Well, took a while again. I had to rethink and rewrite a large part of this chapter a few times until it felt right, per se. I'd appreciate it if you tell me what you think!

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Little Wing It

Volume 5

The Rising Of The Switch Beast

Chapter 3

Nightmare Motherlode

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I

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"And... analysis complete! My forecasts are done too."

While we we continued wading our way through the mushroom populated forest, Emilia suddenly cheered. Her pad let off a short 'ding' sound as she did so, which I assume meant that the calculations she were running have been finished.

Said calculations sure took a while, though. And what's this about forecasts? She planning on telling the weather or something?

Having overheard Emilia, Kraz glanced back at her and then promptly grimaced.

"What're you mumbling about now? Creepy girl."

"You're hardly one to call anyone creepy! And give me some credit, I was doing all that while we were walking and fighting."

I hate to say it, but she has a point. If you didn't know any better, one would see Kraz and think he's a dirty drunkard or a homeless man. Hell, I knew better and I still think he's dirty. When was the last time he shaved, I wonder?

Well, I suppose he's proven that even though he generally looks unreliable and lazy, he would absolutely have your back when you needed him. Case in point, him going to all that trouble of getting Yut to shape up. I just wish he'd bother getting a mouthwash or something.

Scratch it, I bet the smell of beer's too ingrained in his mouth that I doubt any kind of oral care product can do anything about it.

His bad breath aside, Kraz grinned in response to Emilia's defense of her sudden celebration, but then resorted to scratching his beard. By now, I knew this is a habit of his when he's curious about something. True enough, he had a pondering look on his hairy face as he returned his attention back to Emilia.

"So tell me, if you're so smart and all now, why not go be a scholar somewhere? Gotta be safer than all... this."

Kraz gestured to pretty much everywhere, basically. As for myself, I'm inclined to agree. For all her faults, Emilia genuinely is a one-of-a-kind genius. She may have changed a lot, but all this, this fighting and travelling, typical mercenary stuff, it still doesn't suit her. The boss had a point, her talents would be much more suited to research, maybe finding a cure for disesses and things like that.

But Emilia didn't seem to share that opinion one bit, immediately having an answer ready as if it was prepared beforehand.

"Believe me, I'd rather die."

"A bit extreme, wouldn't you say?"

I couldn't help but comment. We'd just gotten over Yut's issue with touching death, I think I'm sick of the subject at the moment.

Emilia backpedalled a bit after hearing my remark, but still remained firm on her answer.

"Sorry. But I'm serious. There's nothing fun about being human storage for stuff other people think is interesting."

Human storage... sounds like that whole affair with the bio-computer Tenma still remains fresh on her mind, and to be honest, I couldn't blame her for resenting that thing with her entire being.

Emilia continued her spiel, remaining dead-serious about her feelings on the matter.

"Spending my days walking between a lab and a bedroom? No thanks. Trust me, when you're a bio-computer, people think of you as just a computer. They forget the bio. So no desk jobs, thank you very much."

From a young age, she was basically forced to be a super-powered calculator and processor. She was alive, she was fed, sure, but if you're treated as just a machine, a part of an ultimately non-living thing, then can you truly call it a life?

That's why, even if she's essentially wasting most of her talents working with us in Little Wing, I don't think she's making a mistake. It's ultimately her choice what to do with that 'power' of hers. All I can do for her is support her with whatever she wants to do.

Kraz seemed to share the same sentiments as me, releasing a reluctant sigh of acceptance. I couldn't blame him for trying to steer Emilia to a safer path, like most parents would do.

Seeing Kraz's reaction to her words, Emilia smiled as an act of reassurance.

"Kraz, I like this job. I can be a person here! And not just part of an assembly line. So don't even think about telling me to quit, cuz I ain't going anywhere! You got that?"

This proved to be the final nail on the coffin. With the conversation turning rather emotional and wholesome, Kraz waved Emilia off with a shrug. Under that bushy hair of his though, was the ghost of a smile.

"Ehhh, I was planning on keeping you around for a decade or so anyway, so relax. You still need to pay back all those damn expenses o' yours, after all."

"Ten years then, that's a promise! Nice to have job security with the economy the way it is these days."

Job security?

Wait, could it be? After all this time, she's finally realizing how lucky she was to have a job? That she should be thankful she didn't have to experience what it was like being freelance?

I... I didn't think the day would come. Brings a tear to my eye, this does.

"Huh? I never said... Bah, whatever. Just don't give me any excuses to fire you, or I will. I mean it."

"Hee hee. Roger that, boss!"

Well, any tearing up on my part aside, Kraz got his words turned back on him and Emilia played it magnificently. I'm not entirely sure if that ten years thing is official, you never know with these two, but it's safe to say that Emilia isn't jumping off the mercenary scene any time soon.

Which was probably for the best. If this is where she's truly happy, then I can't hold that against her, can I? Like I said, support her. And if that ten years clause applies to me as well by virtue of being her partner then I can only see it as an absolute win.

With that matter having been resolved, Emilia returned her attention back to the pad she earlier deemed as having finished analyzing.

"Anyway. Just in case you were wondering what I've been up to... whoa, I was right."

"What? Right about what?"

"There's subspace up ahead. The data we've been able to gather matches the thought patterns of the missing AMF soldiers!"

Bingo. Looks like we found what we came here for. Only there seems to be a bit of a catch. With Emilia claiming that there was subspace further in, there was no doubt that Shizuru's somewhere in the area, manipulating their thoughts using subspace technology. We've already found pieces of subspace machinery in this place, so there really isn't any other explanation.

As if on cue, the area started distorting into a mass of contorted space, in a similar fashion to the one that brought us to the recreated Rykros back in the Inhelt Ruins. Emilia's pad started beeping wildly, alarming her as she skimmed over the data shown on the screen.

"...! This frequency...! I've seen this somewhere before! Wait... the Denes Relic Site? Could it be?!"

