~November 12th, 139 AH~

~Sector Leo, somewhere along the coasts of Terra Nebulo~

Enemy density increasing. It seems we may have hit upon a fortified position.

Good, Zelen thought to himself in lieu of responding to his Spiegel. Now the question is… what are they protecting?

The ‘fortified position’, if Silon’s assumptions were correct, lay somewhere atop sheer cliffs that rose from the outer rim of an inlet. The cliffs doubled as a steep hill that crested steadily from Zelen’s current position, which meant he had to climb as well as fight his way through waves of Syntropy.

The first wave took the form of lightweight sentry drones—Hornets—which lent credence to Silon’s assessment that the Syntropy wanted to defend something in the vicinity. No doubt portions of the drones would be breaking off now to rouse the next line of defense.

Good, Zelen thought again as he swept through a horde of Hornets with RA [GATLING]. Wake the whole lot. Let them all come. I’ll kill them all until their linchpin comes out of hiding.

AU at 95%, ER at 75. No disturbance detected.

And why should Zelen feel any Psychic disturbance? This was where he was most at home. Among swarms of enemies soon to form an obsidian mass grave at his feet.

The Hornets presented no challenge. He was almost insulted by their presence, though he understood that they merely followed a rigid set of protocol. See Eidolon. Alert friendlies to the Eidolon in their midst. Die to Eidolon.

By now, Zelen’s evolution as a warrior—a killer—had far outstripped the remnant Syntropy’s ability to reimagine themselves. Even now, he tore through the Hornets with casual ease, timing and aiming his thruster and weapon deployments with impeccable precision. He knew the enemy’s attack patterns as if they were second nature to him. He knew them better than the Syntropy themselves.

All Hornets eliminated. Well done, Zelen. AU… still at 95%. ER at 70. Prepare for more enemies incoming.

The next wave was a staggered combination of Brutuses and Vorases. Same old, same old. The intent behind the arrangement was as clear as the logic was sound. Coordinated volleys of ranged attacks from the small-arms patrol units would funnel the Eidolon closer to the ground, where the spider-shaped terranean mobile weapons lay in wait. The only problem, of course, was that Zelen could see the ambush coming from a mile away.

The first Voras jumped at him from his left, which he quickly dispatched with LA [BLUNDERBUSS]. Then he immediately spun in place and fired off RS [HARPOON], skewering the central chassis of the second would-be ambusher.

A third, then a fourth Voras emerged from their hidey-holes. With both of his finishers on cooldown, Zelen opted to block one of the attacks with LS [SCUTUM]. Then, as the final Voras shot several sharpened blades toward him, he reached in between the spider legs and grabbed the enemy’s SPU with his bare hand.

Blinding speed and deadly violence. With one swift motion, he swung his fist across his body and into his own shield, crushing the third Voras to death. The fourth Voras, already limp from the collision, he flung onto the ground before stomping on it with force. He then bore down and twisted until he felt the life go out of the spider underfoot.

All Vorases eliminated.

After that, it was a simple matter of cleaning up what was left of the Brutuses. With none of their more powerful allies to back them up, the patrol units were no match for a seasoned Reiter and his Eidolon. A full burst from [GATLING] wiped out nearly all of them in one charge. Then [BLUNDERBUSS] and [HARPOON] made short work of the remaining stragglers.

All Brutuses eliminated. Well done, Zelen. AU now at 85%. The damage is fairly minor considering the number and placement you were up against. ER at 65.

That’s it? Zelen wanted to shout, if anyone would listen. Where was the third wave? Where was the linchpin? He was just getting warmed up. He needed more. He needed to kill more. Kill more. Kill more.

No. It wasn’t that he needed to kill more. It was more specific than that. He needed to kill that thing. That thing that had haunted his every sleep and every waking hour, ever since—

Steady, Zelen. I sense precursor signs of a Psychic disturbance.

“I’m fine, Silon,” he finally spoke, if only to assuage his Spiegel’s worries. “I’ve got everything under control.”

I believe you. But you know me, I like to feel useful.

“You’re plenty useful.”

So, that’s all I am to you, then. A useful tool.

“Now you’re twisting my words.”

And now you should watch out: enemy incoming!

