Chapter Text
A.N. I'd meant to get this out earlier, but...as usual, fight scenes.
As Principal Le Guin explained, the paths split into two, with obstacles in each path that can only be opened from the other side.
The split is, as expected, Instructor Rean and Class VII alumni plus their old Instructor, accompanied by Principal Le Guin. With the rest of us on the other side.
It was mostly decided because according to Principal Le Guin one of the routes is tougher, and is designed to funnel most of the powerful combatants so the defender can focus there.
Of course, Instructor Rean frets over us as usual until Angelica volunteers to go with us in his stead.
"You know….I ain't sure how I'm feeling about the whole following their lead thing," Ash remarks as we enter the second route to the top.
"Too late for that. We all agreed to it," Juna shoots back.
I shrug mockingly, "Leave him be, Juna. I suppose this is what the term 'fragile male ego' meant."
"Wha—You're starting something up, prissy girl?!"
Hey. As someone who has memories of being a dude, I feel like I get a pass to say that here.
Musse chuckles, "Heehee, now, now…though we're the B group, we still need to concentrate."
Kurt nods, "Yes. It might seem simple, but the reality of the matter is we need to keep up with Group A or the mission fails."
"And considering they have Principal Le Guin there, keeping up with them is no simple matter," Altina adds.
Ash sighs, "Fine. Let's just get this thing going. We ain't gonna be keeping up with them. We'll outpace them!"
Kurt nods at him, "Hah. That's the spirit. Let's commence mission, then!"
I hear Angelica snorts behind me, "Well glad you guys seem to be relaxed enough. Just what I'd expected from the new Class VII. Nice to see Thors are still producing delightful students."
Angelica, you reeally shouldn't expect anything else from a JRPG anime high schooler main cast.
We then start going through our assigned route.
There are some enemies, but they're mostly small archaisms and cougars. Nothing too special or difficult yet.
"Enemy eliminated," Kurt reports after he finishes off the sneak gunners we were fighting—the small drone-like archaism.
Juna, who had assisted him goes for a high-five, "Yeah, we got this!"
You know…considering the average soldiers would struggle against these opponents and they're just fodders to us at this point is kinda…well, as I said, JRPG anime high schooler main cast.
Angelica gives us a wink, "Not bad. Now let's keep moving, kittens."
…and plus one lesbian onee-san, of course.
Soon enough, we reach a room where there's a large lever-like device.
"This appears to be one of the switches Principal Le Guin was talking about," Altina remarks.
I nod, "It seems so. We should contact the other side, it only opens the door on the other side for a small window of time, after all."
Juna takes out her ARCUS, "Hold on. Let me try calling Instructor Rean."
Instructor Rean answers a few moments later, "Schwarzer here. Is something the matter?"
Juna replies, "We've reached the…uh…lever-thingy we think Principal Le Guin was talking about earlier. Do we pull it now, or…?"
I can hear Principal Le Guin snorting on the other side, she then takes the ARCUS from Instructor Rean, "Already there, are you? Not bad…you are ahead of us."
Wait. Really?
She then continues, "Hold your position, we'll increase our pace on our end, we're not that far from the door."
As soon as she ends the call, Ash cheers, "Hell yeah! We're ahead of them!"
"Well, they are taking on the more difficult route," Altina remarks.
Ash scoffs, "Naw…they got our crazy principal with 'em. No excuses. We just kick ass."
Good point.
"I suppose there is some degree of pride we should take of that fact, yes," I admit.
Ash gives me a smug look, "Heh. Knew you're gonna see it my way eventually."
Musse chimes in with amusement, "Yes, I do suppose all of us make for a good team, don't we? Though I don't think they were that far behind."
About a minute later, Instructor Rean calls back.
"We're at the door. Pull the lever."
Juna nods, "Gotcha!"
She then pulls the lever down, and I can hear the sound of a door opening on Instructor Rean's end.
"Good job, you all. Stay in touch," Instructor Rean says before ending the call.
We then continue moving, going through the halls of our route. Eventually, we see a closed door guarded by a jaeger and two cougars.
"Presumably, this is similar to Instructor Rean's situation earlier. This door has to be opened from their side," I remark.
Altina nods, "That seems to be the case, yes. Though we still need to defeat the jaeger guarding it."
Angelica smirks, "Hah. It's just one lone Northern Jaeger separated from his pack. Let's make a quick work of him."
We then begin our offensive, opened by Musse and Juna firing a sneak attack.
To his credit, the jaeger notices us, rolls over, and aims his gun at us.
"The brats from earlier, huh?! Let's see how tough you are without the sold—"
His word got cut short, as I leap straight at him and deliver several consecutive thrusts at him.
He cancels his shooting to use his gun to block some of the thrusts, but I twirl my spear at his feet with the end of my spear, sweeping him off the floor.
With no word, Angelica—who has been gathering her energy—follows up through our link, delivering a palm strike to the jaegers chest, knocking him out.
"Ere…bo…nian…scum…" the jaeger managed to mutter before passing out.
I look around and the others are just about done with the cougars too.
Angelica gives me a wink, "Hey, good job. The lustrous shine in that sharp gaze of yours when you battle is very dazzling."
I sigh, "You need to get new lines. That was the same line you used when we first met."
Well, I guess it's sort of a running joke between us now. She's just messing around.
We look at the door, and just in time, Instructor Rean calls us.
"We're at the switch for a door on your side. How are you guys doing?"
"We're right at that very door, Instructor," Kurt replies.
"Understood. Pulling the lever."
The door opens.
