to adjust their clothes and check their appearance. That meant removing a few unwanted leaves and twigs stuck in each other's hair. The dirt on their clothes could easily be explained away, but not the other stuff.
The two looked at each other just to be sure there were no telltale signs. When they were sure of their success, the couple finally left the training area and headed back to the base.
"I can't believe we broke the rule," said Akagi, as they made their way back.
"Twice," added James, praying that no one found out.
They emerged from the training area and were greeted by Kaga. Kaga was about to give a piece of paper to James but stopped and instead gave him a narrowed gaze.
Sensing that he was in trouble, James began to panic and look in other possible directions. Little did he know that this only made him look more suspicious to the fox-girl.
"Sister, the Resistance leaders have sent over the rules and regulations for the training exercise," she said and passed a folded paper to Akagi. Akagi took it, opened the paper while Kaga stared suspiciously at her.
"What?" she asked, doing her best to not collapse under scrutiny like her husband did.
Kaga did not answer, simply stared at her, then James, then both of them before leaving.
When she was out of ear shot, James looked at Akagi and whispered "she knows."
The two then decided to leave the consequences of their actions for later and scanned the paper. James moved close to Akagi and while she read the contents, he closely examined it.
Akagi stole a glance at James and knew instantly that he had shifted from his usual dopey self to work mode. The softness in his eyes was replaced by a wicked spark. It was something that she and everyone else in the base knew well.
James' eyes shifted from left to right while his mind read the document in Byron's pompous voice.
"The friendly match between the Valkyries and the Azur Sky will take place at the end of our celebration event. In this match, participants will be categorized under two roles: king and pawn."
"Similar to chess, the King controls the pawns and dictates the flow of the match. If the king were to get taken out, the team automatically loses. If a king loses all three pawns, they also lose."
"You are to choose a total of three members from the fleet to be your pawns. Do Note: the pawns cannot be from high-ranking members in the fleet nor can they contain anyone from the PR class and the 'Big Three.'"
James let out a condescending huff at that last paragraph. So far, things were taking place as he expected. He continued reading the document.
"Battle between the pawns will involve a mixture of hand-to-hand combat and the usage of 'rigging.' Each pawn will be given five hit points and when a pawn loses all five points, they are removed from the game. There are two ways to attack a pawn: one is by landing a clean blow on the hands, legs and torso and the other is through the King's touch."
The pair raised their eyebrows at the last two words.
"A pawn cannot attack another pawn in the face. If they do, they automatically lose a point. Also, friendly fire is applicable here so make sure that your allies aren't close to your attack's range."
"King's touch: a special ability that only the king can use. If the king were to make contact with any member of the opposing side, even a simple touch, that opponent is automatically eliminated."
"The duration of the match is thirty minutes and we require you to give a list of your pawns for formality purpose. Thank you and good luck."
The two finished reading the paper. Akagi folded it back and handed it to James.
"Well?" she asked, wondering what he was thinking.
"Much of it is what I expected. They're not letting me use the fleet's heaviest hitters simply because the fight would be over almost immediately."
"It's the second last bit that has me thinking," said James.
"The King's touch?" asked Akagi and he nodded.
"On the surface, it seems like a great way to shake things up and create a new avenue to attack," said James "but dig a little deeper and… I get the feeling they put this rule to stack the deck against us."
"Are you worried?" she asked.
"Not one damn bit," he replied, almost immediately "I meant what I said before that I have no intention of losing a second time."
Akagi could tell he was already he was already looking at potential teams, weighing the pros, cons, and how best he could use them. She could tell the gears in his head were turning and thought it best to give him space.
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Alec watched as the trio of Alexis, Blake and Marie completed their long morning run, signified by him pressing the stop button on the stop watch. The trio collapsed where they stood, lungs desperately trying to scoop up all the air they could with each breath.
"How did… we do?" asked Blake.
"You somehow managed to add thirty minutes to your previous time," replied Alec and the three groaned in annoyance.
"Damn it, why is this so hard?" asked Marie "shouldn't all this new technology make us stronger and better? Shouldn't we by default be able to do all this without effort?"
"The idea is that if you induce enough stress on the body, the technology activates," said Alec "from the reports I read on the last mission, Marie was able to shoot down a few Siren drones while Blake punched them out of the sky."
