19

I checked my equipment and then glanced back at my squad.

Marian, Rapi, Anis, and Neon were coming with me.

Meanwhile, Suri, Hana, and Nami were keeping watch at the Outpost.

...I was mildly concerned about our newest members defending it alone.

But I had a hidden 'ace-in-the-hole' that I'd developed for back up that no one knew about.

Hopefully it wouldn't need to be deployed. The moment it was, I would have to answer A LOT of questions. Not just from my squad, but DEFINITELY from the Central Government.

All I had to say was, the Outpost's recycling facility was VERY versatile and had a lot of blueprints and schematics. Documentation too.

But anyway...

Shifty's voice echoed over the comms. "There's not much Alva particle concentration where you're headed, Commander. Just keep heading north and you'll get to the destination."

"That's good to hear at least." I nodded. "Communications will be working then- Wait. I never asked. What ARE Alva particles, Shifty?"

"E-Eh? You don't know?" Shifty hummed. "Well... To sum it up, there was an attempt in the past to disrupt Rapture communications with them. But they hijacked it and repurposed it to block our communications instead."

"Huh."

Note to self: research Alva particles.

Rapi frowned and took a look around at the surroundings. "Even though the concetration of Alva particles is low, we likely have other problems. There's a lot of ice here."

"Hm?" I glanced over. "Why's ice a problem? Do you slip and slide?"

Anis rolled her eyes. "No, Commander. We sink. Like a hunk of metal in water."

"...Right. Forgot about that- Wait." I tilted my head. "...How come I can lift you guys up then?"

"Huh?" Anis blinked. "What do you mean you can lift us-" She glanced at Marian, who had suddenly turned a bright red. Then her own face turned red. "Ooookay. Did NOT need to know that."

I coughed. "The reason why I know this aside... it's true though. Here." I walked over to Anis.

"W-Wait! Commander, what the heck are you- Huh?" Anis blinked, stopping her squirming in my arms. "...How the heck?"

Rapi froze, staring directly at me with her crimson eyes. "...How?"

Marian puffed her cheeks. "Commander..."

I set Anis down and said, "No need to be jealous, Mari. I'm still yours."

"Hmph." Marian pouted but let out a happy smile.

Anis shook herself off, brushing off the bits of snow drifting down. "That was weird. SUPER weird. Do you have like strength enhancing things in that armor, Commander?"

Neon ran over from having just finished building a snowman. "I saw that! Master, Master! You didn't say you could lift us up! Is that a secret martial arts technique?"

I decided to tease her a bit and said, "Of course. It's called the Qinggong, or the Lightness Skill." I put on a straight face and said, "With it, I can manipulate the heaviness of an object by freely transferring the energy across my body."

It was a joke.

It was definitely a joke.

But I noticed everyone giving me seriously thoughtful gazes.

And then Shifty spoke up over the comms. "Um... was I... supposed to hear that, Commander Hoopa?"

"...It's a joke, guys. I can't actually do that."

"Uh huh." Rapi slowly nodded her head.

"...So it's a joke." Marian slowly said. "...A joke that you can lift us?"

Neon adjusted her glasses. "Which is the joke and which is the truth...?"

Anis frowned. "Wait. So are you lying about this Ching Gong thing or about the armor giving you superstrength? Because you DEFINITELY lifted me just now..."

"Secret."

And something I needed to look into.

Because in hindsight...

Yes. Like, what the hell.

Just how DID I lift Anis just now...?

===

Thankfully, our journey continued without any trouble.

Raptures showed up, but as always, they were easy to deal with. Although it was a bit of a shame that I didn't get to test out my new equipment.

"What's wrong, Commander?" Anis glanced at me as we marched. "Sad you didn't get to see personal action?"

"A little, yeah." I rested my hand on my sword hilt and said, "I was looking forward to testing this baby out. But true to history, a sword sheathed IS better than a sword drawn. Better I don't have to use this, right?"

Marian nodded. "Absolutely. I'm still against you being on the front lines, Commander..."

"It's objectively safer though? If I'm behind all of you, I can get taken out by a stray or targeted attack. If I'm right beside you all or in front, you can see me and adapt on the fly."

Neon nodded. "Makes sense to me!"

Rapi sighed. "...If you were anyone else, Commander, I would call you suicidal. But you DO possess the skills to back it up... somehow."

"It's decades of experience."

"...Aren't you barely 25?"

"Exactly."

I put on a straight face.

Rapi sighed again.

Neon looked at me thoughtfully and said, "Commander. Have you ever heard of the Legendary Gun?"

"Hm?" I blinked. "I've heard of Legendary Swords, but not Legendary Guns."

Neon's eyes lit up. "Legendary swords?! Those are real?!"

"Well, probably." I nodded. "If not, I could recreate them. I mean, I know the properties, and we have the tech. Like a gunblade should be possible-"

"A GUNBLADE?!" Neon ran forward and grabbed my arm. "Tell me, tell me, tell me!"

"C-Calm down!"

"Neon!" Marian frowned. "Behave yourself."