"Looks like we're on the same pace now. Keep it up!" Instructor Rean says before ending the call.
Thanks to the sensory ability of Altina's Claiomh Solais—and presumably Millium's Airgetlam on the other side—we navigate the labyrinthine structure pretty easily. It slows us down a bit because we need to stop from time to time to do a scan, but it's much more manageable.
We eventually reach the battlement of Juno Naval Fortress. Fighting our way through the jaegers manning the cannons.
I thrust my spear through a sneak gunner, destroying it. Before sending icy javelin at a group of advancing jaegers and cougars.
Kurt did the same with his twilit blades while Ash throws his scythe blade at them.
"Damn Erebonian and their prodigies!"
"Retreat! Reposition deeper in the fortress!"
"Move! Let the archaism deal with them!"
A large archaism appears, blocking our way and covering the jaegers' escape.
It's a large grey bipedal archaism with one main cannon on its head and two Gatling guns as arms. On both of its sides, are two more extendable arms with—are those lightsabers?!
"Uh…okay, what is that?" Juna asks.
Altina replies, "Analysis complete. Accessing database…it seems to be a new type of archaism. Code name: Gespard Gerrod."
Ash clicks his tongue, "Tch. Doesn't matter. Let's turn them to scraps!"
He runs forward and swings his ax at the archaisms. The archaism parries using one of the lightsabers. The other lightsabers swings at him before being blocked by Kurt.
"Now! It's wide open!" Ash shouts.
Right.
Juna and I run to its left and right. The Gatling guns start to spin, aimed at Juna at me. But a laser from Claiomh Solais and an air shockwave from Angelica's kick hit the machine guns, jamming them.
Only its main cannon is left, but according to Altina's analysis, its protocol wouldn't allow the archaism to fire it in close range because it'll damage itself.
Juna and I dive below its extendable arms and deliver several rapid thrusts and an electric shock from Juna's gunbreakers, just moments before it disengages from Kurt and Ash.
"ARCUS activate."
It stops right under the spot where Musse manifests a giant block of ice, hurling down towards it.
Altina's analysis did determine it to be susceptible to the water element.
The Gespard Gerrod raises its lightsabers to lessen the impact, as the giant block of ice hits it. Cooling the temperature and creating mists around the area.
"Heh. Clean hit," Ash says, observing our handiwork.
"That was a close one. Did you have to be so reckless?" Kurt asks him.
"You're there to follow up, ain'tcha? It's a calculated risk," Ash replies nonchalantly.
"Stay on your guard! It's still active!" Altina shouts as Claiomh Solais appears in front of us.
Not long after, a beam blasts through the mist, revealing the archaism shooting its main cannon straight at us.
Claiomh Solais intercepts the beam, protecting us with its shield.
Both of the archaism's Gatling guns whirl again, before shooting bullets at us. I roll to the right out of the line of fire, the others doing something along the same line.
I send an icy javelin to the left Gatling gun, while Kurt sends his dark and light slashes to the right one, jamming them once again.
Just as with the Jaeger, Angelica gathers her energy and closes in on the archaism. In response, the two extendable arms of the archaisms swing their lightsabers at Angelica.
"Fragarach. Activate."
One of Claiomh Solais's hands morphs into a large blade that blocks both lightsabers.
Angelica slips past through and hit the archaism with a palm strike that sends the giant archaism crashing into a wall.
"Uh…," Juna trails off, looking at the resulting damage.
Ash whistles appreciatively, "Hot damn."
"She's definitely gotten much stronger since I last saw her," Musse says beside me with a small chuckle.
Yeah. And that's without direct tutelage from her teacher, who's apparently the daughter of the previous head of the Taito school.
Angelica walks back to us, and smirks, "All right. Let's—"
She immediately turns back.
The archaism is letting out steam and seems to almost be going haywire.
Then suddenly it launches at us with greater speed than it has shown this entire battle. I narrowly avoid one of the lightsabers with a duck, and then roll to get out of the line of fire as its fires its Gatling guns.
Information comes in from Altina through the ARCUS link.
A last-ditch effort by the archaism. It's shutting down its defense system for an all-out offensive.
Breaking its previous protocol, it fires its main cannon at point blank, hitting Kurt and Ash along with itself.
Musse and I immediately heal both of them, while Altina shield us with Claiomh Solais.
"Brave Order: Ebon Dragon!"
Angelica activates her brave order. Her taito-trained intuition is now shared with us. Allowing us to sense attacks and the enemy's vital points better.
Right. With its defense down, it's vulnerable now. Time for the old 'good offense is the best defense' adage.
I rush ahead, weaving through the lightsabers, gunfires, and laser beams thanks to Angelica's Brave Order.
I reach one of its extendable arms and thrust my spear right at its weak joints.
My spear pierces through. I then force my spear upward, before doing a downward slash, cutting down the arm.
Kurt did the same to the other hand with several rapid slashes, his blades glowing courtesy of the Vander's self-strengthening technique.
Juna slams into the Gatling gun on my side, just at the right spot to destroy it. At the same time, Musse snipes the other Gatling gun, causing it to short-circuit.
The archaism starts to disengage while activating its main cannon.
"Like hell, you will!" Ash shouts as his scythe chain wraps into the bottom half of the archaism.
It tries to shoot its main cannon, but a shockwave from Angelica's kick hits the cannon, jamming it.
Ash yanks the chain, tripping the archaism.
"Activating Fragarach."
One of Claiomh Solais's hands turns into a giant blade once more. It swings the giant blade down at the archaism, bisecting it.
