Chapter 10: Crossing Swords for Science

Church wasn't far behind Rin as she walked down the bleachers that surrounded the arena at the I.S. Academy following the tournament they'd watched together. Church wasn't sure if they were supposed to encounter her friends on the grounds themselves or at the arena entrance, but ultimately, Rin's intent didn't matter anyway. After all, once they actually got closer to the ground level, someone called out to them.

"Huang, down here."

Glancing down the few feet that separated her from the dirt below, Rin noticed that Chifuyu was standing at the foot of it, wearing a white tracksuit of sorts instead of her usual attire. Somehow, she looked just as professional and severe, even in something that casual.

Church peeked over the wall too, noting that Rin had a weirdly nervous look on her face. She wasn't afraid of Chifuyu, was she? Well, Church himself was a little wary of her, but that was just a healthy degree of self-preservation. Chifuyu had that dangerous air about her even when she wasn't actually trying to be threatening. Naturally, Chifuyu addressed him since he had revealed himself too.

"Oh, Church. Glad to see you're still here."

"Still? How'd you know I was here in the first place?"

"I occupy the control room during tournaments. It's not hard to see who is and isn't present on all the cameras. Plus, most everyone in the stands wears white and you have a crimson jacket. You do stand out. And you seem to have forgotten that you told me you would be here."

Glancing down at his jacket and wondering how he had forgotten such a statement, Church tried not to fret over memory loss. "Fair enough... why are you glad I'm still here though?"

Chifuyu pointed towards the other end of the stadium, where the other Representative Candidates were waiting. "I thought now was a good time to talk about some practical tests. If you're alright with it, that is."

Looking over at Rin, Church silently questioned whether or not this was going to interrupt her plans somehow. Kind of weird to do that, considering that they were just fresh acquaintances. In the end, Rin just shrugged, metaphorically throwing her hands up.

"Well, this is what I was going to do anyway, right?"

Having earned their agreement, Chifuyu nodded to them. "Then come on down. Meet us over at the other end of the stadium."

As the older woman walked away, Rin cocked an eyebrow at Church. "That exchange sounded like you two aren't total strangers."

Church turned towards one of the exits so he could make it down to the ground level as Chifuyu has directed. "Well, she oversees the tests for my suit. So, yeah, can't exactly be strangers."

"Sounds like a nightmare."

"Are you scared of Chifuyu?"

There was a look on Rin's face that said yes, but an immediate scoff that followed afterwards. "No, yeah right! She just seems like such a hard-ass, how could spending time with her possibly be fun?"

It seems that she does indeed fear Chifuyu Orimura to some extent.

Thanks, Cerberus, I think I figured that out.

It didn't take long for Church and Rin to make it to the ground level of the stadium, though it did take another minute or so to cross the whole area on foot. It was built for air to air combat between giant mechs, after all. Once they got closer, Rin called out to everybody, which consisted of the Orimura siblings, Laura, Cecilia, Houki and Charlotte. Church wasn't sure why Kanzashi wasn't here. She was a Representative Candidate too, to the best of his knowledge.

"Hello, Ichika~! And the rest of you, I guess."

Rin's friendly yet mocking greeting was immediately followed up by a more reserved one from Church. After all, he wasn't familiar enough with anyone to make an approach like Rin's. Besides, he had to think of some way to distract himself from the sight here: with everyone still in skin tight sync suits, very little female anatomy was being left to the imagination. It was pretty easy to tell that Charlotte had perkier breasts than Cecilia, or that Laura was rocking the toned midriff better than anyone else. Church couldn't let any kind of reaction to this visual knowledge show on his face. He had no idea how Ichika dealt with all of these boobs, butts and thighs on display whenever everyone was in this attire.

"Good afternoon, everyone. Great work in the tournament today, you were all very impressive."

The praise went over well enough to earn a few smiles and acknowledgments, though they were solely from Ichika and Charlotte. There was a notable lack of friendly response from Laura or Cecilia. They mostly gave him guarded or haughty looks. He supposed that was fair enough in Laura's case, but Cecilia just seemed to dislike him on some sort of principle Church couldn't fathom. As for Houki, he was a complete stranger to her, so a lack of positive response was only natural there.

Before anyone could actually say anything in response to Church, however, Chifuyu crossed her arms and spoke over the whole group. "Well, some of the performances were impressive. But make no mistake. You all have things that need improvement. But we'll focus on that later."

Seemingly a little irritated, Cecilia spoke her thoughts on this 'later' business. "Then why are we here right now? I detest sitting around in this suit after exercise..."

Chifuyu shot the blonde a glare, clearly unhappy with the mere implication that she was wasting anyone's time. "We're here, Alcott, because one of the reasons our guest is staying at our illustrious academy is to share information on his country's new design. A big part of that will be mock combat against pilots such as yourself. And while I will probably only pick one of you to spar with him today, there is great insight to be gained from watching an engagement, especially one with a never-before-seen opponent. Or are you content with never improving to match your peers?"

Considering that Cecilia had actually won her match today, Church didn't know who she was being compared to. Maybe Chifuyu meant Laura or something. He supposed Houki could be considered better than Cecilia, but that was clearly a hardware issue, as opposed to skill. Either way, Cecilia fell silent due to Chifuyu's somewhat scathing words.

Rin seemed amused by Cecilia's fate, though she made sure to stay silent lest she incur Chifuyu's wrath as well. Charlotte didn't seem cowed in any way, but then again, she hadn't been accosted.

