After the Storm, and Before the Storm (Premium)

by Sakon Kaidou

  Of course, it was worth noting that while my teach was dodging using her skill, I was surviving using nothing but the power of my unit’s gear.

  “You’re bad at dodging,” said Cyco. “Your sister probably knew that.”

  Probably, I thought.

  If you looked at this and one other feature it had, you would truly understand that Rose really had been made for me.

  It seemed like proof that Francesca knew me well.

  I should write to her soon, I thought. I’ll mention that I met my teach, too.

  My thoughts were cut off by my teach saying, “Hmm... What to dooo?”

  “Teach?”

  “Hey, I’d like to go look for the orb. Can I leave these to you?”

  “Hm...” I closed my eyes and thought.

  Not so long ago, I’d exterminated almost every member of the Gouz-Maise Gang.

  That was enough to believe that I could do it.

  But was it something I was okay with doing? I’d absolutely had to get rid of the Gouz-Maise Gang, but what about this mafia...?

  “Just so you know, I looked Mirage up, and their Caldinian branch engages in murder, burglary, gang violence, drug trade, kidnapping, and slave trade. Though the latter half is legal if you’ve got the money!”

  “...It’s like you read my mind,” I muttered.

  Like a certain silverhead...

  Anyway, I now understood how it was and was ready to do it.

  “Let me handle this by myself,” I told her.

  “Sure thing,” my teach replied. “I’ll go look for the orb.”

  She moved her Opera and activated the ancient legendary MVP special reward on its back: Skycontrol Wings, Aircluster.

  A moment later, Opera vanished, leaving behind no trace of it besides the echo of a thunderous, destructive sound.

  I looked at the wall and saw a hole large enough for Blue Opera to fly through. I could’ve sworn it hadn’t been there before.

  So the one with the orb is already outside, I reflected. “Anyway...”

  With Opera gone, all the attacks were now focused on Rose.

  Even so, they couldn’t even scratch its white armor.

  The mafia members were looking at my unit with pure fear in their eyes.

  They must’ve thought that it was indestructible.

  I, on the other hand, didn’t feel the least bit safe or secure.

  “It’s a real MP hog,” I muttered. “I won’t last more than five minutes like this.”

  “Yeah,” Cyco agreed.

  Rose’s multi-layered armor, Fleur d’Hiver, was designed with the Shield Giant’s Thousand Shutter skill in mind, and it created a barrier that blocked off a certain amount of damage.

  It could deal with combat magic from low-rank tians with no Embryo stat growth bonuses without me having to lift a finger, but keeping it up cost a lot of MP.

  And that was only when I wasn’t doing anything else. If I started using other skills or engaging in complex maneuvers, my MP would downright melt.

  MP Potions couldn’t keep up with me, either, so I had to make sure this battle didn’t drag on.

  “What’s the count on them, Cyco?” I asked.

  “Twenty on average.”

  Our main weapon, La Porte de l’Enfer, was based on the number of creatures of their own type the enemies had killed.

  Twenty wasn’t a good number for it to be effective.

  The battle would surely last long if we relied on it, so we wouldn’t use it this time.

  “What about Deuxième?” I asked.

  “That should work, I think.”

  Then let’s use it.

  “Okay, time for high-rank Cocytus to make her debut!” Cyco declared.

  “Indeed. Let us decorate this sand-covered oasis with the flower of abyssal ice.”

  “Oh? I guess your edgy phase didn’t go anywhere, huh?”

  “...Shut up.”

  Blushing due to the words that’d escaped my lips, I prepared to fight.

  ◆◆◆

  Hermine the City of Gambling, outskirts

  The leader of Mirage’s Caldina branch, Zhang, was standing on the sand all by himself.

  Hermine had been built around an Oasis, but everything outside it was just desert. Once the blue and white units had appeared in the gambling den, he’d left and run all the way here. He wasn’t just making off with the orb, however.

  “There she is!” He looked up at the sky and saw one of the units, Blue Opera, descending nearby with a high-pitched song. “That hunk of metal sure is loud. Doesn’t she know that it’s night?”

