"...Your logic makes no sense."

"It makes perfect sense!"

Crossing into North Ambria had proven surprisingly easy despite the high alert status of the Northern Jaegers stationed near the border. Between the route that the RMP had scouted out for them and Instructor Sara's experience and knowledge of the terrain the group had managed to slip into the country without alerting the enemy.

That and the fact they had two of the stealthiest people Rean knew in their party. With Fie and Altina to guide their path it was a trivial affair to sneak around the few patrols and lookouts on the monster-infested wilderness route that Claire had provided them with. A boon to their party to be sure, but one that had created a rather spirited debate between two individuals not known for that sort of verbal passion.

"Your infiltration techniques are prone to human error and thus inferior to Claiomh Solais' stealth field generator."

Yep. Altina and Fie were arguing about which of them was stealthier.

"Human error!?" The slightly taller of the two reared back, aghast, "I don't make human errors! But even if I did it still beats relying on a machine that'll be obsolete as soon as someone develops a countermeasure."

"Claiomh Solais is state of the art technology. I doubt we will be facing anyone with an effective countermeasure."

The Rabbit's dry statement earned her a victorious smirk from Fie, "Ouroboros?" Seeing no retort in sight she continued, "Can't assume anything'll work when those snakes get involved."

"By that measure couldn't they simply deploy enhanced heat scanners or thermal vision to render your so-called techniques worthless?"

Rean couldn't help but let out a laugh as he listened to their byplay, "I'm glad they're getting along so well."

"Is that what you want to call it?" Laura questioned, exasperated. Shaking her head the blue-haired woman turned to the final member of their group, "How much farther until we reach Haliask?"

Sara – who had been listening to the two smallest members of their team with an amused grin on her face, let out a thoughtful hum, "It should still be a ways away, but I bet we'll see it in the distance once we cross these next few hills."

"It's a shame we won't be able to stick together once we arrive." Laura lamented.

Rean couldn't help but agree. While the bracers planned to work with the few members of the North Ambrian Bracer Guild to evacuate people in the residential districts, he and Altina were tasked to secure the outskirts, both to save any civilians trapped in General Le Guin's planned advance route and to investigate if the archaisms in North Ambria were imported or if Ouroboros had a factory in the region.

And maybe in doing so he'd have the chance to discover where the leaders of the Northern Jaegers were hiding out. If he could just arrest them before the attack...

"Eh. It's better this way. Lets us cover more ground." Sara said, before allowing her expression to turn sly, "Or are you still upset you won't get to spend any more time in the loving arms of your precious Rean?"

"Given the situation I was gonna be nice and forget how much of a miserable wreck you were last night, but if you're gonna keep running your mouth..."

"I'll be good now!" The A-Rank bracer laughed nervously as Fie rejoined the conversation, which caused Rean to look upon her with concern. This was the first he was hearing about it. Sara must have noticed his curious look as she hastily continued, "She's just overreacting! Go one night without a drink and suddenly you're a 'miserable wreck."

"Are you certain, Instructor?" Laura chimed in innocently, "I seem to recall you turning to Rean to solve all of our problems, so wouldn't it make sense for us to tell him the entire story and see if he can assist?"

Fie nodded from beside her, "You just said we still have some distance before Haliask. Plenty of time for a quick therapy session."

"Nope! I'm fine! I'm the cool one, not the one with all the problems! Keep him away from me!"

Rean wasn't exactly sure what was going on anymore, but he had a sinking suspicion that these women were teasing him.

"..." Altina, who had been silently walking alongside them ever since Fie got distracted by the other conversation, narrowed her eyes in thought, "...Your abilities can't do anything to hide the others. Claiomh Solais can. Therefore my stealth ability is superior."

"You're still on this!?" Fie groaned in exasperation, "Sure I can't hide them like you can, but both Rean and Sara are pretty good at being quiet. I know if I tell them what to do they'll get past most security."

