The Exeter Project

by Shadow0Fire

After the untimely destruction of America's rampaging I.S, the Gospel, the nation lost all privileges to own Infinite Stratos tech. It's new project, Exeter, carries the dream of a new breed of aerial ingenuity, and with it, the mission to become ruler of the skies for the USA. Only two things stand in the way of this dream; the I.S. Academy, and the heart of Exeter's own pilot.

7. Cross Your Swords, For Science

This chapter might represent one of the bigger changes to the original story, as far as revisions are concerned. At the very least, it will have the addition of things that flat out didn't happen before, though I suppose the last chapter had a little bit of that as well. Still, this one has more of it.

Ultimately, it doesn't change the overarching story beats, but it does add more substance to them, in the long run.

Also, there's an important note here that should probably be said. I'm altering the way Byakushiki's Reiraku Byakuya works from canon. Mostly because it didn't make any fucking sense in canon. Case in point:

In canon, Ichika's special move is to use a ton of shield power to make his sword go through I.S. shields. Because the sword then targets the pilot directly, the enemy I.S. has to denote all of its energy to the Absolute Defense, and that includes its shield energy. Thus, the shield energy hits zero, and Ichika wins. However, there are some big problems with this.

1: How come the sword can go through the normal shield, but not the Absolute Defense shield? What makes one shield better than the other? It took energy from the first shield to even activate, so can it really be that much stronger?

2: Canon seems to have forgotten the Absolute Defense even exists in later parts of the series. There are times in the show when Ichika or some other pilot takes a direct hit to their body, and there's no indication that any sort of "Absolute Defense" even manifested, despite the fact that the pilot was in direct danger.

Because of these weird discrepancies, I'm changing how the attack works in this story. Instead of the convoluted canon explanation, Ichika's Reiraku Byakuya will not bypass shields, but rather, do massive damage to them (more damage than nearly any shield could withstand). This way, the attack makes sense, and it still achieves the same end result as canon: the target's shields go to zero, and Ichika wins.

---

Ultimately, Church found nothing particularly beneficial that he could do the day he had eaten breakfast with Rin. After going back to his room to sleep for a few hours, he'd woken up in the evening and faced the same problem as before: there was nothing much he could do to further the mission. As before, he could hardly approach Houki without seeming suspiciously interested in her for no reason, and trying to simply break into her room while she was sleeping was still too risky to consider. Church would have had to infiltrate the dorms for that, which were already heavily populated. He also had no idea how light of a sleeper Houki was or what she did with Akatsubaki's standby form while she rested. And all of this was to say nothing about her roommate.

For now, Church was still settled on the long con: use the footing he already had with one of Houki's friends to give himself an excuse to be near her more often, thus creating opportunities to get what he needed. A perfectly viable, if not particularly speedy plan of action. The Commander had told him he had as much time as was needed to complete the objective, but he had also specified a desire for it to be done swiftly. That said, Church would wait until the man actually expressed a desire to expedite the process before taking any unnecessary risks.

Of course, that left him with little to do in the evening, at least in regards to his actual mission. He didn't have enough of a relationship with any of Houki's friends to approach them for no reason, not including Rin. But naturally, she was still in the infirmary and likely resting herself. Bothering her again so early would probably have just been suspicious.

With all of that being the case, Church had used the evening hours to accomplish some other important things: namely, going into the city that surrounded the Academy, exchanging some American currency for yen, and buying at least a few pairs of clothes. Ironically, Umbra Stratum hadn't actually prepared him for any of these small logistics details. Perhaps they had expected him to complete the mission in a mere day.

His inability to speak Japanese didn't pose much of a problem during the foray into the unknown. Aside from the fact that many people in Japan spoke decent English, Cerberus was also able to translate for him when needed, and you didn't actually need to communicate that much when buying stuff anyway. Take what you wanted to the counter, give the clerk the required sum of money, and walk out with a bag. That was the universal shopping experience for most of the world.

So at least one problem had been solved that day, and it was the last one before he simply went back to sleep, considering that he had nothing better to do. He still had a logistics problem in regards to the ability to shower, but that was an issue he saved for the next morning, when he once again found himself with Chifuyu and Kanzashi in the R and D room from the day before.

Today's exercise was a little different than the day before, in that the most basic of basic tests was out of the way. Now came some slightly more detailed tests focused on the specific capabilities of the suit. That said, Church's situation wasn't much different from the day before, because he was once again not required to be within the suit itself. He imagined that would change when more practical tests that involved flying and shooting were in question, but for now, the suit was undergoing more technical things that didn't require the pilot.

Exeter was once again hooked up to the apparatus that it had been before, and once again, Church and Chifuyu were at a desk while Kanzashi ran things in the booth. Apparently, the computational power and processing speed of the suit's computer system were being tested right now, and that just meant running all sorts of simulations, equations, and other tech mumbo jumbo through the suit's computer bits. Church had no idea how Cerberus could mask any of that information without raising suspicions, but at this point he had decided to trust the AI on that front.

All of this culminated in the fact that the room's occupants had time to talk, just like they had the day before. Only difference was that Chifuyu was preoccupied with some other matter entirely this morning. Her focus had been on a digital pad separate from the R and D computer. Other than directing Church on what they were going to do this time around, she hadn't said much to him.

Frankly, this left the young man with a bit of trepidation in speaking. There were certain types of people that you just didn't want to interrupt when they were busy. Chifuyu had that stern, professional appearance and demeanor, and she had already revealed how busy she was on a day to day basis. That made her one of those people.

Still, he did kind of have an important question to ask. He supposed he could ask Tatenashi instead since she kind of functioned as a guide around here, but she was prone to show up whenever she felt like, and Church didn't know when that would happen again. Asking Chifuyu was really his best option, even if it was kind of awkward. Still, he felt pretty tentative about it.

"Uh, Ms. Orimura...?"

Despite her focus on the tablet she was holding, Chifuyu responded to him immediately, though she didn't take her eyes off what she was doing. "Yes?"

"Sorry to bother you while you're doing something important, but there's something I need to ask."

With a sigh that seemed directed at her task more than him, Chifuyu placed her tablet on the desk so she could focus on Church. "It's nothing that important. Just trying to determine the match-ups for the individual division tournament today."

Despite the fact that he already had something to talk about, Church couldn't help but be intrigued by this, especially since the tournament was something he was going to be attending.

"How do you go about doing that? Is it just based off of previous tournaments? Or do you have to consider the specifics of the competitors?"

Apparently, Chifuyu forgot that he had opened this conversation with a completely different question as well, because she ignored it to answer what he had asked now.

"A bit of both, really. It's not that everyone is ranked per se: there are different pilot ratings that denote how skilled or capable a pilot is supposed to be. Normally that would determine who faces who, but strictly following those ratings ignores a number of important factors that would lead to meaningful matches. Ratings aren't everything to begin with."

"That makes sense. Any particular examples?"

Chifuyu folded her arms as she directed her gaze at some corner of the ceiling. She seemed to do that a lot. "Ms. Shinonono is a prime example. As of right this moment, she is classified as a S-rank pilot: the best of the best. That couldn't be further from the truth. She has that rank due almost entirely to Akatsubaki, which is arguably the best Infinite Stratos unit in existence right now. Shinonono herself was only a Class C pilot prior to receiving Akatsubaki from her sister. That's not the lowest class in the rankings, but it virtually is: anything lower than that would never be realistically considered by organizations as a potential pilot."

Unlike Chifuyu, Church kept his focus on her, since she wasn't looking at him anyway. If he had a free opening to inwardly gawk at her beauty without suspicion, he wasn't going to let it pass him by. Not that it distracted him from the topic at hand.

"Sorry, could you break down these ranks for me? What exactly does it mean to be a C-Class pilot versus an S-Class one? I understand that S-Class is better, but how do they judge that?"

His older conversation partner didn't seem to mind his inquiry. Maybe she thought it reasonable that he didn't know about this somewhat niche aspect of the I.S. world. It didn't make much of a difference to outsiders, after all.

"These ranks are just an easy way to designate the skill brackets pilots fall into by percentile. A pilot's ability is judged by many things; performance in real battle, previous ranks in other tournaments, the level of practical and theoretical knowledge they have, as well as the actual capabilities of their machines. E-Class is the bottom of the barrel, being within the 25th percentile at maximum. D-Class goes up to the 50th. Neither of these ranks is high enough for any serious organization to even consider signing on that pilot. I.S. are just too valuable to be distributed to the lower half of pilot aptitude."

While that made sense to him, Church found it incredible that such a huge margin was considered hopeless in the world of Infinite Stratos. To think that being anywhere in the bottom 50% meant you were entirely screwed. It was pretty cutthroat, this business. Since he didn't say anything, Chifuyu continued her condensed explanation.

"C-Class is the lowest class any organization would even consider taking seriously, and it goes up to the 70th percentile. It's pretty simple from there on out: B-Class is between the 70th and 80th percentile, A the 80th and 90th, and S anywhere above that. Naturally, pilots with a higher class are much more valuable to the various organizations around the world recruiting pilots."

Since he was pretty focused on the conversation, it didn't take Church long to pinpoint a seeming problem with this whole setup. "Hold on, I get Class ratings based on pilot skill and all, but you said even the capability of a pilot's machine factored into that rating. How is that fair? Doesn't that obscure the reality of how good a pilot really is?"

Chifuyu nodded as she finally directed her gaze back down to her conversational partner. "Exactly. Like I said, Shinonono was moved to S-rank based solely on the capabilities of Akatsubaki. Her entire rating is dependent on what it can do, not what she can do. Without it, she's an entirely average pilot. And yet, Bodewig, who has been thoroughly trained in the use of cutting edge I.S. by the military for several years, is only a Class-A pilot. Incorporating the capabilities of the I.S. completely skews an objective understanding of a pilot's capabilities."

Church couldn't help but wonder if he was the only one in this school that actually had Chifuyu talk to them this much. Not including the students getting lectures, of course. She seemed to be a rather taciturn person, but she did have a lot to say if someone asked the right questions. She continued having something to say about this topic.

"This is especially vital to consider since many pilots will not always fly the I.S. they were initially rated in. No one would throw away the Akatsubaki considering how amazing it is, but theoretically, a country that took on Shinonono as their Representative could have her fly a different I.S. entirely, and then what happens? She goes back to being a much more average pilot."

Shaking her head, the older woman glanced back down at the tablet she had placed on the desk.

"All of this, in total, makes it somewhat difficult to determine who should face who in the tournament. Ranks don't really determine who would be a fair opponent for each other, and that's to say nothing about the actual machine match-ups. I could place Alcott against Shinonono, but that wouldn't really be a fair representation of skill for either of them. A long range specialist I.S. in a confined space against the fastest I.S. in the world, with heavy melee specialization and unknown shield regeneration abilities? It's not even a contest."

While he certainly didn't know everything about Akatsubaki (that was why he was here, after all), based on what little Church did know, it was understandable that its existence threw a big wrench into proceedings like this, which probably frustrated people like Chifuyu immensely. In a controlled one on one environment, Akatsubaki had every single advantage. Church couldn't imagine that it was a fair competition for anyone to face it.

Of course, real combat wasn't fair, and one shouldn't expect it to be. However, an organized tournament wasn't real combat. It was supposed to give all contestants a fair shake at representation. Kind of hard to do when one of those contestants had an I.S. that far outstripped all of the others in every conceivable way.

"Sounds like a hassle. I don't suppose you can just leave Shinonono out of the tournament?"

"That would deprive her of opportunities to gain experience. It's not exactly her fault that the Akatsubaki is so powerful, and she doesn't deserve to be punished for it. It just makes this much more of a headache for me, especially since Huang went and got herself hurt. I considered her the best option for facing Shinonono today, until that happened."

For Church's part, he was honestly surprised by this. Not that he assumed Rin to be a bad pilot or anything, since she was clearly very skilled to be a Representative Candidate and all, but Chifuyu had been considering her as the closest fair match to the unparalleled Akatsubaki? He had to know the logic behind that one.

"Not to speak ill of her, but I have to say, that surprises me. She was the best option?"

