Ayato_kanzaki

  "Hey, Izumi. Do you know where Ayano and Akeno are?" asked Ryo bluntly. Yukiya was walking by his side, looking worried.

  "Yes." nodded Izumi with a polite smile as she filled her tray in the cafeteria. "Akeno-Onee-sama and Ayano have isoted themselves in a secluded area. When she returns, Ayano will have the qualifications to pilot a Haken."

  "How long will it take?" insisted Ryo.

  "If they aren't interrupted, I would expect them to return by tomorrow evening, maybe even tonight." replied Izumi, with a slight emphasis on the word 'interrupted', hoping that he would catch the hint and go away.

  "…I see." frowned Ryo, looking like he didn't really believe her.

  "And then, it will be our turn?" asked Yukiya.

  "I believe Akeno-Onee-sama intends to give those qualifications to Haruka and Kallen next, since they are better Knightmare pilots than you are."

  "Tche." grumbled Ryo, gncing at the nearby table where Kallen, Haruka, Roze, Kaguya and Sakura were eating together. They had heard, and Haruka actually stuck her tongue at him as if daring him to challenge Izumi's statement.

  "Damn harem protagonist." muttered Yukiya with a quick gnce at Roze and a disgusted tone. Izumi, with her hearing boosted by her Perception attribute, heard it clearly anyway, and she covered her mouth with a hand to camoufge a snort into a cough.

  "If you'll excuse me." said Izumi as she headed with her food to the next table where Lei, Akito, Da Vinci and Kasumi had started their breakfast.

  Ryo and Yukiya, having never really tried to socialize with the others, had taken a table some distance away, where they wouldn't be heard.

  Izumi sat beside her sister, listening to the ongoing conversation.

  "According to Cécile…" continued Da Vinci. "Britannia is already experimenting with what they call the Float System, something she contributed to. It allows the Gawain to fly and possess a decent top speed, but offer little in the way of accelerating in any direction. She compared it to strapping a hot air balloon and a giant air fan to a Knightmare. Our energy Wings will make our Knightmares vastly nimbler, and the main bottleneck will be the amount of G-Force our pilots will be able to tolerate."

  "I see. It looks like a great advantage." nodded Lei, smiling.

  "Especially when the pilots are enhanced like us." nodded Kasumi. "We can probably take 6 G or more before it starts impairing our movements."

  "We'll test it in two hours, if Lei agrees." smiled Da Vinci. "The Energy Wings prototype is already equipped on the first Haken-Mk3"

  "You already made another?" excimed Lei, surprised. She expected a few more days of dey.

  "Let's say we have been blessed with some good fortune on the production side. We are now building several at the same time, and you can expect us to deliver one Mk3 per day from now on, for maybe up to ten days. After that, we will really need a break."

  "If we can obtain a dozen flying Hakens within two weeks, we would be able to start the offensive against Britannia and destroy their forward bases." nodded Akito.

  "That is the pn." replied Da Vinci. "And that is also why Akeno is going to be so busy sharing her abilities around."

  …

  In the throne room, Demon Lord Rin was sitting on her wooden throne. Shuuko, now using a full bck tex bodysuit in addition to the sve harness as her default outfit, gracefully knelt at her left, holding two chains tied to Ichinon and Naru behind her. The two kneeling heroines now wore purple tex spats and tops in addition to the sve harnesses, bck gloves and bck stockings, a significant upgrade over the previous tex underwear they had been forced to wear as a reward for their training progress.

  At least, that was how Sakura had expined it to the Hellzectors. In truth, she only wanted her girls to get more used to wearing a variety of tex outfits.

  The four Hellzectors were standing in a line before her, their expressions very different from the first day. Mostly. Satanachia still didn't show her feelings on her face, but there were clues in her body nguage, in her tone whenever she addressed the Demon Lord, that conveyed her deep respect and admiration.

  Forneus looked like she wanted to receive an opportunity to earn another reward.

  Adora was dispying a proud expression while his gaze switched from Demon Lord Rin to Ichinon and Naru kneeling obediently, their heads lowered respectfully. He was obviously deriving pleasure from seeing Sakura's bold hero-taming pn providing results for Infermia's sake.

