A Knight Does Not Die with Empty Hands [F/SN / Infinite Stratos / ???]

[nick012000]

[X] Plan Bii.

 

[Pipeman]

[X] Hold your ground

 

[Happerry]

[X] Hold your ground
- - [X] Try to identify the attacker, if you can't do it alone ask Houki for help.
- - - - [X] If the attacker is from Phantom Task "Retaliate: Fire with your surger"
- - - - [X] If the attacker is simply someone investigating the situation, like an agent from the government, "Evade and head back to base"

 

[EnderofWorlds]

[X] Hold your ground

You decide to hold your ground; attacking is unwise because for all you know it could be an IS Representative trying to figure out what's going on, and attacking them would only make things worse. Also, at the speed that IS is coming you're unsure if you could outspeed it; whatever lead you might have over it wouldn't be enough to take you out of range of the rifle it used to shoot you down. This way, you can defend yourself without causing an international incident by accident.

You also call Houki for help, "Houki I have an unidentified IS heading towards me, can you ID it for me?"

"Can't, too busy organizing the captives and getting them back to their homes; sorry. You're on your own here." Damn, looks like you have to play this by ear. Alright, this shouldn't be to hard; just keep your guard up and prepare to-

Before you could even finish that thought, the enemy IS used Ignition Shift to jump right in front of you and deck your face with a haymaker. The force of the blow sends you flying several yards before you can regain control and bring yourself to a stop. Now that they're not so far away, you can see who your assailant is.

The IS before is like a mirror reflection of yours; white where there is black, blue where there is red, and with a more feminine outline. The IS that attacked you was none other than the White Knight; seeming upgraded from the last time you fought by the looks of the armor added onto it's frame. Before you could even try to talk to the pilot, parts of the White Knight's armor glowed and she moved.

Dashing into another charge, the White Knight levels her rifle at you while charging with a sword in the other; constantly firing lasers at you as fast at the rifle can spit them out. You take evasive action; activating Blaze Luminous on both arms and deflecting the shots back at her, while also trying to get some distance on her. While your IS is fast, whatever upgrades the White Knight went under made it just as fast too; if not faster.

Eventually, the rifle overheats and stops its salvo; only for your enemy to flip it around and grab it by the barrel to use it as a club. Once again she uses Ignition Shift to close the distance and swings her makeshift club at your left and her sword in an overhead slash. You grab the rifle with your left hand and rip it out of her grasp while also bring out one of your own swords to block the overhead swing. The blades clash, unable to cut through one another until you kick her in the chest to get some distance.

Now with some breathing room, you use the surger in your left arm to destroy the rifle you stole. Without it, the White Knight's long range capabilities are severely limited. You then level your arm and fire off a long range shot at your enemy, forcing her on the defensive as she evades your surge beam. However, it's not enough; as the White Knight continues weaving and dodging in the sky, evading the destructive beam while also steadily getting closer to engage you with its swords.

However, that was exactly what you wanted; you activated Ignition Shift and enter her guard, slashing at her chest. She tried to bring her sword to block, but was too slow. You land a direct hit, but unlike with the lesser ISes earlier, the standard energy shielding of the White Knight still hold; though such a direct hit must've taken a sizable chunk of its energy reserves.

You continued your assault, bringing both of your swords against her's; each blow being blocked or counted by another. She was skilled, and unlike last time was in an IS that could actually keep up. As you dodge and prepare for a charge, you briefly consider using Knight of Honor, but decide against it. You weren't on the ropes, and more importantly you wanted to battle with your natural skill against an opponent of this caliber. Unless it proved to be absolutely necessary, you won't use Knight of Honor. Not yet.

As you charge in with a thrust, you're met with an equal charge by your opponent. Once again, your blades lock; except this time parts of the White Knight's armor begin to light up and she overpowers you, breaking through your guard and dealing a direct hit with a vertical slash. The force of the blow sends you plummeting, and you just barely manage to recover before hitting the ground below. You try to get some distance and attack from afar, but this time the White Kinght is faster than you and forces you to fight her up close.

The two of you begin weaving and dashing in the sky like angry hornets; every clash of blades ending with you breaking off before trying again. Through the entire battle, you come to the conclusion that the major upgrade the White Knight had attained; the armor add-ons, allowed it to improve its parameters when it activates: when it needed to be faster, the armor made it faster. When it needed to break through someone's guard, it made the IS stronger.

It basically allowed the IS to perform whatever role the pilot needed it to at optimum efficiency; be it as a long-range sniper or a CQC tank, the armor would change to perform that function. What that means for you, unfortunately, is that the White Knight was now modified to be faster and stronger than the Black Knight; if the fight continues at this rate, you'll be beaten.

It was at this moment, that you heard a computerized voice chime in, "Bishamonten System online; baseline analysis achieved. Accessing...analysis data accessed; beginning modifications. Warning; analysis shows that modifications required to reach the projected baseline indicated will cause intense strain to the pilot's body. Records indicate, however, that the pilot is above peak human parameters and can handle the strain; continue with the modifications?"

"Yes! Do it!" You scream, before barely dodging another diagonal slash from the White Knight and countering with your own.

"Permission granted; continuing modifications. Removing safety limiters...limiters removed. IS parameters enhanced by 350% at the risk of increased strain to the human body. Absolute Defense shielding removed; diverting extra power to thrusters and Radiant Wave Surgers; output of both systems enhanced by 150%. Modifying R.W.S....modifications complete; both surgers can be activated to enhance the power of punching attacks by 120% and their range by an additional two meters. Modifying Blaze Luminous...modifications complete; Blaze Luminous can now be implemented as a energy-based bladed weapon, energy output enhanced by an additional 75%. Modifying Twin MVS/RBE Broadswords...modifications complete; oscillating increased by 500% and temperature increased by 450%, energy blade range decreased by fifteen centimeters. Analyzing...modifications complete."

While the system was spouting out all the changes it was making, you were fending off the White Knight's brutal offensive; countering, dodging, and blocking each and every slash and stab sent at you. When it finished, you immediately broke away from your foe and began your own counterattack. You swung your twin broadswords in a cross-slash and cut through the White Knight's own swords as it tried to block you. Then, it used Ignition Shift to get some distance on you and revealed it had another rifle. Then, they leveled it at you and began firing; managing to shoot one sword out of your arm.

However, it wasn't enough; you dodged each and every shot after that, and dashed right towards the enemy. Right when it seemed you were about to attack them, you used Ignition Shift to move over to the right and instead grab their right shoulder-wing. Then you activated your Radiant Wave Surger; the wing beginning to bubble and warp from the radiation waves, until it exploded. Without the right wing stabilizer; the White Knight began to plummet to the ground.

With the enemy defeated, you made your way back to base; your mission accomplished.


When you got back, you found Houki there waiting for you; looking dead tired and laying her head down on an open workbench. When you landed, she heard you and got up, walking to where you were. Once she was there, you explained what happened.

Houki takes her hand to her chin and begins thinking aloud, "I see...I guess nee-san decided to take matters into her own hands as well, probably wanted to torch the whole place down. Unlike with what we did; the most she'd bother paying attention would probably be 'Phantom Task base' and 'Very important'. That would also explain why she sent Chifuyu there too; it gives her a way to vent and get some payback of her own. That's also probably why she upgraded the White Knight too..."

