Infinite Stratos - Volume 3, page 11
"It's a unique long ranged type that's designed to clear the area...it seems that it can launch a full-scale attack like my IS."
"It's frame has enhanced attack and mobility. That's tough. And the specs are better than my [Shenlong], so the opponent has a slight advantage..."
"This unique armor seems to be tough to handle. My country sent a few [Revive] defensive equipment over, but I do feel that it's tough to defend against them consecutively."
"And looking at these figures, its fighting capability is still an unknown variable. The technology it has is also unknown. Can't we investigate it anyway?"
Cecilia, Rin, Charl and Laura are all seriously exchanging views. As for me, I managed to recover from this chaotic situation, but I still can't catch up to them. Honestly, I'm really useless.
"Can't be helped. This machine's still moving at a supersonic speed. The maximum velocity it has is over 2450km/hr, so there's only one chance."
"Only one chance...that means, we can only launch a suit with a sure-kill attack, right?"
After hearing Yamada-sensei's words, everyone turned to me.
"Huh...?"
"Ichika, beat it with your [Reiraku Byakuya]."
"That's the case. However, the problem is--"
"How are we going to send Ichika there? It'll be hard for us to succeed if we don't focus on the attack, but how are we going to move there?"
"And we have to catch up to a fast moving IS. The super sensors are important, right?"
"Ho-Hold on a minute! I-I'm going?"
""""OF COURSE!""""
All four of them answered in unison.
"Orimura, this isn't training, it's a real battle. If you're not ready, don't force yourself."
--
Once Chifuyu-nee said that, I immediately kicked off the cowardice in me.
"I'll do it. I'll do my best."
"Very good. Now, let's discuss the battle plan. Amongst you pilots, who has the fastest speed."
"My [Blue Tears]. It just so happened that the [Strike Gunner] England sent over had a high-capability sensor equipped with it as well."
All IS have what's called [Packet] switch equipment.
The [Packet] includes the weapons, additional armor and boosters. There are all sorts of varieties to them. One of them includes a specialized set called an [Haute Couture] that's used to create special unit sets, though I've never actually seen that before...
The IS machines capability and nature will change drastically according to the packet, and can allow for all sorts of combat. On a side note, all the first year personal IS pilots, including me, have a semi-customized packet.
--Ah, except for Charl whose packet is fully customized...that's really easy to mix up.
"Alcott, how long have you been training under supersonic mode?"
"20 hours."
"U...that's indeed suitable—"
Chifuyu-nee gets ready to end this planning, only to be interrupted by a super energetic voice.
"HOLD ON, HOLD ON! STOP WITH THAT STRATEGY~!"
And the voice came from the ceiling. Everyone looked up to see Tabane-san's head appearing upside down from the ceiling.
"...Yamada-sensei, please forcefully escort that person out."
"Huh? Ye-Yes! Ah, Professor Shinonono, please get her down first."
"TOU★!"
Tabane-san flips a somersault in mid-air and lands. That gentle movement is something even a clown from a circus has to admire. How far is this person going to show her cards like that...
"Chi-chan Chi-chan, my brain's now printing an even more brilliant plan!"
"...Get out."
Chifuyu-nee pressed against her head. Though Yamada-sensei wanted to follow orders and escort Tabane-san out, Tabane-san easily slipped away from her.
"Listen to me, listen to me! This is de~fin~ite~ly the time for [Akatsubaki]'s debut!"
"What?"
"Look at [Akatsubaki]'s specs! It can fly at supersonic speeds even without additional packets."
As if responding to Tabane-san's words, screens appear around Chifuyu-nee.
"Adjusting [Akatsubaki]'s [Fold-Out Armor]...change change change! See? The speed will be great now!"
[Fold-Out Armor]? What's that?
Just when I'm puzzled about this strange name, Tabane-san's already standing beside Chifuyu-nee and explaining it to her, even taking away the mains screen from her. What was an image of the [Gospel]'s data is now switched to [Akatsubaki]'s specs.
