Chapter 28: Of Angels and Dragons

When the first lull occurred, Naomi had been holding the line with the others as the Schooners swarming onto them suddenly pulled back. She and the rest of Garm had been left wondering what the reason was when Vivian pointed out the singing. Naomi knew it was always best to trust Vivian's instincts as the young girl was known for having senses bordering on ESP. Though Naomi didn't think anybody could have expected what happened next. When Wyvern launched, everyone's eyes locked on to it as it rushed past Grabacr and Snowbird right to the front where whatever had come through the singular after the DRAGONs fired something. After that, a flare of bright green light followed by a flash brighter than the sun and the base was rocked hard enough to send them to the floor. They'd barely had time to process all that had happened when Mei started shouting for them to get into their Para-mails. As Naomi was running her final checks on Halberd, what should she catch from the corner of her eye but Salia dashing away from her Arquebus and leaping onto the Villkiss.

"Teach what are you doing?" Naomi demanded, her video screen flashing as Salia started the Villkiss up. "Why are you getting into Ange's machine? The orders were for her to be put back on!"

"Well I'm not going to wait around for her to get here." Salia replied.

"Ehhh?!" Rosalie yelped. "Is that smart? We all heard it! I wouldn't go against the Commander's orders if I were you, Teach! You're gonna get tossed in there yourself!"

"We seriously have to let them come back now?" Chris grumbled.

"If it's the Commander's orders we really should…" Ersha started to say.

"I'm the Captain of this squad, and I said we're launching with Villkiss now!" Salia hissed through her teeth. "I won't accept objections. Understood?!"

"Yes Ma'am!" But Naomi was less than confident as the forward machines took off. 'I spent enough time working with the Armorers to get some good looks at Villkiss. Salia should know it's different from the other Para-mails. It's even harder to find a suitable pilot for it than Wyvern. She already tried to fly it three years ago and while I don't doubt Salia's improved a lot since then, the machine itself hasn't changed.' Naomi knew Salia always had something of an attachment to the Villkiss but going against Jill's orders like this wasn't something she ever thought Salia would do. Especially with her being the most by-the-book of the entire squadron.

Naomi pushed the thought aside as she and Salia took off. Right now, driving off the attack was their chief concern. As she crested the Halberd up towards the furball, the flashes of crimson and emerald in the air caught Naomi's eye. She zoomed in her scanners and to her shock saw there were two green particle trails instead of one.

"What the… hey, does everyone else see that?" Naomi asked. "Isn't that one of those DRAGON Para-mails the Commander mentioned?"

"No freaking way! It's got the same weird light as Big Bro!" Vivian gasped.

"What the hell is Trigger fighting?! I can barely keep up!" Rosalie said.

"Focus for now! Trigger can handle it!" Salia shouted, pulling up into the lead. "We're moving to the front. Garm Squadron, move in!" The guns mounted on their Para-mails roared as they fired into the swarm.

"Everyone, pull back so you can resupply!" Ersha hailed on an open line as they shot past the first wave of fighters.

"We've got this one!" Vivian boasted, already shifting to Assault Mode as her Razor dove into the action.


"Garm Squadron deployed." Pamela looked up from the emergency console she had on display, Jill nodding to her once the launch was confirmed. But as the woman went to the radio, Leon felt something was off. 'No way Momoka was able to get them up from the cells that quickly. Plus, Hilda's machine didn't ping. Neither did Salia's actually.' He looked out from the bunker to the furball above but everything was moving too quickly for him to get a good bead on aside from the glint of particles coming from Alain's duel with one of the unidentified machines.

"Good." Jill picked up the radio mic again. "Ange, your target is the red machine. It's equipped with a WMD. Be careful."

"I don't think that's Ange in the Villkiss." Leon said, Jill looking at him with a raised brow.

"I know that Jill." a voice answered over the radio.

"Salia…?" Jill's briefly shocked expression shifted to anger within a moment. "What are you doing?! You're violating orders! Return to base now!"

"Shut up!" Salia snapped. "You don't get it, so I'm going to show you. I'm going to do it for Alektra!"