"Hence, it only works when you're in a life or death situation," he added.
"Then why didn't it work when we were facing James?" asked Blake "I mean, he wasn't holding back."
"Actually he was," countered Alec "don't forget, you faced him without his swords. Not only that, I don't believe James had any intent of killing you, only trying to knock some sense into you."
"I see," said Alexis, standing up "you're trying to push our bodies to the absolute limit so that the tech activates. Then, once we figure out the trigger, we can figure out how to make it happen naturally."
Alec said nothing, he simply nodded.
"While that's fine and all," said Marie, also getting to her feet "all this won't mean anything if we don't have a plan to defeat James. Do you have a plan to do that?"
"For now, all we can do is wait for his reply," said Alec "right now, Whitney sent him a request to tell us the names of his participants. When we know who he's going to pick, we start planning."
"You mean you start planning," said Blake, pointing a finger at Alec "don't forget the reason why you're here and that's to use that big brain of yours to beat James."
"Don't worry Blake, I'll be doing just that," said Alec, calmly "we call know that critical thinking isn't your strong suit."
Sensing that Blake was about to say or do something Alexis immediately declared "time for another run."
And before either of them could protest, Alexis started to run in the same course as before. This move caused the other two to begrudgingly follow her.
James went to the records room, where he was greeted by the sight of Karlshue, Koln and Konigsberg doing a little upkeep. Koln was busy doing an inventory check while her other two sisters worked to dust the shelves and sweep the floor.
They saw the Commander and greeted him in their own way. Once that was done, they resumed their work. Earlier on, whenever James came into a room, whoever was there would stop what they were doing and asked if they could help him. Eventually, James told everyone that he would rather them do their original assignments than drop everything for his sake.
He went to Koln and asked her if he could see the latest records on the fleet statistics. The Iron Blood girl nodded, went to one of the shelves and took out a book. Every month, Vestal and Akashi would have the fleet do a regular check up. This was followed by a quick exercise to test their combat capabilities. This information was written down into books and then stored here for later reference. Given how the fleet had enough money now, they were slowly starting the process of digitizing everything, but that was not a high priority right now.
Koln returned with the book in question and presented it to James. The latter took it, thanked her and went to a nearby table. He opened the book and flipped through the pages till he found what he was looking for.
There on the top left in big bold letters was the word 'Evasion' and under it was everyone's evasion skills. He saw the one at the top, smiled a little at the coincidence, then closed the book and handed it back to Koln. James said goodbye to the girls before heading back to the meeting room. It was about time for their daily briefing and he had to update them on who would participate in the upcoming event.
"But before I do that," he muttered to himself and turned away from his current path.
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His momentary diversion made him five minutes late. When he arrived, he found that everyone was waiting for him but didn't mind that he was late. Given that James was typically present before anyone else, he was allowed these momentary lapses.
Seeing them all fixate on him as he walked to his place made James feel somewhat nervous. But he quickly cast those doubts aside and dove right into the main subject.
"I've selected the members who will participate in the event," he said and the girls looked at him to continue.
James then said "you can come in now."
ON hearing this, the door to the meeting room turned and through it came Fusou, Yamashiro and Vauquelin. Rather than take their place next to James, the trio opted to stand by the wall where Belfast also stood.
The faction leaders and their second-in-command stared carefully at the trio, which only served to make them more nervous. Seeing this, James spoke up.
"I'll start their training from today on and for that I'll need Saint Louis and the rest of the PR class."
"Very well my liege," said Saint Louis, nodding without hesitation "I shall have them ready at your command."
"Questions?" asked James and Richelieu was the first to speak.
"Commander," she said "is there any need to train them? Vauquelin is proficient in hand-to-hand combat while Fusou and Yamashiro are very capable of providing long-range support."
"True," said James, nodding to her "but if I leave things as it is, come the day of the event, Alec will certainly take out one of them, maybe even two."
"I'm not interested in giving him an inch," he said, his tone growing serious "The Valkyries seemingly think they're on the same level as you all are."
At this, the girls all looked at him like he spoke some gibberish.
"I am going to remind them of their place on the totem pole," he said and outlined the plan.
