“I knew you’d catch me eventually, Cecilia Alcott. Now, shall we settle this?”

  She tossed one of the rapiers to Cecilia, who nimbly snatched it from the air into a duelist’s stance.

  “If I prevail, you’ll tell me everything.”

  “Very well! And if I win... Ichika is mine!” Chelsea’s self-satisfied chuckle at the idea set Cecilia’s teeth on edge.

  “Are you making fun of me?!”

  “Of course not. Quite the opposite, in fact. Are you just afraid you can’t win?”

  Cecilia, her gorge rising, sprung to the attack, but her enraged flailing was simply batted away as Chelsea brought the point of her blade to her neck.

  “Point. Shall we go to best of seven?”

  “Ugh...!”

  Ichika, not sure what to do, tried to calm Cecilia, “Cecilia! You need to cool down!”

  “I know, but...!” She took a deep breath, and her eyes shone the calm blue of the ocean. “En garde!”

  “Come!”

  A quick thrust turning to a cut. Chelsea stepped back to evade, but Cecilia deftly followed and, with a quick side-stroke, cleanly sliced open Chelsea’s blouse.

  “And now we’re even.”

  “I appreciate the challenge.” Rebuttoning her jacket over the tear, Chelsea raised her sword again. Cecilia, likewise, came to the ready a pace away. “Shall I lead this time?”

  With a sudden deep breath, Chelsea darted forward, inside Cecilia’s reach, before bringing her blade up sharply, cutting a slit up the side of Cecilia’s skirt as if delivering a riposte to the assault on her own dignity. Cecilia’s thigh, pale in the chill wind, thrust through the tear.

  “Two.”

  “This isn’t finished yet!” With the slit, though, came newfound mobility, and Cecilia moved like a flash, lopping off a lock of Chelsea’s hair. “And my second as well. Perhaps you should focus?”

  “I appreciate your concern.” Chelsea’s eyes narrowed, as if she was finally taking the fight seriously. At the same time, Cecilia took her own advice, and soon they were caught in a flurry of thrusts and ripostes. An intricate waltz of steel on steel. All Ichika could do was nervously gulp as he watched them alternately dance like butterflies and sting like bees.

  Blades flashed as they missed by the narrowest of margins, cutting away at the combatants’ clothes yet failing to draw blood. It was as if, to continue the butterfly metaphor, they were both undergoing metamorphosis, cutting each other out of their cocoons. But eventually, someone had to slip. And it was Cecilia.

  “Three. Checkmate.”

  “Ugh...”

  The flaw was in her shoes. While Chelsea was wearing sturdy, functional boots, Cecilia had on a pair of high heels, and was unstable enough on her feet that she couldn’t land a firm blow.

  “Enough of this!” Cecilia, at the end of her rope, slid off her heels and kicked them to the side. “Ichika.”

  “Eh?”

  “Tell absolutely no one what happened here.” Her voice was deadly serious. He had only a moment to wonder what she meant before she kicked off the tattered remnants of her skirt and stood, stripped down to her lingerie.

  “Such determination. As I expected of you.”

  “Enough formality. Let’s finish this!” Cecilia sprung forth as forcefully as she yelled, striking gracefully, beautifully, but more than anything forcefully. With a loud clang, their swords met—and Chelsea’s was cut through. “Third!”

  Even though Chelsea was disarmed, Cecilia pressed the attack. She knew what was next. She couldn’t not know. Chelsea was like a sister to her—as far back as she could remember, they’d learned together, trained together. And in this situation, there would be only one response.

  “......!”

  Chelsea grabbed her own broken blade from midair and, ignoring the blood welling up from her hand as she gripped it, thrust toward Cecilia’s eyes. And those eyes, burning blue, turned toward it. Firmly. Fearlessly. Unflinchingly. As if there were only two things in the world. The blade. And Chelsea beyond it.

  “.........”

  The duel was over. Chelsea’s blade stopped, a hair’s breadth from Cecilia’s eyes. Cecilia’s, a hair’s breadth from Chelsea’s jugular.

  “A draw, then.” Cecilia cast away her weapon. Realizing that the battle was over, Ichika hurried to wrap his coat around Cecilia. “Thank you, Ichika.”

