Chapter Fifty-Seven: Origin I
Cecile's Pov
Some minutes back.
<
"Trust me, it will work."
Levitating above a building that looked like a factory, was a girl.
She wore mechanical armor with six blades attached to it behind her.
With a look of indifference, she outstretched her right hand towards the factory below.
Kachak!
The six wing-blades lit up in blue and detached at once, flowing outward in a wave-like motion.
'Fight fire with fire.'
"Chiper systems. Lock."
Though she had no idea how things were on the main battlefield, she had read about it.
Not only was Britannia on the way.
Other AST members deployed by HQ had also been dispatched for support.
Since she hadn't talked much with him, she didn't know how prepared X was.
But she judged that the Cipher Systems would be a problem even for him.
Its anti-properties were inspired by him, after all, but this one uses very complex systems.
Not only could they hijack a CR Unit—
In the worst-case scenario.
They could interfere directly with the micro-realizer implanted in a Wizard's brain to control them.
And this factory below held the brains of the system, but Cecile was sure this was not the only factory.
In short, if X were a product of modern wizardry, then he was in danger.
But by taking action now, Cecile was increasing his odds of surviving against the system.
Still—
"I knew you wouldn't make this easy for me, Commander."
A presence descended behind her.
"Hmph, I thought you were smart. I even took you in for that reason, but you jumped the gun too early."
She wore a mechanical unit similar in structure to Ashley's Britannia.
However, its color was different.
It was dyed pitch black with an ominous red that ran along its edges.
The suit alone seemed to paint its surroundings red.
Even the territory could be visibly seen red.
"...perhaps. But you see, it's Ashley I trust."
Cecile admitted.
From her mechanical compartment, a laser blade ejected, and she tightened her grip on it.
Upon that command, the laser blade flared.
Right.
Ultimately, Morgan Sinclair might have been the one to start this.
But in the end.
She felt that if anyone could stabilize this situation, then it would be her.
Whether they succeed or not depends solely on Ashley.
And as someone who is a close friend to Artemisa and the younger sister of Morgan.
It made sense.
That was why Cecile hadn't placed her faith in Morgan.
She placed it in Ashley, instead.
Nonetheless…
To think this excessive maneuver had been exactly what that man was aiming for—
It wasn't a bad plan.
D.E.M's security was airtight.
Without this chaos, he would've been detected immediately.
Even deploying a Territory in the area would have triggered a response.
Security cameras alone were embedded with micro-realizers.
Not to mention, sensors with micro-realizers in them.
That was why even they hadn't tried to think of a way to bypass that.
Luckily—
Spacequake alarms disable their detection systems due to the pretense of minimizing collateral impact.
Regardless...
"Ashley?"
Maya express twisted into a deep frown raising both hands.
Her fingers seemed to change, transforming into mechanical claws.
"You seem awfully confident regarding what's going on."
Then—
Krack-thrumm.
Like lightning, that sound echoed, followed by a loud thud from farther behind.
"Nngh!"
Fortunately.
Cecile managed to change her position immediately as soon as Maya prepared the attack.
Having done that, however, with a nervous sweat trickling down her face, she muttered, turning to Maya.
"And here I thought you'd be so careless to come closer."
"Little girl, I was the one who created the Cipher Systems, and that CR Unit, you think I'd fall for that?"
Cecile didn't reply.
Instead, her gaze shifted downward.
The ground below had already been gouged apart, deep claw-like trenches had been carved into the factory.
Dragon claws…
She'd read the reports on the new-generation Units, but seeing it firsthand was different.
This was past brute force alone.
Her brows furrowed.
How am I supposed to deal with a monster like this…?
Territory Jamming might work, but she was sure Maya had certainly accounted for it already.
As Cecile began forming a countermeasure—
KRACK—THRUMM!
Another explosive boom tore through the air.
Cecile reacted instantly.
Though she was normally blind,
Her other senses were already heightened beyond the norm.
But within a Territory, all her senses were amplified several times over.
And now, she could see.
She visibly saw it.
The path of the strike.
Maya was producing shockwaves from within her territory.
And then, she's putting it out in a controlled manner to form that claw strike.
'So that's it…! But—'
That level of compression and expulsion shouldn't even be possible.
No, it's impossible!
Whoosh!
Cecile easily dodged it by simply sidestepping in the air.
She could see the path, as well as the gap within the claw, and she slipped inside it.
However—
"Right. I almost forgot how sharp your eyes are."
At that moment, Cecile relaxed. Maya appeared behind her, swinging her claw.
But this time, it was a two-handed strike.
Numbering eight slashes coming in an X-shaped pattern.
"Kuh!"
Cecile twisted desperately, evading each strike by fractions of a second.
The air screamed as the attacks passed.
'At least… if I can keep her here.'
She formed a train of thoughts.
There were only two people Cecile truly feared engaging head-on.
Which are Ellen and this woman here.
The rest, however, she was confident in outsmarting.
But the same can't be said for Maya, and Ellen is too strong for her to outsmart.
Her CR Unit is on another level.
Of course, the other Adeptus weren't currently in England, so Maya and Ellen were the eyesores.
'Tsk!'
With a click of her tongue, she dodged everything, making an upward arc in the air.
Her velocity increased with the jet thrusters, heading straight for Maya.
If she could get near Maya enough to use Territory Jamming, then she wins.
"....!"
She approached with silence, killing any sort of sound her machine emitted.
Then she accelerated—
From behind Maya, several hundred meters away moving at relativistic speed.
"Got you."
Cecile extended her hand in front, nearing a hundred meters from Maya.
It was half the distance she needed to cross, and a second after she passed that…
"...what?"
Red flowed upwards from Cecile's vision, as her lips tinged with an iron taste.
