Palmian-Misr Border ①
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Palmian-Misr border, Palmian Kingdom. AU 64
HAFF Magic Defense Force, Valfreyja special research team
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"Valfreyja, this is Pixy 1. Team Pixy coming back."
"Copy that Pixy 1, good job out there."
The four pixies landed back on the flying fortress Valfreyja. The flight crews received them to have their armors taken off.
"Good job out there guys!" Loclynn said.
"Ah, yes!"
Finishing their first mission together had brought the team closer together. The always cheerful Loclynn aside, Pommeline and Kyle had slowly accepted Ames as a part of their team.
Taking the AMK-X0 Vawln off was a bit more of a hassle compared to the others' AMK-01 Fulsts. For that reason, Ames was still stuck with some part of his armor while the other three had finished taking theirs off.
"Good job, Ames. That was a good run you did back there." Linn congratulated Ames.
"Ah, yes! Thank you!"
She patted Ames who was still in the middle of unequipping the armor on his back.
"And you're welcome, Loc! If I didn't save you, you'd get caught off guard there."
"Oh come on! I would be fine even if you didn't!"
Linn continued to tease Loclynn who she had saved.
"And Kyle! Good job too!"
"No... I didn't do much back there." Kyle seemed to feel inferior to his teammates who all had at least a kill.
"Don't beat yourself down. You've done very well. You just had a bad matchup."
"Haa... I guess so."
"ALSO! You were great. I wouldn't be able to take that Adder down if not for you I think." Ames tried to cheer Kyle up.
"Haha! Thanks." Kyle was amused seeing how awkwardly Ames tried.
The four of them spent more time in the hangar. The three pixies waited for Ames to finish. They talked and joked around with each other while waiting for Ames who slowly opened up to the team.
After Ames finished being unequipped, the four went together to the changing area. They still wore their inner suits after all. But, they were stopped by Nensa who looked like she was running there.
"Ah! Captain Lyto is asking for you guys. You don't have to change your suits, quick." Nensa urged.
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"Pixy Team. we've got a problem." Lyto told them as soon as they entered the bridge.
"What kind of problem?" Linn asked.
"We're 50 kilometers from the border, but we can't enter the kingdom of Misr yet."
"Why?"
"We contacted the border, but it looked like they have no intention of letting us through."
"What? Why would they do that..."
"They said it was too sudden of a request. One of their higher-ups, Colonel Ubayd, he said they need some time to clear the paperwork."
In the end, the Valfreyja wasn't allowed to cross the border and had to wait inside Palmia instead.
There was a town near the border where people usually stayed after crossing. The wise option was to land the fortress somewhere far from that town to avoid commotion. But Lyto had no choice but to land near the town.
Additionally, he even told the crews to go to the town to buy food supplies there.
"Are you sure, captain?" Nensa questioned the captain's decision.
"We don't have any choice. We left the base so suddenly, the plan was to restock in Misr. We don't have anything in the fortress now."
"Uuhh! Those stupid local soldiers! Why won't they understand that we need to cross as soon as possible!"
Nensa was mad at the Misr's Military. Normally, HAFF's owned Valfreyja would have easily entered and exited the border. But somehow they were being stubborn that day.
Having to stay in the town without provisions was enough to make the whole being held up thing a problem. But in Lyto's eyes, the bigger problem was that they were attacked just before.
Meaning that the existence of a chasing party was 100% confirmed. If they didn't cross the border quickly, whoever was chasing them would catch up.
That was the reason that he told the Pixy Team to not remove their inner suits. But after waiting for so long, there was no attack at all. So Lyto sent them along with Nensa to go enjoy the city for a bit.
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Pixy Team plus Nensa explored the town.
While they were at it, they decided to find a place in the town to have a meal. There was a good place that was owned by a human that migrated into Palmia. It served a twist to palmian local dishes.
After they had done eating, they went to the market to buy themselves some food to be eaten in the fortress.
On the way there, they saw a lot of people grouping in the town center. Nensa asked one of them if there was a festival or something. But it turned out they were refugees who were trying to escape the country before the war started.
It was weird that they were already escaping, considering the war hadn't officially started. And yet, there they were, on the border even before Valfreyja reached.
Pommelinne tried to interrogate the refugees further but before she could, she was stopped by a sudden call from the fortress.
"Early warning shows bandits approaching at high speed. Return to the fortress immediately!" Lyto called on them.
There was no time to talk with the refugees, they needed to hurry and suit up.
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Palmian-Misr border, Palmian Kingdom. AU 64
United Palmian Mages Movement
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"looks like even fate is on our side!" Deuva told his team.
It was unfortunate that the scout team that was sent first got wiped out. But their death didn't end up in vain. Thanks to them, Deuva and the rest of the chasing team managed to locate HAFF's flying fortress.
Not only their location, but they also received additional information from the last elf to be downed. That information was the details of the enemy's magic armor team.
There are only four of them. Three of them were the AMK-01 Fulst, from their pre-existing data on the magic armor, it was piloted by mages. The last one was AMK-X0 Vawln which was piloted by normal humans.
They found their target. The existence of a non-mage that could pilot a magic armor has been confirmed. It means their main target would be the fortress itself and the Vawln. By taking one of them, they would hinder the development of non-mage magic armor. Taking both of them would stop it permanently.
For that, Deuva gathered his magic armor pilots and readied an attack.
"Who should we send, Deuva?" his closest friend, Nemo asked.
"Everyone."
"What!? does that mean?"
"Yes, I will personally lead the team."
"But, the risk of having you out there is-" Nemo got cut off.
"I know, Nemo. But this is an all-or-nothing scenario. If we win we could stop them. If we lose, they will escape the country. There's no time to hesitate!"
"Your Highness! Please reconsider! Lord Nemo is right." the other members sounded their doubt.
"I understand your worry, we just lost another team right after losing two teams. But, no matter how many times the HAFF struck us down, we can't give up! We're fighting to protect our loved ones right!?
If we don't give our all now the next time HAFF steps inside Palmian, what happened 65 years ago will happen again. That's not what we wanted right!?
Beside, you guys are with me right?" he looked at Nemo. "Nothing will happen to me. I'll protect your backs, in turn, you'll protect mine, right?"
"""YES!""" The movement's pilots screamed their agreement.
"What about you, Nemo? Will you protect my back?" Deuva smirked at Nemo.
"Hahaha, it's not fair to say it like that. Of course, I'll protect you. I've been doing it for the longest time after all." Nemo smiled back at Deuva.
The two bumped their fists as they usually do.
And so, all of the chasing team's magic armor pilots were deployed to carry an attack against the Valfreyja. The UMP movement was divided into two teams led by Deuva and Nemo.
Ten magic armors in total. All of them were Adders, but two of them were different compared to the others.
Deuva's and Nemo's magic armors were specialized units that were customized to handle their reaction speeds. Their units were painted differently to mark them as the team's leader.
With their preparation ready, it was time to put an end to the HAFF's magic armor project.
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