Malcolm Rapha Frampton: We had a deal you little bitch! Why aren't your ships retreating!?
Hertraude Sera Fanoss: Because we are obviously winning, that's what you do when you're winning: you advance.
Malcolm: We had a deal!
Hertraude: And you had an oath to your crown which you betrayed in the process of making that deal. Your words have no meaning they stink of lies.
Malcolm: This is Marquiss Malclom Rapha Frampton calling for immediate back up to my location! We are under attack by the Principality of Fanoss!
*Click* 'We had a deal you little bitch! Why aren't your ships retreating!?'
*Click* 'We had a deal you little bitch! Why aren't your ships retreating!?'
*Click* 'We had a deal you little bitch! Why aren't your ships retreating!?'
The last Transmission from Marquiss Malcolm Rapha Frampton before the unceremonious destruction of his ship
The Throne room was a hive of activity. Luxion's drones were used as viewing screens on multiple fronts as they acted as charts tracking the path of the Principalities fleet and communication devices with other persons of interest.
"Frampton is dead." Luxion reported drily. "The Adventurer Guild's warehouse island has been destroyed, swallowed whole from what I know."
"Meaning that the Drop Weapons and the raw materials that you were stocking up on have been consumed by their monsters?" Mylene asked sounding concerned, for obvious reasons.
"Correct." Luxion could do little more than offer idle speculation on this point, mind you speculation he knew would lead to the correct answer. Devil Arms took a demon and compressed them down into their smallest possible form, a Nightmare was a demon with a pocket dimension the size of a 15 by 15 foot cube inside of them but was less than a half of that size. An Insidious was a giant flying arena/troop transport unit capable of storing several dozen of such creatures. A massive amount of demons had been forcibly compressed into a single relatively small package and all of it was heading towards the royal capital to be unleashed all at once, at least this was the conclusion that Luxion had led the Queen to conclude.
"Will you and the army be able to stop them?" Mylene asked as she narrowed her frown.
"The Aces are equipped with the best equipment I can manufacture." Luxion informed accurately. "They have consistently scored extremely well in the simulations. Better than your husband I will add. They will also be supported by my anti-airship units and the capitals shield network."
Luxion had been preparing for this war for years. Within hours of Erica bringing him back to Holfort he started pumping Nano-seeds into the ground and into the dungeon. Materials were consumed and processed right from the ground, not even the invaluable float stone of the capital had been spared. Tunnels had been dug throughout the dungeon leading directly to the Float stone deposits, supplementing his knowledge of science and technology with magical lore Luxion remade the tunnels to channel huge amounts of mana to pass by the Float stone on loop, generating vast quantities of electricity in the process. It wasn't quite a perpetual motion generator, he was for starters reliant on the monsters in the dungeon, the Newmans on the surface to generate them and the adventurers to stimulate them, but it was as close as he was going to get. Indeed after converting so much float stone into generators Luxion was able to make considerable progress, Aegis type shield systems designed to deflect projectiles with rotating energy fields to slap them aside, and the BFG Mk 8000 cannons to act as anti-ship weapons, each of the dozen or so he has dotting the continent capable of sinking a ship in a single blast. He'll need it.
Hertraude Sera Fanoss couldn't have been more different yet similar to her sister if she tried. Ignoring their height and figure whereas Hertrude is moody, distant and socially awkward Hertraude is Bright, Friendly and Chipper to a disturbing degree. I do not recall a single moment in the third game in which I see a frown on her face, a tear in her eye, a moment in which she is genuinely upset, this from someone who claims to be mourning her sister's death. Hertraude, and more accurately the God of the Sky she summons, is a secret boss for the third game 'unlocked' only if the protagonist fails to mediate peace between Holfort and Fanoss through the murder investigation into Hertraude's parents deaths. Still I find the girl unsettling, there's something that simply isn't human behind her friendly gaze, less like a person and more like an overly friendly automaton. It's possible that Hertraude is even more unstable and dangerous than her sister is, nothing's more dangerous than someone who knows they're right.
Excerpt from Diary 3
Trudy I hope you are in good health while in the Barbarian's captivity.
