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Chapter 388: Blade Storm
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There was a limit to his so called flight without the actual [Flight Equipment] provided by the game.
Imagine the [Absolute Domain] like a sphere of water where fishes can swim. There is a ‘core’ as well as a ‘limit’ to the domain to serve as shackles to the endless application of this technology.
Additionally, the [Absolute Domain] is a mechanical ability so it’s never outside the laws of physics.
When it ‘carries’ the weight of any equipment on its ‘domain’, it disperses the weight of the object itself on the area around its influence —needing a stable ground to use to anchor the weight. This is the reason why the BMA, and any other equipment that has the properties of the BMA, cannot operate on areas not covered by the Absolute Domain.
This is where the [Liberty Drones] are most useful, as, with the help of the anti-gravity effects of that film of Grey Rock material added to its domain, it can ‘float’ within the limits of this material without a worry about where to anchor the ‘weight’, and still deploy its [Absolute Domain] indefinitely.
With the size of the liberty drones and the amount of Grey Rock material applied to it, ‘floating’ at the height of 5km —and still has enough tolerance to carry two warship-weighing complete set of the BMA along with Siva inside it— was very possible.
As such, Siva anchored three Liberty Drones on top of one another for enough weight tolerance, and then ‘catapult’ his way up smoothly towards the target height… towards the barrier dome.
On the side, he also scattered [Liberty Drones] in the city just in case he needed them when the time comes.
As a result, what’s left on him were only four more Liberty Drones —to be used inside, or perhaps even on the outside of this humanoid mothership.
DUUUUUUU~!!
There aren’t any loud sounds made even though he’s travelling at a staggering speed of a 100m/s, only the small droning sound of him piercing thru the already ‘cleared’ path made by the Absolute Domain.
While all the rest of the players were struggling to climb up using their fight equipment, creating the usual sound of whistling air, Siva is the sole and only person who wasn’t struggling one bit while he stacked the meters over the ground distance.
Even if he suddenly fell here, there was already the Liberty Drones scattered around the city to be his ‘cushion’ during such an event.
ZUUUUUUUUUU~!!!
On the way, he picked up the ‘few’ people who had chosen to go the frontlines with him.
Cramer, Heller, Loni, and surprisingly, it’s Kathleen Brew… these four people.
Kathleen’s [Wyvern Ride] was surprisingly sturdy, despite it a contracted beast whose origin was way back in the past. None of these four were close to him in a friendly manner. Well, except perhaps to a certain Godhammer-wielding muscle brain that he had some certain appreciation of. Cramer wasn’t at any least bit stupid but if it’s not about fighting —or any topic related to it, he wouldn’t even care to pay it a hint of a glance, much less even think about it.
Loni, most especially, suddenly became ‘closer’ to Siva ever since the Labrador’s attack in Alexandria.
He still felt awkward about her efforts to befriend him but unlike the overly silent Heller, his affinity with Loni within these four is the most awkwardly broken… even to the point of awkward distance.
Siva really wondered why Loni signified inclination to fight with him inside the mothership but he had heard praises of her judgment ability from Thorn so he didn’t say a word to it.
He then gave a glance to the lips-licking cat whose mind was radiantly exposed for all to see. It wasn’t hard for anyone to know why this girl actually came with him.
It was the official formation of an awkward party!
“We’re approaching the danger zone.” Siva gave a warning to the rest. All of them were wearing the ‘White Knight’ Uniform they received from Siva in Walled City of Aarun, and this was the reason why Siva could pick them up as he ‘flew’ upwards.
Above, the remnants of the ‘fleet’ that didn’t go to ‘fix’ the broken mothership of Baal are destroying the flying players.
At the very least, Cyclones were deployed by The Capital to deal with these transformable ‘Aviators’ of the LAGRAM Alliance. There was only one opening and entrance to the mothership to these risk-takers and this is where the midair scuffle in front of them was happening.
”On hindsight, this isn’t a bad scene.” Heller, who wasn’t known for praising, actually commended the scene in front of them.
