Humans, Elves, start of the war. ②

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Chason Base, Palmian Kingdom. AU 64 

HAFF Magic Defense Force, Valfreyja special research team

Pvt. Ames Ennard

--

The joint test between the three AMK-01 Fulst and the AMK-X0 Vawln officially started early. The first thing on the schedule was to brief the magic armor users on the test.

There were several items of tests that were listed for that day. The main focus of the joint test was to establish an element between the four armors.

For the three Fulsts, the test wasn't a necessity. The reason was, the Fulst itself was basically completed. Save some little adjustment, it was already eligible to be mass-produced.

But, the Vawln was different. With Ames being the only person to be able to wear it, extensive research was needed.

Furthermore, Professor Linde was experimenting with the idea of helper AI to be installed inside the mass-produced version of the Vawln. Her idea was to let the AI learn how Ames flew the armor. Then, using that data, the AI will help other normal humans in operating magic armor.

In the simplest form, the AI was to be a copy of Ames's thought pattern while he used magic armor. With that, non-mages lack of 'sense' in magic could be covered.

For all that reason, the joint test was something extremely needed for HAFF's future. That was what the higher-ups felt at least. But the soldiers at the bottom of the chain might have different opinions.

That was evidenced by how the three Fulsts treated Ames that morning. The entire time they were together, the only time Ames exchanged words with them was the time he greeted them. Not just ignoring him, from time to time they threw hostile looks at Ames.

Many factors could be the reasons for their treatment of Ames. The simplest one is that they just hated Ames's guts. Another factor might be because they disliked how Ames replaced their ex-captain position as the fourth person. Or maybe, they were not into the fact that a non-mage was able to use the magic armor.

Or, it was all of them, piled together, created that rift between them and Ames.

During the whole preparation time, Ames could only speak with the operator Nensa or the crews that helped him put on his armor.

---

When all four magic armors had been equipped, they stood inside the hangar waiting for further direction. It was awkwardly quiet. If the crews didn't strike small talks with Ames, he would be pressured by the silence.

A little bit after that, Capt. Lyto's voice could be heard via the sound system of the base. He ordered the crews and the armor users to get ready for takeoff.

The crews got into position, clearing the runway, and taxi-ing the four magic armors to position. The users also readied themselves by turning on their engines and having them run on standby.

The team then lined up on the runway based on their callsign.

2nd Lt. Pommeline Suzuki will take over the late Omar as the captain of the team with callsign [Pixy 1].

Sgt. Kyle Gilberd will assume the position as the second man, calling [Pixy 2].

Sgt. Loclynn Nilsen, the last Fulst's user will have callsign [Pixy 3].

Finally, Pvt. Ames Ennard will take the callsign [Pixy 4] completing the four-person Pixy squad.

One by one the Pixies launched to the airspace of the Chason Base. Before taking off, they told the control their name and calling. Everyone did just that, although, on Ames's turn, an audible irritation could be heard in the communication system.

When all the magic armor has launched and is on standby in the air, control will give them direction on what they should do.

"Alright soldiers. This is control. As scheduled before we'll start with some formation flying." Lyto commanded the Pixies from the control room.

"""Roger"""

"Yes, sir! ah, umm, Roger!" Ames affirmate. Not being on the same page as the other three, Ames corrected his words subconsciously.

"Easy Private, I understand you are nervous. But do as you usually did, and you will be alright" Lyto reassures Ames.

"Ah! Yes sir!"

Capt. Lyto's words lit up the fire inside of Ames. And for the rest of the joint test, Ames exhibited great performance in line with his previous tests.

---

The formation flying exercise mostly followed the formation used by fighter jets. Being a new technology, magic armor warfare tactics haven't been developed yet. But taking its capabilities to fly, fighter jet exercises should be somewhat compatible,

The addition of Ames to the team was also good in that sense. After all, there were a lot of flying formations that were based on a squad of four fighter jets.

One of those formations, called the finger four formation was the first one they tried to simmulate. With Pixy 1 at the front, this formation is shaped like the tips of the right hand fingers excluding the thumb.

The front-most Linn was positioned on the middle finger. To her left, Pixy 2, Sgt. Kyle. Then to Linn's right Pixy 3 Sgt. Loclynn Followed by Ames.

In that formation, they started to do some basic maneuvers. To train team Pixy as an element something basic like a delayed 90-degree turn or a hook turn would show how each personnel's timing worked.

Maintaining formation when maneuvering in the air was not something that could easily be done. Not only their control of the armor must be adequate, but their link with each other should also be good.