  And Grasha was listening attentively, eager to hear an order to fight something.

  Sakura estimated that Adora and Grasha were still a lot more loyal to Hell Shaft than to her, but Satanachia and Forneus seemed to be on the fence. They now rarely mentioned their loyalty to Hell Shaft in her presence and went along with Sakura's wishes without any hesitation.

  Still, she didn't want to push them to make a choice if she didn't have to. Hopefully, Hell Shaft would never return.

  To the Demon Lord's right stood Bck Knight Anna, who had just returned from her scouting mission and was delivering her report.

  "…The heroes of Guild 2A are disorganized. They now spend their time killing monsters in uneven teams. It makes the growth of a few of them more efficient, but they will lose opportunities to learn how to fight as a group. Our Informant told me about their current hunting grounds rotation, so we should be able to hit their rgest group, led by Ririko Asagiri. They haven't found any of the other Heroes, and only our Informant is aware of the group of six in Israphel, since I told her st time."

  "Taking Ichinon and Naru was enough to break their cohesion so easily?" wondered Sakura with a disappointed tone.

  "Yes, Rin-sama." nodded Medusa. "They still do not know for certain what happened to them. Some fear that we may have found a way to disable their blessings and give permanent death to the Heroes, while others suspect that we have captured them. They are preparing in earnest for a possible rescue mission. But what really broke them was the one with the Hero css, Akira Ichinomiya, decring that he would train alone from now on, in order to not share with others the strength he gains from killing monsters."

  "Ah!" snorted Sakura. "That immature man seem to be sulking over the lesson this Demon Lord taught him. Maybe he will be more interesting if we cross paths tomorrow."

  "There are two other things of varying importance I need to report, Rin-sama." nodded Medusa. "On my way back, I used the contact information Adora gave me and collected the reports of three of the vampires operating in the area. One didn't have anything significant to tell me. Another informed me about a new religion that started to spread, calling itself the Orzelia Order. Its high priests hide their faces using white masks looking like those ancient pgue masks from the world we Heroes come from, and their headquarters seem to be the city-state of Laguna."

  "Orzelia Order? Shuuko, you have lived among the humans, but this Demon Lord doesn't remember you mentioning them. How long have they been around?" asked Sakura, turning her head toward Shuuko.

  "I do not possess any information about that religion, Rin-sama." said Shuuko with a frown. "It seems to be really new. If their leaders wear masks, and considering the timing… Maybe this religion was started by some of the missing Heroes?"

  "Adora, ask the vampires to pay closer attention to what this Orzelia order is doing, but they need to do so from a safe distance. It would be a pity to lose any of them after all their hard work." said Sakura.

  "Yes, Rin-sama!" nodded Adora.

  "Rin-sama, the third spy had news that should be considerably more important for us." spoke Medusa. "He told me about a giant in golden armor descending from a mountain far in the West that the humans consider haunted. That giant reportedly called himself the God Demon King Satan, and decred his intent to retake his Throne from the, I quote, 'Usurper Hell Shaft', before waging a war against God."

  "U-Usurper! To dare speak of Hell Shaft-sama in such a way! He deserves death!" screamed Adora.

  "Now we're talking! Let's smash his body to paste and pce his head at Hell Shaft-sama's feet." nodded Grasha with a mirthless smile, punching his right palm.

  "Forneus will not forgive him!"

  "It's a death sentence." decreed Satanachia with a grim voice.

  "Rin-sama, I heard stories about Demon King Satan!" said Shuuko, her face pale. "He was the ruler of Infermia before Demon kind Hell Shaft, but that should have been hundreds or years ago! It isn't normal for him to appear!"

  Sakura nodded, interpreting Shuuko's words. The apparition of this Satan wasn't a scripted event. He was an earlier iteration of Hell Shaft that shouldn't be around anymore, and someone had done something with him. Maybe one of the Gods, to make things more interesting, or maybe those who had created this mess in the first pce.

  "Rin-sama." said Medusa. "According to the vampire who reported this, Satan is walking toward Infermia without using the teleportation portals, and his pace isn't that fast. Even if he doesn't stop to sleep, we should have about a week before he reaches Infermia."