"Idiot…" Jill growled as she switched channels. "Alain…"


Ever since their little duel had started, Alain's mental state as he and his opponent darted through the sky was all over the place. Beam sabers sparked, rifles traded fire, attempts to get behind the other or shake up a target lock. Unlike when he'd fought the Siegfried, where his mind had been a mess of rage and fear, this was different. It was excitement driving him this time. As much as he wanted to be serious about it, to defend Arzenal from the threat it and its allies posed, something about the pilot of the DRAGON Para-mail made him feel a thrill he hadn't felt in a long time. The kind that could only be felt with an opponent who could put him through his paces and match him blow for blow.

As he pulled Wyvern back and fired at the unknown machine, he flinched when its wings opened up and two cannons flipped out from the inner segments. As the barrels lit up, he yanked Wyvern into a shallow vertical flip, deep crimson beams arcing from the cannons right where he'd been.

"It's an artillery unit?!" He grumbled. "What next? Does its damn gun change modes?!" As if the pilot had heard him, the forward segment of the enemy's rifle flipped down, exposing a shorter barrel. The crimson beams it shot met Alain's volley head on. Both rushed through the cloud of particles and clashed beam sabers yet again. Alain growled in a bit of strain, but his expression remained a tense smile. "You're full of surprises. Anything else you wanna whip out of nowhere?"

"Alain, I've finished my analysis of our enemy." Wyvern spoke as they broke the saber lock again, both machines rushing upwards as they continued to clash. "I do not know why, but I have data on it in my archives. It is in fact a sister unit of my own frame. CW-ARM-002, Lindwurm. A long-range sniping and artillery unit, meant to complement this unit's intended loadout."

"Great but what are the DRAGONs doing with your sister?" Alain snapped. "And what do you mean 'intended loadout'? You've been armed with the same weapons since the Ancient Humans found you!" Alain pulled back as the enemy fired its canons again, growling in frustration. If he went too far, it'd be the cannons or the rifle. When he closed in to his preferred range, he was met by the shorter rifle and beam sabers. As excited as he felt, it was making tactics difficult when his opponent had more options than he did. "Forget it. Let's just focus on the fight right now. How can we..."

"…do you read?" Jill's voice suddenly rising over the comms didn't help his concentration any more. "Break off from your enemy and divert the Villkiss. Salia took it. Force her to return if you have to!"

"As much as I'd love to do that, that's gonna be a hard order to fill!"Alain replied, dashing away from a saber slash and retaliating with a volley of missiles from his shield. "This guy's a sticky customer! If I go after her, he'll just chase me. It's also an artillery unit, so I have a range disadvantage!"

"Just do something!" Jill demanded. "Her idiocy is going to lose us the Villkiss if she tries fighting that lead machine! I don't care if you have to put your back to the enemy! Salia isn't listening to me so you have to stop her!"

"Why do you even think she's disobeying in the first place?!" Alain countered. "I'll try but if this guy doesn't let me get away then I can't do anything! Over and out! Wyvern, contact Salia!"

"Affirmative." In the midst of dodging another volley of beam fire, Salia's image appeared on his monitor. The glare on her face spoke volumes and Alain grimaced at the sight.

"Let me guess, Jill told you to stop me, didn't she?" Salia growled.

"Of course she did." Alain said, the air sparking as beam sabers locked together again. "What the hell do you think you're doing?! You know Villkiss has a biometric lock! It won't respond to you no matter what you try!"

"Are you going to tell me Ange should be the one in Villkiss too?!" Salia snapped. "You and Jill… what makes Ange so special anyway?! Screw that stupid lock! We don't need her!"

"Now isn't the time to whine about your personal problems!" Alain yelled. "People's lives are at risk here! If you want to hash it out with Jill and Ange, for the love of god do it after we've driven these things back where they came from!"

"Just a note, now also isn't the time for you two to be having a lover's spat!" Chris shouted over the line. "We've got most of the first wave back to base. The Schooners won't get past us."

"Then you three hold the rear line." Salia ordered. "Strider, Pixy, on me! We're taking those unknowns!" Alain watched as the Villkiss, still in flight mode, shot away from the furball with Vivian's Razor and Naomi's Halberd following her.

"Dammit! Why is she making a problem out of this now of all times?!" Alain growled just as his comm line pinged with an unknown line. "What the… is this thing contacting me?"