Siva was suddenly reminded of the so called event that ended the Gods: “Ragnarok”.
“This is how the Gods do war.” he told them. The cat’s voice was rejoicing on the side, the wyvern she was riding roaring as it felt scared at the sight of the midair battlefield happening in front of that entrance.
How Siva had a confident tone when saying so is not important. They believed him even if they don’t believe that Siva had seen it himself.
The [Aviators] of the LAGRAM Alliance are imp-like bipedal creatures the size of a toddler with no actual physical strength to be warried on them.
However, they are part of the “Pawn” Amada of the LAGRAM because of their smart brains.
“It’s like I’m seeing a sci-fi movie.” Commented a grinning Cramer. “I’m actually a fan of Gundam and I can easily say where this game got the idea for this detail.”
Siva didn’t comment. Rather, in his vision, this view of the battlefield meant something else entirely.
The party was hovering just outside the boundary of the barrier dome —actually stepping on it— and they could see the entire scene of this theater of war playing out with all its glory.
2m-sized men and women battling the 15m Plasma Coil-wielding ‘Interchanging Gundams’ with their magic and weapons… was a sight in itself.
“Despite being outnumbered, they’re actually on a passive stalemate against them.” Kathleen’s words rung true and the two men nodded in admiration.
It was clear it was their first time seeing something like this happening. The feeling was truly special—
—but bottom-line excising!
Explosions could be seen here and there, if one is keen enough on observing. You can even see that the number of ‘Aviators’ dying at the hands of just one player had numbered a ratio of 6:1 in favor of ‘The Alliance’.
Orange lights fleeted passed through the distance but in spite of the destructive power and range of attack, a player’s flight gear is more versatile than a stiff and physics-dependent [Mobile Suits] of the Aviators, so it was easy to dodge the plasma fires as it was to counter it.
Those who fell to the plasma bursts were either an aerial newbie or a stiff wood who hasn’t been a bit aroused by the atmosphere.
(AN: pun intended for the pervy sages, hehe /’><)
Thousands upon thousands of Mobile Suits being piloted by Aviators continued to defend the huge opening at the ‘chest’ of the humanoid mothership, coming in wave after wave like a black-colored tide.
When one wave met the Terran attackers, the next one will deal the damage, with the third being the neutralizer, with the fourth repeating the cycle once again.
Corpses and remains of the battles fell down like a rain, flooding the air with the color of war, the red of blood mixing in the black of smoke.
For some, the feeling was desolate. To others, it’s like a blessing and a curse.
Still, as bloody, brutal, and bleak the aftermath of a clash may be, it was still one of the best features RPG: Terroa as a game has to offer.
“Hahaha… the treasure is mine!”
“Keep it coming!”
{Krotu… Zaaa tuuuuu!!!}
{{{ZATUUUUU!!!}}}
“They’re desperate! Their commander is wounded inside that mothership!”
“Kill the invaders!”
“Destroy them all!”
“Bwahahahaha!!!”
“For Terroa!”
“For money!”
“For fame!”
“For glory and whatnot!!!”
“For my ex-boyfriend!”
“I’m available!”
“Shut up short dick!”
“FOR FREEDOM!!!”
“““—YOU’RE IN THE WRONG BATTLEFIELD!”””
While many Terrans from The Alliance fell from the sky either dead, game over, or wounded, there are still those, like Siva’s party, who kept coming as they finally realized the truth behind Siva’s words earlier.
All 80% of the Terran casualties resulted from the ambushes of jet planes that winged at a staggering speed of sound, while the Terrans defended by their means of capability and versatile movements; the resulting exchanges of bright volleys of magic and plasma bursts is a spectacular sight worth the risk to going in this war scene.
Never mind the brutality of it; it was like seeing the magical reiteration of the siege of the Stellar Base, [Au Baoa Qu] back in the War for the Moon (WW3) in the real world.[1]
A desperate battlefield, full of life and vigor, the screams and dash, and fires, and winds, and ice, and magic, and volleys of solid projectiles… they all filled the panorama of the battleground that one theme color unique only to a true war zone.