  The Magingear descended, but didn’t attack. The pilot seemed to be worried that she would break the Treasurebeast Orb.

  AR-I-CA’s goal was to retrieve the orb, and killing the UBM inside was merely a relief measure in case it broke.

  That was why AR-I-CA tried talking to Zhang first.

  “Evening! I’m guessing you’re the Mirage member with the orb.”

  “Indeed I am,” Zhang said. “I’m impressed you found me.”

  “I’ve got this radar here. It’s a special reward, and I just followed the person with the highest level.”

  “I see,” he sighed as he realized that escape wasn’t an option.

  “Anyway, you didn’t give me the orb or run any farther, and instead you just stopped here in the middle of nowhere. Does that mean what I think it does?”

  “Yes,” Zhang said as he turned his hands around, revealing dozens of Fu talismans. “I realized that battle with you was inevitable and prepared myself for it. That’s why I changed location.” Indeed. He hadn’t gone to the desert to escape; he’d been waiting for AR-I-CA so that he could face her.

  “If I went all out in there, I’d end up killing my subordinates!” he shouted as he spread his arms.

  A moment later, five pillars of sand rose behind him, revealing five long silhouettes.

  The things that popped out appeared much like the local worms, but there was something different about them.

  “I’m the head of Mirage’s Caldina branch, Great Soul Daoshi, Zhang Zangqi! My nickname is ‘Wuxing Jilong,’ and I will use the five great jiangshis that gave me this name to destroy you!”

  “Wuxing Jilong” translated to “Penta-Ravenous Dragon,” and that was exactly what these creatures were.

  Their eyes were completely lifeless, and each of them had a Fu on their face.

  They were simultaneously Dragons and Jiangshi, and for some reason, they were covered in lightning.

  “Oh? So you have a Superior Job. Great Soul Daoshi is basically Huang He’s King of Tartarus, right?” AR-I-CA asked. “You’re not exactly that similar, though.”

  The soul daoshi grouping was the Eastern equivalent of the West’s necromancer grouping. Thus, the Jiangshis they were dealing with counted as undead.

  Still, they were creatures controlled by Fu, and despite the similarities, they weren’t much like the Jiangshi job.

  “You took some upper-level Pure-Dragons, enhanced them by turning them into Jiangshi, and now you’re enhancing them with the orb, too, huh...? Now, that is strong.”

  AR-I-CA already understood the details and extent of his power, and even though she saw him as strong, she remained cheerful.

  “But I guess this is better than hunting down each member one by one.”

  In fact, she was downright ecstatic.

  “I mean, what’s the point of a mech fight if you’re not up against someone strong?!”

  Yes, the battle she was about to have was already making her genuinely happy.

  “Anyway, thanks for the answer! A thumbs-up to your courage!”

  AR-I-CA raised Opera’s right thumb in the same way she always raised her own.

  Then she turned the hand, making the thumb face down.

  It was a sign of killing intent.

  “...And goodbye.”

  “Prepare yourself!” Zhang shouted.

  With the great desert of C
aldina as the stage, the battle between the Blue Sky Songstress and Wuxing Jilong began.

  ◇◇◇

  High Pilot, Hugo Lesseps

  “We’re done,” I said as I confirmed that the members of Mirage here were defeated.

  We had done it in less than two minutes. The casters were all partially or completely Frozen.

  “Great, huh?” Cyco spoke up. “That was so super easy, huh? Boring, huh?”

  “Could you at least not call it ‘boring’?” I couldn’t deny that it had been super easy, though.

  I’d taken all of them out with a single skill.

  “At least we now know that La Porte de l’Enfer Deuxième works in battle,” I said.

  That was the skill Cyco had gained upon advancing to her fourth form.

  Like the name implied, it was an upgrade... or more like a sidegrade... to La Porte de l’Enfer.

  Its effects were exactly the same as that of the first, but the formula was different.

  The original La Porte de l’Enfer gave an X% chance to Freeze X% of the selected target’s body every 13 seconds, where X was the number on the target’s kill counter for the same creature type as the target.