Denes? That was all the way back in Parum... but I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. If subspace can bring a destroyed planet like Rykros back to existence, then a relic site from another planet shouldn't be too much trouble.

As the distortion ahead of us grew, Yut and Red approached the mildly panicking Emilia, varying levels of confusion etched on their faces.

"I'm not sure I'm following you, Emilia. Can you repeat that?"

"Yeah, mind explaining it in a way we can understand, o great genius?"

Emilia shook her head in response to their questions, instead pointing to the mass of warped space the forest ahead of us was turning into.

"It's probably better if you just saw for yourselves. Don't worry, you won't have to wait long. C'mon, let's go."

In a direct violation of common sense, Emilia went straight for the distortion, motioning for us to follow.

Well, this whole subspace business has already been brutally smacking aside the laws of common sense, why stop now? We crossed the boundary of where the subspace-afflicted area began, and the world washed over in a blanket of white until there was no longer any sign of the mushroom forest we were previously traversing.

The endless sea of white faded away as we continued our advance into the heart of the spatial anomaly, bright and sleek walls of metal manifesting all around us. In short order, we found ourselves inside the labyrinthine maze that was the Denes Relic Site, just like Emilia predicted.

"Well, this is a bit of a surprise. Since when were we in a relic site?"

Kraz wondered aloud, examining the completely different area that stretched on before us. The forest disappeared behind us too, which meant that we were essentially stuck here until we find the AMF soldiers, and in extension, Shizuru.

In response to Kraz's confusion, Emilia ran some calculations on her pad, nodding grimly as she got the results she was expecting.

"The numbers match precisely. We're looking at a perfect example of the thought manifestation phenomenon. This is the Denes Relic Site, as recreated by the memories of the AMF soldiers!"

Kraz though, just looked even more blank.

"Recreated by memories? Huh? You lost me."

Don't tell me he forgot. I know he wasn't with us when Rykros appeared, and by the time he did catch up with us, we've already been returned to the ruins. But this whole subspace reality jig's already been discussed to hell and back, I doubt he doesn't have any idea what was going on.

I suppose I can just chalk it up to shock for now. It was only recently that we learned that subspace can turn into reality places as well, in addition to Seeds, after all. Not to mention this was probably Kraz's first time witnessing the phenomenon. I guess it's understandable he'd be a little confounded.

"We've seen it happen so many times! Subdpace makes people's thoughts real! There's no other explanation for it! I know it's hard to believe, but this is virtual reality made real. It has to be!"

"Er, right. Seems to me the point of all this is that the missing soldiers are in here."

Kraz remained dubious, but I guess he had the right idea. Emilia didn't seem happy with it, but didn't comment any further. Must have realized that all this computational stuff would just fly over Kraz's head.

Yut, on the other hand, perked up in response to Kraz's observation, his nose twitching as he looked frantically all over the place.

"They are, I can sense them! And something else... the Land-Mother!"

Well, that's our cue then. If the Land-Mother, the Kasch's Codex, was here, then it's basically guaranteed that Shizuru's here, like I guessed earlier. He's manipulating subspace to bring this relic site to reality, just like with Rykros.

Question is, why? What does he stand to gain by doing so? Rykros, we may be able to slightly justify, with there being Seedforms there to use as foot soldiers, or so. But this place, the Denes Relic Site, the same can't be said for it.

Well, no matter. I have a feeling that those questions will be answered soon enough, once we find the man pulling the strings behind all this.

With that in mind, we continued on.

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II

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"So, we there yet?"

Kraz asked with a sigh as we entered a narrow corridor, looking a little bored. We haven't been in the relic site for long, but there's been an unnerving absence of any hostiles. You'd think Shizuru would have at least summoned some creatures to guard the place, but we haven't encountered any resistance whatsoever so far.

A fact that I wasn't sure what to feel about. On one hand, there being nothing to fight offers us to opportunity to recover some of the energy we spent earlier and save it for Shizuru, should we engage him. On the other, I can't shake off the feeling that we're walking right into a trap.

Of course, since we haven't located and rescued the kidnapped soldiers yet, we didn't have any choice but to trudge forwards.

"They're closer than they were before... but we've still got a bit to go."

Yut answered Kraz's question, confirming that we indeed needed to forge on ahead. Upon hearing Yut's estimation of the soldiers' whereabouts, Kraz offhandedly shrugged with a bit of distaste in his tone.

"Sure got themselves dragged in here pretty far. Hmph. Take yer eyes off 'em for a minute, and they go all soft on you. The AMF and the Guardians, both."

Don't tell me Kraz worked with the AMF and the Guardians too, back in the day. His words seem to suggest it, and yet, I haven't heard anything about the sort before. Curious, definitely curious.

But that shouldn't matter for now. We had a related but different problem on our hands. Kraz's words had some merit in them, at the very least, but the Guardians and the AMF are all highly trained professionals. If they're getting brainwashed so easily, then we can't really fault them for it, can we? The Ancients' magical technology might just be that powerful, and terrifying.

"I don't think they just let themselves get dragged into this..."

"Could be... maybe Shizuru had something they couldn't resist?"

Red suggested in response to my comment, actually bringing to light a good point. Maybe they were lured in by something, and that's when Shizuru struck with whatever he uses for his mind control.

While that was a solid theory though, that raises another question. What could possibly be something that the victims couldn't resist, that they'd potentially sabotage their mission just to attain? Kraz seemed to arrive at the same train of thought, raising an eyebrow at Red and I.

"Sounds awfully convenient for him. What kinda thing you thinking about?"

Despite being the one to raise the question, Red only shrugged in response. As for myself, I couldn't think of anything, either. If her theory proved to be correct, then I had no idea what Shizuru might have used as bait.

Maybe he used subspace to create an illusion of loved ones or something. Feasible, since the subspace phenomenon works using the victims' thoughts, not his, so he wouldn't need to read their memories or do an absurd amount of research in order to hypnotize each and every one of his victims.

