6 - Mechbusters

Their plan was rather simple. They’d just go in and beat the mech senseless.

Ichika’s battle experience against LV1 was a key factor in the Naja forces’ confidence. Ausra’s own prowess allowed her to be assured of victory even before the fight had begun. However, they failed to account for two variables.

The first variable was the chance of evolution. Ichika was not the only one who had evolved during the battle of Krakow. Remote piloting was not the only addition to the LV2 - there was a pair of weapons too. The first weapon was that which struck the invading party almost instantly.

Oskar barely managed to dodge it. Large pieces of sharpened iron rained down at him, halting his offensive, forcing him to dash to the side and process how he just cheated death. Upon further inspection, he deduced it to be a large whip-blade, being used as a whip that had the sharpness and power to dismantle all in its path. Oskar summoned his all-purpose weapon and aimed an electric arrow at LV2.

“From what I was told, its protective field is strong enough to resist even attacks like flash freeze.”

“That’s why I’ll be a distraction. The real firepower should be getting close to it.”

Oskar unleashed the arrow. It hit LV2’s head perfectly, but little to no damage was done to it except a little stun. He fired off more of them, and LV2, unbothered, slowly marched towards Oskar.

Before it could swing the whip-blade again, Ausra’s firepower was finally put to good use. A barrage of highly explosive pebbles was chucked at it, and those, despite their accuracy, couldn’t deal any relevant damage to it. On the other side of the battle, in that bathtub, Katya’s body was starting to twitch a little bit, and a few small scars appeared on her back.

LV2 turned around, swinging its blade and destroying half of the base while at it. Dust and debris were flung all over the area, some of it even struck Ausra - knocking her further away. Now that the two were separated, both of them were free game. But that’s where the third combatant came in clutch. Victoria aimed and shot her soul-bound crossbow at its arm, almost stiffening it in the process.

“For as long as that arrow is stuck in its limb, it’ll be paralyzed.” Victoria thought, rushing in. “It’ll buy us enough time.”

“My my, already putting in the work?” Matilda said. “Had your sister been here instead, this creature would’ve been dead.”

“Tch.” Victoria was annoyed at the remarks. She got closer to Ausra.

“You can’t take it down with just the explosives.” Victoria said. “Use your acclamation.”

“Not yet.” Ausra objected. In the distance, Oskar was showering LV2 with high-voltage arrows, all while it was desperately trying to regain function of its arm.

“What do you mean by that? Use it now!” Victoria shouted.

“No, look at it. Look at its wounds. They’re not deep or crippling, but it definitely got injured.” Ausra said. She rushed at LV2 and kicked it as hard as she could in the leg, imbuing the strike with explosive power. Just as it turned around and swung its blade, Ausra dashed back and closed the distance again - jumping up a little and hitting it in the stomach, achieving the same effect. The wounds started to show a little.

LV2 stumbled back. If it did not figure out how to revive its limb, it would not be able to survive the incoming beatdown. Katya was in pain, but remote piloting gave her great concentration - so great, in fact, that she seemed like she was out of this world. The only one who could react was...

“The battle’s begun already.” Nightseer said to himself. “Wounds are starting to open up on her body.”

“Shit, this is bad...”

He looked at one of the monitors attached to the walls that displayed what LV2 saw. And it was not seeing pretty things. Ausra and Oskar were teaming up on it, with Oskar landing harmless and fancy electrifying attacks, and Ausra being the true damage dealer.

A mistake was made here, and Ausra would come to have trouble accepting the difficult situation that she accidentally created. One of her explosive punches was strong enough to blast the paralyzing arrow away. LV2, quickly realizing that its limb was finally functional again, used to knock Oskar away. Ausra, distracted by her comrade being injured, turned to face his direction. Once she turned back, she saw LV2 holding out its palm, almost as if it was aiming it at her.

She was lucky that she sensed the sharp increase in LV2’s soul presence. She managed to dodge to the side and avoid the powerful beam of raw soul prowess.

“Shit...”

Ausra’s right arm was compromised, and she needed time to heal it.

“I messed up real bad.”

LV2 rushed towards her, but another crossbow shot paralyzed its left leg. It tripped down and fell. While it quickly tried to remove the arrow and get up, Victoria rushed to Ausra to help her up.

LV2 stood up, and was immediately distracted by a pair of flying slashes launched at it by Oskar. He glared at the mech with his fists clenched, he had a few nasty cuts on his face already. LV2 aimed its hand at him, but was once again forced to look to the other side as a heavy plate of metal hit it in the back of its head.