  La Porte de l’Enfer Deuxième, on the other hand, simply Froze X% of my targets’ bodies, where X had the formula of “Damage received from target (includes negated damage) × amount of own creature type killed ÷ HP of the in-range target.”

  Basically, it meant that someone who’d dealt 1,000 damage to my Magingear, killed 20 people, and had 1,000 HP would have 1,000 × 20 ÷ 1,000 = 20 percent of their body frozen.

  With 2,000 damage, that would be 40 percent.

  It could only work if I received damage from my target, but it was much less picky than the original La Porte de l’Enfer. There was no luck factor, either.

  The evolution had happened after Francesca’s gift of the Rose, and that was probably why it was so endurance-focused.

  Besides that, this skill...

  “It’s so obviously made with Nemesis’ Vengeance in mind,” said Cyco.

  “...Yeah,” I nodded.

  I couldn’t say whether it was the moment he’d defeated me in Gideon or just the way he acted in general, but Ray had clearly influenced me and the way my Embryo had evolved. Deuxième was an actual counter skill.

  “Anyway, my work here is done,” I said.

  Considering the noise we’d made, the Caldinian military police would come soon. The mafia members couldn’t move, so I could just leave them here and go to my teach. After making Cyco cancel the merge with Rose, I returned the equipment I’d used.

  “I’ve gotta say,” said Cyco.

  “What?”

  “Battle Mode II didn’t get to do a lot, huh?”

  “It eats a lot of MP, so I don’t wanna use it too much.”

  I was done with my role for now. The rest was up to my teach, but she probably wouldn’t have any problems.

  In fact, I didn’t know anyone who would be a worse opponent to have than her.

  I could confidently say that not even the King of Destruction could beat her.

  ◇◆◇

  Hermine the City of Gambling, outskirts, sky

  Lightning cracked the darkness above the desert.

  Normally, these cloudless, dry, barren lands were no place for such phenomena, but at this moment, the skies above were decorated by five lightning-clad, serpentine Dragons — specifically, High Dragon Jiangshi.

  They twisted and twirled in a seemingly random but definitely organized manner, chasing after the shadow of the slender unit, AR-I-CA’s Blue Opera.

  The five corpse-dragons spewed fire, ice, wind, petrification, and curse breaths, but the unit dodged them all.

  “You’re from a country that has these dragons as a symbol, aren’t ya?” AR-I-CA asked. “Pretty messed to make them into Jiangshi, doncha think?”

  “Perhaps that is the reason why I was tasked to work in Caldina,” her opponent replied.

  “Good point.”

  The one commanding the five lightning-clad dragons was Great Soul Daoshi, Zhang Zangqi.

  He was riding one of them, but the lightning wasn’t shocking him, nor was it burning the Fu on the High Dragon Jiangshi’s forehead.

  Despite that, the electricity surrounding them burned and melted all the shells fired by Blue Opera.

  This was done by the Treasurebeast Orb in Zhang’s hand. It sealed the UBM called “Thundershield Beast, Dangai,” which was said to fight using lightning armor. Despite centuries of imprisonment, its power hadn’t faded.

  “Wow, that’s just unfair,” said AR-I-CA. “That’s some broken loot.”

  “Be silent. You’re in no position to call anyone unfair.”

  Despite the immense power he wielded, Zhang didn’t feel like he had the upper hand. While the lightning rejected all the attacks heading his way, none of his dragons’ attacks were landing on Blue Opera.

  Even when he calculated its trajectory and fired where it would be a moment later, it kept dodging in a 90 degree angle, seemingly ignoring aerodynamics and the law of inertia.

  This was due to the special reward on Blue Opera’s back: Skycontrol Wings, Aircluster.

  It was the remains of an UBM that had appeared here in Caldina, often described as an “unidentified flying object.” The item came with the item skills “Inertia Control” and “Air Canopy.” The former did exactly what it said in the name, while the latter allowed manipulation of air resistance. Combined, they let Blue Opera fly in trajectories that ought to be impossible.

  “It seems like we’re on equal footing,” said Zhang.