"H-Hey...!" Came the startled voice of the one person excluded from that grouping.

Altina nodded her head victoriously, "So we both concur that the same cannot be said of Laura."

"Hey!"

"Sure, I'll give you that." Once again the upset cry went ignored, "But sometimes a little challenge is fun, you know? Life would be boring without a seemingly impossible barrier to get over."

Altina shook her head, "I didn't expect such naive thinking from you. Some barriers simply cannot be overcome."

"I-I'm not that bad, right?!"

Once again Rean found himself smiling, happy that the two girls got along so well. In a way Altina reminded him of the Fie from the start of the first year and he was confident that if she found people to support her that she would open up and bloom the same way. Hopefully they could provide that needed friendship to the girl.

That their blooming friendship came at the expense of the puddle of misery and depression formerly known as Laura S. Arseid was something he chose to ignore.

"Alright, my faithful little minions. It's time to talk about how we're gonna be handling things."

"Call me a faithful little minion again and I'm leaving."

"Sorry. Junior Bracer's don't get to have an opinion."

Laura's exhausted sigh broke into their conversation, "Our orders, Instructor?"

Sara barely managed to hold back her laugh. Tormenting Fie would always remain one of her favorite activities, but seeing how far she could go before the usually patient Laura reached her wit's end was quickly rising into the number two spot.

How she adored these kids.

Plus it was a nice distraction from the stifling tension that seemed to hold Haliask in its grip. Between the coup and the impending invasion there were very few civilians in sight as the group entered the suffering city. A few jaegers were about, but luckily their group hadn't drawn much attention as of yet, partially due to the fact that Rean and Altina had split away from them just before they entered the city proper.

But she couldn't hope for that luck to last forever, "First off, we need to get you two some aliases. Bracers are tolerated here, barely, but Erebonian bracers are a different beast entirely, especially right now." She was probably the only exception to that rule, for good or ill.

While Fie seemed accepting of her request Laura seemed somewhat confused, "What, like fake names or something?"

"Nah." She waved the girl off, "Don't think we need to go that far. Change too much and the cracks become more obvious under scrutiny. We will just be changing your background a little bit."

"Most jaegers like to keep somewhat informed of bracer activity so we'll have to use their own intel against them. They've probably heard about a pair of lovey-dovey up-and-coming bracers from Liberl who've been making waves lately, but I doubt they'd actually know what they look like. So that'll be you two for the next couple days."

"I... suppose that makes sense, although I can't help but feel a little uncomfortable using other people's identities without their consent. Should we change how we act?"

Sara shook her head, "You're good like you are. The way you both like to finish each others words is so sickly adorable that few people would dare question you." Haha. Seeing both girls get a little flustered made the teasing worth it. But it wouldn't last as Sara saw the chance for a free shot, "...And if anyone does actually know that one of the Liberlians is a boy we'll have to wing it, but Fie still looks kinda like a tiny boy so she can make for an alright Joshua."

Fie's silent glare was so murderous that Laura actually bothered to place a restraining hand on the smaller girl's shoulder.

With that out of the way the Purple Lightning considered their next course of action. Truth be told she didn't really have all that much more to offer given how difficult communications had become ever since the Golden Rakshasa's troops moved into position, but her faithful little minions didn't need to know that, "Let's head over to the North Ambrian guild branch. It'll be easier to explain once we're there.

Hopefully that was the case. If the local bracers had been slacking off these past few days then she would be pretty pissed off.

With that the three women continued to walk through the nearly deserted streets. A few groups of jaegers approached them, but a quick flash of her bracer badge was enough to get them to back off, even if it didn't stop them from glaring at them.

As someone who experienced both sides of it she could only shake her head at the stupidity of the bracer/jaeger rivalry.

At least it didn't seem like anyone recognized her as the Purple Lightning. It wasn't too surprising given the older jaegers were probably either placed closer to the front or at wherever they had set up their headquarters, but she wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. She was more than happy to remain as a simple anonymous bracer doing her work in a war-torn country.