I'm sorry to have to tell you this but I will be going to meet our parents first. I'm sorry to have to borrow your Demon Flute but you have the Angel Flute with you. I will be summoning the God of the Earth, and sending him to destroy Holfort in your place. I'll be sure to tell Mommy and Daddy that you'll be coming soon, we'll even hold a welcoming feast for you!
Love you Always Your Traudy
Hertraude had a big smile on her face as she looked over at Holfort, some kind of magical barrier had emerged and appeared over the capital to protect it, and Holfort's pitiful fleet were in the air to meet them. They would be disappointed. The Insidious were in Purgatorio, safe from harm and bloated with a bounty of Devil Arms, wombs for a true monster that would be emerging soon to fight the enemy. And once they were done this entire eyesore of a continent would be utterly destroyed.
"On my commands, have the fleet-" Hertraude was interrupted by an old man putting his hand on her shoulder.
His most notable feature was his balding head that had a large X shaped scar going over it, he wore his black armour like a second skin, but he walked with a limp, likely stemming from the ill-fitting armour that had been attached to his left left, the one that had been covered in bloody red eyes.
"Let me solo them." Vandel Van Zim walked towards the edge of the deck, no mech armour on his person as he walked off the edge of the deck.
The leg swelled and covered his body, vines grew at a rapid rate filling out a massive two story tall bear like figure, digging into his flesh as it grew, held together by insect like things with more of the eyes. The entire thing turned into metal, an effect of the Gilgamesh metal that had been built into the shell. As Vandel assumed a sword fighter's pose his entire body was coated in a layer of darkness and formed an armour identical to the one Vandel had been wearing before while a black blade was pulled from a scabbard of space. The Black Knight of Fanoss had taken to the field.
"We have confirmation that the Black-!" A loud clang echoed out, in an instant the Black Knight had crossed the gap, a second knight had appeared to stop the Black Knight, Holfort's own Ace of Aces the Masked Knight.
"Back Away fiend!" The Two Knight's pushed each other away with their swords. Both men wielding swords but opposite in nearly way, the second knight being a blue on white figure with a navy blue cape. "You shall not harm the people of this land!"
"...the buzzing fly has shown up." Despite the opinions of Holfort's propaganda department Vandel was less than impressed with the Masked Knight's favourite tactic of hiding behind the air force and playing defence and evasion. "Where's the Sword Saint or the Demon Knight? You both should've come out at the same time."
"Haven't you had your pride wounded enough already losing to someone a fifth of your age!?" The Masked Knight gave an obvious provocation in response to the Black Knight's honest question concerning his other sparring partners.
"So that means I have to chase the other two down then?" The ancient texts were clear. Even at only a fragment of it's whole this armour would give great power in exchange for blood and flesh, it took the sacrifice of five men before it calmed down but even then the old texts were clear, this battle will be the last battle of the Black Knight. "Then I shouldn't be wasting so much time on Talk!" Thus it would also be the Last Battle of the Masked Knight, the Sword Saint, and the Demon Knight.
Thus the Black Knight engaged the Masked Knight, the disguised King of Holfort, in battle.
A cacophony of artillery sounded, the cover fire of dozens of Holfortian warships going off at once. With a swing of his blade Vandel smacked aside the incoming shells and threw them back to the ships they came from, a series of explosions echoing out in response.
The Masked Knight moved to take the opening he sacrificed the air force to create, plunging his holy blade into Vandel's side. Vandel skilfully deflected the flying stab with an elbow blow and followed that up with a downward slash with his blade cutting into his opponent's shoulder and threw him away.
"Were you under the impression I got weaker?" Roland had been under the impression the Black Knight had grown weak, the lost item that was his armour was losing in maintenance with only a limited supply of replacement parts, age would also be taking it's toll on him his reflexes dented and his mind slowed by the weight of age, these were the things Roland had believed after he had been beaten by Leon. "I'm sorry to tell you this: that brat is simply a more difficult opponent than you are." Okay now he was just being plain insulting. "If you aren't going to stop wasting my time then I need to kill you right now."
Caliburn: The Blade of Kings.
Of the Seraphim arms, the Caliburn is by far the most famous. Given the name The Blade of Kings, Caliburn was once an ordinary sword thrown into a lake after a particularly brutal battle.