Chifuyu shrugged as she tapped a few digital buttons on her tablet. "Huang is certainly the second best in melee combat after Shinonono, so it stands to reason she would fare the best against her. Lots of people would probably assume Ichika was her second, but even though he's shaken off a lot of rust with his swordsmanship since attending the Academy, Huang's been training with her Shen Long and its melee capabilities for years. And that's to say nothing about the likelihood of Ichika wasting all of his energy in an all or nothing attack against a foe that can feasibly regenerate from that blow."

Figuring that Chifuyu probably had a better understanding of her students and their capabilities than he did, Church accepted that answer for what it was. Maybe Rin would be happy to hear that she was considered second best in this regard: or maybe she'd be insulted by the notion. He had no idea. While he was pondering that, Chifuyu apparently remembered that Church had initially had another question.

"By the way, didn't you have something to ask?"

Reminded of the somewhat awkward question he had to ask before the rest of this conversation had come up, Church figured it was best to just bite the bullet. Chifuyu seemed like a very practical woman. He highly doubted she was going to make anything weird of such a question. Honestly, Church felt kind of presumptuous for even assuming she would be flustered in any way by it.

"Yeah, um... about the amenities situation, I don't mean to complain, but... showers?"

Chifuyu leveled a somewhat blank look at Church for a moment, seemingly not grasping the meaning of his interrogative. However, that only lasted a moment as a slight but definitely noticeable expression of realization dawned on her features.

"Ah... my apologies. It seems I made a major oversight in preparing for your arrival."

"It's no big deal: you didn't have a lot of time to prepare, right? Plus I'm sure there's a lot of hassle in having a male outside of the student body encroach on what is virtually an all female campus."

"Well, I won't deny that last part. Still, it's shameful to have a representative from another country faced with a problem such as this at a world-class institution. Hmm..."

The older woman was clearly wracking her brain for an answer to his problem, made evident by her finger tapping on the desk. However, after more than a few moments of thought, it was clear that no solutions were immediately dawning on her. Considering that she had just revealed her conundrum revolving around the tournament that was only a few hours away, Church figured that some leniency on his part wasn't completely out of the question.

"If you need a little time, it's not like this is a particularly pressing issue. It doesn't have to be taken care of right this second."

Chifuyu actually frowned at this, perhaps displeased with the notion of leaving such an oversight unattended, but ultimately she figured there was no value in sitting here and pondering until she could find a solution. She'd likely be able to come up with something later, while going about the day's normal business.

"I won't say it doesn't displease me to leave a mistake like this uncorrected, but I suppose just sitting here and thinking about it isn't that helpful either. I promise to have a solution for you before the day ends."

"That's all I can ask for."

With that tangent seemingly drawn to a close, Church wondered what he should talk about next, or if he should speak at all since Chifuyu apparently had things to focus on. Then again, he didn't get much of a chance to think about it, because Kanzashi's voice came over the speakers.

"Sensei, there's only a few minutes left until the time we decided to conclude today's testing. I don't think there will be enough time to do much else once the next few computations are complete."

Church cocked an eyebrow as he turned his attention to a digital clock on a far wall, after which he focused on Chifuyu with the same confusion. "I thought this was something we were doing two hours a day? It's only been one."

Closing some windows on her tablet, Chifuyu offered him some clarity on this. "There's an exception today since Sarashiki there will be participating in the tournament as well. She needs some time to prepare for it just like everyone else, so we're cutting the session short today. I apologize for the extension to your purpose here that this delay creates."

While he had to admit that this didn't do much good for him since he wasn't supposed to meet up with Rin for several hours still, Church figured there was no point in complaining about it. Mostly because Chifuyu was a very difficult person to complain to. Aside from the capability to muster a truly harrowing glare, the elder Orimura also seemed like someone who almost always had to put up with more shit than you, which made complaining seem like bad taste.

"Well, I hate to cut our time short and all, but I guess I'll accept this gracefully."

A minor expression of confusion made it clear that Chifuyu found his words odd. "I didn't think you were the type to enjoy sitting around for tests."

"It's not really because of the tests..."

With Chifuyu focusing on the headset she wore to address Kanzashi right as Church said that, it seemed that she had missed his meaning overall, which was probably for the best. Maybe it was a tad presumptuous to imply that he was eager to spend time with her because she was beautiful. Not to mention kind of shallow. Either way, Chifuyu missed his words and focused on the ones she was saying to Kanzashi.

"Alright, Sarashiki, wrap up the last few computations and we'll call it a day. Be sure to send me the data before you go."

The addressed girl's voice came back over the intercom without delay. "Will do, Sensei."

Since it was obvious that they were all about to leave, Church went ahead and rose from his chair. "The tournament today is going to be held at the arena, right?"

Chifuyu didn't rise, but by the motions she was making on her tablet and the fact that she had removed her headset made it obvious that she was preparing to leave as well.

"That it is. Will you be watching?"

"I plan on it. Although, you didn't actually tell me about it until today, you know?"

The expression that crossed Chifuyu's face made it obvious that this information actually surprised her. "It must have slipped my mind. I apologize."

"Eh, forget about it. With how much you apparently have to do every day, I'm not really surprised that some things slip the mind from time to time."

"What a polite way of calling me forgetful."

Since there was a lack of ire or displeasure in her voice or her expression, Church swiftly deduced that she wasn't actually offended. "My point was really more about not holding you to ridiculous standards."

For a moment, there was the briefest of smiles on the woman's face. "That'd be a nice change of pace..."

Intrigued by what she meant by that, Church waited for some sort of elaboration, but ultimately she didn't provide any, moving on from the thought entirely as she got up from her chair too.

"Well, Sarashiki has sent me the data from today's tests. Feel free to take your suit back. Do you know how to get into the arena when the tournament starts?"

While disappointed to not get more detail about what she had said, Church figured he was better off not pushing his luck. "Rinin offered to watch with me. I'm assuming she knows everything I'd need to know."

Chifuyu cocked an eyebrow at him. "You managed to get on Huang's good side surprisingly quickly."

Church didn't know if she was actually questioning his motives in befriending Rin, but he highly doubted it, for a variety of reasons. That being the case, he simply shrugged.

"I credit it to my irresistible charm."

He was a little worried that a straight laced woman like Chifuyu would find his humor appalling, but she did grin, slight as it was. "Or maybe she's just desperate for attention."

With that, the older woman made for the door, leaving Church to feign injury as he held a hand up to his chest.

Oh, are we truly already at the stage where we can exchange playful insults? What a surprise.

Picking up on his satisfaction with this notion, Cerberus spoke up for the first time since the testing session started. Sometimes Church wondered if the task at hand was actually a draw on its processing power.

Operator, please do not be so satisfied by the notion of camaraderie with our targets. They are means to an end, nothing more.

I like to think of myself as someone capable of multi tasking. Leave my satisfaction out of your calculations for the mission, would you?

Church noticed Kanzashi leaving her booth and heading for the door as well, with hardly a glance in his direction. As far as getting to know anyone was concerned, she didn't really seem to care to get familiar with him. Church wasn't too bummed about that: not that he disliked her, but she wasn't really his type. Despite his partially divided attention, he didn't miss Cerberus' response to what he had said a moment ago.

I cannot exclude my knowledge of your personal feelings from my predictions of mission success, Operator.

Frowning, Church walked towards the Exeter suit, which was no longer hooked up to any machines, but still standing in the construction frame that it had made use of the day before. He didn't recall it immediately, merely gazing at its peerless black visor. It offered no reflection.

I'm almost worried about the answer to this, but what exactly do you do if you don't agree with my course of action, Cerberus?

I inform you that I do not condone it, as you have seen, Operator.

Mentally issuing the command for Exeter to dematerialize, Church kept up his mental conversation even as the suit was bathed in a whitish blue light.

That's it? Is there no point at which you would attempt to intervene? Report me to HQ, or something?

If you were to intentionally deviate from your mission, I would of course take action to return your focus to the objective, or report you to Umbra Stratum command for their instruction. However, your misguided pleasure with fraternization is not a deviation from the mission. It is merely a potential problem that has yet to manifest. Until such a time that it poses a meaningful hindrance to our cause, my efforts are better spent assisting you than being at odds, Operator.

Making for the doorway of the R and D room, Church admitted how that made him feel.

Honestly, that's somewhat comforting. You're oddly tolerant and accommodating for a machine, Cerberus.

Tolerance and accommodation are notable human traits that improve my cooperative efficiency with them. Nothing more, Operator.

Immediately regretting the fact that he had given the AI any credit, Church stepped out into the hall, which was empty save for Kanzashi disappearing around a corner. In what was becoming an oddly common situation around here, he had a problem: there were still several hours between now and when he was supposed to meet up with Rin, and he didn't have anything particularly noteworthy to fill that time with. Thankfully (or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it), Cerberus intruded on his thoughts once again to offer a solution.

Operator, might I suggest we do something conducive to our mission?

Alright, fine. What do you have in mind?

---

A few hours later, Church found himself walking towards the infirmary. Having followed the advice of Cerberus, he had spent the time between then and now digging through any information that could be accessed from local points around the Academy. Unfortunately, nothing of import had been revealed from that avenue of investigation, not that Church or Cerberus were surprised. The idea of finding sensitive data on Akatsubaki in easily accessible networks had been a long shot at best, but the attempt had hardly hurt them in any way.

Besides, even if the likelihood of finding valuable information had been exceedingly low, the fact that they were doing something potentially conducive had appeased Cerberus, who likely would have berated Church for wasting time otherwise. When everything was said and done, Church was moderately more knowledgeable on a bunch of things that didn't matter at all, and he had only sacrificed a few hours of his life. Now, he was free to meet up with Rin at the infirmary, something he was happy about for a variety of reasons.

Naturally, the idea of spending a day with a cute girl he was kind of friendly with put a smile on his face, even if Rin had been very clear about the fact that it wasn't a date. On the other hand, he was actually pretty excited to watch a competition of this nature. Church had fought against simulations of Infinite Stratos units before, but they were just that: simulations. Holographic projections of how a computer assumed the machines and their pilots would act. It just wasn't the same as seeing the actual units in action.

He was interested in all of this for practical reasons, naturally: gathering data was his primary reason for being here, and firsthand recordings and analysis of the I.S. in combat certainly fell within that category. But he also liked the idea of giant aerial mechs duking it out from a purely superficial standpoint. Of course, there was some distant third consideration, that being the possibility that this data would come in handy if he had to really fight to the death with anyone here, but that was a hopefully irrelevant and farfetched possibility.

With most of the student body already at or heading to the arena for the tournament, Church was able to make his way through the halls mostly unmolested. He still got looks from some stragglers, but Tatenashi had apparently done a good job of putting the fear of God into the other students at some point: most of them looked worried about what would happen if they actually approached him or spoke to him.

Church wasn't necessarily happy to have that notion tied to his identity, but on the other hand, it would probably be for the best in the long run. He didn't have time to offer his attention and friendship to the no doubt very high number of girls here who would have wanted it. He needed to zero in on a small number of people, preferably ones who were close to Shinonono, for obvious reasons.

Which of course, led him to this moment, opening the door to the infirmary to see if Rin was ready to go. In hindsight, he probably should have knocked, but it wasn't like anything untoward was going on in the room.

Rin was sitting on the edge of her cot, with the nurse tightening the sling her broken arm was in. Presumably, they were at the end of a physical checkup on Rin's status. Frankly, Church wanted to comment about how surprised he was to actually find the nurse there for once, but decided against it for the sake of politeness. As Rin and the nurse glanced at the door to identify him, he chose to focus on the person he actually cared about.

"I'd say you look better, but really, you look pretty much the same that you did yesterday."

The brunette offered him a mildly irritable frown in response. "What, were you expecting a miracle overnight?"

"Considering how well off you are mere days after your horrific accident, it wouldn't be too farfetched for you to get a second or even third miracle, would it?"

"Hey, just because I lived doesn't mean I'm in an enviable position, you know?"

Ignoring their banter and focusing on her job, the nurse seemingly finished whatever assessment she was making and stepped away from Rin's arm. "You're good to go for now, Huang. Just don't let anyone jostle your arm out there and you should be fine."