Even though it'd been a few years since she last set foot in her home it wasn't hard to find her way around, and soon enough she'd led the others to a very familiar sign. Sure the building was a lot smaller and more run down than the capital branch of any major country's guild should be, but it was still the Bracer Guild.

Plus as an Erebonian bracer it wasn't as if she had any right to complain about how bad the North Ambrian capital building was. At least they currently had one, although that'd likely change soon after the Erebonian flag began to decorate the city.

While the outside appeared to be little more than a rundown building, the inside was a hurricane of activity as they stepped inside. The handful of bracers present were running about, poring over a map posted on a wall, or busy communicating with others outside the hall. Sara recognized a few of the older bracers around, but the majority were unknown to her.

But while they were unknown to her she wasn't unknown to them, and slowly much of the activity died down as many pairs of eyes fell upon her, "It's the Purple Lightning..." One of the younger ones muttered, awe audible in his voice. In all honesty it was a bit embarrassing to be treated this way for the woman who had fled her home years ago.

Was this what Rean had to deal with on a near daily basis now? Poor guy.

One of the bracers approached them. "Sara Valestein. Thank you for coming to help us." He glanced behind her towards her two companions, "And you two are...?"

"Laura S. Arseid. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Fie, sup?"

"These two are juniors from Erebonia, but don't let their rank fool you. I can guarantee they've seen more action than some seniors." Her support was probably unnecessary as the Arseid name was known outside of Erebonia and any bracer worth their badge would recognize the name of Zephyr's little former princess.

"That's great to hear. We can use all the help you can offer. Are you here to take charge of the operation?"

The way he asked that so quickly threw Sara for a loop, but come to think of it if her memory wasn't off shouldn't this guy only be a C-Rank bracer? And yet it seemed like he was the one in charge of everything going on?

Yikes. Maybe the Erebonian branch wasn't as bad off in comparison.

Still, the Purple Lightning shook her head, "Nah. Your operation, your rules." Or at least that would hold true unless the operation sucked. If it did then she'd definitely use her authority to usurp command, "Wanna get us up to speed?"

"O-Of course!" It was hard to tell if there was relief or disappointment in his voice at her decision. Either way he got over it quick enough to usher the three Erebonians to the wall map, "While ideally we'd get the civilians to all evacuate Haliask before the attack begins logistically it's simply not feasible. The neighboring villages can only house so many and we don't have the resources for full refugee camps. Plus some people just won't want to leave their homes."

"Instead for those without family or friends out of the city we're planning on setting up a bunch of shelters throughout the city – places like the cathedral, the civilian airport, and a warehouse by the docks. Most of them are far away from any important military targets and we have enough bracers to keep them all guarded."

Sara nodded her head, "Makes sense. So I take it we need to get the word out?" As far as major operations went this was a pretty simple one, but sometimes simple was the best you could ask for during a crisis. And as far as simple plans went this one wasn't too bad.

Still, improvements could be made, "I'd consider moving this shelter somewhere else." She pointed towards a marked location on the northern end of the city, "I saw a couple forts in that direction and I'm pretty sure the Golden Rakshasa isn't the sort of woman to simply ignore an enemy position like that. That'd put that shelter directly between her forces and the parliament building."

While Sara had little interest in the awed looks she was getting for her analysis she couldn't help but take a second to bask in the looks of actual respect she was getting from her former students. That's right. A-Rank bracer, baby! Don't you ever forget it, Fie.

"R-Right. That's a good idea. I think there's an abandoned factory complex close enough that we can redirect them to..."

Sara turned away from the map. She'd let the locals figure out the details. She was a woman of action first and foremost, "When you've found a place call me. We're gonna head up that way and get started since it's probably the highest risk area. These two are with me. Wouldn't want them getting lost in the city."

She couldn't resist that chance for another free dig on her precious little juniors, now could she?