"That is correct, pilot of the Missing Machine." Alain gasped when a calm male voice replied to him. It was unsettling to suddenly hear someone speak, much less a voice so clearly human. "It seems your machine is not operating as it should. Its reaction feels… sluggish, though it seems your skill is sufficient to compensate."

"And what's it to you, huh?!" Alain snapped. "Who the hell are you people anyway?! Where the hell did you get Para-mails?!"

"I would answer but a battle isn't quite the place. I asked for a duel, so let our actions speak for us in place of words!"

"Tch… fine, if you want it that way, then come on!" The echo from both machines' drives carried across the furball, shooting off across the battlefield as the clash continued. 'Is it really a human piloting this thing? Or something else…?' Alain thought. 'I really don't have the time to think about it. Just focus on this, and if I can break away, get Salia to divert. But why is fighting this guy also so exciting? Is he even here to shoot me down? It feels more like I'm being tested.'


Ange and Hilda rushed out of the elevator into the hangar as soon as the door opened with an unfortunate Momoka behind them and plugging her nose to ward off the still lingering smell. Not helped by being stuck with the two girls in an elevator with zero ventilation.

"What the… were they taken out?!" Ange asked as she looked around. The only Para-mails she saw left were Salia's Arquebus and Hilda's Glaive. "Where's Villkiss?"

"They already took off!" Mei said as she moved back from helping fend off the DRAGONs still trying to breach the hanger. "Salia took Villkiss!"

"She what?!" Hilda gasped. "Why the hell would she do that?"

"Well then we just have to get it back!" Ange ran over to Hilda's Glaive and the red-head shot after her as she clambered onto the machine.

"What the hell kind of idea are you having now?" Hilda demanded as she followed Ange up, stopping her before she could open the cockpit. "Don't think you're doing it with my machine!"

"I'm not gonna fly it. You are." Ange said. "I just need you to get me close to Villkiss, then I can manage the rest."

"You're sounding a lot like Alain right now. This idea of yours already sounds really stupid."

"First, don't compare me to that guy." Ange snapped. "Second, are you in?"

"Fine," Hilda nodded. "Just hold on. I fly pretty fast."

"Well I fly faster." Hilda shook her head as she opened the cockpit and dropped down, Ange following and plopping into Hilda's lap, the redhead blushing just a bit as both their breasts crushed against each other. 'Just be all right up there, all of you.' Hilda thought after shaking her head to clear it. 'We still have things to sort out, so don't go dying on me before we can do that!'


'We don't need Ange, I can prove it. We don't need her.' Salia felt a burning in her chest as that thought continued to run through her head. Why was Jill constantly rejecting her attempts to prove herself? And now even Alain was telling her not to do this? She was sick of it. Why Ange? Why did it have to be her? 'Well soon it won't matter. I can do this, I'll take that thing down myself and prove it.' As she dodged the incoming Schooners, Vivian and Naomi watching her back, Salia locked her eyes on the red machine still hovering in front of the Singular. "Come on! Faster!" She growled. "You can fly faster than this! Why are you being so slow?!"

"Teach, on your right!" Naomi called out. Salia looked up as a Schooner came up from below, baring its fangs as it rose up. Salia banked to the side and pulled her right control up, just enough to partially transform Villkiss as she rolled. One of the legs swung as she turned, slamming the Schooner and sending it flying back. The recoil however sent Villkiss spiraling seaward before Salia was able to regain control.

"What is wrong with you?!" she gasped. "I know you have more power than this!" From overhead, three more Schooners came bearing down on her, forcing her into a dive. 'Is this what they meant? She wondered. Can I really not fly Villkiss for something as stupid as it won't accept me?' "Dammit… Ange can do it so why can't I?!" As she avoided the Schooners, something came up from behind Salia and shot them down. Glancing at her radar, Salia saw the IFF for Hilda's Glaive ping. 'She's out here already?'

"Agh dammit, I can't see where I'm going with your fat ass in the way!" Hilda complained over the radio.

"It's cramped, so deal with it. How else am I going to avoid being thrown around by your crazy flying?!" Salia felt her chest tighten at the sound of Ange's voice as the feed from Hilda's cockpit camera appeared on her screen, Ange practically straddling Hilda inside the cockpit as the red Glaive pulled up alongside the Villkiss. "Teach, give me back my machine! I'll take care of that thing myself."