“I’ll open a path.” Siva abruptly declared. “You guys follow me and prepare to intercept those that will come close.”
Siva didn’t wait for them to reply as space rippled and he pulled out the remaining BM-Puppets and the BMA parts still on his arsenal.
Like rising black-colored snowflakes, the blades of the BMA began to swirl around Siva like a small tornado as he started aerial walking.
Using the barrier dome as the anchor, the four Liberty Drones remaining on his arsenal flew out from their location and placed itself around Siva.
There was a shade of grey around the drone itself and it was a sign that the Grey Rock Film was in full rotation, anti-gravity in full-limit effect.
‘Cortana.’
[Establishing map… done. Boss, although I can still control the puppets and calculate the active mobile displacements of the moving targets, the drones only have one camera each and they can’t keep up with the targeting calculations. I will still need your sense-rendering to fully utilize all the weaponized functionalities of the Blades.]
‘If [Focus] will do the job, then let’s do it.’
[Yes sir. Preparing weapon path matrix. Preparing battle map rendering… simulating best course of action…]
The ‘sphere’ that made up the [Absolute Domain] was an omni-present domain that doesn’t obstruct nor hinder anything that touches it. It’s just like the invisible wind, it was there and yet you can’t feel it, or like buoys on the sea —they should be invisible yet vital and is still existing.
Right now, that ‘sphere’ is recording, computing, and calculating everything in its domain while the four cameras on the Liberty Drones are also doing its best to provide visual data to supplement the calculations to the most secure path towards the opening on the chest of the mothership.
And although it’s by ones and twos, others have already reached the target and already went inside the mothership, proving and establishing the line that separated those with ability and those cannon fodders from the crowd.
Slowly, but surely, the changes in the battlefield are beginning to take shape; parties began to form and the number of people entering the mothership had begun to increase in number.
[Simulations done! Initiating [Focus] adaptation…]
Siva breathed in, pain was imminent.
Presently, Siva could only use up to 5% of the full estimated extent of that non-system skill he called [Focus]; a total of one second lapse time but to him, it will last about five seconds, with a cooldown time of 30 seconds —the headache, the backlash, the pain he was preparing for.
“Everyone, get ready. We’re going to charge to the entrance in one fell swoop.”
Upon Siva’s warning, Kathleen’s dozens cameras droned around her like a queen; Loni frowned and pulled her bow closer; Heller begun to cast magic; and Cramer beamed widely, the Godhammer on his hands crackling with blue-white lightning that also spread out to his armor.
“Don’t lose focus, now.” Siva reminded the rest.
They gritted their teeth. They already guessed it but they expected that there will be a sudden burst of speed when they ‘charge’ right in the middle of that battlefield.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
[Battle matrix active. Blade trajectories ready. Boss, I will also set the BM-Puppets to collect corpses of the Mobile Suits that we will be getting.]
‘That’s what I was thinking.’
If Thorn and Volt was here, they’d be covering their faces in embarrassment and shame.
This place, to Siva, is like a battlefield. Some may find these Mobile Suits useless junks when their pilots died inside it, but to Siva who has his own sets of PNF, they were indispensable resources.
If not for the fact that they’re in a hurry to enter the mothership and kill the boss, he would’ve gone to the trouble of collecting bodies as much as possible to add to the defense capabilities of The Asgard in the future.
[Initiating Focus in four… three… two…]
One second before the time initiation of the ability, Siva launched himself and ‘carried’ the puppets and the four in a boomerang formation straight to the entrance.
When they entered the battlefield-area in front of the chest of the kneeling-in-all-fours floating Baal, the jet planes that kept on coming by waves from the colossal warships inside and at the back of the mothership noticed them immediately.
Like hornets catching wind of the invaders of their hive, they changed trajectories and began to point their plasma coils towards Siva’s group.
“Get ready!”
The one second hit and Siva, whose eyes were all closed all this time, breathed in, held it, and then opened his eyes... the world seemed to have gone slow at that moment.
Everything around him slowed down in movement.
This is [Focus].