Not wanting to hang out in that busy building any longer the former teacher made her departure from the guild hall without further word. Fie and Laura were quick to follow, "So our job is simply to pass on the evacuation orders? We're not to evacuate them now?"

"Nope." She answered Laura quickly, "As much as I'd love it if we could, I can't imagine the jaegers would simply let us evacuate all the people. Better to wait until they have better fish to fry. Will give the others time to stock up and fortify the shelters, too."

While the Arseid's thoughts seemed more focused on the mission at hand, Fie's face was scrunched up in a scowl, "...Why'd you pick us an area far away from here? We're gonna be walking for ages."

"Suck it up, you big baby." Truth be told Sara wasn't much looking forward to that either, but it wasn't as if public transportation was available at the moment, and the guild's limited transportation assets would be better served with the others, "Maybe next time you should've thought about bringing the orbal bike."

Not that that was an option either, as riding a bike through the city would've been as far from inconspicuous as possible. And given the flat look Fie was sending her the younger girl knew the same.

"Actually, Rean told us we couldn't use his bike without him there to supervise us..."

Laura's innocent answer caused Sara to grin madly, even as Fie facepalmed, "Did he now? So what'd you do to earn his wrath?"

"Uh..." The swordswoman realized her folly, but couldn't help but flounder spectacularly as she tried to find the words, "S-Shouldn't we be focusing on the mission?"

"You heard Fie – we're gonna be walking for a long while. I'll be pointing out all the important buildings and landmarks and whatnot as we go, but that'll only take a few minutes. So why don't the two of you regale me with the stories about how badly you messed up. Did you wreck his bike again? Was he mad? C'mon! Tell me!"

"Hmm... I'm not sure how we should start our investigation of the archaisms. Got any ideas?"

Altina considered rolling her eyes at Rean's question, but decided against it. Given how the deadly machines had only become common knowledge the previous year it was understandable the swordsman wouldn't have a clue on how best to investigate their presence in this state.

So far their progress had been slow going as the two of them made their way into the northern suburbs, as both jaegers and archaisms were more plentiful as they got closer to where the invasion would likely approach from. And unlike the bracers they had no actual alibi for being in the country, so being discovered would have been... troublesome.

Thus they were forced to make a slower and stealthier advance. Altina had offered to simply cloak them both with Claiomh Solais, but Rean had refused. His reasoning that it would be a bad idea to tax her combat shell this early in the mission was a sound one, but the homunculi couldn't help but suspect he was doing it out of some twisted sense of loyalty to Fie and her outdated opinions on stealth.

As for his question... "I believe if I were to examine one of the archaisms I should be able to determine whether the machines were created locally or imported from one of the society's factories."

"I see. How intact does it need to be?"

Altina gazed warily at the now naked blade in Rean's hand, "...So long as the processor and sensors are intact it should be sufficient to work with."

"Understood." With that the swordsman began to walk ahead, with obvious intent of finding an archaism to assault. Altina was quick to trail after him.

The two had been content to avoid the main roads previously, as that was where the enemy presence was heaviest, but now that was where they headed. Wordlessly the young girl hopped atop her combat shell, gave the command to go invisible, and took to the sky. While her partner would be better suited for taking out an archaism while leaving it intact she could at least take pride in the fact she was far better at keeping an eye out.

In a fortuitous stroke of luck the telltale sight of a patrolling archaism caught her ears almost as soon as she cleared the nearby buildings. The young girl was easily able to identify it as a Sneak Gunner, one of Ouroboros' light models usually designed to operate in packs. Oddly enough this one appeared to be floating down the road by itself, and there were no other jaegers or archaisms within approximately seventy-five arge.

Descending from her perch she informed Rean of those details. The Ashen Chevalier nodded in confirmation before nearing the junction of the alley they were currently in and the road where the archaism was approaching. As the sound of the floating machine became apparent he placed a hand on his tachi and waited.

