Palmian-Misr Border ③

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Palmian-Misr border, Palmian Kingdom. AU 64 

HAFF Magic Defense Force, Valfreyja special research team

Inside the Valfreyja

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Going back to when Ames and the other pixies were launching. Nensa had finished introducing the elf lady to Captain Lyto. Lyto commented to Nensa how he would scold Ames later, but he needs to deal with the elf first.

"I'm sorry lady, we can't help you."

"Will you hear my case first, HAFF's young lion captain?"

Lyto who was called by his nickname in the navy was shocked. It's not like he was hiding that nickname, but how could an elf know that? He spent a moment thinking and found his answer,

"I see. It's an honor to be remembered by you, Your Highness."

"I knew it was you. I will never forget someone with such achievement at your age."

The person in front of Lyto was no other than Deuva's younger sister, Princess Tiwi. For some reason, she ended up amongst the refugees.

But that would also explain how the refugees escaped before the war even started. As the princess of the country she must had some information regarding the attack on the base.

"Even if you are a princess, your highness. I can't illegally snuck the refugees in."

"Captain, would you leave these people in Palmia that is going to be a warzone? I'm asking you on the basis of people's rights. They shouldn't be left to die out there.

"The war hasn't happened yet. And in the first place, why are you so sure that a war will happen? Are you saying that the Palmian Kingdom itself perpetrated the attack on the Chason base?"

It was suspicious how she knew the attack way before it happened. Seeing from how she and the refugees got to the border before Valfreyja, it was safe to assume she had known weeks prior.

"Captain! There's a call for you from HQ!" One of the crews called.

"So... That's it, your highness. I'm sorry, but I can't help you."

"WAIT!" Tiwi tried to stop him. "I'll tell you everything behind the attack!"

"What?"

"At the very least let me appeal to your higher-ups! If they reject me, I'll give up."

Lyto stopped and stood still for quite some time. In the end, he agreed to do that and told Tiwi to follow him.

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HQ's reason for calling the Valfreyja was to tell them they were allowed to enter Misr. Before closing the call, Lyto also told the HQ their situation being attacked and all. They told them the four Team Pixy was fighting the enemy.

Before closing, Lyto asked the HQ to speak on one more topic.

"Is it concerning the elf beside you?" the HQ General said.

"Yes. This here is the Princess of the Palmian Kingdom, Princess Tiwi. She requested for us to take elven refugees across the border."

"And? What's the reason for you to not reject her request and take her to this meeting?"

"Can I perhaps give you that reason, General?" Tiwi interrupted.

"Hmm... very well, I could hear you out, your highness."

Lyto was surprised by her boldness. He wanted to leave the conversation, but the team's fate could change after that. So he chose to stay there.

"In exchange for you taking the refugees across the border, I will tell you all the information I know about the attack on your base."

"I see... That is a good incentive for us. What that information will be?"

"I cannot tell you that before my people entered this fortress."

"So you wanted a proof first? I can't trust your information just yet, though?"

"It's entirely up to you whether to trust me or not, General. I can give you one info in advance: The attack on your base was only the first step. Soon a war between elves and humans will start once again."

"Hmmm"

The general was thinking about what Tiwi had said. Anyone with a good enough understanding of war could predict some kind of war to happen as a result of the attack.

The possibility for war was there, but hearing it from the princess of Palmia made it an almost 100% probability. Additionally, she claimed that it would be a war between races, which was the worst possibility.

If HAFF made a wrong decision there, the course of the war would entirely be on the elven side.

"Cpt. Lyto, go ahead and give your crews the go-ahead to take the refugees."

"Yes, sir."

Lyto left to tell the crews to start helping the refugees to get on board. After that, he went to the bridge to tell Nensa to contact Team Pixy on the situation and ordered them to hold the enemy a bit longer.

"Can you start now?" the General urged Tiwi sometime after Lyto left.

"We're not waiting for the young lion?"

"You can tell him after this, I need to know quickly whether my choice was the right one."

"I understand. Let's first start with who attacked your base. It's an organization called the United Palmian Mages Movement. Their leader is the sole son of the Palmian King, my brother, Prince Deuva. The movement was backed by the Valzak Empire which gave the magic armor to every elven nation. What do you wish to know next?"

"The prince... Valzak... Damn it! Alright then give me the reason how you knew about it, princess."

"Yes. The reason was my brother's-"

"EXCUSE ME! Sir, we're having a problem!" Lyto ran into the room and started shouting.

"Cpt. Lyto! What is it!?"

"Vawln is... Pvt. Ames is down. We still don't know about his situation, but right now we have to move. Can you contact the Misr military to help cover our movement?"

"Alright. Make sure Pvt. Ames is alive. We cannot lose him now, we'll lose the war. Your Highness, I'll have to ask you again at a later date. Well then, Good luck."

The call ended with the General exiting. Lyto then rushed back to help the crews to prepare to take off. He also asked Tiwi to help the refugees to enter the fortress faster.

"Ames... That is that boy, right?" Tiwi thought to herself.

