Prologue

Part II

The End of an Era

Two days later

Year 20XX D.M. (Diabolus Mortus)

Day 16, Monday

The Graduation Ceremony.

A man with a long and scabbed face stood on the podium with his hands outstretched. In front of him, a bit more than a thousand new officers stood with their badges attached. Among them were Levi and her friends.

“Let me remind you, proud graduates of Regina Claris. You have passed your exam successfully, therefore, this will be your job, your life, the very meaning of your existence!! Offer your life for the country and protect the innocents from harm. From Unborns, martians and humans alike,” he took a deep breath. “Thousands have entered, but only a few have succeeded. You are the chosen…”

“Oy, ya think he’s gonna finish anytime soon?” Doug whispered.

“Nah, he’ll be like this for at least one more hour,” Michael said.

“Ya know, it’s times like this that I regret not accepting that sneaky Rob’s drugs.”

“The one that causes you to be able to sleep while standing?” Levi asked.

“Yeah, that one.”

“That reminds me. Fred from Team Bravo took it yesterday and now he couldn’t sleep at all.”

“What?”

“Old Afalgan found him sleeping when he’s covering the basics. He forced Fred to take his coffee.”

“Ouch.”

“You back there! Stop mumbling or I’ll make you scrub the toilet with your face!”

All of them went instantly into being very attentive.

When the ceremony’s finished. There were no cry of happiness, no tossing of hats, and no last dunk in the toilet for the nerds. Everyone knows, since the first Riders graduated, that what comes next is the most crucial thing.

This was time, the time where their whole training matters, where pure animal instincts will take over, and only the one with the most cunning strategy will win.

This was the time of…The Blackboard. With the stressed capital ‘B’. It is called a blackboard because it is, frankly, a black board. No joke intended.

To graduate means that you are no longer the soft foot who came to the Academy while crying for mommy. And that means…new assignments. New gadgets. Everyone wanted to enter Tabernae Alliance Force or 2nd Babylon. And everything was first come first serve.

And the sight when The Blackboard opened was frankly hellish.

All of them charged and tried to plug their I.D. cards in the army of their choice.

Margaret, who was a noble, merely walked into the counter and got herself signed into the most elite fleet. The S class Golden Valkyrie of the famed Tabernae Alliance Force.

Doug have, simply, hacked into the system and write his name in the A class Silver Forger of the same army.

Okita and Michael. Two men like opposite magnets, wrote their names on the 2nd Babylon Vanguard without much difficulty.

As for the poor Levi…

“Ugh, get the bleedin’ hell outta my way!!”

The man in front of her fainted. And she charged forward. Then someone fainted again, she continues onward. And so on. It was a good thing to have an electric personality about her person.

“Almost there…”

Someone pushed her back and before she knew it, she was dragged by the crowd into the back. The last thing that was seen was her hand helplessly drowned by the wave of the crowd.

Then, it was done. Everyone got their places and will go to their designated position next morning.

After that, as per new graduate rules states…

“It’s time to party your butts off!” yelled by everyone in the school. It shook the school to its foundation. It ricocheted off the wall and made the school sounded like a great big speaker.

That Night,

2100 hours

Great Hall.

The party went very well, in fact, it went better than the last one when their seniors graduated.

The new Riders drank, cursed, occasionally trying to pick up chicks, or trying to be picked up by cocks. They stop at nothing to get back at those years they spent grueling over their papers and being yelled at in the ears.

But, one girl didn’t get distracted by all the merriments and the happily drunk people. She stood alone in the balcony, calmly drinking a glass of indistinct alcohol.

All the sounds from the party seemed far away, as she gazed at the moon in a deep thought. After tasting the party, there were times when being wild became…tiring.

It was a particularly beautiful night, the stars shone like ambers and the crescent moon graced the world with its gentle light.

“A fine wine isn’t it? It’s a bit young, but not harsh. A 2017 Sauvignon Blanc,” said a voice behind her.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

It woke her up from mid-dream. Then she turned to see a man, quite old, holding up a glass of wine while smiling. His tuxedo hinted of bygone times.

“I don’t really care what it is, as long as it got me drunk.”

“Haha, but it’s the taste that hooks you up.”