  "…In that case, we will maintain tomorrow's strike against the Heroes. We will not let a relic from the past interfere with our own pns. When he comes into view of Infermia, This Demon Lord will face him, and return him to the grave he should never have left."

  "As expected of Rin-sama!" cheered Grasha.

  "Adora, this Demon Lord will ask your agents to keep an eye on his movements and reinforce the surveilnce around the valley."

  "It will be done, Rin-sama." smiled Adora.

  "Are there other news, Anna?" asked Sakura.

  "Nothing of significance, Rin-sama."

  "Very well. Follow me and Shuuko to my quarters for your reward, then. Shuuko, bring the two other sves as well. Satanachia, Forneus, Adora, Grasha, this Demon Lord is pleased by your work. Keep working hard for Infermia's sake." said Sakura with a proud smile as she stood.

  "Yes, Rin-sama!" excimed the four Hellzectors, and even Satanachia smiled.

  Sakura nodded and left the room, with Medusa, Shuuko, Ichinon and Naru. They waited to enter her room before Shuuko unclipped the leashes from Ichinon's and Naru's sve harnesses with muttered apologies.

  The five of them sat in a circle on the huge bed, with Sakura removing her disguise. Medusa raised an eyebrow, then removed hers, noting the ck of surprise in Ichinon and Naru's faces.

  "Shuuko, what is going on?" bluntly asked Ichinon.

  "I really don't know." said Shuuko with a frustrated voice. "I haven't received any message from NNT since the one warning me about not letting the students reach the gate, and this is the first time I hear about this Orzelia Order. As for Demon King Satan, he was the first final boss in the alpha version when the game was intended for all audiences only, but we scrapped him when the Higher-ups decided to add the Adult Mode. The name Satan was just a pceholder anyway, far too commonpce, and Hell Shaft has a double meaning, as the one bringing you to Hell, and also, well… the Shaft thing."

  Sakura found it cute how even after all the training she had received, Shuuko could still easily get embarrassed when referring to sexual matters unless she had been previously warmed up.

  "Also, the original Satan was designed with a red armor, and specialized in rge area of effect fire spells. I don't know where that golden armor comes from."

  "I guess we'll find out eventually." nodded Sakura. "I am still confident we can overcome whatever difficulty will come our way. We have worked for our backers for a while now, and they always make sure not to send us against something too strong for us to deal with, and I seriously doubt they would have lost their access to NNT's servers. As long as we don't sck off, we'll manage."

  "I hope you're right." nodded Shuuko.

  "Did something happen while I was away?" asked Medusa.

  "Yes. I slipped, and Nonnon didn't miss it." smiled Sakura. "So I told them everything we know, aside from our overall mission, and anything reted to Noah. We will tell them about that when we're out of the game and can show them undeniable proof."

  "I see. Sorry about the deception, Ichinon, Naru." nodded Medusa.

  "It's fine. I've gotten to terms with it." nodded Ichinon, still unhappy that she hadn't managed to find a better pn than Sakura's. "I'm still not comfortable with the idea of becoming a sve, but… it does have some… perks. I'll help out until we're all safe, and we'll see afterward if this retionship is permanent, or comes to a stop."

  "Thank you, Nonnon." smiled Sakura. "I appreciate your trust a lot."

  "It's not trust, it's being pragmatic... And you, Naru? Have you decided?" asked Ichinon, turning to her fellow captive.

  "Yes. I will do my best to help us survive as well. I guess I am the Fallen Holy Warrior Naru from now on." chuckled Naru.

  "There's a great costume in the store I'll buy for you, Naru, themed around the idea of a corrupted magical girl..." grinned Sakura. "…here it is."

  On Sakura's hands appeared an outfit made of tex, bck with red highlights, as well as several accessories. A sleeveless dress with a short, pleated skirt, whose top looked vaguely like a sailor school uniform tied with a rge ribbon. Bck tex fingerless gloves and stockings with red linings, leather bracelets and a leather choker sporting small bat wings around a red demonic eye. A headband with short bat wings, and shiny bck leather shoes with sensible heels.

  "What do you think, Naru?" asked Sakura, already smiling as she saw Naru pick up the dress with an eager expression.

  "It looks so cool! You were right, Sakura! Pying the bad guy can be nice, too. Can I keep it ter?"