Wait, who's the pilot of the White Knight? "My sister's the pilot of the White Knight?!" Sure you had your suspicions, but you were never certain...

Houki turns to you, "Well, yeah; I mean it's pretty obvious. You didn't know? Who did you think it was?"

"Well, I always had my suspicions; but I couldn't count out the possibility of your sister doing something like...cloning nee-san, or making an AI duplicate of her and putting it into a robot body. That does sound like something your sister would do, you know." You say, giving Houki a deadpan look; as if challenging her to refute your claim.

"...You have a point there. Still, now that we've got that mind-blowing revelation out of the way; can you tell me more about the White Knight; performance, weapons, modifications, anything out of the ordinary. Oh, and a report on the Black Knight; you mentioned the Bishamonten System activating and I need to check it for kinks."

You sigh and give as much of a detailed report on both ISes as you can; noting the armor of the White Knight, and listing off the System's modifications of the Black Knight. When you get to those however...

"Wait; run the first two modifications by me again?" Houki asks you, looking serious and a little worried about what you just said.

"Sure, it said that it removed the safety limiters and absolute defense shielding to make the Black Knight stronger and faster; why, is something wrong?"

Houki pauses, then holds her hand out, "Hand me the IS, and to answer your question; maybe. The limiters are there so that you don't end up going too fast or that the IS doesn't put enough strain on your body to actually kill you. The fact that it actually disabled that and the absolute shielding is worrying; without both the Black Knight is practically a moving death trap now. Any wrong move will either kill you or severely injure you; and there's no safety net of 'absolute shielding' to fall on if it happens."

You remove the ring and hand it over, then asked confusedly, "Strain? Doesn't the PIC or whatever it's called prevent G-forces from actually hitting the pilot? Otherwise most of the maneuverability of the IS wouldn't be possible, right?"

Houki sighs, then says, "Yes, but those forces are still there. You remember what the IS was initially made for, right?"

You nod your head, and she continues, "So, if the IS was made for space exploration: why hasn't it been used for it yet? The answer: people can't handle the G's of reaching escape velocity, even with the PIC alleviating the worst of it. That was one of the main reasons people considered the IS a laughingstock until the White Knight incident; it was marketed as a glorified, overpriced, astronaut suit only women can use."

"Even now, ISes only reach supersonic speeds on par with fighter aircraft; it's their maneuverability, shielding, and armament that makes them superior. In theory the IS can go faster; but then you face the same problem as most other aircraft do, G-forces applying too much force on the human body and causing too much strain on the pilot. Doing what fighter pilots do and going under training to handle those forces would probably help; but just like with them, there's a limit to how far you can push the human body." Throughout the entire lecture, Houki was connecting the IS to a computer and typing on the keyboard; analyzing the date from the IS itself and figuring out why it did what it did.

Finally, she stops typing and turns to the IS, "IS Manual Override: Code A75ZZT. Access Bishamonten System; administrator access code: Into the rabbit hole."

The inactive IS begins to faintly glow red, before you hear the same computerized voice from earlier, "Hello Professor Shinonono; the system is online and waiting, what is your query?"

Houki cuts right to the chase, "Why did you disable the safety limiters and absolute defense protocol? That goes against the primary directives of your programming."

"Negative; according to the analysis of the pilot, the pilot is capable of handling the strain of the maximum output of this IS with limiters disabled, taking into account a 25% margin of error and the possibility of overestimating his physical parameters. Taking into account the initial tactics of the pilot, it was calculated and deemed unnecessary to maintain the absolute defense program; the probability of the program actually performing its function properly is 0.0001%."

"Elaborate," Houki asks, an eyebrow raised in slight confusion.

"Any situation where the enemy has struck down this IS with enough force to disable regular shielding and trigger the absolute defense program will have a 90% chance of either killing the pilot, destroying this unit, or both. The system has calculated that the energy typically saved to activate the shielding is better served to improve the mobility of this unit to avoid such an attack. As for any fights that would be long enough to drain the energy down to zero; the system has calculated that the pilot has only a 10% chance to enter such a situation where he cannot defeat an enemy in a fast enough time before they can drain his own shields to dangerous levels. The average fight duration of any conflict this unit will enter is approximately 10 minutes maximum; for the enemy to drain shields to below 50%, accounting for the pilot's skill, is 35 minutes. Calculations have accounted for up to a 75% margin for error or extenuating circumstances."

"Is there anything else you require of this system; Professor Shinonono?"

Houki shakes her head, "No, that is all; end override." The IS stops glowing, and Houki picks it up and hands it back to you.

Then she says, "So...apparently you're superhuman. You mind if we figure out how superhuman?"

[X] Yes, go ahead
[X] No, not right now

Then, pick an event
[X] The Germans are calling
[X] One night in Bangkok
[X] Houki's birthday, and her gift

 

[Biigoh]

[X] Yes
[X] Houki's birthday, and her gift

 

[Selias]

[X] Yes, go ahead
[X] Houki's birthday, and her gift

Any chance of seeing Chifuyu's (and possibly Tabane's) reaction to the fight?

 

[Robotninja]

[X]Yes
[X]Germans are calling

 

[Bloodshifter]

[X]Yes
[X]Germans are calling

Better IS and we could provide input using KoH

 

[ZurigaSungama]

[X]Yes
[X]Germans are calling

 

[Fellgar]

[X]Yes
[X]Germans are calling

 

[Redon]

[X] Yes
[X] Houki's birthday, and her gift

 

[EnderofWorlds]

[X] Yes, go ahead
[X] The Germans are calling

"Sure, I don't mind; what do you need me to do?" Truthfully, you were also curious about your limits; now that you can remember your past life, you wanted to see how far you needed to go to reach the strength you had at your peak. It'd also give you something to shoot for while training and practicing with both the IS and with your own homebrew style, made from the skills you've gotten in the present and your skills from the past.

"Gimme a sec and I'll arrange some equipment, shouldn't take too long..." With that, Houki delves into the mechanical jungle and begins to clear a room and prepare whatever testing equipment she needs to test your physical limits; even making the proper tools on the spot if necessary.

An hour later, Houki comes back and guides you to the room she prepared for all the testing. Once inside the room you see various machines, weights, and monitors; all created to find out how strong, fast, and durable you were. As Houki goes to one of the monitors and begins to prepare it for data gathering, you head to one of the testing stations; a bench press bench with a futuristic and high-tech looking barbell and weights. In fact, the weights looked like they were a part of the bar itself and weren't meant to be removed like traditional weights.

You lay down on the bench and grab the bar, lifting it to get a feel for it and see how heavy it was. It turned out to be rather light, however; as you didn't have to strain at all to lift it. In fact, you could lay it on your chest and not feel a thing. Curious you grab the bar and get off the bench, then proceed to go through several bojutsu stances and moves; while it was somewhat awkward with the weights on both ends, the bar itself wasn't heavy enough to impede your movements at all.

It was at this point Houki cut in, looking away from the monitor to you and saying, "Ok; I've got everything set up, now all I have to do is reset...the...weights..." Whatever else Houki was going to say next simply faded away, as she gaped at what you were doing with the barbell.