"I for one am more than happy just to watch. I'm very interested in your hardware, Church. A machine that can compete with Infinite Stratos... most companies thought that day was decades away at best. What I'd give to take part in the R and D testing..."

Ichika, who was standing close to her, didn't seem to understand the blonde's excitement on the matter. "It's just another flying machine, Charl. Is it really that interesting?"

Church noticed the briefest of disgruntled expressions from the French blonde, but it was wiped away fairly quickly. He was almost unsure if he had even seen it, but surely even a seemingly sweet person like Charlotte had nerves to be tested. He couldn't help but wonder how often Ichika did exactly that.

Either way, Chifuyu was quick to move things along. "Alright, unlike the rest of you I still have a full day ahead of me, so let's not keep dawdling around. You can do social hour afterwards."

The visiting American was certain he heard Cecilia insult that notion under her breath. He really wasn't sure why she disliked him to this extent. He'd honestly thought they could have hit it off after bonding over that shared interest with the Spitfires. Regardless, Chifuyu either didn't notice the interruption or didn't care to comment on it.

"Ichika. Get ready. You're going to fight him today."

Both Church and Ichika frowned at this, though for vastly different reasons. Naturally, Church was hoping for Houki so he could glean more information about the Akatsubaki. Ichika didn't seem against the idea, so much as confused by it.

"I'm glad to, but why me? Laura sounded like she really wanted to throw down with him by the way she was talking the other day."

The young German girl shot him a look that clearly said 'don't say that right in front of him,' but Ichika was none the wiser to it. Church wasn't sure if he had even seen it. Chifuyu didn't pay it any mind either, instead choosing to answer the question her brother had posed.

"Well, while this little sparring match won't have any effect on rankings, I think I speak for both of us when I say that your fight against Shinonono was a little disappointing today. Or were you satisfied with the way things played out? I just thought you'd like a chance to have a more even fight today."

For his part, Church felt mildly insulted that he was considered an even fight while Houki wasn't. But for one, he very well may have been, considering Akatsubaki's many strengths. Two, he was fairly certain Chifuyu was just trying to galvanize her brother to action, rather than trying to say anything about Church personally. It seemed to work, if Ichika's reaction was any indication.

The younger Orimura glanced over at Houki, who didn't seem pleased to be made out as the bad guy of sorts here. Not that it seemed as though Ichika was angry with her or anything. He did seem frustrated with the situation Chifuyu had so readily spelled out though.

"I guess you're right about that. It was kind of a disappointing fight. And besides, I really would like to fight you man-to-man, Church!"

The opponent in question was once again confused by Ichika's weird focus on this man-to-man business, but he said nothing. Chifuyu broke the silence again anyway.

"Well alright then. You two suit up. Everyone else go to the stands."

Ichika offered a handshake to Church first, which the latter accepted by laws of courtesy. Once that was done, the would-be opponents walked themselves to opposite sides of the field, and everyone not involved in the fight moved to the stands. Once the field was clear of any possible 'accidents,' both pilots readied up their unique combat systems, the two of them being bathed in light temporarily. As Orimura's I.S. materialized, Church opened up the database in his visor and searched for info on the hostile machine, Byakushiki. Naturally he'd seen it in the Silver Gospel footage, and there was generally more information on it than Akatsubaki, but there was no need to rely on his knowledge alone.

I don't think I've ever run a simulation against this model before.

Cerberus took mere seconds to search for all accessible information relevant to the Japanese model.

Likely not, Operator. The model being used by our opponent is a unique armament. There is only one of this Byakushiki, as it was specifically designed for Orimura. All I can tell you is that it is a prototype Fourth Generation I.S., and that it has but one melee weapon, the Yukihira, unless it enters a Second Shift.

So this I.S. is where the data for Shinonono's true fourth gen unit came from. If the thing about Akatsubaki regenerating shields is true, it makes sense. Houki could recharge Byakushiki indefinitely so it could continue using its special shield busting attack. Although, we technically don't have to worry about that too much. We still have armor under our shields, unlike I.S...

Perhaps, Operator, but in the interest of fairness I believe the match will still be decided by who loses their shields first.

The brief mental conversation between the two of them was interrupted by a declaration from Chifuyu at the sidelines. "Just like a normal match, when your shields are gone, you lose. Whenever you're ready, you may begin."

While this was friendly sparring at best, Church put his serious game face on. For one, even if there was nothing truly tangible on the line here, he didn't want to lose when his skill in this suit was the main reason he got paid. Operating it was supposed to be what made him special, so getting trounced in it wasn't exactly desirable. Not to mention that there were a bunch of pretty girls watching: he wasn't the type to go out of his way to impress people on superficial grounds, but if the opportunity arose regardless, why let it go to waste? Though frankly, he was sure all of the spectators would have preferred for Ichika to win as opposed to him.

Finally, this fight was part of his duty here on behalf of Umbra Stratum. A good, long, complicated fight with an opponent meant more combat data on an I.S. unit and the Exeter suit itself, which had only run simulated battles against I.S. prior to now. He assumed that his employers would want him to make the most of this situation, and he wasn't going to give them a reason to question his employment.