The sword became lodged inside of a boulder that then washed up on shore. A king who had spawned too many heirs declared the one to pull the blade from the stone would become his heir, thus the sword became a receptacle of all the hopes of the people who wished to become claimants. Then war broke out and the King was felled in battle, as all hope was lost a bolt from the heavens struck the blade and a stable boy was able to pull it free.
The blade is the embodiment of Mandate of Heaven, should a ruler be recognised as leader of the lands he protects he will be given power in proportion to the people he protects, conversely should it come to light that the king has disgraced his position then the power Caliban has granted him will be revoked and the blade will return to the stone.
Excerpt on Notable Seraphim Arms by Rodin
Blackmore's fight with the Black Knight was enlightening. The Sword and armour ate magic, ate anything made out of magic, shredded barriers like a hot knife to butter and slurped the power used for the wielder's benefit. Luxion thus came prepared to fight magic with science.
"You represent an elite unit." Each Arroganz model of armour stood head and shoulders over standard armour and was twice as wide. The majority of that bulk came from stronger armour plating, increased muscle actuators for increased strength and performance and Capacitors and batteries to store and distribute its immense power. "A new generation of armour pilots combining Lost Armour and Modern Armour technology together."
The particular point of pride for Luxion was the power source. No longer would his designs be limited to Alzeran mana stones for a energy source: now the float stone that was previously merely sitting there letting the armour ride on it's aptly named qualities was being used to it's full potential. The mana in the air generated a passive magnetic field, perhaps by itself the mana couldn't power a armour of this size, but when a Super Conductor passes through a magnetic field the end result was a huge amount of electrical power.
"You have played the simulations and scored consistently high across the board. You were trained specifically to fight in this exact scenario and defeat this specific enemy."
The weapons the armours wielded were a scaled down version of the Anti-Aircraft weapon's Luxion designed, the BFG 9000, a weapon designed to channel the excessive raw energy produced by the float stone power core into a beam of pure destructive energy. The most beautiful part was that the energy beam doesn't even need to hit its target to be effective, at least not against the extradimensionals. The intense energy beam produces an equally intense magnetic field, affecting all the surrounding magical energy in the process, monsters caught in it's effect, even the ones in Purgatorio like the Insidious flying towards Holfort on a collision course, would be affected.
"On my mark: Ready." Luxion himself was piloting one of the mechs, selling the lie that he wasn't directly controlling the machine using a Terminator body. "Set!" As Luxion prepared to wave his arm down and kick off the new generation of technological development.
"Something's wrong!" A woman, Sir Connor, who acted as Luxion's second command suddenly reported a problem. "My machine isn't activating!"
Immediately Luxion's Terminator body jumped out of the head Arroganz and ran over to the armour in question. It wasn't just Connor that was reporting problems, no one's mech had activated. Luxion's Terminator examined the cockpit while Luxion himself ran a diagnostic on the Armours. Everything was functioning properly, there was no mechanical problem keeping anything from working, pulling out the sword Key the Terminator found the problem.
Luxion had to admit he was impressed with the King's talent, as a AI he should be physically incapable of feeling rage, but there was nothing else he could do to describe how he was processing his data input. Because despite all the time he's spent drilling into his people's heads how each of their individual unit's sword keys would only function for their unit, despite making it so that each of them could read and recite their individual sword keys serial numbers frontwards and backwards, despite having done everything he could to prepare for this exact occasion, the swords didn't match their pilots or armours, less than a Day after the King's own 'surprise inspection.'
"You all know your Serial Numbers!" It would be too late. "Find your keys immediately!" The 8000's would be bombarding the airships right now. "Man your vehicles and set out Asap!" They didn't have the time or the correct angles to eliminate the monsters. "Identify-" Luxion cursed as the ground shook and his sensors reported massive holes being punched into the dungeons proper. "Damn it!"
An unfamiliar song played out from the Principality ships, a tune on a flute played by its princess, and then hell broke loose. Portals leading from Purgatorio opened all over the dungeon, from which a tide black tar, weapons and body parts flooded into the dungeon itself swallowing everything in it's path. Demons were consumed, Angels were flooded with concentrated demonic power and soon followed, the screams of countless monsters echoed out as Luxion lost control of the situation.
"Commander, the 8000's are at 200% Capacity and climbing!" A voice sounded on Luxion's ear piece. The city and it's shield would act as a diode to burn off the majority of the massive energy. Lightning mages were hard at work to control the power surge that would follow.
