Arena Thirty-Seven: Exiled Past I

[Mankind is prone to make mistakes.]

[Throughout their lives, they would think back on the bad decisions... on those regrets they had made in the past.]

[Some would think fondly, others would be embarrassed... and a small minority would close those portions inside their hearts, forgetting them completely.]

[Be it via physical or mental reactions, they would always try to cope with their regrets.]

[And how they do that is who they will become.]

...

I stared at Helios through the transparent veil in front of me. A red aura was enveloping the Regalia at a fast pace.

[Warning. User's counterpart is entering an enraged state]

[Warning. User's counterpart is tapping into {Alter Ego}'s stats]

[Counterpart's Stats have been increased by 50% temporarily]

I was dumbfounded. Anastasia tapping into my skills was something I hadn't realized was possible.

[Do you wish to tap into her stats?]

The sudden prompt caught me off guard, but I did my best not to show it on my face. Silently, I selected yes.

[Name: Anastasia Valentina/Helios

Form: Overdrive (70%)

Stats:

HP: 100000

DEF: 50000

ATK: 100000

Skill Slots: 4

Synchronisation rate: 200%

Damage Reduction: 0%]

My eyes widened at the absurd stats. As the system said, she was probably using an incomplete form of [Alter Ego]... But a hundred thousand HP? And more importantly... One hundred thousand ATK...

I had played enough games to know what that stat meant.

Then I looked at the form tab of the stat page. As I had thought, the forms she had shown during the battle with Phillips and at first in this match wasn't her true form.

She had been beaten too easily back then... And she was damaged without being able to incapacitate the opponent earlier.

Someone who boasted the status as the strongest Elliot couldn't be this weak. The only answer was... She was suppressing her powers for some reason.

Military regulations, concern for the other party... There were myriad reasons for her to accept such a handicap... But then why did she suddenly activate it here?

...

"Hah, you should know that using your special mode might get you suspended or may even land you in jail!"

Catherine called out to me with a confident yet slightly fearful voice. I ignored her words as discarded the attached dagger on Helios's left hand. The blade broke into pieces and disappeared.

Instead, the hand deformed itself before materializing into a full-length blade. The red high-frequency blade trembled as I pointed it towards Catherine.

"I'll have you stand down from service."

I hissed before deploying the shield on Helios's right hands.

"It seems that you still hate me for what happened with Dimitri, heh."

Ymir took a step back as Catherine muttered out.

Something snapped inside me. The emotions and memories, which I had forcibly suppressed, rose up like a deadly flame.

...

"Don't you dare speak his name with your mouth, you filthy mutt."

Anastasia hissed in a voice totally unlike her. Her usual grace was missing... She truly had became enraged.

"... Oh. So you finally called me that."

Catherine's voice turned from flustered to cold. Inside Ymir's cockpit, her eyes turned from fearful to devoid of any emotions. She looked down at herself... Before looking at Helios through her screen and snickering evilly. She spread her hand inside her cockpit... Then activated the forbidden command herself.

"Aren't you the one responsible for his death? I mean... Only if you held your man back and not let him fall for other women... Maybe he would be alive by now? Oh, not alive... He is still breathing, isn't he? He wouldn't be brain-dead if only you were good enough."

She provoked the Elliot in front of her while her Regalia trembled violently.

"... He is neither my man... Nor you have any right to speak about him."

"Oh right, you have a new man now, don't you? I wonder what he would think if he knew that he wasn't your first love!"

"I'll kill you here. Just like I should have done three years ago."

Anastasia muttered before suddenly springing forward with her dagger.

Without replying, Catherine closed her eyes and then issued the command.

[Autonomous Destruction]

With her words, Ymir started moving forward with heavy steps, increasing its speed as it moved towards its foe. The giant discarded two of its arms. The heavy limbs fell on the ground and disappeared. At the same time, another layer of heavy armour covered up the Regalia from head to toe.

Ymir had discarded all its calculation needed to keep its pilot alive. Its only goal was to destroy the enemy in front of it.

""Die.""

Both of them muttered at the same time as the two mechs clashed with each other.

...

I closed my eyes immediately as I saw the two Regalia collide with each other.

The next moment I could hear the girls who had abducted and hit me yell as the shockwaves hit them hard. The translucent veil, which had stopped Anastasia from seeing me, acted as a barrier and negated most of the shock.

Yet, the resulting wind was so strong that it forced the girls to retreat and fall. Thanks to me being already on the ground kneeling, I didn't fall... But the strong wind hit me in the face, making it hard to see anything.

Yet, this was far from the end. Another shockwave hit us as the mechanical giants in front of us fought with great intensity. The barrier glowed and cracked under the constant pressure of the shockwaves.

Soon, it broke down completely, leaving us exposed to the next tremble... And it was then when I pushed out the cloth inside my mouth forcibly.