Church chimed in, since the two of them were verbally sparring to some extent. "Don't worry, I'll shield her bad side with my life."

Rising from the cot, Rin stepped towards him, one free arm on her hip. "I don't have a bad side. Every angle is equally amazing. One side is just undergoing renovations, that's all. Now come on, we're going to miss the beginning of the first match if we don't move it."

His female companion gave the nurse a parting wave before ushering Church out of the room and taking the lead down the hall. Apparently she really was in a rush, though Church could understand why: as a pilot who was supposed to be participating in this competition, she was probably keen to learn how skilled all of her enemies were. Maybe that was why she grumbled along the way.

"Hard to really be excited when I just have to sit around and watch, honestly..."

With Rin moving at a mild jog, Church had no choice but to match her pace, not that it was a problem for him. "Look at it this way: you'll probably gain a lot of insight into everyone's strengths and weaknesses, since you'll have an outsider's point of view the whole time. It's easy to lose objective perspective when you're actually participating."

As best as Church could tell, Rin didn't seem particularly convinced. "If you say so."

With the power of elevators, it didn't take long for the duo to reach the ground floor, especially considering that they weren't that high up to begin with. Once they actually got out of the tower itself, Rin kicked her pace up to brisk jog that really prevented them from talking with ease. Church didn't really mind, since he figured there would be plenty of time for talking when they were at the stadium.

On the other hand, he actually found it a little odd, having to jog somewhere. By becoming the operator of the Exeter suit, he'd mostly been free to fly anywhere if a mildly long distance was in question. Felt kind of weird having to be so pedestrian as relying on jogging when in a hurry.

Expansive as the Academy's grounds were, Church and Rin made it to the stadium in just a few minutes. There were some other students milling into the large dome building, but it was obvious that most of the student body had already made it inside. Well, that would make getting in easier, though Church imagined finding a seat might be a different problem altogether.

The duo was forced to go stand in a brief line in order to go through a security check that amounted to little more than walking through some sort of scanner. Rin complained about how unnecessary it was, but Church frankly found it hard to believe that this was the extent of the security measures around here. It was true that the I.S. Academy had rarely been subjected to a catastrophic attack, but the Silver Gospel incident had been an extension of an attack on this place. One would think they would step up security at one of the most important institutions in the whole world after such a fiasco.

Granted, maybe the existence of several dozen pilots with ownership of the world's most powerful weapons was security enough in itself. Either way, the scanner Church had to go through didn't detect the chip that currently housed Cerberus and the digitized Exeter suit, or at least, they didn't address it if it was detected. Soon enough, Rin was leading him up into the stands, deflecting some curious questions and glances from her fellow students as she did so. Church heard someone ask about whether or not she was on a date, but he pretended not to. The venomous glare Rin offered that girl made it obvious that doing so was the right choice.

Surprisingly, there was plenty of space to choose from in the stadium, which Church hadn't been expecting. He knew it was a pretty large stadium, but he hadn't expected only about half of it to be needed for the whole student body, assuming that the whole student body was here. Maybe this was a case of building more than was needed just because you had the budget to do so. One way or another, Rin picked a somewhat secluded part of the stands that was higher up. The nearest fellow audience members were at least a dozen feet away, which Church felt the need to comment on.

"Is there something special about this spot or do you just not like any of your classmates?"

Rin gave him a look that expressed her lack of amusement with that line of questioning. Maybe he was teasing her a little too frequently, considering their very fresh relationship.

"I just don't want to be distracted. I'm here to watch the fights, after all."

"You don't want to be distracted, but you invited me to watch with you?"

This time, the girl have him a more quizzical look. "You're not going to spend the whole tournament blathering about things that aren't even related to it, right?"

"Well, no..."

"Good. I'm not saying I don't want any company, I just don't want to listen to some mindless rambling about shoes while the fighting is going on."

Church didn't know what to say to that, but ultimately, he didn't have to say anything, since a voice he recognized as Yamada's came out over various speakers at that moment.

"Good afternoon, everyone! Today's tournament is of the individual division variety, and will affect skill rankings for pilots with personal I.S.! For the first match, it's Charlotte Dunois, high B-Class Representative Candidate for France, versus Cecilia Alcott, A-Class Representative Candidate for the United Kingdom! Please give them your support!"

Church ignored the clapping and cheering from throughout the stadium to pose a question to Rin, since something said in that announcement surprised him. "Dunois is only a B-Class pilot? That doesn't sound right."

Before Rin even answered him, Cerberus accosted Church in his mind.

Operator, this was information clearly available in the dossiers you read before coming here. Have you forgotten this already?

There was a lot of information to take in about a lot of people, alright?

Naturally oblivious to this exchange, Rin answered the question Church had posed to him, though she kept her emerald gaze on the orange and blue I.S. units that had taken to the skies, separated from the audience by an energy shield.

"It's mostly 'cuz of her I.S., I think. It's a modded Gen Two platform, not a Gen Three like the rest of us or whatever the hell Houki has. Her modifications allow it to fight relatively evenly with us, but it's still just a modification of an older frame. It suffers from a lot of drawbacks that no amount of customization is going to make up for."

Church turned his attention to the fighting above as he took all that in. While he had plenty of information on the standard Rafael Revive II, there wasn't much on the one Charlotte operated, which wasn't much of a surprise since her model was personally modified. The fight had just started, but it was already going as one might expect: Cecilia was constantly reversing, trying to keep her enemy at range where they were least dangerous and she was most effective. Charlotte was trying to close the distance, but her I.S. lacked the raw speed advantage needed to do it, especially since she often had to move sideways to avoid her opponent's shots.

He had to wonder why Charlotte chose to fly a Gen Two I.S. when most of the world had moved on to Three. He knew the Rafael Revive was the flagship design of the Dunois company, but that didn't seem like a good enough reason. Was the Dunois company just not finished designing a Gen Three? If so, they were sure dragging their feet... but then again, maybe that had nothing to do with it at all. Maybe he'd ask Charlotte about it later, provided they were friendly enough to allow that. Not that he could envision her as anything other than friendly...

With both the laser rifle and the BITS of Blue Tears, it was obvious pretty quickly that Charlotte wasn't going to be able to get close to her opponent, which prompted the French blonde to manifest a sniper rifle of her own to trade long range shots with the enemy. This allowed an interesting comparison to be made for the audience: projectiles versus energy weapons.

Energy weapons had practically been nonexistent prior to Infinite Stratos, so many of the frames made use of them. In fact, it was a true rarity to see conventional projectile weapons like the ones Charlotte employed. There was a decent enough reason for that: projectiles didn't travel as fast as energy based weapons, and they weren't as accurate. They also required more hits to drain an I.S. shield. On the other hand, projectile weapons often had a much higher rate of fire. Sometimes, throwing more lead around was preferable to accurate, single shots.

Such was the dichotomy between the two combatants right now. Charlotte's sniper rifle had a higher rate of fire than Cecilia's, but Cecilia's had much better precision and accuracy. It also altered the firing patterns both of them used: Cecilia patiently waited for ideal moments to fire, knowing that her faster, more accurate shots would be difficult to evade in certain situations. Charlotte, on the other hand, would fire at Cecilia, but also use her superior rate of fire to shoot at the places she predicted Cecilia would dodge to.

Frankly, Church found the latter more impressive. But then again, Charlotte probably wouldn't have had to resort to tactics such as that if she had other options. Besides, while the blonde did manage to land a few shots like this, Cecilia was certainly hitting her a lot more. It was markedly more difficult to try and predict and lead a target as opposed to pulling the trigger at a time when the enemy couldn't dodge.

Rin watched the fight with one slender leg over the other, though she leaned towards Church so he could hear her even over the cacophony of the crowd and the gunfire.

"See, this is what I mean. Charlotte's I.S. is just lacking in many ways compared to Gen Three armaments. She doesn't have any sort of special ability other than having a lot of weapons, but none of them are particularly devastating or game changing. The rest of us all have some weapon that can dictate an entire fight, like Cecilia's rifle and her BITS... I guess it actually proves how good a pilot Charlotte is that she holds her own with a disadvantage like that."

Church was honestly a little surprised to see this analytical side of Rin, but maybe it should have been expected, since she was a pilot too. It made sense that this would be the thing she considered in such a light. Not that it was a bad thing. He kind of liked being able to talk shop with her.

"Maybe, but this could also just be a product of the forced scenario. Seems to me like her I.S. is designed to have an answer for everything, even if it's not the most effective answer one could have. More of a team-based design, than a duelist. Case in point, check that out."

Clearly aware that an extended shooting match against Cecilia of all people wasn't going to end in her favor, Charlotte had switched up her weaponry to an assault rifle in one hand and a shotgun in another. With these two weapons, she was actively pursuing Cecilia's BITS in an effort to destroy them. Without those, Cecilia's pressuring abilities would be drastically reduced, increasing Charlotte's odds of getting in close, where she had an advantage.

In a few moments, the blonde had run down and destroyed a BIT with a very tight blast from her shotgun. Now she was pursuing another, while deftly evading Cecilia's rifle shots as best she could. Church commented on the situation because he found it odd.

"It's so weird seeing a shotgun in air to air combat like this. Although, I can see why that's useful. Maybe she could upgrade to flak cannons or something, that would be pretty scary."

Rin nodded as she watched two missiles blast forward from Cecilia's I.S. "Yeah, that would probably help a lot in this kind of situation, wouldn't it? Then she wouldn't have to really fire all that accurately to do damage. I should recommend that next time we talk."

Church cocked an eyebrow at her. "Would you really help a potential opponent like that? She'd use them against you too, you know."

"Of course I'd help her improve her I.S. You never know when something crazy like the Gospel comes up again, and someone could die. We all need to be the best we can be for stuff like that. Besides, I could totally take her even if she had a weapon like that."

Church smiled at the vain smirk that crossed his companion's face, but it didn't distract him from the fight above. Charlotte blasted both the incoming missiles with her guns, but through the smoke, another laser from Cecilia lanced through the sky and hit her opponent's I.S. dead center. Apparently, this final shot was all that was needed to fully deplete Charlotte's shields, as made obvious by an airhorn and Yamada's voice over the speakers again.

"Match over! Cecilia Alcott wins!"

As the two airborne I.S. came down to the ground, Rin shook her head in dismay. "You know, I honestly feel kind of bad for Charlotte. Losing to Cecilia of all people is rough."

Based on the tone of her voice, Church could still that his companion was just mocking Cecilia for fun. Apparently the two of them did that to each other a lot.

"Well, in one on one fights like this, the match-up can make or break it. Without some sort of efficient counter to Cecilia's range advantage, you'd be hard-pressed to pull out a win in a one on one combat. You know, oddly enough, you would probably be the easiest fight for Charlotte..."

Rin was leveling a glare at him before he even finished saying that. "And just what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, I don't know everyone's machines as well as any of you do, but your Shen Long is a medium to close range combat type, right? Compared to everyone else, that would be the most manageable for her. Alcott has a massive range advantage, Bodewig can tank any direct attack, which would make it almost impossible for Dunois to deal damage in a one on one fight, and Shinonono, well... I barely know anything about it, but even based on the vague reports from the Gospel incident, her I.S. seems overpowered for anyone. Oh, I guess she'd be pretty advantaged in a fight against Orimura though."

His Chinese companion didn't seem entirely pleased with his assessment, though she didn't actually disagree with it. "You are seriously underestimating Shen Long's Dragon Cannons. They shoot invisible concussion rounds, you know? Combine that with its melee abilities and I'm one of the best duelists of the bunch! Houki doesn't count, with her bullshit hacker I.S.!"

Church shook his head, wondering if he should tell Rin that Chifuyu had apparently considered her the best match for Houki in a one on one fight. Maybe it would be best to avoid stroking her ego right now. Speaking of which, he wondered how Chifuyu had ultimately decided on the match ups here. Had she decided to randomize it, in the end?

The next match up, Laura Bodewig versus Kanzashi Sarashiki, seemed to support that notion. Considering that it wasn't a government approved armament, there wasn't really that much detail on Kanzashi's Uchigane Nishiki, but the name was all the information one needed: it was a customized Uchigane, which was a Generation Two platform, and a pretty basic one at that. If the matches had actually been planned out instead of randomized, wouldn't it have made sense for the two Generation Two I.S. to fight each other?