  "I promise you this, Naru." smiled Sakura. "Even after we're out of this game world, I'll see to it that you get a good-quality replica of this outfit."

  "Yes! Thank you, Sakura."

  Sakura nodded and turned to Ichinon. "I also have an outfit in mind for you, Nonnon."

  "How worried should I be?" asked Ichinon with the expression of someone trying hard to look reluctant, but not quite pulling it off. Her cheeks were already reddening a little.

  "Nothing too bad." grinned Sakura, quickly selecting in the store the items she had pnned for Dark Sorcerer Ichinon. A bck vinyl coat with golden button, its top looking like a military tunic covering her torso, arms, belly and hips, with coattails stopping behind her knees. A pleated, bck leather skirt reaching mid-thighs. Bck tex stockings with two gold bands near their top. Bck leather knee-high boots with low heels. A bck leather colr, and a red scarf.

  Ichinon took a good look at the items as Sakura spread them over the bed, then nodded.

  "I can go with this. It's certainly better than what I currently wear."

  "Of course. We're not going into battle with you two dressed like this." nodded Sakura with a grin. "As for what you sve girls will wear when inside the castle… That will be up to this Demon Lord's whims. And right now, this Demon Lord is thinking about whole body, red rope shibari for her four sves."

  "You're unbelievable!" snorted Ichinon. "You can go from a serious conversation about our very survival to engaging in BDSM in sixty seconds ft!"

  "You'll get used to it, and don't pretend you do not like the feeling of being restrained and my hands on your body, Nonnon. Now less talking, and more undressing! Not you, Shuuko. You stay in that suit, and I'll teach you the ropes, literally."

  "…Wait, are you saying you want to teach me how to tie up Ichinon or Naru?" asked Shuuko, confused.

  "Yes." nodded Sakura. "In Infermia's hierarchy, you are under the Hellzectors, but above the captured Heroes, and properly managing them will be part of your duties as Rin-sama's personal sve. So I will give you advice on how to become a competent trainer assistant, like Medusa already is. It doesn't matter in this virtual world, but in real life, you need to know how to practice bondage safely, to avoid interrupting blood flow or accidentally suffocating your partner. And there is another reason."

  "What is it?" suspiciously asked Shuuko.

  "The st reason is that I will soon be busy with more of our cssmates, and you and Medusa will either assist in their training, or will make certain that Ichinon and Naru get a healthy amount of discipline on a daily basis."

  "What do you mean, discipline?" asked Naru, and Sakura smiled.

  "It will take many forms, but will always involve you being bound in some way and sexually tormented. Think of it as a way to keep you on your toes and improve your skills. I have plenty of ideas we have yet to try!"

  …

  The door opened, and Dorothea Ersnt entered the rge office. The Knight of Four was dressed in her parade uniform, a bck undersuit with gold linings, white coat and pants with golden cords around her thin waist, bck leather gloves covering her forearms, and a light blue cape draped over her shoulders, held by another golden cord, that did little to hide her full hourgss figure. Her green eyes were very unusual for someone with her chocote milk skin tone, but she had long grown used to attracting looks. Her lustrous bck hair, gathered into a braid by small blue accessories, hung over her right shoulder as she approached the long table and sat on the chair she knew was hers to take.

  Whenever the Knights of Rounds gathered for a formal talk, they always used a seating corresponding to their number.

  "Hello, Anya, Gino, Luciano." said Dorothea once seated. Anya, the Knight of Six, was sitting on her right. The petite girl with semi-long pink hair framing her face and pink eyes turned her head away from her smartphone.

  "Hello, Dorothea." simply replied Anya before returning her attention to her phone, watching a video.

  Dorothea didn't take offense. She knew Anya suffered from frequent bursts of amnesia and tried to record everything with her smartphone, to then try to repy footage of what she had forgotten. But for some reason, she rarely wound up with any recording of what happened during her bnks.

  Regardless, Anya had been Knighted by the Emperor, and she was a skilled Knightmare pilot, unflinchingly bringing destruction to Britannia's enemies. It was enough for Dorothea to accept her as a peer, and the girl's easygoing personality made every Knight of the Rounds fond of Anya.

