Partner Swapping 1: Excellent Talent
Childhood.
Seres had been born the daughter of a rancher who raised horses, but her life was decided by a single sentence from a knight who appeared out of nowhere one day.
Her father couldn't utter a word in front of the knights. It was only natural. Even in an era when the nobles' power was being shaken by the ongoing revolution within the kingdom, no commoner could refuse on their own.
And so, the young Seres was dragged away to become a yeogisa without understanding what that truly meant.
The place she was taken to was filled with girls her own age. Spotting them, Seres felt a little relieved. Ah, I'm not alone. In a ridiculous twist, the girl naively thought that upon seeing others in the same situation and felt reassured deep down.
Having girls in similar straits gathered together did make things a bit better. They were around the same age, so they bonded quickly, and it was nice to have someone to lean on. At least she wasn't lonely.
But that didn't make daily life any easier. The place they were taken to enforced a strict, ascetic routine every day. They rose at dawn for grueling training, built their mana nerve systems, and attended endless classes on the role of female pilots.
A female pilot must remain pure for her male pilot. A female pilot must be obedient to her male pilot. A female pilot must devote herself to her male pilot. A female pilot must...
Frankly, it was a nonstop barrage of incomprehensible lessons. The other girls felt the same. To girls too young to even understand what a man was, their words weren't easy to grasp.
But even a drizzle soaks you through if it keeps falling. And so, at some point, their words began seeping into her mind. Their ideology and sermons circled her thoughts like everyday chatter. It wasn't true understanding. It was closer to brainwashing, merely accepting her lot in life.
Perhaps that's when she truly came to know her situation in the deepest sense.
Time passed, and the age of her first menstruation arrived.
That day was unusually free of any schedule. As always, she rose early, washed every inch of her body clean, dressed in her usual pristine white clothes, and was just passing the time when unfamiliar faces entered the facility.
A burly, intimidating man introduced as an instructor led the way, followed by a swarm of boys around Seres's age.
At first, the girls were thrilled and excited to see peers after so long. But soon, Seres and the others instinctively knew why they were here.
The time had finally come. The day their partners—the ones they must devote themselves to—would be decided.
Realizing this, the girls rejoiced innocently. Raised from childhood with that education, they harbored no doubts about why they must obey their partners. They saw it as natural, their duty.
And so, the girls climbed into their Holy Knights, born from their own bodies as wombs, eagerly awaiting the ones who would grasp their control sticks. It was their first time accepting a rational being into those machines, so they couldn't help but tense up.
Yet their young, fragile hearts pounded with the thrill of finally finding their partner, devoting themselves, and offering their purity.
Countless girls waited anxiously in their cockpits for the partner who would take their control sticks. Naturally, Seres—trained to be obedient and good—waited just like the others.
But she wasn't without desires. I wonder who my partner will be. Someone cool and kind... Someone who'll treat me gently would be nice. How long had she waited, dreaming of the prince from the fairy tales her parents read to her long ago?
───!
With a presence, Seres felt a hand grip her control stick. Her tailbone stiffened, her spine shivered. Her back arched involuntarily, and an unfamiliar pleasure she'd never experienced coursed through her mana nerve system.
Her immature body, untouched by coupling, trembled at the utterly alien sensation. Uncontrollable moans escaped her tender lips. Shame mixed with something unknowable flushed her face red.
But fortunately, the sensation soon grew familiar. Her body had been trained for this, after all. Within seconds, it all felt natural.
...Who is it? As she regulated her breathing per her long training and adapted to the foreign feeling, the question naturally arose in Seres's mind. What kind of person is gripping my control stick? What do they look like? What's their personality like? I'm curious.
But following her education, Seres resisted looking at the face of the one holding her control stick. It wasn't confirmed as her coupling partner yet. This was just a test to check wavelength compatibility. Female pilots must preserve their purity for their partners, after all. Learning the faces of non-partners made future wavelength matching harder—that's what they'd been taught. So Seres couldn't look at the boy.
Instead, she focused on accepting his mana through their connected mana path and channeling it into the Holy Knight's power source.
The process went so smoothly it barely qualified as a first coupling—unquestionably successful. The Holy Knight's output and sensitivity were excellent too. Seres's machine dashed across the grounds like an excited child, smoothly following the boy's lead.
After maneuvering the Holy Knight freely for several minutes, the faceless boy laughed as he gripped her control stick.
