Heading to the house I just bought, I was getting excited like a kid receiving a present on their birthday.

It was around a 30-minute walk from the real estate company. When we were there, I confirmed the address and was pleasantly surprised to see how nice the house looked from the outside.

It was a light blue and white house that looked similar to the other houses on the block. The closest thing I could describe it was a Victorian-era house from my past life, which I found interesting since this is a fantasy world and all.

At the front door, I wondered what goodies were inside since they said it was fully furnished.

Looking at Alice, she seemed to also feel excited like I am.

“What are you waiting for? Don’t you want to see inside?”

“Yeah, give me a second.”

Taking out the keys from my pocket, I open the door with much anticipation.

When the door opened, I was greeted by a beautiful interior that gave off the impression of comfort.

Stepping in, I saw that there was a living room a couple of steps to my right and a kitchen down the hall.

Going to the living room first, there were high-quality pieces of furniture centering around a fireplace.

I touched the furniture, which, how do I put it, felt really comfortable like I could just sit on it all day.

Seeing the stairs that lead to the 2nd floor, I went up with Alice following me.

Upstairs, we proceeded to open all the doors on the 2nd floor. There were 2 guest bedrooms, a closet, a bathroom, an office, and a master bedroom with a really big bed similar to the beds I used to sleep on before I ran away.

I placed my hand on the bed and felt how soft it was. It made me think that I really took for granted what a soft bed felt like because I had a strong urge to plop myself on it since I thought I would never feel this level of comfiness ever again when I decided to run away.

However, I put that aside and went to the bathroom next since I was interested in the bathtub because I hadn’t taken a hot bath in months, which I missed.

The bathroom design was surprisingly similar to the bathrooms in my past life but much more luxurious.

“Hey Nyx, can I use the bathtub if you don’t mind me asking? I’ll even pay you.”

I’m guessing she was asking because she, too, misses taking a nice hot bath since the inn she was staying in didn’t have one. It didn’t take me a moment to decide, which is a yes, because if it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be able to buy a house like this, or even have the thought of buying a house in general.

“You don’t need to pay; just ask me beforehand.”

Looking happy at my answer, we continued looking around the house, opening all the rest of the doors we hadn’t opened. As the agent said, there was not just furniture but also things like a broom, kitchen knives, cutlery, extra blankets, pillows, sheets, and numerous other things neatly organized throughout the house.

Other than the rooms we explored, there was a surprisingly clean attic and a small cellar with an empty wine rack and some wooden crates and barrels underground.

Once we were done running around the house like kids, Alice sat down on a couch in the living room while I prepared some tea for us in the kitchen.

I boiled some water on the stove, which took me a moment to figure out since it uses wood as a fire, which I never used before. Then I opened one of the kitchen cabinets to get a tea box left for us by the real estate company.

I knew what kind of tea it was but didn’t recognize the brand. Either way, I tried out this type of tea before, and it should be good.

Going to the china cabinet by the dinner table, I opened the glass panel to take out 2 teacups, a teapot, and a silver tray.

Once the water was simmering, I steeped the tea in the teapot and moved everything on the silver platter to Alice, who was patiently waiting.

Pouring the tea into the teacups, Alice and I drank it, which had a nice floral and earthy taste, just above average compared to the tea I’d drunk before I ran away.

Making conversation, Alice said.

“I miss having a nice cup of tea. Did you learn how to brew tea before you ran away because this is an amazing cup?”

“Yes, I was taught that since my parents thought it would be unbecoming of me if I didn’t know, especially on the rare occasions I have to attend a tea party, but this is the first time I ever had to brew tea myself.”

The last part was a lie since I didn’t want her to know I was a girl. But thinking about it, I had to attend a lot of tea parties compared to my brother, who rarely attended since he was a guy, which I was kind of jealous of growing up.

We took another sip and Alice asked.

“What are you going to do now?”

“Start moving first; it’s going to be a lot of work moving all my things from my inn into this house.”

“I see. Do you mind if I ask Alex and everyone to help?”

“I prefer you didn’t since I want to keep this a secret.”

“I understand.”

We finished drinking our tea, and Alice said she would be leaving. I said goodbye to her, seeing her leave through the door.

Seeing her off, I cleaned the tea set and put it back in the china cabinet. Then I looked outside to see how long till the sun was about to set.

