Chapter 12 is just a little transmission before the Militia heads to Fouzen and rescue the Darcsens being held there. Read to your heart's content!
Location: Dillsburg
"A weapon test, right now?" Welkin asks in surprise.
"Yeah. I got a request from a friend, who wanted to demonstrate their weapons. Though, I haven't read the whole thing, and I'm pretty sure it will attract everything within a kilometer parameter." Kuro explains, as he sets the table and the mini practice field on the battlefield. "And I need to contact them directly to get the weapon on the test."
"But still..." Welkin watches as Kuro grabs what's left of the mortar cannons and places it to the field. "Couldn't we just go back to our main base and then you can..."
"Well, considering who I'm going to talk to... I think now is a better time." Putting the communicator device on the table, Kuro starts tapping on it to get the call...
"You are out here, huh?" Kuro and Welkin look back to see Kurt walking towards them. "Your squad mates told me that you're going to test some weapons, right?"
Welkin scratches his head and answers: "Well, it's more like Kuro taking a quest from someone..."
"Yep, that's me." Kuro turns back to the device. "You're welcome to watch, but try to keep the number of questions in minimum, please."
Kurt whispers to Welkin: "He seems to be... less than what people has spoken about him."
Welkin asks back: "At which point?"
"Less serious... less menacing..." Kurt recalls what he has read in the newspaper. "And he saved the princess by... disguising as herself?"
"The newspaper is not wrong, though." Welkin answers. "He's quite serious on the battlefield, but very childish if things don't need him to be the former. Kinda expected from someone who has married though."
"I see... married?" Now that's an interesting detail. "He looks younger than you... Though, I supposed he has to be older, if he's a Deity of sort..."
"Yeah, I can sympathize." Welkin totally understands how Kurt feels now.
After a few moments, the communicator receives the call, and a holographic screen pops up in the air. Though, it's static for a few seconds before the call has gotten through.
"Greeting, Leader of Research Land." The caller is a humanoid figure, standing in what it seems to be a workshop of sort. Both commanders immediately deduce the person to not be human at all, considering he doesn't have a mouth or a nose, and his eyes are shining up with blue light. He seems to wear some kind of light armor, with robotic equipment on them. Every word of his echoes through the air.
Kuro greets back: "Greeting Phase-smith. Sorry for not answering the calls from before. But now I could answer them, and I will make sure to fulfill the quest you ask."
The person replies: "You don't have to apologize. We all have our own works to do." He then notices the commanders behind Kuro. "May I ask for the people's identities behind you?"
"Oh?" Kuro steps aside and introduces: "The one in blue uniform is Welkin Gunther, the commander of Squad 7 of Gallia Militia. The other is Number Seven, the commander of Squad 422 which is a special force of Gallia."
The two commanders salute, as the Phase-smith raises his right arm over his chest, with the palm above where the heart is supposed to be. "Greeting, Terran Commanders. My name is Harox, the Head Phase-smith of Cryo-Tech Protoss, stationed on Sair."
'Where is that?' Both Kurt and Welkin ask themselves, but dare not to speak out loud.
"Hierarch Ionis, do you have a word for our guests here?" Harox turns back and asks a person who's on the workbench fixing something up. Seeing the person waving his hand declining, Harox returns: "He's currently focusing on the work, so he can't greet you for now."
Kuro nods. "I could relate. Anyway, what is the weapon you want me to test?"
Horax opens up a screen behind him, and a blueprint of a small structure appears. "If our knowledge is right, you are aware of our automated defenses, and the most used structure is the Photon Cannon."
"I do. Though that thing is a bit weak against many targets." Kuro nods, knowing what the thing is.
"Um..." The Deity turns to look at Welkin, who raises his right hand up for questioning. "Can you explain what that is?"
"Well... think of it as a turret, but it runs by itself. And the fire rate is just faster than a Lancer." That's the best description he could pull out.
"That's correct." Horax continues. "However, it has a very high damage against armored vehicles." A simulator appears, as everyone watches a Photon Cannon firing against a Siege Tank, and after two shots, the tank is down. "It's a very value defense unit early in the fight."
"Yes, I can see that... I hope that you're not planning to ask me to build some here? Because I'm sure as hell that I don't have any materials necessary." Kuro says, not wanting to do it in the first place, because he would have to clean up after that.
"Oh no no. Because of the power, we're testing to see if we could give it to infantry. In fact, I will send you the prototype immediately." Harox says as he presses some buttons on his device...