That being the case, Church figured he would go hard from the very beginning, rather than waste time building up to it. With that in mind, he manifested a shoulder mounted coil-gun straightaway, that being one of the more powerful armaments available to him at this point in time. It was a far cry from the railgun on Laura's I.S., but this Gauss rifle would still pack far more of a punch than one would expect from a human sized battle machine. In fact, if Exeter didn't automatically compensate for the new weight distribution, Church would have been tipped over from the combined weight of the long barrel and its ammunition feed.

Thankfully, Exeter compensated for the significant recoil of the Gauss rifle as well, preventing Church from being knocked off his feet or dislocating his shoulder as he fired the weapon at Ichika. Contrary to popular opinion, there was recoil from mass accelerated munitions. It just wasn't the same kind as conventional projectile weapons.

The concussive blast from the barrel itself kicked up dirt from the ground below it, a testament to the amount of force the accelerated slug carried with it. Ichika, having been prepared to dodge a projectile, but not one quite that fast, was only able to partially dodge the attack. The heavy slug still clipped Byakushiki's left wing, allowing it to transfer its powerful force to the target as planned.

Besides lowering his shields by about nearly a full fourth, Ichika's I.S. was sent spiraling into the ground behind him, to the surprise of some of the audience. It wasn't quite fair, but with experience in what Ichika could do and no knowledge of what Church could do, they had probably expected their crush to land the first hit.

Of course, Ichika may have taken a clean hit at the very start, but he was no amateur pilot by now, and the young man recovered much too quickly for Church to line up another round from his Gauss rifle, which required considerable time to reload and reacquire a target. Byakushiki was now back on its feet and highly mobile, since Ichika was wary of another strike.

Technically, it wasn't impossible to hit a fast moving target with Exeter's Gauss rifle: in fact, such a quick projectile would have been ideal for hitting a moving target. But with the small size of Exeter, Church had to be grounded and mostly immobile for the suit to compensate for firing the weapon. In a one on one fight with a mobile enemy in a small arena, being stuck in one spot on the ground was far from ideal, so Church went ahead and allowed the Gauss rifle to dissipate.

Aiming to close in on his opponent while he was switching weapons, Ichika rushed Church with his inactive Yukihira. Unfortunately for him, Exeter had plenty of weapons that were built right into the suit. They didn't need to be constructed from the database, so there was no true opening to exploit in this situation. Of course, these weapons were generally not as powerful as the kind that needed to be retrieved from the Hyperspace Arsenal, but as Church readied his next weapon, he wasn't concerned with damage so much as keeping the melee Byakushiki away from him.

A lot of Exeter's weapons were quite conventional: unlike I.S., which needed supersized or otherwise impractical weapons to fight, Exeter was human sized, and thus used many human sized weapons. Of course, you still needed a certain type of firepower to deal any damage to a giant mech, which was why an XM556 Gatling machine gun barrel emerged from the forearm plating of the Exeter suit. The regular weapon was already much smaller than your conventional minigun, and with the Hyperspace Arsenal taking care of ammunition provision and the suit itself taking care of the external power requirements, the weapon had pretty much been boiled down to the barrel and feed system, which combined was still smaller than even some regular assault rifles and SMGs.

Of course, that meant the bullets themselves were only 5.56mm, which normally would have been laughable to an I.S. of any generation. But when you faced 6,000 5.56mm rounds a minute, that was a different story. Not even an I.S. shield could scoff at that.

With the built-in weapon ready to go before Ichika could actually reach him, Church unleashed a devastating hail of gunfire at his opponent, while simultaneously boosting away from him.

Naturally, Ichika was not in the business of diving straight through enemy fire, so he was again forced to retreat into the sky as Church tried to run him down with his lead fusillade. Distance would make it harder for his opponent to accurately hit him. Of course, that was exactly why Church pursued him into the air as he kept firing. He had plenty of time before cooling his barrels was even remotely an issue, and he had virtually infinite ammo, though there was technically some limit in the Umbra Stratum armory the Hyperspace Arsenal was drawing from.

Very unlike the duel between Ichika and Houki earlier, this situation was much less of a duel and far more of an attack and defend scenario. With no long range capability of his own, Ichika could do very little besides evade as Exeter followed his every maneuver in pursuit with the barrel of its current weapon. Of course, Byakushiki moved plenty fast enough to avoid bullets, so Church wasn't landing any real hits like this, but that merely prompted him to double his rate of fire.

Raising his other arm, Church unleashed a second XM556. After all, why have only one when you could have two? This meant that Ichika was now forced to handle 12,000 bullets every minute, and from potentially varying angles.

Since Church was now able to project his ammunition in two different directions, he made sure to fill Ichika's flight path with one stream while chasing him down with the other. This new tactic led to a lot more hits on Byakushiki, though not enough to severely deplete the unit's shields.

To the audience below, it become ever more obvious just how different the Exeter suit functioned compared to an I.S. The majority of I.S. weapons were heavy hitters that aimed to deal massive damage with every blow. Few I.S. employed small arms weapons that aimed to drop shields with focused fire. Most pilots and companies preferred big guns or powerful swords, instead of small arms. That was why most Gen 3 I.S. used energy weapons as opposed to projectiles, like the old Gen 2 models.

Point being, it was a situation Ichika had not dealt with too often. He had fought against steady projectile fire before when sparring with Charlotte, but he was still more used to countering power weapons than concentrated fire types. Even so, he knew he had to get out of this situation, or his foe would just chip his shields away a bit at a time.