A comment from Rin made it clear how she felt about the situation, even though it was curt. "Well, this probably isn't going to be good."

"For Bodewig or Sarashiki?"

The brunette simply cocked an eyebrow at him, clearly feeling that clarification wasn't needed. Frankly, Church agreed, even though he had asked in the first place. He had barely spoken to Kanzashi, but he felt kind of bad for expecting a curb stomp battle, and not in her favor. It was just that, to the best of his knowledge, Laura was an extremely formidable opponent: she was ranked in the high A-Class, and her Schwarzer Regen was a downright menace, possessing exceptionally high defensive power, one of the strongest ranged weapons available on an I.S., and versatile melee weapons, all in the hands of an expert.

Church didn't know how good Kanzashi was or what her Uchigane Nishiki could do, but if he was forced to bet anything of value on the outcome of this fight, he would have put it on Laura without a second thought. Schwarzer Regen's only real weaknesses were below average mobility and the directional nature of it's Active Inertial Canceller, but those disadvantages didn't mean much in a one on one fight. Laura was almost invincible in any direction of her choosing, so the only option for a combatant that had to fight her alone was to somehow attack from multiple directions at once. Most I.S. weren't equipped to do that. Cecilia and her BITS may have actually been the worst match up for Laura, but that wasn't the situation, now was it?

As soon as the match started, Kanzashi booked it in reverse while blasting energy beams from particle cannons on her Uchigane. Laura didn't move an inch, short of raising one arm to activate her AIC. The energy field that emanated from her gauntlet completely negated the incoming attacks.

As Church watched the silver haired girl react so calmly and unflinchingly, he tacked on another descriptor to her identity. She had mad boss bitch vibes, that one. He'd been kind of scared of her before, but he had to admit, the nonchalant badassery was kind of hot.

With no reason to dawdle around, the German launched her I.S. forward while keeping her AIC up, keeping her safe from all the particle beams coming her way. To the best of Church's knowledge, the AIC required significant focus to use, but he supposed it didn't take much focus to move forward. Of course, she had to drop the shield to manifest the energy blades on the Schwarzer Regen's arms when she got close, but she only had to eat one particle shot with how much distance was left, and that was a small sacrifice for her I.S.

Kanzashi was quick to summon a melee weapon of her own, what appeared to be a naginata with an energy blade, but it became apparent quite quickly that it wasn't going to help her much. There were a number of things not in her favor here. For one, Laura was already very close, and a naginata was a polearm, meaning it was hard to get the dangerous stabby part to hit someone that was right up in your face. Second, Laura had two blades, and Kanzashi only had one. And finally, there was a very obvious difference in skill as far as close quarters combat was concerned. No surprise there: Laura had been trained as an elite commando prior to even becoming an I.S. pilot. Kanzashi, on the other hand, was clearly not the type of person that had been practicing martial arts all her life.

The end result was Laura effortlessly landing several hits with her energy blades, costing Kanzashi a fair deal of her shield energy. Quickly realizing that she was going to lose in an extended conflict of this nature, Kanzashi rocketed into the air to try and escape when an opening presented itself. However, she didn't make it very far before Laura had caught her Uchigane Nishiki around the leg with several energy whips from her arms. With its legs dug into the ground and thrusters moving in reverse, Schwarzer Regen was powerful enough to hold its opponent in place. With Kanzashi immobilized, Laura aimed her powerful railgun in the girl's direction.

Foreseeing an immediate loss if she was hit by such a dangerous weapon, Kanzashi did the only thing she could think of, that being the release of several missiles from her machine, which arced towards Laura on the ground below. Clearly, she was expecting Laura to release her so she could dodge the missiles.

Frankly, that's what Church expected the German pilot to do as well. Considering the small size of Exeter and its inherently low armor value, Church was hardwired to avoid damage whenever possible. However, Laura didn't seem to feel the same way about defense. In fact, she didn't make any move to avoid the missiles at all. Instead, she maintained her position and fired her railgun directly into Kanzashi's I.S., as she had originally intended.

The massive shot smashed Kanzashi's I.S., forcing it to crash to the ground even as Schwarzer Regen was consumed by a dozen explosions, leaving the fate of the combatants unclear due to dust and debris. But it didn't take long for that to clear, and the end result was pretty obvious: Laura was still standing, and Kanzashi's Uchigane Nishiki was inoperable on the ground. Yamada's voice over the intercom confirmed it.

"Winner, German Representative Candidate Laura Bodewig!"

Rin leaned over to Church as the two combatants deactivated their I.S. so they could shake hands. "Told ya."

While Church had also been betting on Laura's victory, he hadn't quite expected it to come around so quickly. The skirmish had hardly lasted a minute, and in the end, Laura had not taken a single hit that hadn't been of her own choosing. She'd only taken damage when she deemed it an acceptable trade, being in complete control of the combat the entire time. The look of defeat on Kanzashi's face, even at this distance, spoke volumes about her humiliation.

He could understand why such a total defeat would be demoralizing for any pilot, but Church hoped the girl would take all the factors into consideration before putting herself down. A fight against one of the school's best pilots, and one of the world's most advanced I.S., wasn't exactly a fair representation of her abilities. Besides, Church didn't really believe that one on one duels like this were fair to the pilots and what they could do. Real combat situations added much more flexibility. Cramming two pilots in a relatively small fighting area and telling them to duke it out would almost always put one of them at a big disadvantage.

Either way, Church made a mental note of how dangerous an opponent Laura was. Hopefully any sort of real confrontation would never come to pass, but if it did, it would pay to be wary.

Following the scuffle between Laura and Kanzashi, there were a few matches between people Church didn't recognize, so he didn't pay much attention to them. Rin clearly didn't care much for them either, since she directed more of her attention to her conversation with Church. Most of that conversation ended up being about what she would have done in any of the fights they had seen so far. Church supposed that made sense, since Rin was using all of this as a learning experience of some sort.

Eventually though, the final match rolled around, and it was one that greatly interested both of them. Houki Shinonono versus Ichika Orimura. Needless to say, Church was obligated to pay very close attention to this fight, for Akatsubaki if nothing else. The only real information any outside country had on the thing was what had been seen during the Silver Gospel incident, and there was no way to tell how much of its capabilities had actually been made known at that time. A full schematic readout would be best, but even mere observation was worth the effort.

Rin also seemed particularly focused on the battle, though Church could only guess why. Was she rooting for her crush to win, or was she also observing Akatsubaki, looking for some type of weakness? Maybe it was both.

As for Church, he was initially struck with how different Akatsubaki really was from other I.S. Sure, he'd seen the battle recording from the Silver Gospel, but that had mostly consisted of high-speed action shots that weren't always clear. Now that Akatsubaki was just hovering in the air, preparing to fight, he could get a much better look at it.

It had two pairs of winglike extensions on its back, as opposed to the shoulder pauldrons of most I.S. Unlike nearly every other model out there, it had slim feet, because it lacked the large stabilizers of all its contemporaries. Church assumed the lack of these things meant Akatsubaki simply didn't need them. He couldn't help but wonder just how advanced it was compared to Generation Three I.S., which were already considered cutting edge by the world's standards. He supposed Byakushiki was also of interest, considering its advanced nature, but now that Akatsubaki had blown its specs out of the water, no one really cared about it.

Worry not, Operator. Keep your eyes on the battle and I will be more than capable of analyzing both combatants. I can only see what you see from in here, after all.

Considering how quiet it had been, Church had honestly forgotten about Cerberus for a minute. Frankly, he didn't like the knowledge that the AI literally saw the world through his eyes. Kinda made him a little paranoid about something as simple as looking around. Because a simple acknowledgment wasn't really needed, Church said nothing in response to his partner as the match above them began.

Seeing as how both Akatsubaki and Byakushiki had swords as primary weapons, it came as no surprise when the two machines rushed forward and clashed in midair, with said swords grating against one another. The next few seconds were full of aspects of swordsmanship Church only knew a little bit about: parries, deflections, feints, and all sorts of other things that a layman could identify as impressive, but not really understand the technicalities of. Eventually the two pilots began maneuvering around one another to try and land hits on their opponent, which added an extra level of complexity to the duel that one could never see in traditional swordsmanship.

In fact, as the two machines raced back and forth and spun around each other to strike at perceived weaknesses, it became clear that Houki was personally invested in making this a sword fight. Based on the Silver Gospel footage, Church knew that Akatsubaki had other weapons, including some ranged options, but she didn't seem particularly interested in using them.

The real question was why. Maybe Houki was uncomfortable with ranged weapons: to the best of public knowledge, she was a skilled swordswoman, but had little experience with guns. But then again, maybe she was just more interested in a contest of swordsmanship with Ichika in particular. Maybe she was just trying to prove some sort of point.

If that was the case, then the Japanese girl was certainly succeeding. As the fight wore on, there was no question that Houki was the objectively superior swordsman. She constantly had Ichika on the defensive, and her opponent, though clearly skilled himself, had few opportunities to actually push any sort of advantage. Of course, Houki also had two swords compared to Ichika's one, and Church doubted that was some small disadvantage.

Besides, anytime Houki wanted to move away, she could easily escape any danger. Byakushiki, being a dedicated melee unit, was undeniably fast. But Akatsubaki was faster, in both top speed and acceleration. Houki could disengage at any time she wished, which meant that this whole duel was a formality at best: if she wanted to, Houki could have easily ran circles around Ichika, shooting him from a distance while he was completely helpless. He only had his sword, and he couldn't catch her if she willed it.

So clearly, Houki was trying to test their sword skills or something. Unfortunately, this didn't help Church or his mission very much. With Houki focusing so much on her swords, he wasn't actually gaining any valuable data on what else it could do. Right now, all he was confirming was that Akatsubaki had two swords and was fast. Of particular note was a worrisome little thing the Silver Gospel had recorded during its rampage: what appeared to be Akatsubaki providing energy to another I.S.

It wasn't that normal I.S. couldn't donate some of their power supply to other units, but Akatsubaki had seemingly powered Byakushiki up beyond even its normal parameters, and then had continued to operate at peak efficiency itself. The implications were worrisome: did Akatsubaki really have that much energy? Or was the reality something even worse than that?

Operator, perhaps it would be best to simply ask? You have a companion present who has seen the machine in action and been friends with its owner since it made its debut. Perhaps she knows something?

Church glanced over at Rin, who was still focusing intently on the fight above her. Cerberus had a point: maybe Houki's friends knew a thing or two about Akatsubaki. It was just a matter of wording the question so it didn't seem suspicious.

"Is this really a fair fight? Seems like Orimura has no chance from down here."

Thankfully, Rin wasn't the type who couldn't hear people around her when she was focusing on something else. She managed to answer him even though she didn't take her eyes off the fight.

"Well, he's got a knack for that. Ichika is really good at getting his ass kicked for an entire fight, only to pull a win out of thin air at the last second. I guess he kind of has to operate that way, what with a sword that uses most of his energy for a one-hit kill, but... I don't think that's going to work this time."

Not sure if this line of conversation would go where he wanted it, Church figured he had no choice but to entertain it anyway. Besides, maybe he would learn something useful regardless.

"And why's that?"

"For one, Houki has seen him do it plenty of times, so she should be expecting it. Two, Ichika usually uses his speed to catch people off-guard with it, but Akatsubaki is clearly faster than him. And three... well, even if he did hit Houki, who knows if it would even work."

Seems this could be a beneficial line of questioning after all, Operator.

We'll see in about two seconds.

"Why not? Orimura's ultimate attack takes down I.S. shields, right? And when a shield goes down, the match ends. That should work on Akatsubaki too."

This time, Rin actually turned her attention back to her conversational partner. Maybe she had gleaned all she could from the fight above her at the moment. After all, it was just a sword duel that Houki was dominating, and a few air maneuvers.

"First of all, Ichika's Reiraku whatever the hell he calls it doesn't one-shot shields. It does a whole lot of damage to them. It just turns out that the damage is usually higher than the max shield strength of an I.S., so it tends to be a one-shot. All well and good most of the time, assuming he hits his target. But according to Houki, Akatsubaki can regenerate shield energy."