“Err…nope, don’t think so,” she sipped a bit from her glass and put it on the table.

“I’ve heard all about you, miss Levi. A very strange record. No finesse whatsoever. You passed the writing test by barely missing a tiny bit. The only thing you got going for you is your practical skills.”

“Insulting me? Oh, I’ve got a lot of that here, nothing new. Who are you anyway? Talking like that first time you met someone,” she looked at the old man strangely.

“Oh, you’ll find out soon enough. By the way, just out of curiosity, what army are you going to join?” he swirled the glass and slowly taking in the bouquet.

“…why should I tell you that?”

“Nothing, I just want to know,” he drank the rest of his glass up in one go, “Ah, here comes company. I hope fate bring us together again,” she stopped. “Oh, and miss Levi…you spilled your drink.”

“Oh shit! Why-“ she glanced to the left and right. But found no trace of the old man.

“Um, excuse me,” said the newcomers.

“Did you see an old man pass by here?” she asked.

“No. but I-“

“…Who the heck was that?”

The night passed by with minor incidents. There were less victims from swirly, for example. But the seafood buffet was a definite no-no. It got no less than 14 people queueing for the bathroom.

And don’t forget the heart breaks. Margaret got more than 20 confessions and totally busted their hopes. And she wasn’t even wearing her bustiers. For some reason, the femininely challenged Levi got 3 confessions and without saying anything brushed them off with a kick.

At the end of the party, the whole teams assembled in a circle, raising their glasses, they cheered goodbye.

“Ein! Zwei! Drei! Prost!” Team Dingo did a toast for the last time. They congratulated each other and joked around.

“It’s been fun, my comrades,” Michael said.

“Same here,” Levi said.

Doug smiled wanly and raised his glass hesitantly. “Yeah…”’

“What happened to him?”

“He got rejected by Natasha Downer from Team Alpha. Figures, a beautiful woman like her with him? Not likely,” Okita said calmly.

“To think that we are going to different armies…Vanguard, TAF…I hope to God we never meet in the battlefield.”

“Amen to that, brother.”

There were silent in contemplation after the quote.

“Don’t frown, smile! This is our last day together! So let’s have some fun!” Margaret, already drunk from all the sherry she drank, started to sing her hometown anthem, “Everything for God”

“Red, you haven’t told us where you’re going.”

“Yeah, what’s up with that?”

Levi shrugged. “It’s not that I’m hiding it. It’s just…well, I’m in class D Black Pawn. I’m planning to climb the stairs one by one”

“Ya sure ya ain’t wanna have me got you somewhere higher?”

“No, I’ll earn it myself.”

“If you say so…”

There was a loud crash, a sign that someone had taken too much to drink and had fallen to the punch bowl.

“That’s our cue, better get rested up for tomorrow.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Levi woke up with a slight headache. She glanced at her clock. “Damn, three in the morning!? Gah…” she buried her face into the pillow while grumbling.

INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER AL-bzzz!

The siren blared and the red lights turned on. All doors were open and all hell broke loose.

“Dammit! What the heck happened!?” she cursed and shouted. But she, out of behavior, wore her Gatling Knuckle by pressing on a button on her glove. Because she slept in her clothes, she only needed to find a way to get her I.D. card to stop sticking to her cheek.

Some people were running in the hallway as they desperately tried to run in their pajamas. “Somebody tell me what happened!”

“Security breach!? What kind of school are they running here!?”

The red haired girl ran towards the Great Hall when suddenly, a man wearing a plain mask appeared and killed the girl that was running beside her with a single move.

Blood gushed out like a geyser. Making some of the girls who saw it cried.

The killer laughed eerily and advanced to the cowering girls. But to his surprise, he met Levi’s fist which landed right before the killer’s weapon reached them, which missed by an inch.

He was thrown to the wall and stuck there.

“Get your sorry asses outta here!” she yelled.

They screamed and ran.

“Well, that’s one way to put it.”

She reached the Great Hall with some difficulties from the bodies that were piling, both from the graduates and the unknown enemies.

Some guys had the right mind to barricade the Great Hall and were shooting at the enemies enthusiastically.