"Let me explain. Here it comes~this so-called [Fold-Out Armor] will be the 4th Generation frame's equipment that this genius developed for the 4th generation IS!"
Fourth...?
"OK! Now, the kind-hearted Tabane-san will start explaining~ this is for Ii-kun! Hehe, are you happy yet? First, the 1st generation frames were aimed to 'complete the IS'. The 2nd generation is to 'diversify according to the different equipment'. Next, the 3rd generation 'carries unique weapons that're controlled by the pilot's imagination', including air-compressed weapons, BiTs and AIC. And the 4th generation are those 'all-purpose frames that don't need a change in equipment'. Right now, it's still on the planning phase. Okay, do you understand, Ii-kun? Sensei loves the outstanding students best."
"Hm, oh. Huh, no, about that..."
Hol-Hold on a minute. I remember that all the countries finally managed to enter the 3rd generation phase after so much experimenting. Why have we jumped all the way to the 4th generation now?"
"Fufufu, this Tabane-san isn't just an ordinary genius! This is just an appetizer from me!"
An appetizer. Doesn't sound nice for some reason...
"This was already used on the [Yukihira Niigata] of the [Byakushiki]. I installed it to try it out~"
"""Huh?"""
What she said caused every personal IS pilot other than me to be stunned.
The base construct when activating the [Reiraku Byakuya] of the [Yukihira Niigata] is actually the so-called [Fold-Out armor]. If that's the case, [Byakushiki] itself is a 4th generation already.
"And because the development went well, [Akatsubaki]'s entire armor is made of [Fold-Out Armor]! When the system's at its maximum ability, the specs will double★!"
"Ho-Hold, hold on a minute. Huh? Whole body? The armor's the same as [Yukihira Niigata]? That means..."
"Yup, it's invincible! Anyway, it's the strongest."
Everyone present is dumbfounded. The only one who didn't respond is likely Chifuyu-nee as everyone's just shocked by what this Shinonono Tabane in front of us said.
"Also, [Akatsubaki]'s [Fold-Out Armor] is of the instant configuration type, so it can change to attack, defense and mobility along the way. This is the aim of the 4th generation frame, a multi-type frame. Fufufu, I prepared it a long time ago. Hohoho~"
Everyone's silent.
"Huh? What's wrong? Why is everyone looking like they're keeping vigil at a funeral? Who's dead? That's strange."
That's not something that can be excused with the words 'that's strange'.
All the countries invested money, time, talent in an arms race to develop the 3rd Generation IS frame...
And all that was actually meaningless.
How, how can there be such a stupid thing!!??
"--I told you before already, Tabane. You overdid it."
"Really? Hehe, I got too into it accidentally~"
Tabane-san seemed to have finally understood why we remained silent after Chifuyu-nee explained it to her.
"Ah, but you see, [Akatsubaki]'s still incomplete, so don't show such an expression, Ii-kun. Seeing you look so down-heartened, this Tabane-san really doesn't want to play pranks now."
No...it's useless even if you continue blinking at me like that...
"Well—about that, that's when [Akatsubaki]'s at full power. Finishing this mission is just a warm-up before dinner!"
Before dinner...no, never mind. Never mind at all.
"Speaking of which, about that rampant incident, it reminds me of that [White Knight] Incident ten years ago!"
Tabane-san chuckles away, and beside her, Chifuyu-nee gives an 'uh oh' look.
The [White Knight] Incident—
Everybody in the world should have heard of this name.
Tabane-san introduced IS ten years ago, but at the beginning, no one recognized her accomplishments.
Nobody believed that it could 'surpass all current weapons'.
Some of them even felt that those words 'couldn't be trusted'.
"Oh my, I never thought that this world would be that stupid. Ufufu, they wouldn't believe my ability, yet they would believe God's blessing. This so-called Idol worship is simply amazing. This Tabane-san's an actual living person!"
A year after the IS was introduced, an incident happened.
Well, it would be too weird to call it an incident, since there's nothing more critical than that point.