Knowing that he could take a lot more hits from this small arms fire than he could a more powerful weapon, Ichika decided to trade off some shield energy for putting an end to this one-sided situation. At a moment in their chase that Exeter was close enough for it to work, Ichika activated Byakushiki's Ignition Boost, flying at top speed directly through the hail of bullets coming his way to close in on his unprepared opponent.

Much to his own chagrin, Church really had been unprepared for this counter, leaving him with no chance to dodge at all. All he could really do was put a stop to firing and use his arms to block Byakushiki's metal blade instead. The impact resulted in a painfully loud clash as it knocked him back, but more importantly, it dealt significant damage to his shields, lowering them by a full seventeen percent.

With the two combatants in perfect melee range, Church opted against using weapons at all in favor of simply swinging his free left leg in a powerful thruster-enhanced kick. With the difference in size between Exeter and Byakushiki, he could only target Ichika's arm, but even so the straightforward attack staggered Byakushiki and dealt even more damage to its shields.

Since straight up hand-to-hand combat was very rare in I.S. fights, a lot of the match's observers were shocked to see a human-sized machine successfully attack an I.S. with it. Without a doubt, fighting Exeter was much different than fighting an Infinite Stratos unit.

With some distance to maneuver now that he had knocked Ichika back a step or two, Church decided to descend to to the ground again. After all, with only melee attacks to worry about, it was actually better to be on the ground, as it removed one of the directions Byakushiki could approach him from.

Now that he had some time to access his Hyperspace Arsenal again, Church settled on Old Faithful for this next exchange. Like most of the larger weapons Exeter could muster, the two M2HB .50 caliber machine guns formed on support struts from the shoulders of the suit. It was kind of funny, using weapons that were designed in World War II this far into the future, but there was a good reason the U.S. military never bothered replacing the things. There wasn't much to improve on when it come to throwing .50 caliber bullets at things in high volume. And even in a world with shielded flying robots, that kind of firepower was still very significant.

Rounds fired from the M2HB traveled very fast. But unfortunately, I.S. reaction time was faster, and Ichika swiftly moved out of the way of the incoming threat. It didn't matter much if Church failed to do much damage this way. The real goal here was just to keep Ichika at bay, since melee was the only range where Byakushiki posed a threat. This was just a delaying tactic to give Church time to employ other maneuvers. Exeter had more than standard military hardware at its disposal.

Cerberus, arm the A-Z missiles, would you?

Affirmative, Operator.

Drawn from the Hyperspace Arsenal, two missile pods with thirteen munitions apiece formed on the outer thighs of the Exeter suit. When a target was locked, they would launch twenty-six homing missiles at the enemy. Without a doubt, having to dodge the .50's and AZ missiles simultaneously would be difficult for his opponent to do. Activating the new weapon, Cerberus modified the firing lines so that the missiles would split evenly and target the enemy from both the left and right. With the M2HB fire suppressing him as well, Ichika would be hard-pressed to come out of this one unscathed.

The missiles launched out of their respective modules, split into opposite directions, then turned back towards their target and accelerated. With bullets hounding his every move and missiles coming in from two different directions, Ichika was effectively caught in-between them all. Considering the hits he had already landed, Church expected this to end the match. He watched with satisfaction as the missiles converged on their target, but the end result was not quite what he had been hoping for.

Just before the missiles reached their target, in the moment where they had no room to maneuver, Ichika rocketed forward and blew past them. The missiles were unscathed, but had completely lost their target and continued harmlessly into the stadium shield before exploding. Now Ichika had closed the distance between them yet again, and Church was making a mental note to fire the missiles in a staggered fashion in the future.

With Ichika's sword approaching him at high speed again, Church decided that evasion was his best option, ducking down as far as he could and barely dodging Yukihira as it sliced through the air above him. Unfortunately, it also sliced through his left M2HB barrel while it was at it. Shield strength on weapon extremities was minimal, to avoid wasting power protecting non-crucial things.

Using his thrusters to increase the distance between he and Ichika once more, Church threw a displeased glare at his opponent as he allowed both M2HBs to dissipate. If he kept using the same strategy, Ichika was going to get the best of him. It was probably time for a different approach.

Oddly enough, Ichika did not rush him again immediately, instead maintaining the distance Church had created between them. From a tactical standpoint this made little to no sense: if you had to be in melee range to fight, why on earth would you maintain your distance from the enemy? Maybe Ichika wasn't taking this seriously enough to consider that, but Church doubted it. Maybe he just wasn't the type to attack an unready foe. Either way it was a wasted opportunity for him.

With a moment of silence in the arena since no one was attacking, Church was able to hear a rather snide comment from a certain Cecilia Alcott in the stands.

"Frankly, I am unimpressed. I suppose anything is a step up from a malfunctioning murder machine that can't be controlled, but it was foolish to think America's expo boy could take on an elite pilot like Ichika."

I'm starting to think she just doesn't like Americans.

On the contrary, Operator, I truly believe she simply does not like you.

A little annoyed by the AI's willingness to assert that so readily, Church sought to defend himself in as good of humor as possible. "Now now, your majesty, don't be jealous. If being humiliated is what you're into, I can fight you next."

A very unhappy and very irate expression commanded the blonde's face at that, made no better by the laugh Rin failed to contain at her expense. Even most of the other girls were grinning. Cecilia didn't get to counter though, since Ichika spoke up as well.