"Hurry up so I can go help Trigger." Hilda said. "That machine he's fighting isn't going down easily!"

"Villkiss is mine!" Salia snapped, speeding up to get ahead of the Glaive. As the Para-mails approached the Singular, the blue and green machines drew their rifles. The red one however, moved out in front of them and beckoned them to stand down as Salia charged. She opened fire but the red machine shot out of the way, easily dodging her bullets as she gave chase. "Stop mocking me!"


As Salia continued to chase the red machine, Naomi and Vivian moved in on the other two. "Strider, let's take those two out," Naomi called. "For all we know they could have something like what caused that flash earlier."

"Got it!" Vivian saluted. "I'm taking the blue one!"

"Then green's mine!" The blue and green machines seemed to catch on to their intentions as the Halberd and Razor closed in. Stowing their rifles, the green machine drew a rod that extended out and produced a spearhead of energy from one end while the blue machine drew a pair of short swords. Naomi smirked as she drew her own machine's sword and slammed it into the Green unit's spear as she rushed in, the machines bolting off through the air in a clash of melee punctuated by bursts of fire from Naomi's rifle as she tried to go for a point-blank kill.

Across the sky, Vivian drew her boomerang and tossed it at her opponent, the weapon spinning through the air before being deflected by one of Blue's swords. Vivian fired at the Para-mail as it rushed her, the machine dodging past the burst of gunfire and moving in for a strike. Luckily, the boomerang came whirling back just in time for Vivian to catch it and block the sword before it could cleave into the cockpit. 'Weird…' Vivian hummed to herself as she split the boomerang into two short blades to match her opponent's weapon. 'The smell I'm getting from this one feels different. It's like a DRAGONs but… like ours too? What the heck is this?'


Salia was still struggling as she chased the red machine down. The more she tried, the more Jill's earlier words to her echoed in her mind. 'It's not true… none of that is true.' She thought. 'I've worked harder than anyone else! So why can't I do this?! What makes me and Ange so different?!' In the moment that she was hesitating, the red machine rushed in and landed a solid kick on Villkiss. Salia cried out as she went into an uncontrolled dive while inside Hilda's Glaive, Ange grit her teeth.

"Hilda, chase after her!" She ordered.

"Are you nuts?!" Hilda snapped. "This plan of yours really is that crazy! What are you even going to do?!"

"I'll jump over."

"Ehhhhhh?!" Hilda was shocked for a moment at the sheer gumption – and insanity – of such a thing being suggested. But then she gave a more amused look. "But that sounds like you. Hell, it sounds like a lot of us! I like it. Alright, hold on tight!" Hilda gunned the throttle and shot downwards. She was careful as she caught up to the Villkiss, being sure to line up the topsides of the two machines so the cockpit hatches would be near each other. It was lucky that Para-mails had somewhat standardized frame designs. And as they were catching up, Salia was doing everything she could to try and get Villkiss to move.

"Come on, move!" She demanded, tears in her eyes as she yanked at the controls. "Why won't you move?! You have to! If you don't… I can't help Alektra… I won't be able to keep up with Alain. Move!"

"Go for it, Princess!" Hilda called out once she got her Glaive in position. Ange nodded and dropped down as Hilda opened the hatch, falling right through it. Ange flipped herself over as she descended, managing to grab a hold of the edge near the cockpit hatch. Once she found the emergency release, Ange pulled it hard, dropping in as soon as the hatch opened enough for her to slide through.

"There we go. Move aside a bit will you?" Ange reached around Salia to grab the controls. To her surprise, there was hardly a response from the captain as Ange pried her hands away.

"It's pointless." Salia muttered. "We're past the drop point, we can't pull out of this. We're finished."

"The hell we are!" Ange countered as she pulled the lever to shut the hatch as she took a full hold of the controls. As Ange forced herself into the main seat, Salia's despondent look shifted when Villkiss powered back on. Ange yanked the controls and got Villkiss parallel to the water as it arced down, causing the machine to splash through the top of the surf before coasting along and rising back out with a tremor that rocked the entire machine. "Whew that was rough! Too bad the hatch is closed. I could have used a bath"

"What the… it…" As Salia was looking the console over, she looked up when the cockpit hatch opened again. And then Ange started lifting her up. "W-What are you doing?!"