Let’s see, I have around 3 hours of daylight, which gives me around 2 to 3 trips to my inn to move my things back to this house.

Leaving my newly acquired house, I locked the door and began walking to my room at the inn.

At the inn, I grab my backpack lying by a corner to begin packing my clothes, equipment, and other things I would need to move to my new house.

After dropping off all of my stuff in the office room, I made my way back to the inn again.

This time, the second trip is all the important stuff I was working on for the last 2 weeks. Finally, the third trip was to pack as many books into my backpack as I could to start chipping away from the surprisingly large collection of books I had accumulated.

Once I got back to my house from my third trip, I dumped everything in the office, then I went to the bathroom with a new set of clothes and a towel.

Getting excited, I turned on the hot water and began filling up the tub. I took off my clothes without any fear of anyone finding out my identity and dipped my body into the tub filled with hot water.

I sighed relaxly as I was in the bathtub because I missed this. I thought taking hot baths would be something I had to learn to live without when I decided to run away since commoners don’t always have the option to bathe every day.

But now, I took another sigh contently, completely at ease.

When I got slightly dizzy from staying in for too long, I got out and looked at the mirror in the bathroom.

I looked at my naked self in the foggy mirror and saw how much my body had changed. Overall, I grew slightly taller, became slightly more muscular, and was starting to enter puberty with my breasts starting to appear.

I thought to myself that my breasts were going to be a problem. I guess I have to use bandages like some characters in anime and games who cross-dress themselves.

Looking closely, I noticed the roots of my hair were beginning to turn back to my original hair color, a silvery white. I was impressed that the hair dye Hutch gifted me would last this long, but I guess I have to use the hair dye again for a touchup.

After drying and covering myself with a towel, I went to the office to get my hair dyed and back to the bathroom.

Taking a finger full of the black paste, I began rubbing it on my scalp. Once that was done, I waited and rinsed off the excess.

I dried my hair and the rest of my body with a towel that came with the house, then I changed into a new set of clothes and went downstairs to the kitchen to prepare some tea before I went to bed.

Once I made my tea and drank it, I went to bed and moaned in ecstasy at how comfy the bed was, which didn’t take too long for me to go to sleep.

…

…

…

Opening my eyes after I synchronized with Norn, I felt a sense of weightlessness from free falling in the sky. Norn and I moved our bodies in sync to move our name, Aias Letricus Crow, to prepare for landing.

“Activating thrusters.”

Saying the command, we move our bodies upward and brace for the hard landing.

A plume of debris filled the area where we landed, and we immediately began our work by taking out one of our swords, which was as tall as a building from our back, to fight.

We ran out of the plume of debris and cut in half the closest kaiju near us, which was a level 2 kaiju, then followed by another level 2 and level 3.

We mow our way through, taking out level 3 or lower kaiju with one swing of our sword, clearing out the kaiju in the nearby vicinity of the airport.

Norn laughed immediately at the slaughter, which I could feel and match her through our synchronization by also laughing.

After the 5th kaiju we killed, other Aiases detached themselves from the AFCs and landed where we had landed. In a group, they fought together in a coordinated team and cleared out the vicinity of the airfield, all the while reinforcing the defensive line of this base's Aiases that were defending the airfield.

Eventually, a screen popped up, and hearing Scott's voice, we slowed down a bit to listen to what he had to say.

“I’m surprised you two decided to listen to my call.”

With smiles on our faces, we back-kicked a level 4 Kiaju that looked to be a 6-eyed blueish lion with an armored back then swung our bodies around to decapitate it, I said.

“We’re going to ignore that but send traffic.”

“Well then, if you insist, we’ve reinforced the line; just don’t let any Kaijus past it and intercept any powerful Kaiju the normal Aiases can’t handle.”

“Acknowledge.”

The connection was ended, and we continued to fight the kaijus pouring out the gate.

The fighting lasted for hours, which was exhausting, but due to our enhancements as pilots and in combination with the fact that we were enjoying it, the exhaustion was negligible.

However, as we were about to plunge our sword into a level 4 kaiju, a white-colored Aias with a spear, covered in blue kaiju blood and smeared with smudge, burst out of a building and took our kill.

Linking to that Aias with Charlotte, we shouted angrily at whoever was in that Aias.

“Hey, that was our kill.”

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In a calm and cold voice, a person responded.

“It was to get your attention.”

“What the heck does that mean?”