Seeing her confusion, you ask, "What? Is something wrong?"

"...That barbell currently weighs 500 lbs. and you're swinging it around like it was a broomstick...." She takes a deep breath, exhales and sighs, then continues, "Ok, just...go to the bench and put the bar back. Then I'll up the weight until it actually takes you some effort to move the damn thing..."

The truth of how much the bar weight actually surprised you: 500 lbs? But it felt as light as a feather... Still, you nod and follow her instructions; putting the bar back, laying on the bench, and waiting for the go ahead.

"Alright, let's try....double that weight. Ichika, grab the bar and lift it." You do exactly as ordered, lifting the bar with ease. Houki then asks, "Any problems? Does it still feel easy to lift and light to you?"

"Well, it feels heavier; but it's still easy to lift." You tell her, being honest about it all. Houki motions for you to put the bar back, so you do. Then she goes back to the computer and begins typing, probably modifying the weight again.

"Alright, let's...double it again." Again you lift the bar, and again Houki asks, "Well?"

"Still really easy..." You put the bar back, and again she doubles the weight. When you lift it again, it's heavy enough to actually some effort to lift; but it's still kinda light. You tell Houki this and she takes a moment to thing.

After thinking, she says, "Alright; let's try a little under double that. Following the trend we have here, that should be close enough to be the appropriate level of weight for you to actually be challenged and get a workout from this. That'll be around...7.5 tons."

After she makes the modifications, you lift the bar again; this time actually meeting noticeable resistance. Seeing that you're actually trying now, Houki doesn't stop you and you begin to go through a set of bench presses. After fifteen reps, you put the bar back; actually sweating from the workout a little and feeling your chest burn a little. It was actually kinda nice to have to actually try and feel some exertion from something physical. Sure was better than being bored out of your mind.

Houki looks over the data she got from monitoring you and tells you, "You just bench pressed 7.5 tons like it was a regular workout. That's thirty times the World Record; set by grown men at least three times larger than you."

"Yeah, it was kinda nice to actually feel like I had to actually try rather than just breeze through it. So, what's next?" Your flippant reply stuns Houki speechless for a second, before she guides you to the next test.

Test after test was conducted, and the results were shocking; you could lift 7.5 tons with either your arms or your legs from any kind of exercise position, you ran at a top speed of 840 mph, and you could maintain both the running speeds and lift times for almost an hour nonstop. Your body could handle the maximum amount of g-force the centrifuge Houki made can apply: around 50 g. Using the data from the other tests, Houki calculated that you could take about 270 g's before you blacked out.

In other words; you were thirty times better than what the human body was meant to be capable of. When it was put in terms of numbers like that it was...awe inspiring. You had no idea that you were capable of so much. A thought and memory springs to your mind; of a 'Holy Grail War' and 'Heroic Spirits', and it serves to put things into a more clear perspective.

When you had died, your soul ascended to the Throne of Heroes; becoming a Heroic Spirit: a paragon of humanity, transcending the limits you had in life. That was why you were capable of so much; because you had transcended those limits already in your life, and could now do so again. You mention this to Houki as she continues to look at these results.

"Ichika..." Houki, still awestruck by the results, barely manages to regain her speech, "...You...you're really beyond us, transcendent in body and soul; capable of what many would only dream of. You could wrestle an IS into submission if you wanted to; or even break it! The pinnacle of the human body..."

Embarrassed by her gushing, you tried to downplay your physical prowess, "It's not that amazing; I only got that strong by dying and being deemed a hero. It's not like I was that strong in my past life. Besides, I'm still not at my full strength if what I can remember about being a Heroic Spirit is correct. Not to mention; being real strong doesn't mean much if you don't have the right mind to use it. I'd rather be smart like you, capable of changing the world for the better with words and ideas. All I do is make sure it doesn't break by beating anyone threatening into the ground."

Houki blushes at the compliment you gave her, "Well...I mean it's not like I'm the only person who's a certified genius; there is nee-chan after all. Anyways, since you're apparently not at your physical peak, and all of this," she gestures to the equipment, "Is kinda worthless for anything else; let's just make this your own personal gym. Sound good to you?"

You grin, "Yeah, sounds like a great idea; it'd give me something to do after school. Well, besides any missions you have for the Black Knight, of course." Being able to actually push your limits was something too good to resist. In hindsight, that along with a lack of a cause was probably why you felt somewhat...listless before you recalled everything; going through all those different clubs, trying to find something to get behind only to find it too frail to stand up to you.

After that, Houki took you back home and the two of you went off to bed; her staying in the guest room like usual. Today...was the start of something that would give your life a purpose...


As the rest of the year passed; you fell into a new routine: just about every other day you'd go out as the Black Knight and either hit another Phantom Task op, or save people who were in terrible danger: be it from things like tsunamis and hurricanes to terrorist attacks and high-scale robberies. In other words, you became a modern day hero; fighting against evil whenever you could, be it small or big. People began to associate the Black Knight with the likes of Superman or Batman or any other fictional superhero; calling you the real life hero from comic book tales. Houki even managed to start merchandising; making action figures, video games, t-shirts, and even getting an animated series in the works.

Of course, nobody knew who the Black Knight was under the IS; a voice changer built into the helmet saw to that. However, it became common knowledge that the Black Knight was associated with Houki Shinonono, just as it's white counterpart was with the older Shinonono. That knowledge only served to improve Houki's standing with the world and her business associates, along with getting extra revenue from all the merchandise.

Though you just know that the main character from the Black Knight anime is a subtle jab at you; even taking out the bone-headed idiocy and sis-con implications, the fact that he only becomes scarily competent when he goes to save the day is probably Houki's way of taking your 'All I can do is punch stuff' comment out of context for fun. Still, there was no harm in it; you were friends and there was a disclaimer on each episode stating that the anime was only loosely associated with the Black Knight in terms of character.

As for the missions themselves; while your rescue ops were left alone, just about every Phantom Task op ended with you dueling with your sister afterwards. While it was good practice seeing as she was the only one who could match the Black Knight and your own IS skills; it did start to get on your nerves that she kept gunning after you every time.

This also had the side effect of accelerating IS development even faster; as Houki and Tabane tried to one up each other in terms of their masterpieces: The Black and White Knights. Already IS development had hit the Sixth Generation, and shows no sign of slowing down.

From the Bishamonten System came the Form Shift: the ability of an IS to be able to change 'forms' to better suit several functions; such as a heavy duty CQC tank becoming a fast, flanking CQC fighter or a long-range sniper. From Fold-Out Armor came the Balance System; meant to give the armor a more specific set of goals and parameters beyond 'cover weaknesses'. Both were lesser knock offs of the other sister's innovation; as they were incapable of finding out how the other pulled off their masterwork. However, these lesser imitations still served their designed purpose well; increasing the potential and capabilities of the previous innovation by borrowing ideas from its counterpart.

In comparison; the Sixth Generation seemed much less innovative, simply upgrading the base parameters of what an IS can do: speed, shielding, battery, material composition, the works. Instead of trying to push ahead with another grand innovation; both sisters opted to wait and further what an IS can do without such things. This was probably so they could spend more time on making the next grand innovation greater than it's predecessor, and using this generation as a foundation for that. After all, if the IS is capable of more at it's base form; then anything added onto it will simply make it even greater.