But if that was the case, why go to all that trouble just to kidnap a bunch of soldiers? He wasn't even using them to guard this place. In fact, he only used them to bring this relic site to reality, something that we also didn't know the reason for.

As Yut continued sniffing out the direction of the soldiers and the three of us remained stumped about the situation, Emilia, who was quietly looking over the data on her pad, seemed to have noticed something.

"There was a common pattern in the brainwaves of all the missing people we found. A real unusual one. Maybe he has a device that operates directly on people's brainwaves or their psyche?"

So instead of baiting the kidnapped people, he just straight up attacks their brains and mind controls them? That was also as good theory, but that was the one most worrying.

Brainwashing, mind control, and the like preys on, well, the mind. No two minds are the same but if Shizuru has something that indiscriminately takes over the mind of any one he wishes, regardless of race...

"Maybe he could only use it on a small area now, but if he were able to expand its range to the entire system-"

"Hey now, I got enough to worry about without you speculating us into a real mess."

Kraz interrupted Emilia's increasingly panicked mumbling, and to be honest, I probably would have done so myself if he hadn't. That was a scary thought, truth be told. Mind control on a group of people was already something, but on the entire system?

I get that Project Renaissance, the Ancients' plan to take over the entire system's consciousness, would essentially result in us losing control of our own bodies as well, but with that system-wide mind control, we would be helpless to stop it.

So, yeah, fun times.

"Well, whatever he's got planned, if we take that guy down before he gets around to it, then no problem, am I right?"

Red suddenly declared, still bearing that confident smirk I've been seeing ever since we met her during that particular mess of a mission.

Basically, we dig out the root of the problem and burn it to cinders. It was a perfect plan, except it was a lot easier said than done.

Hearing Red's suggestion, Emilia turned her head over to her and blinked a few times, and I braced myself for the retort and the subsequent argument I was sure would follow.

But contrary to my expectations, none of those things happened. Instead, Emilia smiled at Red. I had to blink a few times myself, but no, she did smile at the little prankster.

"Actually, this time, you are! We need to take Shizuru out! Nice and simple. I like!"

Emilia gave Red a thumbs up, which the redhead responded to with a shrug of her shoulders. I didn't know if Emilia's answer caught her by surprise or not, but if it did, she managed to hide it well.

Soon enough, while I was trying to make sure I didn't somehow stumble into an alternate universe much to the amusement of Red and Kraz, we reached the end of the long but straightforward corridor.

The next area was much wider, featuring a very high ceiling and little walls. Instead, the place was divided by short staircases and pathways. There still didn't seem to be any hostiles in the vicinity, so while wary, we continued on.

"What's that? Switches on the floor?"

Yut commented as he spotted four, differently colored pressure plates arranged in a square, as well as a large metallic door not far off that I'd wager was locked.

"Hmmm. There's a terminal over there. Might offer some clues."

Kraz gestured to a seemingly functioning device resting against a pillar near the switches. Compared to the ones we were finding back in the forest, this one was clearly in perfect condition.

Upon inspection, the door was indeed locked, and it was pretty obvious that these switches needed to be pressed to open it. I would guess that there's a certain sequence we needed to input though, or they wouldn't have bothered placing four switches in one place.

"Hmmm... Objective: To establish the best procedure for infusing the Gates of Denikaya with photons."

The Gates of Denikaya? I feel like I've heard that name before, but I can't remember where...

"Method: Using a simulator to infuse each type of photon in turn. Because the order of infusion is essential, all sequences were checked. Number of trials: Each sequence was tested one hundred times."

That seemed a bit... excessive.

There were four switches, so the total number of possible combinations must have been...

"Hey, Emilia, how many combinations does that make?"

"Huh? Sixty-four, technically. Twenty-four, if we're talking about no repetitions or blanks. Why?"

Twenty-four combinations... Honestly a lot less than what I was expecting. Of course, being switches, we couldn't have any repeating colors, so that lessens the amount of possible combinations.

Still, that's still a significant amount. It'd take a while to test them all one by one, and who knows how many chances we get. Knowing my luck, we're definitely not getting it in the first try if we guess. Gotta read on, I guess.

"Results: Sequences in which green was infused first were more stable than other sequences. We feel quite confident that green should be first."

"Green first, got it!"

Emilia stepped on the green switch, causing it to light up as it slightly sunk to the floor with a clicking sound.

"Alright, next is-"

"Red!"

"Eh? Hey, wait!"

Without waiting for the next part of the report, Red jumped on the switch corresponding to her hair color, activating it in the same way the green one did.

The four of us stared at Red blankly, who answered with her patented shoulder shrug. This kid...

"Are you a child? Are you seriously a child?"

"What? Red's the one up next, check the thing."

"Up next, huh? Let's see... We have also concluded that red shows the most affinity to green... yeah, whatever, fine."

Turns out she was actually right. Red was the next color we needed to activate, if what I was getting from the report was correct. Looks like I can overlook this incident this one time...

... if she would stop snickering like a damn juvenile, that is. When did that sneaky little pest even read the report, anyway? And how did I not notice?

Well, whatever. Now, for the next one.

"Yellow appears to-"

"Yellow!"

"No, stop, don't step on yellow!"

"Huh? I thought you said yellow?"

Thanks to Red's earlier stunt, I was on-guard for something like this. I managed to stop Yut from preempting my explanation and activating the yellow switch.

Good thing he heeded my call, otherwise I had no idea what would have happened if we inputted the wrong sequence.

"I wasn't finished. Er-hem, yellow appears to lower the affinity of photons infused after it. We conclude that yellow should be infused last. That means, hit the blue one first."

"Oh. Okay then!"

Yut nodded as he made his way over to the blue switch instead, activating it without a hitch. That leaves one switch to activate.

I moved to head to the last one, but before I could do so, Kraz pushed off from the wall he was leaning on and stopped me.

"Heh. Don't even trip, I got this."

"Uh, alright then."

Well, if he's volunteering, then I don't really see the problem with it. Must have gotten bored watching us fiddle with a bunch of color-coded switches.