"O-Oh! Right." Neon cleared her throat and stepped back. "Sorry, Master. But... really? You can make a gunblade?"

"Probably? I'd need to workshop it, but it'd be doable." I paused, thinking. "Actually, it might be ideal. We really should have bayonets and blades to deal with enemies that we can't punch through with pure firepower."

Rapi tilted her head. "Hm. That's a fair point. I'll make a note to add them to the next resupply list."

"Wait a minute." Anis spoke up and said, "We're not seriously considering gunblades for fighting against Raptures, are we?"

I shrugged. "Momentum based combat is a thing. You could probably launch yourself with a rocket, plunge into a Rapture, blast away with another rocket to open distance while simultaneously crushing its core."

Anis froze. Then her eyes lit up. "Commander."

"Yeah?"

"You're a genius!"

Neon gasped. "YES! I wanna fight like that too!"

Rapi pinched the bridge of her nose. "Please don't encourage them, Commander."

Marian frowned. "Yes, Master. I might be able to perform basic medic duties, but that sounds like a recipe for disaster..."

Anis looked over and said, "Not if we practice, it isn't! Right, Neon?"

"YEAH!"

I chuckled. "Well, regardless of how cool it'd be, you can't use it in some places. Like here, where an avalanche could occur if-"

A low rumbling echoed from the distance. At the same time, a rushing cloud of white.

"...We're too loud. Fuck my life. I knew it was too easy."

The weather was clear.

The sky, a beautiful blue hue.

And now it was completely white, the snow from the nearby mountains crashing down towards us.

"Orders, Commander?" Rapi immediately moved close.

"We- DUCK!" I dove to the ground.

Everyone else immediately did as well, just as a beam of light cut past, searing the ground.

"What the heck?!" Anis rolled to her feet and pulled out her rocket launcher. "Where'd that come from?!"

Rapi got up and scanned the surroundings. "Shifty?"

"I-I don't know?!" Shifty's voice echoed over the comms. "There's no Rapture signals...? Wait, no! There are now! They're hiding in the snow!"

"Of course they are-"

A sense of imminent demise. Pure malice from the left and certain death.

"JUMP!"

I immediately jumped into the air.

Everyone was confused but did as well. The moment we did, another laser swept across from our left and through where we had just been standing.

"Holy shit!" Anis landed and stared at the scorched ground.

Rapi landed and immediately did return fire in the direction of the laser.

Marian did the same with her SMG. "You dare aim for our Commander?!"

Neon landed and pulled out her shotgun. "Master! Should I fire?"

I heard panicked typing over the comms. Shifty, frantically checking her readings.

"Commander Hoopa!" Shifty's panicked voice echoed. "Something's strange! I'm getting a Tyrant-Class reading, but it's unstable?! It keeps moving-"

A sudden intuition. Malice from above and an amused stare.

"Anis!"

"Y-Yeah?!"

I sprinted towards her and jumped. "Launch me! Like an idol flip! Three o'clock!"

"What the heck are- Gah, fine!" Anis caught my foot and vaulted me up, perfectly timed.

As I flew up, I swung my blade.

There wasn't anything there.

Yet.

Steel flashed.

My blade snapped.

And then a gray blur passed me while a towering limb crashed to the ground below.

"Marian! Catch me!"

"Y-Yes!" Marian immediately moved to catch me as I chucked my shattered blade away.

Trusting her, I kept my gaze locked onto the direction where I felt that malice.

It was hard.

Like a fly buzzing around, I caught glimpses of 'something.'

And it was harder still since the avalanche had filled the air with snow.

But-

'I see you.'

-A disturbing grin. A towering bipedal creature with a tail, hulking arms and a stature like a gorilla.

No, it 'had' hulking arms.

The thing that crashed to the ground was one of the creature's arms.

As I landed and glanced at the clearly biological material, I looked up and said, "Well. Seems like Raptures ARE imitating life."

My squad immediately flanked me, blocking the way between me and the unknown creature- no, Rapture.

"Rapture reading confirmed!" Shifty's voice echoed over the intercom. "It's a Lord-Class, no, Tyrant-Class! Be careful!"

Even so, the Rapture stared at me with its beady red eyes and unsettling grin. Despite missing an arm, it remained steady.

After a brief stand off, it spoke in a grating male voice. "Interesting. The fake humans, I understand. But you..." It tilted its head in confusion, just like a human would. "You, I don't understand. What ARE you? Harming me with a flimsy piece of metal is one thing. But you took my arm."

I stared back at it and said, "Commander Hoopa. Leader of Squad Brave. And you... Hm. You're an irregular. You aren't mechanical. You aren't biological either. Something in-between... Synthetic."

The morphology was humanoid, but it took bits and pieces from animal morphology too. Like I'd noticed, the stature was like a gorilla's. But the tail was something I'd see like on a lizard, albeit skeletal. Then there were the legs, which looked like a wolf's...

"You are different." The Rapture looked at me. "This was informative. I just wanted to play, but I found something interesting. Especially you." He shifted his gaze to Marian. "...You are corrupted. But you are not."