Church catalogued the knowledge he had learned thus far before continuing the conversation. "Can't we all, though? It's perfectly feasible to divert power from any other system to strengthen the shields."

"No, not like that. Houki said that it's like, literally regeneration out of nowhere. She doesn't have to draw from any other system. Which sounds like bullshit, 'cuz power has to come from somewhere, right? But we've literally seen her do it a couple of times. She's either given power to others at no expense to herself or completely regenerated her own shields in a matter of seconds. It's ridiculous!"

Church frowned as he inwardly agreed with Rin's assessment. This was definitely the worst reality that could have existed. If Akatsubaki just had very high shield strength, that was one thing. That just meant you had to hit it a lot, but when it was down it was down. But if the shield could be regenerated time and time again, it became a matter of attrition. How many times did you have to take it down? Could you even do damage fast enough to take it down, if the shields were regenerating so quickly?

It also meant Houki had an even bigger advantage over everyone else than Church had originally thought. Being faster than everyone was one thing, but this business with her shield was another entirely. Even a far superior pilot would be hard-pressed to win, simply because they would have to do so much work to do so, while Houki had ample chances to secure a victory.

It was a noob with 10,000 health points versus a veteran with 100. The veteran may have been better, but they had to deal a hundred times more damage to win, whereas the amateur only had to hit you a few times, and even an amateur could manage that against someone with skill. This whole situation with Akatsubaki was shaping up to be even worse than he had thought. Short of some sort of EMP weapon that could completely disable an I.S. in one stroke, Church had no idea how one could conventionally defeat it.

But it wasn't his job to come up with countermeasures. He just had to gather the data. Besides, he still had a conversation to carry on with Rin. "You think her Akatsubaki could regenerate its shields faster that Orimura could take them down, even with his special attack?"

Rin shrugged as she returned her gaze to the sky, where steel was still clashing. "I guess. Hard to tell, since he's never tried it. But by the looks of things, Ichika doesn't think it will work himself. Normally he'd have tried it by now. Though I guess he probably has little shield energy left at this point anyway."

As if heralded by Rin's words, a horn blared after Houki landed her next strike, signaling the end of the match. Apparently, Ichika hadn't been a match after all, though it didn't really seem like a fair comparison. Kind of like Laura and Kanzashi all over again.

Rin sighed as the match ended, not making it any clearer what she hoped the outcome would be. Was she upset that Ichika had lost or that she hadn't gleaned anything useful about fighting Akatsubaki? Church didn't get the chance to question her on it, since Yamada's voice was announcing the end of the tournament over the intercom, prompting curiosity on that front instead.

"Oh? There's a few other pilots with personal I.S., right? What about the older Sarashiki?"

"That harlot? Hell if I know. Who cares?"

Church was a little surprised by the vehemence, mostly because he had no context at all. Tatenashi struck him as the flirty type, but he had no idea what had happened to earn her the title of harlot in Rin's eyes. Had the student council president somehow wronged her in the past?

He figured it would be better not to ask. If the knowledge became important at some point, he was sure Rin would tell him. Instead, he focused on the fact that most of the audience was making their exit from the stadium.

"So, now what? Should we leave?"

Rin cocked an eyebrow at him. "What do you mean 'we?' I only invited you to watch the matches, remember?"

The nonchalant way she said that kind of stung, Church had to admit. Maybe he just hadn't expected a cold shoulder at this point. However, Rin cracked a smirk at him rather quickly.

"Man, the look on your face: I'm just joking. But I don't really have anything planned after this. I was just gonna wait till everyone leaves so I can talk to Ichika and the others."

Feeling a bit of relief at Rin's reveal of a joke, Church decided he'd stick it out with her a little longer. This may have been a good chance to further ingratiate himself with the group he was trying to infiltrate, after all.

"Well, it's not like I have anything to really do. Will you mind if I stay?"

"I guess I can tolerate it. I do feel kind of bad for putting that kicked puppy expression on your face just now."

"You've got a funny way of saying 'I like your company.' That's going to get in the way of your romantic life, you know."

His brunette companion shot him a displeased glare at that, though the following thoughtful look on her face made it seem as though she immediately considered what Church had just said. That kept her quiet for a while, though they did have to start up a conversation again regardless, since it would take several minutes for people to clear out of the stands and it would have been awkward to sit there in silence for that long. Oddly enough, the conversation turned to food again, though it was Church who started it this time. He was really just trying to make conversation.

"I wonder what they're going to have for dinner tonight?"

Maybe the topic of food was enough to get Rin's attention, since she answered. "They usually have a bunch of options from different regions of the world each night. You know, something for everyone and all that. Actually, I think they're having Sichuan pork tonight..."

"Oh, that sounds good."

Rin scoffed at this, folding her one good arm over the one in the sling. "Meh, mine's better."

"I think I'd have to taste yours to confirm that. Can't just take you at your word, you know?"

The brunette next to him responded with a knowing look. "Think you're clever, do you? Almost seems desperate, at this point."

"Come on, I've only asked twice. That's hardly desperate!"

"Well, who asks a girl to cook for them within three days of meeting her anyway? Isn't that kind of weird?"

Frankly, Church didn't really have a response to that, because she may have had a point. That was kind of quick, all things considered. Still, he couldn't fold on his own stance that easily.

"Well, to be fair, I wouldn't ask anyone who wasn't a skilled cook. And hey, you speak so highly of your cooking every time it comes up, so it's only reasonable that I'd be excited to try it, right?"

Rin's expression was one of consternation as she took his words into consideration. Maybe she felt that he had a point of sorts. She did brag about her cooking a lot, so it would be kind of weird to never be willing to prove it. Not that Church was asking for proof so much as he was a favor, but still. She figured she would take the idea into consideration, even if she wasn't going to give a straight answer right now.

"If you keep being fun to talk to, I'll think about it. Right now though, I think the stands have cleared enough that we can head down. Though we might have to wait since everyone might be showering after the matches... ah well, we should still wait a little closer to the ground level. Come on."

Church did as Rin suggested, following her down the bleachers. He wasn't sure if they were supposed to encounter her friends on the grounds themselves or at the entrance, but it turned out that they didn't need to. When they got a little closer to the ground level, they were called out to from the grounds itself.

"Huang, down here."

Glancing down the few feet that separated her from the dirt below, Rin noticed that Chifuyu was standing at the foot of it, wearing a white tracksuit of sorts instead of her usual attire. Somehow, she looked just as professional and severe, even in something that casual.

Church peeked over the wall too, noting that Rin had a weirdly nervous look on her face. She wasn't afraid of Chifuyu, was she? Well, Church himself was a little wary of her, but that was just a healthy degree of self-preservation. Chifuyu had that dangerous air about her even when she wasn't actually trying to be threatening. Naturally, Chifuyu addressed him since he had revealed himself too.

"Oh, Church. Glad to see you're still here."

"Still? How'd you know I was here in the first place?"

"I occupy the control room during tournaments. It's not hard to see who is and isn't present on all the cameras. Plus, most everyone in the stands wears white and you have a crimson jacket. You do stand out. And you seem to have forgotten that you told me you would be here."

Glancing down at his jacket and wondering how he had forgotten such a statement, Church tried not to fret over memory loss. "Fair enough... why are you glad I'm still here though?"

Chifuyu pointed towards the other end of the stadium, where the other Representative Candidates were waiting. "I thought now was a good time to talk about some practical tests. If you're alright with it, that is."

Looking over at Rin, Church silently questioned whether or not this was going to interrupt her plans somehow. Kind of weird to do that, considering that they were just fresh acquaintances. In the end, Rin just shrugged, metaphorically throwing her hands up.

"Well, this is what I was going to do anyway, right?"

Having earned their agreement, Chifuyu nodded to them. "Then come on down. Meet us over at the other end of the stadium."

As the older woman walked away, Rin cocked an eyebrow at Church. "That exchange sounded like you two aren't total strangers."

Church turned towards one of the exits so he could make it down to the ground level as Chifuyu has directed. "Well, she oversees the tests for my suit. So, yeah, can't exactly be strangers."

"Sounds like a nightmare."

"Are you scared of Chifuyu?"

There was a look on Rin's face that said yes, but an immediate scoff that followed afterwards. "No, yeah right! She just seems like such a hard-ass, how could spending time with her possibly be fun?"

It seems that she does indeed fear Chifuyu Orimura to some extent.

Thanks, Cerberus, I think I figured that out.

It didn't take long for Church and Rin to make it to the ground level of the stadium, though it did take another minute or so to cross the whole area on foot. It was built for air to air combat between giant mechs, after all. Once they got closer, Rin called out to everybody, which consisted of the Orimura siblings, Laura, Cecilia, Houki and Charlotte. Church wasn't sure why Kanzashi wasn't here. She was a Representative Candidate too, to the best of his knowledge.

"Hello, Ichika~! And the rest of you, I guess."

Rin's friendly yet mocking greeting was immediately followed up by a more reserved one from Church. After all, he wasn't familiar enough with anyone to make an approach like Rin's. Besides, he had to think of some way to distract himself from the sight here: with everyone still in skin tight sync suits, very little female anatomy was being left to the imagination. It was pretty easy to tell that Charlotte had perkier breasts than Cecilia, or that Laura was rocking the toned midriff better than anyone else. Church couldn't let any kind of reaction to this visual knowledge show on his face. He had no idea how Ichika dealt with all of these boobs, butts and thighs on display whenever everyone was in this attire.

"Good afternoon, everyone. Great work in the tournament today, you were all very impressive."

The praise went over well enough to earn a few smiles and acknowledgments, though they were solely from Ichika and Charlotte. There was a notable lack of friendly response from Laura or Cecilia. They mostly gave him guarded or haughty looks. He supposed that was fair enough in Laura's case, but Cecilia just seemed to dislike him on some sort of principle Church couldn't fathom. As for Houki, he was a complete stranger to her, so a lack of positive response was only natural there.

Before anyone could actually say anything in response to Church, however, Chifuyu crossed her arms and spoke over the whole group. "Well, some of the performances were impressive. But make no mistake. You all have things that need improvement. But we'll focus on that later."

Seemingly a little irritated, Cecilia spoke her thoughts on this 'later' business. "Then why are we here right now? I detest sitting around in this suit after exercise..."

Chifuyu shot the blonde a glare, clearly unhappy with the mere implication that she was wasting anyone's time. "We're here, Alcott, because one of the reasons our guest is staying at our illustrious academy is to share information on his country's new design. A big part of that will be mock combat against pilots such as yourself. And while I will probably only pick one of you to spar with him today, there is great insight to be gained from watching an engagement, especially one with a never-before-seen opponent. Or are you content with never improving to match your peers?"

Considering that Cecilia had actually won her match today, Church didn't know who she was being compared to. Maybe Chifuyu meant Laura or something. He supposed Houki could be considered better than Cecilia, but that was clearly a hardware issue, as opposed to skill. Either way, Cecilia fell silent due to Chifuyu's somewhat scathing words.

Rin seemed amused by Cecilia's fate, though she made sure to stay silent lest she incur Chifuyu's wrath as well. Charlotte didn't seem cowed in any way, but then again, she hadn't been accosted.

"I for one am more than happy just to watch. I'm very interested in your hardware, Church. A machine that can compete with Infinite Stratos... most companies thought that day was decades away at best. What I'd give to take part in the R and D testing..."

Ichika, who was standing close to her, didn't seem to understand the blonde's excitement on the matter. "It's just another flying machine, Charl. Is it really that interesting?"

Church noticed the briefest of disgruntled expressions from the French blonde, but it was wiped away fairly quickly. He was almost unsure if he had even seen it, but surely even a seemingly sweet person like Charlotte had nerves to be tested. He couldn't help but wonder how often Ichika did exactly that.

Either way, Chifuyu was quick to move things along. "Alright, unlike the rest of you I still have a full day ahead of me, so let's not keep dawdling around. You can do social hour afterwards."