Despite that, somehow, Ames was doing a great job sticking with the formations. It was surprising given he had no history with the other pilots at all. And his skills weren't supposed to be that good, given his inexperience compared to the others.

Just like that, the flying formation exercise ended without much trouble. Although the three Fulsts were trying their hardest on their maneuver, thinking they'd shake Ames off.

But that didn't go well, thus their exasperated expressions.

On the reverse of that, the HAFF higher ups including Capt. Lyto was pleased seeing how the project has gone.

---

At the time they were finished with the flight test, they were ahead of the schedule. Despite that, they still followed the test with a break for the pilots.

At the hangar, the four-team Pixy stood by while taking a break. With their heavy armor supported, and their helmet taken off, they were fed some nourishment by the crews. After all, unlike fighter pilots, they couldn't intake anything while they were flying.

"Ames, good job out there sticking to those unruly flyers." Nensa started a conversation with Ames who was eating. The latter half of her words however was delivered with anger towards the Fulsts's users.

"Nensa! thank you. It looks like there's some argument back there, everything alright?" Ames noticed the control room getting a little rowdy when he landed.

"Ah... nothing happened. The higher-ups demand further tests, but Capt. Lyto and the professor insist on following the scheduled tests." Nensa answered while hiding her disapproving expression.

"I don't think I can do something that I wasn't expecting to do. But, if it's only for a little bit, why not give them what they want?"

"I knew you'd say that. But, whatever opinion you have about it doesn't matter. In the end, higher ranked people always got what they wanted."

"Well if that's what they decided... I hope it's something that even I can do well at."

"You absolutely will! you will do well in the next test! but... you might not want to try your best maybe?" from her words, Nensa seems to advise Ames to not try his best.

---

After the pilots had some nutrition and Vawln's mana crystal was replaced, the next test started.

The next test was supposed to be about a more advanced Air Combat Maneuver (ACM) exercise. That would still be in line with the main goal of establishing an element. But it was changed to other tests.

The test that Nensa has told Ames to not try his best. That test was... a mock dogfight. The initial proposal was to have several mock one-on-one fights pitting the magic armors against each other. However, to keep it in line with the main goal of the joint tests, it was changed to two on two.

Linn [Pixy 1] and Kyle [Pixy 2] will be Team 1 facing Loclynn [Pixy 3] and Ames [Pixy 4] who will be Team 2.

At that moment, Ames understood Nensa's message. Although he was socially inept and failed to understand others most of the time, this time Ames understood perfectly why Nensa told him that.

If he was too good and defeated the enemy, the Fulsts's users' hatred of him would only grow.

---

The team was split before the take-off. They were given some time to discuss their strategies.

"Loc! Me and Kyle won't take it easy just because it's you." 2nd Lt. Pommeline gave Loclynn her warning early.

"Yeah! That's fine with me. Me and this guy will not hold back either!" stepping up to the challenge, Sgt. Loclynn grabbed Ames with full confidence.

"Hm! Is that so." Linn answered Loclynn, clearly with a different tone than before.

"Ah... umm." Ames, confused about what to do in that situation could only let out voices without words.

"Yo boy! Don't get too nervous! it isn't like we despise you that much. If it were up to me, I wanted to apologize for our behavior before. But I want you to give those two some more time. Our late leader Omar, was someone important to those two." Loclynn shifted his tone to a more apologetic one.

"I see... I didn't know anything about him, but it must be hard for them..."

"Thank you, Ames." Loclynn placed his hands on Ames's shoulder. "Now let's show them what we're made of and win this mock dogfight! We need to have better strategies than them!" Loclynn, once again changing his tone, urged Ames to follow him.

"Ah! Wait, I don't know, but, isn't it better to let them win? you know, won't they hate me even more if I end up winning?" Ames, afraid of the prospect of winning, suggests a more peaceful resolution.

"Nah, I don't want to lose to them just because of that. C'mon! we need to create the best strategy to defeat them!"

Unable to fight Loclynn's enthusiasm, Ames could only follow his lead all the while feeling extreme anxiety towards the mock battle.

---

Even with all that enthusiasm, Loclynn and Ames ended up using the most basic strategy. Loclynn will act as the element's lead while Ames will be his wingman. Rather than any trick, they instead focus on getting behind Team 1.

So in conclusion, they abandoned any superior strategy, instead focusing on each pilot's ability to get behind their enemy.

Even if his head was filled with anxiety, Ames now has no choice but to fight Team 1 seriously.

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