“Soul attraction and soul repulsion...”

“The perfect way to control the distance!!!”

Oskar charged at LV2, flying across the distance almost instantly. He tried to shove the sharpened ends of his soul-bound weapon into its body, but failed in doing so. LV2 grabbed him by his clothes and slammed him in the ground, and before it kicked him away, Victoria’s crossbow, once again, saved the day.

“Ausra!” Oskar yelled. “Use it now!”

“It’s gonna nuke the whole base, you know?” Ausra asked to confirm.

“We should’ve gotten Sakuto Hitori here.” Matilda complained. She charged at LV2, attempting to slash it with her longsword. It didn’t move an inch, but it was distracted at least, allowing Oskar just enough of a time window to escape the dangerous grip. Oskar quickly stepped back.

“Way to destroy the place, Victoria.” Matilda said. “It was in such a good place as well...”

“I can try limiting the destruction.” Ausra said. “Jeez, these two are quite the dysfunctional family...”

“Try limiting the destruction and focusing on the power itself!” Oskar said, stepping back and charging another electric arrow. “I’ll protect you!”

“A-alright.” Ausra said. She took a deep breath.

“Bringing out a divine acclamation is hard.”

“The first time it happened naturally, but this time, I have to manually activate it. There’s a difference.”

“The commander told me that some fighters usually say some type of incantations or poems while activating them. She said it helps them concentrate and get in the right mood.”

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Keep paralyzing it!” Oskar called out. He charged at LV2. Victoria aimed her crossbow at it, targeting its feet, forcing it to trip and fall down whenever possible. And Matilda just stood back, admiring the spectacle.

“Ah, damn it. I need to think of something.”

“Uhh...what did I write? I can’t remember what I wrote for myself...”

“I...”

“...”

“I’ll protect you!”

“Oskar...”

“You meant it, right?”

“ ✦ Divine Acclamation. ✦ ”

“ ✦ Chain Detonation. ✦ ”

“There’s the heavy artillery!” Oskar exclaimed, excited.

“You two, remember to stay out of the way!” Ausra yelled. Once the two quickly moved to the side, she aimed at LV2 with her fingers and shot a firework at it, which caused a rather large explosion to take place. And this time, it looked to have done actual damage to it.

“Good. I have enough power to fuck it up.”

“But that’s not even the most important part. Once enough gunpowder is accumulated, I’ll activate full detonation and blow it up in one go.”

...

“Attacks executed when divine acclamations are active are different from regular attacks.”

“They are fundamentally paired with dimming. And while LV1’s or LV2’s protective layers are super-tough, focusing on dimming reduces that toughness.”

A pretty noticeable wound opened up on Katya’s body, right below her chest. And a few seconds later, another one emerged on her left forearm. At the same time, she developed a nosebleed.

“Shit, she’s straining herself...” Nightseer thought, getting closer to her. He was trying to apply bandages on her wounded areas. “Remote piloting takes a pretty bad effect on the body.”

“Katya, it’s a three-on-one.” Nightseer said, holding her face, trying to ‘snap her out of it’. “Just let it go. Don’t sacrifice LV2 or yourself for this.”

“Shut up.” Katya said in her arrogant tone, except the excitement and even joyful undertone had completely perished from it. “Reiner wouldn’t give up.”

“Damn it...”

“It’s hard for me to concentrate with all these thoughts flowing into my head.”

“This is the first time I’ve felt like this. Is this what people feel when their friend dies?”

“How come I’ve never felt this before?”

LV2 was constantly getting rocked. Fireworks upon fireworks rained down upon it, and it couldn’t keep up with the constant flow of well-aimed paralyzing arrows. It raised its hand again, firing the beam, but it failed to reach any of its targets now that the soulfuls were properly adjusted to avoiding it.

“Ausra!” Oskar said. “How long are you gonna charge it up for?”

“Depends.”

“What do you mean?”

“Depends on whether or not we want the base to be obliterated!” Ausra replied, quickly stepping back and avoiding the beam. “There’s probably enough power to blow it apart right now!”

“Then what are you waiting for?” Oskar asked, launching more arrows at LV2.

“I will not permit you to destroy this base.” Matilda complained. “You will kill it without taking these measures.”

“But-”

“But what, Victoria?” Matilda asked. “Are you too weak to do it yourself?”

“Screw you!” Victoria yelled, enraged. She fired at LV1’s arm, paralyzing it dead, and rushed at it. She evaded most of the whip-blade attacks and got close enough to land a few strikes on it.

“No! Get back!” Ausra yelled.