Altina had grown to understand how his partner fought, both thanks to their recent missions and the prior encounters while she was on loan to the Noble Alliance. A situation like this would almost certainly call for the use of his extremely quick Gale technique-

"Eight Leaves One Blade, Sixth Form: Crimson Slash!"

Instead the somewhat miffed girl was treated to the sight of the swordsman unleashing a burning shockwave with his blade, one that connected cleanly with the unsuspecting machine, slicing it perfectly in twain. After sheathing his weapon Rean darted out, grabbed both halves of the once dangerous machine, and returned to the alley to present the front half to her.

Even as she took the machine into her hands her face never once strayed from Rean's, "...That was an unexpected technique."

"Haha, yeah. Gale would have been the ideal move for that situation, but I've been training myself on the other forms lately. I'm still not confident enough in using that move in a real battle, but I figured this would be a good spot to give it a live test."

"...I see." Altina made a point to look up any accumulated intelligence the database had on the Eight Leaves One Blade style as soon as she got back to Erebonia. Not out of any sense of actual curiosity regarding her companion, but because doing so would allow her to understand him better which would only further their teamwork for future missions.

It was a purely logical decision, obviously.

Putting that thought out of mind the young homunculus focused her attention on the remains of the small archaism. Truth be told she was not an engineer so this was beyond her area of expertise, but that didn't deter her from pushing forth regardless. Given the knowledge she possessed alongside her past experience with these machines she was confident she could at least discover something.

She would not let Rean down.

It annoyed her a little that Rean had used a flaming attack on the robot as she specifically said to ensure the vital pieces were intact, but luckily his strike had landed far enough away so as to not melt any of the critical components. It did make the task of sifting through slagged armor and metal joints far more difficult than it needed, however. Something which he must've realized about the moment she leveled a look in his direction.

Still, perseverance paid off and she was eventually able to reach the 'head' of the archaism. Carefully she pried it open before delicately pulling out the contents. What she held in her hands confirmed her suspicions.

"This archaism was created in a local factory."

"How do you know?" Her partner's look was curious, but she didn't detect any hint of doubt in his voice, something which the girl took solace in.

Regardless, his question warranted an answer, despite how bothersome it will be to explain, "Most pieces of an archaism are technology that all nations already possess – the armaments, armor, and energy sources most specifically. Most armies have vehicles with similar or superior tech." She paused to ensure he was following along, which he confirmed with a nod, "The same cannot be said for their knowledge of computing and networking."

"To prevent nations from stealing their technology Ouroboros offers an export version when arming a partner, using an inferior level of technology they are willing to share. These archaisms are still quite combat capable, but are only able to execute the most basic of missions." She held up the computer chip in her hand, "...As an added safety measure I read that the Society's primary models are equipped to self-destruct their computer equipment in case of critical failure."

"I see... So I take it the archaisms Class VII fought in the war were these export models?"

"Indeed." Rean appeared a little disappointed, which for some reason prompted Altina to continue unnecessarily, "...Although I suspect the custom machines utilized by Duvalie the Swift and the Phantom Thief were utilizing their most advanced equipment."

Rean hummed thoughtfully, "That makes sense. Theoretically it's possible that these archaisms were all imported in, but given the large numbers we've heard are here it stands to reason they were probably produced locally, right?" She nodded her assent to his theory, causing Rean to smile happily before placing his hand on her head affectionately, "Good job, Altina."

She didn't understand why his praise made her feel so good. Or maybe it was simply the hand patting her head that was causing those feelings inside of her?

"Now that we know these things are being produced locally we need to figure out a way to track down the factory they're being built in. Ideally we'd find a way to stop production and arrest their leaders, but as long as we-"

Rean trailed off. At first Altina was confused, but a second later she heard it as well. It was still extremely far away, but the thunderous sound in the distance informed them of one thing.

The Imperial Army was launching their assault.