Before he recalled all his [memories], he had first remembered discovering it during the War of Two Powers, during his three-sided duel with Cramer and FlowerLord.
It was an ability to heighten his brain processing ability, thus enhancing his cognitive functionalities, and thus also improving his perception of time in—and perhaps even out—side of the game.
In retrospect, this ability can be traced to that one attribute that Siva was prone to having… extreme emotional agitation.
And, medically speaking, it’s just over-secretion of high amounts of adrenaline!
Siva didn’t waste his time.
In his vision, red circular crosshairs began to lock towards many targets in range and with it, the dark blue hand-sized snowflakes that swirled around him darted out to multiple directions… one target, one blade at a time.
The maximum distance of targets… one kilometer!
—the [Absolute Domain] of the Liberty Drones!
Factoring the number of blades to the number of enemies was abnormally difficult, along with the precise calculations of trajectory and momentum and distance differences on each and every target in the battlefield, controlling the Blades themselves and using the most optimum attack angle and the power needed, including all other miscellaneous tasks just estimated and simulated in that short span of time…
Cortana could’ve just executed the actions without using [Focus], but the most important factor is to let Siva aware all of it, that’s why she needed the [Focus] so that she can give all these information to Siva and familiarize him to the embedded FCS System to her repertoire of functionalities, while they took out the enemies at the same time.
Just [Focus] itself couldn’t elicit a painful backlash to Siva but the reason why it hurts so much is the fact that this was the best time for her to embed all analyzed and properly categorized information to Siva’s brain directly.
That’s why Cortana needed Siva as a medium to properly take down as many enemies as they can at the shortest time possible.
Because when Siva became aware of the enemies and learn the estimated simulated locations and all possible circumstances that might happen within the next set of seconds, the more chances he had to not only survive and fulfill his mission, but also to grow and evolve more than what he already are.
[Omni Form - Blades] “STORM”
XIU! XIU!! XIU!!!——
Countless ‘blades’ flew out from Siva, cutting thru the crowd and going straight to the pilot cockpits.
The frightening thing about this is that during the duration of [Focus], the targets won’t even know how they died.
Right now, the law of physics was being tested by the BM-Puppets as they, too, shot out towards the nearest targets, using the weapons in their hands to deal only with the pilots at the chests and bellies of the Aviator Mobile Suits.
[Plasma Hull Armor] should have been reliably hard comparable to Black Ironwood Alloy, or perhaps a bit better, but don’t forget that just one of these dark blue blades is compressed and concentrated essence of that material, weighing at least half an entire Cyclone’s overall weight.
The momentum and force generated by the no-friction acceleration through the Absolute Domain was frightening.
Even the sound came late and was heard like the muffled sounds of explosion.
Still, when an object passes through the wind wall, it is bound to create an explosion, regardless of it being inside the Absolute Domain or not.
As a result, the battlefield was shaken and many eyes, if not all, went towards their direction.
But that was after hundreds of the enemies were already dead, on the way down, falling, or already inside Siva’s inventory.
*****
The targets up front were the first to be taken care of and as Siva and company passed by them, they were all swept directly inside Siva’s inventory.
The sudden burst of speed was a staggering zero to 300m/s in an instant—the maximum speed the current Liberty Drone settings could afford. It was a speed that can dispel any spell preparations, or disorientate anyone that with a weak constitution.
It was 0.12 short of being at the speed of sound!
Who wouldn’t just be ‘disorientated’ when exposed to that kind of pressure? Even with bodies such as theirs, slamming against the speed barrier with the level of their tempering was still wishful thinking.
Their bodies still has the limit. It can be said that their current bodies still can’t see that wall.
Forcefully slamming against the “true” wind barrier and slamming through in it will kill them, if they can actually physically reach that speed.
As such, there was the need for Absolute Domain from the Liberty Drones to boost everything.
TAK!!
There goes the first second.
For those ‘bodies’ that Siva couldn’t get, he sent a few ‘BMA-parts’ to net them towards his direction; like magnets, they could be seen as if they were being dragged on a blackhole from all directions and available sides —that is if the observer could also see them at the same ‘speed’ as Siva does.