Zelen thought he’d sensed the new arrival even before his Spiegel’s warning. The split second of prescience had allowed him to start his thrust early, moving out of the way of—

A thick obsidian cord, dripping with seawater, suddenly burst from the side of the cliff and shot toward Zelen. It was headed for where the Eidolon’s central chassis had been just a moment ago. The end of the cord snapped and twisted in a coiling motion, finding and wrapping around Zelen’s trailing right arm.

That could’ve been worse. Zelen didn’t hesitate. He engaged maximum thrust in the opposite direction, simultaneously tucking LA [BLUNDERBUSS] underneath his right arm and firing into the snare.

The cord snapped in two, and the portion that had wrapped around the Eidolon’s arm fell away harmlessly, now divorced from its central processor. More cords shot out from the sea, intent on a repeat performance, but Zelen was wise to them now. He weaved through the air, dodging the capture attempts while firing back at will with [GATLING] and [BLUNDERBUSS].

Marine defense unit KR-05, designation ‘Nautilus’. No other detectable enemy units in the vicinity. How will you proceed?

I’ll proceed by sending it back into the sea where it belongs.

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Soon, the giant monstrosity revealed its entire self as it clambered over the cliffside, spewing and spraying seawater in its wake. Its design was rather unique and memorable, even among the Syntropy. Its central chassis was almost entirely hidden inside a rhombohedral shell, from the basal aperture of which stared out a large, red, and monocular optic.

Of course, the base of the shell also served as the origin of the Nautilus’s numerous appendages—tentacles, according to the experts at home—which even now flew and swung in irregular patterns, ready to immobilize the Eidolon at the earliest opportunity. To make matters worse, the emergence of the main body meant that the ranged armaments embedded within its shell could now join the attack.

This wasn’t the first time Zelen had faced the Nautilus. Indeed, he’d been responsible for the first kill, back when it was still unidentified. In his mind, he’d conceptualized the tentacled monster as a more unpredictable—and therefore slightly more annoying—version of the Kentavros: slow, but adept and dangerous at both melee and long range.

Unlike the centaur, however, the Nautilus’s ‘main threat’, namely its tentacles, were too many to deal with individually. No, the safest way to take down a Nautilus was to go in for a decisive finisher as quickly as possible.

Zelen first flew into the air, away from tentacle range. The Nautilus’s basal aperture, along with its red optic, rotated toward the sky, tracking his movements. Its legion of tentacles also rose into the air, swaying, waiting for the moment the Eidolon would come back within their grasp.

Zelen glided in a rough circle, dodging the Nautilus’s ranged attacks while returning fire with [GATLING]. That wasn’t the finisher, of course. It was merely meant to soften up his prey before he went in for the kill.

Now, Zelen!

He saw the opening at nearly the same time his Spiegel did. The tentacles’ random movements eventually led to a group of them splaying apart, revealing a tunnel for Zelen to dive into. He engaged maximum thrust and, as he came within range, activated RS [HARPOON].

The spearhead buried itself into the aperture, just next to the Nautilus’s optic. Then, as the [HARPOON]’s pale blue chain contracted itself back into the Nexus, it pulled the Eidolon with it, far faster than thrusters could.

Zelen was upon the Nautilus in the blink of an optic shutter, having bypassed the tentacles altogether. He already has his left arm ready and extended, with which he punched the Nautilus’s optic before firing [BLUNDERBUSS].

The Syntropy’s entire body quaked under the impact. Its shocked tentacles snapped and straightened in all directions. Zelen didn’t stop there, knowing better than to leave anything to chance.

A sustained burst of [GATLING], all driven into the Nautilus’s central chassis. Then a full-bodied kick for good measure, knocking the obsidian monster off its cliffside perch.

The empty shell that used to be Nautilus, limp tentacles and all, slid off solid land and tumbled into the dark water below. Back into the sea where it belonged.

Nautilus eliminated. Well done, Zelen. AU at 70%, ER at 55. I believe… yes, that’s all of them. No more signs of Syntropy activity in the vicinity.

At Silon’s words, Zelen allowed himself a moment of respite, relaxing inside his Nexa-Suit as his Eidolon mimicked his change in posture.

He still maintained full control over his own emotions, which meant he was aware of every paint stroke that covered the canvas of his Psyche. There was the familiar elation of a battle well-fought. The satisfaction that only the sight of synthetic carcasses could bring. Gratitude and affection for Silon and her constant guidance and companionship.