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Palmian-Misr border, Palmian Kingdom. AU 64 

HAFF Magic Defense Force, Valfreyja special research team

Battlefield

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"Pixy 3! What happened!? Why are we rushing them? There's no way we'll survive!" Ames who could do nothing but join the fight tries to get through to his teammates.

"Pixy 4... I can't tell you the details, Pixy 1 and 2 are berserk. Please cover for them!"

"Copy that!"

Ames who had no choice but to do so, attacked the Adders. Starting with him, the other pixies started firing their weapons and magics.

What ensued was chaos. Ames who shot first had put a target on his back to get Linn and Kyle some leeway. He trusted his maneuvering skills that he would be able to take a couple of the enemies on his own.

But the situation changed to the worst possible scenario for Ames. Except for the two orange Adder that were confronted by Kyle and Linn, the others swarmed him.

He could fend off three or four of them, but eight versus one was not good odds for him.

The information that Valfreyja gave them said that the elves would try to attack the fortress directly. But it wasn't their only objective.

The UPM movement knew that Ames was the only non-mage that was able to use the magic armor. They also knew that a magic armor support system for non-mages was in development by using Ames's brain as the base. As such, they knew that killing him then and there would kill that development.

Because of that, seeing that three of Team Pixy rushed them leaving Ames behind, Deuva switched the order and told the other pilots to focus on Ames.

Even when Ames's sense was on point, he could barely dodge the barrage of attack that was coming after him. That in itself was already a miracle, but Ames still tried to shoot some of them down.

Unfortunately, while dodging all that attack, his aim could not hit anything.

"Pixy 3! All of them are coming to me!"

"What!?"

Ames tried to call for Loclynn's help, but their distance was too far for Loclynn to save him faster.

He remembered the fight they just had, especially Kyle's movement. Kyle that is the brainy type was able to manipulate the fight to move where he wanted.

Desperate time calls for desperate measures. Ames isn't as intelligent as Kyle is tactically, but he needed to try it or he would be shot down.

By maneuvering in a certain way, Ames managed to move the fight little by little to the space where Linn, Kyla, Loclynn, and the two Adders were fighting.

As he desperately dodge every incoming attack, some started to hit him in non-vital area. One of the shots hit his leg thruster and made him lose control of the armor for a moment.

Fortunately for him, he regained control in an instant. Also, his brief uncontrolled movement somehow let him escape the elves' encirclement.

He took advantage of the situation and bolted to where the other fight was happening.

In his mad dash, Ames barely saw what was in front of him. When he realized, he was on course to collide with one of the orange Adder.

Ames reacted by pulling his mana sword to take them down. But he was countered by the Adder shooting their magic and hitting Ames's other leg thruster.

Ames retaliated with a thrust from his mana sword and hit the elf's armor taking them down.

The result of that collision was both of them went down.

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2nd Lt. Pommeline's eyes were red with blood. Hearing the description of the enemy from Ames snapped something inside her. She dashed to see the Adder with her own eyes.

The moment she set her eyes on it, her rage was uncontrollable. The two Adders in front of the elven group were the same ones as the Adder who took Capt. Omar down.

In her frenzy, she lost all touch with her surroundings. She didn't realize that Kyle who was as much in rage as her was following her. She didn't realize Loclynn screaming at her to regain her calm. She didn't realize that in that space the other Adders was nowhere to be found.

"LINN, KYLE, SNAP OUT OF IT! That's not the guy that took Omar! They're dead! We saw it ourselves!"

Kyle who was also losing himself couldn't realize the situation either. And Loclynn who was too focused on saving them didn't realize Ames was fighting against eight Adders by himself.

What made Loclynn realize was Ames's call.

"Pixy 3! All of them are coming to me!"

Only after that, he realized that the two orange Adders had made themselves baits to reel the three Pixies in and single Ames out. He abandoned Linn and Kyle to save Ames.

Ames was shot a couple of times, but he tried to approach Loclynn instead.

One of the orange Adder, Nemo, realized what Ames tried to do. Nemo went to stop Ames by leaving the fight and attacking him. Pommeline and Kyle notice Nemo and pursue him, denying Nemo a chance to shoot Ames.

Nemo tried to shake the two off of his tail and paid almost no attention to where he was going. When he took a quick peek at where he was going, Ames was there.

Nemo readied his magic and cast it, hitting Ames's leg. He took Ames down, but Ames wouldn't go down without fighting and attacked Nemo.

The mana sword that Ames thrust had pierced his shoulder, rendering him unable to properly use the main thruster on his back.

Both Nemo and Ames who lost control of their armor went down at the same time.

"NOOO!"

Everyone in the battle space was stunned. The elves had lost one of their leaders while Deuva lost his best friend.

For Loclynn, he only felt regret that he didn't notice Ames was being targeted. As for Linn and Kyle, seeing almost the exact re-enactment of Omar's death finally snapped them out of their rage.

After the collision, Ames and Nemo crashed to the ground at a very high speed. Seeing that, the two sides stopped fighting and went to each of their fallen soldiers.

"AMES!"

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