Something starts to materialize next to Kuro, which nearly makes two commanders jump back in surprise. Once it's over, Kuro grabs and examines it: The main parts of the gun reminds him of a Psionic Blade, except there's a Phase Disruptor core being its main power on the top, and a handle placing underneath the palm location. When Kuro wears it on his right arm and grabs the handle, the core starts up and empowers the weapon. "Hm... a bit traditional, but I can accept that." By the way, Isolono, please give me a Protoss-like description next time.
"Since it's a prototype, we decided to adjust the blueprint into the Psionic Blade as a quick work. After confirming the battlefield data, we will think of the appearance later." Harox explains
"Yeah, I understand." Kuro nods, and points the weapon towards the empty shell of a mortar cannon. He aims at the thickest plate and grips the handle harder. The barrel starts charging up, and Kurt and Welkin immediately step back in case something bad could happen. A second later the blast comes out of the barrel and hits the target, creating an explosion on impact, effects being triple as a Lance blast. However, at the moment the shot's out, the weapon jerks Kuro's arm back, nearly dislocating his shoulder. "That... back-blast... what the heck?"
"Sorry for not warning you..." Harox apologizes. "Our calculations indicated that it has a huge recoil after each fire."
"It could blast down a Terran Siege Tank, so I have expected that. Didn't think it could have that much back-blast as well though." Kuro shakes his right arm to expel the numb feeling on it.
Kurt asks: "It has that much power in it?"
"Not really. I just caught off guard." Pulling the weapon out, Kuro turns and gives it to Welkin. "How about you test it?"
"Wait, me?" Welkin points to himself in surprise.
"Well, since you two are here, I guess I should let you have some fun with it." Kuro shrugs, not seeing the problem.
"But I have to warn you..." Kuro turns back to the holographic screen. "We Phase-smiths are very strict about the conditions of our inventions. Even Hierarch Ionis has punched an unfortunate warrior through a wall because he accidentally broke his plasma pistol..."
"You don't have to tell them that!"
Harox turns back a bit and sees Ionis glaring at him for a second, before returning to his work. Harox 'hm' and continues: "So, for your own health, here's our warning: Break it, and I break you."
Feeling the danger aura emitting from the Phase-smith, the trio stand straight up and salute, as Kuro promises: "It will be in good hands."
Harox nods. "Very well. En taro Sair." And with that, the call ends.
Kuro lets out a sigh of relief. "God, Protoss are intimidating sometimes." The weapon is in Welkin's hands now, so Kuro leans on the table after saying: "The field's yours."
"It could be altered a bit to fit into another role of the squad?" Uni asks Imca, as she starts observing Var, Imca's main weapon.
"Yes. It could help me helping the squad in many ways." Imca simply answers, not really wanting to go into much details.
"... Guess that doesn't work." Uni sighs, as she gently leans the weapon on Imca's chair, before saying: "You don't really like talking to strangers, I get it. But, at least you can try to be friendly, you know?"
"Hm. You don't need to teach me about it." Imca talks back, not wanting to continue the matter.
"Then... let me change the subject. About Selvaria Bles..." Uni says, knowing the incoming response.
"DON'T!" Imca slams her left hand on the table. "Say... that name in front of me..."
"Right on spot." Uni simply says, earning her a glare from Imca. "Ace, your village's lost might be a drive for you to do what you're doing. But you have to remember: if you have a drive to do something, then everyone else also has one to do their own works. Selvaria is no different if she's so blindly following..."
"You just said it, BLINDLY following that prince! She has no drives at all!" Imca grits her teeth in anger.
"And why did it happen?" Uni asks back, not afraid of facing the Darcsen. "What would make her devote herself to Maximilian, even when the world wants to manipulate her, INCLUDING him?"
"Valkyrias are warriors! They would fight for anything..."
"Would you like to say that to Thirteen?" Uni interrupts and bluntly points that out, causing Imca to gasp in surprise. "Don't look so surprised. We are Deities, we have learnt to study a person's soul power. Hers and Alicia's resonate the same, so we could point it out easily."
"...So you're also manipulating..."
"We haven't told it to Alicia." Imca turns silent after hearing that. "Only at more appropriate time will we tell. Right now, the only ones who are aware of her lineage are me, Kuro and Faldio, Squad 1 Commander. And only IF she accepts to use her power to protect Gallia, would we let her use that power. If not, Kuro will not expose her to the world."
"THAT'S THE SAME AS..."