"Open fire! So long as there is not an allied ship in the cross hairs keep firing even if there is not a target! If there is a ship in the cross hairs immediately change targets and continue firing!" If they were lucky this would kill a few of the monsters, however the main priority was preventing an explosive power surge that would destroy the weapons themselves and cause huge devastation to the surrounding area. "Control System initiate the emergency cut off sequence!" No response. "Control Respond!" The emergency blast doors that would protect the Continent's float stone deposits were being forcibly held open, if those were destroyed the continent would fall.
"This is Mylene Rapha Holfort asking all hands for aide!" The ground shook, in the distance Mylene made out the vague outline of a massive figure the size of a mountain rising from the ground. "I repeat this is Mylene Rapha Holfort asking all hands for aide!"
"This is Rodin of the Blackmore Family." A familiar smooth voice came over the radio. "It seems that you have run into some difficulty with the Principality."
"I seem to recall that we agreed to face the Principalities fleet together!" Mylene snapped in response.
"Where is the Sword Saint and your elite forces?" Mylene swallowed her words at Rodin's question. Luxion had already informed her of her husband's sabotage. "Is it possible that you intend to leave us outside here to face the Principalities monster while you remained safe behind your barrier and let us get slaughtered instead?"
"That's not what happened!?" Mylene snapped in frustration, though she also couldn't say that her husband sabotaged their own forces either.
"Then what happened?" Rodin asked and Mylene could only swallow her frustration. "We will be saving your country, but know that the payment will be extremely expensive." If the Blackmore's would be doing all the work, then the Blackmore's will be taking all the profits.
"If it's Dia that you want-" Mylene was fully prepared to empty the Kingdom's treasury to save the Kingdom itself.
"Look out your window." Mylene slowly turned to face the window with a look of horror, Rodin could've been talking about the castle town or Luxion's technology but she knew in her heart of hearts that wasn't what he was talking about. No the family of demon contractors weren't here to save the Kingdom. "That will be our payment, once it has finished cooking that is." They were here for the weapon the Principality was trying to use to destroy the Kingdom.
With a combo flurry The Black Knight landed multiple slash attacks on the Masked Knight, each of them leading into the other as they carried the power over. It was all that Roland could do to block them all. Far from getting weaker, the Black Knight's fighting power had skyrocketed.
"Your new armour serves you well!" The Masked Knight let out a friendly jab, clearly meaning to imply that his performance was do to his armour.
"It has it's pros and cons." The Black Knight didn't even deny Rolands words. "Unfortunately you're not going to be alive long enough to enjoy them." Suddenly the Black Knight used his blade to block a strike from behind and pushed off the attacker that had struck him. "Arclight, finally decided to join us did you?" A new armour had joined the fray, Black and Turquoise colour scheme on this one.
"Apologies Vandel. Someone made off with my Armour's security Key." It wasn't just the Unit under Luxion that suffered from Roland's idiocy.
"Apologies Arclight, it would appear that my armour has taken some damage." Which was factually true. "I will have to get it repaired for a few moments before I rejoin the Frey!" And whose fault was that!?
The Sword Saint looked over the horizon at the figure that was approaching the capital and the shield that covered it. The Information Creature's weapons had turned on the Principalities God, the constant bombardment of magic disrupting energy attacks didn't seem to be doing much against the enemy.
"Eyes forward!" And then the Black Knight resumed his attack.
These events, the battle against the Black Knight, the attack on the shield protecting Holfort by the God of the Earth, and the battle between the two sides fleets, were all being witnessed by Leon's group as they stood on the deck of the ship. Ironic, Leon was sent to the school to learn empathy, now as a result he would be mucking up his families plans.
"We have four targets, the Principalities flagship where the second princess is located, the God of the Earth attacking the capital, the Royal Palace and the Black Knight." Leon was pacing in front of the Five fools plus Marie while Angelica, Olivia and Hertrude were off to the side waiting for the plan to be finalised. "The ten of us will be divided into four groups in order to strike each target location. Yes Chris?"
"I understand the others but why strike the Royal Capital?" Chris wasn't fond of this vaguely treasonous line of thought, not fond of it at all.