"Also, I don't really think I qualify as an elite pilot. I mean, I think Church is even winning right now."

Naturally, Cecilia was none too happy about this response from the man she had been praising in the first place. "You simpleton, I'm trying to support you here! At least try to live up to the expectations of a woman who has faith in you!"

Completely unclear on how he was supposed to respond to that, Ichika decided it would be best to turn his attention back to Church. "Sorry, having a pause in a fight like this must be weird."

"Yeah, just a little bit. Kind of threw a wrench in this cool thing I was going to do before we clashed again. Check this out."

Stretching his arm so some emitters could extend from his gauntlet, Church allowed an ethereal glowing beam of pale blue reminiscent of lightning to erupt forward. The pointed length of energy was roughly four feet long, but since it protruded from the gauntlet itself, the whole setup was more like a katar than a sword. Range of motion was admittedly a little less, but that was the price one paid for a weapon such as this. Faint wisps of gas swirled around the 'sword', illuminated by its bluish-white light. The name of this impressive weapon was 'Chrysaor.'

"Don't mind the gas, that's just a little bit of leakage. Even with magnetic containment, it's kind of difficult to fully lock in all of that plasma."

He said this while glancing over at the stands, since he was absolutely flexing here. Not that everyone understood how cool this really was, but there were certainly impressed looks on the more informed members of the audience, such as Chifuyu and Laura. Charlotte, for one, was unable to keep her excitement that tame.

"A plasma blade?! C'est magnifique! Nearly all I.S. energy weapons are laser-based due to efficient energy constraints and the limited length of magnetic containment... Church, what kind of gas is powering it? Could you use other gasses if you want? What's the maximum power output against-"

Fully aware that Charlotte of all people would go on a long tangent about I.S. weapons and development, Chifuyu cut her off before that could happen. Though admittedly, even she was a little curious.

"Enough, Dunois! You can ask him all of that on your own time."

Slightly abashed to be seen gushing about weapons in front of all of her friends, Charlotte meekly sat back in her seat, which she had risen from without noticing. "Oh, s-sorry..."

Church smiled to himself from the confines of his helmet.

Man, she is cute.

Operator, may I remind you that such thoughts serve only to distract us from the mission? Besides, you are still in battle.

While that was true, it wasn't like Ichika had been about to attack him while he was distracted. He did, however, seem pretty excited now that Church had drawn a sword of sorts.

"I don't really get the difference between your sword and mine, but a sword's a sword! I just hope this turns out better than it did with Houki..."

Warming up his thrusters for the series of close-range clashes about to take place, Church prepared to meet Ichika's Yukihira with Chrysaor. Contrary to Ichika's thoughts, a sword was not just a sword. In fact, Church was not sure what an exchange between a plasma blade and a regular one would look like. Of course there was the energy shielding to consider, but if he got through that, Church didn't know if Chrysaor would just cleave Ichika's metal sword in two. After all, it was just a physical blade until he activated its special form. Once that happened, Church had no idea what the result of the clash between the two weapons would be.

Well, that was one of the reasons he was supposed to be sparring against other pilots, after all.

The two pilots ignited their thrusters and rocketed towards each other, causing the distance between them to dwindle rapidly. As one closed in on the other, both Church and Ichika aimed their respective blades at the torso of their opponent. Church, at the last second, twisted his body in a way that evaded his enemy's attack while still landing his own. However, he only landed a glancing blow with Chrysaor, and Byakushiki's shields were still holding up after the encounter. As immensely hot as plasma was, contact that lasted a fraction of a second wasn't going to do much damage.

As the two machines slid to a stop across from each other, Church noted the look of worry on Ichika's face, though he had good reason for it. Exeter was a much smaller target than any I.S., and it also functioned like a human body instead of a mech. Those two aspects made Exeter a very maneuverable machine, making close quarters combat difficult for any enemy pilot. Compared to another I.S., Exeter was much smaller and far more flexible, and therefore much harder to hit.

But considering that a sword was all Ichika had available, he had no choice but to close in again, so that was what he did. Church did the same, though they didn't pass each other this time. Instead, they stayed close, putting on a show more reminiscent of a sword fight. Well, a sword fight between a man and a big machine, at any rate. Church couldn't help but imagine 'Rules of Nature' playing in the background.

It was immediately obvious as they began exchanging blows that Ichika was a far better swordsman than Church. He had form, technique, and obvious experience in fighting with his weapon. Church didn't really have any of that, but ironically, it didn't matter all that much, because of the huge difference in the two opponents.

Most sword techniques focused on combat with someone else who was pretty similar to you: someone of roughly equal size, with a weapon that was often near the same size as your own blade. This wasn't like that at all. Byakushiki towered over Exeter in height, and wielded a sword that was longer than the opponent it was facing. But said opponent was small, nimble, and capable of flight. Not to mention the fact that it was very hard to be precise when swinging such a large weapon at such a small target. Ichika couldn't really get around Church's guard, because the size of his weapon was too big compared to the size of his target. Church only had to put Chrysaor between him and his enemy to protect himself.

Moreover, Ichika noted that his shields were taking a lot more damage per clash than he was used to. Byakushiki's sword was shielded of course, since Ichika couldn't really afford to have it damaged. That meant that some shield damage was guaranteed whenever the sword impacted something, which definitely included another sword, physical or otherwise. Such shield damage was usually negligible, since sword clashes were either physical impacts or brief touches against a laser blade.