TAK!
TAK!!
It was the second and third. He had reached 180m in just three seconds and by now, records show that he had collected 27 “Mobile Suit” bodies and killed over 562 more Aviators in just the range he could reach at the moment.
TAK!
The fourth second ticked.
A total of 91 “Mobile Suit” bodies and 1475 dead count has been recorded from the [Omni Form – Blade] “Storm” that he unleashed in the battlefield while traversing 240m in total distance.
The scattered ‘parts’ formed either metallic chains or thin but wide interlocking cuffs. They picked up those ‘loots’ in the far distance and with the visible attraction these few bodies all had towards him, the wave now had become visible as those even on the much farther distance could see a tornado starting to form with Siva at the midst of it.
Finally…
TAK!
The final second ticked by, a commotion erupting in the battlefield. It wasn’t a small scale that it can be ignored for Siva had created a storm of change that flipped the flow of the entire battle in favor of the Terran defenders.
Only one second had passed but the atmosphere in the battlefield had turned into a momentary fit of suffocating silence —or at least within the nearest 2km circumference around Siva.
Many Terrans who were in the middle of the battle against a pair or two Mobile Suits were saved by the cause of this silent upheaval; those who were about to kill their trophy have been robbed by their prey; while those who were observing the battle in a safe distance all noticed that within that one bit of stolen second…
Like that flash of light that occurs when a lightning struck, something went passed from the edge of the battlefield towards the middle, time paused for almost everyone, and they saw a galaxy of remains of the Mobile Suits… concentrating to gather to a single direction, towards a single man with a bulky dark blue armour and a fluttering red-blood cape.
“Urggghhh….” Siva gritted his teeth as he endured the backlash of using [Focus].
It was a sharp pain that drilled on his mind.
[Hm? Boss, I found an anomaly on your real body.]
Because Cortana was ‘embedded’ directly to his brain in the real world, and with her unlocking all of her features and with Siva’s mind being open for her to monitor and protect… it wasn’t weird for her to actually conduct a scan in the real world and tell him directly whatever anomalies found while still in the middle of the game.
‘What’s happening?’
Despite the pain, Siva was still aware of his direct surroundings and he was also aware that an influx of ‘items’ were entering his inventory.
[I found all the traces of NanoTech in your system and for some reason, they were only programmed to clean your body in the surface… yet… the first batch of cleansing had been directly applied to your brain and had purposely left traces of it here to act like a film or a barrier of sorts. The second batch seemed to be a catalyst for the cleansing… and was programmed to enhance all your physical characteristics to the limit and even has traces of being programmed to help your digestion. Boss, I think I know now the reason why you became a bit taller and for those black stuff that you had once woken up in.]
Siva frowned, ‘You don’t say…’
He recalled the fetid smell of sh*t remembering it, and while the current him —or rather, the original him— do not actually care much for the smell, just remembering how he ‘bathed’ in it on his bed was still something else entirely.
[Aye, boss. Right now, your body is enhanced and all of your cell tissues may actually have the traces of NanoTech tempering in it.]
For some reason, Siva now understood the reason for the ‘feeling’ he’s been having… and the reason why he woke up in the real world while Siva was in the game world back then.
The reason he had for having the confidence of saying the words “as I am now” in front of AG… is actually this.
One word…
That one single word represented it.
“Rex” was reminded of that one word that was the only explanation for all of this.
And right now, he realized the real kernel behind the project that took the World Government more than 20 years to develop…
‘Project: Android.’
[Boss, the fact that I found their traces is a good thing because in this way, whatever they planned to do to you will be cut once I take over all these remnants of the earlier NanoTech Tempering.]
Siva paused his thoughts for a few moments.
After a while, ‘Cortana, I want you to take over all of the programming of these traces and since you are on it, I want you to create a status monitoring system to my body based on the template that we have inside the game.’
The World Government may have never expected that Siva will be in possession of [Cortana].
Since his body was optimized to serve like some sort of guinea pig for [Project: Android], then he will use this modified human body to his advantage and make those who wanted to use him pay the price of messing with him.