Norn angrily shouted that back at them, but seeing the Aias, it was the named Aias, Aigos Pyre.

Recognizing the voice to be Kate, a pilot of Aigos Pyre, another voice spoke in the same cold tone; it was Ella, the other pilot of Aigos Pyre.

“Oh, please, we’re doing you a favor. Aren’t you supposed to be the flagship? Why aren’t you giving out orders?”

“We have Scott for that.”

I told Kate and Ella that, making them silent.

We didn’t want to wait for their response, so we began moving and swung our sword at another kaiju running toward us.

“You know they are right?”

“And that is why Commander Sharp always pairs us together.”

Scott sighed at our response and proceeded to update us on how everything was going while we focused on fighting.

“Things are going well; evacuation is at 78%. We evacuated all essential personnel and equipment; now we’re focusing on the civilians. Pyre is here to replace you; the first wave you came with has already left, and your left arm is dangerously low. We should go back to base.”

“No, it’s too much fun not to stop, and I want to wait till a level 5 or higher kaiju shows up.”

“You should do what he says.”

“Agreed.”

Kate and Ella spoke, which seemed like a good suggestion for a normal person, but.

"Yeah, yeah, later.”

We and Pyre talk as we continue to cut down more kaiju, with them pestering us to go back while Scott sighs tiredly like he is done with this.

“Honestly, why didn’t command let us take charge? We would’ve finished evacuations much earlier.”

Norn replied with a happy tone as we hacked another kaiju in half.

“It’s because you're more than willing to sacrifice people if it means completing the mission, Ella.”

“We see nothing wrong with that; it’s logical to do that if it’s worth the loss.”

“And that is why command has put me in charge.”

There was another short silence, and Kate spoke back.

“Yet, Scott is actually doing all the work.?”

Bickering with each other was how we normally acted whenever we met together. Compared to other named pilots, we tolerated each other, which is miles ahead of other named pilots.

After killing another Kaiju, warning lights started blaring in our cockpit, and so did Pyre, it would seem.

A second later, Charlotte warned.

“Warning, abnormal readings from the gate.”

Turning our Aias toward the gate to see what is going on.

What’s going on with the gate? Pulses were going from the top of the black spherical gate to the bottom like there was something massive going through the gate. The sensors monitoring the gate were showing the Ori energy starting to fluctuate erratically.

Feeling our hair stand on end, we dropped the sword that was close to breaking to the ground and took out a fresh one from our back.

“Get me a direct line to commander Sharp, immediately.”

After a couple of seconds, Commander Sharp responded.

“Crow, send traffic.”

“Crow here; you’re seeing what we’re seeing; what is happening?”

There were several seconds of silence, which Commander Sharp clicked his tongue and said in a baffled tone.

“I don’t know; there aren’t any records of this happening. Be on guard; I’m redirecting Names Aiases to your position, eta 20 minutes.”

“Copy.”

The call ended, and suddenly the pulses from the gate stopped, and something was coming out.

The thing that came out the gate was a kaiju, looking like a black lizard or gecko walking on two legs. It had a really narrow and tall body with red markings from its chest going down to its tail that split into 3 barbed spikes.

Charlotte immediately placed a marker on the mysterious kaiju and analyzed its Ori energy to gauge its level.

Not a moment too soon, Charlotte ranked it a level 7, and seeing the evaluation made our smile grow even bigger.

“Hey, are you going to fight that thing alone?”

Ella said it to which I replied.

“Of course not; we at least know not to fight that thing alone and have some restraint to prioritize the objective, you know.”

I don’t know if we can win by ourselves in our state, but I guess it should be some fun fighting it together instead of doing it alone.

We prepared ourselves by holding our sword that was sparking with black electricity running down the blade.

As for Pyre, they ready themselves with white flames appearing from their hands and spear.

“Pyre, tell the other Aias to not interfere since they will get in the way. Charlotte, link me to the defensive artillery batteries.”

Kate and Ella acknowledged our request, and Charlotte connected us with the defensive artillery batteries at the walls.

“All unoccupied batteries fire on that Kaiju.”

Telling the people operating the artillery batteries that the available turrets turned inside toward the military base and aimed at the level 7 Kaiju.

When I said fire, all of them fired simultaneously. Shells flew over us and carpet bombed the area the level 7 Kaiju was in.

The ground quakes and the remaining buildings near it that were still standing got blown up.