"The Weiss, the royal Airship that was used during the founding campaign of Holfort. Provided we can get it working then its armaments will be able to end this without any more bloodshed." Luxion's super weapons were turned on the God of the Earth, the Principality ships and its crew, the ones that were still left, were unharmed and would be deploying Armours right now.
"Understood." Leon wondered how much Chris actually understood but decided it was irrelevant.
"Good. I will now divy up responsibilities. Drone." At once Luxion's drone revealed itself and produced a holographic chart that projected the 'plan' as it were.
"Chris, Olivia and Angelica will be going to the palace." Luxion started to explain. "I cannot lower the shield to let you through, but a proficient lightning mage can create a hole in the shield."
"I can't control lightning that well though!" Chris snapped by way of reply, if not for Alastor-
"You won't. You are a pair of Legs for the one who will." Chris was taken aback by the insult but he also couldn't deny it. "The second highest priority is the God of the Earth. It must be delayed, or preferably flat out killed, before it breaches the barrier around the capital." So another three man group would be prepared, Leon, Julius and Brad.
"We're going to fight that thing!?" Brad asked pointing off at the distance.
"You're putting the Prince's life in danger!" Jilk snapped glaring angrily.
"Correct." Luxion replied to both individuals at once. "The Prince has an affinity to the light element." Not that it did Julius any good. What would he do with light magic, set off a flash bang in the creature's face? "It is the element that Demons are weak to." Which Julius didn't know. "To the point that you will be making use of this for the battle's duration." Umbra opened up another trap door and a familiar pair of weapons were revealed, the Sword and Shield Valiance and Valour. "As for Brad, we require the raw offensive power that he'll be the one to provide." Luxion stated in simple terms. "Jilk will be escorting Hertrude to her sister, in the hope of talking her down, or failing that eliminate the problem at the root." As Luxion explained that, that left a disturbing realisation for Marie.
"Wait then does that mean that-!"
"Correct. You and Seburg will be joining the battle against the Black Knight." The Black Knight was already fighting the Kingdom's forces, throwing more fighters at him would only get in the way, conversely a support type who could buff, shield and heal would be more help here, Greg would be acting as her guard.
"We don't even have armours!" Marie made a pathetic attempt to back out of acting as the Saintess. She couldn't even use the Saint items at this point, not with the knowledge that deranged psychopath was inside of them.
"Your weapons will be your keys." The hangar opened behind the five fools, inside was five Umbran styled armours with the turret hands replaced with customised limbs to supplement the use of their respective Devil Arms, and further customised with five unique colour schemes: White on Black, Green on Black, Turquoise on Black, Red on Black and Purple on Black.
"Not one scratch." Leon didn't need his brother getting on his case for breaking his brother and his girlfriend's new art projects.
"Oh ho ho ho! Sweet!" Greg pretty much summed up the group's opinions on their new Armours.
Marie just let out a whine of horror that she was being thrown into danger, again. Aside from the armours made for the five fools Angelica also had the phoenix, supplemented with her two Salamandra's, which as of this moment she was joined inside of along with Olivia. Leon on the other hand climbed on to the back of the Chimera and checked his load out. Aside from the Chimera there were also the Shadow Boxer, the Hell Hounds, and the Tartarus, bringing the total number of weapons in his possession up to four. Hopefully it would be enough.
"Move out!"
They were losing. The King showed no sign of returning to the fight, Vandel's armour had increased it's performance to unheard of heights, and right now he was the only one who could fight him, and they were losing. As the Arclight head was thinking through this, a lance of fire sailed through the air and struck him in the back, the pole that was inside flying back the way it came. The Black Knight's only response was a annoyed sigh as he turned his back to the Sword Saint.
"Another pest." A soldier attempted to strike Vandel's back, the Black Knight responding by reaching behind him and grabbing the individual's blade between two fingers. "Do I have a sign on me or something today?" No wonder the rumour going around was that Leon was Vandel's son, they even talk similarly.
"Greg Fou Seburg Asshole! Knight under Leon Fia Blackmore!" Greg introduced himself as he readied his weapon.
"The Young blood? Where is he?" Vandel would tolerate the interruption if it led him to one of his targets.