Kraz activated the final switch, and after a short beeping sound, the metal door opposite the terminal made a loud clicking sound, before promptly sliding open.

"Huh, look at that, you kids actually dialed in the right order."

"Yeah, woohoo, go us."

I'm sorry, but I couldn't exactly find it in me to be enthusiastic about it. It was clearly a momentous occasion. We should be celebrating.

Seeing my obviously sarcastic cheer, Kraz grinned before stepping off the switch, making his way over to the now unlocked door. The others moved to follow, and I did so as well, but something caught my eye as I was leaving the terminal.

Looking back at the terminal, I noticed that the earlier document about the photon testing procedure was gone. Instead, it was replaced by a moderately lengthy piece that looked more like a research finding.

Report: Fall of the Ancients

Author: Lajeston Kinison, AMF Researcher

The relic sites -- not only the Denes Relic Site, but all of them -- activated themselves during the Seed Invasion. This is not only evidence that the the relic sites were originally built as a means of combating the Seed, but also proof positive that there must have been a Seed Invasion during the time of the Ancients.

But building such structures must have taken a great deal of time. If the Ancients began to construct the relic sites after the Seed attacked, one wonders how they managed to hold off the Seed until the sites were complete.

... huh? That's it? That felt like a bit of an abrupt end to that report.

So, Lajeston Kinison? Can't say I'm familiar with the name. But he does raise some interesting questions. Something that came to my thoughts was a memory from back in the other relic site, the one I met Emilia in. Back then, she said that relic sites activate in response to particles emitted by Seeds.

And according to Kinison here, relic sites were built by the Ancients as an anti-Seed mechanism. Mika already told me once that Seeds attacked in their time as well, so that's another proof positive.

But his last question was a curious case indeed. How did the Ancients find the time and resources to build the relic sites while fending off Seed attacks? Something doesn't quite add up.

"Hey, Kara! Hurry up!"

"Huh? Oh, sorry, be right there!"

Well, we can wonder about that later.

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III

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I've stopped being surprised about there being no enemies some time ago. Seems like either this place had been left completely unguarded, or we were indeed walking into a trap.

That second one made me a little worried, considering that Shizuru was after Emilia, and here we are, bringing her directly to him.

But we didn't really have much of a choice. Without her, we couldn't have known what to do with those terminals, and while we maybe could have figured out a workaround to that, Emilia was probably safer with us, truth be told. Not to mention she wouldn't have stayed at Clad 6 even if we told her to, anyway.

Not long after that four-color coded gate, we arrived at a staircase that led up to a rather impressive looking door.

"If I were to guess, that would be a control room or something."

"So, end of the line, huh?"

Red pondered, staring up at the door with an unusually serious expression.

Well, I'd say the term was pretty apt. That room was probably indeed the end of the relic site, so what we're looking for was likely inside.

The five of us shared a knowing look amongst ourselves, and we started climbing the stairs wordlessly. Once we reached to top, the door slid open for us automatically without any problems at all.

No need for any fanfare, we stepped inside, and the AMF soldiers we were looking for were piled up in a corner, unconscious as unconscious can be. With their thoughts being used to recreate this place, I figured they'd be in this kind of condition. At least they were alive.

But though our mission was to rescue them, something far more pressing presented itself the moment our eyes wandered to the rest of the area.

There, at the end of the room, in front of a control panel of sorts, stood the black-clad Shizuru Shu, three red pads hovering in front of him.

I've seen one of those before, back in the Kasch Village, also in his possession. Him having three now meant that...

We were too late.

"Heh. Mine at last. Is it just me, or do the best things always come in threes? Kasch, Rykros, and Denes! All three Codices are mine! Time for my ambition to be realized. Time for all to return to what it was!"

"Sorry to interrupt ya when yer having fun, but you're through. Turn around."

Kraz quickly summoned his twin handguns as we approached, training them on the back of the laughing Shizuru. The rest of us flanked the Ancient-possessed heir from all directions the room allowed us and summoned our own weapons, staying on guard as best as we could.

If Shizuru was surprised by us suddenly barging in on his little celebration unannounced, then he didn't show it at all. Upon hearing Kraz's order to turn around, he obliged, but not before willing the Codices back into wherever he keeps them.

Shizuru finished turning around a few seconds later, and once he saw us, his face morphed into something akin to lighting up, a sinister smile crawling its way into his lips.

"Ah, it's you again. Seems our fates are intertwined."

I felt a drop of cold sweat trickle down to the side of my face, but I didn't dare look away. My saber and shield were at the ready, but I still felt wholly unprepared. I still get the feeling that he could take me out in an instant should he wish it.

But I'll be damned if I show any sign of fear or weakness here. He already has all three Codices, and if we don't stop him here, we can kiss our lives as we know it goodbye. Emilia, Red, and Yut all seemed to share the same sentiments, ready to throw down the moment Shizuru so much as twitches.

Kraz, on the other hand, scoffed at Shizuru's words, but still kept his gaze unwavering, his guns poised to fire away at any moment.

"Tangled, more like it. You were behind the disappearances."

"I wouldn't say that I was behind them so much as I made them happen. All by myself."

The way he sounded so proud about what he said forced my face into a grimace. I didn't even know if what he said made any sense, they sounded like the same thing to me. But it didn't make it any less infuriating.

Unfazed by Shizuru's unrepentant smirk, Kraz continued his interrogation.

"How'd you brainwash them?"

"Ah, that? Nothing too complicated. Their hollow shells are mere puppets to be manipulated."

"Hollow? What the hell are you talking about?"

"You wouldn't understand. No one whose soul is forever bound to the temporary existence of flesh could understand."

There it is once again, that extreme superiority complex. I understand being grandiose, but the way he goes about it just ticks me off, honestly. Just another incentive for us to try and take him down. Along with that ridiculous getup.

Although this wasn't the first time we've heard this kind of talk from Shizuru, the same couldn't be said for Kraz. His face was probably an exact mirror of mine the first time I heard Shizuru go on about flesh and mortals.