Yet, underneath all of that was disappointment. Frustration. Resentment. Anger.

For nigh on a full year now, Zelen Athelstan had searched high and low. He’d chased every lead to the ends of the earth and beyond the planet’s haze. And after a year of searching, fighting, and killing… Nothing.

There was no sign of a second anti-Eidolon unit ZT-01, designation ‘Vendetta’.

These days, Zelen barely ever returned to Akropolis, opting instead to hop from one FOB to another as he went about his self-assigned solo mission, scouring the earth for more Syntropy to kill. In fact, it’d been months since he’d received a direct order from anyone in the Joint Forces. Even so, he’d likely contributed to General Duodecim’s grand plans of ending the war far more effectively and efficiently than any other Reiter over the same time period.

And yet, that wasn’t what he fought for, what he killed for. The General. The War. The Reiter Regiment. Akropolis. All that had gone by the wayside, overshadowed by his personal quest for vengeance. He’d already killed Vendetta once, yes, that time on the sinking Mothership. But once wasn’t enough. Not even close.

Zelen. Don’t make me repeat myself.

“I know, Silon. It’s all good.”

In an effort to distract himself from his impending disturbance, Zelen returned to action. He now scanned the cliffs thoroughly, looking for any signs of what this latest group of Syntropy had been ‘defending’.

He walked up and down the length of the hill. He flew in and around on either side of the cliffs, hoping there might be a smooth obsidian structure or another sticking out amongst the jagged rocks.

Nothing.

Now the frustration made way for pure bafflement.

“Silon, you think this is strange too, don’t you?”

I do, Zelen. The strength and number of the Syntropy that awaited us here… One would expect this position to contain some strategic value.

“And yet… nothing. You’re not picking up any strange signals?”

Nothing of note, no.

“Hmm…”

There was nothing for it. This wouldn’t be the first time that Syntropy acted in unfathomable ways, and prolonging the search would only eat into Energy Reserves.

Zelen camped his Eidolon at the top of the hill, by the northern tip of the cliffs. He then disembarked.

In his year of solitary travels around the world, Zelen had become rather self-sufficient. Foremost to that was his proficiency at entering or exiting an Eidolon without the aid of additional personnel. It was mostly a simple matter of slightly modifying the Nexa-Suit while devising a safe climbing route up and down the Eidolon’s frame, which made him wonder why more Reiters hadn’t picked up the habit before him.

What was truly remarkable about his progress over the last year—something that surprised even himself—was that he’d somehow picked up skills from other Seher differentiations. Indeed, on long trips away from an FOB, he often found himself having to perform scuffed elements of Jaegerschaft and Panzerschaft, namely replenishing the Eidolon’s armour and energy supplies.

As far as he could tell, he was the only person alive that was capable of such a feat, and he tried to keep this fact to himself as much as possible. In fact, the last direct orders from the General had pertained to this: do not tell another soul about your ‘magic tricks’. Zelen couldn’t care less what Fenix Duodecim wanted from him, but at least on this, the two of them were in agreement. No need to alienate himself from the rest of the Joint Forces—the rest of Akropolis—any more than he already had.

Presently, he lifted himself out of the cockpit, then unhooked a spare Anamnium canister he’d hidden underneath the Eidolon’s chestpiece. 70% AU was plenty to go on, but the ER did need some topping up. As he prepped the refuelling equipment, however, his eyes fell upon something that jolted him with alarm.

Straight ahead, upon the very edge of the cliff, something red gave off a lurid glint despite the overcast sky. Out here in the battlefield, that kind of red could only mean one thing: Syntropy.

Yet, this wasn’t Syntropy. It couldn’t be. Then what…

Before he knew it, Zelen had abandoned his task and jumped off the Eidolon’s frame entirely. Then, dressed in nothing but his jumpsuit and still drenched from head to toe in Anamnium gel, he walked barefoot toward the edge of the cliff.

The thing was so small it could’ve fit in the palm of his hand. Its thin and flimsy stalk fluttered ceaselessly, whipped about by the seaside wind. The red had belonged to its petals, which even now glistened with droplets from ocean spray.

Zelen’s home in Upper Akra was practically covered by the artificial imitations of this, but never in a million years could he have imagined that he’d ever see the real live thing.

It was unimaginable. It was impossible.

It was a flower.