Chapter 26 - S.O.N.G.

We follow Sylvia and her brother to her vehicle. When we all arrive, Sebastian presses a button on his watch. With a soft mechanical noise, one of the vehicle's door opens, revealing a massive black box which is securely sealed shut. Sebastian inputs a code on the digital interface of the box, a message appears and Sebastian's facial features are scanned. After it confirms his identity, a confirmation message is heard and it finally opens. five platforms emerge from the box, forming a multi-layered display. On the left most platform, four badges are displayed, all engraved with Melodica's crest, two sharpsongs crossed on top of each other surrounded by a ring of fire, symbolizing our unyielding fighting spirit. The other four platforms display a warchord, two sharpsongs and a strange fourth instrument. Sebastian begins his explanation.

"Listen! Once you activate them, these badges will transform into military grade battle attire and will mold themselves to your bodies! The suit comes with many features, but the main ones are: night vision, air filtration, cutting edge silent step technology and it's considerable durability even when faced with the [enlightened]! You can activate them simply by injecting pure flow into them!"

'The way his personality drastically changes is so weird...'

I approach the badge and activate it. As soon as I inject pure flow into it, with the badge itself as the nexus, matter emerges and envelops me. In the next instant, my body is covered by a black battle suit. After a bit of time, it molds itself perfectly to my body as if it was made specifically for me. My vital areas are heavily protected, with thick plates covering my chest and stomach. I look at my hands, and they seem to have been enhanced with some sort of grip strenghtener, heightening my efficiency when wielding my sharpsong. A digital interface rests on my forearm, a message can be seen on it.

'Activate A.I. battle assistant : S.O.N.G.'

No matter how many times I press the interface, nothing happens. I try to inject pure flow, still nothing. Left with no choice, I speak.

"Uh, activate?"

"Human vocal signature recognized : Activating assistant S.O.N.G....Loading.... Hi there! my name is S.O.N.G. ; The strategic, optimized network for guidance. I will do my utmost to aid you in this battle!"

Startled by the eerie human-like voice coming from the communication apparatus of the suit, I jump back slightly.

"W-what the hell?!"

Ivana places her hand over her mouth and prevents herself from erupting into laughter. I notice her face reddening because of the strain, she must be trying her absolute hardest. After a moment, she calms down, looks at me again, and almost fails to contain herself this time. I look in her direction and talk to her.

"Alright now, it's not that funny..."

She ignores me, fighting an internal battle to not completely lose her composure. Eventually, she is able to regain a semblance of her previous demeanor, wipes the tears from her eye and blocks me from her field of view with her right hand, most likely to stop herself from losing it again. It might be that she does not want me to see her laughing, but I doubt she cares whether I know she is mocking me or not.

Slightly embarrassed, and attempting to forget about what just happened, I reach for one of the two sharpsongs of the display while Ivana reaches for the other. 

'She's not using a melo-string huh...'

"I could if I wanted to, but I opted for the sharpsong here since we'll be entering a building and all."

At this point, I do not even react anymore when Ivana answers one of my thoughts, I simply give her an annoyed glance and she sneers.

Sylvia reaches for the warchord and her brother, Sebastian grabs the fourth strange instrument. It is not as unique as Maestro Lauren's but it is certainly much fancier than the base weapons we make use of. It resembles two warchords which have been stuck to each other made in the shape of a spear instead of an axe. On each end of the pole, lies a sharp piece of metal with chords embedded into it. My eyes sparkle.

"Sebastian's instrument: the Sympholance!! Wait, no! he's an asshole remember?"

I admonish myself for still harboring a shred of admiration towards him. Now that each of us has equipped the suit and the weapon, Sebastian, the de facto leader of this mission, speaks once more.

"HAH! Let us march towards the evil-doers! Follow me comrades!"

He departs, leaving a gust of wind behind him and we follow. As [enlightened] who have received intensive training at DaiKar for nearly half a year, making use of pure flow, we can all run at a relatively fast pace for hours on end without tiring. As we head towards the mission area, Sebastian asks us a question.

"Little Sylvia here does not like to tell me much, but I hear you are students of the DreadCaster, are you not?"

I reply with a confused look on my face

"The DreadCaster..?"

Noticing my confusion, Sylvia clarifies her brother's question.

"...He means Maestro Lauren."

"Right! she might not go by that anymore, I hear she's retired now! She was quite the famous person back on the battlefield, that is how she obtained her moniker! A truly terrifying warrior! How is she these days?" 

No one answers his question. Slightly put off by the silent, and still blinded by the years of admiration I've had for him, I cannot help but awkwardly answer.

"...She's alright.. I guess?"

"Good! Good! I was worried she might have decided to crawl into a hole after I inflicted that scar upon her. Although it was unfortunate, it was inevitable! How dare she defy a direct order from the higher ups, that commoner trash!"

"..."

'He just wanted to show his superiority didn't he...'

The rest of the distance towards our location is travelled in silence. After an hour or so, we finally arrive. I have a difficult time finding the manufacturing plant described to me by Sylvia. The moon fails to illuminate our surroundings and there are no artificial light sources in this area, it was truly made to not be found. I talk to myself quietly.

"Isn't it a bit too dark around here?"

A strange human-like voice emerges from the communication function of my suit.

"Nocturnal environment detected - Would you like to activate tactical enhancement : night vision?"

"...Yes?"

I can see the world around me once more.

"Would you like to activate tactical enhancement : silent step?"

"Yes, yes, activate it all."

"Command registered - Activating all tactical enhancements: flashbang ; smoke shield, camouflage, thermal vision..."

"Wait! wait! stop!"

"Command registered - halting tactical enhancement activation - would you like to resume?"

"No! cancel everything, just activate silent step and night vision!"

"Command registered - Activating tactical enhancements : night vision, silent step."

I glance in Ivana's direction, afraid she might have noticed my mishap. As I scan my surroundings using my newly obtained night vision, my worries are confirmed, except this time, she's not the only one. When my gaze lands upon the two women, Ivana looks back at me, and holds back her laughter, nothing new there. Sylvia, on the other hand, immediately looks away, she pretends to have not seen anything, which somehow hurts more.

Another voice emerges from my communicator, it is not S.O.N.G. this time.

"Let us rid this world of these criminals young ones! Follow after me!"