‘They wanted to play God and create monsters, so now I will show them the horror of what they had become.’
*****
Siva opened his eyes and saw the swirling remains of Mobile Suits all around him.
He could hear the vomiting sounds of Kathleen at his five, the groaning growl of Cramer on his nine, and the presence of the silent Heller on his three.
Loni…
Loni was silently looking at him from behind Heller.
Siva looked at his hands and then studied the area around their group; the Aviators inside their Mobile Suits were dead and blood were dripping, but it’s because of they’re all dead that he was able to put them all inside his Inventory.
He was at the eye of the tornado and right now, he was being targeted by the aliens and was on the verge of being surrounded.
Seconds passed by, Cortana’s countdown timer on his vision ended and Siva relaxed his breathing as he prepared for the brawl.
“Now comes the hard part.”
Siva had brought them 300 meters closer to their destination in an instant and this was already a feat that was hard to come by in this chaotic battlefield.
Cramer recovered his bearing and laughed, “That was intense but bearable. Are we going to do that again?”
Siva icily answered a cold “Yes”.
“U-Ueh?!” Kathleen exclaimed, “You’re just kidding me, right?” Siva looked back at her in silence.
“You should have told me you were going to do that earlier.” Heller spoke weakly.
“Hahaha… it’s just like my NASA training, but more intense. Heh… I’m all for it. The next time will be better.”
“Urrgghhh…. Now I know why Alice always wanted to dropkick your ass.”
Siva turned to Loni and she just gave him a nod.
“We will fight from here.” Siva said and looked at the last bits of remains traveling on his way. Sadly, as many as he was able to kill, his ‘arms’ are limited and so he couldn’t take away every kill he had in the battlefield. “After the full minute is done, we’ll do the same jump again.”
Kathleen flinched but didn’t say anything. Yes, the current scene was already a good scoop but she also knew that competition was already around so she wanted to cover the inside of the mothership where, perhaps, only she can do right now.
The ‘blades’ had long since came back to him and only the ‘parts’ that formed his ‘arms’ carrying the spoils of his earlier feat remained outside.
Siva can use [Focus] now but he had to prepare his self for it or else, the second immediate use will cause him to faint and thus become a target in this battlefield. He had to prepare himself.
[High energy output detected! It’s a cannon fire!]
During the earlier scuffles, there was no need to waste the energy outputs of the colossal warships to these small fries because it will only delay them from fixing ‘Baal’ much faster.
But now was different.
The armada had just suffered a massive amount of casualties and only one person had caused that bit of damage to their numbers.
“Get ready! They’re going to use cannons against us from now on!”
It was overkill but will these demons care?
Siva’s four companions wore serious faces and it was at Siva’s next words that they realized the true meaning of ‘man against a storm’.
“Enemies are swarming against us. It’s going to be a tough fight. I will take care of our maneuverability and mark targets for you. All you have to do is take care of them as much as you can.”
Space rippled, Siva threw four modified [Auricle Devices] to the four of them. It can’t access their player panels but Siva gave it added features of an integrated visual indicator that can link to Cortana’s FCS allocations. Siva had long since been aware of their capabilities and while Kathleen Brew is as useless in long ranged fighting as Cramer, at least the man can still throw his Godhammer and call it back to him, thus was still useful for than her.
But, Siva had more plans for this reporter.
“I’ll be borrowing five of your cameras for a bit.”
“Wai—what?”
Siva had already hacked the said five cameras and they were hugged by ‘parts’ from BMA and is now added visual helpers for Siva and Cortana.
‘Cortana, make sure not one of the drones will be taken down.’
[Leave it to me boss.]
Kathleen’s high-tech cameras serve as helpers for the targeting allocations so Siva didn’t worry about being ambushed from a blind angle.
The hand-sized ‘blades’ continued to churn like a vortex around Siva. And even as he began to take his initial speed up for the move, a twirling vortex made up of Cyclone-weighing parts isn’t easy to even budge an inch.