Marian tensed.

Rapi and Anis looked at Marian, concerned.

Neon blinked. "Huh? What does that mean?"

The Rapture let out a grating laugh. "Commander Hoopa... I will remember that name. You are worthy. A true human. Yes... I will-"

Before he could finish, an explosion shattered the air. At the same time, an enormous hole opened up in the Rapture's chest. "Gah! The repair function can't-"

"NOW! The head!"

I immediately ordered everyone to open fire.

They didn't need a second command.

Gunfire followed from my Nikke, lighting up the air.

Another explosion followed, the sound of the Rapture's core exploding. And then it collapsed on the ground, motionless.

But I wasn't falling for it.

"Anis, blast it. Then immediately after, Neon. When she's finished, Rapi, Marian. Fire here, here, and here."

No more words were said. Only gunfire and explosions.

And when it was done, the Rapture's corpse was in pieces, completely disassembled.

For good measure, I used my shield to pull out the bits of the core and then severed the analogues to blood vessels.

"Tch. I'd love to burn it, but it's not flammable." I glared at the corpse and said, "I have the vague sense this guy can come back if even a scrap of him is left behind."

It was a gut feeling.

Despite him being blasted apart, I could still feel the Rapture's gaze on me. No, not 'gaze,' but 'attention.'

"Good job."

A female voice echoed from the distance.

"Stop." Rapi reacted first, training her gun on the new guest. "Stay where you are."

Everyone quickly followed.

But I held up my hand. "At ease." I stared at the new arrival, assessing them.

Short white hair, a mostly mechanical body, heavy armaments, golden eyes, and what looked to be a stupidly high powered rifle.

She wasn't familiar.

But I could sense that she also didn't have any hostility towards us.

I called out first. "I'm Hoopa, Commander of the Nikke Squad Brave. We arrived here in search of information about the ones they call Pilgrims."

The mysterious woman- No, Nikke. The white-haired Nikke approached and said, "Commander... I see. If it's the Pilgrims you're looking for, you've met one of them." She gave me a once over and said, "...It's surprising. A commander fighting on the frontlines with his Nikke. It's been some time since I saw something like that."

While I was pondering her response, Neon spoke up.

"Um... excuse me." Neon stared at the white-haired Nikke's weapons with bright eyes. "Could I... take a closer look?"

The white-haired Nikke hesitated. Then she slowly nodded. "...There's time. And you succeeded in destroying the Rapture I was hunting for a long time. We can talk."

"Alright." I nodded. "Shifty. Reporting in. We've made contact with a member of the Pilgrims. We'll follow up after the conversation. For courtesy, please close the line for approximately thirty minutes, or until we contact you."

"H-Huh?!" Shifty's voice crackled over the comms. "That's... I mean, I can do that. But are you sure-"

"Also, inform Chief Andersen. We'll-"

"Andersen?" The Nikke's eyes sharpened. "...Chief Andersen?"

"...Yes?"

===

Andersen stared at the report sitting on the table in front of him.

It was unbelievable in numerous aspects.

First was the fact that there was a Rapture capable of human speech as well as clear cunning and intellect. The fact that it hid within an avalanche in order to avoid detection... it was concerning.

But as Andersen read, the report only became more unbelievable.

The fact that Commander Hoopa was able to sever a Rapture's limb off as it moved with a blade.

The fact that they not only found information about the Pilgrims, but met one.

That they defeated the anomalous Rapture and disassembled its corpse while containing it for transport and were returning with it.

Then the name.

"Snow White." Andersen stared at the name written on the report, along with the attached photo. "...So you all ARE still alive. I should've guessed it."

She was different now. Just like him, time had not been kind to her.

The sweet and innocent engineer he remembered had been replaced with a taciturn and no-nonsense warrior. One who looked like she'd fought far too many battles alone.

Andersen let out a long sigh. "...Dammit."

He had wanted confirmation. And he got it. But...

Andersen read the last paragraph in the report.

*Miss Snow White says that if you still see her and the others as Goddesses of Victory, you should meet them on the fields once more. The fight hasn't ended. I'm not sure what she's talking about... but I passed the message along.*

Andersen let out a bitter laugh. "You think I don't want to?" He rubbed his hand against his side at the machine keeping him alive. The embedded device keeping his from dropping dead. And one that would stop working the moment he left the Ark. "...I want to do that more than anyone else."

The halcyon days running around the place with the Goddess Squad and Lilith... The promise he made to take care of them after her she was gone...

"...The only thing I can do is watch over you from afar." Andersen sighed and leaned back into his chair. "...It's quite unfair. A reckless guy like me was put in a position like this..."

The Ark needed him.

As much as Andersen wanted to leave and run wild... to meet up with his former squad and continue the fight...

He couldn't.

Not yet.

Even if he was healed, he still couldn't leave it all behind to deploy again. Not yet.

"...Well. For now..." Andersen read the report one more time. Then he rubbed his chin thoughtfully before making a call. "Shifty. Inform Special Commando Hoopa to receive a physical when he returns."