"Getting you out of my way. Hilda!" Ange called out, a shocked Hilda appearing on the video view. "Come and catch her!"

"What a minute, what?!" Hilda screamed as she saw Salia get tossed right out of the Villkiss and into the air. 'Damn that crazy bitch!' Hilda cursed as she rushed over and transformed into Destroyer mode, being sure to match the fall speed so that Salia would fall into it's hand as gently as she could. Hilda didn't feel relaxed through, careful to draw the hand close as she opened her cockpit from the front. She frowned as Salia looked at her with a mix of shock and disbelief. "Don't look at me like that! She barely explained anything to me! Now get in before we get attacked! I'm not telling Alain you bit it because Ange did something crazy! You hear that Princess?! I'm charging you extra for this one!"

"I'll pay you back once we're done here!" Ange answered. Her eyes locked onto the red machine that almost seemed to be waiting for her. "Alright then Villkiss, let's go!"


"Alain." Wyvern spoke up again as Alain's clash with the mystery machine continued. He'd been focusing on the fight as much as he could, but Alain got near distracted when he saw Vivian and Naomi engage the blue and green machines, much less whatever was going down when Salia had given chase to the red one. He hadn't caught anything else in the meantime since he had to keep his eyes on his own foe. "I can confirm that Ange is piloting Villkiss again. Hilda has Salia with her and… do you want the report of how it happened?"

"Later!" Alain said, swerving past another shot from the beam cannons. "How many shots do those damn things have?!"

"As it is running on ND Drives like the Wyvern… as many as needed." Wyvern said, Alain groaning as he rolled his eyes. "Also, particle levels are back at maximum. ARISE System is usable again."

"Good to know!" Alain growled as their beam sabers collided again. And since the sound only line from before was still opened, he saw a chance. "Answer me, will you? What's going on here? Who the hell are you people and where did you get those machines?!"

"I could ask you the same question." The pilot replied. "I am rather curious about it. That machine of yours has existed for far longer than you would think. How did something like it come into your hands?"

"None of your damn business!"

"And you're asking me to tell you how we got ours without exchanging? I suppose I shouldn't expect less from your kind."

"Shove it!"

Alain broke the saber lock and fired his beam rifle. His opponent countered with his own, the beam shots colliding with a flash. Alain winced as he felt a throb in his head. Something felt fuzzy now, and there was a dull echo, like something was coming to him. 'What the hell? Why does my head feel like this?'

"Trigger, you alright over there?" Naomi's hail drew Alain out of the sudden haze. He dared to look off, spotting the Halberd and Razor as they zipped through the air. It had to say something about how these mysterious Para-mails performed, as they were keeping up with the two experimental Para-mails easily, a feat Alain could only say the Wyvern and Villkiss could manage.

"Well, looks like those two are having some fun at the least." The pilot of the twin-drive machine mused. "And it seems the actual pilot of that one can keep up with her Highness just fine."

"Are we supposed to be fighting or not?" Alain grumbled. But he drew his eyes to the Villkiss and the red machine as well. They flew at the same speeds, darting past gun fire and exchanging swipes of their blades as they turned and banked through the air. The red machine brought its rifle to bear as Villkiss rolled past the red beam and to get in close, kicking the machine away and back towards the Singular.

Kaze ni yukan el ragna todorokishi tsubasa.

"Crap!" Alain grit his teeth as the same singing from before started again, the red machine glowing gold as the apertures on its shoulders reopened. "Ange be careful! That thing's about to fire! Get out of the way!"

"The song…?" Ange barely heard Alain over her own thoughts as she stared at the glowing machine. And then an idea came to her. Another crazy one. 'It's different, but it does sound similar… it's a gamble, but…' And so, she started to sing herself.

The light of the beginning sparkles... sparkles...
The light of the end... Lulala lila

As Ange's own song rang out, Villkiss began to shift as well and Alain's eyes widened as the machine began to glow gold, the shoulder armor opened into apertures similar to the red machine and charging in time with its opponent. 'No way…' Alain thought. 'She's actually doing it.'

"Everyone get back!" Alain shouted. "If you're near the Villkiss or the red enemy pull away now!"

The god will not return to us
The hourglass
In which time overflows.
Lulala lila


From the emergency command center, Jill and Leon had rushed to the viewing window as soon as both songs began to carry out. Both were looking through binoculars at the sight, and Jill lowered hers as her eyes widened.