The visiting American was certain he heard Cecilia insult that notion under her breath. He really wasn't sure why she disliked him to this extent. He'd honestly thought they could have hit it off after bonding over that shared interest with the Spitfires. Regardless, Chifuyu either didn't notice the interruption or didn't care to comment on it.

"Ichika. Get ready. You're going to fight him today."

Both Church and Ichika frowned at this, though for vastly different reasons. Naturally, Church was hoping for Houki so he could glean more information about the Akatsubaki. Ichika didn't seem against the idea, so much as confused by it.

"I'm glad to, but why me? Laura sounded like she really wanted to throw down with him by the way she was talking the other day."

The young German girl shot him a look that clearly said 'don't say that right in front of him,' but Ichika was none the wiser to it. Church wasn't sure if he had even seen it. Chifuyu didn't pay it any mind either, instead choosing to answer the question her brother had posed.

"Well, while this little sparring match won't have any effect on rankings, I think I speak for both of us when I say that your fight against Shinonono was a little disappointing today. Or were you satisfied with the way things played out? I just thought you'd like a chance to have a more even fight today."

For his part, Church felt mildly insulted that he was considered an even fight while Houki wasn't. But for one, he very well may have been, considering Akatsubaki's many strengths. Two, he was fairly certain Chifuyu was just trying to galvanize her brother to action, rather than trying to say anything about Church personally. It seemed to work, if Ichika's reaction was any indication.

The younger Orimura glanced over at Houki, who didn't seem pleased to be made out as the bad guy of sorts here. Not that it seemed as though Ichika was angry with her or anything. He did seem frustrated with the situation Chifuyu had so readily spelled out though.

"I guess you're right about that. It was kind of a disappointing fight. And besides, I really would like to fight you man-to-man, Church!"

The opponent in question was once again confused by Ichika's weird focus on this man-to-man business, but he said nothing. Chifuyu broke the silence again anyway.

"Well alright then. You two suit up. Everyone else go to the stands."

Ichika offered a handshake to Church first, which the latter accepted by laws of courtesy. Once that was done, the would-be opponents walked themselves to opposite sides of the field, and everyone not involved in the fight moved to the stands. Once the field was clear of any possible 'accidents,' both pilots readied up their unique combat systems, the two of them being bathed in light temporarily. As Orimura's I.S. materialized, Church opened up the database in his visor and searched for info on the hostile machine, Byakushiki. Naturally he'd seen it in the Silver Gospel footage, and there was generally more information on it than Akatsubaki, but there was no need to rely on his knowledge alone.

I don't think I've ever run a simulation against this model before.

Cerberus took mere seconds to search for all accessible information relevant to the Japanese model.

Likely not, Operator. The model being used by our opponent is a unique armament. There is only one of this Byakushiki, as it was specifically designed for Orimura. All I can tell you is that it is a prototype Fourth Generation I.S., and that it has but one melee weapon, the Yukihira, unless it enters a Second Shift.

So this I.S. is where the data for Shinonono's true fourth gen unit came from. If the thing about Akatsubaki regenerating shields is true, it makes sense. Houki could recharge Byakushiki indefinitely so it could continue using its special shield busting attack. Although, we technically don't have to worry about that too much. We still have armor under our shields, unlike I.S...

Perhaps, Operator, but in the interest of fairness I believe the match will still be decided by who loses their shields first.

The brief mental conversation between the two of them was interrupted by a declaration from Chifuyu at the sidelines. "Just like a normal match, when your shields are gone, you lose. Whenever you're ready, you may begin."

While this was friendly sparring at best, Church put his serious game face on. For one, even if there was nothing truly tangible on the line here, he didn't want to lose when his skill in this suit was the main reason he got paid. Operating it was supposed to be what made him special, so getting trounced in it wasn't exactly desirable. Not to mention that there were a bunch of pretty girls watching: he wasn't the type to go out of his way to impress people on superficial grounds, but if the opportunity arose regardless, why let it go to waste? Though frankly, he was sure all of the spectators would have preferred for Ichika to win as opposed to him.

Finally, this fight was part of his duty here on behalf of Umbra Stratum. A good, long, complicated fight with an opponent meant more combat data on an I.S. unit and the Exeter suit itself, which had only run simulated battles against I.S. prior to now. He assumed that his employers would want him to make the most of this situation, and he wasn't going to give them a reason to question his employment.

That being the case, Church figured he would go hard from the very beginning, rather than waste time building up to it. With that in mind, he manifested a shoulder mounted coil-gun straightaway, that being one of the more powerful armaments available to him at this point in time. It was a far cry from the railgun on Laura's I.S., but this Gauss rifle would still pack far more of a punch than one would expect from a human sized battle machine. In fact, if Exeter didn't automatically compensate for the new weight distribution, Church would have been tipped over from the combined weight of the long barrel and its ammunition feed.

Thankfully, Exeter compensated for the significant recoil of the Gauss rifle as well, preventing Church from being knocked off his feet or dislocating his shoulder as he fired the weapon at Ichika. Contrary to popular opinion, there was recoil from mass accelerated munitions. It just wasn't the same kind as conventional projectile weapons.

The concussive blast from the barrel itself kicked up dirt from the ground below it, a testament to the amount of force the accelerated slug carried with it. Ichika, having been prepared to dodge a projectile, but not one quite that fast, was only able to partially dodge the attack. The heavy slug still clipped Byakushiki's left wing, allowing it to transfer its powerful force to the target as planned.

Besides lowering his shields by about nearly a full fourth, Ichika's I.S. was sent spiraling into the ground behind him, to the surprise of some of the audience. It wasn't quite fair, but with experience in what Ichika could do and no knowledge of what Church could do, they had probably expected their crush to land the first hit.

Of course, Ichika may have taken a clean hit at the very start, but he was no amateur pilot by now, and the young man recovered much too quickly for Church to line up another round from his Gauss rifle, which required considerable time to reload and reacquire a target. Byakushiki was now back on its feet and highly mobile, since Ichika was wary of another strike.

Technically, it wasn't impossible to hit a fast moving target with Exeter's Gauss rifle: in fact, such a quick projectile would have been ideal for hitting a moving target. But with the small size of Exeter, Church had to be grounded and mostly immobile for the suit to compensate for firing the weapon. In a one on one fight with a mobile enemy in a small arena, being stuck in one spot on the ground was far from ideal, so Church went ahead and allowed the Gauss rifle to dissipate.

Aiming to close in on his opponent while he was switching weapons, Ichika rushed Church with his inactive Yukihira. Unfortunately for him, Exeter had plenty of weapons that were built right into the suit. They didn't need to be constructed from the database, so there was no true opening to exploit in this situation. Of course, these weapons were generally not as powerful as the kind that needed to be retrieved from the Hyperspace Arsenal, but as Church readied his next weapon, he wasn't concerned with damage so much as keeping the melee Byakushiki away from him.

A lot of Exeter's weapons were quite conventional: unlike I.S., which needed supersized or otherwise impractical weapons to fight, Exeter was human sized, and thus used many human sized weapons. Of course, you still needed a certain type of firepower to deal any damage to a giant mech, which was why an XM556 Gatling machine gun barrel emerged from the forearm plating of the Exeter suit. The regular weapon was already much smaller than your conventional minigun, and with the Hyperspace Arsenal taking care of ammunition provision and the suit itself taking care of the external power requirements, the weapon had pretty much been boiled down to the barrel and feed system, which combined was still smaller than even some regular assault rifles and SMGs.

Of course, that meant the bullets themselves were only 5.56mm, which normally would have been laughable to an I.S. of any generation. But when you faced 6,000 5.56mm rounds a minute, that was a different story. Not even an I.S. shield could scoff at that.

With the built-in weapon ready to go before Ichika could actually reach him, Church unleashed a devastating hail of gunfire at his opponent, while simultaneously boosting away from him.

Naturally, Ichika was not in the business of diving straight through enemy fire, so he was again forced to retreat into the sky as Church tried to run him down with his lead fusillade. Distance would make it harder for his opponent to accurately hit him. Of course, that was exactly why Church pursued him into the air as he kept firing. He had plenty of time before cooling his barrels was even remotely an issue, and he had virtually infinite ammo, though there was technically some limit in the Umbra Stratum armory the Hyperspace Arsenal was drawing from.

Very unlike the duel between Ichika and Houki earlier, this situation was much less of a duel and far more of an attack and defend scenario. With no long range capability of his own, Ichika could do very little besides evade as Exeter followed his every maneuver in pursuit with the barrel of its current weapon. Of course, Byakushiki moved plenty fast enough to avoid bullets, so Church wasn't landing any real hits like this, but that merely prompted him to double his rate of fire.

Raising his other arm, Church unleashed a second XM556. After all, why have only one when you could have two? This meant that Ichika was now forced to handle 12,000 bullets every minute, and from potentially varying angles.

Since Church was now able to project his ammunition in two different directions, he made sure to fill Ichika's flight path with one stream while chasing him down with the other. This new tactic led to a lot more hits on Byakushiki, though not enough to severely deplete the unit's shields.

To the audience below, it become ever more obvious just how different the Exeter suit functioned compared to an I.S. The majority of I.S. weapons were heavy hitters that aimed to deal massive damage with every blow. Few I.S. employed small arms weapons that aimed to drop shields with focused fire. Most pilots and companies preferred big guns or powerful swords, instead of small arms. That was why most Gen 3 I.S. used energy weapons as opposed to projectiles, like the old Gen 2 models.

Point being, it was a situation Ichika had not dealt with too often. He had fought against steady projectile fire before when sparring with Charlotte, but he was still more used to countering power weapons than concentrated fire types. Even so, he knew he had to get out of this situation, or his foe would just chip his shields away a bit at a time.

Knowing that he could take a lot more hits from this small arms fire than he could a more powerful weapon, Ichika decided to trade off some shield energy for putting an end to this one-sided situation. At a moment in their chase that Exeter was close enough for it to work, Ichika activated Byakushiki's Ignition Boost, flying at top speed directly through the hail of bullets coming his way to close in on his unprepared opponent.

Much to his own chagrin, Church really had been unprepared for this counter, leaving him with no chance to dodge at all. All he could really do was put a stop to firing and use his arms to block Byakushiki's metal blade instead. The impact resulted in a painfully loud clash as it knocked him back, but more importantly, it dealt significant damage to his shields, lowering them by a full seventeen percent.

With the two combatants in perfect melee range, Church opted against using weapons at all in favor of simply swinging his free left leg in a powerful thruster-enhanced kick. With the difference in size between Exeter and Byakushiki, he could only target Ichika's arm, but even so the straightforward attack staggered Byakushiki and dealt even more damage to its shields.

Since straight up hand-to-hand combat was very rare in I.S. fights, a lot of the match's observers were shocked to see a human-sized machine successfully attack an I.S. with it. Without a doubt, fighting Exeter was much different than fighting an Infinite Stratos unit.

With some distance to maneuver now that he had knocked Ichika back a step or two, Church decided to descend to to the ground again. After all, with only melee attacks to worry about, it was actually better to be on the ground, as it removed one of the directions Byakushiki could approach him from.

Now that he had some time to access his Hyperspace Arsenal again, Church settled on Old Faithful for this next exchange. Like most of the larger weapons Exeter could muster, the two M2HB .50 caliber machine guns formed on support struts from the shoulders of the suit. It was kind of funny, using weapons that were designed in World War II this far into the future, but there was a good reason the U.S. military never bothered replacing the things. There wasn't much to improve on when it come to throwing .50 caliber bullets at things in high volume. And even in a world with shielded flying robots, that kind of firepower was still very significant.

Rounds fired from the M2HB traveled very fast. But unfortunately, I.S. reaction time was faster, and Ichika swiftly moved out of the way of the incoming threat. It didn't matter much if Church failed to do much damage this way. The real goal here was just to keep Ichika at bay, since melee was the only range where Byakushiki posed a threat. This was just a delaying tactic to give Church time to employ other maneuvers. Exeter had more than standard military hardware at its disposal.

Cerberus, arm the A-Z missiles, would you?

Affirmative, Operator.