  “I, uh, I mean I kind of had to,” Ichika spoke nervously, knowing he’d seen something he wasn’t meant to. Cecilia looked at him bemusedly. And Chelsea, watching the glow between them, closed her eyes.

  “Welcome back, Mistress.”

  Cecilia nodded in satisfaction.

  “I’m home, Chelsea.”

  The duel between master and servant had concluded.

  ◇

  A helicopter from the RAF’s IS special forces squadron carried them to their destination in the Highlands.

  “Let’s go over the operation again.” Chifuyu’s voice came over the radio. “Orimura. Shinonono. Huang. Bodewig. You’re to ascend to orbit using the graviton catapult and make contact with Excalibur. I’ll be blunt. You’re decoys. Your job is to draw the attention of the defenders while Alcott makes a long-range sniping attack from the surface using a BT particle accelerator. The success of the operation rests in her hands.”

  Ichika waved to Cecilia across the aisle to reassure her and said, “Don’t worry. We’re all in this together. It’ll be fine.”

  “Ichika...”

  A projection display opened between them, as if to interrupt.

  “This is your target.” A sword, floating in space. Its 15-meter length focused sunlight before unleashing it on the Earth. More images showed its blade splitting, and a field forming between its prongs like a lens.

  “This is...”

  ‘Like an IS’ sprang to mind.

  Chifuyu, noticing the realization, turned to Chelsea.

  “Chelsea Blankett. Fill them in.”

  “If I may. Officially, the Excalibur is a top-secret bombardment satellite built by the US and England. In reality, it’s an IS fused with a human being.” The cadets weren’t sure how far they should trust her. “You might ask how I know this. The answer is, my little sister Exia Caliburn is its pilot... No, its core,” Chelsea intoned solemnly.

  Cecilia was shocked. “Chelsea, you have a little sister?! You never—”

  “Had. She’d been completely erased from government records. And I searched for her, for so, so long...”

  The cadets gasped in shock. It was impossible to even imagine what Chelsea must have felt when she found out.

  “Wait. Excalibur was under Phantom Task control when it attacked Japan. So why are you helping destroy it?” There was that one unanswered question, and Cecilia was sharp enough to bring it up.

  “It’s gone out of control. Maybe she awakened. Maybe there was another reason. I don’t know. But now, Excalibur has left its orbit and is moving toward England. Its target is Buckingham Palace. There’s no time to lose.”

  The royal family had already been evacuated, but the destruction of a national symbol would be sure to have a major societal impact. Therefore, it fell upon IS Academy to secretly recapture or destroy Excalibur. IS Academy, with the latest IS and no geopolitical entanglements. Not to mention, an insistence by Tabane that her own participation was tied to that of its cadets.

  “I may have stolen the third Blue Tears unit and joined Phantom Task, but my country—and my sister—were always my highest priority.” Chelsea fell silent and closed her eyes. No one could possibly understand the depth of her self-loathing—except Cecilia.

  “Chelsea, when this is all over...” She understood that the cryptic challenges had been to help her grow. She knew that Chelsea’s loyalty had been unwavering.

  “I accept whatever punishment is chosen for me.”

  “No... When this is over, Chelsea, I expect us to have tea. Understood?”

  “Mistress... It would be an honor.”

  Madoka, pilot of the stolen Silent Zephyrus and its upgraded form Kurokishi, watched with obvious boredom. Even more displeasing to her was being kept in a separate helicopter from Chifuyu.

  “Tch. A fricking tea party? Are you serious?” Her voice practically dripped with venom. She opened her locket for a moment and stared inside before tucking it back under her blouse and glaring at Ichika. “We’ll settle this once and for all.”

  Ichika, feeling her glare, replied softly, “Yes. We will.”

  There would be no one there to stop them. No matter what Chifuyu thought. The hand of fate weighed upon them as they silently passed time until arrival.

  “This is...” A forested mountain, far away from civilization. The only sign of human life, a gigantic structure which looked like an observatory.