“Red, I’m glad you’re safe!” Michael barraged a nearby enemy with a machine gun, while Okita blew the head of another with a rifle.

Levi ducked under the barricade and approached him. “What’s happening?”

Michael threw the machine gun and quickly loaded a laser rifle he picked up from the ground. “Like hell I know. The only thing I’m aware is that these guys are professional! They’ve killed more than a half of our friends and they’re just about forty in numbers!”

“Teachers! What about the teachers!?”

“Old Afalgan’s got three, but he was surrounded by three of them. Haven’t got a chance! The others I don’t know but I expect they’re having a blast with these guys.”

Some enemies managed to get through the barricade and lunged forward like an eagle. Not stopping at all to savor their prey.

“Shit! They’re going to the dorms! I’ll take them down before anything happened!” she said.

But there were no answers. Okita was shot in the arm and was now in incredible pain. Michael pulled him down and quickly administered a first aid.

She ran like hell, but she could barely catch up to them. With a last desperate attempt, she picked up a chair and threw it at one of them.

Miraculously, the attempt succeeded and one of them stopped short in his tracks. She ran to him and grabbed his neck.

“Who are you, and why are you killing everyone!?” she commanded.

The mask hid his face, but she realized him sniggering and instantly realized that he was holding a bomb. But it was already too late.

“Goddammit!!”

The red haired girl hid in the hangar. After the explosion, the road towards it was blocked by rubbles.

She could hear sounds of people screaming for help that wouldn’t come. It echoed through her head like death bells.

“I have to help them! Ugh…”

It was then that she realized that her left arm was wounded, it was seeping blood.

“Who’s that!?”

Levi staggered up and said, “None of your business! Come and get me if you want some!”

“Oh, that donkey’s mouth and arrogance. Levi ain’tcha?” From the dim redness of emergency lighting, the figure of an old man appeared. The one who’ve been training her for the longest time.

“Old man? What are you doing here?”

“Ah…you could call it…defending the last lifeline.”

She walked forward, and then hurried to the old instructor’s side. “Old…man, your…sides.”

“Ah, crivens. Would you look at that…my blood’s soiled your gloves,” he then folded and lied flat on the cool floor.

“Old man! Get ahold of yourself” she shook him hard.

“Agh…get inside…your STIGMA. Save yourself. Quick…”

“Gods, why is this happening!?” she hit the floor hard with her Gatling Knuckle. It dented the hard metal.

“I can’t see any…thing. Rachel…my dear…wife. I’m coming…”

“Old man, old man! Wake up, wake up!!”

The old body was silent still.

He was tough, old and tough. But now he lied there, lifeless. This was too much. Too much.

“Those bloody MURDERERSS!! I’ll make them pay. I’LL MAKE THEM PAY!!”

She grabbed her keys and ran towards her STIGMA. She got inside through the back hatch and quickly started up the engine.

It was more or less a good repair, but it was missing an arm. The fuel was also half empty. “Crap! This thing’s useless.”

Then she saw something covered in what could only be the oldest STIGMA in the Academy. It was said to be as old as the Academy itself.

She uncovered the piece of rag covering it and gave it an experimental kick. Rust peeled off its exterior. Then she entered the cockpit. It was surprisingly well furnished and very up to standard despite its ugly, over-armored exterior. “It’ll have to do…”

Right, key…maybe he has it. Levi searched for and found a string of key for the launching pad, it may come in handy. As she did so, she prayed for her instructor. May the booze up there got monkeys in it, amen.

Before climbing the STIGMA, she ripped the handkerchief Margaret gave her into makeshift bandage and wrapped her arm with it. It wasn’t perfect, but it was better than nothing.

She started it with a hand placed on its panel. It lighted up and ran basics on its operational functions, then wobbled up like a decrepit zombie.

If she had access to other robots, she wouldn’t have even touched this thing.

“State your name.”

“It spoke!? What, like it matters…Levi, my name’s Levi. Just hurry up.”

The lights turned on.

“Rider voice code recorded and recognized, Levi. FGX-01 at your service.”

“That’s one odd serial number. FG-er…heck, I’ll call you Einzel, that’s easier.”

“Affirmative, codename changed.”

“Great, get ready, Einzel! We are going to go wild!”