  Both he and AR-I-CA only had one UBM power they could use in this battle. AR-I-CA had her radar, too, but it was useless to her right now.

  Though Zhang’s UBM power was leaning towards endurance and AR-I-CA’s was focused on speed, they were more or less evenly matched. Zhang’s attacks couldn’t hit Opera, while AR-I-CA’s shells couldn’t break through the lightning barrier.

  If I hadn’t had Dangai, this battle might’ve been over already, Zhang thought, impressed by just how accurate AR-I-CA’s shells were.

  Nevertheless, as things were, he was right that they were on equal footing. It was a stalemate neither of them could easily break.

  Thus, Zhang predicted three outcomes to this: it could either become a struggle for who would run out of MP first, AR-I-CA could use some sure-kill attack that could break through the lightning barrier, or Zhang’s attacks could somehow hit Opera.

  He obviously wanted it to be the third one.

  “I’m not losing sight of her, anyway,” he muttered to himself.

  Blue Opera’s dark colors melted into the night sky as it moved quickly and erratically, yet Zhang always knew exactly where it was.

  It wasn’t his own ability, but a certain feature on the unit — specifically, its engine sound.

  The high, song-like roars filled the entire battlefield, making it easy to tell exactly where it was.

  It could go to Zhang’s side or behind him, but he would track it down like a cat with a bell on its neck.

  At first, Zhang believed that the sound would be used for some kind of bluffing tactic, but he now realized that that wasn’t the case.

  This unit would make this sound whether AR-I-CA wanted it to or not.

  The engine sound was a flaw Blue Opera had had since its creation.

  ◇◆

  Blue Opera was a defective unit.

  Specifically, there was an issue with its core magic-exchange engine.

  Most Dryfean machines operated by transforming the user’s MP into power.

  Therefore, one of the most desirable features on them were engines that could transform MP to power with great efficiency and not take too much space on the unit.

  Blue Opera’s engine was perfect in that regard.

  It had efficiency incomparable to other Magingear engines and was small enough to install on a motorbike.

  Its creation was a
ccidental, so it was difficult to recreate it, but it was still perfect for its intended purpose.

  At least, if you ignored the extremely loud sound it made while active.

  It was so loud, in fact, that it couldn’t be used in normal battles, let alone covert operations.

  Once active, it would give away the unit’s location to even the farthest enemies, leaving it open to ranged attacks and skills of all kinds.

  Naturally, Franklin, its creator, tried to solve this problem using silencers and many other things, but strangely enough, the more of these he installed, the less effective the engine became.

  It was as though it itself wanted to be loud — to sing to the world.

  “I’m not dealin’ with a Tenchi-esque karakuri or a Legendarian spirit doll here...” he muttered. “Why’s this engine such a weirdo?”

  Eventually, Franklin just gave up on it.

  There was no way you could make a decent Magingear with an engine like this. It would stand out so much that it would be shot down immediately.

  Thus, Franklin considered sealing it away in the warehouse until he had the technology to properly analyze it, but AR-I-CA, who watched him work, said, “Who cares if it stands out? Just don’t get hit!”

  His friend’s words made Franklin’s eyes widen. Then he smiled and thought, Yeah, you could pull that off.

  Though the focus on speed contradicted its immense presence, Franklin felt that it suited AR-I-CA well, so he took to creating the first MGFX — a unit he spared no expense on.

  Thus, MGFX-001 was born. Combined with AR-I-CA’s piloting skill, it became the only Magingear that could move on the surface faster than the speed of sound.

  And the Aircluster it had now made it even more mobile than ever. Blue Opera was the fastest, loudest unit, entrusted to AR-I-CA by her dear friend.

  ◇◆

  Blue Opera flew through the night sky, singing all the way through.

  The five corpse dragons attacked it over and other, but none of their breaths even touched it.

  It danced in the air as if playing with them like a sylph.

  Why can’t I hit her? Zhang wondered.

  As far as he knew, no matter how well-equipped, Magingears could never go beyond Pure-Dragon-tier.

  Of course, this one was piloted by The Ace, who surely had the maximum level in Piloting, making it twice as powerful as usual, if not even more than that.