"Target eliminated," Altina reports as the two half explodes.
Kurt's ARCUS then rings.
He answers it.
"You guys all right, over there? We've reached another part of the route where both teams need to work together," Instructor Rean asks through Kurt's ARCUS.
Kurt replies, "We're all right. But we were held back for a bit by a new type of archaism."
Instructor Rean nods, "There is a lever on our side, and one on yours. This time we need to pull them both at the same time to open the door. It's on a balcony, I can see yours on my end."
We turn to Altina.
She nods, "Yes, there is a balcony just up ahead. Just through the vent."
Kurt nods, "We'll head to the designated point as fast as we could."
Suddenly, Principal Le Guin chimes in from the other side, "Five minutes. More than that and I'll deduct your scores for this field exercise."
Umm…this is the fortress that has never been breached in history. I feel like we should get some slack here.
She then chuckles, "Fufu…All of you were ahead of us earlier, so this much should be possible. Good luck."
She disconnects the call.
Angelica snorts, "Heh. She's way more hardcore than Principal Vandyk was. But…such a domineering personality with that bombshell of a body is kinda hot, I gotta admit.
Yeah. I don't really care about your 'Dominatrix Mommy' fetish, Angelica.
From the battlements, we then reenter the fortress and continue to fight jaegers and archaisms.
As Altina said, we go through a vent and emerge near a door that leads to a balcony on the other side. To our left, separated by a gap, is the balcony for Instructor Rean's side.
"Barely made it. Good work," Principal Le Guin remarks from the other side.
"What a pain in my ass…" Ash complains under his breath.
Somehow, Principal Le Guin picks it up.
"What was that, Carbide? Volunteering to be my sparring partner are you?"
"N-no Ma'am," Ash immediately replies, somewhat pale.
Yep. Even Ash shuts up in front of Principal Le Guin. I wonder if I can do that in the future. It seems pretty handy.
Instructor Rean chuckles, "Haha…well, in any case, good job, New Class VII. Let's pull both levers."
Kurt nods at him, "Understood, Instructor."
The two then pull down the lever on their respective side, and the door opens.
Instructor Rean gives us a smile, "All right. Let's get going. Keep it up, you guys."
Principal Le Guin then adds, "I'm sure we'll cross paths again before too long. Proceed with caution."
Both of our groups then go through the door, emerging into another battlement.
Further up to the battlements, the Jaegers are pushing back the last remnants of the Marquis' bodyguards, with said bodyguards seemingly surrendering left and right.
Most of the jaegers then seem to move to where Instructor Rean's group is.
"L-look at that!" Juna says while looking up, stopping in front of a flight of stairs.
Ah.
"It's the white Aion," Kurt remarks with a grimace, looking at the Aion type-α on the very top of the fortress.
Ash clicks his tongue, "Tch. That ain't there when we first came here."
Altia nods pointedly at me, "As Jessica said earlier, it seems to possess spatial transposition capabilities. It must have teleported here after our incursion."
"Considering our altercation with it yesterday, its combat capability is above type-β and γ we encountered in Sutherland and Crossbell. I suppose it is good we have three soldats along with Valimar," I remark.
Musse observes the Aion for a bit more before adding, "Fortunately, from what I can tell it doesn't seem to be active at the moment, but…"
"But we can't just let it sit there until it is," Angelica completed.
Ash punches his palm, "I say we break it down piece by piece. We'll waste it before our precious little Ashen Chevalier even has to lift a finger."
I turn to him and sigh, "There is being ambitious, and there is being unrealistic. It is simply unrealistic to take it on without Valimar. You DID see what happened to El-Prado yesterday, yes?"
At that moment, the cannons on the Aion finish charging and unloads golden beams accompanied by multiple gold portals that rain down missiles.
You know, when it did the entire Gate of Babylon Missilon.
Kurt nods, "Yes. We have our own role as the second team."
Ash shrugs, "I mean let's rush there and destroy that thing while it's inactive. They seem to draw all the attention over there, so that'll be our chance."
"You have a point," I admitted, "But there is no point in arguing when we are still far from the top. Let us advance further and table this discussion later. Arguing about it now will simply waste more time."
Ash shrugs and adds jokingly "Fine. Fair enough. Just wanna throw some ideas out so we can finally get a leg up on that glory hound."
Juna turns to him, "Glory hound? I mean…"
I cut them off, "Less talking and get moving. In case all of you forgot, Ordis is being shelled by railway guns, does not seem to be the proper time for a leisurely chat."
Just in time as if to prove my point, a shot of the railway guns hit the waters near the fortress, causing a big splash and sending shockwaves.
Not long after, another sound of a loud explosion can be heard in the direction of the canyons.
"…The intervals between shots are getting shorter," Musse remarks.
Altina then adds, "The battle there seems to be reaching its climax."
Kurt nods, he then turns to us, "Time is of the essence."
Juna nods back at him, "Yeah! Class VII! Let's move out!"
We then head up the flight of stairs and advance further through the battlement.
Some archaisms barred our way. It's no longer only the sneak gunner drones, but also bigger archaisms that we faced in Sutherland such as the Phalanx J9, Balancing Clowns, and Zephyrantes.
We manage to get through them all with little trouble. Thinking back to Sutherland where were struggling so much against them makes me realize that we really have gotten much stronger in three months.
Well, considering what happened in every field exercise, I suppose it's to be expected.
We finally reach a stair that goes down to a large open clearing—
"Stop," I say.
Everyone stops and turns to me.
"I suspect we will encounter something ahead. Proceed with caution."
