Chapter 1 The Prologue

The year is currently 2027, it has been approximately 15 years since the White Knight Incident. The name Infinite Stratos (IS) has truly become a household name, with 467 cores made by Professor Tabane Shinonono herself. All of it given to nations around the world to prevent world wars.

But the unthinkable happened

She, in her infinite boredom and curiosity, waged war to the world by aligning herself to the terrorists "Phantom Task", and made 33 more cores and more in hopes of lighting the world ablaze. She was stopped by Ichika Orimura, and his band of friends. But the 33 other cores were unaccounted for, leading him and the world to a mad chase, until now that is…

Ichika can felt the headache rushing in.

The five years after dealing with Tabane and stopping near apocalypse felt like warp speed to him

" , do you read me?"

"I'm here" he duly answered

" Good then, I assume you understand the gravitas of the current situation?"

"Very much so" Ichika snappily remarked

Considering we are dealing with literal MADs here

The other end of his conversation didn't seem to catch the tone of annoyance from him.

That or she just ignored it. One or the other

"So this piece of report should not surprise you" she continued "that there are few sightings of the IS Cores that we seek here in japan".

That information was outdated, ichika thought

Ever since the Tabane Fiasco, the Alaskan treaty had been truly rendered null and void, we had to rewrite the entire charter again, and the political wrangling involved was rather messy, Ichika thought.

The entire fallout was a ready-made shitshow more akin to a driver or sportsman transfer report that was garbled mid translation, He did not envy his sister, or his friends at higher places.

"How many of the cores are truly marked? Of the unknown 33?"

"Just two in japan, the rest are just one of the 467, possibly related to phantom task" she answered.

Then she showed ichika the pictures of this mystery IS unit

The body was fully armored from head to toe with the color gray as its main color, lined with reddish hue. On the left arm lied a cape-like mechanism, almost enveloping the left side of its upper torso like a half cape, but you can see the makings of a claw at the flowing end of the cape. On the right arm was a normal armored brace.

" Really Ms. Umi? This is the IS you need me to investigate? It looked rather… unbalanced?"

sighed from the other end of the comms link

"You, of all people should know about close-range, power type ISes right? Or your current position has softened you?" she inquired

If Ichika was being honest, yes, verily so. Being the only male that is capable of using the woman-only IS had made him akin to a rockstar, hell, he even made a few cover of songs, albeit sung rather horribly. And the peaceful days gave him quite the R&R needed to live such a life.

But, if such news are being relayed to him specifically, not the interceptor units, then it meant that the person in question had truly evaded any and all attempts at pursuit.

Such a person could be an asset in his side, or his greatest headache, if she had a hold of one of the 33 cores.

"-llo? Hello? Ichika, are you there?"

"Yes, Ms,Umi?" Ichika hastily replied.

"OK, you're still here" she procured another set of photograph, of the same unit but along with it lay many of the other IS users on the ground, some of them marked with the insignia of the I.S Interceptor Forces, some of them unmarked, likely smugglers or common criminals accessing IS Units. He can make out the Rafales and Uchiganes used by both sides.

The Uchigane, is the current mass produced unit in japan, praised by pilots around the world for its ease of use, making it the best unit for learners and veterans alike. Capable of armed with swords or machine guns of the solid and beam variety make it not wanting in the weapons department. Defeating this unit usually a mark of a decent rookie pilot.

The Rafale Revive, is French's most powerful mass produced unit, with the modularity to match, making it extremely adaptable, favored by commanders of their units for their signature looks. Defeating these marked the pilot to be skilled enough for mondo grosso.

"this is why caution is advisable when approaching this unit" she huffed" I assume you and byakushiki are up for the task?

"yeah, where do I start looking for him?"

"Try Kyoto, the sightings of it are usually found at the Kyoto air zone"

"Roger that" Ichika answered.

"Godspeed, "

And with that the connection was cut from the Byakushiki's codec

Ichika can only sigh

This will be a rough season.

Kiyomizu Temple, Kyoto- 15.00 PM

Ichika's investigation led him here, the kiyomizu temple. The one he visited during the class trip with his friends many years ago, the temple with the greatest view of the trees and flowers below. Such a temple provided great vantage point, even without using Super Vision innate to the IS Units. He then continued to review the data on hand.

"But still, the information on hand felt too lacking, amateurish even" Ichika complained while adjusting his Super Vision on his Byakushiki-Shinkai, which was the current form of the IS after de-shifted because of dealing with Tabane and her remnants. He then continued to survey the area with great accuracy for the next hours, and then when the evening strikes….

BOOM! CLANG! SWISH!

Sounds of battle can be heard nearby, an approximate of 3000 meters eastward, making Ichika refocusing his vision and senses to that directions, and what he saw shocked him. The fact that a group of ISes duking it out at the steps below, with the Cape-claw, the machine reported by being on the losing end against 5 Unmarked Rafales, possibly used by terrorists. Such results was not unexpected, ichika noted, as even a skilled pilot cannot win many battles if their units are in such a state of disrepair.

A thought to help him briefly crossed his mind, but he ignored the intrusive thought and continued to observe the cape-claw.

Then the cape-claw closed in on the incoming rafale, the cape-claw's right arm bracers morphed into a blade, and locked blades with the rafale. The rafale seeing this move signaled her allies to surround the cape-claw and open fire. The cape-claw promptly used the rafale it was locking blades with as an impromptu shield, depleting her shield into a resounding zero.

SCHWING! SLASH! CRUSH!

The sounds of carnage continued as the cape-claw sliced through another Rafale's absolute barrier with its blade, crushing the other's shield by the tips or the claws and the fourth rafale's attempt at attacking by morphing the claw into a shield and punching her in the face with the claw-shield-cape thing.

The last Rafale, incensed by the loss of her comrades mounted an assault on him by using copious amounts of bullet fired from her guns, trying to get close at the one who offed her friends like a child mowing through his food, But alas, the cape-claw got behind her and fired a beam from the right-arm blade, taking her down along with her comrades. But the important thing was, to Ichika at least, was the fact he can identify the pilot by the cracks of his helmet.

The pilot was unmistakably male, Japanese, presumably of teenage age (18-20), had pale skin like porcelain doll, his hair was slicked blonde, possibly dyed that way, his build was at least on the normal-lithe side.

Ichika would then contacted to inform her of the progress regarding the investigation,and made him to confront this mystery man by himself his current assignment. A prospect that excited him as the sole male IS Pilot in the world: That he had a fellow man that can be friends with,or at least be reasoned with in this context.