I know the artillery battery's fire probably wouldn’t do anything to it, but we should at least get an idea of its ability.

Once the dust had calmed down, we saw that it was gone, making us even more on guard. Did it turn invisible or something else?

“Charlotte, where is—”

Suddenly, warning lights started flashing toward our right; we turned to look but realized it was too late.

There was a strange moving serpentine-like black shadow, which the Kaiju that escaped the artillery bombardment leaped out of like a shark coming out of water.

There wasn’t enough time to move our massive body out of the way as it aimed for our head. It's aimed to clamp down on our head but got our left arm instead, ripping it off completely.

The cockpit rattled as we crashed into a building trying to dodge its attack, causing sparks to fly everywhere in the cockpit while we were thrown around in the control system we were secure in.

The kaiju that just bit our arm landed on the ground as it jumped out of its shadow with our left arm in its mouth. It then threw away our arm and proceeded to go back into its shadow.

However…

“Gahhhh!!!”

I screamed in pain; it was unbearable. I couldn't think or pay attention to anything because it felt exactly like our own left arms were ripped off from our bodies.

Letting go of the holographic sword I was holding, I held my left arm, which was shaking violently.

Norn did the same as we were synchronized with each other, which consequently made us drop our building-size sword to the ground, clutching the left stump of our Aias, which was formerly the left arm.

Our suit, which had a circuit-like pattern glowing blue throughout our body, was flashing red through our left arm.

“Immediate desynchronization of the left arm.”

Charlotte automatically disconnected the synchronization of our left arm with our aias, which ended our pain.

Trying to steady our breathing to calm down, we picked up our sword, which we dropped, despite the backlash of feeling the pain of losing an arm.

Our left arm was shaking, but we were ready to fight.

Looking at Norn and her looking at me, our faces were expressionless after being distorted by pain, and we began to laugh.

“Well, that is a first.”

Norn had a crazed look in her eyes, and I could feel that there was a sense of madness to it.

I felt the same as her, and I’m guessing I might have the same look in her eyes.

Getting a sense of our surroundings, we lost focus for around 10 seconds, so we began looking for the Kaiju.

Thanks to Charlotte, who already marked the kaiju, it was circling us and Pyre in its shadow, acting like a shark, unlike its appearance of an oversized lizard.

On guard, we waited to see what it was going to do because, from the video games we played, I suspected we couldn’t touch it in its shadow.

Eventually, it stopped going in circles and targeted Pyre.

After seeing what it can do and what happens to us, they have a plan.

Jumping up from its shadow, Pyre used their spear to let the Kaiju bite it instead of the cockpit.

They let it bite into their spear, then grappled it using their hands wreathed in white fire.

Burning its head with the white flames coming out from their hands, causing the kaiju to scream in pain. We ran toward them to help by thrusting our sword into its side, sending in black lighting through its body, causing it to move erratically.

Unable to control its body, Pyre manages to pin it down to the ground.

However, our sensor picked up the sudden surge of Ori energy from its body and threw us and Pyre off its body.

As we got up, it went back into its shadow and moved away from us, then reappeared a good distance away, with a face that was all burned up and a wound bleeding out on its side.

I guess this is round two then. Looking at the condition of our Aias through a 3D holographic model between me and Norn, it was not looking too good because that last surge of Ori energy in our right arm turned red and said it was at 24% integrity.

At best, we have around 3 surges left before our right arm becomes unusable.

We turned our heads to look at Pyre, and I told Kate and Ella with a big grin and cheery voice.

“I’ll take the lead, you flank.”

Without a moment for them to respond, we ran to it, with our right hand dragging our sword on the ground.

Coming close to it, we swung our sword in a wide arc. It moved its tall body back to dodge the swing and whipped its spike-like tail that split into 3 ends at our head.

We expected this and barely ducked away from its tail at the last moment. Then, with the momentum of running toward it, we tackled it with our right shoulder.

Pushing it back, it clawed at our back and then tried to use its mouth again to bite our head off.

Seeing what was going to happen, Norn told Charlotte.

“Ahhh hahaha, activate Volta mode.”

Vila Crow began to spark with black electricity, shocking the Kaiju. This didn’t stop the Kaiju from biting us, but it missed our head and bit into our right shoulder instead, which was better than the alternative.

Norn and I gritted our teeth, enduring the pain as we pushed the kaiju to a section of the base where the buildings were relatively intact and into a building.

