"Wrong answer, try again." Jorgen demanded, "And don't you dare lie to me."

"But I don't have a last name, honest!" Lem was sobbing by this point.

"Brother, quit teasing them." Pierre said with an awkward chuckle, "I already told you before that your jokes rarely land well with someone who's never met you before."

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Jorgen glared back at him, "I didn't ask this pipsqueak for excuses, I asked for a full name!"

"Just make something up, dammit!" Issei whispered.

"I can't! He'll know for sure I'm lying!" Lem shot back in a similar volume to his.

"Oh come on, he's not Batman!" Issei cleared his throat before answering for him, "He's my son! Lem Kaido!"

"Ew, I'd rather be Ed's kid than yours, jackass..."

"I'm trying to help you, moron!"

It seems even when his life is being threatened, Lem wouldn't set aside his pride to call himself anything more than an enemy of Issei. Though the other Generals were having a field day laughing on and on at these two, Jorgen could only stand there and await an honest answer in silence. He seriously wasn't gonna let this go, Lem thought, so he might have to employ his Iro Ability to get the situation over with.

"Believe me, I don't know my last name." Lem's Eyes glew a warm Yellow, "There's no use in interrogating me about it, okay?"

"...Okay." Jorgen was surprisingly quick to get hypnotized, "Next question—Are you doing that on purpose?"

"E-Eh? What?"

"Command is an Iro Ability that is beheld by Yellow Iros." He spoke calmly, though just his single observation made all the others raise their guards around Issei and especially Lem, "It allows the user to essentially order around anyone they want to do anything they want. I'll admit, I took you for a small fry and lowered my guard, so this one's on me though."

"The kid knows Command!?" Aaron and Max were the first to point their swords at Lem, with Pierre brandishing his AFP as well, "No one make Eye contact!"

The Generals were all veterans of the war against the king of Carmen, with all of them having heard from Meil in one way or another what having Yellow Pupils meant for their enemy. Lem was quickly instructed to keep his hands where they could see them, and an entirely new investigation had started for him...

"See why I didn't wanna let him go now?" Jorgen asked his fellow Generals.

"Hey, hold on, you guys know about Command?" Lem gulped.

"We knew a nasty guy with it." Aaron sighed, "So now you're gonna need to explain why you tried using it on us."

"You kidding? I was cornered!" Lem shouted.

"Oh, for Auros' sake..." Jorgen took his brother's AFP and opened fire.

Without any hesitation on his end, Jorgen had shot a bullet straight at Lem. Nothing could have prepared him for this sudden attack, so to say he was caught with his pants down would have been an understatement. Lem had nowhere to run, couldn't find a way to counterattack and had nothing to shield himself with, so the best he could do was stiffen all his muscles and brace himself for the inevitable pain to come. However, the pain never came.

"...Huh?" He craned open one Eye to find Issei standing in front of him, "Eh!?"

"That's enough." Issei glared back at the Generals, "Investigation or whatever is something even I can get behind in any situation, but you just shot at an innocent teenager. No matter what, there's no justification for that."

"How did you step between the gun and the tyke so quick...?" Aaron tilted his head.

"Never mind that, how are you alive!?" Pierre worriedly ran to inspect his wound, "Crap, my idiot brother shot you clean through the chest, I'm so sorry!"

"It's nothing to worry about-"

"No! You're in shock, so you may not understand, but this is serious!" Pierre was still panicking.

"Yeah, can't argue with that." Issei chuckled, "That scared the crap outta me, but I'm really fine."

The bullet hole in his shirt proved otherwise however, yet Issei's manner of speaking and lighthearted jokes almost made them all believe him. They quickly came to a rather sour conclusion—Issei must be trying to keep Lem calm in his final moments.

"Was it worth it, dying for this pipsqueak?" Jorgen asked.

"You didn' have to do that, man." Even Aaron and Max dejectedly shook their heads.

"Hey, you're still not dead." Lem ruined the moment by pointing out.

Immediately, all the Generals began taking turns chewing him out one by one for this. Certainly, if any other person was in his shoes, they'd immediately rush in a fit of tears to Issei. Maybe try CPR or try their best to plug the hole so he wouldn't bleed out, but none of that came from Lem. He simply saw there was no blood and wanted to inquire as to why that was.

"You sick fuck...!" The Generals glared at him.

"Heh, at least someone noticed." Issei mocked the Generals as he simultaneously praised Lem, taking the crushed up bullet out of the surface of his chest and showing its clean, bloodless exterior to everyone, "Yeah, I'm not dead. My chest kinda hurts, but I guess this means my armor really is bullet proof. Heh, I always wanted to do a live test, but thought it'd be a pretty dumb way to die if it ended up failing."

"Armor? No way..." Pierre gasped.

"The hell is that?" Jorgen clicked his tongue.

"I call it the Disconnect." Issei said as he fastened on a pair of gauntlets to his now revealed under armor, "It's by far the piece of equipment I've had with me for the longest time. Now, I'm gonna ask again just in case you wanna back off, but—Still don't feel like apologizing for this stunt you pulled?"