Suddenly, she was beginning to lose velocity.
Her body was beginning to lose its lift in the air.
…What just happened.
The attack... it seemed to have appeared from thin air, but how was such a thing possible?
If it were Artemisia, she could understand that due to her innate talent.
Even if it were Wizard X, he'd shown the ability already. But this…
"Fifty meters, huh? Even with this machine, that's the best I can do, huh?"
Maya said calmly without turning around; she tilted her head slightly.
Cecile caught a glimpse of her eyes.
It was cold.
"I don't know what you're hiding."
"But for some reason, it makes me uncomfortable. I don't have the time to waste on you."
Saying that Maya's figure left the place, leaving Cecile falling down.
...did I fail.
As expected, it was kind of childish to rebel against D.E.M.
They were a large corporation after all.
Naturally, she hoped the person called X could achieve something.
But it seemed like whether they succeeded or lost, she would never know.
Slowly, her eyes closed when the weightlessness of her body suddenly hung in the air.
A shadow covered her eyes that gazed at the sun, it was the silhouette of a person.
Sometime before that,
D.E.M's research facility.
It was a long time ago.
Probably about five.. to six years or even more?
She couldn't clearly remember.
But.. what she remembered most clearly wasn't a face, or a voice—
It was his back.
Morgan, her brother walking away from her, not looking back even once.
Her hand extended toward him, but she could not reach him no matter how much she tried.
Not that she didn't understand why.
She knew why.
Morgan did it to protect her.
She understood that much now.
But back then… she couldn't help wondering why she couldn't go with him.
Why staying together was never an option.
Most of her childhood had been spent under his care.
An annoying, overbearing, impossible older brother—
Only after he was gone did she realize..
Just how much of himself he'd poured into raising her even when their parents were alive.
Even then, he'd always felt distant somehow. Like he was holding something back.
Was I pushed away because of that?
The thought crossed her mind more than once.
No, that wasn't the case.
She knew that wasn't the truth.
Whatever the reason had been, it no longer mattered. Their paths had split.
Not long after, Maya had taken her to London.
Ashley remembered thinking naively that life would finally be normal.
It was the kind of thing an eight-year-old would believe.
That illusion shattered the day her school was attacked by 'Spirits'.
Rather, a spacequake had set off, and she was late to evacuate.
And that was her first encounter with what causes spacequakes and wizards..
But honestly speaking..?
It was the worst possible introduction.
Her savior was not her brother nor any saint.
It was someone reckless, and utterly scatterbrained who crashed into the scene and saved her.
And for the first time since leaving Morgan, her heart moved.
Not long after, at her own insistence, Ashley became a Wizard, assigned to a local zonal branch.
That was where she met the SSS Brigade.
A rag tag of people.
Naturally, this was also the time she met them, the beautiful Artemisia.
The sagacious Cecile O'Brien, the arrogant Minerva Riddell, and the cowardly Leonora Sears.
At the time, they were simply the Wizards available for dispatch.
They hit it off.
No—
That wasn't how it happened.
They all failed.
It was a complete failure of a battle.
Not only were they uncoordinated, they were desperate, and messy.
They were overwhelmed, outmatched, and powerless.
It was a failure of a battle, but that was when they witness what their ace pilot could do.
Artemisia singlehandedly..
She killed a spirit, herself.
Her talent inspired them in different ways.
Despite them coming from different backgrounds with all sorts of trouble.
That was SSS.
A ragtag team of people with a saint standing in the middle.
It was enjoyable while it lasted.
Till...
"I'm sorry, everyone. I'll be transferring to D.E.M. starting tomorrow."
Artemisia's voice had been calm.
That was the moment everything began to fall apart.
Because of her innate talent, she was selected, no, perhaps, it's better to say that.. she chose to go to D.E.M.
Perhaps, had she known the true meaning behind Spirits' existence.
Had she understood what D.E.M truly was—
Just maybe her choice might have been different.
But she didn't.
She was a saint who believed the world could be better, and naturally…
The spirits who wreaked havoc were preached to be avatars of calamity.
And shortly after Artemisia left, Minerva followed.
Jealous of the feats Artemisia achieved after joining D.E.M.
Minerva was bitter and frustrated, and thus, she too left.
That only left Ashley Sinclair, Cecile O'Brien and Leonora Sears.
One could say that was one of their lowest points.
The confidence of having an ace, and another strong member…
SSS no longer had that.
When they lamented this fact was when they met Maya Kunimitsu.
By then, Maya had already become one of D.E.M's top agents.
She was the one who explained everything to them.
What D.E.M. really was what Artemisia had been pulled into.
And finally, what kind of organization they were up against.
Their reactions were normal.
Rage, anger, sadness, bitterness, and Ashley of all people loathed herself.
"I am weak."
She said…
"Brother, and Artemisia, I'm not strong enough to help them. Even now, it seems like I'm still weak."
Ashley blamed herself.
If she had been stronger and more mature, she would have stayed with Morgan.
And if she were stronger, she would have worked together with Artemisia.
She would have stopped her.
Yes, though there was no reason for her to blame herself, she had lost her family.
Her older brother had left her behind.
Now, her closest friend had been taken and used in experiments.
"I won't forgive you. For taking my family from me, now my best friend. I won't forgive you."
Ashley declared that.
In that moment, she resolved herself that until she was strong enough to save Artemisia…
Reuniting with Morgan could wait.
Or so she thought.
Because now, she was standing before that very figure of his.
At this moment, all will to fight left her body as she stared at him.
Definitely, he was older now, but his face was still there—that annoying face.
That calmness despite the situation.
"Y...you..."
Her shoulders trembled, and then—
"You fool!"