At the vision of the four, red targeting crosshairs indicated their targets while objects that was about to fie and could take hit them —the Plasma Coils— were highlighted as neon-coloured items.
“Let’s go.”
Siva took a step and they travelled 150m/s in that one instant. It was sudden but not as ‘deadly’ as the earlier sudden burst of zero to 300mps.
He maneuvered like a snake, using the confused Terran defenders and falling human debris as their shield and cover.
The ‘spoils’ followed them like tsunami and there’s even the first batch of ‘jet planes’ that collided with each other as they got confused by Siva’s position in midair.
[Four cannons are firing simultaneously.]
Cyan-coloured neon cannons with bright orange bores indicating they were about to fire were very eye-catching on their vision.
“Dodge!”
“Holy sh*t….”
“Hmp!”
ZZZTT~!! ZZT!! ZZZZTTT!!! ZZZT!!
It was these terrifying sounds that sounded like it was burning the air itself and didn’t carry explosive impacts that frightened the other three aside from Heller who met the attack head on and blocked it!
“Crazy!” Heller’s actions haven’t gone unnoticed.
Many players are seeing them and many are taken breathlessly at the feat.
The trajectories were showed as red lines and the thicker the red line, the closer it was about to fire.
This thickness of the red line also indicated how wide the plasma burst will be so the five were able to predict and dodge the attacks in advance.
“Green pointers indicate movement advices!”
Siva yelled back to them as he himself flipped in midair and passed through the gap between the arm and the body of a burning Mobile Suit to avoid it, this victim of another player had holes on the pilot cockpit on its chest when he looked back.
‘Cortana, who attacked that?’
[Analysing recorded map data…]
The four was still able to freely dodge, flip, turn, and use their bodies. Siva was only responsible to their direction and speed of travel within a certain controllable range but whether they could escape from that range and enter the fray was always up to the four of them.
Still, the four followed the ‘advices’ on their visions and while they were at it, they also dodge plasma bursts coming from man directions and countered those they could and brought them down.
[I found them, sir.]
‘Them?’
On Siva’s vision, he saw a paused rendering of an earlier scene of the battlefield.
The [Absolute Domain] scans and records data on an active level for referencing and just now, it was displaying five figures that smoothly disposed of the earlier Mobile Suit as if they were playing.
Siva immediately knew that these five were good.
‘Huh?’
Cortana zoomed the image on the five figures and one thing he noticed was the emblem on the back of their black leather jackets.
‘I’ve seen this emblem before…’
[Referencing finished. The emblem is owned by the Riddler’s Guise Guild.]
Siva made a large arc and dodged another plasma burst from the cannon coils mounted on the chest hole and the colossal warships at the back of the humanoid mothership.
He was about to dismiss them when Cortana also scanned a certain badge at the left arm of another member of the Riddler’s Guise Guild.
Anger immediately rose on his chest. His breathing started to become shorter as his chest heaved up and down.
‘So they were allies! Cortana, where are they?’
[Calculating trajectories…]
While Cortana scanned the data, Siva spoke.
“Listen up… we have a side target. They might be an additional obstacle in this mission of ours to kill Baal inside that thing.”
Heller had just blocked another cannon fire with his trademark magic as he steadily advanced alongside Siva, “What is it now?”
“Are they strong?”
“Shut up, Cramer.”
“…”
Just at the same time, Cortana also spoke up.
[Mapping out target activities... targets acquired…]
At that moment, Siva was about to answer the two men but he stopped and shouted, “Red marks the enemies! Prepare for ambush!”
BANG!!!
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[1] AN: I’m sorry for the bad reference but in my opinion, one of the best Gundam war scenes ever was during the final battle in Gundam Seed where Kira defeated Gundam Legend and where the Dragoon System was first used in the story. Oh, and second is the invasion battle in Gundam 00: The Movie… most dramatic battle: Ironblooded Orphans S2 ending battle… ah, that was an epic war scene… oh, sorry, Gundam-taku here ever since Gundam Wing… hehehe…
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Next Chapter: Kathleen Brew Learns a Lesson
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