"As expected, you're a bit fuel-inefficient, but this is passable. Good. You're my coupling partner from now on."
His tone was somewhat rough, but Seres was purely delighted. It seemed the boy was pleased with her. Anyway, her partner was decided. She could at least look at his face now.
Unable to contain her curiosity any longer, Seres turned in the cockpit to glance back.
The moment she saw the boy's face, her body froze instinctively. A chill ran through her.
How to describe it? His eyes were somehow terrifying. Far from the gentle prince she'd imagined, they burned with an inexplicable heat, filled with something ominous. It felt like bugs crawling over her skin—a visceral disgust.
His blatantly lecherous, sticky gaze raking her body choked her breath. It was the first time she'd felt such unpleasant lust.
But that wasn't a big problem. As a coupling partner, she had a duty to satisfy his sexual needs too.
The real issue was the familiar something she sensed within that lustful gaze. It dredged up long-forgotten memories of her hometown.
The eyes that evaluated living beings like merchandise. The eyes of the knight who had come for her.
And now, the boy's eyes resembled them. He slowly scanned her legs, thighs, hips, breasts, face... appraising and savoring her.
Thanks to that, Seres realized. All that talk of purity and obedience—it was just preconditioning to tame female pilots, broodmares.
But by the time she realized it, it was too late. That insight couldn't dismantle the sermons and ideology drilled into her since childhood.
A female pilot must obey her male pilot. The words etched in her mind were absolute.
Even feeling fear and disgust, when she came to her senses, everything was already over.
"I'll take this one."
As if it were natural, Seres's coupling partner was set as the boy a year older than her, and the two were immediately thrown into battle.
There was no time to sync up. It was the height of the revolution, and the nobles needed every fighter they could get—even underage boys and girls.
So Seres was dragged across battlefields following the glory-hungry boy. She coupled as he wished, received his mana, powered the Holy Knight, and his gripping hands moved it against her will, slashing enemies.
It was years of horrific days. The Holy Knight's blade never dried of blood.
And it was right in the midst of the revolution. The boy's enemies were revolutionary soldiers, his blade cleaving human flesh. Brutal, merciless, violent.
It stayed the same even after he became an adult. If anything, more terrifying. What honor was there in cutting humans? He enjoyed killing.
My body, my Holy Knight kills people. Regardless of my will... Just keeps going, going...
It was nauseating. Every time he gripped the control stick, she wanted to vomit. Seeing her body-womb Holy Knight drenched in human blood made her dizzy.
The machine was the one covered in blood, yet it felt like her whole body was soaked—unbearably repulsive.
But Seres couldn't resist. Devoting herself and obeying her partner was her role.
So that's why she couldn't resist then either.
──...Seres.
Even when he killed her father.
When she snapped out of it, her father was literally torn apart by the Holy Knight's blade. Beyond being cut—his flesh shattered into pieces too gruesome for even a grave.
Seres was stunned. For some reason, her father had become a revolutionary officer. He'd sold the ranch and joined them. The timid father she knew, unbelievably.
Why? How? She learned later. Out of hatred for the nobles who took his daughter, he'd volunteered.
Truly ridiculous. If he regretted and hated them so much, why hadn't he stood up that day?
That day, a raid killed a revolutionary officer. The boy—no longer a boy, now a man—gained honor and merit. The 18-year-old girl, not yet an adult, shed bloody tears and shattered the world that had imprisoned her for the first time.
2. Seres thought of her partner.
She'd had many over the years, but her current coupling partner was a boy named Takuya. A novice with barely two years under his belt... The 17-year-old just emerging from puberty was easy to handle. At least compared to that time, there was no hardship.
Always calling her "big sis" and treating her kindly. Blushing at the slightest tease—such innocent freshness.
So that's why.
"Why not just admit it? You're a selfish woman. You pretend to care for the kids, but inside you're utterly ugly."
At Netoru's words, Seres unwittingly let out a wry smile. Selfish and ugly... Not wrong.
And she'd certainly done Karen wrong.
Seres hated men. Their brutality terrified her. Only pilots she could control could touch her control stick.
So when Netoru arrived, she spread rumors about him and pushed him to the sidelines.
...And carelessly foisted him onto Karen. That kind, diligent girl would accept him, she thought.
But seeing the results of Karen and Netoru's first coupling left Seres stunned. The girl's pained expression as she exited the cockpit forced Seres to confront her own ugliness and selfishness.