Altina summons Claiomh Solais and starts scanning.
"You are correct. There are two large archaisms in camouflage. The signature tactical combat archaism unit used by the Stahlritter, Sleipnir F2."
The one Duvalie summoned against Laura back in Sutherland.
"Analysis complete," Altina reports.
...It seems that the Sleipnir is also susceptible to the water element, like the Gespard Gerrod.
"Shall we take the initiative?" Musse takes out her ARCUS and starts preparing to cast.
Ash also takes out his ARCUS and links it with Musse's, "I'll help out. Make it a big one, Egret."
Musse chuckles, "Oh my. Typically it would be the girl who say that."
"Just do it, you damn harpy."
"Not the time, you two," I say in exasperation.
Musse gives me a smile, "I suppose so. Well, in any case with Ash's help, I'm sure it'll be quite devastating, that should give you, Kurt, and Angelica the opening to finish up."
True.
I ready my spear as Kurt and Angelica did the same with their weapons of choice.
"ARCUS activate."
Altina and Juna activate their ARCUS and start buffing the three of us. With double-layered La Forte arts.
Kurt and Angelica then start gathering energy and manifesting it, Kurt with his glowing blades, and Angelica with a purple aura.
…Yeah, I think I should start looking into mastering the Schleiden self-strengthening technique so I can keep up.
But well…I have another way to keep up, thanks to orbal technology.
"ARCUS activate!"
Musse casts her art, and a gigantic block of ice—the biggest yet—appears above the two camouflaged archaisms.
It falls down, crashing straight into the archaisms, sending mists around and changing the terrain below the archaisms.
"All right! Our turn! Go at it, you two! I'll finish them off!" Angelica shouts.
Kurt rushes to the left one, while I go for the right.
I start by jumping off the stairs and throwing my spear, creating another icy explosion.
The spear returns to me as I leap ahead, and start the motion to deliver several rapid thrusts.
The Sleipnir opposing me tries to lift its shield on its left hand, only to find itself unable to thanks to its freezing joints courtesy of Musse and me.
Brynhildr, my master quartz whirrs as it amplifies my thrusts with the orbal energy from Musse's and my ARCUS lingering in the Sleipnir.
Now. Just need to strike at the perfect spot.
First thrust. Straight at its left hand, piercing through, disabling its shield.
Second thrust. Right hand. Its halberd disabled.
Third thrust. Straight at its chest, through the weak point of its chassis, piercing all the way through to the back.
And I continue. Piercing even more holes into the archaism.
I can feel it starting to heat up, just like the Gespard Gerrod from earlier, they're switching into all-or-nothing full offense mode. But too late for them.
"Coming at you…Full! Force!"
Kurt and I leap back in response to Angelica's chant. She, in turn, leaps into the air, and does a flip, readying herself for a dropkick.
Her purple aura coalesces into the form of a dragon as she torpedoes straight for the two Sleipnir.
"Dragon Kick!"
Angelica hits the ground near the two archaisms as her purple aura explodes all around her, crushing the two archaisms completely, as well as creating a small crater.
Angelica turns back to us and gives us a thumbs up, "That's how it's done. I sure do love surprise attacks."
Juna looks at the scene of carnage before sighing, "You know, I feel like I should have gotten used to it by now. But is being a monster or genius a requirement to graduate from Thors? Like old Class VII, Instructor Towa, her, Principal Le Guin and General Bardias…and even Major Claire are all either monsters or super-competent genius or both."
Just the main cast/important people, Juna. Although…given how the Thors student during Instructor Rean's time all fought in the civil war and now our generation is doing all this field exercise, I wouldn't be surprised if the average Thors graduate in the main cast's year is all at least above average.
That Alan guy probably boasts once or twice to his fellow recruits that he was the gunnery officer of the Courageous, that had a dogfight with the Noble Alliance's flagship, the Pantagruel.
Like seriously, all of us who are actually going to the military is going to be so overqualified for a fresh recruit, it's not even funny. Imagine a random John Doe bunking in with a Thors graduate, start shooting the breeze, and the Thors alumnus goes, 'Oh yeah. I helped stop the railway guns from shelling Ordis, fought a bunch of weird magical monsters in Crossbell, and helped with security details after the Jaegers' air raid on Saint-Arkh'
Angelica suddenly looks up, at the veranda above us.
"Ah shit. Looks like I blow my load too early," Angelica says as she readies her taito stance once more.
…the Stahlritter. No Duvalie but Ines and Ennea are here.
Ennea chuckles, "Hello. We meet again, children of Class VII."
"You took down those Sleipnirs with no trouble. Impressive," Ines adds.
She then turns to me, "Though I do wonder how you saw through the archaisms camouflage. And there was that matter yesterday, where the Black Rabbit alluded that you somehow knew we were in Bryonia Island. Curious."
"Trade secret, I'm afraid," I reply sarcastically and ready my spear.
Ines snorts in amusement, "Is that so? I see. Well, no matter."
Ennea turns to her, "Nevertheless. They're quite an impressive bunch, aren't they? Sure, they have the Rogner girl to help them, but to get this far…"
Ines nods, "Indeed. However, that ends now."
She turns to us, "I commend you for advancing this far, but what now? Do you intend to overcome certain death without the Ashen Chevalier?"
Ash scoffs, "Cute. Now cut the shit."
"We know how much stronger than us you are. Still, we refuse to sit by as you do your bidding," Musse adds.
Angelica steps forward, "Well I'm excited. As a martial artist, fighting opponents of your caliber is a rare chance. And such beauties too."