Drawn from the Hyperspace Arsenal, two missile pods with thirteen munitions apiece formed on the outer thighs of the Exeter suit. When a target was locked, they would launch twenty-six homing missiles at the enemy. Without a doubt, having to dodge the .50's and AZ missiles simultaneously would be difficult for his opponent to do. Activating the new weapon, Cerberus modified the firing lines so that the missiles would split evenly and target the enemy from both the left and right. With the M2HB fire suppressing him as well, Ichika would be hard-pressed to come out of this one unscathed.

The missiles launched out of their respective modules, split into opposite directions, then turned back towards their target and accelerated. With bullets hounding his every move and missiles coming in from two different directions, Ichika was effectively caught in-between them all. Considering the hits he had already landed, Church expected this to end the match. He watched with satisfaction as the missiles converged on their target, but the end result was not quite what he had been hoping for.

Just before the missiles reached their target, in the moment where they had no room to maneuver, Ichika rocketed forward and blew past them. The missiles were unscathed, but had completely lost their target and continued harmlessly into the stadium shield before exploding. Now Ichika had closed the distance between them yet again, and Church was making a mental note to fire the missiles in a staggered fashion in the future.

With Ichika's sword approaching him at high speed again, Church decided that evasion was his best option, ducking down as far as he could and barely dodging Yukihira as it sliced through the air above him. Unfortunately, it also sliced through his left M2HB barrel while it was at it. Shield strength on weapon extremities was minimal, to avoid wasting power protecting non-crucial things.

Using his thrusters to increase the distance between he and Ichika once more, Church threw a displeased glare at his opponent as he allowed both M2HBs to dissipate. If he kept using the same strategy, Ichika was going to get the best of him. It was probably time for a different approach.

Oddly enough, Ichika did not rush him again immediately, instead maintaining the distance Church had created between them. From a tactical standpoint this made little to no sense: if you had to be in melee range to fight, why on earth would you maintain your distance from the enemy? Maybe Ichika wasn't taking this seriously enough to consider that, but Church doubted it. Maybe he just wasn't the type to attack an unready foe. Either way it was a wasted opportunity for him.

With a moment of silence in the arena since no one was attacking, Church was able to hear a rather snide comment from a certain Cecilia Alcott in the stands.

"Frankly, I am unimpressed. I suppose anything is a step up from a malfunctioning murder machine that can't be controlled, but it was foolish to think America's expo boy could take on an elite pilot like Ichika."

I'm starting to think she just doesn't like Americans.

On the contrary, Operator, I truly believe she simply does not like you.

A little annoyed by the AI's willingness to assert that so readily, Church sought to defend himself in as good of humor as possible. "Now now, your majesty, don't be jealous. If being humiliated is what you're into, I can fight you next."

A very unhappy and very irate expression commanded the blonde's face at that, made no better by the laugh Rin failed to contain at her expense. Even most of the other girls were grinning. Cecilia didn't get to counter though, since Ichika spoke up as well.

"Also, I don't really think I qualify as an elite pilot. I mean, I think Church is even winning right now."

Naturally, Cecilia was none too happy about this response from the man she had been praising in the first place. "You simpleton, I'm trying to support you here! At least try to live up to the expectations of a woman who has faith in you!"

Completely unclear on how he was supposed to respond to that, Ichika decided it would be best to turn his attention back to Church. "Sorry, having a pause in a fight like this must be weird."

"Yeah, just a little bit. Kind of threw a wrench in this cool thing I was going to do before we clashed again. Check this out."

Stretching his arm so some emitters could extend from his gauntlet, Church allowed an ethereal glowing beam of pale blue reminiscent of lightning to erupt forward. The pointed length of energy was roughly four feet long, but since it protruded from the gauntlet itself, the whole setup was more like a katar than a sword. Range of motion was admittedly a little less, but that was the price one paid for a weapon such as this. Faint wisps of gas swirled around the 'sword', illuminated by its bluish-white light. The name of this impressive weapon was 'Chrysaor.'

"Don't mind the gas, that's just a little bit of leakage. Even with magnetic containment, it's kind of difficult to fully lock in all of that plasma."

He said this while glancing over at the stands, since he was absolutely flexing here. Not that everyone understood how cool this really was, but there were certainly impressed looks on the more informed members of the audience, such as Chifuyu and Laura. Charlotte, for one, was unable to keep her excitement that tame.

"A plasma blade?! C'est magnifique! Nearly all I.S. energy weapons are laser-based due to efficient energy constraints and the limited length of magnetic containment... Church, what kind of gas is powering it? Could you use other gasses if you want? What's the maximum power output against-"

Fully aware that Charlotte of all people would go on a long tangent about I.S. weapons and development, Chifuyu cut her off before that could happen. Though admittedly, even she was a little curious.

"Enough, Dunois! You can ask him all of that on your own time."

Slightly abashed to be seen gushing about weapons in front of all of her friends, Charlotte meekly sat back in her seat, which she had risen from without noticing. "Oh, s-sorry..."

Church smiled to himself from the confines of his helmet.

Man, she is cute.

Operator, may I remind you that such thoughts serve only to distract us from the mission? Besides, you are still in battle.

While that was true, it wasn't like Ichika had been about to attack him while he was distracted. He did, however, seem pretty excited now that Church had drawn a sword of sorts.

"I don't really get the difference between your sword and mine, but a sword's a sword! I just hope this turns out better than it did with Houki..."

Warming up his thrusters for the series of close-range clashes about to take place, Church prepared to meet Ichika's Yukihira with Chrysaor. Contrary to Ichika's thoughts, a sword was not just a sword. In fact, Church was not sure what an exchange between a plasma blade and a regular one would look like. Of course there was the energy shielding to consider, but if he got through that, Church didn't know if Chrysaor would just cleave Ichika's metal sword in two. After all, it was just a physical blade until he activated its special form. Once that happened, Church had no idea what the result of the clash between the two weapons would be.

Well, that was one of the reasons he was supposed to be sparring against other pilots, after all.

The two pilots ignited their thrusters and rocketed towards each other, causing the distance between them to dwindle rapidly. As one closed in on the other, both Church and Ichika aimed their respective blades at the torso of their opponent. Church, at the last second, twisted his body in a way that evaded his enemy's attack while still landing his own. However, he only landed a glancing blow with Chrysaor, and Byakushiki's shields were still holding up after the encounter. As immensely hot as plasma was, contact that lasted a fraction of a second wasn't going to do much damage.

As the two machines slid to a stop across from each other, Church noted the look of worry on Ichika's face, though he had good reason for it. Exeter was a much smaller target than any I.S., and it also functioned like a human body instead of a mech. Those two aspects made Exeter a very maneuverable machine, making close quarters combat difficult for any enemy pilot. Compared to another I.S., Exeter was much smaller and far more flexible, and therefore much harder to hit.

But considering that a sword was all Ichika had available, he had no choice but to close in again, so that was what he did. Church did the same, though they didn't pass each other this time. Instead, they stayed close, putting on a show more reminiscent of a sword fight. Well, a sword fight between a man and a big machine, at any rate. Church couldn't help but imagine 'Rules of Nature' playing in the background.

It was immediately obvious as they began exchanging blows that Ichika was a far better swordsman than Church. He had form, technique, and obvious experience in fighting with his weapon. Church didn't really have any of that, but ironically, it didn't matter all that much, because of the huge difference in the two opponents.

Most sword techniques focused on combat with someone else who was pretty similar to you: someone of roughly equal size, with a weapon that was often near the same size as your own blade. This wasn't like that at all. Byakushiki towered over Exeter in height, and wielded a sword that was longer than the opponent it was facing. But said opponent was small, nimble, and capable of flight. Not to mention the fact that it was very hard to be precise when swinging such a large weapon at such a small target. Ichika couldn't really get around Church's guard, because the size of his weapon was too big compared to the size of his target. Church only had to put Chrysaor between him and his enemy to protect himself.

Moreover, Ichika noted that his shields were taking a lot more damage per clash than he was used to. Byakushiki's sword was shielded of course, since Ichika couldn't really afford to have it damaged. That meant that some shield damage was guaranteed whenever the sword impacted something, which definitely included another sword, physical or otherwise. Such shield damage was usually negligible, since sword clashes were either physical impacts or brief touches against a laser blade.

Church's plasma blade was doing a lot more damage to the shields whenever they connected, and Church seemed well aware of this, as he was constantly pushing his weapon forward to force it against Ichika's Yukihira for longer intervals. Byakushiki's shields were already at 35% at this point in the engagement.

Foreseeing an inevitable loss in a battle of attrition, Ichika decided that it would probably be best to go with his usual trump card. It really seemed like the Reiraku Byakura would be his only shot at victory here, and he wasn't looking forward to a second loss in one day. Besides, if he waited too much longer, he wouldn't even have enough energy to use his final attack.

Taking advantage of a lull in their melee exchange, Ichika boosted backwards for some distance, before sacrificing shield energy to activate his sword's final attack mode. Like always, the metal parts split away in order to emit a beam of energy that would demolish enemy shields.

Church easily identified the attack, but was worried for a particular reason.

Cerberus, can Chrysaor block that? Technically it's held together by a magnetic shield.

Unfortunately, I cannot say with certainty, Operator. I can only say that it is a distinct possibility that the Reiraku Byakura will destabilize the magnetic shielding and destroy your blade before passing on to you.

None too happy to hear that, Church hid his left arm behind his body so Ichika couldn't see the many pieces that were folding out or retracting in order to connect various tubes, struts and wires together. This unconventional array of equipment was necessary to power the emitter opening up on the palm of that hand. Ichika wasn't the only one with a trump card. Cerberus was more than capable of determining his intent.

Operator, I do not believe now is the time to unleash this level of firepower. Niddhog is a lethal weapon.

Church paid no mind to Cerberus and its advice. He knew Niddhog was probably overkill here: the sonic cannon was Exeter's ultimate weapon and could focus an immense amount of power into a very small area. It was absolutely intended to destroy targets, not be used in a friendly sparring match. But it would probably be fine. He could tone down the power output so it wasn't lethal, and still clinch a victory. It was a good strategy and only held a minor amount of risk to Ichika. It would be fine. That's what he told himself as he charged Niddhog to a fraction of its full power.

But when Byakushiki rushed forward with its powered up Yukihira, Church reconsidered his plan of action in the few moments he had to commit to it or not. Niddhog could be powered down, but it was still a sonic weapon. Would I.S. shields even work against it? Would using it accidentally kill Ichika in a mere sparring match? The absolute last thing America needed right now was a second catastrophe at the hands of one of their machines. This one would be even worse since Exeter was under human control.

Maybe he had gotten ahead of himself in the heat of the moment. This was a bit too reckless for a situation that wasn't life or death. Only problem was, he had already charged the weapon, and it wasn't the type of armament where he could just let the energy dissipate. It had to go somewhere.

That said, the safest thing to do would have been to fire it into the air or something, completely away from Ichika. But at the same time, he couldn't just allow himself to eat a direct blow from the powered up Yukihira. Maybe it would just fry his shields, but it had just as much of a chance of causing some other critical damage to Exeter itself, and Church was obligated to avoid that kind of damage if possible.

So, he settled for the middle ground: literally. Church aimed Niddhog at the ground in-between he and his approaching opponent, and braced himself for a considerable shock wave and a lot of debris. Releasing all of that stored power in-between he and his foe, the entire stadium was filled with a deafening clap that would have easily destroyed the hearing of both pilots had they not been protected by their respective technologies. The wave of sound was accompanied by a wall of force, followed by tons of earth dislodged by the blast. Church, despite his attempts to the contrary, was blasted backwards by an impact greater than a bullet train, and was flung all the way to the opposite end of the stadium.

He was briefly able to acknowledge that the attack had been way more powerful than anticipated, and that he had been foolish to consider Niddhog in the first place. About the time that thought finished, he slammed through the arena shield and into the metal alloy wall behind it, leaving a massive dent in the structure. Despite the armor he was wearing, he was instantly rendered unconscious by the impact, leaving everyone else to deal with the aftermath of this short, yet undeniably destructive battle.

---

"...is he alright?"

"We can't tell, since his suit is still active."

Church heard foggy and distant voices in his head, but the only thing they did was intensify his headache. He slowly cracked one eye open, then the other, only to find his vision filled by his HUD, playing a recording of the relatively brief battle with Ichika Orimura.