"Manipulation? We're all manipulated by everything around us." Uni's once again on the offense. "Your commander is leading your squad, right? That's also a form of manipulation. Thanks to Kuro, us Deities have a better way to look at every situation before giving out a final judge. And I have to mind you, Kuro was nothing but a mere human before he could be what he is today."
"..." Imca can't put a word in it, as it seems the girl before her already has ways to counter her points.
Uni sighs. "Look, Kuro already planned on how to end this war. He could end it right now by himself. However, he could foresee the consequences if he just simply does so. Unanswered problems, lives of unfortunate soldiers being caught in the war, lives of their families, and the most dangerous one being the actions of the leaders of all nations after it. We are outsiders, we're not supposed to help you at all. However, for a better for everyone, we decided to intervene, not for the sake of an individual, but of everyone."
"..."
Seeing that she couldn't get anymore words from the girl, Uni stands up. "I decided to pick this as a way to talk to you about your desire for revenge. Though, I suppose this is enough so you could rethink about it. If you need to ask something, feel free to call me." With that, Uni walks away, leaving Imca at the empty table.
Uni walks towards where she assumes Kuro is... and she sees a crowd of soldiers, with gun sounds echoing in the air. She pushes through a few of them and sees some lucky soldiers testing rifles there, and Kuro is standing aside, watching the practice going on. She walks to him and asks: "I have talked to Imca. Do you think it's enough?" Uni, of course, is aware that Kuro knows about the conversation.
"That's enough, for now. Our intervention at this point is too obvious already. We can't make it worse than it already is." Kuro says... then ducks as a ricochet bullet nearly hits his face. "Too close."
"Sorry!" Susie shouts her apology out loud.
"It's okay." Kuro waves his hands up, signaling that he's really okay. He then stands straight up and says: "Well at least everyone's spirit is still high..."
"Yeah, especially after you..." Before she could finish her words, she feels the cold of at least five spiral swords pointing at her back.
"I would rather not talk about it..."
I will.
'Oh screw you!'
Flashback
Squad 7's R&R: Prior to the main event
After hearing the 'special order' from Varrot, everyone starts cheering up for the relaxing vacation...
Except one very particular person, who's just reading a newspaper from afar.
"But, I don't really have a swimsuit..." Alicia says worriedly.
"Then we can go shopping! Come on, I will pick something for you!" Rosie says excitedly.
"Well, if you say so... Uni, do you want to go with us?"
"Of course. It will be fun." She then puts her finger on the lips, signaling the girls to not say anything. Then, she asks out loud: "How about we buy some for Kuro as well?"
The moment the name's called, the person stiffs up, and he stops flipping the pages of the newspaper.
"Oh come on now, Uni." Rosie rubs her temple. "It's supposed to be girls only..."
"Yeah, I know. And Kuro is the perfect candidate for this matter." Immediately Kuro throws the newspaper down and plans to run to the door, however, his right leg gets stuck at something and he falls face-first to the floor. He pushes up and turns back to see a rope connection his leg and Uni's. "Don't bother to run, Kuro. You know this will happen, right?"
"And you know I have to prepare for that, right?" Kuro says, while pulling out his katana and cutting the rope, then he gets up and opens the door... and somehow gets punched back and then gets hit on the back of the head by Uni, rendering him unconscious.
"Told you." Uni says, then pulls out more ropes. She then asks Rosie: "Can you help me tying him up?"
"Uh... is this normal?" Rosie accepts the rope, but she's a bit hesitate.
"Yeah, it is, really... at least to us." Uni giggles, as she starts tying Kuro's hands.
Welkin decides to pull Largo out of the room while saying: "So we leave him to you. Let's go Largo."
"Ah ah, okay..." Largo wants to ask what's wrong, but he definitely doesn't want to be somehow getting tied like Kuro.
...
"I know I ask a bit too late but... why?" Aika asks as she points towards the unconscious Kuro. The girls are walking on the street, and due to the current scene, which is Uni carrying the tied-up Kuro on her shoulder, many people are watching them with pure curiosity.
"Reasons." Uni answers, not wanting to spoil things out.
"But seriously, he might ruin the fun here." Edy complains.
"He won't." Uni assures, very confident at her actions.
"Although, we might have to let him pick his first, or..." Isara feels bad for Kuro, being the odd one of the group.
"We always have to do this whenever we're going to the beach. Just let me do the work."
...
"Um..." Even the shopkeeper is confused at the scene. She is happy that a lot of girls are checking her shop, but one single individual is like an eye thorn. "Miss... what..."
