1 Prologue
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Year 4667 of the Unified Imperial Calendar:
Fourth Month, Day 6. (11:21 AM)
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The whirring sounds of the Interface and control system audio responses entered her ears. Mostly, it was just some quick-paced beeping, some sort of blaring siren, and warnings from the A.I. assistant program.
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<Warning: Magical Core efficiency below 40%. Immediate repair is highly advised.>
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<Warning: Left Arm integrity has dropped below 30%. Automatic purging will start in 5...4...3..—
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"Cancel purge. Activate Emergency Overdrive." She commanded without the slightest shiver in her voice.
The warnings that appeared on her notification panels were all warnings and errors. It was bad. Her current situation was something a common Ark Meister would be able to accept calmly, but she was different. She was. She was sure of it.
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<Notice: Purge Cancelled.>
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<Confirmation: Manually Set Overdrive Value?>
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"Please set it to maximum." She instructed. Still calm. Though there was no point on being polite to an AI, she always felt like machines needed to have their own rights.
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<Warning: Maximum Overdrive can caus—
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"I accept."
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<Notice: Activating Hyper Overdrive.>
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The whirring sounds increased in pitch as the Aether Pathways that glowed blue, changed their colour into crimson red. Same also went for the panels and colour scheme of the entire lighting in the cockpit.
Her hands tightened as it squeezed the control rods harder. Putting her fingers on the buttons on it, she took a deep breath. She then muttered.
"For the Sky Empire."
◇ ??? POV ◇
It was sunny day where the clouds were quite scarce and the blue sky revealed in full glory. The winds peacefully blew on the ground beneath. And the warm sunlight shone upon the ground below, giving life into the entire world.
It was peaceful. Or at least it should have been...
Sonic booms resounded above the skies of the Tindalerose territory as two blurry silhouettes streaked across the sky. One was blue, and the other was purple.
If anyone ignorant saw this—like me for example— they would likely mistake it for some birds. But once you start thinking about it, when did birds become capable of withstanding supersonic travels?
Well, at least nothing was like that on Earth...
In any case, I craned my head upwards as I looked at 'those' very closely. Hm... as expected, other than the colour of streak they leave behind, I can't see anything at all. Great.
Well, it can't be helped. I guess I can just give up...
...watching from here.
Okay, let's see... Now where would be the best position to watch those two better? Somewhere that's not far. At the very least, I don't wanna waste too much time, only to find out it's already over.
Hm...
I looked around and saw mountains, and mountains, and hills, and valleys, and more mountains. Interesting. I seem to be in a mountain range.
But the tall ones looks too far...
I guess there's no choice. Let's just get to the top of the mountain I'm standing. It's not actually much, but it might provide a better view. Wish me luck, people.
I turned around, moving my feet at an accelerated pace, climbing upwards the mountain I stood on. I haven't climbed a mountain before, so I can only try from my experience in climbing trees.
The ground was rocky, as expected, but good thing I had my sneakers. Otherwise I'd be in deep shit. These rocks look damn sharp!
Anyway, step by step, and hand by hand, I started to climb the steep mountain. I wasn't tired at all. Maybe I'm a genius in this. I should do this often. It's unexpectedly fun.
I kept doing the same thing for about 15 minutes—according to my smartwatch—and I finally reached the top. Thank god it was flat up there. I might've fallen if it wasn't.
Now then! It's time to reveal the mystery's secrets! I will now see your identities, blue and purple streaks of heaven—OH SHIT!!!
The blue one's coming this way—NO! It's actually red! What a revelation! It's red! And it stopped! And...it went away again...what the heck was that?
Well, let's keep watching for now.
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Leaning on the soft couch behind her, she controlled the Ark as she stabilized its position in mid-air. Whoever she was facing, they were skilled. And skilled enough to overwhelm her in terms of skill.
The Ark, a mechanical war machine invented centuries ago, was a humanoid form armour that could be piloted inside. As the pilot of her own personal Ark, she was not gonna let whoever that was, scot-free.
"Release Limiters."
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<Notice: Limiters Released.>
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She smiled. She was not gonna hold back now.
With her Ark, she accelerated towards her opponent as her Ark's thrusters operated at maximum burst. She instantly broke through the sound barrier, leaving a crimson streak along the sky.
Her opponent's Ark design was on the lean and one that had lesser wind resistance, so she assumed it was opted for evasion. Her Ark's sword in its right hand was still fully operational, so she used it and slashed at the opponent's Ark.
At her current speed, she doubted the enemy could dodge it. But surprisingly, her opponent's side thrusters gave a burst of light as it tried to evade, but still failed. Even so, it managed to avoid being sliced in half as it followed up with a shot that hit her flank.
It was deflected by the armour, of course, but the moment of impact, the shell exploded into smokescreen that jammed her sensors.
"An Aether Disruption dust shell?" she muttered with a frown.
Her Ark then lit up as it blew away all the smoke and dust from the enemy shell, but when she checked, her opponent had already disappeared.
"Tch. She disappeared."
The fact that an enemy slipped by her fingers irked her. She hated failure ever since before she enrolled at the academy, so her first failure took a heavy blow on her confidence.
With a heavy heart, she searched around the area as her panels displayed a lot of analysed data from the surroundings. However, what she found was something else...
"An intruder?"
Now that was something useful. It was a clue for why an attack happened near her family territory, so at least she wouldn't come home empty handed.
Her Ark's sword split from the middle as a hollow barrel stuck out from within, and pointed it to the intruder hiding at the...top of the mountain?
Wait...something isn't right. If it was really an accomplice, why would it stay in such an obvious location, perfect for scanners to detect? No matter how she thinks of it, it was obviously a trap.
But it wouldn't be right to come home as it is, either. Also, it wasn't guaranteed that it was indeed a trap.
She hovered in the skies for about ten minutes as she analysed the possibilities at the same time, scanning for changes below. After that, she decided to approach whoever was below.
The moment she came closer, her visuals revealed that he was indeed an outsider. She didn't recognize his clothes, and he seemed to be observing her Ark too. But why was his eyes seem...shining?
Well, it doesn't matter. All that matters is to get clues from whoever this outsider was. And if needed, she will do it by force.
[You there! State your identity!] She ordered through her communicator.
The person, who seemed like a young man 2 years her junior, didn't answer as he kept staring at her Ark. His eyes still shining, but this time, he was crying.
Her heart slightly ached at his reaction. From what she saw, he might have been a hostage, or a refugee from the war. She wasn't sure what exactly, but those tears and the glitter in his eyes were the real deal. As a daughter of an esteemed noble family, she knew how to discern truth from false, so there was no doubt.
Moving towards the young man, she landed her Ark in front of him, and opened her cockpit. She jumped down from her 12 meter Ark, and landed smoothly on her feet. And the moment she faced the young man, she heard him mutter.
"...Is that a freaking Gundam?..."
Her wariness went on full alert the moment he heard his tone. There was not a single bit of sorrow in it, so she might have made a mistake. Taking out a magic wand from her leg, she pointed it to the young man and shot a bolt of lightning towards him.
The young man didn't even dodge the attack and took it head on...
...and fell down with a thud. Without resistance.
She was stupefied. The lightning bolt spell wasn't exactly that fast, so why wouldn't he dodge? Well, if there was one thing she knew, it was one thing.
She, Reyshia Cecil Tindalerose, didn't understand anything about the young man.