Ines raises her halberd, "I respect that fire. I shall give you my utmost in battle."
"You'll do for a nice appetizer before the main course!" Ennea adds as she draws her bow.
The two of them then jump down.
"Now show me your strength!" Ines shouts as she swings her halberd.
We scatter away to avoid her swing as it crashes into the ground, sending dust into the air and creating another crater beside Angelica's as if to make a point.
Not missing a beat, Ennea follows up by jumping up in the air and aiming her bow at us.
"Nicely dodged. But can you fledgling handle this?"
Arrows scatter down as I roll over out of the line of fire. Barely getting away with a few shallow gashes as the arrows graze me.
Ines rushes at me, her halberd raised.
I try to raise my spear but find myself unable to as parts of my body grazed by Ennea's arrows are now starting to turn to stone. From my peripheral vision, I notice the same happening to the others.
"ARCUS activate!"
Musse and Juna cast the recuria art. A breeze-like orbal energy washes over us, reversing the petrification, just in time for me to duck to avoid Ines's halberd from smashing my head.
She immediately changes course, raising her halberd above her and swinging it down at me. I use my spear to twirl into the air above her, avoiding her swing and in position to skewer her with a throw of my spear.
Just before I can throw it, Ennea's arrows forced me to use my spear to vault myself away from Ines instead, leaving her free to parry Kurt with her halberd.
She then pushes down on Kurt just enough to reposition her halberd, deflecting Ash's scythe with the bottom part of her weapon.
My attention is taken away by Ennea drawing the strings of her bow, aimed at me.
I raise my spear to parry it before she changes direction at the last second.
Ennea aims her bow in the other direction, where Angelica is rushing ahead at great speed—most likely buffed by the chrono drive cast by Altina.
Angelica slips behind Ines who is locked in close combat with Kurt. Angelica extends her arms, palms open and—
Ennea's arrow hit Ines instead of Angelica as I expected, as Ines suddenly accelerates faster than Angelica, gets behind her, and smashes Angelica straight into a wall.
As both Kurt and I close in on her, a single arrow, seemingly made of orbal energy hits Ines. And her movement accelerates to such that in a blink of an eye, she swats both me and Kurt away.
Right. This happened in Sutherland too.
Ennea then jumps again and shoots another volley of arrows as she did in the beginning.
I jump back as far as I can from the general area to make sure the arrows have no chance of hitting me this time.
From the corner of my eyes, I see Claiomh Solais manifesting near Angelica, protecting her from both the arrows and Ines who is trying to finish the job with a swing of her halberd.
"Deploying Argent Heal," Altina says, as orbal waves of orbal energy start healing Angelica.
Through our ARCUS link one single there was one single conclusion we immediately reached.
Separate them.
Kurt sends light and dark slashes while I send my frigid icy javelin at Ines, forcing her to jump back to avoid our attacks.
Seizing the chance, Kurt, Juna, and I rush at her while Ash, Altina, and Angelica—who has recovered—close the distance to Ennea, with Musse providing cover fire, doing her best to match Ennea each arrow for a shot.
Kurt, Juna, and I manage to corner Ines, as she stands between the three of us.
She smirks, "Come! My shield!"
Yellow aura appears before coalescing as shields, floating around her before dispersing and enveloping her.
"Come then! We shall see if the outcome will be different from Sutherland!" She taunts us.
Another one of her moves from Sutherland. Last time we were unable to overcome her defenses, but now…
"Brave Order: Sledgehammer!" Juna activates her brave order, which is specifically tailored to knock down defenses.
Juna then rushes at Ines with her tonfa, tackling the red-haired knight with her entire weight in a body slam.
Ines is actually pushed back. Though she regains her balance immediately and pushes Juna off her. Just in time to parry Kurt, his swords glowing with the Vander's self-strengthening technique.
Tch. Not even Juna's brave order is enough, huh?
I rush at her with my spear, aiming at her face.
She doesn't move intending to simply shrug it off, just as she did in Sutherland.
Not this time!
Concentrate…
The Schleiden School of spearmanship focuses on finding weak spots in the enemy defenses and piercing through that chink in the armor with all we have.
Which is why, our self-strengthening technique is to hone our focus to find that one spot.
I feel my vision sharpen.
Yes…this is it!
I thrust my spear right at the weak spot I see on her face. Just below her right eye.
Ines, who had intended to simply shrug it off suddenly looks alarmed. She jumps back at the last second, as I feel my spear piercing her skin.
I can feel my focus slipping. Damn, looks like it's still a far cry until I master that one. But using it in small bursts should be possible.
She turns to me, her face now sporting a gash.
Ines then rushes at us, ignoring Juna's bullets as what little grazes her skin heals immediately.
I meet her with a thrust, which she takes right to the face…but rather than skewering through, all it made is a small needle wound.
"That's all?", she said as a trail of blood falls on her face before healing.
I meet her gaze defiantly.
That's right. This is not like back then, not anymore.
The gash healed, but Ines knows that I can get through her defenses now.
She smirks, "That's more like it. There'd be no meaning in me fighting the descendant of our predecessors if you can't at least do this much."
"Ennea! Play time's over!" She shouts.
Ennea—who seemingly had just been sent flying by Angelica, jumps back to gain distance and nods, "Yes! They're impressive, but this is far from over!"
"I am the stout! Breaker of vows!" Ines chants as a golden aura starts to manifest around her.
"Gaze! Into the evil eye!" Ennea follows as a similar golden aura manifests around her as well.