Church's plasma blade was doing a lot more damage to the shields whenever they connected, and Church seemed well aware of this, as he was constantly pushing his weapon forward to force it against Ichika's Yukihira for longer intervals. Byakushiki's shields were already at 35% at this point in the engagement.

Foreseeing an inevitable loss in a battle of attrition, Ichika decided that it would probably be best to go with his usual trump card. It really seemed like the Reiraku Byakura would be his only shot at victory here, and he wasn't looking forward to a second loss in one day. Besides, if he waited too much longer, he wouldn't even have enough energy to use his final attack.

Taking advantage of a lull in their melee exchange, Ichika boosted backwards for some distance, before sacrificing shield energy to activate his sword's final attack mode. Like always, the metal parts split away in order to emit a beam of energy that would demolish enemy shields.

Church easily identified the attack, but was worried for a particular reason.

Cerberus, can Chrysaor block that? Technically it's held together by a magnetic shield.

Unfortunately, I cannot say with certainty, Operator. I can only say that it is a distinct possibility that the Reiraku Byakura will destabilize the magnetic shielding and destroy your blade before passing on to you.

None too happy to hear that, Church hid his left arm behind his body so Ichika couldn't see the many pieces that were folding out or retracting in order to connect various tubes, struts and wires together. This unconventional array of equipment was necessary to power the emitter opening up on the palm of that hand. Ichika wasn't the only one with a trump card. Cerberus was more than capable of determining his intent.

Operator, I do not believe now is the time to unleash this level of firepower. Niddhog is a lethal weapon.

Church paid no mind to Cerberus and its advice. He knew Niddhog was probably overkill here: the sonic cannon was Exeter's ultimate weapon and could focus an immense amount of power into a very small area. It was absolutely intended to destroy targets, not be used in a friendly sparring match. But it would probably be fine. He could tone down the power output so it wasn't lethal, and still clinch a victory. It was a good strategy and only held a minor amount of risk to Ichika. It would be fine. That's what he told himself as he charged Niddhog to a fraction of its full power.

But when Byakushiki rushed forward with its powered up Yukihira, Church reconsidered his plan of action in the few moments he had to commit to it or not. Niddhog could be powered down, but it was still a sonic weapon. Would I.S. shields even work against it? Would using it accidentally kill Ichika in a mere sparring match? The absolute last thing America needed right now was a second catastrophe at the hands of one of their machines. This one would be even worse since Exeter was under human control.

Maybe he had gotten ahead of himself in the heat of the moment. This was a bit too reckless for a situation that wasn't life or death. Only problem was, he had already charged the weapon, and it wasn't the type of armament where he could just let the energy dissipate. It had to go somewhere.

That said, the safest thing to do would have been to fire it into the air or something, completely away from Ichika. But at the same time, he couldn't just allow himself to eat a direct blow from the powered up Yukihira. Maybe it would just fry his shields, but it had just as much of a chance of causing some other critical damage to Exeter itself, and Church was obligated to avoid that kind of damage if possible.

So, he settled for the middle ground: literally. Church aimed Niddhog at the ground in-between he and his approaching opponent, and braced himself for a considerable shock wave and a lot of debris. Releasing all of that stored power in-between he and his foe, the entire stadium was filled with a deafening clap that would have easily destroyed the hearing of both pilots had they not been protected by their respective technologies. The wave of sound was accompanied by a wall of force, followed by tons of earth dislodged by the blast. Church, despite his attempts to the contrary, was blasted backwards by an impact greater than a bullet train, and was flung all the way to the opposite end of the stadium.

He was briefly able to acknowledge that the attack had been way more powerful than anticipated, and that he had been foolish to consider Niddhog in the first place. About the time that thought finished, he slammed through the arena shield and into the metal alloy wall behind it, leaving a massive dent in the structure. Despite the armor he was wearing, he was instantly rendered unconscious by the impact, leaving everyone else to deal with the aftermath of this short, yet undeniably destructive battle.

---

"...is he alright?"

"We can't tell, since his suit is still active."

Church heard foggy and distant voices in his head, but the only thing they did was intensify his headache. He slowly cracked one eye open, then the other, only to find his vision filled by his HUD, playing a recording of the relatively brief battle with Ichika Orimura.

...Cerberus?

Church's tentative question was met with an enthusiastic response. Ah, Operator. Glad to see that you are not discontinued. Replacing you would have been a hassle.

Good to see you care. What happened?

Cerberus didn't seem too bent out of shape by Church's lack of enthusiasm for its joke. If it even was a joke. It was really hard to tell, most of the time.

The close proximity from Niddhog's discharge caused an impact that rendered you unconscious. You were carried to the infirmary by Academy instructors, but the suit is still active because safety protocols deem that it cannot be deactivated while the operator is unconscious in a hostile environment.

Church found this tidbit a little odd.

Are we really going to call this place a hostile environment?

Is it not? Most of the people here are strangers. You and your suit are of great value. You have no idea what they might do.

Frankly, Church found that notion to be somewhat ridiculous, but he supposed it was not particularly unfounded. From a purely objective point of view there was at least some sense to it. For now, he wanted to focus on the other half of the battle's outcome.

What happened to Ichika? Did he get hurt? I can't imagine my next morning with Chifuyu will go well if he did.

He suffered some minor injuries, but nothing that cannot be recovered via mere rest. Your terrible aim ensured that he didn't face any serious risk.