"Is that…"

"The girl's actually doing it." Leon murmured. "Villkiss is waking up."

The flames of hundreds of millions of lives
Fall smoothly, and become stars.


"If Trigger said get back then let's get moving!" Hilda shouted. As if sensing the danger themselves, the green and blue units broke off their attack, giving Vivian and Naomi the chance to pull away as well. Salia looked across as Hilda retreated from the oncoming blast. 'Is this what they meant?' she wondered as Vilkiss began to glow. 'Is this what Ange can do that I can't?' she thought. A new kind of pain came to Salia, and she let out a sad laugh as she slumped into Hilda's lap.


Flowing, flowing, they are beautiful,
And then once again, in the cradle of life and death,
They froth softly.

The duet finally reached a crescendo and both machines fired. Alain shut his eyes as the collision of the Discord Phasers brought forth a blinding flash of light before things became oddly still. Finally, Alain opened his eyes and all around him he saw an endless expanse of stars and light. And somehow, right next to him was the Villkiss.

"What in the… Ange?! What the hell is this?"

"You tell me!" Ange snapped. "And what the hell are you doing here?!"

"I'm not the one who caused it you did!" Alain countered.

"Your teamwork is somewhat lacking," someone interrupted. Alain and Ange both looked toward the twin-drive machine as it and the red machine appeared in front of them. "By pure chance we were caught up in the space-time collision. Or perhaps our machines resonated with Enryugo and the Ragna-mail."

"Tell me…" A young woman's voice spoke next. "Why does a false citizen know the True Star Song? And why is it one of you flies the Missing Machine?"

"Oh great, another one." Alain grumbled. "If you two wanna know so badly why not come out first?" He wasn't actually expecting them to do so, but the cockpits of both machines opened up. And both Alain and Ange felt a cold spike go through them as they saw the pilots rise out into view.

From the red machine came a girl with black hair, blue eyes, and dressed in a revealing pink tunic. A red gem hung from a circlet on her forehead and a pair of antennae like earrings famed her face. From the tjwin drived machine emerged a boy with dark blonde hair, split in parts by what looked like smooth red horns curving back from the crown of his head, his eyes a calm green and attire a dark orange and grey like his machine. From the bow of Villkiss, the hatch opened and Ange emerged to meet them.

"And who are you?" she demanded as Alain joined the party, the pilot of the twin drive machine narrowing his eyes as if expecting them to attack.. "What is that song?!" Before either of the enemy pilots could answer, the space around them flashed. And amid the wall of stars and light, the space around the four became filled with images. Different lands, different worlds, perhaps, and in each image the four of them and people Alain and Ange knew were also there. 'Just what the… none of this is making any sense.' Alain thought, unable to make heads or tails of the successive images they were seeing when an alarm suddenly buzzed from the console of the red machine.

"Well, it seems time draws short." The girl said.

"Then the mission is a failure," The boy commented, both dropping back into their machines and pulling back.

"You're going to leave just like that?!" Alain shouted.

"Hold on a second!" Ange shouted.

"The truth is with Aura." The girl said. As Ange and Alain stared at the two machines, the space flashed again and they were once more back in the skies above Arzenal, the singular closing while the enemy Para-mails and remaining Schooners fell back to the other side.

"The enemy is retreating." Pamela broadcast. Alain sighed and dropped back into the cockpit. At this point he was too frazzled to notice it anyway.

"This is all kinds of a mess…" Alain muttered, putting a hand to his head.

"The truth is with Aura? The hell does that mean?" Ange murmured.

"Who knows?" Alain muttered. "But… at this point there's going to be a lot to tell all of you. No use hiding it after all of this."

"Hopefully now Jill will stop screwing around," Ange said. "Because I have a lot of questions."


To say Leon was feeling like he'd seen enough shocking things to last a lifetime was something that by now felt like an understatement. 'First Alain stops Discord Phasers with Wyvern. Then Ange uses Villkiss's own set, the one thing Alektra never managed. This is way too big to not tell Big Boss about.'

"So… that's what we needed." Jill muttered, lighting a cigarette as she turned. "That song."