  “This is our BT particle accelerator. The air defense cannon ‘Afternoon Blue.’” Chifuyu alighted from another helicopter and met up with the group. She looked like she had something to say, but then changed her mind. After all, Madoka was there. No matter what was going through her mind, she had to stay composed. “All right! Take up your positions! Blue Tears units, sync with Afternoon Blue. Orbital detachment, get busy with final adjustments to your O.V.E.R.S. packages!”

  The time to rise to the heavens had come. Strangely enough, to do battle with another IS.

  “Outer space... Really, what’s going on with IS Academy?” It was an obvious question, and one which slowed Ichika as he started in on tuning. I have a bad feeling about this... I hope it’s just nerves. It was something he’d felt before, though. Not just fear... Premonition. Silently, he buried his head in preparations, trying to shake the feeling that was haunting him.

  ◇

  “Commence operations!”

  Three gravitational anchors sunk in the earth marked their spots. Within those technological ley lines, Ichika, Houki, Ling, and Laura waited in four graviton catapults, their IS deployed.

  “Liftoff in ten, nine, eight, seven, six...” Kanzashi, assisting Maya as an operator in the command center, counted down the seconds.

  The air was still; their expressions were serious. This was the moment they were waiting for. Energy focused in the catapults, and for a moment, a weightless sensation overtook them, before the anchors spread open like flower petals.

  “Three, two, one... Liftoff!” With a loud crack, they flew into the skies. Already at the maximum speed their engines could afford, they activated their O.V.E.R.S. packs and began to rise out of Earth’s gravitational pull.

  “I’m counting on you...” As Chifuyu watched them, at arm’s length on the monitor but thousands of leagues away, she tried her hardest to shake off a strange sense of impending doom. “Blue Tears units, begin transfer of BT particles to the accelerator. Hold fire until ordered.”

  “Roger.”

  With two of the three Blue Tears units under Phantom Task control, it was best to make the normally unspoken clear. But anyway, there was no time left to worry. Mission Control were busy at their stations.

  “Internal reports, prepared. Cover story, prepared.”

  “Operation Candid progress, ninety-five percent.”

  “Afternoon Blue utilization, steady at seventy percent. Beginning final power up.”

  “Orbital detachment, energy share link established.”

  Chifuyu and Maya listened to the status reports through one ear while tracking mission progress. This mission was different. It was life-and-death for the students in their care. Even the smallest detail was vital.

  What pushed Excalibur over the edge, anyway? Why now? Chifuyu could only think of one answer. Shinonono Tabane. What kind of genius would she be without a plan? Very well, then. So I have to... She couldn’t hold anything back either. That much, she had to promise to herself.

  ◇

  “What good is this supposed to be, anyway?” They were almost to the stratosphere, and Ichika looked down at his shield doubtfully.

  “They’ve got mega-hi beams, right? You’d melt like an ice cube without it.” Laura’s explanation didn’t seem to shake Ichika at all. “Anyway, it’s supposed to layer with your IS’ energy shield and be far more effective than either one alone. You’ll be fine. Just have to trust in German engineering.”

  It was the first time Ichika had ever seen her not quite be confident in what she said.

  “Houki. Get Kenran Butou ready to go.” Houki was unsettled by Ichika’s sudden suggestion.

  “Incoming!” At Ichika’s shout, the four IS scattered. First a blast of plasma, then a residual tingle, filled the void where they’d been.

  “Wh-What the hell was that?!” Laura’s eyes flitted over a readout. “Three times expected?! Impossible! We can’t—”

  “Laura! Get a hold of yourself!”

  Swiping the display off to the side, Laura focused on dodging the next salvo.

  “Houki! Ling! Don’t let any shots get through to Cecilia!”

  “On it!”

  Just like Ichika had a shield, the others were outfitted with missile launchers. The warheads were equipped with radar jamming-technology that could block an IS’ sensors... At least, they were supposed to be.

  “They’re picking them out of the air!” The beam danced over the battlefield from missile to missile. Giving up on the missiles, the girls purged their remaining ammunition.

  No one was happy to have ‘finally made it.’ Not seeing the chaos left in the wake of the beams they’d dodged. A spray of debris. A hail of meteoroids. They may have been through it in a simulator, but real life was far more complex.

  “We just need to get close!” Ichika activated Ignition Boost and charged. But his confidence only lasted a moment.