"You recreated this relic site to get the third and final key! And you used their memories to do it!"

Much to our surprise, Emilia stepped forward angrily. Thankfully, she didn't engage with an attack, but it was still a reckless move!

I didn't have the opportunity to berate her for it, though. We couldn't present any kind of opening for Shizuru to slip away. Emilia's little outburst might have been a chance to escape, but Shizuru's arrogance probably got in the way of that.

Shizuru turned his attention onto Emilia, a spark of interest dancing in his malicious eyes. Definitely not good, but Emilia just glared back determinedly. I should stop her from provoking him any further, but the way things were going, I doubt we could resolve this situation non-violently, anyway.

"Sounds like someone's been doing a bit of thinking! You're different from the others, aren't you? Perhaps you'd like to see how subspace is really supposed to be used?"

I get that Emilia's a genius, but what she said was obvious to anyone who had any kind of thinking ability. Why did that make him think she was different? Did he really think that low of us?

Judging by that look on his face, he does. Well, it's not like I expected any different.

What I didn't expect, however, was the area again warping into a distorted mess. Shizuru, the soldiers, the entire relic site, they all disappeared from reality, once again leaving the five of us in a void of white nothingness.

Until we were somewhere else.

We were standing on a long, narrow bridge that connected the wall of the area to a large, glowing, circular platform. The room seemed to be dome-shaped, and rather large. Much larger than the previous room we were in.

What caught our attention though, was the obscene amount of Seedforms absolutely everywhere. Crawling on the walls, flying through burning holes in the ceiling, and causing massive havoc in the other areas we could spot from where we stood.

It was total chaos.

"What the-?! The AMF HQ?! But it's under attack from the Seed...!"

Kraz shouted in surprise, and to be honest, I felt like freaking out too. Knowing we were in the AMF HQ didn't help matters any, as there were completely no signs of anyone that could assist us.

Typical, since this was clearly reality manifested through thoughts. And if my guess is right, this scenario was...

"This is a reenactment of what happened three years ago!"

Emilia nailed it perfectly. We were witnessing the AMF HQ as it was three years ago, during the Seed attack. From what news I could recall, the AMF were one of the places that were hit the hardest.

Well, I can certainly attest to that now.

"Seed... they're everywhere! Wheres the Land-Mother?! Show yourself!"

Yut called out angrily, but Shizuru showed no hints of a reappearance. Rather, a sinister laugh emitted from seemingly nowhere. It was clearly Shizuru's voice, but I couldn't spot him anywhere.

"Don't you want to enjoy the show? I just gave form to the worst memories those rubbish held in what passes for their brains. Do you not find it a suitable nightmare to accompany you to your deaths? An unending nightmare... Watch as it spreads!"

He definitely looks down on us that much. And he certainly isn't one to play things down, is he? It's like what they say, the most important thing a villain should have is showmanship.

A few seconds after his speech, the area started shaking violently, almost throwing us out of balance. The glowing circle which was previously empty began blaring out a loud noise, and from it, slowly rose something quite large.

Before long, the thing that emerged from the platform was clear to us. It was a massive machine with large, clawed arms. On its shoulders were seemingly weaponry of some sort, possibly missile launchers. And on its front seemed to be a figure of a woman half buried in the machine that seemed to be overtaken by a Seed-like infestation.

My eyes widened as my thoughts caught up to my memory. Towering in front of us was Mother Brain, the supercomputer and AI that operated the AMF.

Because of that, when it was taken over by the Seed, the CASTs it controlled went haywire and further complicated the war against the Seeds. Extreme pains were taken to shut it down and bring the CASTs and the AMF to any semblance of normalcy.

And now we had to fight it with just the five of us. I thus decided that today was not a good day.

"So you used subspace to recreate the AMF soldiers' memories? You're making them relive their worst nightmares! That's... that's pure evil! How could you?!"

"Never thought I'd see the day, but I actually agree with Emilia on this one, one hundred percent. You're going down, bub."

Well, looks like Kraz didn't take long to get thoroughly sick with the man in black. I can relate to the feeling. He's way overdue a beatdown, Little Wing style.

"Yap on, little pups. I see no need for me to waste my time dealing with you, so I'll simply let this nightmare do the job for me. Enjoy!"

But we'll have to take care of Mother Brain first, it seems. Well, when have things ever been easy?

"You guys ready?"

"As I'll ever be, partner!"

"Too right, bolthead. Wouldn't be Little Wing if we weren't!"

"Time to take back the Land-Mother!"

Seems like they're motivated enough. Despite the situation we were in, I couldn't help but grin a little. We were still a dysfunctional, mismatched team, but we've really come a long way.

"Intruders detected. Security systems activated."

But maybe I should save that for later. Right now, we have something quite urgent to take care of first. I can reminisce once we've beaten this thing!

ooo000ooo

IV

ooo000ooo

Right off the bat, Mother Brain started firing a thick barrage of lasers at us. If I already thought that today was not a good day, then it was definitely bad right about now.

"E-eek! That doesn't look good!"

As Emilia squeaked a frightened remark, I called forth my new shield and dashed to the front, hiding as much of my body as possible behind the defensive weapon while maintaining a solid footing.

A few milliseconds later, I felt the laser beams impact the facade of my shield. The force of each individual beam wasn't that strong, but Mother Brain fired off a lot of lasers, and I felt myself get pushed back bit by bit.

I didn't manage to block all of the lasers, as the assault was more of a scatter shot than a focused blast, but it proved to be enough for the others to be able to evade the ones that got past.

The shield admirably held on strong, cementing in my mind what a good buy it was. Still, it probably wouldn't be wise to bank on it managing to stop all of Mother Brain's attacks. In all likelihood, this was just a warm-up of sorts.

The lasers stopped after a few more rounds, the barrage having numbed my left arm a bit. But Mother Brain didn't immediately attack again after, offering the others the opportunity for a counterattack.