However, even with these changes and modifications; the duels between you and your sister remained the same; a close fight between the two of you usually ending with you getting in a disabling blow and retreating. All the upgrades did was expand the scope of your battles; now your blows became faster, your battles consuming more of the sky as the two of you danced through it in a waltz of metal and fire. You had the edge, but only because of your inhuman strength and endurance allowed you to push your IS further than your sister could ever push the White Knight; in terms of skill you were fairly equal, she had more experience whereas you were simply born for battle.

Now, however, it was the start of a new year: you sister was now back from Germany, just in time to celebrate New Year's with you and Houki. You enjoyed several weeks of simply being with your often absent sister; in a way that didn't end with you fighting in the skies. These days, though, it was you who was keeping the house clean and cooking; a somewhat funny reversal of how it was back when you were little. At least now the food was edible.

But all good thing come to an end, and you sister had to leave for reasons related to her position as an IS Representative. According to what Houki told you, she's probably going to become an instructor in IS Academy. On the day before she left, you considered telling her about your identity as the Black Knight. However, when you brought it up to Houki...

"Don't do it." Hearing that from Houki's mouth surprised you.

Unable to understand her reasoning, you ask, "Why? I mean, wouldn't it be better to tell her?"

"Sure. If you want her to prevent you from ever going out and gallivanting as a hero," Houki says with a serious look on her face, "Look, you remember how she was right after the kidnapping, right? She practically hovered over you 24/7, attached to you like a lamprey. It was getting a little creepy, to be honest. Do you want to go through that again?"

No, not really; Houki was right about it being awkward and creepy, but given how frightened your sister was you didn't complain. "Well, no; but not telling her would be just as bad, right?"

Houki smirks, "Don't worry; I have a plan. Leave it to me and things'll end up just fine. Oh, and before I forget; letter for you." Houki hands you a letter.

Curious, you take it, "Who's it from?"

Houki shrugs, "Probably Germany, most likely for your promotion."

Wait, what? Germany? Promotion?! You open the letter and begin to read, going pale as your eyes travel down the page. Finally, the letter slips out of your arms and you turn to Houki; still shocked about what you just read.

"Houki...why did Germany make me an 'Honorary Major'? Of the 501st Battalion?"

Houki looks away from you as she explains, "Weeeeeeeell, I may have negotiated with them to make you a Major as part of an agreement to help them out with their IS development and creation. Something that came up was their IS Division in the military, and when the possibility of them being trained by the Black Knight came up..."

She then holds out her hands in surrender and says, "But you don't have to accept if you don't want to; it's not like I straight up told them you'd be there for sure. It'd kinda make things easier if you did though," She rubs the back of her neck sheepishly, "Sorry; it sounded like the kind of thing you'd be interested in..."

Well, you can accept and become a Major of a battalion; taking a vacation in Germany, or you can refuse and stay here; making Houki's negotiations with the Germans a bit harder.

What do you do?
[X] Accept
[X] Decline

 

[Biigoh]

[X] Accept

 

[nick012000]

[X] Accept.

I wonder if this'll bring the duels between the White and Black Knights to a close, given how we're supposed to be working for the same government, now.

 

[Happerry]

[X] Accept

 

[Pipeman]

[X] Accept

I wonder if this'll bring the duels between the White and Black Knights to a close, given how we're supposed to be working for the same government, now.

Click to shrink...

Our sister doesn't work for the Germans any more.
Though she'll probably still see this as a slight against her and get even more focused on finally beating us.

 

[Selias]

[X] Accept

 

[Fellgar]

[X] Accept

 

[EnderofWorlds]

[X] Accept

You sigh, and tell her, "Alright; I'll accept. Besides," You grin, "this sounds like it'd be kinda fun. It'd be nice to see more of the world outside of Japan and razed military bases. Like a vacation, almost."

Houki lets out a breath of relief and says, "Thanks, and I guess you can look at it like that. I'll get things ready and we'll head out tomorrow. Sound good to you?"

That was fast, "Wait, so soon? What about your parents? Or nee-san? Don't we have to inform them about this?"

She waves you off, "My parents already know I have business at Germany; as for your sister..." Houki pulls out what looks like a PDA and presses several buttons on the touchscreen, "...She has just been informed by your school that you have been selected to tour Europe abroad and learn fighting styles from their indigenous countries; courtesy of your continued excellence in the school's MMA team along with multiple recommendations from the instructors there. She has also been told that this'll look wonderful on your record and that colleges will be very excited to pick someone up with this on their transcript."

You don't know what more surprising; the fact that Houki had a plan already in mind, or the fact that she managed to get it backed by the most prestigious school on this side of the hemisphere. You knew that because of IS she had a lot of influence over the world; but you never saw it in action until now...

"Ok, but what about your-er...." The moment you began to speak, you realized how stupid it was going to sound. 'What about your school?'; Houki could probably go through school in her sleep, if she hadn't already graduated.

"What; school? I already graduated from college; have several doctorates in engineering, computer sciences, mathematics, and some other stuff. Why do you think I was so stressed out that year when I was working on reverse engineering the IS core? No one would respect the pre-teen girl who supposedly recreated the current scientific marvel of this generation unless they had a legitimate background to prove it."

Then she smirks, "Did you really think I was still bothering with something like that? I guess that lunkhead Mizuki is more realistic than I though..."

"Oi! I am not that dense and boneheaded! His characterization is over the top and you know it!" Really, you know you're not a genius like Houki, but you were definitely not as idiotic as that caricature of you on television.

Houki laughs then says, "I know, I know; I'm just teasing you. Anyways, someone will be here tomorrow to pick us up and drive us to the airport; it's gonna be a long flight so I'd bring something to pass the time with until we land."

When Houki mentions taking a plane, a question pops into your mind. You ask her, "Why not just teleport us there? I mean, you have the technology, right?"

Houki shakes her head and replies, "I can't; not from that far away. The teleportation technology both me and my sister use has some notable flaws; mostly because it's jury-rigged from how the IS stores itself and it's weapons. That flash of light that happens every time is the traveler converting back from energy to matter, much like how the IS stores and releases itself. If the location is too far away or isn't clearly focused on in the mind; the person teleporting would dissipate into energy and never convert back. That's why I always use those receivers whenever we go on a raiding run."

"Anywhere outside of a 5,000 mile requires a receiver to guide the object travelling; anywhere further than 100,000 miles causes the receiver to burn out after a single use. There's also a mass constraint too; anything larger than 300 lbs requires receivers too. In addition, the difficulty of moving objects is exponential; the further away, larger, or more numerous whatever you're moving is, the more complex and complicated the process is. Most modern computers would burn out trying to move something outside the basic limits of the technology."

Hearing all the limitations really grounded just what Houki was capable of with her teleportation tech, knowing that it was heavily restricted and limited in what it could do made it more reasonable as to why she used it so sparingly outside of visiting you.

However, a single question remained, "Then how do you manage to move all that stuff from our raids on Phantom Task?"