A hacker sent 2,341 missiles from all the countries in the world at Japan, making them unable to be controlled--and launched them all.
The whole world sunk into chaos and despair.
At that moment, a female in a full silver and white armor appeared.
As that female's face was covered thoroughly by some facemask-type sensors, nobody knew her real identity. However, how should I put it—it was really too similar to some shounen manga plot, as it left everyone speechless.
The hero who was dressed like some Middle Ages knight actually,
"She slashed them all! She slashed about half of the missiles, 1,221 missiles in all. That's so cool~"
That female was holding a sword no matter what, yet unexpectedly, the human actually flew at supersonic speed to slash down these modern-day weapons called missiles, so it really seemed exaggerated.
Then, as the guided missiles are a bit away from her, she suddenly wipped them out with what was called a large charged particle gun, destroying them all.
With a combat ability that's based around speed, an ability to create a large number of things through light particles and the practical usage of light weapons—no modern weapons were a match for it.
However, the entire world's not so slow as to not deal with this starling existence. The countries around Japan ignored the world's constitution and started tracking through scout planes.
The mission of those scout planes was to 'Investigate the Target. Capture If Possible, If Impossible—Eliminate'.
At that time, all the countries seemed to have invested a lot into the latest weapons.
--But they were completely outmatched.
"Vulcan guns or guided missiles couldn't even hurt the armor of the IS. There was even an energy shield."
First, the fighter planes couldn't turn about immediately as the human pilot can't handle the tremendous G-Force.
But the IS was different. With the defense system guarding it, no matter how mobile the frame was, the pilot would not lose consciousness nor gasp for breath.
And according to the figures the sensors calculated, the IS could process calculations faster and make decisions faster. It could also change into action.
Despite sinking all the fighter planes of all the countries, the [White Knight] didn't take a single life away. This proved the battle difference that they despaired over.
Anyway, the thing was that 'It could make the opponent powerless without killing them'.
Even so, all the countries still sent in troops, yet the [White Knight] suddenly vanished like the sunset. It was like the VTR image of it got rewound and suddenly disappeared, as the illusion-like [White Knight] disappeared completely.
They couldn't track it down using radar, and they couldn't identify it through their own eyes. It showed complete invisibility.
Facing the ability it showed off—this world lost completely.
One machine was able to destroy or disable 2,341 missiles, 207 fighter jets, 7 cruisers, 5 aircraft carriers and 8 satellites. This 'Ultimate Mobile Weapon' IS instantly became famous in one night.
Having a machine that can overpower other countries' military capability, this fact prompted the entire world to immediately propose a constitution about IS to limit its use and also to spread it about.
Shinonono Tabane once said that 'Only an IS can beat an IS', and with the facts in front of them, the losers of this fight, the world accepted it without disagreements—they had to.
"So because of that, my beloved IS became famous! I don't care about the fact that women got special treatment, but I could be kidnapped or assassinated if I'm careless. That really felt like some other country. Ufufu ♪."
Describing it really happily, Tabane-san seemed to be gloating like a mother whose son just performed on stage for the first time.
"Even so, I don't know~ufufu, who was the [White Knight]? Who was it? What do you think, Chi-chan?"
"I don't know."
"Hm, I guess her bust size is about 88cm—"
*GONG!* A blunt sound could be heard. That's Chifuyu-nee's attendance book attack. No wait, that's the info terminal attack.
Uboah...the info terminal is made of metal on the outside, right...
"That, that's too much, Chi-chan. This Tabane-san's brain got split into half, you know!?"
"Really? That's good. You can take turns thinking with your left brain and your right brain."
"Ohh! I see! You're so smart, Chi-chan~"
...I mentioned it quite a bit already...but this person in front of Chifuyu-nee and talking back at her is the genius amongst geniuses who developed the IS, Shinonono Tabane. Oh well, I better not do this explanation any more...
Hm? Speaking of which, this means that Tabane-san doesn't know who the [White Knight] was? She did send the IS directly to the person.
"Chi-chan was really active in that incident."