"Alright, remember, we're in a tight area, so no Mirage Blasts or wide area techs! Got that?!"

"Roger!"

My teammates, mostly Emilia, responded in the affirmative to Kraz's orders, before shortening the gap between us and Mother Brain while it was still in some kind of cooldown period.

Despite its size, Mother Brain moved faster than I initially anticipated, but Red was still able to slip in and get up close and personal with her double saber, striking its partly mechanical body repeatedly.

In retaliation, it made a grab for her but Red proved to be too quick for that, slipping out of its grip before she got caught.

"Raaah!"

With a fierce warcry, Yut charged with his spear and thrust at the supercomputer's arm that missed Red, failing to pierce its tough exterior but managing to make it flinch from the force.

"No AOE's! Okay then, triple [Foie]!"

In quick succession, Emilia launched three moderately sized fireballs at the staggered Mother Brain. All of them hit their mark, further making the giant machine somehow recoil in pain.

Red was then once again back on its case, aiming to slash at its 'face' but Mother Brain managed to move just enough that she missed. Making the most out of the situation, Red kicked off the ground immediately upon landing and spun her weapon in place for a horizontal attack on its midsection, this time managing to connect.

Mother Brain again attempted to grab Red in retaliation, much faster this time, but was stopped cold by a flurry of photon bullets, courtesy of Kraz.

Since handguns had less range than a rifle, Kraz came in close for an attack that would have hit and dealt any meaningful damage. Although his shots connected without any particular thought on precision, accuracy was a different matter entirely and Kraz assaulted Mother Brain with a steady stream of uncharged bullets.

Soon enough, Kraz had to 'reload'. Photon guns didn't use actual bullets, but they still had to cool off after a set amount of shots, else they overheat and become useless. The rain of bullets stopped, but Mother Brain was given no reprieve, a singular but much stronger bullet impacting its head.

My rifle shot didn't blow off its head or pierce through it as I hoped, but the charged, aimed shot caused it to harshly lean back, a sizeable chunk of its face having been distorted and burnt.

"Warning. Threat level increased from 1 to 2. Initiating advanced security protocol."

"Threat level 2? What's that in aid of?"

Kraz's question was answered when Mother Brain emitted a dim blue outline, almost as if casting Deband on itself to increase its defenses. True enough, our attacks started dealing noticeably less damage.

Ignoring our assault, Mother Brain clenched its clawed mechanical hands together and raised them high, ringing several alarm bells in my mind.

"Red, Yut, get out of there!"

Thankfully they both heeded my warning and managed to get out of Mother Brain's immediate vicinity before it heavily slammed its fists down on the bridge, almost panicking me into thinking that it was going to give way.

We didn't fall to our deaths, thankfully enough, but the shockwave from the massive impact threw us off to the far wall, amidst the unsettling creaking of the metal bridge.

"Alright, while it's recharging!"

Picking ourselves up, we resumed our assault. But as Kraz and I started charging our guns and Emilia began casting, Mother Brain unleashed another barrage of lasers, the cooldown from before seemingly no longer a thing.

I hurriedly switched out my rifle for my shield and scrambled to get in front of my teammates. While the lasers this time didn't seem to be any stronger, I had less time to get in position and thus didn't manage to block as well as I did earlier.

"Woah! Hey, block better, bandit!"

"Does it look I'm not trying?! Gah, ow!"

While not unimaginably painful, the lasers still stung like hell in the places that got hit. The others seemed to have gotten hit as well, but it doesn't sound like they've suffered any lethal damage, which was good.

Except for the ungrateful Red, who might have still managed to avoid getting hit.

"Ouch! Oooh, that does it! [Barta] wall!"

Barta what?

As an answer to my bewildered thoughts, an irritated Emilia launched a massive gust of frost in front of us, creating a thick, wide, and tall wall of ice. The lasers chipped off pieces from the front of the ice wall, but it remained standing, allowing me to exit my blocking stance.

I turned back towards the slightly winded Emilia, who had some scorch marks on her arms and legs, and gave her an unimpressed stare.

"Couldn't you have done that earlier?"

"Hey, instead of that, why don't you just thank me, huh?! That wasn't easy to get right!"

She does have a point, this is the first time I've seen this kind of use for the Barta tech. Now that I think about it, that was weird, but I guess people don't normally fight giant supercomputers that can shower you with lasers.

So I guess I can give her points for creativity. Still, this makeshift shield wouldn't last forever. We needed a new plan of attack.

"So, what now?"

"[Resta]!"

"Not what I had in mind, but thanks."

Yut's technic healed most of the damage we received from the surprise laser barrage, causing a proud grin to appear on his face. Well, I suppose it's good that he's getting comfortable with that wand of his, but it still doesn't solve our current problem.

As if to punctuate that fact, the latest round of lasers blasted Emilia's ice wall into bits, leaving us open for maximum laser-ing.

"Double [Barta] wall!"

Another ice wall sprung up from the remains of the ruined one, before a third one formed directly behind it for reinforcement, catching the next salvo of lasers much more effectively.

But this didn't seem to be a sustainable solution, however. The ice wall still took heavy damage from the barrage, and Emilia didn't seem to be doing good on the stamina front, slumping down on the floor while breathing heavily.

"Haa... I don't think I can keep that up, guys..."

"Yeah, no shit. We need to think of something, fast..."

To further illustrate just how little time we had, the first wall shattered, leaving the second wall battered from the last round. At this point, it was thinned, cracked, and melted enough that it was partially see-through.

Enough that I could probably aim through it... and if I time it just right...

That's it!

"Kraz, do you have a rifle or any other long range weapon?"

"Sure do. Whatcha planning?"

By now, Mother Brain was probably charging its next assault, which would surely destroy our last shield. If, at the exact moment the wall breaks down, I unleash a charged shot at the laser-firing mechanisms on Mother Brain's 'shoulders', it should be enough to, at the very least, halt the barrage and allow us to counterattack.