"Jill… you know I can't go and keep this a secret from Dission, right?" Leon said, Jill ignoring him as he put a hand on her shoulder. "The girl awakened Villkiss. This has officially become bigger than anything personal you could have against us."

"Has it?" Jill questioned, letting out a drag of smoke. "Why should I let you reveal it? I could toss you into the cells right now."

"You won't." Leon countered. "Jill… no, Alektra, you know they need to know about this. You can't hide this. All eyes are going to be on Arzenal now and you won't be able to handle it for long if they do something."

"We'll see about that." Jill shrugged Leon's hand away and left the room. Leon turned back towards the Para-mail coming back in as his fist clenched not from tension but actual hope. 'What happened today… those two together just might be able to break this cycle we've been trapped in.'


"Man that was nuts!" Rosalie groaned, letting out a sigh of relief. With the battle over, the all clear had been given to return to base and all Rosalie wanted was to spend the rest of the day soaking in the onsen. Hopefully it wasn't wrecked. "How did we even make it through? Talk about getting bailed out in the clench."

"Sucks we had to be saved by her but… honestly I don't care right now." Chris stated. "I'm just glad to be alive!"

"What Alain and Ange did, it was really impressive." Ersha said. "Vivian and Naomi were amazing too. I can't believe you took on those two enemy Para-mail."

"They were nuts!" Vivian laughed. "But also… weird. I got a scent from them I normally don't. You think we might get a chance to fight them again?!"

"Who knows?" Naomi chuckled. "If we get a chance I definitely want to analyze the things. Hey, Hilda, how's Salia holding up?"

"Not sure." Hilda said, glancing over at Salia as she kept staring off at the Villkiss. "You look out of it, Captain."

"Of course I am." Salia muttered, sinking down again and leaning back against the cockpit's wall. "That was the real Villkiss. Hehe… Jill was right."

"And now you're talking nonsense." Hilda sighed. "Oi! Ange, Alain, quit staring off into space and get your butts back here! I gotta chew both of you out for being idiots!"

"Can it wait?" Alain replied, Wyvern lowering down with Villkiss. "I'm just… tired. We should probably all just take the rest of the day off." As the others agreed, Alain looked past Hilda's face on his monitor towards Salia. 'She just looks defeated now. But, maybe it'll be for the best. She might be able to finally move on.' He could only hope that would be what would come to pass from this.

"Hey Hilda," Salia suddenly said.

"Yeah?"

"You stink."


With evening rolling around, Jill was overlooking the extent of the damage done from the attack. 'I have to admit, we're lucky Alain pulled that new feature out of his ass.' She thought as she looked across the gouges in the plateau. 'If we'd taken a direct hit we'd have likely lost half the island.'

"Well, good thing we avoided a complete disaster." Maggy said as she walked up from behind, her tone lacking her usual casualness. "But unfortunately we have a problem."

"I'm listening," Jill hummed.

"The plant took damage." Maggy said, making Jill's attention perk up. "If her supply runs out…"

"We'll burn that bridge when we cross it." Jill grimaced.

"Jill, we really should take Leon's offer." Maggy urged.. "I'm serious. It'll take too long to get the plant and our production facilities running again. CROSS has resources we don't. And we both know Embryo is going to…"

"We'll deal with it on our own."

"Why are you being so damn stubborn!?" Maggy demanded. "We need CROSS's help! And with Alain and Ange awakening Wyvern and Villkiss, we have an even better chance than we did ten years ago. So why are you saying no?"

"I have my reasons," Jill said. "If you doubt my judgement, you're more than free to switch teams." Maggie cursed under her breath and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Jill's obstinance was going to be the death of her.

"You really know how to hit someone where it hurts don't you? I've followed you this long but you'd better be right about this." Jill bitterly smirked as she turned and walked away. For all her quirks, Maggie had been one of her most reliable allies. It was what made her so easy for Jill to manipulate. 'He and I really are no different,' she mused.

"Just be prepared if something does happen. Make sure to tell Alain to be careful of it too. She is his responsibility after all."

"I will." Maggy sighed as she turned back to the damage done to Arzenal. 'We're going to have our work cut out for us later,' she thought. She could only imagine what else she would need to do on top of attending to anyone who was already wounded. 'And even worse I don't know how long we'll have before it wears off. Damn, if only we could've perfected it.'