  "Long time no see, Dorothea!" waved Gino Weinberg, the Knight of Three, an energetic and tall blue-eyed man with short blond hair. Another fellow with an easygoing personality. "How's the South African battlefield?"

  "The progress is slow, but Europia won't be able to throw bodies at us forever. When they run out of refugees to suicide on our troops, they will quickly colpse."

  "So, Dorothea, do you know why we have been asked to gather here?" asked Luciano Bradley, Knight of Ten.

  "…I heard is it reted to both Area Eleven and the Europian Frontline." shrugged Dorothea, not wanting to engage in conversation with him.

  Where Anya was quiet and obedient, Luciano was boastful and needlessly sadistic, having earned himself the notorious title of Vampire of Britannia, and was Dorothea's least favorite peer. Even his orange hair, styled in a mullet aside from a bang going down the middle of his forehead, irritated her.

  The so-called Valkyries, Luciano's assistants in battle, were currently standing at attention against the wall behind Luciano, their eyes staring at the opposite wall, dressed in bat-themed "uniforms" that Dorothea found too revealing, and each of them wearing a red hairpin above their left temple in the shape of a bat. Dorothea gnced over her right shoulder at each of them for a second.

  Liliana Vergamon, a green-eyed girl with long blond hair, straight over most of their length and wavy near their end.

  Marika Soresi, a blue-eyed girl with blue eyes and a bob of neck-length burnt-orange hair.

  Angelise Ikaruga, a blonde girl with pinkish red eyes and blond hair reaching her shoulders.

  Finaly, Selesia Upitiria, a young woman with sky-blue eyes and long crimson-red hair reaching the small of her back. She styled some of the hair behind her ears into two thin braids that rested over her shoulders and framed her chest.

  All four of the Valkyries were young dies from the lower ranks of Britannia's nobility, and picked by Luciano for their looks just as much as for their skills as Knightmare Pilots and their loyalty to the Holy Empire.

  They were no Knight of the Rounds material, but if they lived long enough and kept steadily improving themselves, might in a few months or years be considered if some of the vacancies were still unfilled.

  The door opened again, and two more Knights entered. Ash Phoenix, the Knight of Thirteen, with steely blue eyes and short chestnut hair with bangs covering the right half of his forehead, was a pleasant and serious man.

  Monica Krushevsky, Knight of Twelve, had a gentle-looking appearance with her rge blue eyes and long blond hair styled into two high pigtails, and bangs completely hiding her forehead. But on the battlefield, she turned into a vicious devil, heavily favoring melee combat where she used her Knightmare's giant Maser Vibration Cws to frightening efficiency.

  "Greetings, everyone." politely said Ash, followed by Monica, and Dorothea nodded to them.

  They both sat near the far end of the table. Being the most recent people to be Knighted by the Emperor Charles.

  "Are we expecting Princess Cornelia?" asked Ash. "I saw a dozen Knightmares belonging to the Gston Knights being worked on in the garage."

  "She is talking with Sir Bismarck and Nonette. They should come any minute now." shrugged Gino.

  Nonette Enneagram, Knight of Nine, was a friend of Princess Cornelia. They had attended the same college.

  As if talking about them had summoned them, the doors opened again, and four people entered the room.

  Princess Cornelia was front and center, and while her appearance was impeccable as always, Dorothea thought her vender eyes looked tired.

  To her right was Bismark Waldstein, the Knight of One, an extremely rge man with blue eyes and dark blue, wavy, neck-length hair, but his left eye was sewn shut. He was nicknamed "The Unsinkable" as he had never lost a fight, not ever gotten close to losing. In the hierarchy of the Holy Empire, he was on a comparable level to Princess Cornelia, with only Schneizel and the Emperor himself above him, although he never interfered in politics. He was the Sword of the Emperor, and the Executor of his will, and refused to be anything more.

  Walking on the Princess's left was Nonette Enneagram, a tall woman with blue eyes and pale green hair cut in a short boyish cut, aside from longer bangs framing her face and reaching her shoulders. The bangs on the left side had been braided and tied with a small golden tube.

  And walking respectfully behind them was a young man Dorothea had never seen before, with purple eyes and short brown hair.