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Many of the girls had gotten used to how crazy and wild James' plans were. True to form, his plan was as crazy as they imagined. It relied on timings, assumptions and a lot of coincidences to happen at once. Plans like these were the most dangerous as it had the highest chance of failure. However, their experience with him was a reminder that his ideas, crazy as they were, always worked out.
Richelieu and Rossiya, who were not fully used to James' way of strategizing ruminated on the idea carefully while James opened the floor to thoughts and opinions.
"This whole plan only works if Alec bites on the opening gambit," said Akagi "what will you do if he doesn't?"
"Oh but that's the beauty of it," said James, "its such a bold and ballsy move that Alec will have no way of reacting to it, not right away. And those five seconds of doubt is all I need to set what comes next."
"Honestly son," said Friedrich with a sigh "if this plan does work out then it won't just be a victory, it'll be a definitive blow to their morale. There are long term implications for this I don't think you're considering."
"Even if their morale is crippled to the point of nothing, it isn't a problem," said James, confidently "after all, the original plan was to have the Azur Sky engage directly with the Sirens and have minimal interactions with humanity."
"James," said Richelieu "much of this plan focuses on perfect coordination between Vauquelin, Fusou and Yamashiro to an absurd degree. What will you do if they can't achieve that in the required time?"
"That depends on their progress in the next three weeks," he replied "if as you say the worst happens, then I scrap this plana and go with a more standardized one."
"Will that produce the same results?" asked Rossiya.
"Of course," he said, like it was a foregone conclusion "even without training the three of them can easily beat the Valkyries. This extra effort is just to drive that point across."
He looked around and waited for others to voice their doubts. When he saw that no one did, he got up from the chair and headed to the door.
"Saint Louis, please bring the three girls to the training fields," he said "meanwhile I'm going to do as told and tell them about the fleet line up."
James then left the room and headed to the Resistance headquarters.
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When James arrived, he wasted little time with delivering his information. He informed the group about the participants and headed back to start the training process. He noted how they were trying to keep him there a little longer but didn't think too much of it. James did ignore their attempts and leave the room.
As he did, Whitney pressed a button hidden discreetly under the desk and said "you're on."
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Marie could hear his footsteps coming down the corridor and prepared herself. She had finished training and was covered in sweat, but felt that this might work to her advantage. As the sound of the footsteps drew near the room she saw in, she left the door slightly open, removed all her clothes and looked out the window with her back to the door.
The purpose of this move was to have James take advantage of her in this vulnerable state and start an affair. This would then affect his judgment and impair his ability to effectively handle the fleet, leading to his loss in the coming event.
Initially, Marie objected to the idea and tried to call it off, but after hearing the leaders continually insist, she gave in to their demands.
She could hear his footsteps coming closer. Each step made her tense a little and made her heart beat faster. Ever since her upgrade, the first things she did was make sure to lose her V card. She had been with many men and women, but there was something different about this.
Marie wondered why the idea of having sex with James made her more excited. Was it because he was married? Was it taboo? So many questions, such little time.
Her thoughts came to a halt when she heard his footsteps stop. Though her back was turned and she was seated on the bed, she could feel his gaze on her. No doubt, he was ensnared by her beauty and his logic was giving way to growing lust.
Deciding to tease him a little, Marie got up from the bed and moved to the window. Still showing her back to him, she now also showed off her perfectly (in her opinion) tight butt. As the seconds went further, she could also feel her urges growing. She too, now wanted to have him. All that was left was whether or not he'd make the first move.
Her answer came when she heard the door close. With a confident and slightly impish smile, Marie spun around so that her companion could get a good look at her. No doubt the sight of her perfectly curved body, her chest and her hips would be enough to send him into a frenzy.
She expected James to pounce on her then and there. When nothing happened, she opened her eyes and all her expectations were shattered.
Contrary to her thoughts and wild fantasies, there would be no affair taking place. She expected to see James on the other side of the room, barely able to contain his desires. What she saw was that she was the only one there.
Outside of the room, still in the corridor, James shook the knob a little to make sure the door was locked. When he saw that it was, he smiled in contentment and headed back.
'It's a good thing I happened to pass by when I did,' he thought, as he started to badly whistle the tune to an old song. 'Anyone else might have taken advantage of her.'
James had no idea the irony of that thought.