...Cerberus?

Church's tentative question was met with an enthusiastic response. Ah, Operator. Glad to see that you are not discontinued. Replacing you would have been a hassle.

Good to see you care. What happened?

Cerberus didn't seem too bent out of shape by Church's lack of enthusiasm for its joke. If it even was a joke. It was really hard to tell, most of the time.

The close proximity from Niddhog's discharge caused an impact that rendered you unconscious. You were carried to the infirmary by Academy instructors, but the suit is still active because safety protocols deem that it cannot be deactivated while the operator is unconscious in a hostile environment.

Church found this tidbit a little odd.

Are we really going to call this place a hostile environment?

Is it not? Most of the people here are strangers. You and your suit are of great value. You have no idea what they might do.

Frankly, Church found that notion to be somewhat ridiculous, but he supposed it was not particularly unfounded. From a purely objective point of view there was at least some sense to it. For now, he wanted to focus on the other half of the battle's outcome.

What happened to Ichika? Did he get hurt? I can't imagine my next morning with Chifuyu will go well if he did.

He suffered some minor injuries, but nothing that cannot be recovered via mere rest. Your terrible aim ensured that he didn't face any serious risk.

I missed on purpose, Cerberus. In fact, weren't you the one who told me that Niddhog was too much to be unleashing on someone? You warned me that it was lethal, making it pretty obvious that you thought killing Ichika was a bad idea.

The AI ws quiet for a moment, perhaps processing something about that.

Well, it was a bad idea at the time, most assuredly. However, there is a possibility that the mission could turn lethal at some point.

The objective is data retrieval. Under what circumstances would I have to kill anyone? Or are you just doing some computer nonsense about how 'the probability isn't exactly zero?'

Of course, Operator. It's just that Umbra Stratum would prefer you to be willing to kill someone if it came down to a valuable asset like the Exeter suit. Although, I believe we already have an indicator of your willingness on that front, according to the initial testing you went through for the organization.

Not entirely happy to be reminded of that, Church expressed as much, unknowingly vocalizing the thought. "Keep that record buried, if you don't mind..."

A tapping on the visor of the Exeter suit startled Church out of his thoughts and his conversation with Cerberus.

"I think I heard something. Hey, are you awake in there?"

Remembering that he had heard voices upon waking up, Church deactivated the battle replay, its image being quickly replaced with the face of a familiar brunette with several band-aids and bandages on her face, trying to peer past Exeter's opaque visor. Before he received the fish tank treatment again, Church deactivated Exeter completely, and the suit began to fold away before dissipating. As it finished, Church found himself lying in the exact same bed Rin had been in not too long ago.

"How ironic."

Catching onto his meaning, Rin smiled at him. "Isn't it? How the tables turn, huh?"

Church rubbed the side of his face as he sat up, taking stock of the room. The nurse that was usually there was in the corner at her desk. She wasted no time stepping into the conversation when she found the opening that was right this moment.

"Glad to see you awake. Our ability to diagnose you while inside your suit was limited, but best as we could tell, you didn't suffer any serious or permanent injury. That said, it may help to take stock of your health now that you are more accessible. Do you mind?"

Since he had just been inside the Exeter suit and Cerberus had neglected to mention that he was seriously injured in any way, Church figured he would just skip any sort of extra diagnosis.

"I appreciate the offer, but my suit has a health diagnostic system. I don't have any injuries that require treatment."

Since that kind of technology was fairly commonplace these days, the nurse wasn't put off by it. "If you say so. You're free to leave anytime you wish, in that case."

With that out of the way, Church turned his attention back to Rin, who was clearly waiting for him to finish his exchange. "So... not to sound ungrateful, but I'm surprised you came to see me instead of Ichika. Where is he anyway? I seem to be the only one in the infirmary."

Rin placed her one good hand on her hip. "First of all, I did go to see Ichika first. But he came out of the battle a little better off than you did. Didn't lose consciousness at least, which is why he got to hang out in his room. But you know, I felt a little bad that no one else was going to even bother checking on you, so my pity won out after a time. You're welcome."

There was no denying that Church felt a little stung by that, but he supposed it was completely fair and understandable. Everyone here knew Ichika and cared for him far more than a relative stranger like Church. It was only fair that they'd be far more concerned about the prior. Still, what a cruel world.

"No one else, huh...?"

Perhaps feeling a little extra pity due to the expression on his face, Rin extrapolated a little further on her initial brusque explanation. "OK, well it wasn't like it was just me. Chifuyu checked on you of course, but that's kind of her job. She's the one that would be on the hook if you got axed out here or something. Charlotte wanted to check on you too, but frankly, I think she just wanted to interrogate you about your weapons before helping Kanzashi with her I.S. or whatever. And what do you mean by 'no one else?' Am I not good enough for you?"

While Church didn't doubt that last part, since Charlotte seemed to be the most invested in the technical side of things as far as technology went, he didn't really believe that it was the only reason the blonde might have wanted to know if he was alright. Granted, he had only interacted with the girl briefly, but Charlotte struck him as the type of person that would legitimately worry about even complete strangers.

Instead of saying any of that, Church offered Rin a retort. "Hey, you admitted to checking on me second and out of pity, so I think I have the right to be a little dissappointed that it's only you here."

"Tch, ungrateful much? I'm not sure I really want to cook for you now."

"Wait, were you sure about doing that at some point?"

There was a bit of a sheepish expression on Rin's face as she thought of how she was going to word what she had to say. Ultimately, Church even saw a little bit of red creep into her cheeks.

"Well... ugh, listen, and don't let this go to your head: you're obviously not a bad guy, and I wouldn't mind hanging out with you sometimes. And you did kinda, you know, save me from dying, and all I really did as thanks was say it, so there's that... and, uh... it's been a while since anyone really got excited about eating my food, so that made me..."

Fully aware of what she was hinting at, Church couldn't help but smile a little bit. This was both sweet and cute, after all, and he'd brought it about. Why did that feel so good? Maybe this was what confidence felt like. Not that Church particularly lacked that, but there was a certain sense of affirmation to know you could make someone else feel this way. That said, he couldn't help but be a little cheeky.

"Happy? Excited? Flustered, maybe?"

Not missing the obvious teasing, Rin frowned at him, though it was certainly more of the pouty kind. "I thought I said to not let any of that go to your head. It might mean something when a normal girl cooks for someone, but chefs cook for all sorts of people. It's not special when it's just something you do for everyone."

Church was fairly certain that Rin didn't really have such a purely rational perspective on her cooking. If she did, she wouldn't have gotten flustered about it at all in the first place. Of course, he wasn't going to tease her any further, since he didn't want to press his luck.

"Alright, fair enough. Regardless of your feelings on it, I am still very excited about trying something made by an expert like you."

Rin sighed as her mobile arm went back to her hip again, clearly well aware that he was trying to flatter her at that point just to strengthen his position. The worst part was, she couldn't say it wasn't working. Even though she had said otherwise, Rin did find the idea of cooking for just one person to be a little more than just a job. It wasn't like cooking for all of your friends at the same time, or a customer. There was something inherently more... intimate about cooking for just one person specifically.

Of course, maybe the fact that it was a boy made that flustered feeling a little more pronounced. Church wasn't Ichika, whom she most certainly would have preferred: but even so, she found herself a little nervous at the idea of cooking for him. Would he like it? Would he appreciate the effort that went into it? What if she burnt something? Did he even like Chinese cuisine? What if she made a mistake and he got sick? She'd be mortified.

This was all ridiculous, because Rin had been cooking most of her life and she knew damn good and well that she very rarely made those types of mistakes. But that's what made it so silly that she had any unfounded anxieties, and she was certain it had something to do with cooking for a boy. But she could hardly let some unwarranted nervousness stop her from doing something nice for someone, especially when that someone had saved her life a little while ago.

"You don't have to try and persuade me anymore, I've already decided to do it. You hungry now? I can cook in your room. I would just need to bag the ingredients and bring them there."

The look on Church's face made it obvious that he didn't agree with that assessment. "Uh, actually, I think we're going to have to use your room."

Mention of this shoved aside Rin's nervousness about cooking. Sure, she considered cooking for someone as a special favor a step towards a more meaningful relationship, but that didn't mean she was willing to take the jump to inviting a boy into her room. Heck, the idea of letting Ichika into her room flustered her and she had tried to live in the same room as him back when she had first gotten here. Probably good that she hadn't gotten that idea to go through, honestly. Either she or Ichika would have died in that situation.

Which raised some questions about how ready she was for a relationship with him, honestly. But that was something she intentionally didn't dwell on too much or often. She didn't like the implications. For now, she would rather focus on the idea Church was putting forward.

"Now hold on, cooking for you is one thing, but now you want to get into my room? Don't be greedy."

"N-no, it's not that! It's just that my room is, well... a repurposed storage area. I don't have anything for you to cook on. Are there, like... public cooking facilities available here?"

Rin wanted to question what he meant by 'repurposed storage area' and whether or not she was supposed to believe that, but in hindsight, it did actually sound logical. After all, she couldn't recall any sort of commotion surrounding the addition of a second male to the 99.9% female dorms, so it made sense that Church was sleeping elsewhere. But a storage room, really? You'd think he could at least get a hotel with expenses paid by someone else.

And unfortunately, there weren't any public cooking facilities on campus. So honestly, her room was the only option if she wanted to do this. But she couldn't help but balk at the idea...

Church could see that she was uncomfortable with it, and while he really liked the idea of getting a meal from an expert chef who happened to be a cute girl, he didn't want to pressure her over something she didn't want.

"If there isn't anywhere else to do it, I understand. Maybe you could make something for lunch and bring it to the cafeteria some day instead?"

Frankly, Rin contemplated that idea pretty seriously. But the fact that Church had backpedaled on the original offer for her sake wasn't lost on her. He really was pretty considerate. And it wasn't as though she liked him, right? So what was there to be nervous about in letting him into her room? Although, she would definitely have to hide a few things before letting him in.

"No, no... it's fine. I mean, I guess it's kind of weird when we've only been friends for like... a few days? But it's just a favor between friends. Payback for something you did. It's only as weird as you make it. That said, you can't just walk into someone's room with no warning at all. I need to tidy it up a little bit... you mind waiting for an hour?"

"Sure. Just gotta figure out what I'll do while I wait..."

"Oh, that reminds me! Chifuyu wanted me to tell you something about showers when you woke up. I guess that makes sense if you're sleeping in a storage room..."

"That it does. What did she say?"

"That you could use the staff showers at the stadium. They're at the north end, opposite of where we sat today. There's signs and all, so you should be able to find it pretty easily. Maybe you should do that while you wait."

Glad to have that problem squared away, even if it wasn't entirely convenient, Church wondered if he should be offended. Best as he could tell, he didn't smell, but other people were usually better at determining that than the person themselves. Or maybe Rin was just implying that her shower was off limits and he should take advantage of what he had while he had it.

"Sounds like a good idea. Should I meet you back here or...?"

"I'd say you could meet me in front of the dorms, but that might look a little suspicious to anyone going in or out... how about we just meet up outside of the stadium gate we went into today? Shouldn't be too many people to bother you around there right now. One hour, don't forget. I'm already doing you a big solid here so don't make me wait!"

With that, Rin turned to leave, and Church mentally noted the time so he could keep it in mind. A lot had happened today, and it wasn't even over. He felt that he should have been tired, but with a hand-made dinner with a cute girl on the imminent horizon, he was too excited for that. Now he just had to knock out a shower first, so his next objective was making it to his room for a change of clothes.

Somewhere in his thoughts, he acknowledged that the Commander probably wouldn't be happy with the way he was planning on spending his time this evening, but more importantly, he didn't really care.

---

Well, this is definitely one of the bigger revisions in the story as far as chapter content goes. Pretty sure this whole thing is twice as long as it was originally, with a lot more content. Ironically, a lot of the same stuff still happens, but a few minor changes in wording or thoughts really puts them in an entirely different light. That doesn't mean much for the plot of the story overall, but it does make a big difference in the relationship development between the characters in the long run.