  Dorothea, just like every Knight of the Rounds and Valkyrie present, stood and turned to her as they entered and bowed respectfully, their right fist on their chest.

  "Your Highness!" excimed the people present.

  "At ease." nodded Cornelia with a small smile of welcome.

  Breaking with tradition, Bismark didn't sit at the end of the table, but offered the chair to the Princess, who accepted it gracefully. He instead sat facing Gino on the Seat that would have belonged to the Knight of Two, had he not been unable to return to the Homend. Sir Michele Manfredi was coordinating the orders of Raphael and Michael near the Europian frontline, and had been excused.

  The unknown young man didn't sit and stood respectfully near a wall, facing the Valkyries.

  …

  "Thank you, everyone, for promptly answering your summons." said Cornelia, facing what was undoubtedly the greatest concentration of talent within the Holy Empire. And she hoped it would be enough.

  "Your highness, what is this about? All of us gathered, and there's enough Knightmares within the base to unch a full invasion. Are we finally taking on the Chinese Federation?" asked Luciano.

  "The Federation would be a stroll in the park, compared to the enemy we are about to face." said Cornelia with a mirthless smile. "In two days, we will move to Europia's Eastern border and start what might be the single most important battle of the history of the Holy Empire. We will face someone who already decred her intent to assassinate His Majesty. And someone who already proved she possesses the capability to do so."

  Looking at their suddenly serious and concerned faces, she certainly had their undivided attention now, and tapped a few commands on the table's electronics. On the wall behind her, a rge screen descended from the ceiling.

  "What you are about to see is footage from that enemy's attack on Tokyo's most secure prison, where I was holding one of that monster's companions hostage to try to subdue her."

  The footage was also dispyed on a small screen in front of her, so Cornelia didn't have to look back to see what the Knights and Valkyries were seeing. Armored doors suddenly cut apart by giant golden swords appearing out of thin air, their falling fragments shoved apart by an invisible force. Part of the detention building being destroyed by more of those swords, and a figure cd in white and red carrying a female prisoner, twelve bck raven wings spreading from her back, bursting through the newly formed hole, deploying golden shields to block bullet as she flew away at high speed.

  The footage switched to a camera looking at the outside perimeter, and the Knights saw the same figure, alone this time, return to attack the prison, flying around and using multiple beams of red light to cut through pavement and defending Knightmares alike.

  "The st part of the recording is from a camera in the Prison's courtyard." sighed Cornelia.

  The footage showed Kyuubi flying over the perimeter wall, being welcomed by a rge salvo of missiles, only to make them explode midair, and the Gston Knights being incapacitated just as easily. The operator had actually zoomed in when Kyuubi had used the head of Cornelia's own Knightmare as a seat, waiting for Cornelia and every member of her retinue to be done emptying their weapons, safe behind more of those golden shields.

  "She called herself Kyuubi, although we know that her name is Akeno Himejima. Assuming that is her real name."

  Cornelia pressed another button, and the screen now dispyed the stunningly beautiful face of the young woman that had turned her neatly ordered world upside down.

  "She appeared on the Europian Frontline less than two weeks ago, operating an approximately eight-meter tall Knightmare whose power would pce it within Knight of the Rounds category. She personally destroyed at least thirty Gsgows in less than four minutes of action. Just a few days ago, the Holy Order of Michael organized an operation to try to capture that Knightmare when she was in Paris, but the pilot repcing her was too competent to be captured easily, and a second Knightmare of comparable type and size appeared suddenly, forcing the Order to retreat."

  "Her one saving grace, from our perspective, is that neither she nor the other two pilots of those Knightmares, named Hakens, seem interested in killing more of our soldiers than necessary to accomplish their goals. She let our pilots evacuate their totaled Knightmares in the Europian forest, and her break-in and the subsequent attack of the prison ended with only three dead and a few pilots lightly bruised when their Knightmares were dismantled."

  "Your Highness." asked Gino, his voice completely focused, and his usual happy-go-lucky attitude completely gone. "Do you know how she neutralized your Knightmares in the prison courtyard? And how can she do all that in the first pce?"

  "It was an EMP, that she somehow generated with a wave of the hand." said Bismark gruffly.

  "Aren't our Knightmares protected against EMP?" asked Theodora.