I missed on purpose, Cerberus. In fact, weren't you the one who told me that Niddhog was too much to be unleashing on someone? You warned me that it was lethal, making it pretty obvious that you thought killing Ichika was a bad idea.

The AI ws quiet for a moment, perhaps processing something about that.

Well, it was a bad idea at the time, most assuredly. However, there is a possibility that the mission could turn lethal at some point.

The objective is data retrieval. Under what circumstances would I have to kill anyone? Or are you just doing some computer nonsense about how 'the probability isn't exactly zero?'

Of course, Operator. It's just that Umbra Stratum would prefer you to be willing to kill someone if it came down to a valuable asset like the Exeter suit. Although, I believe we already have an indicator of your willingness on that front, according to the initial testing you went through for the organization.

Not entirely happy to be reminded of that, Church expressed as much, unknowingly vocalizing the thought. "Keep that record buried, if you don't mind..."

A tapping on the visor of the Exeter suit startled Church out of his thoughts and his conversation with Cerberus.

"I think I heard something. Hey, are you awake in there?"

Remembering that he had heard voices upon waking up, Church deactivated the battle replay, its image being quickly replaced with the face of a familiar brunette with several band-aids and bandages on her face, trying to peer past Exeter's opaque visor. Before he received the fish tank treatment again, Church deactivated Exeter completely, and the suit began to fold away before dissipating. As it finished, Church found himself lying in the exact same bed Rin had been in not too long ago.

"How ironic."

Catching onto his meaning, Rin smiled at him. "Isn't it? How the tables turn, huh?"

Church rubbed the side of his face as he sat up, taking stock of the room. The nurse that was usually there was in the corner at her desk. She wasted no time stepping into the conversation when she found the opening that was right this moment.

"Glad to see you awake. Our ability to diagnose you while inside your suit was limited, but best as we could tell, you didn't suffer any serious or permanent injury. That said, it may help to take stock of your health now that you are more accessible. Do you mind?"

Since he had just been inside the Exeter suit and Cerberus had neglected to mention that he was seriously injured in any way, Church figured he would just skip any sort of extra diagnosis.

"I appreciate the offer, but my suit has a health diagnostic system. I don't have any injuries that require treatment."

Since that kind of technology was fairly commonplace these days, the nurse wasn't put off by it. "If you say so. You're free to leave anytime you wish, in that case."

With that out of the way, Church turned his attention back to Rin, who was clearly waiting for him to finish his exchange. "So... not to sound ungrateful, but I'm surprised you came to see me instead of Ichika. Where is he anyway? I seem to be the only one in the infirmary."

Rin placed her one good hand on her hip. "First of all, I did go to see Ichika first. But he came out of the battle a little better off than you did. Didn't lose consciousness at least, which is why he got to hang out in his room. But you know, I felt a little bad that no one else was going to even bother checking on you, so my pity won out after a time. You're welcome."

There was no denying that Church felt a little stung by that, but he supposed it was completely fair and understandable. Everyone here knew Ichika and cared for him far more than a relative stranger like Church. It was only fair that they'd be far more concerned about the prior. Still, what a cruel world.

"No one else, huh...?"

Perhaps feeling a little extra pity due to the expression on his face, Rin extrapolated a little further on her initial brusque explanation. "OK, well it wasn't like it was just me. Chifuyu checked on you of course, but that's kind of her job. She's the one that would be on the hook if you got axed out here or something. Charlotte wanted to check on you too, but frankly, I think she just wanted to interrogate you about your weapons before helping Kanzashi with her I.S. or whatever. And what do you mean by 'no one else?' Am I not good enough for you?"

While Church didn't doubt that last part, since Charlotte seemed to be the most invested in the technical side of things as far as technology went, he didn't really believe that it was the only reason the blonde might have wanted to know if he was alright. Granted, he had only interacted with the girl briefly, but Charlotte struck him as the type of person that would legitimately worry about even complete strangers.

Instead of saying any of that, Church offered Rin a retort. "Hey, you admitted to checking on me second and out of pity, so I think I have the right to be a little dissappointed that it's only you here."

"Tch, ungrateful much? I'm not sure I really want to cook for you now."

"Wait, were you sure about doing that at some point?"

There was a bit of a sheepish expression on Rin's face as she thought of how she was going to word what she had to say. Ultimately, Church even saw a little bit of red creep into her cheeks.

"Well... ugh, listen, and don't let this go to your head: you're obviously not a bad guy, and I wouldn't mind hanging out with you sometimes. And you did kinda, you know, save me from dying, and all I really did as thanks was say it, so there's that... and, uh... it's been a while since anyone really got excited about eating my food, so that made me..."

Fully aware of what she was hinting at, Church couldn't help but smile a little bit. This was both sweet and cute, after all, and he'd brought it about. Why did that feel so good? Maybe this was what confidence felt like. Not that Church particularly lacked that, but there was a certain sense of affirmation to know you could make someone else feel this way. That said, he couldn't help but be a little cheeky.

"Happy? Excited? Flustered, maybe?"

Not missing the obvious teasing, Rin frowned at him, though it was certainly more of the pouty kind. "I thought I said to not let any of that go to your head. It might mean something when a normal girl cooks for someone, but chefs cook for all sorts of people. It's not special when it's just something you do for everyone."