Houki smirks, "I'm a genius; doing all the calculations to make sure nothing goes wrong is hard, but it's not like there's much else for me to do during those raids. Now then," she stretches her arms and looks at the clock, "It's starting to get late, so we should pack and go to sleep. We have a long day tomorrow."

You look at the time yourself and nod in agreement; you bid each other good night and head off to prepare for tomorrow and go to sleep.


When tomorrow came, you were faced with a stark reminder that Houki did, in fact, have a lot of influence and power due to being the only other person capable of advancing development of IS. Sure, you knew that before, but it wasn't so blatantly obvious until now; having a limo come out and drive the two of you to a private airline, then boarding a private jet owned solely by Houki definitely clarified a few things.

Noticing your surprise about all of this, Houki tells you, "All of this was provided by the Sarashiki Corporation; part of their payment since they're one of the main companies involved in IS development in both Germany and Japan. Since I work with them and provide the majority of their advancements in IS production, they often give me these sorts of things to butter me up and get on my good side. In actuality though, since dealing with IS cores involves direct negotiations with a country's government, it's more like they're trying to make sure I don't inadvertently run them out of business by cutting out the middleman entirely and making my own IS manufacturing company."

Looking out the window and fiddling with her hair, she further says, "In the end, the results are the same; I end up with the final say on how things go and am the de facto boss of them. The only difference is that this method lets them maintain a delusion of their own self-importance, rather than realize the reality of their own meager worth."

Wow, that was...kinda harsh. You even mention this to her, "Isn't that kinda overblowing it, Houki? I mean, they way you put it; it sounds like they're worth nothing at all..."

"Truthfully, they aren't; not in the grand scheme of things," she says nonchalantly, the words themselves cutting like a knife, "In a larger perspective; the nations of the world are allying themselves with either my sister or myself, hoping that in doing so they have an advantage over the others. Constantly bidding for our favor, one can say that they are handing the reigns of their sovereign nations to us; unknowing of how the future will play out. In this overarching 'game' between my sister and I, they are only the pieces on the playing board; signs of which of us is winning."

Hearing that from Houki was...troubling. It sounded like she didn't care about these nations, these companies, or even these people in general. Tenuously, you ask her, "This 'game' between you and your sister; is it all that you've been thinking about? I mean, in the grand scheme of things?"

She looks at you with shock, "Well of course not! I haven't forgotten what I started all of this for; for every combat IS design I make I've made and distributed a dozen non-combat ones, meant for helping people. I'm still making the IS a tool for the advancement of mankind; I'm just competing with nee-san to see who's better at it too, while I'm at it."

Startled by her vehement retort, you reply back, "Sorry, it's just that when you said those people don't matter in the grand scheme of thing..."

Houki closes her eyes, sighs, then says, "Politics, Ichika; is nothing more than learning how to use people to further your own goals, while making it seem like they're coming out ahead. Everybody's using everybody to try to get ahead and further their own goals; achieve control over the competition. It's a long, tedious, deceptive, and cruel game for worthless prizes and positions for very little gain, built solely so that the players don't simply submit to the stronger opponent without being dragged kicking and screaming. To do that means you have to learn what makes your opposition tick, and ruthlessly exploit it to your advantage."

"It's not like back in your past life, where King Arthur was a leader in a time of need; a king the country and it's people needed. No, a majority of politicians and their ilk can be removed and the world wouldn't weep. The same can be said for the businessmen, only instead of politics it's economics that's the name of the game. If I truly wanted to; I could probably simply just build my own island in the middle of nowhere, making ISes and other things to make the world a better place and not bother with any of this in the first place. The only problem is that I'd have to deal with someone bombing the place to oblivion out of fear and paranoia."

You take in every word of Houki's speech, along with the dry, empty tone she spoke in while giving it. This...was something outside of your understanding; you were a fighter, a knight. Your duty is to the battlefield, to the warfront; to the people who needed to be saved by a stalwart knight in shining armor to drive away evil. You were no conniving swindler trying to trick people to further his own goals, nor were you a schemer trying to bring some grand plan into fruition; like that doddering fool Merlin.

You also look out the plane window and somberly say to Houki, "I think I hate politics..."

She snorts and tells you, "Everyone does, but nobody's willing to do away with it yet."

The rest of the plane ride was spent either talking about other things, watching an in-flight movie, or doing whatever else you could to pass the time. The droll mood from your conversation quickly faded away as the eleven hour long flight continued its course.


Finally, you arrived in Berlin; bright and sunny in the morning because of the time difference. Once you arrive, you realize that you've forgotten to ask Houki about the situation involving your identity, "Houki?"

Houki, having already gotten up and grabbed her luggage, turns to you, "Yeah Ichika?"

"What are we going to do about my identity? Should I hide it with my Noble Phantasm or...?"

She shakes her hand, "No, no that won't be necessary; if anyone even tried to divulge who the Black Knight was, they'd find all their IS cores undergoing a catastrophic meltdown before going out in an explosion. Besides, I know that the German government wanted to know the identity of the Black Knight; it's the main reason they offered you your honorary position and brought you up in my negotiations."

Hearing this, you tilt your head and ask her, "But what about keeping things secret? You said I shouldn't tell nee-san. If I can't tell her, why is it ok for other people to know?"

"Because if Chifuyu knows, then nee-san knows," Houki elaborates, "Right now, nee-san doesn't know who the pilot of the Black Knight is; mainly because she hasn't considered the possibility of a male pilot yet. The fact that she doesn't know about how skilled you are at fighting helps too. My plan requires nee-san not knowing about that until much later. I can keep her off the trail when it comes to hearing things from governments and other sources like that; I can't keep her from listening to her only friend."

You simply nod and say, "Alright."

You trusted Houki; if she thinks she knows what she's doing with this plan, then you'll follow her instructions.

Once the two of you exit the private jet, you find a military officer next to a jeep waiting for you. When you walk up to her, she looks to Houki and says, "Dr. Shinonono," then she turns to you and says, "And this is...?"

Houki tells her; in a cold and serious tone, "Ichika Orimura; pilot of the Black Knight and the instructor you asked for to lead the 501st Battalion. I hope there won't be any problems..."

The officer looks stunned, before composing himself and saying, "No, of course not, ma'am. If you'll come with me, I'll lead you directly to the base." He then notices her luggage, "Ah, ma'am, if you need any help with that, I-"

"No need; Ichika can take care of it for me. Besides, I don't trust just anyone with my belongings. Now, lead the way." Wow, Houki sure acts different when she's not alone with you; she's a lot more stern and cold. You wouldn't be surprised if even the officer was disturbed by her icy demeanor.

As your chauffer drove you to the base where you'd be instructing your newfound battalion; you began to think about how you'd lead and instruct them. You decided to...

[X] Be strict and harsh; it is only with conflict that one advances in combat and war
[X] Be calm and guiding; it is the mentor with a light yet firm touch that imparts knowledge and skill
[X] Be eccentric; barmy as that old bat was, Merlin was definitely worth his weight in gold when it came to guiding and teaching the King
[X] Write-in

Author's Note: Was meant to be longer; but was already getting long as is. Holy crap did this one take a while to get down right. Sorry.