"Yup, the [White Knight] was really active."
...Well, logically speaking, it should be Chifuyu-nee, right? I guess.
But the IS Chifuyu-nee used when it was active was completely different from the [White Knight]'s IS exoskeleton.
So where did the [White Knight]'s IS go? It was the first operational IS in history, and it should be in some sort of research facility for others to analyze data from as they toiled on without breaks.
Besides, after the last frame of the current 467 ISes was completed, there was no more production of it. Strictly speaking, there should be 467 IS cores.
In other words, no country would play around with a core.
(Huh, I remember when Tabane-san disappeared 3 years ago, she left behind a letter saying 'This is the last core, not a bun. Congratulations, you people got an IS effortlessly' or something like that.)
The reason why I knew this was because the world aired a show called 'Shinonono Tabane's live interview with the world'. However, the mass media that went to the research facility went for naught as they only saw a letter and the last IS core. That image was aired directly on worldwide live TV.
(...But what's going on? Chifuyu-nee, Tabane-san, it seems that my elders around me have a habit of disappearing.)
If that's really the case, this will be the toughest part—anyway, now's not the time to talk about it.
On a side note, amongst all the IS in the world, 322 out of the 467 ISes are used for actual combat, and the remaining 145 are handed over to all the countries research facility or enterprises as research. Many of the experimental frames that were born out of the researches from these areas were handed over to personal IS pilots.
In IS Academy, the ISes are divided into teachers' use, training use and personal use. In total, there are about 30 of them. However, there seemed to be quite the anomaly this year, as amongst the 1st years, there are more than 5 personal IS pilots—In the past, there used to be only about 3 at the most.
The reason why there are so many IS pilots with personal machines this year is—I guess, me? There were supposed to be more 3rd generation ISes, and with 'The only male that can pilot an IS', every country started making their own moves...I guess. Either way, I don't really understand things that are too complicated.
"Speaking of which...Tabane, how long does it take to adjust [Akatsubaki]?"
"O-ORIMURA-SENSEI?"
Cecilia shouted out in shock. It seemed that she felt that she was the only one amongst all of us who had a hi-powered booster and could take part in the battle.
"If-If it's me and [Blue Tears], we'll definitely succeed!"
"Has that packet been installed?"
"We-Well...not yet..."
Cecilia's voice immediately softened as if her foot got stepped on, stuttering at the same time. In contrast, Tabane-san revealed an innocent smile as she said,
"Let me add on, it'll take just 7 minutes to adjust [Akatsubaki]★!"
"Okay, then this mission will be carried out by Orimura and Shinonono. You're to track the target to take it down. 30 minutes later, get ready to act. Everyone's to get ready in 30 minutes from now."
*PAN!* Chifuyu-nee clapped her hands, and the teachers got ready to prepare the necessary machinery.
"Those with nothing to do are to help move the equipment or do anything else they can help with. The main frontlines are to adjust their ISes. Don't be sloppy."
Uu, we got scolded again. Actually, looking carefully, I'm the only one who hasn't gotten into action as everyone else
"Huh, what about me...?"
"Complete [Byakushiki]'s configurations. Also, remember to fill up your energy gauge."
"Un-Understood."
After answering that, I immediately summoned [Byakushiki]'s control panel. As for energy...there's no problem, and there's nothing really insufficient now. If that's the case, I can sortie anytime.
(Speaking of which, Houki is--)
"Then let's hurry up and get [Akatsubaki] ready!"
"..."
"Nua— you should smile more. Hey hey, you're already a member of this mission group. Isn't that good?"
"This face of mine was born like this."
"Mn—but well, you were a lot cuter when you were born. And you would cry too."
"Who-Who wouldn't cry—"
Tabane-san casually added a maybe as she patted [Akatsubaki] summoned by Houki.
"Uu, I'll pat here, pat her. The [Fold-Out armor] on the back, the legs, the shoulders seem to be forcefully pushed forward, and some attack support mode, and we're done. Well, let's get star—ted."
