LOCATION: SOMEWHERE IN THE PLAIN OF IMORAS.

I sighed for what felt like the seventh time that day, wondering why I was here instead of out there, fighting with the main force. Instead, I was stuck with 1,000 soldiers, taking a huge detour around the two armies, trying to avoid being spotted. Being on a plain made that almost impossible, so we had to take a really wide route, far away from everything.

"Major Aria, are we there yet?" Captain Deryk asked, his tone light and teasing. "At this pace, we might not get there until tomorrow."

Yep, you heard it right. I was a Major now, no longer just a Second Lieutenant. But honestly, that promotion wasn’t doing me any favors right now. There were way bigger things to worry about. I groaned in frustration, struggling to move in this stupid armor they’d saddled me with.

“If this was a normal speed,” I muttered under my breath, too stressed to respond properly to his joke. The weight of the situation was wearing on me, especially after yesterday, which had been one of the worst days of my life.

[(0)]

It all started when General Cedric summoned me. I was all set to join the 1st Brigade in battle, having just been transferred there, but instead, I was ordered to stay with the main force. Given that I was just a Second Lieutenant and still very much a kid, it felt weird to be getting this much attention from the army’s top brass again and again.

But orders were orders, so with a mix of curiosity and dread—especially since my last meeting with Cedric hadn't exactly been pleasant—I made my way to the 9th Corps’ command tent. The camp was bustling with activity, soldiers moving around, but the area around the command tent was eerily quiet. Only two guards were posted outside, standing at a distance from the entrance.

It felt odd, but I shrugged it off and headed inside. There, I found General Cedric and Brigadier General Devon waiting for me. The atmosphere was heavy, and I couldn't help but wonder what they had in store for me this time.

“Second Lieutenant Aria, at ease,” Cedric said with a smile as I snapped to attention and saluted.

“Second Lieutenant Aria, reporting in!”

Cedric returned my salute with a smile. “You’re probably wondering why I ordered you to stay here instead of joining the 1st Brigade,” he began, his tone calm and measured. “Well, it’s because I have a special mission for you, Major Aria.”

I blinked at confusion at the word, “Major”. I got demoted from Captain to Second Lieutenant, and all of sudden, I was Major which was higher than Captain? It was all confusing and I thought I misheard it, but it wasn’t the case as Cedric kept talking.

“I’m assigning you 1,000 soldiers for this mission,” Cedric continued, his tone firm. “Your job is to attack the Imperials from the rear and eliminate their commander, Major General Remnell.”

I felt a knot tighten in my stomach. “I beg your pardon, sir,” I said, trying to keep the desperation out of my voice as I realized where this was heading.

It was another high-risk mission, just like before. A sneak attack aimed at taking out their commander. Sure, the last raid had been successful, but only because the main army had intervened in time to save us. Without that backup, me and the 6th Company would have been wiped out. The thought of leading another mission like that, one that could easily spell disaster, wasn’t exactly thrilling.

“Why are we launching a raid when we already have the advantage in battle?” I asked, hoping for a reasonable explanation.

“Because the Imperials won’t just crumble because they lost a bit of sleep,” Cedric replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “We might have the upper hand now, but as time goes on, they’ll start to regain their strength. We need to deliver a decisive blow to their morale, and taking out their commander will do just that.”

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His logic was right, but that didn’t make the mission any less daunting. The stakes were high, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being thrown into the fire once again.

“However,” Cedric added with a grin that made me more nervous than reassured, “This time, we have something that will help you on this mission.”

At his signal, Devon stepped forward, dragging a set of heavy armor from the back of the tent. The armor was small, clearly custom-made for someone of my size. But despite its compact appearance, it looked incredibly thick and sturdy, like it was designed to withstand a direct hit from a battering ram.

I stared at it, my mind racing. The thing looked like it weighed more than I did, and just imagining trying to move in it made me feel exhausted.

“Is that... for me?” I asked, already dreading the answer.

Cedric’s grin widened, and I knew he was about to drop something big on me. “Absolutely. This armor is the MPA 62, Mana Powered Armor. It’s designed to boost your strength and agility using mana. The research team back in the capital has been working on it, and they wanted to test it in the field. So, naturally, I volunteered you for the test run.”

I stared at him, my mind reeling. “Wait, so you want me to be the guinea pig for this thing?”

Cedric laughed, clearly not bothered by my rude manner. “Don’t think of it like that! This armor is top-of-the-line. It’ll make you faster and stronger.”

I looked at the armor again, still not entirely convinced. According to a medic who examined my body after the recent battle, I could now use my own mana since my body seemed to develop enough. I wanted to rely on my own strength instead of this armor since I wanted to get stronger without relying on a tool, especially when I said the researchers wanted a test run which was basically saying it was not safe.

“But what if it malfunctions?” I asked, still trying to find a way out of this.

Cedric waved a hand dismissively. “That’s why you’re testing it in the field. We need to know how it performs under real battle conditions. Besides, MPA 61 was successful and it is used in special forces in the army. The same researcher was the one who developed this and I have full confidence in you, Major Aria. If anyone can make this work, it’s you.”

“Other Corps weren’t eager on volunteering for the test run, including the 8th Corp,” Devon said with a hint of sympathy. “So, it ended up being the 9th Corp’s job.”

“Anyway, we only have ten sets of armor, including this one,” Cedric continued. “I don’t care if you damage or lose them, just make sure you write reports about how it performs.”

“If I make it out alive,” I muttered, cursing my bad luck.

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” Cedric said with a grin.

[(0)]

The situation was worse than I initially thought.

For the MPA to work, it required a lot of mana. The way it functioned was by channeling mana through the metal framework of the armor, which had various enchantments embedded in it. It was kind of like electronic circuits back on Earth. The way electricity ran through the circuits, but instead of electricity, it was mana and instead of circuits, it was enchantment.

The problem people usually had with controlling their mana was that they couldn't precisely direct where it went or where to focus it. This MPA was supposed to solve that issue by injecting the mana directly into the body. However, there were some serious flaws.

First, the armor's defense was weak. While the MPA was still armor and could withstand some attacks, it wasn’t designed to protect the enchantments on it. The researchers were already struggling to make the armor light enough to move in, so adding more protective layers would make it too heavy. This meant that a single hit from the enemy could disrupt the enchantments, turning the MPA into nothing more than a heavy piece of junk.

Secondly, the whole system was incredibly inefficient. For the MPA to function, it needed mana, but only about 20% of the mana actually made it through the armor and into the body. The remaining 80% was absorbed by the armor itself, powering the enchantments. This meant a lot of mana was wasted just to keep the armor working.

The MPA had a small glass tube called a "Mana Crystal," which was basically a battery for charging the armor. Each crystal only lasted about ten minutes, and we were only given ten of them. This meant that the ten soldiers selected to wear the MPA had just ten minutes to complete the mission before their armor would run out of power.

There was no room for mistakes. If we didn’t finish the job within that tight window, the MPA would become nothing more than dead weight, leaving us vulnerable on the battlefield.

As much as I wanted to avoid using the MPA, I didn’t have much choice. The last raid had been a disaster, and I couldn’t afford to be picky about my options. If I wanted to succeed and make a difference, I had to take the risk, no matter how daunting it seemed.

Despite my determination, there was one small problem: I couldn’t activate the MPA, fearing it would drain the Mana Crystal before the battle even started. So, I had to lug around the heavy armor without any of its supposed benefits. It felt like I was dragging around a piece of junk.

"Damn this military!" I muttered, grumbling as I trudged alongside the soldiers, doing my best to keep up.