So Seres tried earnestly, belatedly, to persuade Karen. She struggled to fix her mistake.
She saw her younger self in Karen.
But in the end... she failed to convince her.
Why? And why was Karen growing closer to Netoru?
Seres was starting to wonder now.
When she first met Netoru, she'd pegged him as unpredictable. The moment she feigned looseness like a slut, he reached out like the rumors said—womanizing as expected. How laughable.
"And yet, can you handle it?"
Netoru had no answer to Seres's question. Instead, he gripped her control stick hard.
In that instant, a thrilling shiver crossed her spine. Then, an unpleasant foreign sensation seeped into her lower abdomen, and Netoru's mana began flowing through the mana path.
Was this his answer? Her body filled with his mana. Compared to Takuya, the quantity was immense. The quality too.
But they say mana attributes reflect personality. Netoru's was fierce. Violent. Uncontrollable like a wild horse.
...Truly repulsive mana.
This man really was uncontrollable. Realizing it again, Seres sighed deeply.
Thinking about it, it had been a while. Truly accepting a male pilot's mana as a female pilot.
Her body might have rusted. But it didn't matter.
Seres recalled her first coupling partner. Zansersen. Once hailed as the hope and hero of the nobles, a young knight.
Looking back, his talent was tremendous. She'd partnered with many boys in the 393rd Unit, but none from that era could touch Zansersen's heel.
Of course. His skills peaked upon adulthood, among the kingdom's elite. Rising to vice-captain candidate of the Saint Mishar Knight Order right away...
Only a female pilot of equal caliber could handle such a male pilot. Meaning Seres possessed talent and ability matching Zansersen's.
...This is what you brought on yourself.
Killing the faint hesitation, Seres slowly activated her mana nerve system.
Either way, Netoru was now vital to the unit. So she'd just threaten him moderately. A warning not to get too handsy anymore.
Yes, a warning. Reminding herself, Seres began greedily devouring Netoru's mana through the connected mana path.
If there's a big gap in capacity, she could seize control of the mana path easily. And indeed, Netoru offered no resistance, spewing mana as she demanded.
He was just a mana supplier now, per her will. In this state, no man could release the stick voluntarily.
With her dominating the mana path, forcing a disconnect would damage his mana nerve system from the backlash.
"..."
Closing her eyes, Seres gradually increased the intensity. Demanding more, stronger mana, forcing it out.
A Holy Knight's output depends on how much mana a female pilot can process at once. Conversely, for males, it's how much they can supply instantly to reach the target output.
If demand and supply mismatch, one side collapses. The phenomenon called overheat.
The backlash when one can't meet the partner's required output.
That's what Seres aimed for. If Netoru couldn't supply as much as she demanded, his mana nerve system would take damage.
As she endlessly ramped up the mana demand through the path.
The Holy Knight's limit output climbed: 500... 1000... 1500... 2000...
Clunk.
Something caught, and Netoru's mana flooding her body hesitated, plateauing. He'd hit his supply limit.
So this was the man's max output? Well... impressive enough. The rumors weren't exaggerated. Objectively better than most knights.
But that's all. He was probably panicking now. Losing mana path control, mana devoured against his will.
Prolonged supply beyond limit causes fatal damage to a man's body.
What face was he making? Panicked? Scared? Either way, fine.
Hehe.
Like back then, unable to contain her curiosity about her first partner's face, Seres smiled faintly and slowly turned.
And in that moment.
"...Huh?"
Seres felt her mind freeze.
How could she not? Netoru's eyes meeting hers held no bewilderment.
Instead, it vividly recalled that day's forgotten memory.
"...As expected, you're kinda fuel-inefficient, but this is passable enough."
Netoru's face mirrored the satisfaction she'd seen on her first coupling partner's that day.
As expected, you're a bit fuel-inefficient, but this is passable. Good. You're my coupling partner from now on.
In that instant, as if peering into her memory, Netoru's voice overlapped perfectly with Zansersen's long-buried one.
But it was fleeting. Netoru smirked.
"Seres. How long you gonna keep playing kid games raising the output? I handed you the mana path on purpose, but this is getting frustrating."
"What do you— Kyah!?"
Before she finished, a shock pierced her body like a twist. She felt the mana path she'd dominated wrench away.
And simultaneously, the stalled limit output began rising again.
* * *