Issei was primed and ready for battle, even if it meant he had to win a 1v4. It was a necessary one though, since they almost killed him. Nay, they would have killed Lem had he not intervened, and that would have immediately spelled game over for his mission. There was no mulling it over in his head anymore, for Issei was ready to wreak havoc!

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"A metallic concealed under armor with attachable gauntlets that allow for offensive capabilities." Jorgen admired the craftsmanship, "Sounds interesting enough. You saying you're gonna fight us in that gimp suit?"

"With four people, I feel it'd make things more fair." Issei smirked, "By the way, this isn't just your regular hunk of metal. It's got its charms."

This was in fact a true statement from Issei, as the Disconnect was indeed more than just an iron chestplate and leggings. It was an exoskeleton—essentially a machine that allowed Issei to move his limbs with added precision, power and dexterity. The enhancements it provided for its wearer essentially made it an irreplaceable thing for any sane traveler to carry with them into a dangerous situation. Of course, this was the only one of its kind in the Vast World, since its wearer was also its creator.

"How many bullets you reckon it could take more?" Jorgen once again aimed his brother's AFP at him.

"If I let it hit me head on, it might cause me a little trouble." Issei laughed.

"But would you die?"

"Nah, I'd deflect."

With that simple yet confident proclamation, the battle between one mad dog inventor and four of the strongest Generals in the world had officially begun with the second gunshot from Jorgen. Just as promised, Issei cleanly punched away the bullet without even breaking a sweat. Jumping away to create better spacing between them, he had also displayed the lower half's capabilities just as well.

"That jump had to have doubled, no-tripled the world record." Aaron figured.

"For what it's worth, the longest I've managed to jump with these bad boys on was 27 meters." Issei boasted.

"27 meters!?" Lem repeated, "No way, you had such an overpowered piece of equipment and you refused to use it even once!? Damn, you really were going easy on me!"

Sticking out his tongue cheekily at Lem, Issei continued the fight he had started with a bit more vigor. The lineup of the Generals was a fierce one indeed, nigh impossible to beat all at once. Namely, Aaron and Max were attacking him head on, with Jorgen constantly providing additional fire from the back. In order to have any chance of success, he reasoned, he had to deal with Jorgen first.

"Outta the way!" Issei charged right on through these two, "Sorry, but your boss is the one I'm after! Eh?"

"Not yet, there's an order you gotta follow when you fight the Generals of ARA." Maxwell explained, his Gray Eyes glowing brightly.

This was another detail Issei had failed to grasp in time—All of the Generals had Gray Iros. This in and of itself just meant they were probably full of themselves and kind of narcissistic, but given that they knew about Iro Abilities and the likes, he really should have assumed they had Wielded one themselves. As it turns out, every time Issei would try to charge through or otherwise run past Max and Aaron, he would suddenly find himself back at his starting position. One of them, if not all of them knew how to Go Solipsistic.

"So, which one is it?" Issei inspected all of their Eyes closely, "Was it you, Max? Or maybe that annoying Aaron?"

"What makes you think its not one of them?" Max asked.

"Going Solipsistic takes too much Focus out of you." Issei smirked smugly, "The more you slow down time, the less time you have to work with, subjectively speaking. And you, my friends, stopped time completely. I only know one guy who could pull such a sly trick off, and even he could only do it for a few seconds too."

"We've got someone who's done their homework, I see!" Aaron then ran in full force, "I oughta' reward you, then!"

One punch, two punches, a kick, a sweep, you name it. Whatever he threw at Issei, it was masterfully dodged and/or parried. There was no denying it, Issei knew best how to utilize this armor, and his movement within it practically made it an extension of him as a person, even. But of course, it wasn't only made for dodging... That's where the gauntlets came in.

"One!" Issei tossed a right hook, the pistons strapped to the mechanical fist releasing a second punch from but one arm.

Without even giving him time to breathe, he led that punch into a left handed uppercut to send him off the ground. Again, the pistons released to allow for a mean imbalance of forces. This was where the true beauty of the Disconnect's name lied. The opponent was stunned whenever they took a hit, because they couldn't properly adjust and rebalance their body due to the "second punch" that came after every successfully landed hit.

"That was two, so now we move onto three and four!" Issei kept counting up the combo as he jumped to chase him through the air, kicking with both legs before continuing the chain, "And now back to these hands, woo!"

In Issei's words, the charm of the Disconnect came primarily from its ease of use. Though it took quite a lot of finagling to get a combo going with any of the other weapons in his arsenal, the Disconnect was what one could consider a crutch for beginners to use. Training wheels, one might even say. Nevertheless, there was absolutely no shame in using it even as a master, for the exoskeleton essentially made any enemy encounter equivalent to child's play.

"Super Sexy Style!" Issei shouted, ending the flashy combo so high up they almost reached the next floor, "Bam! Get bent!"

Needless to say, Aaron didn't stand a chance. It was his naivety and itching for a fight that made him way too overzealous, which resulted in a lone rush that eventually didn't allow him to get a single hit in. He was nothing but a punching bag that could balance himself into a better target, nothing more.

"Now." Issei fell back down to the ground without sustaining any fall damage due to the pistons saving him, "Max, what do you say? Ready to rumble?"