 

[nick012000]

[X] Mimic whoever it was that taught you how to fight (the Lady of the Lake?), since it obviously worked.

 

[Redon]

[X] Be calm and guiding; it is the mentor with a light yet firm touch that imparts knowledge and skill

 

[Selias]

[X] Be calm and guiding; it is the mentor with a light yet firm touch that imparts knowledge and skill

 

[ZurigaSungama]

[X] Be calm and guiding; it is the mentor with a light yet firm touch that imparts knowledge and skill

 

[EnderofWorlds]

[X] Be calm and guiding; it is the mentor with a light yet firm touch that imparts knowledge and skill

As you're heading towards the base, you decide that you needed to know more about the soldiers that were soon to be under your wing and guidance. You ask your guide, "Since I'm going to be an instructor for your IS division, may I have any detailed reports about the men under my instruction? Or women in this case?"

"Of course sir," the officer responds, "Everything you need should be next to Dr. Shinonono. It has bios on every platoon, squad, and individual soldier; if you need anything else, my superior officer at base will provide it, as per the arrangement."

Houki sees the files the officer was talking about and hands them over to you. As you go over them, you take note a specific platoon within the company: Schwarze Hase. The entire platoon seemed overall superior to the other two that composed the company. What's more, the leading squad in the platoon; Die Hasen des Todes, was even higher in terms of their performance in both operating an IS and as being soldiers as a whole.

"What can you tell me about Schwarze Hase and Die Hasen des Todes?" You ask your chauffeur, wanting to get another point of view to help solidify your opinion on your men.

"Schwarze Hase? They're the original platoon that the higher ups had planned to be the IS Spec Ops Unit. Die Hasen des Todes is basically the best of the best of that platoon; the entire squad is apparently made of some 'elite soldier' program: I'm not authorized to know the specifics of it; any further information on them is either in the files or known by my CO, sir."

"As for what else I know; I know that they were trained by Chifuyu Orimura in IS operation and combat for an entire year. When the guys upstairs saw the results, they decided to expand the project and add in more soldiers and funding to it."

You take a look at the profiles of Schwarze Hase and Die Hasen des Todes; looking at the files, the platoon leader is one 'Laura Bodewig': according to the dossier on her, she's a product of the military's 'super-soldier' project; a test-tube baby bred to be a soldier and nothing else. Looking at her performance records, it looks like they succeeded at what they were aiming for; though you do notice a period where her performance slipped far below it's established average.

As for the rest of the profiles; it looks like that this 'super-soldier' project was basically trying to make the perfect soldier through genetics and rigorous training, meat to make a single commando unit: designated Die Hasen des Todes. However, with the advent of IS; they tried to adapt and modify the program to take the newfound weapon of war into account. When Houki made her announcement to the world; the program was expanded by incorporating elite, highly trained soldiers with his IS compatibility, making the squad into a platoon: thus turning Die Hasen des Todes into Schwarze Hase. From there, it expanded once again; likely due to whatever deal Houki has with the Germans, making the platoon into a company and you their instructor.

"So, knowing my sister, I can at least expect Schwarze Hase to be competent and skilled in piloting an IS; but what about the rest of the company? Are the other two platoons green, or do they have experience too? Their profiles don't mention any IS experience like Schwarze Hase, and if they're really inexperienced I'll have to divide the company and try to make them catch up..."

"Oh, sorry about that sir," the officer says, "The other platoons have undergone IS training; adapting the training regimen Instructor Orimura put Schwarze Hase through and running it concurrently with their own training once it was decided to expand the project further. While not as highly trained, they've had half a year under strict training so that they won't drag down the more experienced platoon. The profiles back at base have this information, but since Dr. Shinonono arrived a week earlier than expected we had to rush in some of the preparations."

So you weren't dealing with any rookies; looking at the profiles only confirms what your guide told you, they took the best of the best and put them in here. They were giving you the creme of the crop to groom into an elite fighting force. You couldn't help but compare them to the knights of your era, those stalwart champions of the realm.

If Germany wanted you to train their men, then train them you shall; you will forge these soldiers into something stronger, something greater. Out of the obligation for your friend, you will perform this task to the best of your abilities. Nothing less would suffice; not from a knight with honor and pride, much less the Perfect Knight.

Germany asked for mere soldiers; instead you will give them knights...


You finally arrive on site, and see another military officer waiting for you there. By the looks of her uniform, she looks to be fairly high ranking in the military. She walks up to you and Houki as you leave the jeep with your belongings, following slightly behind the guide that brought you here. Your guide salutes to his superior officer, "Ma'am; Dr. Shinonono and the Black Knight, escorted to base without any complications. Just as ordered."

The CO returns the salute, "At ease, soldier. Report back to your station, I'll handle things from here." Relieved of his duty, the lower ranked officer heads into the base, while his CO looks at the two you you; observing and evaluating you.

Finally she says, "Dr. Shinonono; I am General Gisela Aderman, and I will be your guide and the representative of the Bundeswehr for the duration of your stay here. As per the orders of my superiors, if there is anything you will need, simply inform me and it will be provided ASAP."

Then, General Aderman looks at you and frowns, "And this is the rumored 'Black Knight'? A boy? I don't recall you fixing the flaw in IS technology that makes it gender restrictive, Doctor..."

You could tell from the tone of her voice that she was looking down on you; dismissing the possibility that you could be the Black Knight, in part due to your gender and age. So, to prove otherwise, you simply activate the Black Knight and let it cover you; hovering several feet off the ground. You weren't going to beat around the bush here, and the faster you break any notions of disbelief, the better.

Houki uses your act as an opening, "It's still a work in progress, general. However, with the discovery of my friend; Ichika Orimura, being capable to pilot an IS, I believe that rather glaring flaw will be fixed soon." She looks at the shocked general with a smug grin on her face.

"I...I see. Forgive me for my disbelief; I should have known better than to assume that you might have broken our arrangement. If you'll follow me, I'll show you around the base, and from there we can finalize our arrangements.

You deactivate your IS and follow the general as she leads you and Houki around the base, showing you where you'll be staying, where the mess hall is, and eventually the training grounds. At the entrance to the training grounds, she leaves the two of you for a moment; probably to address the company you'll be taking charge of.

When she returns, she addresses the both of you, "I'll leave you here Major Orimura; the company is ready and waiting for you. As for you, Dr. Shinonono; I'll take us to our conference room for our final arrangements." With that, both Houki and the general leave, leaving you alone with only your thoughts and around 100 soldiers once you exit through those doors.

First thing's first, you don't want a repeat of what happened with the general; so one again you don the Black Knight and exit the base to meet with the soldiers you'll be training for the year.

The moment you pass through the door and onto the open grounds, you ascend to the skies and take a moment to find your company with a bird's eye view. You see them in the middle of the area; all lined up and waiting for orders. Now that you've found them, you dive down; flying over their heads and landing right in front of them all. As you turn around to face them, you dismiss the Black Knight and begin addressing them.

"Hello, my name is Ichika Orimura; as you've just witnessed, I am also the Black Knight. As of now, I will be your instructor and leader for the rest of this year; it will be under my tutelage that you will learn to master the IS, and by year's end, I will make sure that each and every one of you will be able to fight the champion of the Mondo Grosso; my sister, to a draw, at the very least. Right now you are iron from the forge, untempered and raw; under me you will become steel, tempered and refined for war."