Then, elbowing the kaiju back into the building, we took several steps back to get some distance to use our sword.

“Hey Pyre, Are you ready?”

I talked to Kate and Ella, who were supposed to flank them, and they said.

“Give us a few seconds; don’t let it get away.”

The markings on its body were glowing, which meant it was going to dive into its shadow.

Thinking what Norn was thinking since our minds are connected, I spoke to Charlotte.

“Charge the sword.”

The sword began to crackle with electricity, and we threw it at the kaiju as it was in the middle of getting into its shadow as we started to run toward it.

Due to how our black electricity works, it absorbs any energy it comes across, meaning we could disrupt it from going into its shadow, which I’m guessing was why it didn’t try to get away when Pyre was pinning it to the ground and us sending our electricity through its body.

Taking another sword, which was our last, the kaiju, who was in the middle of getting into its shadow, noticed it couldn’t get into its shadow anymore and decided to get out.

Seeing us run toward it, it charges toward us. It spun around and used its tail to whip us; we blocked it with our sword, but it knocked us back, throwing off our balance, not realizing how strong its tail was.

Landing on the ground, we were thrown around in our control system even more violently than before, with more sparks flying out in the cockpit.

We tried getting up, but the Kaiju was right in front of us.

God damn—

Before the kaiju could take another step, Pyre bursts out of the building to the kaiju’s right and plunges their spear, wreathed with white fire, into the kaiju.

They pushed the Kaiju away from us, seizing the opportunity. We got up as fast as we could to use our last sword, and we charged with the bare minimum amount of Ori energy in our right arm.

Running toward it, it tried to get away, but Pyre did not let that happen and intensified her flames, causing it to roar in pain.

Raising our sword, we brought it down on its long neck, finally killing it.

“Haa, Haa, Haa.”

Breathing heavily in the cockpit, we step back from the holographic image of the Kaiju in the cockpit with our aias doing the same thing.

“Is it dead?”

“Probably, Norn. Charlotte, check for vitals.”

A moment or two of Charlotte scanning, Charlotte says.

“No vitals; Ori energy is dissipating.”

I turn to look at Norn, which Kate and Ella called us.

“Hey Crow, head back to base; you’re heavily damaged and in need of repair.”

Kate told us to go back, which I guess was not a bad idea since the gate just closed right now, but before that.

Thrusting our sword into the chest cavity of the Kaiju, careful not to damage something, we cut open its chest, causing the streets that were filled with rubble from our fight to partially flood with its blue blood.

Then, putting our sword into one of the scabbards on our back, we put our foot down on the kaiju's dead body and plunged our hand into the open chest cavity we had made.

With a bit of effort, we eventually pulled out its core, a spherical ball that was apparently black in color.

We’re taking it back to hopefully get information on why a gate appeared directly in a base and why it disappeared. Plus, it’s in a relatively undamaged condition, meaning we could make a named Aias for the war effort.

After that was done, Pyre came toward us with one of the swords we dropped.

“Here, you drop this.”

Ella told us that, and we said thank you with our normal flat emotionless tone, matching their cold tone since we were no longer fighting.

They put it back into one of our scabbards on our back, and I called Scott to pick us up.

Hovering above us, Scott had to use the arms of the aircraft to hold on to our wings, which held our swords, since our Aias was heavily damaged.

After that and after checking the coupling was secure, Scott flew us up into the sky.

Navigating the holographic screen in front of me, I locked up all the joints of our Aias to make sure they didn’t move as we were flying, while Norn controlled our core to sleep mode to cut off any excess Ori energy.

Taking off my helmet since I was feeling exhausted, I leaned back on the control system.

“Hey Alina, Are you okay?”

Speaking through the speakers from my helmet, I told Scott.

“Just tired; I’ve barely gotten any sleep.”

“No, not that. Your eyes and hair haven’t gotten back to normal. And if you haven’t noticed, your nose is bleeding.”

“What?”

Looking at the reflection on my helmet, I saw my hair was black compared to my normal brown, my eyes were still blue, and blood was trickling down from my nose.

I wiped the blood off my nose, and Scott said.

“Put your helmet back on. It will stop the Ori energy poisoning you're receiving; I’ll notify the hanger to get a medical team to take you to the infirmary, and you too, Norn.”

“Right, and thanks.”

Putting back my helmet on and waited to go back to base.