Problem is, I can only fire one charged shot powerful enough to compromise the laser cannons at a time, and Mother Brain had two, hence why I asked Kraz. Fortunately, he had a weapon that would work with what I had planned.

"Huh. Not bad, kid, not bad! Alright, let's see if we can bust 'er up real good!"

Wording, Kraz. There are children with us.

With a wide grin on his face, Kraz summoned a rifle different to mine. In fact, it looked much more expensive and fancy.

Kraz must have noticed the slight envy that appeared on my face, as his grin widened even more.

"I know that look. Tell ya what, kid, we pull this off, you can have this baby right here."

"Then I'll hold you to that."

"Heh. Alright, on my signal."

I'm not gonna mince my words, I really want that rifle.

But we have bigger things to worry about right now. Kraz and I took position behind the last ice wall, our rifles humming in sync as we charged them up to as high as they can go.

I aimed the barrel of my rifle at Mother Brain's right shoulder, with Kraz taking the left. Our rifles charged to the max, we silently waited for the next laser barrage, with Emilia, Red, and Yut watching with bated breath.

Time seemed to slow down as a sweat drop trailed down my cheek. I kept my hands as steady as I could as I watched Mother Brain's laser cannons flare up bright blue, ready to release my shot at any moment.

In a moment of absolute stillness, time grinded to a halt as I heard nothing, felt nothing, before the air cracked from the large amount of laser beams Mother Brain let loose.

Hit after hit, the ice wall shed bits of itself, holding on just enough to stop the lasers from harming us.

And in one final crash, it shattered into a million pieces, removing anything from standing in between us and our target.

"Fire!"

Before Mother Brain could continue using its seemingly endless supply of lasers, Kraz and I let loose our fully charged shots. The bright, almost searing bullets zipped across the air like a pair of high-speed balls of light, and in no time at all, they reached their destination.

In a magnificent duo of booms, our shots hit their marks and blasted a large hole on both of the laser cannons, causing a series of connected explosions that culminated in one fiery bang.

In one fell swoop, the cause of our immediate problems was destroyed, freeing us from the constant barrage of lasers, but much more importantly, giving us the chance to launch our counteroffensive.

"Yut, Red, give 'em hell!"

"Leave it to me!"

"The main character's turn!"

ooo000ooo

V

ooo000ooo

With Mother Brain's primary way of keeping us at bay gone, our melee heavy-hitters, Red and Yut, were able to close in on it in short order, managing to bypass its augmented defenses with hard, physical strikes.

Not to be outdone, Kraz and I also went in with our guns, joining in on the assault at Mother Brain with more charged shots. Our collective attacks blasted and tore apart the supercomputer's body, sparks dancing across its most damaged areas.

"Warning. Warning. Critical damage sustained. Threat level increased to 3. Eliminate targets immediately."

The robotic, slightly glitching out voice announced, somehow producing an urgent tone.

The room started flashing red lights, as if like some kind of emergency signal. Mother Brain lit up in a Shifta-esque red glow, replacing the earlier blue light that signified an increase in defense.

"That can't be good. We gotta finish this, quick-like!"

Kraz announced, looking concerned about the sudden change in Mother Brain. I was inclined to agree, it didn't look particularly happy about the punishment we've wrought on it.

Unfortunately, we couldn't get on what Kraz wanted us to do. Mother Brain was suddenly surrounded by a blue force field, keeping us and our attacks from reaching it.

Without giving us any time to think up a countermeasure for the barrier, the room, and more importantly, the bridge, started shaking violently.

"Let's hope this metal slab here holds on!"

Red commented as she crouched down to keep her balance, with the rest of us emulating her. With that slam from earlier, and now this, I couldn't help but wonder about the integrity of this bridge.

Fortunately for us, it held on. What didn't hold on, however, were numerous chunks of metal that were ripped off from the walls by some kind of magnetic force, gathering in front of the force field protected Mother Brain and melding into one gigantic globe of crumpled and squeezed steel.

No guesses as to what it was gonna do with that.

"... this scenario looks awfully familiar."

"Stop reminiscing and do something!"

Well, what do you expect me to do then?

It's funny. Red wasn't one to be shaken so easily, but when she does, she really doesn't try to hide it, does she?

Of course, now might not be a good time to wonder about that. Unlike the last time we were in danger of being flattened, Maya wasn't here with us, and I don't think any of us can perform the Ice Mirage Blast.

Hmmm. Weird. I would have thought I'd be panicking more, but I guess the more these things happen, the more I get desensitized, huh?

"I would still very much like to live, though."

"What are you mumbling about now?!"

"I, too, would like to live!"

"Then don't just stand there!"

Sheesh, turn it down a little, would ya?

More seriously though, Mother Brain seemed to have gathered enough scraps and released the magnetic hold over the massive chunk of metal, letting gravity run its course. The steel globe began rolling down the bridge, which still somehow held on.

Out of time, then. What now? I doubt Yut alone can hold that off, and it was too high for us to leap over! No to mention, it was accelerating much too fast for us to outrun it to the exit of the room and there's also the question of whether or not it was locked!

"[Dambarta]!"

As I ran out of any possible ideas to make it out of this predicament, a thick, continuous stream of ice energy came from behind us, hitting the base of the rolling metal boulder and forming a short barricade of ice.

The obstacle was crushed instantly, but Emilia grit her teeth kept on the stream, producing more and more chunks of ice that barely, just barely, slowed down the metal globe in an angonizing pace.

"Emilia!"

"Just... a little more!"

Drawing more power from who knows where, Emilia called forth more ice that forcibly decelerated the metal boulder, until it was firmly in place, a haphazard mess of ice holding it up and stopping it from continuing its downward path.

We had no time to celebrate, though, as the ice creaked and cracked under the weight of the iron ball.

Kraz and I ran towards the collapsed Emilia, with him picking her up and carrying her on his back.

"Hmph. Reckless as always."

"I didn't have a choice... I couldn't just let you guys get crushed..."