  "Not protected enough, visibly. And our technicians are working as we speak to correct that issue on all of our personal Knightmares, as well as the thousand more who will participate in this operation." continued Bismark "According to our sources in Europia, this woman can somehow cause lightning to fall from a the sky with pinpoint precision. She used this to murder one of her commanding officers when he insisted that the members of her squadron install suicide charges on their Knightmares."

  "As for the rest of your question, Gino, she cims to be the Envoy of a God." sighed Cornelia. "I will be blunt. If she decided to fly today to Pendragon to kill the Emperor, we wouldn't be able to stop her. At least, that was what I thought, until his Majesty made me privy to information that I wasn't aware of."

  Cornelia gnced at Bismark, who took over the expnation.

  "We do not know where she or those Knightmares came from. However, she… isn't the only one to possess supernatural abilities. His Majesty has granted me permission to speak to Her Highness as well as you all about a few confidential information, on the condition that, after the battle is over and this threat is eliminated, most of us will travel to Pendragon, where any memory we have of the supernatural components of this crisis will be sealed off. It has been done before, and it is harmless."

  "It goes without saying that what I am about to tell you doesn't leave this room, and is one of the greatest state secrets of the Empire. If you spread it carelessly, you will experience a tragic accident."

  The Knights nodded in response to his steely gaze.

  "I guess the best way is to give you a demonstration. Rolo Haliburton, are you ready?"

  "Yes, Sir." replied the young man who had followed them inside.

  Bismark slowly drew his pistol and aimed it at Rolo. Cornelia knew approximately what was about to happen, but still missed the exact moment it happened. In less time than the blink of an eye, Rolo wasn't near the wall anymore, but stood two meters from Bismark, and Bismark's right hand was empty.

  "Your weapon, Sir." respectfully said Rolo, presenting the gun in his two open hands.

  Cornelia saw the Knights of Rounds gasp as they, too, didn't understand at first what had happened. She and Nonette had reacted the same way earlier.

  "Thank you." nodded Bismark, retrieving his gun, and Rolo walked back to his spot on the wall. "Everyone, this is Rolo Haliburton. A competent Knightmare Pilot who also served His Majesty as an assassin. He has dealt with many of the Holy Empire's internal threats. He will be our trump cards when dealing with Akeno Himejima, and in case of success, will be rewarded by a knighthood and a number."

  "What just happened?" asked Gino, his squinting eyes alternating between Rolo and Bismark. "Was this, some kind of teleportation?"

  "Not quite. What Rolo did was stop our perception of time. He cannot suppress it for more than a few seconds, and his range is limited to maybe two hundred meters at most, but if he manages to catch Akeno Himejima in his range, she will simply stop moving from his perspective, and he shouldn't have any difficulty cutting her down."

  "I see." nodded Gino, understanding the overall pn. They would have a hard time pinning down someone who could move as fast as this Akeno had demonstrated in the footage, but if they managed to bring her in range of Rolo, she wouldn't even notice anything was wrong before he killed her. Those supernatural abilities were truly terrifying.

  "And in the interest of our mission, I will also reveal this: He isn't the only owner of a supernatural ability that will participate in this mission. My own left eye, when I open it, allows me to see up to one second into the future."

  The knights were surprised that they had known a supernatural user all this time and were never aware, But Bismark didn't intend to spend any more time on this matter, now that they knew what they needed to know.

  "Our technicians are working day and night to further harden our Knightmares and the thousand regur ones against EMPs. As soon as they are done, we are going. We do not want to give them time to notice that Knights of the Round aren't showing up on the various frontlines anymore, and wonder why."

  "His Majesty doesn't want to wait for her to try raiding Pendragon, or time to add more of those powerful Knightmares to their base's roster. We estimate that we will face three, maybe four Hakens in addition to Akeno Himejima, supported by at most a few dozen Alexanders and Hummels."

  Bismark paused for an instant, looking at everyone present, and seeing their determination. All of them were veteran soldiers who knew their lives were on the line after seeing the footage, but their eyes were unflinching, and he let his face express both his pride and his determination.

  "Let them know the might of the fully assembly Knights of Rounds. We will go all-out to crush them all."