[Alter Ego]

...

"What?!"

Catherine stared wide-eyed as she saw her Ymir clash with Anastasia's Helios. She had expected to take some damage... But Helios's overdrive mode was stronger than she had expected.

With each hit, more than 10% of her DEF went down... She was already below 40% DEF. And if her armour broke... Ymir would lose more than half of its combat potential.

"Why are you so strong?!"

She cried out in despair as she watched the goliaths fight it out. She would lose again. Just like back in the days, she would lose again.

It was always like this.

The nobles would always get everything. They would always take away everything... Even the boy she loved. And then... They would push her to the point where she would take her love's life.

Jealousy. Hatred. Despair.

"Why are you always the one on the top?!"

Anastasia didn't reply to Catherine's yell. The red and silver god kept using its shield and sword to slash away at its opposer.

It knew no mercy. It knew no compassion.

"Why do you always get so much... With so little effort?!"

Catherine could only shout at the flaxen-haired girl. She had already given the command... Now only destruction could stop Ymir.

Ymir... The god of giants. The one who created the earth from his flesh, the seas from his blood. The one who gave birth to the principal gods.

That was what she came to know as soon as she touched her Regalia. She didn't know who Ymir the god was... But she knew her Regalia well.

Unlike Ymir, who was the embodiment of birth, strength and wisdom, Helios was a god that burned his own creation. It was Anastasia herself who had told Catherine that.

There was no way Ymir would lose to such a brute.

Yet... For some reason, she always lost. In their spars, in the number of their achievements. Even the boy whom she loved... turned away from her towards Anastasia.

She knew. She knew that what she did to Anastasia was cruel. She knew that she was also a monster. Yet, in Catherine's mind, it was justified.

A noble should understand the hardships of the commoners. That is what she believed.

Yet... That incident didn't break Anastasia. Instead, she went to another squad... And became the strongest.

Another utter defeat.

For Catherine, who had climbed out of the slums of the outer district, who had trained day and night just to come where she was now, losing to a sheltered noble girl was the ultimate dishonour.

Understanding that it wouldn't survive at this rate, Ymir took a step back to regain its ground.

Seeing that made the 'Medusa' more upset and angry.

"Why is someone... You shouldn't have been born!"

Hearing Catherine's angry cry, Anastasia stopped for a moment.

Then... A whisper came through the voice channel.

"... Perhaps you are right."

Anastasia chuckled as she suddenly sped up.

Helios dashed forward like a missile.

Ymir didn't falter. Instead, it rushed forward to meet the enemy head-on. Due to their posture, both of their cockpits were exposed... And the Regalia sought those areas.

Helios's dagger aimed at Ymir's cockpit, and Ymir's fist were in a collision course with Helios's cockpit.

Yet, just as they were about to collide, something appeared between the two deadly weapons and their targets.

Two void gates appeared just in front of the cockpit, taking the dagger and the fist inside them.

The sudden loss of matter confused both Regalia and before they could realize what was happening...

"Separate."

They were both forcefully pushed away. Both of them crashed across the field. Immediately, their partners, Felicia and the squadmate of Catherine, came running after de-materializing their Regalia.

Anastasia ignored Felicia and looked at the thing that pushed her away.

In the middle of the field stood an exo-skeleton... Or the core skeleton of a basic Regalia. And inside that skeleton was the boy she had come to love... Arnold Tilgen.

...

I barely made it in time.

I panted, looking at the two Regalia crashed on the opposite side of my own 'Regalia'.

Thanks to the information I had gained in [Armament Design] course, I had more than enough knowledge to summon an exo-skeleton and a fake core.

But just had I expected, the exo-skeleton immediately fell apart after separating the two giants. I sat there helplessly as the core shut down, and the armour started cracking.

I had deactivated [Alter Ego] just after summoning the exo-skeleton... So I was probably safe for now.

I got down from the destroyed half-complete mech before turning towards Anastasia. I didn't care what happened to her opponent... Though I didn't want her dead, I still wanted her to learn some kind of lesson.

After all, the words she had said... Didn't lie well with me.

The cockpit glass of Helios opened with a hiss. Anastasia stumbled out of the cockpit, seemingly unharmed.

The same couldn't be said for her Regalia though. Helios had cracked here and there... And its armour was broken to the point where I could see the machines inside.

"A-arnold... ?"

Anastasia, apparently unconcerned about the state of her Regalia, approached me with shaky legs.

"That was pretty risky... Wouldn't you say?"

I asked, smiling stiffly. I myself had taken enough risk to stop them... But I decided to ignore that for now.

"H-how much did you hear?"

She asked me fearfully. Sighing... I admitted that I heard everything.

Hearing that, Anastasia's face paled... Before she sat down on the ground like a puppet who's string was cut.