Ines rushes at us and starts swinging ferociously. I roll to the right to avoid one of her swings, making her halberd hit a support pillar instead, completely destroying the pillar.
I parry another of her swing only to be sent flying with sheer force. She then swats Kurt in my direction, with enough shockwave rippling through the air that it blocks Juna's bullets, sending her flying as well.
I barely get my bearings back. When I notice that the other group had been driven to the same location as us by hails of Ennea's arrows—not it's not even arrows at this point, they're just beams of light.
They boxed us in.
"Time to finish this!" Ennea shouts as she jumps and sends down beams of light at us.
Ines meanwhile raises her halberd for one more swing.
"ARCUS activate!"
The next thing I know is a dome of orbal energy forming around us, centered on floating shields.
Adamantine Shield. Probably the strongest defensive arts available. Looks like Musse just saved us.
The dome dissipates, and a decent chunk of the other side of the platform not protected by the dome is gone, seemingly fallen below in a pile of debris.
Ines and Ennea managed to regroup, seemingly a bit winded after the last attack.
Chance!
Musse and I collaborated through the ARCUS link immediately.
"Brave Order: Piercing Blows."
My Brave Order activates, enhancing our ability to see critical weak spots clearer and the chance to afflict our opponents with debilitating conditions.
Musse starts chanting, as her hand glows, "I'll cast a spell on you…"
A giant ice flower appears, trapping Ines and Ennea inside it.
I focus my senses once more, trying to enter that enhanced zone again. A moment later, I feel myself back in that focused state.
It's only for a short while. Can't waste it.
Musse aims her rifle at a specific angle and starts charging orbal energy.
"Brilliant Shot!"
Condensed orbal energy is shot into the ice flowers, bouncing all over inside it as the surfaces of the ice reflects Musse's shot.
"Kneel, for before you is the spear of the Schleiden…"
Musse's ice flowers explode in sparkling blue glitter. Revealing Ines and Ennea, sporting several frostbites.
Good.
I rush at them, ice-enhanced spear in hand, as I deliver several rapid thrusts.
One thrust becomes many, and each thrust a petal, as I make sure to land every thrust on vital spots.
"Blooming Edelweiss!"
My Master Quartz whirrs to life, as it enhances my strikes with the lingering orbal energy on my opponent.
My thrusts meet with the golden aura enveloping them. Ice-cold white clashes with brilliant gold.
Ice flowers sprout from where my spear hits them, but I have no way of knowing if it pierces through that golden aura or not.
I jump back, gaining some distance as I wait with bated breath for the mists from Musse and my ice to dissipate.
It finally thins, revealing Ines and Ennea with several gashes and burns, but none of them fatal as they stand firm.
"Haha…what fun," Ines remarks.
Ennea giggles, "Teehee, they have quite a bite to them."
Ash clicks his tongue, "Tch. They're acting like we're nothing to them."
Kurt shakes his head, "It's better to assume that they're conserving their energy."
Right. Ennea said we're appetizers, the ones they have their eyes on are Instructor Rean's group.
"Why the hell are you two playing around?!"
We all look up at the veranda as Duvalie looks disapprovingly at Ines and Ennea.
…Please don't tell me she's joining in too. Seriously, don't!
"Stop wasting time before our real enemy shows up!" Duvalie scolds them.
Ennea replies, "Aw…you came too early. Can't you come back later?"
Duvalie just glares at her.
Ines sighs, "And so end our fun."
Ash sighs, "They keep showing up one after another, like some kind of weird circus."
Musse nods, "Yes, an extravagant one with a high admission price."
Duvalie turns from glaring at Ines and Ennea to glaring at me, "These two new additions to your class have quite the smart mouth on them, I see."
What? Don't hold me accountable for them!
Juna immediately turns to the two of them, "Come on you two! Don't antagonize her, she may be kind of a ditz but she's really fast!"
Juna, you kinda need a filter there.
"Wh-who are you calling a ditz?! Cocky little hatchling! Did all of you forget I helped you out in Sutherland?! Be more grateful!" Duvalie shouts at her.
"You did leave us at a critical moment," Altina remarks matter-of-factly.
Duvalie flinches, "T-That's…er…"
…I wonder if we can make her go away by bullying her? I ask in my head somewhat sarcastically.
Duvalie seemingly has enough as she draws her sword, "Ines! Ennea! We'll put a stop to them with the Radiant Star Formation!"
Ines and Ennea jump back to the veranda and take their stance behind Duvalie.
"Very well," Ines says as she readies her halberd.
Ennea giggles, "Teehee, don't blame us for what's about to happen. Oh, but before that…"
She turns to Duvalie, "You know, Duvalie when I activated my evil eye earlier, I saw something interesting going on with your student over there."
…Meaning me?
"She's not my—wait, your evil eye? But that's…" Duvalie's expression turns weirdly serious.
Huh? What's so special about her evil eye? Is that not just a name for a technique or something?
Ennea turns to me, "I think I somewhat understand why you keep finding out things you shouldn't have…tell me, does the name D∴G cult mean something to you?"
That cult again? Ah. I see. D∴G cult worships devils. Evil eye. Considering the Stahlritter's honorable personality type and the fact Ouroboros is opposed to the cult, it seems unlikely she's a member, that leaves…
I reply, "I know the name, but I have no direct involvement with them. Though…I presume your 'evil eye' is a product of their experiment?"
Duvalie looks surprised, "How did you…"
Ennea, meanwhile, laughs, "Heehee, if what I saw is really what I think it is, then it's to be expected."
I see. So a victim of the cult then. Did Ouroboros save her from the cult?