Placing the body down, Uni whispers into the shopkeeper's ears for her request... as she narrows her eyes after hearing that. "Miss... I don't think anyone here fits for that kind of..."
"Trust me. You're having a potential customer here." Uni assures her. The shopkeeper wants to complain, but... she decides against it and walks towards a bikini stand and starts taking some of the very adult-like ones.
And that causes the other girls to blush slightly, as Alicia leans towards Uni and asks: "Uni... who are... you... buying... that for?"
"Well, that's just a test." Uni shrugs casually. She then takes the bikinis and walks forward a dressing room... and puts them in there without walking in by herself.
Then, she returns and flicks Kuro's forehead, waking him up. And of course, he looks around to see where he is, and he starts sweating nervously. "Uni... this place..."
"Well, I have some stuffs for you, so you better wear them before I force you in it." And with no further explanations, she picks Kuro up and literally throws him into the dressing room, earning stares of surprises from everyone.
"That's... harsh, Uni." Isara now feels even more sorry for Kuro.
"Although... should we imagine how he looks like in them?" Marina suddenly suggests, and then everyone starts to shiver a bit at the... cursed imagination. "Better leave it be."
"Agree." Everyone says at the same time, before starting to pick up and suggest each other what to pick.
Ten minutes later... and no sights of Kuro walking out. Alicia starts getting worry and asks Uni: "Why is he taking time? Did he faint in there?"
"Probably." Uni shrugs again, completely ignoring looks of disbelief. "But, if there's no emergency call... Hey Kuro! Time to show the girls!"
"NO!" Kuro shouts out from inside the room... at least, that's the person everyone's assuming, until they register that: it's a woman voice.
"Yeah, you're ready." Uni then pokes inside and starts to pull the person out... with a lot of struggling. "Come on, just come out!"
And after a few seconds, Uni manages to pull the person out. Although, while they're expecting some ugly scenes... instead, Uni pulls out a beauty. She's in her early 30s, her long black hair covers her entire back, though it can't hide the rather adult-like bikini Uni has picked up, which is big enough to cover indecent parts of the body. However, the real surprise is the three rings in her left fingers, which is very familiar to Squad 7.
And her face is completely red from how... the bikini is like. After a few seconds being stared at, she squeaks in embarrassment and runs back into the room and uses the curtain to hide her body, leaving only the head to be visible. "Why did you pick these ones for me!? You know how I hate being in them!"
"But your girls WANT to see you in it." Uni smiles evilly. "And satisfying them is what they do, right?" That causes the red to be even deeper.
"... THAT'S KURO?" Upon hearing the exchange, the squad manages to chain all the information to get the result.
"Yep." Uni replies. Then, she walks to another stand, and says: "Everyone, I have a little game for you girls. I will pay for whoever manages to embarrass him with your choice of outfit ON him." She says that, but she knows that she will pay for all of them, considering being in here is already embarrassing enough for him.
And... well, you can try to imagine what happens next.
...
The next day
"STOP LAUGHING!" Kuro screams in embarrassment, as the guys laugh at 'her' unfortunate. "IT'S NOT FUNNY!"
"BUT... BUT THAT *Laughs even harder*" That earns 'her' more laughs as 'her' voice is super feminine, and even more as 'she' is literal squeaking.
"Now that's one hundred percent on the front page." Quickly snapping pictures, Irene says while giggling madly."
"You can keep it, but don't post it." Uni, for a rare chance, defends Kuro against that. "I don't think everyone would be appreciated to see 'that' side of their 'helper'."
"Then I could try to blackmail him."
"Wh... I forgot you could do that." Uni facepalms, but she's smiling at the thought of Kuro being constantly blackmailed by, literally everyone close to him. "I think Kuro would care less about it, though. Well, let's enjoy the fun, everyone." She then pulls the girls towards the beach and joins the others.
Present
"I swear, EVERY TIME we have ANY sorts of beach events..." Kuro pinches his nose bridge in embarrassment. "You know why I rarely used that form..."
"Yeah, for infiltration, and for making fun on yourself for everyone." Uni giggles, as Kuro's face heats up.
Although, I'm a bit disappointed that Squad E can't see that.
'...YES! THAT'S FOR THE BEST!' Kuro cools down, and Uni could hear that shouting in her mind, as he walks away while still having that cheering after hearing that news.
'Well, everything won't last forever. Shall we head to the next chapter?'
Yeah, it's for the best.
Chapter 12 end!
So yeah, that's just a small fun before the fight happens. See you all in the next chapters!