"I know that many of you are elite, trained soldiers; you balk at the thought of being considered rookies when you've spent your lives training. However; until your skill with an IS matches, if not surpasses, your own prowess; that's all you are: rookies. You think that a year under my sister's guidance makes you anything else? Think again."

"I fight the White Knight every other day of the week; and every time I emerge victorious. I launch solo raids against the terrorist organization Phantom Task, fighting off several IS pilots at a time. Compared to me, you are all rookies; but that's why I'm here. To change that."

"But before I begin, I think an evaluation is in order; I need to see what I have to work with, so as of now you are all fighting against me. One on one or in groups; it doesn't matter, your only objective is to take me out."

Waiting for your soldiers to respond to you challenge, you immediately have a response; as one of them deploys their IS and begins heading at you, charging with their fists. You dodge and see that it's Bodewig; focused and showing no emotion, like a proper soldier. She then tries to knee you in the stomach, but again you dodge; only to several daggers heading at you. You tilt you head to avoid one and catch the other two; only to find that the wires can be controlled as the one you dodged wraps around your neck.

But you aren't worried; you toss both daggers in your hands into the ground and plant them in with your feet, then grab the wire around your throat and rip it off. Now free, you blitz
Laura and lead off with a left jab into a right elbow into her jaw; surprising her with your speed and the force of your blows. You fluidly bring your right elbow back again and jab it into her stomach, sending her flying several yards and freeing up some space between the two of you.

As Laura begins recovering; coughing from your last attack, you crack your knuckles and neck, "Good start Bodewig; but you have to do better than that to take me down."

"Now then..."

[X] "Let's see if you have what it takes to be more than a warm-up" (Continue the evaluation w/o your IS, you don't need it)
[X] "Let's start the fight for real now" (Enter Black Knight, go all out)
[X] "Let's see what the rest of you can do" (Force the rest of the company into the fray)
[X] Write-in

 

[Biigoh]

[X] "Let's see what the rest of you can do" (Force the rest of the company into the fray)
- - [X] Start up Black Knight.

 

[ZurigaSungama]

[X] "Let's start the fight for real now" (Enter Black Knight, go all out)

 

[Happerry]

[X] "Let's see what the rest of you can do" (Force the rest of the company into the fray)
- - [X] Start up Black Knight.

 

[nick012000]

[X] Plan Biigoh

 

[EnderofWorlds]

[X] Write-in- "Let's see if you have what it takes to be more than a warm-up" (Continue the evaluation w/o your IS, you don't need it)--- A few minutes into it--- "Let's see what the rest of you can do together where one alone could not" (Force the rest of the company into the fray)--- After they manage to make some progress--- "Let's start the test for real now " (Enter Black Knight, go all out)

"Let's see if you're strong enough to be more than a warm-up," you call out; grabbing the twin daggers you planted into the ground pulling them out, then pulling on the wire to drag Bodewig into another flurry of blows. However, Laura wouldn't let herself be pulled around so easily; flying away from you and forcing the two of you into a tug of war. She probably assumed that regardless of how strong you were, you wouldn't be able to overpower the thrust of a moving IS.

Unfortunately for her, she was wrong; you simply reinforced your stance and yanked the wires harder, devoting more of you strength to it this time. The force of your pull was enough to overpower the IS, and Laura was sent flying towards you. As she was hurtling towards you, you prepared to deliver a right hook and held onto the daggers attached; your plan for the moment to simply send her flying back and forth like a yo-yo until either the wires snapped or the IS and pilot couldn't take any more abuse.

However, your haymaker was stopped by a forcefield of some sort appearing in front of Bodewig just as you delivered the blow. Laura takes this moment to recover and launch a spear thrust at you; her IS making a lance out of energy for the attack. You lean to the right to evade the blow, and wrap the wires you used to pull her to you on your left arm; preventing her from escaping. Then, you begin to hammer at her again; utilizing Bājíquán fist and elbow strikes for their penetration power.

After all, there is no shield that is unbreakable. Indeed, as with each blow you increased the force behind it; letting out more and more of your full power to the blows. The barrier withstood the first blow. Then the second. When the third strike came, it began to flicker and warp from the attack. Determined to stop you, Larua began to try to grapple you; trying to hold you down and get you into a chokehold, but you were too slippery. With such a tight hold on the wires, you had enough control over her arms to render most of her holds useless, and dodging her kicks and leg locks was an easy task with your own footwork.

When you unleashed your forth blow, the forcefield couldn't take anymore; breaking from the strain and letting your attack through. The fist hits Laura and sends her flying, severing the wires attached to the arms of her IS and freeing up her arms once more. You take a brief moment to tie both wires to each of your arms; giving you a ranged weapon in this evaluation without resorting to your IS. Then, you duck; feeling two swords swinging just above you, right where you head would've been. On both sides were two more ISes who have joined the fray. You perform a leg sweep to unbalance the one on your left, then perform an uppercut to send the other one flying.

Then, you look around the battlefield; evaluating your surroundings. You notice that there are more ISes active and pilots ready to join the fray. You smirk and call out, "Good, I was almost worried that Bodewig was going to be the only one fighting. Now, come at me with everything you've got!"

You even get into a stance, holding your arm out and making a 'come at me' gesture with your hand. Your soldiers oblige you, several charging while the rest take to the skies to barrage you from afar. Good; using tactics and your current lack of flight to their advantage, as expected by these veteran soldiers.

You charge ahead, dodging bullet fire as you catch two of the pilots charging at you in a double clothesline. You then slam them into each other and send them flying with a double-kick. Then, when you land on your back; more of the pilots begin to circle you, thinking you were vulnerable. Instead you go into a handstand and sweep them with a spinning kick, and using that momentum to land back on your feet. Then you turn your attention skyward.

Grabbing one of the daggers you stole from Laura, you throw it at one of the soldiers in the air; lassoing it around their leg. Then you jump, managing to make it up to the level of the pilots in the sky. Grabbing hold of the wire, you yank it to both pull yourself closer to the target, and vice versa. You use your momentum and land a flying kick right into their chest, using the force of the blow to send you flying towards your next opponent. When your next target levels her rifle at you and begins to fire; you throw your other dagger at it with enough force to bisect the gun, leaving her defenseless as you headbutt her. With a yank of both arms, you pull both daggers back into you hands and use them to cut into each other; making a small gap in the middle of each blade: one the perfect size to catch the wires attached to them.

You may not be able to fly without an IS; but using these wires, you can still manage to stay aloft: swinging with them and using what the daggers dig into as a fulcrum. Anyone else trying this would be called insane; you would have to throw each dagger perfectly and be able to accurately catch the wires with the daggers each time you used them, or else you would cut the wires and render yourself defenseless.

But you weren't anyone else; you were a knight who's very body has had combat and skill beaten into it, to the point where such things are as easy as breathing for you. You threw one dagger into the earth, and the other one right at the wire; catching it perfectly in the gap you had cut into it. This sends you flying into your next foe, as you pull the daggers back and begin cutting through the bullets being fired at you. Like a snake in a jungle, you leapt from IS to IS as if they were both branch and prey simultaneously. You wirework pushing the limits of what a human can accomplish in both skill and agility, as you danced in the skies with near equal ease as those with wings.