"Damn. I thought we had more time." So did she, but a quick check of the time confirmed it was indeed the hour General Le Guin had planned the initial assault for, "There's still a little time before the fighting reaches here, but I don't think we can investigate this fully. I don't suppose you know a quick way of tracking down where they're coming from?"

Altina considered his question, but this time shook her head in the negative. With the right equipment and a functional archaism it may have been possible for her to at least triangulate where the machines were getting orders from, but neither of which were things she possessed. And even then that may only lead them to the one in charge of the Northern Jaegers and not the facility where they were being produced.

"I figured as much..." Rean let out a sigh. He seemed far more let down than he should've, but then again he had been oddly focused on information about the Northern Jaeger's leaders ever since they started their mission. Perhaps he wished to arrest them on his own? "I think we're going to need to put a pause on our investigation for now and instead focus on assisting in the evacuation.

"Understood. Should we make contact with the Bracer Guild and coordinate with their efforts?"

He nodded, "That'd be for the best, I think. The swordsman reached for his ARCUS, presumably to do just that.

But Altina was no longer looking at him. Instead her focus was on Claiomh Solais who had chosen that moment to appear in front of her without command from herself. The reason for its actions was beeped out hurriedly.

"What's it saying?" Rean asked warily. He may not have been able to understand what the combat shell was saying, but the urgency of the message didn't appear to be lost on him.

"It was a warning." She mumbled out, brow furrowed in confusion, "Claiomh Solais detected a strange command being distributed over a wide area communication.

Without prompting from her partner the young girl hopped atop her shell before ordering it upwards once again, but this time foregoing stealth in favor of speed. Clearing the rooftops she laid eyes on the main street. And immediately the effects of that unknown transmission became known to her.

All of the archaisms she spotted had gone completely still.

A few seconds later it became obvious they were still active as one by one the machines turned, some towards the nearest jaeger, others towards any building they were near, and a handful appeared to be focused on the few civilians still out.

Just as quickly as she noticed these things the first archaism opened fire.

She didn't need to stick around any further to get a better idea of what was going on, and instead returned to inform Rean of what she had witnessed, although such an action was largely pointless given the sounds of gunfire, missiles, and people screaming.

The agitated swordsman took her words in stride, "I have no idea what's going on, but we don't have time to wait any longer. Our mission is to protect and evacuate the civilians from the street."

"Understood. What about the Northern Jaegers?" Their original mission had been similar, after all, except instead of protecting them from collateral damage caused by the invasion they were now doing so from the supposed defenders of this place.

"Ignore them for now. They can take care of themselves and hopefully they have enough common sense to realize we aren't the enemy."

With everything said Rean took off at full sprint into the main thoroughfare and the combat that was now taking place there. Altina followed suit atop Claiomh Solais, but as she did so she took time to observe the surprise battle taking place before them.

Sure plenty of jaegers had survived the initial surprise and were fighting back, and she was well aware that the Bracer Guild and other such organizations would be assisting as well, but if her estimations were correct the haywire machines outnumbered them exponentially. As confident as she was in her combat shell and the skills of Rean Schwarzer, the two of them were akin to throwing a cup of water into a blazing forest.

It was her conclusion that if they wanted to hold the line long enough for General Le Guin's army to arrive then they needed a lot more firepower. And there was only one source of that that Altina could think of.

But would Rean come to that same conclusion?

Writing about the Northern War has been an absolute pain in my butt. Not because of any sort of writer's block, but because information on the event is scattered everywhere. Between the conversations in CH1 of CS3, the in game book about the war, and even stuff from the anime I thought I had it all figured out.

That feeling lasted until I was doing research for my other story after finishing this chapter and came across a brief conversation between Rean and Bardias before their duel talking about how Rean went into the conflict with a secret goal of capturing the Northern Jaeger leaders to hopefully prevent the annexation. I suspect if I had recalled that snippet before this chapter would've been a lot different. Instead I just awkwardly tacked on a few brief mentions about it and rolled on, but by Aidios does it leave me feeling annoyed.