  “It’s splitting?!” Excalibur’s blade separated into four, each part its own all-range assault satellite. “Houki! Shields up! Power them with Kenran Butou!”

  “Got it!” Houki nodded. But then the unexpected happened. “Wh—?!”

  A low shudder shook Akatsubaki as the O.V.E.R.S. pack began to explode.

  “That pile of scrap!” Houki quickly purged the pack and brought Kenran Butou up to full power. But that was enough time for Excalibur to pick up an energy signature on Earth. Cecilia’s.

  “Dammit!” A quick Ignition Boost, and Ichika was in front of Excalibur, his shield pressed up into its line of fire. “Energy link, full power to Setsura’s shield! We can do it!”

  A full-power plasma blast. Ichika met it head-on. But—

  “Ichika!” Houki, Ling, Laura all screamed.

  As he tried to block the massive energy blast all by himself, Ichika’s shield gradually melted away.

  “Laura!” Every muscle in Laura’s body tensed as he called out her name. The feeling of dread overcame her. “You can handle this. I believe in you.”

  That was the last thing she heard before the light swallowed him.

  “ICHIKAAAAAAAA!” Three cries were swallowed by the emptiness of space.

  ◇

  “Vital signs from Orimura... Flatline...” Maya’s voice was hollow with shock.

  Chifuyu gazed past her monitor with a thousand-yard stare.

  Orimura Ichika was dead.

  Chapter IV: Pierce the Azure Heavens, Blue Tears

  Chifuyu strode intently through the halls of the base, her eyes blazing with rage.

  “Tabane!” She had found her target.

  “Oh, hey, Chichan. What’s up?” Tabane was perfectly nonchalant as she sat at a table in the break room, sipping a latte. “These vending machine drinks are terrible. I really wish Kuu was here right now.”

  Her thoughts were obviously more on Chloe, deployed on another mission, than anything else. Something deep in Chifuyu snapped as she watched the sheer self-centeredness on display.

  “Quit fucking with me! What’s your game here?!” Chifuyu kicked the table over, pinning Tabane to the wall behind her. A fist quickly followed, punching through the sheetrock as she roared in anger. “Don’t you realize what you’ve done?! This isn’t like what happened with Shirokishi! Ichika is... Ichika is dead!”

  She could tell she’d been outsmarted, but the fury clouding her eyes hid everything else from her.

  “Well, you know...” Tabane rolled her eyes, like she was explaining something to a child. “It’s your fault, Chichan. If you won’t get out there yourself, sacrifices have to be made.”

  “Sacrifices?!”

  “And this time, it just happened to be Icky. Do you really think you’d be this mad if it was one of the girls?”

  Chifuyu winced.

  “Well...” They were her students. She cared more for them than almost anything in the world. Almost anything. Ichika was on a completely different level. He was vitally important to her. Maybe too important to her.

  “Houki and the others are still up there, you know. How are they doing? Who’s giving them orders?” Tabane smirked as she awaited Chifuyu’s reaction. And the answer came as a grin. A crazed grin. Tabane was smart enough to tell. She’d broken Chifuyu.

  “They’re keeping watch in stealth mode... We’re narrowing down the position from which Excalibur will fire next... We’re referring to it as ‘Zero Point,’” Chifuyu growled.

  “That’s the stuff!” Tabane nodded gleefully. “I knew that no matter what happened, you’d never take your mind off the mission. No, really, you’re even better at it than I expected! I just loooooove a woman who can take charge like that.”

  Chifuyu didn’t have the energy left to snap back at Tabane’s cheer.

  “Get out of here, Tabane. Before I kill you.”

  “Okay, okay. See you around, Chichan! I hope you get involved personally this time. Can’t wait to see the IS Kurezakura in action!”

  “Shut up!” Tabane was gone before the shout left Chifuyu’s lips. Like it had all been a lie. Like it had all been an illusion. “Uuuugh...”

  Chifuyu was left alone, shuddering with rage that had no outlet.

  ◇

  [Ichika is dead.]

  The realization pierced her heart.

  “Ichika...” Tears streamed down Cecilia’s face as she sat inside the Afternoon Blue BT particle accelerator. “Why... You promised me...”

 

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