Eventually, the soldiers catch on; shooting at the wires you were using to keep you aloft. The already battered and abused wires couldn't take it, and snapped under their fire; leaving you plummeting to the ground. You position your feet, properly bracing yourself for impact as you land; rolling back into a ready stance and keeping an eye out for the fighters on the ground who have recovered.

Then, you begin to hear a humming sound and notice something glowing from the corner of your eye. Turning to the source, you find Laura charging up a canon of some kind as she fires it directly at you.

Even as durable and strong as you were, something like that would still kill you. You smirk; good. It's about time for this warm-up to end and start to fight seriously. But first, you had to deal with this attack. An idea enters your head; it would take perfect timing to pull it off, but if you did...

As the round heads towards you, you rear back you head and ram it into the attack; causing an explosion and making a dust cloud that shrouds you...


You watch where the Major stood, keeping an eye for whatever other tricks he had up his sleeve. You couldn't believe that you had resorted to actually using the railgun of Schwarzer Regen on him, at full force no less, but you were running out of options. Already he managed to rip away your daggers and break through the AIC, and that was without the use of an IS.

When you had heard the Major introduce himself, you didn't know how to react; this was the source of Instructor's weakness, the one thing that make her soft. And yet...he was the Black Knight; the strongest IS pilot in the world, the one who bests the White Knight in combat whenever they clash. While the identity of the White Knight was unknown; it was highly suspected that it was indeed Instructor who was the pilot of the White Knight, a suspicion that you believed in.

And now you have learned that it was her very brother who had bested her; had surpassed her in strength. But...how could something that was a cause of weakness be something so strong at the same time? It made no sense; if her brother was so strong, why did thinking about him make Instructor so weak?!

When he challenged the company to fight against him in combat, you jumped at the chance. To find the answer to this conundrum, you would see the strength of the Major for yourself. You will see what he truly was; a source of weakness, or a bastion of strength.

Immediately, you witnessed his strength firsthand; as he overpowered your IS and managed to break through the AIC with only his bare fists. Such a feat had to be impossible, yet you couldn't refute it; you felt his fists crashing into your chest, you saw your IS's shields dropping with every blow. You could tell that there was no weakness here, only strength that surpassed anything you had ever witnessed beforehand.

As the battle raged on, and you saw him dance in the skies without the wings of his IS; the one though that echoed in your mind was 'He is stronger than Instructor Orimura is...'. Indeed, if Instructor was a blazing inferno that could not be doused, than the Major was the blazing sun; presiding over the heavens in dominance and majesty. Such power, such skill; it was beyond anything you could ever imagine...

And yet, it still only made you question: How could this be the Instructor's weakness?! How?! How can something overflowing with might be that which made Instructor so weak?! When you saw him fall to the ground, the wires he used to stay aloft cut down; you saw your chance to strike.

A final blow to end it; to determine once and for all just what the Major was: a weakness, or true strength? You level your railgun at him and unleash it at full power; you will see how he handles this, your strongest attack.

The moment you fire, you can't believe just what the Major did in response; he actually reared his head back and headbutted the shot! Was he insane?! Even with how strong he was, was he truly mad enough to believe that he could simply swat away a shot from a railgun like it was an insect! Immediately your face pales as you realize that you've just killed a superior officer; more importantly, you just killed a superior officer that your country had given everything they could short of their souls to get. Brass was going to chew out ass inside out and kill you for treason for this...

However, as the dust settles; your eyes go wide and you openly gape, as you see the Major standing triumphant: seemingly unharmed save for a slight head wound, blood dripping from it and down his forehead. Your can't believe your eyes; the Major had headbutted a shot from a railgun, and won. The rest of the company seemed to be just as shocked as you, as nobody made any movements; all of them just as wide eyed and gaping like you.

The Major smiles at you and says, "Good job, Bodewig; you finally laded a blow on me. I guess that mean the warm-up's over..."


What you did was arguably the most bone-headed thing imaginable; just as the shot was heading at your face, you partially deployed the Black Knight to don your helm and meet the attack head on. It was only thanks to the recent upgrades Houki did to the material composition and shields, plus your own inhuman endurance that you only came out with a slight head injury.

Seeing everyone gaping at you doing the impossible, you call out to Bodewig and compliment her on taking the offensive and holding nothing back. Now that they've landed an actual blow on you...

"...Now it's time to take things seriously." You call forth the Black Knight and immediately use Ignition Shift to enter Laura's guard, summoning a broadsword to you hand and slashing at her diagonally. She called up her forcefield again; but against the sword, it might as well be rice paper. The blade cuts through the barrier and lands a direct blow on her, which you follow up with a punch enhanced by the surger in its palm. The fist erupts in a blaze of red energy and sends Laura flying right into a wall, creating a crater where she hits and knocking her out.

Then, you deal with the rest of the soldiers; you fly towards the pilots in the sky, using Blaze Luminous in both hands to deflect the fire they leveled at you. Once you're in range; you activate your Radiant Wave Surgers in their area of effect mode, disabling their ISes and sending them crashing to the ground. A scant few manage to escape the attack, but you follow up with a charge shrouded in Radiant Wave Shielding; barreling into them and sending them to the ground below as well.

With the skies cleared, you pull out both swords now and descend to deal with the rest; fighting off sword, staff, and dagger with ease. Each attack flowed right into the next, each block into a counter; every pilot only took a single blow to take out. They were tenacious, and when they realized that you only needed a single strike to down them; they began to fight defensively, trying to react to your attacks instead. But it wasn't enough, you turned the counters and evasive maneuvers they used against them; using them to create openings to take advantage of. In mere moments, the entire company was down; none of them managing to land a single blow on you.

You dismiss the Black Knight and address the company, "Well, I have to say that compared to the Phantom Task pilots I have to deal with on a regular basis; you're definitely far better than them. However, you all still have a ways to go; potential still untapped, skill not yet attained. It will be my job to bring that forth, and I have to say...I look forward to it; if you're the soldiers I have to work with."

You then give the company time to gather themselves together, the beating you gave them left both them and their ISes in no condition to continue fighting. When you begin to head to where Laura crashed into the base, you see the General right outside the entrance; just as shocked speechless and open mouthed as the company was. You raise your hand and greet her, "General; anything I can help you with?"

"...You just took a railgun to the face, and are still alive..." she says; having apparently witnessed the ending half of the evaluation, "Are...are you even human?"

You chuckle, "Last I checked I was. Still, what brings you here ma'am?"

She snaps out of it and coughs to regain her composure, "Ah, yes; given how the 501st is going to be...out of commission for the rest of the day, I simply wanted to show you where Dr. Shinonono will be conducting her work on base. If you will follow me, please..."

As she motions for you to follow, you...
[X] Ask her to wait for a moment, you still need to check up on Laura
[X] Follow her, Bodewig should be fine; the company will find her
[X] Write-in

 

[Biigoh]

[X] Ask her to wait for a moment, you still need to check up on Laura