"What's with the Young Blood?" Vandel's Armour bore a resemblance or the demonic plants they found in the elves bunker. "The rumour flying around the capital is that he's your son." Greg wanted to bet that if he let this go on long enough that thing would finish Vandel off for them. The Blade Vandel had been holding in his fingers snapped.
"I had one child, a daughter, she died before your father was born." Vandel started glowing with a absolutely murderous aura. "And you dare insinuate I would lay with one of the whores your rotting country!?" A sonic boom echoed out as Vandel instantly closed the distance with Greg, the spear-man blocking the massive sword with only his Pride Wheel Shield. "Congratulations. If you were trying to get my full and undivided attention, you have succeeded!" And then Greg was sent flying.
In the mean time The Sword Saint's armour was being repaired with magic. Looking to the side he saw the Saintess in a Battle Mage harness floating at his side.
"This is harder than it looks!" Marie was using the Gilgamesh gauntlets and grieves in lieu of her usual Saint Items. She also had Luxion's ear piece instructing her on how to reconstruct the internal workings of the Sword Saint's armour. "Just have to stall. Just have to Stall!" If Marie told herself that enough times she might believe it.
Chris and Angelica flew to the barrier that was protecting Holfort, Chris stabbing the blade into the shield as Alastor forced an opening into the shield.
"Go! I got this!" Chris shouted as Angelica flew into the barrier. Even though Chris's job was to escort Angelica and Olivia to the royal Palace, in reality there was currently no danger inside of the barrier. Which means that he could lend his support against the Black Knight, ironically enough not as a swordsman. "Are you sure this is going to work?" As Chris asked that, clamps appeared from his mech's arms to clamp down on the blade, in the mean time Alastor used Chris's armour as a conductor to siphon the power from the shield, from what he could tell it could use some.
Options works is a term used to refer to custom modifications for Mech Armours. Usually the replacement of the Fore limb or in much rarer cases the leg an option work provides an often desperately needed boost in potential offensive, evasive, defensive or magical ability.
Overture: An arm that fires a short range offensive electrical burst.
Gerbera: A shock wave generator designed to push the user out of the way of enemy attacks or fire off a large offensive beam.
Punch Line: A retractable rocket thruster located in the legs.
Helter Skelter: A short range Offensive mass of spinning Blades like a blender.
Tomboy: A Slide attachment that boosts the performance of a sword by turning it into a high-frequency blade or a gun by turning it into a rail gun.
Buster arm: A fold-up extra large arm composed of Gilgamesh, at the wielder's command the weapon can assume it's full size and becomes a devastating crushing weapon capable of punching far above it's weight class.
Rawhide: A lasso Cable composed of Gilgamesh, designed to unravel on command, extend and grab distant targets either pulling them close or tossing them around with the Armour's strength.
Ragtime: A device which uses a piece of horn from the Demon horse species known as Geryon to create localised pockets of altered time to slow an enemy down or speed yourself up.
Mega Buster: A blaster that fires in short offensive bursts.
Excerpt on a Few of the Option works engineered by the Blackmore Family
Greg's armour had a learning curve to it, but he was getting the hang of it. Both of his legs had built in fire jets that let him move faster, one arm had a built in metal cable that made it possible for him to retrieve his spear without having to chase it down, the other arm could unfold into something a dozen time's a standard armour's size, and when he wielded the demonic spear in that arm or his demonic shield it grew in direct proportion. It was all that he could do to keep himself from being slashed in half by the Black Knight's weapon.
"Come on! I just need an opening!" At that moment a massive beam of energy was fired off from the shield around the capital, Chris and Alastor were harvesting the unstable energy from the shield and fired it at the Black Knight like a massive sword beam, with the Black Knight immediately spinning around to slice through the sword beam. Seizing that opening, Greg put the Cerberus to work, absorbing and unleashing the massive amount of heat flying in his direction into a concentrated stream of fire. "Just hurry up and die already you stupid geezer!"
And then all three combatants were thrown off as they felt something screaming in their very souls, and then the Black Knight unleashed a wave of shadow that blew up in Greg's face.
Review Section:
RonaldM40196867: Legendary Heroes/Cute Heroes.
RedRat8: It's going to take a lot of desperate measures to keep things under control now. Luckily they have the perfect scapegoat to blame all of the King's blatant sabotage on, Thank you Frampton may you Rot in Inferno.