"Worry about yourself first. Now, hang tight and leave the rest to me."

With a surge of energy, Kraz reared back and once again Nanoblasted, transforming into the black lupine form that he used earlier.

With Emilia on his back, Kraz moved faster than I could follow, grabbing Yut and I with his clawed hands, and biting on to the hood of Red's jacket, allowing him to carry the four of us at the same time.

"H-hey!"

Red's face flushed as she was hoisted up by Kraz's muzzle, creating a completely undignified image for the great Crimson Hunter.

"Haha..."

"Don't you laugh!"

Emilia weakly laughed, much to the annoyance of Red. Unfortunately for her, all that karma from making fun of the my partner quickly caught up with her.

With one final crack, the ice that was halting the boulder's advance shattered, and with a deep rumble, it was once again on its way to us.

Kraz howled, though muffled by the act of biting on Red's hood, before crouching down and leaping extraordinarily high, carrying all of us over the boulder which crashed into the far wall, destroying it upon impact.

The shockwave from the crash assaulted us from behind, but somehow, Kraz remained firm while in mid-air, landing perfectly on the bridge and dropping the three of us unceremoniously as he changed back to normal.

"Gettin' too old for this... You three better have this handled. Don't worry about the brainless wonder, I got her."

Emilia still on his back, Kraz said as he kneeled down, breathing heavily. Looks like the strain of Nanoblasting twice in one day was substantial enough to leave him in this fatigued state.

Well, that leaves just Yut, Red, and I to take care of the rest.

"Alright then, I guess it's up to us. How troublesome."

Mother Brain looked to be on its last legs, but it wasn't an organic opponent so fatigue wasn't a problem for it. It can probably still give us a fight even now, evidenced by it once again pulling forth chunks of metal towards it. It didn't seem to be repeating the metal globe attack, which was quite frankly, a great relief, but it was still a considerable amount.

Oh well, victory to the one who strikes first!

I summoned my saber and handgun, firing off a round of shots at the heavily damaged supercomputer while Red and Yut charged, drawing the attention of its clawed hands.

My shots hit the areas that looked to be the most damaged, causing Mother Brain's movements to stutter as the bullets connected, allowing Red and Yut to wail on it unimpeded.

"Whatever you're doing, bandit, keep it up!"

"Watch out!"

Yut warned, gesturing towards Mother Brain who was poised to do a sweeping attack with one of its arms. Red and Yut managed to get clear, slightly sliding back due to the gust of wind produced by the swing.

Immediately after, the chunks of steel it summoned earlier were launched towards us.

"This thing's relentless!"

Red commented as she evaded a particular large chunk, starting a dash for the supercomputer with the intent of finishing it off. Yut and I followed suit, with him charging through some of the smaller scraps and me batting them away with my saber.

Mother Brain then futilely attempted to grab Red, missing but succeeding in dissuading her from continuing her attack.

With Red off its case for the time being, Mother Brain then gathered several scraps together and threw it at Yut and I. We stopped as the projectile went flying towards us, but I was suddenly back in motion when Yut grabbed me by the arm.

"What the-?!"

"I'll stand my ground! Go!"

Before I could understand what the crazy kid was talking about, I was suddenly in the air, having been thrown out of the trajectory of the attack.

Yut roared as he thrust his spear into the chunk of steel as it reached him, still ending up getting thrown away roughly but managing to deflect it off the bridge and into the seemingly bottomless abyss below.

As for me...

"Yut!"

"Hey, heads up!"

Red called out, pointing to a group of metal scraps that were flying towards my direction.

With Yut's throw giving me massive air time, I had no choice but to switch to my twin sabers and slice away the debris that were in a direct collision course with me.

Unfortunately, my trajectory changed because of the action, causing me to start falling down before reaching Mother Brain.

"Stepping stones, coming your way!"

"What're you idiots trying to make me do?!"

Red once more called out to me, dashing around the bridge and swatting up several decently sized metal scraps towards me with her double saber, obviously intending for me to use them as footholds to keep myself airborne.

With falling down within range of Mother Brain's arms definitely not being an option, I reluctantly kicked off the slabs Red sent my way, allowing me to stay high in the air and inch closer to our opponent simultaneously. I switched to my gun to blast away the projectiles that were high enough to reach me, but unfortunately, I didn't have enough momentum to land a decisive blow on Mother Brain.

"[Rafoie]!"

As if having read my mind, a weakened Rafoie exploded some distance behind and above me, sending me downwards towards Mother Brain at a high velocity.

I switched to my shield to protect myself from the last-ditch steel projectiles, and once Mother Brain was within striking distance, I switched back to my twin sabers and unleashed a cross-slash at its 'neck', ripping it open and causing a thick stream of electricity to erupt all over its now malfunctioning body.

At the first instance of an explosion, I pushed off its body to get away, forcibly ignoring the slight electrocution I received from the stray sparks.

"Catastrophic damage. Shutting down."

Mother Brain slumped down, like a doll whose strings have been cut, and exploded in brilliant fashion, slightly blinding me as I was thrown away by the shockwaves.

"I got ya, kid!"

My body stopped flying uncontrollably as I felt someone catch me in mid-air, saving me from the unpleasant experience of a crash landing.

I managed to open my eyes after that, and I learnt that it was Kraz who arrested my fall. We landed soon enough, and he let me down as the others approached.

"I owe you one, boss..."

"Heh, don't mention it. Nice work out there."

"Thanks."

"Kara! That was awesome!"

"You need to teach me those moves sometime!"

"Not half bad, bandit! Not half bad at all."

Please, please, I know I'm amazing but one at a time...

As we were lightly celebrating our victory over Mother Brain, our surroundings started distorting again, a sight which I was now getting used to.

While the ruined AMF HQ and the numerous Seeds that strangely didn't attack us faded away, a still unseen but incredulous Shizuru sputtered in disbelief, voice filled with barely concealed shock.

"What...? What's happening? You broke the nightmare?!"

You better believe it, pal.