Church was fairly certain that Rin didn't really have such a purely rational perspective on her cooking. If she did, she wouldn't have gotten flustered about it at all in the first place. Of course, he wasn't going to tease her any further, since he didn't want to press his luck.

"Alright, fair enough. Regardless of your feelings on it, I am still very excited about trying something made by an expert like you."

Rin sighed as her mobile arm went back to her hip again, clearly well aware that he was trying to flatter her at that point just to strengthen his position. The worst part was, she couldn't say it wasn't working. Even though she had said otherwise, Rin did find the idea of cooking for just one person to be a little more than just a job. It wasn't like cooking for all of your friends at the same time, or a customer. There was something inherently more... intimate about cooking for just one person specifically.

Of course, maybe the fact that it was a boy made that flustered feeling a little more pronounced. Church wasn't Ichika, whom she most certainly would have preferred: but even so, she found herself a little nervous at the idea of cooking for him. Would he like it? Would he appreciate the effort that went into it? What if she burnt something? Did he even like Chinese cuisine? What if she made a mistake and he got sick? She'd be mortified.

This was all ridiculous, because Rin had been cooking most of her life and she knew damn good and well that she very rarely made those types of mistakes. But that's what made it so silly that she had any unfounded anxieties, and she was certain it had something to do with cooking for a boy. But she could hardly let some unwarranted nervousness stop her from doing something nice for someone, especially when that someone had saved her life a little while ago.

"You don't have to try and persuade me anymore, I've already decided to do it. You hungry now? I can cook in your room. I would just need to bag the ingredients and bring them there."

The look on Church's face made it obvious that he didn't agree with that assessment. "Uh, actually, I think we're going to have to use your room."

Mention of this shoved aside Rin's nervousness about cooking. Sure, she considered cooking for someone as a special favor a step towards a more meaningful relationship, but that didn't mean she was willing to take the jump to inviting a boy into her room. Heck, the idea of letting Ichika into her room flustered her and she had tried to live in the same room as him back when she had first gotten here. Probably good that she hadn't gotten that idea to go through, honestly. Either she or Ichika would have died in that situation.

Which raised some questions about how ready she was for a relationship with him, honestly. But that was something she intentionally didn't dwell on too much or often. She didn't like the implications. For now, she would rather focus on the idea Church was putting forward.

"Now hold on, cooking for you is one thing, but now you want to get into my room? Don't be greedy."

"N-no, it's not that! It's just that my room is, well... a repurposed storage area. I don't have anything for you to cook on. Are there, like... public cooking facilities available here?"

Rin wanted to question what he meant by 'repurposed storage area' and whether or not she was supposed to believe that, but in hindsight, it did actually sound logical. After all, she couldn't recall any sort of commotion surrounding the addition of a second male to the 99.9% female dorms, so it made sense that Church was sleeping elsewhere. But a storage room, really? You'd think he could at least get a hotel with expenses paid by someone else.

And unfortunately, there weren't any public cooking facilities on campus. So honestly, her room was the only option if she wanted to do this. But she couldn't help but balk at the idea...

Church could see that she was uncomfortable with it, and while he really liked the idea of getting a meal from an expert chef who happened to be a cute girl, he didn't want to pressure her over something she didn't want.

"If there isn't anywhere else to do it, I understand. Maybe you could make something for lunch and bring it to the cafeteria some day instead?"

Frankly, Rin contemplated that idea pretty seriously. But the fact that Church had backpedaled on the original offer for her sake wasn't lost on her. He really was pretty considerate. And it wasn't as though she liked him, right? So what was there to be nervous about in letting him into her room? Although, she would definitely have to hide a few things before letting him in.

"No, no... it's fine. I mean, I guess it's kind of weird when we've only been friends for like... a few days? But it's just a favor between friends. Payback for something you did. It's only as weird as you make it. That said, you can't just walk into someone's room with no warning at all. I need to tidy it up a little bit... you mind waiting for an hour?"

"Sure. Just gotta figure out what I'll do while I wait..."

"Oh, that reminds me! Chifuyu wanted me to tell you something about showers when you woke up. I guess that makes sense if you're sleeping in a storage room..."

"That it does. What did she say?"

"That you could use the staff showers at the stadium. They're at the north end, opposite of where we sat today. There's signs and all, so you should be able to find it pretty easily. Maybe you should do that while you wait."

Glad to have that problem squared away, even if it wasn't entirely convenient, Church wondered if he should be offended. Best as he could tell, he didn't smell, but other people were usually better at determining that than the person themselves. Or maybe Rin was just implying that her shower was off limits and he should take advantage of what he had while he had it.

"Sounds like a good idea. Should I meet you back here or...?"

"I'd say you could meet me in front of the dorms, but that might look a little suspicious to anyone going in or out... how about we just meet up outside of the stadium gate we went into today? Shouldn't be too many people to bother you around there right now. One hour, don't forget. I'm already doing you a big solid here so don't make me wait!"

With that, Rin turned to leave, and Church mentally noted the time so he could keep it in mind. A lot had happened today, and it wasn't even over. He felt that he should have been tired, but with a hand-made dinner with a cute girl on the imminent horizon, he was too excited for that. Now he just had to knock out a shower first, so his next objective was making it to his room for a change of clothes.

Somewhere in his thoughts, he acknowledged that the Commander probably wouldn't be happy with the way he was planning on spending his time this evening, but more importantly, he didn't really care.