Victoria dashed to the side, and LV2, now well aware of how the crossbow works, quickly broke the arrow stuck in its arm. Once the paralyzed arm was available for usage once more, it landed a heavy strike on Victoria, knocking her into a piece of rubble.

LV2 aimed its hand at the semi-incapacitated Victoria, and Oskar had to step in. He absorbed the beam with his soul-bound weapon, but after a certain point, after blocking most of the impact, it was unsummoned. Oskar was thrown back, and he was majorly wounded despite his best attempts to focus on reinforcement.

“Oskar!” Ausra yelled, firing off another firework at LV2, knocking it back.

“No...”

“Don’t you dare take him away from me.”

“I have to help him.”

“No detonations, lady.” Matilda said. “You know the rules, right-”

“Shut up you fucking hag!” Ausra yelled, unleashing another firework at LV2. It failed to knock it back as much, due to the fact that it was blocking with its arms now. Slowly but surely it made its way towards Katya, getting closer and closer. Katya wasn’t scared of engaging in close quarters combat with it, even if it resulted in her getting injured.

LV2’s whip-blade managed to scratch her, but Katya quickly found an opening and closed the distance. She landed a flurry of explosive punches, all while constantly getting cut by the blade. LV2 suddenly dashed back, such behavior wasn’t expected from her and caught Katya off guard. It threw a kick and launched Katya backwards, and Katya, standing up and avoiding LV2’s beam, retaliated with another firework.

“The explosive power of ‘full detonation’ is the highest where the ‘gunpowder’ concentration is the highest.”

“Right now this thing is the epicenter of the explosion.”

LV2 charged up another beam, and at the same time, Ausra’s soul presence started flaring up.

“No you don’t!” Matilda said, rushing at Ausra, attempting to cancel her plan. But she was struck by an electric arrow on her way there, and paralyzed, she fell down.

“Keep your hands off of her.” Oskar grunted, satisfied with himself after taking the shot. He shared an awkward look with Victoria who was right next to her.

“Oh, sorry-”

“It’s fine, she had it coming.” Victoria sighed.

Ausra dodged LV2’s beam again, and while dodging to the side and avoiding the simultaneous whip-blade attacks, could find a split second within her to concentrate.

“Destroy all there is...”

“Leave a cloud of dark smoke and ignite a flame bright red.”

“But make sure to destroy all there is.”

“Brace for impact!!!” Ausra yelled. Oskar quickly got up, grabbed Victoria, and sprinted away as hard as he could. Ausra fired a firework at the ground next to Matilda, the explosion being strong enough to knock her away.

“ ✦ Full detonation! ✦ ”

The impact wasn’t as powerful as expected - Ausra’s last second doubts about hitting Oskar with the shockwave resulted in her turning down the heat quite a bit. But still, the large explosion pulverized the base completely, even causing a small quake in the area.

LV2 was there, barely standing, barely alive. Katya barely maintained her connection to it, her body spasmed and her lip was broken. Nightseer sighed, unsure what to feel. A defeat was difficult to accept, and LV2 was quite an asset, but at least Katya was safe and right next to him.

Oskar and Victoria, after convincing the semi-conscious Matilda to return to the tent, reunited with Ausra.

“It’s done for good.” Ausra said. “It can’t regenerate.”

“Then let’s finish it off quickly.” Oskar said. “I’m sure a new base won’t be too difficult to find anyways.”

And then, something started happening that should not have happened under any circumstance.

...

[SIMULTANEOUSLY, AT THE COMMAND TENT]

Jian and Yuuka were securing the flank, not only because they intended to, well, secure the flank, but also because something seemed off.

The tent wasn’t too lavish, it was covered by classic military green clothing and had a few laptops placed on makeshift wooden platforms inside. The soul presence that they claimed was fluctuating belonged not to a person, but... to a laptop?

“Yuuka, you’re sensing it too, right?” Jian asked, sounding concerned.

“I am. It’s not just the laptops that are like this too.” Yuuka said. “That soulless guy’s phone isn’t behaving itself right either.”

“Huh? What?” Dima asked, confused.

“Turn off your phone.” Jian said. “Something’s off.”

“What? So, first you have a problem with me, and now my phone is possessed or something? What the hell is going on?!” Dima asked. His questions were pointless, as Jian quickly snatched it from him and turned it off.

“What the hell?!” Dima lost his temper.

“You broke the wrong device, Jian.” Yuuka said. Her usual silly attire had disappeared. “Our laptops are the ones being targeted. They’re being hacked.”