She then continues, "I am somewhat curious as to how you become what you are without their involvement. But for now…there's a job to be done."
"W-Wait! I'm not following what exactly is going on with Schlei—" Duvalie asks her.
Ines cuts her off, "Though I admit to being curious as well…You can worry about that later. We have a job to do."
"I-I'm not worried about her!" Duvalie denies.
She then shakes her head, "A-Anyway. You're right. We have a job to do. Let's end this swiftly!"
"Here they come again! Get ready!" Angelica shouts
I ready my spear
"Prepare for—"
Duvalie is interrupted by an arc of flame directed at the three of them, as they jump sideways to avoid it, only to be forced to duck as Airgetlam and a hawk passes above them.
"Millium! And…" Altina says with a surprise from behind me.
Without giving them a chance to recover, they're hit by a hail of exploding bullets from Instructor Sara as the rest of Instructor Rean's group run to the veranda.
"We made it," Gaius says with a small glance at us.
"Scuse us," Instructor Sara adds with a wink.
"Heehee, how am I not surprised?" Musse remarks.
"Told you. Glory hound," Ash adds with amusement.
I sigh, "If being a 'glory hound' means bailing us out from a precarious situation, I do not have a single complaint."
Principal Le Guin chuckles, "Fufu…from what I can see, all of you were managing quite well. Splendid work, shall we consider that extra credit?"
I mean…sure, I guess? Seriously even an honor student like me can't care less at this point.
Kurt turns to Instructor Rean, "Instructor, why are you here?"
"Yeah! Weren't you supposed to be on the left wing?" Juna asks.
Millium replies instead, "Well, the paths meet up here, so we decided to see how things were going for you."
Jusis nods, "Indeed. Though seeing the paths firsthand, I now understand why this fortress is impregnable."
Instructor Rean chuckles, "Haha, true enough. Anyway…"
He turns to us, "Leave them to us. We're almost there, see you again at the tower!"
"Yes, Instructor!" Kurt replies.
Not wasting the chance, we then rush ahead, leaving the Stahlritter to Instructor Rean's group.
We advance further down our route, fighting off several archaisms before eventually getting back inside the fortress when we heard another deafening explosion accompanied by a tremor.
Another shot of the railway guns.
"Krgh…is Ordis okay?" Kurt asks as we run up the stairs.
I reply, "The highest ranking-nobles are there along with their bodyguards. None of them would want to be the one accountable for mass casualties of the citizens in what is essentially the Noble Faction's capital. If nothing else, they would see to the evacuation."
Musse nods, "Yes. There would be damages to the city itself, but the safety of its people would be prioritized."
"Lord Hyarms and Patrick are overseeing the evacuation. We can leave that to them, and focus on our side of the job," Angelica adds.
We continue our climb and eventually reach the top floor.
"We've already gone quite a ways, how much further to the tower?" Juna asks.
Musse replies, "We should be close, I think. I don't see any jaegers nearby, so we should arrive safely."
True. We haven't encountered jaegers or archaisms since we reenter the fortress.
"It seems all of them have gone to the other side, bringing all the archaisms with them. Their true target is on the other side, after all." I remark.
Kurt nods, "Yes. The true target of their vengeance—the general for the invading Erebonian army in the Northern War, Principal Le Guin."
Altina chimes in, "She did march all the way to Haliask with near-zero casualties in three days, forcing their leaders to start doing human sacrifices with an artifact in order to strengthen their archaism army."
"Yeah. They probably felt their pride and everything they stood for was trampled over. Not to mention the entire thing with our government making them the villain afterward," Angelica adds.
Ash shrugs and stretches for a bit, "Tch. It's kinda boring with all of them on the other side. Should have joined the main team."
Kurt gives him an exasperated expression, "Ugh. Would you stop?!"
"Is someone there?!"
A boisterous voice calls out from inside one of the rooms.
Ah. This voice…
We enter the room, and sure enough, it's Marquis Ballad with two of his bodyguards passed out, being held down by the same energy net they used on Millium.
"You!" Marquis Ballad says as soon as he sees us.
"…Marquis Ballad," Angelica greets her dryly.
"What is he doing here?" Juna asks.
Altina answers her, "It appears they were holding him here as a hostage."
The Marquis scoffs, "Krgh, it just had to be mere students and the Rogner's daughter."
"I beg your pardon?" I ask.
Listen here, we did not go through all of THAT only to be dismissed as 'mere students'
He glares at me, "Bah! You heard me! You had three soldats and you couldn't even defeat one! Disgraceful!"
Ash sighs, "Just shut your piehole. You try going up against that stupidly broken monster with a special ancient version of a soldat or something."
He scoffs again, "Hmph! Fine, w-whatever I do not care! Just save me already! I demand it!"
Ash rolls his eyes, "You REALLY don't understand the position you're in, ain'tcha old man?"
"There, there…" Musse interjects with amusement.
Kurt sighs, "Let's try to free him, at least."
Beside him, Juna groans, "Fine…if we have to. All right, how do we do it?"
"It appears to be the same spell they used on Millium yesterday," Altina remarks.
I turn to her, "Millium broke free with Airgetlam yesterday, didn't she? Could Claiomh Solais do the same?"
Altina shakes her head, "Regretfully not. In the first place, Airgetlam is more combat-oriented than Claiomh Solais, it can exert a substantially larger amount of force. Furthermore, I'm…not quite at Millium's level yet. Unfortunately, the only way is to deal with the Stahlritter."
Ash nods, "Gotcha. We're wastin' time, then. Let's go and just leave him here."
Marquis Ballad immediately protests, "Y-You can't do that! You can't leave me here! I'm from the greatest noble house in the Empire! I'm the next Duke Cayenne! The others don't matter, get me out!"
Juna glares at him, "Whose fault do you think this is?! You ordered the Brigadier General around for your personal gain, ignoring his input, resulting in the railway guns being stolen which put the people of Ordis in danger!"
I nod, "She is correct. The entire idea of nobles is those called upon to sacrifice and carry burdens on behalf of their people, which is why they are afforded respect. You reversed the concept, how ridiculous."
"What did you say?!"
I join Juna in glaring at him, "Do you not understand? Should I try putting it more eloquently for you? Noblesse Oblige is the undergirding principle of the Erebonian nobility system. Nobles are supposed to be those given divine providence to serve their people, these are the tenets laid down by our founder, Emperor Arnor the Adjudicator. This is why nobles are to be respected."
I continue, "You demanded respect even as you violate this core tenet, you reversed the entire concept, what utter trite. Nobles the likes of you are not paragons that ought to be respected as you think you are. No, you are a despicably contemptible gnat, too insignificant to deserve writhing in the filth of your own corruption, let alone be respected."
He seems to visibly shrink under Juna's and my combined glares.
"These two have already said what needed to be said, but yes. You, 'my lord' is a complete failure as a noble. And now…we have a mission to complete, so I'm afraid we have to leave you here," Kurt adds.
He glowers, "Y-You low-born brats…!"
Angelica steps forward, "Ookay, that's enough. We're wasting time. He'll pay for his mistakes once the Imperial Provincial Council resumes."
Marquis Ballad turns to her, "Ugh…Angelica…you…!"
Musse giggles, "Teehee, do not worry, my lord Marquis. Once we succeed with our mission, you should be freed as well...and then I too will see you at a later date."
Giving up on being subtle, is she?
We then leave the room, with the Marquis still trying to get us to release him.
Angelica turns to me and Juna and winks, "Wow, you two really gave it to him. Though I'm sure some people would actually be happy on the receiving end of those glares and verbal abuses."
"W-what?! T-that's not…" Juna says, flustered.
I sigh, "Don't tease her too much, Angelica. She's still innocent."
"By that comment, wouldn't the implication be that you are not innocent?" Altina asks.
"Alas, association with Angelica for as long as I have would strip even the holiest maidens of their innocence," I reply.
Angelica chuckles, "Touché, Jessica. Touché."
Juna turns to me, "Still…do you think we went too far?"
"Perhaps," I admitted.
"It is cathartic though, wouldn't you say?" I ask.
She nods, "Oh yeah. Definitely."
From my peripheral vision, I notice Ash running close to Kurt, about to say something.
"If you are about to say I might as well start learning to enjoy those sorts of things. Stop. Just don't."
"Hoho! You're starting to catch on, pretty boy!"
"Teehee, perhaps I should start practicing on you, Kurt? I have a feeling it would be quite effective on Instructor Rean. We can help each other."
Kurt groans, "No. Musse. Less talking, more running."
The regularly scheduled harem shenanigans of Class VII—and possibly a Musse flag—aside, we continue exploring the top floor, eventually finding a door that leads to the outside.
We then spot another lever, along with two drawbridges that will connect the two routes to the tower.
"I'll contact Instructor Rean," Kurt says as he takes out his ARCUS.
Instructor Rean answers the call, "Ah. Kurt? Is something the matter?"
"Instructor, we found another lever. We think this one will connect drawbridges on both sides of our routes to the tower."
"Understood. Be on standby. We just finished confronting the Northern Jaegers, we should get to the lever on our side soon."
They disconnect the call, and soon enough, Instructor Rean's group reaches the other drawbridge on their side.
We nod at each other and pull the lever on our respective sides and the drawbridges lower.
The drawbridge on the other side is higher up than ours, allowing Instructor Rean's group to reach the top sooner than we do.
Once we reached the top of the tower, I notice it has somehow become foggy and—
"We're he—whoa!" Juna stops suddenly.
"We made it, but this is…" Alitina remarks, looking ahead, stunned.
Yeah…the pressure radiating from the scene in front of us is intense.
"The Steel Maiden and the Golden Rakshasa…" Musse trails off.
In front of us is Instructor Rean's group facing off against the Stahlritter and Arianrhod—no longer wearing her helmet, revealing her beautiful face.
…The legends did say the Lance Maiden possesses peerless skill with a lance as well as peerless beauty.
Ash combs his hair somewhat nervously, "What a wild day…"
Angelica nods, "Yeah. This is going to be a fight unlike any other."
Kurt simply looks at the scene almost reverently.
I get it. I really do.
This is one of those fights that occur once in a lifetime, maybe an era.
Two warriors who are at the absolute peak of what a martial artist can reach, clashing against each other. And that's not taking into account the old Class VII and the Stahlritter.
It's a domain that those of us on this side are not ready to step into.
And so, we can only stand still and witness as the legendary Lance Maiden clashes against the Golden Rakshasa, the strongest warrior in the modern age.
A.N. And so, with this we've officially caught up to the in media res prologue of Cold Steel 3. The prologue of Cold Steel 3 is the entire segment from the moment Class VII emerges into the battlement and saw the Aion to when Rean's group appear it then goes back to the beginning of Thors' branch campus entrance ceremony.
Probably due to hype up the intro, the Class VII VS Ines and Ennea fight is one of the few fights where they play the instrumental version of the opening song IIRC